William Campbell/Corbis via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Trumps eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, through his attorney, has formally asked the House Intelligence Committee to open a review into leaks during and after his meeting last week behind closed doors with the committee. In a letter to House Intelligence Chairman Michael Conaway, Trump Jrs attorney, Alan Futerfas, asks for an investigation to determine whether any member or staff member violated the rules by leaking information to media concerning the interview or by purposely providing inaccurate information which led to significant misreporting. In his letter, Futerfas details the rules he and his client agreed to before attending including turning over their electronic devices for the duration of the closed door interview. Futerfas says he and his client fail to understand that, despite this agreement, several news organizations began reporting on events happening behind closed doors while the interview was on going. Trump Jrs attorney goes on to say after the interview the fact that committee members gave on camera interviews detailing what happened during the session also breaks the rules he and his client agreed to. The Committees integrity and credibility should never be in question, Futerfas writes. An aide to Conaway declined to comment on the letter from Trumps attorney. Last weeks meeting lasted just under eight hours, and was the longest meeting Trump Jr. has had before a congressional committee after previously testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year. Trump Jr is expected to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday for another closed door interview. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The man accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York City's subway system was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, Bangladeshi officials said on Wednesday. The revelation came hours before the man was expected to have his first court appearance in the US. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, had asked his wife in Bangladesh to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani, the currently imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of Bangladesh's counter-terrorism department. The group has been linked to killings and attacks on secular academics and atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. Rahmani is serving time in prison for his involvement in the killings. The wife was questioned in Bangladesh and told investigators that her husband discussed Rahman's writings with her during his last visit home, Mr Islam said. Ullah, 27, was expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday in New York, where he is in a hospital being treated for burns from a pipe bomb he strapped to his body and detonated in a pedestrian tunnel linking two busy subway stations. Prosecutors in New York said that after his capture, Ullah told interrogators he was on a mission to punish the US for attacking the Islamic State group. "His motivation," acting US attorney Joon Kim said, "was not a mystery". Investigators found bomb-making materials in his apartment. They said he carried out the attack after researching how to build a bomb a year ago and planned his mission for several weeks. The bomb was assembled in the past week using fragments of a metal pipe, a battery and a Christmas tree light bulb, along with the metal screws, authorities said. The defendant "had apparently hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself", Mr Kim said. He was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. He could get up to life in prison. Relatives and police said Ullah last visited his wife and newborn son in Bangladesh in September, after which he returned to the United States. Counter-terrorism officials questioned the wife and her parents before releasing her on Tuesday night, Mr Islam said, adding that investigators were currently questioning his brother-in-law and also planned to question any known close associates. Ullah's wife, Jannatul Ferdous, told ABC News in a brief interview conducted through the closed door of her home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that she had never heard her husband speak negatively of the US. She said when she spoke to him by phone the morning of the bombing, he gave no indication of what he planned to do. With a tragedy averted and a growing certainty that he acted alone, attention turned to how best secure New York City's vast public transportation system and the daunting task of identifying those eager to do it harm. The security "requires every single member of the public's help", said New York police commissioner James O'Neill. "It requires their vigilance." There also was political fallout, heightened by news that Ullah had taunted President Donald Trump on Facebook with a post that read: "Trump you failed to protect your nation". In reaction to the bombing, the president demanded a tightening of immigration rules that allowed Ullah to enter the country in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of US citizens. Less than two months ago, an Uzbek immigrant who came to the US through a visa lottery was accused of killing eight people in New York by mowing them down with a lorry along a bike path. AP Gotland is in the Baltic Sea Sweden is establishing the nation's first new military regiment since the Second World War, a unit of 350 soldiers that will be based on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. The Swedish government on Wednesday said the permanent unit will be deployed to the strategically important island's main town, Visby, during 2018. The country's defence minister Peter Hultqvist said the decision was made due to a "worsened security situation" in the Baltic Sea region, where Russia has increased military operations since its 2014 annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine involving Russian-backed separatists. Mr Hultqvist said the move means re-establishing Sweden's military presence on the island that is popular with tourists. Gotland, population 58,000, first housed an infantry regiment in 1886. The garrison was dismantled in 2005. AP Police officers stand guard next to the prison bus carrying British banker Rurik to his appeal hearing in Hong Kong (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Judges in Hong Kong are considering a British banker's appeal over his conviction for the murders of two Indonesian women. The three Court of Appeal judges on Wednesday concluded an appeal hearing for Rurik Jutting, who is serving a life sentence for the grisly killings. They listened to a day and a half of submissions from defence and prosecution lawyers, and will issue their decision at a later, unspecified date. Jutting's legal team argued that the trial judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury on deciding its verdicts. Cambridge University-educated Jutting was convicted last year by a nine-person jury of the brutal 2014 killings of Seneng Mujiasih and Sumarti Ningsih. During the trial, the court heard Jutting spent days torturing one of the victims while snorting cocaine. Jutting initially attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter but the judge rejected it, though he told jurors they could still decide on their own between finding him guilty of murder or manslaughter. The case shocked residents of Hong Kong, a Chinese financial centre with a reputation for safety, while also highlighting significant inequality and seedy aspects usually hidden from view. Jutting was working for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch while Sumarti, 23, and Seneng, 26, went to Hong Kong as foreign maids but ended up as sex workers. AP Weve seen, read, heard, mocked, prepared and attended multiple HR interviews in our career, didnt we? Remember the tough interviews you had to face? And tricky questions that made you mumble? Lets turn the tables now. How would be the interviews for the HR crew? They would certainly go through a severe selection process to reach to the position. Also, the HR management as a whole should be equipped with certain skills to shine in the role. Are you someone who is planning ahead to join the human resource management crew? Its high time you need to introspect your skills! In this quick read, we list out the nine must-have skills that will make the HR management the efficient workforce. You can also check out courses offered in HR Management by Talentedge to build your skillset in this domain. Experts in multi-tasking Consider a typical work day of the people in HRM. They are expected to switch their attention from personal issue of an employee to recruiting process to a critical job role. Every job they do is very important to someone or the other. Hence, there is no way they can be sluggish in any of the job responsibilities. Obviously, multitasking should be one of the must-have skills for an HR management in any organisation. The skill of organising HR management is a process to manage people together in the organisation. Apparently, HR management are destined to deal with the careers and life of the workforce. Hence, its very important for you to exhibit high organizational skills. You should be able to understand the team dynamics and work accordingly. Also, HR management as a whole calls for an orderly approach. The art of negotiation At the end of the day, HR managers are people who deal with different types of negotiation in the workplace. From dealing with a grumpy employee to solving the conflict between two others, negotiation skills are a must for a HR manager. Mostly, the HR manager is expected to find a solution that makes both the involved parties happy. Not an easy task many times! So start developing your negotiation skills right away! Able to communicate Communication forms the core of a successful human resource management. Period! Not only oratory skills, they should be able to put down words properly and effectively for memos and handbooks. As a HRM employee, you should be an expert in one-to-one communication as well as talking to a group. The communication tone should be compassionate with employees while convincing with the executive management. A motivational push Sometimes, the journey gets tough for the employees, and the HR managers should be skilled enough to motivate them to get back to the track. They should be recognised and appreciated to perform better. AHubspot survey points out that 78% of employees said being recognized motivates them in their job. Also, they should be able to carry out employee engagement programs. As pera survey, companies who have formalized employee engagement programs have 26% higher annual revenue growth than those who dont have formalized engagement programs. And employee disengagement costs more than $500 billion per year to the U.S. economy. Ethical and discrete It might seem a tough task. But HR managers have no escape from it. You need to be compassionate with the employees while carrying out the management policies and regulations. And you will be the store-keepers of certain confidential information related to the organization. So, you are expected to show more dedication and ethics towards the work actually. Ability to deal with tough times One fine morning you may get confused after a surprise mail from an employee on sexual harassment she faced from a senior executive in the office. It can be discrimination sometimes or dealing with an employee who skips work often. No way you can avoid such difficult mails. All you can do is be prepared to face such situations and get expert support at the right time. Executing change management We live in times of fast-paced changes in every domain. And organisations are forced to carry out change management in their structure and functioning to ensure better efficiency as per the changing requirements. The people in the HR crew take up the crucial task of ensuring smooth change management process in the organisation. That itself is a skill you need to develop. Problem solving skills Finally, last one, but not the least important, is problem solving skills. You need to deal with people from different backgrounds. And everyone wont get along with others very well in the office. Hence, the HR manager has to often put in work their problem-solving skills. That being pointed out, HR management skills are not final here. Therere more on the way and you can enrol into an online course of certificate programs to get the basics right of HR management. Head to http://talentedge.in for more such courses and build your skills in the HR domain. So, you have a business of your own? And you are confused where to start your branding activities? Well, before you get into the branding activities, its very important to understand what exactly is branding. There are lot many people among us who does not understand the concept of branding in the right way, and miss the opportunities. Branding is about creating a unique identity and image for a product in the minds of consumers, mainly using consistently themed advertising campaigns. It essentially establishes a significant, differentiated presence in the market to attract and retain loyal customers. But its more than that. Your branding activities do not end by choosing the colour, logo and designs for marketing collaterals. Also, its more than setting up and managing the social media accounts. However, all these factors form part of your branding although it does not include everything. To understand branding in its complete essence, lets consider the factors that differ marketing and branding. Marketing and branding differs! Marketing is the set of processes and tools promoting your business. This includes SEO, social media, PPC, local search, mobile, and traditional promotional methods and tools. Branding is the culture itself. It is the message that pervades and rules all the process of your business. (Source: Kissmetrics) To define it in push and pull technique, marketing is the push tactic used to actively promote a product of service. And its not branding. However,branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service. It communicatesvalues, characteristics, and attributes that clarify what a particular brand is and is not. To put it in a playful way, branding always says This is what I am about your product and service. On the other hand, marketing would say buy me explicitly. Marketing is moreover a tactical effort whereas branding requires strategic effort. In fact, marketing is a way to communicate your brand message and brand personality. Branding goes deeper than marketing. AsJames Heaton, a marketing expert puts it in his blog, marketing unearths and activates buyers. Branding makes loyal customers, advocates, even evangelists, out of those who buy. Your customers define your brand There is a common misconception that you define your brand authority. Do you think so? Better not. The fact you have created the brand does not really give you ultimate authority of it. Its your customers who define your brand. People just dont buy products. They get accustomed to the brand that are trusted and transparent and fulfils their expectation. They choose you after evaluating your brand value. That explains why you need to keep an eye on your customers expectation. As a brand marketer you should know what your customer thinks, what, how, and when they want it. You need to listen to your customer closely and thats the only way to stand out in this crowded and competitive marketplace. No one-size fits all Heres another major point to note. There is no one-size-fits-all rule applicable in branding your product. Even your competitors branding lessons will not help you. Each company is unique in its own way and so are the brands. Therell be an element of uniqueness that needs to be figured out to stand out in the market. There is no formula branding is always a customized experience. But, you can measure the success of your brand easily. What you should look at is the behaviour and the interests of your TG. How to brand it the right way? Building a brand is no walk in the park. It requires a lot of effort and attention from your end. Here go three tips to note. The purpose behind: Fundamentally, you need to answer the question of the purpose behind your business- the very core behind your business. You should have higher clarity about why you build the business and who your target audience are. The brand personality: To bring in more shape to your brand, heres the next question- what is your brand? Think how you want your brand to be accepted and understood. Determine the personality and voice of your brand. Communicate well: Once you have value and personality of your brand, you should decide how to create awareness about the brand. Your market research and analysis will help you in choosing the right methods. To conclude, branding is never a one-time activity. It requires continuous attention as its an on-going activity. Your customers will turn to be your brand ambassadors if you are branding the product the right way! Learn more about marketing and brand management with the range of courses offered by Talentedge. Check out http://talentedge.in for more details. New Delhi/ Kolkata, Dec 13 (IBNS): Energy efficiency initiatives being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) have cumulatively led to energy savings of over 3,700 crore kWh and a reduction of 3 crore tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, at the One Planet Summit in Paris, singled out the work done by EESL in the space of Energy Efficiency and called out EESL as a Star Performer. He highlighted that through the concentrated efforts of the government to push energy efficiency, the expansion of LED bulbs and tubelights will have, by mid-2019, saved up to 20 GW of electricity capacity, that would otherwise have been generated from coal. Under the Government of Indias Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme, EESL has successfully distributed over 28 crore LED bulbs, 43.9 crore LED tubelights and 14.3 lakh BEE 5-star energy efficient fans across the country. Apart from this, EESL has also retrofitted over 41 lakh street lights, illuminating over 50,000 kilometers of Indian roads under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), and has undertaken retrofitting drives in over 90 buildings as part of the Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme. Energy being saved as a result of implementation of these initiatives has resulted in reduction of over 3 crore tonnes of CO2, and is therefore equivalent to saving over 2,200 crore tonnes of coal to generate electricity. These savings translate into energy sufficiency to light up close to 70 lakh households in the country. Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, EESL's business model has incentives for all stakeholders and deliver outcomes in a time bound manner to enable more. It has the power to unlock demand in sectors, where none existed and therefore EESL is able to drive large-scale initiatives to create market for disruptive solutions. It is due to our Business Models that the international fraternity is now acknowledging our efforts in the space of Energy Conservation and mitigating Climate change. EESL aims to propel India towards meeting its growth and development goals while aligning with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce the Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030. EESL functions with the belief that it is essential to adopt a market-led approach to make efficient and future ready technology solutions accessible, affordable, and available. The company is driven by the objective of enabling more efficiency, more innovation, and more excellence towards enabling rapid adoption of these transformative solutions. It is with this objective of enabling more, that EESL has set foot in areas such as e-mobility and smart grid connectivity. The initiatives implemented by EESL are worthy of global recognition and replicability. They have demonstrated exceptional potential to save and conserve energy, which is leading to reduction in the countrys overall carbon footprint and helping make many other countries energy efficient. Washington, Dec 13 (IBNS): Scientists were already excited to learn this summer that New Horizons next flyby target a Kuiper Belt object a billion miles past Pluto -- might be either peanut-shaped or even two objects orbiting one another. Now new data hints that 2014 MU69 might have orbital company: a small moon. Thats the latest theory coming from NASAs New Horizons team, as it continues to analyze telescope data on the target of a New Years Day 2019 flyby. We really wont know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter, said New Horizons science team member Marc Buie, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, who offered an update on the analysis of MU69 Monday at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans. But even from afar, the more we examine it, the more interesting and amazing this little world becomes. The data that led to these hints at MU69s nature were gathered over six weeks in June and July, when the team made three attempts to place telescopes in the narrow shadow of MU69 as it passed in front of a star. The most valuable recon came on July 17, when five telescopes deployed by the New Horizons team in Argentina were in the right place at the right time to catch this fleeting shadow an event known as an occultation and capture important data on MU69s size, shape and orbit. That data raised the possibility that MU69 might be two like-sized objects, or whats known as a binary. The prospect that MU69 might have a moon arose from data collected during a different occultation on July 10, by NASA's airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Focused on MU69s expected location while flying over the Pacific Ocean, SOFIA detected what appeared to be a very short drop-out in the stars light. Buie said further analysis of that data, including syncing it with MU69 orbit calculations provided by the European Space Agencys Gaia mission, opens the possibility that the blip SOFIA detected could be another object around MU69. A binary with a smaller moon might also help explain the shifts we see in the position of MU69 during these various occultations, Buie added. Its all very suggestive, but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons flies by, just over a year from now. That flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration. Ancient Kuiper Belt object MU69, just discovered in 2014, is more than 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. It appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 kilometers) long, or, if a binary, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 kilometers) in diameter. Like other objects in the Kuiper Belt, MU69 offers a close-up look at the remnants of the ancient planet-building process, small worlds that hold critical clues to the formation of the outer solar system. The occultation effort that Marc Buie and his team led for New Horizons has been invaluable in opening our eyes to the very real possibilities that MU69 is both a lot more complex than anyone suspected, and that it holds many surprises for us at flyby on New Years Eve and New Years Day, 2019, added New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, also from Southwest Research Institute. The allure of its exploration is becoming stronger and stronger as we learn more and more about it. Its just fantastic! Image: NASA website Mumbai, Dec 13 (IBNS): Wow! Momo, the Kolkata-headquartered chain of fast food restaurants, is all set to open its first store in Mumbai, on Dec 15, with a bonanza of what it sells best, the 'momo'. Located in Phoenix Market City (food court, second floor) in Kurla, Wow!Momo is ready to woo Mumbaikars with five plates of 'momo' free for every every plate they buy as part of the inaugural offer. Starting from a small kiosk in Kolkata in 2008, it is through sheer enterprise and innovation that the brand has managed to expand its business. The first Mumbai restaurant happens to be the 150th one for the chain. The brand is also known for its innovative versions of the ubiquitous dumpling, including the 'chocolate momo'. Apart from Kolkata, Wow!Momo runs its branded chain of quick service restaurants in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi and Pune. Bhopal, Dec 13 (IBNS) You may have heard of 'talks', but this one was unique which was recently held at a village in Madhya Pradesh. It was held in a small NGO office with no special stage, dias, lighting effect, but was just a green board, white sheet on ground, a stool and with a DSLR camera. And yet it trended on Twitter all day. It was eight adolescents speaking about their self learning and how do they see sustainable development goals in reality in and around Itarsi in Hoshangabad, in central part of India. The talk was live on Facebook on their page titled voice of children of Madhya Pradesh, You tube and live on twitter handle @anil5. This was held in Pathrota village which falls under Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Titled as #ChalkTalk, adolescents spoke their heart out on the theme of UN SDG or United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This was undertaken on Nov 19 as part of celebration of World Children's Day part of UNICEF's theme #kidstakeover where adolescents took their 'piece' on social media. Sandeep Mehto of NGO Bharat Calling said: "Many of us may falter when we talk of SDGs on the exact numbers or what do they mean for us, but for these kids,they knew it. They are learning it by seeing them in and around their villages near Itarsi in Hoshangabad district, central part of India." "The children are exploring realities of SDGs which impact children. We are working on SDG number 3,4, 5, 6, and 12, which directly impact children and are relevant in and around us." "We with support from UNICEF Advocacy and Communication Unit has made them simple and understandable for adolescents," he said. "It is a journey in which all of us adolescents, we as NGO, UNICEF, communities and our leaders are part of it and contribute to it. "Adolescents are raising issues to leaders around us," Mehto added. The talk was titled by them as #ChalkTalk and was among top ten trends in India that day in India on twitter. This was part of work by UNICEF and Bharat Calling in Hoshangabad district to help make voices of adolescents visible. Chalk Talk children went live on social networking sites, like You Tube, Twitter, and Facebook page. Eight of these children shared issues they are working on like clean water, and sanitation, responsible consumption and gender equality. The children are termed as SDG Champions, One of the talks by SDG Champion Mohit emphasized on SDG Good health and well being. On the other side, Anamika spoke on Gender Equality and shared her experience on meeting the third gender and urged everyone to meet them at least once in their lifetime. "We were able to motivate people in the locality to get united for cleanliness and we were successful in coordination with the Municipal corporation and now we have a garbage collection van at the doorstep," she said. Excited Mehul shared his experience on Clean water and sanitation which has a strong component of leadership. In a similar way Saurabh and Shivangi spoke about different SDGs and their action program along with personal transformation. Anil Gulati, Communication Specialist, UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh who was with adolescents,who conceived this idea with the team of young people said that Chalk Talk was a platform for children to share their views on the efforts they are putting on issues which impact them and on the eve of world children's day, which talks of action by children for children. "The team consisting of designer Kokila Bhattacharya, You Tuber Akash Nema,Photographer Varun Namdev, Abhishek and Satish with adolescents who were champions, NGO Bharat Calling, and UNICEF made this happen," shared Sandeep Mehto. Jaskaran Singh, digital strategist, social media expert who supported this talk, said Bhopal or Madhya Pradesh does not trend in social media often in India, but something so simple, positive,yet powerful, from rural Madhya Pradesh, trended, which was fascinating to see. #Chalktalk rocked and hopes this will continue. New Delhi, Dec 13 (IBNS); Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party president elect Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday paid homages to those killed in militant attack while protecting the Parliament in 2001. The Congress tweeted: "Former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Congress President-Elect Rahul Gandhi pay their respects to the martyrs who died protecting the Temple of Democracy in #ParliamentAttack of 2001." Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several other MPs on Wednesday paid homage to the nation on the 16th anniversary of the Parliament attack, which occurred in 2001. Apart from Modi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress' outgoing President Sonia Gandhi, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan were seen to be present to pay the homage. The 2001 attack was carried out by Islamic terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed leading to the death of 14 people in total. Out of 14, five terrorists and six Delhi police personnel had died. The attack raised tensions between the two neigbouring leading to the standoff in 2001. Several politicians were inside the parliament, in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, when the attack took place. Prominent politician and Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani was inside the parliament when the attack occurred. Five terrorists had entered the Parliament in a car with labels of Home Ministry and Parliament to launch the attack. Image: Congress Twitter page Guwahati, Dec 13 (IBNS) : A day after the murder of a Village Defence Force President and his son by Paresh Baruah led ULFA (I) militants, suspected ultras shot dead another person in lower Assams Kokrajhar district, officials said on Wednesday. According to the reports, an armed militant group killed a person identified as Gahain Murmu in the district's Gossaigaon on Tuesday night when he was in sleep outside his house. Top police officials rushed to the area and started investigation into the incident. On December 11, at least three ULFA (I) militants dressed in army fatigue had shot dead a VDF president and his son in the Simaluguri area near Bordumsa and Kakopathar in Tinsukia district. ULFA (I) claimed responsibility for the killing and said that the two men were working as spies for the army and Assam police. Several organizations, including All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) staged protests against the murder and demanded the state Government to book the culprits immediately. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Buenos Aires/New Delhi, Dec 13 (IBNS): India's Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu met US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer following an initiative by Argentinean minister Susana Malcorra, who is also the chair of the ongoing World Trade Organisation's (WTO) 11th Ministerial Conference being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, media reported. Prabhu, according to media reports, discussed with Lighthizer the need to agree to a permanent solution on the public food stock holding issue. Earlier, at the Conference, the US refused to take any decision on the food subsidy issue thus derailing India's expectations of securing a better deal for its food security programme. According to reports, US has said it will not offer any more relaxation on food security programmes as demanded by India and China along with others. The US decision has also jeopardized the chances of finding a permanent solution for food security whose deadline is 2017 as per the Bali package. India and US were also engaged in a debate at the ongoing ministerial meeting over India's developing country status, reports said. In his meeting with Prabhu, Lighthizer is believed to have told the commerce minister that the US administration is against the WTO system and not against India per se, according to media reports. "We need to clarify our understanding of development within the WTO. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to the few, and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status. There is something wrong, in our view, when five of the six richest countries in the world presently claim developing country status," the media quoted Lighthizer as saying in his address at the plenary. Suresh Prabhu held a number of bilateral meetings too on Tuesday in Buenos Aires. He called on the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri. The two leaders held discussion on a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation. The Minister also met the Minister of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, MJohann N. Schneider-Amman. The two ministers discussed issues related to bilateral relations and ongoing negotiations on the India-EFTA. Prabhu met the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Argentina, Jorge Faurie where they discussed issues related to bilateral matters which encompass political, economic, scientific and technological cooperation. The Minister for Commerce and Industry also participated in the Business Forum: Plenary Session on Trade and Agriculture: Promoting Food Security during the WTO Ministerial Conference. During the panel discussion, Prabhu emphasised on the issue of food and nutrition security for Indias population. The Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, on Tuesday, also published the 'Statement by India at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference at Buenos Aires'. Excerpts from the Statement: "ndia has been participating in Ministerial Conference (MC)11 in good faith and in a spirit of constructive engagement. We have tried our best to engage with members in all formats. We have been proponents in several areas of work in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including public stockholding for food security purposes, agricultural Special Safeguard Mechanism, agricultural domestic support and E-commerce. We are committed to preserving and promoting the WTO and the multilateral trading system with a view to take the agreed agenda of the WTO forward. Leading up to the Ministerial and at the Ministerial itself, Indias coalition partners have remained steadfast in their support not only for a permanent solution on public stockholding but also on other issues of interest to developing countries. India was supported by over a 100 WTO member countries on all agriculture issues including our proposal to set the direction of agriculture reforms by first eliminating the most trade-distorting form of subsidies used mainly by the rich developed countries. The 53-member African Group as well as a large number of developing countries have rallied around and firmly supported us in opposing rules on E-commerce and bringing in new issues such as Investment Facilitation and MSMEs into the WTOs agenda. Today in the agriculture negotiations in Buenos Aires, a major country stated categorically that they cannot agree to any permanent solution on the public stockholding issue at MC11. This has posed a severe threat to a successful conclusion of the Conference as there was a Ministerial mandate for a permanent solution by MC11. India is surprised and deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of Members reiterating it, a major member country has reneged on a commitment made two years ago to deliver a solution of critical importance for addressing hunger in some of the poorest countries of the world. This has the potential to irreversibly damage the credibility of the WTO as a Ministerial Decision of all countries present in Nairobi has not been honoured. India continues to participate in the efforts to draft a credible Ministerial Declaration. We are firm that any Ministerial Declaration must reaffirm the principles of the multilateral trading system, the completion of the Doha Development Agenda, the centrality of development and the availability of special and differential treatment and other concerns of developing countries." Although many believe that with the US going back on a four-year-old commitment to offer a permanent solution for public stockholding, the outcome of the ongoing ministerial meet has become uncertain, others are of the opinion that ministerial host Argentina is determined for a decision and is insisting that 'failure isn't an option', according to media reports. Experts are now debating if there can be a vote without the presence of the US, something which has never happened before in the WTO. Image: WTO/Twitter New Delhi, Dec 13 (IBNS): Goh Chok Tong, Emeritus Senior Minister of Singapore, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The Prime Minister warmly recalled their long association, and congratulated Goh Chok Tong on assuming charge as the Chairman of the Governing Board of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy earlier this year. The Prime Minister welcomed the momentum imparted by the exchange of several high-level visits between India and Singapore in recent years, and appreciated the strengthening of the bilateral relationship in all sectors, including Trade & Investment, Connectivity, and Defence & Security. Modi said that Singapore has a special place in Indias Act East Policy, built on the foundation of strong India-ASEAN relationship. The Prime Minister credited Goh Chok Tong as an early and strong votary of ASEANs engagement with India. The two leaders also discussed regional and global issues of mutual interest. Guwahati, Dec 13 (IBNS): In a move to draw Centres attention to the murky development of turning the Brahmaputra water black in parts of Assam, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latters official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. In the meeting which was attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of Road Transport, Water Resources and River Development Nitin Gadkari, Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Sonowal requested Prime Minister Modi to accord utmost importance and help the state to take remedial steps. PM Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre took up the matter seriously and even engaged Central Water Commission to look into matter and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Modi also asked other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure scientific tests of the Brahmaputra water to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river water where it turned balck. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, Modi also asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Foreign Affairs Minister Swashma Swaraj maintained that her ministry took up the matter very seriously as her ministry has already contacted with China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study is being undertaken to find the real cause. Assam CM Sonowal also informed Prime Minister Modi that his State Government, following the development directed Director General of Emergency and Fire Services A.P. Rawat to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri and in pursuance to the direction Emergency and Fire Services Department, has already sent the water samples to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Even Minister of Water Resources, Government of Assam also was directed to do the needful considering the problem. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, Director IB, Rajeev Jain, Secretary Home and Secretaries from different ministries were also present at the meeting. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati, Dec 13 (IBNS): Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who vowed to end up VIP culture in the state after taking oath as the CM a year and six months back, has spent over 2.82 crore from the state exchequer for his helicopter tour and airlift expenditure in just four months, said reports. According to the reports, the state General Administration department has recently sanctioned for payment of helicopter and airlift of Rs 2,82,07,692. The documents revealed that, Rs 1,80,57,025 released to the Pawan Hans Limited for chopper rides by the Assam during the month February to May last. The state government released Rs 1,01,89,527 on Oct 21 to the Pawan Hans Ltd for chopper rides by Sarbananda Sonowal during the month February and March, 2017. A top official of the department said that, the helicopter service company was paid Rs 27,70,028 for the chopper rides by the Assam CM in the month February, 2017 and Rs 74,19,499 in March last. Apart from it, the state government also released Rs 78,67,498 on Nov 21 last to Pawan Hans Ltd for Assam CMs helicopter tour in the month May, 2017. The state government released Rs 1,01,50,667 for airlift cost to the Assam CM. The state General Administration department sanctioned the airlift payment by issuing order No CAG (A)136/2016/175 on Nov 13 last. The top official said that, the amount was released in nine bills in the name of Air Head Quarter firm. It is to be mentioned that, the Assam CM took initiative to end up VIP culture in the state after he took oath as the CM and also ordered his colleagues and government officials to reduce tour expenditure. Assams former Chief Minister Tarun Googi had spent over Rs 8.97 crore from the state exchequer as his helicopter tour expenditure in his last tenure. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati, Dec 13 (IBNS): The troops of Assam Rifles apprehended three NSCN-K militants in Nagaland on Wednesday, officials said. Officiating PRO, HQ IGAR (North) Lt Col Angshuman Chakrabarti said that, based on intelligence input the troops of 5 Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) conducted an operation based in jungles near general area old Phuyetu village in Zunheboto district and nabbed three NSCN-K militants. The nabbed militants were identified as self styled chairman, Sumi region Nitoi Sumi, Khatoho Achumi and Vikheho Awomi. Security personnel recovered one 5.56 mm A-1 Rifle with magazine, 84 rounds of 5.56 mm caliber, one ammunition pouch, 74 non local blank identity cards, one tax collection booklet with seven counter foils and 11 leaves, 21 NSCN/GPRN-K letter head pads, one vehicle registration certificate of Bajaj Discover (NL-07 J 7910), one Govt of Nagaland identity card issued by SDO, Electrical, Akuluto, three mobile phones and an unsigned hand written demand letter addressed to Executive Engineer, Irrigatin and Flood control department, Zunheboto in possession from them. Later, the apprehended militants along with the recoveries were handed over to Zunheboto Police Station. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Kabul, Dec 13 (IBNS) : An explosion ripped through the residence of a local Taliban leader in eastern Laghman province of Afghanistan leaving at least four people dead or wounded. Local Khaama press quoted the statement issued byh the media office of the provincial government as saying that the incident took place early on Monday in the Badpakh district. The statement further added that a number of insurgents were busy preparing Improvised Explosive Devices when the incident took place. The deputy shadow district chief of the group Abduul Samad was killed along with a IED maker Pacha Khan in the explosion, the provincial government said. According to the statement, at least two others including the son of Abdul Samad were wounded in the explosion. The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far. Ottawa, Dec 13 (IBNS): The Liberals and the New Democrats have voted in favour of the Marijuana Act, to be effective from July 1, 2018, in Ontario, media reports said. The Act has been passed by a voting margin of 63 to 27. The Progressive Conservatives have opposed to the act. Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city will funding in policing, social servicing and zoning environment. "I will be looking to recover all of our costs once we calculate them" he was quoted by Toronto Star. The House of Commons in Canada has already been cleared the marijuana bill, brought by the federal government, as the country is heading towards the legalisation of weed consumption by next year, media reports said. The passage of the bill in the House enables the federal government to move an inch closer towards their aim to legalise marijuana from next summer. The bill has been passed in the House by a voting margin of 183-99. Some of the provinces even stated they are not yet ready to legalise marijuana. Apart from legalising, the federal government has also decided to make an age of majority to use recreational marijuana and also to decide on the retail network of stores where the marijuana could be sold. However, youth in possession of cannabis will not be criminalised from henceforth. But any car driver or passenger will not be allowed to consume cannabis. On the other hand, IBNS has received a mixed reaction towards the legalisation of the cannabis in Canada. Police chiefs across the country are divided over the legalisation of the cannabis. Some advocacy groups are even debating over the matter. IBNS learnt that some of the advocacy groups even opine that the legalisation, perhaps, is too early for the country. The federal government in Canada is set to launch an ad-campaign to create awareness over drug-impaired driving, with few months to go for the legalisation of recreational marijuana in the country, media reports said. The government will launch the ads which will go on air via television, radio and also online. The ads will also be seen in the movie theatres. The ads will be seen on billboards and other public spaces as well. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale will unveil the series of advertisements on Tuesday. Goodale said recently, as has been reported by CTV News, that the young generation, particularly between ages 16 and 24, believes driving after having cannabis is more socially acceptable than drive being drunk. Image: Creative Commons Toronto, Dec 13 (IBNS): Ontario is adding new child care spaces to nearly 200 schools across Ontario to give relief to parents in Toronto who are reported to be paying on an average at $1,758 a month, which is the most expensive child care option in Canada, for all age groups. "A young middle-income family living in Toronto with an infant and a three-year-old would be faced with a monthly bill of almost $3,000 (or $36,000 a year) for regulated child care," reported Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) -- one of Canadas leading sources of progressive policy ideas rooted in the values of social justice and environmental sustainability -- and that's "if they were able to find a space." Toronto reportedly led the way with a median price of $1,354 for full-day care in spite of the fact that since 201213 a number of licensed child care spaces in Ontario increased by 32 percent. As part of a five-year commitment, Ontario is reportedly investing $231 million across the province in 201718 to fund almost 500 new child care rooms at 188 schools across the province which would create 45,000 new licensed child care spaces in schools, communities and other public spaces for more than 8,400 children and their families to have high-quality licensed care in a safe, convenient setting so that more women could pursue their careers, It will also reduce the gender wage gap. Mitzie Hunter, Ontario Minister of Education, stated that Ontarios schools are places "where communities come together to grow and thrive." "By integrating more licensed child care spaces into schools, we are building a stronger education system that supports students and their families from the earliest years onward, the minister said. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, who was with Indira Naidoo-Harris, Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care, at Santa Maria Catholic School in Toronto to announce funding for 2017-18, said: "One of the biggest sources of stress young families tell me about is finding and affording quality child care. If you cant get child care, you dont know when youll be able to go back to work." "Thats not fair, and it is up to government to step up and do something about it. Thats what our plan does and why we are moving so quickly to build new child care rooms at hundreds of schools all over Ontario. Wynne was quoted in media. Additionally, the province is increasing operating funding and subsidies to help more children aged 0-4 years access quality child care. In June, Ontario released its Renewed Early Years and Child Care Policy Framework and Expansion Plan, outlining a vision for a high-quality, inclusive and affordable child care system. Creating more licensed child care spaces in schools is key to building an early years and child care system that is seamless and accessible for families in Ontario. These school-based spaces support young children and their families with access to affordable, high-quality care closer to home. By investing in our children's early years, we are giving them a strong start in life and building a strong future for all of us, Indira Naidoo-Harris, Ontario's Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care, told media. (Reporting by Asha Bajaj) Markets end the day in red It was a day in red for Indian equity markets, today. Nifty 50 ended, down by 65.75 points. Sensex ended, down by 230.12 points. Top Gainers today were Tata Consumer, Adani Enterprises and L&am... November 17, 2022 | 17-11-2022 3:42 pm Bangalore Airport IPO could be valued at ~$3.7 Billion As per the reports of various news publications, Fairfax India Holdings Limited is considering the initial public offer for Bangalore International Airport. It could value the asset of the airp... November 17, 2022 | 17-11-2022 2:59 pm Timken India to set up new manufacturing facility at Bharuch, Gujarat; Stock hits 52-week high Timken India Ltd stock hits 52-week high on Thursday after it has announced that new manufacturing facility will be set up at Bharuch, Gujarat to manufacture Spherical Roller Bearings ('SR... November 17, 2022 | 17-11-2022 2:41 pm Tata Motors bags supply order of 1,000 buses to Haryana Roadways Tata Motors on Thursday has announced that it has bagged a prestigious order of 1000 buses from Haryana Roadways. The Company will supply the 52-seater fully built BS6 diesel buses i... November 17, 2022 | 17-11-2022 1:55 pm Ind Ra assigns Biocon credit rating at 'IND AA+' with Stable outlook India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has assigned Biocon Ltd a Long-Term Issuer Rating of IND AA+. The Outlook is Stable. Further, the proposed commercial paper ratings ass... November 17, 2022 | 17-11-2022 1:07 pm Ground water and surface water is held in trust by the state By David GanjeNative Sun News Today Columnist We used to do things for posterity, now we do things for ourselves and leave the bill to posterity. Author unknown. Signs of this attitude are seen in the current and historical misuse (and mismanagement) of the states waters. Both groundwater and surface waters of the state are held in trust by the government for the benefit of the citizens of the state. Waters of the state are affected by CAFOs (Confined Animal Feedlot Operations) . CAFOs are governed by South Dakota law as well as local county ordinances. In this opinion piece I will show how state and county governments have dropped the ball regarding CAFO regulations. CAFOs can affect both groundwater and surface waters. I discuss in this piece requirements for financial responsibility of a CAFO, and how that can affect the waters of the state. This piece is not a conversation on the pros and cons of a CAFO or of its economic efficiencies. The purpose of "financial assurance" is to secure the testing and replacement of any potentially contaminated wells and water within areas near a CAFO, and to ensure proper closure of a CAFO should the operator elect to close or should the closure occur for some other reason. Oklahoma by way of example has a financial assurance requirements which are reasonably fair from both the operators and the publics perspective. Why require financial assurance of a business which affects the environment? There are plenty of examples of businesses shutting down and not cleaning up after themselves. South Dakota requires financial assurance terms for oil well permits, for mining operations, for sand and gravel permits, for wind turbines, but not for CAFOs. This noticeable absence of financial terms is also followed by counties who hold legal authority over CAFOs. Consider the current status of surface water in the state. This is from the states official 2016 assessment of surface water quality: Currently, 21.3% of the assessed stream miles fully support all assigned beneficial uses; a decrease from 30.6% in the 2014 Integrated Report. 78.7% do not presently support one or more uses. The high percentage of impairment can be attributed largely to high levels of TSS, E. coli, and fecal coliform bacteria. Although the rationale supporting this quote from the state does not delineate between waters, I submit that the denigrated state of surface waters quoted applies to state as well as surface waters in Indian Country. Groundwater is also put at risk by CAFO operations. In a 2006 study in Idaho samples from six private wells formerly used as sources for drinking water by the residents of a nearby CAFO were collected to assess the impact on the quality of the local groundwater. The samples were found contaminated by antimicrobials and also contained elevated concentrations of nitrate and ammonium. It is telling that South Dakota requires monitoring wells for 96 CAFOs. My concern is practical. To whom do the neighbors turn if a CAFO cannot clean up contamination at the closure of its operations? Discussing a CAFO Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Indiana, a local newspaper reported, If a CAFO ceases operations, the state of Indiana apparently has no way to ensure an environmental cleanup because the state does not require owners/operators of CAFOs to provide financial assurance for closure. What happens in an abandonment of the operation, in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filing, or in a closure when the operation has no capital? How does an agency hold such an operator responsible for clean up? In this arena state and local governments have indeed dropped the ball. Both state and counties have broad jurisdiction over writing CAFO laws and regulations. Both write and oversee permitting. The difference between state and county jurisdiction is not as important as the fact that they fail to deal correctly with an exit plan, also known as financial assurance, for CAFOs. Copyright permission Native Sun News Today Join the Conversation Just about five months ago, National award winner and TV-film actress Neena Gupta took to Instagram to ask for work. Oh god jawani A post shared by Neena Gupta (@neena_gupta) on Jul 18, 2014 at 9:37am PDT In a heart-warming and graceful post, Neena wrote, "I live in Mumbai and working am a good actor looking for good parts to play." Just to jog your memory a little, Neena has been active in the industry for more than three decades and has some of the most incredibly memorable roles to her credit. However, stating that filmmakers and producers stopped casting her after she got married, in an interview she said, Happy diwali A post shared by Neena Gupta (@neena_gupta) on Oct 19, 2017 at 10:33am PDT Everybody thinks that after my marriage, I have moved to Delhi and I dont work anymore. So, I get so put off and then I see so many roles being offered to other actors of my age. But internet yet again has played its part perfectly and Neena has signed a film, about which she posted on Instagram yesterday. Thand gandgi lamba safar per looking forward to my new film A post shared by Neena Gupta (@neena_gupta) on Dec 12, 2017 at 8:53am PST These are the stories that make our hearts happy and make us believe that when there's a will, there's surely a way. Isn't it? #mera wo mat lab Mahi tha A post shared by Neena Gupta (@neena_gupta) on Jul 5, 2015 at 9:25pm PDT Neena was last seen in a short film, Khujli, with actor Jackie Shroff. We wish you all the best and more power to you, Neena! When Ed Sheeran visited India for a concert, Bollywood stars organised lavish parties. Going by the pictures, it seemed that the pop star was trapped in the filmy setting. Indian film fraternity was seemingly star-struck and the poor thing posed like he was forced to party with them all. Camera shy, he could be. (Also Read: Pics Of Ed Sheeran Being Forced To Party With A Bunch Of People He Doesn't Know Are Embarrassing) Nonetheless, on the other side, when Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry had come to India, she had switched to her incognito mode. She was roaming around the Mumbai streets and nobody recognised her. During her time in India, she met with actress Dia Mirza, who became the UN Goodwill Environment Ambassador for India recently, to discuss some serious environmental issue including climate change. bizasialive.com (Also Read: Oscar-Winning Actress Halle Berry Was Roaming On The Streets Of Mumbai & No One Recognised Her) The former Miss Asia-Pacific recently explained how it was to meet and bond with her over climate change. Dia called her meeting as remarkable. We talked about a lot of things... how, as actors, we have powerful voices that can lead to social change, and how we are blessed with the opportunity to make a positive social impact. We also spoke about how, as actors, we are capable of doing so much more than just acting, she was quoted as saying at an event by Hindustan Times. The world is getting smaller and girls are owning their place. @ananya_birla and I with the most amazing @halleberry today! What a warm, intelligent, gracious woman India loves you Halle! Cant wait to have you back. It was such a joy speaking with you! pic.twitter.com/qdcW0ILW5B Dia Mirza (@deespeak) November 9, 2017 We discussed the ridiculousness of certain political leaders who refuse to believe that climate change is real It was remarkable to have a conversation like that with someone [from] across the globe who has such an extraordinary body of work. We both agreed that our profession has given us the chance to pursue a life of diversity, which gives us access to different growth aspects, she added. Halle Berry came to India with no pre-publicity and her meeting with Dia Mirza was also kept under wraps. It was only revealed after she posted pictures with her on Instagram. (Also Read: After Mumbai, Oscar-Winning Actress Halle Berry Is Visiting Kerala For Ayurvedic Treatment) The next innings of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's personal life has begun and the next few months look packed. The couple who tied the knot in Tuscany, Italy on 11th December is reportedly in Rome currently for their honeymoon. Twitter According to latest reports, Virat Kohli will be in South Africa for the next two months for the matches and Anushka too will be there to celebrate the new year with him. However, Anushka is expected to return back to India in January because of her professional commitments. Viral Bhayani After coming back to Mumbai, Anushka will move into the new swanky apartment that was purchased by Virat Kohli in 2016. (Also read: Virat Kohli Sang 'Mere Mehboob' For Anushka And Other Highlights From Virushka's Grand Tuscany Wedding!) Instagram/Sabyasachi Located in a luxury residential project in Worli, Mumbai, the apartment that is 8,000 sq ft flat costs approximately Rs 34 crore. Omkar Realtors Website The apartment comes with four parking slots and this 5 BHK is a part of the Sky Bungalows project, located on the 35th floor of an upcoming tower in Worli, Mumbai. Describing the new abode, reports claim, Omkar Realtors Website The project has flats on bare shell Bespoke model, which means the flats can be designed as per the owners style and taste. The builder offers only a floor, with no columns in between. Its like a playground and the owner can make anything inside. One can have any size of bedroom to a king size hall or a study, a source from the builders office was quoted as saying, according to a Mid-Day report. Yes, this is how a real-life fairytale looks like. After North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un Called Trump 'Old Lunatic', US President tweeted that he would never call Kim Jong-Un short and fat'. The war of words between the US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart intensified after Trump responded to his comment calling him 'an old lunatic'. Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017 On Saturday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry in an official statement had called Trump "a reckless and an old lunatic". AFP The statement had come in the backdrop of Trump's trip to Asia, which was termed "a warmonger's trip to instigate a confrontation with North Korea." The statement said, "Reckless remarks by an old lunatic like Trump will never scare us or stop our advance. On the contrary, all this makes us surer that our choice to promote economic construction at the same time as building up our nuclear force is all the more righteous, and it pushes us to speed up the effort to complete our nuclear force." In the past, the duo is known for their poor choice of words for addressing each other. reuters In September this year, while addressing the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly session, Trump mocked Kim Jong Un by calling him "rocket man" and threatened to "totally destroy" the Korean nation. "Rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime," Trump had said. In response, Kim released a statement where he referred the threat as "frightened dog bark louder" and called Trump "the mentally deranged US dotard" who will "pay dearly" for his threats. The statement went on to call Trump "a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire." Within days, Trump responded to a tweet where he called the supreme leader "a madman" who is responsible for killing millions of people in this country. Well, this war of words is surely funny and this is how Twitterati have reacted to it: On behalf of all of us decent Americans who are disgusted by Donald Trump, Im truly sorry for what our country has become. Kaitlyn (@DonaldsNeckVag) November 12, 2017 What a president.. Jonathan (@Jonathan_62313) November 12, 2017 You say you don't care, yet you still replied... Aisling (@foxmaiden) November 12, 2017 But you are 'OLD'. jinu (@clingyjinwoo) November 12, 2017 Sholays Gabbar Singh is one of the iconic characters hindi film lovers have ever seen. Played by Amjad Khan, the character modeled on a real-life dacoit of the same name who had menaced the villages of Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s. Ganesh Prasad, a resident of Ashokapuram in Mysuru, has become talk of the town after his photos imitating Gabbar Singh have gone viral. Armed with a single-barrel gun, Ganesh, clad in a red shirt, roams around the town. bangaloremirror According to reports, the photo shoot was done on Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway. Ganesh was trolled on social media for breaking the law by showing off a gun in public places. This is not the first time that Ganesh has been spotted with his licensed gun. Residents of Ashokapuram say Ganesh allegedly opened fire in the air last September, creating frenzy in the area. According to residents, he had been warned many times, but all that did have little or no effect on the self-styled Gabbar. Humanism in Puerto Rico: A Light of Reason in the Isle of Enchantment Date: Sunday, December 17, 2017 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Event Type: Speaker Organizer/Author: Debbie Allen Location Details: Humanist House is located at 1180 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110. Heading north on Coleman Ave, turn right and park in back, or on Aviation Ave., behind the property. Or take Caltrain, or 22/522 buses on El Camino, to Santa Clara Caltrain station; take the 10 bus east to Coleman at Brokaw, cross Coleman and walk south. Humanism in Puerto Rico: a Light of Reason in the Isle of Enchantment Today's presentation will cover the history of Puerto Rico's church and state debates since the Paris Treaty to the present. From its cultural ingrained Catholicism to its mixture with Santeria and other pagan traditions, Puerto Rico has a particularly rich variety of traditions that have shaped its present melting pot. And now that a fervent religious right has more politicians in power than ever, this is also a hopeful story of how effective secular humanism can be in shaping the debate and protecting human rights. Antonio Jose Torres graduated from the University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras where he studied economics and accounting. He has been active in the secular movement and did legal research as well as the treasury for Humanistas Seculares de Puerto Rico before moving to California in 2016. Having gone from fervent conspiracy theory believer to skeptic, he discusses some of the most common struggles that millennials are facing in the island between faith and reason. Lectures are free and open to the public. Crosswinds Weighing On the Tape Blue Line Futures - 3 minutes ago Actionable ideas and risk management for Gold, Silver, and metals . . . The Door Lower Is Open Blue Line Futures - 4 minutes ago Actionable ideas and risk management for Crude Oil and more . . . Reining In Expectations Blue Line Futures - 5 minutes ago Actionable ideas and risk management for ES, NQ, RTY, rates, and more . . . Shootin' the Bull about recession Swift Trading Company - 9 minutes ago Cattle futures were higher today. Not much has changed that I can see or foresee. I am not anticipating any surprises in the on feed report. I think every one knows there are fewer cattle placed... Dollar Gains on Hawkish Fed Comments Barchart - 40 minutes ago The dollar index (DXY00 ) on Thursday rose by +0.36%. The dollar rose Thursday on comments from St. Louis Fed President Bullard, who said interest rates need to increase further to reach a restrictive... DXY00 : 106.642 (+0.34%) ^EURUSD : 1.03679 (-0.25%) ^USDJPY : 140.175 (+0.46%) GCZ22 : 1,763.1 (-0.72%) SIZ22 : 20.990 (-2.48%) Nat-Gas Pushes Higher on a Smaller Build of Weekly Supplies and Cold U.S. Temps Barchart - 1 hour ago Dec Nymex natural gas (NGZ22 ) on Thursday closed up +0.169 (+2.73%). Dec nat-gas Thursday posted moderate gains. Nat-gas prices rose Thursday after weekly EIA inventories rose less than expected. The... NGF23 : 6.742 (+2.04%) Crude Sharply Lower on Dollar Strength and Rising China Covid Infections Barchart - 1 hour ago Dec WTI crude oil (CLZ22 ) on Thursday closed down by -3.95 (-4.62%), and Dec RBOB gasoline (RBZ22 ) closed down by -5.33 (-2.13%). Crude oil and gasoline prices Thursday sold off sharply, with crude... CLF23 : 81.76 (-3.81%) RBF23 : 2.4036 (-2.28%) Cattle Commentary Walsh Trading - 1 hour ago Cattle futures rallied today with the Cattle on Feed report coming out tomorrow. The February contract finished a dollar and fifteen high, settling at 155.40 on the day. The Feb contract had 3 consecutive... It adds new members to growing health line-up Clyde & Co, the global law firm with a strong focus on insurance, has unveiled an in-house data analytics lab, whose staff will include students from the computer science department of University College London (UCL). Also manning the lab are Clyde & Co legal, data science, and strategy personnel.An initiative led by partner Mark Wing and the global law firms innovation board, the lab will be instrumental in exploring product development for next year by using data analysis along with machine learning tools. Clyde & Co said initial projects include predicting fraudulent activity in relation to claims.A large part of the value that law firms provide to their clients is the knowledge and expertise of their lawyers, explained Wing. As a global firm we have heaps of knowledge but the question we always challenge ourselves with is how we harness it as quickly and efficiently as we can for our clients.Because much of our knowledge is stored as data, having a data analytics lab provides us with another mechanism for unlocking insight, value, and solutions for our clients. We think there is great potential in this project and we are delighted to be able to work with the leaders in their field at UCL.Clyde & Cos core global sectors are insurance, trade & commodities, energy, transport, and infrastructure. In September it launched a consultancy to advise clients on aspects related to smart contracts, blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies. Alliants ongoing growth campaign in the Eastern U.S. is continuing with the addition of Senior Vice President Devin E. Blazier. The New Jersey-based industry veteran has joined the companys Alliant Americas division with technical expertise in professional liability, group captives, workers compensation, loss control and complex inland marine programs. In his new role, Blazier will work to grow the companys presence in a range of industry segments and provide product knowledge to its growing team in the Eastern region, said Bob Bennetsen, executive vice president and senior managing director of Alliant Americas, in a company press release. Blazier joins Alliant with experience providing risk and insurance services to clients across a range of industries, including not-for-profit, higher education, retail, engineering, manufacturing, transportation and healthcare. With 28 years of industry experience, Blazier has the ability to combine energy, innovation and service to deliver products and services that strengthen his clients bottom line, according to the release. Prior to joining Alliant, Blazier was senior vice president within the New Jersey office of a national insurance and financial services organization, where he serviced a large regional client portfolio as a relationship manager and primary point of contact. Alliant Americas provides midsized businesses with targeted insurance, risk management and consulting services. As a middle-market platform with offices throughout the U.S., Alliant Americas delivers a range of products and services that are regionally focused. Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., Alliant Insurance Services Inc. provides property and casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, surety and financial products and services to clients nationwide, including public entities, tribal nations, healthcare, energy, law firms, real estate, construction and other industry groups. Source: Alliant Topics USA New Jersey Alliant Brit Ltd., the London-based specialty insurer and reinsurer, has launched a Bermuda-domiciled collateralized reinsurance platform, Sussex Capital. Sussex Capital, through Sussex Re, a newly established Bermuda-domiciled special purpose insurer, will write direct collateralized reinsurance while also providing collateralized reinsurance to Brits reinsurance portfolio. Sussex Capital is planning a Jan. 1, 2018 launch with an expected initial capacity of US$100 million. We are excited to launch Sussex Capital and further enhance Brits client and broker proposition with Sussex Re writing direct collateralized reinsurance, commented Matthew Wilson, CEO, Brit. Sussex Capital is the next step in Brits strategy to build long term relationships with the capital markets, said Brit CFO Mark Allan. Sussex Capital will complement Versutus, Brits existing Bermuda-domiciled special purpose insurer, further strengthening Brits reinsurance capability and access to a diversified source of capital to support property catastrophe risk, he added. Source: Brit Ltd. Related: Topics Reinsurance Liberty Specialty Markets said it planned to redomicile its UK insurance company to Luxembourg, as a result of Britains decision to leave the European Union. Below are insurers plans for EU subsidiaries (in alphabetical order) in case Britain does not have access to the single market after Brexit: ADMIRAL. British motor insurer Admiral Group said last year that it could move its European business to Ireland or another country and said in March that it was looking at a large number of locations. ADVENT CLAIMS. Advent Claims said it had partnered with pan-European claims specialist Van Ameyde, helping the company establish European operations to sell its services in the EU, in one of the first examples of a claims firm planning post-Brexit operations. AIG. U.S. insurer AIG will set up a European subsidiary in Luxembourg, in addition to its European headquarters in London, it said in March. AIOI NISSAY DOWA. Japanese insurer Aioi Nissay Dowa, part of MS&AD Insurance, said it would set up a European subsidiary in Luxembourg after Britain decided to leave the EU. (http://bit.ly/2zY62ZA) AVIVA. Aviva is converting its Irish life and general insurance branches to regulated subsidiaries to meet the needs of its Irish insurance customers after Brexit. BEAZLEY. Specialist insurer Beazley said it had received approval to convert its Dublin-based reinsurance company into an insurance company. The firm had said in February that it would hire additional staff in Ireland. BRITANNIA. British ship insurer Britannia plans to set up a subsidiary in Luxembourg as a result of Britains decision to leave the European Union, to ensure it can continue to trade in Europe. CHAUCER. Specialist insurance group Chaucer, part of Hanover Insurance Group, said the Central Bank of Ireland has approved the formation of a Dublin-based company that will trade as Chaucer Dublin to write international speciality insurance and reinsurance business. (http://bit.ly/2tXaJ2i) CHESNARA. UK insurer Chesnara could move its headquarters to the Netherlands or Sweden if required, depending on the regulatory situation after Britain leaves the European Union, the company said. CHUBB. U.S. insurer Chubb plans to put its European Union headquarters in Paris if Britain leaves the EU as expected in March 2019, it said on Sept. 11. CNA HARDY. CNA Hardy, part of CNA Financial Corp, will set up a new European subsidiary in Luxembourg to allow it to operate across the EU after Britain leaves the bloc, the specialist commercial insurer said. EVEREST RE. Everest Re Group Ltd said its Dublin-based unit had received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to become a non-life insurer, allowing it to operate in the European Union under a single regulatory framework. FM GLOBAL. U.S. commercial property insurer FM Global is planning a European hub in Luxembourg following Britains decision to leave the bloc, it said in April. GLOBAL AEROSPACE. UK insurer Global Aerospace is setting up a European Union subsidiary in Paris to make sure it can continue to serve customers after Britain leaves the bloc, the firms chief executive told Reuters. HISCOX. Lloyds of London underwriter Hiscox will establish a new subsidiary in Luxembourg to underwrite its retail business in Europe, it said in May. JLT. Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group said it would continue to invest and expand on the ground in Europe so that it remains fully equipped to serve its clients. It said its acquisition of Belgian specialty broker Belgibo NV would provide it with a larger continental European presence, ensuring that its clients in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway can access its services after Britain leaves the bloc. LANCASHIRE. Lancashire said in May that it has options to write EU business out of its Bermuda headquarters or via Lloyds of Londons Brussels base. The insurer added it was in no hurry to set up an EU base and saw itself staying in Britain for the foreseeable future. LEGAL & GENERAL. British insurer Legal & General said in May that it would move some of its investment management operations to Ireland to ensure it can continue to serve its customers after Brexit. LIBERTY SPECIALTY MARKETS. Liberty Specialty Markets, part of U.S. insurer Liberty Mutual, which had revenues of $38 billion last year, and one of the largest U.S. property and casualty insurers, said it was switching the domicile of its insurance company to Luxembourg from London. It announced its intention for a Luxembourg hub in July. LLOYDS OF LONDON. Lloyds of London, an integral part of the British business scene since the 17th century, has chosen Brussels as the site for its EU subsidiary, it said in March. CEO Inga Beale said in December that the insurance market was pressing ahead with plans for the subsidiary. MARKEL. U.S. insurer Markel plans to apply for regulatory approval to set up a European Union subsidiary in Munich, it said in May. MS AMLIN. Japanese-owned insurer and reinsurer MS Amlin said it would move its European business to Belgium to make sure it can continue to serve customers after Britain leaves the European Union. NEON. Neon Underwriting could set up a Dublin business to sell insurance policies throughout the EU if Britain loses access to the single market, chief executive of the specialist Lloyds of London insurer said in December. NORTH. British ship insurer North is setting up a subsidiary in Dublin in case Britain loses access to the single market after Brexit, becoming the first of these specialized providers to announce such a move. QBE. QBE Insurance Group will set up a subsidiary in Brussels to preserve its ability to operate across the EU, the Australian business insurer said. ROYAL LONDON. British life insurer Royal London Mutual Insurance Society plans to turn its Irish business into a regulated subsidiary, it said in March. RSA. RSA is planning a subsidiary in Luxembourg to act as the headquarters of its EU operations after Britains decision to leave the bloc. It said it chose Luxembourg because it has multinational expertise, is strategically located within RSAs existing EU branch network and has an experienced regulator. SOMPO. Sompo International Holdings, a Bermuda-based unit of Japanese insurer Sompo, is to set up a subsidiary in Luxembourg following Britains vote to leave the European Union. STANDARD CLUB. British ship insurer Standard Club is setting up a new European Union subsidiary in Dublin in case Britain loses access to the single market after Brexit, becoming the second of these specialized providers to opt for Ireland. STANDARD LIFE. British insurer and asset manager Standard Life said in May that it was likely to choose Dublin for its EU hub. TOKIO MARINE. Tokio Marine is applying for regulatory approval to set up an insurance company in Luxembourg to continue servicing European clients after Brexit, it said on Sept. 6. UK P&I CLUB. Specialist ship insurer UK P&I Club plans to set up a subsidiary in the Netherlands as a result of Britains decision to leave the European Union. XL GROUP. Bermuda-domiciled insurer XL Group said it would move its European Union insurance company from Britain to Ireland in 2018. (Compiled by Noor Zainab Hussain and Carolyn Cohn; editing by David Evans and Susan Fenton) Topics Carriers USA Legislation Excess Surplus Europe Lloyd's London Uk The aging U.S. population will create unprecedented demand for the senior living industry for decades to come and that opens the door for agents and brokers to grow their business in this sector. But understanding the changing landscape in the complex long-term care and senior living market is critical, according to insurance experts in this field. From a specialization standpoint, knowledge is the best tool to finding success in this market, says Bruce Dmytrow, vice president, aging services and national programs, healthcare, at CNA. Knowledge is helpful when speaking with senior care facility leadership teams and the boards of directors. Its where you can truly add value by knowing the segment, knowing the risks, knowing the underwriting challenges, knowing the models of care, [and] knowing the trends that are happening. It gives you more credibility. Agents and brokers dont have to be experts, but they should have a solid understanding of whats going on in the healthcare industry, says Caroline Clouser, executive vice president, for Chubb Healthcare. Whether its the ongoing repeal-and-replace efforts [for the Affordable Care Act] or the CMS guidelines [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services], agents really need to showcase their understanding of the emerging topics related to risk and we can help them to do that. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, when the last of the baby boomers reach age 65 in 2029, the boomer population will represent more than 20 percent of the total U.S. population, numbering nearly 60 million people. And about 70 percent of that 65-plus population including many people with cognitive impairment disorders requires some form of long-term care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Growth in the senior living industry tracks closely with the older adult population in the United States in recent years, according to Argentum, a national trade association serving companies in senior living communities. In a report titled, Getting to 2025: A Senior Living Roadmap, published in 2016, Argentum wrote that between 2001 and 2014, the number of senior living communities increased 39 percent. During the same period, the U.S. population aged 85 and older rose 43 percent. As a result of the similar growth rates, the number of senior living communities as a proportion of the senior population has been relatively steady. Argentum predicts that the number of senior living establishments will grow to 29,700 facilities, an increase of 21 percent since 2014. The number of seniors 85 years old or older will also increase by 21 percent, Argentum predicted, to more than 7.5 million people, up from 6.2 million in 2014. Challenges Ahead While the demand for services is leading to an expansion in the number of senior living facilities there are challenges that insurance providers must solve in todays healthcare industry. CNAs Dmytrow suggests that to solve those challenges, insurance specialists must first understand the industry. Understand the litigation environment in the geographic areas you will serve. Know the trends that are happening, both from a risk standpoint and from a standpoint of what new services are being offered by the facilities, he said. (See, Liability Costs Continue to Rise, below) The long-term care industry is facing other challenges as well. We are experiencing more individuals or seniors who want to age in their homes. As this trend continues, some facilities are expanding to be able to provide additional services, including home care, which differentiates organizations and changes their risk profile, Dmytrow said. Declining federal reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid are also taking a toll on long term care facilities. The reimbursement levels definitely arent going up but the cost and the overall expenses of running these facilities are, said Don Tejeski, senior vice president, AmWINS Brokerage of Pennsylvania. Not all costs have been going up. The insurance capacity has been so plentiful in this space and so cheap that it has allowed operators to still operate profitably in a time of cuts to their reimbursement, said Matthew Wasta, vice president for AmWINS Program Underwriters. They can cut on services and staff and if something goes wrong, theyve got [insurance] cheap protection in place to help them. But things are changing, Wasta said. Its going to become a real issue for operators that dont run their businesses well, he said. Theyre looking at Medicare and Medicaid cuts and theyre not going to be able to get that cheap [insurance] protection any longer, especially in the tougher venues. Thats going to be a big change for them. Its going to be interesting to see how a decrease in federal reimbursements will affect the market, Dmytrow said. Another area causing concern for underwriters and facilities is the talent crunch. Attracting, developing, and retaining talent is one of the biggest challenges facing senior living communities today. That challenge will be intensified by the industrys expected future growth and cuts to federal reimbursement, Dmytrow said. As the industry continues to grow and change, it is paramount that staff turnover is minimized and new talent is recruited. Adequate staffing is critical for proper risk management, noted Clouser. We look at staffing ratios as well as management objectives to keep and retain talent in the underwriting process, she said. This [type of work] is not something that machines can take over. We need people, and well-trained people, plus good compensation to retain the top talent. Wasta said while staffing is an expensive line item in operational costs, quality staff can save an organization from being hit with costly lawsuits. From my perspective, so much of risk management comes down to staffing levels, Wasta said. My advice to agents would be to have their insureds focus on staffing. A common plan of attack from plaintiff lawyers is to argue that they didnt have enough staff, especially if its a for-profit entity. Making sure that their staffing levels meet or exceed the state averages, at least, is critical. Another important risk management tip: document properly. Documentation is another key to preventing a loss, Wasta adds. When a claim is filed, if its not staff, the plaintiff lawyer often goes after holes in the documentation. They cant prove that they actually did adhere to best practices if its not documented. Disaster Preparedness When addressing senior living facility operators, agents should offer assistance with disaster preparedness plans. Agents can help their clients develop the plan together with their insurance carrier partners, Chubbs Clouser said. One recent requirement is the new federal regulation from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that went into effect on Nov. 15, 2017. The rule requires that providers comply with and implement regulations under the Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers. Clouser says an emergency preparedness plan must have four main elements: A comprehensive communication plan.This is a clear communication guideline to be used to interact with staff, other providers, families, and emergency services during the storm and after the storm, Clouser said. A list of all the facility details is key. An evacuation plan. This plan includes information about transportation, shelter, staffing of the evacuation and how everythings going to work. Contracts. This includes all contract information between the facility and thee receiving facility during a disaster. Thats all the vendors to transport, law enforcement, fire, all emergency management services involved in the evacuation. Documentation and Drill. The plan requires documentation of each of those plans as well as different preparedness drills around the plans. Facilities that fail to comply with these new emergency preparedness guidelines face the loss of their accreditation status, Clouser added. And without accreditation they would not get reimbursed by the government, which could have a huge impact on an organization as reimbursements often equate to the largest funder for these facilities, she said. In todays world our insureds have to do more with less comply with regulation, comply with smaller margins, so anything that the agents and brokers can do in partnership with carriers to help develop the plan, evacuation plans, staff training, anything, will go a long way, she added. Hurricane Preparedness The recent hurricane season was a reminder of the importance of an evacuation plan. But a plan that hasnt been vetted isnt much good. Agents should ask facilities: Has it been tested? Do all employees know proper protocol? How quickly can you evacuate if necessary? said Jordan Connelly, senior vice president, Worldwide Facilities LLC. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma provided a few lessons for Connelly. She offered one familiar lesson, urging agents to partner with an insurer that knows the long-term care industry. There was a glaring difference between insurers who have long standing experience in the long term care space versus the newer entrants to the long-term care market, she said. Our carrier partners who are proven in the space sent out hurricane preparedness articles and links to resources to assist us, the broker, in helping our clients. Connelly said some insurers provided her with a list of clients who had facilities in the direct path of the storm to ensure that those facilities were well prepared. I think we learned from Harvey that many healthcare facilities were grossly under-prepared given the number of facilities that were forced to close due to flooding, she said. But the timing of Irma helped better prepare Florida facilities, she added. However, extended power outages took a toll on Florida facilities and their residents. Many lost their lives in Florida due to extended power outages. Connelly also advises that knowledge is key when it comes to proper risk management strategies. Know the facilities that you partner with and follow the path of impending storms, she said. If the facility has a risk manager be sure to contact them as soon as possible to remind them of coverage highlights in their policy form. Remind them of any hurricane preparedness or risk management tools that they may have at their disposal. Brokers should always make sure that evacuation expense is included in coverage and offer as much coverage as possible. This is a critical coverage for any long-term care facility, she said. Insurance Preparedness Like most other industries, long-term care facilities have seen softer rates and plenty of availability when it comes to buying property/casualty coverage. But times are changing. Its a unique market, said CNAs Dmytrow. I call it unpredictable. That means while there is new capacity coming into the market, at the same time, old capacity is exiting the market and/or changing or differentiating their risk strategies, he said. AmWINs Wasta concurs with that assessment. Weve seen some competitors either pull out or pull back in the last 12 months or so, he said. But theres always new entrants coming in as well. Theres still plenty of competitive markets available for quality accounts, he adds. One agent mentioned to me the other day they had no less than 20 quotes on a particular account, he said. But for the harder venues or those accounts considered less desirable due to claims history, the market has tightened up. In the tougher legal venues, such as New York, Florida, Illinois, California, the states that have the largest number of skilled long-term care facilities, prices are trending up whether its a good facility or a bad facility, said AmWINSs Tejeski. It really depends on where you are and what youre looking at as far as how competitive or how much capacity is available in the market, Wasta added. But in general, its still a well-funded marketplace with a lot of alternatives. Insureds have a choice in todays P/C insurance market, without a doubt, said Chubbs Clouser. But the best choice, in her view, is a choice that offers partnering with a carrier that has a broad expertise on a multiline basis. The best choices are the carriers that have multiline options within long term care, Clouser said. Seek out industry specialists, advises Karen K. Jordan, vice president, program management, Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., Aon Affinity/Healthcare Division. I think its important to work with insurance companies and program administrators that specialize in aging services because risk mitigation techniques differ from standard risks, she said. For example, we have our own risk management program, Aon Quality Institute, designed specifically for senior service accounts. Specialists in this segement are the ideal choice, Jordan added. Work with someone who understands the total cost risk and can help understand the challenges they face. Liability Costs Continue to Rise The cost of liability continues to increase for the long term care profession, according to the 2017 Long Term Care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis by Aon Risk Consulting and the American Health Care Association (AHCA). The overall loss rate is expected to increase by 6 percent, with claim frequency driving the increase at an expected 2 percent growth rate and claim severity driving growth by 4 percent. Consistent with past years reports, we are seeing some pretty strong increases year-over-year in the loss rates, said Christian Coleianne, associate director and actuary from Aon Global Risk Consulting. Our 2017 finding is that loss rates are increasing at a 6 percent clip, which is pretty strong growth year-over-year. The findings translate to a 2018 forecasted loss rate per bed of some $2,450, he said. That means if our operator has a 100-bed facility then we believe they should accrue about $245,000 for liability costs in the coming year, which is pretty big number. Also, consistent with prior years studies is amount varies significantly by state/jurisdiction. The top cost states are West Virginia, Florida and Kentucky and they have much higher per bed loss rate than some other states, Coleianne said. In West Virginia, the study found the loss rate stood at $8,380, which translates to $838,000 in liability costs projected in 2018 for a 100-bed facility. That compares to the lowest cost state, Massachusetts, which has a loss rate of just $520, which translates to $52,000 on an annual basis for a 100 bed facility. One data set that is new to the report this year is a comparison of a facilitys CMS rating and its loss rates, he said. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, offers a five-star rating system for long term care facilities. The best facilities rate at a five star, he said. We tried to segment our experience historically by that CMS rating and then took a look at the loss rates, frequency and severity for each group, he explained. As the five star rating decreased (toward a one star), we expected to see higher loss rates and the lowest loss rates would be for the five star facilities. But what we found was that one star quality rated facilities did indeed have a higher loss rate but there wasnt much of a difference for facilities rated two through five stars. Coleianne said that one driver of one star quality facilities having higher loss rate was frequency of claims. They had more claims, he said. However, the severity was similar for all facilities no matter their rating. Coleianne added that the data is not clear to point to a one star quality rating facility leading to higher claim frequency, but its possible that one star rated organizations are more often targeted by plaintiff attorneys. Approximately 19,300 individual non-zero claims from long term care facilities were aggregated. The 28 providers represented in the national study operate approximately 200,011 long term care beds, consisting of skilled nursing facility beds and a number of independent living, assisted living, home health care and rehabilitation beds. They represent approximately 16 percent of the beds in the United States. Active Shooter Preparedness One area of emerging risk for many industry, including the long term care or senior living market, is active shooter risk. An active shooter event is something that no one wants to imagine happening in a senior living community, but the reality is that all places where people congregate, including senior living communities, are vulnerable, said John Atkinson, managing partner, Senior Living practice, Willis Towers Watson. This vulnerability calls for an increased need for preparedness, he added. In partnership with Sorensen, Wilder and Associates, Willis Towers Watson developed the Active Shooter/Armed Intruder Readiness Program. The program is designed to help senior living communities plan for, respond to and recover from active shooter events. Organizations can access the material for free online and customize it for their own use. The materials include: Critical action steps training video Sample policy and procedure for active shooter/armed intruder Company and community readiness plan and checklist Webinar for active shooter awareness in a senior living community. Atkinson said the program spawned from conversations with members of Argentum, a national trade association serving senior living communities, some of which are clients of WTW. They started looking for resources on active shooter training and guidance specific to senior living communities, and there wasnt any, he said. Theres a fair amount of information for school and workplaces but we felt that senior living/long term care has unique exposures. We wanted to make sure that we had tools available to train staff and be prepared. The preparedness program was released in late September and has so far been popular, he said. Weve been getting a lot of calls about it. Atkinson said that WTW and its supporting carrier partners are providing the training and video at no cost to the industry. Willis Towers Watson currently offers management and human capital options to continuing care retirement communities, independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and home health care organizations throughout North America. Topics Carriers Catastrophe USA Florida Legislation Agencies Profit Loss Hurricane Talent Willis Towers Watson Aon Training Development Risk Management The Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission (WCC) announced that Executive Director Kim Bailey has resigned and Administrative Law Judge Patricia Sommer has been appointed to lead the agency in the interim. Bailey will be leaving her position to accept a critical role elsewhere in state government, to be announced at a later date. The WCC is an administrative agency responsible for handling claims of injured workers. The administrative system took effect Feb. 1, 2014. Bailey started as the general counsel to the Workers Compensation Commission in 2014; in June 2015 she accepted the additional role of executive director. During her tenure, Bailey oversaw development of a streamlined management structure, initiated electronic data interchange which will greatly reduce paper forms, and replacement of an antiquated case management system. Since the legislative reforms implementing the commission, filing of claims has dropped almost 50 percent, more cases are handled without costly trials, and premiums for state employers have dropped more than 30 percent. Sommer will temporarily step aside from her position as an ALJ in order to take on the responsibilities of the interim appointment. interim executive director, Sommer will supervise the various offices and divisions of the commission, including administrative and support staff. In addition to nearly four years on the bench, Sommer brings to the position over 20 years of experience in workers compensation law and administration. Source: Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission Topics Workers' Compensation Oklahoma Authorities say five people were injured by a sudden fire sparked by leaking gas at a Catholic school on the Alabama coast. News outlets report the flames erupted Saturday inside a kitchen at St. Vincent de Paul School in Mobile. Two adults, a teenager and two children were taken to a hospital to be treated for burns and gas inhalation. The source of the igniting gas wasnt immediately known. Mobile Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman said a man was using hot water to warm propane tanks that had been left outside in freezing temperatures overnight. But WKRG-TV reports fire officials also found a natural gas leak inside the building. Huffman said the flash fire knocked out ceiling tiles and damaged the interior of the kitchen, but didnt set the building ablaze. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Alabama After achieving increased containment on one of the biggest wildfires in California history, officials warned that communities remain at risk and the threat could increase as unpredictable winds whip up again. Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended, with a possible increase in gusts into the end of the week. Evacuations were expected to continue Wednesday for the seaside enclaves of Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria and the inland agricultural town of Fillmore. Officials announced Tuesday night that crews had carved containment lines around one-quarter of the blaze straddling Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The Thomas fire has burned over 900 structures, at least 700 of them homes, since it broke out Dec. 4. It stretches across nearly 370 square miles of Southern California, making it the fifth largest in state history. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Colorados largest city is reviewing the first application from a business seeking to be among the nations first legal marijuana clubs, a step that comes more than a year after voters approved a bring-your-own pot measure. Dan Rowland, a spokesman for the Denver department that regulates marijuana businesses, said the city received the application from the Coffee Joint on Friday. Co-owners Rita Tsalyuk and Kirill Merkulov plan to charge a $5 entry fee if theyre approved for the license. Customers could use edible pot products or vaporizing pens inside, and the shop would sell food, host events and provide free coffee or tea, she said. Denver voters approved the clubs in a 2016 ballot measure, but it took nine months for the city to start accepting applications. Advocates have complained that state restrictions preventing pot use at any business with a liquor license and the citys own rules unfairly limited potential locations for the clubs. For instance, the city required pot clubs to be twice as far from schools and anywhere else children gather as liquor stores. Customers buying marijuana products often ask where they are allowed to legally use it, and employees have few answers for tourists staying in hotels that ban marijuana use, Tsalyuk said. Colorado law doesnt address pot clubs. In some cities, they are tolerated, while others operate secretly. Other states with legal marijuana are at a standstill for developing rules governing places to consume pot products, including Alaska, where state regulators have delayed discussion of rules for retail shops until spring. It could be months before Denver residents and tourists would be allowed to legally vape or eat pot products at the Coffee Joint. The city said it has just started to review the application and a public hearing will probably be scheduled within two to three months. In the meantime, Tsalyuk and Merkulov want to open their business before the end of the year as a traditional coffee shop. For their 1,850-square-foot space, they plan to convert a garage to a space for vape and paint events, open a smaller room for private events and put in comfortable furniture. We want to give a better name to the cannabis industry and be good for residents, too, Tsalyuk said. The proposal has the backing of a local neighborhood association, which submitted a letter of support to the city. Applicants have to show community support for their proposal as part of the licensing process. Aubrey Lavizzo, a member of the La Alma Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association, said the club backers attended two of their meetings and invited members to tour the dispensary. Theyve shown us that they really want to be good neighbors, said Lavizzo, a veterinarian who has had a clinic in the neighborhood for over 30 years. Merkulov said they are aware of the national and global spotlight on the industry. Its a new apex, he said. We hope to prove this can be managed well and be safe. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Cannabis Most of the area within the massive Thomas fire in Southern California is at high or extreme wildfire risk, according to a Verisk report on Wednesday. The fire encompasses more than 230,500 acres, and while containment on the wildfires in Southern California has increased, high winds could still push the fires back out of control, officials said. Verisk, a source of information about property/casualty insurance risk, reported that 96 percent of the area within the Thomas fire perimeter falls in to the highest risk categories. To date, the Thomas fire has destroyed more than 800 structures, damaged more than 180 others and still threatens roughly 18,000 structures. Related: Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Then, as you know, assets under management (AUM) rule the world of financial professionals. Authors Mitch Anthony and Paul Armson make the argument to transform your practice into one that considers the goals and lives of clients first in Life Centered Financial Planning: How to Deliver Value That Will Never Be Undervalued. Ellen Carr and Katrina Dudleys Undiversified: The Big Gender Short in Investment Management makes the case for having more women in investment management, which now stands at a scant 10%. We begin our list with the best overall book, which lays out a cautionary tale of a once-respected financial professional who was leading a double financial life, duping his clients worldwide to the tune of $65 million. Jim Campbells Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History tells the story of Bernard Bernie L. Madoff in Madoffs own words. The book is part confessional and part an attempt by Madoff to rewrite his role in the narrative. As financial professionals, honesty, trustworthiness, skill, and knowledge matter to clients, as you help them make important decisions about their lives and future. However, in your professional world, there's also hype and bravado and, yes, criminal activity and fraud, which may litter your journey. Our book choices help you navigate whats before you. Best Overall: Madoff Talks Buy on Amazon Bernie would never screw you or a variation of that phrase is what was often conveyed about Bernard L. Madoff, the largest Ponzi schemer of all time, whose swindle against the often deep-pocketed and unwitting individuals, families, and organizations was worth about $65 billion. Often referred to affectionately as Uncle Bernie, by his clients, Madoff defrauded some 40,000 people or institutions worldwide, who turned over millions to him, thinking he was investing it well for them. Before Madoffs 2008 arrest, he was known as a respected Wall Street financier, who spearheaded the computerization of made markets, which led to the creation of the NASDAQ, and ran a successful broker-dealer firm headquartered in midtown Manhattan. Unbeknownst to those at that legitimate firm, there existed an elaborate Ponzi scheme operation two floors down in the same building, which took in billions and pumped out false gains on paper to his investors, often reflecting better returns each year, even when the market was down. Those who lost their money failed to their financial advisor Madoff, ask him if he was fiduciary, how he was investing their money, how he got paid, what were their all-in costs, what asset allocation he had selected for them, what was investment benchmark he used, or what was the tax cost to them. It turned out that a lot of other people and institutions skipped those critical questions, too, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which investigated Madoffs legitimate business four times without uncovering his illegal operation. Madoff, who died in federal prison in North Carolina in 2021, decided to talk with radio host Jim Campbell candidly and waived his attorney-client privilege to give the author more access, after Campbell met with Madoffs wife, Ruth, and son Andrew. Campbells book is the only one that exposes the felons unfettered thoughts about his crime. According to Campbell, Madoff saw himself as a do-gooder and hard worker who built a global business, and believed, in part, that he was corrupted by his clients greed. The greed that is latent in all of us raised its head, Madoff told Campbell. The millions and then billions were not enough for some of these clients. My design of a strategy to fulfill their greed for more tax savings together with my own ego and need to continue to prove my investing prowess as well as my own insecurities and mistaken trust led me down a path of destruction. This may be too simple a story for everyone, but that is the story. Best Quick Read on Strategizing Your Business: Strategy Plain and Simple Buy on Amazon Business writer Vaughan Evans slims down his message about strategy into three points in Strategy Plain and Simple. He previously wrote Developing a Business Strategy: How to Use Strategic Planning to Start Up or Grow Your Business and the FT Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan: How to Win Backing to Start Up and Grow Your Business. In this 60-minute-or-so read, Evans lays out how to forecast and anticipate demand, target the strategic gap and bridge it, and balance risk and opportunity. The book features compelling examples of well-known businesses that faltered and then bounced back after instituting an effective strategic plan. While Evans book is for a general business audiencenot specifically those in the financial professionsthe advice is relevant, actionable, and efficiently delivered. Best on Managing Risk, With Humor: An Economist Walks Into a Brothel Buy on Amazon Financial professionals are all about weighing risks for their clients to help grow their portfolios, and for themselves, too, to help grow their business. Economist, author, and journalist Allison Schrager has written a smart, joyful book with an irresistible title that spells out how people in brothels and elsewhere make or avoid risky decisions, and how to weigh risks. As the book opens, Schrager is at the Moonlight BunnyRanch in Nevada to research the risks encountered by sex workers, of which there are many, including many life-threatening ones. She also interviewed a paparazzo who stakes out celebrities for hours and days in hopes of coming up with a well-paid shot, and surfers (Big wave surfers are just like actuaries, only with better tans) of giant waves, who at times must wait in shark-infested waters for the big one to come. There are many dangers in all of those situations, but potentially huge rewards. Using risk measurement and management when you make a decision, big or small, is similar to taking a road trip with a map, Schrager writes. The map certainly increases the odds of a successful journey, but it cant tell you if a truck will smash into your car. As a financial professional, you must take the trip anyway. Best on Lack of Gender Diversity in Financial Services: Undiversified Buy on Amazon Diversity is a core principle of investing, write authors Ellen Carr and Katrina Dudley in Undiversified. Yet money managers have not applied it to their own ranks. Only about 10% of portfolio managersthose most responsible for investing your moneyare female, and the numbers are even worse at the ownership level. Throughout the financial services industry, women are in the minority. These two experienced financial professionals call up their own experiences and weave in research to spell out the barriers to women in the field at every stageeducation, recruitment, and promotionsand proffer the benefits for not only the women who want to thrive in the field, but also to the industry that caters to women now that they hold the majority of personal wealth in the United States. Work-life balance is frequently cited as a reason that women dont thrive in the financial services professions. Carr and Dudley disagree and cite a 2016 CFA Institute study that found that a majority of men and women (66% and 63%, respectively) maintained that it wasnt difficult to take time off when working in investment management. Best on Rethinking the Assets Under Management (AUM) Model: Life Centered Financial Planning Buy on Amazon Financial consultants Mitch Anthony and Paul Armson argue that its time to reconsider whether the model of assets under management (AUM) is the best one for financial professionals to zero in on; considering the whole of their clients as people and their goals is more effective. How many times have we overhead advisers telling stories prefaced with, Ive got this $5 million client and wondered to ourselves what would that client think if he or she were standing here and listening to that prefacing of the relationship. Its difficult to see who clients are when our eyes are so pragmatically tuned to seeing what they have. The authors are co-founders of the consultancy Life Centered Planning, which recommends that financial professionals shift their focus, so that their clients realize an abundant life. In three parts, the book, (1), advocates that financial advisors help ensure that clients have a richer life, (2), promotes developing soft skills, empathy, listening, behavioral intervention techniques, and conflict management, as a way of getting to know their clients and whats important to them, and (3), urges financial professionals to put the fulfilled life of their clients ahead of money. Best on Perpetuating Family Affluence Across Generations: Complete Family Wealth Buy on Amazon The experts who wrote this book, now in its 20th year and revised in 2022, are James E. Hughes, Jr., a retired attorney and author of several books on preserving family prosperity; Susan E. Massenzio, a psychologist and co-founder of the consultancy and think tank Wise Counsel Research; and Keith Whitaker, an educator and co-founder of Wise Counsel Research. The trio has merged their strengths to come up with a formula for advising rich families on how to retain their money over generations. While the book has been written for the wealthy client, its a foundational resource for the financial professional who hopes to develop family clients over multiple generations. In the books three sections, it defines what are enterprise, family, and wealth; who are the familys key, productive players in managing its wealth; and how, or what steps, families can take to augment family holdings. This edition includes a new chapter that delves into measures, which are to learn, labor, love, laugh, and let go, that can enhance the lives of well-off family members. This is an excellent instructional book about managing generational wealth. What's missing, however, is any discussion of the racial wealth gap in the U.S. and the structural inequality that has created it. Addressing this issue would have provided additional perspective about family wealth and the obstacles many Americans face in creating and preserving it. For more on that issue for Black Americans, check out Understanding How to Build Black Generational Wealth: A Historically and Culturally Centered Self-Help Book, below. Unfortunately, a search turned up no books on developing wealth for America's Native peoples. Best Primer on Building Black Wealth: Understanding How To Build Black Generational Wealth Buy on Amazon Esi Kagale Agyeman Gillo notes that after Native Americans, African Americans have the highest poverty rate, at nearly 21 %, more than double that of whites who are at about 8%. in her practical, thought-provoking book Understanding How to Build Black Generational Wealth: A Historically and Culturally Centered Self-Help Book. Agyeman Gillo is the co-founder with her husband, Peter Markeeo Gillo, of DIFFvelopment, a seven-year-old nonprofit that develops "unique ways to foster sustainable global Black empowerment," the book explains. Agyeman Gillo lays out how you can build wealth in chapters on economic and employment realities and create generational and communal wealth through what she calls "Afropreneurship," in which she promotes working for yourself over being an employee, and "Afrophilanthropy," in which she suggests you give to charities that are meaningful. She presents quizzes and charts throughout to help you determine where you stand and what needs to be done to expand your affluence. Predicting the future is impossible, right? If he were around today, W.D. Gann would beg to differ. His first prophecy is believed to have happened during World War I, when he predicted the Nov. 9, 1918, abdication of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II and the end of the war. Then, in 1927, he wrote a book called "Tunnel Through The Air" that many believe predicted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His financial predictions were perhaps even more profound. In early 1929, he predicted that the markets would probably continue to rally on speculation and hit new highs until early April. In his daily financial publication, The Supply and Demand Letter, he delivered financial forecasts focusing on both the stock and commodity markets. As this publication gained notoriety, Gann published several booksmost notably "Truth," which was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as his best work. Finally, he began releasing the techniques that he used to make these forecasts: the Gann studies. What Are the Gann Studies? In 1908, Gann discovered what he called the "market time factor," which made him one of the pioneers of technical analysis. To test his new strategy, he opened one account with $300 and one with $150. It turned out to be wildly successful: Gann was able to make $25,000 profit with his $300 account in only three months; meanwhile, he made $12,000 profit with his $150 account in only 30 days! After his results were verified, he became famous on Wall Street as one of the best forecasters of all time. Here's how his techniques work. Gann based predictions of price movements on three premises: Price, time and range are the only three factors to consider. The markets are cyclical in nature. The markets are geometric in design and in function. Based on these three premises, Gann's strategies revolved around three general areas of prediction: Price study: This uses support and resistance lines, pivot points and angles. Time study: This looks at historically reoccurring dates, derived by natural and social means. Pattern study: This looks at market swings using trendlines and reversal patterns. Image by Julie Bang Investopedia 2020 Figures such as these are the building blocks of the Gann studies. Constructing Gann Angles Before we begin, it is important to realize that this form of analysislike most forms of technical analysisis not set in stone but constructed out of empirical methods. Without further ado, here is the process used to construct a Gann angle: Determine the time units: This is one of the empirical processes. One common way to determine a time unit is to study the stock's chart and take note of distances in which price movements occur. Then, simply put the angles to the test and determine their accuracy. Most people use intermediate-term (such as one- to three-month) charts for this as opposed to long-term (multi-year) or short-term (one- to seven-day) charts. This is because, in most cases, the intermediate-term charts produce the optimal amount of patterns. Determine the high or low from which to draw the Gann lines: This is the second empirical process, and the most common way to accomplish it is to use other forms of technical analysissuch as Fibonacci levels or pivot points. Gann himself, however, used what he called "vibrations" or "price swings." He determined these by analyzing charts using mathematical theories like Fibonacci. Determine which pattern to use: The two most common patterns are the 1x1 (left figure above), the 1x2 (right figure above) and the 2x1. These are simply variations in the slope of the line. For example, the 1x2 is half the slope of the 1x1. The numbers simply refer to the number of units. Draw the patterns: The direction would be either downward and to the right from a high point, or upward and to the right from a low point. Look for repeat patterns further down the chart: Remember this technique is based on the premise that markets are cyclical. Again, this requires some fine-tuning with experience in order to perfect. Because of this, the results will vary from person to person. Some people, like Gann, will experience extraordinary success, while otherswho don't use such refined techniqueswill experience sub-par returns. However, if the system is followed and sufficient research is put into finding the optimal requirements, above-average returns should be attainable. But remember, technical analysis is a game of oddsadd more technical indicators to increase your chances of a successful trade. Using Gann Angles Gann angles are most commonly used as support and resistance lines. But many studies have support and resistance lines. What makes this one so important? Well, Gann angles let you add a new dimension to these important levelsthey can be diagonal. Image by Julie Bang Investopedia 2020 Here you can see how Gann angles can be used to form support and resistance levels. Diagonal trendlines are commonly used to determine times to add to existing long positions, to determine new lows and highs (by finding significant breaks of the trendline), and to help discern the overall trend. The Bottom Line Is it possible to predict the future? W.D. Gann probably thought so, and he seemed to have proved it with his wildly successful returns. The system is relatively simple to use but difficult to master. After all, it was Gann's uncanny ability to fine-tune his techniques that led him to enormous profitsthe average investor is not likely to obtain these kinds of returns. Like many technical tools, Gann angles are best used in conjunction with other tools to predict price movements and profit. What Is an Economic Refugee? An economic refugee is a person who leaves his or her home country in search of better job prospects and higher living standards elsewhere. Economic refugees see little opportunity to escape poverty in their own countries and are willing to start over in a new country for the chance at a better life. An example of an economic refugee would be a computer programmer who makes a minimal income in his or her home country and emigrates to find a substantially higher wage and improved standard of living. Key Takeaways An economic refugee refers to an individual who leaves their own country in order to seek better job and economic prospects in another country. Economic refugees are often not legally of refugee status, which is reserved for those seeking to escape violence or conflict. Still, economic factors often force people to leave everything behind and start over elsewhere where greater opportunity for growth and advancement exist. Understanding Economic Refugees Traditionally, a refugee is someone who is granted asylum in a foreign country due to life-threatening political or religious persecution in his or her home country. Since most countries have border controls that restrict who may enter, work and reside there, a person cannot simply move to the country of his or her choice. One must either be granted permission by the government or try to enter and live in the country illegally without adversely coming into contact with the law. In the United States, the Refugee Act, which passed Congress in 1980, governs how refugees are admitted and screened. A Case for Economic Refugees Economic Benefit: A study using data from the U.S. census bureaus American community survey found that, between 1990 and 2014, the average refugee had paid $21,000 more in taxes than they had received in benefits from government assistance. The study also revealed that refugees who arrived before the age of 15 graduated high school and attended college at similar rates to native U.S. citizens. Humanitarian: Supporters of economic refugees argue that they should be granted asylum in developed countries on compassionate grounds. They believe that every human has the right to safe shelter, an education and employment opportunities. To learn more about how large companies provide job opportunities to economic refugees, see: Starbucks to Hire 10,000 Refugees in 75 Countries. Diversity: Economic refugees may bring multiculturalism and diversity to their adopted country. They may introduce new foods and customs that enrich the existing culture. For example, an economic refugee may open a restaurant that features a traditional menu from his or her homeland. A Case Against Economic Refugees Employment: Critics of economic refugees argue that they may cause unemployment to rise and wages to decrease, particularly if they are highly skilled and seeking employment in a weak labor market. Lack of Assimilation: Economic refugees may not embrace the local customs and traditions of their adopted country. Lack of assimilation might lead to additional pressure on the social welfare system. Increased Crime: Some people believe that economic refugees who fail to find employment may be more likely to become involved in crime, such as drug trafficking or smuggling illegal refugees. What Does Life Income Fund Mean? A life income fund (LIF) is a type of registered retirement income fund (RRIF) offered in Canada that can be used to hold locked-in pension funds as well as other assets for an eventual payout as retirement income. A life income fund cannot be withdrawn in a lump sum. Owners must use the fund in a manner that supports retirement income for their lifetime. Each year's Income Tax Act specifies the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts for RRIFs, which encompasses LIFs. The Income Tax Acts RRIF stipulations take into consideration fund balances and an annuity factor. Key Takeaways Life income funds are a type of retirement income vehicle used in Canada. The Canadian government regulates various aspects of life income funds, in particular the amounts that can be withdrawn, which are specified annually through the Income Tax Acts stipulations for RRIFs. You must be at least of early retirement age (specified in the pension legislation) to purchase a LIF, you must be at least of early retirement age or normal retirement date to begin receiving LIF payments, and you must begin receiving payments in the year after you turn 71. Advantages of a LIF include the fact that contributions grow tax-deferred within a LIF, owners can choose their own investments (as long as the investments qualify), and funds within a LIF are creditor-protected. Life income funds are offered by many institutions in Canada. Understanding Life Income Fund Life income funds are offered by Canadian financial institutions. They provide individuals with an investment vehicle for managing the payouts from locked-in pension funds and other assets. In many cases, pension assets may be held but not accessible if an employee leaves a firm. These assets, usually called locked-in assets, can be managed in other investment vehicles but may require conversion to a life income fund when the owner is ready to begin taking withdrawals. Life income fund payouts are determined by a government formula that applies to all types of RRIFs. Most provinces in Canada require that life income fund assets be invested in a life annuity. In many provinces, LIF withdrawals can begin at any age as long as the income is used for retirement income. Once an investor begins taking LIF payouts they must monitor the minimum and maximum amounts that can be withdrawn. These amounts are disclosed in the annual Income Tax Act, which provides stipulations pertaining to all RRIFs. The maximum RRIF/LIF withdrawal is the larger of two formulas, both defined as a percentage of the total investments. The financial institution from which the LIF is issued must provide an annual statement to the LIF owner. Based on the annual statement, the LIF owner must specify at the beginning of each fiscal year the amount of income they would like to withdraw. This must be within a defined range to ensure the account holds enough funds to provide lifetime income for the LIF owner. Qualified investments in a LIF include cash, mutual funds, ETFs, securities listed on a designated exchange, corporate bonds, and government bonds. Life Income Fund (LIF) Rules Here are some general rules regarding a LIF: A life income fund abides by RRIF minimum withdrawal rules Withdrawals are considered income and are taxed at your marginal tax rate You can't use your spouse's age to determine minimum LIF payments You must be at least of early retirement age (specified in the pension legislation) to purchase a LIF You must be at least of early retirement age or normal retirement date to begin receiving LIF payments You must begin receiving payments in the year after you turn 71 If you have a spouse, you must obtain their consent before setting up a LIF as withdrawals could impact future death benefits Only certain types of investments qualify in a LIF Advantages and Disadvantages of a Life Income Fund (LIF) Setting up a LIF has several advantages: Like other registered products, contributions grow tax-deferred within a LIF LIF owners can choose their own investments (as long as the investments qualify) Funds within a LIF are creditor-protected and can't be seized to pay off debt obligations Contributions can grow tax-deferred until the year after you turn 71 Of course, there also disadvantages to setting up a LIF. They include: A minimum age requirement (early retirement age) before being able to start a LIF A minimum age requirement (early retirement or normal retirement age) before being able to receive LIF payments Maximum withdrawal limits prevent you from accessing more income when you need it Only qualified investments can be held in a LIF account Advantages of a Life Income Fund Contributions grow tax-deferred within a LIF account LIF owners can choose their own investments (as long as the investments qualify) Funds within a LIF are creditor-protected and can't be seized to pay off debt obligations Contributions can grow tax-deferred until the year after you turn 71 Disadvantages of a Life Income Fund A minimum age requirement (early retirement age) before being able to start a LIF A minimum age requirement (early retirement or normal retirement age) before being able to receive LIF payments Maximum withdrawal limits prevent you from accessing more income when you need it Only qualified investments can be held in a LIF account Life Income Fund Management Life income funds are offered by many institutions in Canada to support retirement distributions for investors. Below is a list of companies offering life income funds with some details on each companys product. Sun Life Financial: Offers investors multiple options for LIF investing including insurance guaranteed investment contracts, mutual funds, segregated fund contracts, and more. Canada Life: Allows for conversion of a registered pension plan, locked-in registered retirement savings plan, or locked-in retirement account assets. Facilitates payment withdrawals for retirement income. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce offers a LIF daily interest savings account. Helps to facilitate retirement distributions. Allows investors to earn daily interest on their account investments. Life Income Fund FAQs At What Age Can You Withdraw Money From a LIF? You can withdraw money at 55 years old. No withdrawals from a LIF are permitted before age 55. Is LIF Income Taxable? Yes. LIF income is taxable and must be added to your annual income. If the withdrawal is higher than the annual minimum withdrawal, taxes are withheld on the excess amount. What Happens to a LIF When You Die? Upon death, the balance of your LIF is paid to your spouse. If your spouse denies payment or if a spouse is absent, it is paid to your heirs. The European Commission has given the all-clear for EasyJet to take over parts of collapsed Air Berlin. EU authorities unconditionally approved the deal, saying it would not impact airline competition across the EU where it faces rival carriers including Lufthansa and Ryanair. EasyJet agreed to buy part of Air Berlins operation for 40m in October, which included a raft of landing slots as well as the rights to operate passenger transport at Berlin Tegel Airport. Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: Our job is to make sure that airline takeovers do not result in less competition that would mean higher flight fares and less choice for consumers. EasyJets plans to buy certain Air Berlin assets will not reduce competition and we have approved it today. Our decision enables easyJet to grow its presence at Berlin airports and start competing on new routes to the benefit of consumers. Regulators were originally concerned that EasyJets expanded landing-slot portfolio at congested airports like Berlin Tegel would result in higher barriers to entry for airlines looking to operate from those airports, which could subsequently result in higher fares for passengers. However, the investigation found the airlines acquisition was unlikely to have a negative effect, adding that EasyJet will continue to face strong competition from large carriers. EasyJets shares were relatively flat following the news. The Air Berlin deal expands EasyJets footprint in Berlin, where it has a base at the smaller Schonefeld airport. The German airline declared bankruptcy in August after its biggest shareholder Gulf airline Etihad withdrew financial support for the loss-making airline. EasyJet said it was pleased to confirm it had garnered the European Commissions approval. It said: The acquisition will result in EasyJet operating 25 aircraft from Berlin Tegel Airport. The agreement includes EasyJet leasing former Air Berlin aircraft, taking over other assets including slots, and offering employment to Air Berlin flying crews. The commission has confirmed that there are no competition concerns relating to this agreement and EasyJet now expects to complete the transaction in the near future. Press Association Update 4.20pm: Muslim nations have "rejected and condemned" President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and have called on the world to recognise east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. The Istanbul Declaration on Freedom for al-Quds, the Arabic name of Jerusalem, follows today's extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he talks during the closing news conference following the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul today. Pic: Onur Coban/Pool Photo via AP The final communique is a softened version of an earlier draft. With it the organisation declares the US announcement as "null and void", while inviting Mr Trump to reconsider and rescind the "unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region". The declaration calls on countries who have not yet recognised Palestine to do so and invites "the whole world to recognise East Al Quds as the capital". Mr Trump's declaration last week upended decades of US foreign policy and went against an international consensus that Jerusalem's final status, one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East conflict, should be decided by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. AP Update 1.15pm: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has told Arab and Islamic leaders that the United States is no longer fit to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and should be replaced as mediator by the United Nations. His remarks outlined a significant policy shift in response to President Donald Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Mr Abbas said his people will no longer accept the United States as a peace broker but added that they remain committed to international resolutions which have formed the basis of the process. He was speaking at the gathering of heads of state and top officials from Islamic nations at a summit in Turkey that is expected to forge a unified Muslim worlds stance against Mr Trumps move. Mr Abbas said Mr Trumps decision was a "crime" which came at a time when the Palestinians were engaged with Washington in a new push to reach what he said was anticipated to be the "deal of our times". "Instead we got the slap of our times," Mr Abbas said. "The United States has chosen to lose its qualification as a mediator ... We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process from now." The speech marked a significant shift in Mr Abbas approach toward the United States, after years of focusing on courting US goodwill because of Washingtons role as sole mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Immediately after Mr Trumps announcement last week, Mr Abbas had said the US effectively disqualified itself as a broker, but todays speech was more sharply worded and delivered to a global audience. It was also part of a speech that called on the gathering for specific steps to counter the US decision on Jerusalem. "We call that the (peace) process in its entirety be transferred to the United Nations," Mr Abbas said. He also called on countries that believe in the two-state solutions to recognise Palestine as a state, and urged Arab and Muslim nations to financially support east Jerusalem. Mr Abbas also urged Muslim nations and countries with relations with Israel to take necessary political and economic measures against Israel "to force it to abide by international consensus" to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem. Last week, Mr Abbas aides said the Palestinian leader would not meet with Mike Pence during the US vice presidents planned visit to Israel and the West Bank next week. Mr Abbas had initially planned to meet with Mr Pence in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, but two senior aides have said the meeting would not take place because of Mr Trumps move on Jerusalem. The Istanbul gathering of heads of state and top officials from the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was also an opportunity for the Muslim world to offer its strongest response yet to Washingtons move. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president of the OIC, called on countries to urgently recognise the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital. Mr Erdogan has been among the most vocal critics of Trumps announcement. In remarks to the summit, he said Israel is an "occupying state" and a "terror state". Jerusalems status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Mr Trumps December 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem had triggered violent outbreaks. King Abdullah II of Jordan told the gathering that the Trump decision was "grave", threatening the resumption of any peace talks. AP He said the attempt to downplay the crisis is similar to tactics the US President would use. The evidence would seem to be there, that theyre heading towards a: Lets just start downplaying it. Theyre going for the Trumpisms basically. If thats their attitude its really dangerous because there are so many casualties, Hansard said. He was talking at an open-air concert outside the Dail yesterday organised by Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH), where Fr Peter McVerry also spoke. "A very merry Christmas...get your asses in gear" Glen Hansard singing passionately outside Leinster House #HomelessnessIsNotNormal pic.twitter.com/AFbrlqOqkH Union of Students in Ireland (@TheUSI) December 12, 2017 Fr McVerry said a 12-year-old child could tell the Government its housing strategy is flawed. Any 12-year-old child would tell the Government: Your strategy isnt working, he said. We have 2,000 more people registered now as homeless than when the Government introduced its strategy. How did we get into this mess? Well, the answer is very simple. In 1975, this country built 8,500 social houses. In 1985, and we had a recession in the 80s, we still built 6,900 social houses and in 2015, this country built 75 social houses. Thats the problem. If people get evicted from their homes there is no social housing available and they end up homeless. There is enough publicly-owned land, zoned residential to build almost 40,000 social houses. Secondly, there are 180,000 empty, boarded-up, perfectly habitable houses and apartments in this country, he added. Glen Hansard with homeless campaigner Sheila OByrne. Award-winning playwright Emmet Kirwan also addressed the crowds outside Leinster House yesterday and said if the Government can deal with Brexit it is well able to tackle the housing crisis: The problem with the Government isnt that theres inefficacy or there is an ineptitude. Theyre actually quite capable, theyre incredibly intelligent, and when they want to do something they can because its in relation to the market. The Government is more concerned in ideology and the neoliberal ideology of non-interference in the market. So people are going hungry, people are going homeless and are literally, dying on the steps of this building because they are protecting an ideology rather than protecting their own citizens. Housing expert and academic Rory Hearne also spoke at yesterdays demonstration and said Irish people have been silent far too many times. Mr Hearne also reminded the crowd of the 1bn rainy-day fund that the Government put aside in the recent budget. This land is my land .. by the amazing @Glen_Hansard at #MYNAMEIS event in Dublin pic.twitter.com/Z0PTUA8Dn7 Razan Ibraheem () (@RazanIRL) December 12, 2017 Did you know that they have put 1bn this year into a so-called rainy-day fund? Well excuse my language, but its a fucking flood now. There is a tsunami of homeless. Invest that money now, he said. The National Homeless and Housing Coalition (NHHC) has arranged what it described as a major national demonstration on Saturday, April 7. Asia Thai PM Says No Trade With North Korea, Ahead of US Envoys Visit Thailands Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends the opening session of the 20th Asean-Japan Summit in Manila, Philippines, Nov. 13, 2017. / Reuters BANGKOK No trade takes place between Thailand and North Korea, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by a US envoy seeking to step up pressure on North Korea over its weapons programs. The United States has been urging Southeast Asian countries to do more to cut funding streams for North Korea as tension mounts over its development of nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them as far as the US. Thailand guarantees that we have abided by the United Nations resolutions, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters at his official Government House offices. There have been reports about North Korean boats in our waters I prohibited them a long time ago. There is no trade there is no commerce, he said. Joseph Yun, the US special representative for North Korea policy, is due in Bangkok this week to discuss stepping up pressure on North Korea, which has been pressing ahead with its weapons tests in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions. During a visit to Bangkok in August, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed Thailand, the United States oldest ally in Asia, for more action on North Korea. At the time, the US said it believed North Korean companies were active in Thailand and said it was encouraging Thailand to close them. Following Tillersons visit, Thailands foreign ministry said trade with North Korea had dropped by as much as 94 percent over the previous year. It did not give any more detail. North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile late last month. The UN Security Council is due to hold a ministerial meeting on North Koreas nuclear and missiles programs on Friday. Burma BREAKING: Reuters Reporters Arrested in Yangon Under Official Secrets Act Wa Lone in Rakhine in 2017. / Myanmar Press Photo Agency YANGON Two reporters from Reuters were detained under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing internal security reports related to fighting between border guard forces and Muslim militants the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in August. Local reporters U Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo, also known as Moe Aung, were arrested by police from Htauk Kyant station in Mingalardon Township in northern Yangon on Tuesday at 11:30 pm, according to the police report. The report says a copy of an Aug. 27 security report by Border Guard Police Unit (8) in Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State was found with Wa Lone, 31. The report describes the number of security forces and their remaining ammunition after the fighting. ARSA launched attacks on 30 security posts in Maungdaw on Aug. 25. The attacks were followed by army clearance operations and international accusations that government troops had arbitrarily killed and raped civilians and burned their homes. The Myanmar government denounced ARSA as a terrorist organization following the attacks. The police also allegedly found a detailed security report about ARSAs attack on the Myin Hlut police outpost on Aug. 25, a map of the outpost, and another report on the number of Rohingya houses burned with reporter Moe Aung. The Htauk Kyant Police Station has filed a lawsuit against the two reporters under Article 3 of the 1923 Official Secrets Act for news gathering with an intention to damage the safety and interest of the State. If found guilty, the reporters could be imprisoned for up to 14 years. Pan Ei Mon, the wife of Wa Lone, told The Irrawaddy that she was not informed of her husbands arrest by the police but learned about it from his Reuters colleagues. Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been missing since Tuesday night. We have filed a missing persons report and are doing everything we can to locate them, a Reuters spokesperson told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. Two foreign journalists working for TRT World are currently serving prison terms for convictions under the Aviation Act for trying to fly a drone near Parliament in Naypyitaw. In June, the Myanmar Army arrested three journalists from The Irrawaddy and DVB in northern Shan State under the Unlawful Association Act but released them after more than two months in custody. Burma Humanitarian Groups Raise Money for IDP Christmas Meals A Kachin IDP camp. / The Irrawaddy YANGON Various humanitarian groups have started a campaign to host a Christmas feast for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kachin and Shan states on Dec. 25. The project Christmas Meal for IDPs aims to share joy, happiness and love with the estimated 120,000 IDPs, most of whom are Christian, said Concern, Care, and Contribute to the IDPs Now, a humanitarian campaign initiated in 2015 for IDPs. By organizing this campaign, we want to tell them that we remember them, and we are with them. People from across the country contribute to this meal. Their individual contributions may be small but they still remember them and their plight. This is the message we want to share. We want to give them emotional support, said Esther, a spokesperson of the campaign. The campaign is collecting 1,000 kyats per person/per meal both online and offline, and has received more than 1 million kyats, according to campaigners. More than 120,000 civilians have been forced from their homes over the past six and a half years and are taking shelter at 167 IDP camps across Kachin and Shan States due to the clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), as well as other ethnic armed groups such as the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Some of the camps are in government-controlled areas, some are in areas controlled by armed ethnic groups and others are along the Myanmar-China border. By the end of 2016, the World Food Program (WFP) had slashed its foods supplies to IDPs by some 50 percent, and IDP camps in Kachin and Shan states face food shortages as a result. Some camps still receive a months ration of some 13 kg of rice plus just 2,500 kyats per meal per person, while some camps do not receive anything. Hundreds of IDPs from three camps in Kachin States Waingmaw were forced from their camps due to Tatmadaw attacks toward the end of 2016, and have had to take refuge in new camps at Shait Yang on the Myanmar-China border where temperatures drop below zero in the winter. Clashes in June this year also forced more than 1,000 Tanai residents from their homes to three new IDP camps. Those camps have had to rely on domestic donors as they do not receive aid from international countries, and are facing food shortages as well. Well contact JST after collecting money to make donations at the camps. If we get a good sum, well donate to all the camps. If not, we will give priority to needier camps, said Esther. JST is a coalition of community-based and non-governmental organizations that have led most of the humanitarian efforts in Kachin State since the renewed clashes broke out in June 2011. Some camps at the border are facing greater hardships than others. Some of them have had to relocate two or three times and well give priority to such camps, said Gam Sha Awng, a JST spokesperson. Donations for Christmas Meals can be made on the Concern, Care and Contribute to the IDPs Now Facebook page, which began the campaign for the first time in December 2015 and was able to collect some 30 million kyats that year. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. Burma Police Raid KIO Office in Myitkyina Police searched the office compound of the KIOs Technical Adviser Team in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Dec. 12, 2017. / Khun Awng Nlam / Facebook CHIANG MAI, Thailand Police raided the office compound of the Kachin Independence Organizations (KIO) Technical Adviser Team (TAT) in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, which a TAT office spokesman called politically unacceptable. Some 50 Myitkyina police officers, both in uniform and plainclothes, surrounded and entered the KIOs office compound and conducted a search without a warrant on Tuesday afternoon between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Dau Kha, a TAT spokesman, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday: Initially, the police reasoned that the search was related to the John San Linn case. Later, after they didnt find anything, the staff had to sign forms saying they did not use illegal drugs. Former freelance photographer John San Linn and his wife were arrested on Dec. 5 in Myitkyina, after police stated that they found more than 1,000 bullets hidden under their home in Myawaddy, Karen State. The TAT spokesman said the police raid most likely occurred because of tensions between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). This should not happen. Their actions have damaged the dignity of a nationality as well as the KIOs political image, Dau Kha said. A previous ceasefire signed in 1994 between the two sides lasted 17 years. Similar raids happened at liaison offices after fighting renewed in June 2011. Since then, we shut down all of our liaison offices. We only kept the one in Myitkyina but changed it to a TAT office, tasked to arrange logistics and research and present information relevant to political negotiations, Dau Kha explained. Under the former administration, there was communication between the government and the KIOs TAT office. Dau Kha said there has been little communication under the new National League for Democracy government. He also added that there has been increased tension between the Tatmadaws Northern Command and the TAT office recently. He said they would not take any legal action but reported it to KIO headquarters, as such incidents are expected given political and military tension between the two sides. Since November, fighting has resumed in KIA-controlled areas in northern Kachin State, particularly in Tanai Township. Dau Kha said the conflict could only be solved through talks between high-level leaders from the KIO and the government. Numerous attempts for KIO and Tatmadaw leaders to hold formal talks have reportedly been unsuccessful over the past six months. The KIO is currently a member of the northeast based seven-member bloc the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Further peace talks are being delayed partly because the government and Tatmadaw are unwilling to accept this new bloc. Burma UN Envoy Urges Security Council to Visit Myanmar, Bangladesh Rohingya refugees cross a stream from Bangladesh to no-mans land at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh December 12, 2017. / Reuters UNITED NATIONS A top UN official recounted to the Security Council on Tuesday heartbreaking and horrific accounts of sexual atrocities by Myanmar soldiers against Rohingya Muslim women, urging the body to visit the region and demand an end to attacks on civilians. Pramila Patten, special envoy of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on sexual violence in conflict, said one woman told her she was held by Myanmar troops for 45 days and raped repeatedly, while another woman could no longer see out of one eye after it was bitten by a soldier during a sexual assault. Some witnesses reported women and girls being tied to either a rock or a tree before multiple soldiers raped them to death, Patten told the Security Council. Some women recounted how soldiers drowned babies in the village well. A few women told me how their own babies were allegedly thrown in the fire as they were dragged away by soldiers and gang raped, she said. Patten said the 15-member Security Council should visit Myanmar also known as Burma and Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh, where more than 626,000 refugees have fled to since violence erupted in Myanmars northern Rakhine State on Aug. 25. She said that a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to violations against civilians in Rakhine State and outlining measures to hold the perpetrators accountable would send an important signal. Myanmars army released a report last month denying all allegations of rapes and killings by security forces. This is unacceptable, said US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Burma must allow an independent, transparent and credible investigation into what has happened. While we are hearing promises from the government of Burma, we need to see action, she said. Myanmar has been stung by international criticism for the way its security forces responded to Aug. 25 attacks by Rohingya militants on 30 security posts. Last month the Security Council urged the Myanmar government to ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State. Chinas Deputy UN Ambassador Wu Haitao said the crisis had to be solved through an agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh and warned that any solution reached under strong pressure from outside may ease the situation temporarily but will leave negative after effects. The two countries signed an agreement on voluntary repatriation Nov. 23. UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman pushed on Tuesday for the United Nations to be involved in any operation to return Rohingya. Plans alone are not sufficient. We hope Myanmar will draw upon the wealth of expertise the UN can offer, Feltman told the Security Council. Burma UNFC Seeks Talks with State Counselor, Army Chief Members of the UNFCs DPN meet State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw on March 1. / Myanmar State Counselors Office / Facebook CHIANG MAI, Thailand The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a bloc of ethnic armed organizations that has yet to sign up to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), has requested meetings with the State Counselor and the Myanmar Army chief later this month, hoping to revive deadlocked talks on peace negotiations. The proposed meeting would be the groups second with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The first was in March. The UNFC requested the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in a letter sent on Monday. Nai Ong Ma-nge, the UNFCs spokesman for the delegation on political negotiation (DPN), said the group hoped to receive a reply within 10 days. Negotiations on the UNFCs eight-point proposal have been going on for 17 months, since 2016, but Nai Ong Ma-nge said the groups leaders are ready to talk. We hope the deadlock we are now facing can be sorted out when leaders of both sides meet and talk things through, he said. The DPN first proposed the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto head of government, and Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief, before their last formal meeting with the governments Peace Commission in mid-November. After DPN leaders led by Khu Oo Reh met the State Counselor on March 1 to seek a way forward on negotiations, the bloc spokesman described the meeting as a success. However, the deadlock has yet to be broken, and it still seems unlikely that the bloc will sign the NCA before the third session of the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference in late January 2018. Government peace negotiators contacted by The Irrawaddy on Monday said they were unable to comment on the meeting, as the DPN had also met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in March, but did not elaborate further. Government peace commissioners and U Zaw Htay, the spokesperson for the State Counselors Office, referred The Irrawaddy to the Peace Commission spokesman, who was not available to comment. We would seek to continue our discussion from the eighth and ninth rounds of talks, but two of the proposals eight points have yet to be agreed, said Nai Ong Ma-nge, including a disagreement over an official description of the country to be added to the amendment in the UNFCs eight-point proposal. They demand that it be part of the annex to the NCA. The government backs the terminology Democracy and Federal Union while the UNFC prefers Federal Democratic Union. The title is not yet contained in the NCA. In the last week of November the New Mon State Party (NMSP) held an urgent meeting to discuss the peace process with Mon State Chief Minister Dr. Aye Zan, but the contents of the discussion were not made public. Nai Ong Ma-nge, who is also a member of the NMSP, told The Irrawaddy earlier this week that the party discussed its stance with UNFC members at a meeting on Sunday, believing that continued negotiations are important for the peace process. Wednesday, Dec 13th, 2017 (7:35 am) - Score 8,486 The engineers at AAISP (Andrews and Arnold) look to have become contenders for the oddball experiment of the day award after they successfully made an ADSL based broadband connection work over 2 metres of wet string (at the surprisingly quick pace of 3.5Mbps), as opposed to the usual metallic wiring. A normal ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) connection, which is still used by a little under half of premises in the United Kingdom, works by splitting a single copper telephone line into separate voice and data channels. The data can then be transmitted digitally (from the exchange to your home) by using frequency spectrum (2.2MHz on the up to 20-24Mbps capable ADSL2+ standard). In a normal setup, using twisted pair copper wiring (or aluminium), it should be possible for the ADSL signal to reach several thousand metres, although naturally signal degradation occurs over distance and end users experience this as a loss of speed (reduced download and upload performance) or problems with line stability. Suffice to say that the idea of using a wet piece of string to deliver your ADSL broadband signal isnt exactly standard practice (it probably wasnt high up on Openreachs list when deploying the service all those years ago), although the limited conductivity of water and adaptability of ADSL to unstable conditions does make it theoretically possible, albeit only over very short distances. Now one of the mad scientists professional engineers at AAISP have been able to prove this by dunking a piece of wet string in salty water (blog). The reason for using salty water is because pure water is an extremely bad conductor of electricity (very few ions), while water with an electrolyte (like NaCl or sodium chloride / salt to the rest of us) is a much better conductor of electricity (more ions). Overall the experiment successfully achieved a connection over 2 metres that could deliver download speeds of up to 3.5Mbps, although the upload rate of 67Kbps doesnt exactly inspire and touching the string with your finger is likely to break the signal. But then this is just a bit of fun and AAISP arent trialling a new connectivity solution for the future (we hope). Somehow we dont think this reinvented technology, which weve decided to call Stringband because were talented like that (well you cant conduct such an experiment without giving it a silly name), is going to catch on in the mainstream but its an interesting test nonetheless. After all, science is always at its best when youre learning something while at the same time having fun. But dont let the Government see this as they might adopt the service as a cost effective solution for future broadband needs. No doubt the ASA would then also allow it to be described as fibre broadband ehumm. The terrific televisual boom that is the OTT revolution is set to get even more entertainingly profitable, set to nearly double from 2017 levels. The latest data from analytical gurus at Juniper Research has found that "SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) services, provided by the likes of Netflix and Amazon, will drive a surge in OTT revenues to reach $120 billion in 2022, up from $64 billion in 2017." The research also found that "over a quarter of global households will subscribe to SVOD services by 2022." What this has led to, and will continue leading to, is OTT providers spending big on content. The details are contact in Juniper's newest report, on sale to relevant parties at relevant prices, dubbed " Digital TV & Video: Network and OTT Strategies 2017-2022 ," which found that "expenditure by OTTs on original content was increasing." Juniper estimates that Netflix "will spend over $6 billion during 2017-18, in contrast to the publicly funded BBC, which is investing a comparatively small sum of $1.4 billion." We're told that SVOD players including Netflix are "seeking to out-spend traditional providers; attempting to deliver original content and reduce reliance on expensive back-catalogues." Research author Lauren Foye explained: Success will hinge on whether these providers can continue to produce hits such as Stranger Things. As consumers become more fluid in their uptake and loyalty to video services, OTTs could just as easily see users switch off. In addition, Juniper finds that OTTs "will make a push for sporting rights, with Amazon likely to bid for rights to the Premier League in February 2018," while the research argued that "with such content owned by OTTs & traditional providers, consumers will be torn ever more; faced with multiple subscriptions." So, what about local content, which Juniper says is "a bastion for broadcasters"? Well, here we learn that the research "identified that traditional broadcasters hold advantage over OTTs in provision of local content. Some regional OTT services have launched, such as iFlix, but these do not provide the same granular level of local coverage that broadcasters can offer." And, "the delivery of media via IP (Internet Protocol) will have a benefit to broadcasters in driving consumers to their own OTT services, such as the BBCs iPlayer - accessed via the Red Button+ on connected TVs." Indeed, Juniper forecasts data usage to soar on these devices, approaching "800,000 Petabytes per annum by 2022." To tempt relevant parties into purchasing the full research, you can check out Juniper's free whitepaper: OTTs vs TV Networks ~ 3 Winning Strategies. 1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities. 2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion. 3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact. 4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance. Vote View Results Toyota does not appear to be issuing notices to its customers who have cars with defective Takata airbags until the customers themselves contact the company. iTWire contacted the company on Monday with a view to writing a story, pointing out that though the owners of some models had been informed earlier in the year that their vehicles had defective airbags, no indication had been given that replacements were available. In the letter, sent in July this year, Toyota said: "Replacement parts are currently being prepared and, due to the number of vehicles impacted globally, it is anticipated that initial quantities of parts will become available to commence these Safety Recall Campaign repairs in the 4th Quarter of 2017." Thereafter there has been a studied silence from the company. In August, this writer contacted a local Toyota dealer and was told to bring his car in. However, no airbags were available but another defect a petrol tank cover which could come adrift and about which no information had been sent was rectified. Shortly after contacting Toyota this week, this writer contacted the dealer again and was told that airbag replacement were now available; a date of 4 January 2018 was set for replacing the airbag. The ACCC issued a warning this week to people who had cars with these defective airbags, asking them to exercise caution if contemplating travel by car during the forthcoming holidays. There are about 43,000 cars in Australia that have the most dangerous type of faulty Takata airbag known as "alpha" airbags, according to the ACCC. These were installed in some models of Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mazda and Lexus sold in Australia from around 2001 to around 2004. Overall since 2009, more than 2.7 million vehicles in Australia with defective Takata airbags have been voluntarily recalled, including Honda, Toyota, BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Lexus, Ferrari and Nissan vehicles. In the initial query to Toyota, the company was told: "Some months ago, owners of some Toyota models were informed that the airbags in their vehicles were defective and would be replaced. "The replacement date was given as the last quarter of 2017. There are about 21 days left in the year and it looks like this promise is not going to be kept. "I myself have a Toyota and received a letter pledging this same timeframe for replacement. There is no sign or word from Toyota that the process is delayed." Aleks Krajcer, manager of public affairs, national marketing, Toyota Australia, responded on Monday but the only thing he asked was the details of my vehicle. This was provided. I also asked: "I called my local Toyota dealer this morning and he said the parts are available. So how come Toyota has not contacted me to inform me about it?" Hey, presto, on Tuesday a letter arrived from Toyota saying that the airbag replacement was now available, and asking me to do what I had already done book a date with a dealer to get a replacement fitted! The letter came in less than a day despite the fact that Australia Post is not exactly setting any kind of record for delivery these days. Why does Toyota which thrived in Australia while it was here with taxpayer support not bother about people who buy its cars? The investigation into a data breach at a Milan-based surveillance technology company is likely to end with no conclusion as to the identity of the attackers. A report in Motherboard said the prosecutor, who was investigating the break-in at Hacking Team, had on Monday asked for the case to be dismissed. The website said it had obtained a copy of a notice sent by prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis to the people under investigation, saying that he had requested the judge to shut down the probe. The breach at Hacking Team, a company that sells surveillance and hacking software to governments worldwide, occurred in July 2015. A man who called himself Phineas Fisherto be behind the act, saying he had done it tothe company and its customers as they had been often caught using Hacking Team's wares toon dissidents and human rights activists. The investigation has operated under a veil of secrecy but the occasional report has hinted that the prosecution was targeting four former Hacking Team employees. The names of the four Alberto Pelliccione, Guido Landi, Mostapha Maanna, and Alex Velasco were mentioned in the notice. The report said that another name in the notice was that of Jon Fariborz Davachi, a US citizen of Iranian origin, who was allegedly the person who funded the operation to attack Hacking Team. This detail was mentioned in the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, which also said that the Italian authorities had obtained an arrest warrant for Sera but been blocked from executing it by the US State Department. Hacking Team now has 20 days to appeal the prosecutor's decision and seek to extend the investigation. The National Australia Bank (NAB) is doubling its investment in its innovation hub in 2018 alongside what it says is a 75% increase in the NAB Labs workforce. NAB says the investment is part of its record $4.5 billion investment into the bank to accelerate the strategy with a heavy focus on technology and digital priorities over the next three years. NAB Chief Operating Officer Antony Cahill says, in almost three years since being established, the innovation hub continues to play an important role in exploring and creating new and leading customer experiences. We have a clear plan; we are investing in our platforms, services and products to deliver faster, simpler and seamless experiences for our customers. We are bringing the age of digital to our customers and to do that, we need to continue to attract the best talent and invest in our resources to deliver those new experiences our customers are expecting from us. NAB Labs and our venture capital fund, NAB Ventures, play an extremely important role, looking closely at emerging trends and new technologies for opportunities where we can create strategic partnerships that deliver new and exciting experiences for our customers. The announcement will see NAB Labs boosted by an additional 35 new team members in 2018, taking the team to 85 dedicated employees. The increased investment will include extra resources for our incubator program to support the scaling of initiatives such as the recently launched HICAPS Go app, developed in partnership with start-up Medipass Solutions, as well as to increase our new experiment numbers, Cahill said. The success of digital solutions, such as our QuickBiz Loan for small business and our partnership with fintech Look Whos Charging to provide instant information for customers on their credit card transactions via our mobile banking app, are pointers on why we are continuing to invest for our customers. Around 30% of our new small business loans came through QuickBiz in the May- September period, while the Look Whos Charging functionality has been used more than one million times since we launched in August. The NAB says the added investment will support NAB Labs initiatives in areas such as experimentation, incubation and human centred design and the NAB Labs team can swell to around 150 people at any given time pending the number of experiments underway. We will look inside and outside our organisation for the very best people with the right skills and experience, who are creative thinkers, embrace agile working and challenge the status quo, to fill these roles, Cahill said. In an announcement last month NAB said it would hire a further 600 technology specialists in the areas of software engineering, data, architecture and security. will more than double its investment into its innovation hub, NAB Labs, as well as increasing the NAB Labs workforce by 70 per cent in 2018, as it continues to deliver new experiences for customers. Almost three years on since NAB Labs was established, Chief Operating Officer Antony Cahill said the innovation hub continued to play an important role in exploring and creating new and leading customer experiences. We have a clear plan; we are investing in our platforms, services and products to deliver faster, simpler and seamless experiences for our customers, Mr Cahill said. We are bringing the age of digital to our customers and to do that, we need to continue to attract the best talent and invest in our resources to deliver those new experiences our customers are expecting from us. NAB Labs and our venture capital fund, NAB Ventures, play an extremely important role, looking closely at emerging trends and new technologies for opportunities where we can create strategic partnerships that deliver new and exciting experiences for our customers. The increased investment will include extra resources for our incubator program to support the scaling of initiatives such as the recently launched HICAPS Go app, developed in partnership with start-up Medipass Solutions, as well as to increase our new experiment numbers. The success of digital solutions, such as our QuickBiz Loan for small business and our partnership with fintech Look Whos Charging to provide instant information for customers on their credit card transactions via our mobile banking app, are pointers on why we are continuing to invest for our customers. Around 30% of our new small business loans came through QuickBiz in the May- September period, while the Look Whos Charging functionality has been used more than one million times since we launched in August. Cahill says the added investment will support NAB Labs initiatives in areas such as experimentation, incubation and human centred design. On top of the 85 dedicated employees, the NAB Labs team can swell to around 150 people at any given time pending the number of experiments underway. We will look inside and outside our organisation for the very best people with the right skills and experience, who are creative thinkers, embrace agile working and challenge the status quo, to fill these roles, Cahill said. In addition, NAB last month announced it would hire a further 600 technology specialists in the areas of software engineering, data, architecture and security. Facebook has changed its approach to booking its ad revenue, announcing that it will move to a local selling structure in countries where it has an office to support local advertising sales. The company chief financial officer, Dave Wehner, said in a blog post that this meant local advertising revenue would no longer be recorded by the social media giant's international headquarters in Dublin. Multinational technology companies have been accused of not paying a fair amount of tax in countries around the world, with Apple, Google and Microsoft also being in this bracket. In September, nine members of the European Union backed a move to tax multinational tech companies on their revenue, not profits. The same month it wasthat Facebook was still booking most of its Australian revenue in Ireland and the US. Australia has held parliamentary hearings into tax evasion, and summoned the chief executives of big tech companies to explain their tax payments. The Australian Taxation Office released data last week on companies that paid no tax in 2016-16. Among the tech multinationals that paid nothing were IBM, Acer, BAe Systems, FoxConn, Citrix and Unisys. Wehner said Facebook's management believed that moving to a local selling structure would "provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally supported sales in their countries". The fact that local revenue will be recorded in a particular country does not necessarily mean that the taxes paid by Facebook will increase as costs for intangibles like intellectual property will also be debited to the country in question. Wehner said it was expected that this change would be effected in countries where we have a local office supporting advertisers in that country. "That said, each country is unique, and we want to make sure we get this change right," he added. "This is a large undertaking that will require significant resources to implement around the world. We will roll out new systems and invoicing as quickly as possible to ensure a seamless transition to our new structure. "We plan to implement this change throughout 2018, with the goal of completing all offices by the first half of 2019." Wehner said Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, would continue to be its US headquarters while the Dublin offices would remain its international headquarters. Online electronics retailers BecexTech, Techrific and CatchDeal have provided court-enforceable undertakings to the competition watchdog, the ACCC, after admitting they advertised electronic goods such as mobile phones and tablet computers as 'new', when they were in fact refurbished. The three companies admitted to contravening the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) until September 2017 and the ACCC took action after receiving 96 complaints about BecexTech, 34 complaints about Techrific and 60 complaints about CatchDeal. BecexTech also admitted to misleading consumers about their rights by falsely claiming they were not bound by the Australian Consumer Law as they were incorporated overseas. When you sell a product as new but it is made of used parts, you are clearly breaching the law by making a false or misleading representation, ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said. If you carry on a business in Australia, you are bound by the Australian Consumer Law. All Australian consumers are protected by consumer guarantees, and they cannot be limited or excluded. If a product does not match descriptions made by a salesperson or on a business website, consumers can seek remedies from the retailer, including a replacement or a refund. Both BXT International (BecexTech) and TCF Global - which operates Techrific and CatchDeal - have undertaken to: Clarify when products are refurbished or are not Australian market versions of those products on their website Contact and offer redress to certain consumers who were either misled into purchasing refurbished products or were misled as to their rights under the ACL. Implement an ACL compliance program, including staff training and regular reviews Publish a notice notifying consumers about these undertaking and not engage in this type of conduct any further. In addition BXT International has also undertaken to: Cease its practice of pre-selecting for purchase items additional to those which a consumer actually intends to purchase; and Revise its warranty policy to clarify it does not limit or exclude consumer guarantees. The ACCC cited examples of consumer complaints about the three companies as: BecexTech: One consumer spent $608.95 on an Apple iPhone 6 from BecexTech, believing that the product was new. After the iPhone failed within three days, the consumer took the phone to an Apple store only to be told that that same phone had previously been purchased two years prior in the United States. CatchDeal: One consumer purchased from CatchDeal an iPhone 6 for $539 and an iPhone 6 Plus for $609 in March 2017. Both phones were contained the words New Sealed Box in their titles. The consumer was later informed by Apple that both products were used and had previously been purchased in 2015. Both phones had been repaired with third party displays. Techrific: Another consumer purchased a Samsung Galaxy S5 for $449 from Techrific in February 2016, which was advertised as being in a sealed box. Within three months, the screen began to fail. The consumer took the phone to an authorised Samsung repairer who informed her that the phone was a refurbished model, and that the water damage indicator inside the phone had been replaced with a third party version. The consumer was given only a partial refund of $369. Labor Shadow Communcations Minister Michelle Rowland claims it is unthinkable that Malcolm Turnbull is spending $50 billion on a second-rate NBN that could be leaving residents on the HFC network with fifty times more network downtime when compared to those on fibre. Is this really what the Turnbull Government proposes to give the students, families and small businesses of Bennelong? An expensive HFC network that still doesnt work properly and is producing up to 50 times more dropouts?, Rowland said, speaking ahead of next weekends Bennelong by-election. Time without internet connectivity is a critical source of lost productivity for businesses, students and professionals working from home. Labor believes Australians deserve a first-rate NBN that delivers the speeds and reliability the economy needs to reach its full potential. Rowland cites NBNCo data provided to the Senate in August that she says revealed households connected to the HFC network have been experiencing nearly 50 times more network downtime than households connected to fibre. An analysis of the NBNCo supplied data indicates that whilst the average fibre household is experiencing around 0.4 hours of network downtime per year, an average HFC household experiences 21.8 hours of downtime that is almost fifty times more, Rowland says. In Bennelong alone, this could mean an additional 1 million hours of lost internet and phone connectivity per year for the expected 50,000 premises that will be served by HFC. According to Rowland the Senate requested updated reliability data from NBNCo 40 days ago, but says this is yet to be provided against the due date of 8 December. Source: Analysis of Question on Notice (QON) 347, Communications and Environment Committee, Budget Estimates 2017 Internet speed champion MyRepublics A/NZ MD, Nicholas Demos, reports "mixed feelings regarding the long awaited pricing review and raises concerns over the impact on the local market." Demos said the proposed pricing "favours the 50 Mbps plan and discourages Australians from the 100Mbps tier," which irks the company as it reports "98% of its nbn customers are on the 100Mbps speed tier." Naturally, Demos said "this approach has given our customers the best chance of having optimum speed on Australias network of the future. In the promotional pricing that commences today, 14 December, "there is no discount or incentive for the 100Mbps speed tier of which over 500,000 nbn customers enjoy today." We're told, however, that "the nbn has reduced the 50 Speed tier by $7 per month for new customers." Thus, MyRepublic asks "why not provide an incentive for both the 50 and 100 speed tiers to give the Australian consumer choice within the premium plans? The wholesale price gap between 50 and 100 speed tiers was previously $4 and is now $11 per month." The company said with todays release of the proposed bundles for the much anticipated nbn pricing review due to commence in May 2018, "nbn have again favoured the 50Mbps speed tier." Demos said: "Their bundled pricing is a step in the right direction, however the new 100Mbps wholesale bundle will cost 44 per cent more than the 50Mbps option. We don't want to be incentivised to put a hand break on our customers speed. As champions of faster internet, we will continue to fight for better options for the Australian consumer. Demos added that the comparison with Australia's neighbours is far from favourable: In New Zealand, MyRepublics Gig product costs $30 retail more than the 100Mbps option because it's a super high speed service; however, it's ridiculous to try and justify this sort of price hike from 50Mbps to 100Mbps." In conclusion, Demos said that the Australian consumer should not be mislead by the messages from the nbn: The 50Mbps speed tier is being highlighted and the 100Mbps and above speed tiers are being buried due to NBNs decision to roll out MTM (Multi Technology Mix). The 50Mbps promotion is about saving face for their MTM decision rather than whats good for the consumer." The company notes this is "proposed pricing that is open to another consultation process," and that "MyRepublic will be involved and will continue to push for fairer pricing for the higher speed tiers." Almost two years of preparation involving over 200 meetings, 30 subcommittees, and so on. Thats just a quick look at Joyce Rabins work as Chair of Together in Israel: Our Pride, Our Purpose. Hadassahs 100th National Convention. (Hadassah, which was founded in 1912, held its first conventi Read moreS'ville resident helps organize 100th national of Hadassah, The Womens Zionist Organization of America Reddit 1 Email 1K Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Both Christianity and Islam as religions comprise large numbers of people and contain a spectrum of believers from the secular to the moderate to the extreme. At the far right fringes of the Muslim extremists you get al-Qaeda. At the far right fringes of Christian extremists you get the Lords Resistance Army in Africa. Just short of the violent extremists however, you have the inflexible far right fundamentalists. Judge Roy Moore of Alabama, who lost Tuesdays senate contest, has a great deal in common with the extreme Muslim fundamentalists. Since Trump and his evil puppeteer and white supremacist Steve Breitbart Bannon both backed Moore to the hilt, this means that the Trump wing of the Republican Party is now committed to a form of politics indistinguishable from Muslim fundamentalism. For instance, Moore thought it is all right to date 14 year old girls as a 32 year old man. He even said he got their mothers permission. The minimum legal marriage age for girls in fundamentalist Iran is 13, and with the permission of the court and their fathers they can marry at even a younger age. So what is the difference between Moore and Irans ayatollahs? Moore was removed twice from the bench at Alabamas supreme court for insisting that biblical law trumps the laws of the United States and of the state of Alabama. Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran (d. 1989) said that if the Iranian electorate voted one way, and the 12 vicars (Imams) of the prophet Muhammad voted the opposite way, the Imams would be right and the Iranian people would be wrong. In other words, Khomeini denied the Enlightenment principle of popular sovereignty, that the peoples will as indicated at the ballot box is the law of the land. Roy Moore denies popular sovereignty, saying that his interpretation of the Bible is more important. So what is the difference between Moore and Ayatollah Khomeini? Moore holds that Muslims may not serve in the US Congress (that will come as a surprise to Keith Ellison [D-MN]) because they cannot take an oath on the Bible. But the constitution does not require an oath on the Bible, and Ellison swore on Thomas Jeffersons copy of the Quran. Jake Tapper had to point this out to Moores spokesman: - CNN: Jake Tapper fact checks Roy Moore spokesman - Muslim fundamentalists in Indonesia objected to a Christian being governor of Jakarta, and managed to get him removed on trumped up charges of blasphemy. Roy Moore probably still thinks homosexuality should be illegal, in contrast to the US Supreme Court. Although a majority of American Muslims believe that homosexuality should be accepted, fundamentalist preachers elsewhere want to see it banned. Moore believes that 9/11 struck the US because its public fell away from God. Saudi cleric Bin Baz also held that calamities are punishment for not obeying Gods laws. So Trump and Bannon are not trying to install ordinary conservative Christians in power. They are backing the Christian Taliban. Luckily for the nation, sane Alabamans defeated Moore on Tuesday. - Related video: Doug Jones Triumphs Over Roy Moore In Alabama Senate Election | The Last Word | MSNBC Reddit Email 339 Shares By Ann Jones. | ( Tomdispatch.com First, for the record, let me tell you my story about another of those perversely creepy Hollywood predators, a sort of cut-rate Harvey Weinstein: the screenwriter and film director James Toback. As I read now of women he preyed upon year after year, I feel the rage thats bubbled in the back of my brain for decades reaching the boiling point. I should be elated that Toback has been exposed again as the loathsome predator hes been for half a century. But Im stuck on the fact of elapsed time, all these decades that male predators roamed at large, efficiently sidelining and silencing women. Toback could have been picked up by New Yorks Finest when he hit on me in or around 1972. But I didnt call the cops, knowing it would come to nothing. Nor did I tell our mutual employer, the City College of the City University of New York. I had no doubt about which one of us our male bosses would believe. I had already been labeled an agitator for campaigning to add a program in womens studies to the curriculum. Besides, to any normal person, the story of what happened would sound too inconsequential to seem anything but ridiculous: not a crime but a farce. I didnt know Toback. I must have seen him at infrequent faculty meetings, but we taught in different writing programs. There was no reason for our paths to cross. Ever. So I have no memory of him until the day I flung open the door of my Chinatown loft in response to a knock, expecting to greet my downstairs neighbor, and in walked Toback. My antennae went up. How had he managed to get past the locked street door? I remember talking fast, trying to get him out of my place without provoking a confrontation. He agreed to leave with me to go out for tea or lunch or some little excursion I proposed but first he insisted on using my bathroom, from which he soon emerged naked. I remember the way he listed the many things he had in mind for me to do for him. Among them, one demand persists in memory, perhaps because it was at once so specific and so bizarre: that I suck and pinch his nipples. I beat him to the door, furious at being driven from my own loft. I think I threatened to come back with the cops. Something scared him anyway. From a shop on the street, I watched as he left my building on the run, waddling away at top speed. Reader, if you think that nothing really happened, then you are mistaken. This incident took place almost 50 years ago and though I hadnt thought of it in ages not until his name popped up in the media the memory remains remarkably raw. I still want to see him marched naked through the streets of Manhattan and Los Angeles to the jeers and uproarious laughter of women. At the time, Toback was no more than 25 years old, while I was nearly 10 years older, a thoroughgoing feminist, and luckily faster on my feet than him. But recent reports say that, in the 1980s and later, Toback routinely focused his attacks on very young women, some of them teenagers, using promises of film stardom (sound familiar?) to lure them into encounters that left them sodden with shame. He is now in his seventies and, although women have reported his predation several times in major magazines, he was still on the prowl last month and had never before been called to account for his actions. What could be more despicable than this: that for more than four decades, while he and his kind were allowed to practice undeterred, he only got better at his game of assaulting women. A Catalogue of Violations Not long after my run-in with Toback, a university professor from whom I was taking a writing course came calling to discuss my extraordinary work and emerged from that same Chinatown bathroom in a similar state of nakedness. (Do they follow some instruction manual Ive never seen?) By then I was writing and photographing as a freelancer for the travel section of the New York Times, an unpaid task that entitled me to receive midnight phone calls from the drunken travel editor detailing the things I might do for him to insure a real job with the Times. Thats when I became a freelancer elsewhere, always ready to cut and run. Ive been a loner ever since. I could tell you stories of other professors, editors, journalists, and TV hosts. But they would be much the same as those we read almost every day now as women go public with their own stories of sexual harassment and worse at the hands of powerful men in the film industry, major media outlets, Silicon Valley, and Congress, among other places. In response, almost every day come new denials, excuses, or half-baked apologies. Some commentators are now reconsidering Bill Clintons record in the sharper light of the present moment. Others ask if the current witch hunt for sexual predators has gone too far. Expecting inevitable backlash, some recommend that women exercise restraint as all of us have been taught to do for so many eons lest some unsubstantiated accusation discredit the stories of thousands of women reporting #MeToo. I dont share such tender concern for the reputations of men, especially not that of the president, the self-congratulatory pussy-grabber-in-chief whose followers seem to mistake his behavior for the norm, if not an aspirational ideal. Discussion of these matters quickly becomes political, eliciting erratic, gender-bending partisan judgments. Some prominent Republican men called for former judge Roy Moore of Alabama, accused of harassing and assaulting teenaged girls when he was a 30-something assistant district attorney, to end his campaign for the Senate, while many Republican women in that state, including many who are presumably the mothers of daughters, continue to stand behind him. At the same time, Democrats parse which of Bill Clintons accusers to believe and which not. And who hasnt thought again about Clarence Thomas? He was elevated to the Supreme Court by an all-white male Congressional committee despite the thoroughly credible testimony of harassed law professor Anita Hill and the accounts of many other women, similarly violated and ready to testify against Thomas, but never called. Given his long misogynistic history on the court, isnt it time to look at his testimony again? Did he commit perjury to gain his seat? And if so, whats to be done about his consistent judicial record inimical to the common interests of women? Its Not Just Sex Little or none of male harassment and predation is truly about sex, except insofar as men weaponize their sad libidos to pin women to the floor. Monstrous men commit whats called sexual harassment and sexual assault not because women are irresistible but because they cant resist the rush of power that rises from using, dominating, degrading, humiliating, shaming, and in some cases even murdering another (lesser) human being. (Sexist, not sexual, may be a more accurate adjective.) Often especially when the woman is better looking and more talented or qualified than her assailant he gets an additional powerful kick from having taught the bitch a lesson. A smug sense of power (When youre a star you can do anything) colors the phony apologies of accused predators. (It was never my intention to leave the impression I was making an inappropriate advance on anyone.) Though a man may be truly sorry to be found out, its next to impossible for him, after that blast of solid-gold supremacy, to pretend to even a particle of remorse. The times call for accusations to be scrupulously accurate. Yet its misleading to think of sexual harassment and sexual assault as separate and isolated indignities when in real life one so often segues into the other. Such terms arose in the course of intensive work by feminists of the so-called second wave, which is to say feminists like me who began work in the 1960s and 1970s. One of our tasks was to expose and document the extent of violence against women in the United States. At that time, misogyny emanated from the pores of patriarchal men, poisoning the very air we breathed. We found overwhelming the violence such men committed against women and girls of all colors who did not conform to their notions of decorative and deferential femininity. The fact that male violence methodically constricts female lives is so appalling that most women simply couldnt acknowledge it. Psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman, in her landmark study Trauma and Recovery (1992), described things as they were at the time: Most women do not recognize the degree of male hostility toward them, preferring to view the relations of the sexes as more benign than they are in fact. Similarly, women like to believe that they have greater freedom and higher status than they do in reality. Beneath the revelations of sexual harassment and assault today lie the same hard-rock foundations of male hostility that Herman described a quarter century ago. To document male violence and depict how it works in daily life, second-wave feminists tried to break it down into its component parts: discrimination and domination psychological, sexual, and physical in the home, the schools, the workplace, the church, the courts, the prisons, and public life. We wrote the history of male violence against women, while exploring its effects at that time and its future prospects. Our generation produced groundbreaking books on patriarchy (Kate Millet, Sexual Politics, 1970), rape (Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will, 1975), sexual harassment (Catherine McKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women, 1979), pornography (Andrea Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women, 1981), the battered womens movement (Susan Schechter, Women and Male Violence, 1982), men murdering women (Diana Russell, Femicide, 1992), and feminist consciousness (Gloria Steinem, Revolution from Within, 1993). I wrote a history of American women who did not conform: Women Who Kill (1980). For countless women of my generation, this documentation and the movement for change became our lifes work. The next generation of women thought differently. Many younger women, even some who call themselves feminists today, were persuaded by the hostile counterattack against the womens movement (meticulously deconstructed by Susan Faludi in Backlash, 1991) that we uptight man-haters had wildly exaggerated the violence women face. They, on the other hand, proudly proclaimed their youth, intelligence, ambition, and control of their own lives. They would not be victims or feminists either. We knew how they felt, for we had felt that way, too, when we were young. Then they went out to work and met the monsters. To understand what actually happens to women, you only have to listen to or read any of the accounts pouring forth right now to denounce sexual harassment. The stories are laced with fear about immediate physical threats and, more pointedly, with anger and despair about the potential demolition of their jobs, future careers, and life as they had envisioned it for themselves. From the stories of individual women, its clear that predators violate the neat categories of feminist scholarship, shifting seamlessly from harassment to coercion to physical assault, rape, and worse. The sexual strategies exposed by these repetitive accounts are similar to those described in police reports on battered women, seasoned prostitutes, and women subjected to incest, trafficking, rape, and femicide. These are stories of the lives and deaths of millions of women and girls in America. Behind all of them is the deafening sound of a silence that has persisted throughout my long life. But these past weeks have been startlingly different. By now, we both women and men should have heard enough to never again ask: Why didnt she come forward? Let this be our own open secret. We all know now that a man who assaults a woman does so because he can, while a woman who comes forward, even with our support, is likely to be violated and shamed again as were the women who came forward to accuse presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. Now What? None of this is new, though we tend to act as if it were. Just last week, for instance, I heard three young women radio reporters explain that women back in the 1970s or 1980s accepted unwanted male attention in the office and in life because thats just the way things were. (Harvey Weinstein offered the same excuse: All the rules about workplaces and behavior were different. That was the culture then.) Please, can we get this straight? Back in those ancient times the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s we did not accept violence against women in the workplace or any place else. Its true we hesitated to report it to employers or the police, because when we did, we had to watch them laugh it off or send us packing. But we did call it out. We named it. We described it. We wrote books about all forms of violence against women all those man-hating books that these days, if anyone cares to look, may not seem quite so obsolete. We worked for change. And now only 40 or so years later, here it seems to be. Los Angeles Times reporter Glenn Whipp broke the story of James Tobacks predation based on the complaints of 38 women. Within days that number had grown to 200. By the time I emailed him my story, the number reporting Toback assaults had hit 310. In a follow-up article, Whipp mentioned that the Manhattan District Attorneys Sex Crimes Unit wanted to hear from women Toback had attacked in their jurisdiction. I called and left a message, making good my threat to bring in the law after only about 45 years. For the first time, someone other than my best friends might listen. Somebody might even call me back. But today, as I write, New York Times reporters Megan Twohey, Jodi Kantor, Susan Dominus and their colleagues describe in hair-raising detail Harvey Weinsteins Complicity Machine, a catalogue of enablers, silencers, and spies, warning others who discovered [Weinsteins] secret to say nothing. With their collaboration, Weinstein, like Toback, has preyed upon women since the 1970s. The Times reports that among Weinsteins closest media pals is David J. Pecker, the chief executive of American Media Inc., which owns The National Enquirer, a gossip rag whose reporters Weinstein could use to dig up dirt on his accusers. Reportedly, Weinstein was known in the tabloid industry as an untouchable F.O.P., or friend of Pecker. Its no surprise to learn that another predator who shares that untouchable F.O.P. status in the tabloids is Donald grab em by the pussy Trump. The question is unavoidable: If serial sexual predation disqualifies a man from being a film producer, screen writer, movie star, network newsman, talk show host, journalist, venture capitalist, comedian, actor, network news director, magazine editor, publisher, photographer, CEO, congressman, or senator, why shouldnt it disqualify a man from being president of the United States? Shouldnt sexist serial sexual assault constitute an impeachable high crime or misdemeanor? We may find out. Time magazine passed over the president as its person of the year to name instead the Silence Breakers the brave, outspoken women who inspired the #MeToo campaign. Pictured on the cover along with actress Ashley Judd and pop star Taylor Swift is a Mexican strawberry picker, using a pseudonym for her safety. Her presence and the arm of an unidentified hospital worker seated just out of the frame signal that we might yet learn how this cultural awakening is playing out in ordinary America for women working in the far less glamorous worlds of fast-food chains, nursing homes, hospitals, factories, restaurants, bars, hotels, truck stops, and yes, strawberry fields. So where do we go from here? This train has left the station and rolls on. In some photos of those smart young relentless women journalists at the Times, Ive noticed that their footwear tends not to stilettos, but to boots, which as every woman knows, are good for marching and for kicking ass. Thats promising. But since Ive traveled this route before, youll have to excuse me for thinking that when this big train passes, it could leave behind a system predators, enablers, silencers, spies, and thoroughly entrenched sex discrimination not so very different from that of the 1970s. And if that happens, no doubt those lying dead on the tracks will prove, upon official examination, to be female. Ann Jones, a TomDispatch regular, is the author of several pioneering feminist books, including the classic Women Who Kill, Everyday Death, Next Time Shell Be Dead, and with Susan Schechter a handbook for women who made the mistake of marrying predatory and violent men: When Love Goes Wrong. She is also the author of the Dispatch Book They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from Americas Wars the Untold Story. 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 Ann Jones Via Tomdispatch.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metallic Minerals Corp. (TSX-V:MMG) (US OTC:MMNGF) (Metallic Minerals or the Company) is pleased to announce diamond drill results from seven holes drilled on the Caribou and Duncan targets in the Keno Summit area at its 100% owned Keno Silver Project in Canadas Yukon Territory. A total of 1,320 meters of diamond drill core was collected from 14 holes in 2017 on areas prioritized during initial exploration work, namely Caribou, Duncan and two vein targets at Homestake (see Figures 1 and 2). The results clearly show that the Caribou target is a classic Keno-type high-grade system with bonanza grades, such as hole CH017-023, which intercepted 1.6 meters grading 2,851 g/t silver equivalent (1,405 Ag g/t, 26% Pb, 3.7% Zinc and 0.28 g/t Au), and that the system is open to further expansion down dip to the north and south. Final results from 2017, including the drilling from two priority targets on the Homestake block, are anticipated in the coming weeks. The objective at the Caribou and Duncan targets was to drill below the shallow historic mining and sampling on the structure to determine the potential of the systems to host significant high-grade silver-lead-zinc deposits and to provide vectors to assist follow-up exploration. The Company completed six drill holes that intersected the Caribou structure, with highlight assay results shown below in Table 1. One hole was drilled at the Duncan target that intersected three mineralized structural zones within Keno Hill quartzite, one of the districts preferred host rocks, down dip from the historic mine confirming the presence of the main structural corridor. Both areas are expected to priority targets for the planned 2018 exploration program. Table 1: Highlighted 2017 Caribou Target Area Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t CH17-021 39.35 42.0 2.65 407 3.39 6.35 0.834 972 including 39.35 39.80 0.45 1,607 15.47 1.70 0.759 2,487 39.80 40.85 1.05 194 0.94 9.95 0.718 827 40.85 42.00 1.15 132 0.89 4.89 0.971 512 CH017-23 40.7 42.3 1.6 1,405 25.98 3.72 0.282 2,851 including 40.70 41.50 0.80 2,408 47.30 4.69 0.108 4,898 41.50 42.30 0.80 402 4.65 2.74 0.456 804 CH17-026 48.62 50.85 2.23 59.1 0.82 4.99 0.960 440 including 49.90 50.85 0.95 104 1.55 9.76 1.641 828 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Greg Johnson, Metallic Minerals Chairman & CEO stated, We are very pleased with the first drill results from the Keno Silver Project, which support our strategy of systematic exploration to rapidly advance targets to drill stage and potential resource delineation. At the Caribou target, our results confirm the existence of high-grade silver and that we have a well-mineralized structure that is open to depth, with widths of 1-3 meters that are typical of the Keno Hill silver district. We now have 14 intercepts grading more than 800 g/t silver equivalent on the Caribou structure with the system open to expansion to the north and south (see Figure 3 - Caribou Long Section below). To put this in context the average reserve grade for primary silver deposits in the industry is 300 g/t silver or 500 g/t silver equivalent1 with the average resource grade in the Keno district at 400-500 g/t silver. Future work at the Caribou target will focus on step out drilling of the higher-grade zones to determine the ultimate scale of the mineralized system. We anticipate conducting a robust 2018 exploration program and to continue development of the 12 priority targets, along with several new priority targets that were added through acquisitions in the district this year. Caribou Target Area The Caribou target, located on the east side of Caribou Hill, was discovered and worked in the 1920s and 30s and produced 87 tons of high-grade material grading 6,072 g/t silver produced from the collective workings. A limited amount of shallow drilling and surface trenching was previously completed on the prospect between 2008 and 2011 with significant high-grade results reported (see Table 2 and 4 below). Exploration by Metallic Minerals on the Caribou target in 2017 followed up on the historic surface work with detailed stratigraphic mapping, magnetic and VLF geophysical surveys, as well as the extension of soil sample grids over the broad target area. Diamond drilling was focused on testing down dip, along the structure below the shallow historic sampling, to determine the potential depth extension of the open-ended mineralization. The results of the drilling show a shallow dipping, well mineralized structure hosted in Keno Hill Quartzite, which hosts the majority of historic production and resources in the Keno Hill silver district (See Table 3 and Figure 3 below). Footnote 1: New Explorer for High-Grade Silver Resources in the Prolific Keno Hill Silver District of Yukon, Canada; Michael Fowler, Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd (LOM), September 2017. The drilling further shows that the Caribou structure is open to expansion and there remains significant exploration upside with the potential to develop a resource on this target (see long section in Figure 3 below). Drill holes are shown, with their respective grades, where they pierce the plane of the vein. Planned work for 2018 would include a continuation of step-out drilling of the shallow-dipping vein along the best mineralized shoots to the north and to the south where the high-grade mineralization remains open. Table 2: Caribou Comprehensive 2008-2011 Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t 08CH001 33.30 35.30 1.15 116.2 0.96 0.18 0.12 180 Including 34.30 34.50 0.2 958 8.44 1.22 0.78 1482 08CH002 28.90 31.40 1.77 87.8 0.74 0.16 0.19 146 Including 18.60 19.80 1.2 432 4.17 0.21 1.00 718 08CH004 33.60 34.60 0.96 84.2 0.64 0.39 0.59 181 08CH005 35.00 35.50 0.48 1046 3.39 1.44 0.77 1,343 08CH006 34.60 39.40 4.61 69.5 0.58 0.47 0.19 137 08RCH002 27.43 28.95 1.5 76.3 1.6 0.03 0.03 156 08RCH003 18.29 19.81 1.49 198 1.75 0.42 0.23 321 CH11-007 14.60 18.50 3.85 314.8 27.8 0.53 0.17 1,667 Including 14.60 15.80 1.2 94.3 85.56 0.01 0.23 4,146 CH11-008 14.80 17.70 2.88 162.5 3.15 0.58 0.16 355 Including 14.80 15.50 0.7 493 10.49 0.93 0.4 1069 CH11-009 15.50 16.90 1.38 1,696.3 9.42 0.94 0.85 2,257 CH11-010 30.30 31.00 0.63 447 2.34 3.07 0.35 749 CH11-011 39.70 42.10 2.37 59.7 0.79 0.79 0.46 175 CH11-013 16.50 20.10 3.38 168.9 1.37 0.62 0.1 274 Including 16.50 17.70 1.2 401 2.95 1.02 0.2 610 CH11-014 20.90 25.70 4.02 31.4 0.41 0.39 0.15 83 CH11-015 13.50 18.40 4.84 129.1 0.9 0.11 0.02 179 CH11-017 22.90 23.40 0.49 1,610.8 16.83 1.16 1.26 2,565 CH11-018 24.10 25.00 0.85 1,151 7.16 1.03 0.05 1,548 CH11-019 23.10 25.60 2.44 20.3 0.45 1.06 0.13 108 CH11-020 21.30 23.50 2.17 213.5 1.38 1.06 0.18 349 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Table 3: Caribou Comprehensive 2011 Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t CH17-021 39.35 42.0 2.65 407 3.39 6.35 0.834 972 including 39.35 39.80 0.45 1,607 15.47 1.70 0.759 2,487 39.80 40.85 1.05 194 0.94 9.95 0.718 827 40.85 42.00 1.15 132 0.89 4.89 0.971 512 CH017-23 40.7 42.3 1.6 1,405 25.98 3.72 0.282 2,851 including 40.70 41.50 0.80 2,408 47.30 4.69 0.108 4,898 41.50 42.30 0.80 402 4.65 2.74 0.456 804 CH17-024 54.40 55.00 0.60 15.2 0.06 0.42 0.380 70 CH17-025 53.15 55.2 2.05 52.3 0.44 0.02 0.125 84 including 54.9 55.2 0.3 247 1.38 0.09 0.331 343 CH17-026 48.62 50.85 2.23 59.1 0.82 4.99 0.960 440 including 49.90 50.85 0.95 104 1.55 9.76 1.641 828 CH17-027 51.66 54.43 2.77 0.07 0.49 6.58 0.412 57 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Table 4: Caribou Comprehensive Trench Results ID Sample Type Width Ag g/t Pb% Zn% Au g/t Ag EQ g/t TR-05a Channel 1.32 77.6 0.1 0.16 0.08 97 TR-05b Channel 1.06 119.9 0.18 0.78 0.53 212 TR-06a Channel 1.85 282.5 0.41 0.1 0.17 321 TR-06b Channel 0.26 127.1 1.15 0.26 0.01 196 TR-08b Channel 0.58 84.3 0.42 0.47 0.29 152 TR-08f Channel 0.21 1026 2.75 0.64 0.62 1,238 TR-08i Channel 0.37 981.6 9.33 1.35 0.57 1,538 TR-08j Channel 0.16 1,855.7 41.5 0.05 0.09 3,822 TR-08k Channel 1.43 72.0 0.32 0.06 0.14 101 TR-08n Channel 0.9 3,332.7 13.88 1.07 0 4,044 TR-11f Channel 0.26 57.1 0.26 0.44 0.26 113 TR-11h Channel 0.79 539 2.13 1.05 0.25 715 TR-11i Channel 0.79 954.2 4.81 1.05 0.48 1,275 TR-11j Channel 1.06 2,953.1 8.11 0.64 0 3,370 TR-11l Channel 0.42 138.5 1.35 0.17 0.11 220 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Duncan Target Area The second area targeted with drilling in the Keno Summit area was an initial test of the structure at the historic Duncan mine, which had the highest recorded grade of production in the Keno Hill silver district at 25,518 g/t silver from the shallow workings2. The Duncan vein was staked in 1919 and saw limited development work in 1920s. The vein is exposed on the steep north face above Silver Basin, which has seen only limited exploration including minor hand trenching and a few bulldozer cuts since the 1920s. Metallic Minerals completed the first known drill hole on the target from the plateau south of the prospect. This down dip test confirmed the presence of a broad window of prospective quartzite and intersected three anomalously mineralized structural zones within the Keno Hill quartzite ending in 70 g/t silver equivalent material. Drilling difficulties limited the further continuation of the hole, falling short of testing the full quartzite package. However, these results confirm the presence of the Duncan target structure, which may have up to 200 vertical meters of Keno Hill Quartzite host rock positioned down dip from the high-grade Duncan shaft, with open-ended strike potential. Follow up drilling in 2018 will be designed to test the full depth potential of this highly-prospective target. Footnote 2: CATHRO, R. J. (Bob). Great Mining Camps of Canada 1. The History and Geology of the Keno Hill Silver Camp, Yukon Territory. Geoscience Canada, [S.l.], Sept. 2006. ISSN 1911-4850 About Metallic Minerals Corp. Metallic Minerals Corp. is a growth stage exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of high-grade silver and gold in the Yukon within under explored districts with potential to produce top-tier assets. Our objective is to create value through a disciplined, systematic approach to exploration, reducing investment risk and maximizing probability of long-term success. Our core Keno Silver Project is located in the historic Keno Hill Silver District of Canada's Yukon Territory, a region which has produced over 200 million ounces of silver and currently hosts one of the worlds highest-grade silver resources. The Companys McKay Hill Project, northeast of Keno Hill, is a high-grade historic silver-gold producer. Metallic Minerals is also building a portfolio of gold royalties in the historic Klondike Gold District. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success, including large scale development, permitting and project financing. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / December 13, 2017 / MGX Minerals Inc. (MGX or the Company) (CSE: XMG / OTCQB: MGXMF / FKT: 1MG) is pleased to announce it has signed a definitive agreement (the Agreement) with 8230137 Canada Inc. and the minority shareholders of ZincNyx Energy Solutions, Inc. (ZincNyx) to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of ZincNyx. Upon closing of the Agreement ZincNyx will become a 100% owned subsidiary of the Company. ZincNyx Energy Solutions, Inc. is a Canadian company that has developed a modular energy storage system (ESS) designed for energy storage in the 5 kW to 1 MW range for extended periods of time. This innovative regenerative zinc-air flow battery can be scaled from kilowatt to megawatt range to provide low cost energy storage. ZincNyx has developed a patented regenerative zinc-air fuel cell battery technology that efficiently stores energy in the form of zinc particles and contains none of the traditional high cost battery commodities such as lithium, vanadium, or cobalt. The technology allows for low cost mass storage of energy and can be deployed into a wide range of applications, including: Utility-scale storage and power grid load stabilization Long term backup power for industrial, commercial, and military facilities Remote location off grid and micro grid applications Diesel generator replacement or hybridization Development of modular beta units is complete with manufacturing plan of scale-up units underway. ZincNyx expects to deploy demonstration units in early to mid-2019. By acquiring ZincNyx, MGX advances its mission of accelerating emerging energy and energy commodity technologies that disrupt the status quo, said MGX Minerals President and CEO Jared Lazerson. ZincNyx aims to bring energy storage to mass market through its patented zinc air technology, which offers lower-cost, long duration batteries capable of simultaneous charge and discharge. MGX is proud to be a part of a fundamental shift from traditional high cost and difficult to acquire commodities such as lithium, vanadium and cobalt to low cost zinc in residential, remote and mass storage applications. ZincNyx Technology ZincNyxs technology consists of three main subsystems that use zinc and air to store energy in the form of zinc particles. When the system is delivering power, the zinc particles are combined with oxygen drawn from the surrounding air. When the system is recharging, zinc particles are regenerated and oxygen is returned to the surrounding air. Figure 1. Principle of Operation Unlike conventional batteries, which have a fixed energy/power ratio, ZincNyxs technology uses a fuel tank system that offers flexible energy/power ratios and scalability. The technology emits no greenhouse gases or pollutants. ZincNyx has secured over 20 patents to date and received nearly C$15 million in financial support from its shareholders and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to develop the technology. Figure 2. ZincNyx U.S. Patent Coverage Acquisition Terms To acquire a 100% interest in ZincNyx, MGX will make a one-time payment of C$250,000 and issue 1,293,333 restricted shares of the Company. The Company will further issue 2,450,925 restricted stock units to be vested over 24 months as part of compensation and incentive plan to retain key employees. The transaction is expected to close on or before December 20th. About ZincNyx Energy Solutions To learn more about ZincNyx technology visit www.zincnyx.com. About MGX Minerals MGX Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource company with interests in lithium, magnesium and silicon assets throughout North America. Learn more at www.mgxminerals.com. VANCOUVER, Dec. 13, 2017 /CNW/ - Mawson Resources Limited ("Mawson") or (the "Company") (TSX:MAW) (Frankfurt: MXR) (PINKSHEETS: MWSNF) is pleased to announce the commencement of the Company's winter diamond drilling program at the 100% owned Rompas-Rajapalot gold project in Finland. Key Points: Winter diamond drill program is now underway with 15,000 drill metres planned from December 2017 to April 2018; Winter diamond drill program is now underway with 15,000 drill metres planned from December 2017 to April 2018; One diamond drill rig has been mobilized to East Rompas with 2,000 metres to be drilled through to mid-January; Further drill rigs will be mobilized to Hirvimaa and Rajapalot from mid to late January 2018; Mr. Michael Hudson, CEO, states: "We thank our shareholders and the team involved in Mawson's recent brokered financing of $5.3 million. We are not wasting any time, with a drill rig already on site to begin the Company's largest ever drill program in Finland. We are particularly excited to begin drilling at our new East Rompas project, where exceptionally high-grade gold has been discovered in outcrop and mini-drill sampling including 2,375 g/t gold; 1,284 g/t gold; 642 g/t gold and 216 g/t gold. We will add additional drill rigs in the new year, to test a range of high priority targets." The 15,000 metre winter program plans to both extend known gold mineralization and test new exploration targets. Drilling at known gold areas near Palokas, Palokas South, South Rajapalot and Raja shall follow up on previous gold mineralized intersections, with an aim to define maiden resources. At East Rompas, Hirvimaa and Rajapalot, new exploration targets with extensive surface data shall be tested. In addition, fast and cost-effective grid base-of-till drilling will be used to discover and test targets along a 20 kilometre strike extent of the new East Rompas high grade gold prospect. One diamond drill rig has been mobilized to East Rompas with 2,000 metres of drilling planned by mid-January. Further drill rigs will be mobilized to Hirvimaa and Rajapalot from mid to late January when snow cover is sufficient and final drill permits are received. East Rompas is located approximately 500 metres east of the 6 kilometre long Rompas high-grade vein system where drill results include 6 metres @ 617 g/t in drill hole ROM0011. Discovery samples were reported on October 11, 2017 and October 23, 2017. To date a total of 30 grab samples (27 from outcrop) range from 0.1 g/t gold to 2,375 g/t gold, with an average grade of 201.1 g/t gold and a median of 0.82 g/t gold. Gold mineralization discovered in outcrop is fracture controlled and associated with strongly biotite-altered mafic rocks, believed hydrothermal in origin, and similar to the undrilled Joki prospect at Rajapalot. Gold mineralization has been discovered sporadically in two semi-parallel trends, perhaps as part of an en echelon array within a 750 metre long NNW-SSE oriented zone, where the width of the individual occurrences are at least 20 metres. Outcrop is poor and forms less than 5% of the area. The northern mineralized zone is better exposed than the southern zone. Technical Background The qualified person for Mawson's Finnish projects, Dr. Nick Cook, President for Mawson and Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the contents of this release. About Mawson Resources Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, PINKSHEETS:MWSNF) Mawson Resources Limited is an exploration and development company. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company with a focus on the flagship Rompas and Rajapalot gold projects in Finland. TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - December 12, 2017) - Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX: K) ( NYSE : KGC) is pleased to announce that it has gained mineral rights to a 287-hectare (709-acre) parcel of land known as Gilmore located immediately west of its Fort Knox mine in Alaska. As a result, Kinross added 2.1 million gold ounces in estimated measured and indicated resources and 300 koz in estimated inferred resources at Fort Knox. Kinross began an initial drilling program on Gilmore land, and Fort Knox land adjacent to Gilmore, in 2014. The Company targeted promising opportunities in the existing Fort Knox orebody, which continues west, and completed approximately 73,000 metres of core and reverse-circulation drilling in 205 holes. The results of the drilling program, engineering work and the acquisition of the mineral rights resulted in the update of the Fort Knox mineral reserve and resource estimates, including additions to measured and indicated resource estimates and inferred resource estimates1. The Company also converted approximately 260 koz of mineral resources, which was mainly from the East wall of the Fort Knox pit, to proven and probable reserves. The conversion offset some of the reserve depletion in 2017 and resulted in an increase to Fort Knox's estimated mine life by approximately one year. Kinross has commenced a Gilmore feasibility study that will analyze a layback of the current Fort Knox pit to access known mineralization on Fort Knox and Gilmore land to potentially extend mine life. Further drilling and engineering are planned at Gilmore to evaluate the potential of upgrading a significant portion of the site's estimated measured and indicated resources and adding to its inferred mineral resource estimate. The Company expects to provide an update on the feasibility study in mid-2018. The Company also expects to initiate the permitting process for mining at Gilmore by year end. "Gilmore is a promising organic development opportunity that can potentially extend mine life at our Fort Knox mine in Alaska, one of our top producing and high performing operations," said J. Paul Rollinson, Kinross Gold President and CEO. "With the Gilmore project, we continue to deliver on our strategy of pursuing low-risk, high-potential brownfield projects that can contribute to the long-term future growth of our Company." The Gilmore land was conveyed to the State of Alaska by the United States on December 11, 2017. Upon the conveyance, the Company's state mining claims at Gilmore came into effect. The conveyance resulted from the close cooperation and support of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the State of Alaska and the Alaska Congressional Delegation. Fort Knox Area Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves2 (Closing Balance November 30, 2017) Tonnes (kt) Grade (Au g/t) Ounces (Au koz) Proven 23,968 0.48 366 Probable 68,198 0.43 949 Total 92,166 0.44 1,315 Fort Knox Area Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources2 (Closing Balance November 30, 2017) Tonnes (kt) Grade (Au g/t) Ounces (Au koz) Measured 24,607 0.40 320 Indicated 213,495 0.42 2,909 Total 238,102 0.42 3,229 Fort Knox Area Inferred Mineral Resources2 (Closing Balance November 30, 2017) Tonnes (kt) Grade (Au g/t) Ounces (Au koz) Inferred 56,689 0.38 690 About Kinross Gold Corporation Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile and Ghana. Our focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of operational excellence, balance sheet strength, disciplined growth and responsible mining. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: K) and the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE : KGC). 1The updates to Fort Knox's mineral reserve and resource estimates reflect additions resulting from the acquisition of mineral rights to the Gilmore land as well as engineering changes, depletion and resource conversions. The net additions to estimated measured and indicated resources is approximately 1.8 million ounces and approximately 500 koz to estimated inferred resources. 2These updated estimates are different from those reported in the 2016 fourth-quarter and year-end results news release dated February 15, 2017. For further information and assumptions see the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017, available at www.kinross.com and under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Proven mineral reserve estimates include the reserve stockpile of 4,229 kt at 0.33 Au g/t for a total stockpile of 45 Au koz. Resource estimates have been calculated effective November 30, 2017 notwithstanding that the Company did not acquire the state mining claims until December 11, 2017. Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN), the Canadian and London listed lithium company, is pleased to announce that the results of the Feasibility Study ("FS") for the Sonora Lithium Project[1] in Mexico ("Sonora" or "the Project") confirm the positive economics and favourable operating costs of a 35,000 tonnes per annum ("tpa") battery grade Li 2 CO 3 operation. The FS estimates a pre-tax project Net Present Value ("NPV") of US$1.253 billion at an 8% discount rate and an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 26.1%, and Life of Mine ("LOM") operating costs of US$3,910/t of lithium carbonate ("Li 2 CO 3 "). Highlights Strong economic potential of two stage open-pit operation at Sonora: Stage 1 - 17,500 tpa for 4 years; Stage 2 - 35,000 tpa Estimated Project pre-tax IRR of 26.1%; NPV of US$1.253 billion (at 8% discount rate) with a simple Stage 1 project payback of four years. Revenues are based on a flat US$11,000/t for battery grade Li 2 CO 3 over LOM, significantly below the current Li 2 CO 3 price range of US$12,000 20,000/t [2] [3] Low estimated LOM operating costs of US$3,910/t of Li 2 CO 3 - lower than the new lithium brine operations being reported in Argentina3 Average LOM annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ("EBITDA") estimated at US$229 million per annum Sonora: a large lithium deposit Measured plus Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of over 5 million tonnes ("Mt") (comprising 1.9 Mt of Measured Resources and 3.1Mt of Indicated Resources) of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE")[4] and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.7 Mt of LCE Low stripping ratio: open-pit mine design indicates a total of 37.1 Mt of ore to be mined over the planned 19-year mine life with an average stripping ratio of approximately 3.4:1 over LOM Conventional flow sheet: uses established sulphate route processing technology Integrated plant designed to initially process 1.1Mt of ore per year during Stage 1, subsequently increasing to 2.2 Mt per year for Stage 2 Stage 1 capital cost estimate of US$420 million includes mining, processing plant, infrastructure, construction of Tailings Management Facility ("TMF"), general administration costs as well as the requisite contingencies Potential to sell up to 30,000 tpa of potassium sulphate ("SOP", "K 2 SO 4 ") for sale to the Mexican fertiliser industry Next Steps: advance Sonora towards production to satisfy expected continuing growth in demand for lithium driven by growing sectors such as electric vehicles and energy storage Subject to Board approvals and other key milestone events, project detailed design is expected to commence in late Q1, 2018. Peter Secker, CEO of Bacanora, commented, "The FS confirms the Company's long held view that Sonora has the potential to become a significant supplier of battery grade lithium to growing industries, such as electric vehicles and energy storage, and at the same time to generate positive value for shareholders. The numbers speak for themselves: a US$1.25 billion Pre-Tax NPV, a 26% IRR and, at a US$3,910/t operating cost, a favourable position on the global industry cost curve, which puts Sonora on a par with the lower cost brine operations." "Thanks to the work we carried out in parallel with the FS, notably the securing of a long term off-take agreement and strategic partnership with leading Japanese trading house Hanwa, the issuance of an environmental permit, and the acquisition of surface rights, we are in a position to commence the development phase of Sonora. Our objective is to transform Bacanora into the next significant producer of lithium carbonate and in Sonora we have the asset that we expect to enable us to do so. Bacanora is entering a new and exciting stage in its development and I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in due course." Key Elements of the Feasibility Study Project Introduction The Sonora Lithium Project is located in northern Sonora State, Mexico, approximately three hours drive north east of the state capital of Hermosillo, a city of over one million people. Access to the site is by road from either Hermosillo or the US border town of Agua Prieta. The Project has access to significant support infrastructure including paved roads, process water and local labour. The FS demonstrates the attractive economics of Sonora and key findings are shown in table below: Table 1: Feasibility Study Key Indicators Value Pre-tax Net Present Value ($ 000) 1,253,027 Pre-tax IRR (%) 26.1% Simple Payback Stage 1 (years) 4 Initial Construction Capital Cost Stage 1 ($ 000) 419,616 Construction Capital Cost Stage 2 ($ 000) 380,262 Av. LOM operating costs ($/t Li2CO3) 3,910 Av. operating costs ($/t Li2CO3 net of K2SO4 credits) 3,418 Post-tax NPV (at 8% discount) ($ 000) 802,464 Post-tax IRR (%) 21.2% Av. annual EBITDA with co-products ($ 000) 229,362 Annual Li2CO3 production capacity Stage 1 17,500 t Annual Li2CO3 production capacity Stage 2 35,000 t Annual K2SO4 production capacity Stage 2 30,000 t (* All costs are in US dollars) The Sonora lithium property hosts a large lithium deposit. The polylithionite mineralisation is hosted within shallow dipping sequences, outcropping on surface. As part of the FS, a Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited ("SRK") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The following tables present the summary of current lithium resources for the Project, these Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Table 2: Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources Category Cutoff (Li ppm) Tonnes (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Measured 1,000 103,000 3,480 1.5 1,910 1,776 Indicated 1,000 188,000 3,120 1.3 3,130 2,345 Total 1,000 291,000 3,250 1.4 5,038 4,119 Table 3: Inferred Mineral Resources Category Cutoff (Li ppm) Tonnes (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Inferred 1,000 268,000 2,650 1.2 3,779 3,220 Notes: (i) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (ii) Tonnes rounded to the nearest thousand. (iii) LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li2CO3. 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.323 ppm LCE / Li2CO3. Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses. (iv) Reported from a block model above 1000 ppm Li and above a simple open pit shell generated using the technical and economic parameters established during the FS, with the exception of the LCE selling price of US$ 14,300 (which represents a 30% premium on top of the US$11,000 used for the Mineral Reserve estimate). Mining Operations The mining operation for the Project is planned as an open-pit development using a combination of continuous miners to mine the ore zones and a truck/shovel fleet to remove the waste material. Mining operations will be augmented with an ancillary fleet of dozers, graders and water trucks. The Mineral Reserve estimate was prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. ("IMC") in Tucson, Arizona. The Mineral Reserve estimate includes an ore recovery factor of 100% and mining dilution of 100 mm at the top and bottom of the mineralized beds, with the grades of the elements in the adjacent lithologies. Table 4: Mineral Reserves: (Cut-off grade of 1,500 ppm Li) Category Tonnes Ore (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Proven 80,146 3,905 1.64 1,666 1,550 Probable 163,662 3,271 1.36 2,849 2,126 Total 243,808 3,480 1.45 4,515 3,676 Notes: (i) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (ii) Tonnes rounded to the nearest thousand. (iii) LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li2CO3. 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.323 ppm LCE / Li2CO3. Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses During the initial 19-year mine life, 37,058,000 tonnes of ore with a Li grade of 4,151 ppm will be mined and processed with a stripping ratio of 3.4:1. Processing Metallurgical testwork for the FS was carried out at SGS Laboratories ("SGS") in Perth, WA, and ANSTO Laboratories ("ANSTO") in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The process engineering and design for the process plants and infrastructure was completed by Ausenco Pty Ltd ("Ausenco"). The process plant design comprises a pre-concentration stage to produce an initial concentrate prior to roasting. The concentrate is subsequently heated in a kiln, at approximately 950 degrees Celsius, in combination with re-cycled sodium sulphate ("Na 2 SO 4 "), which is a by-product produced from the Sonora lithium plant, to produce an intermediate lithium sulphate ("Li 2 SO 4 ") product. This sulphate material then undergoes hydrometallurgical treatment, filtration, cleaning, precipitation and packaging, to produce a >99.5% Li 2 CO 3 final battery grade product. The integrated plant has been designed to initially process 1.1 Mt of ore per year, during Stage 1 of the Project, subsequently increasing to some 2.2 Mt per year at Stage 2, producing 17,500 tpa and 35,000 tpa of lithium carbonate, respectively. The plant design also includes a circuit to produce up to 30,000 tpa of K 2 SO 4 /SOP product through a series of evaporation and precipitation stages. Capital Costs The initial mining fleet, comprises a continuous miner to excavate the ore zones and a front end loader and a 90 tonne haul truck fleet to remove the non-mineralised waste material. In addition, there is an ancillary mobile fleet including dozers, graders and front end loaders, which will also be purchased. The initial capital cost for the mining operation is estimated to be US$17.6 million. The metallurgical processing facility capital cost estimate is based on an on-site processing plant comprising all new equipment, to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate. The capital cost estimates for the process plant, infrastructure, Tailings Management Facility ("TMF") construction, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management ("EPCM") fees, and general and administration costs were compiled by Ausenco. Table 5: Construction Capital Costs Category Estimate Stage 1 (US$000) Estimate Stage 2 (US$000) Mining 17,611 17,614 Beneficiation plant 18,483 18,483 Lithium processing plant 158,288 158,285 Plant Services 55,334 55,334 Infrastructure 58,841 23,581 EPCM/Owner cost/Indirect 72,912 72,393 Contingency 38,147 34,569 Total 419,616 380,262 The LOM sustaining mining and processing capital requirement is approximately US$140.6 million. Energy Energy has been a significant focus of the FS and the Company has received a number of proposals for the supply of both natural gas (via pipeline) and LNG to the Project. There is a significant operating cost saving in using natural gas rather than LNG and the Company is currently working with a shortlist of potential pipeline and natural gas suppliers to ensure that natural gas supplies from Agua Prieta to the project site are available in time for the commissioning Stage 1 of the Project. In addition to supplying natural gas for the kiln circuit, the energy supply package would include the installation of a gas turbine combined cycle plant on site to produce high voltage electricity for the processing plants. Operating Cost Estimate The mining and processing operating costs are for an operation achieving average annual production of approximately 17,500 rising to 35,000 tonnes of battery-grade, 99.5% Li 2 CO 3 . The estimated average operating cost for the mine, primary and secondary processing facilities are as follows: Table 6: Project Operating Costs Category Stage 1 (US$/t Li2CO3) Stage 2 (US$/t Li2CO3) Average LOM (US$/t Li2CO3) Mining 295 499 490 Processing 3,093 3,266 3,198 G&A 263 209 222 Total 3,651 3,974 3,910 Cash Flow Analysis The Project is currently estimated to have a payback period of four years. Cash flows are based on a 100% equity funding basis and the economic analysis indicates a pre-tax Net Present Value, discounted at 8%, of approximately US$1.25 billion as shown below, and IRR of approximately 26.1%. Post tax the NPV is approximately US$803 million and the IRR 21.2%. Table 7: Sensitivity Analysis (Discount Rate) Discount Rate Base Case Pre Tax NPV (US$ million) Base Case Post Tax NPV (US$ million) 0% 3,425.1 2,371.4 2% 2,644.3 1,808.0 4% 2,054.0 1,381.7 6% 1,602.4 1,055.2 8% 1,253.0 802.5 Table 8: Sensitivity Analysis (Li2CO3 Selling Price) Selling Price Pre Tax NPV (US$ million) Pre Tax IRR -20% 638.6 18.1% -10% 945.8 22.2% Base Case (US$11,000/t) 1,253.0 26.1% +10% 1,560.2 29.8% +20% 1,876.5 33.2% Base case LOM total revenue is estimated at US$6.9 billion, with an EBITDA of approximately US$4.4 billion. Market Review and Lithium Pricing SignumBox (Chile) has provided the Company with their detailed 20 year analysis of the global lithium market, summarised as follows: By 2037, SignumBox anticipate global demand for lithium chemicals to reach about 1,700,000 tonnes of LCE in their base scenario, compared to the current 190,000 tonnes in 2017, equating to an average annual growth rate of about 11.5% over the next 20 years. SignumBox estimates that the battery segment of the market will continue to grow strongly and by 2037 it would represent 84% of total lithium demand, compared to the current 35% in 2017. When considering various pricing scenarios, SignumBox estimates that the lithium carbonate (battery grade) long term price (2030) would range between US$13,700/t to US$20,600/t. For the FS cashflow analysis, the Company has taken a more conservative approach to pricing and is using a flat price of US$11,000/t for battery grade lithium carbonate over the 20 year LOM. The cashflow analysis was prepared by the Company's financial consultants. Lithium Off-take The Company's lithium pilot plant in Hermosillo continues to produce high quality battery grade lithium carbonate samples for distribution to potential customers in Asia. In April 2017, the Company signed a long term lithium off-take with the Hanwa Co., Ltd. of Japan up to 100% of the Stage 1 lithium carbonate production from Sonora. In addition, Hanwa became a cornerstone 10% shareholder in Bacanora via a private placement at the then current share price of 82.5 pence per share on 2 May 2017. Community and Environment As part of the Company's Environmental Management Programs ("EMP"), the Manifestacion de Impacto Ambiental ("MIA"), was lodged with the government authorities in May, 2017. Approval for the MIA was received in October, 2017. Land access agreements were signed in October 2017 securing access and surface rights mainly relating to the land area covering mineral resources contained within the La Ventana, Fleur and El Sauz areas. Bacanora has entered into binding agreements to acquire the freehold to two parcels of land which will provide the Company with unrestricted access to develop the Project and operate it for the initial life of mine. In addition, the Company has commenced an active programme to engage with the local communities within the Project area. Project Timetable Subject to Bacanora's Board of Directors ("Board") approvals, project financing and general lithium market conditions, the Company will continue to progress the Sonora Lithium Project through the project development stages over the next 24 months. Subsequent to a Board approval in Q1, 2018 to develop the project, the detailed design engineering phase of the project is currently scheduled for late Q1, 2018. During this stage a definitive schedule for the project development will be completed and presented to the Board for final approval. Regular updates on the project progress will be provided throughout the Project schedule. Report Filing A technical report on this Feasibility Study, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and at www.bacanoraminerals.com within forty-five (45) days of the date of this news release. Qualified Persons Each of the qualified persons below has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this press release and are independent of the Company. The qualified persons are: Greg Lane, FAusIMM., of Ausenco, is the qualified person responsible for the process engineering, infrastructure, capital cost and operating cost estimates, and the overall preparation of the report. The Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by Mr. Martin Pittuck of SRK, who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Ore Reserve estimate and mine plan was prepared by Mr. Herb Welhener of Independent Mining Consultants Inc. who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates in this press release were prepared in accordance with the CIM "Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014, and the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines," adopted by CIM Council on Nov. 23, 2003, in compliance with NI 43-101 guidelines. Drill results now outline a trend of gold occurrences extending for 16 kilometres between the Company's Rakounga and Bouboulou concessions Hole RKG-17-RC-008 intersects 34m of 1.00 g/t Au, including 4m of 5.60 g/t Au Hole RKG-17-RC-009 intersects 22m of 0.57 g/t Au, including 4m of 2.01 g/t Au Vancouver, Canada / TheNewswire / December 13, 2017 - Nexus Gold Corp. ("Nexus" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NXS, OTC: NXXGF, FSE: N6E) is pleased to announce assay results from its reverse circulation ("RC") drill program on its Rakounga gold exploration permit located 100 kilometers north of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa. Significant results were returned from drilling at the Koaltenga orpaillage where drill holes RKG-17-RC-008 returned 34 metres of 1.00 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au"), including four metres of 5.60 g/t Au, and drill hole RKG -17-RC-009, which returned 22 metres of 0.57 grams per tonne gold, including four metres of 2.01 g/t Au. The RC drill program was designed to test three artisanal workings ("orpaillages"), Namely Koaltenga, Porphyry and Gounga. A total of 10 holes were drilled on the Koaltanga while five holes were drilled on each of the Porphyry and Gounga orpaillages, respectively. The program was designed to test for gold mineralization extent along strike and to depth of structures being worked by the artisanal miners. Significant results of the completed 10-hole Koaltenga drill program are tabled below: KOALTENGA HOLE DIP FROM (metres) TO (metres) LENGTH (metres) GRADE (grams/tonne) RKG-17-RC-001 -50 102 128 26 0.82 INCLUDES 108 110 2 4.11 110 112 2 2.44 112 114 2 2.36 RKG-17-RC-002 -50 108 140 32 1.01 INCLUDES 112 114 2 2.36 114 116 2 2.99 116 118 2 3.10 120 122 2 5.65 RKG-17-RC-003 -50 108 114 6 1.07 RKG-17-RC-006 -50 84 88 4 1.38 106 122 16 0.34 RKG-17-RC-008 -50 102 136 34 1.00 INCLUDES 116 118 2 1.80 124 126 2 1.76 126 128 2 6.05 128 130 2 5.09 RKG-17-RC-009 -60 134 156 22 0.57 INCLUDES 134 138 4 2.01 * Note the company incorrectly reported the intercept from hole RKG-17-RC-006 of 1.38 grams per tonne as occurring in drill hole RKG-17-RC-005 in its previous news release dated Nov 16, 2017. All reported results are intercept lengths and are not true widths. - "The drill program at Koaltenga has successfully identified a broad zone of gold mineralization extending over 300 meters along strike and to depths of 80 metres below surface," said senior geologist, Warren Robb. "Three separate intercepts of near a gram over 30 meters is compelling. This structure remains open along strike both to the north east and south west and to depth. "The workings at Koaltenga extend for at least another 300 meters to the northeast. Given the intercepts we have encountered thus far, the workings to the northeast will constitute our primary target for our next round of drilling. The fact that each of these board intercepts contained zones running 4 to 6 grams suggests a prominent primary structure which has permeated out into the surrounding schists and volcanic rocks enriching the gold values there, should we be fortunate enough to see this trend continue it would certainly enhance any potential economics to the project," continued Mr. Robb. Drilling from the Porphyry orpaillage located some 800 meters south east of the Koaltanga orpaillage was tested with five holes. Gold mineralization was encountered in four of the five holes highlights are tabled below: PORPHYRY HOLE DIP FROM (metres) TO (metres) LENGTH (metres) GRADE (gram/tonne) RKG-17-RC-013 -50 58 90 40 0.19 INCLUDES 68 78 10 0.29 RKG-17-RC-014 -50 108 148 40 0.19 INCLUDES 110 128 18 0.25 RKG-17-RC-015 -50 38 80 42 0.26 "We did not encounter gold values as high as we did at Koaltenga, but the fact that we have intercepted anomalous gold values over lengths of up to 38 meters attests to the gold enrichment occurring within this area of the permit and may be indicative of a larger gold system occurring around the intrusive rocks at the Porphyry orpillage," commented Mr. Robb. GOUNGA HOLE DIP FROM (metres) TO (metres) LENGTH (metres) GRADE (gram/tonne) RKG-17-RC-017 -50 124 168 44 0.11 RKG-17-RC-019 -50 30 48 18 0.11 RKG-17-RC-020 -50 152 174 22 0.19 Results from Gounga were generally low given the extent of the workings on surface. Drill holes RKG-17-RC-17, RKG-17-RC-019 and RKG-17-RC-20 did return anomalous values from a black mudstone with abundant pyrite occurring along bedding planes. "The Company is extremely encouraged by the assay results returned from the drilling at Rakounga, given its proximity to the company's adjacent Bouboulou permit," said Mr. Robb. "These current drill results now outline a trend of gold occurrences extending for 16 kilometres, from the Pelatanga workings occurring on the Bouboulou 1 permit to the Koaltenga workings centrally located on the Rakounga permit. The Company is currently formulating an exploration program that will outline the economic potential of its known gold showings and outline further gold occurrences," continued Mr. Robb. About the Rakounga - Bouboulou Gold Concessions The 250-sq km Rakounga concession borders the Company's 38-sq km Bouboulou concession. The Company recently announced results from its maiden diamond drill program at Bouboulou, with nine of the first 10 holes successfully intersecting gold. Highlights of that program include 4.41 g/t Au over 8.15m, including 23 g/t Au over one metre, 5.21 g/t Au over 3.05m, including 15.50 g/t Au over one metre, and 1.04 g.t Au over 23m. To date a total of eight gold bearing zones have been identified at the Bouboulou and Rakounga concessions. 239 Shares Share I often say that electronic health records (EHRs) is like Skynet in the Terminator. I expect to turn around from my screen someday, and Arnold will lift me by my throat saying, You haff not been doing yuh meaningful use. We practice in a time when EHR confounds us by freezing, crashing and chaining us continuously to our work, as we spend evenings and weekends on documentation. For reimbursement purposes, we are instructed to include more and more useless details. As we pay more attention to the iPatient than to the real patient, we have confused the map for the territory. Is there a Dr. John Connor out there who will lead the resistance against Skynet EHR? Perhaps instead it will be a hacker anti-hero that brings the whole system crashing down an Elliott Alderson from Mr. Robot. Or perhaps a robot will herself take out the abusive, misogynistic corporate head, as Ava does in Ex Machina. Alas, the machines are ascendant for now. Before we are liberated from robot rule, we will surely accommodate them further. Some advances in EHR do actually help us. For example, our hospital EHR wont suggest a diagnosis of sepsis (though it could certainly calculate a sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) score), but once you choose the sepsis order set, it prompts you to repeat the lactic acid in three hours. Choose the order set for hospital-acquired pneumonia, and it prompts you to order antibiotics from the latest Infectious Diseases Society guidelines. However, as noted by National Nurses United: Although these software programs may be called clinical decision support, and the embedded clinical practice requirements may be called guidelines, they often function as hard-and-fast rules that override physicians professional judgment as well as limit the full professional practice of nurses and other practitioners that care for patients. No doubt there are techies who are working on making EHR more user- and patient-friendly. As long as were going to live inside The Matrix, can our user-friendly overlords at least make it pleasant for us, as Mr. Smith did for Cypher, and let us eat (synthetic glop that tastes like) steak? The Terminator viewed the world through an interface that projected a variety of data real time in his field of vision as if he had access to the internet of things. He had two hands free to do his thing, i.e., wreak mayhem. Cant we have access to data on our patients in a way (a Google Glass-like display?) that allow us two hands free to do our thing? Or perhaps, like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, we could chart in the air in front of us. In Homo Deus, Noah Yuval Harari contends that that artificial intelligence will soon augment human intelligence. How long before we will be able to instantly upload digital content from the National Library of Medicine? One can imagine a scene taking place in the near future in a remote hospital: Nurse Neo to family doctor Trinity: Can you fix this subarachnoid hemorrhage? Dr. Trinity: Not yet. (She speaks into her phone.) Tank, I need a program for the surgical approach to clipping an aneurysm. Hurry. (Her eyelids quiver briefly.) Lets go. However, when artificial intelligence merges with human intelligence, what role is left for the human physician? As technology advance, workers in nearly every occupation must fear being replaced by robots. The techies are certainly plotting to replace physicians altogether with robots. A robotic baby harp seal has been used as a stand-in for therapy animals in Japan since 2004. Will androids ever develop to the point where it will become difficult to tell them apart from humans, as in Blade Runner or Westworld? At that point, in what way can human physicians doctor better than androids? Surely, the worth of the physician of the future will be their ability to carry out the human side of doctoring. A machine cannot comprehend a patients and familys values. A robot without consciousness cannot understand the suffering caused by illness or the existential questions raised by life-threatening conditions. If artificial intelligence can figure out the right words to say, and the words are voiced by a life-like android can such words console? Artificial intelligence cannot empathize. It cannot feel. On the other hand, might patients respond to a facsimile of empathy? Theodore Twombly falls in love with the operating system of his computer in Her. The implications for medical education are that we must work to select individuals who are capable of doing these aspects of doctoring. Medical students should be evaluated less by their Step 1 scores and more by their ability to doctor. Future doctors should be interested in their patients feelings, their ideas about their illness, the effect that it has on their functioning, and their expectations of their medical encounter. We cannot simply depend on the natural empathetic characters of individuals. We must foster patient-centered skills in our future doctors. Seiji Yamada is a family physician. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 305 Shares Share There is a movement afoot. I can feel it. I can see it. Women in medicine are no longer going to tolerate the subtle and not so subtle discrimination that has stymied their career growth. They are not going to be complacent while their male colleagues are paid higher salaries, offered speaking engagements and research opportunities and promoted at a greater rate. Women in medicine are pulling together in an incredibly organic way fostered by social media. Their goal is to help each other achieve their professional goals. It has been two years since Heather Logghe, a surgical intern first tweeted #Ilooklikeasurgeon. Since that time, this hashtag has received over 2.8 million impressions on Twitter. Women surgeons around the world have been encouraged to post pictures of themselves at work. Women now use it to identify their tweets and build a community. Last spring, the cover of the New Yorker magazine spurred another social media phenomenon. The #NYerORcoverchallenge was started by surgeon Susan Pitt, also encouraged women surgeons to recreate the now iconic image that challenged the archetypical surgeon. Women continue to post their pictures, and they are retweeted and liked by others, again from around the world. There have been numerous other hashtags that are creating a community of women in medicine. Other specialties have their own version, including #Ilooklikeapathologist, #Ilooklikearadiologist, and #Ilooklikeananesthesiologist. Radiologists started using #radXX to identify their tweets. Using these hashtags and others allows women physicians to connect with others with a shared interest. There are groups on Facebook as well. PhysicianMomsGroup has 65,000 members worldwide, with offshoot groups for women with specific interests in research, writing, and entrepreneurship among others. There is a RadiologyChicks group for female radiologists. Medical schools, hospital systems, and state medical societies also sponsor Facebook pages for women members. These forums often serve as a site to seek clinical advice, post job offers and ask research questions, but they also act a casual location to network with other women physicians. Women are educating themselves about career development a key step towards achieving gender equity in medicine. Women are mentoring each other and providing accessible role models. When the Association of Womens Surgeons was founded in 1981 by Dr. Patricia Numann, only 12 women attended the first meeting. Since then, women have made huge strides in increasing their representation and leadership in all surgical organizations. Annual meetings, newsletters and sponsored speakers provide members with tools and resources to achieve more in their career. Women in medicine groups are forming in the medical specialties and women are joining. Many are organized as offshoots of parent societies. Independent groups in emergency medicine and anesthesia have also formed. A common theme for these groups is a commitment to helping women achieve their best. In addition to helping with skills such as negotiating, office politics and self-promotion, these groups also provide women with access to others who can share their experiences and offer guidance about sensitive topics such as how to handle sexual harassment and discrimination, pregnancy and parental leave issues. Speakers bureaus allow women to identify themselves as experts. Womens groups take many shapes. Many sponsor events at their specialtys annual meeting. Some groups offer freestanding meetings with all women panels and speakers. In addition to the educational component, these meetings are a powerful networking opportunity. Women attending these meetings leave feeling empowered and connected to their specialty and other women in their field. Women are advocating for themselves. With the help of their women members, surgery, OB/GYN, and interventional radiology specialty societies have recently adopted parental leave policies, and one is in the works for anesthesia. Women are drawing attention to disparities in promotion and participation in the specialties. Women are asking for pay transparency. Dr. Julie Silver recently published an article highlighting the lack of women awardees for significant medical society honors in physiatry. Women cannot create an inclusive workplace alone. Men also have to advocate for their female colleagues and partners. Department and practice leaders need to stop assuming that women do not want to be leaders or that they are not interested in research. Meeting organizers need to be mindful that their panels should reflect who is in the audience. #HeforShe is social media tool to identify male allies in medicine. Together, men and women can create the workplace that offers every physician the opportunity to achieve their best. There is a movement underway, and it has been growing for a long time. With the power of social media, women are collaborating and using their combined energy to create an empowering community to fight the status quo. Despite the increased pace, change will not happen overnight. But it is happening, spurred on by hashtags, retweets, and replies. Meridith J. Englander is a radiologist. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 6K Shares Share A recent post about a physician using her maiden name professionally generated major controversy on a physicians group. Hundreds of comments later, it became evident that female physicians who chose to use their maiden names are subjected to negative judgment. I am a physician married to a supportive man who understands my choice to keep my last name. I am not unique in my circle. Most of my female physician friends have not changed their names. Moreover, two male physician colleagues took their wives last names. I believe a woman has the right to make her own choices. Hence, I was amazed by the controversy and felt compelled to write about it. Many of the responses to the post implied that if the husband is helping the physician, she should honor him by taking his last name. One responder wrote that she took her husbands surname because he cared for their children and home while she studied. If men shared her sentiments, the majority of male physicians would have taken their wives surnames. After all, it was not long ago that most physicians were men and wives were stay-at-home mothers. I doubt any of those men have ever been questioned about their decision to keep their surnames. The few who take their wives last names are often viewed negatively (as not man enough). These attitudes only serve to normalize and perpetuate patriarchal ideologies. Some female physicians keep their surnames out of respect for their supportive families who, in some cases, paid for their medical education. I often wonder how it would feel to care for a daughter from birth to adulthood and not hear the name I gave her called when she receives her diploma. The fact is, that little a girl grows up to be a woman, perhaps a physician, who is free and capable of making her decisions, including changing her last name if she so desires. Or is she? Where does this desire or need to change her last name originate? Is she truly free to make that decision? Since the womens rights movement, more women are choosing to keep their surnames. Yet, the majority of American women take their spouses last names. A womans decision to not take her husbands last name is still viewed as abnormal in the United States. People perceive women who chose to keep their surnames as defiant, selfish, disloyal and too ambitious. They assume she values her career more than her family and that her marriage will fail. As a male physician stated, the bomb [is] ticking when she keeps her last name. These assumptions are not only misogynistic, but also ethnocentric. More than 25 percent of physicians in the U.S. are foreign-born. They have their own sets of values and norms, which may not include taking their spouses last names. Countries like Greece and France have laws requiring that women keep their maiden names. Quebec forbids a woman from taking her husbands surname. In some Asian countries, taking a husbands last name is a foreign concept. In many Latin cultures, it is the norm for women to add their husbands surnames to theirs. Commonly, names reflect ones identity. Some names carry information about a persons unique history. As one physician complained, suddenly society expects her to abandon her name and herself. They expect me to become my husband, to forget who I have been for decades and hide behind his image. Historically, married women were legally expected to change their surnames symbolizing the couples oneness. However, women were second-class citizens, an unequal part of the unit. The husbands identity became that of the couple. Nowadays, more than 50 percent of physicians are women, and many are married to men with lower education and financial statuses. Still, society expects women to be graceful about adopting their spouses identity. As one man stated, I would not have married my doctor wife if she had not taken my last name. He is not alone in his way of thinking. In 2013, 63.3 percent of readers of Mens Health reported they would be upset if their wives kept their maiden names. Some physicians regret taking their husbands last names. When a physician changes her last name, she goes through an arduous, complex, and expensive process of changing her professional documentation to reflect the same surname. If she is one of the 50 percent of American women who divorces, she undergoes the same extensive process to reclaim her original surname. The changing of last names has emotional and professional implications. If she is a published author, her publications may be under different surnames, and her work may not receive the recognition it merits. It takes time for patients and colleagues to adjust to her name change. She loses name recognition, albeit often temporarily. Some women are proud to take their husbands names. Some find it easier to be perceived as one unit. Some are facing prejudice that lessened by adopting the husbands last name. As one physician said, I do not want the hospital to think that I am a single mother with a baby daddy. Some women do not need or desire to honor their family surnames. A friend of mine was abandoned by her father. Yet, he demanded that she keep his last name. Instead, she welcomed the opportunity to have a new name identity. There are a myriad of a reasons a female physician may choose to change or keep her last name. Whatever her reasons, they are valid and important to her. No one should be questioning her family loyalty or her professional ambition. We should respect her the way we respect her male counterparts. She should have the freedom to make a name choice without coercion or fear of judgment. It is time to stop pressuring and judging women for the decisions they make about their names and their lives. Veronica Maria Pimentel is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and can be reached at VeroMD.net. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Realtor Jee Kim By Jon Dunbar As the U.S. military continues moving out and construction companies begin drawing up redevelopment plans, foreign residents of Yongsan-gu in central Seoul are likely to notice changes, but realtor Jee Kim advises against panic. She works for World Real Estate Company providing real estate services for foreigners from around the world, mainly military personnel, corporate employees and embassy personnel. Her office is in Hannam-dong, just uphill from Soonchunhyang University Hospital and a stone's throw from the recently demolished towers of Hannam Village, a former U.S. military housing compound. A sign over her office window offers services in Pyeongtaek where the U.S. military is relocating, as well as Godeok New Town, a redevelopment project in southeastern Seoul. Many realtors are following the military south, but Kim, who grew up in Yongsan-gu, continues to serve the area, especially Hannam, Itaewon, Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan, where housing ranges from cheap hillside hovels and affordable walk-ups to luxurious high-rises. "Actually because of the U.S. army moving out, the price went down for large apartments right now," she told The Korea Times. "Some of the big apartments used to get a lot of money from U.S. army personnel; now they are moving out so homes are empty. It's winter right now so landlords are eager to find new tenants." But it's not just the U.S. military leaving, as civilian residents face gentrification, rising rent prices and mass redevelopment. Several of her clients live in areas slated for demolition for the upcoming Hannam New Town, which will stretch from the Itaewon mosque down to the river. "People who live inside the area mostly don't know about the process," she said. "Some people ask me how it'll proceed. They're anxious, not knowing when they'll move out. But I don't think it'll happen that quickly." Despite recent alarmist reactions, she points out the plan has been public information for a decade. "The majority of landlords are pushing it but some of the landlords refused," she said. "It has been delayed, delayed, delayed, so you never know when it'll happen." The New Town project has also gone through several revisions. The current plan includes smaller 20-pyeong (66-square-meter) apartments, allowing for some economic diversity. Also, while Hannam districts 2 and 3 will be demolished, district 1 will remain. Additionally, Bogwang-ro, a lively street full of restaurants and small businesses cutting through the area, is spared. "The area where it'll be demolished, the rental price is very low, as low as outside Seoul," she said. "For the tenants who enjoy cheaper prices, it's not good. Once they move out they'll probably have to leave Seoul." As the affordable housing supply pressurizes, her foreign clients increasingly show interest in other parts of the city, such as Gangnam-gu to the south and Mapo-gu out west. "A lot of foreigners used to live in the Itaewon area, but now they're scattering to other areas," she said. "In areas other than Yongsan, Mapo, Gangnam, the realtors can't speak English, so they need my help." But a dispersed foreign community will face new challenges. For one, Yongsan is unique in not requiring huge deposits from foreign renters, who may not bring such huge fortunes to Korea with them, deposits are significantly lower. Landlords there are used to foreign tenants and housing discrimination is less of an issue there. "If you move away from this side of the city, it's harder to settle down," said Kim, who herself lived in Toronto for 10 years, studying economics at Centennial College and then working as a mortgage agent. "One hardship for foreign residents is lack of community. They don't know the system. They don't know the people. If they need anything, if they know the community, the people, it would be better. It's the same living in Canada or anywhere else. That's why I think a lot of foreigners live around here, because they have community." * The Mexican institute of certified public accountants (IMCP), a professional body, has warned that the tax reform that is being promoted by the US administration led by President Donald Trump would negatively impact Mexicos domestic economy. IMCP president Jose Besil explained that the one-time profit repatriation tax proposal included in the Trump administrations proposed tax reform could lead to US firms operating in Mexico suspending investment plans and repatriating those funds back to the US instead. Consequently Besil called for the Mexican government to consider implementing a tax reform of its own that would significantly reduce business tax rates in order to make investing in Mexico more attractive. Besil warned that lower foreign direct investment could produce lower economic growth in Mexico and increased exchange rate pressure. End of preview - This article contains approximately 127 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options At an ICSA meeting in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan last night there was huge anger at the reluctance of the Government to launch a fodder crisis scheme. Acknowledging the anger of those present, ICSA president Patrick Kent said, Farmers are under pressure and it is clear from the meeting tonight that action is needed on this crisis sooner rather than later. Early intervention will be a better solution than letting it get out of hand. Mr Kent said, ICSA has been sourcing fodder from the Southern half of the country to distribute to those most in need. From the information we have gathered tonight, the need for fodder in this region is immense. Our efforts will continue, however, a transport subsidy needs to be introduced as a matter of urgency as does a system of distributing meal vouchers to those worst affected. ICSA Cavan chairman Hugh Farrell said, ICSAs mission is to assist as many local farmers as possible. Fodder levels are chronically low due to the atrocious weather conditions we experienced in the border counties during the autumn months. It is imperative we get to grips with the situation now. On the evening, there was a lot of interest in the proposal by nutritionist Emmet Duffy of AW Ennis that the Government should subsidise products such as alfalfa, lucerne or straw pellets which would be ideal for inclusion in fodder stretcher mixes. A subsidy of 50/ton could make a decisive difference. These products can provide an efficient alternative to the high cost of transporting bales which are scarce anyway. Concluding, ICSA president Patrick Kent said, We have to look for smart and efficient solutions which can be delivered at short notice. Its time for shoulders to put to the wheel and deliver these urgent practical solutions without delay. A Manohamilton businessman has purchased a rare letter written by 1916 signatory and Kiltyclogher native, Sean MacDiarmada at auction last week. The item was part of a rare book auction, organised by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers, on December 5 in the Tara Towers Hotel, Dublin. The new owner of the letter, John MacManus, is a pharmacist who has businesses in Manorhamilton, Arva, Ballyconnell, Belturbet and Cavan town. Sean MacDiarmada is described as one of the main architects of the Rising of 1916. He, along with John Clarke - whose father hailed from Carrigallen, Co Leitrim - were instrumental in planning the Rising and also key in introducing the main players and bringing them together as a group during the 1915/16 period. The letter is addressed to 'Cathal', (possibly Brugha) and is dated January 26, 1915. It is on a single page featuring the header The National Daily Bulletin - a Republican newsletter at the time. The letter speaks of plans for an Emmett celebration. "I was talking to a few of the Com[mittee] and we think it would be a mistake to drop the celebration", and proposing a meeting for Thursday night. "Tom [Clarke] (another 1916 Signatory with connections to Leitrim), [Sean] McGarry & myself are notified. Ill send word to Peadar McNally. Could you let the others know". It is signed "Do chara / Sean MacDiarmada", and includes a postscript: "Could you get that small a/c. for [Irish] Freedom". Significant documents in MacDiarmadas hand are now very scarce and this letter is believed to be of great historical significance. Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, the new owner of the historic document, John MacManus, said has been collecting memorabilia linked to Sean MacDiarmada for over 10 years. This letter could be very important because Sean MacDiarmada always wrote in code. While the letter talks about an Emmett celebration, it is very possible that this may be a coded letter. The rebellion didn't just happen overnight and this letter could be one of those blocks building towards the rebellion of 1916, he pointed out. John's family has strong links with that of the 1916 signatory. When Sean MacDiaramada went to Belfast in the early 1900s he worked in John's Great Grand Uncle's pub for a time. I am very proud to have this letter coming back to Leitrim and especially to north Leitrim, where Sean MacDiarmada was born and raised. He was such an important man. He was the only one of the signatories that worked as a full time revolutionary and I think that the role he played in planning the revolution, is often undervalued. I am lucky enough to own some other items belonging to Sean MacDiarmada but this (new letter) is very special as letters or any items linked with him are just so rare, he said. I think it is very important that we respect our history and it is vital for ourselves as a community to value our culture and heritage. To be able to bring something back to north Leitrim, something with such a link to Sean MacDiarmada, is an honour for me. These items should be kept for the community, seen by the people, not just locked away in private collections. John has already taken a number of items from his collection of Sean MacDiarmada artifacts to show school children in the north Leitrim area and he hopes to put his latest acquisition on display in MacManus' Pharmacy, New Line, Manorhamilton in the New Year. Earth's chilly bottom (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The chilly bottom of planet Earth, the southernmost continent and a place that boasts nothing but extremes, is a winter wonderland for a trove of curious scientists. In the largest airborne survey to date of the poles, NASA's IceBridge project is aimed at recording the rapidly changing ice of both Antarctica and Greenland. Once a year, from March to May over Greenland and October November over Antarctica, research aircraft fly above the ice sheets to look for evidence of change. Besides collecting invaluable climate-related data, the surveys have also delivered jaw-dropping images of the vast expanses of ice. Here's a look at the gorgeous photos snapped of Antarctica during a Nov. 3, 2017, flight aboard a retrofitted 1966 Lockheed P-3 aircraft over Antarctica. Sea ice and glaciers (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The November flight took researchers above sea ice in Western Antarctica, including the Bellingshausen and Weddell seas and glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula and along the English and Bryan Coasts. Rising sea levels (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) Researchers using IceBridge data have found that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be in a state of irreversible decline, something that could directly contribute to rising sea levels. Green laser pulses (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The main instrument aboard the P-3 was a laser altimeter, which measures the height of the ice surface, according to NASA. The scientists used a green laser and a dual-color one to transmit both infrared and green laser pulses. Antarctic measurements (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) Onboard radar sounders measured thickness and layering of the snow and ice; a high-resolution camera captured images of the terrain; and an infrared camera to measure surface temperature. Magnetic measurements (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The plane also carries a gravimeter and magnetometer to record tiny variations in Earth's gravity and magnetic fields, respectively, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. The magnetic properties of the bedrock beneath the floating ice shelves and glaciers tell scientists what type of rock is present there. Feeling the heat (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The virtually uninhabited landmass is feeling the heat of climate change Amazing Antarctica (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) The National Climate Assessment, a study produced every four years by scientists from 13 federal government agencies, released a stark report Nov. 2, 2017, stating that the global temperature rise over the past 115 years has been primarily caused by "human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases." Artistic views (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) Sea-ice floes in Antarctica create fascinating patterns and hues when viewed from above. Polar window (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) A view from a window in the research craft gives scientists a view of the expansive continent. Icy desert (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty) Though Antarctica is covered in snow and ice and the coldest place on Earth, it is actually a desert: It rarely rains or snows. The snow that does fall doesn't melt and instead builds up into thick ice sheets. These images show Pseudooides, a fossil embryo smaller than a grain of sand. Long thought to represent the embryonic stage of an arthropod, this fossil is now revealed to be the first stage of development of an ancestor of today's jellyfish. A set of spherical fossils, each fossil tinier than a grain of sand, is not what it seemed. For years, researchers mistook these 537-million-year-old fossils for the embryos of arthropods, the group that includes insects, spiders and crabs. Now, a closer look reveals they really belong to the ancestors of jellyfish. What's more, they developed in very different ways than modern jellyfish, said Philip Donoghue, a paleobiologist at the University of Bristol in England. This case of mistaken identity came down to minuscule lines in the surfaces of the fossils, which originally seemed to be similar to the segmentation lines on arthropod larvae. Donoghue and his colleagues were trying to figure out how these segments grew when they inadvertently discovered the lines weren't larval segments at all. "We found that the segments aren't segments, just the in-folded rim of a cup-shaped sheath that would have enclosed an anemone-like organism," Donoghue told Live Science. [Cambrian Creatures: A Gallery of Weird Sea Life] Early embryos The finding upends speculation about the fossils, known as Pseudooides prima, that might explain arthropod diversity during the Cambrian period, which lasted from about 541 million to 485 million years ago. This period is known for an evolutionary eruption of biodiversity on Earth, and it produced many strange creatures resembling nothing alive on the planet today. Fortunately, Donoghue said, some Cambrian rocks preserve rare finds: fossilized embryos. These sacks of cells, with no skeletal components, are extremely delicate and rarely fossilize, he said. "They're little more than aggregations of cells, and you wouldn't have thought they could be fossilized at all," Donoghue said. It's lucky they have, he said, because the micro-fossils provide insights that paleontologists could get no other way. "The fossil embryos provide us with a direct insight into embryology of Cambrian animals and, in comparison to the embryology of living animals, we can deduce how embryology has evolved to create the body plans of living animals," he said. A close look Donoghue and his team used scanning electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy to image 19 Pseudooides fossils from Shaanxi province, China. The latter technique uses a particle accelerator to beam pure X-rays at the interior of the fossils, enabling the resolution of features less than a thousandth of a millimeter in size, Donoghue said. The ultra-detailed look at the fossil "segments" revealed that the lines don't penetrate through the entire fossil, but are instead surface folds that would have opened like an accordion. In fact, their development corresponded perfectly to another fossil found in the same samples, a cnidarian (the group that includes jellyfish) called Hexaconularia. But Hexaconularia doesn't really exist, the researchers found. It's just the adult form of Pseudooides. The findings, published today (Dec. 12) in the journal Biological Sciences, reveal that Pseudooides developed directly from embryo to adult, which is very rare in modern jellyfish, Donoghue said. Almost all jellyfish today go through a larval form between their embryonic and adult stages. In the Cambrian, though, jellyfish life histories were more diverse, Donoghue said. Pseudooides is weird compared with modern jellyfish in other ways. Most notably, it featured sixfold or tenfold symmetry, meaning it could be folded in six or 10 identical sections around its center. Today, Donoghue said, most jellyfish show fourfold symmetry. "Evidently, some Cambrian jellyfish were organized in a very different way to their living counterparts, changing perception of the nature of ancestors," Donoghue said. Original article on Live Science. As summer holidays approach, the problems caused by large numbers of freedom campers are concerning residents and the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board. The issues include a reduction in the number of car parks available at popular seaside spots, people in vehicles that are not self-contained putting pressure on public toilets, and rubbish. Last summer, an Auckland Council trial gave the local board some teeth, including additional signs and patrols at dusk, to reduce the impact of freedom camping in places such as Arundel Reserve and the car park by Orewa Surf Club. However, with the trial over... Local News, Crime, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: December 13 2017 New York to Require Mandatory Surrender of Firearms After All Domestic Violence Convictions, Including Misdemeanors. Albany, NY - December 13, 2017 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today unveiled the first proposal of the 2018 State of the State: remove all firearms from those who commit domestic violence crimes. Given the inextricable link between domestic violence and lethal gun violence, this legislation will require all domestic violence crime convictions, including misdemeanors, to result in the immediate removal of all firearms and will add measures to keep firearms out of the hands of those who commit domestic violence with the goal of preventing additional tragedies. "This year will be remembered as the year of reckoning, when both the tragedy of mass shootings and cultural and institutional harassment of women became impossible to ignore," Governor Cuomo said. "Building on the Women's Equality Agenda, we are continuing our mission for progressive values and women's rights with this legislation to target the unquestionable relationship between domestic violence and gun violence." Under Governor Cuomo, New York has passed the strongest gun control laws in the nation. However, New York does not have sufficient laws in place that automatically mandate removing all types of firearms from individuals involved in domestic violencean issue we know is closely tied to gun violence and gun violence deaths. In nine of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in United States history, including Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, the shooter had an existing record of committing violence against women, threatening violence against women, or harassing or disparaging women. In addition, when an abusive partner is permitted to access firearms, the risk that the other partner will be killed increases fivefold. In 2016, firearms were used in 25 domestic homicides in New York. This proposal builds on legislation previously advanced by Assemblymember Amy Paulin, Senator Diane Savino and other members of the legislature. All Domestic Violence Convictions Result in the Loss of Firearms New York law prohibits the possession of firearms for individuals convicted of felony or "serious" offenses. However, this excludes certain misdemeanor offenses involving domestic violence, such as assault and battery crimes or strangulation. To ensure that all domestic violence offenders are held to the same standard, Governor Cuomo will advance legislation to include all domestic violence misdemeanors on the list of prohibited offenses. Rifles and Shotguns Are Also Required to be Surrendered to Law Enforcement Currently, New York State requires surrender of hand guns for either (1) an order of protection issued by a judge or (2) a firearm license suspension/revocation due to a felony or "serious" offense conviction or a mental health disqualification by a health professional. However, this surrender does not always apply to long guns, such as rifles and shotguns. To correct this loophole, Governor Cuomo will be proposing legislation to apply the same surrender procedures to long guns. For an Order of Protection, Judges Must Order a Defendant to Surrender Any Type of Firearm by Alex Weprin , December 12, 2017 YouTube is adding 34 local markets to its YouTube TV bundled streaming video service, making it available in more than 80 metropolitan areas, the company says. These new markets include New Orleans, Tucson, Spokane, Wash., Providence, R.I., and Des Moines, Iowa. YouTube TV is the companys attempt at creating a skinny bundle of television channels, combining local broadcast stations, a limited selection of cable channels and digital video content into one package. It is distinct from its YouTube Red streaming service, though Red original shows are available on YouTube TV. In order to have local stations included in the service, YouTube has cut deal with media companies' owned and operated stations, like NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox, as well as independent stations and companies that own stations, like Sinclair Broadcasting and Meredith Corp. advertisement advertisement YouTube TV has had a major push in recent months, including becoming the lead sponsor of Foxs coverage of the MLB World Series. The service is also a brand-safe environment for advertisers, with inventory sold against established TV and digital programming, the company claims. YouTube has had problems with brand safety in recent months for many of its user-controlled accounts, with ads appearing next to offensive or objectionable material. YouTube is hoping to target consumers looking to trim or cut the cord, as well as cord-nevers, who have never before subscribed to a pay-TV service. by Larissa Faw , December 12, 2017 SapientRazorfish is parting ways with Adam Grohs after several complaints allege that he discriminated against women and created a hostile work environment. "We take all issues presented to HR very seriously and thoughtfully," says a SapientRazorfish spokesperson. "The Company encourages and promotes a comfortable and conducive work environment for all our employees. We do not tolerate behavior that in any way disrupts this environment. "While we do not discuss internal issues, we can acknowledge that there were concerns raised regarding Adam, and weve dealt with those issues." The Publicis Groupe-backed agency confirms that Monday, December 11, was his last day. An agency spokesperson was not sure who is taking over his responsibilities or whether he received severance. His dismissal was undeniably abrupt, as his Twitter profile still lists him as head of business development, SapientRazorfish North America. advertisement advertisement Ad Agereports that several different women raised concerns over his behavior, both formally and informally, over the past few years. "He's a bully," one woman who filed the complaint told Ad Age. Another said Grohs had been "very rude and dismissive." Yet another women reported that "he loved junior women who would suck up to him." Earlier this year, Grohs was promoted from regional business lead to his most recent role of overseeing all North America growth. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, December 12, 2017 Senate Democrats are asking Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to back away from his "radical and reckless" plan to repeal the net neutrality rules. "Your plan gives a broadband provider the ability to significantly alter their subscribers' internet experience," states the letter, signed by 38 Democratic Senators, including Bill Nelson (Florida), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), and Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), along with Independent Bernie Sanders (Vermont). "Once adopted, this proposal will permit that provider to freely block, slow down or manipulate a consumers' access to the internet as long as it discloses those practices -- no matter how anti-consumer -- somewhere within mounds of legalese." advertisement advertisement The FCC is expected to vote Thursday on Pai's proposal to repeal net neutrality regulations that prohibit broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic and from creating paid fast lanes. The agency is expected to vote 3-2 on party lines in favor of the repeal. Some Republican lawmakers also are criticizing Pai's approach. On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Coffman (Utah) urged Pai to delay Thursday's planned vote until after Congress holds hearings. Coffman noted that the prior four chairmen of the FCC "all took steps to uphold the basic principles that guaranteed a free and open internet." "Their combined efforts have given the nation a highly successful and popular space notable for free markets, free expression and for the tremendous growth in the internet economy," he wrote. Rep. Jeff Fortenberrry (R-Nebraska) tweeted that he asked Pai to "preserve the framework of net neutrality," but also suggested, somewhat ambiguously, that net neutrality rules should apply to content creators. "The upcoming decision should not allow for corporate monopolistic domination, whether internet service provider delivery or content creators," he wrote. The current net neutrality rules only apply to Internet access providers, and not to search engines, social networking services or other companies that offer content. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) on Tuesday renewed his call for Congress to pass net neutrality legislation. Thune has said he supports net neutrality principles, but previously proposed legislation that imposed weaker requirements than the current rules. His prior draft bill would have barred broadband providers from blocking or degrading content, and from charging companies higher fees for faster delivery. But it also would have allowed broadband providers to discriminate against competitors. For instance, the bill apparently would have allowed companies to exclude their own video streams -- but not those offered by Netflix or Amazon -- from consumers' monthly data caps. Polls have shown broad consumer support for open Internet principles. In June, Mozilla reported that a survey it conducted with Ipsos found that 81% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support net neutrality principles. A separate poll conducted this year found that 60% of registered voters (61% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans) support the rules. Earlier this week, 20 internet gurus, including World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee and "Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf warned lawmakers that the planned net neutrality repeal poses "an imminent threat to the Internet we worked so hard to create." by Tanya Gazdik , December 13, 2017 When travel brands and tourism boards embrace LGBTQ consumers, they pay attention, according to a survey conducted by Grindrs Into. Six in ten (61%) said that when choosing a destination, airline or lodging, its reputation as gay-friendly is somewhat or very important. As an incredibly connected and culturally-in-tune community, LGBTQ consumers are uniquely open to new vacation and travel experiences, said Michele Tobin, vice president of brand partnerships, Into andGrindr, in a release. The survey reinforces the idea that our users are thirsty for opportunities to further engage with brands all over the world. Travel, retail, and hospitality brands that have yet to establish a rapport with the LGBTQ community should take quick steps to diversify their marketing and advertising to connect with this powerful group of consumers which views travel as a consistent part of their daily lives, Tobin says. advertisement advertisement Representing a significant portion of the worlds population, LGBTQ individuals command total spending power of more than $5 trillion worldwide annually, and account for approximately $100 billion in domestic travel spend per year. In partnership with Grindr, Into collected survey data from more than 6,400 U.S. respondents. The report examines this communitys penchant for traveling and the desired activities associated with both domestic and international travel. Into Travel is the first in a monthly series utilizing first-party survey data to uncover key advertiser engagement opportunities with the LGBTQ community. Those surveyed are clearly well-connected to all things digital. The survey found that more than half (52%) prefer using mobile apps to guide them while on vacation and 51% use travel site apps to book their travel. Another 30% said they book flights and a hotel together on the same site and 34% book through their preferred airlines website. When it comes to making plans and the frequency of their travel, 40% of Grindr users surveyed said they travel for fun each quarter, while another 24% travel for fun each month. And, efforts to arrange these trips often start as far out as six months with more than one-third (35%) of those surveyed stating they begin planning their trip three to six months in advance; nearly four in ten (39%) begin planning their trip one to three months in advance. While traveling, survey respondents agree they want to take it all in. According to the survey, nearly half (49%) of respondents said they enjoy nightlife, and 46% said they enjoy local culture and cuisine when visiting a new place. Additionally, nearly one-quarter (24%) said they enjoy arts/theatre and/or live music performances and 39% said they enjoy sightseeing and going to museums; 35% said they enjoy quirky off-the-beaten path spots. Brands that are in the cruise industry should pay attention: more than three-quarters (76%) of those surveyed say they are obsessed with or cant wait to take a cruise. When not cruising the high seas, those surveyed also take advantage of several types of lodging options on land: 71% said they have stayed in a big-name hotel and 26% have stayed in a boutique hotel in the past year. More than half (52%) said they want a hotel thats in the center of action and nightlife, while six in ten (61%) want something simple and not too pricey. Impressively, 19% say they prefer ultra-luxe lodging options while traveling. According to the survey, LGBTQ consumers fully embrace international travel, with more than half of those surveyed (54%) stating they have a valid passport and 41% noting they have already traveled internationally and love it. The report found the top 10 domestic and global destinations Grindr users want to visit are, in ranking order: Italy, France, Hawaii, New York City, Australia, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Japan and Las Vegas. by Larissa Faw , December 13, 2017 Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation (MSFG) and its co-chair ClearWay Minnesota have selected Haberman as the new agency of record for the tobacco-control advocacy group following a formal review. Clarity Coverdale Fury was the incumbent. Haberman will oversee marketing strategy and advertising responsibilities across all initiatives, inclusive of creative, media planning/buying, public relations, digital, social and content marketing. Habermans initial work will specifically focus on promoting Quitplan Services, the organization's smoking cessation offering, and continuing the Stop the Start campaign, which focuses on keeping youth and young adults away from tobacco. First up is a campaign that serves as a reaction to the new tobacco industry advertising that features court-ordered statements to acknowledge dangers with smoking and addiction. advertisement advertisement The centerpiece for this creative is the website BigTobaccoLied.com, which features these court-ordered corrective statements, edited to show how the tobacco industry attempted to hide the dangers of smoking. The tobacco companies ads will run on TV and in print for one year. The campaign from MSFG will run through the spring and will emphasize social media, an especially important medium for young people and one thats not required for the tobacco company ads. While campaigns for ClearWay Minnesota will initially only run in Minnesota, other states and countries consistently ask the organization for its work, or simply to re-tag the messaging, says an agency spokesperson. To date, campaigns and work from ClearWay Minnesota have run in more than 30 states and five countries. by Aaron Baar , December 13, 2017 Having already disrupted the mobile telephone space plenty with its Uncarrier positioning, T-Mobile is turning its sights to Pay-TV. The carrier announced this morning it would acquire provider Layer3 TV to create this new TV service. The company promised to bring its Uncarrier ideals to the Pay-TV space, offering an alternative to people who are tired of multi-year contracts, confusing bills, clunky technologies and lousy customer service. In a video announcement, company CEO John Legere called the cable and satellite TV sector the absolute worst, and that people post 4,000 critical comments on social media about the companies every day. Its not surprise that eight of the 10 most hated brands in America are cable and TV companies, he said in the video. advertisement advertisement As mobile has grown to become a top platform for viewing, Legere asserted the industry was ripe for change, and that T-Mobile should be the one to bring it. People want their TV, they just dont want it from big cable, Legere said. This is part of our long-term Uncannier strategy in video and mobile entertainment It should not be that hard to watch what you want, where you want when you want. Promising to Uncarrier that shit in the television category, Legere said the satellite and cable providers have been using all the [wireless] carrier tricks, and then some, including long-term contracts, bundling services and increasing charges after inexpensive trial periods. Its all just a ploy to siphon as much cash from your pockets into their bank accounts, Legere said. Legere said he expected the deal to close in the next few weeks before beginning building the system for the mobile age. Mobile carriers and TV providers have been increasingly close companions over the past few years. AT&T in July 2015 acquired satellite provider DirecTV, and has been offering bundled deals to consumers since. (The company is currently attempting to merge TimeWarner Cable as well.) Comcast earlier this year also began offering its own wireless service under its Xfinity brand. While the move may seem offbeat on the surface, its likely more deals will follow as the telecommunications industry prepares for 5G service. This is a bit odd because T-Mobile has been winning against the big players largely because theyve focused on core values for phone users and not gone into content, says Rob Enderle of Enderle Group, a technology consultant. However, we know that the cellular providers will start blending their wired and wireless services for the home when 5G becomes available and T-Mobile appears to be setting up for that as well as beginning to hedge against anticipated content/service bundles from their big competitors. So Id take it as a hedge for future expansion and against more near-term content bundles. At the very least, the move is another sign of the "democratization of cable," says Colin Petrie-Norris, CEO of streaming video provider Xumo. "It used to be that these companies controlling the cable into the house held all the power," he says. "But with mobile that opens things up." New research conducted by Rutgers University has successfully used cutting-edge technology to spot minuscule, hard-to-detect cancerous tumors. The scientists hope that they will be able to successfully use this technique in humans in the near future. Share on Pinterest Are nanoparticles the way forward in cancer screening? According to recent data, 1,688,780 new cancer cases are estimated to occur in the United States in 2017. Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that cancer has become the leading cause of death in a rising number of U.S. states. In 2014, 22 states listed cancer as their main cause of mortality. At present, the most common means of detecting cancerous tumors are imaging techniques including computerized tomography and MRI scans, as well as biopsies. However, these methods are not always able to pick up on micrometastases , or micro tumors, which are too small to be easily and reliably detected. Now, researchers from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, have uncovered a way of spotting even the smallest of cancer tumors which might, in the future, allow practitioners to effectively track when and where the cancer is spreading, enabling them to intervene sooner. Prof. Prabhas V. Moghe and colleagues have started testing the use of light-emitting nanoparticles in the detection of cancerous cells. The results of their new research have now been published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. Weve always had this dream that we can track the progression of cancer in real time, and thats what weve done here. Weve tracked the disease in its very incipient stages, says Prof. Moghe. As Christmas edges closer, the media is rife with seasonal health stories. But can our Christmas trees really make us sick? Share on Pinterest What is Christmas tree syndrome? Constantly on the lookout for interesting health stories, I stumbled across a collection of articles about Christmas tree syndrome recently, which piqued my interest. According to a plethora of news outlets and articles spanning the past decade, Christmas trees are a ready source of mold, which can wreak havoc in our respiratory tract and potentially spoil our holiday fun. This may be an issue for the roughly 13 percent of the population of the United States who are affected by mold allergy. But the studies cited are far from extensive, and mold allergy is not terribly well understood. So, do you need to be throwing doubtful glances at your carefully decorated Christmas conifer, or is the whole thing a holiday hype? Mold spores, allergy, and asthma According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), [I]f you have an allergy that occurs over several seasons, you may be allergic to the spores of molds or other fungi. Spores come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and they are ever-present in our environment both indoors and outdoors. There may be in excess of 1 million fungal species that inhabit our planet, of which just over 100 families, or genera, can cause mold allergy. The main culprits, however, are just four: Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Aspergillus. Mold spores become dangerous when they reach critical levels. This is the case for individuals who have a mold allergy, as well as those with other allergies or asthma, where mold exposure can serve as a secondary trigger and make symptoms worse. Our weather and light levels affect the composition and levels of individual spore species, which are in constant flux. Our knowledge of critical spore levels is far from extensive, but studies have suggested that for Alternaria, levels can be as low as 100 spores per cubic meter, while for Cladosporium, it is 3,000 spores per cubic meter. But what does this have to do with our Christmas trees? Are Christmas trees a health hazard? It all started in 1970, when Dr. Derek M. Wyse published a paper titled Christmas tree allergy: mold and pollen studies in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. He found that approximately 7 percent of allergic people saw a spike in symptoms when they had a Christmas tree in their home. Yet, when he measured the variety of mold spores in 10 festive homes, he found his results largely inconclusive because the type of mold he found in the homes varied. Nonetheless, the term Christmas tree allergy was coined. Fast forward to 2007, when Dr. Phillip Hemmers reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Dallas, TX, that he had followed the fate of one particular Christmas tree. He found that mold spores had gone up by more than fivefold during a 14-day period over the holidays, reaching 5,000 spores per cubic meter at the end of the festive period. In 2011, Dr. Lawrence E. Kurlandsky along with his colleagues from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse published a more extensive study. Having analyzed clippings from 28 Christmas trees belonging to their team and fellow staff, they found 53 mold species, of which 70 percent were potentially harmful. Does that mean the end for the Medical News Today editorial office Christmas tree? We live in interesting times. It's the age of electric vehicles and fidget spinners. When a new thing shows up in the Internet age, it takes a while for everyone to determine what it is, let alone what it can become. As for bitcoin, it's been 8 years since it came out but most of us are still unsure about what it is. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a decentralised consensus network that enables a cryptocurrency? Woah, lucky guess! Reuters What Is It? It's hard to understand the jargon when you don't understand the problem that it's trying to solve. Let's imagine a completely hypothetical scenario where you had a 1000 rupee note but you gave that note to the government because suddenly, that's the law. After that physical transaction, you are left with nothing whereas the government has your 1000 rupee note. Now imagine if you had a digital 1000 rupee note, things are not so simple anymore. You could simply copy-paste and email the note to the government while simultaneously emailing it to the terrorist outfit of your choice. These are not my words; it's the government that assumes you're funding terrorists with that money feel free to take this issue with them. Regardless, this is called the double spending problem and it baffled computer scientists for a long time until Bitcoin offered a solution in 2009. How Does Bitcoin Solve The Problem Of Double Spending? Bitcoin consists of a network of peers. Each one has a unique ID (or digital signature) and a copy of the blockchain, that is, a public ledger that contains entries of all bitcoin transactions ever performed. When someone makes a bitcoin transaction, it gets processed by miners on the network. Miners have dedicated hardware that implements time-consuming crypto algorithms to ensure the validity of the transaction so that it can be added to the blockchain. This is the reason bitcoin transactions take very long. Once added, it is highly improbable that the transaction will be reversed. The miners get rewarded with bitcoins for their service to the network and that is the only way to generate new bitcoins. Reuters So, if you had five bitcoins and you gave one to the government, then the ledger records that transaction. Now, you can't pay five bitcoins to someone else because everyone has a copy of the ledger and it says that you have only four bitcoins, thus solving the double spending problem. Everything is so much simpler in retrospect! Why Is It In The News? Bitcoin is in the news because recently, its price soared past $15,000 and it made a debut on a major US futures exchange. It's as if a "Stay at home and get rich!" advertisement has gone viral. Some people are regretting not investing in them. Others are calling it a bubble similar to the dot-com boom in the late 90s that even 90s kids will not remember because they were too busy watching movies like 'International Khiladi' and 'Hero No. 1'. The speculative bubble is also being likened to the Tulip mania in 1636 when the bulb of the tulip flower was being sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craft worker. 1636 was probably the only year when a burly man wearing a cowboy hat, got down from his horse to enter a bar, got completely drunk and then threw a tulip on the counter as payment. Criminals Love It! Is A Bad Sales Pitch Bitcoin is popular albeit infamous because it is anonymous (well, it's only a matter of time until they make us connect even this to our Aadhar Card!) and everything happens online, making it a perfect mode of payment for criminals and users of websites like Silk Road (think Flipkart but for narcotics). Even Bitcoin's birth is shrouded in controversy and anonymity. It was created by a person or a group of people called Satoshi Nakamoto. He posted the Bitcoin code on the Internet as open source and was active in the development process up until 2010. He was the first miner and based on the block-chain, he has roughly one million bitcoin but his software works as designed no one knows who or where he is. Reuters Dollar Vs Bitcoin The argument against bitcoin being used by criminals is that money has always been used for both, legal and illegal purposes, which begs the question: is Bitcoin money? The simple answer is: no. It's not currency because the government hasn't conferred it that status yet. It gets its value from the people using it and deeming it worthy to be used as a currency otherwise it has no intrinsic value. Even according to its own website, it's a highly speculative asset. The website even warns that one should not store money that you cannot afford to lose with Bitcoin. The price of bitcoin is highly volatile. If you use bitcoins as currency, you might buy a bag of chips for 10 rupees on one day, and 5000 rupees on another. But its appeal comes from there being a possibility that the tables can turn in your favour too. John, a PhD student researching security at Purdue University, started mining bitcoin in 2012 and did so occasionally over the next two years. He lost interest until the first bubble happened and he realized the potential of mining crypto currency. In those days, dedicated hardware didn't exist so it was feasible to mine on a consumer-grade GPU (graphics processing unit). On a related note, Litecoin and Ethereum are crypto currencies similar to Bitcoin. Unlike Bitcoin and Litecoin, Ethereum won't have dedicated mining hardware anytime soon and due to the rising interest in cryptocurrency, this is being viewed by many as a business opportunity. I've been since exchanging currencies among bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum...and slowly growing the free profit from it...(these days) I mine ethereum, John said. Reuters Too Good To Be True This story proves the point that as of now, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are great if they are treated as speculative assets. Currency is a core tenet of society based on trust and its patterns are ingrained into our minds at a very early age. Any cryptocurrency will find it very hard to enter the mainstream in our lifetime since we don't have enough computer literacy to even start embracing it. Governments and law enforcement agencies are still debating on how one should govern the Internet. Twitter can't see harassment even when it's condensed into 140 characters. Bitcoin is either a heartless scam or a utopian dream. Conclusion From a user's perspective, the biggest problem is that it's just not as simple as using money. No one wants to look up the futures exchange market before going to buy groceries or wait at the counter for 10 minutes till enough peers verify their transaction. Spending money is supposed to be the easy part! Also, I would be remiss to mention, if we switch to a completely digital system, we might be serving the global economy on a platter for the Singularity and I'm pretty sure Skynet will ask for my consent before making a withdrawal from my account. After more than three weeks under a restrictive policy that banned drinking and suspended off-base liberty, U.S. troops in Japan are getting some privileges restored. As of Tuesday, military commands in Japan announced they were lifting the total ban on alcohol consumption and resuming normal liberty, with some restrictions left in place. According to an announcement from Marine Corps Forces Japan, Marines and sailors below the rank of E-3 will still have to observe a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. All in ranks E-5 and below who are on a temporary additional duty, leave or deployed status in Japan have the same curfew restriction Those in grades E-4 and E-5 who are not in a TAD, leave or deployment status have a curfew from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., according to the announcement. The severe restrictions were put in place after a 61-year-old Japanese man in Okinawa was killed when a Marine collided with his car in what appeared to be an incident involving alcohol. The Marine, identified by multiple media outlets as 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Nicholas James McLean, was arrested by local police. McLean was indicted Monday on charges of negligent driving causing death and driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a Stars and Stripes report. It's common practice for liberty and off-base privileges to be suspended after a public incident involving alcohol or harm to a local citizen in Okinawa and Japan, where sensitivities around the U.S. troop presence in the region remain high. Since the deadly car crash, however, there has been at least one high-profile incident in which a U.S. service member was recognized for making a positive impact in the community. On Dec. 1, Marine Master Sgt. Hector Trujillo pulled over on his way to work to help an Okinawan citizen who had been in a car crash. While he was trying to protect the other individual, Trujillo was hit by another car, resulting in a fractured skull and spine and neck injuries, according to an NBC report. He was airlifted to San Diego, where he is currently being treated. According to the announcement from Marine Corps Forces Japan, alcohol consumption under the new, more lenient restrictions is still prohibited between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless it takes place in an off-base home. All Marines and sailors are required to clear out of local bars and clubs serving alcohol before 11 p.m., and a "liberty buddy" is required for some. All service members in ranks E-1 to E-3 must have a liberty buddy, and those in ranks E-4 to E-5 must pair up if off-base consumption of alcohol is planned. Commanders within Marine Corps Forces Japan still have the ability to implement more restrictive rules if they choose, according to the announcement. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. A defense analyst who previously worked closely with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has warned against a rush to war with North Korea. Trump administration officials are "blithely dismissing enormous damage" that would come from a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, Kori Schake, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, wrote in an article for Defense One. Schake, who edited a book with Mattis at Hoover, likened the atmosphere in the Trump White House to that of the administration of former President George W. Bush in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. "Officials make similar arguments about the necessity of acting against a gathering storm" and "proudly claim understanding of the adversary's motivations," said Schake, who worked in the Bush White House. They "believe the sand is running out in the hourglass before military attacks are required," and "they admit no alternative interpretation of the facts," she said. "They seem innocent of understanding the disastrous and isolating consequences for America's role in the world to choose preventive war rather than the moral heights of restraint in the face of threats," said Schake, a former director of Defense Strategy on the National Security Council in the George W. Bush White House. When he retired from the military as commander of U.S. Central Command, Mattis became the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. While there, he co-edited with Schake the essay collection "Warriors and Citizens," which examined the divide between the American public and the so-called "one percent" who join the military. Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford have repeatedly said that military options are available to deal with North Korea, but they also have repeatedly said that their first option is diplomacy led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Mattis is usually counted among the so-called "adults in the room" at the Trump 'White House, but Schake wondered whether the "adults" could be a brake on an unpredictable president. "The administration's statements strongly prejudice policy toward military action" against North Korea, she said. Administration officials "have not only drawn a red line, they've attached a countdown clock to it. President Trump will either fight a preventive war to disarm North Korea, or will be forced in humiliation fashion to dismantle a scaffold of his own construction, calling into question American security guarantees," Schake said. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel engaged in smuggling more than 3,800 pounds of cocaine, federal officials said Sunday. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), on November 13, CBP and Marine Operations (AMO) arrested the crew during operations in international waters, and all three suspects will face charges in the U.S. "The drug cartels are relentless and extremely innovative," National Air Security Operations Center -- Corpus Christi Director Allen Durham said. "Interdicting self-propelled semi-submersible vessels requires expertise and the right aircraft. Air and Marine Operations will continue to beat the cartels at their own game to protect our borders." The multi-day operation from surveillance to interception, according to CBP, involved several interagency partners including the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. AMO operates maritime patrol aircraft from Corpus Christi, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida, to conduct long-range aerial patrols and surveillance missions along the U.S. borders and in drug transit zones in Central and South America, according to CBP. A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier's cross-country training flight on May 6, 2016, was abruptly cut short when the aircraft suffered catastrophic engine failure and crashed in the water off Wilmington, North Carolina, shortly after takeoff. According to a command investigation newly obtained by Military.com through a Freedom of Information Act Request, the disaster was likely caused by debris damaging the engine -- and the suspected culprit was a screw fastener with a 5/16ths-inch hexagonal bolt head. The Marine pilot ejected soon after the aircraft's engine failed and was recovered from the water uninjured. But the mishap totaled more than $64 million in damage for the Corps, including the totaled Harrier and an expensive Litening advanced targeting pod that was mounted on the aircraft. Related content: The results of the investigation give insight to the military's rigorous policing of foreign objects and debris, or FOD, on flightlines and around aircraft. On ships' flight decks and on runways, military personnel conduct routine "FOD walks" in which they comb the area for even the tiniest bits of debris. In this case, however, officials found it was unlikely the aircraft engine ingested the screw on the runway at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, or at the Wilmington airport, as the plane would not have been able to generate the power it needed for takeoff. "[The Harrier fleet support team] believes it is more likely that the fastener had been lodged inside a boundary layer door for an indeterminable amount of time," Col. Thomas Gore, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 14, wrote in a May 2017 endorsement of the command investigation. According to the investigation, events unfolded fast when things went south for the Harrier. The aircraft, which belonged to Marine Attack Squadron 542 out of Cherry Point, had been set to conduct a seven-hour, cross-country mission that would continue into May 7. The pilot took off from MCAS Cherry Point the morning of the 6th and landed at the nearby Wilmington airport in preparation for the longer flight. Departure from Wilmington was normal but, shortly after takeoff, as the aircraft flew over the Atlantic, the pilot heard an unusual "thump" noise. In an official account given to investigators, the pilot said the noise sounded like the nose-landing gear hitting the nose-gear doors. Concerned, the pilot did an instrument check. There was a second "thump," and then a third, more powerful noise. "This time, it was more violent and I felt as if it shook the aircraft," the pilot recalled. By now, the throttle had also stopped responding. "I got nothing," the pilot reported via radio. Then, as the aircraft began to descend rapidly, he sent one more message: "I'm out." The plane went down in the Atlantic about 12 miles southeast of the Wilmington airport. The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, which was operating in the region, deployed an H-60 helicopter to rescue the pilot, who was then sent to Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune and given a clean bill of health. The investigation determined the Harrier crash was inevitable once engine thrust was lost and the compressor stalled. It called for further investigation of the object, believed to be a screw, that caused the engine to fail, citing possible changes to maintenance and preflight inspections that might result. This investigation is the third and final to become public following three major Harrier mishaps that took place in close succession last year. A Harrier that caught fire as it launched from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge in the North Arabian Gulf on March 8, 2016, was found to have suffered "catastrophic engine failure," though the cause was never pinpointed. A Sept. 22, 2016, crash in which a Harrier went down off the coast of Okinawa was found to have occurred after a series of pilot maneuvers that may have overstressed the aircraft. The Harrier has been flying since the early 1980s and is slated to be replaced by the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in coming years. But the Marine Corps needs the aging platform to fly reliably for a while longer: A plan from the Corps' former head of aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, changed the F-35 transition schedule to enable the service to retire the embattled F/A-18 Hornet faster. That means Harrier squadrons will be among the last to transition to the F-35, and the aircraft may continue to fly until as late as 2030. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. "Wolf Warrior 2" (out now on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital) is the highest-grossing film of all time in China and one of the very best military movies of 2017. It's also a unapologetically jingoistic celebration of Chinese military power that plays like those unapologetically jingoistic American action pictures of the '80s. Imagine a Rambo movie directed by John Woo and you start to get an idea of what writer/director/star Wu Jing is doing. We've got a clip from the home video bonus features in which action director and stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave talks about filming the action with Wu Jing. Hargrave has been Chris Evans stunt double on almost every Captain America movie and did double duty on "Atomic Blonde," appearing as fallen MI6 agent James Gasciogne and coordinating that movie's awesome stunts. Both "Wolf Warrior" (now streaming on Netflix) and "Wolf Warrior 2" pit elite Chinese special ops soldiers against an international group of mercenaries who also happen to be veterans of the world's most elite special ops forces. They fight a proxy war against Chinese might and wiles and (spoiler) they lose. In the second movie, our hero Leng Feng has been stripped of his military service after killing men who were mocking the family of one of his fallen comrades from the first movie. After some time in prison, he ends up working security for Chinese business interests in Africa. The movie filmed in Africa and emphasizes the dangers Chinese citizens face from pirates and revolutionaries as China pours huge amounts of money into African economic development. Once Chinese citizens get caught in a revolution, the generals back in China have zero problem recruiting Leng Feng to rescue a Chinese national physician whose been researching a cure to a deadly disease. The revolutionary army has hired a team of mercenaries led by an American called Big Daddy (Frank Grillo, who played Crossbones in "Captain America: Civil War") and they're determined to capture the young child who's the key to curing the disease. Leng Feng takes out dozens of mercenaries and soldiers with limited assistance from the people he's there to save. There's a great chase scene through an African shantytown, an outstanding tank battle and a final showdown between Big Daddy and Leng Feng, a moment where the movie wears its Chinese nationalism on its sleeve. There are really two audiences the "Wolf Warrior" movies. Anyone who loves action movies should see them right away. The folks at the State Department, Pentagon and CIA who are monitoring China just in case things ever go bad between our two countries should be studying Wu Jing. The USA hasn't cornered the market on patriotism yet. "Wolf Warrior 2" ends with Leng Feng being called back to military service and there's an excellent setup for the inevitable sequel. America is facing a huge workforce challenge as technology and artificial intelligence disrupt the job market and create a critical job-skills gap. As a result, many people feel left behind in the digital economy, while tech companies cant find enough trained workers. A recent Brookings Institution policy brief notes, rising public concerns about economic insecurity, income disparities, technological changes, and disruptions in job markets. It says that public-private partnerships and accelerated private investment are needed to reskill workers so that technological change does not displace more workers than it employs. And to make that happen, companies must step up to train workers for the growing number of unfilled IT jobs. The veteran community is one place we must look to as a society and as technology leaders for reskilling opportunities to close the jobs and economic gap. Each year, 200,000 Americans transition out of the military. As a Marine Corps veteran, I know firsthand they have the dedication and discipline we need to not just fill open positions but evolve our industry. Every veterans career path is unique. A two-year degree is right for some. Programs that get them into the workforce more quickly are right for others, such as certification programs in trucking, manufacturing and building, and hiring programs for customer service, sales and operations. Our country needs many such training and hiring programs to provide the necessary scale to help veterans obtain civilian jobs. From our experience, these jobs are incredibly valuable, and the stakes increase when veterans are reskilled in a strong career path that moves them up and grows them professionally, helping them stay competitive in the new digital economy. Leaders such as Colonel (Ret.) Chuck Hodges of Hiring Our Heroes and former Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy say reskilling programs help veterans successfully reintegrate into civilian society. A career that matters, and companies that care enough to train and hire veterans, are key elements of a smooth transition from military to civilian life, Hodges says. Each employers role in reskilling is unique, too. Through my military career and professional career at Microsoft, I know the type of assistance veterans need, and what Microsoft is able to offer. A few years ago some veterans at Microsoft had a vision to create a model for on-base participants to get to the heart of the reskilling issue, called the Microsoft Software & Systems Academy (MSSA), which teaches veterans the skills they need to compete for and land long-term, meaningful IT careers. Weve learned valuable lessons along the way about the importance of mentorship, communication and interpersonal training, and dedicated one-on-one career support and believe this model is ripe for expansion. Whats truly remarkable to see is the diversity in transition programs and the appetite many technology companies have, to train and hire our nations heroes. Having programs that address the industrys labor needs helps the industry overall, helps veterans and helps our country build a stronger workforce to compete on the world stage. When companies scale up their investment in skills training, they can increase their economic competitiveness while also increasing workers real incomes. That is why securing long-term, high-paying careers for these veterans is our mission to ensure they have a forward growth path and opportunities to advance in the industry, which has shown proven success in the lives of these veterans. MSSA, a cornerstone of the Department of Defense Skillbridge program, provides vets with 18 weeks of in-depth training in high-demand fields such as server and cloud administration, database and business intelligence administration, cloud application development, and cybersecurity administration the basis of high-paying careers. Army veterans Mark Switzer and Tara Overfield typify the more than 420 MSSA participants who have secured career positions earning an average of $70,000 per year with Microsoft or one of our 200-plus partner companies. Their examples prove to me that tech reskilling is not just good for vets, its just plain good business. We dont do this alone. Partnerships drive our approach, from our education partners Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Saint Martins University who deliver curated Microsoft curriculum and materials via instructor-led classroom training, to our over 200 hiring partners such as Accenture, Expedia and Dell who hire MSSA students. We thank the public sector leaders who have worked with us on this approach to addressing the STEM skills gap. As a private sector company with hundreds of partners willing to hire MSSA-trained candidates, weve created a successful model of an on-base credentialing program for service members. This sort of collaboration ultimately results in a deep pool of job candidates to fill the growing need for skilled careers and cybersecurity professionals across both private and public sectors. But this is not enough. We still see a critical need for more technology companies to join us in these reskilling efforts and hire a veteran. By working hand in hand with the departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs to create transition training for 21st century jobs, the private sector can help veterans live up to their potential and address a vital need for Americas economic future. As vice president of Military Affairs at Microsoft, Chris Cortez leads the companys engagement with veterans and military families as part of its focus on inspiring and developing former service members for roles in the IT industry. He served as a U.S. Marine Corps major general, leading the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, Va. He has a bachelors degree in Spanish from Marietta College in Ohio and a masters degree in business management from Azusa Pacific University. 12:33pm: Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets that the Rockies have put a strong offer on the table, with Heyman tweeting theres strong optimism a deal will be finalized. 11:48am: The sides are just talking and are not nearing agreement, a source tells MLB.coms Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). 11:27am: The Rockies are closing in on a pact to re-sign closer Greg Holland, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). If completed, the deal would leave Colorado with a stunning three-part free agent relief haul from these Winter Meetings. Within the last twenty hours or so, the Rox have reportedly lined up pacts with righty Bryan Shaw (link) and lefty Jake McGee (link). If all of these deals are finalized, those two hurlers would represent high-quality setup options, with Holland slated to lock up victories for the team. Clearly, the Rockies brief taste of the posteason in 2017 has left the club hungry for more. With a host of young starters and a lot of talent on the position-player side, Colorado turned to the pen as a priority especially after spending relatively little to add Chris Iannetta behind the dish, rather than committing to a bigger outlay to bring back Jonathan Lucroy. Creating this would-be late-inning triumvirate wont come cheap. Details on a possible Holland deal arent known, but hes expected to out-earn the other two handily. And Shaw and McGee appear each to have commanded three-year commitments of about $27MM apiece. Needless to say, the Rockies figure to have quite a pricey relief corps. While the organization is still in need of bolstering the first-base mix and could tinker in a few other areas, its possible itll depart the Winter Meetings with most of the boxes checked and without having parted with any young talent. The Rockies may also reasonably anticipate finding solid value at first, since Coors Field ought to be quite a draw for the many sluggers still floating around the open market. 13.12.2017 LISTEN One Africas top billing indigenous movie stars from Ghana, Nana Ama Mcbrown according to a recent post on social media is quitting acting to become a nurse. A latest picture of the actress looks like she might be heading to operate at the health sector of Ghana as a Nurse to assist is saving live and render treatments at the hospital. The Ghanaian actress today took to her official instagram page to share her intension of being a nurse in a remarkable post which is at the moment the word on the street as you read this story Nana Ama Mcbrown, known for her immense creativity in Ghanas movie industry and attaining several awards both in Ghana and beyond subtitled her post with the caption: I Want to Be a Nurse Someday. Dont Be Surprise If You Meet Me in the Hospital Near You. I May Be the One to Give You INJECTION. Over 5000 residents of Rivers state took to the streets of Port Harcourt today to show Solidarity to the Nigerian Police and particularly for its embattled Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS. The sea of heads that marched from Polo Club on Tombia Street, GRA to Police headquarters, Forces Avenue in Port Harcourt carried several banners and placards with inscriptions such as No to End SARS, SARS fighting criminals to see the state safe, SARS has reduced the mindless killings of Rivers people, if you end SARS you increase killings, to end SARS is to increase Beheading Governor Wike making criminals kings and attacking security agents. The ten-kilometer walk culminated at the Headquarters of the Rivers State Police Command where leaders of the Solidarity Rally took turns to speak before handing over two copies of letters to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police Ahmed Zaki Ahmed respectively. Receiving the letters, the Rivers CP said the police is ever ready to carry out its core mandate of protection of lives and properties, prevention of crime and the arrest and protection of offenders. He said security should be everybodys business because without there can be no peace. Security is next to life. If we want peace the police must be allowed to carry out their constitutional duties he said. The Rivers police boss said a review of the performance from January till date shows that SARS had been doing a good job. More than 1000 armed robbers have been arrested with 500 currently facing charges in the Court of Law. CP ZAKI also commended SARS for the large number of vehicles recovered from robbers and car snatches. He said within this period, several arms and ammunition have also been retrieved from criminals. Most of us are victims Honourable Asita Honourable, speaking with an emotion laden voice at the gate of the Rivers State Police Command told the Rivers CP and the press that most of the over 5000 people who took part in the solidarity rally have been affected directly or indirectly by the heinous crimes that enveloped the state since 2015. Most of us here are victims of robbery, kidnappers and hired assassins several families in Rivers state have been slaughtered. He said the attack on SARS and other security agencies by the Rivers State Governor is because the security agencies have refused to be compromised. The government of Rivers state has taken it as a duty to frustrate SARS We understand that they have made several futile attempts to bribe SARS and to compromise the police thats why Rivers people have come to say thank you and also to tell you to do more because without police this place will be hell. The former federal lawmaker and governorship running mate to Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside in the 2015 elections blamed Governor Wike for the rise in violent crimes in the state. He said all the security infrastructure put in place by the former administration tackle crime has been deliberately dismantled by the Wike Government. Now you can see that the governor of Rivers state is funding and supporting criminals. He is recognizing criminals as Chiefs and Kings and attacking security agencies. Asita said Rivers people have come to beg the police not to waiver in their fight against crime but rather do more for Rivers people in the area of security. It is only criminals that are afraid of Police. SARS goes after robbers hence only robbers and their sponsors will be fighting against SARS. Governor Wike is a direct sponsor, beneficiary and enhancer of criminality in Rivers state The executive director of marine operations in the Nigerian Ports Authority, Dr Sokonte Davies who also spoke at the rally said SARS and other units of the Nigerian Police have done a good job in improving the security situation in the state. He said before now there are manifold evidence of daily murder and beheading in every local government area of the state. You have statistics that clearly shows that since the coming of Akim Fakorode the number of beheading has drastically reduced in the state They are fighting against SARS because they want to continue beheading people to use for rituals. Only ritualists behead people Blaming Governor Wike for the violence in the state, the Kalabari born politician stated that the Rivers State Governor is a direct sponsor, beneficiary and enhancer of criminality in the state. Speaking further, Dr Sokonte alleged that some group of people are working to get the CP transferred out of Rivers state because of his refusal to be compromised. Even if you dont say it we know that they want you posted out. They are using Rivers funds to mount a campaign against SARS and other units of the police. Support for IGs reform moves Prince Tonye Princewill, former Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2015 elections who is now a chieftain of the APC wondered why Governor Wike didnt call for the scrapping of SARS when his CSO was a Commander of SARS. He said the complaints about SARS were not peculiar as all over the world people have complaints about the police but that calling for entire police unit because of a few bad ones is not sensible. We support the IGs pronouncement to reform SARS and to investigate the complaints from the public. Even SARS recognizes that every single complain must be Investigated. The crowd is a testimony of people support Business mogul and chieftain of the APC, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs in his address to the crowd and the State CP said it is obvious that Rivers people are happy with SARS we have seen serious decrease in criminal activities in Rivers state and we want that to continue. You can see the Mammoth crowds here, it is a testimony of support for the work that you are doing. He said those who have failed in their attempts to want to use SARS wrongfully will always complain. We have suffered the most The Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Davies Ikanya in his solidarity speech said the APC decided to identify with the rally because as a group that suffered the most loss in human and material terms the call by Gov Wike to end SARS gives them much concern. Recalling the human losses of the party in 2015, he said in 2015 over 300 of our members were killed. From 2015 till now we have lost over 400. One day in ONELGA over 30 persons were killed and beheaded. the APC Chairman of ward 4 in ONELGA was killed alongside his pregnant wife, son and daughter in one day and we know that the sponsors of these crimes come from the PDP he alleged. Chief Ikanya said the reason why the anti SARS campaign is loud in Rivers state is because they have plannedto invade the state with arms so as to resume the killings and Beheading ahead of the 2019 elections. The leader of the Free Rivers Development Initiative, Chief Sampson Ngeribara said Rivers state has moved from its initial peaceful state to a level where human skulls are now used as decorative piece of art in the homes of people. I wonder what kind of leader will seat in the comfort of Government House sipping expensive cognac and watch a house in ONELGA saturated with human heads and then sleep fine." Juaboso Member of Parliament (MP), Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, is unhappy with the new twist a case he brought against the Gender Minister has taken. He did not understand why the title honorable became substantive at the expense of the merits of the case he brought against the Minister. The lawmaker said he has not committed any crime if the public addresses him as an honourable, claiming it is a "convention" that MPs go by that title. Mr Akandoh and Ashaiman MP, Ernest Norgbey were in court Tuesday following a suit they filed seeking to revoke the appointment of Gender Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs had asked for the Ministers appointment to be annulled because she had not done the mandatory National Service, which they believe disqualify her for the job. [L-R] Ashaiman MP, Ernest Norgbey and Juaboso Kwabena Mintah Akandoh But Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo was displeased after she noticed the title honourable had been added to the names of the MPs in the writ. Joy News' Joseph Ackah-Blay said the CJ slammed the lawmakers, telling them that the use of honourable in the court is dishonourable. Mrs Akuffo said the MPs could have used the title after their names, which would be followed by the constituency they are representing. Related Article: Use of Honourable as a title is dishonourable; CJ tells MPs But Mr Akandoh told Evans Mensah on Joy FM's Top Story he was surprised at what happened in court because the title had nothing to do with the substantive matter before it. Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo "The merit and demerit of the case were not heard," he expressed his disappointment after their first appearance in court ended on a bad note. He said they were hoping to be served with the response from the defendant on the matter but that did not happen. The court dismissed the case, arguing one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo did not possess a valid Solicitor's license at the time of filing the writ. But Mr Akandoh said they will be heading back to the court to pursue the matter even further. Hon. Matthew, who is also the Deputy Majority Chief Whip at Parliament, in a speech at the funeral grounds, indicated that Nanao has been one of the most faithful, helpful and lovely member of the NPP in Kpandai constituency. 13.12.2017 LISTEN Hon. Matthew Nyindam lauded the deceased for his dedication to the New Patriotic Party Hon. Matthew Nyindam, the Member of Parliament for Kpandai constituency with the NPP constituency and branch executives bitterly mourned the loss of one of the party's strong members who was a polling station chairman for Buya electoral area. Osman Yussif (RIP) was popularly known as Nanao met his untimely death on the 27th of November 2017 and quickly buried as Muslim custom demands. His death was a big shock to the whole community as he woke up very healthy and strong on that faithful day. He conducted his traditional medicine business as usual. After completing the day's task, he complained of severe body pains and was rushed to the Kpandai District hospital were he met his untimely death. After burial, the funeral was scheduled to be performed on 10th of December 2017. Hon. Matthew, who is also the Deputy Majority Chief Whip at Parliament, in a speech at the funeral grounds, indicated that Nanao has been one of the most faithful, helpful and lovely member of the NPP in Kpandai constituency. He said,"if we want to mention the names of three people in the constituency that are very strong and supportive to the party, Osman Yussif (Nanao) can never be sidelined" He added that the party owes Nanao a lot and that was why he asked that the party itself should perform his funeral in their own way before the family as it was done. "we owe Nanao a lot as far as the NPP party is concerned. If I say we owe Nanao, it does not mean we borrowed money from him and didn't pay. It does not also mean that we bought something from him and didn't pay but anytime I remember our struggles with Nanao in opposition and now that we are in power that he left us without even benefiting from the party. This is the reason why I say we owe him" The party executives led by the Hon. MP donated GHC 1500.00 to the children of Nanao and also donated an undisclosed amount of money in two different envelopes to the two wives of Nanao. The Honorable Member of Parliament concluded by giving thanks to all the attendees for making it to the funeral. "I thank each and everyone for coming and may Almighty God bless you all. I again pray that may God guide us to all die through the right path. May all the departed souls rest in perfect" Source: Mosah Wahid Mr. Richard Adjuik Awombadek, the 2017 National Youth Farmer has called on the Government to improve on the prize package. His prize package for that award included a corn mill, a tricycle, three pieces of mosquito net, one piece of [email protected] cloth, and assorted Nestle products, one piece of square plate, two pieces of funnel, some fertiliser, a watering can and 10 pieces of nursing pots. The laureate, who is also the current Presiding Member of the Builsa South District Assembly in the Upper East Region thanked the Government for the prize and recognition, but stated that it was below his expectation. In a telephone interview the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the award winner said the content of the prize package suggested to him that the prize was an afterthought since the National Youth Best Farmer was not in the original categories of prizes that were to be contested for. 'If it were in the original prizes that were to be contested for, there would be places for first and second runners-up,' Mr Awombadek said, adding that he entered into the race for the prize of National Best Farmer and was surprised when his name was announced in what he called 'a non-existing category'. The laureate, who holds two Masters-one in Finance and another in Public Management, spoke of being engaged in cereal production including maize, rice, millet and sorghum; poultry- guinea fowls, fowls, turkey; and cattle, goats and sheep, with a staff strength of over 77 workers. He called on the Government to institutionalise the National Youth Best Award to be competed for, rather than it being at the discretion of the Awards Committee. Furthermore, the Government should improve the prize package for the National Best Youth Farmer to give stronger meaning to policies to attract youth, particularly graduates walking at the corridors of power in search on non-existent white collar jobs. Also, the Government should encourage inter-regional farm visits, if it could not sponsor farmers to go for exchange programmes abroad. The East Dadekotopong Development Trust [EDDT] has described the actions of the Ghana Police to invade and seize its offices as unlawful, unjustifiable and irresponsible The Trust, therefore, called on the Police hierarchy to as a matter of urgency conduct an investigation into the unlawful action and bring the perpetrators to book if found culpable. Addressing newsmen in Accra on Tuesday, the EDDT Executive Secretary, NiiOdoiYemo, expressed his outfits discontent at the invasion and forceful seizure of their offices as well as the eviction of its entire staff by some land guards and vigilante groups on November 16th, 2017, without a court order. The act which according to him was purported to have been carried out under the La Traditional Council was not only barbaric and ridiculous but also unlawful which amounts to contempt of court, considering the pending litigations in the High and Appeal Courts respectively. The Executive Secretary cautioned the public to be wary of fraudsters and avoid buying lands under the EDDTs jurisdiction from any vigilante or land guard group purporting to be a trustee or doing business on behalf of the EDDT. He called on all those who have acquired landed properties or own houses with relevant documents from his outfit to remain calm and not give in to any threat or blackmail from the vigilantes and land guards hired by the La Traditional Council. He disclosed that they have taken prompt steps by filing a certiorari application at the High Court to quash a fraudulent order obtained by some persons from an inferior court while the cases are pending at both the High and Appeal Courts respectively. The EDDT, Nii Odoi Yemo, explained was not established by the La Traditional Council nor has the Council any legitimate right to deal with the lands under the jurisdiction of the Trust. Again, the Council has no mandate to appoint the eight members Board of Trustees of the Trust. Nii Odoi Yemo further indicated that the East Dadekotopong Development Trust [EDDT] was established as a result of a court order in 2002 and was vested with the mandate of administering over the lands situated behind the Ghana International Trade Fair Authority. He, however, pointed out that the press briefing was not in reaction to the Defense Ministers announcement that some individuals including former President Mahama have encroached and built on lands belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces. Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday said Ghana needed 600 million dollars to achieve 100 percent electricity coverage across the country from the current 85 percent. He said the Government had put in place measures to enable it to achieve this goal within the next three years, which would facilitate its job creation and industrial agenda and ensure prosperity for all Ghanaians. He said infrastructure development was the building block that would propel the countrys socio-economic development, which was in tandem with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Vice President Bawumia said this during a plenary session on the role of the private sector towards the implementation of the SDGs at the African Roundtable Discussion in Accra on Tuesday. Other panel members who took part in the discussion were; Gunnar Andreas-Holm, the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, Nana Osei Bonsu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Private Enterprises Federation, and Ms Razia Khan, the Chief Economist for Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, London. The discussion was moderated by Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, the Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel. The event was on the theme: Mobilising Support and Accelerating Implementation of the SDGs. Vice President Bawumia said the private sector should be interested in the SDGs because successful implementation of the goals would create a stable business climate to work and ensure sustainability of their operations. He said a Report by the Sustainable Development Commission of the UN indicated that there were about 12 trillion dollars available to the private sector to access towards the implementation of the SDGs. Therefore every country is supposed to build a strong foundation to achieve the SDGs, which required those countries to have good investment climate with functioning regulatory bodies to facilitate the process, he said. So whatever you do, you must ensure inclusiveness in order to achieve the SDGs. For instance, in Ghana, were prioritising education to make sure everyone, at least, attain senior high education. We cannot build an economy that is exclusive, we must build an economy that is inclusive and since independence, the paradigm is shifting from exclusive economy to that of inclusive one whether in the education, healthcare and identifying people. What we want in Ghana is ensuring inclusion in everything we do in terms of formalising the economy to facilitate job creation. We launched the national identification system for easy tracking of individuals. Were also rolling out the digital property addressing system so that every 5.5 square meters of land or water in the country can be uniquely addressed, he said. The Vice President called for investment from all stakeholders to implement the SDGs since it would provide a huge opportunity to the vulnerable and deprived in society to be lifted from the shackles of poverty. Commenting on how the private sector could be the engine to create jobs, Vice President Bawumia said one of the major concerns of the youth was to secure gainful employment adding that the Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo led government was conscious about it and putting measures in place to create jobs for them. He said the government was creating the enabling environment for investment for both domestic and foreign investors, adding that a conducive business climate was a fundamental ingredient for job creation to propel the fulfilment of the SDGs. Dr Bawumia called for the introduction of coding in school curricula so that children of school-going age would not be excluded in the digital revolution. He said the Government introduced the Free Senior High School Policy to provide employable skills to the youth while facilitating plans to extend electricity, water and other basic amenities to the deprived communities. As part of the decentralisation agenda, he said the government had decided to allocate 20 percent of the Budget to implement the One Million, One Constituency initiative so that each constituency would identify its specific needs and channel the funds to resolving them. Dr. Thomas Mensah paid a courtesy call on the Vice president of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the Flag Staff House to Discuss major infrastructure transformation for the country. Vice President Bawumia told Dr. Mensah during their Flag Staff House meeting that "Ghana is interested in infrastructure Developments and we are glad you are in the country to work with us. You have achieved a lot in developing the infrastructure for social media using fiber optics. We are proud of you." The visit formed part of Dr. Mensah's month long trip to Ghana from his US base in Georgia. Dr. Mensah revealed in an interview that the meeting with the Vice President afforded him the opportunity to make a strong case for his calls for Ghana to undergo a transformational infrastructurural development to speed the country up into the 21st century. Speaking of speed, one of the projects Dr. Mensah has been pushing for Ghana to undertake is the development of a high-speed rail to interconnect the country. "I feel like many other senior government officials that I have met, Vice President Dr. Bawumia understands my passion about the high-speed rail project and the need for us as a country to prioritize it" said Dr. Mensah. Dr. Mensah on his part praised the Government for the GPS address system it has initiated and believes that not only will it upgrade the national mail delivery system, but that among other things, "it wil save lives and help emergency response teams like fire trucks and ambulances locate people in emergencies too. "The world is experiencing rapid amazing changes and developments and my contribution to them in the sector of communication through my fiber optics and nanotechnology innovations are all going to come to play as we work on developing the high-speed rail system "President Akufo-Addo has called for an 'Africa-Beyond-Aid' to free the continent from the chains of neo-colonialism and dependency on Western aid, some of the projects I've been working on and taking to a lot of the people I've met on my trip to Ghana will help bring Ghana back to its 'Star of Africa' status as the work begins -- Dr. Mensah. Dr. Mensah believes 'Africa-Beyond-Aid' is not a work for government alone, but for all Ghanaians, and Africans as well on an off the continent. "This is why I have left my businesses in America to come out here to contribute my quota. I strongly believe in today's Ghana and I want everyone to know that we can not only build high-speed rails, but get to the moon and more importantly, make Ghana a place for the youth to want to live in and develop their God given potentials." The thinking and policy of the present administration to move this country beyond aid is one that is cherished by stakeholders in the area of development and economic transformation. This initiative if properly executed will help the country and its citizens move from the cob-web of aid without considerable impact that happen frequently. The policy direction to arrive at such a destination should be strict and must necessarily be adhered to if the goals set in such an object must be achieved. Emerging economies mostly referred to as Middle Income Countries including ours must have clearly spelt out economic, political, managerial, financial, agricultural and other policies that must ensure endogenous development without necessarily depending on external support. Such a development path must aggressively be pursued by the individuals entrusted with the development issues of the state including politicians, civil servants, economists, accountants, lawyers, pastors and technocrats alike. A Ghana without aid is necessary but will require stringent measures to achieve such a dream. It will hinge on the following key areas: Industrialisation: Any sovereign state that envisions to move beyond aid must pursue modern-based industrial policies in its agricultural, mining, financial, service, infrastructural sectors. The industrialisation agenda will be effective and help achieve financial sustenance through the establishment of factories to convert raw materials into finished, semi-finished goods for local consumption and subsequently for export. Industrialising an economy is a necessity to achieve a constant flow of revenue for economic transformation and development. The establishment of factories and their proper utilisation will create jobs and help add value to the export commodities of the country which will help ease the impact and the pressures of imports on the exchange rate. In fact, industrialisation has been a policy cherished by governments in the past including that of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in the 1960s. To move beyond aid industrialising this economy is necessary and appropriate. Market Integration: The creation of economic blocs or preferably economic alliance is a key pillar that has the inclination to help a country move beyond aid. The states in Africa and West Africa will better help their economies shift from aid-dependent activities to the utilisation of local resources to develop internally without external support. This will require the making of policies that ensure the use of home-grown market development programmes for the countries. The development of markets for the agricultural produce, mineral and some natural resources must be initiated. The heads of states need to scan through their consumption patterns in order to develop markets for inter-state usage of endogenous raw materials as inputs in their production and manufacturing processes. Markets are critically needed to trigger a Ghana and Africa beyond Aid. Economic blocs that will broaden the bargaining abilities of these states at international markets of commodities, mineral resources(oil,gas,gold,diamond, bauxite etc) must be brought into the discussion. This creates monopoly for developing a strong bargaining abilities internationally. Competitive Advantage: The call for a policy direction for a Ghana beyond Aid wont and cannot practically be achieved without utilising the competitive advantage of the country. The competitive advantage of every economy or country is the area it has efficiency in its service, manufacturing, production and agricultural sectors. The competitive advantage of every state is identified using rigorous analysis either internally or externally. The constant trading of commodities in their natural (raw ) form at the international markets by states has been considered antediluvian, without economic vision and with limited potency to generate enough revenue to execute the fiscal programmes of governments. A Ghana without aid will definitely require the government and its technocrats to think outside of the box and help identify the competitive advantage in order to utilise its resources efficiently to the maximum. The state needs to carry out a feasibility studies to practically identify the competitive advantage. International trade is not enough to generate cash for the economy. Partnership: A cooperation between and among development partners that do not necessarily engage in aid is highly required. The development of modern economies is mostly hinged on partnership between states and corporate institutions that eventually creates a synergy. This partnership may take the form of finance, man power (Human resource), technology transfer and infrastructure. Technological transformation and transfer within the economy has positive impact on creating efficiency. In fact, allocative efficiency is never achieved in the public sector or state institutions. The eternal synergy that will be achieved is considerable if there could be a strong partnership between the state and partners that are development oriented. Finance Markets: All economies that do not rely on aid have developed strong financial markets where local corporations could access their funding for projects to ensure development of projects locally. Both capital and money markets with the emergence of alternative markets are key in the development of every economy. A Ghana without aid will necessarily and definitely demand the strong development of these markets. Currently, the Ghana stock exchange is still emerging and has not reached an efficient peak where several millions or billions of Ghana cedis can be borrowed. A Ghana without aid needs to be properly planned with recourse to financing of government and private sector projects. The financial sector must be streamlined to create more capacity to absorb the debt financing needs of both local and foreign corporations. The financial market must be attractive to foreign investors such that their investments will make available funds for borrowing or for debt purposes. The thrust of the orientation to industrialise the economy to ensure a country without aid is in the right direction without prejudice. However, such a policy will have many obstructions. Such hindrances must not be allowed to deter the pursuance of it. The attainment of the goals of a Ghana beyond aid will also depend on fighting the canker of corruption, inefficient allocation of resources, embezzlement of funds and loopholes in the collection and management of revenue among others. The menace of corruption in Ghana is a nemesis that has militated against development for several decades. Allocative inefficiencies in public institutions will not permit achieving the objectives contained in the agenda of Ghana beyond aid. A Ghana beyond aid requires efficiency in the collection of taxes, efficiency in allocating resources, modernising the lifestyles of citizens in executing their paid-job duties, changing our expenditure pattern and reducing deficits drastically, maximising the use of resources and increasing the fortunes of the state through the use of technology. Perhaps no major political or humanitarian disaster is as overlooked as the ongoing crisis in Libya. For example, although the New York Times in September 2017 published a total of seven articles mentioning Libya, only one of them touched on the violence ripping it apart. Even the Times gesture merely highlighted the latest permutation of the US governments foreign military decisions. The article, by Eric Schmitt, cited the Pentagons Africa Command and stated that the United States military had carried out a half-dozen precision strikes on an Islamic State training camp in Libya, killing 17 militants in the first American air strike in the strife-torn North African nation since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. Two of the Timess September 2017 articles on Libya are about the Trump administrations travel ban, which affects Libyans, among others. One is about Libyans seeking asylum in Germany only to find hatred, and the other is about the threats, including racism and violence, that sub-Saharan African migrants using Libya as a route to Europe face in that country. Contrast the current media coverage of Libya with that of the period just before the NATO military action that led to the squalid death of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. In February 2011 alonea month before the US, Britain and France began bombing that country to oust Mr. Gaddafithe New York Times carried well over a hundred articles on Libya. One editorial, on 24 February 2011, confidently asserted that unless some way is found to stop him, Gaddafi will slaughter hundreds or even thousands of his own people in his desperation to hang on to power. However, months after the dictators enemies, aided by Western powers, had overrun the country, the same paper ran a telling story by veteran correspondent Rod Nordland entitled Libya Counts More Martyrs than Bodies. Where are the dead? he asked, referring to the mass killings that Mr. Gaddafi had been accused of planning. No evidence of such killings was to be found anywhere in the country. Heres what is currently happening in Libya, which is unlikely to be covered in corporate media. On 28 August 2017, Ghassan Salame, the special representative of the secretary-general and head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, told the Security Council that on his first night in the capital, Tripoli, after taking the job, I fell asleep to the protracted staccato of gunfire. Civilians, he said, are killed or injured across Libya as a result of sporadic armed clashes... Thousands are also detained for prolonged periods of time, many with no prospects of a fair trial. Libyas current state is one of near anarchy. A UN-led initiative resulted in a Libyan Political Agreement in December 2015 and a so-called Government of National Accord (GNA), bringing together two warring governments, the Council of Deputies (elected in 2014) and the Islamist General National Congress (GNC). The GNA is backed by the UN and is internationally recognised. Its authority, however, is both unclear and limited; the countrys capital, Tripoli, the haven of the GNC, is still contested and riven by violence. The components of the GNA still compete for authority, legitimacy and control over state resources and infrastructure. In effect, there are still two competing, even warring, governments in the country, and there is no leader commanding anything approaching national clout, let alone support or legitimacy. Oil production in Libya reached 1 million barrels a day in early October 2017, far below the 1.6 million it produced before the crisis. Mr. Salame said that the impression of a now well-rooted political economy of predation is palpable, as if the country were fuelling its own crisis with its own resources to the benefit of the few and the frustration of the many. When a convoy of UN personnel was attacked with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades on 28 June 2017 by militant groups in the country, Mr. Salame reported that the active presence of ISIS, Al Qaidaaffiliated terrorist groups, foreign fighters and mercenaries, the trafficking of arms and the cross-border black market economy are challenges which extend across Libyas borders and impact its neighbours and the wider international community. Yet this was not a major news item in mainstream US media. In June, UN investigators reported that terrorists, militants, mercenaries, and partisans have been targeting the two governments in the country, as well as residential areas, with improvised explosive devices, causing the death and injury of many civilians. The investigators reported summary executions of civilians, mass killings and bodies found with bullet wounds and signs of torture. Kidnappings are routine, and so is the arbitrary detention and torture of journalists and activists involving Haytham al-Tajuri, the commander of the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade. Armed groups affiliated with the National Salvation Government were involved in several cases of kidnapping and torture, the investigators stated in their report. Thousands have perished in the near-anarchic violence that these multiple groups and their foreign backers perpetuate, and an estimated 435,000 of Libyas population of just over six million are internally displaced. September ended with the report of the killing of 26 people and the wounding of 170 by rival armed groups in the city of Sabratha after two weeks of fighting. In October, CNN reported slave trading in Libya, with a footage of black Africans being auctioned for around $400 each. The footage caused the African Union (AU) chairman, president Alpha Conde of Guinea, to demand prosecutions for crimes against humanity. He condemned the resurgence of a despicable trade from another era. Why no action? So why isnt the world focused on Libya following the humanitarian catastrophe it has become since Mr. Gaddafis death? Last year the United Nations high commissioner for human rights estimated that more than 9,000 people were detained without trial in the country. Sectarian killings are now commonplace, black migrants are brutalised and in some cases summarily executed by militia groups, and last year a report by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights estimated that more than nine thousand people were being detained without trial in facilities operated by the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Combating Illegal Migration of the Ministry of the Interior. It is now clear that those who ousted Mr. Gaddafi wanted a regime change but were unprepared for its consequences. The latest Security Council resolution on Libya, adopted on 14 September, made a point of reiterating support for the GNA as the sole legitimate government of Libya, with Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj as the leader of the Presidency Council. The resolution also expressed the Security Councils strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya, a country that, before its so-called revolution in 2011, was one of Africas most influential states, a prime actor in the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity into the AU. Writing in the March/April issue of the journal Foreign Affairs, Ivo Daalder, then the USs permanent representative to NATO, and James Stavridis, then supreme allied commander Europe, described NATOs operation in Libya as a model intervention that succeeded in protectingcivilians from an impending genocide. In fact, it provides a cautionary tale for trigger-happy humanitarians and those the British journalist Simon Jenkins once called sofa strategists and beltway bombardiers. The African Unions role Libyas ongoing problems raise questions about the role of the AU, of which Libya was once a prominent member. At the height of NATOs bombing of Libya, in July 2011, Mauritanias foreign minister Hamady Ould Hamady briefed the UN Security Council on the AUs position. Mr. Hamady spoke about the indescribable suffering of the Libyan population and then described the AUs road map to peace: the immediate cessation of all hostilities; the cooperation of the relevant Libyan authorities in facilitating the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to populations in need; the protection of foreigners, including African migrant workers living in Libya; and the adoption and implementation of the political reforms necessary to eliminate the causes of the current conflict. The AU road map was routinely shelved as a Security Council document. The AU could make greater efforts to resolve Libyas crises. Its Peace and Security Department, which spearheads its efforts to promote peace, security and stability in Africa, is headed by Commissioner SmailChergui from Algeria, a country that in the past played a prominent role in regional mediation efforts. The current regimes in Libya may not have the same sentimental or rhetorical attachment to the AU that Mr. Gaddafi had, but experts believe that the regional body is still uniquely placed, despite the minimal interest displayed in Libya by major powers, to be more actively involved in containing the crises, whose impact has been seen in many of the neighbouring countries of the Sahel and even West Africa. Would an Africa in which Africans require no visas to travel boost prospects for intracontinental trade? The African Union (AU) and many of the continents economic organisations think so and want it to be a reality by 2020. It is not an entirely original concept (the European Union already has a visa-free policy for its citizens), and many experts laud the AUs position, at least in principle. The idea of an African passport dates back a quarter of a century but has failed to catch on with countries that fear an increase in smuggling, illegal immigration, terrorism, and the spread of disease as well as a negative impact on local job markets. With migration, legal and illegal, blamed for recent outbreaks of xenophobia in South Africa, some of these fears seem credible. Visa-free travel for Africans in Africa could be a logistical nightmare given that some citizens do not have travel documents and others lead nomadic lives. Individual countries may need to enact legislation to adopt the African passport. Few African nations use the biometric data that an African passport requires. Last year the AU launched an African passport, a signature project of former chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. However, the passport is currently available only to senior diplomats and top officials of AUs 55 member states. Of those member states, only Seychelles offers visa-free access to all African countries. The large and fast-growing economies arent following suit because the visa regime itself has created a bureaucratic habit, notes Daniel Silke, director of the South Africabased Political Futures Consultancy. Old habits are hard to break, although there is justification for hesitation in terms of the legitimate layer of security that visas provide. Mr. Silke adds that growing and large economies worry about the impact that increased population movements might have on labour markets and cities. Some of Africas fast-growing economies are Cote dIvoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania. Out of desperation, thousands of immigrants travel to South Africa, the continents largest economy, to find work. With urban cities expanding rapidly across Africa, government institutions are strained, and cities that offer opportunities for trade, health care, a booming labour market, infrastructure, among others, will be under increased pressure, notes Mr. Silke. He suggests a focus on efficient and affordable visa procurement processes, advising regional communities to enact and implement policies that make it easier for their citizens to move from one member state to another. In November 2017, after 15 years of negotiations, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), comprising of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, ratified the visa-free movement of its citizens. Under the policy, member states will adopt biometric technology, ensure police and security services coordination, and respect for different labour regulations. The next best thing to a visa-free system is visa on arrival, which may include authorization to stay for up to 90 days. Rwanda adopted this protocol in 2013 and has witnessed an increase in African visitors and investors, noted Mr. AnacletKalibata, the countrys director general of immigration and emigration. Mr. Kalibata told Africa Renewal that between 2013 and 2016, the number of Africans receiving visas on arrival at Rwandan entry points increased by more than 100%. We have also hosted many more conferences as a result of the removal of travel restrictions, he said. He maintained that crime rates in the country did not increase because of visa on arrival, contrary to fears initially expressed by skeptics. Most of the people entering our country do so for good reasons, said Mr. Kalibata. He pointed out that Rwanda has laws governing criminality associated with the movement of people. We also believe in competitiveness in terms of skills. So, opening our borders has attracted new talent and investment. Like Rwanda, Ghana now offers visa-free access to a third of AU member states and visas on arrival to the other two-thirds. In so doing, the country has made the most progress of all African states toward a visa-free Africa for Africans, according to the Africa Visa Openness Report 2017 by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Senegal is offering visa-free access to 42 African countries in a bid to reenergize its tourism sector. At his swearing in as Kenyas president last November, Uhuru Kenyatta announced that all Africans will henceforth receive visa on arrival. An alternative to adopting visa-free access or visas on arrival is for countries to enter into reciprocal arrangements with other nations. Namibian authorities are making efforts to finalise such arrangements, meaning that citizens of countries allowing Namibians visas on arrival will receive reciprocal service at Namibian ports of entry. Although Rwanda already offers Africans visa on arrival, it is also receptive to reciprocal arrangements with other countries, explained Mr. Kalibata. Weve proven just how effective unrestricted regional travel can be through the issue of a unified national identity card and border pass for citizens of Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Another border pass agreement between Rwanda, the DRC, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda has fostered regional social cohesion, and weve seen cross-border trade in our countries now contributing 42% to GDP, which is very significant, he added. Rwandas experience, however, is not enough to change the perception of the negative impacts of liberalizing entry visas. Jean-Guy Afrika, AfDBs principal policy expert and a contributor to the Africa Visa Openness Report 2017, notes, The 2016 analysis of Africas visa policy regimes demonstrated that on average Africans needed visas at departure to travel to 54% of other African countries (from 55% in 2015); could get visas on arrival in only 24% (from 25% in 2015); and do not need visas to travel to just 22% (from 20% in 2015). The reasons African countries remain closed to each other, says Mr. Afrika, vary significantly. The key reasons advanced by policy makers generally relate to fears of job losses and security concerns. But there could also be issues of culture and trust. The answer probably lies somewhere in the nexus between politics, culture, history and economics. Mr. Afrika confirms that at the regional level, East and West Africa lead in visa openness. In the 2017 rankings of the Africa Visa Openness Index, 75% of countries in the top 20 are in these two regions. Only one is in the North and none in Central Africa. The AfDB, the AU and the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Africa collaborated on the Africa Visa Openness Report 2017, the second of its kind. Researchers gathered data from the International Air Transport Association and from responses to questionnaires administered to national focal points. Overall the trend is positive, given that just four years ago only five countries offered liberal, arrival or no visa, access to citizens of all African countries. Today that number stands at 14, but we want that number to keep moving up, Mr. Afrika says. Visa liberalization is not a magic bullet, he cautions, even if it can foster Africas integration. He recommends other reforms and massive investments in connectivity to complement visa liberalization, citing Rwanda as an example of a country benefiting from coordinated investments and policy reforms, including in business and air transport infrastructure. Visa openness may only be one piece of the interconnected African states puzzle, but it is nonetheless a very important one, concludes Mr. Afrika. There is no reason why Ghana should not be refining her own bauxite, and Government is putting in place the necessary legislation and infrastructure to establish a bauxite refinery in the next two to three years, Vice President Dr Bawumia has disclosed. A bill seeking to set up aBauxite Development Authority to facilitate the establishment of an Integrated Aluminium Industry will be submitted to Parliament early next year after broad consultations, with the private sector expected to play a key roleas part of Governments quest to create jobs and foster greater inclusion in national development. The Vice President made these disclosures when he took part in a panel discussion on the topic The Private Sector and SDGs at the High Level African Roundtable on Mobilizing Support And Accelerating Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) held in Accra on Tuesday December 12, 2017. Our goal is to have an aluminium refinery in Ghana in the next two to three, years, possibly by 2019. We are going to look at the power and other issues, but there is no reason why we should not be refining our gold or bauxite. There is a clear direction that the President has set, we will go with the Bill to Parliament early next year, and we will move on with the establishment of the refinery. We already have an aluminium smelter and we have the bauxite mine; we just need the middle thing, which is the refinery, and then we will see value addition to our minerals. The establishment of the Aluminium industry would be further evidence of Governments resolve to partner the private sector to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make the life of the ordinary Ghanaian better, Vice President Alhaji Dr MahamuduBawumiaindicated. According to Dr Bawumia, achieving the SDGs would benefit both the private sector, who would have a healthy, skilled work force, and Government which would have fulfilled its obligation to the citizenry to provide a safe, healthy and economically sound environment for growth. At the end of the day we have to ask the question: what is the opportunity cost of us not achieving the SDGs? We will have a lot of hunger, we will have a lot of poverty, we will have issues with sustainability of the environment, and so on. That picture of what would happen if we dont achieve the SDGs makes it therefore very imperative, and in the interest of the private sector, that we do achieve the SDGs. Then we would have a more prosperous society, a more educated workforce and a healthier population and these are all necessary brickworks that would make the private sector do very well. If we achieve the SDGs it would mean that the necessary investments have been made, and those investments present a huge opportunity for private sector participation in national development. The Vice President acknowledged governments recognition of the crucial role played by the private sector in achieving the SDGs. The private sector is going to be very key because the type of resources we need to invest in achieving the SDG cannot be provided by the public sector alone; it is just not feasible. The public sector is going to be there as a partner, to make sure that the investment climate is therefore conducive for the private sector to participate. Dear Air Maroc, Yes its true that Ghana no longer has a national airline. Yes its true that only one airline flies directly from Ghana to UK. Yes its true that Air Maroc is one of the most affordable airlines at the moment. But guess what? Its not true that Ghanaians (and any other person, especially Africans) who use Air Maroc should be subjected to insults and substandard service. I have stopped using Air Maroc for reasons such as bad service, bad customer service at your office and using old planes to transport passengers. Its not acceptable for your staff to be rude to customers. Its not right for transit passengers who hold African passports to be left sleeping on the airport floor. Air Maroc is rubbish, but I have managed it in the past because its affordable. However, my relationship with this airline has come to its natural end due to what happened to my son in August this year. Truly the final straw for me was when the staff at your Airport City office engaged me in a verbal fight when I went to find out what had happened to my 15 year old boy who was traveling alone and had to transit in Casablanca. The official response from Air Maroc to my official letter of complaint shows that Air Maroc has no interest in the customer, only in our money. I decided to share this bitter experience on my social media pages and it turns out MANY MANY people have had bad experiences with Air Maroc. The experiences have been so bad that people are calling for us to ban Air Maroc from doing business in Ghana. Incidentally most people have had problems with your employees at the Airport City office. If you were a serious company that cared about your customers, those employees should have been sacked or at the very least suspended. But you keep them on, to keep insulting customers. The day your employees fought with me, there was another customer at the office who was complaining that she had been also engaged in a fight over the phone, with Air Maroc staff. I guess that is your policy towards customers insult and fight with us, well still come back, afterall, our choices are limited! Personally I wont be using Air Maroc again and I put a call out for people to not only do same, but sign my petition on change.org to have the airline banned from doing business in Ghana. Its about time people put their foot down and demanded better. Yes we no longer have our own national airline. But that is no reason to treat us with disrespect, rudeness and unprofessionalism. To the Reader: If you have a bad experience with Air Maroc and would like to share please email me [email protected] or on Instagram (Blakofe). Together, we can make a difference in how airlines treat the customer. Join me in my campaign for better service and for a ban on Air Maroc doing business in Ghana. Thank You. Deputy General Secretary for the ruling New Patriotic Party, Nana Obri Boahen is in support of the decision by the Electoral Commission Boss, Madam Charlotte Osei, to demand full particulars of those behind the petition against her removal from office. "If you ask me, in my candid opinion she is right, without sounding prejudicial, without trying to preempt the next line of action she has that right not to appear before the committee if they to provide her with details of the petitioners," Nana Obri Boahen declared. Speaking to OTECNEWS, Nana Obri Boahen who is also a Constitutional Lawyer said in order to cure speculations, rumours, malformation, misinterpretation, and disinformation adding that justice should be seen manifestly and undoubtedly be done. The embattled chairperson of the electoral commission Charlotte Osei has called on the chief justice committee probing her and her two deputies to furnish her with a copy of the petition seeking her removal. According to her, even though she has cooperated with the committee over the alleged issues plaguing the commission, she is yet to receive a copy of the specific allegations being made against her by her staff. Subsequent to my response to the allegations contained in the petition, I have heard no further from her ladyship the Chief Justice. "I would appreciate being furnished with a copy of the alleged petition to enable me to seek the requisite legal advice. I would also appreciate clarification as to the composition and terms of reference of the committee, Mrs. Osei said in a letter addressed to the Chief Justice. The EC boss and two of her deputies Amadu Sulley (in charge of Operations), and Georgina Amankwa (in charge of Corporate Services) on Monday appeared before the Chief Justice over allegations of mismanagement and incompetence at the commission. The two deputies have accused their boss of financial mismanagement and poor leadership, an accusation she has rejected. Both parties have been given three weeks by the Chief Justice to file their statement of response to the committee after which the hearing will continue. According to Nana Obri Boahen, Miss Charlotte Osei and her legal team are within their jurisdiction by law adding that they making legitimate demands. "She going to appear before a committee that will determine her fate, therefore she must resort to judicatory procedures so if she or her lawyers are demanding for judicatory measures, I think she legally right, said the former Brong Ahafo NPP Regional Chairman. "Are they saying that they will not allow Miss Charlotte Osei and her legal team know the identities of the petitioners when they appear before the committee? Will they not be allowed to see the witnesses too?" Obri Boahen quizzed. "Justice should not be seen to be done but justice should be seen to be reasonably and probably be done, he observed. Over 800 participants from 70 countries gathered in Muscat, capital city of the Sultanate of Oman on 11-12 December 2017 for the Conference, an official event in the calendar of the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017. The Conference held under the patronage of H.H. Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers of Oman, brought together Ministers of Tourism and Ministers of Culture as well as private sector stakeholders and experts with the objective of building and strengthening partnerships between the tourism and culture sectors and enhance their role in the UNs 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Muscat reaffirms the commitment to: Strengthen the synergies between tourism and culture and advance the contribution of cultural tourism to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs; Enhance the role of tourism and culture in peace building and heritage protection, especially in conflict affected areas; Promote responsible and sustainable tourism management of cultural heritage; Encourage a creative and innovative approach for sustainable urban development through cultural tourism; and Explore the inter-linkages between culture and nature in sustainable tourism. The Sultanate of Oman is richly endowed with many diversified natural resources spread in all governorates of the country, in addition to a rich historic and cultural heritage, which dates back to many centuries in the history of humanity. Our main long term objective is to achieve economic diversification, together with upgrading the direct and indirect contribution of the sector in GDP, provision of direct and indirect employment opportunities for the national labour force, enhancing government revenues, supporting the balance of payments and achieve the highest level of regional development said H.E. Ahmed Nasser Al Mahrizi, Minister of Tourism of Oman, opening the meeting. Two years ago we met in Cambodia for the First UNWTO/UNESCO Tourism and Culture Conference. Today am very pleased that we reassume this dialogue here in Muscat. A dialogue that should happen every day around the globe. Yet that often finds itself limited by us living in separate silos, said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. With over 1.2 billion people now crossing international borders each year, tourism represents a golden opportunity to break down barriers of ignorance and prejudice. It plays an important role as a vehicle for inter-cultural dialogue and, ultimately, peace., said Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO Assistant Director-General on Culture, in his opening speech, on behalf of UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay. UNESCO and UNWTO are also united in our commitment to tackling the challenges of poverty and development through sustainable tourism. he added. On the occasion of the Conference, H.E. Ms. Eliza Jean Reid, First Lady of Iceland, was officially appointed the UNWTO Secretary-General as Special Ambassador for Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNWTO launched the Special Ambassadors for Tourism and the SDGs Programme as a legacy of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017. The Conference initiated with a Ministerial Dialogue moderated by John Defterios from CNN International, focusing on policy and governance frameworks between tourism and culture to support responsible, culturally-aware, and inclusive tourism that contribute to the socio-economic development of host communities, promote cross-cultural exchanges, and generate resources for the safeguarding of tangible and intangible heritage. A Special Ministerial Dialogue addressed the role of cultural tourism as a factor of peace and prosperity. Ministers from Cambodia, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Vietnam shared views on the capacity of tourism to support the recovery of their countries. The technical sessions focused on tourism development and protection of cultural heritage and promoting responsible and sustainable tourism management at World Heritage sites, culture and tourism in urban development and creativity and the relevance of cultural landscapes in tourism and the integration of natural and cultural heritage philosophies and procedures for sustainable tourism development. Istanbul (Turkey) and Kyoto (Japan) will host the 2018 and 2019 editions of the UNWTO / UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture. National Service Secretariat in collaboration with Dalex Finance has organized youth Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology workshop to tackle to tackle the high unemployment rate as part of Africa vision 2025 to produce entrepreneurs and innovators in the continent. Speakers from the MIT-Ghana Regional Entrepreneurs Accelerated Programme (REAP), Africa Harvard Study Group and scientists from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Harvard University encouraged teaming youth to venture into entrepreneurship. Speaking at the event, Ag. Executive Director of the Scheme, Hon. Mustapha Ussif urged Ghanaians to consider entrepreneurship as better option of securing themselves job and better livelihood, The youth of Ghana and Africa represent our greatest resource, our greatest potential for solving our greatest development challenges and therefore delivering our future success. Therefore, a high unemployment rate is a national security threat, he said. He added that, Research by Ghana Statistical Service reported in 2015, only 10% of personnel posted over the past years are able to secure jobs within the first year after service and the remaining 90% manage to secure a job within 10 years after service. This, he said has been his headache, hence the collaboration with MIT-Ghana REAP other relevant agencies to end this cycle after each service year. He said the Scheme will be introducing an Entrepreneurship & Innovation Deployment Model in 2018. The model is structured to assist selected graduates with business ideas to create jobs through entrepreneurship and Innovation. He reemphasizd the President's vision to support the private sector especially young entrepreneurs to grow. "Those who set up businesses must succeed for them to create wealth and employ more people. This is the surest way to turn our beloved country's fortunes around and the Scheme owns the country a responsibility by creating opportunities for the youth to enable them to create wealth for themselves and employ their colleagues. This approach will go a long way to reduce the high unemployment among the youth. The other speakers were, Emmanuel Agyeampong (Director of the Center for African Studies at Harvard University), Ed Lazowska (Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of American Academy of Arts and Science), Robert Short among others who spoke at the event. The CEO of Dalex Finance thanked MIT-Ghana Regional Entrepreneurs Accelerated Programme (REAP) and The Africa Harvard Study Group for making time to the event to share ideas and expertise to help solve the unemployment issues facing Ghanaian youths and Africa. 13.12.2017 LISTEN A youth group known as Concerned Muslim Youth of Ghana (CMYG) has asked all Imams to preach against homosexuality in their mosques in Ghana since the LGBTQI community is taking over the inner cities (zongos) inhabitant by Muslims. The groups call follows a recent comment by President Nana Akufo-Addo during an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera that although legalising homosexuality was not on Ghanaians agenda, it was bound to happen at some point in time. A statement signed by Sheikh Abdul Ganiyu Ahmed, Convener of the group, expressed utter shock at the presidents statement, saying: In that interview, it showed clearly that the President subtly endorsed the abominable and disgusting acts of gays and lesbians and went ahead to encourage those in Ghana to form a sufficient pressure group in order to agitate for its legalisation in the country. It added: We the Concerned Moslem Youth of Ghana have come to the firm conclusion that the statement made by President Nana Akufo-Addo has not only emboldened those in the abominable act of homosexuality, but also encouraged and motivated others to engage in it. The group, therefore, appealed to the Chief Imam to direct all mosques to preach against homosexuality. Your eminence the Chief Imam, we wish to state with emphasis that homosexuality is gradually gaining grounds in our Ghanaian society and our zongos are not an exception and it is gradually destroying the dignity of our prestigious religion of Islam. We are, therefore, calling on your good office to openly, as a matter of principle, condemn without reservation, the gay endorsing statement made by President Nana Akufo-Addo and also call on him to retract the statement made to the foreign press with immediate effect. We also take the opportunity to appeal to your office to direct for special attention to be paid to preaching against the practice of homosexuality in all mosques throughout Ghana. We hope our appeal will be given the necessary consideration. French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Germany's Angela Merkel and five African presidents Wednesday, hoping to bolster the fledging G5 Sahel force fighting jihadists in an area the size of Europe. Two years in the planning, the force brings together troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in a desert region plagued by extremism where France is currently leading counterterrorism operations. The five countries in the G5 Sahel force are among the poorest in the world, and funding will be high on the agenda at the talks in Celle-Saint-Cloud outside Paris. Officials from oil-rich Saudi Arabia -- which may confirm a $100 million (85 million euro) contribution, according to the French presidency -- are notably on the guestlist, along with representatives of the United Arab Emirates. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will also attend, as well as officials from the European Union, African Union and United States. The ambitious goal is to have 5,000 troops operational by mid-2018, wrestling back border areas from jihadists -- including a local Al-Qaeda affiliate -- who often enjoy tacit local support in the near-absence of state structures. Priority number one is to re-establish law and order in the stretch of desert where the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger converge. Several hundred troops, backed by France's regional 4,000-strong Barkhane force, took part in the force's first mission in the border zone last month. But speeding up deployment is crucial, a French presidential source said, with Macron having expressed frustration at delays. "The terrorists have scored a number of significant military victories, notably in Niger," a Macron aide said when the president visited west Africa late last month. Militants have mounted repeated attacks in recent months, including an assault in Niger on October 4 which killed four US soldiers, another two weeks later in which 21 Niger troops died and an attack at restaurant in Burkina Faso in August, in which 19 people were killed. Strategic region The G5 force is set to work alongside Barkhane troops and the UN's 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali -- the most dangerous in the world, having lost 90 lives since 2013. The International Crisis Group described the G5 force as being part of European efforts to "bring down the expense of their overseas operations by delegating them partially to their African partners". "The Sahel is politically and economically strategic, especially for France and Germany, both of which view the region as posing a potential threat to their own security and as a source of migration and terrorism," it added in a report. Wednesday's talks are the latest effort by Macron to forge an influential role on the world stage, a day after he hosted an international climate summit. They are designed to lay the groundwork for a summit in February focused on raising funds for the G5 Sahel force which will likely take place in Brussels. The European Union has so far pledged 50 million euros ($59 million) for the force and France another eight million, while each of the African countries is putting forward 10 million euros. The United States, another key donor which is sending representatives to Wednesday's talks, has meanwhile promised each of the Sahel countries bilateral aid of $60 million. But this leaves a serious shortfall, with France hoping to raise at least 250 million euros in the short-term, rising eventually to 400 million euros. The arid Sahel region has become a magnet for Islamic militants since Libya descended into chaos in 2011. In 2012, Qaeda-affiliated jihadists overran the north of neighbouring Mali, including the fabled desert city of Timbuktu. France intervened in 2013 to drive the jihadists back but swathes of central and northern Mali remain wracked by violence, which has spilled over into the region. The finalist nominees for the 2017 Africa Youth Awards have been released by the Board and Jury of the Award scheme with some very astute young Ghanaians getting the nod for various categories. CEDI Ghana CEO, Kingsley Kwaku Pinkrah got shortlisted for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Kingsley is a multi-award winning Social Entrepreneur, public speaker, community advocator and a researcher. He was awarded this years 40 Under 40 Most Influential and Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year and Young Professional Role Model Award because of his exemplary leadership and outstanding contribution to global development. His NGO won the 2016 Middle East and Africa Business Award and was a Civil Society of the Year finalist for the Africa Youth Award. Kingsley this year organized International Symposium for foreign diplomats, government ministers, academicians and business experts in Ghana which addressed youth unemployment. He also sits with university lecturers and top government officials both on television and radio to discuss development issues. Dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale is also in the race for Musician of the Year. Other young Ghanaians who made the list include Elorm Beenie, Kwabena Boateng, Eric Pentsil, Stephen Creppy, Nadia Owusu and a host of others. The awards launched in 2014 and have since honoured over 250 young people through its two flagship initiatives, Africa Youth Awards, and 100 Most Influential Young Africans which was later introduced in 2016. Nominations received annually are reviewed by a panel of Jury made up of past winners and young achievers resident from all over the continent. The awards have also been endorsed by very reputable statesmen across Africa including the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame and have been featured on over 300 media platforms across the globe. The Africa Youth Awards initiative is Africas premier and most prestigious awards initiative that awards the works of young people on the continent across diverse fields. Annually, over 20 categories are announced for nominations where finalists are announced for a public voting exercise. Voting which can be done on www.africayouthawards.org/vote is expected to end on 17th December. Countries with the most nominations are Ghana (26), Nigeria (18), Tanzania (14), South Africa (13), Cameroon (9) and Rwanda (8). Winners are annually announced on January 1, a ritual which has seen the awards gain prominence among young people across the continent. When Bright stepped off the plane from Libya and heard that his home state in southern Nigeria had begun a rehabilitation programme for returned migrants, he thought it was another scam. "So many people cheated us in the past few months," he told AFP on the tarmac at Lagos airport, where he arrived earlier this month with nearly 300 other Nigerians. After months of fear, torture and prayers in detention centres in Tripoli or Benghazi, the returnees registered their name, their former address and the telephone number of a loved one. Bright, who is in his 40s, barely reacted as the Nigerian foreign ministry official, fresh off the plane from Abuja, distributed jollof rice before television cameras. He didn't even see the huge poster of President Muhammadu Buhari's wife, Aisha, welcoming them back to the country. But when he found out the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, had hired a bus to drive them the 400 kilometres (250 miles) home, he felt goosebumps. "It's the first time in history that this government is doing something for us," the father of three said. "I've always thought I was transparent in my own country." Bright got on the bus with 42,500 naira ($120, 100 euros) in his pocket from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and a bag of toiletries, to be reunited with his family. "I thank God that I came back from hell," he said. But he was under no illusions that it would take more than that for him to start a new life. "I was a danfo (minibus) driver but I sold it to go to Europe. My family had to borrow money to bail me out of the detention camp in Libya. I have nothing left. I came back empty," he said. 'Big crisis situation' Videos shown recently on CNN of Nigerians being sold like slaves by criminal gangs in Libya provoked global outrage and reaction from the international community. During the Europe-Africa summit, nine heads of state pledged to tackle illegal immigration, with Nigeria's Buhari vowing to repatriate all of his compatriots stuck in Libya. According to the authorities, there are more than 5,000 Nigerians stranded in Libya. But those who have come back say there are many more. Two planes chartered by the International Organization for Migration now arrive twice a week from Tripoli. Nearly 1,300 Nigerians were brought back in November, 826 in October The back and forth of IOM charter flights between Libya and Nigeria, which began last year, has increased in recent months. Two planes now arrive twice a week from Tripoli. Nearly 1,300 Nigerians were brought back in November. The figure was 826 in October. Buhari has vowed to offer work and a place in society for the returnees' children. In reality, only Edo state, where some 80 percent of Nigerian migrants come from, has put in place a proper rehabilitation programme. Others returnees disappear into the urban sprawl of Lagos, a megacity of 20 million people, where millionaire preacher TB Joshua has also promised to pay returnees. Bright was one of 257 people who made the journey from Lagos to the Edo state capital Benin City. Three days later, another convoy arrived at the hotel where returnees were put up for two nights and where they were offered professional training, particularly in agriculture. It's a far cry from their European dream. Governor Obaseki has set aside 30 million naira to tackle the problem of illegal migration, which sees thousands of Nigerians risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. In September, he set up a special taskforce against human trafficking to take the longstanding problem seriously. "The state is facing a big crisis situation," said Sister Florence, a nun who counsels returned migrants. "The number is too high. I don't know how long we will be able to cope with it," she added, cradling a tiny, dehydrated newborn baby in her arms. Confidence The following day, only about 20 of the returnees were seen wandering about between the rooms of the hotel. Only those unable to face their families and admit failure remained. "We can't force them to stay but we will definitely follow up on them," said Abieyuwa Oyemwense, a member of the governor's special taskforce. In Edo State, where some 80 percent of Nigerian migrants come from, the governor has set aside 30 million naira ($80,000) to tackle the problem of illegal migration "Those who get proper training will also help to spread the word." Kelvin hasn't bothered to even register. "What for?" asked the well-built 28-year-old, whose arms covered in scars are a permanent reminder of his time in Libya. "They never did anything for us." Kelvin gathered his IOM money and a plastic bag containing flip-flops, soap and a bath towel, and joined his wife. On the pavement outside, he walked slowly, like an inmate just released from prison who is happy to have cheated death but petrified at the thought of having to start again from scratch. Seated in his Khartoum office overlooking the Blue Nile, Sudanese journalist Adil al-Baz no longer fears a crackdown by security agents over his articles since he launched an online newspaper. "We are free to publish what we want on our online newspaper," Baz, a former print newspaper editor, told AFP at the office of Al-Ahdath, the website he launched this year. In a country of increasing media censorship, Baz is among several independent journalists who have left newspaper jobs and launched online papers or websites. About a dozen internet papers have been launched in the past year alone as agents of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) continue to confiscate entire print-runs of newspapers over articles opposed to President Omar al-Bashir's regime. The authorities use several laws to curb press freedom, editors say, adding that the overall environment of media censorship has only grown since Sudan's north-south divide in 2011. "A print newspaper faces a new red line almost every day," said Baz, who was jailed in the past for publishing articles critical of government policies in a newspaper he then owned. In 2012, he shut down his paper, also called Al-Ahdath, after NISS agents confiscated its copies. After working in Qatar for four years, Baz returned to Sudan last year to launch Al-Ahdath that now employs nine journalists. The online journal has since run several stories criticising government policies, which he says would have been difficult to report in his print newspaper. New curbs expected Earlier this year, said Baz, it was Al-Ahdath that first reported on Bashir sacking his senior aide Taha Osman, who now resides in Saudi Arabia. Adil al-Baz, editor of online newspaper Al-Ahdath News, at his office in downtown Khartoum Osman's sacking was later hotly debated in the Sudanese media. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Sudan 174th out of 180 countries on its 2017 world press freedom index. The NISS "hounds journalists and censors the print media", RSF said. In November, NISS agents confiscated entire print-runs of independent newspapers Al-Tayar, Al-Jadida, Al-Watan and Akhir Lahza. These journals lost thousands of dollars worth of advertisements, apart from the huge expenses of printing copies that never hit the stands. Curbs on press freedom are expected to grow if the cabinet approves a new press law under which Sudan's press council would be authorised to ban a newspaper for 15 days without any court order. Sudan's existing press law requires the council to file for a court order if it wants to ban a newspaper for any longer than three days. The draft law also permits the council to cancel licences of journalists and newspapers. Bright future Several newspapers are no longer financially viable because of the country's weak economy and the threat from security agents. Sixty percent of newspaper advertising comes from government-controlled organisations, said Ahmed al-Sheikh, editor of Sudan Times, another new internet paper. Newspapers that are critical of government policies are hit hardest as authorities often cancel promised advertisements. "Several newspapers are simply not in a position to offer good salaries to journalists," Sheikh said. "And readers who previously bought two newspapers are now buying one to cut costs." The average monthly salary of a Sudanese newspaper journalist is about 3,000 Sudanese pounds ($445). With the print media in difficulty, more online journals, all of them Arabic-language, are expected to be launched. Sheikh said the censors have so far only been concerned with the print media. "Sudanese authorities are still focusing on print media and have not yet seriously looked at the new online media, which explains why they continue to target newspapers more," he said. A journalist checks online newspaper Al-Ahdath News, one of a growing number of Sudanese news websites Sheikh also said that some of the new online newspapers had their registered offices overseas, making them harder to target. "The response to our online newspaper is very encouraging, with nearly 50,000 hits every day," said Baz, adding that Al-Ahdath had started attracting online advertising. In Sudan, the future for online journalism "remains bright" given the freedom of expression it is being allowed, said Osman Mirghani, editor of Al-Tayar newspaper. Known as Sudan's voice of independent journalism, Mirghani was briefly jailed in October over an article in his newspaper accusing Bashir's family of corruption. "Online journalists don't face restrictions like print journalists," said the US-educated engineer turned journalist, whose newspaper has been shut several times by NISS agents. "They don't face risks like newspapers, risks of copies being confiscated." Member of Parliaments Agric Committee, Yaw Frimpong Addo, has lashed out at pressure group Food Sovereignty Ghana over its efforts to frustrate the introduction of GM foods into the country. According to the MP for Manso Adubia, there is no basis for a court action that the group has instituted against genetically modified foods at the Human Rights Court. I am even surprised they have taken that line of action. Because it is just like somebody wanting to bring scientific innovation into the country and you have decided to remain in your old way of doing things. If you say you dont want it fine. But if you want to truncate the whole process, its unfortunate, Mr FrimpongAddo said. The Human Rights Court in Accra will on Wednesday continue hearing of the case. According to court documents dated 23rd November 2017, Food Sovereignty Ghana and three other groups are seeking declarations on whether required processes and laws have been adhered to in the ongoing plans to commercialise GMOs. The case is against the National Biosafety Authority (the government biosafety regulator) and four others including the Ghana National Farmers and Fishermen Association. The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration on: Whether or not the defendants have observed the critical domestic and international laws of risk assessment and management in relation to the release and commercialization of Bt cowpea and rice in the country. In February 2015, Food Sovereignty Ghana filed a suit at the Human Rights Court seeking a declaration that in approving the release and commercialization of GMOs, the government had not met the requirement of the law on major issues of risk assessment and risk management. They went on to apply for an interlocutory injunction to restrain government from approving, releasing, and commercializing GMO rice and cowpea. The request for an injunction was dismissed by the court. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is currently undertaking trials that will allow for the commercialization of genetically modified cowpea (Bt cowpea) and NEWEST rice. The novel cowpea is largely resistant to the destructive pest, Maruca pod-bearer and the NEWEST rice is nitrogen and water efficient, as well as salt tolerant. Director of Communications of Food Sovereignty Ghana Edwin Kweku Andoh Baffuor says they will prove to the court that GMOs will not help Ghanas socio-economic development. This is the beginning of the substantive case to show that Ghana does not need GMO and the proposals that have been made do not equate to Ghana needing GMOs Its something that we should not entertain, he insisted. But the MP who is also chairman of Government Assurances Committee in Parliament disagrees. I am not for or against GM foods but those who want it should be allowed to have it We need innovations in agriculture. If I want a new variety and you tell me I should not plant it, will you feed my children for me if I need money? he quizzed. The fertility in all our lands are gone. Pests are destroying crops. If scientists have developed a variety with which farmers can get 10 bags of maize from one acre, and you want them to still be growing the one they can get only 4 bags, then you are not being fair to those people, Mr Frimpong Addo added. The court action has also drawn reactions from scientists and farmers. Daniel Osei Ofosu who is Research Scientist at the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agric Research Institute (BNARI) and Country Coordinator of the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS) is not surprised the legal action has been instituted. For the scientific community, we are not perturbed because all new sciences have faced challenges in the past, including computers and immunization. But posterity has judged us that these new technologies are actually for the benefit of all mankind and so we are not perturbed. So, we will triumph over the anti-GM movement, he told Joy News in an interview. The Ghana National Farmers and Fishermen Association says it looks forward to meeting the plaintiffs in court to argue out the issues. They are just making a lot of noise because they dont have any facts. They are not farmers. They are also not in the business of farming. They are just a civil society organisation that is linked to anti-science groups that are fighting science and evidence-based issues relating to agriculture, John Awuku Dziwornu who is an executive of the association said. Ghana is abiding by all the international protocols. They should go and read and they will understand, he added. Mr Dziwornu is however worried that the repeated efforts to frustrate the process of GMO commercialization in Ghana are stalling the countrys development. GM technology can help grow drought-resistant crops, provide more nutritious food, and stop the destruction of food by pests. This technology is crucial to the achievement of food security. The groups trying to stop it are stalling the socio-economic development of Ghana. They must stop this, Mr Dziwornu said. The Eastern Regional Coordinating Council and the Eastern Regional Health Directorate, are considering measures to compel senior high schools to hire resident health officers. This is in a bid to have a more proactive approach to handling illness in schools and preventing possible escalation and death. Healthcare withing secondary schools is firmly in the public eye following the illness and deaths that have called into question medical preparedness. In the Eastern Region, a student of Koforidua Secondary Technical School died from a meningitis infection over the weekend. This was the latest of several meningitis-related deaths in the region. There were also concerns at the St. Martin's Senior High School at Nsawam after about 20 students collapsed in the school over the weekend, though medical officials have attributed the occurrence to panic attacks . Outside the region, a suspected outbreak of swine flu has resulted in four deaths at the Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region. A student of Damongo Senior High School in the Northern Region has also died, while 12 others are currently on admission at the Damongo District Hospital. In view of these occurrences, the Easter Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfuor, said ensuring the presence of resident health personnel could be very crucial to addressing the problem. Commenting on the circumstances that led to the death of the Koforidua Secondary Technical School student, he said, the guy, we are told had been sick for some time, but he himself was not reporting. If you talk to those close to him, they tell you he had not been healthy for some time. So he did not report his illness early and the [school's] infirmary is nothing to write home about. Mr. Kwakye Darfuor thus seconded the suggestion from the regions Health Director, Dr. Charity Sarpong, saying, we should actually compel heads of institutions to create a first port of call in all the schools, employ some health personnel and put them there. It beats my imagination how you can be handling about 3000 students without any form of attendants medically. Insurance for students Aside from this suggestions, the health scares ins schools have informed the National Council of Parent Teacher Associations' decision to put in place an insurance package for senior high school students nationwide. The council revealed to Citi News that agreement with an insurance company to charge each student GHc 7.00 a term has been reached. The Ghana Education Service is also in favour of this move. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana The post Health scare: E/R REGSEC proposes permanent health officers in SHSs appeared first on Ghana News . 13.12.2017 LISTEN National Democratic Congress [NDC] Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, has accused President Akufo-Addo of exercising bad judgment in forwarding the petition seeking the impeachment of the Electoral Commission Chairperson, to the Chief Justice. According to him, the late former president, John Atta Mills, showed exemplary leadership when he did not act on a similar petition seeking the removal of the then Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, over the purchase of some state lands. Speaking to Citi News, the Ningo-Prampram MP said the petition against the EC boss had emanated from faceless personalities and labelled it as frivolous. President Nana Akufo-Addo may have had the best of intentions, but he has erred in his judgment in deciding to proceed with this frivolous petition by unnamed persons, faceless beings who we are being told are now surfacing, against the Electoral Commission boss. I think that some of the things that the three of them have been engaged in are not necessarily the best, and do not necessarily have the best picture. However, the way to go about it is not to try to gamble because playing with the Electoral Commission, is playing with our democracy, he said. Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office. Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election. The unnamed EC staff, are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei. The petition against her alleged among others the funneling of GH3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million. A prima facie case has since been established against Mr. Osei and her deputies, and a five-member committee is to be set up by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to probe the allegations. Charlotte Osei hits back Mrs. Osei also responded by making allegations of corruption against her deputies, claiming that she was only being hounded because she sought to introduce systems to curb misuse and mismanagement of resources. Charlotte Osei among others claims , accused deputy Chairperson of the Commission of illegally signing contracts worth over GHC 40 million without her approval. Fresh impeachment against EC Chair Subsequently, another individual by name Douglas Seidu , a concerned Ghanaian, also petitioned the President in August 2017, seeking the removal of the EC Chair , on grounds of financial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest, breaches of the public procurement processes, amongst others. It is an eight-paged petition according to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who spoke to Citi News in August. President Akufo-Addo in accordance with the constitution forwarded both petitions to the Chief Justice to look into the matter. Suggestions are that both petitions have been consolidated to make the committee's work easier. By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana The post Nana Addos handling of Charlotte Osei petitions wrong Sam George appeared first on Ghana News . EC Chair, Charlotte Osei, and her deputies may not be suspended as an inquisitorial committee prepares to look into allegations of abuse of power and corruption that has hit Ghanas elections management body. Renowned legal practitioner, Samson Lardi Anyenini, says speculations that once the probe begins, possibly in January 2018, all three top officials will be asked to step aside is not accurate. It is possible that they can continue to carry on their job while the probe is going on, he said. Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, initiated what many say is a possible impeachment process when she empanelled a five-member committee last month to look into the allegations. The inquisitorial committee, whose members are yet to be made public, is expected to investigate Mrs Osei, together with her two deputies, Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, who is in-charge of Corporate Services, and Amadu Sulley, in charge of Operations. The EC was thrown into turmoil in July this year after some unnamed staff petitioned President Akufo-Addo to trigger an impeachment process against Charlotte Osei. Mrs Osei launched her own attack, drawing in the two deputies. The accusation against Charlotte Osei included funnelling of GH3.9 million to partition an office, her receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, expending about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorised her to use only $7.5 million. Photo: Samson Anyenini Commenting on the matter on current affairs programme PM Express on the Joy News channel (Multi TV), Mr Anyenini said although the three EC officials at the centre of the turmoil may be asked to leave their post to pave way for a thorough investigation, that is not set in stone. The suspension is not automatic. There are people who think that so far as a prima facie case has been made [they] ought to be suspended, no. Article 146 (10) says that if the Judicial Council advises the President that we should suspend then he will suspend. And even when the President suspends, the law says at any time he can revoke the suspension it is not automatic," he explains. Recalling his involvement in a similar investigation into allegations of abuse of office against former Chair of the Commission for Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ), Lauretta Lamptey, Mr Anyenini said his team made it a key strategy to demand that Mrs Lamptey is asked to step aside. He explains in that case too the suspension was not automatic. We felt that we needed a certain access to the CHRAJ to firm up our evidence. We needed persons who are in there to come and testify when the process starts. We felt that if she is still there the people (staff) will be afraid...so we wrote. We didnt wait for the process to start," he said. Difficult days ahead The possible impeachment process, the first to hit the EC, could prove to be a long-drawn-out process, says Kojogah Adawudu, who was also on current affairs programme on Tuesday evening. Photo: Kojogah Adawudu "It will not be child's play," he said, convinced that the committee members will take their time to make sure allegations of political undertones in the process is curred. Watch the full discussion in the video link below. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com Unilever Ghana has donated one hundred (100) cartons of Lifebuoy Soap to students and teachers of the Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region. The gesture, according to the company, is to help improve sanitary conditions among students in the school. This comes after four students died in the school this month with others admitted to hospital. Health officials later revealed that some samples tested from the school had shown the presence of H1N1 infection in the school. The students were also taken through proper hand washing tips and how to ensure personal hygiene. The Customer Service Director of Unilever Ghana, Gladys Amoah, who represented the Managing Director of Unilever, Ziobeieton Yeo, said her outfit is committed to supporting the awareness campaign in the fight against the infection. Mrs. Amoah indicated that, an electronic poster sponsored and commissioned by Unilever is already in circulation under the campaign #HelpStopSwineFlu to educate the public on a possible outbreak. She entreated persons who received the message to share with their friends and contacts as a support for the campaign. She indicated that the Lifebuoy product is formulated as an antibacterial soap that fights against infections causing germs at all times on application, and will come in handy in the fight against the disease. The Unilever officials also advised students to take personal hygiene and health seriously. By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana The post Unilever donates to KUMACA, advocates proper hand washing appeared first on Ghana News . The Progressive People's Party (PPP), wants to join a petition calling for the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) , Charlotte Osei's removal. Their demand follows the establishment of a prima facie case against Mrs. Osei, following allegations of corruption and abuse of office leveled against her in two separate petitions. The PPP in a statement explained that, it will present evidence against the Electoral Commission of Ghana if given the chance to join the case. As a lawful party, our shared responsibility is to educate Ghanaians on why our democracy takes place in a framework of a Presidential representative democratic republic, with the President as both head of state and head of government, and with multi-party democracy as our accepted form of democracy, it argued. Giving further explanations on the partys request on Eyewitness News, Policy Adviser for PPP, Kofi Asamoah Siaw said : over the years, the Electoral Commission and some other institutions have conducted public service in a manner in which they please and they have hurt this nation's progress and development, so we have taken issues with the Electoral Commission's function of being a regulator of the activities of political parties. We may not want to wait for this petition to be concluded. You will understand and appreciate that it has taken us a long time from July to this time for us to get to the beginning of the investigation. If anybody has any evidence of misconduct and issues bordering on perjury, then it is the appropriate time now to cease the opportunity as a party to make a representation of what we feel may constitute a ground for another petition to be sent to the President, Mr. Siaw added. The PPP is one of the parties that engaged in a back and forth with the EC ahead of the 2016 elections, after its presidential candidate, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, was disqualified from the race over claims by the EC that it had failed in meeting some requirements. The party headed to court and had a ruling in its favour that allowed its flagbearer to contest the race. The Petitions Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office. Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election. The unnamed EC staff are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei. The petition against her, alleged among others the funnelling of GH3.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million. Charlotte Osei takes on Deputies Mrs. Osei also responded by making allegations of corruption against her deputies, claiming that she was only being hounded because she sought to introduce systems to curb misuse and mismanagement of resources. Charlotte Osei among other claims, accused deputy Chairperson of the Commission of illegally signing contracts worth over GHC 40 million without her approval. Fresh impeachment against EC Chair Subsequently, another individual by name Douglas Seidu, a concerned Ghanaian, also petitioned the President in August 2017, seeking the removal of the EC Chair, on grounds of financial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest, breaches of the public procurement processes, amongst others. It is an eight-paged petition according to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who spoke to Citi News in August. President Akufo-Addo in accordance with the constitution forwarded both petitions to the Chief Justice to look into the matter. Suggestions are that both petitions have been consolidated to make the committee's work easier. By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana The post PPP seeks to join petition against EC Chair, deputies appeared first on Ghana News . 13.12.2017 LISTEN Patriotic Rivers Citizens today threw their weight behind Federal Special Anti Robbery Squard (FSARS) Operations in Rivers-State. Citizens of Rivers State turned out in their numbers to show solidarity to "FSARS ". The event started with a peaceful rally, from the Aba road axis of Port Harcourt where banners and placards where hoisted, with men, and women signing solidarity songs for the Special Anti Robbery squad. The Rally went as far as the Police Head Quarters in Moscow Road, Rivers State. Hon Asita O. Asita (Former Deputy Governorship Candidate of the APC) who led the delegation to visit the Commissioner of Police Ahmed Zaki, thanked CP Ahmed and for the great work the police , he also on behalf of the delegation passed vote of confidence on Commander of SARS Akin Fakorode and his team, for bringing back sanity and peace to Rivers State. He also accused the Governor of Rivers State of sponsoring and harboring criminals, he further said "it is only in Rivers State that kidnappers and killers will be given traditional stools instead of been apprehend and charged to court for their crimes ". Other Rivers State Leaders which include : Hon Tonye Princewill (Former Governorship Candidate), Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Dr Sokonte Davies ( Executive Director Marine Operation Nigerian Ports Authority), Chief Davies Ikanya ( State Chairman APC) , amongst others also specially thanked the Commissioner of Police and his team, they further promised to support the Nigerian Police in anyway necessary. Addressing the delegation, CP Ahmed Zaki (Commissioner Of Police Rivers State), thanked them for making them to visit , in his words " I must thank you all for finding time to come and visit us, truly by our assessment, SARS have been doing a great job, the police is always ready to serve you better, we however require your assistance and support. I also assure you that your letter and concern will get to the Inspector General (IG)". Thank You. Mediamark launched an online skills development and knowledge sharing platform dubbed, 'In the KNOW NOW' on Thursday at Moka's Cafe in Labone, Accra. It was the third in the Mediamark Thought Leader series. The platform, created by Mediamark, is to assist media professionals upgrade their knowledge, as the release of new research data and an evolving research landscape brings significant change to Africa's media buying world. The 'In The KNOW NOW' platform, first launched in South Africa in March this year, will now be extended into Ghana to help both seasoned professionals and young talents alike acquire the skills and expertise they need to thrive in this changing environment. It will offer workshops, webinars and learning materials across most media channels and platform brands in use today, starting with radio and then expanding into digital and television. Speaking on the topic, 'The Connected Consumer,' Werner Lindemann, Managing Director for Mediamark, who was also the main speaker for the event, stated that we have spent a lot of time, research and analytics developing these modules to ensure we are equipping media and marketing professionals with the tools they need to remain on top of their game. We're excited about this initiative to provide strategic direction to marketing and media professionals and equip them with the right tools to successfully get the best tangible results from their customer's media needs, said Lindemann. We are hoping to play a role in ensuring that the industry has a strong pool of skills for the future. Other speakers were Mervyn Naidu, General Manager of Mediamark Ghana, as well as Brenya Bampoe, DJ Advicer and Akosua Hanson, who showcased three of the media brands which Mediamark represents in the Ghanaian market e.TV Ghana, Happy FM and YFM respectively. The event also revealed the extension of LAB 42 (Mediamark's creative arm) to Ghana, as well as the introduction of Edward Entee, the new Business Development Manager for the company. In the Ghanaian market, Mediamark has come to be known for its innovative client engagement activities, exceptional systems, unique approach to identifying clients' needs and coming up with creative multi-channelled solutions for them. The Thought Leader Series, another Mediamark First, is just one of such activities and promises to be the beginning of even more exciting things in the coming years. DIHOC Footwear Division Limited, which was incorporated and tasked by government to produce boots and shoes for sale to the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies, is on the verge of collapse. This is because all the security agencies, as well as public and private schools, which were billed to purchase boots and shoes from the company, have ignored their products. Nii Konnie Laryea, acting General Manager of DIHOC Footwear Division, addressing a press conference recently in Accra, stated: It is a fact that all government security agencies, including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Prisons Service, Immigration Service and even the Ghana Armed Forces still order their boots and shoes from China and India. At commencement, the company's projection was to increase its workforce from 200 to 800 within three years. However, the security agencies, which constitute our primary market, have refused to buy our boots and shoes. Again, no definite government policy has been outlined directing the security services and public schools to wear made-in-Ghana boots, shoes and sandals. It is therefore unfair that the management of the company will be blamed for having reduced the workforce from 200 to 49. The company held the press conference to react to allegations leveled against it lately by Dominic Nitiwul, Minister for Defence. The Minister stated that DIHOC Footwear Division Limited trained over 200 workers, but because of irregular orders, only one-third of them are currently working. According to the acting General Manager, this situation cannot be blamed on management. We therefore want to use this platform to humbly request the Hon Dominic Nitiwul, MP and Minister for Defence, to assist the company by directing the GAF to order all its boots and shoes from the company, and to appeal to his colleagues, the Honorable Ministers of Interior, Finance and Education, to give similar directives to the other security agencies and educational institutions to stop the importation of boots and shoes from China and India, and buy from the company as a way of assisting it. This, in our view, is the solution to restore and even increase the workforce of the company, and create more jobs for the youth of Ghana within the shortest possible time. The company can easily create an additional 600 jobs within the next two to three years through such an initiative alone. Making reference to a Citifmonline report that said Ghana Armed Forces, who are shareholders in the business have been sidelined, with no accounts rendered to them by the private managers of the facility, the company said: With great sadness, this statement is untrue, and we would wish to set the records straight. It said it applied to meet the Defence Minister to brief him on the status of the company soon after he was sworn into office, but that meeting has not been held because of the minister's busy schedule. The company said that it has been neglected by the Defence Minister, his ministry and GAF, because there have been no communications between them. We are not able to organise board meetings since, as a company, we do not know whom to deal with and what the new authorities have in mind. 13.12.2017 LISTEN The Hunger Project Ghana is partnering the Ghana Health Service to train Community Health Nurses (CHN) as midwives assistants to address the shortage of midwives at the Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds in three regions. It is under a project called Maternal and Child Health improvement being implemented by the Hunger -Project in 15 districts three regions, namely Eastern, Volta and Central, with funding from Else-Kronner-Fresenius Foundation for the next two years. Mr Samuel Afranie, the country Director of Hunger-Project, who disclosed this at an orientation programme for over 60 community health nurses selected for the training in Koforidua, said the Hunger-Project has supported the construction of 38 CHPS compounds in the Eastern Region. He said 13 of the participants were coming from the CHPS compound constructed by Hunger Project called 'Epicenter Clinics' in the district for training to be able to provide efficient maternal health services in the various districts. Mr Afranie said if Traditional Birth Assistants could provide such services then 'these nurses who already have the basic skills would do better in providing maternal services to the people'. He said out of the 15 districts that the project, where the project is being implemented, thirteen came from the Eastern Region whiles Central and Volta had one each at Mfantseman (Taido) and North Dayi (Tokome). Mrs Gladys Brew, the Coordinator of the Project at the Ghana health Service, said the GHS has instituted a programme called 'Task-sharing' to build the capacities of community health nurses in critical areas. She said the combined objective of both the Hunger Project and the GHS was to provide a 24/7 hour maternal and child care services at the sub districts to address the shortage of midwives. Mrs Brew said statistics show that about 57 per cent of health centres in the country have only one midwife and this has made it difficult to have the 24/7 hour services needed in the maternal health care delivery, hence the Task-sharing programme. She said the programme was not going to make the participants midwives immediately and that they would be attached to communities where there are only one midwives to share the task to ensure that every mother has access to a 24/7hour delivery in maternal care. Dr Antobre Boateng, the Eastern Regional Deputy Director, Public Health, said 61 per cent of maternal deaths were attributed to eclampsia, hypertension and abortion which were all preventable deaths adding that the task -sharing was to train people at the sub districts level. He said the maternal death rate was not going down despite all interventions adding that 'we have to do more in every intervention to ensure that maternal health gets the utmost attention. Police in Navrongo in the Upper East Region have launched a manhunt for three persons believed to be part of a gang that rob and terrorize travellers and traders along the Chiana-Navrongo Road in the night. Over the weekend, the gang attacked one of the vehicles of the Water Resource and Sanitation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda at Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region. The occupants were returning to Navrongo when the incident happened. The security officer on board the vehicle had knowledge of the presence of gangs and their activities and so prepared for them. The gang blocked a portion of the road and when the vehicle got to the obstacle, the armed gang members came out of the bush with the sole intention of robbing and molesting the occupants of the vehicle. The security officer opened fire on them, even before they got close, thereby forcing them to run back into the bush, killing one in the process. Though the Police in Navrongo are tight-lipped about the matter due to ongoing investigations, a DAILY GUIDE source close to the police said the deceased and the rest of his colleagues are not Fulanis as being speculated. That is a wrong information, these are people from the area; they are known people. They have been robbing and terrorizing people on that Chiana-Navrongo stretch for some time now and people are aware of them. People are so quick to accuse others for the wrongdoings; if people living along this road are patriotic, they would have exposed these criminals and everybody would have been free; they know them and live with them. I know that efforts were made to get the criminals, even before this killing happened. Since the Buipe and Yepei bridges were closed for maintenance, travellers from the southern part of the country, traveling to the Northern and those from the Northern part and traveling to the South, have had to use alternative routes to get to their destinations. Those who use the Wa-Tumu Road in the Upper West Region end up joining the Chiana-Navrongo Road, and that is what seems to have created a fertile ground for armed robbers and other bad boys to operate at night and sometimes during the day. According to the source, the gang has succeeded in robbing and molesting their victims ever since the traffic on that stretch increased due to the closure of the two bridges. The Water Resources and Sanitation Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Navrongo Central Constituency, Joseph Kofi Adda, had traveled to Navrongo to perform the funeral rites of his late mother over the weekend. Meanwhile, the lifeless body of the deceased has been deposited at the morgue of the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo. Rather than licking his electoral defeat wounds in 2016 with genuine humility and come out with winnable strategies next time around, ex-President Mahama is shamelessly walking everywhere, telling people his loss stemmed from his strong rejection of juicy campaign promises (see: Ghanaweb, The Publisher online). Clearly, Mr. Mahama thinks his electoral trashing was somehow a fluke in that by his brazen Nana Akufo-Addo could not have beaten him to become president today had it not been the NPP leader's empty campaign promises to voters. The wise had said over and over that every failure/mistake teaches a useful lesson, especially, if the one or those who failed are ready to learn anything productive from that infraction. Particularly, judging from his recent seedy pronouncement at the NDC's so-called Unity Walk in Tarkwa in the Western part of Ghana, it is obvious former President Mahama is still living in the fantasy world after his crushing defeat. Any savvy politician will modestly learn from his/her mistakes; and then make unassuming effort to contextualize the actual circumstances that led to the electoral failure. But what do we see and hear from Mr. Mahama, lately? Aside him and his die-hard cheerleaders subtly using their over-advertised NDC Unity Walk to promote Mr. Mahama's second or third presidential bid, the ex-president is cunningly behaving as if he doesn't really know the basis for his massive electoral rejection by the majority of Ghanaians in 2016. If we were to construct a standard form of deductive argument based on Mr. Mahama's false logic, we may have something like this one: Empty campaign promises in 2016 won the presidential elections; Mr. Mahama categorically rejected empty campaign promises; Therefore, Comrade Mahama did not win the 2016 presidential elections. Often, the way some African leaders talk and behave in and out of office makes many of us least surprised that our resources-rich continent is still struggling hard to find its libido to enable it compete confidently and productively with the rich and powerful continents. Sure, in the above argument the premisesmisleadinglysupport the conclusion typical of almost all deductive reasoning. Thus, on its face value, ex-President Mahama's argument appears valid, but the same time it is pathetically unsound. More so, an argument doesn't require true premises or a true conclusion to be valid. On the flip side, a cogent or sound reasoning requires true premises and a genuine conclusion. More importantly, trending toward deductive argument in an unpredictable world of human behavior coupled with raw African politics can only come from unseasoned politicians. Mr. Mahama probably would have been given some form of a pass if elections and political campaigns are mostly based on mathematical analysis. The former president's contention that then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo's presidential victory was the result of empty promises dishonestly ignores several significant socioeconomic factors under the Mahama-led government that adversely crystallized in the clear view of Ghanaians prior to the December 2016 general elections. This is to say there was crystal ball of foreboding events leading to the 2016 general elections that didn't need anyone to have supernatural powers to figure out that then Mr. Mahama's not-so-competent regime was heading toward defeat in the polls. Apparently, ex-president's inability to make an insightfully humble critique of what actually precipitated his government's implosion at the hands of the current president of the republic is symptomatic of his internalized incompetence. Even in the opposition, former President John Mahama is displaying some of the relics of his inept leadership via unguarded quasi-campaign utterances. It is too early to predict a party's flag bearer; but, the best gift the largest opposition party NDC can ever give the NPP-led government is to choose ex-President Mahama to contest against President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia ticket. In that likely scenario, the NPP presidential pair will laugh all the way to the electoral bank to cash their landslide check one more time. In any event, this is my unsolicited suggestion to ex-President Mahama regarding the consequential reasons behind his humiliating defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo in the presidential election. Again, like almost all reasoning bordering on deductive, their validity may be assured but the same cannot be said about their soundness. Hence, the valid and sound rationalizations Mr. Mahama needs to be telling smart-thinking Ghanaians in sincere fashion are the following line of inductive argument: I have now realized that most Ghanaians are not politically docile to be taken for granted; I should have exhibited genuine sensitivity to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians instead of telling them I'm tone deaf like a dead goat. That, the dumsor, dumsor was my Achilles' heels; I could have done much better; That, constructing flyovers everywhere in the cities cannot fool Ghanaians; Majority of Ghanaians are dead serious about multiparty democracy taking roots in Ghana; That, most Ghanaians today have clear understanding that true democracy requires transparency, accountability, and corrupt-free government officials for the system to function well; That as president I should have shown contrition when an investigative reporter exposed the rotten maggots within the GYEEDA, SADA, and later the Burkinabe's Ford truck presidential gift; Therefore, taking all these premises into account, I truly understand now why I lost the elections! Bernard Asubonteng is United States-based writer; send your comments to: [email protected] By Bernard Asubonteng Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged leaders of Muslim nations to recognise Jerusalem as the occupied capital of the Palestinian state. Addressing a summit of the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation, he said the US decision to recognise the city as Israels capital was null and void. Mr Erdogan also again accused Israel of being a state of terror. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the US had disqualified itself from playing a role in the peace process. We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process. They have proven their full bias in favour of Israel, he told the summit. The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of Israels conflict with the Palestinians. The city is home to key religious sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity, especially in East Jerusalem. Israel occupied the sector, previously occupied by Jordan, in the 1967 Middle East war and regards the entire city as its indivisible capital. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, and its final status is meant to be discussed in the latter stages of peace talks. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognised internationally, and all countries currently maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv. However, President Donald Trump has announced that the US will eventually move its embassy. Diplomatic solution The BBCs Mark Lowen in Istanbul says the rhetoric at the start of the OIC summit was strong. But the question is what in practice the grouping can do, he adds, given the fact some members are more pro-Trump than others. Our correspondent says various countries have only sent ministers to the meeting, possibly a sign of low expectation, and the reaction on the streets of the Muslim world to the Jerusalem issue has been relatively restrained. Mr Erdogan threatened to cut Turkish ties with Israel before Mr Trumps announcement last week, though he made no mention of this in his speech. Turkey and Israel only restored diplomatic relations in 2016, six years after Turkey severed ties in protest at the killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in clashes with Israeli commandos on board a ship trying to break Israels naval blockade of Gaza. Mr Erdogan instead urged a unified response by Muslim nations to Mr Trumps Jerusalem decision. I invite all the countries that value international law and justice to recognise Jerusalem as the occupied capital of the Palestinian state, he said. Those who fight with their friends forget to fight with their enemies, he added. We need a diplomatic solution. We have to stop Israel gaining more land from Palestine day by day. And we must not accept the policies and attitude Israel has been displaying day by day. It seems to me that there is a confusion in this country regarding the difference between what is business proper and business by patronage. The true definition of business proper would be this: someone thinks of an original idea say, to convert the oxygen in the air to energy that can be used by machines (!), in the same way that oxygen can be used to provide energy for humans, other animals and plants. The person then tries to raise capital to turn the idea into reality. He writes a good paper demonstrating that since oxygen is both abundant and free, whoever can capture it and use it to power machines that produce saleable goods, would make enormous profits. But the capital needed to actualise the idea can only be obtained by going to a bank to borrow money; or by floating a company and inviting the public to buy shares in it. A commercial bank is usually not a good choice, for two reasons: (1) banks want to be absolutely sure that they will get their money back and do not like the risks associated with turning a clever idea into a money-making enterprise without first obtaining financial backing elsewhere; and (2) banks also demand that the borrower pays interest on any loan he's given. And they may also ask for collateral which can be sold to pay back the loan if the business fails! The offer of shares in a brand new company to would-be investors in the company also has its drawbacks. Until recently, start-up companies (as they are known) were frowned upon by the investment world. So start-ups must buy sponsorship by known "financial houses" and back it with expensive public relations services, to publicise their offers. Which takes money! All of this suggests that unless the owner of an idea can back it with his or her own money, the idea might not take off at all. All the genius with the brilliant idea can do would be to apply for a patent for it, and hope that someone else would be able to bring the idea to reality, and pay a percentage of his/her profits to the patent-holder in the form of royalties. n other words, getting a company to start and be profitable is no child's play. But if such a company manages to overcome the difficulties and become both productive and profitable, everyone would accord it enormous respect. Some of the big trans-national corporations that rule the world today started in that way. A Henry Ford would get the idea to make motor cars, use his family money or if that's not possible, raise money from elsewhere, and make a go of it. If the idea was as good as he thought it would be, he would become very rich. But whilst such individuals with imagination and business flair can become rich legitimately, others rely mainly on political connections to enrich themselves. Many of the pioneer railway companies in America, for instance, started off with politicalsupport. Friends in high places would help steer proposed railroad concessions through legal and political obstacles.. Secret information was often passed to businessmen. There are never enough companies, owned by any government, to carry out all the projects needed to ensure the public welfare, and so, Governmental patronage is valued greatly by many businesses. Unfortunately, in our part of the world, that is often ALL that a company has got! Indeed, in countries like Ghana, going into "proper business is not too popular, and so clever methods are often resorted to by businessmen -politicians to achieve their alleged "success".. Companies that are dead are revived and their names used to lend cred(-ibility)to newly-formed ones. What happens next can be quite sordid: the company owners would receive information from political associates about the budgeted cost of certain projects; at what time period bids on the projects would be advertised; and so on. A favoured company thus possesses a jump-start ahead of all its competitors. Care would be taken to tip it off in advance that there would be, say, complex electronics/mechanical engineering involved in executing the project. Once that's done, it can make approaches to well-known figures in that field, beforehand, to team up with it (for a fee). It can then throw dust into the eyes of the public by parading these experts in its public relations exercises, though they might not have done a day's worth of real work for the company. In other words, if a Government that is carrying out a project wants a particular company to secure the contract for implementing it, there are ways to ensure that the company will get it. "Independent selection through bidding" becomes a mere "floor-show". Even if the media get wind of what's going on and make noise, the Government can close its ears, can't it? Besides, even if a scandal breaks out, the friends of the company's owners who are inside the Governmental apparatus, would take care to "manage" if not "buy" the silence of any of their colleagues who might be worried about the implications of the scandal might mean for the Government as a whole. This, in summary, is how the fact that complex and highly-technical projects have been awarded to certain companies, sometimes (unashamedly) on a single-source basis, may be viewed. Single-source contracts, in particular, are a puzzle to most decent-minded people. Was the company that won a single-source contract approached by the Government or did it (the company) do the approaching? If the former is the case, howdid the Government get introduced to the company and bywhom? If the latter is the case, howdid the company hear of the project while its putative competitors did not? These are important issues that impinge on governmental integrity and must be aired because public projects constitute an enormous proportion of economic activity in every country. In fact, in many cases, to corner Government contracts amounts to being given a licence to print money. That's why contracts like those awarded to Ameri (to supply power and make a profit of over $150 million!); to Zoomlion (to dispose of rubbish or millions of dolars) GYEEDA (to find ways of giving useful employment to the youth); SADA (to develop the neglected savannah areas) and so on, have attracted a great deal of derision amongst the media and the public in Ghana. If the work is not properly done (Zoomlion), or if the costs are too prohibitive (Ameri), the public can smell a rat. And usually, the rat exists! Now, questions by the public about such projects will not die down just because some highly-placed current or former officials of the state assert -- without providing any discernible evidence to support their assertions -- that the companies are well-run and are being demonised because they are "successful". The officials would say that, wouldn't they? Success, I am afraid, must sell itself. Nor will the questions of the sceptics cease just because the owner(s) of the company are touted to be so devout that the tithes they pay to their churches are rumoured to be so enormous in quantity that the cash is "driven to the church in security vans with armed personnel on hand to protect it!" You give Ghanaians such reasons to malign you for hypocrisy and trust me, they will go to town with it. By the way, it isn't only in Ghana that private individuals make, or have made, money out of what ostensibly appear to be essential public projects. When the state-owned British Telecom was privatised, some Britons complained that those who had had the ability to buy shares in the new private company, had reaped huge profits. But that didn't stop another Conservative Government from selling the British Post Office in much the same way as British Telecom and British Gas were sold. The British satirical magazine, Private Eye, has a long-running column entitled H P Sauce, that chronicles the octopus-type relationship between business and officialdom in the UK and elsewhere. Of course, such actions leave a bad smell in the air which affects -- unfairly -- even innocent people, for the public, to the surprise of politicians, is sometimes left suspecting (after hearing about the shenanigans that officials indulge in) that anyone who dares to defend such methods of transferring public assets into private hands, might have benefited from such actions himself. Such suspicions, once sown into people's minds by the defenders themselves, can never be easily dispelled. And that threatens to smear the entire political class -- unless it takes good care to be adjudged trust-worthy. The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu has backed the Chief Justices call on Members of Parliament to desist from using honourable as titles. Justice Sophia Akuffo on Tuesday scolded two MPs who had written honourable as titles in a writ brought before the court challenging the appointment of Gender Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba. Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo The two National Democratic Congress MPs Ernest Norgbey; Ashaiman Constituency and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh; Juaboso Constituency wanted the court to revoke her appointment over her failure to undergo mandatory National Service. It was in this writ that they added honourable as prefixes to their names. Ernest Norgbey (L) and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh (R) But Justice Akuffo while hearing the case on Tuesday questioned the basis for the use of the title, Honourable. She told the two MPs the use of honourable as a title is dishonourable, advising that the title can only be added after their names had been written. The First Deputy Speaker agreed. He said although in certain jurisdictions honourable is used as a title, the reference to it in Ghana, specifically during Parliamentary proceedings, is only in our standing orders. It is clear that it is when you are addressing a colleague member of parliament that you use the prefix honourable. So you can say honourable member of so so and so, honourable chairman of the committee, honourable leaderthose are the occasions in our standing orders where any reference is made to the prefix honourable, he said. He added that honourable can only be used during debates in the House, So in that respect, yes the Chief Justice is right. He explained that for members of parliament who have asked questions, the questions are listed in their names and their titles, either minister or doctor or any other earned titles added and their constituency then follows. So Parliament does not use honourable as a prefix to your name. It is used only as a reference to refer to one another during debates. That is the practice and that is what is recognized in our standing orders. The Bekwai MP doubts, however, that members can be compelled to stop using the title outside Parliament. He said outside Parliament, members are only expected to behave in a manner that does not bring the name of the House into disrepute. I dont know whether by referring to yourself as honourable on a letterhead or on a call card amounts to that, he said, adding that perhaps a conversation needs to be had on it. Mr Osei-Owusu said Parliamentarians are encouraged to live, behave and speak honourably, and once this is done, the public will recognize them as honourable members. He said the Chief Justice's action against the two MPs should serve as a deterrent to other members to watch how they use titles. The analysis, released by the Metropolitan Education Directorate earlier this week, left stakeholders of some schools absolutely dumbfounded and disappointed. But to many others, it was just enough reason to carry themselves shoulder-high and make merry on the streets of Takoradi before the ultimate arrival of Christmas. Out of a total of 7,704 candidates from both private and public schools that represented the metropolis, 75% of the candidates scored aggregate 6 to 36. The most improved school, per the analysis, is Rev. Kobbah Yalley JHS. The school recorded a 71.21% pass as compared to last year's disappointing 25%. The best scored student for public schools went to Ansah Theiphilia Nwia Awube of Bethel Methodist JHS. He ran home with 9 ones, while William Collins Oppong of Queen of Peace Academy, together with seven other candidates, made private schools proud by obtaining 9 ones, with a raw score of 527. For private schools, New Pathway Academy, which recorded an average score of 7.08, sat comfortably on the apex of the chart, followed by Elgate Education Centre, St. Peter's JHS, Ahenemba International, Kingsbury International and Barbara School with average scores of 9.40, 10.29, 10.35, 10.73 and 11. 18 respectively. The first five public schools displayed quite an impressive performance as Services JHS took the top spot with an average score of 19.33 while their competitors, Airforce Station Basic School, St. Andrews Anglican Complex JHS, Navy Basic School and Bethel Methodist, followed closely with average scores of 19.96, 22.83, 23.24 and 23.57 respectively. The relentless efforts of Sir Iye Jonas, Sir Patrick Tandoh and Sir Peter Eshun saw their school, St Peter's International, take the front seat of the chart in individual subject areas like Social Studies, English Language and Religious and Moral Education (R.M.E) respectively. Teachers of Mathematics in the metropolis were quite dissatisfied to find their subject at the foot of the chart while Ghanaian Language took the first position, with Basic Design and Technology (BDT) placing second. Campaigns against Sakawa in the country have taken a slow pace in addressing the problem by the authorities. The role of the media to educate and champion against the fight of Sakawa in the country cannot be overlooked and given a deaf ear. The media being the fourth estate of the realm in terms of the countrys governance system has continued to play its immense role to date. The media fight and gagging up against illegal mining and pushing harder for the total end of the menace cannot also be overlooked. The coalition program by the media helped Ghanaians to demonstrate their rage and anger at illicit mining which has taken a toll at the environment. The purpose of this article is to draw the attention of the media to fight, wage war against Sakawa in our country and Africa. The word Sakawa is a Hausa word which means how to make money. Young people and even adults enticed foreign nationals with pictures of nude girls who claim to be searching for other nationals to marry. This young men visit shrines, mallams and perform some rituals. The rituals, which are mostly in the form of sacrifices, are intended to spiritually manipulate victims so that the scammer's fraud is successful. The scammers flaunt stylish clothes, luxury cars, and enormous wealth, in order to promote this act. In impoverished areas, it can be seen as a way of survival for some. The story of the of the reproductive organ of 10-year-old boy Waachribu Adam, which was purportedly been slashed for rituals by one Rauf aka Bossu, a known sakawa (cyber fraud) boy in the Gambaga District of the Northern Region is among Sakawa stories which cannot be silent and kept in secret.In the story, Bossu, aged 20 asked Adam to assist him carry some pieces of wood from a nearby bush. Bossu chased and forced Adam into the bush where he allegedly caught the testes of the boy and attempted to cut his tongue as well but the boy purportedly pushed him and he (suspect) fled the scene. Sakawa is rife in our communities, houses but many do not talk about it.In recent times there has been a little report of Sakawa in any media house in Ghana. Youth education program by various non-governmental organization and assemblies in the country has fallen. Prosperity message by the church today has cause a great harm to the societies.The diluting and polluting the gospel had caused a great damage to this generation. What legacy are we living behind? The church calling is to evangelise,wage war against spirits and powers and also fight satanic kingdoms. Wealth has become the order of the day as if the world is coming to the end. Dont we have a better home more than here? I will like to make a quick reference to proverbs 22; 4,By humility and the fear of the lord are riches, honour and life. This verse is not to be construed as a guarantee of material wealth, long life, or any other blessing in this world in exchange for humility and the reverential fear of God (although God is certainly capable of granting rewards for those attributes at His pleasure). The medias job is to educate the people and of course the media are also to set the agenda on issues that are of importance to our national development. The widespread media campaigns, will result in an unprecedented national consensus against Sakawa, prompting actions from among a wide range of institutions, including the presidency, the judiciary, security services, and the Ministry of Gender Affairs. Also the media should partner with churches, Academic institutions of various universities to form a new inter-disciplinary Research Group that will help wage war, educate the youth to deal with the menace of Sakawa. The media should partner with the government to enroll programs that will help create satisfying jobs and find solutions on how to deal with unemployment which may be a factor for the youth engaging in sakawa.The media should also come out with program activities on Sakawa issues and solutions to deal with. 13.12.2017 LISTEN AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Gold Mine has sponsored the first runner-up Municipal Best Farmer and Best Female Farmer awards at the 33rd national farmers day celebration held at Wassa Simpa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality and Dumase in the Prestea-Huni Valley District. The total sponsorship package was valued at approximately GHC12,000. The sponsorship forms part of the AngloGold Ashantis support to farmers and to help promote women empowerment in its catchment area. Since inception, more women in the area have ventured into agriculture making the vocation attractive. Ms. Awo Wugah, a sixty-five (65) year old farmer from Esuaso won first runner-up for contributing towards food security in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality. She also won a variety of gifts including a plasma television set, an orthopedic mattress, sewing machine etc. This is Ms. Wugahs second win as best female farmer. She has been farming for over thirty years and cultivates cocoa, maize, spices, pineapples, cassava, plantain etc. Hard work and perseverance are the two pillars that has kept me going, she said, expressing appreciation to the Mine for the honour done her. Madam Awo Wugah encouraged more women especially the youth to venture into commercial farming as a business since its benefits are rewarding. Mr. Gabriel Yeboah, a former beneficiary of Iduapriems local economic development programme also received an award for the municipal vegetable farmer. At Dumase-Bogoso, Madam Amina Agyimah from Damang, a gold mining community in the Prestea Huni-Valley District won the best female farmer award. She received a plasma television set, wellington boots, bags of NPK fertilizers, wax print, one packet of roofing sheets among others. We are thankful to AngloGold Ashanti for sponsoring the best female award category every year. I am proud of the items I have received and in fact, AngloGold Ashanti stood tall among its peers, Madam Amina Agyimah said. Commenting on the sponsorship, the Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Gold Mine, Jasper Musadaidzwa said the sponsorship forms part of the AngloGold Ashantis support to farmers and to help promote women empowerment in its catchment area. Since AngloGold Ashantis participation in supporting female farmers in its host communities to., more women in the area have ventured into agriculture making the vocation attractive and as a mine that believes in empowering women, we will continue to support this noble cause he added. National Farmers' Day is commemorated each year to honour Ghanaian farmers and fishermen. The occasion is also used to acknowledge the vital role farmers and fishermen play in the nation's socio-economic development.This years celebration was the theme, Farming for food and Jobs. A preliminary report by a medical team at the Damongo District Hospital, has indicated that the death of a student at Damongo Senior High School in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region, was caused by non-communicable meningitis. The schools head teacher, Kipo Harrison, confirmed this on Damongo-based Pad FM. According to him, it is a recurring phenomenon especially during the harmattan season. He however dismissed attempts to link the other 12 students on admission at the Damongo district hospital to the same disease. Kipo Harrison said a medical team from the Tamale Teaching Hospital took the deceaseds blood sample for further laboratory test. The said student died on Tuesday December 12, 2017, whilst 12 others were admitted at the district hospital. Citi News sources at the Damongo District Hospital confirmed the incident, but the school authorities were initially tight-lipped on the matter. The situation has reportedly caused fear and panic among continuing students. This latest health scare comes on the back of the death of four students of Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region. The pandemic strain of influenza type A, H1N1 2009, also known as Swine Flu, was later detected in some samples from the school. Aside from the four deaths, several students were also been hospitalized. Respiratory samples sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research also indicated that there was an outbreak of an acute respiratory infection which the Health Ministry has since attributed as the cause of some of the deaths. The whole student population had to be administered with antibiotics as part of a prophylaxis after which the school was fumigated However, no definite cause of the deaths has been declared. Another school that has had to deal with a health situation in recent days is the Koforidua Technical School, where a second-year science student who passed away over the weekend, was confirmed to have died from Meningitis. However, health officials in both the Ashanti Region and the Eastern Regions, have insisted that they have contained the situation, and have assured the public of their commitment to ensuring the safety of the students. The Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Charity Sarpong, told Citi News: I must say that currently, everything is calm in the school because we have given them the necessary support, they know what to look out for, they also have our contact numbers so that when there is something we will be immediately contacted for the necessary support. Swine flu outbreak at KUMACA contained Health officials Addressing the incident at KUMACA , the Ashanti Regional Health Director, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, said: So far so good. Since Monday, there has not been any new case and so far we have 11 students on admission. Three are on admission at the KNUST hospital. Komfo Anokye has one on admission. At Kumasi South hospital, there are five on admission, and then at Manhyia hospital, we have two on admission. There has not been any reported new case. A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency of the Western Region, a Former Tescon President of UMaT who is also a Member of the Western Regional NPP Communications Team, Mr. Gomashie Edem Wisdom has called on the government to as a matter of urgency to intervene on the decision of the Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine have taken to sack over 1,700 Ghanaian workers. Goldfields Ghana's Vice President and Head of Corporate Affairs Mr. David Johnson confirming the retrenchment exercise to the media, explained that the company has changed its mining model at the mine from owner mining operation to contractor operations, because it will operate at a loss if it goes on with its previous model. We are changing our business model from an owner binder to the contract binder, previously Goldfields acquired and maintained the mining fleets. Now what we are doing right now in 2017, our mining fleet has changed and will need to be replaced now looking at the types of mines that we have which is five to six years of active mining, if we were to pump that money into fleet replacement we will not actually be able to recruit that money back because we are talking of a huge capital investment here". Mr. Gomashie Edem Wisdom, a Mining Engineer in a petition issued on Wednesday December 13, 2017 and copied to the government and other stakeholders indicating that in his singular opinion, "the thematic reasons for which the Goldfields Ghana Limited want to stand on to make a transition from Owner to Contract mining currently is not much convincing on the side of most stakeholders after; the company enjoyed an 11-year Development Agreement signed between Goldfields Ghana and Ghana Government in 2016". Mr. Gomashie Edem Wisdom was of the view that if the workers of the Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine and other stakeholders don't sit down with Government and jaw jaw on this delicate matter and not handle well, it will cripple the future of Tarkwa and by extension the Region beyond. According to him, "Members of the Opposition NDC have started blaming the decision of Goldfields Ghana Limit as the failure of the NPP government which I resist; for the the government to step in fully with immediate effect". Mr. Edem stated that per the numerous benefits the Goldfields Ghana Limited has and still enjoying, the company should rethink of its decision. He mentioned these benefits, "The company's corporate tax rate was reduced from a fixed 35% to 32.5%" "The royalties payment of the company linked to the gold price, a plus to the company as a result of fluctuating Gold price on the world market". In general view, Goldfields Ghana Limited (GFGL) was incorporated in Ghana in 1993 as the legal entity holding the Tarkwa concession mining rights with Government of Ghana owning just 10% shares. The Tarkwa Gold Mine operates under seven mining leases covering a total area of approximately 20,825 hectares. The company shares the vision to become the global leader in sustainable gold mining. Below is the full petition PETITION December 13, 2017 GOLD FIELDS GHANA LTD, TARKWA GOLD MINE MAKING A TRANSITION FROM OWNER TO CONTRACT MINING; GOVERNMENT SHOULD INTERVENE As a Mining Engineer and a key stakeholder of the mining industry of this country, I have decided to add my voice to the trending issue of Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine making a transition from owner mining to contract mining which will lead to over 1,700 Ghanaians losing their jobs and hereby petition the government to step in with immediate effect. Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine: 1. Is the largest Portfolio among the Goldfields West African Portfolios which employs directly and indirectly about 8,000 Ghanaians and holds the title as the Largest Employer in the Private Sector in Ghana. 2. Is the largest Taxpayer in Ghana for some years now in Ghana and by pouring into the country's coffers an amount of GHc501 million as of 2016, a greater cushion to the management of the country's affairs. 3. Provides infrastructure in areas of corporate social responsibility as part of developing education, health, water and sanitation. 4. Has an enviable record in sustainable community development. From the above, it is clear to all Ghanaians that, the survival of the Gold Fields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine is very imperative to the; 1. Taxes and Royalties benefits of the state; 2. Survival of the Local Economy of Tarkwa and its environs; 3. Job Security of its employees and by extension a ripple effect on the defendants of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the company; and 4. Development of the traditional structures of the various stools within the catchment of the company. *1,700 Jobs to be cut by Gold Fields Ghana Limited* Without politicizing the whole issue, first of all, in my singular opinion, the thematic reasons for which the company want to stand on to makes a transition from owner to contract mining currently is not much convincing on the side of most stakeholders after; 1. The company enjoyed an 11-year Development Agreement signed between Goldfields Ghana and Ghana Government in March 2016. 2. The company's corporate tax rate was reduced from a fixed 35% to 32.5%. 3. The royalties payment of the company linked to the gold price, a plus to the company as a result of fluctuating Gold price on the world market. 4. The company received concessions on import and other duties. All the above powerful incentives to the company just last year opened the gateway to the company to make enough financial savings which became the leverage and framework for revitalizing the Damang Reinvestment which have now made the Damang portfolio, one of the quality assets in the Gold Fields Worldwide portfolio. Notwithstanding the above, I may not have the legal rights to attack the management of the Gold Fields Ghana Limited on their decision but I don't side with their decision on grounds many other stakeholders deems not properly managed. Say, every worker has at least 10 dependants and by 1,700 this translates into 17,000 plus Ghanaians that are going to suffer various social-economic backlash when the decision to sack 1,700 is upheld at a time where unemployment is a threat to national security where about 48% of the youth are unemployed as contained in a World Bank Report in 2016. On this note, It is clear the workers of Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Gold Mine and other stakeholders need to sit down and jaw jaw on this delicate matter which if not handled well will cripple the future of Tarkwa and by extension the region beyond , They have to go back to the negotiations table kind courtesy through the efforts of the listening Akuffo-Addo government to restore the glory of Gold Fields and the fate of those who are to be sacked, the outcome should become the fulcrum around which the development of Tarkwa and Ghana can revolve. Thus, I am calling on all Goldfields workers, Traditional Rulers within Tarkwa, Political Leaders of the Assembly and Constituency to rise up and protect the heritage of Tarkwa and its local economy. *The NPP Agenda for Job Creation, Job Protection and Business Development* The ambitious 2016 manifesto of the New Patriotic Party which led to the unprecedented victory of Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo which led to; 1. Scrapping of nuisance taxes 2. Reduction of VAT 3. Resuscitation of companies with stimulus packages 4. Reduction of port tariffs 5. Giving Tax incentives to companies that employ fresh graduates and have finally reduce corporate taxes to 20% will not be happy to accept such loss of jobs in just one company after all the interventions in place to create more jobs, protect jobs and support growth of businesses at the time the *NPP government* is working assiduously to make the private sector the engine of the nation's growth. Members of the Opposition NDC have started blaming the decision of Goldfields Ghana Limited as the failure of the NPP government which I resist; for the government to step in fully with immediate effect. Way Forward I humbly through this medium petition the office of; 1. The President of the Republic of Ghana 2. The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana 3. The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources 4. The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations 5. The Parliament of Ghana 6. The Minerals Commission 7. The MP, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Vice Chair, Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy 8. The MP, Prestea-Huni Valley, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources 9. The Municipal Chief Executive, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality 10. The Presiding Member, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality 11. The Paramount Chief, Wassa Fiase Traditional Council 12. The Traditional Ruler, Apinto Stool Lands 13. Ghana Mine Workers Union 14. Gold Fields Ghana Limited 15. Gold Fields Workers Union 16. The Media to as a matter of urgency engage themselves by government taking much steps in ensuring the various stakeholders arrive at a more serene decision which represents the vision of the current government by; 1. Placing injunction on the current decision by the management of Goldfields Ghana Limited 2. Ensuring Goldfields Ghana Limited maintains its owner mining status to retain workers and even get incentives to expand operations and employ more to reflect what the NPP government stands for. This will even widen the tax benefits to government to support it generational policies such as; 1. Free SHS 2. NHIS and 3. One District One Factory among others. When done, this will become one of the greatest achievements of the NPP and electoral fortunes of the party will be remembered by the beneficiaries of this historic decision. When done, the local economy of Tarkwa and its environs which is already threatened as a result of ban on small scale mining will not further dwindle. When done, the royalties to the various traditional councils and stools lands which is already inadequate will be restored with hope with little or no chieftancy disputes. Government Save Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine Now! Government Save Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine Now!! Government Save Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine Now!!! Thank you. Signed! Gomashie Edem Wisdom (A Ghanaian Trained Mining Engineer, Member, NPP Communications Team, Western Region) 0501161152 Source: Daniel Kaku Following claims by health officials that the outbreak of swine flu at Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region has been contained, a Clinical Pharmacist, Dr. Marc Dzradosi, has asked public health officials not to rest on their oars. Health officials have assured that the swine flu, also known as the H1N1 2009, had been contained after four student deaths. But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, he said guidelines on how to manage diseases, especially the contagious ones, are urgently needed. From my point of view, I don't think we should relax because for such conditions. They are contagious so once somebody is exposed, the likelihood of it spreading is high, Dr. Dzradosi said. As a nation, right from the beginning, we need to push this out to the whole country and activate protocols that will ensure that if anybody shows up anywhere with symptoms, they can be managed no matter where you are in the country. Student deaths Aside from the Kumasi Academy, a student of Koforidua Secondary Technical School died from a meningitis infection over the weekend. This is the latest of several meningitis-related deaths in the region, where about 87 cases have been recorded in 2017 with nine deaths. A student of Damongo Senior High School in the Northern Region has also died from meningitis, whilst 12 others are currently on admission at the Damongo District Hospital. Emergency protocols Elaborating further on what he called national protocols, Dr. Dzradosi said they are essentially concerned guidelines for managing the spread of major diseases at varying levels that are developed by public health physicians and adopted nationwide. National protocols basically mean something that comes from the top which will be developed by our public health physicians or pharmacists on how these conditions will be contained nationwide. I heard about somebody going to three facilities and there was nobody there to take care of them. This shouldn't happen because the more they move around, if they truly have it, they are spreading it, he explained. Role of sensitization He further recounted how the United States of Americas Centre for Disease Control responded to the H1N1 threat in 2009 with public education. They put out a lot of health education programmes for the people that took care of them, and depending on the kind of strain you have, the CDC will develop a vaccine to contain it They also prepared focused education materials. For example, the clinics had something, the hospitals had something, the pharmacies had something and that is the way I think Ghana should go. Illegal small-scale miners have defied the governments ban on their activities, CEO of Volunteers against Environmental Degradation, Richard Addo, has said. According to Mr. Addo, the illegal miners are demanding compensation from the president before they abandon their mining sites. When we went to the Central region, some told us that until the president pays them some compensation, they will never leave the river bodies for them to be cleaned, he said. Mr. Addo said their checks reveal that the illegal miners are playing hide and seek with the authorities as they leave the sites when driven away and return to continue mining after some days. Earlier this year the Akufo-Addo government deployed a task force made up of the police and military tagged Operation Vanguard to fight illegal mining across the country. But speaking to Joy News, Mr. Addo said the illegal miners have taken for granted the activities of the task force. When we went to the Ashanti Region, we realized that the illegal miners were still mining on the river bodies; in the Central Region, it was worse, the miners mined both day and night, he said. He said the miners confessed to him they were aware of the operation vanguard but insisted they will continue to device a means to mine no matter how frequently the security men destroy their equipment. Mr. Addos advice to the government is for constant monitoring of the river bodies and other illegal mining sites as the permanent solution to curbing the menace. 13.12.2017 LISTEN Balarabe Musa is one of Nigerias brightest stars of integrity and sterling principles. The octogenarian has lived to his reputation by avoiding any conduct associated with corruption and dishonour. Even Musas worst enemies and critics cannot dispute his remarkable reputation for integrity and selfless service to the people. Muhammadu Buhari At 81, Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa who is regarded as a left-wing Nigerian politician, elected Governor of Kaduna State, during the Nigerian Second Republic, has remained an outspoken loyalist to the downtrodden, hapless and defocused Nigerians, who are enduring charlatanic governance under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government of Nigeria. Musa who probably would not have owned a house of his own if not that he took a loan about 40 years ago of which he balanced recently, has spoken truth to the mendacious APC government. Musa, the National Chairman of Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, with an undamaged acumen not always known of persons of his age, news has it that while speaking at the 54th National Executive Committee of the party in Kaduna on December 12 2017, had the following words for the retrogressed and aberration known as APC: The economy remains comatose, and in some sectors, particularly in industry and commerce, it is even getting worse. Monetary and fiscal management have continued to lack coherence and consistency, or even predictability and strategic planning. Unemployment, particularly among the youths, who constitute the bulk of our population, has assumed critical proportions and is now, for all practical purposes, a national emergency. Yet, this APC administration, which rode to power on the back of false promises to this generation of hapless young men and women, seems to have no answers to this ticking time bomb beyond slogans such as N-Power. In the name of an anti-corruption campaign, the government has been consistently assaulting Due Process and the Rule of Law. Court orders are flagrantly disobeyed by the very institutions that should enforce them. Basic democratic rights are being cynically abused. While talking glibly about fighting corruption, the government shamelessly looks askance where corruption is exposed within its own very ranks, closets and cocoons. APC, both at the centre and the states it controls, has proved that it has little or nothing else to provide Nigerians other than further mass impoverishment, frustration and hardship. While the Major General Muhammadu-led APC government has shown that it lags the tenets of positive leadership in the points raised above by Musa but with a PhD in propaganda, you wonder what is then an impeachable offense that a president should commit before he is shown the exit door in the office. T The governened are enduring untoward hardship as they are experiencing under the government of Buhari in the name of democracy. Musa has shown that he is not and cannot be like the Senate leader, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), who on July 25 2016, said in an interview that Buhari cannot be impeached, because he has not been faithful to any impeachable offence. In the same month of that year, the Nigerian House of Representatives corroborated what the Senate had said through Ndume. Chief Whip of the House, Alhassan Doguwa was the garrulous speaker for the lower chamber. Whereas the Senate and House of Reps exonerated the president of impeachment, it is still fresh in our hearts that the DSS was unashamedly above board in its excesses in this government, Army, Police, Fulani herdsmen and Boko haram were also defiantly everywhere in this government. Remember that the Nigerian Police was rated the worst in the world few weeks ago, according to World Internal Security and Police Index International, WISPI. But apart from the fact that Nigerians are roasting under Buhari and some persons were saying that he had not committed an impeachable offense, the retention of the (il)legal Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, upon the rejection of Magu by the Senate, had been said is one impeachable offense. We should not even remember the brain behind Mainas return. According to Reno Omokri, the author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies, This is even as the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami had already revealed that he acted in the publics interest in initiating the process for Mainas return. The $25 billion Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) fiddle which is regarded by opinion leaders as the biggest scam ever in the history of Nigeria since 1914 to date could also have been in public interest. Omokri, about five months ago, said that the former President Goodluck Jonathan made mistakes, but Buhari is a mistake. Omokri is not far from the truth. Buhari is not just a mistake but a failure in governance that many of us shouted about during his emergence as APCs presidential candidate in the 2015, that he will finally not prove critics wrong. Taking to Twitter of the lies of the Buhari government, Omokri wrote that before the APC came into power, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, and currently the Federal Minister of Power, Works and Housing and was Lagos State Governor from May 29, 2007 to May 29, 2015, had in 2014 promised stable electricity, if only the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is voted out. However, he is now blaming Jonathan, for reducing electricity tariff. Buhari will do well moving @tundefashola from being in charge of generating power for Nigeria to being in charge of generating excuses for govt, Omokri mocked them. The main difference between GEJ/PDP and PMB/APC is that @GEJonathan made his mistakes as President while @MBuhari is a mistake as President. The major difference between the PDP and the APC is that whereas the PDP had some confirmed liars as members, the APC is itself a lie! Against that influence, Buhari spent the vital parts of his first year in office junketing around the world without a cabinet. Buhari stayed in the office without a cabinet knowing or unknowing that the different states depend on the Federation Account to survive. Buhari had a view that he was preparing for the best for the country, oblivious that his action was for the worse. Six months without a functional cabinet of ministers, ambassadors and so on, were enough to damage the countrys economy than just recession. And here we are! However, speaking in an interview on April 2 2017, Senator Femi Okurounmu, regarded as a die-hard Awoist, said that the president might be impeached, on the appointment of the Magu, if he refuses to follow the constitution. In the words of Okurounmu, There are two issues involved here. If the Senate rejects Magu and the president allows him to act, that is an impeachable offence. If our legislature is up to the task, if our lawmakers know their rights and they are men of honour, that is enough to impeach the president. Hmmm. Hardly is anyone talking on the hyper-kept secret of the health condition of Buhari since January 19 2017, we read then in the news that he sent a letter to the senate in respect of this. The senate did not see him, but saw the letter. Since then, Nigeria has been sick as their president is sick. It is the odious of governments that Buhari is heading that pushed Musa to weep that at 81, he is not yet fulfilled, while fielding questions to journalists on October 27 2017. It is this type of nuisance called democracy under Buhari that made Musa to regret the 57 years of Independence from the rapacious British colonial masters. He said, At 81, I will say I feel great and I thank God for everything. But, I am not completely fulfilled because we are yet to have the country of our dreams. We are yet to have a country where there is equity and respect for rights and dignity of all citizens. We are yet to have a country where the governed are good followers and leaders think first about the people and not the other way round. I desire a better Nigeria where everyone will feel the impact of governance that is my birthday wish for the country. Nevertheless, when this government expires someday, the remaining of us who were not killed by the Buhari hunger policies would remember Balarabe Musa as a man who spoke truth to power, when some others chickened out. We would remember Musa that it was his un-daunting courage for the elements of integrity that made Buhari to describe him as a man of unassailable integrity and untainted record of public service in a tribute to Musa on the occasion of his 81st birthday anniversary this year. If Buhari apologists think they can keep the health of the president a secret, they cannot keep the fact that Nigerians are hungry under Buhari a secret; they cannot keep the killing and marauding Fulani herdsmen a secret, and many other deliberate abuses here and there under the Buhari-led APC government. These are the hardships being offered to Nigerians by the APC government, which Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa was not happy about. Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet, Writer and Media Consultant based in Rivers State. Tel: +2348032552855. Email: [email protected] It was not for nothing that God gave Ghanaians this beautiful country called Ghana. The abundant natural resources, coupled with, our hospitality and unity of purpose make us unique in the comity of other nations. One would therefore agree with the rationale behind the shedding of blood by our forbears to protect this great land. To some of us, Ghana is all that we have and therefore any attempt by other unpatriotic people to erode the gains so far made will not go down with us. This is because we have seen how other countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Liberia, etc, had been torn apart by wars caused by such unguarded utterances, politics and tribalism. But, have members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) taken any lessons from the aforementioned scenarios? Prior to the 2008 general elections, then Candidate John Mills of the NDC warned as follows: "Ghana will burn like Kenya if I am not declared a winner in the 2008 presidential election". The unfortunate statement was at the time that millions of Kenyans had died as a result of political turmoil. God being so good Prof. Mills won the 2008 general elections and was sworn in as the 3rd President of the 4th Republic on January 7, 2009. His mandate was for four years, that is, from 2009 to 2013. But, what happened afterwards?John Mills was not only just 'murdered' by his trusted friend, but before his untimely death, Mills was subjected to a humiliating drill at the Kotoka International Airport after going through one of his medical check-ups. As a sitting president, who expected that Mills would be put at the back of a truck and not an ambulance? However, this man was sent to the maternity ward at Korlebu Teaching Hospital as if he was a pregnant woman. He finally died a painful death before his tenure of office expired. The late Prophet Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley as affectionately called) captured such wicked intentions by mankind in one of his prophetic songs entitled; "Axe". He goes; "Whose over digs a pit shall fall into it". Thus, for Abraham Amaliba and Ofosu Ampofo of NDC, I say be not only wise, but be guided by the late Mills's devilish dream of burning Ghana. This beloved country of ours will neither burn nor die just because an alleged corrupt woman is being dealt with the law. As a country, we are practising democracy and just as Charlotte was appointed through democratic means, she could only be impeached by the same means, if found culpable. Our responsibility as citizens is to allow the system and the institutions to work. If your two deputies, together with a cross section of your subordinates, are accusing you of corrupt practices, and you're also saying same about them, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn by any rationale being. Indeed, if Charlotte Osei is clean as the NDC wants us to believe, why would Amaliba and Ofosu Ampofo threaten to set Ghana ablaze? It is my prayer that Charlotte is kicked out lawfully Charlotte to pave way for Amaliba and his ilk to carry out their diabolic action. Who knows probably they would set the fire from their residence. "Okmfo bne se kuro bb a, temu bi". Kwame Opoku Agyemang - 0202471070 Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri "Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success" A preliminary report by a medical team at the Damongo District Hospital has indicated that one female student of the Damongo Senior High School has died from a suspected case of meningitis while 12 others are on admission at the West Gonja District Hospital. The 12 were taken ill on Friday and were receiving treatment at the schools sick bay before they were later rushed to the hospital, where the deceased passed on. The deceased, Nantomah Imoro Falila, a first year Home Economics student died on Tuesday, December 12, 2017. The schools headteacher, Kipo Harrison, confirmed this on Damongo-based Pad FM. He said, "the deceased collapsed this morning and was rushed to the hospital where she died shortly on admission". Sources at the facility disclosed to this portal that moments later, the rest also showed similar signs of the disease and were rushed to the facility and are currently responding to treatment. According to him, it is a recurring phenomenon, especially during the harmattan season. Hospital authorities have been tight-lipped on the current development. The head teacher at Damongo Senior High confirmed the incident, but Health authorities declined to release the body to the family of the deceased despite pleas from the family. Kipo Harrison said a medical team from the Tamale Teaching Hospital took the deceaseds blood sample to conduct an autopsy on the body. There has been a series of strange deaths in senior high schools across Ghana in the last few weeks. Last week, 11 students of the Kumasi Academy Senior High School died in a similar fashion but after a number of tests, it was disclosed that they died from type A H1N1 viral disease. Similar deaths at St Martin's and Koforidua Senior High Schools were later attributed to meningitis after tests were conducted. The headteacher concluded, "the situation has reportedly caused fear and panic among the continuing students as their currently writing their end of term examination ahead of the Christmas break". Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates put forward $130 million Wednesday towards fighting jihadists in West Africa's Sahel region, as France's Emmanuel Macron hosted leaders to an effort to boost a fledgling five-nation military force. The force brings together troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- some of the poorest countries in the world -- and money had been a major obstacle to getting it off the ground. The $100 million (85 million euros) from oil-rich Riyadh and $30 million from the UAE bring the total pledged funding over the initial 250 million euros needed in the short term, a relief for Macron who had lobbied the Gulf and US for cash. "We must win the war against terrorism in the Sahel-Sahara region," Macron told reporters after meeting with the five countries' presidents and other leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel. "There are attacks every day. There are states which are currently in jeopardy," he said after the meeting at a chateau outside Paris. Former colonial power France has been leading regional counterterrorism efforts through its 4,000-strong Barkhane force, but is keen to spread the burden as its military is engaged on various fronts. Two years in the planning, the G5 Sahel force is set to cover a desert region the size of Europe. The idea is for the five nations to develop their capacity to defend themselves through the new force, but their militaries are poorly equipped and need training in the new role. The talks, which also gathered the prime ministers of Italy and Belgium and officials from the European Union and African Union, come in a busy week of diplomacy for Macron after a climate summit Tuesday. Ambitious goals The International Crisis Group described the G5 force as a European effort to "bring down the expense of their overseas operations by delegating them partially to their African partners". "The Sahel is politically and economically strategic, especially for France and Germany, both of which view the region as posing a potential threat to their own security and as a source of migration and terrorism," it added in a report Tuesday. The ambitious goal is to have a pooled force of 5,000 local troops operational by mid-2018, wresting back border areas from jihadists including a local Al-Qaeda affiliate. Re-establishing law and order in the border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where several hundred soldiers carried out last month's debut mission, is a top priority. Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told reporters it was "urgent to ensure that G5 Sahel forces get rapid results". "We are pursuing these efforts for peace in Mali," he added. The task is daunting, not least because the Islamists enjoy a degree of support in areas where people's experience of the state has often been one of inefficacy or outright abuse of power. In central Mali, Human Rights Watch noted that many villagers welcomed Islamists' efforts to punish livestock thieves, while others "expressed anger at Malian army abuses". The rights group urged the new international force to respect civilians' rights in areas where ordinary people have often borne the brunt of the violence. Across the region, thousands have died in years of attacks, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Troops have also been a frequent target, including an assault in Niger in October which left four US soldiers dead. Dangerous region The G5 force is set to work alongside Barkhane troops and the UN's 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali -- the most dangerous in the world, having lost 90 lives since 2013. The EU has so far pledged 50 million euros ($59 million) to fund the force and France another eight million, while each of the African countries is putting forward 10 million euros. Macron had visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, and had also pressed the United States -- which has promised $60 million in aid to the countries -- when he met President Donald Trump in July. A summit in Brussels in February is set to focus on raising more cash to secure a region that has become a magnet for Islamic militants since Libya descended into chaos in 2011. In 2012, Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists overran northern Mali, including the fabled desert city of Timbuktu. France intervened in 2013 to drive the jihadists back but swathes of central and northern Mali remain wracked by violence, which has spilled across its borders. Equatorial Guinea's coastguard intercepted a makeshift boat carrying 205 West African migrants headed for Gabon, local media reported Wednesday. The migrants, including a newborn baby and three pregnant women, were apprehended on Tuesday off the coast of the capital Malabo, according to state television. Coming from West African countries such as Benin, Nigeria and Togo, the migrants are being held at Malabo's central police station, dubbed Equatorial Guinea's "Guantanamo". "The boat's leader told us that they on their way to Gabon. We do not know if it is true," a coastguard told state TV. Authorities aim to send the migrants back to their home countries in the coming days, police said. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have had an influx of migrants at their land and sea borders over the last few years, attracted by the relatively strong economies of the two oil-producers. The two countries have been reluctant to implement long-running plans to allow visa-free movement in six central African countries -- an agreement finally ratified in October -- as they feared they would be swamped by job-seekers from poorer members. Vice President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Amihere Kpanyili III, has said that even though the splitting of the present day Western Region may not guarantee the expected development, creating a new region presents a high possibility of improved development in the northern part of the Western Region. According to him, even though the splitting could be emotional, the people in the northern part of the Western Region must also be given the opportunity to get what they want in terms of development. Speaking to Citi News after a consultative process at the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi by the nine-member commission of enquiry set up by the President to look into the proposals received for the creation of new regions, Awulae Amihere Kpanyili, who is also the Paramount Chief for the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area, maintained that he is yet to read theories that says new regions does not facilitate development. The possibility is high. If not, what is the alternative to development or supporting the northern part of the Western Region? We do not have any better one. So until we have something different, we cannot condemn what we are doing. He continued that, we need to be practical with ourselves. But of course, people will say the district assembly will be the one to carry out development. It is true, but perhaps a region will be a boost. The Upper East and West Regions in Ghana were split in the 1980s, but development in the two regions leaves much to be desired. However, Awulae Kpanyili III believes that should not be a case for a halt in the process, but rather, it should encourage the Commission of Enquiry to do more to help avoid those challenges. We can make a case for the Northern part of Ghana. They are still in need, and we always talk about what they should get and all that. Yes it could be a case study, but it is upon us to even do more studies in that areawhilst things are ongoing on, we can still be checking to see what are the negative aspects, and if it outweighs the positive part, I think it will come [during the public hearings]. But right now just for us not to kill the spirit of the commission from doing it workfor now they should do carry on! By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana The post W/R: New region will boost to development House of chiefs appeared first on Ghana News . US-based Ghanaian professor is seeking an amendment of Ghanas law to allow equal citizenship to dual citizens. Prof Kwaku Asare said portions of the constitution on dual citizenship are "ambiguous", "misunderstood and mostly misapplied" and which has led to the restrictions on the rights of dual citizens to hold certain public offices. Rather than seeking to enforce portions of the ambiguous law, Prof Asare is asking the governing New Patriotic Party to forget about disqualifying dual citizens from holding office in the party and focus on amending Article 94(2) (a) of the Constitution. Article 94 (2) of the Constitution states: A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana. Article 8(2) of the Constitution and Section 16(2) of the Citizenship Act also exclude dual citizens from holding various specified and unspecified public offices and give Parliament and the minister the power to add more office-holding exclusions. In the Citizenship Act (no. 591), 2000 restrictions have been imposed on dual citizens from holding public offices. In 2012, a Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Adamu Dramani Sakande was handed a two year jail term for becoming a Member of Parliament despite being a dual citizen. Adamu Dramani Sakande Prof Asare believes these provisions are an affront to the rights of dual citizens. He has begun an advocacy for the amendment in Articles 8(2) and 94(2) (a) of the constitution. He contended that whilst Article 94 (2) (a) made no explicit mention of dual citizens, many have extrapolated the phrase owing allegiance to another country to mean dual citizens. He proceeds further to argue that, that phrase has nothing to do with natural born Ghanaians who are dual citizens. Rather it was only to apply to a foreigner who had naturalized as a Ghanaian and had obtained an extension of time to renounce his other citizenship and to take the oath of allegiance, he told Myjoyonline.com. On restoration of their Ghanaian citizenship in 1996, these natural born Ghanaians were allowed to possess plural citizenship and were never subject to article 94 (2) (a), he added. In a memo to the Speaker, a copy of which Myjoyonline.com has, Prof Asare popularly called Kwaku Azar said the Constitution, 1992 (Article 8(1)) states that Subject to this article, a citizen of Ghana shall cease forthwith to be a citizen of Ghana if, on attaining the age of twenty one years, he, by a voluntary act, other than marriage, acquires or retains the citizenship of a country other than Ghana. The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992 therefore recognizes dual citizens who acquired dual citizenship by marriage or by an involuntary Act. Further, other than the aforementioned Article 94(2)(a), the Constitution 1992 did not impose any office holding exclusions on dual citizen. Kwaku Azar therefore wants Articles 8 (2) and 94 (2) (a) of the constitution. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah The Founder and CEO of Global Media Foundation, a Ghanaian based human rights media advocacy organisation, Raphael Godlove Ahenu has criticized what he describes as the paternalistic model of saving Africa even as global leaders try to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. Ahenu was delivering a paper on the topic: NGO Funding and the Politics of Rescue at the just ended International Conference on Moving Beyond Paternalism: Supplicants, Saviors and the Politics of Anti-Slavery and Anti-Trafficking in Africa, which took place at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was organized by Beyond Trafficking and Slavery and supported by UK Economic and Social Research Council and brought together more than 35 scholars from over 19 Universities across the globe and civil society organizations. The main goal of the conference was to explore how and why models of paternalistic protection have shaped the formulation and implementation of anti-slavery, anti-trafficking and other humanitarian projects in Africa. According to him, the imposition of problematic practices and agenda on African governments and indigenous African NGOs as part of the fight against human trafficking, prostitutions, child labour and modern-day slavery that has emerged in West African NGO landscape is not the best. He noted that there is always an attempt by the western world to impose their culture and values on us in Africa by way of stigmatizing certain African culture and values as primitive and that should be scrapped. Acculturation he said is seen as child labour in African where as in the western world it is seen as impartation of skills. He said Western NGOs are fighting for more human right for children and this has culminated in African Child being stubborn. African parents have unique way of bringing up their children and this advocacy by human right activist largely financed by western NGOs have contributed in derailing our way of training, values and culture, his paper asserted. I worked throughout my childhood and youth in agricultural labour and other jobs which the ILO and abolitionist organizations suggest that no child should be allowed to do. But through these jobs, I successfully completed my diploma in broadcasting and journalism, which I decided to put to the benefit of these marginalized communities through the formation of GLOMEF. What could have happened to me if I was stopped by the then since government never paid a pesewa for my education even though I was coming from very poor home?, he questioned in his paper. The CEO lamented about the invasion of NGOs, which he referred to as abolitionist organizations in Ghana, claiming that things such as child slavery and sex trafficking and others were predominant in communities. For those of us working at the grassroots level, this was very upsetting because we knew the picture these groups were painting was very different to what was happening. We were also alarmed by the fact that they blamed our culture and traditions for these stories about slavery and trafficking they were telling the global media. They totally missed out the external forces which had forced the government to undertake measures that punished its own people. According to Mr. Ahenu Jr, largely, the objectives and aims of these programs are set out by the western NGOs without the local NGOs. In this regard, the local NGOs are forced to work within the parameters set out by the western NGOs which may not be in the superior interest of the local environment. Dr Samuel Oloruntoba, a Lecturer of Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute and the University of Lagos presented a paper on the topic: The Politics of Paternalism and Implications of Global Governance on Africa: Critique of the Sustainable Development Goals. He posited that following the self-conceited civilizing missions of the colonialists, Africa has been a laboratory where all forms of development strategies have been experimented. Dr Oloruntoba said the modernization theories of the 1950s and early 1960s depicted the development concerns of Africa as a white man burden what he described as Development Merchant System, the aid industry has flourished while African countries floundered. Despite the failures of previous programmes such as the structural adjustment programs of the 1980s through the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals, he said, new ones are formulated with little or no input from the supposed beneficiaries. (Richard Boahen [email protected] ) Oil-rich Gulf countries pledged 130 million euros Wednesday towards fighting jihadists in West Africa's Sahel region, as French President Emmanuel Macron hosted leaders in a bid to boost a fledgling five-nation military force. The G5 Sahel force brings together troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- some of the poorest countries in the world -- and money had been a major obstacle to getting it off the ground. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir promised 100 million euros ($118 million) at the talks while the United Arab Emirates offered 30 million euros, as both seek to show commitment to fighting extremism. That brings total pledges over the 250 million euros initially needed, a relief for Macron who had lobbied the United States and the Gulf for cash. "We must win the war against terrorism in the Sahel-Sahara region," Macron told reporters after meeting with the five countries' presidents and other leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel. "There are attacks every day. There are states which are currently in jeopardy," he said following the talks at a chateau outside Paris. Former colonial power France has been leading regional counterterrorism efforts through its 4,000-strong Barkhane force, but is keen to spread the burden as its military is engaged on various fronts. Two years in the planning, the G5 Sahel force is set to cover a desert region the size of Europe. The idea is for the five nations to develop their capacity to defend themselves through the new force, but their military forces are poorly equipped and need training in the new role. The talks, which also gathered the prime ministers of Italy and Belgium and officials from the European Union and African Union, come in a busy week of diplomacy for Macron after a climate summit Tuesday. 'Time is running out' The International Crisis Group described the G5 force as a European effort to "bring down the expense of their overseas operations by delegating them partially to their African partners". Both France and Germany view the "politically and economically strategic" Sahel as "a source of migration and terrorism", it added in a report Tuesday. (L-R) Presidents of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, France, Emmanuel Macron, Chad, Idriss Deby, Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy PM Paolo Gentiloni at the G5 Sahel anti-terror summit near Paris, on December 13, 2017 The ambitious goal is to have a pooled force of 5,000 local troops operational by mid-2018, wresting back border areas from jihadists including an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Re-establishing law and order in the border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where several hundred soldiers carried out last month's debut mission, is top priority. "We are aware that time is running out for us," Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told reporters. "With what is happening in the Middle East, with the end of the war in Syria, there will be an influx (of jihadists) towards us," he predicted. The mission is complicated by the support enjoyed by the Islamists on the ground in areas where people's experience of the state has often been one of inefficacy or outright abuse of power. In central Mali, Human Rights Watch noted that many villagers welcomed Islamists' efforts to punish livestock thieves, while others "expressed anger at Malian army abuses". The rights group urged the new international force to respect civilians' rights in areas where ordinary people have often borne the brunt of the violence. Across the region, thousands have died in years of attacks, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Troops have also been a frequent target, including an assault in Niger in October which left four US soldiers dead. Dangerous region The G5 force is set to work alongside Barkhane troops and the UN's 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali -- the most dangerous in the world, having lost 90 lives since 2013. The EU has so far pledged 50 million euros to fund the force and France another eight million, while each of the African countries is putting forward 10 million euros. Macron had visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, and had also pressed the United States -- which has promised $60 million in aid to the countries -- when he met President Donald Trump in July. A summit in Brussels in February is set to focus on raising more cash to secure a region that has become a magnet for Islamist militants since Libya descended into chaos in 2011. In 2012, Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists overran northern Mali, including the fabled desert city of Timbuktu. France intervened in 2013 to drive the jihadists back but swathes of central and northern Mali remain wracked by violence, which has spilled across its borders. The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says West Africa is not prepared to contemplate the scenario of Liberia sliding back into instability and conflict. According to President Akufo-Addo, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), over the years, has made a huge investment in promoting peace in Liberia, and we will do all we can to ensure that democracy is entrenched in Liberia, and we will not accept any other outcome. The President said the 7th December 2017 recent ruling made by Liberia's Supreme Court on their presidential election, must ensure that Liberia will have its first peaceful handover of power from one democratically elected leader to another in 73 years. The work undertaken by that truly historic figure, the first elected female leader of an African nation, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in stabilising the country, after a bitter and protracted civil war, has been very solid and commendable, he said. The President continued that, I am anticipating that, at the end of the day, Liberia's institutions, particularly the Supreme Court and the Electoral Commission, will be up to the task, and shepherd the country through a successful transition. President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, 13th December, 2017, when he delivered the Commencement Address at the 98th Commencement Exercises of the University of Liberia, in Monrovia. Transform structure of African economies With over 2,500 students graduating from the University, the President noted that it is not enough to hold successful elections every four years or to be able to criticize the government and to have a choice of 100 radio stations. Democracy, he explained, must ensure that we are able to provide our people with a good quality of life. The structure of economies, bequeathed to us by colonialism, was dependent on the production and export of raw materials. Even though Liberia was not colonized, the structure of her economy remains very much the same as the others on the continent. Such economies cannot create opportunities, prosperity and wealth for our people, he said. President Akufo-Addo stressed that, the time is long overdue for Africa to transform the structure of African economies to serve better the needs of the African peoples. Too many of our peoples are still kept down by extreme poverty. The promise of prosperity that was to accompany freedom has not materialised for the mass of the African peoples, and has rather been replaced with widespread despondency across the continent. This is not what our forebears promised, he said. President Akufo-Addo, therefore, urged the current generation of African youths to meet the challenges of today, and help banish the disgraceful spectre of young Africans, taking harrowing risks in trekking the Sahara desert or drowning in the Mediterranean, seeking greener pastures in Europe. Your generation has to ensure the fulfilment of the statement, made almost 70 years ago in 1949 to the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly by Joseph Boakye Danquah, the father of modern Ghanaian nationalism, that 'the two things go together, economic freedom and political freedom. And we must have the two together in this very age, and in the shortest possible time', President Akufo-Addo added. To this end, President Akufo-Addo stressed that a new paradigm of leadership on the continent is called for, i.e. leaders who are committed to governing their peoples according to the rule of law, respect for individual liberties, human rights, the principles of democratic accountability and social justice; leaders who are looking past commodities to position their countries in the global marketplace. The President also called for leaders who are determined to free their peoples from a mind-set of dependence, aid, charity and hand-outs; leaders who are bent on mobilizing Africa's own immeasurable resources to resolve Africa's problems; leaders who recognise the connectedness of their peoples and economies to those of their neighbours. This new generation of African leaders, the President added, should help bring dignity and prosperity to our continent and its longsuffering peoples. By: citifmonline.com/Ghana The post We won't allow Liberia back to instability and conflict Nana Addo appeared first on Ghana News . The United States on Wednesday imposed economic sanctions on two Africans accused of using the illegal ivory trade to funnel weapons and money to Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. Washington blacklisted Kony and his rebel guerilla group last year, accusing them of targeting civilians in the Central African Republic, displacing populations and carrying out abductions. "Treasury will continue to target armed groups such as the Lord's Resistance Army and their support networks that rely on the global ivory trade and wildlife trafficking to finance their violent campaigns," John Smith, who administers the Treasury Department's sanctions office, said in a statement. The US received assistance from Ugandan and Sudanese authorities in the effort, he said. The sanctioned individuals are Okut Lukwang, a Ugandan serving as an LRA intelligence officer, and Musa Hatari, a Sudanese merchant, according the Treasury. US authorities did not have precise dates of birth for either person. As a result of the sanctions, financial institutions subject to US legal jurisdiction are generally prohibited from dealing with both people, freezing them out of much of the global financial system. Any US-based assets are also frozen. According to the Treasury, Lukwang has overseen logistics and run day-to-day operations for the LRA group directly controlled by Kony, which has command and control of three other LRA groups. US officials say Lukwang acted as the LRA's ivory broker, drawing on Kony's hidden caches of elephant tusks to sell the contraband material in exchange for cash, ammunition and weapons. They also allege he has coerced civilians to provide information on troop deployments to provide intelligence to Kony. Hatari is allegedly the primary supplier of munitions, food and supplies to the LRA and moves the rebel group's ivory through shops in the Songo Market in the disputed Kafia Kingi region between Sudan and South Sudan. Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has proposed fresh talks on the country's grinding political crisis days before the issue was to be raised at a regional summit, but opposition parties have rejected the plan, both sides revealed on Wednesday. The tiny west African state has been in the grip of a power struggle since August 2015, when the president sacked then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Talks mediated by Guinean President Alpha Conde in October 2016 had envisaged naming a new prime minister and assembling a unity government including PAIGC lawmakers. A new prime minister, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, was sworn in last December but the majority of the PAIGC rejected him, accusing Vaz of breaching an agreement calling for a consensual choice of prime minister. In a presidential note dated December 11, Vaz invited the signatories to the Conakry accord to meet and "together analyse" a way forward. "In the process of implementing the Conakry accord, it is my responsibility as head of state to invite two members of each signatory party to analyse the application of the agreement," Vaz said in the note. The would include PAIGC, as well as representatives from other political parties, civil society and the international community. But PAIGC and its allies, including the Union for Change (UM) and the Party for Democratic Convergence (PCD) declined the invitation, asking the president to provide details about what was on the proposed meeting's agenda, a PAIGC statement said. The ongoing crisis is to be addressed at a summit for leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja on Saturday. With the backing of Conde and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, the Conakry signatories are expected to meet, a source close to ECOWAS said. Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by military coups and instability since its independence from Portugal in 1974. The canary in the coal mine. Im sure youve heard this phrase before. But do you know where it comes from? Apparently, old time miners would bring a caged canary into new coal seams. A man named John Haldane was responsible for this practice. You see Haldane liked to dabble with deadly gasses. He would often lock himself in a gassed up, sealed room to record what it felt like to be slowly poisoned. While doing this Haldane noted the fact that the carbon monoxide combined with haemoglobin in the blood, and the resulting combination stained the tissues of the poisoned bright red. When coal miners mysteriously started dying, their faces flushed and red, Haldane put two and two together and realised carbon monoxide was the culprit. This was a man who clearly took his research very seriously! But he also worked out that canaries are especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide. This made them ideal for detecting any dangerous gas build-ups. As long as the bird kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary meant it was time to exit, pronto. The canary in the coal mine is always the first to go, whether in reality or in metaphor. Today its a signal that something terrible is happening, whether financial disaster, medical breakdown, or political scandal. The other term used in financial circles for a tell-tale sign is bellwether. Unlike the canary metaphor, this word at least allows for the possibility of good and bad outcomes. The bellwether was the ram that led a flock of sheep around. He had a bell on his neck. So to work out where the flock was, you simply had to listen out for the bellwether. Wouldnt it be great if you had a stock that was bellwether for the state of the global economy? One company that told you everything you needed to know. When to be daring. And when to manage risk Well, you do! And its going great at the moment Ripping higher Caterpillar [NYSE:CAT] shares are up 55% for the year. Thats a stunning result for a company so big. As you probably know, Caterpillar is a massive company that sells all manner of machinery, engines and construction equipment. Its been around since 1925, and operates around the world. From North America to China, and everywhere in between. Being so big, and having operations so wide, its the perfect bellwether stock to see how the global economy is ticking over. Especially now that its a big operator in China. Which is why its important its third quarter results continued to look good. Source: Caterpillar [Click to enlarge] In the third quarter alone, the company presented a 36% construction related sales increase, a 36% sales increase of mining equipment and a 14% energy sales boost. And the future looks bright too The graph below confirms that the real output of the machinery industry is also accelerating. New orders just hit their highest level since 2014, which means that production should accelerate before we enter 2018. Source: FRED [Click to enlarge] This canary is still singing Caterpillar is one of those stocks that provides shareholders with tremendous capital gains during economic upswings. And it does the exact opposite during weaker times. The simple and obvious reason is its business model of selling highly cyclical products all over the world. Its a real world stock. It sells real products that have real productive impact. Thats why I always keep a close eye on it. At one point it will be the canary in the coal mine. The signal to get out quickly. But judging from its recent results, things are still looking good. And in my opinion, you can invest accordingly. Ryan Dinse, Editor, Money Morning I stuck to what the coaches ... Tree Mortality In Sierra Nevada View Photos The National Weather Service has extended the Red Flag Warning for the Sierra Nevada, which is now in effect until 8 PM this Friday. A strong ridge of high pressure over central California, along with an offshore flow is creating very dry conditions. Prolonged periods of single digit humidities are occurring across the mountains and will continue through at least Friday evening, especially at elevations above 4,000 feet. Winds of seven to ten mph will continue. Locally higher gusts up to fifteen mph will be possible this evening. The humidity is less than 10 percent at many locations. Humidity will remain low through Friday evening. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended during the extended period of low humidity. A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. Alabama has elected its first Democratic Senator in over two decades. As I indicated in Links yesterday, Id never even remotely seen as many signs out for a political campaign when I was in Birmingham over Thanksgiving, and every one I saw was for Jones. That seems to have been a harbinger for the vote today. As The Hill confirmed, But Democrats outpaced Republicans in turnout, a shocking display in such a red state. Admittedly, this was more a vote against the horrorshow of Roy Moore than a strong endorsement for Jones, who didnt stand for much beyond being the other guy. And Alabama is so not representative of where the Democratic party is likely to take ground that the Jones win is not likely to factor much if at all into the unresolved conflict in the Democratic Party between the big money Democrats and the Sanders wing. The fact that a candidate who is close to a blank slate won will nevertheless be used as an excuse by the Democratic party establishment to persist in its strategy of pursuing suburban Republicans, when that species is not much in evidence in Alabama. However, even with Moore arguably being a special case due to the timely exposure of his pursuit of underage girls, this loss has to rattle the Republicans deeply. Alabama is a state with a lot of diehard Trump voters, and Trump pulled for Moore. Its also one with evangelicals and quite a few Southern Baptists who would be guaranteed to vote for an anti-abortion candidate, no matter how repugnant he was. This is the most decisive proof so far of the thesis that the Republicans are going to have a hard time keeping losses to a minimal level in the 2018 midterms. Republicans see the Moore defeat as a repudiation of its populist wing. Id like to see more post-election analysis, as in demographic breakdown of who voted how as well as voter interviews, before being so sure. However, it is sure that that establishment Republicans will use the Moore defeat to wrest control from the insurgents. Again from The Hill: Moores defeat is a significant loss for Trump, and for Stephen Bannon, the former White House strategist and Breitbart News chief who campaigned for him over other Republicans objections. Bannons critics wasted no time piling on him and framing his brand as toxic to the partys chances at holding its congressional majority. This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running, said Steven Law, who serves as the head of the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and has emerged as one of Bannons chief detractors. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco, he added. While this says much about party infighting, its hardly accurate to assign blame to Moore staying on the ballot to Trump. As I recall, the Moore sex scandal broke too close to election time for a replacement candidate to be installed, and Moores primary opponent, Luther Strange, rejected the appeal for him to campaign as a write-in candidate. And as much as I am not a Bannon fan, blaming the failure of Republicans in Alabama to turn out on Bannon is bit of a stretch. Talk radio has more pull among the hard core red voters in Alabama than Breitbart. This loss also has to factor into upcoming legislative battles, most important, the tax bill. Even though Jones will not be seated before January, and the Republicans were planning to pass a tax reform bill by year end, the Jones win throws a spanner in the works. The bill is very unpopular and does not poll very well even with Republicans. Moreover, with Jones in, the odds of the Republicans using big tax cuts to force through their pet agenda of entitlement cuts, namely, food stamp, Medicare, and Social Security, also looks far more remote. Some Republicans are likely to reappraise the risk of signing up for tax reform and demand a more modest bill. Update: True to his tasteless form, more than an hour after the Associated Press was the first to call the race for Jones, Moore is refusing to concede. The New York Times has reported that with all precincts in, Jones won by 1.5 points, well over the 0.5% margin for an automatic recount. From the Times, which has a county-by-county breakdown: Doug Jones, a Democrat, won the special election on Tuesday to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. Mr. Jones aimed to create a lead in the urban counties that include Birmingham and Montgomery, and across a band of largely black counties. Strong support for Roy S. Moore, the Republican, was expected in rural, mostly white parts of the state. One critical battleground was a trio of smaller, whiter cities: Mobile, Tuscaloosa and Huntsville. Late Tuesday night, Mr. Jones led by a large margin in Mobile County, and he had won Tuscaloosa County and Madison County, home of Huntsville. From The Hill: As the Sacramento Bee reported, In an upset, a CalPERS critic wins a seat on the pension board: Margaret Brown, a Southern California school district administrator, unseated incumbent Michael Bilbrey in a runoff election to win a seat on the California Public Employees Retirement System Board of Administration. Her victory on Tuesday marks an upset over Bilbrey, who had the backing of nearly every state public employee union and a well-funded campaign account. Unions contributed more than $150,000 to help him retain his seat while also touting him in newsletters to their members. This is a tremendous victory and Brown deserves all your congratulations. She won 53% to 47%, She not only beat an incumbent who had vastly more endorsements (Brown did have the support of two retiree organizations, as well as a police union), but with vastly less funding (a mere $28,000) and a non-secret ballot that looked designed to suppress votes by union members who might dare to oppose the official pick. Brown having unearthed dodgy election practices and raising alarms about them may well have played a role in her victory. Another factor that Brown believes worked in her favor is that more and more beneficiaries are worried about CalPERS underfunding and see the board as too willing to coddle underperforming staff rather than ask tough questions. And on top of that, Brown prevailed even though her opponent ran a particularly dirty campaign. I didnt want to discuss the smeara against Brown because a lot of cognitive research shows that trying to debunk something can actually wind up reinforcing it. However, the Sacramento Bee ran a hit piece against Brown, depicting her as the reason a school district for which she had worked wound up paying over $1.2 million in settlements to four discharged workers. Note that Brown was not responsible for their termination. When they were set to be laid off, they accused her of harassment and discriminating against them as men. If you read the actual files, the substance of their beef was that Brown would sometimes delegate supervisory tasks to her direct report, who happened to be female. A investigation exonerated her in full. Two years later, one of the four sued the school district for which he and Brown had both worked and named her, accusing her of a new angle on his old theme. The district entered into settlements with all four even though only one had targeted Brown, yet the Sacramento Bee, picking up on the messaging of her opponent, made it sound as if she was somehow connected with all four settlements. And the one actual suit? Brown was removed from that suit before the settlement and never signed a release (which she would have done had she been a party to the settlement), which means the Bee had engaged in flagrantly inaccurate reporting. 1 CalPERS appears not to be taking at all well to the fact that an outspoken critic will soon be joining its board. Even though CalPERS announced election results at 1:30 PM Pacific time, only two of the thirteen board members and no staff members had called her to congratulate her as of late evening. Thats ill-mannered but typical of CalPERS pettiness and amateurism. The support of the retiree organizations was key to Browns victory. Retiring board member JJ Jelincic and the candidate for the other open seat, Michael Flaherman, were important advisers to Brown and deserve credit for helping her win. And we would like to think we helped too. Brown provided a fundraising post for us, How Naked Capitalism Got Me to Run for Office: In late January of this year, I read the post that CalPERS was trying to eliminate its most effective Board member, JJ Jelincic. I was outraged. How could legal counsel allow this to occur? And how could other Board members allow this to occur? Why wasnt someone shutting this down? Why wasnt someone helping JJ Jelincic? And thats when it hit me. I could help him. I could run for the Board and help him. I could run for the Board and help others. Once I committed to running, I knew I had to find a way to meet and talk to Yves SmithShe wanted to know my plan to win, and she wanted to make sure I had thought out what I was trying to do. She was tough, critical, and so very helpful.. The blog and I share the same goal, which is to build up and strengthen CalPERS. We also share the same belief that this goal can only be achieved if CalPERS does a much better job of executing its fiduciary duties. The first step is for CalPERS to acknowledge that the status quo, which Naked Capitalism has painstakingly chronicled, is not acceptable. We ask all California readers to support Brown in her efforts. Your letters and calls to board members, particularly its two elected officials, the State Treasurer and State Controller, have had an impact by making them see that the public is keeping close watch on their votes at CalPERS. So keep up the good work by helping Brown help you! _____ 1 Consider this example of how biased the story was: She did not return phone calls seeking further comment. This implies that Brown didnt provide further comment. In fact, Brown was responding to the reporter by e-mail on the instructions of her lawyer, and the reporter Adam Ashton replied, so he cant claim he missed getting her messages. The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will attend the European Council meeting on Thursday, 14 December 2017. Media Advisory 15:15 Secretary Generals doorstep at Europa Building Rue de la Loi, 165 1040 Brussels The doorstep will be streamed live on the NATO website. Still and video imagery of the visit will be available from the NATO website after the event. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg) Gaps inside the walls of the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower are likely the product of its excessive settlement and may pose a widespread fire safety threat, according to a consultants findings obtained by NBC Bay Area. The San Francisco Fire Marshal is expected to visit the building next week to evaluate concerns outlined in a December 2016 analysis of what an inspection showed of one unit in the luxury high-rise. This building is not as safe as weve all been led to believe, said Paula Pretlow, who owns a unit on the 31st floor of the 58-story structure that she says has long been plagued by foul odors. In a December 2016 assessment of the issue obtained by NBC Bay Area, Palo Alto-based building consultants Allana Buick & Bers Inc. trace the odors to openings between the buildings facade, or curtain wall, and the core structure. The consultants point to the excessive settlement as a likely source of the issue, adding, This condition may be more widespread than these two test areas and may be present in the entire stack. We recommend further investigation of this issue. They also issued an ominous warning: These openings represent a breach in the fire and smoke barrier which is a life and fire safety hazard to the occupants. The threat, experts say, is that not just odors but also smoke and flames can get through those gaps and allow fires to jump floors. But it took Pretlow a year of fighting to see the redacted findings of the Allana Buick & Bers report, which had been blacked out of the version of the report she was originally given. Armed with those previously redacted findings, Pretlow made a new complaint to the fire department. Fire department spokesman Lt. Jonathan Baxter confirmed the probe but declined further comment. The homeowners associations attorney would not talk about the newly emerging issues but did say crews have removed some of the facade panels in light of the consultants findings to examine the building further. The lawyer, Vision Winter, said he couldnt discuss the matter while the association was still in mediation talks with the Millenniums developer. Larry Karp, a geotechnical expert, warns that uneven settlement can wreak havoc and dislodge comparatively light-weight curtain walls, causing a fire risk. Its a huge problem, Karp said, adding that the curtain walls at the base of the tower would take the brunt of the stress. It depends on how they are attached where the problems will show up, Karp added. The fact that they are coming apart is inevitable, its just a matter of time. Its going to get worse. Millennium officials would not comment for this story, but last month they filed a lawsuit against their Texas-based curtain wall consultant over odor and other wall problems. Curtainwall Design Consulting (CDC) officials did not respond to calls seeking comment. San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin says the city finally needs to get to the bottom of what is happening at the tower. The whole thing is just really disturbing and troubling, he said, adding that the citys Department of Building Inspection should be pushing to verify the findings in the 2016 Allana Buick & Bers report. Not only do all the condo owners have the right to have that information, Peskin said, but the city should have that information, so we can impose the kind of fixes that have to be imposed. As if the tilting, sinking and stinking were not enough, Pretlow says her windows are now leaking in the rain possibly another side effect of the tilting structure. She says she just wants someone to take all the problems seriously. This is a serious issue, and I think the city and all parties involved need to recognize it, and something needs to be done. A small fire ignited overnight within the containment lines of the Bear Fire that burned in the Santa Cruz Mountains back in October, Cal Fire officials said early Wednesday. Cal Fire crews were able to keep the flames from spreading beyond one acre, according to the agency. The blaze started near Rons Road near Boulder Creek, Cal Fire reported. Even though it's mid-December, Cal Fire said people have to maintain a high level of fire awareness and preparedness until the region welcomes significant rain. The Bear Fire, which started on Oct. 16, scorched 391 acres and wiped out six structures. A man is accused of starting the October blaze, but the suspected arsonist's attorney entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. City officials announced plans for two public memorials for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who died suddenly Tuesday. On Friday, Lee will lie in repose for a day of public mourning. Lee will lie in state at the City Hall rotunda from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thousands are expected to be there to say their final goodbyes. The Fire Department will display a flag outside City Hall. The Police Department will provide a motorcade. Chief Bill Scott says while there is a lot to plan, Lee's passing is personal. "My whole family met him extensively," Scott said. "He welcomed us to the city when we first got here. It's tough for everybody." A public "Celebration of Life" will be held at City Hall on Sunday. A memorial packed with flowers and candles continued to grow Thursday for Lee following his untimely death early Tuesday. City worker Robert Rosales stood outside City Hall crying. He said he will miss Lee's warmth and the respect he gave to people around him. "Every now and then, he would pat me on the back, thank me for polishing his passage way to the basement," Rosales said. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said Lee, 65, died of an apparent heart attack, but the exact cause of death has yet to be confirmed by medical officials. News of Lee's passing left San Francisco city officials shaken, but they are now tasked with getting back on track with acting Mayor London Breed at the helm. [BAY MC] Life and Times of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee At a media appearance at City Hall, outside which a flag had been lowered to half-staff, Breed called Tuesday a "mournful day." Lee, the first Asian-American mayor to lead San Francisco, "lived a life of service,"she said, but it was "cut short far too soon." Breed said Lee grew up in public housing and was the son of working-class immigrants. His father, who died when Lee was a teenage, was a veteran. His mother, a seamstress. Lees background as the son of working-class immigrants shaped him and crystalized his determination to be a dogged "advocate for the powerless, a voice for the overlooked, someone who fought for those in need before himself," according to Breed. [BAY JG] Procession Held For Late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee Breed credited Lee with adding affordable homes to San Franciscos otherwise exorbitant housing supply, challenging discrimination, and being a champion for people who struggle with homelessness, mental health issues and substance abuse. He left behind an "immeasurable legacy" for the city by the day," she said. Rather than being a quintessential politician who provided reporters with "good sound bites" and was focused on "flash," Breed said, "Our mayor was a good man with a good heart." News of Lee's death prompted colleagues and politicians across the city and country to pen heartfelt tributes. [BAY JG] Mayor Ed Lee Remembered at San Francisco City Hall Lee was San Francisco's 43rd mayor, taking office in January 2011 to serve out Gavin Newsom's term after Newsom was elected lieutenant governor of California. He had been San Francisco's city administrator. He won an election for mayor in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. It is the first time since 1978, when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated, that a successor is taking over the office of San Francisco mayor. Supervisor Dianne Feinstein became mayor, the first woman to hold the office, and is now California's senior U.S. senator. [NATL-DO NOT USE] In Memoriam: Influential People We've Lost in 2017 Lee was born in Seattle and attended Bowdoin College and Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a housing activist and civil rights attorney. The city's website credits him with overseeing San Francisco's "most successful economic expansion in city history," having added 140,000 jobs and more homes to the housing market than any other mayor in the city's history. Still, under Lee's tenure the city has grappled with the high cost of living amid San Francisco's tech boom. [[44119793, C]] Lee, the child of immigrants, was a staunch supporter of San Franciscos sanctuary city policy toward people who are in the country illegally, a stance he reiterated last month when a Mexican man who had been repeatedly deported was acquitted of murder in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle. The case became a flashpoint in the nations immigration debate, with then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly referencing it as an example of the need for stricter immigration policies and a wall along the Mexican border. Lee shot back that San Francisco was a city of tolerance and love and acceptance. Detractors claimed Lee catered too much to Silicon Valley, citing his brokering of a tax break in 2011 to benefit Twitter as part of a remake of the citys downtown. When Lee took office in January 2011, Zillow reports the median home value in San Francisco was more than $656,000. Today, it is more than $1.2 million. In 2015, he ran against a slate of little-known candidates who criticized him as doing more for tech leaders than for poor people. The Associated Press contributed to this report. NASA and Google have some exciting news! NASA plans to announce their latest finding from its planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope in a press conference scheduled for Thursday. Although the Kepler has found other planets outside our solar system, this announcement shares the spotlight with the online search giant because the discovery was made by researchers using machine learning from Google. Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analyzing Kepler data, said NASA in their statement. The Bay Area participants highlighted in the news conference include Christopher Shallue, a senior software engineer at Google Al and Jessie Dotson, a Kepler project scientist at NASAs Ames Research Center. Other participants included in the news briefing include Paul Hertz, the Astrophysics Division director at NASA headquarters and Andrew Vanderburg, an astronomer and NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin. What the discovery is wont be revealed until Thursdays press conference but it could be related to a new planet discovery since Shallue and Vanderburg have been collaborating to use machine learning to find new planet candidates in Kepler data. You can watch a live stream of the news conference at their website on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. Antolin Garcia Torres, the convicted killer of Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Garcia-Torres, 26, was convicted in May of first-degree murder in the 15-year-old girl's death and the attempted kidnappings of three women in 2009. On Tuesday, he was also ordered to register as a sex offender. "There's a burden lifted, but we really just want Sierra back," Sierra's father, Steve LaMar said. Steve LaMar during Tuesday's hearing looked directly at Garcia-Torres and said the following: "The only thing we can hope for is that prison will be hell for him and thoughts of what he did to Sierra will eat away at him like a cancer until he rots in prison." Sierra's mother, Marlene, also testified during the sentencing hearing. The parents said they have peace of mind knowing their daughter's killer cannot kill again, but Tuesday's sentence does not give them peace. "Everyday is difficult for me and what has been taken from me as a mother," Marlene LaMar said. The sentencing, which was originally scheduled to take place in September, was delayed as the court considered a challenge from the defense to remove Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher from the case. Garcia-Torres and his attorneys claimed that a conflict existed between Zecher and lead investigator Herman Leon a Santa Clara County Sheriff's sergeant as she represented him as deputy county counsel in a previous civil lawsuit in 1991. Zecher was the legal representative for Leon and other Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies in a suit 27 years ago that alleged Leon played a role in the death of Jeffrey Leonti, a mentally ill inmate, when he worked at the county's main jail as a guard. A San Francisco Superior Court judge denied the motion to remove Zecher and a request for a new trial in November. The penalty phase of the trial began May 16, a week after Garcia-Torres was found guilty of the missing teen's murder. A jury decided not to hand Garcia-Torres the death penalty in June, sentencing him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jurors deliberated for around eight hours before deciding on the sentence for Garcia-Torres. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Garcia-Torres while his defense attorneys presented sympathetic evidence about the abuse, poverty and neglect his family endured as he grew up in order to sway jurors to give him a life sentence. Garcia-Torres' father, an alcoholic who sexually abused a female relative from age 5 to 14 while Garcia-Torres was growing up, is serving a life sentence at Salinas Valley State Prison. Sierra's body has not been found since she missed her bus to Ann Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill on March 16, 2012. Hundreds of community members searched for Sierra following her disappearance. Some attended almost every day of the trial and have continued search efforts in the South Bay. A Foster City man has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and six counts of felony DUI causing injury in the death of a toll worker on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge earlier this month, according to Alameda County prosecutors. Daniel Berk, 32, was charged on Monday in connection with the death of Caltrans toll collector Si Si Han, 46, of San Lorenzo, on Dec. 2. California Highway Patrol Officer Andrey Gavrilchik wrote in a probable cause statement that he and his partner responded to the Bay Bridge toll plaza at 5:11 a.m. that day and found Berk, who admitted that he was driving the white box truck that struck toll booth No. 14. The officers "detected a faint odor of an alcoholic beverage and marijuana emanating from Berk's person at the scene," he wrote. According to Gavrilchik, his partner contacted Berk in the back of an ambulance at the scene a short time later and he said he smelled the same odors on Berk and heard him tell paramedics he had been driving the truck and that he had been drinking an alcoholic beverage and smoking marijuana beforehand. In addition, paramedics noticed that Berk had constricted pupils and didn't react to direct light, Gavrilchik wrote. Surveillance camera footage at the toll plaza showed that the truck was being driven in a reckless manner that caused the crash and the subsequent death of Han, he wrote. CHP officials said after the collision that Berk and a passenger were hurled from the truck onto the road and that Berk suffered major injuries and was hospitalized. A CHP spokesman said today that he doesn't know if Berk is still hospitalized. A spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney's Office also said she doesn't know if Berk is still hospitalized or if he has been arraigned yet. Berk isn't listed in the Alameda County sheriff's inmate locator system, which indicates that he currently isn't in a county jail. CHP officials said a passenger in the truck that Berk was driving suffered minor injuries and was also hospitalized. Five other motorists from the vehicles involved in the collision were also hospitalized with injuries ranging from minor to moderate, according to the CHP. Han, who was born in Burma, now called Myanmar, was a Caltrans employee for more than 10 years and is survived by her husband, Ryan, and their 10-year-old daughter, Ashly, according to a statement from the office of Gov. Jerry Brown. Han's family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for her funeral expenses, for supporting her family and for Ashly's future. As of this morning, $27,372 of the fund's $35,000 goal have been raised. Han's family members said in a message on the website that "the saddening part" about her death is that the early morning shift on Dec. 2 wasn't even her normal shift time. They said a co-worker had called out sick "so Si Si stepped up to fill the shift" and even came to work at 5 a.m., even though the shift wasn't scheduled to begin until 5:30 a.m. Han's family said her husband, Ryan Saw, had dropped her off at work and just as he arrived home "he received the life-changing phone call that his wife had just died." Han's family members described her as "a nurturing mother, loving wife, and a caring individual to all." "Her family, friends, and colleagues will forever remember her sweet smile, generosity, and kindness," they said. The Bay Area will be hosting a number of events in honor of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, here's a list to help you celebrate: Bill Graham Menorah: Chanukah in Union Square San Francisco / Dec. 12-19 The Bill Graham Menorah Lighting is one of the biggest Jewish events in the Bay Area at San Franciscos Union Square. The Menorah lighting events will take place daily from Dec. 12 19 in the evening. Hanukkah Candle Lighting San Francisco / Dec. 12-19 The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) will be observing Hanukkah from sunset on Dec. 12 to nightfall on Dec. 20 with a candle lighting, story time and songs starting at 4:00 p.m. The JCCSF will also be hosting a number of other events for Hanukkah which you can check out on their website. Hanukkah at the Mart! Marin County / Dec. 12 DIESEL, a bookstore and the Marin Country Mart will be celebrating the first night of Hanukkah from 4:30 6:30 pm with music, food and family fun-filled activities. The event is free and open to everyone. Chanukah Train Santa Cruz / Dec. 14, 2017 Join the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for the lighting of the menorah at 6:15 p.m. and then take a fun 1-hour train ride on Roaring Camps vintage excursion cars adorned with thousands of lights and Chanukah decorations. The event is meant to be filled with Chanukah traditions, stories and more. Adult tickets are $33 and $27 for children. Menorah Parade! Palo Alto / Dec. 16 Chabad Palo Alto will be hosting a parade where if you bring your car itll be outfitted with a menorah. The event will culminate with a menorah lighting at Mountain View Civic Center starting at 7:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Chanukah Festival at Whole Foods Santa Clara / Dec. 17 Whole Foods is sponsoring a Chanukah Festival in conjunction with Chabad S. Clara with a 10 ft. menorah lighting, a live band, latkes and gluten-free donuts. The event is free and open to the community from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. More police officers are dying by suicide in this country than in the line of duty. They are the ones who see the most traumatic of events every day, put up the yellow tape and protect us. But while they are protecting us, who is protecting them? In 2016, 138 officers died by suicide across the country. One of them was a long time sheriffs deputy. Widow Heidi Harper wants to spread the word on a crisis that could impact every officer in the country, so she shared the 12 minute 911 call she made in October 2016. "I need a deputy to come to my house. My husband has committed suicide," she told the dispatcher. Harper had just returned home from EMT training. It was a Thursday night, Oct. 20, 2016, and her four children were sleeping upstairs. The 911 call is emotional, which is why she shared it. She wanted people to comprehend the anguish of walking into what she did. "Hes sitting in the garage. I cant touch him. Im so sorry. I cant go in there. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. He doesnt have a pulse," she told the dispatcher. The dispatcher asked his name. "His name is Jesse," she replied softer. Jesse Peterson Jesse Peterson was a husband and a father. His widow talked one on one with NBC Boston Investigator Karen Hensel less than a year after his death where she explains, "He ended his life in our garage while our four children slept inside the house." He was a sheriff's deputy for 17 years. Harper says, "At the service, there were a lot of deputies that went up to my children and would get down on their knees and tell my kids, 'I know your daddys gone, but you still have a dad in all of us here at the sheriffs office,'" Harper said. "After the casket was closed, they were gone." In one year, there was not one phone call nor one letter to her or her children. "Its their own uncomfortableness they know very well it could be them. By the grace of God, their doorsteps havent been darkened by this, this hell. They dont know what to say," she said. The widows Heidi Harper is not alone. She was among five widows who shared their stories at a national conference on cop suicide in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Janice McCarthys husband Paul was a Massachusetts state trooper who committed suicide after years on the job. "Im here because Im angry. Im really angry. Im angry the policies and the lack of policies that were in place when Paul died. Im angry about the day they handed me his wallet and his badge in a ripped paper bag," McCarthy said. Suicide is not considered a line of duty death, leaving most of the families left behind cut off immediately from pensions, death benefits, life and health insurance. Each of the five widows went down the line detailing what happened to them. McCarthy said Massachusetts State Police "immediately cut off my health insurance." "I lost my health insurance with four-month-old twins," April Scherzer said. Harper lost her health insurance with four children within 10 days. The power of one The solution is coming in the power of one person who is efforting change. Karen Solomon is the wife of a current Worcester police officer and the co-founder of Blue H.E.L.P. "After hearing one story from a widow, I just decided we need to do something," she said. "Somebody said here my partner had a heart attack and that was caused by the job. Well, thats a line of duty death right? So why isnt the trauma to your mind?" Her non-profit tracks officer suicides. Ninety-three have committed suicide nationwide so far this year, with eight of them in Massachusetts. However, the Blue H.E.L.P. website is filled with picture-less profiles. No names or faces, just the date of death. Solomon only posts the pictures or other details if the families agree. However, the stigma of suicide haunts families and the lost loved one. "Its the stigma, the shame they feel is attached to it. Its the fact theyve been shunned by their friends, family the departments because of suicide," Solomon said. Police officers spend their careers putting up the yellow tape, shielding us from what they see, but decades of what they see, eventually can become the price they pay. "Recently an officer reached out for help and needed some psychological help. His department fired him. Theres another officer on that department right now who is also suicidal, weve been getting him help and he wont tell his department because he doesnt want to lose his job," Solomon said. While they are protecting us, who is protecting them? One officer in the audience of the conference told the group he tried twice to commit suicide. "I now imagine my wife sitting where you are," he told the panel of five widows. There is a police officer suicide just over every two days in this country. Their names are not added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. because they are not deemed line-of-duty deaths. Help for officers As old-school cops and chiefs retire, so does the attitude that mental health and PTSD from years on the job are not real. The culture is changing, and Massachusetts is taking the lead. Mass COP, the union representing 4,300 police officers in Massachusetts, has the first-in-the-nation statewide peer support program, where police officers can take a confidential, anonymous self-check quiz and then get help from a peer support officer. Click here to take the self-check quiz. With the end of the year approaching, Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs is encouraging residents to check to see if the state is holding their unclaimed property. According to the Treasurers website, nearly $2.9 billion in unclaimed funds are currently being held by the state, and residents are advised to check with the site to see if they have any property that they can claim. By filling out a form, residents can check to see if they have property to claim. It is estimated that 1-in-4 residents have property waiting in the states database that can be returned to the resident at no charge with proper identification, according to Frerichs office. Individual residents, businesses, non-profit organizations, and local governments all can have unclaimed property, according to the state. Over the last two years, the Illinois Treasurers office has returned more than $300 million in assets to state residents. One day after a secret report was filed by probation officers monitoring his case, disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been slapped by his sentencing judge with severe new restrictions on his day to day life. Under terms of the order signed by Judge Thomas Durkin, Hastert is barred from having contact with anyone under the age of 18, unless hes in the presence of adults who are familiar with his previous crimes relating to the sexual abuse of underage boys. He is also forbidden from possessing any pornographic or sexually stimulating materials, from visiting any place where such materials are available, or from using any sex-related telephone numbers. The former Speaker, once second in line to the Presidency, is further ordered to surrender his phone bills or credit card statements on demand, and must submit to a search of his home, car, or computers without a warrant if ordered to do so by law enforcement or his probation officers. Indeed, the new restrictions are so severe Hastert is barred from possessing a computer, camera, or any other device with access to any online service without approval of his probation officer. This includes any internet service provider, bulletin board system, or any other public or private network or email system, the order states. The defendant shall consent to the installation of computer monitoring software on all identified computers to which the defendant has access. The order further explains that any monitoring software installed on the former Speakers computer may restrict and record all activity on his computer, including every keystroke and search. He is to cover all costs himself. Hastert was released from a Rochester, Minnesota prison in July, after serving over a year for violation of federal banking laws, crimes associated with the payment of hush money to one of his alleged victims. That man, identified in court documents as James Doe, is currently suing the former Speaker for the balance of the money he says he was being paid at the time of Hasterts arrest. Does attorney, Kristi Browne, told NBC5 late Tuesday she thought the new sanctions were appropriate. Its a difficult situation where the defendant was convicted of banking law violations, not the sexual offenses themselves, she said. But I think given that Mr. Hastert has acknowledged committing the sexual offenses, these conditions are reasonable for the protection of the public. No reason was given by the court for the new restrictions, but the order was signed by Durkin Tuesday. Court records indicate copies were sent to the former Speakers last attorney of record, John Gallo. But Gallo told NBC5 Investigates he no longer represents Hastert, and referred inquiries to two former colleagues at Sidley and Austin, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An investigation has found that the death of an autistic Connecticut teenager from malnutrition was preventable and there were problems with the state child welfare agency. The state Child Advocate's Office (OCA) released a report Tuesday on the February death of 17-year-old Matthew Tirado, of Hartford. When he died, the 5-foot-9-inch-tall Matthew weighed roughly 84 pounds. Police charged Matthew's mother, Katiria Tirado, 33, with manslaughter and cruelty to persons in May. The report said Tirado had been previously accused of child abuse, educational neglect and had an open neglect case. Tirado did not appear or respond to the juvenile court child protection proceed and the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) closed the neglect case involving Matthew Tirado a month before his death, after his mother refused for almost a year to let a DCF worker see him. Mattew's sister was also the subject of multiple DCF reports for physical abuse and educational neglect. She was removed from the Hartford Public Schools a few months before Matthew died to be "homeschooled". "Neither child was attending school when Matthew died. This report will examine how Matthew, and then his sister, came to be hidden or invisible in the months prior to Matthews death," the OCA report reads. On February 14, 2017, Tirado, called 911 at 2:53 a.m. that morning to report that her son was vomiting at an apartment on 519 Park St. and had "gallstones," police said. "My 17-year-old son I don't know what it is but he might have gall-gall stones because he's been vomiting for the past 24 hours. Now his belly is bulging. But he hasn't urinated anything. I mean, I used to have gallstones before and I know what it feels like and how it looks like," the mother said during a 911 call that police released in March. Matthew was brought to the hospital and pronounced dead hours later. Officials at the Chief State Medical Examiner reported that Matthew showed signs of significant physical abuse, including broken ribs, a laceration to his head, several contusions and bedsore-type injuries to his buttocks, and severe malnutrition, according to the report and police. Tirado's arrest warrant details text messages from Tirado to her sister, which included a photo of the cabinets and refrigerator screwed closed. In the messages, Tirado told her sister that her son had been trying to drink cooking oil and ketchup. State officials and police said Matthew's food was severely restricted and that he was allegedly beaten if he attempted to sneak food, according to the report. The report claims the teen was very ill in the days leading up to his death, deteriorating and vomiting frequently, "but his mother allegedly delayed seeking medical attention for fear that Matthew's appearance would lead DCF to 'get involved' with the family." Relatives were shocked by Matthew's appearance during a family party of Tirado's a week before his death, but didn't suspect physical abuse because they were told he had a "fast metabolism", according to the report. The OCA said they spoke and reviewed records with DCF personnel, Hartford Public Schools officials, the Judicial Branch, Oak Hill School and the Office of the Chief Public Defender, to determine how Matthew's death could have been prevented. The OCA found that Matthew's neglect and abuse dates back to 2005 when he was 6 years old. Between 2010 and 2014, there were no DCF reports regarding the Tirado family, however, Matthew was taken out of Hartford schools for months and even years at a time without being enrolled elsewhere. There was no inquiry from the school district. In November 2014, Hartford Public Schools called DCF alleging education neglect since the boy had not enrolled in school for a long period of time. "Records show that Matthew remained out of school for most of his life between June 2012 through his death in February 2017 without adequate intervention or response by state or local authorities, and, for multiple years, without anyone noticing," the OCA report reads. After April 2016, the Hartford school district was told by DCF that it intended to file a neglect petition on Matthew's behalf, but there is no documentation that the school district continued to follow up on the teen's non-attendance. There is no documented communication between DCF and Hartford Public Schools between May 2016 and the boy's death in February 2017, the report alleges. The Juvenile Court held six short hearings on the Tirado family's case between July and December 8, 2016. "In December 2016, the day before a court hearing and after nine months of not being allowed to see Matthew or verify his whereabouts, DCF submitted a written recommendation to the Juvenile Court requesting that the Court terminate the case and end Protective Supervision early. The paperwork did not spell out what efforts had been sought or made to find the children and ensure their safety. DCF did not allege that closing the court case served the best interests of the children," according to the OCA report. In January 2017, the DCF closed its own case of the family. "DCFs risk,17 safety, and needs assessments completed on Matthew and his family between 2014 and 2016 were inconsistent and inaccurate, resulting in a lower assessment of risk to the children than actually existed. The erroneous assessment of Matthews risk of harm and his vulnerability to harm, affected the trajectory of his case until it closed," the report claims. The OCA recommends the DCF to generate specific policies, training and case practice guidance regarding investigations of alleged abuse and neglect for children with developmental disabilities. OCA also said that DCF does not enforce training requirements for staff and allege that workers interviewed provided varying and inconsistent information regarding training requirements for staffers. In addition to training, the OCA suggests that the DCF's current information management system does not support consistent high-quality case management and said it may be part of the reason assigned staff lacked awareness of the details of the Tirado family's cases. "This system is outdated, and it can be very time-consuming for line-staff to review and extract information that may be critical to assessment and case planning," the report reads. DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said her agency lacked authority to force his mother to allow access to the boy. "Nothing diminishes the heartbreaking nature of what happened to Matthew; the level of abuse inflicted by the mother and intentional denial of food are egregious and incomprehensible. In this particular instance, the mother repeatedly denied child welfare, school, and law enforcement officials, among others, access to Matthew. Lacking the authority to force the mother to cooperate and allow access to Mathew, none of these entities had evidence of the abuse that she inflicted on him," Katz said in a statement. Katz said the agency is taking steps to improve DCF. The Hartford Public Schools released a statement that said the district is working closely with OCA to develop framework to change how staff repors suspected child abuse and neglect. "This report identifies failings in our culture to serve children, and within the districts policies, procedures and practices regarding chronic absenteeism, internal processes and proper collaboration with external agencies," the Hartford Public Schools' statement said. In addition, the school believes the state guidance for homeschooling must be strengthed and the district will now work with staff to determine any concerns when a parent is taking a student out of Hartford schools to be homeschooled. The staff will cross-check that student and family history with the DCF. The district is also developing a communication with parents of homeschooled children to be distributed twice a year in order to check up on the child's progress and education portfolio. "Hartford Public Schools is grateful for the OCAs dedication to its mission of protecting our children and we look forward to our continued collaboration. At Hartford Public Schools we have developed an Action Plan to address many of these concerns. The OCAs findings and recommendations in this report are currently under consideration by Hartfords Board of Education and will be incorporated into the districts ongoing Action Plan to ensure student safety," Hartford schools said in a statement. Berlin police are searching for a suspect accused of ramming a police car while driving a stolen vehicle. Police said officers and Hunters Ambulance personnel were initially called to assist the suspect, identified as Aaron Rugar, with a medical issue. According to police, during the response officers discovered he was driving a stolen vehicle and asked him to get out of the car. Instead, he fled, ramming a police vehicle out of the way and hitting the ambulance during his escape. Rugar was last seen driving the stolen vehicle, a gray 2007 Toyota Rav 4, Connecticut plate 303WAM. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact Berlin police at 860-828-7080. Fire destroyed a barn on a family farm in North Branford Wednesday morning. North Branford fire officials said they were called to the Augur family farm on Mill Road near Forest Road around 5:45 a.m. Mutual aid responded with tanker trucks to assist. Freezing temperatures and strong winds made fighting the fire difficult, with water freezing and causing icy conditions. "We actually encouraged our personnel to use extreme caution, especially since weve got a lot of water on the ground here naturally. Weve just got to move slowly," explained North Branford Fire Chief Bill Seward. The farm owner, Larry Augur, told NBC Connecticut the barn was full of farming equipment, snowmobiles, and hay, which was severely damaged. He said he's lost several thousand dollars-worth of equipment, but he was glad the family home were unaffected. There were concerns that the fire could spread to another barn nearby that houses the familys cattle, but firefighters were able to contain the blaze and the animals were unharmed. No injuries were reported. The fire marshal remains on scene investigating the cause. Officials in several states started warning families this week that funding for the popular Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is about to run out. The joint state-federal health plan designed to help uninsured children from low-income households was not renewed by Congress, and, as NBC News reports, for many families that may mean an end to their childrens health coverage. I would say most families, their children will go without insurance, said Linda Nablo, chief deputy director at Virginias Department of Medical Assistance Services. A resolution passed by Congress last week keeps the federal government open for business until Dec. 22 and included a patch for CHIP, but that was just to move money from states that have not yet run out of cash to states whose CHIP programs were about to go broke. What to Know The fire scorched 422 acres. Containment lines improved to 98 percent on Saturday, All evacuation orders and road closures have been lifted This article is no longer being updated. To get the latest on the Skirball Fire, click here. The Los Angeles Fire Department has determined the cause of the Skirball Fire, which burned hundreds of acres in the Sepulveda Pass. Los Angeles Fire Department investigators determined that the blaze was caused by an illegal cooking fire at an encampment in a brush area next to where Sepulveda Boulevard crosses under the 405 Freeway, the department announced Tuesday. There have been no arrests, officials said. The fire had reached 85 percent containment by Tuesday, but the damage had already been done, the blaze scorching 422 acres, destroying six structures and damaging another 12 since it first erupted around 4:50 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6. One firefighter suffered neck burns and was treated at a hospital, authorities said. Two other firefighters suffered minor injuries. The initial acreage was adjusted downward from 475 acres due to more accurate mapping, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. The fire has been kept on the east side of the 405 Freeway. Some evacuees were allowed to return home Friday, and all remaining evacuation orders were lifted Sunday. All road closures have been lifted, with no restrictions in place, said Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Evacuation orders covered a 3.2-square-mile area bounded by Mulholland Drive to the north, Sunset Boulevard to the south, the San Diego Freeway to the west and Roscomare Road on the east. The exception to the evacuation order was the Bel-Air Crest housing development, which was not threatened, according to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The Getty Center and the nearby Skirball Center, both on the west side of the freeway, reopened Friday, when classes at UCLA, Cal State Northridge, Los Angeles Valley College and Santa Monica College resumed. All Los Angeles Unified School District schools in the San Fernando Valley and some on the west side of Los Angeles -- a total of 265 district schools and charter schools -- were closed Thursday and Friday. The schools reopened Monday. The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District closed all of its schools Wednesday and Thursday. Schools in Santa Monica reopened Friday, but Malibu schools remained closed until Monday. The fire burned in the same general area as the devastating Bel-Air Fire of 1961. That blaze destroyed about 500 homes and led to various policy changes, including a prohibition on wood-shingle roofs and the strict requirement to clear brush around properties. A jury recommended Wednesday that a Palmdale man be sentenced to death for the torture-murder of his girlfriend's 8-year-old son, who was repeatedly shot with a BB gun, beaten and forced to sleep in a small cabinet with his hands and feet bound and his mouth gagged. The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for about seven hours over three days before recommending that Isauro Aguirre, 37, be put to death for the May 2013 killing of Gabriel Fernandez. The boy's mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, is awaiting trial and also faces a possible death sentence if convicted. Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli ordered Aguirre to return to the downtown Los Angeles courthouse for sentencing on March 8, when the judge is expected to hear an automatic motion to reduce the jury's death penalty recommendation to life in prison without the possibility of parole. "We were plucked out of our everyday lives and brought together to serve on this case and we came together to bring justice for Gabriel," one of the jurors said in a statement she read in court on the panel's behalf after the hearing. The jury's verdict came shortly after the panel heard a read-back of testimony by William Adams, a consultant who spent more than 26 years working for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was the defense's final witness. In his testimony last Thursday, Adams said he believed Aguirre was "more likely to be prey than predator" among the state prison population if he was sentenced to life without parole. But he acknowledged under questioning by the prosecutor that it was his personal opinion that the defendant had committed an "evil" act. Lomeli rejected the jury's request for a transcript of the attorneys' closing arguments or for a slide shown by Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami during his closing argument, noting that "nothing that the attorneys say is evidence." The judge offered jurors the chance to hear another 30-minute summation of the case from attorneys on both sides, but the panel passed. In a note submitted late Monday, the jury asked what the outcome of the case would be if the panel was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the trial's penalty phase. At a brief hearing Tuesday, the judge told the panel that the question was "a little bit premature," noting that the jury had not spent very much time discussing that portion of the case. On Nov. 15, the same panel convicted Aguirre of first-degree murder and found true the special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture. During about two weeks of testimony in the penalty phase, the jury they heard from witnesses including the boy's biological father, Arnold Contreras, who testified that he was in a Riverside County jail when he learned that his son had been beaten and was on life support. He said he felt guilty and helpless. One of the victim's uncles, Christopher Contreras, told jurors that he was a military veteran who had "seen some bad stuff in war," but said what the boy went through "makes it nothing." He said he still remembers how Gabriel looked in the hospital whenever he thinks of his nephew. The boy's first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, said it fell to her to explain to his classmates at Summerwind Elementary School in Palmdale that he would not be returning to school because he had been killed. Two of the defendant's younger sisters were called to the stand by the defense, with one of them, Elizabeth, testifying that she and other family members don't believe he is responsible for the crime. Others who had worked with Aguirre at an assisted living facility for the elderly in Woodland Hills in the mid-2000s said they recalled him as "kind" and "very caring." Hatami told jurors during the trial's guilt phase that Aguirre believed the boy was gay and systematically tortured him for months. In his closing argument Monday, Hatami showed jurors photos of the child's "head-to-toe" injuries and said the death penalty is the "only appropriate and just punishment" for Aguirre. "There is nothing worse in our society than a grown man murdering and torturing an innocent little boy," Hatami said, reminding jurors of testimony that the boy was forced to sleep in a small wooden cabinet with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles handcuffed. "Stuffed in that box ... cold, afraid, lonely, hungry, probably hard to breathe," the prosecutor said. The boy "defecated and urinated in that box" and "even was force-fed his own vomit. The defendant broke Gabriel's spirit." Aguirre "beat Gabriel to death with his fists and his hands ... in front of Gabriel's own brother and sister. What type of man would do that?" Hatami asked. "Not a man with any goodness in him." The prosecutor reminded jurors that Gabriel's "emaciated little body had nine metal BBs in it ... a lacerated liver, a fractured skull, whip marks on his back ... unimaginable pain and suffering at the hands of the defendant." "What type of man would punch a child 10 times in the face? Not a man with any goodness in him," Hatami said. "Death was likely a merciful end to Gabriel's pain and suffering." One of Aguirre's attorneys, John Alan, acknowledged during the guilt phase of the trial that his client committed "unspeakable acts of abuse" against the boy before "exploding into a rage of anger." But the defense contended that Aguirre never meant to kill his girlfriend's son. During his closing argument in the trial's penalty phase, Alan noted that his client had never been convicted of any other crime and had no prior history of violence. The defense attorney recalled testimony from Aguirre's co-workers about his "compassion, empathy, gentleness, kindness, respectfulness and patience" in dealing with the elderly at the assisted-living facility before he went on to work as a security guard. "I don't think we'll ever truly understand how that person ... gentle, kind, patient, respectful ... came to commit this horrific crime," Alan said. "I believe that the answer, at least in part, lies where Isauro's life intersected with Pearl's." Pearl Fernandez was "violent, abusive and neglected her children even before she met Isauro. Even her own family considered her a danger to her children," the defense attorney said. Aguirre's attorney told jurors it is up to them to determine if Aguirre will spend his life "behind concrete walls and steel bars in prison until he departs this Earth in God's time" or dies "prematurely at the hands of man." "The death penalty is not required for even the most heinous crime," Alan said, reminding jurors that they were each being asked to make "a personal, moral decision." Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel went to the family's home in the 200 block of East Avenue Q-10 in Palmdale on May 22, 2013, in response to a call that Gabriel was not breathing. He was declared brain-dead that day and taken off life support two days later. Aguirre and Fernandez have been jailed without bail since being charged in May 2013 with the boy's death. The two were subsequently indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury. Two former Los Angeles County social workers -- Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement -- and supervisors Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt are awaiting trial on one felony count each of child abuse and falsifying public records involving the boy. Amanda Nevarez, who created the Gabriel's Justice page on Facebook that has been liked by more than 81,000 people, said she believes the jury's verdict "sends a very clear message that children are important" and a "clear message to parents and any potential abusers that it (child abuse) is not O.K." As part of the crew digging a subway extension under the streets of Los Angeles, Ashley Leger always keeps her safety gear close by. When her phone buzzes, she quickly dons a neon vest, hard hat and goggles before climbing deep down into a massive construction site beneath a boulevard east of downtown. Earth-movers are diverted, and Leger gets on her hands and knees and gently brushes the dirt from a spot pointed out by a member of her team. Her heart beats faster because there's a chance she'll uncover what she calls "the big find." Leger is a paleontologist who digs for fossils in the middle of a city rather than an open plain or desert. She works for a company contracted by Los Angeles transportation officials to keep paleontologists on hand as workers extend a subway line to the city's west side. "They're making sure that they're recovering every single fossil that could possibly show up," Leger says of her team of monitors. "They call me anytime things are large and we need to lead an excavation." Since work on the extension began in 2014, fossilized remains have routinely turned up from creatures that roamed the grasslands and forests that covered the region during the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. They include a partial rabbit jaw, mastodon tooth, camel foreleg, bison vertebrae, and a tooth and ankle bone from a horse. But the discovery that still makes Leger shake her head in disbelief came about a year ago, shortly after construction began on the project's second phase. She was at home getting ready for bed when a call came in from one of her monitors. "It looks big," he told her. The next morning, Leger knelt at the site and recognized what appeared to be a partial elephant skull. It turned out to be much more. After 15 hours of painstaking excavation, the team uncovered an intact skull of a juvenile mammoth. "It's an absolute dream come true for me," said Leger, who spent the previous decade at a South Dakota mammoth site with no discoveries even close to the size of the one in Los Angeles. "It's the one fossil you always want to find in your career." California's stringent environmental laws require scientists to be on hand at certain construction sites. Paleontologists have staffed all L.A. subway digs beginning in the 1990s, when work started on the city's inaugural line, said Dave Sotero, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Paying for the paleontologist staff from Cogstone Resource Management is factored into the project's cost, he said. When scientists are brought in to see what crews might have unearthed, work on the project continues, albeit in a different location. "Our crews try to be as mindful as possible to help them do their jobs. We get out of their way," Sotero said, adding that when the mammoth skull was uncovered, construction workers helped deliver it to the mouth of the site. From there, the skull was hauled a mile or so to Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, home to one of America's most fossil-rich sites. Assistant curator Dr. Emily Lindsey called it a "pretty remarkable find," noting that while thousands of dire wolf and saber-toothed cat remains have been uncovered in L.A., there have been only about 30 mammoths. A few hundred pounds and the size of an easy chair, the skull is especially rare because both tusks were attached. It's being studied and is available for public viewing inside the museum's glass-walled Fossil Lab. With a nod to Hollywood, the 8- to 12-year-old Colombian mammoth was named Hayden, for the actress Hayden Panettiere, featured in the TV series "Nashville" and "Heroes." The Cogstone monitor at the construction site had been watching her on television before spotting the speck of bone that turned out to be the intact skull. Similar endeavors have turned up subterranean treasures during digs in other cities. Workers at a San Diego construction site found fossils including parts of a mammoth and a gray whale and multiple layers of ancient seashells. Last year, crews working on a development near Boston's seaport uncovered a 50-foot (15-meter) wooden boat possibly dating as far back as the late 18th century. Lindsey praised California's efforts to ensure science and urban development overlap, while bemoaning what bygone treasures may have been lost before the regulations went into place in the early 1970s. "Most of the past is below the ground, so you're only going to find it when you dig," she said. "As the city grows, I'm sure we'll find more exciting fossil material." The "Baby Lollipops" trial concluded witness testimony on Tuesday when two former prison inmates testified the accused mother's ex-girlfriend said she killed the toddler. Ana Maria Cardona, 56, faces life in prison if convicted in the 1990 death of her 3-year-old son Lazaro Figueroa. The two ex-inmates, Odalys Hernandez and Margarita Valero, took the stand to tell the jury what they said they heard Olivia Gonzalez Cardona's former girlfriend say while imprisoned. 'Yeah, yeah. I was the one who hit him with the bat, so, what, so what,'" Valero stated Gonzalez said. She didnt care she was the one who hit the girl, the boy, with the bat," Valero added. Cardona testified on Monday that her former girlfriend took the boy from her and eventually killed him. Cardona's latest trial began last week. Two previous convictions and death sentences were tossed by the Florida Supreme Court. Prosecutors decided against seeking death a third time. Maritza called her a baby killer and Olivia said 'yes,'" Hernandez said. 'If I hit the baby and the bat was the one killing him then I killed the baby and Ill kill yours,'" Hernandez stated Gonzalez said. The trial will resume on Wednesday at about 10 a.m. with closing arguments. The death of Cardona's son was huge news after the boy's body, weighing 18 pounds and badly beaten, was discovered in the bushes of a Miami Beach home in November 1990. Police initially could not identify the boy and called him "Baby Lollipops" after a design on his T-shirt. Cardona previously said the boy's death was an accident. A Miami YWCA day care center where a child who attended was diagnosed with meningitis and later died will remain closed as an investigation continues. Dr. Alvaro Mejia, a medical epidemiologist at the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, said the children who died a 22-month-old boy who died Dec. 3 and a 2-year-old boy who died Sunday both attended the YWCA Carol Glassman Donaldson Center Day Care located at 112 NW 3rd Street in Miami. The death of the first child led the agency to send a letter to parents warning that a child was recently diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis. The letter did not tell parents the child died. The cause of death has not been determined for the second child. It is not yet known if the child had meningitis. Mejia said tests are being run to determine whether the deaths were caused by the same organism or if they are linked, adding that results should be ready by Friday. Jose Galan, a Miami-Dade County spokesperson, said the YWCA day care center voluntarily closed on Tuesday and will remain closed on Wednesday as the Florida DOH and the Florida Department of Children and Families inspect the day care and investigate the matter. Galan said officials do not yet know if the child deaths are connected or if they are linked to the day care center. Kerry-Ann Royes, the CEO of the YWCA, released a statement expressing their condolences after the deaths. "The entire YWCA family is heartbroken by the loss of these precious lives and offer our sincere condolences to their parents, families, and friends," Royes wrote. "The health, safety, and well-being of our YWCA families and staff are our greatest concern." The Florida DOH's letter urged parents of children with conditions affecting their immune system and parents of children showing meningitis symptoms to immediately seek medical care. "Symptoms of meningitis include fever, severe headache, stiff neck, drowsiness or confusion, nausea, and vomiting. These bacteria are common and are spread from person to person by sneezing and coughing, direct contact with saliva, sputum or nasal mucus of infected people," a Florida DOH official wrote in the letter. "The most effective way to prevent this illness is to wash hands thoroughly and frequently, use proper respiratory hygiene, not to share eating or drinking utensils, and dispose of tissues properly." For more information on the life-threatening infection, visit the websites of the Meningitis Research Foundation or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Salvation Army's "Coin Crusader" has once again donated rare gold coins in Pompano Beach just in time for the holidays. Two 1947 Mexican coins were discovered in the kettle at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 1199 S. Federal Highway on Nov. 27 and again on Wednesday. The coins are similar to ones received in the past three years. Each time, they are wrapped in $1 bills and donated anonymously. "This mystery donor has certainly lifted our holiday spirits once again. These unique gifts help us highlight the incredible support needed for the programs that take place during the holidays and all year-round, said Maj. Keath Biggers, Area Commander for The Salvation Army of Broward County. Standing outside of a Roy Moore rally in Midland City on the eve of Alabamas special Senate election, peanut farmer Nathan Mathis held a photo of his daughter and a sign with a message for voters: Please dont vote for Moore. Father, who says he's a local peanut farmer in Wicksburg, outside Roy Moore rally talks about losing his gay daughter at age of 23 to suicide. "I was anti-gay myself. I said bad things to my daughter, which I regret." pic.twitter.com/J0oOU0EJI2 Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) December 11, 2017 Mathis daughter, Patti Sue Mathis, died by suicide when she was 23 because "she was tired of being ridiculed and made fun of," for being gay, he wrote in an open letter to the Dothan Eagle, a local Alabama newspaper, in 2012. Speaking to NBC News Vaughn Hillyard, Mathis condemned Moores past comments on homosexuality while revealing he too was once anti-gay. "I said bad things to my daughter, which I regret, Mathis lamented. "Judge Roy Moore called her a pervert for one reason: because she was gay," Mathis said. "If he called her a pervert, he called your child a pervert if she was gay or if your son was gay. This is something people need to stop and think about. Hes supposed to uphold the Constitution. The Constitution said all men are created equal. Well, hows my daughter a pervert just because she was gay? He continued, "He didnt call my daughter by name, but he said all gay people are perverts, abominations. Thats not true. We dont need a person like that representing us in Washington. Thats why Im here." The Wicksburg resident's sign noted "a 32-year-old Roy Moore dated teenage girls ages 14 to 17. So that makes him a pervert of the worst kind," a reference to allegations by several women that Moore made sexual advances toward the when they were teenagers. Moore has denied the accusations. Moore has a long history of making anti-LGBTQ statements, including saying homosexuality should be illegal and that homosexual behavior is a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies ones ability to describe it. He was also removed from his states Supreme Court for urging state probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized it. The young sons of a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy died as fire tore through their home less than two weeks before Christmas. The blaze left the boys' parents and young sister hurt. Flames broke out Wednesday morning around 5 in the Schwenksville, Pennsylvania home Deputy Sheriff Bryan Lukens shares with his wife Tracy and their three children along Summit Avenue, the county said in a news release. Lukens, his wife and their 9-year-old daughter, Soffia, made it out of the home. Bryan Jr., 11, and Parker, 6, died on the second floor, state police said. Family Photo "Please pray, pray for this family, especially now around the holidays... this is a horrible tragedy," neighbor Kim Munsell, who saw flames shooting from the home, said. Tracy and Soffia were treated for injuries and able to join Deputy Lukens, who remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon. Lukens is expected to be released later in the day, the county said. Friends set up a gofundme page to help the family. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lukens family as they grieve their losses," Montgomery County Sheriff Sean Kilkenny said. NBC10 / Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Flames burned through parts of the home, which sits in a neighborhood near Perkiomen Creek. It took crews about 30 minutes to bring the blaze under control, police said. Investigators could be seen using a drone and sorted through debris as they searched for a cause of the deadly fire. The San Diego City Council failed to vote on changes for short-term rental policies after a marathon meeting in which more than 100 members of the public spoke. Councilmembers adjourned without reaching an agreement. A regular council meeting is scheduled Wednesday. Councilmember David Alvarez was the reason the vote was held up. He voted against the two main proposals, voicing concerns about home-sharing housing permits. By the end of the meeting, the audience had dwindled to a few dozen people, but earlier in the afternoon the meeting was filled by hundreds of San Diegans as City Council debated new rules for landlords who rent rooms, apartments or entire homes through Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms. The audience was so big, the council moved its regularly-scheduled meeting to the citys Golden Hall. Landlords and property-owners who favor fewer restrictions on short-term rentals wore lime green shirts and told council members they need that rental income to pay their mortgage and other bills. They said short-term renters help support business in neighborhoods that have few, if any hotels, including South Park, Golden Hill, North Park, Clairemont and Mission Hills. They promised to abide by requirements designed to limit noise and disruption by some short-term guests, who disturb neighbors in residential areas. And if we have a clear regulation that allows a neighbor to call in a problem, and then have [an enforcement officer] come out and find out whats going on, I think we have a better chance of eliminating the bad actors, said Belinda Smith of Mission Hills. Smith and many other landlords support a proposal backed by four councilmembers, that would allow landlords to rent out up to three properties, for an unlimited number of days per year. Opponents wore red shirts and generally backed an alternative proposal from Councilmember Barbara Bry. That more restrictive plan would allow unlimited rentals only when the landlord lives in the home, apartment or condo. One opponent of short-term rentals said the industry robs San Diego of affordable housing. Mission Beach used to have an elementary school, said Jennifer Tandy. It used to have a library. It used to have all things a good community has. But now it caters directly to the visitor. Tandy says local families are priced out of homes because landlords can sell their properties for more, to investors who convert those homes to short-term rentals. About 200 people signed speaker slips to address the council, and public comment took five hours. At about 3:30 pm, the city council started discussing a possible compromise solution. Supporters and opponents of short-term rentals also had an opportunity to sway City Council opinion on Monday, during a news conference organized by Airbnb and its local consultant. Landlord John Anderson, who lives in North Park, told NBC 7 on Monday that fewer restrictions on short-term vacation rentals would help lesser-known neighborhoods win a share of the tourism dollars. Many tourists want to come to San Diego for an authentic experience, for that vibe, for that sense of community, Anderson said. And I think that is a really powerful, long-term trend. Critics claim that policy would encourage outside investors to purchase homes in residential neighborhoods, and essentially convert those properties into hotels. The critics also said the practice would inflate home prices, making it even tougher for local families and singles to buy homes and condos. We must stop the growth of vacation rentals in some areas so that families can sustain those communities as viable neighborhoods, said Tom Coat, a Pacific Beach resident who favors more restrictions on Airbnb type-rentals. Coat supports Councilwoman Bry's proposal, which Bry said is the only one that prohibits investors from converting homes in our residential neighborhoods into permanent mini-hotels. Ed. Note: A previous version of this article indicated the council would continue the discussion on short-term rentals Wednesday. The proposals are not on the council agenda. A fire that sparked in Tecate, Mexico, Tuesday afternoon created a plume of smoke that could be seen in some parts of San Diego. California Highway Patrol officials confirmed the blaze was burning in Mexico, possibly near Tijuana, and posed no threat to San Diego. A viewer sent Telemundo 20 and NBC 7 a photo of the smoke as seen from Viewridge Avenue near Balboa Drive. Another viewer said she saw the smoke from Westfield UTC mall in La Jolla just after 2:30 p.m. Officials in Mexico confirmed the fire was burning on a mountain in Tecate and, as of Tuesday afternoon, posed no threat to populate, urban areas. The Tijuana Fire Department is monitoring the fire in case it changes course. No details on the fire were immediately released. No injuries were reported. Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available. Law enforcement officials arrested two men Wednesday in connection with the killing of a man whose badly decomposed remains were found in a barrel floating in Chula Vistas marina two months ago. Timothy John Cook, 52, and Derrick Jefferson Spurgeon, 38, were arrested after search warrants were served on two addresses: McIntosh Street in Chula Vista and Rios Canyon Road in El Cajon. The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) said the men are accused in the homicide of Omar Medina, 28, whose body was found Oct. 12 stuffed in a 55-gallon drum floating in the San Diego Bay off the Chula Vista marina. "My brother Omar was a very special man," the victim's sister said at a press conference after the announcement of the arrests. "He would tell me that we are a very special family because there was no hate in our hearts. I apply this today." No further details were released, including how Medina was killed or why. The arrests of Cook and Spurgeon were made with help from the San Diego County and the United States Marshals Service, the CVPD said. NBC 7's Artie Ojeda reports the latest update on an investigation into a body that was discovered within a drum in the Chula Vista Marina Thursday. On Oct. 12, a diver spotted a plastic barrel with a hazard tag and a wireline attached to it, floating in the water off J Street and Marina Parkway. He called harbor police to report the object, saying he was concerned that it could be a navigational hazard. When police pulled the barrel to the shore, they made a grisly discovery: a body was inside, so badly decomposed that the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said the remains could take a while to identify. The barrel appeared to be tied down with cement blocks. Police believe a metal chain may have also weighed it down before it broke loose and surfaced at the marina. Police said there was no rust on the barrel, so it was likely in the water for only a few days before it was discovered. NBC 7's Alex Presha reports on a body being investigated by Chula Vista Police in the South Bay marina. Police had identified Medina as the victim in late November after an autopsy was completed -- about six weeks after his remains were discovered. "Every day that he was lost, that he was missing, my family, friends, church members and I, we prayed that we would find him," Medina's sister said. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can reach out to the CVPD at (619) 422-TIPS. Fairfax County, Virginia, officials are putting residents on alert after a dog was killed on Sunday night in a suspected coyote attack. Police said the dog had been let out in the backyard of a home in the 7000 block of Bradley Circle in Annandale, Virginia, to use the bathroom. The owner later found the pet dead just outside the yard. They said an animal matching the description of a coyote had been seen nearby both before and after the suspected attack. Wildlife officials said they have experienced an increase in the number of calls reporting coyote sightings in recent weeks across Fairfax County. A Maryland high school student who was found dead in a wooded area Sunday may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of his disappearance, police say. Navid Nicholas Sepehri's body was found in Bethesda after he never got home Saturday night. He was 17 and a senior at Walt Whitman High School. The teen's father, Frank Sepehri, located his body in a small pool of water. "I found him," Sepehri said, his voice full of emotion. Sepehri was last seen about 11:30 Saturday, Montgomery County police said. He went to a party on Elgin Lane that was broken up by police after someone told police they suspected teens were drinking. Some of the juveniles ran from the home as the officers approached. A teen who police later learned was Sepehri spoke with police. "Officers recognized that Sepehri may have been under the influence and confirmed with the juveniles that Sepehri would leave when the juveniles left," police said in statement issued Tuesday night. Sepehri's friends offered to call him an Uber. But he said he was OK and disappeared on foot, sources said. He never arrived home. His father said he went to the Bethesda police station about 3 a.m. Sunday to talk with an officer. He said the officer told him to wait. "She told me that kids, this happened. Just wait until tomorrow morning. 10, 11 o'clock. I'm sure he'll show up," he said the officer told him. Police say they searched for Sepehri. Then, his father found his body near nightfall, on the 6500 block of Laverock Lane. The family lived less than three miles away. Police believe the teen's tragic death was an accident. A medical examiner will determine the manner and cause of his death. Frank Sepehri said police did not help his family. "Police didn't do anything for us. Nothing. Zero," he said. "Sitting in the shopping center, drinking coffee." Capt. Paul Starks said officers were looking for Sepehri. "When the father cried out, there were other officers nearby in the woods who heard Navid's father exclaim that he had found his son," Starks said. The department is reviewing the case. At least one teen told police the hosts of the party Sepehri attended told the teens to call their parents and go home after learning uninvited guests brought alcohol to the party. One of the homeowners told police he believed the uninvited teens may have learned about the party on social media. A man stripped naked and jumped onto a moving truck in freezing temperatures Tuesday near Washington Dulles International Airport, officials say and stunning video shows. Shocked drivers stopped their cars to gawk at the man's rampage and record it on their cellphones, backing up traffic on Route 28 in Fairfax County, Virginia. Jose Gonzalez Flores, 32, was involved in a hit-and-run and then assaulted another driver and ran into traffic, police said. He tried to smash the windows of passing cars and used a knife to stab at the roof of the truck he jumped onto, a witness told News4. The driver of a tractor-trailer said Flores tried to rip him out of his vehicle and then punched out a window, raining glass onto his dog, a German shepherd-husky mix named Emma. The glass cut the dog's face. Courtesy of Adam Allen A woman recording the scene after the crash started to scream as she realized the man posed a threat. "Get away from me! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Mahnaz Safi shrieked. Flores' rampage just ahead of the evening rush hour Tuesday began after a three-car crash on southbound Route 28 near Frying Pan Road, Fairfax County police said. Truck driver Adam Allen said he saw a man punch another man near the crash scene. Amid strong winds and temperatures in the 20s, the agitated man started to strip, witnesses said. "He had a tire in his hand and he had something that had blades. He kept cutting himself," Safi said. Allen saw the man strip down and then lock eyes with him. Allen's dog, Emma, got uneasy. "He looked at me, and she started barking. He hopped up on the passenger side, tried to open the door. When he couldn't get in, he punched a window and shattered it with his fist," Allen said. He shouted "Hi-ya!" as if he were doing karate as he broke the window, Allen said. The glass cut the dog's face, around her right eye. EMTs would later help her. When the EMTs were cleaning out her eye, they said she shut it just in time," Allen said. A tractor-trailer driver talks about the moment a naked man punched through his window, raining glass onto his dog. News4's David Culver reports. Video shows the nude man hanging on the door of the tractor-trailer. "Got up to 30 miles per hour before he finally let go," Allen said. "It was like out of a movie almost," he continued. Tariq Hussein saw the whole scene unfold after his dump truck was hit from behind by a blue pickup truck. He said the naked man lay down in the road and tried to damage multiple cars. "The guy was actually stopping the cars. He was laying down. He started swinging, laying down naked and all that stuff, so people stopped. They don't want to run him down," Hussein said. "They just stopped, and whoever stopped, he goes to them and tried to smash their window," the witness continued. "Then, he jumped onto this guy's pickup truck flatbed and he just tried [to stab it] with a knife." Flores broke a window of the truck, police said. Then, fully nude, he jumped off the truck and ran into a wooded area, Hussein said. "He took a tire, a used tire, around his neck and ran into the woods," the witness said. Fairfax County police were called to the scene about 3:30 p.m. Officers responded from Fairfax County and Loudoun County, as well as the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority and the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office. Flores, of Sterling, was found a short time later in a drainage ditch on Dulles airport property. He was arrested and then taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was hurt. Initially, police could not identify him. The car crash and the search for the man blocked traffic for nearly an hour. Police said it was not immediately clear if Flores had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or if he had experienced a medical emergency. After he is released from the hospital, police said he will be charged with indecent exposure, felony hit-and-run, throwing an object at a moving vehicle, destruction of property, assault and battery, disorderly conduct and marijuana possession. Emma, the dog, is doing ok. Police initially said, based on preliminary information, that a driver swerved around the naked man and caused a crash. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is sending thousands of overpayment notices telling veterans to pay back their benefits. When Navy veteran Isaac Daniel retired after 22 1/2 years of service, he qualified for disability benefits due to knee issues and near fatal intestinal problems. He started receiving monthly disability payments of $1,100 in 2006. Thats in addition to his retirement check of $1,200 per month. With a wife and five children all under the age of 19, Daniel relied on both checks. Up until this point, I had wonderful things to say about the VA, he said. But out of the blue, this thing happened. The VA's debt management center sent Daniel a letter in 2016 stating it paid him $18,000 more than what he was "entitled to receive." Once I retired, I still had children and a wife, and in 2006 they said you didnt have them anymore, according to their records, he said. The VA told Daniel he never updated nor returned a dependent verification form sent to him. They said they sent it, he said. I never received it. Never. When Daniel called the VA to question the debt, he learned the VA sent the dependent verification form to an address he lived at 35 years ago. He said he thought he updated all his information when he applied for a VA loan and moved to Fort Washington, Maryland. Everything was up to date, he said. Everything was, except the one place disability. So the debt management center began to garnish his disability check -- all $1,100 of it -- to pay back what the VA said it overpaid him dating to 2006. The sudden stop in disability benefits hit Daniel's budget hard. It was a time when child care costs were higher because of summertime. A time when there was some housing repairs, automotive repairs, he said. Everything kind of hit all at the same time. I mean, a daughter in college. Daniel is just one veteran News4 heard from. Zaldy Sabino, a Navy vet and Air Force retired, was told he owed more than $22,000. But Sabino said he never received any disability benefits during the time frame the VA alleges he did. They said somebody was receiving it, Sabino said. He has no idea who that "somebody" is. Navy veteran Robert Sullivan, who retired in 2005, said he received two direct deposits from the VA totaling more than $13,000, but didn't know why. He said when he called the VA looking for an answer, he didn't get one. After numerous phone calls, nobody would tell me really anything, he said. They were very vague about it. He said he spent part of the money when he got in a financial bind. Months later the VA sent him a letter asking him to pay it all back. Of course I got the letter saying, Hey, we want all this money back, he said. Well, I dont have it now. Each vet said the VA had the wrong information when it came to dependents on their disability benefits. They no longer believed I was married, Sullivan said. In fact, they didnt believe I had ever been married. The VA also questioned whether Zaldy had children. This dependents admission by the VA only came recently, he said. Since contacting News4, Sullivans and Sabinos cases have been settled. Sullivan also reached out to Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, who stepped in to advocate on his behalf. There is a level of incompetence that is irksome, but to the individuals affected, it can be quite earth-shattering, Connolly said. Daniel said his monthly disability benefits have been reinstated. They then refunded all the money back to me and gave me my monthly payments back, he said. However, members of Congress said the problem with record keeping and communication still exists. Its not only maddening, it actually threatens a familys budget and their ability to make their rent or their mortgage payment or keep food on the table, Connolly said. He is just one advocate for these veterans. The VA has yet to give Congress any concrete plan to fix the problem, but this past summer it started offering a 12-month payment plan if veterans could not pay back the overpayment in full. The VA admits it sent more than 260,000 overpayment notices this year. It told Congress it sent 238,000 last year. The VA secretary denied numerous requests for an interview. Statement from VA spokesperson: When VA initially notifies Veterans of their benefits award, the department instructs Veterans to alert VA to any change in dependent status or a future change in address. The best way for veterans to avoid issues regarding dependent and spousal benefit overpayments is to alert VA immediately to any change in dependent status and promptly report any changes in address, as they are initially instructed to do upon notification of their benefits. While Veterans are responsible for informing VA of any changes in dependent status or address, VA also has a process by which it sends beneficiaries a Dependent Verification Letter to the most recent address provided by the Veteran in order to verify all the Veterans dependents. The Veteran has 60 days to return the completed document. If the document is not received, VA begins procedures to remove the dependents and recoup any overpayments made to the Veteran. If mail is returned as undeliverable by the U.S. Postal Service, VAs Debt Management Center runs an address verification and will resend a debt letter to a more recent address if one is available. As of August 10, 2017, VA changed its overpayments collections policy so that Veterans are automatically placed into a 12-month recoupment plan, which provides significant financial relief in most cases. Prior to that, benefit recoupment was at 100 percent unless a payment agreement had been entered into. Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Patti Petitte and edited by Perkins Broussard. A Virginia teacher who allegedly disciplined a high school student for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance will not be returning to the classroom, officials with the school district said. The Centreville High School teacher breached system rules in ordering 15-year-old Eric Trammel out of the classroom for not standing for the pledge last month, the superintendent for Fairfax County Public Schools said. The Washington Post reported an attorney for teacher Richard Ferrick said in an email the allegations against his client are without merit. According to district policy, Fairfax County school employees are prohibited from disciplining students who do not participate in the pledge. Trammel said he hasn't stood for the pledge since encountering the Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter during the eighth grade. It's been months since Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico, leaving destruction that the island is still trying to overcome. Massachusetts has some unique ideas to help with that recovery effort and the governor of Puerto Rico was on Beacon Hill Tuesday to hear them. Governor Ricardo Rossello was in Massachusetts visiting his alma mater, MIT, where he graduated in 2001 with a degree in biomedical engineering. Rossello was there to encourage students to help rebuild Puerto Rico. After that, Rossello met with Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh when word got out that the Board of Higher Education had just unanimously voted to give in-state tuition to displaced Puerto Rican students living in Massachusetts following the hurricane. "There will be a time where we will call back upon those that have left when we will reach normalcy and we can start rebuilding, but in the meantime, giving that to the students of Puerto Rico is a great blessing," Rossello said. Gov. Baker says Massachusetts has already enrolled more than 1,800 students in grades K-12. "We have been working to ensure that the schools kind of absorb those kids and make sure those kids get the education they need," he said. But it is unclear how many Puerto Ricans will take advantage of the in-state tuition break. Whatever the cost, Walsh says we should be doing for Puerto Rico what we would be doing for any state in a similar situation. "The average citizen doesnt understand, Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America," Walsh said. "Its not a foreign government, its not a foreign country, its part of the United States of America." Rossello, a strong supporter of making Puerto Rico a state, took the opportunity to send a message to Congress - that the tax bill being considered would only penalize Puerto Rico by treating it like a foreign country. "In my view, this is offensive," he said. "And it is a complete byproduct of the second class citizenship that we were exhibiting as Puerto Ricans because we dont have this representation." Meanwhile, the number of evacuees fleeing the island has increased in recent weeks and more families are expected to arrive in Massachusetts after the holidays. Two Massachusetts home invasion suspects are in police custody after they allegedly fired at the residents who chased them out of the house during the break-in in frigid weather. Lynn police said it happened on Birch Street and Massachusetts Avenue Wednesday morning. Two men were home at the time of the home invasion, which appears to have started off as a possible drug rip-off, according to police. The two residents then chased the two suspects, and during the chase, police said the suspects shot at the homeowners. A Lynn police officer happened to be nearby, and interrupted the chase, arresting one of the suspects. The other suspect was arrested by state police. Their names have not been released. Investigators say one of the suspects ditched the gun, which was quickly recovered. Meanwhile, neighbors told NBC Boston their discouraged that crime has popped up in their neighborhood again. "I've been here a long time," Joseph Graciele said. "I make sure, I have to make sure my doors are locked every day. Every day I go around, every day at night before I go to sleep." Police say a man suspected to be under the influence of drugs broke into a Maine home, only to encounter a 6-foot-2-inch, 330-pound corrections officer. Anthony Jones, 35, broke into the Limington home Tuesday afternoon, according to York County police. Jones allegedly told York County Jail employee Sean Wilson he was being pursued. Sheriff William King Jr. says he was sweating, bleeding from the mouth and appeared to be in "excited delirium." Wilson ordered him to lie on the floor. However, King says he instead began walking toward where Wilson's two 4-year-old children were hiding. Wilson wrestled him to the ground and held him there until officers arrived. He was taken to a hospital for observation. King says Jones did not know Wilson and "simply picked the wrong house to burglarize." Police later learned that Jones was wanted for violating probation in connection with a domestic incident in Cumberland County, according to WCSH. He was taken to jail after he was released from the hospital. It's not clear if he has an attorney. A Massachusetts trooper was injured in an accident on I-93 southbound in Milton. The incident happened around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. State police said a trooper was assisting other troopers who had stopped a wrong-way driver going north on the southbound side. Then the trooper was walking the driver, who had been arrested on an OUI charge, back to another trooper's cruiser, another driver hit the stationary cruiser, pushing that cruiser into the trooper, which resulted in a lower body injury. The trooper was taken to Boston Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The motorist who hit the cruiser was taken to Milton Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. It's unclear if this driver will be charged. The names of the trooper who was injured and the driver who was arrested on an OUI charge have not been released. After the crash, two travel lanes were blocked. All travel lanes were reopened as of 4 a.m. The incident is under investigation. Editor's note: State police had initially said the crash had happened in Quincy, but later clarified it was in Milton. Massachusetts' Republican governor reportedly is backing the Democrat in Alabama's closely watched U.S. Senate race as voters head to the polls on Tuesday. State House News Service reports Gov. Charlie Baker said he supported Doug Jones against Republican candidate Roy Moore, who has been fighting sexual misconduct allegations involving teen girls while he was an adult. "I certainly don't want to see Roy Moore win," Baker said. "That means, obviously, that I would be supporting the alternative." Allegations against Moore surfaced in early November when the Washington Post reported five women's accounts; four more women have since made similar allegations against him. The Republican National Committee has since resumed its support of Moore and President Donald Trump has endorsed him. However, Baker said he would not stop participating in a fundraising effort that ultimately sends contributions to the RNC, according to State House News Service. "If I thought raising money for the Mass. Republican party had anything to do with Roy Moore's campaign, I would not do it, OK?" Baker reportedly said Monday. "I said from the beginning that I didn't think he was fit for office." Polls close at 8 p.m. local time in Alabama on Tuesday. Police in a Massachusetts town say they were able to stop a Christmas Grinch from getting away with stealing packages thanks to an alert neighbor. Nakia Juwan Gunter, 43, of Norwood, faces multiple charges, including larceny and several counts of receiving stolen property, according to police. It's unclear if he has an attorney or when he will be arraigned. A neighbor told police they saw someone steal a package from a nearby home on Tuesday, and was able to provide a description of the suspect, the vehicle and the license plate number to dispatchers. Eventually, an officer saw Gunter's vehicle, which matched the caller's description, and an investigation revealed that he had packages in his car that did not belong to him. Gunter was arrested and taken to police headquarters. Investigators received consent to search his Jefferson Drive home, where they found more packages that are believed to have been stolen. Norwood police said some officers are spending Wednesday "traveling around town in their black and white sleighs, playing Santa" in order to return the stolen items. Police in Dover, New Hampshire, are asking for the publics help with identifying a man who exposed himself to a Dunkin Donuts employee while in a drive-thru. The incident happened Saturday shortly after 5 p.m. at the Dunkin Donuts at 165 Portland Ave. The suspect, who had "scruffy" facial hair, was driving what police think was a gold Mercury Marquis. No other description of the suspect was given. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 603-742-4646 or anonymously at the Dover Crimeline at 603-749-6000 or online. A Massachusetts, man lost a hand in an accident involving what are believed to be illegal commercial-grade fireworks on Tuesday. Emergency crews responded to the scene of a home on Smith Street in Quincy around 2:40 p.m. The victim, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital. The man's cousin said he lost a hand in the accident. Police said they believe the incident involved an M-80, which is illegal in Massachusetts. Investigators are waiting on a search warrant so they can remove other fireworks from inside the home. Police in Massachusetts are investigating and community leaders are reacting after three swastikas were found drawn on a desk in the classroom of a Jewish teacher. They were discovered at Andover High School on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the first night of Hanukkah, according to authorities. Police and school officials are working together to find out who is behind the act, while town and school leaders are trying to use this as a moment to educate. "We value diversity, we value difference and we want to create an environment that supports students and their growth and development in a respectful way," said the Andover superintendent. This the third time in recent months that a swastika has been found in Andover High School. The town manager says they are a tolerant, vibrant and welcoming community and will not allow hate crimes or hate speech in schools or anywhere else. In the fall the school committee passed a resolution opposing all forms of hate. On Thursday the committee will discuss formalizing their position and add new language to the resolution. Town and school officials hope to hold a public forum in the next few months to discuss the matter. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the incidents is asked to call Andover High School at 978-247-5500 or Andover police at 978-475-0411. Police have charged a 58-year-old Torrington woman with cruelty to animals weeks after authorities removed 21 cats, three live dogs and three dead dogs from her home on Beechwood Avenue. Torrington police said the investigation began after Torrington Regional Animal Control received a complaint about the well-being of animals at 163 Beechwood Ave. The person told police the house was cluttered and there were several cats and dogs in the house, some of which were caged and some of which loose. Police said the owner was uncooperative and would not let authorities check the condition of the animals. Animal control officers and detectives obtained a search and seizure warrant and removed the animals from the home on Nov. 17. Police said there were 21 cats and three dogs living in the house. They also found three dead dogs during the search. Most of the animals were in cages and did have food and water. Officers said there were items piled up throughout the house and the conditions made it difficult to gather the loose animals. All the animals will be cared for by Torrington Regional Animal Control and will be evaluated by veterinary services. NBC Connecticut went to the house the day police announced they seized the animals and there was no answer. Robin Betz has been charged with cruelty to animals and failure to have rabies vaccinations for the animals. Betz was released on a $10,000 non-surety bond and she is due in court on Dec. 18. In the days before he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, and as he braced for the public revelation that he'd morphed from government target to government cooperator, Michael Flynn was reveling in the pleasures of a new grandchild, swapping cheerful observations about babies with a longtime friend and fellow grandfather. At the same time, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser also was lamenting the emotional toll of the criminal investigation he was facing, another friend recalls. Flynn made clear "he was tired of the constant barrage of either people trying to contact him and his family, or the press and the coverage they were getting. He was ready for that to be over," said Thomas A. Heaney Jr., a retired Army colonel who has known Flynn since childhood and spoke to him two days before the guilty plea last month. People close to Flynn described to The Associated Press the pressures of the past year as investigators with special counsel Robert Mueller not only zeroed in on him but also intensely examined the dealings of one of his sons, Michael G. Flynn. The conversations offer a window into his thinking in the period before he entered his plea, which requires him to cooperate with Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with Trump's campaign. A chance to end the case through a single-count guilty plea was almost certainly the most favorable outcome possible, especially since the aggressive, wide-ranging nature of Mueller's inquiry made criminal prosecution a near-inevitability and a tough prison sentence a vivid possibility. Even before Mueller's appointment, the FBI had been investigating Flynn's conduct, including his conversations with the Russian ambassador and payments from a Turkish businessman for lobbying work. In an indication of the value of his cooperation, prosecutors charged him only with false statements and set a guideline range of zero to 6 months in prison. His son, who had a baby last spring and worked alongside his father on the Turkish lobbying and other matters during the campaign, was notably not charged. Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, declined to comment for this story. The pressure on Flynn, 58, and his family was evident as prosecutors made him central to their investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign. He was the first White House official charged in the inquiry. A legal defense fund was formed to defray costs. And a cascade of negative headlines, some for conduct never proven or charged and in some instances strenuously denied, torpedoed the reputation of a retired Army lieutenant general who a few years earlier had led combat zone military intelligence efforts. After admitting guilt, Flynn, one of nine children from a close Rhode Island family, issued a statement saying his plea and cooperation "reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country." It's clear the publicity had taken a toll. "He wanted all of this to stop," Heaney says. "If there were no bounds, if people were going to continue to make unsubstantiated claims against him and the things he had done, he was tired of it." As a parent, Heaney added, "you're always looking to take care of your children" and "under these circumstances, Mike pretty much would want to be able to shield his family and I think that's part of what he's doing here." Michael Ledeen, another close friend who co-authored with Flynn, "The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies," said Flynn seemed delighted after Thanksgiving about the birth of Flynn Jr.'s baby. But Ledeen also detected stress, saying Flynn told him his wife's mother was ill and how he was planning to sell his home in the Washington area to move to Rhode Island. "He said it was a terrible time for him," Ledeen said. Though it's not clear what information Flynn is prepared to provide, his cooperation with Mueller could cause a fissure in a relationship with Trump that had been strong. Rocky Kempenaar, a childhood friend who said he saw Flynn in November, said he warned him months earlier to be careful about Trump. "Just be careful, Mike. I don't want you to get into trouble," Kempenaar said he told him. "He said, 'Rock, what surprised me is how loyal of a guy he is.'" "You got to be one in a million, because I don't know anyone else he's been loyal to," Kempenaar said he replied. "He just laughed." The guilty plea marked a stunning fall for Flynn, a career Army man who enjoyed a prestigious job as a military intelligence officer in Afghanistan and Iraq and was rewarded in 2012 with a post as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the military's spy organization. He lasted two years, criticized by Obama administration officials for his management and temperament, and was forced to retire in 2014. Flynn's post-military career was a succession of consulting jobs and small defense contractor directorships. But his profile shot higher as a Trump campaign surrogate, where he led the Republican National Convention crowd in anti-Hillary Clinton "lock her up" chants, something Kempenaar said Flynn now regrets. His selection as Trump's national security adviser, a position that requires synthesizing different policy options for the president's consideration, surprised some former colleagues from Afghanistan, who recall him as stubborn, opinionated and polarizing. "He was like the bad boy in 7th grade. You really want to be on his team because it's really fun, and it's kind of transgressive," said Sarah Chayes, who worked in Afghanistan as a foreign policy adviser. "If you're a really good teacher, you want that kid in the class because it adds a really interesting dynamic. But it means you have to be totally on top of him and rein him in." Flynn has kept a low-profile since his White House ouster in February, which came as officials said he had misled them about conversations with the Russian ambassador. He's split time between northern Virginia and Rhode Island, where's he's been spotted surfing on a beach near where he grew up. He still enjoys the support of old friends, who see him as an administration scapegoat. "The Flynn I know is a truth-teller," said Ledeen, who hopes his friend can "continue to play a role in policy discussions and in understanding the world because he's a person who revolutionized American military intelligence." It's not clear what his future holds, but friends who've seen him in the past month say he seems determined to end the scrutiny and move on. Two days before he walked into a Washington courtroom, Flynn changed his Facebook cover photo, for the first time in months, to a potentially hopeful image: a rising sun over the Atlantic Ocean. Associated Press writer Chad Day in Washington contributed. Expansion hitch for Erpingham church graveyard 2017: Plans to expand the graveyard at medieval St Marys Church in Erpingham have met with a snag as the local council have insisted on an expensive archaeological survey. The parochial church council at Erpingham Parish Church had hoped to extend its graveyard over half an acre of adjoining land to cater for community need for the next 100 years. But the church has been told by North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) it would first need to have a survey of the area done, which the churchs Rev Canon Paul Thomas said could cost between 12,000 and 20,000. The Rev Thomas said that he was disappointed with the councils stance. The church had been told that before the planning application will be heard they have to authorise an archaeological dig of two 30-metre trenches 1.8 metres deep as they believe it is the site of a medieval village; even though evidence points to the village being much further away. The Rev Thomas said the church would not benefit from extending the churchyard, but saw it as a community service. He called on the council to fund the survey, as it could face a burial space shortage if the extension did not go ahead, which means the local authority would have to provide cemetery space elsewhere, possibly at Aylsham or Cromer. The current churchyard is believed to have capacity for between three and eight more years. An NNDC spokesman said that it was common practice for Norfolk County Councils Historic Environment Service to comment on applications where there was a strong possibility items of archaeological interest could be uncovered. It is not an unusual requirement on planning applications which seek permission to extend the burial grounds of churchyards. For the full story, see the North Norfolk News , where this article first appeared. The image of St Marys church is courtesy of http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk? The Phoenix Male Voice Choir will be performing their Christmas concert at Mile Cross Methodist Church in aid of East Anglia's Children's Hospices. The Phoenix Male Voice Choir will be performing their Christmas concert at Mile Cross Methodist Church in aid of East Anglia's Children's Hospices. Rebrand as Norwich church changes its name A Norwich church has changed its name for the fourth time in its 170-year history transforming from Surrey Chapel into CityGates Church Norwich. Read more Blues concert fundraiser for Stalham Baptists There will be a free concert at Stalham Baptist Church next Saturday to raise funds towards the refurbishment of premises at the church. Read more Norwich church moves to wrestling ring A Norwich church has temporarily relocated to a boxing ring where self professed 'hard men' will tell their stories of finding faith. The first Tough Talk event is set for November 20. Read more How can we help feed those in need? Andrew Frere-Smith reminds us of the importance of meals, and offers us some food for thought as the rising cost of living impacts our communities. Read more Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more John leads Norwich churches trip to Holy Land Experienced Holy Land traveller and former CEO of YMCA Norfolk, John Drake, is leading an inter-church tour from Norwich to Israel and Palestine in March 2023, with a few places still available. Read more Christmas rhyming play by North Norfolk teacher Matthew Pickhaver, who lives in North Norfolk, has just published the third of his series of play scripts on the theme of Christmas, which is now available to buy. Read more Advent and Christmas events at Norwich Cathedral From an Advent Open Evening to Carols in the Cloister and an array of special services and concerts with Norwich Cathedral Choir, there is lots to look forward to at Norwich Cathedral this festive season. Read more Norwich church to hold Sunday healing service Witard Road Baptist Church is hosting a healing service on November 27 led by Rev Ray and Ruth Scorey from Norfolk Healing Rooms. Read more Sheringham youth attend forbidden church The youth group at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham were forced to meet at a secret location earlier this month when the Lighthouse building had, supposedly, been shut down by the authorities. Read more Christmas pud workshop at Norwich church Not made your Christmas pudding yet? Don't know where to start? Come along to a Christmas pudding workshop at Norwich Central Baptist Church on November 21 with MasterChef contestant Jane Wyndham. Read more Norwich Foodbank provides over 4,700 food parcels Norwich Foodbank gave out 4,793 emergency food parcels to people across Norwich in the last year with 1,790 of these going to children. Read more Poppies cascading in Sheringham church A fall of poppies cascades from the pulpit in St Andrews Methodist Church in Sheringham, and anyone is welcome to come and see them. Read more Bishop Graham's prayers for COP27 climate conference Bishop Graham is publishing daily prayers on social media for the current COP27 climate conference, and is asking all to join. Read more Discovering the Orange in your life The vibrant colours of autumn have been inspiring regular contributor Jane Walters to focus on the positive. Read more YMCA annual celebration set to inspire YMCA Norfolk is set to hold its much anticipated 2022 annual celebration and awards ceremony on November 17, after almost 3 years since the last event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more Hub manager vacancy at community shop Earlham Community Shop Community Interest Company is looking to appoint a manager for this new venture being developed in the heart of NR5 Norwich. Read more A blood test using infrared spectroscopy can be used to diagnose two types of cancer, lymphoma and melanoma, according to a study led by Georgia State University. Researchers used mid-infrared spectroscopy to analyze blood serum derived from experimental mice and differentiate mice with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and subcutaneous melanoma from healthy mice and also between these two tumorous conditions. The mid-infrared spectral region of the electromagnetic spectrum is frequently used to characterize biological samples at the molecular level. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest infrared spectroscopy can detect biochemical changes induced by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a solid tumorous condition of the immune system, and subcutaneous melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, and has diagnostic potential as a screening technique for these cancers. Studies have found the incidence rates of cutaneous melanoma have increased in many regions and populations over the last decade, specifically 3 to 7 percent per year among fair-skinned populations. Also, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma accounts for 4.3 percent of new cancer cases in the United States. The available diagnostic regimen for both cancers, which includes tissue examination and biopsy, is time-consuming, invasive and costly, resulting in small compliance rates of eligible populations for cancer prescreening. Developing a rapid and reliable prescreening strategy for melanoma and lymphoma is critical because early diagnosis and treatment of these malignancies improve the patients' chances of survival. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) sampling mode provides high-quality results with better reproducibility compared to other vibrational spectroscopy. It has attracted scientists' attention for its rapid and reliable detection of various health conditions using body fluid samples. In previous work, Dr. Unil Perera, Regents' Professor of Physics at Georgia State, and his colleagues discovered that a fast, simple blood test for ulcerative colitis using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy could provide a cheaper, less invasive alternative for screening compared to colonoscopy. "Our final goal is to say we can use this infrared technique to identify various diseases," Perera said. "This study shows infrared spectroscopy can identify cancer. Right now, when you go to the doctor, they do blood tests for sugar and several other things, but not for serious diseases like cancer and colitis. If you are a healthy person, there is a range that is normal. One day, we hope that even these serious diseases can be rapidly screened. Your primary doctor could keep a record of your number and check that every time you come back. Then, if there is some indication of cancer or colitis, they can do biopsies, colonoscopies, etc." In this recent study, the researchers used mice with lymphoma and melanoma cancers. Blood serum droplets extracted from cancerous mice and control mice were placed on an ATR crystal of the FTIR instrument. Incident infrared beams were absorbed and reflected by the serum, creating a wave that was recorded and used to produce an absorbance curve with peaks that identified the presence of certain biomarkers in the sample. The researchers compared the absorbance curves from the control and tumorous mice and assessed biochemical changes induced by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and subcutaneous melanoma in the serum samples obtained from Dr. Yuan Liu's research lab in Georgia State's Department of Biology. The study found remarkable differences between the ATR-FTIR spectra of serum samples from tumor-bearing mice with melanoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and healthy, control mice. The findings are applicable to humans because mice and humans have some biomarkers and chemicals in common, Perera said. In previous studies on colitis, Perera and his colleagues identified specific chemicals that changed in humans and mice when colitis was present. Using the data collected on the biomarkers for lymphoma and melanoma, the researchers can develop detectors for these particular absorbance peaks, which doctors could use to test patients' blood samples for these cancers. Doctors could track a patient's blood test numbers starting in infancy and monitor them over the years to know exactly when the numbers begin to change. To make before and after comparisons of the blood samples, the data could be entered into a computer program and available statistical analysis software would determine any significant differences. Doctors wouldn't need to do any sophisticated analysis, Perera said. This work could lay the foundation for further research that could lead to the development of diagnostic techniques for the health care of melanoma and lymphoma cancer patients using body fluid samples that can be collected with relatively low risks, Perera said. In the future, Perera and his colleagues would like to use samples from human patients for infrared spectroscopy studies of cancer and other diseases. Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) and RxRevu, the leader in prescription-decision support, are collaborating to help prescribers better meet the needs of children by seamlessly incorporating antimicrobial-stewardship best practices into prescribers' decision-making processes. The expected result of this effort is more judicious prescribing of antimicrobials and other medications as well as enhanced clinical consistency, improved workflow for physicians and, ultimately, better outcomes and lower costs for patients. "Antimicrobial stewardship is a major focus of large academic medical centers, but the challenge of adhering to rigorous standards outside of hospitals is enormous," said Sarah Parker, MD, medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Children's Colorado. "By integrating RxRevu's prescription-decision support solution (PDS) with the patient's electronic medical records, we can minimize antibiotic overtreatment and thus stem antibiotic resistance, which is particularly important when addressing community-acquired pediatric illnesses." Medical treatment standards in dosing and selection of the most appropriate pediatric medications are highly variable nationwide. Making matters more complex is the ever-prevalent issue of increased antibiotic resistance, especially in the realm of pediatric infectious diseases, and a lack of actionable point-of-care information for prescribers concerning patient benefits and out-of-pocket medication costs. This partnership between RxRevu and Children's Colorado aims at tackling these complex issues head-on by delivering an advanced decision-support solution that enables community pediatric providers to make better informed, consistent decisions for their patients. "Through this strategic partnership with Children's Colorado, patients and prescribers can now make fully-informed prescribing decisions at the point of care. Combining appropriate clinical, formulary and guideline data with real-time cost and benefit information will enable consistent, cost-effective prescribing and the best patient outcomes," said Carm Huntress, CEO of RxRevu. "Children's Colorado is consistently looking to capitalize on the best new technologies in pediatric medicine, which is why we are partnering with RxRevu to develop innovative new solutions for improved patient care," said Robin Deterding, MD, chief of Pediatric Pulmonology Medicine and Medical Director of Children's Colorado's Center for Innovation. "By doing so, we are advancing innovation, delivering outstanding care and creating the future for pediatric care." The RxRevu PDS provides actionable information at the point-of-care for prescribers, including: Gunshots crackled as a man dressed in camouflage sat on the ground with a red stream trickling from his ear and a purple splotch marking the skin near his cheekbone. A medic asked what happened. "A clown ran up, balloon popped," the man replied incoherently. It sounds like a scene out of a warzone, but the man was an actor at a simulation center in Columbia, where researchers from Clemson University and Palmetto Health were recording the events as part of a $1.6-million project funded by the Department of Defense. The goal is to begin laying the groundwork for a hands-free system that would document battlefield injuries to improve medical care and ensure troops receive the benefits they are due. The system is in its early stages, but the idea is that medics would wear hands-free equipment that records audio and video during rescues. The audio would be automatically transcribed, separating words from battlefield sounds, and relevant information would be provided to doctors to help them decide on proper care. The information would then become part of the permanent record, helping military personnel prove they were injured in battle, which entitles them to benefits. Kuang-Ching "K.C." Wang, a professor of electrical and computer and engineering at Clemson, said the research is a two-year pilot project. Researchers don't expect to produce a completed product but will show how various components could work, he said. "We envision in the long run the Department of Defense will have a big data center that will house all the recordings in one place," Wang said. "So, if they need to go in and take out any specific information about a soldier or a certain injury, they can do that." Ron Gimbel, chair of the Department of Public Health Services at Clemson, said that when troops seek disability benefits, lack of documentation makes it harder for assessment teams to determine whether injuries were sustained on the battlefield. There is often no documentation, he said, because battlefield medics are busy caring for their patients and don't have time to write notes. "I was approached about this disability challenge maybe 10 years ago," Gimbel said. "Now we can actually try to solve it. That's really exciting. If we can reduce the hassle factor around disability claims, that would be great." Wang is the principal investigator on the project, and Gimbel, a former naval officer, is co-principal investigator. William Gerard, the lead for Palmetto Health, is the medical director for emergency services for Palmetto Health and the medical director for Richland County EMS. One of the key advantages that Palmetto Health brings to the project is deep experience with the Cerner hospital-documentation system, the same platform used by the Department of Defense. Gerard said that once a note is transcribed, it would be fed into the Cerner documentation system, which would also include other information, such as patient history, medications and immunizations. The Cerner system adds realism to the research, he said. "We're trying to make this as real as it would be so when it all comes together it's going to be reproducible in the actual environment," he said. The team gathered in late November to record audio and video of simulated rescues at the Palmetto Health-University of South Carolina School of Medicine Simulation Center. Each run-through began in a debriefing room outfitted to simulate a battlefield. The sound of bombs thudded in the background. A picture of black smoke rising from behind several vehicles was projected on the wall. Actors, including Rory Gilbert, played the role of wounded soldier. As Gilbert sat on the ground, Simulation Center medical director Christopher Gainey, called, "Over here!" Two medics wearing cameras on their helmets helped Gilbert to his feet and brought him into a stretcher in the hallway. They took him to another room that acted as the helicopter. Two other medics with cameras attached to their flight suits secured Gilbert and sat behind him, as he was "flown" away, the sound of rotors cutting the air. The medics then wheeled the stretcher down the hall and out of the building to a mobile center in the parking lot for simulated surgery with Steve Shelton, medical director of Emergency/Disaster Management at Palmetto Health. Shelton said that even in a controlled environment it can be difficult to get true information from the scene. It would be even harder with the challenges that come from a battlefield and travelling long distances, he said. "Sometimes it's important to know what's involved in that wound," Shelton said. "What was the scenario that went into that? What was the other care that was provided before that may not necessarily be visible?" Kelly Hawsey, who has worked as a critical-care air transport nurse, said that medics don't have much time for documentation as they assess patients and load and secure them on aircraft. "A lot of times we would have a piece of tape we would put on our flight-suit pant leg," said Hawsey, who is now telehealth lead at Palmetto Health. "We would write notes on that as we were going and pull that off later and use that to trigger our documentation. It can be chaotic. It's not as streamlined as it is in the hospital." Melissa Smith, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Clemson, watched the simulated rescues unfold on a video screen in a conference room. She is overseeing voice recognition and video detection tasks for the team. Her job includes developing technology that separates words from battlefield sounds. Anyone who has used commercially available voice-recognition, such as Siri, knows that words can be misunderstood even in the best of conditions. "Just in a normal environment, it's very difficult to recognize natural language," she said. "There are more advanced techniques we're going to be applying, including some specialized audio techniques, to try to reduce some of the background noise such that we can get that conversation out of the environment." The simulation was the first of two. The team plans have another in about 18 months. Simulation is a critical piece of the research, and the first went well, Gainey said. "You could sit around a table and record the audio, or you could see what it's like to have the ambient noise, the background noise, the providers having to move from point A to point B, the multiple handoffs, other people's conversations," he said. "The only way to really, truly understand that is to run it through simulation." Researchers are calling their system Complete and Resilient Documentation (CARD) for Operational Medical Environments. Brett Wright, dean of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences, said the research positions the team to have maximum impact. "Our college is proud to have a hand in taking some the guess work out of documenting what occurs during military engagements," he said. "Wounded veterans deserve to receive care based on accurate information retrieved efficiently, and this research will be a game changer in that regard." Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences at Clemson, congratulated the team on the grant. "This is a collaborative effort aimed at advancing health informatics for the nation's military," he said. "The amount of funding is a testament to the team's hard work and relevance of the research." The partnership will build on existing research links involving the five universities and create an environment for forging new projects in medicine, the sciences, humanities and social sciences among all partners. The agreement will provide a platform for Oxford academics and researchers to spend time in Berlin, collaborating with colleagues in the Charite teaching hospital, and the three Berlin universities, as well as the many other research institutes within the Berlin-Brandenburg region. At the same time, the partnership will provide support for academics, researchers and students from Berlin to spend time in Oxford's departments and colleges. It is anticipated that the initiative will later include the establishment of an Oxford-Berlin Research Centre located in Berlin, and a reciprocal Berliner Haus in Oxford. Although the 2016 referendum vote means that the UK will leave the European Union, Oxford is determined to remain connected with Europe and its European partners, and to ensure that its rich and rewarding collaborations with European colleagues continue. Oxford academics will be able to develop new research projects and partnerships in association with colleagues in Berlin, which may be eligible for common funding from both British and German foundations and funding agencies. The five partners have been discussing the proposed collaboration since early 2017. It will take longstanding research relationships to a unique institutional level, marking the first common agreement of all four Berlin institutions with an international partner. In addition, Oxford's experience in knowledge transfer and philanthropic fundraising should enable the development of new funding streams for the Berlin institutions. Today's announcement was made following the signing of a memorandum of understanding to establish the collaboration. The initiative has the full support of the Mayor and Senate of Berlin. The five institutions have already begun a programme of academic workshops across several disciplines, which will be followed by further collaborative work between academics across all four Berlin partners and all four Oxford University academic divisions. The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Muller, said, "Today marks nothing less than the beginning of a new era of cooperation for Berlin and Oxford. By teaming up, our universities are creating a unique alliance and leading the way in shaping the future of European research. I am happy to support the establishment of an Oxford-Berlin Research Center and look forward to continuing our dialogue in Berlin. This initiative will further cement our city's position as one of the world's premier locations for research and innovation. Professor Louise Richardson, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said "Although the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, it is not leaving Europe. This research partnership, involving some of the very best research institutions in Europe, is intended to build on Oxford's wide-ranging participation in cutting-edge European research. We are deeply grateful to the Mayor of Berlin, Herr Muller, and to the leaders of the four Berlin institutions, for working with Oxford on this exciting opportunity." The Chief Executive Officer of the Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Prof. Dr. Karl Max Einhaupl, said "In times of European uncertainty, it is of paramount importance that scientific research continues to thrive beyond national boundaries. Our partnership with the University of Oxford heralds a new era of academic international cooperation and marks a paradigm shift within the global scientific community." The President of the Freie Universitat Berlin, Prof. Dr. Peter-Andre Alt, said "For both the Berlin University Alliance and for Freie Universitat Berlin as Germany's "International Network University", this strategic research partnership with the University of Oxford is a mile stone with respect to international relations. We are delighted to be a co-founder of this exciting endeavour between two international centers of cutting-edge scholarship. I am sure that this partnership will bring mutual benefits for all involved parties and across the entire range of academic disciplines." The President of the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst, said: "We have acquired a highly prestigious partner in the University of Oxford, with whom we are connected through a vast range of pre-existing contacts. Through collaboration with a top British university, we hope to put together a targeted collective strategy in order to circumvent any possible consequences of Brexit. With the establishment of this partnership come new exciting opportunities for collaboration and exchange with one of the world's best universities. This undoubtedly benefits both Berlin as a centre for research as well as the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin." The President of the Technische Universitat Berlin, Prof. Dr. Christian Thomsen, said "I am delighted that we have successfully established a strategic partnership with the University of Oxford, one of the world's most renowned universities. What distinguishes TU Berlin is its close alliance of natural sciences and engineering with social sciences and humanities. We can contribute our expertise here to this newly-formed strategic partnership and develop our existing contacts to the University of Oxford in areas such as mathematics, entrepreneurship and robotics. The cooperation of five partners, each contributing their own areas of specialisation, presents us with a unique opportunity to jointly develop future areas of collaboration. I believe this will provide a new impetus for research in Berlin." For female Veterans with fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms, the impact of believing in their ability to begin and sustain a long-term exercise program appears to positively influence their results. The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, suggest a role for self-efficacy (believing in one's ability to succeed) in exercise adoption and maintenance among female Veterans, even among those with a high degree of FM symptoms. FM is a chronic disease characterized by widespread pain. Additional symptoms include waking unrefreshed, disturbed cognition and fatigue. Among veterans, recent research suggests women are more likely than men to report FM. While the benefits of exercise in persons with FM have been well established, exercise interventions have poor adherence and retention rates. Further, as exercise adherence declines, FM symptoms worsen. The researchers used an internet survey to evaluate female Veterans who were both trauma exposed and suffered from FM. They measured FM impact, adoption of exercise behavior and self-efficacy for exercise. They found that although women who exercised regularly reported higher FM symptoms, there were strong effects sizes for higher self-efficacy for exercise as well. According to the researchers one explanation may be that women with more symptoms may have stronger motivation to exercise regularly. "Therefore, exercise programs must be tailored to the individual and progressively advanced as the patient becomes better conditioned to mitigate the potential exacerbation of FM symptoms," explained corresponding author Erica R. Scioli, PhD, clinical research psychologist at the VA Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. The researchers hope that this examination warrants further investigation of both exercise related self- efficacy and motivational factors, in order to better tailor interventions for individuals suffering from both trauma-exposure and FM. "In this effort, we may be able to provide an effective, non -pharmacological approach to FM patients that can better manage their illness and improve their overall quality of life and functioning," said Scioli. Open enrollment on the federal health law's marketplace ends Friday, and most people who want a plan for next year need to meet the deadline. But some consumers who miss the cutoff could be surprised to learn they have the opportunity to enroll later. "While a lot of people will be eligible I am still worried that a lot of consumers won't know it," said Shelby Gonzales, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Under the health law, people are entitled to a special enrollment period (SEP) when they have specific changes in their lives, such as losing other health insurance, getting married or having a child, or when they have a change in income that affects their eligibility for premium tax credits or cost-sharing reduction subsidies. Those special enrollment periods generally last at least 60 days. Other circumstances can also qualify customers for a special enrollment period. But this year, consumer advocates are focused on two that could affect a substantial number of people: consumers whose 2017 marketplace policies are being discontinued in 2018 and people affected by the hurricanes that ravaged Texas, parts of the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. It's not clear how many consumers this will affect. In past years, people who sign up during an SEP made up a tiny fraction of overall marketplace enrollment. In the spring of 2016, 11.1 million people had a marketplace plan. Meanwhile, roughly 1.6 million signed up through a special enrollment period during 2015, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The majority of people who use a special enrollment period do so because they've lost coverage under another plan. This applies to people who lose their job-based coverage as well as those with marketplace plans whose insurer discontinues their plan for the upcoming year. Between 2014 and 2018 the average number of issuers per state declined from 5 to 3.5, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) Several big name companies, including Anthem, Aetna and Humana, dramatically pulled back in their 2018 offerings. A growing proportion of people will likely qualify for SEPs now because of a loss of marketplace coverage, insurance analysts say. People who are eligible for that special enrollment period have up to 60 days after their coverage ends on Dec. 31 to sign up for a new marketplace plan. Meeting the regular Dec. 15 sign-up deadline is preferable because it allows coverage to start Jan 1. But eligible people who miss that date can apply through the marketplace for an SEP that will allow them to sign up until the end of February. Even if the marketplace automatically re-enrolls customers in a plan that's similar to the one that ended, they're entitled to an SEP to pick a new plan, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. But people shouldn't count on getting a clear explanation of what the SEP is or how it works, said Pollitz, who has reviewed the consumer notices related to plan discontinuations. "The notices are not what they could be," she said. Gonzales concurs. "The bottom line here is many consumers experienced a discontinuation of their plan this year," she said. Notices are complicated, and these consumers in particular are going to get several notices which may result in more confusion, and it will not be easily understood by many what an SEP is or how and/or when to activate it." This year, there are also special enrollment periods for people who were affected by the hurricanes that slopped across all or parts of Texas, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and elsewhere last fall. The special enrollment period for 2018 applies to people who live in or move from counties designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as hurricane disaster areas. It gives them an extra two weeks, from Dec. 16 to Dec. 31, to sign up for January coverage. Officials said they'll consider extending the timeframe if necessary. To take advantage of the special enrollment period, people must request it through the healthcare.gov call center. They'll be asked to attest that they resided in an affected area, but they won't have to provide proof. Consumer advocates who work on outreach for enrollment and help people sign up for coverage aren't yet talking up the SEPs, said Gonzales. "They want one clear message for everyone: Open enrollment ends Dec. 15," she said. Starting Dec. 16, these groups will start getting the word out for people who have missed the deadline and may not realize they may have other options. Please visit khn.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column. A declaration to establish an International Brain Initiative has been made by representatives from some of the worlds major brain research projects, including the Human Brain Project. Representatives of the initial projects that signed the 'Canberra Declaration". L-R: Prof Andrew Holmes, Prof Linda Richards (Australian Brain Alliance), Dr Caroline Montojo (The Kavli Foundation), Christoph Ebell (Human Brain Project), Prof Rafael Yuste (BRAIN Initiative), Prof Shigeo Okabe (Brain/MINDS project Japan), Prof Sung-Jin Jeong (Korea Brain Initiative), Prof Hideyuki Okano (Brain/MINDS project Japan) and Dr James Deshler (BRAIN Initiative). At the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra, representatives from Japan, Korea, Europe, the United States of America and Australia announced a formal declaration to work together to speed up progress on cracking the brains code. The declaration reads: Researchers working on brain initiatives from around the world recognize that they are engaged in an effort so large and complex that even with the unprecedented efforts and resources from public and private enterprise, no single initiative will be able to tackle the challenge to understand the brain. (See below for the full declaration). Human Brain Project executive director Chris Ebell said the Canberra declaration recognized that no single project will be able provide the full picture. The extent of the challenge to measure, map, image, model, simulate, understand, imitate, diagnose and heal the brain requires worldwide research efforts to join forces. This really is a chance to step-up to another level of interdisciplinary, international scientific research and deliver results that will profoundly impact our collective societies, he said. President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes said the announcement of the International Brain Initiative was the most exciting day of his presidency to date. It takes real commitment, real initiative, real drive and real talent, to achieve what we have achieved with this commitment. This is how science should be done. Human Brain Project Scientific Director Katrin Amunts said unlocking the complexity of the brain was one of the great challenges of our time. To be able to share knowledge, to be able to work together, to ask and answer questions collectively is extremely exciting and promising. To understand the complexity of the brain requires the greatest cooperation possible, she said. President-elect of the European Brain Council Professor Monica di Luca welcomed the International Brain Initiative as the next step in deepening our ability to understand the brain. It is extremely timely and relevant to achieve a better coordination of the various brain initiatives worldwide not only to raise awareness of scientific results but also to share common goals. Europe already moved forward to align all efforts in the area of brain research at large through the EBC and is now ready to bring this collaboration to the next step. The initial members of the International Brain Initiative are: Australian Brain Alliance Brain/MINDS project Japan Korea Brain Initiative Human Brain Project BRAIN Initiative Brain research initiatives from other countries and regions are also invited to join the International Brain Initiative. The first meeting of the International Brain Initiative steering committee will be held in January 2018. Source: http://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/follow-hbp/news/worlds-brain-initiatives-move-forward-together/ An observational study by researchers at Mayo Clinic has found that increasing physical activity not only decreased the risk of death from all causes but also decreased the risk of death specifically from lymphoma. Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, the part of the body's germ-fighting network which includes the lymph nodes (lymph glands), spleen, thymus gland and bone marrow. Lymphoma can affect those areas as well as other organs throughout the body. Study results were presented today at the 59th American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta by Priyanka Pophali, M.B.B.S., a hematologist at Mayo Clinic. "As physicians, we recommend physical activity for all cancer survivors to improve overall quality of life," says Dr. Pophali. "But we did not know if physical activity would have an impact on survival in lymphoma patients." Dr. Pophali and her colleagues wanted to assess how physical activity affected survival in all subtypes of lymphoma patients both before and after diagnosis. Specifically, they wanted to know if changing the level of a lymphoma patient's physical activity after diagnosis could affect survival." In order to answer these questions, researchers studied a cohort of 4087 lymphoma patients enrolled prospectively (within 9 months of diagnosis) at Mayo Clinic between 2002 and 2012. At enrollment, participants completed questionnaires that asked about their usual physical activity before their lymphoma diagnosis. Researchers regularly contacted patients to collect information on exposures and outcomes and contacted them for a three-year follow-up. Researchers used this information to calculate a Godin Leisure Score Index, a physical activity score which is a validated tool for measuring physical activity in oncology patients. Patients were also asked about their perception of any change in their level of physical activity (increase, decrease or no change) at three years after their diagnosis compared to baseline. Researchers then evaluated the association of physical activity with overall and lymphoma-specific survival. Researchers found that patients who had a higher level of usual adult physical activity prior to a lymphoma diagnosis had significantly better overall and lymphoma-specific survival compared to those who were less physically active. They also found that patients who increased their level of physical activity after their lymphoma diagnosis (at three-year follow-up) had significantly better overall and lymphoma-specific survival compared to those who were less physically active. Researchers found that patients who perceived that their level of physical activity had decreased at three years after a lymphoma diagnosis had worse overall and lymphoma-specific survival compared to those who did not report a change. "Our findings show that physical activity can have a positive impact on survival in lymphoma patients," says Dr. Pophali. "Importantly, our study shows a survival benefit in patients who increase their level of physical activity. Therefore, since physical activity behaviors can be modified, physicians should counsel patients and survivors on the importance of physical activity and encourage them to maintain and, if possible, increase their level of physical activity." Source: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/increasing-physical-activity-improves-survival-in-lymphoma-patients-mayo-researchers-say/ It's Fisk vs. Fixit as Kingpin and the Hulk tussle in Joe Fixit #1 Can Wilson Fisk's vaunted strength come anywhere close to Hulk levels? Canadas population growth relies heavily on immigration. Canadas 1.2 per cent annually is highest of the mature OECD economies. Canadas educated and ready to work immigrants as a ratio of total immigrants are five times higher than the USA rate and twenty times the rate in Germanhy. The OECD estimates that of the 272,000 people to whom Canada granted permanent resident status in 2015, 170,000 were economic category admissionspeople selected for their ability to become economically established in Canada. That is well above the number of economic-category admissions to the U.S.a country 10 times our sizeand similar to the combined intake of the rest of the G7 (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K.), In other words, 63 per cent of immigrants admitted annually to permanent residence in Canada are ready to join the labour force. For the U.S. the proportion is only 13 percent, for Germany a minuscule four per cent. Little wonder that Canada continues to outpace the rest of the OECD in the growth of its prime-age workforce and in household formation A former Rutgers University student has pleaded guilty in federal court to being one of the architects of a computer virus that crashed websites around the world in October 2016 in one of the worst outages in the history of the internet, prosecutors said. Paras Jha, of Fanwood, also pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton Wednesday to an additional computer fraud charge for repeatedly disabling Rutgers University's internet network while taunting school officials on social media. His attorney said Jha is sorry for what he did and takes full responsibility for his actions. "Paras Jha is a brilliant young man whose intellect and technical skills far exceeded his emotional maturity," said Robert Stahl, Jha's attorney. The 21-year-old former Rutgers computer science major, who lives at home with his parents, admitted in a series of pleas that stretch from New Jersey to Alaska to helping create powerful computer codes, including the "Mirai" computer virus that terrorized the internet in 2016. He and his co-conspirators used the code to crash various websites, then published the "Mirai" virus on hacker websites in September 2016, prosecutors said. The following month, other hackers took the code and launched a massive cyber attack that crippled much of the internet. Though his code was used, Jha is not charged with directly launching the October 2016 cyber attack that crashed Twitter, Netflix and other websites around the world, prosecutors said. Those hackers remain unknown and investigators declined to comment on the investigation. On Wednesday morning, standing before U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in federal court in Trenton dressed in a dark suit and dark-rimmed glasses, Jha admitted to repeatedly crashing Rutgers' computer network between 2014 and 2016. He said he bragged about his exploits online using the screen name "exfocus". Jha admitted to timing his attacks on Rutgers' websites to when they would cause the most disruption to students, faculty and staff. "In fact, you timed your attacks because you wanted to overload the central authentication server when it would be the most devastating to Rutgers, right?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana Chen asked Jha in court. "Yes," he said in a clear, strong voice. Jha gave no motive for his attacks on Rutgers or his attacks on the internet. He faces up to 10 years in prison, though he will likely face far less prison time under federal sentencing guidelines. He also faces a $250,000 fine and has agreed to forfeit 13 bitcoin -- worth about $221,000 -- as restitution. Jha was released on a $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced Mar. 13. Rutgers officials said they were pleased the individual who repeatedly crashed the university's servers and cut off the internet to thousands of students, faculty and staff for days at a time has been caught. The university spent more than $3 million upgrading its cyber security during the attacks. "We hope the results of this investigation demonstrate how seriously we take such criminal acts and the harm they cause the Rutgers community," Rutgers officials said in a statement. Two other men -- Josiah White, 20, of Washington, Pennsylvania, and Dalton Norman, 21, of Metairie, Louisiana -- also pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to conspiring with Jha on the wider botnet scheme, according to court papers filed in Alaska. The "Mirai" botnet worked by creating a collection of computers infected with "malware" software that controls the devices without their owner's knowledge, according to a plea agreement filed Dec. 5 in federal court in Alaska. The botnet targeted internet-connected devices, known as the Internet of Things, including wireless cameras, routers and digital video recorders. "Jha and his co-conspirators successfully infected hundreds of thousands of internet-connected computing devices, including computers in Alaska and other states, with malicious software," the plea agreement said. Investigators opened the case in Alaska because that is where some of the first devices were infected by the "Mirai" botnet virus, which was named after a Japanese anime character Jha and his co-conspirators liked, prosecutors said. The three men, who met each other online, used the botnet to launch DDoS -- or a distributed denial of service -- attacks that targeted the websites of businesses, rivals or others against whom they "held grudges," court papers said. The hackers also made money by renting out the botnet to others and by forcing internet hosting companies to pay "protection money" to avoid getting hit with cyber attacks, the plea agreement said. They also created a separate botnet, which investigators dubbed the "clickfraud" botnet, was used between December 2016 and January 2017 to route internet traffic to unnamed websites, artificially driving up clicks on ads and other content, the court papers said. Jha and his co-conspirators made more than $180,000 leasing access to the 100,000 computers in the "clickfraud" botnet to other criminals who made money by directing fake internet traffic to ads on the targeted websites, according to the plea agreement. "The Mirai and Clickfraud botnet schemes are powerful reminders that as we continue on a path of a more interconnected world, we must guard against the threats posed by cybercriminals that can quickly weaponize technological developments to cause vast and varied types of harm," said Acting Assistant Attorney John P. Cronan of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Jha is well-known in the cyber security world. The former Rutgers computer science student was previously accused by a prominent cyber security blogger of being the author of the "Mirai" botnet code that caused the massive Oct. 21, 2016, internet outage. In that case, botnets took down Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, Spotify, CNN and dozens more websites in what authorities called the biggest cyberattack in the history of the internet. Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who runs the influential cyber security blog KrebsonSecurity, said in January he was able to link Jha to the original code. Krebs also said his investigation linked the student to a series of cyber attacks on Rutgers' websites that began during the 2014-2015 school year. At the time, Jha's father said the idea his son created something that could have crashed much of the internet from their house in Fanwood was ridiculous. "I know what he is capable of," Anand Jha told NJ Advance Media in January. "Nothing of the sort of what has been described here has happened." Jha said nothing as he left court in Trenton Wednesday. "With support from his family, he'll get through this," said Stahl, his attorney. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. During the autumn, Nordeas Open Banking team has worked together with more than 1,000 external developers, who have tested and given feedback on the open APIs and associated services. Nordea is now ready for the next step as the bank today connects the APIs to the production system and takes the first major step into the brand new world of Open Banking. This makes Nordea the first Nordic bank to offer its pilots access to real customer data. - The new PSD2 regulation will fundamentally change banking. It is not a fad. Banking will be different as from 2018, when banks have to open up to third parties to offer services to account holders, says Erik Zingmark, Co-Head of Transaction Banking at Nordea. - We view PSD2 as an opportunity, which is why we have made a significant effort in building the Open Banking platform. We see possibilities to offer our customers new services together with partners, and we could offer our customers services in geographies beyond our home region. Nordea is now starting a piloting period in which selected third parties will build applications on top of the APIs and, together with pilot customers, they will confirm that all aspects of the Open Banking solution work as expected. Pilot data is currently limited to our Finnish customers, but will soon be expanded to include customers throughout the other Nordic countries. - Together with fintechs and other external developers we aim to create new products and services for our customers at a faster pace than we could do by ourselves, while keeping customers firmly in control of what data they wish to expose and which products they wish to use, says Claus Richter, Head of Cash Management Solutions at Nordea. - That hard work has paid off, and we are proud to be the first Nordic bank to offer our pilots access to real customer data. The third-party applications will be able to use the Account Information Service (AIS) API where they can retrieve account information details and initiate payments through the Payment Initiation Service (PIS) API. The end users will be able to authenticate themselves, giving consent to the third-party provider to access their accounts. Introducing selected pilot participants to customer data in this limited way will enable Nordea to work closely with the third parties and continue to receive their feedback and improve the services. More selected third parties will, on a rolling basis, be included throughout 2018. For further information: Claes Eliasson, Acting Head of Group External Communications, +46 72 141 67 12 Gunnar Berger, Head of Open Banking +46 70 433 10 90 Documents 4 Reviews Most displays these days have at most 500 pixels per inch densities, and the highest ppi counts usually come with smartphone displays. Even though these densities are more than enough for normal viewing, they may prove insufficient when used in conjunction with VR headsets that include zooming lenses. In this case the individual lines between the pixels become apparent, an effect known as the screen door, which most of the times proves to be distracting when being immersed in VR games or videos. Upping the ppi seems to be the solution here, and Samsung already presented an 885 ppi screen for VR headsets earlier this year, but it seems that the South Koreans are not the only ones concerned with these problems. Japan Display recently unveiled its own 803 ppi VR screen, while a 1,000 ppi model is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2018. The 803 ppi screen is using a 3.60-inch IPS LCD panel with 1920 x [email protected] Hz resolution and 4.5 ms grey-to-grey response time. Although it has reduced dimension in order to fit a compact VR headset, the display is able to exceed the industry standard 120 cd/m2, with a peak brightness of 150 cd/m2 and a decent 700:1 contrast ratio. It would be interesting to see if the 1,000 ppi screen launching next year could provide near 4K resolutions and maybe even some HDR certification. The 803 ppi screen may just as well end up a test prototype for future denser models, as Japan Display has not released any information about pricing or availability. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe 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. Wildfires burn on a hillside near the Getty Center. Gene Blevins/Reuters Visitors come to the Getty Center in Los Angeles to see Vincent van Goghs irises and other great works. What they dont see is the reason that these masterpieces could stay put while thousands in Southern California had to evacuate as multiple fires raged in recent days, one of which came within thousands of feet of the museum. Skirball Fire BEL-AIR The Getty LOS ANGELES SANTA MONICA PACIFIC OCEAN Skirball Fire BEL-AIR The Getty LOS ANGELES SANTA MONICA PACIFIC OCEAN The New York Times | Source: Cal Fire The Gettys architect, Richard Meier, built fire resistance into the billion-dollar complex, said Ron Hartwig, vice president of communications for the J. Paul Getty Trust. These hills are fire prone, but because of features like the 1.2 million square feet of thick travertine stone covering the outside walls, the crushed rock on the roofs and even the plants chosen for the brush-cleared grounds, The safest place for the artwork to be is right here in the Getty Center, he said. B E D A C Ember from the Skirball fire fell approximately in this area F B E D A C Ember from the Skirball fire fell approximately in this area F B E D A C Ember from the Skirball fire fell approximately in this area F B E D A C Ember from the Skirball fire fell approximately in this area F B E D A C Ember from the Skirball fire fell approximately in this area F The New York Times | Source: Google Earth A TRAVERTINE STONE was chosen to face all major walls, specifically because of its fire-resistant qualities. B CRUSHED STONE, a fire-resistant material, covers each flat roof. C OAK TREES that cover much of the grounds are regularly pruned, so that their canopies stay high off the ground. D ACACIA SHRUBS were chosen for plantings closest to the building and on slopes, because they are fire-resistant and can hold plenty of water. E A one-million gallon WATER TANK sits beneath the Gettys underground parking structure, to supply water for the irrigation system F A network of IRRIGATION PIPES runs throughout the grounds. In case of fire, sprinklers can be used to soak the earth. Within that lovely milky travertine skin, the buildings have reinforced concrete walls and automatic fire doors that can trap fires in sealed-off areas. A carbon-filtered air conditioning system pushes smoke out instead of letting it in, and the internal sprinklers whose pipes remain dry until needed, to avoid damaging accidents stand ready to douse flames. Should any fire move within one of those compartmentalized areas, it cant get anywhere, said Michael G. Rogers, director of facilities at the Getty. Since water supplies can be cut off in a disaster, The Getty has its own million-gallon water tank buried under the parking garage. The result is a complex that is rated Type 1, the highest level of fire resistance. J H I G J H I G J H I G The New York Times | Source: Getty Center G WALLS are made of reinforced concrete, and have an outward facade of highly fire-resistant travertine stone. H AIR SYSTEM maintains a pressure flow to keep smoke from entering the building from outside. This air pressure can be increased if needed. I Fire resistant FOLDING DIVIDER WALLS located between sections of the museum can be closed to seal off various areas in case of fire. J WATER SPRINKLERS would only be used as a last resort. The pipes remain completely dry unless a fire is detected, so that they cannot accidentally drip water. The Skirball fires, which afflicted the neighborhood of Los Angeles where the Getty is located, drew as near as the San Diego Freeway it overlooks. But the system worked. On the morning of December 6, an ember drifted over to the Getty hill. It landed and started a small fire. But the damp earth had been thoroughly soaked with 1.2 million gallons of water from the sprinkler system, giving the fire little to work with. It ignited, it moved very slowly, Mr. Hartwig said. The fire department put it out before flames could climb the hill. Since the Fed Started to Raise Rates, the Economy Has Kept Improving The Fed lowered its benchmark rate the rate that banks charge one another to borrow money overnight to near zero after the financial crisis began in 2008. The goal was to encourage lending and spur the economy. Judging that the economy no longer needed as much help, the Fed began to raise rates at the end of 2015. 20 % Federal funds target rate 15 The Fed began raising rates at the end of 2015 10 Recessions Raised to 1.5% 80 90 00 10 15 20 % 15 Federal funds target rate The Fed began raising rates at the end of 2015 10 Recessions 5 Raised to 1.5% 0 80 90 00 10 15 17 20 % 15 The Fed began raising rates at the end of 2015 Federal funds target rate 10 Recessions 5 Raised to 1.5% 0 80 90 00 10 15 17 Source: Federal Reserve | Note: Rate is the federal funds rate until Sept. 27, 1982, the federal funds target rate until Dec. 15, 2008, and thereafter it is the upper limit of the federal funds target rate range. Job Growth a Key Consideration for the Fed Is Robust The economy has added 196,000 jobs a month on average since the Fed started to raise rates in 2015. The unemployment rate is now at 4.1 percent, its lowest level since 2001, and the Feds own labor-market index has been on a steady upswing since the financial crisis ended. Change in jobs +600 thousand +400 +200 0 200 400 600 800 05 10 15 17 Unemployment rate 10 % 8 6 4 2 0 05 10 15 17 Labor Market Conditions Index +1.0 * +0.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 05 10 15 17 Change in jobs Unemployment rate Labor Market Conditions Index +600 thousand +1.0 * 10 % +0.5 +400 8 +200 0 6 0 0.5 1.0 200 4 1.5 400 2 2.0 600 2.5 800 0 05 10 15 17 05 10 15 17 05 10 15 17 Change in jobs Unemployment rate Labor Market Conditions Index +600 thousand +1.0 * 10 % +0.5 +400 8 0 +200 6 0.5 0 1.0 200 4 1.5 400 2 2.0 600 2.5 800 0 05 10 15 17 05 10 15 17 05 10 15 17 *A positive value indicates that labor market conditions are above their long-run average, while a negative value signifies that labor market conditions are below their long-run average. | Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Federal Reserve The Economy Keeps Growing, but Concerns About Low Inflation Persist The economy has expanded at a fairly steady pace since the financial crisis ended, and the Fed expects that growth to continue. But this is the sixth straight year that inflation has remained below the 2 percent annual pace the Fed regards as healthy. Policymakers have continued to raise rates because most Fed officials are confident that inflation will strengthen as the economy continues to grow. +6 % change in quarterly real gross domestic product G.D.P. +4 +2 0 2 4 6 8 05 10 15 17 +5 % Inflation +4 Feds target +3 +2 +1 0 1 Year-over-year change in the prices of personal consumption expenditures 2 05 10 17 15 +6 % change in quarterly real gross domestic product +5 % G.D.P. Inflation +4 +4 +2 +3 Feds target 0 +2 2 +1 4 0 6 1 Year-over-year change in the prices of personal consumption expenditures 8 2 05 10 15 17 05 10 17 15 +6 % change in quarterly real gross domestic product +5 % G.D.P. Inflation +4 +4 +2 +3 Feds target 0 +2 2 +1 4 0 6 1 Year-over-year change in the prices of personal consumption expenditures 8 2 05 10 15 17 05 10 17 15 Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Federal Reserve Borrowing Costs Are Rising, but Savers Should Benefit When the Fed raises interest rates, it is trying to increase borrowing costs for businesses and consumers. So far, the impact has been very modest. Interest rates on car loans have risen slightly; interest rates on mortgage loans are at roughly the same level as when the Fed started to raise rates. Credit card rates, however, have increased steadily since 2009 and could continue to as the Fed raises rates. And although savers have so far seen little change in the rates they are paid, there is hope that that would change. The NYCEDC report, released with NYU Steinhardt and StartEd Inc, provides the most recent insights on the multi-billion dollar education technology sector. Among other findings, the analysis found that edtech companies based in NYC offer increasingly high pay, have the most job opportunities, and were the subject of more business acquisitions than any other location including Silicon Valley, Boston, Los Angeles, and DC since 2000. New York City-based EdTech firms have also received $1 billion in venture capital investment between 2008 and 2017, making up 12.5 percent of venture capital investment in EdTech across the country. According to the analysis: Wages in Edtech continue to rise. Average wages in corporate training and computer training, two subsectors of EdTech, are $94,898. Total wages paid across these two sectors rose 63 percent since 2012. New York City has the most EdTech job demand of any major city in the U.S., with 105 positions open since the beginning of this year. Forty-seven New York City EdTech companies have been acquired since 2000, the most of any city in the country. San Francisco/Silicon Valley had the second-most acquisitions in that time with 29. Boston had 20, Los Angeles six. New York City-based firms received $1 billion in venture capital funding between 2008 and 2017. EdTech companies nationwide received $8.1 billion in investment during the same time period. New York City is an increasingly visible and ideal location for education innovation because the city and its neighbors are home to the most significant learning infrastructure in the world including 55 public and private colleges and universities, 2,666 K-12 schools and nearly two million students, in additional to major publishers and growing general technology and venture capital sectors. Another important part of the City's role as an EdTech leader is NY EDTECH WEEK the industrys global meeting point focusing on how entrepreneurship and edtech drive advancements in education and learning. New York City is the leading edtech innovation ecosystem because there is unprecedented support, investment and resources here, said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who will be presenting during NY EDTECH WEEK. We are delighted to continue to have NY EDTECH WEEK as an important partner in growing the edtech sector here and around the world because of the attention it brings to the businesses, ideas and our community. The 2017 NY EDTECH WEEK festival will expand on past successful events and bring together hundreds of technology innovators, early-stage investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, media representatives, researchers, and educators to foster new partnerships and exchange best practices for the tech-powered future of education. Were developing a highly-skilled, highly-motivated army of edtech entrepreneurs in New York, the national center of education innovation, said Jonathan D. Harber of StartEd. Its the perfect place to bring people, organizations and resources together to improve the opportunities and outcomes in the global education community -- thats what NY EDTECH WEEK is all about. Highlights of 2017 NY Edtech Week include presentations on education and talent technology from K-12 to higher education, the future of work, global education trends as well as: StartEd Talks including: Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor of New York City Deputy Mayor of New York City Eva Moskowitz, CEO and Founder of Success Academy CEO and Founder of Success Academy David Coleman , President and CEO of College Board , President and CEO of College Board Jeff Rosen, President & CEO of National Constitution Center President & CEO of National Constitution Center Johnny C. Taylor Jr , President & CEO of Society for Human Resource Management , President & CEO of Society for Human Resource Management Olga and Michael Block , Co-founders of Basis Curriculum Schools , Co-founders of Basis Curriculum Schools Eric Gertler, Co-Chairman & CEO of U.S. News & World Report and Ulysses Ventures Co-Chairman & CEO of U.S. News & World Report and Ulysses Ventures Think Tanks in early learning, K12, higher ed and corporate learning with industry thought-leaders including esteemed members of the media, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers faculty and educators. in early learning, K12, higher ed and corporate learning with industry thought-leaders including esteemed members of the media, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers faculty and educators. Shark Tank style pitches from the hottest global startups representing the most exciting innovations today style pitches from the hottest global startups representing the most exciting innovations today Master Classes led by faculty and PD accredited led by faculty and PD accredited Open Lab intimate and interacitve visits to iconic and innovative New York education and cultural institutions intimate and interacitve visits to iconic and innovative New York education and cultural institutions Gallery of Innovation showcase and 1:1 networking with the hottest edtech startups from around the globe showcase and 1:1 networking with the hottest edtech startups from around the globe Broadway performances, and more! In addition to its role as an innovation festival, NY EDTECH WEEK is also the culminating event for the NYU Steinhardt Edtech Accelerator powered by StartEd, an intensive three-month, mentor-led bootcamp program dedicated to education entrepreneurship and designed to help edtech entrepreneurs grow their companies. During the conference, participating startups from NYU-StartEd will be joined by other startups from around the world to present in front of a network of angel and venture capital education investors. "We're excited to host NY EDTECH WEEK again this year and bring together some of the worlds best technology and education thought leaders working to improve and re-think how students learn and how we educate them," said Dominic Brewer, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of NYU Steinhardt. NYU Steinhardt is at the intersection of education, technology, and entrepreneurship and we will continue to support the growing edtech industry in our home of New York City. NY Edtech Week is sponsored and presented in collaboration with Rethink Education, East Wind Advisors, Strada, Wiley and other sponsors. For more information about NY EDTECH WEEK, or to attend, please visit: www.nyedtechweek.com. For more information about the NYCEDC EdTech analysis that will be released during NY EDTECH WEEK, please contact, Alicia Powers, SVP of Reaserch of the NYCEDC at apowers@edc.nyc. About StartEd Companies: By galvanizing an eco-system of education innovation in New York City, StartEd aims to develop edtech entrepreneurs to tackle the world's greatest education problems. StartEd runs edtech accelerators, 3-month intensive bootcamps for early stage edtech companies, co-working communities for the edtech community, courses on edtech entrepreneurship and the NY EDTECH WEEK festival. For more information on StartEd Accelerator, please visit: http://www.startedaccelerator.com or follow us on Twitter @startedaccel About the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development: Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYUs Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu. Fact Check: PM Modi did not take pleasure in peoples suffering post demonetisation When PM Modi stopped by on Bengaluru street to greet crowd | VIDEO After war of words, PM Modi shakes hands with Manmohan Singh India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Days after a bitter war of words Prime Minister Narendra Modi shook hands with former PM Manmohan Singh at Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday. This is the first time both leaders met each other after PM Modi dragged Manmohan Singh into Pakistan's role in domestic politics during the election campaign. Manmohan Singh released a statement demanding an apology from the PM. Political leaders came to Parliament House to pay floral tributes to the brave hearts of 2001 at the Parliament House on its 16th Anniversary. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi along with other ministers were also present. On December 13, 2001, in a horrific incident, five heavily-armed terrorists belonging to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), stormed the complex in New Delhi and opened fire indiscriminately. Around 14 people, mostly security forces and one civilian, were killed in this incident. OneIndia News Can now fly for Rs 1 again; Air Deccan is back India oi-Madhuri India's first domestic low-cost airline is all set to relaunch operations this month with what it is remembered for the most - Rs 1 airfares. The airline will begin with four bases at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong, connecting them with smaller cities around them. The first Air Deccan flight will take off on December 22 and fly to Mumbai from Nashik, Capt G R Gopinath told Mint. By January, the airline plans to station a second aircraft in Delhi to connect the city with Agra, Shimla, Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Dehradun and Kullu. Air Deccan was founded by GR Gopinath in 2003. It was later merged with Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines in 2008 but was grounded in 2012 under financial duress. OneIndia News China flexing muscles again: Is Doklam-2 on the cards? India oi-Vikas By Vikas Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam earlier this year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the area by the Chinese Army. Doklam is a disputed territory where borders of India, China and Bhutan meet. According to an NDTV report, Chinese have expanded multiple stretches of road in the disputed area in the last two months. At least two extensions of the road are said to have come up between October 17 and December 8. The report says that comparison of satellite images over the last 13 months shows that one new stretch of road is around 4.5 km to the east of the standoff site while the other is around 7.3 km to the east of the standoff site and extends northwards for a distance of nearly 1.2 km. During every winter both India and China reduce the number of troops posted along the border because of the extreme climate in the Himalayan region. But this year, around 1,600-1,800 Chinese troops have established a permanent presence in the Doklam area. China has also constructed two helipads, upgraded roads, scores of pre-fabricated huts, shelters and stores to withstand the freezing winter in the high-altitude region, said a TOI report. [Chinese troops not leaving Doklam this winter, around 1,800 PLA soldiers likely to stay] There have been territorial disputes between China and Bhutan over Doklam and India has been staunchly supporting Thimphu over the issue. Even the Indian Army has posted several units near Sikkim close to Doklam for the winter. So, another standoff like what happened earlier this year cannot be ruled out if PLA asserts itself too much in the disputed region. OneIndia News Commit suicide get Rs 1 crore: Are you setting a trend HC asks Delhi govt India oi-Vicky By Vicky Are you setting a trend to commit suicide, the Delhi High Court asked the Delhi government. The decision of the Delhi government was frowned upon by the court after it had decided to compensate the family of an ex-Armyman who committed suicide during the OROP agitation. You are setting a trend-commit suicide and get Rs one crore compensation, the court observed. The court's remark came over the decision conferring the status of martyr on the ex-Armyman, who allegedly killed himself by consuming poison over the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) issue in November last year, and giving Rs one crore financial aid and a job to his family. "Imagine you are setting a trend, commit suicide and get Rs one crore compensation. And, when you are giving Rs one crore compensation to his family, where is the question of compensatory employment," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said. The court made the observation while rejecting two public interest litigations against the Delhi government's decision to accord martyr status to Ram Kishan Grewal. It said the petitions were premature and not maintainable at this stage as the LG was yet to take a decision on it. The court also dismissed another PIL which opposed the city government's decision to declare as martyr Rajasthan based politician-cum-farmer Gajendra Singh Kalyanwat, who had allegedly hanged himself during an anti-land bill rally by the AAP at Jantar Mantar on April 22, 2015. The court said the petition was devoid of merit and the petitioner was unable to place the legal explanation of the term "martyr". OneIndia News December 13 Parliament attack: The day Indian democracy was hit India oi-Vicky By Vicky It has been 16 years since the heart of democracy, the Indian Parliament was hit. It was a dastardly act and it was for the first time that a Fidayeen attack was witnessed in the country. Fidayeen attacks prior to the December 13 2001 Parliament attack were witnessed only in Kashmir. It was the year 1999 and chilling news of the IC814 being hijacked broke out. The crisis dragged on before a demand to release Maulana Masoor Azhar was made. It was for the government to take the ultimate call on whether to release this terrorist or risk the lives of so many onboard the IC814. Several agency officials part of that operation say that it was an extremely tough call. The question of negotiating with them was extremely bleak. After all the plane had landed at Khandahar controlled by the Taliban. The ISI wanted Masoor Azhar at any cost for their Kashmir battle and with Pakistan's spy agency carrying out the negotiations while putting the Taliban in front, it only made matters worse. Masood Azhar after his release went back to Pakistan and formed the Jaish-e-Mohammad. It took the Jaish less than two years to make an announcement. In no time was the Parliament attack planned and executed and the message was clear that they wanted to hit out at the democracy in India. This attack in fact boosted the Jaish to a large extent and it went on to become a formidable force in the Kashmir struggle. Officers involved in the probe said that it was an extremely tough one. Former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, C D Sahay points out that the terrorists (5 of them) were killed in the encounter and hence there was no confession to rely upon. The probe started from scratch and finally it was ascertained that the Jaish was behind it. The leads were picked up and followed and in the absence of quality evidence, I would say that it was an extremely tough probe, Sahay also points out. Was India soft? There was a lot of eye ball confrontation between India and Pakistan following the Pakistan attack. India had threatened war, but the question was how feasible was it. The Kargil war had just been fought and there was already a lot of international attention on the ties between India and Pakistan. Even if India had decided to go to war, the international com There were several meetings at the Prime Minister's office to discuss the feasibility of a war. However it was decided that the issue would be tackled in a different way rather than go to war. After all a Kargil had been fought just recently before the attack on Parliament. India however decided that it would not merely issue statements. A message had to be conveyed. India witnessed the biggest mobilization of forces along the border in the shortest time possible. The Pakistan army was in fact worried about this kind of mobilization and had even backed off to a large extent. It is very debatable whether the decision not to go to war paid off or not. While on the international front India was commended for showing restraint, the other issue was that Pakistan had not and will never learn. The Parliament attack witnessed fidayeens strike at the heart of democracy. After this there were scores of terrorist attacks. Pakistan orchestrated a new strategy of carrying out home grown jihad and even roped in the SIMI and later the Indian Mujahideen to do so. Since the birth of these two outfits, India has witnessed scores of attacks which also includes the audacious 26/11 attack. For the investigators the hanging of Afzal Guru was a major closure. After all they had struggled to get evidence against him. To add to this was the pressure from separatist groups in Kashmir who continued to claim that he was innocent. Investigators say that it was disheartening to see the manner in which politics was being played out. The government was also weighing several options where Guru was concerned. They had to take into consideration that violence in the Valley would not flare up after this hanging. The agencies and the Indian army had done a lot to ensure that some sanity in the Valley had returned and the government felt that they ought to maintain calm. Guru was however hanged on February 9 2013. It was done under the UPA regime. The sudden decision to hang him was not because the government of the day had a conscience call. Instead the government was well aware that the elections were coming up and they wanted to tom tom about this. OneIndia News Modi to Nitish: CM Rupanis swearing-in ceremony or BJP-led NDAs show of strength? Did Mani Shankar Aiyar commit sedition by hosting Pak officials during Gujarat polls? 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 Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: Polling ends, 68.70 % voting recorded India oi-Madhuri The voting for 93 seats in second phase for Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 began at 8 am on Thursday. The second and final phase of elections will see 93 assembly seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to polls. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote. Gujarat witnessed high-decibel campaign in the past one week. Being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National president of ruling BJP Amit Shah, the Gujarat elections is being watched closely by people across the country. Here are the live updates: 05:00 pm: Voting ends Concerned about double standard shown by EC today. EC has lost all objectivity&impartiality.But to issue a notice against one side&completely condone blatant violation of election code of conduct by other side,almost most astonishing thing we have seen from EC: S Tharoor,Congress pic.twitter.com/hXWyWnn13L ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 04:05 pm: "It is a complaint which is is more anticipatory in nature which says crowd was there and this could be a roadshow," says Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer on MCC violation by PM Modi. 04:00 pm: EC says the allegation of violation of MCC by PM Modi is being enquired. 03:45 pm: Several Congress workers detained outside EC office in Delhi. 03:30 pm: Heavy security outside Election Commission. Congress workers marching to Election Commission in protest over PM Modi's roadshow after casting his vote today, stopped by police outside Sardar Patel Bhawan near Patel Chowk in Delhi #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/ezSlxSS8kb ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 03:20 pm: Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot and Randeep Surjewala to lead party protest outside Election Commission over PM Modi's "roadshow". 03:15 pm: Voter turnout till 2 PM is 47% 03:00 pm: BJP's Bhupendra Yadav says the same Congress had lauded EC's decision during Rajya Sabha polls. ['EC is BJP's puppet, PM openly violating guidelines': Congress] 02:50 pm: Congress leaders to take out protest march against EC 02:35 pm: Average voter turnout till 1:30 pm has been recorded at 44.30%. 01:45 pm: Senior BJP leader LK Advani casts his vote in Ahmedabad District's Jamalpur Khadiya 01:40 pm: "Allowing a roadshow of PM on voting day is a gross violation of code of conduct. It is an election campaign. What is the EC doing? The images on TV will leave no one in doubt that the BJP and PM have conducted a full-fledged campaign on polling day. Shocking violation of Rules. EC is sleeping on the job. Let the media look at the images on the TV screens, search its conscience and reach a conclusion. There has not been a more blatant violation of the code of conduct on polling day. Stand up Media, to this unprecedented violation of the code of conduct. Condemn the EC for allowing this gross abuse," tweets P Chidambaram. 01:22 pm: Narendra Modi has violated the Model Code of Conduct with his road show after voting. The Prime Minister of the country himself is doing it. It seems like the Election Commission is working under the PM and BJP's pressure," says Ashok Gehlot, Congress' national general secretary. 01:07 pm: Compared to phase 1, less than 50% cases of EVM replacements in phase 2. Our target remains to replace the faulty EVMs as soon as possible, said BB Swain, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer 12:45 pm: Former Cricketer Nayan Mongia casts his vote in Vadodara's Akota. Seemaben Akshaykumar Mohile of BJP is contesting against Ranjit Sharadchandra Chavan of Congress 12:43 pm: 39% voting till 12 pm in second phase 12:20 pm: Out of total machines deployed for second phase of Gujarat Polls 1.63% VVPATs replaced after mock polls. 0.88 % Ballot Units and 0.86% Control Units also replaced: BB Swain, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer 12:21 pm: PM Modi stands in queue at booth number 115 in Sabarmati's Ranip locality to cast his vote 11:59 am: BJP's sitting MLA Arvind Patel is up against Congress' Jitubhai Patel from the seat 11:52 am: Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil casts his vote in Gandhinagar. 11:30 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at booth number 115 here Visuals from Ahmedabad's Sabarmati, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cast his vote at booth number 115 here. #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/bjj86USiO8 ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 11:11 am: Around 20% voter turnout recorded in second phase of polling till 10 am 11:08 am: At 10 am, average voter turnout in Anand district is at 13% and 11.77% in Patan district. 10:40 am: Deputy CM Nitin Patel casts his vote in Mehsana's Kadi. He is contesting against Congress's Jivabhai Patel 10:38 am: PAAS leader Hardik Patel casts his vote in Viramgam 10:31 am: 9.6% votes polled in Ahmedabad in first 2 hours 10:27 am: The EVM in Sankheda's Sodhaliya village in Chhota Udaipur was dysfunctional for 50 minutes, so voting was halted for that duration. We fixed the machine and now the voting is underway, said Gaurang Rana, Polling Officer 10:09 am: Arun Jaitley urged voters to turn up and excercise their right 09:49 am: Shankersinh Bapu casts his vote in Gandhinagar's Vasan village 09:37 am: Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki is urging voters to turn up and excercise their right. Urge people to turn out in huge numbers and Vote for #Congress, for Navsarjan of Gujarat with People friendly Government in Gandhinagar! #VoteCongress #CongressAaveChe #Gujaratelection2017 pic.twitter.com/FKGmIgqk4O Bharat Solanki (@BharatSolankee) December 14, 2017 09:33 am: Three polling stations in Vadodara City have reported malfunctioning EVM machines. Election Commission officers have replaced the machines. 09:10 am: BJP President Amit Shah arrives to vote at Naranpura sub-zonal office. The Gujarat Elections is now a prestige battle for the party chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 08:29 am: PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar PM Modi's mother Heeraben arrives to cast her vote in a polling booth in Gandhinagar #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/orVeaNEKY6 ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 08:27 am: Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel casts her vote in Ahmedabad's Ghatlodia. BJP's Bhupendra Patel is up against Congress's Shashikant Patel on this seat 08:16 am: Voting underway in Viramgam's polling booth number 252. This is PAAS leader Hardik Patel 's home town. Gujarat Assembly Election in 2007 and 2012 Party Wise (182 Seats) Party Name 2007 2012 Indian National Congress (INC) 59 57 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 117 119 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 3 2 Janata Dal (United) JD(U) 1 1 Gujartat Parivartan Party (GPP) - 2 Independents (IND) 2 1 08:12 am: Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase begins Hardik Patel's parents pray as voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 begins pic.twitter.com/YZAaAtMWL6 ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 07:55 am: Smallest and largest constituencies by area and by electorate in phase two of Gujarat Election 2017 Smallest and largest constituencies by area and by electorate in phase two of #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/rh8jw2B3pf ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 07:43 am: Modi calls on Gujarat citizens to exercise their voting rights. Today is Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections. I request all those voting today to vote in record numbers and enrich this festival of democracy. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 14, 2017 07:41 am: Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi asked people of Gujarat to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to franchise #NavsarjanGujarat Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 14, 2017 7.15 am: Voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 to begin shortly. Voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 to begin shortly. Visuals from polling booth no.121 in Mehsana's Kadi pic.twitter.com/BwGurtqF4E ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 Top political leaders in India PM Modi as well as main Opposition Congress party's president-elect Rahul Gandhi literally left not a single stone unturned in their respective poll campaigns. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, L K Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are among the saffron heavyweights expected to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the elections. In the first phase, 66.75% of the 2.12 crore voters cast their votes to elect 89 legislators from amongst 977 candidates on December 9. While the BJP has fielded 93 candidates, Congress has 91, Shankarsinh Vaghela-led All India Hindustan Party has fielded 46, Sharad Pawar's NCP has 28 and Shiv Sena has 17 candidates in the fray. OneIndia News 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 Gujarat elections: EC to examine complaint against Rahul Gandhi India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar The Election Commission (EC) is set to inquire a complaint against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for allegedly violating Rules 126 Representative People Act on the last day of Gujarat election campaign. The complaint filed with EC alleged that Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to a local TV channels in violation of the RP Act, 1951, reported ANI. BB Swain, Chief Electoral Officer, said, " We have got a complaint regarding telecast of an interview. We have collected the DVDs. We will be doing a due examination and look into whether it has violated Rules 126 RP Act or not." Earlier, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that interview is not permitted in the last 48 hours of campaigning in Gujarat. Goyal said, "I am sure the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and take an action." The second round of polling will be held tomorrow. The first phase of voting in 89 assembly constituencies of Gujarat was held on Saturday. The final voter turnout in the first phase of the Gujarat elections stood at 66.75%. OneIndia News Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? Gujarat poll campaign: Politics of fear runs riot? India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia New Delhi, Dec 13: There is a sense of fear in the air. It's the politics that has ruined the mood of the country. Why blame politics? It's actually the politicians who have pushed politics to the "gutter". What we have witnessed in the recent times as a part of the Gujarat Assembly elections campaign has left a bad taste in our mouth. The way our netas (leader) throw muck at each other is not only crass, uncivilised and ruthless, but it's dangerous for our democracy. During the Gujarat Assembly elections campaign, which ended on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the lead to turn the entire atmosphere "communal" that people are left with a sense of fear. That does not make the Congress any "holy", although newly-elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi tried to wash its 'sins' by visiting more than two dozen temples in the last few months. While the Congress and Rahul called the temple tour as "spiritual", the critics called it soft Hindutva to woo Gujaratis, who because of letting the BJP helm the state for a record period of 22 years, seem to have a soft corner for practitioners of Hindutva politics. Then the Congress erred by repeating its "chaiwallah" jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its now-suspended leader Mani Shankar Aiyar called Modi a "neech kisam ka aadmi" (a low-life kind of person). In order to tame the raging Congress, the BJP took the 'bull' by the horns by adding elements of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan rhetoric. The BJP also painted the Congress as a pro-Muslim party by accusing the grand old party of having "Mughali mentality". While Rahul took a moral high ground by staying away from making any below-the-belt comments against Modi and the BJP, it's the PM who took the lead in spreading canards against the Congress and Pakistan. The biggest alleged "false" charge during the Gujarat election campaign was allegedly made by PM Modi. The PM at a rally stated that former PM Manmohan Singh and other Congress leaders are a part of a conspiracy hatched along with the "enemy nation", Pakistan, to influence elections in Gujarat. His Pakistan remarks were strongly refuted by Singh and the Pakistan government. Modi was criticised by his own party leaders like Shatrughan Sinha and the BJP's ally, the Shiv Sena, for "communalising the atmosphere" of the country by "making unsubstantiated and unbelievable stories every day against political opponents". In a column for The Indian Express, writer and vice-chancellor of Ashoka University, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, stated that "the PM's Gujarat campaign shows politics of hope has been replaced entirely by politics of fear". "The conduct of the PM during the Gujarat election should set alarm bells ringing. Modi's innuendo in an election speech in Banaskantha, in which he strung together communal canards and conspiracy theories, marks a new and dangerous low in Indian politics," Mehta added. In a strongly-worded opinion piece, Mehta stated that the PM was "spreading poison". "Whether he wins or loses in Gujarat, he is spreading a poison from which Indian politics will find it hard to recover for quite some time. In shoring his power through conflict he is taking India down the road to ruin." It won't be fair to put all the blame solely on Modi for turning the country's political atmosphere communal and divisive. Other leaders and parties too are to be equally blamed for the mess. However, the responsibility of bringing back some amount of sanity into the whole mad affair of winning elections goes to Modi, the "chowkidar" (caretaker or watchman) of India. OneIndia News PM Modi's one appeal to voters in Himachal today is 'to participate' Gujarat polls: Ahmedabad school to roll out the red carpet for Modi to vote on Thursday India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Gandhinagar, Dec 13: It's not often that the little-known school, Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, gets to host India's topmost VIP. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be standing in a queue along with the rest of voters to cast his precious vote in the school which has been turned into a polling booth for the second and final phase of voting for the Gujarat Assembly elections 2017. After wrapping up his whirlpool tour of Gujarat, campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for four consecutive days, the PM came back to Delhi on Tuesday. However, on Thursday, he will be once again heading to Gujarat to vote instead of campaigning for the saffron party. It has been a month since Modi has been relentlessly campaigning in his hometown for the all-important elections in the state where he was the chief minister for almost 13 years from 2001 to 2014 till he shifted to the national capital to become the country's PM after the BJP's massive win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Gujarat will be voting for 93 Assembly seats on Thursday after having polled in 89 constituencies on Saturday. The counting of votes for Gujarat Assembly elections will be held on December 18. Many other senior state and national leaders of the BJP will also be in Ahmedabad to cast their votes, stated reports. BJP president Amit Shah too will be in the city to cast his vote from his former assembly constituency, Naranpura. He had vacated the seat to contest for a Rajya Sabha seat from the state earlier this year. Another Rajya Sabha member from the BJP representing Gujarat--Union finance minister Arun Jaitley--will be in the city to cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad. Former deputy PM and veteran BJP leader LK Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil, will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar. State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi. Thus on Thursday, along with hosting elections, Ahmedabad will be welcoming a bevvy of VIPs who are going to visit the city to vote. In the last few weeks, Gujarat is witnessing a high-voltage campaign as both the BJP and the Congress are fighting a tough battle to win the elections. The state is under the rule of the BJP for the last 22 years. As the Congress, headed by its newly-elected president Rahul Gandhi, is trying its best to unseat the BJP from its citadel, the BJP on its part also pulled up a massive campaign in the state headed by Modi. The campaigning for the final leg of polling ended on Tuesday. The saffron party's star campaigner PM Modi started the last day of campaigning for Gujarat elections on Tuesday aboard a seaplane en route to Ambaji Temple. Rahul addressed a press conference in Ahmedabad. The last day of campaigning saw both Modi and Rahul visiting temples. While Rahul visited the Lord Jagannath temple in Ahmedabad, Modi took blessings at Ambaji temple in Banaskantha. The first phase of polling saw 66.75 percent turnout. In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP had won 115 seats and the Congress 61 in 2012. This year's Gujarat elections will be remembered for "low-level" campaigning where both the BJP and the Congress attacked each other with unparliamentary language and wild allegations. Now, voters are waiting to give their verdict as which party deserves to rule them in Gujarat on Thursday. OneIndia News Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? Gujarat polls: Why Muslims consider the EVM as a devil India oi-Vicky By Vicky Many Muslim voters in Gujarat are describing the EVM as a 'devil. EVM - described as the "devil" by one worried voter - was the hot topic of discussion among the people, who, however, said they would vote in the December 14 election in the state, despite their concerns. With the circulation of messages on social media sites about EVMs being tampered with, many in the border district of Chhota Udaipur feared their votes might be transferred to other candidates. "Our vote is the only power we have and if somebody changes it, what are we left within a democracy," asked 57- year-old Sayed Mala, a small-time construction contractor, PTI reported. Mala said he did not trust the electronic machines, adding that ballot papers were the more credible option - a sentiment shared by many others across the district with three Assembly constituencies. Educated sections of the people, with access to social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook, were more worried about EVMs than the others. "I know who I will vote for. But I am not assured if it will be counted in his favour. But with a ballot paper, my vote can't be changed," said Kalol college student Sultan Hussain. Another constituent said he was not convinced about the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), a process to verify that the vote cast had gone to the candidate concerned. Farooq Sayeed from Timla village in Chhota Udaipur compared EVMs with the "devil". OneIndia News In 1987, when Army almost broke Pakistan into four and govt said no India oi-Vicky By Vicky Over the past few days, there have been claims and counter-claims regarding surgical strikes on terror camps being nurtured and run by Pakistan. It had even become a poll issue in Gujarat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, unlike his predecessor he had shown guts and ordered surgical strikes across the Line of Control. He referred to the 26/11 attack that took place during the UPA rule and said that the government of the day had refused to act against Pakistan despite the Army and Air Force stating that they were ready. It has often been debated why the governments have not done enough to act against Pakistan despite that nation continuing to sponsor terror against India. Operation brasstacks: In this context, we must take into consideration two incidents of the past when the Army said it was ready and the government refused to act. It was the year 1987 and General Krishnaswamy Sundarji had devised Operation Brasstacks. Air Marshal (retd) B K Pandey tells OneIndia that the General had made it appear as though he was conducting an exercise in the plains. He had two opposing forces He made it appear as though he was conducting an exercise in the plains. He had two opposing forces and they were moving south-north. At one stage he had weakened Amritsar to lure Pakistan into attacking Amritsar and declaring Khalistan. The whole plan was to divide Pakistan into four states. However, the Russians and Americans got wind of this and informed the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi about this. He, in turn, told the General to cool off, Air Marshal Pandey also says. After 26/11: Post 26/11 there was a lot of pressure on India to act against Pakistan. While it was said in various quarters that India would attack Pakistan, that was however not the case. Top sources say that the Army and the Air Force was asked about the preparedness. Both said that they were prepared to carry out a strike in Pakistan. The officer in the know of the events at that time said, nobody, changed their mind. In fact, the government never made up its mind to go to war. "I know the sentiment of the entire country was that of anger and disgust. The Indian Air Force was ready to strike at Pakistan. We had our contingency ready and were well prepared. However, ultimately it depends on what the government wants", he also noted. "The government was not in favour of an air strike across the border as it felt that it would escalate into a full-fledged war", he further added. B K Pandey explains that there is a difference between striking across the Line of Control and the International Border. Striking across the LoC is fine as we are hitting at a territory that we are claiming as ours. However, a strike across the IB tends to escalate the situation into a full-blown war. Post 26/11 the government could have thought about a surgical strike at least Air Marshal Pandey further adds. OneIndia News A sense of satisfaction, my journey ends here says outgoing CJI U U Lalit Big shoes to fill after CJI Lalit; hope to continue his good work: Justice Chandrachud Justice DY Chandrachud to take oath as next Chief Justice today Meet internet giants and ensure sex determination content is removed: SC to nodal agency India oi-Vikas By Vikas The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the nodal agency, set up by the Union Government to remove sex determination content online, to meet internet giants Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and ensure deletion of materials violating Indian laws. The apex court asked the nodal agency to convene a meeting within six-weeks. The government had in September informed the Supreme Court that it has set up a nodal agency to redress complaints seeking deletion of materials violating Indian laws prohibiting pre-natal sex determination, from search engines and websites. In February this year, the apex court ordered all companies to immediately constitute in-house expert bodies to identify and block keywords indicative of sex determination. In November, the court had directed companies such as Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft Corp. India Pvt. Ltd to remove such advertisements within 36 hours of receiving the complaint from a government nodal agency set up to monitor pre-natal sex determination advertisements. Section 22 of the PCPNDT Act pertains to the prohibition of advertisements relating to pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for contravention. The court was hearing a petition by Sabu Mathew George, a doctor who is seeking the apex court's intervention in view of the falling sex ratio in the country. OneIndia News Measles in Mumbai: Toddler dies, 126 children infected in 2022 so far Aamir Khan announces break from acting, wants to spend time with family Measles fear on a rise in Mumbai: 7 suspected deaths, 164 reported cases since September Modi to commission first Scorpene-class INS Kalvari today India oi-Madhuri Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday dedicate to the nation, the naval submarine INS Kalvari in Mumbai. INS Kalvari is a diesel-electric attack submarine that has been built for the Indian Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited. It is being built under the Rs 23,652 crore Project-75 at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai, is significant because the Navy currently has just 13 ageing diesel-electric submarines, with just half of them operational at any given time. The force needs at least 18 conventional submarines. The second one INS Khanderi is slated for delivery by December. OneIndia News NotInMyName: Citizens take to street to protest violence on Muslims India oi-Shreya By Shreya Recommended Video Rajasthan Love jihad : Protest held in New Delhi over recent brutal killing | Oneindia News Citizens in the National Capital have swarmed the street in the Parliament Street to protest against the increasing case of lynching on the Muslim community. This comes in light of the recent incident of brutality in Rajasthan's Rajsamand where a muslim migrant worker hailing from West Bengal was hack with an axe first and then set on fire by Sambhulal Regar under the garg of 'love-jehad'. Similar cases have seen a spike especially in the Vansundhara-led BJP governed Rajasthan where dairy farmers Pehlu Khan and Ummer Khan was lynched by self-styled gau-rakshaks or cow vigilantes. Several today took to the street to condemn such acts and demand stricter action against perpetrators of such crime - who so far have been enjoying state protection and impunity. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, December 13, 2017, 18:47 [IST] Parliament attack: No closure at all, the Jaish has become even more menacing 20 years since Parliament: Pak has done little or nothing to bring Azhar to justice Parliament attack: As India observes another anniversary Maulana Masood stays protected in Pak India oi-Vicky By Vicky The country today observes another anniversary of the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack. The temple of democracy, the Indian Parliament had been hit by gun trotting terrorists. The dark reality is that the mastermind of this attack, the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad continues to walk around in Pakistan. In fact, he has gone on to mastermind many more such dastardly attacks on Indian soil the latest major one being the Pathankot strike. Following the Kandahar hijack on December 24, 1999, the Jaish-e-Mohammad was formed under Maulana Masood Azhar. The hijack was staged to have Azhar released, and once that was done, the then President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharaff assured that he would be brought to justice. However, Azhar went on to form the JeM and plotted an attack on Parliament. The attack: On December 13, 2001, terrorists of the JeM stormed the Parliament complex and opened fire in which 12 persons were killed. The attack took place 40 minutes after Parliament was adjourned. All the MPs and ministers inside the Parliament escaped unhurt. In the ensuing one-hour gun-battle with the security forces, the terrorists were killed. Investigations that followed zeroed in on four persons --Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain, S A R Geelani and Navjot Sandhu. Sandhu was acquitted of all charges except one under Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage a war). The rest were awarded death sentences. However, the Delhi high court acquitted Geelani while commuting the death sentence of Hussain to life. In the Supreme Court, the death sentence awarded to Guru was confirmed, while Geelani's acquittal was upheld. In February 2012, Guru was hanged. Nothing much seems to have changed 16 years after this ghastly attack. India has witnessed many Pakistan sponsored attacks such as the Mumbai train bombings in 2006 and the 26/11 attacks. India has been making several requests to Pakistan to act against Azhar. Azhar continues to be a blue-eyed boy of the ISI in Pakistan. He had a short falling out with the Pakistani spy agency when he allegedly plotted the assassination of President Musharaff. But still, he remained free., but got away unscathed. Today, he is Pakistan's most important proxy. The recent attacks at Nagrota and Pathankot were carried out by the Jaish under Azhar's orders. India has not also failed to get a ban on Azhar imposed by the United Nations. China has been a stumbling block for India as it continues to oppose a ban. China says that this is a matter that needs to be debated before any decision is taken. India feels that Azhar's ban is being blocked as China considers Pakistan to be an all-weather friend. OneIndia News Looking forward to review progress of India's bi-lateral relations: PM as he heads to G20 Summit PM Modi dispels rumors around FRDI bill India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday dispelled rumours about Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill 2017 at the 90th annual general meeting of FICCI. PM Modi assured that government is working to protect interest and rights of depositors. "Rumors regarding FRDI are being spread. Government is working towards protecting interest and rights of depositors but rumors being spread are totally opposite", he said. He said that contribution of institutions like FICCI important to dispel such rumors. FRDI Bill: Will you lose all your hard earned money? Find out here: "You must have seen that this Government is taking decisions keeping in consideration the needs of the youth in the country, but you can also see the contrast in the previous Government," PM Modi said. "This government is working to end such a fight with the system. We are working to establish a system which is not only transparent, but sensitive as well and that understands the needs of the people," he added. PM Shri @narendramodi will shortly address 90th FICCI Annual General Meeting in New Delhi. Watch at https://t.co/vpP0MI6iTu pic.twitter.com/sexicz7Fhe BJP (@BJP4India) December 13, 2017 OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, December 13, 2017, 17:44 [IST] Split wide open: Has Chhota Shakeel broken away from Dawood India oi-Vicky By Vicky Is there a split in the D Gang. A recent development reported by the Indian intelligence agencies suggests that Dawood Ibrahim's trusted man, Chhota Shakeel has moved away from the Clifton residence where the don stays. Both have been living in that area in Karachi Pakistan since the 1980s after they fled from India. According to intelligence reports, the problem between the two began over Dawood's brother Anees. Shakeel has often complained about interference by Anees who always tries to have the upper hand in affairs of the syndicate. Dawood has often sided with Anees and also supported him in the succession battle. Dawood wants his brother to take over the affairs of the gang, but Shakeel says that the most of the work is undertaken by him. Shakeel has always been Dawood's go-to man and the former feels left out as a result of which he had decided to move away from the intelligence report states. The Indian agencies are scrutinising this information carefully. If it is indeed true that Shakeel has moved away from Dawood, then it is good news for India. Shakeel has been in command of the syndicate for long and has handled the India operations exclusively. He is a well-known face with the Indian operatives and him breaking away from Dawood could weaken the syndicate considerably. OneIndia News Jharkhand crisis: UPA to stage protest across state on Nov 5 against 'attempts to destabilise govt' Unaccounted transactions of Rs 100 cr found during IT raids in Jharkhand This kissing contest in Jharkhand kicks up political storm India oi-Vicky By Vicky A probe has been ordered into a kissing contest in Jharkhand which has kicked up a political row. A two-member probe team headed by the sub-divisional magistrate visited Dumarai village and inquired from villagers about the event. The event was organised by a JMM legislator on Saturday evening. The event was part of the various other events held as part of the Dumaria mela which is being organised for the past 37 years. The legislator Simon Marandi who organised the contest said that this was part of an initiative to check growing cases of divorces and differences between the couples in the tribal community. Jharkhand hosts open kissing contest for couples in tribal area Activists of BJP farmers' wing and All Adivasi Youth and Students Union (AAYSU) on Tuesday staged demonstrations and burnt effigies of Marandi. BJP leader and Pakur zila parishad chairperson Babudhan Murmu said the JMM legislators should apologise for the incident. OneIndia News Plea in Delhi HC for equal status to 'Vande Mataram' as that of national anthem 75 Vande Bharat trains to connect different parts of country in 75 weeks of 'Amrit Mahotsav': Modi No \"hello\", instead use 'Vande Mataram' when answering calls: Maha minister to govt officials UP: Fresh row over Vande Mataram after BSP mayor refuses to stand during national song India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Lucknow, Dec 13: It has been a while we have been witnessing several 'political' controversies over the national song, Vande Mataram. While right-wing groups and political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), want Vande Mataram to be accorded the same position and respect as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, others, especially the Muslim organisations, feel that the song goes against the tenets of Islam. A fresh controversy broke out over the national song in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday after newly-elected Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) mayor Sunita Verma was seen sitting while Vande Mataram was being recited at the swearing-in ceremony. Terming Verma's act a disrespect to the song, BJP councillors protested against the mayor by shouting slogans against her during the event. "BJP councillors registered protest as Meerut BSP mayor Sunita Verma was seen sitting while Vande Mataram was being recited at the swearing-in ceremony earlier today," tweeted ANI. BJP Councillors registered protest as Meerut BSP Mayor Sunita Verma was seen sitting while Vande Matram was being recited at swearing-in ceremony earlier today. pic.twitter.com/SjNasydPqV ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 12, 2017 When reporters asked her why she did not stand during the Vande Mataram recitation, Verma stated that "we should talk about vikas (development)". "Don't try to divert my attention from real issues," she added. Vikas ki baat kijiye, mera dhyaan mat bhatkaiye: Meerut BSP Mayor Sunita Verma on question why she did not stand up when Vande Matram was being recited pic.twitter.com/S07IeOtbxK ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 12, 2017 In fact, days after the BSP won the two mayoral seats of Meerut and Aligarh in UP, the Meerut mayor Verma overturned an earlier order that asked all employees to sing Vande Mataram before municipal corporation meetings. "The municipal board's Constitution states the national anthem will be sung, not Vande Mataram. There should be no controversy... only Jana Gana Mana will be sung at the start of every board meeting," she had said. Verma's predecessor, BJP mayor Harikant Ahluwalia, had made singing of the national song a must at the MMC board meetings. While announcing his decision, Ahluwalia stated that those who refuse to stand during Vande Mataram recitation would be terminated. Verma's party colleague and Aligarh mayor Mohammad Furkan had also said that he would not sing the national song during the oath-taking ceremony. On Sunday, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said he did not understand what was the problem in singing Vande Mataram, which meant "salutations to the mother", a song that had inspired millions during the country's freedom movement. "After so many years, now we are discussing (if) Vande Mataram is good or not, nationalism and patriotism are good or not. Also, we feel shy to talk about all this," Naidu said. OneIndia News Cong for Muslims, BJP for Hindus: Did Rahuls temple visits in Guj help to bust the myth? Who will take the rap if BJP loses in Gujarat: Shatrughan Sinha to PM Modi India oi-Deepika By Deepika Disgruntled BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah as to who will take the blame if the BJP loses the Gujarat Assembly election. "If we are victorious, we know you shall get full credit... But if we are not, then who will take the rap? There's an old saying - 'Taali kaptaan ko, to gaali bhi kaptaan ko'. Hope, wish and pray we get only Taalis (claps) in Gujarat elections. Jai Hind!" Sinha tweeted. The sidelined party leader has been continuously taking pot shots at the party leadership via social media. He asked them to return to Delhi from Gujarat, where the second and final phase of voting to elect a new Assembly will take place on Thursday. "Humble appeal to our one man show and two man army. Please return 'home' to Delhi if we've exhausted all our tricks, tantrums, wrong statements and tall promises. Time to also bring back the ministers, ministries and Govt sitting in Gujarat & fighting amongst themselves to get credit Modi and Shah have been the star campaigners for the BJP in Gujarat, whose election results will be known on December 18. 93 constituencies in the north and central Gujarat go to poll in the second and final phase of polling in the state on December 14. OneIndia News Why did Brahmaputra turn black? PM Modi asks ministers to find out India pti-PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the ministries of external affairs and water resources to find out why the water of Brahmaputra turned black and take remedial measures for it. This was conveyed at a high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal besides others last evening, a statement issued by the Assam government said. Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre had already taken up the issue of Brahmaputra turning black seriously and even engaged the Central Water Commission to look into it and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, the prime minister also asked the external affairs ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Swaraj maintained that her ministry had already contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study was being undertaken to find the real cause, the statement said. The prime minister also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of Brahmaputra water are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. Sonowal informed the prime minister that the state government had directed the director general of Assam Emergency and Fire Services to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri along the Brahmaputra and sent them to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. The water became muddy and cement-like apparently due to construction of a 1000-km tunnel by China to divert waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in Tibet. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba, attorney general KK Venugopal, director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. Islamic State might erupt again somewhere else, Iraq PM warns International pti-PTI Paris, December 13: Three days after declaring victory over the Islamic State group, Iraq's prime minister warns that the group's extremists might "erupt again somewhere else" without international cooperation. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told reporters on Wednesday that "we have managed to break them" in Iraq, but added that it's a worry for everyone that IS has "this unfortunate ability to recruit young people very quickly." He said there must be an effort to "remove their grassroots in the region." Al-Abadi made the comments at a news conference on the sidelines of a climate summit outside Paris. He called for continued international cooperation in training Iraqi forces and providing logistical and intelligence support. Al-Abadi declared victory in the more than three-year fight against IS in a national address on Saturday. PTI North Korea wants to prevent war: UN envoy who visited Pyongyang International pti-PTI United Nations, Dec 13: A senior UN official returning from Pyongyang has said that North Korean officials had told him it was important to prevent war but offered no concrete proposal for talks. "They agreed that it was important to prevent war," Jeffrey Feltman, the UN's political affairs chief, told reporters after briefing the Security Council on his trip. Feltman met with North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong- Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-Kuk during his visit to Pyongyang over the weekend -- the first by a high-ranking UN official since 2011. No followup meeting was agreed during the talks, but Feltman said he told the North Koreans that his visit should be seen as "only the beginning" of a new exchange. "They listened seriously to our arguments," said Feltman, though acknowledging that "they did not offer any type of commitment to us at that point." "I think they have to reflect on what we said with their own leadership," he added. The UN under secretary-general for political affairs said he urged Pyongyang to "signal that it was prepared to consider engagement" with world powers and that the United Nations could help. "Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions, but I think we've left the door ajar," he said. "I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide." A career diplomat who has served in the US State Department, notably on Middle East issues, Feltman said his mission to Pyongyang was "certainly the most important" that he had ever undertaken. The UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions over the past year against North Korea over its increasingly powerful missile and nuclear tests. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Washington that the United States was ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions," backing away from US insistence that Pyongyang accept in principle to disarm. PTI 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Democrat Jones meltdown after his lies about Jan 6 get exposed to his face during hearing. Rumble 24 Sep 2022 Rumble 16 Nov 2022 Chris Tarbell is a former FBI Agent and the Founder of NAXO Cybersecurity. In this conversation, we talk about his time at the FBI.. Rumble 17 Nov 2022 With the passage of time, the data has become overwhelming that the so-called Covid Pandemic was a man-made phenomenon that was.. Mashable 15 Oct 2022 Put out the pumpkins, dead-bolt the doors, and face your fears. It's October and the time for terror is upon us. Whether.. Daily Record 17 Nov 2022 The former President claimed that the US would "plant our beautiful American flag very soon" on Mars and that a defence shield.. This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source. Christmas (Image by christinejwarner) Details DMCA Soon Americans and Canadians will be going to Christian churches to celebrate Christmas as they and their churches support their governments' on-going policy of support for sectarian terrorists in Syria who slaughter Christians. At Ma'loula, Syria, for example, where the language of Christ, Aramaic, is still spoken, Western - supported Al Qaeda terrorists murdered Christians, destroyed religious icons, and sought to impose the dictatorship of sectarian despotism on the remnants of the local population. St. Takla Shrine destroyed by Western proxy terrorists Dr. Joseph Saaddeh, a resident of Ma'loula, explains in a video: What happened in Ma'loula, it's not revolution. Groups of terrorists attacked the culture and destroyed the culture, and destroyed everything good and everything belonging to history, and they want to make of like them and they will kill us because they have the ideology of the Wahhabi and they don't accept another. Either you will be like them or they will kill you. This is the essential ideology for what is called the revolution "[1] Now that Syria and its allies have liberated most of Syria from the scourge of Western-supported terrorists, Syria's non-sectarian, pluralist identity, reinforced by its secular, progressive governance, is reasserting itself. Reverend Andrew Ashdown shared the following video featuring liberated Hama, with this description: "Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Hama, Syria. Not something that will ever be experienced in areas held by western-backed terrorists!"[2] The hallmark of current North American society is hollow "faith", criminal duplicity, and silence in the face of an overseas holocaust[3] created and sustained by those who pretend to represent us. As North Americans, our silence makes us complicit in these crimes. It is anti-Christian and criminal, and it certainly contradicts the essence of what this "holy" season is meant to represent. Notes [1] "Dr. Joseph Saadeh of Maaloula on Syrian 'revolution' " YouTube. 19 September 2016 by Jamal Daoud. Partial transcript.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oWbLZCxCZE ) Accessed 12 December, 2017. [2] Reverend Ashdown, Global Facebook post on December 8, 2017. 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 Unz Review A new cabinet will mark neocon ascendancy (Image by Rumiahmed) Details DMCA Back during the admittedly brief shock and awe period that immediately followed on the Trump electoral victory, it appeared that there might be an actual realignment of American foreign policy. The neoconservatives virtually unanimously had opposed Donald Trump in the most vile terms, both in the GOP primaries and during the actual electoral campaign, making clear that Hillary was their choice for a future full of unrelenting, ideologically driven warfare to convert the world to democracy. By that metric, one would assume that Trump would prefer to be roasted on a spit rather than have neocons on his national security team, and many in the punditry did agree with that analysis and went on to share that view. At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be remarkable resilient, particularly as many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable hawks, hostile to Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel. In short, many neocons can be unmasked as Hillary Clinton Democrats if one looks at them issue by issue, which certainly helps to explain some subsequent developments. Some Washington observers who actually care about such things have been writing how there has been a kumbaya process going on between self-described conservative neocons and liberal interventionists. Katrina vanden Heuvel describes the progressive hawks as "the essential-country crowd," borrowing a phrase from ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. There are inevitably minor disconnects between the two groups based on their motives for aggression -- Democrats claim to do it to bring democracy and freedom while Republicans say they do it to enhance national security. Both are lying in any event as it all comes down to great power rivalries, with big powerful nations pushing smaller weaker nations around because they are able to get away with it and feel more comfortable if everyone lines up behind them. So everyone in Washington and New York's financial services industry agrees that a more assertive America is a better America even when the reality is that no one winds up with either democracy or security. Which brings us to the latest shuffle in the Donald Trump cabinet and what it is likely to mean down the road. Multiple sources are predicting Tillerson out and Mike Pompeo in at State Department with Pompeo replaced at CIA by Senator Tom Cotton. The White House is denying the story, calling it "fake news," but it is clear that Trump is uncomfortable with the current arrangement and Tillerson will be gone sooner or later. Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State replaces a somewhat bumbling businessman adept at dealing in energy futures contracts who has been struggling with reducing State's enormously bloated payroll. Pompeo, a real hard-nosed political hardliner who tends to see complex issues in fairly simplistic ways, has become a presidential confidant, briefing Trump frequently on the state of the world, most recently pushing for the horrific decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a recent speech, Pompeo criticized the CIA, observing that it had both forgotten how to spy, which is almost certainly true, while adding that it will have to become "more vicious" to accomplish its mission of making the United States "safe." Pompeo would like to turn the United States into an unleashed wrecking ball directed against the enemies of the American Way and he appears intent on starting that process in the Middle East. And Pompeo will be replaced as CIA Director by Tom Cotton. The less said about Tom the better, but I will attempt to summarize in eight words here: Tom is completely owned by the Israel Lobby. In his 2014 election as junior Senator from Arkansas, he received $1 million from the Emergency Committee for Israel headed by Bill Kristol as well as additional assistance from the Republican Jewish Coalition. In March 2015, Tom paid those supporters back when 47 Republican United States Senators signed a letter allegedly written by him that was then sent to the Iranian government directly, warning that any agreement over that country's nuclear program reached with President Barack Obama would likely be overturned by the Congress. The letter, which undercuts the authority of the American president before an international audience, was signed by the entire Republican Party leadership in the Senate and also included then presidential contenders Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. I do not wish to imply that Cotton and Pompeo are somehow stupid, but they do tend to see the world in a very monochromatic fashion, just like their boss. Pompeo was first in his class at West Point and Cotton graduated from Harvard as an undergrad and also from the Law School. Trump claims to be the smartest person in the room no matter where he is standing. But for all the academic credentials and other posturing, it is hard to imagine how the new choices could possibly be worse from a common-sense perspective unless one includes Nikki Haley, who is, fortunately, otherwise engaged. Haley really is stupid. And ambitious. And is also owned by the Israel Lobby, which appears to be a thread that runs its way through all the Trump foreign policy appointees. What is wrong about the whole Trump team is that they all seem to believe that you can go around the world kicking the sh*t out of everyone without there being any consequences. And they all hate Iran for reasons that continue to be obscure but may be connected to their relationships with -- you guessed it -- the neoconservatives and the Israeli Lobby! Yes, the neocons are back. I noted back in October that when Pompeo and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster wanted a friendly place to drop by to give a policy speech that would be warmly received they went to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), whose marketing masthead slogan is "Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Freedom." FDD is currently neocon central, used like the American Enterprise Institute was when Dick Cheney was Vice President and needed a friendly audience. It is headed by Canadian Mark Dubowitz, whose passion in life is making sure that sanctions on Iran are enforced to the letter. Unfortunately, it is not easy to deport a Canadian. Neocon watchers will undoubtedly note that big names like Bill Kristol, the Kagans, Michael Chertoff and Max Boot will not be showing up in government. True, but that is because they will instead be working through their foundations, of which FDD is only one. The Alliance for Securing Democracy, which has recently sprung up in lobby-land, markets itself as "bipartisan, and transatlantic"... but it actually is pure neocon. Its goal is to "expose Putin's ongoing efforts to subvert democracy in the United States of America and Europe." It includes the usual neocon names but also has the loyal Democratic opposition, including ex-CIA Acting Director Mike Morell and Jake Sullivan, both of whom were top level advisers to Hillary Clinton. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). "Today with the signing of this defense bill," US president Donald Trump said as he affixed his signature to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act on December 12, "we accelerate the process of fully restoring America's military might." Is Trump truly under the mistaken impression that US military might is ailing? Or is he mindlessly aping Ronald Reagan and hoping it brings in the re-election votes? Or perhaps something else entirely? The NDAA budgets nearly $700 billion for the US military next year. Despite its name, there's precious little "defense" involved. While it's true that the United States is involved in several ongoing wars ($65.7 billion of the NDAA's appropriations go to the "Overseas Contingency Fund" for continuing those wars), none of them serve any vital, let alone existential, US interest, and none of them are defensive in nature. The US has no militarily significant adversaries in the western hemisphere. Further afield, it already floats by far the most powerful naval and expeditionary capability on Earth. Of the world's 41 aircraft carriers, the US operates 20, including 11 flat-top "supercarriers." The remaining 21 are scattered among the navies of 12 other countries, mostly US allies. America's two most likely military adversaries, China and Russia, each operate one light STOBAR ("Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery") carrier. Speaking of China and Russia: China's military budget is less than 1/3 the size of this latest US monstrosity. Russia's is even smaller, and set to shrink in 2018. A true US "defense" budget might, if wasteful, run as high as 1/10th of the NDAA's numbers. So if the NDAA isn't about defense, what's it about? Mostly corporate welfare. The bill includes money to buy 30 more planes than the military asked for (24 reliable old F/A-18s instead of 14, and 90 of the newer lemon, the F-35, instead of 70). The US Navy asked for one new Littoral Combat Ship. The NDAA budgets for three. Translation: Billions for aerospace and ship-building companies. The NDAA also adds more than 16,000 troops to the already bloated US armed forces. Not because more troops are needed for "defense," but because each new soldier, sailor, airman and Marine must be fed, clothed, housed, and armed -- which, in the age of fake privatization, means yet more money for "defense" contractors. Prior to World War Two, when a war ended US military spending descended toward pre-war levels. Then what Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to as the Military Industrial Complex took over the federal government. Now that government's primary activity is moving as much money as possible from your pockets to the bank accounts of "defense contractors" on a continuing basis. This year, the tab comes to about $2,160 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth? See original here Five senators are now calling on President Trump to resign over allegations that he sexually harassed or assaulted women, and 56 House lawmakers with the Democratic Women's Working Group are calling for a congressional investigation into the allegations. This comes as three of the 16 women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual harassment held a press conference Monday in New York, demanding that Congress take action. We speak with one of them: Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant for North Carolina when Trump owned the pageant. We are also joined by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and we play an excerpt from the Brave New Films documentary "16 Women and Donald Trump." This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZALEZ: Five senators are now calling on President Trump to resign over allegations that he sexually harassed or assaulted women. This is New York's Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaking Monday on CNN. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: President Trump should resign. These allegations are credible; they are numerous. I've heard these women's testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking. JUAN GONZALEZ: Senator Gillibrand joins Senators Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden in calling on President Trump to step down. Meanwhile, 56 House lawmakers with the Democratic Women's Working Group are also calling for a congressional investigation into the allegations against Trump. AMY GOODMAN: This comes as three of the 16 women who have publicly accused President Trump of sexual harassment held a news conference in New York on Monday, demanding Congress take action. The women shared accounts in which they said Trump groped, fondled and forcibly kissed them. Monday's news conference was held by Brave New Films, which released the documentary 16 Women and Donald Trump in November. JILL HARTH: He groped me. He absolutely groped me. And he just slipped his hand there, touching my private parts. TEMPLE TAGGART: He turned to me and embraced me and gave me a kiss on the lips. And I remember being shocked and -- because I would have just thought to shake somebody's hand. But that was his first response with me. JESSICA LEEDS: It was a real shock when all of the sudden his hands were all over me. But it's when he started putting his hand up my skirt, and that was it. That was it. KRISTIN ANDERSON: The person on my right, who, unbeknownst to me at that time, was Donald Trump, put their hand up my skirt. He did touch my vagina through my underwear. LISA BOYNE: As the women walked across the table, Donald Trump would look up under their skirt and, you know, comment on whether they had underwear or didn't have underwear. I didn't want to have to walk across the table. I wanted to get out of there. KARENA VIRGINIA: Then his hand touched the right inside of my breast. I felt intimidated, and I felt powerless. MINDY McGILLIVRAY: Melania was standing right next to him when he touched my butt. 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). From Smirking Chimp Mick Mulvaney - Caricature (Image by DonkeyHotey) Details DMCA Most people have probably heard about Mick Mulvaney's seizure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as Donald Trump's appointed "acting director." They probably don't realize quite how outrageous this move is. First, it is worth noting that Mick Mulvaney openly holds the CFPB in contempt. When he was still in the House of Representatives he referred to it as a "joke." Mulvaney has made it clear that he would be happier if the CFPB did not exist. Appointing him as acting director is a bit like selecting a hard--core atheist as the next pope. It is also worth placing the CFPB in a larger economic context. The CFPB's general purpose is to protect people who are less financially sophisticated from predation by the financial industry. While it does perform this purpose, it also is working to make the financial industry more efficient, insofar as it succeeds in this effort. Remember, the economic purpose of the financial industry is to allocate credit to those who need it. In principle, we want to use as few resources as possible in this process. If we only need one million people rather than two million people to issue and service loans and perform other financial operations, then we have freed up a million people to work in health care, education, or other productive sectors of the economy. If financial corporations think they can make lots of money by writing deceptive contracts and abusive practices towards their customers, we know they will devote lots of resources to writing deceptive contracts and engaging in abusive practices. If the CFPB can shut down this avenue for making profits, then the people working in the financial sector will actually be focused on providing customers a service, rather than ripping them off. This is a gain to the economy as a whole. Trump's decision to appoint Mulvaney was obviously intended to neuter the CFPB and reopen the door to all sorts of predatory practices. In carrying through this appointment, Trump was not only circumventing the order of succession laid out in the law creating the CFPB, he was also undermining the explicit intention of Congress for the CFPB to be an independent bureau. No one disputes that President Trump has the right to appoint the replacement for outgoing director Richard Cordray. However the law is written so that he would have to nominate someone who would go through the Senate approval process. This means that Trump's candidate would have to make various disclosures and undergo questioning by members of the Senate. Furthermore, once the nominee was approved by the Senate, he or she could only be removed for cause. Trump would not have the authority to remove his pick to the head the Bureau simply because he disapproved of their decisions in this capacity. By contrast, Mulvaney has made no disclosures and was not subject to any questions from the Senate. He also has no independence from President Trump. He can be removed any day of the week for any reason. In fact, since Mulvaney's day job is running the Office of Management and Budget, where he also serves at the will of the president, he risks being fired from two jobs if he does anything that gets Donald Trump angry. The use of an acting director, in this case, is not an accident. Cordray's plans to leave the CFPB before his term ends next summer were widely reported in the media. There is no reason that Trump could not have had a successor already selected whose name could be given to the Senate as soon as Cordray formally announced his resignation. Trump chose to go the Mulvaney acting director route precisely to circumvent this process. Unfortunately, this is not the only case where Trump has appointed "acting" officials to head nominally independent agencies, thereby avoiding the constitutional requirement for the Senate to give its "advice and consent." Keith Norieka, a person who had a career in the financial industry, with no regulatory experience, served as acting Comptroller of the Currency for six months, just recently being replaced by Trump's nominee for this position. Perhaps even more disconcerting is Trump's selection of David Kautter as acting director of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) when the term of the previous director ended November 13th. Here also, there is no excuse for not having a nominee to submit to the Senate. The expiration of the IRS director's term is set in law, so Trump's team knew about this opening the day he was elected. As is the case with Norieka, Kautter has no experience in enforcement. His background was in running tax avoidance scams at one of the country's largest accounting firms. And, this acting director of an ostensibly independent agency, like the other acting agency heads, can be fired by Trump any day of the week for any reason. Congress could put a stop to this abuse of the authority to appoint "acting" heads of agencies and departments. There is not much ambiguity about the words "advice and consent," and there is neither with these and other acting appointees. But the Republicans in Congress don't really care much about the constitution because right now, rich people need tax cuts. Just in time for Christmas, the Deep State wants to give America the gift that keeps on giving: never-ending mass surveillance. I'm not referring to the kind of surveillance carried out by that all-knowing and all-seeing Jolly Old St. Nick and his informant the Elf on the Shelf (although, to be fair, they have helped to acclimate us to a world in which we're always being watched and judged by higher authorities). No, this particular bit of Yuletide gift-giving comes courtesy of the Deep State (a.k.a. the Surveillance State, Police State, Shadow Government and black-ops spy agencies). If this power-hungry cabal gets its way, the government's power to spy on its citizens will soon be all-encompassing and permanent. As it now stands, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--the legal basis for two of the National Security Agency's largest mass-surveillance programs, "PRISM" and "Upstream"--is set to expire at the end of 2017. "PRISM" lets the NSA access emails, video chats, instant messages, and other content sent via Facebook, Google, Apple and others. "Upstream" lets the NSA worm its way into the internet backbone--the cables and switches owned by private corporations like AT&T that make the internet into a global network--and scan traffic for the communications of tens of thousands of individuals labeled "targets." Section 702 has been used as an end-run around the Constitution to allow the government to collect the actual content of Americans' emails, phone calls, text messages and other electronic communication without a warrant. Under Section 702, the government collects and analyzes over 250 million internet communications every year. There are estimates that at least half of these contain information about U.S. residents, many of whom have done nothing wrong. This information is then shared with law enforcement and "routinely used for purposes unrelated to national security." Mind you, Section 702 gives the government access to the very content of your conversations (phone calls, text messages, video chats), your photographs, your emails. So beware of what you say, what you read, what you write, where you go, and with whom you communicate, because it will all be recorded, stored and used against you eventually, at a time and place of the government's choosing. Privacy, as we have known it, is dead. For all intents and purposes, we now have a fourth branch of government. This fourth branch came into being without any electoral mandate or constitutional referendum, and yet it possesses superpowers, above and beyond those of any other government agency save the military. It is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful. It operates beyond the reach of the president, Congress and the courts, and it marches in lockstep with the corporate elite who really call the shots in Washington, DC. The government's "technotyranny" surveillance apparatus has become so entrenched and entangled with its police state apparatus that it's hard to know anymore where law enforcement ends and surveillance begins. The short answer: they have become one and the same entity. The police state has passed the baton to the surveillance state. This hasn't fazed President Trump who, much like his predecessors, has thus far marched in lockstep with the dictates of the police state. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Deported Veterans at School of the Americas Border Watch at Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Arizona. (Image by (photo by Ann Wright)) Details DMCA Veterans for Peace, an international military veterans organization, has chartered its newest chapter in Mexico, not of veterans of the Mexican military, as it has chartered chapters from the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Okinawa for veterans of their own national military services. The newest chapter of Veterans for Peace is composed of U.S. military veterans recruited from 30 other countries. These U.S. military veterans did not attain U.S. citizenship that was promised when they were recruited for U.S. military service. After their service in the U.S. military they ran afoul of law enforcement in some manner and were deported despite their willingness to die for this country. Many veterans who were ultimately deported, were detained by police after traffic stops or other minor infractions and then turned over to immigration officials. A few committed felonies which, when traced to their root cause, were linked to the traumatic effects of U.S. military service in the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq in the past 16 years. Like thousands of other veterans, some of the deported veterans were homeless after being unable to function in society following their deployments. They were sufficiently negatively affected both emotionally and psychologically, by their U.S. military experience that they were unable to complete the administrative paperwork to pursue the promised U.S. citizenship in exchange for their willingness to fight and die in the U.S. military. The number of deported U.S. military is unknown as the U.S government apparently is not asking deportees if he/she is a veteran. Requests by Veterans for Peace and other veterans groups for detention prisons to ask detainees if they are veterans have gone unfulfilled. Hector Barajas, who founded the Deported Veterans Support house in Tijuana four years ago, has identified 350 deported U.S. veterans born in more than 30 countries, including India, Italy, Mexico and all seven nations of Central America. In mid-November 2017, 10 deported members of the Veterans for Peace chapter in Tijuana, Mexico traveled to the School of the Americas Border Watch in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to participate in the workshops held on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Several deported veterans told of how they were deported. A common theme was the lack of information from the U.S. military on the necessity of applying for citizenship after they were recruited. Several said they thought their service alone in the U.S. military automatically gave them citizenship. The lack of help from the U.S. military to ensure that the veterans knew they had to officially apply for U.S. citizenship, particularly those suffering from post-traumatic stress and the inability to focus on their own medical needs, much less the paperwork for citizenship, meant that many U.S. military veterans are living in the U.S. without legal documentation. Their DD Form 214 as evidence of their service in the U.S. military is meaningless to law enforcement and ICE officials who take these veterans to a detention prison or immediately to the border and dump them across. Some have been medically retired from the U.S. military due to their psychological or physical injuries and are receiving monthly medical payments. Because they have been deported they cannot continue to get medical services from the Veterans Administration as VA facilities are located in the U.S. and they are forbidden from entering the U.S. to continue to receive treatment that many have had for years. One veteran said he was brought to the U.S. as a child by his parents. He had lived his entire life in the United States. He had a business in the United States before and after serving in the U.S. military. When he was deported he left his family -- parents, spouses, children, siblings -- behind in the United States. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). We are Heading Down a Dangerous Path Image created from image crediting (Image by naomi klein) Details DMCA What President Trump stands for is not "America First", but unbridled capitalism, growing inequality, increasing racism, white supremacy, hatred of women, protectionism and constant provocation. He is purposely creating a crisis, as Trump's administration thrives by chaos. One man's loss is, after all, another man's gain. The Trump Family is characterized by lawlessness, megalomania, and a general sense of superiority over common rules and laws. Trump takes advantage of his presidency in all sorts of ways. Trump will use orchestrated chaos to push through even more radical items on his agenda, such as: dismantling the rule of law, the welfare state, social services and the free press. People like Trump are convinced that money and power give you the right to impose your will on others. As Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand once said, "Power is right," and "Egoism is a virtue." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity Search Title Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Page 1 of 12 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All (1 comments) SHARE Amid War in Ukraine - Intl Peace Coalition's 'NO to NATO' The week in Madrid at the "NO to NATO" events underscored the current threats of war to the survival of humanity. Saturday, July 9, 2022The week in Madrid at the "NO to NATO" events underscored the current threats of war to the survival of humanity. (1 comments) SHARE Largest US & NATO Naval Drills in Pacific We citizens must not let our governments continue confrontation instead of dialogue to resolve national security issues. Wednesday, June 22, 2022We citizens must not let our governments continue confrontation instead of dialogue to resolve national security issues. (1 comments) SHARE Final Declaration: VII International Seminar For Peace And For The Abolition Of Foreign Military Bases - PopularResistan Delegates from 25 countries gathered in the province of Guanta'namo, Cuba, from May 4 to 5, at the invitation of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and the World Peace Council, to celebrate the SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR FOR PEACE AND FOR THE ABOLITION OF FOREIGN MILITARY BASES. Tuesday, May 24, 2022Delegates from 25 countries gathered in the province of Guanta'namo, Cuba, from May 4 to 5, at the invitation of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and the World Peace Council, to celebrate the SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR FOR PEACE AND FOR THE ABOLITION OF FOREIGN MILITARY BASES. SHARE $1.1 BILLION and Counting for U.S. Navy's Obstinance in Shutting Down Leaking Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks $1.1 BILLION and Counting for U.S. Navy's Obstinance in Shutting Down Dangerous, Leaking Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks in Honolulu Navy Decisions on Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks Very Costly to Military Families, Taxpayers and Hawaii's Environment Thursday, March 24, 2022$1.1 BILLION and Counting for U.S. Navy's Obstinance in Shutting Down Dangerous, Leaking Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks in Honolulu Navy Decisions on Red Hill Jet Fuel Tanks Very Costly to Military Families, Taxpayers and Hawaii's Environment SHARE Four Hawaii State Legislators Declare "Over Militarization" to Be a Threat to the Security of Hawai'i and the Internatio In a remarkable twist, four members of the Legislature of the State of Hawai'i are finally challenging the U.S. military in Hawai'i. No doubt using the U.S. Navy's massive jet fuel leak at Red Hill that contaminated the drinking water for over 100,000 residents of O'ahu as an inflection point of deteriorating military and Hawai'i citizen relationships, Wednesday, March 23, 2022In a remarkable twist, four members of the Legislature of the State of Hawai'i are finally challenging the U.S. military in Hawai'i. No doubt using the U.S. Navy's massive jet fuel leak at Red Hill that contaminated the drinking water for over 100,000 residents of O'ahu as an inflection point of deteriorating military and Hawai'i citizen relationships, (2 comments) SHARE Will Russian Diplomats Resign In Opposition to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine? Nineteen years ago, in March 2003, I resigned as a U.S. diplomat in opposition to the President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Monday, March 14, 2022Nineteen years ago, in March 2003, I resigned as a U.S. diplomat in opposition to the President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. (1 comments) SHARE Please Don't Hate Us For What Our Government Leaders Have Done, Say Russians ..We Didn't Hate You For What Bush Did to Iraq! As hard as it might be for some, I plead that we not vilify Russians for the actions of their political leaders. I hope that we can be as generous to peace-seeking Russians as the world was to anti-war Americans. Friday, March 4, 2022..We Didn't Hate You For What Bush Did to Iraq! As hard as it might be for some, I plead that we not vilify Russians for the actions of their political leaders. I hope that we can be as generous to peace-seeking Russians as the world was to anti-war Americans. (1 comments) SHARE Tone Deaf Navy Lawsuit Attacks Hawaii's State Lawsuit Over Leaking Fuel Tanks Tone-Deaf Navy Lawsuit Calls State of Hawai'i Shut Down of Leaking Jet Fuel Tanks as "Erroneous; Arbitrary, Capricious, and an Abuse of Discretion; Clearly Unwarranted" as no "Imminent Peril" Tell That to Its Own Military Families-- No Trust in US Navy Friday, February 4, 2022Tone-Deaf Navy Lawsuit Calls State of Hawai'i Shut Down of Leaking Jet Fuel Tanks as "Erroneous; Arbitrary, Capricious, and an Abuse of Discretion; Clearly Unwarranted" as no "Imminent Peril" Tell That to Its Own Military Families-- No Trust in US Navy (5 comments) SHARE For God's Sake Boys, STOP THIS WAR S**T!!! We've seen this before. The U.S. creates a situation, digs in its heels and makes ultimatums and tens of thousands die. I resigned from the U.S. government in 2003 in opposition to another war-President Bush's war on Iraq in which followed that war playbook. Wednesday, January 26, 2022We've seen this before. The U.S. creates a situation, digs in its heels and makes ultimatums and tens of thousands die. I resigned from the U.S. government in 2003 in opposition to another war-President Bush's war on Iraq in which followed that war playbook. SHARE No Aloha for Assassin Drones That Have Arrived in Hawai'i The world was horrified by Hellfire missile fired from a U.S. military drone that caused the August 29, 2021 deaths of 10 innocent civilians, including seven children, in a family compound in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. Friday, September 24, 2021The world was horrified by Hellfire missile fired from a U.S. military drone that caused the August 29, 2021 deaths of 10 innocent civilians, including seven children, in a family compound in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. (2 comments) SHARE The Difficulty and Sometimes Violence of Evacuations Evacuations of American citizens from crisis countries is always difficult and dangerous, as the past 15 days of evacuation of over 124,000 people from Afghanistan demonstrated. Monday, September 6, 2021Evacuations of American citizens from crisis countries is always difficult and dangerous, as the past 15 days of evacuation of over 124,000 people from Afghanistan demonstrated. (5 comments) SHARE Keep the US Embassy in Kabul Open-And Don't Take Revenge on the People of Afghanistan If the U.S. really cares for the people of Afghanistan, it should keep the U.S. Embassy in Kabul open. I was on the small U.S. Department of State team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in December 2001 and strongly feel that if the U.S. really cares for the people of Afghanistan, it should keep the U.S. Embassy open. Monday, August 23, 2021If the U.S. really cares for the people of Afghanistan, it should keep the U.S. Embassy in Kabul open. I was on the small U.S. Department of State team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in December 2001 and strongly feel that if the U.S. really cares for the people of Afghanistan, it should keep the U.S. Embassy open. (1 comments) SHARE Opening and Closing US Embassies - From Sierra Leone to Afghanistan U.S. officials are very well aware that local citizens who work with the U.S. military are endangering themselves and their families when the U.S. departs. Thursday, August 19, 2021U.S. officials are very well aware that local citizens who work with the U.S. military are endangering themselves and their families when the U.S. departs. (2 comments) SHARE Military should return Hawaii lands The 65-year leases of 30,000 acres of Hawaii state land by the U.S. military are ending in 2029. The state of Hawaii should not re-lease these lands no matter what the amount the U.S. military offers. Monday, August 9, 2021The 65-year leases of 30,000 acres of Hawaii state land by the U.S. military are ending in 2029. The state of Hawaii should not re-lease these lands no matter what the amount the U.S. military offers. (1 comments) SHARE Biden Promised Diplomacy, But He's Overseeing Military Buildup Against China Joe Biden promised diplomacy, but instead of de-escalation with China, we are witnessing an enormous U.S. military buildup through massive military exercises in the Pacific. Thursday, July 22, 2021Joe Biden promised diplomacy, but instead of de-escalation with China, we are witnessing an enormous U.S. military buildup through massive military exercises in the Pacific. (2 comments) SHARE Increasing Pressure on China: Pacific Area Crowded With More Countries Sending Military Naval Vessels and Aircraft Each week the Pacific is getting even more crowded with military ships, submarines and aircraft from countries in the region and from outside. Monday, June 28, 2021Each week the Pacific is getting even more crowded with military ships, submarines and aircraft from countries in the region and from outside. (2 comments) SHARE Gaza Doctor Describes Deaths of Fellow Doctors and Entire Families Killed by Israeli Attacks on Gaza On May 16, 2021, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, the Director General of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme wrote a powerful letter to the world about the physical and mental effects of deadly and horrific 2021 Israeli bombing of Gaza. Monday, May 17, 2021On May 16, 2021, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, the Director General of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme wrote a powerful letter to the world about the physical and mental effects of deadly and horrific 2021 Israeli bombing of Gaza. SHARE Golden Rule Peace Boat Sets Sail from Hawai'i for California The Golden Rule first sailed from California to Hawaii 63 years ago, in 1958, on her way to interfere with U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, the site of 67 U.S. nuclear bomb blasts from 1952 to 1958. Wednesday, May 5, 2021The Golden Rule first sailed from California to Hawaii 63 years ago, in 1958, on her way to interfere with U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, the site of 67 U.S. nuclear bomb blasts from 1952 to 1958. (1 comments) SHARE US Army Corps Of Engineers Permit Big Oil To Dredge Mercury-Contaminated Matagorda Bay Texas internationally known environmentalist Diane Wilson is on Day 22 of her hunger strike to gain national solidarity and publicity for pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind its permit for big oil to dredge a channel in mercury laden Matagorda Bay, Texas. Saturday, May 1, 2021Texas internationally known environmentalist Diane Wilson is on Day 22 of her hunger strike to gain national solidarity and publicity for pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind its permit for big oil to dredge a channel in mercury laden Matagorda Bay, Texas. (2 comments) SHARE In Alarmist Turn, NATO Is Increasingly Positioning Itself in Opposition to China During the March 23-24 meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) council, Anthony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, encouraged NATO members to join the U.S. in viewing China as an economic and security threat. Monday, March 29, 2021During the March 23-24 meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) council, Anthony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, encouraged NATO members to join the U.S. in viewing China as an economic and security threat. Page 1 of 12 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Corporate American Flag - corporateamericanflag.com CorporateAmericanFl ag.com ~ The Corporate American Flag -- 3x5 ft and 2x3 ft Flags -- Company Logos were the stars would be in the USA Flag. (Image by YouTube, Channel: mapremnityam) Details DMCA Corporate flag of America Think about this: Democracy in America, even our so called democracy, could/would be effective if the people were: Properly informed, not propagandized and indoctrinated and made fearful Educated to think critically to seek the truth Vigilant, not accepting insinuations, unverified opinions and talking head "analysis Skeptical of government, what they say, why they say it, its policies and actions Have the MSM be owned by the people to inform-not misinform-the people, to serve the peoples interests and not the big corporate interests that own and control all the MSM in America. And make big money illegal in the electoral process. Publicly fund all elections, local, state and federal. Then serious problems and issues could be dealt with i.e. climate change, infrastructure in disrepair, fracking halted, high speed rail introduced, break up the big banks, single payer Medicare for all health care legislation be enacted, ending our wars by stopping the funding. None of this can happen the way our "democracy" currently functions. That's because we don't have democracy in the US. We have a plutocracy, government of, by and for the rich and big corporate interests. They dictate who runs for office, gets elected so their interests are taken care of by the sycophants they underwrite. And why none of the above is seriously addressed. Big moneyed interests have completely corrupted the electoral process. There is no real difference between the Democrat and Republican parties. Both are beholden to the big moneyed interests. Both Democrat and Republican National Committees control the debate process. At one time the League of Women Voters controlled the presidential debates but they backed out when the National Committees insisted the debates be limited restricting 3rd party candidates from participating. The people are not well informed with a MSM owned by the big corporate interests which misinforms the people and is nothing more than an unofficial organ of the state. Public education has descended into making good consumers of their charges, not educating them to think critically. That was the intent of a liberal arts education. Yet that seems overtaken in favor of teaching for test taking. As for the peoples interests. They're mostly given lip service by those elected. Dissembling replaces straight talk which now is clearly evidenced by the latest "tax reform" package making its way through Congress which the buffoon in the White House will sign before the Christmas break saying it'll provide new jobs. Sounds like "trickle down economics" without saying as much. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). book; It's All in Your Head (Image by Suzanne O'Sullivan) Details DMCA The last time I went to my gastroenterologist, I sought his long-term prognosis regarding my condition. He assured me that my stomach discomfort was not due to a serious disease and that it would tend to go away as I got older. I feel that way now that I am older and I appreciate his attempt to help me heal by instilling a positive mental attitude in me. This approach did, in fact, help the process of healing for me. Had he told me otherwise, I believe my symptoms would most likely have gotten worse. This encounter reminds me also of the story of some students who did not do their homework and wanted to get the class cancelled. They thought of a plot that involved telling their teacher how sick he looked. The suggestion "Your face looks pale and you seem to have a cold" was repeated by the students. After a short period of resistance, the teacher finally succumbed to the negativity, allowed himself to feel sick, and cancelled the class. The moral of this story is that there is a remarkable relationship between our mental perception and our bodily reaction to it. That is the central theme of It's All in Your Head, a newly published book by Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan, a research neurologist from the UK. I came across this book by luck as I was scrolling down the shelf of the new books in our local library. I could not resist the title It Is All in Your Head. "I wish it was," I whispered to myself. I checked the book out and started reading it. Even though the medical terminology was mind-boggling, I enjoyed reading it. In this book, the author shares her long-term experience with some of her patients who thought they were suffering from serious diseases. Dr. O'Sullivan, however, argues how the result of medical tests showed they had no serious disease but only illness. She believes there is a difference between a disease and an illness. A disease originates from our body, mainly out of our control, whereas an illness is a product of our mind and how we respond to emotional situations, especially more extreme emotional situations. As a prominent neurologist, Dr. O'Sullivan believes that medicine is not a one hundred percent positive science; it is subject to interpretation and judgment just like other scientific fields. Although doctors primarily rely on medical tests to diagnose a disease, such tests, and the doctors' interpretation of them, may not be perfectly accurate. There is a subjective element in medicine that necessitates obtaining the opinions of multiple physicians or delving into the state of the patient's mind. It is very possible that sometimes, as Dr. O'Sullivan argues, the symptoms of a disease may disappear for reasons still unknown to the medical profession. Although, some people erroneously call such instances miracles or see them as the result of praying. The author, however, asserts that this unexplained disappearance of symptoms is because what the patient believes to be a disease is not actually a disease; it is an illness. Illness, she explains, determines how humans respond to a disease. The nature of such responses depends on the attitude of the patient, which in turn, is dependent upon many factors, including how the patient handles unexpected incidences and unfortunate events. This is why developing positive attitudes is so helpful; these attitudes produce a placebo effect. According to Dr. O'Sullivan, human life is defined by more than medical tests and files, and a patient is defined by more than just a series of clinical examinations. A human being is like a sophisticated computer; the body is the hardware and the mind is its operating software that controls its functionality. When we have a disease, we desperately want to get better. Because of our state of mind, we seek treatments that we think will help us to get better and we often do, especially if we trust our doctor and believe in his or her healing aptitude. We may sometimes get better by the power of our mind not medicine, or by the power of positive thinking and the strength of our positive attitudes; this can explain the non-physical causes of what we think is a disease to begin with. The hardest thing, Dr. O'Sullivan explains, is to tell a patient that he is not suffering from what he believes is a disease. It may be a psychological problem that is, in fact, rooted in his mind. Patients, however, seem to be reluctant to accept this kind of a diagnosis because of the stigma attached to being psychologically ill. It is discomforting for them and sounds even accusatory because they may be thought to be making things up. Physical symptoms with psychological causes may not be unique to certain individuals; they may happen to all of us to varying degrees. The bodily reactions to emotional incidences, such as fear, anxiety, stress, failure, rejection, are what Dr. O'Sullivan calls psychosomatic. Psychosomatic reactions at an ordinary level are normal and do not indicate any illness. However, if psychosomatic reactions are severe, as is the case for some people, they result in illness that often impairs or alters somatic functions. Instilling positive mental attitudes is an effective way to help these patients with the process of healing. Helping a patient to develop positive attitudes is quite helpful; however, many doctors overlook this simply because they do not either believe in the healing power of positive thinking, or they simply have not mastered the art of doing so. People react or behave according to what they think. If, for instance, they see a tragic story on TV, they cry. The face may change color in reaction to fear, anger, or embracement. Somatic reactions to such encounters are usually normal and are well understood and studied by doctors. However, these reactions turn to illness if they are extraordinary. Some people's reactions to emotional encounters are so extreme that they may turn into physical disease with no medical explanations. Dr. O'Sullivan believes that ruling out a disease does not mean that the patient does not have an illness. Consequently, knowing this may change the way the patient should be treated, often not by a general medical practitioner, but by a specialist like a psychiatrist or a psychologist. In summary, if you or a loved one is constantly complaining about having a disease and doctors have offered no diagnosis after performing numerous diagnostic tests or treatments and no physical causes for your disease are found, reading this book can be a helpful resource for understanding yourself. I also add that obtaining information about your medical condition from Internet sources that are so popular nowadays may be counterproductive because I believe medical information must be interpreted by experts, not by medically undereducated individuals, and no two bodies react to the same symptoms in the same way. Relax; it is comforting to know that often It Is All in Your Head! From Mike Malloy Website It's D-Day in Alabama and the stakes couldn't be higher. For Republicans. It's a win-win for Democrats either way, really. But the Moore-Jones special election is symbolic of our entire, divided nation right now. And it could define the future of the GOP. Will they stand with racists, pedophiles, bigots, fake news perpetrators and liars...or with the sane folks who aren't yet completely mesmerized by Fox News? Roy Moore rode into town today on a horse named "Sassy" and pulled the lever for himself, with his big-haired wife Kayla beside him. She sure don't like no Mitch McConnell. Moore declined to answer any questions about how he'll deal with ethics investigations if he wins today, that's for later. Today was for Kayla, and Sassy. Perhaps caving to some of the pressure from his own sexual harassment/assault accusers, Trump today took to Twitter to call New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a whore. Well, not exactly. But he said she "begged" him for money and "would do anything" for contributions... wink-wink. "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office "begging" for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump," the president tweeted shortly after 8 a.m. "Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!" Just when you thought he couldn't stoop any lower, Trump finds a new bottom to scrape. This tops even his support of the Britain First violent neoNazi group, and outspoken disdain for Prime Minister Theresa May. But I digress.... Democratic party officials set up a huge table outside a voting precinct in Helena in Shelby County just south of Birmingham. They didn't try to hide who they were making their vote pitch to at the table. They implored Black voters to think first, second, and last about Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones. Now Shelby county in times past has been a rock-solid GOP county. But the voter demographics in the county are slowly changing with more Blacks and young persons resident there. The Jones camp zeroed in on them for one reason, and on reason only. He didn't have a prayer of unseating his opponent Judge Roy Moore without a stampede to the polls by Black voters in bigger numbers than usual to beat back Moore. But then again this shouldn't have been political rocket science stuff. There have been dire warnings all along to the Democrats, put simply, ignore the Black vote and you lose. And by ignore that means assuming that because Black voters are mostly Democrats, and that the GOP is the party that panders to the basest of racists, Moore being the latest in the long train, that Black voters will bum rush the polls on Election Day to deliver victories to Democrats. It doesn't work that way. That was heartbreakingly evident in the 2016 presidential race. Trump slithered into the Oval Office with less than 100,000 disgruntled white blue-collar votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. With a concentrated, full court, boots on the ground effort, armed with pledges to fight hard for massive expansion in education, jobs, health care services, and criminal justice reform, the Clinton camp could have easily offset Trump's blue-collar edge with a big turnout among Black voters in urban communities in those states. Black activists, civil rights leaders, and elected officials screamed at the Democrats to do just that. Spend, spend, spend, resource, resource, resource, Black communities was their message. But the archaic thinking that Blacks have nowhere to go, will vote Democrat anyway, and therefore no special effort need be made to bag their vote need be made. This was a horrendously fatal miscalculation. Many did have somewhere to go and that somewhere wasn't to the polls. Unfortunately, the problem was compounded when many Democrats drew the wrong lesson from Trump's win. The talk was now all over the place that Democrats had to begin pitching hard to those disgruntled white blue-collar workers without college degrees. Without them so the thinking went Democrats could not beat Trump and the GOP in future elections. That's simply more prescription for political disaster. The one Democrat who did crunch the numbers and sentiment, and understood no Black vote en masse, no win was Obama. If black voters had not turned the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries into a virtual holy crusade for Obama, and if Obama had not stoked the black vote, he could easily have been just another failed Democratic presidential candidate. Through its voter education, awareness and mobilization campaigns, the NAACP played a huge role in galvanizing and boosting the numbers of black voters, nearly all votes for Obama. It was part race, part pride, and all sense of history in the making, as well as being a part of Obama's epic win. The mass rush by blacks to the polls was the single biggest reason that Obama carried the traditional must-win states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and broke the GOP presidential grip on North Carolina and Virginia. Obama and the Democrats needed every one of those Black votes for another reason his immense popularity among Blacks, Hispanics and youth voters didn't cross over in the South and the Heartland among whites. The final presidential tally in 2008 and 2012 gave ample warning of the potency of the GOP's conservative white constituency. In South Carolina and other Deep South states the vote was even more lopsided among white voters against Obama. The only thing that even made Obama's showing respectable in those states was the record turnout and percentage of Black votes that he got. That was plainly evident in Alabama as well. By making his big pitch to Black voters, Jones was seen by many whites as the de facto African-American surrogate candidate. This was too much to swallow for Moore's dogged white Christian, traditionalist, and closet racist base. If the stench hadn't been so overwhelming around Moore's candidacy, there's little doubt that he, not Jones, would have been winging his way to Washington in January. He would have won in a landslide with white votes as every GOP candidate for statewide office in Alabama has done for the past two decades. This didn't happen this time because Jones did the smart, and political savvy thing and that's appeal loud and long to Black voters. They were his ace card. This can be the case for Democrats in 2018 and 2020 again if they have sense enough to realize it. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is, The Trump Challenge to Black America (Middle Passage Press). He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network. Global mHealth Market is Growing at a Significant Rate due to Increasing Demand for Patient Centric Healthcare Model https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/mobile-healthcare-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/mobile-healthcare-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com The global mHealth market was valued at $13,674.3 million in 2015, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 34.0% during 2016 - 2022. Among the various products and services, the mHealth application segment is expected to witness the fastest growth, at a CAGR of 40.1%, during the forecast period. The global mhealth market is growing at a significant rate, due to increasing healthcare cost, increasing demand for patient centric healthcare model, and increasing prevalence of chronic and lifestyle associated diseases. In addition, the growing demand for mhealth technologies, increasing access of mobile platforms, tablets and smartphones, increasing utilization of connected medical devices and mhealth applications, and growing need for remote patient monitoring services are also driving the growth of the global mhealth market.Request for Sample Pages:Mobile health (mHealth) is the use of mobile information and communication technologies for improving healthcare. It helps to tackle major challenges faced by the healthcare industry such as regulatory changes, continuous remote monitoring at home, increasing demand for quality healthcare, increasing error occurrence and integration with existing IT systems.Geographically, North America dominated the global market of mhealth in 2015; whereas the Asia-Pacific market is expected to witness the fastest growth, CAGR of 40.5%, during the forecast period.Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:Some of the key companies operating in the global mhealth market include LifeWatch AG, Cisco Systems Inc., Cerner Corporation, OMRON Corporation, AT&T Inc., athenahealth Inc., Airstrip Technologies Inc., AliveCor Inc., AgaMatrix Inc., iHealth Labs Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., BioTelemetry Inc., Medtronic PLC, Withings SAS, and Johnson & Johnson.P&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:P&S Market ResearchManager Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: IoT Security Market Is Projected To Reach US$30.9 bn by 2025 The Insight Partners http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000288 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/inquiry/TIPTE100000288 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/iot-security-market According to a new market research study titled IoT Security Market to 2025 Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type, Solution and Application, the global IoT Security market was valued at US$ 7.3 Bn in 2016 and is estimated to reach US$ 30.9 Bn by 2025. The report highlights the trends prevalent in the global IoT Security market and the factors driving the market along with those that act as deterrents to its growth.Request a Sample Report atA robust IoT solution approach should focus not only securing the infrastructure and devices, which forms the base of IoT system, but also should develop the accurate level of data privacy and building trust with regulators and customers. The most successful and trusted IoT tech companies and solutions provider would be those that equally focuses on protecting privacy, improving security, and building trust. Privacy of users identity, payment details and other documents of high importance is at stake with the connection of everyday essential objects with the internet. Thus, IoT security plays the most critical role in implementation of IoT and gaining the customers trust. The above mentioned reasons are going to drive the market of IoT security along with the implementation of IoT.IoT creates immense opportunities to benefit the multiple business segments and society, with rise in the use of network-connected devices, systems, and services. Nevertheless, IoT security has not grown with the same pace of revolution and deployment, thus creating extensive economic and safety risks. As there is increase in integrated network connections into critical infrastructure, important processes that are performed digitally are becoming more vulnerable to cyber threats. Increasing dependence on network-connected technologies has grown faster than the means to secure it.Inquire Before buying atThe global IoT Security market has been segmented on the basis of type into network security, endpoint security, cloud security, application security and others. Furthermore, this market is also bifurcated on the basis of solutions into threat analysis, Identity Access Management, Data Loss Protection, Encryption, Dispatch & Incident Response, Distributed Denial of Service Protection and Others. IoT Security finds its applications in many industry verticals and consequently the market has been segmented on the basis of applications into Smart Home, Connected Car, Information & Communication Technology, Smart Factories, BFSI, Smart Retail, Smart Transportation, Smart Healthcare, Wearable and Others. Geographically, the global IoT Security market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM).The North America (NA) and Europe (EU) in total holds more than 70% of the total market, while the regions such as Asia Pacific (APAC) is exhibiting a high growth rate in the coming years due to various factors such as the massive shift in technology advances, market demand, interconnections, and applications. The key players profiled in the report are IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Corporation, ARM Holdings, Infineon Technologies, NXP Semiconductor, INSIDE Secure, Gemalto NV, Symantec Corporation and Trend Micro, Inc. among others.View Complete Report atThe report segments the global IoT Security market as follows:Global IoT Security Market By Type- Network Security- End-point Security- Cloud Security- Application Security- OthersGlobal IoT Security Market By Solution- Threat Analysis- Identity Access Management- Data Loss Protection- Encryption- Dispatch and Incident Response- Distributed Denial of Service Protection- OthersGlobal IoT Security Market By Application- Smart Home- Connected Car- Information & Communication Technology- Smart Factories- BFSI- Smart Retail- Smart Healthcare- Smart Transportation- Wearable- OthersGlobal IoT Security Market By GeographyNorth America- U.S.- Canada- MexicoEurope- France- Germany- Italy- Spain- U.K.- Rest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)- Japan- China- India- Australia- Rest of APACMiddle East & Africa (MEA)- Saudi Arabia- South Africa- U.A.E.- Rest of MEASouth America (SAM)- Brazil- Rest of SAMContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor,Amanora Chambers, East Block, Amanora Township,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Self-checkout Systems Market - Top Scenario,Analysis, Growth & Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1898 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1898 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1898 Global Self-checkout Systems Market: OverviewContinuing to extend its popularity in global retail and shopping stores, self-checkout systems cancel the need for human assistance or a retail agent by automating the checkout process, which includes making payments and scanning and bagging purchased items. These systems are a massive investment for retailers and thus, they need to be user-friendly and intuitive. While the systems are still far from being perfect, it opens an opportunity for vendors to showcase their innovation and make a competitive progress in the self-checkout systems market.Global Self-checkout Systems Market: Key TrendsWith a probable double-digit CAGR, the international self-checkout systems market is projected to aggravate its growth as it witnesses an expanding deployment of the systems in different retail arrangements such as convenience and department stores, hypermarkets, and supermarkets. Retailers are expected to adopt these systems at a telling rate because of their business-profiting benefits such as reduction in the operational cost of stores, more personalized services in store offerings, and decrease in checkout time. Hardware offerings such as weighing scale, payment related hardware, price reader, and display device are prognosticated to gain impetus in the coming years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The inflated risk of inventory loss on the part of retailers and unwillingness of customers to use the product could affect the growth of the global self-checkout systems market. However, lesser complexity, lower price, and other key advantages facilitated by the cashless model are anticipated to augment the adoption rate of self-checkout systems. Market players can look to penetrate large as well as small retail formats by allowing retailers to offer greater control, privacy, and convenience to their customers with self-checkout systems.Global Self-checkout Systems Market: Market PotentialThe Las Vegas ecommerce and retail event Shoptalk unveiled the reimagined future design of Targets Houston store as the chairman and CEO said the company is set to spend billions of dollars to give a new experience to its customers. Installed only a few steps away from each other, the reimagined store will feature an order pickup counter and self-checkout lanes for the time-starved customers. By the latest in October 2017, 40 additional Target stores will receive the new design along with the store in Houston. This reimagine design is part of the companys aim to meet its customers shopping needs by creating a smart network to work alongside supply chain and digital channels.Request TOC of the Report @Long Island Expressway (LIE) Welcome Center, a rest stop in New York, has also publicized its intentions to replace cashiers with self-checkout kiosks.Global Self-checkout Systems Market: Regional OutlookDue to the sweeping presence of various retail formats in the region, North America is forecasted to lead the global self-checkout systems market, putting behind other significant geographies of the industry. Followed by Mexico and Canada, the U.S. could be attributed for North Americas larger share in the market. Next to be lined under the list of top regional markets for self-checkout systems are Europe and Asia Pacific with decent growth opportunities for manufacturers.The growing retail industry in India coupled with a rising count of modern retail stores installed, Asia Pacific is predicted to emerge as a promising ground for market players. Europe, too, is envisaged to exhibit a continuous and steady growth in demand as an elevating number of convenience stores adopt self-checkout systems. Other regions could show some progress in the world self-checkout systems market as they feel the need to cater to the dynamic demands of customers and the urge to operate in line with todays technological advancements.Get Discount @Global Self-checkout Systems Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the crucial players functioning in the worldwide self-checkout systems market are ITAB Scanflow, Diebold Nixdorf, Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Toshiba TEC Corporation, and NCR Corporation. Industry players could be focusing on supermarkets, hypermarkets, and other large retail formats to increase their presence as these stores accommodate a high flow of customers and more number of checkout counters. Likewise, they are prophesied to find opportunities in other leading segments of the market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Smart Mirror Market Shares,Trend and Growth Report 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/smart-mirror-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11552 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Any highly functional mirror can be a smart mirror. Smart mirror technologies include self-dimming capability, as well as self-cleaning and self-repairing ability with the layers of different smart materials. Embedded electronics including cameras, displays and sensors are also the parts of smart mirror technologies as they help in converting a simple mirror into an electronic device. Smart mirrors can be used in various applications such as advertising, healthcare, consumer, and automotive. Digital smart mirrors are significantly gaining momentum due to various factors such as design/style, comfort/convenience and safety.Read Report Overview @The focus on enhanced road safety drives the demand for incorporating new electronic functionalities to the automotive mirrors. Activated light sensors, and electrochromic self-dimming smart mirrors have significantly improved road safety by increasing response times as well as reducing driver fatigue.However, through the use of other electronic functionalities such as integrated sensor systems, displays, touch capability, Wi-Fi connectivity, and GPS, the road safety can be further enhanced in a significant manner. Automotive smart mirror vendors are now focused on marketing mirrors having customizable capabilities.Smart Mirror Market: TrendsSmart mirrors are also anticipated to have a potential market in retail and advertising sectors. The use of these mirrors is in trial stage in certain places such as in elevators, public restrooms, hotels or office lobbies, and so on. For instance, in January 2011, Clear Channel Airports (CCA) and Mirrus Corporation collaborated on a pilot program of deploying 150 smart mirrors with advertising displays in all restrooms at the Chicago O'Hare airport. Moreover, smart mirrors have the capability to increase sales in retail sector, mainly in dressing rooms. The combination of mirrors with RFID and display technology can be helpful in displaying vital information and user-specific suggestions hence increasing the sales.The smart digital mirrors are anticipated to gain a considerable market share in healthcare applications, in both residential and professional settings. Smart mirror technologies can improve patient care and compliance, thus reducing healthcare expenses in certain cases. Smart mirrors can deliver patient-specific information such as real-time human body statistics (heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure) and prescription reminders. The information which is provided by the camera in form of an image can be used for diagnostic purposes as well as for determining appropriate treatment.Smart Mirror Market: DriversGrowing investment in R&D activities on smart mirrors and new technology penetration are the major factors driving the smart mirror market globally. Various companies are coming up with smart mirror technologies with additional features further aiding the growth of global smart mirror market. For example, in November 2015, Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation launched new smart mirrors in the fitting rooms of its flagship New York store. The mirror enables its customers at the store to tap for assistance for the items to try on.Each clothing item brought in the fitting room is detected by the mirror through RFID chips, and it shows up a display about the garment details. In October 2015, Panasonic Corporation introduced 'Interactive Mirror', having multi-functional features which was anticipated to lure customers from retail, beauty as well as lifestyle industry. This mirror was capable of enhancing the lifestyle similar to a professional health or beauty advisor. In December 2014, Gentex Corporation launched its all new Full Display Mirror which was an intelligent rear vision system that used an outside mounted camera and mirror-integrated video display for improving a vehicle's rearward view.Request to view Sample Report:Smart Mirror Market: Key PlayersThe key players in smart mirror market are Gentex Corporation, Magna International Inc., ACEP France SA, Panasonic Corporation, Seura Solutions, Samsung Electronics, Dension, Keonn Technologies, S.L. and Mirrus Corporation.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Fresh Meat Packaging Market Global Industry Analysis 2017 2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1631227-fresh-meat-packaging-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1631227-fresh-meat-packaging-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym https://www.wiseguyreports.com Global Fresh Meat Packaging IndustryLatest Report on Fresh Meat Packaging Market Global Analysis & 2023 Forecast Research StudyGlobal Fresh Meat Packaging Market is accounted for $1.96 billion in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.7% to reach $2.37 billion by 2023. Factors such as increasing shelf-life of the product, improved standard of living, and sustainable benefits of flexible films over rigid packaging and advancement in the packaging technology are driving the market growth. However, Environmental issues such as recyclability and sustainability and health concerns are some of the factors that are hampering market growth. Manufacturers adopting eco-friendly techniques for meat packaging is a key trend observed by the market.The beef segment dominated the Meat Type market segment followed by poultry because of increasing consumption of beef across the world. On the basis of packaging material, the (Ethylenvinyl Alcohol) EVOH segment is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. MAP segment is observed to grow significantly during the forecast period. The 7-layer segment dominated the market, followed by 5-layer segment over the forecast period. North America is the largest market followed by Europe. Asia pacific is anticipated to grow lucratively due to rising disposable income along with rise in the consumption of meat products.Some of the key players in Global Fresh Meat Packaging market are Berry Plastic Group, Inc., Multivac Sepp Haggenmuller GmbH & Co.KG, Bemis Company, Inc., Harpak-ULMA Packaging, Coveris Holdings S.A, Sealpac International BV, ALKAR-RapidPak, Sealed Air Corp., Robert Reiser & Co and Winpak Ltd.Try Sample Report @Technologies Covered: Vacuum Skin Packaging (VSP) Vacuum Thermoformed Packaging (VTP) Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)Materials Covered: Metal Meat Packaging Polyvinylidene Chloride (PVDC) Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Polyethylene (PE) EVOH (Ethylenvinyl Alcohol) BOPP (Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene Films) PA (Polyamide) PP (Polypropylene) Others MaterialsLayer Types Covered: Monolayer 3-layer 5-layer 7-layer 9-layerDistribution Channels Covered: Departmental stores Grocery stores Hypermarket/Supermarket Online retailing Other Distribution ChannelsMeat Types Covered: Pork Poultry Seafood Beef Other Meat TypesRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some Major Points from Table of content:1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Technology Analysis3.7 Emerging Markets3.8 Futuristic Market Scenario4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry5 Global Fresh Meat Packaging Market, By Technology5.1 Introduction5.2 Vacuum Skin Packaging (VSP)5.3 Vacuum Thermoformed Packaging (VTP)5.4 Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)6 Global Fresh Meat Packaging Market, By Material6.1 Introduction6.2 Metal Meat Packaging6.3 Polyvinylidene Chloride (PVDC)6.4 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)6.5 Polyethylene (PE)6.6 EVOH (Ethylenvinyl Alcohol)6.7 BOPP (Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene Films)6.8 PA (Polyamide)6.9 PP (Polypropylene)6.10 Others Materials7 Global Fresh Meat Packaging Market, By Layer Type7.1 Introduction7.2 Monolayer7.3 3-layer7.4 5-layer7.5 7-layer7.6 9-layer8 Global Fresh Meat Packaging Market, By Distribution Channel8.1 Introduction8.2 Departmental stores8.3 Grocery stores8.4 Hypermarket/Supermarket8.5 Online retailing8.6 Other Distribution ChannelsContinued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn: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 LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Algorithmic Trading Market Heading Into the New Year with Value Analysis, Business Overview & Financial Forecast 2017-2022 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-algorithmic-trading-market-forecast-to-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011300352/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011300352/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011300352/buy/3480 The latest Research on Global Algorithmic Trading Market added to Reportsweb 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.This report studies the Algorithmic Trading market, Algorithmic trading is a method of executing a large order (too large to fill all at once) using automated pre-programmed trading instructions accounting for variables such as time, price, and volume to send small slices of the order (child orders) out to the market over time.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Algorithmic Trading in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Complete report is available atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversVirtu FinancialKCGDRW TradingOptiverTower Research CapitalFlow TradersHudson River TradingJump TradingRSJ Algorithmic TradingSpot TradingSun TradingTradebot SystemsIMCQuantlab FinancialTeza TechnologiesGet a SAMPLE Request atMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoInvestment banksFundsPersonal InvestorsTable of ContentChapter 1, to describe Algorithmic Trading Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Algorithmic Trading, with sales, revenue, and price of Algorithmic Trading, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Algorithmic Trading, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Get Discount atChapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Algorithmic Trading market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Algorithmic Trading sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourcePurchase this 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 Global Barite Market Global Industry Analysis 2017 2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1631139-barite-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1631139-barite-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1631139-barite-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.linkedin.com/company/wise-guy-research-consultants-pvt-ltd-?trk=biz-companies-cym https://www.wiseguyreports.com Global Barite IndustryLatest Report on Barite Market Global Analysis & 2023 Forecast Research StudyGlobal Barite Market is accounted for $1.34 billion in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% to reach $1.95 billion by 2023. Factors like growing automobile industry, persistent growth of construction industry and rapidly growing oil and gas drilling industry, increased investments in barite-mining projects are boosting the market growth. However, the stringent regulations of various governments over the production hamper the growth of the market.Asia Pacific region is emerging significantly as India and China are the major product manufacturers along with huge demand for paints and plastics from countries including China, India and Thailand. Europe shows a stable growth due to recent economic crises in Western Europe. North America is anticipated to dominate the market due to the increased demand for barite drilling mud in the oil and gas industry.Some of the key players in Global Barite Market are Kaomin Industries, America Oil Field Services, LLC, Anglo Pacific Minerals, Ashapura MineChem Limited, Cimbar Performance Minerals, Seaforth Mineral & Ore Co. Inc, Desku Group Inc, Excalibar Minerals LLC, Halliburton Company, International Earth Products LLC, International Mining Alliance, Park Metals & Minerals Co., Shanghai Titanos Industry Company Limited and Shijiazhuang Oushun Mineral Products Company Limited.Try Sample Report @Products Covered: Construction Grade Medical Grade Oil GradeApplications Covered: Barium Compound Drilling Mud Weighting Agent Lithopone Pigment Other ApplicationsGrades Covered: Up to Sp. Gr. 3.9 Gr. 4.0 Gr. 4.1 Gr. 4.2 Gr. 4.3 and aboveDeposits Covered: Bedding Vein and Cavity Filling ResidualTypes Covered: Bleached Barite Ground Barite Finely Ground BariteIf you have any enquiry before buying a copy of this report @End Users Covered: Drilling Mud Pharmaceuticals Rubber & Plastics Paints & Coatings Other End Userso Papermakingo Potteryo Cosmeticso Engine Compartmentso Medical Applianceso AutomobilesRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of EuropeFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsSome Major Points from Table of content:1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Product AnalysisContinued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn: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 LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Hydraulic Testing Services 2017 Global Industry Key Players - E-Labs, Inc. , UL , Accutek Testing Laboratory, F2Labs , IMR Test Labs , RNDT, Inc. Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Global Hydraulic Testing Services Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2394167-global-hydraulic-testing-services-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2394167-global-hydraulic-testing-services-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2394167 Global Hydraulic Testing Services MarketThis report studies Hydraulic Testing Services in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringCompanyE-Labs, Inc.ULAccutek Testing LaboratoryThe Advanced Team, Inc.Element Materials TechnologyF2LabsIMR Test LabsInCheck Technologies, IncIntegrity Testing LaboratoryJG&A Metrology CenterLaser Product SafetyMicro Quality CalibrationRNDT, Inc.Sherry LaboratoriesSun Advanced Product Testing LabTuV RheinlandAirgas On-Site Safety Services?ALCORequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPressure TestsPerformance TestsEnvironmental Exposure TestsDynamic TestsBy Application, the market can be split intoTest StandsManifoldsManifold-Mounted ComponentsControlsBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTo enquire about this report visit @Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Hydraulic Testing Services Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Hydraulic Testing Services1.1 Definition and Specifications of Hydraulic Testing Services1.1.1 Definition of Hydraulic Testing Services1.1.2 Specifications of Hydraulic Testing Services1.2 Classification of Hydraulic Testing Services1.2.1 Pressure Tests1.2.2 Performance Tests1.2.3 Environmental Exposure Tests1.2.4 Dynamic Tests1.3 Applications of Hydraulic Testing Services1.3.1 Test Stands1.3.2 Manifolds1.3.3 Manifold-Mounted Components1.3.4 Controls1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Hydraulic Testing Services2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Hydraulic Testing Services2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Hydraulic Testing Services2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Hydraulic Testing Services.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Hydraulic Testing Services8.1 Company8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Company 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Company 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 E-Labs, Inc.8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 E-Labs, Inc. 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 E-Labs, Inc. 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 UL8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 UL 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 UL 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Accutek Testing Laboratory8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Accutek Testing Laboratory 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Accutek Testing Laboratory 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 The Advanced Team, Inc.8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 The Advanced Team, Inc. 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 The Advanced Team, Inc. 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Element Materials Technology8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Element Materials Technology 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Element Materials Technology 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 F2Labs8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 F2Labs 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 F2Labs 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 IMR Test Labs8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 IMR Test Labs 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 IMR Test Labs 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 InCheck Technologies, Inc8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 InCheck Technologies, Inc 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 InCheck Technologies, Inc 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Integrity Testing Laboratory8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Integrity Testing Laboratory 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Integrity Testing Laboratory 2016 Hydraulic Testing Services Business Region Distribution Analysis8.11 JG&A Metrology Center8.12 Laser Product Safety8.13 Micro Quality Calibration8.14 RNDT, Inc.8.15 Sherry Laboratories8.16 Sun Advanced Product Testing Lab8.17 TuV Rheinland8.18 Airgas On-Site Safety Services?8.19 ALCOContinued.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 Industrial Motors Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type And Application, Forecast To 2022 Industrial Motors, Industrial Motors Market, Industrial Motors Industry https://www.marketresearchnest.com/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-industrial-motors-market-2017-forecast-to-2022.html https://www.marketresearchnest.com/requestsample.php?reportid=286112 https://www.marketresearchnest.com/purchase.php?reportid=286112 MarketResearchNest.com adds Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Industrial Motors Market 2017 Forecast To 2022new report to its research database. The report spread across in a 124 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the Industrial Motors market. Motor is a device that transfer power between electric power and mechanical power. Just as the name implies, industrial motors are motors used in the various industries.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Industrial Motors in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Browse full table of contents and data tables atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversABB, Siemens, Mitsubishi, GE, HITACHI, Nidec, Toshiba, Regal Beloit, WEG, Teco, Emerson, MEIDENSHA, Wolong Electric, Rockwell Automation, Franklin Electric, Zhongda Motor, XIZI FORVORDA, Ametek, Allied Motion, JEUMONTMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversHigh Voltage Motor, Low Voltage MotorMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoOil and Gas, Power Generation, Mining and Metal, Industrial Machinery, OthersRequest a sample copy atReasons for Buying this Report:This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a technological growth map over time to understand the industry growth rateIt provides a seven-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsIt provides distinctive graphics and exemplified SWOT analysis of major market segments.The research provides answers to the following key questions:What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022?What are the key factors driving the United States Industrial Motors Market?Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the United States Industrial Motors Market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the United States Industrial Motors Market?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the United States Industrial Motors Market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the United States Industrial Motors Market?There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Industrial Motors market.Chapter 1, to describe Industrial Motors Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Industrial Motors, with sales, revenue, and price of Industrial Motors, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Industrial Motors, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Industrial Motors market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Industrial Motors sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceOrder a Purchase Report Copy atAbout Us:MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the worlds most complete and recent database of expert insights on Global industries, organizations, products, and trends.Contact UsMr. Jeet JainSales Managersales@marketresearchnest.com+1-240-284-8070(U.S)+44-20-3290-4151(U.K)Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook Global Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Market to Register Robust CAGR of 46.1% Through 2027 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3595 https://www.mrrse.com/artificial-intelligence-systems-spending-market https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Artificial Intelligence System, a computing project had an aim of simulating the human brain along with artificial consciousness and general intelligence in real time. A comprehensive research report titled Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Market: Deep Learning Anticipated to be the Most Attractive Segment by Technology: Global Industry Analysis 2012 - 2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017 2027 which has recently been added into the repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) estimates that the market for global artificial intelligence systems spending is expected to generate US$ 11.7 Bn in value by the end of 2017 and is further predicted to reach nearly a value of US$ 516.2 Bn by 2027. The report also estimates that the global artificial intelligence systems spending market is expected to exhibit 46.1% CAGR during forecast period 2017 to 2027.Click here for free Sample Report @As per the report, Artificial Intelligence is helping e-commerce retailers operate effectively by analyzing data in such a way that it makes retailers read consumer behavior and present meaningful information to the right consumer at the right time for increasing revenue and provide customer service.The report discusses the massive scope and demand for Artificial intelligence in current times and future. As per the report, the major players in the market of global artificial intelligence systems spending are investing heavily in hiring engineers for Artificial Intelligence owing to its rapid growth and popularity around the world. The key companies such as Google Inc., IBM Corp, Facebook Inc. to name a few are paying hefty amount to retain their highly skilled employees for Artificial Intelligence. So, heavy investment on hiring becomes one of the restraining factors to retain skilled workforce.The report begins with executive summary that throws light on key highlights in the report followed by basic introduction to the market including its definition making it meaningful for both new entrants and existing players. The report shares market analysis in terms of market size from 2012 to 2016 and forecast from 2017 to 2027. The readers will be able to know the factors influencing the market, current trends and the factors that are affecting the growth the market under the section market dynamics.Browse Full Report with TOC @The report has segmented its analysis for artificial intelligence systems spending market into industry type, technology, market type, region and country wise in terms of basis point share analysis, yearly growth projections, prominent trends, market attractiveness and market value forecast from 2012 to 2027.About (MRRSE)Market 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.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: VRF Refrigeration Systems Market Shares,Trend and Growth Report 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/vrf-refrigeration-systems-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11819 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) refrigeration systems provide variable flow of refrigerant into the evaporators with different capacities and configurations. This enables simultaneous heating and cooling and better heat recovery from one zone to another in a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. This flow of refrigerant is controlled by VRF system.Read Report Overview @The augmenting demand from commercial and small-medium businesses for flexible design of HVAC systems due to shrinking work-spaces is the key trend driving the demand for VRF refrigeration systems. The compact design and flexible layout in terms of outdoor to indoor units are the added benefits leading to its adoption in commercial as well as residential HVAC systems.VRF refrigeration market is segmented on the basis of component type and end-use industry. On the basis of component type, VRF refrigeration market is further segmented into indoor units, outdoor units, controllers and parts & accessories. Most of VRF refrigerant systems consist of indoor units to deliver the processed air. Outdoor units are used for heat recovery and control the flow of refrigerant.VRF Refrigeration Systems Market: SegmentationIn terms of end-use industry, VRF refrigeration market is further classified as healthcare, commercial buildings, education institutes, government and public sector, retail, manufacturing, banking, financial sector and insurance (BFSI) and manufacturing. On a broader scale, VRF systems are deployed in commercial spaces such as small and medium businesses, shopping complexes and large organizations. This is largely due to easy installation, efficient design and high sustainability provide by the VRF systems, making them an effective choice over other HVAC systems.The demand-specific flow of refrigerant makes it energy efficient and rising cognizance of energy efficiency in developed as well as in emerging markets makes this a key factor driving the market growth. Along with this, strict government reforms which encourage the use of energy efficient HVAC systems, especially in commercial spaces, is expected to pave the market growth in near term.VRF Refrigeration Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookLack of awareness, especially in emerging economies in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America region is expected to restrain its market growth. Furthermore, development of eco-friendly refrigerant for VRF systems and increasing penetration of VRF systems in residential segment can be foreseen as huge market opportunity for development of VRF systems in the future years.On a global perspective, with the earlier adoption of VRF systems in Asia Pacific and Europe regions in comparison with the markets in North America, Middle East & Africa and Latin America regions . These regions are expected to be the market leaders in terms of adoption of VRF systems, in the current scenario. However, North America is expected to surpass these markets in coming years, as a reason of vast adoption of VRF systems in the region. In terms of end-use applications, commercial buildings are expected to dominate of the VRF systems market. However, healthcare sector is expected to grow at a faster rate in comparison to the other industry verticals during the forecast period.Request to view Sample Report:VRF Refrigeration Systems Market: Key PlayersSome of the key manufactures in the development and manufacturing of VRF refrigeration systems are Daikin Industries, Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand plc, LG Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc., Johnson Controls, Inc., Blue Star Ltd., Voltas, Ltd., Encore Mechanical, L.L.C., Carrier Corporation, Fujitsu General Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Lennox Industries, Inc., Haier, Inc. and Gree Electric Appliances, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Brown Rice Market Forecast Report Offers Actionable Insights 2016 - 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1934 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1934 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/brown-rice-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Rice is one of the major staple food, consumed across the globe by more than half of the total worlds population. Rice is produced and milled globally, yet major percentage of total rice produced is consumed in the countries where it is produced, but growing demand in some areas is driving the international rice trade between the regions. Most of the rice is consumed and produced in Asia and Central-Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Thailand accounts for approximately 90% of world rice production. Due to high export of rice to other countries, the current share in global rice consumption of these countries is slightly lesser than the total production.Brown rice is the edible whole grain rice, with its outer hull removed. Since, brown rice goes through less processing, it is high in nutritional values as compared to whole white rice. Due to increasing preference towards healthy eating habits and increasing health consciousness, brown rice market is expanding at higher CAGR, compared to overall rice market. Brown rice demand is picking up in the major importing countries, which is attracting the interest of major producers to focus on producing brown rice.Request For Report Sample:Brown Rice Market Segmentation:Brown Rice market can be segmented on the basis of length, type and regions that constitute the key markets.Brown Rice on the basis of length can segmented into long-grain brown rice, medium-grain brown rice and short-grain brown rice. Long-grain brown rice when cooked, becomes firm and offers fluffy texture remain separate, whereas medium-grain offers more sweet and nutty flavour and remains more tender when cooked. Short-grain offers sweeter taste than medium and long grain brown rice and offers chewier and denser texture.Brown Rice on the basis of type can be segmented into sweet brown rice and brown basmati rice. Sweet rice is also known as sticky rice or glutinous rice, highly consumed in Southeast Asian countries.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Geographically, brown rice market can be segmented by regions into North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan and Middle East & Africa. Asia-pacific is the most dominant market in terms of production and consumption. Thailand is the worlds largest exporter of rice, including brown rice, followed by Vietnam and India. Major importing countries are dispersed and top 10 importing countries only account for less than 50% of global rice imports. Major countries consuming brown rice are Indonesia, Philippines, Iran, Nigeria and few European countries. Latin American countries are expected to exploit the availability of land and water emerge as the major producer and exporter of rice, during the forecast period.Brown Rice Market Drivers:Brown Rice market is increasing with respect to the growth of rice trade between the countries. Brown market is projected to expand at a higher pace compared to rice market, due to shifting preference towards healthy eating habits and nutrients provided by brown rice, such as vitamins (B), phosphorus, and magnesium, makes it a preferred choice for many health conscious customers. Due to increasing demand, the manufacturers are focusing on launching new brown rice brands and making renewed efforts to attract health-conscious people. Demand for brown rice is also emerging from various Middle-East and African countries, driving the growth of brown rice market. Innovation in packaging and changing food preference such as emergence of ready-to-eat food product will result in introduction of ready-to-cook brown rice, during the forecast period. In majority of countries where brown rice was earlier preferred by only diabetic patients, is now getting traction from growing number of fitness conscious consumers. Increasing per capita consumption of rice in countries where it is not a staple food is also expected to support the growth of brown rice marketBrown Rice Market Key Players:Brown Rice market is a part of global rice market and major supplier are concentrated in Asia-Pacific region which manufactures, market and export brown rice on large scale. Few of the major players in brown rice market are T.K. Ricemill and Ash, Asia Golden Rice Co.,Ltd., Daawat, Shiva Shellac And Chemicals, Amira Nature Foods Ltd., Chandrika Group of Mills, Riviana Foods Inc., Ebro Foods, Agistin Biotech Pvt. Ltd., and SunFoods, LLC.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis: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 US:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Surgical Lasers Market - New Era Of Market & Forecast 2017-2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1904 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1904 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1904 Global Surgical Lasers Market: OverviewSurgical laser products are used in laser surgeries to destroy or cut abnormal or diseased tissues, destroy or shrink lesions and tumors, seal lymph vessels, remove moles and tattoos, and close off blood vessels and nerve endings among various other uses. They are available in different types such as argon, diode, neodymium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet, and carbon dioxide. They are used in several procedures, including laparoscopic surgeries, percutaneous surgeries, and open surgeries and in various fields such as dermatology, urology, gynecology, cardiology, oncology, ophthalmology, and dentistry.Global Surgical Lasers Market: Key TrendsThe increasing prevalence of targeted diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases and expanding base of patients suffering from ophthalmic disorder are the leading factors providing a fillip to the global surgical lasers market. The growing preference for minimally invasive surgeries is also creating an upthrust in the global demand for surgical laser products. Moreover, the rising investments in the field from both public and private sectors are augmenting the market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @On the other hand, the stringent regulatory scenario related to the approval of surgical lasers is inhibiting the growth of the market. Furthermore, the high costs of laser surgeries coupled with the shortage of suitable medical reimbursement policies are keeping the global surgical lasers market from realizing its utmost potential.Global Surgical Lasers Market: Market PotentialEmerging regions are expected to present immense growth opportunities. As a result of which, players in the global surgical lasers market are expected to shift their focus towards developing countries. The rising expenditure on healthcare and improving medical practices are boosting the uptake of surgical lasers in these countries. Moreover, the booming medical tourism sector in these regions attracts people from all over the world, which makes them promising markets.Rapid advancements in surgical lasers are opening new avenues for market players. The introduction of laser surgeries in the field of veterinary care is unfolding tremendous growth opportunities for the global surgical lasers market. Surgical lasers are now being used to address pain, injury, and chronic health conditions in companion pets.Request TOC of the Report @Global Surgical Lasers Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key segments analyzed in the research report are Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America will be a prominent market throughout the forecast period, with the U.S. being at the forefront of growth. The increasing number of clinical trials and availability of favorable reimbursement policies for laser-assisted surgeries are triggering the adoption of novel technologies among healthcare professionals, which in turn is propelling the growth of the region. A large number of manufacturers headquartered in the region are also facilitating the widespread adoption of surgical laser products.Asia Pacific will register a healthy growth rate during the same period, owing to widening base of patient population for target diseases. The rising initiatives by governments to improve healthcare facilities are providing a significant push to the growth of the region. Moreover, the increasing awareness among healthcare professionals regarding the procedural benefits of surgical laser equipment and growing geriatric population are driving the growth of the region.Get Discount @Global Surgical Lasers Market: Competitive LandscapeThe majority of companies are focusing towards product launches to enhance their visibility in the high competitive arena of the global surgical lasers market. Mergers and acquisitions are also among the primary growth strategies adopted by key players to expand their product portfolio in the market. Some of the prominent companies operating in the market are Lumenis, Alma Lasers, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Spectranetics Corporation, Fotona d.o.o., Biolitec AG, Boston Scientific Corporation, and Cynosure Inc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Functional Water Market: Trends and Opportunities for the Industry by 2016 - 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1941 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1941 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/functional-water-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Functional water is a non-alcoholic beverage, which is altered by adding additional ingredients, to offer health and other functional benefits. Most commonly used ingredients which are added to water, for transforming it to functional water includes vitamins, minerals, acids, herbs, and raw fruit or vegetables. Functional water contains additives which offer extra nutritional values, and also known as aquaceutical.Functional water market is expanding rapidly owning to change in beverage consumption habits, preference has shifted from high sugar, carbonated beverages to functional and flavored water. Functional water market is expected to grow in the forecast period due to increasing demand from health conscious consumers.Request For Report Sample:Functional Water Market Segmentation:Functional water market can be segmented on the basis distribution channel, packaging type and regions that constitute the key markets.Functional water on the basis of distribution can be segmented into Hyper/Supermarket, grocery and departmental stores, convenience and drug stores and others (includes foodservice, vending and delivery). Grocery and departmental stores accounts for the highest share in sales of functional water, followed by other distribution channels. Functional water are also available in different specialty stores, which offer healthy food and beverage, but there are no exclusive stores for functional water.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Functional water market can be further segmented on the basis of packaging which includes, functional PET bottled water, functional glass bottled water, and others (including flexible pouches and cans). Functional water mostly comes in PET bottles, which are highly recyclable and preferred by manufacturers. Functional glass bottle water is offered at higher price and account for significant share in total market value. With the advancement of packaging technology, and increasing usage of recyclable packaging, PET bottles are preferably used by manufacturers, to supply Functional Water products to end-users.Regional Outlook of Functional Water Market:Geographically Functional water market can be segmented by regions such as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), Middle East and Africa and Japan. Among all these regions, Western Europe market is expected to dominate the functional water market, in term of revenue, and also expected to expand at highest CAGR followed by North America. Asia-Pacific and Latin America functional water market is at nascent stage, but the region has potential to grow at higher pace as compared to other developed regions due to changing eating habits, and growing urban population and increasing disposable income of the huge middle class population.Functional Water Market Drivers:The size of functional water market is increasing with respect to the growth of non-alcoholic beverage market and due to maturity of soft drinks market. Consumers increasing preference for healthy variant, and preference for high nutritional drinks is expected to drive the functional water market. Functional water has the potential to become one of the major non-alcoholic beverage due to its high vitamin, mineral and extra-oxygen properties. Functional water offer healthy hydration while offering refreshment and health benefits to consumer. Health conscious consumers are expected to result in demand pull effect for the functional water products. Functional water market is not just driven due to increasing health concerns, but major brands are also looking forward to offer functional water with additional skin benefits, which is expected to support the growth of functional water market.Major manufacturers of functional water are expected to offer various products, which are natural, contains vitamin C, botanicals and antioxidants, which and target exclusive market for such products.Functional Water Market Key Players:Functional Water market is moderately concentrated with number of major players holding high share and domestic players offering functional water in the local market. Leading players in functional water market are Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., Nestle S.A., PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, Groupe Danone, Hint Water, New York Spring Water, Balance Water Company and Sunny Delight Beverages Company.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis: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 US:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Image Recognition Market Key Players - Jestec Honeywell, Toshiba, Itraff Technology, Sharp Vision Software https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1315 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/image-recognition-market Market HighlightsIn the era of fast moving technological advancement where visual content is continuously replacing the conventional technology of textual solutions, technologies such as image recognition, facial recognition and 3D object recognition are building a very strong layout for providing superior solutions in the area such as security and surveillance, automotive safety, automatic driving and assistance, forensics and police investigations, biometric scanning appliances, healthcare and e-commerce etc.Various businesses have started recognizing the benefits of collecting the information from images digitally. This digital information can help to enhance customer experience and offer various new ways to approach customers. The rising sophistication of image recognition technologies is expected to grow at a fast pace. In most of the regions of the world, due to the increase in the tech savvy people many new players are focusing towards incorporating Image Recognition technologies in their products.The growing demand of the virtual market and other stimulation products is creating a huge market potential for image recognition products.Request a Sample Report @Major Key playersJestec (LTU Technologies) (Japan),Honeywell (U.S.),Toshiba (Japan),Itraff Technology (Poland),Sharp Vision Software (U.S.),Qualcomm Technologies (U.S.),Panasonic (Japan),NEC (Japan),Hitachi(Japan),CatchoomMarket SegmentationSegmentation by Solution: Facial Recognition, Barcode/ quick response code recognition, Sensors, Object Recognition, Optical Object Recognition, and Pattern Recognition.Segmentation by Deployment: On premises, On demandSegmentation by Component: Hardware, Software.Segmentation by Application Areas: BFSI, IT and Telecom, healthcare, hospitality, retail industry, automobile, aerospace, defense and SME organizations among others.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Image Recognition Market Research Report- Global Forecast 2022.Access Report Details @Industry News In Sep 2016, HONEYWELL announces key enhancement in video surveillance portfolio In Feb 2016, Toshiba Launches New Line-up of Image Recognition Processors for Monocular Cameras In Feb 2013, Panasonic Develops Technology for Highly Sensitive Image Sensors Using Micro Color SplittersTarget Audience: Key Technology Providers System Integrators Software Providers IC Manufacturers OS Vendors Application Developers Content Providers Device Manufacturers Raw material & manufacturing equipment suppliers ODM and OEM technology solution providers Distributors and retailers Research organizationThe report for Global Image Recognition 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.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:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Global Emotion Detection & Recognition Market to reach $29.2 billion by 2022 https://kbvresearch.com/global-emotion-detection-recognition-market/ According to a new report, Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market (2016-2022) published by KBV Research, the Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market attained a market is expected to reach $29,179.8 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 27.4% during 2016 -2022.The North America market dominated the Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market in 2015, and would grow at a CAGR of 25.8% during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at CAGR of 29.7% during 2016-2022.The Feature Extraction and 3D Modelling market contributed thelarger revenue share to the Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market in 2015, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.1% during the forecast period. The Bio-Sensors Technology market is expected attain a market size of $4,377 million by 2022.The Facial Expression Recognition market would reach a market size of $11,380.1 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 29.8% during the forecast period. The Healthcare market dominated the Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market in 2015. The Gaming market is expected to attain a market size of $3,939.3 million by 2022. However, Transport and Logistics market is expected to grow at CAGR of 28.6% during 2016-2022.The report highlights the adoption of Emotion Detection and Recognition market, globally. Based on the Type, the Emotion Detection and Recognition Market is segmented into Feature Extraction and 3D Modeling, Bio-Sensors Technology, Pattern Recognition, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning and Other segment. Based on the Software Tool, the market is bifurcated into Facial Expression Recognition, Bio-Sensing Software Tools and Apps and Speech & Voice Recognition segments. According to the Application, the Emotion Detection and Recognition Market is segmented into Healthcare, Transport and Logistics, Law enforcement and Surveilance, Gaming and Other segments. Based on the end users, the market is segmented into Enterprises, Defense and security agencies, Commercial, Industrial, Others (Personal users). The geographies included in the report are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East and Africa).Full report:Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, by TypeFeature Extraction and 3D ModelingBio-Sensors TechnologyPattern RecognitionNatural Language ProcessingMachine LearningOthersGlobal Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, by Software ToolFacial Expression RecognitionBio-Sensing Software Tools and AppsSpeech and Voice RecognitionGlobal Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, by ApplicationHealthcareTransportLaw EnforcementGamingOthersGlobal Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, by End UserEnterprisesDefense and security agenciesCommercialIndustrialOthers (Personal users)Global Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaU.SCanadaMexicoRest of North AmericaEuropeGermanyUKFranceRussiaSpainItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaSouth KoreaSingaporeMalaysiaRest of Asia PacificLAMEABrazilArgentinaUAESaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaNigeriaRest of LAMEACompany ProfilesAffectivaEmotientNoldus Information TechnologyRealeyesNvisoSightcorpKairosEyerisRelated Reports-Asia Pacific Emotion Detection and Recognition MarketEurope Emotion Detection and Recognition MarketNorth America Detection and Recognition MarketLamea Emotion Detection and Recognition MarketKnowledge Based Value Research is a global brand and consulting firm serving all kinds of business verticals, government and non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. Our motto is to extend our services that will have a lasting impact on our clients who trust us with their business goals.4F CS 27, Ansal PlazaSector 1, Vaishali 201010Delhi NCR, Ghaziabad, IndiaTel: 0120-4968631 / +91-9990696033Email: info@kbvresearch.com Oracle to Put a Lot of Investments for the Continued Expansion of NetSuite PH www.coefficientsco.com! NetSuite Philippines, the business process outsourcing of NetSuite, is projected to grow at a faster pace since Oracle Corp. has started putting a lot of investments for the NetSuites worldwide expansion to leverage small to medium enterprises growing need for digital solutions.Netsuites founder and former chairperson and chief technology officer and presently Oracles executive vice president, Evan Goldberg, announced to the Philippine press members of SuiteConnect Oracle + NetSuite that Oracle, which bought NetSuite for $9.3, has been very serious for to achieve their goals for NetSuite.The intention is to grow NetSuite faster than when we were growing as a listed company, stated Goldberg. As a matter of fact, he stated that the budget allotment for Netween has been significantly increased to support the said growth initiative.Everything at Oracle NetSuite is expanding and there will be no exception as Mark Hurd said they are investing very heavily in distribution and R & D and the Philippines plays a big role so there will be expansion there and obviously for customer support role have to massively increase that because that is the intention to invest in all countries that we serve and I think there will be opportunities and we are very proud of our operation in the Philippines, Goldberg added.NetSuite functions as a technical support and knowledge process outsourcing center for its worldwide operation in the country where it houses about 1,300 employees.Much like NetSuite, Coefficients Co Ltd, has been an outsourcing hub of clients around the world, ranging from customer support for a US tent manufacturing company to advertising staff for a top Canadian real estate agent and various digital marketing services.Earlier this month, Mark Hurd, CEO of Oracle, acknowledged the original NetSuite clients that the company not only bought NetSuite for a hefty amount but the company is also putting in efforts to boost its presence in distribution, and the number of products they offer through the wide range of Oracle Capabilities as they try to penetrate the market in other countries.When asked if Artificial Intelligence is threatening to replace NetSuite Philippines employees, Goldberg stated that AI is in no way a threat since there are no tasks being carried out at its Manila office can be performed by AI.However, he clarified that AI will alter the nature of a few jobs, and may cause displacements in some other companies but not for NetSuite. He stated that if by chance there will be some major changes, it could be three years from now.Group vice-president and general manager of Japan-Asia Pacific for Oracle NetSuite Global Business Unit, Lee Thompson, stated that Oracle has huge plans for NetSuite with the establishment of centers and spokes models.So far, the company has already built 5 sales centers in Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, and India and some satellite sales headquarters across Asia. They are also hiring many people to help the growth strategy.Prior to Oracles acquisition, Thompson stated, NetSuite already has a 30% growth rate but the goal now is have a much faster growth than that.Oracle has very deep pockets and making investments in NetSuite, he stade putting emphasis on the acquisition has given NetSuite a lot of acknowledgment in geographies where it is not even known. Oracle also wants to retain NetSuites identity.Its pretty much confirmed that AI poses very minimal threat in Philippines BPO industry, and now that the warfare in the south is over, investments in the country is expected to skyrocket, and the BPO industry is expected to benefit the most from it.Visit us atCoefficients currently serves more than 20 global clients in knowledge services. The companys eventual metamorphosis from BPO to KPO is a very good opportunity for it to be ideally positioned to lead in knowledge-based services via ramping up capacity and honing its peoples competency.2nd Floor Coefficients Bldg., Peridot cor. Aquamarine St., Pleasantville Phase 2, Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City, Philippines 4301 Global Road Marking Material Market 2017-Aximum SA, Ennis-Flint, Private Ltd Global Road Marking Material Market https://goo.gl/eaf5oy https://goo.gl/8LV6Ve https://market.biz http://ereports.asia/ Global Road Marking Material Market Report illustrates the present development status of Road Marking Material along with the growth of Road Marking Material expected during the forecast period during 2017-2022. Road Marking Material Market analyses the industry based on different factors like growth trends, consumer volume, Road Marking Material market size and demand and supply status. Road Marking Material Market is a beneficial research material which conducts a competitive analysis of the Road Marking Material market. This report also portrays the Road Marking Material industry structure based on the product cost, major industry players, product applications, import/export details and Road Marking Material market competition.A complete study of Road Marking Material based on emerging and dominant market segments, major geographical regions, supply chain analysis, Road Marking Material revenue analysis will drive important business decisions. This research also lists covers the details related to the downstream buyer analysis, supply chain scenario, distributor scenario, labor cost and the cost of raw materials.A thorough analysis of Road Marking Material based on the primary market segments, sub-segments, emerging market sectors, Road Marking Material development trends, opportunities and threats to the market development has been evaluated. Comprehensive details related to Road Marking Material market development during the forecast period, investment return analysis, technological advancement taking place in Road Marking Material will assist all the market players for planning development strategies.More regarding Global Road Marking Material Market 2017 Report at:Complete details of Road Marking Material are listed in the below TOC, Figures, Charts, Graphs. The major Companies leading to the growth of Road Marking Material are covered in this report with their consumer base, company profile, and Road Marking Material revenue share.Complete Manufacturer study of Global Road Marking Material Market:The world Road Marking Material market is highly competitive and concentrated due to the presence of regional and global Road Marking Material vendors. The primary focus of Road Marking Material companies is to strengthen their technological expertise. This will help them to broaden their Road Marking Material product portfolio and survive for a long time in Road Marking Material industry. Vendors of the Road Marking Material market are also focusing on Road Marking Material product line extensions and product innovations to increase their Road Marking Material market share. Leading vendors in world Road Marking Material industry are Ozark Materials LLC, Reda National Co., Kelly Bros Erinline, Crown Technologies LLC, Aximum SA, Private Ltd., Automark Technologies (India), Geveko Markings and Ennis-Flint.Request A Sample Copy Here:Major regions and their revenue analysis covered in Road Marking Material include North America, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia. This report also covers the Road Marking Material marketing strategies followed by Road Marking Material distributors analysis, potential buyers, marketing channels and Road Marking Material development history. Road Marking Material Market analysis based on top players, Road Marking Material market gains, sales, product type, production capacity and gross margin analysis will favor the market development.Based on the dynamic Road Marking Material market trends, developments taking place in Road Marking Material, competitive study, growth opportunities, Road Marking Material market will reflect huge development in coming years. All the crucial Road Marking Material market factors leading to growth has been covered in this Road Marking Material study.About Us:Market.Biz is designed to provide the best and most penetrating research required to all commercial, industrial and profit-making ventures in any sector of online business. We take pride in our ability to satisfy the market research needs of both domestic and international businesses.Market.Biz has access to the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date databases in your business sector, including countless market reports that can provide you with valuable data relating to your business. We understand the needs of our clients, and keep our reports updated as market requirement changes.Contact US:GlobeMetrixJames JohnsonS no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4,Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns,Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Email: inquiry@market.bizWebsite:Blog: Global Mining Ventilator Market is expected to witness substantial growth during Forecast by 2021 http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/glfr669/global-mining-ventilator-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=glfr669 http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=glfr669 www.marketintelreports.com Global Mining Ventilator Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021Mining Ventilator is used for circulation of adequate quantity and quality of air in mines. These systems include fans, airways, control devices to direct or restrict air flow, cool and filter the air, and systems for monitoring air quality and quantity.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Mining Ventilator in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversMetso CorpSandvikCATJoy GlobalStrataTaizhongFrance OdumRongxinZibo FengjiPamica ElectricAnrui FengjiNanyang FangbaoBrowse for the complete report@Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversFlow-through Ventilation Mining VentilatorAuxiliary Ventilation Mining VentilatorMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCoal IndustryMetal Ore IndustryOther IndustryGet the sample brochure of report@There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Mining Ventilator market.Chapter 1, to describe Mining Ventilator Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Mining Ventilator, with sales, revenue, and price of Mining Ventilator, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Mining Ventilator, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Mining Ventilator market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Mining Ventilator sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Order for the complete report@About MarketIntelReports (MIR):MarketIntelReports (MIR) aim to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions. We do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.A group of industry veterans who are well experienced in reputed international consulting firms after identifying the sourcing needs of MNCs for market intelligence, have together started this business savior MarketIntelReports.Contact Details:Sales ManagerMayur S2711 Centerville Road, Suite 400,Wilmington,Delaware,19808United Statespr@marketintelreports.comTelephone: 1-302-261-5343 Automotive Paints Market: Global Industry Will Grow at 5.2% CAGR through 2022 https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/automotive-paints-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/automotive-paints-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/automotive-paints-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/automotive-paints-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com https://zionmarketresearch.wordpress.com According to the report, global automotive paints market was valued at USD 18.5 billion in 2016, is expected to reach USD 25.7 billion by 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2016 and 2022.Automotive paint plays an essential role in the protection of automobile against corrosion, UV rays, oxidization, and acid rains. These paints have low volatile organic compounds (VOC) and high solid content. Automotive paints are easy to apply and are clean and wear resistance. Over the past few years, the automotive paint technology has established in terms of quality, the durability of products and color choices offered to the buyers.Request Free Sample copy of Research Report @Growing demand for vehicles worldwide has boosted the growth of the automotive paints market. End users prefer to buy vehicles; featuring durable automotive paint is expected to fuel the market growth in the forecast period. However, high prices of raw material may limit the market growth in near future. Nevertheless, altering government rules and regulations for growing environmental awareness would give many significant opportunities for the growth of the automotive paints market in coming years.Automotive paint market is segmented on the basis of vehicle type, coat type, texture type, technology, and region. On the basis of vehicle type segment market is classified into light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, and passenger cars. The coat type comprises of electro coat, base coat, primer coat, and clear coat. The Clear coat was the major coat type segment of automotive paint market in 2016 followed by primer, electro-coat, and base coat. The texture type segment is categorized into solid texture and metallic texture. The metallic paints market is expected to grow at fast pace in the forecast period owing to growing demand for attractive glossy finish offered by these paints. In developed countries, metallic paints are utilized extensively even for heavy commercial vehicles along with passenger cars and light commercial vehicles; whereas, in the developing countries, solid paints are preferred as heavy commercial paints. On the basis of technology, the automotive paint market is segmented into solvent, waterborne, and powder coating.Inquire more about this report before purchase @In 2016, Asia Pacific was the largest market for automotive paint attributed to recent growth in automotive OEM market in developing countries in the region. Furthermore, favorable macro factors such as largest vehicle production, cheaper labor cost, and government support for manufacturing industry along with the big local market is expected to further boost the market growth in the forecast period. Europe was one of the leading markets for automotive paint in 2016 owing to the presence of leading vehicle producing countries in Europe. Europe was followed by North America, where the U.S. accounts for the largest market in 2016.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @The automotive paints market is huge and tremendously fragmented. Key players profiled in the report include BASF SE, Akzonobel N.V., PPG Industries Inc., Kansai Paint Co., Ltd., Paint Holdings Co., Ltd, Nippon, Valspar Corporation, and Arkema SA among others. In 2016, PPG Industries Inc. was one of the market leaders and has a strong presence globally in the market. PPGs strong research and development and product expansion maintain its position in the automotive paints market. PPG recently launched a new Ultrapax coating system, which is a packaged system of pretreatment products and powder coating to meet the stringent standards to protect metals.Directly Purchase a copy of report with TOC @About Us:Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting-edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:Blog: Variable Gain Amplifiers (VGAs) Market driven by growing demand for remote sensing and communication equipments globally https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/variable-gain-amplifiers-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=15938 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Variable Gain Amplifiers (VGAs) are amplifiers which are capable of signal conditioning and whose voltage can be set electronically. The gain of variable gain amplifiers can be controlled through analog voltage, which in turn can be controlled through a direct current (DC) source, functional source or through digital to analog converters. Variable gain amplifiers can provide a gain of various ranges, depending upon the application. These amplifiers can function across various amplitude ranges and also across a wide gain control range. Suppliers of variable gain amplifiers generally offer a plethora of these amplifiers and also offer customized products, depending on the application requirement of their customers.Browse Market Research Report @The market for variable gain amplifiers is growing at a very fast pace, primarily owing to the growing demand for remote sensing and communication equipments globally. Variable gain amplifiers have wide array of applications across several industrial verticals. They can be found in mobile phones, while they are also used in complex radio frequency modules of electronic devices developed for defense industries among others. Such wide applications in electronic devices have been promoting the growth of the market. Additionally, the ongoing strong research and development activities, across the globe, to develop next generation communication systems have also been positively impacting the growth of this market. This is because research and development facilities have always been strong customers for variable gain amplifier manufacturing companies. Additionally, the growing penetration of hand held communication devices, across the developing and under developed nations is also aiding in the growth of the variable gain amplifiers market.The global variable gain amplifiers market can be segmented, by type, into analog, digital and others. In analog variable gain amplifiers, the gain in decibel is a linear function of the input voltage. Digital variable gain amplifier is a combination of a gain device and an attenuator, packaged into a single module, and utilizes a digital control to modulate the gain. On the basis of supply voltage, the market has been segmented into three segments, namely up to 5V, above 5V 7V and above 7V. Each segment of variable gain amplifiers has specific applications in different electronic devices and across different industry verticals. By end use industry, the variable gain amplifiers market is segmented into aerospace & defense, healthcare, consumer electronics and others. Various devices of aerospace and defense industry utilizes variable gain amplifiers. Some examples include radar, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and wireless communications.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Application of variable gain amplifiers in healthcare industry includes in ultrasound devices and radio imaging devices among others. In consumer electronics, variable gain amplifiers are utilized for mobile phones and satellite phones among others. Others segment includes various industrial end users where variable gain amplifiers are used for applications such as ultrasound imaging for machinery fault analysis and industrial automation among others. The global variable gain amplifiers market has been further segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), South America and Middle-East & Africa (MEA). By revenue, Asia Pacific had the largest market share in 2015, followed by North America and Europe. Large consumer base of consumer electronics is the primary reason for Asia Pacific being the top revenue garner. North America is the second highest revenue garner in the variable gain amplifier market, owing to their large applications in aerospace and defense industry, apart from consumer electronics.The major companies of the Variable Gain Amplifiers (VGAs) market are Analog Devices, Inc. (U.S.) Linear Technology (U.S.), Texas Instruments, Inc. (U.S.), Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (The Netherlands), TriQuint Semiconductor (U.S.), Maxim Integrated (U.S.), Future Electronics (Canada), Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), MACOM (U.S.) and Broadcom Corporation (U.S.) among various others.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Professional and Comprehensive Orthopedic Braces and Supports Market Research Report by Radiant Insights Radiant Insights, Inc https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-orthopedic-braces-and-supports-market-size-and-forecast-to-2021/request-sample?utm_source=Pr&utm_medium=Open&utm_campaign=Jyoti https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-orthopedic-braces-and-supports-market-size-and-forecast-to-2021?utm_source=Pr&utm_medium=Open&utm_campaign=Jyoti https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/china-methadone-hydrochloride-industry-2017?utm_source=Pr&utm_medium=Open&utm_campaign=Jyoti https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/united-states-pentoxifylline-industry-2017?utm_source=Pr&utm_medium=Open&utm_campaign=Jyoti https://pharmaceuticalandhealthcarereports.wordpress.com Orthopedic Braces and Supports Report by Material, Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and comprehensive research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, United Kingdom,Japan, South Korea and China).In this report, the global Orthopedic Braces and Supports market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2021, growing at a CAGR of XX% during the period 2016 to 2021.Request a Free Sample Copy of Orthopedic Braces and Supports Market Report @The report firstly introduced the Orthopedic Braces and Supports basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The major players profiled in this report include: Frank Stubbs Co., Inc. McDavid Knee Otto Bock Healthcare GmbH Bauerfeind AGThe report Global Orthopedic Braces and Supports Market Size and Forecast to 2021 is available now atThe end users/applications and product category analysis:On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue (Million USD), product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into- Hospital Other medical institutionsOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Advanced and Ultra-High-Strength Steel for each application, including- Type 1 Type 2 Type 3Read more related reports by Radiant Insights: Methadone Hydrochloride Industry Pentoxifylline IndustryTable of ContentsPart I Orthopedic Braces and Supports Industry OverviewChapter One Orthopedic Braces and Supports Industry Overview1.1 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Definition1.2 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Classification and Prodcut Type Analysis Type 1 Type 2 Type 31.3 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Application and Down Stream Market Analysis Hospital Other medical institutions1.4 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Industry Development Overview1.6 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Global Market Development Trend AnalysisTo read more reports of this category, Visit our blog:Part II Asia Orthopedic Braces and Supports Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Two 2012-2017 Asia Orthopedic Braces and Supports Productions Supply Sales Demand Market Status and Forecast2.1 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Capacity Production Overview2.2 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Production Market Share Analysis2.3 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Demand Overview2.4 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Supply Demand and Shortage2.5 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Import Export Consumption2.6 2012-2017 Orthopedic Braces and Supports Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginAbout Radiant Insights, IncRadiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services. Market research studies are designed to facilitate strategic decision making, on the basis of extensive and in-depth quantitative information, supported by extensive analysis and industry insights. Using a patented and robust research methodology, we publish exhaustive research reports covering a host of industries such as Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. Radiant Insights has a strong base of analysts, consultants and domain experts, with global experience help for delivering excellence in all research projects.Media Contact:Michelle Thoras201 Spear Street 1100,Suite 3036,San Francisco,CA 94105, United StatesTel: 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Mail: sale@radiantinsights.com Exhibition Stall Design and Fabrication | Exhibition in Delhi NCR Classic Advertising Group is a leading exhibition stall fabrication services provider with in-house design studio. Our in-house dedicated and creative team works closely with the clients so as to ensure best designs and fabrication. Since the companies and brands participates in the exhibitions across the nation to reach the target audience, thus it is necessary to represent their brand or stall in best innovative and attractive manner so that their motto to attract their target audience or to become more visible other than their competitors in that exhibition can be accomplished. Our innovative and creative exhibition stalls design and fabrication services help you to accomplish these goals. Because the eye-pleasing and attractive look of the stalls is the only thing that grabs the maximum attention of the visitors.While representing our creative designs to our clients, we focus on the following aspects which affect the visitors view: Optimized use of the available space Right property placement Attractive display of your products Use excellent mixture of the colors to represent your proper brandWe provide all services to our clients ranging from stall designing to fabrication with the help of our dedicated designers and builders. Our motto is to provide right infrastructure, excellent and attractive designs to motivate your target audience, to promote your brand and to innovate your marketing. If you are looking for best stall fabrication service provider, youll find us near you. We guarantee to satisfy the clients with our innovative stall designs and fabrication services.Classic Advertising Group is the premier best exhibition stall designer in Delhi / NCR providing professional exhibition stalls for the industry. We first understand what the customer want, understand the clients requirement and then design accordingly so that it attracts maximum customer attraction. The stunning design of exhibition made by us grabs maximum attention of the customer. It represents your company theme and helps in communicating with clients about the business. The exhibition stall designed by us communicates your message in best possible manner. We work for both national and international clients. We assure to provide high end services to our clients. Thus the stalls designed by us are highly appreciated by our clients.We have highly experienced stall designing team. Classics exhibition stall designers can transform your perception into realistic aspect. They use their creativity to design creative design for the exhibition stalls. Therefore we can say that we are the best exhibition stall designer in Delhi. Our stall management services include the entire procedure of exhibition stall organization and its implementation. Our team managing event services include production planning, event planning and its management.We are highly proficient in designing of Exhibition Booth, banner, exhibition stall, exhibition stall fabrication and stall advertising. We believe in providing these services at cost effective price and with stimulated time frame. We have designed attractive exhibition stalls for many clients belong to every type of industry.We at Classic Advertising Group are the leading exhibition stall fabricators in Delhi providing complete stall management services including from exhibition stall designs, set-up, fabrication, dismantling, Advertising and optimum space utilization.We at Classic Advertising Group have highly dedicated team who offer you a perfect stall design every time. Our in-house production team provides you all the aspects of the structural marketing which includes exhibition stall planning and execution, logistic and production, etc. Thereby we are engaged in satisfying our clients from a long decade with our excellent work. We have proved ourselves to be the ONE STOP SOLUTION for your brand as we provide you trouble-free process for the trade shows and exhibition events. We assure to grab maximum attention of the visitors with the stalls designed by us. While designing attractive and effective stall designs, we use your all details or the products so that your brand message can be reached to the target audience.We have served our stall fabrication services to wide range of industries like Real Estate, Machinery, Automation, Chemicals, FMCG as well as Manufacturing and many more. We provide our services to every type of industry whatever you are belong to. Our services enable our clients to save their energy and time and help them to make their experience more memorable. Within 35 years of experience of serving the industry, we have served our services to various countries like UAE, Germany, UK, Australia, United State of America, Switzerland, and so on. We provide our services to both national and international countries.Our exhibition stall designer firstly focuses on clients product list and then creates a unique and attractive design that represents their products and grabs maximum attention of the customer.We have extensive experience in designing exhibition stalls for the industry and have worked with many clients every type of industry. We believe in providing the best and unique design to our clients with stimulated time and at cost effective price.Classic Advertising Group is a leading exhibition stall fabrication services provider with in-house design studio. Our in-house dedicated and creative team works closely with the clients so as to ensure best designs and fabrication.KM 115, Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad-201001, India Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 http://globalqyresearch.com/download-sample/317437 http://globalqyresearch.com/checkout-form/0/317437 http://globalqyresearch.com/ This report studies the global Hotel Reservation Software market, analyzes and researches the Hotel Reservation Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeinnRoadHotelogixFrontdesk AnywhereHotelloWebRezProroomMasterRoomKeyPMSCloudbedsGuestPointRMSRDPMaestro PMSSkywareResNexusLodgifyeZeeMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoCloud basedOn premiseDownload Sample Report Copy From Here:Market segment by Application, Hotel Reservation Software can be split intoLarge EnterpriseSMBIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Hotel Reservation Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Hotel Reservation Software1.1 Hotel Reservation Software Market Overview1.1.1 Hotel Reservation Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Hotel Reservation Software Market by Type1.3.1 Cloud based1.3.2 On premise1.4 Hotel Reservation Software Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Large Enterprise1.4.2 SMB2 Global Hotel Reservation Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 innRoad3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Hotelogix3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Frontdesk Anywhere3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Hotello3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 WebRezPro3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 roomMaster3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 RoomKeyPMS3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Cloudbeds3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 GuestPoint3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 RMS3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Hotel Reservation Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 RDP3.12 Maestro PMS3.13 Skyware3.14 ResNexus3.15 Lodgify3.16 eZee4 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Hotel Reservation Software in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Hotel Reservation Software5 United States Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)7 Japan Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)8 China Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)8.2 China Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)9 India Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)9.2 India Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)10 Southeast Asia Hotel Reservation Software Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Hotel Reservation Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)11.1 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (Value) by Regions (2017-2022)11.1.1 United States Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.2 EU Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.3 Japan Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.4 China Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.5 India Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.1.6 Southeast Asia Hotel Reservation Software Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)11.2 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size (Value) by Type (2017-2022)11.3 Global Hotel Reservation Software Market Size by Application (2017-2022)12 Hotel Reservation Software Market Dynamics12.1 Hotel Reservation Software Market Opportunities12.2 Hotel Reservation Software Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Hotel Reservation Software Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Hotel Reservation Software Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential Application13 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 Factors14 Research Finding/Conclusion15 AppendixMethodologyAnalyst IntroductionData SourceBuy Now This Report From Here:Global QYResearch() is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYRese arch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Unit 1, 26 Cleveland Road, Soutqh Woodford, London,E182AN, United KingdomCall: +44 20 3239 2407 Hydrogen Generation Market : Industry Research and Forecast Analysis 2017 - 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1316 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1316 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1316 Global Hydrogen Generation Market: SnapshotHydrogen generation is one of the more critical industrial processes that is needed by a number of application segments. The more common uses of hydrogen generation technologies is in the production of ammonia and methanol, as well as for a number of on-site oil refining processes. The core advantage for players in the global hydrogen generation market is that there are no natural reserves of hydrogen due to the nature of the gas, due to which hydrogen needs to be synthesized through various means before use.Common hydrogen generation methods include its synthesis from hydrocarbons, using steam reforming, thermolysis, and electrolysis. Nearly all hydrogen generation over the past few years was through coal gasification, partial oxidation of methane, and steam reforming of fossil fuels. One of the key uses of hydrogen in the oil and gas sector is to produce lighter fractions of heavy petroleum in a process known as hydrocracking. The future of hydrogen generation also seems to be very bright, with a lot of focus being given to hydrogen fuel cells amid the growing push towards clean and renewable energies.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Hydrogen Generation Market: OverviewHydrogen can be generated via a number of diverse methods. Some of these include thermochemical processes, direct solar water splitting processes, electrolytic processes, and biological processes. Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce energy using a chemical reaction instead of combustion, with only heat and water as the byproducts. Fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas are used to generate hydrogen. However, a preference for renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, biomass, hydro-electric power, and geothermal power has been increasing due to rising environmental crisis.Global Hydrogen Generation Market: Key TrendsOf late, there has been a surge in the demand for diesel originating from both domestic and industrial applications. As hydrogen is used in the reduction of sulfur content in diesel fuel, the demand for hydrogen generation will also increase. Developing economies have been requiring large volumes of crude oil due to the robust growth in industrialization, aiding the expansion of the global hydrogen generation market. Refineries over the world are being upgraded so as to extend their productivity and efficiency, apart from meeting the strict regulatory standards related to sulfur emission. This has led to increasing investments for the same. All these factors have stoked the growth of the global hydrogen generation market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Hydrogen Generation Market: Market PotentialCurrently, the production of hydrogen for industrial uses relies heavily on nonrenewable energy resources. Therefore, a key potential has been acknowledged in the generation of hydrogen through renewable energy resources. A four-year project funded by Hydrogen Europe, an industrial association, and research organizations N.ERGHY, Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program aims at generating hydrogen through solar energy that is suitable for industrial use.The project is likely to develop a prototype in an area of 10 square meters, converting around 6.0% of the incident solar energy into hydrogen. The cost of the hydrogen thus produced should also be lesser than the market price. This development is expected to bring about a technological breakthrough, not only in the global hydrogen generation market but also the global photovoltaic cells market.Global Hydrogen Generation Market: Regional OutlookIncreasing demand for ammonia to be used as feedstock for urea is one of the key growth drivers of the hydrogen generation market in North America. Led by the U.S., the North America segment will account for a major share in the global market owing to stringent regulations applicable to vehicle emissions. Rising demand for chemicals from the food and beverage industry and the construction sector in Europe will drive the market growth in this region. Asia Pacific is slated for substantial growth, on account of rising demand for petroleum and petroleum products.Request Discount of the Report @Global Hydrogen Generation Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the major companies operating in the global market for hydrogen generation are Xebec Adsorption Inc, Showa Denko K.K., Hydrogenics, Messer Group GmbH, Iwatani Corporation, Nuvera Fuel Cells, LLC, Praxair Technology, Inc., Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH, and Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation.Proton Onsite, a Wallingford-based company manufacturing hydrogen, has been recently acquired by Nel, a Norwegian hydrogen-producing company. The acquisition promises growth for both the companies, wherein Nel is looking to expand its footprint in the U.S. In 2016, Proton Onsite signed a contract with China-based Guangdong Synergy Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. As per the contract, megawatt-scale PEM electrolyzers for buses running on fuel-cell will be provided by Proton Onsite.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Medical Gas Equipment Market : Industry Demand, Segment, Statistics Report 2017 - 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1322 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1322 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1322 Global Medical Gas Equipment Market: SnapshotThe global medical gas equipment market is prognosticated to be significantly advantaged by the augmenting prevalence of respiratory ailments strengthening the rise of point-of-care diagnostics (POCD). Along with the market for home healthcare, POCD could be crucial for the demand for medical gas equipment. Faster than other methodologies, POCD is one of the popular forms of diagnosing diseases at patients bedside. POCD is expected to experience a positive influence with the increasing occurrence of respiratory diseases for the reason that the risk of disease transmission could aggravate when a patient visits a healthcare center.The home healthcare market, on the other hand, is anticipated to bolster the demand for medical gas equipment while riding on the elevating number of diseases that cause immobilization. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and asthma are some of the primary immobilization diseases which could be treated with home healthcare facilities providing enhanced convenience.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The advent of new products, customizable as per the needs of customers, in the global medical gas equipment market could prove to be significant for the growth of industry players. Customers are becoming increasingly aware of the advantage of incorporating pressure regulator and cylindrical valve into a single device that offers all the required control functions. This could also help for ensuring a quicker delivery of gases. Furthermore, vendors are predicted to improve their current offerings by patenting such innovations. In the next few years, the global medical gas equipment market could gain traction on the back of the enriching trend of product innovation.Medical Gas Equipment Market: OverviewSpecialized gases, which are used for research in biotechnology, medical purposes, and drug processing are commonly known as medical gases. Medical gas can be a mixture of different gases or a single pure gas. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, ammonia, nitrogen and carbon dioxide are the most common types of gases used in the medical industry.Medical gasses need to be free of any impurities, as recovery of the patient depends on them. Plus, there is always a risk associated with medical gasses, as infection can be acquired through them. Due to these factors, medical gases need to be manufactured according to specified standards.Request TOC of the Report @Medical Gas Equipment Market: Key TrendsDue to the growing pool of geriatric population and development in the pharmaceutical industry, the demand for medical gases and equipment is multiplying. As per the WHO, the population aged above 65 years is slated to increase from 7% in 2000 to 16% by 2050, thereby fuelling the demand for medical gas equipment. In addition, the rising incidence of respiratory diseases, implementation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act, increasing home healthcare market, rapid urbanization, and high occurrence of tobacco smoking are supplementing the markets growth.Key players operating in the medical gas equipment market will stand to benefit from technological advancements and market expansion in emerging countries. On the contrary, low federal reimbursements for respiratory therapies, frequent changes in medical gas calibration standards, and global shortage of helium are bound to act as restrains, limiting the demand for medical gases and equipment.Medical Gas Equipment Market: Market PotentialAir Liquide established in 1902 has its headquarters in Paris, and is a Fortune 500 company. This company considers innovation as the most important driving force for its business. The company alone invested US$335.2 mn in 2011 and US$313.2mn in research and development of medical gasses.Request Discount of the Report @They have partnered with several international research centers of excellence such as Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle epiniere, Pasteur Institute, or Leuven University, and Massachusetts General Hospital, to explore therapeutic gases potential. With over 175 patented inventions currently active, they are stepping up their innovation efforts in the fields of emulsifiers, polymers, and active ingredients.They contribute to therapeutic practices evaluation by performing medico-economic and observational studies on long-term oxygen therapy, ventilation therapy, insulin and apomorphin pumps, CPAP therapy, and other perfusion therapy. Their cost-effective solutions contribute to the sustainability of healthcare systems and improving the patient care pathways.Recently, Air Liquide has commissioned the ever largest hydrogen (H2) underground storage facility in Beaumont, Texas. The storage cavern is proficient enough of holding H2 to up back up a large-scale steam methane reformer (SMR) unit for a month, and is 1,500 metres deep and around 70 metres in diameter. This development will aid in increasing the market value of the company further, making it the undisputed leader of the global medical gas equipment market.Medical Gas Equipment Market: Regional OutlookThe U.S. medical gas equipment market has contributed largely to the markets share, and is expected to lead in the forecast period. Owing to encouraging industry initiatives such as implementation of U.S. FDA Safety and Innovation Act, easier access to healthcare infrastructure, and the growing demand for minimal invasive medical mediations.The Europe medical gas equipment market is projected to beat its own market share and register a remarkable CAGR during the said period. The market players are receiving assistance by Medical Gas Association, European Industrial Gases Association and attractive growth opportunities in emerging regions of Russia and Poland are driving the market growth. However, unpredictable regulatory framework pertaining to medical gas equipment might act as a hindrance to the regional market growth.Medical Gas Equipment Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the prominent players operating in the global medical gas equipment market are Atlas Copco, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Air Liquide, Praxair, Inc., Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp., The Linde Group, SOL-SpA , Airgas, Inc., Messer Group, and GCE Holding AB.In 2015, the global medical gas equipment market share was dominated by Linde Gas and Air Liquide. Through implementation of strong growth strategies, extensive product portfolio, and swift sales growth achieved through investments in emerging Asian, and Latin American economies, Air Liquide is known to have a strong hold over the market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Survey Report: North America UV Cure Printing Inks Market is projected to cross US$865.9 mn during 2016-2024 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=901385 https://www.researchmoz.us/uv-cure-printing-inks-market-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Ultraviolet curing (UV curing) is a photochemical process wherein high intensity UV light is used to cure or dry inks, adhesives or coatings. UV cure inks speed up the printing process by reducing the drying time while facilitating superior bonding. UV cure inks do not employ the use of environmentally harmful solvents, additionally; they do not cause loss of coating thickness and volume loss in final prints.The report provides in-depth analysis and forecast of the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America. It includes forecast for the period from 2016 to 2024 in terms of volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). Quantitative data has been derived through extensive secondary research of the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America. Secondary sources typically include company websites, relevant magazines, government documents, and press releases. The top-down approach has been adopted to derive the revenue and volume figures for the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America.Furthermore, the bottom-up approach has been employed to derive data for various application segments based on demand for UV cure printing inks. A combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches helps validate the quantitative data. The data was further validated with the help of primary research with industry experts to ensure accuracy of derived numbers.Click to get Sample PDF:Detailed analysis of various factors driving the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America has been included for astute decision making. Impact of these drivers has been analyzed with data to substantiate research findings. Furthermore, factors restraining market growth have been included for better understanding of the market. Impact of these restraints has been analyzed over the course of the forecast period. The report also comprises various opportunities available for market growth during the next eight years. Opportunities entail untapped or recently explored factors that are anticipated to drive the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America during the forecast period.The report includes value chain analysis to help understand the industry thoroughly. Value chain analysis comprises detailed evaluation of the roles of various entities involved in the printing inks industry, from raw material suppliers to end-users. Various processes employed in the manufacture of printing inks have been included in the value chain analysis. Porters Five Forces model has been employed to determine the degree of competition in the market during the forecast period.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:The report comprises detailed analysis of all the segments in the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America and forecast based on current and future trends in the industry in terms of volume (tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). These inks can be classified into liquid and paste. Liquid inks are employed in gravure and flexographic printing processes, while paste inks are used in offset printing process. Pigments are extensively used in printing inks as colorants (except in flexographic printing process). Invisible or fluorescent printing dye stuff is used as colorants in flexographic printing process and some other special applications such as heat transfer printing.Based on application, the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America has been segmented into screen printing inks, flexographic printing inks, gravure printing inks, offset printing inks, digital printing inks, and specialty inks.In terms of end-user, the market has been segmented into publication & commercial printing, packaging, and others (textile, decorative inks, etc.). Demand for printing inks in each of its application segments has been analyzed and forecast for the period of eight years.Companies mentioned in this research reportThe report also comprises profiles of leading companies in the UV Cure Printing Inks Market in North America. These include Sun Chemical Corporation, Flint Group, Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Electronics For Imaging, Inc, FUJIFILM Corporation, Marabu North America, Huber Group, Toyo Ink America, LLC, INX International Ink Co, Nazdar, and Wikoff Color Corporation. Various attributes of these companies such as company overview, business strategies, and recent developments form the core of the company profiles section.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: Social Media Monitoring Tools Market Set for Rapid Growth and Trend, by 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/20494 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/20494 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/social-media-monitoring-tools-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: IntroductionExpanding social media content volume is the key factor contributing to the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools s market. Social Media Monitoring Tools is a software equipped with various functionalities for tracking, listening, and gathering relevant content across various social media networks. Social Media Monitoring Tools s are used by marketing, and communications team of organizations across various industries to identify the trends, track competitors, understand customer behaviour, and also to map sentiments. Social Media Monitoring Tools s are developed to understand social media presence, demographic data, and to improve a brands reputation. Social Media Monitoring Tools s helps to identify thought leaders & influencers, specific mentions about a product/company/ individual, and trending topics or phrases across the social media.Request for Report Sample @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Market DynamicsExpanding social media users coupled with increasing amount of time people spend on social media is the prominent factor drives the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market. Increasing investments on digital advertising, rising dependency on social media advertising tools to reach customers, increasing focus on understanding customer preference on particular products, and growing trend on delivering personalized content based on current trends accelerates the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market. Additionally, increasing number of smartphone users and growing trend towards accessing social media content through mobile devices fuels the growth of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market. However, constraints on lack of proper insights to identify the return on interment Social Media Monitoring Tools s is identified as restraints likely to deter the progression of global Social Media Monitoring Tools market.Request for Report TOC @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of regions, the Social Media Monitoring Tools market can be segmented across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among all regions, Social Media Monitoring Tools market in the North American region is expected to dominate the market due to increasing investment on digital advertising solutions. North America is expected to be followed by Western Europe in the Social Media Monitoring Tools market, during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is projected be the fastest growing Social Media Monitoring Tools market due expanding social media users, and increasing preference for market intelligence solutions.Obtain Report Details @Social Media Monitoring Tools Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the prominent vendors in the global Social Media Monitoring Tools market include salesforce.com, Inc. (Radian6), Oracle (Collective Intellect), Lithium Technologies Inc., Hootsuite Inc., Sysomos Inc., Union Metrics, Klout, BuzzSumo, Webtrends, and Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.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.Our client success stories feature a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups. PMRs collaborative environment is committed to building industry-specific solutions by transforming data from multiple streams into a strategic asset.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite: E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Global Market 2017: Key Players Dash Vapes, Hubbly Bubbly, Liquideu, Nice Vapor, Pacific Smoke International E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2576723-global-e-cigarette-vaporizer-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2576723-global-e-cigarette-vaporizer-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2576723 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:This report studies E-Cigarette & Vaporizer in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringDash VapesHubbly BubblyLiquideuNice VaporPacific Smoke InternationalPuff EcigSimple Vape CoSmokioVape EscapesVapor LineRequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoDisposable E-CigaretteRechargeable E-CigaretteEgo and TanksPersonal Vaporizers and ModsOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoMenWomenBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaThis report provides valuable information for companies like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and individuals who have interests in this industry.If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points in Table of Content:Global E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.1 Definition and Specifications of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.1.1 Definition of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.1.2 Specifications of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.2 Classification of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.2.1 Disposable E-Cigarette1.2.2 Rechargeable E-Cigarette1.2.3 Ego and Tanks1.2.4 Personal Vaporizers and Mods1.2.5 Others1.3 Applications of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer1.3.1 Men1.3.2 Women1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer2.4 Industry Chain Structure of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of E-Cigarette & Vaporizer8.1 Dash Vapes8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Dash Vapes 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Dash Vapes 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Hubbly Bubbly8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Hubbly Bubbly 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Hubbly Bubbly 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Liquideu8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Liquideu 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Liquideu 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Nice Vapor8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Nice Vapor 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Nice Vapor 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Pacific Smoke International8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Pacific Smoke International 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Pacific Smoke International 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Puff Ecig8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Puff Ecig 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Puff Ecig 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Simple Vape Co8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 Simple Vape Co 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Simple Vape Co 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Smokio8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Smokio 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Smokio 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 Vape Escapes8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 Vape Escapes 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 Vape Escapes 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Vapor Line8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Vapor Line 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Vapor Line 2016 E-Cigarette & Vaporizer Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinued.Buy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Sales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Europe Industrial Gear Market 2016-2024 - Steady Growth across Manufacturing Sector to Fuel Demand https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=901384 https://www.researchmoz.us/industrial-gear-market-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG This report provides strategic analysis of the Europe industrial gearmarket, and the market growth forecast for the period 2016 to 2024. The scope of the report includes competitive analysis of various market segments based on the types, end use industries of the industrial gear market.Spur gears are the simplest type of gears that have straight teeth and are mounted on parallel shafts. These gears are used in material handling equipment, power plants, steel mills among others. Demand of these gears are high as they are easy to install and are compact, reliable and can transmit huge amount of power.Due to easy installation and reliability of these gears, spur gears is acting as one of the key trend in the industrial gears market in the region of Europe. Another major advantage of these gears is that it offers constant velocity ratio.Europe industrial gear market is mostly privatized and the industry comprises both international and local companies. Considering the new technologies introduced in the industrial gear market, the market provides attractive opportunities for the manufacturers of industrial gears. As a result of which, the market is experiencing an important level of competition.Click to get Sample PDF:Industrial gears help in reducing the mechanical works in industries as it performs tasks by implementing less effort. It helps in operating various machines and carry out heavy works easily. These gears are used in heavy industries which help in changing direction of rotational force from one axis to other.The Europe industrial gear market is restrained by the huge cost of maintenance. One of the major concern for the manufacturing industries is the maintenance of the gears. Moreover, the cost of the spares are high and would incur huge cost.Advancement in technology is an important opportunity in the Europe industrial gear market.Companies are focused on redesigning gears that are likely to produce less noise, heat and will increase the life cycle of the gears.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Based on gear types the market is bifurcated into helical gears, bevel gears, worm gears, spur gears, herringbone gears, hypoid gears, crown gears, skew gears, spiral gears, non-circular gears, epicyclic gears, harmonic gears, magnetic gears and others. The helical gears accounted for the highest revenue share in 2015. Helical gears are the cylindrical gears having a slanted tooth trace. As the gear is curved, the angling makes the tooth shape a segment of a helix. These gears are engaged in heavy load applications and is used to transmit the power and motion between two parallel shaft and non-parallel shaft as well. The major constraints of this gear is that it requires more maintenance like proper lubrications, because of the greater sliding movement between the mating gear teeth. The helical gears are used in various applications like steel, fertilizers, plastic, food industries and many others. This gear accounted for highest revenue share in 2015.Moreover, the market is also segmented based on country that includes the U.K., Germany, Italy, France and Rest of Europe.Europe Industrial Gear Market: Competitive DynamicsSome of the leading players in the market are Siemens AG (Germany), Klingelnberg GmbH (Switzerland), Precipart Corporation (U.S.), RenoldPlc (U.K.), BonfiglioliRiduttori S.P.A. (Italy), BMT International S.A. (Luxembourg), Rossi SpA (Italy), Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), NGC (China), Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan) among others.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: Pharmacovigilance Market by Manufacturers, Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1328 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1328 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1328 Global Pharmacovigilance Market: SnapshotPharmacovigilance (PV) is a process refereeing to the detection, collection, prevention, and monitoring of negative effects that may occur because of the use of pharmaceutical products and other drugs. PV services cater to a wide range of drug related activities such as discovery of a drug to its commercialization. It also helps with the utilization of tools and software that reviews, classifies data on drugs and pharmaceutical products. There has been a soaring demand for pharmacovigilance services due factors such as rising drug consumption, growing prevalence of chronic diseases, respiratory disorders, and cancer symptoms, among others. In addition to this, a large number of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has added a substantial burden on healthcare sector leading to the increased demand for pharmacovigilance.The global pharmacovigilance market is expanding at a swiftly. Many leading pharmaceutical and IT companies are strategically collaborating and actively promoting pharmacovigilance software to bolster their market contribution. There are extensive post-market controlling mechanisms set up by multiple government supervisory agencies that concentrates on safety and efficiency of the various pharmaceutical products after they are pitched in the market. The governments have also established centers to enhance the pharmacovigilance services. For instance, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has aimed to assign around 40 pharmacovigilance officials across the country to coordinate with various ADR centers and strengthen reporting and monitoring of ADR activities. Increased mortality rate because of ADRs and rising awareness among patients about the safety and efficiency of the drugs are expected to be the significant driving factors for the growth of the global pharmacovigilance market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Pharmacovigilance Market: OverviewPharmacovigilance (PV) is a scientific process pertaining to the collection, detection, monitoring, and prevention of adverse effects that may arise due to use of drugs and pharmaceutical products.Pharmacovigilance services cater to drug development activities ranging from its discovery to commercialization and consist of tools and software that helps in reviewing, classifying, creating, and other data. PV occupies a critical role in drug regulation system that helps in comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Increasing instances of ADR cause an extension of patient morbidity, increase hospitalization fees, and thus pose a significant burden on any responsive healthcare system. These factors stimulate the demand for pharmacovigilance services worldwide and contribute to the expansion of the market. Several pharmaceutical companies prefer collaborating with BPOs and contract research organizations (CROs) for pharmacovigilance services to bring down the cost and augment the operational efficiency.Global Pharmacovigilance Market: TrendsThe global pharmacovigilance market is primarily driven by the rising incidence of ADR, soaring patient awareness regarding safety of drugs, and stringent regulations by various agencies related to drug approvals. Strict guidelines related to clinical trials of new drug therapies and mandatory requirements to keep electronic medical records (EMR) have propelled the growth of the PV market. Initiatives taken by renowned regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA), and global organizations such as the WHO have mounted pressures on several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to manufacture safe drugs. This is expected to stimulate the demand for pharmacovigilance.Request TOC of the Report @Furthermore, the rising trend of outsourcing of PV services to BPOs and CROs has resulted in effective drug regulation system. These outsourcing entities offer pharmacovigilance services that have high regulatory compliance, enhanced productivity, and better strategic outcomes, thus boosting the global PV market. However, concerns of patient data safety, rise in web-based sale of drugs, and lack of expertise are the key factors that may impede the growth of the market to some extent. Nevertheless, the rising number of clinical trials, particularly phase 3 and phase 4 clinical trial will unlock abundant opportunities for the market players.Global Pharmacovigilance Market: Market PotentialThe global pharmacovigilance is growing at a rapid pace. Intense post-market monitoring mechanisms set up by various government regulatory agencies increasingly focus on safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products after they are launched in the market. This has led to a flurry of PV activities and procedures. Various coordination initiatives between national agencies, healthcare providers, and regional pharmacovigilance centers in several countries such as France, China, India, Romania, and Turkey have put the onus on pharmaceutical companies to collect and assess information relating to adverse drug effects. Subsequently, effective measures can be taken to prevent and mitigate the risks.Furthermore, governments in various countries have created centers to expand PV services. For instance, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has intended to appoint as many as 40 district product safety pharmacovigilance officials in the country; these officials will coordinate with different ADR centers to strengthen the monitoring and reporting of ADR activities. These initiatives are expected to provide a robust boost to the market across the region.Request Discount of the Report @Global Pharmacovigilance Market: Regional OutlookThe pharmacovigilance market in the U.S. held a prominent share in 2016 and the regional market is expected to rise at healthy CAGR during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the rising mortality rates due to ADR and soaring awareness of patients on safety and efficacy of drugs. Asia Pacific is expected to expand at positive CAGR in the next five years. Growth witnessed in the region will be driven by stringent health care regulations, vast geriatric base, intense government initiatives to set up PV centers, and rising number of clinical trials conducted.Global Pharmacovigilance Market: Competitive LandscapeMajor technology and IT companies are actively launching pharmacovigilance software to strengthen their market shares. Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are forming strategic collaborations with key contract research organizations (CRO) to expand their market presence in various regions. This has also enabled them to gain a better foothold in major regions by effectively positioning their services to new clients. Major players operating in this market include Accenture, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, ICON, Covance, PAREXEL, Quintiles, Synowlwedge, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, and United BioSource.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Orthodontic Services Market in China to grow at a CAGR of 16.13% Over period 2017-2021 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1377978/orthodontic-services-in-china-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1377978 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1377978 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Orthodontic Services Market in China 2017-2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Orthodontic ServicesOrthodontic dental treatment is the correction of improperly positioned teeth and its related problems by using braces and retainers. Braces are the most common orthodontics used for the tooth correction. The correct alignment of teeth is very essential, as it assists the process of chewing food. The dental imaging is beneficial in determining the type of orthodontic treatment and the necessary support for the correction of the tooth. In addition, misaligned teeth can undermine confidence and impacts the personal and social life; hence, individuals seek orthodontic treatment to increase the confidence.Technavios analysts forecast the orthodontic services market in China to grow at a CAGR of 16.13% during the period 2017-2021.View Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the orthodontic services market in China for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the orthodontic services market in China include braces fixation, aligner fixation, and bonding.Technavio's report, Orthodontic Services Market in China 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsArrail DentalBybo Dental GroupQ & M Dental GroupOther prominent vendorsParkwayHealth ChinaPureSmileDental BauhiniaInternational Medical Center (IMC)-Dental ClinicSS Dental ClinicIDC DentalSouthern Cross Dental LaboratoriesGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Market driverPrevalence of periodontal disease in adults and pediatric populationFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHigh cost of invisible orthodontic devicesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendPrivatization through domestic and foreign investmentsFor 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?Send An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentsPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Research MethodologyPART 04: IntroductionMarket overviewOrthodontic dental servicesPART 05: Market landscapeMarket overviewMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: Market segmentation by productMarket overviewFixed orthodontic servicesRemovable orthodontic servicesPART 07: Market segmentation by service channelsMarket overviewDental clinicsHospitalsPART 08: Decision frameworkPART 09: Drivers and challengesMarket driversMarket challengesPART 10: Market trendsPrivatization through domestic and foreign investmentsImproved turnaround time by combining robotics with digital imagingDental shows to attract investors and dental companiesSocial media marketing for dental practicesMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketaState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Plastic Packaging Market : Analysis by Regions, Key, Types, Forecast Report 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1331 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1331 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1331 Plastic Packaging Market: SnapshotPackaging involves the safe delivery of goods from manufacturers to customers. Plastics have now become an important material in a myriad packaging applications across a wide range of sectors such as healthcare, food and beverages, personal care and cosmetic, and customer goods. Plastics are preferred for packaging as they offer a cleaner, flexible, and is a better appealing packaging form for customers. Moreover, the demand for plastic packaging has risen due to their cost-effectiveness, durability, and high performance properties.Improvements in lifestyle andgrowing urbanization are expected to be some of the primary factors driving the demand for plastic packaging. Because of its flexibility, plastic packaging can be easily used for packing fresh food products as well as medical equipment. A wide range of molding processes for plastics have enabled manufacturers to produce plastic packaging products with impressive aesthetics and protective properties that has led to a steady progress of the plastic packaging market. The ever expanding food and beverages sector has significantly contributed towards the development of the plastic packaging market. However, factors such as different price control measures imposed on raw materials and fluctuating prices of crude oil are likely to hamper the growth of the plastics packaging market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @On the other hand, many manufacturers are now concentrating on recyclable or reusable plastics packaging specially for food and beverages packaging. Consistent efforts by administrators and policy makers have broadened the control over plastic packaging in different geographical regions. This has also led to several technological advancements in the global plastics packaging market.Global Plastic Packaging Market: OverviewThe primary function of packaging comprises the safe delivery of products from the manufacturer to the consumer. Plastics have become viable material choices in myriad packaging applications in a wide range of industries, including food and beverages, healthcare, cosmetic and personal care, and consumer goods. Plastics offer a cleaner, flexible, and more appealing form of packaging, particularly for various foods and beverages. They have soared in popularity because of their high performance features, cost-effectiveness, and durability.Owing to their flexibility, plastics can be safely used for protecting medical equipment as well as fresh foods. A variety of plastic molding processes have led manufacturers to offer plastics packaging products with remarkable aesthetics and barrier properties, leading to robust evolution of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Plastic Packaging Market: TrendsThe global plastic packaging market is primarily driven by the surge in demand from the expanding food and beverages industry. The rising demand of flexible packaging from the pharmaceutical industry is also expected to boost the global plastic packaging market. Furthermore, changes in lifestyle in emerging nations have spurred the demand for plastic packaging such as sachets, pouches, and containers. The demand for flexible plastic packaging is gaining traction across various regions due to its high tensile strength and barrier protection ability. Recent advancements in materials sciences and manufacturing technology have led to the production of advanced plastic packaging with high tensile strength and remarkable toughness.However, various price control measures on petrochemical raw materials and the price volatility in crude oil are are likely to impede the growth of the plastics packaging market to an extent. Nevertheless, to overcome this market challenge, manufacturers are opting for several viable alternatives in bioplastics.Request Discount of the Report @Global Plastic Packaging Market: Market PotentialAs market interest in plastics packaging sector has intensified over the past few years, companies are aggressively pursuing mergers and acquisitions. The market outlook seems exuberant with several investors recognizing the stability of the packaging industry. Leading players are exploring lucrative avenues in resin-based packaging. They find returns on investment in terms of cost reduction in raw material purchases, sales process consolidation, significant overhead reductions, and other similar competitive benefits. These developments are expected to expand the potential of the plastic packaging market along the forecast period.A large number of deals are motivated by strategic benefits; currently the players are shying away from launching initial public offering to expand their product portfolio owing to the risks involved.Another area which manufacturers are focusing on is recyclable plastics packaging, especially for packaging foods and beverages. Constant efforts by policy makers to broaden the regulations for plastic packaging, especially in Europe and Asia Pacific have resulted in technology advancement in the manufacturing of plastics packaging.Global Plastic Packaging Market: Regional OutlookAsia Pacific market offers ample opportunities to the manufacturers and vendors of plastics packaging. The tremendous growth in the regional market is propelled by the extensive demand for plastics packaging products from the food and beverages industry. In addition, the significant pace of industrialization in developed and developing countries of Asia Pacific and the trend of flexible packaging gaining popularity among various end-use industries are expected to fuel the regional market.The market has somewhat witnessed a slowdown in the developed nations of North America and Europe. Rising concerns about the disposal of plastics and the alternative methods of packaging that are more environment-friendly have adversely affected the regional market.Global Plastic Packaging Market: Competitive LandscapeLeading players are making mergers and acquisition and investing in advancement in manufacturing processes to launch high-performing plastics packaging products. Major players operating in the global plastic packaging market include Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, Bemis Company, Inc., Huhtamaki Oyj, Mondi Plc, Sealed Air Corporation, Ampac Holdings LLC, Ukrplastic Corporation, Amcor Ltd., Wipak Group, and Sonoco Products Company.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Stamped Concrete Market Size & Analysis Forecasts To 2025 GLOBAL MARKET ESTIMATES https://www.globalmarketestimates.com/global-stamped-concrete-market/ https://www.globalmarketestimates.com/annual-research-partnership-services/ REPORT DESCRIPTION: STAMPED CONCRETE MARKETStamped Concrete Market InsightsThe global stamped concrete market is expected to grow at an exponential CAGR over the coming years. The high strength and ease of installation offered by stamped concrete is anticipated to increase its demand in the future. Growing repair & renovation activities coupled with increasing investments in construction activities across the world are some of the factors predicted to augment market growth.The demand is expected to grow exponentially in the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern & African region. High investment in housing developments and rapid industrialization in developing countries of these regions are projected to positively impact demand. Stamped concrete improves the aesthetic appeal of an establishment or facility, thereby, enhancing its demand over the coming years. The wide range of designs, patterns, colors, and textures available in the stamped concrete market will further contribute to its demand over the forecast period.Stamped Concrete Market: Application InsightsOn the basis of application, the stamped concrete market is divided into floors, walls, driveways & sidewalks, and patios among others. The demand for stamped concrete for floor applications is expected to increase exponentially. Increasing spending on repair & renovation activities is expected to positively influence demand for decorative concrete. Skid resistance offered by stamped concrete increases its preference in sidewalks, driveways, and patios.Request for a sample copy of the stamped concrete market report at:Stamped Concrete Market: End-use InsightsOn the basis of end-use, the market is segmented into residential and non-residential applications of stamped concrete. Growing investments in multi-dwelling complexes and housing developments in Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa are projected to foster demand for stamped concrete. Development and upgradation or renovation of office buildings, shopping malls, educational institutes, and government establishments are anticipated to increase demand for decorative concrete over the coming years.Stamped Concrete Market: Regional InsightsThe building & construction industry is expected to grow at a high CAGR in countries such as China, India, and Japan. Emerging countries in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia are also expected to invest heavily in construction and infrastructure development activities.The demand for stamped concrete in the Middle East & Africa is anticipated to increase tremendously due to large scale investments in the construction industry. The shifting dependence on oil has led to the development of manufacturing industries and commercial zones in countries such as UAE, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia among othersThe recovering European industry has increased focus on developing industrial & residential construction and infrastructural development in European countries. Countries such as Peru, Chile, and Colombia are also expected to register high growth in housing developments and repair & renovation activities.Stamped Concrete Market: End-Use LandscapeThe end-use landscape entails a list of current and prospective consumers prevailing across the regions. This section provides company addresses, contact details, products, and regional presence of companies who are purchasing or are likely to purchase stamped concrete over the coming years. Some leading consumers in the market include Keller Williams Realty, Inc., The Corcoran Group, and CBRE Group among others.Stamped Concrete Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the companies engaged in the manufacture of stamped concrete include BASF SE, PPG Industries, Inc., 3M Company, The Sherwin-Williams Company, RPM International Inc., Sika AG, Arkema SA, Boral Limited, Huntsman International LLC, Mcknight Custom Concrete, Inc., The Euclid Chemical Company, Fosroc International, and Hexion Inc. among others. The increasing investments in developing new designs and materials in the concrete market is expected to create new opportunities for growth in this market.Catch our annual research partnership services at :Were constantly identifying and analysing high growth markets and revenue pockets. In consultation with various industry experts, our team of highly-skilled industry analysts study these markets through sophisticated tools and fail-safe, industry-approved methodologies.Name: Global Market Estimates Research & Business ConsultantsAddress: A-9, Silver Croft CHSL, Mumbai:400064, IndiaContact No,: +91 9146632316Email Address: sales@globalmarketestimates.com Foreign Investments in Emerging Markets Business & Investment Opportunity 2017 Market Research Reports https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2616023-foreign-investments-in-emerging-markets https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2616023-foreign-investments-in-emerging-markets www.linkedin.com/company/4828928 https://twitter.com/WiseGuyReports https://www.facebook.com/Wiseguyreports-1009007869213183/?fref=ts Synopsis'Insight Report: Foreign Investments in Emerging Markets' analyzes the importance of foreign investment in developing nations in terms of both economic and infrastructural growth.Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a process of direct investment into production or business in a country by an individual or company of another country, either by buying a company in the target country or by expanding the operations of an existing business. The financial liberalization of emerging economies has assisted insurers in developed markets to establish and solidify their footprints in growing markets.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The increasing attractiveness of emerging markets can be attributed to factors such as growth in consumer spending, rising equity market returns, greater policy flexibility and the growing middle classes. Less volatile economic growth in comparison to developed nations has strengthened income levels, encouraging investment in financial solutions to safeguard earnings and asset investments.The report also analyzes the developments in foreign investment in each of the emerging nations, highlighting the current trends in investments, the regulatory landscape for foreign insurance in the insurance industry and examples of notable deals that were initiated and committed.Summary'Insight Report: Foreign Investments in Emerging Markets' analyzes the importance and impact of foreign investments in an emerging countrys economic growth. It provides: An overview of the importance of foreign investment in an emerging economy A regional outlook on the highlights of foreign investment activities in emerging economies Regulatory dynamics regarding foreign investment in each of the listed emerging countries Notable foreign investments initiated or committed in particular emerging nations across industries, and also specifically in the insurance industryScopeThis report analyzes The essence of foreign investment in the economic development of emerging nations Contributions of foreign direct investment to the insurance industry Country-specific trends on the current state of foreign investment The regulatory dynamics in emerging countries associated to foreign investment Deals announced or completedReasons to Buy Build an understanding about the importance of foreign investments in emerging countries. Develop an insight into foreign investment trends in emerging countries. Develop an understanding on the regulatory dynamics in each of these countries specific to foreign investment in the insurance industry. Gain a snapshot of the important deals initiated and completed in emerging countries.Key Highlights The financial liberalization of emerging economies has assisted insurers in developed markets to establish and solidify their footprints in growing markets. With slow economic growth in developed countries, multinational companies from across the world have started to expand in emerging nations to benefit from high growth prospects. The current trend has highlighted an increased focus on only mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a part of cross-border investments. Argentina ranks fourth among South American countries in terms of FDI stock after Brazil, Chile and Colombia, and sixth in terms of FDI inflow. The Chinese insurance industrys fast expansion can be attributed to economic growth, and rises in disposable income and consumer awareness of the benefits of insurance. In March 2017, the Indian government proposed plans to increase FDI for insurance brokers from 49% to 100% to strengthen the distribution network, and improve and attract more funds to the sector.Table of Content: Key Points1 THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT2 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CHINA3 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN ARGENTINA4 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES5 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN TURKEY6 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN INDONESIA7 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN RUSSIA8 FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN INDIA9 CONCLUSION10 DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGYContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes and Related Conditions - A Pipeline Analysis Report https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1378003/stem-cell-therapy-for-diabetes-and-related-conditions-a-pipeline-analysis-report-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1378003 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1378003 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes and Related Conditions - A Pipeline Analysis Report provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Stem cell therapy for diabetes and related conditions: An insightThe stem cell therapy for diabetes and related conditions pipeline analysis report includes ongoing clinical and non-clinical trends in the global stem cell therapy for diabetes and related conditions treatment. Most of the pipeline therapeutics are in early stage of development, a long-lasting and less frequent dose can impact overall diabetes market.In 2015, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimated that the annual total cost of diabetic patients is $223.5 billion in the US alone. The global annual cost is estimated at $465 billion and is expected to reach $510 billion a year by 2030.View Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the stem cell therapy for diabetes and related conditions. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.Technavio's Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes and Related Conditions - A Pipeline Analysis Report, 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 during the forecast period. The report also includes a discussion of the key companies operating in this market.Major companiesAthersysMesoblastCaladrius BiosciencesSanofiNovo NordiskGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Key questions answered in this reportHow will the market evolve during the forecast period?What are the major parameters impacting the market?What are the key market trends?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key companies in this market space?You can request one free hour of our analysts time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.Send An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: STEM CELL THERAPY FOR DIABETES AND RELATED CONDITIONS: AN INSIGHTIntroductionPART 04: MAJOR REGULATORY AUTHORITIESUSEuropeJapanAustraliaChinaPART 05: PIPELINE LANDSCAPEPART 06: COMPARATIVE ANALYSISMid-stage molecules (Phase II)Early-stage molecules (Phase I/II)Pre-clinical stage moleculesInactive and discontinued moleculesPART 07: INDICATION ANALYSISPART 08: THERAPEUTIC ASSESSMENT BY THERAPY TYPEPART 09: THERAPEUTIC ASSESSMENT BY ROAPART 10: KEY COMPANIESActive companies: Category and parametersPART 11: APPENDIXMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketaState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Retailer Turnstile Market Growth to Decelerate, Yet Still Reach 92.45 Million USD by 2022 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011304108/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-retailer-turnstile-market-research-report-2017-2022 http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011304108/buy/2900 Global Retailer Turnstile Market Research Report 2017-2022 newly adds in ReportsWeb.com database. This report covers leading key company profiles with information such as business overview, regional analysis, consumption, revenue and specification.Global Retailer Turnstile Market Research Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Retailer Turnstile industry.Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2017 through 2022. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. The global market for Retailer Turnstile is expected to reach about 92.45 million USD by 2022 from 76.36 million USD in 2016, registering a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.24% during the analysis period, 2017-2022.The report provides a basic overview of the Retailer Turnstile industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. What's more, the Retailer Turnstile industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.This report studies Retailer Turnstile focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringGunneboWanzl MetallwarenfabrikGotschlichPERCoAlvaradoTisoCominfoHayward TurnstilesRotechTurnstile SecurityNanjing TechnologyFulituoTurnstarCeria VietnamGet Free Sample Copy atMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with Sales, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaAsia (excl. China)ROWSplit by Product Types, with Sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoArm TurnstileSwing GatesWaist-high Helicopter TurnstileOthersSplit by applications, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Retailer Turnstile in each application, can be divided intoRetail StoresSupermarketBrowse Complete Report atTable of Content1 Retailer Turnstile Market Overview2 Global Retailer Turnstile Market Competition by Manufacturers/Brand3 Global Retailer Turnstile Sales (Units), Revenue (Million USD) by Regions (2012-2017)4 Global Retailer Turnstile Sales, Revenue, Price Trend by Types5 Global Retailer Turnstile Market Analysis by Applications6 Global Retailer Turnstile Manufacturers Analysis6.1 Gunnebo6.1.1 Company Profile6.1.2 Retailer Turnstile Product6.1.3 Retailer Turnstile Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Gunnebo (2016-2017)6.1.4 Contact Information6.2 Wanzl Metallwarenfabrik6.2.1 Company Profile6.2.2 Retailer Turnstile Product6.2.3 Retailer Turnstile Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Wanzl Metallwarenfabrik (2016-2017)6.2.4 Contact Information6.3 Gotschlich GmbH6.3.1 Company Profile6.3.2 Retailer Turnstile Product6.3.3 Retailer Turnstile Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Gotschlich GmbH (2016-2017)6.3.4 Contact Information6.4 PERCo6.4.1 Company Profile6.4.2 Retailer Turnstile Product6.4.3 Retailer Turnstile Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of PERCo (2016-2017)6.4.4 Contact Information7 Retailer Turnstile Manufacturing Cost Analysis8 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10 Market Effect Factors Analysis11 Global Retailer Turnstile Market Forecast (2017-2022)Purchase this report at-Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 IBERTRADING BUSINESS CORP, ready to partner with WaterMicronWorld,Ltd (WMW), to Build Assembly Plants around the World. "Every Drop Counts" WaterMicronWorld Atmospheric Water Generators can produce pure drinking water more cheaply than desalination or reverse osmosis providing a practical and economical solution to water scarcity.This is a breakthrough in the search for sustainable solutions to water shortage globally as a result of shrinking ice caps and lakes due to global warming, said Robert Rainman from WMW.WMW Atmospheric Water Generators technology has the capacity to generate pure drinking water in any part of the world. From a business perspective, we believe we are at the forefront of the next billion dollar industry.WMW water generation AWGs units have major advantages over methods such as desalination or reverse osmosis which use existing water sources to clean water and are very expensive , added Robert Rainman of WMW.They require a vast capital outlay and cause their own environmental problems. Dumping salt produced in desalination back into the sea affects ecology of marine life. We expect the Europe, Middle East and Africa to be a very lucrative market for us, continued Robert, adding that the New and Latest WMW Atmospheric Water Generators Technology outstrip conventional AWGs that are only effective at high humidity.IBERTRADING BUSINESS CORP, which has signed an Exclusive Distribution agreement for WaterMicronWorld, expects to begin assembly of the AWG units by early 2018.WaterMicronWorld,Ltd are the leaders in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of highly advanced atmospheric water generators that extract the moisture from the air and converts it into clean, pure drinking water. Water, essential for all aspects of life, is the world's most valuable commodity and is becoming increasingly scarce.The solution is to extract water from a new source, one that is plentiful, renewable and accessible to most people around the world. WaterMicronWorld is committed to provide pure drinking water around the world to all those people that need it most and to provide critical emergency pure drinking water to first responders, relief agencies and government institutions.WaterMicronWorld technology taps into a water source that does not place more demands on Mother Earth--Pure water from the air we breathe!Every Drop CountsWaterMicronWorld Atmospheric Water Generators units can generate from 15, 30, 60, 100 , 160, 200, 250, 500, 1,000, 1200, 1500, 3000, 5000 liters of pure drinking water per day. Our unique compact systems are ideal for Hotels, Schools, Office buildings, Housing developments, Hospitals, Marine and small Municipal applications.WaterMicronWorld.Ltd 41/183 Rimklongchonprathan PrachuabkhirikhanThailand 7710Contact: Robert RainmanPhone: +66810167702 Advanced Process Control Software Global Market in Chemicals Industry 2016-2020 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=471583 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-advanced-process-control-software-market-in-chemicals-industry-2016-2020-report.html/toc "Global Advanced Process Control Software Market in Chemicals Industry 2016-2020" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.. .Description-' '-- GLOBAL ADVANCED PROCESS CONTROL SOFTWARE MARKET IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY MARKET 2015-2019---- Market segmentation of the advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industry with respect to geography, including the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. The report also discusses the major drivers and trends influencing the growth of the market. A detailed analysis of the top vendors such as ABB, Honeywell International, Schneider Electric, and Siemens is included in the report.. .Get Sample Report @' '-- Market outlook:Advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryAPC software is an integrated tool used to increase the efficiency of process management and plant operations. Many organizations across numerous process industries such as chemical, oil and gas, petrochemical, power, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and food and beverage use APC software to optimize their resource utilization and improve their organizational productivity.-- Technavios market research analysts predict the global APC software market in the oil and gas industry to grow at a CAGR surpassing 7% during the forecast period.-- One of the major factors contributing to the growth of the market is the decreased prices of oil and gas worldwide, which has driven oil and gas vendors to reduce their manufacturing so that they can equalize their spending. This need to reduce costs has made them adopt APC in their production process to achieve maximum efficiency and reduce the production cost.-- Geographical segmentation of the advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryAmericasAPACEMEA-- In 2014, the EMEA led the market contributing more than 47% of the market share, followed by the Americas and APAC. Majority of the demand for APC in the oil and gas industry is expected to surface from the Middle East, as this region has been one of the major exporter of oil.-- Competitive landscape and key vendors--The global APC software market in the oil and gas industry is dominated by a few major players and because of the complex operation nature and the need for technical expertise in the field, there are no small and medium players in the market.ABB, one of the leading players, has a huge presence in the market because it provides compact and scalable APC software.-- Top vendors in this market are -ABBHoneywell InternationalSchneider ElectricSiemens-- Other prominent vendors included in this report are Aspen Technology, GE, Rockwell Automation, and Yokogawa Electric.-- Growth drivers, challenges, and upcoming trends: Advanced process control software-- Technavio's analysts emphasize the use of analytics in APC, which is an upcoming trend for decision making across industries and its use will have a positive impact on the global APC software market. Many of these analytical software solutions are designed and developed to help companies improve decision making, minimize errors, and find the cause of a problem.-- This report provides a number of factors contributing to the adoption, limitations, and opportunities of the advanced process control software market in oil and gas industry. It also offers an analysis of each factor and an estimation of the extent to which the factors are likely to impact the overall market growth.-- Key questions answered in the report includeWhat will the market size and the growth rate be in 2019What are the key factors driving the global advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryWhat are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryWhat are the challenges to market growthWho are the key vendors in the global advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryWhat are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industryWhat are the trending factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, EMEA, and APACWhat are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global advanced process control software market in the oil and gas industry. .More Clear Details get Table of Contents @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.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market Research and Forecast 2017-2022 Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Size, Share, Market Intelligence, Company Profiles, Market Trends, Strategy, Analysis, Forecast 2015-2022PATIENT ENGAGEMENT SOLUTIONS MARKET INSIDE:The Global patient engagement solutions market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.70% during 2017-2022. The solution which allows patients to manage and keep their healthcare related information along with greater interaction with medical team is patient engagement solution. It is very important to provide the necessary tools to actively engage in the management of their own health. Healthcare providers helps patients to assists effective self-care and Great access to personal healthcare information are some benefits of this solution. Increased patient outreach, fewer complications, shorter hospitalization periods, Cost-effective healthcare lower hospital readmission rates, and improved quality of health care are some of the few benefits associated with patient engagement solutions. It also helps in reducing administrative costs, apart from that it shares information and communication to support patient and to improve workflow efficiencies. Patient engagement solutions enhance patient-provider communication and keeps both the care team and patient up to date about the persons health data. It also assists physicians in providing better diagnosis and more coordinated care by recording patients information about healthcare and also allows for the sharing of clinical summaries among care teams. There is growing interest among patients to track their personal health by accessing electronic health records. Moreover, the growing trend of wearable health data trackers and mobile health applications are influencing consumers to access their personal healthcare records, that in turn, increasing demand for global patient engagement solutions.GEOGRAPHICAL INSIGHTS:Geographically market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. North America is having the highest market share and is dominating the market for patient engagement solutions worldwide, owing increasing demand for quality care, rising healthcare costs, rising chronic diseases, regulatory mandates by Affordable Care Act, and rise in geriatric population in the region. APAC region is anticipated to show high growth rates in the forecasted years in the patient engagement solutions market globally. China and India are the major country in this region and is anticipated to be the fastest growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region. , improving healthcare infrastructure, increasing healthcare information technology adoption, large pool of patients, increasing awareness about diseases, growth of medical tourism are some factor that pushes Asia pacific region upward.Competitive Insights:The Key Players in the Global patient engagement solutions market Include AbilTo, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., Axial Exchange, Cerner Corporation, EMMI Solutions, LLC, Get Real Health, Getwellnetwork, Inc., Human Care Systems, iTriage, LLC, Lincor Solutions Ltd., Medecision Inc., Medelinked, Oneview Healthcare, Orion Health Ltd., PatientPoint, Phytel, Inc., TeleHealth Services, Welvu, Inc. , Yourcareuniverse, Inc. and so on Partnership, R&D, M&A, Product Launch Are The Key Strategy Adopted In The Global patient engagement solutions market.MARKET SEGMENTATION:Global patient engagement solutions market is segmented on the basis of delivery mode, applications, therapeutic area, end users and regional outlook. In therapeutic area segment the chronic diseases segment is the fastest growing segment and is anticipated to command the largest share of the patient engagement solutions market globally.THE REPORT COVERS:Comprehensive research methodology of Global patient engagement solutions Market.This report also includes detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.Exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the Global patient engagement solutions Market.Insights about market determinants which are stimulating the Global patient engagement solutions Market.Detailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.CORPORATE OFFICE:Orion Market Research Pvt Ltd116, Shagun ArcadeIndore, Madhya PradeshIndia- 452010Email: info@omrglobal.comPhone No. +91-731-4958007Mobile No. +917803040404At OMR we strive to deliver quality reports that are based on a 360 degree analysis of the market factors. We provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market. We serve clients from 16 different domains which includes healthcare, biotechnology, chemical, agriculture and information technology. We work to add more to our array of clients, services and products. At the moment OMR provides 4 services:Industry ReportsConsultingCustom ReportsCompany ProfilingOrion Market Research (OMR) is an Indian research company known for its crisp and concise reports. We are equipped with experienced team and young brigade of analysts. We offer quality syndicated research reports, customized research reports, consulting and other research based services. We provide global and regional market reports of various domains such as healthcare, energy, IT, chemicals, automobiles and so on. We provide 360-degree view of the market with parametric analysis, key market insights, key findings, statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, extensive segmentation, key trends, strategic recommendations and detailed company profiles.We Analyze Future Simply116, Shagun ArcadeIndore, Madhya Pradesh Food Grade HPMC Market 2018 Benefits, Forthcoming Developments, Business Opportunities & Future Investments to 2023 Food Grade HPMC http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011298120/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011298120/buying http://www.reportsweb.com/global-food-grade-hpmc-market-analysis-2011-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 The global Food Grade HPMC market will reach xxx Million USD in 2017 and CAGR xx% 2011-2017. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzer by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.Request sample copy @Product Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.):Low ViscosityMiddle ViscosityHigh ViscosityCompany Coverage (Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):DowAshlandShin EtsuLotteHercules-TianpuShandong Guangda TechnologyTai'an RuitaiShandong Yiteng New MaterialCelotech ChemicalGemez ChemicalShandong HeadApplication Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.) :Low ViscosityMiddle ViscosityHigh ViscosityHave any query? Enquire about report @Region Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.) :North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaFundamentals of Table of Content:1 Industry Overview2 Industry Environment3 Food Grade HPMC Market by Type4 Major Companies List4.1 Dow (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.2 Ashland (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.3 Shin Etsu (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.4 Lotte (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.5 Hercules-Tianpu (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.6 Shandong Guangda Technology (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.7 Tai'an Ruitai (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.8 Shandong Yiteng New Material (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.9 Celotech Chemical (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.10 Gemez Chemical (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.11 Shandong Head (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5 Market Competition6 Market Demand7 Region Operation8 Marketing & Price9 Research ConclusionBrowse complete report details @About ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.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.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.com True Fleet Market France raises its game for the 7th time in a row www.dataforce.de After a truly remarkable October with the highest growth rate in 17 months the French True Fleet Market was able to grow once again in November. With a + 14.0% the rate was lower than a month ago but nevertheless the third highest in 2017. In addition, the performance of company cars was in much better shape than the Private Markets not only in November (+ 14.0% vs. + 7.8%) but also for the year-to-date period. From January to November new car registrations on True Fleets rose by + 7.7% while the Private Market only grew by 3.0%. Thanks to a solid plus of 5.3% the total passenger car market surpassed 1.9 million, which was the highest volume November YTD (year-to-date) since 2011 and we expect registrations to hit 2.1 million in December.Brand performancePeugeot was again the clear market leader in True Fleets representing a share of 27.4%. With more than 12,000 units the French manufacturer outmatched the record volume from last month and even achieved its highest market share ever! In terms of increase by absolute figures the overall ranking across all brands was led by two Peugeot SUV models, the 3008 and the 5008.Renault in second place and Citroen as third had a successful month as well with growth rates of + 7.6% and + 12.7% respectively while Volkswagen in fourth position missed its result from November 2016 by only 9 registrations.Outside the Top 10 three brands are certainly worthy of a mention. Skoda (ranking 13th with + 31.3%) and Mini (14th, + 47.5%) both showed remarkable results. A bit further down the ranking Kia managed to take the 20th place with an excellent increase of + 50.9% over November 2016. The main driver for the Korean brand was the Picanto which jumped into 9th place in the Mini car segment, but the Rio, Niro and the new Stonic also contributed significantly to the brands excellent performance.Middle Class under the microscopeAt first glance the Middle Class segment doesnt seem to be very appealing for a deeper analysis given a drop of 28.2% in a market growing by + 14.0% at the same time. But we think it makes sense to take a closer look as some of the protagonists are performing pretty well. While the Top 5 in the segment are currently all lagging behind their previous years volume, the Ford Mondeo in 6th position achieved its best share in more than nine years (May 2008 to be precise).Another example is Opels Insignia which scored its highest market share of the last 18 months with the second generation Insignia B currently being very well received by fleet consumers. As shown in the Top 10 ranking above, there are further models with a positive trend and Skoda Superb (+ 25.0%, from 9th into 8th position) or Audi A5, S5 (+ 56.6%, from 12 to 9) were notable for their growth percentages.(489 words; 2,779 characters)Publication by indication of source (DATAFORCE) onlyDATAFORCE Focus on FleetsDataforce is the leading provider of fleet market data and automotive intelligence solutions in Europe. In addition, the company also provides detailed information on sales opportunities for the automotive industry, together with a wide portfolio of information based on primary market research and consulting services. The company is based in Frankfurt, Germany.Michael GergenDataforce Verlagsgesellschaft fur Business Informationen mbHHamburger Allee 1460486 Frankfurt am MainGermanyPhone: +49 69 95930-231Fax: +49 69 95930-333Email: michael.gergen@dataforce.de Global Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Market : Market Share, Trends, Insight and Application 2017 - 2024 Global Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Market ? Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-polyhydroxyalkanoate-pha-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-polyhydroxyalkanoate-pha-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-polyhydroxyalkanoate-pha-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-polyhydroxyalkanoate-pha-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/blog/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-bridge-market-research New Research Report By Data Bridge Market Research on Global Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Market Report is a compilation with figures as recent as 2017 and forecasts up to 2024 that helps you track the unprecedented growth seen in the Industry giving you an edge to not just compete but to outmatch the competition.The Global Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Market accounted for USD 75.2million in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Get a Free Sample Report @Company Share Analysis:The global polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) market is fragmented with the presence of a large number of players across different regions. These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.Global Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Market By Type {PHA Monomers (Polyhydroxybutyrate, Polyhydroxyvalerate, Others), PHA Co-Polymers (P(4hb-Co-3hb), P(3hb-Co-3hv), Others), PHA Terpolymers (P(3hb-Co-3hv-Co-4hb), Others)} By Manufacturing Technology (Bacterial Fermentation, Biosynthesis, Enzymatic Catalysis)By Application (Packaging, Bio Medical, Food Services, Agriculture) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Request for Analyst Call @Major Market Competitors: Metabolix, Inc., Kaneka Corporation, Meredian Holdings Group, Inc., Shenzhen Ecomann Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Biomatera, Biomer, Bio-On SRL, Newlight Technologies, LLC, PHB Industrial S.A., Polyferm Canada, Inc., Tianan Biologic Materials Co., Ltd, Tianjin Greenbio Materials Co., Ltd., Tepha, Inc., Bluepha Co., Ltd., Dayglo Color Corp., Bioamber, Inc., Full Cycle Bioplastics, Procter & Gamble Co., Dupont Tate & Lyle Bio Products Company, LLC, CJ Cheiljedang Corp., Biome Bioplastics Ltd., Cardia Bioplastics Ltd. many more.Request for Detail TOC @Major Market Drivers: Sustainable green procurement policies Vast availability of renewable and cost effective raw materials Biodegradability driving consumption Risingconcerns about human health and safetyMarket restraint: High Price compared to conventional polymers Performance issues with polyhydroxyalkanoateMarket Segmentation:On the basis of type:- PHA monomers, PHA co-polymers, PHA terpolymers. PHA monomers is further sub segmented into polyhydroxybutyrate, polyhydroxyvalerate andothers. PHA co-polymersis further sub segmented into P(4hb-Co-3hb), P(3hb-Co-3hv) and others.PHA terpolymersis further sub segmented into P(3hb-Co-3hv-Co-4hb)and others.On the basis of manufacturing technology:- Bacterial fermentation, biosynthesisand enzymatic catalysis.On the basis of application market:- Packaging, bio medical, food services, and agriculture.On the basis of geography:- North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Brazil among others.Read more about This Market @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit Blog:Follow us on LinkedIn: How Grab Uses Data Analytics to Refine New Products www.trginternational.com https://www.trginternational.com/ Grab, the leading car-sharing service in Southeast Asia, has adopted a Tableau BI solution to make more informed, data-driven decisions across their entire organisation. The ability to analyse millions of rows of data at lightning speed has allowed Grab product teams to track multiple metrics in real-time and better understand customer preferences in different regions.Turning everyone into a data analystGrab is a data-driven organisation. Its business model requires Grab to constantly match the supply and demand of millions of drivers and passengers, and therefore data analytics is of utmost importance.Grab currently has one of the biggest sets of data in the region. Every few seconds, millions of pieces of GPS location data are collected from apps like GrabBike, GrabTaxi, or GrabHitch, which enable the company to analyse the travel patterns and preferences of their customers.This massive amount of data used to be stored and presented in spreadsheets. Data extraction for reporting could take days.After the implementation of Tableau Server, multiple data sources are integrated to create a single source of truth. As a result, data can be analysed from an aggregate view by anyone in the company. Users can interact with data in real time.Turning any employee into an analyst is what sets Tableau apart. Extracting raw data from the data warehouse and visualise it can be done without in-depth expertise. This, in turn, facilitates closer collaboration among teams of product managers, engineers, and designers.Thanks to this user-friendliness, the number of Grab employees who are Tableau users has grown 60 per cent during the last 6 months.Driving new product launchesFor Grab analytics teams, the biggest Tableaus benefit is its innovation in the way users interact with their data. They are truly having fun working with data. And once people enjoy looking at data, they can start asking good questions.These good questions will eventually lead to ideas for new products. One prominent example is GrabShare, their new carpooling app.The concept of GrabShare is two people should not pay for two separate trips if they are heading to the same general direction and sharing the majority of the route.Before the product is launched, they had to track travel patterns and different metrics on the ground to figure out what are the right conditions for GrabShare and how Grab can successfully roll out the app in different countries.The product analytics team then has to monitor how different markets react to the apps features. They have to answer questions like how the match rates are like in different cities and regions, how the customer experiences are like, how much more money drivers are making from GrabShare.All these insights help Grab identify opportunities and problems in different markets and come up with feature recommendations. For example, they discovered the chat function helps reduce the cancellation rate, and both drivers and passengers prefer using template messages.Consequently, the app is continuously enhanced to be super-local.ABOUT TRG INTERNATIONALTRG International is an IT, Talent and F&B company. We help people and businesses to shine. We help people be the best they can possibly be by selecting the right people for the right job and developing them to their full potential. We help companies by providing an IT solution that works quietly and brilliantly in the background, freeing them up to focus on their core and not having to worry about their IT systems. We do this for more than 1,000 clients in 80 countries. Learn more at:Contact-Details: Ngoc DoanPR Communication Officer2nd Floor, 145 147 Nguyen Co Thach Street, An Loi Dong Ward, District 2Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamngoc.doan@trginternaltional.com2nd Floor, 145 147 Nguyen Co Thach Street, An Loi Dong Ward, District 2 Global Smart Education and Learning Market Expected to Reach worth 586.04 Billion USD by 2021 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/2198 https://www.mrrse.com/asean-smart-education-learning-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/2198 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ A new report added to the repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine Smart Education and Learning Marketis a comprehensive repository of information, providing market share, size, and forecast.Request to View Sample Report @The smart education and learning market in the ASEAN region is rising due to government initiatives towards digitizing education, increasing use of smartphones and tablets, internet penetration and developed information and communication (ICT) infrastructure. Virtual reality-infused classrooms and cloud-based smart education and learning solutions are gaining heightened popularity in the region and are becoming a standard across many educational institutions in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.Latest Market Research estimates that the ASEAN smart education and learning market holds immense growth potential in the near future. The market is expected to exhibit a remarkable 19.7% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2020. If the prediction holds true, the market is expected to rise from US$36.84 bn to US$88.97 bn by 2020.Simulation-based Solutions Witness Adoption at Promising RateThe ASEAN smart education and learning market has been segmented on the basis of delivery model into classroom-based, desktop/mobile-based and simulation-based solutions. Among these, the desktop/mobile-based segment was the leading segment, occupying approximately 67% of the market share in 2015. It is also expected to remain the leading segment throughout the forecast period.However, the segment is expected to lose prominence to the simulation-based delivery model in terms of the rate of growth over the period between 2016 and 2020. The segment is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 21% over the said period. This up-and-coming segment will, however, still be able to occupy a very small share in the market pie owing to the dominance of desktop/mobile-based and classroom-based smart education and learning solutions. The segment of classroom-based solutions is projected to see a decline in its share in the overall market by the end of the forecast period owing to the rising demand for simulation-based smart education and learning solutions.View Detail Report with Table of Content @Malaysia and Thailand to be Potential Growth MarketsThe ASEAN smart education and learning market has been examined for seven regions: Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Rest of ASEAN (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Brunei). Malaysia currently leads the ASEAN smart education and learning market, accounting for a dominant share of 36.9% in 2015. The highly developed state of the information and communication technology (ICT) and vast penetration of smartphones have bolstered the Malaysia market for smart education and learning.Furthermore, government initiatives toward promoting the use of technology in education have resulted in the increased use of smartphones and desktops in delivering smart education to learners in the country. The market for in Malaysia is projected to remain the dominant regional market in the ASEAN smart education and learning market throughout the forecast period as well. Malaysia, along with Indonesia, is also expected to be one the most promising regions in terms of rate of growth of the smart education and learning market over the next few years. Both the countries are projected to exhibit a 20.3% CAGR over the forecast period.The launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has bolstered the demand for English language courses in Indonesia. Additionally, high smartphone penetration and government initiatives towards delivering digitized education have further added to the growing market revenues in the smart education sector in Indonesia.Create an Enquiry @The key market players operating in the ASEAN smart education and learning market include Blackboard, Inc., Educomp Solutions Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc., Adobe Corporation, Scholastic Corporation, Smart Technologies Inc., NIIT Ltd., Saba Software Inc., Scholastic Inc., and Extramarks Education Pvt., Ltd.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.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Global Wireless Internet Services Market 2017 Key Players -AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, SoftBank Group Corp., China Mobile Ltd., Comcast,.. Wireless Internet Services Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1505473-wireless-internet-services-market-global-report-2017-including-residential-business-covering https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1505473-wireless-internet-services-market-global-report-2017-including-residential-business-covering https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1505473 Wireless Internet Services Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Wireless Internet Services Market 2017 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.Executive SummaryCustomers in developed markets are adopting and showing signs of preferring internet TV. Wireless internet service providers are offering online video streaming services and internet TV to compete with traditional pay-TV providers. These services are being offered to increase their subscriber base and revenues. For example, AT&T is offering on-demand video services through DirecTV network.The Wireless Internet Services Global Market Report provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the wireless internet services sector.Where is the largest and fastest growing market for wireless internet services? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The wireless internet services global market report from the Business Research Company answers all these questions and many more.Request Sample Report @The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the markets historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider wireless telecommunication carriers market, and compares it with other markets.The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market.The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. Drivers and restraints looks at the external factors supporting and controlling the growth of the market.Market segmentations break down market into sub markets.The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers all the regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets. It draws comparisons with country populations and economies to understand the importance of the market by country and how this is changing.Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified.The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the market and suggests approaches companies can take to exploit this.The wireless internet services market section of the report gives context. It compares the wireless internet services market with other segments of the wireless telecommunication carriers market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses Expenditure Per Capita, Wireless Internet Services Indicators Comparison.ScopeMarkets Covered: Residential, businessCompanies Mentioned: AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, SoftBank Group Corp., China Mobile Ltd., Comcast, Cisco, D-Link, Netgear, Qualcomm, Zebra Technologies, NTT, CenturyLink, Time Warner Cable Inc.Countries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Russia, UK, USA and Australia.Regions: Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East And AfricaTime series: Five years historic and forecast.Data: Ratios of market size and growth to related markets, GDP, Expenditure Per Capita, Wireless Internet Services Indicators Comparison.Data segmentations: country and regional historic and forecast data, market share of competitors, market segments.Sourcing and Referencing: Data and analysis throughout the report is sourced using end notes.For further information on this report, visit -Table of Content:Wireless Internet Services Market Characteristics;Wireless Internet Services Market Size And Growth;Pestle Analysis;Wireless Internet Services Market Customer Information;Wireless Internet Services Market Segmentation;Wireless Internet Services Market Regional And Country Analysis;Global Wireless Internet Services Market Comparison With Macro Economic Factors;Wireless Internet Services Market Comparison With Macro Economic Factors Across Countries;Wireless Internet Services Market Comparison With Industry Metrics;Asia-Pacific Wireless Internet Services Market;Western Europe Wireless Internet Services Market;North America Wireless Internet Services Market;South America Wireless Internet Services Market;Middle East Wireless Internet Services Market;Africa Wireless Internet Services Market;Wireless Internet Services Market Competitive Landscape;Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Wireless Internet Services Market;Market Background: Software and BPO Services Market;Information Technology Industry Financial Margins;Appendix;Reasons to PurchaseOutperform competitors using accurate up to date demand-side dynamics information.Identify growth segments for investment.Facilitate decision making on the basis of historic and forecast data and the drivers and restraints on the market.Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.Stay abreast of the latest customer and market research findingsBenchmark performance against key competitors.Develop strategies based on likely future developments.Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysisGain a global perspective on the development of the market.Report will be updated with the latest data and delivered to you within 3-5 working days of order.ContinuousBuy this Report @Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 Analysis of Native Organic Cane Sugar Market in Global Industry : Trends, Demand Insights, Research and Forecast 2017 - 2025 Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1399263 https://www.researchmoz.us/native-organic-cane-sugar-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Native Organic Cane Sugar Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Market Introduction:Native Organic Cane Sugar also called as evaporated sugar, which is the evaporated juice of the sugarcane in its whole, natural state. Only the water is removed, meaning it retains most of the Vitamins and Minerals found in raw sugarcane. It is a golden sugar that contains molasses and has a slight caramel flavor.Sugar has been repeatedly demonized by some health experts, as it is the monolithic cause of insulin resistance and obesity. In terms of availability, versatility, convenience, texture, price, eco-friendliness and nutrition, the best substitute for the ubiquitous white crystal sugar is the Native Organic Cane Sugar. Native Organic Cane Sugar is sugar minus the cancer causing and environmentally damaging pesticides present in conventionally grown sugarcane. Hence, the global cane sugar market has proven to be truly sustainable and is liable to be given many accolades for having built a trust in midst of the potential consumers which contributes directly in strengthening of the global native cane sugar market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market Segmentation:Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented on the basis of form, distribution channel, end user, packaging and region.On the basis of form, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into Confectioners Sugar and Liquid Sugar (Invert Syrup). Confectioners sugar which is made from very finely ground organic cane sugar, also known as powdered sugar or icing sugar whereas, the liquid sugar is the crystallized organic cane sugar dissolved in water.On the basis of distribution channel, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into direct sales and indirect/retail sales. In direct sales, the native organic cane sugar can be delivered in large quantities for manufacturing of some other products like beverages, dairy products mainly yoghurt. In retail sales, it is found in the hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores for organic products and e-retailers.On the basis of end user, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into industrial and household use.On the basis of packaging, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into silos, standard pouches, and jars/bottles/jugs as well as in small pouches.On the basis of region, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Japan.Make an Enquiry about TOC @Drivers, Restraints, and Trends:Demand for Native Organic Cane Sugar is increasing as the consumers are interested in healthy and natural products. This provides particularly interesting opportunities for the manufacturers of native, organic and ethically produced products. In comparison to overly process and highly Refined White Cane Sugar, Native Organic Cane Sugar contain some nutritional properties. When organically processed, it possess amino acids, minerals (such as Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron), and different vitamins. Also it is well known for its therapeutic properties and for this the organic cane sugar is the best to retain the nutrients and the therapeutic properties.Organic market in Europe is becoming a mainstream business. Hence, the EU has been actively promoting organic production by developing a single harmonized standard and product logo for application in the entire EU.The rising food innovation trends and healthy food alternatives among consumers is giving rise to organic cane sugar as a substitute to crystal refined sugar in beverages and dairy products.Regional Outlook:Depending on the country of origin, whole cane sugar goes by many different names including panela (Latin America), rapadura (Brazil), jaggery (India), kokuto (Japan) etc.The Americas and Asia-Pacific are the largest producers of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the world. The Native Organic Cane Sugar Market is highly concentrated, with the top three manufactures accounting for 75% of the global native organic cane sugar trade. The largest global manufacturing countries of Native Organic Cane Sugar include Brazil, Thailand, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico. Brazil is one the largest producer of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the followed by India, China, Thailand, and Pakistan.Europe is the largest importer of the Native Organic Cane Sugar. European consumers are increasingly concerned with the impact of agricultural activities on the environment and looking for products with lesser environment impact. This trend has benefited the market for products with organic certification. Overall the outlook for global Native Organic Cane Sugar market is positive over the forecast period.Key Players:Major players in the Native Organic Cane Sugar segment are Global organics, Florida Crystals, Specialty food association (Native Organics), Wholesome mindfully delicious, Anthonys Goods, Organic delight, BSYD Corp., Delphi Organic are amongst to name a few.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us Home Security System Market Emergence of advanced technologies and global industry analysis 2017-2022 http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/RBPR13122017271392 http://www.reportbazzar.com/reports/RBPR13122017271392/global-home-security-system-market-research-report-2017 http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/RBPR13122017271392 ReportBazzar has released its latest research-based report entitled Home Security System market.The following points are covered in the report: Market segmentation Penetration & Growth Mapping Market Trends Market Driver Analysis Market Restraint Analysis Growth opportunities Porters Analysis SWOT AnalysisIndustry Insights:This report provides a holistic approach to the market growth with a detailed and precise analysis of the overall competitive scenario of the Home Security System market. The report also provides a detailed analysis of key trends playing a prominent role in the Home Security System market growth. The overall market provides detailed dynamic and statistical insights pertaining to the market at both regional and global level.Get Free Sample Copy of this Report @Information & Communication Technology industryThe information and communication technology market nowadays is growing in double digit. We deliver both syndicated and consulting reports for ICT market according to client needs and industry needs. We mainly focus on different new technologies, smart markets, mobile applications, telecommunications, software, middleware, audio-visual systems and storage.A holistic report covers exhaustive information obtained from reliable industrial sources and through proven research methodologies. The report goes through both secondary and primary survey. The base year taken for the report is 2015 and 2016, and a forecast is done from 2017 to 2022.The data thus obtained is then combined with relevant tables and graphs to support the information revealed.Application Insights:Various competent analytical tools have been used to offer a comprehensive assessment of the market. The report comprises of each aspect of the global market for Home Security System. It starts with the basic information and then advances to the market segmentation based on different criteria such as technology, industry areas and regions in general. A detailed analysis is given on the areas of industries it is used and basically how the technology is helping the particular industry or driving the market growth of that particular industry.Browse full report with Table of Content @Regional Insights:Major regions, countries, and sub-segments have been analyzed for providing the better understanding of the market scope worldwide. The regions taken into consideration are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Central & South America. The regional markets for the Home Security System market are analyzed by evaluating the demand, and supply, the assembly of the products, how it is getting connected with the human interface as well as the historical performance of the market in the given region.Competitive Insights:The report also provides insights on the competitive landscape of the global Home Security System industry with the leading players profiled in the report. Company profiles are purely tentative in nature and we can profile companies according to your interest at free cost. The company overview, trends, tactics, merger & acquisitions, business strategies, financial metrics of the major participants operating in the global Home Security System market have been reviewed in this study.Ask for Discount @Some Points of Table Of Content:1 Home Security System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Home Security System1.2 Home Security System Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Home Security System Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Home Security System Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Monitor System1.2.4 Fire Control System1.2.5 Alarm System1.3 Global Home Security System Segment by Application1.3.1 Home Security System Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Apartment1.3.3 Villa1.3.4 Other1.4 Global Home Security System Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Home Security System Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 EU 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 South Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Home Security System (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Home Security System Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Home Security System Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Home Security System Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Home Security System Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Home Security System Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Home Security System Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Home Security System Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Home Security System Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Home Security System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Home Security System Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Home Security System Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Home Security System Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionAbout Us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors. Our intelligence database comprises of vast arrays of strategically analyzed and high-level market research reports that encompass all major industries worldwide. All the specialized research reports available at Reportbazzar.com are tailor-made to suit your every business need, no matter how diverse or demanding it is.Contact for more details:Report BazzarUnited States30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.US: +1 (212) 389-6363 Overview of Advanced Ceramics Market Industry : Size, Share, Trends and Analysis 2017 - 2025 Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1399273 https://www.researchmoz.us/advanced-ceramics-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Advanced Ceramics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Advanced ceramics are defined as nonmetallic inorganic solid materials that possess qualities such as corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, high-temperature stability, and lightness of weight. They also possess electrical properties ranging from non-conductive to highly conductive. These highly diverse properties make advanced ceramics a preferred choice of materials for various applications in industries such as electrical & electronics, transportation, medical, defense & security, environmental, and chemical. The electrical & electronics segment accounted for significant share of the advanced ceramics market in 2016 owing to the high demand for advanced ceramics in the electronics industry across the globeKey factors driving the advanced ceramics market include ecofriendly properties of these materials and rise in usage of advanced ceramics to replace conventional metals. Demand for advanced ceramics is expected to increase due to the rise in the demand for ceramics in the medical industry. This is encouraging companies to expand the production of advanced ceramics. Additionally, easy availability of raw materials is anticipated to boost the demand for advanced ceramics in the near future.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The global advanced ceramics market is witnessing technological advancements. Companies are constantly striving to develop new and better advanced ceramics. Development of new manufacturing processes and applications of advanced ceramics is estimated to propel the advanced ceramics market. However, high cost of these materials vis-a-vis other materials such as metals is expected to hamper the global advanced ceramics market.Based on material, the advanced ceramics market can be classified into alumina ceramics, titanate ceramics, zirconia ceramics, silicon carbide, and others (including aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, pyrolytic boron nitride, and magnesium silicate). Alumina ceramic is a commonly used advanced ceramic material due to its excellent physical properties. These ceramics are employed in end-use industries such as transportation, chemical, electrical & electronics, and medical.Based on class, the advanced ceramics market can be classified into ceramic matrix composites, ceramic coatings, monolithic ceramics, and others which includes advanced coatings and multilayer ceramics. Monolithic ceramics are commonly used class of advanced ceramic materials owing to their excellent thermal resistance. Thus, these ceramics are preferred in applications where high temperatures are involved.Make an Enquiry about TOC @In terms of geography, the advanced ceramics market can be segregated into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is anticipated to constitute key share of the market during the forecast period. It is estimated to be a rapidly growing region of the advanced ceramics market, owing to the increase in demand from the electrical & electronics industry in the region. Middle East & Africa is likely to be an attractive region of the advanced ceramics market during the forecast period, led by the increase in demand for these ceramics in the automotive industry in the region.Prominent players operating in the global advanced ceramics market include Kyocera Corporation, CeramTec GmbH, CoorsTek, Inc., Saint-Gobain Ceramic & Plastics, Inc., and Morgan Advanced Materials Plc.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us The global sensor market is expected to reach $188.4 billion by 2022 www.lucintel.com www.lucintel.com According to a new market report published by Lucintel, the future of the global sensor market looks promising with opportunities in the industrial, healthcare, consumer electronics, automotive, and aerospace/defense industries. The global sensor market is expected to reach an estimated $188.4 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 9.2% from 2017 to 2022. The major drivers for this market are the growth of internet of things (IoT), increasing need of automation in various industries, and miniaturization of sensors.In this market, temperature, pressure, image, position, bio, flow, level, motion, radar, and chemical sensors are used in various end use industries such as industrial, healthcare, automotive, and more. Lucintel forecasts that chemical sensor is expected to remain the largest segment due to its increasing usage in industrial sector for the process control and industrial safety. Radar sensor is expected to witness the highest growth in the forecast period supported by increasing demand for advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) in the automotive industry.Within the sensor market, industrial will remain the largest end use industry due to increased demand for automation and control in various industries, including oil and gas, chemical, and food and beverages. Lucintel predicts that the healthcare application is likely to experience the highest growth in the forecast period due to the increasing demand for Electrocardiography (ECG) sensors in cardiac treatment.North America is expected to remain the largest region during the forecast period due to growth in smart city projects, wearable devices, and increasing demand for ADAS in automotive industry. Asia Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to the increasing demand for automotive and consumer electronics products in China and India.Emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the industry, include increasing sensor content in automotive for safety and power efficiency and advancement in the gas sensor. Sony Corporation, STMicroelectronics, Analog Devices, Inc., ABB Ltd, Texas Instruments, Robert Bosch Gmbh, and Infineon Technologies AG are among the major sensor suppliers.Lucintel, a leading global strategic consulting and market research firm, has analyzed growth opportunities in the global sensor market by sensor type, end use industry, and region, and has come up with a comprehensive research report entitled Growth Opportunities in the Global Sensor Market 2017-2022: Trends, Forecast, and Opportunity Analysis. This Lucintel report serves as a catalyst for growth strategy as it provides a comprehensive data and analysis on trends, key drivers, and directions. The study includes a forecast for the global sensor market by type, end use industry, and region as follows:By Type [$B shipment analysis from 2011 to 2022]: Chemical Sensor Temperature Sensor Pressure Sensor Image Sensor Position Sensor Bio Sensor Flow Sensor Level Sensor Motion Sensor Radar Sensor Other SensorBy End Use Industry [$B shipment analysis from 2011 to 2022]: Industrial Healthcare Electronics Automotive Aerospace and Defense OthersBy Region [$B shipment analysis for 2011 2022]: North America United States Canada Mexico Europe United Kingdom Germany France Asia Pacific Japan China South Korea India The Rest of the WorldThis 165-page research report will enable you to make confident business decisions in this globally competitive marketplace. For a detailed table of contents, contact Lucintel at +1-972-636-5056 or click on this link or helpdesk@lucintel.com.About LucintelLucintel, the premier global management consulting and market research firm, creates winning strategies for growth. It offers market assessments, competitive analysis, opportunity analysis, growth consulting, M&A, and due diligence services to executives and key decision-makers in a variety of industries. For further information, visitThis report answers following 11 key questions:Q.1 What are some of the most promising, high-growth opportunities for the global sensor market by sensor type (temperature sensor, pressure sensor, image sensor, position sensor, bio sensor, flow sensor, level sensor, motion sensor, radar sensor, chemical sensor, and other sensor), by end use industry (industrial, healthcare, electronics, automotive, aerospace and defense, and others), and by region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World)?Q. 2 Which segments will grow at a faster pace and why?Q.3 Which regions will grow at a faster pace and why?Q.4 What are the key factors affecting market dynamics? What are the drivers and challenges of the market?Q.5 What are the business risks and threats to the market?Q.6 What are the emerging trends in this market and reasons behind them?Q.7 What are some changing demands of customers in the market?Q.8 What are the new developments in the market? Which companies are leading these developments?Q.9 Who are the major players in this market? What strategic initiatives are being implemented by key players for business growth?Q.10 What are some of the competitive products and processes in this area and how big of a threat do they pose for loss of market share via product substitution?Q.11 What M&A activity has occurred in the last 5 years?Lucintel, the premier global management consulting and market research firm, creates winning strategies for growth. It offers market assessments, competitive analysis, opportunity analysis, growth consulting, M&A, and due diligence services to executives and key decision-makers in a variety of industries. For further information, visit222 Las Colinas Blvd West, Suite 1650, Irving, TX 75039, USA Lovage Extract Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com Lovage Extract Market size is expected to witness a surge in demand owing to increase in consumer awareness regarding health consciousness and its extensive utilization in pharmaceutical industry. Increasing health issues associated with indigestion, stomach bloating, heart burn and intestinal gas will propel lovage extract market size.It is a member of the parsley family and is widely used in medical herb in Europe and Asia. Its dark green leaves are similar to cilantro, while the stalks look similar to celery. The herb is sweeter in taste but stronger than celery. The product provides a number of health benefits including fighting harmful organisms, improves kidney and joint health, that in turn will support lovage extract market growth.Request for Table of Content of this report @Originally a native to the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe and Asia Minor areas, it was brought from Europe as both medicine and food product. Now it grows wild in several regions of the U.S. including the Great Lakes, New Mexico, Wyoming, New England and Colorado. For centuries, it has been used a good ingredient to add to love potions. In fact, the Germans named it, Liebstockel meaning "stem of love".Rising cultivation in Europe for the distillation of essential oils will drive lovage extract market. It is highly effected as a food product due to its well-drained soil richness in humus. It prefers a pH range of 5.0 to 7.6.Increasing health issues concerning yellowed skin (jaundice), fluid around the lung (pleurisy), irregular menstrual periods, malaria, migraine headaches, joint pain (rheumatism), sore throat and gout will support product penetration as a medicine in the pharmaceutical industry. It is even used as an expectorant to release phlegm in respiratory conditions. These superior properties are anticipated to fuel lovage extract market size over the forecast period.Based on origin, lovage extract market is classified into shoot and root. Shoot is used as flavor spice and salad dressing, while root is used to prepare medicine. Even, its seeds are removed and dried to prepare several species used in sauces, pickles, biscuits and breads.On the basis of form, lovage extract market is categorized into liquid, powder and paste. The powder and paste forms are extensively used in flavoring and spice formulations. Its liquid form is mostly used in several pharmaceutical and beverages applications.The product has various applications in form of spice, flavoring agent, and alternative medicine. It contains an excellent aroma that is very effective as a floating agent. Its root consists essential oils and have a lot of medicinal use.North America dominates overall lovage extract market owing to increasing consumption of the food component in European styled cuisines. This increase in consumption will offer new potential opportunities to several producers to expand their product portfolio in the industry. The U.S. is the largest contributor in the regional lovage extract market growth as it has the largest consumer base for the product.Europe is the fastest growing lovage extract market owing to increasing consumer consciousness regarding medicinal benefits. Strong application potential in food & beverages industry of root form used as a vegetable or grated for use in salads will be a significant driving factor for lovage extract market growth in the region.Global lovage extract market is slightly concentrated due to presence of few major industry players. Most of the organizations focuses on product development through heavily investing in advance research processes. Key industry players are Changsha Vigorous-Tech Co., Ltd, Carrubba Inc, Aunutra Industries Inc, Bio Botanica Inc, Frutarom Ltd, Horner International Co, and Vege Tech Co. Other prominent players include Flavex Naturextrakte, Daniele Ryman, ActiveHerb, Biofirst, Kahikatea Farm, Albert Vieille SAS, Carrubba Inc. and Botanical Specialties.Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:Connect with us: Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter The Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Industry Will Be Fiercely Competitive in 2018 QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1398274&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-positron-emission-tomography-pet-system-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System to its huge collection of research reports.The thorough report here assembles different perspectives having a place with the general Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market which verbalizes the present-day data and future exposures with reference to the dynamic powers at play. The prime reason for the examination report is to offer the endorser with an extensive format and make accessible the helpful realities and records. The quantifiable and testing elucidations behind the examination other than executes data on issues, for example, drivers, shackles, and projections to gage the deferred outcome of the general Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market through the cross of the said gage period in the examination report. The report in like course passes on a brief and world class record of the predefined market follows, which joins a couple of occasions of the veritable fixations at work which are concentrated to trigger change in the market or may cause any negative effect.This report other than stations into the general Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market by in a general sense examining the thing and industrialized chain of the market. This is required to in like manner help in passing on honest to goodness information and data on compound parts of the fitting market, for example, material relating to systems for the regulating body in the standard and general strata, transport and transmission structure, goals, and explanations behind premium got for the contributed mean.Get Sample Report of the Research Study at:The report utilizes a couple of showed industry examination and whole contraptions. They permit the examination collect pass on an uncovered fundamental assessment of the general Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market and help endorser and market troupes to be counseled with respect to speculation and business judgments. The wide thinking of the examination gives a market position on an obvious and minute scale. It collects crucial and optional research structures thusly. The administrators have figured the recorded encounters and rose it from the forward and thusly around change the circumstance to plan a structure for the general Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market in the years ahead.This report studies the global Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System market, analyzes and researches the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeBoston ScientificSynchroPETZecotek PhotonicsBrain BiosciencesGE HealthcarePhilips HealthcareRay Vision Intl...Read Complete Table of Content of the Report at:Table of ContentsGlobal Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System1.1 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market Overview1.1.1 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market by Type1.3.1 Direct Imaging1.3.2 Indirect Imaging1.3.3 Alternative Imaging1.4 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Tumor Diagnosis1.4.2 Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Diagnosis1.4.3 Brain Disease Diagnosis2 Global Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Boston Scientific3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 SynchroPET3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Zecotek Photonics3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Positron Emission Tomography (PET) System Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Brain Biosciences3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions...About QYResearchReports.comQyresearchreports.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 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com End-Point Security Market Investment Research Report 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/end-point-security-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=29975 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Endpoint security technology protects organization networks that are bridged with the end users device remotely. The use of laptops, mobile devices, tablets and other wireless gadgets that are connected with corporate networks are the main medium to generate security threats. Each device with a remote access, connecting to the network creates a potential entry point for security threats.End-point security confirms such devices to follow a level of compliance as well as standards. It can operate in both client and server model with the security program managed by centralized host server having a client program installed on the network drives.In software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, the security programs as well as the host server are managed remotely by the merchant. Both the delivery model has a server program that authenticates the user login credentials and scan device to check compliance with corporate security standards before permitting the network access.Obtain Report Details:Endpoint security management systems, can be purchased as software or as an appliance, which discover, manage as well as control computing devices that need the access to corporate network.The required elements used in an end-point security system may include an operating system, a VPN client and an anti-virus software with latest updates.The major factor that drives the market for endpoint security are the need to alleviate IT security risks. The growing BYOD trends among the organizations as well as growing endpoint attacks are some of the other factor swelling this market growth.As the businesses grow, various sophisticated threats such as trojans, zero day malwares and more are created which bring the companys critical data at risk. This encouraged the organizations to implement endpoint security solution to protect their endpoints as well as networks against any potential cyber-attacks.Various companies are coming with innovative end-point security solutions so as to meet the increasing demand from organizations. The consolidation of endpoint security infrastructure and the software is the major upcoming trend in the end-point security market as this allow the firms to regulate the endpoint security components on same hardware platform.Given the evolving demand for new security technologies, the endpoint security market is now coming up with various venture capital investment, mergers as well as acquisitions, and innovation. Intel Group announced in January 2014 that McAfee, an Intel-owned security company, had rebranded itself into Intel Security and changed the payment structure for its products.Make Enquiry @Intel had also started offering elements of McAfees security solutions for free for mobile devices. Also, in 2012, Symantec Corporation had done three acquisitions, which include two mobile security companies called Nukona, Inc. and Odyssey Software Solutions, Inc. In April 2015, Invincea, Inc. added new threat identification as well as response capabilities to its containerization solution so as to provide advanced endpoint visibility, analysis, and control and better threat elimination.The major participants in the end-point security market include such as Symantec, Intel Security Group, AVG Technologies, Invincea Inc., Bit9, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., Space Hellas S.A., Trend Micro Inc., Sophos Group plc, and Kaspersky Labs.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions.By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Dec, 13 2017: Motorcycle Wheels Market Forecast 2023 Zhaixin, Wanxiang, Central Wheel, Zhongnan Wheel Motorcycle Wheels http://bit.ly/2BcHkYF http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-motorcycle-wheels-sales-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Motorcycle Wheels Market Research 2017A market study "Global Motorcycle Wheels Market" examines the performance of the Motorcycle Wheels market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Motorcycle Wheels market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Motorcycle Wheels market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Motorcycle Wheels Market 2017 report includes Motorcycle Wheels market Revenue, market Share, Motorcycle Wheels industry volume, market Trends, Motorcycle Wheels Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Motorcycle Wheels Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Motorcycle Wheels Market 2017 : Wanxiang Zhongnan Wheel SMT Zhaixin Central WheelMotorcycle Wheels Market : By Application Motorcycle Scooter Step-ThroughMotorcycle Wheels Market : By Type Aluminum Alloy Wheel Steel WheelFirstly, the report covers the top Motorcycle Wheels manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Motorcycle Wheels report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Motorcycle Wheels industry, Motorcycle Wheels industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Motorcycle Wheels Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Motorcycle Wheels 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 Motorcycle Wheels market revenue worldwide.Finally, Motorcycle Wheels 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 Asphalt Shingles Market Expanding at a CAGR 2.7% in a Forecast Period 2017- 2022 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3685 https://www.mrrse.com/asphalt-shingles-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3685 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ A new report added to the repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine Asphalt Shingles Market: North America will Remain Dominant in the Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012 - 2016) & Opportunity Assessment (2017 - 2022) is a comprehensive repository of information, providing market share, size, and forecast.Request for Sample Report @An asphalt shingle is a wall/roof shingle, which utilises asphalt for waterproofing. Asphalt shingles are widely used as roofing covers, particularly in North America, as they are attributed with a relatively affordable up-front cost. They are very simple to install as well. Asphalt shingles basically come in two types viz. fiberglass and organic.Cost-effectiveness & Easy Replacement Characteristics Sustaining Adoption of Asphalt ShinglesA broad range of roofing materials are available in the market on the basis of economic, aesthetic, performance, and structural needs. Over the past few years, roof designs have been transforming into an architectural trademark. These transformations offered reasonably priced, structurally sound, and aesthetically attractive designs, along with being environment friendly. In this highly competitive roofing market, asphalt shingles have been of the most favourite choices of consumers. Although asphalt shingles are not as long lasting and durable as the more premium roofing materials including clay tiles, slate, metal and cedar shake, asphalt shingles enable sufficient aesthetic appeal and adequate protection at mere fraction of price of other roofing systems. This has led several house owners to adopt asphalt shingles for roofing. With expected rise in the residential building construction spending, demand for asphalt shingles is likely to gain an uptick in the near future.Global warming has now rechristened climate change, allowing snow and extremely cold weather to be experienced in countries, wherein winters are subtropical. This extreme weather, encompassing various regions, is one of the major reasons fuelling adoption of asphalt shingles among roofing systems, as they are cost-effective and can be easily replaced when damaged. However various factors are likely to affect the cost of asphalt shingles supply and demand. For example cost of petroleum-based products, which are used for manufacturing asphalt shingles, based on foreign or domestic provenance.Market for Asphalt Shingles categorised by Long-Term Relationships between Manufacturers & CustomersThe asphalt shingles market is categorised on the basis of high brand loyalty, along with long-term and established relationships between manufacturers and house owners. Global leaders in asphalt shingles manufacturing are therefore concentrating on reinforcing their brand reputation through product differentiation, and offering better quality standards than their competitors. Key players in the market are now concentrating on implementation of business strategies for coming up with sophisticated & advanced techniques for product development, in-depth understanding of customers as well as the market, and adoption of an established production process for gaining a competitive benefit. Other key strategies such as a comprehensive product portfolio, and provision of quality service are anticipated to play an indispensable role for players to increase their presence in the market. A latest study by Future Market Insights (FMI) has estimated the global market for asphalt shingles to account for nearly US$ 10,000 Mn revenues by 2022-end.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Key Research Findings from FMIs ReportNorth America is anticipated to remain dominant in the global asphalt shingles market, with sales estimated to reach roughly US$ 6,000 Mn by 2022-end. Europe will continue to be the second largest market for asphalt shingles.On the basis of product, strip asphalt shingles are expected to register the fastest growth in sales through 2022.Based on composition, although fiberglass asphalt shingles are expected to account for a comparatively higher revenue share of the market than organic asphalt shingles during 2017 to 2022.By end market, although re-roofing will continue to account for larger market revenue share, demand for asphalt shingles in new construction is expected to increase at a higher CAGR through 2022.Company ProfilesKey participants actively contributing to growth of the global asphalt shingles market include Owens Corning, Certain Teed Corporation, Henry Company LLC, Malarkey Roofing Products, IKO Industries, Ltd., Siplast, Inc., TAMKO Building Products, Inc., Tarco, Inc., Polyglass U.S.A., Inc., and Atlas Roofing Corporation.Send an Enquiry @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Contact UsMarket 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.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Magnetic Field Sensors Industry Forecast and Revenue by Regions (2017-2022) - Published by MarketResearchNest.com Magnetic Field Sensors Trends https://www.marketresearchnest.com/north-america-magnetic-field-sensors-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2022.html https://www.marketresearchnest.com/requestsample.php?reportid=279502 https://www.marketresearchnest.com/purchase.php?reportid=279502 MarketResearchNest.com adds North America Magnetic Field Sensors Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast To 2022 new report to its research database. The report spread across in a 119 pages with table and figures in it.Magnetic field sensors are used to measure magnetic flux and/or the strength and direction of a magnetic field. They are used mainly in scientific measurement, navigation, and industrial applications. Magnetic field sensors are widely used in automotive, electronics and modern industry to measure the current, position, direction and other physical parameters by induced magnetic field intensity. Magnetic sensors can be classified according to whether they measure the total magnetic field or the vector components of the magnetic field. The techniques used to produce both types of magnetic sensors encompass many aspects of physics and electronics.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Magnetic Field Sensors in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Browse full table of contents and data tables atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAsahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), Sanken Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), Diodes, NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), MEMSic, Inc. (USA), TE Connectivity Ltd (Switzland), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany),Honeywell International Inc. (USA), Analog Devices, Inc. (USA), Alps Electric(Japan), Melexis NV (Belgium), Micronas Semiconductor (Switzland), AMS AG (Australia)Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers United States Canada MexicoMarket Segment by Type, coversHall Effect Type, AMR Type, GMR Type, Other TypeMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAutomotive, Consumer Electronics, Industrial Applications, Other TypeGet Request sample copy atReasons for Buying this Report: This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics It provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growth It provides a technological growth map over time to understand the industry growth rate It provides a seven-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments It provides distinctive graphics and exemplified SWOT analysis of major market segments.Get Order a Purchase Report Copy atAbout Us:MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the worlds most complete and recent database of expert insights on Magnetic Field Sensors industries, organizations, products, and trends.Contact UsMr. Jeet JainSales Managersales@marketresearchnest.com+1-240-284-8070(U.S)+44-20-3290-4151(U.K)Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook Global Bulletproof Glass Market : Boosting CAGR of +13.4% by 2024 with Top Key Players, Growth, Size, Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Forecast till 2024 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-bulletproof-glass-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-bulletproof-glass-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-bulletproof-glass-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-bulletproof-glass-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/geotechnical-instrumentation-monitoring-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/blog/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-bridge-market-research The Global Bulletproof Glass Market accounted for USD 3.5 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.For In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Global Bulletproof Glass Market, By Security Levels (Security level 1, Security level 2, Security level 3, Security level 4 to 8); Application (Government & Law Enforcements, Defense & VIP Vehicles, ATM Booths & Teller Stations, Cash-in-Transit Vehicles, Commercial Buildings, Others) By End Users (Construction, Automotive, Banking & Finance, Military, Others) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Complete report on Global Bulletproof Glass Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresKey Questions Answered in Global Bulletproof Glass Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Bulletproof Glass Market in 2024? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Bulletproof Glass Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Bulletproof Glass Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Bulletproof Glass Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Bulletproof Glass Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global Bulletproof Glass Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Request for Detailed TOC:Top Key Players: Asahi Glass Co., Ltd China Specialty Glass AG Nippon Sheet Co., Ltd. National Glass Apogee Enterprises, Inc. D.W. Price Security Saint-Gobain S.A. Consolidated Glass Holdings, Inc. and many more.Major Market Drivers: Increasing sales of luxury cars Militarization of the law enforcement agencies of different countries Increasing automotive and commercial applications of bulletproof glassMarket Restraint: Declining defense budgets of developed economiesFor more insightful information visit@Customize report of "Global Bulletproof Glass Market" as per customers requirement also available.Market Segmentations:Global Bulletproof Glass Market is segmented on the basis of Security Levels Application End Users GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Security Levels into security level 1, security level 2, security level 3, and security level 4 to 8.On the basis of Application, the market is segmented into government & law enforcements, defense & VIP vehicles, ATM booths & teller stations, cash-in-transit vehicles, commercial buildings, others. Defense & VIP vehicles segment is expected to witness the highest demand from the automotive sector over the forecast period.On the basis of End Users, the market is segmented into construction, automotive, banking & finance, military, and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaCompetitive Landscape: Global Bulletproof Glass MarketThe Global Bulletproof Glass Market is consolidated due to the presence of a limited number of players concentrated in few countries. These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.Speak to Author of the report @Other ReportGlobal Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market, By Geography; Offering (Hardware, Software, Services); Structure (Tunnels Bridges, Buildings Utilities, Dams); Technology (Wired Networking Technology, Wireless Technology); Application (Pore Water Pressure, Soil Stresses, Lateral Deformation, Vertical Deformation), End-Users (Building, Infrastructure, Energy, Power, Oil, Gas, Mining) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit BlogFollow us on LinkedIn: Dec, 13 2017: Intermediate Base Oil Market Forecast 2023 Chevron, Saudi Aramco, PetroChina, Kuwait Petroleum Intermediate Base Oil http://bit.ly/2l3Uj8C http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-intermediate-base-oil-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Intermediate Base Oil Market Research 2017A market study "Global Intermediate Base Oil Market" examines the performance of the Intermediate Base Oil market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Intermediate Base Oil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Intermediate Base Oil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Intermediate Base Oil Market 2017 report includes Intermediate Base Oil market Revenue, market Share, Intermediate Base Oil industry volume, market Trends, Intermediate Base Oil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Intermediate Base Oil Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Intermediate Base Oil Market 2017 : Saudi Aramco Gazprom National Iranian ExxonMobil PetroChina BP Shell Pemex Chevron Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Daqing ShengliIntermediate Base Oil Market : By Application Kerosene Diesel Solvent Oil lubricating Oil Commodity ParaffinFirstly, the report covers the top Intermediate Base Oil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Intermediate Base Oil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Intermediate Base Oil industry, Intermediate Base Oil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Intermediate Base Oil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Intermediate Base Oil 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 Intermediate Base Oil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Intermediate Base Oil 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 Glass Packaging Market, Share, Analysis, Trend, challenges, Opportunities and Forecast to 2021 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1258 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1258 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/glass-packaging-market-1258 Global Glass Packaging Market Information by Application (Alcoholic beverages, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals and others) and by Region - Forecast to 2021Global Glass Packaging Market OverviewThe global Glass Packaging markets growth will be propelled by the increasing demand for a numerous beverage items in the forthcoming years. The market share of the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) segment is declining with the increasing demand for other types of drinks, especially the dairy segment. Some of the major factors responsible for the growing consumption of dairy beverages such as condensed milk, buttermilk, casein, homogenized milk, yogurt, and frozen dehydrogenase monoxide creams include the growing rate of urbanization and high levels of disposable income. With the changing shift of CSD to dairy beverages, the packaging product manufacturers are constantly making profits by making necessary changes in the packaging formats. Also, the packaged water segment is predicted to witness a growth since a couple of past years and will continue to grow in the future as seen in single-serve PET water bottles.The growing demand for premium alcoholic beverages will drive the growth prospects for the global retail glass packaging market for the next four years. Some of the major factors responsible for growing demand for premium alcoholic beverages is the rising disposable income, consumption of alcohol as a status symbol, and the association of premium labels with beverage quality and taste, states the MRFR Research Analyst while commenting upon this deep diving study report, presented through more than 100 market data tables and figures and widely spread over 115 pages.Global Glass Packaging Market Synopsis & ScenarioGlobally there is an increase in demand for alcoholic beverages and beer which has augmented the market for glass packaging. The non-reactive nature of glass makes it a suitable packaging material in pharmaceutical and alcoholic beverages industry. This is backed by the increased awareness for eco-friendly packaging and increase in investments by packaging companies which has led to the growth of the global glass packaging market. The global glass packaging market is expected reach Millions of USD at the end of the forecasted period and is expected to grow at a remarkable CAGR of during 2016 to 2021.Get Sample of Report @Global Glass Packaging Market SegmentsIn the year 2016; the alcoholic beverages glass packaging segment accounted for the maximum market share and will continue to dominate the market for the next few years. The favourable economic conditions, environmental conditions, and the changing consumers behaviour such as the increasing preference for fast food that necessitates the use of special types of packaging are some of the major factors contributing to the growth of the market Segment.The Global Glass Packaging Market is segmented in to 3 dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding - Segmentation on the basis of material, end-use, and region.Segmentation on the basis of Application:Comprises alcoholic beverages, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals and others.Segmentation on the basis of Regions :Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Glass Packaging Market Regional AnalysisAPAC dominates the global glass packaging market with its fast growing market worldwide. It will expand at a significant rate of CAGR over the forecast period. The region is expected to grow in coming years due to increasing glass packaging consumption, particularly in China and India. The demand is dominated by the alcoholic beverages and pharmaceuticals industry. It is followed by North America which is expected to grow rapidly over millions of USD by 2021. Europe and Rest of the World are also expected to grow at a considerable rate of CAGR during 2016 to 2021.Key PlayersThe key players of Global Glass Packaging Market report include- Owens Illinois Inc., Saint-Gobain, Ardagh Group, Gerresheimer AG, and Vetropack Holding AG, Amcor Ltd, Nihon Yamamura Glass Co. Ltd, Tamron Co., Ltd., and Piramal Glass Limited, Hindustan National Glass & Industries Ltd, Stolzle-Oberglas GmbH, Vidrala SA, Wiegand Glas, O.Berk Company LLC, and Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass Co., Ltd.Enquiry before Buying @Access Full Report@About Us: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 , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Dec, 13 2017: Cylinder Solder Pastes Market Forecast 2023 Kester, Inventec, Senju Metal, Aim Solder, Henkel Cylinder Solder Pastes http://bit.ly/2jT499A http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-cylinder-solder-pastes-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Cylinder Solder Pastes Market Research 2017A market study "Global Cylinder Solder Pastes Market" examines the performance of the Cylinder Solder Pastes market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Cylinder Solder Pastes market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Cylinder Solder Pastes market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Cylinder Solder Pastes Market 2017 report includes Cylinder Solder Pastes market Revenue, market Share, Cylinder Solder Pastes industry volume, market Trends, Cylinder Solder Pastes Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Cylinder Solder Pastes Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Cylinder Solder Pastes Market 2017 : Senju Metal Industry Alpha Shenmao Technology Tamura Henkel Kester Indium Corporation Inventec(Avantec) Koki Aim Solder Nihon SuperiorFirstly, the report covers the top Cylinder Solder Pastes manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Cylinder Solder Pastes report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Cylinder Solder Pastes industry, Cylinder Solder Pastes industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Cylinder Solder Pastes Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Cylinder Solder Pastes 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 Cylinder Solder Pastes market revenue worldwide.Finally, Cylinder Solder Pastes 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 Ferroalloys Market Estimated to Reach US$ 188.7 Bn by 2025 - Growth, Trends, and Forecast Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1326769 https://www.researchmoz.us/ferroalloys-market-global-industry-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Ferroalloys Market Estimated to Reach US$ 188.7 Bn by 2025 - Growth, Trends, and Forecast" to its huge collection of research reports.Ferroalloys are generally known as the alloys of iron metal in which one or more chemical additives are added into molten iron for steelmaking. Ferroalloys serves important function in the overall process of steelmaking by enhancing the general properties of iron metal. Steel making is one of the primary consumer of ferro alloys and consumes a significant part of the total ferroalloys produced around the globe. Ferroalloys can be divided into two major categories: bulk ferroalloys and noble ferroalloys. Bulk ferroalloys constitutes of ferrosilicon, ferromanganese, ferrochromium, ferro-silico-manganese, and ferro-silico-chromium.Most of the noble ferroalloys are made from rare earth minerals and are expensive to produce as compared to bulk ferroalloys. Most of the noble alloys are made from adding chromium, tungsten, nickel, boron, vanadium, niobium, titanium, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, phosphorus, and zirconium. These rare earth metals helps in contributing special properties and character to the various alloy steels and cast irons.Global Ferroalloys Market: Trends and OpportunitiesMajority of the ferroalloys are consumed in stainless steel and steel production. Most of the bulk ferro alloys and noble alloys are used in enhancing the properties of steel according to different end users. Some of the major applications of ferro alloys are: steel production, production of superalloys, wire production, and production of welding electrodes. Around 80% of the ferroalloys production is consumed for the steel production and rest of the produced ferroalloys are consumed into other major applications. A significant share of the bulk ferroalloys are used in the production of the steel because of the low prices of the bulk ferroalloys and high production around the major producing regions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Ferroalloys Market: Key Research AspectsThe report estimates and forecasts ferroalloys market on the global and regional levels. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2025 based on Volume (Kilo Tons) & revenue (US$ Mn) with 2016 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the ferroalloys market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the ferroalloys market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitute analysis of ferroalloys manufacturers and global average price trend analysis.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the ferroalloys market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and regions have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.Browse TOC @Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to, British Geological Survey (BGS), U.S. Geological Survey, International Historical Statistics, Indian Bureau of Mines, company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Global Ferroalloys Market: SegmentationsThe study provides a comprehensive view of the ferroalloys market by dividing it into ferroalloys type, application, and geography segments. The ferroalloys type have been segmented into Bulk Alloys and Noble Alloys. The Bulk Alloys are further sub segmented into ferrosilicon, ferromanganese, ferrochromium, and others. Noble ferroalloys are sub segmented into ferromolybdenum, ferronickel, ferrotungsten, ferrovanadium, ferrotitanium, and others. The ferroalloys application have been segmented into steel, superalloys & alloys, wire production, welding electrodes, and others. These segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast consumption of ferroalloys manufacturers in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Market segmentation includes demand for consumption in all the regions individually.Global Ferroalloys Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include AreArcelor Mittal, O.F.Z A.S., Tata Steel, Vale S.A., Pertama Ferroalloys Sdn. Bhd, Sakura Ferroalloys Sdn Bhd, China Minmetal Ltd., and Ferroalloy Corporation Ltd. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).The global ferroalloys market has been segmented as follows:Ferroalloys market By TypeBulk AlloysFerrosiliconFerromanganeseFerrochromiumOthersNoble AlloysFerromolybdenumFerronickelFerrotungstenFerrovanadiumFerrotitaniumOthersFerroalloys market By ApplicationSteelSuperalloys and AlloysWire ProductionWelding ElectrodesOthersFerroalloys Market Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaEuropeGermanyFranceU.K.SpainRussiaItalyAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global Market For Coagulation Testing Expected To Exhibit A Solid 9% CAGR During 2017 - 2025 To End Up At A Valuation Of US $3,715.8 Million Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1326768 https://www.researchmoz.us/coagulation-testing-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Market For Coagulation Testing Expected To Exhibit A Solid 9% CAGR During 2017 - 2025 To End Up At A Valuation Of US $3,715.8 Million" to its huge collection of research reports.This report provides forecast and analysis of the coagulation testing market on the global and regional levels. It provides historical data of 2016 along with forecast from 2017 to 2025 in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The report also includes macroeconomic indicators along with an outlook on coagulation testing globally. It includes drivers and restraints of the coagulation testing market and their impact on each region during the forecast period. The report also comprises of the study of current issues with end users and opportunities for coagulation testing manufacturers in the global market.In order to provide users with comprehensive view of the market, we have included detailed competitive analysis and market players with unique selling propositions. The competitive dashboard included in the report provides detailed comparison of coagulation testing manufacturers on parameters such as product offerings, revenue, key strategies, and recent developments. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, by product type, by test type, by end users and region.Global Coagulation Testing Market: SegmentationThe report includes revenue generated from sales of coagulation testing in all regions and important countries in the regions. By product type, the global coagulation testing market has been segmented into instruments and consumables. On the basis of test type the coagulation testing market is segmented into PT, APTT, TT, ACT and others. On the basis of end users, the global coagulation testing market is segmented into hospitals and clinics, diagnostics laboratories, home care settings and others. Geographically, the market is segmented into regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Coagulation Testing Market: Scope and Research MethodologyMarket value for global coagulation testing have been estimated based on utility of coagulation testing for all product types. The revenue is forecasted through regional pricing trends. Market size and forecast for each segment have been provided in the context of global and regional markets. The coagulation testing market has been analyzed based on expected demand. Most of the key end users have been considered and potential applications have been estimated on the basis of secondary sources and feedback from primary respondents. Regional demand patterns have been considered while estimating the market for various end users of coagulation testing in different regions. Top-down approach has been used to estimate the coagulation testing market size, and bottom-up approach has been used to validate the market number. The market has been forecasted based on constant currency rates. A number of secondary sources consulted during the course of the study include Factiva, NCBI, Google books, company annual reports, websites, white papers, and publications.Global Coagulation Testing Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report provides detailed competitive dashboard and company profiles of key participants operating in the global market. Some of the key players in the global coagulation testing market include Alere Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Abbott Laboratories, Siemens healthineers, SYSMEX CORPORATION, Universal Biosensors, Inc., HemoSonics, LLC, Helena Laboratories, Inc. and others.Browse TOC @Global Coagulation Testing market is segmented as below:Global Coagulation Testing Market By Product TypeInstrumentsConsumablesGlobal Coagulation Testing Market By Test TypePTAPTTTTACTOthersGlobal Coagulation Testing Market By End UsersHospitals and ClinicsDiagnostics LaboratoriesHome Care SettingsOthersGlobal Coagulation Testing Market By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyU.K.FranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaJapanIndiaAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Global Paint Additives Market Rising To Grow At A CAGR Of 6.12% During 2017 To 2021 - Akzo Nobel, Arkema, Ashland & BASF Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1315072 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-paint-additives-market-2017-2021-report.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Paint Additives Market Rising To Grow At A CAGR Of 6.12% During 2017 To 2021 - Akzo Nobel, Arkema, Ashland & BASF" to its huge collection of research reports.Paint additives are chemical substances that are used in small quantities in paint formulations. They enhance the performance, quality, and functionality of paints. They act as rheology modifiers, biocides, anti-foaming, wetting, and dispersing agents. Paints are thin coatings applied to substrate surfaces in a liquid form. Paints dry fast and become flexible solids. Paints help in protecting the surface from dampness, sunlight, weathering, dust, abrasion, and others.Technavios analysts forecast the global paint additives market to grow at a CAGR of 6.12% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global paint additives market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenues generated from various paint additives formulation for various applications such as architectural, industrial, wood and furniture, automotive, and others.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:APAC,Europe,North America,ROWTechnavio's report, Global Paint Additives 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.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key vendorsAkzo NobelArkemaAshlandBASFThe Dow ChemicalOther prominent vendorsANGUS ChemicalBuckman Laboratories InternationalCabot CorporationBYK Additives & InstrumentsDAIKIN INDUSTRIESEastman ChemicalEvonik IndustriesElementisDyneaK-TECH (INDIA)LonzaMomentiveSolvayThe Lubrizol CorporationMarket driverRising demand from construction industryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportBrowse TOC @Market challengeVolatility in raw material pricesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendIncrease in R&D activitiesFor 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 ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Dec, 13 2017: Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market Forecast 2023 Samsung, Smartisan, Sony, Apple, Lenovo Mobile Phone Soft Shell http://bit.ly/2BhOU4k http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-mobile-phone-soft-shell-sales-market-2017-demand-insight-key-players-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022 http://www.spiremarketresearch.com Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market Research 2017A market study "Global Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market" examines the performance of the Mobile Phone Soft Shell market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Mobile Phone Soft Shell market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Mobile Phone Soft Shell market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market 2017 report includes Mobile Phone Soft Shell market Revenue, market Share, Mobile Phone Soft Shell industry volume, market Trends, Mobile Phone Soft Shell Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Mobile Phone Soft Shell Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market 2017 : Apple Meizu Lenovo Sony MI Samsung HTC HUAWEI SmartisanMobile Phone Soft Shell Market : By Application Mobile Phone Protection Mobile Phone BeautyMobile Phone Soft Shell Market : By Type TPU Shell Silicon Rubber ShellFirstly, the report covers the top Mobile Phone Soft Shell manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Mobile Phone Soft Shell report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Mobile Phone Soft Shell industry, Mobile Phone Soft Shell industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Mobile Phone Soft Shell Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Mobile Phone Soft Shell 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 Mobile Phone Soft Shell market revenue worldwide.Finally, Mobile Phone Soft Shell 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 Thermal Paper Market Synopsis and Highlights, Key Findings, Major Companies Analysis and Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/880 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/thermal-paper-market-880 Global Thermal Paper Market is expected to reach a market size of USD 4,391.0 million by the end of the forecast period at CAGR of 4.66%.Market Highlights:Thermal Paper is manufactured with specialty coating which enables inkless printing. This coating blackens when exposed to heat, and in turn transfers the image on the paper. The thermal paper has applications across gaming, lottery, retail, e-commerce, packaging & labelling, and others. The market is driven by various factors such as increased importance of labels and barcodes in the packaging of consumer goods. Additionally, growth in packaged food industries, also fuels the growth of the market. The rise in population in many countries, has led to an increase in food & beverage consumption, which ultimately increases the demand of packaging products. Also, the increase in consumer income in countries such as China, India, and Brazil, have led to the growth in demand for good-quality packaged food. However, fluctuating supply and prices of raw materials, may hamper the growth of the market.Global Thermal Paper Market Information Report, By Technology (Direct Thermal, Thermal Transfer, and Others), By Application (POS, Lottery & Gaming, Labels & Tags, and Others) and By Region - Global Forecast To 2023Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global thermal paper market, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and ROW. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next six years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global thermal paper market by its technology, application, and region.Global Thermal Paper Market, By Technology Direct Thermal Thermal Transfer OthersGlobal Thermal Paper Market, By Application POS Lottery & Gaming Labels & Tags OthersGet Sample of Report @Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.12% during the forecast period. The region is regarded as one of the fastest growing regions, in terms of sales from both retail and online stores. With increasing disposable income and changing consumer preferences, there has been an inclination towards purchasing from online platforms, especially the international ones such as Amazon. China is the major market in Asia Pacific region, owing to the increasing population and increasing demand for consumer goods.Based on technology, the market has been segmented as direct thermal, thermal transfer, and others. The direct thermal segment accounted for the largest market share of 49.37% in 2016, with a market value of USD 1,586.1 Million. In direct thermal technology, no ribbon is used in printing. It creates the image directly on the printed material. Direct thermal printing uses chemically treated, heat-sensitive media that turns black when it passes under the thermal print head. Thermal transfer technology is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 4.43%. Thermal transfer printing uses a heated ribbon to produce durable, long-lasting images on a wide variety of materials. Thermal transfer printers can create highly durable wristbands, asset tags, and certification labels, in addition to common labels, tags, and tickets.Key PlayersThe key players of global thermal paper market are Appvion, Inc. (U.S.), Oji Paper (Thailand) Ltd. (Thailand), Koehler Paper Group (Germany), Ricoh Company Ltd (Japan), Jujo Thermal Ltd. (Finland), Mitsubishi Paper Mills Ltd. (Japan), Hansol Paper Co., Ltd (South Korea), and Nakagawa Manufacturing , Inc. (U.S.).Access Full Report @About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Harmonic Drive Precision Strain Wave Reducer Gearboxes and RV and RD Reducers Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts to 2024 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399308/harmonic-drive-precision-strain-wave-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399308 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399308 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "Harmonic drive precision strain wave reducer gearboxes and RV and RD reducers market strong growth is the result of increasing use in industrial robots as they become integrated and able to perform multiple functions sequentially in an automated manner."The 2018 study has 230 pages, 141 tables and figures. The leading vendors in the harmonic drive industry have invested in high-quality technology and processes to develop leading edge reducer strain relief gearbox capability.Other vendors are working to catch up. Harmonic drive market driving forces relate primarily to the implementation of speed reduction capability for robots and wind turbines initially, providing industrial controls that are compelling.The harmonic drive is used in situations where smooth, efficient gear operation is needed. Initial applications are in robotics, aerospace and solar tracking, the materials used in these applications can wear and break if the gearing in a motor is rough. Harmonic gear vendors offer a unique gear tooth profile that optimizes the tooth engagement. Only the high end vendors are able to provide harmonic drives that work, the other units become trash within days.View Report @Revenue for harmonic drives was $838 million in 2017, and products are expected to generate revenue of $3.517 billion by 2024. Strong growth is the result of increasing use in industrial robots as they become integrated and able to perform multiple functions sequentially in an automated manner. Harmonic drive reduction gearboxes are presented many new market opportunities from multiple types of applications. The VNTOL aircraft uses the drive reduction to enable vertical takeoff This lifts off like a helicopter and files like an airplane.Demanding applications for the gear box include surgical robots. By application category, there was a substantial year-on-year increase in sales for industrial robots used on production lines for smartphones, tablet devices, household appliances, automobiles, and other products.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Sales for semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased due to rising capital investment against a backdrop of increasing demand for industrial equipment, automotive devices, and devices for data centers, among other factors. Sales for flat panel display manufacturing equipment increased due to high levels of investment to expand production capacity for LCD and organic EL panels.Semiconductor liquid crystal production equipment, photovoltaic equipment, optical instruments, precision machine tools and other cutting-edge areas provide target applications.Japan manufactures reliable performance precision gears. Reliable performance of precision gear reducer manufacturing is not yet occurring at scale elsewhere, particularly in China. China with its huge investments in industrial robots would really like to be able to scale manufacture of harmonic drive precision strain wave reducer gearboxes.The market has just begun. Early adopters are the robot manufacturers. Suppliers of the precision gears, Japanese companies, address markets for industrial robots. While the Chinese would like to be the primary suppliers of Harmonic Drive Precision Strain Wave Reducer Gearboxes, it has not happened yet.Harmonic gear reducers are used in aviation, aerospace, energy, navigation, shipbuilding, bionic machinery, commonly used ordnance, machine tools, instruments, electronic equipment, mining and metallurgy, transportation, lifting machinery, petrochemical machinery, textile machinery, agricultural machinery and medical Instruments.Japan's a precision reducer is used in industrial robots and airplane engines, wind turbines and for solar trackers.Send An Enquiry Request @Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersHarmonic DriveSumitomo Heavy IndustriesBeijing CTKM Harmonic DriveLeaderdriveZhejiang LaifuNidec-ShimpoCone DriveMarket ParticipantsBeijing Harmonic Drive Technology Institute (BHDI)Beijing Zhong Ke Ke Mei Harmonic Drive Limited Liability CompanyChina Harmonic Drive (CHD)Motion Control ProductsNabtescoNidec-ShimpoParker BaysideSuzhou Green Harmonic Drive Technology Co., Ltd.Totel Industry Group / Ningbo Haishu Totel Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd.Key TopicsHarmonic DrivePrecision Strain WaveReducer GearboxesRV and RD ReducersIndustrial Robotic DriveTable of ContentsHarmonic Drive Reduction Gearbox Market Executive Summary 16Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Driving Forces 16Two Main Types of Speed Reducer Used In Robotics: RV Reducer and Harmonic Reducer 18Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Shares 18Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Forecasts 241. Harmonic Gearbox: Market Description and Market Dynamics 271.1 Harmonic Drive Precision Gearing 271.2 Harmonic Drive Concept of Total Motion Control 332. Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearbox Market Shares and Market Forecasts 342.1 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Driving Forces 342.1.1 Two Main Types of Speed Reducer Used In Robotics: RV Reducer and Harmonic Reducer 362.2 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Shares 362.2.1 List of Harmonic Drive Companies by Country 432.3 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Forecasts 442.4 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearboxes Market Application Analysis 472.4.1 VTOL Gearbox 502.4.2 Harmonic Drives in Industrial Robots 512.4.3 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearbox Robotic Applications 582.4.4 Harmonic Gear Robotics 592.4.5 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gear SCARA Robots Applications 602.4.6 Harmonic Drive Applications 612.5 Cup-, Hat- Pancake Type Harmonic Drive Component Sets 632.5.1 Harmonic Drive Pancake Gearing Components includes: Ultra Flat Gearing Components 662.5.2 Hat Style 692.6 Harmonic Drive Strain Wave Gears Prices 712.6.1 Shopping Results 712.7 RV Precision Reducer 742.8 Harmonic Drive Strain Wave Gears Regional Market Analysis 782.8.1 China 812.8.2 Chinese Pearl River Delta Region Implements Wave Of Automation 832.8.3 Robot Situation in China 852.8.4 Japanese Economy Continued To Recover 873. Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearbox Product Descriptions 883.1 Harmonic Drive Product Applications: 883.1.1 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gear Communication Protocols 893.1.2 Harmonic Drive Reduction Gearbox Product 903.1.3 The Components 913.1.4 Cup-Type Harmonic Drive 953.1.5 Superior Gear Performance Using an S Tooth Design 953.2 Motion Control 983.3 Leaderdrive 993.3.1 Leaderdrive Strain wave reducer principle 1013.3.2 Leaderdrive Characteristics of Strain Wave Reducer 1023.4 Zhejiang Laifu Reduction Gearbox 1053.4.1 Zhejiang Laifu Advantages of Reduction Gearbox 1063.4.2 Zhejiang Laifu Harmonic Gear Reducer Applications 1094. Harmonic Reduction Gearbox Technology 1124.1 RV Reducer 1124.2 Harmonic Drive Strain Wave Gearing 1144.2.1 Harmonic Speed Reducer Is Core Part Of The Robot That Achieves Movement 1184.3 Harmonic Reduction Gear Meshing Theory 1225. Harmonic Drive Reduction Gear Company Profiles 1245.1 Beijing CTKM Harmonic Drive 1245.2 Beijing Harmonic Drive Technology Institute (BHDI) 1275.2.1 Beijing Harmonic Drive Technology Institute 1275.3 Beijing Zhong Ke Ke Mei Harmonic Drive Limited Liability Company 1285.4 China Harmonic Drive (CHD) 1295.5 Cone Drive 1305.6 Harmonic Drive LLC 1335.6.1 Harmonic Drive High-Precision, Zero-Backlash Strain Wave Gears Application Areas 1415.6.2 Harmonic Drive Gear Units 1415.6.3 Harmonic Drive Miniature Gear Units 1475.6.4 Harmonic Drive CSF-2XH 1475.6.5 Harmonic Drive CSF-1U-CC 1475.6.6 Harmonic Drive CSF-1U-CC-F 148About 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.Mr. NachiketaState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Rising Trends and Demand for Dynamic Glazing Market in the Market: Research Insights by MRFR https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/dynamic-glazing-market-4022 Market Synopsis of Global Dynamic GlazingThe Global Dynamic Glazing Market is majorly driven by the ability to tune its solar heat gain coefficient and visible light transmission in response to the external environment. The dynamic glazing helps in controlling the glares and heat gain as well as it maintains the view through window. The growth of the market is also being majorly driven by its rising usage in the commercial sector, owing to properties such as improved exterior color aesthetics, nonrectangular shapes, wirelessly powered and controlled products for retrofit applications and enhanced daylight management features. Dynamic glazing has been shown to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions and have contribution in occupant comfort and productivity in buildings.Geographically, the Dynamic Glazing Market has been segmented as North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Rest of the world. The North America region is expected to contribute the highest revenue in the Dynamic Glazing Market during the forecast period. The region is experiencing an increase in the number of applications of dynamic glazing technology such as electrochromic glass in commercial offices, which is expected to positively impact the growth of Dynamic Glazing Market during the forecast period. The growth of Asia-Pacific region can be attributed to factors such as the growing demand for dynamic glazing glass in the field of architecture, growth in real estate, and the growing awareness about the conservation of energy, which will also boost the growth of the Dynamic Glazing Market.Get Sample of Report @This study provides an overview of the Global Dynamic Glazing Market, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Dynamic Glazing Market by its technology, application, end-user and region.By Technology Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals (PDLC) Suspended Particle Device Photochromic Thermochromic ElectrochromicBy Application Day lighting performance Glare Control Energy Savings Heat GainBy end-user Residential Commercial Transportation OthersBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldKey PlayersThe key players of Global Dynamic Glazing Market include Guardian Industries (U.S.), Beautex Industries Pvt. Ltd (India), Corning Inc. (U.S.), Saint-Gobain S.A(France), Research Frontiers, Inc.(U.S.), Pleotint LLC(U.S.), PPG Industries, Inc.(U.S.), GPD Group (U.S.), Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.(Japan), GlasNovations, Ltd. (U.K.) and others.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.Access Full Report @About Us: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 , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Report on Child Resistance Packaging Market Segmentation and Analysis 2023 : MRFR https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/3867 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/child-resistance-packaging-market-3867 The child resistance packaging market is expected to grow with 4% CAGR during the forecast period.Market Synopsis of Child Resistance Packaging Market:Child resistance packaging is the type of packaging, which is difficult for a child younger than 52 months to open within a reasonable period. The objective of child resistance packaging is to keep children away from harmful products.The major factors driving the growth of child resistance packaging market are rising urbanization and the rising awareness among the customers towards the use of better packaging, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. The introduction of stringent policies regarding the packaging of toxic items and certain household items such as medicines, spray products for pharmaceuticals, chemicals, & cleaning products, is further expected to drive child resistance packaging market.The global child resistance packaging market is majorly driven by the rise in information among the consumers and the increase in demand for the efficient packaging of drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. The introduction and implementation of government regulatory procedures such as those by the Food and Drug Administration, in many nations, is also leading to the growth of the industry. Child resistance packaging has also led to the reduced child mortality rate caused by the accidental intake of oral prescription drugs, thereby, leading to the growth of the child resistance packaging market.Geographically, child resistance packaging market has been segmented as North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Rest of the world. Europe region is dominating the market due to existence of a large number of pharmaceutical companies in the region. The European Union is also imposing stringent rules and regulations for adoption of child resistance packaging to prevent harm to children from various harmful drugs and chemicals. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow significantly during to forecast period, with the boom in the pharmaceutical industry here. In North America region, child resistance packaging market is expected to grow, owing to the regulations passed by the government such as the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. The purpose of this act is to reduce the chances for children to access substances resulting in accidental poisoning.Key PlayersThe key players of global Child resistance packaging market include Sun Grown Packaging (U.S.), O.Berk Company, LLC (U.S.), MJS Packaging Inc (U.S.), Kaufman Container (U.S.), Mold-Rite Plastics, LLC (U.S.), Amcor Limited (Australia), Bemis Company, Inc. (U.S.), Ecobliss B.V. (Netherlands), Global Closure System (France), and WestRock Company (U.S.) .Enquiry before Buying @BRIEF TOC:1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3. MARKET DYNAMICS4. GLOBAL MARKET SEGMENTATION5. REGIONAL MARKET ANALYSIS6. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS7. CONCLUSION8. LIST OF TABLES9. LIST OF FIGURESThe report for Global Child Resistance Packaging 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, 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.Access Full Report @About Us: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 , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Cyber Insurance 2017 Industry Key Players: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, Munich Re Group, Lloyds, Zurich Insurance Co, Berkshire Hathaway https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2398497-2017-global-cyber-insurance-industry-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2398497-2017-global-cyber-insurance-industry-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2398497 The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Cyber Insurance industry market by types, applications, players and regions. This report also displays the production, Consumption, revenue, Gross margin, Cost, Gross, market share, CAGR, and Market influencing factors of the Cyber Insurance industry in USA, EU, China,India, Japan and other regions, and forecast to 2022, from 2017.Request a Sample Report @Market Analysis by Players:American International GroupThe Chubb CorporationZurich Insurance CoXL Group LtdBerkshire HathawayAllianz Global Corporate & SpecialtyMunich Re GroupLloyd'sLockton CompaniesAON PLCMarket Analysis by Regions:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOthersMarket Analysis by Types:Small Medium EnterpriseLarge Medium EnterpriseMarket Analysis by Applications:HealthcareRetailFinancial ServicesInformation Technology and ServicesOthersMake an enquiry of this Report @Table of Content1 Cyber Insurance Market Overview1.1 Product Overview of Cyber Insurance1.2 Classification and Application of Cyber Insurance1.3 Global Cyber Insurance Market Regional Analysis1.3.1 USA Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.2 Europe Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.3 Japan Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.4 China Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.5 India Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.6 Southeast Asia Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.7 South America Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.8 South Africa Market Present Situation Analysis1.4 Cyber Insurance Industry Development Factors Analysis1.4.1 Cyber Insurance Industry Development Opportunities Analysis1.4.2 Cyber Insurance Industry Development Challenges Analysis1.5 Cyber Insurance Consumer Behavior Analysis2 Global Cyber Insurance Competitions by Players2.1 Global Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Players2.2 Global Cyber Insurance Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2016-2017)2.3 Global Cyber Insurance Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2016-2017)2.4 Global Cyber Insurance Gross Margin by Players (2016-2017)3 Global Cyber Insurance Competitions by Types3.1 Global Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Types3.2 Global Cyber Insurance Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Type (2012-2017)3.3 Global Cyber Insurance Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)3.4 Global Cyber Insurance Gross Margin by Type (2012-2017)3.5 USA Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.6 China Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.7 Europe Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.8 Japan Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.9 India Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.10 Southeast Asia Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.11 South America Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.12 South Africa Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type4 Global Cyber Insurance Competitions by Application4.1 Global Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.2 Global Cyber Insurance Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Global Cyber Insurance Price (USD/Unit) by Application (2012-2017)4.4 Global Cyber Insurance Gross Margin by Application (2012-2017)4.5 USA Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.6 China Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.7 Europe Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.8 Japan Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.9 India Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.10 Southeast Asia Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.11 South America Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.12 South Africa Cyber Insurance Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application5 Global Cyber Insurance Production Market Analysis by Region5.1 Global Cyber Insurance Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Region5.1.1USA Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.2 Europe Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.3 China Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.4 Japan Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.5 India Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.6 Southeast Asia Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.7 South America Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.8 South Africa Cyber Insurance Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.2 Global Cyber Insurance Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Region (2012-2017)5.3 Global Cyber Insurance Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2012-2017)5.4 Global Cyber Insurance Gross Margin by Region (2012-2017)6 Global Cyber Insurance Sales Market Analysis by Region6.1 USA Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.2 Europe Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.3 China Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.4 Japan Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.5 India Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.6 Southeast Asia Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.7 South America Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.8 South Africa Cyber Insurance Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis7 Imports and Exports Market Analysis7.1 USA Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.2 Europe Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.3 China Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.4 Japan Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.5 India Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.6 Southeast Asia Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.7 South America Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)7.8 South Africa Cyber Insurance Imports and Exports Analysis (2012-2017)ContinuedPurchase Report @Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Electromyography Devices Market 2017- Noraxon U.S.A, Covidien Limited, Compumedics Limited Electromyography Devices Market https://goo.gl/paER9U https://goo.gl/S6TvK3 www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Electromyography Devices Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Electromyography 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 Electromyography Devices industry, and estimates the future trend of Electromyography Devices market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Electromyography Devices Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportCompumedics LimitedElectrical Geodesics IncNihon Kohden America IncCadwell Laboratories IncNoraxon U.S.A.Covidien LimitedNatus Medical IncNeuroWave Systems IncThe market research report explores the Electromyography Devices market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Electromyography 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 Electromyography Devices market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Electromyography Devices. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Electromyography 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 Electromyography Devices is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Electromyography Devices market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Electromyography Devices market globally.Enquire Before Buying @The global Electromyography Devices market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Electromyography Devices production volume, data pertaining to demand and Electromyography Devices supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Electromyography 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 Electromyography Devices across the world.About UsApex 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.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - South Korea Automotive Parts Die-Casting Market Report 2017, Trends, Analysis, Share, Estimates and Forecasts to 2022. http://www.strategymrc.com/report/south-korea-automotive-parts-die-casting-market-outlook http://www.strategymrc.com/report/south-korea-automotive-parts-die-casting-market-outlook The South Korea Automotive Parts Die-Casting report provides an in-depth analysis of the various market segments and its sub-segments.Products Covered: Pressure die-casting Vacuum die-casting Squeeze die-casting Semi-solid die-castingRaw Material Types Covered: Aluminium Zinc Magnesium OthersApplication Types Covered: Body assemblies Engine Parts Transmission parts OthersFor More, Please Visit:The report focuses on current and upcoming market trends such as Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, and Challenges, technological advancements, Porters Five Forces analysis to assess the intensity of competition in the market. The market values are presented in the form of tables and graphs for better interpretation.Market Size EstimationsThe market assessment is made by the core industry experts using our 360 research approach. The data is derived from the most reliable, authenticated data sources and is validated by the industry experts (Primary Research). Both top down and bottom up analysis are implemented to enhance the accuracy of the market figures. The market projections are calculated for the next 8 years using the actual market numbers of previous year as the base value.Company ProfilingThis section provides the overview of the key players that are leading in the industry, covering their business operations, financials, list of products & services, SWOT analysis, major developments such as mergers & acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, new product launch, expansions etc.Report Highlights:- Market share assessments for all the mentioned market segments and sub-segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years for all the given segments- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping, mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor More, Please Visit:We offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA Autonomous Vehicles Market size in terms of volume and value 2016-2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1526 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1526 www.futuremarketinsights.com Autonomous vehicles also known as robot cars are driverless vehicles, controlled by the computer, which is yet to be commercialized in the market. Autonomous vehicles have sensors installed in it, which detects the objects in its surroundings via radar, GPS, lasers and computer vision and chooses the appropriate path and direction. With the increasing road accidents due to human error while driving provides lucrative opportunities for autonomous vehicles over the forecast period, as the autonomous vehicles are comparatively safe when compared with manually controlled vehicles. The autonomous vehicles will also help in reducing the CO2 emissions to the environment. The commercialization of autonomous vehicles will also contribute to the revenue growth of different industries such as, IT, technology and electronics.The use of autonomous vehicles are not limited to passenger cars, it can be used in industrial fleet, construction, public transportation and for agricultural applications. The merits of an autonomous vehicle over manually operated vehicles are, increased fuel efficiency, safety and low emissions among others. Considering the aforementioned factors, the global autonomous vehicles market will project a healthy growth rate over the forecast period.The global autonomous vehicles market is primarily driven by the numerous advantages of an autonomous vehicle such as increased safety reduced driving stress, efficient parking reducing the costs, fuel efficiency, reduced CO2 emissions to the environment and increasing geriatric population will have a positive impact on the global autonomous vehicles market. Apart from the aforementioned factors, the autonomous vehicles will have a positive impact on the economy as a whole. However, the data security concerns might pose as a restrain to the global autonomous vehicles market as the controlling software can be hacked by unauthorized parties, and input spurious information to the system.Request Report Sample @The global autonomous market is segmented based on level of automation, application and region. Based on automation level, the global autonomous vehicles market can be segmented into Driver Assistance, Partial Automation, Conditional Automation, High Automation and Full Automation. Based on applications, the global autonomous vehicles market can be segmented into Passenger Cars, Public Transportation, Industrial fleet, Construction and Agricultural applicationsBased on the geographic regions, global autonomous vehicles market is segmented into seven key market segments namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, the Western Europe market holds the largest share of global autonomous vehicles market, due to the higher adoption of autonomous vehicles in the region.North American market for autonomous vehicles is trailing behind the Western European market. Over the forecast period, China in the Asia-Pacific market will surpass the European as well as American market for autonomous vehicles. The adoption of autonomous vehicle in the developing economies such as Latin America and MEA will be low as compared to other region. Overall, the global autonomous vehicle market will project a healthy CAGR over the forecasted period considering its tremendous advantages over conventional vehicles and impact on environment.Visit For TOC @Autonomous Vehicles Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in the global autonomous vehicles market are Google, BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla Motors, Audi AG among others.About UsFuture 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 UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Advancements in Global Competent Cells Market: Cloning to Remain Largest Application of Competent Cells Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1392897 https://www.researchmoz.us/competent-cells-market.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Advancements in Global Competent Cells Market: Cloning to Remain Largest Application of Competent Cells" to its huge collection of research reports.Competent cells refer to E. coli cells, which comprise altered cell walls to enable assimilation of foreign DNA. Competent cells are broadly used for protein expression and cloning. Advancements in research related to molecular cloning and increasing commercial demand for recombinant proteins and molecular cloned products are some factors impacting growth of the global competent cells market.In its upcoming research report titled Competent Cells Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) & Opportunity Assessment (2017-2022), Future Market Insights (FMI) has offered an in-depth analysis of the competent cells market. Historical analysis of the market for past four years is comprehensively compared with the market forecast for the period 2017 to 2022, enabling readers in gaining an understanding of current and future potential for growth of global competent cells market.Structure of ReportThe report commences with an executive summary, which is concise, and delivers a 360-degree view of the competent cells market. In this chapter, the report offers an overview of the market, along with significant and relevant market numbers, which include historical CAGR (2012-2016) and forecast CAGR (2017-2022). The executive summary also renders information about lucrative regions on the basis of largest revenue share, and highest CAGR. The executive summary is followed by a detailed introduction of the market and a brief definition of the product competent cells.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Moving forward, the report offers analysis of trends, untapped opportunities for market participants, and macroeconomic factors impacting the market growth. Succeeding chapters of the report emphasize on cost structure, product life cycle, supplier list, pricing analysis, and supply chain analysis. The report has incorporated an intensity map, showcasing presence of market participants across specific regions included in the report.Market TaxonomyThe report has provided forecast of the global competent cells market on the basis of a segmentation-wise analysis. The global market for competent cells has been segmented based on application, end-user, product type, and region. This chapter of the report contains pertinent market numbers on the basis of revenue comparison, Y-o-Y growth comparision, and market share comparison. On the basis of regions, the report has segmented the market into Middle East & Africa (MEA), Japan, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Europe, North America, and Latin America. Quantifying the competent cells market across regions is a matter of identifying opportunities & quantifying expectations, instead of rationalizing them post-completion of the forecast period.Competition LandscapeThe last chapter of the report offers information associated with the competition landscape of the market, listing details about global leaders operating in the global competent cells market. The information provided about market participants is in terms of key developments made by these players, product overview, key financials, and company overview. In the competition landscape, the report has also features the SWOT analysis of selected market players. This chapter is an integral part of the report, offering report readers with necessary information related to current market standings of global leaders in the competent cells market, and the way of strategy implementation of these players.Browse TOC @Research MethodologyFuture Market Insights analysts have leveraged tested and proven research methodologies in order to deduce the overall market size, coupled with contributions made by leading market players. Primary interview have been conducted by FMIs analysts with industry experts in detail, for collecting authentic data concerning the global competent cells market. This data gathered is further scrutinized and validated, by employing advanced tools for gleaning relevant insights pertaining to the global competent cells market.Table Of Content1. Global Competent Cells Market - Executive Summary2. Global Competent Cells Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Competent Cells Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Competent Cells Market Definition2.2. Global Competent Cells Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Competent Cells Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Competent Cells Market Dynamics2.4. Supply Chain2.5. Cost Structure2.6. Pricing Analysis2.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis2.8. Supplier List2.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By Region3. Global Competent Cells Market Analysis and Forecast By Product Type3.1. Global Competent Cells Market Size and Forecast By Product Type, 2012-20223.1.1. Chemically Competent Cells Competent Cells 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 RegionAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Healthcare Information Systems Market 2017- Neusoft, 3M Health, McKesson, GE Healthcare Healthcare Information Systems Market https://goo.gl/yKtjgu https://goo.gl/NAMJ6J www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Healthcare Information Systems Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Healthcare Information Systems 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 Healthcare Information Systems industry, and estimates the future trend of Healthcare Information Systems market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Healthcare Information Systems Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportGE HealthcareSiemens Healthcare3M HealthMcKessonPhilips HealthcareAgfa GevaertDellEpic SystemsNextGen HealthcareMerge HealthcareNeusoftInterSystemsCernerCarestream HealthThe market research report explores the Healthcare Information Systems market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Healthcare Information Systems 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 Healthcare Information Systems market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Healthcare Information Systems. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Healthcare Information Systems 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 Healthcare Information Systems is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Healthcare Information Systems market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Healthcare Information Systems market globally.Enquire Before Buying @The global Healthcare Information Systems market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Healthcare Information Systems production volume, data pertaining to demand and Healthcare Information Systems supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Healthcare Information Systems 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 Healthcare Information Systems across the world.About UsApex 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.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market: APEJ will be Most Lucrative Market for Automotive Microcontrollers by 2022-end Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1392898 https://www.researchmoz.us/automotive-microcontrollers-market.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market: APEJ will be Most Lucrative Market for Automotive Microcontrollers by 2022-end" to its huge collection of research reports.Future Market Insights (FMI) has delivered a comprehensive, insightful, and unbiased research report titled Automotive Microcontrollers Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) & Opportunity Assessment (2017-2022). The report provides a detailed analysis of the global automotive microcontrollers market, covering its dynamics comprehensively, and offering key trends influencing the market expansion. The report also provides analysis of market data across various parameters, for arriving at the accurate market numbers. In addition, competitive landscape of the global automotive microcontrollers market has been covered by the report, offering information about key players contributing to growth of the market.Report StructureThe first chapter of the report offers an executive summary of the global automotive microcontrollers market, followed by a detailed market introduction as well as definition of product automotive microcontrollers. The executive summary gives 360-degree view of the market, particularly focusing on regional segments included in the report. The executive summary also provides the most significant and relevant market numbers, including the historical CAGR for 2012 to 2016, as well as the forecast CAGR for 2017 to 2022. This chapter of the report also sheds light on lucrative regions on the basis of fastest expansion, and largest revenues share.The introduction of the global automotive microcontrollers market enables the report readers to understand the wide scope of the market. The next chapter of the report renders information about key dynamics impacting expansion of the global automotive microcontrollers market. Key points that are covered in this chapter include global economy, and list of suppliers. In subsequent chapter of the report, information related to cost structure analysis & pricing analysis of the market have been offered. Moreover, the report has also provided an analysis on presence of leading market players in form of an intensity map.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market TaxonomyThe report has offered a segmentation-wise analysis and forecast of the global automotive microcontrollers market based on vehicle type, application, material type, and region. This chapter comprises imperative market numbers associated with the market segments in terms of revenue comparison, market share comparison, and Y-o-Y growth comparison. The report has segmented the global automotive microcontrollers market based on region into Europe, Latin America, North America, Japan, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ).Competitive LandscapeThe concluding chapters of the report focus on the markets competition landscape, providing information about leading market participants in detail. The information about market players is offered in the form of product overview, company overview, key developments by market players, and financials related to the specific company. The competition landscape also provides the SWOT analysis of selected players, providing information about strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, which these companies are facing in the global automotive microcontrollers market. This chapter is an indispensable part of the report, containing necessary information for analysing global leaders operating in the global market for automotive microcontrollers. This chapter also provides analysis of the way these companies are implementing their strategies and vision for gaining a competitive edge in the market.Browse TOC @Research MethodologyThe report on the automotive microcontrollers market has been backed by an exhaustive research methodology, which relies on both primary as well as secondary research for gaining all necessary information about the global automotive controllers market. The report has been validated a number of times with the help of expert analysts at FMI.Table Of Content1. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market - Executive Summary2. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Definition2.2. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Automotive Microcontrollers 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 Automotive Microcontrollers Market Analysis and Forecast By Material Type3.1. Global Automotive Microcontrollers Market Size and Forecast By Material Type, 2012-20223.1.1. Tinned Steel Automotive Microcontrollers 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. Nickel-Cobalt Ferrous Alloy Automotive Microcontrollers Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Nano-Enabled Packaging Market for Food & Beverages Industry In Canada: By Application - Bakery Products, Meat Products, Dairy Products, Fruits And Vegetables, Prepared Foods And Beverages Market Research Report https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1287195 https://www.researchmoz.us/canada-market-study-on-nano-enabled-packaging-for-food-and-beverages-industry-concerns-towards-enhancing-shelf-life-of-products-to-drive-growth-during-forecast-period-2015-2022-report.html/toc http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Nano-Enabled Packaging Market for Food & Beverages Industry In Canada: By Application - Bakery Products, Meat Products, Dairy Products, Fruits And Vegetables, Prepared Foods And Beverages" to its huge collection of research reports.Nano-enabled packaging is the next phase of evolution in the packaging industry. It enhances a products shelf life and reduces the risk of contamination. Nano-enabled packaging is formed using two basic components: nano-composites and nano-fillers. Nano-composite is a framework or base where nano-fillers such as metals, metal oxides, clays, and carbon nano-tubes can be used to fill in the gaps of the framework. Various nano-fillers have different properties that enhance packaging materials to give them various functionality such as oxygen scavengers, ethylene scavengers, and antioxidants.This report covers the Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market performance in terms of revenue contribution. This section additionally includes PMR analysis of key trends, drivers, restraints, and challenges that are influencing the Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market. Impact analysis of key growth drivers and restraints, based on the weighted average model, is included in this report to better equip and arm clients with crystal-clear decision-making insights.The growth of the nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market in Canada is mainly driven by rising demand for anti-counterfeit products, prevention of contamination, and increasing application of nano-enabled packaging. However, lack of information on the impact of nano materials on food and beverage products, high cost associated with nano-packaging and increasing complexity with developing a customized nano-enabled packaging products are restraining the growth of the market to a certain extent.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market was valued at US$ 350.5 Mn in 2014 and is expected to exhibit a healthy CAGR over the forecast period. The Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market is segmented on the basis of application and technology. By application, the market is segmented into bakery products, meat products, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, beverages, and others. Of these, prepared food segment dominated the market in 2014, with over 20% value share.By technology, the Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market is segmented into controlled, active and intelligent packaging. Controlled packaging was the dominant technology in 2014, and is anticipated to remain dominant during the forecast period.Browse TOC @The Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market is segmented as follows:By Application:Bakery ProductsBeveragesFruits and VegetablesDairy ProductsMeat ProductsPrepared FoodsOthersBy Technology:Controlled PackagingActive PackagingIntelligent PackagingKey features of this reportDrivers, restraints, and challenges in the Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages marketKey developments in the marketAnalysis of business strategies of the top playersCanada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market estimates and forecastsKey players in the Canada nano-enabled packaging for food and beverages market are:3M Company.Amcor Limited.BASF SE.Crown Holdings Incorporated.E. I. du Pont de Nemours and CompanyDuPont.Honeywell International, Inc.Bemis Company, Inc.Sealed Air Corp.Multisorb Technologies, Inc.AMCOL International Corporation Nanocor Inc.Other.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Gasoline Turbochargers Market Dynamics, Forecast, Analysis and Supply Demand 2016-2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1554 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1554 www.futuremarketinsights.com Gasoline Turbochargers is expected to unlock the potential of market due to cutting-edge technologies in turbocharger market. Which enables spur new opportunities to market players involved in turbochargers business. Gasoline Turbocharger is a device which increases internal combustion of engines efficiency and power out -put by forcing extra air in to the combustion chamber. The performance of an engine can be enhanced by addition of turbocharger. It enables compress the air and more oxygen flows in to the combustion chamber.Request Report Sample @According to fuel the power output of an engine increases. Turbochargers can shape the characteristics of engine and it effects engines economy, emission characteristics. Gasoline Turbochargers used for synergy effects, and it is mostly used in commercial vehicle sector. The fuel economy can be increased with turbochargers by maintains a specific torque and power density. Whilst maintaining the vehicles performance. The turbo charging standard technology used to boost the engines. However, waste gate controlled turbines have standard for gasoline turbochargers.The technological advancements and innovations in the gasoline turbochargers creates new opportunities for the companies which are striving in Gasoline Turbochargers industry across the globe. Global Gasoline Turbochargers market is expected to exhibit a significant CAGR as well as annual growth over the forecast period.Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Drivers and restraintsGlobal Gasoline Turbochargers market can be influenced by following factors, Gasoline Turbochargers gaining importance across the globe due to increasing trend of emission reduction along with increased engine economy. Increased awareness among the people regarding the innovative technologies which enables drive the global gasoline turbochargers market. Growing disposable income of consumers in advanced countries is expected to boost the Gasoline Turbochargers Market. This, in turn, would lead to increase in demand for gasoline turbo charger. The high quality of turbocharges offeres at affordable price is major roadblock for market.Gasoline Turbochargers Market: OverviewGlobal Gasoline Turbochargers market is rapidly evolving across the globe due to increased awareness among automobile industry as well as people. Which enables change the trend towards advanced and novel technologies in Gasoline Turbochargers market. Technological advancements in the Gasoline Turbochargers market enables make significant changes in the market. The global Gasoline Turbochargers market expected to account for significant CAGR and witnessed for lucrative market over the forecast period.Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Region-Wise OutlookGlobal market is segmented into seven key regions: Those are North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa.North America region is accounted for majority of the market share due to increased awareness among the people towards the innovative technologies followed by Europe and Asia. Asia-Pacific region, which includes the greater China, India, Japan, Korea are fastest growing economies across the globe. Japan and China is leading in automobile industry, which enables offers majority of market share in Asia-Pacific region. However, Gasoline Turbochargers market in Asia-Pacific region becoming matured. Asia-Pacific region market is considered to rapidly evolving infrastructure, is witnessed for create robust opportunities for Gasoline Turbochargers market.Visit For TOC @Gasoline Turbochargers Market: Key playersSome of the key players are Honeywell International, Inc., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Turbo Energy Private Limited, Ningbo Weifu Tianli Turbocharging Technology Co., Ltd., Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems, Eaton Corporation Plc, Continental AG, Borg Warner Turbo Systems.About UsFuture 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 UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Laser Therapy Devices Market: North America to Remain the Leading Regional Market Throughout the Period of Forecast MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/3928 https://www.mrrse.com/laser-therapy-devices-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/3928 https://www.mrrse.com/ Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a first-hand publication to its extensive research database on the global laser therapy devices market. The report starts with the introduction and an executive summary. In the executive summary section, the report provides a comprehensive summary of the worldwide market for laser therapy devices. The report also includes the historical data of 2012 to 2016, enabling the reader to understand the erstwhile market status of laser therapy devices. The global market revenue share and size along with the CAGR is also presented in the report. In the introduction section, the global market for laser therapy devices is clearly defined. Another major section of the report comprises the market dynamics of the global market for laser therapy devices.Get Free Sample Report @The following section of the report comprises information on the basis of pricing analysis and cost structure analysis of the laser therapy devices market globally. Furthermore, the research publication gives an analysis of the key players market share. The worldwide market for laser therapy devices is analyzed in detail and the market dynamics of the laser therapy devices market has been highlighted systematically in this report. The report also includes the key trends, opportunities and drivers to provide clarity on the current and future scope of this market.Global Laser Therapy Devices Market: Segmental Forecast & Regional Revenue EstimationsThe report segments the global market for laser therapy devices on the basis of region, device type, end user and application. The report also includes year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth structure, revenue comparison and market share comparison of the different segments.On the basis of device type, the report bifurcates the worldwide market for laser therapy devices into solid-state laser, gas laser, liquid laser, and semiconductor laserBased on end use, the global market for laser therapy devices is categorized into ambulatory surgical centers, specialized clinics, hospitals and other end usersOn the basis of application type, the worldwide market for laser therapy devices is divided into cardiovascular, urology, gynecology, dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry, and othersBased on region, the worldwide market for laser therapy devices includes a study of the MEA, APEJ, Japan, Europe, Latin America, and North America regional markets.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Global Laser Therapy Devices Market: Competition LandscapeThe last portion of the report comprises the competition landscape of the global laser therapy devices market, in which the top players are profiled in detail. The report also includes a SWOT analysis of the specific companies to enable a study of opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses of the companies functioning in the worldwide market for laser therapy devices. The research publication presents relevant information pertaining to the vendor landscape of the worldwide market for laser therapy devices as well as strategies adopted by market leaders to remain dominant in this competitive market. Some of the companies featured in this report include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Danaher Corporation, Fotona d.d., Alma Lasers, Ltd., Hologic Inc., Biolitec AG, Coherent, Inc., Lumenis Ltd., IPG Photonics Corporation, and Boston Scientific Corporation.Global Laser Therapy Devices Market: Methodology of ResearchThis research publication is supported by an extensive research methodology that incorporates exhaustive primary and secondary research to achieve in-depth insights on the global laser therapy devices market.Enquire About this Report @About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTelephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Ceiling Tiles Market Will Growth At A CAGR Of 10.1% Between 2016 - 2024 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/197463 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/197463/ceiling-tiles-global-industry-market-research-reports.pdf https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/197463 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=197463&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Ceiling Tiles Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Global Ceiling Tiles Market: SnapshotCeiling tiles, also known as ceiling panels, are sound absorbing and lightweight construction materials which are used to cover a ceiling area. These lightweight tiles are used in the interior of buildings, placed in an aluminum grid for the primary purpose of enhancing the acoustics of a room, besides providing thermal insulation. Different types of ceiling tiles are manufactured in the industry such as mineral wool ceiling tiles, metal ceiling tiles and gypsum ceiling tiles. Based on application ceiling tiles are employed in residential, non-residential and industrial application.The report estimates and forecasts the ceiling tiles market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (million square meters) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. The study includes drivers and restraints for the ceiling tiles market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the ceiling tiles market on the global and regional level. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitutes of ceiling tiles. It also provides the global average price trend analysis.Get Sample copy of this Report @The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the ceiling tiles market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein product, application and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.Global Ceiling Tiles Market: SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the ceiling tiles market by dividing it into product, application and geography. In terms of product, the ceiling tiles market has been segmented into mineral wool, metal, gypsum and others. In terms of application, the ceiling tiles market has been segmented into residential, non-residential and industrial. The non-residential segment has been further bifurcated into hospitality, commercial and institutional. Application segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (million square meters) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2016 and 2024.Global Ceiling Tiles Market: ScopeIn-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.View Sample PDF @Global Ceiling Tiles Market: Geographical OutlookRegional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for ceiling tiles in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for product and application segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, India, China, South Africa, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual product and application in all the regions and countries.Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Armstrong World Industries, Inc., New Ceiling Tiles, LLC, Saint-Gobain S.A., SAS International, USG Corporation, Knauf, Techno Ceiling Products, ROCKFON, MADA GYPSUM, and Odenwald Faserplattenwerk GmbH. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).The ceiling tiles market has been divided into the following segments:Ceiling Tiles Market Product AnalysisMineral WoolMetalGypsumOthersCeiling Tiles Market Application AnalysisResidentialNon-residentialHospitalityCommercialInstitutionalIndustrialCeiling Tiles Market Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeFranceU.K.SpainGermanyItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanASEANRest of Asia Pacific (APAC)Latin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin America (LATAM)Middle East & AfricaGCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & Africa (MEA)Send An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentChapter 01 Preface1.1 Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2 Research HighlightsChapter 02 Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1 Assumptions and Acronyms Used2.2 Research MethodologyChapter 03 Executive SummaryChapter 04 Market Overview4.1 Product Overview4.2 Key Industry Developments4.3 Market IndicatorsChapter 05 Market Dynamics5.1 Drivers and Restraints Snapshot Analysis5.2 Drivers5.3 Restraints5.4 Opportunity Analysis5.5 Global Ceiling Tiles Market Analysis and Forecast5.6 Porters Analysis5.7 Value Chain AnalysisChapter 06 Ceiling Tiles Market Analysis, by Product Type6.1 Key Findings6.2 Introduction6.3 Global Ceiling Tiles Market Value Share Analysis, by Product Type6.4 Global Ceiling Tiles Market Analysis, by Product Type6.5 Product Comparison Matrix6.6 Global Ceiling Tiles Market Attractiveness Analysis, by Product Type6.7 Key TrendsBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Microwave Absorbing Materials Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2016-2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1565 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1565 www.futuremarketinsights.com Microwave absorbing materials absorb radio waves, micro waves & electromagnetic waves of wide frequency range -- from 100 MHz to a millimeter or a micron wave. These materials are commonly used in stealth technology for air-space, marine & military warfare, and signal transmission & reception process. These materials also find applications as a shield from high intensity electromagnetic fields/waves generated during medical diagnostics such as MRI, CAT scans.Request Report Sample @The properties of microwave absorbing materials include wave reflection reduction, resonance cavity reduction, and null echo. Finished products made using microwave absorbing materials find applications across defense, telecommunication, core & applied electronics industry.The global microwave absorbing materials market is skilled-labour-intensive with focus on new product & application developments, and diversification of existing product types a key focus area for manufacturers. The customers requirements range from a standard prototype to a customised one. Concept marketing and product marketing are the key go-to marketing strategies for key players in this region.The global microwave absorbing market has seen many acquisitions by large-scale enterprises, which has been a synergy of supporting capital & expertise in technical know-how. Industrial exhibitions, trade fairs, defense expo are the common platforms of marketing & promotion for the value & supply chain players. The market is oligopoly type, which consists of few specialised manufacturers -- backed by regional distributors & suppliers with defense & telecommunication -- as the major consumer markets.Microwave Absorbing Materials Market DynamicsThe major producers of microwave absorbing materials are located in North America & other OECD group Nations. U.S. defense sector is a major consumer & one of the key drivers for the markets evolution and growth. The electronic component manufacturing sector in the Asia Pacific region is likely to witness next wave of development over the coming five to six years, creating opportunities for microwave absorbing material manufacturers.Microwave Absorbing Materials Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncrease in spending on defense systems and sustained demand for finished electronic goods will continue to fuel the growth of the microwave absorbing materials market during the forecast period, 2016-2026. On the other hand, taxes & cess imposed on raw materials & finished goods of microwave absorbents and unfavourable export & import policies can act as a deterrent.Visit For TOC @Microwave Absorbing Materials Industry: Key PlayersThe key players involved in manufacturing of microwave absorbing materials are Lairdtech, ESCO Technologies Corporation, ARC Technologies Inc., Western Rubber & Supply, Inc., Cuming Microwave, Mast Technologies, Thorndike Corporation, Parker Hannifin Corp. and Panashield etc. apart from other existing local & regional manufacturers of respective markets.About UsFuture 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 UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Radiology Information System Market 2022: Comprehensive Research Study https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2464 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/radiology-information-system-market-2464 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/2464 Radiology Information System (RIS) Market Analysis, by type, by Deployment Mode, by Component, by end user & is segmented into Web-Based, On-Premise, Cloud-Based, and others. On the basis of Component, the market segmented into Software, hardware, services, and others - Forecast to 2022Radiology Information System Market is expected to grow USD 901.8 million at the CAGR of 7.1% by 2022.Globally the market for Radiology Information System (RIS) is increasing moderately. A radiology information system (RIS) is a networked system used for managing medical imagery and associated data. Radiology information system (RIS) is smart database that medical professionals use to keep track of patient data and which generated in the course of diagnosis and treatment. RIS is very useful in various operations such as patient registration, record keeping, resource management, examination performance tracking, examination interpretation, results distribution, and procedure billing. While most of the hospitals and other healthcare institutions are going the digital transformation converting from paper to a digital format. Increasing application of RIS in healthcare IS driving the market growth for Radiology Information System (RIS) market. North America is largest market for Radiology Information System (RIS) devices while Asia-Pacific is fastest growing market.Get a Copy of Sample Report @The report for Radiology Information System Market (RIS) 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 markets segments and regionsKey Players for Radiology Information System Market (RIS):Some of the key players in this market are: Siemens Healthcare AG, GE Healthcare,Epic Systems Corporation, MedInformatix, Inc., Carestream Health, Inc., Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.,Merge Healthcare Incorporated, Koninklijke Philips N.V, McKesson Corporation.Browse Full Report Details @Segments:Radiology Information System (RIS) Market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises of integrated RIS and standalone RIS. On the basis of Deployment Mode, the market is segmented into Web-Based, On-Premise, Cloud-Based, and others. On the basis of Component, the market segmented into Software, hardware, services, and others. On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into Hospitals, research laboratories, healthcare institutes, and others.Regional Analysis of Radiology Information System (RIS) Market:Considering the global scenario of the market, North Americas region is believed to be the largest market for Radiology Information System (RIS). Moreover the European market is also growing continuously and expected to maintain its growth in near future. On the other hand, Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the Radiology Information System (RIS) during the forecasted period. Middle East & Africa region are likely to have a limited but steady growth in the market.Get Discount @Study objectives of Radiology Information System Market:To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Radiology Information System (RIS) Market . To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Radiology Information System (RIS) Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by type, by deployment mode, by end user, and its sub-segments. To provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Radiology Information System (RIS) market.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Radiology Information System (RIS) Market Research Report - Global Forecast to 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Flexographic Printing Inks Market Rising Growth At a CAGR of 5.80% Between 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/206092 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/206092/flexographic-printing-inks-global-market-research-reports.pdf https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/206092 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=206092&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Flexographic Printing Inks Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Global Flexographic Printing Inks Market: OverviewThe report estimates and forecasts the flexographic printing inks market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2025 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2016 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. The study includes drivers and restraints for the flexographic printing inks market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period.The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the flexographic printing inks market on the global and regional level. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitutes of flexographic printing inks. It also provides the global average price trend analysis.Get Sample Copy of this report @The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the flexographic printing inks market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein product, application and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.Global Flexographic Printing Inks Market: SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the flexographic printing inks market by dividing it into product type, application and geography. In terms of product type, the flexographic printing inks market is segmented into water-based, solvent-based and UV-cured. In terms of application, the flexographic printing inks market has been segmented into packaging, and others. The packaging segment has been further bifurcated into corrugated containers, tags and labels, flexible packaging, folding cartons, and others. Application segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2017 and 2025.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for flexographic printing inks in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for product and application segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Japan, India, China, Mexico, South Africa, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual product type and application in all the regions and countries.View Sample PDF @Global Flexographic Printing Inks Market: Competitive OutlookThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Flint Group, Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, Huber Group, Sun Chemical Corporation, Wikoff Color Corporation, Zeller+Gmelin GmbH & Co. KG., INX International Ink Co., Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., ALTANA AG, and T&K TOKA CO., LTD. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).In-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding. Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.The global flexographic printing inks market has been divided into the following segments:By ProductWater-based inksSolvent-based inksUV-cured inksBy ApplicationPackagingFlexible packagingCorrugated containersFolding cartonsTags and labelsOthers (including metal cans, etc.)Others (including printing of newspapers, etc.)By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeFranceU.K.SpainGermanyItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaASEANRest of Asia Pacific (APAC)Latin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin America (LATAM)Middle East & AfricaGCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & Africa (MEA)Send An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentChapter 01 Preface1.1 Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2 Research HighlightsChapter 02 Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1 Assumptions and Acronyms Used2.2 Research MethodologyChapter 03 Executive SummaryChapter 04 Market Overview4.1 Key Industry Developments4.2 Product Overview4.3 Market IndicatorsChapter 05 Market Dynamics5.1 Drivers5.1.1 Burgeoning packaging industry5.1.2 Rising demand for UV-cured printing inks5.1.3 Growing population and consumer spending5.2 Restraints5.2.1 High VOC emissions associated with solvent-based inks5.2.2 Increasing digitalization5.3 Opportunity Analysis5.4 Global Flexographic Printing Inks Market Analysis and Forecast5.5 Porters Analysis5.6 Value Chain AnalysisBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Oleate Esters Market Will Growth At A CAGR Of 4.80% Between 2016 - 2024 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/950646 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/950646/oleate-esters-global-industry-market-research-reports.pdf https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/950646 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=950646&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Oleate Esters Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Global Oleate Esters Market: OverviewOleate Esters are known as the esters or salts of oleic acids. Esters are synthesized by the reaction between alcohol and oleic acids in presence of catalysts. They are obtained from natural sources such as animal fats and vegetable oils, most preferably palm oil, canola oil, soybean oil, etc. As they are obtained from natural raw materials, they are preferred over other chemical compounds.Generally, oleate esters are manufactured using natural resources such as vegetable oils and animal fats as their raw materials. Besides, the demand for oleate esters is expected to rise in future as well due to rapid rate of industrialization as well as awareness among the consumers regarding the benefits of using them. Due to these reasons, manufacturers are looking for alternative raw materials which can be used as substitutes instead of the conventional natural raw materials. By utilizing chemicals it would be easier to obtain oleate esters at a large scale.Get Sample copy of this Report @The market is expected to experience constant change as a result of improvement in the techniques involved in the manufacturing processes. Due to the constant changes in the market, there can be improvements in the standard and quality of oleate esters, which in turn would change the dynamics of the market. The market players operating are investing large amount of their revenues in the development of new and better products by carrying out R&D activities. This would eventually bring about change in the overall market of oleate esters.Global Oleate Esters Market: Scope of the StudyThe report estimates and forecasts the Global Oleate Esters market on the global and regional levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the Global Oleate Esters market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period.The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the Global Oleate Esters market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitute analysis of Global Oleate Esters and global average price trend analysis.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the Global Oleate Esters market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and regions have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report comprises price trend analysis for Global Oleate Esters between 2016 and 2024.View Sample PDF @Global Oleate Esters Market: SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the Global Oleate Esters market by dividing it into product, application and geography segments. The products have been segmented into ceramics, glasses, polymers, composites and metals & alloys (M&A). The applications are segmented into medical devices, automotive, aerospace, electricals & electronics (E&E), industrial, power and others. These segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast consumption of Global Oleate Esters in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Market segmentation includes demand for consumption in all the regions individually.Global Oleate Esters Market: Competitive AnalysisThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Procter & Gamble, Wilmar International Ltd., and Croda International Plc. and Others. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable). Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to, company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Send An Enquiry Request @The Global Oleate Esters market has been segmented as follows:Oleate Esters Market Product AnalysisMethyl OleateEthyl OleateButyl OleateTri-methylolpropane Trioleate (TMPTO)OthersOleate Esters Market Application AnalysisAgrochemicalCosmeticsLubricantPlasticizerAbsorbentOthersOleate Esters Market Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaEuropeGermanyFranceU.K.ItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanASEANRest of Asia PacificMiddle East & AfricaGCCEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaTable of Content1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2. Research Highlights2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1. Assumptions2.2. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary3.1. Market Size, Global Oleate Esters Market (US$ Mn)3.2. Key Trends3.3. Regional Overview, 2015 & Top 3 Product Share, 2015-20244. Market Overview4.1. Product Overview4.2. Esters Market Overview4.3. Key Industry Developments4.4. Market Indicators4.5. Market Dynamics4.5.1. Drivers4.5.2. Restraints4.5.3. Key Opportunities4.6. Oleate EstersPricing - Actuals and Projections, 2015 2024 (US$/KG)4.7. Oleate EstersMarket : Global Demand and Supply Scenario4.8. Porters Analysis4.8.1. Threat of Substitutes4.8.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers4.8.3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.8.4. Threat of New Entrants4.8.5. Degree of Competition4.9. Value Chain Analysis4.10. Market OutlookBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Patient Monitoring Devices Market 2022: Complete Research Study https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2484 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/patient-monitoring-devices-market-2484 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/2484 Market research future has a half-cooked research report on Global Patient monitoring devices market. The global market for Patient monitoring devices market is growing continuously and expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2014 to 2022Global Patient Monitoring Devices Market is expected to reach USD 23.4 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 5.7%. North America is the largest market for patient monitoring devices while Asia-Pacific region is fastest growing. Europe is second largest market for patient monitoring device and expected to grow steadily during forecasting period.Patient monitoring devices in this report refer to the sensors which are used in smart wearable devices. Global Patient monitoring devices market is driven by increasing demand of wearable for infants and continuously evolving sensor technology. With increasing personal care and health consciousness, for tracking biometrics such as calories burnt, heart rate and others, the demand for wearable fitness trackers and other wearable is increasing. Rapid expansion of internet of things (IoT) is driving demand of Patient monitoring devices in various application areas such as healthcare and fitness, consumer electronics and others.Get a Copy of Sample Report @The global Patient monitoring devices market has been evaluated as steadily growing market and it is expected that the market will continue to grow similarly in the near future. These monitoring devices continuously check patients vital signs by using a medical monitor. Patient monitoring devices market has various functions such as glucose monitoring, blood monitoring, temperature monitoring, cholesterol monitoring, weight monitoring etc. Electrocardiography is fastest growing sub-segment, it is largest in cardiac monitoring market and fastest growing in neurological device. Electrocardiography is the process that checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. Electrocardiography is very helpful to diagnose unexplained chest pain or pressure, cause of symptoms of heart disease, to check how well medicines are working and see if they are causing side effects that affect the heart. Increase in consumer awareness is driving the market growth which expected to grow in same pace in near future. Patient monitoring devices manufacturers trying to make more advance, accurate and innovative device to provide desirable solution.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 120 market data tables and figures spread over 80 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Patient Monitoring Devices Market Research Report Global Forecast to 2022.Segments:Patient monitoring devices market has been segmented on the basis of product type which comprises Central monitoring stations, Portable bedside monitors, Electrocardiogram (ECG) Devices, Hemodynamic Monitoring Devices, Fetal and neonatal monitors, Respiratory Monitors, Weight management monitors, Temperature monitoring devices, and others. On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into Hospitals and clinics, Ambulatory care centers, Home care and others.Regional Analysis of Patient Monitoring Devices Market:Considering the global scenario of the market, North America region is believed to be the largest market for Patient monitoring devices. Moreover the European market is also growing and second largest market for Patient monitoring devices. On the other hand, Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the Patient monitoring devices during the forecasted period. Rest of the World is likely to have a limited but steady growth in the market.Browse Full Report Details @Key Players for Patient Monitoring Devices Market:Some of the key players in this market are: GE Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics, BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Abbott Laboratories, Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, CAS Medical Systems, Inc.,Spacelabs Healthcare, Honeywell International, Inc., Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co.The report for Patient Monitoring Devices 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 markets segments and regionsGet Discount @Study objectives of Patient monitoring devices Market:- To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Patient monitoring devices market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Patient monitoring devices market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by product type, by end user and its sub-segments. To provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Patient monitoring devices market.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Patient Monitoring Devices Market - Global Forecast To 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com AeroLeads is a bootstrapped startup from Bangalore, India. Build your own sales leads with AeroLeads AeroLeads is a Powerful web prospecting software and service tool which finds E-mail IDs and phone numbers of companies and people working in those companies. It has attracted some of the brightest minds from IBM, Gartner, Discovery, Tata Chemical, and Fresh Work.AeroLeads came into existence with the mission to create a seamless experience for businesses, to expand their outreach with AeroLeads. Instead challenging our belief, we managed to bridge the gap of 20k user of AeroLeads to reach out to their prospects.Pushkar Gaikwad, The founder of AeroLeads, stepped into this venture with a vision to create a platform to reduce the struggle of a startups to meet-up their potential clients. It is easier to build than to sell, most of the companies and startups struggle to find potential customers and start their sales processIn an industry that is coming up with new tools for lead generation and better marketing efforts, we at AeroLeads are trying to stand out. The marketing industry is constantly expanding and evolving and with that comes in play our role in assisting in the expansion. Our lead generation and prospecting software work by finding out contact information for your lists across social media. Over the past year, there has been a drastic change in the marketing industry with regards to marketing tools with a several-fold increase worldwide and in India.We built AeroLeads as with our previous product, we felt it was easy to build but difficult to sell. Also, there are many sales software solving the lead scoring and BOFU (bottom of the funnel) problems, but not TOFU (Top of the funnel) problems like prospecting. AeroLeads has grown organically from initial days and have a healthy number of paying customersAeroLeads was founded by Mr Pushkar Gaikwad, an Indian Institute of Information Technology alumni back in January 2015. Currently, the CEO and founder of the company, Mr Pushkar has led several startups in the past and even built several web products. The company is a bootstrapped startup and is progressing exponentially in the area of sales and prospecting. We can be found and contacted on several social media platforms.AeroLeads is a bootstrapped startup and is progressing exponentially in the area of sales and prospecting.Contact Person: Pushkar GaikwadOffice Address: AeroLeads, 83/A, 'Surabhi', 16th C Main, 4th Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560034Phone: +1 415-830-6012Email: hello@aeroleads.com Construction in Philippines Market 2017 Industry Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast To 2021 Construction in Philippines https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1268606-construction-in-the-philippines-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-2021 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1268606-construction-in-the-philippines-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-2021 www.linkedin.com/company/4828928 https://twitter.com/WiseGuyReports https://www.facebook.com/Wiseguyreports-1009007869213183/?fref=ts SynopsisIn real terms, the Philippine construction industry registered an average annual growth rate of 12.0% during the review period (20122016). This growth was supported by the Philippines Development Plan 20112016, under which the government invested heavily on transport infrastructure projects, residential buildings and social infrastructure. Investment in energy projects under the Philippines Energy Plan 20122030 also contributed to growth during the review period.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The Philippine construction industry is expected to continue to grow over the forecast period (20172021). Industry growth will be supported by the countrys development plan 20172022, as well as population growth, urbanization, and favorable government policies with regards to public-private partnerships (PPPs).In February 2017, the government launched the Philippines Development Plan 20172022, with an aim to make the Philippines an upper-middle-income country by 2022. Consequently, it plans to reduce unemployment from 5.5% in 2016 to 3.0% by 2022.The industrys output value in real terms is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.79% over the forecast period; compared to 10.68% during the review period.SummaryConstruction in the Philippines, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2021 report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Philippine construction industry including: The Philippine construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity Analysis of equipment, material and service costs for each project type in the Philippines Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, and the risks and opportunities they present to participants in the Philippine construction industry Profiles of the leading operators in the Philippine construction industry Data highlights of the largest construction projects in the PhilippinesScopeThis report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in the Philippines. It provides: Historical (2012-2016) and forecast (2017-2021) valuations of the construction industry in the Philippines using construction output and value-add methods Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by project type Breakdown of values within each project type, by type of activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) and by type of cost (materials, equipment and services) Analysis of key construction industry issues, including regulation, cost management, funding and pricing Detailed profiles of the leading construction companies in the PhilippinesReasons to Buy Identify and evaluate market opportunities using standardized valuation and forecasting methodologies. Assess market growth potential at a micro-level with over 600 time-series data forecasts. Understand the latest industry and market trends. Formulate and validate strategy using critical and actionable insight. Assess business risks, including cost, regulatory and competitive pressures. Evaluate competitive risk and success factors.Key Highlights The governments plan to bridge gap between the demand and supply of affordable houses in the country is expected to support the growth of the residential construction market over the forecast period. According to the government estimate, demand for housing units is growing by 345,941 units annually and it is expected to reach to 6.2 million units by 2030. To meet this, the government plans to provide financial assistance to middle- and low-income families through various programs, such as the Pag-IBIG Affordable Housing Program, Community Mortgage Program (CMP), Core Housing Program and the Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Developmental Loan Program (AKPF - DLP). With robust and modern infrastructure vital for economic growth, the government is focusing on infrastructure development. Accordingly, in September 2016, the National Economic and Development Authority announced its plan to spend PHP8.2 trillion (US$173.9 billion) on nine infrastructure projects by 2022. In the Budget 2017, the government increased its total spending on the Department of Transport by 25.0%, rising from PHP42.6 billion (US$903.3 million) in the budget 2016 to reach PHP53.3 billion (US$1.1 billion). The government also increased the budget of Department of Public Works and Highways by 18.3%, rising from PHP384.4 billion (US$8.2 billion) in 2016 to PHP454.7 billion (US$9.8 billion) in 2017, to improve the countrys transport infrastructure. In March 2017, the government approved National broadband plan with an aim to support economic development and growth. Through this, the government aims to create investment opportunities and ensure social and economic inclusion. Consequently, the government plans to deploy fiber optic cables and wireless technology across the country with an investment of PHP200.0 billion (US$4.3 billion), to equip all schools and government offices with a high speed internet connection. Over the forecast period, the governments plan to expand the capacity of manufacturing plants is expected to support growth of the industrial construction market. Under the Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP), the government aims to enhance the existing capacity of manufacturing industries, support new entries, increase employment, and maintain the competitiveness of industries by 2025.Table of Content: Key Points1 Executive Summary2 Industry Outlook2.1 Commercial Construction2.2 Industrial Construction2.3 Infrastructure Construction2.4 Energy and Utilities Construction2.5 Institutional Construction2.6 Residential Construction3 Key Issues and Developments4 Market Data Analysis4.1 Construction Output and Value Add4.1.1 Construction output by project type4.1.2 Construction output by cost type4.1.3 Construction output by activity type4.1.4 Construction value add by project type4.2 Commercial Construction4.2.1 Commercial construction output by project type4.2.2 Commercial construction output by cost type4.2.3 Commercial construction output by activity type4.2.4 Commercial construction value add by project type4.3 Industrial Construction4.3.1 Industrial construction output by project type4.3.2 Industrial construction output by cost type4.3.3 Industrial construction output by activity type4.3.4 Industrial construction value add by project type4.4 Infrastructure Construction4.4.1 Infrastructure construction output by project type4.4.2 Infrastructure construction output by cost type4.4.3 Infrastructure construction output by activity type4.4.4 Infrastructure construction value add by project typeContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Construction in Philippines market forecast, Construction in Philippines market analysis, Construction in Philippines market trend, Construction in Philippines market parameters, Construction in Philippines market size, Construction in Philippines market share, Construction in Philippines market growthWISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Global Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1384190 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1384190/styrene-methyl-methacrylate-smma-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1384190 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1384190 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ " Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market: OverviewStyrene methyl methacrylate (SMMA) is a transparent styrene acrylic copolymer, which is formed by blending styrene monomer (SM) and methyl methacrylate (MMA). It is a transparent compound with exceptional properties. The usage of MMA in the compound provides overall hardness, clarity, and resistance to extreme weather conditions, SM offers the compound scratch-resistance. Styrene Methyl Methacrylate is also known as MS resin and is employed as an affordable alternative to different resins, which are comparatively expensive.SMMA is utilized extensively in home ware such as water tanks and water filters. It is also used for various optical applications and displays due to its property of extreme clarity. Other applications of SMMA include medical devices, cosmetic packaging, toys, and stationary products.Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market: TrendsSMMA has superior properties such as excellent flow when used in the process of injection molding, low water absorption, crystal clarity, and high rigidity. These properties make SMMA a preferred polymer for thick-walled applications that need to adhere to the aesthetic standards of manufacturing.Styrene Methyl Methacrylate is used more as compared to other forms of copolymers, such as general purpose polystyrene, due to its better mechanical properties. It is used as an alternative for poly (methyl methacrylate), which is expensive as compared to SMMA. Better mechanical properties and availability at low cost are a few factors that are estimated to drive the Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) market during the forecast period.Since SMMA is utilized in plastics for packaging purposes, it has to be regularized in order to keep a check on the safety of the products it is being used in. The regulations associated with the usage of plastic goods is likely to hamper the SMMA market.View Report @Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market: Region-wise OutlookNorth America led the market in 2016 in terms of demand. Asia Pacific followed North America in terms of demand. Countries such as China and Japan are employing SMMA in injection molding for manufacturing various plastic products.The market in Europe is in the emerging phase and is anticipated to expand in the near future. Europe is a manufacturing hub for various products in industries such as automotive, medical, plastics, etc. Demand for SMMA in the region is anticipated to be primarily due to the presence of various manufacturing sites in countries such as Germany, Italy, and France. The market in Latin America is anticipated to expand in the near future due to the rise in demand for copolymers in various manufacturing processes. Demand for SMMA in Middle East & Africa is projected to be less, as compared to the other regions, since the region imports a large amount of products from other regions due to the presence of limited manufacturing units as well as less end-users in the region.Overall, the Styrene Methyl Methacrylate SMMA market is anticipated to expand at a steady pace in the near future due to the superior mechanical properties and low cost of SMMA.Styrene Methyl Methacrylate (SMMA) Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in the Styrene Methyl Methacrylate SMMA market include Supreme Petrochem Ltd., INEOS Group AG, I. Stern & Co., Deltech Polymers Corporation, Calsak Corporation, and Chi Mei Corporation.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @ The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Next-Generation Firewall 2017 Global Industry Key Players Cisco Systems, Fortinet, Sonicwall, Barracuda Networks, Zscaler, Forcepoint, Gajshield Infotech https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1566585-global-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1566585-global-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1566585 This report studies the global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) market, analyzes and researches the Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeMarket Analysis by Players:Cisco Systems (US)Check Point Software Technologies (Israel)Palo Alto Networks (US)Barracuda Networks (US)Fortinet (US)Sonicwall (US)Zscaler (US)Forcepoint (US)Juniper Networks (US)Hillstone Networks (US)Sophos (UK)Gajshield Infotech (India)WatchGuard Technologies (US)Request a Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) can be split intoHardwareVirtualCloudMarket segment by Application, Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) can be split intoBFSIRetailIT and TelecomGovernment and Public UtilitiesHealthcareEnergy and UtilitiesEducationOtherMake an enquiry of this Report @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)1.1 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Overview1.1.1 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market by Type1.3.1 Hardware1.3.2 Virtual1.3.3 Cloud1.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 BFSI1.4.2 Retail1.4.3 IT and Telecom1.4.4 Government and Public Utilities1.4.5 Healthcare1.4.6 Energy and Utilities1.4.7 Education1.4.8 Other2 Global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Cisco Systems (US)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Check Point Software Technologies (Israel)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Palo Alto Networks (US)3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Barracuda Networks (US)3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Fortinet (US)3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Sonicwall (US)3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Zscaler (US)3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Forcepoint (US)3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Juniper Networks (US)3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Hillstone Networks (US)3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Sophos (UK)3.12 Gajshield Infotech (India)3.13 WatchGuard Technologies (US)4 Global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)5 United States Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)ContinuedPurchase Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Cosmetic Preservatives Market to Remain Lucrative During 2016 - 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13622 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=13622 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Cosmetic Preservatives Market: IntroductionCosmetic preservatives are used as antimicrobials, antioxidants, and stabilizers. Many cosmetics are produced via biodegradable elements. These can decay due to a variety of microbes. The presence of water in products is another reason for decomposition of cosmetics if stored for a long time. This may result in change of odor, viscosity, and color. Cosmetic preservatives are primarily added to product formulations to inhibit the growth of microbes. Based on raw material, preservatives are classified as natural and synthetic. Natural preservatives include oil extracts from plants such as curry leaf, cinnamon leaf, and clove bud. Commonly used synthetic preservatives include parabens, formaldehyde releasers, isothiazolinones, phenoxyethanol, and organic acids. However, synthetic compounds have been proved to be more effective in controlling the development of the bacteria. North America has been the largest cosmetic preservatives market in the world since the last few years.Preservatives are used in the formulation of face masks, lotions, sunscreens, and scrubs. Various preservatives are available, depending on products such as rinse-off, leave-on, and wet wipes. Leave-on products include creams, body lotions, and deodorants. Rinse-off products comprise shampoos and soaps. Wet wipes include wet tissues and baby wipes.A sample of this report is available upon request @Parabens are commonly used preservatives and include a wide range of chemicals such as germaben II, methylparaben, and propylparaben. Parabens offer characteristics similar to that of natural preservatives. They also have less adverse effects on the skin when applied. Parabens can be employed in leave-on and rinse-off products. Formaldehyde releasers act as an antimicrobial to prevent side effects caused by excess formaldehyde. Commonly used formaldehyde releasers include germall plus, DMDM hydantoin, imidozolidinyl urea and diazolidinyl urea. The parabens and formaldehyde releasers market is likely to hamper due to carcinogenic effects.Phenoxyethanol preservatives such as optiphen and optiphen plus are used widely in products such as shampoos, shaving gels, and toothpastes. The market for phenoxyethanol preservatives is expected to expand at a significant rate, owing to the demand for long lasting and more effective products. Isothiazolinones are primarily employed in products such as hair shampoos and other rinse-off products. The Isothiazolinones market witnessed moderate growth in 2014 and is expected to continue in the forecast period. Organic acids such as benzoic acid, sorbic acid, levulinic acid and anisic acid are used as preservatives. These are considered as natural alternatives manufactured synthetically. The organic acid based preservatives witnessed a rise in market in last few years and is expected to continue owing to increasing demand for natural products.Cosmetic Preservatives Market: Region-wise InsightThe cosmetic preservatives market has shown a considerable growth in North America. This growth was due to the increased awareness regarding beauty products. China has witnessed steady growth in the past and is anticipated to continue thus in the cosmetic preservatives market. This rise in demand is likely due to the increase in consumption of cosmetic products such as facial creams, hair gels and increased health consciousness of the people.This acts as a major driver for the cosmetic preservatives market in China and other developing regions including India and ASEAN. The cosmetic preservatives market in Europe has expanded significantly. The natural preservatives market is expected to emerge largely due to the stringent regulations in the European Union, which limits the use of manufactured chemicals. The global cosmetic preservatives market is anticipated to expand owing to the rising demand for premium products during the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Cosmetic Preservatives Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in the cosmetic preservatives market include The Dow Chemical Company, Ashland Inc., AE Chemie, INC., Clariant AG, Finetech Industry Limited, Jinan Haohua Industry Co., Ltd., The Procter & Gamble Company, Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing Corporation, Penta Manufacturing Company, LLC., and StruChem Co., Ltd.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Abhishek BudholiyaState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Robotic Total Station Market by Type, Share, Region and Forecast to 2018-2023 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-robotic-total-station-market-analysis-2011-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011289388/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011289388/buying Measuring robot, also known as robotic total station, is the measurement platform with automatic target recognition, automatic calibration, automatic angle measurement and distance measurement, automatic target tracking, automatic recording function. The primary use of robotic total stations is in surveying, which is critical and demands high precision. Robotic total stations are advanced, easy to install, reliable, and fast, due to which surveying applications contributed the largest share of over 44% in 2016.The global Robotic Total Station market will reach xxx Million USD in 2017 and CAGR xx% 2011-2017. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Robotic Total Station by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.Vendors Coverage:HexagonTopconTrimbleFor More Information About This Report:Application Coverage:SurveyingEngineering and ConstructionExcavationProduct Type:0.5'' Accuracy1'' Accuracy2'' and Other AccuracyRegion Coverage:North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaRequest Sample Copy At:Table of Content1 Industry Overview2 Industry Environment3 Robotic Total Station Market by Type4 Major Companies List5 Market Competition6 Market Demand7 Region Operation8 Marketing & Price9 Research ConclusionInquire For This Report At:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Latest Report Details Of Cellulose Diacetate Films Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1384188 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1384188/cellulose-diacetate-films-global-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1384188 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1384188 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ " Cellulose Diacetate Films Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Cellulose Diacetate Films market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @ Cellulose Diacetate Films Market: OverviewCellulose diacetate is a polymer manufactured by treating cellulose with acetic acid. Films made of cellulose diacetate are highly transparent and possess gloss finish. Ideally, they have a thickness of 14 to 500 . Cellulose diacetate films are obtained from sustainable sources. Therefore, these films are used on a large scale since the manufacturing does not cause any harm to the environment.Cellulose diacetate films are employed in applications such as labels, print lamination, window cartons, and anti-fog. These films are used in a wide range of applications due to their various beneficial properties. These include UV stability; resistance to chemicals such as oil, grease, and fat; light weight; and good electrical conductivity. Cellulose diacetate films are biodegradable and compostable, as they are made by using natural resources as raw materials, unlike other sources such as fossil fuels, which could be harmful to the environment.Cellulose Diacetate Films Market: TrendsCellulose diacetate films are employed in various end-user industries such as electrical, packaging, and food. Consumption of cellulose diacetate films is expected to increase during the forecast period owing to the increase in various technology-driven developments.These films are used for packaging purpose in the food industry. Cellulose diacetate films have been approved for direct contact with food items. Being good conductors of electricity, these films are employed on a large scale in electrical components. Various technological developments and changes have taken place in the electronics industry over the last few decades. This is anticipated to boost the cellulose diacetate film market.The cellulose diacetate film market is estimated to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period owing to the wide range of applications of these films. Awareness about usage of eco-friendly products is projected to further augment the demand for cellulose diacetate films across the globe..View Report @Cellulose Diacetate Films Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of region, demand for cellulose diacetate films was high in North America in 2016. Various manufacturing units of cellulose diacetate films are located in the U.S. Furthermore, raw materials such as cellulose are easily available in North America. The cellulose diacetate film market in the region is likely to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period due to the technological developments and easy availability of these films.Demand for cellulose diacetate films was moderate in Europe in 2016. Growth in the electrical & electronics industry in countries such as Germany and France is boosting the market in the region. Demand for cellulose diacetate films in Asia Pacific was moderate in 2016. China accounted for major share of the demand for these films due to the presence of several manufacturers of cellulose diacetate films in the country. Various technological developments have been taking place in China. This is augmenting the demand for cellulose diacetate films in Asia Pacific.The market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is anticipated to expand at a sluggish pace during the forecast period, due to the presence of less number of end-use industries vis-a-vis that in other regions. Cellulose diacetate films are not easily available, thereby making them costly. This is expected to hamper the cellulose diacetate film market in the regions mentioned above.Cellulose Diacetate Films Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in the cellulose diacetate film market include Celanese Corporation.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Field Service Management Global Market 2017: Key Players SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, IBM Corporation, Clicksoftware Technologies, Infor Field Service Management Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2590955-global-field-service-management-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2590955-global-field-service-management-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2590955 Field Service Management Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds Field Service Management Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:This report studies Field Service Management in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringSAP SEOracle CorporationIBM CorporationClicksoftware TechnologiesAstea InternationalServicepower TechnologiesTrimble NavigationIndustrial and Financial Systems AB (IFS)PTC, Inc.InforClickSoftware Technologies Ltd.Coresystems AGIFS ABRequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCloudOn-PremisesBy Application, the market can be split intoBFSIHealthcareEnergy and UtilitiesTelecom and ITConstruction and Real EstateTransportation and LogisticsBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points in Table of Content:1 Industry Overview of Field Service Management1.1 Definition and Specifications of Field Service Management1.1.1 Definition of Field Service Management1.1.2 Specifications of Field Service Management1.2 Classification of Field Service Management1.2.1 Cloud1.2.2 On-Premises1.3 Applications of Field Service Management1.3.1 BFSI1.3.2 Healthcare1.3.3 Energy and Utilities1.3.4 Telecom and IT1.3.5 Construction and Real Estate1.3.6 Transportation and Logistics1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Field Service Management2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Field Service Management2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Field Service Management2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Field Service Management.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Field Service Management8.1 SAP SE8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 SAP SE 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 SAP SE 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Oracle Corporation8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Oracle Corporation 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Oracle Corporation 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 IBM Corporation8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 IBM Corporation 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 IBM Corporation 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Clicksoftware Technologies8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Clicksoftware Technologies 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Clicksoftware Technologies 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Astea International8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Astea International 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Astea International 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Servicepower Technologies8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Servicepower Technologies 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Servicepower Technologies 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Trimble Navigation8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 Trimble Navigation 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Trimble Navigation 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Industrial and Financial Systems AB (IFS)8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Industrial and Financial Systems AB (IFS) 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Industrial and Financial Systems AB (IFS) 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 PTC, Inc.8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 PTC, Inc. 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 PTC, Inc. 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Infor8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Infor 2016 Field Service Management Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Infor 2016 Field Service Management Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinued.Buy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Sales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Discover the Global Regenerated Fibers Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1381841 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1381841/regenerated-fibers-global-industry-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1381841 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1381841 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "Regenerated Fibers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 " is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Regenerated Fibers market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Regenerated fiber is produced by dissolving the plant fiber cellulose in chemicals and retransforming it into fiber by using the viscose method. It is also known as regenerated cellulose fiber, as it comprises cellulose such as hemp and cotton.Regenerated Fibers Market: Drivers and RestraintsRegenerated fiber is mostly used in the automotive industry for designing automobile interiors. The automotive industry, especially in North America and Europe, continues to expand. The industry has proven to show strength in spite of challenging economic factors. This factor is anticipated to drive the regenerated fibers market during the forecast period. Regenerated fibers, however, face tough competition from synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers are available abundantly and at a relatively low cost.Regenerated Fibers Market: Segmentation, by TypeThe regenerated fibers market can be segmented in terms of type as:RayonAcetateCelluloseLyocellRayon is made from polymers occurring naturally and hence, it is not considered a synthetic fiber but a man-made, regenerated cellulose fiber. Rayon is a manufactured fiber, in which cellulose acetate is the fiber-forming substance. Acetate is a derivative of cellulose and it is manufactured by reacting purified cellulose obtained from wood pulp with acetic anhydride and acetic acid in the presence of sulfuric acid. Rayon is also called artificial silk due to its shiny appearance that resembles silk. It is characterized majorly by unique gloss, smooth texture, and desorption and superior staining properties. Regenerated fibers are widely used, as it does not melt with heat to become soft.View Report @Regenerated Fibers Market: Segmentation, by ApplicationThe regenerated fibers market can be segmented in terms of application as:Needle-punched FabricsGeotextilesAutomotiveWaddingWater & Oil FiltrationNeedle-punched non-woven fabrics are mostly used in winter cloth, quilt, car fabrics, sleeping bags, etc. Regenerated fibers offer strength to needle-punched fabrics. Also, regenerated fibers are less expensive compared to polypropylene or virgin polyester needle-punched fabrics. Needle-punched fibers are manufactured in several dope-dyed shades, for meeting carmakers expectations in terms of fabric colors. Fabrics made from regenerated polyester staple fibers are used in nearly all cars worldwide. The reason for the preferred usage is their cost-effectiveness. These fibers also offer longer life to the product. Regenerated fibers are also used in the wadding industry as a blend with a chemical bond or BICO low-melt fiber. Additionally, filtration non-woven fabrics made from regenerated fibers are used for filtration of water, air, and oil. Filtration fabrics produced from regenerated fibers are inexpensive and hygienic to use.Regenerated Fibers Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geography, the global regenerated fibers market can be categorized into five segments viz. North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America holds the maximum market share, followed by Asia Pacific. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period, due to growing automotive industry in the region. Asahi Kasei Fibers is planning to construct a new production facility in Nobeoka, Miyazaki (Japan) for its Bemliese-brand cellulose non-woven fabrics.Request For Enquiry @ Regenerated Fibers Market: Key Market PlayersSome of the key players operating in the global regenerated fibers market are:ECONYLUS FibersPolyfiber IndustriesMartex FiberThe report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Lip Care Packaging Market 2017 Potential Growth, Analysis, Strategies and Forecast 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/lip-care-packaging-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22808 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The ever-increasing importance of grooming and a presentable appearance among the aspirational, urban class in order to create a positive impression in the professional world, has created limitless opportunities for the cosmetics market. This emerging trend of personal grooming among working professionals with rising standards of living is leading to the packaging requirements of different cosmetic products. There have been a number of revolutionary lip care packaging products launched in lip care packaging market that have an aesthetic appeal in the eyes of customers, contributing to an increase in sales. The addition of bio-material packaging and unique customization options has led to a new segment in lip care packaging market by way of attracting new customers.Read Report Overview @Market Dynamics of Lip Care Packaging Market:Cosmetics packaging manufacturers are devising ways to provide packaging solutions that address the diverse product range in lip care market segment. Lip care packaging has to focus their attention on product showcasing, information, specification and brand value communication to enhance the product visual appeal on store shelves. A critical factor responsible for the growth of lip care packaging market is the rising per capita disposable income, particularly in emerging economies.Personal grooming, long thought of as being restricted to the younger population, has slowly but surely become popular with all generations. Be it the geriatric, middle-aged or millennial population, self-grooming is now considered equally important by all individuals. Another factor responsible for lip care packaging market growth is the variety of natural and organic lip care products that have a special appeal to health-conscious customers. Low plastic tube physical stability is considered the biggest restraint in lip care packaging market as low-density plastics tend to tear or crack after recurring use. In addition, chemicals deployed in producing lip care products are also a large barrier for the lip care packaging market.The global lip care packaging market has seen several developments when it comes to packaging functionality and design. Lip care packaging tubes that include friendly end compartments are a new innovation introduced in the lip care packaging market. Such tubes have an in-built compartment known as the friendly end which contains a lesser amount of lip care paste. This breakthrough design has allowed lip care customers to share lip balms with their dear ones and has also improved hygiene by minimizing the transfer of germs.Market Segmentation of Lip Care Packaging Market:Lip care packaging market can be classified into applicator type, material type, and packaging type. Based on packaging type, lip care packaging market is segmented into lip care tins, lip care bottles, lip care jars, and lip care tubes. By material type, lip care packaging market is divided into metal, glass, plastic, and paperboard. Plastic is the most frequently used because of its easy availability and inexpensive nature. With respect to applicator type, lip care packaging market can be sub-segmented into brushes and roll-ons.Request Report Brochure @Regional Outlook of Lip Care Packaging Market:Lip care packaging market has been analyzed in five geographic regions, which are Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific, Latin America, and North America. Europe dominates the global lip care packaging market but China and India are anticipated to record a high growth rate for the duration of the forecast period. North America should witness steady growth, as should the MEA mainly due to economic labor rates and favorable government regulations.Key Players in Lip Care Packaging Market-A few key players currently leading the lip care packaging market are Park Tech A/S, IMS Ningbo Limited, Eastar Cosmetic Packaging, HCP Packaging Co. Ltd., The Packaging Company, and Arminak & Associates LLC.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Size 2024 Europipe, Gazprom, Enbridge, Snam Rete, APA Group, Saipem, Perusahaan Gas Negara https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/568809//?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/568809//?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/gas-pipeline-infrastructure-market/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/securecheckout/paymenta/568809?msfpaycode=sumsf/?utm_source=OPR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-gas-pipeline-infrastructure-market-research-report-2017/?utm_source=RR-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (Transmission, Distribution), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, Italy, Hungary, France and etc), Application Development status, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024.Growing discoveries of unconventional reserves coupled with increasing number of gas fired power generation stations across the globe will drive the gas pipeline infrastructure market size. In 2016, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) published that shale production in the country surpassed 15.2 trillion cubic meter (tcm) in 2015 experiencing over 1.7 tcm year on year increase.Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market size is set to exceed USD 2 trillion by 2024, according to this new research report.Request a Sample Copy of Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Research Report @Rising energy demand across the developing economies owing to evolving substructure and rapid urbanization will foster the gas pipeline infrastructure market share. Increasing development has resulted in exponential growth of cross border exports and imports through pipeline networks. In 2016, the EIA reported that natural gas pipelines exports from Russia and Norway to Europe were raised by 16% in the last three quarters of 2015 when compared with 2014 level.Upsurge in the need to enhance the international natural gas trade to suffice the energy demand and generation targets will positively drive the transmission gas pipeline infrastructure market. In 2016, Spectra Energy and TransCanada awarded contract to combinedly build, own and operate the new pipeline from Texas to Tuxpan, Mexico. The aim of the USD 3.6 billion worth 270-km pipeline plan is to successfully supply the U.S. shale to power plants in Mexico by 2018.Enquire Discount on Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Research Report @Increase in production of unconventional resources coupled with strict government norms toward adoption of low emission fuel will embellish the U.S. gas pipeline infrastructure market. Ongoing expansion of existing pipeline networks favored by increasing demand for exports will further complement the industry outlook. In 2017, the EIA published that natural gas production is expected to hold around 40% of the total energy production by 2020.For more information on this report, Please visit at:Growing number of connected end users coupled with positive outlook toward hydrocarbons trade with nearby nations will propel the onshore gas pipeline infrastructure market. Regional governments have introduced targets and schemes to expand the existing network to reach customer base. In 2015, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MENR), Turkey underlined a strategic plan with an objective to add at least two more countries to the list of pipeline natural gas importing nations by 2019.Key players across the gas pipeline infrastructure market includes Europipe, Gazprom, Enbridge, Snam Rete, APA Group, Saipem, Perusahaan Gas Negara, GAIL India, Engas, and National Oilwell Varco.Order a copy of this premium research report @Related Reports: -Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Research Report 2017In this report, the global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure 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.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News: Side Gusset/Quad Seal Bag Market Report - Growth, Trends, Analysis and Forecasts to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/side-gusset-quad-seal-bag-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22865 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A quad seal bag/ side gusset is a bag consisting of three layers - the inner layer, outer layer, and the barrier layer all which can be effortlessly peeled off. Quad seal bags are primarily used for commodities like tea and coffee. These bags comprise two long panels for the purpose of branding and they have become popular among consumers recently. Four sided sealed bags provide several customization options depending on the market requirements. The gusset bags have a certain level of dimensional stability that enables the bag to conform to a stable shape. The packaging bag market is already flooded with numerous bag types but side gusset/quad seal bag market themselves as a versatile, flexible, and superior option for customers. The rising demand have led to the emergence of the quad seal bag/ side gusset market in many regions across the world.Read Report Overview @Dynamics of Quad Seal/Side Gusset Bag Market-:The main characteristic of quad seal bag/ side gusset is the added capacity and depth provided by the bag as it creates a blocked bottom when any merchandise is loaded. The bag has greater strength on account of the four sided seal, permitting even heavier merchandise to be stored. With the lack of a back seal, the side gusset bag has a greater flexibility in label applications and valve placement. Gusset bags consist of a barrier that avoids the UV light, oxygen, moisture diffusion and thus also retains the product aroma, particularly in the case of tea and coffee packaging. Manufacturers prefer gusset bags as they have sufficient space for brand signature and product description. Self- standing quad seal / side gusset bags have widespread customer appeal as they are quite shelf friendly. Quad seal/ side gusset bag have an added benefit of higher barrier lamination films that give products the necessary protection and an elongated shelf life. The biggest barriers to the growth of the quad seal/ side gusset market is the high bag production cost. A notable trend in the quad seal / side gusset bag market is the wide number of accessories available to customers.Market Segmentation of Quad Seal Bag / Side Gusset Market-Quad seal/ side gusset bag market is classified into application, accessory, and material type. By material type, quad seal bag /side gusset market is classified into aluminum and plastic films. Quad seal / side gusset bag have diverse size options that are customized as per customer requirements. Based on application, the quad seal bag / side gusset market is divided into tea and coffee, nuts and dry fruits, fertilizers, chocolates, protein powder, and others. Commodities are typically packaged with these bags because of their numerous advantages. With respect to accessory option, the quad seal/ side gusset market is sub-segmented into euro slots, oval windows, hanging holes, re-sealable zippers, tear notches, degassing valves, and others.Request Report Brochure @Regional Outlook of Side Gusset /Quad Seal Bag Market-:The quad seal bag/ side gusset market has several domestic as well as international manufacturers and is studied on the basis of key regions viz. Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, North America, and Asia-Pacific. North America is the largest region in terms of gusset bags as most of the major companies are based there. Asia-Pacific also contributes a substantial amount to the quad seal bag /side gusset market and it is predicted to become more important during the forecast period.Key Players in Quad Seal Bag / Side Gusset Market-:Key players active in the quad seal bag / side gusset market are Atlapac Corporation, Tyler Packaging Limited, Maer Flexibles Europe, Diamond Flexible Packaging Co, PBFY Flexible Packaging, Pacific Bag, Inc., Pouch Direct Pty Ltd., Cas-Pak Products Ltd, and Swiss Pack Pvt Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Latest Report Details Of Adhesion Promoters Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399272 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399272/adhesion-promoters-global-industry-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399272 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1399272 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ " Adhesion Promoters Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Adhesion Promoters market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @ Adhesion promoters, also known as coupling agents, are materials that increase the adhesive strength of coatings, thereby strengthening the bond between the coating and substrate. Adhesion promoters are applied as thin film thickness. They are used in a wide range of applications such as paints and coatings. They are also used to improve the reliability of flat panel displays and semiconductors, and manufacture high performance rubbers and weatherable paints.Key factors driving the adhesion promoters market include increase in demand for adhesion promoters in the automotive industry and rise in usage of adhesion promoters in composites. Demand for adhesion promoters is expected to increase due to the new applications such as printed circuit boards. This is encouraging companies to expand the production of adhesion promoters. Additionally, easy availability of raw materials is anticipated to boost the demand for adhesion promoters in the near future.The global adhesion promoters market is witnessing technological advancements. Companies are constantly striving to develop new and better adhesion promoters. Development of new manufacturing processes and applications of adhesion promoters is estimated to propel the adhesion promoters market. However, environmental concerns related to some adhesion promoters are expected to hamper the global adhesion promoters market.Based on type, the adhesion promoters market can be classified into silane, maleic anhydride, chlorinated polyolefins, titanate & zirconate, and others. Silane is a commonly used type of adhesion promoter due to its excellent chemical properties. These are used for ultrahydrophobic treatments in urethane, epoxy and acrylic systems. Titanates and zirconates are used in sealants, surface primers, industrial coatings, and various other industrial applications.View Report @ Adhesion promoters are used in a wide range of applications due to their chemical properties. Based on application, the market can be segmented into plastics & composites, paints & coatings, rubber, adhesives, metals, and others. The plastics & composites segment accounted for significant share of the adhesion promoters market in 2016 owing to the high demand for these in the plastics industry across the globe.In terms of geography, the adhesion promoters market can be segregated into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to constitute key share of the market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is estimated to be a rapidly growing region of the adhesion promoters market, owing to the increase in demand from the automotive industry in the region. Middle East & Africa is likely to be an attractive region of the adhesion promoters market during the forecast period due to the rise in demand from the packaging industry in the region.Prominent players operating in the global adhesion promoters market include Momentive Performance Materials Inc., Eastman Chemical Company, DOW Corning Corporation, BASF SE, and Arkema SA.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Electric Bike North America Market Top Key Players AIMA , Yadea , Sunra , Incalcu , Lima and Forecast to 2022 Electric Bike Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1297283-north-america-electric-bike-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1297283-north-america-electric-bike-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application www.wiseguyreports.com North America Electric Bike MarketDescriptionWiseGuyReports.Com adds North America Electric Bike Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 Research To Its Database."Electric Bike is one kind of traffic tool which uses the battery as the main power energy. The electric bikes usually have treadles; in case of low battery, it can be driven by human.Currently, the battery type is mainly lead-acid batteries, but the lithium ion battery has a tendency to replace lead-acid battery."Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Electric Bike in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Get sample Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAIMAYadeaSunraIncalcuLimaBYVINLvyuanTAILGSupaqXiaodao EbikeBodoLvjiaSlaneOPAIGammaBirdie ElectricZubooMingjiaGiant EVQianxi VehicleLvnengYamahaSongiAucma EVLvjuAccell GroupPallaPolarisMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited StatesCanadaMexicoMarket Segment by Type, coversLead-acid Battery Electric BikeLithium Ion Battery Electric BikeOtherMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoDistributionDirect-saleEnquiry About Report @Table of Contents -Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Electric Bike Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Lead-acid Battery Electric Bike1.2.2 Lithium Ion Battery Electric Bike1.2.3 Other1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Distribution1.3.2 Direct-sale1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Mexico Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Canada Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 AIMA2.1.1 Profile2.1.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 AIMA Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.1.4 Business Overview2.1.5 AIMA News2.2 Yadea2.2.1 Profile2.2.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Yadea Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2.4 Business Overview2.2.5 Yadea News2.3 Sunra2.3.1 Profile2.3.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Sunra Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3.4 Business Overview2.3.5 Sunra News2.4 Incalcu2.4.1 Profile2.4.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Incalcu Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4.4 Business Overview2.4.5 Incalcu News2.5 Lima2.5.1 Profile2.5.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Lima Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5.4 Business Overview2.5.5 Lima News2.6 BYVIN2.6.1 Profile2.6.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 BYVIN Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6.4 Business Overview2.6.5 BYVIN News2.7 Lvyuan2.7.1 Profile2.7.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Lvyuan Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7.4 Business Overview2.7.5 Lvyuan News2.8 TAILG2.8.1 Profile2.8.2 Electric Bike Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 TAILG Electric Bike Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8.4 Business Overview2.8.5 TAILG News..CONTINUEDAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, Industry research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK) Waxed Paper Packaging Market By Analysis of Major Industry Segments, Growth, Share 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/waxed-paper-packaging.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22952 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Packaging solution providers are seeking ways to address issues related to sustainability objectives put forward by their clients. And this is currently more visible in the paper packaging vertical. The paper packing sector is slowly shifting towards the use of more environment friendly materials that has led to development of products such as the waxed paper, which is strong, compostable and biodegradable. In the near future, the global market for waxed paper packaging is tipped to emerge as a crucial packaging segment due to increasing availability of low cost waxed papers that offer users a pleasant touch experience and convenience. Waxed paper basically is manufactured by coating wax on paper products that are strictly use for packaging purpose. Such type packaging papers are approved in dairy, confectionery and sweets industry as they are much more efficient as compared to other packaging materials.Read Report Overview @Market DynamicsWaxed paper packaging materials are usually semitransparent and have a glossy outer surface. Hence, such paper packaging products are used to give an attractive look to baked goods, sweets, dairy products and confectioneries. Moreover, waxed paper packaging shows an impressive resistance to water, humidity and grease. Owing to its advanced respirational functionality, it is being increasingly used for packaging of cold meat and cheese. The aforementioned factor are likely to drive the growth of the global market for waxed paper packaging over the next couple of years. Further, they easily decompose and comply with most environmental norms. Some of these particular packaging products are available in custom designs with trendy color printings of them. Nonetheless, waxed paper packaging is limited to only certain food categories, which is expected to impede its overall market growth to a certain extent. Also, most waxed paper packaging material show poor resistance to extreme condition and require low temperature and ventilation in order to stay in best usable condition.Waxed Paper Packaging Market: Key SegmentationThe market for waxed paper packaging has been segmented into wax type, application type and product type. Based on wax type, the market has been segmented into mineral based wax and natural based wax. Mineral based waxes are usually obtained during the process of crude oil refining whereas natural waxes are commonly produced from processed vegetable oils (food additives or oleochemicals). These waxes are further modified to increase the gloss, slip and sealable property of the paper using special types of additives. Based of application, the market for paper packaging has been segmented into food market which is further sub-segmented into farm produce (dates and apples) and confectionary (candies, toffees, bubble gum sticks, etc.)Such type of packaging are also finding application in toiletries and cosmetics sectors. They are typically used as soap wrappers as well as wrapping of gears, break disk, and sharp objects. Based on product type the market has been segmented into waxed brown crepe, waxed anti-corrosion paper, waxed kraft paper, and anti-slip paper.Request Report Brochure @Waxed Paper Packaging Market: Regional AnalysisOn the basis of region, the waxed paper packaging market has been segmented into Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The packaging industry is projected to register a strong growth rate in Asia Pacific in the years to come. Meanwhile, the markets in regions such as Europe and the North America are already witness impressive growth rates as the demand for such packaging products in these regions is significantly high.Competitive DashboardSome top companies operating in the market for waxed paper packaging include CGP Coating Innovation, EuroWaxPack, Papertech Inc, Griff Paper and Film, Mil-Spec Pacakging of GA Inc, Grantham Manufacturing Ltd, Carlotte Packaging Ltd, Nicholas Paper Co. Inc, and Sierra Coating technologies LLC.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: In-vivo Imaging Market Sparkling Growth Predict By 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/780 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/in-vivo-imaging-market Global In vivo Imaging Market is Booming Market in Current Situation. a report was published by the National Cancer Institute in 2016, which states that the number of new cancer cases were about 1.6 million in 2016, followed by an increase in the national expenditure for cancer, which was about USD 125 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach USD 156 billion by 2020. This will increase the demand for the diagnosis of cancer, which will boost the market.Get Sample Report @The prevalence of diseases such as cancer involves diagnosis of to know how the cancerous cell are evolving inside the host. This factor is used to provide effective treatment to the cancer patients. This is facilitated by the in vivo imaging techniques. Moreover, in preclinical studies it is often required to test the drug on animal models to know the mechanism of drug binding to its target and vice versa, which has increased the in vivo imaging R&D over the last few years. This facilitates the growth of the market.Increasing prevalence of cancer, rising R&D in imaging, and increasing healthcare expenditures will drive the growth of the global market over the review period. However, lack of awareness among people as well as skilled physician and high cost of the diagnostics method will restrain the market growth during the assessment period.Competitive Analysis in the Global In vivo Imaging Market: Mediso Ltd., LI-COR, Inc., Aspect Imaging., TRIFOIL IMAGING, New England Biolabs, Bruker, MILabs B.V., FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc., MR Solutions, Biospace Lab S.A.Market Segments:The global in vivo imaging market has been segmented on the basis of applications, techniques, and end users.Based on the application, the market has been segmented as nuclear imaging, optical imaging, and others.Based on the techniques, the market has been segmented as radioisotopes based, biomarkers based, luminescent proteins based technique, and others.Based on the end users, the market has been segmented as hospitals & clinics, imaging centers, research organizations, and others.Regional analysis:The Americas holds the largest market share and will continue to lead the marker during the given period due to high healthcare expenditures, the presence of global players, and high acceptance of new technologies within the region.Europe is the second largest market owing to the presence of effective healthcare structure and well-developed economies.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly. China and India are likely to lead this market due to the fastest growing healthcare sector during the forecast period.Browse Report @The Middle East & Africa have the least market share. Additionally, factors such as lack of awareness, low healthcare expenditures will restrain the market during the corresponding period.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 50 market data tables and figures spread over 80 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on Global In vivo Imaging Market Research Report Forecast till 2023.Table of Content:1. Report Prologue2. Introduction3. Research Methodology4. Market Dynamics5. Market Factor Analysis6. Global In Vivo Imaging Market, By Application7. Global In Vivo Imaging Market, By Techniques8. Global In Vivo Imaging Market, By End Uses9. Global In Vivo Imaging Market, By Region10. Competitive Landscape11 Company Profile12. Conclusion13. AppendixAt 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.Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Circulatory Support Devices Market: Worldwide Industry Analysis and New Market Opportunities Explored https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/circulatory-support-devices-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35894 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Circulatory support devices are used to overcome the condition of shock or hypotension. These are also required to prevent conditions in patients who are at a risk of organ failure. A shock is nothing but an acute circulatory failure with insufficient or inaptly distributed tissue perfusion that results in comprehensive cellular hypoxia. It is a life-threatening medical emergency. A mechanical assistance is required for patients with advanced heart or pulmonary failure in order to keep their heart pumping enough blood.To fulfill this requirement, circulatory support devices are being used to complement or swap the action of the failing heart or lungs. It can be used either on a temporary basis or need to be integrated permanently inside the organ. Intensive care unit or high dependency areas are the best providers of such kind of circulatory support to patients in need. The global circulatory support devices market can be segmented based on product type and end-user. In terms of product type, the market can be categorized into ventricular assist device (VAD), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and total artificial heart (TAH).Obtain Report Details @A ventricular assist device is an embedded pump that supports the pumping action of hearts ventricles. The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is used for patients with severe respiratory or cardiac failure, such as cardiac arrest, as an in-hospital mode of life support. Based on end-user, the global circulatory support devices market can be classified into hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). Large number of critically ill patients prefer hospitals over other health care centers because these offer several inpatient and outpatient cardiac services.The inflow of patients is expected to increase in hospitals during the forecast period, as these are considered to be more reliable, are associated with large number of suppliers, reimbursement authorities, and government organizations. Increased incidence of congestive heart failure and heart attacks are being recorded each year in developed countries due to changing lifestyles and related diseases such as diabetes and thyroid disorders. Hence, the mortality rate among the affected individuals is increasing.Coronary heart disease and high blood pressure are other heart-related problems growing at a faster pace. Increasing prevalence of congestive heart failure is one of the major drivers of the global circulatory support devices market. Rise in number of patients suffering from congestive heart failure is driving the hospitalization rate and burden on society in terms of total expenditure across the globe. Most of these people belong to the age group of 65 and above. Patients with class III, IV, and stage C, D of congestive heart failure disorders are highly recommended to use circulatory support devices, which in return propels demand for these products.Request Sample @Geographically, the global circulatory support devices market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global circulatory support devices market, with the U.S. accounting for a major market share. Manufacturers in the Americas are developing innovative products to cure congestive heart disorder by using advanced technologies. The safety and efficacy of these new products are being ensured by premarket approval through clinical trials.For instance, St. Jude Medical is focusing on obtaining the U.S. FDA approval for HeartMate 3 system by conducting IDE trial. Moreover, demand for circulatory support devices is increasing in the region due to rising government initiatives in order to provide cover to the growing population with congestive heart disease. Europe is considered to be the second largest market.However, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to factors such as governmental initiatives, increased awareness about cardiac safety, rise in focus of major players in India and China. Emerging markets with rapidly growing economies offer significant opportunities in the market because of changing lifestyle and increase in awareness among people.Key players in the global circulatory support devices market are St. Jude Medical, Medtronic, ABIOMED, Reliant Heart, and Berlin Heart. Other prominent companies in the market include CorWave, CardiacAssist, Evaheart, Leviticus Cardio, Jarvik Heart, and Ventracor.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global High Resolution Dispensing Systems and Equipment Market to be worth US$3.09 bn during 2016-2024 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=893337 https://www.researchmoz.us/high-resolution-dispensing-systems-and-equipment-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2016-2024-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG High resolution dispensing systems are high end dispensing equipment that are ideal for electronic applications and are capable of dispensing drop sizes as precise as ~300um-400um and above. Dispensing technology has come a far way in the last 50 years and the technological advancements have included the change from manual to semi-automatic or upgrade to robotic dispensing from the semi-automatic one. A key trend that has been observed in the recent years is the reduction in the drop size which is a key driver in the precision micro fluidic markets for the precision dispensing applications.A surge in demand for accuracy and precision coupled with the increasing usage of high resolution dispensing systems and equipment in electronic applications is driving the growth of the global market. These systems are being deployed in electronics to increase the productivity of electronic assembly, molding, shielding and encapsulating applications. High precision adhesive and sealant dispensing systems help to precisely dispense a diverse range of products for electrical and electronic component manufacturing, that include thin-line, intricate dispensing for highly miniaturized personal communication devices and also foam-in-place gasketing for comparatively large consumer electronics.Click to get Sample PDF:Additionally, rapid technological advances are fueling the global market growth. The introduction of robot dispensing, and technologies such as manual load and unload robotic dispensing system and fully integrated robotic dispensing system are augmenting the growth of the market. Thus, the conjoint effect of all these drivers is set to bolster the growth of the global high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market in the coming years.Growing popularity in end-user industries coupled with healthy economic growth of emerging economies are offering potential growth opportunities to the global high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market. High-resolution dispensing systems and equipment are expected to gain popularity across several end user applications such as medical and solar and this is set to boost the market growth in the coming years.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:The report includes the market attractiveness analysis of the electronics applications for offering and insight into the major application area of the high resolution dispensing systems and equipment. An exhaustive analysis of the market dynamics of the global market that is inclusive of the market drivers, restraints and opportunities is covered under the purview of the study. Therefore, the global high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market report offers and extensive study of the market along with providing the forecast of the market in terms of revenue (USD Million) and volume (Units) from 2016 2024.The key players in the global high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market have been competitively profiled across the five broad geographic regions. This competitive landscape is inclusive of the various business strategies adopted by these major players and their recent developments in the field of high resolution dispensing systems and equipment.Some of the major players operating in the high resolution dispensing systems and equipment market are: Nordson Corporation (U.S.), AptarGroup, Inc. (the U.S.), Dover Corporation (the U.S.), Franklin Fueling Systems Inc. (the U.S.), Jensen Global Inc. (the U.S.), Graco, Inc. (the U.S.), Musashi Engineering Inc. (Tokyo), Mycronic AB (Sweden) Illinois Tools Works, Inc. (the U.S.), Besi (Netherlands) among others.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: Needle Aspiration Biopsy Market: Industry Outlook, Growth Prospects and Key Opportunities https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/needle-aspiration-biopsy-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35909 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Breast Biopsy is removal of cells or tissues from doubtful areas of breast. These cells or tissues are studied under a microscope to verify the presence of cancer. When a hollow needle is used to remove tissue samples from breast, it is known as core needle biopsy. It is the typical way to rule out or diagnose breast cancer. Core needle biopsy is done for the palpable mass or lump that can be felt, or suspicious area which is seen after mammogram or imaging test.Fine needle biopsy, also known as fine needle aspiration, removes the cells from suspicious lump in breast. The needle used for fine needle biopsy is thinner than the needle used for core needle biopsy. According to the American Cancer Society, 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer are projected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2017. About 63,410 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) are anticipated to be diagnosed (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer). About 40,610 women are expected to die from breast cancer.Obtain Report Details @Different types of biopsies are core needle biopsy, fine needle aspiration biopsy, vacuum-assisted biopsy, image-guided biopsy, incisional biopsy, excisional biopsy, shave biopsy, punch biopsy, endoscopic biopsy, and bone marrow aspiration & biopsy. Two major types of biopsies are needle biopsy and surgical biopsy. Needle biopsy involves usage of a needle to remove tissue sample. Surgical biopsy involves an incision to collect tissue sample.Core needle biopsy is done in imaging centers or hospitals. It is an image guided biopsy procedure. Advantages of core needle biopsy and fine needle biopsy are least chance of bruising or infection. If the lump is confirmed benign, then surgical biopsy is not required. However, there is a chance that the needle may miss the tumor cells, and hence misinterpret it as non-cancerous cell. Fine needle aspiration has false negative rate of 2% to 4%. Hence, fine needle aspiration can be followed by core needle biopsy or surgical biopsy.Request Sample @Based on utility, the global needle aspiration biopsy market can be categorized into disposable and reusable. In terms of application, the market can be segmented into tumor, inflammation, infection, and others. Based on end-user, the global needle aspiration biopsy market can be classified into diagnostic & imaging centers, hospitals, academics & research centers, and others. Increase in prevalence and incidence of cancer globally and rise in awareness about diseases are the major factors fueling the growth of the global needle aspiration biopsy market.The global needle aspiration biopsy market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is projected to reflect a high CAGR due to significant patient population. Growing awareness among patients as well as health care professionals has led to increase in number of diagnosed cases of cancer in Asia, especially in China and India. North America is projected to dominate the global needle aspiration biopsy market due to factors such as rise in number of reported cancer cases, high per capita health expenditure, and significant investment in R&D for effective treatment alternatives.Key players in the global needle aspiration biopsy market include Cook Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation, Hologic, Inc., Medax Srl Unipersonale, Cardinal Health, Inc., C. R. Bard, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH, Moller Medical GmbH, Hakko Co. Ltd., Argon Medical Devices, Inc., and COMPASS International Innovations, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Wujiang First Textile Co., Ltd. Is Dominating the "Global Silk Market" followed by Zhejiang Jiaxin Silk Co., Ltd., AM Silk GmbH, China Silk Corporation, Jinchengjiang Xinxing Cocoon Silk Co., Ltd., Forecast 2024 Global Silk Market- Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-silk-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-silk-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-data-center-liquid-cooling-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-data-center-liquid-cooling-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/blog/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-bridge-market-research Data Bridge Market Research brings to you this report on the Global Silk Market Report is a compilation with figures as recent as 2017 and forecasts up to 2024 that helps you track the unprecedented growth seen in Industry giving you an edge to not just compete but to outmatch the competition. The report provides key statistics on the market status of Global Silk Market manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals.The Global Silk Market accounted for USD 11.66 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.New research report of Global Silk Market Analysis with Top Comapnies as recent as 2017 and forecasts up to 2024 that helps you track the unprecedented growth seen in Semiconductor and Electronics Industry giving you an edge to not just compete but to outmatch the competition.Get a Free Sample Report @Global Silk Market By Type (Mulberry, Tussar, Spider, Eri) Application (Textile, Cosmetics & Medicine) Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Competitive Landscape:The global silk market is consolidated due to the presence of limited number of players concentrated in few countries. These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.Talk to The Author of Report @TOP Competitors of Market: Wujiang First Textile Co., Ltd., Anhui Silk, Shengkun Silk Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Jiaxin Silk Co., Ltd., AM Silk GmbH, China Silk Corporation, Jinchengjiang Xinxing Cocoon Silk Co., Ltd., Bolt Threads Inc., Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., Entogenetics Inc., Wensli Group Co. Ltd., Sichuan Nanchong Liuhe (Group) Corp. among others.Ask for Detail TOC Here @Market Defination:-Silk is composed of both natural as well animal fiber. It comes from the fibroin which is created from proteins release in the liquid state as a single filament through silkworm. It is characterized by natural sheen, light weight, high absorbent quality, and poor heat conduction. Silk can be used in textile, cosmetics and medicine. Growing demand for eco-friendly textile materials is one of the major drivers of this market.Major Market Drivers: Rising demand from Indian textile industry More of technological innovation in sericulture Low capital investment requiredRestraints: Dependency for raw material on ChinaMarket Segmentation:On the basis of type:- Mulberry, tussar, spider and eri.On the basis of application:- Textile and cosmetics & medicine.On the basis of geography:- North America South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa.Browse full report Here @Key Questions Answered in Global Silk Market Report:-What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Silk Market in 2024?What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Silk Market?What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Silk Market?Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Silk Market?Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Silk Market?What are the Global Silk Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit Blog:Follow us on LinkedIn: Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market: Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/directtoconsumer-genetic-testing-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35924 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing refers to genetic tests or services that are directly advertised to consumers and purchased through consumer requests. The results of these tests are directly provided to consumers/customers without any participation of the consumers health care providers. This type of genetic test is directly marketed to customers/consumers by using print advertisements, television, or the Internet.Many medical device companies are marketing this DTC testing to the public at a realistic price point without consulting with doctors or other medical professionals. Consumers can order genetic testing kits from home by using a website and receive volumes of information relating to their individual genetic profile without visiting a doctor. The DTC genetic testing market contains two business models: one-to-one and one-to-many.In the one-to-one model, the results are discussed directly by the companies with the consumer or with the physician. In the one-to-many model, DTC companies will only conduct a genetic test once they receive consent from the consumer and the data is owned by the companies.Obtain Report Details @The companies operating in this market obtain profit from the sales of DTC genetic testing kits to consumers and physicians and the sales of genetic data to pharmaceutical companies. This paradigm shift in business models is identified as one of the key trends behind the growth of the DTC genetic testing market. The global DTC genetic testing market is expected to grow substantially due to high aging population coupled with growing prevalence of chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetic retinopathy, and other chronic diseases.In addition, growing customer awareness about direct-to-consumer genetic testing, along with increasing prevalence of major chronic diseases has resulted in rise in healthcare expenditure and the demand of DTC genetic testing is increase for early diagnosis various diseases are fuel the growth of the direct- to- consumer genetic testing market.However, DTC genetic testing raises a number of issues, including scientific, technical, and clinical issues, along with First Amendment issues of honesty, fidelity to facts, and truth-in-advertising, are limiting the growth of the global market. The global DTC genetic testing market is segmented based on service, distribution channel, and region. In terms of service, the market is further segmented into diagnostic screening, prenatal, newborn screening, pre-implantation diagnosis, and relationship testing. The diagnostic screening segment dominates the global DTC genetic testing market as it helps in identifying the gene responsible for chronic diseases such as cancer.Request Sample @This includes carrier screening and hereditary testing that are usually conducted for DTC genetic testing. In terms of distribution channel, the market is classified into direct sales, retail sales, and laboratory sales. The direct sales segment generates high revenue due to pricing strategies.Geographically, the DTC genetic testing market is distributed over North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Each geography market is sub-divided into specific countries such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Brazil, China, India, and GCC countries. North America dominated global DTC genetic testing market because of importance of early diagnosis of for better treatment outcomes, and high level of consumer literacy about diseases.Asia Pacific is projected to be the most attractive market during the forecast period due to rising health care awareness and growing disposable income. Key players operating in this market are 23andMe, Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Myriad Genetics, Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Counsyl, Inc., Gene by Gene, and Positive Bioscience Ltd. In order to gain competitive advantage in the market, these market players are actively involved in various growth strategies such as collaborations, partnerships, agreements, and new product launches.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market will become worth US$1,298.2 mn during 2016-2024 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=893335 https://www.researchmoz.us/asset-management-it-solution-market-us-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2016-2024-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Asset management refers to managing tangible or intangible assets. An asset management company serves as an advisor to clients, with a goal to maximize returns. Asset management firms are hired by institutional investors such as pension funds, corporations, and high net worth individuals. The asset management firms need IT solutions for managing assets such as equity, fixed income, real estate, commodities, and international investments. These IT solutions consist mainly of software solutions for business operations including portfolio management, compliance, and trade execution among others.U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market: Scope and MethodologyThe U.S. asset management IT solution market report provides an analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market for the period 2014 2024, wherein 2015 is the base year and the period from 2016 to 2024 is the forecast period. Data for 2014 has been included as historical information. The report covers all the prevalent trends playing a major role in the growth of the asset management IT solution market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the market growth during the said period.Click to get Sample PDF:The study provides a holistic perspective on market growth, throughout the above forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies in the U.S., which include Northeast, Midwest, West and South. The report provides cross-sectional analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all the segments across different geographic regions. This research report provides in-depth analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market on the basis components, deployment model and geography. The report also includes U.S. asset Management player profile and asset managers IT viewpoint deploying IT solutions and services for managing assets.Some of the key analytical pointers in the research study include Porters Five Force Analysis, and key market indicators which include industry outlook of investment management firms (asset managers) in the U.S. and key mergers and acquisition in the field of asset management IT solutions from vendor as well as buyers point of view.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:This research study on the U.S. asset management IT solution market provides a detailed analysis of various components and their respective applications and services. The report also offers in-depth analysis of various factors such as market drivers, restraints, and growth opportunities affecting the market dynamics. These factors enable the analysis of various trends that would impact the market during the forecast period from 2016 to 2024. The report includes a comprehensive coverage of the underlying economic and technological factors under key trend analysis influencing the asset management IT solution market.U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report aims to provide strategic insights about the investment management firms deploying IT solutions with the detailed analysis of their requirements pertaining to IT solutions. Some of the key industry players in the asset management IT solution include Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, FundCount, SoftTarget Inc., SimCorp Inc, QED Financial System, eFront Financial Solutions, Broadridge Investment Management Solutions, ProTrak International, SunGard Financials and CreditPoint Software.Key asset managers profiled in the research study along with their IT viewpoints and requirements include Barings Corporate Investors, Geode Capital Management, The Carlyle Group LP, Voya Investment Management, Lazard Asset Management, Bridgewater Associates and Hartford Investment Management. Co among others.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: Discover the Global Organic Coconut Sugar Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399264 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399264/organic-coconut-sugar-global-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399264 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1399264 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ " Organic Coconut Sugar Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Organic Coconut Sugar market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @ Market Introduction:Organic Coconut Sugar is a delicious, pure, unrefined alternative to processed sugar and artificial sweeteners. It has been used as a traditional sweetener since centuries, in coconut trees flourishing regions, such as Southeast Asia. Coconut Sugar, also referred sometimes as palm sugar, is produced from the flower bud of the coconut tree. Coconut sugar is mostly comprised of sucrose, which gives it a sweet, caramel-like flavor. It is devoid of added chemicals, unbleached and contains no preservatives. Organic coconut sugar has naturally occurring nutrients including magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, B vitamins and amino acids. Coconut sugar serves a delicious addition to tea or coffee, smoothies, fruit juices, cakes, pancakes, curry dishes, dessert toppings, puddings, any type of fruit pies and more.Market Segmentation:Organic Coconut Sugar can be segmented on the basis of form, end use application, packaging, distribution channel, and region.On the basis of form, Organic Coconut Sugar Market can be segmented into fine powdered, powdered, crystal/ granular, block form and liquid syrup.On the basis of end use application, Organic Coconut Sugar Market can be segmented into the household, foodservice, food and beverage manufacturers, personal care and cosmetics and others. In personal care, it is used in coconut scrubs and face and body creams as a natural ingredient and associated benefits to skin texture.On the basis of the type of packaging, Organic Coconut Sugar Market can be segmented into pouches/ sachets, jars/ bottles and corrugated boxes.On the basis of the distribution channel, Organic Coconut Sugar Market can be segmented into direct and retail sales. Direct sales refer to direct selling of organic coconut sugar as an ingredient to other industries. Retail sales are further segmented into convenience stores, grocery retailers, online retailers, and other retailing formats.View Report @Drivers, Restraints, and Trends:Growing demand for the product to replace cane sugar is likely to drive the market in next few years. The Organic coconut sugar has a low glycemic index as compared to cane sugar and honey. As a result, it reduces the rising sugar level rise in the bloodstream. Rising popularity of Asian Cuisine, increasing demand for dairy substitutes and associated health benefits associated with the Organic Coconut Sugar is expected to drive the market further in the projected period. Also, the increasing lactose intolerant among people worldwide is driving the market with its wide application in food and beverage industry. Increasing demand for the organic coconut sugar for manufacturing skin care products such as body scrubs, shaving gels, face and body creams is also contributing towards the growth of the market in the projected period.Fluctuating prices in raw material and also the production process is more labor-intensive owing to lack of mechanization thus it is a time-consuming process which is further producer concentrated and poses some hindrances in the projected period for the market to flourish.Increasing focus on healthy lifestyle, the inclination of consumers towards organically produced products and rising demand for natural cosmetics and personal care products is the rising trend among the consumers and is further expected to grow the market in the projected period.Regional Outlook:Asia pacific is the largest producer of organic coconut sugar owing to the abundant raw material. The rapid growth in food and beverage and cosmetics industry in Korea, India, and China is expected to have a positive impact in the future period. Increasing diabetic's patients and obesity are further posing consumers to look for alternatives like organic coconut sugar that lower the risk. Further, in U.S. Market, the organic coconut sugar is going to grow rapidly due to the rising health-conscious population. Also, low glycemic index and environmental sustainability are further going to grow the market in the projected period.European consumers are more concerned about the nutritional values and also inclined towards the organic products. Thus the market is expected to grow in the forecasted period with the introduction of organic coconut sugar in the recipes and dishes in the cuisines. Growing diseases among the aged population are expected to increase the demand for alternative sweetener such as coconut sugar over the forecasted period.Request For Enquiry @ Key Players:Some of the prominent players of Organic Coconut Sugar are Coco Sugar Indonesia, IMC Organic Food Co., Connecticut Coconut Company (CCC), Celebes Coconut Corporation, CV. India sourcing, Singabera, PT Mega Inovasi Organik, Holos Integra, Tree Life and various other regional manufacturers.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Explored in latest research Native Organic Cane Sugar Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399263 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399263/native-organic-cane-sugar-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399263 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1399263 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "Native Organic Cane Sugar Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection..The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Native Organic Cane Sugar market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @ Market Introduction:Native Organic Cane Sugar also called as evaporated sugar, which is the evaporated juice of the sugarcane in its whole, natural state. Only the water is removed, meaning it retains most of the Vitamins and Minerals found in raw sugarcane. It is a golden sugar that contains molasses and has a slight caramel flavor.Sugar has been repeatedly demonized by some health experts, as it is the monolithic cause of insulin resistance and obesity. In terms of availability, versatility, convenience, texture, price, eco-friendliness and nutrition, the best substitute for the ubiquitous white crystal sugar is the Native Organic Cane Sugar. Native Organic Cane Sugar is sugar minus the cancer causing and environmentally damaging pesticides present in conventionally grown sugarcane. Hence, the global cane sugar market has proven to be truly sustainable and is liable to be given many accolades for having built a trust in midst of the potential consumers which contributes directly in strengthening of the global native cane sugar market.Market Segmentation:Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented on the basis of form, distribution channel, end user, packaging and region.On the basis of form, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into Confectioners Sugar and Liquid Sugar (Invert Syrup). Confectioners sugar which is made from very finely ground organic cane sugar, also known as powdered sugar or icing sugar whereas, the liquid sugar is the crystallized organic cane sugar dissolved in water.On the basis of distribution channel, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into direct sales and indirect/retail sales. In direct sales, the native organic cane sugar can be delivered in large quantities for manufacturing of some other products like beverages, dairy products mainly yoghurt. In retail sales, it is found in the hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores for organic products and e-retailers.On the basis of end user, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into industrial and household use.On the basis of packaging, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into silos, standard pouches, and jars/bottles/jugs as well as in small pouches.On the basis of region, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Japan.View Report @Drivers, Restraints, and Trends:Demand for Native Organic Cane Sugar is increasing as the consumers are interested in healthy and natural products. This provides particularly interesting opportunities for the manufacturers of native, organic and ethically produced products. In comparison to overly process and highly Refined White Cane Sugar, Native Organic Cane Sugar contain some nutritional properties. When organically processed, it possess amino acids, minerals (such as Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron), and different vitamins. Also it is well known for its therapeutic properties and for this the organic cane sugar is the best to retain the nutrients and the therapeutic properties.Organic market in Europe is becoming a mainstream business. Hence, the EU has been actively promoting organic production by developing a single harmonized standard and product logo for application in the entire EU.The rising food innovation trends and healthy food alternatives among consumers is giving rise to organic cane sugar as a substitute to crystal refined sugar in beverages and dairy products.Regional Outlook:Depending on the country of origin, whole cane sugar goes by many different names including panela (Latin America), rapadura (Brazil), jaggery (India), kokuto (Japan) etc.The Americas and Asia-Pacific are the largest producers of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the world. The Native Organic Cane Sugar Market is highly concentrated, with the top three manufactures accounting for 75% of the global native organic cane sugar trade. The largest global manufacturing countries of Native Organic Cane Sugar include Brazil, Thailand, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico. Brazil is one the largest producer of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the followed by India, China, Thailand, and Pakistan.Europe is the largest importer of the Native Organic Cane Sugar. European consumers are increasingly concerned with the impact of agricultural activities on the environment and looking for products with lesser environment impact. This trend has benefited the market for products with organic certification. Overall the outlook for global Native Organic Cane Sugar market is positive over the forecast period.Request For Enquiry @ Key Players:Major players in the Native Organic Cane Sugar segment are Global organics, Florida Crystals, Specialty food association (Native Organics), Wholesome mindfully delicious, Anthonys Goods, Organic delight, BSYD Corp., Delphi Organic are amongst to name a few.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Epistaxis Market: An Insight On the Important Factors and Trends Influencing the Market Epistaxis is a condition that results in uncertain nose bleeding from either of the nostrils. This clinical condition is usually classified as anterior epistaxis and posterior epistaxis based on the site where the bleeding originates. Epistaxis is rarely life threatening unless it is associated with chronic disorders such as cancer. About 10% of nosebleeds is life threatening, and it is accounted that four of the 2.4 million deaths occur due to epistaxis. This condition commonly occurs in younger children (2-10 years) and older people (50-80 years); however, it is more common among individuals who are above 50 years of age. Prevalence is higher in males (58%) as compared to females (42%). It is usually caused by local trauma, including nasal infection and even nose picking. Environmental factors causing epistaxis include dry climate, lack of humidity in the atmosphere, or prolong inhalation of dry air. People who are on medications such as warfarin, clopidogrel, aspirin, or any other anticoagulant medications are more susceptible to epistaxis. Other predisposing factors such as infection, allergic and non-allergic rhinitis, cocaine snorting, hypertension, alcohol abuse, and inherited bleeding problems also lead to epistaxis. In terms of treatment, the global epistaxis market is segmented as topical vasoconstrictors, antibiotic ointments (mupirocin), anesthetics, and nasal cautery. Obtain Report Details @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/epistaxis-market.html The topical vasoconstrictors segment includes oxymetazoline, co-phenylcaine, or adrenaline, which are applied directly to the mucous membrane. The anesthetics segment includes lidocaine or lignocaine and is often given in combination with vasoconstrictors. Nasal cautery is the most common treatment of epistaxis. Chemical cautery (silver nitrate) and electrocautery (an electrically charged wire such as platinum) are two types of nasal cautery. Chemical cautery is the most popular method for the treatment of idiopathic recurrent epistaxis. Most of the research is focused on device development, thus boosting the growth of the epistaxis market. In 2016, Smith & Nephew launched a range of epistaxis management devices using rapid rhino technology that has a blend of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), which exhibit self-lubricating properties that provide gentle and even compression to the nasal area and helps in the quicker re-conformation of the nasal anatomy. Request Sample @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35927 Additionally, growing incidence rates of epistaxis and chronic diseases boost the growth of the global epistaxis market. The lifelong incidence rate of epistaxis among the general population is about 60%, of which only 10% seeks medical treatment. This factor is projected to restrain the growth of the market during the forecast period. In terms of geography, the global epistaxis market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America holds the largest share of the global epistaxis market, followed by Europe, due to higher incidence and prevalence rate of the condition and increase in research and development expenditure. Asia Pacific is an emerging market for epistaxis due to the developing health care infrastructure, increase in patient pool, and rising government expenditure in the health care industry. However, in regions such as Middle East & Africa and Latin America, poor patient awareness and lack of availability of different treatment options are factors restraining the market growth. Key players operating in the global epistaxis market include Smith & Nephew, CIRON Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Medline Industries, Inc., and King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.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. Antivenom Vaccines Market: Emergence of Advanced Technologies and Global Industry Analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/antivenom-vaccines-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35930 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Snakebite envenoming is a catastrophic global health issue that kills and incapacitates millions of people annually. It has been declared a global public health emergency. Empirical data suggests that an accurate information on the burden of snakebite is unavailable and this has resulted in epidemiological knowledge gap in this field.Research findings from more than 100 countries spread across 21 geographical regions have brought to light that at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 snakebite deaths occur each year globally. However, the expected toll could be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths due to snakebite globally. The highest burden of snakebites is witnessed in regions such as South Asia, South East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.Snakebite ranks low on international public health agendas as there is limited information on morbidity and mortality due to snakebite. This low priority has adversely impacted the snakebite management and in drafting out snakebite management related strategies; major fallouts of which are lack of antivenom regulation, poor access to antivenom vaccines, and untrained health workers for snakebite management.Obtain Report Details @Over and above this, inconsistent demand for antivenom products, irregularities associated with manufacturers receiving payment, inappropriate clinical use of antivenom products, dearth of animals required for raising antisera, and high cost of maintaining livestock for antivenom production are some pivotal factors that have significantly deterred increased output of antivenom vaccines from manufacturers.Despite such unfavorable business environment, antivenom manufacturers are taking positive strides toward full implementation of international guidelines and are incessantly trying to improve quality control procedures. Collaborative efforts of the Global Snakebite Initiative Limited (GSI), an internationally active non-profit organization, and Health Action International (HAI), an international NGO, to address the neglected global tragedy of snakebite envenoming are likely to entice focused attention from the global health community and donors.The recent landmark decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2017 to adopt snakebite envenoming as a category A neglected tropical disease (NTD) is expected to ignite the development and implementation of the long-awaited global strategy for control and eradication of snakebite envenoming. The WHOs decision was based on the recommendation from its Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) for NTDs.Request Sample @Antivenom vaccines are considered the only cure for venomous bites and stings. Various reptile bites that require an antivenom vaccine include snakes, scorpions, spiders, and others. The global antivenom vaccines market comprehensively analyzes the dynamics and competitive landscape prevailing in the market. The global market for antivenom vaccines has been analyzed from three different perspectives: type of antivenom, type of reptile, and type of venom.In terms of type of antivenom, the market has been further sub-divided into monovalent antivenom and polyvalent antivenom. In terms of type of reptile, the market has been further classified into snakes, scorpions, spiders, and others. On the basis of type of venom, the market has been further segmented into cardiotoxic, hemotoxic, neurotoxic, cytotoxic, proteolysis, myotoxic, and others.Geographically, the report on the antivenom vaccines market provides granular insights on North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Players operating in the global market are Alomone Labs, Ltd., Medtoxin Venom Laboratories, Micropaharm Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited, Bharat Serums and Vaccines Limited, Protherics PLC, Sigma Aldrich, Institute of Immunology, and Butantan Institute.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Flexible Retail Display Wallets Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and Industry Analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/flexible-retail-display-wallets-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35855 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The retail signage market is evolving continuously as retailers seek cost effective and convenient means to communicate valuable information to prospective customers. Flexible retail display wallets have emerged as an effective promotional solution in retail space to deliver marketing communication information conveniently. Signage play an important role in directing customers in a large format retail store while also communicating important message to prospective customers.The global market for flexible retail display wallets thrives on the multi-functional properties of polymers and convenience they offer to manufacturers of flexible retail display wallets. Polymers such as poly vinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, low density polyethylene, etc. have emerged as popular polymer types for manufacturing flexible retail display wallets as they offer effective functional properties.Obtain Report Details @Global Flexible Retail Display Wallets Market: SegmentationThe global flexible retail display wallets market is segmented by material type, by application and by end use.As per material type, the global flexible retail display wallets market is segmented as follows:Poly Vinyl ChloridePolyethylene TerephthalateLow Density PolyethyleneLinear Low Density PolyethyleneAs per application type, the global flexible retail display wallets market is segmented as follows:ApparelsConsumer ElectronicsCosmeticsPersonal CareFood & BeveragesBooks, Music & VideoGroceryOthers (Office Equipment, Hardware, etc.)As per end use, the global Flexible Retail Display Wallets market is segmented as follows:HypermarketsDepartment StoresDiscount StoresSupermarketsWarehouse StoresMom and Pop StoresSpecialty StoresRequest Sample @Global Flexible Retail Display Wallets Market: Market DynamicsEvolution of modern retail sector and opening of large format retail stores in emerging markets have propelled the growth of global signage market. Manufacturers and packaging converters operating in the global signage market are delivering packaging and signage materials that help retailers save costs and provide effective functionality in terms of in-store marketing and promotion activities.Flexible retail display wallets are employed in retail stores to display product prices, promotional offers, product specifications, manufacturers information, etc. Flexible retail display wallets are considered as better alternative than displaying retail signage material without any protective covering. Retail signage material made of paper or other printed material tend to lose visual quality and undergo wear and tear.Flexible retail display wallets employed for displaying retail signage material help sustain visual quality of the retail signage. Furthermore, flexible retail display wallets due to their simple design and lightweight characteristic are effective in saving space in retail stores. Flexible retail display wallets are also a low cost solution as they are primarily made of plastics that are cheaper and easily available.Flexible retail display wallets for grocery market segment and consumer electronic goods market segment such as mobile phones, mobile phone accessories, etc. is estimated to account for largest market share in the global flexible retail display wallets. Apart from the grocery and consumer electronics flexible retail display wallets are used for other applications including apparels, cosmetics, personal care, food and beverages, stationary and toys, etc.Flexible retail display wallets are purchased by retailers operating across all retail formats including hypermarkets, department stores, discount stores, supermarkets, warehouse stores, mom and pop stores and specialty stores.Global Flexible Retail Display Wallets Market: Regional OutlookThe global flexible retail display wallets market is segmented into 7 key regions including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) and Japan.Global Magnifier labels Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the players operating in the global flexible retail display wallets market include Prestige Display Products, RNR Plastics, Mills Display, the Point of Sale Centre (part of HL Display) and UK Point of Sale group Limited.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Latest Report Details Of Automotive Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1381845 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1381845/automotive-electromagnetic-interference-emi-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1381845 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1381845 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "Automotive Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 " is the latest addition to MarketResearchReports.Biz industry research reports collection.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Automotive Electromagnetic Interference market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @ Electromagnetic interference is the process by which electromagnetic energy is transferred from one electronic device to another via radiation wave or conducting path. In an automotive electronics system, electromagnetic interference can destructively affect the performance of an integrated circuit internally, as well as that of other electronic components in close proximity. Furthermore, the electromagnetic interference issue involves external transmitters such as mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless chargers, GPS navigation, and commercial broadcast signals. The electromagnetic interface of these external devices is likely to interfere with the automotive electronic system when the vehicle is in close proximity to the transmitting antenna. In short, the new automotive electromagnetic interface is a very complex one involving many internal and external factors. Automotive electromagnetic interface shielding is employed to minimize the emission of electromagnetic waves or radiation inside the vehicle. The devices may still emit the radiation, however, good shielding can capture the electromagnetic waves and send them to the ground, before they escape from the system.The global automotive electromagnetic interference market can be segmented based on material, shielding type, equipment type, vehicle and region. In terms of material, the automotive electromagnetic interface market can be segmented into aluminum, brass, nickel, silver, stainless steel, carbon/graphite composite, and metalized plastics. The metalized plastic market is increase rapidly in emerging market. The metalized plastic captures all the electromagnetic radiation and sends it to the ground. It is inexpensive and appears esthetically better than other materials used in electromagnetic interference In terms of shied type, the automotive electromagnetic interface market can be segmented into electromagnetic interface shielding tape, conducting coating, conducting polymer, filter, and metal shielding. In terms of equipment, the automotive electromagnetic interference market can be segmented into EMI test receiver, signal generator, amplifier, spectrum analysis, and ESD generator. The amplifier segment is increases in the forecast year, due to the rise in production of automobile vehicles in the global market. The amplifier are used to reduce the noise in the system were the most of the vehicle are used electronic system. Rise in the production of vehicles is estimated to increase the amplifier market in the forecast year. In terms of vehicle the automotive electromagnetic interference market can be segmented into passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, and electrical vehicles. The government support to green vehicles is anticipated to increase in the electrical vehicles. In electrical vehicles, the electromagnetic radiation is very high, and EMI shielding is used in order to reduce electromagnetic radiation. In commercial vehicles, external devices are frequently used, such as mobile phones, navigation, wireless charging, and music player. Electromagnetic radiation from the external device is likely to transfer to the internal device of the vehicle and the electromagnetic interference is employed to reduce electromagnetic radiation.View Report @In terms of region, the automotive electromagnetic interference market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Asia Pacific is a prominent market for the automobile sector, where India, Japan, and China play a major role due to the increase in production of vehicles. Moreover, the rise in demand for upgraded technology features such as music system, wireless charging, road navigation, and wireless mobile connection is projected to propel the automobile electromagnetic interface market during the forecast period. Europe is the second largest market for automobile manufacturing, will increase the electromagnetic interference market during the forecast period.Key players operating in the automotive electromagnetic interface market include Parker Chomerics, LAIRD PLC, PPG Industries (UK) Limited, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, and RTP Company.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisRequest For Enquiry @The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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 usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Medical Skull CT Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399186 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399186/global-medical-skull-ct-by-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399186 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1399186&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global Medical Skull CT Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Medical Skull CT MarketComputed tomography (CT) imaging, also known as "CAT scanning" (Computerized Axial Tomography), provides a different form of imaging known as cross-sectional imaging. This report mainly covers the medical skull CT.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Medical Skull CT in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversSiemens HealthcareGE HealthcarePhilipsToshibaHitachiShimadzuMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers2S Spiral Scan CT16S Spiral Scan CT64S Spiral Scan CT128S Spiral Scan CTOthersView Report @Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPrivate HospitalPublic HospitalThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Medical Skull CT market.Chapter 1, to describe Medical Skull CT Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Medical Skull CT, with sales, revenue, and price of Medical Skull CT, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Medical Skull CT, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Medical Skull CT market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Medical Skull CT sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceSend An Enquiry Request @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Medical Skull CT Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 2S Spiral Scan CT1.2.2 16S Spiral Scan CT1.2.3 64S Spiral Scan CT1.2.4 128S Spiral Scan CT1.2.5 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Private Hospital1.3.2 Public Hospital1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Siemens Healthcare2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Medical Skull CT Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Siemens Healthcare Medical Skull CT Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 GE Healthcare2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Medical Skull CT Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 GE Healthcare Medical Skull CT Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Philips2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Medical Skull CT Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Philips Medical Skull CT Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Toshiba2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Medical Skull CT Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Toshiba Medical Skull CT Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Hitachi2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Medical Skull CT Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Hitachi Medical Skull CT Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Workspace Aggregator Market: Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/workspace-aggregator-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=27512 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Todays workplaces constitute of different types of applications, various types of devices, and employees, who supposed to have every possible information at any time, at hand and anywhere. Across the globe, various workspace needs to evolve to a connecting applications, information, data, workspace aggregator, identities and services among others.The consumer can able to do their work in all or some of workspace components such as mobile apps, virtual apps, software as a service (SaaS) apps, physical apps, Dropbox account, Box account, AD account, Twitter account, Skype account, Google account, virtual desktop and Live ID among others from their corporate or own devices such as laptops tablets, PCs and smartphones among others.Moreover, increasing the demand of mobile workforce has ensued in the early adoption of workspace aggregator solutions among enterprises globally. Furthermore, increasing adoption of this technology and better operation capabilities by various end use industry is boosting the demand of global Workspace Aggregator market during the forecast period. The market of Workspace Aggregator is predicted a stable during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.Obtain Report Details @Various workspace aggregator vendors are now focusing on simplifying mobile management for legacy applications and enterprise IT resources. The global workspace aggregator market has been segmented on the basis of deployment, application, end use industry, and geography. Based on deployment type, the market has been bifurcated into two types - cloud and on premises. Cloud based deployment segment is expected to dominate the market in the coming years and is expected to remain the leading contributor of revenue throughout the forecast period as well.Enterprises are now adopting cloud based software as a service (SaaS) solutions at affordable prices. These cloud-based systems offer numerous benefits to enterprises which includes the absence of any authoritative local server, predictable expenses, free upgrades, and low IT personnel costs. This in turn is expected to trigger the demand for this product in the coming years.On the basis of application, the market has been bifurcated into mobile device management (MDM), maintenance assist module (MAM), collaboration, and visualization. In 2016, the mobile device management (MDM) segment held the largest share followed by the maintenance assist module (MAM) segment.Request Sample @In addition, growing preference for enterprise mobility and BYOD policy among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is predicted to create better opportunity for MDM during the forecast years. Based on end use industry, the product market has been segmented into manufacturing, healthcare, government, automotive, and retail. On the flip side, data security and privacy issues are likely to hinder the growth of this market in the coming years.Geographically, the global workspace aggregator market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. In 2016, Asia Pacific and North America were major contributors to the global workspace aggregator market, accounting cumulatively for over 50% of the share owing to various organizations installing these workspace aggregators to increase productivity and maintain security.Some of the leading players in the global workspace aggregator market are SAP SE (Germany), Citrix Systems (The U.S), VMware (The U.S), Microsoft Corporation (The U.S), ASG Software (The U.S), Symantec (the U.S), Intel Security (The U.S), Cisco Systems (The U.S), CA Technologies (The U.S), IBM (The U.S) Amtel (The U.S) Juniper Networks (The U.S), Hewlett-Packard (The U.S), and Kaspersky (Russia) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Admedus Ltd (AHZ) Pipeline Review and Key Strategies for 2017 Profiled in a New Study Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1386175 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1386175 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1386175 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ A new research study offering insights on the Admedus Ltd is available on Market Research Hub (MRH). The report titled Admedus Ltd (AHZ) - Product Pipeline Analysis, 2017 Update offers credible, transparent, and accurate information on the company, its key products and brands. The report also gives a comprehensive analysis on the companys pipeline of products, giving stakeholders competitive intelligence on the future strategies.Admedus Ltd is a manufacturers and distributor of medical devices in the immunotherapy and tissue engineering domain. The company has a proprietary ADAPT engineering process, and CardioCel is its flagship product. Headquartered in Australia, the company is currently focusing on developing effective vaccinations against infectious diseases and cancers. The target area for the company is building vaccination and treatment against Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-2) and HPV. In addition to developing treatment equipment, the company is also a distributor of infusion pumps, including infusion pumps, syringe and volumetric pumps.Request Free Sample Report@Buyers can expect credible information on the company, its future strategies, and the key products in the pipeline. Decision makers will be in a better position to know about the competition they can expect to face, and they can create highly effective counter strategies to consolidate their position in the market. As the report offers information on the company, its key competitors, global subsidiaries, and the total number of employees, stakeholders in the market can expect a wealth of information on the pipeline products on the basis of equipment type, development stage, indication, and trial status.Browse Full Report with TOC@To give readers valuable insights, the report also offers information on the different stages of development of the pipeline products and estimated launch date. The regulatory process necessary for commercialization of a product has been discussed in the report. The trials of the company that are underway are also discussed in the report, with estimated start and stop date offered to readers. The key reasons to buy this report include the opportunity to get an update on the key trends and developments that are likely to shape the companys strategy in the near future. The insights from the report can be fed to the marketing and sales team, and the strategy team can plan according to the strategy of the competitors. The report can also help a company in understanding the merger and acquisition opportunity and leverage on the high-value products that competitors in this landscape are likely to add to their potfolio.Enquire About this Report@About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: - 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email:- press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:-Read Industry News at :- Global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399187 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399187/global-medium-molecular-weight-polyisobutylene-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399187 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1399187&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene MarketThis report studies the Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene market. Medium molecular weight polyisobutylenes average molecular weight ranges between 40,000 and 120,000 g/mol. Medium molecular weight polyisobutylene is employed as viscosity modifier, tack improver in adhesive formulations, and primary binder in caulking and sealing compounds. It is also used in fuel and lubricating oil additives. It is extensively used as a protective barrier in the adhesive industry. For instance, it is used where exposure to sunlight is a potential risk for sealants. Medium molecular weight polyisobutylene is employed in insulating glass sealants and roofing membranes in the construction industry. Furthermore, it is used in protective films or acoustic barriers in the automotive industry. Medium molecular weight polyisobutylene is also an essential ingredient in the production of chewing gums.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversBASFENEOSJilin PetrochemicalShandong HongruiZhejiang ShundaMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversFood GradeIndustrial GradeView Report @Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAdhesivesSealantsLubricantsRoofingParaffin and waxesBitumenChewing gumOtherThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene market.Chapter 1, to describe Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene, with sales, revenue, and price of Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceSend An Enquiry Request @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Food Grade1.2.2 Industrial Grade1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Adhesives1.3.2 Sealants1.3.3 Lubricants1.3.4 Roofing1.3.5 Paraffin and waxes1.3.6 Bitumen1.3.1 Chewing gum1.3.2 Other1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 BASF2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 BASF Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 ENEOS2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 ENEOS Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Jilin Petrochemical2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Jilin Petrochemical Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Shandong Hongrui2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Shandong Hongrui Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Zhejiang Shunda2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Zhejiang Shunda Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer3.2 Global Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer3.3 Market Concentration Rate3.3.1 Top 3 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Manufacturer Market Share3.3.2 Top 6 Medium Molecular Weight Polyisobutylene Manufacturer Market Share3.4 Market Competition TrendBuy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Truck Platooning System Market Value Projected to Expand by 2017-2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=32891 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=32891 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Truck platooning is discern as the future of the transportation industry. In a truck platoon, multiple trucks travel at an aerodynamically efficient distance and drive cooperatively by maintaining the distance. A truck platoon is similar to a trains compartment like arrangement but with physical disconnects. If truck platoons are permitted to operate exclusively on truck-only highways, it is likely to lead to an integrated business model between the infrastructure service provider and transportation service provider. It may also result in several public-private partnerships for financing the concept of truck platooning. The market for truck platooning system is anticipated to pave opportunities for several new businesses including road construction business, transportation, logistics service providers, and information, commutation & technology (ICT) providers because of the potential business opportunity arising from connected technology offerings and the need for wireless communication technologies. Furthermore, several taxi platoons or several cars traversing the same route can enter the platoon mode for a more relaxed driving experience and, thus, leverage the benefits that stem from platooning. The advent of new businesses is expected to steer this markets growth over the forecast period. With Europe holding a clear vision for truck platooning by 2025, this market is anticipated to have a positive outlook in the coming years. Furthermore, the Infrastructure and Environment Ministry of Europe affirmed plans to harmonize rules to facilitate large-scale, cross-border transportation through truck platooning. Additionally, several states in the US such as Texas, Florida, and California are processing applicable legislation and are also getting ready for pilot testing, which will propel the growth for truck platooning system market during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample@The global truck platooning system market can be segmented based on component, technology, vehicle, and region. In terms of component, the truck platooning system market can be divided into forward looking camera, system display with rear time camera, driver-centric design, and RADAR base collision mitigation. Rise in adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems in truck platooning has led to an upsurge in the demand for RADAR base collision mitigation segment. These system not only aid the vehicle in collision detection, warning, avoidance, and mitigation but also in lane change assistance, pedestrian protection systems, and blind spot monitoring. These features are expected to boost the demand for RADAR base collision mitigation segment during the forecast year. Forward looking camera and driver centric design segment are also estimated to be in high demand in the next few years. Based on technology, the truck platooning system market can be classified into acceleration & braking controller, GPS, cellular & Wi-Fi communication, and DSRS vehicle to vehicle communication. The DSRS vehicle to vehicle communication segment is expected to play a key role in the global truck platooning system market during the forecast period. Automobile manufacturers and technical vendors are investing in vehicle to vehicle communication in order to gain competitive advantage in the truck platooning system market. Base on vehicle the truck platooning system market can be classified into light commercial vehicle, and heavy commercial vehicle.Based on geography, the global truck platooning system market can be segregated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. The European market is a mature automotive market and holds high potential for the truck platooning system market. The region is well placed in terms of smart mobility and developed ICT infrastructure and with the implementation of favorable regulatory mandates, this market is expected to witness projected growth in the region over the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Key players operating in the global truck platooning system market are Daimler AG, Scania AB, AB Volvo, Peloton Technology, DAF, OTTO MOTORS, Bendix Commercial Vehicles Systems LLC, Meritor WABCO, and Continental AG.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Banasthali Bags Double Honours - 25th Business School Affaire Dewang Mehta National Education Awards Banasthali Bags Double Honours - 25th Business School Affaire Dewang Mehta National Education Awards http://www.banasthali.org/ http://www.banasthali.org www.facebook.com/Banasthali.org Throughout the 82-year history, Banasthali has built not only national but also international reputation for achieving excellence in its mission and vision for synthesis of spiritual values and scientific achievements of the East and the West.If the IT industry in India today is a name to reckonwith in global arena, it indeed owes a lot for its dizzying heights to National Association of Software and Service Companies Nasscom and its first executive Director `software evangelist' Dewang Mehta (1962 2001) who shall always be remembered by the IT fraternity as the man who brought credibility and respect to the role of a lobbyist in India, remained accessible to the media at all times and was one of the champions who worked towards transforming India into one of the key players in the global software arena.The patron for the award is Dr Harish Mehta Chairman, Onward Technologies Ltd who was also founder member of Nasscom and its former chairman. The 25th Business School Affaire Dewang Mehta National Education Awards presented by Hindustan Unilever Ltd took place on 25 Nov 2017 at Taj Lands End Mumbai in a glittering function.The B School of Banasthali aptly named WISDOM which stands for Womens Institute for Studies in Development Oriented Management has a Vision to prepare women for enlightened leadership roles in all walks of life. The Institute's mission is to contribute towards development of women leadership that would play active role in society-building, entrepreneurship and management of organizations and institutions in consonance with nation's spiritual and cultural heritage and its own context. WISDOM offers BCom, BBA, MBA and PhD programs in management. In addition a student of B.A. can also take up management as one of the options. Dr Harsh Purohit Professor of Finance and Dean FMS - WISDOM, State Bank of India School of Commerce & Banking Banasthali Vidyapith received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Education at 25th Business School Affaire Dewang Mehta National Education Awards.According to Global Womens Entrepreneurship Research, Women are 1.17 times more likely than men to create social ventures rather than only economic ventures, and 1.23 times more likely to pursue environmental ventures than economic-focused ventures. Based on strong research and innovation ecosystem, forward plan, quality of proposed team in terms of qualifications and experience, sector focus, rural area location, overall infrastructure, capability to support startups, number of patents etc, its indeed a matter of great pride that Banasthali was chosen in 2017 by NITI Aayog in the first list of 10 institutions from 3658 aspiring ones for hosting the 10-crore Atal Incubation Centre AIC. It is indeed a matter of pride that AIC Banasthali was declared as the Best Incubation Centre for Women and CEO AIC Abhishek Pareek received the same at the 25th Business School Affaire Dewang Mehta National Education Awards.For more details about Banasthali seeAbout Banasthali: The Institution which is also the largest fully residential womens university in the world has played a big role in revolutionizing womens education in the country for the last eight decades with a belief that there is a tremendous role of higher education in empowering the women. Banasthali has scripted numerous success stories in a wide range of fields, and stands tall among the citadels of learning in India today. Team Banasthali with Vice Chancellor J C Bose Memorial Award for eminent scientist recipient Prof Aditya Shastri a highly acclaimed alumnus of BITS Pilani, SUNY State University of New York Stony Brook and MIT USA is indeed racing forward to be the very best among global women universities. Proud to be Banasthali alumni who call themselves as Banasthalites can be found in all latitudes, longitudes and altitudes in all walks of life across the globe.Banasthali UniversityP.O. Banasthali VidyapithRajasthan 304022Phone 91 1438 228456 / 228341Email: info@banasthali.ac.inWebsite:Facebook: Tooth Filling Materials Market share, Competitive Analysis, Industry Outlook 2024 Global Market Insights, Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/816 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/tooth-filling-materials-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/816 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-artificial-intelligence-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com According to the research report Tooth Filling Materials Market Size by Product (Glass Ionomer, Silver Amalgam, Composite Fillings, Ceramic Fillings, Gold Fillings, Liners, Temporary Cements), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Russia, Poland, Japan, China, India, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024, By Global Market Insights, Inc. says, Tooth Filling Materials Market is slated to exceed a revenue of USD 1.4 billion by the end of 2024, with a projected CAGR of 3.7% over the period of 2016-2024.Conjunctive efforts by the renowned regulatory bodies to increase awareness regarding oral hygiene is pushing tooth filling materials markets application horizon. Growing prevalence of dental disorders especially among geriatric population has resulted in an increase in the cosmetic dental procedures, which in turn is providing a lucrative opportunity to the overall market. As per an estimation, merely 42% of the adult population use oral hygiene products and around 21% of the adults regularly visit dentists annually. This depicts the low level of awareness regarding the oral hygiene among the global population, which results in tooth ailments, in turn driving the tooth filling materials industry.Order This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.The differentiating factor of Tooth Filling Materials market report by Global Market Insights, Inc. when compared with other, similar syndicated research studies includes a 360-degree synopsis of trends for a period of more than 10 years including historic information as well as future outlook. Business focused multiple trends for Tooth Filling Materials industry are discussed along with regional trends to offer an overall view of the market. The industry insights chapter of this research provides the most comprehensive analysis of Tooth Filling Materials market covering segmentation, size, forecasts, ecosystem analysis and more.Industry impact forces (regional and global) that cover growth drivers and challenges, growth potential analysis, a strategy dashboard for competitive landscape of Tooth Filling Materials market support this sector specific data and information points.Request for a sample of this research report -Tooth filling materials industry is gaining a prominence with the advancements of technology in dentistry along with shifting trends of cosmetic dental procedures. In this regard, U.S. is one of the leading regions experiencing a significant upturn in the regional industry. It accounted for a revenue of USD 270 million in 2015. Diversification in related products and growing consumer preference toward aesthetic dentistry are favoring the U.S. tooth filling materials market growth. ADHA (American Dental Hygienists Association) reported that 80% of U.S. population suffers from periodontal gum disease, and almost 78% at least have a single cavity by the time they touch the age of 17.Browse key industry insights spread across 110 pages with 99 data tables & 6 figures & charts from this 2017 report Tooth Filling Materials Market in detail along with the table of contents at:Silver amalgam, gold, ceramic, and composite are the basic four types of filling materials that are being adopted in the filling process. On account of the expanding cosmetic dentistry, silver amalgam tooth filling materials industry dominated the global share by accounting for over USD 360 million in 2015. The product demand is anticipated to observe a surge in the years ahead with a projected revenue of more than USD 506 million by the end of 2024. Gold is another lucrative filling material with a high growth prospect owing to its compatibility with food compounds and related social value. Gold is one of the oldest dental restorative materials that is still being widely used.Gold tooth filling materials market is estimated to grow substantially at a CAGR of 2.9% over 2016-2024. Glass ionomer are popular among lower age group due to least pain associated with it, and color compatibility of it. The spreading awareness regarding oral hygiene has resulted in an increase in routine dental checkup rate which, in turn, is catering composite filling market. As per the estimates, composite based tooth filling materials market is expected to grow at an annual rate 3.8% over the coming seven years.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @APAC tooth filling materials market contributed 36% of the global revenue in 2015 and is set to witness appreciable growth trends over the coming timeframe. China is likely to drive APAC industry with a projected CAGR of 4.6% over 2016-2024. Europe tooth filling materials industry will also experience a steady gain with Germany at the growth forefront. The growth can majorly be attributed to the favorable reimbursement policies and growing demand for cosmetic dental procedures across this region.Price remains a major growth deciding factor for the overall industry. Tooth filling materials market is fragmented and fiercely competitive which requires high-level efforts by the players to offer a diversified product portfolio in terms of cost and technology. Vertical integration is one of the key strategies adopted by the industry participants to improve supply value chain. Prominent tooth filling materials industry players include DENTSPLY International, DMG Chemisch-Pharmazeutische Fabrik, SDI Limited, DenMat Holdings, Coltene Whaledent, GC America, and Heraeus kulzer gmbh.Browse Related Reports:Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market Size By Application (Medical Imaging & Diagnosis, Drug Discovery, Therapy Planning, Hospital Workflow), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 - 2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Enterprise Report Management Market Report - Growth, Trends, Analysis and Forecasts to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/enterprise-report-management-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20546 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Enterprise Report Management Market: SnapshotEnterprise report management (ERM) is a framework or philosophy utilized for taking care of, capacity, and exact and convenient dissemination of reports and archives and basic data over an enterprise. ERP innovation consequently forms reports and records from a wide range of frameworks. ERM consolidates all end client records and yield content halfway, empowering financially savvy access and conveyance for every one of its clients, accomplices, and representatives. The fundamental aphorism of the enterprise report management arrangement is to give essential data to administrators in a successful way, to enable chiefs to take powerful choices. Enterprise report management for the most part appear as tables, charts, and content. It encourages end clients to view and access reports on the web, print what they need (for example, receipt duplicate, guarantee card, and so forth.) and bundle the data for simple and effective conveyance.Read Report Overview @The ERM lessens the cost of archive creation, taking care of and duplication, and capacity. ERM is helpful in diminishing activity over the enterprise system and online interfaces and decreases cost related with arrange movement. Additionally, ERM bolsters advanced report safeguarding by upgrading the record lifecycle to build information accessibility, enhanced client profitability, enhanced operations proficiency, and expanded management control. Numerous businesses, private and government instructive establishments, managing an account, and so forth are expected to make sufficient development open door for the enterprise report management framework.Global Enterprise Report Management Market: Trends and ProspectsExponential development in the Internet stage and expansion of online organizations is driving enterprises to digitize the value-based process. Enterprises need to digitize the value-based process is relied upon to drive the worldwide enterprise report management market sooner rather than later. Across the board utilization of mobiles i.e. versatile endpoints, quick software as a service (SaaS) organization, and developing computerized desires, which incorporates client administration and fulfillment is expected to support the worldwide ERM market amid the conjecture time frame.Besides, enormous development among online clients has made the requirement for very effective instruments for report management. This is one of the huge components driving the development of the worldwide enterprise report management market. Nonetheless, high working expenses are connected with report sorting out, printing, appropriating, and putting away. Cloud based arrangement is relied upon to make development open door for the enterprise report management market internationally. Additionally, expanding end-to-end arrangements is expected to make development open door for the market.Request Report Brochure @Global Enterprise Report Management Market: Regional OverviewRegion-wise, the worldwide enterprise report management market has been isolated into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America is relied upon to contribute the huge offer of the worldwide market. The market in the area is foreseen to witness consistent development amid the estimate time frame. The ERM market in Asia Pacific is relied upon to indicate noteworthy development sooner rather than later attributable to increment in government activities to digitize exchanges.Global Enterprise Report Management Market: Competitive LandscapeThe core players which are operating in the global enterprise report management market are Hewlett-Packard (HP), Systemware Inc., EMC, OpenText Corporation, Xerox Corporation, Hyland Software, Inc., Softwin Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Oracle Corporation, IBM Global Business Services, Alfresco Software, Inc., SpringCM, Lexmark International, Inc., and HP Autonomy.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399189 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399189/global-multi-functional-cooking-food-processors-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399189 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1399189&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report Global Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors MarketA food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Multi-Functional food processor have a variety of features including chopping, pureeing, shredding, dicing and even juicing.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDelonghi GroupConair Corporation (Cuisinart)Whirlpool (KitchenAid)Hamilton Beach BrandsBSH Home AppliancesBrevilleTAURUS GroupMagimixSpectrum Brands (Black+ Decker)Newell Brands (Oster)PhilipsPanasonicMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)View Report @Market Segment by Type, covers4 Cup Capacity8 Cup Capacity12 Cup CapacityOver 12 Cup CapacityMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoResidential UseCommercial UseThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors market.Chapter 1, to describe Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors, with sales, revenue, and price of Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceSend An Enquiry Request @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 4 Cup Capacity1.2.2 8 Cup Capacity1.2.3 12 Cup Capacity1.2.4 Over 12 Cup Capacity1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Residential Use1.3.2 Commercial Use1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Delonghi Group2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Delonghi Group Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Conair Corporation (Cuisinart)2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Conair Corporation (Cuisinart) Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Whirlpool (KitchenAid)2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Whirlpool (KitchenAid) Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Hamilton Beach Brands2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Hamilton Beach Brands Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 BSH Home Appliances2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 BSH Home Appliances Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Breville2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Breville Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7 TAURUS Group2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 TAURUS Group Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8 Magimix2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Magimix Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9 Spectrum Brands (Black+ Decker)2.9.1 Business Overview2.9.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Spectrum Brands (Black+ Decker) Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10 Newell Brands (Oster)2.10.1 Business Overview2.10.2 Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Newell Brands (Oster) Multi-Functional Cooking Food Processors Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)Buy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz E-signature Platform Market Growth, Share, Demand and Analysis of Key Players, Forecasts to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/e-signature-platform-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20555 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The e-signature or electronic signature is a symbol, process or an electronic sound logically associated with a contract, adopted by a person with the objective of signing any record or contract. An e-signature platform is a software toolkit designated to support enterprises to integrate electronic signature functionalities into websites or in a business application. E-signature platforms furnish an interface to distribute and sign documents online, confining the appropriate certificate authorities to deliver relying on digital certificates. It provide e-signature software to gather signatures on documents shared electronically, by eliminating the need for physical documents and processes to record signatures. Electronic signature platforms facilitate the circulation of legally confidential documents, for instance, sales contracts, employment paperwork, or such work for which signatures are often required. Moreover, e-signature platform support the generation, right from the most generic to the most advanced electronic signature formats.Read Report Overview @Government policies such as the U.S. Federal law known as the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, the acceptance of electronic signature by the certain jurisdictional authorities, which includes the Federal Courts of the U.S. and the Supreme Court of Canada, is anticipated to boost the global e-signature platform market in the near future. The growing need for e-signatures, efficient security transactions and the need to authenticate user identity are increasing the demand for the e-signature or electronic signature platform market, which is expected to show significant growth globally. Moreover, the demand for completely customizable solutions, flexible document or legal contract delivery across on-premise, cloud and web-based platforms is a major driver. However, the high initial investment required for the implementation and integration of the e-signature platform is anticipated to obstruct the growth of the global e-signature platform market.The e-signature platform market is primarily segmented based on component, deployment and by application. Based on component type the global electronic signature or e-signature market is further segmented into software and services, where the services segment is further classified into consulting, integration, and operation & maintenance. On the basis of deployment type, the e-signature platform market is classified as on-premise, cloud-based and web-based. Moreover, the global market is also classified across end use industries, which includes banking financial services and insurance (BFSI), human resource, legal, real estate, education and research, government and others. In terms of geographies the global electronic signature platform market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South America. The acceptance of e-signatures around the globe and significant adaptation of the electronic signature platform in North America is because of stringent cyber laws and tremendous growth in the financial sector in this region. However, South America has the least adoption of e-signature technology due to the weak and diversified cyber laws in the region. Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific regions are anticipated to show significant growth, with notable compound annual growth rates during the forecast period.Request Report Brochure @Some of the major players of the global e-signature platform market, with significant development in region and large market share include Adobe Systems Incorporation, Docu Sign Inc., Entrust Datacard Corporation, Right Signature LLC, AssureSign LLC., VASCO, eSignLive, Cryptolog, eSignly, Canvas and Signix.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Aircraft De-icing Market: Trends, Analysis, Application & Type Forecast to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/aircraft-de-icing-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21617 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Aircraft De-icing Market: SnapshotAircraft de-icing is delineated as evacuation of snow, ice, or ice from the surface of an aircraft. De-icing is normally followed by hostile to icing, a procedure of restraining further gathering of ice or ice for a restricted remnant time. De-icing can be accomplished with the utilization of warmth, by mechanical techniques, or by utilizing aircraft de-icing liquids (ADFs). In circumstances like cold conditions on ground, aircraft de-icing is required. Because of solidified contaminations, control surfaces of an aircraft get uneven, disrupting smooth wind current, and deeply degrading the energy of the wing to create lift, and in addition expanding drag. This circumstance may cause a crash. Thus, de-icing assumes a critical part in the aircraft business.Read Report Overview @Aircraft De-icing Market: Trends and ProspectsThe worldwide aircraft de-icing market is encountering huge development at present, because of clean plane idea, modernization and extension of existing air terminals, innovative headways, expanding requirement for travelers' solace, and flight delays amid snowfall. Requirement for keeping up the wellbeing of air terminal operations amid frigid climate conditions is additionally a purpose behind appropriation of aircraft de-icing. A plane is made by considering the likely outcomes of stream of air on standard wings. Debasements, for example, snow, ice, or ice on wings aggravate this wind stream, causing lessened lift, risen drag, and most likely, uncommon pitch attributes. Henceforth, an idea called clean plane has been presented. Because of this idea, departure is denied when snow, ice, or ice sticks to plane wings, propellers, or control surfaces. The perfect plane idea is required to be a noteworthy driver for the worldwide aircraft de-icing market. Necessities for lucrative introductory speculations and new administrative measures on the accumulation and treatment prerequisites for de-icing releases are foreseen to deter the worldwide aircraft de-icing market. Development and expedient change of airplane terminals around the globe are likewise assessed to offer development chances to the significant players working in the market.Aircraft De-icing Market: Market PotentialWith more than 1,000 organizations recorded on it along with a market evaluation of $ 3.50 trillion in February, the SSE emerges as the second biggest stock trade in Asia and 5th on the planet. Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co Ltd and some others like to work at this dependable space. As a non-benefit association, it is worked by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).Since the SSE was just set up in 1866, it needed to close down in 1941 because of the Japanese occupation, Shanghai. In 1990, December 19, following quite a while of misfortune, the SSE at long last had its real rebound with an official re-emergence of operations.Request Report Brochure @Aircraft De-icing Market: Regional OverviewOn the premise of topographies, the market has been divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America is relied upon to overwhelm the worldwide market, trailed by Europe. This is inferable from the predominant climatic conditions and increment in demand for aircraft de-icing. The Americas represented the biggest market offer of around 62% amid 2014. This exploration report predicts the district to hold its strength in the worldwide market until the finish of 2019, developing at a rate of 4%. The expanding number of aircraft armadas and the developing benefits of the carriers is foreseen to bring about high interests in de-icing hardware in the district, in this way driving the market development.Aircraft De-icing Market: Vendor LandscapeVestergaard Company, Cox & Company, Weihai Guangtai, Airport Equipment Co., The Dow Chemical Company, Denge Airport Equipment, UTC Aerospace Systems, Laanga Industrial, Sdi Aviation, Cox & Company, and Global Ground Support LLC are among the major tycoons reigning in aircraft de-icing market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market share to reach $12bn by 2024 Global Market Insights, Inc. https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/805 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/medical-nonwoven-disposables-market https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/805 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/disposable-incontinence-products-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com According to research report Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market Size By Product [Hygiene (Incontinence Pads & Ostomy Liners, Panty Shield, Disposable Underwear, Disposable Diaper (Ultra-Absorbent, Super-Absorbent, Gender-Specific, Biodegradable, Regular Diapers), Medical Supplies (Disposable Surgical Mask, Surgical Drape, Cap, Gown, Sterile Nonwoven Swab), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024, by Global Market Insights, Inc., Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market worth over USD 6.98 billion in 2015, is projected to record a CAGR of 7% over the period of 2016-2024.Sheer vulnerability to hospital acquired infections and rising cognizance about these diseases is slated to boost medical nonwoven disposables market. Geriatric population prone to urinary incontinence will offer lucrative avenues for medical non-woven disposables industry to prosper rapidly. Progression in healthcare IT such as peach mat absorbent core technology and micro encapsulation technology which helps high-level safety to incontinence patients and urine absorption respectively are expected to widen medical nonwoven disposables industry growth prospects.Request for a sample of this research report -Emerging economics, growing awareness towards incontinence, and introduction of premium quality surgical and medical disposals have resulted in widespread acceptance of non-woven disposal products. In addition to this, strict reforms especially circulated in government hospitals which encourage more use of nonwoven fabrics, is expected to stimulate medical nonwoven disposables market over the forecast span.Medical nonwoven disposals industry players are rigorously investing on introducing new, safe, value added enhanced quality medical apparels. For instance, well known global brands such as Kimberly-Clark and SCA introduced Core-Lokt technology and TENA Identifi respectively that offers better comfort to the patients suffering from incontinence.Based on products, global medical nonwoven disposables market is fragmented into disposables nonwoven hygiene products and disposables nonwoven medical products. The nonwoven disposables hygiene products industry is poised to surpass a revenue of USD 6.5 billion by 2024, primarily driven by the growing prevalence of incontinence.Medical supplies non-woven disposables include surgical masks, caps, drapes, sterile nonwoven swab, and gowns. Disposables surgical drape segment dominated the medical supplies product landscape and is forecast to reach a revenue worth over USD 2.5 billion by 2024.Browse key industry insights spread across 105 pages with 56 market data tables & 10 figures & charts from the report Medical Nonwoven Disposables Market in detail along with the table of contents:The expansion of global medical nonwoven disposables market can be credited mainly to three geographies, North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. US medical non-woven disposables industry worth over USD 2 billion in 2015, is anticipated to show substantial growth over the coming years, driven by the increasing demand for incontinence products by women and children. An estimation shows that approximately 28 million people in North America use incontinence disposables products of which women hold a larger share of 33% followed by 10% geriatric population.Japan accounted for a major portion in the Asia Pacific medical non-woven disposables industry by contributing 47% of the total revenue in 2015 and is predicted to record a revenue worth USD 1.2 billion at an annual growth rate of 6.5% over 2016 to2024.Europe led by Germany is expected to exhibit a widespread growth in the medical nonwoven disposables market, mainly owing to the stringent government norms put forth in these regions.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Although the technical advancements and growing consumer awareness is pushing the manufacturers to incline toward non-woven disposables over woven fabrics, yet abundance of products substitutes which are comparatively cheaper is restraining the nonwoven disposable market growth. However, implementation of AAMI (Advancement of medical instrumentation) for sterilization of medical tools will significantly augment medical nonwoven disposables industry growth.Prominent market participants of the nonwoven disposables market include Kimberly Clark Corporation, Inc., Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), and Covidien.Browse Related Reports:Disposable Incontinence Products Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Physiotherapy Equipment Market by Product, Analysis and Forecasts to 2019 Reportsweb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-physiotherapy-equipment-market-research-study-2015-2019 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001232373/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW0001232373/buying Physiotherapy is a technique that uses various procedures and equipment to relieve physical ailments. It has evolved from a simple massage to a complex variety of treatments. It is an essential part of rehabilitation after surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation procedures to promote mobility. Physiotherapy plays a significant role for physically challenged people and provides relief to the patients with injuries and chronic disorders such as stroke, arthritis, and cerebral palsy.Publisher's analysts forecast the global physiotherapy equipment market to grow at a CAGR of 6.35% over the period 2014-2019.For more informationCovered in this reportThe report covers the current scenario and the growth prospects of the global physiotherapy equipment market for the period of 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated through sales of the following product categories:- Equipment- AccessoriesPublisher's report, Global Physiotherapy Equipment Market 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the landscape of the market and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key regions- Americas- APAC- EMEAKey vendors- BTL Industries- DJO Global- Enraf-Nonius- Patterson MedicalRequest Sample CopyOther prominent vendors- A. Algeo- Dynatronics- EMS Physio- Gymna Uniphy- Isokinetic- Mettler Electronics- Naimco/Rich-Mar- RS Medical- Zynex MedicalMarket driver- Increasing incidence of chronic diseases- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Availability of alternative therapies- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Technological advancements- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMake an enquiry:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market - Competitive outlook to stay abreast on the key trends 2025, Crowley Carbon Ltd., OSRAM, Veolia, Candelas Ltd., Dalkia Energy Saving Performance Contracting https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=199762 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=199762 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=199762 www.researchnreports.com A comprehensive analysis of the Global M2M Satellite Communication Market 2017 is been done in this intelligence report. It includes the investigations done on the past progress, ongoing market scenarios, and future prospects. The research report, titled Global Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market Report 2017 2025 offers a reasonable comprehension of the topic. The report has been amassed using primary and subordinate research methodologies. These techniques are pointed towards coordinating exact and specific information relating to market progression, verifiable occasions, and the present market picture.Energy Saving Performance ContractingEnergy Saving Performance Contracting market trendEnergy savings and performance contracting alludes to a nonpartisan way to deal with diminish energy consumption and water utilization of a building, and subsequently increment the general operational effectiveness. Offices proprietors would now be able to save their capital spending plans by working together with energy benefit organization and pay for the overhauls in portions while the energy sparing proceeds. Now and again, the Energy savings and performance contracting execute a sustainable power source task to the offices, which have higher return esteems, albeit overwhelming beginning venture wavers the customers. Increasing population across the world and consequent rapid urbanization, the demand for energy is touching new peaks. Smart cities and smart buildings are now being built in budget-neutral approach to reduce energy and water consumption.Get Sample with Latest Advancements @The research publication presents an objective and comprehensive overview of the global Energy Saving Performance Contracting market for the period 2017 to 2025, emphasizing on the definition, industry chain structure, application, classification, policy evaluation, industry overview, and news analysis of the global market. The overall global demand for the market over the reports forecast period forms the main focus of the report. Divided into a number of concise and in-depth chapters, the research study is supported with the help of a list of figures and tables that give clients a quantitative assessment of the global market.It explains a detailed outline of the Global Enterprise Social Software Market depending on the important parameters. End users, products, regions, and many other segments are studied and explained. A brief idea of the driving forces which help make the market more flourishing is discussed in order to help the client understand the future market position. Estimated revenue growth in terms of volume with respect to the market for the upcoming years has been mentioned in depth.Enquiry before Buying This Report @The scope of the report covers the M2M Satellite Communication market analysis by type (solutions and services), deployment type, fleet type, and region. The operations management solution is expected to have the largest market share during the forecast period, owing to the much needed functionalities, such as the real time-tracking of vehicle location, geo-fencing, and route optimization, aiding in optimizing the fuel usage.According to the research report, the global market for Energy Saving Performance Contracting is witnessing a continual rise in its valuation with the advancement in technologies, which is impacting the consumer behavior and, accordingly, their purchasing patterns to a great extent. In addition to this, the rising penetration of internet and the surge in mobile surfing are anticipated to boost the demand for network management software across the world, states the research report.Prominent key players in Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market are LUTRON, Crowley Carbon Ltd., OSRAM, Veolia, Candelas Ltd., and Dalkia among others.For more details enquire,Table of ContentsGlobal Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Global Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Global Energy Saving Performance Contracting Market Effect Factors AnalysisAbout Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact Us:Sunny Denis10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,(Sales Manager),+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com , Airport Retailing Market By Analysis of Major Industry Segments, Growth, Share 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/airport-retailing-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21626 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Airport retailing has become a popular concept in the last few years. Often called travel retail (which takes place mostly but not entirely in an airport), it has become one of the important strategies of companies planning to promote and create awareness about their brand. Airports where airfares are low are not able to generate high revenue from aeronautical business. Therefore, they shift to non-aeronautical businesses such as retail shops, restaurant, bars, and cafeterias. Airport retailing can also include services such as hotels, nursing homes, car rental outlets, banks, exchange offices, drugstores, and other stores such as jewelry, books and magazines, gifts and crafts, clothing & accessories, convenience stores, optics, perfumes, and souvenirs.Read Report Overview @Airport retailing requires several characteristics for better functioning. For instance, a store needs to be at a convenient location for efficient accessibility. Furthermore, wide range of products and prolonged customer service might attract customer attention at airports. However, the quality and quantity of products in stores located in an airport strongly depend on the number of passengers travelling through the airport, and whether the airport is international or domestic. Retail stores can avail various benefits by establishing an outlet at an airport. Brand recognition and awareness are the most important ones. These provide immense scope for retail outlets to showcase their brand and broaden their customer base.The airport retailing market is driven by the rise in number of passengers, specifically in countries such as India and China, where the level of commute is high. The airport retailing market is also boosted by travelers appetite for shopping on-the-go and retailers growing skills for selling products. The time spent by passengers at airports has also increased due to the early check-in times set by airlines due to security and operational concerns. This has offered retailers the scope to sell products efficiently. High disposable income of people in growing economies has provided opportunity for big brands to set up their stores in airport premises. People shop the most in the timeframe between clearing the security-immigration desks and boarding the aircraft. Therefore, airports strive to cut down the waiting times at check-in, security, and immigration queues to maximize this timeframe. Viable prices and the presence of big brands at discounted prices are vital factors encouraging travelers to make purchases at airport retail stores. Retail store at airports are duty-free; this typically means that these stores are exempted from payment of local or national taxes. Thus, travelers can buy products available in these stores at cheaper rates. Brands are customizing their offerings to help improve the shopping experience of travelers.In order to efficiently compete in the market and create value proposition, retailers are engaged in extensive research to collect data related to flight schedules, number of passengers in the flight, and location. The data is expected to help retailers keep check of their warehouses, adopt price skimming strategies, and conduct promotional activities to create strong customer base.Request Report Brochure @Key players operating in the airport retailing market are Dufry AG, Tata Inc., Shoppers Stop Ltd, William Penn Ltd., Pavers England Limited, WH Smith PLC, Hidesign Accessories Ltd., and World Duty Free Group.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Archiving Software Market Insights With Key Company Profiles - Demand, Analysis, Forecast To 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/archiving-software-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21641 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A rapidly growing information and technology sector has increased the importance of data and document management. Managing and maintaining data such as e-mails, photos, and financials along with survey data and voicemails is a tedious task for any organization. Furthermore, inactive data occupies a huge part of storage space from the primary storage system. Inactive data is the data that is not required immediately but could be required in the future by the organization. The process of moving such nonactive data to a separate storage device so that it could be recovered or retained after a long time is called archiving. To address the archiving concerns, many companies have introduced archiving software. Archiving software manages and controls archived data for users. The major advantage of using archiving software is the improved efficiency of storage infrastructure.Read Report Overview @The intensive penetration of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has led to the massive increase in data repositories. Demand for archiving software is increasing due to the necessity of managing these large data repositories. The need for data discovery is also generating demand for archiving software. Organizations are capturing a huge amount of data from sources such as security, business analytics, and other internal sources, which is further increasing the need for archiving software. Archiving software enables an organization to locate essential files with ease. Additionally, the primary driver of the archiving software market is the increased demand for data visibility and data management in information, communication, and technology companies.Archiving softwares storage optimization function and granularity are helping organizations manage data efficiently and avoid loss. The need for organizations to store data other than just emails has increased and archiving software caters to this essential need of businesses. The ability of the archiving software to search information by data types such as pdf and HTML is important for data sorting. Archiving software can handle a wide range of data types, which makes it highly flexible among different industry verticals. The increasing number of archival software vendors has made the market highly competitive. The emergence of virtual archive software, eliminating the need for hardware setup is one of the growing trends in the archiving software market. Growing investments in emerging countries such as China and India are anticipated to further increase the competition in the archival software market.On-premise and cloud-based are the two deployment methods used for the archiving software market. The archival software market is further divided in two segments according to enterprise size: small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. Telecommunication, information technology, banking and financial institutes, healthcare, and manufacturing are some of the industries that use archiving software for data management. The archiving software market is also divided into five regional segments: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South America.Request Report Brochure @Some of the key vendors of archiving software are Waterford Technologies, EMC Corporation, NTP Software, Inc., ArcMail, CommVault Systems Inc., Iron Mountain Incorporated, ASG Technologies, Autonomy Corporation PLC, Archive Power Systems Inc., QStar Technologies, and Quantum Corporation.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Card Printing Ribbon Market Is Set To Reach A Valuation In Excess Of US$ 830 Mn By 2022-End, Expanding At A Healthy CAGR Card Printing Ribbon Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1326968 https://www.researchmoz.us/card-printing-ribbon-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2022-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Card Printing Ribbon Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report offers an in-depth analysis of the global market for card printing ribbon with key projections for the period 2017-2022. The report also covers major technologies and trends that have been instrumental in propelling the growth of the card printing ribbon market in recent years. It also highlights leading drivers, restraints and opportunities projected to impact the dynamics of the market during the next five years. The study offers an all-round perspective on the markets growth in terms of revenue in key regions.Card Printing Ribbon Market: Trends and OpportunitiesGlobal card printing market is witnessing a steady growth due to increasing use of cards across domains. Moreover, technological advancements resulting in timely upgrades of card printing machines is projected to drive the demand for card printing ribbon over the next couple of years. Apart from this, increasing application of cards in sectors such as BFSI, healthcare and corporations is creating a substantial amount of card printing requirements.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report also offers the value chain analysis on the card printing ribbon market using porters five forces methodology. The card printing ribbon market estimates are results of in-depth primary interviews, secondary research and a thorough review by an in-house panel of experts. These market estimations have been validated by considering the impact of various judicial, political, social, economic and technological factors in accordance with the current market scenario. In order to provide up-to-date information about the latest developments in the global market for card printing ribbon, the report offers updates about growth opportunities for players operating in the market.Card Printing Ribbon Market: SegmentationData center IT asset disposition market is segmented on the basis of product type and application sector. Based on product type the global market for card printing ribbon is categorized into full color print ribbons and monochrome print ribbons. Among these two product types, full color print ribbons is the leading product type and expected to supplement the growth of the market for card ribbon in the foreseeable future. On the basis of application sector, the global market for card printing ribbon is categorized into BFSI, government, corporate, retail & hospitality and other. Among these, the retail & hospitality segment is expected to remain highly attractive over the next couple of years.Card Printing Ribbon Market: Competitive DashboardThe report also includes detailed information about the prominent players operating in the global market for card printing ribbon, which include NBS Technologies Inc., Idp Corporation, Evolis SA, Entrust Datacard Corporation, AlphaCard, IdentiSys Inc., Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., HID Global Corporation, Zebra Technologies Corporation, and Unicard Systems Pty. Ltd. In this part of the report, information is provided about latest business strategies adopted by market players along with insights on SWOT, and financials. As a part of company profiling, the competitive dashboard also offers information on employee strength, company overview, key competitors, brand overview, business strategies, business overview, acquisitions, and recent/key developments.Market Segmentation:Global Card Printing Ribbon Market, By Product Type- Full color print ribbons- Monochrome print ribbonsGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Global Card Printing Ribbon Market, By Application Sector- BFSI,- Government,- Corporate,- Retail & hospitality- OtherGlobal Card Printing Ribbon Market, By Geography- North America- US- Canada- Latin America- Brazil- Argentina- Mexico- Europe- Germany- UK- France- Spain- Italy- Nordic- Japan- Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)- China- India- Malaysia- Thailand- Singapore- Australia- Middle East & Africa (MEA)- GCC Countries- South Africa- Nigeria- IsraelAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ global pressure sensitive adhesives market will reach at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2013 - 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1448 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=1448 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Transparency Market Research (TMR) has announced the release of a new research report, titled Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019. TMR states that the global pressure sensitive adhesives market will display a 5.2% CAGR from 2013 to 2019. If the figures hold true, the market, which had a valuation of US$5.58 billion in 2012, will reach US$7.96 billion by 2019.According to the study, rapid expansion of the electronics and automotive sectors is one of the major factors propelling demand for pressure sensitive adhesives. Increasing pressure from regulatory agencies for low emission, light weight, and better mileage in vehicles is accentuating the demand of lightweight devices for automotive applications, most of which utilize pressure sensitive adhesives. Furthermore, miniaturization of electronic devices will propel the demand for pressure sensitive adhesives from the electronics sector.A sample of this report is available upon request @Additionally, growing demand for labeling and packaging applications, which use pressure sensitive adhesives due to the improvement inventory management and cost-effectiveness of packaging materials they bring about, will support growth of the pressure sensitive adhesives market.However, fluctuating prices of crude oil-based feedstock and regulations in place against volatile organic compounds (VOC), which are synthesized from solvent-based pressure sensitive adhesives, will hinder the markets growth.Products, applications, and key regional markets are the main criteria on which the global pressure sensitive devices market is divided. By product type, the market is segmented into hot melt, radiation cured, water-based, and solvent-based.In 2012, water-based pressure sensitive adhesives accounted for the largest share of the market, followed by solvent-based products. Due to discharge of hazardous volatile organic compounds, these products are heavily regulated and are restricted to be used away from populated areas, and thus will lose their strong market share in the coming years.However, hot melt adhesive products are estimated to gain higher application in the construction industry owing to their ease of application and stronger bond strength, thus reducing processing time, state analysts.Radiation-cured pressure adhesives are used in masking tapes that are suitable for sub-zero or extremely high temperatures.Access Full Report With TOC @The report states that by application, tapes dominated the market and held more than 40% of the market in 2012. Labeling application of pressure sensitive adhesives is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% between 2013 and 2019. This is mainly due to higher adoption of RFID labels for improved inventory management. RFID labels offer process efficiency and hence account for almost a quarter of overall label sales in the market. Retail labeling is expected to be the fastest growing application segment of the pressures sensitive adhesives market. Among the regional markets, Asia Pacific registered a share of more than 40% in the global pressure sensitive adhesives market in 2012. North America and Europe, which have mature chemical industries, will not contribute significantly to the growth of the overall market. Strict regulations in place for the chemical industry to develop eco-friendly products will slow the growth of the pressure sensitive adhesives market in these regions.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Abhishek BudholiyaState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Asia Pacific Broadcasting Equipment Market Insights With Key Company Profiles - Demand, Analysis, Forecast To 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11317 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11317 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-broadcasting-equipment-market.asp www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to the latest report published by Persistence Market Research, titled Broadcasting Equipment Market: Asia Pacific Industry Analysis and Forecast, 20162024, the broadcasting equipment market in APAC region is expected to be valued at US$ 5,104.8 Mn by 2024.The broadcasting equipment market in APAC region was valued at US$ 2487.5 Mn in 2015 and is expected to register a CAGR of 8.1% from 2016 to 2024. The growth of broadcasting equipment market in APAC region is primarily driven by convergence of high definition technologies such as 4K with IP. As per the report, 4K services are expected to be available on IP networks over the next four to five years via satellite launching and cable platforms.Request Sample Report @The report has segmented the APAC broadcasting equipment market into traditional TV broadcast, traditional radio broadcast, IP converged broadcasting and asset management systems.Traditional TV broadcast segment was valued at US$ 1123 Mn in 2015 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 8.1% during the forecast period (20162024). The traditional radio broadcast segment was valued at US$ 544 Mn in 2015 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period. The IP converged broadcasting is projected to be the fastest growing segment in APAC broadcasting equipment market, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.0% during the forecast period.Traditional TV broadcast segment accounted for 45.1% share in terms of value of the total APAC broadcasting equipment market in 2015. Consumption of high definition content in APAC region is increasing at a rapid pace, supported by rising sales of HD ready TVs.Request to view table of content @The traditional TV broadcast equipment market is further segmented into camera, monitors, routers, switchers, cable, transmitter, receiver and other accessories. Routers sub-segment is projected to expand at the highest CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period. Content creators across the region are shifting towards 4K cameras in order to capture high definition video. This is being supported by sales of 4K UHD television that has gained momentum due to rising disposable income in the region.Key players of the APAC Broadcasting Equipment market include Media Excel Inc.(US), ChyronHego Corporation (US), TVU Networks Corporation (US), XOR Media Inc.(US), FOR-A Company (Japan), ORACLE Corporation (US), Unlimi-Tech Software Inc. (US), Grass Valley (Canada) and General Dynamics Mediaware (Australia).Read Report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Honeybush extract Market: Advanced Technologies & Growth Opportunities in Global Industry https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/honeybush-extract-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=24263 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Honeybush extract is the extract from honeybush plant which is cultivated only in South Africa, and so the region enjoys the monopoly in the honeybush segment. The demand of honeybush extract is exceeding supply around the globe. Due to relative growth of industries such as food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceutical, there is a stupendous increase in the demand of honeybush extracts.More than 40 percentage of honeybush is exported to Germany, while the consumption of herbal drinks is growing in European countries, thereby leading the growing demand of honeybush extracts in the region.Global Honey Bush Extract Market: DriversHoneybush extracts help the human body to fight against germs and prevent from falling sick. Further, it takes care of health-related issues such as depression, anxiety, mood swings and relaxes the body so that we sleep comfortably. Honeybush tea extracts are like rooibos tea which is regarded as the healthy alternative because they are both antioxidant and caffeine freeObtain Report Details @Global Honey Bush Extract Market: RestraintsCommercialization is the major barrier for the honey bush market as it is not commonly known to the mass audience. The cultivation enables the communal farmers to advance in the value chain of the local and international market, but a lack of commercialization has pulled back the full potential growth of the market.Also depletion of wildlife reserves due to a cultivation of honeybush market. A monopolistic approach of competition in honeybush extract market leads to the ultimate lack of innovation which consumers have to suffer in short and long run. One of the key restraints is the need of regulation and monitoring in the wild harvesting of the honeybush extracts.Global Honey Bush Extract Market: OpportunityHoneybush industry sector has the potential to grow to double its size in the area of employment, and there are several markets which are unexplored by the South African market. Increase in awareness among the developed and developing nation will ultimately benefit the honeybush extracts marketRequest Sample @Global Honey Bush Extract Market: Market SegmentationBased on end user industry, the global honeybush extracts market is segmented into:Food and BeveragesCosmeticsPharmaceuticalBased on application, the global honeybush extracts market is segmented into:SweetsReady to drink beveragesHerbal MedicineBased on distribution channel, the global honeybush extracts market is segmented into:Business to businessBusiness to consumerE-commerceGlobal Honey Bush Extract Market: Regional Outlook:The demand for Honeybush has always been high in the regions of European countries, due to increase in awareness of health &fitness among this part of the world. North American countries arent far behind in this race as they to have a larger share of demand. The demand is relative quite high then the supply by the regions of Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.Global Honey Bush Extract Market: Key playersArbor TeasTwining USAAdagio TeasCape honeybush TeaKhoisan TeaAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Marjoram Extracts Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and Industry Analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/marjoram-extracts-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=24266 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Marjoram is a culinary and medicinal herb in the mint family. As with the rising demand in food and beverages industries and pharmaceutical industry, the demand of marjoram has increased in the past years. Marjoram is used in tea, medicines and even oil is extracted from it, with the increasing demand of health conciseness in developing and developed nations and the rising demand for the herbal product have positively impacted the demand of marjoram industry.The augmenting market for herbal plant products which are used in making capsules, finished medicines and healthcare products around the world has eventually led to an anticipation of positive CAGR for herbal plant products in coming years, therby driving the marjoram market.Obtain Report Details @Global Marjoram Extracts Market: Drivers and restraintsMarjoram Extracts has a wide lists of properties and health benefits which come with its consumption. It is sweet pine and tangy in flavor which can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. Marjoram leaves and flowers when dried is widely used as a mixture for food processing industry. Some of the health associated benefits which human body gets on its usage are that it maintains blood sugar level.Moreover, it helps in curing cold, toothaches, measles, fever inflammation, headaches and also provides relief from the spasm in the respiratory system. Oil extracts of Marjoram are used as an antiseptics which heals the external wound and protects it from becoming septic.Marjoram is increasingly used in tea which provides a relief from symptoms such as digestions, gallstones, stomach cramps, poor appetite and liver diseases. With such benefits associated with consumption of Marjoram has led to rising demand in FMCG and pharmaceutical companies around the globe.Request Sample @And some of the side effects which are noted are lung condition, ulcers, allergy, and diabetes which becomes a barrier to the growth of marjoram, and the use of marjoram is opposed by various regulatory bodies in many countries.Global Marjoram Extracts Market : Market segmentationMarjoram extracts: By distribution channelBusiness to BusinessBusiness to ConsumerBusiness to EcommerceMarjoram extracts: By Application typeFood and BeveragesPharmaceuticalMedicinesOilMarjoram extracts: By formsLiquidPowderGlobal Marjoram Extract Market: Regional OutlookMarjoram is produced in European countries, but it is mostly consumed mostly in the Asian countries due to the growth of food and beverages industries. This study conducted was even taken into consideration of regions like North America and Middle Eastern and Africa countries. APEJ is the leading region in terms of consumption of marjoram followed by European and North America due to the increase in production of medicines and healthcare products. With an increase in the health consciousness among the new generations and the rise in the usage of herbal plant products have led to the growth of Marjoram Extract.Global Marjoram Extract Market: Key playersCG HerbalsHealing Solutions Essential OilsNative American Nutritionals Essential OilsRocky Mountain OilsPlant Therapy Essential OilsAura Cacia Essential OilsPrime Natural Essential OilsMountain Rose Herbs Essential OilsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Facilities Management Market Growth Rate, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/759844 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/759844 This report provides an analysis of the global facilities management market for the period from 2016 to 2024, wherein the period from 2016 to 2024 comprises the forecast period and 2015 is the base year. Data for 2014 is provided as historical information. The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the growth of the facilities management market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period. The study provides a holistic perspective of the growth of the facilities management market throughout the forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Bn), across Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), North America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The report provides a cross-sectional analysis of the global facilities management market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all the segments across different geographic regions.Get the sample copy of this report :Facilities management involves the management and maintenance of support services across multiple industries. Facilities management services are used to enhance the quality of core business processes and increase the efficiency of service throughout entire service application. The demand for reduced operational cost of business processes is expected to drive the facilities management market around the globe. Similarly, important government regulations and standards impended on various industries and rising adoption of outsourced services for the maintenance and support of business processes are expected to drive the market for facilities management. In addition, with the increasing adoption of facilities management market many of the service providers are focusing on delivering customized facility services according to demand. Similarly, companies prefer total facilities management services and bundled facilities management services delivery systems to enhance the overall performance of services.Send an enquiry here :On the basis of service type, the facilities management market is segmented into hard services and soft services. On the basis of industry, the facilities management market is segmented into the corporate, government and public sector, health care, manufacturing, residential and education institutions, retail and commercial, and others (food, sport, etc.) segments. The report also includes competitive profiling of the major players associated with the facilities management market. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The increasing demand for efficiency and quality of services have led to the increased presence of facilities management service providers in the market. The major players in facilities management market include Arthur McKay & Co Ltd., Bellrock Property & Facilities Management Ltd., Bilfinger HSG Facility Management GmbH, Broadspectrum (Australia) Pty Ltd., ISS World Services A/S, Knight Facilities Management, Quess Corp Ltd., Sodexo, Inc., and Spotless Group Ltd.Market SegmentationFacilities Management Market, By Service TypeHard ServicesSoft ServicesFacilities Management Market, By IndustryCorporateGovernment and Public SectorHealthcareManufacturingResidential and Education InstitutionsRetail and CommercialOthers (Food, Sport, etc.)In addition, the report provides market analysis of the facilities management market with respect to the following geographical segments:North AmericaThe U.S.CanadaEuropeUKGermanyFranceSpainItalyRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaJapanIndiaIndonesiaRest of APACMiddle East and Africa (MEA)UAESaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaRest of MEALatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaMRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate Market: Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sodium-stearoyl2lactylate-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=24269 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Food additives are the certain type of chemicals prepared with some natural or synthetic ingredients. Such food additives are used to enhance taste and other qualities of a particular food item. Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (sodium stearoyl lactylate or SSL) is one such versatile, FDA approved food additive that is used to enhance the mixability and volume of processed foods. Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate is commercially available lactylate.It does carry various properties such as when mixed, it helps to strengthen dough, mixes liquids and oils together, and it can even replace some fat and sugar. Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate is used in a variety of commercially baked goods and processed foods, including bread, sour cream, salad dressings, soups, cheese products, crackers, cookies, and puddings. Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate is least harmful for human consumption as it is non-toxic, biodegradable, and typically manufactured using bio-renewable feedstock. With an increase in demand and subsequent consumption of processed foods, the market of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate is expected to register healthy CAGR over the forecast period.Obtain Report Details @Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe primary factor for the growth of Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate is its significant use in processed food. Present time has been exhibiting a scenario where working class travels long distances for work and job purpose. With less time, available for preparation of food and other activities for individuals, people are switching to processed foods. Increase in FDI, opening up of modern format of retail stores are other factors which are growing the processed foods market which ultimately impacting the sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market.Health concerns of individuals and food manufacturers untiring effort to meet customers' demand for the food products which are less harmful for consumption are making them manufacture products which are the substitutes for various fat and sugars, thereby helping Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market to grow. With such a move, Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate not only helping in the manufacturing of healthy food but also lowering the cost of manufacturing.Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate is not harmful for human consumption unless it is not in pure chemical formBased on the sales channel, Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market can be segmented into:B2BB2CRequest Sample @Global Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographic regions, global Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market is segmented into seven key market segments namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, APEJ will dominate the Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market over the forecast period.The countries such as China, India, and South Korea will be the key contributor to the growth of Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market. Presence of a huge population and various food industries to meet such a huge populations demand is the key factor for growth of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market in APEJ region. North America and Western Europe region will come next to APEJ with respect to growth of Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market. Even though they are next to APEJ for Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate market but this region is the first movers in using Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate for manufacturing of various food products.In Eastern Europe, the market of Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate has also gathered momentum with establishments of various food industries. MEA is also a prominent market for Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market owing to the presence of various food industries. Latin America is also expected to perform well in sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market. Japan has also a wide range of various food industry that caters to the demand of young Japanese population; such industry provides the necessary scope for growth of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate market.Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate: Key PlayersThe major players identified in the global Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate derivatives market includes:B. ENTERPRISEPalsgaardFoodchem International CorporationEstelle Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.Parchem fine & specialty chemicals.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Market Report 2017 | Now Available at Researchmoz.us Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1375076 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-non-dairy-coffee-creamers-sales-market-report-2017-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingNestleWhiteWaveFrieslandCampinaDEK(Grandos)DMK(TURM-Sahne GmbH)CaprimoSuper GroupYearrakarnCustom Food GroupPT Santos Premium KrimerPT Aloe VeraSuzhou Jiahe Foods IndustryWenhui FoodBigtree GroupZhucheng Dongxiao BiotechnologyJiangxi Weirbao Food BiotechnologyHubei Hong Yuan FoodFujian Jumbo Grand FoodShandong Tianmei BioAmrut InternationalOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPowdered Coffee CreamerLiquid Coffee CreamerOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingCoffee UseTea and OthersTable of ContentsGlobal Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Market Report 20171 Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers1.2 Classification of Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers by Product Category1.2.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Powdered Coffee Creamer1.2.4 Liquid Coffee Creamer1.3 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Coffee Use1.3.3 Tea and Others1.4 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market by Region1.4.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume) by Application3 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Application6 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Value (2012-2017)6.1.1 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.2 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.3 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)6.2 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Players6.3 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ North America Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1399204 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1399204/north-america-acetyl-tributyl-citrate-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1399204 https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=1399204&licType=S http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Report North America Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) MarketAcetyl Tributyl Citrate(ATBC), is colorless, odorless, oily liquid, is a non-toxic plasticizer which can be used as plasticizers in polyvinyl chloride, cellulose resins and plasticizers synthetic rubber. For the production of non-toxic PVC, food containers, children's toys, medical products, film, sheet, cellulose paint and other products.Get Sample copy of this Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversJungbunzlauerVertellusKLJ GroupJiangsu LemonShandong Kexing ChemicalJiangsu Licheng ChemicalWuxi Kailai BiotechnologyTaizhou Mingguang ChemicalYangzhou Feiyang ChemicalNanjing Duoleng AuxiliaryAnhui AitebayMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited StatesCanadaMexicoMarket Segment by Type, coversExcellent GradeFirst GradeView Report @Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoChildren ToysDaily Chemical & Food PackageMedical Devices & PackageOthersThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the North America Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) market.Chapter 1, to describe Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC), with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the North America market by countries, covering United States, Canada and Mexico, with sales, revenue and market share of Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC), for each country, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the segment market in United States, Canada and Mexico, by manufacturers, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 10, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 11, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process etc.Chapter 12, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 13, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers etc.Chapter 14 and 15, to describe Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data sourceSend An Enquiry Request @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Excellent Grade1.2.2 First Grade1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Children Toys1.3.2 Daily Chemical & Food Package1.3.3 Medical Devices & Package1.3.4 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Countries1.4.1 United States Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Mexico Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Canada Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Jungbunzlauer2.1.1 Profile2.1.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Jungbunzlauer Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.1.4 Business Overview2.1.5 Jungbunzlauer News2.2 Vertellus2.2.1 Profile2.2.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Vertellus Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2.4 Business Overview2.2.5 Vertellus News2.3 KLJ Group2.3.1 Profile2.3.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 KLJ Group Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3.4 Business Overview2.3.5 KLJ Group News2.4 Jiangsu Lemon2.4.1 Profile2.4.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Jiangsu Lemon Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4.4 Business Overview2.4.5 Jiangsu Lemon News2.5 Shandong Kexing Chemical2.5.1 Profile2.5.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 Shandong Kexing Chemical Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5.4 Business Overview2.5.5 Shandong Kexing Chemical News2.6 Jiangsu Licheng Chemical2.6.1 Profile2.6.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Jiangsu Licheng Chemical Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6.4 Business Overview2.6.5 Jiangsu Licheng Chemical News2.7 Wuxi Kailai Biotechnology2.7.1 Profile2.7.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Type 12.7.2.2 Type 22.7.3 Wuxi Kailai Biotechnology Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7.4 Business Overview2.7.5 Wuxi Kailai Biotechnology News2.8 Taizhou Mingguang Chemical2.8.1 Profile2.8.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.8.2.1 Type 12.8.2.2 Type 22.8.3 Taizhou Mingguang Chemical Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8.4 Business Overview2.8.5 Taizhou Mingguang Chemical News2.9 Yangzhou Feiyang Chemical2.9.1 Profile2.9.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.9.2.1 Type 12.9.2.2 Type 22.9.3 Yangzhou Feiyang Chemical Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.9.4 Business Overview2.9.5 Yangzhou Feiyang Chemical News2.10 Nanjing Duoleng Auxiliary2.10.1 Profile2.10.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.10.2.1 Type 12.10.2.2 Type 22.10.3 Nanjing Duoleng Auxiliary Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.10.4 Business Overview2.10.5 Nanjing Duoleng Auxiliary News2.11 Anhui Aitebay2.11.1 Profile2.11.2 Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Type and Applications2.11.2.1 Type 12.11.2.2 Type 22.11.3 Anhui Aitebay Acetyl Tributyl Citrate (ATBC) Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.11.4 Business OverviewBuy Now @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Glucoamylase Market: Applications and Global Markets https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/glucoamylase-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=24272 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Glucoamylase is an enzyme preparation which decomposes starch into glucose by ripping off glucose units from the non-reduced end of the polysaccharide chain. They are derived from submerged fermentation of a specially selected producer strain of Asp.niger. To sustain an optimum enzyme activity, glucoamylase should be stored in cool, dry place in a strongly closed container. When appropriately kept, this product can be expected to lose less than 10% of its activity in twelve months for powered form and six months for liquid preparation.Glucoamylase is an important industrial enzyme and is widely used in starch saccharification, brewing, and the distilling industry. Glucoamylase can be derived from a wide variety of sources including plants, animals, and microorganisms. Most of the production of glucoamylase is carried out using liquid fermentation process. Further, the techniques of solid state fermentation, are also been employed for its production and recently this technique is gaining renewed interest from researchers for its production.Global Glucoamylase Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe major driver driving the global glucoamylase market is the health benefits of glucoamylase. Glucoamylase is a type of enzyme that can break down the starches into glucose which are absorbable and usable. Few of the health benefits of glucoamylase are it helps in irritable bowel syndrome, digestive upset & gastrointestinal issues, helps fast aiding of the digestive organs, and also can help in reducing food allergies.Another important factor is the autoimmune conditions of the enzyme. Studies have proved that glucoamylase combined with other enzymes lowers the autoimmunity responses and can influence the immune system in a beneficial way.Obtain Report Details @Global Glucoamylase Market: SegmentationBy product segment, the global glucoamylase market is segmented into:Liquid State FermentationSolid State FermentationBy Application, the global glucoamylase market is segmented into:AlcoholStarch SugarBeerWhite SpiritOthersBy source, the global glucoamylase market is segmented into:PlantsAnimalsMicroorganismsGlobal Glucoamylase Market: Segmentation OverviewThe Glucoamylase enzymes are widely used in food and fermentation industries that are in the process of starch saccharification, brewing, and distilling. Glucoamylase helps to break down starch that occurs naturally in most of the vegetables such as potatoes, corn, rice, and wheat. Or else, they are added as the filler of processing additive in many prepared food products.Glucoamylase is separate from amylase due to its digests starches in a particular way and removing free glucose molecules from the end of the starchy chains rather than simply breaking into smaller chains. Glucoamylase is a part of an extremely important group of enzymes that allows to absorb nutrients and create energy from the plant.Request Sample @Global Glucoamylase Market: Regional OutlookThe glucoamylase market is segmented by regions into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Japan. North America is anticipated to account for the largest share in global glucoamylase market and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. The US is the single largest market for the specialty enzyme.Further Europe is expected to account for the second largest share in the global glucoamylase market. Growing concerns about health care and cosmetics have led to the demand for specialty enzymes increased in the recent years. Further, the demand for glucoamylase is increasing due to the introduction of new drugs that are used in the enzyme replacement therapy.Global Glucoamylase Market: Key PlayersThe key players in the global Glucoamylase market are Novozymes, Genencor, Amano Enzyme, DSM, AB Enzyme, Verenium, Shandong Longda, VTR, SunHY, YSSH, BSDZYME, Challenge Group, Jinyuan, and Sunson. To ensure product differentiation and to gain a considerable share of the market, major vendors are adopting creative strategies and are constantly developing innovative products.Most of the major Glucoamylase manufacturers concentrate on capitalizing their funds to maintain applications and technical marketing groups are appointed to serve the ever-changing needs of consumers.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Software as a Service (SaaS) industry Leaps Forward, New Research Discusses driving factors 2025 The Insight Partners http://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000113 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/inquiry/TIPTE100000113 http://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/software-as-a-service-saas-market The Insight Partners added Software as a Service (SaaS) Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Cloud Deployment Model, Applications and End-user to its research database. The report is spread across 224 pages and supported by 15 company leaders.Paying for a software as per the usage on a subscription basis rather than fully owning can be defined as Software as a service (SaaS). SaaS applications are accessed using a web browser from a remote location and eliminates the hassles of installing, upgrading and maintaining the software for the owner. As a business delivery model for many corporate applications SaaS provides a huge variety of software to industries from various verticals and the software include database management software, messaging software, enterprise resource planning (ERP), gaming applications, service desk management, payroll software, computer designing software, customer relationship management (CRM), content management (CM), development software, virtualization software, collaboration, invoicing, talent acquisition accounting, management information systems (MIS), human resource management (HRM) and antivirus software. SaaS has been integrated by major upcoming and leading software companies with major adoptions witnessed by the SMEs. The advantage offered by SaaS is the cost reductions associated with it and the eliminations of hidden costs.The global Software as a Service market is bifurcated based on deployment model as: private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. Furthermore, the global SaaS market can be further divided by applications into ERP, HRM, CRM, supply chain management (SCM) and others (Web conferencing platforms, messaging applications and collaboration). Additionally, while considering on the basis of end-user SaaS can be further classified into small & medium enterprises (SMEs), and large enterprises. The end-user classification has been done on the basis of revenues.Request Sample Copy atSoftware as a Service is there to replace the traditional application service provider model on account of various benefits it caters. SaaS basically can be deployed into organizations via three different deployment models. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages but the public cloud deployment model has been the largest adopted model for this market SaaS providers generally develop and manage their own software. The differentiating point between ASPs and SaaS vendors is that ASPs offer conventional client-server models that require installation of software at the clients premises, however SaaS requires a web browser and eliminates the need to install at the clients premise. In addition, major initial ASPs offered a separate instance of the user application for each enterprise, however, a software distribution model that allows sharing of applications and allowing access to organizations via a single tenant or multi-tenant architecture is basically SaaS.Businesses are seeking paradigm shift in their operations especially in developing economies like India and China of APAC region. Awareness about the benefits of SaaS in these regions has significantly increased the adoptions of Software as a Service solutions by various organizations. Furthermore, developing economies have been the breeding grounds for a large number of SMEs that are the largest adopters of SaaS models. As a result, Software as a Service market is expected to witness a huge opportunity with its rise in the APAC region. On the organizational point of view, SMEs are adopting and implementing this technology on account of significant cost reductions.Inquire and Speak to Expert for More Details atCustomers are the greatest asset for any organization and employees are the backbone of any successful business. Understanding the importance of both these resources, many small and large organizations globally have adopted CRM and HRM applications to establish long-term relationships with their customers and also manage their internal human resource efficiently. Google, Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Amazon.com, Inc., ADP, LLC, IBM Corporation, Salesforce.com, Inc., Workday, Inc., Oracle Corporation, SAP SE and Microsoft Corporation are some of the major players in the global Software as a Service market.Table of Contents1 Introduction2 Key Takeaways3 Market Landscape4 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market - Key Industry Dynamics5 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Analysis- Global6 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025 Competitive Landscape7 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025 By Deployment Model8 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025 By End-Users9 Software as a Service (SaaS) Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2025 - Geographical Analysis11 Industry Landscape12 AppendixView Complete Company Profile and Table of Contents atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout Us:TheInsightPartners.com is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township, Amanora Chambers, East Block, Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Dairy Food 2017 Global Market Key Players Danone, Nestle, FrieslandCampina, Arla, California Dairies, DFA Analysis and Forecast to 2022 Dairy Food Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/883552-global-dairy-food-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/883552-global-dairy-food-market-professional-survey-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=883552 Dairy Food Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com adds Dairy Food Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Report Details:This report studies Dairy Food in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringDanoneNestleFrieslandCampinaArlaVreugdenhil DairyAlpen DairiesCalifornia DairiesCalifornia DairiesDFALactalisLand OLakesDairiConceptsWILD FlavorsGlanbia FoodsKraft Foods IngredientsRequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCheeseButterCottage CheeseMilk PowderFlavored MilkYoghurtBy Application, the market can be split intoFood & BeveragesHealthcareFeedBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete Report Details@Major Key Points in Table of Content:Global Dairy Food Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Dairy Food1.1 Definition and Specifications of Dairy Food1.1.1 Definition of Dairy Food1.1.2 Specifications of Dairy Food1.2 Classification of Dairy Food1.2.1 Cheese1.2.2 Butter1.2.3 Cottage Cheese1.2.4 Milk Powder1.2.5 Flavored Milk1.2.6 Yoghurt1.3 Applications of Dairy Food1.3.1 Food & Beverages1.3.2 Healthcare1.3.3 Feed1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Dairy Food2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Dairy Food2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Dairy Food2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Dairy Food.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Dairy Food8.1 Danone8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Danone 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Danone 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Nestle8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Nestle 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Nestle 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 FrieslandCampina8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 FrieslandCampina 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 FrieslandCampina 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Arla8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Arla 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Arla 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Vreugdenhil Dairy8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Vreugdenhil Dairy 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Vreugdenhil Dairy 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Alpen Dairies8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Alpen Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Alpen Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 California Dairies8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 California Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 California Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 California Dairies8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 California Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 California Dairies 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 DFA8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 DFA 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 DFA 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Lactalis8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Lactalis 2016 Dairy Food Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Lactalis 2016 Dairy Food Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinued.Buy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Sales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Competitive Research, Emerging Companies & Forecast- 2022 https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1343887&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-automotive-artificial-intelligence-market-professional-survey-report-2017.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Professional Survey Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The report here talks about unmistakable parts of the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market which clarifies the future and present estimations of the market concerning the examples in play. The standard purpose behind the examination is to legitimize the events in the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market by giving peruser accommodating and appropriate bits of information on the particulars of the market for the future degree of improvement and available prospects at the present circumstance with the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market. The factual studying creation furthermore oversees highlights, for instance, drivers, confinements, and prospects to gauge the aftereffect of the market in the midst of the guess time span determined in the report.Get Report Sample and Customization:This report moreover dives significant into the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market by critically measuring the age and mechanical chain of the adapting market. This will besides help in duplicating exact proof and bits of knowledge on a few segments of the specific market, for example, information identifying with game plans of the organization in the nearby and overall level, create and course structure, delivering limit, mass sold, and benefits earned among others.The examination other than gives an exhaustive examination of the key areas communicated in the report for the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market. For every region, the report verbalizes the assortment of extension as of not long ago and clearing on what providers can do to ensure accomplishment in the coming years. The exploration report will in like manner be deficient without an escalated examination of the shipper scene of the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market, which incorporates the measurable information focuses, activities and originations of the pioneers in the Automotive Artificial Intelligence market.Table of ContentsGlobal Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Automotive Artificial Intelligence1.1 Definition and Specifications of Automotive Artificial Intelligence1.1.1 Definition of Automotive Artificial Intelligence1.1.2 Specifications of Automotive Artificial Intelligence1.2 Classification of Automotive Artificial Intelligence2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Artificial Intelligence2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Artificial Intelligence2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Automotive Artificial Intelligence2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Automotive Artificial Intelligence3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Automotive Artificial Intelligence3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Major Manufacturers in 2016To Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Automotive Artificial IntelligenceTable Product Specifications of Automotive Artificial IntelligenceTable Classification of Automotive Artificial IntelligenceFigure China Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Europe Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Southeast Asia Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Figure Japan Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2022)Table 2016 Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Capacity (Units) List (Company Segment)Table 2012-2017E Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Sales (Units) and Growth RateTable 2016 Global Automotive Artificial Intelligence Sales (Units) List (Company Segment)About Us: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:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Soldier Monitoring Systems Market Excessive Growth Opportunities Estimated to be Experienced 2017-2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=28958 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=28958 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The growing need to focus on reducing soldier casualties and enhancing soldier capability, is impacting positively on the growth of the market for soldier monitoring systems. The increase in terrorism and cross border insurgencies led to increase in soldier casualties, which in turn compelled the defense forces and defense contractors to develop the soldier monitoring systems. The concern to reduce soldier casualties during combat, is driving the market growth. Moreover, the global defense forces are constantly focusing on modernizing their military troops in order to enhance their strength during combat. This factor also led the soldier monitoring systems market to surge over the period.The key factor restraining the market for soldier monitoring systems to grow over the period is the lack of technological awareness among the soldiers. The soldier monitoring systems are technologically enhanced and robust systems, which is limiting the soldiers to adopt the up graded systems, hence inhibiting the market to grow over the years. In addition, the declining defense budgets in developed nations is also impacting negatively on the market growth. This is attributed to the fact that, as declining defense budgets results in less procurement of technologically advanced systems, thus, hindering the growth of the market in the future.Request For Report Sample@The rising need for better and efficient soldier systems in the developing nations is expected to drive the market for soldier monitoring systems in the coming years. The defense forces in the developing nations are increasing adopting these technologically advanced soldier monitoring systems in order to strengthen their armed forces and reduce casualties during combat. This factor is acting as an opportunity for the soldier monitoring systems market in the coming years.The market for soldier monitoring systems is segmented on basis of materials, subsystems, application and geography. The different materials used to manufacture soldier monitoring systems are steel, composite ceramic, Kevlar or aramid, ultra-light weight polyethylene and others. The different subsystems of soldier monitoring systems are helmets, vests, exoskeletons, devices and advanced personal clothing. The helmets segment is sub segmented as advanced combat helmet, personal armor system for ground troop helmet, light weight helmet, and modular integrated communication helmet. The most prominent helmet segment used by the defense forces across the globe accounted for modular integrated communication helmet, while the advanced combat helmet is gaining the interest among the defense forces due to various advantages. The various types of vests on which soldier monitoring systems are integrated are interceptor body armor, personnel armor systems for ground troops, ranger body armor, and interim small arms protective over vest.The different types of devices used in soldier monitoring systems are communication devices, navigation devices, imaging devices, and respiratory protective equipment. The exoskeleton segment is further classified in to passive exoskeleton and battery powered exoskeleton. The defense sectors and law enforcement agencies constitute the application segment in the soldier monitoring systems market. The defense forces segment is sub classifies as infantry and Special Forces, and law enforcement agencies are further classified as police and paramilitary forces. Geographically, the soldier monitoring systems market is evalued on basis of strategic regions across the globe. These region includes, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. Owing to the fact, that the U.S is investing huge amounts in order to develop robust technologies for the defense forces, the region accounted for the leading region in 2016 in soldier monitoring systems market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):The market for soldier monitoring systems includes large number of participants across the globe. The key players in the field of soldier monitoring systems are General Dynamics Corporation (U.S), Thales Group (France), Rockwell Collins (U.S), FLIR Systems (U.S), BAE Systems PLC (United Kingdom), Rheinmetall AG (Germany), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S), Harris Corporation (U.S), Elbit Systems (Israel), L-3 Technologies Systems and (U.S) among others.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com New Study on Global Antifungal Market With Focus on Invasive Fungal Infections: 2016-2020 | Pfizer, Inc., Merck Co., Inc., Scynexis, Inc. Invasive Fungal Infections https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=841066 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-antifungal-market-with-focus-on-invasive-fungal-infections-2016-2020-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Antifungal Market With Focus on Invasive Fungal Infections: 2016-2020" to its huge collection of research reports.The report titled Global Antifungal Market With Focus on Invasive Fungal Infections: 2016-2020 provides an in-depth analysis of the global antifungal market with detailed analysis of market size on the basis of value along with the comprehensive examination of each of the segments of the market, namely, Azole, Echinocandins and Polyene.The report analysis the invasive fungal infection market extensively with the market size, in terms of value along with the market segments and the major products in the market. This section also provides information about the regional market share of the global invasive fungal infection market. The report provides detailed regional analysis of the United States, Europe and Latin America. The regional analysis of the antifungal market includes market size by value along with the geographic overview of the market in the concerned region.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global antifungal market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The competition in the global antifungal market is stiff and dominated by the big players like Pfizer. Further, key players of the market, Merck and Scynexis are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.Regional CoverageUnited StatesEuropeLatin AmericaCompany CoveragePfizer, Inc.Merck Co., Inc.Scynexis, Inc.Executive SummaryThe global antifungal market witnessed an upsurge at a significant CAGR during 2012-2015 and projections are made that the market would rise in the next five years i.e. 2016-2020 tremendously. The market is spread across the globe with the United States and Europe dominating the market, while Asia-Pacific and Latin America market are the fastest growing markets.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @The antifungal market can be segmented on the basis of types of drugs into Polyene, Azole and Echinocandins. The Azole class of antifungals dominates the market followed, by Echinocandins and Polyene. Azoles are broadly categorized as Voricanazole, Imidazole, Triazole and Thiazoles. Of which, Voricanazole govern the market. Echinocandins antifungal class is subjugated by Caspofungin, while other antifungals include Micafungin, and Anidulafungin. The Polyene antifungal agents include Amphotericin B, Nystatin, and Natamycin. Though, Amphotericin B is the only widely used agent in the market.The fungal infections do not usually result in severe ailment, but in people with weak immune system, minor fungal infections can move in the bloodstreams and conquer critical organs leading to the damage, called as invasive fungal infection. The global market for the invasive fungal infection increased significantly during 2010-2015 and is expected to upsurge further.The major growth drivers for the global antifungal market are: the rise in the incidences of fungal infection, aging population and unhygienic conditions all over the world. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as: antifungal resistance, traditional treatments for fungal infection, side-effects of antifungal medication and antifungal development failures Some of the recent trends in the market include technological advancement, growth in resistant strains and generic competition.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ New Study on Global Digital Music Market with Focus on Live Streaming (2016-2020) | Key Players - Apple Inc., Spotify Limited, Deezer and Pandora Media Inc. Digital Music Market https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=810263 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-digital-music-market-with-focus-on-live-streaming-size-trends-and-forecasts-2016-2020-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Digital Music Market with Focus on Live Streaming: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020)" to its huge collection of research reports.The report entitled Global Digital Music Market with Focus on Live Streaming: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2016-2020) analyzes the global digital music market with detailed analysis of market sizing and growth. It analyzes market by value and market share by sources with focus on streaming music.A detailed overview of streaming music market is also discussed in the report. Streaming music market analysis has been done on the basis of value, volume and market segment. The report also provides an analysis of consumer behavior on the basis of consumer preference, spending nature of consumer, consumer interest in streaming services, consumer listening hours and consumers respond towards top streaming music players.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @A brief regional analysis of the US and Germany digital music market is also being done in the report. The US is the largest market for digital music globally with the highest revenue. Germany is the largest digital music market within the European region and third largest in the world. The report provides detailed description of the US and Germany on the basis of value, volume and market share by segment.The report also assesses the key opportunities available and summarizes the driving forces that are and will be accountable for growth of the industry. Growth of digital music market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration previous growth outlines, growth drivers and the existing and forthcoming trends.Furthermore, the report portrayed a competitive landscape of the digital music market with detailed comparison of top market players. Apple music is the market leader with highest revenue and number of paid subscribers in 2015.A brief company profiling of major market players namely Apple Inc., Spotify Limited, Deezer and Pandora Media Inc. has provided in the report on the basis of aspects like business overview, financial overview and business strategies adopted by these companies.Country CoverageThe USGermanyCompany CoverageApple Inc.Spotify LimitedDeezerPandora Media Inc.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Executive SummaryMusic market has two major segments: Physical and digital. Physical music market comprises of music in the form of CD or vinyl whereas digital music market composed of audio content that is distributed to the music lovers through internet. Digital sector includes downloads as well as on demand digital streaming. Digital streaming is either subscription based or ad-supported which is free of charge. In ad-supported music, advertiser is liable to pay for the music streaming on behalf of customers. Current music marketplace offers a wide variety of digital options like download, streaming, cloud, music videos and ringtones.The global digital music market is growing tremendously with astonishing growth rates over the past few years and is anticipated to grow further over the forecasted period (2016-2020). Major factors contributing in the growth of the market are rising smartphone penetration globally specially in developing economies, availability of cheap internet services, expansion of streaming format, technological advancements, change in consumer behavior and consumer desire to access latest music etc.In the forecasted period, market will be pushed by increasing number of on- demand consumers, collaboration between music providers with social media platform, rising number of catalog software and blending of streaming music with wearable technology. In spite of high growth, market is still facing certain challenges that are hampering the growth of the market. Challenges encountered by the market are lack of unique services, rampant piracy, legal complexity and intense competition.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Hotel CRM Software Market Trends & Forecast to 2022 Hotel CRM Software Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/837634-global-hotel-crm-software-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/837634-global-hotel-crm-software-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=837634 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/837634-global-hotel-crm-software-market https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Hotel CRM Software market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Hotel CRM Software market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [Large Enterprise & SMB], products type [Cloud based & On premise] and various important geographies like United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia].Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Hotel CRM Software market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers such as Salesforce.com, HubSpot CRM, Infusionsoft, Results CRM, ProsperWorks CRM, NetSuite, Base, Less Annoying CRM, Claritysoft, Freshdesk, Hatchbuck, KIZEN, Pipeliner CRM, Really Simple Systems & Supportbench. The in-depth information by segments of Hotel CRM Software market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Hotel CRM Software Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global Hotel CRM Software Market, some of them listed here are Salesforce.com, HubSpot CRM, Infusionsoft, Results CRM, ProsperWorks CRM, NetSuite, Base, Less Annoying CRM, Claritysoft, Freshdesk, Hatchbuck, KIZEN, Pipeliner CRM, Really Simple Systems & Supportbench. The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Hotel CRM Software (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Cloud based & On premise. Further the research study is segmented by Application such as Large Enterprise & SMB with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Hotel CRM Software in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @What this Research Study Offers:Global Hotel CRM Software Market share assessments for the regional and country level segmentsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersStrategic recommendations for the new entrantsMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional marketsMarket Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsCompetitive landscaping mapping the key common trendsCompany profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developmentsSupply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsBuy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Hotel CRM Software market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Hotel CRM Software , Applications of Hotel CRM Software , 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 Hotel CRM Software , 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, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia, Hotel CRM Software Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Hotel CRM Software Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Hotel CRM Software ;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Cloud based & On premise], Market Trend by Application [Large Enterprise & SMB];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Hotel CRM Software ;Chapter 12, to describe Hotel CRM Software Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Hotel CRM Software 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, NJNew Jersey USA 08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218 Global Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) for Hot Melt Market to be Worth US$328.6 mn by 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=ASK&rep_id=5996 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/amorphous-polyalphaolefin-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=5996 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ A new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) presents an in-depth insight into the global amorphous polyalphaolefin (APAO) for hot melt market. The report, titled Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) for Hot Melt (Homopolymers and Copolymers) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023, is available for sale on the companys website. The report offers a comprehensive overview of the global amorphous polyalphaolefin (APAO) market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Browse the full Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) for Hot Melt (Homopolymers and Copolymers) Market for Paper & Packaging, Personal Hygiene, Bookbinding, Woodworking, Product Assembly and Other Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023 report atThe report states that the global amorphous polyalphaolefin (APAO) market for hot melt was estimated at US$192.1 mn in 2014 and is expected to be worth US$328.6 mn by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% between 2015 and 2023.APAO for hot melt adhesives is extensively used for making formulations of adhesives. Therefore, this fairly new class of raw materials is used in industries such as bookbinding, personal hygiene, paper and packaging, product assembly, woodworking, textiles, wires and cables, footwear, asphalt modifiers, and electronics.According to research analysts, the paper and packaging industry has been the largest consumer of APAO for hot melt adhesives in 2014. However, the report suggests that the personal care industry will be the next big thing in the global amorphous polyalphaolefin (APAO) market for hot melt. The growing automobile industry is expected to offer huge opportunities to the global amorphous polyalphaolefin (APAO) market. In the coming years, the product assembly segment will contribute generous revenue to this market, as a variety of adhesives are used in hotline fixing of car seats, panel laminations, and headlamp assemblies. The only challenge for this market is the fluctuating prices of raw materials. However, this market might have a good chance to expand its horizons if major players try to blend APAO with resins, tackifiers, and wax. Such blending also helps in improving the hot melt properties and process abilities of final adhesives.Amongst the products, the copolymers segment dominated the global APAO market for hot melt in 2014, in terms of volume. Analysts predict this segment is expected to witness huge growth in the near future, as copolymers offer the greatest strength. Furthermore, the polypropylene-based homopolymers segment is likely to grow at a sturdy rate, but one below the growth rate of the overall market.A sample of this report is available upon request @As of 2014, the global APAO market for hot melt was consolidated in nature, with the top five players holding a 60% share. Some of the important players in the global APAO for hot melt market are Evonik Industries AG, Huntsman Corporation, Henkel AG & Company KGaA, Eastman Chemical Company, H.B. Fuller, Bostik S.A., and REXtac, LLC.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Projector Headlamp Market in China 2015-2022 https://mobilityforesights.com/product/projector-headlamp-market-report/ https://mobilityforesights.com/product/projector-headlamp-market-report/ Mobility Foresights announces the publication of a new syndicated report titled Projector Headlamp Market in China 2015-2022Key contents of the report include- Market size and Forecast segmented by, Technology (Halogen, HID and LED), Vehicle body type (SUV, MPV, Sedan and Hatchback), OEM origin (Domestic and Foreign) Market Dynamics(Trends, Drivers and Challenges) Market share and competitive landscape of Projector headlamp suppliersDownload a sample of the report at our website-IntroductionThe Chinese automotive lighting market is still price-oriented. Although halogen lights dominate the Chinese passenger vehicle scene, HIDs have gained prominence in domestic brand SUVs. HID is still the most preferred option in the performance lighting segment. The LED penetration rate in complete automotive lighting is high and at par with international level.China has seen rapid adoption of daytime running lamps (DRL) as it is closely linked with the signature styling of vehicles. The growth for LED DRLs in China comes at a time when domestic Chinese OEMs are striving for futuristic and compelling designs in order to fulfil their ambition of being successful in developed regions. As a result of this, the market penetration of DRL in China was 47% in 2016.MARKET SIZE AND FORECASTThe penetration rate of LED projector headlamp modules in the Chinese headlamp market is on the rise due to declining prices and improvement in their efficiency. The market presence of LED projector headlamps has increased following increase in fitment from exclusively available on the premium vehicles to optionally available in the mid-range vehicles.Due to complexity involved in designing high-power LED product segments, (high / low beam and fog light) and regulations regarding their compliance, they are mostly sourced from international manufacturers.MARKET DYNAMICSIn order to keep pace with changing consumer tastes, the Chinese automakers have started updating their models in a much lesser time frame as compared to earlier. This is very much in line with global markets where the facelift/refresh of a car model is launched every 3 years and a new generation/upgrade is launched every 5-6 years. Every upgrade/facelift implies change in frontal lighting.There is a long list of lighting features, Chinese OEMs have started to offer as a standard fitment over the past 3-4 years. Those features include projector headlamps, centrally high-mounted stop lamps, daytime running lamps, ambient lighting and auto levelling headlamps. Features like ambient lighting and auto levelling lamps were earlier only available on luxury vehicles but they are about to become standard on mid to high segment vehicles.COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPEThe projector headlamp market in China is extremely concentrated. The global automotive lighting companies rely on their technical capability and established relation with the OEMs to secure new orders. Whereas, the local Chinese automotive lighting suppliers have positioned themselves in the low to mid segment of passenger vehicles and aftermarket business.Over the past few years some Chinese suppliers have shown aggressive intent in acquiring clients on the back of low pricing. On the other hand, the Japanese automotive lighting suppliers like Koito, Stanley Electric and European lighting manufacturers including Hella and Valeo have monopolized the automotive lighting in mid to high end segment.THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER FOLLOWING QUESTIONS1. The market size (both volume and value) of projector headlamps in China in 2015-2022 and every year in between?2. The market size and forecast segmented by OEM origin (Domestic and Foreign)3. The market size and forecast segmented by technology (Halogen, HID and LED)4. The market size and forecast segmented by vehicle body type (SUV,MPV,Sedan and Hatchback)5. How the Chinese new car consumers are evolving6. Upcoming SUVs,MPVs,Sedans with projector headlamps7. Ongoing research on LED based intelligent lighting system to enhance advanced driver assistance system8. Market share of automotive lighting suppliers in China9. Revenue, share, major customers and In-depth future growth plans of projector headlamp suppliers(both domestic and foreign)10. Latest trends in lighting of new cars sold in ChinaTo enquire about the report write to us at sales@mobilityforesights.comThe report can be purchased atWe are a market research firm specialized in mobility domain(s). Our zone of research entails automotive, aerospace, marine, locomotive, logistics and construction& agricultural equipment. We deal in syndicated research, custom research and consumer research for all the above domains mentioned. We envision the future of mobility every single day, following mobility domains is not just our profession rather its our passion.CONTACT US:MOBILITY FORESIGHTS PVT LTD#56/2, HAL 2d Stage, Bangalore, INDIA 560008Phone: +1 912-454-2080Mail:sales@mobilityforesights.com Liquid Packaging Market Estimated to Flourish by 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=18827 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18827 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global Liquid Packaging Market: OverviewThe global market for liquid packaging is chiefly benefitting from the rising consumer preference to packaged, semisolid foods and beverages. Changing lifestyles of consumers, the increased consumption of convenient foods and beverages among busy urban populace, and the rising demand for environment-friendly products are some of the key trends influencing the market significantly at present.The market caters to industries such as food and beverages, pharmaceutical, and consumer goods. With starkly different requirements in terms of features expected from the packaging material across these industries, the market has witnessed significant advancements in terms of materials, packaging technologies, and packaging design. The use of a variety of plastics has significantly increased in the past few years owing to their flexibility, low-weight, and low cost of production and transportation. However, the consumer is steadily shifting from plastics due to their environmentally harmful nature to relatively safer options such as paper and glass.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Liquid Packaging Market: SegmentationOn the basis of type of packaging, the global market for liquid packaging has been examined in the report for varieties such as rigid packaging and flexible packaging. Of these, the segment of flexible packaging is the more preferred one, chiefly owing to the added level of convenience offered by flexible packaging options in terms of storage and transportation. Rigid packaging, apart from losing on the convenience part, is also less preferred owing to the high costs it entails.On the basis of plastic films used to manufacture liquid packaging products, the report examines varieties such as linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyethylene (PE). Of these, PP and PET films are the most preferred in the global market owing to their low weight and relatively low costs of production and transportation. These segments are also expected to retain dominance in the next few years. Based on the technique of packaging, the global liquid packaging market has been examined in the report for blow molding technology, aseptic liquid packaging technology, and form-fill seal technology.Global Liquid Packaging Market: Geographical Analysis Competitive DynamicsFrom a geographical viewpoint, the global liquid packaging market has been examined for regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and Europe. Of these, the market in Asia Pacific is presently the leading contributor to the revenue of the global market and is expected to retain dominance owing to the thriving food and beverages and pharmaceutical industries. The market in Europe is expected to witness growth at a moderate pace, wherein the matured North America market is expected to lead towards stagnancy, presenting scope for fewer new growth opportunities in the near future.Global Liquid Packaging Market: Competitive DynamicsThe market features a large number of companies operating in a highly competitive environment. Rising awareness regarding the threats of plastic waste to the environment are bringing about a dynamic change in consumer perspective about packaging materials and is leading to a steady shift from plastics to biodegradable products. As a result, attempts at research and discovery of environmentally-neutral alternatives are gaining pace. This could threaten the leadership of companies primarily boasting plastic-products in their offerings while companies with innovative and sustainable products are expected to gain consumer backing.A sample of this report is available upon request @Some of the leading companies operating in the global liquid packaging market are The Dow Chemical Company, Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd, Comar LLC, Smurfit Kappa Group, Liqui-Box Corporation, Mondi Plc, Sidel International AG, Tri-Wall Limited, International Paper Company, Evergreen Packaging, Tetra Pak International S.A., Elopak Group, and BillerudKorsnas AB.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com UK Protection Insurance Market 2017: Key Players Legal & General, SunLife, Scottish Friendly, Aviva UK Protection Insurance https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1553411-uk-protection-insurance-2017-term-and-whole-of-life https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1553411-uk-protection-insurance-2017-term-and-whole-of-life www.linkedin.com/company/4828928 https://twitter.com/WiseGuyReports https://www.facebook.com/Wiseguyreports-1009007869213183/?fref=ts Pune, India, 13th December 2017: WiseGuyReports announced addition of new report, titled UK Protection Insurance 2017: Term and Whole of Life.Summary"UK Protection Insurance 2017: Term and Whole of Life", covers the market for individual regular premiums, concentrating on the main market for all types of consumers seeking their own cover. Taking protection as a whole, it focuses on the major and closely related product lines of term and whole of life insurance that broadly provide financial compensation in the risk-measured event of death or severe health issues. The report examines the size of the protection market over time, and how the distribution landscape is changing and being impacted by technology and direct propositions. It discusses the top market players and their propositions. The report forecasts how the size of the market will change over the next five years, discusses consumer engagement with protection products, and highlights how providers propositions are likely to change in the future.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The UK life protection market for regular, individual premiums has entered a quiet period, with a new normal level of business of reduced contracts and premiums since 2013. With the protection market fairly stable in terms of premiums, the real story lies in changes in distribution. The non-advised channel is starting to gain momentum for term products that can be easily commoditized. Term distribution is expected to move away from independent financial advisors (IFAs) and begin to mirror the general insurance market, where policies are sold directly and through aggregators. Providers propositions are also changing. Policies are becoming more personalized to individual risk, with insurers developing policies for specific risk groups. Providers are also trying to actively help their customers manage their health.Scope- The protection market is dominated by a few key players. Legal & General holds the largest share of the term market, whereas SunLife holds the largest proportion of the whole of life market.- Providers are trying to actively help their customers manage their health by investing in diagnostic healthcare technology, launching wellbeing apps, and providing customers with virtual GP services.- Following the Retail Distribution Review, robo-advice and technology will help bridge the advice gap for less affluent consumers.Companies mentionedLegal & GeneralSunLifeScottish FriendlyAvivaRoyal LondonZurichVitalityVirgin MoneyPost OfficeReasons to buy- Understand how customers perceive protection products and what can be done to make them more attractive.- Remain competitive by discovering how providers are changing their propositions.- Discover how technology and robo-advice are being used to simplify the distribution of protection products.- See how the UK protection market is forecast to grow over the next five years.Table of Content: Key Points1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 31.1. Protection has reached a new normal, but innovation is coming 31.2. Key findings 31.3. Critical success factors 32. MARKET DYNAMICS 92.1. Introduction 92.2. The protection market remained steady in 2016 102.2.1. The UK protection market has reached a new normal of lower business levels since the RDR 102.2.2. Term products dominate the protection market 112.3. The term market dictates the performance of the total protection market 122.3.1. The term market recorded slight growth of 2.0% following four years of decline 122.3.2. Growth in mortgage lending is an opportunity for term policy providers 142.3.3. But providers are finding it difficult to sell life insurance alongside a mortgage 152.3.4. Mortgage lending will begin to slow, reducing the opportunity for term products 152.4. Whole of life is a market of two halves 162.4.1. The whole of life market has returned to its decline after a year of growth 162.4.2. Whole of life premiums have been propped up by rate increases 163. DISTRIBUTION 193.1. The RDR changed the distribution landscape 193.1.1. The total protection market shows a decline in the restricted advice channel 193.2. Term products are still dominated by IFAs 203.2.1. The non-advised channel is making gains in the term market 203.2.2. Non-mortgage term products are driving changes in distribution in the term market 213.2.3. Distribution for mortgage-related term products remains fairly steady 213.2.4. Term products have the higher capacity to be commoditized and sold on a direct basis 223.3. Distribution of whole of life products is as divided as ever 23ContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India PTFE Fabric Market Set to Witness an Uptick during 2016 - 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18833 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18833 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global PTFE Fabric Market: OverviewPolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fabric market has been witnessing an exponential rise over the past few years as it has become an integral material in the production of several industrial goods. It is largely being used for coating non-woven and flexible-woven materials such as woven wire, glass fiber cloth, and aramid fabrics as it offers excellence resistance to fire. Properties such as non-stick, friction-free, and non-brittle are also expected to win the global PTFE fabric market a definite consumer base between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024.The research report by Transparency Market Research provides a detailed outlook of the global PTFE market. The publication has been compiled using primary and secondary research methodologies to offer its readers an accurate evaluation of the market dynamics impacting the demand and supply of PTFE fabric. Furthermore, the research report also includes a SWOT and a Porters five forces analysis for a comprehensive scrutiny of the global market.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global PTFE Fabric Market: Drivers and TrendsThe PTFE fabric has been designed to be chemically inert and are known to remain intact under extreme temperatures up to 73 degrees Celsius to 232 degrees Celsius. This has been the underlying reason for the swift uptake of PTFE fabric in a wide range of industry starting from construction and stretching up to packaging. The self-cleaning properties of PTFE fabric has proven to be an asset to builders, ensuring consistent usage of these fabrics in the building and construction industry.The global market will also be driven by adoption of PTFE fabrics for the production of gaskets, seals, and bearings for chemicals, gases, oils, chutes, hoppers, hot platens, and troughs as they are known to be non-sticky. The chemical industry will also be a loyal consumer of PTFE fabric as they are being used for making lining materials for piping compensators in the near future.Global PTFE Fabric Market: SegmentationThe types of PTFE fabric available in the global market are glass mesh fabric and glass fiber fabric. The report indicates that glass fiber fabric will witness a stupendous rise in the coming years as it is known to have terrific resistance to water, alkali, aging, and excellent softness. In addition, its superior tensile strength and flex life are also likely make a popularly used option over the forecast period. Currently, glass fiber fabric is extensively used in artificial stone materials, natural marble, plaster board, reinforcing walls, and exterior insulation finishing systems.Among the end-user industries, the building and construction segment is segment be the key consumer of PTFE fabric during the forecast period. These will be predominantly used through industrial goods such as pipe and line fittings, tubes, and rods especially in emerging economies of Latin America and Asia Pacific where construction industry is flourishing. The ability to this fabric to weather harsh climatic conditions and environmental changes will win the market a wide consumer base.Global PTFE Fabric Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of geography, the global PTFE fabric is segmented into Latin America, North America, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The research report states that the Asia Pacific PTFE fabric market will dominate the global market, closely followed by Europe and North. The dominance of this region will be attributable to the growing number of end-user industries such as construction, chemical, food and beverages, packaging, and textile. The emerging economies of Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea are expected to be key contributors to the soaring revenue of the Asia Pacific PTFE fabric market. Analysts project that Australia and New Zealand will also be pivotal to the regional market.On the other hand, North America and Europe PTFE fabric market will show a slow-paced growth pattern as the markets experience saturation. However, ongoing technological advancements and launch of new products will boost the demand for PTFE fabric in the regions over the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Key Players Mentioned in the Report are:Some of the leading players operating in the global PTFE fabric market are Urja Fabrics, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation, Daikin industries Ltd, Fiberflon GmbH & Co. KG, Birdair Inc, Fothergill Group, and W.L. Gore & Associates Inc.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact USTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Polo Shirt 2017 Global Key Players Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Prada, Lacoste, Paul Stuart, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger Market Analysis And Forecast To 2022 Polo Shirt Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1082694-global-polo-shirt-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/1082694-global-polo-shirt-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1082694 Polo Shirt Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Polo Shirt Market - Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global Polo Shirt Market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Polo Shirt in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Polo Shirt market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBanana RepublicRalph Lauren CorporationAbercrombie & FitchBrooks BrothersCalvin KleinBurberryPradaLacostePaul StuartJ. PressHugo BossGucciTommy HilfigerVineyard VinesKent WangThom Browne.....Request for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoKids ShirtWomen ShirtMen ShirtOn 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 Polo Shirt for each application, includingEvery Day WearGame WearOthersEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Polo Shirt Market Research Report 20171 Polo Shirt Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Polo Shirt1.2 Polo Shirt Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Polo Shirt Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Polo Shirt Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Kids Shirt1.2.4 Women Shirt1.2.5 Men Shirt1.3 Global Polo Shirt Segment by Application1.3.1 Polo Shirt Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Every Day Wear1.3.3 Game Wear1.3.4 Others1.4 Global Polo Shirt Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Polo Shirt 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 Polo Shirt (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Polo Shirt Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Polo Shirt Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Polo Shirt Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Polo Shirt Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Polo Shirt Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Polo Shirt Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Polo Shirt Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Polo Shirt Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Polo Shirt Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Polo Shirt Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Polo Shirt Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Polo Shirt Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Polo Shirt Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Polo Shirt Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Polo Shirt Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Polo Shirt Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Polo Shirt Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Polo Shirt Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)7 Global Polo Shirt Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Banana Republic7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Banana Republic Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Ralph Lauren Corporation7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Ralph Lauren Corporation Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Abercrombie & Fitch7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Abercrombie & Fitch Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Brooks Brothers7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Brooks Brothers Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Calvin Klein7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Calvin Klein Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Burberry7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Burberry Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Prada7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Prada Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Lacoste7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Lacoste Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Paul Stuart7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Paul Stuart Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 J. Press7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Polo Shirt Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 J. Press Polo Shirt Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Hugo Boss7.12 Gucci7.13 Tommy Hilfiger7.14 Vineyard Vines7.15 Kent Wang7.16 Thom BrowneContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune 411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042 Global Bluetooth Beacon and iBeacon Market Expanding at a CAGR 91.4% 2017- 2025 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4006 https://www.mrrse.com/bluetooth-beacon-and-ibeacon-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/4006 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ A new report added to the repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine Global Market Study on Bluetooth Beacon and iBeacon: North America Anticipated to be the Most Attractive Regional Market Through 2025 is a comprehensive repository of information, providing market share, size, and forecast.Request to view Sample Report @A meteoric 180x increase in revenue to be witnessed by Bluetooth beacon and iBeacons by 2025 endAccording to the research study, the global Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market is anticipated to grow at a noteworthy rate to reach a significant value by the end of the assessment year. The Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market experienced a sluggish growth initially during 2012-2016 period. However, it gained enormous steam after 2016 and is projected to grow at a gigantic CAGR of 91.4% throughout the period of assessment, 2017-2025. By the end of the assessment year, the global market for Bluetooth beacons and iBeacons is estimated to reach an enormous valuation of more than US$ 37 Bn from a mere US$ 207 Mn in 2017. This enormous growth can be attributed to various key aspects such as implementation of beacons in retail stores to engage customers, consistency in growth of smartphones and related technologies and increasing sue of beacons in industries for enhancement of safety. As per the research report, the players involved in this market can focus on expanding their reach in Asia Pacific and North America region in the coming years.North America region to be highly lucrative for Bluetooth beacon and iBeaconsNorth America region is anticipated to be highly lucrative region for the growth of Bluetooth beacons and iBeacons in the coming years. The region reflected high potential in terms of growth and revenue generation in this market since past couple of years. In the coming years, it is likely to dominate the global market over other regions. The Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market in North America is projected to grow at an exponential CAGR of 90.6% throughout the period of assessment to reach a high valuation of more than US$ 14 Bn by the end of the forecasted year from a value of US$ 82 Mn in 2017.United States has highly contributed to the growth of the Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market in North America region, followed by Canada. By technology, the iBeacon segment dominated the global market by reflecting a higher market share and value. By the end of 2025, this technology segment is projected to show a value higher than US$ 10 Bn. The retail end users segment in the North America Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market is expected to show high prominence in the coming years. However, the non-retail end user segment in this region is expected to grow at a comparatively higher pace in the near future.Asia Pacific to soar at super speed in the Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon marketAsia pacific region has shown higher potential in the growth of this technology market. It is the third largest region with respect to revenue size. The Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market in Asia Pacific region is valued at about US$ 40 Mn in 2017 and is estimated to reach a higher valuation of more than US$ 8 Bn by the end of the assessment period.China country is the major contributor of growth of the Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon market in Asia Pacific region, followed by Japan. Technology wise, eddystone segment is projected to grow at a higher pace in this region, with a CAGR of 96.9%. The iBeacon technology segment is expected to be the largest segment in terms of market value and is projected to grow at a significant rate in the years to come. The retail and non-retail segments in the end user category both have given significant contribution. The Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon technology has been rapidly adopted in these segments; the retail segment has an upper hand with respect to market value whereas the Bluetooth beacon and iBeacon technology in non-retail sector in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a higher pace in the future.View Specifics Report with Table of Content @Market TaxonomyBy TechnologyiBeaconEddystoneOthersBy End UserRetailNon-RetailBy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)Middle East and Africa (MEA)Send an Inquiry @Market 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.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market Driving Innovation 2016 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/804859 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/804859 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/804859/the-public-safety-lte-mobile-market-research-reports Driven by the thriving ecosystem, SNS Research estimates that annual investments on public safety LTE infrastructure will reach $600 Million by the end of 2016. The market, which includes base stations (eNBs), mobile core and transport networking gear, is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 33% over the next four years. By 2020, these infrastructure investments will be complemented by over 4.4 Million LTE device shipments, including smartphones, rugged handheld terminals and vehicular routers.Due to the bandwidth limitations of their traditional voice-centric LMR (Land Mobile Radio) networks, public safety agencies are keen to leverage commercial cellular network technology to support their growing broadband application needs. Considering its thriving ecosystem, spectrum flexibility and performance metrics, LTE has emerged as the leading candidate for public safety mobile broadband networks. In addition, with the recent approval of the MCPTT (Mission Critical Push to Talk) voice standard as part of 3GPP Release 13, LTE has also become an attractive substitute for providing LMR-like voice services.Get the sample copy of this report :The Qatar Ministry of Interior made headlines when it deployed a private 800 MHz LTE network in 2012. Since then, numerous public safety LTE networks have sprung up across the globe, including the UAE, China, Laos, Turkey and Kenya. Several early adopter LTE deployments are also operational in the United States, as part of the planned FirstNet nationwide public safety broadband network. While most initial public safety LTE investments are limited to small-scale networks, nationwide rollouts in the United States and South Korea are expected to trigger significant large-scale investments throughout the globe.The European market is largely dominated by MVNO arrangements, such as the UK Home Offices ESN (Emergency Services Network) program that will use EEs commercial LTE network to deliver prioritized mission critical voice and data services for the UKs public safety agencies. As part of the program, EE is enhancing its existing network with additional sites, satellite backhaul and a dedicated mobile core for first responders, among other investments.Send an enquiry here :The Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market: 2016 2030 Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts report presents an in-depth assessment of the global public safety LTE market, besides touching upon the wider LMR and mobile broadband industries. In addition to covering the business case, challenges, technology, spectrum allocation, industry roadmap, value chain, deployment case studies, vendor products, strategies, standardization initiatives and applications ecosystem for public safety LTE, the report also presents comprehensive forecasts for mobile broadband, LMR and public safety LTE subscriptions from 2016 till 2030. Also covered are public safety LTE service revenues, over both private and commercial networks. In addition, the report presents revenue forecasts for public safety LTE infrastructure, devices, integration services and management solutions.The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report, as well as a list and associated details of over 90 global public safety LTE network commitments (as of Q22016).View full report :Key Findings:The report has the following key findings:SNS Research estimates that annual investments on public safety LTE infrastructure will reach $600 Million by the end of 2016. The market, which includes base stations (eNBs), mobile core and transport networking gear, is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 33% over the next four years.By 2020, these infrastructure investments will be complemented by over 4.4 Million LTE device shipments, including smartphones, rugged handheld terminals and vehicular routers.Following the Qatar Ministry of Interiors private 800 MHz LTE network deployment in 2012, multiple private LTE rollouts are underway by security forces throughout the oil rich GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, including the Abu Dhabi and Dubai police forces.Driven by nationwide public safety LTE network rollouts in the United States and South Korea, the North America and Asia Pacific regions will account for nearly 70% of all public safety LTE investments over the next four years.Almost all major LMR industry players are leveraging partnerships with established LTE infrastructure OEMs such as Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and Samsung, to offer end-to-end LTE solutions.Consolidation efforts are continuing to take place throughout the industry, particularly among the largest LTE infrastructure OEMs and public safety system integrators.Topics Covered:The report covers the following topics:Business case for public safety LTE and mobile broadband services, including key benefits and challengesTechnology, economics, trends, commercial commitments and deployment case studiesList of public safety LTE engagements worldwidePublic safety LTE infrastructure, devices and applicationsIndustry roadmap, value chain and standardization initiativesSpectrum allocation, deployment models and funding strategiesProfiles and strategies of over 260 ecosystem players including public safety system integrators and LTE infrastructure/device OEMsTCO analysis of private and commercial public safety LTE deploymentsMilitary and tactical LTE deploymentsPublic safety LTE base station (eNB) form factor analysisExclusive interview transcripts from 5 key ecosystem players: Ericsson, Airbus Defence and Space, Sepura, Aricent and Parallel WirelessStrategic recommendations for vendors, system integrators, public safety agencies and mobile operatorsMarket analysis and forecasts from 2016 till 2030Forecast Segmentation:Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their subcategories:Public Safety LTE InfrastructureSubmarketsRAN (Radio Access Network)EPC (Evolved Packet Core) and PolicyMobile Backhaul and TransportRAN Base Station (eNB) Mobility CategoriesFixed Base StationsTransportable Base StationsRAN Base Station (eNB) Cell Size CategoriesMacrocellsSmall CellsTransportable RAN Base Station (eNB) Form Factor CategoriesNIB (Network-in-a-Box)VNS (Vehicle Network System)SOW (System-on-Wheels)Airborne PlatformPublic Safety LTE Management & Integration SolutionsSubmarketsNetwork Integration & TestingDevice Management & User ServicesManaged Services, Operations & MaintenanceCybersecurityPublic Safety LTE DevicesSubmarketsPrivate LTECommercial LTEForm Factor CategoriesSmartphones & Handportable TerminalsVehicle Mount Routers & TerminalsTablets & Notebook PCsUSB Dongles & OthersPublic Safety LTE Subscriptions & Service RevenueSubmarketsPrivate LTECommercial LTEPublic Safety User Subscriptions over Private Mobile BroadbandSubmarketsPrivate LTEPrivate WiMAXPublic Safety User Subscriptions over Commercial Mobile BroadbandSubmarkets3GWiMAXLTE5G & BeyondLMR SubscriptionsSubmarketsAnalogDMRdPMR, NXDN & PDTP25TETRATetrapolOthersLMR Data SubscriptionsSubmarketsP25 - Phase 1P25 - Phase 2TETRATEDSTetrapolOthersPublic Safety LTE ApplicationsSubmarketsVideo ApplicationszGIS, AVLS and MappingMobile VPN Access & SecurityCAD (Computer Aided Dispatching)Remote Database AccessTelemetry and Remote DiagnosticsBulk Multimedia/Data TransfersPTT & Voice over LTESituational Awareness ApplicationsRegional SegmentationAsia PacificEastern EuropeLatin & Central AmericaMiddle East & AfricaNorth AmericaWestern EuropeKey Questions Answered:The report provides answers to the following key questions:How big is the public safety LTE opportunity?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?How is the ecosystem evolving by segment and region?What will the market size be in 2020 and at what rate will it grow?Which regions and submarkets will see the highest percentage of growth?How does standardization impact the adoption of LTE for public safety applications?When will MCPTT and proximity services see large scale proliferation?What is the status of private LTE rollouts and public safety MVNO offerings across the globe?What opportunities exist for commercial mobile operators and MVNOs in the public safety LTE market?Is there a market for 400 MHz LTE networks?What are the prospects of tactical, vehicle-mounted and airborne LTE eNB platforms?How can public safety agencies leverage unused spectrum resources to fund private LTE networks?What strategies should system integrators and vendors adopt to remain competitive?List of Companies Mentioned:The following companies and organizations have been reviewed, discussed or mentioned in the report:3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)AaeonAbu Dhabi PoliceAccelleranAceAxisACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority)AculabAdaxADCOM911 (Adams County Communication Center)ADRF (Advanced RF Technologies)AdvantechAdvantech WirelessAeroflexAffarii TechnologiesAffirmed NetworksAgile NetworksAirbus Defence and SpaceAirbus GroupAir-LynxAirspan NetworksAirvanaAirwave SolutionsAjman PoliceAlcatel-LucentAltiostar NetworksAmdocsAniteAnritsu CorporationAPCO International (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials)AppleARASKOMArcadyanArgelaAricentARItelArqivaArtemis NetworksAselsanASOCSASTRI (Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute)ASTRIDASTRO SolutionsAsus (ASUSTeK Computer)AT&TAthena Wireless CommunicationsAthonetATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions)Atlas TelecomAvanti Communications GroupAvayaAVIAviat NetworksAvtecAxell WirelessAxis CommunicationsAxis TeknologiesAxxcelera Broadband WirelessBAE SystemsBandRichBarrett CommunicationsBASE (Belgium)Baylin TechnologiesBayRICS (Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority)BayWEB (Bay Area Wireless Enhanced Broadband system)BFDXBilbao MetroBird TechnologiesBittium CorporationBlack Box CorporationBlackhawk ImagingBlacknedBluebirdBoise Police DepartmentBosch Security SystemsBrazilian ArmyBridgewaterBroadcomBrocade Communications SystemsBT GroupBTI WirelessC4iCalAmp CorporationCalgary Police ServiceCamden County Public SafetyCanadian Advanced Technology AllianceCasio Computer CompanyCatalyst CommunicationsCaterpillarCaviumCCI (Communication Components Inc.)CCI (Competitive Companies, Inc.)CCI (Crown Castle International)CCSA (China Communications Standards Association)CCTI (Catalyst Communications Technologies, Inc.)CellvineCeragonChina MobileCiena CorporationCisco SystemsCITIG (Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group)City of CharlotteCity of Fort WorthCity of IrvingCity of New OrleansCity of OaklandCity of Pembroke PineCobhamCobham WirelessCodan Radio CommunicationsColorado Parks and WildlifeComba Telecom Systems HoldingsCommAgilityCommandWear SystemsCommScopeComtech Telecommunications CorporationCONET TechnologiesConnectemContelaCore Network DynamicsCoriantCorningCovia LabsCPqD (Center for Research and Development in Telecommunications, Brazil)CradlepointCSI (Cellular Specialties, Inc.)Dali WirelessDAMM Cellular SystemsDAP TechnologiesDAPage NotificationsDataNet SoftwareDatang GroupDatang MobileDellDeltaNodeDish NetworkDNK (Norwegian Directorate for Emergency Communication)Dongwon T&IDragonWaveDSC (Digital Special Communication)Dubai PoliceDurabook (Twinhead International Corporation)Dutch PoliceEA Networks (Electricity Ashburton)EADSEastcomEchoStar CorporationEden Rock CommunicationsEEEENA (European Emergency Number Association)EF JohnsonElbit SystemsElta SystemsEMC CorporationEricssonEricsson LGETELMEtherstackEthertronicsETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, South Korea)ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)EventideEXACOMExalt CommunicationsExelisEXFOExteNet SystemsFalu MunicipalityFederated WirelessFirstNet (First Responder Network Authority)FoxcomFraunhofer FokusFrench Armed ForcesFrench MOI (Ministry of Interior)FrequentisFujitsuGaltronicsGemtek Technology CompanyGENBANDGeneral Dynamics CorporationGeneral Dynamics Mission SystemsGenesis GroupGerman Armed Forces (Bundeswehr)Getac Technology CorporationGoodman NetworksGoodmill SystemsGoogleGovernor's OIT (Office of Information Technology), State of ColoradoGrant County Sheriffs OfficeGrenTech (China GrenTech Corporation)GWT (Global Wireless Technologies)Harris CorporationHarris CountyHFRS (Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service)HitachiHome Office, UKHoneywellHong Kong Police ForceHP (Hewlett-Packard Company)HQT RadioHTCHuaweiHughes CommunicationsHughes Network SystemsHytera Communications CompanyIAI (Israel Aerospace Industries)iBwave SolutionsiCOMIDF (Israel Defense Forces)ImtradexInmarsatInnerWirelessIntel CorporationIntel SecurityInterDigitalIntersecIntrepid Networksip.accessIPWirelessITELAZPIITU (International Telecommunication Union)JDI (JING DENG INDUSTRIAL)JMA WirelessJordanian Armed ForcesJRC (Japan Radio Company)Juni GlobalJuniper NetworksJVCKENWOOD CorporationKapsch CarrierComKathrein-Werke KGKBRKelrad SoftwareKenyan Police ServiceKeysight TechnologiesKirisun CommunicationsKisan TelecomKMWKodiak NetworksKPNKT CorporationKudelski GroupKyocera CommunicationsL-3 Communication Systems-WestL-3 Communications HoldingsLaos PoliceLA-RICS (Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System)Las Vegas Metropolitan Police DepartmentLemko CorporationLenovoLeonardo-FinmeccanicaLG CNSLG ElectronicsLG GroupLGS InnovationsLigado NetworksLijiang PoliceLiveViewGPSLockheed Martin CorporationLogic InstrumentMavenir SystemsMcWaneMegaFonMentura GroupMER-CellO Wireless SolutionsMetroPCSMiami Dade Police DepartmentMiami-Dade CountyMicrolabMilestone SystemsMIMOonMinistry of Industry and Information Technology, ChinaMitel Networks CorporationMitsubishi Electric CorporationMobileDemandMobilicomMobistarMODUCOM (MODULAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS)Moscow PoliceMoseley AssociatesMotorola MobilityMotorola SolutionsMPS (Ministry of Public Security, China)MPSS (Ministry of Public Safety and Security, South Korea)MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency)MTI MobileMutualinkNational Rail, UKNATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)NCRIC (Northern California Regional Information Center)NEC CorporationNedaaNeptune MobileNet4MobilityNetasNetMotion WirelessNevada Department of TransportationNew Jersey ROIC (Regional Operations Intelligence Center)New Jersey State PoliceNew Jersey TransitNew Mexico DoIT (Department of Information Technology)New Postcom Equipment CompanyNew Zealand PoliceNewCore WirelessNexiusNextG NetworksNextNavNI (National Instruments) CorporationNokia CorporationNokia NetworksNorthrop Grumman CorporationnTerop CorporationNTT DoCoMoNuRAN WirelessNutaqO3b NetworksOceus NetworksOctasicOMA (Open Mobile Alliance)Oman Royal OfficeOntario Ministry of TransportationONTHEGODEVICESOpenSignalOptiwayPanasonic CorporationPanda Electronics (Nanjing Panda Electronics Company)Panorama AntennasParallel WirelessPennsylvania State PolicePeproPhiladelphia Police DepartmentPhonakPiciorgros (Funk-Electronic Piciorgros),Pikewerks CorporationPolaris NetworksPolice Federation of AustraliaPortalifyPotevio (China Potevio Company)PowerTrunkProductivity Commission, AustraliaProximusPryme Radio ProductsPSCR (Public Safety Communications Research)Public WirelessPureWave NetworksPuxing RadioPyramid CommunicationsQatar Armed ForcesQatar MOI (Ministry of Interior)Qigihar Municipal Public Security BureauQiqihar PoliceQualcommQuanta ComputerQucellQuortusRACOMRadio IPRadisys CorporationRADWINRAVEN Electronics CorporationRaytheon CompanyRCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)Reality MobileRedline CommunicationsRELM WirelessRF WindowRFS (Radio Frequency Systems)Rio de Janeiro Fire DepartmentRivada NetworksRohde & SchwarzRohillRoper IndustriesRosenbergerSafaricomSAIC (Science Applications International Corporation)Samji Electronics CompanySamsung ElectronicsSamsung GroupSANG (Saudi Arabian National Guard)Sao Paulo Military PoliceSapura Secured TechnologiesSaudi MOI (Ministry of Interior)Savox CommunicationsSelex ESSepuraSerComm CorporationSESSETARSevis SystemsSFRShanghai Police DepartmentSiemensSiemens Convergence CreatorsSierra WirelessSignalionSikluSimocoSiRRANSK TelecomSK TelesysSLA CorporationSLC (Secure Land Communications)Smith Micro SoftwareSOLiD (SOLiD Technologies)Sonic CommunicationsSonim TechnologiesSony CorporationSpace DataSpectra GroupSpiderCloud WirelessSpirent CommunicationsStar SolutionsState of LouisianaState of MinnesotaState of MississippiState of New JerseyState of New MexicoState of OklahomaState of TexasState Security Networks Group, FinlandStop NoiseSumitomo Electric IndustriesSunnada (Fujian Sunnada Communication Company)Surrey PoliceSwedish National PoliceSymantecTait CommunicationsTaquaTCCA (TETRA and Critical Communications Association)TCL CommunicationTCS (TeleCommunication Systems)TDIA (TD-Industry Alliance)TE ConnectivityTechosonic IndustriesTecoreTEKTELIC CommunicationsTelefonicaTelevateTELEXTelrad NetworksTelstraTeltronicTelumTESSCOTETRAtabThalesTI (Texas Instruments)TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association)TITAN Communication SystemsT-MobileToshiba CorporationTropicoTurk TelekomTurkish National Police ForceTwisted Pair SolutionsU.S. ArmyU.S. CBP (Customs and Border Protection)U.S. CellularU.S. Coast GuardU.S. Department of CommerceU.S. Department of DefenseU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityU.S. Department of StateU.S. FCC (Federal Communications Commission)U.S. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)U.S. NavyU.S. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)U.S. NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council)U.S. NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration)UAE MOI (Ministry of Interior)UbidyneUIC (International Union of Railways)UNIMO TechnologyUniversity of OttawaUppsala Ambulance ServicesUS Digital DesignsUSPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)Utility AssociatesVerizon CommunicationsViaSatViavi SolutionsVidyoVientiane Municipal GovernmentVIRVEVision TechnologiesVMwareVodafoneVodafone New ZealandWest CorporationWestell TechnologiesWestern Australia PoliceWildoxWinmateWinMate CommunicationWireless Telecom Group CompanyWNC (Wistron NeWeb Corporation)Wytec InternationalxG TechnologyXplore Technologies CorporationZ-Com (ZDC Wireless)ZetronZhengzhou MetroZhengzhou Municipal Public Security BureauZhengzhou PoliceZinwaveZTEMRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Outlook for Safety Motion Control System Market by Key Trends and Analysis 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4669 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4669 www.futuremarketinsights.com Factors such as high productivity, lower system cost, flexibility, fast and easy implementation play a very important role in the modern day production lines. Moreover, easy customization and configuration, boost machine output, easy system coupling, effective and fast diagnostics are estimated to be the chief driving factors for safety motion control system market. However, all the manufacturers and producers are concentrating towards human safety.By safety motion control system, safety and productivity can both be increased at the same time without disturbing the manufacturing process. Safety motion control system performs operations using the results from the motion control sensors and motion control mechanism. In hazardous working environment it is very important to ensure safe working condition for machine operator and have a control on the machine parameters such as speed, acceleration and path.Request for TOC @Furthermore, productivity and the safety of the working personnel can be increased by implementation of sensor, actuator, and safe communication as compared to conventional safety methods. These added safety function prevent unwanted or accidental motion of motors and actuators. There are mainly three component of the safety motion control system such as drive system, motors and gearbox.Safety Motion Control System Market: Dynamics:Drivers:Safety standard, easy setup, low maintenance and demand for safe equipment are triggering the global motion control system market. Furthermore, fast and effective diagnostic, high level of availability of machine, etc. can be linked by a single source. Furthermore, the growth of automation & technology market, is expected to propel the growth of the integrated safety in all the motion drives in the global market. The growth of safety of human personal owing to the strict & hard laws by the government & ruling authorities is estimated to boost the safety motion control system market in the coming future.The chief challenges for the global safety control system market are the high market competition, high installation cost, high product cost, complexity in a motion control machine, lack of high skilled worker. The above factors is expected to hinder the growth of the safety control system market over the forecast period.Safety motion control system aids in controlling the manufacturing process more accurately, hence increasing the product quality as well as the cycle time of the production is reduced considerably. The amount of energy supplied to the production process is in a more targeted manner thus saving extra costs. Countries such as Germany, America and China are focusing on manufacturing of automatic guided vehicle with drive monitor or pro safety encoder.This encoder is attached to the automatic guided vehicles drive axis and it provide safety function such as safe speed monitor (SSM) and safely limited speed (SLS). Safety motion control system are also finding various applications in several; end use industries; they are also used in the various automatic robots, computer numeric control (CNC) and general motion control (GMC).In Asia-pacific region, it is expected that the growth of the global safety motion control market is high owning to increasing automation activity in all the end use industries. Furthermore, high production of automobile, smartphones and machine tool production is estimated to support the growth of global safety motion control market.Make an Enquiry @North America region is one of the prominent exporters of electric motor parts in the world. North America is also expected to play a significant role in the safety motion control market growth in forecast period owing to availability of high technological resources. Europe region is anticipated to grow in global safety motion control market owning to high disposable incomes and standard of living.Furthermore, Owing to increasing awareness regarding to efficiency and more precise method for automation in European region, there is a high scope for the growth of safety motion control system market. Therefore, it is expected that the safety motion control system market will see rapid growth in all the developed and developing countries in the coming future.About UsFuture 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.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: Scope in Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Market: Size, Cost Structure, Trends and Forecast Report 2017-2022 Market Research HUB https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1254760 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-hydrodesulfurization-catalyst-market-research-report-2017-report.html https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1254760 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ The market for Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst market has been undergoing a transitional phase over the recent past. The continual advancements in technologies and the swift increase in infrastructural development projects have influenced the demand for Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Market Research Report 2017 substantially over the past few years. The swift rise in urbanization and the significant increase in the disposable income of people are likely to maintain the demand pace of Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst market in the near future. The augmenting interest of investors, government funding, and the rising trend of automation are also projected to reflect positively on this market in the years to come.Request Free Sample Report@Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCRI Catalyst Leuna GmbHHoneywell UOPCriterionCNPCBASFShellChevron Phillips Chemical CompanyRedkino Catalyst CompanyHaldor Topsoe A/SAlbemarle CorpW.R. Grace & CoAxens S.AJohnson Matthey PLCClariant AGOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoTransition Metals typeOxides typeSulfides typeOn 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 Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst for each application, includingPetrochemical IndustryOrganic ChemistryCoal Chemical IndustryFood IndustryBrowse Full Report with TOC@Table of ContentsGlobal Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Market Research Report 20171 Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst1.2 Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Transition Metals type1.2.4 Oxides type1.2.5 Sulfides type1.3 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Segment by Application1.3.1 Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Petrochemical Industry1.3.3 Organic Chemistry1.3.4 Coal Chemical Industry1.3.5 Food Industry1.4 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst 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 Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Hydrodesulfurization Catalyst Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Continued..Enquire About this Report@About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: - 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email:- press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:-Read Industry News at :- Impact of Existing and Emerging Mine Drilling Machines Market Trends And Forecast 2017-2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5677 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ Mine Drilling Machines Market: IntroductionMining drilling machines, as the name suggest, are used for drilling operations in mining sites where the equipment needs to drill holes into the Earths surface or rocks in order to extract mineral ores. The holes are deeper than they are wide and the drill bits are designed accordingly as per the mining requirement. They are also used to drill underground tunnels for better extraction. The basic construction of a typical Mining Drilling Machine constitutes of components like rock drill, feed apparatus, drilling rods, drill bit, supports alongside the drilling reaction, power house and mining disposal equipment. The mine drilling machines work in a way such that, a rotational moment is given to the drill bit which exerts appropriate pressure on the earth surface to drill holes.The mine drilling machines are available in various configurations with interchangeable drill bits. This makes it easy for anyone to choose the appropriate drill bit at the time of operation in a specific region allotted. Extensively, there are three types of mine drilling machines namely, drilling rigs, drilling jumbos and rock drill surface crawlers. As each and every underground mining operation needs a drilling machine in order to drill deep holes with high precision. There are a number of drilling machines for mining operations available in the market that promise straight and steep holes in less time and nearly no power loss. The mining equipment can be improvised by adapting to smarter technological advancements which can improve their precision and speed.Request Report Sample@Mine Drilling Machines Market: Market DynamicsThe key driver to the Mine drilling machines market is the escalated mining operations in the rapidly growing economic regions of the world. This has resulted in extensive use of drilling machines and thus the older machines are being replaced with the new ones. The trend being witnessed is in the form of quicker and precise drilling operations. The market demand is for more efficient mine drilling machines in terms of drilling sharp, straight and clear holes by using less energy. R & D and related product development activities have been envisaged by OEMs in this regard.The mine drilling machine market is however is expected to experience few constraints due to the implementation of GTA meaning Green Trade Alliance which doesnt encourage any form of anti-environmental elements which in turn is expected to deter the ongoing operations and processes involved in the mining industry. Yet another constraint is the controlled mining due to depleting natural resources resulting in reduced production and operations by mineral processing companies. This has certainly impacted the mining industry which has further impacted the mining equipment market thus constraining the growth of mine drilling machines. This has eventually slowed down the market. However, mining is inevitable until some other alternatives come into existence.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: FPSO Market : Set to Grow Exponentially During the Forecast, 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1355 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1355 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1355 Global FPSO Market : SnapshotA floating production, storage, and offloading unit is considered as a vessel that is being used widely by a large number of gas and offshore oil industries. These vessels are used for the purpose of manufacturing and processing of hydrocarbons and further for the storage of oil. The use of FPSO vessels helps in storing oil and transporting it through a pipeline, which saves time as well as resources of the oil and gas companies. As a result, the global FPSO market is anticipated to witness a robust growth in the next few years.A significant rise in the number of exploration activities across the globe is one of the vital factors projected to fuel the growth of the global FPSO market in the next few years. The rising focus of key players on research and development activities and new product development are predicted to generate promising opportunities in the coming years. In addition, the rising number of oil and gas exploration sites in order to cater the rising demand from consumers are projected to accelerate the growth of the global FPSO market in the near future.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Among the key regions, the developed economies, including Europe and North America are expected to experience a steady growth in the next few years. At present, the global FPSO market is growing at a rapid pace and is likely to witness a high level of competition in the coming years. The increasing number of mergers and acquisition is expected to enhance the competitive scenario of the FPSO market in the near future, encouraging the expansion of product portfolio. As a result, the overall market is likely to supplement the development of the market in the near future.Global FPSO Market: OverviewA floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit could be a newly constructed vessel or converted oil tanker which is equipped with oil and gas processing and production facilities. An FPSO is able to carry out all the activities for which the term stands for. It is a commodious vessel which resembles the shape of a ship and finds extensive usage in extracting raw hydrocarbons from sea beds. With processing facilities provided onboard, it can also transport processed oil and gas to desired onshore locations using a shuttle tanker.With more number of countries producing their own FPSOs and higher sales achieved by manufacturers, the world FPSO market is anticipated to rack up a staggering amount of revenue until the end of the forecast period.Request TOC of the Report @Global FPSO Market: Key TrendsThe substantial degree of growth witnessed in the FPSO market is predicted to be augmented by the soaring demand for enhanced productivity and controlled capital spending. With a view to achieve this, companies are looking to convert tank vessels into FPSOs. The very nature of FPSO to be able to operate at any depth, relocate to any location, and offer high return on investment is deemed to be a strong reason for its incrementing demand.The redeployed FPSO market is prognosticated to rise above freshly converted or newly built vessels with the capability to minimize project execution timeline. Suitable for operation in medium and small offshore fields, converted FPSO poses a lesser capital cost compared to new built products.The rising exploration activities in ultra-deep offshore fields led by maturing onshore oil and gas reserves are expected to provide an aggressive boost to the global FPSO market. More opportunities are envisaged to take birth as the need to counter difficult conditions in ultra-deep and deep sea reserves surges the demand for integrated compact systems.Global FPSO Market: Market PotentialIran is all set to install its first ever FPSO named FPSO Cyrus near South Pars in the Persian Gulf. The vessel is expected to employ pipelines to draw hydrocarbons from subsea wells. On an average, the Iranian FPSO holds the capacity to extract 30,000 barrels per day in the first production phase, which could be increased to a whopping 55,000 to 60,000 barrels per day in the second production phase.Request Discount of the Report @On similar lines, Keppel Offshore & Marine will be delivering its first FPSO unit named John Agyekum Kufuor to Yinson Production (West Africa) Pte. Ltd. in 2017. The vessel will be engaged by ENI Ghana Exploration & Production Limited for oil and gas processing at the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) positioned in Offshore Ghana. The unit is studied to boast a 58,000 barrels per day processing capacity and 1.7 million barrel storage capacity. With an approximate 15,000 ton topside weight, it has the potential to be moored in a standard 1,000 meter water depth.Global FPSO Market: Regional OutlookWith ample of support furnished by the government of Brazil, the country is predicted to stand out as a chief FPSO market in the South America region. The prominence of the Brazilian market could also be accredited to the elevating number of oil and gas activities. The oil field discoveries in deep water and latest offshore exploration and production developments of East Africa and South America are envisaged to help the regions register growth at a significant rate.However, regions such as Europe and North America of the FPSO market are foretold to grow at a stagnant rate but secure a valuable share on account of their mature oil and gas reserves.In order to curb its dependence on imports of energy resources, China is forecasted to offer profit-making opportunities for vendors in the FPSO market. Besides this, the development of offloading technologies, production advancement, surging area of ultra-deep and deep sea reserves, and maturing shallow water and inland oil and gas fields are envisioned to help China take precedence in the global market.Global FPSO Market: Competitive LandscapeWith mergers and acquisitions and fast building of product portfolio, key players in the international FPSO market are foreseen to take charge of a leading share. Some of the tough competitors in the global market are Sembcorp Marine Ltd., COSCO Shipyard Group Co. Ltd., PetroleoBrasileiro S.A., MODEC, Inc., TOTAL S.A., SBM Offshore N.V., and Samsung Heavy Industries Ltd.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Smart Bullets Market Will hit at a CAGR of 12.2% from 2017-2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=23873 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=23873 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global smart bullets market is largely consolidated with top six players, namely Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing, Northrop Grumman Corp., BAE Systems, and General Dynamics Corp. holding more than 60% of the market in 2016, says a new research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR).With keen players focused on product innovation and technological advancements to boost their market presence, competition within this market is expected to intensify in the upcoming years, says the report.As per estimates presented in a report by Transparency Market Research, the global smart bullets market will expand at a healthy CAGR of 15.20% for the forecast period between 2017 and 2025. Progressing at this pace, the markets valuation of US$270.4 mn in 2015 will become US$955.4 mn by the end of the forecast period in 2025.Request For Report Sample@Larger Defense Budget to Maintain North Americas DominanceAmongst all, in 2016, the land segment stood as the leading end user with a share of 43.6% in the smart bullets market. Analysts estimate the land segment to retain its dominant position over the forecast period, thanks to the increasing military and defense budgets in emerging economies for the development of smart weapons.North America, closely trailed by Europe dominated the overall market in 2016 accounting for more than 42% share. Europe is also a key market for smart bullets. The demand in the region is driven by significant budget from the government in countries such as the U.K., France, Russia, and Germany for the development of smart weapons.Integration of Technologically Advanced Weapons in Defense Operations Drives GrowthThe increasing defense budget of several countries around the world is heavily influencing the global smart bullets market. Developed economies such as the U.S., France, and the U.K, along with swiftly advancing economies such as India and China as well as are increasingly integrating smart bullets in their defense operationsTechnological innovations in the weapons sector and improvements in currently existing weapons is making a positive impact on the smart bullets market. Moreover, the use of laser beam leading to technological advances such as adjustment in the bullets path according to target is also expected to mark tremendous growth in this market. Lockheed Martin and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging have been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) to develop 0.50 caliber smart bullets with higher precision to hit the target.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Lockheed Martin Corporation received a contract from the U.S. DARPA in February 2016 to design and manufacture medium-caliber smart bullets. The contract received by the fire and missiles segment of the organization upon completion will help the navy to fight off attacks from fast attack boats, missiles, and aircrafts. These developments are likely to fuel growth of the global smart bullets market over the forecast period.On the contrary, high manufacturing costs of smart bullets and lack of awareness among consumers are acting as deterrent to the markets growth.The review presented here is based on the findings of a report by Transparency Market Research, titled Smart Bullets Market (Product Types - Guided Smart Bullet and Self-guided Smart Bullet; End User - Airborne, Land, and Naval) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsContact USState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Website:Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Revenues over US$ 2.7 Bn will be Accounted by Sulphur Recovery Technology Market by 2027-End https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1431 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1431 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ A greater number of refinery projects across the world should create an immense opportunity for sulphur recovery technology manufacturers to install their units in the plants. Upcoming refineries in the APEJ and MEA region are anticipated to be major contributors to the global sulphur recovery technology market. Future Market Insights has comprehensively assessed the sulphur recovery technology market in its report titled Sulphur Recovery Technology Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 - 2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017 - 2027. The sulphur recovery technology market is expected to have a value of over US$ 2.7 billion by end 2027.Technology Claus Process Slightly Ahead of Tail Gas Treatment TechnologyThere is a close battle between the claus process and tail gas treatment technology in the sulphur recovery technology market with the former edging ahead. The claus process is predicted to record a CAGR of 12.8% for the decade. However, it would be unwise to ignore the tail gas treatment technology segment entirely in the sulphur recovery technology market as companies are focusing on it as well. For e.g. BASF has introduced tail gas treatment technology to increase plant efficiency and reduce sulphur technology. This helps decrease sulphur emissions and lowers operational expenditure because of lesser amine circulation rates and reboiler duties.Request Report Sample@Source of Recovery Gas Recovery has Significant Traction in Sulphur Recovery Technology MarketThe gas type segment has a market share of approx. two thirds of the global sulphur recovery technology market by source of recovery and is poised to lose 210 BPS going forward. However, gas recovery is unlikely to cede its pole position in the sulphur recovery technology market. An incremental dollar opportunity of US$ 1.1 billion can be tapped in the gas recovery segment of the sulphur recovery technology market. Increasing production and exploration activity, particularly in respect of shale gas, is fuelling demand for sulphur recovery units in refineries. Gas refining has great potential in the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Asia.Capacity < 100 t/D Dominates the Sulphur Recovery Technology MarketThe < 100 t/D capacity segment has a share of more than half the global sulphur recovery technology market by capacity at the end of 2017. The < 100 t/D segment is popular on account of having a lower emission footprint, being easy to upgrade, and relatively cost-effective as compared to other units. Several companies have invested in < 100 t/ D units such as Siirtec Nigi that has agreed to supply two Claus sulphur recovery units in Kuwait with a capacity of < 100 t/D each.Region Europe and MEA Key in Sulphur Recovery Technology MarketEurope and MEA are the regions to look out for in the sulphur recovery technology market. Refinery projects in diverse nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Russia should boost the demand for sulphur recovery technology. These countries have ample oil reserves and are major global suppliers, making them lucrative for sulphur recovery technology unit manufacturers. The Europe sulphur recovery technology market is projected to push past US$ 720 million by end 2027.Competition Dashboard in Sulphur Recovery Technology MarketThe companies profiled in the sulphur recovery technology market report are Jacobs Engineering Group, John Wood Group, TechnipFMC, WorleyParsons, Prosernat, Black and Veath Holding Company, Bechtel Corporation, KNM Group Berhad, CB&I, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil Corporation, KT Kinetics Technology SPA, Fluor Corporation, Linde AG, Chiyoda Corporation, and GTC Technology.Visit For TOC@TakeawaysSulphur recovery technology unit manufacturers must take advantage of the refineries being set up across the globe. APEJ, MEA, and Europe could contribute a sizeable chunk of revenue in the sales of sulphur recovery technology units and companies are advised to target these regions with all guns blazing.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Zonal Isolation Market : Report and Industry Outlook, 2017 - 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1370 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1370 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=1370 Global Zonal Isolation Market: SnapshotZonal isolation is an indispensable method of primary cementing by enabling production or stimulation operations to be conducted efficiently in wells. The method has gained prominence in mature field developments and is vital to the success of drilling operations. Effective zonal isolation is found to be helpful in improving the wells producing potential by bring down the construction cost and minimizing the risk, thereby improving wellbore integrity. The process essentially prevents the cross-flow of gas, oil, and fluids across diverse geographical layers. With the growing complexity of oil wells, zonal isolation has become more than splitting the reservoir into compartments.The process of primary cementing encapsulates the use of cement sheath to provide primary zonal isolation in the annulus with a marked bonding and strength. This leads to restricting the fluid movement across the formations and support the casing. Cementing also helps in protecting the casing from any type of corrosion and from shock loads in case of a deeper drilling. Various applications of zonal isolation are gas shutoff, openhole testing, selective stimulation, acidizing, and plugging. The surge in interest in offshore basins among oil and gas exploration and production companies is accentuating the zonal isolation market. The rising shale gas exploration, especially in developed regions, and a constant rise in the number of drilling rigs are key factors boosting the demand for zonal isolation methods and the associated well construction technologies.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Zonal Isolation Market: OverviewZonal isolation is a method being used extensively across the globe in order to prevent the cross flow of gas and oil across diverse geographical layers. The increasing demand for drilling activities in oil and gas plants is considered as one of the major aspects fuelling the growth of the global zonal isolation market in the next few years.Furthermore, the rising investments by governments and private organizations for drilling activities and exploration of new oil and gas reserves are predicted to supplement the growth of the overall market and generate lucrative opportunities for key players.Global Zonal Isolation Market: Key TrendsThe preferential shift of production and exploration activities from onshore to offshore is one of the major factors boosting the demand for zonal isolation method across the globe. In addition, a tremendous rise in the drilling activities and the growing awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of implementing these methods are likely to accelerate the growth of the global zonal isolation market throughout the forecast period.On the other hand, stringent government rules and regulations for the use of zonal isolation methods are anticipated to restrict the growth of the global market in the next few years. Nonetheless, the development of innovative and advanced zonal isolation methods is expected to create promising growth opportunities for the key players operating in the global market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Zonal Isolation Market: Market PotentialThe rising production and exploration of oil and gas wells, especially in offshore fields across the globe is anticipated to boost the demand for zonal isolation in the near future. The increasing shale gas exploration and a substantial rise in the number of drilling rigs in order to meet the growing demand for crude oil are anticipated to fuel the growth of the market.Some of the key countries that are projected to contribute extensively towards the robust growth of the global zonal isolation market are Saudi Arabia, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Russia, the UAE, Brazil, China, and Iran.Global Zonal Isolation Market: Regional OutlookAmong the key regional segments, Europe is expected to witness a strong growth throughout the forecast period. The U.K. and Norway are considered to contribute extensively towards the growth of the Europe zonal isolations market in the next few years. In addition, the increasing production and rising investments in exploration activities are projected to encourage the growth of the market in the forecast period.Furthermore, the Middle East and Africa and North America are expected to witness a healthy growth in the next few years. A substantial rise in the number of drilling activities and the increasing expenditure for the search of new oil and gas reserves are projected to fuel the growth of the zonal isolation market in North America and the Middle East and Africa throughout the forecast period.Request Discount of the Report @Global Zonal Isolation Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market for zonal isolation is competitive in nature and is anticipated to witness a participation of several new players in the next few years. The growing focus of key players on research and development activities in order to provide innovative methods to consumers is anticipated to encourage the growth of the overall market in the next few years. Additionally, the rising number of strategic collaborations is predicted to augment the growth of the market in the near future.Some of the leading players operating in the zonal isolation market across the globe are Schlumberger Limited, Superior Energy Services, Expro International Group Holdings, Oilsery, Archer, Baker Hughes, TAM International, Inc., C&J Energy Services, Inc., FMC Technologies, Weatherford International, Halliburton Company, and Tendeka.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Nail Polish 2017 Global Market Key Players -Nars, Rimmel, Dior, COSMAY, Kiko, CHANEL, LOREAL,Bobbi Brown, Revlon -Analysis And Forecast To 2022 Nail Polish Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2307471-global-nail-polish-industry-market-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2307471-global-nail-polish-industry-market-research-report https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2307471 Nail Polish Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Nail Polish-Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Description:Based on the Nail Polish industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Nail Polish market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2012-2017), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2017-2022), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Nail Polish market.The Nail Polish market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Nail Polish market are:NarsRimmelDiorCOSMAYKikoCHANELANNA SUISally HansenCNDL'OREALMISSHAEssieOPIBobbi BrownRevlonNails IncMaybellineZOTOS ACCENTORLYButter LondonRequest for Sample Report@Major Regions play vital role in Nail Polish market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Nail Polish products covered in this report are:Water based nail polishOrganic solvent based nail polishMost widely used downstream fields of Nail Polish market covered in this report are:GelTop coatBase coatEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Nail Polish Industry Market Research Report1 Nail Polish Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of Nail Polish1.3 Nail Polish Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global Nail Polish Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2012-20221.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of Nail Polish1.4.2 Applications of Nail Polish1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.2 Europe Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.3 China Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.4 Japan Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.6 India Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.4.3.7 South America Nail Polish Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of Nail Polish1.5.1.2 Growing Market of Nail Polish1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies2 Industry Chain Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Material Suppliers of Nail Polish Analysis2.2 Major Players of Nail Polish2.2.1 Major Players Manufacturing Base and Market Share of Nail Polish in 20162.2.2 Major Players Product Types in 20162.3 Nail Polish Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.3.1 Production Process Analysis2.3.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure of Nail Polish2.3.3 Raw Material Cost of Nail Polish2.3.4 Labor Cost of Nail Polish2.4 Market Channel Analysis of Nail Polish2.5 Major Downstream Buyers of Nail Polish Analysis.8 Competitive Landscape8.1 Competitive Profile8.2 Nars8.2.1 Company Profiles8.2.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.2.2.1 Product Introduction8.2.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.2.3 Nars Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.2.4 Nars Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.3 Rimmel8.3.1 Company Profiles8.3.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.3.2.1 Product Introduction8.3.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.3.3 Rimmel Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.3.4 Rimmel Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.4 Dior8.4.1 Company Profiles8.4.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.4.2.1 Product Introduction8.4.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.4.3 Dior Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.4.4 Dior Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.5 COSMAY8.5.1 Company Profiles8.5.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.5.2.1 Product Introduction8.5.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.5.3 COSMAY Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.5.4 COSMAY Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.6 Kiko8.6.1 Company Profiles8.6.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.6.2.1 Product Introduction8.6.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.6.3 Kiko Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.6.4 Kiko Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.7 CHANEL8.7.1 Company Profiles8.7.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.7.2.1 Product Introduction8.7.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.7.3 CHANEL Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.7.4 CHANEL Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.8 ANNA SUI8.8.1 Company Profiles8.8.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.8.2.1 Product Introduction8.8.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.8.3 ANNA SUI Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.8.4 ANNA SUI Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.9 Sally Hansen8.9.1 Company Profiles8.9.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.9.2.1 Product Introduction8.9.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.9.3 Sally Hansen Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.9.4 Sally Hansen Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.10 CND8.10.1 Company Profiles8.10.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.10.2.1 Product Introduction8.10.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.10.3 CND Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.10.4 CND Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.11 L'OREAL8.11.1 Company Profiles8.11.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.11.2.1 Product Introduction8.11.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.11.3 L'OREAL Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.11.4 L'OREAL Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.12 MISSHA8.12.1 Company Profiles8.12.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.12.2.1 Product Introduction8.12.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.12.3 MISSHA Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.12.4 MISSHA Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.13 Essie8.13.1 Company Profiles8.13.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.13.2.1 Product Introduction8.13.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.13.3 Essie Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.13.4 Essie Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.14 OPI8.14.1 Company Profiles8.14.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.14.2.1 Product Introduction8.14.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.14.3 OPI Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.14.4 OPI Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.15 Bobbi Brown8.15.1 Company Profiles8.15.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.15.2.1 Product Introduction8.15.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.15.3 Bobbi Brown Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.15.4 Bobbi Brown Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.16 Revlon8.16.1 Company Profiles8.16.2 Nail Polish Product Introduction and Market Positioning8.16.2.1 Product Introduction8.16.2.2 Market Positioning and Target Customers8.16.3 Revlon Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2012-2017E8.16.4 Revlon Market Share of Nail Polish Segmented by Region in 20168.17 Nails Inc8.18 Maybelline8.19 ZOTOS ACCENT8.20 ORLY8.21 Butter LondonContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune 411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042 Dos/DDos Attack Solution Market Analysis in-Depth | Applicure, eSecurity Planet, Cisco https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/837642-global-dos-ddos-attack-solution-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/837642-global-dos-ddos-attack-solution-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=837642 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/837642-global-dos-ddos-attack-solution-market https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ HTF MI comprehensive and detailed 105-page research study on Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution provides a significantly expanded scope with deeply analyzed conclusions and content that includes an industry relevant database of major existing Dos/DDos Attack Solution manufacturers/players in each region, analysis of 11 leading national markets, important regions [United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia], a description of major geopolitical trends, analysis of the influencing factors and regulatory policies leading to the volatile dynamics.If you are involved in the Dos/DDos Attack Solution industry or intend to be, then this study is for you. Its vital you keep your market knowledge up to date. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization accordingly.Get Access to PDF Sample of Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 @:The research document will answer following questions such as: How is the Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution market evolving? What are the key next-generation Dos/DDos Attack Solution technologies/applications? What are the main applications of Dos/DDos Attack Solution ? How do the Dos/DDos Attack Solution fit into the market? At what stage of development are the key Dos/DDos Attack Solution ? Are there any planned, existing or successful demonstration and pilot projects going? What key challenges do Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution have to overcome to become fully commercially viable? Is their development and commercialization dependent on cost reductions or seeks technological/application wise breakthroughs? What is the outlook for key emerging Dos/DDos Attack Solution ? What difference does performance characteristics of Dos/DDos Attack Solution creates from those of established entities? Which companies, organizations are involved with Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution growth story? Which market spaces are the most active in the development of Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution market? How do the conditions for the development and deployment of differ in key regional markets? What is driving and restraining factors affecting the development and commercialization?Get customization & check discount for report @Briefing about some major insights that are included in the study are Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Top manufacturers that includes Applicure, eSecurity Planet, Cisco, Radware, Microsoft Azure, Akamai, Citrix, AT&T, Cloudflare, Incapsula, Arbor Networks, F5, SiteLock, Check Point Software, Fortinet, Verisign, DOSarrest & Sucuri for forecasted period 2017-2022. Each 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.Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)Small Enterprises xx xx xx xx% xx%Medium Enterprises xx xx xx xx% xx%Large Enterprises xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with Sales, revenue, Market Share (%) and Growth Rate (%) of Dos/DDos Attack Solution in regions/countries such as United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast).Market Segment by Regions 2012 2017 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2017-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%EU xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%Buy Single User License of Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 @In addition to this Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution Market Split by Product Type such as Android System Compatible, iOS System Compatible & Others and also presented nicely through graphs and tables.Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Android System Compatible, iOS System Compatible & OthersMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Android System Compatible xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%iOS System Compatible xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Others xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution market.Chapter 1, to describe Dos/DDos Attack Solution Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Dos/DDos Attack Solution , with sales, revenue, and price of Dos/DDos Attack Solution , in 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution , for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application [Small Enterprises, Medium Enterprises & Large Enterprises], from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Dos/DDos Attack Solution market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Dos/DDos Attack Solution sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.This brand new research report with title Global Dos/DDos Attack Solution Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 provides 100+ in-depth tables, charts and graphs that will help you make better informed strategic decisions.Browse for Full Report synopsis at:Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218Connect with us at Global Extension Cable Market 2017 Key Players - Volex, Electri-Cord, Feller, Americord, Masterplug, Monster, Allocacoc,.. Extension Cable Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/972587-global-extension-cable-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/972587-global-extension-cable-market-research-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=972587 Extension Cable Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Extension Cable Market 2017 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.Executive SummaryGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Extension Cable in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaRequest Sample Report @Global Extension Cable market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingVolexElectri-CordFellerAmericordMasterplugMonsterAllocacocQuail ElectronicsInterpowerWilliam CampbellStayOnlineTrippliteMEGALongwellHL TECHNOLOGYHongchang ElectronicsCHING CHENGOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoExtension LeadsCable ReelsOtherOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingResidential UseOffice UseIndustrial UseIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.For further information on this report, visit -Table of Content:Global Extension Cable Market Research Report 20171 Extension Cable Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Extension Cable1.2 Extension Cable Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Extension Cable Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Extension Cable Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Extension Leads1.2.4 Cable Reels1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Extension Cable Segment by Application1.3.1 Extension Cable Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Residential Use1.3.3 Office Use1.3.4 Industrial Use1.4 Global Extension Cable Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Extension Cable 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 Extension Cable (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Extension Cable Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Extension Cable Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Extension Cable Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Extension Cable Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Extension Cable Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Extension Cable Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Extension Cable Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Extension Cable Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Extension Cable Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Extension Cable Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Extension Cable Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Extension Cable Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Extension Cable Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Extension Cable Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Extension Cable Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Extension Cable Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Extension Cable Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Extension Cable Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Extension Cable Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Extension Cable Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Extension Cable Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Extension Cable Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Extension Cable Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Extension Cable Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Extension Cable Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Extension Cable Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Extension Cable Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesContinuousBuy this Report @Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 Future of Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Size 2022 Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences, Abbott, Boston Scientific, TERUMO https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/715427/?utm_source=OPR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/715427/?utm_source=PAID-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-nitinol-based-medical-device-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2022 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/emea-europe-middle-east-and-africa-waste-to-energy-wte-market-2017-forecast-to-2022/?utm_source=RR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 115 pages with table and figures in it.Nitinol-based Medical Device Market is a special metal that have the ability to restore their original shape after severe deformation. The nitinol medical devices include nitinol stents, nitinol guidewires, nitinol filters etc.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Nitinol-based Medical Device in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences, Abbott, Boston Scientific, TERUMO, C. R. Bard, Cordis, Cook Medical, B. Braun, Biotronik, Stryker, JOTEC, Lombard Medical, Acandis, ELLA-CS.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents: Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Overview Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Manufacturers Profiles Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Competition, by Manufacturer Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Analysis by Regions Global Nitinol-based Medical Device by Countries Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Segment by Type Global Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Segment by Application Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Forecast (2017-2022) Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers Research Findings and Conclusion AppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers Stents Guidewires OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Vascular Orthopedic & Dental OtherEnquire For Discount on Nitinol-based Medical Device Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Nitinol-based Medical Device market.Chapter 1, to describe Nitinol-based Medical Device Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Nitinol-based Medical Device, with sales, revenue, and price of Nitinol-based Medical Device, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Nitinol-based Medical Device, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Nitinol-based Medical Device market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Nitinol-based Medical Device sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Waste to Energy (WTE) Market 2017 Forecast to 2022WTE (Waste-to-Energy) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste. WTE is a form of energy recovery. Most WTE processes produce electricity and/or heat dire...About Us:Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Personal Care Packaging 2017 Market Is Estimated to Reach US$ 36.85 Billion and Growing at 5.2% CAGR by 2022 Personal Care Packaging Market 2017 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1838 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/personal-care-packaging-market-1838 Personal Care Packaging Market 2017Summary:Global Personal Care Packaging Market Information by Material (Plastic, Glass, Metal, others), by Product (Bottles, Jars, Cans, Tubes, Pouches, and others), by Application (Skin Care, Cosmetics, Fragrances, Bath & Shower and others) any by Region Forecast to 2022Market Synopsis of Personal Care Packaging MarketThe key drivers contributing to the growth of the global personal care packaging market are awareness among the people about personal care and the increased investment by the packaging companies to bring technological advancement to the industry. The manufacturers these days pay lot of attention to the brand differentiation and thus are more stringent about the packaging of their products.Manufacturers have to provide a detailed description of every product to consumers, including safety reports, ingredient descriptions, statement of compliance, data on animal testing, and method of manufacturing. Personal Care packaging is widely used in applications such as skin care, cosmetics, fragrances and bath & shower products. Skin Care and hair care segments by products contributes highest to the overall growth. Materials such as glass and plastic are used for packaging such products. Asia-Pacific contributes largely to the market, majorly due to changing lifestyles, rising disposable income and growing awareness among consumers.The global personal care packaging market is expected to cross USD 36.85 billion, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% by the end of the forecasted period.Key PlayersThe key players of global personal care packaging market report include Amcor Ltd., WestRock Company, Saint-Gobain S.A, Bemis Company Inc., Mondi Group, Sonoco Products Company, Albea Services S.A.S, Gerresheimer AG, Ampac Holdings, LLC and AptarGroup.Request For Sample Report @Study Objectives of Personal Care Packaging Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 6 years of various segments and sub-segments of the Global Personal Care Packaging Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To analyze the Global Personal Care Packaging Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by material, product, application and regions. To provide strategic profiling of the key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Personal Care Packaging Market.The report for Global Personal Care Packaging 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.Complete Report Details @Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report3 Market Research Methodology4 Market Landscape5 Industry Overview Of Global Personal Care Packaging Market6 Market Trends7 Global Personal Care Packaging Market By Region8 Global Personal Care Packaging Market By Material9 Global Personal Care Packaging Market By Product10 Global Personal Care Packaging Market By Application11 Company ProfilesContinued.About Us: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 the prime objective to provide optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies depending on products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments enables our clients to know more consequently do more, which gives them answer for their each and every important question. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industryCONTACT US:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Global Private Contract Security Service Market 2017: US Security Associates, TOPSGRUP, OCS Group, ICTS Europe, Covenant Private Contract Security Service Market 2017 http://bit.ly/2ASfrT9 http://bit.ly/2iXiUHL www.qymarketresearch.com The report entitled Global Private Contract Security Service market 2017 delivers the comprehensive and in-depth research analysis of the key regional market standing of the Private Contract Security Service trade on a global level. This report especially focuses on the core regions such as North & South America, Europe, Africa, South & Middle East Asia and Australia and also the key countries like (USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia, India, China, South Korea and Japan).Get Sample Copy of Report Here:This Private Contract Security Service market report state and future prospects of the segment have jointly been examined. Additionally, key methods within the Private Contract Security Service market that features partnerships, product developments, link-ups, and acquisitions, etc., mentioned. Besides, Upstream raw materials, equipment, and downstream consumers analysis is equally carried out. This extensive research encompasses of market profit, sales, Private Contract Security Service market revenue, potentials, and challenges also project the growth rate. Producers Analysis and prime Sellers of world Private Contract Security Service Market 2017:Securitas ABADT Corporationllied UniversalUS Security AssociatesSISTOPSGRUPBeijing BaoanOCS GroupICTS EuropeTransguardAndrews InternationalControl RisksCovenantEnquiry Here: Private Contract Security Service Market (Type Analysis):-Alarm MonitoringArmored TransportPrivate investigationOther Private Contract Security Service Market (Application Analysis):-Commercial & IndustrialGovernment & InstitutionalResidentialInitially, The Private Contract Security Service report covers the marketing research and forecast of Private Contract Security Service Market on a regional also the world level. The Private Contract Security Service report is generically divided into six components and each half aims at the summary of the Private Contract Security Service past, present and future conditions of the market, the feasibility of the investment on many methods and policies. Excluding the classification and definition, the Private Contract Security Service market report conjointly discusses the analysis crucial and export and explain a comparison of the Private Contract Security Service market that is targeted at the trends and development.Key Emphasizes the Private Contract Security Service Market:1. Private Contract Security Service Market evolution for the regional as well as country level segments.2. Depth Analysis of global market forecasts and outlook for 2022, and forecasting of CAGRs through an expected period.3. In-depth analysis of Types/product and applications.4. Competitive mapping the prevailing key trends.5. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the Private Contract Security Service market estimations.6. Analyze the crucial market trends and new evolution technologically in the Private Contract Security Service Market.After that, This Private Contract Security Service report deals with the precise info on the selling Channels and novel project investments. So the modern professionals and the mainstream industry rival get the direction of these markets trends as well as regional analysis. This report also supports the new entrants, readers, investors and the established players to set up their plans and decide which segment or sub-segment to invest on so as to reap maximum profits.Finally, In Private Contract Security Service report key details, methods, and variables are examined and also whole helpful data are combined together for the learning and understanding the key facts related the worldwide Private Contract Security Service market. The Private Contract Security Service market share and production price with the SWOT analysis everything is integrated into this report.About Us:QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Website:Email: sales@qymarketresearch.com Global Sorbitol Market To Reach USD 1,585.4 Million By 2022 Sorbitol Market Forecast (2017-2022) http://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/sorbitol-market-global-opportunity-analysis-industry-forecasts-2022/ The global sorbitol market will grow at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2017 to 2022 to reach USD 1,585.4 million by 2022, according to this latest publication from Meticulous Research. The global sorbitol market driven by the growing health issues due to consumption of sugar-based products, expansion of middle-class population and increased urbanization, increasing demand from Asia-Pacific region, and growing demand from cosmetic and personal care industry. Moreover, all natural and clean label trends within the food and beverage markets, rising consumer demand for low-calorie and healthy food products, and increasing prevalence of diabetes have embraced the growth of sorbitol market globally. However, various side effects due to over consumption of sorbitol, and stringent regulations and international quality standards for sorbitol challenge the growth of the sorbitol market to some extent.Browse In-Depth Report onThe global sorbitol market is mainly segmented by function (sweetener, humectant, bulking agent, flavoring agent, and others), by form (solid and liquid), by applications (food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics & personal care, and others), and by geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa).Asia Pacific holds the major share in the global sorbitol market, followed by North America, and Europe. This penetration of sorbitol in this region is further expected to grow primarily due to the growth of cosmetic and personal care industry, increased consumption of functional food, growing desire to live a healthy lifestyle, and growing health & wellness trend. Further, increasing disposable income, rapid urbanization, increasing prevalence of diabetes, and increased production of sorbitol in the region provides significant opportunities for the sorbitol providers in this region.The leading companies have employed various strategies to expand their product and application offerings, global footprint, and augment their market share. The key players in the global sorbitol market are Roquette Freres le Romarin., Cargill Incorporated, Ingredion Incorporated, Archer Daniels Midland Company, SPI Pharma, Sayaji Industries Limited, Glushan Polyols Ltd., Ecogreen Oleochemicals, Merck group, Sukhjit Group, Tereos, B Food Science Co. Ltd, and Mitsubishi Corporation.Key questions answered in the report-Which are the high growth market segments in terms of type, form, application, and regions/countries?What is the historical market for sorbitol across the globe?What are the market forecasts and estimates from the period 2015-2022?What are the major drivers, restrains, opportunities, and trends in this market?Who are the major players in the global sorbitol market and what share of the market do they hold?Who are the major players in various countries and what share of the market do they hold?What are the competitive landscapes and who are the market leaders by sub-region in the global sorbitol market?What are the recent developments in the global sorbitol market?What are the different strategies adopted by the major players in the global sorbitol market?What are the geographical trends and high growth regions/ countries?What are the local emerging players in the global sorbitol market and how do they compete with the global players?About Meticulous ResearchMeticulous Research is one of the leading independent full service global market research and consulting companies focusing on medical devices, biotechnology, healthcare IT, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, and agriculture domains. Meticulous Research produces global reports and custom studies for North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East and Africa regions.Contact:Viren ShrivastavaAVP- Global Sales and MarketingMeticulous ResearchEmail: viren@meticulousresearch.comDirect Lines: +1-646-781-8004 (North America)+44-203-868-8738 (Europe)+91 744-7780008 (Asia-Pacific)Office No-402, 4th Floor, Pushpak Business Hub, Wakad, Pune-411057 Future of Medical Binocular Loupe Market Size 2022 Carl Zeiss Meditec, Orascoptic (Kavo Kerr), Halma, Heine https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/715462/?utm_source=OPR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/715462/?utm_source=PAID-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-medical-binocular-loupe-market-2017-forecast-to-2022 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-human-fibrinogen-market-2017-forecast-to-2022/?utm_source=RR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 118 pages with table and figures in it.Medical Binocular Loupes Market set a benchmark for design, high tech materials and precise manufacturing methods. They provide exceptional image quality and edge-to-edge definition and a large field of view.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Medical Binocular Loupe in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Medical Binocular Loupe Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Carl Zeiss Meditec, Orascoptic (Kavo Kerr), Halma, Heine, Designs For Vision, SurgiTel (GSC), Sheer Vision, Seiler Instrument, PeriOptix (DenMat), KaWe, Rose Micro Solutions, ADMETEC, NSE, Xenosys.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents: Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Overview Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Manufacturers Profiles Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Competition, by Manufacturer Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Analysis by Regions Global Medical Binocular Loupe by Countries Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Segment by Type Global Medical Binocular Loupe Market Segment by Application Medical Binocular Loupe Market Forecast (2017-2022) Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers Research Findings and Conclusion AppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers TTL Loupes (through the lens loupes) Flip-up LoupesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Hospitals Dental Clinics Ambulatory Surgical CentersEnquire For Discount on Medical Binocular Loupe Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Medical Binocular Loupe market.Chapter 1, to describe Medical Binocular Loupe Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Medical Binocular Loupe, with sales, revenue, and price of Medical Binocular Loupe, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Medical Binocular Loupe, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Medical Binocular Loupe market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Medical Binocular Loupe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Human Fibrinogen Market 2017 Forecast to 2022Fibrinogen is a protein in the blood plasma that is essential for the coagulation of blood and is converted to fibrin by the action of thrombin in the presence of ionized calcium.About Us:Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Global Automotive Roof Racks Market Analysis 2017 Forecasts to 2023 Automotive Roof Racks Market 2017 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3821 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-roof-racks-market-3821 Automotive Roof Racks Market 2017Market Highlights:Roof Racks are combination of bars that are attached to the roof of the car for carrying luggage. They are generally used to carry luggage, bicycle, and various carriers. They allow the user of automobile to reduce the interior space by transporting the objects on top of the roof. The commonly used materials in the roof racks are aluminum alloy, composite plastic, and others. Aluminum is the major material used in the roof racks. The factor that are responsible for the growth of Automotive Roof Racks Market are increase investment in tourism sector, increase in the production of vehicles and rising disposable income.Key Players of Automotive Roof Racks Market: Thule Group (Sweden) Magna International, Inc.(Ontario) VDL Hapro bv (Netherlands) MINTH Group Limited(China) Cruzber S.A (Spain) Atera GmbH (Germany) Rhino-Rack (U.S.) BOSAL (Belgium), JAC Products (U.S.) Yakima Products Inc. (U.S.)Request a Sample Copy @Market Research Analysis:Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the automotive roof racks market due to the increase investment in tourism sector. The increase investment in tourism sector will led to the increase in the use of commercial and passenger car which will result in the growth of this market. North America is expected to hold the majority of share of this market due to the large number of vehicle present in this region. The consumer in this region prefer their vehicle with high end automotive system such as roof bars. This will led to the growth of automotive roof racks market globally.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global automotive roof racks market, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global automotive roof racks market by its Material, by, by Type, Application, and by region.By Material Aluminium Alloy Composite Plastic OthersBy Type Roof Mount Raised Rail Gutter OthersBy Application Commercial Vehicles Passenger CarsBy Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Rest of the WorldTable of Contents:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Automotive Roof Racks Market, By Material4.1 Introduction4.2 Aluminum Alloy4.3 Composite Plastic4.4 Iron4.5 OthersContinueBrowse Full Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email_ sales@marketresearchfuture.com Construction Lift Market is expected to grow with 7% CAGR by 2023, Key Players- Fraco Products Ltd, GEDA USA, LLC, Fraco Products Ltd https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3813 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3813 Market Synopsis of Construction Lift Market:The major factor driving the global construction lift market is the rise in the demand for residential and non-residential constructions all over the world. The strict rules and regulations for the safety of workers in the construction industry and the rapidly increasing innovations of building, owing to aging structures is also driving the growth of the construction lift market. However, the growth of this market is expected to be restrained by the unavailability of skilled labor and the huge fluctuations in the prices of the raw materials.The Construction Lift Market is expected to grow with 7% CAGR during the forecast period.Regional Analysis of Global Construction Lift Market:The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing region for the construction lift market, owing to rising disposable incomes and the booming construction industry. The increasing urbanization and the industrialization in the developing nations is also driving the growth of the Asia-Pacific region. The North America and Europe region has wide manufacturing base for construction lifts, which is further driving the growth of the market in their respective countries.Request a sample @Key Players:The key players of global construction lift market are Alimak Group AB (Sweden), Fraco Products Ltd (Canada), XL Industries (France), Maber (Nottingham), STROS(Czech Republic), Electroelsa SRL (Italy), GAOLI Engineering Machinery Co. ltd (Jiangsu), GEDA USA, LLC (U.S.), Ningbo Hongda Elevator Co. Ltd. (China), KAISAB Company Ltd. (Saudi Arabia), KONE Corporation (Finland) and others.Target Audience: Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerProduct Analysis: Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information: Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis: Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information: Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesThe report for Global Construction Lift 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.Browse report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.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:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Vibration Isolators Market to Witness Comprehensive Growth by 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/19960 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/19960 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Vibration Isolators Market: IntroductionVibration Isolators are used to reduce the transmission of noise and vibration between two structures or equipment and to protect them from damage during operations and natural calamity. Vibration Isolators provide protection from vibration in the construction sector majorly caused by rotating Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and escalators. The product range available for end users also extends for industrial application that includes deployment in agricultural equipment, mining & drilling machinery, heavy tools and rotatory equipment such as turbine, compressors and pump are offering wide range of products for vibration isolators. The vibration isolators with resistibility to corrosion with ability to perform in elevated temperatures find suitability for use in the Aerospace and Defense industries such as tanks, drones, missiles and marine applications.The continuous focus on product development with advanced material formulations is one of the key strategy adopted by the market participants to penetrate into the new Vibration Isolators markets and achieve profitable growth. The manufacturers are working along with the customers across various industries for developing Vibration Isolators solutions to overcome new operational challenges faced by the users. Adding to this, the key players are also focusing to provide the end users with the complete product range, combined with wide availability through an extensive network of distributors and online buying options.A sample of this report is available upon request @Vibration Isolators Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe building codes outlined by the various associated authorities are being constantly updated with stricter norms to make structures capable of withstanding adverse conditions such as earthquake and blast, expected to drive the demand of Vibration Isolators especially in developed regions. The demand for vibration isolators will gain traction with growing popularity of fire retardant materials. The growing importance of fire protection and sustainability in the construction and manufacturing industries is anticipated to emerge as driving force for demand increase of Vibration Isolators. The ongoing industrialization in the developing economies led by China is one of the most impactful driver as industrial processes and equipment require vibration isolation systems for their proper functioning. Adding to this, there is an increasing demand to vibration isolators from industrial and marine plant and from mechanical equipment owing to rise in the investment in commercial and residential building construction sector. In the recent past, the Vibration Isolators sales had also witnessed growth in demand from medical sector due to growing acceptance of the vibrations isolation platforms for high end microscopy imaging systems. There is also growing demand for Vibration Isolators for the applications in the precision manufacturing industry such as semiconductors. The customer centric service, availability of technical expertise along with commitment to continuous improvement through investment in Research & Technology is important for gaining reliability and brand recognition among end users. The market is expected to further evolve with the advancement in the materials technology in the coming years.Vibration Isolators Market: SegmentationOn the basis of type, the Vibration Isolators market can be segmented into:Elastomeric IsolatorsMechanical IsolatorsAir Isolators MountsCompact Pneumatic IsolatorOthersOn the basis of application, the Vibration Isolators market can be segmented into:ArchitectureTransportationAerospace and DefenseElectronicsIndustrialManufacturingMedicalMiscellaneousVibration Isolators Market: Region-Wise OutlookThe global Vibration Isolators market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). In the coming years, Western Europe, Japan and North America are expected to hold notable share due to increase in the demand of vibration isolators solutions for attaining compliance with updated stricter building codes in the region. The APEJ is expected to register significant growth due to growing demand of vibration isolators for end user applications in the developing countries such as China and India. The MEA, Latin America and Eastern Europe are also expected to register healthy CAGR over the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Vibration Isolators Market: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global Vibration Isolators market include:E&B RUBBER METAL PRODUCTS PVT, LTDIAC AcousticsTrelleborgAV Industrial Products LtdFibet Rubber Bonding (UK) LtdFlexicoAnti-Vibration Methods (Rubber) Co LtdKarman Rubber CompanyGMT RubberVibraSystems Inc.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: Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Outlook 2022 Top Companies Epson, BenQ, Optoma, Hitachi, ViewSonic, Sony, Christie, Acer, LG https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/715469/?utm_source=OPR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/715469/?utm_source=PAID-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-ultra-short-throw-projector-market-2017-forecast-to-2022 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-burglar-alarms-market-research-report-2017/?utm_source=RR-SL https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 116 pages with table and figures in it.Ultra Short Throw Projector Market with ultra-short throw lenses are designed to produce larger projected images at a shorter throw distance. This means that unlike the standard or long throws projectors; you can get the big picture even when you?re caught in a tight space environment with much less space required between the projector and the screen. Gone are the worries about landing a tiny projected image or blocking out the projections with your shadows when youre using a standard/long throw projector in a space-constrained room.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Ultra Short Throw Projector in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Epson, BenQ, Optoma, Hitachi, ViewSonic, Sony, Christie, Acer, LG, Infocus, Ricoh, Casio, Vivitek, Dell, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Canon, Philips, Honghe Tech, NEC, COSTAR.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents: Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Overview Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Manufacturers Profiles Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Competition, by Manufacturer Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Analysis by Regions Global Ultra Short Throw Projector by Countries Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Segment by Type Global Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Segment by Application Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Forecast (2017-2022) Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers Research Findings and Conclusion AppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers SD 1080p 4K OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Education Business Residential OthersEnquire For Discount on Ultra Short Throw Projector Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Ultra Short Throw Projector market.Chapter 1, to describe Ultra Short Throw Projector Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Ultra Short Throw Projector, with sales, revenue, and price of Ultra Short Throw Projector, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Ultra Short Throw Projector, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Ultra Short Throw Projector market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Ultra Short Throw Projector sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -Global Burglar Alarms Market Research Report 2017In this report, the global Burglar Alarms 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.About Us:Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter Gear Box Housing Market Global Industry Analysis, size, share and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/17824 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/17824 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Gear Box Housing Market: IntroductionGearbox housing has a noteworthy impact on the running of a vehicle engine since it helps in the proper transmission of energy from engine components to the driven parts. It is a component that surrounds the gears and engine so as to protect them. Gear box housing plays a significant role in providing safety as it assists in power transmission as well as provides mechanical protection to the gear assembly. Without the use of gear box housing, the engine system assembly would not be safe for proper operation. The chief function of a gearbox housing is to offer support to the moving components, provide a leak proof & fluid tight container to hold the engine oil or lubricant and protect against impurities from the environment. Regular cleaning and servicing of the gear box housing is imperative for every automobile and machine to ensure safe operation as well as proper functioning in the equipment. Materials used in the construction of gearbox housing are cast iron or aluminium and the methods of construction can be shell or permanent moulding.Request For Report Sample:Gear Box Housing Market: DynamicsThe numerous advantages of gear box housing, coupled with the capability to transfer power effectually, are considered to be significant growth drivers for the global gear box housing market. The market is becoming healthier for competition and this is a positive factor influencing automotive component manufacturers. Growth of technology and automation in the manufacturing and supply of all vehicle types (Two Wheelers, PCs, LCVs, & HCVs) has further increased the attractiveness of gear box housing among consumers and end use industries. Prominent market players are trying to develop strong and long lasting gearbox housings for all vehicle types, which can be used efficiently and can sustain load depending on the operation of the vehicle or machine. Advancement in material science technologies in manufacturing industries has enabled them to use new materials, such as alloys of steel and aluminium, which make the gear box housing relatively more strong and durable under extreme load conditions. Through process research & development and product innovation in advanced telematics systems, manufacturers have significantly improved their response time for custom requirements from clients. This trend is expected to gain traction across the global market and create a tremendous opportunity in the near future and, in turn, fuel market growth for gear box housing.Gear Box Housing Market: SegmentationThe gear box housing market can be segmented on the basis of product type, material type, component and end use.By product type, the gear box housing market can be segmented as:Cast IronAluminiumOthers (Alloys & Composite Materials)By locomotive type, the gear box housing market can be segmented as:Two WheelersPassenger CarsLCVsHCVsShipsAviationBy sales channel, the gear box housing market can be segmented as:OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)AftermarketBy machine type, the gear box housing market can be segmented as:CNC MachinesCompressor & TurbinesOthers (Generators, Lathe Machines, Etc.)Gear Box Housing Market: Regional OutlookNorth America and Europe have plentiful natural resources and a stronghold of manufacturing industries, which will drive the demand for gear box housings in these regions. APAC countries are projected to significantly assist growth of the global gear box housing market over the forecast period. Countries, such as China, India and Japan, where the automotive industry is flourishing are expected to contribute prominently to the growth of the gearbox housing market over the forecast period. The gearbox housing market is expected to grow in the near future, owing to significant macro-economic factors, such as growth in industrialization and urbanization and growth of the locomotive industry.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Gear Box Housing Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the examples of market participants in the global gear box housing market, identified across the value chain are:Roop Automotives Ltd.Premier Ltd.Hindustan Auto EquipmentIG Watteeuw International NVAvtec Ltd.KOMET of America, Inc.CIE AutomotiveIDC Industries, Inc.Birken ManufacturingLancereal LimitedABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesT: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Website: Flow Meters Market to Record an Exponential CAGR by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10825 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10825 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The flow meter is a device used to measure the volume of fluid that is passing through a point on a given period of time. A flow meter consist various components such as tube, scale, stop, and indicator. Its performance depends on parameters that include pressure, viscosity, density and temperature of the fluid. Flow meter is measured by repeatability, accuracy, range ability of instrument and linearity.The global flow meter market can be segmented by application, by product and by geography. The product type is further segmented into Magnetic, Coriolis, positive displacement, turbine, vortex and others. Magnetic flow meter lead the global market in terms of value in 2012. Magnetic flow meters are majorly used in wastewater and water industry. Main applications of Coriolis flow meter include petrochemical and refining, chemicals, oil and gas and other industries. Geography segment covers North America, Europe, Asia pacific and RoW.Request For Report Sample:This market is expected to show the single digit growth in CARG by 2019. Rapid industrialization and growing population in Asia Pacific act as drivers for this market. Growing population requires wastewater and water infrastructure in that region. Africa and Middle East also have huge potential for flow meters market.Asia pacific continues to remain the largest market for flow meters, followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific market is expected to grow owing to huge investment by increasing demand for flow meters from different types of industries.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):The main key players for this industry include ABB Ltd., Yokogawa Electric Co., Hitachi ltd., Honeywell International ltd., Emerson Electric Co., Endress+Hauser AG and Siemens AG among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Research Report and Overview on Acrylic Sheet Market, 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/17836 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/17836 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Acrylic Sheet Market: IntroductionAcrylic sheet is a fiber/plastic sheet manufactured by utilizing two and more derivatives of acrylic acid. PMMA (Polymethyl Methacrylate acrylic) is one of the mostly used forms of acrylic, owing to its unique features such as weather ability and versatility. Acrylic sheet can be colored or tinted, mirrored or made opaque and numbers of coating are applied to sheet for enhancing its finishing, scratch resistance and solar reflectivity. Acrylic sheet are available in different variant in the market according to the need and demand of consumer such as various level of heat resistance capacity sheet, flow rates and release capacity.Request For Report Sample:The acrylic sheet market is expected to grow with fast pace in the forecast period, owing to increase demand of acrylic sheet as alternative of glass in various application and products such as sanitaryware (tubs, sink and showers), medical equipment, industrial equipment and machinery.Acrylic Sheet Market: Market DynamicsHigh strength, light weight, clarity, resistance proof, anti-fogging and glare reduction are the some important features incorporated with acrylic sheet and expected as the key factors that accelerate the growth of Acrylic sheet market in the upcoming years. The easy molding property of acrylic sheet on providing high temperature can mold it to any required shape. This factor is also responsible for fueling the demand of acrylic sheet in the market. Moreover, Growing industrialization and urbanization are some other factor that indirectly increasing the demand of acrylic sheet, which is expected to fuel the growth of global acrylic sheet market in the forecast period.In general, Standard glass is cheaper to purchase than acrylic sheet and more easily recycled. This factor is anticipated to slow down the growth of acrylic sheet market. Furthermore, when comparing acrylic sheet and glass that offering the same benefits, the glass option will be cheaper and easily selected by consumer, which in turn, decreases the sales of acrylic sheet in the market. Glass can be recycled cheaply numerous times whereas acrylic sheet is more difficult to recycle as it is non-biodegradable products and therefore more expensive to recycle. This is estimated as another restraint for the Acrylic sheet market.In current scenario, acrylic sheets are used for the purpose of furniture and interior as well as in the automotive industry and hospitals, owing to its high gloss, hard surface, easy to clean and keep maintenance cost to a minimum value. These factors can be act as driver for the Acrylic sheet market in the future.Acrylic Sheet Market: SegmentationAcrylic sheet market can be segmented by applications, by types and by sales channel:-On the basis of types it can be segmented into:Extruded Acrylic SheetContinuous Cast Acrylic SheetCell Cast Acrylic SheetOn the basis of applications it can be segmented into:Visual Communication & RetailFurniture & DesignElectronics & EnergyAutomotive & TransportArchitecture & ConstructionOthersOn the basis of sales channel it can be segmented into:Online RetailerSupplierDirect salesAcrylic Sheet Market: Regional OverviewThe Global Acrylic sheet Market can be divided into seven geographical regions such as Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Latin America, Japan, Middle East and Africa. The Asia-Pacific excluding Japan market is anticipated to grow, owing to increasing infrastructural development and high disposable income. Asia pacific excluding japan is also expected to dominate and hold the prominent market share in the acrylic sheet market. Moreover, the market is also projected to grow in North America followed by Western Europe, owing to increasing demand automotive industries and high standard of living. Furthermore, the Middle East and Africa market is estimated to grow with moderate pace in the forecast period, owing to increasing building and construction which in turn, fuel the growth Acrylic sheet market. Latin America and Eastern Europe is expected to grow with moderate CAGR.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Acrylic Sheet Market: Market participantsExamples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global Temporary Fencing Panels market includes:Lucite International ( Mitsubishi Chemical)EvonikAltuglas International (Arkema Group)GARY Acrylic XishunElastin international corp.Asia Poly Industrial Sdn Bhd.Ray Chung Acrylic Enterprise Co., Ltd.PlaskoliteJumei AcrylicGuang Shun PlasticTaixing Donchamp Acrylic Co., Ltd.Ningbo Shen Chuen Chemical Co., LtdABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesT: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Website: High Speed Steel (HSS) Metal Cutting Tools Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10867 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10867 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Tooling is important part of the manufacturing process since machine tools are used to bore, grind, mill, tap, and form, drill, cut, shape, cut and cast, determine the quality of manufactured product. Manufacturing industries would continue to create demand for HSS metal cutting tools. The increasing focus on customer satisfaction and product quality is also helping to boost the market for high performance cutting tools.The total market is segmented on the basis of types, applications and geography. Types of various HSS tools are M2, M36, M42 and others. The applications segment includes automobiles, construction equipment, industrial equipment, heavy electrical machines and others. Different geographical regions for this market include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Row.Request For Report Sample:Major Key factors contributing to the growth of this market is increasing requirement to develop superior quality products. The Global High Speed Steel Metal Cutting Tools market has been witnessing a reduction in cost of high speed steel metal-cutting tools. However, growing preference for the carbide metal-cutting tools acts as a challenge to growth of this market.The competition among high speed steal metal cutting tools vendors has increased rapidly. Developing countries such as Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa are witnessing huge investment in high performance and high quality machines. Increase in competition among HSS vendors lead to a reduction in total cost.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):The major players for this market include Addison & Co., Ltd., Inc., Bohler Uddeholm Corporation, BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling, Erasteel SAS, Kennametal, Inc., Nippon Koshuha Steel Group, Nachi America, Inc., OSG Korea Corporation, Niagara Cutter, Inc., Sandvik AB, SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH AG, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Dormer Tools, Inc., Ltd., Tiangong International, Walter AG, and Tivoly, Inc., among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Woodworking Machines Market is Projected to be Fueled by Rapid Technological Advancements https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3748 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3748 Woodworking machines are largely adopted in countries, such as the U.S., China and Germany to deliver highly precise and quality products as per customer needs. These machines largely help manufacturers reduce wastage of wood and thereby, improve their profitability margin. Moreover, the increasing focus of customers to replace old furniture to rehabilitate their office and house is expected to drive growth of the global woodworking machines market. Additionally, the shifting focus of furniture manufactured using conventional tools to furniture manufactured using automatic machines is further projected to escalate the demand of woodworking machines in near future.Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at:Based on operating principle, mechanical woodworking machines are expected to dominate the market. However, electric machines are anticipated to witness significant growth in near future, owing to increasing preference of smart machines in countries, such as the U.S., Europe and India. Based on end use industry, the furniture industry is expected to dominate the segment in terms of revenue, owing to the high adoption of automated machines to deliver high quality products to customers. However, the construction industry is expected to witness high growth in the near future, owing to increasing demand of these machines from the construction industry. The global woodworking machines market is expected to grow during the forecast period.Woodworking Machine Market: DriversIncreasing demand for wooden furniture and engineered wood is expected to drive the growth of global woodworking machines during the forecast period. Rise in residential and commercial buildings, clubbed with the increasing preference of occupants towards the aesthetic look of their buildings is further anticipated to fuel growth of the woodworking machines market. Additionally, increasing preference towards automation of manufacturing units to improve productivity and enhance overall efficiency is further expected to escalate the demand for woodworking machines in the near future.Woodworking Machine Market: RestraintsOne of the major factors restricting growth of the global woodworking machines market is lack of skilled labor. High initial cost of the machines, coupled with maintenance expenditure is anticipated to hamper growth of the woodworking machines market. Moreover, impact of BREXIT on the timber industry is expected to challenge the overall growth of the global woodworking machines market.Woodworking Machine Market: SegmentationThe global woodworking machine market can be segmented on the basis of operating principle, product type, and end-use industry. On the basis of operating principle, the global woodworking machines market can be segmented into mechanical and electric. On the basis of product type, the market can be further segmented into thickness planer, grinding machines, chain/chisel mortise, routers, and others (saw, drills, etc.). On the basis of end-use industry, the market can be segmented into construction industry and furniture industry.Woodworking Machine Market: Regional OutlookBased on regions, North America is expected to dominate the global woodworking machines market, owing to increasing automation of manufacturing units in this region. Latin America and Europe are projected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. Asia Pacific, led by China and India is anticipated to be a promising revenue generating region, owing to increasing construction projects in this region, coupled with increasing adoption of advanced machines. Middle East & Africa is expected to witness moderate growth during the forecast period, due to the limited adoption of woodworking machines in this region.Visit For TOC@Woodworking Machine Market: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the prominent market participants identified in the global woodworking machine market:Biesse GroupDurrIMA-SchellingSCM GroupKTCC Woodworking MachineryWoodworking Machine Oliver MachineryHolytek Industrial CorporationWEINIG GroupCantek AmericaGongyou GroupAbout UsFuture 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.U.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, , Commodity Chemicals Market Value Share, Supply Demand, share and Value Chain 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2787 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/2787 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Commodity chemicals (bulk chemicals) are a group of chemicals that are made on a very large scale and act as intermediates to produce other chemicals, which, in turn are used to produce a extensive range of end-user products including construction materials, adhesives, plastics, apparel and tires. Commodity chemicals are the largest sub-segment of the chemical industry. Commodity chemicals are commonly traded under broad categories such as organics, inorganics, plastics resins, synthetic rubbers, fibers, films, explosives and petrochemicals. These broad categories include chemicals such as, acetic acid, acetone, acrylate esters, adipic acid, acrylonitrate, benzene, bisphenol, butadiene, butanediol, butyl acetate, hexane, melamine, polyvinyl chloride, propylene, methanol, methyl, glycol and glycerines. These chemical are very low in product differentiation, and hence making price the dominant economic factor in purchasing decisions for the end users.Request For Report Sample:The commodity chemical industry is highly fragmented and served with large number of local or regional players. Asia Pacific is by far the largest market for commodity chemicals accounting almost half of the total market. It is followed by North America and Europe. The growth prospective is still high in Asia Pacific attributed to the growing economy and ongoing trend and support for manufacturing sector in the developing countries such as India, China, and Indonesia. Bulk availability of crude oil and natural gas from gulf countries such as Saudi Arabian, Iran, Iraq and Syria is helping the commodity chemical industries in Asia Pacific.Commodity chemicals serve a wide range of industries ranging from personal care products to aerospace industries. It has its application either directly or indirectly in almost all manufacturing industries. The economy growth and increasing Gross domestic product (GDP) of developed and developing countries around the world is boosting the overall market of commodity chemicals. However the stiff regulation of the governments around the world regarding the health and environment side effect of chemicals and fluctuating prices of crude oil and natural gas are posing significant challenge for the industry.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Some of the major players in commodity chemicals market include, BASF SE, Bayer AG, The Dow Chemical Company, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, PPG industries, Linde Group, Akzo Nobel, LyondellBasell Industries, Asahi Kasei, Sumitomo chemicals, Evonik Industries, INEOS Group Holding and Chem China.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesT: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Website: Gummed tape market: Influential Factors Determining the Trajectory of the Market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/gummed-tape-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2821 www.futuremarketinsights.com Soaring demand for corrugated box packaging and increasing preference for gummed tapes in logistics & shipping sector will fuel growth of global gummed tapes market, according to a new report by Future Market Insights (FMI). FMIs report projects the market to grow at 4.9% CAGR in terms of volume during the forecast period 2017-2027. Sales of gummed tapes are projected to reach nearly 1000 Mn Sq.m in 2017; by 2027-end, the market is estimated to reach 1,605 Mn Sq.m.Biodegradable Properties of Gummed Tapes to Sustain their Market Growth through 2027Basic raw materials utilised for production of gummed tapes are paper and adhesives, making it completely biodegradable. The adhesives used for gummed tapes are stable in nature and do not undergo any hazardous reaction. Sealing cartons with self-adhesive tapes is harmful for the environment owing to their weak bonding strength, which results into excessive usage of tapes for secured packaging. This leads to a surge in plastic waste. In contrast, only one strip of gummed tape is required to seal the carton, making it a more resource-efficient option. The aforementioned factors are expected to sustain growth of the global gummed tapes market.Obtain Report Details @In contrast, the market growth is expected to be restrained by presence of substitutes including Bopp tapes, pressure sensitive tapes, and self-adhesives for carton sealing. Pressure sensitive tapes offer comparatively higher efficiency than gummed tapes in sealing cartons which carry light-duty products. Development of tamper evident technology in pressure sensitive tapes has led these tapes to gain higher end-user preferences.Fibre-reinforced Gummed Tapes to Remain Dominant in the Market during 2017-2027By material type, fibre-reinforced gummed tape is projected to retain its dominance in the market during the forecast period. FMIs report estimates sales of fibre-reinforced gummed tapes to exceed 1000 Mn Sq.m by 2027-end, expanding at 5.4% CAGR. On the contrary, paper gummed tapes are estimated to witness a sluggish expansion through 2027. Based on product type, brown gummed tapes will remain preferred in the market throughout the forecast period. In terms of volume, sales of brown gummed tapes are estimated to expand at around 5% CAGR through 2027.Starch-based adhesives are expected to witness a slight increase in their market share during the forecast period. This adhesive type segment is expected to be the most lucrative in the market and expand at 5% CAGR through 2027. Based on application type, box & carton sealing is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period, followed by splicing. Demand for gummed tapes in box & carton sealing is expected to reach nearly 1,500 Mn Sq.m by 2027-end.Obtain Sample Of Report @Shipping & Logistics to be the Fastest Growing End-Use Sector by 2027-endDemand for gummed tapes by shipping & logistics sector is expected to witness the fastest growth in volume, followed by general industrial and consumer goods sectors. However, in terms of volume, general industrial sector is expected to be the largest end-user in the market during the forecast period. Demand for gummed tapes by general industrial sector is anticipated to exceed 200 Mn Sq.m by 2027-end.In terms of volume, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is projected to be the fastest growing market for gummed tapes, followed by Latin America. This region is estimated to remain dominant in the market during the forecast period. Volume demand for gummed tapes by APEJ is estimated to reach around 600 Mn Sq.m by 2027-end. In addition, North America and Middle East & Africa (MEA) are projected to witness parallel expansion at 4.9% CAGR through 2027.Key players identified in FMIs report include 3M Company, Holland Manufacturing Co. Inc., Intertape Polymer Group. Inc., Shurtape Technologies LLC, Loytape Industries SDN.BHD., Papertec, Inc., LPS Industries LLC, Windmill Tapes & Labels Ltd., Neubronner GmbH & Co., Maxfel S.R.l, ADH TAPE, STA LLC., Hade Heinrich Dorseifer KG, Abco Kovex, Waterproof Corporation Private Limited, Green Packaging Group, Tesglo Pte. Ltd., Guangdong Yue Hui Polytron Technologies lnc, Packsize, NITTO DENKO CORPORATION.About UsFuture 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.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.ContactFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Plumbing Fixtures Market Size will Escalate Rapidly in the 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3749 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3749 Plumbing fixtures are a replaceable device that can be connected with the plumbing system to drain and deliver water. Plumbing fixtures have evolved along with all the other areas of the plumbing industry. Fixtures have changed drastically in the last few decades in terms of colour, material and style. There are various types of plumbing fixtures available in the market which include bathtubs, drinking fountains, channel drains, showers, urinals, etc. Various standards regarding the design & effective operation of plumbing fixtures are made by various governments. Both the component material as well as the design of plumbing fixtures (wash-basins, tubs, sinks, toilet pans, etc.) are subject to standards and certifications which are required to ensure safety and integrity.Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at:Earlier, conventional plumbing fixtures were used as they used to be not only affordable but also easily available. However, nowadays, manufacturers are focussing on the development and utilization of electronic-based plumbing fixtures. These days, most public places such as showrooms, malls and hotels, people generally have sensor-operated urinals with fewer moving parts -- this reduces wear and tear and also elongates the life of urinals. Manually-operated flush valves are becoming increasingly rare. Sensor-operated valves also reduce the consumption of water by the way of intelligent flushing schedules based on fuzzy logic.Global Plumbing Fixtures Market: SegmentationGlobally, the Plumbing Fixtures market can be segmented on the basis of material type, product type and application.Based on the material type, the global plumbing fixtures market can be segmented into:MetalsCast IronOthersPlasticsPolymersFiber GlassAcrylicsOthersBased on product type, the global plumbing fixtures market can be segmented into:BathtubShowersSinkToiletOthers (channel drains, etc.)Based on application, the global plumbing fixtures market can be segmented into:ResidentialCommercialGlobal Plumbing Fixtures Market: DynamicsRising drought-like conditions in various countries of North America and in other regions and an aging sewer system and water distribution system is impelling the construction professionals to look for alternative ways of conserving water. An effective approach is to install plumbing fixtures that consume less water. Further, the demand for plumbing fixtures is being impelled by the strong growth in the construction industry. The residential application of plumbing fixtures is expected to foresee the most rapid growth. This growth will be further enhanced by the increasing number of housing completions and new design trends that demand large and more number of bathrooms and kitchens. Commercially, the demand for plumbing fixtures is being supported by rising construction of bathroom-intensive structures such as offices, hospitals and hotels. The above-mentioned factors are expected to propel the demand for plumbing fixtures in near future and in turn, drive the growth of the global plumbing fixtures market.The major challenge identified for the manufacturers in the global plumbing fixtures market is to design fixtures keeping in mind the set standards for various materials utilized in the manufacturing of products.The key trends identified in the global plumbing fixtures market include innovation in the design of the fixtures in order to attract customers towards the products and utilization of sensor-operated fixtures in order to provide performance, personal-comfort, aesthetics and germ-free bathing.Global Plumbing Fixtures Market: Region-wise OutlookAs far as regions are concerned, Asia-Pacific is expected to lead the market owing to various reasons, one of which is the regions growing population which supports the construction industry. Moreover, countries such as India and China are a manufacturing hub and provide numerous opportunities for the production of plumbing fixtures at lower costs. Plumbing fixtures are mainly utilized in residential and commercial buildings, the region is also witnessing major growth in these sectors. Asia-pacific is expected to be followed by North America, Europe and other regions of the world.Visit For TOC@Global Plumbing Fixtures Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the examples of the market participants in the Plumbing Fixtures Market identified across the value chain include Geberit AG, Jacuzzi, Inc., Kohler Co., Masco Corporation, LIXIL Group Corporation, TOTO LTD., Roca Sanitario S.A., Moen Incorporated and others.About UsFuture 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.U.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, , Automotive Suspension Bushes Market to Witness Comprehensive Growth by 2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10993 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10993 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Automotive suspension system of the vehicle resists lot of forces upon cornering and the various forces generated are transferred to the tire via suspension system. The automotive suspension bushes are an integral part of the suspension system, which plays an important role for a smooth and safe ride while improving the chassis performance of an automotive vehicle. Suspension bushes in the suspension system of a vehicle reduces shocks, keeps the vehicle alignment intact, and helps the vehicle in maintaining firm contact of tires with road, thus offering driving comfort for the driver and passenger. Suspension bushes also acts as sound barrier to avoid noise and vibration caused by rough road. The global automotive suspension bushes market has a significant stand in the automotive sector because of its principle use in the automotive suspension systems. Automotive suspension bushes are made of components whose mechanical properties, and abrasion resistance are excellent, such as polyurethane which is extensively used for making suspension bushes having properties such as greater tear strength, tolerance to ozone and oils, and high toughness among others. The global automotive suspension bushes market is expected to grow at a modest CAGR over the forecast period.Request For Report Sample:Automotive Suspension Bushes Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global automotive suspension bushes market is primarily driven by the growth in the automotive sector with significant growth in the sales of vehicles across the globe, along with the increasing demand for smooth, safe and comfortable drive on long journeys and in different terrains by the passengers. Moreover, innovations and developments for manufacturing safe and lighter automotive suspension systems for automotive in order to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions is expected to drive the global market for automotive suspension bushes. The volatile cost of raw materials compared to that of natural rubber used for suspension bushes might restraint the global automotive suspension bushes market.The global automotive suspension bushes market can be divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Among the aforementioned regions, the APEJ market for automotive suspension bushes holds the largest market share, China being the largest automotive market in the region is attributed to the growth of automotive bushes market in the region. Latin America market for automotive bushes is followed by the APEJ market. The adoption of renewable resources for the production of prime raw material polyurethane used in automotive suspension bushes in the regions like North America and Western Europe is expected to push the market for automotive suspension bushes in these regions. Japan and the Middle East and Africa market is also expected to pace up in the automotive suspension bushes market by the end of forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Key PlayersPolybushBonaprene Products LtdSuperPro Suspension PartsFibet Rubber Bonding (UK) LtdPowerflexBest Elastomers Pvt. Ltd.Emdet Jamshedpur Pvt. Ltd.Energy SuspensionRubber Intertrade Co., Ltd.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: Current and Projected Automobiles Coolant Market size in terms of volume and value 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2835 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/2835 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Coolant is used in almost all major automobiles ranging from small engine motor bikes to heavy duty commercial vehicles. Coolants are used for three major functions: cool down engine parts to avoid over heating during use of the automobiles; to maintain minimum temperature level of engine and avoid freezing when the vehicle is unused for long duration, especially in cold climates and to prevent corrosion of the metal machinery of the automobile.Request For Report Sample:The engine operating temperature must be maintained in an optimum range for engines proper operation and efficiency. High temperatures of engine tend to oxidize the engine oil and break it down into hard carbon, thus destroying it. Coolant flows from the automobiles engine picking up heat and giving it to outside air while the coolant flows to radiator. The maximum coolant flow rate in automobile engine can be one gallon (4 ltr) per minute for each horse power of engine. The heat transfer rate depends largely on the temperature difference between coolants and outside air and the coolants flow rate. In ideal condition, the freezing point of a coolant remains -20 degree Fahrenheit where as boiling point normally does not exceed 234 degree Fahrenheit.Based on technology, the global automobile coolants market is broadly categorized as inorganic additive, organic acid, hybrid organic acid and others. Further on the basis of application in automobiles, the coolant market is categorized as passenger car, commercial vehicle, two wheelers and others.Ethylene glycol based coolants such as traditional green ethylene glycol and embittered coolant (contains up to 93% ethylene glycol plus water and additives) has higher boiling point resulting in high absorption of heat than some of the other coolants. Organic acid coolants are basically ethylene glycol-based but it does not contain silicates or phosphates, whereas hybrid organic acid based coolant such as VW/Audi pink (green or orange in color) contain ethylene glycol with small amount of silicate to provide correct pH for antifreeze properties.North America is the largest market for automobile coolant attributed to large number of vehicle and their vibrant intercity/country road connectivity. It is followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. The growth rate of automobile coolant is highest in Asia Pacific, lead by China and some of the other developing countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines.Growing middle class population, rising disposable income, developing surface transportation infrastructure, growing aspiration of owning private vehicles, increasing mobility due to development of satellite townships near megacities and increasing demand of goods carriers from micro, small and medium size enterprises are fueling the market for automobile coolant in Asia Pacific region. Growing automotive aftermarket and do it yourself (DIY) culture in North America and Europe is fueling the growth of automobile coolant in these two region.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Some of the major players operating in automobile coolant market include Total S.A., Castrol Limited., Cummins Filtration, Motul S.A., China National BlueStar (Group) Co. Ltd., Valvoline International Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp., Sinopec Corp. and Shandong Yuean Chemical Industry Co. Ltd.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesT: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Website: Increased Awareness will Aid in Market Growth of Industrial Hose Assemblies By 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3751 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3751 Industrial hose is a small pipeline or pipe, which plays a significant role in energy conservation in end use industries. The industrial hose can be used for the transportation of various fluids from their source to various machines and several other applications. At present, almost all the machines and equipment are hydraulic or pneumatic in nature, hence, the industrial hose assemblies can be considered as the components that are essential for ideal transportation of fluids such as oil or air in such machines.Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at:The use of normal pipes to carry pressurized fluids can incur substantial economic losses to the end users. With the effective use of industrial hose assemblies on machines and equipment, the heat loss in the lines can be reduced considerably and can thereby the overall process cost will get cheaper. There are several advantages associated with the installation of industrial hose assemblies on several equipment and machines such as, it does not let the fluid to freeze, the condensation of fluids can be controlled, a significant amount of energy can be saved and it protects the core pipe from extreme operating temperatures. Hence, the installation of the industrial hose assemblies is of high importance in many end use industries.Industrial hose assemblies play significant role in manufacturing engineering and design. Hose thickness usually depend upon the type of the fluid, the operating conditions of the fluid, the geographical location where the hoses are to be installed and the distance the fluid needed to be transported. The thickness of the industrial hose and the material of construction should be very carefully selected by the engineering department as an error in the selection would cause economic loss for the company. There may be layers of different or same material on the hose so that the exact operating temperature and pressure of the fluid are maintained consistently throughout the host and the loss of energy is minimum. The countries where the climatic conditions are very harsh for the transportation of fluids, e.g. the freezing of water due to the extreme cold weather, industrial hose can be very useful at such locations and they are being used for maintaining the ideal operating conditions of the transportation fluid. By the analysis of the above situations, the industrial hose assemblies market is estimated to expand with an incremental rate in the near future.Industrial Hose Assemblies Market: DynamicsThe numerous advantages of industrial hose assemblies, as stated above, coupled with the ability to transfer any kind of fluid are considered to be the prominent drivers for the global industrial hose assemblies market. Moreover, the inner core pipe is protected from external corrosion as well as stress. The lifespan of the overall connection assembly is thus increased considerably, moreover, the total productivity of the plant is getting optimized by the use of industrial hose on various machines and for several applications. Furthermore, with the use of industrial hose assemblies, the stable state of the fluids can be maintained.Industrial Hose Assemblies Market: SegmentationThe industrial hose assemblies market can be segmented on the basis of product type, material type, component and end use.By Product type, the Industrial Hose Assemblies market can be segmented as:Low PressureMedium PressureHigh PressureBy Material type,the Industrial Hose Assemblies market can be segmented as:Rubber HosesMetal HosesOthersBy Component,the Industrial Hose Assemblies market can be segmented as:HosesHose FittingsBy End Use,the Industrial Hose Assemblies market can be segmented as:Aircraft and AutomobilesPetrochemicalFood & PharmaceuticalMiningManufacturingConstruction and EquipmentChemicalOthersIndustrial Hose Assemblies Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, Europe and the Middle East regions have abundant natural resources and manufacturing industries, which will drive the demand for industrial hose assemblies in these regions. BRICS nations are expected to contribute significantly to the global industrial hose assemblies market over the forecast period. Moreover, the need of transportation of desired fluids without any leakage or failure, at proper pressure, and stable conditions is increasing day-by-day globally, which will fuel the growth of the global industrial hose assemblies market throughout the forecast period.The industrial hose assemblies market is projected to grow with a high CAGR over the forecast period, due to its increasing application in end use industries globally. Furthermore, new inventions and technologies in the industrial hose assemblies market will foster growth in the global market.Visit For TOC@Industrial Hose Assemblies Market: Market ParticipantsSome of the examples of market participants in the global industrial hose assemblies market, identified across the value chain are,ERIKS Hose Technology4-STAR Hose & Supply, Inc.JGB Enterprises, Inc.Transfer Oil S.p.A.PARKER HANNIFIN CORPIntegraflexGates CorporationRYCO HydraulicsKurt ManufacturingEaton (Synflex)PIRANHA HOSE PRODUCTS, INC.About UsFuture 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.U.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, , Waterproof Coating Global and United States Industry Research Report 2017-2022 Waterproof Coating https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1295163 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-and-united-states-waterproof-coating-in-depth-research-report-2017-2022-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global and United States Waterproof Coating In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The report is based on the market historical data from 2012 to 2016 and forecast the market trend from 2017 to 2022.This report focuses on the U.S. market and presents volume and value of market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also changes in prices. As an in-depth report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinions in Waterproof Coating industry.Major CompaniesDAVCO(Australia)Pattex(Germany)YUHONG(China)Sika(Switzerland)JOABOA(China)Elokt(China)Weber(France)MAPEI(Italy)HONGYUAN(China)LUIBONS(US)Nippon(Japan)Dufa(Germany)AUBAY(Australia)Laticrete(US)ARDEX(Germany)APPLE A&M(GROUP),INC.(US)Owan(UK)Vissma(Germany)ALLIGATOR(Germany)ACC INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD(US)MEGA(Australia)CLARIANT(Switzerland)TOKON(Canada)Carpoly(China)DAYU(China)QINGLONG(China)DEC(China)To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key RegionsNorth AmericaUnited StatesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkOthersCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain types of productsWaterproof Coating Market, by Waterproof Material TypePolyurethanePolymer Cement BaseWaterproof Coating Market, by Paint State and FormEmulsion TypeSolvent TypeReaction TypeModified AsphaltWaterproof Coating Market, by Capacity0-10KG (Inclusive)10-20KG (Inclusive)20-30KG (Inclusive)> 30KGWaterproof Coating Market, by ColorableAdjustable ColorNot ColorableWaterproof Coating Market, by Key ConsumersFamilyOfficeCultural VenuesTable of ContentsGlobal and United States Waterproof Coating In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022Chapter One Global Waterproof Coating Market Overview1.1 Global Waterproof Coating Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20171.2 Waterproof Coating, by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20171.2.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20171.2.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20171.2.3 Global Waterproof Coating Price by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20171.2.4 Polyurethane1.2.5 Polymer Cement Base1.3 Waterproof Coating, by Paint State and Form 2012-20171.3.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Paint State and Form 2012-20171.3.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Paint State and Form 2012-20171.3.3 Global Waterproof Coating Price by Paint State and Form 2012-20171.3.4 Emulsion Type1.3.5 Solvent Type1.3.6 Reaction Type1.3.7 Modified Asphalt1.4 Waterproof Coating, by Capacity 2012-20171.4.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Capacity 2012-20171.4.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Capacity 2012-20171.4.3 Global Waterproof Coating Price by Capacity 2012-20171.4.4 0-10KG (Inclusive)1.4.5 10-20KG (Inclusive)1.4.6 20-30KG (Inclusive)1.4.7 > 30KG1.5 Waterproof Coating, by Colorable 2012-20171.5.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Colorable 2012-20171.5.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Colorable 2012-20171.5.3 Global Waterproof Coating Price by Colorable 2012-20171.5.4 Adjustable Color1.5.5 Not ColorableGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Chapter Two United States Waterproof Coating Market Overview2.1 United States Waterproof Coating Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20172.2 Waterproof Coating, by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20172.2.1 United States Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20172.2.2 United States Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20172.2.3 United States Waterproof Coating Price by Waterproof Material Type 2012-20172.2.4 Polyurethane2.2.5 Polymer Cement Base2.3 Waterproof Coating, by Paint State and Form 2012-20172.3.1 United States Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Paint State and Form 2012-20172.3.2 United States Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Paint State and Form 2012-20172.3.3 United States Waterproof Coating Price by Paint State and Form 2012-20172.3.4 Emulsion Type2.3.5 Solvent Type2.3.6 Reaction Type2.3.7 Modified Asphalt2.4 Waterproof Coating, by Capacity 2012-20172.4.1 United States Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Capacity 2012-20172.4.2 United States Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Capacity 2012-20172.4.3 United States Waterproof Coating Price by Capacity 2012-20172.4.4 0-10KG (Inclusive)2.4.5 10-20KG (Inclusive)2.4.6 20-30KG (Inclusive)2.4.7 > 30KG2.5 Waterproof Coating, by Colorable 2012-20172.5.1 United States Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Colorable 2012-20172.5.2 United States Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Colorable 2012-20172.5.3 United States Waterproof Coating Price by Colorable 2012-20172.5.4 Adjustable Color2.5.5 Not ColorableChapter Three Waterproof Coating by Regions 2012-20173.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.3 Global Waterproof Coating Price by Regions 2012-20173.4 North America3.4.1 United States3.4.1.1 California3.4.1.2 Texas3.4.1.3 New York3.4.1.4 Others in United States3.4.2 Canada3.5 Latin America3.5.1 Mexico3.5.2 Brazil3.5.3 Argentina3.5.4 Others in Latin America3.6 Europe3.6.1 Germany3.6.2 United Kingdom3.6.3 France3.6.4 Italy3.6.5 Spain3.6.6 Russia3.6.7 Netherland3.6.8 Others in Europe3.7 Asia & Pacific3.7.1 China3.7.2 Japan3.7.3 India3.7.4 Korea3.7.5 Australia3.7.6 Southeast Asia3.7.6.1 Indonesia3.7.6.2 Thailand3.7.6.3 Philippines3.7.6.4 Vietnam3.7.6.5 Singapore3.7.6.6 Malaysia3.7.6.7 Others in Southeast Asia3.8 Africa & Middle East3.8.1 South Africa3.8.2 Egypt3.8.3 Turkey3.8.4 Saudi Arabia3.8.5 Iran3.8.6 Others in Africa & Middle EastChapter Four Global Waterproof Coating by Companies 2012-20174.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20174.2 Global Waterproof Coating Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20174.3 Global Top Companies Waterproof Coating Key Product Model and Market Performance4.4 Global Top Companies Waterproof Coating Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Five United States Waterproof Coating by Companies 2012-20175.1 United States Waterproof Coating Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20175.2 United States Waterproof Coating Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20175.3 United States Top Companies Waterproof Coating Key Product Model and Market Performance5.4 United States Top Companies Waterproof Coating Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Six Global Waterproof Coating by Consumer 2012-20176.1 Global Waterproof Coating Sales Market Share by Consumer 2012-20176.2 Family6.3 Office6.4 Cultural Venues6.5 Consuming Habit and PreferenceContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Solar Photovoltaic (PV) in Malaysia, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2017-Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/solar-photovoltaicin-malaysia-market-outlook-to-2030 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011065279/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011065279/buying ReportsWeb.com published Solar Photovoltaic Market from its database. 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.Solar Photovoltaic report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Malaysia (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes hydro, small hydro, biopower and Solar Photovoltaic (PV)) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Malaysia Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The Solar Photovoltaic report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by Publisher's team of industry experts.For more information about this report atScope:The report analyses global renewable power market, global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market, Malaysia power market, Malaysia renewable power market and Malaysia Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. The scope of the research includes--A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.-An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2016 (unless specified) and forecast period 2017-2030.-Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), Solar Photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydro power (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.-Detailed overview of the global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major Solar Photovoltaic (PV)power countries in 2016 and key owners information of various regions.-Power market scenario in Malaysia and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.-An overview on Malaysia renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2016.-Detailed overview of Malaysia Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming Solar Photovoltaic (PV) projects.-Deal analysis of Malaysia Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).-Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and Solar Photovoltaic (PV) in particular.-Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Request a sample copy atReasons to buy:-The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.-Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Malaysia Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market.-Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market.-Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industry's growth potential.-Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.-Identify key partners and business development avenues.-Understand and respond to your competitors' business structure, strategy and prospects.Companies Mentioned:Tenaga Nasional BerhadSunEdison, Inc.Malaysia Airports Holdings BerhadCypark Resources BerhadAmcorp Power Sdn BhdInquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.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.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com New Study on Floor Paint Global and United States Market Research Report 2017-2022 Floor Paint https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1295161 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-and-united-states-floor-paint-in-depth-research-report-2017-2022-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global and United States Floor Paint In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The report is based on the market historical data from 2012 to 2016 and forecast the market trend from 2017 to 2022.This report focuses on the U.S. market and presents volume and value of market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also changes in prices. As an in-depth report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinions in Floor Paint industry.Major CompaniesSika(Switzerland)BASF(Germany)Supe(China)ARDEX(Germany)MAPEI(Italy)Fosroc(UK)OVG(China)KINGCOM(China)Flowcrete(US)Nippon(Japan)SKK(Japan)Asia(China)First(China)Seigneurle(France)Laticrete(US)KCC(Korea)CPD(Canada)SCANLON(US)Yangsen(China)JIREN(China)Beacon(China)To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key RegionsNorth AmericaUnited StatesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkOthersCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain types of productsFloor Paint Market, by Main Base MaterialPolyurethane ResinEpoxy ResinUnsaturated Polyester Resin Floor PaintVinyl Resin Heavy Anti-corrosion Floor PaintOthersFloor Paint Market, by Main SpeciesEpoxy Floor PaintPolyurethane Floor PaintAnti-corrosion Floor PaintElastic Floor PaintOthers (Anti-static Floor Paint, Non-slip Floor Paint, Can Load the Floor Paint)Floor Paint Market, by Application AreaPrimerCentralTopcoatFloor Paint Market, by Key ConsumersConstruction IndustryCoating IndustryOptoelectronic IndustryComposite MaterialsTable of ContentsGlobal and United States Floor Paint In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022Chapter One Global Floor Paint Market Overview1.1 Global Floor Paint Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20171.2 Floor Paint, by Main Base Material 2012-20171.2.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Main Base Material 2012-20171.2.2 Global Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Main Base Material 2012-20171.2.3 Global Floor Paint Price by Main Base Material 2012-20171.2.4 Polyurethane Resin1.2.5 Epoxy Resin1.2.6 Unsaturated Polyester Resin Floor Paint1.2.7 Vinyl Resin Heavy Anti-corrosion Floor Paint1.2.8 Others1.3 Floor Paint, by Main Species 2012-20171.3.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Main Species 2012-20171.3.2 Global Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Main Species 2012-20171.3.3 Global Floor Paint Price by Main Species 2012-20171.3.4 Epoxy Floor Paint1.3.5 Polyurethane Floor Paint1.3.6 Anti-corrosion Floor Paint1.3.7 Elastic Floor Paint1.3.8 Others (Anti-static Floor Paint, Non-slip Floor Paint, Can Load the Floor Paint)1.4 Floor Paint, by Application Area 2012-20171.4.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Application Area 2012-20171.4.2 Global Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Application Area 2012-20171.4.3 Global Floor Paint Price by Application Area 2012-20171.4.4 Primer1.4.5 Central1.4.6 TopcoatGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Chapter Two United States Floor Paint Market Overview2.1 United States Floor Paint Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20172.2 Floor Paint, by Main Base Material 2012-20172.2.1 United States Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Main Base Material 2012-20172.2.2 United States Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Main Base Material 2012-20172.2.3 United States Floor Paint Price by Main Base Material 2012-20172.2.4 Polyurethane Resin2.2.5 Epoxy Resin2.2.6 Unsaturated Polyester Resin Floor Paint2.2.7 Vinyl Resin Heavy Anti-corrosion Floor Paint2.2.8 Others2.3 Floor Paint, by Main Species 2012-20172.3.1 United States Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Main Species 2012-20172.3.2 United States Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Main Species 2012-20172.3.3 United States Floor Paint Price by Main Species 2012-20172.3.4 Epoxy Floor Paint2.3.5 Polyurethane Floor Paint2.3.6 Anti-corrosion Floor Paint2.3.7 Elastic Floor Paint2.3.8 Others (Anti-static Floor Paint, Non-slip Floor Paint, Can Load the Floor Paint)2.4 Floor Paint, by Application Area 2012-20172.4.1 United States Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Application Area 2012-20172.4.2 United States Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Application Area 2012-20172.4.3 United States Floor Paint Price by Application Area 2012-20172.4.4 Primer2.4.5 Central2.4.6 TopcoatChapter Three Floor Paint by Regions 2012-20173.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.2 Global Floor Paint Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.3 Global Floor Paint Price by Regions 2012-20173.4 North America3.4.1 United States3.4.1.1 California3.4.1.2 Texas3.4.1.3 New York3.4.1.4 Others in United States3.4.2 Canada3.5 Latin America3.5.1 Mexico3.5.2 Brazil3.5.3 Argentina3.5.4 Others in Latin America3.6 Europe3.6.1 Germany3.6.2 United Kingdom3.6.3 France3.6.4 Italy3.6.5 Spain3.6.6 Russia3.6.7 Netherland3.6.8 Others in Europe3.7 Asia & Pacific3.7.1 China3.7.2 Japan3.7.3 India3.7.4 Korea3.7.5 Australia3.7.6 Southeast Asia3.7.6.1 Indonesia3.7.6.2 Thailand3.7.6.3 Philippines3.7.6.4 Vietnam3.7.6.5 Singapore3.7.6.6 Malaysia3.7.6.7 Others in Southeast Asia3.8 Africa & Middle East3.8.1 South Africa3.8.2 Egypt3.8.3 Turkey3.8.4 Saudi Arabia3.8.5 Iran3.8.6 Others in Africa & Middle EastChapter Four Global Floor Paint by Companies 2012-20174.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20174.2 Global Floor Paint Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20174.3 Global Top Companies Floor Paint Key Product Model and Market Performance4.4 Global Top Companies Floor Paint Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Five United States Floor Paint by Companies 2012-20175.1 United States Floor Paint Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20175.2 United States Floor Paint Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20175.3 United States Top Companies Floor Paint Key Product Model and Market Performance5.4 United States Top Companies Floor Paint Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Six Global Floor Paint by Consumer 2012-20176.1 Global Floor Paint Sales Market Share by Consumer 2012-20176.2 Construction Industry6.3 Coating Industry6.4 Optoelectronic Industry6.5 Composite Materials6.6 Consuming Habit and PreferenceContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Latest Survey Reveals Customer Display Global and United States Market Research Report 2017-2022 Customer Display https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1295160 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-and-united-states-customer-display-in-depth-research-report-2017-2022-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global and United States Customer Display In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The report is based on the market historical data from 2012 to 2016 and forecast the market trend from 2017 to 2022.This report focuses on the U.S. market and presents volume and value of market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also changes in prices. As an in-depth report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinions in Customer Display industry.Major CompaniesBixolon(KR)POS-X(US)Semicron(US)Sunrise POS(US)AccuPOS(US)Monexgroup(CA)Flytech(TW)POSRG(US)NCR(US)Altametrics(US)Alpha Card Services(US)Openbravo(ES)IBM(US)Digital Research(US)Epos Now(UK)Erply(UK)Casio(JP)Clover(US)Cybertill(UK)Shopify(CA)Epson(JP)SED(CN)Sharp(JP)Star Micronics(JP)Verifone(US)Fujitsu(JP)PAX(CN)HISENSE(CN)WINCOR NIXDORF(DE)Ingenico(US)To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key RegionsNorth AmericaUnited StatesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkOthersCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain types of productsCustomer Display Market, by Screen SizeUnder 4 Inches4-6 Inches6-8 Inches8-10 Inches10 Inches & UpCustomer Display Market, by Screen TypeLCDVFDCustomer Display Market, by Connectivity ModeRS-232USBEthernetCustomer Display Market, by PriceUnder $100$100 to $125$125 to $150$150 to $175$175 & AboveCustomer Display Market, by Key ConsumersMerchantRestaurantRetailTable of ContentsGlobal and United States Customer Display In-Depth Research Report 2017-2022Chapter One Global Customer Display Market Overview1.1 Global Customer Display Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20171.2 Customer Display, by Screen Size 2012-20171.2.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Screen Size 2012-20171.2.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Screen Size 2012-20171.2.3 Global Customer Display Price by Screen Size 2012-20171.2.4 Under 4 Inches1.2.5 4-6 Inches1.2.6 6-8 Inches1.2.7 8-10 Inches1.2.8 10 Inches & Up1.3 Customer Display, by Screen Type 2012-20171.3.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Screen Type 2012-20171.3.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Screen Type 2012-20171.3.3 Global Customer Display Price by Screen Type 2012-20171.3.4 LCD1.3.5 VFD1.4 Customer Display, by Connectivity Mode 2012-20171.4.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Connectivity Mode 2012-20171.4.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Connectivity Mode 2012-20171.4.3 Global Customer Display Price by Connectivity Mode 2012-20171.4.4 RS-2321.4.5 USB1.4.6 Ethernet1.5 Customer Display, by Price 2012-20171.5.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Price 2012-20171.5.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Price 2012-20171.5.3 Global Customer Display Price by Price 2012-20171.5.4 Under $1001.5.5 $100 to $1251.5.6 $125 to $1501.5.7 $150 to $1751.5.8 $175 & AboveGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Chapter Two United States Customer Display Market Overview2.1 United States Customer Display Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2012-20172.2 Customer Display, by Screen Size 2012-20172.2.1 United States Customer Display Sales Market Share by Screen Size 2012-20172.2.2 United States Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Screen Size 2012-20172.2.3 United States Customer Display Price by Screen Size 2012-20172.2.4 Under 4 Inches2.2.5 4-6 Inches2.2.6 6-8 Inches2.2.7 8-10 Inches2.2.8 10 Inches & Up2.3 Customer Display, by Screen Type 2012-20172.3.1 United States Customer Display Sales Market Share by Screen Type 2012-20172.3.2 United States Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Screen Type 2012-20172.3.3 United States Customer Display Price by Screen Type 2012-20172.3.4 LCD2.3.5 VFD2.4 Customer Display, by Connectivity Mode 2012-20172.4.1 United States Customer Display Sales Market Share by Connectivity Mode 2012-20172.4.2 United States Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Connectivity Mode 2012-20172.4.3 United States Customer Display Price by Connectivity Mode 2012-20172.4.4 RS-2322.4.5 USB2.4.6 Ethernet2.5 Customer Display, by Price 2012-20172.5.1 United States Customer Display Sales Market Share by Price 2012-20172.5.2 United States Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Price 2012-20172.5.3 United States Customer Display Price by Price 2012-20172.5.4 Under $1002.5.5 $100 to $1252.5.6 $125 to $1502.5.7 $150 to $1752.5.8 $175 & AboveChapter Three Customer Display by Regions 2012-20173.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Market Share by Regions 2012-20173.3 Global Customer Display Price by Regions 2012-20173.4 North America3.4.1 United States3.4.1.1 California3.4.1.2 Texas3.4.1.3 New York3.4.1.4 Others in United States3.4.2 Canada3.5 Latin America3.5.1 Mexico3.5.2 Brazil3.5.3 Argentina3.5.4 Others in Latin America3.6 Europe3.6.1 Germany3.6.2 United Kingdom3.6.3 France3.6.4 Italy3.6.5 Spain3.6.6 Russia3.6.7 Netherland3.6.8 Others in Europe3.7 Asia & Pacific3.7.1 China3.7.2 Japan3.7.3 India3.7.4 Korea3.7.5 Australia3.7.6 Southeast Asia3.7.6.1 Indonesia3.7.6.2 Thailand3.7.6.3 Philippines3.7.6.4 Vietnam3.7.6.5 Singapore3.7.6.6 Malaysia3.7.6.7 Others in Southeast Asia3.8 Africa & Middle East3.8.1 South Africa3.8.2 Egypt3.8.3 Turkey3.8.4 Saudi Arabia3.8.5 Iran3.8.6 Others in Africa & Middle EastChapter Four Global Customer Display by Companies 2012-20174.1 Global Customer Display Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20174.2 Global Customer Display Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20174.3 Global Top Companies Customer Display Key Product Model and Market Performance4.4 Global Top Companies Customer Display Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Five United States Customer Display by Companies 2012-20175.1 United States Customer Display Sales Volume Market Share by Companies 2012-20175.2 United States Customer Display Revenue Share by Companies 2012-20175.3 United States Top Companies Customer Display Key Product Model and Market Performance5.4 United States Top Companies Customer Display Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Six Global Customer Display by Consumer 2012-20176.1 Global Customer Display Sales Market Share by Consumer 2012-20176.2 Merchant6.3 Restaurant6.4 Retail6.5 Consuming Habit and PreferenceContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @ Power Transformers Market Update 2017-Global Market Size Competitive Landscape Key Country Analysis and Forecast to 2021 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011030901/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011030901/buying ReportsWeb.com published Power Transformers Market from its database. 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.Publisher's latest report "Power Transformers Market, Update 2017-Global Market Size, Competitive Landscape, Key Country Analysis, and Forecast to 2021", offers comprehensive information and understanding of the global power transformers market. The report analyzes the current trend and future potential of power transformers market at global, regional (Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East and Africa) and key countries (the US, Canada, Brazil, China, India, Japan, the UK, Germany, Russia, and Saudi Arabia) level.The report analyzes the power transformers market in terms of value and volume, classified by various voltage segments for the historical (2011-2016) and forecast (2017-2021) periods. The report provides insight into the drivers and restraints affecting the power transformers market, competitive landscape, policies and initiatives, and the key upcoming projects. The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis by Publisher's team of industry experts.Request a sample copy atScope:The report analyses power transformers market. Its scope includes--Analysis of the growth of power transformers market with a focus on market value in global and regional level including Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, and Middle East and Africa.-The report provides power transformers market analysis for key countries including the US, Canada, Brazil, China, India, Japan, the UK, Germany, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.-The report offers country level power transformers market value and volume, classified by voltage, for the historical (2011-2016) and forecast (2017-2021) periods.-Qualitative analysis of key market drivers and restraints, and analysis of their impacts on power transformers market are discussed.-The report provides competitive landscape at country level for the year 2016. It also covers key policies and initiatives, and upcoming projects.Reasons to buy:The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner. It will allow you to--Facilitate decision-making by analyzing market data on power transformers-Develop strategies based on developments in the power transformers market-Identify key partners and business-development avenues, based on an understanding of the movements of the major competitors in the power transformers market-Respond to your competitors' business structure, strategies, and prospectsFor more information about this report at http://www.reportsweb.com/power-transformers-market-update-2017-global-market-size-competitive-landscape-key-country-analysis-and-forecast-to-2021Table of Content:1 Table of Contents 22 Executive Summary 103 Introduction 144 Power Transformers, Global 175 Power Transformers, Americas 326 Power Transformers, US 407 Power Transformers, Canada 538 Power Transformers, Brazil 649 Power Transformers, Asia-Pacific 7610 Power Transformers, China 8411 Power Transformers, India 9512 Power Transformers, Japan 10713 Power Transformers, Europe, MiddleEast, Africa (EMEA) 11714 Power Transformers, UK 12615 Power Transformers, Germany 13816 Power Transformers, Russia 14917 Power Transformers, Saudi Arabia 16018 Power Transformers, Key Company Profiles 17019 Appendix 17619.1 Abbreviations 17619.2 Bibliography 17719.3 Research Methodology 17919.4 Secondary Research 18119.5 Primary Research 18119.6 Contact Us 18219.7 Disclaimer 182Inquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.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.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com MOBILE COUNTY ALABAMA SELECTS LANDMARK FROM PIONEER TECHNOLOGY GROUP Mobile County joins the growing list of customers in Alabama to make the move to Landmark http://www.ptghome.com http://ptghome.com Mobile County has selected the state-of-the-art land records system, Landmark, from Pioneer Technology Group (Pioneer) to replace the aging software currently used in their recording division. Landmark will help to streamline online access and internal processing of land records while providing improved customer service to the public in the process. Selecting Landmark was just one step in the overall plan to make Mobile County a paperless after having already chosen Pioneers subsidiary, Pioneer Records Management, to handle the digitization of both the Courts judicial and land records divisions.We are pleased to provide Mobile County with a streamlined approach to land records via our user friendly system, Landmark," said Ryan Crowley, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Pioneer Technology Group. Mobile County is always innovating and looking for new ways to better serve their citizens and we are happy to a part of that process. We are excited to see this partnership continue to grow in the years to come.In addition to a paper free workplace, Landmark also brings long awaited updates to Mobile Countys land records. The installation of this system will add efficiency to the internal processes of Mobile Countys recording department by utilizing scan first technology and electronic document stamping. The public searchers that regularly rely on the documents and information maintained by the Probate Judge will now have access to more advanced tools as well as the ability to access all documents online through a subscription service in real time.The Pioneer team has over 100 years of combined experience in technology as it relates to land records and will be using this experience to convert all the historical data and images out of the current aging recording system. Mobile County is expected to bring Landmark live in 2018. Their digitization project with Pioneer Records Management is already well underway and on schedule.About Pioneer Technology GroupPioneer Technology Group (PTG) is a leading developer of software solutions and services to Governments and the private sector. The company, headquartered in Sanford, Florida, develops and supports the Benchmark court case management system, the Landmark official records system, the YourDox title document system, and tax processing systems for counties and municipalities. PTG also provides content management systems and a scanning services bureau for transitioning paper or film to digital images through its subsidiary, Pioneer Records Management. For more information about the company, please contact Kristina OLeary at koleary@ptghome.com or visit PTGs website atPioneer Technology Group1100 Central Park Drive Suite 100Sanford, FL 32771Phone:(407) 321 7434Email:sales@ptghome.comWeb:Kristina Rumsey Global Mining Fiscal Regime 2017-A Focus on Major Taxes and Royalties in Selected Countries ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/global-mining-fiscal-regime-2017-a-focus-on-major-taxes-and-royalties-in-selected-countries http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011065217/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011065217/buying ReportsWeb.com published Mining Fiscal Regime Market from its database. 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."Global Mining Fiscal Regime 2017-A Focus on Major Taxes and Royalties in Selected Countries", Publisher's latest release, presents the essential information relating to the terms which govern investment in selected countries across the regions of Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, FSU, Middle East and Africa (MEA), SCA (South and Central America), Oceania and NA (North America). The report sets out in detail the contractual framework under which firms must operate in the industry and clearly outlines the governing bodies, governing laws and regulations and tax-related information on different commodities including coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, lead, bauxite, gold, silver, nickel, chromium and manganese.For more information about this report atScope:-Detail on legal framework and governing bodies administering the industry-Overview of governing bodies, laws and regulations and key fiscal terms governing the global mining industry-Detail on royalty and applicable tax rates including-corporate income tax, value added tax and withholding taxReasons to buy:-Gain an overview of global mining fiscal regime-Gain an overview of the most prominent mining taxes and royalties applicable in key mining countries.-Understand the complex regulations and contractual requirements applicable to mining industry.-Understand the regulatory and taxation framework in global mining industryRequest a sample copy atTable of Content1. Table of Contents 11.1. List of Tables 31.2. List of Figures 42. Global Mining Fiscal Regime 52.1. Executive Summary 53. Global Mining Fiscal Regime-Governing Bodies, Laws, and Regulations for Selected Countries 73.1. Asia-Pacific 73.1.1. China 73.1.2. India 83.1.3. Indonesia 93.2. Europe 103.2.1. Finland 103.2.2. Germany 103.3. Former Soviet Union 113.3.1. Kazakhstan 113.3.2. Russia 113.4. Middle East and Africa 123.4.1. South Africa 123.4.2. Zambia 133.4.3. Zimbabwe 133.5. North America 143.5.1. Canada 143.5.2. US 183.6. Oceania 203.6.1. Australia 203.7. South and Central America 213.7.1. Argentina 213.7.2. Bolivia 213.7.3. Brazil 213.7.4. Chile 223.7.5. Peru 224. Global Mining Fiscal Regime-Tax Rates for Selected Countries 244.1. Corporate Income Tax (CIT) 244.1.1. Canada 264.1.2. US 274.2. Value Added Tax (VAT) 294.2.1. Canada 314.3. Withholding Tax 325. Global Mining Fiscal Regime-Royalty Rates for Selected Countries 335.1. Australia 335.2. Brazil 355.3. Canada 365.4. India 375.5. Indonesia 385.6. US 396. Appendix 406.1. Abbreviations 406.2. Methodology 416.3. Coverage 416.4. Secondary Research 426.5. Contact Us 426.6. Disclaimer 42Inquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.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.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps https://www.qyresearchreports.us/request-sample/global-rotary-vane-vacuum-pumps-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/market-analysis/global-rotary-vane-vacuum-pumps-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/check-discount/global-rotary-vane-vacuum-pumps-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2021 https://www.qyresearchreports.us Rotary vane vacuum pumps are mechanical vacuum pumps that operate via rotary positive displacement. Pumping system consist of a housing, an eccentrically installed rotor, vanes that move radially, and an inlet and outlet. Larger pumps may have additional impeller vanes.Rotary vane vacuum pumps create regions of low pressure by moving fluid using a rotating vane assembly in the pumping chamber. Typically there are two or more rotating vanes that move the gas or fluid from inlet to outlet. Rotary vane pumps can be employed universally throughout the entire low and medium vacuum ranges.Get Sample Copy of this Report:As the rotor turns, the ends of the vane barely touch the housing, creating a seal from inlet to outlet. The inlet and outlet are often perpendicular, however for vacuum service applications two inlets may be used; one for air supply and the other for the pumped media. The rotor and vanes divide the working chamber into two separate spaces having variable volumes. As the rotor turns, gas flows into the enlarging suction chamber until it is sealed off by the second vane. The enclosed gas is compressed until the outlet valve opens against atmospheric pressure, pushing gas molecules out the port.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAtlas CopcoBuschGardner DenverPfeiffer VacuumTuthillBecker PumpsAgilentGast(IDEX)ULVACValue SpecializesDekker Vacuum TechnologiesOsaka VacuumHokaido Vacuum TechnologyWenling TingweiBrowse full report at:Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America, Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversSingle Stage Rotary Vane Vacuum PumpsTwo Stage Rotary Vane Vacuum PumpsMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSemiconductor and Electronic IndustryChemical IndustryLaboratory ResearchFood IndustryMachinery IndustryOthersThere are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps market.Chapter 1, to describe Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps, with sales, revenue, and price of Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Rotary Vane Vacuum Pumps sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Get Discount on this Report:About Us:QYResearchReports.us is your exclusive destination for the entire spectrum of Market Research and Business Solutions. Depending upon the clients, we provide customized as well as syndicated reports. Our market intelligence covers industries like technology, food and beverages, chemical materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, among others. Irrespective of your businesss state as of today, we have a team of industry specific experts who will provide tailor-made market research surveys and solutions.Contact us:Email - sales@qyresearchreports.usWeb - fdi365 Q&A Session with Rob Creamer, Director of Business Intelligence at Research Consultants International, FDI Inc. www.researchconsultantsinternational.com Montreal, Quebec - We have had the opportunity to sit down with Rob Creamer, Director of Business Intelligence, to discuss our platform, and ask him how business intelligence can be used in corporate expansion and investment attraction efforts.Q: What would be the best way to describe fdi365 in one sentence?fdi365 provides users with customized list development and company profiling in the form of a data-as-a-service platform.Q: Can you provide a bit more background on fdi365 and how this new venture came about?We started developing our platform two years ago. The idea to start doing this ourselves didnt happen overnight, it was born from trying to better understand our clients needs and a want to create a product that would be simple, yet full of information. Our clients understand that a successful campaign begins with targeting the right companies, meaning companies that complement their jurisdictions industry portfolio and create local jobs. And this is how it all started we began digging through our historical data and success stories to identify which parameters companies were showcasing when we first learned about their expansion projects.Q: How do you know which companies are expanding and how are they assigned to fdi365 users?We run a predictive technologies system which identifies companies in some type of a growth mode. From that point on, our business intelligence team will further analyze information for each company and determine if there is a fit with any of our clients targeting criteria. If there is one, we will collect further information and create a user-specific company profile detailing the potential opportunity and selection rationale.Q: Who is your target audience for fdi365?We are staying loyal to our current client portfolio, meaning economic development organizations and investment promotion agencies. Lead generation is our core business, and fdi365 is a supplementary service that enhances our product offering. The benefit of fdi365 is that it can be used directly by our end-users for their own marketing and outreach purposes or be combined with our lead generation service.Q: What are the next steps, and will you try to grow this service?As any other service, we are continuously looking to enhance the quality and client experience. We launched about 5 months ago, and our client roster now includes some of the leading economic development organizations in North America. From the original business intelligence tool we launched the platform now includes a daily news aggregation service, industry profiles and lead tracking. We will continue to add features to the platform and further invest in its development, listening to our users and building the platform side-by-side with them.About Research Consultants InternationalEstablished in 2010 by Bruce Takefman, the firm currently employs 20 full-time professionals at its headquarters in downtown Montreal and maintains offices and key strategic partnerships in numerous locations including Toronto, St. John's, New York, Silicon Valley, and Santiago, Chile. The firm provides business intelligence, market research and executive meeting and matchmaking services. It has helped to generate over $3 billion in new foreign direct investment for its client base. In June of 2017, the firm launched its proprietary fdi365, a customized online business intelligence platform designed for investment attraction and economic development professionals.Visit Research Consultants International's website here:Research Consultants International FDI, Inc.Address: 1980 Sherbrooke St. WestMontreal, QC H3H 1E3Phone: (514) 488-3168Bruce TakefmanPresidentfdi365@researchconsultantsinternational.com Focuses on the Top Key Players Velite Pharmaceuticals, Galderma SA, Pfizer, Inc., Fujisawa Healthcare, The Dow Chemical Company of Global Atopic Dermatitis Treatment Market 2017- 2024 Global Atopic Dermatitis Treatment Market 2017 http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-atopic-dermatitis-treatment-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-atopic-dermatitis-treatment-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-atopic-dermatitis-treatment-market-2/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-hemostats-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/blog/ Global Atopic Dermatitis Treatment Market accounted to USD 45.7 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 13.8% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.This report Contains: No of Pages: 350 No of Tables: 220 No of Figures: 60Click Here for Free Sample Report @:Global Atopic Dermatitis Treatment Market segmented By Mode of Administration (Injectable, Topical, Oral), Drug Type (Antibiotics, Antihistamines, Corticosteroids, Emollients, Calcineurin Inhibitors, Immunomodulatory, Off-label therapies, Systemic Agents, PDE4 Inhibitor, Interleukin inhibitor), Distribution Channel (Mail Order Pharmacies, Hospital Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies, Drug Stores, Retail Pharmacies, Dermatology Clinics), End User (Hospital, Clinic, Home Care), Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Market Definition: Global Atopic Dermatitis Treatment MarketAtopic dermatitis treatment is a holistic approach to treat atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis treatment for chronic skin diseases involves rehydrating the skin using emollients and topical steroids to reduce inflammation and itching of skin.Top Competitors:1. Velite Pharmaceuticals,2. Galderma SA,3. Pfizer, Inc.,4. Fujisawa Healthcare,5. The Dow Chemical Company ,6. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,7. LEO Pharma A/S,8. Sanofi,9. Novartis AG,10. Bristol-Myers Squibb,11. Bayer AG,12. Meda Pharmaceuticals,13. Anacor Pharmaceutical Inc.,14. Connetics Corporation,15. ALLERGAN16. Boehringer Ingelheim17. Among OthersDrivers and Restraints: Increasing prevalence of atopic dermatitis Increased focus on novel biologics Technological advancement to adopt the new technology Allergic reactions of off-label therapiesRequest for TOC@Market Segmentation:By mode of administration, the market for atopic dermatitis treatment market is segmented into injectable, topical, and oral.By drug type, the atopic dermatitis treatment market is segmented into antibiotics, antihistamines, corticosteroids, emollients, calcineurin inhibitors, immunomodulators, off-label therapies, systemic agents, PDE4 inhibitor, and interleukin inhibitor. On the basis of distribution channel the market is segmented into mail order pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, online pharmacies, drug stores, retail pharmacies, dermatology clinics.On the basis of end-users, the atopic dermatitis treatment market is segmented into hospital, clinic, and home care.Based on geography, the market is segmented into five geographical regions: North America Europe Asia-Pacific South America Middle East and AfricaThe geographical regions are further segmented into 29 major countries such as U.S. Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Japan, China, Singapore, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and others.Purchase Full Report with Details TOC @Related ReportGlobal Hemostats Market- Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Hemostats Market, By Product Type (Thrombin Based, Combination, Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose Based, Gelatin Based, Collagen Based Hemostat), By Indication (Wound Closure, Surgery), By End-User (Hospitals, Clinics, Ambulatory Centers, Community Healthcare, Others), By Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa) Trends and Forecast to 2024About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit Blog Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 : Allianz, QBE, Beazley QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1391045&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-workers-compensation-insurance-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm/toc Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Workers Compensation Insurance is analyzed in a detailed market research report added to the extensive research report database of QYResearchReports.com. The report analyses the current state of the Workers Compensation Insurance market and forecasts the growth prospects of various elements of the market over the period of 2017-2022. The report utilizes industry-best primary and secondary research methodologies and numerous inputs from industry experts, making it an excellent market guide for business strategists and managers.The report includes a critical analysis of the key factors driving and limiting markets growth, key historic and current trends, along with a comprehensive study of impact of these factors on the future of the global Workers Compensation Insurance market. Along with this, the report also includes a thorough analysis of the trends of past and present years, which are expected to influence the market in the near future as well.Get Research Summary of the Report:The report gives an in-depth account of the revenue generated by the market from historical sales across key regional markets. The net worth of the market is determined in the report based on the revenue generated by sales of Workers Compensation Insurance across key regions. An overview of growth opportunities, drivers, restraints, regulations, and current state of development of the Workers Compensation Insurance market across these regions is also included in the report.This report studies the global Workers Compensation Insurance market, analyzes and researches the Workers Compensation Insurance development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAIGBerkshire HathawayLiberty MutualZurich InsuranceTravelersAllianzTokio MarineThe report also presents an all-inclusive picture of the competitive landscape of the global Workers Compensation Insurance market. Along with the current state of the key businesses operating in the market, the report also throws light on the numerous opportunities for businesses, the various threats presented by market conditions and competitors, along with an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of key businesses operating in the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Workers Compensation Insurance1.1 Workers Compensation Insurance Market Overview1.1.1 Workers Compensation Insurance Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Workers Compensation Insurance Market by Type1.4 Workers Compensation Insurance Market by End Users/ApplicationView TOC (table of content) of the Report:2 Global Workers Compensation Insurance Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 AIG3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Workers Compensation Insurance Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Berkshire Hathaway3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Workers Compensation Insurance Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent DevelopmentsList of Tables and FiguresFigure Workers Compensation Insurance Product ScopeFigure Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Workers Compensation Insurance Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Workers Compensation Insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)About Us: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:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 : SITA NV, AeroCRS QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1392058&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-aircraft-passenger-service-system-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm/toc Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The report Aircraft Passenger Service System Market is a comprehensive industry study featuring qualitative and quantitative analysis. In todays complex business environment, players in the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market need to remain updated about the latest trends. The latest intelligence on the Aircraft Passenger Service System market can help companies form more informed business decisions. Furthermore, knowing the latest market trends will also help companies avoid any unnecessary business risks in the changing landscape of the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market. The research report on the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market presents to readers recent news, key deals, and other trends that are shaping the market. Furthermore, the valuable recommendations provided in the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market report will help companies form a more effective strategy, whether to penetrate a new market or expand their portfolio.For More Info Download Free PDF Brochure :The research report begins with a brief industry overview. In this section, the report offers definition, specifications, classifications, and applications of Aircraft Passenger Service System. Further to this, key data on the latest industry news and major deals is covered. This will update readers regarding the key events that are shaping the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market. Moreover, the report also provides the latest news and details regarding the regulatory framework of the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market.This report studies the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market, analyzes and researches the Aircraft Passenger Service System development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeHitit Computer Services A.S.Radixx International, Inc.Bravo Passenger SolutionsHexaware Technologies Ltd.Intelisys Aviation SystemsSITA NVUnisys Corp.Lastly, the research report delivers a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape of the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market. This section covers the analysis of key companies operating in the global Aircraft Passenger Service System market with their portfolio, production data, company profile, price, revenue, and cost. In addition to this, this section also enlists the contact information of these major firms.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Aircraft Passenger Service System1.1 Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Overview1.1.1 Aircraft Passenger Service System Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 Aircraft Passenger Service System Market by Type1.3.1 Airline Reservation System1.3.2 Airline Inventory System1.3.3 Departure Control System1.3.4 Internet Booking System1.3.5 Loyalty System1.3.6 Customer Care System1.3.7 Airport Management Consulting1.3.8 Ancillary Services1.4 Aircraft Passenger Service System Market by End Users/ApplicationAccess the Report and full TOC @2 Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Hitit Computer Services A.S.3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Aircraft Passenger Service System Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Radixx International, Inc.3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Aircraft Passenger Service System Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent DevelopmentsList of Tables and FiguresFigure Aircraft Passenger Service System Product ScopeFigure Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Aircraft Passenger Service System Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)About Us: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:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Status and Forecast 2022 : Alibaba, Instagram, Whatsaap QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1391964&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-brand-counterfeiting-grail-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm/toc Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.The global Brand Counterfeiting Grail market is being shaped by different factors, a thorough assessment of which has been offered in the report. The research study groups them under growth drivers and restraints. It carefully examines their effect on the trajectory of the market from 2017 to 2022. It also provides a peek into the recent important trends in the market.The report also leverages market-leading analytical tools such as Porters Five Forces and SWOT analysis to understand the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers and the threat from substitutes and new entrants. In this manner it uncovers the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting players in the near future. All these helps it to fathom the prevalent competition in the global Brand Counterfeiting Grail market.Enter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @The analysts who have prepared report totally understand that it is crucial for companies to chart their marketing strategies carefully. Hence, they have arranged crucial information through charts and tables so that the intended audience is able to spot trends instantaneously. They have also furnished necessary suggestions to help companies stay ahead of the curve by strategizing right. Overall, the report consists of exhaustive information which is aimed at providing a thorough insight into the global Brand Counterfeiting Grail market to its stakeholders.This report studies the global Brand Counterfeiting Grail market, analyzes and researches the Brand Counterfeiting Grail development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeGucciAlibabaLVTiffanyEbayRolexTag HeurInstagramWhatsaapFurthermore, the report also studies how the latest domestic and international policies are impacting the global Brand Counterfeiting Grail market. It divides the market based upon different parameters and also throws light on the factors impacting their growth.To study the vendor landscape in the global market for Brand Counterfeiting Grail, the report lists and scrutinizes some of the prominent participants. It throws lights on their product offerings, sales, revenues, strategies, and growth trajectories.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Brand Counterfeiting Grail1.1 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Overview1.1.1 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market by Type1.4 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market by End Users/ApplicationInterested in report: Please follow the below link to meet your requirements:2 Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Gucci3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Alibaba3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Brand Counterfeiting Grail Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent DevelopmentsList of Tables and FiguresFigure Brand Counterfeiting Grail Product ScopeFigure Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Global Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Share by Regions in 2016Figure United States Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure EU Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure Japan Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure China Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)Figure India Brand Counterfeiting Grail Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2012-2017)About Us: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:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Hepatitis B Virus Testing Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023 Hepatitis B Virus Testing Market https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-hepatitis-b-virus-testing-market/#ulp-4H8Z4LpNMLEuOnnx https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-hepatitis-b-virus-testing-market/#ulp-c654SbFYO64MsOhu https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-hepatitis-b-virus-testing-market/#ulp-14mlyhjMGhVjZqa3 https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/global-hepatitis-b-virus-testing-market/ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis B viral infection ranges can form mild infection which last few weeks and a chronic infection that may lead to liver disorders and even death. Hepatitis B is one of the global health problem. Hepatitis B can cause chronic infection and puts people at high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. The virus is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person. According to World Health Organization, 257 Mn people are living with hepatitis B virus infection worldwide and in 2015, 887 000 hepatitis B resulted deaths.Increase in liver cancer cases, growing aging population, healthcare spending and urbanization. Leading to better monitoring and screening procedures. In addition, government initiatives in growing awareness in public, increase in R&D spending by companies and growing demand for bio marker tests due to its accuracy expected to boost the hepatitis B virus testing market during the forecast period. However, factors such as lack of awareness in developing countries, stringent regulatory rules, rigid competition and high cost of testing are expected to hamper the hepatitis B virus testing market over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @The global hepatitis B testing market is classified on the basis of test type, technique end use, and geography.Based on test type, the global hepatitis B diagnostic test market is segmented into the following: Hepatitis B surface antigen test (HBsAg) Anti-hepatitis B surface antibody test Hepatitis B core antigen test (HBcAb) Anti-hepatitis B core antibody test HBV DNA test OthersBased on techniques, the global hepatitis B diagnostic test market is segmented into the following: PCR Radioimmunoassay (RIA) Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) OthersBased on end-user type, the global hepatitis B diagnostic test market is segmented into the following: Hospitals Diagnostic centers ClinicsTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Currently, more than 13 immunoassays are available to diagnose hepatitis B virus at an early stage. They can also be used to distinguish acute and chronic hepatitis B infections. Many governments in the European countries and the US made it mandatory for the people to go through the screening and proper monitoring since hepatitis B takes the time to develop and is not easily recognizable. There are some curative therapies available but they are not very efficient. It is expected that many innovative therapies which have shown positive results in trials will occupy the market in the coming years. Many companies have products related to hepatitis B in their pipeline. Vendors are developing devices and systems that help integrate laboratory applications. For instance, in 2010 the COBAS 6000 modular platform by Roche Diagnostics offers optimum efficiency and consolidation in medium- and high-volume laboratories.Need more information about this report @Geographically, hepatitis B testing market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and The Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the hepatitis B therapeutics market owing to the high awareness levels, availability of improved infrastructure, and favourable government initiatives relating to the promotion of hepatitis B therapeutics. Europe is the second largest market for hepatitis B therapeutics driven by rising geriatric population, high rates of chronic infections in Central and Eastern Europe e European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimates an overall hepatitis B incidence of 1.49 per 100 000, prevalence of hepatitis B is the highest in Middle East & Africa where adult population is chronically infected. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 2% to 5% of population is affected with hepatitis B virus in Asia Pacific region. And most people die with liver diseases.Some of the players hepatitis B testing market are Onsite Lab Holding AG (MedMira Inc.) (Switzerland), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland), Abbott Laboratories (USA), Siemens AG (Siemens Healthcare GmbH) (Germany), Fisher Bioblock Bolding (Thermo Fisher Scientific) (France), Innovita biological technology Co. Ltd. (China), General Biologicals Corporation (Taiwan), Nantong Diagnos Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (China), Blue Cross Bio-Medical (China) Co. Ltd., BioGenex (U.S.), and Abnova Corporation (U.S.), among others.Get access to full summary @About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free (US):+1-866-598-1553Website @ First glance at the JAX DevOps 2018 program www.devops.jaxlondon.com www.facebook.com/jaxdevops www.twitter.com/jaxdevops JAX DevOps takes place between 9th and 12th of April 2018 in London, United Kingdom, and is proud to be opening its doors for the third year in a row to software experts from all around the world. The conference offers a broad range of topics, and whether you are a constant guest or a newcomer, there's something to learn for each and every one of you.DevOps has proven to be a forceful approach to making IT-based organizations much more efficient than almost anything weve seen in the past. The time when only unicorns such as Uber, Spotify or GitHub used to practice that kind of company culture has come to an end. More and more enterprises in the traditional markets tailor their operations to a DevOps approach.Attendees will have the chance to gain in-depth knowledge on the latest technologies and methodologies for lean businesses with sessions like An Architects Guide to Site Reliability Engineering by Nathaniel Schutta, in which he will share expert knowledge on the concepts of Site Reliability Engineering and how to adopt them to any application.Moreover, Pierre Vincent will reveal why observability should be an integral part of system design and will share the effective techniques to build a clearer picture of distributed systems in production in his session Increasing the observability of distributed systems in production.Federico Fregosi and Pierre Di Lauro will compare the various options available for data infrastructure in a growing company, while taking money and human resources into consideration. The duo will also introduce the Not-Go-Back practice implemented at Curve, Ltd. in their Data Streaming: The Not-Go-Back practice session.This is just a sneak peek at the exciting program; there are many more sessions and exciting workshops full of expert knowledge and insider tips. Moreover, by purchasing a ticket to JAX DevOps, you are automatically granted access to JAX Finance. Get double the number of topics, experts, and networking possibilities.Use the chance to ask, code, surprise and educate yourself, discover and jump into the sea of DevOps. The place where developers from all over the world come together is ready for the next edition in April 2018. The visitors will have the chance to meet interesting people, experts and developers who share the same passion and can help enlarge their business network. Welcome to JAX DevOps in London!Exclusive Specials: Save up to 200 with Very Early Bird Tickets until February 1, 2018Company Team Discount: Receive an additional 10% discount when registering with 3+ colleagues.Extra Specials: Freelancer and employees of scientific institutions benefit from individual offers- if youre interested, send us an email at fstepan@sandsmedia.comFor more information visit our:Website:Facebook:Twitter:Software & Support Media is an international publishing house with the focus on the IT sector. The companys information and service offer is tailored to IT- professionals of all important technology markets.For many years Software & Support Media Group has been sharing its knowledge and is a reliable partner for the industry. Through our media offer, leading companies continuously find out about important impulses to further their innovations and development guaranteeing them a competitive advantage.Software & Support Media GmbHAnastasiia UshakovaSaarbrucker Str. 3610405 BerlinDeutschland Foodservice Gloves Market Overview Key Futuristic Trends and Opportunities 2022 Foodservice Gloves Market https://www.qyresearchreports.us/request-sample/global-foodservice-gloves-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1958 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/market-analysis/global-foodservice-gloves-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1958 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/check-discount/global-foodservice-gloves-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1958 The Global Foodservice Gloves Market Research Report 2017 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Foodservice Gloves 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.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Foodservice Gloves 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 Foodservice Gloves Market. Superior Glove AMMEX Ansell Aurelia Gloves Barber Healthcare Brightway Group Rubberex Sempermed Southern Glove Top Glove YTY GroupOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLatex GlovesRubber GlovesNon-latex (Nitrile or Vinyl) GlovesBy Application, the market can be split intoDisposable GlovesDurable GlovesBrowse More Insight @Some points from TOC:-1 Industry Overview of Foodservice Gloves1.1 Definition and Specifications of Foodservice Gloves1.1.1 Definition of Foodservice Gloves1.1.2 Specifications of Foodservice Gloves1.2 Classification of Foodservice Gloves1.2.1 Latex Gloves1.2.2 Rubber Gloves1.2.3 Non-latex (Nitrile or Vinyl) Gloves1.3 Applications of Foodservice Gloves1.3.1 Disposable Goves1.3.2 Durable Gloves1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Foodservice Gloves2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Foodservice Gloves2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Foodservice Gloves2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Foodservice Gloves3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Foodservice Gloves3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Foodservice Gloves Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Foodservice Gloves Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Foodservice Gloves Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Foodservice Gloves Major Manufacturers in 20164 Global Foodservice Gloves Overall Market Overview4.1 2012-2017E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2012-2017E Global Foodservice Gloves Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2016 Foodservice Gloves Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2012-2017E Global Foodservice Gloves Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2016 Foodservice Gloves Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2012-2017E Global Foodservice Gloves Sales Price4.4.2 2016 Foodservice Gloves Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment).. ContinuedCheck Discount:About Us:QY Research Reports is your exclusive destination for the entire spectrum of Market Research and Business Solutions. Depending upon the clients, we provide customized as well as syndicated reports. Our market intelligence covers industries like technology, food and beverages, chemical materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, among others. Irrespective of your businesss state as of today, we have a team of industry specific experts who will provide tailor-made market research surveys and solutions. Is the process of researching for your product proving to be a task for you? Or if you are unable to gather sufficient data which you can use to strategize your next move in the market. Whatever your business query might be, with a well-established knowledge and understanding of various businesses, QY Research Reports provide insights that are strategized.Contact Info:JohnEmail- sales@qyresearchreports.us Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Market Expected To Witness The Highest Growth 2022 Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Market https://www.qyresearchreports.us/request-sample/global-enhanced-vision-system-evs-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1999 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/market-analysis/global-enhanced-vision-system-evs-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1999 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/check-discount/global-enhanced-vision-system-evs-market-professional-survey-report-2017-d-1999 The Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Market Research Report 2017 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Enhanced Vision System (EVS) 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.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Enhanced Vision System (EVS) 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 Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Market. Elbit Systems (Opgal) Rockwell Collins Honeywell Esterline Technologies Astronics MAX-VIZ BAE Systems Thales Group L-3 Communications Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation United Technologies CorporationOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoStand-alone EVSCombined Vision Systems (EVS+SVS)By Application, the market can be split intoMilitary AircraftBusiness Jet AircraftOther Civil AircraftBrowse More Insight @Some points from TOC:-1 Industry Overview of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.1 Definition and Specifications of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.1.1 Definition of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.1.2 Specifications of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.2 Classification of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.2.1 Stand-alone EVS1.2.2 Combined Vision Systems (EVS+SVS)1.3 Applications of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)1.3.1 Military Aircraft1.3.2 Business Jet Aircraft1.3.3 Other Civil Aircraft1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Enhanced Vision System (EVS)3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Major Manufacturers in 20164 Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Overall Market Overview4.1 2012-2017E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2012-2017E Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2016 Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2012-2017E Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2016 Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2012-2017E Global Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Sales Price4.4.2 2016 Enhanced Vision System (EVS) Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment).. ContinuedCheck Discount:About Us:QY Research Reports is your exclusive destination for the entire spectrum of Market Research and Business Solutions. Depending upon the clients, we provide customized as well as syndicated reports. Our market intelligence covers industries like technology, food and beverages, chemical materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, among others. Irrespective of your businesss state as of today, we have a team of industry specific experts who will provide tailor-made market research surveys and solutions. Is the process of researching for your product proving to be a task for you? Or if you are unable to gather sufficient data which you can use to strategize your next move in the market. Whatever your business query might be, with a well-established knowledge and understanding of various businesses, QY Research Reports provide insights that are strategized.Contact Info:JohnEmail- sales@qyresearchreports.us Awnings Fabric Market Is Projected To Expand At A Steady CAGR Over The Forecast Period 2022 Awnings Fabric Market https://www.qyresearchreports.us/request-sample/global-awnings-fabric-sales-market-report-2017-d-413 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/market-analysis/global-awnings-fabric-sales-market-report-2017-d-413 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/check-discount/global-awnings-fabric-sales-market-report-2017-d-413 The Global Awnings Fabric Market Research Report 2017 renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Awnings Fabric 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.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Report Includes:-The report cloaks the market analysis and projection of Awnings Fabric 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 Awnings Fabric Market. Glen Raven, Inc Recasens USA Twitchell Graniteville TenCate Marlen Textiles SunSetter Herculite Cooley Para SpA Giovanardi GmbH Schmitz-Werke GmbH Sunesta SRF Limited SattlerOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCanvas Awning FabricAcrylic Awning FabricVinyl Awning FabricsPolyester FabricsOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Awnings Fabric for each application, includingResidentialCommercialIndustrialBrowse More Insight @Some points from TOC:-1 Awnings Fabric Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Awnings Fabric1.2 Classification of Awnings Fabric by Product Category1.2.1 Global Awnings Fabric Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Awnings Fabric Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Canvas Awning Fabric1.2.4 Acrylic Awning Fabric1.2.5 Vinyl Awning Fabrics1.2.6 Polyester Fabrics1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Awnings Fabric Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Awnings Fabric Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Residential1.3.3 Commercial1.3.4 Industrial1.4 Global Awnings Fabric Market by Region1.4.1 Global Awnings Fabric Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Awnings Fabric Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Awnings Fabric (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Awnings Fabric Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Awnings Fabric Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Awnings Fabric Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Awnings Fabric Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Awnings Fabric Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Awnings Fabric Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Awnings Fabric (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Awnings Fabric Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Awnings Fabric Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Awnings Fabric (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Awnings Fabric Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Awnings Fabric Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Awnings Fabric (Volume) by Application3 United States Awnings Fabric (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Awnings Fabric Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Awnings Fabric Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Awnings Fabric Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Awnings Fabric Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Awnings Fabric Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Awnings Fabric Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Awnings Fabric Sales Volume and Market Share by Application.. ContinuedCheck Discount:About Us:QY Research Reports is your exclusive destination for the entire spectrum of Market Research and Business Solutions. Depending upon the clients, we provide customized as well as syndicated reports. Our market intelligence covers industries like technology, food and beverages, chemical materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, among others. Irrespective of your businesss state as of today, we have a team of industry specific experts who will provide tailor-made market research surveys and solutions. Is the process of researching for your product proving to be a task for you? Or if you are unable to gather sufficient data which you can use to strategize your next move in the market. Whatever your business query might be, with a well-established knowledge and understanding of various businesses, QY Research Reports provide insights that are strategized.Contact Info:JohnEmail- sales@qyresearchreports.us Gluten-Free Ready Meals United States Market 2017 Top Key Players - ENJOY LIFE NATURAL, General Mills, Inc, The Hain Celestial Group, H.J. Heinz Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market https://www.qyresearchreports.us/request-sample/united-states-gluten-free-ready-meals-market-report-2017 https://www.qyresearchreports.us/market-analysis/united-states-gluten-free-ready-meals-market-report-2017 https://www.qyresearchreports.us A new and latest research report proposed by QYResearchReports.us renders a market summary of the United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals industry. This widespread analysis comprises of market potentials. Primary sources are mainly industry experts from core and related industries, and suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and organizations related to all segments of the industrys supply chain. The bottom-up approach was used to estimate the global market size of Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales based on end-use industry and region, in terms of value.Geographically, this report splits the United States market into seven regions:The WestSouthwestThe Middle AtlanticNew EnglandThe SouthThe Midwestwith sales (volume), revenue (value), market share and growth rate of Gluten-Free Ready Meals in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast).Get Sample Copy of this Report:United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Gluten-Free Ready Meals sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingBoulder BrandsDR. SCHR AG/SPAENJOY LIFE NATURALGeneral Mills, IncThe Hain Celestial GroupH.J. HeinzHERO GROUP AGKELKIN LTDNQPCRAISIO PLCKellogg`s CompanyBig Oz IndustriesDomino`s PizzaOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoChildrenAdultOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Gluten-Free Ready Meals for each application, includingConventional StoresHotels & RestaurantsEducational InstitutionsHospitals & Drug StoresSpecialty ServicesBrowse full report at:Table of Contents -1 Gluten-Free Ready Meals Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Gluten-Free Ready Meals1.2 Classification of Gluten-Free Ready Meals by Product Category1.2.1 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market Size (Sales Volume) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market Size (Sales Volume) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Children1.2.4 Adult1.3 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market Size (Consumption) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Conventional Stores1.3.3 Hotels & Restaurants1.3.4 Educational Institutions1.3.5 Hospitals & Drug Stores1.3.6 Specialty Services1.4 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market by Region1.4.1 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 The West Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Southwest Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 The Middle Atlantic Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 New England Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 The South Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 The Midwest Gluten-Free Ready Meals Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 United States Market Size (Value and Volume) of Gluten-Free Ready Meals (2012-2022)1.5.1 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)6 United States Gluten-Free Ready Meals Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data6.1 Boulder Brands6.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.1.2 Gluten-Free Ready Meals Product Category, Application and Specification6.1.2.1 Product A6.1.2.2 Product B6.1.3 Boulder Brands Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)6.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.2 DR. SCHR AG/SPA6.2.2 Gluten-Free Ready Meals Product Category, Application and Specification6.2.2.1 Product A6.2.2.2 Product B6.2.3 DR. SCHR AG/SPA Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)6.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.3 ENJOY LIFE NATURAL6.3.2 Gluten-Free Ready Meals Product Category, Application and Specification6.3.2.1 Product A6.3.2.2 Product B6.3.3 ENJOY LIFE NATURAL Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)6.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.4 General Mills, Inc6.4.2 Gluten-Free Ready Meals Product Category, Application and Specification6.4.2.1 Product A6.4.2.2 Product B6.4.3 General Mills, Inc Gluten-Free Ready Meals Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)6.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewFor more information or any query mail at: sales@qyresearchreports.usAbout Us:QYResearchReports.us is your exclusive destination for the entire spectrum of Market Research and Business Solutions. Depending upon the clients, we provide customized as well as syndicated reports. Our market intelligence covers industries like technology, food and beverages, chemical materials, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture, consumer goods, among others. Irrespective of your businesss state as of today, we have a team of industry specific experts who will provide tailor-made market research surveys and solutions.Contact us:Email - sales@qyresearchreports.usWeb - Green Power Market | Key Developments with Forecast until 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/green-power-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2315 www.futuremarketinsights.com Green power is basically production of electrical energy from environment friendly and renewable sources such as wind, geothermal, biomass, solar and low-impact hydropower. There has been an increased awareness among consumers regarding use of environment friendly sources of electricity supply. This in turn has led towards demand for green power sources in the recent past. In order to support green environment campaign, governments of various countries are taking initiatives to enhance consumer awareness as well as availability of green power sources. Globally, there has been integration of renewable energy and equipment installations. For instance, in Iceland 80% of the electricity is generated from earths heat. Similarly in Norway, 98% of electricity is generated using geothermal, hydroelectric and wind energy.View Report There have been increased number of attempts to offer low-cost, environment-friendly options to low down the negative impact of using non-renewable sources of energy for electricity generation. For instance, in India the untapped market of renewable energy is anticipated to be around US$ 10.5 billion by 2017 end. In order to tap this potential market, government of India is taking various measures such as promotion of small power plants for both biomass and solar, entrepreneurship development for electricity in rural areas through solar power, biomass waste and rice husk, solar cooking initiatives, green campuses and buildings construction, and projects for off-shore wind generation, among others. With introduction of programs offering consumer choice for domestic electricity ensuring price stability balancing the increased electricity price volatility in some countries is leading towards increased adoption of green power sources as a mode of electricity generation.Green Power Market Segmentation:Green power market is segmented on the basis of energy resources, equipment type. Different type of energy resources include solar, biomass, wind and small hydropower. Of which, biomass is further segmented into landfill gas and agricultural waste. On the basis of different energy resources, equipment vary and are classified into solar energy equipment, wind energy equipment, geothermal energy equipment and hydropower energy equipment. Further, agricultural waste is sub-segmented into poultry litter and others. Geographically, the green power market is segmented into seven regions namely North America, Western Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Green Power Market Dynamics:Factors such as population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, growing per capita consumption, depletion of conventional reserves and increasing concerns for climatic change are contributing towards increasing adoption of green power sources as mode of electricity generation. This is further fuelling green power market growth at a robust rate and is expected to gain significant traction in the near future. However, proper balance of environmental stability and economic development is a concern for government and environment control authorities across the globe. However, barriers towards growth of green power market include low cost of utility default service, high entry barriers for new entrants, lack of existing renewable energy plants and insufficient unbundling of revenue-cycle services. Despite of the aforementioned challenges, green power market is anticipated to grow significantly in the near future. This is attributed to development of solar parks, government initiatives and programs, increasing awareness regarding use of renewable energy sources, among others.Request a sample of this report -Green Power Market Key Players:Depending on the equipment manufacturers for energy resources such as wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy and hydropower energy, some of the key solar panel manufacturers are Trina Solar Limited, Yingli Solar, Canadian Solar and others. Similarly prominent wind turbine manufacturers include Siemens AG, General Electric Company (GE Power), and Senvion SE among others. Few prominent geothermal energy system manufacturers include FHP Bosch Group, Earthlinked Technologies Inc., Aquatherm Industries, Inc., and Ormat Technologies, Inc. among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Software Defined Networking Market | Comprehensive Analysis and Future Estimations 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/software-defined-networking-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2338 www.futuremarketinsights.com In this ever changing technological world, there is sharp inclusion of objects that are getting connected on day-to-day basis via public or private network. Traditional networking architecture are slow to response to demand generated by connected objects in a particular network. Thats where software defined networking (SDN) comes into the picture. Software Defined Networking separates control layer of a particular network from infrastructure and application layer, so that a network operator can easily manage the data flow through a centralized console, without touching switches and routers. SDN allows network engineer and operators to response instantaneously to changing business demand. A traditional network generally uses special appliance such as firewall and load balancer, instead SDN usages a software application that usages the controller to manage data plane.View Report In SDN, software control entire network and its physical devices. Its about a software is integrated into networking hardware so that hardware can itself take decision about where to send data packets. It makes SDN next generation networking solution. Software Defined Networking usages northbound API to integrate control layer and application layer and uses southbound APIs to programmatically control data plane forwarding decision.Global Software Defined Networking Market: Drivers and ChallengesTechnological advancements in cloud computing and data center are contributing immensely in the growth of global Software Defined Networking market. Some of the big players of the market such as VMware and Cisco are offering separate Software Defined Networking solution for data center. Software Defined Networking deployment in data center is reducing downtime and increasing productivity of business organizations. In addition to this, increasing data consumption via mobile devices and growth in OTT services are putting enormous pressure on telecom service providers to digitalize their existing 3G and 4G networks. To meet increasing demand of data consumption, telecommunication service providers are transforming their networks with the help of Software Defined Networkingtechnology.Though Software Defined Networkingfacilitates network operators to control switches and routers through software but it doesnt virtualize functions and commands. In other worlds, Software Defined Networkingdoesnt allow to run the central network in software hardware. Moreover, enterprises are still reluctant to adopt Software Defined Networkingtechnology to some extent. They have fear that services running on their existing network will get hampered.Global Software Defined Networking (SDN) Market: SegmentationSoftware defined networking (SDN) Market can be segmented on the basis of component, application, end-user, and region. Component category include software and different types of services such as professional services and managed services. On the basis of application, the market can be segmented into SDN for data center and SD-WAN. Different type of end-user that are deploying SDN are cloud service providers, telecommunication service providers, and enterprises. Region wise, global software defined networking (SDN) Market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Middle East & Africa.Cisco System Inc. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM Corporation, Juniper Networks, Pica8, Inc., Intel Corporation, and Big Switch Networks, Inc. are some of the big players of global software defined networking (SDN) market.Regional OverviewNorth America is the largest Software Defined Networking market as most of the Software Defined Networking providers such as Cisco, IBM, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are based in the North America region and are making huge investment over there. Also, due to the ongoing advancements in 4G and 5G technologies the US, telecommunication service providers are deploying SDN at every layer of their network.In Europe region, technology service providers have already understood the value proportion of SDN and have already started deploying Software Defined Networking in their networks but enterprise market still remain gloomy in terms of adoption of Software Defined Networking.In Asia Pacific region, growth in countries such as China, India, and Japan are immensely contributing in the market. In India, the telecommunication services industry is going through the transformation and service providers have started to deploy Software Defined Networking technology at massive scale.Request a sample of this 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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Hydrocarbons Accounting Solution Market | Comprehensive Analysis and Future Estimations 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/hydrocarbons-accounting-solution-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2339 www.futuremarketinsights.com The ultimate goal of all oil and gas operators across the globe is to extract hydrocarbon as cost effective as possible. In order to achieve this goal, their entire system should be automated and error free starting from the extraction process to the delivery and transportation of oil and gas to buyers, which can be achieved by implementation of hydrocarbons accounting solutions. Additionally, oil and gas operators are increasingly launching their projects in remote locations that are often in difficult environmental condition, which in turns, also increases the demand for hydrocarbons accounting solution across the upstream industry. Hydrocarbons accounting solutions are being increasingly adopted by players in upstream industry for various applications such as production management, reporting and allocation, transport management solution (takes care of transportation data and activity while transporting hydrocarbons through pipelines, trucks or vessels), and sales management, revenue management and other supply chain management related applications.View Report Global Hydrocarbons Accounting Solution Market: Drivers and ChallengesTechnological innovations in cloud computing and data analytics are contributing immensely in making these type of hydrocarbons accounting software more robust and accurate, which helps to increase adoption of these solutions among the end-users. Most of the hydrocarbons accounting solution providers offers solutions, which can be integrated seamlessly with multiple applications such as ERM, reserves management, GIS, land and lease management, well management and other applications used by upstream industries. Previously, upstream industry was not bounded by government rules and regulations. However, with changing market scenario around oil and gas producers, the requirement to manage this industry by intelligent solutions increases.In order to achieve an objective of increased production in cost effective and efficient manners, various oil and gas operators have different specific requirements across the industry, hence its a challenge for hydrocarbon solutions providers to provide customized solutions which support different needs and yet maintain profitable business model.Traditionally, hydrocarbon accounting has mostly taken place at the level of individual fields or operating companies. However, changes in the global market around producers of a field, the pursuit of natural gas, and increased regulation are just some of the factors driving oil and gas companies to look for applications that have a more comprehensive view.Global Hydrocarbons Accounting Solution Market: SegmentationGlobal hydrocarbons accounting solutions can be segmented on the basis of component, deployment type and end-use sector. On the basis of component, global hydrocarbons accounting solution market is segmented into software and services. Service segment is further sub-segmented into consulting, implementation and support. On the basis of deployment type, global hydrocarbon software market is segmented into cloud based software and on-premise software. In 2015, cloud based hydrocarbons accounting solution is estimated to dominate the market and is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. Deployment of cloud based hydrocarbons accounting software reduces requirement of trained IT personal team because of 24*7 full technical support from the solution providers is the main force driving the growth of cloud based hydrocarbons accounting software market. On the basis of end-use sector, global hydrocarbons accounting solution market is segmented into upstream companies, mid-stream companies and downstream companies.Global Hydrocarbons Accounting Solution Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of region, global hydrocarbons accounting solution market is segmented into seven regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, MEA, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan and Japan. Among aforementioned regions, MEA is expected to be the dominant market followed by North America because, most of the petroleum companies of the world are present in these two regions.Request a sample of this report -Tieto, SAP, Adept Solutions, P2 Energy Solutions (formerly Merrick Systems), Wipro Limited, Quorum Business Solutions, Inc. are some of the big players of global hydrocarbons accounting solution market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Argan Oil Export Market to Witness Massive Growth in the Coming Years https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22517 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/argan-oil-market.html Global Argan Oil Export Market: SnapshotWith developing interest for non-timber timberland items (NTFP), there has been expanded slant of neighborhood preservationists to protect such plants, of which argan oil has increased noteworthy footing. Moreover, purchaser slant towards home grown and natural fixings in various items going from restorative, sustenance to therapeutic items is probably going to fuel the Argan Oil Export Market development. This is further prompting commercialisation of argan oil over the globe. As a sustenance fixing, argan oil goes about as vitality supporter with purchasers experiencing vitamin insufficiency, heart issues, and constrained ability to burn calories.Additionally, restorative makers are utilizing argan oil in excellence items for saturating and against maturing impacts. Argan oil displays properties, for example, against oxidants, unsaturated fats, and the linoleic acids, which help in battling issues, for example, barely recognizable differences, aggravation, skin inflammation, scars, and extend marks. Besides, pharmacological and appetizing properties of argan oil are contributing towards expanded interest for argan oil over the globe. Expanding appropriation of argan oil in restorative and culinary application have driven organizations to create details utilizing argan oil. This has additionally prompted developing commitment from international, domestic, and nongovernmental associations related with argan oil basically in Morocco.Request A Sample Of This Report -Global Argan Oil Export Market: Trends and ProspectsThe Argan Oil Export Market is fuelled by expanding interest for characteristic based fixings, particularly in restorative and hair mind items. Besides, expanding client mindfulness about argan oil's advantages is foreseen to fuel Argan Oil Export Market development in the pending years. Mass promoting and worldwide infiltration methodology combined with the online accessibility of item are key procedures received by organizations in the Argan Oil Export Market. Other development animating components of Argan Oil Export Market incorporate change in the extraction procedure of argan oil, expanded creation limit, and environmental change.Moreover, developing interest for improved supplements and vitamins among customers in items going from sustenance and refreshments to individual care items is expected to empower the Argan Oil Export Market development sooner rather than later. Notwithstanding, horticultural misuse, non-accessibility on retail locations, and high costs of argan oil when contrasted with other accessible oils are confining the general Argan Oil Export Market development. Albeit, high-cost of argan oil limits its selection among purchasers, enhancements in argan oil extraction and enhanced creation limit by the argan oil makers is expected to offer manageable development to the Argan Oil Export Market amid the conjecture time frame.View Report -Global Argan Oil Export Market: Regional OverviewThe worldwide Argan Oil Export Market is isolated into seven regions, in particular Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, North America, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). When contrasted with different districts Middle East and Africa ruled the argan oil generation. Expanded client mindfulness with respect to normal fixings particularly in nations, for example, India, Brazil and China is relied upon to fuel the Argan Oil Export Market development in the pending years. Asia Pacific is relied upon to develop as a potential region for worldwide and provincial players putting resources into the Argan Oil Export Market. This is additionally upheld by broad innovative work combined with developing utilization of argan oil in restorative and sustenance industry.Global Argan Oil Export Market: Vendor LandscapeThe core players operating in the market are OLVEA Morocco, ARGANisme Cosmetics S.A.R.L, Zineglo, Saadia Organics, Essence Of Argan, Biopur, Argan Diva, Josie Maran Cosmetics, Argan Liquid Gold, and Nadifi Argan.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.We are customarily engaged by Fortune 500 companies to support their strategic business decisions such as:Penetrating a new marketIdentifying white spacesLaunching a new product/serviceTactical M&AsSatisfied Employees, Satisfied ClientsTMRs analysts and consultants are distinguished experts in their respective domains. The company is based on an employee-centric model and hires the best, brightest, and most passionate people in the industry. This unparalleled expertise helps TMR uncover latest market intelligence data thats distinct from the competition.TMR is also a client-centric organization that endeavors to add value to the clients business by delivering the most insightful research. TMR understands that every client has unique product/service offerings, statement, and criteria. Customized solutions from TMR are centered on the clients problem statement. On the other hand, our syndicated research reports provide a packaged solution to keep enterprises abreast of the next major change in their industry.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com High Concentration Photovoltaics Market | Comprehensive Analysis and Future Estimations 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/high-concentration-photovoltaics-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2373 www.futuremarketinsights.com The CPV (Concentrated Photovoltaics) technology is used to generate electricity by using lenses or curved mirrors to gather huge amount of sunlight on a small area with highly proficient Multi-Junction (MJ) solar cells. HCPV (High Concentration Photovoltaics - a type of CPV technology) systems occupies concentrating optics which includes Fresnel lenses or dish reflectors that concentrate sunlight to intensify it, equals to that of 1,000 suns or more. HCPV solar technology is the process through which maximum sun energy is converted into electricity, HCPV can reduce the expenses of the solar cells.View Report Globally, high-concentration photovoltaics market is growing due to high efficiency and upsurge in yearly installed capacity (i.e. from 300 up to 1000 suns). The installations of HCPV systems is expected to grow by double-digit percentage every year. The high-concentration photovoltaics are mostly used in industrial, telecom or mobile towers, rural electrification and government or military sectors. Due to its ecofriendly nature, uninterrupted power supply, high efficiencies for direct-normal irradiance, simple & user friendly integration, rapid deployment solutions, and increased and stable energy production, the high-concentration photovoltaics market is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period.Global High-Concentration Photovoltaics Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe drivers of the high-concentration photovoltaics market are minimum land space requirement, consistent improvements in its technology, awareness of renewable energy resources, and government assistance program with essential financing schemes. Also reduction in Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and improved efficiency with low system cost is another significant factor contributing in the surging global high-concentration photovoltaics market.However, some of the restraints hindering the growth of the global high-concentration photovoltaics market are expensive solar trackers required to get sunlight focused on the small photovoltaic area, non-utilization of diffuse radiation, perception and bankability issues, lack of technology standardization, lack of adoption of technology and limited places with high direct normal irradiation.Global High-Concentration Photovoltaics Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, high-concentration photovoltaics market can be divided into seven regions, namely NorthAmerica, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is the prominent contributor in high-concentration photovoltaics market because of the technological advancements in United States for solar power energy utilization. Latin America is the next vital region in the high-concentration photovoltaics market due to some large projects are planned in the Mexico. Asia Pacific is following North America and Latin America for the high-concentration photovoltaics market on account of growing HCPV production in China, Taiwan and Japan. Europe is also witnessing a growing market of high-concentration photovoltaics market because of increase in HCPV installations and Energy Payback Time. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) are at a nascent stage in the high-concentration photovoltaics market, however they are expected to expand at a significant CAGR in the forecast period.Request a sample of this report -Global High-Concentration Photovoltaics Market: Key playersSome of the key players working in high-concentration photovoltaics market are: Abengoa Solar, S.A., Cool Earth Solar, ES-SYSTEM, Green & Gold Solar Pty Ltd., Fullsun Photovoltaics, Arzon Solar, LLC, and BSQ Solar, SL.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: White Box Server Market | Trends and Opportunities with Forecast up to 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/white-box-server-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4516 www.futuremarketinsights.com White Box Server Market: IntroductionIn hardware peripherals, a white box server is a non-branded server or personal computer, which are purchased in bulk from original design manufacturers (ODM). The ODM such as Hon Hai's Foxconn and Quanta develops white box server by assembling commercial off-the-shelf components in various ways to provide customized computer solution to customers.White-box server is a computer structure in a large data centers, which is capable of running major operating systems, for instances, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Windows Server and virtualization software. These server deploy clustering techniques to provide high availability and lower the risk of unexpected downtime.View Report White Box Server Market: Drivers and RestraintsWhite-box server is less costly and offers modest functionality, which is the major factor responsible for the growth of the white box server market during the forecast period. Further, growing demand for cost effective off-the-shelf hardware by cloud service providers such as Microsoft Azure and Google is the other driver for the industry expansion.Customization and flexibility in designing hardware are the crucial factors spurring the growth of the white box server market. Also, original design manufacturers introduced new switching products and white box storage, which are cost effective and energy efficient solutions, hence the market is anticipated to grow in the recent years. On the other hand, unreliable server life span and no brand assurance are the major factors challenging the growth of the industry during the forecast period.Global White Box Server Market: Market SegmentationGlobal White Box Server Market can be divided into five segments, based on Form Factor, Business Type, Processor, Operating System, and Region.Global White Box Server Market: Regional TrendNorth American countries such as U.S. and Canada are witnessing the increase in a number of data centers for data analytics and cloud service, which is projected to propel the market growth in the respective region during the forecast period. Most of the largest data centers are located in North America, which is the other reason spurring the expansion opportunity of the white box server market.China and India are the emerging economies, which is expected to show fastest growth rate, due to the increasing the number of mobile device and evolvement of data analytics for business operations, which are arising the need of robust servers. Thus Asia-Pacific market is expected to capture fastest market growth in recent years.Request a sample of this report -Global White Box Server Market: Competitive LandscapeThe key players associated with agriculture robot market includes ZT Systems, Quanta Computer Inc., Silicon Mechanics, Wistron Corporation, Stack Velocity Group, Inventec Corporation, Servers Direct, Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, Hyve Solutions, MiTAC Holdings Corp., Compal Electronics, Super Micro Computer Inc., Celestica Inc. and Penguin Computing.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Telemedicine Market Accumulating for Dazzling Expansion at 16.5% of CAGR by 2022 Telemedicine Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2216 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/telemedicine-market-2216 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2216 Telemedicine (likewise alluded to as "telehealth" or "e-wellbeing") permits medicinal services experts to assess, analyze and treat patients in remote areas utilizing broadcast communications innovation. Telemedicine enables patients in remote areas to get to medicinal aptitude rapidly, proficiently and without travel. Telemedicine gives more proficient utilization of constrained master assets who can "see" patients in different areas wherever they are required without leaving their office. The worldwide Telemedicine Market is encountering gigantic development over the globe by virtue of broad utilization of medicinal services IT arrangements, enhanced media transmission foundation, and popularity for essential care benefits over the globe. The Global telemedicine market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% during the forecast period.Get a Sample Report @Besides, rising commonness of interminable ailments and mechanical headway in the medicinal services fuel the market development. High establishment cost of telemedicine arrangements and accessibility of web benefits in provincial ranges may control the market development.Competitive Analysis:Key players profiled in the report are Koninklijke Philips N.V. (The Netherlands), Medtronic (Ireland) AMD Telemedicine Technologies (U.S.), General Electric Company (U.K.), Neusoft Corporation (China), McKesson Corporation (US) , Intel (US), and IBM (US).Market Segments:The global telemedicine market is segmented on the basis of type, which includes store and forward, remote monitoring, and real time interactive.On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into hardware, software, and services. The hardware is further segmented into on-site kiosks, telephone, and webcams. The software is further segmented into mobiles apps. The Services are further segmented into consultation, online video conferencing and academics.Order Single User License Copy of 150 Premium Pages is Available @Furthermore, on the basis of application the market is classified into telecardiology, telepsychiatry, teleradiology, telepathology, teledermatology, teleaudiology, teleopthalmology, and others.On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into hospitals, clinical, medical institutes, and others.Brief TOCReport PrologueIntroductionResearch MethodologyMarket DynamicsMarket Factor AnalysisGlobal Telemedicine Market by TypeGlobal Telemedicine Market by TechnologyGlobal Telemedicine Market by ApplicationGlobal Telemedicine Market by End UserGlobal Cell Counting Market by RegionCompany ProfileConclusionAppendixAsk to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Smart Thermostat Market Technological breakthroughs By 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/smart-thermostat-market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1011 Smart thermostat is the type of device used for controlling the heating and air conditioning in residential as well as commercial buildings. Smart thermostat allows user to control the temperature of the room throughout the day using a schedule, for example setting different temperature during the day time and night time.Smart thermostats are connected to with internet which enables its user to control the heating setting using different internet connected devices, like smartphones, tablets etc. It also allows user to easily switch on/off the heating or air conditioning of room even when they are not inside home or office.Smart Thermostat Market: Drivers and RestraintThe smart thermostat market is expected to grow rapidly over the period of forecast. Factors which are responsible for the growth of global smart thermostat market are increasing awareness among consumers about the various advantages of smart thermostats, technological developments, growing urbanization, rising demand of connected homes or smart homes, growing demand of energy efficient devices and availability of configurable and reconfigurable thermostats.Obtain Report Details @:On the other hand, factors which are restraining the growth of global smart thermostat market are incorrect triggering of switches by sensors and incongruity issues in wireless networks. However, demand for self-learning automated devices are expected to create great growth opportunity for the growth of smart thermostat market over the forecast period.Smart Thermostat Market: SegmentationThe global smart thermostat market can be segmented on the basis of component, network technology and application. On the basis of component, the global smart thermostat market can be segmented into display, motion sensor, humidity sensor, temperature sensor and others.On the basis of network technology, the global smart thermostat market can be segmented into wired technology and wireless technology. Wireless technology is expected to create great growth opportunity for the growth of global smart thermostat sensor market. Wireless network technology can be further sub segmented into Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee and Bluetooth.On the basis of application, the global smart thermostat market can be segmented into residential, commercial, Industrial and others. Commercial application segment includes office building, healthcare and retail etc. Other Segment includes educational buildings such as school and colleges.Among all these application, residential applications are expected to grow significantly over forecast period because of advancement in home automation technology, growing demand of connected homes or smart homes and increasing awareness about energy saving devices among consumers.Request Sample @:Smart Thermostat Market: Region wise outlookOn the basis of region, the global smart thermostat market can be segmented into seven regions which includes, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East & Africa region.Further the market is sub-segmented as per the major countries of each region in order to provide better regional analysis of the smart thermostat market. Developed regions such as North America and Western Europe are expected to dominate the market as demand of home and office automation is high in these regions. However, Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly over forecast period.Smart Thermostat Market: Key PlayersThe major players in the global smart thermostat market are Nest Labs, Inc., Emerson Electric Co., ecobee inc., tado GmbH, Schneider Electric, Honeywell International Inc. and Carrier Corporation. Key players are focusing on product innovations to provide advanced solutions to consumers. For example, In September 2015, Nest Labs, Inc., announced the third generation of Next Learning Thermostat which is slimmer in size, has a larger & high resolution screen and updated user interface which makes it easy to read temperatures, messages and alerts.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.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.Contact FMIFuture Market Insights3rd Floor, 207 Regent Street,London W1B 3HHUnited KingdomT: + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790D: +44 (0) 20 3287 4268Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.com Data Center Construction in Nordics Market 2017 Analysis By Key Players AECOM, Arup Associates, DPR Construction, Modular Data Centers Stockholm, Mercury Engineering Data Center Construction in Nordics Market 2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/786633-data-center-construction-market-in-nordics-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/786633-data-center-construction-market-in-nordics-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=786633 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Data Center Construction in Nordics Market 2017 Analysis By Key Players AECOM, Arup Associates, DPR Construction, Modular Data Centers Stockholm, Mercury Engineering.The analysts forecast the data center construction market in the Nordic region to grow at a CAGR of 22.36% during the period 2016-2020.The demand for cloud-based services and the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) are prompting enterprises in the Nordic region to construct data centers to gain a competitive edge. Complexities associated with business applications have increased due to an exponential growth in data volumes, triggering an increased need for construction and renovation of data centers. In addition, enterprises are focusing on the construction of green data center facilities to reduce power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the data center construction market in the Nordic region for 2015-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from new data center construction (including modular data centers) and renovation of data centers.The market is divided into the following segments based on electrical construction: UPS systems Energy storage equipment Generators Transfer switches and switchgear OthersThe report, Data Center Construction Market in Nordic Region 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors AECOM Arup Associates DPR Construction Modular Data Centers Stockholm Mercury EngineeringOther prominent vendors Coromatic Nordisk Kombination Arkitekter Rittal Schneider Electric (AST Modular)Market driver Sustainable operational environment For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Lack of construction expertise For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Green data centers For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Ask Query @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summary HighlightsPART 02: Scope of the report Market overview Top-vendor offeringsPART 03: Market research methodology Research methodology Economic indicatorsPART 04: Introduction Key market highlightsPART 05: Market landscape Market overview Market size and forecast Five forces analysisPART 06: Market segmentation by electrical construction UPS systems Energy storage equipment Generators Transfer switches and switchgear OthersPART 07: Market segmentation mechanical construction Cooling solutions Racks OtherPART 08: Market segmentation by general constructionPART 09: Market segmentation by tier standards Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4PART 10: Market segmentation by countries Denmark Norway Sweden Finland and IcelandPART 11: Market driversPART 12: Impact of driversPART 13: Market challengesPART 14: Impact of drivers and challengesContinue.Buy 1-User PDF @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Online Lingerie Market 2017 Global Share,Trend,Segmentation and Forecast to 2020 Online Lingerie Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/786621-global-online-lingerie-market-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/786621-global-online-lingerie-market-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=786621 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Online Lingerie Market 2017 Global Share,Trend,Segmentation and Forecast to 2020.The analysts forecast the global online lingerie market to grow at a CAGR of 17.25% during the period 2016-2020.The term lingerie originated from the French word 'linge' for linen. In French, the term is used for both male and female undergarments, whereas in English it refers solely to women's innerwear. Lingerie is made of fabrics like nylon, satin, silk, polyester, and lace. The evolving fashion landscape and the rising focus on comfort have resulted in increased demand for lingerie across regions. The opening of online lingerie stores has improved the growth prospects of the lingerie industry, as they offer a wide range of international and private labels through one platform.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global online lingerie market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the online retail sales of the following lingerie products: Bras Daywear Loungewear Panties Shapewear SleepwearThe market is divided into the following segments based on geography: APAC Europe North America ROWThe report, Global Online Lingerie Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors L Brands Maison Lejaby Lise Charmel PVH Wolf LingerieOther prominent vendors Baci Lingerie Chantelle Etam Hanes Brands Jockey Lindex Triumph Wacoal WolfordMarket driver Increased smartphone penetration For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Difficulty in choosing products For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Availability of top brands online For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Ask Query @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summary HighlightsPART 02: Scope of the report Market overview Top-vendor offeringsPART 03: Market research methodology Research methodology Economic indicatorsPART 04: Introduction Key market highlightsPART 05: Market landscape Market overview Global online lingerie marketPART 06: Market segmentation by product Segmentation of global online lingerie market by product typePART 07: Geographical segmentation Global online lingerie market by geography 2015-2020PART 08: Key leading countriesPART 09: Market drivers Increased smartphone penetration Growing e-commerce industry Price discounts and special offers Changing consumer preferencesPART 10: Impact of driversPART 11: Market challenges Difficulty in choosing products Technical issues Delivery and packaging issues Reduced profit marginsPART 12: Impact of drivers and challengesPART 13: Market trends Availability of top brands online Use of location-based technology Availability of measurement apps and related websitesPART 14: Vendor landscape Competitive scenario Vendor analysis PVH Maison Lejaby Lise Charmel L Brands Wolf Lingerie Other prominent vendorsContinue.Buy 1-User PDF @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. US Federal Cyber Security 2017 Market - Technologies, Applications, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts US Federal Cyber Security Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/786636-us-federal-cyber-security-market-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/786636-us-federal-cyber-security-market-2016-2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=786636 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - US Federal Cyber Security 2017 Market - Technologies, Applications, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts.The analysts forecast the US federal cyber security market to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% during the period 2016-2020.Cyber security solutions enable the US federal government to maintain its data confidentiality by monitoring, detecting, reporting, and countering cyber threats. With the use of wireless networks for the mobile devices of US federal government employees, the IT systems have become vulnerable to cyber attacks. The adoption of cloud-based services by the US federal government and emergence of IoT have further increased the vulnerability of these IT systems. So, with the growing penetration of the internet in US federal government organizations, the adoption of cyber security solutions will grow.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of US federal cyber security market for the period 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenues generated from the sales of cyber security solutions that include the following: Software suites ServicesThe report, US Federal Cyber Security Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors BAE Systems General Dynamics Lockheed Martin Northrop Grumman RaytheonOther prominent vendors Boeing Booz Allen Hamilton Computer Sciences EMC HP IBM L-3 Communications McAfee Microsoft SAIC SymantecMarket driver Adoption of cloud-based services For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Lack of efficient security solutions For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Emergence of single sign-on (SSO) For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Ask Query @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summary HighlightsPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Market research methodology Research methodology Economic indicatorsPART 04: Introduction Key market highlightsPART 05: Market landscape Market overview Types of cyber threats Cyber attacks in 2015 Implementation of cyber security solutions Applications of cyber security solutions Cyber security market in US government sector Share of US federal government cyber security in US government cyber security market (revenue) Market size and forecastPART 06: Life cycle analysisPART 07: Market opportunities and developments Emergence of mobile biometrics Increase in interconnectivity of devices with IoTPART 08: Market segmentation by products US federal government cyber security market by product segmentation 2015-2020 US federal government cyber security market by services US federal government cyber security market by solutionsPART 09: Buying criteriaPART 10: Market drivers Adoption of cloud-based services Implementation of BYOD policy Rising network security threats Intense vendor competitionPART 11: Impact of driversPART 12: Market challenges Lack of efficient security solutions Complex IT infrastructure Integration issues among security solutionsPART 13: Impact of drivers and challengesPART 14: Market trends Emergence of SSO Increasing adoption of cyber security solutions by defense and military organizations Growing implementation of managed security services Increasing availability of integrated security solutionsContinue.Buy 1-User PDF @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Big Data in the Manufacturing Sector Market 20172020 : Global Drivers, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts Big Data in the Manufacturing Sector Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/417207-global-big-data-in-the-manufacturing-sector https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/417207-global-big-data-in-the-manufacturing-sector https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=417207 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On - Big Data in the Manufacturing Sector Market 20172020 : Global Drivers, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts.The analysts forecast the global big data market in the manufacturing sector to grow at a CAGR of 16.87% during the period 2016-2020.Big data solutions refer to the wide range of hardware, software, and services required for analyzing and processing enterprise data that is too large for traditional data processing tools to manage. This type of data is generated from different sources such as mobile devices, digital repositories, enterprise applications and ranges from terabyte to exabyte in size. Big data solutions help process and analyze this large volume of data. They have a wide array of applications such as analysis of conversations in social networking websites, fraud management in the financial services sector, disease diagnosis in the healthcare sector, and supply chain management in the manufacturing sector.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global big data market in the manufacturing sector for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of big data solutions in the manufacturing sector, including software, integrated solutions, and services.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe report, Global Big Data Market in the Manufacturing Sector 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors EMC HP IBM OracleOther prominent vendors 1010data 10gen Accenture Amazon Web Services Attivio Calpont Capgemini ClickFox Cloudera Couchbase CSC Datameer DataStax Dell Digital Reasoning Systems Fractal Analytics Fujitsu Hitachi Hortonworks HPCC Systems Huawei Technologies Informatica Intel Karmasphere Logica MapR Technologies MarkLogic Microsoft Mu Sigma NetApp Opera Solutions ParAccel Pervasive Software QlikTech RainStor Red Hat SAP SAS Institute Seagate Siemens Information Systems Splunk Supermicro Computer Tableau Software Tata Consultancy Services Teradata Think Big Analytics XeroxMarket driver High demand for effective data access For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Lack of skilled professionals For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Growth of cloud computing For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Ask Query @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsPART 01: Executive summary HighlightsPART 02: Scope of the report Market overview Top-vendor offeringsPART 03: Market research methodology Research methodology Economic indicatorsPART 04: Introduction Key market highlightsPART 05: Market landscape Market overview Big data in the Manufacturing sector Market size and forecast Share of manufacturing sector in global big data marketPART 06: Market segmentation by componentPART 07: Market segmentation by solution types Global big data market in manufacturing sector by solution types 2015PART 08: Geographical segmentation Global big data market in manufacturing sector by regionPART 09: Key leading countries US UK ChinaPART 10: Market drivers High demand for effective data access Exponential growth in data Increased adoption of IoT Increased demand of ICTPART 11: Impact of driversPART 12: Market challenges Management of unstructured data High cost of implementation Lack of skilled professionals Performance inconsistency with componentsPART 13: Impact of drivers and challengesPART 14: Market trends Growth of cloud computing Emergence of M2M technology Increased demand from medium-sized enterprises SaaS-based predictive analyticsContinue.Buy 1-User PDF @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Global Dental Implants Market $ 5,944.5 Million Growth At CAGR ~4.6% Expected to Forecasts by 2024 Market Research Future https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2753 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2753 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2753 The Global Dental Implants Market is rising with a swift phase; mainly owing to increase in patient population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2014, around 30% of the older aged (65-74) population globally have lost their natural teeth, around 60-90% of the school children globally and nearly 100% of the adults were believed to have dental cavities, about 15-20% middle aged (35-44 years) adults have found to have severe periodontal disease. Increasing consumer awareness about technology associated with oral health and rapidly increasing population globally leads to the growth of the dental implant market. Dentistry as a branch of healthcare has also further expanded and developed in its sub branches resulting in specialist oral care depending upon the type of treatment required for the oral care. Major specializations are orthodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, and periodonticsGet Exclusive Sample Copy @Companies are continuously inventing in new products to capture the market globally. Thus, major players invest more in research and development activities, in order to lead the global market. In this regards, Osstem Implant, in 2015, invested in research and development to push for invention in the field of dental implants and persistently develops state-of-the-art products and thus, becoming the leader and the First Mover in global dental implant market. Osstem Implant is also focusing on the expansion of sales network globally, advancement in education programs, and strategies for marketing.In 2016, Zimmer Biomet dental division has introduce new technology of dental implants, and there surgical and restorative components. The company introduce 3.1-mmD Eztetic implant, which add-on improvement on existing available implants. According to the company, this product achieved a 43% higher fatigue strength in comparison to selected competitive implants of similar technical features. Increasing in genetic population globally and consumption of tobacco are the factors that leads the market of dental implants. Moreover companies are more focus to capture the market.Competitive Analysis:Institut Straumann AG (Switzerland), 3M (U.S.), Osstem Implant (South Korea), Nobel Biocare (Part of Danaher corporation (U.S.), Dentsply Sirona (U.S.), Zimmer Biomet (U.S.), CAMLOG Biotechnologies AG (Switzerland), Neobiotech Inc. (U.S.) are some of the leading players at the cutting edge of the competition in the market of dental implants, globally.Global Dental Implants Market - Regional Analysis:The market of dental implants is much higher in the Americas region. There are huge population which are missing all their teeth in one or both jaws. According to a report published in 2014, by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, government initiated the National Oral Health Plan to improve the quality of life of the Americans. Through this program they were focusing on change in public perceptions, change in policymakers' perceptions, and change in health providers' perceptions.Europe is also considered a huge market for dental implants players, owing to presence of huge population affected with oral diseases. Governments are more focusing on educating their public in order to minimize the patients population by educating them about the relationship between mouth and rest of the body.Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa region are considered untapped markets. Whereas, country like India and China of Asia Pacific region are considered as the fastest growing region due to presence of huge population suffering with oral health issues. Japan is well developed country and have well established healthcare system and technology, whereas developing countries are still focusing on new drugs and technology for the treatment of dental implants, this gap between the developed and developing countries will present significant growth opportunity for the dental implants market players in the coming years. Additionally, they are open to adopt new technology and best treatment option from developed countries in order to improve the quality of life for their public. Whereas, the Middle East and Africa are low growth market due to lack of investment.Browse Complete Premium 93 Pages Cooked Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures is Available @Major TOC of Dental Implants Market:1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Additional Facts & Figures1.3 Scope of Study1.4 Research Objective1.5 Assumptions & Limitations1.5.1 Assumptions1.5.2 Limitations2 Research Methodologies2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 Market Dynamics3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.2.1 Increasing Dental procedures3.2.2 Increasing Ageing World Population3.2.3 Growing Dental Tourism3.2.4 Increasing Cosmetic dentistry treatmentsContinuedAsk to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Skin Graft Market by Specmed Medical, Stratatech Corp, Tissue Regenix Group PLC, Avita Medical Etc Key Players Forecasts Till 2023 Market Research Future https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1674 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=1674 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1674 The Global Skin Graft Market is expected to reach $ 7.5 billion by the end of 2023, this market is projected to growing at a CAGR of ~ 13.5 % during 2017-2023. Skin grafting involves the transplantation of skin graft. The skin in form of a thin section is taken from a healthy part of the body or a full thickness skin graft, which involves slicing a thick entire skin section from the donor section.The Worldwide Skin Graft Industry is rising due to factors such as rise in the cases of accidents, burns and surgeries requiring removal of skin. Other factors are skin loss due to infection such as necrotizing fasciitis or purpura fulminans and cancer. The market restraints are complications such as infection, pain and cost of treatment.Get Exclusive Sample Copy @Growing technology in the healthcare industry plays a major role in the growth of this market as new techniques have been evolved in skin Grafting which are more effective and efficient. The market for skin graft is rising due to factors such as rise in the cases of accidents, burns and surgeries requiring removal of skin. Other factors that propel the market growth are skin loss due to infection such as necrotizing fasciitis or purpura fulminans and cancer. Above all, Skin Grafting is proving to be a boon for Acid attack Victims, those who usually tend to lose hope, confidence and self-esteem along with their skin.Global Skin Graft Market Competitive Analysis:Characterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global Market of Skin Graft appears to be highly competitive. Well established players incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership, expansion, and technology launch in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position. These key players compete based upon pricing and reputation. The Market demonstrates high growth potential which is likely to attract several new entrant in the market. Further resulting in intensified competition. Top players are investing heavily in R&D and clinical trials to develop effective procedures of skin grafting. Top players are holding the largest market share while other small and medium size companies are also growing. They are researching and developing innovative approaches that help make a difference to peoples lives.Scientists of University of Chicago developed a needleless method to track blood glucose for diabetics. In the process using stem cells and the gene-editing technique CRISPR skin cells are created and grafted embedding skin sensor and device combination. The skin graft emits fluorescent light in a particular pattern as blood glucose levels rise. Its a boon for diabetic patients and need to prick them with a needle stick frequently. The graft and device technology will be commercially available within a decade. Also, Dr. Xiaoyang Wu, cell biologist and the team lead had previously created skin cell grafts that can boost the production of insulin, the hormone people with diabetes take to lower blood glucose levels. By combining sugar-monitoring and insulin treatment grafts, patients may someday be spared both glucose-testing finger sticks and insulin injections.On the other hand, factors such as complications associated with skin graft such as infection, pain and cost of treatment are likely to restrain the market growth.Order a Premium 90 Pages Single User License Copy @Skin Graft Market Segments:The Skin Graft Market is segmented in to 6 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Type: Comprises Autologous, Isogeneic, Allogeneic, Xenogeneic, and Prosthetic.Segmentation by Graft Thickness: Comprises Split-Thickness, Full-Thickness, Composite Graft, and other.Segmentation by Application: Comprises Extensive Wound, Burns, and Extensive Skin Loss Due To Infection, Skin Cancers and other.Segmentation by Equipment: Comprises Dermatome (Knives Dermatomes, Drum Dermatomes, Electric Dermatomes, and Air Dermatomes), General Surgical Instruments, Consumables and other.Segmentation by End Users: Comprises Hospitals and Clinics, Academic And Research, and other.Segmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Skin Graft Market Regional Analysis:US accounts for the maximum market share due to favourable reimbursement scenario and greater expenditure on healthcare. The faster market uptake of new technology in the US is also an important driver of the market for global skin graft. Europe is the second largest market due to large disposable income and rising awareness. Asia Pacific region is expected to have the most future potential and it is estimated to be led by China and India. The Middle East & Africa market is led by the gulf nations particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE. The regions of Africa are expected to witness a moderate growth due to poor economic and political conditions and poor healthcare penetration.Major TOC for Skin Graft Market:INTRODUCTION1 DEFINITION2 SCOPE OF STUDY2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE2.2 ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS2.2.1 ASSUMPTIONS2.2.2 LIMITATIONS3 MARKET STRUCTURE:2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH PROCESS:2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH:3. MARKET DYNAMICS3.1 DRIVERS3.2 RESTRAINTS3.3 OPPORTUNITIES3.4 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS.ContinuedAsk to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Rickets Market Research Report 2017 Analysis and Forecast To 2023 Rickets Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4683 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/rickets-market-4671 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/4683 Acknowledging its growing popularity and the market growth, Market Research Future, recently published a study report The Global Hyperglycemia Treatment Market. Which indicates that the Market is booming and estimated to gain further prominence over the forecast period. Further MRFR asserts that the Market will demonstrate a massive growth by 2023, phenomenally superseding its previous growth records in terms of value with a whooping CAGR during the anticipated period. The Global Hyperglycemia Treatment Market is expected to reach USD 39.0 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 8.1% during the forecast period (2017 2023).GET SAMPLE REPORT @Market Research Future published new report, titled Pharmaceutical Isolator Market -Research Report: Global Forecast till 2023.Market Synopsis of Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market:An isolator is an equipment which is used for selective transfer of materials through defined openings designed to avoid contamination. Open isolators allow transfer of materials, while enabling a level of protection from the external environment. Closed isolators provide complete separation between the internal and external environment except for filtered air. Aseptic isolators use positive pressure to keep contamination out, while containment isolators uses negative pressure to keep contamination out of the work space.The market drivers for global pharmaceutical isolator market are increasing demand due to growing pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, increasing regulations and non-compliance cost, rising usage of aseptic methods, rising number of bio labs, growing use of toxic and hazardous materials, and advancements in isolator efficiency and technology. A huge cost of setting up clean rooms is a strong driver of the market for isolators. The market restraints are the high cost of isolators, high maintenance of isolators, high cost of operation of isolators, poor regulatory framework in developing regions and lack of inspection, increasing specifications and stringency of quality control checks disease etc.Product development represents the best strategy for the market growth. The market is expected to witness exponential growth over the review period owing to technological advancement in the construction of isolators. The isolators are fraught with high maintenance and operating costs, which has created a need for effective designs and development of contamination resistive materials. There are also issues with efficiency of isolators and there equipments are fraught with repeated breakdowns.Market development is another strategy for as there is a large unmet need in the developing regions such as India and China. Cost of the product is expected to be a decisive factor in the developing regions such as Asia Pacific and, especially, Africa. The growing demand due to development of research and development industry is the greatest unmet need of the market.The Worldwide Pharmaceutical Isolator Market report explores the Top Key Players in-depth analysis as: Gelman Singapore, COMECER S.p.A. cf. p.Iva, IsoTech Design, LAF Technologies Pty Ltd, Fedegari Autoclavi S.p.A, Hosokawa Micron Ltd., Bosch GmbH, MBRAUN, Chamunda Pharma Machinery Pvt. Ltd., Schematic Engineering Industries, NuAire, Inc., and others.Market Segments:The global pharmaceutical isolator market has been segmented on the basis of type, system, pressure differential, and end user.Based on the type, the market has been segmented into aseptic isolators, containment isolators, bio isolators, sampling, weighing and distribution isolators, active pharmaceutical ingredient & manufacturing isolators, and other.Based on the system, the market has been segmented into closed systems and open systems.Based on the pressure differential, the market has been segmented into positive pressure and negative pressure.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals and diagnostics labs, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, research and academics, and others.Regional Analysis:The Americas accounts for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care. Additionally, the large research and development base of U.S. is a strong driver of the market. The high concentration of the major healthcare companies, biotech labs, and hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with stringent regulatory and inspection guidelines are adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the US has a high inspection rate and the growing stringency of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections has fueled the market.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to the growing pharmaceutical and industrial base. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. The strong presence of the pharmaceutical industry in Germany is a strong driver behind the dominance of this country in Europe. The growing research and development expenditures of the developed regions have stimulated the market for isolators in these regions.GET FULL REPORT @Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing pharmaceutical sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of pharmaceutical and biotech industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future pharmaceutical isolator market in the region. The biotech industry is expected to demand for the largest number of isolators among all industries.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a moderate growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. The poor research and development in the Middle East and Africa region has restricted the market for pharmaceutical isolators market.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 50 market data tables and figures spread over 80 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on Global Pharmaceutical isolator Market Research Report Forecast till 2023.Major Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market IntroductionChapter 3. Research MethodologyChapter 4. Market DynamicsChapter 5. Market Factor AnalysisChapter 6. Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market, By TypeChapter 7. Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market, By SystemChapter 8. Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market, By Pressure DifferentialChapter 9. Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market, By End UserChapter 10. Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market, By RegionChapter 11. Company LandscapeChapter 12. Company ProfilesChapter 13. MRFR ConclusionChapter 14. AppendixCONTINUEDGET DISCOUNT @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: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Eye Cancer Market Research Report 2017 Analysis and Forecast To 2023 Eye Cancer Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4736 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/eye-cancer-market-4736 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/4736 Acknowledging its growing popularity and the market growth, Market Research Future, recently published a study report The Global Eye Cancer Market. Which indicates that the Market is booming and estimated to gain further prominence over the forecast period. Further MRFR asserts that the Market will demonstrate a massive growth by 2023, phenomenally superseding its previous growth records in terms of value with a whooping CAGR during the anticipated period. The Global Eye Cancer Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~8.3% during the forecast period (2017-2023).GET SAMPLE REPORT @Market Research Future published new report, titled Eye Cancer Market -Research Report: Global Forecast till 2023.The Worldwide Eye Cancer Market report explores the Top Key Players in-depth analysis as: Novartis AG (Switzerland), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (U.K.), Bayer AG (Germany), Amgen, Inc. (U.S.), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (U.S.), Eli Lilly and Company (U.S.), AstraZeneca Plc. (U.K.), F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland), Janssen Biotech, Inc. (U.S.), Sanofi (France), AbbVie Inc. (U.S.), Takeda Pharmaceuticals (Japan), Pfizer, Inc. (U.S.), Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.), Oncomed Pharmaceuticals (U.S.) and Immunomedics (U.S.).Market Highlights of Global Eye Cancer Market:Eye cancers or ocular cancers manifests itself in the eye. Cancer is referred to the uncontrolled growth of the cells, similarly, eye cancer occurs when healthy cells in or around the eye change and grow uncontrollably leading to the formation of tumors. The global eye cancer market is expecting a healthy growth in coming future. The global market is majorly driven by increasing eye cancer patients across the globe. Additionally, increasing smoking population and rising consumption of alcohol have spurred the growth of the market. However, long time for approval, and side effects of the treatment may hinder the growth of the market.Market Segmentation:The global market is segmented on types, treatment and end users. On the basis of types, the market is segmented into intraocular cancer, squamous cell cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma, and others. Intraocular cancer is further segmented into melanoma of the eye, lymphoma of the eye, and cancers in children. On the basis of treatment, the market is categorised into chemotherapy, surgery & radiation therapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, biologic therapy, and other. Chemotherapy is further segmented into anthracyclines, taxanes, antimetabolites, and alkylating agents. Target therapy is sub segmented into monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Hormone therapy is further segmented into selective estrogen-receptor modulators (SERMs), aromatase inhibitors and others. On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into hospital & clinics, ambulatory care centers and others.GET FULL REPORT @Regional Analysis:The Americas dominate the global market owing to a huge patient population, large geriatric population, high healthcare spending and strong government support for research & development. As per the report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014, over 14.1 million of new cancer cases were registered worldwide. Increasing prevalence of the disease has boosted the market growth in America. Additionally, changing lifestyle and smoking has fuelled the growth of the market.Europe holds the second leading market in global eye cancer market which is followed by Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for eye cancer. Asia Pacific eye cancer market is majorly driven by Japan, India, and China owing to a huge patient pool, and rapidly developing healthcare sector. The Middle East and Africa contribute the least to the growth of global market. The Middle East dominates the market for The Middle East and Africa. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are expected to drive the Middle East eye cancer market. However, Africa holds the least share of the global market due to limited availability of medical facilities and poor economic condition of the region. However the growth of the Africa market is high due to the presence of opportunities for the development of the market.Major Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market IntroductionChapter 3. Research MethodologyChapter 4. Market DynamicsChapter 5. Market Factor AnalysisChapter 6. Global Eye Cancer Market, By TypesChapter 7. Global Eye Cancer Market, By TreatmentChapter 8. Global Eye Cancer Market, By End UserChapter 9. Global Eye Cancer Market, By RegionChapter 10. Company LandscapeChapter 11. Company ProfilesChapter 12. MRFR Conclusion filesChapter 13. AppendixCONTINUEDGET DISCOUNT @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: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market Research Report 2017 Analysis and Forecast To 2023 Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4816 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/pharmaceutical-grade-lactose-market-4816 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/4816 Acknowledging its growing popularity and the market growth, Market Research Future, recently published a study report The Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market. Which indicates that the Market is booming and estimated to gain further prominence over the forecast period. Further MRFR asserts that the Market will demonstrate a massive growth by 2023, phenomenally superseding its previous growth records in terms of value with a whooping CAGR during the anticipated period. The Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period (2017-2023).GET SAMPLE REPORT @Market Research Future published new report, titled Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market -Research Report:Global Forecast to 2023.Market Highlights:Pharmaceutical grade lactose is produced by concentrating whey or permeate to over-saturate the lactose which is further refined, dried, and milled properly. This grade of lactose is prepared to meet rigid pharmaceutical specifications. Pharmaceutical grade lactose is manufactured in different specialty and customized range to use in various oral solid dosage forms (OSDFs) such as tablets, capsules, sachets, dry powder inhalers and others. In solid form, lactose can either be in an amorphous state or in a crystalline state. The most well-known forms of crystalline lactose are -lactose monohydrate and -lactose. The general properties offered by lactose such as, cost effectiveness, low hygroscopicity, excellent physical and chemical stability, compatibility with other ingredients, and its bland taste contribute to its acceptance by government bodies as lactose is marked safe according to the regulations of FDA Inactive Ingredients Database and is also GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) listed. Lactose and its complex are also predominately recommended as filler/diluent in solid dosage forms by European Pharmacopoeia.Increasing approval from government bodies to use pharmaceutical grade lactose as an excipient, drug formulation coupled with nanotechnology, efficient compatibility with active ingredients and other excipients, and increasing demand for dry powder inhalers (DPI) products will propel the growth of the market. However, lactose-induced health complications, stringent government regulations, and lack of compatibility of pharmaceutical grade lactose with amine based drugs may hinder the growth of market to an extent.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 296 market data tables and figures spread over 251 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Pharmaceutical grade lactose market research reportGlobal forecast till 2023.Key Players for Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market:Some of key the players in the market are BASF SE, Merck KGaA, Kerry Inc. DFE Pharma, Meggle, Armor Pharma, ALPAVIT and others.The pharmaceutical grade lactose market consists of four regions namely the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.Europe accounts for the largest market in the world. Europe consist of two regions namely Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe holds the major share of the market, which is majorly contributed by Germany, the U.K., and France. The increasing government support for development of the pharmaceutical domain drives the European market.Asia Pacific region is projected to be the second largest, and fastest growing region owing to the improving health infrastructure, and developing pharmaceutical industry. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), in 2016 the generics market of India stood at USD 26.1 billion. Asia Pacific consists of regions namely Japan, China, India, Australia, Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia Pacific.Pharmaceutical grade lactose market growth in the Americas is majorly attributed to the approval for the usage of lactose as excipient by FDA. However, high occurrence of lactose induced problems has strongly affected the growth of the market.The Middle East and Africa holds the least share of the global market owing to the presence of poor and slow developing countries, especially, in African region.GET FULL REPORT @Regional Analysis:On the basis of regions, the pharmaceutical grade lactose market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, America, and the Middle East & Africa.Europe has accounted for the major share of the market. Increasing demand for dry powder inhaler (DPI) products, and rising approval from government bodies are the key drivers for the growth of the market in Europe. Moreover, increasing healthcare expenditure, and rising R&D activities, also supporting the market growth.Asia Pacific accounts for the second largest and fastest growing pharmaceutical grade lactose market owing to the improving health infrastructure, and developing pharmaceutical industry. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), in 2016 the generics market of India stood at USD 26.1 billion. Asia Pacific consists of regions namely Japan, China, India, Australia, Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia Pacific.Pharmaceutical grade lactose market growth in the Americas is majorly attributed to the approval for the usage of lactose as excipient by FDA. However, high occurrence of lactose induced problems has strongly affected the growth of the market.The Middle East and Africa holds the least share in the market owing to the presence of poor and slow developing countries, especially, in African region.Market Segmentation:The pharmaceutical grade lactose market is segmented on the basis of type, and application. On the basis of type, the market is segmented into crystalline monohydrate lactose, inhalation lactose, granulated lactose, spray dried lactose, and others. Crystalline monohydrate lactose is further segmented into -Lactose monohydrate, and -Lactose (anhydrous lactose). Sub-segmentation of -Lactose monohydrate includes milled, and sieved. Inhalation lactose is further segmented into sieved, and milled. On the basis of application, the market is classified into tablets manufacturing, capsule manufacturing, and others. Tablets manufacturing is further classified into direct compression,wet granulation, and dry granulation. Capsule manufacturing is further classified into capsules, sachets, and others.Major Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market IntroductionChapter 3. Research MethodologyChapter 4. Market DynamicsChapter 5. Market Factor AnalysisChapter 6. Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market, By TypeChapter 7. Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market, By ApplicationChapter 8. Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market, By RegionChapter 9. Company LandscapeChapter 10. Company ProfilesChapter 11. MRFR ConclusionChapter 12. AppendixCONTINUEDGET DISCOUNT @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: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Global Financial Analytics Market Trending with Bankable Improvement Predict with CAGR of 13% by 2022 https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=155721 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=155721 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=155721 www.researchnreports.com Global Financial Analytics Market Professional Survey Report 2017-2022 Purchase This Report by calling ResearchnReports.com at +1-888-631-6977.Financial analytics is the creation of ad hoc analysis to answer specific business questions and forecast possible future financial scenarios. Financial analysis software can speed up the creation of reports and present the data in an executive dashboard, a graphical presentation that is easier to read and interpret than a series of spreadsheets with pivot tables.The report is titled Global Financial Analytics Market Research Report 2017 and accelerates a boundless and centered investigate into Financial Analytics market. The market size is determined through comprehensive study and examination through subordinate research. The report has been hoarded using primary and secondary research methodologies. Both these methods are intended towards collaborating accurate and exact data relating the market dynamics, historical events, and the current market scenario.The research report tries to understand the inventive approaches taken by vendors in the global Financial Analytics market to offer product differentiation through Porters five forces analysis. By various standards, the report segments the market and studies them individually, providing information such as the most prominent segment, sluggishly growing segment and sub segment of Financial Analytics market. The income and growth projections for each of these segments are also given.Download PDF Sample Copy:Company Profiled: The Key Players operating in the Financial Analytics market includes Deloitte, Fico, Hitachi Consulting, IBM, Information Builders, Microsoft, Microstrategy, Oracle, Rosslyn Analytics, SAP, SAS, Symphony Teleca, Tableau Software, Teradata Corp, Tibco.This report emphases on the global Financial Analytics market and answers many of the critical questions, which an involved or potential shareholder of Financial Analytics market may have. There is and has been a greedy demand for the market in a lot of global activities, so several market players have dedicated their time and motivation to go to the source of the pattern and see what the preference of this substantial market performance is.The report contours the foremost market players which are leading in Financial Analytics market. Similarly, it provides significant information about prominent companies, such as, business overview, financial overview, recent developments, product specification, and contact information. The challenges faced by the companies, the dynamics helping them to reach the highest level in the market, and the tactics implemented by each of the market players to market their products have been given.To Get Reasonable Discount:The research report includes an in-depth assessment of competitive landscape of the global Financial Analytics market. It studies the business and marketing approaches of the overall market and presents an understanding of their trajectory for the forthcoming years. Furthermore, the research report also includes an analysis of the recent developments and future plans of the companies in order to understand the course of the players in the near future.Table of ContentsGlobal Financial Analytics Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Financial Analytics Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Market ForecastFor More Information:About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact:Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com, Global Biologics Outsourcing Market Outlook & Deep Study of Top Consumers, Key Players, Market Strategies Forecast to 2022 https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=186171 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=186171 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=186171 www.researchnreports.com Global Biologics Outsourcing Market Professional Survey Report 2017-2022 Purchase This Report by calling ResearchnReports.com at +1-888-631-6977.Biologics are therapeutic entities composed of sugars, proteins, or nucleic acids made from natural sources such as human, animal or microorganisms. Biologics can also include live attenuated microorganisms (vaccines), allergenic extracts (allergy shots), human cells and tissues (transplantation), cell therapies and gene therapies.The report is titled Global Biologics Outsourcing Market Research Report 2017 and accelerates a boundless and centered investigate into Biologics Outsourcing market. The market size is determined through comprehensive study and examination through subordinate research. The report has been hoarded using primary and secondary research methodologies. Both these methods are intended towards collaborating accurate and exact data relating the market dynamics, historical events, and the current market scenario.The research report tries to understand the inventive approaches taken by vendors in the global Biologics Outsourcing market to offer product differentiation through Porters five forces analysis. By various standards, the report segments the market and studies them individually, providing information such as the most prominent segment, sluggishly growing segment and sub segment of Biologics Outsourcing market. The income and growth projections for each of these segments are also given.Download PDF Sample Copy:Company Profiled: The Key Players operating in the Biologics Outsourcing market includes Abzena Plc, Adimab Llc., Albany Molecular Research Inc, Beijing Vital Star Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim, Catalent Inc., Charles River Laboratories, Crown Biosciences, Genoway, Genscript Biotech Corporation, Gl Biochem, Horizon Discovery Group, Plc, Jackson Laboratory, Innovent Biologics, Jhl Biotech Inc., Joinn Laboratories Co. Ltd, Lonza Group, Merck Kgaa, Patheon N.V., Pharmalegacy Biotechnology, Pharmaron, Prosci Inc., Proteogenix, Psychogenics Inc, Selexis Sa, Shanghai Medicilon, Shangpharma Corporation /Shanghai Chempartner, Sino Biological, Sundia Meditech Co., Ltd., Syngene International, Taconic Biosciences, Viva Biotech Ltd., Wuxi Apptec.This report emphases on the global Biologics Outsourcing market and answers many of the critical questions, which an involved or potential shareholder of Biologics Outsourcing market may have. There is and has been a greedy demand for the market in a lot of global activities, so several market players have dedicated their time and motivation to go to the source of the pattern and see what the preference of this substantial market performance is.The report contours the foremost market players which are leading in Biologics Outsourcing market. Similarly, it provides significant information about prominent companies, such as, business overview, financial overview, recent developments, product specification, and contact information. The challenges faced by the companies, the dynamics helping them to reach the highest level in the market, and the tactics implemented by each of the market players to market their products have been given.To Get Reasonable Discount:The research report includes an in-depth assessment of competitive landscape of the global Biologics Outsourcing market. It studies the business and marketing approaches of the overall market and presents an understanding of their trajectory for the forthcoming years. Furthermore, the research report also includes an analysis of the recent developments and future plans of the companies in order to understand the course of the players in the near future.Table of ContentsGlobal Biologics Outsourcing Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Biologics Outsourcing Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Market ForecastFor More Information:About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact:Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com, Christopher Gadsden (pictured here) was denied the oath of office by Governor Boone in 1762. He would later serve in the Stamp Act Congress, the First Continental Congress, and, eventually, as a brigadier general in the Continental Army. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close So youre a comedian. You write jokes for a living, or some fraction of a living, or, anyway, you write jokes. Some people make bread; some make the tiny mechanical parts of a refrigerator; every so often, someone makes a building disappear in a one-night-only television spectacular. As for you, you do bits. Which is great! Theres nothing like a good bit, except maybe a good loaf of bread. Here at Paste Comedy we love bits, care about bits, want the best in the world for bits. Thats why were asking you today: Has a more powerful comedian than you used your bit? Did they use it without permission, attribution and/or any form of compensation? On stage, on Twitter, on television, wherever bits may be? We want to know. Joke theft is hardly a new issue, nor one that comedians take lightly. Many of the best-known allegations of joke theft, though, involve famous comedians pilfering from other famous comedians: Milton Berle from Bob Hope. Carlos Mencia from George Lopez. Dane Cook from Louis C.K.. Denis Leary from Bill Hicks. Amy Schumer from Patrice ONeal. What were interested in are cases of joke misappropriation by established comedians from those who are still coming up. Which isnt a new phenomenon either, of course. Robin Williams, for one, had a nasty reputation for lifting bits in his younger years. When Jay Mohr was on Saturday Night Live in the 90s, he saw Rick Shapiro tell a joke at a club and later turned it into a sketch; NBC later settled with Shapiro for an undisclosed amount. In 2010, South Park copped linesinadvertently, they saidfrom a CollegeHumor video. In 2014, a group of Groundlings performers accused SNL of stealing a sketch from the theatre, with one teacher claiming SNL had been lifting their material for years. Then, last week, Keegan-Michael Key went on The View and used a bit written by Anne Victoria Clark in a viral Medium post. Called out on Twitter, Key later said he had cited the post in a pre-interview, but forgot to mention it on air. He gave a nice apology, but the whole event is pretty disturbing. Key is a brilliant, successful comedian, responsible for one of the greatest sketch shows of all time. Why does he need to use someone elses material? Why not write his own? And if hed do it on The View, has he done it before? Would he do it again? Not all bits go viral. Most bits live and die in comedy clubs and bar backrooms, sketch revues and improv shows. Few victims of joke theft have tangible evidence to point to, let alone evidence as compelling as a bit about The Rock that was recognized by The Rock himself. And even the most obvious cases rarely result in any sort of accountability for the perpetrator, which makes it difficult to discuss what, exactly, that accountability might be. Should Key pay Clark? Probably. How much? I cant say. At the very least, he shouldnt have done it, but he did, and unless he makes some transparent accountingexplains how and why he did this, how hell make up for it and how hell avoid doing it againthen everything he writes in the future will be stained by the fact that he used a younger, less successful comedians joke on The View. And thats what we want to hear about: the misappropriation of jokes by comedians with significantly more power than the jokes originators. Whether youre a stand-up comic, an improviser, a sketch writer, a cartoonist, a humorist, an intern, whatever you may be: tell us your stories. You can reach me via email at sethsimons@pastemagazine.com and my editor at garrett@pastemagazine.com, and my DMs are open. UPDATE: Weve added the Twitter exchange between Key and Clark below. That means a lot, I'm a big fan! Though I'm still confused as to why this happened. I would happily grant permission with credit or even write you new bits. I'm a freelance writer so my livelihood depends on this. I'm sure you can understand that. Anne Victoria Clark???? (@annevclark) December 11, 2017 Thank you Anne! I had specifically mentioned your article during the pre-interview & and like an idiot I missed it when we went live. https://t.co/6ZQLrbVBvk Keegan-Michael Key (@KeeganMKey) December 11, 2017 Note: This was edited on 12/13/2017 to add Key and Clarks Twitter exchange. The sentence about Keys pre-interview was also lightly edited. Seth Simons is Pastes assistant comedy editor. Follow him on Twitter. Bystanders rescue man from truck driven into Charlevoix's Round Lake Several bystanders helped save the life of the driver who ended up in Round Lake in a Nov. 11 incident. In his December 5 article for RT, a Russian government-funded broadcaster, Bryan MacDonald, an Irish journalist reportedly based in Russia, claimed that the leading U.S. newspapers refused to cover and turned a blind eye to the attempted arrest of Georgias exiled ex-President and former Governor of the Black Sea coast city of Odessa Mikhail Saakashvili and related anti-government protests last week in Kyiv, Ukraine. MacDonald writes: However, the refusal of most prominent western media outlets to cover the breaking story from Kiev spells danger for Mischa. As I write, on Tuesday afternoon, the dramatic events [attempted arrest of Saakashvili and protests] are completely absent from the front pages of Americas CNN, New York Times, and Washington Post. The author then argues that the alleged stance of the papers contrasts with the way the outlets cover far less dramatic protests by Russias small liberal opposition. When Aleksey Navalny [anti-corruption politician critical of the Kremlin] stages, relatively poorly attended, rallies in Moscow, the breathless reportage gives consumers of western media the impression that the activist is far more significant than he really is in Russia. Yet, as Mikhail Saakashvili leads thousands of angry demonstrators around the streets of Kiev, the same outlets turn a blind eye, he says. He concludes that the papers toe the line of the U.S. government, which despises Russian President Vladimir Putins administration but supports that of Ukraines Petro Poroshenko. Contrary to MacDonalds claims, neither the New York Times, the Washington Post, nor a multitude of other western outlets other than the CNN have ignored the events in Kyiv. The NYT and the WP indeed did not cover them on the front pages. But they did report on them in regional sections and have done so consistently before, on, and after December 5. Andrew Higgins with The NYT wrote on the events on December 5 and December 8. So did David L. Stern and Rick Noack of The WP, who covered the issues on December 5. Moreover, both The NYT and The WP have run numerous stories on the ongoing events by wire services, such as the Associated Press, most recently on December 10 and 11. President Poroshenko had appointed Saakashvili as Governor of Odessa in 2015, but Saakashvili resigned a year later alleging extensive corruption within the government. Ukrainian authorities stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian passport while he was out of the country last summer. After some absence, Saakashvili returned to Ukraine crossing the border with Poland and has since led anti-government protests in Kyiv. On December 5, Ukrainian authorities attempted to arrest Saakashvili as part of an investigation into his alleged collaboration with criminal groups and, as the Associated Press reports, with Ukrainian businessmen who allegedly are tied to the Russian government in an alleged plot to topple Poroshenko. However, Saakashvilis supporters prevented the arrest, which eventually occurred on December 8. Saaskashvili denies claims he is collaborating with pro-Russian elements, given Saakashvilis role as president in the events leading to the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008. On December 11, next day after thousands rallied in Kyiv in Saakashvilis support and demanding the impeachment of President Poroshenko, a judge released Saakashvili, despite the general prosecutors call for his house arrest, in a move seen as a victory for the opposition-turned figure. RT does not have a detailed biography of MacDonald other than that he is an Irish journalist in Russia. Polygraph.info has previously done a fact-check on a story MacDonald penned for RT regarding Russias military threat to the West, and similarly debunked that claim. Not much information is available about him online, either. However, Polygraph.info did locate an article, more an expose, by the Interpreter claiming that MacDonald has been working for many months to influence more respectable Western outlets coverage of the crisis in Ukraine. MacDonald, it says, has resorted to means both subtle and not-so-subtle. The article goes on to note that MacDonald focuses on engaging with journalists who shape the way the conflict in Ukraine is being reported, presenting this graphic of associations: Polygraph.info has not investigated the claims contained in the Interpreters report. On December 2, RTs Russian-language Web site published a report on statements made by the U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Huntsman during his interview with the Russian St. Petersburg TV channel. Many sanctions were imposed not only by the United States, but also by Europe because of the situation with Ukraine, Huntsman said in response to a question about U.S. sanctions against Russia. If we can resolve the issue with Ukraine, namely: come to an agreement that will suit both sides, we will get a positive result, Huntsman said. In response to Huntsmans comments, the RT report cited several Russian sources who claimed that resolving the war in Ukraine was not Russias responsibility, as it is not a party to the conflict. Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman for International Affairs of the Council of Federation said: Actually, there is a civil war in Ukraine between the DNR [Donetsk Peoples Republic], the LNR [Luhansk Peoples Republic], and the rest of Ukraine. It is completely unclear why Russia should bear any responsibility for this. In the same RT report the head of the Center for Russian-American Relations at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pavel Podlesny, said that Russia was not a participant in the conflict in the Donbas, but that it was only a guarantor of the Minsk agreements. The statements of Dzhabarov and Podlesny both echo the official position of the Russian government, which has consistently insisted it is not a party to the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine and that it is a civil war between the government in Kyiv and the self-proclaimed republics in the east of the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly denied military involvement in Ukraine. In spite of Kremlin denials, however, the evidence of Moscows involvement in the Donbas war is overwhelming and has been confirmed by numerous open-source investigations, journalistic investigations from international and Russian media outlets, and at times even Russian officials have let details of their military involvement slip. The key military and political leaders in the self-proclaimed separatist republics were Russian citizens, including the first Donetsk Peoples Republic leader Alexander Borodai, Donetsk Peoples Republic Minister of Defense Igor Strelkov Girkin, Sparta Battalion leader Arseny Motorola Pavlov, Rusych Militia leader and neo-Nazi Alexei Milchakov. Both foreign and Russian media have documented the presence of Russian volunteers fighting for the self-proclaimed republics. Vice News has conducted series of investigations into Russian involvement in Ukraine. The international intelligence investigation organization Inform Napalm has compiled numerous investigations of Russian military activity in the Donbas region, based largely on open source intelligence (OSINT). Bellingcat, another OSINT investigation group, has also published evidence of the Russian military presence in Ukraine. Such evidence often comes from the social media posts of Russian soldiers themselves. Another telltale sign of Russian involvement is the presence of military technology neither produced by, nor purchased by the Ukrainian armed forces, such as the T-90A main battle tanks. To date, the Russian side has failed to come up with a convincing explanation as to where the so-called separatists obtained such a quantity of advanced military technology and the ammunition, fuel, and spare parts to operate them. Russian claims that the weapons were captured from Ukrainian army supply depots have been debunked as well. Lastly, Russian leaders and other officials have at times let the facts about their military involvement in Ukraine slip out in public. Even President Vladimir Putin has on several occasions made reference to his military intervention in the country. We never said there were not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military sphere, Putin said at his annual press conference in December of 2015. Speaking at a Moscow business forum in 2016, Putin said that Russia had been forced to defend the Russian speakers of the Donbas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while not admitting the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine, said in an interview with Bloomberg in September, 2014 that there were many Russians fighting in the Donbas. The separatist military leader and a Russian Army veteran, Igor Strelkov Girkin, also claimed responsibility for starting the war in Donbas. Based on the evidence available, the International Criminal Court in November of 2016 determined that the war in Ukraine was a Russian invasion and not, as Russia claimed, a civil war. In response, Russia withdrew from the ICC. All of this sufficiently proves beyond reasonable doubt that Russia is militarily involved in Ukraine, and, contrary to the claims of RTs sources, a party to the armed conflict in the Donbas. "Your creativity is somehow a natural gift, where a man's creativity is hard work and skills...." Women are killing it in the music industry, and the world of song lovers couldn't be happier! In our new column, #WomenCrushWednesday, we'll feature an awesome lady whose tunes are blowing up our playlists and ask them about their musical journey. In this week's feature, we spoke with Alsarah of the group New Alsarah & the Nubatones, a talented musician originally from the Sudan who is broadening the music scene in the United States with her East-African Retro-Pop sound. Most recently, the group released an album of remixes from their release last year, and to accompany it are debuting a video exclusively on Popdust with behind-the-scenes tour footage and more. Few other artists embrace the melting pot image of the United States in their work like Alsarah has. Read below to see how music has inspired her and more about the Nubatones upcoming projects. How did you become interested in music? My love for music began with my earliest memories. I used to steal my parents cassette tapes when I was a kid and listen to them. My favorite amongst them was this little underground tape of a leftist collective of artists in Sudan that was being passed around during the 1986 elections. I memorized the entire tape, front to back. It was and still is one of my favorite and earliest musical memories...obsessing over all the songs. I even revamped one of them (titled "Vote") a few years ago in a remix with the hiphop artist Oddisee for the last referendum elections in Sudan. Then I got a keyboard for my birthday when I was 8. Then I moved to the USA when I was 11 or 12 and joined my first choir. Once I started singing I knew right away that this was gonna be love forever. You were born in Sudan, but had to flee the country with your parents and have lived in many places all over the world. Can you talk a little bit about that experience and how it has, if at all, influenced your music? I think moving from an early age around different countries and being questioned constantly about who I am, where I come from, etc. creates a certain kind of self awareness. Almost a consciousness of yourself as 'not the norm' which then leads to questioning what the norm is and should be. A bird eye's view of the self in a way that allows you to examine yourself constantly (could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you channel it). Which then creates a deep hunger to connect that you somehow also know will never be satiated so you try to find other ways to normalize. For me, music was the answer. A way to recreate my home in a way that fits my always growing self. A way to communicate and connect beyond words. Because words at the end of the day are a small part of of the big communication picture. Being a cross-cultural artist in America, how do you think your music is perceived? Have there been any challenges? I consider my music to be diasporic music. And the USA is the land of the diasporas despite the way some folks act (if you are not a person of the first nation, you are an immigrant...basic facts). If I had never left Sudan, my art wouldn't sound like this. But I did leave. And now I'm a Brooklynite just as much as a I am a Sudanese person. So to me, my music is equally at home here as it is in Sudan. However the music industry in the USA hasn't caught on to the fact that people and their music can be two or more things at the same time. That people are multi-deminsional beings that can't be flattened into a one dimensional frame. So having to explain the concept of being a person who can see on both sides of the bridge is probably one of the biggest challenges I have making music in the USA. Can you also speak to what your experience has been in the music industry as a woman? Respect is STILL a big issue in this industry if you are a woman. It's 2017 and slut shaming is still somehow a thing. Demanding what you are rightfully owed makes you a 'bitch' or a 'diva.' Your creativity is somehow a natural gift, where a man's creativity is hard work and skills....I can keep going forever, but let's just say I started my own band because I got tired of being a woman in the music industry. You formed your band, the Nubatones. How has your work together evolved over that time? I actually formed this band with Rami El Aasser, the percussionist whom I had known since 2006 working in various projects around NYC. I brought my sister into the band 3 years ago. The band has had a very natural evolution. We started out just basing our work in covers only, then I began bringing in my songs to the band, and we would arrange together until we got to the place where we would jam and take creative sabbaticals to write together. We have had ups and downs and many years to just get to the place of releasing our first album...we even had bandmates and team members die...So I think we are a family at this point. You're exclusively premiering a video on Popdust recapping your tour and featuring the iZem remix of the song "Alforag." What do you love about the song, and why did you use it in the video? Well this song to me is about the final phase of missing someone. It's when you miss the fading memory of missing someone. When the missing becomes normal...like a left over scar that no longer makes you flinch but is still there. What I love so much about iZem's take on it, is how he found the joy in it, the dance in it, the possibility of meeting again. He breathed new life into the song. He made me fall in love with the song all over again. And when I tour, the audience helps bring a new dimension to all the songs all over again. So it seemed appropriate. Plus, it's a such a fun remix and one of my favorites on the album!!! This fall you also released the remix album for Manara. What was the process for producing that album like? This is the second remix album that I make with Wonderwheel recordings, and it very much feels like I'm making it with them. They are heavily involved in the process of curating the producers and contacting them etc. I love that because it's so different than working on my albums. I produced both Silt and Manara, and I didn't really allow anyone besides the band and the sound engineer to be involved in any way in the making of it or even hearing it until it was basically done. But with the remixes, it's so far removed from me. It's really about each producer's take on the song...turning it inside out and injecting it with a new personality. They stop being my babies and become their own creatures. I really love watching it. It makes me fall in love with them again. Have the remixes for any of the songs changed your opinions on them? What are some of your favorites? Oh totally! Each remix creates a new thing. personal favs: 3roos El Neel (El Buho); Fulani (pablo fierro); Nar (Nickodemus and Kiko Navarro); Salam Nubia (Khalab); and of course Alforag (iZem). What's up next for you and the Nubatones heading into 2018? We will be touring the first half of 2018 so keep your eyes peeled for us in a town near you! We also hope to take another creative sabbatical like the one we took last year and start planting the seeds for our next album. Follow New Alsarah & the Nubatones on Facebook. Rachel A.G. Gilman is a writer, a radio producer, and probably the girl wearing the Kinks shirt. Visit her website for more. Have a female or femme-identifying artist we should profile? Send a pitch email to Rachel. POP DUST | Read More About Music... #WomenCrushWednesday | The Maggie Szabo Interview #WomenCrushWednesday | Yasmine Hamdan Interview #WomenCrushWednesday | Maisy Kay Interview and her new EP "Disguises" I recently spoke to a class full of students about Platos Allegory of the Cave. Actually, I mentioned Platos Allegory of the Cave by prefacing that I understood the likelihood that no one had read it. Fortunately, two students had, which brought mild temporary relief. In an effort to close the gap of understanding (perhaps more a canyon or uncanny valley) I made the popular quick comparison between Platos often cited work and the Wachowski siblings cinema spectacle, The Matrix. What I didnt anticipate in that moment was complete and utter dissociation observable in collective wide-eyed stares. Example by comparison lost. Not a single student in a class of undergraduates had partaken of The Matrix in all its Dystopic future shock and CGI kung fu technobabble philosophy. My muted response in that moment: Whoa! Its significant to consider how fast popular works of art can vanish from public consciousness. On a personal level, each time I encounter an archival classic from film history for the very first time, an emotional veil liftsthe sense of ascension out of yet another Platonic cavern. Sensual cinematic experience often recurs with new introductions to aged film genres, particularly film noir and French New Wave cinema. Thus, when it came time to screen Criterions Bluray digital restoration of director Jean-Pierre Melvilles masterpiece Le Samourai (The Criterion Collection, 2017/Janus Films, 1967), an unexpected thrill slowly overcame me, the result of Melvilles skilled blurring between these two revered eras of genre filmmaking. Everywhere and Nowhere The opening shot rests onto a plain dressed and beautifully eroding Parisian flat. A young male (Alain Delon) lay across an uncovered bed smoking. (How very French New Wave of him.) His stoicism and deep contemplation contrast against the gothic minimalist space. The man later referred to as Jef suggests an empty vessel in a relatively empty room. The rise of the smoke signals his escaping soul. Is he concentrating, meditating, waiting, or perhaps just wasting away? Two vertical windows allow light to penetrate the darkened room, creating a haunted glaze over the levitating smoke. The impression left implies a window to the soul, or at least the body where a soul should rest. Jef finally sits up. A small canary flutters about a Venetian cage and, signifying caged emotion, the gentleman reaches for his trench coat and fedora. Out on the afternoon streets, the rain pours. All the trappings of noir unfold gently in the silent opening moments. The Keymaster, or, an Occular Samurai The gentleman Jef lays a necklace of keys down across the driver side seat of a small motorcar. One by one, he pulls a key off the ring without looking, and attempts to match it to the vehicular ignition. Once successful, he reaches for a cigarette and light, the only turn of his head comes as a soft female glance catches his eye while in transit. Melvilles incorporation of silence early on allows deep and ambiguous moods to fall over the crime caper narrative. The films early lingering silence juxtaposes noir emphasis on stark visuals against more talkative French New Wave contemporaries like Breathless (Jean Renoir, 1960) and Jules and Jim (Francois Traufaut, 1962). Parking at an undisclosed site, a garage man sporting an ugly Christmas sweater (anachronous, I know) changes the license plates. They exchange notes, and the noir samurai demands a handgun to complement the new plates. The solemn contract killer next buzzes a young sleeping woman. She stirs, moves to the telecomm and replies, Jef? thus initiating dialogic narrative at the start of the films second act. The deliberate opening underscores Melvilles minimalist approach to stripped-down storytelling and the provocative power of silence, physical action, and eye lines. Labyrinthine World-building in European Cityscape Mise en scene Jef also stops in on an in-progress hotel room poker game but soon leaves for Marteys club next to the Luminaries lamp and appliance store. Marteys interiority suggests a throwback to the immediate postwar art deco designs that captured, and perhaps hid, the mood of Western nations still reeling from collective trauma while at the same time stumbling a bit over 60s fashion-forward bubble chairs and milky glass. However celebratory, the distraction of this artificial world will soon collapse for Marteys denizens once Jef performs a cold-blooded hit job on an older man in the back office. Soon officers raid the nearby poker game, asking for papers and a timetable among the elite participants. The all white male crowd seems un-phased by their intrusionalmost anticipatory of it. The police arrange a public suspect line-up in front of a crowd of familiars. This second act features a drawn out police line-up where Jef, among the participating suspects, receives mixed reception from the onlookers that he passed during his Marteys hit job. Extended stares from the peanut gallery remain as fixated and ambiguous as Jefs own gaze into oblivion. The line up room is distracting as one of the more dated sets in the film, as comparable to the timeless qualities of the many European exteriors. Police Presence as Precursor to Postmodern Surveillance Culture There are comical qualities resonant among early scenes featuring a police inspector credited as Le Commissaire (Francois Perier). Le Commissaires interrogation extends into a series of shots that show the audience everything about this inspector without telling them anything. He does a bit of old fashioned redressing of suspects with their wardrobes. The blocking of this scene speaks to the repetitious replaceability of noir fixtures and the trench-coated, fedora sporting lone gunman figures in particular. The redressing between characters and pacing between rooms suggests a post-industrial cognition where physical labor predates forensic science. The scene also communicates a stand-in for the perfectionist director, Le Commissaire suggesting Melvilles own work as meticulous production designer. The inspector must locate a logic between wits and evidence that will satisfy his natural curiosity. Since time is of the essence, Le Commissaire moves mechanically, methodically, like clockwork. Once such curiosity winds up, it proves difficult to control. Eventual inconclusive eye witness accounts require Le Commissaire to release Jef. This shifts the film back to an exterior inner city cat-and-mouse between a surveillance team unconvinced of Jefs alibi. Jef uses the machinations of modernity to escape his would-be pursuers. In a setting naive to quantum physics, ironic intercombinations of weathered transit and old world architecture give the film transitional moments of haunting beauty. Le Samourai, like its messages and messengers, revels in transition. As punishment for getting caught, Jef must then elude assassination from his contractor. This sends the quiet samurai back home woundedhis canary increasingly agitated as it flaps about its own gothic structure. Like the canary, Jef is now imprisoned in a cage of his own making. While he currently resides outside the bars, increasing restrictions nevertheless loom large. Longing but not Belonging As a creature of repetition, Jef tends to his wounds then returns inexplicably to Marteys lounge. Not only does he drop blood samples outside his apartment for police to collect, but he also encounters numerous previous eyewitnesses, deepening his self-incriminating existence. Implications suggest Jefs razor sharp attentiveness runs contra against a lack of intuitive introspection. His gaze upon the world is far-sided, and such vision makes Jef blind to self-entrapment. The hit man is drawn to the single eyewitness (Cathy Rosier) who spoke Jefs freedom into being by denying her recognition of him to police. She works as the nightclub piano player, and when their eyes meet they are incapable of speaking the reality each feels. He owes her a life debt, and the curiosity toward her actions drives his internal motive to spend time with her. What kind of man are you? she remarks. La police raid Jefs other female alibi, a would-be lady of the night Jane Lagrange (Nathalie Delon). The inspectors desperation to close his case speaks to an alternative darkness in his desire to manipulate and dominate the populace in the name of State justice. Le Commissaires overzealous drive clouds his morality and thus extends audience sympathy back toward the stoic noir samurai Jef. Consider Le Commissaires poetic yet utterly coersive monologue aimed at Jane: In the police, promotion means a lot Using strongarm tactics doesnt interest me. Im very tolerant Im all for individual freedom Live and let live. Provided the way one lives doesnt cause harm to others, doesnt disturb the peace And can in no way be considered an offense against public decency. Observing Janes youth and beauty, Le Commissaire remarks, I have a daughter your age. I would feel really bad [to take away your best years]. Indeed, Nathalie is a sight for sore eyes cut from the Parisian paramour moldunfortunately (or perhaps intentionally) relegated to laying about a lavish apartment funded by another sugar daddy gentleman caller. When Jef ultimately returns once more, he rejects her loving gaze out of his own shortsighted need to complete his monetary (and existential) final contract. Le Commissaire tips his hand and severs polite social ethics. The truth is not what you say, its what I want; another strong-armed male authority, oppressive if only to maintain liminal morality in the status quo. (IMDB) Manual Surveillance As a reaction to Western politics and popular culture, Jef is the anti-James Bond. He is a man without a land or people. He exists only in existential crisis. Booze, dames, and killing for queen and country wont provide him with the requisite catharsis. The blonde-haired man who grazed Jefs arm with a bullet atop a beautifully framed transit platform catches him at home at gunpoint. This occurs seconds after Jefs canary alerts him to a police bug planted in his apartmentever the crafty animal. Growing desperate, Le Commissaire sends out innumerable police surveillance on foot and by mass transit. The number of bodies patrolling Jeff feels comparable to the contemporary millions and billions spent on contemporary government surveillance intended to thwart alleged terrors to Western civilization. Melville ratchets up tension through combining previously established elements of scene, setting, eye lines, and silent action. The success of the films climax can be read within the film but also spread across generations of subsequent filmmakers including Michael Mann, Paul Greengrass, and David Fincher. Through eye contact and tell signs, every denizen becomes a canary to Jefs samurai instincts. He struggles to evade police presence, his resistance a sign of superhuman stamina. A French fable to say the least in the early decades following German occupation. Embracing the films meditation on repetition, Jef follows the same patternistic visits that initiate the film, albeit in mirroring order to earlier scenes. He emits what scholars Lawrence and Jewett describe as the American Monomyth (The Myth of the American Hero, 2002), a dark hero journey that denounces sexual proclivities in favor of righteous vengeance. Jef shoots with deadly accuracy and he never forgets a face. Eyesight, visualized through multiple conceptualizations of the gaze, frame Jefs signature attributes. But as the films climax reveals, the gaze works two ways and Jefs greatest asset becomes a function of his ultimate demise. Its a beautiful reflection on power, isolation, and the limits of State government, as well as expressions of freedom in the West. On a less symbolic level, Le Samourai works simply as great filmmaking and a valuable contemporary update on the myth of Icarus. Under the lens of cultural and historical context, as well as understanding the reflective nature of popular culture, its hard not to dwell upon the film and read it as a cautionary tale about the limitations of isolationism. As a cultural artifact, Le Samourai continues to impact subsequent films and filmmakers (like the Wachowskis) with its visual presence, skillful direction, and philosophical angst. Not dissimilar to how all audiences enter popular culture in media res, theres no question contemporaries will recognize and appreciate the works of a John Woo or the Jason Borne series or even The Matrix movies without fully grasping (or ever viewing) their primary influences. Like shadows dancing on the wall, pop culture is steeped in allusion as much as it functions as aesthetic illusion. Perhaps this is partly why in the original Matrix Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) laments, Why oh why didnt I take the blue pill? Sometimes emerging from within the cave requires crawling backward in an effort to appreciate the majesty of the caves construction. Criterion Supplemental Materials As always, Criterion archives the best of the best in rich and informative supplemental materials. Interviews include author and film critics Rui Nogueira (Melville on Melville, 1971) and Ginette Vincendeau (Nean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris, 2003). The former does not mince words, proclaiming Melville the father of new wave. Nogueira informs audiences how Melvilles work changed the face of cinema because of low budget devotion to location shooting. There are exceptional recollections, stories about real-life financial and studio tensions that contextualize the pulpiness found in his films. The Vincendeau segments add to Melvilles origins and film lore. The scholar notes how Melville specializes in genre mixing at a time when studios would have fought for more standardized control. Vincendeau calls Melville a cinephile that educated himself by watching movies words that resonate similarly with classic and contemporary directors and explain aspects of Melvilles ocular fascination. Additional content includes a decades old interview special with the cast and director. Archival interviews from French television that aired between 1967 and 1982. Segments feature insights and impressions from the director as well as castmates Alain Delon, Nathanlie Delon, Cathy Rosier, and Francois Perier. Criterion also incorporates the 2011 documentary Melville-Delon: Dhonneur et de nuit, an ode to Melville and Delons collaborative process. Olivier Bohler directs the short DHonneur et de nuit which highlights the interpersonal relationships that strengthened collaboration between director and actor. Finally, material collectors will savor the booklet insert, which combines shorts essays and excerpts from David Thompson (Death in White Gloves), John Woo (The Melville Style), and the aforementioned Ngueira (Melville on Melville). You are the owner of this article. Do you know a retail business that is opening, closing or expanding? Reach Warren L. Wise at 843-937-5524. Follow him on Twitter @warrenlancewise. Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native who covers arts & entertainment and food & bev for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival & concert photographer and used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper, among other publications. Only about $3 million of Irmo's $9 million in revenue was spent, because the rest of the town's spending was covered by grants and ARPA money. Now town leaders are thinking about what to do with their surplus. Read moreLexington County town plans to continue to build on nearly $7 million budget surplus There was a combination of superlative hysteria and political opportunism behind the warnings about the end of democracy leading up to last weeks elections, but it wasnt inconceivable that wed have flare-ups of violence and intimidation, that people who embrace the fantasy that the 2020 e Read moreEditorial: Election 2022 gave everybody something to celebrate Pelosi announced in a spirited speech on the House floor that she will step aside after leading Democrats for nearly 20 years and in the aftermath of the brutal attack on her husband, Paul, last month in their San Francisco home. Read moreNancy Pelosi won't seek leadership role, plans to stay in Congress PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 13:58:14 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 396 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Argex Titanium Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Montreal, Quebec (FSCWire) - Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX:RGX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Argex Titanium Announces Private PlacementTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Argex Titanium Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Argex Titanium Inc.Source: Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX: RGX, OTC Pink: ARGEF, FWB: ASV, WKN: A1J1GR, ISIN: CA04014T1021)Date: December 13, 2017Time: 7:57 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Argex Titanium Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) The report offers a detailed insight into the upstream raw material analysis and downstream demand analysis along with crucial elements Research Trades PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 11:08:41 Press Information Research Trades Office No.10, Wing C, Rajhans, Baner, Pune-45, India Deepak Chaudhari Digital Maraketing Executive 7507349866 email https://www.researchtrades.com/ # 496 Words Office No.10, Wing C, Rajhans, Baner, Pune-45, IndiaDigital Maraketing Executive7507349866 - YEAR END BONANZA Flat 20% discount on purchase of reports from 1st December to 31st December.* Terms & Conditions apply!!Contact No. : +16269994607 (US), /+91 7507349866 (IND)Email: sales@ researchtrades.com Report Overview:The report offers a detailed insight into the upstream raw material analysis and downstream demand analysis along with crucial elements of Child Safety Seats Market report for furthermore highlights key proposals for new project development along with offering an assessment of investment feasibility analysis. This study is a useful guide to all investors to identify the lucrative market avenues across different segments and geographical regions. The market entry conditions along with emerging avenues will help the new entrants to gauge the pulse of the market. Furthermore, the study tracks industry news in terms of new mergers and acquisition made by prominent companies to expand their product offerings across various countries. The report is a useful guide to market players, all stakeholders, interested market participants and investors to formulate their strategies.Get exclusive sample copy of this report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1207707 Scope of the Report:This report studies Child Safety Seats in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering Graco (US), Britax (UK), Recaro (DE), Takata (JP), Maxi-cosi (NE), Chicco (IT), Combi (JP), Jane (ES), BeSafe (NO), Concord (DE), Aprica (JP), Stokke (NO), Kiddy (DE), Ailebebe (JP), Goodbaby (CN), Babyfirst (CN), Best Baby (CN), Welldon (CN), Belovedbaby (CN), Ganen (CN), ABYY (CN), Leka (CN), Lutule (CN)....On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Rearward-Facing Baby Seat, Combination Seat (Rearward and Forward-Facing), Forward-Facing Child Seat, High-Backed Booster Seat, High-Backed Booster Seat, Booster Cushion....By Application, the market can be split into OEM Market & Automobile After MarketBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want) North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, India.Key Chapters of This Report :1 Industry Overview of Child Safety Seats1.1 Definition and Specifications of Child Safety Seats1.1.1 Definition of Child Safety Seats1.1.2 Specifications of Child Safety Seats1.2 Classification of Child Safety Seats2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Child Safety Seats2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Child Safety Seats2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Child Safety Seats2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Child Safety Seats3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Child Safety Seats3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Child Safety Seats Major Manufacturers in 20163.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Child Safety Seats Major Manufacturers in 20163.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Child Safety Seats Major Manufacturers in 20163.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Child Safety Seats Major Manufacturers in 2016ContinueBrowse this complete report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/report/global-child-safety-seats-market-professional-survey-report-2017/1207707 PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 17:47:14 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 395 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Cranbrook, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:EPL). has issued a press release with the following headline:Eagle Plains Shareholders Approve All Matters at AGMTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.Source: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: EPL, ISIN: CA2699062022, WKN: 588696)Date: December 13, 2017Time: 11:46 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 14:30:14 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 389 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for EQ Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - EQ Inc. (TSX Venture:EQ). has issued a press release with the following headline:EQ Works Extends Multi-Year Relationship with a Leading Canadian UniversityTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on EQ Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/EQ Inc.Source: EQ Inc. (TSX Venture: EQ, WKN: A1W06F, ISIN: CA26884V1076)Date: December 13, 2017Time: 8:30 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of EQ Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) Global Cold Plasma Market was worth USD 1.38 billion in 2016 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.2%, to reach USD 2.92 billion by 2021. "Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports" PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 15:15:07 Press Information Market Data Forecast USA Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager (International Business Development) +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 654 Words USASales Manager (International Business Development)+1-888-702-9626 The Global Cold Plasma Market was worth USD 1.38 billion in 2016 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.2%, to reach USD 2.92 billion by 2021. The cold plasma is a type of plasma in which non-thermal equilibrium does not exist between energies of gas molecules and the electrons. It is because of the low frequency of collisions between them. The gas molecules will be around room temperature whereas electrons are at having high temperature due to high-energy.Cold Plasma technology is applied in several fields such as semiconductors, medical and food and agriculture. It is also used in textile industry to remove surface hairiness of woolen fabrics and to provide shrink resistance in cotton fabrics. In food industry, this technology is used to decontaminate food products without changing the physiochemical properties of them. Furthermore, it is also used in treatment of lung and breast cancer and also to sterilize biomedical surfaces.Full report at: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/cold-plasma-market-3577/ Constant technological advances, highly effective antimicrobial properties of this technology and increasing applications of cold plasma in various food and medical industries are expected to drive the market. The growing need for eco-friendly products and usage of cold plasma technology in life sciences such as treatment of biological tissues are also driving the market growth. Requirement of huge initial investments to buy the equipment and difficulty in predicting structural characteristics of its treatment fragments are inhibiting the market growth.The global cold plasma market is categorized on the basis of industry, applications, regime and region. On the basis of industry, the market is segmented into food and agriculture, medical, textiles, electronic and semiconductors and polymer industries. Electronic and semiconductors industry is expected to hold the largest market share due to the increasing adoption of cold plasma technology in this industry. However, food industry is the fastest growing segment due to the increasing stringent safety standards in packaging and processing of food products. On the basis of applications, the market is categorized into decontamination, adhesion, finishing, sterilization, coating, cleaning and activation, printing and wound healing. Cleaning and application is expected to be the largest segment due to high acceptance in electronics and polymer industries. Decontamination segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to its application in food industry. On the basis of regime, the market is categorized into low pressure regime and atmospheric pressure regime. Both the segments have significant growing rates in their respective usage industries.Based on region, the cold plasma market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Europe holds the largest market share due to high research and development activities and the presence of some of the major suppliers of cold plasma in this region. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market due to the increasing textile manufacturing and demand for frozen foods in this region.Request sample: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/cold-plasma-market-3577/request-sample Some of the major players in this market are Enercon Industries Corporation, Henniker Plasma, ADTEC Plasma Technology Co. Ltd., Europlasma NV, Neoplas Tools GmbH, P2i Limited, Nordson Corporation, Plasmatreat GmbH, Vetaphone A/S and Tantec A/S.About Market Data Forecast:The publisher of this report is Market Data Forecast whose forte lies in Market research and Business Intelligence. Handling both individual and corporate clients across multiple business domains they offer syndicated/customized research to suit the clients research objective. Their research reports section offers a wide variety of market studies ranging from all-encompassing comprehensive market studies to product specific niche markets covering North America among other regions of the global market as well. For more info kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit MarketDataForecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases Pain Management Devices Market was worth USD 3.11 billion in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.6%, to reach USD 4.7 billion by 2021. "Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports" PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 15:16:05 Press Information Market Data Forecast USA Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager (International Business Development) +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 622 Words USASales Manager (International Business Development)+1-888-702-9626 The Pain Management Devices Market was worth USD 3.11 billion in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.6%, to reach USD 4.7 billion by 2021. Pain is caused due to the unpleasant sensory stimulation caused due to damage to the tissues by any means. It is majorly caused by injuries as well as in case of diseases such as arthritis, ulcers, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Acute pain is caused for very short period of time whereas chronic pain is persistent for extended time periods.Several drugs and devices are available in the market to assist in pain management. These devices work by blocking the nerve stimulators by transmitting the unpleasant sensory experience to the brain. Neurostimulation devices, ablation devices and analgesic infusion pumps are some of the pain management devices. Neuro stimulators block pain by supplying certain frequencies of current to prevent the passage of signals.Full report at: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/pain-management-devices-market-3585/ Increase in demand for alternatives for pain management drugs which cause many side effects, large number of patients with chronic diseases especially in geriatric population and technological advancements to develop better pain management devices are expected to drive the market. Increase in cancer patients and increase in neuropathic diseases are also boosting the pain management devices market. However, side effects associated with the use of these devices such as hyper sensitivity and redness of skin and high manufacturing costs are restraining the market.The global pain management devices market is categorized based on device type, application, mode of purchase and region. On the basis of device type, the market is categorized into neurostimulation devices, ablation devices and analgesic infusion pumps. Neurostimulation devices are again categorized into Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation devices and Spinal Cord Stimulation devices. Ablation devices are again categorized into Radiofrequency ablation devices and cryo ablation devices. Analgesic infusion pumps are again categorized into intrathecal infusion pumps and external infusion pumps. Neurostimulation devices hold the largest market share due to their extensive usage in chronic pain management. On the basis of application, the market is categorized into Neuropathic pain, Facial pain and migraine, musculoskeletal pain, cancer pain and other pains. On the basis of mode of purchase, the market is categorized into over the counter purchase and prescription based purchase.On the basis of region, the pain management devices market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. North America dominates the global pain management devices market due to the growing number of people using these devices and also due to the development of healthcare infrastructure in this region. Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at a rapid pace due to the large number of aging population in this region.Request sample: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/pain-management-devices-market-3585/request-sample Some of the major companies in the market are St. Jude Medical, Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic plc, Baxter international, Stryker corporation, Pfizer, Codman and Shurtleff, B Braun Melsungen AG and DJO Global LLC.About Market Data Forecast:The publisher of this report is Market Data Forecast whose forte lies in Market research and Business Intelligence. Handling both individual and corporate clients across multiple business domains they offer syndicated/customized research to suit the clients research objective. Their research reports section offers a wide variety of market studies ranging from all-encompassing comprehensive market studies to product specific niche markets covering North America among other regions of the global market as well. For more info kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit MarketDataForecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases Global Facial Rejuvenation Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 11:42:36 Press Information Precision Business Insights Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX satya Lead Marketing +1-866-598-1553 email https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com # 747 Words Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXLead Marketing+1-866-598-1553 Facial rejuvenation is a combination of medical and cosmetic procedure that is carried out the youthful appearance to the human face. Facial rejuvenation is carried by either minimally invasive or non-invasive treatment which aims to restore skin elasticity and enables maintain a youthful appearance in the neck and face region. Facial rejuvenation plays a vital role in skin protection from sun damage. In young ages, human naturally defend their bodies from sun damage by neutralization of free radicals which are reactive oxygen atoms damage the skins collagen. However, human bodies lose the resistance towards ultra violet radiations in older age. The signs of sun damage include wrinkles, enlarged pores, sagging skin, freckling or spotting and spider veins. Many treatments such as microabrasion, dermabrasion, topical creams, chemical peels, dermal fillers, and cosmetic surgery are available for the protection of skin from sun damage.The global Facial Rejuvenation market is expected to grow at a significant CAGR due to increase in the global population. Rise in the disposable income levels, lifestyle changes, early onset of aging, and increasing adoption of minimally invasive or non-invasive surgical rejuvenation procedures expected fuel the facial rejuvenation market. Furthermore, simple procedures for the treatments, rise in the affordability, availability of beauty products in the market, and shorter treatment duration by patients also boost the facial rejuvenation market over the forecast period. However, lack of properly trained professionals, limited documented evidence of clinical effectiveness, and the implementation of international regulatory mandates for the standardization of cosmetic procedures are the major bottle necks for the growth of facial rejuvenation market over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Facial rejuvenation market is segmented based on the product type, and end-userBased on product type, the facial rejuvenation market is segmented into the following: Topical Rejuvenation Productso Keratolyticso Moisturizerso Retinoidso Sunscreenso Hair Removals Botulinum Products Dermal Fillerso Absorbableo Non absorbable Chemical peels Micro abrasion equipment Equipmento Laser based equipment Ultrasound based equipmentBased on the end-user, facial rejuvenation market is segmented into the following: Hospitals Dermatology clinics OthersTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Market players are adopting various key strategies that include acquisitions and mergers, collaborations, agreements, product approvals, and launching of new products to increase share in the facial rejuvenation market. For instance, in June 2009, Anika Therapeutics, signed an exclusive U.S. distribution agreement with Palo Alto, Coapt Systems, Inc. for its aesthetic dermatology franchise. Coapt Systems suite of bioabsorbable implants for use in facial aesthetic and rejuvenation procedures is highly complementary to Anikas injectable filler that corrects lines and wrinkles on the face. In addition, in July 2008, Johnson & Johnson received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to market Evolence, an injectable collagen for treating facial wrinkles. Moreover, in April 2016, Merz Pharma made a strategic venture investment in Cytrellis Biosystems, for developing a new class of non-surgical products to combat sagging skin associated with aging.Need more information about this report @Geographically, the facial rejuvenation market has been segmented into following regions Viz. North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the facial rejuvenation market. Owing to change in the lifestyle, increase in the healthcare expenditure and skilled professionals the region for minimally invasive surgeries. Europe facial rejuvenation market holds a dominant share attributed to increase in the aging population, technological developments in the facial rejuvenation procedures such as minimally invasive or non-surgical procedures might fuel the market in European region over the forecast period. Asia-Pacific accounts for the significant share due to increase in the population companies setting up manufacturing facilities in the region. In addition, rising awareness about skin problems is also supporting the growth of facial rejuvenation market in Asia-Pacific region over the forecast period.Some of the players in facial rejuvenation market are Biopolymer GmbH & Co KG (Germany), Merz GmbH & Co. KGaA (Germany), Lumenis (U.S.), Revance Therapeutics, Inc. (U.S,), Speciality European Pharma (U.K.), Mentor Worldwide LLC (U.K.), Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (U.S.), Contura International A/S (Denmark), Cynosure, Inc. (U.S.), Fibrocell Science Inc. (U.S,), and Galderma S/A (Switzerland) to name a few.Get access to full summary @Email: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Global Spinal Implants Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 11:50:23 Press Information Precision Business Insights Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX satya Lead Marketing +1-866-598-1553 email https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com # 655 Words Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXLead Marketing+1-866-598-1553 Spine implants are used to treat deformities and disorders related to the spine. Spine disorders are primarily caused by degenerative conditions in spine, deformity, tumors, and trauma. In Spinal implants market, artificial disc replacement is seen as the relatively new approach to relieve the back pain. Artificial discs are designed with the goal of mimicking the form and function of the spines natural disc. Artificial disc replacement is generally seen as an alternative to the more common spinal fusion surgery that joints two vertebrae together.With rising adoption of minimal risk spine surgeries, spinal implants market anticipated to grow at significant rate over the forecast period. Spinal implants have an advantage over the open spine surgeries like low risk of infection, pain, muscle damage, minimal blood loss and faster recovery time, all these factors are leading to increasing number of patients adopting spinal implants and driving market growth for spinal implant. In addition, rise in geriatric population and technological developments in bone grafting products are projected to drive the growth of spinal implant market over forecast period. However, stringent regulations, lack of adequate awareness about the new procedures among healthcare professional and patients, and the high cost of procedures are hindering the spinal implants market growth.A sample of this report is available upon request @Spinal implants market has been segmented based on product type, surgery type, procedure type, and end-userBy product type, spinal implants market is segmented into Spinal Fusion Cervical Fusion ThoracoLumbar Fusion Vertebral Compression Fracture Treatment Devices Balloon Kyphoplasty Devices Vertebroplasty Devices Non-Fusion Implants Dynamic Stabilization devices Artificial Discs Annulus Repair Devices Nuclear Disc ProsthesisBy surgery, spinal implants market is segmented into Open Surgery Minimally Invasive SurgeryBased on end-user, spinal implants market is segmented into Hospitals Orthopedic Clinics Spine CentersTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global spinal implants market is exhibiting steady growth with significant CAGR over the forecast period. Traditional spine surgery segment is dominated and accounted for the more share in spinal implants market. Rise in the preference for non-fusion procedures over the fusion procedures is one of the trends in spinal implants market. Government initiatives and technological developments in treatment and development of advanced spinal implants driving the spinal implants market revenue growth. For instance, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and North American Spine Foundation, both contribute towards the growth of spinal implants devices market through R&D funding and training programs for healthcare professionals globally.Need more information about this report @Geographically spinal implants market has been segmented into following regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is dominating the spinal implants market followed by Europe. Europe spine implants market is estimated to be dominated by new product launches and mergers & acquisitions. In 2014, Zimmer Hold Inc. launched virage OCT spinal fixation system. Moreover, increase in geriatric population and number of accidents boosting market revenue growth of spinal impants market in Europe region. According to census statistics number of people having age above 65 in Germany, Italy, UK, France and Spain together were 61, 806, 92. Asia Pacific is expected to be fastest growing market due to expansion row in health coverage, the rapid increase in healthcare infrastructure and increased funding of government on health care.Some of the players in spinal implants market are Zimmer Biomet (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson Services Inc (U.S.), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Benvenue Medical, Inc. (U.S.), Becton, Dickinson and Company (CareFusion Corporation) (U.S.), Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Alohatec Spine, Inc.) (U.S.), Medtronic Plc (U.S.), Orthofix Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), and Globus Medical Inc. (U.S.) to name some few.Get access to full summary @Email: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 13:39:40 Press Information Market Data Forecast 531/MIG-II, Rd Number 1, Kukatpally Housing Board Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad, Telangana Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://marketdataforecast.com # 697 Words 531/MIG-II, Rd Number 1, Kukatpally Housing Board Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad, TelanganaSales Manager+1-888-702-9626 Spine biologics are used during spine fusion surgery for the treatment of spinal deformities such as trauma, tumors, degenerative disc disease, and spinal cord injuries by stimulating bone growth formation through inflammatory stage, repair stage, and remodeling stage. Therefore, surge in the number of spinal fusion surgeries have fueled the adoption of biologics.View Full Report @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/spine-biologics-market-4275/ Spine Biologics market is growing due to advancement in technology as well as demand for better minimally surgical procedures which make it more convenient for both the patient and doctor. A rise in prevalence of diseases due to aging population, increased government funding, is driving the market in most regions. Biologics help in faster recovery and activate cellular growth. The biggest restrain in the market is the healthcare cost for such procedures and the substitute product available. There is a lack of expert professionals and unfavourable reimbursement scenario.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/spine-biologics-market-4275/request-sample Spine Biologics Market is broadly categorized into surgery type and product type. By surgery type the market is segmented into Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion , Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion, Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion, Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion, Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion, Others. Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusioncontributed to a a large share in the market. By product type the market is classified into bone graft, bone graft substitutes, platelet rich plasma and bone marrow aspirate therapy. The bone grafts substitutes segment accounted for a major share of the market. On the basis of geography, the market is analysed under various regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. The Spine Biologics market was dominated by North America followed by Europe. Asia Pacific is expected to register a high CAGR.Inquire before buying @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/spine-biologics-market-4275/inquire The major companies profiled in the report include Alphatec Holdings, Inc., Depuy Synthes (Johnson & Johnson), Exactech, Inc., Globus Medical, Inc., Medtronic plc, NuVasive, Inc., Orthofix International N.V., RTI Surgical, Inc., SeaSpine, and Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.Market Segmentation1 Surgery type1.1 Introduction1.2 Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion1.3 Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion1.4 Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion1.5 Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion1.6 Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion1.7 Others5.2 Product type2.1 Introduction2.2 Bone graft2.3 Bone graft substitutes2.4 Platelet rich plasma2.5 Bone marrow aspitaye therapyScope of the Report Regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analysing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and sksillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions. Global Stem Cell Therapy Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 11:52:52 Press Information Precision Business Insights Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX satya Lead Marketing +1-866-598-1553 email https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com # 668 Words Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXLead Marketing+1-866-598-1553 Stem cell therapy involves use of stem cells to treat various diseases or disorders. Stem cells are fundamental for every tissue and organ in the body. Stem cells are indistinguishable biological cells that are able to differentiate into specialised cells (liver cells, cardiac cells etc.) and can renew itself (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. Stem cells have the ability to replicate, repair, and replace other damaged tissues in the human body. In addition, stem cell based therapies are also used to treat several chronic diseases such as blood disorders, cancer and others.Growing awareness about the potency of stem cells in disease management, development of advanced gene based analysis techniques and increase in public, private investments in stem cell research are acting as growth drivers for stem cell therapy market. In addition, identification of new stem cell lines and development of infrastructure for stem cell banking & processing are propelling the growth of the global stem cell therapy market. However, ethical issues involved in stem cells research such as destruction of human embryos, religious beliefs are considered as road blocks for adaptation of stem cell therapy by patients. However, stringent regulations to conduct trials on humans, high-cost of research and storage of stem cells are some restraining factors for stem cell therapy market.A sample of this report is available upon request @Stem cell therapy market has been segmented on the basis of treatment mode, cell types, application, technology, and end-userBased on treatment, stem cell therapy market is segmented into Allogeneic AutologousBased on cell type, stem cell therapy market is segmented into Adult Stem cells Induced Pluripotent Stem cells Human Embryonic Stem Cells OthersBased on technology, stem cell therapy market is segmented into Cell Production Cell Acquisition CryopreservationBased on end-user, stem cell therapy market segmented into Hospitals Ambulatory Centers Research CentersTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Stakeholders in stem cell therapy such as academic institutions and research firms are collaborating in development of stem cell therapy and industry collaborations also projecting enormous growth of stem cell therapy market. For instance, in November 2015, Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (FUJIFILM) collaborated with Roche to supply iCell (CDIs induced pluripotent stem cell derived) products that enables in identification of novel drug candidates at the early stages of drug discovery. Similarly, in May 2017, Magenta Therapeutics, entered into strategic partnership with Be The Match BioTherapies, to improve and expand the use of curative stem cell transplantation.Need more information about this report @Geographically stem cell therapy market has been segmented into following regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Among the regions, North America dominates global stem cell therapy market due to factors such as increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, growing awareness, and rising investment in research and development activities. In Asia Pacific region, due to the favourable government policies, development healthcare infrastructure, industry collaborations in research and developments expected to boost stem cell therapy market. For instance, in April 2017, Plasticell, a developer of stem cell technologies and cell-based therapies, has announced that it has signed agreements with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, to progress its therapeutic stem cell pipeline.Some of the players in stem cell therapy market are Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (U.S.), Fibrocell Science (U.S.), Cellartis AB (Cellectis) (France), BioTime, Inc. (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific (U.S.), STEMCELL Technologies Inc. (Canada), Fujifilm Holdings Corporation (Japan), Vericel Corporation (Aastrom Bioscience) (U.S.), Brainstorm cell therapeutics (U.S.), Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Celgene Corporation (U.S.), and Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (U.S.) to name a few.Get access to full summary @Email: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Global Uveitis Treatment Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:21:35 Press Information Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Mr. Shah CEO +1-206-701-6702 email https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com # 660 Words 1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO+1-206-701-6702 Uveitis Treatment Market InsightsUveitis refers to inflammation caused in the uvea of the eye. A uvea is the middle layer of the eye that consists of three components namely iris, cilliary body, and the choroid. Uveitis is caused by various factors such as inflammatory diseases, injuries in the eye, microbial infections such as viral, bacterial, and fungal infection or exposure to certain toxic chemicals such as strong acids or pesticides. However, in many cases the cause of this condition remains unknown. It is also found to be effecting people belonging to the age group of 2050 years. The condition is classified based on the location of inflammation in the uvea and is categorized in three types including anterior uveitis that causes inflammation in the iris and is the most commonly encountered type. The other two types include intermediate uveitis and posterior uveitis that affects the posterior choroid part of the uvea. Uveitis can be treated with the help of various drugs that include corticosteroids, immunosuppressant, monoclonal antibodies, analgesics, and drug formulations.Request a sample copy of this report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1094 Rise in development of innovative biologics is expected to accelerate growth of the marketPrimary driving factor contributing towards growth of the uveitis treatment market is rising incidence of uveitis. According to a study by American University of Beirut Medical Center in 2015, Uveitis is responsible for 10% of legal blindness in the U.S. and up to 25% of blindness in the developing countries. Moreover, according to a study conducted by F. I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco in 2013 suggested that uveitis incidence rate among the U.S. population could be approximated to 24.9 cases per 100,000 people. In addition to this, several other factors driving growth of the market include rise in healthcare expenditure for treatment development and development of new and innovative biologics for uveitis treatment. However, factors limiting growth of the market include side effects such as kidney damage, high blood sugar, and osteoporosis due to immunosuppressant drugs. Moreover, complications associated with the medication could result in irreversible blindness, which is a major factor limiting the market growth.The global uveitis treatment market was valued at US$ 555.51 Mn in 2016 and is expected to exhibit a robust CAGR of 6.0% over the forecast period (20172025).Ask for customization: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1094 Speedy FDA approvals for uveitis treatment drugs to propel the market growthA large number of new as well as established companies are focusing on development of drugs for the treatment of uveitis in various forms such as monoclonal antibodies, immunosuppressant, corticosteroids, anti-fungal agents, anti-viral agents, and others. FDA is focusing on speedy drug approval process as uveitis has serious ill effects leading to disorders such as glaucoma and permanent blindness. This creates a highly conducive environment for market players to invest in research and development activities to file for patents as well as develop generic biologics for treating this disorder. According to the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society, FDA has approved around 38 generic drugs till July 2017.Asia Pacific is expected to witness a significant growth in the global uveitis treatment market and this can be attributed to increasing number of regional players focusing on development of biologics for the treatment of uveitis. For instance, Santen Pharmaceuticals received U.S. FDA approval for its new drug in April 2017, for the treatment of non-infectious uveitis of the posterior segment.Some of the major players operating in the uveitis treatment market are AbbVie, Inc., Novartis AG, Eyegate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Santen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan Plc, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., and Alimera Sciences.Click here to know more about this report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/uveitis-treatment-market-1094 About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Visit our news Website: http://www.coherentnews.com Latin America Flowering Stimulants Market By Type (Solid Flowering Stimulants, Liquid Flowering Stimulants), By Application (Agriculture And Horticulture) And By Region - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts (20162021) We Think Through Different Layers, We Work Across Different Verticals PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 15:34:22 Press Information Market Data Forecast USA Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager (International Business Development) +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com # 815 Words USASales Manager (International Business Development)+1-888-702-9626 The Latin America Flowering Stimulants Market was worth USD xx billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of xx%, to reach USD xx billion by 2021.View report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-flowering-stimulants-market-4163/ Flowering of plants is very essential in both agriculture and horticulture. In horticulture good flower yield is the priority to bear fruits and in agriculture also good flowering gives good yield. So, farmers always try to increase the flower yield by using excessive fertilizers, both organic and chemical. This increases the yield but it has a limit to the growth and use of excessive fertilizers support growth of other vegetation which is not desirable.Flower formation in plants is stimulated by certain hormones namely auxin, cytokinin, gibbrellic acid and Ethylene. Flowering stimulants increases the production of these substances in the plant and also in ratios favorable for flower yield. Currently, Nitrobenzene mixed with some other chemicals is the best and most used stimulant. It is estimated that flowering stimulants increase the flower yield by more than 40%.Download free sample report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-flowering-stimulants-market-4163/request-sample Increase in the crop yields has become stagnant due to the increase in the use of fertilizers and other chemicals. This increased the demand alternatives which can increase the crop yield resulting in the demand for flowering stimulants. Increasing necessity to improve crop yields due to the decreasing agricultural land, rapidly increasing population and increasing awareness among people regarding the stimulants are expected to drive the flowering stimulants market. However, availability of alternate chemicals and strict approval regulations are restricting the market growth.The Flowering Stimulants market is segmented by type, application and region. Based on the type, the market is segmented into Solid Flowering Stimulants and Liquid Flowering Stimulants. Liquid flowering stimulants hold the largest market share as they are easily absorbed by the plant within a short time. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into Agriculture and Horticulture. Usage of flowering stimulants is very high in horticulture. It is because of the restrictions on the use of many fertilizers in horticulture. Agriculture segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to the increasing popularity for flowering stimulants.Inquire before buying: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/latin-america-flowering-stimulants-market-4163/inquire On the basis of region, the Latin America Flowering Stimulants market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Latin America is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to the increasing awareness among consumers. Brazil accounts for the largest market share in this region.Some of the major players in Flowering Stimulants market are Greenland Bio-Science, Molecule Agri, Nitesh Agro Industries, Sikko Industries, Redox Industries, Rishabh Intermediates, Bhartiya Fertilizers and Chemicals and Agrichem Life Science.Market SegmentationType Introduction Liquid Flowering Stimulants Solid Flowering Stimulants Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Type Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Type Market Share Analysis, By TypeApplication Introduction Agriculture Horticulture Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Application Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Application Market Share Analysis, By ApplicationThe scope of the report: Global, regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analysing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis, and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and skillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions. PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 15:00:22 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 394 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Minfocus Exploration Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - Minfocus Exploration Corp. (TSX Venture:MFX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Minfocus Exploration Announces more High-Grade Zinc Samples from Peregrine Zinc Property, AGM Results and Appointment of DirectorTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Minfocus Exploration Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Minfocus Exploration Corp.Source: Minfocus Exploration Corp. (TSX Venture: MFX)Date: December 13, 2017Time: 9:00 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Minfocus Exploration Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:40:38 Press Information Market Data Forecast Hyderabad, India Abhishek Sales manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 414 Words Hyderabad, IndiaSales manager+1-888-702-9626 Cardiovascular disease is a medical condition which affects the structure and function of organs associated with function of heart and its circulation.Cardio Vascular diseases are the primary cause of death and witnessing a high rise in prevalence. There are a large number of people being diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases such as periphery artery diseases, coronary artery diseases, congenital heart diseases, and pulmonary conditions shifting focus towards preventative healthcare.North America market for cardiovascular devices is majorly driven factors such as increasing number of people suffering from diabetes and obesity and growing risks related to hypertension, heart muscle weakening. Advancements in Technology have enabled portability features such as portability in performing various tests are also adding to the growth of Cardiovascular Monitoring market. However unclear reimbursement policies, stringent government regulations for product approvals and high cost of devices are some the major factors restraining the market growth.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-cardiovascular-monitoring-and-diagnostic-devices-market-223/request-sample North American market for cardiovascular diagnostic and monitoring devices is studied on the basis of product which is further segmented into ECG systems, Holter Monitors, Event Monitors, Implantable loop recorders and ECG management systems. Electrocardiographs segment is further sub segmented into Resting ECG systems and Stress ECG systems. ECG systems holds the largest share in the market and expected to maintain its strong in the market during the forecast period due to widespread availability and increasing preference for diagnostic devices in both developed and developing regions.On the basis of geography North America market for cardiovascular diagnostic and monitoring devices market is analysed under various regions namely United States and Canada. With in North America United States is the largest market for cardiovascular diagnostic and monitoring devices and is expected to sustain its strong share due to its high awareness about available diagnosis and treatment methods among patients and physicians.The North America Cardiovascular Diagnostic and monitoring market is dominated by two companies namely Phillips healthcare and GE healthcare accounting for an approximately 50% share in 2015. Other major players covered in the report are Siemens Healthcare, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, and Welch Allyn, Inc.About Market Data ForecastMarket Data Forecast is a well versed market research firm catering solutions in the fields of market research, business intelligence and consulting. With a profound knowledge about the global market activities coupled with a customized approach. We render services in the most gripping markets like healthcare, agriculture and food & Beverages The North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market was worth $1.22 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 6.3%, to reach $1.65 billion by 2021. Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:38:55 Press Information Market Data Forecast Hyderabad, India Abhishek Sales manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 746 Words Hyderabad, IndiaSales manager+1-888-702-9626 Blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate and body temperature in a normal range are vital for the humans to survive. However variations in blood pressure are rapid specifically in the aged people and regular monitoring is necessary. High blood pressure is referred as hypertension which is a chronic condition and a very common cause of death and cardiovascular diseases along with heart attacks worldwide. Devices used to monitor blood pressure are called blood pressure monitoring devices which check blood pressures at regular intervals.North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market: Drivers & RestraintsRising prevalence of cardiovascular disorders is the primary driver of this market. Furthermore the advent of advanced handheld and automated blood pressure monitors in the market is the secondary factor driving the growth of this market. They offer features such as safety, efficacy, and portability, thereby boosting market growth. In addition, technological advancements for example mobile-based BP monitoring systems are likely to drive the demand up further.High cost of these devices along with slow approvals for new and better patent designs are the primary restraints of this market.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market. Request a sample to stay up-to-date on the main trends affecting this market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-blood-pressure-monitoring-device-market-901/request-sample North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market: SegmentationBy Type Automated BP Monitors Ambulatory BP Monitors Sphygmomanometerso Mercuryo Aneroido Digital BP Transducers BP instruments accessoriesNorth America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market: OverviewPulse-oximeters are the fastest growing market segment because of their rising demand in emergency medical care. In terms of revenue share, sphygmomanometer segment dominated the product type and is expected to show lucrative growth over the forecast period.North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookNorth America led the global market for blood pressure monitoring devices in 2016, commanding a 40% share worldwide. The rising prevalence of blood pressure and hypertension in North America will propel demand for blood pressure monitoring devices in the region. Furthermore, the rising awareness about these diseases, Technological advancements and availability of various monitoring and therapeutic devices is also growing, thereby accelerating the growth of market. North American market is further segmented into US and Canada.Key Questions Answered What is the current and future North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices market outlook in North America? What trends are affecting the North Americaan market? What is the competitive landscape and market share of major players in the North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices space in North America? What are the key, high growth markets that North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices manufacturers should expand into? Which market segments are growing the fastest? What are the unmet needs with the North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices currently on the market? How will emerging technologies fulfil these unmet needs? What is physician perception and market outlook of North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices? What are the challenges and barriers that have hindered widespread adoption of North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices?North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the major companies dominating the market, by their products and services include GE Healthcare, Welch Allyn, Inc., A&D Medical Inc., SunTech Medical, Rossmax International Ltd., Spacelabs Healthcare Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Contec Medical Systems Co.,Ltd , Omron Healthcare and Microlife AG.Reasons to buy North America Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market Report: Regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the geographical areas in which this industry is prospering Segment-level analysis on basis of product type, application, colour along with market size forecasts and y-o-y estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of macro and micro environmental factors that affect the market presented in an extensive strategic analyses section containing PESTLE and Porters Five Forces Analyses A comprehensive listing of key market players along with company overview, product portfolios, key financial information (subjected to availability), SWOT analysis and Analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies Expertly devised Market Outlook along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the market North America Cell Sorting Market By Technology (FACS Based Droplet Sorting, MACS, Microfluidics), Product (Cell Sorters, Reagents, Consumables), Application (Research, Clinical), End User (Research Institutes, Biopharma Companies, Medical Schools) And By Region - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecasts (20162021) We Think Through Different Layers, We Work Across Different Verticals PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 15:14:05 Press Information Market Data Forecast USA Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com # 875 Words USASales Manager+1-888-702-9626 The North America Cell Sorting Market was worth USD 67.07 million in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 7.653%, to reach USD 96.97 million by 2021.View report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-cell-sorting-market-2993/ Cells play a significant role in the fields of healthcare and pharmaceutical industries such as biotechnology, bioscience and microbiology. Since the cell therapies treat a wide range of chronic diseases, there has been an increase in research and development activities targeting various cell therapies in the previous decade.The properties on which cell sorting takes place can be extracellular or intracellular, where the former refers to the size, surface protein expression, and morphology, while the latter refers to protein molecule interactions, RNA, and DNA. The general methods of cell sorting have changed over the time. The more primitive methods, while still used and in some cases useful, are far too inaccurate and inefficient to meet with modern requirements. The overall methods can be segmented into single cell sorting, FACS, and magnetic cell sorting.Download free sample report: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-cell-sorting-market-2993/request-sample Cell-sorting system market is increasing its market widely because of newer technologies for cell isolation in cancer research and growing usage in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies. Also, the rising chronic disease burden, rising use in research institutes, governments investment in research and development, technological advancement, recent launches of several newer digital cell sorting systems by various companies in the market, increased prevalence of cancer will help rise the cell sorting system market. However, lack of skilled professionals to regulate these systems and cost and size of the instruments may hinder the growth of cell-sorting system market over the forecast period.The Cell Sorting Market is categorised into Technology, Product, Application and End user. On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into FACS-based Droplet Sorting, MACS and Microfluidics. On the basis of Product, the market is further segmented into Cell Sorters, Reagents and Consumables. On the basis of Application, the market is segmented into Research and Clinical. On the basis of End user, the market is further segmented into Research Institutes, Biopharma Companies, and Medical Schools. On the basis of region, the North America market has been geographically segmented into segmented into US and Canada. As of 2016, North America leads the global cell sorting market, accounting for more than 36% of the entire market share. The increased government funding focused on enhancing the cell sorting is the prime growth driver for the market in this region. The North America market has a share of 38% of the entire market and rising at a CAGR of 7.653%.Inquire before buying: http://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-cell-sorting-market-2993/inquire Companies in Cell Sorting Market adopted product showcase, product launches, agreements and partnerships as the business strategies to increase the North america market. The key companies in this market are Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Beckman Coulter, Inc. (U.S.), Miltenyi Biotec GmbH (Germany), Affymetrix Inc. (U.S.), Sony Biotechnology, Inc. (U.S.), Sysmex Partec GmbH (Japan), Cytonome/ST, LLC (U.S.), On-Chip Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (Japan), and Union Biometrica, Inc. (U.S.)Cell Sorting Market Segmentation:Technology Introduction FACS MACS Microfluids Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Technology Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Technology Market Share Analysis, By TechnologyProduct Introduction Cell Sorters Reagents ConsumablesApplication Introduction Research ClinicalEnd user Introduction Research Institutes Biopharma Companies Medical SchoolsThe scope of the report: Global, regional and country-level analysis and forecasts of the study market; providing Insights on the major countries/regions in which this industry is blooming and to also identify the regions that are still untapped Segment-level analysis in terms of technology, component, and type along with market size forecasts and estimations to detect key areas of industry growth in detail Identification of key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges (DROC) in the market and their impact on shifting market dynamics Study of the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect the global market; which includes broadly demographic, economics, and political, among other macro-environmental factors presented in an extensive PESTLE Analysis Study the micro environment factors that determine the overall profitability of an Industry, using Porters five forces analysis for analysing the level of competition and business strategy development A comprehensive list of key market players along with their product portfolio, current strategic interests, key financial information, legal issues, SWOT analysis and analyst overview to study and sustain the market environment Competitive landscape analysis listing out the mergers, acquisitions, collaborations in the field along with new product launches, comparative financial studies and recent developments in the market by the major companies An executive summary, abridging the entire report in such a way that decision-making personnel can rapidly become acquainted with background information, concise analysis, and main conclusions Expertly devised analyst overview along with Investment opportunities to provide both individuals and organizations a strong financial foothold in the marketAbout Us:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, we cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. Our analyst team comprises expert professionals in market research, who with their collective knowledge and skillset dedicatedly serve clients from various industries and regions. North America holds the largest market share of the neurological monitoring devices market. North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 10:56:29 Press Information Market Data Forecast 531/MIG-II, Rd Number 1, Kukatpally Housing Board Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad, Telangana, India Abhishek Sales Manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 1002 Words 531/MIG-II, Rd Number 1, Kukatpally Housing Board Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad, Telangana, IndiaSales Manager+1-888-702-9626 According to the report North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market ", published by Market Data Forecast, the global market is projected to reach USD 3.67 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 6.63% from 2016 to 2021.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market. Request a sample to stay up-to-date on the main trends affecting this market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-neurological-monitoring-devices-market-2233/request-sample Specialised monitoring is essential in neurological patients in the operating rooms and intensive care units to prevent ischaemic and mechanical injury to the nervous system. The systems currently available for the purpose may be broadly classified into those that monitor intracranial pressure and blood flow dynamics and those that monitor brain electrical activity. As new application avenues, namely clinical long-term monitoring and surgical intra-operative monitoring open up for the European electro-neuro physiological monitors market, the use of these devices is set to gain momentum across the continent. Market entry will become difficult and low profile companies introducing technological advancements will face hurdles.North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe North American region offers a enormous untapped market for it because of increasing awareness of neurological disorders, raise in purchasing power and an increasing number of people with multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases. Increases in prevalence of post-surgical cerebrovascular accidents have triggered the need for more improved and automated devices. High cost of devices is majorly restraining the market growth.Get a comprehensive overview of the North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-neurological-monitoring-devices-market-2233/ North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: SegmentationBy Type: Introduction Monitors of Intracranial Pressure & Blood Flow Dynamics Monitors of Brain Electrical Activity Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Type Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Type Market Share Analysis, By TypeBy Procedure Introduction Non-Invasive Invasive Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Procedure Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Procedure Market Share Analysis, By ProcedureBy Therapeutic Application Introduction Traumatic Brain Injuries Stroke Dementia Headache Disorders Sleep Disorders Epilepsy Parkinsons Disease Huntingtons Disease Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Therapeutic Application Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Therapeutic Application Market Share Analysis, By Therapeutic ApplicationBy End User Introduction Hospitals Neurological Centers and Institutions Clinics & Ambulatory Surgical Centers Diagnostic Centers Ambulances Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By End User Market Attractiveness Analysis, By End User Market Share Analysis, By End UserFrom simple data collation through secondary and primary research to ad-hoc research requests relating to specific information, we provide our services via customization. Get customization at http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-neurological-monitoring-devices-market-2233/customize-report North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: OverviewNorth America holds the largest share for neurological monitoring device market. Neurological devices industry is growing at a significant rate due to increase in the prevalence of neurological injuries and diseases. Neurological devices may be invasive in nature such as intracranial pressure monitors, which are used in serious cases. Non-invasive brain trauma monitoring devices refer to the devices that help to monitor neural and electrical activity and pressure enclosing the brain.In case of brain death, trauma brain injury, epilepsy and other such conditions, non-invasive brain trauma monitoring devices help to analyze the rate of flow of blood in arteries and veins in the brain. Non-invasive brain trauma monitoring devices market is growing at a significant rate due to increasing awareness and improvement in healthcare facilities. In addition, non-invasive brain trauma monitoring devices have made it possible for neurologists to measure brain health without being invasive. Non-invasive brain trauma monitoring devices help to get results fast and safely. In addition, they are easy to use and give accurate resultsNorth America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geography the market is analysed under various countries namely, USA and Canada. USA is leading the market with highest number of shares followed by Canada. North America is the fastest developing regional section and will hold its position over the forecast period.Key Questions Answered What is the current and future North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market outlook in global? What trends are affecting the Europe market? What is the competitive landscape and market share of major players in the Neurological Monitoring Devices space in North America? What are the key, high growth markets that North America Neurological Monitoring Devices manufacturers should expand into? Which market segments are growing the fastest? What are the unmet needs with the North America Neurological Monitoring Devices currently on the market? How will emerging technologies fulfil these unmet needs? What is physician perception and market outlook of Europe Neurological Monitoring Devices? What are the challenges and barriers that have hindered widespread adoption of North America Neurological Monitoring Devices?North America Neurological Monitoring Devices Market: Key PlayersKey market players include CAS Medical Systems Inc., Compumedics Ltd., Natus Medical Inc., Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, AMD Global Telemedicine, Intel Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, InTouch Health, InTechnology, MEG International Services Ltd., Rimed Inc., Siemens Healthcare, Medtronic Inc., Electrical Geodesics Incorporated, Nihon Kohden Corporation and Advanced Brain Monitoring.Checkout other related studies in the Diagnostics Segment:North America Acute Ischemic Stroke Diagnosis and Treatment Market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-acute-ischemic-stroke-diagnosis-market-266/ North America Head and Neck Cancer Diagnostics Market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-head-and-neck-cancer-diagnostics-market-51/ North America Genetic Testing Market: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-genetic-testing-market-37/ About Market Data Forecast:Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the area of market research and business intelligence. With rich experience in research across various business domains, they cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. From all-encompassing umbrella markets to extremely specific niche markets covering all the major regions across the globe as part of the research scope, their research services offer one of a kind specialities with competitive pricing options.For more information, kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit Market Data Forecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases The North America Safety Syringes Market is estimated at USD 1755 million in 2016 and is predicted to reach USD 2556 million by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 7.81% Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:26:31 Press Information Market Data Forecast Hyderabad, India Abhishek Sales manager +1-888-702-9626 email http://www.marketdataforecast.com/ # 419 Words Hyderabad, IndiaSales manager+1-888-702-9626 Safety syringes are specifically designed to protect healthcare workers and others from accidental needle-stick injuries, which will subsequently protect the hospital professions from healthcare-acquired infections. According to the report North America Safety Syringes Market is estimated at USD 1755 million in 2016 and is predicted to reach USD 2556 million by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 7.81%.The growth of North America safety syringe market is mainly attributed to various factors like rising incidence of needlestick injuries, government initiatives and new legislations to incorporate the practice of safety syringes, favourable reimbursement policies, and improved safety mechanisms for syringes. Currently, several countries have enforced regulations to ensure the compulsory use of safety syringes with an aim of preventing needle stick injuries and restrict needle re-use. These regulations are expected to cause more common usage of safety syringes as compared to conventional syringes. However, accessibility to alternate drug delivery methods, expensiveness of safety syringes, ignorance in low income regions due to lack of awareness about healthcare and safety issues are few factors restraining the growth of North America safety syringes market.Free sample of the report is available @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-safety-syringes-market-348/request-sample The North America safety syringes market can be categorized on the basis of technology into Retractable and Non-Retractable safety syringes. The retractable syringes market is sub-segmented into Automatic or Manual syringes. And the non-retractable safety syringes are sub-segmented into sliding needle cover syringes, sheathing tube syringes, and hinged needle cover syringes. Non-retractable safety syringes hold the major share of sales in the North America regions while the retractable safety syringes segment is anticipated to rise at a higher CAGR within the forecast period. Furthermore, on the basis of therapy, the safety syringes market can be categorized under Insulin, Tuberculosis, Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and Growth Hormones. Moreover, taking into account end users, the North America safety syringe market is branded under hospitals and home care segments.Geographically, the North America safety syringe market is segmented and analysed USA and Canada. North America holding the largest share in terms of revenue as well as volume, is currently seeing a paradigm shift in usage of safety syringes from conventional syringes. Added to this, the growing demand for prefilled syringes equipped with safety features is also anticipated to boost the market growth in North American region.Some of the major companies operating in the North America safety syringes market are Retractable Technologies, Inc, Covidien plc, Terumo Corporation, Unilife Corporation, Revolutions Medical Corporation, Becton, Dickinson & Company, Smiths Medical, Axel Bio Corporation, Sol-Millennum and Ultimed, Inc. Current scenario in ovarian cancer drugs market: High prevalence of ovarian cancer among women over 60 years in the U.S. and U.K. Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:28:31 Press Information Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Mr. Shah CEO +1-206-701-6702 email https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com # 967 Words 1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO+1-206-701-6702 Ovarian cancer drugs market supported by growing aging population in the U.S and U.KAn alarming rise in number of ovarian cancer cases reported in the recent past, inadvertently creates a highly conducive environment for growth of the ovarian cancer drugs market. According to estimates released by the American Cancer Society, in 2016, around 22,280 new cases of ovarian cancer were diagnosed, leading to 14,240 deaths in the U.S. The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute data stats that there in an increase in all new cancer cases, with ovarian cancer accounting for 1.3% of incidence rate, and accounting for 2.4% of all related deaths in the 2016. The number of new ovarian cancer cases are 11.9 per 100,000 women each year and the total deaths are 7.5 per 100,000 women yearly.Request to download and view Sample Report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/164 According to World Cancer Research Fund International data on the basis of highest rate of ovarian cancer by country: Fiji, age standardized rate per 100,000 is 14.9, followed by Latvia and Bulgaria with age standardized rate per 100,000 is 14.2 and 14.0, respectively. The U.K stands tenth, with age standardized rate per 100,000 pegged at 11.7. Around 58% of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed in less developed countries, with the least incidence rate in Africa and Asia. In the U.K., around 46% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, survive their disease for the following five years or more. According to Australian Government, Cancer Australia, it is estimated that in 2017, there would be 1,580 new ovarian cancer cases, with an estimated 2.5% ovarian cancer cases among all new cancer cases in the country. This would result in an estimated 1,047 deaths in 2017. Thus, the ovarian cancer drugs industry is expected to gain significant traction in the more developed regions over the following few years.Ovarian cancer is one of the most dreadful cancers among all different cancers in females. Cancer which is grown in an ovary, results in abnormal cells growth that have the tendency to invade or adversely affect the other parts of the body.Only a few vague symptoms show up in the initial stages. Further symptoms manifest as the cancer grows. These symptoms include inflating, pelvic ache, abdominal puffiness, and loss of appetite. As this is an ovarian cancer, the cancer can spread to adjoining areas such as abdomen layers, lining of the bowel and bladder, lymph nodes, and liver.The disease is relatively rare, though risk is higher among women who have ovulated more over their lifetime, which can also include females who have never borne a child and those who began ovulating at a very young age. Around 10% of ovarian cancer cases are related to inherited genetic risk. Women with mutations in the breast cancer genes have a 50% chance of developing the disease. The most common ovarian cancer that accounts for 95% of cases, is ovarian carcinoma.Ovarian cancer drugs market taxonomyThe global ovarian cancer drugs market is segmented on the basis of chemotherapy drugs, end user, and geography. On the basis of chemotherapy drugs, the ovarian cancer drugs are divided into Carbloplastin, Cisplatin, Docetaxel, Paclitaxel and other medication includes Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Gemcitabine, Oxaliplatin and Topotecan.Request a Customization: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/164 On the basis of end user, the market is classified into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, clinics, and others.Current scenario in ovarian cancer drugs market: High prevalence of ovarian cancer among women over 60 years in the U.S. and U.K.Regional segmentation of the global ovarian cancer drugs market by Coherent Market Insights comprises North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America accounts for the largest market share, mainly due to presence of major players and adoption of advanced medical technologies in countries such as the U.S. and Canada. According to American Cancer Society, an estimated 22,440 women would receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer and around 14,080 women will die from ovarian cancer in 2017 in the U.S. alone. Ovarian cancer is the fifth most prevalent cancer among women, which accounts for high percentage of deaths when compared to other cancer related to reproductive system cancer. It is stated that 1 in 75 women are at risk of contracting ovarian cancer and fatalities related to the disease is pegged at 1 in 100. Prevalence of ovarian cancer is usually low among women under 40 years of age. According to American Cancer Society, most of the ovarian cancer case are reported among women aged 60 years and above. According to Cancer Research UK, in 2014, 7,378 new cases of ovarian cancer were reported in the U.K., of which around 53% of cases diagnosed were among females aged 65 years and above.Combinational drug approach a novel approach in the ovarian cancer drugs marketKey players operating the ovarian cancer drugs market include Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Novogen, Inc., Genentech Inc., Aetera Zenteris Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. Major companies in this market are constantly working towards introducing innovative products and lowering production costs in order to enhance profitability. Roches blockbuster drug Avastin (bevacizumab) used in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel is being used to treat ovarian cancer. Introduction of such drugs would further fuel growth of the ovarian cancer drugs industry in the near future.To know more about the Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market, click the link below: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/ovarian-cancer-drugs-market-164 About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@ coherentmarketinsights.com Visit our news Website: http://www.coherentnews.com Research Trades adds a new report "Self Priming Centrifugal Pump Market- Size, Share, Trends, Forecast, Growth, Demand 2022" PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 14:20:14 Press Information Research Trades Pune Pranav Sr. Business Development Manager +1 6269994607 email http://www.researchtrades.com/ # 513 Words PuneSr. Business Development Manager+1 6269994607 The report Self Priming Centrifugal Pump Market Research Report 2017-2022 is a comprehensive analysis on industry insights and key market dynamics, industry estimation of major segments, drivers and challenges, winning strategies adopted by top companies to gain a stronghold in the market, profile of key market players. The exhaustive analysis offers highlights current market status, factors responsible for the changes and growth trends across segments and countries. The in-depth analysis offers overview of the industry in terms of market definition, product classification and specification and end-user analysis along with prominent technological enhancements made by manufacturers that have become trendsetter for companies. The study explores the crucial elements of major manufacturing processes by elaborating on basic parameters such as raw materials sources, pricing structure, and cost structure of raw materials along with the revenue share analysis of major product offerings across regions. The report on Self Priming Centrifugal Pump Market offers profile of vendors, raw materials suppliers, and prominent manufacturers along with R&D activities pursued by industry players in major countries. The study also provides useful information on technical aspects of manufacturing and explores the impact of recent changes in policies and regulatory framework.Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1357739 Leading Vendors of Self Priming Centrifugal Pump Market are KSB, Goulds (Xylem), Gorman-Rupp, Dab Pumps, Azcue Pumps S.A., Lowara (Xylem), BBA Pumps and more . On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Electrically Driven, Diesel Driven, OtherThe study on Self Priming Centrifugal Pump Market offers an in-depth account of the supply and consumption trends of the various equipment and also presents a comparative analysis of the price structure in major regions. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the growth opportunities of key market segments along with the tactical moves made by key vendors to grow in the market.The extensively researched report analyzes in sufficient detail the distribution trends of the equipment, trader analysis, and status of various marketing channels dominant across segments and regions. Furthermore, the analysis also offers useful data on import-export volume of major products in different countries and tabulates the product offering having maximum share revenue. Recent policy changes and regulations favoring developmental trends in the industry is highlighted in this report along with and tracking their impact analysis on supply and chain structure.The study provides useful information on new projects and ventures along with offering investment feasibility analysis, which will help the key investors and stakeholders to evaluate the growth prospects of the segments they would target.View Complete Report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/report/global-self-priming-centrifugal-pump-market-research-report-2017/1357739 About Research Trades:Research Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.Contact us:Email: sales@ researchtrades.com Call us: +1 6269994607 / +91 7507349866Skype ID: researchtradesconWeb: www.researchtrades.com U.S. Influenza Market PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 12:11:20 Press Information Precision Business Insights Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX satya Lead Marketing +1-866-598-1553 email https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com # 790 Words Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXLead Marketing+1-866-598-1553 Influenza is an upper respiratory tract disease and is caused by the influenza virus. Influenza virus is mainly three types namely Influenza A, Influenza B, and Influenza C. Influenza is a communicable disease, spread through a flu cough, droplets from the infected people, sneeze or talks. The common symptoms occur in influenza patients are chills, cough, running nose, sore throat, body aches, headache, fatigue, some cases people may have vomiting and diarrhea. The complication of the disease may include ear infections, bacterial pneumonia, dehydration, sinus infections, and sometimes it leads to congestive heart failure, and asthma. Influenza commonly occurs in geriatric population and children with less than 5 years of age. The infection may be confirmed by testing the sputum, nose, or throat for the virus. A number of rapid tests are available however polymerase chain reaction that detects the viruss RNA is more accurate.The U.S. Influenza market is growing at a significant CAGR due to rise in newborn babies, an increase in geriatric population. Increase in vaccination awareness, favorable reimbursement scenario, and rising investment by companies in research and development activities are the major factors fuelling the growth of U.S. influenza market over the forecast period. The major market players have great pipeline products, initiatives by government bodies such as WHO and CDC to control and prevent influenza, technological advancements in diagnostic tests also fuel the growth of U.S. influenza market over the forecast period. However, limited production capacity, a high level of required investment, and stringent regulatory policies for new product approvals might hamper the growth of U.S. Influenza market. Due to limitations in current technologies, the lengthy production times (approximately seven months), increase in prices of influenza diagnostic kits and reagents also hinder the U.S. Influenza market.A sample of this report is available upon request @The U.S. Influenza market is segmented on the basis of product type, distribution channel, and end userBased on drug class, U.S. influenza market is segmented into the following: Anti-viral drugs Zanamivir Oseltamivir Amantadine Rimantadine Others Interferons Vaccines Trivalent QuadrivalentBased on the route of administration, U.S. influenza market is segmented into the following: Oral Parenteral OthersBased on distribution channel U.S. influenza market is segmented into the following: Hospital pharmacies Retail pharmacies OthersTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Influenza vaccines are key revenue contributor for the growth of U.S. influenza market. The U.S. influenza market is in growing phase, several international players are actively involved in the development of vaccines and drugs to treat influenza. Launch of new products, technological innovations, and approvals from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for various drugs might fuel the growth of U.S. influenza market. For instance, Sequires used both egg and cell-based technologies to offer the broadcast portfolio of influenza vaccines in the U.S. for both trivalent and quadrivalent formulations. Similarly, transformative changes in other vaccine markets, due to the entrance of expensive and innovative vaccines such as Gardasil (Merck) and Bexsero (GSK) are projected to contribute growth of the U.S. influenza market.Need more information about this report @U.S. holds a dominant share in the global influenza market. The largest share is attributed to the higher rate of in-vitro diagnostics availability and technological advancements in medical devices which are primarily driving the U.S. Influenza market growth. As per CDC, persons above 6 months of age could be vaccinated to prevent the influenza infection. Increase in prevalence and incidence cases of influenza (According to CDC, about 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. people are infected with influenza in every year. CDC also states that about 200,000 people hospitalized and more than 36,000 people are dying from influenza in U.S) might increase the growth of U.S. influenza market. Similarly, upsurge in funding by the government is also driving the market growth in the United States. The U.S. government awarded 5-year contracts for more than US$ 1 Bn to five drug manufacturers developing technology for speedier mass production of influenza vaccinesSome of the players in U.S. influenza market are AstraZeneca (U.K.), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland), GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K.), Novartis AG (Switzerland), Sanofi (France), Seqirus (U.K.), Protein Sciences Corporation (U.S.), Emergent Biosolutions (U.S.), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.Inc (U.S.)., Alvogen (South Korea), Medimmune Inc. (U.S.), DynPort Vaccine Company, LLC. (U.S.), and Abbott Laboratories (U.S.) to name a few.Get access to full summary @Email: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com Research Trades adds a new report "United States Navigational Radar Market- Size, Share, Trends, Forecast, Growth, Demand 2022" PR-Inside.com: 2017-12-13 14:32:15 Press Information Research Trades Pune Pranav Sr. Business Development Manager +1 6269994607 email http://www.researchtrades.com/ # 513 Words PuneSr. Business Development Manager+1 6269994607 The report United States Navigational Radar Market Research Report 2017-2022 is a comprehensive analysis on industry insights and key market dynamics, industry estimation of major segments, drivers and challenges, winning strategies adopted by top companies to gain a stronghold in the market, profile of key market players. The exhaustive analysis offers highlights current market status, factors responsible for the changes and growth trends across segments and countries. The in-depth analysis offers overview of the industry in terms of market definition, product classification and specification and end-user analysis along with prominent technological enhancements made by manufacturers that have become trendsetter for companies. The study explores the crucial elements of major manufacturing processes by elaborating on basic parameters such as raw materials sources, pricing structure, and cost structure of raw materials along with the revenue share analysis of major product offerings across regions. The report on United States Navigational Radar Market offers profile of vendors, raw materials suppliers, and prominent manufacturers along with R&D activities pursued by industry players in major countries. The study also provides useful information on technical aspects of manufacturing and explores the impact of recent changes in policies and regulatory framework.Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1358769 Leading Vendors of United States Navigational Radar Market are KSB, Goulds (Xylem), Gorman-Rupp, Dab Pumps, Azcue Pumps S.A., Lowara (Xylem), BBA Pumps and more . On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Electrically Driven, Diesel Driven, OtherThe study on United States Navigational Radar Market offers an in-depth account of the supply and consumption trends of the various equipment and also presents a comparative analysis of the price structure in major regions. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the growth opportunities of key market segments along with the tactical moves made by key vendors to grow in the market.The extensively researched report analyzes in sufficient detail the distribution trends of the equipment, trader analysis, and status of various marketing channels dominant across segments and regions. Furthermore, the analysis also offers useful data on import-export volume of major products in different countries and tabulates the product offering having maximum share revenue. Recent policy changes and regulations favoring developmental trends in the industry is highlighted in this report along with and tracking their impact analysis on supply and chain structure.The study provides useful information on new projects and ventures along with offering investment feasibility analysis, which will help the key investors and stakeholders to evaluate the growth prospects of the segments they would target.View Complete Report @ https://www.researchtrades.com/report/united-states-navigational-radar-market-report-2017/1358769 About Research Trades:Research Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.Contact us:Email: sales@ researchtrades.com Call us: +1 6269994607 / +91 7507349866Skype ID: researchtradesconWeb: www.researchtrades.com The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, says that the federal government has realised N17 billion from the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) inaugurated in July. Babatunde Flower, the FIRS Executive Chairman, said this in Lagos on Wednesday, at a media workshop on VAIDS. Mr. Flower said that the N17 billion was voluntarily paid by some companies through VAIDS, an amnesty programme inaugurated by the government for taxpayers to regularise their tax status relating to previous tax periods. According to him, the initiative is making progress as additional N6 billion is expected to be paid by some corporate bodies before the end of 2017. Mr. Flower called on Nigerians to embrace VAIDS in order to benefit from the forgiveness of overdue interest and penalties before its expiration on March 31, 2018. He said that Nigerias tax Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio at just six per cent, was one of the lowest in the world when compared to Indias 16 per cent, Ghanas 15.9 per cent and South Africas 27 per cent. Flower said that VAIDS was introduced to usher in an opportunity to increase the nations general tax awareness and compliance. VAIDS is a time-limited opportunity for taxpayers to regularise their tax status in exchange for fully and honestly declaring previously undisclosed assets and income. Tax payers will benefit from the forgiveness of overdue interest and penalties, he said. Albert Folorunsho, the Managing Cousultant, Pedabo Professional Services, said that Nigerians should embrace the initiative while it last to regularise their tax status. Speaking on the topic, VAIDS: A Tax Amnesty Programme in Action, Mr. Folorunsho said that the initiative was put together by the Ministry of Finance to ensure tax compliance without regulation. He said that VAIDS offers an opportunity for taxpayers to redress themselves before government wields its big stick at the end of the nine months amnesty programme. Mr. Folorunsho also said that it was introduced to act as immediate tax revenue to the government and to widen tax revenue. He said that VAIDS would help boost the level of compliance to tax revenue contribution to the GDP. Mr. Folorunsho said that the nations tax revenue contribution to GDP, standing between 5.9 per cent and six per cent was low when compared to South Africa, China and India. According to him, those countries have 56 per cent, 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. He said that the government introduced the scheme to give Nigerians the opportunity to regularise their tax status voluntarily within the period while the programme was on. Mr. Folorunsho, however, said that there would not be amnesty for late payment after the scheme had ended while enjoining people who front for others in businesses to transfer assets back to rightful owners. Also speaking, Gabriel Ogunjemilusi, Deputy Director, Tax Policy and Advisory Department, FIRS said that the scheme was not new as some countries had used it in the past to generate more revenues for developmental purposes. Mr. Ogunjemilusi said Indonesia, one of the countries which had used the scheme was able to generate up to12 billion dollars in three different amnesty schemes. He said that South African government also used the scheme to broaden the citizens compliance culture and the tax-payers base. The official said that the country, being a member of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) and the nations compliance to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) would help to reduce tax evasion. Flamboyant Kannywood actor, Adam Zango, has honoured some of his loyal fans with a grand reception in Kano during the premiere of his new film Gwaska Returns. The event, which took place at Shoprite in Kano on December 12, saw Kannywood celebrities including Nafeesat Abdullahi, Ali Nuhu, Ado Gwanja, Nura M Inuwa, Fati Abubakar and many others in attendance. The event also witnessed award presentation by Mr. Zango to some of his fans. He dashed out T-Shirts, watches and many other gifts at the event. Mansur Makeup, an Adam Zango ally, spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on the success of the event. It was a beautiful event. Zango also recognized many of his fans by dashing out gift items to them. Adam is doing one thing that has never been done in the Kannywood. He is giving back to his people and sharing his successes with them. Fati SU, an actress and a loyal fan of Adam Zango, also applauded the actors gestures to his fans. I have always held Adam Zango in high esteem and known him as a good personality. What he has just done is a marvelous thing to have come from an actor. He does this to his colleagues and to his fans. He is indeed a marvelous person, Fati said. In an appreciation video posted by Zango on his Instagram page, he thanked his colleagues for honouring his invitation to the event and promised to do more to his fans. The popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, also known as Kwam 1, has lost one of his daughters, Wasilat. Wasilat Anifowose died in Canada after a brief illness. The deceased, said to be 34 years old, reportedly died in the early hours of Tuesday from complications arising from diabetes. Many of her old secondary school friends and mates have taken to the social media to express their condolences. Wasilat was described as a gentle, peace loving person. Kwam 1s manager, Esther, confirmed the death to PREMIUM TIMES but declined further comments. Turkey appealed on Wednesday to world leaders to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, as it opened an Islamic summit called in response to a U.S. decision to recognise the city as Israels capital. Firstly the Palestinian state must be recognised by all other countries. We must all strive together for this, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as foreign ministers convened ahead of the full summit meeting. We must encourage other countries to recognise the Palestinian State on the basis of its 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, Mr. Cavusoglu said. Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islams third holiest site and has been at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, an action not recognised internationally. U.S. President Donald Trumps announcement on December 6, recognising the city as Israels capital led to protests in many Muslim countries. Turkey said it would plunge the world into a fire with no end. Turkey has invited leaders of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a group of more than 50 Muslim nations, to Wednesdays meeting in Istanbul to formulate a joint response to Mr. Trumps decision. (Reuters/NAN) The U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, UAE, have pledged $190 million to five countries in Africas Sahel region to strengthen regional security forces in the fight against terrorism. The pledges came during special conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron outside Paris on Wednesday to discuss the fight against terrorism with the presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. The so-called Group of Five (G5) Sahel countries came together in 2014 to form a common military force to battle Islamist rebels, terrorist militias and organised crime in their region. The Sahel G5 force got a financial boost from the pledges of 100 million dollars from the Saudis, 30 million from the UAE, and 60 million from the U.S. The EU had previously announced a pledge of 50 million euros (59 million dollars). Macron did not give a total amount for aid pledged. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a swift start to German and international aid during the special talks, held in a castle in the south-western Paris suburb of La Celle-Saint-Cloud. Here we are dealing with an urgent task. Islamist terrorism is spreading. We cannot wait; we must instead, as quickly as possible, begin to lead this fight, Ms. Merkel said. Mr. Macrons said the forces establishment would be accelerated and include at least 5,000 troops. We must win the battle against terrorism and terrorist-jihadism in the Sahel, he said, adding that the first victories of the efforts must occur in the first half of 2018. The Sahel coalition is born, Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, said. (dpa/NAN) Jordans King Abdullah on Wednesday rejected any attempt to change the status of Jerusalem or its holy sites, and said peace would not come to the region without a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All violence is a result of a failure to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue, he told an emergency summit of Muslim leaders in Turkey. King Abdullahs Hashemite dynasty is custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Amman particularly sensitive to any changes of status after the Trump administrations decision to recognise it as Israels capital. Also speaking, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, the Trump administrations decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was the greatest crime and a flagrant violation of international law. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine, he told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey. He said the United States was giving away Jerusalem as if it were an American city. It crosses all the red lines, he said. Mr. Abbas said it was unacceptable for the U.S. to have a role in the Middle East peace process because it was biased in favour of Israel. Earlier, President Recep Erdogan called Israel a terrorist state and proposed to proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine in response to the U.S. decision to recognise the city as the capital of Israel. Having violated the international norms, the U.S. declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Taking a few steps there is enough to realise that the city is occupied. Israel is a terrorist state. I urge to proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of the occupied state of Palestine, Mr. Erdogan said at an extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. Mr. Erdogan expressed gratitude to the states that had condemned U.S. President Donald Trumps decision on Israel and expressed hope that the UN member states would demonstrate their right position. The summit was also attended by leaders including Irans President Hassan Rouhani and Sudans Omar al-Bashir. Mr. Rouhani tweeted that Trumps decision showed the United States had no respect for Palestinian rights and could never be an honest mediator. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr. Bashir over his alleged role in war crimes including genocide in Sudans Darfur province, but Turkey is not a member of the court and not obliged to implement the warrants. (Reuters/NAN) The Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, has won the just concluded Alabama senate election which he contested against Republican, Roy Moor. The election was held to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. Attorney General. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty does not guarantee victory. The Republican loss was a major embarrassment for President Donald Trump. Mr. Jones considered the result as a reflection of a unified country. The democrat could not but express his gratitude amidst cheers and tears of the state people. In shock, Mr. Jones expressed I think that I have been waiting all my life, and now I just dont know what the hell to say. The victory by Mr. Jones, a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for Birminghams infamous 1963 church bombing, narrows the Grand Old Party -the Republicans- advantage in the U.S. Senate to 51-49. That imperils already-uncertain Republican tax, budget and health proposals and injects tremendous energy into the Democratic Partys early push to reclaim House and Senate majorities in 2018. Some residents have termed the result as nothing but an embarrassment to President Trump and a wake-up call. However, Roy Moore has refused to accept the defeat as he raised the possibility of a recount during a brief appearance at a somber campaign party in Montgomery. Its not over, Mr. Moore said. We know that God is still in control. Still, many Washington Republicans viewed the defeat of Moore as perhaps the best outcome for the party nationally despite the short-term sting. The fiery Christian conservatives positions have alienated women, racial minorities, gays and Muslims in addition to the multiple allegations that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with teens, one only 14, when he was in his 30s. In a speech, John Merrill, Secretary of State of Alabama, shortly after the announcement of results affirmed the verifiability of the result. Mr. Merrill declared, The people of Alabama have spoken tonight. The most important thing to remember now is the process needs to be followed to ensure that the integrity, the safety and security of the election is preserved. The election will be certified no earlier than December 26 and no later than the January 3. If the margin is within 1 per cent, it triggers an automatic recount. So far, Mr. Jones is leading by more than that. However, there are still votes to be counted, including absentee and military ballots. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump tweeted a congratulatory message to Doug Jones quoting the victory as a hard fought one. And on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Trump said that he already knew that Roy Moore would not win. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the general election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was staged against him, Mr. Trump said. Virtually the entire Republican establishment, Mr. Trump included, supported Mr. Moores primary opponent, Luther Strange, in September. The press freedom arbiter, Committee to Protect Journalists, has released this years database of journalists Imprisoned worldwide, showing a rise in cases of journalists jailed on account of their work. The report released on Wednesday said the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high for the second year in a row. As of December 1, 2017, CPJ found 262 journalists behind bars around the world in relation to their work, an increase on last years historical high of 259, the statement noted. The database features two Nigerian journalists that are similarly imprisoned. Ahmed Abba, a journalist of Nigerian descent, who worked for the Radio France in Cameroon has been in that countrys detention since July 2015. CPJ had earlier launched a campaign for his release. Another Nigerian journalist featured in the list is Jones Abiri, publisher of Bayelsa-based Weekly Source tabloid newspaper. Mr. Abiri was arrested in July 2016 by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, who ransacked his office in Yenagoa before whisking him to Abuja. The worlds worst jailers of journalists, according to the report, are the trio of Turkey, China and Egypt carrying on the baton from last year. Turkey is again the worst jailer, with 73 journalists imprisoned for their work as the country continues its press freedom crackdown. China and Egypt again take the second and third spot, with 41 and 20 cases respectively. The worst three jailers are responsible for jailing 134or 51 percentof the total. CPJ decried that the U.S. and other Western powers have failed to pressure the three countries to improve the bleak climate for press freedom. In a just society, no journalist should ever be imprisoned for their work and reporting critically, but 262 are paying that price, said CPJ Executive Director, Joel Simon. It is shameful that for the second year in a row, a record number of journalists are behind bars. Countries that jail journalists for what they publish are violating international law and must be held accountable. The fact that repressive governments are not paying a price for throwing journalists in jail represents a failure of the international community. According to CPJs census 194 journalists, or 74 per cent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges, many under broad or vague terror laws. In Turkey, every journalist on the census is either accused of or charged with anti-state crimes. Although many journalists cover multiple beats, politics was the most dangerous, covered by 87 percent of those jailed. Nearly all the jailed journalists are local and the percentage of freelancers is higher this year, accounting for 29 per cent of cases. Other leading jailers of journalists in 2017 are Eritrea, with 15 cases, and Azerbaijan and Vietnam, with 10 cases each. The international community has done little to isolate repressive countries and U.S. President Donald Trumps nationalistic rhetoric and insistence on labeling critical media fake news serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists. CPJs 2017 census found the number of journalists jailed for false news doubled this year, to 21 cases, the report added. Armed persons on Tuesday night attacked an unoccupied residence of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu. The house, located within a farm owned by Mr. Magu in Karshi, a suburb of Abuja, was stormed by unidentified attackers at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The attackers subdued a police officer and another civilian working on the property and tied them up before beating the duo to pulp. The policeman died from the beating, a source close to the EFCC bosss family disclosed. The farmstead was placed under police security a few months ago following earlier attack on it in which the uncompleted house was ransacked in suspicious circumstances. The attack on the property was also followed not long afterward by a dawn attack on the EFCC office in Abuja in August. That was what warranted additional security around Mr. Magu and his family, the source explained. The motive behind the latest attack is however said to be hazy as the attackers also carted away five cattle and some sheep that were being reared in the compound. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that police officers are already drafted to the crime scene for proper investigation. Attempt to reach Mr. Magu and EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, to react to this story was not successful at the time of this report. Nigerias Minister of Niger Delta, Usani Usani, has said that the East- West road in the region was designed to fail. He also said the federal government has so far spent N300 billion on the project. Mr. Usani stated these on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, which held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The minister earlier said his ministry had sought for and gotten the nod of FEC to construct a new office for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC at the cost of N16 billion. He was then asked why he chose to prioritise the building of a new office for NDDC instead of completing the East-West road considered important for the people of the region. In his reaction, Mr. Usani said the road requires N30 billion to be completed and the N16 billion proposed for the NDDC headquarters is not enough to complete it. When you talk of N16 billion as if it is so relevant in completing the East-West road, I wish to tell you that the outstanding certificate on the east west road amount to N30 billion. So, if we put N16 billion there, in fact one and the other are not substitutes. Two of them are essential infrastructure projects that must go on, so it doesnt mean that if we put that money on the East-West road then it satisfies the needs of housing the NDDC, he said. The minister said the East-West road is a project that has been messed up from inception. He said it was naturally designed to fail by all the agreements and designed concepts that we have seen. He said he is presently putting things in order to ensure the project is completed. The project started more than a decade ago and in 24 months we have made the progress we have made on that project, correcting even the construction deficits in the area, then I think you should be able to appreciate what we are doing. The Niger Delta region has a prime position in our preference to develop the area and so there are no substitutes. So even if we are not going to do the NDDC headquarters, it doesnt mean we will complete the East-West road. They are all important and I want you to get that into your mind, Mr. Usani said. On how much much has been spent on the East-West road so far, Mr. Usani said the government has spent N300 billion. He, however, said he is doing a review of the entire contract; saying without that nothing will ever happen on that road talk less of completion. If you have spent N300 billion and you are where you are, then the design, negotiations, contracts and everything is wrong. You designed a project of that nature and give it a lifespan of seven years and then no designs in some sectors and yet you are attributing cost to it. So by what means did you have the elements of costing. These are verifiable facts at any time, he said. Mr. Usani said he has concluded plans to send about 30 contractors working for the NDDC to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution. I have got a minimum of 30 contractors that I am sending to EFCC. On the East-West road I have taken a private consultant to review the whole cost, so some contractors will obviously refund money for which the present cost will be discounted. So when you see contractors ganging up and publishing things against me, you should know the foundation. But as far as I am here I will do something that I feel is right, he said. Reports reaching PREMIUM TIMES indicate that Nigerian soldiers are currently battling to repel an attack by armed Boko Haram fighters in Mainok village, Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State. Mainok is about 58km from Maiduguri. A security official in Borno State confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the attackers came through the bush areas that link Mainok with Buniyadi village of Yobe State. Yes the attack is on as I speak with you now but our military troops are gallantly tackling them as we have heard so far, said the source who would rather not mention his name for security reasons. The insurgents came through the Buniyadi axis that connects to Kaga local government and Sambisa forest, the source added. Mainok suffered its most devastating attack in September 2014 during which the village was burnt down by Boko Haram fighters. Most of the residents who survived that attack fled to Maiduguri. The residents were amongst the first set of displaced persons that returned to their homes early this year. Details later Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $300 million (about N108 billion) in grants to support agricultural research which would help poor farmers to adapt to the consequences of climate change. The foundation announced the commitment, which will run between 2018 and 2020, at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Monday. The announcement is contained in a statement which was e-mailed to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos. The foundation said that the grants would assist farmers to address challenges of rising temperatures, extreme weather patterns (droughts and floods), diseases, poor soil fertility and attacks from crop pests. Farmers in Africa and Asia are targeted to benefit from the grants. Two-thirds of the worlds poorest people live in Africa and Asia, and roughly 800 million of them rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. These smallholder farmers play a negligible role in generating carbon emissions but they suffer some of the harshest effects of climate change. As the climate changes, farmers ability to produce crops to feed their families or earn an income will be increasingly threatened. Livelihoods will be destroyed and climate-related pressures could force people to abandon their homes and communities, in search of better conditions. Poor farmers in developing countries will need the most innovative tools and technologies to adapt to the effects of climate change, the foundation said. It stressed that there was an urgent need to equip the farmers with tools which could make their crop production more productive, sustainable and resilient in the face of a rapidly changing environment. The announcement of the Gates Foundation is somewhat a direct response to the needs articulated by developing countries in their adaptation plans in crop improvement, protection and management. The Gates Foundations commitment comes in addition to a 318-million-dollar (about N114.5) commitment from the European Commission (EC), also announced on Monday, with additional commitments from the member states still to be finalised. Taken together, the funding from the EC and the Gates Foundation to help farmers increase crop yields, respond to environmental threats and adapt their farming methods to climate change will amount to over 600 million dollars (about N216 billion) over the next three years. Besides, the Gates Foundation and the BNP Paribas Foundation, in partnership with the Agropolis Foundation, launched the One Planet Fellowship at the Paris summit. The fellowship consist of a 15-million-euro (N6.3 billion) five-year programme to support 600 young African and European researchers, who are working to help African farmers adapt to climate change. Speaking at the summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that agriculture was the most promising path out of poverty for individuals and countries. A 28-year-old trader, Kemi Shopade, who allegedly assaulted two Ikeja Electric workers who wanted to disconnect her electricity wire, on Wednesday appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates Court, Lagos. Ms. Shopade, a resident of Alaguntan, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, is being tried for conspiracy and assault. The prosecutor, Godwin Awase, said that the accused committed the offences on November 24, at her residence. Mr. Awase said that the accused and two others, who had yet to be apprehended, assaulted two workers of Ikeja Electric Messrs. John Oluwole and Uwaoman Ibiam. The accused beat up and bit the complainants while performing their duty, he said. He said that the complainants disconnected the electricity supply of the accused over unpaid electricity bills from January. The accused, who had not paid for electricity since the beginning of the year, descended on the complainants when they disconnected her power supply. The two other men, who are still at large joined her in beating the complainants, and in the process, the accused bit the complainants. The case was reported to the police and the accused was arrested, the prosecutor said. The offences contravened Sections 174 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015(Revised). The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Section 174 prescribes three years jail term for a person guilty of assault. The accused, however, pleaded innocence of the offences and was granted bail in the sum of N20,000 with two sureties in like sum. The magistrate, J.A. Adigun, said that the sureties should be gainfully employed and show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government. He adjourned the case until January 5, for mention. The Police Command in Ekiti has arrested one of its men, Ayodele Famodimu, who allegedly shot dead a commercial driver on Tuesday. The police spokesperson, Alberto Adeyemi, told journalists in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday that the incident occurred in Oye Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of the state. Mr. Adeyemi said the police officer killed the bus driver at a checkpoint. He is already facing departmental orderly room trial and when the trial is concluded, he will simply be dismissed after which he will be charged to court, he said. An witness had however told the News Agency of Nigeria at the scene that the bus was travelling from Ikara in nearby Ondo State. When the driver was hit by the bullet, he lost control of the bus and it somersaulted while the passengers sustained various degrees of injury, the witness said Also, Mohammed Olowo, an Assistant Sector Commander at the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ado Ekikti, said the injuries sustained by the passengers were not critical. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday secured the conviction of one Joshua Dan-Daura a Deputy Superintendent of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, who was prosecuted for job scam before Justice Dije Abdu Aboki of the Kano State High Court. The convict was arraigned by the Commission on December 22, 2016 for allegedly defrauding the complainant of N450,000 under the pretext of securing job for him. Upon arraignment, the convict pleaded not guilty which compelled the prosecution counsel Musa Isah to proceed to trial that lasted for 12 months. Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Aboki found the accused person guilty as charged and convicted him. After listening to the plea for mercy from the defence counsel, Amos Ango, Justice Aboki sentenced the convict to 9 months imprisonment with option of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only) fine. The convict was also ordered to return the sum of N370,000 to the complainant or spend 18 additional months in prison if he fails to do so. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has confirmed an attack by unknown gunmen on a property belonging to its Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu. PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported the attack which led to the death of a police officer. In a statement on Wednesday evening, spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said the attackers murdered a police sergeant guarding the property located in Karshi, a suburb of Abuja. The property, a farmhouse located in Karshi, a suburb of Abuja, was attacked by unknown gunmen at about 10 p.m. on December 12, 2017. The unidentified men murdered a police sergeant on duty. The incident was the second such attack on the same farmhouse, he said. Mr. Uwujaren said the commission would not speculate on the motive of the attack. He, however, stated that the EFCC under the leadership of Mr. Magu would not be deterred in its mission to rid the country of corruption. It is almost impossible to overemphasise how seriously this paragraph from Olabode Georges statement announcing his withdrawal from the Peoples Democratic Partys chairmanship race could loom over the partys just-concluded national convention: The Yoruba people have been openly maligned. The Yoruba have been savaged, tormented, treated with contempt, scurried, scoffed at, humiliated and denigrated by little men whose sun will soon set. In the wake of the PDPs least controversial convention since losing power in 2015, concerns have mounted over the opposition partys 2019 chances in the South-west after politicians from the region were denied chairmanship in a rapid twist of fate. Including Mr. George, all but one of the seven chairmanship contenders from the South-west were compelled to stand down at the eleventh hour, and one of the two South-South candidates went on to defeat the Yoruba consensus pick. Uche Secondus victory is fueling speculations that the South-west was tactically schemed out of the PDPs hierarchical structure, effectively tilting the party, which prides itself the biggest in Africa, towards regionalism. John Odigie-Oyegun, chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, dutifully latched onto Mr. Georges anger with a divide-and-conquer statement to the media. But going by the accounts of party players, including those who have reservations about the outcome of the convention, it appears the assurances given to the South-west were, at best, a gentlemans agreement, which failed to hold water. Above all else, Mr. Georges smouldering dissatisfaction was aimed at putting some relatively new power brokers in the PDP on the notice. This is not because the politician has any interest in yielding to the overtures of the APC, said Ebenezer Babatope, his long-time ally. The 2015 misfortune of the PDP has seen the resurgence of governors on its platform as the major fixers in crucial affairs. The 2015 outcome also saw the concentration of most of the governors on the platform of the party in two contiguous geopolitical zones, South-south and South-east. The influence of this bloc from the two zones prevailed at the partys latest national convention, which held Saturday in Abuja. After the partys defunct interim national leadership announced in October that the convention will hold on December 9, nine candidates purchased forms to contest the chairmanship. Of these, Mr. George, Rasheed Ladoja, Segun Aderemi, Taoheed Adedoja, Gbenga Daniel, Tunde Adeniran and Jimi Agbaje contested from the South-west; while Mr. Secondus and Raymond Dokpesi targeted the top office from the South-south. The party had formally restricted the chairmanship to politicians in the south, and the presidential ticket in 2019 to northern politicians. At the initial stage of the campaign for the chairmanship, it was widely expected that one of the seven South-west candidates would clinch the office and the region will have its first chairman since the party was created in 1998. But as the convention neared, the South-west candidates began feeling the heat from Mr. Secondus, who had once led the PDP in an acting capacity between 2015 and 2016. It turned out that Mr. Secondus, 62, from Rivers State, had the unwavering support of his state governor, Nyesom Wike. With enough money and the comradeship of other PDP governors to deploy, Mr. Wike was able to seize control of most of the delegates, one state at a time. The South-west candidates, including those who had spent weeks on the campaign trail to all the 36 states, found themselves submerged by Mr. Secondus, who did not start campaign tour until two weeks to the convention, according to those familiar with his itineraries. When Mr. Secondus ambition was becoming too domineering to ignore, meetings were held to broker a consensus deal amongst the Yoruba candidates, but none of them was ready to shift ground, according to those familiar with the talks. One of such early meetings was convened in November by Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose, in Ikeja, Lagos. The negotiations intensified in the last week leading to the convention after some northern leaders purportedly assured the Yoruba candidates that northern delegates wanted a consensus candidate. On November 6, Mr. Ladoja, a former governor of Oyo State, was the first to withdraw from the race, a decision he made during a meeting held at his instance the same day, according to those who were there. The next day, more aspirants, including Jimi Agbaje, also stepped down following intervention from the Afenifere. The discussion continued in search of consensus amongst the remaining three candidates from the South-west Messrs. George, Adeniran and Daniel. But while this was ongoing, the candidates were receiving reports that Mr. Wike was spending heavily to sway the northern delegates towards Mr. Secondus. The intimidating spending was the reason Messrs. George and Daniel ultimately dropped out, leaving Mr. Adeniran as the only candidate from the region. At the convention on Saturday, Mr. Secondus polled 2.000 out of the total 2,296 votes cast, with Mr. Adeniran trailing with 230 votes. The process leading to the convention was seen by politicians like Mr. George as an affront to the Yoruba. They argued that the chairmanship had been micro-zoned to the South-west, and Mr. Secondus should not have entered the race in the first place. The South-east stayed out of the race because it had been promised the vice-presidential ticket in 2019. The South-south was told that since the last president is from Bayelsa State, the region could wait to get other positions in government, like the Speaker of the House. But Mr. Wike and others in the Niger-Delta argued that the arrangement was untenable, and the South-west, which had not added much political value to the party, should not be put in the top position. The comments by Governor Wike is the height of insult against the Yoruba, Mr. Babatope told PREMIUM TIMES via telephone Monday night. We have contributed immensely and helped hold the party together since its inception. Mr. Babatope strongly disagreed with the outcome of the convention, but said that would not chase him out of the party. We will not jump from one party to another, Mr. Babatope said. Those of us who believe in PDP will never compromise on our membership. He said the controversy will not have any adverse effect on the partys showing in 2019, especially if a reconciliation mechanism is put in place to address genuine grudges. The PDPs chances will not suffer in the South-west because of what happened. We have specific disagreements and we hope a reconciliation committee will be set up to resolve them, he said. Mr. Babatope said the South-west PDP politicians still see Mr. Wike, Mr. Secondus and others who denied the region the chairmanship slot as friends. Governor Seriake Dickson had earlier told PREMIUM TIMES that a reconciliation panel might be raised, although he strongly dismissed claims of any conspiracy against the South-west at the convention. He described the affair as a question of political calculation and not a conspiracy. But Boladale Adekoya, a political analyst, said the failure of South-west to clinch the chairmanship was a major setback for the region. He said the South-wests loss derailed the PDP from the ideology of its founding fathers as a political party that transcends ethnic, religious and regional colouration. The PDP as we know it is dead, Mr. Adekoya said. It has now been replaced by power brokers from some regions in the country. Mr. Adekoya rejected the argument that the region lost because it failed to rally behind a candidate, an excuse he said had been deployed before. What the leadership of the party should have done was to leave the South-west to deal with its options, rather than disguising to be fighting the battle on its behalf, he said. The same playbook adopted by the Jonathan administration against the South-west when the region lost key National Assembly positions in 2011. In 2019, PDP plans to pick its presidential candidate from the North and the running mate from the South-east; the Senate President is also restricted to the North; the Speaker to the South-south. In all these, one of the most sophisticated regions in the country, is nowhere to be found, Mr. Adekoya said. Like President Jonathan, the PDP will definitely pay for scheming out the South-west. Even Buhari, with his cult following in the North, failed woefully three times until he made a U-turn to properly include the South-west in his political permutations, he added. On the contrary, Tolani Animashaun, a PDP chieftain, said the partys nationalist perception will not be corroded or diminished by Saturdays outcome. It is unfortunate that we lost the chairmanship, Ms. Animashaun said. But that is because we failed to properly organise and present a common candidate. The region that won strategised better in the lead up to the convention, she added. Nobody should say the PDP has become regional. Were still united and a reconciliation plan that is currently underway will even make us more united. Similarly, Demola Olarewaju, a PDP strategist with a fair knowledge of the partys history, described the convention as the most democratic in the partys history. Mr. Olarewaju rejected the insinuations that the PDP is becoming increasingly regional, especially since party chairmanship is not considered a part of zoning arrangements in the real sense. The PDP moved the chairmanship to the south in continuation of its long-standing strategy of ensuring that the chairman does not emerge from the same region as the president, Mr. Olarewaju said. This policy is aimed at achieving a political equilibrium in the affairs of the party, not necessarily the government. Thats why you have Sule Lamido contesting from the North-west while Atiku Abubakar is running from the North-east, he said. The South-west should not feel entitled to a position that was opened to the whole south. Amongst the reasons why the South-west was looking forward to the chairmanship was because its candidate was widely favoured in the botched Port-Harcourt convention last year. Jimi Agbaje, from Lagos State, was widely backed at the time by major fixers in the party, including governors in the South-south and South-east. But that arrangement has since been discarded after the convention threw up a flurry of legal and political crises in the party. The party finally regained its footing after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ahmed Makarfi-led interim leadership. A lot has happened since then and people have changed their positions, Mr. Olarewaju said. Mr. Olarewaju said the convention outcome now means that the South-west could have a shot at the vice-presidential ticket. The vice-president was only allotted to the entire South, not the South-east in particular, he said. Yet, the analyst warned that Mr. Secondus must move to unify the party, lest it loses focus from mounting an arduous challenge to the ruling APC. As long as the APC is made to believe it has no opposition, it will always be complacent, Mr. Olarewaju said. Remilekun Owolabi, a Lagos-based political analyst, said the PDP risks being perceived as a regional party as it increasingly concentrates key offices in two regions. In an ideal situation, it shouldnt, but the way it is here, its clear that thats the case, Ms. Owolabi said. And with this arrangement, the South-west members cant be pleased and I dont think thats good for the party. She advised the party to earnestly put its house in order if it hopes to make serious impact by 2019. The party needs not start this new era with issues like division and all, it simply means they are yet to get their acts together, and thats not good for their success in 2019, she said. While many Nigerians still hold unfavourable opinion of the PDPs 16-year streak, the partys standing as the only viable alternative for Africas most populous nation is hardly in doubt. The party clearly recognises its formidable status, but how it contains the fallout from the convention in a way that would polish its optics and broaden its base would require more skills than fortitude. The Nigerian Navy says it will begin from Friday the interview of successful candidates who sat for its Direct Short Service Commission (DSSC) Course 25 aptitude test on December 2. Suleman Dahun, the Acting Director of Information, Naval Headquarters, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. Mr. Dahun, a captain, said the interview will hold from December 15 to 23 at the Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Ojo, Lagos State. The acting director urged applicants to check www.joinnigeriannavy.com for the list of successful candidates. Candidates are to note that the interview process includes screening of credentials, medical, physical fitness tests, written and oral examinations. They are therefore, mandated to appear with the original and photocopies of their credentials along with writing materials and other essential personal items for the week-long interview, he said. (NAN) LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR DSSC 25 SELECTION BOARD SERIAL APPLICATION NUMBER NAMES DEPARTMENT (a) (b) (c) (d) ABIA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/ABI/429/0011965 Asiegbu Uchenna Samuel Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/ABI/1015/0029670 Chukwuemeka Iheanyichukwu Eugene Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/ABI/517/0014489 Clement Sunday Chukwuma Accounts and Budget 4 DSSC25/2017/ABI/2406/0066860 Echem Ezechukwu Onyeabor Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/ABI/2486/0068712 Ekwe Pearl Nwachi Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/ABI/176/0005070 Eluwa Sandra Chika Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/ABI/560/0015336 Enyinnaya Chukwuka Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/ABI/575/0015720 Eze Christian Seaman 9 DSSC25/2017/ABI/904/0026171 Eze Kenneth Ozichi Engineering 10 DSSC25/2017/ABI/1373/0038307 Kalu Chisom Information 11 DSSC25/2017/ABI/104/0003199 Kanu Franklin Chima Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/ABI/838/0024059 Madukwe Washington Nwabueze Accounts and Budget 13 DSSC25/2017/ABI/2405/0066857 Nnaukwu Charles Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/ABI/2396/0066483 Nwogu Ugochi Igwe Legal Services 15 DSSC25/2017/ABI/1133/0032601 Ohozie Charles Chinweike Human Resource Management 16 DSSC25/2017/ABI/99/0002988 Okarah Christian Ifeanyi Human Resource Management 17 DSSC25/2017/ABI/63/0002098 Onyebuenyi Chinonso Great Information 18 DSSC25/2017/ABI/2459/0068023 Onyekachi Mary Uloma Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/ABI/3247/0088161 Orji Obinna Ikechukwu Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/ABI/347/0010197 Orji Ogbonna Iroha Logistics 21 DSSC25/2017/ABI/174/0005020 Oti Henry Chinonso Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/ABI/669/0019082 Udonsi George Chimaobi Medical 23 DSSC25/2017/ABI/1888/0052035 Ukaegbu Daniel Chinedu Logistics ADAMAWA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/ADA/634/0042161 Abdulkarim Mohammad Nuru ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/ADA/273/0015535 Abdulrahman Idris Babayola Accounts and Budget 3 DSSC25/2017/ADA/1064/0075013 Alex Valada Education 4 DSSC25/2017/ADA/358/0021551 Bashir Salim Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/ADA/962/0067294 Bashir Bashir Ibrahim ICT 6 DSSC25/2017/ADA/289/0016695 Bello Mubashir Ibrahim ICT 7 DSSC25/2017/ADA/959/0067107 Biyapo Great Chamatam ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/ADA/184/0009879 David Emmanuel Human Resource Management 9 DSSC25/2017/ADA/952/0066923 Demshemino Kulligillang Sunday ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/ADA/222/0012045 Emmanuel Usiju Medugu Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/ADA/1141/0081789 Hammanyero Zainab Ama Human Resource Management 12 DSSC25/2017/ADA/612/0040442 Hananiya Hyelakidati Samuel Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/ADA/244/0013509 Ibrahim Yusuf Khalil Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/ADA/1189/0085333 Idris Arafat Dzarma ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/ADA/471/0029091 Iliya Fatuwa ICT 16 DSSC25/2017/ADA/477/0029332 Ishaku Pwakuli Clifford Logistics 17 DSSC25/2017/ADA/454/0027565 James Nazzuwa Wabolamanyi Accounts and Budget 18 DSSC25/2017/ADA/923/0063832 Jantiku Hamman Joseph Education 19 DSSC25/2017/ADA/208/0011199 Kwaghe Jason Baba Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/ADA/203/0011020 Mohammed Abubakar Education 21 DSSC25/2017/ADA/260/0014407 Ngida Musa Logistics 22 DSSC25/2017/ADA/2/0000065 Terrang Atsaktiya Denis ICT 23 DSSC25/2017/ADA/234/0012661 Umar Awwal Adamu Logistics AKWA IBOM STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2383/0067148 Andem Edemekong Akanimo ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/AKW/649/0019250 Bassey Princewill ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/AKW/3353/0089472 Ben Ekaette Akpan Information 4 DSSC25/2017/AKW/290/0008059 Edet Maryblessing Effiong Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/AKW/758/0022146 Edet Monday James Engineering 6 DSSC25/2017/AKW/1848/0052584 Edet Samson Music 7 DSSC25/2017/AKW/328/0009479 Edoho Victor Uwem Human Resource Management 8 DSSC25/2017/AKW/676/0020214 Effiong Kingsley Ndifreke ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2886/0079755 Ekwere Edikan Aloysius Sports/Pt 10 DSSC25/2017/AKW/1365/0038846 Elijah Etido Udoh Seaman 11 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2519/0070183 Etim Anietie Sebastian Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/AKW/9172/0224123 Etuk Esther Michael Information 13 DSSC25/2017/AKW/1963/0056414 Henry Titus Idung ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/AKW/212/0005829 Inam Ndifreke Akpan Engineering 15 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2189/0062446 James Etiese Iniobong Education 16 DSSC25/2017/AKW/1193/0033562 Nyoyoko Edidiong Macarton Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/AKW/108/0003436 Obotowo Ekomobong Ndifreke Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2085/0060409 Udo Saviour Udo Logistics 19 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2117/0060963 Udoh Lawrence Augustine Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/AKW/133/0004134 Udoh Yakekpono David Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/AKW/2231/0063485 Udom Miriam Isaac Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/AKW/141/0004230 Uyo Imeime Innocent Hydrography 23 DSSC25/2017/AKW/392/0011325 Williamson Ekemini Sunday Hydrography ANAMBRA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/ANA/402/0008549 Agbasi Ifeanyi Ebubechukwu ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/ANA/960/0020756 Aghazu Ndidiamaka Chikaodili-Bliss Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/ANA/2635/0057857 Arinze Ikenna Jude Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/ANA/3854/0081982 Azuogalanya Zimuzo Tochukwu Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/ANA/305/0006208 Chima Onyebuchi Adrain Engineering 6 DSSC25/2017/ANA/3347/0072002 Ejiofor Ndubuisi Gabriel Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/ANA/574/0012519 Ijezie Chimmuanya Okwudili Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/ANA/716/0015347 Iregbenu Nnamdi Godwin Logistics 9 DSSC25/2017/ANA/1854/0039298 James Grace Chidimma Education 10 DSSC25/2017/ANA/59/0001154 Nnaemeka Chibuike Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/ANA/2082/0043898 Nwafor Onyinye Maryrose Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/ANA/1119/0023956 Ochuba Ekene Emmanuel ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/ANA/1155/0024767 Odenigbo Michael Chisom Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/ANA/2615/0056375 Ogwulumba Christiana Nkechi Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/ANA/3152/0068605 Okafor Ebuka Benjamin Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/ANA/2358/0050073 Okonkwo Chukwujekwu James Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/ANA/3718/0079365 Okpaloka Adaora Henrietta Education 18 DSSC25/2017/ANA/823/0017755 Ono Onyeka Kingsley Accounts and Budget 19 DSSC25/2017/ANA/975/0021113 Onuorah Chibuzor Michael Legal Services 20 DSSC25/2017/ANA/1320/0027918 Onyeakusi Emmanuel Chinechem Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/ANA/345/0007141 Onyilimba Stanley Tochukwu ICT 22 DSSC25/2017/ANA/695/0014783 Orakpo Ruth Ifeoma Education 23 DSSC25/2017/ANA/2400/0050970 Udeaja Paul Ogonna Engineering BAUCHI STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/BAU/685/0061775 Abubakar Hamza Datti Human Resource Management 2 DSSC25/2017/BAU/612/0053126 Ahmad Umar Faruoq ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/BAU/21/0001313 Auwal Ahmed Bello ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/BAU/390/0031732 Barau Abdulrasheed Isah Legal Services 5 DSSC25/2017/BAU/959/0090199 Bitrus Ayuba Seaman 6 DSSC25/2017/BAU/842/0078012 Bulus Yelmi Engineering 7 DSSC25/2017/BAU/719/0065554 Daniel Hassan Jerusalem ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/BAU/56/0003599 Ejim Samson ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/BAU/4/0000328 Ibrahim Muhammad Aswad ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/BAU/903/0084152 Ibrahim Muhammad Mustapha Logistics 11 DSSC25/2017/BAU/387/0031586 Iliya Loktah Peter Logistics 12 DSSC25/2017/BAU/211/0012844 Ishaku Dogara ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/BAU/121/0007124 Ishaq Muhammad Auwal ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/BAU/45/0003008 Kabir Kabir Muhammad Accounts and Budget 15 DSSC25/2017/BAU/44/0002978 Linus Moses Daboh Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/BAU/237/0015986 Mohammed Faisal Abdullahi Human Resource Management 17 DSSC25/2017/BAU/118/0007070 Muhammed Aliyu Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/BAU/77/0005014 Sani Rayyan Isah Logistics 19 DSSC25/2017/BAU/61/0003719 Shehu Muhammad Adahulrahman Accounts and Budget 20 DSSC25/2017/BAU/504/0043783 Umar Salim Ibrahim Accounts and Budget 21 DSSC25/2017/BAU/131/0007444 Yahaya Hassan Hassan ICT 22 DSSC25/2017/BAU/585/0051296 Yohanna Folmi Legal Services 23 DSSC25/2017/BAU/542/0047598 Yusuf Danjuma Sarauta Logistics BAYELSA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/BAY/211/0020088 Agonga Oyintare Logistics 2 DSSC25/2017/BAY/960/0082613 Akenkide Mercy ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/BAY/360/0034006 Akusi Tubokeye Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/BAY/11/0000886 Asamaowei Ebipadou Kevin ICT 5 DSSC25/2017/BAY/39/0003539 Ayayerin Franklin Eniekeyi Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/BAY/1076/0093586 Azebi Michael Oyienpereyikurogha Engineering 7 DSSC25/2017/BAY/119/0010838 Boloupremo Bernice Enebimo Legal Services 8 DSSC25/2017/BAY/781/0066656 Brambaifa Dennis Keme Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/BAY/76/0006148 Brutus Precioustone Hawells Education 10 DSSC25/2017/BAY/10/0000650 Filafa Oyinmiedo Samuel Education 11 DSSC25/2017/BAY/103/0009233 Ikutegbe Voke Lucia Logistics 12 DSSC25/2017/BAY/182/0017235 Kabowei Solomon Warebi Engineering 13 DSSC25/2017/BAY/204/0019600 Koko Christian Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/BAY/329/0030951 Laderi Sunday Accounts and Budget 15 DSSC25/2017/BAY/23/0002220 Lazarus Tari Lokoja Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/BAY/409/0038138 Oge Tamranebi Logistics 17 DSSC25/2017/BAY/2/0000140 Ogene Precious Obakponovwe Education 18 DSSC25/2017/BAY/825/0070677 Owoupele Bob Ebiake Legal Services 19 DSSC25/2017/BAY/345/0031867 Simon Sandra Ebiere Medical 20 DSSC25/2017/BAY/202/0019440 Tantua Preye David Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/BAY/697/0060807 Ugbedinma Anthony Education 22 DSSC25/2017/BAY/136/0012691 Ugboriata Ebikonboere ICT 23 DSSC25/2017/BAY/377/0035531 Wurukeseye Esther Keme Logistics BENUE STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/BEN/3033/0081460 Abah Ameh Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/BEN/554/0016606 Aboh David Terhemba Seaman 3 DSSC25/2017/BEN/865/0024900 Aboje Benjamin Oche Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/BEN/26/0000771 Afeah Mike Avanenge Accounts and Budget 5 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1221/0034953 Akor Adams Ochekawo Information 6 DSSC25/2017/BEN/392/0011887 Aligbe Bartholomew Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1950/0053329 Amodu Blessing Ojo Education 8 DSSC25/2017/BEN/612/0018057 Atime Stella Nguamo Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/BEN/2621/0071003 Aza Aondoakaa Sylvanus Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/BEN/2993/0080415 Baba Benjamin Musa Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/BEN/2677/0072419 Godwin Emmanuel Onmonya Logistics 12 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1114/0031752 Ichah Joseph Mathias ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/BEN/2030/0056169 Idoko Emmanuel Sunday Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1473/0041799 Ikima Sesugh Valentine ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1131/0032342 Iordyeh Doofan Ruth Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/BEN/2377/0065243 Linus Awuniji Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/BEN/914/0026839 Ochai Danjuma Alexander Engineering 18 DSSC25/2017/BEN/261/0007320 Odan Samson Udama Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/BEN/894/0026019 Odeh Prince Olah Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/BEN/11/0000283 Ogwuche Matthew Monday Hydrography 21 DSSC25/2017/BEN/82/0002318 Ominyi John Ogah Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/BEN/544/0016380 Oyaje Joshua Engineering 23 DSSC25/2017/BEN/1018/0029387 Zinabe Destiny Adada Seaman BORNO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/BOR/580/0042011 Abdulkadir Usman Fura ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/BOR/215/0010401 Adamu Danladi Musa Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/BOR/44/0002811 Andrew Daniel Seaman 4 DSSC25/2017/BOR/754/0054404 Ardo Dawo Chaplain 5 DSSC25/2017/BOR/79/0005060 Ayuba Haruna Mallah Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/BOR/298/0016653 Bassi Jirama Ali ICT 7 DSSC25/2017/BOR/1025/0084209 Buba Tahir Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/BOR/1094/0093328 Dibal Simon Ishaku ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/BOR/23/0000867 Fali Victor Aminu Logistics 10 DSSC25/2017/BOR/374/0023398 Farouk Faisal ICT 11 DSSC25/2017/BOR/304/0016957 Hamma Salihu Mohammed Accounts and Budget 12 DSSC25/2017/BOR/364/0022416 Ibrahim Abdulmumini Imam ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/BOR/772/0059333 Jukunda Ibrahim Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/BOR/238/0012188 Lamba Zubairu Umar Medical 15 DSSC25/2017/BOR/562/0040750 Mai Barka Ali Education 16 DSSC25/2017/BOR/227/0011069 Maidugu Fatima Ali Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/BOR/28/0001086 Malgwi Philip Gana Information 18 DSSC25/2017/BOR/466/0031725 Musa Muhammad Mshelia Information 19 DSSC25/2017/BOR/639/0046602 Nasir Ibrahim Khalil Seaman 20 DSSC25/2017/BOR/148/0007672 Nuhu Ali Ibrahim Seaman 21 DSSC25/2017/BOR/241/0012413 Shettima Shashi Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/BOR/633/0046332 Yusuf Iliya Mamza Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/BOR/776/0059709 Zanna Abba Hamza ICT CROSS RIVER STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/CRO/195/0010194 Agba Valentine Martins Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/CRO/609/0029169 Binang Michael Binang Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/CRO/135/0007055 Ebri Patrick Felix ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1906/0078396 Effiom Victor Edem Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/CRO/57/0003152 Effiong Veronica Inyang Information 6 DSSC25/2017/CRO/562/0027595 Ekpenukpang Christopher Agbenem Medical 7 DSSC25/2017/CRO/2273/0093699 Enang Ernest Dennis Hydrography 8 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1166/0049984 Ewah Patrick Ayi Medical 9 DSSC25/2017/CRO/349/0016793 Henshaw Ruth Offiong Medical 10 DSSC25/2017/CRO/319/0015297 Inang Ruth Essien Sports/Pt 11 DSSC25/2017/CRO/366/0017891 Ita Donatus Atta Accounts and Budget 12 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1633/0066709 Ntui Jerry Ako Engineering 13 DSSC25/2017/CRO/36/0002032 Obri Fidelis Ogbaji Accounts and Budget 14 DSSC25/2017/CRO/214/0011279 Offem Moses Obaseoye ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1652/0067510 Ogar Moses Ohobu ICT 16 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1375/0058225 Ogbu Ogri Solomon Human Resource Management 17 DSSC25/2017/CRO/204/0010761 Okayim Paul Erungworo Information 18 DSSC25/2017/CRO/142/0007399 Okpong Denis Edet Legal Services 19 DSSC25/2017/CRO/194/0010135 Onabe Dorothy Agide Information 20 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1832/0075430 Onabe Serah Azema Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/CRO/1666/0068055 Ugbe Leo-Osteen Ikwen Legal Services 22 DSSC25/2017/CRO/243/0012252 Ukore Martina Michael Human Resource Management 23 DSSC25/2017/CRO/496/0024177 Ushie Hilary Eshidenang Logistics DELTA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/DEL/871/0013624 Aduga Eruemulor Kevin Legal Services 2 DSSC25/2017/DEL/1534/0025601 Agali Umusu Nduka Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/DEL/824/0012793 Ayomanor Ufoma Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/DEL/1765/0029164 Brorhien Kpabor Paul Hydrography 5 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3191/0053057 Burhie Kelly Ebakpororo Logistics 6 DSSC25/2017/DEL/5204/0088525 Egwuelu Emuyemiken Wilfred Medical 7 DSSC25/2017/DEL/33/0000571 Eko Kingsley Ejiro Seaman 8 DSSC25/2017/DEL/378/0005964 Erhieyovwe Akpevwe Theophilus Hydrography 9 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3032/0050473 Gogo Tamaralayefa Emmanuel Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3559/0060929 Kpekpe Tunemi Governor Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/DEL/8/0000183 Mokwenye Anthony Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3331/0056121 Odega Prince Junior Logistics 13 DSSC25/2017/DEL/817/0012645 Ogbodu Joy Legal Services 14 DSSC25/2017/DEL/2645/0043958 Ojih Joshua Ovoke Engineering 15 DSSC25/2017/DEL/5269/0089553 Okonkwo Caleb Enino Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/DEL/24/0000439 Okonkwo Peter Awele Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/DEL/1600/0026696 Onocha Kesiena Omafuvwe Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/DEL/253/1041789 Oritsetimeyin Morrison Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/DEL/1036/0016563 Orueri Daniel Ufuoma Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3051/0050845 Oyibotha Hope Purity Information 21 DSSC25/2017/DEL/2998/0050014 Ozeghe Best Engineering 22 DSSC25/2017/DEL/3278/0054346 Ubuvwerorose Faith Omotegbona Information 23 DSSC25/2017/DEL/5137/0087377 Unueroh Enoh Precious Music EBONYI STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/EBO/133/0006579 Agha Amaobi Anthony Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1503/0085627 Agwu Ezinne Favour Accounts and Budget 3 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1272/0071796 Agwu Lebechi Nnachi Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/EBO/155/0007616 A-James Francess Chidera Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/EBO/4/0000198 Aluu Ogbonna Clement ICT 6 DSSC25/2017/EBO/496/0029441 Anyigor Collins Agozie Medical 7 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1299/0073288 Azu Patrick Education 8 DSSC25/2017/EBO/272/0014472 Ekuma Kelechi Okechukwu Medical 9 DSSC25/2017/EBO/83/0004091 Elum Frederick Omenga Friday Legal Services 10 DSSC25/2017/EBO/325/0017565 Ezeh Michael Emeka Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1531/0087163 Ibe Enwo Kelvin Enyinna Seaman 12 DSSC25/2017/EBO/340/0018648 Ibiam Victor Akachukwu Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/EBO/692/0040408 Njoku John Ositadimma Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/EBO/716/0041063 Nwele Emmanuel Onyekachi ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/EBO/951/0053568 Nworie Chukwudi Mcedwards Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/EBO/674/0039487 Ogboji Romanus Sunday ICT 17 DSSC25/2017/EBO/440/0025326 Ogbu Nathaniel Oluebube Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1164/0065820 Oko Ikwuo Okporie Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1277/0071978 Oko Uchenna David Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/EBO/923/0051809 Okonkwo Fredrick Ifeanyi ICT 21 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1104/0062566 Okoro Tochukwu James Engineering 22 DSSC25/2017/EBO/1593/0090063 Ori Ogbonnaya Eze Human Resource Management 23 DSSC25/2017/EBO/211/0010417 Orji-Oko Chibuike Lawrence Engineering EDO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1024/0022664 Ashava Adedoyin Stephen Music 2 DSSC25/2017/EDO/143/0003059 Asibor John Oseremen Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/EDO/470/0011214 Egwaikhide Presley Izeko ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/EDO/4247/0090148 Eseigbe Festus Aidenoje Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/EDO/121/0002510 Igbinadolor Uyiosa Junior Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/EDO/234/0004986 Igelegbai Edward Eronmose Engineering 7 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1201/0026215 Imhante Orobosa Paul Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1588/0034479 Imhoagene Richard Goodluck Information 9 DSSC25/2017/EDO/976/0021575 Imoroa Aidelojie Ywrovwo ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/EDO/171/0003574 Irene Patrick Oghenagwe Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1450/0031441 Isah Muhammed Majideen Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/EDO/4320/0092600 Itoyah Hilary Human Resource Management 13 DSSC25/2017/EDO/429/0010092 Izekor Lucky Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/EDO/25/0000359 Ogbeiwi Osifoh Hillary ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1807/0038888 Ogudu Frank Ehichoya Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1566/0033922 Ojah Blessing Onome Logistics 17 DSSC25/2017/EDO/423/0009975 Okojie Godfrey Stephen ICT 18 DSSC25/2017/EDO/3067/0066644 Okojie Rawlings ICT 19 DSSC25/2017/EDO/742/0017299 Paul-Egbezemoghie Magdalene Education 20 DSSC25/2017/EDO/1276/0027549 Saiki Ogarashi Lincoln Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/EDO/2030/0043373 Sunny-Ekos Aisosa Samuel Legal Services 22 DSSC25/2017/EDO/34/0000456 Taiwo Funmilayo Sports/Pt 23 DSSC25/2017/EDO/653/0015602 Ukato George Idemudia ICT EKITI STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1494/0049474 Abdulah Ibrahim Abiodun Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/EKI/134/0004443 Abiodun Olayinka Johnpaul ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1793/0062228 Adetifa Abolanle Oluwatoyin Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/EKI/2512/0086697 Adeyemi Idris Abidemi Engineering 5 DSSC25/2017/EKI/32/0001058 Ajayi Ayokunle Olakunle Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/EKI/125/0003911 Akilo Olufisayo David Accounts and Budget 7 DSSC25/2017/EKI/114/0003427 Akintunde Akinsola Emmanuel Human Resource Management 8 DSSC25/2017/EKI/266/0011567 Akinwumi Oluwatobi Samuel Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/EKI/500/0019159 Akomolafe Ahmed Usman Engineering 10 DSSC25/2017/EKI/430/0016436 Dada Temitope Emmanuel Medical 11 DSSC25/2017/EKI/7/0000187 Daramola Oluwaseun Samuel Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1707/0059278 Fabunmi Victor Temitope Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/EKI/623/0022806 Fagbamila Kehinde Johnson Sports/Pt 14 DSSC25/2017/EKI/2130/0074790 Femi Taye Damilola Seaman 15 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1098/0036989 Ibiwoye Oluwasegun Samson Information 16 DSSC25/2017/EKI/135/0004489 Kayode Kolawole Johnson Logistics 17 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1831/0064036 Ojo Tolulope Andrew Legal Services 18 DSSC25/2017/EKI/2388/0082623 Ojuokaye Taiwo Ayodeji Information 19 DSSC25/2017/EKI/460/0017690 Olanipekun Ajibola Ifelola Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/EKI/628/0022928 Oluniyi Kehinde Tobi Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/EKI/1974/0069033 Oluwayose Macben Tunde Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/EKI/21/0000780 Omole Oluwatosin Onaolapo Information 23 DSSC25/2017/EKI/394/0015433 Omotola Oluwafemi Samuel Engineering ENUGU STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/ENU/161/0005386 Abonyi Joseph Chidiebere ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/ENU/2672/0080070 Agwu Augustine Nnabuike Human Resource Management 3 DSSC25/2017/ENU/2980/0088693 Aneke Thecla Chinenye Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/ENU/362/0013034 Ani Daniel Sunday Human Resource Management 5 DSSC25/2017/ENU/436/0015186 Chiedu Charles Okechukwu ICT 6 DSSC25/2017/ENU/2884/0086276 Ekowo Stephen Obinnaya Seaman 7 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1032/0034190 Eze Jude Ogechukwu Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/ENU/795/0027101 Ezema Ajuluchukwu Linus Medical 9 DSSC25/2017/ENU/152/0005077 Ezugwu Livinus Kosi Education 10 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1763/0058204 Igwagu Ugochukwu Chukwuemeka E. Medical 11 DSSC25/2017/ENU/149/0005049 Martins Ugwueze Nnamdi Information 12 DSSC25/2017/ENU/456/0015878 Nnaji Emmanuel Emeka ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1747/0057717 Nnona Calister Chinwe ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1290/0041261 Ochin Arthur Chukwuka Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/ENU/936/0031230 Ogbuzuru Simon Chigozie Education 16 DSSC25/2017/ENU/757/0025429 Okafor Jacinta Ezinwanne Legal Services 17 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1596/0050337 Okoh Charles Chibuoyim Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1796/0059212 Onuorah Melvin Onyedikachukwu Human Resource Management 19 DSSC25/2017/ENU/508/0017480 Ozoude Chukwuebuka Harford Medical 20 DSSC25/2017/ENU/2908/0086810 Ugwoke Chukwuka Ifeanyi ICT 21 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1252/0040367 Ugwu Chikaodili Moses Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/ENU/1064/0034965 Ugwu Michael Benjamin ICT 23 DSSC25/2017/ENU/2058/0065169 Ukah Sonia Somtochukwu Medical FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY 1 DSSC25/2017/FCT/38/0011441 Abari Abdullahi Musa Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/FCT/182/0037492 Abdulkarim Victor Adinoyi ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/FCT/410/0077720 Agagwu John Attah Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/FCT/98/0021480 Alhassan Muhammad Yazeed ICT 5 DSSC25/2017/FCT/76/0017508 Barde Hillary Steven Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/FCT/123/0028216 Bello Abdulazeez Muhammed Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/FCT/382/0072395 Jatto Mohammed ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/FCT/171/0035813 Julius Idakwo A Engineering 9 DSSC25/2017/FCT/459/0083309 Mohammed Kabiru Adamu Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/FCT/183/0037637 Ocheja Peter Medical 11 DSSC25/2017/FCT/505/0093666 Okogi Emmanuel Ehiedu Chaplain 12 DSSC25/2017/FCT/319/0064091 Sani Ibrahim Yakubu ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/FCT/148/0032742 Tukura Shedrack Pashembpo Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/FCT/196/0040774 Ujor Noah Chaplain 15 DSSC25/2017/FCT/20/0005064 Wakili James Sheshi Engineering GOMBE STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/GOM/228/0017321 Abdullahi Usman Nuraini Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/GOM/5/0000293 Abubakar Muktar Mamuda Accounts and Budget 3 DSSC25/2017/GOM/617/0051822 Adamu Albert Ango Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/GOM/547/0048314 Ahmed Rufai Mohammed Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/GOM/181/0012488 Dani Daniel Shadrach Seaman 6 DSSC25/2017/GOM/168/0011228 Emmanuel Alfred Kabati Logistics 7 DSSC25/2017/GOM/979/0090494 Haruna Ubaida Education 8 DSSC25/2017/GOM/389/0032898 Iliya Yakubu Richard Education 9 DSSC25/2017/GOM/476/0042323 Jibrin Imrana Abubakar Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/GOM/474/0042109 Lawan Kembu Audu Human Resource Management 11 DSSC25/2017/GOM/43/0002430 Luka Ayuba Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/GOM/923/0084144 Mackay Albert Simon Education 13 DSSC25/2017/GOM/326/0027281 Maikumo Mike Gideon Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/GOM/190/0013109 Musa Adamu Padah Medical 15 DSSC25/2017/GOM/127/0008537 Nuhu Adamu Human Resource Management 16 DSSC25/2017/GOM/692/0059680 Omachi Elisabeth Eleojo Education 17 DSSC25/2017/GOM/70/0004638 Paris Mikem Yambali Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/GOM/423/0036536 Sambo Ibrahim Mohammed ICT 19 DSSC25/2017/GOM/242/0018674 Tanto Senyamba Micaiah ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/GOM/360/0030033 Umar Ibrahim Accounts and Budget 21 DSSC25/2017/GOM/750/0065383 Yila Dinath Manu Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/GOM/307/0024964 Yunusa Edner Education 23 DSSC25/2017/GOM/659/0054038 Yusuf Sagir Muhammad ICT IMO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/IMO/3634/0054541 Anuforo Eugenia Ifunanya Legal Services 2 DSSC25/2017/IMO/2186/0033754 Anyanwu Uchechukwu Johnbosco Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/IMO/155/0002684 Anyiam Paul Emeka Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1513/0023471 Boniface Stanley Medical 5 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1086/0016603 Chibueze Charles Chinazor Hydrography 6 DSSC25/2017/IMO/498/0007266 Egbuhuzor Chinomso Collins Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/IMO/6244/0094050 Igboanugo Ijeoma Nkeiruka Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/IMO/170/0002915 Iheagwam Chidoziem Ivy Engineering 9 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1211/0018878 Ihejirika Chiedozie Destiny ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/IMO/7/0000132 Ikejiofor Onyinye Emmanuella Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/IMO/4455/0068468 Ikpe Tobechukwu Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1939/0030038 Lawrence Ikenna Symbol Human Resource Management 13 DSSC25/2017/IMO/2339/0035935 Mmadu Favour Olileanya Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/IMO/713/0010780 Njoku Chidiebere Chidubem Engineering 15 DSSC25/2017/IMO/908/0014000 Nwaeze Sopuruchukwu Remigius Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/IMO/2099/0032499 Nwogu Udochukwu Sylvester Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1867/0029010 Nwordu Peter Chinedu Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/IMO/5345/0080832 Ohanele Precious Nmaezi Accounts and Budget 19 DSSC25/2017/IMO/680/0010130 Okorie Philip Chidiebere Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1914/0029719 Onwubuariri Ebere Ruth ICT 21 DSSC25/2017/IMO/2172/0033509 Onyekpere Chukwuemeka Chinazo Hydrography 22 DSSC25/2017/IMO/3767/0058265 Roberts Jecinta Chizoba Logistics 23 DSSC25/2017/IMO/1730/0026982 Ucheka Chike Engineering JIGAWA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/JIG/269/0024465 Abba Ahmed Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/JIG/12/0001258 Abubakar Al Ameen Ismat ICT 3 DSSC25/2017/JIG/377/0036624 Auwal Ibrahim Abubakar Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/JIG/342/0032844 Babangida Kamal Hydrography 5 DSSC25/2017/JIG/356/0034192 Babangida Nura Ahmed ICT 6 DSSC25/2017/JIG/723/0080321 Garba Umar Engineering 7 DSSC25/2017/JIG/225/0019059 Halidu Abdulazeez Abubakar Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/JIG/349/0033200 Ibrahim Masud Engineering 9 DSSC25/2017/JIG/302/0027449 Idris Nuradeen Sabo Accounts and Budget 10 DSSC25/2017/JIG/148/0010922 Ilyasu Abubakar Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/JIG/811/0093760 Jaafar Saeed Muhammad Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/JIG/208/0017574 Jibrin Shuaibu Seaman 13 DSSC25/2017/JIG/307/0028509 Kasim Lawal Auwal Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/JIG/595/0060219 Mahmoud Bello Mustapha Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/JIG/2/0000066 Muazu Hussein Mohammed Accounts and Budget 16 DSSC25/2017/JIG/189/0015286 Musa Ja'Afar Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/JIG/71/0005788 Musa Yahaya Legal Services 18 DSSC25/2017/JIG/38/0003235 Suleiman Aminu Muhammad ICT 19 DSSC25/2017/JIG/104/0008023 Umar Abdulkadir Tafida ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/JIG/498/0047570 Umar Abubakar Logistics 21 DSSC25/2017/JIG/202/0017199 Umar Mustapha Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/JIG/801/0091315 Yakubu Usman Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/JIG/112/0008315 Zandam Mustapha Yakubu Accounts and Budget KADUNA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KAD/672/0030834 Abdulazeez Abdulrazaq Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1335/0060456 Abdulazeez Ridwan Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1040/0047004 Auwalu Anzabur Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/KAD/311/0014219 Didam Zacham Patrick Accounts and Budget 5 DSSC25/2017/KAD/290/0013112 Dowyaro Jonathan Shunom Seaman 6 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1792/0078724 Dukas Jeremiah Logistics 7 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1170/0051863 Enam Lucky Patrick ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/KAD/2043/0088663 Ephraim Aminchi Engineering 9 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1852/0080526 George Gregory Yashim ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1838/0080134 Hassan Rose Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1019/0046134 Ibrahim Adamu Mailafiya ICT 12 DSSC25/2017/KAD/417/0018716 Ibrahim Akilu Engineering 13 DSSC25/2017/KAD/2113/0091404 Musa Abbas ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/KAD/2157/0093787 Musa Abubakar Saddiq ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1428/0063371 Paul Agnes Shaggi Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1950/0084148 Rabo Nicodemus Nyam Human Resource Management 17 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1847/0080388 Salihu Abdulhakeem Zakari ICT 18 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1916/0082817 Saul Veronica Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/KAD/509/0022579 Stephen Moses Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/KAD/1521/0067136 Turaki Harmony Maijinya Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/KAD/319/0014576 Yohanna Mathias Seaman 22 DSSC25/2017/KAD/30/0001344 Yusuf Badamasi Seaman 23 DSSC25/2017/KAD/773/0035112 Yusuf Tobechukwu Accounts and Budget KANO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KAN/207/0008405 Abdullahi Ibrahim ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/KAN/195/0008179 Adamu Yahaya Yahaya Legal Services 3 DSSC25/2017/KAN/889/0042995 Alhasaan Kamil Abdulwahab Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/KAN/139/0006685 Bashir Ahmad Datti Education 5 DSSC25/2017/KAN/645/0030289 Haruna Abdulazeez Human Resource Management 6 DSSC25/2017/KAN/142/0006769 Haruna Iliyasu Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/KAN/113/0005576 Hudu Abubakar Seaman 8 DSSC25/2017/KAN/32/0001153 Ibrahim Saifullahi Gandu Education 9 DSSC25/2017/KAN/200/0008255 Ibrahim Abdullahi Engineering 10 DSSC25/2017/KAN/761/0036142 Idris Lukman Ahmad Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/KAN/281/0010732 Iliya Nasiru ICT 12 DSSC25/2017/KAN/414/0018120 Isah Nurudeen Yakubu Logistics 13 DSSC25/2017/KAN/1631/0081930 Ladan Shaayau Yusif ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/KAN/53/0002251 Muhammad Bashir Haruna Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/KAN/542/0024701 Muktar Muhammad Gaya ICT 16 DSSC25/2017/KAN/55/0002470 Musa Saheed Ibrahim Education 17 DSSC25/2017/KAN/120/0005745 Rabiu Kabiru Mohammed Accounts and Budget 18 DSSC25/2017/KAN/334/0013566 Sani Sani Abdulwahid Ayayagi Education 19 DSSC25/2017/KAN/173/0007473 Usman Ahmad Bala Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/KAN/788/0037435 Usman Mannir Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/KAN/790/0037441 Yahaya Abdullahi Garba Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/KAN/665/0031390 Yakubu Mustapha Dalhatu Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/KAN/1741/0089338 Yunusa Ibrahim Maiadashi Legal Services KATSINA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KAT/630/0045410 Abdulhadi Nuraddeen Birchi Accounts and Budget 2 DSSC25/2017/KAT/427/0027109 Abdulkadir Aminu Hassan Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/KAT/956/0072126 Ahmed Fahad Atiku Seaman 4 DSSC25/2017/KAT/905/0069104 Ahmed Umar Sani ICT 5 DSSC25/2017/KAT/510/0035563 Audu Sule Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/KAT/910/0069568 Bashir Ahmad Farfaru ICT 7 DSSC25/2017/KAT/23/0001026 Bashir Muhammed Sani Logistics 8 DSSC25/2017/KAT/20/0000836 Busari Nurudeen Niyi ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/KAT/1/0000193 Dan-Musa Ibrahim Gambo Legal Services 10 DSSC25/2017/KAT/106/0006036 Garba Aliyu Information 11 DSSC25/2017/KAT/506/0035253 Ibrahim Aliyu Hussaini Education 12 DSSC25/2017/KAT/1153/0089914 Ikra Mubarak Liman Human Resource Management 13 DSSC25/2017/KAT/890/0067416 Muhammad Abubakar Lawal Education 14 DSSC25/2017/KAT/48/0002424 Muhammad Abubakar Baba Accounts and Budget 15 DSSC25/2017/KAT/225/0012155 Muhammad Muddassir Accounts and Budget 16 DSSC25/2017/KAT/117/0006700 Mukhtar Umar Shitu ICT 17 DSSC25/2017/KAT/66/0003990 Safiyanu Usman Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/KAT/588/0043123 Saidu Haruna Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/KAT/79/0004912 Sani Abubakar Gide Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/KAT/722/0051469 Sani Mubarak Samaila Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/KAT/328/0018830 Umar Yusuf Ibrahim Education 22 DSSC25/2017/KAT/37/0001766 Usman Abdulhakim Engineering 23 DSSC25/2017/KAT/1073/0080610 Yusuf Haris Muhammad Engineering KEBBI STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KEB/550/0071332 Abdullahi Lukman Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/KEB/465/0061857 Audu Aiki Accounts and Budget 3 DSSC25/2017/KEB/237/0031748 Auta Daniel Human Resource Management 4 DSSC25/2017/KEB/685/0094101 Bashar Muhammad Aliyu ICT 5 DSSC25/2017/KEB/173/0022531 Bawa Israel Human Resource Management 6 DSSC25/2017/KEB/61/0008805 Dan Alkali Hamza Abdullahi Engineering 7 DSSC25/2017/KEB/1/0000035 Danjuma Rebecca Sonia Logistics 8 DSSC25/2017/KEB/259/0034942 Gambo Ezekiel Joseph Information 9 DSSC25/2017/KEB/669/0090358 Hanya Buhari Yohanna Logistics 10 DSSC25/2017/KEB/487/0064039 Hassan Emmanuel Seaman 11 DSSC25/2017/KEB/554/0071429 Isah Dandare Maga Seaman 12 DSSC25/2017/KEB/131/0016787 Jibril Bilyaminu Yelwa ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/KEB/485/0064004 Muhammad Anas Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/KEB/60/0008510 Ruwace Abubakar Human Resource Management 15 DSSC25/2017/KEB/462/0061700 Salihu Sherif Education 16 DSSC25/2017/KEB/552/0071376 Sani Ahmed Salim Accounts and Budget 17 DSSC25/2017/KEB/463/0061780 Sani Ibrahim Human Resource Management 18 DSSC25/2017/KEB/5/0000908 Sani Lawal Yaro Education 19 DSSC25/2017/KEB/609/0078549 Shehu Abubakar ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/KEB/531/0069746 Sunday David Education 21 DSSC25/2017/KEB/301/0041884 Tanko Bamaiyi Education 22 DSSC25/2017/KEB/426/0054243 Umar Mohammed Bello Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/KEB/336/0045623 Yusuf Jamilu Education KOGI STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KOG/3041/0065529 Abel Christopher Omale Logistics 2 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1163/0023470 Adaboh Martins Okoliko Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/KOG/681/0014415 Adoke Isaac Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/KOG/524/0012122 Ahmed Abdulkadir Seaman 5 DSSC25/2017/KOG/2937/0063591 Ajayi Adetoye Sunday Human Resource Management 6 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1353/0027699 Ajiboye Oseka Paul Logistics 7 DSSC25/2017/KOG/264/0005422 Amlogu Joseph Ayemlo Logistics 8 DSSC25/2017/KOG/3872/0080965 Bamikunle Michael Oromidayo Medical 9 DSSC25/2017/KOG/4164/0086239 Daniel Emmanuel Seun Engineering 10 DSSC25/2017/KOG/880/0017961 Enejiyon Abdulmaleeq Omeiza Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1411/0028872 Idajili Ismaila ICT 12 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1000/0019970 Idogbe Eugene Anibe Seaman 13 DSSC25/2017/KOG/3469/0073133 Idris Samuel Salisu Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/KOG/794/0016510 Ikulagba Gabriel Olusegun Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/KOG/271/0005550 Jinadu Abdulbaqi Omonayin Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/KOG/3513/0073805 King Abiodun Olujimi Music 17 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1642/0034285 Ocheni Abigail ICT 18 DSSC25/2017/KOG/77/0001555 Olomefa Femi Peter Seaman 19 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1756/0036983 Olorunmaiye Adeshina Alex Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/KOG/1259/0025880 Oshagbemi Victoria Tosin Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/KOG/2659/0057885 Paul Ojomaje Onuche Seaman 22 DSSC25/2017/KOG/2439/0051312 Salami Adinoyi Benson Education 23 DSSC25/2017/KOG/2382/0050190 Udeh Marshall Chinedu ICT KWARA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/KWA/1040/0026572 Abdullateef Al-Ameen Abiodun Logistics 2 DSSC25/2017/KWA/751/0020044 Abdurrahman Farouk Adekunl Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/KWA/1365/0033811 Abolarin Vincent Bolaji Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/KWA/943/0024351 Adaradohun Damilare James Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/KWA/537/0015459 Adaramola Samuel Oluwasola Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/KWA/455/0013656 Adegbola Ebenezer Adebayo ICT 7 DSSC25/2017/KWA/696/0018806 Afolayan Julius Oluwatoyin Accounts and Budget 8 DSSC25/2017/KWA/387/0011826 Ajao Fehintola Motunrayo Zainab Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/KWA/103/0002616 Ajiboye Dolapo David Logistics 10 DSSC25/2017/KWA/483/0014463 Bandipo Taiye Olusayo Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/KWA/25/0000619 Bello Mohammed Manir Accounts and Budget 12 DSSC25/2017/KWA/1483/0036502 Dada Oluwabukayomi Ruth ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/KWA/1188/0029807 Ibrahim Bashir Taiwo Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/KWA/261/0007595 Ibrahim Muhammed Bashir Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/KWA/682/0018586 Jamba-Oda Taofiq Yinka Hydrography 16 DSSC25/2017/KWA/2163/0054834 Jimoh Kazeem Bolaji Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/KWA/3298/0089908 Oladipo Kolawole Seyi Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/KWA/2952/0079419 Saba Zenas Ndaezin Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/KWA/2930/0078877 Saka Shehu Information 20 DSSC25/2017/KWA/946/0024414 Salaudeen Sherifat Kikelomo Accounts and Budget 21 DSSC25/2017/KWA/172/0004307 Sanusi Faiz Mohammed Engineering 22 DSSC25/2017/KWA/2497/0067655 Tajudeen Kudirat Badmus Logistics 23 DSSC25/2017/KWA/967/0024853 Woli Mariam Omotolani Legal Services LAGOS STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/LAG/298/0016701 Abioye Sunday Ezekiel Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/LAG/834/0036562 Abisogun Anu Omorinsola Legal Services 3 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1079/0049065 Adekolurejo Ebenezer Matthew Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1290/0063237 Apena Ganiu Oluwaseun Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1392/0069760 Bakreen Sofiyat Bolanle Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/LAG/620/0028745 Bisiolu Yewande Oluwaseun Legal Services 7 DSSC25/2017/LAG/107/0004782 Ejeh Samuel Ojonugwa Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1103/0051358 Fadaini Oyelola Adejuwon Information 9 DSSC25/2017/LAG/174/0010771 Ganiu Afeez Oluwaseun Logistics 10 DSSC25/2017/LAG/54/0002283 Idowu Omotola Fatimat ICT 11 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1107/0051654 Kareem Elizabeth Oluwakemi Sports/Pt 12 DSSC25/2017/LAG/694/0031584 Lawal Aisha Ayowonuola Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1167/0058032 Lawal Jibola Tairat Information 14 DSSC25/2017/LAG/354/0018945 Munis Samson Temitope Engineering 15 DSSC25/2017/LAG/26/0001112 Obanla Oluwaranti Ruth Accounts and Budget 16 DSSC25/2017/LAG/453/0022436 Oga Oluwasegun Adebayo Logistics 17 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1204/0059729 Ogabi Olajide Tokunbo Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/LAG/461/0022767 Ogunmefun Anuoluwapo Olanike Accounts and Budget 19 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1157/0056619 Oyekunle Funsho Adewale Seaman 20 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1155/0056549 Oyenuga Abayomi Wahab ICT 21 DSSC25/2017/LAG/292/0016306 Sanusi Muktar Ishola Engineering 22 DSSC25/2017/LAG/1100/0051260 Shodeinde Ayinde Kazeem Engineering 23 DSSC25/2017/LAG/751/0033307 Wahab Kazeem Engineering NASARAWA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/NAS/675/0053993 Abdullahi Muhammad Auwal Sports/Pt 2 DSSC25/2017/NAS/978/0077495 Abdullateef Muhammad Raji Logistics 3 DSSC25/2017/NAS/1186/0094047 Abimiku Allen Jeremiah ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/NAS/495/0041228 Agaisa Aliyu Ibrahim Imam 5 DSSC25/2017/NAS/523/0043496 Brando Kenneth Chun Engineering 6 DSSC25/2017/NAS/359/0027939 Dobson Peter Dabo Seaman 7 DSSC25/2017/NAS/286/0021296 Ebuga Donald Okolo ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/NAS/237/0016831 Gado Lot Ageh Legal Services 9 DSSC25/2017/NAS/1110/0086750 Haruna Gambo Sunday Medical 10 DSSC25/2017/NAS/1/0000103 Iliya Emmanuel Ayas Medical 11 DSSC25/2017/NAS/547/0044906 Isa Bello Alamin Muhammed Engineering 12 DSSC25/2017/NAS/168/0012361 Kuje Ovey Angba Information 13 DSSC25/2017/NAS/197/0014343 Lanyat Edward Kafinta Jatau Accounts and Budget 14 DSSC25/2017/NAS/40/0002706 Loya Samuel Osusha Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/NAS/678/0054264 Luka Deborah Azedzi Accounts and Budget 16 DSSC25/2017/NAS/263/0018995 Mohammed Sheriff Mohammed Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/NAS/13/0000643 Mohammed Aminu Magaji ICT 18 DSSC25/2017/NAS/507/0042105 Muhammed Sani Salisu Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/NAS/58/0004131 Ocheje Friday Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/NAS/228/0015916 Ombuganza Andrew Tsaku Engineering 21 DSSC25/2017/NAS/510/0042353 Sani Salamatu Okeyo Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/NAS/242/0017004 Theophilus David Joseph Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/NAS/266/0019062 Yaro Polycarp Shuku Accounts and Budget NIGER STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/NIG/714/0046587 Abdullahi Ishaq Buba Logistics 2 DSSC25/2017/NIG/41/0002170 Abdullahi Usman Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/NIG/495/0033345 Abubakar Muhammad Dzukogi Accounts and Budget 4 DSSC25/2017/NIG/766/0049808 Ahmadu Surajo Education 5 DSSC25/2017/NIG/161/0009735 Danjuma Usman ICT 6 DSSC25/2017/NIG/1068/0073871 Dawa Rebeccah Ibrahim Accounts and Budget 7 DSSC25/2017/NIG/460/0030451 Gana Ephraim Monday Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/NIG/61/0003632 Ibrahim Yunusa Human Resource Management 9 DSSC25/2017/NIG/967/0066144 Kolo Shehu Alhaji Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/NIG/880/0059518 Ladan Abubakar Baba Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/NIG/181/0011180 Mohammed Abu Human Resource Management 12 DSSC25/2017/NIG/80/0005127 Mohammed Nura Education 13 DSSC25/2017/NIG/236/0014915 Mohammed Yusuf ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/NIG/380/0024531 Muhammad Haruna Mashin Seaman 15 DSSC25/2017/NIG/186/0011713 Muhammad Sharu Suleiman Information 16 DSSC25/2017/NIG/449/0029889 Sanusi Muhammed Alfa Accounts and Budget 17 DSSC25/2017/NIG/786/0050918 Simon Nelson Boyi Engineering 18 DSSC25/2017/NIG/306/0018866 Sule Nuhu Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/NIG/1164/0081642 Suleiman Aliyu ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/NIG/773/0050104 Tanko Jeremiah Adamu Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/NIG/972/0066689 Tukura Muazu Ismaila ICT 22 DSSC25/2017/NIG/944/0064151 Usman Yahaya Baba Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/NIG/809/0052239 Yunana Yushau Gagare ICT OGUN STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/OGU/474/0012761 Abolade-David Ebunoluwa Omotayo Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/OGU/797/0018388 Adekoniye Adedoyin Michael Education 3 DSSC25/2017/OGU/672/0016272 Adeleke Adedamola Babatunde Legal Services 4 DSSC25/2017/OGU/1804/0034767 Adewunmi Andrew Adesanmi Engineering 5 DSSC25/2017/OGU/1589/0031254 Akinrinola Olaoluwa Reuben Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/OGU/930/0020226 Akintunde Philip Babatunde Medical 7 DSSC25/2017/OGU/9/0000161 Alebiosu Omobolade Babalola ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/OGU/2613/0053108 Amodu Gbemisola Zainab Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/OGU/3276/0070408 Ilumoka Oluwaseun Olayinka Accounts and Budget 10 DSSC25/2017/OGU/483/0012864 Kayode Olamide Ademola Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/OGU/3609/0077337 Majolagbe Lawal Olaniyi Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/OGU/38/0000942 Odedina Adewunmi Engineering 13 DSSC25/2017/OGU/75/0001696 Oduwole Bolaji Ridwan Sports/Pt 14 DSSC25/2017/OGU/29/0000698 Ogunmoyede Samuel Segun Accounts and Budget 15 DSSC25/2017/OGU/386/0011250 Okuneye Kolawole David Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/OGU/1366/0027091 Olawin Abraham Oludare Information 17 DSSC25/2017/OGU/77/0001710 Olugunwa Funke Milcah Education 18 DSSC25/2017/OGU/2005/0038375 Onadeko Akinwande Oluwatobi Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/OGU/2610/0053058 Opanubi Omotayo Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/OGU/1674/0032525 Osuntokun Abdulrazak Olawale Education 21 DSSC25/2017/OGU/3986/0085536 Oyefeso Oluwaseun Opemipo Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/OGU/837/0019116 Salami Lukman Akanni Engineering 23 DSSC25/2017/OGU/1384/0027305 Shofarasin Oluwadamilola Adeyinka Information ONDO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/OND/430/0013157 Abugan Adeniyi Vincent Education 2 DSSC25/2017/OND/2147/0051921 Ademoluti Titilayo Marian Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/OND/599/0017146 Ademuyiwa Anuoluwapo Christian Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/OND/1160/0028779 Adesaanu Bosede Cecilia Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/OND/882/0023055 Adesuko Charles Olumide Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/OND/2456/0062232 Adewuni Elizabeth Ibukunoluwa Sports/Pt 7 DSSC25/2017/OND/1661/0040041 Adeyeun Imoleayo Michael ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/OND/2620/0066154 Adeyeye Stephen Babafemi Legal Services 9 DSSC25/2017/OND/2409/0060832 Aidi Samuel Similoluwa Legal Services 10 DSSC25/2017/OND/3324/0083557 Akinloye Joshua Adedoyin Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/OND/1655/0040011 Aro Oladayo Benjamin Logistics 12 DSSC25/2017/OND/274/0008482 Arowojolu Emmanuel Olusegun Engineering 13 DSSC25/2017/OND/3056/0077013 Awosika Olumide Odochi Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/OND/917/0023925 Bakare Tosin Samson Medical 15 DSSC25/2017/OND/3500/0087451 Dally Tomilayo Lukman Legal Services 16 DSSC25/2017/OND/124/0002756 Fagbemigun Adeyinka Okeowo Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/OND/381/0011849 Moyebi Emmanuel Akolawole Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/OND/2885/0071938 Olaremu Ayodeji Joshua Logistics 19 DSSC25/2017/OND/2129/0051440 Olatimehin Igbekele Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/OND/1036/0026420 Olawole Jude Damilola Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/OND/2111/0051016 Oluwafemi Yemisi Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/OND/191/0005057 Omojola Mukaila Abayomi Medical 23 DSSC25/2017/OND/2544/0064391 Oyeneyin Abiodun Emmanuel ICT OSUN STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4187/0079840 Adekanye Deborah Ifeoluwa Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/OSU/2907/0054314 Afolabi Deborah Oluwadamilola Medical 3 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4200/0080056 Akinwande Elizabeth Oluwakemi Medical 4 DSSC25/2017/OSU/3546/0068352 Aremu Akinlabi Sodiq Hydrography 5 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1493/0028830 Arowoogun Oluwaseun Obaloluwa Legal Services 6 DSSC25/2017/OSU/827/0017851 Awayewaserere Yahaya Olayiwola Accounts and Budget 7 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4285/0081624 Awolola Victor Oluseye Accounts and Budget 8 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4712/0089782 Awoyode Adebola Taiwo Human Resource Management 9 DSSC25/2017/OSU/341/0007688 Azeez Sadeeq Kayode Medical 10 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1037/0021589 Egbewunmi Temilade Esther Legal Services 11 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1192/0024225 Gentry Oluwasegun Akintunde ICT 12 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4160/0079219 Ibitowa Muideen Owakorede Education 13 DSSC25/2017/OSU/2252/0041061 Jamiu Lukman Olawale Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1972/0036409 Ogunjinmi Peter Damilola Logistics 15 DSSC25/2017/OSU/2018/0037141 Ojewusi Babayemi Oluniyi Medical 16 DSSC25/2017/OSU/15/0000250 Okunola Hafis Babatunde Medical 17 DSSC25/2017/OSU/3729/0071738 Oladele Oluwadara Tobi Engineering 18 DSSC25/2017/OSU/3050/0059010 Olasinde Malik Olayinka Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1978/0036487 Olasore James Adebowale ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1338/0026441 Olayiwola Dauda Olayide Education 21 DSSC25/2017/OSU/4813/0091384 Owosangba Damilare Hezekiah Hydrography 22 DSSC25/2017/OSU/544/0012347 Oyewole Mayowa Adeyemo Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/OSU/1406/0027429 Towobola Tolulope Oluwatobi ICT OYO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/OYO/750/0017386 Abdulhamid Azeezat Olawunmi Medical 2 DSSC25/2017/OYO/11/0000179 Adedotun-Davis Folajimi Olumide Logistics 3 DSSC25/2017/OYO/617/0014960 Adeleke Akintoyese Rilwan ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/OYO/630/0015158 Adeleke Ayobami Sheriff ICT 5 DSSC25/2017/OYO/1920/0039398 Afolabi Yetunde Feyikemi Human Resource Management 6 DSSC25/2017/OYO/3808/0081366 Ajala Bunmi Christianah Human Resource Management 7 DSSC25/2017/OYO/526/0013132 Akingbade Ibikunle Sunday Accounts and Budget 8 DSSC25/2017/OYO/171/0003203 Akintayo Jubril Olalekan ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/OYO/1412/0029804 Alao Omotayo Samuel Information 10 DSSC25/2017/OYO/2242/0046237 Amao Taiwo Oluwadamilola ICT 11 DSSC25/2017/OYO/628/0015115 Anibire Damilare Ayotunde Hydrography 12 DSSC25/2017/OYO/751/0017407 Badmus Ayokunle Oluwatosin Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/OYO/72/0001408 Kotti Olabisi Habiba Information 14 DSSC25/2017/OYO/1064/0023342 Lawal Aliu Bolade Engineering 15 DSSC25/2017/OYO/2474/0051208 Oladele Halimat Olajumoke Legal Services 16 DSSC25/2017/OYO/3539/0075877 Olagbemiro Babalola Simon Engineering 17 DSSC25/2017/OYO/396/0010009 Olaopa Samuel Dare Logistics 18 DSSC25/2017/OYO/2404/0049535 Olaore Aliu Alabi Education 19 DSSC25/2017/OYO/1627/0033907 Raji Gafar Abiola Seaman 20 DSSC25/2017/OYO/57/0001204 Salaudeen Barakat Oluwatoyin Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/OYO/1684/0034963 Tijani Akeem Adewale Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/OYO/2693/0057965 Waheed Tunde Obafemi Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/OYO/346/0008519 Wojuola Tosin Ejiro Medical PLATEAU STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/PLA/532/0042187 Agoh Shadrach A'Anah Accounts and Budget 2 DSSC25/2017/PLA/337/0025268 Ahile Manasseh Ado Logistics 3 DSSC25/2017/PLA/263/0019765 Bitrus Musa Itse Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/PLA/980/0076519 Boniface Fidelis Dongjur Accounts and Budget 5 DSSC25/2017/PLA/498/0039349 Dalyop Frederick Fulus Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/PLA/885/0070746 Danat Kopret Nwandi Accounts and Budget 7 DSSC25/2017/PLA/491/0038616 Danjuma Hannatu Abiodun Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/PLA/1091/0083015 Danjuma Mankurum Mary Information 9 DSSC25/2017/PLA/32/0002584 Danladi Yebung Solomon ICT 10 DSSC25/2017/PLA/165/0011589 Danuk Augusta Naankang Education 11 DSSC25/2017/PLA/399/0030508 Dashuwar Domdyel Mutes Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/PLA/871/0069333 Dauda Suleiman Logistics 13 DSSC25/2017/PLA/810/0065103 Dung Dalyop Bature Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/PLA/63/0004744 Edward Domnan Anthony Information 15 DSSC25/2017/PLA/89/0006604 Gurama Shilintang Stephen ICT 16 DSSC25/2017/PLA/4/0000314 Haruna Muhammed Ahmed Accounts and Budget 17 DSSC25/2017/PLA/502/0039549 Hwere Gwom Ezekiel Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/PLA/663/0052220 Kirji Zumji Jeremiah Education 19 DSSC25/2017/PLA/1139/0086535 Malann Fukki Ephraim Medical 20 DSSC25/2017/PLA/301/0022833 Nianglong Kenneth Kyegwim Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/PLA/31/0002537 Nyam Rose Abus Education 22 DSSC25/2017/PLA/482/0037833 Samuel Ritpoji Bako Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/PLA/1218/0093424 Zingzhi Amen Bako Information RIVERS STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/RIV/121/0004173 Amachree Fubara Edwin Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1115/0038489 Dappa Nathan Rowland Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/RIV/481/0016410 Edebor Chiwendu Blessing Engineering 4 DSSC25/2017/RIV/2355/0078566 Elechi-Amadi Jeffery Chile Information 5 DSSC25/2017/RIV/554/0019471 Emmanuel Sunday Brown Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/RIV/2657/0088515 Esor Uwuma Medical 7 DSSC25/2017/RIV/2676/0088966 Festus Esther Chioma Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1387/0046706 Idoinung Gogonte Obediah Legal Services 9 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1745/0058999 Igoni Mesel Medical 10 DSSC25/2017/RIV/658/0023534 Monday Paul Karabari Chaplain 11 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1761/0059583 Nagbi Israel Tombari B Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/RIV/2340/0078037 Nwadike Dumka Precious Logistics 13 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1988/0066490 Nwiyordee Israel Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1999/0066939 Ogie Kebin ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1148/0039694 Onyikwu Ihienachi Temple Legal Services 16 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1799/0060711 Osaro-Olai Lauretta Goya Legal Services 17 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1430/0048001 Osaro-Wokoma Owaneenu Ochenya Engineering 18 DSSC25/2017/RIV/280/0008811 Owhor-Chuku Austeen Chioma Medical 19 DSSC25/2017/RIV/9/0000420 Owhor-Chuku Jeff Legal Services 20 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1165/0040097 Promise-Leton Justina Ugochi Medical 21 DSSC25/2017/RIV/1648/0054617 Torporo Kalenebari Raymond Medical 22 DSSC25/2017/RIV/755/0026725 Uzah Ijeoma Precious Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/RIV/30/0001082 Yinkere Edward Priye ICT SOKOTO STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/SOK/462/0092863 Abdullahi Abubakar B Engineering 2 DSSC25/2017/SOK/103/0016687 Abdulmalik Musa Education 3 DSSC25/2017/SOK/268/0047594 Abdulmalik Musa Ahmed Accounts and Budget 4 DSSC25/2017/SOK/407/0077825 Aliyu Kabiru Education 5 DSSC25/2017/SOK/424/0082491 Bala Buhari Education 6 DSSC25/2017/SOK/430/0084743 Bello Abubakar Education 7 DSSC25/2017/SOK/385/0074983 Bello Amiru Ahmad Engineering 8 DSSC25/2017/SOK/122/0019814 Bilyaminu Mustapha Muhammed Accounts and Budget 9 DSSC25/2017/SOK/306/0054640 Garba Abdullahi Alhaji Accounts and Budget 10 DSSC25/2017/SOK/141/0024039 Haruna Abubakar Yusuf Medical 11 DSSC25/2017/SOK/157/0028409 Haruna Mukhtar Alhaji Medical 12 DSSC25/2017/SOK/74/0012076 Muhammad Bilyaminu ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/SOK/304/0053743 Muhammad Shehu Medical 14 DSSC25/2017/SOK/105/0017105 Muhammad Usman Medical 15 DSSC25/2017/SOK/34/0005804 Muhammad Usman Umar Engineering 16 DSSC25/2017/SOK/379/0073295 Musa Anas Seaman 17 DSSC25/2017/SOK/369/0071314 Sahabi T/Kwangi Mustapha T/Kwangi Seaman 18 DSSC25/2017/SOK/22/0002928 Shehu Shamsuddin Gyalgyal ICT 19 DSSC25/2017/SOK/4/0001046 Sidi Ibrahim Labaran Engineering 20 DSSC25/2017/SOK/433/0085492 Suleiman Abdullahi Human Resource Management 21 DSSC25/2017/SOK/61/0009962 Umar Abubakar Abba Seaman 22 DSSC25/2017/SOK/443/0087397 Usman Muhammad Hafiz Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/SOK/269/0047690 Yusuf Muhammad Education TARABA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/TAR/336/0030269 Adamu Emmanuel Danladi Accounts and Budget 2 DSSC25/2017/TAR/562/0050860 Ajiya Moses Andefiki Logistics 3 DSSC25/2017/TAR/692/0063428 Akintse Janet Toby Accounts and Budget 4 DSSC25/2017/TAR/376/0035568 Ambikpu Udi Allahyabani Accounts and Budget 5 DSSC25/2017/TAR/662/0060035 Amos James Angyu Engineering 6 DSSC25/2017/TAR/17/0001675 Badamasi Auwal ICT 7 DSSC25/2017/TAR/477/0044442 Bala Ishaya Medical 8 DSSC25/2017/TAR/846/0077260 Bitrus Peace Waatsi ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/TAR/182/0014430 Christopher Ambi Ayuba Human Resource Management 10 DSSC25/2017/TAR/961/0087949 Daniel Sunday Katso ICT 11 DSSC25/2017/TAR/495/0045985 Garba Surajo ICT 12 DSSC25/2017/TAR/223/0018889 Haladu Kasimu Garba ICT 13 DSSC25/2017/TAR/55/0004405 Ibrahim Aminu Asoshido Logistics 14 DSSC25/2017/TAR/490/0045791 Ibrahim Ismail Tikari ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/TAR/112/0008267 Isa Musa Logistics 16 DSSC25/2017/TAR/377/0035587 Ishaku Jesse Information 17 DSSC25/2017/TAR/465/0043192 Maihankali Munura ICT 18 DSSC25/2017/TAR/882/0080893 Mchiaga James Terkaa Engineering 19 DSSC25/2017/TAR/23/0001869 Melle Anthony Chidoku Logistics 20 DSSC25/2017/TAR/491/0045804 Nyebe Sunday Logistics 21 DSSC25/2017/TAR/49/0003861 Obella Emmanuel Christopher Engineering 22 DSSC25/2017/TAR/426/0040479 Philips Enoch Wazota Accounts and Budget 23 DSSC25/2017/TAR/725/0066287 Timothy Hyellamada ICT YOBE STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/YOB/278/0026960 Abdulrazaq Umar Faruq ICT 2 DSSC25/2017/YOB/24/0002442 Abubakar Ahmed Muktar Engineering 3 DSSC25/2017/YOB/120/0008921 Adamu Yakubu Ali ICT 4 DSSC25/2017/YOB/184/0015528 Ahmed Ibrahim Imam 5 DSSC25/2017/YOB/565/0068993 Ahmed Hassan Yakubu Medical 6 DSSC25/2017/YOB/221/0019237 Ajejua Bello Gabakaiu Education 7 DSSC25/2017/YOB/447/0049981 Aliyu Mustapha Muhammed Accounts and Budget 8 DSSC25/2017/YOB/416/0046199 Baba Abubakar Muhammad Engineering 9 DSSC25/2017/YOB/479/0053650 Baba Gimba Zanna Accounts and Budget 10 DSSC25/2017/YOB/568/0069477 Bahkhadi Abubakar Sadiq Education 11 DSSC25/2017/YOB/80/0006916 Ciroma Habib Abu Accounts and Budget 12 DSSC25/2017/YOB/589/0071664 Hamza Abdulganiyu Medical 13 DSSC25/2017/YOB/495/0057723 Hassan Abdulkadir Dauda ICT 14 DSSC25/2017/YOB/216/0018957 Hussaini Musa Musa ICT 15 DSSC25/2017/YOB/186/0015647 Iliyasu Aliyu Accounts and Budget 16 DSSC25/2017/YOB/499/0058539 Jibrin Abdullahi Mohammad Information 17 DSSC25/2017/YOB/324/0033612 Lawan Abdulrashid Accounts and Budget 18 DSSC25/2017/YOB/245/0022811 Mailafiya Saleh Gasamu Hydrography 19 DSSC25/2017/YOB/519/0061682 Musa Yusuf Education 20 DSSC25/2017/YOB/265/0025290 Nasir Auwal Muhammad Legal Services 21 DSSC25/2017/YOB/298/0029685 Sabo Mamuda Ali Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/YOB/427/0047311 Yerima Naada Logistics 23 DSSC25/2017/YOB/177/0014493 Yusuf Isah Adamu ICT ZAMFARA STATE 1 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/207/0025696 Abdulaziz Sadiq Abubakar Seaman 2 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/211/0026759 Abdullahi Abdullahi Logistics 3 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/49/0006619 Abdullahi Abubakar Mohammed Logistics 4 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/424/0061573 Abdullahi Umar Faruk Logistics 5 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/348/0048863 Abubakar Saleem Aliyu Accounts and Budget 6 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/71/0008544 Abubakar Sirajo Education 7 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/277/0038618 Ahmed Abubakar Isiaka ICT 8 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/425/0061658 Bello Auwal Muhammad ICT 9 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/63/0008283 Dahiru Babangida Accounts and Budget 10 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/322/0045524 Garba Jamilu Engineering 11 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/8/0002148 Hassan Mubarak Muhammad Accounts and Budget 12 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/407/0056420 Ibrahim Abdurrahman Suleiman Education 13 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/36/0005121 Ibrahim Abdulbasit Abbas Engineering 14 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/474/0070697 Mohammed Najib Accounts and Budget 15 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/333/0046443 Muhammad Mariam ICT 16 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/59/0008031 Musbahu Aliyu Education 17 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/492/0073337 Rufai Ahmed Medical 18 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/180/0021552 Salisu Musa Logistics 19 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/134/0015826 Sani Abubakar ICT 20 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/249/0032623 Suleman Anas Education 21 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/202/0025022 Umar Auwal Accounts and Budget 22 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/178/0021396 Umar Muhammad Medical 23 DSSC25/2017/ZAM/286/0040331 Zayyanu Shuaibu ICT A driver with a logistics company who was arrested for allegedly smuggling 280 units of 50 kilogramme bags of foreign parboiled rice last week along the Agbara-Atan road in Ogun State has been granted administrative bail by the Nigerian Customs, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. Adam Ogheneghare was arrested after operatives of the Customs Federal Operations Unit discovered the concealed rice in cartons of Maggi seasoning. Jeremiah Attah, the Public Relations Officer of the FOU, said the Controller used his discretion to grant bail to the suspect based on the available evidence. He (suspect) even reported to the Legal Unit today and he will still report on 20th of December based on his bail conditions pending the conclusion of investigation, said Mr. Attah. Since he claimed not knowing the rice was smuggled and those involved have run away, the controller decided to let him go. Mr. Ogheneghare, who works as a driver with GPS logistics, was paraded alongside other suspects caught in different acts of smuggling. He claimed ignorance of the gravity of the offence committed. While going on the way, some people stopped me to help them carry the rice to their warehouse and I agreed. I did not know it was smuggled rice. he said. The 280 bags of rice discovered inside Mr. Ogheneghares truck with registration number LSD 724 XC were part of the 13,333 bags of rice seized between November 1 and 30. Asked about the involvement of his firm, GPS logistics, Mr. Ogheneghare said his company was not aware of the act. The people that I carried the rice for saw me along the road. We bargained and agreed to carry it for them. Since Customs arrested me, I have been calling them (owners of the rice) they are not picking my calls. Sometimes, their phone number will be off. That means they knew Customs has arrested me. Uba Mohammed, Controller, FOU, had said if their investigation shows that GPS Logistics had no hand in the smuggling, their vehicle will be released to them. On Tuesday, Mr. Attah said the company was not part of the criminal act. We have seized the rice and given back the truck to the company, he said. They did not have a hand in it. The company even told us they have sacked the driver. They showed us a copy of the sack letter. Attempts to reach GPS Logistics was unsuccessful as phone calls to their official lines did not go through. Last week, the Customs Unit had announced seizures of 64 vehicles, out of which 59 were brand new, hidden in Omole Estate, Lekki Phase One, and Ojodu, all in Lagos. Alongside the seized vehicles were alleged smuggled 13,333 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 835 jerrycans of refined vegetable oil, used clothes and tyres. According to the Customs, the duty paid value of the seized items within the month of November was N1.5 billion. A former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, says he could have made Jos, Plateau State, the capital of Nigeria but refused to do so for fear of being seen as parochial. Mr. Gowon, who ruled Nigeria for nine years from 1966 to 1975, however said his only regret was that he did not move the capital from Lagos even though his administration conceived the idea of the movement. Mr. Gowon said these in Abuja at the 26th anniversary exhibition and commemoration of the movement of the seat of government from Lagos to Abuja. The exhibition was titled From Dodan Barracks to Aso Rock. According to a report in Vanguard newspaper on Wednesday, Mr. Gowon said he did not make Jos the capital because he was afraid of being accused of parochialism, given the fact that Jos was close to his place of birth. I had powers to make Jos, and not Abuja, the capital of Nigeria but refused to do so because I was not prepared to be clouded by sentiments and selfishness, he said. He also said he did not use his power as Head of State to appropriate land for his personal use. He said he took these decisions because of his conviction that personal interest should not override national interest, stressing that the idea of moving the seat of Nigerias government from Lagos to Abuja was conceived by his government in 1974. Those who were passionate about the ideas, such as the late General Murtala Mohammed, continued with the project after I left government. One of the places I saw that attracted me was somewhere in Plateau, those of you who know the place, especially close to Jos forest, will agree that the area is beautiful and I thought that place was beautiful for the capital city. But I did not make that choice because I would have been accused of parochialism and favoritism, because it was very close to the original place where I come from. I must look at other places, the search for a new capital took me round the North-west, and in my state, I continued to look for other places. When I came to Abuja, I was attracted, he said. Mr. Gowon lamented that despite being the initiator of the idea that gave birth to the present Federal Capital Territory, successive governments marginalised him by not naming any street after him until he officially complained to former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida. He said he suspected the reason for such treatment was because some military officers who were close to the government alleged that he had a hand in the death of Mr. Mohammed, who was assassinated in an abortive coup just over six months after he overthrew Mr. Gowon. I had to officially complain to General Ibrahim Babangida when he was the Military President, that I have been excluded from getting a street named after me in Abuja, while all other members of the military council who nurtured the idea had got streets name after them, he said. He said to ensure that the project of moving the capital from Lagos to Abuja was not frustrated, he instructed Shehu Shagari, who was his Minister of Finance, to set aside funds from the excess funds for the purpose of pursuing the dream. Meanwhile, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammad Bello, who was represented at the occasion by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Christian Ohaa, said the theme of the exhibition was apt and provided the platform for strategic evaluations of the giant steps after 26 years of the relocation. Mr. Bello said the developmental strides in Abuja did not come by chance but by painstaking sacrifices of the founding leaders. He said the current system of funding infrastructure through statutory allocation was no longer sustainable, adding that government might consider other options in developing the city. It is important that we note that the current system of funding infrastructure through statutory allocation is, indeed, not sustainable,this is because the fund is no longer there. Government has done so much to drive development and brought the city to this point. The time has come for the private sector to drive the new process, he concluded. From 1914 to 1991, Lagos was the seat of power of Nigeria and served as both its political and economic capital. The plan for the movement of the capital from Lagos to Abuja was initiated by Mr. Mohammed but it was not actualised until 1991 during the regime of Mr. Babangida. The trial of former Nigerian governors for offences bordering on corruption and money laundering may continue to linger in different high courts in the country as a result of unending appeals and other submissions by the defendants. A copy of the compiled list of high profile corruption cases made available to PREMIUM TIMES by Lanre Suraju of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, showed that some of the cases dating back to 2007 are yet to properly commence. Some went on appeals up to the Supreme Court on matters of interlocutory submissions only to be referred back to the trial court for commencement of the trial proper. The trial of former Jigawa State governor, Saminu Turaki, for alleged N36 billion fraud began shortly after his exit from office in 2007; but the case was stalled after he allegedly absconded. Even though he was later rearrested, the trial is yet to begin substantively. Another case which began in 2007 is that involving Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. He faces a 23-count charge of criminal embezzlement. According to the report, the trial actually started only in January 2016 after a long-drawn interlocutory appeal which ended at the Supreme Court. In the same vein, the corruption case against former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, which began in 2007, is reported to be at the Supreme Court for the determination of an appeal by the defendant. Chimaroke Nnamani, who was governor of Enugu State, has had his case stalled since 2007 following allegations that he was ill. The Federal High Court in Lagos recently issued a bench warrant for his arrest after his lawyers failed to give reasons why he failed to appear in court on December 3. The case against a former governor of Oyo State, Rasheed Ladoja, filed in 2008 is at the Supreme Court on interlocutory appeal. Other cases involving former governors include Jolly Nyame (Taraba) filed in 2007; Danjuma Goje (Gombe) filed in 2011; Timipreye Sylva (Bayelsa) 2015; Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) 2015; Sule Lamido (Jigawa) 2015; Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo) 2011; Gbenga Daniel (Ogun) 2011; Aliyu Akwe Doma (Nasarawa) 2011; Attahiru Bafawara (Sokoto) 2009; and Ikedi Ohakim (Imo) 2015. However, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, said on Tuesday it might revisit the case files of 20 former state governors it indicted for corruption in 2008. The Acting Chairman of the commission, Abdullahi Bako, who dropped the hint in Abuja, noted that case files were shelved due to a combination of legal and financial impediments. In his reaction, the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wilson Ewujarem, while responding to the development, said the cases are ongoing and at different stages of trials. There are no obstacles that the EFCC would need to remove, he said. It is not about what EFCC can do to remove the obstacles. Even recently you will see that some of them have been going on in the courts. Some other high profile cases still ongoing include a bribery scandal of a former senate president, Adolphus Wabara, and others filed in 2010; ex-Rep Faruk Lawals $620,000 bribe scandal filed in 2013; and Sunday Ehindero, a former police chief indicted of fraud, filed in 2012. The Kogi State Police Command has dismissed three of its officers for their alleged involvement in the trafficking of 30 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp. The commands Public Relations Officer, William Aya, who confirmed this on Wednesday in Lokoja, said that the officers were handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for prosecution. According to him, the officers were dismissed after they were found guilty by a board room trial conducted by the police. He said that their dismissal followed due process, saying that the NDLEA will handle their prosecution. It would be recalled that the NDLEA had on November 7 arrested a mobile policeman for escorting a vehicle carrying 30 sacks of Indian hemp out of Lokoja. The drug was conveyed in a Toyota Picnic car with registration number Kogi KNA 185 LG when it was intercepted by NDLEA operatives. The policeman who escorted the vehicle was arrested along with two other accomplices as well as the driver of the vehicle. (NAN) The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by Ekiti State Government to look into the financial transactions of the state under the administration of Kayode Fayemi has said that the former governor must account for the whereabouts of N2.75 billion allocated from the N25 billion bond obtained by the government for the execution of contract for the construction of Ultra-Modern market in Ado Ekiti, which was never executed. The commission of inquiry also said that the contractor in respect of the furnishing of the government house built by the Fayemi administration should be made to refund N324.8 million, noting that the contract should not have been more than N280 million. The panel said it found out that KITWOOD Nigeria Limited to which the furnishing contract of over N600 million was awarded had no traceable address and that the address on the Letter of Award is a virgin land at opposite the new Central Bank along new Iyin Road, Ado Ekiti. These and several other revelations were made known today, when the commission of inquiry submitted its report to the State Governor, Ayodele Fayose. The panel was headed by a retired judge, Silas Oyewole. On the purchase of vehicles, the panel said claim by Coscharis Motors that it supplied 235 and/or 250 vehicles was fraudulent and fraught with so many contradictions. That Coscharis Motors supplied some vehicles outside Ekiti State especially, at Ibadan Liaison office when Ekiti State Government does not have a Liaison office in Ibadan. In respect of this, seven vehicles were supplied outside the State and signed for by unknown persons. That Coscharis Motors only supplied 219 vehicles to the Ekiti State government and that 17 Joylong Buses were supplied to the Ekiti State Government as gift but later carted away. On the controversial N852.9 million State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) fund, the commission said it was clear that the government of Mr. Fayemi hoodwinked the federal government into paying its own matching grant by obtaining N852, 936,783.12 loan from Access Bank on November 25, 2013 without perfecting documentation in respect of the loan, thereby flouting the provisions of Section 11(2) of the UBEC Act, 2004. While receiving the report, Governor Fayose said asking people to account for their stewardship should not be termed witch hunting, as leaders must be accountable and that Ekiti people have the inalienable right to know how their commonwealth was being used. I appreciate the panel members for a thorough job done. The time and energy they put into the job. The panel waited for the outcome of the court case instituted by former Governor Kayode Fayemi before it concluded its job because we are ardent believers in the rule of law and if the court had ruled that we should stop, we would have stopped. There is no witch hunting in a situation whereby people are asked to account for their stewardship. Am glad that the federal government is also pursuing the policy of accountability and we are following suit here too, he said. Governor Fayose subsequently inaugurated a four-member administrative panel to study the report and come out with a White Paper. The administrative panel is headed by the Commissioner for Justice, Kolapo Kolade. Earlier, Mr. Oyewole said though the panel was given three months to do its work when inaugurated in May this year, it had to bid its time to see the end of the litigation by Fayemi. In another development, Mr. Fayose has set up a four-member panel to look into agitation by some communities for autonomy and other sundry issues. It has Mr. Oyewole as the chairman and tagged Justice Oyewole Chieftaincy Commission of Enquiry 2018. The governor said that the panel had six months to complete its work and could also look into other issues relating to its terms of reference. In his remarks, Mr. Oyewole said he would never be tired of serving the state in any capacity he is asked to. Other members of the commission are Ojo Ayenimo, Alex Adekunle and Gbenga Adaramola. The counsel to the probe commission, Sunday Bamise, told the panel today, that all the witnesses called by the panel appeared; except Mr. Fayemi, who is the current Minister for Steel and Minerals Resources Development; his commissioner for finance while he was governor, Dapo Kolawole; and CASA Consult Limited. Mr. Bamise said having heard from the witnesses that appeared before the panel, he urged the commission to close the public hearing so as to take a step in writing and submitting its report to the state governor, Ayodele Fayose, who set up the commission. The chairman of the commission, Mr. Oyewole, obliged and declared proceedings at the commission of inquiry closed. It should be recalled that last week Thursday, a High Court in Ado Ekiti affirmed the legality of the judicial commission of inquiry, saying the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose had powers to run affairs of his state and that he had exclusive rights to set up commission of inquiry without the prompting of the House of Assembly and that he properly so acted. Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, who delivered the judgment in the suit filed by Mr. Fayemi against the commission of inquiry, said Mr. Fayose acted pursuant to Section 2 (1) of the Commission Inquiry Law Cap C10 Laws of Ekiti State. He dismissed all other reliefs seeking to set aside and perpetually restrain the Commission. Mr. Fayemi was yet to react to the final report of the panel as at the time of this report. But he refused to appear before the panel saying he could not get fair hearing and the panel was illegally constituted. The All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, Bola Tinubu, has put a lie to a speculation that he may be picked by President Muhammadu Buhari as his running mate in 2019, saying a report to that effect by SUN newspaper is a classic case of utterly and irredeemably-fake news. Mr. Tinubu said he and the people of the South-west have absolute confidence and are exceedingly proud of the excellent job Professor Osinbajo is doing as Vice President of Nigeria. SUN in a front page lead story on Wednesday claimed that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was considering returning to full church work and that Mr. Tinubu was being mooted as a replacement for him. According to the newspaper, as a way to have a solid South-west support for the APC, in the face of a South-east/South-south alliance in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But Mr. Tinubu in a statement by his Media Office in Lagos said there was no empirical or logical basis for the speculative story. The statement entitled: Asiwaju Tinubu Debunks SUN Report on 2019 VP Slot reads: The attention of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Office has been drawn to the front page lead story of The SUN newspaper of yesterday, December 13, 2017, which sensationally and ridiculously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari may pick Asiwaju Tinubu as his running mate for the 2019 election. This is a classic case of utterly and irredeemably fake news. There is no empirical or logical basis for this mischievously speculative story. Is it even conceivable, as the story recklessly insinuates, that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be considering returning to full church work rather than run with his boss, President Buhari for a second term if the latter so decides without as much as discussing such a sensitive issue with his party and with Asiwaju Tinubu? In any case, is this story not entirely unwarranted and indefensible as the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket has an electoral mandate of four years out of which it has spent only over two years and a half years? This is clearly an attempt to distract the APC federal government from the yeomans job it has been doing in rescuing the country from the deep rooted socio-economic, political, security and moral mess inherited from the PDPs 16 years misrule of Nigeria, instigate crisis within the party, stoke dangerous embers of religious disaffection within the party and the country generally and stem the remarkable progress being made in the reinvention and revitalization of Nigeria. The SUN newspaper, through this kind of story, does great discredit to Nigerian journalism, which has made considerable strides towards greater professionalism and excellence over the years. For the avoidance of doubt, Asiwaju Tinubu has absolute confidence and faith in both President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo who have been working hard harmoniously in offering inspirational leadership to Nigeria at a most critical period in her history. The haemorrhaging of the national economy through the wanton and unprecedented corruption that obtained before the advent of the APC Federal Government has been stanched. There is greater sanity, accountability and transparency in the management of the countrys finances. The Boko Haram insurgency has been substantially contained. We should not allow ourselves to be derailed from the job we are effectively undertaking in fulfilling our campaign promises anchored on the tripod of containing insecurity, taming the scourge of corruption and resuscitating the economy. The Buhari and Osinbajo-led Federal Government is deftly steering the country out of an economic recession that was the result of the ineptness of the PDP years of the locusts. Asiwaju Tinubu will never support any attempt to distract Buhari and Osinbajo from the job they are passionately doing through the kind of false report carried by the Sun. In particular, this story does great injustice to Vice President Osinbajo. Here is a man of the highest integrity, moral rectitude, amazing humility, high intellect and unimpeachable credibility. Here is a man of fierce loyalty and absolute trustworthiness who will never do anything in word, thought or deed to undermine his boss. His unquestionable dependability and indisputable fidelity to his oath of office was demonstrated beyond question by his honourable conduct during the Presidents medical vacation. Asiwaju Tinubu and the people of the South West have absolute confidence and are exceedingly proud of the excellent job Professor Osinbajo is doing as Vice President of Nigeria. Asiwaju takes serious exception to the insinuation by the Sun and in some other quarters that there was ever any so-called frosty relationship between Buhari and Tinubu. We challenge the Sun to provide any evidence where Tinubu has ever complained of any grouse against Buhari. As Asiwaju had cause to point out recently, having been elected President, Buhari had to be given the space to run his government. There have always been and will always be channels of communication between Tinubu and Buhari as members of the same party. Their interaction must not necessarily always be conducted in the public space. Contrary to the impression the Sun seeks to create, Asiwajus politics is not that of unbridled personal ambition for selfish interest. When at some point in the build up to the 2015 election, President Buhari offered him the Vice Presidential ticket, Tinubu gratefully and publicly thanked the President. When it turned out that such an offer would not be in the interest of the party and would play into the hands of enemies of change, Asiwaju unreservedly and passionately threw his support behind Osinbajo as the best man for the job. His opinion has not changed. Indeed, his confidence and belief in Osinbajo has been amply justified by the latters sterling performance in the office. This attempt to cause disaffection between the duo cannot and will not fly. As Asiwaju firmly asserted in a public statement on December 17th 2014 endorsing Professor Osinbajo for the position of running mate to President Buhari After all the political calculations are made and the dust of competition has settled, it must be this nation and its people who stand first and foremost. The question becomes whether we stand strong, able to shape ourselves into our best future or will we stand frail and trembling, burdened by the abject failure to surmount the multiple problems confronting usFor me, political ambition will never triumph over patriotic conviction. This delicate moment affords no space for emotion to intrude to blind us from what is best. The APC is the best and only vehicle to enact the progressive and broad change this nation cries for. I eagerly lend myself to this fine cause without me having to be on the ticket. This is a time for cohesion and an overriding sense of mission. We must defeat the foe before us and resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight among ourselves. As it was then so it remains today and on this patriotic and selfless commitment Asiwaju stands unshakably. The Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, NNRA, has been given until Friday to account for N368 million (N367,811,850) it generated internally and spent in 2017. The government agency generated N490 million up till November 2017 and allegedly spent 75 per cent of the fund N367,811,850 without appropriation by the National Assembly. The agency failed to provide details of how the fund was expended. These revelations were made on Wednesday when the management of the agency appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream). The Chairman of the committee, Tayo Alasoadura, demanded that the agency explain why money initially paid into the Treasury Single Account, TSA, was withdrawn without National Assembly approval. In preparing this (2017 budget performance), there is no key to show why 25 per cent is remitted and you did not show the balance. What did you do with the balance because it is not captured in the budget? I know what the law says but in preparing your budget, you should be explicit about why you remitted only 25 per cent of your IGR. Where is the balance of N367, 811, 850. In response, Director-General of NNRA, Dim Lawrence, said the fund was spent on recurrent expenditure of the agency. What we did with the balance is that we improvised. The law provides that we spend this balance in our day to day operation. That is what is used for running the office. The senators were however infuriated by the DGs explanation. A member of the committee, Andrew Uchendu, said the agency has been in the habit for years. If the amount being referred to was not captured in your budget performance for 2017, then how do we proceed with the project defence for 2018? If that huge sum was not accounted for, then we have not started budget defence. Why did you not do that before coming today? Because you are coming to budget defence and that amount of money was generated and utilised and you didnt think it was necessary to account for it? You wanted the senate to raise the issue before you take action? Mr. Chairman, I have had so many experience with them over the years. It is not acceptable at all. The vice chairman of the committee, Gershom Bassey, insisted that the agency explains how the money was withdrawn from the TSA and spent. Any amount internally generated must have the approval of the National Assembly before you go ahead to spend. So what you have done without our approval is an infraction to the existing law. So you would have to provide this committee with what you have spent. This money that you have spent, were they paid into the TSA? So the N490 million was paid into the TSA. Let us have the evidence that it was done. It appears there are a number of omissions in this account. How do you explain this N367 million? In his submission, another member of the committee, Baba Kaka, berated the agency for presenting a poor budget performance. Your budget is supposed to be all encompassing. You cannot come and be telling us here cock and bull stories like we dont know what we are doing, he said. The committee requested the NNRA to provide details of how the N367.8 million was spent on or before December 15 before considering the 2018 appropriation. I think our resolution is you provide us how you expended this N367 million for refractive approval because what you have done is against the law, Mr. Alasoadura said. You cannot spend a dime without the approval of the NASS. You must also project what you will expend this year and also how you are going to spend it and present it to this committee. For us to review and appropriate and it would go to plenary, the one for 2018 must be done properly for transparency. We frown at this. Prepare 2018 budget with comparative analysis. A former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has rejected the verdict of a High Court in Ekiti, which affirmed the legality of the Ekiti State Judicial Commission of Inquiry probing his tenure. He also denounced the report of the commission submitted to the state government on Wednesday, which found him culpable in the misappropriation of over N2 billion state funds. Mr. Fayemi said his lawyers had perfected their papers on the appeal of the judgment, saying the lower courts decision would certainly be upturned. Speaking on his behalf on Wednesday, Mr. Fayemis media aide, Yinka Oyedobe, told PREMIUM TIMES that not much was expected from the lower court, but the minister was hopeful that justice would be done at the appeal court. It is difficult to really comment on the report submitted by the commission to the state governor because the matter is in court, but it is a clear witch-hunt to smear the name of the former governor, Oyebode said. We are going on appeal and I am sure the lawyers are perfecting the plans on that and we hope to get a better judgment from the appeal court. The commission of inquiry, led by a retired judge, Silas Oyewole, while submitting its report said that the former governor must account for the whereabouts of N2.75 billion allocated from the N25 billion bond obtained by the government for the execution of contract for the construction of Ultra-Modern market in Ado Ekiti, which was never executed. The commission of inquiry also said that the contractor in respect of the furnishing of the government house built by the Fayemi administration should be made to refund N324.8 million, noting that the contract should not have been more than N280 million. The panel said it found out that KITWOOD Nigeria Limited to which the furnishing contract of over N600 million was awarded had no traceable address and that the address on the Letter of Award is a virgin land at opposite the new Central Bank along new Iyin Road, Ado Ekiti. On the purchase of vehicles, the panel said claims by Coscharis Motors that it supplied 235 and/or 250 vehicles was fraudulent and fraught with so many contradictions. The report also noted that Coscharis Motors supplied some vehicles outside Ekiti State especially, at Ibadan Liaison office when Ekiti State Government does not have a Liaison office in Ibadan. In respect of this, seven vehicles were supplied outside the state and signed for by unknown persons. That Coscharis Motors only supplied 219 vehicles to the Ekiti State government and that 17 Joylong Buses were supplied to the Ekiti State Government as gift but later carted away. The commission however failed to confirm earlier claims that Mr. Fayemi made away with N852.9 million State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) funds, but observed that the government of Mr. Fayemi hoodwinked the federal government into paying its own matching grant by obtaining N852, 936,783.12 loan from Access Bank on November 25, 2013 without perfecting documentation in respect of the loan, thereby flouting the provisions of Section 11(2) of the UBEC Act, 2004. After receiving the report, the state governor, Ayo Fayose, said asking people to account for their stewardship should not be termed witch hunting. He said leaders must be accountable and that Ekiti people had the inalienable right to know how their commonwealth was being used. Many motorists spent the night at filling stations in Jos queuing for petrol as the fuel scarcity bites harder in the Plateau State capital. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, correspondent monitoring the fuel supply situation in Jos on Wednesday reports that there are long queues at NNPC and Mobil stations selling the product at N145 regulated price. NAN reports that there were minimum queues at other independent marketers stations selling at N190 a litre. An official at one of the filling stations selling fuel, who preferred anonymity, said that as at 7 a.m., no fewer than 80 motorists were on queue at the station waiting for commencement of sales. We have issued over 76 motorists with the stations stamped and numbered tickets to access the station as soon as we open sales, he told NAN. NAN reports that the NNPC mega station on Murtala Muhammad Way was besieged by motorists who queued for about one kilometre from the station. Dadel Mangut, a motorist on the queue, told NAN that he did not mind the wait as the queue moved fast. Other stations sell-off their fuel to black marketers at night where a gallon of petrol now sells at N1, 200. They see this as an opportunity to make money for the Christmas season, he said. Bagas Samuel, another motorist at Mobil, told NAN that a lot of people slept on the queue to ensure they got fuel at the right price. Ceaser Douglas, Operations Controller, Jos Office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), however, told NAN that the situation would soon return to normal as stations have started receiving supply. He said that sales were going on in an orderly manner at stations that he supervised just this morning. (NAN) Fuel queues which resurfaced in Abuja on December 4, are gradually easing out, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. A NAN correspondent with the inspection team of NNPC and PPMC officials to some filling stations in the federal capital on Wednesday observed that while the queues were short in some stations, motorists drive through in other stations to buy the product. At the Total filling station in Zone 1, Wuse, NAN observed that petrol was being off-loaded and the dealer, Patrick Okogo, told journalists that although there was a queue, the product was available. He said you can see that the queue has reduced and we have enough product. At Oando petrol station in Mabushi area of Abuja, NAN noticed that only two to three cars were at each pump and all the pump heads were dispensing the product. When the NNPC/PPMC surveillance team got to A. Y. M Shafa petrol station, there was orderliness, unlike how it was some days ago. The station manager, Abdullahi Sambo, told journalists that we have 200,000 litres of petrol that can last for three days. We do not sell in jerry cans. Yes, we were selling at N143 per litre but a directive from headquarters made us sell at N145. We hope to return to our former price as soon as we have enough product. A pump attendant at the station who simply identified himself as Ade told NAN we always use all our pumps. The inspection team also visited Conoil petrol station and the queue was short. A tanker carrying petrol was engulfed by fire at a Conoil filling station, along the airport road in Abuja on Wednesday evening. As at 7:00 p.m., fire service officials were still trying to put out the fire. Witnesses said the fire started at about 6:00 p.m. One of the fire service officials, Gidado Ismail, said there were about six fire vehicles trying to put out the fire. The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has said that the 2018 budget of the state will focus on the social sector aimed at addressing people related issues. To this end, he said, N51.5 billion out of the total budget of N216.55 billion will be spent on Education, Health and Social Development. Mr. El-Rufai, who spoke Tuesday at the budget signing ceremony inside the council chamber of the governors office, said the allocation to the three sector is the largest chunk of the budget, adding that the emphasis placed should not surprise anyone. The governor said the Restoration Programme, the document on which he campaigned, is premised on expanding the peoples access to education and health, and improving outcomes for them. These are the primary sectors for building human capital. And we have no doubt that this is what responsible leadership commands. In fact, it is the substantive essence of democracy to practice public policy in a way that empowers the people, including the poor, by providing a sustainable ladder for social mobility, he said. He also said social sector spending reflects his commitment to equality of opportunity, a determination to give the poor and their children a realistic chance to improve their life chances. In devoting more than N33 billion to Education, we are signalling that we will not be deterred from our quest to provide decent education, within safe and standard school environments using qualified teachers. This commitment to equality of opportunity is also driving investments in the health sector. We shall continue to equip our health facilities, improve the availability of medicines and prioritise routine immunisation. All these will be supported by spending on infrastructure. The Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport has a capital budget of N28.3 billion, while the Ministry of Water Resources has N11 billion, he said. The Kaduna governor said by the allocations, his government has prioritised the interest of the many over those of the few. The state government is currently in the process of recruiting nearly 20,000 qualified primary school teachers to replace those who failed primary four tests administered to them recently. He said the radical actions in the education sector was taken in consideration of the future of two million primary school pupils as being above whatever sentiments 22,000 unqualified teachers may mobilise. Our public service reform programme similarly recognises that effective service delivery needs a dynamic, highly-skilled, IT-savvy, and youthful public service. As important as the public service is, all those who work for it represent less than 1 per cent of the population of the state. We must take good care of the public service, but we cannot do this by neglecting the other 99 per cent of the state that does not work for government. In a democracy, government cannot exist to serve only those who lead and work for it. Government must shed weight so that public resources can be more fully devoted to providing public goods, benefitting the generality of the populace, he said. He said the government understands the mandate it has been given as a solemn duty to do what is necessary, significant and consequential. Populism is the easy way in a universe of sentiment, where everybody desires the good but few are willing to accept the sacrifices that will entail. We will not refuse to take difficult decisions so that we can win temporary applause. We will do what is required to solve difficult problems. We will not succumb to those who have a sense of entitlement, but we will do what we must to promote equality of opportunity. And we trust that deep down, our people know that these tough choices are in their best interests, he said. Mr. El Rufai said his government will continue to stand with the ordinary man and woman so that they can send their children to proper public schools, access affordable healthcare, travel on safe roads and maintain high sanitation standards through reliable water supply. A group of lawyers under the aegis of Otu Oka Iwu have condemned the incessant harassment, intimidation and extortion of travellers by law enforcement agencies on the Lagos-Benin-Onitsha Expressway and roads in the South-east region. In a statement on Tuesday, the lawyers decried a situation where the stretch of road from Lagos (in the south west) to Onitsha (in the south east) is invaded by all manner of security agencies including the Army, Police, Customs Service, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, and Federal Road Safety Commission operatives. The group, in the statement by its president, Chuks Ikokwu, said the countless road-blocks engender extortion, delays and unacceptable hardships to travellers. It is recalled that the respected and longstanding human rights group, Campaign for Democracy recently issued a three-day ultimatum to the Inspector-General of Police demanding removal of the innumerable road-blocks within the Onitsha metropolis, the group said, at the end of their monthly meeting in Lagos. Sadly, this malaise is not restricted to Onitsha. It is widely believed that these road-blocks are designed to extort motorists and dampen their travel experience, causing them avoidable irritation and sundry losses both in man-hours and business opportunities. The lawyers demand came barely three months after the police Inspector-General ordered a dismantling of road blocks by police officers across the country. But despite the police bosss directive, checkpoints, particularly those mounted by police officers, have continued to be a common sight across the country, including in the Federal Capital Territory where the police headquarters is situated. According to the lawyers, the situation had worsened along the Lagos-Onitsha-Owerri Expressway and intra South-east roads, especially as Christmas approaches. The Inspector-General of Police is advised to reintroduce mobile highway patrols than these stationary road-blocks that have turned to toll gates of sorts. The group also urged victims of extortions and abuse of law enforcement powers to report such experiences to the association, warning that it would not hesitate to take immediate and appropriate action to bring the perpetrators to justice. The lawyers also called on Babatunde Fashola, the Minister for Power, Works, and Housing, to immediately commence palliative measures to fix the failed portions of the Lagos-Benin-Onitsha Expressway. They described several portions of the road as death traps, adding that travellers now spend valuable man-hours especially at the Benin-Asaba interchange and Onitsha-Awka-Enugu Expressway. Those portions have become so dilapidated and impassable that they have been taken over by trucks and trailers as their parking lots. The Sagamu-Ore axis remains a travellers nightmare due to huge craters that litter most portions of that stretch. For starters, we call for an immediate removal of these trucks and trailers from the expressway. Despite the huge budgetary expenditure to improve the nations road infrastructure, according to the lawyers, tales of woe and inhuman suffering by travellers are yet to abate. In fact, it is doubtful that the supervising minister is fully briefed on the current state of these roads, making an on-the-spot assessment imperative. We urge the supervising minister to demonstrate his avowed competence and ensure that immediate steps are taken to remediate these roads to ameliorate the suffering of travellers especially during this yuletide season. No excuse is again tenable for the highly deplorable condition of these roads, more so as the loss to the economy is incalculable. Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on Wednesday presented a budget estimate of N190 billion (N190,921,464,290) to the State House of Assembly for the 2018 fiscal year. Tagged Budget of Consolidation and Continuity III, it is 45.58 per cent higher than last years budget. About N132.98 billion, representing 69.70 per cent of the total budget, was earmarked for capital expenditure, while N57.943 billion, or 30.30 per cent, is for recurrent expenditure. Presenting the budget at the House, Mr Okorocha said the budget would not only consolidate his administrations development efforts but would ensure prudence and efficiency in expenditure programmes. This administration intends to use the limited resources at our disposal to achieve maximum impact. We intend to achieve synergy through collaboration and integration of programmes and projects at all levels in order to realise our vision of making Imo better, he said. The governor further said that relevant agencies of government would be strengthened for their constitutional responsibilities to ensure monitoring of all programmes and projects. A further breakdown of the budget revealed that Works and Transport Ministry has the single largest allocation with N39.8 billion (N39,811,300,000), followed by Education with (N13.5 billion) N13,500,000,000. Agriculture and Environment has N7,622,990,049, while the Ministry of Culture has N440,244,096 Meanwhile, a coalition of pro-democracy groups in the state has formally notified the Police and the State Security Services of plan to hold a peaceful protest from December 18 to 24. Addressing journalists in Owerri on Wednesday, the coordinator of Imo Peoples Action for Democracy, IPAD, Aku Obidinma, said it applied for security protection to avoid the rally being hijacked by hoodlums. He said the group did not need to seek police permit for the rally, as the Supreme Court has made it clear that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest. Mr. Obidinma dismissed an alleged plan by the government to sponsor a counter protest at the same time to commend the governor as the governments usual ploy of intimidating people. He vowed that the rally will hold as planned and called on Imo people to massively come out on those days. IPAD said it is organising the one week rally to protest alleged bad governance in the state. Governor Okorocha has been engulfed in many controversies, the latest being over his appointment of his sister as Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment. But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, the Governors Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuamaodo, alleged that the rally was being sponsored by political opponents to portray the government in bad light. Lets wait until that day and see if anybody will protest against the government. This is not the first time people are talking about coming to protest. On that day you will see whether you will see anybody. No Imo man can come out to protest against the governor. For what, for developing Imo?, he asked Is it against the flyovers, roads, quality education, about six inland roads, and other projects that were not there before, is that what you are coming to protest? The few dissenting voices, they have access to the media, the core Imo people in the rural areas they dont have access to the media and for us here those people are our target, we dont care what one man who wants to run for governorship is doing in the media, he said. Mr. Onwuamodo said Governor Okorocha has performed better than all the past governors of the state put together. Our work will speak for us. By 2019 I wonder what they will tell Imo. We will brandish our achievements, then they will brandish propaganda. We have been witnessing such things before. About two months ago, a former speaker under PDP was saying that he was going to bring down Imo State. We waited, no Imo man followed him. Not even one person. The spokesperson of the police in the state, Andrew Enwerem, said he was not aware of the letter by IPAD seeking protection for the planned rally. I have not seen such letter and if there is such letter it will be directed to the office of the Commissioner of Police. If there is such letter it has not been minuted to me for my information so I am not aware. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says the federal government has concluded plans to demolish Jibowu and Costain bridges in Lagos. Mr. Ambode disclosed this while addressing participants of the Town Hall Meeting on Security Trust Fund in Alausa, Lagos, on Wednesday. He said the bridges would be demolished by the government to give way for the new rail project. The governor said the project would be executed for the good of the residents and it would increase the economy of the state. The Jibowu and Costain bridges will give way for the laying of tracks of a Lagos-Ibadan rail project, he said. Mr. Ambode also said that the demolition would give room for a track that would stretch from the old Fela Shrine to WAEC end. According to him, the track will be constructed in such a way that no vehicle crosses it. He said that the traffic would be managed during the project and appealed to people in the state to bear with the situation. On kidnapping, Mr. Ambode said plan had been concluded to procure surveillance aircraft that could effectively gather intelligence in parts of the state and assist significantly in dealing with the menace. It is pertinent to note that these criminals have not relented in their pursuit of evil. We must demonstrate that we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make it difficult for them to succeed in their evil plots. We will apprehend them and bring them to justice, he said. Ambode urged people to install CCTV cameras in their organisations to help expand the reach of law enforcement agents in the event of any security breach. As responsible citizens and worthy stakeholders, you also have a crucial part to play for the enhancement of security in the state, he said. Earlier, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Edgal Imohimi, said the introduction of community policing and the increase in police visibility had resulted in 35 per cent decline in crime. Mr. Imohinmi, however, said that despite massive contributions by the state security trust fund, dearth of patrol vehicles remained a challenge. Many vehicles attached to the divisions have become rickety and unserviceable due to old age and over usage, he said. Mr. Imohinmi, however, said the command would not relent in its efforts to consolidate on the achievements recorded so far, but would appreciate if additional critical fighting equipment were provided. Also, Secretary of the Security Trust Fund, Abdulrazaq Balogun, said there was a need for organisations to engage in consistent and sustainable security model. According to him, this will enhance strategic planning for improved security in the state. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday criticised the Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Chafe, for reportedly covering up the killing of two persons and the injuring of several, by an alleged drunk driver said to be an officer with the Nigerian Customs Service. The customs officer, whose identity is yet to be known, was said to have overrun a shop at Ayetoro Ekiti on Tuesday, killing two, Emmanuel Owaremi and Titilayo Omotoso; and inflicting injuries on others. It was gathered that another victim, Bukola Aboko, lost her five months pregnancy in the accident due to the severity of the bodily injuries sustained in the accident. Residents, who were incensed by the deaths, attacked the driver. According to witnesses, the man would have been lynched but for the timely intervention of the police. Aggrieved that the police released the man without charging him to court, the residents stormed the Ayetoro police station in protest. Some of the family members of the victims were allegedly rounded up by the police and charged to court for breaching public peace and for allegedly attacking the police station. Fearing they had been denied justice, the family members on Wednesday took their protest to the Government House in Ado Ekiti to seek the intervention of the state governor, Ayo Fayose. A spokesperson for the two families, Adeola Abiodun, said the police withheld the remains of the victims and forced the families to withdraw their interest in pursuing the case in court before they could secure release of their bodies for burial. We were made to write the letter under duress and we had no choice because we were constantly harassed by the police, he said. Reacting to the report, Mr. Fayose, said he was saddened by the weighty allegations against the police. He lamented that the Commissioner of Police could not give a satisfactory answer when he was confronted with the facts of the case. I am saddened by this development. Those who are supposed to be protecting us shouldnt be oppressing us. When people face this kind of trauma, this kind of sad experience, the killing of their breadwinner, husbands and for any reason, a right thinking person should not cover it up. We must stand up against this. These people must get justice, he said. A man killed two of their family members, rather than charging the suspect who occupied the car to court, the police charged the family members of the deceased to court. I want to assure Ekiti people that we will get to the root of this matter. For anyone trying to cover this up, that would only be for a very short time. You can see the young lady, who was also hit by the car. She was pregnant and the foetus has to be evacuated to save her life. So, for the police to release the suspect who owns the car is unacceptable. I have summoned the Commissioner of Police but I am not satisfied with what he said. There is a cover up everywhere. It is becoming a recurrent decimal. The police must wash their hands clean of this mess. How can they ask those who lost their son and relative to write an affidavit indicating that they are not pursuing the case any longer. This was done to cover up the crime. It is also funny that the police commissioner has withdrawn his men from the town. How can you say because the towns people reacted to what you did, you now withdraw all your men and render the town insecure, the governor said. Reacting to Mr. Fayoses allegations, the police in Ekiti said the governor got it wrong. The Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, said the governors statement suggested that the people who were set to lynch the driver as soon as the accident happened, should have been allowed to do so without the police rescuing him. The people were about to lynch the driver when the police came to the rescue, he said. Should we have allowed them to lynch the driver? We are in a civilised society and we should not allow that. Mr. Adeyemi said the residents took their violence to the police station, where the suspect was detained and attacked the station destroying the vehicles of the suspect and the police station. You need to go to the police station and see how they vandalised the place and destroyed the vehicles, Mr. Adeyemi said. The man has been charged to court and we are not to tell the court what to do. Our duty is to charge the suspect to court. The statement coming from the governor or anyone that we are covering up or shielding the suspect is unfounded and untrue. He admitted that two people died in the accident, but noted that the law should be followed rather than the jungle justice. For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. COLUMBIA, Md., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ADG Creative, a Columbia, Maryland-based strategic communications and innovations agency, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with the Chenega Corporation to become the newest company in Chenega's portfolio of professional services organizations. ADG Creative provides the Department of Defense, U.S. Intelligence Community, and commercial clients with a range of strategic and user experience solutions that address business, cultural, and technology challenges. ADG's capabilities include strategic communications, advanced data visualization, branding & positioning, training & immersive learning, video & motion, content marketing, and interactive design. "ADG's strategy-first approach will enhance Chenega's offerings and the solutions we can deliver to our customers," said John "JC" Campagna, President of Chenega's MIOS Business Unit. "There is a critical need for digital transformation throughout the Federal government, and the addition of ADG will help ensure that Chenega is there to meet that need." Chenega, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), is the program's most successful Village Corporation, with diverse capabilities that support a myriad of customer requirements across more than 250 federal contracts and numerous commercial engagements. In addition to its Military, Intel, and Operations Support capabilities, the Chenega Corporation provides expertise and services in the areas of Security, Environmental, Healthcare, Facilities, Professional Services, Communications, and Data Science. "Joining an organization like Chenega makes perfect sense in ADG's evolution. The move will make us part of a global company, day one, and will enable us to pursue bigger opportunities and solve harder issues for the clients we serve," said ADG Founder and Chief Creative Officer Jeff Antkowiak. "The acquisition is strategic for both companies, allowing ADG to connect our talented team of engineers, designers, and strategists with more government and commercial organizations, and positively impact them with the strength of the entire Chenega organization." The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals, and is scheduled to close in January. Upon closing, ADG Creative will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chenega Corporation. The firms were introduced by their respective representatives at RSM/McGladrey. Holland & Knight served as external legal counsel to ADG Creative, and Hunton & Williams served as counsel and advisor to Chenega. KippsDeSanto served as ADG's investment banker and advisor through the engagement. Learn more about the acquisition and both organizations at www.adgnext.com. About ADG Creative ADG Creative is a leading digital strategy and innovations agency providing solutions for cultural and technology challenges in the government and commercial sectors. The firm's capabilities center around workforce anthropology, design thinking, and software engineering, with noted accomplishments in the areas of advanced application engineering, data visualization, corporate strategy, design and branding, interactive and digital learning development, and simulation and video. ADG is headquartered in Columbia, MD, is privately-held, just celebrated its 25th year in business, and is home to nearly 85 talented "Creatives." The firm is a Smart CEO Future 50 Award winner, District and Regional ADDY winner, has ranked on the Inc. 5000 numerous times, and has been recognized as a "Best Place to Work" by Baltimore Magazine. For further information, visit www.adgcreative.net. About Chenega MIOS MIOS is Chenega's Military, Intelligence and Operations Support (MIOS) strategic business unit (SBU), a shared services division of the Chenega Corporation which provides standard business services to the Chenega subsidiaries and assists in the management of contracts. Headquartered in Lorton, Virginia, the MIOS SBU provides shared support services, including human resources, recruiting, contracting, marketing, administration, finance and accounting, business development and security, allowing each company to focus on their customers in their day-to-day operations. www.chenega.com/mios. Contact: Caitlin Wolf [email protected] 410.935.2363 SOURCE ADG Creative Related Links http://www.adgcreative.net (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619123/EnergyNet_Ed_Royce.jpg ) Whilst the market has hesitated in some key economies, the likes of Uganda, Cote D'Ivoire, Senegal, Zambia and Ghana are booming with projects including the multibillion dollar Uganda-Tanzania Oil Pipeline, which currently has investors buzzing. In larger economies including Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt, investors are honing in on a potential avalanche of projects. When these start crossing the finish line, the lives of millions will change for the better and host governments will be healthier than ever, allowing for more investment and global partnerships to take root. On a recent trip to South Africa, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry commented how energy increases security for the young. An obvious corollary is how increased security increases confidence which enables better learning, stronger ideas and employment, and in the end a more ready and able consumer - which will really turn the lights on across the continent. South Africa is a different opportunity. With the Government's recent announcement that all outstanding renewable IPPs will be signed immediately, the billions of dollars committed to the country are theirs to lose. However, legal issues around the 'security of contracts' is now under the spotlight more than ever. This has sent ripples across the continent for investors employing huge workforces and committing millions in development costs before projects are even closed. To support the above points, at the conference in Washington decision-makers will double down discussions to get projects moving. The Summit will explore tools being offered by Power Africa, World Bank, IFC and other institutional investors to stabilise market conditions and provide predictability and security in the development phase of energy projects in Africa. Left: Ed Royce, Chairman: U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, addresses delegates at the 3rd Powering Africa: Summit in March 2017 For more information about this meeting: Meeting dates: 28 February - 2nd March 2018 Venue: Marriott Marquis, Washington, D.C., USA Website: www.poweringafrica-summit.com Contact: Amy Offord - Marketing Manager Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44-(0)20-7384-8068 SOURCE EnergyNet ISTANBUL and AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AirTies, the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi Mesh solutions to global service providers, announced today has opened a new R&D center in Austin, Texas, including a new test home that replicates real-world usage of in-home Wi-Fi to support customers in North America. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, which relies on a single Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) on a home gateway/router, AirTies' Managed Mesh Solution uses multiple Mesh Extenders to create an intelligent Mesh Wi-Fi network throughout consumers' homes to deliver fast and consistent, whole-home Internet coverage. With operations around the globe, AirTies provides premium in-home Wi-Fi solutions to leading international service providers, such as Atlantic Broadband, Frontier, Midco, Orange, Singtel, Sky (SKY Q in the UK; Germany; Italy; and New Zealand), Swisscom, Vodafone, and many others. AirTies noted that it has signed undisclosed contracts with additional service providers in North America, prompting this additional investment in the R&D facility. In addition, long-time AirTies executive, Mujdat Pakkan, EVP of Customer Programs, has relocated to oversee the new Austin facility. "We're very excited to open our first R&D center outside of Europe in order to support the growing market opportunity in North America," said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. "Austin's central location and pool of incredible, high-tech talent made it a very appealing choice for us. Looking ahead, we expect North American Internet and TV service providers to drive significant business for us, and this facility is built with them in mind." In addition to an R&D office, AirTies test home in Austin will support automated in-home Wi-Fi testing using the company's AirBot system. AirBots are robots that can be controlled remotely to travel on tracks throughout a home carrying various Wi-Fi devices to conduct various real-world use tests in a multi-floor dwelling. An example of an AirBot equipped home can be seen here: https://youtu.be/mlHUX4oFqjk AirTies' international headquarters and R&D centers are in Turkey, and the company has other R&D offices in the UK and Greece, along with other offices in the United States (Sunnyvale, CA), and China. With AirTies, service providers can seize new opportunities to improve customer satisfaction, drive incremental revenue, and differentiate with new classes of premium Wi-Fi services. Additional information about AirTies can be found at: www.AirTies.com. About AirTies Founded in 2004, AirTies is the most widely deployed provider of Managed Wi-Fi Mesh solutions to operators around the globe. AirTies designs and develops software and hardware that wirelessly streams Internet connections and high definition video to multiple rooms and screens. Its award winning technology enables seamless wireless integration at the touch of a button, increased wireless speeds, and coverage throughout subscribers' entire homes. AirTies has an installed base of over 15 million devices worldwide. AirTies' customers include: Atlantic Broadband, Frontier, Midco, Orange, Singtel, Sky (SKY Q in the UK; Germany; Italy; and New Zealand), Swisscom, Vodafone, Waoo, and many other operators. More information is available at www.AirTies.com. SOURCE AirTies Related Links http://www.airties.com SAN FRANCISCO and OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC, investment adviser to the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF (NYSE Arca: ALFA), and AlphaClone Inc., investment adviser to the AlphaClone International ETF (NYSE Arca: ALFI), announced today several exciting changes to the AlphaClone ETFs. Effective December 27, 2017, the AlphaClone ETFs will change the underlying indexes that they track the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF will begin tracking the AlphaClone Hedge Fund Masters Index and the AlphaClone International ETF will begin tracking the AlphaClone International Index. The AlphaClone Hedge Fund Masters Index is designed to track the performance of up to 50 U.S.-listed equity securities selected based on a proprietary hedge fund position replication methodology developed by AlphaClone, Inc. The methodology ranks hedge funds and institutional investors based on the efficacy of replicating their publicly disclosed positions and selects equities from those managers with the highest ranking. Unlike the index it is replacing, the new index is long only and equal weighted. The AlphaClone International Index is designed to track the performance of international companies for which hedge funds and institutional investors have disclosed significant exposure through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). The proprietary index methodology developed by AlphaClone Inc. ranks hedge funds and institutional investors based on the efficacy of replicating their publicity disclosed positions. ADRs are selected from those managers with the highest ranking, or "Clone Score". Unlike the index it is replacing, the new index is long only and equal weighted. In addition, the AlphaClone ETFs have filed an application to list their shares on the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. Upon approval of its application, the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF and AlphaClone International ETF expect that their shares will begin trading on the Cboe BZX on December 27th under the symbols "ALFA" and "ALFI", respectively. Until that time, shares of the funds will continue to trade on the NYSE Arca under the same symbols. Also effective December 27, 2017, the funds' annual management fees will be reduced from 0.95% to 0.65% for the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF and from 0.95% to 0.75% for the AlphaClone International ETF. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), may trade at a discount or premium to NAV and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. The ETFs are distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. The fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus contains this and other important information about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling 1-800-617-0004 or visiting www.alphaclonefunds.com. Read it carefully before investing. SOURCE Exchange Traded Concepts, LLC Cushner joined Arup in 2006. As Leader of Arup's Acoustics, Audiovisual and Theatre consulting practice on the West Coast, he has completed more than 250 projects, leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver advanced, creative solutions to the cultural, corporate, and educational sectors. Among his notable clients are the San Francisco Opera, Apple, Salesforce, SFMOMA, and Google. He has also led multi-media installation projects at Fort Mason National Park and the SPUR Urban Center. Cushner holds a Master of Studies degree in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment from University of Cambridge, as well as master's and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University. About Arup Arup provides planning, engineering, design, and consulting services for the most prominent projects and sites in the built environment. Since its founding in 1946, the firm has consistently delivered technical excellence, innovation, and value to its clients, while maintaining its core mission of shaping a better world. Arup opened its first US office more than 30 years ago and now employs 1,400 people in the Americas. The firm's employee-ownership structure promotes ongoing investment in joint research to yield better outcomes that benefit its clients and partners. Visit Arup's website, www.arup.com, and the online magazine of Arup in the Americas, doggerel.arup.com, for more information. Contact: Rebecca Maloney e [email protected] d +1 617 349 9226 m +1 617 412 6632 www.arup.com doggerel.arup.com SOURCE Arup Related Links http://www.arup.com PHOENIX, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law is establishing a legal clinic focused on First Amendment protections, thanks to a nearly $1 million gift from the Stanton Foundation, a private organization established by longtime CBS president Frank Stanton. Launching in fall 2018, the First Amendment Legal Clinic will be led by longtime ASU Law faculty member Professor James Weinstein, the Dan Cracchiolo chair in Constitutional Law, noted free-speech author and litigator of several significant free speech cases on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona. Weinstein will work with a full-time fellow, who will handle the clinic's day-to-day operations, and a team of second- and third-year law students. "ASU Law is dedicated to community service, and we are grateful for this gift from the Stanton Foundation, allowing us to continue supporting citizens and educating our students about the importance of civic engagement," said ASU Law Dean Douglas Sylvester. "As retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has expressed, we believe that clinical courses should be an integral part of a balanced education." The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Although the amendment also addresses free exercise and establishment of religion, the clinic will not pursue religion-oriented cases. Instead, it will focus on local and regional issues involving free speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. The clinic's mission will be to: Provide a resource for organizations, students, journalists and citizens defending and advancing First Amendment issues; Support freedom of expression and civic engagement by enhancing law students' understanding of the First Amendment; and Produce law school graduates who, as practitioners and members of their communities, will exercise leadership in support of First Amendment values. Stanton, who served as the president of CBS from 1946 to 1971, was a fierce advocate of free speech and organized the first televised presidential debate, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. He died in 2006 at age 98. The Stanton Foundation was founded in 2009 to continue his philanthropic work. The foundation is thrilled to be launching the clinic with ASU as part of that mission. Stanton was a longtime colleague and friend of CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, for whom ASU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication is named, and was one of the original recipients of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. Part of the clinic's mission will be to reach out to community TV and radio stations, local newspapers, digital media outlets and universities to assist with First Amendment cases. "We believe there is potential for us to work with our Cronkite colleagues in several ways to support the mission of the clinic," Sylvester said. About the Stanton Foundation The Stanton Foundation was created by Frank Stanton, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest executives in the history of electronic communications and one of the television industry's founding fathers. About the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University is one of the country's preeminent law schools. Ranked No. 25 nationally by U.S. News & World Report, ASU Law is a leading provider of comprehensive and personalized legal education. The law school ranks Top 20 in the nation for job placement and No. 1 in the state for student outcomes. Located in a new, state-of-the-art building in downtown Phoenix, ASU Law is steps away from the legal, political, and economic heart of Arizona. For more information, visit law.asu.edu. Media Contact Karen Sung [email protected] 480-727-9052 SOURCE Sandra Day OConnor College of Law at Arizona State University Related Links http://law.asu.edu AACUS is an aircraft-agnostic hardware and software suite which enables a Marine on the ground to request a supply delivery via helicopter from a handheld tablet, requiring no advanced training to operate the system. AEH-1 is fitted with onboard lidar and camera sensors that enable it to detect and avoid obstacles and evaluate the landing zone. The system processes this information to perform onboard mission, route, and path planning to enable autonomous mission execution. While previous demonstrations have showcased the system's autonomy capabilities and interactions with trained operators, this is the first demonstration in which the aircraft performed cargo and utility missions in an operationally-relevant training environment with Marine interaction. As part of the demonstration, Marines loaded supplies for the aircraft before clearing the autonomy system for autonomous takeoff. "The Marines' vision for the future of vertical lift operation and support is optionally-piloted aircraft," said AACUS Program Manager Stephen Chisarik. "Aurora's system enables any rotary-wing aircraft to detect and react to hazards in the flight path, and make appropriate adjustments to keep the aircraft safe." "We've developed this great capability ahead of requirements and it's up to us to determine how to use it," said Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, commanding general, Marine Corps Combat Development Command. "The young marines today have grown up in a tech-savvy society, which is an advantage. We've got to keep pushing and moving this technology forward." Aurora has developed multiple technologies under the AACUS program: the digital flight control system which enables the UH-1 to fly autonomously; and the Tactical Autonomous aerial LOgistics System (TALOS) autonomy technology. The AEH-1 was granted a Special Airworthiness Certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October, allowing the aircraft to operate autonomous with only a safety pilot onboard to monitor the controls. Today's flights served as the final demonstration to ONR, Department of Defense representatives and other senior officials, the culmination of a highly successful five-year Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) program. Having completed the third and final phase of the program, AACUS will now transition to the Marine Corps for experimentation and potential acquisition. About Aurora Flight Sciences Aurora Flight Sciences, A Boeing Company is an innovative technology company which strives to create smarter aircraft through the development of versatile and intuitive autonomous systems. Operating at the intersection of technology and robotic aviation, Aurora leverages the power of autonomy to make manned and unmanned flight safer and more efficient. Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, Aurora has more than 550 employees and operates in six locations, including research and development centers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Luzern, Switzerland; manufacturing facilities in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and Columbus, Mississippi; and offices in Dayton, Ohio, and Mountain View, California. To view recent press releases and for more about Aurora please visit our website at www.aurora.aero. SOURCE Aurora Flight Sciences Related Links http://www.aurora.aero Bill Hartmann has served as KeyCorp's Chief Risk Officer since 2012 and joined KeyCorp in April 2010 as Chief Credit Officer. "Bill has made significant contributions to Key and been the driving force in developing our robust risk culture and managing our risk profile," said Beth Mooney, KeyCorp Chairman and CEO. "Bill has strengthened our risk management discipline and controls as well as our relationships with key regulatory agencies. His contributions to our company have been tremendous and he will be missed as a partner and colleague." Mooney noted that in addition to his contributions to KeyCorp's risk culture and management, Hartmann has been an important leader as a champion for innovation and using technology to improve risk reporting and analytics. Hartmann has also served as the as sponsor of the Military Inclusion Key Business Impact and Networking Group and in the community on the Boards of the Cleveland Art Museum and JumpStart, an incubator for diverse small businesses. Mark Midkiff joins KeyCorp from BB&T, where he served as Deputy Chief Credit Officer. Prior to this role, he served as Global Chief Risk Officer and Board Director for GE Capital and Chief Risk Officer, Americas, for MUFG Union Bank. Midkiff began his career in 1984 as a senior credit analyst for Wachovia Corporation (now Wells Fargo Bank), where he spent 25 years in risk management roles of increasing responsibility. He holds a business degree from the University of North Carolina. Midkiff will report to Beth Mooney and become a member of Key's Executive Leadership Team. "I am thrilled to have Mark join Key," said Mooney. "His thirty-year-plus career in risk management gives him the depth and breadth of experience to effectively lead Key's Risk Management Organization. I look forward to his partnership with Bill in the first half of 2018 as Mark joins Key and transitions into his new role." About KeyCorp KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $136.7 billion at September 30, 2017. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, insurance, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of more than 1,200 branches and more than 1,500 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications, and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC. SOURCE KeyCorp Related Links www.key.com SAN DIEGO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bop Design, a B2B marketing agency, recently released an article predicting the hottest web design and marketing trends for 2018, and also looks back at trends over the past year. The agency polled their creative, technical, and content teams to determine what trends are on the rise and what trends they anticipate fading out of use in 2018. The teams identified 19 different trends ranging from web design to marketing campaigns to internal approaches to content marketing. "We work with B2B firms in a variety of industries looking to refine their brand and digital marketing presence," said Kara Jensen, creative principal for the agency. "Over the past year, we've seen a definite shift in the B2B marketing industry away from a desire to be everywhere and a refocusing on cutting the fat and meeting prospects where they are most active online." According to Jensen, B2B firms are taking a narrower perspective on social media networks. Rather than stretching resources thin and trying to maintain an active presence on every social network, firms are selecting one or two social platforms with a focus on quality over quantity. She also states that the SEO-first approach to B2B web design is fading out, with marketers shifting to an emphasis on the user's experience throughout the entire sales process. As far as trends expected to gain in popularity in 2018, Jensen mentioned that she and her team are seeing a resurgence of previous trends, but with a different approach. For example, while marketing automation and account-based targeting aren't new trends, how they are integrated into existing B2B marketing strategies is changing. When asked about an overarching trend for B2B marketing, Jensen said, "Intent. B2B firms are spending a lot more time focusing on the intent behind strategies. They are ignoring the hype or buzz and getting back to basics with a focus on intentional marketing and providing real value through their efforts." Other burgeoning trends listed in Jensen's article include white website designs, subtle interactive elements on websites, remarketing and reimagining content promotion, to name a few. More trends and explanations can be found in the article, titled, "A Look Back & a Look Ahead for B2B Marketing." Kara Jensen has been crafting marketing communications, materials, and websites for corporations and non-profits for more than 16 years. Before Jensen co-founded Bop Design in 2008 with Jeremy Durant, she worked at LPL Financial, designing materials and overseeing brand strategies. Jensen has received a variety of nominations for leadership and business awards and has served as a board member for the San Diego Hunger Coalition. Recently, she was a finalist in the San Diego Business Journal's Business Women of the Year for 2017. She is the founder and creative principal at Bop Design, a B2B marketing and web design agency with locations in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. More information about the San Diego web design firm and Jensen is available on the firm's website: http://www.bopdesign.com. Contact: Jeremy Durant Bop Design 610 West Ash St. Suite 706 San Diego, CA 92101 888-670-7803 SOURCE Bop Design Related Links http://www.bopdesign.com Recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Investigator Grants were selected by the Foundation's Scientific Council , which is composed of 176 leading experts across disciplines in brain and behavior research, including two Nobel Laureates; two former directors of the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as the current director; four recipients of the National Medal of Science; 13 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 26 chairs of psychiatric departments, and 52 members of the National Academy of Medicine. "By funding creative research that explores new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders, the Distinguished Investigator Grants support and encourage established scientists to advance our understanding about mental illness, and brain and behavior disorders," says Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. "These grants serve as seed capital for new approaches that might otherwise go unfunded." "As funds for research from the National Institutes of Health have declined by 20 percent over the past decade, the Foundation's Distinguished Investigator program has become extraordinarily important for the field and its potential to help severe mental illness," said Jack D. Barchas, M.D., Chair and Barklie McKee Henry Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Paine Whitney Clinic, who chairs the Scientific Council's Distinguished Investigator selection committee. "This year's Distinguished Investigators use a remarkable range of methodologies to sharpen current treatments and define potential new targets, including previously unstudied or understudied neuroregulators, interactions and circuits, using newer and more precise methods and improved psychosocial approaches. We were impressed by the variety of new approaches, which could prove helpful or even transformative, and will be supported by this seed capital," he added. "These include studies focusing on the immune system; looking at pre-birth events and stressors of all types; and examining large important databases for new clues." The Recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Investigator Grants are as follows: Elisabeth B. Binder, M.D., Ph.D., of the Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry, has focused her research on the molecular genetics of depression. Her proposal, Dissecting Epigenetic Consequences of Prenatal Adversity Using Human Brain Organoids, will look at prenatal adversity and how such adversity alters chemical tags on DNA called epigenetic marks, which in turn regulate the activity of genes. J. Douglas Bremner, M.D., Emory University, uses neuroimaging and neurobiology measures to study the neural correlates and neurobiology of PTSD related to combat and childhood abuse, as well as the related area of depression. His proposal, Mechanisms of Electrical Treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, uses noninvasive Vasal Nerve Stimulation (VNS) devices to treat PTSD. This new approach has received increasing attention, and, if successful in PTSD, could have a significant clinical impact, potentially treating other disorders, such as severe anxiety. Patricia A. Brennan, Ph.D., Emory Clinic at Emory University, has been the Principal Investigator on several large scale, NIH funded longitudinal studies that have examined stress as well as perinatal and familial risk factors in association with children's cognitive development and physical health outcomes. Her proposal, Out of the Mouths of Babes: Revealing Transgenerational Impacts of Maternal Depression Using New Tooth Microassay Techniques, examines markers of stress and depression during gestation in children who are the offspring of mothers with depression. The novel use of baby teeth to provide information about stressful events across development will provide precise timing of stressful life events, even during fetal life, to determine how a mother's depression affects mental health and cognitive developments in their children. Cynthia Marie Bulik, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holds the first US endowed professorship in eating disorders, which are now recognized as a major source of morbiditypossibly the highest mortality of any form of mental illness. Her proposal, Binge Eating Disorder Genetics Initiative (BEGIN), will focus on the genetics of binge eating disorders. Robert Dantzer, DVM, Ph.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, will focus on the relationship between elevated levels of inflammation in the body and depression. His proposal, Motivational Basis of Inflammation-Induced Depression, will try to understand the underlying mechanisms in depression and could lead to effective treatment of major depressive disorder in patients with chronic low-grade inflammation. Lourdes Fananas, M.D., Ph.D., University of Barcelona (Universitat de Barcelona), is looking at prenatal adversity and how it alters chemical tags on DNA called epigenetic marks, which in turn regulate the activity of genes. His proposal Cord Blood Methylomic Correlates of Severe Prenatal Stress for the Identification of Key Pathways Involved In Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Pilot Study in a Cohort of Monozygotic Monochorionic Twins, will look at prenatal data that could be associated with later neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders such as schizophrenia. Joseph A. Gogos, M.D., Ph.D., Columbia University, has a long career of innovative neuroscience advances tracing the molecular, cellular, and synaptic and circuit mechanisms that give rise to schizophrenia, work that has paved the way for new strategies to reverse, or even prevent, devastating psychiatric disorders. His proposal, Neuroactive Metabolite Disruption of GABA-ergic Transmission In Psychiatric Disorders, focuses on proline dehydrogenase (PDH), an enzyme associated with proline degradation. PDH abnormalities have been implicated by Gogos and others in mental disorders and are associated with proline elevations. PDH resides on chromosome 22q11.2, which has been implicated in psychosis. Robert T. Malison, M.D., Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University, has devoted over 20 years to patient-oriented research into the neurobiology, neuropharmacology, and genetics of stimulants, including both cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. His proposal, Imaging Complement Component 4 (C4) Gene Dose Effects On Human Synaptic Density in Schizophrenia in Vivo Using 11C-UCB-J PET, is a highly innovative study of synaptic density in schizophrenia examined using PET imaging in relation to complement genotype. Stephen Maren, Ph.D., Texas A&M University, a member of the Foundation's Scientific Council, is hoping to understand the neural basis of anxiety disorders and PTSD. His proposal, Covert Capture and Erasure of Fear Memory, will study possible means of erasing fear memories. Dr. Maren's research on the neurobiology of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction in animals has revealed interactions between a triad of interconnected brain areas, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex, work that is essential for understanding the regulation of emotional memory and developing new treatments. Andrew H. Miller, M.D., Emory University, is an internationally recognized leader in the area of brain-immune interactions as they relate to stress and depression in both medically healthy and medically ill individuals, including patients with cancer. His proposal, Cellular Immune Mechanisms of Inflammation in Depression, will explore monocyte immune function in depression as underlying inflammation in the disorder. Using 30 patients and 30 controls, he will explore nuclear factor kappa B, inflammasome, toll-like receptor 4, and chemoattractant protein, a C-reactive protein. Carmine Maria Pariante, M.D., Ph.D., Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, is particularly interested in the pathogenesis of major depression and the mechanism of action relating to antidepressant drugs. His proposal, Who are the Depressed Patients That Have Increased Inflammation? A Study in 150,000 Participants from the UK, uses UK Biobank, a unique database of 155,000 people, to study major depression. The investigators use biological and psychological measures to examine relationships among depression, early and adult stressors, and immune measure. Diego A. Pizzagalli, Ph.D., McLean Hospital, Harvard University, takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigating the causes, consequences, and pathophysiology of depression. His proposal, Beyond Monoamines: The Role of The Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ Receptor In Major Depression, integrates PET imaging and post-mortem analyses to look at nociceptin opioid-like peptide receptor systems. Antagonists at the receptor are active in animal models of depression, making his studies in humans particularly important. Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D., McLean Hospital Harvard University, tries to understand complex neuropsychiatric disorders, such as fear and PTSD, by looking at behaviors that are affected, which brain regions are involved, what genes, molecules, and cell types in these regions might be involved, and how the environment affects the propensity to develop these disorders. His proposal Translating Mouse Neurobiology of Threat to New Treatments for Human PTSD, will seek to translate knowledge gained in mouse models of PTSD into new treatments. Steven A. Siegelbaum, Ph.D., Columbia University, has looked at data from individuals with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders that suggest the presence of alterations in the CA2 region. His proposal, Role of Hippocampal CA2 Region in Abnormal Aggression in Neuropsychiatric Disease, will look at the problem of aggression affecting people diagnosed with various neuropsychiatric afflictions and seeks to expand on the role of CA2 in social aggression. Robert A. Sweet, M.D., University of Pittsburgh, has focused his research on understanding the mechanisms that lead to the generation of psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations), which are the core feature of the most common psychotic disorder, schizophrenia, but occur in 50 percent of people with Alzheimer's disease. His proposal, A New Map to Recovery in Schizophrenia, will explore the possible relationship between the loss of tiny features called spines on neural dendrites, seen in schizophrenia, and the buildup of tau proteins in people with Alzheimer's disease who suffer from psychosis. Paul Matthew Thompson, Ph.D., University of Southern California, will marshal the power of the ENIGMA Consortium of over 300 scientists in 33 nations to distill essential facts about sex disparities in mental health worldwide. His proposal Targeting Sex Disparities in Mental Health Worldwide: An Enigma Initiative, is based on a sample of 31,000 brain scans and matched genome profiles that is being used to unearth genetic variants that affect brain structure, disease risk, and brain connectivity. Henrik Walter, M.D., Ph.D., Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin, has widely published on the neural correlates of executive function, emotion and social cognition in healthy subjects and in psychiatric populations, in particular schizophrenia and depression, as well as on free-will issues. His proposal, Brain Mediators of Schizophrenia: An Extreme Genetic Risk Approach, will build upon his current research projects that focus on imaging genetics, emotion regulation, volition and intentions, and neuroethics About the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation For the past 30 years the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation has been committed to alleviating the suffering of mental illness by awarding grants that lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. The Foundation funds the most innovative ideas in neuroscience and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new ways to treat brain and behavior disorders. These disorders include addiction, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $380 million to fund more than 5,500 grants to more than 4,500 leading scientists around the world. This has led to over $3.8 billion in additional funding for these scientists. The Foundation is also dedicated to educating the public about mental health and the importance of research, including the impact that new discoveries have on improving the lives of those with mental illness, which will ultimately enable people to live full, happy and productive lives. For more information, visit bbrfoundation.org. SOURCE Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Related Links http://www.bbrfoundation.org Prizes include week-long dive trips in Caribbean Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, at least three World Heritage Sites and more. Many items up for bid are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, like Great White Shark cage diving. The auction is live and will end on December 19 th , 2017. Sea Save Foundation has shaped local and international marine ecosystems in practical, methodical ways. The foundation frequently attends international meetings focused on threatened species, marine plastic pollution and shark poaching and finning. Most recently, the organization was represented at the United Nations: Ocean Conference. At these conferences, Sea Save identifies key delegates and provides them win-win opportunities to cast their vote for ocean-friendly policies. Additionally, Sea Save Foundation has partnered with the providers of the auction's items, cultivating relationships that are slowly changing the world. Without these partnerships, the foundation's highly anticipated auction would never happen. According to founder Georgienne Bradley, no other ocean conservation organization in the world hosts a charity auction of this size. Sea Save Foundation Director, Georgienne Bradley encourages online participation: "Life is short and oceans need your help. This is a great opportunity to win an epic SCUBA adventure and help protect the oceans we all love." Sea Save Foundation is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization based in Malibu, California. Sea Save Foundation works locally and collaborates globally to influence public policy that affects marine life and ecosystems. Visit SeaSave.org/Auction2017 to learn more about the foundation's 10th annual charity auction. SOURCE Sea Save Foundation Related Links http://SeaSave.org CHICAGO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate United Airlines' new daily, nonstop service between its Houston hub and Sydney, Australia starting January 18, the airline is searching for individuals across the U.S. excluding New York and Florida with the first or last name Sydney (see terms and conditions for accepted spelling variations) to enter for a chance to visit the city of their namesake with one guest through a sweepstakes launching today at SydneyHoustonUnited.com. Five winners and their guests will experience the trip of a lifetime starting with the inaugural flight from Houston to Sydney. Meanwhile, five Australians bearing the first or last name Houston, along with their guests, will be on the return flight on January 20 from Sydney to Houston. In addition to the round-trip flight, each winner and their guest will receive hotel accommodations for five nights at The Westin Sydney, access to local sights and attractions and a $500 prepaid card to customize their trip. Supporting United's vision to connect people and unite the world, winners will enjoy the quintessential experience of the world-class city they're named after. The "Sydneys" of the U.S. will enjoy a week of epic Sydney-side adventures beautiful beaches, big bridges and that 'true blue hospitality' Australians are known for. The "Houstons" from Australia, on the other hand, will swap Bondi BBQ for true Texan style, and their flip flops for cowboy boots. This new flight will be the only nonstop service to Australia from Houston and offers customers from Houston as well as from hundreds of cities across the U.S. the opportunity to conveniently travel to Sydney. United currently serves Sydney nonstop from its West Coast hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Melbourne, Australia from Los Angeles. For complete rules and to enter, visit SydneyHoustonUnited.com. The sweepstakes runs through December 27 and winners will be selected on or around December 28. About United United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,500 flights a day to 337 airports across five continents. In 2016, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 143 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 751 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 489 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to more than 190 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol "UAL". * NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Entrants who are legal residents of the U.S. (excluding FL and NY), who are 18+ or the age of majority, and have one of the following as their legal first or last name: Sydney; Sidney; Sidnie; Sidnee; Sidneigh; Sidni; Sydnee; Sydny; Sydni; Sidne; Cydney; Cidney; Cidnie; Cidnee; Cidneigh; Cidni; Cydnee; Cydny; Cydni; Cydne. To enter, entrants must access, complete, and submit the Entry Form at www.SydneyHoustonUnited.com between 12/13/17 and 12/27/17. 5 prizes available: voucher for winner and a guest from Houston to Sydney, AUS departing 1/18/18 returning 1/25/18, 5 nights double occupancy hotel accommodations and $500 prepaid card, transportation to and from an airport near the winner's legal residence and access to the following attractions in Sydney: the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbor Sightseeing Cruise, and a day tour to the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains; ARV: $4,800. Sponsor: United Airlines, Inc. 233 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606; full rules located at: www.SydneyHoustonUnited.com; VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. SOURCE United Airlines Related Links http://www.sydneyhoustonunited.com Wireless broadband leader recognized by international business award program ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambium Networks, a leading global provider of wireless networking solutions, has been named a Silver winner in the Most Socially Responsible Company of the Year category of the Best in Biz Awards for 2017. "Judging the Most Socially Responsible Company of the Year category in this year's Best in Biz Awards was nearly impossible. These companies set the bar for best practices in the corporate world," said Gina Jordan, WLRN-Miami Herald News Tallahassee Bureau, judging her second Best in Biz Awards program. "It's difficult to choose a winner when they're all doing so much good. Kudos to the leaders and employees who are making a positive difference. Companies large and small would do well to follow their example." "Giving back to the community is a key core value of the company," said Atul Bhatnagar, President and CEO of Cambium Networks. "We are honored to be recognized with this award. Cambium employees are able to make a difference in the lives of others around the world by providing wireless broadband connectivity, and supporting education and family programs. Helping others is a central component of our identity as Cambium Networks." Recent activities conducted by Cambium Networks employees include: About Best in Biz Awards Now in its 7th year, Best in Biz Awards is the only business awards program judged by an independent panel of press and analysts from top-tier publications. From Associated Press to the Wall Street Journal and including Businessweek, CNET, Consumer Affairs, Fast Company, Financial Times, Inc., Forbes, Fortune, Network World, PC Magazine, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Wired and more Best in Biz Awards each year is judged by a who's who of prominent reporters and editors from top-tier publications. Best in Biz Awards is unique as it is the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts. www.bestinbizawards.com/about/ About Cambium Networks Cambium Networks is a leading global provider of trusted wireless solutions that connect the unconnected People, Places and Things. Through its extensive portfolio of reliable, scalable and secure wireless narrowband and broadband platforms, Cambium Networks makes it possible for all service providers and industrial, enterprise and government network operators to build affordable, reliable, high-performance connectivity. The company currently has over seven million radios deployed in thousands of demanding networks in more than 150 countries. Headquartered outside Chicago and with R&D centers in the U.S., U.K. and India, Cambium Networks sells through a range of trusted global distributors. www.cambiumnetworks.com. Contact: Sara Black, 1-213-618-1501, [email protected] SOURCE Cambium Networks Related Links http://www.cambiumnetworks.com/ "I am absolutely delighted and deeply honored to have been chosen to receive the Barancik Prize," said Franklin. "I am interested in how tissues naturally regenerate, and identifying ways to stimulate those mechanisms to assist myelin regeneration in MS. This could both prevent further damage to axons and restore function, which would be particularly important for people living with progressive MS." Prof. Franklin is a senior scientist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and Director of the Cambridge MS Society Centre for Myelin Repair. He is a world leader in the biology of oligodendrocytes, which are the myelinating cells in the brain that are damaged in MS. His team pinpointed a key factor that stimulates myelin repair (Retinoid X Receptors), which was the genesis of a clinical trial of a drug (bexarotene) already available for other conditions. His groundbreaking work conjoining old and young mice uncovered new clues to overcoming restrictions to repair that come with aging. "Professor Franklin continues to make significant advances in myelin repair, offering real hope that solutions will be found that restore function to people living with MS," noted Bruce Bebo, Ph.D., Executive Vice President at the National MS Society (US), which administers the award. "We are delighted that Robin Franklin has been awarded the prestigious Barancik Prize," said Dr. Susan Kohlhaas, Director of Research at the MS Society (UK). "His pioneering research has revolutionised what we think is possible in terms of developing treatments, while his passion and commitment make him a pleasure to work with and an immensely valued member of the scientific community." Prof. Franklin will receive the award and deliver the Prize lecture at the ACTRIMS Forum in February 2018 in San Diego. About the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research The Barancik Prize seeks to recognize and encourage exceptional innovation and originality in scientific research relevant to multiple sclerosis, with emphasis on impact and potential of the research to lead to pathways for the treatment and cure for MS, and scientific accomplishments that merit recognition as a future leader in MS research. The international prize is made possible by the generosity of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation, and is administered through the National MS Society. About Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms vary from person to person and range from numbness and tingling, to walking difficulties, fatigue, dizziness, pain, depression, blindness and paralysis. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million worldwide. Learn more at nationalMSsociety.org. SOURCE National Multiple Sclerosis Society Related Links https://www.nationalmssociety.org NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Design will play an increasingly prominent role in American political life in the years aheada trend that stands to give women candidates, in particular, a competitive edge, says Lesley Stordahl, Creative Director at branding agency CBX, in a Q&A with AIGA's Design Observer. "Designers and design agencies have a lot to contribute to politics and to nonprofit organizations in terms of helping people find their brands and showcase them in ways that make them very appealing," Stordahl tells Lilly Smith, editor of Design Observer, in the online article published Nov. 7. "There's going to be a chapter in design books about this in five, ten years. This is a really interesting time that designers are going to look back on, and it's exciting to be a part of it." In the conversation with Design Observera publication of AIGA, the professional association for designStordahl describes her messaging and branding work with Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit She Should Run. Prior to November 2016, She Should Run helped about 1,800 women annually run for office at all levels of government, Stordahl tells Smith. After Election Day, however, that number jumped to about 15,000. Amid this new reality, the nonpartisan nonprofit tapped CBX for assistance in optimizing its branding and messaging for campaigns such as its "250,000 By 2030" initiative, which aims to get 250,000 women running for elected office by 2030. "They put that goal out there and came to us and said, 'we're going to go full on. What do you think?' " Stordahl tells Smith in the Q&A. "And we said, 'Let's do it. Put the huge number out there. Go for it.' " A sharper focus on professional design and messaging can help encourage more women to get involved in politics and can also combat the apathy that has left so many people disengaged from both politics and community life, Stordahl asserts in the article. The key is to take a conscious, savvy and strategic approach that connects with people, she says. "The more that politics understands how design has evolved in popular culture, and the more that design reflects what popular culture looks like; the more we put design in places that surprise peoplethe better off we'll be," Stordahl tells Smith. "Apathy is everywhere. The good news about this last election is that it woke people up to think 'I can't assume that everything is going to be OK.' " Modern and inclusive design and messaging has the power to surprise women and spur them to engage with the system, Stordahl says. "For women, we need to continually design knowing that a woman needs to see herself reflected theresee that it's not just a man's game," she tells Smith. "And so that's my personal passion toward this: moving away from the red trucker hat and moving toward things that [make] my daughter feel like 'I can be a part of this game just as much as anybody else.' " Simplicity in political and activist design can help make engagement feel attainable, she tells Smith. Even relatively subtle shifts can create openings: Rather than relying on the typically stark reds and blues associated with traditional right-wing or left-wing politics, for example, She Should Run worked with CBX to employ softer, more inviting hues for its campaigns, suggesting greater openness and flexibility. "We've moved beyond the paper sign in the front lawn with the full name and 'Republican' underneath it," Stordahl says. "Those things are still there, but a lot of what She Should Run is doing right now with its online incubator is asking women to think about themselves as a brand. What is it that you stand for? I think that's an interesting mesh of worlds right now." In the commercial world, companies have long been focused on inspiring their customers, Stordahl notes. Moving forward, design firms can help candidates connect with voters in precisely the same way. "Yes, the cause is part of it, but so is the message and how it comes to [your audience] so it feels like a brand," she tells Smith. "We're trying to inspire people and create designs that move them." The Q&A is part of a series published in coordination with AIGA's Design for Democracy: Building Community Power. The full Q&A is available at http://designobserver.com/feature/for-she-should-run-politics-today-are-all-about-the-brand/39696 About CBX CBX specializes in creative marketing services including: strategy, naming, branding, retail design, and packaging design. The company, with its current staff of more than 130 employees, was founded in 2003 and has a client base that includes: Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Shinsegae, Walgreens, Wawa, Hain Celestial, McCormick, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Big Heart Pet Brands and AT&T. In addition to its New York City Headquarters, CBX has offices in Minneapolis and San Francisco. www.cbx.com Media contacts: At Parness & Associates, Bill Parness, (732) 290-0121 or mobile, (732) 673-6852, [email protected] or Lisa Kreda, [email protected]. At CBX, Krisana Jaritsat, Director, Brand & Content Strategy, (212) 542-5451, [email protected]. NOTE TO EDITOR: CBX Creative Director Lesley Stordahl is available for interviews on the growing role of design/design firms in U.S. politics. SOURCE CBX Related Links http://www.cbx.com Members of the federation include special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and nine cities in Guangdong, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. Efforts are to be made to build the Greater Bay Area into a world-class tourism destination by further coordinating policies, upholding the alliance's new responsibilities, and integrating its tourism market and resources, and thus ensure a thriving tourism sector of the Area or even China. At present, the construction of the Greater Bay Area is underway, bringing about a new round of opening-up with integrated transportation, financial services and industrial structure. Building on the positive momentum, Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province has fostered new highlights in expanding tourism market share and building up its brand on a regional basis. In recent years, the Administration has been promoting the internationalization strategy of its tourism brand, bringing the tourism and culture of Guangdong to the international stage. Foreign guests, including Theodoros Pangalos, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and representatives from the World Tourism Organization, were invited to the festival as early as in 2011. As the 2018 China-EU Tourism Year, jointly set by China and the European Travel Commission, is coming soon, efforts were also made to attract more tourists from both sides. Over 100 foreign guests from 21 countries and regions, including officials of consulate generals in Guangzhou, government representatives of friendship cities and leaders from foreign tourism businesses, were invited to field trips of this festival to have a glimpse of the abundant premium tourism resources in Guangdong. On top of that, representatives from Niue and Cook Islands, two countries in the South Pacific Ocean, were invited to promote their own tourist destinations. The festival has indeed channeled new ways for communication of international tourism markets. Being the 10th session since 2005, the festival has developed gradually from a simple tourism promotion event to an intensive tourism and culture platform, connecting the world with Guangdong and China and boosting cooperation and economy. Image Attachments Links: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=303036 SOURCE Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province CLEARWATER, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PODS Enterprises, LLC, a leader in portable moving and storage container solutions based in Clearwater, Florida, announced its plans to significantly expand its sales and service operations. The company is opening a West Coast sales and service center in Reno, Nevada, which will help to drive PODS' continued growth momentum and lead to additional opportunities throughout its hometown of Clearwater, Florida. Over the past three years, PODS' sales and service operations has experienced exponential growth. The company expanded its Clearwater sales and service center by acquiring 20,000 square feet of new office space, resulting in the company's ability to substantially increase the number of calls it handles. PODS has also hired 14.6% more employees in Clearwater, compared to previous years, including additional support roles and plans to add approximately 100 associates in 2018. As part of its five-year growth plan, the company is focused on supporting customers across the country and ensuring data center redundancies. As a result, PODS has committed to developing sales and service operations beyond the Southeast with its new presence in Nevada. PODS plans to hire more than 300 associates during its first two years of operations in Reno. "Over the past three years, PODS has experienced strong growth across North America," said Eric Higdon, vice president of sales and service center operations at PODS. "We are excited about the expansion of our sales and customer service operations into Reno." In addition to expanding its sales and service operations, PODS also recently acquired over 38,000 square feet of warehouse space in Reno. Having outgrown its current warehouse in the Reno area, PODS searched for a new location that would provide the necessary space for further growth while improving on operational efficiencies. "The Panattoni project not only offers both of these features, but it is also very well-located," said Dan Knafo, director of real estate at PODS. "As our business continues to grow, we work tirelessly to enhance the experience we offer our customers," said David Redmond, senior vice-president of residential and chief marketing officer at PODS. "By expanding our sales and service operations, we are better equipped to deliver continuity of service and improved hours of operation across North America." PODS is currently seeking qualified candidates to fill a variety of positions in Reno, Nevada. Job seekers can apply directly to http://careers.PODS.com. A moving and storage leader, PODS services 46 U.S. states, Canada, and Australia and has made over 3 million deliveries since the company was founded in 1998. Before PODS came along, consumers were at the mercy of a full-service mover or a truck rental company to move and store their belongings, which meant hauling stuff back and forth to and from self-storage units. PODS introduced a whole new way to move and store using portable storage containers -- becoming pioneers of a whole new industry. Business partners who assisted PODS with its decision to expand its sales and service operations in Reno include the Site Selection Group from Dallas; David Woods and Matt Grimes of CBRE; Nevada Job Connect; and the Governor's Office of Economic Development. About PODS When PODS invented portable storage in 1998, they introduced the world to a brand new, flexible way to move and store. Now a leader in the moving and storage industry, PODS currently provides residential and commercial services in 46 U.S. states, Canada, Australia, and the UK. To date, the PODS network has completed more than 700,000 long-distance moves, has exceeded 3 million deliveries, and has more than 190,000 PODS containers in service. To learn more, visit www.PODS.com. Contact: Michele Mendelson Kwittken [email protected] 646-747-7163 SOURCE PODS Enterprises, LLC Related Links http://www.PODS.com Klaus has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. He has held various general management positions for hotel brands Hyatt, IHG and Best Western. Klaus has been with Commonwealth Hotels since 2008, when he served as opening general manager for Candlewood Suites Indianapolis-South. Most recently, Klaus was general manager of Hyatt Place Salt Lake City Airport. "We're excited to have Phil continue his growth within Commonwealth Hotels and take on the general manager role at the Courtyard Cincinnati Airport," Area Director of Operations Denise Tempco said. "Phil has demonstrated excellent leadership skills to drive revenue, improve guest satisfaction scores and improve the overall profitability of his hotels. Located at 3990 Olympic Boulevard in Erlanger, Kentucky, Courtyard Cincinnati Airport is located within minutes to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). A complimentary airport shuttle is offered 24/7. The 116 room hotel features two meeting rooms with 1,092 square feet of total meeting space. Guest rooms feature either a king size bed or two double beds with new mattresses in all rooms and suites, free high-speed Internet access and a spacious, ergonomic work desk. Additional room amenities include in-room coffee and tea service, iron and complimentary weekday newspaper. The lobby features The Bistro, where guests can eat, drink and connect with food and beverage offerings. The property also features Starbucks coffee 24/7. To make reservations or for more information please visit http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/cvgca-courtyard-cincinnati-airport/ or call the hotel directly at 859.647.9900. About Commonwealth Hotels, LLC Commonwealth Hotels, LLC was founded in 1986 and is a proven partner in providing hotel management services with superior financial results. The company has extensive experience managing premium branded full service and select service hotels. Commonwealth Hotels currently manages 43 properties with 5,300 rooms. Contact: Jennifer Schneider Commonwealth Hotels, LLC [email protected] 859.261.5522 SOURCE Commonwealth Hotels SAN DIEGO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its designation as a Bronze Military Friendly Employer awardee by Victory Media. The Bronze Award winners have programs that scored within 40 percent of the tenth ranked organization in its category. First published in 2003, Military Friendly Employers is a comprehensive and influential resource for transitioning service members and veterans. Each year, the list of Military Friendly Employers is provided to service members and their families, helping them discover the best post-military career opportunities available. "It is an honor to be recognized for the fifth year as a Military Friendly Employer," said Darryl Albertson, chief human resources and diversity officer of Cubic Corporation. "The Military Friendly Employer designation is a testament to Cubic's commitment to implementing effective hiring practices and retention programs to best meet the needs of veterans and service members as they transition into civilian life." Over 40 percent of Cubic's employees have military service backgrounds. Cubic commonly hires transitioning military service members and veterans for roles such as field and electronics technicians, information technology professionals, engineers as well as trainers and instructors. "Companies that have earned this designation have exceptionally strong hiring programs and meaningful jobs for transitioning service members, veterans and spouses," said Daniel Nichols, chief product officer at Victory Media. "Our Military Friendly Employers have moved beyond answering 'why hire military?' They are truly aligning their jobs and recruiting efforts with Military Friendly Schools to translate military competencies into civilian careers." Companies and organizations earning the Military Friendly Employer designation were evaluated using three data sources in the scoring methodology: publicly available data from federal agencies, personal opinion data from veteran employees and proprietary Military Friendly survey data from participating organizations. Ratings methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Victory Media with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. More than 200 companies participated in the Military Friendly Employers portion of the 2018 Military Friendly Companies survey. Cubic will be showcased along with other 2018 Military Friendly Employers in the December issue of G.I. Jobs magazine, the January 2018 issue of Military Spouse magazine and on MilitaryFriendly.com. About Cubic Corporation Cubic is a market-leading, technology provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based training solutions, special operations and intelligence for the U.S. and allied forces. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp. About Military Friendly and Victory Media The Military Friendly Employers list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources for thousands of federal contractors nationwide, input of military employees, and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly Employers survey from participating companies. The survey questions, methodology, criteria and weightings were developed with the assistance of an independent research firm and an advisory council of educators and employers. Data calculations and tabulations were independently evaluated for completeness and accuracy by EY. The survey is administered for free and is open to companies that have hired veterans in the past 12 months. Criteria for consideration can be found at: https://militaryfriendly.com. Founded in 2001, Victory Media is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) that connects the military community to civilian employment, entrepreneurial and education opportunities through its G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse, Vetrepreneur, STEM JobsSM and Military Friendly brands. Learn more about Victory Media at www.victorymedia.com. SOURCE Cubic Corporation Related Links http://www.cubic.com FAIRPORT, N.Y., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After decades as a senior benefits consulting executive, David Vandeveer has witnessed concerning trends in retirement readiness and the growing urgency of addressing the gap between retirement savings and the savings needed for retirement income replacement. When he learned about NestUp Managed Deferrals he knew he'd found a meaningful and engaging platform that could enable employees to close that gap. Vandeveer, with deep healthcare and retirement domain expertise from working at Aon Consulting, ADP, and Transamerica, joined benefits decision support innovator Perspective Partners, LLC, in August of this year. This Fairport, N.Y. financial wellness company launched NestUp Managed Deferrals in 2013, well ahead of the health-wealth benefits convergence trend and has attracted a forward-thinking team of industry veterans including Kevin Vail, previously with M&T Bank's HSA division, and Bart Ballinger from EMPOWER. Solving the Human Capital Equation Vandeveer believes in facilitating smarter use of 401(k) and health savings accounts (HSAs) deferrals is key to the dilemma of an aging workforce. High deductible health plans in concert with HSAs help employers and employees save money on premiums and taxes funds that can then potentially be diverted into retirement savings. The result: A more productive and focused workforce that can afford to retire on time, i.e., solve the human capital equation on the "back-end" of a career. "The implications of aging in the workforce are profound," says Vandeveer. "Employers need healthy Baby Boomer and Gen-X employees on the job. Those employees need more visibility and maximization of their retirement and health care contributions, which NestUp Managed Deferrals accomplishes." Fintech Benefits Innovation As his career progressed, Vandeveer noticed the convergence of health and wealth benefits that inspired Perspective Partners to create NestUp Managed Deferrals. The company's expertise in benefits decision support and innovation translated into a platform that is easily integrated into benefits administration technology, payroll and other employer portals. Employers gain through an interface that provides personalized information for employees during open enrollment, while employees benefit from implementing benefit deferral changes through a one-click experience. About Perspective Partners and NestUp Managed Deferrals Perspective Partners facilitates the transition of employees from viewing HSAs as a pass-through spending account to a vehicle for saving and investing for the health expenses of today and tomorrow. The NestUp Managed Deferrals platform provides a strong foundation for holistic benefit management, saving money and effectively deploying benefit savings. Perspective Partners launched NestUp Managed Deferrals to empower employers and employees to achieve their retirement, health and financial wellness goals. NestUp Managed Deferrals offers significant benefits to employers and employees by maximizing deferral dollars and clarifying benefits choices. To schedule a demo of the NestUp Managed Deferrals platform, call (800) 408-5375. NestUp Managed Deferrals is a service of Perspective Partners, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manning & Napier Group, LLC. SOURCE Perspective Partners, LLC Related Links https://www.perspectivepartners.com This type of technology will be essential in the connected era, when vehicles and mobility systems need to process large amounts of data in real-time. DENSO will present the concept and overviews at the International Consumer Electronics Show ( CES 2018 ) in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States from January 9 to 12, 2018. The test will collect and analyze location information from about 130,000 taxis and trucks in Thailand through cloud-based quantum computer devices developed by Canada-based D-Wave Systems Inc. DENSO and Toyota Tsusho will also implement quantum computer-based data analysis and processing technologies from TSquare, a traffic information service application from Toyota Tsusho group company Toyota Tsusho Nexty Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. DENSO will create an algorithm to process and analyze quantum computer-based data, and Toyota Tsusho will integrate the algorithm into a new application on TSquare's platform. Findings will help guide application development to make transportation more efficient, from traffic decongestion to route optimization for emergency vehicles. Unlike conventional computers, quantum computers perform calculations to find an enormous number of combinations simultaneously, and can analyze certain data more than 100 million times faster than conventional computers. Algorithms like the one DENSO will develop will also be key to translate the calculations into decisions, making the future of mobility a reality. About DENSO Corporation DENSO Corp., headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, is a leading global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electronics and information and safety. Its customers include all the world's major carmakers. Worldwide, the company has more than 200 subsidiaries and affiliates in 38 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs more than 150,000 people. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, totaled US$40.4 billion. Last fiscal year, DENSO spent 9.0 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.denso.com, or visit our media website at www.denso.com/global/en/news/media-center/ About Toyota Tsusho Corporation Toyota Tsusho Corporation was founded in 1948 as the trading company for the Toyota Group. Today, Toyota Tsusho operates in more than 120 countries with approximately 58,000 Group employees, all striving to contribute to the creation of prosperous societies. Toyota Tsusho continues to expand as a global leader in vehicle exports and automobile production support. The company has seven operating divisions (Metals/ Global Parts & Logistics/ Automotive/ Machinery, Energy & Project/ Chemicals & Electronics/ Food & Consumer Services/ Africa) focused around three business fields. These are the Mobility field, which contributes to future convenient societies, the Resources & Environment field, which ensures sustainable societies, and the Life & Community field, which supports comfortable and healthy lifestyles. About DENSO in North America DENSO is a leading global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electronics and information and safety. With its North American headquarters located in Southfield, Michigan, DENSO employs more than 23,000 people at 28 consolidated subsidiaries and 4 affiliates across the North American region. Of these, 25 are manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the United States alone, DENSO employs more than 17,000 people in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. DENSO's North American consolidated sales totaled US$9.6 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017. For more information, go to www.denso.com/us-ca/en. Connect with DENSO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DENSOinNorthAmerica. SOURCE DENSO Related Links http://www.densocorp-na.com Shares Issued and Outstanding: 54,659,623 TSXV:DMI OTCQB:DMIFF KELOWNA, BC, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Diamcor Mining Inc., (the "Company") announces the results of the tender and sale of rough diamonds recovered prior to November 9, 2017 from ongoing exercises being performed at the Company's Krone-Endora at Venetia Project (the "Project"). The Company sold 4,353.91 carats of rough diamonds for gross proceeds of USD $864,546.09, resulting in an average price of USD $198.57 per carat. The lower number of carats tendered and sold is attributable to a reduction in the volume of material being processed due to the previously announced water recovery issues associated with excessively suspensive properties of the very fine kimberlitic clay materials, along with a shorter time frame between tender dates during the quarter. Despite the limited processing volumes, the Project continued to demonstrate its potential for the recovery of larger rough diamonds. Of the total rough diamonds tendered and sold, 3 individual rough diamonds were in the specials category (+10.8 carats) with the largest being 25.02 carats, 19 individual rough diamonds being over 5 carats in size, and 182 individual rough diamonds being over 2 carats in size. The average dollar per carat of $198.57 for the rough diamonds tendered and sold in the current period increased compared to the previous quarter ended September 30th, 2017, in which the average dollar per carat of rough diamonds sold and tendered was reported as $171.70. The increase in the average dollar per carat is attributable partially to the quality of the 25.02 carat rough diamond tendered and sold, and demonstrates the positive impact that larger rough diamonds can have on the Company's revenues. In addition, increased attendance at the tenders and demand during the period was reported as having a positive impact on the pricing of certain categories of rough diamonds from the previous quarter. Operational Update Insufficient recoveries of water from the Project's settling dams continues to be the key factor limiting the Company's ability to operate the Project's plants at their designed capacities, and the Company remains confident that the previously announced installation of a paste thickening plant will correct this issue once installed. Processing of material at limited volumes will continue in the short-term, however considerable focus is being placed on finalizing the procurement, installation, and commissioning of this item, and once installed, the Company remains confident that processing volumes can be significantly increased. Additional information on the progress of this item will be provided over the coming weeks. The combined testing, commissioning, and calibration exercises currently underway are designed to support the continued advancement of objectives consistent with the recommendations of the updated NI 43-101 Technical Report ("Updated Technical Report") filed by the Company on April 28, 2015, and to aid the Company in arriving at initial production decisions for the Project. The recovery of all rough diamonds to date are incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing exercises performed at the Project. The above-noted testing exercises and incidental recoveries do not form part of the Updated Technical Report and therefore no general grade, price, or quality determination is intended by the Company at this time due to the nature and purpose of the processing of this material. Warrant Extension The Company has determined to extend the expiry date of 1,566,800 share purchase warrants ("Warrants") which are exercisable to purchase up to 1,566,800 common shares in the authorized share capital of the Company at an exercise price of $1.25 per share, from December 30, 2017 to December 30, 2018, with all other terms of the Warrants remaining unchanged. The extension of the expiry date of the Warrants to December 30, 2018 is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. About Diamcor Mining Inc. Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publically traded junior diamond mining company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol V.DMI, and on the OTC QB International under the symbol DMIFF. The Company has a well-established operational and production history in South Africa and extensive prior experience supplying rough diamonds to the world market. About the Tiffany & Co. Alliance The Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world famous New York based Tiffany & Co., to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project at then current prices to be determined by the parties on an ongoing basis. In conjunction with this first right of refusal, Tiffany & Co. Canada also provided the Company with financing to advance the Project. Tiffany & Co. is a publically traded company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TIF. For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com. About Krone-Endora at Venetia In February 2011, Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. On September 11, 2014, the Company announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. The deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with a maximum total depth of approximately 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine. Qualified Person Statement: Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents. On behalf of the Board of Directors Mr. Dean H. Taylor President & CEO Diamcor Mining Inc. [email protected] Tel (250) 864-3326 www.diamcormining.com This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR 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. SOURCE Diamcor Mining Inc. Related Links http://www.diamcormining.com Company reaffirms 2017 guidance NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD) today announced that Andreas "Andy" W. Mattes is stepping down from his position as president and chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately. The Office of the Chief Executive will be led by Christopher A. Chapman, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and Juergen Wunram, senior vice president and chief operating officer, until a permanent successor has been named. Chapman and Wunram will serve as Interim Co-Presidents and Co-CEOs of the company in the Office of the Chief Executive. The Board of Directors also announced that it has created a search committee and retained the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to immediately begin the process to find a highly qualified CEO. On behalf of Diebold Nixdorf's board, Henry D.G. Wallace, current Chairman of the Board said, "Over the past several years, the company has achieved a great deal, including the acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf AG which created an industry leader with increased global scale and market diversity. We have made great strides in our integration through the launch of the DN2020 transformation program, and capturing substantial synergies with more on the way. We now look forward to a bright future as a unified company. We thank Andy for his vision and leadership, including overseeing the transaction and integration, and for bringing us to this point in our history." Gary G. Greenfield, who as previously announced will become Chairman of the Board on January 1, 2018, said, "Given the significant changes taking place in our industry, now is the time for Diebold Nixdorf to leverage the full strength of the organization and enhance its focus on the new era of global connected commerce. I look forward to helping the board conduct a rigorous review of a diverse set of CEO candidates, so we can bring the expertise and knowledge necessary to lead Diebold Nixdorf into its next phase of growth." Also today, Diebold Nixdorf reaffirmed its full-year 2017 guidance of approximately $4.6 billion in revenue, adjusted EBITDA of $370 million to $380 million and a non-GAAP EPS range of $1.05 to $1.15. Juergen Wunram is senior vice president and chief operating officer. He previously served Wincor Nixdorf AG as the CFO, COO and a member of the executive board, beginning in March 2007. Christopher A. Chapman is senior vice president and chief financial officer. He joined Diebold in 1996 and has served in various financial leadership roles within the company's finance organization. Most recently, Chapman led the financial operations and restructuring of Diebold, Incorporated, beginning in October 2013. Full-year 2017 outlook (1) Guidance Total Revenue ~$4.6B Net Income (Loss) attributable to Diebold Nixdorf, Inc. $ (140 million) - $ (130 million) Adjusted EBITDA $370 million - $380 million 2017 EPS (GAAP) $(1.80) - $(1.70) Restructuring ~0.70 Non-routine (income)/expense: Integration expense ~0.90 Legal, Acquisition and Divestiture expense ~0.25 Impairment & Other Non-routine ~0.05 Wincor Nixdorf purchase price accounting ~2.10 Total non-routine (income)/expense ~3.30 Tax impact of restructuring and non-routine (income)/expense items ~(1.15) Total Adjusted EPS (non-GAAP measure) $1.05 - $1.15 (1) - The company expects a non-GAAP effective tax rate to be around 20% for the full year. With respect to the company's non-GAAP tax rate outlook for 2017, the company is not providing the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and, with respect to the company's non-GAAP tax rate and adjusted EBITDA outlook for 2017, the company is not providing corresponding reconciliations because it is unable to predict with reasonable certainty those items that may affect such measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP without unreasonable effort. These measures exclude the future impact of restructuring actions, net non-routine items, acquisition, divestiture and integration related expenses and purchase accounting fair value adjustments. These reconciling items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, our future period tax rate calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding anticipated adjusted revenue growth, adjusted internal revenue growth, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and adjusted earnings per share growth. Statements can generally be identified as forwardlooking because they include words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "could", "should" or words of similar meaning. Statements that describe the company's future plans, objectives or goals are also forwardlooking statements. Forwardlooking statements are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. The factors that may affect the company's results include, among others: the ultimate impact of the domination and profit and loss transfer agreement with Diebold Nixdorf AG ("DPLTA") and the outcome of the appraisal proceedings initiated in connection with the implementation of the DPLTA; the ultimate outcome and results of integrating the operations of the company and Diebold Nixdorf AG; the ultimate outcome of the company's pricing, operating and tax strategies applied to Diebold Nixdorf AG and the ultimate ability to realize synergies; the company's ability to successfully operate its strategic alliances in China with the Inspur Group and Aisino Corp.; the impact of market and economic conditions on the financial services industry; the capacity of the company's technology to keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace; pricing and other actions by competitors; the effect of legislative and regulatory actions in the United States and internationally; the company's ability to comply with government regulations; the impact of a security breach or operational failure on the company's business; the company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions into its operations; the impact of the company's strategic initiatives; and other factors included in the company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in other documents that the company files with the SEC. You should consider these factors carefully in evaluating forwardlooking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. The company assumes no obligation to update any forwardlooking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. About Diebold Nixdorf Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (NYSE:DBD) is a world leader in enabling connected commerce for millions of consumers each day across the financial and retail industries. Its software-defined solutions bridge the physical and digital worlds of cash and consumer transactions conveniently, securely and efficiently. As an innovation partner for nearly all of the world's top 100 financial institutions and a majority of the top 25 global retailers, Diebold Nixdorf delivers unparalleled services and technology that are essential to evolve in an 'always on' and changing consumer landscape. Diebold Nixdorf has a presence in more than 130 countries with approximately 24,000 employees worldwide. The organization maintains corporate offices in North Canton, Ohio, USA and Paderborn, Germany. Shares are traded on the New York and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges under the symbol 'DBD'. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information. SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf Related Links http://www.DieboldNixdorf.com NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Doctor.com and Connect Healthcare announced today that they have completed a merger transaction, consolidating operations and integrating solutions under the Doctor.com brand. The merger builds on a strong partnership the two companies established in 2015, working together to build seamless data management and directory solutions for shared enterprise clients. "This merger serves Doctor.com's mission of enabling a more modern and efficient healthcare experience for all stakeholders," said Andrei Zimiles, CEO of Doctor.com. "By fully integrating our capabilities under one roof, we are able to give our clients the most effective solution in the industry to manage their online presence, engage patients across the digital ecosystem, and monitor how these efforts improve their reputation and performance." As part of the merger, Noel Coleman, President of Connect Healthcare, will join Doctor.com as President of Enterprise Solutions. Connect Healthcare's experienced team of client success specialists, SEO and data analytics experts, and full-stack engineers will be joined by Doctor.com's enterprise sales and product development team. The Enterprise team will continue to operate out of their headquarters in Atlanta, GA and is expected to grow substantially in the months ahead. Noel Coleman, President of Connect Healthcare, adds, "The integration of Doctor.com's pioneering reputation management and universal scheduling solutions with Connect Healthcare's proven data warehousing and provider directory tools creates the first end-to-end patient experience solution, challenging the multi-vendor status quo that many organizations struggle with. By joining forces, we can help our clients tackle some of the greatest challenges when endeavoring to improve the customer experience across the patient journey." Connect Healthcare is a leading provider of data management, provider search, reputation and performance improvement solutions for hospitals and large health systems. Connect Healthcare's proprietary platform stores the data of 1.2 million providers and powers directory solutions for 7.5 million unique users. Connect Healthcare is partner to over 200 hospital and health plan clients including UNC Health Care, UC San Diego Health, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, UAB Medicine and Emory University. "Connect Healthcare has been a partner in helping to assure that visitors to Rush University's website have the most up to date information available about physicians and other providers. More recently, Rush worked with Connect Healthcare to publish patient feedback on our website, giving visitors greater access to opinions about the physicians and advanced practice nurses at Rush University Medical Center. Rush was only the fifth hospital in the country to provide this level of public transparency about its providers," said Francis Fullam, Senior Director, Marketing Research at Rush University Medical Center. Adrienne Steading, Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy at UAB Medicine said, "Working with Connect Healthcare allowed us to improve our online presence and showcase the quality of our providers in a way that drives greater online visibility and helps patients make informed decisions. One of our goals was to provide further transparency to our patients and this relationship made us the first healthcare organization in Alabama, and one of the first in the nation, to launch ratings and reviews on our website." The merger was supported by Doctor.com's existing investors, led by Spring Mountain Capital. Raymond Wong, Managing Director of Spring Mountain Capital says, "The success of each company can be attributed to a profound understanding of the complexities of healthcare data systems as well as the consumer web. Through this merger, Doctor.com is able to provide clients with the first truly holistic offering in a market plagued by fragmented point solutions." Other participating investors include Colle Capital, who has supported Doctor.com since 2014, and StartUp Health, who Doctor.com has worked closely with since joining their Moonshot Academy in 2013. About Doctor.com Doctor.com is the only complete platform built to help healthcare organizations deliver a better customer experience at every step of the patient journey. The company's industry-leading technology seamlessly integrates provider data warehousing, web-wide listings management, reputation insights, universal online scheduling, and patient communications. All of these services are enhanced by Doctor.com's 50+ integrations with the most prominent healthcare directories, search engines, social media platforms, and EHR/PM systems. As a result, thousands of healthcare organizations, including more than 200 of the country's leading hospitals and health systems and over 20,000 private practices, have been empowered by the platform to enhance their digital presence and credibility, increase patient trust, and grow their business. To view additional press releases, visit https://www.doctor.com/press. Press Contact Erin Kang [email protected] SOURCE Doctor.com Related Links http://www.doctor.com "Eccrine Systems' Sweatronics real-time platform is comprised of proprietary sensors, data processors, and management systems that can detect and manage sweat-sensor data, which represents a momentous shift from traditional methods of detecting physiological changes to painless and more convenient noninvasive methods," said Arjun Mehta, Industry Analyst. Eccrine Systems is set to introduce its first product, a wearable armband, in early 2018. It is designed to monitor dehydration status during thermally intensive activities and provide real-time alerts to end users and safety personnel to help avoid the dangerous effects of serious heat stress. The Sweatronics platform continuously monitors sweat biomarkers and sends the data to a remote system through a transceiver. The unique sensors and arrays allow a device to effectively analyze sweat rate and other biomarkers in a single, continuous, or repetitive manner. Breakthroughs in upcoming development include applications with end users for whom conventional sweat-sensing technologies are difficult to deploy, such as bedridden or inactive people with negligible or non-existent sweat rates. In addition, the company's technology incorporates multiple sweat-sensing methodologies, making it more scalable than competing solutions. The technology also includes solutions in development that detect several types of molecular biomarkers, including toxins, analytes, and proteins that pertain to various health conditions, such as depression, diabetes, and even infection. Eccrine Systems, a spin-off from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, has received a contract of $3.96 million from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to monitor dehydration and cortisol levels. These measurements are used to determine stress, which is critical for Air Force pilots. The company is currently focused on developing both upstream and downstream business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, as well as expanding its portfolio of proprietary technologies. Eccrine Systems has or controls a number of published patents related to sweat-sensing devices, methods, and sub-methods, giving it the ability to leverage its Sweatronics platform and its patents to develop application-specific sweat-sensing solutions in collaboration with its partners. This will help the company more effectively match market needs. "Eccrine Systems' wearable Sweatronics solutions have the ability to impact numerous industries, such as healthcare, sports, military, and the industrial workforce. Frost & Sullivan's independent research shows that the Sweatronics platform successfully addresses key industry challenges hindering the adoption of sweat-sensing solutions and is capable of thriving in the market in the long term," said Arjun Mehta. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid acceptance in the market. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables. 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 Eccrine Systems Eccrine Systems is a privately held company dedicated to improving human health, safety, and productivity through the innovation and development of advanced sweat sensing technologies. The Cincinnati-based company was founded in 2013 to commercialize technology and intellectual property that was exclusively licensed from the University of Cincinnati, and with the funding support of CincyTech and its network of local, regional and national investment sources. To learn more, please visit www.eccrine.com. 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: Estefany Ariza P: 210.477.8469 F: 210.348.1003 E: [email protected] Eccrine Systems, Inc. Evyn White P: 513-214-1659 E: [email protected] SOURCE Frost & Sullivan Related Links http://www.frost.com NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NJEdgeCon2018, the premier EdTech conference in New Jersey presented by NJEdge, will examine the current cybersecurity landscape and its many challenges through a track of sessions dedicated to networking and data security. The track will focus on national security standards and cyber attacks as they relate to organizational action plans and solutions. Leading industry experts will present 11 solution-based, interactive sessions tailored for CIOs, network engineers, managers, directors and security professionals. The sessions will provide a comprehensive review of technology advancements in response to the major risks and threats associated with network and data usage, and forward-looking strategies to implement these innovations. The Network and Data Security track will include the following sessions: Cybersecurity and Strategic Issues for the Enterprise: Threat at Your Doorstep The Network Horizon: Current Design and Future Strategy for the NJEdge Network Networking Community of Practice Stop the Insanity: A Simplistic, Yet Radical, Approach to Cyber Security in Education Understanding Cybersecurity Risk for School Administrators: Concerns About Information Security The Enemy Within: A Focus on Ransomware EdgeSecure and EdgeCloud: How We Can Help You Secure the Enterprise and the Cloud Security Community of Practice Easing Enterprise eDiscovery Ransomware and Sensitive Data Loss Challenges Who Secures Our Security? Ethics, Responsibilities and Privacy Concerns in Managing InfoSec "The accelerating spread of the Internet of Things (IoT), rampant ransomware attacks, and growth of information breaches place great responsibility on privacy and info security," said Dr. William J. Adams, Vice President for Research and Cybersecurity, Executive Director for Michigan Cyber Range/Merit Network and plenary speaker at NJEdgeCon2018. "I'm eager to participate in the Cybersecurity and Strategic Issues for the Enterprise session, which will address the threats posed by network and data use in the workplace, and inform participants how to respond accordingly." In addition to technology advances, best practices and key industry insights, attendees will gain an exclusive overview of EdgeSecure, NJEdge's information security solution that protects a company's most valuable digital assets by building an inventory of a group's ecosystem, diagnosing vulnerabilities, creating a plan to fix them, and identifying who can help with the process. "One of the biggest challenges in cybersecurity is the rapid evolution of complex security threats, which often overmatch traditional responses," said Michael Reekie, Network and Security expert at NJEdge and speaker at NJEdgeCon2018. "To deal with such a threat, responses need to be continuous and as real-time as possible. We will discuss these issues and their responses in detail with attendees at our conference, so I encourage all those in the cybersecurity space to attend." NJEdge, a non-profit group providing optical networking, internet, digital media management, and IT products and solutions to academic and research institutions will be hosting NJEdgeCon2018 on January 11-12, 2018, at the Hanover Marriott Conference Center in Whippany, NJ. Registration for NJEdgeCon2018 is available at www.njedge.net/njedgecon2018. Attendees will be able to join pre-conference, development opportunities, including Leading the Organizational Change Process, designed to help attendees create a roadmap for successful execution of major change, and a workshop for Aspiring Higher Education Technology Leaders. More information about these programs is also available on the website. Also available for attendees is the Capture the Flag event, a competition running within the NJEdgeCon2018. The exercise will challenge participants' technical skills. More information can be found here: http://www.cvent.com/d/htqwr7. About NJEdgeCon2018 Now in its ninth year, NJEdgeCon is the premier, annual conference presented by NJEdge. The event brings together a wide variety of professionals from academic, healthcare, IT and government backgrounds to discuss cutting-edge technology and surrounding issues, as well as the opportunity to learn how to apply real-life solutions to their own institutions. About NJEdge Founded in 2000, NJEdge is a New Jersey-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit which provides high performance optical networking, Internet, digital asset management solutions and IT products and services. NJEdge provides these solutions to colleges and universities, K-12 school districts, government entities, hospital networks, and businesses as part of a 60-member consortium spread throughout the continental US. The group is governed by New Jersey's Presidents' Council and housed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) on its Newark, NJ, campus. For more information, please visit: www.njedge.net. SOURCE NJEdge Related Links http://www.njedge.net OCALA, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HiBid.comthe leader in internet bidding solutions and webcast bidding for live auctionswill host featured auctions from numerous auction houses through both HiBid.com and its local auction websites. In addition to regularly hosting online-only auctions for qualified sellers all over the world, HiBid reserves limited space for featured auctions, which begin every Monday at 1 p.m. (EST). These auctions appear at the top of www.HiBid.com and at www.Featured.HiBid.com. "Auctioneers who take advantage of featured auctions get the benefit of our marketing power," explains Auction Flex and HiBid's Kris Kennedy, noting that this includes email campaigns that increase auction participation by engaging the platform's massive pool of registered bidders all over the world. "Last week alone we sent out over 463,000 bidder emails to our respective portals," notes Kris. "This generated 26,944 extra bids for our customers with a bid max total of $2,608,781.25." Auction houses interested in leveraging featured auctions for an upcoming sale should contact Auction Flex/HiBid directly to learn more. Featured Auctions Currently On HiBid.com: Office & Construction Storage, Tools & Supplies + Trucks & Trailers Gravitt Auction & Appraisals, LLC Dayton, Tennessee-based Gravitt Auction & Appraisals is currently holding an online-only auction through HiBid.com set to close December 16th at noon (EST). The auction includes office equipment, fireproof filing cabinets and desk drawers, wooden desks and other office furniture, computers, fax machines, gas range kettles, racks, shelves, ladders, a sand blaster, a hopper, pressure washers, generators, tripod hoists, pump sprayers, air compressors, a forklift, pallet jacks, a floor buffer, and bolt bins, as well as a number of trucks and trailers. View all 126 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. Guns, Scopes & Accessories Cold Creek Auction, LLC A largescale gun auction from New Braunfels, Texas-based Cold Creek Auction will begin soft closes December 15th at 9 a.m. (CST). This online-only auction features over 40 guns, plus Leupold optics and a number of BB guns. Brands include Harrington and Richardson, Savage Arms, Mossberg, Little Pet, Remington, Benelli, Winchester, Browning, Red Ryder, Gamo, Ruger, Sako, Leupold, Simmons, All American, Weaver, NcSTAR, Aimpoint, Redfield, Bausch & Lomb, Bushnell, and more. View all 68 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. Medical & Hospital Equipment Big Medical Auctions, LLC Bidding for an online-only auction with hundreds of pieces of medical equipment hosted by Largo, Florida-based Big Medical Auctions will begin closing December 13th at 1 p.m. (EST). The auction features the following types of equipment: ultrasound, imaging, anesthesia, OR, surgical, stretchers, beds, endoscopy, exam room, AED, monitoring, therapy, endoscopy, CPAP, and waiting room items; brands include AED, Stryker, Olympus, and others. View all 554 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. About HiBid & Auction Flex Auction Flex is the market-leader in auction software for live auctions, with capabilities that include cataloging, clerking, cashiering, accounting, mailing list management, inventory management, multi-parcel, and more. Auction Flex also provides a seamless solution that enables auction houses to upload auction catalogs online and accept internet absentee bids, conduct internet-only auctions, or offer webcast live internet bidding through its integrated web service and internet bidding solutionHiBid (both a private-label solution and a portal). Auction Flex and HiBid were built from the ground up to function together seamlessly. HiBid conducted over 21,000 auctions in 2016 and had Gross Auction Proceeds (GAP) of over $559 million. Contact Auction Flex: (352) 414-1947 [email protected] SOURCE HiBid & Auction Flex The Toughest Watch Makes Its Debut (1983) Fondly referred to as the Father of G-SHOCK, Mr. Kikuo Ibe, built more than 200 prototypes over two years before developing the very first unbreakable watch in 1983. His creation represented the birth of the "tough watch" category, and was thus dubbed G-SHOCK to represent its ability to withstand gravitational shocks. Mr. Ibe's invention, featuring the now iconic square shape, lead the charge for the unbreakable toughness the brand would become known for in the years to follow. At G-SHOCK's anniversary celebration last month, Mr. Ibe sported a similar timepiece, demonstrating the timelessness and everlasting toughness of G-SHOCK watches. Development Of Key Functionality Features (1980s 1990s) Throughout the 1980s, G-SHOCK developers focused on introducing new features that validated the band's absolute toughness moniker. Key capabilities of low temperature resistance and mud resistance, as well as an analog movement, were all available on the market towards the end of the decade. In the following years, further developments were introduced to the timepieces that remain relevant through today. Of note was ISO certified 200 meter water resistance, an energy efficient Tough Solar recharging system, which enables the watch to charge a secondary battery by sunlight or ambient light to allow for stable operation of various energy consuming functions, and the first EL Backlight, for easy readability in the dark. The brand's first temperature sensor soon led to the launch of a twin sensor, which included both a digital compass and thermometer found in many models to this day. In addition, the 1990s also brought the release of the first, full-metal body, specifically designed to be slim enough to fit under a professional dress shirt, while still maintaining an elevated aesthetic with the classic protective case. Connected Fashion With The Turn Of The Century (2000 Today) At the start of the century, the brand continued to push boundaries in the tough watch market, introducing its very first radio-controlled watch to receive calibration signals for the most precise timekeeping a development that was soon featured in timepieces alongside tough solar power and metal analog introductions. In 2005, the brand announced their success in developing multi-band atomic capabilities, allowing G-SHOCK timepieces to receive radio controlled time calibration signals from up to six global transmission stations worldwide via their wave ceptor technology, ensuring the most accurate timekeeping on the market. New functionality continued to follow, including an exceptionally tough structure named Triple G-Resist, which can withstand the most intense shocks, centrifugal force and vibrations. Today, G-SHOCK offers a wide breadth of Smart Access and Bluetooth connected watches that span across their celebrated Master of G, G-STEEL and premier MR-G lines, ensuring the brand is at the forefront of ultimate timekeeping and toughness within the industry. In line with the founder's guiding belief to "never, ever give up," Mr. Kikuo Ibe has overseen the development of a solid gold G-SHOCK prototype, as well as the first-ever all sapphire crystal timepiece revealed at the brand's 35th anniversary celebration last month. This latest aspirational prototype watch represents G-SHOCK's ability to continue to shock the world, by creating the toughest, most diversified watch in the world. About G-SHOCK CASIO's shock-resistant G-SHOCK watch is synonymous with toughness, born from the developer Mr. Ibe's dream of 'creating a watch that never breaks'. Over 200 handmade samples were created and tested to destruction until finally in 1983 the first, now iconic G-SHOCK hit the streets of Japan and began to establish itself as 'the toughest watch of all time'. Each watch encompasses the 7 elements; electric shock resistance, gravity resistance, low temperature resistance, vibration resistance, water resistance, shock resistance and toughness. The watch is packed with Casio innovations and technologies to prevent it from suffering direct shock; this includes internal components protected with urethane and suspended timekeeping modules inside the watch structure. Since its launch, G-SHOCK has continued to evolve, continuing to support on Mr. Ibe's mantra "never, never give up." www.gshock.com About Casio America, Inc. Casio America, Inc., Dover, N.J., is the U.S. subsidiary of Casio Computer Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, one of the world's leading manufacturers of consumer electronics and business equipment solutions. Established in 1957, Casio America, Inc. markets calculators, keyboards, mobile presentation devices, disc title and label printers, watches, cash registers and other consumer electronic products. Casio has strived to realize its corporate creed of "creativity and contribution" through the introduction of innovative and imaginative products. For more information, visit www.casiousa.com. FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES CONTACT: Erica Mapa / Kellyn Slone Cornerstone (212) 741-7100 [email protected] [email protected] Sue Vander Schans / Alli Colasacco-Sharpe CASIO AMERICA, INC. (973) 361-5400 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Casio America, Inc. DES MOINES, Iowa and FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The State Library of Iowa, Iowa public libraries and the Iowa Academic Library Alliance have partnered with Gale, a Cengage company and leading provider of library resources, to provide Iowa library users and college students with free access to high-quality digital resources that support learning, research, business and personal enrichment. Iowa residents can visit: www.iowalibrariesonline.org to access these resources through their public or academic library. "We are excited to bring these in-demand resources to Iowa library users," said Michael Scott, State Librarian of Iowa. "Gale resources support learning at all ages and serve as a trusted source for reliable and relevant information." Gale's 13 digital offerings include: databases, research materials and periodicals, and can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device. These high-quality resources support homework, personal enrichment, health inquiries, business analysis and academic research. Many of the products feature integrated workflow tools from Google and Microsoft, as well as language translation, downloadable audio and easy ways to share and save content. "The State Library of Iowa has selected an excellent collection of Gale resources to help public and academic libraries support their learners and communities," said Leigh Ann Cusack, senior director of public and consortia product at Gale. "Iowa libraries are empowered to create a lasting impact on people's lives and educational pursuits through industry-leading product experiences, tools and support." Gale resources now available to Iowa library users free-of-charge include: Books and Authors: A reader's advisory database for discovery of authors, genres and topics Business Insights: Essentials: News, in-depth reports and statistics on companies and industries ChiltonLibrary: Repair and maintenance instruction for many vehicle makes and models Educator's Reference Complete: Academic journals and reports in the education field General OneFile and Academic OneFile with InfoTrac Collections: Full-text periodicals and popular magazines, plus, peer-reviewed journals aligned to the curriculum Health & Wellness Resource Center: Authoritative source for health information, updated daily Health Reference Center Academic: Current, reliable health data for students and professionals Informe Academico: Spanish-language periodicals InfoTrac Newsstand: Searchable access to more than 1,100 global newspapers, images, broadcasts, and transcripts InfoTrac Student Edition: Magazines, newspapers and journals for high school students Kids InfoBits: Age-appropriate, reliable, curriculum-related content to support elementary students' research and homework needs Research In Context: Authoritative, multimedia reference and periodical content with the most-studied topics for middle school students This collection of Gale digital resources is available through participating public libraries in Iowa and can be accessed at: www.iowalibrariesonline.org. About Cengage and Gale Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, a Cengage company, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 60 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights where, when, and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com. Follow Gale on: About the State Library of Iowa The State Library of Iowa actively champions libraries and seeks to improve library services across the state and deliver specialized information services to state government and Iowans. Find out more at: www.statelibraryofiowa.org. Media Contact: Kayla Siefker, Gale Cengage 248-699-8456 [email protected] SOURCE Gale - Cengage Related Links http://www.cengage.com (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619161/Fahed_Boodai.jpg ) The Portfolio has been sold to a joint venture backed by a China based alternative asset manager. The portfolio is comprised of 3.3 million square feet, consisting of 24 industrial and office properties, and situated across 13 states including California, Florida, New York, Texas, and Virginia. The Portfolio, which is stabilized at 100% occupancy, was acquired in a joint venture partnership with Brennan Investment Group in July 2013. Mr. Fahed Boodai, Chairman of Gatehouse, said: "We are delighted with the successful performance of this investment with the Brennan Investment Group. Together we have already invested nearly $1 billion in the US industrial real estate markets. Gatehouse continuously seeks to partner with best in-class operators with demonstrated expertise in specific real estate sectors." "We are very pleased with the successful exit of the USIP Net Leased Portfolio III and our partnership with the Gatehouse Financial Group. Gatehouse is an important partner for Brennan Investment Group and we look forward to collaborating together on future acquisitions," said Michael Brennan, Chairman and Managing Principal of Brennan Investment Group. SOURCE Gatehouse Financial Group PITTSBURGH, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gateway Health, established in Pittsburgh in 1992, is celebrating 25 years of providing Medicaid health coverage to Pennsylvania residents and the city of Pittsburgh is honoring this achievement. Mayor Bill Peduto has declared the week of December 11 15 as "Gateway Health Week" in recognition of how Gateway has served Pittsburgh families and the communities over the past 25 years. Additionally, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has signed a proclamation honoring Gateway's achievements and contributions over the last quarter of a century. "Both Gateway Health and Pittsburgh have changed over the past 25 years," said Patti Darnley, Gateway President and CEO. "But the one thing that has not, and will not change, is our unwavering commitment and mission to provide access to the highest quality healthcare for Pennsylvania's most vulnerable and deserving residents. We are honored that the Pittsburgh area and those who live here have put such trust in us and we intend to keep them healthy and happy for the next 25 years and beyond." Gateway Health was established in 1992 as a managed care alternative to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare's Medical Assistance and Medicaid Program and enrolled its first member in Allegheny County in 1993. Now serving over 550,000 members across six states, Gateway currently offers its members access to over 35,000 health care providers, 300 hospitals and more than 21,000 physicians, pharmacies and clinics. In addition, Gateway Health has been a constant contributor to important health education and outreach programs that have both a positive and potentially lifesaving impact on residents including: asthma management, diabetes management, cardiovascular care, behavioral health care and substance abuse programs and care. Gateway Health has long recognized the ongoing health and social issues faced by Allegheny County and responded with programs aimed at fire and burn safety, domestic violence, health literacy, food insecurity and the opioid crisis to name a few. The commitment to and awareness of the fact that healthy communities foster healthy individuals and families is evidenced by Gateway's involvement in supporting local philanthropic organizations and community outreach programs. Gateway's ultimate goal is to remove the barriers so that at risk residents and their communities receive the attention and care that they both need and deserve. "Thank you to Mayor Peduto and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald for bestowing this honor on Gateway Health," said Darnley. We will uphold and deliver on being a proud Pittsburgh based health plan which serves members across not only Pennsylvania, but also many states and regions, with the same passion, integrity and care." Gateway Health will kick off their 25th Anniversary celebration year with the lighting of their new sign atop its headquarters in Four Gateway Center on Friday, December 15. About Gateway Health Gateway Health is a nationally ranked managed care organization that focuses on providing the best possible healthcare to a growing number of Medicaid and Medicare Advantage consumers. A not-for-profit organization, Gateway Health serves the needs of at risk and vulnerable citizens with not only healthcare coverage, but services such as disease management, health and wellness programs and preventive care. The organization provides Medicaid services in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia and Medicare coverage in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio and North Carolina. Our commitment to helping our members and their communities get and stay healthy is what keeps members, providers, communities and partners "Good with Gateway." To learn more about Gateway Health, visit us online at www.gatewayhealthplan.com. SOURCE Gateway Health Related Links http://www.gatewayhealthplan.com NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, announced today that David Hodgson, Managing Director, has been named Vice Chairman. Mr. Hodgson joined General Atlantic as the firm's third investment professional in 1982, the firm's second year of operations. Working closely with Steve Denning, Founding Partner and Chairman of General Atlantic, he was instrumental in the early development of General Atlantic's growth equity investing strategy, which is built on a singular vision of partnering with entrepreneurs around the world to build outstanding growth companies. "A distinguished senior leader on our investment team for over 35 years, Dave has been instrumental in General Atlantic's development and success from the very beginning," said Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic. "He played a prominent role in establishing the firm's software investing capability as well as broadening and globalizing our investment program. We are delighted to recognize his leadership and achievements to General Atlantic over the years." Since 1982, Mr. Hodgson has been deeply engaged with investments across the firm's sectors serving as a trusted partner and advisor to General Atlantic's global portfolio companies and as a senior leader and mentor to the firm's investment team. Since 2010, he has served on the boards of past and current General Atlantic portfolio companies including Alignment Healthcare, Amherst Pierpont Securities, Dice, Hyperion Insurance Group, InsightExpress, IPVALUE, Torex Retail Holdings, TriNet, and Xchanging. Mr. Hodgson is also a dedicated philanthropist and community leader, generously supporting numerous institutions and causes. In 1987, he helped found Echoing Green, a leading social innovation fund serving the next-generation of social entrepreneurs, and currently serves as the organization's Co-Chairman. He also serves as Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and serves as a trustee of The Johns Hopkins University. In addition, Mr. Hodgson is Chairman of the Manhattan Theatre Club and is a member of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. Mr. Hodgson graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, with an A.B. degree in mathematics and social sciences. He earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Drawing from 37 years of experience investing in nearly 300 global growth companies, General Atlantic partners with entrepreneurs and management teams who are building leading, high-growth businesses. The firm has $21 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2017. General Atlantic focuses on investments across five sectors, including Internet & Technology, Financial Services, Business Services, Retail & Consumer, and Healthcare, with support from the firm's global team of experts. About General Atlantic General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 110 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. www.generalatlantic.com. Media Contact Erin Smith Edelman for General Atlantic +1 (646) 558-2751 [email protected] SOURCE General Atlantic Related Links http://www.generalatlantic.com DALLAS, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Generational Capital Markets, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC and a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Endeavor Clinical Trials P.A. (ECT), to Evolution Research Group, LLC (ERG). The acquisition closed July 31, 2017. Endeavor Clinical Trials, based in San Antonio, Texas, has 20-plus years of experience conducting more than 185 clinical trials. It specializes in post-operative pain, neuropathic pain, podiatry, and vaccine research, among others. ECT's clinical operations team of more than 45 is led by Dr. Richard A. Pollak, who will remain with the company and continue to act as Principal Investigator. Dr. Pollak is a key opinion leader in podiatry and is board-certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery. "The decision to join the ERG portfolio made so much sense given their experience, expertise and reputation in the industry," said Dr. Pollak. "It was very important to me that we select a group that values quality as much as we do." Evolution Research Group, headquartered in Watchung, New Jersey, is the largest, privately held clinical research site company in the United States. The acquisition of ECT grows ERG to eight portfolio research units. Denise Roberts, ERG Executive Director of Clinical Operations and Site Development and a leader in the field of analgesic research, will be leading the clinical trial operations at Endeavor Clinical Trials. "ECT's excellent reputation in the industry, and more specifically in the field of postoperative pain research, adds tremendous value to ERG's established leadership position in the field of neuroscience research," said Lori Wright, CEO of Evolution Research Group. "The postoperative pain expertise that Richard, Denise and the ECT team bring to ERG nicely complements our psychiatry, neurology, addiction, sleep and early phase capabilities, and broadens our service offering to the industry." Generational Capital Markets Managing Directors Tom Staszak and Chris Gain successfully closed the deal. "ECT has a well established and industry recognized area of expertise in the fast growing pain study industry," said Staszak. "By joining with ERG, ECT is well positioned for additional growth." About Generational Capital, LLC Generational Capital, LLC is a Dallas, Texas-based merger & acquisition advisory firm. Generational Capital wholly owns Generational Capital Markets, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. More information can be found at www.gencm.com. Generational Capital and Generational Capital Markets are part of the Generational Group and are affiliated with Generational Equity, LLC, which The M&A Advisor named Investment Banking Firm of the Year in 2016 & 2017. GCM's most recent awards include The M&A Advisor's 2017 Consumer Staples Deal Of The Year, 2017 Private Equity Deal of the Year Award, 2016 Corporate and Strategic Acquisition of the Year Award, as well as the 2016 Materials Deal of the Year for its work on the Stern Rubber Company transaction. It has also been recognized for the 2016 M&A Deal of the Year for the acquisition of Pro Trans Logistics Inc. by Action Resources. For more information: Carl Doerksen 972-232-1125 [email protected] SOURCE Generational Capital Markets, Inc. Related Links http://www.gencm.com DALLAS, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the acquisition of its client, Ariel Enterprises Inc. dba Accel Party Rentals & Design, by Koa Capital Partners LLC. The transaction closed June 16, 2017. Accel Event Rentals, based in Aiea, Hawaii, provides quality rental equipment to the Hawaiian Islands. The company offers a wide selection of traditional and trendy pieces, and delivers total quality management services to customers, which has earned the company an excellent reputation. Scott Rabe, Accel President and Owner, will remain the head of Accel and continue to manage its operations. Founded in 2014 by Dustin Sellers and Chris Eldridge, Koa Capital Partners is based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both tenured entrepreneurs in their own right, their vision for Koa is to preserve and enhance the small-to-medium business community in Hawaii. Sellers and Eldridge recognized Rabe as a leader in his field and provided him with capital to grow his business while maintaining the company's commitment to the highest level of customer service. Generational Equity Managing Director Stephen Crisham's team, led by trusted affiliate Jim Mayfield with support from Generational Equity VP Lori Galloway, successfully closed the deal. Generational Equity Senior Managing Director Tom Braun established the initial relationship with Accel. Mayfield stated, "Both parties respected each other's acumen in the negotiations, with each working to quickly provide answers to any and all questions posed by the other party. This really helped to close the deal in an efficient manner." About Generational Equity Generational Equity, DealForce, and Generational Capital Markets, member FINRA/SIPC, are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America. With over 200 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing merger, acquisition and strategic growth advisory services. Their four-step approach features exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, and M&A transactional services. The M&A Advisor named the company the 2016 and 2017 Investment Banking Firm of the Year. For more, visit http://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room. For more information: Carl Doerksen 972-232-1125 [email protected] SOURCE Generational Equity Related Links http://www.genequityco.com MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- George Clinical, a leading full-service CRO in the US and Asia-Pacific region, is pleased to announce that Matthew Reabold, Sr. has been promoted to the Head of Business Development, USA. George Clinical George Clinical, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, operates in 15 countries around the world and has major operational hubs in the USA, East Asia, China, and India. Matthew, who is USA-based, will be leading our Business Development team in North America and Europe. Matthew came to George Clinical with 20 years on the sponsor side of the business and understands the challenges facing biopharma companies when executing and outsourcing their clinical trials. The last 10 years have been spent developing solutions in partnership with pharma and biotech clients, working for some large and smaller CROs. He brings a broad spectrum of knowledge to the team including expertise in oncology, renal, diabetes, cardiovascular and CNS. Matthew states, "This is truly a great opportunity to work with and lead an organization with a strong people-first culture that focuses on improving the medical care of patients while contributing to scientific advancement in chronic diseases and oncology. Our model is unique within the CRO industry in that we lead with science and a singular focus on translating that science into operational value for our clients." "We are excited that Matthew, with his focus on customer service and his abilities to assemble a strong team, will lead Business Development in the USA to accomplish our goals as a global organization," said Mr. Sean Hart, Managing Director, USA and Global Head of Late Phase Studies. About George Clinical George Clinical is a leading independent Asia-Pacific based clinical research organization (CRO) with global capabilities differentiated by scientific leadership and extensive site networks. With operations in 11 countries and staff operating in 15 countries, George Clinical provides the full range of clinical trial services to pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech customers, for all trial phases, registration, and post-marketing trials. George Clinical combines scientific and clinical leadership with expert trial delivery capability to create a distinctive world-class service. In recent years, George Clinical has managed more than 40,000 patients in trials across more than 1,700 sites. George Clinical's parent organization, The George Institute for Global Health, is a leader in chronic disease research, with a global network of experts with whom George Clinical engages. George Clinical delivers an operationally supported, internationally recognized scientific leadership service, bringing together an extensive series of investigator networks that allow George Clinical to provide customizable clinical trial excellence from trial design through all aspects of delivery. Contact: [email protected] Website: www.georgeclinical.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/george-clinical-pty-ltd Twitter: https://twitter.com/george_clinical Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgeclinical For more information, contact: Donna McDonnell Business Development Administrator T 901 259 0888 | M 901 229 5345 E [email protected] W www.georgeclinical.com | www.georgeinstitute.org SOURCE George Clinical Related Links http://www.georgeinstitute.org NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new form of "light energy" can give type-a workaholics and globetrotters just what they need for the holidaysan extra energy boost to burn the midnight oil on Christmas eve or arrive on that next overseas flight energized and ready to work more! AYO surrounds your field of vision with soft, safe blue light that provides bursts of bonus energy during gray, sluggish afternoons or helps defeat jet lag after that long overseas flight. Learn more or purchase the "travel technology innovation of the year" at www.goayo.com...plenty of time for holiday delivery! The prizewinning, wearable blue-light system from hi-tech startup Novalogy helps overworked, exhausted type a's boost their overall energy levels, optimize sleep time, and beat jet lag during frequent travels. AYO glasses recently took top prize in the KLM-Air France search for the "most innovative travel technology product of the year." The result of a three-year development, testing and engineering process, AYO uses the latest developments in Chronobiology, study of the human body clock, and delivers its clinically-tested soft blue light to actively increase energy levels, improve sleep, and minimize the tired, lagging feelings that often accompany jet lag. Professor Bert van der Horst, Chairman of Health and Chronobiology at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, cites the novel new product as "the first step in the personal adjustment of internal body clocks. It will help us to improve our lifestyle, remain healthy, and keep the doctor away." Key to the "jet lag" solution in particular is exposure to a special, soft blue light that mimics sunlight, delivered at proper timing and intensity directed by the software. By wearing the AYO device as little as 20 minutes a day, frequent travelers can beat jet lag quickly, feeling fully refreshed no matter how many time zones their latest trip has spanned. Stressed or tired users experience improved energy the same way. Available for holiday delivery at www.goayo.com and www.amazon.com, the blue light system establishes a profile based on the user's sleep habits and lifestyle preferences. It analyzes users' sleep and lifestyle habits to provide a personalized energy-boost program, guiding the user on when to use AYO, and when to avoid light. Based on Nobel Prize-winning research This year's Physiology Nobel Prize recognized three American researchers' discoveries of mechanisms controlling circadian rhythm, mimicked by the AYO system. AYO engineers studied the laureates' work, along with many other Chronobiology research efforts at leading institutions including Harvard, Oxford and NASA. These studies, plus the experience of thousands of customers, affirm the system's help in managing humans' biological clocks, sleep cycles, and energy levels to deliver healthier, happier, more active lives. SOURCE Go Ayo WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- How well has the Gulf of Mexico region recovered following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? What did we learn to help recovery following future spills? Join some of the Gulf's leading experts at the 2018 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference as they discuss their research and the path ahead for the Gulf. The 2018 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference will take place February 5-8, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The sixth annual conference, organized by a diverse group of partners, will bring together hundreds of experts from academia, state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations and industry to share the latest oil spill and ecosystem scientific discoveries, innovations, technologies and policies. This year, conference participants will focus on exploring how fundamental science can help restore and maintain Gulf ecosystem integrity, inform response strategies, and strengthen social and ecological resilience. A key element of the conference will be cross-cutting discussions among academics, industry, government agencies, and public interest organizations surrounding the following six topics: Science for restoration, management, and policy Science for response Social and ecological resilience General ecosystem science: gulf ecology Gulf connectivity: physical and chemical interactions Monitoring, data management, and analysis The four-day conference will consist of 24 scientific sessions and 7 mini-sessions with close to 300 oral presentations and 125 poster presentations. Several associated meetings, events and workshops will also be held. Click here to view the conference schedule at a glance. The registration fee will be waived for credentialed members of the media. Please contact Leslie Smith ([email protected]) for details. The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference is made possible by the generous support of many organizations including: the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative; the Harte Research Institute; and the Gulf of Mexico University Research Collaborative. For more information, visit the conference website (www.gulfofmexicoconference.org) and follow us on Facebook (@gulfscienceconference) and Twitter (@Gulf Conference, #GoMOSES). Contact: Leslie Smith 202.787.1613 [email protected] SOURCE Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference Mr. Imperato explains, "Shriners are a beacon of light in their communities. They give so much in the pursuit of bettering themselves and helping children and families in need, and we are honored to offer this rifle as a salute to all of their hard work and charitable contributions. We hope to see this new partnership help them with continuing their admirable mission." The Shriners Tribute Edition Rifle is built on the award-winning Golden Boy platform, which comes with a fully adjustable rear sight, brass bead front sight, blued steel octagonal barrel, and the inherently smooth action that Henrys are known for. It's offered in .22 S/L/LR with a capacity of 16 rounds of .22 Long Rifle or 21 rounds of .22 Short. The American Walnut stock is laser etched and hand painted with the ever-present red Fez and black tassel along with a gold-painted banner scroll with the words "Shriners International." The right side of the nickel-plated receiver cover features an engraved Shriner shield in 24K gold plating and a banner scroll with the words "Fun, Fellowship and Philanthropy," the core values of Shriners International. The left side of the receiver cover has the Shriner logo the horizontal scimitar with the hanging crescent moon and star also plated in 24K gold. American leafy-vine scroll engravings surround the images on both sides of the receiver cover. Model H004SHR is available through licensed Henry dealers across the country. MSRP is $1,154.95. For more information on this rifle visit https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/shriners-tribute-edition/. For more information about the company and its products visit www.henryusa.com or call 866-200-2354. About Henry Repeating Arms Henry Repeating Arms is one of the leading firearms manufacturers in the country. Their company motto is 'Made In America Or Not Made At All' and their products come with a lifetime guarantee backed by award-winning customer service. The original Henry rifle played a significant role in the frontier days of the American West and is one of the most legendary, respected and sought-after rifles in the history of firearms. The company's manufacturing facilities are in Bayonne, NJ and Rice Lake, WI. SOURCE Henry Repeating Arms Related Links henryusa.com HOUSTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology hiring in Houston should start strong in 2018, according to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. Nineteen percent of CIOs surveyed here said they plan to add full-time technology professionals to their teams in the first half of the new year. Another 63 percent expect to maintain staff levels by filling vacant roles. In addition to hiring plans, the report also highlights technology skills in demand and CIOs' top priorities for the first six months of the year. "Houston has been experiencing a recovery period and businesses have been cautious with hiring plans," said Robert Vaughn, metro market manager for Robert Half Technology in Houston. "But as we head into 2018, we're seeing companies begin to move forward with mission-critical projects, creating demand for a variety of technology professionals. Many companies are focused on tightening security processes and upgrading systems to improve business efficiency and will be hiring professionals in these areas." Hiring Challenges and Skills in Demand It continues to be a competitive hiring environment: 61 percent of CIOs in Houston said that it's challenging to find skilled IT professionals in today's market. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include: Business Intelligence (49 percent) Telecommunications support (49 percent) Mobile development (48 percent) Top Priorities When asked to name their top priority for the next six months, 29 percent of Houston CIOs said they will be focused on maintaining security of IT systems and safeguarding company information. Other priorities will include: Upgrading existing systems for business efficiency (19 percent) (19 percent) Technology innovation and investing in new technologies (18 percent) (18 percent) Innovation and helping to grow their businesses (18 percent) (18 percent) Staff retention (16 percent) About Robert Half Technology With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2018 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions. Survey Methodology The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995. SOURCE Robert Half Technology Related Links http://roberthalf.com CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HubSpot, a leading CRM, marketing, sales, and customer experience platform, announced today that its collection of HubSpot Connect integrations is now available to all current and future users of its free Marketing products. While these integrations were previously only available for paying customers or CRM users, this update introduces over 100 software integrations to the hundreds of thousands of HubSpot free users. These businesses can now use applicable integrations with HubSpot to power their growth, helping all companies, big and small, build a single, unified view of the customer across all the tools and systems they use. "In the past, small businesses had a clear advantage, they could provide more personal service - walk in the door and they know your name. In some ways, the internet took that advantage away from SMBs and handed it to the big businesses who have mastery over technology. With this move, we're helping SMBs reclaim that advantage and giving them a way to marry their tools together and improve the customer experience." - Scott Brinker VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. As part of the expansion of the program, HubSpot Marketing Free users who also grow through event marketing with HubSpot Connect partner Eventbrite can now automatically import event registrants from Eventbrite into HubSpot. The integration shares contacts and records Eventbrite event registration data on the contact timeline in HubSpot. With both tools working together, teams can quickly turn event attendees into prospects in HubSpot and eventually paying customers. Together, HubSpot and Eventbrite are helping organizations big and small to coordinate their marketing efforts and provide a cohesive customer experience. "We've been pleased with the success of HubSpot's integration, and the value it's delivered to Eventbrite customers. It helps marketers maximize the impact gained from events they're hosting, and allows them to connect with their attendees and customer community in more meaningful ways," said Scott Van Brunt, Head of Partnerships at Eventbrite. "Extending the integration to include HubSpot's free product suite will put even more sophisticated marketing and CRM tools into the hands of our event creators, helping leverage the time and resources they invest into delivering great live experiences." Now live, all HubSpot Marketing Free and Starter customers will see a new integrations tab in HubSpot. From this tab or the external integrations listing they'll be able to easily find and connect certified Connect integrations to augment their marketing and sales capabilities as they grow. "This update also means that HubSpot Connect partners will have access to tens of thousands of new potential users. When developers build on HubSpot, they are creating something that can be available to our entire customer base. This means access to the largest and most complete CRM for SMB and the mid-market." - Scott Brinker VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. Bringing HubSpot Connect and integrations to free users is the latest step in HubSpot's evolution towards becoming a platform company. In addition to adding more than 65 new integrations to the program earlier this year, the company also introduced its "Pledge to Integration Partners,"a credo for SaaS companies embracing the realities of competition and what HubSpot strives to honor for its technology partners as it scales its ecosystem of integrations. With more software tools becoming available each day, it's HubSpot's goal to point users towards the best options, make sure that they are able to connect systems, and share a single unified view of the customer as they grow. To learn more about HubSpot Connect and all the new integrations available to Marketing free users such as Zapier, SurveyMonkey, and GoToWebinar, please visit HubSpot.com/Integrations. About HubSpot HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) is a leading CRM, marketing, sales, and customer experience platform. Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 37,000 customers in more than 90 countries use HubSpot's award-winning software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. The HubSpot Growth Stack, built on a powerful, free CRM and comprised of the Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and soon to be released Customer Hub, gives companies all the tools they need to manage the entire customer experience from awareness to advocacy. HubSpot has been named a top place to work by Glassdoor, Fortune, The Boston Globe, and The Boston Business Journal. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with offices in Dublin, Ireland (EMEA HQ); Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Berlin, Germany; and Portsmouth, NH. SOURCE HubSpot Related Links http://hubspot.com SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Interop ITX, the independent conference for tech leaders, announces its first round of keynote speakers and program enhancements for the 2018 event in Las Vegas. The 2018 keynote lineup will feature top IT leaders Niloofar Howe, SVP and Worldwide Chief Strategy Officer of RSA, and Jennifer Pahlka, founder and Executive Director of Code for America, along with additional industry thought leaders that will be announced in the coming months. The event also offers an all-new Security Pro Summit, IoT Theater & Demo Showcase, Government Track and more. Interop ITX will take place April 30 May 4, 2018 at the Mirage in Las Vegas, NV. For more information and to register, please visit: interopitx.com "The new developments within the conference demonstrate Interop ITX's ability to adapt to an evolving industry and offer modern content that is pertinent to today's IT professional," said Meghan Reilly, General Manager, Interop ITX. "This is exemplified through our expert keynote speakers and all-new event features that span relevant industry topics such as artificial intelligence, IoT, cybersecurity and more." Interop ITX 2018 keynote lineup: Niloofar Howe SVP and Worldwide Chief Strategy Officer, RSA Niloofar has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry. Before RSA, she was the Chief Strategy officer at Endgame where she was responsible for driving market and product strategy, as well as leading marketing, product management, corporate development and planning. Prior to Endgame, she served as Managing Director of Paladin Capital Group, a $1 billion private equity fund focused on investing in the national security sector. Previously she worked at Zone Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles, as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. and as a lawyer with O'Melveny & Myers. Jennifer Pahlka Founder and Executive Director, Code for America Jennifer is the founder and executive director of Code for America, a national non-profit that aims to make the government work better for the people who need it most. She recently served as the US Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she architected and helped start the United States Digital Service. She is known for her TED talk, Coding a Better Government, and is the recipient of several awards including MIT's Kevin Lynch Award, the Oxford Internet Institute's Internet and Society Award and the National Democratic Institute's Democracy Award. New for Interop ITX 2018: Security Pro Summit: May 1 , 9 AM 5 PM Produced by the Dark Reading editorial team, the Security Pro Summit is an opportunity for IT security professionals to take a deeper dive into cybersecurity defense and learn from experts about advanced methods for detecting and responding to new threats. Attendees will go beyond cybersecurity basics to learn about practical, usable methods for detecting and responding to online attacks in an enterprise. To learn more about the Security Pro Summit, please visit: ubm.io/SecurityProSummit IoT Theater & Demo Showcase, May 1 3 Located in the Business Hall, the IoT Theater gives attendees the opportunity to hear real world case studies and strategies that provide valuable insight into what their companies need to be doing with IoT over the next 1-3 years. The companion IoT Demo Showcase will allow attendees to have docent-led demos of IoT initiatives, providing them a first-hand view on current technology while also opening their minds to the possibilities for their future enterprise. To learn more about the IoT Theater & Demo Showcase, please visit: interop.com/iot-theater-demo-showcase Government Track The new Government track is the first Interop ITX track tailored especially for attendees working in a particular vertical, and will cater to IT professionals who work in local, state or federal governments. For more information on Government Track sessions, please visit: schedule.interop.com/track/government AI Summit: April 30 May 1 , 9 AM 5 PM This summit will explore how AI and machine learning have the potential to transform the way we interact with our existing and future enterprise systems. Attendees will learn about the practical applications of AI, deep learning, and machine learning for traditional businesses, and will explore how to move from theorizing about what you might do with AI to integrating it as part of day-to-day business. To learn more about the AI Summit, please visit: ubm.io/AISummit Hands-on Sessions: May 2 4 Each 90-minute hands-on session will give attendees the unique opportunity to learn about the newest innovations within the IT industry in an interactive format. These sessions allow for attendees to practice key skills and will focus on relevant IT topics such as tracking ransomware, building Kubernetes and effectively using IoT and cognitive services. For more information on hands-on sessions, please visit: interop.com/hands-on-sessions Track Chairs Interop ITX Track Chairs use their extensive knowledge and experience in their fields to plan content that stays ahead of the curve in IT. This year's Track Chairs include Ben Kepes, Technology Evangelist, Cloud; Karen Lopez, Senior Project Manager and Architect, InfoAdvisors, Data & Analytics; Jayne Groll, CEO, DevOps Institute, DevOps; Jonathan Feldman, Chief Information Officer, City of Asheville, North Carolina, Government; Keith Townsend, Enterprise Architect and Founder, thectoadvisor.com, Infrastructure; Katy Tynan, Managing Director, CoreAxis Consulting, Leadership & Professional Development; Sara Peters, Senior Editor, Dark Reading, Security. For more information, please visit: interop.com/track-chairs-and-review-board Register for Interop ITX here: interopitx.com Apply for an Interop ITX Media Pass here: interop.com/media-registration Follow Interop ITX Twitter: @interop Facebook: facebook.com/InteropITX/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/interop-las-vegas/ About Interop ITX Interop ITX is the industry's most trusted independent Conference focused on Full Stack IT education for technology leaders. The event continues the 30 years Interop has dedicated to providing IT decision makers with a trusted environment to learn, collaborate and uncover new strategies and solutions they need to lead their teams and their businesses through constant change and disruption. Employed by a Conference-first model, Interop ITX offers both breadth and depth of content to a broad IT audience across core areas: Cloud, Data & Analytics, DevOps, Government, Infrastructure, Leadership & Professional Development, and Security. For more information, visit interopitx.com. Interop ITX is organized by UBM plc. UBM is the largest pure-play B2B Events organizer in the world. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors. Our deep knowledge and passion for these sectors allow us to create valuable experiences which enable our customers to succeed. Please visit www.ubm.com for the latest news and information about UBM. CONTACT: Heather Donner, [email protected] SOURCE Interop ITX Related Links https://www.interop.com/ FULTON, Md., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IronNet Cybersecurity, a leading provider of state-of-the art cybersecurity solutions, announced it has been awarded an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Management System certificate by SRI Quality System Registrar, an internationally accredited registrar for management systems standards. The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard is internationally recognized as an authoritative indicator of having a systematic approach to managing sensitive information so that it remains secure. Certification of meeting the standard is often required in contracting requests by companies and government agencies. The standard specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system within the context of the organization. It also includes requirements for the assessment and treatment of information security risks tailored to the needs of the organization. "The mission of IronNet is to provide best-in-class cybersecurity products and services that are second to none, and this new certification is the latest demonstration of that commitment," said George Lamont, IronNet Co-Founder and Chief Information Security Officer. "With this standards certificate, IronNet clients can feel even more confident about our ability to protect their critical information." IronNet Cybersecurity was founded by Keith Alexander, the former director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, along with a team of former leaders of the Defense Department, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as well as cyber experts from the commercial sector. The IronNet approach leverages high performance computing capabilities to identify threats and to propagate real-time threat and model updates throughout a company's cyber infrastructure and across sector and cross-sector ecosystems, and provides the ability to implement active response actions. "We are pleased to acknowledge that IronNet Cybersecurity Inc. has demonstrated effective implementation of a management system," said Edward L. Maschmeier, Director, Certification at SRI Quality System Registrar. "ISO/IEC 27001 certification provides evidence to customers, suppliers, employees, and the community of the commitment by IronNet to information security and customer satisfaction." About IronNet Cybersecurity IronNet Cybersecurity's founding mission is to redefine cybersecurity based on next generation technology, cutting edge engineering, and a leadership team with decades of military, intelligence, and commercial experience. The company's goal is to continue the mission of securing the nation in cyberspace based on the leadership team's experience in conducting full-spectrum cybersecurity operations and building cybersecurity forces. IronNet provides best-in-class cyber defense using complex behavioral modeling, big-data analytics, and advanced computing capabilities. Founded by General (Ret) Keith Alexander and a team of highly experienced strategic, operational, and technical cybersecurity experts, IronNet Cybersecurity works with companies to deliver the IronNet framework, an end-to-end, next-generation cybersecurity solution that delivers unprecedented network visibility, early threat detection, and targeted, business-informed mitigation actions. The company is based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. For more information, visit IronNetCybersecurity.com. SOURCE IronNet Cybersecurity Related Links http://IronNetCybersecurity.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iSolved University is excited to host its first iSolved Connect User Conference in the fall of 2018. This event will bring iSolved participants together to collaborate and learn how to maximize the features of iSolved, a robust human capital management platform that unifies payroll, HR, and benefits enrollment. iSolved Connect will take place at the Hyatt Regency on September 24-26, 2018 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The three days of training and education will be packed with hands-on, instructive breakout sessions and workshops, taught by iSolved solution engineers, iSolved University trainers, and developers. Many of the classes will offer the opportunity to earn continuing education credits. Additionally, the conference will include an iSolved Legends Bar, where iSolved experts will spend one-on-one time with attendees to get their individual questions answered and to help find solutions for diverse business situations. iSolved University provides continuous, right-sized, contextually relevant information delivered through a Learning Management System platform with video, social, gamification and more to keep learners engaged. The iSolved Connect user conference will only enhance the benefits from the Learning Management System by delivering more expansive, in-depth training for high, in demand topics while allowing people to interact and learn from each other as well. "We're looking forward to this inaugural event and helping our users expand their knowledge of our HCM platform with iSolved Connect," stated Trish Stromberg, CMO of iSolved HCM. "While our iSolved University continues to grow, we believe a user conference takes our training to a whole new level." Event highlights: Keynote speakers: Rick Rigsby , an award-winning journalist who now offers common sense wisdom for people that desire to rise to greater levels of excellence. , an award-winning journalist who now offers common sense wisdom for people that desire to rise to greater levels of excellence. Adrian Gostick , a best-selling leadership expert who provides real solutions on managing culture change, driving innovation, and overseeing a multi-generational workforce. , a best-selling leadership expert who provides real solutions on managing culture change, driving innovation, and overseeing a multi-generational workforce. Designated tracks for customers and iSolved Certified Network Partners, with content for users at varying levels and functionality. iSolved Legends Bar, allowing attendees to obtain answers to specific questions and participate in 1:1 training and Q/A sessions with iSolved experts. Registration for iSolved Connect will open on December 13, 2017. Special pricing will be available to those who register early. About iSolved iSolved HCM is an industry-leading human capital management technology company that brings together the key workforce functions in one robust, easy-to-use platform, iSolved. Payroll, HR, Time & Attendance, Applicant Tracking, Onboarding, ACA Compliance and Benefits Enrollment are all delivered from a single application, in the cloud, specifically built for the small-to-midsized employer. It has achieved rapid market share, with more than 3 million employees and growing. iSolved also includes innovative features and options to boost employee engagement and improve productivity, including its mobile app, iSolved GO, and its NXG line of time clocks. iSolved is delivered through elite, regional payroll providers who provide customers with the white-glove service they need in today's regulatory environment. This unique approach gives small-to-midsized employers access to a cutting-edge HCM solution, while retaining the local service relationship they prefer. For more information, visit www.isolvedhcm.com. SOURCE iSolved Related Links http://www.isolvedhcm.com MIAMI, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Skyscanner, the global travel search engine, has historically claimed early January as peak season to find travel deals, and 2018 is shaping up to be no different. According to data gathered from Skyscanner's more than 60 million monthly users, January is the best time to book cheap flights in the first half of the year both domestic and international before travel demand and prices are expected to spike. For travelers considering short or long-haul travel next year, the first two weeks of January are expected to offer the best deals for the first half of 2018: US domestic flights are averaging around 16 percent cheaper than the yearly average. Come March, airline tickets could potentially increase by 13 percent over the yearly average.* cheaper than the yearly average. Come March, airline tickets could potentially increase by over the yearly average.* International flights are potentially up to 36 percent cheaper than the yearly average. But in March, tickets risk an increase of up to 56 percent more expensive than the yearly average.* Given the favorable data for both domestic and international travel, Skyscanner has identified destinations experiencing growth in terms of searches and bookings. These alluring destinations are sure to whet prospective travelers' appetites: International destinations where Skyscanner has seen traveler interest are Phuket , Paris , Amsterdam , Madrid , and Edinburgh . , , , , and . Trip by Skyscanner, Skyscanner's new partnership with Trip.com, has found that U.S. travelers are increasingly interested in Hamburg , Lyon , Bologna, and Casablanca as new destinations to explore in 2018. , , Bologna, and as new destinations to explore in 2018. Five destinations already topping 2018 searches and bookings with Skyscanner users are not surprisingly New York , Los Angeles , Miami , London , and Las Vegas . The window for savings is clear but narrow, and Skyscanner advises seizing the opportunity the first two weeks of the year to try and score the best deals of 2018. Given the predicted spike in prices shortly after January, this is the ideal time for travelers to search and book cheap flights to most destinations, and finally choose a New Year's resolution they'll be more inclined to keep. Along with these data-informed savings, Skyscanner is supporting Travel Tech Association's first-ever National 'Shop for Travel' day on January 9, 2018. This is a day for travel brands to promote the best deals to inspire travelers to search and book their next trip before travel prices go up. *Data Methodology: Pricing trends and estimated flight savings are based on Skyscanner historical data extracted for domestic and international round-trip flights in economy class booked between December 3, 2016 December 3, 2017. About Skyscanner Skyscanner is a leading global travel search company providing free search of flights, hotels and car rental. Founded in 2003 Skyscanner helps to meet the travel planning needs of over 60 million people each month. Skyscanner is available in over 30 languages. Skyscanner's highly-rated free mobile app has been downloaded over 70 million times. The privately-owned company employs over 900 staff and has ten global offices in Edinburgh, Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen, Miami, Barcelona, Glasgow, Sofia, Budapest and London. For more information, please visit http://www.skyscanner.com and our news site. SOURCE Skyscanner Related Links http://www.skyscanner.com TOKYO and KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kangen Pharmaceuticals ("Kangen") and KC Specialty Therapeutics ("KCST") today announced that Kangen has reached an agreement with KCST and agreed to acquire the assets of KCST. Kangen intends to retain operations in Kansas City, Kansas, USA, with expansions in Japan and the US. "This is a significant milestone for both Kangen and KCST. This acquisition provides Kangen with a unique opportunity for growth in two major markets the US and Japan," said Mr. Norihiro Hirota, Chairperson and President of Kangen. KCST has an existing portfolio of products focused on niche indications, and orphan drug designations. This acquisition also creates for Kangen an expanded network of affiliates and alliances in Asia and Europe, where Kangen will further expand strategic business alliances and portfolio of branded pharmaceuticals. Diana Wood, CEO of KCST added, "This acquisition brings together complementary strengths of Kangen and KCST and also enhances our strategic position and value with our partners in Japan." Diana Wood will take on the additional role of the President of Kangen, while Mr. Hirota will retain the chairperson position. About Kangen Kangen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. was founded in 2005 by Mr. Hirota. Kangen, formerly known as Stason Pharma Japan, has been instrumental in establishing strategic relationships between KCST and its partners in Japan, now with several ongoing projects in various stages of the FDA review process. For more information, please visit: www.Kangenpharma.com About KC Specialty KC Specialty Therapeutics, LLC is a US-based pharmaceutical company focused on the development of quality therapeutics for niche markets, and unmet medical need such as for orphan indications. KC Specialty is headquartered in Kansas City, KS and was founded in 2012 as a subsidiary of Stason Pharmaceuticals, which entered the US market in 1994. Under the management of CEO, Diana Wood, KC Specialty has extensive expertise in brand drug development, and navigation of complex regulatory pathways, which will compliment Kangen's strategic alliances, worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.KCSpecialty.com SOURCE Kangen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Related Links http://www.kangenpharma.com CINCINNATI, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. and International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced today the ratification of a new labor agreement that provides for Kroger's withdrawal from the Central States Pension Fund. The new labor agreement covers associates represented by the IBT at three distribution centers and two dairy manufacturing facilities operated by Kroger. Kroger and IBT have been working together for several years on a plan to protect the pensions of Kroger associates at these facilities, who are participants in the Central States Pension Fund. The Central States Pension Fund projects it will go insolvent in 2025. Kroger and IBT have established a new fund, called the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Consolidated Pension Fund that is designed to provide Kroger associates with a secure pension. Included in this agreement are current Kroger associates/IBT members working at facilities in Hutchinson and Goddard, KS; Houston, TX; Memphis, TN; Indianapolis, IN; and Livonia, MI. The total number of active associates covered is about 1,800. In February, Roundy's associates working at a distribution center in Oconomowoc, WI ratified the same agreement. Kroger's withdrawal from Central States Pension Fund is effective December 10, 2017. Kroger's withdrawal does not require the approval of Central States. Kroger will make payments to Central States to fulfill its withdrawal liability obligation. Under the ratified agreement, the benefits current associates have earned as participants of Central States will be protected. Here's how The new IBT pension fund will make up benefits that are reduced by Central States as a result of Kroger's withdrawal. Should Central States become insolvent and benefits are reduced, the IBT Consolidated Pension Fund will restore benefit reductions above the level guaranteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Moving forward, current associates also will begin earning a new pension benefit through a formula negotiated by Kroger and the IBT and ratified by members. "Given the uncertain future of Central States and the potential adverse impact on our members, the National Committee felt the move to the IBT Consolidated Plan will ensure they have a stable and reliable retirement benefit in the future," said Steve Vairma, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Vice President." "This is a good agreement for our current associates and our company. It provides our current associates security for their future retirement and the company financial certainty regarding this important investment in our associates," said Mike Schlotman, Kroger's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 2015, the Company and the IBT negotiated, and members ratified, an agreement that would have transferred Kroger associates and retirees from Central States to the new IBT fund. This transfer required the approval of Central States. The Central States Trustees have not agreed to the transfer. This led Kroger and the IBT to negotiate an agreement providing for Kroger's withdrawal from Central States, while preserving the possibility of a transfer. About IBT Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. About Kroger At The Kroger Co., we are dedicated to our purpose: to Feed the Human SpiritTM. We are 453,000 associates who serve nearly nine million customers every day in 2,793 retail food stores under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Our Family of Companies operates an expanding ClickList offering a personalized order online service in addition to 2,258 pharmacies, 783 convenience stores, 307 fine jewelry stores, 222 retail health clinics, 1,472 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food production plants in the United States. Our Company has been recognized as one of America's most generous companies for our support of more than 100 Feeding America food bank partners, breast cancer research and awareness, the military and their families, and more than 145,000 community organizations including schools. As a leader in supplier diversity, we are a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable. SOURCE The Kroger Co. Related Links http://www.kroger.com NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Namely, the leading HR platform for mid-sized companies, today released the HR Careers Report 2018. The report analyzed data from over 1,000 companies to uncover trends in the fast-growing HR profession. The resulting data cuts through stereotypes to take a closer look at the 5.6 million HR professionals across the United States who are so central to today's workplace. In a year of high-profile HR nightmares, key among the report's findings is the impact of hiring C-Suite HR talent. Namely data showed that only 7% of mid-sized companies have an HR executive in the C-Suite. However, there is a direct link between an HR representative at the C-level and employee happiness: Companies with a C-Suite HR leader have an average Glassdoor rating of 3.84, a significant increase over the 3.3 average. Given that 75% of jobseekers consider an employer's brand before applying, an increased score matters not only for employee retention but also talent attraction. Additional insights from the report include: Women lead in HR . Bucking the gender "leadership gap," HR is the top career for women in leadership roles. According to Namely, 73 percent of C-Suite HR leaders are women, in comparison to marketing (43%) and technology (27%) leaders. . Bucking the gender "leadership gap," HR is the top career for women in leadership roles. According to Namely, 73 percent of C-Suite HR leaders are women, in comparison to marketing (43%) and technology (27%) leaders. Three years means time to job hop. As an employee's tenure at a company lengthens, their salaries decrease relative to peers. Namely's data showed that HR salaries show a dramatic decrease after year three with a company, suggesting that job hopping can boost incomes. As an employee's tenure at a company lengthens, their salaries decrease relative to peers. Namely's data showed that HR salaries show a dramatic decrease after year three with a company, suggesting that job hopping can boost incomes. The golden states of HR. Across Namely's database, the average HR salary is $98,048 . Connecticut , Washington DC , and California clocked in as the highest-paying states for HR professionals, with NYC, San Francisco , and Seattle taking the title of highest-paying cities. This comes as no surprise, considering that these jurisdictions have some of the countries most complex employment lawsfrom "ban the box" legislation in Connecticut to the $15 minimum wage in California . "There's never been a better time to work in HR. Companies are beginning to understand and appreciate the true value of creative and strategic HR professionals," says Matt Straz, Founder and CEO of Namely. "Our HR Careers Report helps practitioners understand industry trends and know their worth. We hope that this data helps them advance their careers." As more and more people join the ranks of HR, the HR Careers Report will arm them with the data they need to understand their worth, make smart decisions about job-hopping, and even decide where to pursue their next role. Download the full HR Careers Report 2018 here: https://library.namely.com/hr-careers-report-2018. About Namely Namely is the first HR platform that employees actually love to use. Namely's powerful, easy-to-use technology allows companies to handle all of their HR, payroll, time management, and benefits in one place. Coupled with dedicated account support, every Namely client gets the software and service they need to deliver great HR and a strong, engaged company culture. Namely is used by over 1,000 clients with over 150,000 employees globally. Headquartered in New York City, the company has raised $157.8 MM from leading investors, including Altimeter Capital, Scale Capital, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, and True Ventures. For more information, visit www.Namely.com. SOURCE Namely Related Links http://www.Namely.com WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Louisiana ranks 29th nationwide in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a report released today by leading public health organizations. Louisiana is spending $5.8 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is just 9.7 percent of the $59.6 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use the nation's leading cause of preventable death and make the next generation tobacco-free. In Louisiana, 12.1 percent of high school students smoke, and 2,400 kids become regular smokers each year. Tobacco use claims 7,200 Louisiana lives and costs the state $1.9 billion in health care bills annually. Other key findings in the report include: Louisiana will collect $477.4 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.2 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. will collect in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.2 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. Tobacco companies spend $229.9 million each year to market their deadly and addictive products in Louisiana nearly 40 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.9 billion a year on marketing that's $1 million every hour. The report "Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 19 Years Later" was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and Truth Initiative. The report spotlights the need for stronger tobacco prevention and cessation efforts in Louisiana, which has one of the highest adult smoking rates in the nation at 22.8 percent. The state took a step backward by cutting $1.2 million in funding to its tobacco prevention programs this year. For the first time since 2002, the state is providing less than 10 percent of what the CDC recommends. Health advocates are also urging the state legislature to protect Louisianans' right to breathe clean air at restaurants, bars and casinos by not undoing local smoke-free laws. "By failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs, Louisiana is putting kids' health at risk and costing taxpayers more in tobacco-related health care costs," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "We can win the fight against tobacco and make the next generation tobacco-free, but Louisiana needs to do its part to help us achieve these goals." The U.S. has reduced smoking to record lows 15.1 percent among adults and 8 percent among high school students. But tobacco use still kills more than 480,000 Americans and costs the nation about $170 billion in health care bills each year. Today's report also highlights large disparities in who smokes and who suffers from tobacco-related diseases in the United States. Smoking rates are especially high in a swath of 12 states in the Midwest and South, including Louisiana, an area called "Tobacco Nation" in a recent Truth Initiative report. Nationwide, smoking rates are highest among people who live below the poverty level and have less education, American Indians/Alaska Natives, LGBT Americans, those who are uninsured or on Medicaid, and those with mental illness. These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry's targeting of vulnerable populations through advertising, price discounting and other marketing strategies. By funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the CDC's recommended levels, states can reduce tobacco use among all Americans. But most states are falling far short: The states will collect $27.5 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( $721.6 million ) on tobacco prevention programs. this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( ) on tobacco prevention programs. The $721.6 million that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states California and Alaska provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states and provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. States with well-funded, sustained tobacco prevention programs have seen remarkable progress. Florida , with one of the longest-running programs, has reduced its high school smoking rate to 5.2 percent, one of the lowest rates ever reported by any state. The report and state-specific information can be found at tfk.org/statereport. SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Related Links http://www.tobaccofreekids.org WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Massachusetts ranks 35th nationwide in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a report released today by leading public health organizations. Massachusetts is spending $3.7 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is just 5.6 percent of the $66.9 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use the nation's leading cause of preventable death and make the next generation tobacco-free. In Massachusetts, 7.7 percent of high school students smoke, and 2,500 kids become regular smokers each year. Tobacco use claims 9,300 Massachusetts lives and costs the state $4.1 billion in health care bills annually. Other key findings in the report include: Massachusetts will collect $884 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 0.4 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. will collect in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 0.4 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. Tobacco companies spend $117.1 million each year to market their deadly and addictive products in Massachusetts more than 30 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.9 billion a year on marketing that's $1 million every hour. The report "Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 19 Years Later" was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and Truth Initiative. The report spotlights the need for stronger tobacco prevention efforts in Massachusetts. The state has been a longtime leader in fighting tobacco use with a high cigarette tax ($3.51 per pack), a comprehensive smoke-free law and one of the first tobacco prevention and cessation program. Unfortunately, repeated budget cuts there hasn't been a funding increase since 2008 have severely curtailed the program. In addition to increased funding for tobacco prevention, Massachusetts health advocates are calling on the Legislature to increase the state tobacco age to 21, a move that would reduce tobacco use and save lives. "Massachusetts can be a leader again in fighting tobacco by increasing funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs and raising the tobacco age to 21," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "As Massachusetts itself has shown, we can win the fight against tobacco and make the next generation tobacco-free, but Massachusetts needs to keep doing its part to help us achieve these goals. Raising the state's tobacco age to 21 would be an excellent step forward." The U.S. has reduced smoking to record lows 15.1 percent among adults and 8 percent among high school students. But tobacco use still kills more than 480,000 Americans and costs the nation about $170 billion in health care bills each year. Today's report also highlights large disparities in who smokes and who suffers from tobacco-related diseases in the United States. Smoking rates are especially high in a swath of 12 states in the Midwest and South, an area called "Tobacco Nation" in a recent Truth Initiative report. Nationwide, smoking rates are highest among people who live below the poverty level and have less education, American Indians/Alaska Natives, LGBT Americans, those who are uninsured or on Medicaid, and those with mental illness. These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry's targeting of vulnerable populations through advertising, price discounting and other marketing strategies. By funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the CDC's recommended levels, states can reduce tobacco use among all Americans. But most states are falling far short: The states will collect $27.5 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( $721.6 million ) on tobacco prevention programs. this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( ) on tobacco prevention programs. The $721.6 million that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states California and Alaska provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states and provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. States with well-funded, sustained tobacco prevention programs have seen remarkable progress. Florida , with one of the longest-running programs, has reduced its high school smoking rate to 5.2 percent, one of the lowest rates ever reported by any state. The report and state-specific information can be found at tfk.org/statereport. SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After ranking first for four straight years, North Dakota has fallen to 3rd nationwide in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a report released today by leading public health organizations. In the past year, North Dakota has taken big steps backward in the fight against tobacco. The state cut funding for its successful tobacco prevention and cessation programs by 46 percent from $9.9 million to $5.3 million and eliminated its dedicated tobacco prevention and control agency, BreatheND. As a result, North Dakota now spends just 54 percent of the $9.8 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its tobacco prevention programs. For the past four years, the state has provided approximately the CDC-recommended amount. While North Dakota still ranks 3rd in this report, this is reflection of the fact that other states are doing even worse. North Dakota had been funding its tobacco prevention program at the CDC-recommended level since 2010 as a result of a voter-approved ballot measure. These efforts have been highly successful, helping reduce smoking among high school students by nearly half between 2009 and 2015, from 22.4 percent to 11.7 percent. "It makes no sense for North Dakota to slash an initiative that has been so successful at preventing kids from smoking and starting down a path that so often ends in serious diseases and premature death," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Unless North Dakota quickly restores funding for its tobacco prevention programs, the state will pay a high price with more kids using tobacco, more lives lost and higher tobacco-related health care costs. We can win the fight against tobacco and make the next generation tobacco-free, but North Dakota must continue to do its part to help achieve these goals." The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use the nation's leading cause of preventable death and make the next generation tobacco-free. In North Dakota, 11.7 percent of high school students smoke, and 300 kids become regular smokers each year. Tobacco use claims 1,000 North Dakota lives and costs the state $326 million in health care bills annually. Other key findings in the report include: North Dakota will collect $54.4 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 9.7 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. will collect in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 9.7 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs. Tobacco companies spend $37.6 million each year to market their deadly and addictive products in North Dakota more than 7.1 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.9 billion a year on marketing that's $1 million every hour. The report "Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 19 Years Later" was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and Truth Initiative. The U.S. has reduced smoking to record lows 15.1 percent among adults and 8 percent among high school students. But tobacco use still kills more than 480,000 Americans and costs the nation about $170 billion in health care bills each year. Today's report also highlights large disparities in who smokes and who suffers from tobacco-related diseases in the United States. Smoking rates are especially high in a swath of 12 states in the Midwest and South, an area called "Tobacco Nation" in a recent Truth Initiative report. Nationwide, smoking rates are highest among people who live below the poverty level and have less education, American Indians/Alaska Natives, LGBT Americans, those who are uninsured or on Medicaid, and those with mental illness. These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry's targeting of vulnerable populations through advertising, price discounting and other marketing strategies. By funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the CDC's recommended levels, states can reduce tobacco use among all Americans. But most states are falling far short: The states will collect $27.5 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( $721.6 million ) on tobacco prevention programs. this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 3 percent of it ( ) on tobacco prevention programs. The $721.6 million that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states California and Alaska provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. that the states have budgeted for tobacco prevention is a small fraction of the the CDC recommends. Not a single state funds tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels, and only two states and provide more than 90 percent of the recommended funding. States with well-funded, sustained tobacco prevention programs have seen remarkable progress. Florida , with one of the longest-running programs, has reduced its high school smoking rate to 5.2 percent, one of the lowest rates ever reported by any state. The report and state-specific information can be found at tfk.org/statereport. SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A study of real-world exposure to non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields in pregnant women found a significantly higher rate of miscarriage, providing new evidence regarding their potential health risks. The Kaiser Permanente study was published today in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields is produced when electric devices are in use and electricity is flowing. It can be generated by a number of environmental sources, including electric appliances, power lines and transformers, wireless devices and wireless networks. Humans are exposed to magnetic fields via close proximity to these sources while they are in use. While the health hazards from ionizing radiation are well-established and include radiation sickness, cancer and genetic damage, the evidence of health risks to humans from non-ionizing radiation remains limited, said De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the study and a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. "Few studies have been able to accurately measure exposure to magnetic field non-ionizing radiation," Dr. Li said. "In addition, due to the current lack of research on this subject, we don't know the biological threshold beyond which problems may develop, and we also don't yet understand the possible mechanisms for increased risks." In a new study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, researchers asked women over age 18 with confirmed pregnancies to wear a small (a bit larger than a deck of cards) magnetic-field monitoring device for 24 hours. Participants also kept a diary of their activities on that day, and were interviewed in person to better control for possible confounding factors, as well as how typical their activities were on the monitoring day. Researchers controlled for multiple variables known to influence the risk of miscarriage, including nausea/vomiting, past history of miscarriage, alcohol use, caffeine intake, and maternal fever and infections. Objective magnetic field measurements and pregnancy outcomes were obtained for 913 pregnant women, all members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Miscarriage occurred in 10.4 percent of the women with the lowest measured exposure level (1st quartile) of magnetic field non-ionizing radiation on a typical day, and in 24.2 percent of the women with the higher measured exposure level (2nd, 3rd and 4th quartiles), a nearly three times higher relative risk. The rate of miscarriage reported in the general population is between 10 and 15 percent, Dr. Li said. "This study provides evidence from a human population that magnetic field non-ionizing radiation could have adverse biological impacts on human health," he said. Strengths of this study, Dr. Li noted, included that researchers used an objective measuring device and studied a short-term outcome (miscarriage) rather than one that will occur years or decades later, such as cancer or autoimmune diseases. The study's main limitation is that it was not feasible for researchers to ask participants to carry the measuring device throughout pregnancy. Dr. Li noted that the potential health risk of magnetic-field non-ionizing radiation needs more research. "We hope that the finding from this study will stimulate much-needed additional studies into the potential environmental hazards to human health, including the health of pregnant women." In addition to Dr. Li, co-authors of the study were Hong Chen, MPH, Jeannette Ferber, MPH, Roxana Odouli, MSPH, and Charles Quesenberry, PhD, all of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. About the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. It seeks to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR's 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects. For more information, visit divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org or follow us @KPDOR. About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 11.7 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to share.kaiserpermanente.org. For more information, contact: Heather Platisha, [email protected], 415-252-5992 Janet Byron, [email protected], 510-891-3115 SOURCE Kaiser Permanente Related Links http://www.kaiserpermanente.org DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizations today should place Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the heart of their digital strategies, according to a new report from SogetiLabs. The last in a series of four qualitative research reports on the topic of Machine Intelligence, 'AI First: Learning from the machine' states that profit and economic growth go hand in hand with the proactive deployment of AI. It further asserts that companies can raise their Corporate IQ by embarking on a new journey of discovery built on intelligent machines. The report is available here. The latest report declares that AI is the next step in a logical sequence of IT developments over the past few decades: first digital, then mobile and now intelligence (AI) first. This sequence moves from building a transaction medium (characterized by websites and hyperlinks), through to the smartphone and its empowerment of the individual (via apps at your fingertips), and on to today's smarter transaction networks and devices (where you learn and discover by communicating with AI). The report concludes that we are entering a new phase in which AI helps us to make 'great new discoveries'. "A new AI focus is essential because your competitors will certainly use it to accelerate their learning - about customers, products, technology - to gain a head start," states Menno van Doorn, Research Director at SogetiLabs and co-author of the report. Artificial intelligence gives machines the ability to perceive, interpret, learn and discover and even speak to us in a common human language. This new material, that organizations must incorporate into their daily business, is described in the report as 'The New Fabric of the Internet'. 'AI First: Learning from the machine' explores the latest developments on the journey to being an AI-first organization and recommends a number of actions for improving Corporate IQ with a better understanding of the relationship between man and machine. Download it here. Methodology: The information presented in this report was provided through primary research using a series of workshops and interviews over a four month timeline with leading academic institutions, thought-leaders in AI, and CXO executives from various industry sectors. In addition contributions were made from Sogeti's global trend lab VINT supplemented by secondary research sources. About Sogeti Sogeti is a leading provider of technology and engineering services. Sogeti delivers solutions that enable digital transformation and offers cutting-edge expertise in Cloud, Cybersecurity, Digital Manufacturing, Digital Assurance & Testing, and emerging technologies. Sogeti combines agility and speed of implementation with strong technology supplier partnerships, world class methodologies and its global delivery model, Rightshore. Sogeti brings together more than 25,000 professionals in 15 countries, based in over 100 locations in Europe, USA and India. Sogeti USA is based in Dayton, OH. Sogeti is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capgemini SE, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. For more information please visit www.sogeti.com. Rightshore is a trademark belonging to Capgemini. About SogetiLabs SogetiLabs is a network of over 120 technology leaders from Sogeti worldwide. SogetiLabs covers a wide range of digital technology expertise: from embedded software, cybersecurity, simulation, and cloud to business information management, mobile apps, analytics, testing, and the Internet of Things. SogetiLabs provides insight, research, and inspiration through articles, presentations, and videos that can be downloaded via its website, online portals, and social media. For more information, please visit www.labs.sogeti.com. SOURCE Sogeti Related Links http://www.sogeti.com VANCOUVER, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - NexGen Energy Ltd. ("NexGen" or the "Company") (TSX:NXE, NYSE MKT:NXE) announces the resignation of Dr. Mark O'Dea from the Company's Board of Directors, effective December 12, 2017 due to the recently increased demands of his other professional commitments. The Board of Directors express their appreciation for Dr. O'Dea's contributions to the Company, and wish him the best with his endeavours. About NexGen NexGen is a British Columbia corporation with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. NexGen has a highly experienced team of uranium industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of uranium deposits and in developing projects through discovery to production. NexGen owns a portfolio of prospective uranium exploration assets in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, including a 100% interest in Rook I, location of the Arrow Deposit in February 2014, the Bow discovery in March 2015, the Harpoon discovery in August 2016 and the Arrow South discovery in July 2017. The Arrow deposit's updated mineral resource estimate with an effective date of December 20, 2016 was released in March 2017, and comprised 179.5 M lbs U3O8 contained in 1.18 M tonnes grading 6.88% U3O8 in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and an additional 122.1 M lbs U3O8 contained in 4.25 M tonnes grading 1.30% U3O8 in the Inferred Mineral Resource category. Technical Information For details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resource please refer to the technical report entitled "Technical Report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Arrow Deposit, Rook 1 Property, Province of Saskatchewan, Canada" dated effective September 1, 2017 (the "Rook 1 Technical Report") prepared by Jason J. Cox, David M. Robson, Mark B. Mathisen, David A. Ross, Val Coetzee and Mark Wittrup, each of whom is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101. The Rook I Technical Report is available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. U.S. investors are advised that while the terms "indicated resources" and "inferred resources" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize these terms. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the material in these categories will ever be converted into mineral reserves. Forward-Looking Information The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the proposed transaction will be completed, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the appeal of alternate sources of energy and sustained low uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017 under "Risk Factors". Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE NexGen Energy Ltd. Related Links www.nexgenenergy.ca LONDON, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives at Swedish insurance company Nordic Guarantee were celebrating this week after clinching the title of 'Business Transformation Management Team 2017 - Western Europe' in the Business Worldwide Magazine Awards. The award was in the magazine's Global Corporate Excellence section which values company attributes such as innovation and ethics, together with outstanding success, within the international business and finance communities. Johan Brinkenberg, CEO of Nordic Guarantee, was delighted to receive the award which he said he was picking up on behalf of his enthusiastic staff since the transformation was a real team effort. "Our business transformation meant looking at our then current corporate culture and rethinking how we communicated amongst ourselves so that every staff member could work better as a team, and in a far more harmonious fashion. Our reward was not just a happier and more rewarding working environment for everyone, but also long-term and sustainable success in business," he said. Offering his congratulations on winning the Award, a spokesman for BWM added: "Nordic Guarantee impressed the judging panel immediately with their willingness to radically change their culture. Their vision and, of course, their success were also impressive. A worthy winner indeed." Executives at Nordic Guarantee believe improving their corporate culture worked much more successfully for their bottom line than trying to increase their sales or even attract more clients. Brinkenberg said he thought about how he wanted the company to be perceived, then attempted to build a working culture to reflect that vision. Building effective relationships between all members of staff was the key, said Brinkenberg. This meant encouraging C-level staff to leave their desks and go and speak to employees on the shop floor to find out what problems they were having, and the converse ie what was working well. "I'm a firm believer in the saying 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast.' In other words a business strategy will always fail if the culture isn't there to back it up," Brinkenberg added. Providing incentives such as team-based rewards, together with regular team feedback so that individuals within a team get to know what each other's strengths and weaknesses are is also incredibly valuable when it comes to creating harmonious working relationships and a positive work culture, according to Brinkenberg. To find out more about Nordic Guarantee, their corporate culture and the insurance bonds they offer, see the website www.nordicguarantee.com. An article on the company can also be found on BWM website https://www.bwmonline.com/2017/12/03/transforming-corporate-culture/ About Business Worldwide Magazine Business Worldwide Magazine is the leading source of business and dealmaker intelligence throughout the world. Our quarterly magazine and online news portal enables an established audience of corporate dealmakers to track the latest news, stories and developments affecting the international markets, corporate finance, business strategy and changes in legislation. This readership includes of CEO/CFO - Banks, Corporate Lawyers and Venture Capital/Private Equity Companies to name a few. www.bwmonline.com Contact David Jones Awards Department E: [email protected] W: www.bwmonline.com SOURCE Business Worldwide Magazine NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Burrow, an online furniture startup known for its direct to consumer modular sofa, today announced the closing of $4.3 million in seed funding. The seed round was led by Red & Blue Ventures, with participation from Interplay Ventures and notable angel investors such as Twitch.tv Founder Justin Kan, Y-Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, and veteran retail executive Ken Pilot. The funding will be used to scale the brand's marketing channels and further support expansion of the business. Specializing in a modular, high end sofa, Burrow has grown more than 20 percent month over month since the company's official launch in April 2017, at a current run-rate of $7 million. In November 2017, just seven months after the company's launch, Burrow introduced its first expansion beyond the couch a stylish, flat pack chaise sectional and ottoman. To meet the demands of its growing business, Burrow also transitioned its manufacturing from Mexico City to Mississippi, further streamlining its manufacturing and shipping operations, ensuring each sofa is American-made with locally sourced, high-quality materials. "We started out with the goal of simplifying one of the biggest headaches that most consumers experience purchasing and moving a sofa," said Stephen Kuhl, Co-Founder, Burrow. "Since then, we've delivered the most luxurious, yet affordable sofa on the market and also expanded our product line. We have big plans to continue re-shaping the way people think about their furniture, and ultimately their home, one living room at a time." "Burrow is the most exciting consumer products company out of Wharton since Warby Parker," said Brett Topche, Managing Director at Red & Blue Ventures. "The furniture industry largely lacks innovation, and Burrow is turning the way consumers think of buying furniture on its head." "Burrow has reinvented the sofa and fundamentally changed the purchase experience," said Ken Pilot, veteran retail executive with C-level operating experience at The Gap, J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, and ABC Home. "They have successfully addressed "the last mile" and the in-home customer experience by reducing the friction and anxiety associated with delivery. I am excited to be part of the journey." Starting with a pre-order campaign at Y Combinator in summer 2016, Burrow has since expanded their foray into the furniture industry with continued growth and product development. With elegant design and unmatched simplicity, Burrow offers a creative solution for the modern consumer and fills a need to help furniture easily move and grow with you. For more information about Burrow and its products, please visit www.burrow.com. About Burrow Burrow is fixing the broken furniture industry by delivering clever, comfortable, modular furniture directly to consumers that fits both their lives and their living rooms. By reverse engineering a high-end couch, Burrow designed a fully customizable sofa that is delivered within one week and takes minutes to set up. Without lifting a single tool, you'll settle into an ergonomically perfect sofa that looks beautiful and feels like home. Burrow manufactures its sofas in the U.S., using locally sourced wood and fabrics that are never treated with harmful chemicals. Co-Founders Stephen Kuhl and Kabeer Chopra founded Burrow while pursuing their MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Burrow officially launched its first sofa in April 2017. For more information, please visit https://www.burrow.com/. Contact Diffusion PR for Burrow Megan Hartwick/Gina Balistreri [email protected] 1 (646) 571-0120 SOURCE Burrow Inc Related Links https://www.burrow.com NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A coalition of animal welfare, consumer safety, and worker rights organizations announced today that more than 82,000 concerned members of the public, workers and allies have raised their voices against faster slaughter lines in poultry plants. The organizations are urging the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to reject a recent proposal from the National Chicken Council (NCC) that would allow poultry processing facilities to have the unrestricted ability to run their line speeds faster than the current, already excessive, rate of 140-birds per minute. Submitted in September 2017, the NCC's proposal faced immediate backlash, prompting FSIS to open a public comment period from October 13 until December 13, 2017. This proposal, in addition to violating current federal law, would place worker safety, animal welfare and consumer safety in peril. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the Animal Welfare Institute, Compassion Over Killing, Food & Water Watch, Mercy For Animals, and the National Employment Law Project join tens of thousands of their supporters in opposition to the proposal. The organizations collected consumer and worker comments via their respective online petitions and also directed consumers to comment directly with FSIS during the comment period. Commentary from organization representatives can be seen below: "Faster slaughter speeds mean more suffering. Already, hundreds of thousands of birds are unintentionally boiled alive each year because rapid slaughter lines fail to kill the birds before they are dropped into scalding water," said Deborah Press, Director, Regulatory Affairs, ASPCA Government Relations. "If FSIS approves this proposal, it will sacrifice animal, worker and consumer welfare in the name of fatter poultry industry profits." "Absent from the NCC petition is any mention of how the proposed change will impact the billions of birds killed every year," said Dena Jones, Farm Animal Program Director, the Animal Welfare Institute. "Allowing faster line speeds will only further stress a production system that is already operating beyond the limits of worker health and safety and humane animal handling." "As documented by countless undercover investigations, inhumane handling and abuse are already rampant in poultry slaughterhouses, even at current line speeds, which kill two birds every single second," said Erica Meier, Executive Director, Compassion Over Killing. "Speeding up these slaughter lines will further exacerbate the suffering of billions of animals who are exempted from even the bare-bone basic protections of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act." "The National Chicken Council is looking out for industry profits, not food safety, worker safety or animal welfare," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "The USDA must reject this petition and preserve the cap on line speeds that protects both consumers and slaughterhouse workers." "Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from and how animals inside factory farms and slaughterhouses are routinely abused," said Vandhana Bala, general counsel of Mercy For Animals. "Undercover investigations have revealed the horror of chicken slaughter: Birds scalded alive in hot water tanks and workers ripping off the heads and legs of animals while they're still conscious and able to feel pain. We urge the USDA to deny this dangerous and cruel request meant solely to line the pockets of a multi-billion dollar industry at the expense of animal welfare and food safety." "The evidence shows that poultry workers face harsh and dangerous working conditions, with injury rates 60% above the national average for all private industry, and illness rates more than five times as high," said Deborah Berkowitz, Senior Fellow, National Employment Law Project. "Recent studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), for example, found alarmingly high rates of carpal tunnel syndrome among poultry line workers. In one study, 34 percent of workers at a poultry processing plant had carpal tunnel syndrome, and fully 76 percent had evidence of nerve damage in their hands and wrists. In another study, 42 percent of workers at a processing plant had carpal tunnel syndrome. The faster the line speed, the greater the risk of harm. The break-neck pace and myriad other safety hazards facing poultry workers also result in extremely high numbers of very serious injuries." The ASPCA, along with six other animal welfare organizations, filed additional separate comments to the USDA FSIS in opposition to the NCC's proposal on Sept. 20, 2017. About the ASPCA Founded in 1866, the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is the first animal welfare organization in North America and serves as the nation's leading voice for animals. More than two million supporters strong, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA is a national leader in the areas of anti-cruelty, community outreach and animal health services. For more information, please visit www.ASPCA.org, and be sure to follow the ASPCA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. About the Animal Welfare Institute The Animal Welfare Institute (www.awionline.org) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywherein the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild. For more information, visit www.awionline.org. About Compassion Over Killing Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals through undercover investigations, litigation, corporate outreach, public education, and other advocacy programs. http://cok.net About Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people's lives and protects our environment. www.Foodandwaterwatch.org About Mercy for Animals Mercy For Animals is one of the largest and most effective international charities focused exclusively on preventing cruelty to farmed animals and promoting compassionate food choices and policies. MFA has conducted more than 60 undercover investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, worked with many of the largest food companies to reduce the suffering of billions of animals in 90 countries, and secured dozens of unprecedented animal cruelty convictions of farm owners, managers, and workers, including the first-ever felony conviction for abuse of factory-farmed birds. Learn more at MercyForAnimals.org. About NELP NELP is a non-profit law and policy organization with 45 years of experience providing research, advocacy, and public education to advance the employment and labor rights of our nation's workers, particularly low wage workers such as poultry workers. We work together with local, state, and national partners to promote policies and programs to create good, safe jobs and ensure that work is an anchor of economic security for all of America's working families. www.nelp.org SOURCE ASPCA Related Links http://www.aspca.org Though owner expectations have lagged appraiser opinions, home values continue to climb across the country. In fact, home values have risen 4.24 percent year-over-year despite a slight 0.09 percent dip from October to November. Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) The gap between owner perceptions and appraiser opinions of home values is the smallest since March 2015. November is also the sixth-straight month the gap between the two values has narrowed. Owner expectations were an average of 0.67 percent higher than what an actual appraisal showed, according to November's National HPPI. This value varies widely across the country. Cleveland is on the low end of the scale, with appraisals an average of 2.35 percent lower than expected. On the flip side, homeowners in Dallas are underestimating their homes' value with the average appraisal 3.25 percent higher than what the owner estimated. "It's encouraging to see opinions from homeowners and appraisers more aligned on a national level," said Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. "Appraisals are one of the most important data points when applying for a mortgage. If an appraisal is lower than expected when refinancing, the homeowner will need to bring more funds to closing, or might even need the mortgage to be restructured. The more homeowners and appraisers agree, the smoother the process is." Home Value Index (HVI) Nationally, the HVI showed a slight dip in appraisal values in November with a 0.09 percent decrease from October. However, a 4.24 percent increase since the previous year has helped maintain the positive momentum in the annual measure. While all regions had year-over-year growth, the southern and northeast experienced slight drops in average home value from October to November. "As we move into the holiday season, Americans are focusing less on finding their dream home and more on finding the perfect gifts to give to their loved ones," said Banfield. "As housing demand temporarily cools this time of year, we also see a dip in home values. However, it's a promising sign to see values continue rising annually." HVI November 2017 January 2005 = 100 HVI November 2017 vs. October 2017 % Change HVI November 2017 vs. November 2016 % Change HPPI November 2017 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI November 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* National Composite 105.09 -0.09% +4.24% -0.67% -1.00% *A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions. Geographic Regions HVI November 2017 January 2005 = 100 HVI November 2017 vs. October 2017 % Change HVI November 2017 vs. November 2016 % Change HPPI November 2017 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI November 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* West 127.22 +0.30% +4.61% -0.43% -0.77% South 107.22 -0.19% +5.84% -0.70% -0.99% Northeast 99.24 -0.53% +1.75% -0.78% -1.15% Midwest 87.18 +0.21% +4.91% -0.79% -1.32% *A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions. Metropolitan Areas HPPI November 2017 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI October 2017 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* HPPI November 2016 Appraiser Value vs. Homeowner Perception of Value* Dallas, TX +3.25% +3.13% +1.94% Denver, CO +2.36% +2.46% +3.10% Seattle, WA +2.19% +2.08% +1.39% San Jose, CA +2.11% +1.64% +1.69% San Francisco, CA +1.93% +1.75% +2.19% Boston, MA +1.63% +1.26% +1.09% Portland, OR +1.47% +1.53% +2.12% Charlotte, NC +1.16% +1.01% +0.53% San Diego, CA +1.13% +0.89% +0.46% Sacramento, CA +1.06% +0.71% +0.95% Los Angeles, CA +0.99% +0.91% +1.32% Miami, FL +0.86% +0.71% +0.18% Minneapolis, MN +0.70% +0.47% +0.89% Kansas City, MO +0.64% +0.50% +0.40% Las Vegas, NV +0.61% +0.28% -0.72% Phoenix, AZ +0.46% +0.48% -0.78% Riverside, CA +0.32% +0.11% +0.03% Detroit, MI +0.28% -0.07% -2.11% Tampa, FL -0.01% -0.03% -1.47% Washington, D.C. -0.12% -0.49% -0.14% Houston, TX -0.31% -0.32% +0.79% Atlanta, GA -0.36% -0.49% -0.72% New York, NY -0.43% -0.82% -1.13% Chicago, IL -1.37% -1.78% -1.68% Baltimore, MD -2.24% -2.57% -2.62% Philadelphia, PA -2.33% -2.69% -2.87% Cleveland, OH -2.35% -2.32% -1.87% *A positive value represents appraiser opinions that are higher than homeowner perceptions. A negative value represents appraiser opinions that are lower than homeowner perceptions. About the HPPI & HVI The Quicken Loans HPPI represents the difference between appraisers' and homeowners' opinions of home values. The index compares the estimate that the homeowner supplies on a refinance mortgage application to the appraisal that is performed later in the mortgage process. This is an unprecedented report that gives a never-before-seen analysis of how homeowners are viewing the housing market. The HPPI national composite is determined by analyzing appraisal and homeowner estimates throughout the entire country, including data points from both inside and outside the metro areas specifically called out in the above report. The Quicken Loans HVI is the only view of home value trends based solely on appraisal data from home purchases and mortgage refinances. This produces a wide data set and is focused on appraisals, one of the most important pieces of information to the mortgage process. The HPPI and HVI are released on the second Tuesday of every month. Both of the reports are created with Quicken Loans' propriety mortgage data from the 50-state lenders' mortgage activity across all 3,000+ counties. The indexes are examined nationally, in four geographic regions and the HPPI is reported for 27 major metropolitan areas. All indexes, along with downloadable tables and graphs can be found at QuickenLoans.com/Indexes. About Quicken Loans Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation's second largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $400 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states from 2013 through 2017. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 17,000 team members from Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies work in the city's urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination" in the United States by J.D. Power for the past eight consecutive years, 2010 2017, and highest in customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four years, 2014 2017. Quicken Loans was ranked No. 10 on FORTUNE magazine's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2017, and has been among the top 30 companies for the past 14 consecutive years. The company has been recognized as one of Computerworld magazine's "100 Best Places to Work in IT" the past 13 years, ranking No. 1 for eight of the past 12 years, including 2017. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rock Holdings, Inc., the parent company of several FinTech and related businesses. Quicken Loans is also the flagship business of Dan Gilbert's Family of Companies comprising nearly 100 affiliated businesses spanning multiple industries. For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room. SOURCE Quicken Loans Related Links http://www.quickenloans.com PHOENIX, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Paradigm is pleased to announce an upgrade to our offering. All Paradigm Cancer Diagnostic (PCDx) tests ordered for patients with lung cancer now also include 17 fusions, as well as EGFR and MET skipping events. The fusions include: ALK, AXL, BRAF, CCND1, FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, MET, NGR1, NTRK1, NTRK2, NTRK3, PPARG, RAF1, RET, ROS1 and THADA. The fusion panel may also be ordered as an add-on for any PCDx patients and will be delivered within in our standard 5 day turnaround time with our customary high level of accuracy. We use anchored PCR technology on RNA to detect known and novel fusions with high sensitivity using our current tissue requirement of 4% or greater tumor content in a single core needle biopsy or fine needle aspirate. "The new fusion panel addition detects the fusion partners and the break points, which aren't captured by FISH," said Dr. Scott Morris, Paradigm's Chief Scientific Officer. "For instance, in EML4-ALK, we distinguish between variant 1 and other variants which can also be important to help guide treatment." PCDx is a clinical-grade comprehensive sequencing test that covers DNA, RNA, fusions and immunohistochemistry and interrogates the most actionable targets with a 5,000x average depth of coverage and delivers a report in five business days using the latest evidence with associations including associations to up to 87 different FDA approved therapies and 19 combinations. Because of the exceptional accuracy of PCDx, formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) specimens can be fully processed with as little as four percent tumor present, including those from fine needle aspirates. In addition to being certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Paradigm has also been awarded accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). PCDx may be ordered by completing a requisition on the website www.paradigmdx.com and is covered by most insurance plans including Medicare. About PARADIGM Paradigm Diagnostics offers accurate, comprehensive and clinically actionable cancer genomic profiling and therapeutic information, in an average of 5 business days to better support patient care. The Paradigm Cancer Diagnostic (PCDx) comprehensive sequencing test analyzes DNA, RNA, Fusions, and Protein by immunohistochemisty to provide treating physicians and patients with more precise information about the specific cancer pathways in the tumor to allow for more effective decision-making. For more information visit http://www.paradigmdx.com. SOURCE Paradigm Diagnostics Related Links http://www.paradigmdx.com MONROVIA, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Parasoft, the leader of automated software testing solutions, announced today the certification of the latest version of Parasoft C/C++test (v10.3.3) by TUV SUD, a world leader in testing to international standards and directives that are endorsed by leading quality and safety marks. Parasoft C/C++test is a development testing solution for C and C++ applications. It automates important testing activities, including static analysis, unit testing, and code coverage, that are proven to improve software development team productivity and software quality. To learn more about Parasoft C/C++test and our certification, visit: https://alm.parasoft.com/cpptest-recertification-tuv-sud . "With current trends of increasing complexity, software content, and mechatronic implementation, there are rising risks of systematic failures and random hardware failures. IEC 61508 and ISO 26262 standards include guidance to reduce these risks to a tolerable level by providing feasible requirements and processes," stated Mark Lambert, VP of Products. "TUV SUD has certified the latest version of Parasoft C/C++test to comply with these standards. Qualified for safety-related software development, C/C++test helps software development teams achieve the desired safety integrity level (SIL/ASIL)." To augment compliance efforts and documentation, Parasoft C/C++test provides configurable test reports with a high level of detail, supporting a broad range of analysis types: Static Analysis Coding Standards Compliance Data and Control Flow Analysis Code Metrics Unit Testing Application Monitoring Coverage Analysis Runtime Error Detection Using Parasoft C/C++test to support these activities significantly reduces the work required for the software verification process. See Parasoft's TUV SUD Certifications and learn more about how Parasoft C/C++test achieves these safety integration standards. About Parasoft Parasoft reduces the time, effort, and cost of delivering high-quality software to the market. Parasoft's tools support the entire software development process, from when the developer writes the first line of code all the way through unit and functional testing, to performance and security testing, leveraging simulated test environments along the way. Parasoft's unique analytics platform aggregates data from across all testing practices, providing insights up and down the testing pyramid to enable organizations to succeed in today's most strategic development initiatives, including Agile/DevOps, Continuous Testing, and the complexities of IoT. SOURCE Parasoft Related Links http://www.parasoft.com PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) will host award-winning actor/writer/blues musician Dan Aykroyd on Friday, Dec. 15, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection Store at 180 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia. Aykroyd will meet with fans and sign purchased bottles of his Crystal Head Vodka. Since he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1975, Aykroyd has written or starred in more than 100 television shows and films, including the original "Ghostbusters," "Coneheads," "Trading Places," and "Spies Like Us." He earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for "Driving Miss Daisy," and was nominated for a Grammy Award for his triple-platinum album "Briefcase Full of Blues." Aykroyd's love of blues is well-known; he is one of the original "Blues Brothers" and co-founded the House of Blues, a chain of live music concert venue/restaurants across the country. As "Elwood Blues," Aykroyd hosts the long-running "House of Blues Radio Hour," which is syndicated on 180 radio stations through the United Stations Radio Networks. In 2005, Aykroyd both was granted the rights to distribute Patron Spirits throughout Canada and entered the wine business in Canada. The success of Patron in Canada prompted him to enter the U.S. marketplace in December 2008 with his distinctive Crystal Head Vodka, which is produced in Newfoundland, Canada, and sold worldwide. Highest quality peaches-and-cream corn is distilled four times into a neutral grain spirit and blended with Newfoundland's pristine water. The ultra-premium vodka is filtered through Herkimer diamonds and contains no additives. The glass bottle was designed by renowned artist John Alexander and is crafted by leading glass manufacturers in Europe. Crystal Head won the Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the Gold Medal for Excellent Taste at PRODEXPO in Moscow, Russia. Complimentary in-store tastings of select Crystal Head Vodka products will be available in conjunction with the bottle signing for customers 21 years of age and older: Crystal Head Vodka (750mL) $49.99 Crystal Head Vodka Aurora (750mL) $59.99 Crystal Head Vodka (1.75L) $79.99 WHAT: Dan Aykroyd to sign bottles of Crystal Head Vodka WHEN: Friday, Dec. 15, 4:00 PM 6:00 PM WHERE: Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection Store, 180 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19123 Please note Aykroyd will sign only one additional item per person, outside of pre-purchased bottles of Crystal Head Vodka. MEDIA CONTACT: Heidi Geist, 717.783.8864 EDITOR'S NOTE: In-store media access will be limited to pre-authorized credentialed media and professional photographers. Media interested in covering this event must contact Heidi Geist in advance. The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide, and licenses 20,000 alcohol producers, retailers, and handlers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups, and licensees. Taxes and store profits totaling $15.8 billion since the agency's inception are returned to Pennsylvania's General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania's schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies, and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit www.lcb.pa.gov. SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Related Links http://www.lcb.state.pa.us HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania legislators voted last night against the proposed Senate Bill 166 which was characterized as a "paycheck protection" bill, but was actually a means to silence the voice of working families. "'Paycheck protection' is part of a national effort being pushed by the same big corporations and CEOs who for years boosted their profits by sending American jobs overseas," said William Hamilton, president of the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters and International Vice President. "No worker can be forced to fund a union's political and legislative activities. As it stands, union members choose whether to join a union, set their own dues, elect their own leaders and vote on where and how their money will be spent." "We applaud the legislators who voted NO on this bill. This bad legislation, part of the whole "right to work" platform, would have only served to hurt working families. With this defeat, working men and women will continue to have a right to voice their political views." The Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters represents 95,000 Teamster members throughout the state and thousands of retirees. Contact: Tom Felice, (717) 233-8803 [email protected] SOURCE Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Belal Hamideh, a leading Southern California personal injury attorney based out of Long Beach, said that his office has observed a steady influx of people who have been injured on the job and are subsequently discriminated against in the workplace. Those who have a diagnosed disability but can still perform duties with reasonable accommodations are protected by law. Therefore, an employer cannot perform an adverse action such as a firing or suspension due to a worker's disability. Under California law, workers who become disabled because of a workplace injury need to be given the opportunity to be reassigned to other duties that they are able to perform. Employers cannot cite poor job performance as a reason to fire an injured worker. "The term disability covers anything that impacts your major life activities," said Hamideh, "and the discrimination has to take place because you are disabled." Hamideh said that damages recovered in such cases can range from $100,000 to several million dollars. Plaintiffs can recover damages that cover lost wages, future loss of earnings, medical expenses as well as pain and suffering. In addition, unlike injury cases themselves, a plaintiff can be entitled to recover attorney fees as well as from a company that is deemed to have discriminated. Hamideh represents individuals with personal injury cases, workers compensation and also discrimination in the workplace. In addition to disability discrimination, any worker who is discriminated against because of nationality, sexual orientation, gender or ethnicity are also protected under law. An employer's action against a person of these groups has to be motivated because they are part of that class. For more information, or to make a press inquiry, contact (213) 332-9255. Related Images image1.png Belal Hamideh Law image2.jpg Belal Hamideh image3.png Disability Discrimination Attorney image4.png Related Links Belal Hamideh Law Lawyer Blog Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUX7oRmaqp0 SOURCE Belal Hamideh Law WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) honored 2017 PTCB Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) of the Year SSgt Mary Johnson, USAF, on December 5 at a special reception during the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting in Orlando, FL. SSgt Johnson received a trophy and honorarium presented to her by PTCB Executive Director and CEO Everett B. McAllister, MPA, RPh. PTCB CPhT of the Year SSgt Mary Johnson, USAF, was honored December 5 in Orlando by: PTCB Board member and ASHP CEO Paul Abramowitz, PharmD, ScD (Hon), FASHP; PTCB Executive Director and CEO Everett B. McAllister, MPA, RPh, Col., USAF (Ret.); PTCB Board member and Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists Executive Director Scott Meyers; and PTCB Executive Director and CEO-elect William Schimmel. PTCB recognized SSgt Johnson for launching a major policy initiative to implement new standardized opioid prescription guidelines in Air Force pharmacies in Europe. She is the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Pharmacy Services at Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base in Germany. Her initiative is bringing new guidelines to European providers consistent with opioid prescribing limitations being implemented in the US, such as stricter dosing and limited day supplies. "My passion for addressing the opioid crisis comes from witnessing first-hand, through someone close to me, how opioid prescriptions can negatively impact someone's personal and professional life," said SSgt Johnson. "My ultimate goal is to take a proactive approach to treat pain throughout Europe without excessive quantities of opioids before an epidemic harms the military health care system." Mr. McAllister said, "SSgt Johnson is an advocate for rigorous technician certification by demonstrating the high level of responsibility of CPhTs in leadership roles. Our honoree's work is having a major impact on patients. Her dedication to patients is an inspiring example for pharmacy technicians." William Schimmel, PTCB Associate Executive Director, and Executive Director and CEO-elect, told event attendees, "PTCB applauds SSgt Johnson for her decisive and far-reaching initiative to put patients first. PTCB recognizes that qualified technicians are critical to the health care team. The outstanding efforts of SSgt Johnson demonstrate the extent to which CPhTs can significantly advance medication safety." "Being named PTCB CPhT of the Year is my greatest accomplishment so far. I plan to continue to seek out new opportunities to enhance outcomes for each and every patient while embracing the culture of patient-centered care as a trusted care technician," said SSgt. Johnson. "This will not only enhance my role as a PTCB CPhT, but will allow me to be a better mentor for newer technicians." Scott A. Meyers, RPh, MS, FASHP, PTCB Board of Governors member and Executive Vice President of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists, told the group the event raises awareness of the valuable leadership roles of CPhTs. He also referred to the upcoming departure of Mr. McAllister for a new career at the end of December, applauding McAllister's many initiatives, including PTCB CPhT of the Year, to recognize the major contributions of CPhTs to medication safety. Paul Abramowitz, PharmD, ScD(Hon), FASHP, PTCB Board of Governors member and CEO of ASHP, said he was honored to have worked with Mr. McAllister during the past 5 and a half years. He praised Mr. McAllister's exceptional work heading PTCB and his efforts toward professionalizing the role of pharmacy technicians and demonstrating their strong value as members of the health care team. Each year, PTCB recognizes a PTCB CPhT of the Year who has demonstrated excellence, innovation, and a commitment to advancing patient safety. PTCB will accept nominations for the 2018 PTCB CPhT of the Year next summer. http://www.ptcb.org/about-ptcb/news-room/news-landing/2017/12/13/ptcb-honors-2017-ptcb-cpht-of-the-year-ssgt-mary-johnson-usaf PTCB is the leading certifying body for pharmacy technicians in the US. The nonprofit organization has granted more than 615,000 certifications since its founding in 1995. PTCB was established by the American Pharmacists Association; American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists; and Michigan Pharmacists Association; and joined in 2001 by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The PTCB Program services more than 280,000 active PTCB Certified Pharmacy Technicians nationwide. PTCB's mission is to advance medication safety by certifying technicians who are qualified to support pharmacists and patient care teams in all practice settings. www.ptcb.org SOURCE Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Related Links http://www.ptcb.org MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pivot Strategies LLC, a Minneapolis-based agency specializing in strategic communications, received national certification as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). WBENC's national standard of certification is a meticulous process, including an in-depth review of the business. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women. Pivot Strategies is 100 percent woman owned by founder and CEO Stacia Nelson. "I am thrilled to receive national certification from WBENC," said Nelson. "When I launched Pivot Strategies in 2015, I was looking for unique ways to connect with potential clients. WBENC Certification helps us better serve our current clients who are focused on supplier diversity, and opens up new opportunities with corporations seeking to work with diverse agencies." According to a report commissioned by American Express OPEN, women-owned businesses are growing and now represent 39 percent of all U.S. firms an estimated 11.6 million businesses. Nearly 13,500 of these firms are WBENC certified. However, there are fewer than 400 certified WBENC businesses in Minnesota. By recognizing the WBENC certification and including women-owned businesses among their vendors, corporations and government agencies confirm their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier and vendor diversity programs. About Pivot Strategies Pivot Strategies LLC is a strategic communications and PR agency with experts in IT, sustainability and crisis communications. At Pivot, we say we are "bred corporate, gone agency." With over 100 years of combined experience working within Fortune 500 companies and with some of the world's most admired brands, we quickly get up to speed to bring informed and creative thinking to every client. We are committed to working with like-minded clients that aim to serve a larger purpose in the world. About WBENC The Women's Business Enterprise National Council is the nation's largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. WBENC is a resource for the more than 700 companies and government agencies that rely on WBENC's certification as an integral part of their diversity program. Contact: Angie Butterbrodt, [email protected], 651-335-4989 SOURCE Pivot Strategies LLC Related Links http://www.pivotstrategiesconsulting.com ALLENTOWN, Pa., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The PPL Foundation today announced the latest recipients of funds from its grant program, awarding nearly $600,000 to support 16 organizations working to empower the communities they serve. "Whether enhancing educational opportunities for students in our communities or providing disadvantaged workers what they need to achieve economic stability, there are many nonprofit organizations that are working to better the lives of the people who call our region home," said Ryan Hill, president of the PPL Foundation. "The PPL Foundation is proud to support the efforts of the organizations that help make our communities safe, strong and sustainable." The awards announced today will support a variety of projects in PPL Foundation's focus areas: education, workforce development and community revitalization. Earlier this year, the PPL Foundation awarded more than $450,000 in sustaining grants to more than 70 community organizations. Today's announcement brings the Foundation's 2017 community grants to more than $1 million. Major Grant recipients are: Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg received $25,000 to support the renovation of a recently purchased building for use as a community center for the Bethesda Mission. The Center will include classroom space, a larger kitchen and enhanced security allowing the Mission to expand outreach efforts to the neighborhood's children and youth. received to support the renovation of a recently purchased building for use as a community center for the Bethesda Mission. The Center will include classroom space, a larger kitchen and enhanced security allowing the Mission to expand outreach efforts to the neighborhood's children and youth. Bloomsburg University Foundation's Regional STEM Education Center received $30,000 to expand programming opportunities for students participating in the Center's Anchor program for youth in foster care, the Girls in STEM program and the STEM Adventure Camps. received to expand programming opportunities for students participating in the Center's Anchor program for youth in foster care, the Girls in STEM program and the STEM Adventure Camps. Da Vinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology in Allentown received $25,000 to support a Science on the Move outreach vehicle, which will increase the number of students served through outreach programs in Northeast Pennsylvania . received to support a Science on the Move outreach vehicle, which will increase the number of students served through outreach programs in . Employment Opportunity & Training Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania received $25,000 for its Transition to Success initiative, which helps disadvantaged workers achieve family and economic stability through life skills and job readiness training, job search/placement assistance and employment related support. received for its Transition to Success initiative, which helps disadvantaged workers achieve family and economic stability through life skills and job readiness training, job search/placement assistance and employment related support. Lancaster County Council of Churches received $30,000 for its Wheels to Work program, which removes barriers to self-sustainable employment by providing low-cost transportation in support of workforce development. received for its Wheels to Work program, which removes barriers to self-sustainable employment by providing low-cost transportation in support of workforce development. Lancaster Science Center received $100,000 to support a new hands-on science exhibit and expansion of STEM programming. received to support a new hands-on science exhibit and expansion of STEM programming. Lehigh Carbon Community College Foundation received $30,000 to support expansion of LCCC's STEM initiative to all three campuses ( Schnecksville , Allentown and Tamaqua ), including the STEM Academy, Women in STEM GROW mentoring program and the Science Technology Talent Showcase to recognize student achievement in STEM programs. received to support expansion of LCCC's STEM initiative to all three campuses ( , and ), including the STEM Academy, Women in STEM GROW mentoring program and the Science Technology Talent Showcase to recognize student achievement in STEM programs. Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board received $25,000 to support the development of a leadership program for girls ages 12 to 15, connecting girls with mentors, career options, leadership skills and community service opportunities. received to support the development of a leadership program for girls ages 12 to 15, connecting girls with mentors, career options, leadership skills and community service opportunities. Newport Revitalization and Preservation Society received $30,000 to support the final phase of a community revitalization project, including an upgraded playground. received to support the final phase of a community revitalization project, including an upgraded playground. Northumberland County Council for the Arts & Humanities in Shamokin received $72,000 to support the renovation of a community center that houses the town's library, museum and other community organizations. received to support the renovation of a community center that houses the town's library, museum and other community organizations. Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences received $55,000 to provide students the opportunity to attend the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences' summer program at Carnegie Mellon University . received to provide students the opportunity to attend the Governor's School for the Sciences' summer program at . Pocono Environmental Education Center received $25,000 to support the development of the organization's Sustainability Lodge, an education center for the community. received to support the development of the organization's Sustainability Lodge, an education center for the community. Pocono Services for Families and Children received $45,000 to support the development of an outdoor classroom for use by hundreds of children attending the on-site child care center. received to support the development of an outdoor classroom for use by hundreds of children attending the on-site child care center. Scranton Lackawanna Human Development Agency received $25,000 for a program that will bring STEM curriculum to Head Start students in a four-county area as part of an initiative to provide high quality early childhood education in Northeast Pennsylvania . received for a program that will bring STEM curriculum to Head Start students in a four-county area as part of an initiative to provide high quality early childhood education in . Valley Youth House in the Lehigh Valley received $25,000 to provide a free, week-long overnight STEM camp for disadvantaged youth. received to provide a free, week-long overnight STEM camp for disadvantaged youth. Wildlands Conservancy in the Lehigh Valley received $25,000 to support the expansion of a sensory trail, accommodating more visitors and improving the safety and accessibility of the parking area. PPL is committed to supporting communities across its 29-county service area and providing tools that help empower economic vitality. The PPL Foundation awards grants in spring and fall. The next grant cycle, for sustaining grants that assist organizations with general operating expenses, begins in January. Interested organizations can apply for grants from $1,000 to $25,000. To be considered for a grant, all organizations must apply online. Please visit www.pplcares.com to learn more. About the PPL Foundation Through strategic partnerships, the PPL Foundation will support organizations that are doing innovative and groundbreaking work to create vital, sustainable communities and empowering each citizen to fulfill her or his potential. Since its inception in 2015, the PPL Foundation has contributed more than $6 million to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations in eastern and central Pennsylvania. Note to Editors: Visit our media website at www.pplnewsroom.com for additional news and background about PPL Corporation. Contact: Lissette Santana, 610-774-5997 SOURCE PPL Foundation NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform EXPERT ALERTS Election in Alabama Economic Impact of California Wildfires California Wildfires and Climate Change Impact of Bitcoin's Rise MEDIA JOBS Supervisory Content Editor Voice of America (DC/NY/CA) Deputy Editor Celebrity Weekly ( Dubai ) ) Writer/Editor LRP Publications (FL) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES 6 Practices to Weave Into Your Writing Process in 2018 Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in 2018 How to Find Evergreen Content ------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERT ALERTS: Election in Alabama Dr. Christopher Metzler Political Pundit and Conservative Strategist "In a jolt to the Republican Party, Alabama elected Democrat Doug Jones to the United State Senate. Many in the party are now wallowing in self-pity while some are jumping for joy. Republicans, we have a problem. We are a bitterly divided party where jaded ideology is replacing core Republicans values. Where we are falling into traps skillfully laid by Democrats. Jones won by presenting a message to a cross section of the electorate, including blacks, college-educated whites in the suburbs and rural areas of the state. We lost by being isolationist. This election shows that the more we cannibalize ourselves and the more some keep putting politics over principle, the more we lose. We have nothing to fear but ourselves. Do we choose self-destruction or love of the Republic -- the entire Republic?" Dr. Metzler appears regularly on CNN, BBC News, MSNBC, Fox News Strategy Room, CNBC, and more, where he provides expert commentary on U.S. and global affairs, politics, human rights, human capital, diversity and related issues. He travels extensively speaking to colleges, organizations and businesses in the United States and globally. In addition to a master's degree in human rights from Columbia University, he also holds a PhD from University of Aberdeen in Law, as well as diplomas and postgraduate certificates in law. He is a member of The University of Oxford in England, as well as a member of Kellogg College at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, he read international human rights law, leading to a law degree (MsT) in international human rights law from Oxford. He is the author of "The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a Post-Racial America." Website: DrChristopherMetzler.com Contact: Stacey Barker, [email protected] Economic Impact of California Wildfires Nicholas Reksten Economist, Professor of Economics University of Redlands Dr. Reksten is available to discuss how environmental issues and events, such as the current California wildfires, impact the economy: "In addition to the terrible loss of human and other animal lives, the fires impose a number of other costs -- short- and long-term -- on society. More resources must be set aside for firefighting and rebuilding structures after the fires. Output can be lost or diminished when farms or other places of business are located near the fires and are either damaged or evacuated because of it. If the fires close major roads, people lose time in traffic that they could otherwise be spending in a more productive or fulfilling way, and, of course, their cars emit more pollution from running longer. The ash and smoke blown into the air by the fires drifts into nearby communities severely worsening air quality, which can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems, especially in vulnerable populations." Website: http://www.redlands.edu Contact: Jennifer Dobbs, [email protected] California Wildfires and Climate Change Monty Hempel Professor, Environmental Studies University of Redlands "We live in a time when it is hard to distinguish natural disasters from human-induced ones. California's wildfires are a good example of this. It seems very likely that human-caused climate change is contributing heavily to both California's vulnerability to wildfires and to the extreme weather and wind conditions that make those fires much more destructive when they occur." Dr. Hempel is director of the environmental science department at the University of Redlands and past president of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS). He is an internationally recognized authority on climate disruption, such as wildfire events, environmental science and politics, and other environmental issues. Website: http://www.redlands.edu Contact: Jennifer Dobbs, [email protected] Impact of Bitcoin's Rise Brad Rosen Legal Analyst Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, U.S. Based in Illinois, Rosen is available to discuss the impact of bitcoin's rise on the CBOE's newly launched Chicago Futures Exchange flagship bitcoin futures, as well as what conditions it will take for regulators to step in to take action in the market: "The Securities Exchange Commission has been more tentative in its approach, but I expect that they will be stepping up efforts to combat fraud in the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) space, an area closely related to cryptocurrencies. The SEC's new Cyber Unit (established in September) recently brought its first fraud action against a Quebec based enterprise that raised at least $15 million in an ICO. The SEC has indicated that ICOs, generally, must adhere to the commission's registration requirements when capital raising activities are involved. Notably, over $3 billion has been raised in ICO market in the past year, with much of it not involving the registration process. Accordingly, I fully expect that SEC will step up its enforcement activities in the ICO realm, especially where fraud is suspected. I also expect to see a marked increase in private litigation in this arena as well in 2018." ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/bradrosen Website: https://lrus.wolterskluwer.com Contact: Nicole Turano, [email protected] **************** MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Supervisory Content Editor Voice of America (DC/NY/CA) Deputy Editor Celebrity Weekly ( Dubai ) ) Writer/Editor LRP Publications (FL) ***************** OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected] 6 PRACTICES TO WEAVE INTO YOUR WRITING PROCESS FOR 2018. With 2017 coming to a close, we came up with six habits to weave into your writing process to help set you up for success in the new year: http://prn.to/writinghabits BLOGGER CONFERENCES: TOP EVENTS TO ATTEND IN 2018. This a monthly column of what's happening in the blog world. Here are top events to attend in the 2018: http://prn.to/2018events HOW TO FIND EVERGREEN CONTENT. Holiday deadlines don't always lead to your most creative writing. Keep these five things in mind when readying your news site for the holidays: http://prn.to/PRNJevergreen **************** PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. SOURCE ProfNet Related Links http://www.profnet.com SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Prolong Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has completed enrollment in its Phase II study to evaluate SANGUINATE in the treatment of vaso-occlusive crisis in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). SANGUINATE is a first-in-class oxygen-delivery agent that is in development to treat localized and systemic hypoxia. Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is a complication of sickle cell disease that results in severe, debilitating pain that impacts the quality of life for patients. The Phase II study entitled, "A Phase II, Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized Study of the Safety and Effectiveness of SANGUINATE Versus Normal Saline in Adult Sickle Cell Disease Patients With Vaso-Occlusive Crisis (VOC)" is a clinical study evaluating the safety and efficacy of SANGUINATE for the treatment of VOC. The company expects data from all patients to be available in the first half of 2018. Preliminary results from a subset of patients were presented earlier this week in a poster session at the 59th Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Atlanta, and included an exploratory assessment of patient samples for the "un-sickling" effect on red blood cells (RBCs) and its association with pain score after SANGUINATE treatment. "The potential for restoration of normal RBC shape is important because VOC occurs when sickle-shaped RBCs the hallmark of SCD block blood vessels and restrict blood flow, thereby depriving body tissues and organs of oxygen. This complication can damage the tissues and organs, causing severe pain," explained Ronald Jubin, PhD, Vice President of Research and Development at Prolong Pharmaceuticals. "The data interpretation presented at ASH is preliminary, and the full data set from the Phase II trial of SANGUINATE remains to be analyzed. Further nonclinical and clinical evaluations are required to explore these findings in more detail." Additionally, in a separate ASH poster session, researchers presented data from a novel rat model of acute VOC in which SANGUINATE promoted VOC resolution by improving blood flow and restoring tissue oxygenation to near-baseline levels. Bjorn K. Song, PhD, and William H. Nugent, PhD, of Song BioTechnologies in Baltimore, Maryland, reported that in their novel animal model, SANGUINATE appeared to promote VOC resolution, as evidenced by improved blood flow and concomitant improved tissue oxygenation. Importantly, SANGUINATE not only acutely resolved VOC, but provided the added benefit of restoring tissue oxygenation to near-baseline levels, according to the investigators. Song and Nugent also reported that SANGUINATE improved microvascular perfusion, as indicated both by visual inspection and by measurements of tissue oxygenation; by contrast, rats in the saline and sham groups remained hypoxic. "The sickle cell community continues to follow SANGUINATE with great interest, as the latest research appears to support the rationale for further clinical assessment of this agent to manage acute VOC in individuals with SCD," commented Lanetta Bronte, MD, MPH, MSPH, President and Founder of the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research (FSCDR) and a co-investigator in the Phase II trial. "We look forward to the final data analysis from the SANGUINATE clinical program." About VOC Sickle cell disease is a group of chronic genetic disorders that affects an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Americans.1 Vaso-occlusive crisis, the most common complication of SCD, is an extremely painful, potentially deadly condition. It is caused by abnormal hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to tissues and organs in the body and carries carbon dioxide back to the lungs.2,3 Cells affected by VOC become sickle- or crescent-shaped, a deformity that prevents them from flowing freely through blood vessels, which severely limits blood flow and oxygen delivery to tissues, thereby causing excruciating pain and other symptoms that may lead to death.4 VOC results in approximately 197,000 emergency department visits each year in the U.S. and costs an estimated $356 million annually for pain management alone.5 About SANGUINATE SANGUINATE is an investigational drug, and Prolong Pharmaceuticals plans to consult with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a future clinical development program in VOC. SANGUINATE has been designed to act as an oxygen-transfer agent to deliver oxygen to hypoxic, or oxygen-deprived, cells. Prolong is developing SANGUINATE for the treatment of VOC in patients with SCD, and has received an Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for the multiple comorbidities of SCD. Many of the comorbidities of SCD are caused by a spiraling cycle of sickling, hemolysis, and blood vessel inflammation. These comorbidities include VOC, acute chest syndromes, and both pediatric and adult stroke. About Prolong Pharmaceuticals Headquartered in South Plainfield, New Jersey, Prolong Pharmaceuticals, LLC, is clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on developing products to treat several diseases and their debilitating comorbidities associated with reduced quality of life, increased medical cost, and significant mortality. Prolong's senior management team includes inventors of the most successful drug-delivery technology in pharmaceutical history, PEGylation, which is now responsible for the development of a dozen drugs improving the quality of life for sufferers of hepatitis, kidney disease, and a number of other life-threatening diseases. References 1Genetics Home Reference. Sickle cell disease. 2016. https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/sickle-cell-disease#diagnosis. 2National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Evidence-based management of sickle cell disease. Expert panel report. 2014. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-pro/guidelines/sickle-cell-disease-guidelines. 3National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. 2017. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=45108. 4National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. What is sickle cell disease? 2016. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca. 5Wilson BH, Nelson J. Sickle cell disease pain management in adolescents: a literature review. Pain Manag Nurs. 2015;16(2):146151. SOURCE Prolong Pharmaceuticals "Brett's record of putting the client first makes him the perfect addition to our team as we continue to expand," said Manoj Sharma, chief operating officer of Lockton Southeast. "His reputation as an experienced advisor precedes him, which can be seen through his success with clients on global property solutions." Gillmon joins Lockton after an extensive 20-year career at Marsh, most recently as Managing Director leading their Southeast Property team, which included work in London, New York, Dubai and Atlanta. Through both collaboration with clients and the strength of his market relationships, Gillmon has become an acknowledged expert in the placement and servicing of complex global property insurance programs. In his new role at Lockton, Gillmon will advise clients on managing their property risk to meet their business goals. He has particular expertise in the implementation of global programs and has extensive experience across a number of industry sectors which include manufacturing, hospitality, real estate and retail. Gillmon graduated with honors from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom with a bachelor's degree in European business. Today, he is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, a professional organization in the insurance and financial services industry. Gillmon moved to the New York from the United Kingdom in 2004 to pursue his career in the insurance industry. He became a US citizen in 2015. He will be based out of Lockton's Atlanta office which is located at 3280 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 250, Atlanta, GA 30305 and can be reached by calling 404-460-3600. About Lockton Lockton is a global professional services firm with 6,500 Associates who advise clients on protecting their people, property and reputations. Lockton has grown to become the world's largest privately held, independent insurance broker by helping clients achieve their business objectives. For nine consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." To see the latest insights from Lockton's experts, check Lockton Market Update. SOURCE Lockton Related Links http://www.lockton.com DeLaRosa Green was awarded for her achievements within the cannabis industry, specifically for pioneering a paradigm shift in dispensaries. She accomplished this by creating the world's first high end/hybrid dispensary as well as the first cannabis luxury brand. In addition, she recently secured the first cannabis business license in LA County history. DeLaRosa Green is an LA-native of Colombian heritage and a successful cannabis entrepreneur. She opened her first medical cannabis collective, 99 High Art, in 2008 on Abbott-Kinney Blvd in Venice. This establishment was heralded as "one of the best collectives in all of California" by Rolling Stone. "Being awarded the first LA Cannabis Business License is very historic on many levels. Perhaps mostly because I was born and raised in Los Angeles and the medicine saved my mother's life, here in this city," explained DeLaRosa Green. "As an industry veteran, I am honored to be the first recognized as Business Woman of the Year by this organization and the women behind it." "Yvonne is fighting for not just legal medicine for patients but for our right to sit at a fair and equitable table." said IPW Co-Founder, Ophelia Chong. "For these reasons Yvonne was chosen, as a leader, as a woman and as a minority in a new fast changing industry where we can lay the foundation for equality." About Yvonne DeLaRosa / 99 High Art: As an entrepreneur, Yvonne has successfully branded 99 as not only the best collectives in California but also as a brand for women, sophisticated cannabis patients and enthusiasts and millennials. Armed with a masters degree in film and television from UCLA, Yvonne has also gone on to create award-winning projects and documentaries, as well as garnering awards as an actor for her vast and various film/ TV projects. 99 has been heralded as one of the best dispensaries in all of California by Rolling Stone Magazine, LA Weekly and High Times Magazine. Yvonne brought the 99 brand to Malibu as the 99 High Tide Collective, which was recently recognized as one of the top three "Best Dispensaries in all of California" by MedicalMarijuana.co.uk, and "The Dopest Dispensary" by Dope magazine. For more information, visit www.99hightide.com. Follow us on social media @99HighTide. About Industry Power Women: Industry Power Women was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Los Angeles and New York. IPW is a network of female cannabis industry leaders in business created to provide female entrepreneurs, business owners and business leaders at the highest levels a network of resources to assist in propelling each into greater economic, social, and political spheres of power. This is accomplished through relationships and strategic partnerships. IPW recognizes the most accomplished women in the industry with awards throughout the year. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @PowerBlackBook. Media Inquiries: Cynthia Salarizadeh Salar Media Group [email protected] (856) 425-6160 SOURCE 99 High Tide Collective Malibu Related Links http://www.99hightide.com COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustained, rapid home appreciation is weakening the near-term outlook for the U.S. housing market, according to Nationwide's latest Health of Housing Markets Report (HoHM Report). "The biggest concern with regard to the housing market in 2017, especially as the year ends, is that persistent price gains are reducing affordability," said David Berson, Nationwide senior vice president and chief economist. "The housing market is still moving forward thanks to solid job gains, but it's showing signs of strain. We're watching to see if household formations, income, job, and mortgage trends can sustain the market's health." House price gains continue to run at a pace well above the long-term average as historically few homes on the market create heightened competition among homebuyers. Job gains, rising incomes, and a healthy mortgage market still support a positive although slightly less optimistic than last quarter outlook for the U.S. housing market. The outlook for the vast majority of regional housing markets across the U.S. remains upbeat as more than 80 percent of metro areas have a positive ranking. Moreover, markets with strong ties to the oil and gas industries are among the most improved in 2017 due to solid job growth and rising housing demand. The 10 top metro areas in the index are, in order: Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa; Carbondale-Marion, Ill.; Philadelphia; Valdosta, Ga.; The Villages, Fla.; Canton-Massillon, Ohio; Gadsden, Ala.; Little Rock-North Little Rock, Ark.; Trenton, N.J.; and, Morgantown, W.Va. In order, the bottom 10 are: Rapid City, S.D.; Brunswick, Ga.; Rochester, Minn.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; New Orleans-Metairie, La.; Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas; Victoria1, Texas; Morristown, Tenn.; Waco, Texas; and, Bangor, Maine. Underwater despite rapid appreciation Despite continued rapid home appreciation across the country, nearly a quarter of metro markets have not fully recovered from their price peaks before the housing market crash of a decade ago, including a few that are still off by more than 20 percent. As a result, homeowners in those markets are more likely to be underwater in their mortgages even today. The national share of mortgages that have negative equity is near 5 percent. That number doubles for homeowners who live in markets with prices still below their prior peaks. Major markets that remain below their prior price peaks are (percent below in parenthesis): Las Vegas - Henderson, Nev. (27.7) - (27.7) Bakersfield, Calif. (23.1) (23.1) Fresno, Calif. (21.5) (21.5) Tucson, Ariz. (20.3) (20.3) Orlando - Kissimmee, Fla. (19.7) - (19.7) Camden, N.J. (18.7) (18.7) Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (16.9) (16.9) Riverside - San Bernardino, Calif. (16.4) - (16.4) Phoenix - Mesa, Ariz. (16.2) - (16.2) Naples, Fla. (16.2) (16.2) Stockton - Lodi, Calif. (15.8) - (15.8) West Palm Beach - Boca Raton, Fla. (14.8) - (14.8) Newark, N.J. (14.5) (14.5) Jacksonville, Fla. (13.1) (13.1) Detroit - Dearborn, Mich. (12.8) More information about the HoHM Report, including the methodology used, can be found at blog.nationwide.com/housing. The HoHM Report is released on a quarterly basis online and in print. About Nationwide Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com. Nationwide, Nationwide is on your side and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. 1There is no measurable impact from Hurricane Harvey on the LIHHM ranking. NFM-17092AO Contact: Ryan Ankrom (614) 249-5145 [email protected] Jordan Fisher (312) 240-2951 [email protected] SOURCE Nationwide Related Links http://www.nationwide.com WASHINGTON and PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rubrik, the Cloud Data Management Company, today announced that its offerings have been certified to meet the requirements of EAL2+ of the Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation. Rubrik has built the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of government certifications and accreditations across the hybrid cloud, including Common Criteria EAL2+, FIPS 140-2 Level-2 validated self-encrypting drives and support for all major AWS and Microsoft Azure government infrastructure clouds. Common Criteria is an internationally recognized standard that defines a framework for evaluating the security of IT products. US government organizations, international government entities from 27 different countries, and many global Fortune 500 corporations require Common Criteria certification to aid in the evaluation of IT products for their infrastructures and often require contractors to uphold the standard. The certification requires developer testing, vulnerability analysis, product lifecycle management, process assessment, and independent testing based on detailed Target of Evaluation (TOE) specifications. The assessment determined that Rubrik appliances meet the requirements for EAL2+ of the Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation. The Rubrik Cloud Data Management platform is mission-built for IT modernization across federal, state, and local government agencies. Rubrik enables secure management of physical and virtualized data, across all locations on-premises, at the edge, and in the cloud. Rubrik provides in-flight and at-rest encryption to allow government agencies to backup, replicate, and archive data while complying with rigid data protection policies regarding classified, confidential, or personally identifiable information (PII). Rubrik ensures data integrity by continuously validating data throughout its lifecycle, providing data immutability against cyberattacks (Ransomware) and resilience to failures. For the highest security standards, Rubrik offers the r528 appliance, which provides at-rest encryption using FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated self-encrypting drives (SED). For government customers with a hybrid cloud strategy, Rubrik provides the industry's broadest support for all major government infrastructure offerings, including Microsoft Azure GovCloud, AWS GovCloud and Commercial Cloud Services (C2S). Rubrik is an Advanced Tier Technology partner in the AWS Partner Network and a Global ISV Co-Seller in the Microsoft Partner Network. Comments on the News "We are pleased that Rubrik has received this critical certification, demonstrating that our solution has stood up against extremely stringent testing," said Steve Alfieris, VP & GM of Federal Government, Rubrik. "With Rubrik, government agencies can ensure their data is secure and compliant throughout its lifecycle. Since the platform has been designed to lower the total cost of ownership within government environments, customers typically achieve cost reductions of 20-50 percent over the first three to five years of implementation." "Rubrik provides comprehensive IT security solutions within their product line to meet Federal standards. I congratulate them on this new certification," said Victor Marquez, CEO, Marq Solutions. "Their hardware and software FIPS 140-2 certified encryption solution and secured Brik Operating System (BOS) leave no doubts in the mind of security-conscious organizations that their data is secure." "We appreciated the opportunity to work with Rubrik on performing Common Criteria evaluation of Rubrik Cloud Data Management," said Eugene Polulyakh, General Manager at Advanced Data Security accredited FIPS and Common Criteria testing laboratory located in San Jose, California. "During the Common Criteria evaluation process, Advanced Data Security performed security architecture analysis, vulnerability analysis, and penetration testing of the product. Rubrik products are unique because they help companies to manage their recovery and backup in physical, virtual and remote environments as well as manage their data in public and private clouds. The Common Criteria certification of Rubrik Cloud Data Management is a major achievement that demonstrates Rubrik's commitment to offer secure and dependable products." Resources [DATA SHEET] Military-Grade Data Security [CASE STUDY] Commander, Navy Installations Command Simplifies and Automates Data Management with Rubrik [WEBSITE] Rubrik Data Management for Government About Rubrik Rubrik delivers instant application availability with data protection, search, analytics, archival and copy data management. Hybrid Cloud enterprises benefit from Rubrik's market-leading Cloud Data Management platform with simplicity, instant data access, app mobility, policy-driven automation, Ransomware protection, and analytics at scale. Rubrik has been positioned as a Visionary in Gartner's 2017 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery. The company has been honored with a CRN 2017 Tech Innovator Award and named to Forbes' Cloud 100, Business Insider's 51 Enterprise Startups to Bet Your Career On, and LinkedIn's Top Companies: Startups. For more information, visit http://www.rubrik.com and follow @rubrikInc on Twitter. About Advanced Data Security Advanced Data Security, LLC is an independent, third party, accredited computer security laboratory. We conduct accredited FIPS 140-2 Testing, Common Criteria Evaluations, and Cryptographic Algorithm Testing. We are located at the center of Silicon Valley, in a close proximity to a number of high-tech companies. Our team members possess unique computer security knowledge and experience they acquired at leading computer security testing and evaluation laboratories and Silicon Valley's premier software and hardware companies, including Hewlett-Packard, 3Com, HiFn, Cylink and others. For more information visit www.adseclab.com SOURCE Rubrik Related Links http://www.rubrik.com LAVAL, QC, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. ("Couche Tard" or the "Corporation") (TSX: ATD.A ATD.B) announces today that Mr. Alain Bouchard, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of directors, has informed the Corporation of his intention to sell 200,000 Class B subordinated voting shares that he holds, 300,000 Class B subordinated voting shares held by 9330-4103 Quebec Inc. for financial planning purposes and 400,000 Class B subordinated voting shares held by the Fondation Sandra et Alain Bouchard, in order to meet donation commitments. Should the sales be completed as intended, Mr. Bouchard will own directly or indirectly a total of 57,676,422 Class A multiple voting shares and 8,013,002 Class B subordinated voting shares of the Corporation. Mr. Bouchard has filed today the regulatory notice with the securities commissions with respect to these intended sales of shares which will be sold on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In compliance with the applicable regulations, no sale will occur prior to December 19, 2017. Such sales may occur thereafter over a period of 30 days, subject to applicable blackout periods of the Corporation. About Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In the United States, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores. In Europe, Couche-Tard is a leader in convenience store and road transportation fuel retail in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), and in Ireland and also with an important presence in Poland. As of October 15, 2017, Couche-Tard's network comprised 9,465 convenience stores throughout North America, including 8,135 stores with road transportation fuel dispensing. Its North American network consists of 18 business units, including 14 in the United States covering 41 states and 4 in Canada covering all 10 provinces. Approximately 95,000 people are employed throughout its network and at its service offices in North America. In addition, through CrossAmerica Partners LP, Couche-Tard supplies road transportation fuel under various brands to more than 1,200 locations in the United States. In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland, the Baltics and Russia through ten business units. As of October 15, 2017, Couche-Tard's network comprised 2,750 stores, the majority of which offer road transportation fuel and convenience products while the others are unmanned automated fuel stations which only offer road transportation fuel. Couche-Tard also offers other products, including stationary energy, marine fuel, aviation fuel and chemicals. Including employees at branded franchise stores, approximately 25,000 people work in its retail network, terminals and service offices across Europe. In addition, under licensing agreements, more than 1,800 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in 14 other countries and territories (China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam), which brings the worldwide total network to more than 15,200 stores. For more information on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. or to consult its quarterly Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis, please visit: http://corpo.couche-tard.com/en. Forward-Looking Statements The statements set forth in this press release, which describe Couche-Tard's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations or forecasts, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation. Positive or negative verbs such as "will", "plan", "evaluate", "estimate", "believe", "expect" and other related expressions are used to identify such statements. Couche-Tard would like to point out that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results, or the measures it adopts, could differ materially from those indicated or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular projection. Major factors that may lead to a material difference between Couche-Tard's actual results and the projections or expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements include the effects of the integration of acquired businesses and the ability to achieve projected synergies, fluctuations in margins on motor fuel sales, competition in the convenience store and retail motor fuel industries, exchange rate variations, and such other risks as described in detail from time to time in documents filed by Couche-Tard with securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Couche-Tard disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this press release is based on information available as of the date of the release. SOURCE Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Related Links http://corpo.couche-tard.com/ SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology hiring in Salt Lake City is expected to start strong in 2018, according to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report. Twenty-two percent of CIOs surveyed here said they plan to add full-time technology professionals to their teams in the first half of the new year, up 3 percentage points from a year ago. In addition to hiring plans, the report also highlights technology skills in demand and CIOs' top priorities for the first six months of the year. "It's a great time to be an IT professional in Salt Lake City," said Justin Rohatinsky, branch manager for Robert Half Technology in Salt Lake City. "Professionals who have in-demand technical expertise are highly sought after and receiving multiple offers. As we head in to 2018, we'll likely see more growth in big data, business intelligence and data analytics, especially amongst high tech providers, healthcare and financial companies." Top 12 Cities for Tech Hiring in 2018 In addition to the forecasted 22 percent hiring growth, 60 percent of technology leaders here expect to maintain staff levels by filling vacant roles. The demand for talent places Salt Lake City on the list of U.S. cities where tech hiring is expected to grow the most in the first half of 2018: San Diego Atlanta New York Austin, Texas Charlotte, North Carolina Minneapolis Philadelphia Des Moines, Iowa Miami Cleveland Phoenix Salt Lake City Hiring Challenges and Skills in Demand It continues to be a competitive hiring environment: 56 percent of CIOs in Salt Lake City said that it's challenging to find skilled IT professionals in today's market. The skills in greatest demand within their organizations, according to respondents, include: Cybersecurity (51 percent) Mobile development (50 percent) Wireless network management (50 percent) Top Priorities When asked to name their top priority for the next six months, 27 percent of Salt Lake City CIOs said they will be focused on maintaining security of IT systems and safeguarding company information. Other priorities will include: Upgrading existing systems for business efficiency (24 percent) (24 percent) Innovation and helping to grow their businesses (19 percent) (19 percent) Staff retention (17 percent) (17 percent) Technology innovation and investing in new technologies (13 percent) About Robert Half Technology With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at roberthalf.com/technology. Visitors can also request a copy of the Robert Half Technology 2018 Salary Guide, which includes a wide range of IT job descriptions. Survey Methodology The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology and conducted by an independent research firm. To ensure that companies from all segments were represented in the study, the sample was stratified by number of employees. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995. SOURCE Robert Half Technology Related Links http://www.roberthalf.com ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Solodev, the Web Experience Company, announced that it outranked 22 competitors in every area of satisfaction in the latest G2 Crowd Grid Report for Web Content Management. At 96 percent, the Orlando-based company earned the highest ease of use rating. Industry leader WordPress scored an 85 percent in the same category, and Sitefinity got an 81 percent. Solodev again ranks as a top "High Performer" in the G2 Crowd Grid for WCM Out of 5,700 reviews from qualified users, Solodev creators of the first Web Experience Platform built from the ground up for the AWS Cloud ranked at the top of the report for fall 2017. The company received the highest ratings around "quality of support," validating their commitment to technology, service and innovation. The report also revealed that 97 percent of Solodev's users are "likely to recommend the WCMS to others," one of the most valuable measures of performance. These qualifications and more helped the Orlando-based company earn the "High Performer" designation, challenging industry stalwarts and disrupting the WCMS space. "Solodev is honored to have received a top ranking on the G2 Crowd Grid. Nearly all of the report is based on user reviews, and we work diligently each day to help our users succeed," said Shawn Moore, CTO of Solodev. "We want to offer up nothing short of the highest quality product that consistently exceeds customer expectations. This recognition validates that we meet those standards for a variety of clientele. We're thrilled that reviewers would give their insights. They keep us moving toward excellence." Moore pointed to three key features that helped Solodev thrive in the face of industry leaders like WordPress, Sitefinity and Oracle: Solodev is built from the ground up for the AWS Cloud. By aligning with the advanced capabilities of the AWS infrastructure, businesses build their websites with Solodev in a highly-scalable environment, capable of handling diverse amounts of traffic without worrying about capacity. This allows clients to only pay for what they need and not have to guess about the future. With the AWS global footprint of redundant data centers, Solodev users create highly secure websites that include disaster recovery, high availability and unlimited storage. Additionally, Solodev is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner with competencies in Education, Government, and more. Solodev delivers enterprise features with total design freedom and control. Built for web designers and content marketers, the Solodev Web Experience Platform allows users to create beautiful, feature-rich websites without compromising on design or being limited by rigid templates. Solodev also offers best-in-class enterprise features, with powerful backend tools for easy management, rapid development and minimal coding. Solodev is also on the forefront of WCM technology, pioneering "headless" capabilities for delivering content to nearly any device from mobile to smartwatches to the Internet of Things. "With Solodev, people can finally make what they want today, and be ready for tomorrow," said Moore. "This incredible design control and enterprise functionality is why our customers are so satisfied with us." Solodev is one of the few companies committed to U.S.-based, 24/7/365 support. When emergencies occur, Solodev's human support stands ready to assist from their U.S. headquarters. But they are also redefining the value of the relationship, with Solodev Certified Engineers acting like an extension of a client's internal team. This commitment to service helped garner Solodev a 98 percent rating in the "ease of doing business" category. "We have been customers of Solodev for 10 years," said Bill Sprau, Director of Creative and Digital Services for OneBlood. "They have been able to successfully keep us at the forefront and continually meet our ever-adapting needs. That is a true testament to their organization." Every day, users around the world rely on the Solodev Web Experience Platform to: Build amazing, feature-rich websites that are secure and scalable. Manage web content across every device. Develop engaging web and mobile applications. Leverage powerful capabilities such as inline editing, A/B testing and more. Easily integrate with third-party applications. Meet evolving web compliance, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Solodev's ranking reflects a year of significant achievements, including a win at the AWS Public Sector "City on a Cloud" competition in the Best Practices (Large category), as well as a third consecutive year on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Companies. A complimentary copy of the G2 Crowd Grid report is available at www.solodev.com/lp/g2-crowd.stml. About Solodev Solodev is the Web Experience Company, and the world's first enterprise Web Content Management System (WCMS) built for the AWS Cloud the most secure, redundant and extensible infrastructure on the planet. With Solodev, organizations of all sizes can build amazing websites, custom applications and engaging digital strategies that transform the customer experience. Leading brands like the Florida Department of Education and OneBlood rely on the Solodev Web Experience Platform to create without compromise, and build unique digital experiences across any device with unparalleled control and 24/7/365 U.S.-based support. Solodev's revolutionary SaaS solution is available for purchase in the AWS Marketplace or at Solodev.com. Media Contact: Wes Marsh Phone: 407.898.1961 Email: [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg G2 Crowd Grid for Web Content Management | Fall 2017 image2.png G2 Crowd Grid image3.jpg Solodev Logo SOURCE Solodev Related Links http://Solodev.com IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spireon, Inc., a leader in connected vehicle intelligence solutions, today announced the latest enhancements to their GoldStar GPS solution for the vehicle finance industry. New GoldStar Enterprise adds enhanced workflow automation for lenders, credit unions, and large Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) dealerships with multiple locations. The company also added a new, nationwide Impound Lot database, prebuilt into the platform, and available for both GoldStar Pro and GoldStar Enterprise customers. "Non-prime auto lenders face expensive and time-consuming challenges in servicing loans, communicating with buyers, managing risk, and recovering vehicles when necessary. These challenges are amplified when dealing with a high-volume of vehicles across multiple dealers and branches," said Brian Deeley, director of product management at Spireon. "GoldStar Enterprise is specifically designed to manage high-volume operations and streamline business workflows across different branches, divisions and partners." GoldStar is now available in three versions to suit customers of all sizes. Small BHPH dealers can use entry-level GoldStar Basic for vehicle location monitoring, payment reminders, and recovery. GoldStar Pro adds predictive reporting and customizable integration features for more complex dealerships. New GoldStar Enterprise extends the features of GoldStar Pro with workflow tools to streamline the management of multi-tiered operations, including: Sub-Accounts for Dealer Partners Lenders can provide account access to dealers they finance, enabling them to use GoldStar's secure, online portal to manage and monitor vehicles under contract. Lenders can provide account access to dealers they finance, enabling them to use GoldStar's secure, online portal to manage and monitor vehicles under contract. Request Installation Service Lenders can place GPS installation requests on behalf of their dealers or delegate their dealers to make their own requests in the portal. Automated workflows will notify and schedule the Spireon installation team on behalf of the lender, and will also notify the lender when the installation is completed. Lenders can place GPS installation requests on behalf of their dealers or delegate their dealers to make their own requests in the portal. Automated workflows will notify and schedule the Spireon installation team on behalf of the lender, and will also notify the lender when the installation is completed. Device Ordering & Activation Device orders can be placed via Web portal by the lender on the dealer's behalf, or delegated to their dealers for self-service ordering. Post installation, lenders can ensure devices are reporting correctly and vehicle information is entered into the system correctly before funding loans. Device orders can be placed via Web portal by the lender on the dealer's behalf, or delegated to their dealers for self-service ordering. Post installation, lenders can ensure devices are reporting correctly and vehicle information is entered into the system correctly before funding loans. Asset Groups Enables grouping of the device/vehicle population into subsets by dealer branch, assigned collection agent, or portfolio. Asset groups allow lenders to limit vehicle data to a specific set of users, preventing access to information for vehicles outside the group. (Also available in GoldStar Pro ) Spireon also has added a new Impound Lots feature to GoldStar Pro and GoldStar Enterprise which alerts dealers and lenders when vehicles have been taken to an impound lot. The feature includes the largest pre-built database of Impound Lots in the nation, with ongoing additions to the repository on a regular basis. GoldStar users can submit additional local Impound Lots to the system using a simple online button. "Tow yards will typically wait 10-14 days before notifying us that one of our vehicles has been in their impound lot. Depending on the city, fees can range from $50-$115 per day. By sending alerts to us within a day instead of weeks, the new Impound Lots feature in GoldStar could save us thousands of dollars every week," said Laverne Davidson of LD Motors. "Our objective with GoldStar is to provide early warning signs of potential defaults, allowing dealers and lenders to engage early and help customers stay in their vehicles and stay on payment schedules," said Reggie Ponsford, Spireon's senior vice president of sales for Automotive Solutions. "Proactively communicating with customers based on GoldStar's predictive analytics has resulted in significant cost savings for our customers, and in many cases, allowed them to collect 3-4 more payments per loan on average." To learn more about GoldStar Enterprise and other GoldStar features, visit www.spireon.com/goldstar-gps-vehicle-tracking. About Spireon Spireon, Inc. is North America's leading connected vehicle intelligence company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable mobile assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire platform supports nearly 4 million active subscribers across the company's growing suite of products for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, commercial and local fleet operators, and consumers. Learn more a www.spireon.com. Connect with us: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn For more information, contact Emily Lynn Ashley Havas Formula for Spireon [email protected] 619-234-0345 SOURCE Spireon, Inc. Related Links http://www.spireon.com KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a country deeply divided along social and political lines, a new survey finds most Americans agree on at least one thing: We need to save the planet. The national survey, part of a special Eco Pulse report by Shelton Group, found the majority of Americans believe we deserve a clean planet, climate change is occurring and we all have a responsibility to take concrete steps to reduce our environmental impact. "Sustainability is becoming a much stronger part of how Americans identify themselves. It's clear that consumers want to be on the right side of this issue - and they expect the companies they buy from to be as well," says Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Group, the nation's leading marketing communications agency focused exclusively on energy and the environment. "This presents significant opportunities for companies doing things the right way - and a threat to those that aren't." "Despite all of the fighting, anger and frustration in the United States today, Americans can find common ground when it comes to the environment," said Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Group, the nation's leading marketing communications agency focused exclusively on energy and the environment. "We all want the same thing -- a cleaner planet and we agree that we must do our part to make that happen." The new findings confirm a fundamental shift among Americans. A full 40 percent of Americans now believe "buying and using eco-friendly products is an important part of my personal image." "Sustainability is becoming a much stronger part of how Americans identify themselves. It's clear that consumers want to be on the right side of this issue and they expect the companies they buy from to be as well," Shelton said. "This presents significant opportunities for companies doing things the right way and a threat to those that aren't." The national survey, which polled 2,000 Americans in September and October, found: -- 76 percent of Americans agreed: "People have a right to clean air and water." -- 70 percent agreed: "We have a moral duty to leave the earth in as good or better shape than we found it." -- 65 percent agreed that climate change is occurring, and it is primarily caused by human activity. -- 88 percent agreed the average person should be taking concrete steps to reduce his or her environmental impact. As part of its report, Shelton Group tested Americans' gut reactions to some overarching words and phrases used when discussing the environment. "Science" was the word that Americans garnering the most positive reaction. Three-quarters (75 percent) of Americans feel positively about "science." Other words garnering positive ratings included "conservation" (with 71 percent rating it positively) and "sustainability" (with 69 percent). And the lowest-scoring term in the survey? "Carbon footprint." Only 28 percent rated it positively. Companies using the positive terms words that unite Americans rather than divide them -- can ensure their messages resonate with consumers and build brand loyalty. Shelton's advice to corporations: "Your brand's interaction with consumers is a relationship, and the key to any good relationship is aligning on values. That means identifying the environmental values that your brand embodies and communicating them in terms that engage consumers. "It's pretty straightforward: Make a commitment to the environment, take action and tell the story of what you're doing and the impact you're making," Shelton added. "That's how you create a meaningful connection with consumers today." A copy of the special Eco Pulse report can be downloaded at https://sheltongrp.com/insights/eco-pulse-2017. ABOUT SHELTON GROUP Shelton Group is the nation's leading marketing communications agency focused exclusively on energy and the environment. With research, strategy and creative expertise, they help their clients build brand affinity, market their products and start movements. Learn more at www.sheltongrp.com. ABOUT ECO PULSE The Eco Pulse survey was fielded in September and October and surveyed a total of 2,000 respondents. The margin of error is +/- 2.2%. A copy of the full report can be downloaded at https://sheltongrp.com/insights/eco-pulse-2017. Contact: Mark Pankowski 301-260-9250 SOURCE Shelton Group BROOKFIELD, Wis. and AMSTERDAM, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Symmetry today announced the new deployment of its cloud hosting platform in Amsterdam, significantly extending the company's global infrastructure for providing SAP application management; security; governance, risk and compliance (GRC); and hosting services. Deployed in a new Tier 3 green data center, the Amsterdam cloud platform integrates with Symmetry's four other global platform deployments to provide hosting clients with greater operational flexibility, geographic redundancy and cost effectiveness for their SAP and SAP HANA implementations. The European expansion further extends Symmetry's ability to support multinational enterprises that value implementing SAP instances in close proximity to European offices. It is also ideally suited to European businesses requiring an initial site that can be expanded on a unified global platform. Symmetry has wrapped next-generation application monitoring and reporting technology for SAP and SAP HANA applications as a standard part of its offerings, and rolled out innovative new services to clients, including disaster recovery as a service and SIEM as a service, along with its ControlPanelGRC software suite, an industry leader in governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) automation for SAP environments. "The Amsterdam cloud platform expansion is the latest milestone for Symmetry as we grow our global footprint and solidify our position as a leading global provider of expert application hosting and management services for small, medium and large enterprises that utilize SAP," said Symmetry Chairman and CEO Pete Stevenson. "Symmetry is addressing market demand for a 'best of both worlds' solution for SAP cloud hosting the expert quality-of-service we are known for, combined with the global reach and support customers require. This differentiator will only strengthen in the future as we continue to expand our platform deployments across Europe and Asia." First Customer Deployment Symmetry also announced it has partnered with smartShift Technologies to drive the initial customer deployment on the Amsterdam platform. The Symmetry cloud platform will be the hosting environment for one of smartShift's customer's SAP Business Suite on HANA and SAP Business Warehouse on HANA implementations. This large multinational industrial equipment manufacturer's deployment, live on the platform and scheduled to go into full production in Q1 of 2018, has also expanded to incorporate Symmetry's Disaster Recovery as a Service. "Our client's SAP modernization project required a next-generation SAP HANA cloud platform that delivers industry leading SLAs for availability and geographic dispersion to provide business continuity," said Seth Henry, CEO of smartShift. "Symmetry's combination of advanced cloud platform design, incredibly agile service and expert SAP knowledge made it the ideal hosting partner for us, and will enable us to migrate our client's extensive SAP implementations very quickly." The Amsterdam platform is an important component of Symmetry's ongoing strategy to build out its innovative, scalable, highly secure infrastructure and services portfolio to provide superior global support for companies using SAP. As the company has grown, it has also achieved recognition including: Being selected to provide the global cloud hosting platform for SAP and SAP HANA implementations by United VARs, the world's largest alliance of SAP channel partners. implementations by United VARs, the world's largest alliance of SAP channel partners. Winning the grand prize in the 2017 Hewlett Packard Enterprise "Service Provider Award for Customer Excellence." About Symmetry Symmetry manages complex SAP implementations on a global scale for more than 200 of the world's leading enterprises. With its proprietary client-centric business model The Symmetry Way combined with the industry's most advanced SAP hosting platform and industry leading ControlPanelGRC software suite, Symmetry delivers expert, high-touch SAP application management services across all deployment environments, including on-premise, hosted, and private, public and hybrid cloud. With more than 22 years in business, Symmetry has built a base of expertise unmatched by any other independent SAP service provider. An SAP partner since 2005, Symmetry is certified in SAP Hosting, Cloud and SAP HANA Operations. Symmetry is based in Brookfield, Wis. with locations across North America and Europe. SOURCE Symmetry Related Links https://symmetrycorp.com ATLANTA, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Management Group LLC was recently named to Multifamily Leadership's annual list as one of the "Best Places to Work in Multifamily" for 2018. In the list, which spotlights 25 multifamily companies across the United States, TMG ranked No. 6. Multifamily Leadership, which specializes in advising industry executives, announced the top 25 companies at its annual summit held Nov. 13-15 in Scottsdale, Arizona. To qualify for the list, companies were evaluated based on criteria including: Employee policies, practices and demographics Leadership and planning Corporate culture and communications Role satisfaction Work environment Relationship with supervisor Training, development and resources Pay and benefits Overall engagement To evaluate companies against the criteria, Multifamily Leadership conducted Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Surveys that consisted of 78 statements for employees to respond to, along with two open-ended questions and seven demographics questions. This survey made up 75-percent of a company's overall score. An employer questionnaire on benefits and polices made up the other 25 percent. "An important measure of a company's leadership strategy is its quality of workplace," TMG Executive Vice President Jamin Harkness said. "This is a multi-billion-dollar industry that not only provides jobs, but creates local communities for individuals and families who realize the value of renting in today's economy. That's why it's so important to create a great workplace for those serving multifamily communities." About The Management Group LLC The Management Group LLC (TMG) is an Atlanta-based, full service real estate asset management provider comprised of professionals from the multifamily, retail, construction and development sectors. TMG is dedicated to leveraging technology and best practices across sectors to simplify every interaction between our service and the end customer. For more information, visit tmg-atl.com. Contact: Adam Krohn [email protected] SOURCE The Management Group LLC oVertone is known for their pigmented conditioners that simultaneously keep hair healthy and bright. All conditioners are manufactured in the U.S., vegan, cruelty-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, ammonia-free, and contain none of the harsh alcohols or chemicals typically found in hair dye products. They are effective on wet or dry hair, as well as human hair wigs and extensions. Rose Gold, and pastels in general, work best on those with lightened or naturally light hair who want to spice up their color. oVertone Rose Gold is available in the following formats: 8 oz. Rose Gold Daily Conditioner, $17 8 oz. Rose Gold Deep Treatment, $25 2 oz. Rose Gold Daily Conditioner Sample Size, $11 2 oz. Rose Gold Deep Treatment Sample Size, $8 Along with oVertone's new Rose Gold conditioners, the brand also recently introduced a new Yellow formula to their lineup to offer a complete rainbow of shades before the end of the year. The new color lines are available for purchase at overtone.co. About oVertone: Founded in 2014, oVertone quickly established itself as a household name in the hair coloring industry in just three years. It was created to solve the color-fading woes of two color enthusiasts in their 20s who hated how their hair felt and looked just weeks after visiting the salon. Now those same two women help thousands of others keep their hair healthy and bright every day. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colo. For more information or to purchase products, visit overtone.co. SOURCE oVertone Related Links http://www.overtone.co LONDON, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Far below the Nevada desert, past ancient mine shafts and rock-strewn caverns, there could be a fortune waiting to be made by one small company. A fortune in silver. A mine that inspired the silver rush in the 1880s, that was tapped once more in the 1960s, could again prove a boon to miners using the latest technologies to tap unexplored and unexploited mineral deposits. It could prove to be a great re-discovery in the history of silver mining. Included in today's commentary: Endeavor Silver (NYSE:EXK), Pretium Resources (NYSE:PVG), Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK), Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ), Magna International (NYSE:MGA). That's what Montego Resources (MY; 4MO1), has unlocked in the Taylor Mine & Mill, a high-grade gold and silver project in eastern Nevada, a region which has produced a bounty of silver and gold for more than one hundred years, and through the use of new technologies and new methods could do so once again. Montego, a $11 million small market cap miner, could be sitting on as much as $1.2 billion in silver, a figure that could climb higher if silver prices rebound. Here are five reasons for investors to tap into Montego's (MY; 4MO1) new find: #1: Big Potential Rewards The veins uncovered at Taylor hold historic measured and indicated reserves of up to 20 million oz. of silver, worth $278 million at current prices. The mine has historically put out five million oz. of silver and already has $27 million invested from past ventures. With mining, there's always a lot of uncertainty. Pits are dug, shafts dropped and fingers crossed as miners hope their capital investments pay off with a rich find. But with Taylor, there's less need to worry: the mine has a long history of productivity behind it, and with $27 million already invested Montego may be able to invest only limited capital in before seeing a strong return on their investment. Montego took over the Taylor Mine from Silver Predator Corp. earlier this year by way of option, and with an $11 million cap, this is a small company standing over a potentially big asset. While Taylor had produced silver and gold in ages past, no one knew how big the remaining deposits were before surveys were conducted in 2014. Now it's more clear: Montego (MY; 4MO1) has up to 20 million oz. of measured and indicated silver under its feet, and that estimation could double to 32 million oz. if the company's plans pay off, rising as high as 75 million oz if everything they hope for comes true. That would be $1.2 billion in silver at today's prices, for a $11 million cap company. To put things in perspective: Alexco, a silver exploration company operating in Yukon, has 68 million oz. of silver with a market cap of $179 million. Going off that market cap valuation metric alone, Montego could be worth $44.7 million. And with so much already invested in the property, Montego doesn't need to put huge dollars more into Taylor before it starts to pay off. #2: New Tech to Unlock Old Silver Mining at Taylor in the past was of the traditional sort: in the 1880s with shovel and pick, and again in the 1960s with truck and dynamite. But now, new mining methods used by Montego and other area miners could unlock un-tapped veins of silver and gold, delivering rich rewards for a fraction of the cost. Modern mining utilizes digital mapping of the terrain, images and data collected by drones that can be used to construct 3D models of geologic architecture. Electrical currents run through the ground by sensors more advanced and sensitive than previous technologies, combined with above-ground, gives mineral geologists a clearer picture of what's under their feet. Then, it's time for the robo-drill, a sophisticated and partially automated rig that collects mineral samples for analysis, detailing where the richest veins might be found. Modern methods are cheaper, with drones capable of surveying immense areas of land in a fraction of the time it used to take surveyors operating from helicopters and spotter planes, and at a fraction of the cost. Technology used to survey underground can do so quicker, and with more reliable results, than in the past. Miners used to sink pits and hope for the best. Now, companies like Montego can get a clear picture of what's in store before they even pick up a shovel. And while the Taylor Mine is primarily a silver find, Montego (MY; 4MO1) has also decided to exploit the gold discovered in the mix, with 2014 investigations indicating potentially sizable gold deposits along with the immense silver lodes. With more results coming in and more surveys still to conduct, who knows how much more Montego will find locked away under the Nevada soil. #3: Managerial Excellence Montego (MY; 4MO1) has a leadership team marked with experience, technological savvy and mineral expertise. Of the company's three directors, three are experienced geologists well-versed in the twenty-first century methods of mining. Director Bill Cronk is a professional geologist with more than 25 years in managing exploration projects for precious metals, base metals and uranium. In previous positions he's worked across the globe for projects in Africa, Europe, North and South America, Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Director Chris Pennimpede has more than nine years' experience in mineral exploration in Canada and the U.S., where he utilized cutting-edge technologies to make rich discoveries in Yukon, Alaska and Nanavut. Michael Dufresne, the third director, is the president and principal of APEX Geoscience Ltd., and a master of the newest forms of mineral exploration. He's worked as a consulting geologist for 25 years, and his work has taken him across North America. Suffice to say, the team at Montego should be more than capable of turning the Taylor project into reality, if the economics check out as expected. #4: Results Imminent Montego has had several months to cover the Taylor property, utilizing every trick in the miners' trade book to survey the area. Plus, with millions already sunk into developing the mine by past owners and amid the highly-favorable extractive atmosphere of eastern Nevada, first results on targets from the Taylor property should be imminent. First, consider the conditions of the mine itself. Taylor has historically produced 5 million oz. of silver. A portion of the open pit silver has been pre-stripped and is now exposed, rendering it highly accessible. Infrastructure has already been built up through the previous $27 million investment. The mine is located 17 miles south of Ely, Nevada and only 2.5 miles east of US highway 50. That gives Montego excellent access to roads and water sources, which should make it a relatively cheap mine to operate. The site contains 131 unpatented lodes, 5 unpatented mill sites and 4 patented sites covering 2,166 acres. While the site is expected to yield mostly silver, gold discoveries are expected in the outlying areas. Since 2013, the site has seen 480 drill holes totaling 92,600 feet of drilling, according to a technical report filed by Silver Predator, who optioned the property to Montego. Before that, 119 holes were dug between 2006 and 2009 by Golden Predator and Fury Exploration. All that work has shown that significant deposits are likely available 300-700 feet below the surface based on stratigraphy, with soil samples showing strong signs of both silver and gold in areas of the site. The immense amount of exploration and survey has allowed Montego to construct a detailed model of the entire site, before having to invest any of its own money to dig further holes. And while Silver Predator was able to determine the site held up to 20 million oz. of silver, exploration by Montego (MY; 4MO1) is hoped to turn up much higher projections. Thanks to their sophisticated surveying and exploration methods, Montego is hopeful of finding that there could be as much as 32 million oz., or perhaps even 75 million oz. of silver locked away at Taylor, as well as an undetermined amount of gold, if all the stars align. All told, Montego with its $11 million cap is sitting on mineral resources that could be worth as much as $1.2 billion at today's prices, if the CEO's hopes for 75 million oz. of silver are realized. Nevada, "the Silver State", is a big mining state, and Montego is sure to benefit from existing and any possible further tax breaks and incentives from the state's pro-mining government. That's a powerful reason for investors to take a close look at this oppportunity now, before Montego starts delivering results. #5: We Should Know Soon The clock is ticking With pits dug, drones and tech ready to survey more ground and equpment poised to start drilling, Montego is hoping to begin producing from the Taylor mine sooner rather than later. The company has years of prior experience to go on, and it's sitting on top of a mine that has already proven itself a winner more than once. Furthrmore, a lot of the leg-work has already been done. Previous companies sank $27 million into building up Taylor, and now Montego (MY; 4MO1) has swooped in hoping to deliver on the mine's sterling promises. Honorable Mentions: Endeavor Silver (NYSE:EXK) operates three silver-gold mines in Mexico, but it's also got three attractive development projects. Production has dropped and all-in sustaining costs have risen, leading to a negative cash flow. But the company has significantly reduced its debt, so it's future is anything but bleak. Pretium Resources (NYSE:PVG) This impressive Canadian company is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal resource properties in the Americas. Pretium has an impressive portfolio and if you can catch the stock while the price is right, there could be huge opportunity for upside. Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) Zinc hasn't been Teck's best friend of late, but that looks set to change in the medium term, as supply continue to dwindle and as we hear news that the world's top producer of the metal-Glencore-isn't planning to bring shuttered mines back online. Supply will remain tight. Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) Cameco is one of the largest global producers and sellers of uranium and nuclear fuel. Its operating uranium properties include the McArthur River/Key Lake, Cigar Lake, and Rabbit Lake properties located in Saskatchewan, Canada; the Inkai property situated in Kazakhstan; the Smith Ranch-Highland property located in Wyoming. Magna International (NYSE:MGA) is based in Aurora, Ontario. The global automotive supplier is gutsy and innovative--and definitely tuned to the obvious future--clean transportation. A great catalyst is its development of a combo electric/hydrogen vehicle--a fuel cell range-extended EV. By. Ian Jenkins Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure: This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. The company paid ninety thousand Dollars for this article and banner ads. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. We make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accept no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Safehaven.com only and are subject to change without notice. Safehaven.com assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report DISCLAIMER: Safehaven.com is Source of all content listed above. FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with Safehaven.com or any company mentioned herein. The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by Safehaven.com are solely those of Safehaven.com and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Contact Information: Media Contact e-mail:[email protected] U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611 SOURCE Safehaven.com The workshop was attended by around 70 people in Portland including members of Asian art council from Portland art museum. Public interest in Korean lantern culture was strong and due to large demand, the reservation period closed earlier than expected. Before starting the workshop, the committee introduced the Lotus Lantern Festival(Yeon Deung Hoe), played a video, introduced the production process. Lantern masters also gave demonstrations and held a course afterwards. People in different age, from teens to the elderly, participated in the workshop. At last, participants held a small parade rotating the hall three times with the lanterns they made and turned on. Recently, an official promotional video of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018 was released on Nov. 14, among which Lotus Lantern Festival was well introduced. (Website for PyeongChang Winter Olympics' official promotional video "The Last A.I." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9EHsn-9oto ) The full video is 4 minutes 41 seconds in length, from 1:40 to the two-minute mark, it featured a Korean festival, 'Janchi' (party), that was the Lotus Lantern Festival.This means the Korean government officially considers the festival a leading event featuring traditional Korean culture. As a festival appealed to cosmopolitans in favor of traditional Korean culture, the Lotus Lantern Festival (Yeon Deung Hoe) event will be even more interesting next year. A big Korean 'Janchi' (party) is to be held and everyone holds interest in Korean culture are welcome to join the event. The event for next year will run on May 11~13, and Lantern Parade as the main event is slated to hold on May 12 (Sat.) from 7 p.m.~9:30 p.m. in the downtown Seoul section of Jongno. The next day, May 13th (Sun.), traditional cultural events with around 100 culture booths and performances will be held in front of Jogye-sa Temple. For more information, visit www.LLF.or.kr/eng. CONTACT: Minsuk Hong 82-2-2011-1746 [email protected] SOURCE Yeon deung hoe Preservation Committee BEIJING, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 12, Tunghsu Optoelectronic signed Agreement on Cooperation for Jointly Building Smart Cities with the related institutions in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mongolia to form a strategic partnership. Meanwhile, Tunghsu Optoelectronic also signed an Exclusive Agency Contract and Sale Contract of more than RMB 10 million with Okura Co., Ltd. for Graphene Thermolysis High Power LED Lights. "The Belt and Road" initiative provides more strategic opportunities for corporations. The parties involved in the contracts have decided to build the development community in order to construct the IoT management platform for a smart city integrated with smart energy management, smart city administration, smart city safeguards, smart communication and smart transport to realize intelligent thermal management, intelligent lighting, intelligent travel and to speed up the establishment of smart cities, based upon the new technologies of graphene and the wide application of new energy vehicles, as well as bid data, cloud computing and Internet. Tunghsu Optoelectronic is the leading manufacturer and supplier of high-end intelligent equipment in China, which is a public listed corporation and the subsidiary of Tunghsu Group. Its business include the R&D and manufacturing of optoelectronic displaying materials, the high-end equipment manufacturing and system integration, the industrialization of graphene applications, the R&D and production of new energy vehicles, the construction of smart cities, etc. Therein, the construction of smart cities has the distinguishing feature, driven by the industry of graphene applications. SOURCE Tunghsu DUBLIN, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs in Russia and the Eurasian Union" conference has been added to Research and Markets' offering. This interactive meeting will discuss the regulatory requirements within these regions, and discuss the implications of the new joint Eurasian Union regulation, which came into force in 2016. The aim of this meeting is to provide an overview of recent regulatory developments in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs in Russia and the Eurasian Union. This interactive meeting will discuss the regulatory requirements within these regions, and discuss the implications of the new joint Eurasian Union regulation, which came into force in 2016. The focus will be on practical aspects to assist in developing your regulatory strategy for product approval in these countries and the presentations will also give practical hints on the regulatory process where possible. Who should attend? This seminar will be of particular interest to: Anyone working in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs in this region Anyone interested in an update of recent developments After attending this programme you will: Understand the competitive landscape of the growing markets in CIS region Discover the essential information on the new regulations and registration procedures in the Eurasian Customs Union Discuss national requirements and guidance for drug approval in core CIS markets of Russia , Kazakhstan , Belarus , Ukraine and Azerbaijan , , , and Develop your CIS Regional Submission Plan and place it within the global regulatory strategy Gain practical advice from industry experts working in CIS region Attending this programme will: Give you the full background to the CIS pharmaceutical market Ensure that you understand the full implications of the new regulations which will effect how you do business in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Help clarify the document requirements and timelines of national procedures and EAEU registration procedures Fully update you on the national regulations in Russia , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Ukraine and other CIS countries Agenda: Introduction and welcome Russia - competitive landscape Current market and projected growth Pharma-2020 and Health-2020 State programmes Pricing and reimbursement Patent and data protection Clinical trials in Russia and CIS Russia and CIS in global clinical research and CIS in global clinical research Clinical trial requirements Local registrations trials in Russia , CIS and the Eurasian Union Marketing authorisations in Russia Regulatory authorities in Russia Key regulations governing the MAA process Registration procedures Application dossier requirements CIS - regional regulatory overview CIS pharmaceutical market CIS regional regulation co-operation - the Eurasian Union CIS regulatory barriers for Market Access Marketing authorisations in CIS New Eurasian MAA procedure Common regional requirements in CIS: - administrative data - translations - CPP - Dossier format - local normative documents - samples - labelling Country specific requirements for MAAs: - Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kirgizstan Regional regulatory strategy Workshop - CIS Regional Regulatory Strategy Discussion will take place throughout the two days For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/634lv2/two_day_seminar?w=5 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Unimax, the world's leading provider of Unified Communications (UC) Management Software, today announced that its unified UC and voice system administration product, 2nd Nature is now compatible with Cisco's contact centers and Polycom phones. 2nd Nature enables organizations and managed service providers to unify the provisioning and management of their various UC, PBX, voice messaging and other critical business systems by providing a single, centralized management and administration interface. Unimax also announced the same expanded system compatibility for the other products in its UC management Software Suite. "Our ongoing efforts to expand the number of systems we integrate with is an important part of helping our customers meet their UC management needs," said Phil Moen, Unimax President and CEO. "Adding compatibility for Cisco UCCE, UCCX, and Polycom phones will enable organizations to quickly and easily provision and de-provision these assets while managing all associated moves, adds, changes, and deletes (MACDs) from the same 2nd Nature unified administration interface used to manage the other UC, PBX, and voicemail systems in the environment. This enables an organization to significantly reduce the amount of time and expense otherwise needed to manage Cisco UCCE, UCCX, and Polycom phones in separate silos." Unimax's 2nd Nature product and the entire Unimax UC Management Software Suite is available directly from Unimax or from its wide network of partner resellers. For additional product information, please visit www.unimax.com. About Unimax Unimax believes that managing and administering UC, PBX, and voice messaging systems can be far less complex and costly, while delivering better internal service levels. Unimax provides a UC Management Software Suite with tools for provisioning, employee self service moves, adds, changes, and deletes (MACDs), help desk agent MACDs, automation (e.g. automated provisioning/de-provisioning), phone number and DID management, system migrations (between Cisco, Skype for Business, Avaya/Nortel, etc.), unified MACD administration, and more for single and multi-vendor communication environments. The company has been a leading innovator of UC and voice system management tools for over 25 years. Its UC Management Software Suite is used by an extensive list of marquee enterprise, mid-market, and SMB companies, educational institutions, governmental entities, and managed service providers around the globe. Unimax is a privately held corporation based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, please call (800) 886-0390 or visit www.unimax.com. Unimax, Unimax Systems Corporation, and the Unimax logo are trademarks of Unimax Systems Corporation. All other trademarks herein are the property of their respective owners. SOURCE Unimax CAPE TOWN, South Africa, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With international visitor arrivals to Cape Town up by more than 25 per cent[*] and further growth expected, the revamped Cape Town Pass sightseeing card is set to make it easier and more affordable for tourists to discover South Africa's famous 'Mother City'. The Cape Town Pass (www.capetownpass.com) is designed to help visitors save time and money while enjoying the attractions and tours of the coastal city. Originally launched last year, the pass has been dramatically expanded and offers entry to a wide range of Cape Town's top attractions, landmarks and tours, as well as discounts and exclusive offers at a selection of restaurants. Priced from US$79.00 per adult and US$55.00 per child (aged 5-15) for a two-day pass, the Cape Town Pass is an all-in-one ticket that comes complete with a free attractions guidebook and fast-track entry at one of South Africa's most popular attractions, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. A Cape Town Pass free smartphone app also provides visitors with sightseeing tips and itinerary planning tools. All attraction and tour entry costs are included in the one-off price of the pass, enabling visitors to make significant savings on gate prices. On a three-day Cape Town Pass, costing $110 per adult, visitors can save $61 on the normal gate price of 10 popular attractions and tours, including Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, a half-day city tour, a bike tour and a sunset cruise. Save even more money by adding on an optional Travelcard, offering unlimited travel on the MyCiti bus network for three days. Featured Cape Town Pass attractions include: Table Mountain Aerial Cableway - enjoy unbeatable views of and from iconic Table Mountain, accessing the mountaintop via the Aerial Cableway.Normally priced at $20 per adult, fast-track entry is included with the Cape Town Pass. Cape Point Nature Reserve - visit the spectacular national park and dramatic coastline that Elizabethan explorer Sir Francis Drake named the 'Fairest Cape in all the World', and take a journey aboard the Cape Point Funicular to the summit itself, where uninterrupted panoramic views can be enjoyed. Entry to Cape Point Nature Reserve and the Cape Point Funicular are normally priced at $11 and $5 respectively, but are included with the Cape Town Pass. Boulders Beach Penguin Colony - one of the most popular destinations in South Africa thanks to its unique residents - Africa's only penguins!Normally priced at $6 but included with the Cape Town Pass. Springbok Experience - new to the Cape Town Pass, this world-class interactive museum allows visitors to try their hand at the skills necessary to be a part of one of rugby union's most successful international teams: South Africa's Springboks. Normally priced at $6. Groot Constantia - experience South Africa's most historic vineyard and enjoy a delicious wine tasting and tour of the cellars.Normally priced at $8 but included with the Cape Town Pass. Featured tours include: Mile by Mile City Tour - new to the Cape Town Pass, this unforgettable half-day city bus tour takes in beaches, peaks, iconic landmarks, diverse cultures and a troubled history.Normally priced at $42. Bikes 'n Wines - also new to the Cape Town Pass, and perfect for those who enjoy their sightseeing the active way! Explore the streets of Cape Town by bike and get an insider's insight into the city's iconic art, sights and landmarks - or take a challenging early morning ride along the scenic coastal route including the tough Suikerbossie Hill. Normally priced at $42. Yacoob Yachts - Sunset Cruise - round off a great day of sightseeing with this breath-taking sunset catamaran cruise, complete with a glass of delicious local sparking wine.Normally priced at $21 but included with the Cape Town Pass. Prices Two-day Cape Town Pass - $79 per adult, $55 per child (aged 5-15). per adult, per child (aged 5-15). Three-day Cape Town Pass - $110 per adult, $70 per child. per adult, per child. Five-day Cape Town Pass - $135 per adult, $80 per child. per adult, per child. Seven-day Cape Town Pass - $150 per adult, $105 per child. Children aged under 5 gain free entry to Cape Town attractions. The Cape Town Pass is available for purchase at www.capetownpass.com and can be shipped globally, collected on arrival in the city or downloaded as a mobile ticket for smartphones via the Cape Town Pass app. [*] (Source: Cape Town international arrivals from July 2016 to June 2017 totalled 999,270 - an increase of 25.1 per cent year-on-year - according to Airports Company South Africa). SOURCE Cape Town Pass DENVER, Colorado, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- UST Global, a leading digital technology services company, announces that it was featured in Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) conference 'Tech It Out', recently held in Denver, Colorado. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/540539/UST_Global_Logo.jpg ) Established to support learning and leadership development of women in technology careers, 'Tech It Out' had female and male professionals from organizations throughout the industry to learn about the latest trends in innovation and leadership. Dr. Adnan Masood, Chief Architect of AI and Machine Learning, UST Global , spoke at the 'Tech Show and Tell,' one of the most popular segments of the event. Dr. Masood gave a brief overview of UST Global, showcased a live demo on Democratizations of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, and also presented how the cutting-edge use of algorithms without specialized training using APIs and pre-training machine learning models can help democratize AI and Machine Learning. Commenting on the event, Dr. Adnan Masood, Chief Architect of AI and Machine Learning, UST Global, said, "Events like WICT help bring the spotlight on women leaders within the organization and the industry. UST Global recognizes diversity as a strength and is happy to partner with these efforts and highlight contributions." He further added, "Artificial Intelligence is not something right around the corner anymore. The ambient intelligence is growing around us in the form of IoT devices and context-sensitive data-intensive algorithms which transforms the way we interact with the world every day. The shift from Digital Native to AI-First, and eventually AI Native is unfolding right in front of our very eyes, at a very fast pace. For an organization's success in industry 4.0 world, they need to embrace the democratization of AI and take skilling-up very seriously." Dr. Masood also joined a panel of other distinguished leaders that included Gurpreet Kaur, Communications Director at Charter Communications; and Neill Kipp, Engineer and Cloud Software Architect at Comcast. Dr. Masood discussed UST Global's work with Stanford AI Lab, and MIT CSAIL, and how the researchers like Dr. Fei Fei Li, and Dr. Regina Barzilay in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning realm are making significant scientific breakthroughs. Laura Deitch, Client Executive, UST Global, said, "There is very low percentage of woman in the technology pipeline, and it decreases further at the leadership position levels. I am thrilled to be on the Board of Directors at WICT where they empower woman to become leaders in a male dominated industry." About UST Global UST Global is a leading digital technology company that provides advanced computing and digital services to large private and public enterprises around the world. Driven by a larger purpose of Transforming Lives and the philosophy of 'fewer clients, more attention', we bring in the entrepreneurial spirit that seeks the fastest path to value in today's digital economy. Our innovative technology services and pioneering social programs make us unique. UST Global is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California and operates in 25 countries. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies in Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Retail, High Technology, Manufacturing, Shipping, and Telecom. UST Global believes in building long-lasting, strategic business relationships through agile and client-centric global engagement models that combines local experts & resources with cost, scale, and quality advantages of global operations. For more information, please visit: http://www.ust-global.com. SOURCE UST Global MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today praised the appointment of Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Al Franken. Last week, Franken announced his intention to resign. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton this morning stated that Smith will replace Franken in the Senate. "This is an outstanding selection," said USW District 11 Director Emil Ramirez. "The lieutenant governor is a great advocate for working families no matter the sector: steel, mining, health care, you name it. "She supports health care workers' efforts to establish safe staffing levels in long term care facilities as well as in clinics and hospitals. "In addition, Smith has worked hard to support fair trade policies in the steel industry and for safer conditions in the mining industry. She has also been at the front lines in supporting workers' retraining initiatives to meet the future needs of advanced manufacturing in our state." Smith has indicated that she will also run in the November 2018 election to fill the remaining two years of the term, and the USW has promised to provide strong support to her campaign. USW District 11 represents thousands of workers in Minnesota as well as Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Overall, the USW represents 850,000 workers in North America and the Caribbean employed in the industries of metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service sector. For more information: www.usw.org/. CONTACT: Emil Ramirez (612) 623-8045 [email protected] SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW) Related Links http://www.usw.org SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- VIA Metropolitan Transit is celebrating a major milestone with the dedication of its 1,000th new "Next-Gen" bus stop improvement. The shelter, at the intersection of Hays and Mittman on the city's East Side, is part of VIA's ongoing Passenger Amenities Improvement Program that includes the enhancement of 1,000 existing bus stops throughout the VIA service area. The 1,000th stop, located in San Antonio City Council District 2, is adjacent to a San Antonio Housing Authority project and features a unique roof panel honoring the 1952 graduating class of St. Philip's College. With the completion of this stop, VIA now provides sheltered locations for 95 percent of boardings throughout its system. In keeping with VIA's ongoing commitment to support local, small, and minority-owned businesses, nearly all of the contracts awarded for VIA's Passenger Amenities Program went to locally-owned businesses and/or certified DBEs/SBEs. "The flexible modular concept allows scalability to serve differing activity needs tailored to each bus stop, and is designed to incorporate elements to reflect the cultural fabric of area parks, neighborhoods, places of interest and historic sites," VIA President/CEO Jeffrey C. Arndt said. "As we plan for the transportation needs of our region, we ensure that our customers' quality of life is enhanced with every project VIA pursues. Our priority is to connect our communities to opportunity and support economic vitality." The 1,000th bus stop improvement brings the total number of sheltered stops in the VIA service area to more than 2,200. The program goal of 1,000 new bus shelters system-wide was set in mid-2014. Streamlined and modern, the new Next-Gen shelter design provides comfortable, covered seating and sidewalk and ADA improvements to assist all passengers in making travel safer and connections smoother. In 2018, VIA will begin retrofitting Next-Gen shelters with solar-powered lighting for added comfort and visibility. The shelter program had a total project cost of $12.4 million. Approximately 73 percent of the work done in connection with the program went to DBE/SBE companies. Partners for the bus stop improvement at the VIA shelter located at Hays and Mittman included the San Antonio Housing Authority and St. Philip's College part of the Alamo Colleges. And partners for the improvement of 1,000 VIA bus stops include the City of San Antonio, the Texas Department of Transportation, H-E-B, and many others. The shelter was designed by Douglas Architects; outside civil engineering consulting was provided by SANTEC (formerly Bury), Vickery, Klotz, and Halff & Associates. Concrete and shelter installation contractors were San Antonio Concepts Construction, LaSalle Affordable Builders, Vars Concrete, Proficient Constructors, Ashco Contracting, Industrial Construction, Kegley, Inc., Ashco Contracting, LLC. The shelter components were manufactured by Walton Signage, GST Manufacturing Ltd, and Brasco Manufacturing; bench manufacturer was ProFab; and signage company was Lone Star Graphics. VIA Metropolitan Transit provides more than 40 million trips a year within a 1,226 square-mile service area. SOURCE VIA Metropolitan Transit Related Links http://www.viainfo.net "The Zarb School taps into the passion and strengths of its students and leverages world-class resources to help groom them into future business leaders," said Ferrara. "I'm thrilled to join the Dean's advisory board and to 'pay it forward' by supporting Hofstra University in developing the next generation of talented business professionals." Ferrara has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, having served in various leadership positions at major insurance and financial services corporations prior to joining Voya in 2012. As EVP of Operations and Continuous Improvement, Ferrara oversees the overall growth strategy and performance of the operations organization, as well as the company's Continuous Improvement efforts, a key driver of Voya's strategic transformation. She utilizes a results-driven approach to help build high-performing teams and greater collaboration among Voya's ongoing business and support functions. Ferrara is a member of the organization's Executive Committee and also serves on the Board of Directors of Voya Foundation, the company's charitable giving arm. The Zarb School has more than 1,000 graduate students from across the country and around the globe and is consistently ranked as a top national business program. Students have access to opportunities including internships, experiential learning and educational resources in New York City, with the comfort of a traditional campus environment. "It is our pleasure to welcome Nan to our advisory board," said Herman A. Berliner, Ph.D., Lawrence Herbert Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Frank G. Zarb School of Business. "As a highly accomplished graduate of our program, her expertise and experience will be enormously helpful as we further enhance the graduate and undergraduate experience for all of our students." The Zarb School offers state-of-the-art facilities, dedicated graduate business career services, along with exposure to New York City's world-class business organizations and cultural life. The School has a strong base of over 30,000 dedicated alumni. Media Contact: Nicole Vasile Voya Financial Cell: (860) 839-1589 [email protected] About Voya Financial Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.6 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2016. The company had $541 billion in total assets under management and administration as of Sept. 30, 2017. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible one person, one family, one institution at a time Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. Certified as a "Great Place to Work" by the Great Place to Work Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible and has been recognized as one of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, as well as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya. SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.voya.com SEATTLE, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, today announced the findings of its quarterly Internet Security Report, which explores the latest computer and network security threats affecting small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and distributed enterprises. The research revealed massive increases in scripting attacks and overall malware attempts against midsize companies throughout Q3 2017. The findings reinforce expectations of continued growth of new malware and various attack techniques in the coming months, further emphasizing the importance of layered security and advanced threat prevention solutions. "Threat actors are constantly adjusting their techniques, always looking for new ways of exploiting vulnerabilities to steal valuable data," said Corey Nachreiner, chief technology officer at WatchGuard Technologies. "This quarter, we found that script-based attacks like the fake Python library packages discovered in September appeared 20 times more than in Q2, while overall malware attacks shot through the roof. Staying vigilant regarding these developments is half the battle. Every business can better protect themselves and their stakeholders by employing multiple layers of protection, enabling advanced security services and monitoring network logs for traffic related to the top threats mentioned in this report." The ever-growing mob of constantly evolving security threats can seem overwhelming to the average small business with limited staff and resources. WatchGuard's Internet Security Report examines the modern threat landscape and delivers key data, educational guidance and in-depth research to help readers understand the latest attack trends and update their defenses. Major findings from the Q3 2017 report include: Scripting threats account for 68 percent of all malware. WatchGuard's Gateway AntiVirus (GAV) solution uses signatures that block various types of JavaScript and Visual Basic Script threats, such as downloaders. The sum total of these script-based attacks accounted for the vast majority of the malware detected in Q3. WatchGuard's Gateway AntiVirus (GAV) solution uses signatures that block various types of JavaScript and Visual Basic Script threats, such as downloaders. The sum total of these script-based attacks accounted for the vast majority of the malware detected in Q3. Malware quantities have skyrocketed; a trend that will likely continue. Total malware instances spiked by 81 percent this quarter over last. With more than 19 million variants blocked in Q3 and the holiday season approaching, malware attempts will likely increase dramatically in Q4 as well. Total malware instances spiked by 81 percent this quarter over last. With more than 19 million variants blocked in Q3 and the holiday season approaching, malware attempts will likely increase dramatically in Q4 as well. Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attacks plague web browsers, spreading internationally . XSS attacks, which allow cyber criminals to inject malicious script into victims' sites, continue to grow at a measured pace. Previous reports detailed XSS attacks against Spain alone, but in Q3, XSS attacks broadly affected every country. . XSS attacks, which allow cyber criminals to inject malicious script into victims' sites, continue to grow at a measured pace. Previous reports detailed XSS attacks against alone, but in Q3, XSS attacks broadly affected every country. Legacy antivirus (AV) only missed 24 percent of new malware. Over the past three quarters, signature-based AV has missed malware at increasing rates, peaking at almost 47 percent in Q2. But this quarter was a marked improvement with only 23.77 percent of new or zero day malware able to circumvent AV. While this data is encouraging, behavioral detection solutions are still the most effective way to block advance persistent threats. Over the past three quarters, signature-based AV has missed malware at increasing rates, peaking at almost 47 percent in Q2. But this quarter was a marked improvement with only 23.77 percent of new or zero day malware able to circumvent AV. While this data is encouraging, behavioral detection solutions are still the most effective way to block advance persistent threats. Suspicious HTML iframes surface everywhere. Attackers are continuing to evolve how they leverage the HTML iframe tag to force unsuspecting victims to suspicious, and often malicious sites. While potentially malicious iframes showed up everywhere, including the U.S. and Canada , their numbers jumped significantly in both the UK and Germany . Attackers are continuing to evolve how they leverage the HTML iframe tag to force unsuspecting victims to suspicious, and often malicious sites. While potentially malicious iframes showed up everywhere, including the U.S. and , their numbers jumped significantly in both the UK and . Authentication is still a big target. Though not as prevalent as in Q2, attacks targeting authentication and credentials (like Mimikatz) returned in a big way this quarter. Aside from Mimikatz, brute force web login attempts were also highly visible, proving that attackers are continuing to target the weakest link credentials. WatchGuard's Internet Security Report is based on anonymized Firebox Feed data from nearly 30,000 active WatchGuard UTM appliances worldwide, which blocked more than 19 million malware variants and 1.6 million network attacks in Q3. The complete report includes defensive strategies for responding to the latest attack trends, based on analyses of the quarter's top malware and network threats. The report also examines the growing trend of supply chain attacks by evaluating the most notable instances from Q3 NetSarang, Ccleaner and fake Python packages. WatchGuard Threat Lab's latest research project a detailed analysis on Q3 phishing trends is highlighted in the report as well. This project features email spam and malware data captured by the team's "Artemis" honeynet, which is now publicly available on GitHub for download and use. For more information, download the full report here. About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, providing best-in-class Unified Threat Management, Next Generation Firewall, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services to more than 75,000 customers worldwide. The company's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for Distributed Enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com. For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org. Media Contacts: Chris Warfield WatchGuard Technologies 206.876.8380 [email protected] Anthony Cogswell Voxus PR 253.444.5980 [email protected] SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. Related Links http://www.watchguard.com Labor Day was the busiest weekend for car rental Disney Theme Parks topped the list of things to do Theme Parks topped the list of things to do The average hotel stay was two nights Top destinations based on 2017 air travel included major global cities like New York , London and Bangkok , and popular tourist destinations Orlando , Cancun and Las Vegas . "With millions of searches each year, here at Expedia we're in a unique position to understand traveler behaviors, priorities and overall travel trends," says John Morrey, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com brand. "Looking at this year's top air travel destinations, one thing that stood out to me was that so many of these places were affected by adverse events, like hurricanes and travel advisories. But despite that, the data shows travelers are still interested in and visiting these destinations. We've never doubted the resiliency of travelers, and it's heartening to see that people continue to get out there and see the world." Expedia hopes these findings provide inspiration and insight for travelers as they begin planning their 2018 travels. Air Travel Ever-popular Cancun, New York and Las Vegas topped the list for travelers in 2017, unsurprising given the wide-ranging appeal of each destination for families, couples, business and solo travelers alike. More notable was Spain's representation, with a swell of interest boosting Madrid and Barcelona onto the top five most-searched list. Most-Searched Destinations (Domestic): Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami New York Orlando * Most-Searched Destinations (International): Cancun London Madrid * Barcelona * Bangkok Most-Booked Destinations (Domestic): New York Los Angeles Orlando Las Vegas Chicago Most-Booked Destinations (International): Cancun London Mexico City Paris * Guadalajara * *New to the top five in 2017 Accommodations and Amenities Hotels 2017 was all about the quick getaway, with the average hotel stay coming in at two nights. When it came to deciding where to stay, travelers were motivated by strong savings at hotels that were centrally-located and close to tourist attractions. The top hotels for 2017 included: Vacation Rentals Meanwhile, Australia dominated the vacation rentals market, taking four of the top five spots. With interest in vacation rentals on the rise, travelers are increasingly attracted by the option of having all the comforts of home while enjoying competitive pricing in hot destinations. These were the top destinations for vacation rentals in 2017: Melbourne, Australia Gold Coast, Australia Orlando, Florida Sydney, Australia Brisbane, Australia Amenities Finally, hotel guests enjoyed some serious perks in 2017, most frequently receiving discounts and credits for spa services just by staying at a +VIP Access listing. Other commonly awarded freebies included complimentary beverages and late check-out. Car Rental Road warriors from coast to coast put the rented pedal to the metal this year, most frequently opting for two- or four-door models over roomier SUVs and passenger vans. Rental car demand peaked on summer Fridays, specifically ahead of Labor Day, July 4th and Memorial Day. These findings come as no surprise to anyone who found themselves in an epic traffic jam during those holiday weekends, and should serve as a reminder to book early or as part of a package to lock in your ride and rate this summer. The top cities for car rental in 2017 were: Los Angeles Orlando Denver Las Vegas Atlanta Attractions, Tours and Experiences Often activities and attractions are just one part of a vacation, while other times they're the entire reason for the trip. Data from Expedia's Things to Do revealed a mix of both in 2017. The top activity category was Tours & Sightseeing, but the top five activities list was mostly dominated by theme park tickets: Las Vegas, NYC and Paris were the top cities for attractions, tours and experiences, proving tourists heading to these destinations were keen to soak up all the sights. 1All data from Expedia.com point of sale between January 1, 2017-November 15, 2017. About Expedia.com Expedia.com is one of the world's largest full service travel sites, helping millions of travelers per month easily plan and book travel. Expedia.com (https://www.expedia.com/, 1-800-EXPEDIA) aims to provide the latest technology and the widest selection of top vacation destinations, affordable airfares, hotel deals, car rentals, destination weddings, cruise deals and in-destination activities, attractions, services and travel apps. 2017 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Expedia and the Airplane logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners CST # 2029030-50. Visit our web site https://www.expedia.com/ or use our mobile app to book cheap flights and hotels. SOURCE Expedia.com Related Links http://www.expedia.com Yoshinoya is one of the oldest rice bowl concepts in the industry. Building on its extensive history and authenticity, Yoshinoya is expanding on its core bowls. "Part of our focus is to keep the menu exciting while never losing sight of who we are and what our Brand represents. New items are always in development and the selection progress is rigorous - only 1 out of every 8 items tested earn a place on menus company-wide," says Angella Green, Director of Marketing. While Yoshinoya keeps up to speed on industry trends, it works to stay focused on what its guests want and strives to deliver an exceptional experience. "The new Habanero Chicken showcases the exceptional, authentic cuisine offered at Yoshinoya. The highlight of our overall menu and new item is not only its innovative use of fresh and innovative flavors, but also its commitment to respond to the growing trends and demands of our diners," says Angella. About Yoshinoya: Fresh, wholesome Japanese-style cuisine is the essence of the Yoshinoya Japanese Kitchen menu. Dating back to 1899 with the opening of its first restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, Yoshinoya is among the oldest quick-service restaurant chains in operation. Throughout its century of experience, Yoshinoya continues to grow aggressively while operating or franchising more than 1,833 restaurants in Japan, Mainland China, Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines and the United States. The Yoshinoya Japanese Kitchen menu is based on fresh ingredients served in a variety of rice bowls, including the original Beef Bowl that started it all in 1899. Yoshinoya has more than 100+ restaurants in California with plans for expansion through additional company restaurants. For more information, visit http://www.YoshinoyaAmerica.com SOURCE Yoshinoya America Related Links http://www.yoshinoyaamerica.com Deutsche Asset Management today announced the acquisition of properties in Espoo, near Helsinki, and in Brisbane, Australia, on behalf of one of its German domiciled open-ended real estate funds. Deutsche AM has acquired two office buildings including a car park in Keilalahdentie 2-4, in Keilaniemi,... [] Wolf Theiss welcomes back Flaviu Nanu as Counsel and adds Sebastian Botic as Associate in the firm's Real Estate, Energy and Infrastructure practice groups. Flaviu Nanu previously worked at Wolf Theiss from 2006 until 2008 and thereafter he was a counsel in the Real Estate and Energy department of the Photos: ServiciiFotografie [] There is a lot of talk about the shift that is occurring from older payment methods such as cash and cheques towards electronic methods such as cards, BPAY, and other electronic funds transfers like the pay anyone functionality offered in online banking. For example, in the recent consultations around the Black Economy Task Force, merchants and merchant organisations expressed interest in switching away from cash to electronic payments. And the Reserve Bank's support for the New Payments Platform over the past five years has very much reflected our desire to improve the quality of electronic payment services that are available to consumers, businesses and government entities. However, merchants have also expressed concerns that electronic payments can be quite expensive. More specifically, many have indicated that the cost of payments has increased as debit card transactions are shifting from PIN to contactless (or tap-and-go) authorisation. Today I am going to summarise some new data on the cost of payments to merchants and discuss least-cost routing, which is a current policy issue in this area. Some Data on Merchant Payment Costs The Reserve Bank recently asked all the larger acquirers to provide anonymised merchant-level data on the costs to merchants of accepting different types of cards. We asked them for data for 2016/17 on the total value of card payments and average cost of payments (in terms of merchant service fees and other costs) for all the four-party card payment systems (eftpos, Debit MasterCard, Visa Debit, MasterCard credit, Visa credit, and UnionPay). These data correspond to the information that acquirers were required to provide merchants as part of the new surcharging framework. After a small amount of trimming of outliers, we have data for around 680 000 merchant accounts. My first graph shows a scatter plot of the average total cost of card payments (across all schemes) for those merchants. It is apparent that there is a wide range in the cost of payments for merchants of different sizes. But the darker parts of the graph hint at a tendency for merchants' payment costs to fall as their transaction values rise. Graph 1 My next graph divides merchants into ten different groups ranked by the value of annual transactions, with each group accounting for 10 per cent of the value of all card transactions. The first group includes the smallest merchants (around 490 000 merchants with average annual transactions of $92 000) and the tenth group includes the largest (35 merchants with average transactions of $1.3 billion). The graph shows the average cost for different payment schemes, but with MasterCard and Visa grouped together. Graph 2 The data clearly show the tendency for larger merchants to have lower payment costs and they also show debit cards to be cheaper than credit cards. For merchants of all sizes, eftpos is a lower-cost system on average than the debit systems of MasterCard and Visa. And the credit systems of MasterCard and Visa are less expensive on average than UnionPay (UnionPay transactions in Australia are nearly all on cards issued overseas). Why do smaller merchants tend to have higher average payment costs? There are several reasons: There are some fixed costs associated with providing payment services to merchants, and smaller merchants have a lower volume of transactions to spread these over. Smaller merchants may have less bargaining power with acquirers. Smaller merchants are less likely to benefit from strategic or preferred interchange rates from card schemes. Smaller merchants may be less financially sophisticated and may not always choose, or be offered, plans from their acquirers that would minimise their payment costs. For example, banks' websites are increasingly highlighting plans whereby the merchant pays a fixed dollar amount each month for card transactions up to a certain total value, and then a fixed percentage amount, typically around 1.5 per cent, for all transactions above that amount. While these plans may be convenient for some merchants, a key point is that there is no differentiation in the price of different schemes to merchants selecting them. For example, merchants are paying the same rate for an eftpos transaction as they are for other schemes, even though eftpos transactions will normally cost the acquirer much less to provide. I will now focus on the data for the cost of debit card transactions. The simple averages of payment costs for eftpos and the international debit schemes across all 680 000 merchant accounts suggest a cost differential of 37 basis points. However, this may not be a good estimate of the average difference in payment costs for any merchant because of differences in the size of merchants across the schemes and differences in their transaction mixes. The average gap between the two bottom lines in the previous graph can be viewed as a measure of the difference in average costs between eftpos and the international schemes which controls for differences in merchant size across schemes. This gap suggests that debit transactions via the international schemes typically cost merchants about 44 basis points more than transactions via the domestic eftpos system in 2016/17. One additional factor to control for is compositional differences in transaction types. For example, eftpos transactions are all point-of-sale transactions whereas the international schemes also facilitate card-not-present transactions. One way to control for this difference is to divide merchant accounts into those that accepted both eftpos and the international schemes, and those which accepted the international schemes but not eftpos. The former group are likely to be bricks-and-mortar or point-of-sale merchants, whereas the latter are likely to be billers or online merchants. My next graph shows the results of that exercise. It shows that there remained a large difference in the cost of debit transactions for those merchants which accept both eftpos and the international schemes, with an average gap of 39 basis points in 2016/17. Graph 3 Now there may be other differences in the nature of the transactions of the different debit schemes. For example, eftpos transactions are all on domestically issued cards, whereas some MasterCard and Visa transactions will be on international cards. We have done some figuring which suggests that this may explain part of the difference in the above graph, possibly around a quarter of it. But the overall message appears to be that eftpos is generally a less expensive payment method for merchants, even after controlling for differences in merchant size, for an important difference in merchant type, and for the mix of domestic and foreign transactions. This should not be surprising given that scheme fees and interchange fees have both tended to be lower for eftpos than for the international debit systems. While eftpos is a lower-cost scheme on average across all merchant sizes, we can use the merchant-level data to see if there is some proportion of merchants for whom this is not the case. For example, given that eftpos is often priced to merchants on a cents-per-transaction basis, while international scheme debit is usually charged on a percentage basis, merchants with low average transaction sizes may see little difference in their payment costs. In some circumstances, for example coffee shops and other merchants where the ticket size is typically very low, merchants may face higher acceptance costs for eftpos. Looking at those merchants which accept both eftpos and international scheme debit, the data indicate that international scheme debit is less expensive for merchants accounting for around 4 per cent of the value of debit card transactions, and that there is little difference in cost between the schemes for merchants accounting for around 8 per cent of transactions. However, eftpos is less expensive for the large majority of merchants representing around 87 per cent of the value of debit card transactions. The data I have just talked about are for the 2016/17 financial year. So they predate the reset of interchange rates for the international schemes that occurred on 1 July. We do not have merchant-by-merchant payment costs for the period after the interchange reset, but we do have some aggregate data from our regular Retail Payments Statistics collection. These data show that there was a fall of 3 basis points in average merchant fees for debit transactions in the MasterCard and Visa systems in the September quarter. So there has been some modest narrowing in the gap between scheme debit and eftpos. However, the data continue to show a significant difference in average payment costs, of around 32 basis points. In addition, when expressed in cents rather than basis points, the reduction in average merchant costs in the September quarter was less than half of the reduction in actual interchange payments in the quarter. Hence it is apparent that acquirers are yet to pass through the majority of the reduction in their interchange costs. Graph 4 Least-cost Routing Given that payment costs are a significant item for merchants, it is not surprising that merchants pay attention to them. Just as merchants are keen to hold down other business costs, they are also keen to hold down their payment costs. Recently, they have drawn attention to a particular issue that is driving up their cost of payments. The majority of debit cards issued in Australia are now dual-network cards, which means that authorisation of cardholders' debit transactions can occur through different networks the domestic eftpos network or the debit networks of the international MasterCard or Visa schemes. If you look at your debit or ATM card, there is a good chance it will have an international scheme logo on one side and the eftpos logo on the other. Traditionally, cardholders have determined how their debit transactions are processed, by pressing either the CHQ or SAV buttons for eftpos or the CR button for the international network, before entering their PIN. However, with the shift to contactless or tap-and-go transactions, the processing of debit transactions has been shifting to the international networks. This initially reflected the fact that contactless payments were only available for the international schemes. Most cards and terminals are now also activated for eftpos contactless functionality. However, when card-issuing banks send out dual-network debit cards they are programmed with the international scheme as the first-priority network for contactless use and the eftpos network as second priority. Most cardholders are indifferent about which network processes their contactless transactions. Both networks can link to the same debit account and cardholders do not directly bear the costs of the transactions. Moreover, there are typically no rewards programs associated with debit transactions, and customers receive similar protections from fraud and disputed transactions, based on the ePayments Code and the chargeback policies of the three schemes. However, many merchants have a preference for transactions to be processed via the eftpos network, because as I have illustrated it is typically less expensive for them. Accordingly, many merchants have been calling for their acquirer banks to provide them with least-cost routing, i.e., terminal functionality that sends contactless debit transactions via the lower-cost network. Terminals might be programmed to always send dual-network card transactions via a particular network or they might use dynamic rules which identify the lower-cost network for each transaction. The Bank has had discussions with consumer organisations and staff from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as to how least-cost routing might be implemented. We consider that it would be desirable for a merchant implementing least-cost routing to disclose this to customers. Depending on how terminals were actually programmed, this could be by a sign that the merchant will typically send tap-and-go debit card transactions via a certain network, but noting that customers wishing to send transactions via a different network could insert or dip their cards and push the button or keypad for their preferred network. A sign such as this would provide consumers with the opportunity to override the merchant's preferred network if they wished. Such a framework would seem to be a reasonable balance between the rights of merchants and consumers, and it is likely that consumers would quickly become used to the idea that their transactions could be sent via different networks at different merchants. The Reserve Bank has taken an interest in dual-network card issues because of the Payments System Board's mandate to promote competition and efficiency. As the Bank and other observers of the payments system have frequently noted, the nature of competition in the payment card market is often such that it tends to drive up costs to merchants, as schemes increase their interchange fees to persuade issuers to issue their cards. Merchants have typically had little ability to offset these pressures (in the absence of regulatory intervention to cap interchange fees or remove schemes' no-surcharge rules). However, dual-network cards can potentially offset the pressures for payment costs to rise, because the merchant may be able to steer the consumer to use the lower-cost of the two networks on a card. Accordingly, the Bank has indicated that it supports the issue of such cards in Australia, because they are convenient for cardholders and allow stronger competition between networks at the point of sale, facilitating both consumer and merchant choice. Some disputes over dual-network debit cards emerged between the debit schemes in 2012-13. However, after a series of discussions with the Bank, in August 2013 the three debit schemes made voluntary undertakings to the Bank that addressed some policy concerns. These included commitments: to work constructively to allow issuers to include applications from two networks on the same card and chip, where issuers wished to do this; not to prevent merchants from exercising choice in the networks they accept, in both the contact and contactless environments; and not to prevent merchants from exercising their own transaction routing priorities when there are two contactless debit applications on one card. As noted above, most terminals and eftpos cards are now enabled for tap-and-go eftpos transactions. Given the Bank's views about the potential competition and efficiency benefits of dual-network cards, as well as the earlier commitments by the three debit schemes, the Bank has been liaising with a range of stakeholders over recent months to encourage the provision of least-cost routing functionality to merchants. However, until very recently, acquirers have indicated reluctance to provide least-cost routing to their merchant customers. This is partly due to the expected systems work, including to reprogram terminals. In addition, some merchants have expressed concern to the Bank that the international schemes might resist the implementation of least-cost routing. To the extent that transactions via the international schemes are currently more expensive to merchants, a possible outcome of least-cost routing becoming available would be for the international schemes to reduce scheme or interchange fees so that merchants have little incentive to send transactions via another network. However, some merchants are concerned about other possible responses, including that the international schemes might respond to a merchant's decision to implement least-cost routing of debit transactions by increasing the interchange rates that apply to the merchant's credit transactions. They have also noted that the international schemes might try to preclude least-cost routing by attempting to persuade issuers to stop issuing dual-network cards. The ACCC is aware of these concerns, and is closely monitoring the situation. With the passage of the Harper reforms, which came into effect in November this year, the ACCC now has even stronger powers to investigate and take action in relation to conduct by the international schemes that might hinder competitive conduct by a lower-cost provider. The Payments System Board has discussed issues involving dual-network cards in recent meetings. At its 17 November meeting, the Board strongly supported calls from a range of stakeholders for acquirers to provide merchants with least-cost routing functionality for contactless transactions using dual-network debit cards. It requested the Bank staff to continue to engage with the payments industry on this issue, noting that a prompt industry solution was preferable to regulation. More recently, the Review of the Four Major Banks by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics has made the following recommendation: The committee recommends that banks be required to give merchants the ability to send tap-and-go payments from dual-network debit cards through the channel of their choice. Merchants should be able to choose whether to route these transactions through eftpos or another channel, noting that consumers may override this merchant preference if they choose to do so. If the banks have not facilitated this recommendation by 1 April 2018, the Payments System Board should take regulatory action to require this to occur. Recent indications are that all four of the major banks are moving to providing least-cost routing if requested by merchants, though in some cases they have indicated this could occur on a fairly extended timetable. We expect that some of the smaller acquirers may be able to move more quickly. Accordingly, the Bank expects that by early in 2018 there will be concrete indications that a critical mass of acquirers are moving to provide least-cost routing and that the international schemes are not attempting to prevent this. However, if this expectation is not met, I expect that the Payments System Board will consider consulting on a regulatory solution that deals with all the relevant considerations. While of course the measures that could be consulted on will be determined by the Board, I can imagine that this could involve considering whether some or all of the following measures might be in the public interest: a requirement that acquirers must provide merchants with least-cost routing functionality for contactless dual-network debit card transactions a requirement for enhanced transparency in contractual pricing of acquiring services to merchants requirements that schemes publish explicit criteria for any preferred or strategic interchange fees and that any such criteria may not be related to acceptance decisions relating to other payment systems anti-avoidance provisions that ensure adherence to the spirit, as well as the letter, of any standard. Conclusion As the economy shifts away from paper-based payments, it is important that the payments system provides end users with access to low-cost electronic payments. Debit cards, which are one of the basic payment instruments in any payments system, are likely to be an important element of this. Indeed, based on the most recent data, it is likely debit cards will soon overtake, or may have already overtaken cash as the most frequently used method of payment in the Australian economy. Given the ubiquity of debit cards and their importance for consumers and merchants, the Bank will continue to pursue its mandate of promoting competition and efficiency in this segment of the payments system. Many of you are participants in this market, and we look forward to you providing this competition. Guest Observer. Thank you for the invitation to speak at this important summit. It is an honour for me to be able to join you. Over recent times, the payments system has evolved tremendously and AusPayNet has been at the centre of this evolution. In particular, it has played an important role in coordinating the industry's response to the Strategic Review of Innovation conducted by the Payments System Board. As a result of this work, same-day settlement for direct entry transactions was introduced, the Australian Payments Council was formed and, most importantly, the New Payments Platform (NPP) was developed. I would like to thank both past and current members of the AusPayNet team for your contribution to this effort. If we look back over a slightly longer period, a clear lesson from history is that as people's needs change and technology improves, so too does the form that money takes. Once upon a time, people used clam shells and stones as money. And for a while, right here in the colony of New South Wales, rum was notoriously used. For many hundreds of years, though, metal coins were the main form of money. Then, as printing technology developed, paper banknotes became the norm. The next advance in technology developed right here in Australia was the printing of banknotes on polymer. No doubt, this evolution will continue. Though predicting its exact nature is difficult. But as Australia's central bank, the RBA has been giving considerable thought as to what the future might look like. We are the issuer of Australia's banknotes, the provider of exchange settlement accounts for the financial sector, and we have a broad responsibility for the efficiency of the payments system, so this is an important issue for us. Today I want to share with you some of our thinking about this future and to address a question that I am being asked increasingly frequently: does the RBA intend to issue a digital form of the Australian dollar? Let's call it an eAUD. The short answer to this question is that we have no immediate plans to issue an electronic form of Australian dollar banknotes, but we are continuing to look at the pros and cons. At the same time, we are also looking at how settlement arrangements with central bank money might evolve as new technologies emerge. As we have worked through the issues, we have developed a series of working hypotheses. I would like to use this opportunity to outline these hypotheses and then discuss each of them briefly. As you will see, we have more confidence in some of these than others. There will be a further significant shift to electronic payments, but there will still be a place for banknotes, although they will be used less frequently. It is likely that this shift to electronic payments will occur largely through products offered by the banking system. This is not a given, though. It will require financial institutions to offer customers low-cost solutions that meet their needs. An electronic form of banknotes could coexist with the electronic payment systems operated by the banks, although the case for this new form of money is not yet established. If an electronic form of Australian dollar banknotes was to become a commonly used payment method, it would probably best be issued by the RBA and distributed by financial institutions, just as physical banknotes are today. Another possibility that is sometimes suggested for encouraging the shift to electronic payments would be for the RBA to offer every Australian an exchange settlement account with easy, low-cost payments functionality. To be clear, we see no case for doing this. It is possible that the RBA might, in time, issue a new form of digital money a variation on exchange settlement accounts perhaps using distributed ledger technology. This money could then be used in specific settlement systems. The case for doing this has not yet been established, but we are open to the idea. So these are our five working hypotheses. I would now like to expand on each of these. 1. The Shift to Electronic Payments An appropriate starting point is to recognise that most money is already digital or electronic. Only 3 per cent of what is known as broad money in Australia is in the form of physical currency. The rest is in the form of deposits, which, most of the time, can be accessed electronically. So the vast majority of what we know today as money is a liability of the private sector, and not the central bank, and is already electronic. With most money available electronically, there has been a substantial shift to electronic forms of payments as well. There are various ways of tracking this shift. One is the survey of consumers that the RBA conducts every three years. When we first conducted this survey in 2007, we estimated that cash accounted for around 70 per cent of transactions made by households. In the most recent survey, which was conducted last year, this share had fallen to 37 per cent (Graph 1). Graph 1 A second way of tracking the change is the decline in cash withdrawals from ATMs. The number of withdrawals peaked in 2008 and since then has fallen by around 25 per cent (Graph 2). This trend is likely to continue. Graph 2 The third area where we can see this shift is the rapid growth in the number of debit and credit card transactions and in transactions using the direct entry system. Since 2005, the number of transactions using these systems has grown at an average annual rate of 10 per cent (Graph 3). This stands in contrast to the decline in the use of cash and cheques. Graph 3 The overall picture is pretty clear. There has been a significant shift away from people using banknotes to making payments electronically. Most recently, Australia's enthusiastic adoption of tap-and-go payments has added impetus to this shift. In many ways, Australians are ahead of others in the use of electronic payments, although we are not quite in the vanguard. It is also worth pointing out, though, that despite this shift to electronic payments, the value of banknotes on issue is at a 50-year high as a share of GDP (Graph 4). Australians are clearly holding banknotes for purposes other than for making day-to-day payments. Graph 4 This shift towards electronic payments, and away from the use of banknotes for payments, will surely continue. This will be driven partly by the increased use of mobile payment apps and other innovations. At the same time, though, it is likely that banknotes will continue to play an important role in the Australian payments landscape for many years to come. For many people, and for some types of transactions, banknotes are likely to remain the payment instrument of choice. 2. Banks are likely to remain at the centre of the shift to electronic payments In Australia, the banking system has provided the infrastructure that has made the shift to electronic payments possible. In some other countries, the banking system has not done this. For example, in China and Kenya non-bank entities have been at the forefront of recent strong growth in electronic payments. A lesson here is that if financial institutions do not respond to customers' needs, others will. At this stage, it seems likely that the banking system will continue to provide the infrastructure that Australians use to make electronic payments. This is particularly so given the substantial investment made by Australia's financial institutions in the NPP. The new system was turned on for live proving in late November and the public launch is scheduled for February. It will allow Australians to make payments easily on a 24/7 basis, with recipients having immediate access to their money. The RBA has built a critical part of this infrastructure to ensure interbank settlement occurs in real time. Payments will be able to be made by just knowing somebody's email address or mobile phone number and plenty of information will be able to be sent with the payment. This system has the potential to be transformational and will allow many transactions that today are conducted with banknotes to be conducted electronically. Importantly, the new system offers instant settlement and funds availability. It provides this, while at the same time allowing funds to be held in deposit accounts at financial institutions subject to strong prudential regulation and that pay interest. This combination of attributes is not easy to replicate, including by closed-loop systems outside the banking system. However, the further shift to electronic payments through the banking system is not a given. It requires that the cost to consumers and businesses of using the NPP is low and that the functionality expands over time. If this does not happen, then the experience of other countries suggests that alternative systems or technologies might emerge. One class of technology that has emerged that can be used for payments is the so-called cryptocurrencies, the most prominent of which is Bitcoin. But in reality these currencies are not being commonly used for everyday payments and, as things currently stand, it is hard to see that changing. The value of Bitcoin is very volatile, the number of payments that can currently be handled is very low, there are governance problems, the transaction cost involved in making a payment with Bitcoin is very high and the estimates of the electricity used in the process of mining the coins are staggering. When thought of purely as a payment instrument, it seems more likely to be attractive to those who want to make transactions in the black or illegal economy, rather than everyday transactions. So the current fascination with these currencies feels more like a speculative mania than it has to do with their use as an efficient and convenient form of electronic payment. This is not to say that other efficient and low-cost electronic payments methods will not emerge. But there is a certain attraction of being able to make payments from funds held in prudentially regulated accounts that can earn interest. 3. Electronic banknotes could coexist with the electronic payment system operated by the banks In principle, a new form of electronic payment method that could emerge would be some form of electronic banknotes, or electronic cash. The easiest case to think about is a form of electronic Australian dollar banknotes. Such banknotes could coexist with the electronic account-to-account-based payments system operated by the banks, just as polymer banknotes coexist with the electronic systems today. The technologies for doing this on an economy-wide scale are still developing. It is possible that it could be achieved through a distributed ledger, although there are other possibilities as well. The issuing authority could issue electronic currency in the form of files or tokens. These tokens could be stored in digital wallets, provided by financial institutions and others. These tokens could then be used for payments in a similar way that physical banknotes are used today. In thinking about this possibility there are a couple of important questions that I would like to highlight. The first is that if such a system were to be technologically feasible, who would issue the tokens: the RBA or somebody else? The second is whether the RBA developing such a system would pass the public interest test. In terms of the issuing authority, our working hypothesis is that this would best be done by the central bank. In principle, there is nothing preventing tokenised eAUDs being issued by the private sector. It is conceivable, for example, that eAUD tokens could be issued by banks or even by large non-banks, although it is hard to see them being issued as cryptocurrency tokens under a bitcoin-style protocol, with no central entity standing behind the liability. So, while a privately issued eAUD is conceivable, experience cautions that there are significant difficulties and dangers associated with privately issued fiat money. The history of private issuance is one of periodic panic and instability. In times of uncertainty and stress, people don't want to hold privately issued fiat money. This is one reason why today physical banknotes are backed by central banks. It is possible that ways might be found to deal with this financial stability issue including full collateralisation but these tend to be expensive. This suggests that if there were to be an electronic form of banknotes that was widely used by the community, it is probably better and more likely for it to be issued by the central bank. If we were to head in this direction, there would be significant design issues to work through. The tokens could be issued in a way that transactions could be made with complete anonymity, just as is the case with physical banknotes. Alternatively, they might be issued in a way in which transactions were auditable and traceable by relevant authorities. We would also need to deal with the issue of possible counterfeiting. Depending upon the design of any system, we might be very reliant on cryptography and would need to be confident in the ability to resist malicious attacks. This brings me to the second issue here: is there a public policy case for moving in this direction? Such a case would need to be built on electronic banknotes offering something that account-to-account transfers through the banking system do not. We would also need to be confident that there were not material downsides from moving in this direction. Our current working hypothesis is that with the NPP there is likely to be little additional benefit from electronic banknotes. This, of course, presupposes that the NPP provides low-cost efficient payments. One possible benefit of electronic banknotes for some people might be that they could have less of an electronic fingerprint than account-to-account transfers, although this would depend upon how the system was designed. But having less of an electronic fingerprint hardly seems the basis for building a public policy case to issue an electronic form of the currency. So there would need to be more than this. Among the potential downsides, the main one lies in the area of financial stability. If we were to issue electronic banknotes, it is possible that in times of banking system stress, people might seek to exchange their deposits in commercial banks for these banknotes, which are a claim on the central bank. It is likely that the process of switching from commercial bank deposits to digital banknotes would be easier than switching to physical banknotes. In other words, it might be easier to run on the banking system. This could have adverse implications for financial stability. Given these various considerations, we do not currently see a public policy case for moving in this direction. We will, however, keep that judgement under review. 4. Exchange settlement accounts for all Australians? Another possible change that some have suggested would encourage the shift to electronic payments would be for the central bank to issue every person a bank account for each Australian to have their own exchange settlement account with the RBA. In addition to serving as deposit accounts, these accounts could be used for low-cost electronic payments, in a similar way that third-party payment providers currently use accounts at the RBA to make payments between themselves. Some advocates of this model also suggest that the central bank could pay interest on these accounts or even charge interest if the policy rate was negative. On this issue, we have reached a conclusion, rather than just develop a hypothesis. The conclusion is that we do not see it as in the public interest to go down this route. If we did go down this route, the RBA would find itself in direct competition with the private banking sector, both in terms of deposits and payment services. In doing so, the nature of commercial banking as we know it today would be reshaped. The RBA could find itself not just as the nation's central bank, but as a type of large commercial bank as well. This is not a direction in which we want to head. A related consideration is the same financial stability issue that I just spoke about in terms of electronic banknotes. In times of stress, it is highly likely that people might want to run from what funds they still hold in commercial bank accounts to their account at the RBA. This would make the remaining private banking system prone to runs. The point here is that exchange settlement accounts are for settlement of interbank obligations between institutions that operate third-party payment businesses to address systemic risk something that is central to our mandate. A decision to offer exchange settlement accounts for day-to-day use would be a step into a completely different policy area. 5. New settlement systems based on distributed ledger technology and central bank money? One final possibility is for the RBA to issue Australian dollars in the form of electronic files or tokens that could be used within specialised payment and settlement systems. The tokens could be exchanged among members of a private, permissioned distributed ledger, separate from the RBA's Real-time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, but with mechanisms for the tokens to be exchanged for central bank deposits when required. Such a system might allow the payment and settlement process to become highly integrated with other business processes, generating efficiencies and risk reductions for private business. As part of this, the tokens might also be able to be programmed and sit alongside smart contracts, enabling multi-stage transactions with potentially complex dependencies to take place securely and automatically. This seems to be the general model that some people have in mind when they talk about putting AUD on the blockchain, although other technologies might be able to achieve similar outcomes. Whether a strong case for the development of these types of systems emerges remains an open question. We need to better understand the potential efficiencies for private business and why it would be preferable for such a settlement system to be provided by the central bank, rather than the private sector; why privately issued tokens or files could not do the job. We would also need to understand why any efficiency improvement could not be obtained by using the existing Exchange Settlement Accounts and the NPP. We would also need to understand whether and how risk in the financial system would change as a result of such a system. It remains unclear which way this could go. On the one hand, these types of processes could use a very different technology from the current system, which is based on account-to-account transfers, so they could add to the resilience of the overall payments system. But there would be a whole host of new technology issues to manage as well. To help understand these various issues, Reserve Bank staff have been liaising closely with fintechs and financial institutions. We also regularly talk with other central banks that have tested distributed ledger technologies in some related contexts. We are also currently working with some external entities to observe or participate in proof-of-concepts similar to those of other central banks. So this area remains a work in progress for us. Conclusion This brings me to the end of the elaboration of my set of five working hypotheses. I would like to conclude by summarising. There is a lot going on in the world of payments. Much of this is being driven by advances in technology. These advances are opening up possibilities that were difficult even to dream about a little while ago. These changes are leading to much greater use of electronic means of payment and the development of new electronic payment methods. This process has much further to run, although physical banknotes are likely to remain an important part of the payments landscape for many years to come. This shift to electronic payments is most likely to occur through products offered by the banking system. The NPP is a very big step here. If it had not been developed it is likely that non-bank solutions would have gained wide acceptance. This may still happen. But it seems plausible that Australian households and businesses will continue to hold the bulk of their money in the form of commercial bank deposits, which come with flexible, low-cost electronic payment options, earn interest and are prudentially regulated. But this will require the banks to offer the services that customers want at a reasonable price. The case for adding an electronic form of Australian banknotes to the payments mix has not been established, even if it were technologically feasible. My working hypothesis here is that the NPP will serve this purpose. The RBA is in close contact with our peers in other countries on this issue and few see electronic banknotes on the horizon. We do not see a case for the RBA offering every Australian a bank account for the purposes of making payments. Doing so would fundamentally change our banking system in a way that would not promote the public interest. A convincing case for issuing Australian dollars on the blockchain for use with limited private systems has not yet been made. It is certainly possible that this type of system could lead to more efficient, lower-cost business processes and payments. My working hypothesis here is that such a case could develop, although we need to work through a range of complex operational and policy questions. As we work though these various issues, we look forward to an ongoing dialogue with the payments industry and other interested parties. Finally, before I finish I would like to briefly highlight three other issues that I know are of current interest to the payments industry as well as the Payments System Board. These are: the importance of allowing merchants to route debit card transactions through the least-cost network the need to address rising rates of fraud in card-not-present transactions the need to develop a strong system of digital identity that can be used in the financial sector, and perhaps elsewhere. In the Payments System Board's view, it is in the public interest that timely progress be made in all three areas. The Board's preference is that this progress be made by industry participants, without the need for regulation. In the event that this did not occur, the Board would need to consider what steps it might take to promote the public interest. Thank you for listening and I am happy to answer questions. Philip Lowe was addressing the 2017 Australian Payment Summit. You can find the original speech here. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. The pervasive lack of diversity within the book publishing industry, both in terms of the composition of the workforce and the types of books being produced, has been the subject of numerous surveys and discussions, and the inspiration for the We Need Diverse Books and #ownvoices movements. Publishing staffers from a number of houses and agencies have recently gathered to form People of Color in Publishing, a grassroots organization addressing the need for greater inclusivity within all areas of childrens and adult publishing. The group was founded this past July by Patrice Caldwell, associate editor at Disney-Hyperion, with the aim of supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members throughout the industry. An official launch event was held on December 6 in New York City. During its first year, the group has held events, webinars, and programming to foster career development for professionals of non-majority backgrounds. In early 2017, the organization partnered with Latinx in Publishing to host a Three Kings Day event with Chris Jacksonv-p, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Random Houses OneWorld imprintand a free Webex webinar for students interested in learning about publishing career options. People of Color in Publishing has also organized meetings and discussions for employees to connect year-round and during conferences such as BookExpo. Founder Caldwell told PW, The idea for the group came from wanting a safe space for people of color within the publishing industry. I wanted a place for activism and organizing, where we could vent our frustrations but also work towards solutions. The core members of the team came together during the summer, after Lee & Low marketing and publicity assistant Jalissa Corrie reached out to Caldwell, whom shed met through online networking. According to Caldwell, who worked at Scholastic at the time, I got an email from Jalissa, asking me how I seemed to know all of these people of color within the industry. I realized it was because of the mentors I had, and decided why not create [a group]. Following that initial email, Caldwell quickly turned to her peers for support. I remember running from my desk, around the corner into [Scholastic v-p and editor-at-large] Andrea Davis Pinkneys office. Andrea has been a mentor of mine for a while, and [she] encouraged me to start [a group]. My friend Kait Feldmann, who was Andreas assistant at the time, was there and we immediately got to brainstorming. Team Building To date, People of Color in Publishings private Facebook group connects more than 470 members, many of which support the organizations work through participation on five subcommittees. Porscha Burke and Saraciea Fennell, co-chairs of the PR and Communications subcommittee, are responsible for managing the organizations social media outreach, blog, and growing newsletter. Burke, who is a publishing manager at Random House, joined the group in its initial stages. Colleagues added me to the Facebook group in its early days, when it was still called Young People of Color in Publishing, and despite being older than everyone else, I was inspired to join and help them develop as a community and as a resource for publishing employees, writers, and illustrators, she said. Fennell, who is a freelance publicist and formerly worked at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, said, Our goals are to continue to build our platforms and connect even more meaningfully with current industry insiders, while also helping advance opportunities for other people of color to break into publishing. Fennell is also involved with Latinx in Publishing, and described plans for continued partnerships, including another Three Kings Day event next month with National Book Award finalist Erika L. Sanchez. Ebony LaDelle, senior marketing manager in HarperCollinss YA division, joined the group via Fennells invitation and became co-chair of the Outreach and Partnerships subcommittee following Emi Ikkandas departure in September. A particular focus of the committee is on reaching out to individuals of diverse backgrounds who are working to break into the business. During our first meeting, we discussed where were from and how we got into publishing, and realized we all had nontraditional but similar stories. It seemed like navigating your way through publishing and finding a job was like searching for a needle in a haystack, so weve made sure that our goals reflected POC who may not have the same access or resources, she said. So far, LaDelle has seen an extremely positive and supportive reaction to the organization from members of the larger publishing community, though she described the work that remains to be done. I do think theres an assumption that the industry is already tirelessly trying to hire people of color, which is not totally true. At the end of the day, its up to hiring managers and colleagues who are passing along resumes for recommendation, and the people in our group are becoming the hiring managers and colleagues that can bring more people in. In addition to recruitment of diverse staffers, the group is also dedicated to supporting individuals of color who are already established in the industry. Saba Sulaiman, an associate agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services, serves as co-chair for the Mentorship and Retention Committee, alongside fellow literary agent Beth Phelan. We focus on identifying and addressing the challenges currently faced by young publishing professionals of color or of Native origin, with respect to reaching their career goals. Our major goal for next year is to facilitate a mentorship program in order to enable young POC publishing professionals to seek guidance from more senior members regarding career planning and advancement, Sulaiman said. People of Color in Publishing is also committed to serving the needs of diverse authors and illustrators. A member of the group since its early stages, Jalissa Corrie is now co-chair of the Writers and Illustrators subcommittee, which she said is working to better serve the needs of writers and illustrators of color including Native/Indigenous writers and illustrators. One of the groups first projects has been to design and distribute a survey assessing the needs of diverse childrens book creators. Overall, the writers and illustrators who have completed the survey are thrilled that we, as an organization, are dedicated to [assessing] their needs so that their voices will be heard, Corrie said. Off to a Good Start On December 6, People of Color in Publishing held an official launch event, open to all members of the publishing community, at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. There was a line out the door to enter the sold-out event, which had been relocated from its original venue to accommodate the crowd. The event was sponsored by Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, Lee & Low, Scholastic, the Childrens Book Council, and Inkluded. Caldwell said of the decision to host the celebration one year after forming the group, We thought about launching publicly earlier, but Im really glad we waited. We have done some amazing things in this year and the extra time allowed us to really hone our mission and the way we work together. During the launch, Caldwell and fellow members of the various subcommittees introduced themselves and their groups mission, and revealed the official logo. Addressing the need for a wider range of mirrors and windows for readers and publishing staffers alike, Caldwell said, We often forget the most powerful mirrors and windows are peoplerole models to look up to. Its never just about books. She spoke of her groups mission to find the [diverse] talent, and ask them what they need to succeed. Caldwell offered a final word of encouragement to her peers: You are all unstoppable. Next, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander took the stage to deliver the keynote address. He stressed that diverse books are for all readers. The books dont necessarily segregate themselves; we do that, he said. Alexander echoed Caldwells statement on the importance of hard work, determination, and mentorship, saying, I am a 24-year overnight success. The author cited his friend and former professor Nikki Giovanni as someone who helped shape his career. He concluded by telling aspiring authors and publishers, You have to be willing to be mentored. Always be present and say yes to that opportunity. If it was meant to be, it will be. Buoyed by the success of the groups first year, Caldwell and the rest of the team are looking toward future goals, including potential partnerships with the We Need Diverse Books internship program. Though all agreed that much work remains to be done, they are encouraged by the communitys growing support. As Caldwell said to the attendees during the launch event, By stepping inside these walls tonight, youre moving beyond just asking, Why is publishing so white? A discussion among four top childrens book publishers and agents closed out the third annual Global Kids Connect Conference, held on December 4 in New York City and produced by Publishers Weekly and the Bologna Childrens Book Fair. Moderated by Kate Wilson, president of Nosy Crow, the panel looked at of-the-moment topics that included the dominance of Amazon, global aspects of the bookselling business, opportunities presented by streaming services and other technologies, and efforts to diversify the childrens book industry. Wilson opened by asking the panelists about their thoughts on the strength of the U.S. market, particularly with more than 40% of books being sold online: Are you worried? Are we hooked on Amazon? Lori Benton, v-p and publisher of Scholastic Trade, responded that despite the threat of the retail apocalypse and a softening in sales at chain bookstores, she was excited about resurgent independent bookstores, sales opportunities in services such as subscription boxes, and Amazons ability to provide new life to backlist and classics. I do wonder what were going to do with all of those malls that are being turned into doctors offices, said Mary Ann Naples, v-p and publisher at Disney Book Group. She added that she felt that bookstores, and the chains in particular, have an opportunity to be involved in creating experience around books, presumably building on events such as midnight release parties and Camp Half-Blood style events that have proven popular for Rick Riordans books. Asked whether you operate in a global business, or a local business, all three panelists agreed that their companies take a global view. Were always thinking globally, said agent Jill Grinberg, president of Jill Grinberg Literary Management, noting that the agency seeks to retain foreign and translation rights whenever possible. And Im always interested in work that has the possibility of translation. From there, the conversation turned to the role of e-books, though the panelists agreed that their impact has been fairly minimal in the childrens market. There was never really a major adoption of digital reading at the kids level, said Benton, noting that Scholastics own annual Kids & Family Reading Report continues to show that children strongly prefer reading print books. The digital changes have affected adult publishing so much more, said Naples, who came to Disney from Rodale. The fact that e-books havent taken much of a hold in childrens books, aside from the YA market, has allowed us to keep going on without too much disruption. Where Naples is seeing glimmers of change is around audio and interactive experiences with Alexa, with Siri, with all of the personalities that are emerging from these platforms. Naples recounted a story about a colleagues child who asked Alexa to read her a story; Alexa complied. When the kid cant get a parent to read the book, are they going to sit down with this very diligent personal assistant? she wondered. Wilson then asked if the publishing industry had the potential to lead rather than follow when bestsellers are so often linked to major films. Or is it more realistic to accept that our job is just to make [an existing media property] a bit book-y? I think the streaming services are going to be such an advantage to publishers over the coming years, said Naples, and Grinberg agreed. It really does seem to be all about TV, she said, noting that TV people are always looking for subcultures. (Shows like Riverdale come to mind.) Despite the trend of big-name authors being snapped up to write novels set in established fictional universesMarvel, DC, Star Wars, and so onGrinberg maintained that shes much more interested in my writers coming up with their own ideas. On the topic of sensitivity readers, publishing diverse voices, and online pushback to books whose cultural representations fall short, Wilson asked the panelists, Are publishers running scared where social media is concerned? Grinberg said that shes had authors whose books or characters have been criticized publicly. I know these authors, I know their hearts are in the right place, but it wasnt received that way, she said. I think generally whats happeningthe dialogue, the awarenessis incredibly important. If this is what we have to endure to get to a better place, then so be it. The work we do, said Benton at Scholastic, is how kids make sense of the world. She noted that previous attention toward diversity in childrens books during the 1990s didnt have a lot of traction or longevity, but that the conversation that is happening now is much more profound and much more important. In closing, Naples reflected on the ongoing difficulty of devising a reproducible way, through social media, to ensure that books can be discovered by readers. Benton considered the paradox of trying to reach young readers online while remaining COPA-compliant. (The conference happened to coincide with Facebooks announcement of a messaging app for children under 13 years old.) Grinberg, meanwhile, advocated for increased collaboration and more transparency between publishers and agents, since that relationship is so often seen as adversarial. I would like to know where any given book sits or will sit on the list, she said, though she understood why a house wants to send the message that they are doing everything they can for a given book. We have to be realistic, she continued. Not every book is going to be a frontlist title. Id rather have a real conversation about that from the beginning. How many copies are we trying to sell? How are we going to do that? My answer as publisher: How the hell do we know? replied Wilson. For me, the joy of the industry is the surprise of the industry. From the demise of Tate Publishing to widespread expansion in faith-based publishing for children, here are PWs top religion stories of 2017. 10. Religion Publishers See Growth in Childrens Books Sales of storybook Bibles, board books, and childrens devotionals are on the rise today, and many faith-based houses are forming imprints in order to join in on the growth. 9. Christian Fiction Keeps Its Allure Religion publishers discuss the changing landscape of Christian fiction, revealing that despite its challenges, the category continues to draw readers. 8. Christian Books Selling Well at Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby, which expanded its inventory to include popular Christian books, is increasing its sales and providing more retail space for religion publishers. 7. Author Reza Aslan Questions the Origins of God In what he calls the most personal and hardest book I have ever written, theologian and religion commentator Reza Aslan examines the human conception of God in God: A Human History. 6. Daughter of the 'Mormon Manson' Shares Her Ordeal in New Memoir Anna LeBaron, who escaped her murderous fathers polygamist cult at the age of 13, describes leaving behind a life of terror and over 50 siblings to begin a search for healing. 5. Louise Hay, Founder of Hay House, Dies at 90 The founder of Hay House Publishing and the bestselling author of self-help books such as You Can Heal Your Life died at age 90 on August 30, 2017. 4. Clinton Devotional Book Pulled After Publisher Finds Further Instances of Plagiarism Abingdon Press pulled Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Rev. Bill Shillady from shelves after discovering that several passages had not been properly attributed by the author. 3. Family Christian Stores to Close All Stores Two years after filing for bankruptcy, Family Christian Stores announced its decision to shutter all of its 240 stores across 36 states in February. 2. Former Evangelical Extremist Recalls Life in Westboro Baptist Church Libby Phelps, the granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, reflects on her experiences in one of the most inflammatory and notorious evangelical groups in the U.S. 1. Tate Publishing Closes its Doors Family-owned Christian book publisher Tate closed its doors after 17 years in January 2017, inciting customer complaints and lawsuits by companies such as Lightning Source and Xerox Corp., as well as an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department. Beth Moore, who recently spoke out against sexual assault amid the #metoo movement, came in at #4 on PWs Religion Nonfiction Bestsellers list with 2015s Audacious. The book, which is geared toward women, features Bible-based encouragement on how to improve self-confidence, overcome shame, and live without fear. A special giveaway at LifeWay Christian Stores in November helped boost its sales, with the retailer telling PW that Audacious continues to sell well and impact the lives of women every day. Were excited by the response and anticipate [the] continued strength of this message. Debuting on PWs Religion Nonfiction chart, Tyler Perry came in at #5 with his personal story of spiritual formation, Higher Is Waiting. The filmmaker promoted the book during launch events in New York and Atlanta, as well as through appearances on national Christian and mainstream media outlets such as CBS This Morning, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, People magazine, and more. The publisher also helped spread the word via influencer mailings, email promotions, and offering a dedicated discussion guide for Bible study and prayer groups. Two pastors, Joel Osteen and Bishop T.D. Jakes, are also on the Religion Nonfiction list in November with their latest releases from FaithWordsOsteens Blessed in the Darkness took #6, while Soar by Jakes followed at #7. Both authors participated in multi-city book signing tours, while FaithWords teamed up with their respective megachurches to promote and sell the books. On our Religion Fiction Bestsellers list, Karen Kingsbury took #1 with In This Moment, the newest release in the bestselling Baxter family series. Marketing and publicity for the title included bookstore events throughout November, and it was selected for the Karen Kingsbury Official Online Book Club, which is hosted through Facebook and has over 14,000 members. A new literary festival is coming to Minneapolis. The inaugural Wordplay, which is sponsored by local literary nonprofit the Loft, is set for May 11-12, 2019. The two-day festival will take place in the Mill District area around the Mill City Museum, Guthrie Theater, and Open Book (where the Loft is headquartered). The event, according to a statement from the Loft, will feature "talented and marquee authors from around the country and world [and] be a celebration that lives up to its name. The Loft expects Wordplay to draw approximately 10,000 attendees its first year for author signings, pop up events, and childrens activities. While the Loft anticipates that much of the festival will be free, there will be fees attached to some of the higher profile author events and workshops. With the Twin Cities Book Festival (now in its 17th year) already an established literary event in the region, Wordplay does have competition. When asked if the Twin Cities can support a second annual literary festival, Loft marketing and communications director Chris Jones said it can. The Loft's calculation is that the Twin Cities Book Festival can be the dominant literary event in the fall, and that Wordplay can draw readers in the spring. We have a different approach and a different vision, Jones told PW, comparing Wordplay to the Texas Book Festival and to the Los Angeles Times Book Festival. He pointed out that while the Twin Cities Book Festival highlights its vendor area, which features the offerings of literary presses and small publishers from throughout Minnesota, Wordplay will emphasize author events and activities. "Wordplay will be more of a community celebration, focused on the programming, bringing people together to talk about books, rather than the [Twin Cities Book Festival] book fair model," Jones said. When a Special Forces mission prompts a U.S. senator to exclaim that he has no fewer than 100 questions the Pentagon could not answer, you know you have someone's attention. In October, four U.S. servicemen were killed in Niger by Islamic militants. The American commandos were part of a clandestine operation to kill or capture an Islamic State operative. The botched raid has prompted a Pentagon investigation, but it has avoided sparking a broader debate about whether the threat posed by terrorism continues to justify the resources, and, more importantly, the attending risk, that the United States commits to it. It is now more than 16 years after 9/11long enough to provide a sense of perspective about how the world has changed since the attacks. Policymakers would do well to reexamine the wisdom of characterizing transnational terrorism as an existential threat ( PDF ) to international security. The remainder of this commentary is available at warontherocks.com. Sean M. Zeigler is an associate political scientist and Meagan Smith is a quantitative analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. This commentary originally appeared on War on the Rocks on December 12, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. AirTies has opened a new R&D centre in Austin, Texas, including a new test home that replicates real-world usage of in-home Wi-Fi to support customers video streaming and other activities in North America. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, which relies on a single access point (AP) on a home gateway/router, AirTies Managed Mesh Solution uses multiple mesh extenders to create an intelligent mesh Wi-Fi network throughout consumers homes to create whole-home internet coverage. It partners with service providers, such as Atlantic Broadband, Frontier, Midco, Orange, Singtel, Sky (SKY Q in the UK; Germany; Italy; and New Zealand), Swisscom, Vodafone and others.AirTies noted that it has signed undisclosed contracts with additional service providers in North America, prompting the additional investment in the R&D facility. In addition, long-time AirTies executive, Mujdat Pakkan, EVP, customer programmes, has relocated to oversee the new Austin facility.Were very excited to open our first R&D centre outside of Europe in order to support the growing market opportunity in North America, said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies . Austins central location and pool of incredible, high-tech talent made it a very appealing choice for us. Looking ahead, we expect North American internet and TV service providers to drive significant business for us, and this facility is built with them in mind. By Moses Ndhaye: Opposition Members of parliament have asked foreign Affairs minister Sam Kuteesa to explain to parliament the alleged bribe case against him. The minister was named in US court documents as having allegedly received a $500, 000 (about Shs1.8 billion) bribe to help a Chinese energy company secure business advantages in Uganda, including the potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank. The matter was raised by the Member of Parliament for Ntungamo municipality Gerald karuhanga during a session chaired by the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga. Karuhanga was supported by Lwemiyaga county mp Theodore Ssekikubo calling for minister sam kutesa to make a personal statement over this report to clear his name. However the deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana blocked karuhangas plea on ground that his assertion on Kuteesa was not based on formal official documents but only media reports which cannot move parliament to make a decision on the matter. The speaker ruled that she would look at all the documents on this case before giving her final ruling. Spains NPAW has moved into its new headquarters in Barcelonas Poblenou district as it celebrates ten years in the predictive analytics, online video business. Home to dozens of tech start-ups, the new environment aims to help NPAW grow its top talent pool, the company claims, as business expectations soar to $6.6 million in invoices in 2018 and $11 million in 2019.Its our second upgrade to a bigger office in the last three years, said Sergi Verges, who co-founded NPAW with Ferran Gutierrez. This time were leaving plenty of space for continued growth. Weve made something that suits the rhythm of our work and the character of our company bold but friendly, cutting-edge and adaptable.Over the last year, NPAW has been introducing the multivariate testing (MVT) solution SmartLab and an offline playback event tracking technology to its video service monitoring platform, YOUBORA Infinity This fall has been an ugly one for Ukraine. Throughout September, October, November, and December, Ukrainian authorities have illegally detained, persecuted, and expelled several foreign journalists and other foreign residents, causing observers to question whether Ukrainian leaders are actively violating human rights and willfully persecuting their political opponents in an effort to maintain their grip on power. In fact, the Ukrainian authorities seem to be pursuing a policy of double standards, demanding that Russia liberate Ukrainian political hostages and journalists while simultaneously arresting dissenting activists, journalists, and political opponents. The case of former Georgian President and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili captured the worlds attention on December 5, as special forces attempted to detain him. The law requires a court order for such an arrest to take place, which law enforcement bodies did not have. His supporters eventually freed him, but Saakashvili was later arrested on December 8 for allegedly "aiding and abetting a criminal organization." On December 11, a judge released him. Numerous observers and rights organizations view the ordeal as politically motivated. Saakashvili soaks up international attention, but there are numerous other cases that have escaped notice and are also worrisome. Most notable, perhaps, was the detention of three foreign journalists who were fleeing persecution from post-Soviet authoritarian regimes. The three opposition journalists were ostensibly detained due to Interpol red notices, which were published because of politically motivated requests from the journalists home countries. Uzbek journalist Narzullo Okhunzhonov asked for asylum in Ukraine. But as a result, according to the court's decision of September 25, he found himself in a remand prison, where his health deteriorated. Azerbaijani journalist Fikrat Huseynov received refugee status and citizenship in the Netherlands, which protects him from extradition to Azerbaijan. But he was arrested in Ukraine during a private visit on October 14. Human rights defenders sounded the alarm; thanks to them, Okhunzhonov and Huseynov were released. Kazakhstani journalist Zhanara Akhmetova hoped that she and her young son would not be in danger once they were in Ukraine. But Ukraines migration service denied her shelter without informing her, and then arrested her on October 24. On November 22, the Kyiv Court of Appeals dismissed her case after Ukrainian MP Svitlana Zalishchuk paid her bail. Another journalist was arrested the next month. On November 17, Georgian reporter Tamaz Shashvishvili, who works for Rustavi-2, a popular TV channel in Georgia, was kidnapped in Kyiv together with his friends Zurab Tsyntsadze, Vano Nadiradze, and Mamuk Abashidze. Shashvishvili, who for the last three years has been working in Ukraine with official accreditation from the Ministry of Information, was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in his own apartment. He says that Ukrainian authorities violently beat him, put a bag on his head, placed him in handcuffs, and deported him to Georgia. The SBU rejected the journalists claims of violence, stating that it had not beaten him, nor subjected him to inhumane treatment during his deportation. "The SBU decided to deport these foreigners on the basis of evidence presented by the State Migration Service and the National Police of Ukraine, which showed that these foreigners acted against the interests of the national security of Ukraine," SBU spokesperson Olena Hitlianska said. The Council of Europe wasnt convinced by this explanation. It published an alert mentioning attacks on the physical safety and integrity of Shashvishvili. On October 21, a month before Shashvishvili was arrested, three other GeorgiansGeorgi Rubashvili, Mikheil Abzianidze, and David Makishviliwere also illegally and violently arrested without grounds. They were put on the ground face down with machine guns pointed at their heads; then bags were put on their heads and they were taken to Kyiv-Zhulyany airport, where they were interrogatedalso in violation of the law. The arrest, imprisonment, and illegal expulsions of these seven Georgians obviously violates the Ukrainian constitution. In particular, it breaches those articles stating that Foreign nationals...staying in Ukraine on legal grounds shall enjoy the same rights and liberties and have the same obligations as Ukrainian nationals, and Every human has a right to freedom and personal immunity. Valery Lutkovskaya, the Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraines Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that according to the documents she received from the State Migration Service, the national police illegally expelled Makishvili, Abzianidze, and Rubashvili on October 21 without a court decision, something that is prohibited by law in Ukraine. Lutkovskaya also said that the state bodies did not provide her with any documents stating the grounds on which the three Georgians residence permits were allegedly revoked. A number of other alarming events recently took place. In late November, Anatoliy Vynohorodskiy, Oleksandr Novikov, and Leonid Lytvynenko were sentenced to sixty days of pre-trial detention; Vynohrodsky and Lytvynenko are accused of attacking a guard at a private enterprise in July and Novikov has been charged with kidnapping; all three deny the accusations and say that the charges are politically motivated. All are members of the NGO Rukh Vyzvolennya (Movement to Liberate Ukraine from Oligarchs and Traitors), which is part of the coalition that supports the ongoing demonstrations in front of the Verkhovna Rada. The Movement of New Forces, Saakashvilis party, is a prominent member of the coalition. Another dangerous precedent in post-Maidan Ukraine is the Ukrainian authorities flippant attitude toward citizenship. In March, President Petro Poroshenko submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that provided for the automatic withdrawal of Ukrainian citizenship for those who have other citizenships. That covers more than 10 percent of Ukrainians, and led to great public outcry and a wave of indignation. The law was not adopted, but Poroshenko then began to deprive political opposition members (Andrey Artemenko, Sasha Borovyk, and Saakashvili) of citizenship by decree. Freedom of speech and assembly, the protection of human rights, and the right to peacefully protest are the founding principles of a democratic country. The Ukrainian authorities must stop harassing journalists and political opponents. Its time for the international community to put more pressure on the Ukrainian government in order to avoid a return to the repression of the Yanukovych era. We've come too far for history to repeat itself. LONDON: Kaleidoscopic changes in the Middle East have produced a constellation of power posing fresh challenges to the United States. The emerging alliance among Russia, Iran and Turkey gained its newest member in Qatar, thanks to a rash move by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. Most alarming for America: Turkey is NATOs easternmost member with the second largest military in the defense partnership. Qatar provides the Pentagons Central Command with its forward base, the regions largest. The alliance is by no means the result of expediency. The elements undergirding it geopolitical, economic and ideological have long been in the making. Its been helped sharply by President Donald Trumps muddled foreign policy, a contrast from the coherent policies of the Obama administration with its commitment to democracy and human rights. Trumps repeated statement before foreign assemblies We are not here to lecture you how to run your countries is too vague to form the base of Washingtons policy in international affairs. Even that mantra fails when Trump lectures Irans elected rulers on how to govern. Irans strategic importance was highlighted on 27 November when Turkey, Iran and Qatar signed a agreement naming Iran as transit country for trade between Qatar and Turkey. The move undermines Saudi efforts to isolate Qatar. On the world stage, the triad of Moscow, Tehran and Ankara has made its mark by acting as prime mover to end Syrias long-running civil war. But their economic interests have been in play for more than two decades and geopolitical considerations have a longer history. This is also true of Qatar. Since his bloodless 1995 coup against his father Emir Khalifa Al Thani, Emir Hamad Al Thani has focused on ensuring that his tiny sheikhdom does not become a vassal of Saudi Arabia. To give Qatar a high international profile, he set up Al Jazeera TV channel in 1996, staffed largely by BBC-trained journalists. When the Saudi ruler refused to let the Pentagon use its state-of-the-art airbase near Riyadh for its air campaign against Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, Hamad struck a secret agreement to let the Pentagon use Al Udeid airbase, reinforcing Qatars links with Washington to deter Riyadh from attempts to dominate the emirate. To supplement this strategy with a regional power outside the Arabian Peninsula, Hamad signed a defense-industry cooperation agreement with Turkey in 2007 and a military training agreement in 2012. The next year he abdicated in favor of his son Tamim. In March 2015, the parliament in Ankara passed the Turkey-Qatar Military Cooperation Agreement. Four months later, Tamim informed Saudi King Salman of the true extent of the accord basing 3,000 Turkish troops in Qatar for training and joint exercises. The monarch reportedly welcomed the deal as a counter to Iran's growing regional influence. Almost two years later, with the ascendancy of Prince Bin Salman in Riyadh, the Saudi-led axis of four Arab countries demanded that Qatar Immediately terminate the Turkish military presence in Qatar and end any joint military cooperation with Turkey inside Qatar. The demand backfired. Ankara sent more troops to Qatar, and its tanks rolled through Doha, lending political and moral support to Qatar. The top demand of the Saudi-led Axis for Qatar Curb diplomatic ties with Iran and close its diplomatic missions ignored a critical economic element. The emirate shares a vast gas field in the Gulf with Iran. Overall, Saudi Arabia has ignored Irans geopolitical strength. Iran has shorelines on the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Caspian Sea and shares land borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iraq. It has ample reserves of oil and gas. It shares a fluvial border with Russia in the Caspian Sea. In August 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsins government signed a contract to construct and operate a civilian nuclear plant near the Iranian city of Bushehr. After long delays, the facility started producing electricity in 2013. Later Iran and Russia signed an agreement to build two new nuclear reactors at the Bushehr site, with an option of six more at other sites. During protracted negotiations between Tehran and six global powers on Irans nuclear program, Russia favored a moderate line in contrast to the hard line advocated by France with the United States taking a middle position. Military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran started in 2007 when Iran inked the $900 million contract for five Russian S-300 missile batteries. Delivery started three months before the landmark July 2015 deal on Irans nuclear program, with Russia shipping an upgraded version of S-300. In September of that year, Russia intervened militarily to bolster President Bashar al Assad of Syria where Iran had been aiding his government with weapons and armed volunteers in the civil war. This led to Moscow and Tehran regularly discussing military planning for Syria. Russias Vladimir Putin and Assad share the view that groups raising arms against an established government must be termed terrorists. Strategically, Putin was keen to maintain a base in the Syrian port of Tartus to maintain a Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean. In November 2015, Putin attended the summit of Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran. While meeting with Putin, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly praised his interlocutor for neutralizing Washington's plots, adding that economic relations between the two countries could expand. To his delight, Putin relaxed an export ban on nuclear equipment and technology to Iran. In an unprecedented gesture, Tehran let the Kremlin use its Hamadan military base to launch aerial strikes on a range of targets in Syria in August 2016, enabling the Russian air force to cut flying time for warplanes and increase payloads. The following April, Sputnik News reported that Moscow and Tehran were considering sale of Russian fighter jets to Iran and a joint venture for Iran to manufacture Russian helicopters under license. For Russia, events in Turkey also moved in its favor. In September Turkey strayed from NATOs protocol when President Recep Tayyip ErdoA?an announced that Ankara had transferred money to pay for Russias S-400 missile system. A NATO official admitted that the alliance had not been informed about the deals details. Dismissing possible NATO objections, ErdoA?an declared, Nobody has the right to discuss the Turkish republics independence principles or independent decisions about its defense industry. Turkey ranks 17th in the world for GDP yet has no energy resources of its own while sharing borders with hydrocarbon-rich Iran and Russia. As early as 1996, Turkey signed a natural gas contract with Iran starting at 2 billion cubic meters in 2002. In 2008 Turkey and Iran inked a memorandum of understanding on natural gas production and export. This envisaged Turkey investing in development of Irans gigantic South Pars gas field and pipeline construction to deliver Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey and also supply the Turkish market. Once United Nations and European Union lifted sanctions on Iran in January 2016, there was a spurt in Turkeys imports of Iranian oil. During the first seven months of 2017, Turkey imported 7.4 million tons of crude, up from 3 million tons for the corresponding period in 2016. In February Putin ratified a deal to build the 1,100 kilometer Turkish Stream pipeline, foreseeing three decades of Russian-Turkish collaboration, to transport Russian gas across the Black Sea into Turkey and southern Europe. The news came weeks after the successful co-chairing of peace talks for Syrias civil war by Russia and Turkey, backed by Iran, in the Kazakh capital of Astana. On the eve of Trumps inauguration in January, Moscow sent a last-minute invitation to the United States. The incoming administration sent its ambassador in Astana as observer. After Trump moved to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, ErdoA?an warned that the United States is "plunging the region and the world into a fire with no end in sight." By design or happenstance, Washington is reconciling itself to a lower profile in the fast-changing geopolitics of Eurasia. In contrast, the planned congress of all Syrian groups in the Russian resort of Sochi in February is set to highlight Moscows rising profile in the strategic region. Whether your main source of new music is the radio, streaming service recommendations, or suggestions from friends, its impossible to find and listen to all the music being released. Here are five albums you may have missed but shouldnt leave 2017 without listening to. Holiday season is in full swing and college students are on the hunt for tacky holiday sweaters to wear to meetings, parties and socials. As seen in stores and online, retailers are carrying more than sweaters. Nowadays, there are dresses, vests and much more to complete any festive outfit this holiday season. Here are some finds from Target, T.J. Maxx and Walmart. Target Xhilaration (Juniors) Womens Woven Printed Kimono $22.99 A new and fun spin on tacky sweaters are other clothes and accessories such as this fun kimono. Poinsettias are a traditional holiday symbol and having prints of the plant, paired with snowflakes, is a fun but subtle way to bring festive cheer to any holiday look. Pair this kimono with black pants, jeans, a skirt or over a dress to add spice to an outfit. Xhilaration Womens Blue Light Up Sweater Sale $20.99 This light up menorah sweater is the perfect look for any holiday gathering. Light up sweaters are all the rage this holiday season and what better way to light up a party than with candles? Xhilaration Womens Pom Vest $22.99 A holiday vest is the perfect way to spread cheer this season. The patches are a great inspiration for DIY looks. This is also a great idea for a holiday party, make your own holiday vest and put your best patches on. Well Worn Womens Bah Humpug Long Sleeve Ugly Christmas Sweater $27.99 For the not so festive but funny people, wear this sweater to any holiday party and you will be sure to get all the votes. After all, who can resist a picture of a pug? T.J. Maxx Santa Claus Sweater $19.99 For the classic holiday lovers, here is a Santa Claus sweater. This sweater works for any tacky Christmas sweater party and goes great with black jeans or leggings. Gingerbread House Sweater $16.99 All music lovers will love this sweater. This green, black, white and red sweater is truly one of kind. Wear this to all of your holiday parties with black jeans and you will steal the show. Walmart Holiday Time Womens Ugly Christmas Sweater LED Penguins Sale $20.00 For the humorous holiday lovers, here is a light up penguin sweater. The glasses and hat on the penguins light up with a touch of the button which is inside the sweater. This sweater is perfect for the tacky holiday parties and goes great with jeans to brace the cold this holiday season. No Boundaries Elf Skater Dress with Hat $19.88 This Elf Skater Dress comes with an elf hat. The magic is in the details such as the candy cane in the belt and peppermint buttons. Around the neckline are bells to let Santa know the elves are coming. This is perfect for a dressy holiday party. By Damali Mukhaye: Over 7,000 students of Kyambogo University are set to graduate today from different during its 14th graduation ceremony which kicks off today. According to the vice chancellor of the university prof Elly Kantuguka, students from the graduate school, school of management and entrepreneurship and faculty of special needs are graduating today. The gradation which goes up to Friday will see 200 will graduate with first class honors in various disciplines. He however urged parents and grandaunds to be at the university by 9am for smooth ceremony. He also warned students with fees balance and missing marks not to appear before the graduation venue since they will not graduate . Monrovia set for semistate battle with Lawrenceburg. Here's what to know. Here's all the information you need to know before Friday's IHSAA semi-state football showdown between Monrovia and Lawrenceburg. Reports from Kabul say Afghan security forces have detained four teachers and raided a school allegedly linked to a U.S.-based cleric Ankara blames for orchestrating a failed coup last year. Security forces detained one Afghan and three Turkish teachers while they were on their way to a girls high school in the morning of December 12, said Human Erdogan, the chairman of Afghan Turk CAG Educational NGO (ATCE), the organization that runs the school. Officials who presented themselves as members of Afghanistan's intelligence agency -- the National Directorate of Security -- later went to the school looking for another teacher, Erdogan added. Afghan officials have not immediately commented on the detentions or the raid, which sparked furor among students and their parents who claimed that the security forces entered the girls dormitory. The moves came as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was on his way to Istanbul to attend a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. ATCE, which says it is an independent organization, runs schools in several Afghan cities including the capital, Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar, and Herat. It has been in Afghanistan since 1995. Ankara says the organization is linked to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric the Turkish government blames for ordering a July 2016 attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen denies involvement in the failed coup. Turkey has pressured dozens of countries to clamp down on any groups linked with Gulen, whose religious and social movement operates around 2,000 educational institutions in about 160 countries. In November 2016, Pakistani authorities deported dozens of Turkish teachers tied to the PakTurk chain of private schools following a visit by Erdogan. And in October this year, Pakistan deported the Turkish former director of the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges along with his family, his former colleagues and a lawyer said. Turkey said the organization was linked to Gulen. PakTurk denied that it had any affiliation with Gulen or his movement. With reporting by Reuters and Tolo News BAKU -- The launch of Azerbaijani lawyer Elcin Qambarovs tell-all book about a prominent former client, human rights activist Leyla Yunus, has sparked accusations of backstabbing, betrayal, and impropriety. During the December 8 unveiling of The Splendor And Misery Of Leyla Yunus, Qambarov's take on his time defending Yunus, the lawyer and a slate of speakers from parliament, along with other high-ranking state officials, took turns bashing the 62-year-old Yunus. They alleged that Yunus illegally funneled funds and called her a traitor who had been used as a "tool" against Azerbaijan by archenemy Armenia. The accusations against Yunus, who lives with her husband in exile after being convicted in 2015 of economic crimes after a trial that the couple and international human rights groups denounced as a farce, have triggered a maelstrom over their treatment and place in the countrys history. "She betrayed Azerbaijan," parliamentarian Sahib Aliyev said at the book launch in the capital, Baku. "She betrayed all human rights activists and put them at risk." Chingiz Ganizade, another member of parliament who attended the event, accused Yunus of "receiving grants for conducting anti-Azerbaijani activity." Leyla, her husband, Arif, and their unregistered Peace and Democracy Institute defended victims of human rights abuses, from unlawful arrests to forced evictions, and encouraged peace-building between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The two neighbors fought a bloody and still-unresolved war between 1988 and 1994 over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The couple has also been investigated in Azerbaijan on charges of spying for Armenia. Leyla and Arif were detained in April 2014 and subsequently handed harsh prison terms of 8 1/2 and 7 years in prison, respectively, on charges of fraud, tax evasion, and illegal business activities. The charges have been widely decried as bogus. Their trial sparked an international outcry, with rights groups branding it a travesty of justice and denouncing President Ilham Aliyevs deepening campaign to muzzle dissent in the oil-rich Caucasus country. The United States singled out the Yunuses by name in a call for Baku to release them and other jailed dissidents, and EU lawmakers urged the freeing of all Azerbaijani political prisoners. The couple was released on health grounds in late 2015 when their prison terms were replaced with suspended sentences. Both sustained permanent damage to their health as a result of the violence they endured in prison, they say. They were allowed to travel to the Netherlands in April 2016 to receive medical care and have lived there since. Neither have commented publicly on the book, nor on the comments made at its launch, but many in the legal community have jumped to defend Leyla Yunus, accusing Qambarov of impropriety for revealing privileged information about a client. "Elcin Qambarov should be expelled from the Bar Association as he has violated requirements of the Law on Lawyers and Lawyer Activities," lawyer Yalcin Imanov told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service. "But instead of this, we saw Qambarov appointed to its presidium. I'm astonished by this fact." Another lawyer, Elcin Sadigov, accused Qambarov of violating Article 7 of the Law on Lawyers and Lawyer Activities "by revealing information his client confided in him." For his part, Qambarov rejects the notion he has violated lawyers ethics, saying he wrote the book after his agreement with Yunus ended. "I have no obligation to my client after a contract expires. Secondly, Ive not disclosed any information concerning her private life. What I wrote is connected with social activity, her detention, and other issues. And its not me who launched this fight against Leyla Yunus. She herself started this. I had many, many troubles in defending her," he told RFE/RL in an interview. "Its my personal fight and this book is my response to her," he added. "She told everyone upon her release that Elcin Qambarov is the governments man. Then why did she cling on me? Why did she hug and kiss me after she left prison?" Written by Alan Crosby in Prague, based on reporting by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service WASHINGTON -- An American stockbroker who made a fortune in the Russian market in the 1990s and 2000s and later co-founded a posh Moscow nightclub before leaving the country died of blunt force injuries suffered as a result of a fall from a Washington, D.C. building. The findings, released on November 16 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), confirm that Dan Rapoport died on August 14 after falling from a height, but do not conclusively explain the circumstances leading up to his death. Washington police told RFE/RL that an investigation into his death had ended and declined further comment. Earlier this year, a police spokeswoman told RFE/RL that foul play was not suspected, but that final conclusions were pending the autopsy. Rapoport's untimely death triggered much speculation because he had voiced support for ardent Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny before leaving Russia and, while living in Kyiv in recent years, had been a vocal supporter of Ukraine and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Washington metropolitan police found Rapoport's body on August 14 on the sidewalk outside 2400 M Street, a nine-story apartment building in the northwest part of the city. The medical examiner's report said Rapoport, 52, died of multiple blunt force injuries due to fall from height and described the death as sudden/unexplained. The report also said the manner of his death was undetermined. The OCME said no other information would be immediately released. A preliminary police report said officers responded to a report of a jumper on the evening of August 14, and the man, later identified as Rapoport, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. The apartment building has an open rooftop with a pool, running track, and seating area for residents. The police report said officers found $2,620 in cash on Rapoport when they discovered his body on the sidewalk, along with headphones, a cracked cell phone, a Florida drivers license, and other items. He was wearing flip-flops, perhaps indicating he had been at the pool on the roof prior to falling. Brianna Burch, a police spokesperson, told RFE/RL in August that there did not appear to be anyone with Rapoport at the time and there were no listed witnesses. In follow-up correspondences with RFE/RL through early November, the police continued to say they did not suspect foul play. Rapoport had recently moved back to Washington after spending several years working in finance in Ukraine. He told RFE/RL in an interview in Washington in June that business had been tough due to the countrys high political risk and war with Russia. While some friends said they did not believe he would have committed suicide, others said he had appeared depressed. Go-To Location A native of Latvia and a fluent Russian speaker, Rapoport emigrated with his family to the United States in 1980. After graduating from a U.S. university, he moved to Russia in the early 1990s as a wave of privatizations swept across the country. The sale of former state-owned companies created a booming stock market, minting a new generation of millionaires, Russian and foreign. Rapoport was respected within Russian financial circles, where he worked for more than a decade at a local brokerage called CenterInvest, making his way up to managing partner. He claimed his clients included some of the nation's wealthiest tycoons. In 2007, he opened a swanky nightclub in downtown Moscow called Soho Rooms, which became the go-to location for Moscows elite. In 2012, he left Russia and returned to the United States, saying the stock brokerage industry that had made him a fortune "had died" as commission fees shrunk with improvements in technology. But in a media interview prior to his departure, he also criticized the direction Russia had taken under Putin and expressed support for Navalny, who was jailed last year on what Western governments say were trumped-up charges. It has really become unbearable to live in Russia, Rapoport told media outlet FinParty in June of that year. We are all now dependent on one ruler. If this person decides that you will give birth to his child, then you will give birth, and if he decide to put you in prison, then you will serve time. He told FinParty that he would give up his American citizenship and return to Russia if Navalny became president, saying the opposition leader was sincere in his desire to fight corruption. He is a real hero of our time and deserves respect, Rapoport said of Navalny. Rapoports frustration with Russia and his decision to leave may have been triggered by pressure on his businesses, friends and family have said. Under Putin, the raiding of profitable businesses by -- or with the help of -- the nations security services has flourished. Rapoport allegedly lost his stake in Soho Rooms when his partners teamed up with security officials. "Our flight to Washington is in 12 hours. It's sad to leave Russia, but for thoughtful people, living here has become unbearable and disgusting," Rapoport wrote on his Facebook page on June 13, 2012. When Rapoport moved to Washington, where he said his parents lived, he set up a company called Rapoport Capital to advise and assist technology startups as well as venture capital funds on fundraising options. In 2016, four years after leaving Russia, Rapoport set up an office in Kyiv and opened a private equity fund. It was tough going. Ukraines economy struggled amid an ongoing war with Russia-backed separatists in two eastern regions and the slow implementation of Western-backed reforms. In social-media posts over the ensuing years, he was a vocal supporter of Ukraine and an outspoken critic of Putin. Rapoport gained a degree of publicity in January 2017 after The New York Times reported that the daughter and son-in-law of newly elected President Donald Trump had purchased a mansion owned by him and his first wife. The mansion was located in an exclusive neighborhood of the U.S. capital. In 2018, the open-source investigative organization Bellingcat reported that Rapoport, who was Jewish, had been the creator of a fictional persona named David Jewberg, who was frequently quoted in Ukrainian media as a senior Pentagon analyst. With reporting by Todd Prince in Washington, D.C. and Mike Eckel in Prague 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. Greece's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's decision to extradite Russian cybercrime suspect Aleksandr Vinnik to the United States. The Supreme Court rejected Vinniks appeal on December 13, but a final decision on whether Vinnik will be extradited to the United States or Russia now lies with the Greek justice minister, who steps in to resolve competing requests. Vinnik, who is also wanted in Moscow, is sought by the United States for allegedly masterminding a $4 billion bitcoin money-laundering scheme, a charge he denies. A court in Thessaloniki ruled in favor of the U.S. extradition request in October. Vinnik has agreed to be returned to Russia, where he is wanted on lesser fraud charges amounting to 10,000 euros, and appealed the ruling. He was arrested in Greece in July under a U.S warrant. U.S. authorities accuse Vinnik of laundering bitcoins through the BTC-e digital currency exchange to facilitate crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking. Based on reporting by dpa, Reuters and AP QARAGHANDY, Kazakhstan -- Some striking coal miners in Kazakhstan have agreed to return to the surface but hundreds remain underground, demanding wage increases. Authorities in the Qaraghandy region said on December 13 that 154 miners decided to come up overnight after the regional governor, Erlan Qoshanov, met with them underground. In a statement, the authorities also denied media reports that said police had detained several people over the strike. On December 12, Kazakh Labor Minister Tamara Duisenova told reporters that 684 miners had been underground since December 11 at coal mines in the town of Shakhtinsk. The regional governor's office said that representatives of the miners and their union have been in talks with the local authorities and officials of the mines' owner, ArcelorMittal Temirtau, a unit of global metals giant ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal Temirtau officials told RFE/RL that the miners' main demand was the doubling of their salaries, and that new contracts had been drafted that meet this demand. Miners who are aboveground have been supporting those who remain underground, supplying them with food and water, and family members have brought clothes and other supplies. "We want to support our men...they say they are determined to [strike] until the end, until they come to a compromise," said Svetlana Yerzhumanova, a relative of a striking miner. The company said in September that it was negotiating a new collective agreement with steelworker and miner unions and planned to sign it before the end of the year. The miners also want fully paid sick leave and for the retirement age to be set at 50. Other demands include safety improvements and new or upgraded equipment and machinery in the mines. ArcelorMittal Temirtau operates eight coal mines in resource-rich Kazakhstan and produced about 4 million tons of steel in 2016. Last month, copper miners near the city of Zhezqazghan in the same region also refused to come out of a mine, demanding salary increases and better benefits. They came to the surface after their employer, KazakhMys, agreed to meet some of their demands. Critics of authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev accuse his government of applying illegal pressure on labor unions since protests in 2011 by oil workers in western Kazakhstan. After months of demonstrations, at least 14 protesters were killed by police in the oil town of Zhanaozen on December 16-17, 2011. With reporting by Reuters and Current Time TV New Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov is on an official visit to neighboring Uzbekistan. Jeenbekov, who took office on November 24, arrived in Tashkent for a two-day visit on December 13. Jeenbekov, who was met at the airport by the prime minister and foreign minister, was to meet with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev to discuss economic, political, and cultural ties. Shortly after arriving, he laid flowers at a monument to Islam Karimov, the autocratic president who led the Central Asian country for more than a quarter-century before his death in 2016. Jeenbekov and Mirziyoev were expected to discuss issues related to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, a source of tension since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. There have been numerous conflicts along the border, in some cases violent, but tension has decreased since Karimov's death. Following an agreement with Uzbekistan, Jeenbekov's predecessor Almazbek Atambaev signed a law demarcating about 85 percent of the two countries' 1,280-kilometer border. Mirziyoev has said that improving strained ties with Uzbekistan's neighbors is a major foreign policy priority. Pakistan has ordered at least 10 international charities to close down, rejecting their applications to reregister under stricter new regulations for foreign-funded groups. The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), which represents 63 international aid groups, on December 13 said at least 10 members had received "letters of rejection" from the Ministry of Interior after applying under the new rules. Among the groups likely to leave the country is the charity founded by hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, the group said. "We believe that we are one of more than 20 organizations whose registrations have been rejected," Jonathan Birchall, the lead communications officer for the Open Society Foundation, told the AFP news agency. ActionAid, an international charity that supports women's rights and other causes, said it is also being forced to leave Pakistan. Another major charity, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) -- which provides medical aid services -- on November 9 said it had been ordered to close its last remaining facility in the violence-plagued tribal region along the Afghan border. Pakistani authorities have moved to force foreign-funded aid groups to reregister under 2-year-old regulations with stricter requirements than previously set down. AFP said Pakistani officials declined to comment. Pakistan has shown increasing suspicion of international aid groups in recent years, accusing some of having links to foreign security services. Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters WASHINGTON -- U.S. prosecutors have for the first time publicly defended a much-criticized decision to settle an alleged money-laundering case, a case that stemmed from a massive Russian tax-fraud scheme and has rippled through U.S.-Russian relations. A letter filed on December 12 and signed by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said that prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York had no contact with President Donald Trump, his administrations personnel, his relatives, or his campaign officials regarding the case, known informally as Prevezon. "The decision to settle was made by career prosecutors based on the merits and on a conclusion that the proposed settlement represented a highly favorable resolution of the case for the United States," said the letter, which was stamped November 9. The Prevezon case officially dates back to 2013, when U.S. authorities sought to seize about $14 million in assets from the company, which was registered in Cyprus and largely owned by well-connected Russian businessman Denis Katsyv. Tax-Fraud Scheme U.S. officials alleged that the assets, mainly Manhattan real estate, came from a $230 million tax scheme, uncovered about six years earlier, to defraud the Russian government. That tax-fraud scheme, which Moscow acknowledged occurred, was revealed in part by Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after suffering what his supporters said amounted to torture. Magnitsky's death led to the passage of a U.S. law in 2012 that punished Russians allegedly connected to Magnitsky's death and the original tax-fraud case. The law infuriated the Kremlin, and led to President Vladimir Putin banning all adoptions of Russian children by Americans. With thousands of pages of evidence, affidavits, and bank records detailing byzantine transfers of money, the Prevezon case had been scheduled to go to trial on May 15. On May 11, in a pretrial conference, attorneys from the prosecution and the defense had sparred over the nature of financial records obtained in Russia and the credibility of a translator used by Prevezon's Russian lawyers. On May 12, however, the two sides announced a settlement, with Prevezon admitting no wrongdoing and agreeing to pay $6 million. The timing of the settlement announcement raised eyebrows for many observers. The settlement came two months after the U.S. attorney overseeing the case, Preet Bharara, was fired after refusing to resign in what the White House said was a routine turnover of Justice Department appointees. It also came amid mounting scrutiny of interactions by Trump associates with Russian officials. FBI Director James Comey was fired earlier that same week for what Trump later said was Comey's handling of the bureau's investigation of those Russian ties. Theres no indication that the timing of Comey's firing and the Prevezon settlement were connected. In July, Democratic lawmakers wrote to the Justice Department demanding an explanation for the timing of the settlement and suggesting possible unethical actions. Prevezon's U.S. counsel initially was the law firm Baker Hostetler, but a judge kicked it off the case amid questions about the firm's earlier legal work for Magnitskys employer, Hermitage Capital Management. The letter by Assistant Attorney General Boyd said that a series of court rulings in the days before the May 12 settlement had "lent support to the Government's theory of the case and its ability to use certain key pieces of evidence." Secretive Lobbying Group Prevezon's main Russian lawyer was Natalya Veselnitskaya, who traveled to the United States in June 2016 as part of the ongoing pretrial maneuvering for Prevezon. It later emerged that during that visit she met with Trump's son, Donald Jr., along with a Russian-American lobbyist and Trump's then-campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Veselnitskaya's meeting with Trump also included discussion of the adoption ban that the Kremlin instituted in 2013. Veselnitskaya was also involved in setting up a secretive lobbying group that sought to undermine the Magnitsky legislation and an expanded version that was passed in December 2016. In October, Veselnitskaya petitioned the U.S. court, seeking permission to travel to the United States in connection with efforts to make the $6 million settlement payment. Lawyers for Prevezon told the court that half of that amount had been scheduled to come from a Dutch bank account that U.S. officials had requested frozen. The U.S. attorneys office "did not have any direct communication with [Natalya ] Veselnitskaya regarding the settlement," it said. Last month, U.S. prosecutors asked a judge to enforce the $6 million settlement agreement. Two Chechen men have been sentenced to prison over a deadly hostage-taking attack in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk in 1995, a turning point in the first of two post-Soviet separatist wars in nearby Chechnya. The North Caucasus Regional Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don found Ramzan Belyalov and Magomed Mazdayev guilty of hostage-taking and organizing a terrorist attack and sentenced them to 15 and 13 years in prison respectively. Belyalov and Mazdayev pleaded not guilty. Belyalov says he was working elsewhere when the hostage crisis erupted in Budyonnovsk, near Chechnya in the Stavropol Krai. On June 14, 1995, a group of Chechen separatists led by Shamil Basayev attacked a local police station and government buildings in Budyonnovsk and took some 1,500 people hostage, demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. About 150 people were killed. The surviving hostages were released following a five-day siege after Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin promised a cease-fire in Chechnya and gave Basayev and his backers safe passage back to Chechnya. The deal to resolve the crisis paved the way for an August 1996 agreement that ended the war. A second war erupted in 1999, with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin playing a prominent role in decision-making, after Basayev led militants in an incursion into neighboring Daghestan. Basayev, who became the most wanted man in Russia, was killed in an explosion in 2006. Based on reporting by Rapsinews and Interfax All Russian diplomatic personnel have left Yemen and Moscow has temporarily suspended its diplomatic presence in the country because of the deteriorating security situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.. The Russian ambassador and a portion of the diplomatic staff will perform their duties out of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on December 12. Russian Ambassador Vladimir Dedushkin has been working out of Riyadh since last year and Moscow warned last week that Yemen risked spiraling into "military-political chaos." Yemen's Saudi-backed government has been at war since 2014 with Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who seized control of the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The Saudi-led coalition has been blockading Sanaa's ports of entry. It said it granted permission for a Russian aircraft to evacuate diplomatic staff and other Russian nationals on December 12 from Sanaa, according to a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. More than 8,750 people have been killed in the civil war, which has created what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN says millions in the country are on the verge of famine and lack clean water, fueling a cholera epidemic. In its most recent statement, the Russian Embassy in Yemen said in August that it was concerned about the "high intensity of air strikes by the Arab coalition on Yemeni cities and towns that often lead to civilian casualties." "Moscow still believes that there is no alternative to the early cessation of violence," the statement said, urging a resolution through UN-sponsored peace talks. Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, AFP, and AP A prominent advocate for Tajik migrants who says he has never been a Tajik citizen has been deported from Russia to Tajikistan. A lawyer for Karomat Sharipov, Aleksandra Medvedeva, told RFE/RL on December 13 that her client had been deported from Moscow to the southern Tajik city of Kulob overnight, hours after an appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to deport him. Sources at the Kulob airport, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, told RFE/RL that Sharipov was among the passengers registered on a flight from Moscow that arrived at 3 a.m. on December 13. Attempts to reach Sharipov were unsuccessful. On November 30, the Lyubertsy city court outside Moscow ruled that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was right to confiscate Sharipov's Russian passport in October, clearing the way for his deportation to Tajikistan. Sharipov, who heads the Migrants Federation, says he obtained Russian citizenship legally in 1993 after serving in the Soviet and later the Russian Army. He says he never had Tajik citizenship after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991. According to Sharipov, the FSB confiscated his passport after a brawl between Tajik migrant workers and security personnel at a Moscow mall in late September. Some 250 people, mainly Tajik migrant workers, were detained. Sharipov voiced concerns over the legality of such detentions. There are hundreds of thousands of labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus living and working in Russia. Moscow has welcomed a new U.S. offer of talks with North Korea, with senior Russian officials calling it constructive and the "only correct approach" to tension over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The Russian remarks on December 13 came after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered talks with North Korea "without pre-conditions" -- a shift from previous U.S. demands that Pyongyang accept giving up its nuclear weapons as the goal of any talks. "Naturally, we support this approach. We believe that it is the only possible correct approach," the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying. Russia would like to see "practical actions follow" such statements," Ryabkov said. Russia has supported several rounds of UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea, but has frequently accused the United States and South Korea of being too demanding and provoking Pyongyang by holding military exercises. 'Constructive' Statement Ryabkov repeated calls by Russia for dialogue, saying that talks are "very much needed" and "should be accompanied...by maximum restraint in terms of conducting military events that may be seen by Pyongyang as threatening." President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Tillerson's statement was "constructive" and an improvement over what he called "the confrontational rhetoric we have heard so far." Russia has less influence on North Korea than China does, but its ties with Pyongyang -- long a recipient of Moscow's support in the Soviet era -- are far warmer than the tense U.S.-North Korean relationship. Interfax cited a spokeswoman for the Russian Embassy in North Korea as saying that a Russian Defense Ministry delegation arrived in Pyongyang on December 12 and would stay until December 16. Spokeswoman Yulia Shevelyova said she did not have details about the purpose of the visit, Interfax reported, and Peskov declined to comment. In his remarks on December 12, Tillerson said that it would be "unrealistic" to expect Pyongyang to come to the negotiating table ready to give up weapons that it invested so much in developing. He reiterated that Washington cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, but said that after a "period of quiet" without nuclear and missile tests, the United States would be "ready to talk any time they're ready to talk." "Let's just meet," he said in a speech to the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington. UN Emissary Tillerson spoke two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea from threatening the United States with nuclear weapons, using military force if necessary. The diplomatic overture also came after the first visit to North Korea by a high-level UN emissary in six years. UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman said on December 12 that he believes his visit last week may have created an opening for negotiations. But Feltman said that North Korean officials made no commitments -- and as he spoke, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his country a nuclear power and build more intercontinental ballistic missiles like the one the country tested two weeks ago. Tillerson said Trump had endorsed his change of position, but the White House later issued a statement saying Trump's views on North Korea have not changed. With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, TASS, and Interfax A top Russian official has said that most of the phone calls conveying fake bomb threats that prompted evacuations recently in dozens of Russian cities came from Syria. A spate of telephone bomb threats that proved to be hoaxes have targeted some 3,500 schools, shopping malls, airports, hotels, train stations, and other public buildings in 190 Russian cities, and led to the evacuation of more than 2.3 million people since September, Russian officials have said. Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov told Russian news agencies on December 12 that most of the anonymous calls came from areas controlled by "terrorists" in Syria. He did not specify what groups or individuals might be involved. Russia and Syria often refer to their Sunni rebel opponents in Syria's six-year civil war as "terrorists," including groups allied with Western countries and Arab states as well as extremist groups like Islamic State (IS). Russia has waged a bombing campaign backing Syrian government forces in the war since September 2015. The war helped give rise to IS, which has recently lost most of the territory it once controlled in the country, while killing over 300,000 people and displacing millions more. Zubov said not all the fake bomb threats came from Syria. He said some calls in what he described as a "cyberattack on the Russian Federation" came from Turkey, Ukraine, the United States, and Canada, and a few calls came from the ex-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and Interfax A UN court has heard an appeal against the acquittal of Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seselj is accused of committing the crimes against non-Serbs in Croatia, Serbias Vojvodina region, and Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Balkan wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and cost an estimated 130,000 lives. During the December 13 appeal hearing, the prosecution explained to judges at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) in The Hague why they believe that the 2016 verdict should be overturned. UN prosecutors are asking the court to find Seselj guilty on three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war and sentence him to 28 years in prison -- or order a new trial. The alleged crimes include persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds, deportation, murder, and torture. Seselj, a member of parliament with his Serbian Radical Party, did not attend the hearing and has repeatedly insisted he would not go back to The Hague voluntarily. The tribunal has appointed a lawyer to represent his legal interests in court. In a controversial majority decision in March last year, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitted Seselj of all charges. One of the three judges dissented, saying the acquittals ignored international law and the tribunal's jurisprudence, while the court's chief prosecutor said judges ignored a large body of evidence when they freed Seselj. The MICT building, which houses the tribunal's predecessor, the ICTY, is part of a crime scene for Dutch investigators following the suicide of former Bosnian Croat military commander Slobodan Praljak. He swallowed cyanide in the courtroom on November 29 after judges upheld his 20-year jail term for war crimes -- their last sentence before the ICTY closed. With reporting by AFP and BalkanInsight U.S. officials are voicing skepticism about Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, in particular saying that his declaration of victory against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group seems premature. Putin ordered the troop pullback during a surprise visit to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria on December 11, declaring that Russian and Syrian forces had "crushed the most combat-capable international terrorist group." U.S. officials on December 12 challenged that assertion. "We think the Russian declarations of [IS's] defeat are premature," a White House National Security Council spokeswoman said. "We have repeatedly seen in recent history that a premature declaration of victory was followed by a failure to consolidate military gains, stabilize the situation, and create the conditions that prevent terrorists from reemerging." The U.S.-led military coalition in Syria, which has been battling IS separately from Russia and Syria, has long been skeptical of Russia's announced drawdowns. Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said on December 12 that the United States had not observed any significant withdrawal since Putin's announcement. He added that "there have been no meaningful reductions in combat troops following Russia's previous announcements of planned departures from Syria." "Russian comments about removal of their forces do not often correspond with actual troop reductions," Rankine-Galloway said, adding that Russia's plans "do not affect U.S. priorities in Syria." A U.S. official told AFP that Washington expected Putin to carry out a "token withdrawal" of some aircraft from Syria, then follow up by demanding that the United States pull its forces out of Syria. The Pentagon recently revealed that it still has around 2,000 troops in Syria. It said last week that the troops will stay in Syria as long as necessary to ensure IS militants don't return. The "coalition will continue to operate in Syria in support of local forces on the ground to complete the military defeat of [IS] and stabilize liberated territory, in turn allowing for displaced Syrians and refugees to return," Rankine-Galloway said. Russia, by contrast, has asserted that foreign forces soon may no longer be needed in Syria. After turning the tide of the conflict in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's favor, Putin said he now wanted to help broker a peace deal. A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that the Pentagon believed Assad is trying to impose a "victor's peace" on the country, but it expects his attempts will fail. The odds of Syria breaking into a civil war again would be high without political reconciliation between the many warring parties, the official said. With reporting by AFP and Reuters Below you will find the answers to Frequently Asked Questions by candidates How do I upload my CV/Resume and create my Career Summary? You will need to login to your account or register if you haven't already done so. Go to Candidate Hub and then click on Upload New CV/Resume and select the appropriate file. Once you have successfully uploaded your document you can then verify, edit and complete your carrer summary. How do I edit my Career Summary? Login to your account, go to Candidate Hub and click on Edit Career Summary. You can then edit your Career Summary, or you can also click on Upload A New CV/Resume document. Please note doing this will override your existing CV/Resume document. Can I upload more than one CV/Resume? No, we only allow users to have one CV/Resume attached to their profile. You can edit your profile and upload a new CV/Resume at any time, however uploading a new CV/Resume will replace your existing one. Employers and recruiters often disregard CV/Resumes that have not been updated in more than three months' as out of date, we would strongly encourage you to login to your account and update your profile regularly. What is a Featured Candidate? Featured Candidate will allow you to stand out from your peers. Your profile will be highlighted within the search results produced by subscribed employers and recruiters. If you would like to purchase this service, please visit your Candidate Homepage and click on Purchase Now under Stand out from the crowd. My CV/Resume is stopping me from getting interviews, how can you help? We partner with a company called Top Resume, they are a global provider with expertise in all areas. You can request a free CV/Resume Evaluation and should you wish to purchase any of their services you can do. How do I deactivate my CV/Resume? To deactivate your CV/Resume, please login and go to Candidate Hub and click on Deactivate My CV/Resume. You can reactivate your CV/Resume and edit your Career Summary at anytime. How do I unsubscribe from your emails? To unsubscribe, please login to your account and visit the Email section within your account. You can then update your email preferences by checking and unchecking the boxes, don't forget to click update subscriptions . How do I find a job using Rigzone.com? To search 1000's of oil and gas jobs, please visit the job search page and select your preferences, you will then be presented with a list of jobs matching your search criteria. Don't forget, you will need to have an active profile on Rigzone.com before you can apply for any position you see listed. How can I apply for a job on Rigzone.com? Applying is easy. Login (or register if you haven't already), upload your CV/Resume, create your profile and make sure it is active. Once you have completed these steps you can apply for any job that matches your skills and experience by clicking Apply Now on the job advert. I applied for a job, but I haven't heard back, what's going on? When you apply for a position on Rigzone, your application is sent directly to the company who listed the position and not Rigzone. If you would like feedback on your application please contact the company you applied to directly. How much does it cost to use Rigzone.com? Absolutely nothing! You can purchase a Featured Candidate subscription, but this is not mandatory. What type of companies use Rigzone.com for their recruitment and advertising needs? Rigzone represents all sectors within the global oil and gas industry. We work with employers, recruitment and advertising agencies who have a specific interest in the oil and gas industry. So, if you work in the oil industry, you should have your profile on Rigzone. Is Rigzone safe to use? Yes, we work with hundreds of oil and gas employers and recruiters globally, who can post their jobs on Rigzone.com and/or search our CV/Resume database. Employers/recruiters must have an active subscription and to have this they will have gone through our rigorous security checks. Rigzone will only ever email you from rigzone.com and rigzonemail.com email address, if you receive an email from Rigzone, which doesn't end in one of these email addresses, then this will not be a legitimate email from Rigzone.com. Are you GDPR compliant? Yes, we are fully GDPR compliant. You can view our GDPR policy here . Are you CCPA compliant? Yes, we are fully CCPA compliant. You can view our CCPA policy here . Recruitement Help and FAQ How do I post my job on Rigzone? Posting jobs on Rigzone is quick and easy, download our Job Posting step by step guide. Still unsure? Contact your Client Services Representative who will be more than happy to help. Your Client Services Representative's contact details can be found in the Account tab in your Recruitement Dashboard. How do I find that perfect candidate? Rigzone CV/resume search helps you source the best-qualified candidates quickly. Download our CV/resume search guide and discover the latest hints and tips to sourcing top talent efficiently. Still unsure? Contact your Client Services Representative who will be more than happy to help. Your Client Services Representative's contact details can be found in the Account tab in your Recruitement Dashboard. How Much does it cost? Rigzone provides a range of effective recruitment solutions to suit your needs. For further information, visit our Products & Pricing page or contact our sales team. What is the quality of Rigzone's database? Our global candidate database spans all industry sectors, onshore and offshore, office based, and field based, entry-level to executive oil and gas professionals. Whether you're looking for technical experts in a specialized field or business support staff such as accounting, marketing and human resources, Rigzone is the best place to source oil and gas professionals. What is my Recruitment Area? My Recruitment Area makes your life easier! Manage your job postings, applications and sourced candidates in one place. Create saved searches and agents Receive candidate alerts Rank the most qualified professionals How to write compelling job adverts These are just a few of the features designed to streamline the recruitment process. Download the Saved Searches and Search Agents guide for more information. It's crucial to make your job adverts stand out from the rest, captivating your target audience. Creating better job adverts means you'll be able to fill roles faster. Attracting highly qualified candidates starts with a few simple steps: Add a relevant and clear headline Brand your job ad Clear and easy-to-read copy Involve the reader and be unique Contacting, engaging and recruiting top talent effectively Download our guide on How to Attract the Right Candidate with your job postings. Our candidate database provides you with access to the best oil and gas professionals across the globe. Download our guide on Contacting Passive candidates and discover how you can engage with professionals you find on Rigzone. Terms of Use Agreement - Rigzone.com, Inc. LAST UPDATE: 25 August 2021 LAST UPDATE: 25 August 2021 Legal Information RIGZONE.COM, INC. ("RIGZONE," "COMPANY," "WE," "US") PROVIDES THIS WEB SITE AND ALL SITE-RELATED SERVICES, INCLUDING THE CONTENT AND CODE RELATED THERETO (COLLECTIVELY, THE "SITE"), SUBJECT TO YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW. PLEASE READ THIS TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT") CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you are using this Site or its services as the representative of an employer, recruiter, staffing agency, or other business, you represent that you have the authority to bind such employer, recruiter, staffing agency, or other business entity to these terms and conditions, and by using the Site or our services, you agree that such employer, recruiter, staffing agency, or other business entity is bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use the Site. This Agreement is made between the Company and you, the Site visitor and/or registered user and as applicable the business you represent("you"). We reserve the right at any time to: Change the terms and conditions of this Agreement; Change the Site, including eliminating or discontinuing any content on or feature of the Site, restricting the hours of availability or limiting the amount of use permitted; or Change any fees or charges for use of the Site, including instituting new or increased fees or charges for the use of the Site or any other Site-related services or any feature thereof. Any changes to these terms will be effective immediately upon notice, which we may provide by any means including, without limitation, posting on the Site or via electronic mail. Your use of the Site after such notice will be deemed acceptance of such changes. Be sure to review this Agreement periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version. Upon our request, you agree to sign a non-electronic version of this Agreement. You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Site. Ownership; Proprietary Notices 1999-2021 Rigzone.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Site, including all pages within and all code related thereto, is the property of Rigzone.com, Inc. No portion of the materials or code on these pages or anywhere on the Site may be reprinted or republished (other than as is necessary to view the page on your monitor) in any form without the express written permission of the Company. RIGZONE.COM, DOWNSTREAMTODAY and OILCAREERS.COM are registered service marks of the Company. The following are trademarks and/or service marks owned by the Company that are not yet registered in the United States: Recruiting Now PavillionTM,RigzoneTM, OilgradsTM, Rigzone Career GuideTM, Rigzone Career CenterTM, Rigzone Salary SurveyTM, Rigzone Compensation TrackerTM, Field Development DatabaseTM, Rigzone Job RegisterTM, Rigzone Daily NewsTM, Rigzone Weekly News SummaryTM, Rigzone Equipment UpdateTM, Rigzone Commodity CornerTM, DownstreamToday Commodity RecapTM, Weekly Grad ConnectionTM, Your Gateway to the Oil & Gas IndustryTM, Stay Competitive with Real-Time TrackingTM,What is Your Right Price?TM, Your O&G Career Starts HereTM, The Global Oil & Gas Workforce SurveyTM and the Rigzone and OilCareers logos. All other trademarks and/or service marks used in this Site are the trademarks and/or service marks of their respective owners. The Site is owned and operated by us in conjunction with others pursuant to contractual arrangements. Unauthorized use of the materials on the Site may violate copyright, trademark, patent and other laws and is prohibited. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by using the Site. Warranty Information; Disclaimer THIS SITE, INCLUDING ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN IT OR ANY SITE RELATED SERVICE, OR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE LICENSED, PURCHASED OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE, IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, RIGZONE AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, SPONSORS, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NEITHER RIGZONE, ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SPONSORS, SUPPLIERS NOR AGENTS MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION AS TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SITE OR THE SITE-RELATED SERVICES. RIGZONE AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, AND AGENTS DO NOT WARRANT THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SITE (OR THE SERVER(S) ON WHICH IT IS HOSTED) OR SOFTWARE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING ALL TELEPHONE, COMPUTER HARDWARE AND OTHER EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO ACCESS AND USE THE SITE, AND ALL CHARGES RELATED THERETO. YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK FOR YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND THE SOFTWARE AND YOUR RELIANCE THEREON. NO OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT OF RIGZONE, OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, AGENTS, REGISTERED USERS, OR VISITORS, WHETHER MADE ON THE SITE OR OTHERWISE, SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY. YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND ANY MATERIALS PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITE ARE ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. Some of the information on the Site or available through use of Site-related services is derived from information which is publicly available on the Internet. As such the Company is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of such information, and such information is provided "as is." You acknowledge that the Site could include inaccuracies or errors, or materials that violate these Terms of Use (specifically, the Code of Conduct section). Additionally, you acknowledge that unauthorized additions, deletions and alterations could be made by third parties to the Site. For example in some instances, content made available on the Site may represent the opinions and judgments of providers or users, such as user content. We do not endorse nor shall we be responsible or liable for the accuracy or reliability of any statement made on the Site by anyone other than our authorized employees acting in such capacity. Although the Company attempts to ensure the integrity and the accuracy of the Site, it makes no guarantees whatsoever as to the Sites completeness or correctness. In the event that such a situation arises, please contact us at support@rigzone.com with, if possible, a description of the material to be checked and the location (URL) where such material can be found on the Site, as well as information sufficient to enable us to contact you. We will try to address your concerns as soon as reasonably practicable. For copyright infringement claims, see the section on Claims of Copyright Infringement. The Site is a portal for news and recruitment services in the energy industry. The Site contains job postings (directly and indirectly, sometimes with the help of third parties) by employers, recruiters and staffing agencies of available job opportunities at their companies or companies they represent (hereinafter referred to collectively as employers) and jobseekers posting their own career history and/or resumes/CVs; postings by sellers of advertisements for new and used energy industry services, equipment and machinery; postings by companies in the energy industry of information related to their companies; postings of energy industry events, news, analysis, industry forecasts, salary and employer surveys and commentary, and other information related to the energy industry. The Company does not evaluate or censor the resumes/CVs, job listings, services, equipment and machinery advertisements, company information, events or other information posted to the Site. Moreover, the Company is not involved in the actual transaction, if any, between potential employers and candidates, or potential buyers and sellers, or between any other users of the Site. Consequently, we have no control over the quality, safety, legality, truth or accuracy of the job listings or resumes/CVs, advertisements, company information, events or other information posted to the Site, or the ability of employers to hire candidates, or the ability of candidates to fill job openings, or the quality or availability of any equipment and machinery advertised on the Site. Because user authentication on the Internet is difficult, the Company cannot and does not confirm that users are who they claim to be. Because we do not and cannot be involved in user-to-user transactions or control the behavior of the Sites users, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more Site users, you release Rigzone (and its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents and employees) from all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential, direct and indirect) of any kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes. You acknowledge that there may be certain risks, including but not limited to the risk of physical harm and of dealing with strangers, underage persons or people acting under false pretenses, associated with pursuing relationships begun on the Internet. You assume all risks related to dealing with other users with whom you have had contact through the Site. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for the form, content and accuracy of any resume, job listing, advertisement, event, company profile or other material you post to the Site. The Company neither warrants nor guarantees that a resume, job posting, advertisement, company profile, event or any other information you post to the Site will be viewed by any specific number of users, or that a resume, job posting, advertisement, event, company profile, or any other information you post to the Site will be viewed by any user. We are not to be considered as an employer or broker with respect to your use of the Site, and we shall not be responsible for any employment or other decisions made by any entity posting job listings or resumes or any other information to the Site. Rigzone assumes no responsibility or liability for any personnel selected by your company. Selection, retention or hire of any individual or entity is based solely on your companys investigation, verification and determination that such hire is suitable for your company's purposes. Rigzone assumes no responsibility or liability for any services, equipment or machinery obtained by your company. The purchase or any services, machinery or equipment is based solely on your companys investigation, verification and determination that such purchase is suitable for your company's purposes. Limitation of Liability NEITHER RIGZONE NOR ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, ADVERTISERS, AGENTS OR SPONSORS ARE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES UNDER ANY CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHER THEORY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING IN ANY WAY TO THE SITE AND/OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE SITE, OR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE PURCHASED THROUGH THE SITE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE DAMAGES OR INJURIES OCCURRING AS A RESULT OF: (I) ANY ERROR, OMISSION, DELETION, OR DEFECT IN THE CONTENT AVAILABLE ON THE SITE; OR (II) ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS, INFORMATION OR DATA, UNAUTHORISED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF RECORDS, INFORMATION OR DATA, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, DEFAMATION, OR ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE AND/OR CONTENT CONTAINED WITHIN THE SITE IS TO STOP USING THE SITE. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE MAXIMUM LIABILITY TO COMPANY FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) SHALL BE THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, TO ACCESS THE SITE. Acknowledgement This Site may contain links to other web sites operated by third parties, other than affiliates of the Company (Linked Sites). We neither control nor endorse such other web sites, nor have we reviewed or approved any content that appears on the Linked Sites. You acknowledge that when you click on a link to visit a Linked Site, a frame may appear that contains the Company logo, advertisements and/or other content selected by the Company. You acknowledge that the Company and its sponsors neither endorse nor are affiliated with the Linked Sites and are not responsible for any content that appears on the Linked Sites. You also acknowledge that the owner of the Linked Site neither endorses nor is affiliated with the Company and its sponsors. Void Where Prohibited; Indemnification Although the Site is accessible worldwide, not all products or services discussed, referenced or made available on the Site are available to all persons or in all geographic locations or jurisdictions. We make no representation that materials in the Site are appropriate or available for use in all locations. Those who choose to access the Site from other locations do so on their own initiative and at their own risk and are responsible for compliance with local laws if and to the extent local laws are applicable. The Company reserves the right to limit the availability of the Site and/or the provision of any product or service described thereon to any person, geographic area, or jurisdiction it so desires at any time and in our sole discretion and to limit the quantities of any such product or service that we provide. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us, our affiliates, sponsors, officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs (including reasonable attorneys fees), or other expenses that arise directly or indirectly out of or from (a) your breach of this Agreement, (b) your violation of the Code of Conduct, and/or (c) your activities in connection with the Site or Site-related services including Processing of Personal Data (as defined below). Code of Conduct While using the Site or Site-related services, you agree not to do any of the following without our prior written authorization: Post any inaccurate, untimely, stale, incomplete or misleading information. Post any employment opportunity or requirements that are inaccurate or not available with a verifiable company that is directly represented by your office. Post any employment opportunities that are not indirectly or directly associated with the energy industry. Post any employment opportunity that discriminates against a person because of nationality, age, disability, gender, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, pregnancy and maternity and sexual orientation. Post more than one job opportunity of varying disciplines or job titles within a singular job post. Post misleading, unreadable, or hidden keywords, repeated keywords or keywords in an effort to gain priority placement of a posting. Copy other job postings not originating from your company as your own, knowingly post the same position multiple times on the Site or post multiple positions within one posting. Allow job postings or employment requirements to remain posted on the Site for more than 24 hours after they are no longer viable or valid. To the extent that a position is placed on hold or is otherwise not available for immediate placement, the posting must be removed from the Site until such time as the position is a viable opening. Post any employment opportunity that does not contain a company URL, e-mail address or apply online application on the Rigzone Career Portal. Post any employment opportunity that does not contain a Rigzone URL on the Rigzone Energy or Social Network. Post any employment opportunity on the Rigzone Energy or Social Network that directs Rigzone members to any other site other than the job posting on Rigzone. Post any advertisements for services, machinery and equipment that is not energy-related. Allow services, equipment and machinery advertisements to remain posted on the Site for more than 24 hours after they are no longer available or valid. Post company profile information from a company that is not directly engaged in servicing the energy industry. Post personal websites, including without limitation resume/CV sites, to the Rigzone Company Directory. Post information about an event or training that is not directly related to the energy industry. Resell or make available to any person not expressly licensed by Rigzone, whether via phone, fax, e-mail, mail or any other medium, any of the Rigzone services or any information obtained therefrom, including without limitation the resumes/CVs or candidate information. Share passwords, login information or named user identification or otherwise allow multiple offices or users to access the Rigzone service on a basis that is other than what was originally subscribed for. A named user is defined as one unique individual user with one unique password. An office is defined as a location where a named user routinely accesses or uses the Rigzone service under express license from Rigzone. A profile is defined as one unique profile, associated to one person and cannot be associated to a company, shared by more than one user. Users must not disclose their phone number, email address or home address other than in their CV/Resume format. Use any search engine, software, tool, electronic storage or retrieval device, agent or other device or mechanism, including without limitation browsers, spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents (collectively Devices) that is not approved by Rigzone to navigate, search or store information from the Site. Approved Devices include those made available by Rigzone on the Site, or other generally available third party web browsers, e.g., Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or generally available search engines, such as Google, Yahoo or Bing. Engage in spamming, flooding, soliciting or mass marketing via e-mail, direct mail, telephone, or otherwise to Rigzone users. Express or imply that any statements you make are endorsed by us. Impersonate any person or entity, including, without limitation, a Rigzone employee or agent, a user of Rigzones services, including a candidate, placement specialist or an employer, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity. Respond to a job listing, or any other posting, on behalf of anyone other than yourself. Delete or revise any material posted by any other person or entity. Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Site and services, including, without limitation, by means of hacking or defacing any portion of the Site. Post or transmit (a) any incomplete, false or inaccurate biographical information or information that is not your own accurate resume (i.e., the resume of a living individual seeking employment on a full-time or part-time basis on his or her own behalf); (b) any content or information that is unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable or harmful, or that infringes on our or any third party's intellectual property or other rights; (c) any advertisements, solicitations, chain letters, pyramid schemes, investment opportunities, or other unsolicited commercial communication; (d) any information or software that contains a virus, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful or disruptive component; (e) any trade secret of any third party; or (f) any material, nonpublic information about companies without the authorization to do so. Post or transmit advertisements or any other postings that do not comply with applicable law, including but not limited to laws relating to equal employment opportunity and employment eligibility verification, including post or transmit any job advertisements that require a visa as a condition of employment, or that require citizenship or lawful permanent residence in a certain country as a condition of employment, except when necessary to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or government contract. Use the Site for any unlawful commercial, research or information gathering purposes. Communicate, send, or place unsolicited e-mail, telephone calls, mailings or other contacts to posting individuals and entities. Modify, adapt, sublicense, translate, sell, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the Site. Remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices contained in the Site. Frame or mirror or link to any content on the Site. Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index, data mine, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or its contents. Print out or otherwise copy or use any personally identifiable information about candidates for purposes other than consideration of the candidates for potential employment by your company. A user or company will not disclose personal contact details on Rigzones Energy or Social Network, or exchange personal details such as CV/Resume, phone numbers, email addresses, using the Chat function on Rigzones Energy or Social Network. You agree to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations in connection with your use of the Site and Site-related services. . The Company has no obligation to monitor the Site or Site-related services, including any forum, or any materials that you or other third parties transmit or post on to the Site. However, you acknowledge and agree that the Company has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the Site and Site-related services, including any forum, and the materials you transmit or post, to alter or remove any such materials (including, without limitation, any posting to the Site), and to disclose such materials and the circumstances surrounding their transmission to any third party in order to operate the Site properly, to protect itself, its sponsors, its registered users and visitors, and to comply with legal obligations or governmental requests. The Company reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it deems in its sole discretion to be unacceptable, offensive or in violation of this Agreement. The Company also reserves the right to prohibit any user who, in the Companys sole discretion, violates the Code of Conduct or other terms of this Agreement from using the Site and related services. Such prohibition may occur without notice to the user. Rigzones Energy or Social Network If a user opts-in to Rigzones Energy or Social Network you agree that you may appear on external search results. Processing of Personal Data Company will make available to corporate clients to which it provides services (Clients) information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (Personal Data). With respect to such Personal Data, Company and its Clients shall both be regarded as Data Controllers. With respect to Processing of Personal Data covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or any other law regarding the collection, use, disclosure, or security of Personal Data (Data Protection Laws and Regulations), Client shall have the obligations set forth in this section. All capitalized terms not otherwise defined in these Terms and Conditions shall have the same meaning as provided by GDPR. Client shall treat Personal Data as confidential information. Processing of Personal Data shall solely be done in accordance with this Agreement. Client shall comply with all obligations of a Data Controller under the GDPR and any other Data Protection Law and Regulation with respect to its Processing of Personal Data. Client shall ensure that there is a valid, lawful basis for all Processing of Personal Data that Client undertakes or directs to be undertaken on its behalf, and that it has obtained all necessary consents or authorizations under GDPR or any other Data Protection Law and Regulation for its Processing. Client shall ensure that Client is entitled to access the relevant Personal Data and can lawfully use, Process, and transfer Personal Data in accordance with these Terms and Data Protection Law and Regulations. In the event Client engages Sub-processors, Client shall implement written contracts to ensure compliance with all obligations mandated by Data Protection Laws and Regulations associated with the Personal Data they are Processing. Client shall only engage Sub-processors capable of Processing Personal Data in compliance with Data Protection Laws and Regulations, including GDPR. Client shall be liable for the acts and omissions of its Sub-processors to the same extent Client would be liable if performing the Processing of each Sub-processor directly. Upon notice, Client shall stop and remediate any unauthorized Processing. Client shall comply with any requests by Data Subjects to exercise their individual rights under GDPR or any other data protection law, including rights to access, correct, amend, block, restrict, or delete their Personal Data, as required by Data Protection Laws and Regulations. Client shall, to the extent legally permitted, promptly notify Company if it receives a request from a Data Subject for exercise of an individual right under GDPR or any other law, including rights for access to, or correction, amendment, blocking, restriction, or deletion of that persons Personal Data, that may impact Companys Processing of the Personal Data. Client shall fully address that persons request unless it is not possible to do so without assistance from Company. In any such case, Client shall provide commercially reasonable cooperation and assistance to Company in relation to handling of a Data Subjects request. Client shall ensure that its personnel engaged in the Processing of Personal Data are informed of the confidential nature of the Personal Data, have received appropriate training on their responsibilities, and are under an appropriate obligation of confidentiality (whether contractual or statutory). Client shall take commercially reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of any personnel engaged in the Processing of Personal Data. Client shall implement and maintain administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure protection of the security, confidentiality, and integrity of Personal Data, as provided by Data Protection Laws and Regulations, including GDPR. Clients security measures must be designed to protect Personal Data from and against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure or access. Client shall regularly monitor compliance with its safeguards. Client will not take any action or engage in any practice that in any way decreases the overall security of Company or its Services. Taking into account the nature of Processing and the information available to Client, Client shall assist Company, to the extent necessary or appropriate, with Companys obligations pursuant to Art. 32 36 GDPR, in particular with respect to the security of the Processing, data protection impact assessments, and consultation with Supervisory Authorities. The Client shall immediately notify Company if it is subject to any investigation by a Supervisory Authority, and if it becomes subject to any control procedures or measures imposed by a Supervisory Authority pursuant to the GDPR or other Data Protection Law and Regulation. This shall also apply to the extent that a competent authority conducts investigations at Client pursuant to the GDPR or other Data Protection Law and Regulation. If Client transfers Personal Data to a third country or international organization, Client shall make such transfer only in accordance with GDPR and Data Protection Law and Regulations, and agrees to disclose or publish information on the appropriate or suitable safeguards that have been used to make such transfers to the third country to the extent required under the GDPR or other Data Protection Law and Regulation to inform the Data Subject. Client shall maintain security incident management policies and procedures and shall, to the extent permitted by law, promptly notify Company of any actual or reasonably suspected accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, of, or access to Personal Data, Processed by Client or its Processors of which Client becomes aware (a Security Breach) without undue delay and in any event within 24 hours. Client shall make reasonable efforts to identify and remediate the cause of such Security Breach. Client shall be solely responsible to notify Supervisory Authorities and Data Subjects of any Security Breach and pay all costs associated with the same. Restricted Rights Legend Use, duplication or disclosure by the Government is subject to the restriction as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software Clause as DFARS 252.227-7013 and FAR 52.227-19, as applicable. Supplier is Rigzone.com, Inc., 14531 FM 529, Suite 225, Houston, Texas 77095. Making Purchases If products or services are made available at the Site, and if you wish to license or make purchases of products or services described on the Site, you may be asked by us or the applicable merchant or service provider to supply certain information, including but not limited to credit card or other information. If you submit such information to us, you understand that any such information will be treated by Company in the manner described in our Privacy Policy. You agree that all information that you provide to us or any such merchant or service provider will be accurate, complete and current. You agree to pay all charges incurred by you or any users of your account and credit card or other payment mechanism at the prices in effect when such charges are incurred. You will also be responsible for paying any applicable taxes relating to your purchases. Moreover, you agree to review and to comply with the terms and conditions of any specific agreement, if any, that you enter into with the merchant and/or service provider in connection with the licensing or purchase of any product or service. Submissions Because our designees and we host job boards, post advertisements for equipment and machinery, post energy industry events, sponsor an energy industry directory, and host other forums found on the Site and elsewhere and as a result redistribute materials you give us, we require certain rights in those materials. Therefore, by sending or transmitting to us resources, information, ideas, notes, concepts, trademarks, service marks or other materials (including, but not limited to, job postings) (collectively, Content), or by posting such Content to any area of the Site, you grant us and our designees a worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable (through multiple tiers), assignable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to link to, reproduce, distribute (through multiple tiers), modify, create derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display, digitally perform or otherwise use such Content in any media now known or hereafter developed. You hereby grant the Company permission to display your logo, trademarks and company name on the Site and in press and other public releases or filings. Further, by submitting Content to the Company, you acknowledge that you have the authority to grant such rights to the Company. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU RETAIN OWNERSHIP OF ANY COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS IN ANY CONTENT YOU SUBMIT. None of the Content is endorsed by the Company, and the Company cannot and does not make any representations with respect to the truth or reliability of the Content. The Company reserves the right to remove any Content, in whole or in part, from the Site. None of the Content is endorsed by the Company, and the Company cannot and does not make any representations with respect to the truth or reliability of the Content. The Company reserves the right to remove any Content, in whole or in part, from the Site. Communications between the Company and the users of the Site are not confidential. Limits Rigzone reserves the right to limit your use of the Site and reserves the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your account if you breask this Contract or the law, or are found to be misusing the site, e.g. violating any of the Community Guidelines. Registration; Use of Secure Areas and Passwords Some areas of the Site may require you to register with us. When and if you register, you agree to (a) provide accurate, current, and complete information about yourself as prompted by our registration form (including your e-mail address) and (b) to maintain and update your information (including your e-mail address) to keep it accurate, current, and complete. You acknowledge that should any information provided by you be found to be untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, we reserve the right to terminate this Agreement with you and your use of the Site. As part of the registration process, your user name will be your email address and you will be asked to select a password. We may refuse to allow you to use a username that impersonates someone else, may be illegal, may be protected by trademark or other proprietary rights law, is vulgar or otherwise offensive, or may cause confusion, as determined by us in our sole discretion. You will be responsible for the confidentiality and use of your password and agree not to distribute, transfer or resell your use of or access to the Site to any third party. If more than one individual wishes to use a single password belonging to a registered user, such registered user must request permission from the Company in writing, it being understood that the Company shall be under no obligation to approve any such request. If you are a job seeker who has reason to believe that your account with us is no longer secure, you must promptly change your password by updating your account information from the My Account page of the Site and immediately notifying us of the problem via email addressed to support@rigzone.com. If you are a customer who has reason to believe that your account with us is no longer secure, you must promptly contact Customer Support via email addressed to support@rigzone.com. YOU ARE SOLELY AND ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD AND SOLELY AND ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL ACTIVITIES THAT ARE CONDUCTED THROUGH YOUR ACCOUNT. Claims of Copyright Infringement The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the DMCA) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you have a good faith belief that materials hosted by us infringe your copyright, you (or your agent) may send us a notice requesting that the material be removed, or access to it blocked. The notice must include the following information: (a) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly being infringed upon; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed upon (or if multiple copyrighted works located on the Site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works); (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or the subject of infringing activity, and information reasonably sufficient to allow us to locate the material on the Site; (d) the name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address (if available) of the complaining party; (e) a statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. If you believe in good faith that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed against you, the DMCA permits you to send us a counter-notice. Notices and counter-notices must meet the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA; see http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ for details. Notices and counter-notices with respect to the Site should be sent to Rigzone.com, 14531 FM 529, Suite 225, Houston, Texas, 77095, Attention: Legal. We suggest that you consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice. Also, be aware that there can be penalties for false claims under the DMCA. Miscellaneous This Agreement is entered into in the State of Texas and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, exclusive of its choice of law rules. Each party to this Agreement hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in Harris County in the State of Texas for any dispute arising under or in connection with this Agreement, the Site or any Site-related services, and waives any jurisdictional, venue or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. In any action to enforce this Agreement, the prevailing party will be entitled to costs and attorneys fees. In the event that any of the provisions of this Agreement shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provisions shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. Failure of any party to insist upon strict compliance with any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a waiver or relinquishment of any similar right or power at any subsequent time. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof, and any and all written or oral agreements heretofore existing between the parties hereto are expressly canceled. This Agreement is not assignable, transferable or sub-licensable by you except with prior written consent. Any heading, caption or section title contained in this Agreement is inserted only as a matter of convenience and in no way defines or explains any section or provision hereof. The Company reserves the right in its sole discretion to terminate the use of the Site by a user at any time. Communications Decency Act Legal Notices Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California residents are entitled to the following specific consumer rights information: HOW IT WORKS - FEATURED How Do 4-D and 4-C Seismic Work? A type of geophysics, 4-D seismic encompasses multiple 3-D surveys over the same reservoir and a given time period. Read More Completions How Do Solid Expandable Tubulars Enhance Deep Well Value? As operators plunge into deeper formations - many below 30,000 ft - ensuring hole size at total depth (TD) can be challenging. How Snubbing Units Work Snubbing units have evolved into one of the most capable and efficient well servicing tools in the oil & gas industry. How Do Solid Expandables Work? Enventure is the global leader in the development and installation of solid expandable technology. Expandables are designed to provide a one-time, permanent solution for a multitude of downhole challenges. How Do Expandables Work? Expandables are used for a variety of purposes in both drilling and production applications. How Does Casing Work? The process of setting pipe in a recently drilled well, casing is part of the completion process. How Does Well Completion Work? The process involved in transforming a drilled well into a producing one, well completion incorporates casing, cementing and perforating a well. How Does Cementing Work? A process in completing the well, cementing a well seals the well and permanently positions the well casing into place. Drilling Equipment How Cold Root Rolling Improves Strength and Efficiency Cold root rolling, an independent mechanical process that strengthens the connections in question, may offer the most innovative solution the industry has seen yet. How Do Well Tractors Work? Over the past several decades, the oil and gas industry has adapted the technique of drilling horizontally through the reservoir in order to increase the surface area in contact with the reservoir as compared to drilling vertically through it. How Does A Swellable Packer Work? In some instances such as slotted liners, there is no way to pressure up to set the packers. This opened up the opportunity for swellable packers. How Do Semisubmersibles Work? The most stable type of floating rig, semisubmersibles are able to drill where jackups leave off -- working in waters measuring anywhere from 400 feet deep all the way up to ultra-deepwaters. How Do Jackups Work? The most widely used type of mobile offshore drilling unit, jackups are capable of drilling to great depths in waters measuring up to 350 feet deep. How Does a Top Drive Work? Suspended from the drilling derrick, a top drive rotates the drill string during drilling operations. How Does a Drillship Work? Learn the history, purpose and advantages of using drillships for offshore exploration and production. How Does Well Control Work? Blowouts are easily the most dangerous and destructive potential disasters in the world of oil drilling. How Do Drilling Fluids Work? Drilling deeper, longer and more challenging wells has been made possible by improvements in drilling technologies, including more efficient and effective drilling fluids. How Do Automated Drillers Cabins Work? Enhancing safety on the rig, automated drillers cabins consolidate drilling controls, automated pipe handling controls, computer hardware and data processing systems into single temperature-controlled room on the rig. How Do Iron Roughnecks Work? An integral part of the drilling process, iron roughnecks connect and disconnect drill pipe. Whether pipe is being fed into the wellbore or it is being taken out, the iron roughneck uses a rotary table and torque wrench(es) to make up or break down pipe. How Does a Drill Bit Work? A drill bit is what actually cuts into the rock when drilling an oil or gas well. Located at the tip of the drillstring, the drill bit is a rotating apparatus that usually consists of two or three cones made up of the hardest of materials. Drilling Support Services Whats the Difference Between Open-Hole and Cased-Hole Logging? Important for drillers and operators, well logs are measurements acquired at specific depths of the well that identify subsurface formations. How Are HP/HT Reservoirs Developed? Drilling, completion and workover operations have evolved recently to offer development solutions for HP/HT wells that were previously considered uneconomical. How Does Formation Testing Work? Conducted to determine the presence of oil or gas in a well, formation testing methods include well logging, core samples and drill stem tests. How Does Underbalanced Drilling Work? Preventing formation damage that can be caused during conventional drilling practices, underbalanced drilling exerts less pressure on the well. How Does Blowout Control Work? If not properly monitored, changes in pressure that can occur while the well is being drilled can cause combustible hydrocarbons to flow unchecked and at high pressures and flow rates. How Does Directional Drilling Work? Directional drilling has been an integral part of the oil and gas industry since the 1920s. While the technology has improved over the years, the concept of directional drilling remains the same: drilling wells at multiple angles, not just vertically. How Does Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) Work? LWD is a type of well logging that incorporates the logging tools into the drill string, administering, interpreting and transmitting real-time formation measurements to the surface. How Does Well Logging Work? Well logging chronicles the depths, subsurface formations and events encountered while drilling. Equipment & Services How Does Decommissioning Work? Project management, engineering and planning for decommissioning an offshore rig usually starts three years before the well runs dry. Floating Production Systems How do Shuttle Tankers Work? News of the first FPSO and shuttle tanker in the GOM made waves through the industry when Petrobras disclosed its plans in 2007. Since 1920, the Merchant Marine Act has prohibited entry of foreign ships working between US ports. How Do Spars Work? A floating platform alternative that can support drilling, production and storage operations, the spar consists of a large vertical cylinder bearing topsides with equipment. How Does a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) Work? A type of floating production system, tension leg platforms (TLPs) are buoyant production facilities vertically moored to the seafloor by tendons. How Do FPSOs Work? FPSOs are offshore production facilities that house both processing equipment and storage for produced hydrocarbons. Geology How Does Core Analysis Work? A method of understanding reservoir characteristics, core analysis studies samples of rock taken from the well during drilling activities. How Do 4-D and 4-C Seismic Work? A type of geophysics, 4-D seismic encompasses multiple 3-D surveys over the same reservoir and a given time period. How Does Marine Seismic Work? The significant financial perils of drilling an unsuccessful well on dry land are only magnified when the unprofitable well is drilled in several thousand feet of water. How Does Land Seismic Work? Drilling for oil is an expensive gamble: With project costs rising every year, an oil company can stand to lose an incredible amount of money exploring or developing a property that fails to yield hydrocarbons in commercial rates. Heavy Oil What is Heavy Oil and How is it Formed? Heavy oil is thick crude oil that is viscous and has a low API gravity, making it difficult to produce using conventional methods. Where is Heavy Oil Found? Heavy oils are found around the world, with an estimated 69 percent of the world's technically recoverable heavy oil and 82 percent of the technically recoverable natural bitumen located in the Western Hemisphere. How is Heavy Oil Produced? Because heavy oil is so viscous, conventional methods, such as vertical wells, pumps, and pressure maintenance, are inefficient at extracting the oil. So, new technologies are being used to recover heavy oil including: cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS), vapor extraction (VAPEX), and thermal in situ methods. Why Does Heavy Oil Matter? Because the challenging, yet almost entirely untapped, deposits of heavy oil hold some of the largest reserves of hydrocarbons in the world. According to Bill Bush of the API, "Heavy oils, oil sands, and potentially shale, could contribute substantially to future U.S. and world oil supplies." Information Systems How Do Offshore Communications Work? Thirty years ago communications between offshore facilities and onshore locations was limited to a two-way radio and daily reports. Back then, oilfield workers stationed offshore were virtually cut off from the rest of the world. LNG How Does LNG Work? Allowing a previously domestic product to reach international borders, LNG is becoming a popular choice for stranded natural gas or overproducing regions. Marine Installation How Does Dynamic Positioning Work? A method of keeping a vessel on position, dynamic positioning is employed in both drilling and development operations offshore. How Does Heavy Lift Work? As offshore installations have become larger, heavy lift marine installation methods and equipment have risen to the challenge. New Products & Services How An RFID Drilling Reamer Works The use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has grown in recent years and across a wide range of industries. Pipelines How Do Pumping Stations Work? Used to ensure products reach their intended destination, pumping stations are scattered throughout the pipeline to increase pressure in the line and monitor flow. How Do European Natural Gas Pipelines Move Gas to Markets? While natural gas production has increased in the North Sea, most of the natural gas being used in Europe is imported via pipelines from Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and even Africa. How Do US Natural Gas Pipelines Move Gas to Markets? A massive transmission and distribution system, the natural gas pipeline network in the United States is comprised of more than 210 pipeline systems spanning 305,000 miles that can deliver to virtually anywhere in the Continental US. How Does Offshore Pipeline Installation Work? There are three main ways that subsea pipe is laid -- S-lay, J-lay and tow-in -- and the pipelay vessel is integral to the success of the installation. How Does Pipeline Pigging Work? While buildup in a pipeline can cause transmittal slows or even plugging of the pipeline, cracks or flaws in the line can be disastrous. Production How Do Solid Expandable Tubulars Work in Frac Applications? Hydraulic fracturing, a reservoir stimulation process that involves pumping fluid into a well to break-up sand and rock formations, has become a vital method for maintaining and improving oil and gas well production. What Is Tight Gas, and How Is It Produced? A form of unconventional gas, tight gas is locked in impermeable formations and requires secondary production methods to effectively bring it to the surface. How Does Gas Injection Work? A way to help increase production, gas injection is used in a well to sweep the reservoir and increase pressure within the formation How Does Water Injection Work? A form of Enhanced Oil Recovery, water injection is a technique used to recover more oil from producing wells. How Does LPG Work? Known as wet gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a clean-burning fossil fuel naturally derived from processed natural gas and crude oil. How is Nitrogen Used in Oil and Gas Fields? Onsite nitrogen generation has various uses in oil and gas fields, including drilling, workover and completion operations. How Does Well Fracturing Work to Stimulate Production? A way to increase or restore production in a well, reservoir stimulation can be achieved via well fracturing. How Does Well Acidizing Work to Stimulate Production? Acidizing is a type of stimulation that dissolves permeability inhibitors within the reservoir in an effort to increase or restore production from a well. How Does Artificial Lift Work? Artificial lift comprises various methods employed to bring oil to the surface, including sucker rod, hydraulic and submersible electric pumps, as well as gas lift. What Is EOR, and How Does It Work? Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) employs various techniques to increase oil production beyond primary and secondary recovery methods. Subsea How Does Subsea Well Containment and Incident Response Work? A comprehensive, rapid response to a subsea blowout mitigates damage to the environment, protects the health and safety of the community, and minimizes economic impact. How Do Vortex-Induced Vibration Suppression Devices Work? When a current flows past a cylindrical object such as a riser, tendon, jumper or horizontal pipeline span, it creates a phenomenon called vortex-induced vibration (VIV). How do Mooring Systems Work? A mooring system is made up of a mooring line, anchor and connectors, and is used for station keeping of a ship or floating platform in all water depths. A mooring line connects an anchor on the seafloor to a floating structure. How Do ROVs Work? Remotely Operated Vehicles, or ROVs, are subsea tools used in the oil and gas industry for drilling and construction support. How Does Subsea Processing Work? A new technology, subsea processing incorporates seafloor separation, injection and boosting to achieve production from challenging offshore environments. How Do Umbilicals Work? Transferring power, chemicals, communications and more, umbilicals are literally the lifeline to subsea developments. How Do Risers Work? Conduits to transfer materials from the seafloor to production and drilling facilities atop the water's surface, as well as from the facility to the seafloor, subsea risers are a type of pipeline developed for this type of vertical transportation. How Do Subsea Trees Work? Used on offshore oil and gas fields, a subsea tree monitors and controls the production of a subsea well. Fixed to the wellhead of a completed well, subsea trees can also manage fluids or gas injected into the well. Workover How Does Fishing Work? When equipment breaks or falls into a well, fishing is performed to remove the stray object and get drilling back on track. How Does Coiled Tubing Work? A type of remedial or well intervention operation performed on a producing well, coiled tubing is used as a cost-effective solution that can be employed while the well continues production. By Kim Jae-kyoung South Korea should beef up its vigilance against North Korea's possible attack on Bitcoin exchanges, international experts on North Korea warned Wednesday. They said that with Bitcoin continuing to rise, the cash-strapped regime is highly expected to step up its efforts to hack exchanges of digital currencies in a desperate bid to evade sanctions and eventually earn hard currency. Tara O, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS based in Washington, said North Korea's attempts to hack digital currencies, including Bitcoin, are happening on a big scale. "North Korea continuously seeks ways to bring in hard currency, and one way is to steal or demand payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, which can later be changed into dollars or yen or renminbi," O told The Korea Times. One good example, she said, is "Lazarus Group's WannaCry malware, a malicious ransomware," that targeted businesses and governments in 150 countries, with over 200,000 victims, in May 2017. "Lazarus Group, also known as Hidden Cobra and Guardians of Peace, used WannaCry to exploit a flaw in Windows operating systems to lock files on computers and demand a ransom, payable in Bitcoin," she said. This is the same group responsible for the hack against Sony Pictures in 2014, the numerous attacks against the South Korean government from 2009-2013, and the more recent bank heists involving the SWIFT payment system against the central bank accounts of Bangladesh, Taiwan, Vietnam and Ecuador. In its outlook report released a week ago, the Korea Internet & Security Agency also forecast that in 2018 South Korea will see more cyberattacks from North Korea targeting exchanges of decentralized virtual currencies. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate About 260,000 vehicles travel across the Bay Bridge every day. Nearly that many outrageous ideas have been floated for a second cross-bay span since the originals 1936 opening. The Bay Bridge is a workhorse of the regions transit infrastructure, but planners, politicians and wing nuts have for decades been pushing proposals to build another structure across San Francisco Bay to alleviate traffic and ease travel. A recent search of The Chronicles archive turned up photos, sketches and stories that have stayed hidden many for good reason for years, and they show a penchant for the fantastical (a cross-bay cloverleaf!) to the refined (Frank Lloyd Wrights Butterfly Bridge). Talk of a second Bay Bridge started less than 10 years after the first one premiered. Rep. Richard J. Welch of San Francisco believed that another span was not only a good idea, but a necessity. The Chronicles May 1, 1946, edition reported that a joint Army-Navy board of engineers was brought in to respond to the controversy and rule on whether plans would proceed. Why an Army-Navy board? Army permission was needed before a navigable waterway could be bridged or dammed, and the Navy, with many installations in the Bay Area, had expressed opposition to another Bay Bridge. According to The Chronicles edition of Aug. 16, 1946: Every engineer, crackpot, politician and pressure group had a chance to speak up at the meeting before the Army-Navy board. After six months of study, the board approved a new span on Feb. 4, 1947. The recommendation was for a low-level, six-lane combination trestle and tube from the foot of Army Street in San Francisco to the foot of Fifth Street in Alameda. Immediate construction was urged. The next days Chronicle read: Another bridge between San Francisco and the East Bay was assured yesterday. At that moment, everyone thought the hard part was over. For 70 years, however, indecision about where a bridge would be built and how it would be paid for have impeded a second crossing. A Chronicle editorial from April 21, 1958, summed up the controversy: More crossings over San Francisco Bay are needed. While this statement is generally unchallenged, it may be the only statement on the subject of transbay communications that can be made without provoking an outburst from some quarter of this balkanized, provincial, ill-organized, politically ill-led Bay Area community. In 1971, Gov. Ronald Reagan and Bridge Authority Chief Engineer E.R. Mike Foley pushed for construction to begin the next year, but San Francisco, Alameda and San Leandro agencies voted against the second crossing. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors cited an increase in traffic that it said would bring more smog and congestion to the city. Foley brushed aside the votes. San Francisco had for 10 years supported the plan, he argued, and the Bridge Authority didnt need the citys approval anyway. Powerful Assemblyman Leo Ryan weighed in, saying the second crossing would be a disaster for the recently opened BART system and a blow to the tenuous ecological balance of the bay. Ryan added: This is a classic example of the public-be-damned attitude of an Ahab-like character named Mike Foley who is attempting to build a monument to himself. Yee-ouch. Several political organizations demanded construction be delayed until the impact of BART on Bay Area traffic could be assessed. That BART-versus-traffic research is ongoing, while the desire for a second transbay bridge remains. Chronicle transit reporter Michael Cabanatuan wrote last week: After (Sen. Dianne) Feinstein floated the idea in 2000, the commission undertook a two-year study of what it would cost. It concluded that building a bridge from Highway 238 in Hayward to the Peninsula would cost $8.2 billion, saying that was cheaper than a new BART tube between San Francisco and Oakland but still costlier than the Bay Area could probably afford. Another two-year study, completed in 2012, estimated the cost of a bridge that would carry both cars and some form of transit at $12.4 billion. Bill Van Niekerken is the library director of The San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. In his weekly column, From the Archive, he explores the depths of The Chronicles vast photography archive in search of interesting historical tales related to the city by the bay. Back home at Southold, first Black director aims to broaden reach Sarah Taylor performed in "The Nutcracker" as a girl and now as a "party parent." She's trying to get more kids exposed to ballet. Members of Georgetown City Council listen Nov. 30 as Lawrence Flynn, the city's bond attorney, discusses economic development tools the city is considering implementing. The Ursids are active around the same time as the more well known Geminid meteor shower. The Ursid meteor shower is active between Dec. 17-26 and will peak on Dec. 22-23. The Ursids are generally a sparse display, producing approximately five meteors per hour, according to Royal Museums Greenwich (opens in new tab). They are associated with Comet 8P/Tuttle, a periodic comet that follows a 13.5-year elliptical orbit around the sun. Visibility should be good for the 2022 Ursid meteor shower: The sky will be void of bright moonlight, as the new moon arrives on Dec. 23. Related: Meteor showers 2022: Where, when and how to see them Daisy Dobrijevic Reference Writer Daisy joined Space.com in Feb. 2022. Before that, she was a staff writer for our sister publication All About Space magazine. Daisy has written numerous articles for notable skywatching events including guides for viewing the Perseid meteor shower, the next solar eclipse and the next lunar eclipse. Despite its usual tameness, the Ursid meteor shower has wowed skywatchers with some genuinely remarkable displays over the years. In 1945 and 1986, for example, up to 120 and 90 meteors per hour (opens in new tab) were observed, respectively. What causes the Ursid meteor shower? This orbit map shows the movement of Comet 8P/Tuttle through the solar system. (Image credit: NASA/JPL) (opens in new tab) The Ursids are caused by the debris of ice and dust left behind by Comet 8P/Tuttle as it passes through the solar system on its journey around the sun every 13.5 years. When Earth passes through the comet's debris, the "comet crumbs" heat up as they enter Earth's atmosphere and produce impressive "shooting stars" that streak across the sky. Comet 8P/Tuttle is a medium-size comet approximately 3 miles (4.5 kilometers) in diameter. Its highly elliptical orbit around the sun brings it as close as 1.03 astronomical unit (AU) to our home star and as far out as 10.37 AU. (One astronomical unit is the average distance between Earth and the sun approximately 93 million miles, or 150 million km.) Where can you see the Ursid meteor shower? Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to emanate, known as the radiant. From Earth's perspective, the Ursid meteor shower appears to originate from the direction of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor), and the radiant will climb higher in the sky in the predawn hours. The Little Dipper is an asterism in the larger constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. The most famous star in the Little Dipper is Polaris, which is currently known as the North Star or Pole Star, as it appears to be aligned with Earth's axis, or celestial pole. (It's actually offset by 0.7 degrees, according to NASA (opens in new tab).) Ursid meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper, in the northern sky. (Image credit: Daisy Dobrijevic/Future) (opens in new tab) Don't look directly at the radiant to find meteors, as the shooting stars will be visible all over the night sky . Make sure to move your gaze around the nearby constellations . Meteors closer to the radiant have shorter trails and are more difficult to spot. If you only look at Ursa Minor, you may miss most of the Ursids. If you need help navigating the night sky, our guide to the best stargazing apps for Android and iOS will help you explore the cosmos from the palm of your hand. To best see the Ursid meteor shower , go to the darkest possible location, lean back and relax. You don't need any equipment like telescopes or binoculars, as the secret is to take in as much sky as possible and allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. If you want more advice on how to photograph the Ursids, check out our how to photograph meteors and meteor showers guide. If you need imaging gear, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography. A red flashlight, warm clothing, hot drink and a comfortable chair come in very useful during a night of meteor hunting. (Image credit: Future) (opens in new tab) What time is the Ursid meteor shower? The Ursid meteor shower will be active all night long. The best time to view the meteor shower show is in the predawn hours when the radiant is at its highest point in the sky. The Ursids are active between Dec. 17-26 and will peak on Dec. 22-23. Additional resources To find out more about the Ursid meteor shower and whether it will be visible from your location, check out these guides from skywatching websites Time and Date (opens in new tab) and In The Sky. (opens in new tab) Bibliography NASA. (n.d.). APOD: 2011 May 14 - The Little Dipper. NASA. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110514.html (opens in new tab) NASA. (n.d.). Ursid meteor surprise. NASA. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast18dec_1 (opens in new tab) Artist's illustration of the Japanese company ispace's lander and rover on the surface of the moon. The Tokyo-based company ispace has just raised $90 million to help make its moon-exploration dreams come true. That's a Japanese record for "Series A" funding the round of financing that comes after the initial "seed capital" and the most Series A money ever raised across the global commercial space sector, according to ispace representatives. "With this funding, ispace will begin the development of a lunar lander to establish a flexible and regular lunar transportation system, and lead the exploration and development of the lunar surface through micro-robotic systems," company founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement. [Moon Base Visions: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Images)] The company also aims to mount two moon missions in the next three years. The first, targeted for late 2019, will launch the ispace lander to lunar orbit, where it will study the moon's surface. The second, in late 2020, involves putting the lander onto the lunar surface and deploying multiple rovers, company representatives said. This lander will be capable of carrying 66 lbs. (30 kilograms) of payload, including the rovers which themselves can each accommodate about 11 lbs. (5 kg), according to ispace representatives. Artist's illustration of ispace's lunar-orbit mission, which the company aims to launch in 2019. (Image credit: ispace) Such activities are part of ispace's effort to provide regular and affordable transportation services to the moon, which in turn could help humanity exploit lunar resources and establish a permanent settlement on Earth's nearest neighbor. Indeed, by 2040, ispace predicts that 1,000 people will be living on the moon, and 10,000 folks will be visiting every year. "With the network and knowledge of our new shareholders, we will not only expand commercial space activities centered around lunar resources, but also create a sustainable living sphere beyond Earth," Hakamada said. ispace also manages Team Hakuto, one of five finalists still competing in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP). The first privately funded team to put a spacecraft on the moon, move it 1,640 feet (500 meters) and beam high-definition photos and videos back to Earth will claim the $20 million GLXP grand prize as long as that team launches by the deadline of March 31, 2018. Artist's rendering of ispace's lander touching down on the moon, a goal the company intends to achieve in late 2020. (Image credit: ispace) Team Hakuto has signed up to launch its 9-lb. (4 kg) rover atop an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket, along with the landing craft of another GLXP finalist, Team Indus. No firm date has been set for this liftoff, however. ispace is not the only company that wants to help humanity get a foothold on the moon. For example, fellow GLXP finalist Moon Express also aims to provide a cost-effective transportation system for paying customers, to the lunar surface and beyond. Editor's note: This story was updated on Dec. 13 with the correct planned launch date of ispace's lunar-orbit mission. It's targeted for late 2019, not early 2019. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. A file photo of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of a launch to the International Space Station from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX will launch its next Dragon mission for NASA on Dec. 15, 2017. SpaceX has again pushed back the launch of a used Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule filled with NASA cargo this time to no earlier than Friday (Dec. 15) for extra inspections and cleaning after engineers detected particles in the booster's second-stage fuel system. A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster and Dragon spacecraft both making their second flight were scheduled to launch a delivery mission for NASA from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday (Dec. 13). But the need for more ground-system checks forced SpaceX to push the launch to Friday at 10:35 a.m. EST (1535 GMT). See more "SpaceX is taking additional time for the team to conduct full inspections and cleanings due to detection of particles in 2nd stage fuel system," NASA officials wrote in a status update. "Next launch opportunity would be no earlier than late December." It is the second launch delay in two days and third overall for the SpaceX mission, which is called CRS-13. (CRS is short for commercial resupply service.) The mission was originally scheduled to launch Dec. 8 . Last week, SpaceX delayed the flight to Tuesday (Dec. 12), then pushed it back another 24 hours to Wednesday late Monday night. This mission will be the 13th delivery flight to the International Space Station for NASA by SpaceX under its resupply contract with the agency. The Dragon spacecraft will deliver nearly 4,800 lbs. (2,177 kilograms) of food, supplies and science gear and maybe even some Christmas presents for the station's astronaut crew. In a first for SpaceX (and NASA), the mission will launch using a previously flown Falcon 9 first-stage booster, as well as a used Dragon space capsule. SpaceX has flown a used Dragon cargo ship for NASA once before (during a June delivery mission) and has launched three used Falcon 9 boosters to date (all within this year). But SpaceX has never flown a used Dragon and Falcon 9 booster together. The company has landed 19 Falcon 9 boosters as part of its ongoing reusable rocket program to reduce the cost of spaceflight. The upcoming mission will also mark SpaceX's return to launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station following a September 2016 explosion at the launch site. SpaceX spent the last year conducting repairs and upgrades to the launch site. In the interim, the company flew Falcon 9 missions from the nearby Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center which SpaceX leases for commercial launches as well as a West Coast launchpad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the date of SpaceX's next Falcon 9 launch attempt. It is Friday, Dec. 15, not Dec. 13. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Three space travelers will depart from the International Space Station (ISS) tonight after a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. Cramped inside a small Soyuz space capsule, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy will undock from the ISS early tomorrow morning (Dec. 14) at 12:14 a.m. EST (0514 GMT). You can watch their journey home live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. NASA TV will begin airing live coverage at 8:30 p.m. today (Dec. 13) as the members of the spacefaring trio bid farewell to the three remaining crewmembers, settle into the Soyuz capsule and close the hatch. After the crew undocks from the space station's Rassvet module, the travelers will spend about 3.5 hours heading back to Earth. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 53 Mission Crew in Orbit] Expedition 53 crewmembers Randy Bresnik of NASA (right), Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency (center) and Sergey Ryazanskiy of Russia's Roscosmos agency are seen inside their Soyuz MS-05 space capsule wearing Sokol spacesuits as they prepare to return to Earth on Dec. 14, 2017. (Image credit: NASA) The Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to begin its deorbit burn at 2:44 a.m. EST (0744 GMT), about 2.5 hours after detaching from the space station. It will touch down in a remote area near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 3:38 a.m. EST (0838 GMT). Bresnik, Nespoli and Ryazanskiy launched to the ISS on July 28 in the same Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft that will bring them back to Earth tonight. Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Preliminary design for the U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring the late Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, to be issued by the postal service in 2018. America's first woman in space will become only the second NASA astronaut to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 2018. Sally Ride, who made history launching aboard the space shuttle Challenger in June 1983, will be depicted on a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stamp. A preliminary design for the commemorative shows a painted portrait of Ride from the time of her first spaceflight set against the partial backdrop of the space shuttle lifting off. "Sally Ride inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist and dedicated educator," the USPS said in a press release previewing more than 20 of its planned stamps on Tuesday (Dec. 12). The USPS did not state the dates next year when the stamps would be issued. [Sally Ride: First American Woman in Space (Pictures)] Another of the 2018 stamps employs the outline of NASA's Apollo spacecraft in a collage symbolizing "Engineering" in a four-stamp set dedicated to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education a cause Ride championed in her years following her two space missions and leaving NASA. "As a young girl, Sally collected stamps. She would be so honored to now appear on a stamp!" Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's life partner, said in a statement issued by Sally Ride Science, a non-profit Ride and O'Shaughnessy co-founded to promote learning and careers in STEM. "It was a great pleasure working with the Postal Service on the Sally Ride commemorative stamp," she added. The Sally Ride stamp's release comes five years after her death in 2012. Criteria set by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, the group that recommends stamp subjects to the USPS, precludes living individuals from being honored on U.S. postage stamps. One of four stamps in the U.S. Postal Services 2018 "STEM Education" set uses an Apollo spacecraft to represent engineering. (Image credit: USPS) Ride is the second U.S. astronaut to be commemorated on a USPS stamp. In May 2011, the postal service released a stamp depicting the late Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space and the fourth human to walk on the moon. Shepard's commemorative was issued as part of a pane of two stamps, the second celebrating NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft as the first to orbit the planet Mercury. Shepard was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts selected in 1959. Ride was chosen to be an astronaut in 1978 alongside five other women in NASA's first class of candidates to include female trainees. As a mission specialist assigned to STS-7, the second flight of the space shuttle Challenger, Ride became the first U.S. woman in space. (She was preceded into orbit by two Soviet cosmonauts: Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.) Ride and her four crewmates deployed two communication satellites and carried out experiments over their six days in space. Ride's second mission, STS-41G, also aboard Challenger, deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted observations of Earth and demonstrated potential satellite refueling techniques. It also marked the first time that two women flew in space together; Kathy Sullivan joined Ride as part of the crew. Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space, became the first NASA astronaut to be honored with a U.S. Postal Service stamp in 2011. (Image credit: USPS) In total, Ride logged 14 days and 8 hours in space, circling the Earth 230 times. After retiring from NASA in 1987, Ride went on to become a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and authored several science books for children. In addition to the 2018 postage stamp, Ride has received several posthumous honors, including the christening of a U.S. naval research ship in her name; the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor; the naming of a NASA spacecraft impact site on the moon; and last month, her inclusion in a new set of LEGO minifigures celebrating the "Women of NASA." Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2017 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved. A irbus chief Tom Enders has hit back at claims that he will soon step down. French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Enders told president Emmanuel Macron he would not seek a third term at Airbus, when his second mandate ends in May 2019. The French government owns 11% of the planes giant, though it has far from complete power over the hiring and firing of executives. Responding to the report, Enders said via his spokesman: The decision about my future as CEO of Airbus is not taken by the French press or the French government or any government. It is taken either by the board ... or by me and ideally in consensus between the board of directors and me. Airbus is due to have a board meeting tomorrow, where it is assumed the issue will be discussed. Enders has been under some pressure over his handling of an internal compliance campaign, which has triggered corruption investigations in France and Britain, as well as a separate corruption investigation in Austria. Airbus has also suffered a two-year sales slump of its flagship A380 jumbo jet. B ritains biggest commercial landlord Aviva Investors has canned a 200 million property trust listing following a glut of stock-market debuts which left investors with a bout of indigestion. The company blamed insufficient demand from retail investors and City fund managers for calling time on the float, chaired by former Grainger chief executive Andrew Cunningham. Aviva was due to take a 20% stake with the rest from fund managers and 19 intermediary companies such as Hargreaves Lansdown selling shares to retail investors. Aviva Investors joins a number of other trusts who have been forced to scale back fundraising ambitions in recent months. M7 Multi-Let REIT last month scrapped a 300 million London listing and K&C REIT was also forced to delay a 150 million fundraise. Another trust, Tri-Pillar Infrastructure Fund, today delayed a 200 million fundraise blaming market conditions. The Aviva Investors Secure Income REIT, as it was known, planned to invest in UK supermarkets, GP surgeries, university buildings and car showrooms but a record-breaking year for fundraising has left a dearth of investor cash for new REIT investments. The company said it will consider reviving the plan at a later date. The proposal had faced problems from the start after well-known property tycoon Nick Leslau, who oversees a rival property trust Secure Income REIT, raised concerns with Aviva and the Financial Conduct Authority about the two ventures sharing a similar name. He told Sky News it would confuse investors but Aviva Investors said there was no intention to mislead or cause confusion. New regulations governing data protection will hand power back to consumers but could result in bank branches closing and retailers suffering From May next year, you will be able to march into your bank and demand to know exactly what data it holds on you. If it cant comply in 72 hours or the data is wrong, or it turns out theyve been selling your secrets to the Russians (just say), punishment will be severe. The Information Commissioners Office can fine companies up to 4% of their turnover (at Lloyds, for example, thats 4% of nearly 40 billion). This is because of EU data protection laws that big banks are spending billions to comply with, but are not over-keen to discuss. Banks we asked either spoke only in private, or said they had no one qualified to discuss the issue. This is not encouraging. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a Brussels initiative (we may miss them when they are gone) to give the public ownership of the information institutions hold on them. The ethos is this: it is your data, you lend it to banks. You have a right to make them forget it. Techies say that 95% of the worlds data has been created in the past three years, an explosion of information that those in power are struggling to keep track of. Europeans have had a particularly strong view on this issue ever since the Nazis used public and commercial records to start profiling people based on their religious beliefs. So while the Data Protection Act and other data directives have been around for ages, GDPR beefs up that protection and forces companies into doing what they should have been doing anyway, but mostly were not.Banks, and others, have to get explicit consent to use information about you before they sell you something, or sell the data, typically to retailers or governments. And they have to ask you for it in non-legalese, in ways anyone could understand. If they dont, they are for it. The corporate world is split on whether this is a regulatory necessity or an opportunity. Broadly, old companies think it is a hassle they must comply with; younger ones think it is an opportunity to steal custom. Are they ready? Gareth Lindahl-Wise, director of cyber risk at ITC Secure Networking, thinks not. He says: Unless they are already regulated, or automatically on top of data governance, most organisations are not in a good place. Potentially, some say, this is the next PPI mis-selling scandal, where lawyers gang up to pursue banks and others for legal failings. One example of possible future turmoil could be ISA season, when savers chasing deals hand out personal data to banks apace. Banks found to be using insecure websites to farm this data are potentially in serious trouble. Banks with computer systems held together by sticky tape the old ones seem plainly more at risk. New banks that had privacy built into their systems by design should be in a better place but there is still a risk of what the experts call consent fatigue. We get tired of giving consent but later sue the bank for not having secured it. Lawyers will have to prove harm but this is clearly, says Lindahl-Wise, a field that is going to keep lawyers busy for years. Perhaps the biggest risk of all is that until the law comes into place, trust was implicit. People assumed banks werent looking to sell their private data. The impact of losing that implicit trust could be the next big bank scandal. One bank analyst, who like others didnt want to be named, says incumbent banks claim to be ready but are not. He said: Most challenger banks will tell you that this is going to cause a revolution, leading to an outbreak of new transparency and a consequential spike in account transfers as young people move to new providers and app-based offerings. In turn, this will further increase the pace of branch closures. You will have data protection. But you might not have a local bank. HIGH STREET FEARS Jess Bignell was perplexed when she received a receipt by email last month for an item shed never bought. It was human error, she was later told by the High Street chain. The excuse I was given was not OK, said the 26-year-old, an office administrator from Surrey. The fact that a simple typing mistake can cause the wrong people being contacted is not justifiable. There should be a stricter way of holding information. Bignell could be in luck. With GDPR kicking in next year, retailers need to be careful when they collect information about customers, and pay attention to how they use it. For example, until now, using electronic receipts to gather peoples emails and later send them marketing fluff has been commonplace. From next year, once the receipt lands in the inbox, the email should be deleted. Holding on to it could break the law. Another sticking point is consent. Thanks to loyalty cards, in-store CCTV images or the online advertisements shoppers click on, retailers can often tell what products to stock and what discounts are popular, and can even inform how to lay out stores. Under the new laws, shoppers will have more control than ever over how such data about them is being used and stored. Annoying tick boxes buried at the end of an email, which need to be either unticked or ticked to stop the deluge of advertising, will be a thing of the past, too. As a general rule, customers will actively have to opt in. The most minor mishap could be taxing for grocers or fashion shops alike. Businesses are worried about being shut down by the regulators if they dont comply, says Martijn Verbree of KPMG. It will cost them a lot more money than the fines, which wont be [handed out] from one day to another, so you can plan for when it happens. Some retailers think that the punishment is too harsh, given there wont be a grace period and overhauling existing data troves will take time and money. Chances are, however, the highest fines will only be aimed at businesses that will systematically fail to take data privacy seriously and put the right controls in place that is, some companies that sell shoppers data to third parties for marketing. One major grocer said it has already appointed a GDPR manager, has a GDPR budget and will have a 30-strong team in place to help renegotiate contracts with other businesses that process data on its behalf within the limits of the law. Others will, no doubt, follow suit with smaller, more agile retailers leading the pack. The acronym has become ubiquitous in recent months; however, the labyrinthine structure of GDPR has left many retailers scratching their heads: around 90% of websites have yet to adhere to some of the rules, a recent survey said. Also, there are growing concerns that the legal wranglings over GDPR could lead to class actions. There will be companies that will try to make money out of this, said Verbree. Businesses are worried that when PPI comes to an end there needs to be a new money source. GDPR could be one. T he boss of government contractor Serco on Wednesday praised the progress of his turnaround but warned civil servants may be slow to issue future contracts while they manage the challenges of Brexit. Rupert Soames explained: The civil service is having to deliver on large cost savings, and there is not a lot of new stuff going on while they figure Brexit out. He expects the Government to award fewer new contracts over the next few years. However, Soames, a grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, said that once Britain leaves the bloc, there will be new work opportunities because they will have to do more government work with as many as 34 regulatory services needing to be repatriated. The chief executives comments came as outsourcer Serco which runs the Santander bike scheme and NHS catering services said underlying trading profit for 2017 would be around the top end of a previous guidance range of between 65 million and 70 million. Shares rallied 9% to 103.8p. Revenues will be just under 3 billion, short of previous expectations, partly because of currency headwinds. Serco is in the midst of a turnaround after a succession of profit warnings and a litany of disasters, including charging the Government for tagging some criminals who were dead, imprisoned or non-existent. Soames said: We are a good way into the recovery but its going to be a long-haul journey. During the year it was boosted by wins including a 1.5 billion deal to run the biggest prison in Australia, Grafton. The firm also signed an agreement to acquire part of troubled Carillions UK healthcare facilities management business. The 47.7 million deal will see Serco work at a number of NHS sites. I n her first annual report, Ofsteds chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, has expressed concern over some faith schools, private and state, saying that inspectors have found some of their teaching material encourages domestic violence and the subjugation of women, and also schools where there is a flat refusal to acknowledge homosexuality. It should be said that she praised the performance of most schools with a religious affiliation but said some seek to isolate young people from mainstream life. At worst, she says, they actively undermine fundamental social values such as respect for the rule of law and the equality of the sexes. The majority of the schools she criticises are Muslim, though there are also a small number of Jewish schools which fail on integration. As she says: there are occasions when multiculturalism can and does comes into tension with the expectation that students should be prepared for life in modern Britain. Ms Spielman is right: one of the functions of education is to spread the values and culture that bind us as a society. Our schools should ensure pupils see themselves as part of the wider community, sharing the broad norms of the common culture. It is quite possible to do this within the context of a denominational school; Church of England schools, for instance, are notably inclusive. Schools which wilfully segregate their pupils from other communities not only harm them socially; they can at worst increase the risk of radicalisation. As for those schools which exist under the radar, by virtue of being unregistered and not conforming to elementary standards, inspectors should shut them down. In general, London schools perform remarkably well only six of the 130 stubbornly underperforming schools are here but we should tackle the issues the Chief Inspector raises as a matter of urgency. If Londoners are to live together harmoniously, all schools must promote the values of mutual respect and equality. Model behaviour Models often young and vulnerable girls, living away from their families can be subjected to unwanted sexual overtures and in extreme cases outright abuse. Now, to its great credit, the British Fashion Council has taken concrete measures to address the problem. Caroline Rush, its chief executive, has launched a helpline and email address which girls can contact if they feel they are being badly treated. For the first time they have an independent complaints process outside their agencies. Any complaints will be reviewed by leading figures within the industry, though models who allege criminality will be urged to go to the police. The Council is also working on a code of best practice that all agencies will sign up to. As Ms Rush says, given our awareness now of the problem of sexual abuse, there is no better time for the industry to work together to stamp out any form of maltreatment. This reform from within is heartening. Thanks to the Yanks Today, the US Ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, hosted tours of the new embassy in Nine Elms, designed by Philadelphia-based architects Kieran Timberlake at a cost of, it is said, 750 million. It is a controversial design but it is undeniably distinctive. Moreover, the embassys bold move to Battersea has led the rejuvenation of the area. The Dutch embassy is to follow suit; there are any number of galleries, shops and restaurants that have relocated there in anticipation of the move. Exciting times in Battersea. S hortly after being asked to write this article I was at a meeting with 12 London businessmen. I asked them, by a show of hands, to express their view on whether President Trump should be invited to visit the United Kingdom next year. Eleven said he should, one said he should not. Their most important argument was that the American people had elected him as their President. We had to respect that and try and ensure that Britains relationship with the United States should not deteriorate, to the disadvantage of this country, during his Presidency. I agree. I am no admirer of Donald Trump. I think he is the least impressive President that the United States has produced in the last 100 years. I dislike the man and believe the first year of his occupancy of the White House has damaged the United States and the Western world as a whole. The Russians and the Chinese cannot believe their luck. Winston Churchill once remarked that you can always rely on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried all the other options. They are, currently, trying one of the other options. However, as we are seeing, Trump can change the world for better or for worse. He has few friends among foreign leaders and even Theresa May has clashed with him on climate change, on Iran and on the status of Jerusalem, quite apart from his disgraceful tweeting of material from a far-Right extremist organisation. But the President seems better disposed to the British Prime Minister than to any other major world leader. If she can influence him against going to war over North Korea, to support Nato and to give priority to a US-UK trade treaty post-Brexit then a visit to London is a small price to pay. While I served in government I had to welcome some pretty odious people to London, including Robert Mugabe and hard-line Communists from the Kremlin and East Germany during the Cold War. I swallowed hard and did my duty. It is safe to say that if President Trump comes there will be no carriage drive down the Mall and no address to the joint Houses of Parliament. Any initiatives of that kind would be a public relations disaster. Instead he will dine with the Queen in the relative seclusion of Windsor Castle, meet the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street and preside over the official opening of the splendid new US Embassy in Vauxhall. Honour will have been satisfied. Abraham Lincoln once said of an opponent, I dont like that man. I must get to know him better. If we follow Lincolns advice with President Trump we wont go far wrong. Sir Malcolm Rifkind was Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary between 1992 and 1997. (LONDON) -- iStock/Thinkstock"The new embassy signifies a new era of friendship between our two countries," U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson announced to reporters Wednesday at the press preview of the new U.S. Embassy in London. "When you look out through the window, it reflects the global outlook of the U.S. in the 21st century," he said, flanked by the American flag and the Union Jack, in front of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the River Thames. On this grim, drizzly London day he spoke about a "very bright future," as reporters were left to imagine the main cafeteria awash in sunlight sometime, perhaps, in August. Johnson, 70, is the billionaire owner of the New York Jets and heir to pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson who has rallied big money for Republican candidates including President Donald Trump. Just six weeks officially into the ambassadorial gig, Trump's long-time friend stuck to the administration script at a time when that special relationship between the U.S. and U.K. appears to be in some trouble. "This relationship is strong and enduring," he repeated multiple times on Wednesday. When asked about the damage done when President Trump re-tweeted three videos shared by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, last month, he brushed it off. "I don't think these kind of things will deter [Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May] from the objectives they both have," he said. He wouldn't say it was wrong for the president to retweet the videos and added that it's not really his job to smooth this out. For her part, May made it clear last month that "retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do." The imposing cube-shaped building is now the centerpiece of the largest regeneration project in Europe, Nine Elms in the Wandsworth borough of London. It spans 518,050 square feet, climbs more the 200 feet tall and cost a billion dollars, making it the most expensive U.S. Embassy building ever. "It's a neighborhood with a great view. And a great future," Johnson said, joined today by key partners in this decade-long project. For more than 200 years, the home of the U.S. diplomatic post has been in Grosvenor Square, in London's swanky Mayfair borough. The most recent embassy building, which opened in 1960, has now been sold to a Qatari developer, and Little America," as it's called here, "is moving south of the river," said Johnson. The new ambassador described the current embassy as a "window to the special relationship that the U.S. and U.K. have built together." It's famously topped with a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle which will remain behind, and a flag that the president would like ... because its a very big flag," the ambassador quipped. The new building will open for business on January 16, 2018, but the dedication will come at a later, undisclosed date. Asked if President Trump would dedicate the building, Johnson said "it depends on his schedule... He's a busy president at the moment, traveling the world and traveling the U.S. Yeah, we'd love to have him over here and we look forward to welcoming the president when he gets here." Under fire to rescind her invitation last month over those Britain First retweets, Prime Minister May has reiterated that the invitation to the American president still stands. Speaking in Amman, Jordan last month, May told reporters that "an invite for a state visit has been extended and has been accepted. No date has been set." In recent weeks, calls from both the British public and politicians to protest the American president's state visit have grown louder - but Johnson isn't worried. "The great thing about being in London and the great thing about being in the U.S. is the ability to express your point of view," he said. "That's something we live with every day and it's an important part of who we are." "The new embassy is a signal to the world that this special relationship we have will get stronger and will get better," he concluded. "And Im going to do that if I can." "Drop the 'if I can,'" he quickly added. "Were going to make it stronger. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Models who suffer sexual abuse at work are to be given the protection of a new confidential helpline under a major post-Weinstein shake-up of the fashion industry unveiled today. It follows a wave of complaints from models about inappropriate behaviour since the scandal over Harvey Weinstein erupted, with porn chic fashion photographer Terry Richardson being banned by magazines, and another veteran photographer, Bruce Weber, accused of sexual misconduct. The helpline number and email address go live at the start of next week. They are being set up by a new trade body, the British Fashion Model Agency Association (BFMAA), which aims to set higher standards for the welfare and treatment of models. Caroline Rush (below), chief executive of the British Fashion Council, which is driving the reforms, said: The stories highlighted through [anti-harassment campaign #MeToo] have meant there is no better time for the industry to work together to stamp out any form of maltreatment or abuse. It is the first time models will have an independent complaints process outside the agencies that represent them. Ms Rush said they could call the number and air concerns about any individual who had behaved badly towards them. Complaints will be reviewed by a committee of leading industry figures and, where appropriate, the behaviour would be challenged, she said. Models who have experienced illegal abuse will be told to go straight to the police. The new reporting system will be backed up by a code of best practice, still being drawn up, that all agencies will be asked to sign up to. It comes a week after the Fashion Awards, at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrated figures who had helped protect or empower women. Naomi Campbell led tributes to Tunisian-born designer Azzedine Alaia, known as papa because of his reputation for protecting vulnerable young models. Fashion Awards 2017 - Red Carpet Arrivals 1 /44 Fashion Awards 2017 - Red Carpet Arrivals Fashion Awards 2017 Poppy Delevingne AFP/Getty Images Fashion Awards 2017 Selena Gomez in Coach AFP/Getty Images Fashion Awards 2017 Kaia Gerber PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Kaia Gerber in Ralph and Russo PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Alexa Chung in Alexa Chung PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Lady Amelia Windsor PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Caroline Flack PA Fashion Awards 2017 Pink, Stella McCartney and Annabelle Wallis PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Valerie Morris and Naomi Campbell PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Jourdan Dunn and Karlie Kloss PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Suki Waterhouse PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Pixie Lott in Julien Macdonald PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 FKA Twigs in Versace PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Jourdan Dunn PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Irina Shayk PA Fashion Awards 2017 Zendaya in Vivetta PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Ashley Graham PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Georgia May Jagger in Matty Bovan PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Rita Ora in Versace PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Tinie Tempah PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Amber Valetta in Saint Laurent PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Pamela Anderson PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Laura Whitmore PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Ruth Wilson PA Fashion Awards 2017 Hailey Baldwin in Topshop PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Karlie Kloss in Vivienne Westwood AFP/Getty Images Fashion Awards 2017 Lilah Parsons PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Millie Mackintosh PA Fashion Awards 2017 Izabel Goulart AFP/Getty Images Fashion Awards 2017 Derek Blasberg PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Dame Natalie Sara Massenet PA Wire/PA Images Fashion Awards 2017 Holly Willoughby in House Of Fraser AFP/Getty Images Model of the year Adwoa Aboah was cited for her role in setting up the Gurls Talk online community. The BFMAA replaces the Association of Model Agencies and its founding members are Models 1, Premier, Select, Storm, Colours and Manchester-based Boss. The helpline will be staffed during working hours. During London Fashion Week in February calls will also be taken at evenings and weekends. Movie mogul Mr Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex against him. Mr Richardson has denied accusations of sexual assault, and said all the subjects of his work participated consensually. Mr Weber has not yet responded to the claims against him. The helpline is 020 7759 1996; email Models@britishfashioncouncil.com T he fifth branch of Dishoom will officially open its doors in a fortnight. Expect menu classics such as its famous Bacon naan roll with spiced tomato sauce; House black daal; and Keema pau (spiced minced lamb and pea in toasted, buttered homemade bun). Black daal (Dishoom) Its extensive breakfast range alone is a good enough reason to keep going back. Breakfast range / Dishoom Each Dishoom has a speciality and for Kensington, it is Mutton pepper fry and it goes really well with Malabar-style soft paratha. This exclusive Kensington dish is a South Indian kitchen speciality. Mutton pepper fry / Dishoom There is an impressive drinks menu, too. An array of non-alcoholic tipples screams of good news for teetotals and those who just wish to go alcohol free, but still want to have a nice drink. Dishoom serves one of the best masala chais in the capital. Guests who order Bun maska are offered unlimited masala chai. Bun maska / Dishoom Billed as a "loving homage to two of Bombay's loveliest stories: Art Deco and jazz, the swish Irani cafe-inspired luxe-chain had its soft launch at the end of November and it is accompanied by an an immersive Indian noir to launch the new restaurant. Entitled Night at the Bombay Roxy, the show, which revolves around a character called Cyrus Irani, is described as "a story of love and betrayal in Bombays glamorous jazz age". Actors Vikash Bhai as Cyrus and Sophie Khan Levy as Ursula striking a pose in the Bombay Roxy. / Dishoom A collaboration between Dishoom and Swamp Productions, the theatrical experience aims to transport its audience to a cafe and jazz club in 1940s Bombay. Featuring an ensemble of actors and musicians, each performance is accompanied by a meal, featuring cocktails and a menu of classic Bombay dishes, as well as plenty of live jazz. A dream come true for Team Dishoom as they turn their passions and inspirations for jazz, Art Deco and Bombay into an actual piece of theatre. Night at the Bombay Roxy is at Dishoom Kensington until 14 December. Dishoom officially opens 15 December, 4 Derry St, Kensington, London W8 5SE. W hen the green Felix Project van visits Stanhope primary, a ripple of excitement runs through the school. It is loaded with fresh food from some of Londons most prestigious suppliers and nobody at the Greenford school knows exactly what treasures it will hold. Children queue excitedly in the playground to fill their Felix paper bags with Chantenay carrots or purple sprouting broccoli top-quality food which would otherwise have been wasted as surplus. The Help A Hungry Child campaign has struck such a chord that suppliers have generously offered to do all they can to alleviate the plight of the estimated 70,000 young people who go to school hungry. MOMA has pledged to provide 12,000 pots of porridge which will be handed out at the Felix market stalls being set up in more than 100 London schools thanks to our campaign. Sun-Maid has donated thousands of boxes of raisins which are very popular with the pupils. PAUL is making more than 400 briochettes every week for children for the next six months. This is on top of the regular donations to The Felix Project, which delivers food to charities across the capital. Every week, Muller donates huge pallets of yogurts to The Felix Project, which are kept refrigerated in its depots until they are sent out to charities and the school market stalls. Delighted children at the very first market stall set up as a result of our Christmas appeal were treated to a Muller yogurt each, and they continue to enjoy the yogurts every week. Tilda donates massive pallets of rice which are vital to the charity and are used with donations of fresh vegetables to create healthy meals. Camilla Sheeley, head of innovation at Tilda, said: Good food and nutrition are key to Tildas philosophy. Therefore, the great work The Felix Project do is close to our hearts. We are delighted to support their food provision initiatives. Fresh produce: the Stanhope Primary market stall run by The Felix Project / Alex Lentati Leading fruit and vegetable firms Mash Purveyors and Reynolds, which supply West End restaurants, also give their surplus food to the charity, as does Hello Fresh. The Felix Projects depot in Park Royal is filled with produce of such high quality that it looks like a farmers market. Every item of the two tonnes in the small warehouse would have gone straight to landfill if it had not been intercepted by the charity. Volunteers sort and load the crates into the charitys fleet of green vans. The Evening Standard travelled with Allan Fitzgerald, one of Felixs dedicated volunteers, to collect food surplus from supermarkets. At his first stop, a small Sainsburys in Hendon, he collected crates of bread, croissants and pastries which it was unable to shift. At another Sainsburys he collected trays of bananas, vegetables and five sacks of bread. At Morrisons he was given tins of food and bottled drinks. His final stop was the Mash Purveyors warehouse, which supplies all five of the UKs three Michelin-starred restaurants. The van heading to Stanhope school was loaded with food that will delight the waiting families and provide a meal for children who may otherwise go to bed hungry. Mr Fitzgerald said: This is just such important work. How to donate to our Christmas appeal: Call 08000 639281 (freephone) Text FELIX 5 TO 70700 Tap www.standard.co.uk/helpahungrychild Post Freepost HELP A HUNGRY CHILD O n Saturday, The New Yorker uploaded a short story to its website. Cat Person was 36-year-old Kristen Roupenians first piece for the American magazine and, according to The New Yorker, in three days the newcomers story had become the magazines most-read piece of fiction this year. Cat Person had gone viral: on Monday morning it was trending on Twitter, choking Facebook newsfeeds, and whizzing through the ether by email. Roupenian had fewer than 200 Twitter followers before it was published; she now has almost 6,000. Analogue communication kept pace: in offices across the capital readers unpicked the story. Cat Person is in Roupenians words an excruciatingly bad date story about a younger woman and a younger man: a meet cute gone wrong. Margot, a 20-year-old college sophomore works in the local artsy movie theatre; 34-year old Robert is a customer. She flirts with him, mainly as distraction and to get tips, but he comes back the next week, demands her number, and the pair start texting. There is the familiar technological two-step: a back and forth of messaging that sometimes hurtles forward and sometimes crawls. Margot must always reinitiate when it stalls. Their first date is unceremonious: he buys her snacks at a 7-Eleven. But she is smitten, and when she goes home for the holidays, the texting escalates. His two cats become a silly trope of their flirting. When she gets back to campus, they arrange a date to the cinema. But on the night their conversation lacks the fluency of the virtual badinage, and she hates the film, a Holocaust movie that she suspects he has selected to impress her. Indeed, it looks like it will be an abortive evening until she suggests a drink to round it off. Three drinks later and they kiss, and then they are at his house. The sex makes you squirm. Margot finds him unattractive, the situation embarrassing and is reluctant to continue what has started. She does it, but after a post-coital film she makes her excuses and returns to campus. The next day she agonises about how to phrase the let-down text until she lets her exasperated roommate send a rude, definitive message; in response he sends a plaintively manipulative one and Margot dines out on the story. This is how it ends. Except it doesnt because Robert turns up in the student bar shes in one evening and sends her a series of texts, aggression rising in each one. His last word is unambiguous: Whore. In a post-#MeToo world it is clear why Cat Person resonates. On social media women used recurring words: familiar, relatable, recognisable. There was something in the confessional solidarity that felt #MeToo. The call to arms from woman to woman gave a sense that it was required reading for an ascendant movement. I enjoyed Cat Person in the way that it made me feel sick because there are so many completely universally accurate moments it touches on, said a 28-year-old Londoner. I anticipated that people would respond to the story, but this level of response has gone beyond what Ive seen with fiction before, The New Yorkers fiction editor Deborah Treisman, who commissioned the story, said. Any time that fiction is the most-read piece on our website for days, something unusual is happening. Cheer Up Luv Photojournalism Project by Eliza Hatch - In pictures 1 /21 Cheer Up Luv Photojournalism Project by Eliza Hatch - In pictures JESS - I was walking home from work one day and I was on the phone, just about to cross the road. A guy stopped his car in the middle of the road and asked me to get in his car. I said no and tried to walk around it, so he drove his car to block my way. I tried to walk behind it but he did the same thing. He then shouted, Get in my car or Ill run you over! I then slammed my fists on the car bonnet and shouted at him, which I think shook him so it gave me some time to cross the road and run away Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram JULIETTE - I was 19, and I had just moved to Paris. I was in a crowded train and there was a guy pressed up against my back, then he started to move against me. I first thought he was trying to get off the train, but then he started to whisper in my ear. I turned around to face him, trying to look angry, but then he put his hands on my hips and started grinding on me. So I stepped on his toes hard, and then stormed out of the train Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram PASCALE - I was walking behind a group of young girls, and cut through a park. There were a group of guys drinking, and one of them shouts, "That bald ones' alright though." Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram DANIELLE - I was sitting on a coach travelling through Croatia, and four guys sat in the row of seats in front of me. One of them sat next to be uninvited and started making conversation. Over the next two hours he kept moving closer and closer to me, even trying to touch and stroke me. He tried to put his hand under my romper and each time I would tell him to leave me alone. There was a couple who was sitting across from us but they did nothing the whole time. When the coach stopped, I tried to move past him and he touched my bum Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram DORINA - I was walking down a street in Manhattan when I saw a man walking towards me. His daughter was holding his hand and his young son was behind him on a scooter. As the distance between us got shorter I could tell that he was intensely staring at me, studying my legs, my sundress, my cleavage. Just as our paths crossed he lunged toward me and whispered, Mmmm, Id like to taste your chocolate. I was most horrified that his daughter was right there, watching her father verbally assault me, while his son was behind learning from his actions Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram ELAINE - One morning I was running in the park and noticed two men watching me. I immediately felt uncomfortable and tried to ignore their stares. I then took a break to stretch. The men approached me and one said, "Can I ask you something?" To which I responded, "Depends what it is". His response was, "Do you want to have a threesome right now?" I told them to walk away and I continued to stretch. They didn't walk away. Instead they thought they would ask another question, "Can you stop bending down like that? It's getting me really hard." Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram SAREEKA - was standing on the Victoria line during morning rush hour and felt something grazing my crotch area. I was reading the Metro which was covering the area and just assumed it was someone's bag or something mistakenly touching me. Just before we pulled into a stop I thought I'd double check and saw the hand of a disgusting old man who was standing next to me Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram MAYA - After leaving a nightclub with my friends and my girlfriend, we decided to get a bus to another venue. As we were waiting for the bus, a man approached me and started trying to chat me up. I said straight away that I'm a lesbian, and that I was with my girlfriend. He then took that s some sort of challenge, and proceeded to tell me I just needed his dick and tried to expose himself to me. Fortunately my male friend stepped in and eventually he managed to make him leave, the whole incident lasted about 20 minutes in total and was quite traumatic Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram JULIE - One day I was in the subway in Paris, waiting for the metro and a man in a suit came along and started talking to me. He asked for my number because he wanted to give it to his friend who thought I was beautiful. I said no to him, and he said I was arrogant. He stayed next to me, staring at me for what felt like hours until the train came. Then he spat on my shoes three times and nobody in the station moved a finger. I got in the metro and the man stayed on the platform, and went straight to another girl Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram IDIL - Between the ages of 14 and 16 I had random men masturbate whilst staring directly at me three times. Each time was at a bus stop, each time I was alone except for the men, and each time I was in my school uniform Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram TREE - I was on an overnight train in a cabin filled with men. Every hour or so I was awoken by a man rubbing up against me insisting that I smile. It's always a precarious balancing act being a female solo traveler because without familiar refuge you have to constantly temper your outrage and fear while appeasing men to protect yourself Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram NAOMI- I was drifting off to sleep on a train, and I felt something brush against my arm. I dismissed it until I felt it again a few minutes later. I opened my eyes and looked in the gap between the window and my seat. In the gap, I saw a man's foot forced through the space, rubbing it up and down my arm. I yelped with horror and was frozen with shock. When I turned around to confront the owner, a perfectly normal looking man jumped out of his seat and ran down the carriage. Nobody else noticed Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram FLORENCE - Two summers ago I was walking to a supermarket in Marseille. A guy was getting out of his car and said to me, "La pute c'est magnifique" as I walked past Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram JESS W - When I was about 12 or 13 me and my friends used to get the bus to school and a man who must have been about 40 tried to take photos on his phone up our skirts - the police ended up getting called but said they couldn't do anything about it in the end. Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram GABRIELLA - When I was 15, I was walking home from school like I always did, in my school uniform. This time however, a man kept kissing at me from his van. I decided to ignore him since it repulsed me, but he persisted to do it and call out remarks. After walking further up the road I turned around to notice that he had stopped, parked the van, opened the doors and was coming directly at me. Luckily I was around the corner from my house, so I ran down the hill to get home and didnt look back Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram OLIVIA - When I was 15, I went through a phase of wearing kilts, and one time as I was walking to my babysitter job, a silver Mercedes pulled up next to me on a busy road. The man in the driver's seat called me over with one hand and asked me for directions, which I didn't know the answer to. He asked me to look at his map, and as I leaned over, he told me that he liked my skirt, and that I had a lovely arse. He then asked me to get in his car Eliza Hatch/@cheerupluv/Instagram The New Yorker did not commission the story unawares. So much of our national discourse right now involves the lines of consensual and non-consensual sex and where those lines are drawn, Treisman added. Its not a story that involves harassment in the workplace or rape or any of those things, but its a story about how those lines can become fuzzy. It is the grey area of the sexual encounter that has most affected female readers. Fundamentally, Margots encounter with Robert is consensual. But, in the moment, she does not want to go through with it. She starts to regret what is unfolding before he has undressed her. The thought of what it would take to stop what she had set in motion was overwhelming, Roupenian writes. Insisting that they stop now, after everything shed done, would make her seem spoiled and capricious, as if shed ordered something at a restaurant and then, once the food arrived, had changed her mind and sent it back. This is the grey area: a sexual encounter you regret, one that you see through because it would be impolite not to. In Margots anxiety you sense her age and vulnerability perhaps a surer woman would have left as soon as she started to doubt her convictions but you also feel the pervasiveness of a hierarchy that casts women as the subordinate, the person to whom sex happens. As Roupenian puts it, Blunt refusal doesnt occur to Margot. Millennial women recognise this impotence. Its great were talking about damaging sexual encounters that are in the grey area, said a friend. Others confessed they had their own tales that, like Margots, made them squirm the next day as they sought distraction from discomfiting flashbacks. In the light of Weinstein and his nefarious peers, there is also an uncomfortable frisson in the age gap between the two. Robert is not Margots boss but there is a power imbalance that intimidates her. And as she observes when she is in the car to the cinema, she doesnt know Robert. Their relationship is based, until this point, on three fleeting meetings and lengthy online exchanges: It occurred to her that he could take her some place and rape and murder her. Harvey Weinstein in 60 seconds The story is also interested in the online versus offline relationship: it starts out on text and it is here that it is most successful. The discord between their fluency over text and the real date is familiar to anyone whos ever had a disappointing Tinder date. It reiterates the reality that how we communicate online, especially in the first flushes of dating, is about projecting a character on to the object of the messaging. When Margot first meets Robert she is not especially attracted to him; it is as a textual being that he interests her. And then there is Robert: domineering, manipulative, ultimately abusive. But Margots relative agency in the situation means this is not a simple victim versus aggressor narrative. Moreover, his character arc is not straightforward: at times he is pathetic and pitiable. But he becomes grotesque: a man who is rejected and who must propel his self-disgust back at Margot. The last word whore destroys any sympathy you might have. Many women have also encountered a Tinder version of Robert: the man who ends your correspondence by calling you a slut for refusing to sleep with them after an abortive date. Not everyone got it. By Monday afternoon there was a parody Twitter account, Men React To Cat Person (@mencatperson (almost 7,000 followers and counting), which retweeted those men who had failed to see the nuance in the story. And perhaps it was in these reactions that the real impact of the story is felt: the idea that some men still cant see the wrong in Roberts behaviour is dispiriting. Cat Person might be fiction, but occasionally that deals in reality. Incidentally, you never meet the cats. David Sexton: 'This is a game-changer for literature Madame Bovary, cest moi, Flaubert is supposed to have said. #MeToo, ever more victims of unwanted sexual advances have tweeted this year after Weinstein. Pretty much the same claim? Not quite. Cat Person has been a phenomenal success, a meme already, a few days after its publication in The New Yorker. Its a game-changer on a level with the publication of Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx in The New Yorker back in 1997. Although Cat Person is not about abusive power relations or even, strictly, non-consensual sex, its clearly the first example of #MeToo Lit. Its author, Kristen Roupenian, admits it was inspired by a small but nasty encounter I had with a person I met online. But she maintains it is not autobiographical; though many of the details and emotional notes come from life, they were accumulated over decades, not drawn from a single bad date. And she is aware of its relevance to the #MeToo world in which men and women have been revealed to misunderstand each other so radically. Now heres this story, opening up that experience through fictionalising it. (Although it is written in the third person, many readers have taken it as fact.) But they might want to see it that way because autobiography is increasingly seen as the only legitimate form of writing. Anything else imagination, invention and above all inhabiting the subjectivity of a character is condemned, as Jonathan Franzen lamented, as an act of appropriation, even colonialism. That this story has been found so relatable proves anew that fiction can help us to understand others. That seems a small claim, but its the greatest to be made for the art. Not all those who have responded on social media see it like that. One woman asserted: I dont think its really possible for men to truly understand the feelings stirred up in this story. Heigh-ho. Part of the storys currency comes from the way the characters form a false relationship through texting that doesnt stand up in real life. But, as Roupenian says, the gender dynamics, the uncertainty, the fear that all predates tech, for sure. In truth, the way Margot finds herself in bed with a man she doesnt know or, she soon realises, fancy, resembles nothing so much as a speeded-up version of the recurrent situation in the great 19th-century novels in which women find themselves subjected to older men they barely know, let alone understand or love. Effi Briest, in Theodore Fontanes novel of that name, is 17 when she marries a 38-year-old baron. Anna Karenina is 28; her gristly-eared husband 20 years older (for a creepy insinuation of bad sex, theres little to beat Tolstoys line presenting Karenin exerting his marital rights: Its time! Its time! said he with a peculiar smile, going into their bedroom.) And it is part of Cat Persons evenhandedness (until that crude last word, when Robert puts himself beyond sympathy) that Margot should be so tricked by her misplaced romanticism carried away by a fantasy of such pure ego that she could hardly admit to herself that she was having it. Look at this beautiful girl, she imagined him thinking. Shes so perfect, her body is perfect... For Margot is a little bit of an Emma Bovary. And her author has drawn on her imagination to create her as a character as well as Robert The heart which I studied was my own, Flaubert owned. And thats why Cat Person amounts to more than an addition to #MeToo testimony, or man-denunciation; it belongs to all its readers, including head-clutching men, as an expression of the permanent truth of human wastage: the waste even in a fortunate life, the isolation of a life rich in intimacy (William Empson) T his is the first picture of young man stabbed to death following an argument in an off-licence. Patryk Jezmanski, 23, who moved to the UK from Poland with his mother, was found collapsed in the street after staggering out of the shop in Perivale, west London. Paramedics battled to save him on the street for almost an hour before rushing him to hospital where he died at 10.25pm on Sunday. Police said he suffered a single stab wound to the chest. Patryk Jezmanski, 23, who moved to the UK from Poland with his mother, was found collapsed in the street His devastated mother paid tribute to her son as video emerged of Mr Jezmanski playing in the snow on the morning of his death. In the final photo uploaded to his Facebook profile, he is pictured holding a snowman as he beams into the camera. Video footage emerged of Mr Jezmanski playing in the snow on the morning of his death His mother Violetta Abubaker, who lives in Greenford, said they had been due to visit his two siblings back in Poland over the Christmas holiday. She told the Standard: My son was a kind wonderful boy who has been taken from us in a tragic and brutal manner. My heart is broken and my life will never be the same. Police investigate the fatal stabbing in Perivale / Nigel Howard He was only 23 years old. We were due to visit Poland together for Christmas and enjoy the simple things like decorating the tree together. Instead I am burying my child, I am heartbroken. An online fundraiser to repatriate Mr Jezmanskis body to Poland raised more than 2,500 in donations in 48 hours. On the GoFundMe page she wrote: We came with Patryk to England to work for a better life. We are going back with only one, broken, suffering mothers heart. My son will never decorate a Christmas tree again with us. He will never again laugh or cry. All the love he had to give was taken away. Police were called to Bilton Road at 8.13pm on Sunday after reports of a stabbing. Witness Patricia Hidalgo said: He was laying on the ground and the paramedics were working on him for about an hour. It was really horrible to see. I could not see him moving, they were trying to desperately hard. They just kept going, they did their best. To donate to the repatriation fund visit this link :: A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder in the early hours of Monday and has since been released under investigation. Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org T wo more teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of an 18-year-old apprentice carpenter stabbed to death in north London. Jason Isaacs, described as "amazing" and "beautiful", was found critically injured in Newnham Close, Northolt, on the evening of November 18. The teenager was rushed to hospital where he died three days later. An 18-year-old man, from Watford, and a 16-year-old boy, from north-west London, were arrested at their home addresses on suspicion of murder on Tuesday morning, Scotland Yard said. The older suspect has been released under investigation, while the youngster remains in custody in a north London police station. It comes after the arrest of a 17-year-old boy on November 30 who was subsequently charged with murder. Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh said: "It has been three weeks since Jason was attacked and killed. "We have charged one male and made two further arrests, but we continue to appeal for anyone who witnessed the attack, or anyone with information to come forward. "Our suspects are four people riding on two mopeds. At least one of them was not wearing a crash helmet." A post-mortem examination determined Mr Isaacs, who was from Northolt, died of a stab wound. A 20,000 reward has been offered by police for any information that could lead to the prosecution of the teen's killers. His mother Sharon Kendall said: "Our amazing, beautiful Jason went out with friends for a night out and a few drinks. He should have come home to his loving family. "Our lives are in pieces. Every little piece of information is really important. For Jason, make that call, thank you." The charged teen is due to appear at the Old Bailey on February 20, with a provisional trial date set for April 30. Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 8785 8099 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. A baby girl born with her heart outside her body has become the first in the UK to survive the extremely rare condition. Vanellope Hope Wilkins was due to be born on Christmas Eve but the condition, ectopia cordis, meant she had to be delivered prematurely on November 22 at a hospital in Leicester. The condition was discovered during a scan after nine weeks' pregnancy. It showed the baby's heart and part of her stomach were growing on the outside of her body. Her parents Naomi Findlay and Dean Wilkins, from Bulwell in Nottinghamshire, said doctors initially told them that "termination" was the only option. Vanellope was named after a character in the film Wreck-it Ralph who is 'so stubborn' / PA Mother-of-two Ms Findlay said: "I burst into tears. When we did the research we just couldn't physically look because the condition came with so many problems. "All the way through it, it was 'the chances of survival are next to none, the only option is to terminate, we can offer counselling' and things like that. "In the end I just said that termination is not an option for me, if it was to happen naturally then so be it." Three-week-old Vanellope was due to be delivered on Christmas Eve before the incredibly rare condition was spotted / PA Vanellope underwent three operations to put her heart back inside her body and survived. Experts have since said they do not know of a case in the UK where a baby has survived such a condition. Explaining what it felt like after the birth, the 31-year-old full-time mum said: "I started to panic, I actually felt physically sick because I actually thought there was a big possibility I wouldn't be able to see her or hear her or anything really. "But when she came out and she came out crying that was it, the relief fell out of me." Mr Wilkins, who works as a builder, said: "What they said is, when the baby is born she has got to be able to breathe in our oxygen. "Twenty minutes went by and she was still shouting her head off - it made us so joyful and teary." The couple said the baby was named after a character in the Disney film, Wreck It Ralph, because she is so stubborn and turns into a princess at the end. Frances Bu'Lock, the consultant paediatric cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, said the babys chances of survival were "remote". She said: "I had seen one in foetal life around 20 years ago but that pregnancy was ended. "I did a quick Google search, as everyone does, and then more of a literature search but that didn't inform me an awful lot because there's not much to go on and the cases are all very different." T he eldest daughter of Cecil Parkinson, the late Conservative Party chairman, was found dead at her home nearly two years after the death of her father. Mary Parkinson, 57, battled drug addiction, mental health issues and prostitution early in her life, and struggled to cope when it emerged that her father had fathered a lovechild with his secretary. She was discovered by a neighbour at her terraced home in Wandsworth, southwest London, on Sunday, according to the Telegraph. Ms Parkinson had recently reconciled with Lord Parkinson, whom she was said to adore. But her father's death from cancer in January 2016, aged 84, reportedly triggered a renewed struggle for Ms Parkinson. Scotland Yard said they had been called to an address in Battersea shortly after 9.30pm on Sunday night following reports of concern for the welfare of a female resident. A spokesman said: Officers attended along with London Ambulance Service colleagues and discovered a female, believed to be aged 57. She was pronounced dead at the scene. At this early stage the incident is not being treated as suspicious. T he leader of Kensington and Chelsea council today refused to commit to putting sprinklers into all tower blocks in the borough in the wake of Grenfell fire. Almost six months after the disaster that killed 71 people, Councillor Elizabeth Campbell only said she would consider the option. London fire commissioner Dany Cotton said yesterday she was staggered that more public buildings, including blocks of homes, did not have sprinkler systems as they could save lives. Only 45 Grenfell families out of a total of 209 households have moved into permanent new homes and there is concern that many will still be in hotels at Christmas. NHS mental health staff give Grenfell mental health work update Ms Campbell admitted that some survivors did not want to move into temporary accommodation because they did not trust the council not to just leave them there. The Tory council leader also revealed she has not had a meeting with the Prime Minister since the June 14 fire, even though she has been in charge of the borough for five months. I havent met Theresa May, no, but shes called me, she told LBC News. Inside Grenfell Tower 1 /17 Inside Grenfell Tower Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Sniffer dogs were sent inside to the tower today PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA She saw Communities Secretary Sajid Javid every fortnight and insisted she couldnt fault the Government on the support it was providing. She said that the Prime Minister had a really steadfast commitment to survivors and regularly invited them to Downing Street. The council is reviewing fire safety across the borough and officials said they would continue to introduce improvements where necessary, guided by independent experts. Mrs Campbell, however, stopped short of pledging to install sprinklers across the borough. She said: Its something we should consider but I cant right now make the commitment to it. The borough is spending 235 million on new homes for Grenfell survivors and buying properties at a rate of two a day. Mrs Campbell said she wanted to give those residents an absolute assurance they would get the permanent home they needed and stressed the council had made a legal commitment to do so. She also revealed that the Bishop of Kensington had told her that she and her council colleagues would not be welcome at tomorrows memorial service. I dont really think its about me, she said. Its about survivors coming together. Theyre remembering victims, friends, people they loved, who died. Thats fair enough. O ne of Londons top universities has been fined 70,000 after a scientist suffocated while he was working in a hospital laboratory that filled with nitrogen. Damian Bowen, 32, was using liquid nitrogen as he carried out HIV blood sample experiments, unaware that the ventilation system to his lab, at Imperial College London, had been switched off. He was wearing a visor, cryogenic gloves and protective gloves, but nitrogen escaped into the air and quickly displaced the oxygen in the room. Mr Bowen, from Hackney, suffocated in the nitrogen-rich atmosphere on October 26, 2011, and his lifeless body was discovered in the lab the following day. At an inquest last year, a jury criticised lax enforcement of standard operating procedures at the hospital, as well as insufficient control, unclear responsibility which led to Mr Bowens death. Today at Southwark crown court, Imperial College was fined 70,000 and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust was fined 80,000 after admitting health and safety breaches. Imperial College accepted that the risk assessment was insufficient and not suitable to ensure ventilation was on, said Judge Michael Grieve QC. If the ventilation had been switched on Damian Brown would not have died. The failure to switch the ventilation system back on and the means by which it is signalled is the heart of the matter. He said the fines were lower than the sentencing guidelines as both public institutions are not profit-making. Mr Bowens father, Glenn Bowen, told the court he broke down in tears when he discovered his son had direct debits to charities despite being on a relatively low wage. I know the value he placed on saving lives are the same values shared by these institutions, he said. I believe they are truly sorry for the death of my son. Damian made just enough money to survive in London. In terminating his bank account I found he made a small number of direct debits to charities. The two organisations pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching a general duty to an employee. They were both ordered to pay 23,000 in costs. S adiq Khan has launched the second addition to a planned network of low-emission bus zones on one of Londons most polluted high streets. The new clean route runs along Brixton Road in south London, which has a reputation for high levels of toxic air. Within the zone, 450 buses travel on 23 scheduled routes carrying 130,000 passengers daily. The route, launched on Tuesday, will serve Brixton Hill via Stockwell Road and Streatham High Road to Streatham Place. Only buses that meet the London mayors toughest emission standards will be permitted to run through the new Brixton Low Emission Bus Zone. Brixton: The mayor unveiled the new low-emission zone in south London / Sadiq Khan/Twitter It is the second zone to be introduced in heavily polluted areas of the city, after the first was launched in Putney High Street in March. According to City Hall, the Putney route has seen a 90 per cent reduction in hourly breaches of toxic air levels. The polluted Brixton-Streatham route, which passes a number of primary schools, exceeded hourly legal levels of nitrogen dioxide on 539 occasions last year. It breached annual legal pollution limits by January 5 this year. Under EU rules, the limit should not be exceeded more than 18 times in a year. Mr Khan said: To tackle this lethal air we need a dramatic reduction in harmful emissions from polluting buses and older more polluting vehicles. I am committed to making our bus fleet the greenest in the world and today Ive continued to deliver on that pledge. He added: Weve already seen a massive improvement in air quality along the Putney route. Im confident that will be replicated here in Brixton and along the 10 other routes where we are introducing Low Emission Bus Zones. Ten more Low Emission Bus Zones will follow Brixton and Putney by 2020, the mayor said. W EVE all been there: you settle in for a long flight only to realise that youve been seated beside a tantrum-prone child. But pay attention next time: that baby could be a Clooney. Page Six reports that actor George Clooney and his wife, human rights barrister Amal, were on a flight back to the UK recently with their twins Ella and Alexander. Perhaps concerned that their fellow travellers who included director Quentin Tarantino would kick off, they gave all the first-class passengers noise-cancelling headphones. The headphones were branded with the logo of his Casamigos tequila brand and had a note attached apologising ahead of time for any disturbance. Noise-cancelling headphones detect ambient sound and create contrasting phase soundwaves that cancel it out. A good pair can set you back a couple of hundred pounds. But its no wonder the couple, who married in 2014, have developed the strategy for long-haul flights. They have a country retreat in Berkshire, a mansion in California and a villa in Lake Como, so must do plenty of travelling. And despite the volume issues, the Clooneys seem to be enjoying parenthood. The twins are at the spot where they can giggle and laugh and have fun, George said recently. You are getting something back. For a while they were mounds of flesh just eating. I make fart sounds and they react. Its amazing. Were still getting used to having little human beings in our life. Its really wild. For all their parents effort, apparently Ella and Alexander were perfectly quiet. They must share their fathers gift for timing. --- Mark shares a glass with Monocle Making his Mark: Mark Carney (Getty Images) MONOCLE founder Tyler Brule once said he wouldnt be caught dead wearing the colour purple thats the cardinal rule. So The Londoner pulled out her finest maroon boots to test the dress code at the magazines annual contributors party in Marylebone. The chap at the door allowed The Londoner in. Up on the third floor, Brules office suite, we found the suave Bank of England Governor Mark Carney clinking glasses with historian Jonathan Fenby, who was beaming over a great accolade he once received: a legal letter from Donald Trump in the Nineties complaining about an article hed written on the now US Presidents property investments. Fenby says he keeps the letter in the bottom drawer of his desk as a memento. Monocle Radio presenter Georgina Godwin was bubbling away about cinemas reopening in Saudi Arabia, shortly after the kingdom gave women the right to drive. Just dont show them Thelma and Louise, she quipped. --- Quote of the Day "Am I supposed to be old and haggard?" Model Karen Elson, 38, doesnt understand why people tell her she looks good for her age --- Christmas Camel lights up the party POPPY Delevingne and friend had the hump at George in Mayfair last night, but dont worry it was just a camel. The handsome beast wandered into the club which is animal-friendly but usually stops at dogs for Love magazines Christmas party. Hosted by editor Katie Grand, it was attended by model Adwoa Aboah and stylist Charlotte Stockdale. Model and actress Delevingne wore a navy tracksuit that looked a lot like those her sister Cara and pal Margot Robbie wore to zip around town last summer. Anything Cara can do... --- BIT of a dad joke from Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, who spoke to the Federation of Master Builders on Monday. None of us are immune from the shoddy workmanship the FMB protects us from, he said. Even Winston Churchill. When he was Prime Minister he complained that 10 Downing Street was, and I quote, built by the profiteering contractor whose name the street bears. Today, of course, the Government is strong and stable! Has anyone checked for cracks? --- Dogged by rebellious corgis Every dog has its day: The corgis (Getty Images) NEVER work with children or animals, they say. And pity Claire Foy who, as a young Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix historical drama The Crown, has to do both. South African actress Jodi Balfour, who tackles the role of glamorous First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the new series, says that the corgis on set posed constant problems in one of her key scenes with Foy. They werent super-well-behaved, to be honest, she tells NY magazines Vulture. That scene was a little challenging. Murphys Law was in full effect that day: its the end of a big scene that builds to spoken and unspoken intimacy between the two women, and its a nuanced friendship beginning to happen. Meanwhile, you have to coordinate all of these puppies that dont want to be on Claires lap and just want to lick our faces and bark. It was very fun, she adds. But derailing at the same time. Its a dogs life, acting. --- Tweet of the day After Matt Hancock states that objective reality exists, poetry critic Jeremy Noel-Tod wonders whos on his reading list --- Whaddaya know of the day: a study has found American mobsters with college degrees earn more than their lowbrow colleagues. First you get the bachelor of arts --- Walliams and Carr play top Trumps IS THIS the new Lou and Andy? David Walliams and Alan Carr have dressed up as the First Couple for a Christmas shoot and certainly look the part. Although Walliams could have maybe shaved first. Me and David had to fight over Melania, and he won, said Alan. E U chief negotiator Michel Barnier today warned there is no going back on the divorce deal agreed between Britain and the European Commission. He also told MEPs that the integrity of the EU single market and the preservation of freedom of movement will be non-negotiable in trade talks with the UK. Mr Barnier issued the warnings after Brexit Secretary David Davis caused confusion by saying the blueprint on the divorce bill of up to 39 billion, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and EU citizens rights was much more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing. The agreement was enough for the Commission to agree sufficient progress had been made to move on to talks about a transition period and trade deal but Mr Daviss comments sparked concerns in Brussels that Britain could seek to backtrack on it. Addressing the European Parliament, Mr Barnier stressed this morning: There is no going back on this sufficient progress, this progress has been noted and recorded and is going to be translated into a legally binding withdrawal agreement he said. These are prerequisites and conditions for continuing with the negotiations in a smooth fashion. MEPs were debating last weeks joint report on the UKs divorce settlement and were set to vote on cross-party amendments tabled by the parliaments Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, calling on the UK to fully respect last weeks deal. Mr Verhofstadt said he had spoken by phone with Mr Davis, who assured him it was absolutely not the intention of the UK Government to backtrack on their commitments. The best way to secure this is that, in the coming weeks, we transpose all these commitments into the legal text of a Withdrawal Agreement. That is the best way to do it, and to do it not in the coming months but the coming weeks, he added. Noting that in his contacts with EU nationals in the UK nobody seems to trust the Home Office, he said it would be vital to ensure that the cost and burden of registration procedures should fall on the Government and not on families. Ukip MEP Nigel Farage said the proposed transition period was the biggest deception yet played on the British people. T heresa Mays Government has lost a key vote on Brexit as MPs backed a rebel amendment to give Parliament the final say on any exit deal. The Government was defeated by a majority of just four - 309 votes to 305 after rebel Tories backed an amendment by ringleader Dominic Grieve. It is the first Brexit vote the PM has lost in the Commons. The amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill calls for a meaningful vote on the terms of the UKs final Brexit agreement, effectively handing Parliament more powers. PM Mrs May had rejected the amendment put forward, saying it risked delaying the Brexit process. In a last minute bid to stave off the uprising, Mrs May had insisted MPs would "have a meaningful vote" before the UK leaves the EU on March 29, 2019. Rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve. / PA Another dramatic last-minute concession by justice minister Dominic Raab was dismissed as "too late" by Mr Grieve. Following the tense Parliament vote, many MPs took to Twitter to hail Parliament "taking back control". Tory rebel Nicky Morgan tweeted: "Tonight Parliament took control of the EU Withdrawal process." While some would-be rebels such as George Freeman and Vicky Ford said Mr Raab's promise of fresh limits on powers in the Bill was enough for them to back down, it was not enough for the Government to avoid defeat. As Mrs May prepared to travel to a Brussels summit on Thursday where European Union leaders are expected to rubber-stamp Brexit negotiations moving on to trade, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the Government on the eve of the European Council meeting. "Labour has made the case since the referendum for a meaningful vote in Parliament on the terms of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. "Theresa May has resisted democratic accountability. Her refusal to listen means she will now have to accept Parliament taking back control." A Government spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed that Parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. "We are as clear as ever that this Bill, and the powers within it, are essential. "This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the Bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose." T he Government has suffered its first major Brexit defeat after losing a vote in the House of Commons on a controversial EU Withdrawal Bill clause. MPs voted in favour of Amendment 7 which called for a meaningful vote in the Commons on the terms of the UKs final Brexit agreement, effectively handing Parliament more powers. Prime Minister Theresa May had already rejected the amendment put forward, saying it "risked delaying the Brexit process". In a last minute bid to stave off the uprising, Mrs May insisted MPs would "have a meaningful vote" before the UK leaves the EU on March 29, 2019. In the face of revolt: Theresa May / AFP/Getty Images But her efforts were dismissed as "too little, too late" by members on both sides of the House. The Government was defeated by a majority of just four - 309 votes to 305 after rebel Tories backed an amendment by ringleader Dominic Grieve. The amendment guarantees both the House of Commons and the Lords a "meaningful vote" on any final Brexit deal. Stephen Hammond has been sacked from his position in the Conservative party / PA Archive/PA Images Leader of the Labour opposition Jeremy Corbyn called the result a "humiliating loss of authority". He said: "This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the government on the eve of the European council meeting. "Labour has made the case since the referendum for a meaningful vote in parliament on the terms of Britains withdrawal from the European Union. A packed House of Commons voted on the bill. / AFP/Getty Images "Theresa May has resisted democratic accountability. Her refusal to listen means she will now have to accept parliament taking back control." Stephen Hammond was among the most prominent of the 12 Conservative MPs who rebelled against the Government to vote for Amendment 7 of the EU Withdrawal Bill. Mr Corbyn capitalised on the Government's defeat / Getty Images He was promptly sacked from his position as Vice Chairman by Theresa May in the aftermath of the vote. Addressing his dismissal, he wrote on Twitter: "[I'm] very disappointed to no longer be vice chairman of the Conservative Party for London. "It was a huge honour and I'll continue to campaign across our capital in the run up to the Borough elections next year. The PM is due at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday / AP "Tonight I put country and constituency before party and voted with my principles to give Parliament a meaningful vote." The twelve Conservative rebels were: Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke, Nicky Morgan, John Stevenson, Bob Neill, Stephen Hammond, Oliver Heald, Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston, Jonathan Djanogly, Antoinette Sandbach, and Heidi Allen Reactions to the rebellion were mixed: Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy praised those on the other side of the House for putting the country before their party. Meanwhile Conservative MP Nadine Dorries was criticised by many online, after she wrote that all the rebel Tories "should be deselected and never allowed to stand as a Tory MP ever again". MPs voted down a number of other amendments, including 241, which would have required the Secretary of State to publish an EU-reciprocal healthcare strategy, and Amendment 30, which would have limited ministers' ability to amend the EU Withdrawal Act through delegated powers. A No.10 spokesman told the BBC: "We are very disappointed that Parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances we have set out." Commentators say the Prime Minister's hand has been significantly weakened by today's developments. Mrs May is due in Brussels for an EU summit on Thursday, where it is thought she will try to press the Union into moving onto serious trade talks. E uropean leaders have given the go-ahead for the second round of Brexit negotiations to begin. EU chief Donald Tusk announced on Friday that the next round of negotiations will start after "sufficient progress" had been made - in a tweet where he personally congratulated PM Theresa May. It comes after Theresa May was applauded by fellow leaders in Brussels on Thursday, where she stressed her desire to get on with shaping a deep and special future partnership. Mrs May reassured EU leaders that she is still on course to deliver Brexit despite suffering her first Commons loss on Wednesday. But the leaders of the 27 remaining member states are set to approve guidelines which would set a slow timetable for talks on trade. Follow our live coverage of Friday's events here: D onald Trump was dealt a blow today by voters who turned their back on scandal-scarred Republican Roy Moore to elect a Democrat for the US Senate. The upset is the first time a Republican has been defeated in a Senate race in Alabama in a generation. Mr Trump supported Mr Moore even after he was accused of sexually assaulting girls. He denied the claims and defied pressure from his party leaders to stand down. US President Donald Trump at a rally in Florida earlier this week / Getty Images The Democrat victory in a state where Mr Trump himself triumphed by 28 points in last years presidential election shaves the Republican majority in the Senate down to a single seat, jeopardising the presidents hopes of pushing his agenda through Congress. Roy Moore rides his horse to cast his vote at the polling station / Getty Images North America Mr Trump tweeted his congratulations to Mr Moores Democrat rival Doug Jones. He added: The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Biggest loser is man sitting in the Oval Office Robert Moore: Letter from Alabama The supporters of Roy Moore stood in shock. This state in the Deep South one of the most conservative in the nation had elected a Democrat. Instead of celebrating, as they had a year ago with the election of Donald Trump, anti-establishment Republicans stared at the stage, sang patriotic songs and then repeatedly prayed. One woman was in tears, telling me America would go to hell, since it had turned its back on Judge Moore and morality. Roy Moore is no ordinary politician. The former Alabama chief justice is a radical evangelical conservative, holding hostile views on gay and transgender rights, and has suggested that the country was a happier place during the era of slavery. The thought of him as a senator appalled mainstream Republicans and Democrats. But the latter should be nervous. Moore lost because he self-destructed, not because Alabama has adopted a liberal agenda. For Trump, this is a moment of acute danger. An inquiry is digging ever deeper into claims of collusion with Russia by his campaign team. Now Alabama, which voted for him by a 28-point margin, has turned its back on his candidate. The president and Moore are both facing allegations of sexual assault. Trump has survived them so far, but the earthquake overnight must have been deeply uncomfortable viewing from the White House. America has been convulsed by both populism and sexual scandal over the past year. They collided in Alabama and the big loser was not here, but in the Oval Office. Robert Moore is the ITV News Washington Correspondent Mr Trump was reportedly persuaded by his former White House strategist Steve Bannon to endorse Mr Moore, 70, a former chief justice of the supreme court of Alabama. During a polarising campaign, nine women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him dating back to the late Seventies and early Eighties. The Washington Post reported last month that Mr Moore, while a lawyer in his thirties, had made sexual overtures to four teenagers, one of whom was 14 at the time. Doug Jones' victory will reduce the Republican majority in the US Senate to 51-49 / AP Mr Jones, 63, a lawyer best known for prosecuting Ku Klux Klansmen behind the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, defeated Mr Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. There were just under 21,000 votes separating the winner and the loser out of 1.3 million cast. Moments after the race was called for his opponent, Mr Moore told supporters in the state capital Montgomery: Realise when the vote is this close, then its not over. Mr Jones targeted black voters and sought support from whites disenchanted with the Trump administration. Quoting Martin Luther King, he said today: The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. In this time, in this place, you helped bend that moral arc a little closer to that justice. F acebook has revealed its investigation into foreign influence on the EU referendum found Russian accounts spent just 73p on online adverts. The Electoral Commission had asked the firm - and fellow social site Twitter - for information on any Russian attempts to interfere with the Brexit vote through the use of political adverts on the site. The social network said less than one dollar (97 cents, or 73p) was spent on delivering adverts by accounts linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA), which were seen by no more than 200 people. It follows an investigation in the US earlier this year which ruled hundreds of Russia-linked Facebook accounts had attempted to influence the US presidential election. A spokesman for Facebook told the Commission: "We strongly support the Commission's efforts to regulate and enforce political campaign finance rules in the United Kingdom, and we take the Commission's request very seriously. "Further to your request, we have examined whether any of the identified Internet Research Agency pages or account profiles funded advertisements to audiences in the United Kingdom during the regulated period for the EU referendum. "We have determined that these accounts associated with the IRA spent a small amount of money (97 cents, or 73p) on advertisements that delivered to UK audiences during that time. "This amount resulted in three advertisements (each of which were also targeted to US audiences and concerned immigration, not the EU referendum) delivering approximately 200 impressions to UK viewers over four days in May 2016." A report in January by the US national director of intelligence ruled that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US election, and Facebook found approximately 470 accounts linked to the agency had spent around 100,000 dollars (75,000) on more than 3,000 adverts. These adverts were run between June 2015 and May 2017. Prime Minister Theresa May has previously accused Russia of spreading fake news and misinformation online as part of a campaign to "sow discord in the West". Additional reporting by PA A suspension of Ubers licence to operate in Sheffield has been lifted, the city council confirmed. The minicab firms licence to operate in the northern city was suspended on November 29 after it failed to respond to requests about the management of the taxi app, Sheffield City Council said. However, the suspension was today lifted following productive discussions between the San Fransisco-based company and the council. A spokesman for Sheffield City Council said: Uber provided satisfactory replies to the questions asked by Sheffield City Council about the management of Uber. The new application, made by Uber in October, to operate private hire cars in Sheffield is being considered and a decision will be made in early 2018. The move comes after York refused to grant Uber a licence to operate in the city. A committee at the City of York Council cited the number of complaints it had received about the service and a recent well-publicised data protection breach as reasons for the decision. The 7-3 vote of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee was greeted by applause and cries of "thank you" from the public gallery on Tuesday night. Uber's licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate - most recently on December 21 2016. Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew the ride-hailing firm's licence on the grounds of "public safety and security implications" in September. A spokesman for Uber in York said: "This is a disappointing vote for the riders and drivers who use our app in the city. More choice and competition is a good thing for both consumers and licensed drivers in the area. "Passengers tell us they love being able to track their car on a live map, pay without cash and get a receipt with their fare and the route taken. Licensed drivers partner with us because with Uber they can choose if, when and where they drive. We will review the details of the decision once we receive the formal notice from the council. You can be among the first Star Wars fanatics to see The Last Jedi, thanks to some extra-early screenings hosted at local theaters. Episode VIII of the epic sci-fi franchise officially debuts Friday, but if youre lucky enough to nab a last-minute ticket, you can see it as early as 7 p.m. Thursday at The Strand in Kendallville and The Brokaw in Angola. NCG Cinemas in Auburn also will be holding early screenings Thursday night, with showings at 7, 8:30 and 9:35 p.m., as well as a 3-D screening at 10:10 p.m. Feel free to bust out your best Star Wars costumes for whats sure to be a festive first viewing of the new film. The Last Jedi is the lastest film in the episodic Star Wars compendium, following 2015s The Force Awakens. Star Wars fans got to enjoy a movie last Christmas in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but that film acted as prologue for the original 1977 film. Heres where were at now (spoiler alert in case you havent seen The Force Awakens yet): Last we saw, Han Solo was killed with a light saber by his son, Kylo Ren, and tossed into a bottomless pit. Desert scavenger turned Jedi-in-training Rey got the better of Kylo Ren in a staple light-saber duel; and the Resistance successfully blew up the evil First Orders massive planet-destroying Starkiller base. In the closing scene, Rey traveled to an oceanic world on the outskirts of a galaxy far, far away and successfully located a face familiar to fans of Star Wars from the 70s and 80s Luke Skywalker (still played by Mark Hamill, albeit older and more bearded than in his youthful days). That takes us to now, with Rey receiving training in the ways of the Jedi amidst the backdrop of the continuing battles between the Resistance and the First Order and the machinations of the evil Sith. Forget about midnight showings for this release. Local theaters are getting the chance to screen the new film even earlier with the permission of Walt Disney Studios, which now owns the Star Wars franchise. For The Brokaw in Angola, the new Star Wars flick will be the first early showing hosted at the theater since reopening in late 2015. When it comes to planning an early showing, its a mix of trying to figure out whether theres enough hype for a film to sell an early show as well as getting permission from the studio. We wanted to do one for Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League, but we received approval from their respective studios so late in the booking process that we couldnt make it work with the schedule, Brokaw general manager David Benson said. Not only did Disney give enough lead time, it allowed theaters to screen the film any time after 7 p.m. Thursday. Although midnight showings have been the tradition for a lot of films, Benson said an evening showing felt like a better fit for The Brokaws audience. We realize that there are a lot of working men and women that frequent our theater, and children are in school, so we are forgoing a midnight showing and doing one at 7:15 p.m., he said. The Strand in Kendallville is also hosting an early screening. As of right now, I believe the only thing we will be doing is opening the picture on Thursday night, the 14th, after 7 p.m., as most other theaters are doing, owner Bruce Babbitt said. This movie runs long at 2 1/2 hours, so we will play late shows by ear. If you want to see Star Wars on the biggest screen Imax youll have to leave northeast Indiana, but you can catch a showing at the Imax theater at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. Its one of only a dozen theaters globally to offer the film in the Imax format. The Indiana State Museum will be showing the film from Thursday at 7 p.m. through Sunday at 11 p.m., according to the Visit Indy tourism bureau. Theyve pulled out all the stops to welcome the film, including costumed characters, souvenirs and Star Wars artwork on display. Indy is the only place in the Midwest to see this epic saga on Imax film, and as the largest screen in the state, this unique format offers fans a one-of-a-kind, immersive film experience, Visit Indy said in a release. M ore than 20 flood alerts have been issued in the UK as snow starts to thaw following days of freezing weather. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales issued 27 alerts across a swathe of the England and Wales, warning residents to be prepared. On Friday most places will experience a mix of sunshine and wintry showers, with further snow possible in the west, according to the Met Office. A fresh yellow weather warning for ice will be in place in parts of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales from 5pm. This blog is currently paused but check back soon for more weather updates. Y ork has followed London by refusing to grant Uber a licence to operate in the city. Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew the ride-hailing firm's licence on the grounds of "public safety and security implications" in September. Sheffield became the second city to suspend the company's licence last week but on Wednesday the council lifted the ban. A committee at the City of York Council cited the number of complaints it had received about the service and a recent well-publicised data protection breach as reasons for the decision. The 7-3 vote of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee was greeted by applause and cries of "thank you" from the public gallery on Tuesday night. Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, told the meeting Uber was "systematically abusing" the local laws and "looking for loopholes" by using out-of-town vehicles. He said: "The trade does not object to fair competition, but Uber are not a fair player in the public transport world in the UK." Sadiq Khan says people should be angry at Uber Uber's licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate - most recently on December 21 2016. Last month it was revealed that Uber had been the subject of a massive data breach which affected 2.7 million UK users of its app. Hackers obtained personal details of 57 million customers and drivers worldwide, including people's names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Neil McGonigle, head of cities for the north of England for Uber, told councillors there were 28,000 people who regularly use the app in the city. He said: "Over the course of the last 12 months we have seen a steady increase in the number of people looking to use the service we provide. "From our experience, the passengers love the ability to have the convenience of pressing a button to request a car, to take a trip without having to use cash at all and, from a safety point of view, being able to track every element of that journey. "I believe that increased choice and competition is a good thing for both passengers and drivers in terms of increasing standards across the board." He added the company had been "open and cooperative" with the council in tackling issues, including where drivers have applied for hire illegally. A report provided to the meeting at the City of York council offices said that in the previous 12 months, the authority had received 296 complaints about hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, of which more than half related to Uber drivers. Details of the specific complaints were not made public. The company has 21 days to make a decision on whether to appeal the committee's decision and can continue to operate in York until its licence expires or the appeal is heard. Uber's appeal against TfL's decision not to renew its licence will be heard in the spring. Sheffield City suspended the company's licence on December 7 after the firm failed to respond to requests for information about its management. Uber is allowed to continue operating int he city until December 18, and if it chooses to appeal the suspension, it can function until that has been heard. H urricane Harveys unprecedented deluge which claimed 77 lives was strengthened and made three times more likely by climate change, explosive new research has found. The effects of global warming meant the disaster was 15 per cent more intense, according to scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative. The researchers usually publish their assessments of climate changes role in extreme weather events as soon as possible. But because of the current US governments opposition to strong action on slowing its effects they waited for their findings to be confirmed by peer review. US President: Trump gestures as he visits with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey / REUTERS The scientists report was published today, almost five months after the hurricane made landfall in the US. The research shows global warming is having a significant impact on extreme weather events such as Harvey, for which the damages totalled to an estimated 140bn. The hurricane made landfall on August 25 before stalling over Texas, where torrential downpours that amounted to a years worth of rainfall in a few days landed on Houston and surrounding areas. Hurricane Harvey hits Texas in fiercest storm to smash US in a decade 1 /21 Hurricane Harvey hits Texas in fiercest storm to smash US in a decade A power generator tips in front of a Texas hospital. AP A single truck drives down a street as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in downtown Port Lavaca, Texas. AP Water crashes along the bay front in Port Lavaca, Texas, on Friday. AP Hurricane Harvey from space. NASA via EPA NASA's picture of the storm. EPA Stewart Adams, of San Marcos, Texas, plays in the winds from Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi, Texas. REUTERS A group of people race across the street as winds from Hurricane Harvey escalated in Corpus Christi, Texas. REUTERS Street signs lie on the ground after winds from Hurricane Harvey escalated. REUTERS Debris flies past as Stewart Adams, of San Marcos, Texas, balances himself from a gust of wind. REUTERS The eye of the storm making landfall. Getty Images North America A city utility worker braves the wind and rain of Hurricane Harvey in Corpus Christi. EPA Larger than usual waves come ashore at Crystal Beach. AP A sign blows in the wind after being partially torn from its frame by winds from Hurricane Harvey. Getty Images A motorist drives through heavy rain before the approaching Hurricane Harvey hits Corpus Christi. AFP/Getty Images A storm chaser films himself on a camera phone. REUTERS Serenity McGinnis, 10, walks along the shore with her father Jesse and sister Rebella, right, as the storm approaches Texas. AP WWA scientists used historical rainfall records and high resolution models to determine the influence human interference with the climate system had on the weather event. Human-caused climate change made the record rainfall that fell over Houston during Hurricane Harvey roughly three times more likely and 15 per cent more intense, WWA scientists said. Even if warming is limited to the internationally agreed 2C limit, the likelihood of such extreme floods and rainfall will again triple. Space Station Camera Captures New Views of Hurricane Harvey (1)_1 The increase in frequency and intensity could be much higher if the Paris Agreements target is missed, the report added. The researchers also warned that further global warming will mean a continued risk of extreme weather events, which should be considered when discussing upgrades to Houstons flood infrastructure. In the face of these findings and under Donald Trump, the US is to be the only country in the world not signed on to the Paris accord when it completes its lengthy withdrawal process in 2020. The agreement pushes countries that sign to reduce its carbon output and halt global temperatures below 2C by the end of the century. D oug Jones has defeated Republican Roy Moore to become the first Democrat in 25 years to win a US Senate seat for Alabama. It is a major blow to Donald Trump, who publicly backed Mr Moore but has now seen the Republican majority in the Senate cut to 51-49. It follows a bitterly contested election race which gained global attention after former judge Mr Moore was accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. He repeatedly denied the claims. Despite the controversy which saw many Republicans distance themselves from him, Mr Moore was still endorsed by the president on Twitter. Mr Trump said: "The people of Alabama will do the right thing." However, former lawyer Mr Jones rallied voters in the traditionally deeply Republican state on a message of moving past the Moore controversies. He was reportedly buoyed by an influx of national Democratic cash and endorsements. Roy Moore rides his horse to cast his vote at the polling station / Getty Images North America After a nervy evening of vote counts, in which Mr Moore appeared to be heading for victory until the final hour, Mr Jones delivered his victory speech just before 10pm (4am GMT). He took to the stage at a ballroom in the city of Birmingham to thank supporters, while silence fell at Mr Moore's base in Montgomery. "We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way - that we can be unified," he declared as supporters cheered, danced and cried tears of joy. He added: "This entire race has been about dignity and respect." I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us," he continued. We have come so far and the people of Alabama have spoken. It has never been about me, its never been about Roy Moore, its about you. Mr Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Mr Jones on a "hard-fought victory". "The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win," he said. "The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time." His win will energise the Democratic Party as it looks to build on anti-Trump sentiment to mount a challenge next year to Republican control of Congress. The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Democrat Doug Jones' victory in the Alabama special election was a referendum on defeated GOP candidate Roy Moore. "Tonight's results are clear - the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate," said Senator Cory Gardner, who withdrew his committee's endorsement of Moore following allegations of sexual misconduct. The NRSC declined to back Moore after President Donald Trump re-endorsed the embattled candidate in the waning days of the campaign. "I hope Senator-elect Doug Jones will do the right thing and truly represent Alabama by choosing to vote with the Senate Republican Majority," Mr Gardner said. A New York senator who demanded Donald Trump quit over sexual misconduct claims has hit back after the US President was accused of "slut-shaming" her. The US President claimed Kirsten Gillibrand came begging to him for donations and would do anything for cash, after she called for his resignation. His remarks triggered claims of sexism and were condemned by Ms Gillibrand, democratic senator for New York, who branded them a sexist smear. The backlash came one day after three women repeated allegations first aired during the election campaign about Mr Trumps sexual conduct towards them. In response, Ms Gillbrand told reporters: It was a sexist smear, attempting to silence my voice, I will not be silenced on this issue, neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday, and neither will the millions of women who have been marching since the womans march to stand up against policies they dont agree with. Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator for Massachusetts, voiced her support for Ms Gillibrand on Twitter. She wrote: Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, Ms Warren's "slut-shame" remark appeared to be in reference to Mr Trump's suggestion that Ms Gillibrand "would have done anything" for donations. In the US leaders initial tweet, he wrote: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Ms Gillibrand also hit back on social media, writing: You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. T he man arrested over Mondays New York subway bombing posted a warning to Donald Trump on Facebook just before the attack, it has been revealed. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant who is facing terror charges, wrote: Trump you failed to protect your nation. The 27-year-old was inspired by the Islamic State group, according to the charges filed by federal prosecutors on Tuesday. He wounded himself and three others in the rush-hour in a long walkway between trains in the city's busiest subway station at Times Square. Terror suspect Akayed Ullah, 27, was detained by four police officers During a search of his Brooklyn apartment, investigators recovered a passport with the words "O America, die in rage" scrawled in it, the complaint said. He hoped to "terrorise as many people as possible" with a bomb filled with metal screws that he believed would cause maximum damage, the complaint said. The complaint charged Ullah with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. According to the complaint, Ullah began researching how to build bomb after he had "viewed pro-Isis materials online, including a video instructing, in substance, that if supporters of Isis were unable to travel overseas to join Isis, they should carry out attacks in their homelands". Overseas, Bangladesh counter-terrorism officers were questioning Ullah's wife and other relatives, officials there said on Tuesday. Relatives and police said Ullah last visited Bangladesh in September to see his wife and newborn son before leaving them behind to return the United States. Hours after Monday's explosion, Mr Trump cited the background of the bomber in renewing his call for closer scrutiny of foreigners who come to the country and less immigration based on family ties. CCTV footage has emerged of the moment a pipe bomb exploded at Port Authority in New York Ullah, who told investigators he wanted to retaliate for American action against Islamic State extremists, came to the US from Bangladesh in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of US citizens. "Today's terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security," Mr Trump said in a statement that called for various changes to the immigration system. Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr Trump's proposed policies "could have prevented this". On his last visit to Bangladesh, the suspect mostly remained inside a small apartment in Dhaka's Hazribagh area, said his uncle, Abdul Ahad. His nephew arrived in Bangladesh on September 8 and returned to New York on October 22, he said. "He went out of his residence to offer prayers at a nearby mosque," Mr Ahad said. In a scenario New York had dreaded for years, Ullah strapped on a crude pipe bomb with Velcro and cable ties, slipped unnoticed into the nation's busiest subway system and set off the device, authorities said. The device did not work as intended; authorities said Ullah was the only person seriously wounded. But the attack sent frightened commuters fleeing through a smoky passageway. Ullah's low-tech bomb used explosive powder, a nine-volt battery, a Christmas light and matches, officials said. Investigators said the suspect was seen on surveillance footage igniting the bomb. In the end, it was not powerful enough to turn the pipe into deadly shrapnel, the officials said. N orth Koreas top officials have stressed the need to prevent war with America, the UNs political chief revealed today, as Washington opened the door for direct talks with Pyongyang without preconditions. Jeffrey Feltman said he had 15 hours of discussions with foreign minister Ri Yong-ho and vice-minister Pak Myong-guk about how we do that during a visit to the rogue state last week. After briefing the UN Security Council, he told how officials said to him it was important to prevent war, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Kim Jong-uns nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. I think weve left the door ajar, and I fervently hope the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide, he said. The development emerged shortly after US secretary of state Rex Tillerson dramatically softened Americas stance on possible talks with North Korea. We are ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk. And we are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions, Mr Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think-tank. However, he added that the North would need to hold off on its weapons testing. Lets just meet and we can talk about the weather if you want to. We can talk about whether its a square table or a round table if thats what you are excited about, he said. But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards. Mr Tillerson said the goal remained denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but it was not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your programme. Theyve too much invested in it. He said Donald Trump endorsed the position. The statement was welcomed by Russia and China. Two weeks ago North Korea tested a missile that could potentially carry a warhead to Washington DC. Mr Trump has vowed to prevent an atomic threat from Kim, using military force if necessary. T his heartwarming video shows the moment a man on a sled rescued a real life Bambi from a frozen lake in the US. The deer became stranded after it wandered onto a frozen lake at an Oregon golf course on Friday, according to the Associated Press. Firefighters were called to rescue the animal after it lost its footing - the video shows it slipping and sliding on the ice in scenes similar to the Disney classic. Jeff 'JJ' Johnston took to the ice in a bright red ice-rescue sled to aid the deer, while captain in the fire department of the resort and residential community Benjamin O'Keefe had his camera rolling. Firefighters used a sled to rescue the stranded animal from the frozen lake / AP The fire department's sled is designed to rescue anyone who falls through the ice. Mr Johnston can be seen sliding the deer along the ice in the video, as it repeatedly tries to stand, only to have its legs buckle beneath it. Eventually the deer found grip on the snowy shoreline and ran off into the grounds. Tammie Waters, office manager for the Sunriver Fire Department, told the Associated Press: "JJ was talking to it the whole time. The deer played along pretty good." She added that it was the inaugural mission for the sled, which will be put to use when someone falls through the ice or is stuck on thin ice. She said: "It was a great way to get training, and rescue a deer." R oy Moores campaign spokesman appeared speechless when he was told live on TV that elected US officials do not have to swear on the Christian bible. Ted Crockett said the Alabama Republican did not believe Muslims should be allowed to serve in Congress because you have to swear on the bible to be elected. But when corrected by CNNs Jake Tapper, Mr Crockett remained silent and appeared visibly confused during the television interview. The interview was carried out before Mr Moore was sensationally defeated by Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat for Alabama in 25 years. You have to swear on a Bible to be an elected official in the USA, he [Mr Moore] alleges that a Muslim cannot do that ethically swearing on the bible, Mr Crockett mistakenly said. Refuting his claim, CNN presenter Mr Tapper told him: You dont actually have to swear on a Christian bible, you can swear on anything, really, I dont know if you knew that Doug Jones wins Alabama senate seat Mr Crockett continued to explain why he thought elected officials must swear on the Christian bible, before he was silenced when told: that is not the law. The bizarre interview on the networks The Lead show came ahead of a nervy evening of vote counts for Mr Moore. Mr Jones delivered his victory speech just before 10pm in the US (4am UK time). A schoolboy was left injured after a window fell from a military helicopter onto a school sports field near a US Marines air base in Japan. The boy was among about 50 children on the elementary school grounds when the window fell from the CH-53E transport helicopter today. Japan's central government and Okinawa authorities have been at odds for years over the Futenma base. Residents have repeatedly complained about what they see as the unfair burden they carry in supporting the US military presence in Japan. The window fell from a CH-53E transport helicopter / EPA The nature of the boy's injuries and exactly how they were sustained remain unclear. The shattered window from the helicopter / EPA Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said: "This sort of incident creates anxiety not only among those involved with the school but the people of Okinawa and should never happen." Officials examine the school's playground / EPA The U.S. Marines on Okinawa said in a statement the helicopter had immediately returned and reported the incident. "We take this report extremely seriously and are investigating the cause of this incident in close coordination with local authorities," the statement said. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga holds aloft a picture of the window / AFP "This is a regrettable incident and we apologise for any anxiety it has caused the community," it said. The Futenma base is surrounded by schools, hospitals and shops, and residents worry about air crashes. Crime committed by U.S. servicemen has also occasionally angered residents. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga has led the campaign to get the base off the island, while the central government has proposed moving it to a less populated part of the island called Henoko. J ohn Boyega managed to get Harrison Ford to eat dinner with him at a restaurant in Peckham, but he struggled to tempt Daisy Ridley to south east London. Boyega, 25, threw a house party following the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but Ridley declined his invitation. Speaking to the Standard he said: I invited Daisy to my house party last night and she didnt turn up. Ridley refuted his claims, saying: You did not. You said it was happening but you didnt invite me. Having a laugh: John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill pose at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi photocall / Dave Benett Boyega replied: Thats true, but that did mean you were invited. Boyega who plays Finn in the epic sci-fi franchise took Ford to his favourite Nigerian eatery 805 in Old Kent Road while shooting The Force Awakens. John Boyega has crazy snow-struck journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere Asked if he had invited Mark Hamill to his stomping ground during The Last Jedi he joked they just didnt have the same chemistry. He said: It was just for Harrison to be honest. It was much more of a chemistry thing. OK there were figures I wanted him to sign. And I paid for the bill as well by the way in case youre thinking Im cheap. You think I took him to Old Kent Road and expected a millionaire pilot to pay for it I actually paid for it. Im willing to take any of them out. Star Wars: The Last Jedi European premiere 1 /33 Star Wars: The Last Jedi European premiere The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London PA Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill Matt Crossick/PA John Boyega Dave Benett Mark Hamill John Stillwell/PA The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry Matt Crossick/PA Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill Dave Benett PA Gwendoline Christie Dave Benett Daisy Ridley Dave Benett Kelly Marie Tran Dave Benett Andy Serkis and Lorraine Ashbourne Dave Benett Myleene Klass Dave Benett Laura Dern Dave Benett Rian Johnson Dave Benett Benicio del Toro Dave Benett John Boyega Dave Benett Anthony Daniels Dave Benett Mark Hamill Dave Benett Adam Driver Dave Benett Domhnall Gleeson Dave Benett Oscar Isaac and Elvira Lind Dave Benett Danny DeVito Dave Benett Jimmy Vee Dave Benett Andrew Garfield Dave Benett Ivy Mae Dave Benett Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in cinemas today I nstagram has over 800 million users every month and well-followed individuals are making a tidy fortune. Even 'micro-influencers' - people with 10,000 to 100,000 followers - can make above 1,000 per post plugging products like charcoal toothpaste. With some celebrities charging more than sixty times that for the same product mentions you can see why an underground economy has sprung up. Some believe the Instagram influencer bubble, like Bitcoin, is about to burst although data from eMarketer seems to suggest the opposite; 75 per cent of brands plan to spend more on influencers in 2018 (just 3 per cent of respondents said they planned to cut back). For many, it's the Wild West out there, but some individuals are getting it right and planning for the long-term. Not all influencers are alike, although most usually agree on one thing, they dislike the word 'influencer'. Just like 'innovation' and 'disruption', the term 'influencer' has become a misused and dirty word. "I don't mind it...it just doesn't describe us and what we're going for..." says Alana Macfarlane one of the two Macfarlane sisters (aka The Mac Twins) who I recently met when speaking at the Marketing Society's annual 'Digital Day' conference. "It's because of the whole charcoal toothpaste crowd...some just want quick money...for us, this was step one." From DJ-ing on 'Love Island' to working with Kings College London on for 'The Gut Stuff', their story shows a maturity that is rare (albeit desired) in the influencer world. These two young women are redefining their influencer status and really helping people. The Macfarlane sisters aren't resting on their laurels either with a book deal in the works along with more live events and expanding their Supper Clubs to become the one stop shop for Gut Health'. The Macfarlane Sisters are in the top ten percent on Instagram and do not represent the full ecosystem. There is a real sense of hardcore money-grabbing happening when it comes to Instagram due to its photo focus, fast growth and limited linking. For many marketers I spoke with (who didn't want to go on the record), they seem content with paying simple to get reach, while others are attempting to assign real return on investment to their influencer activities. Instagram is increasingly concerned that users are aware of the effect consumers seeing the pay-for-play activities are having according to a company spokesperson: "As more and more partnerships form on Instagram, it's important to ensure that people can easily recognise when someone they follow is paid to post content. We understand that it will take some time for creators and businesses to become comfortable with our paid content tools." Inspirational young Instagrammers - in pictures 1 /13 Inspirational young Instagrammers - in pictures Nia @frogirlginny Kay Ska @kay_ska Izy Hossack @izyhossack Harriet Evans and Paula Akpan Founders of @theimtiredproject Ellie Connor Phillips @elliecp_ CJ Calanday @chaariz Casey Ann @caseyannbooks Amelia Afjoy @foyoutboy and @ameliaaart Zoe Daniel @thezoedaniel Maya Ghazal @ghazalmia Marshall Manson, UK CEO for Ogilvy (an advertising and marketing agency) feels strongly that both sides can be their worst enemy; Marketers and influencers both need to be cautious not to ride the wave of success too aggressively. Naked swaps of endorsement for big piles of cash dont just undermine the credibility of the influencer who is cashing in. Over time, they put the whole ecosystem at risk, eroding credibility for everyone." Lisa Macfarlane echoes the sentiment; "We always wanted to be more than just puppets waiting for an agent to ring, were building a business from the ground up. It's a far longer route, but to build a brand with a purpose is far more rewarding than posing with stuff other people have made." So where is the influencer economy going next? The space is growing up fast thanks to greed, growth and opportunity. Instagram is growing fast (for various reasons) and the lack of knowledge is making the cost of working with influencers fluctuate. Brands feed the greed because there are no real rules or standards and so the cycle continues. Two distinct categories of individuals are emerging that I call 'databasers' and 'missioners'. Databasers are just in it for the money and get put into databases of people just because of their follower count, they regularly rinse their followings and have no real drive other than financial or follower gain. 'Missioners' use their popularity to drive something more than money (often co-creating larger campaigns or content) - a belief, cause or a theme. Both take the money and create content, but how and why they do differ significantly. Sedge Beswick, Co-Founder of Seen Connects, a global influencer marketing agency, believes 2018 will bring new power structures to the influencer ecosystem; "More influencers are moving away from traditional talent agencies like GLEAM and setting up their own agencies and rewriting the rules. Coca-Cola just signed to Casper Lees influencer agency, for example." Paid placement isn't going anywhere, but thanks to new players emerging in the space - including Amazon - this economy will have to grow up fast with more rigid frameworks and strategies that focus on real business objectives. If this has inspired you to find out your worth (or help you find your calling) visit lifehacker for more information. Paul Armstrong is a leading strategist, author and speaker on the future of technology, disruption, retail innovation, media industry, social technologies, consumer technology, mobile innovation, IoT, Martech/Adtech, start-ups and the start-up ecosystem. Paul runs the technology advisory HERE/FORTH. Follow him on twitter @paul__armstrong. G oogle has revealed its top trends for 2017, with data showing Londons top 10 trending searches of the year. The list comprises a mix of technology, films, and current affairs topics, with Apples new iPhone models proving hugely popular. Taking the #1 spot was the iPhone 8, surprisingly more popular than the iPhone X, which placed #3 in the list. Between the two iPhones at #2 was George Michael, who passed away on Christmas day in 2016, and remained in the cultural conversation through 2017. Google's New 1 Billion King's Cross HQ - In pictures 1 /14 Google's New 1 Billion King's Cross HQ - In pictures CGI images reveal the plans for Google's impressive new London HQ Hayes Davidson The plans include a rooftop running trail, garden and cafe Around 4,500 Googlers will work at the 870,000 sq ft building Hayes Davidson An interior view of desks inside huge Google office Hayes Davidson The building features a wellness and fitness centre which also includes a gym, exercise studio and a 32 metre long indoor multi-use games area" Hayes Davidson The HQ will be in easy striking distance of London's King's Cross, making it easy for commuters to reach Hayes Davidson A close-up of the rooftop running trail and gardens The huge building will have floor to ceiling windows under the newly lodged plans Hayes Davidson The Grenfell Tower fire was #4, marking the highest-trending news story search of the year. In fifth was this years top playground trend the fidget spinner, which seemed to appear out of nowhere during the summer. Elsewhere on the list, three films were on the capitals hivemind satirical horror Get Out came in at #6, Christopher Nolans war-survival movie Dunkirk at #7, and the new adaptation of Stephen Kings clown-creeper It at #10. iPhones werent the only trending smartphone Samsungs Galaxy S8 came in at #8 on the list. In at #9 was Black Friday 2017, with Londoners intent on bagging some pre-Christmas bargains. Heres the top 10: 10) It 9) Black Friday 2017 8) Samsung Galaxy S8 7) Dunkirk 6) Get Out 5) Fidget spinner 4) Grenfell Tower 3) iPhone X 2) George Michael 1) iPhone 8 Google - Year In Search 2017 Across the UK, the top 10 trends were: 10) iPhone X 9) Shannon Matthews 8) Tara Palmer Tomkinson 7) 13 Reasons Why 6) Grenfell Tower 5) Manchester bombing 4) Fidget spinner 3) Hurricane Irma 2) iPhone 8 1) Meghan Markle Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. In late 2017 the U.S. and Germany revealed that they had detected and disrupted an Iranian currency counterfeiting operation that had already produced several hundred million dollars worth of Yemeni currency. This was apparently used to bolster the Iran-backed Shia rebels in Yemen while at the same time weakening the Yemeni government and their Arab allies. The Iranian currency counterfeiting was carried out by the of IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) Quds Force (similar to the U.S. Special Forces, but which specializes in supporting Islamic terrorists not fighting them). The IRGC and especially Quds has long been active in smuggling operations. While the IRGC smuggling efforts are mainly about supporting the Iranian military, Quds smuggling is more tactical. Thus even with most economic sanctions lifted by a 2015 treaty Iran was still blocked from buying the special paper and inks needed for the fake Yemeni banknotes. Quds arranged for the necessary supplies to be obtained by a German company which then transferred materials to another firm that arranged for their shipment to Iran. This was eventually detected but only after some of the fake currency began to show up. The United States is urging that the 2015 treaty be declared revoked because of Iranian misbehavior and has already imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran. Uncovering the Iranian counterfeiting operation was also believed to have been aided by Arab countries who fear Iran will, or already has, developed the capability to print high-quality counterfeits of other Arab nations. This may also have had something to do with the continued visits by North Korean technical experts to Iran. These two nations have been exchanging forbidden technology (mainly about weapons, including nuclear one and ballistic missiles). Another illegal technology the North Koreans were known to have is skill at counterfeiting currency, especially American, Japanese, Chinese and South Korean. North Korea has been using counterfeit foreign currency for a long time, often in support of espionage or special operations outside North Korea. This was not a unique tactic as it had been used by many countries during World War II and the subsequent Cold War. For obvious reasons nations keep these counterfeiting efforts secret as long as possible. The North Korean use of counterfeit currency is not without risks. Since the 1990s the United States has been trying, with varying degrees of success, to halt the blatant North Korean counterfeiting of American currency. Unfortunately North Korea long ago figured out that counterfeiting U.S. hundred dollar bills was a viable way to get a lot of cash. Not an unlimited amount, because of problems getting the bills into circulation. What caused the North Koreans the most problems has been the new designs of American currency, especially the most recent hundred dollar bills. These changes were expressly to make it more difficult to counterfeit. The last few revisions of U.S. currency made it much harder for counterfeiters and now there are fewer players capable of rolling their own hundreds. The latest version of the hundred dollar bill is the most high-tech and difficult to counterfeit ever. The new bill is not impossible to counterfeit, just a lot more expensive. Even a government counterfeiting effort, as is the case in North Korea, has to incur high costs to figure out how to duplicate the new anti-counterfeiting features of the new hundred dollar bills. Even if those obstacles are overcome, if the production cost becomes too high the counterfeits are not worth producing. Depending on how convincing the fakes are, you can sell each of these bills for ten to fifty dollars each. So there is not an unlimited budget available to figure out how to do it and then go into production. China may have also cooperated in crippling the North Korean currency counterfeiting operations. That because in late 2015 high quality counterfeit Chinese currency showing up in China. Experts agreed that the most likely source was North Korea, which has been turning out similar high-grade counterfeits of American and Japanese currency for decades. In North Korea counterfeiting currency was a government monopoly. Since 2009 foreign (mainly Chinese and American) currency has been preferred inside North Korea because the local currency was seen as worthless and unpredictable. The counterfeit Chinese 100 Yuan notes (worth about $13) began showing up in North Korea earlier in 2015 and moved into China via unsuspecting merchants and tourists. Officially the North Koreans deny any responsibility for the fake currency and always have. At the same time North Korea has openly said it will strike back at China for enforcing UN economic sanctions. North Korea has long considered counterfeiting currency as a weapon and their Iranian allies seem to agree and learned much from North Korea. At present, less than one hundredth of one percent (one in ten-thousand) of the hundred dollar bills out there are fake. Most of them are in Asia and South America. Currently, the two major sources of this fake currency are North Korea and South America (for a long time Colombia but now Peru). In the case of North Korea, the operation is run by the government. This has been going on since 1990, and in that time, over half a million North Korean "super notes" (they are very good) have been spotted and taken out of circulation. Many more were not caught and are still in play. But the North Koreans are not the biggest supplier of this phony cash. That distinction goes to Peru (and to a lesser extent Colombia), where several criminal gangs have long produced ten to fifteen percent of the fake U.S. currency in circulation. The gangs are protected by drug lords and leftist rebel organizations. Because the counterfeiting operations were so small, they were difficult for the government to take down in Colombia. That was largely because the drug gangs and rebels were a larger threat, and thus a more important target. By 2010 the Colombian drug gangs and leftist rebel groups had been much weakened and that made the counterfeiting gangs more of a target. In response to the increased pressure, the counterfeiters did what the rebels and drug lords have been doing and moved to a neighboring country. It used to be that about half the fake U.S. currency seized each year (over fifty million) was found inside Colombia itself. Now that has shifted to Peru, although a lot of the fake hundreds are still showing up in Colombia. Only about fifteen to twenty percent of the fakes get grabbed in the U.S. As a practical matter, the counterfeiters find it easier to pass the phony bills outside the United States. Typically, the counterfeiters will "sell" their counterfeit bills, as such, to others at a discount. Thus, in out-of-the-way parts of the world, where there are fewer people who can spot a good counterfeit, the bad bills become a secondary currency. This has already happened in North Korea. In many countries U.S. currency, even if it's possibly counterfeit, is seen as more reliable then the local stuff. North Korea has long had an edge in distributing its counterfeits because it could ship them, as diplomatic mail (which is not subject to inspection) to their embassies. There, embassy officials could sell the currency to local gangs for distribution. Its not that easy if you are operating out of the North Korean embassy, which have also been used for distributing illegal drugs produced in North Korea and for all sorts of illegal schemes. So the North Koreans have to be careful even when operating out of their own embassies. This has limited how many of these super notes they could sell. In practice the North Koreans move their embassy distribution to other countries if the local police become too much of a problem. If the North Koreans can successfully copy the new hundred they will have a hot product and there will be much demand in many countries where there is a North Korean embassy. Figuring out how to make convincing fakes of the new hundred is a priority project for the North Koreans because the various embargoes, and continuing domestic economic problems, mean foreign currency is more precious than ever. Since early November the armed forces has been allowed to use air strikes against the thousand or so FARC members who refused to surrender as well as the drug cartels and other criminal gangs that have been eagerly recruiting former members of FARC and taking over FARC territory. The prospect of air strikes had the desired effect and the FARC renegades and the rural and urban gangsters have become unusually discreet and trying to avoid doing anything that would attract a lot of attention (and possibly an air strike). Meanwhile the police and army are aggressively patrolling rural areas recently freed from FARC or drug gang control in an effort to get the economy, and local government, functioning a again. That has proved difficult as many of these areas were always lacking in much government control or benefits (like roads, power, education and so on). Before November the armed forces had used the threat of being the only target for air strikes (and increased ground efforts) to persuade ELN (a third the size of FARC) to negotiate a peace deal. The government warned ELN that once the FARC peace deal was agreed to in 2016 and a ceasefire arranged the military would concentrate on ELN and that proved disastrous for ELN. Rather than risking such a confrontation in October ELN began its first joint (with the government) ceasefire. It will last until January 2018 with an option for renewal until a peace deal is worked out. The government wants ELN to deal with this incident, if only to prove ELN can carry out any peace terms it agrees to. There were a few incidents early on but the ELN acted quickly and now there is peace in areas where ELN has been active although not a lot of progress with the peace deal negotiations. Venezuela Slides Faster Venezuelan oil production continues falling and the current management of the state oil company has made it worse by not paying key foreign suppliers of goods and services essential to keeping oil production going. The government is blaming former (often fired) managers for current problems and accusing many of these fired (and often indicted) managers of stealing billions of dollars from the state oil company. Many of the accused are outside the country and liable to testify about conditions inside Venezuela and what they know about corruption. This sort of thing has already gotten several senior officials in trouble. The newly appointed head of the state owned oil operations is an army general whose career has prospered largely because of his loyalty to the socialist government, not his military or management skills. As the overall economic situations gets worse the government is replacing a growing number of key (because special skills are required) officials with unskilled loyalists. This is not helping deal with the massive foreign debut Venezuela has and is now unable to repay, nor the problems with economy and crumbling infrastructure. The socialist government is expecting its oil wealth to somehow solve the problems. China may have a solution, but Venezuelans, including the current government, may have a hard time accepting it. What it comes down to is Chinese intervention that will deal with the oil production problems without appearing like China gaining more control in Venezuela than people in the Western Hemisphere (especially the U.S. and its Monroe Doctrine) are willing to tolerate. China may have found a way because Venezuelan oil production hit a historic low in October; just under two million BPD (barrels per day) and keeps falling. It has not been this low since 1989. Production averaged 2.373 million BPD in 2016 and 2.654 million BPD in 2015. The production decline accelerated in 2017 and is expected to fall to 1.6 million BPD or less in 2018. This is down from a peak of 3.5 million BPD in 1999, when the current socialist government took power. Subsequent government corruption and mismanagement has devastated the Venezuelan oil industry and caused a decline in oil production that has reached unprecedented low levels. This was made worse by socialist economic policies that destroyed the non-oil economy and eventually crippled the oil industry as well. Then the world oil price fell by half in 2013 stayed there providing no relief/ The production decline is continuing not so much because the government refuses to clean up the mess in the national oil company and the oil production facilities, but because it cannot figure out how to do it. To make matters worse the Venezuelan oil is exceptionally expensive to get process for local or export use because it is sour and tar-like. That makes it more expensive to refine and Venezuela must blend its sour crude with imported light crude or other diluent (like naphtha) to make their crude oil suitable for foreign refineries. Venezuela is so short of cash that it is not paying for these diluent imports and suppliers are refusing to ship anymore unless they get paid. Same with many other essential services for the oil industry. This has become critical in 2017 because the Venezuelan refineries, also state owned, have suffered more accidents and received less adequate maintenance over the last decade. As a result domestic refining capability is now about a quarter of normal and getting worse. Shipping sub-standard crude is a violation of the sale agreement and customers are running out of patience. At the moment the largest source of cash sales for Venezuelan crude are Americans. Those buyers have invested heavily in U.S. based refineries modified to handle Venezuelan crude. If the U.S. customers give up on Venezuela they will reconfigure their equipment, at great expense, to handle crude from other sources and Venezuela will have to find new buyers and that will mean selling their sour crude at an even larger discount to more distant and less reliable customers. Currently most of the oil exports go to barter customers (like China) that made large loans that are repaid with oil. These customers are also not getting their oil on time or to the specified quality. No foreign investors are willing to commit the billions need to update and revive the Venezuelan oil operations, mainly because of the massive corruption and the sense that the government is not rational nor dependable. The collapse of the Venezuelan oil industry is doing long-term damage to the ability of Venezuela to process and sell its sour crude. China has been a major lender to Venezuela and has provided over $50 billion since 2007. Most of these loans are repaid with Venezuelan oil. The amount of oil owed China increases as the oil price declines, which means Venezuela has less oil to sell or use for domestic needs. To make matters still worse Venezuela is now officially bankrupt and that is causing losses for China, which was not unexpected. The bankruptcy process will take months to unspool. China feared that they might not see a lot of their loans repaid and demanded more oil instead. These losses mean little to China and are seen as a cost of establishing themselves in South America and providing even larger, and riskier, opportunities. . Venezuela is not the only nation in South America where China is increasingly active as a trading partner, banker and investor. Now Venezuela appears to be an opportunity China is willing to take some risks for. China would like to obtain long-term control of Venezuelan oil and do so legally. This can be seen in China allowing one of its state owned trading companies to sue Venezuela in a U.S. court over failure to pay for $43 million worth of steel products already delivered to the state oil company. The U.S. courts are involved because Venezuela has assets that could be seized if the Chinese can prove their case, which also involves accusations of deceit and fraud and thus the Chinese could be awarded even more money if the criminal activity can be proved. This is how China deals with nations they have treated well (billions in loans and other forms of assistance) and yet allow state owned firms to deceive Chinese suppliers. Venezuela is responding to this by going through the motions of trying to blame all the bad behavior in the state oil company on officials the socialist government appointed but then went rogue. China sees through that (senior politicians always got a cut) but might be willing to show mercy if the Venezuelan government puts on a good show of contrition and gratitude towards China. This may turn out to be another deal Venezuelans will regret making. But if the current Maduro government wants to survive it may well be persuaded that whatever China proposes will work both financially and politically, at least in the short term. December 10, 2017: In Venezuela the government banned political parties from participating in the 2018 presidential election because these parties had boycotted October nationwide mayoral elections. The opposition accused the government of rigging the mayoral elections, and others as well. Foreign observers who have been able to witness the disputed elections tend to agree that the government cheated. One aspect of the rigged elections was the use of food to coerce voters to support the current government. With the economy wrecked food is in short supply and the government controls most of what is available. In many parts of the country the government supporters (mostly soldiers, police and members of pro-government militias) are sufficiently numerous to make this food for votes scam work. Most coerced voters would be willing to defy the government threats at least once if they knew that would get rid of the current government. But that is less likely now that the government has declared it illegal for opposition parties to operate during the crucial 2018 presidential elections. November 27, 2017: A large Chinese state owned company sued Venezuela in a U.S. court over failure of the Venezuelan state owned oil company refusing to pay for $43 million worth of steel products. November 15, 2017: Russia has agreed to revise the terms for $3.15 billion of the debt Venezuela owes, reducing payments to token amounts for the next six years. But Venezuela would then have only four years to repay the full $3.15 billion. This is less helpful than it appears. China is owed $28 billion and Russia $8 billion while other countries are owed another $114 billion. About $45 billion of the $150 billion is owned to the Venezuelan state owned oil company. For Venezuela the worst aspect of this is the prospect of the state oil company bonds defaulting. If any debt connected with the state oil company is declared in default bondholders can go to foreign courts for authorization to seize overseas assets of the Venezuelan state oil company. That sort of thing tends to work. Once that happens Venezuelan oil revenue drops sharply and so does what is left of the Venezuelan economy. China and Russia are trying to come up with some way to help but so far they have no workable plan either. For example, none of the $3.15 billion in debt Russia revised terms on has anything to do with the Venezuelan oil company. November 10, 2017: The long feared default of Venezuelan foreign debt officially began as the state oil company was declared in default on $650 million borrowed (at 8.5 percent) in 2008 by a Venezuelan electrical power producer that is now owned by the state. The interest payment was due October 10th, was not made and despite a 30 day grace period is still not paid. Thus the default begins and debt holders agree that more of the $150 billion in debt will follow over the next few months and that will wreck the ability of Venezuela to pump, ship and sell its oil. Neighbors Colombia and Brazil are lining up foreign help for the millions of Venezuelans who may try and flee the starvation and record crime rates in Venezuela. Colombia has counted at least half a million Venezuelans arriving (not all of them legally) in the last six months. Fewer have gone to Brazil but that is mainly because it is easier to get to the Colombian border. The UN is limited in what it can do because Russia and China continue to use their vetoes to block UN efforts to do anything the current Venezuelan government objects to. Christmas gifts, wrappings, tinsel-the giving is fun, but sometimes the materialism can be overwhelming. Many families are looking for ways to also teach their children to give back. This year, Coulee Christian School can help. Every year the senior class attends a mission trip in various parts of the world where they have the opportunity to feed the hungry, work hard to serve mission organizations, and be the practical hands and feet of Jesus where they serve. This years trip is to the Dominican Republic from Jan. 13 to Jan. 22. Normally, they try to stuff their luggage with as much donated materials as they can to share with those in need. But this year, an anonymous donor called and said they were willing to fly a plane filled with donations to the needy, and the senior class is looking to fill that plane. They have donation drop-off sites located at both Cabin Coffee locations (La Crosse and Onalaska), at Coulee Christian School in West Salem, and at the PrayZ Network office in Sparta. Marliss Katsma, senior mission trip coordinator, was last in the Dominican in 2016. The level of poverty that we witness there is such an eye-opener to these kids, she said. There is little modern sanitation in those areas and you will see children running around with very little clothing and often with no shoes running through garbage dumps. Some of the biggest needs are clothing, shoes, sandals, and flip flops as well as baby clothing, diapers, wet wipes and powdered formula. New or mildly used summer items are fine in all sizes. Used eye-wear, all prescriptions and basic medical items like band-aids, Tylenol and Advil are also needed. A complete list of all donation requests can be found online at couleechristian.org or at prayznetwork.com. Donations will be accepted through Jan. 7. You can also email the school at info@couleechristian.org if you need someone to help with picking up donations. Amazon Web Services shone a spotlight on Internet of Things and machine learning technologies earlier this week, with the announcement of a new operating system and several new services designed to encourage radical expansion of their deployment and use across multiple industries. The new OS, Amazon FreeRTOS, simplifies development, deployment, security and maintenance of microcontroller-based edge devices, according to Tara Walker, technical evangelist for AWS. FreeRTOS will help extend IoT technology to low-power devices such as smoke detectors, light bulbs and conveyor belts. Devices such as these are not large enough to have their own CPU. Developers will be able to use FreeRTOS to build into devices networking, over-the-air software updates, encryption and certificate handling, according to AWS. 1-Click for All The new services including AWS IoT 1-click, AWS IoT Device Management, AWS IoT Device Defender, AWS IoT Analytics, and AWS Greengrass ML Inference are designed to help companies quickly deploy IoT devices in a secure environment and be able to analyze data on a large scale. These new AWS IoT Services will allow customers to simply and quickly operationalize, secure and scale entire fleets of devices, and then act on the large volumes of data they generate with new analytics capabilities specifically designed for IoT, said Dirk Didascalou, vice president for IoT at AWS. AWS IoT 1-Click, currently available in preview, lets customers enable devices to perform simple tasks such as reordering goods, calling technical support or tracking asset locations. Customers can enable a device with the AWS Lambda function by downloading a mobile app, registering and selecting an AWS IoT 1-Click enabled device, and associating it with an AWS Lambda function for example, sending SMS or email messages. iRemedy, an e-commerce firm that specializes in medical supplies, this summer announced that it would deploy 500 IoT buttons, which are like the Amazon Dash buttons on the consumer platform, to help customers automate the process of allowing medical offices to reorder consumable goods, like latex gloves, automatically. These doctors are pretty high-volume users of supplies but dont have any kind of sophisticated procurement systems, noted Tony Paquin, CEO of iRemedy. Automating the process through the IoT platform allows his firm to operate almost like a just-in-time supply operation, he told the E-Commerce Times. Doctors arent required to buy huge volumes of medical supplies, and iRemedy can fulfill reorders rapidly with a very fast, automated mechanism that is based on Magenta. Manage and Defend AWS IoT Device Management, which is currently available, helps companies onboard, remotely manage, organize and monitor devices, update software and perform other tasks, including troubleshooting and patching defective systems. AWS IoT Device Defender, scheduled for early 2018 release, provides continuous audits of security policies and monitors for any potential security problems, like traffic going to an unknown IP address, according to the company. AWS IoT Analytics, available in preview, helps clean, process, store and analyze data at scale. AWS Greengrass ML Inference is a new feature of AWS Greengrass. It allows companies to deploy machine learning models on AWS Greengrass devices, enabling them to make quick decisions, even when devices are not directly connected to the cloud. Simpified Process This is a very big deal, said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group. There is going to be a huge wave of IoT activity over the next few years, but it needs to be enabled by simple and easy-to-use IoT platforms, he told the E-Commerce Times. Amazon customers automatically get Echo-type support, and this new technology will help create a baseline of standards for people to build around, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. So this makes IoT easier, it makes it simpler and because Amazon is doing it better, ensures real progress toward a truly viable final solution, he told the E-Commerce Times. Amazon FreeRTOS will make it easier for manufacturers to build in cloud support, noted Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Because it is open sourced, it is already used in many low-cost consumer devices, he told the E-Commerce Times. In contrast, Google has been promising Android Things as an operating system for microcontrollers, Krewell said, but that has been slow to take off. Some HP laptops users came with a preinstalled program to capture the keystrokes of users, a security researcher recently discovered. The researcher, Michael Myng aka ZwClose, discovered the keylogger software while trying to solve a keyboard problem for a friend. The software is turned off by default. After Myng contacted HP about the program, it quickly released a patch to get rid of it. A keylogger is a very dangerous piece of software, said Lamar Bailey, director of security research and development at Tripwire. It is like having someone looking over your shoulder while you are typing, he told TechNewsWorld. Keyloggers can capture passwords that can be used to access financial accounts, record personal communications or even proprietary code under development. No Malicious Intent Keyloggers are an important weapon in the arsenal of cyberattackers, noted Chris Morales, head of security analytics at Vectra Networks. Theyre often used in the recon phase of targeted attacks to gather user credentials and other sensitive information which can later be used to compromise user accounts, he told TechNewsWorld. Keyboard loggers can be very hard to spot with consumer AV, Morales added. Once a machine is compromised, instead of using a malicious payload that possibly could be identified by security products, a smart attacker might turn on and use the built-in keyboard logger feature, explalined David Picket, a security analyst with AppRiver. This would help them evade traditional detection methods that security products might have otherwise detected, he told TechNewsWorld. Production Error As dangerous as keyloggers can be, the software in the more than 460 HP laptop models doesnt appear to have any malicious intent behind it. The keylogger appears to be a part of the driver of the Synaptics Touchpad, said Frederik Mennes, the senior manager for market and security strategy at Vasco Data Security. It was used for debugging purposes by the company providing the touchpad, he told TechNewsWorld. The keylogger tool should have been removed from the software before it was finalized, said Vectras Morales. While in this instance its unlikely to be a consciously malicious act, he continued, it is another example of poor QA controls of digital supply chain risk. Its likely that the quality control checks for the third-party drivers werent extensive enough to uncover the disabled keylogger remaining from the software development stage, AppRivers Picket said. The keylogging data would be extremely useful while the software was undergoing development for troubleshooting and debugging purposes, but a security concern, once distributed, he explained. Low Risk for Consumers While the code on the laptop isnt malicious, it could be exploited by bad actors, noted Joseph Carson, head of global strategic alliances at Thycotic. It would be a major catastrophe if the code was injected by hackers without HPs knowledge, he told TechNewsWorld. It would be even worse if code given to HP by suppliers werent being checked carefully before being sent to the systems producing the companys products. If that were the case, then I would be very concerned about other code that goes through the same software development lifecycle, Carson said. Keyloggers can be a serious threat to consumers, but in the case of the HP keyloggerm the threat isnt significant, suggested Vascos Mennes. The keylogger is disabled by default, and requires administrative access to the device to be enabled, so the risk for consumers and business users is rather low, he pointed out. I do not believe consumers should be concerned that a cybercriminal could exploit the code with administrative permissions, remarked Thycotics Carson. If so, then the consumer already has much bigger issues and likely their systems are fully compromised. Still, its advisable for consumers to ensure their systems are updated, he said, to reduce opportunities for exploitation. Tomorrow is the day that the Federal Communications Commission votes on whether to repeal net neutrality protections. If the FCC gets its way, and it seems almost certain that it will, big ISPs will get to decide who can see what on the internet, how quickly they see it, and how much they'll pay for the privilege. The FCC does, of course, claim that the impact of its proposed Internet Freedom Order has been exaggerated and that it will help improve competition while stopping the government from interfering with the internet. But like pretty much everything in this world, the whole situation comes down to one thing: money. To illustrate this point, The Verge has given a breakdown of how much cash the telecommunications industry gave to sitting members of Congress and their leadership PACs between 1989 and 2017. While nearly 30 years is a long time, $101 million is a lot of donation money. Looking at how much each party received from that amount, it seems the Republicans lead the way with $55.8 million, though the Democrats aren't too far behind with their $45 million. The rest of the donations, which isn't very much at all, went to Independents. Unsurprisingly, the big three telecoms firms were the most generous donors. AT&T handed over $19.8 million, Comcast gave $14.9 million, and Verizon donated $11.2 million during the 28-year period, all in the hope of "influencing" political decisions. The Verge also looked at the 535 individual members of Congress who received ISP donations. Top of the list is Senator John McCain, who got just over $2.5 million. A total of 11 members of Congress received over $1 million from the telecom companies. You can see a full breakdown here. It was revealed yesterday that over 20 internet pioneers including Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf had signed an open letter urging the FCC to abandon tomorrow's vote. The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train pulled into La Crescent on a cold Thursday night last week, bearing a check for $5,500 to the local food bank. A large crowd braved the 20-degree weather as the train rolled in a little after 9 p.m. Members of the La Crescent Chamber of Commerce doled out cups of hot cocoa to warm the crowd. The train stopped in front of the Flea Market parking lot and entertained the crowd with live Christmas music from the holiday train band, which featured country music stars Dallas Smith and Kelly Prescott. Following a modern rendition of the Jingle Bell Rock, La Crescent Mayor Mike Poellinger made a brief presentation thanking Canadian Pacific and the community for making the event happen, and a $5,500 check was presented as a donation to the food shelf. Its our largest single donation, said Susan Oddsen of the $5,500 donation to the food shelf, for which she serves as a volunteer coordinator. La Crescents stop, like all the holiday train stops, was free to the public, but the railroad company encourages donations of food or money to go towards a local food bank. According to Canadian Pacific, the factors that go into deciding which stops are the amount of support from local elected officials, and the participation from the local food bank and community. In its 19th year, the holiday train has helped generate over $10 million worth of donations to local food pantries, according to Canadian Pacific. La Crescent is one of the 26 Minnesota towns the train visits every year, with donations from the event going to the La Crescent food shelf. The holiday train is about 1,000 feet long, with 14 brightly decorated rail cars, each having hundreds of thousands LED Christmas lights, according to Canadian Pacific. Even though its search engine, Gmail service, maps, and docs are blocked in the country, Google has announced that its first AI center to open in Asia will be located in Beijing, China. Google Chief Scientist Fei-Fei Li said it would launch at the Google Developer Days event in Shanghai today. The company said the center will focus on basic artificial intelligence research and will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, who will be supported by Google engineers based in China. Li said she would be leading and coordinating the research alongside Dr. Jia Li, the head of research and development at Google Cloud AI. The center will also "support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops, and working closely with the vibrant Chinese AI research community." It joins other AI groups from locations around the world, including New York, Toronto, London, and Zurich, who will work with the researchers in Beijing. It's been seven years since Google Search left China, but the company is increasingly turning toward AI as a way of reentering what is the world's largest online market. Bloomberg reports that the company has been actively promoting TensorFlow, its AI system software, toward China's academics and tech industry. It also reintroduced its Translate mobile app to China earlier this year. In addition to the "top talent" it has already hired, the AI center is still looking to fill more than 20 positions, according to the Google Career's site. Back in 2015, Google-co founder Sergey Brin said that some of parent company Alphabet's various units might do business in China. "Each Alphabet business can make its own decisions on which countries to operate in. We already do quite a lot of business in China, although it has not been an easy country for us," he told the Wall Street Journal. There has been much debate about children using smartphones, tablets and mobile devices in general. Some parents are adamant about not allowing their children to have a smartphone until they're teenagers while other parents fully embrace letting their children own a smartphone. Lightweight computing devices such as iPads and Chromebooks have made massive inroads in schools and studies have shown that young children are adept at learning technology quickly. Despite the pervasiveness of smartphones, France is cracking down on their use in schools. Starting in September 2018, children will be allowed to bring their phones to school but will not be allowed to use them until they leave. This new rule will apply to primary, junior and middle schools. "Sometimes you need a mobile for teaching reasons ... for urgent situations, but their use has to be somehow controlled," said Jean-Michel Blanquer, minister of French education. "It's good that children are not too often, or even at all, in front of a screen before the age of seven." Obviously, the French government is receiving pushback from students, parents and unions regarding the ban. Philippe Vincent, deputy general secretary of the headteachers' union, doubts the ban is very pragmatic or logical. He argues the announcement leaves them "dubious" because of the lack of a real issue. Parents and students wonder how this would be enforced with one parent suggesting the schools install a signal blocker instead. Blanquer suggested using lockers despite the lack of space but Vincent disagreed stating, "Are we going to transform a school into a giant locker? I've done a little calculation myself: 5,300 state schools with an average 500 pupils each, that makes around 3 million lockers." Education officials are trying to figure out how to implement the ban but could run into logistical issues concerning storing phones and ensuring students receive them back. Some schools already have policies that allow administrators to confiscate phones if used on school grounds. At any rate, the move seems to be aimed at minimizing classroom distractions and possibly even cheating. As we increase our reliance on mobile devices, it'll be interesting to see if the ban will hold in the future. Paras Jha of New Jersey has admitted to creating and running the Mirai botnet which caused huge outages across the Internet back in late 2016. The botnet consisted of hundreds of thousands of infected devices that were designed to flood websites with junk traffic. This resulted in one of the largest distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attacks ever recorded. At its peak, Mirai took down Twitter, Netflix, Reddit and many other popular websites. The botnet used infected Internet of Things devices, Wi-Fi routers and security cameras to create such a large amount of traffic. Jha and two other conspirators have now been charged for their role in leasing out the botnet to customers, using it for ad click fraud and running extortion schemes with the threat of DDoS attacks unless the victim paid. Their identities and source code were revealed by security researcher Brian Krebs following the attacks. According to federal authorities, Jha has had no shortage of involvement with the world of botnets. He founded a company called Protraf Solutions LLC which provided customers with protection from DDoS attacks for a fee of up to $3,000 a month. This was just a shell company though as Jha was actively launching attacks against other rivals in an effort to gain new customers out of fear that they would be next. As long as consumers remain unwilling to regularly patch their devices, attackers will continue to find security vulnerabilities. It's not all bad news, however, as there are many security researchers actively working to protect users and prevent these botnets from spreading. Using knowledge gained from Mirai and other botnets, they are able to more quickly stop their attacks and locate their creators. Darryle Clott and Brad Sturm are both involved in their community. They act on their convictions. And they both make connections, Craig Ubbelohde said in announcing the 2018 recipients of the Iverson Freking Ecumenical Recognition Award. The executive director of Bethany St. Joseph Corp., Ubbelohde introduced the honorees Tuesday during a press conference at Bethany St. Joseph Care Center in La Crosse. They will receive the 32nd annual awards at a banquet at noon Jan. 24 at the Radisson Center in La Crosse. Clott, a retired La Crescent High School teacher, has a national reputation as teacher of the Holocaust. She strives to underscore the connection of all people and the importance of accepting others differences through her education efforts. Sturm, CEO of Coulee Bank, also stresses the importance of relationships, saying, Ive made a career as a community banker. All the while Ive taken seriously that word community. Clott said she was drawn to study the Holocaust when she was taking a German history class in 1969. I was in total shock. I was driven to find out how this happened, Clott said via Skype from Austin, Texas, where she and her husband, Marvin, are visiting their son, Hans Erickson, and his family. She is so driven that, the more she learned about the Holocaust, the more it became her lifes mission to educate others about the Nazis murder of 6 million Jews. Clott introduced the subject to her high school classes, where it was so much in demand that she continued her own education about the Holocaust and invited survivors to speak to the classes. Best job on face of Earth I have the very best job on the face of the Earth, she said. I am a teacher, and I am proud to say I am a Holocaust educator. Since 2002, it has been my mission to bring survivors to the La Crosse area for to see and hear a survivor is to touch history, Clott said. After she retired from teaching at La Crescent, Viterbo University in La Crosse invited her to teach Holocaust history. With Viterbos support, she has invited many survivors who have spoken to thousands of people in the Coulee Region. Clott, a 45-year member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in La Crosse, has traveled the world doing research and meeting survivors. I just returned from Israel, and I was able not only to walk in Jesus footsteps but also observe the continuing tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, she said. Im very sorry to say, I dont think Ill see peace in my lifetime, Clott said. Known as a servant leader with a passion for justice, Clott founded the Midwest Holocaust Education Consortium and is a teacher fellow for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Darryle and Marvin, who also have a daughter, Aimee, who lives in Portland, Ore., have sponsored and hosted international students from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and hosted dinners for speakers at their home. Organizations with which she has been involved include UW-Ls Alumni Board, Big Blue Dragon Boat Races, American Friends of the Jewish Fighters Museum, Consortium of Holocaust Educators, the Ethics in Leadership Institute at Viterbo and the Chancellors Community Council at UW-L. Faith starts at home Asked how this banker gravitated toward religious and community service, Sturm said, Faith starts at home, and I grew up in a Catholic family. Acknowledging with a chuckle that skipping church generally wasnt an option when he was growing up, he said, Im a lifelong Catholic, and I love my church and its tradition, with its lineage to Jesus. Flashing a smile, the member of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish said, I even enjoy the smell of incense and Latin once in a while. IF YOU GO WHO: Darryle Clott and Brad Sturm to be honored WHAT: Iverson Freking Awards Banquet WHEN: Noon Jan. 24 WHERE: Raddison Center in La Crosse ADMISSION: $23, with registration due by Jan. 17. TO REGISTER: Call Bethany St. Joseph Corp. at 608-788-5700 or email gbruessel@bsjcorp.com. He is attracted to community involvement, he said, because volunteering allows me to mix economic development with needs of the community. There is an inter-connectedness of all of us, Sturm said. I love living in the La Crosse area and exploring our commonness and how we support each other for the good of all. Asked what service project he has found most fulfilling, he said La Crosse Promise ranks high because of its mission to revitalize the Powell-Poage-Hamilton Neighborhood with economic development and housing. An advocate for people living with a mental illness, the hungry and those with disabilities, Sturm also has volunteered for Catholic Charities of the La Crosse Diocese, Bridges of Belonging, Gundersen Health System Board of Trustees and the UW-L Foundation. Some of his other community involvement includes working with the La Crosse Area Development Corp., Place of Grace Catholic Worker House, The Salvation Army, Franciscan Spirituality Center, La Crosse Community Foundation, La Crosse Symphony Orchestra and Coulee Catholic Schools. Sturm and his wife, Lynn, were Oktoberfest Festmaster and Frau in 2012 and have two daughters who have families. BSJ Corp. initiated the Iverson Freking awards to recognize people who foster ecumenical endeavors, as well as people who reflect a positive commitment to Coulee Region communities. It is named in honor of the late Carl Iverson, a Lutheran, and the late Bishop Frederick Freking, who led the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse from 1965 to 1983. Iverson and Freking helped found BSJ, based on the principles of ecumenism. Defense experts will testify that Barbara Kendhammers injuries are consistent with an airborne pipe piercing her windshield and that evidence recovered from the vehicle matches her husbands account of a freak crash that killed her, his attorney told jurors Tuesday. Todd Kendhammer, 47, of West Salem is on trial in La Crosse County Circuit Court for first-degree intentional homicide in the Sept. 17, 2016, death of his wife. Kendhammer contends the couple was driving in the town of Hamilton early Sept. 16 when a pipe fell from a flatbed truck and pierced the passenger side of the windshield, hitting his 46-year-old wife. Prosecutors contend that Barbara Kendhammers injuries do not support Todd Kendhammers story and that evidence recovered from the couples Toyota Camry shows Kendhammer tried to cover up a homicide by putting a pipe through the windshield when Barbara was not inside the car. Were here to seek the truth of what happened to Barb Kendhammer, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke told jurors in his opening statement. I wont pretend I know everything that happened that day. The only person who can tell us what happened that day is telling us a story that isnt true. Kendhammer told authorities the couple left their home at N6617 E. Scotch Coulee Road in West Salem between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. Sept. 16 bound for Holmen. A car that appears to be the couples Toyota Camry is on surveillance video at 7:57 a.m. traveling north past the Wild Winds Ranch at N5624 Hwy. M, about one mile south of Bergum Coulee Road. They were driving north on a straight and flat stretch of the highway when a 53-inch, 10-pound galvanized steel pipe fell from an oncoming flatbed truck and pierced his windshield, according to the accused. Kendhammer said he punched the windshield trying to deflect the airborne pipe and then drove about 100 yards north while trying to remove it from his wife. He turned east onto Bergum Coulee Road and drove another 100 yards before the car rolled backward down a grassy embankment. Kendhammer said he removed the pipe from the windshield and his wife from the passenger seat and tried CPR for three to five minutes before calling 911 at 8:06 a.m. Barbara died the next day at a hospital. What started out looking like a tragic car accident soon became a lot more complicated, Gruenke said. West Salem First Responder Brandon Hauser found Kendhammer crouched at his wifes feet, which were near the back of the car. Hauser asked a distraught Kendhammer to help carry Barb up the embankment toward the road. It would have been very difficult to perform CPR where she was, Hauser said. It was about a 35 degree angle. West Salem police officer Lance Loeffelholz found Kendhammer at his wifes feet while first responders performed life-saving measures. Do you know what happened? squad video captured Loeffelholz asking Kendhammer. Is she going to be alright? he responded. Away from his wifes body, Kendhammer said the pipe fell from a truck or a trailer or something. I pulled it out of the windshield! Kendhammer said, hyperventilating. You pulled it out of the windshield? the officer repeated. Kendhammer asked 21 times to see his wife and to ride with her to the hospital. I have to say goodbye, he said. I have to go with her. Please. Before Kendhammer left for the hospital, Loeffelholz told a sheriffs deputy, Take pictures of Todd. His front. His knuckles. All the blood. Everything. You never know, he said a few seconds later. A passerby on Bergum Coulee Road saw the Camry half in the ditch, its windshield intact, the passenger door open and no one around the car, Gruenke said. When he went by, the windshield was fine, Gruenke said. Authorities found glass shards on the passenger seat and in the gear shifter, and blood on the center console, passenger side floor mat and rear passenger tire, La Crosse County sheriffs Capt. John Zimmerman testified. There was sand between the passenger seat and door that doesnt match the terrain, Zimmerman said. It was a swampy, marsh-like area, he said. There was no blood on the passenger headrest or on the pipe found about 10 feet behind the car, Gruenke said. The same video that showed a vehicle matching the Kendhammers car on Hwy. M did not show a flatbed truck traveling south around the time of the incident. Kendhammer told authorities the couple left their home for Holmen, where he planned to pick up a truck to replace its windshield. GPS information retrieved from Google show the couples cellphones at a neighbors house from 7:30 to 7:50 a.m. and on Bergum Coulee Road at 7:59 a.m. Barbara was scheduled to work at 8 a.m. at West Salem Middle School the opposite direction from Holmen. The owner of the truck said he did not arrange for Kendhammer to repair the damaged windshield, Gruenke said. A medical examiner found extensive blunt impact injuries to Barbs head and neck inconsistent with her husbands account, Gruenke said. Kendhammers DNA was under her torn fingernails. Barb suffered three extremely deep cuts to the back of her head, Gruenke said. What (the medical examiner) did not see was anything consistent with a pipe coming at high speed through the windshield and impaling her, he said. A State Crime Laboratory analyst determined the pipe hit the passenger side of the windshield at least once before it broke through. There were no glass pieces in the passenger side door pocket. The door was open when the pipe came through the windshield, Gruenke said. Kendhammer attributed the scratches on the left side of his neck to working with glass but later said he didnt know how he got them, Gruenke said. During interviews, he was vague about where the pipe struck his wife and couldnt explain the blood on the rear passenger tire. Kendhammer has no history of violence toward his wife, Gruenke said. But in the end, you will be convinced there was no truck, he told jurors. Todd did not hit the windshield with his fists. Defense attorney Stephen Hurley told jurors that the Kendhammers had a quiet but amazing love story. Weeks before her death, they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a surprise party thrown by their two grown children. Kendhammer chauffeured his wife to work, and the couple spent their evenings together on their porch discussing the day. Barb and Todd, youll hear, never argued, Hurley said. On Sept. 16, the couple stopped at the neighbors place to check on equipment stored at the property. They were trying to locate the owner of the truck, who Kendhammer thought lived on Hwy. M, to repair the windshield when the pipe fell from a vehicle, Hurley said. When he saw the object coming, he rose out of his seat and he stuck his fist into the windshield in order to prevent the pipe from striking, Hurley said. He was unsuccessful. It came through and it struck Barb Kendhammer. Barbara still was flailing in her seat when Kendhammer pulled the pipe from the windshield, causing another crack in the glass. He wrapped his arms around her and stumbled when he pulled her from the car, causing her to fall on top of him with her head near the back passenger tire, Hurley said. Kendhammer started CPR before calling 911 and repositioned her body so that her head was on the embankments incline. Authorities questioned Kendhammer when he was in a terrible emotional state and focused on being with his wife, Hurley said. Initially, Hurley said, Kendhammer couldnt recall details of the truck and only described the vehicle when pressed by investigators. Glass, biomechanics, medical and other experts will testify that the glass fracture pattern and Barbs injuries were thoroughly consistent with her husbands account of the crash, Hurley said. Kendhammers DNA was recovered from an indentation in the windshield where he punched the glass trying to block the pipe. DNA is easily transferred, Hurley said. As his wife neared death in a hospital, Kendhammer grabbed her hand and said, I will take care of your mom. And I love you, too. Christopher Bowen. Photo: Courtesy of NBC A mother in Dallas, Texas, was arrested last week for allegedly subjecting her 8-year-old son to hundreds of doctors visits and more than a dozen major surgeries when in reality, it appears that the young boy wasnt even ill in the first place. Kaylene Bowen, 34, allegedly claimed her son, Christopher, had terminal cancer, was in need of a lung transplant, suffered from a milk allergy, and a number of other ailments, NBC-5 reports. She took Christopher to see doctors 323 times, and the little boy had 13 major surgeries as a result. Yet, after a recent investigation, a child welfare caseworker concluded, The doctors do not find Christopher to be sick. Bowen is now facing a felony charge of injury to a child. The boys father, Ryan Crawford, told NBC-5 that he believes Bowen suffers from Munchausens syndrome by proxy an illness that was memorably featured in a viral true crime Buzzfeed story last year. Caregivers are diagnosed with the illness when they make up false symptoms of sickness about another person in order to gain attention. Crawford, who is not in a relationship with Bowen anymore, said he had been trying to convince authorities that she had been making up Christophers illness for years. Bowen apparently began claiming the boy was sick just eight days after giving birth alleging that he kept throwing up milk (Crawford said he never saw that happen) and later telling a judge in a custody hearing that Christopher might never walk and that he needed a feeding tube. The issues escalated to eventually she claimed that my son was dying, Crawford said. Bowen reportedly raised thousands of dollars online to cover Christophers medical expenses. Child protective services began to suspect something was up when she brought Christopher into the hospital last month, alleging he had a seizure, when medical tests found no evidence of one. After that, an investigation was conducted, and Christopher is now in foster care. Ken Friedman. Photo: Lola Haze/BFAnyc.com/Carly Otness On Tuesday, the New York Times published an investigation into sexual-harassment allegations against restaurateur Ken Friedman, co-owner of hip New York City restaurant the Spotted Pig. Although the report largely focuses on Friedman, it also alleges celebrity chef Mario Batali assaulted a woman in the Spotted Pigs so-called rape room. Women Share Their Experiences With Sexual Assault and Harassment The Spotted Pig, located in Manhattans West Village, was a regular late-night spot for Batali, who stepped down Monday from his food empire amid sexual-misconduct allegations. Like other VIP guests, after the restaurants dining room closed at night, Batali would frequently hang out on the third floor an invitation-only space that employees and industry insiders claim has been nicknamed the rape room. According to the Times, Friedman made it clear that regular restaurant rules do not apply on the third floor, and guests frequently groped female employees there. The restaurants employees claim they frequently witnessed Batalis sexual aggression in the private space and that Friedman knew it was going on. Per the Times: Ms. [Jamie] Seet, the former manager, said that during a party in 2008, she intervened when she saw on the security camera feed that Mr. Batali, who was drunk, was groping and kissing a woman who appeared to be unconscious. A former server told the Times about Batali, We called him the Red Menace. She continued, He tried to touch my breasts and told me that they were beautiful. He wanted to wrestle. As I was serving drinks to his table, he told me I should sit on his friends face. Batali told the Times in a Tuesday email, Though I dont remember these specific accounts, there is no question I have behaved terribly. Beverly Young Nelson, who accused Roy Moore of groping her breasts and pushing her head toward his crotch when she was 16. Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images So rarely do women get to witness men who have allegedly harassed or abused them face any sort of consequences for their actions, a major reason why so few bother to come forward in the first place. But after culture warrior Roy Moore, an accused pedophile who allegedly trawled malls for teenage girls, lost to Doug Jones in last nights Alabama Senate race, one of Moores accusers is feeling a renewed sense of justice. Beverly Young Nelson, Moores fifth accuser who came forward with famed womens rights lawyer Gloria Allred, was the first to react to Moores loss on CNNs New Day, the Hill reports. Nelson alleges that 30-year-old Moore groped her breasts and pushed her head toward his crotch after he offered to drive her home from her job at the Old Hickory House when she was just 16 years old. Roy Moores loss means to me the fact that Alabama is about to make some changes, and I believe that its going to be on the positive side of things, she told co-host Alisyn Camerota. Im very excited. I want to congratulate Doug Jones for his win. Im just super excited. I could not even say more. Accusations against Moore were first reported by the Washington Post in early November when Leigh Corfman, Wendy Miller, Debbie Wesson Gibson, and Gloria Thacker Deason came forward with incriminating stories about his predatory behavior. From that first expose up to the current moment, eight women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct. On New Day, Nelson expressed a feeling of solidarity with the seven other women. I feel like my story may have played a part in this, but I also believe that it was the other victims as well that also helped with all of this, she said. I feel like it was just not me, it was all of us. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, theres been a renewed interest in listening to the women who have accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct. The official White House stance has been that theyre all lying, while Trump himself took to Twitter on Tuesday to call them fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. The claim that hes never met these women, of course, doesnt exactly hold up. Here, some examples: Natasha Stoynoff Journalist Natasha Stoynoff claimed that, while she was writing a 2005 article about Donald and Melania, he pushed her against a wall in Mar-a-Lago and forced his tongue down her throat. Trump has denied this since Stoynoff first went public with the allegations in October 2016, and even publicly disparaged her looks during a rally. On Tuesday, People posted a photo of them together from the photo set for the 2005 article. Stoynoff (second from left) is pictured standing next to the president. .@realDonaldTrump claims he 'never met' accusers like PEOPLE's Natasha Stoynoff, but we have the photo https://t.co/3oIcMyRFWW pic.twitter.com/GwnmjFKzUm People (@people) December 12, 2017 Jill Harth Makeup artist Jill Harth says that in 1993, while giving her a tour of Mar-a-Lago, Trump pushed her against a wall and groped her. She and her partner at the time, George Houraney, were doing business with Trump though they eventually sued him in 1997 for breach of contract. Harth also filed a sexual-harassment suit that alleged attempted rape but withdrew it as part of the settlement for the other suit. In light of Trumps comments, Matt Viser of the Boston Globe posted a photo of Harth (left) with Trump. President Trump says his accusers are women who I dont know and/or have never met. Here is a photo of him with Jill Harth. And he never denied knowing her, in court depositions or an interview with me. pic.twitter.com/JCn6xHgnBK Matt Viser (@mviser) December 12, 2017 Summer Zervos Summer Zervos accused Trump of forcibly kissing and groping her during what she assumed was going to be a strictly business meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007. This happened after she competed on season five of The Apprentice and therefore appeared on TV with Trump. Heres a clip of Trump firing Zervos for interrupting him. Here's the video of @realDonaldTrump firing new accuser Summer Zervos for interrupting him on The Apprentice: https://t.co/Sgi9qkqKrA pic.twitter.com/P4G0hNuBym Matt Wilstein (@mattwilstein) October 14, 2016 The Cut will update this post as more information becomes available. Senator-elect Doug Jones, who does not fear a colorful tie. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Well, first of all, hes not Roy Moore. But beyond that, Doug Jones, the 63-year-old lawyer who defeated Moore in the Alabama Senate race on Monday night, had never run for office before. He also openly believes in science; thinks that women should be paid an equal wage for equal work; wants to raise the minimum wage; argues everyone has the right to quality health care; and opposes discrimination. He also isnt afraid of colorful neckties; has three kids, two grandchildren, and has been married to his wife, Louise, for 25 years and wished her a happy anniversary during his acceptance speech. (And specifically for kicking me in the rear end when I was down.) Here are a few more things to know about him: He grew up in the Deep South during segregation. Jones grew up just outside of Birmingham, in Fairfield, Alabama. His father worked for U.S. Steel and his family supported segregationist governor George Wallace. During the desegregation of public schools in Alabama, Jones attended Fairfield High School and says he tried to build unity during what were often tumultuous times. One of his classmates, Darnell Gardner, who is black, told the New York Times, He kind of befriended me first. He was someone I could go to and say, Hey Doug, I got this problem, can you help me? He successfully prosecuted two KKK members for the Birmingham church bombing. Working as U.S. Attorney, Jones made it his mission to prosecute Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry, two members of the Ku Klux Klan for their part in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing which killed four young African-American girls and injured 22 others. Both men were eventually found guilty, and sentenced to prison. He is pro-choice. Jones says he stands with Planned Parenthood and a womans right to choose, and supports LGBT rights. He said in a recent interview: To be clear, I fully support a womans freedom to choose to what happens to her own body. That is an intensely, intensely personal decision that only she, in consultation with her God, her doctor, her partner or family, thats her choice. Having said that, the law for decades has been that late-term procedures are generally restricted except in the case of medical necessity. Thats what I support. I dont see any changes in that. It is a personal decision. He is pro-LGBT rights. Jones has opposed President Trump for banning transgender people from serving in the military. He also said it was wrong to withdraw the Title IX policy on how to treat transgender students in schools, and has said weve got to protect, transgender rights. He has been a lawyer for nearly 40 years. Jones graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in political science and eventually got a law degree from Cumberland School of Law. In 1980, he started as an assistant district attorney in Birmingham. In 1997, he was nominated for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. But hes not afraid to criticize the system: I have seen the strengths and weaknesses of our system of justice I know it needs to work harder for everyone to be equal, he says in his platform. He is pals with Joe Biden. Jones worked on Bidens 1988 presidential campaign. Biden endorsed Joness Senate campaign, appeared at a campaign rally in October, and he and President Obama recorded robocalls for the Joness Alabama Senate campaign. Under police interrogation, Todd Kendhammer repeatedly denied hurting his wife but conceded that a single blow from a pipe he said pierced the windshield of the couples car couldnt account for all of her wide-ranging injuries. Kendhammer left the courtroom in tears Thursday during his trial as jurors watched video of his 3-hour interview with investigators, in which he proclaimed his innocence when pressed for details of a freak car crash he said took his wifes life in September 2016. The West Salem man on trial for first-degree intentional homicide in La Crosse County Circuit maintains his wife died after a pipe fell from an oncoming truck and perforated their windshield on a rural highway, while prosecutors contend Kendhammer, 47, drove the 53-inch galvanized steel pipe through the window to disguise the cause of Barb Kendhammers death. If I was going to do something to my wife, Kendhammer said during his interrogation, I sure as hell wouldnt have done it like this. At the start of his interview, Kendhammer said the couple left their West Salem home about 7:45 a.m. and were driving north on Hwy. M in the town of Hamilton when he lunged hard and punched the windshield trying to deflect what he thought was a bird. After realizing a pipe broke through the windshield, Kendhammer drove about 100 yards north, then another 100 yards east on Bergum Coulee Road, where the car slid into reverse and rolled backward into a ditch. Kendhammer couldnt recall how he removed his wife from the passenger seat, then told investigators he yanked her from the car, possibly with his hands around her neck and leg. But I dont know, he said. I was in panic mode. Kendhammer bounced and swung his knee during the circuitous interview as investigators asked him to explain inconsistencies in his account of the couples destination that morning, his version of the incident and what caused his wifes broken nose, interior lip bruises, crushed cartilage in her throat, a fractured skull and three bone-deep gashes to the back of her head. Are you guys insinuating that I did this to my wife? Kendhammer asked. Im not insinuating anything at this point, La Crosse County sheriffs investigator Fritz Leinfelder said. Seconds later, Im not changing my story, Kendhammer said. There under the impression he would review surveillance videos, Kendhammer never asked for an attorney or asked to leave the interview. Kendhammer told investigators the pipe fell from a 2000s model dark-color flatbed truck but that he wasnt looking at the truck, you know, to see it. No truck matching the description provided by Kendhammer is on surveillance video captured around that time in the area. Barbs injuries, Leinfelder told Kendhammer, arent consistent with a pipe penetrating the windshield. If it had hit her, it would have gone right through her head, the investigator said. Yep, Kendhammer said. Kendhammer throughout his interview told investigators he cannot explain Barbs injuries or the scratches on his neck and chest, and insisted that he had no reason to harm her. Let the evidence talk, he said. I did not hurt my wife at all. Kendhammer encouraged investigators to comb his finances, computer, cell phones and told authorities they didnt need a warrant to search his house. Defense attorney Stephen Hurley accused Leinfelder of badgering Kendhammer for hours and trying to extract a confession on the day before his wifes funeral. (During the interrogation), did he ever once snap? Hurley asked. No, he did not, Leinfelder said. Early in the interview, Kendhammer said he was en route to pick up Justin Heims truck in Holmen to replace its windshield. Heim testified earlier that he never arranged to meet with Kendhammer on Sept. 16. Kendhammer also said his wife reports to work at West Salem Middle School at 8 or 8:30 a.m. on Fridays. Consistently punctual, Barbs employer called at 8:02 a.m. Sept. 16 when she failed to show up. Barb was scheduled to work the day of the incident at 8 a.m., and the school does not allow employees flexible hours, Nutrition Services director Kerri Feyen testified earlier. 19-Year-Old Student Found Dead in Her University of Central Florida Residence A 19-year-old student has been found dead in her room in Florida. Alyssa Michelle Lewis was found by her family at the University of Central Florida on the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 12. Her family had been unable to reach her, according to Action News Jax. Investigators including UCF police and the Orange County Sheriffs Office do not believe the death is suspicious at this stage. Her father told Action News Jax that his daughter had recently been having headaches and vomiting and her mother was going to take her to a doctor. Got down there this morning, opened up the door and found her passed away, Lewis said. He added: Well miss her. Its just surreal. This is the last thing I expected today. University Dean of Students Adrienne Frame told jacksonville.com: We offer our most sincere sympathies to Alyssas family and loved ones, and we will make all of our resources available to support them. Lewis was in her fourth semester at UCF. Her father said he was speaking to the media to quash rumors before they could spread. The reason Im doing this is because there are so many crazy stories out there when a young person passes away. Is it drugs? Is it overdose? Is it suicide? he told News4Jax. I mean, she was on top of the world. Click below to share this article on social media 3-Year-Old UK Girl Lia Pearson Dies After Rescued From Fire A 3-year-old girl who was rescued from a house fire in the United Kingdom has died, according to local media reports. Lia Pearsons three siblings died in the house fire on Monday morning, according to the BBC. "Rest in Paradise, Beautiful Angel" People have been posting tributes to three-year-old Lia Pearson after she became the fourth child to die in the Walkden fire. Her brother and two sisters died on Monday. Lia passed away in hospital, where her mother is still seriously ill. pic.twitter.com/A2f9snOtSi BBC North West (@BBCNWT) December 13, 2017 She died in the hospital on Wednesday after the fire left her critically injured. It broke out Walkden, Salford, on Monday. The mother Michelle, 35, remains under sedation in a hospital. The girl has been named as Lia Pearson #Walkdenfire https://t.co/DdNzlVLfYA Mary Naylor ?? (@MaryLNaylor) December 13, 2017 Demi, 15, died at the scene of the fire, and her 8-year-old brother, Brandon, and 7-year-old sister, Lacie, died in the hospital. Two people were charged with the murder of the three children, and they will likely face additional charges now that Lia has died. Zac Bolland, 23, and Courtney Brierley, 20, both of Worsley, Salford, were charged in their deaths, and they also were charged with arson. Three-year-old Lia Pearson, who was injured in a house fire in Salford, has died, @gmpolice have confirmed https://t.co/0O1R4G1lce pic.twitter.com/auMMhIA5Hh ITV News (@itvnews) December 13, 2017 Two 16-year-olds were in the home at the time of the fire, and they managed to escape. Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller told reporters that the family is completely devastated. He told The Independent, We now have a much deeper understanding of the devastating events which led to the tragic deaths of three children in Walkden in the early hours of yesterday morning, and have made significant progress in this investigation. We have collected CCTV from the area and now believe this to be a targeted attack on this house. #Child #Killers ZACK BOLLAND and COURTNEY BRIERLEY have been charged with the MURDER of my grandchildren Demi Pearson, lacie and Brandon. The attempted murder/murder of Lia and the attempted murder of Michelle Pearson, kyle and bobby Harris. They have been charged with arson pic.twitter.com/xFOTKzIAwh Ste Jackson?? (@G5TEJ) December 13, 2017 The Telegraph > Salford fire: Girl, three, becomes fourth child victim of blaze as pair appear in court charged with murder https://t.co/Jq1TMFJepP Inspiration Journal (@InsJournal) December 13, 2017 And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. 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! Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 4, 2017. (Fred Doufour/AFP/Getty Images) After Decades of Courtship by the West, Chinas Communist Party Only More Vile PERSPECTIVE During Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus China trip last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reiterated his comments that the two countries are entering a golden era in their relationship, notwithstanding that the leaders didnt agree on launching formal free trade talks. With exploratory talks to continue, theres no telling if the two sides will come to an eventual agreement, or whether Beijing will agree to accommodating Trudeaus requirement for progressive trade deals. This is taking place amid warnings that a Canada-China free trade deal could jeopardize NAFTA renegotiations, and that Canadians voiced substantial concerns when Ottawa consulted them on the ramifications of a possible deal. Chinas record on inconsistent rule of law and not living up to its trade commitments, however, should make it clear that even if the communist regime agrees to Trudeaus requirements, it may not abide by them. Chinas track record is exemplified by the huge gap between its WTO commitments and actual practices as well as its horrendous human rights infractions, despite being listed as a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the Liberal government pursues ever closer ties with Beijing, its important to take a look back to discover where decades of courtship with the Chinese communist regime has led us. Stronger Relationship When Trudeau embarked on his first official China trip last year, he said he raised the issue of human rights with the Chinese leadership. And to his credit, he repeated Canadas insistence on human rights and freedom of expression publicly to the Canada China Business Council while in Shanghai. I think there are ways in which a stronger relationship makes it easier for our two countries to have regular, frank discussions on issues like good governance, human rights, and the rule of law, he told the audience. Whether this stronger relationship will lead to actual results in improving human rights in the totalitarian-ruled country is the burning question. Its been some 45 years since Pierre Trudeau made his official trip to China in 1973, becoming the first Canadian prime minister to visit communist China and paving the way for other Western democracies to establish ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Back then, China was still in the midst of Maos notorious Cultural Revolution, initiated in 1966 with violent struggles that saw the persecution of millions through public humiliation, torture, property seizure, and execution. But the warmer relations did little to deter the CCP from killing thousands of students and other citizens two decades later in Beijing. After the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989, the CCP reentered the world stage with a miserable human rights record, reads an excerpt from The Epoch Times award-winning editorial series Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. History gave the CCP a choice. Either it could respect its people and truly improve human rights or it could continue to commit abuses inside China while pretending to the outside world to respect human rights in order to evade international condemnation. Unfortunately, consistent with its despotic nature, the CCP chose the second path without hesitation. The aftermath of the massacre saw the rise of Jiang Zemin to the CCP leadership and the purge of leader Zhao Ziyang, who was sympathetic to the students. Ten years later, in July 1999, Jiang went on to launch what has become one of the most brutal campaigns in recent history: the persecution of tens of millions of Chinese citizens who practise Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, a traditional spiritual discipline that teaches adherence to truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Investigations several years later by former Canadian secretary of state for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas came to the appalling conclusion that the Chinese regime has been using Falun Gong prisoners of conscience to fuel the countrys multi-billion-dollar transplant industry. Were looking at the continuing perpetration of the greatest crime against humanity since the Third Reich, since the days of the Nazis in Germany, with the organ pillaging [from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience] in China, said Clive Ansley, a human rights activist who practised law in China for 14 years. And its totally ignored by Western governments simply because theyre too timid to speak out about small things like mass murder for organs, or genocide, or crimes against humanity, he added. Any time there is a clash between human rights and trade, trade trumps every single time. Wishful Thinking So, after all these years, has China succeeded in muffling voices from the West condemning its human rights abuses, rather than the free world getting Beijing to respect the sanctity of human life? Many people believe that trade with China will promote human rights, freedom of speech, and democratic reform in China. After more than a decade, it is clear that this assumption is only wishful thinking, reads the Nine Commentaries. The CCP behaves like the Mafia by playing the economic card in foreign diplomacy. Whether Chinas aircraft manufacturing contract is given to France or the United States depends on which country keeps quiet on the CCPs human rights issues. It may, in fact, be the case that it is Beijing that feels it can talk more candidly about human rights, but only to bluntly get the West to stop its lectures. A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks cites Swedish Ambassador for Human Rights Jan Nordlander saying that China repeatedly reiterated that these are new times and China is no longer going to sit here to be lectured by you. Anyone who sits down with former prisoners of conscience to hear their first-hand experience of being tortured and languishing in prison for their beliefs would know how much external pressure calling for their release can mean for them and their chances of freedom. Toronto resident He Lizhi, a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience persecuted in China for his practice of Falun Gong, says international pressure by democratic governments is very effective in helping deter the persecution and buoy the victims morale. Conversely, any lifting of this pressure serves to encourage the oppressors. He Lizhi recalls an experience back in 2002 while he was still illegally imprisoned in China. That year, during the annual U.N. Commission on Human Rights summit in Geneva, a resolution was proposed to condemn Chinas human rights record. However, the resolution failed to pass. The reaction to that news in China by the regime was one of national celebration, he said. Officials at the jail where he was held gathered all the prisoners of conscience together, and the head official told them some enemy states wanted to pass a resolution against China but failed. This means that the international community is supporting us [the CCP], the official said. Politicians from democratic countries should be aware that when they say something against the crimes happening in China or the crimes against humanity in China, they must publicly condemn it, said He Lizhi. Merely mentioning human rights in some closed-door meeting wont have any impact and will be easy for the Chinese leadership to dismiss, he explained. Especially the mass murder of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience to harvest and sell their organs for profit is such a huge crime and a huge shame, for all of humankind, but the outside world continues to cooperate in the medical field with China in transplant tourism, he said. Influence Beijings ability to get the West to toe its line hasnt been without attempts to exert influence from the inside. The torrent of media coverage about Chinas extreme meddling in Australias political system finally prompted Canberra to announce new legislation last week aimed at deterring foreign influence and espionage. The new wave of media pressure also saw the resignation this week of Australian senator Sam Dastyari, who had forged close ties with a wealthy Chinese donor linked to the CCP and had taken positions favouring Beijing. Among those lashing out at the new laws was Andrew Robb, former Australian trade minister and architect of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement; the legislation requires creation of a public registry for people or organizations seeking to influence the Australian political process on behalf of foreign interests. FairFax Media reported that Robb, after retiring from Parliament last year, immediately secured an AU$880,000-a-year job with a company with close links to the Chinese regime. Last week, FairFax revealed that Robbs consulting contract with the company is so vague that he would be paid even if he did nothing on the surface. Robb has called the public registry a political stunt and has accused his former coalition government colleagues of painting him as treasonous. In New Zealand, China-born MP Jian Yang came under public scrutiny earlier this year for his former career of teaching spies in Chinese military academies. Refuting any allegations that question his loyalty to New Zealand, Yang has said he is a victim of a racist smear campaign. Chinas overboard efforts to exert influence on Canadas politics have not gone unnoticed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). In 2010, then-CSIS head Richard Fadden warned that a number of Canadian politicians had developed close links to foreign governments, with China being the most active. There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government, he said in an interview with CBC. It was reported later by The Globe and Mail that one of the politicians Fadden was referring to was Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan. Chan responded by launching a libel suit against the Globe and stating that he is not a national risk to Canada because of his links to China. The influence, of course, isnt just limited to political circles. It can also be observed in works of academia and commentaries in media to shape Canadian public opinion, lending legitimacy to the absurd view that the Chinese vision of rightsproviding social rights such as food and shelter to the peopleshould be balanced with Western values about basic freedoms and criticisms that China shouldnt kill or torture its own citizens. The narratives dont mention that Marxism was an ideology developed in Europe and imposed on the Chinese people by Soviet-backed militias, surviving until today thanks to a one-party-ruled totalitarian system. Dangerous Direction A look at Chinas relationship with countries without a healthy democracy and rule of law adds to the overwhelming evidence that the direction its influence is oriented toward can never be a benign one. An increasing number of dissidents are being kidnapped from countries with friendly relations with China, with the host country doing little to deter the abductionsor even helping Beijing with arrests. In 2015, Chinese-born Swedish scholar Gui Minhai was kidnapped while in Thailand and later imprisoned in China. Earlier that year, Thailand had deported over 100 ethnic Uyghurs to China despite an international outcry that they could face persecution in China. Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil was arrested in 2006 while in Uzbekistan and extradited to China despite Canadas protests. Last year, with Celil still imprisoned, the Liberal government announced that it had agreed to hold talks on a possible extradition treaty with China. Since then, another Canadian has become a prisoner of conscience: Vancouver resident Sun Qian, a successful businesswoman and founder of a billion-dollar company, who has been detained in Beijing for her belief in Falun Gong since February. As for Premier Li Keqiangs declaration that Canada-China relations are entering a golden era, Canada would be wise to ensure its not rubbish coated in gold, as the Chinese idiom goes. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (C) arrives at a press conference with MPs Kelvin Davis (R) and Craig Robertson at Parliament in Wellington on Oct. 19, 2017.(MARTY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images) Beijings Influence in New Zealand Needs to Be Talked About The heads of New Zealands security services have urged for a more vocal government response to Beijings political influence in their country. Briefings about New Zealands security environment were given to New Zealand leaders but did not identify interfering nations. Experts say that the culprit is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reported the Financial Times. We think that a wider dialogue with the public, on a regular basis and covering a wide range of national security issues, will support a risk and resilience-based approach to national security by normalizing issues that can often seem quite abstract or removed from most New Zealanders, said one of the briefings, according to the Financial Times. Another briefing cited that activities in New Zealand over the past year have included attempts to access sensitive government and private sector information, and attempts to unduly influence expatriate communities. New Zealand's intelligence warns of growing Chinese covert aggression. https://t.co/Cys1RpQcrF Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 12, 2017 Anne-Marie Brady, politics professor at the University of Canterbury, said that China was certainly the nation mentioned in the security briefing. The New Zealand intelligence community is telling the government they have got a problem and they need to deal with it publicly, to put some sunlight on it, Brady told the New Zealand Herald. In September, Brady published a research paper that exposed elements of CCP influence in New Zealand. Her findings heightened concerns about political donations and directorships offered to former ministers and relatives. Brady wrote in an article published by the Lowy Institute that Beijings attempts to acquire political influence abroad are widespread and pervasive. [Foreign] influence activities (of any state) can only thrive if public opinion in the state being influenced tolerates them, she wrote. China's network of influence in New Zealand. Professor Anne-Marie Brady was disturbed by her findings. https://t.co/l4JlMFydzj pic.twitter.com/SnJn3Xhy8S UniversityCanterbury (@UCNZ) September 20, 2017 Matt Nippert, a New Zealand Herald investigations reporter, said the CCP uses a broad spectrum approach. You can see the influence of soft Chinese power across Chinese language media here and across business were we have seen a large of deals and also inside both political parties [where there are] candidates who are quite sympathetic to the CCPs point of view, Nippert said. He said there hasnt been a discussion of Chinese soft power in his country or a pushback against it, as there have been in other nations. In nearby Australia, there has been recent widespread concern over CCP interference in national Australian affairs. Ongoing media reports have resulted in the Australian government introducing tougher foreign interference laws which have upset the CCP. Resisting Chinas magic weapon | Anne-Marie Brady https://t.co/aIV1IMtcFS The Lowy Institute (@LowyInstitute) September 27, 2017 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 The iconic Emirates Towers dominate the skyline beside the wide boulevard of Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) British Man Faces Two Years in Dubai Jail After Testing Positive for Cannabis A 24-year-old man is facing two years in a foreign jail after traces of cannabis were found in his system. Connor Clements, from Liverpool, felt stuck in a rut in the UK so decided to move to Dubai where his sister lives with the hope of starting life anew. But his dream soon turned into a living nightmare. Just after he started his new job, his employers sent him for a medical, where he tested positive for cannabis, according to reports. Connor claims that the drug was already in his system before he boarded the plane to the UAE, and that he had not smoked cannabis in the country. I was in a rut. My sister lives here and I had an opportunity to change my life and its been nothing but a living nightmare I havent committed a crime in the UAE. I was coming over here to totally change my life around. I had a new job and met loads of nice people, he told the Liverpool Echo. He said: They are saying I smoked it here but I did [it] back home, they have got no proof I used to smoke a lot back home. I came here to stop everything. It was a chance for me to change my life. But its been nothing but a nightmare. According to the newspaper, he was sentenced to two years behind bars after a court appearance that lasted less than a minute. He has reportedly spent a few weeks in jail sleeping on the floor, in a room with 25 people before being released on bail. The 24-year-old waiter had his passport taken from him and is waiting for an appeal hearing scheduled a few days before Christmas. A Foreign Office spokesperson told the news outlet, Our staff in the UAE are assisting a British man following his detention in Dubai. We have visited him on several occasions, made calls to the prosecutors office to get updates on his case, and are in regular contact with his family. About 200 UK citizens have been detained in the UAE in 2017. Join the conversation. Share this article on social media. Chinese monks attend a ceremony at a Shaolin Temple to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, on January 28, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Religion for Sale Communist Party policies encourage the development of temples and monasteries into profitable tourist attractions The kung fu-fighting monks of Shaolin Temple are world-famous, depicted in countless movies and television shows. But under the Chinese Communist Partys rule, the historic temple has become a shell of its former self. It is not a place for spiritual practice but a business empire, with multiple companies established, including a film and television company, a painting academy, a publishing house, and a performing troupe. The temple rents out its grounds as a venue for holding events, including a bikini fashion beauty pageant in the summer of 2009. That year, the temple also attempted to get listed on the stock exchange. If there was ever something to epitomize the idea of selling out, this would be it. This blatant commercialization of religion has been endorsed by the Chinese regime for decades. In the era of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong denounced old ideas, culture, customs, and habits, ordering the destruction of countless historic sites, temples, monasteries, and places of cultural significance across the country. But with the opening up of the Chinese economy, local authorities have cashed in on the lucrative potential of peoples growing interest in Buddhist temples and Daoist monasteries. Under the Chinese Communist Partys rule, the historic Shaolin Temple has become a shell of its former self. To boost local economies, these destroyed structures have been reconstructed and developed into tourist sites. Their purpose is now far from serving as places of spiritual worship; the sole motivation is making money, from building scenic parks to attract tourists, to selling god statues for people seeking to secure blessings. Recently, even the CCP has recognized that this flagrant commercialization is bad optics, and have called on religious organizations to tamp it down. On Nov. 23, 12 departments within the Partys central authoritiesincluding the Propaganda Department, United Front, Cyberspace Administration, and National Tourism Administrationpublished rules forbidding Buddhist and Daoist organizations from operating as corporations. The rules prohibit business capital, personal investments, or contracts, as well as the sale of expensive tickets for admission into temple grounds and services such as selling the first stick of incense to be placed in the censer, believed to bring good luck. Monks Colluding With the Party Decades of warping religions have already left its mark. While the CCP allowed Buddhist and Daoist organizations to continue to exist in order to keep up a facade of religious freedom, it has ensured that abbots act as puppets of the Party. Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple, is the most well-known example. He has held several administrative posts, including deputy president of the Buddhist Association of China, the CCP-led body that supervises Buddhist activities. He was formerly president of the associations division in Henan Province, where the temple is located. Former CCP leader Jiang Zemin also appointed Shi as a representative to the Partys rubber-stamp legislature, the National Peoples Congress. According to an expose published in the Chinese business publication Caixin in August 2015, Shi had a close relationship with former leader Jiang, the Henan party boss Li Changchun, and the Buddhist Association president Zhao Puchu. It was under Zhaos instructions that Shi turned Shaolin Temple into a business empire, the report said. Since the CCP took over Tibet, the Party has required that all Tibetan Buddhist lamas be recognized and approved by the central authorities. To get approval, some Tibetan monasteries have resorted to bribing and currying favor with CCP officials. Chief among them is Zhu Weiqun, the deputy head of the United Front Work Department who was tasked with handling Tibet affairs. Tourism Above All Meanwhile, notable temples have been forcibly seized by local officials to be developed and promoted as sightseeing destinations. The four sacred mountains of BuddhismWutai, Emei, Jiuhua, and Putuohave all been developed into tourist-friendly attractions by local authorities or state-owned firms. Xingjiao Temple in Xian City, Shaanxi Province, is known for housing the remains of the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang, whose journey to India to seek Buddhist scriptures inspired the famous novel Journey to the West. When local authorities sought for the temple to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, they proposed for large parts of the complex to be demolished and replaced with a newer building, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. In some instances, tourism plans have backfired. At the 1,700-year-old Famen Temple, also in Shaanxi, local authorities built a scenic park nearby. However, the huge debt they incurred forced them to hire fake monks to roam the grounds and collect donations from visitors. This blatant commercialization of religion has been endorsed by the Chinese regime for decades. At the Panlong Temple in Yunnan Province, monks were so fed up with the flocks of tourists that they shut the doors, posting this message for visitors: Due to the fact that the Jinning County and Jincheng Township governments wish to commercialize and corporatize the Panlong Temple, disrupting the temples order, the temple has decided today to temporarily shut the gates for a quiet meditation environment. Some temples have become completely occupied by local authorities, from the Administration of Cultural Heritage seizing precious artifacts, to the forestry and tourism department taking charge of the surrounding lands. Current affairs commentator Li Linyi noted that many local officials are motivated by wanting to score political points and gain promotions by contributing to the GDP (gross domestic product) target. Tourism is an easy way for them to do so. Prayers for Blessings Why have places of worship become so popular? Li noted that many Chinese have turned to a higher being in hopes of gaining fortune and blessings. At the Nainai Temple in Hebei Province, patrons can sign contracts with the temple to construct a statue and altar depicting whatever god theyd like, whether its a car god, study god, or government official god. Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily noted in a Nov. 24 article that Jiang and his underlings often visited Mt. Jiuhua and Shaolin Temple to alleviate their guilt about their corruption. Zhang Ting, Xue Fei, and Luo Ya contributed to this report. The heavy lifting to re-create Bethlehem inside English Lutheran Church in La Crosse has occurred during weekends since mid-October, but some of the detail work started in February so the real labor could begin on time. After all, whats the point of having live actors scattered among the sights, sounds, activities and occupations at the time Christ was born without having a stable of babies to rotate into the starring role? The congregation of 1,250 souls is used to seeing a rose on the altar when a member has a baby. IF YOU GO WHAT: Bethlehem Event WHEN: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday WHERE: English Lutheran Church, 1509 King St. in La Crosse ADMISSION: Free, although free-will offerings will be accepted MORE INFO: English Lutheran web site But when a bunch of roses were on the altar one Sunday in February, the Rev. Mark Solyst jokingly asked discipleship director Niki Pohnl what the occasion was. When Pohnl cited the tradition of roses for babies, the senior pastor pressed toward the punchline, asking why there were so many. Its for all of the babies that will be conceived in the next few weeks, Solyst quoted Pohnl as saying, tipping off the novel approach to announcing that a batch of relative newborns would be needed for the churchs Bethlehem Event this weekend. It was a lighthearted hint that parishioners needed to ahem get busy, Solyst said, chuckling. The banter signals the humor that parishioners intermingle with their labor of love at the root of the Bethlehem Event, which English Lutheran stages once every four years. This is the year, and the event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Theres no other way to describe the undertaking except that it is of biblical proportions, one that actually envelopes those who attend with the sights, sounds, sustenance and smells (the live chickens, goats and a donkey are neither housebroken nor church trained) of the period. Tail wags dog but thats OK Its the tail that wags the dog, Solyst said. The congregation is happy to provide the event to the public of all faiths, creeds and beliefs or none without charge, although free-will donations are accepted, he said. Its a gift to the community, he said. Donations cover 15 to 20 percent (of the cost). We consider it our mission. Presenting the event demonstrates that this is who we are and that we are centered on Jesus Christ, Solyst said. Also, it reveals the soul of the church that Jesus didnt come as a general in an army but the reality of a baby. It shows the character of a servant church making a mission statement, he said. English Lutheran also uses the event to host Confirmation classes for about 10 other area Lutheran churches totaling 300 to 350 students on two Wednesdays before the event takes place, he said. The classes help the confirmation candidates understand the atmosphere of Palestine and Jerusalem during the First century, he said. There was an expectation that something was going to happen that God was going to do something, he said. Its not that God just plopped down a baby in the ancient Middle East there was an expectation. Palestine was a trouble spot even then, when individuals routinely claimed to be the Messiah traveling with their guerrilla bands, and the Roman soldiers would kill them and that would be the end, Solyst said. With Jesus, it wasnt the end, he said. The event, which is expected to attract as many as 4,000 pilgrims during the two days, begins with a walk through displays portraying and explaining the way Bethlehem is today. Members of Interfaith Partners for Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel will be stationed at one point to explain the extreme challenges facing Palestinians living in Bethlehem and occupied territories. President Donald Trump multiplied Mideast tensions last week with his unilateral decision to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. The move, over the objections of his own advisers and U.S. allies, continues to spark unrest in the Mideast. Saying he was speaking as a citizen rather than a pastor, Solyst said, I think moving of the capital makes peace more difficult. The status of Jerusalem is an element in the overall peace process not a preliminary step, he said. What is the motive of our president? Solyst said. There is very little support from our adversaries or our allies. Event began in 1980 in refrigerator boxes When the Bethlehem Event began in 1980, it was an annual Sunday school activity that employed refrigerator boxes to create the town, Solyst said. It shifted to a four-year schedule in 1994, and the set became more elaborate, with research guiding the construction of a house that a Jewish family might have lived in, with animals occupying part of the first floor and sleeping on the second, he said. A 70-by-14-foot mural that features city streets, a wash house and a peek outside the city walls serves as the backdrop for the re-creation, which includes details such as a census-takers window, tax-collector station and a variety of shops for wares such as baskets, with a role-playing parishioner demonstrating the craft; clothing, with someone actually weaving fabric; a kitchen, where those on the tour can sample foods of the day; a synagogue, and other sights, as well as the cave where the real-live baby, on rotating shifts, rests under the watchful eyes of Mary and Joseph. Roman soldiers and shepherds walk about, as do regular citizens, fishermen, sales people and people in occupations of all sorts, such as goldsmiths, perfumers, cheesemakers and bakers. Many of the congregation members have scripts for their roles, he said, citing the example of the caretaker at the inn. If people ask whether he has seen a couple in which the woman is pregnant, as the three wise men or shepherds might have, he acknowledges that he kinda-sorta recalls such a couple, and they might be in a nearby cave. You get the idea of what it was like the night of Christs birth, said Paul Sannerud, who is coordinator of the event. 400 to 500 members volunteer 2,000 hours The event draws on the energy and talents of 400 to 500 church members, 130 to 150 of whom are in the cast, investing more than 2,000 volunteer hours, said Sannerud, in his third tour of coordinator duty. It is a logistical challenge to wrangle scores of volunteers eager to help, including scheduling times and arranging food, and fit everyone into the various phases of the construction schedule, he said. With thousands of pieces pulled from storage to reconstruct the buildings and scenery, keeping it straight is a challenge, said Sannerud, who also is a minister at Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Galesville who was a theatrical designer in a previous life. They have to be very careful taking it down and we take a lot of pictures, he said. The builders put a new piece into one structure one season and couldnt figure out where it went the next time out, partly because the whole shebang was reoriented when it was moved from its old site in one area of the church to an addition that was completed in 2013, he said. Fortunately, church members and the architects included Bethlehems needs in the addition design, Sannerud said. We knew going in what we needed, so that became part of the factor, he said. The first task is putting down Masonite sheets as flooring, to protect the buildings marble floors, he said. Next, the volunteers put down a cloth the size of the entire room the equivalent of a large cafeteria. Sannerud confessed that it includes outlines of the buildings and other features to pinpoint their locations. Aha the secret shortcut is revealed putting the puzzle back together is sort of like painting by numbers. After exiting the ancient city of David, travelers will find items for sale in the Bethlehem Store that are imported from artisans and retailers in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Gaza. Proceeds will go to Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a nonprofit organization that promotes outreach ministries of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. People who attend the event might expect to spend as much as two hours for the wait and tour at peak times. During the wait, people are staged in the church sanctuary, where they can hear music and see videos. At the end, they will find a baby in a manger because English Lutheran plans Holy Families in advance. A passenger car is pictured after an accident in the Gotthard tunnel in this picture released by the Kantonspolizei Uri in Goeschenen, Switzerland Dec. 13, 2017. Kantonspolizei Uri/Handout via REUTERS Crash in Gotthard Tunnel Kills 2, Injures 4 A collision in Switzerlands famed Gotthard Road Tunnel involving a car and a truck killed two people, it was reported. In addition to the two fatalities, four people were injured in the crash. The Gotthard Tunnel is a key transit route through the Alps mountain range. The crash left the tunnel closed on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. Police in the canton of Uri said the driver of a car with German number plates crossed the center line for unknown reasons and collided with the truck around 09:15 local time, according to Reuters. In October 2001, a head-on collision in the tunnel between two trucks caused a massive fire, killing eleven and injuring many others. Police, fire service crews, and workers from the air rescue service Rega responded to the scene, according to The Local. The cause of the crash is not clear. In 2016, the Gotthard rail tunnel was opened to deal with traffic. Reuters contributed to this report. And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. 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! Indian Dalit protestors at Dholka town, some 40 kms from Ahmedabad on July 21, 2016. Dalits and supporters participated in a protest rally against an earlier attack on Dalit caste members by hard-line Hindus. (Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images) Death Sentences Given for Honor Killing in India Death sentences have been given to six men in India for their involvment in the brutal murder of a man who married a woman from a higher Hindu caste. Among the six people sentenced to death is the father of the dead mans wife. Sankar, 22, and his wife Kausalya were attacked in broad daylight with sharp weapons by a gang of men in the town of Udumalpet in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on March 13, 2016. The couple were out shopping at the time. Sankar died during the attack, while his wife managed to survive head injuries. CCTV video footage helped police capture the killers. Remember Dalit boy Shankar who was hacked to death for marrying caste girl Gowsalya in Udumalpet, TN? Look what she has made of her life after surviving the attack & losing her husband. Her story is more inspiring than anything I have heard in a long long time. pic.twitter.com/PICSwMU6LQ Sasidharan Pazhoor (@inquestioner) December 12, 2017 Police said Sankar, from Indias Dalit community, was murdered for marrying a woman from a higher Hindu caste, reported the BBC. Dalits were previously known as the so-called untouchables in the Hindu caste system. The couple met two years prior to the murder while they were studying at college. Kausalyas family opposed their relationship and she later started staying at his house. They had been married for eight months before the attack, reported the Indian Express. The death sentences were handed down to six of the 11 accused over the murder on Tuesday Dec. 12. Another man was sentenced to life in prison while another man received five years in jail over the attack, reported the BBC. Three others, including the brides mother and uncle, were acquitted. The dead mans wife said she would do her best to ensure that justice is enforced over the crime. Although my personal opinion on capital punishment is different, I believe this is a significant judgment against casteist forces, said Kausalya according to the Indian Express. I will file an appeal in the higher court against the acquittals. I will continue this legal battle if the convicts appeal against the order, she said. I will continue this battle till Shankars family gets justice. As Kausalya moves on with her life, here's a picture of her from two days ago playing the Parai, an instrument played largely by the Dalit community in Tamil Nadu. #JusticeForKausalya pic.twitter.com/p0geTBZeDZ The Lede (@thelede2016) December 12, 2017 Think your friends may not know about this? Share it on Facebook and you will help keep them up to date. Thank you! From NTD.tv Brighton Pier in England where the woman rescued her dog on Dec. 10, 2017. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) Dog Owner Risks her Life in Desperate Bid to Rescue her Pet Dog from Icy Waves A woman has risked her life to save her dog from drowning, running into freezing waters on the British coast. Video of the woman has been released by a local photographer who happened to be on Brighton beach on Sunday, Dec. 10. Waves almost dragged the dog out to sea as the woman struggled to rescue it, with another onlooker finally stepping in to pull it to shore. The woman who has yet to be named remained in the sea for a few moments before walking to join her dog on the beach. Her actions have been criticized by both the Royal National Lifeguard Institute and the coastguard, which both said she was lucky not to have been killed in the 44-degree Fahrenheit water. Jade Cohen of Brighton RNLI told MailOnline: People can be tempted to go into the sea because they view their animal as part of the family. But in most of the experiences we see normally the dog finds its own way out, especially in this case the dog managed to get further up the beach than its owner. Obviously this woman has a love for her dog but it was a cold winters day and the waves were very high and it would have been better if she had called the coastguard rather than risk her own life. Photographer Alessandro Intini who captured the footage said: She was very confident going into the water, but after the first wave she was in shock, I think she was very lucky to come out alive. Watch the woman rescue her dog: Should she have gone in to save her dog? Comment and share with your friends! The FBI seal outside their headquarters in Washington. (Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images) FBI Agent Fired From Mueller Probe Texted About Plot Against Trump A high-level FBI agent demoted after his anti-Trump bias was revealed had sent a disturbing text message regarding a potential plot against then-candidate Donald Trump. In the text message, Peter Strzok writes about a path suggested by FBI lawyer Lisa Page that would ensure theres no way he gets elected. However, Strozk says that Im afraid we cant take that risk. He also said that Its like an insurance policy in unlikely event u die be4 youre 40, implying that it was all but certain that Hillary Clinton would win the election. According to the message, Page had made the suggestion in the office of Andrew McCabe, referred to as Andy in the message, who was the Deputy Director of the FBI at the time. Text-from Peter Strzok to Lisa Page (Andy is Andrew McCabe): "I want to believe the path u threw out 4 consideration in Andy's office-that there's no way he gets elected-but I'm afraid we can't take that risk.It's like an insurance policy in unlikely event u die be4 you're 40" Bret Baier (@BretBaier) December 13, 2017 It is unclear what the path that Page suggested referred to exactly, but it raises ethical concerns involving FBI agents as well as McCabe. McCabe became the acting FBI director earlier this year after Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey. Strzok was fired by Special Council Robert Mueller earlier this year after around 10,000 text messages between Strzok and Page were discovered. They were allegedly involved in an affair. The messages were sent between Aug. 16, 2015, and Dec. 1, 2016. The revelation is concerning as Strzok played a key role in both the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons use of a private email server to send classified information, and the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Hill reported on Dec. 4 that Strzok changed key language in the conclusion of the Clinton email investigation. Strzok changed the language on the Clinton email case from grossly negligent, which would have been a crime, to extremely careless. Changing the phrase may have exonerated Clinton. Strzoks behavior and involvement in these two politically sensitive cases raises new concerns of inappropriate political influence in the work of the FBI, said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a letter to the Justice Department on Dec. 6. Trump has long criticized the so-called deep state for opposing him and his presidency. The deep state refers to the bureaucracy of permanent and un-elected officials in branches across the U.S. government. You know there is no country like our country. But we have a lot of sickness in some of our institutions. And were working very hard, weve got a lot of them straightened out, Trump said at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Dec. 8. What is known so far is that officials have engaged in selective leaks in an attempt to damage Trumps presidency. It was also revealed earlier this year that members of Trumps campaign and transition team were being spied on through unmasking requests made by key officials of the Obama administration, including his national security adviser, Susan Rice, and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power. Congress is currently investigating whether the surveillance requests were made based on information contained in the so-called Trump dossier. The dossier relied almost exclusively on Kremlin-linked sources, and its information was salacious and unverified, according to former FBI Director Comey speaking before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 8. The document was financed by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, The Washington Post revealed in October. The author of the dossier, Christopher Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS, passed on his information to the FBI as well as to a liaison for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Court documents from the UK, where Steele is currently being sued by a businessman mentioned in the report, also show that Steele was ordered by Fusion GPS to give briefings to journalists on the report. Last month it was revealed in court documents filed by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Fusion GPS also made payments directly to journalists. Last week it was revealed that the wife of a high-ranking Department of Justice official worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 elections. Bruce Ohr lost his position as associate deputy attorney general after it was revealed that he had concealed his meetings with Glenn Simpson, founder of Fusion GPS, and Christopher Steele, a former British spy hired by Fusion GPS to produce the dossier. Ohrs wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS in 2016, Fox News reported based on information from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. If you enjoyed reading this article, support our independent journalism by sharing it on social media. In this photograph taken on Sept. 26, 2017, high school students use smartphones and tablet computers at the vocational school in Bischwiller, eastern France. Since the beginning of the school year in eastern France some 31,000 high school pupils have replaced their traditional textbooks by computers and tablets , a move popular with students but opinion is divided among teachers and parents. (Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images) French Government to Ban Cell Phone Use in Schools Cell phones are to be completely banned in schools across France, the government has announced. The blanket ban will start in Sept. 2018, the next school year, said the French education minister. It will apply to children aged 6 to 15 years old in primary, junior and middle schools. Children will be allowed to take their phones into school, but not allowed to get them out, even during break times, as is currently allowed. Education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer announced the decision on RTL. Sometimes you need a mobile for teaching reasons for urgent situations, but their use has to be somehow controlled, he said. However, critics are skeptical that such a ban is either helpful or enforceable. I dont understand how it will work. Who will take the phones, where will they put them how will we get them back? said one 13-year-old boy outside a Paris school, reported the Guardian. With some French schools already having independently handled the issue and banned phones, the blanket government ban may be a solution without a problem. One pupil Mathilde, 12, told the Guardian: Its ridiculous. At my school, we dont use them in class or during recess, so whats the problem? If anyones caught using one in the toilets or at lunchtime, the phones are confiscated immediately and the person is given detention. One parent, named Sabine said: Its probably a good idea when the kids are in school, but they cant ban them bringing them to school. But rather than a ban, wouldnt it be better to install a signal blocker in schools? The French headteachers union was also skeptical that the ban could be enforced and the minister was not able to explain how the ban would work during his announcement. We are currently working on this [ban] and it could work in various ways, said Blanquer. Phones may be needed for teaching purposes or in cases of emergency so mobile phones will have to be locked away. The minister said the ban was also a public health message to families. Its good that children are not too often, or even at all, in front of a screen before the age of seven. This new announcement from the [education] ministry leaves us dubious because were having trouble understanding what is the real issue here, said Philippe Vincent, deputy general secretary of the headteachers union of France, according to the Guardian. The ban was included in French president Emmanuel Macrons campaign promises during his successful election bid earlier this year. The headmistress of a leading British boarding school who banned cell phones and shut down social media access for a three day trial said she is interested to see how the French ban worked out. Samantha Price told the Evening Standard that her initiative at the 37,000-a-year Benenden School was a success but said a blanket ban may not be a solution. Its unrealistic to take phones away from teenagers, she said. Teens react badly to a blanket ban, so it would be interesting to see how they manage that. Ms Price said her school is trying to help teenagers to self-regulate their phone usage. The school prefects will decide how to implement findings from the schools trial, during which phones were not allowed at all during the day and social media access was blocked. Phones are a distraction, said Price. What do you think? Comment and share by hitting the buttons! Gun Range Employee Accidentally Shoots and Kills Man in Texas An employee at a gun range in Texas who was cleaning his weaponaccidentally shot and killed a man on Tuesday, Dec. 12. According to an advisory from the Harris County Sheriffs Office, the shooting happened at the Hot Wells Shooting Range on Highway 290 in Cypress, Texas. UPDATE: A man has died after an apparent accidental shooting at Hot Wells Shooting Range (24815 NW Fwy), the office tweeted. UPDATE: A man has died after an apparent accidental shooting at Hot Wells Shooting Range (24815 NW Fwy). Investigation is ongoing. #hounews pic.twitter.com/lSCIynkWzr HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) December 12, 2017 The sheriffs department told CBS affiliate KHOU-TV that the employeea male whose identity has not been revealed yetwas cleaning a rifle when it accidentally discharged. The bullet first went through a wall and a window before hitting a 36-year-old man who was walking into the range. A call made to police about the incident was placed just after 9 a.m. The victim was rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Courtney Thornton, a horse trainer at the property adjacent to the shooting range told KHOU-TV that the horses were a little edgy following the incident. We had two helicopters that were circling the property. They were focused over by Hot Wells, but the horses were acting a little squirrely with the large helicopter noises and all the extra wind, Thornton told the network. She said she supports everyones right to own a gun but stressed the importance of safety. Its not clear if the man who accidentally caused the death will be facing any charges. Overhead helicopter footage of the shooting range shows a group of deputies investigating the scene. We had a horse that was out loose in the arena and the practice pen, Thornton said. They were running back and forth down the fences probably wondering what was going on. Im all for everybody being able to own a gun, to have a gun, but it is a little concerning being so close to shooting ranges just with those accidents happeningthats why you have to be safe. No further details have been released as of writing. The investigation is ongoing. 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. Please help support independent journalism by sharing this article with your friends and family. It takes less than a minute. Thank you! In China, Middle School Teacher Befriends School Girls Online, Then Rapes Them A 54-year-old middle school teacher who had several times been recognized as a top teacher, and is the father of a daughter, was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping six school girls. Gong Qiang (a pseudonym), a language teacher in Huaian City in eastern Chinas Jiangsu Province, had become an online con artist, setting up an elaborate scheme to trap young school girls into having sex with him and then to turn his victims into accomplices who assisted him in committing more sex crimes. Gongs scheme was discovered in September 2016. In three months, he raped six girls and sexually molested another. One girl successfully escaped, reported the state-run Chinese news website The Paper on Dec. 8. The girls were between the ages of 13 and 18. Gong was arrested after another three of his targeted female students reported their conversations with Gong on QQ, a popular instant messaging service, to one of their school teachers. After finding the conversations highly inappropriate, one of the school teachers called the police, leading to the arrest of Gong and a nearly 15-year-old girl nicknamed Xiao Juan. Police suspect that Xiao Juan was coerced into becoming Gongs accomplice after she suffered sexual abuse from Gong. Gong had been running an elaborate online scheme with two QQ accounts under two different identities. Under the first identity, he would play the role of a trustworthy person and chat with young women, gaining their trust so they would share their personal information with him. Once he got the information, Gong would fabricate terrible stories and make threats against the young womens families, as a means of coercing them into sending him their nude pictures. Gong would approach the women with his second identitydisguised as a friend of his first identitywho would blackmail the women by saying he would publicly reveal their nude pictures if they refused to have sexual intercourse with him. He also forced Xiao to turn over QQ accounts of her friends, and had Xiao befriend other women, so they would be willing to share about themselves when Gong talked to them online. Chinas news media has been strangely reticent in reporting Gongs case. His real name was not used, and, while his sentence was reported, when and by what court the sentence was given are a mystery. In any case, the sentence shocked those who know Gong, as he had been recognized as a star teacher and has a daughter of his own. Gongs is perhaps more psychologically complex than other cases involving the rape of schoolgirls in China, but otherwise, it is not an isolated case. In May 2017 alone, there were four cases in China involving teachers sexually assaulting their students. At the Beijing Film Academy, a state-run undergraduate and graduate film school, a student claimed via a post on Weibo, Chinas popular microblogging website, that her good friend and schoolmate, nicknamed Ah Liao Sha, was sexually assaulted by the father of a school teacher, reported the Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily on May 11. In a Weibo post, the school denied the claim, explaining that Ah Liao Sha had a record of depression, so her allegation could not be trusted. The school also announced it would carry out its own investigation. On May 16, a female student at a middle school in Tancheng County of Shandong Province killed herself by drinking poison after her teacher surnamed Ding assaulted her, according to Chinese news portal Sina. Ding has since been detained by the local security bureau pending an investigation. In Suzhou City in Chinas Anhui Province, one elementary school teacher surnamed Hui was sent to the local public security bureau for investigation after he was found to have sexually molested several female students, reported Chinas nationalist state-run newspaper Global Times on May 16. Xu Guozheng, a math teacher at an elementary school in Baofeng County, Henan Province, sexually assaulted 15 students, reported Sina on May 28. Xu has since been detained by the local security bureau. A man shot and killed his two children in North Richland Hills, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, on Dec. 9, and then turned the gun on himself. (Stock Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) Killer and Victims Named, Cause of Death Announced in North Texas Murder-Suicide Authorities have identified the perpetrator and victims in what police are calling a murder-suicide in the quiet Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills, Star-Telegram reports. According to the Tarrant County medical examiners office, Dr. Christopher Dawson, 36, a surgeon, took his own life with a shotgun, after first shooting dead both his children. Officials identified the victims as Luke Dawson, 9, and Aubrey Dawson, 5, and stated that both Luke died from gunshot wounds to his head and torso, and Aubrey died of a gunshot wound to her head. Dawson was employed at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, Waxahachie from Sept. 4 until Oct. 20, according to hospital records. The clinic did not provide information about the circumstances of Dawsons departure from the medical facility, but issued the following statement: Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those affected by this tragedy. The horrific incident took place at the familys home in 7400 block of South College Circle, North Richland Hills, Fort Worth, Texas, on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 9, the Epoch Times reported. The mother of the children, Rachel Dawson, reportedly discovered all the bodies and called North Richland Hills police around 7:15 a.m. Saturday. The family moved to Texas several months ago. I met Rachel at a boot camp class and she would bring her kids, Luke and Bree, sometimes, said the womans former Phoenix area neighbor Ariel Borg, 12News reports. Borg says she befriended Rachel Dawson and her kids, but said something didnt seem right with her husband. He was very, very controlling of Rachel to the extent that after a certain point he no longer allowed her to be friends with us, Borg said. Then the unthinkable happened. We saw warning signs but I dont think anyone could have guessed that this wouldve happened. It shocked everyone, said Borg. According to Star-Telegram, neighbors living across the street from the Dawson family residence said they heard an alarming noise around 6:30 a.m., as they were preparing to leave for work. We heard some weird like yelp-type thing. She was like, Did you hear that? I thought it was an animal or something, neighbor Tanner Franklin said. Another neighbor heard the mothers screams early in the morning and later saw police on the scene. The authorities say they have no record of any prior incidents involving the family, nor were they aware of any signs that anything may have been amiss. Theres no history here, police spokeswoman Carissa Katekaru told NBC5. Were still trying to figure out why. I grew up in North Richland Hills and I would call this a pretty quiet neighborhood. Ariel Borg is hosting a candlelight vigil at her home for Rachel, Luke, and Bree Wednesday night, Dec. 13. It will be led by her family and the pastor of the church the Dawsons once attended. This community is feeling that loss. Her family [were] our neighbor[s], Borg said. Show your support for The Epoch Times by sharing this article on social media. Thank you very much! Anthony Jones, 35, is accused of breaking into the home of a corrections officer, who restrained the intruder util the police arrived. The incident took place in Limington, Maine, on Dec. 12, 2017. (Courtesy of York County Sheriff's Office) Man Breaks Into the Wrong House and Quickly Finds Himself in a Restraining Hold A man wanted by the police for a parole violation picked the wrong house to barge into on Tuesday, Dec. 12, as the homeowner turned out to be a 6-foot, 250-pound corrections officer, who quickly put the unwanted intruder in a restraining hold and called 911, York County Sheriffs Office said in a statement. Anthony Jones, 35, of Standish, Maine, broke into the officers residence, located in the city of Limington, Maine, while Sean Wilson, a York County Corrections Officer, was home with two of his younger children, both under 4 years of age. Wilson was dressed in his uniform, waiting for his older children to show up and babysit the youngsters, so that he could leave to go to work. As the intruder forced his way into Wilsons home, he was sweating profusely and bleeding from the mouth, the father of five told York County Sheriffs deputies and he appeared to be delirious. The man was rambling about people chasing him as he approached Wilson, who ordered his children into a back bedroom and ordered the intruder to stop. Jones disregarded the officers commands and made his toward the back of the house, in the direction of Wilsons children. Concerned for the welfare of his children, the officer then ordered Jones to lie on the floor and remain still. The intruder refused to comply and started walking toward the back rooms, where the children were located, the police statement says. Wilson then took Jones down and restrained him, then contacted the police. He kept restraining Jones until deputies arrived and took him into custody, charging him with burglary. The police later discovered Jones was wanted for a parole violation stemming from a domestic incident in Cumberland County. The deputies took Jones to the hospital for an assessment of his condition and possible treatment. Afterward, Jones will be processed at the jail by York Country sheriffs officials. Investigators add that Wilson does not know Anthony Jones and has never encountered him at the prison, in which he works. It appears that Jones picked Wilsons residence at random. If you enjoyed reading this article, check out this Epoch Times piece about a fugitive who picked the wrong house to hide in. And, as always, a final kind request share this article on social media. Thank you! The body was found in the parking lot of the Community Empowerment Association. (Screenshot Via Google Maps). Man Found Dead in Pittsburgh Parking Lot After Trying to Steal Tires A mans body was found under a van Tuesday morning, Dec. 12, in a Pittsburgh neighborhood, according to authorities. The van was parked in the 7100 block of Kelly Street, Homewood. Authorities said the male victim was attempting to steal the wheels from the van when the vehicle fell on top of him, Pittsburgh Police said in a press release. As of the time of this publication, the body had not yet been identified. Employees at the Community Empowerment Association parking lot told CBS Pittsburgh that the fence is chained overnight. They said that the vans were used as transportation for kids attending after-school programs. When staff arrived in the morning they discovered a hole cut into the chain link fence. They said that two rear tires from one of the vans were missing. Staff believed the body belongs to a middle-aged white man, according to CBS. Police: Man found dead under van that fell on him while trying to steal wheels https://t.co/4lA2H4S5qS pic.twitter.com/Lj5E6hHwF6 WTAE-TV Pittsburgh (@WTAE) December 12, 2017 The Community Empowerment Association is unclear as to why their particular vans were targeted. Margie Davis, the director of the association that owns the van, told ABC affiliate WTAE they were still recovering from the incident. Its really hard for us to deal with this, that somebody from our community was that desperate to take the tires and now his life is gone, she told WTAE. Male DOA while apparently attempting to steal wheels from van https://t.co/AM7CcZmfd3 pic.twitter.com/ql3G9cXy2X Pittsburgh Police (@PghPolice) December 12, 2017 Davis said the man could have asked their association if he needed help. Its just a lot to think about, you know? she told WTAE. This person lost their life like that. Theres no one to help, so if he was suffering, he was just there in the cold all night. She told the network that one of their staff members saw the body and immediately called the police, after finding the body was unresponsive. At 8 oclock, we unlocked the gate this morning. When he unlocked the gate, there was a body laying up under the van, Davis said. He touched the person, and there was no response. At that time, we called the police right away. Investigators and the medical examiner are working to determine the mans identity and the exact time of his death. Dear reader, We have a little favor to ask of you. We work hard to deliver important and interesting articles to you. 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 Nearly 50 of Wisconsins 72 counties have filed suit against 14 pharmaceutical companies and individuals deemed responsible for the opioid drug epidemic that has put a monumental strain on many aspects of public service provided by counties. La Crosse County, however, is not ready to jump on the bandwagon yet. Representatives of the Wisconsin Counties Association made a strong pitch at a convention in September for counties to take legal action, arguing it was a moral imperative. A coalition of three law firms has offered to represent counties in litigation against big pharma with no cost up front and no cost if the lawsuit isnt successful. While 48 counties already have filed lawsuits in federal court, La Crosse County has been cautious about jumping in, investigating issues and options, and that investigation will continue for another month or two. At Wednesday mornings meeting of the La Crosse County Boards Executive Committee, the panel directed the countys legal department to continue looking into a number of still unanswered questions. We are thoughtful and deliberative and thorough in our investigation and the work that we do month in and month out, said Board Chair Tara Johnson, who objected to criticism the county is dithering on the sidelines while other counties take action. The fact that we are talking about this in our December cycle is because this is how we do things. All the counties surrounding La Crosse County have either filed lawsuits or approved filings in the past two months, with the Monroe County Board voting 13-2 last week to sue. Crawford County is pursuing litigation, but not as part of the WCA-endorsed effort. County Administrator Steve OMalley noted, however, that all but one of the states most populous counties still are exploring their options. The action urged by the Wisconsin Counties Association involves the three legal firms filing individually on behalf of counties these arent class-action suits. Megan DeVore, county corporation counsel, said about 90 percent of the proposed 75-page civil complaint will be the same for all the counties filing suit. The lawsuits filed so far target Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Endo Health Solutions Inc. and subsidiaries of the companies as well as three doctors in California and Utah. The suits seek compensatory and punitive damages and legal costs, alleging that the plaintiffs nefarious and deceptive marketing campaigns precipitated the nations opioid overdose epidemic. The lawsuit asserts that county health and law enforcement services have been strained to the breaking point because of the overdose crisis, which has claimed thousands of lives. In Wisconsin alone last year there were 827 drug overdose deaths, according to state Attorney General Brad Schimel, who has made combating the opioid crisis one of his offices central missions. More than two dozen states, cities and counties have filed similar lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of making false claims about the safety of their drugs to make a profit. Defendants goal was simple: to dramatically increase sales by convincing doctors that it was safe and efficacious to prescribe opioids to treat not only the kind of severe and short-term pain associated with surgery or cancer, but also for a seemingly unlimited array of less severe, longer-term pain, such as back pain and arthritis to name but two examples, the lawsuit alleges. Drug companies knew their products were addictive, subject to abuse, and not safe or efficacious for long term use, the lawsuit says, claims that the plaintiffs have denied. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense, Purdue Pharma said in a statement. Endo Health Solutions said its top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options while preventing opioid abuse. Johnson & Johnson said allegations in similar lawsuits are legally and factually unfounded. The WCA endorsed legal action might seem on the surface like an easy win-win for counties, with no upfront legal costs and no obligation to pay anything if the litigation fails. But the county would likely face a significant cost and burden on staff time during the discovery process, the pretrial investigatory period when both sides can pursue any testimony and documents that might be germane to the case. OMalley noted that a few years ago the county was involved as the lead county in a class-action lawsuit against a guardrail manufacturer. That case was a much simpler matter than the opioid case would be, but even so it required a lot of staff time to comply with the defendants discovery demands, including taking up two full days of Highway Commissioner Ron Chamberlains time. In the opioid case, DeVore said, the issue that requires the most thought is the compensatory damage. You have to prove that there was a cost to the county and what that cost was. Unraveling the cost to the county of the opioid crisis would be no easy feat. Theres no box to check on out-of-home child placements, for example, to indicate that they were related to parental abuse of prescription painkillers or use of heroin that was precipitated by a previous addition to doctor-prescribed opioids. DeVore noted the county also would have to spend a lot of time blacking out names and private information in documents because there is no implied waiver of confidentiality for county records as there would be in a case of an individual suing the county. We cant just make a copy of all the records and hand them over, she said. Theyre going to require a significant amount of redaction. Counties are jumping in with opioid-related lawsuits now because of lessons learned when states took on tobacco companies. Counties expected to get a commensurate share of the tobacco litigation settlement, but DeVore said that never happened. Schimel noted in a guest column in Wednesdays La Crosse Tribune that Wisconsin is part of a multi-state investigation into the major opioid manufacturers. More than 40 other states are involved in the probe, and Schimel noted that similar multi-state investigations have led to substantial recoveries from defendants. Needless to say, if the coalition of states determines a lawsuit is necessary, I will pursue this strategy, he wrote. However, filing a lawsuit now will likely lead to delay tactics and endless litigation that could last many years. Ideally, the county would file a lawsuit and be offered a pretrial settlement before having to go through the laborious discovery process. Whether the county could better achieve that objective through the WCA-endorsed legal action or with another law firm is one of a number of questions the countys legal department will be researching over the next month or two. Executive committee members comments indicated they are on the same page as Johnson in terms of taking a cautious and thoughtful approach. I dont think taking our time and doing it deliberately is detrimental, committee member Dave Holtze said. Im not sure we have to address it today because its not going to be solved tomorrow. A North Korean restaurant worker tries to attract customers in the border city of Dandong, Liaoning Province, northern China across the Yalu River from the border city of Sinuiju, North Korea on May 23, 2017 in Dandong, China. Many North Korean women who flee are trafficked into forced marriages in China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Many North Korean Women Face Forced Marriage in China, or Rape in North Korean Prisons Of all the illegal trade between China and South Korea, Chinas import of enslaved North Korean women is among the darkest. For many women, leaving North Korea is the best way to escape rampant sexual abuse and degradation in Kim Jong Uns prison state where rape is one of the ways officials use their power and even pedophiles go unpunished. But often those that flee or are trafficked into China fare no better, and Chinas own history of gender-based violence has fed into the problem. Chinas decades long one-child policy, and the infanticide, forced abortions, and sex selective abortions it engendered, have created a population crisis. There are now 33 million more men than women. And for many of those men, particularly poor farmers in provinces near North Korea, an acceptable way to get a wife is to buy one. Chinas demand for women partly explains why up to 85 percent (up from 70 percent in 2015) of North Korean defectors who eventually make it to South Korea are women. The result is a sad tale repeated over and over again by North Korean women who managed to escape to South Korea through China. They end up in China, forced into marriages they cant leave because they are in the country illegally. If they are caught and forcibly repatriated, they will go to prison where rape is sickenly common. North Koreas horrific treatment of women, and Chinas complicity, are well known and extensively documented. A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the situation of human rights in North Korea found what Human Rights Watch described as an abuse of women at a scale without parallel in the contemporary worldincluding extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions, and other sexual violence. Worse, these crimes are also committed against children. Abuses faced by children included, detention of children in political prison camps, trafficking and sexual exploitation of North Korean girls by Chinese men as wives or in the sex industry, and lack of civil and political rights and freedoms starting from childhood. Gender-based violence is common in North Korea, according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). The harsh reality is that every day North Korean women face severe gender discrimination at work and home, and sexual harassment and violence that the authorities do nothing to stop, Robertson said in a release. North Koreans who have escaped report women and girls face gender-based discrimination starting from childhood at school, work, and home. They also said women frequently face violence from men at home, in public spaces, including the market, and there is virtually no official recourse or protection mechanisms for victims, reports Human Rights Watch. Domestic violence is considered a private issue, and women dont report rape for fear of stigma and because the perpetrators are not punished. Women also dare not report rape by government officials for fear of retaliation. The same holds true for pedaphiles that molest children. The North Korean government claims the reason no one has been punished for raping, sexually abusing or exploiting a child since 2008 is because such acts are inconceivable for the people in the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] who regard such acts as the most disgraceful. Human rights groups say that explanation is proven false by testimony of many defectors. The situation inside North Korea explains why many women flee, but the situation they experience in China is often worse. North Korean women fleeing their country are frequently trafficked into forced marriages with Chinese men or the sex trade. Even if they have lived in China for years, these women are not entitled to legal residence there and face possible arrest and repatriation at any time, notes HRW. According to the State Departments 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report, North Korean women trafficked into China are subjected to forced prostitution and forced marriage, as well as slavery. Those that are caught and returned to North Korea face the same. According to women who were formally detained in North Korea but escaped after 2011, detention centers are hellish for women. Many report they were sexually abused or raped. On Dec. 11, one women who managed to escape told the United Nations how her three failed attempts at escape before her fourth successful one resulted in horrific punishments. North Koreas Ministry of State Security forced her to abort her first child after being captured a third time and her little sister was trafficked and sold into slavery. China has faced calls from human rights groups, the United Nations, and countries around the world for years to stop repatriating North Korean refugees. It continues to do so. If you found this story informative, please share it on Facebook. A 2009 file image of a North Korean defector in Seoul, South Korea. Some 30,000 North Koreans have successfully fled the North and been resettled in South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) Mother Forced to Drown Own Child in North Korean Prison, Says Defector Details of a woman in a North Korean labor camp being forced to drown her new-born child emerged this week in a testimony given by a North Korean defector in Washington D.C. At a detention center in North Korea, pregnant women were forced to carry out hard labor all day long, defector Ji Hyeon A told a U.S. Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing at Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Because North Korea does not allow mixed ethnicities, they make women who have become pregnant in China to miscarry by forcing them to [do] hard labor, said Ji. One woman, however, didnt have a miscarriage. [She] gave birth to a baby at night at eight months after a full day of work, said Ji. She was so happy to hold her child, but that moment was short lived. The woman was ordered to drown her newborn. She pleaded to the guard for mercy with the baby in her arms, but in the end, she did as told, said Ji. The image of the dead infant tore through my 20-year-old heart. That was the first time that Ji had been imprisoned for fleeing North Korea. In total, she was caught in China and repatriated three times. She recalled another time she was sent to a so-called re-education center from where she said not many people have made it out alive. Everyone was subject to harsh labor, and meals were so lacking that we ate raw locusts, discarded cabbage leaves, and skinned frogs and rats, Ji said. People died withered and dehydrated from continuous diarrhea. At this prison, Ji became friends with an orphan named Younghee. Her parents were shot dead and she was alone. We promised to survive this place and go to South Korea together, Ji said. One day, we secretly ate some grass while working but got caught and were ordered to eat grass roots with dirt still on them. This caused Younghee [to have] diarrhea, and she eventually died from it. She said everyone knew that dead bodies in the prison were fed to a dog belonging to a guard. My friend Younghee was no exception, she said. "North Korea is a terrifying prison." Hear now from Ji Hyeon-A on her experience defecting from North Korea: https://t.co/ng0m2S61es pic.twitter.com/A7VMbyBNRE U.S. State Dept | Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor (@StateDRL) December 11, 2017 During her testimony, Ji went on to recount being tortured herself for possessing a Bible, and a rib-breaking beating she was subjected to. She also spoke about how she was forced to have an abortion after her third failed attempt to flee North Korea. I was three-months pregnant and was forced [to have] an abortion without any medication at [a] local police station in North Korea, she said. So my first child passed away without ever seeing the world, without any time for me to apologize. Jis fourth attempt to flee North Korea was successful and she was settled in South Korea in 2007. She is now an author and activist. North Korea is a terrifying prison, and it takes a miracle to survive there, she said. But the Chinese government sends North Koreans seeking freedom back to this prison. I am scared, is anyone there? I am here in hell, is anyone there? I scream & yell, but no one opens the door. Is anyone there? Please listen to our moans & listen to our pain. Is anyone there? If you watch 1 thing on #HumanRightsDay let it be Ji Hyeon-A's poem ? pic.twitter.com/CROG8cg0d9 UK at the UN ?? (@UKUN_NewYork) December 11, 2017 Robert R. King, an American diplomat and former U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights Issues, told the hearing that about 30,000 North Koreans have successfully fled the North and resettled in South Korea. China has a mixed record with Korean defectors, King said. When relations were good between China and North Korea, most defectors who were captured in China were quickly returned to North Korea, where they were brutalized and sent to re-education camps to discourage others from attempting to leave, he said. The day before the hearing at Capitol Hill, Ji also spoke at a U.N. hearing titled North Korea Human Rights: The Terrifying Experiences of Forcibly Repatriated North Korean Women that was hosted by Australia, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K., and the United States. "We must maintain international focus on the human rights situation in North Korea." Ambassador @MatthewRycroft1 addresses a UN Security Council debate on DPRK pic.twitter.com/T9AoaF6ynX Foreign Office ?? (@foreignoffice) December 11, 2017 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 North Texas Man Shoots his Children, then Himself Police northeast of Dallas, Texas, are investigating the death of a man and his children, which appears to be a double-murder-suicide. Police in North Richland Hills said the childrens mother, Rachel Dawson, called them around 7:15 a.m. on Dec 9. She reported that she had entered the dwelling on the 7400 block of College Circle South and found her husband and children dead. Officers found a 5-year-old female, 9-year-old male and adult male all deceased from apparent gunshot wounds, reads the official North Richland Hills police report. Police determined that Rachels husband, Chris Dawson, shot his children, with a shotgun and then turned the weapon on himself. Police said they had never been called to that residence before. Neighbors told CBS11 that the family had seemed fine a few days earlier, when they were outside hanging Christmas decorations. You can drive by and they can have a perfect house, but you dont know whats going on inside the house. Its so sad, said Rosa Nichols, who lives a few doors down. You never know. You just have to be kind to people when you have a chance because you dont know what they are going through inside their home, said Nichols. The Dawsons had moved to North Richland Hills from the Wrigley Terrace neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona only a few months earlier. The Dawsons neighbors in Wrigley Terrace, were less surprised to hear what had happened. We saw warning signs but I dont think anyone could have guessed that this wouldve happened. It shocked everyone, former Wrigley Terrace neighbor Ariel Borg told KPXN News in Arizona. Ariel Borg met Rachel Dawson at an exercise class. She got along well with Dawson, and her children were friends with Dawsons children, Luke and Bree. I met Rachel at a boot camp class and she would bring her kids, Luke and Bree, sometimes, Borg told KPXN. But while she enjoyed spending time with Rachel Dawson and her childrenie, she had her doubts about her husband, Chris. He was very, very controlling of Rachel to the extent that after a certain point he no longer allowed her to be friends with us, Borg explained. We saw warning signs, but its hard to know like, when you step in and when you do something. Ariel Borg is hosting a candlelight vigil at her home for Rachel, Luke, and Bree Wednesday night, Dec. 13. It will be led by her family and the pastor of the church the Dawsons once attended. This community is feeling that loss. Her family was our neighbor, Borg said. From NTD.tv If you enjoyed reading this article, please consider sharing it. Pregnant 14-Year-Old Ohio Girl Missing for 9 Days, Believed to Be With 33-Year-Old Cousin Authorities are asking the public for help in finding a missing 14-year-old Ohio girl who is pregnant and is believed to be with a 33-year-old cousin who is a convicted felon. Annalys Clay was reported missing by her mother on Dec. 4. She is believed to be with her cousin, Louis Jakab, 33. Authorities believe Jakab may be the unborn childs father because the pair had a relationship in October. Initial reports said that Clay, of Barberton, Ohio, went missing after she assaulted her mother in a car while the two were driving on a freeway. The mom pulled over and Jakab pulled behind her car. Annalys Clay then exited her mothers car, went into Jakabs car and the two drove off. But Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards told PEOPLE yesterday that the initial report contained inaccurate details so police are now weighing whether to charge the girls mom for making a false report. Clay actually disappeared from the Strongsville, Ohio, area where she was previously found after running away for two months, Edwards said. Strongsville is where Jakab lived. The U.S. Marshals believe the girl is in danger because Jakab has a criminal history. He served 10 years in prison on a manslaughter charge connected to a shooting, according to detective Bill Bolden of the U.S. Marshals Service PEOPLE reported. Jakab is also wanted on felony warrants in eight jurisdictions, Fox 8 reported. The charges include robbery, theft, fraud, passing bad checks, and receiving stolen property. After Clays disappearance, police issued Jakab an additional warrant for interfering with custody. Jakab is also wanted for violating parole, the New York Post reported citing the U.S. Marshals. The girl is in additional danger because she is willing to do whatever Jakab says, according to Bolden, PEOPLE reported. Clay is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 125 pounds with red hair and blue eyes. A missing person report circulated on Facebook listed her as having hazel eyes. Jakab is 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighing approximately 190 pounds, with a shaved head and blue eyes. The pair was last seen in a 2017 black Audi A3 with license plate number HED-3844. Those plates were reported stolen from Cleveland, which is about 10 miles northeast of Strongville. A missing person report circulated on Facebook states that Clay and Jakab may also be in a silver 2005 Cadillac STS with license plate number either HHA-8369 or HAA-8369. Authorities are offering a reward for any information that leads to Clay and Jakab. Police believe the pair has fled the state. Anyone with information is asked to call the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4WANTED. Tips can also be anonymously texted by starting with the keyword WANTED and the tip TIP411. Clay went the Barberton Middle School in 2014, according to her Facebook page. She describes herself as a music artist and songwriter. Clay attended Akron Baptist Temple and lists her favorite color as green. I love worship, family, and singing more than anything, Clay wrote in her Facebook profile description. Clay has two sisters Vivionna and Savanna. She also wrote that she has two dogs named Johnny Cash and June Carter. From NTD.tv Support independent jounalism. Please share this article. Pregnant Mom Dies in Crash; Off-Duty Dallas Firefighter Suspected of DUI A teen driver and her unborn child were killed in an accident near Dallas, and police say an off-duty firefighter was drunk when he crashed. Cedar Hill police said a Dallas firefighter, whose identity was not disclosed, will face an intoxication manslaughter charge, Fox4 reported. An off-duty Dallas firefighter has been placed on administrative leave after he was involved in a crash that killed a pregnant teenager Wednesday, officials say.https://t.co/XL7v1eA4Lt pic.twitter.com/nV4CUs6vRR NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) December 13, 2017 The wreck took place at 12:45 a.m. early Wednesday around the 200 block of southbound Highway 67. The firefighter was driving a Mercedes at a high rate of speed when it hit a Mazda SUV, ejecting two people inside the SUV, the Fox affiliate reported, citing police. The male passenger was seriously hurt and taken to a hospital. The pregnant woman, Alyssa Pimentel, 18, and her unborn child died in the crash, officials said. Pimentel had posted on Facebook that she cant wait till January, which was the due date for the birth. Just me and you baby boy, she wrote along with images of the ultrasound. Mary Flores Pimentel, her aunt, wrote on Facebook that her beautiful niece and her baby have gone to heaven. Police said that alcohol and speed were factors in the crash. Cops: Drunk Dallas firefighter crashes into car, killing woman and unborn child https://t.co/NH8zbC5ZTa pic.twitter.com/qxRm1J9zf0 FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) December 13, 2017 According to the Dallas News, the firefighter was placed on leave by the City of Dallas. Our preliminary investigation has revealed the driver of the Mercedes is a fireman for the city of Dallas, who was off duty at the time of the crash, police wrote in a press release, WFAA reported. We also believe alcohol and speed were contributing factors in the crash. Pimentels father told the station that she planned to name her son Josiah. She was a sweetheart, a kind, caring person who would have done anything for anyone, he added. City of #Dallas statement re: off-duty firefighter involved in #CedarHill crash that killed 18-yr old & her unborn child #AlyssaPimentel pic.twitter.com/E6ZiY9iHuQ Dionne Anglin (@DAnglinFox4) December 13, 2017 And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. 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! Democratic U.S. Senator-elect Doug Jones (L) and wife Louise Jones (R) greet supporters during his election night gathering at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 12, 2017. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) President Trump Reacts to Roy Moore Loss in Alabama Special Election President Donald Trump congratulated Doug Jones on a hard fought victory, after the Democrat beat Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate special election. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time, Trump wrote on Twitter on Dec. 12. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 Moore lost the election against Jones by a margin of just 1.5 percent. The race saw an unusually high number of write-in votes, a total of 22,819, or 1.7 percent. Trump had endorsed Moores opponent, Luther Strange, during the Republican primaries. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily) is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him! Trump said on Twitter on Dec. 13. Sen. Luther Strange and other Republican senators on July 11, calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to shorten or cancel the recess if they do not make significant progress on important legislation in July. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Strange had been the Republican establishments preferred candidate, while Moore was supported by former White House strategist Steve Bannon. After Bannon returned to his position at Breitbart News, he vowed to elect more conservative candidates to Congress. Trump traveled to Alabama in September to endorse Strange. In his speech, Trump said he was giving his endorsement because Strange had supported Trump on a Republican health care bill in the Senate. At the time, Trump said Strange was guaranteed to win the election in Republican Alabama, whereas Moore would face a challenging race. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 Trump also said that the race showed that Republicans need to put up good candidates, something House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has advocated for as well. If last nights election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate, Trump said on Dec. 13. If last nights election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 Moore, 70, is a religious conservative who twice lost his position as the states top judge. He was ousted in 2003 after he refused a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the states Supreme Court building. Moore came under fire last month after The Washington Post reported that he, at the age of 32, had made unwanted sexual advances on a 14-year-old girl. Moore has disputed the claims, and The Washington Posts reporting has not been independently verified. Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore during election night in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 12, 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said that an ethics investigation of Moore would be almost certain if he won the election. Trump officially endorsed Moore on Dec. 4, saying that he didnt want Jones to win. The President would much rather have someone in the Senate who supported his agenda as opposed to someone who did not, spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Dec. 4. Congress is currently being rocked by a number of sexual assault allegations. A number of lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have resigned over the allegations. If you enjoyed reading this article, support our independent journalism by sharing it on social media. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with China's Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Dec. 7, 2017. Russia and China kicked off joint military drills on Dec. 11. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / SERGEI KARPUKHIN) Russia and China Send Message to US, North Korea with Military Drills As tensions mount on the Korean Peninsula, North Koreas two major backersRussia and Chinahave kicked off a series of joint air defense exercises that could be sending a message to the United States and North Korea. Chinas Ministry of National Defense said the exercises will help China and Russia strengthen cooperation in air and missile defense, reported Xinhua, the Chinese regimes official mouthpiece. The anti-missile drill, being held from Dec. 1116 in Beijing, is based on computer simulations, Wu Qian, the ministry spokesperson, told reporters. According to Wu, the drill will help the two countries cope with a sudden ballistic or cruise missile attack inside their territories. But while the spokesperson said the exercises are not aimed at any third party, they do send a message, according to one expert. Professor Carl Schuster, a retired Navy captain who now lectures at Hawaii Pacific University, says the exercises are part of a new era of military cooperation between the two countries and serve three purposes. One is, of course, political posturing. The other is sending a warning: We have forces there, they are operationally ready and theyre getting better. And theres a not-so-subtle hint of you cant ignore our presence and our interests. They know that tensions are ratcheting up, he added. They want both North Korea and the United States to know that they have an interest in the results and in the situation and that they cant and should not be ignored. The third purpose of the exercises is for Russia and China to assess their range of options, one of which is military intervention, and to assess if they are ready and aware of all that they need to do or identify what they may be lacking if military force is needed. The exercises also train Russian and Chinese forces to cooperate, said Schuster. Its the second such set of exercises. Known as Aerospace Security 2017 Russian-Chinese Anti Ballistic Missile defense computer command post exercise, this years exercises will focus largely on repelling missiles and military cooperation, according to the Russian military. The exercises come during an upswing in relations between the two countries to a temperate middle ground after the love-hate relationship that followed the Soviet Unions initial founding of the Chinese Communist Party 100 years ago. Since then, the two countries have been both military allies and enemies, fighting wars alongside and against each other. Lately, the two countries have been holding more joint military exercises. Russias minister of defense says that developing the strategic partnership with China is an absolute priority. Russian General of the Army Sergei Shoigu made that declaration during talks in Moscow with Colonel General Zhang Youxia, the Vice Chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission on Dec. 8. That priority comes from one of the few things Russia and China are fully aligned on: their mutual objection to U.S. dominance. They have a common interest in constraining and reducing U.S. influence, said Schuster. Americas leading influence in many international processes and institutions leaves both Russia and China feeling restrained, said Schuster. One example in Chinas case is its territorial claims in the South China Sea, which extend well beyond the territorial limits laid out in established international law. In Russias case, the Putin leadership objects to American and European Union obstruction in its efforts in Ukraine, where Russia has annexed the Crimean Peninsula and is backing anti-government forces in Eastern Ukraine. But their cooperation is tempered by a history of competition, with North Korea being one example. The current North Korean regime is a result of Soviet backing. China had backed an alternative North Korean leader during Maos time but the relatively impoverished Chinese Communist Party did not have the resources to support their choice, said Schuster. Most of their cooperation, it is most tactical. They dont entirely trust each other, he said. 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! Sen. Salma Ataullahjan speaks about her new organ trafficking bill while MP Garnett Genuis looks on at a Parliament Hill press conference on Dec. 12. (Limin Zhou/The Epoch Times) Senator Hopes to Fast-Track Important Organ Trafficking Bill Legislation would make it a criminal offence for Canadians to procure an organ abroad that was taken without the donors consent A bill almost identical to a private members bill to combat organ trafficking that was first introduced by an MP earlier this year has been crafted by a senator in the hopes of fast-tracking its passage. On Dec. 7, Sen. Salma Ataullahjan gave her second reading speech on Bill S-240, an Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (trafficking in human organs). According to the World Health Organization in 2007, trafficked organs accounted for an estimated 10 percent of the organ transplants performed around the worldand that was 10 years ago, Ataullahjan said at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Dec. 12. The trafficking of organs is a human rights issue, and as such, I hope that the bill will receive widespread support both in the Senate and in the House of Commons without delay. The bill would amend the Criminal Code to create new offences in relation to trafficking in human organs and tissue. It would also amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to render inadmissible to Canada any permanent resident or foreign national who engaged in activities related to trafficking in human organs or tissue. Under the legislation, anyone who receives an organ or tissue knowing that the person from whom it was taken did not give informed consent would be committing a crime. Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said Ataullahjans bill is very similar to Bill C-350, which he introduced in the House in April, but which he said has little chance of getting anywhere fastlike most private members bills. Im very pleased that Sen. Ataullahjan has proposed Bill S-240, he said. The process is that private members bills in the Senate, if theres support for them, can go forward much more quickly. So Im hopeful that the process that were undertaking now to see this bill through the Senate and then come to the House of Commons will give us an opportunity to get this passed before the next electionan opportunity that we might not have had had we not gone through the Senate first. Genuis explained that while his bill involves a fairly complex reporting mechanism aimed at identifying a case where a person might have an organ that had been taken illicitly, the Senate bill omits that and is therefore clearer and simpler and gives nobody any excuse to oppose it. At the end of the day it is urgent that we get a bill passed that criminalizes going overseas to get an organ for which there hasnt been consent, he said. Genuis noted that although the proposed legislation doesnt target any country in particular, China is a concern given reports of forced organ harvesting on a mass scale from prisoners of conscience. Investigative reports have accused China of engaging in murder for organs. Theres obviously substantial concerns about organ harvesting in China, in particular the taking of organs without consent, often without anesthetic, from prisoners of conscience, from Falun Gong and othersthis is a major concern, he said. A lot of the genesis of the discussion around this bill certainly has come from concerns about what has happened and is happening in China with respect to organ harvesting. The news that Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in China were being killed for their organs was first broken by The Epoch Times in 2006. The same year, Canadian lawyers Davd Matas and David Kilgour conducted an investigation and released a report confirming that this gruesome practice was in fact taking place. The issue has since been widely reported worldwide and investigated by many organizations. Last June, Kilgour and Matas, along with U.S. investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann, released an updated report which found that, besides Falun Gong adherents, other religious minorities being killed to supply Chinas highly lucrative organ transplant industry are Uyghur Muslims, House Christians, and Tibetans. The report estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are being transplanted in Chinese hospitals every year, with the source of most of those organs being prisoners of conscience, primarily Falun Gong adherents. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline handed down from ancient China based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Genuis said provisions in Bill S-240 will create a real disincentive for people who might otherwise be involved in this terrible practice [of forced organ harvesting]. Im hoping that well see active engagement by members of other parties, by independent senators, and others to ensure that we can start saving lives by making this law as soon as possible, he said. Im hoping for a quick passage, said Ataullahjan, noting that some senators have already expressed their support. Its a very important piece of legislation. Israel, Spain, Italy, and Taiwan have passed laws restricting their citizens from travelling to China to receive organ transplants from illicit sources. Additional reporting by Limin Zhou in Ottawa. A man who appeared to be sleeping was found dead on a subway in Mexico City on Nov. 30, 2017. (GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images) Sleeping Elderly Man on Mexico City Subway Found Dead at Last Stop An elderly man riding the subway in Mexico City on Nov. 30 could have been any of the citys many homelesshe was slumped over in his seat with his head resting on a rail, riding the entire line of the subway, some 20 stops. People sat next to the man, who appeared to be in his 70s, thinking he was sleeping. They thought he was just sleeping Posted by Daily Mail on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 He was in a seat reserved for the elderly and handicapped, reported televesiva.news, and no one batted an eye when he never got off at a stop. But when the train arrived at its last station, Pantitlan, at about 11:45 p.m. local time, the man still didnt get off. Auxiliary police checking the trains tried to rouse the slumbering man, but he didnt wake up. They took his vitals, and, sensing nothing, called for emergency medical help. Paramedics tried to revive him, but it was too late. While they dont know exactly how long it was before he was discovered, it appears the man had been dead for some hours already, reported LaOpinion. Anciano muere en el metro y todos pensaron que dormia https://t.co/WUifF03MME pic.twitter.com/5IkKhjhb9y Diario La Tribuna (@LaTribunahn) December 3, 2017 Paramedics said he died of fulminant myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the hearts muscle tissue. The Mexico Citys district attorneys office said they were not planning to investigate, saying he died of natural causes. "Aunque todo el mundo te olvidase, yo no me olvidare de ti. Te tengo tatuado en la palma de mis manos" (Isaias 49, 15-16) #QEPD pic.twitter.com/Qa5XG8un2k Jose Ignacio Munilla (@ObispoMunilla) December 6, 2017 The body of the unnamed man was taken to a morgue and later claimed by relatives, who wished to remain anonymous, the Daily Mail reports. Please help The Epoch Times by sharing this article on social media. Thank you for your support! From NTD Teen Used Final Moments Alive to ID Her Alleged Killer, Officer Says A 16-year-old girl used her final moments alive to identify the man who allegedly killed her. Shemel Mercurius, 16, was allegedly shot by Taariq Stephens, 25, inside a Brooklyn apartment in May 2016, according to the New York Daily News. She was a junior at Edward R. Murrow High School and as she was babysitting her cousin, Stephens allegedly appeared at the apartment and shot her three times. Breaking: NYPD has arrested suspect Taariq Stephens & charged him with murder & criminal weapons possession. https://t.co/lrGHWKZi6K Pervaiz Shallwani (@Pervaizistan) June 3, 2016 There was a 3-year-old male child covered in blood crying next to the victim, said Sgt. Ryan Habermehl. It took about 20 minutes for EMS to arrive. Officer Kyle Thomas Daly arrived on the scene and found Shemel in serious condition. UPDATE: Taariq Stephens charged with murder in fatal shooting of 16-year-old Brooklyn girl https://t.co/HRNJwwIiXx pic.twitter.com/SRFrontMsg Andrea Cavallier (@acavallierNYC) June 3, 2016 I put on gloves, took her off the car and laid her down and began rendering aid she regained consciousness, gave me her name and date of birth, Daly said, according to the Daily News. It took a very long time for the ambulance to come, about 20 minutes. Shemel gave a statement to a detective and revealed who shot her. She said that Stephens wanted to be in a relationship with her, but she did not, Daly said. She died before she got to the hospital. But before she died, she gave the cops her boyfriends name, her grandmother, Joan, told the New York Post last year after her death. She told them he shot her. The girl had previously told her, I dont want no boyfriend. I dont have any boyfriend, Joan said. Her father, who emigrated with the teen from Guyana to the United States, was stunned by her death. My daughter came here four years ago to live a better life. For better opportunities, said Dexter Mercurius, 38, according to the Post. Everyone loved her. She was smart and never got into any trouble. Before she passed, she called out a boys name, Mercurius said. I dont know if it was the boyfriend or not. I just have questions right now and no answers. Its sad and disheartening that I am issuing a statement on yet another fatal shooting, and worse that another family is in unimaginable pain and distress. Much more, we lost a 16-year-old child who was at the beginning of her life, Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) said after the girls passing. And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. 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! La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat spoke Tuesday about the importance of local efforts to address climate and water-related issues around the Mississippi River, stressing the economic importance of the river to La Crosse and other river cities. Lets face it. Its on all of us to save the world. Its not gonna happen from the folks in Washington, Kabat told the League of Women Voters during its December Lunch and Learn session. League of Women Voters member Maureen Kinney introduced the mayor at the event, saying the topic was a familiar one for many members. The League has been involved in water issues for years and years and years quality and quantity, Kinney said. (The) League is a problem-solver and wants to help deal with water issues and solving problems. Maybe the mayor will give us some ideas today on how we can help. Kabat updated the nonpartisan group on the work of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, which is a group of mayors from cities of all sizes in 10 states bordering the Mississippi River, from Bemidji, Minn., to New Orleans. The group addresses river corridor issues such as water quality, which affects everything from agriculture and tourism to public health. Weve been breaking records in a bad way for the last several years, Kabat said. The mayor cited climate-related problems that affected cities up and down the river, including 500-year flood events in 2011, a 50-year drought in 2012 and five 100-year floods in the past six years. Even this past summer, while we were getting way more rainfall than normal, parts of the Dakotas, parts of Iowa were near drought, so youve got these very acute things going on, Kabat said. Just in our region alone there were millions of dollars in destruction of property from storm events, he added. With no reason to think those storm events will stop any time soon, MRCTI formed to tackle the problem from an economic perspective. Obviously, the Mississippi River, we live in it, we recreate, we enjoy all the benefits. Its a huge impact, not only nationally, but also on a global level, Kabat said. The river has an estimated economic impact of nearly $500 billion per year, he said, including manufacturing, agriculture and tourism dollars. The river is a big deal for our economy, he said. MRCTI advocates at the federal and state levels for greater mitigation funding and additional incentives to get people to create more sustainable practices in both public and private sectors. Were looking at ways to prevent problems before they happen, Kabat said. Meanwhile, the mayors involved take what they learn through the organization and promote local efforts and support sustainable practices at the city level. Kabat cited La Crosses blufflands protection program, Friends of the La Crosse River Marshs efforts to restore native species, the citys various floodplain relief programs and its focus on green infrastructure. You might notice that as youre going around town, when we are fixing streets, the boulevards now in a lot of those places are in areas where its meant to catch stormwater runoff to help for that to percolate more slowly so that it can clean out and get rid of some of the metals and petroleum and those types of things, Kabat said. The mayor called on league members to support MRCTIs efforts and advocate additional funding for things such as the water pollution control grant program, the pre-disaster mitigation grant program, the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Loan Funds and the USGS Water Resources program. Its going to be on all of us. Weve got to figure out how to do this and fix these things, Kabat said. He invited the group to visit the organizations website, mrcti.org, for a full list of its priorities. Joon H. Kim, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announces federal charges against Akayed Ullah in connection with Monday's bombing at the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, in New York, U.S., Dec. 12, 2017. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid) U.S. Slaps Terror Charges on Accused Times Square Bomber NEW YORKU.S. prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Mondays attempted suicide bombing in one of New York Citys busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of the radical group ISIS, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to murder as many human beings as he could in support of a vicious terrorist cause, acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. New York City police have said that Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast, I did it for the Islamic State, according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-ISIS materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Officials declined to disclose Ullahs condition at Bellevue Hospital late on Tuesday. His first court appearance in the case could come as soon as Wednesday and may be conducted by video conference with a judge, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office said. On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, Trump you failed to protect your nation. Ullahs passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. Homemade Bomb Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullahs pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators that he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullahs wife, according to two officials who declined to be identified as they were not permitted to publicly discuss the matter. They said the couple have a six-month-old boy. A police official who took part in that interview, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the U.S. New York City police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators were poring through data on Ullahs electronic devices, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said there was so far no indication that Ullah had previously attracted the attention of FBI. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. U.S. President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasized the need for U.S. immigration reforms. Mondays incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards, Trump said. The first attacker came through the visa lottery, the second came through chain migration. Were going to end both of them. The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed Trumps latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban was needed to protect the U.S. from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. John Miller, the New York City Police Departments deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said on Tuesday that police would review the attempted suicide bombing and adjust security plans for the upcoming New Years Eve celebrations in Times Square. This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a suicide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb function. So were going to take a hard look at it, Miller said in an interview. By Joseph Ax and Brendan Pierson Like what you read? Share it on social media and support independent journalism from The Epoch Times. Blank Social Security checks are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 11, 2005. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images) Woman Gets Prison Time for Cashing Dead Mothers Social Security Checks for 23 Years A California woman was sentenced to prison for cashing in her dead mothers social security checks for nearly a quarter century. Emma Carter-Alexander, 66, of Vallejo, was sentenced to a year in prison and was ordered to pay $298,168.20 in restitution for using public money for her own use, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. According to court documents, since the death of Carter-Alexanders mother in 1993, Carter-Alexander has been collecting her mothers Social Security disability benefits for her own use, the DOJs website stated. To facilitate this fraud, Carter-Alexander filed yearly representative payee statements falsely indicating that she was using the funds for her mothers well-being, even though her mother was deceased, it added. Mom died in 1993, but her daughter kept cashing her Social Security checks for 24 years https://t.co/BLG39kRZp9 Barb Calhoun (@barbc9988) December 13, 2017 According to the Daily Republic, she used the money for things such as airline tickets, car rentals, hotel stays, car payments, purchases at jewelry stores, and more. She had originally faced a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine before she entered a plea deal in September. Its a puzzling case, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez told her in court, according to the Sacramento Bee. To your credit, you accepted responsibility immediately. Mendez added: This is an individual who but for this crime has done a number of admirable things in her life. Court papers say that shes remorseful and has no criminal history. Shes the mother of an adopted 35-year-old son and recently completed her Ph.D. to become a psychologist, the Bee reported. At any point, Carter-Alexander could have come clean and stopped the payments to her deceased mother, the sentencing memo said. Instead, Carter-Alexander sought to conceal her conversion of public funds, and by doing so was able to continue her fraud for over 20 years. The Social Security inspector generals office discovered the misuse of funds in February. When initially contacted by Social Security employees about her mother, Carter-Alexander at first lied, stating that her mother was sick, court papers said, according to the Bee. Shortly thereafter, however, Carter-Alexander admitted the truth. Since that time, she has appeared to accept responsibility for her actions and has sought to quickly resolve the matter. She has to surrender to the authorities on Jan. 23. And while youre here We have a small favor to ask of you. 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! Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated provides connected commerce solutions to financial institutions and retailers in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. It operates through Eurasia Banking, Americas Banking, and Retail segments. The company offers cash recyclers and dispensers, intelligent deposit terminals, teller automation tools, and kiosk technologies, as well as physical security solutions; and front-end applications for consumer connection points and back-end platforms that manage channel transactions, operations and integration, and facilitate omnichannel transactions, endpoint monitoring, remote asset management, customer marketing, merchandise management, and analytics. It also provides banking product-related services comprising proactive monitoring and rapid resolution of incidents through remote service capabilities or an on-site visit; first- and second-line maintenance, preventive maintenance, and on-demand services; managed and outsourcing services, such as business processes, solution management, upgrades, and transaction processing; and cash management services. In addition, the company offers DN Vynamic software suite to simplify and enhance the consumer experience; mobile point of sale and self-checkout terminals; printers, scales, and mobile scanners; and banknote and coin processing systems. Additionally, it provides retail customer's product-related services, such as on-demand and professional services; maintenance and availability services; implementation services; managed mobility services; monitoring and advanced analytics; and store life-cycle management services. The company was formerly known as Diebold, Incorporated and changed its name to Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated in December 2016. Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Hudson, Ohio. 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. General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates in five segments: North America Retail; Convenience Stores & Foodservice; Europe & Australia; Asia & Latin America; and Pet. It offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and salty snacks, ice cream, nutrition bars, wellness beverages, and savory and grain snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the North American foodservice and commercial baking industries; and manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food. The company markets its products under the Annie's, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Blue Basics, Blue Freedom, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, EPIC, Fiber One, Food Should Taste Good, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto's, Go-Gurt, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Haagen-Dazs, Helpers, Jus-Rol, Kitano, Kix, Larabar, Latina, Liberte, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Oui, Pillsbury, Progresso, Raisin Nut Bran, Total, Totino's, Trix, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, Yoki, and Yoplait trademarks. It sells its products directly, as well as through broker and distribution arrangements to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores, as well as drug, dollar, and discount chains. The company operates 466 leased and 392 franchise ice cream parlors. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. DULUTH, Minn. Bob Ross, 69, of Grand Rapids, Minn., takes his lutefisk seriously. Last week, he showed up 45 minutes early and was first in line for the annual lutefisk dinner at First Lutheran Church in Duluth an hour and a half away. I crave it, he said, in explaining his willingness to drive long distances for lutefisk, even if hes not exactly sure why. I grew up with it, and I hated it. I couldnt stand it. But after you get away from it, you crave it. When lutefisk is done right, its light, flaky and delicious, Ross said. Still, he acknowledged a lot of people make fun of lutefisk. It is, after all, dried cod thats been soaked in lye. Its an acquired taste, he admitted. But despite its reputation, and the aging population of lutefisk aficionados, the culinary custom lingers on, preserved at dozens of lutefisk dinners held this time of year in church halls and basements across Minnesota. I think its the nostalgic part of it, the fact that people are still reaching into their roots, trying to build traditions. I think thats such an important thing, said Bea Ojakangas, a celebrated cookbook author who has helped put on the lutefisk feast at First Lutheran Church for more than 30 years. Lutefisk was created as a way to preserve fish, prior to refrigeration. The cod was dried on outdoor racks. Then, to make it expand, it was soaked in water and then in lye, which was made out of wood ash. Lye expands the fish to an even bigger size than when it was dried, and gives lutefisk its characteristic jelly-like quality. Perception of lutefisk, however, is much different in Minnesota than where it originated. Its so funny, because if we go back to the Scandinavian countries and talk to them about lutefisk, they dont revere it like here, said Ojakangas. Thats not the case for Minnesotans like Count Roger and Carol Chase of Grand Rapids. They travel all around northern Minnesota attending lutefisk dinners. They used to help put on a lutefisk dinner at their church in Grand Rapids. But it fizzled out as the price of fish went up, and the number of people eating it kept going down. At a dinner earlier this year in Bemidji, Chase recalled, I looked around, and its all silver-haired people ... You dont see very many young people. Pretty soon it will be a pizza party. The appetite for lutefisk is dwindling across the board, not just in Bemidji. Lutefisk sales, ever since I started [in 1995] has dropped down, I would say, anywhere from 5 to 8 percent a year, said Chris Dorff, president of the Olsen Fish Company in Minneapolis, the only high-volume producer of lutefisk left in the country. Still, the dinners persist, and Dorff said the churches he sells to report that attendance has held firm theres just a lot less lutefisk stomached. Dorff said he used to plan a pound of fish per person. Now he cuts that in half. Attendance has also held up at First Lutheran in Duluth, where more than 1,100 people ate this year, including Elijah Jensen, who at age 30 was a youngster in the crowd. He confessed he was there mainly for the Swedish meatballs hes had lutefisk only once in his life, when he was a teenager. You know, I dont know if anyone actually really, really likes it, or if they just pour on enough butter [on it], just enough to slide it down, he said. I thought of it more as fish jello. Nonetheless he vowed to try it again this year. Not as bad as I remember, he said, slowly swallowing his first bite. Its a little less fishy than I remember. Its still definitely gelatinous. And for those concerned that the lutefisk tradition could die along with the older generations of Norwegians, Swedes and Finns who grew up with it, Felicia Schneiderhan offers a glimmer of hope. She had Norwegian great-grandparents. This year was her second time eating lutefisk. Her preschooler Esther even tried it. When we moved to Duluth from Chicago nine years ago, the culture was really attractive to me. I like honoring that part of my heritage, she said. Plus, she said, she actually kind of likes lutefisk, despite the naysayers: Its kind of tasty. Law enforcement and campus security officers at 10 University of Wisconsin campuses will get the overdose-reversing drug Narcan for free through a partnership with manufacturer Adapt Pharma. The program, to be announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Brad Schimel, will offer a nasal spray version of Narcan, also known as naloxone, to UW-Madison, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout and UW-Superior. This new partnership will allow college campuses to have this potentially life-saving medication at the ready, Schimel said in a statement. The UW System has been actively working with recovery stakeholders in Wisconsin to demonstrate our shared commitment in the fight against opioid use, and this is an important tool for our officers, UW System President Ray Cross said in a statement. Adapt Pharmas Narcan Nasal Spray for Schools program uses a nasal spray approved for the emergency treatment of prescription opioid, fentanyl and heroin-related overdoses. State Republican lawmakers want to further limit the regulatory powers of Madison and other municipalities, including the ability to do systematic building inspections. Two bills sponsored by Sen. Frank Lasee, R-DePere, and Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, focus on tenant-landlord rights and development. They would also require mail notice to landlords before charging for ordinances related to maintaining property, such as sidewalk snow removal, and add costs to municipalities for condemning property. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities opposes both bills. A hearing on the bills is set before the Senate Committee on Insurance, Housing and Trade on Wednesday. In the past six years, landlord-friendly changes to state laws have given Wisconsin housing providers more power to reject prospective tenants and easier ways to oust current ones. Now, another bill would prohibit systematic building inspections for rental properties and make such inspections complaint-based, said Nick Zavos, government relations officer for Mayor Paul Soglin. Thats a huge one, Zavos said. Im shocked this is the intent. Currently, the city does rotating, systematic building inspections of high-density rental areas with each area inspected every seven to 10 years, building inspector George Hank and others said. Inspectors check the exteriors of all buildings in the area, and the interiors of residential rental properties, they said. Its not like were knocking on their doors all the time, Hank said, adding that the city tries to work with owners to remedy problems found. The city also responds to complaints, and does systematic inspections if there are multiple complaints in an area, Hank said. Its the broken window thing, Hank said, noting that wooden porches or foundations in older properties can badly deteriorate without maintenance. When one property starts to go bad, it can start a race to the bottom. Its to preserve neighborhood values. The tenant-landlord bill would allow only complaint-based inspections for rentals, but still allow systematic inspections for single-family homes, condos and commercial properties, he said. In a memo to the committee, Curt Witynski, deputy executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said, This change in the law protects irresponsible landlords while jeopardizing the health and safety of students, families, and other vulnerable individuals living in potentially dangerous conditions who decline to file complaints to avoid being evicted. The city and League of Municipalities are also concerned about provisions that would: Require first-class mail notice to landlords before imposing a charge for ordinances related to noxious weeds, electronic waste, snow removal, dangerous trees or other building or property maintenance standards. The city, for example, couldnt clear icy sidewalks before providing mailed notices to property owners. Prohibit municipalities from regulating the aesthetics of the interiors of homes. Limit rental inspection fees to the actual and direct cost of performing the inspection. Prohibit landlord registration fees outside of Milwaukee. Require municipalities to let private property owners use materials that have a substantial similar appearance to original material when making repairs or replacements to landmarks or properties in historic districts. The legislation is designed to make it easier for landlords to provide Wisconsin residents with quality, clean safe and affordable housing, Lasee and Brooks said in a memo seeking co-sponsors. A so-called developers bill also presents concerns, Zavos and the League of Municipalities say. It would: Raise additional payments to those displaced by condemnation proceedings. Prohibit municipalities from creating or enforcing ordinances related to storm water management unless in strict conformance to uniform statewide standards. Exempt properties that retain at least 90 percent of storm water from any new or additional storm water service charges. Prohibit municipalities from stopping people from working on private construction projects on weekends. Impose new, unfunded reporting mandates. The bill seeks to lower the cost of new development at the local level by further restricting the use of impact and park fees, requiring housing affordability audits, incentivising higher density and more affordable housing, Lasee and Brooks said in a memo. 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. VANCOUVERThere is little to no research to support the supposed benefits of medical cannabis, and what evidence exists suggests that using marijuana as medicine may do more harm than good, family doctors associations across Canada are telling their members. A trio of advisories prepared by the Alberta College of Family Physicians has been distributed to more than 32,000 clinicians, summarizing the scientific literature, or lack thereof, around medicinal marijuana. One thing that was quite consistent was adverse events, said Dr. Mike Allan, a professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. And the benefits, even if theyre real, are much smaller than what people might anticipate. Allan co-ordinates the colleges biweekly updates, Tools for Practice, which focus on topical issues and are circulated through professional chapters in every province except Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Read more: Pot meds for pets draws researchers interest Shoppers Drug Mart partners with producer Aphria for medical marijuana The three most recent updates were inspired by physicians wanting to know more about the research behind medical cannabis. Family doctors are facing increasing pressure from patients asking about medicinal pot and the college wants to ensure its members have the information they need to make informed decisions around treatment, Allan said. I think this gives (doctors) some comfort, saying, Look, heres the evidence. Its actually missing in a lot of places, so I cant give it for conditions X, Y and Z, Allan said. He described medical pot as a high-risk product that should only used in rare circumstances when other, safer treatment options have been exhausted. Health Canada data show the number of clients registered with licensed medical marijuana producers jumped to more than 200,000 as of June 2017, which is about 2.7 times greater than the 75,166 people registered at the same time last year. Registrations more than tripled in both 2016 and 2015. The decision to use cannabis for medical purposes is one that is made between patients and their health-care practitioners, and does not involve Health Canada, department spokeswoman Tammy Jarbeau said Tuesday in an email. Health Canada published a lengthy information bulletin for medical professionals about the benefits and harms of medical marijuana, topped with a disclaimer warning that cannabis is not an approved therapeutic product and the department does not endorse its use. The document was last updated in 2013. The first advisory prepared by Albertas family physicians college, which was released Nov. 14, says the evidence is too sparse and poor to conclude that marijuana is effective at relieving pain. The second document, released two weeks later, describes adverse effects as one of the only consistent findings of the existing studies. These harms included hallucinations, paranoia, dizziness and low blood pressure. The research likely underestimates the frequency of adverse outcomes because most studies involve patients who have a history of using pot so are less likely than the average person to experience any negative side effects, Allan said. Some studies indicate marijuana can reduce nausea for chemotherapy patients and control spastic muscle contractions in patients with multiple sclerosis, but there is virtually no evidence of any effect on chronic anxiety or glaucoma, as is commonly cited by industry advocates. Some of the pain studies go for nothing more . . . than five, six hours. And this is for chronic pain, Allan said. Its hard to get a great feel for how someone is going to do long term on a medicine after five, six hours. The only evidence of marijuana being used to treat glaucoma is a single randomized study conducted on six patients, he added. We would kind of be putting the cart before the horse if we started to prescribe this without the research, Allan said. Medical colleges have released some general guidelines for primary-care providers about prescribing marijuana. Documents released by the colleges of physicians and surgeons in both British Columbia and Alberta cite the absence of reliable evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of cannabis as medication. The Alberta college is helping put together more comprehensive provincial guidelines for prescribing medical cannabis, which it expects to release by March, Allan said. Read more about: SHARE: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicted that global oil markets wont rebalance until late next year after boosting forecasts for supplies from the U.S. and other rivals. OPECs monthly report raised its outlook for non-OPEC supply in 2018 by 300,000 a barrels a day, as its projections for American output caught up with those of the U.S. government. As a result, an initiative by OPEC and Russia to clear a global oil glut by cutting output previously seen succeeding in the third quarter of 2018 will take effect more slowly. Oil prices climbed to a two-year high above $65 (U.S.) a barrel in London this week, supported by a temporary pipeline halt in the U.K. and the Nov. 30 decision by OPEC and Russia to press on with supply curbs until the end of next year. While Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said this week the group could consider winding down its efforts in mid-2018 if the market is back in balance, Wednesdays report suggests theyll need to persevere for longer. Read more: U.S. shale industry puts focus on oil returns U.S. vastly overstates oil output forecasts, MIT study suggests OPEC, allied oil-producing nations extend crude production cut through 2018 Continued efforts by OPEC and non-OPEC to support oil market stability should lead to a further reduction in excess global inventories, arriving at a balanced market by late 2018, OPECs Vienna-based research department said in the report. The cartels latest figures showed its strategy is paying off, having reduced the oil-inventory surplus in developed nations to about 137 million barrels as of October, compared with about 380 million before the cuts began. OPEC secretary general Mohammad Barkindo, speaking to Bloomberg television in Beijing on Wednesday, said stockpiles have since fallen further to about 130 million. OPEC output fell by 133,500 barrels a day last month to 32.45 million, according to the report. Venezuelas troubled industry suffered further production losses, the UAE belatedly stepped up efforts to deliver its pledged cutbacks and Saudi Arabia cut deeper than required. If OPEC were to maintain current output levels to the end of 2018, world inventories would shrink by a further about 274 million barrels, data in the report indicate. Yet the stronger outlook for supplies elsewhere is blunting the impact of OPECs strategy. American shale explorers, who grew more efficient during the industrys three-year downturn, are locking in future revenues as U.S. prices near $60 a barrel, potentially readying for a new surge in drilling. OPEC increased estimates of its competitors output in 2018 for the first time since the forecast was introduced last summer. It now expects that rival supplies will increase by about 1 million barrels a day, or about 1.7 per cent, in 2018. It bolstered forecasts for total U.S. oil production growth next year by 180,000 barrels a day to 1.1 million a day. The momentum seen this year is expected to continue in 2018 on the back of increased investment in U.S. tight oil and improved well efficiency, OPEC said. SHARE: AMSTERDAMFor years, whenever Id visit home and settle in with my parents to watch some British costume drama on PBS, wed inevitably see an ad for Viking River Cruises and my mom would inevitably remark, Wouldnt it be a lark to go on one of those someday? Skip ahead to 2017, and here we finally are in Amsterdam, about to step onto the Viking Ve, part of the state-of-the-art Viking Longships fleet, for a comprehensive Grand European Tour through the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Mom, were actually doing this, I really cant quite believe it, she replies. Lets go see what our cabin looks like. For the next 15 days, well be sharing a chic, modern cabin, with its own private balcony, ensuite and separated twin beds, on board an award-winning, inclusive riverboat as it weaves its way along the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers. My mother had always been an avid world traveller alongside my father, until he died of prostate cancer in early 2015. In an attempt to reignite her love of travel, Id floated the idea of our long-awaited mother-daughter trip. To my surprise, she said yes. You bring a certain youthful energy to the whole thing, she explains, when I ask why she agreed to go on her first overseas trip since my dads passing. You have a different attitude toward things youre maybe interested in different things, things that I wouldnt think about, that youd point out to me . . . Otherwise, I might just sit in the corner and do my knitting or whatever. Did you even bring your knitting? I ask. Nope, she says. I wouldnt waste my time on knitting when theres so many wonderful things to see. Were not the only mother-daughter team aboard the sleek, 135-metre-long ship (the Viking Ve accommodates up to 190 guests) and before long, three more pairs two from the U.S. and one from Australia introduce themselves. We even arrange to have a special dinner together in the on-board fine-dining restaurant. Deborah Kadlick and daughter Katharine Harper, from New York City, had never travelled together as adults before hopping on the Viking Ve. Katharine has always been busy at school, Kadlick says. I said, Please take a break between this job and law school so we can go on a trip. They chose this cruise because they could see many different places without schlepping luggage around or dealing with arrangements. I like it because I feel very secure Im with my mom, Harper says. The one thing I would add (about intergenerational travel) is just to be patient with each other. Patience was a virtue in my own cabin, thanks to cohabitating issues such as snoring (solution: earplugs) and differing wake-up times (solution: eye masks) but those took nothing away from the utter joy of experiencing Europes rivers together. Ive been to some of these places before but not seen them from the river . . . its a totally different experience, my mom says. To go out on the balcony in the middle of the night and see the moonlit countryside going by its kind of dreamlike, isnt it? The days are filled with magical moments as we reach lifelong travel goals, such as visiting the Lipizzaner horses in Vienna (mom) and soaking in the hot pools in Budapest (me), and discover new, unexpected favourites (who knew Dutch windmills were so fascinating?) Each port of call, we fill up on a delicious breakfast buffet, throw on our backpacks and join our appointed group for an expertly guided tour of yet another gorgeous medieval town. Back on board, its time for a four-course meal featuring local specialties with new friends and an evening of pub quizzes (the all-mother-daughter team won, of course) or relaxingly watching Downton Abbey in our cabin. This will be fun to look back on, Mom says on Day 12. We could just carry on doing this, really, for the rest of my life. Its incredible to hear the excitement and curiosity creep back into her voice. Speaking with another mother-daughter duo, I discover Im not alone in my sentiments. Deana Starkey, 79, from Prescott, Ariz., immediately invited daughter Sherri, 60, to come on the cruise after inheriting a bit of money. Do it, do it before its too late, Deana Starkey says. Before Im limited or shes limited because shes trying to take care of me. Her daughter agrees: Lifes short, youve got to do things while you can. They were more right than they knew. Three weeks after returning to Canada, my mom got her own cancer diagnosis and was given three months to live. Thank God we did that amazing trip when we did, she said one day in hospital as I perched on her bed in between medications and meals. If I could spend eternity drifting down the Danube, that would be heaven . . . I can just close my eyes and be there. Now, when I see ads for Viking River Cruises, I no longer feel envy or longing I feel gratitude for the sites seen, meals eaten, friendships made and precious time shared. In my moms words, We should all be so lucky. Emma Yardley was hosted by Viking River Cruises, which didnt review or approve this story. When you go: Do this trip: Vikings 15-day Grand European Tour itinerary runs from March until October. You can arrange your own flights or have the cruise booking agents do it. Viking has plenty of other river itineraries at vikingrivercruisescanada.com. SHARE: OTTAWAInternational Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says Canadians have donated a total of $12.5 million towards easing the refugee crisis in Burma, a sum the federal government intends to match. Bibeau says the federal money will go to humanitarian agencies helping refugees in camps and settlements in Bangladesh and those displaced within Burma. She says an additional 600,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have poured into Bangladesh since the end of August, doubling the exodus from Burma. The minister says the federal government has now contributed more than $37.5 million to the crisis so far. Canadas aid will go towards addressing the needs of women and girls, including survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, pregnant and nursing women and woman-headed households. The effort will include sexual and reproductive health services, as well as psycho-social counselling. Canadians continue to show themselves to be generous and compassionate people, Bibeau said in a statement. Their contributions will help our partners respond to the increasing humanitarian needs in Burma and Bangladesh with a strong focus on meeting the particular needs of women and girls, who have faced the greatest impact of this crisis. On October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Bob Rae as a special envoy to Burma, charged with reinforcing efforts to resolve the humanitarian and security crisis in Burma . Read more: 21 women, 21 accounts of brutal rape at the hands of Burmese soldiers Rohingya children are experiencing horrors they will never forget Burma, Bangladesh sign agreement covering return of Rohingya Muslims SHARE: OTTAWAThe Trudeau government is opening the door to the export of Canadian-made weapons and ammunition to Ukraine in what is being touted as a sign of Canadas enduring support for the battle-scarred country. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Wednesday that Ukraine has been added to the Automatic Firearms Country Control List, which is a list of countries eligible for arms exports. The move means Canadian companies and individuals can now apply to the government for permission to export prohibited weapons and other equipment to Ukraine, which was previously banned. The addition of Ukraine to the AFCCL reflects the close ties our countries share, Freeland said in a statement. Canada and Canadians will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and support Ukraines territorial integrity and sovereignty. The decision is almost certain to be welcomed by the Ukrainian government, which has appealed to countries like Canada for more help as it grapples with Russian-backed separatist forces in the east of the country. Top of the list has been the provision of arms, which Ukrainian officials say are required to level the battlefield in the Donbass region, where Russian military equipment has been spotted. But Ukraines addition to the firearms control list could stoke criticism from anti-arms-trade campaigners, given concerns about human-rights abuses by both sides in the Ukrainian conflict, which first started in March 2014. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, many of them civilians. Another 20,000 have been wounded and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes. Ukraine is the 40th country on the list, which is dominated by NATO allies but also includes Australia, Botswana, Chile, Colombia, Finland, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. Companies and individuals must seek permission from the foreign affairs minister before exporting a prohibited item to one of the countries on the list. Approved exports to some countries on the list have landed the government in hot water in recent history, notably a $15-billion contract to sell light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in 2014. The deal has since sparked concerns about Saudi Arabias human-rights record and that the Canadian-made military equipment could be used against civilians in the Middle East kingdom and neighbouring Yemen. Read more about: SHARE: Mustafa Ururyar, whose conviction of sexually assaulting a fellow PhD student was overturned, signed a peace bond and professed his innocence as charges he lived with for almost three years were withdrawn in court Wednesday. In July 2016, Ururyar was convicted of sexually assaulting Mandi Gray in his apartment on Jan. 31, 2015. The controversial 179-page decision that quoted from academic studies and literature about sexual assault was overturned on appeal this past summer. The original conviction of Mr. Ururyar was based on errors of fact and law made by the trial judge; eventually corrected on appeal, his lawyer, Daniel Brown, told the court on Wednesday. This ordeal has lasted nearly three years and stripped Mr. Ururyar of his liberty, privacy and dignity. The charges were withdrawn Wednesday in a downtown Toronto courtroom. There will be no retrial. Ururyar signed a peace bond that did not include an admission of guilt, but bars him from contacting Gray for a year. A peace bond is a protection order made by a court. A defendant may face criminal charges if they do not obey the conditions of the peace bond. Brown said that his client welcomes the peace bond resolution and that Ururyar has no desire to have future contact with Gray. Let there be no doubt. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Ururyar is innocent of these horrible accusations, Brown told Justice Melvin Green. An accusation is just that an accusation. This case stands for the fact that we must never lose sight of the fundamental right to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Both graduate students at York University, Ururyar and Gray had been in a casual relationship before the alleged assault in 2015. After a night of drinking, the two went to Ururyars apartment, where Gray alleges she was raped. Ururyar testified the sex was consensual and that Gray had been sexually aggressive throughout the night. The now-retired trial judge, Marvin Zuker, sentenced Ururyar to 18 months in jail and took the unprecedented step of ordering him to pay $8,000 in legal costs. This past summer, Superior Court Justice Michael Dambrot overturned the verdict on appeal, calling it incomprehensible and illogical and lacking proper reasons for the conviction. The case was sent back to Ontario court and left up to the Crown to decide whether to prosecute the case a second time. Crown attorney Jennifer Lofft told the court on Wednesday that a second trial would not be in the interest of the administration of justice. Gray said on Tuesday that prosecutors told her a day before that Ururyar would sign a peace bond. Gray said that she did not want to go through a second trial because of the emotional and financial stress she experienced after the first. I have wanted this since I found out about the appeal of the conviction because the legal system has demonstrated itself to be so grossly incompetent and has no regard for my life, Gray said Tuesday. It has been brutalizing experience. Brown told the court on Wednesday morning that the allegations against Ururyar were proved to be hollow but that there will still be people who stubbornly cling to the belief that his client did something wrong. Once charged, never entirely exonerated, he told the court. Ururyar sincerely hopes that the gross unfairness of what took place here in no way tarnishes the justice systems quest to root out sexual assault and harassment and to bring genuine offenders to justice. With files from Betsy Powell SHARE: One man is in serious condition after a shooting in Scarborough Tuesday evening, Toronto police say. The victim, whose age remains unclear to police at this time, was located after police responded to reports of a person with a gun in the area of Lawrence Ave. E. and McCowan Rd. in Scarborough. No person with a gun was located, nor was any firearm found. Authorities found the victim on the property of a hospital in the area, and he apparently drove there himself, police say. The victims injuries were serious enough to require the care of a trauma centre that was equipped to deal with more serious gunshot injuries in the city, rather than the hospital that he was in close proximity to, Toronto Police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook told the Star. Police could not confirm the exact extent of the injuries, but confirmed he sustained gunshot wounds. SHARE: They discussed the installation of furniture for the Whitchurch-Stouffville Library and Leisure Centre, they approved a four-way stop not far from Sunnyridge Park and they pondered next years budget and election rules. But the one thing that never came up at the towns last council meeting of the year was the one thing many people had been waiting for an apology from Mayor Justin Altmann for his bizarre CSI-style wall. While there was no mention of one on Tuesdays agenda, there was some speculation a last-minute apology that would have put an end to the saga might be forthcoming. But despite the three-hour-long meeting, Altmann did not take the opportunity to make amends, as he had been ordered to do. The towns integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig had recommended Altmann be docked a months pay and be given 90 days to apologize to town staff during an open session of council for the display she likened to workplace harassment. Altmanns three months are up on Dec. 22. But Tuesdays council meeting was the last official opportunity for him to make amends. The mayor did not issue an apology in the open session of council, town spokesman Glenn Jackson confirmed after the meeting. Altmann gained notoriety earlier this year, when the Star broke a story about the unusual mural he created in his office washroom that included photos of staff, councillors and local citizens with slogans and lines connecting the images together. In September, Stouffville councillors adopted recommendations from Craig after a probe she launched in the wake of a staff members complaint about the display. The probe concluded the creation of the wall breached the towns code of conduct. Although the last council meeting of the year has concluded, Altmann may still have one way out, however. According to the towns bylaws, the mayor could call a special council meeting before his deadline hits as long as his fellow councillors are given 48 hours notice. But if no action is taken by Dec. 22, his non-action could trigger another code of conduct complaint leading to further sanctions. Altmann has not responded to numerous questions from the Star about whether or not he would apologize. Previously, he said in a local radio interview that he would not apologize, but rather, would challenge the ethics probe. I will be going to appeal the integrity commissioners decision, he said in the Nov. 15 interview. I will be asking for a judicial review, and that will take a process, and that will go and look at how the process and everything was done, he said. Members of council want an apology; they want to say he was wrong, hes done this. In all honesty, I am a very reputable person. My integrity is everything. If Altmann decides to pursue a judicial review, it could cost the town of 45,000 residents. A judicial review launched by Vaughans former deputy mayor, Michael Di Biase, against Craig for her findings in a 2016 ethics probe, cost taxpayers over $130,000 in legal fees. The judicial review was the first against an integrity commissioner in Ontario, and was dismissed after a two-day hearing. Craig said of all the ethics probes she has conducted, the Stouffville case would be the first where an apology has not been made. SHARE: A Toronto woman, who allegedly enslaved a homeless man, stole his disability cheques, abducted his child and physically abused him and five children in her care, has been deemed fit to stand trial. In September, McMahon had ordered an assessment for Maria Willett, 61, because she had significant mental health issues, he said at the time. Willett appeared in court Tuesday in front of Judge John McMahon, her cheeks pinched, face white and shoulders slumped, as he ruled she is medically fit to stand trial. Willetts six-week, judge-only trial will begin in September 2018 four years after the charges were laid and a quarter century since the alleged crimes began. I am very anxious to set a date for this matter, said Crown attorney Jennifer Strasberg on Tuesday, adding shes been ready to try Willett since September. We dont have anything to say shes not fit. Willett faces similar charges to her husband, Gary Willett Sr., including forcible confinement and assault of the man to whom the couple allegedly didnt provide the necessities of life for nearly 25 years, as well as theft over $5,000 and abduction of a child under the age of 14. Both pleaded not guilty, and Gary is waiting for McMahons verdict in January. The allegations against Willett have not been tested in court. Willetts lawyer Daniel Kayfetz told McMahon at her last appearance in November that the court-appointed specialist had found her to be exaggerating symptoms when it comes to communication and loss of memory. Willett was initially going to be tried alongside her husband, but a psychiatrist had advised the court that because of her mental health challenges she should undergo further assessment, said the judge in September. The Crown decided to sever the cases. Maria and Gary Willett met the alleged victim, Tim Goldrick (now 57) in the late 1980s when he was scrounging for food in a dumpster near their downtown Toronto apartment. They befriended him and his common-law wife, helping them find a home. That friendship, the Crown alleges, turned to something much darker as the husband and his wife took advantage of the vulnerable couple, stealing their government disability cheques. They then allegedly took the couples first-born son, manipulating hospital records so he would appear to be theirs. Goldrick, who took the stand in Garys trial, said he was routinely beaten and berated. For more than 12 years he lived in a hallway in the basement of their home, sleeping on a single box spring mattress, and only being allowed to leave the house to complete tasks like buying groceries or shoveling snow in the winter. He testified that he wasnt allowed to go into the fridge to get food, and ate dog food quite a few times because of it. When he was living with the Willetts, he said, he weighed 106 pounds. He currently weighs 230 pounds. He is six foot two. In 2012, more than two decades after the alleged abuse began, he left the Willetts house with the help of his son and a friend. The verdict in Gary Willett Sr.s trial is expected in January. SHARE: After five years of work, photographer Mark Zelinski will be in Toronto this week to launch the Heart of Turtle Island a book of photos and stories from a landscape that features in some of his earliest memories the Niagara Escarpment. Im still very much attached to these lands, said Zelinski, who grew up in Oakville and now lives in the escarpment. When he first conceived of the project, Zelinski imagined a book that focused on the geology of the escarpment, which stretches for 725 km, as well as the plants and animals of the region. It is about all those things, he said, but its also about people. Something that became apparent to me as I was creating this book is that the newest chapter in the history of the escarpment is the story of how people have populated these lands, he said. The result is a collection of photos depicting the natural beauty of the UNESCO biosphere reserve and the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities that live within it. Alongside some 400 images, Zelinski brought together a series of voices from across the escarpment whose writings offer a brief insight into the regions geology, biodiversity, and the Indigenous cultures of the Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabek, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit. The Niagara Escarpment is the heart of Turtle Island for good reason, writes Assembly of First Nations Ontario Region Chief Isadore Day in the foreward to the book. Our Peoples have lived and thrived on these lands and waters for thousands of years. In this new era of Reconciliation, the images and stories from Heart of Turtle Island: The Niagara Escarpment will become another important document to remind Ontarians, and all Canadians, that the origins of this country began right here when, for a short time in our shared histories, we were all considered equals, Day says. The challenge we face now is not only to repair that relationship, but also to protect and preserve these beautiful and bountiful lands and water for future generations. SHARE: The discovery of a drug that may stop, and perhaps even cure the fatal disease known as Huntingtons, is being hailed as historic by Louise Vetter, president and CEO of the Huntingtons Disease Society of America, and phenomenal and fantastically promising by Huntingtons researchers, including the woman who discovered the genetic mutation that causes the disease. Im ecstatic, said Nancy Wexler, who in 1993 identified the mutation. Huntingtons is horrible, one of the worst diseases known to mankind, and certain death. . . . We know its a bad gene, making a bad protein, that makes people sick, that kills your brain cells. Anything that could impact that, we knew that that could be a cure. The research, supported by Ionis pharmaceuticals in Carlsbad, Calif., was conducted by scientists at more than half a dozen locations in Europe and Canada. This international team collaborated to create IONIS-HTTRx, the first drug to directly target the cause of Huntingtons. Read more: Toronto man ends his life to avert horrors of Huntingtons disease Study finds genetic discrimination by insurance firms Blair Leavitt, a researcher at the University of British Columbia and the lead investigator for the North American group that conducted the study, said: This is the culmination of 20 years of work for all of us. To see that result and to know what it means it means weve taken a really good promising step. Leavitt expects the Phase 3 clinical trial to start next year and that in three years, they might be able to established proof of the drugs effectiveness. I think were at the end of the beginning and the start of the end, he said. This approach is going to make a difference in the very near future. The Huntingtons gene sends instructions via RNA for cells to create a protein. In people with the mutation, the protein is a toxic form that kills nerve cells and damages the brain. The new drug works by delivering a small piece of genetic material that sticks to the RNA and prevents it from building proteins. The early phase clinical trial involved three dozen subjects with the disease and was conducted to establish the safety and tolerability of IONIS-HTTRx. It did that, and it also showed that the drug dramatically curtailed the nerve-cell-killing protein, with larger reductions at successively higher doses for all the subjects. There were no reported side effects. On Monday, Ionis was awarded a $45-million licence fee from its commercial partner, Roche, which will now manage all future studies. Huntingtons was first described in 1872 by 22-year-old American physician George Huntington. The pernicious, hereditary disease usually starts causing symptoms between ages 30 and 50 and progresses over a period of one to two decades until it proves fatal. One of the early physical signs is involuntary tremors. The death of certain brain cells most vulnerable to the disease renders a person unable to walk, talk or reason, though the ability to understand language and recognize friends and family remains. Patients and doctors often say Huntingtons is like having Alzheimers, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinsons all at the same time. More than 30,000 people in the United States and Canada currently have symptoms of the disease, and many more people have the mutation and will develop Huntingtons. Children of people with the mutated gene have a 50-per-cent chance of inheriting it. The development of a genetic test for the disease in 1994 allowed children of a parent with Huntingtons to know whether they will eventually come down with the disease. Between seven and nine per cent choose to find out, according to the National Institutes of Health. When people get tested, theres nothing we can give them. Zero, Wexler said. You cant give them hope, you cant give them medicine. If this therapy can reverse or prevent it, the minute people get the test, we can immediately give them this drug before they get sick. Those with Huntingtons or at risk of the disease have been waiting a long time for a breakthrough. I was so thrilled to have something, such a dramatic treatment, said 44-year-old Christopher OBrien, who is in the middle stages of the disease. This is the most exciting thing ever, being a patient. OBrien lives in Rochester, N.Y., and has a medical degree and PhD. He was hoping to study Huntingtons, which killed his mother when he was still a child. But in 2000, in the middle of his residency at Baylor University Medical Center in Texas, he had trouble passing his neurology boards no matter how hard he studied. Suspecting his cognitive problems were an early sign of Huntingtons, he tested himself, then sent off a blood sample to a lab to confirm the results: OBrien had the mutated gene, which would also take the lives of two sisters. Important progress in identifying the gene came from Wexlers study of a village in Venezuela where she and a team of researchers, over the past four decades, have identified 18,149 individuals with Huntingtons spanning 10 generations. These Venezuelan kindreds (related families sharing a common ancestor) make up the worlds largest genetically related Huntingtons disease community. Researchers think that this new method of targeting the central cause of Huntingtons might have application in the treatment and perhaps eventual cure of other neurodegenerative diseases, including potentially some forms of Alzheimers, ALS and Parkinsons. Those diseases are more complicated, and involve multiple genes, but the idea of silencing mutant genes is an approach they think will be widely explored. The good news for Huntingtons patients is the hope that the drug might even reverse the progression of the disease. Whats really interesting in animal studies, if you stop the production of the mutant protein, not only does progression stop, but the brain starts to heal itself, said Christopher Ross, director of the Huntingtons Disease Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was not involved in the research. Which means there might be improvement. As insidious as Huntingtons disease is medically, it is psychologically complex and emotionally fraught for affected families. Meghan Donaldson is 50, one of OBriens six siblings. She chose to be tested at age 28 because she has lived with the specter of of Huntingtons her entire life. She does not carry the mutant gene. I was 6 when my mother was diagnosed, she said. I dont know if there was a time when I didnt know I was at risk . . . I grew up thinking the worst, that I would get it in my 30s, so I knew I had to live my life now. When Donaldson found out she did not carry the mutant gene, she felt both gratitude and relief. I rolled the genetic dice and I won, she said. SHARE: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is prepared to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions, but the Trump administration would first want a quiet period without nuclear or missile tests for discussions with Kim Jong Uns regime to begin. Lets just meet. We can talk about the weather if you want, Tillerson said in a speech Tuesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table if thats what youre excited about. Tillerson has regularly called for diplomacy with the isolated nation and the White House played down the prospect of a policy shift. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders followed the remarks by saying Trumps views hadnt changed, underscoring the apparent rift between the president and the U.S.s top diplomat. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world, she said. North Koreas actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea. Tillerson said earlier in the day that hes pleased with the progress so far in ramping up pressure on North Korea, an effort that relies largely on tougher United Nations sanctions and greater co-operation with China. He said more than 22 countries including Peru and Mexico have so far sent North Korean diplomats home, and described the new sanctions regime as extreme. Meanwhile, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Joseph Yun is expected to meet Thursday with North Korean foreign ministry officials in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unidentified diplomatic sources. Unknown quantity Its really about how do you begin the process of engagement because were dealing with a new leader in North Korea that no ones ever engaged with, Tillerson said. My expectations of how to start is first I have to know who my counterpart is. While Tillerson said he was willing to meet North Korean officials, he made clear that the U.S. refuses to accept an outcome that leaves the country with nuclear weapons. North Korea must be ready to make a different choice with regards to its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs for talks to continue, Tillerson said. Read more: Human rights abuses worsen in North Korea as tensions escalate over its nuclear tests: UN The world is one impulsive tantrum away from destruction, anti-nuclear leader warns in Nobel acceptance speech North Korea says war is inevitable as U.S., South continue military exercises And while advocates for negotiations will be encouraged by the secretarys remarks, he was also clear that talks wouldnt be possible without a pause in testing by the North. The last time such a test occurred was in late November, when North Korea fired a missile that analysts say may put the entire continental U.S. in range. We continue to indicate to them, we need a period of quiet, you need to tell us you want to talk, the doors open, well show up when you tell us youre ready to talk, Tillerson said. An important part of our diplomatic success is that we have a strong military presence standing behind us so that if North Korea makes bad choices, were prepared, he added. Tillersons remarks echoed those made by Terry Branstad, the U.S. ambassador to China, who said last week that North Korea needs to renounce further nuclear or missile tests before sitting down for talks. He called Kims push for nuclear weapons the biggest threat to humankind right now. Six-party negotiations with North Korea over its weapons programs havent taken place since 2009. Tillersons comments come just days after the UN envoy to North Korea, Jeffrey Feltman, returned from visiting Pyongyang. Feltman is due to brief the UN Security Council on his trip later on Tuesday. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONConfident congressional Republicans forged an agreement Wednesday on a major overhaul of the nations tax laws that would provide generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans U.S. President Donald Trump among them and deliver the first major legislative accomplishment to the GOP president. Middle and low-income families would get smaller tax cuts, though Trump and GOP leaders have billed the package as a huge benefit for the middle class. The measure would scrap a major tax requirement of former president Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, a step toward the ultimate GOP goal of unravelling the law. The cynical voices that opposed tax cuts grow smaller and weaker, and the American people grow stronger, Trump said at the White House. This is for people of middle income, this is for companies that are going to create jobs. This is for very, very special people, the great people of America. The business tax cuts would be permanent, but reductions for individuals would expire after a decade saving money to comply with Senate budget rules. In all, the bill would cut taxes by about $1.5 trillion (U.S.) over the next 10 years, adding billions to the nations mounting debt. Read more: Republicans get their tax bill, but class warfare looms at midterms Analysis: The GOP tax plan started as a simple cut. The current bill could reshape American life New tax rates could be negotiable, Trump suggests, adding uncertainty to plan The legislation, which is still being finalized, would cut the top tax rate for the wealthy from 39.6 per cent to 37 per cent, slash the corporate income tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent and allow homeowners to deduct interest only on the first $750,000 of a new mortgage. The top tax rate currently applies to income above $470,000 for married couples, though lawmakers are reworking the tax brackets. The standard deduction would be nearly doubled, to $24,000 for married couples. Details of the agreement were described by Republican senators and congressional aides. Its not my vision of the perfect, but again, this is definitely going to be a strong pro-growth tax package, said Sen. Ron Johnson. Republicans see passage of the legislation as a political imperative, proving to voters they can govern as the GOP fights to hold onto its majorities in the House and Senate. Republicans said they expect the package to increase economic growth, generating additional tax revenue and lessening the hit to the budget deficit. Independent economists arent as optimistic. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she and her colleagues expect a modest lift to economic growth from the tax package. Yellen said at a news conference the likelihood of lower taxes is why Fed officials expect the economy to grow at 2.5 per cent in 2018. But growth would then slip back closer to its recent 2 per cent average. She said that any wage growth would likely stem from the low unemployment rate rather than the tax cuts. Negotiators have removed several controversial provisions from the tax bill, including one that would have eliminated the deduction for interest on student loans and another deduction for medical expenses, said two congressional aides. Also, the bill would no longer start taxing graduate-school tuition waivers, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private negotiations. The tax bill would scale back the deduction for state and local taxes, allowing families to deduct only up to a total of $10,000 in property and income taxes. The deduction is especially important to residents of high-tax states such as New York, New Jersey and California. Business owners who report business income on their personal tax returns would be able to deduct 20 per cent of that income. The bill would repeal the mandate that most Americans get health insurance, a provision of the 2010 health-care law. Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat this past summer when they were unable to dismantle the health-care law after seven years of promises. Scrapping the individual mandate would provide them with more than $300 billion for deeper tax cuts while undermining the law. Senate leaders plan to vote on the package Tuesday. If it passes, the House would vote next. GOP leaders hope to send the bill to Trump before Christmas. Lets not waver now lets not give in to the Washington status quo not when tax reform is so close, said Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. The measure has come under assault by Democrats who say it is unfairly tilted in favour of business and the wealthy. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the public doesnt know all the details of the bill, but they smell whats going on and that is tax cuts for the wealthiest and no help for so many in the middle class. Schumer predicted that the politically unpopular bill would drag down Republicans in next years congressional elections. I believe theyll pay a very steep price for this bill in 2018, he said. The agreement was reached hours before a joint House-Senate conference committee met in public for the first time. The committee is charged with blending the tax bills passed by the House and Senate, though Republicans have done all of their negotiations behind closed doors. Democrats have not been included in any substantive talks on the bill. The full details will be unveiled by the end of the week, Brady said. Once the plan is signed into law, workers could start seeing changes in the amount of taxes withheld from their paycheques early next year, lawmakers said though taxpayers wont file their 2018 returns until the following year. The IRS said in a statement Wednesday that taxpayers could begin seeing less money withheld from their paychecks as early as February. The agency said it was taking initial steps to prepare withholding guidance for employers, which it expects to issue in January. Corporate tax cuts would take effect in January, allowing businesses to immediately write off the full cost of capital investments. Read more about: SHARE: ST. PAUL, MINN.Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lt.-Gov. Tina Smith on Wednesday to fill fellow Democrat Al Frankens Senate seat until a special election in November, setting up his long-time and trusted adviser for a potentially bruising 2018 special election. Smith was widely seen as Daytons top choice from the moment Franken announced his resignation last week. But her previous decision not to run for governor had raised questions about her appetite for a closely watched and expensive Senate campaign. Smith said shes in and fully committed. I can tell you I shouldnt be underestimated and if I werent confident I wouldnt be doing this, she said. Its not clear when Smith will head to Washington. Franken, who resigned under pressure from his own party after he was accused of improper behaviour by at least eight women, announced last Thursday that he would resign in the coming weeks. His office hasnt set a final departure date yet; Smith indicated it would likely be in early January. In a statement, Franken called his successor the perfect choice but didnt shed light on his formal resignation plans, saying only that he would work with Smith to ensure a speedy and seamless transition. Smith will be the second Democrat on a path to the Senate in as many days, after Doug Jones victory in Alabama in Tuesdays special election. Smith, 59, served as Daytons trusted chief of staff for four years before ascending to become his No. 2 when his previous lieutenant chose not to join him in seeking a second term in 2014. Dayton has long treated Smith as an equal in the office, and it was that deference that fuelled speculation she was being groomed to succeed him. Her path to politics was unconventional. A native of New Mexico, she graduated from Stanford and earned an MBA from Dartmouth. A marketing job with General Mills brought her to Minnesota, where she eventually started her own marketing and political consulting firm. Read more: Al Franken resigns from U.S. Senate amid sexual harassment allegations Al Frankens resignation amid sexual misconduct allegations presents Senate opportunity for Republicans U.S. Sen. Al Franken apologizes for making some women feel badly She managed Ted Mondales unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1998, then ran the short-lived 2002 Senate campaign for his dad, former Vice-President Walter Mondale. Smith served as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak before eventually taking the same job with Dayton in 2011. Smith, a soft-spoken, smiling presence at the Capitol, is credited with quiet but key roles in the response to the 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis and in the building of a new Vikings stadium. Dayton made her his point person on a massive public-private partnership to work with Mayo Clinic on an ambitious expansion in Rochester. Next years race to fill the final two years of Frankens term is certain to be one of the nations most closely watched and expensive, and Dayton was under pressure from fellow Democrats in Washington to ensure his pick would use the appointment as a springboard for that election. Meanwhile, Republicans immediately floated former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a possible candidate, but many others were said to be weighing a race. Republicans said Daytons selection of Smith for the seat could upset voters. Minnesota voters deserve a senator who will look out for their best interests, not another DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) insider handpicked by Mark Dayton, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Michael McAdams said in a written statement. And Smiths past work with Planned Parenthood in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, which provides abortions along with other health services, was sure to become a flash point with Republicans on the campaign trail. Smith, who served as vice-president of external affairs, said Planned Parenthood provides critical health care and sexual transmitted disease treatment to thousands and thousands and thousands of women. Im proud of that work, Smith said. SHARE: SPINDALE, N.C.Jamey Anderson vividly recalls being a skinny kid trembling on the floor of a dank, windowless storage room, waiting in terror for the next adult to open the door. He was bruised and exhausted after being held down while a group of Word of Faith Fellowship congregants including his mother and future stepfather beat him with a wooden paddle, he said. As with most punishments at the secretive Christian church, Anderson said, it was prompted by some vague accusation: He had sin in his heart, or he had given in to the unclean. The attacks could last for hours until he confessed to something, anything, and cried out to Jesus, he said. Sometimes even that wasnt enough for redemption. Then, Anderson said, he would be locked in a dark place he called the green room, where he would bang his head against the brick wall, wanting to die. I just wanted it to end, he recalled in a series of interviews with The Associated Press. Of course, they told us that killing yourself is the unforgivable sin. Today, Anderson is a 29-year-old handsome, articulate attorney with a quick wit and a sarcastic side. At first glance, he seems well-adjusted. But he finds it hard to trust anyone. He fled the secretive evangelical church when he was 18, but he is not free. More than a decade later, he still struggles to find his footing in a world that he doesnt understand, having been raised, as he puts it, in a cult. Jamey Anderson becomes emotional as he talks about his time with the Word of Faith Fellowship church. Throughout his adolescence, he says he was singled out as a rebel and suffered some of the most brutal treatment in the church. Night terrors jolt him awake. He fears people will think hes delusional if he discusses his experiences in Word of Faith because the stories seem unbelievable. He missed a lifetime of pop culture, which makes it difficult for him to build connections with his peers. Worst of all is the suffocating anguish that rushes in when he looks back on the beatings and isolation. There were times that mentally you just feel broken, he said. I mean, I was a kid I couldnt even process why this was happening to me. As part of an ongoing investigation into Word of Faith Fellowship, dozens of former congregants have told the AP that church members were regularly beaten in an effort to purify sinners even children. But despite allegations of abuse spanning two decades, authorities have done little to intervene. As a child, Anderson said, he was questioned by social services investigators in church co-founder Jane Whaleys office, but was too afraid to tell the truth. In 2003, he said, the church forced him to sign an affidavit saying he had not been abused and that church discipline was Gods mercy on my life. Anderson was about 4 years old when his mother joined Word of Faith. He describes his childhood as nothing short of hell. Throughout his adolescence, he was singled out as a rebel and suffered some of the most brutal treatment in the church, nearly two dozen former congregants told the AP. Among his transgressions: making a funny face at a classmate. His most traumatizing memories stem from the green room, a storage area named for the colour of its outdoor carpeting in a house his family shared with more than a dozen church members. The long stretches of isolation, the incessant hum of a dehumidifier and the pervasive smell of mildew almost drove him mad, he said. I remember thinking about it in that room, thinking, I wish that someone cared. I wish that someone got me out of here, he recalled. Former Word of Faith member Risa Pires said that when she visited her aunt, who lived with Andersons family, it seemed like Jamey was always in that room. Pires, who left the church three years ago, said children were encouraged to tell on Anderson and others for the slightest perceived infractions in the churchs K-12 school, where she was in his class until the ninth grade. Anderson would be pulled from the classroom and brought to another room where he would be brutally paddled, she said. You could hear the loud whacks through the wall, she said. You just sat there, hoping you werent next. After breaking with Word of Faith, Anderson lost all contact with his mother and brother, who remain in the church. He said Whaley even refused to let him attend the funeral of his grandfather, the most important male figure in his childhood, and that he was omitted from the list of family members in the obituary. He is free and yet, he said, he cannot escape the churchs reach. It has branded him permanently, he fears. He is speaking out now, he said, because I want to make sure that kids there, they know that theres a better way to live. That people can love you for who you are. That theyre not going to mistreat you. Noell Tin, an attorney for Whaley, denied Anderson had been mistreated. Mr. Andersons claims are disputed not only by Ms. Whaley, but also by members of the church, he said. To understand what Anderson lived through, it is necessary to understand Word of Faith. Founded in 1979 by Whaley, a former math teacher, and her husband, Sam, the church has grown to a congregation of nearly 750 people in rural Spindale with hundreds more followers extending to Brazil, Ghana and other countries. Jane Whaley is the unquestioned leader, presenting herself as a prophet. Over the years, she has decreed ever more stringent rules, dictating how followers dress, where they live, who they marry and even when they have sex. Birthday celebrations, television and music are strictly off-limits. A series of AP stories over the past year have documented widespread abuses within Word of Faith, prompting investigations in the U.S. and South America. In July, the AP revealed how the church mined its two branches in Brazil for a steady supply of young labourers who say they were forced to work for little or no pay in the U.S. at businesses owned by church leaders. In November, the AP documented how the sect used its power and influence to wrest children from poor single mothers. Anderson said some of his earliest memories are of a church practice called blasting, in which congregants are shrieked at, sometimes for hours, to drive out devils. The sessions often graduate to slapping, punching and choking, according to more than 40 former members interviewed by the AP. The members said Whaley quotes Acts 2:2 and other scriptures to justify the practice: When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast ... From early childhood, Anderson always seemed to be in trouble, resulting in regular severe beatings, several former members said. Anderson recounted a particularly brutal attack when he was about 9, when he said a female church member pinned his arms down while his mother sat on his legs and beat him with a paddle. It hit me in many other places than where it was supposed to. But they didnt stop, because I needed a breakthrough. The demons were taking me over, as a kid. I was going to go to hell. And so they kept swinging the paddle, swinging the paddle, he said. Andersons mother, Patricia Dolan, did not respond to phone and text messages from the AP. Former congregant Danielle Cordes said it was common for adults to hold children down by their arms and legs during attacks. It happened to her, too. That was normal, she said. Forced child labour was another staple of life, several former members told the AP. Anderson said his work details began around sixth grade sometimes during school hours on construction and real estate projects performed for church members. He recalled being diagnosed with asthma in middle school, a condition aggravated by the outdoor work, and being rebuked for laziness and foolishness. Over the years, he said, the work increased. Anderson said he cleaned the Whaleys house, sometimes working until after midnight, then would return in the morning to mow their lawn. At times, he said, he was forced to work several nights a week, often doing remodelling work like painting and drywall repair. He said church leaders called it volunteer work, but that the punishment for refusing could be severe. And though he thought his life couldnt get any worse, it did. When he was 14, Anderson said, Jane Whaley called a mandatory church meeting, on a weekday. Waiting in the sanctuary that day in early 2002, we knew it couldnt be good, he said. When Whaley arrived, she pointed to Anderson and a group of troublemakers she called the five boys. For two hours, he said, Whaley screamed and shamed them. They were expected to fall to the floor and cry out to Jesus for forgiveness. Some did, but Anderson said he was too scared to move. That meant to Jane that my heart was hard. I was unreachable and thats when she got very close to my face and called me everything she could think of, yelling at me at the top of her lungs, he said. Whaley placed Anderson and his four friends in isolation for a year, he said. Instead of attending class, he said they sat in a room watching videos of Whaley preaching and were confined to their homes after school and on weekends. Family members werent allowed to talk to them. When it was time to eat, someone would open the door and slide food in, like in a prison, Anderson said. They were treated as if they did not exist except when it came time for punishment and they were told they were full of witchcraft and warfare, he said. Ministers constantly grilled them with questions that would devolve into the sexual realm, said Peter Cooper, another of the five, who called the ministers relentless. If the boys didnt answer the right way, he said, they were blasted and beaten. After youve been told repeatedly that youre unclean, you know its better to go ahead and admit it. You start confessing to things you didnt think about. They destroy your will, said Cooper, 28, who left the church in 2014. To this day, Anderson said he cant understand why the boys were singled out and considered so unworthy of love and acceptance. If there was ever a time I was broken, that was it, he said, pushing back tears. When Anderson walked away from Word of Faith, he left behind the only life he had ever known. He wanted freedom, even though he wasnt quite sure what that meant. Despite having an outgoing personality, his isolated upbringing makes it hard for him to fit in. If hes hanging out with a group of peers and someone cites a scene from a movie or line from a song, he has no idea what theyre talking about. He doesnt get their jokes. The loneliness can be crushing, he said. It also remains difficult for him to maintain romantic relationships, crippled by the fear of questions about his past and embarrassment about his night terrors. I dont trust anybody. With this thing, it can change the way people look at you, Anderson said. Still, he forges on, determined to build a happy life. He graduated from law school and was hired by a respected firm in Charlotte, and his future for a change seemed bright. Then one night in October 2016, the police knocked on his apartment door and arrested him for trespassing on his brothers property. Nick Anderson had sworn to a magistrate judge that another church member spotted Jamey on his property. When presented with overwhelming evidence that Jamey was nowhere near his brothers home that night, District Attorney Ted Bell dismissed the case. But Jamey said he was humiliated by having to explain to his neighbours and law firm that members of a crazy church had made false accusations against him. Reached by phone, Nick Anderson declined to comment. The district attorney said he considered charging Nick Anderson and the church member with intimidating a witness, but instead would send them a strongly worded letter to not do it again. That provides little solace to Jamey. Like the skinny little kid locked away in the storage room anticipating the next beating, he still cant escape the fear of what the church might do next. Because he does not want any other child in Word of Faith to suffer like he says he suffered, he tells his story to be the light that I used to see as a small child, that got extinguished when nobody saved us. . I dont want to watch and see as other kids grow up and they start to leave and say, Why didnt someone come and help us? Why was our childhood destroyed, when you knew better? SHARE: TOKYOA group of 58 retired American military leaders is making a rare public plea to U.S. President Donald Trump, urging him not to take military action against North Korea but to instead pursue a diplomatic resolution to the current standoff. As North Korea has demonstrated its increasing technical abilities, including the capacity to send a missile anywhere in the United States, Trump and some of his top aides have suggested that a military strike on North Korea might be the solution. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to win victory in the showdown with the United States, state media reported Wednesday. Dozens of retired military leaders from across the services are writing to Trump to urge him not to start a conflict with North Korea, but to instead choose diplomacy. The current approach taken by the United States is failing to stop North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile technology, states the letter, which will be sent to the White House on Wednesday. The United States must initiate and lead an aggressive, urgent diplomatic effort to freeze North Korean nuclear and missile development and reduce regional tensions. Military action would result in hundreds of thousands of casualties in South Korea, putting the lives of more than 150,000 Americans there at risk, and the United States would be drawn into a preventable war, the letter says. Military options must not be the preferred course of action, it continues. The 58 retired admirals and generals who signed the letter were motivated by the deteriorating situation in North Korea, said Michael Smith, the retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who initiated the letter and leads a new non-partisan organization called the American College of National Security Leaders. Read more: U.S. ready to talk to North Korea without preconditions, Rex Tillerson says Human rights abuses worsen in North Korea as tensions escalate over its nuclear tests: UN North Korea says war is inevitable as U.S., South continue military exercises We felt we had a moral obligation to share our concerns with the president, Smith said. It is clear that more can be done and we are urging the President to explore every possible diplomatic option before it is too late and we find ourselves in a dangerous and preventable war. The fact that former military leaders were prepared to come out publicly on such a sensitive issue shows how strongly they feel about it, said Tom Z. Collina, director of policy at Ploughshares Fund, a non-profit organization that advocates for nuclear disarmament. Ploughshares is working with the American College of National Security Leaders to promote a diplomatic solution to the crisis in North Korea. It is very difficult to get senior officers to speak out on an issue like this where troops could soon be sent into action, Collina said. This is very sensitive. The Trump administration is continuing to send mixed signals to North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that he's willing to continue diplomacy with North Korea "until the first bomb drops." Tillerson spoke at the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum in Washington. (The Associated Press) Right now is the last, best chance to avoid conflict with North Korea but time is running out, H.R. McMaster, Trumps national security adviser, said at a British think tank Tuesday. But even as McMaster was speaking in London, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the Trump administration wants talks. Weve said from the diplomatic side were ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and were ready to have the first meeting without precondition, Tillerson told a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Tuesday. Joseph Yun, the State Departments envoy on North Korea policy, is in Tokyo and Bangkok this week for talks with government officials about ways to strengthen the pressure campaign against North Korea after its latest ballistic missile test, the State Department said. North Korean officials are struggling to decipher the Trump administrations policy and the presidents tweets. They have contacted former officials, some with Republican ties and some who have been involved in North Korea policy in the past, to ask them to interpret Trump for them. Read more about: SHARE: RANGOON, BURMATwo journalists with the Reuters news agency have been arrested in Burma and accused of illegally possessing government documents, news agencies reported on Wednesday. The two reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested Tuesday night in northern Rangoon. They were said to have documents relating to violence in Rakhine state in western Burma. A campaign of killings, rape and arson carried out in Rakhine by Burmas military has driven more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh since August. We are urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of their arrest and their current situation, Abbe Serphos, global communications chief for Reuters, said of the reporters. Read more: 21 women, 21 accounts of brutal rape at the hands of Burmese soldiers Canadians donate $12.5M towards Rohingya refugee crisis, government to match funds: Bibeau Opinion: Tougher measures needed to stop campaign of terror against Rohingya The U.S. Embassy called the arrests highly irregular and said they occurred after the reporters were invited to meet with police officials. For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely, the embassy said in a statement. We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists. News agencies said the reporters had been accused of violating Burmas sweeping Official Secrets Act, which dates from 1923, when the country was under British rule. If so, the journalists could face up to 14 years in prison. Myint Kyaw, a member of the Myanmar (Burma) Press Council, an independent organization that advocates for the news media, said that between 80 and 90 per cent of government documents were considered confidential or secret under the law. We are very concerned about the arrests of these two journalists, he said. Very few documents are public documents. We dont have a Freedom of Information Act in our country yet. He said that parliament had considered modifying the law in 2014, but that the changes were opposed by the Home Affairs Ministry, which is under military control. Reuters said that Wa Lone joined the news agency in June 2016 and has covered a range of stories, including the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine. Kyaw Soe Oo began working for Reuters in September. Press advocates and human rights activists expressed concern that the arrests were part of a growing crackdown on press freedom in recent months. In November, a judge sentenced two foreign journalists, their interpreter and their driver to two months in prison on charges of filming with a drone without official permission. The journalists, Mok Choy Lin, a Malaysian national, and Lau Hon Meng, a Singaporean citizen, were on assignment for TRT World, Turkeys state broadcaster. In June, the military arrested three journalists who had been reporting on an event organized by a rebel army in northern Shan state. The three were accused of violating another colonial-era law, against unlawful association. They were released after more than two months in custody. While the circumstances of the arrest of the two Reuters journalists remain unclear, their detention comes on the heels of the arrests of journalists in multiple parts of Burma under a variety of charges, said Richard Weir, a researcher with Human Rights Watch. Three journalists arrested and later released in Shan state by the military earlier this year were merely arrested for doing their jobs, he added. Journalists across Burma have also come under increasing pressure for criticizing the government and military. SHARE: LONDONU.K. Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a serious defeat for her key Brexit law on Wednesday after pro-European lawmakers in her own party defied her orders in a vote in Parliament. Lawmakers voted 309-305 to change the governments bill so that it guarantees Parliament will get a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal at the end of negotiations in 2019. Its an embarrassing setback for May the day before she heads to a European summit that was set to be a celebration of the breakthrough deal she clinched last week. It also raises questions about whether she can muster a majority in Parliament that backs her vision of Brexit. Read more: Ireland gets rare chance to hold power over Britain amid Brexit negotiations U.K. government facing doubts over its level of preparedness for Brexit Failure to set up U.K.s new customs system before Brexit could be catastrophic: lawmakers Lawmakers in London will now have the power to veto the withdrawal treaty before the U.K. leaves the EU if they do not like the terms of the agreement. Another rebellion looms next week over an amendment that could attract even more rebel backing. Its a blow to Mays authority, after she made a personal plea in Parliament for colleagues to support her. Ministers spent the day proposing concessions aimed at buying off rebels, including a last-minute offer to come back with a new text. That was met with cries of too late in the chamber. Theresa May stays, but she stays in a very weak position. She cant control a significant portion of her own parliamentary party, said Wyn Grant, professor of Politics at Warwick University. It gives Remainers greater confidence and pushes the possibility of a no-deal scenario even further away. Its the final blow for that kind of scenario. The pound pared earlier gains after the vote. The government was quick to show it doesnt take kindly to rebellion. Tory lawmaker Stephen Hammond was fired as Conservative Party vice-chairman after voting in favour of the amendment, according to a person familiar with the matter. Tonight, I put country and constituency before party and voted with my principles to give Parliament a meaningful vote, Hammond tweeted, adding he was very disappointed to no longer be his partys vice-chairman. The amendment was put forward by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, a hitherto loyal Conservative with impeccable establishment credentials and a fierce grip on bureaucratic detail. He also used to be a cabinet colleague of May. He argued the bill gave the government too much power and shut Parliament out. It stops the government doing something the government should not be doing, Grieve said. He also rejected the governments last-ditch effort to placate rebels as too late. The governments bill would otherwise give May a blank cheque to take Britain out of the EU on terms that are not yet clear, he said. The Conservative Party has long been divided over Europe and the referendum on Brexit in some way aimed to settle the argument for good. Instead, its more divided than ever, with some of those who campaigned for Remain taking the government to task on a regular basis. May lost her parliamentary majority in June, making her more vulnerable to rebellions by lawmakers who reject her policy of seeking a clean break with Europe and leaving its single market and customs union. The rebels have made common cause with some lawmakers in the Labour Party and the cross-party camaraderie was unusual on Wednesday. The group of rebels was branded the mutineers by the Brexit-backing Daily Telegraph in a front-page splash with all their photos a move that, if anything, emboldened them. Voting against my government saddens me greatly but Parliament has to stand up for itself and take control of the EU withdrawal process and that is why I supported Parliament having a meaningful final vote, Nicky Morgan, a former minister whos now a high-profile Brexit rebel, told Bloomberg. Labour wasted no time in taking advantage of the result, which came after a knife-edge vote. This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the government on the eve of the European Council meeting, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said. May had argued that the amendment would threaten the orderly and smooth Brexit she wants. She promised that lawmakers would be given a vote on the final deal before its too late but stopped short of writing her commitment into the text of the draft law the key demand of the rebels seeking to soften her Brexit stance. Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORKThe crude pipe bomb that exploded beneath the streets of New York this week served as a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of the citys subway system, a 24-hour-a-day operation with 472 stations and more than 5 million daily riders. While police say the nations largest subway system has some of the tightest security possible that still allows busy New Yorkers to get where theyre going, they acknowledge they cant be everywhere or anticipate every kind of attack, particularly in this era of lone-wolf terrorism. Its very difficult, and its getting harder, John Miller, the New York Police Departments deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said on CBSs This Morning. This is not the Al Qaeda model, where a cell of people who are communicating with a base are an intelligence problem. Instead, he said, the threat is coming from people where the conspiracy is within the confines of their own mind. Investigators say that appears to be what happened Monday, when a Bangladeshi immigrant indoctrinated into terrorism through internet videos strapped a bomb to his body and set it off in a busy passageway. He was the only one seriously hurt, suffering burns on his hands and torso. Akayed Ullah, whos 27, was charged with federal terrorism-related offences punishable by up to life in prison and was informed of the charges via video Wednesday as he lay in his hospital bed. He did not enter a plea and said little during the hearing, which lasted a little over 10 minutes. It was the second lone-wolf terror attack on the city in six weeks. On Oct. 31, a man in a rented truck mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a crowded bike path near the World Trade Center, killing eight people. But the blast this week was the first bombing on the subway in 23 years, a streak police attribute in part to a multi-layered security approach that begins with 3,000 officers underground every day, patrolling trains and platforms. Read more: Accused New York subway bomber Akayed Ullah leaves a trail of mystery New York attack suspect mocked Trump before subway bombing, prosecutors say New York City bomb suspect inspired by Daeshs Christmas attacks in Europe, investigators say Thats bolstered by hundreds of security cameras, including one that captured detailed pictures of Mondays explosion, and roving teams of officers with heavy weapons and dogs to sweep subway stations and trains. Officers are outfitted with pager-size radiation detectors to guard against a radioactive dirty bomb. Police also conduct tens of thousands of random bag searches in the system each year. Yet those officers are confronted daily with thousands of people of every background, from every corner of the globe, carrying big backpacks, suitcases and large boxes, with no easy way of knowing whether any of those items contain a bomb. Police have to rely on riders as their eyes and ears, constantly reminding them, If you see something, say something. Look up from your phones. Look up from your books now and then. Take your earphones out. You cant say something when you see something if you dont look at it, Joseph Fox, chief of the NYPDs transit bureau, urged New Yorkers after the attack. But the see-something, say-something system didnt work Monday. Authorities said Ullah boarded a subway train deep in Brooklyn with a bomb strapped to his torso, spent nearly an hour riding into Manhattan, changing trains along the way, and walked through one of the most heavily patrolled subway stations before triggering the device in front of a security camera. Authorities in New York announced federal charges against a man, Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh, who set off a bomb in the New York City subway on Monday. (The Associated Press) Were considering spending millions (of dollars) to erect a border wall, maybe we should be thinking about using the money to better secure rail and transit lines, said James Norton, a former homeland security official and professor at Johns Hopkins University. He suggested more screening of bags and passengers before people get on a train. Police and politicians have repeatedly said that measures such as adding metal detectors and bag checks to all stations could bring the system to a crawl. You cant have a police person on every block at every moment that would be impractical, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a TV interview this week. But in terms of the sophistication of our security system, its second to none on the planet. Only about six crimes are reported per day in the sprawling subway system. Read more about: SHARE: Republican Roy Moores stunning defeat in Alabama marked a watershed moment for the national movement around the issue of sexual abuse. The allegations that Moore had made sexual advances on girls as young as 14 decades ago, when he was in his 30s, had created a real contest out of what should have been an easy victory for any Republican candidate in ruby-red Alabama. Women really do seem to be wanting to make their collective voices heard on this issue, and they dont want to see it swept under the rug one more time, said Jessica Leeds, one of those who stepped forward last year to accuse Donald Trump, then the GOP presidential nominee, of having committed sexual misconduct. With Trumps election, that kind of reckoning seemed to have been pushed backward. But the sense of grievance remained, and gained force this fall with the toppling of movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the once-revered figures in media and politics who have been taken down in his wake. Democrat Doug Jones unlikely victory may also be a sign that the formula for winning in a deeply polarized political climate, perfected by Trump, may not be so reliable as it seemed. I think the politics may be at a real turning point, said Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author known best for his trilogy of volumes about the civil rights era. Anti-government, obstructionist politics are being reduced to having to be explicitly backward and tribal. That works for Trump, but I just dont think that its going to keep working. As the #MeToo movement takes hold and matures, it is moving beyond the stage of rooting out individual bad actors to seeking a different level of accountability, said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Womens Law Center. They want individuals to be held accountable, but really they are seeking institutions to change, she said. There is a new pressure for institutions to finally get this right. In an interview conducted before the Alabama polls closed, Rep. Pramila Jayapal had said that a win by Jones would be a huge political victory, and its a victory for women across the country to not have a pedophile in the U.S. Senate. But its not like were done with the question. There are still going to be a lot of issues that we have to resolve, a lot of questions that are going to come up. She noted that many Republican leaders in Washington had also opposed Moore, and said, In some ways, Roy Moore is the easiest of all the questions in front of us for the #MeToo movement. One of those questions is how to deal with lingering accusations against the president. He and his allies continue to insist that all the women who have accused him are politically motivated liars, and that their claims were litigated in the 2016 election. But it has been revived. Even as Alabama voters were going to the polls on Tuesday, the president was engaged in a Twitter battle with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who has been a leading voice on the issue and who has called upon him to resign. Trump called her a lightweight, a total flunky, and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them). In that parenthetical, some saw sexual innuendo. Gillibrand retorted with her own tweet: You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. As the country was watching the political saga unfold in Alabama, it was easy for many in other parts of the country to dismiss the Moore supporters as simply backward, without recognizing some of those sentiments in more elitist circles. We shouldnt beat up on folks in some gas station in Selma as being different from Weinsteins enablers, said historian and author David J. Garrow, who has chronicled the civil rights movement. That is why some of the most important conversations may be the ones that are taking place more quietly. In Michigan, Democratic attorney general candidate Dana Nessel has made the issue of sexual harassment a centrepiece of her campaign even releasing a satirical campaign ad, which quickly went viral, in which she told voters to ask themselves: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? Read more: What happened in Alabama? As Democrat Doug Jones pulls out win, Republicans left to bicker in Roy Moore aftermath Democrat Doug Jones wins stunning upset in Alabama as Roy Moore refuses to concede Why Black voters rejected Roy Moore: We knew the world was looking at us At a campaign event Tuesday night, Nessel said in an interview, a woman pulled her aside and shared her experiences being harassed on the job in the 1980s, how demeaning and dehumanizing it was. The fact that were having these conversations now, in such an audible way, means there are great changes in our future, Nessel said. I think that time is coming to an end. Though Moore will not be a member of the U.S. Senate, Democrats plan to make sure that he is not forgotten as the country moves into the midterm election season. Alabama soundly rejected the new Republican Party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump and their toxic agenda, Sen. Chris Van Hollen chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement after media organizations projected Jones the winner. President Trump, Republican Senate candidates and the Republican National Committee showed us exactly who they are by standing with Roy Moore and we will make sure voters do not forget it. As it happens, Lyndon B. Johnson was also talking about Alabama 52 years ago, when he said: At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in mans unending search for freedom. It is too early to know what kind of significance history will attach to the pivot point that a special election for a Senate seat in that state represents in a 21st-century civil rights struggle. But it does indicate that forces beyond the pull of party loyalty and ideology still have the power to shape the state of politics and potentially society itself. Read more about: SHARE: By now the misery that engulfs the lives of Burmas Rohingya people is well-documented, despite every effort by that country to prevent the world from knowing their fate. Indeed, the United Nations now considers the Rohingya to be the most persecuted minority in the world. Theres little reason to question that. About 645,000 Rohingya have been living in unsanitary conditions with little food in camps in Bangladesh since they began fleeing Burma on Aug. 25. Alarmingly, they are the lucky ones. After all, they escaped with their lives from what the Burmese army euphemistically called clearance operations the systematic rapes, murders and burnings of their homes and villages. What is to be done? Condemnations are not enough, as Human Rights Watch and 80 other NGOs warned the UN Security Council in a joint appeal on Tuesday. Instead, they called for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo against Burmas military and target sanctions against officers responsible for crimes against humanity. Canada, too, can step up pressure on Burma. Though it already has an arms embargo in place, it can do more. Indeed, in November Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told the Stars editorial board that she was considering targeted sanctions against Burmas leaders. That would be a good place to start. Still, despite Burmas ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, Canada has no immediate plans to hold Burmese leaders to account. Instead, Freelands spokesman said on Tuesday Canada would simply continue to explore all possible options at our disposal, including targeted sanctions, to contribute to ending this tragic persecution. That falls short. While Canada is exploring options, the situation for the Rohingya grows more dire. For example, an agreement between Burma and Bangladesh to permit them to return home starting Jan. 23 leaves the refugees between a rock and a hard place. As Human Rights Watch points out, the agreement contains insufficient guarantees that return at this time can be informed, safe and voluntary. Nor is it clear that Burma will actually allow the Rohingya to return, despite the agreement. It is requiring documentation of prior residence, something many who escaped with just the clothing on their backs may not have. And once they are returned, it seems they will be contained in camps. Worse, perhaps, is the fact the agreement suggests Rohingya still fleeing ethnic cleansing might not be able to get out. The agreement expresses Burmas commitment to take necessary measures to halt the outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh. Staying is not an option while the military operations against the Rohingya are still ongoing. On Tuesday the Associated Press reported on the vicious gang rapes of women and girls as young as 9, many of whom witnessed the murders of their husbands and male relatives. AP says their accounts bolster the UNs accusation that the Burmese armed forces are employing rape as a calculated tool of terror against the Rohingya. That is something the Burmese government denies. Still, though she has not publicly lifted a finger to protect the Rohingya, Burmas civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, once admitted that Burmas armed forces used rape as a weapon against ethnic nationalities. Though Canada could do more to hold the Burmese government to account, it has done much to help the Rohingya. In November it committed $35 million over five years to help Bangladesh address the needs of women and girls among the enormous influx of refugees. And it named former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae as a special envoy to get a first-hand view of the crisis and report back on solutions. Rae told the Star on Tuesday he will be releasing his interim report soon and it will deal with the issues of impunity and accountability. His report cant come soon enough. The world must stand up to Burma and end the suffering of the Rohingya. Canada should lead the way. SHARE: The legalization of marijuana promises to provide governments with a tidy little windfall. Thats the dirty secret the countrys finance ministers didnt want to talk about when they were cutting up the cash this week. But its true. To hear the provinces talk, youd think legalized cannabis would be nothing but a drain on their revenues. They complain that the legal pot regime will be more costly to police than the current illegal one without exactly explaining why. For instance, its not clear, in the short run at least, that there will be any more stoners careering along the highways than there are now. Statistics Canada estimates that roughly 12 per cent of Canadians over the age of 14 have smoked weed at least once in the year. But governments insist that their motives are not sullied by the desire to obtain filthy lucre from what is predicted to be a booming new industry. Our priority is not revenue, New Brunswick Finance Minister Cathy Rogers said Monday following a meeting in which Ottawa agreed to give the provinces 75 per cent of any excise taxes it collects on pot sales. Provinces will also be able to levy HST or GST. For a while, governments wont be rolling in riches. Partly, thats because there will be start-up costs. Ontario, for instance, has chosen to have a public monopoly on the sale of marijuana. That means it must build or rent retail outlets. But largely, its because governments will be deliberately offering weed at prices low enough to drive illegal competitors out of business. Think of it as a form of predatory pricing. Over time, governments can expect to do well from legalizing this particular vice. Colorado, the first U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana, saw its pot revenues more than triple in three years, The Parliamentary Budget Office has calculated that tax revenues from marijuana, while modest initially, will rise for three reasons. First, the cost of producing cannabis is expected to fall significantly as new legal growers exploit economies of scale. This will give governments more room to hike taxes without raising prices. Second, overall cannabis sales are expected to rise as new, weed-laced products, such as hash brownies, come on the market. Third, the market is expected to grow as users opt for the standardized quality that legal producers can offer. The end of Prohibition, for instance, put many moonshine distillers out of business. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa says he expects tax revenues from cannabis sales to rise quite substantively over time. Id bet hes right. Marijuana is unlikely to outweigh, say, personal income taxes as a source of government revenue. But history suggests that so-called sin taxes can still produce significant sums. Ontario, for instance, already nets more than $6 billion annually from gambling, tobacco and alcohol. Politically, however, the real advantage of sin taxes is that they allow governments to play a double game. They can decry an activity even as they profit from it. Tobacco smokers are already familiar with this gambit. Marijuana smokers should ready themselves for it. Indeed, the entire rollout of the federal governments marijuana strategy has been an exercise in curious rhetoric. The strategy began life as a libertarian pitch by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau to demonstrate he was hip with the times. Why criminalize a widespread activity that is arguably no more harmful than drinking alcohol? But once Trudeau became prime minister, his pot strategy was miraculously redefined as a way to protect children from the depredations of drug dealers. Just why allowing adults to legally buy marijuana would help to keep it out of the hands of children was never satisfactorily explained. But that didnt seem to matter. Left out of this ever-changing story was the money. The sale of hallucinogens is a big and profitable business. Companies want the legal right to exploit it. And governments want a cut of the action. Thats what this weeks finance ministers meeting was about. Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. SHARE: Bank of Hawaii Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Hawaii that provides various financial products and services in Hawaii, Guam, and other Pacific Islands. It operates in three segments: Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; residential mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, automobile loans and leases, personal lines of credit, installment loans, small business loans and leases, and credit cards; private and international client banking, investment, credit, and trust services to individuals and families, and high-net-worth individuals; investment management; institutional investment advisory services to corporations, government entities, and foundations; and brokerage offerings, including equities, mutual funds, life insurance, and annuity products. This segment operates 54 branch locations and 307 ATMs throughout Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, and a customer service center, as well as through online and mobile banking. The Commercial Banking segment provides corporate banking, commercial real estate loans, commercial lease financing, auto dealer financing, and deposit products. It offers commercial lending and deposit products to middle-market and large companies, and government entities; commercial real estate mortgages to investors, developers, and builders; and international banking and merchant services. The Treasury and Other segment offers corporate asset and liability management services, including interest rate risk management and foreign exchange services. Bank of Hawaii Corporation was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Arch Resources, Inc. produces and sells thermal and metallurgical coal from surface and underground mines. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated seven active mines. It also owned or controlled primarily through long-term leases approximately 28,292 acres of coal land in Ohio; 952 acres of coal land in Maryland; 10,095 acres of coal land in Virginia; 306,033 acres of coal land in West Virginia; 81,470 acres of coal land in Wyoming; 234,543 acres of coal land in Illinois; 33,047 acres of coal land in Kentucky; 362 acres of coal land in Montana; 248 acres of coal land in Pennsylvania; and 19,018 acres of coal land in Colorado, as well as smaller parcels of property in Alabama, Indiana, Washington, Arkansas, California, Utah, and Texas. The company sells its products to utility, industrial, and steel producers in the United States, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. The company was formerly known as Arch Coal, Inc. and changed its name to Arch Resources, Inc. in May 2020. Arch Resources, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The following companies are subsidiares of Roper Technologies: AC Analytical Controls B.V., AC Analytical Controls Holding B.V., AC Analytical Controls Services B.V., Abel Pump, Acton Research, Acumen PM LLC, Aderant Canada Company, Aderant Company, Aderant Holdings Inc., Aderant International Holdings LLC, Aderant Legal (UK) Limited, Aderant Legal Holdings (AUS) Pty Ltd, Aderant Legal Holdings (NZ) ULC, Aderant Legal Holdings Inc., Aderant North America Inc., Aderant Parent Holdings Inc., Advanced Sensors Limited, Advanced Sensors Ltd., AiCambridge Ltd., Alpha Holdings of Delaware I LLC, Alpha Holdings of Delaware II LLC, Alpha Technologies B.V., Alpha Technologies GmbH, Alpha Technologies Japan LLC, Alpha Technologies Services LLC, Alpha Technologies U.K., Alpha Technologies s.r.o., Alpha Trust Corporation, Alpha UK Holdings LLC, American LegalNet Inc, Amot Controls Corporation, Amot Controls GmbH, Amot/Metrix Investment Company Inc., Amphire Solutions Inc., Amtech Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, Amtech Systems LLC, Amtech World Corporation, Antek Instruments, Archisnapper BV, Ascension Technology Corporation, Assureweb Limited, Atlantic Health Partners Inc., Atlas Database Software Corp., Avitru, Bellefield Systems, BillBlast, C/S Solutions Inc., CBORD Holdings Corp., CBORD Holdings Corporation, CIVCO Holdings Inc., CIVCO Medical Solutions B.V., Centurion Research Solutions LLC, Chalwyn Limited, Civco Holding Inc., Civco Medical Instruments Co. Inc., Clackamas Pump LLC, CliniSys Group, CliniSys Group Limited, Clinisys Scotland Limited, Clinisys Solutions Limited, Cointec Ingenieros y Consultores S.L., Commerce Pump LLC, Compressor Controls (Beijing) Corporation Ltd., Compressor Controls Corporation B.V., Compressor Controls Corporation Middle East, Compressor Controls Corporation S.r.l., Compressor Controls LLC, Compressor Controls Mauritius Ltd., Compressor Controls Pty Ltd., Compressor Controls Saudi Arabia LLC, ComputerEase Software, ConceptShare, ConstructConnect, ConstructConnect Canada Inc., ConstructConnect Inc., Cornell Pump Company, DAT Solutions LLC, DATSolutions Private Limited, DCMH Group Holdings Inc., DCMH Group Holdings LLC, DCMH Holdings Inc., DI Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., DI Dutch Holdings LLC, DI Hong Kong Limited, Data Innovations, Data Innovations Canada Ltd., Data Innovations Cooperatief U.A., Data Innovations Europe S.A., Data Innovations LLC, Data Innovations Latin America Ltda, Dawning Technologies LLC, Deltek, Deltek Ajera Inc., Deltek Asia Pacific (HK) Limited, Deltek Australia Pty Ltd., Deltek Danmark A/S, Deltek France SAS, Deltek GB Limited, Deltek GmbH, Deltek Inc., Deltek Nederland B.V., Deltek Netherlands B.V., Deltek Norge AS, Deltek Sverige AB, Deltek Systems (Canada) Inc., Deltek Systems (Colorado) Inc., Deltek Systems (Philippines) Ltd., Deltek TNSCore Holdings LLC, Deltek WST LLC, Dominion I Inc., Duncan Technologies, Dynamco Inc., Dynamic Instruments Inc., Dynisco Enterprises GmbH, Dynisco Enterprises LLC, Dynisco Europe GmbH, Dynisco Holding GmbH, Dynisco Instruments LLC, Dynisco Instruments S.a.r.l., Dynisco LLC, Dynisco Parent Inc., Dynisco S.r.l., Dynisco Viatran LLC, Dynisco Viatran (M) Sdn Bhd, Dynisco-Viatran Instrument Sdn Bhd, EPSI, FMS Purchasing & Services Inc., FSI Holdings Inc., FTI Flow Technology Inc., Flow Technology, Fluid Metering, Fluid Metering Inc., Foodlink Holdings Inc., Foodlink Holdings Inc., Foodlink IT India Private Limited, Foundry, Foundry Visionmongers (Ireland) Limited, Freight Market Intelligence Consortium, Gatan, GeneInsight Inc., Getloaded Corporation, HRsmart Canada Inc., HRsmart France SAS, HRsmart Germany GmbH, HRsmart Inc., HRsmart International, HRsmart International Holdings LLC, HRsmart Mexico, HRsmart SA (Pty) Ltd., HRsmart Talent Management Solutions Europe Limited, HRsmart Ventures LLC, Handshake Software Inc., Handshake Software Inc., Hansco Automatisering B.V., Hansen Technologies, Hansen Technologies Corporation, Harbour Holding Corp., Hardy Process Solutions, Horizon Lab Systems LLC, Horizon Software International LLC, IDS, INPUT Inc., IPA Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., ISL Finance SAS, ISL Holding SAS, ISL Scientifique de Laboratorie - ISL S.A.S., Impact Financial Systems, Industrial Products Investment Company, Innovative Product Achievements LLC, Innovative Product Achievements LLC, Inovonics Corporation, Instill Corporation, IntelliTrans Limited, Intellitrans LLC, Intellitrans Sweden AB, JLT Mobile Computers Inc., Job Access LTDA, Laser App Inc., Link Logistics Holding LLC, Loadlink Technologies Corporation, Logitech, Logitech Limited, Lumenera Corporation, MASD, MED Professional Services LLC, MEDTEC Inc., MEDTEC LLC, MHA Long Term Care Network Inc., MHA Long Term Care Services Inc., MIPS Austria GesmbH, MIPS Deutschland GmbH, MIPS France Sarl, MIPS Nederland B.V., MIPS Schweiz AG, MIPS Software Iberica SL, MPR Readers Inc., Managed Health Care Associates Inc., Media Cybernetics L.P., Medical Information Professional Systems NV, Medina Acquisition LLC, Metrix Instrument Co. L.P., NDI Europe GmbH, NDI Holding Corp., Navigator Group Purchasing Inc., Neptune Technology Group (Canada) Co., Neptune Technology Group Holdings Inc., Neptune Technology Group Inc., Neptune Technology Group Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Neptune Technology Group Services Inc., Nippon Roper K.K., Northern Digital Inc., Omega Legal Systems Inc., On Center Software LLC, Onvia Inc., PAC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PAC Denmark ApS, PAC GmbH, PAC Instruments (Thailand) Company Limited, PAC Instruments Asia PTE. Ltd., PB Bidco Limited, PB Holdco Limited, PB Midco Limited, PB Topco Limited, PGP UK Limited, PMC/Beta, Petroleum Analyzer, Petroleum Analyzer Company L.P., Petrotech, Phase Analyzer Company Ltd., Photometrics, PowerPlan, PowerPlan Canada ULC, PowerPlan Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Inc., PowerPlan Intermediate Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Operations ANZ Pty Ltd, PowerPlan Operations Ltd., Princeton Instruments, Project Aloha Merger Sub Inc., Project Diamond Intermediate Holdings Corporation, Project Torque Intermediate Holdings Inc., Project Viking Holdings Inc., Project Viking Intermediate LLC, QSC 1208 Limited, QSC 1209 Limited, Quantitative Imaging Corporation, RF IDeas, RF IDeas Inc., RI Marketing India Private Limited, RIL Holding Limited, RMT Inc., RT Merger Sub Inc., Rebate Tracking Group LLC, Redlake Imaging Corporation, Resonant Software Inc., Roda Deaco Valve Inc., Roper Acquisitions Holdings Inc., Roper Brasil Comercio E Promocao De Productos E Servicos LTDA, Roper Canada Holdings LP, Roper Canada UK Limited, Roper Denmark UK Limited, Roper EUR Pte. Ltd., Roper Engineering s.r.o., Roper Europe GmbH, Roper GM Denmark Holdings ApS, Roper Germany GmbH, Roper Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Roper Holdings Limited, Roper IH LLC, Roper Industrial Products Investment Company, Roper Industries Denmark ApS, Roper Industries Deutschland GmbH, Roper Industries Inc., Roper Industries Limited, Roper Industries Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Roper Industries Mauritius Ltd., Roper Industries UK Limited, Roper International Holding Inc., Roper International Holding Limited, Roper International Holding SCS, Roper LLC, Roper Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.l., Roper Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Roper Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Roper Middle East Ltd. FZCO, Roper NL1 UK Limited, Roper NL2 UK Limited, Roper Operations Company I LLC, Roper Operations Company II LLC, Roper Pte. Ltd., Roper Pump Company, Roper Scientific B.V., Roper Scientific SAS, Roper Scot LP, Roper Singapore Holding LLC, Roper Southeast Asia LLC, Roper Swiss Finance GmbH, Roper T1 LLC, Roper T1000 Corp., Roper T2 LLC, Roper Tech. Middle East Ltd. FZCO, Roper Technologies (Ireland) Limited, Roper Technologies (Scot) LP, Roper UK Investments Limited, Roper UK Ltd., Roper-Mex L.P., Ropintassco Holdings L.P., SHP Group Holdings Inc., SIRA LLC, Shanghai Roper Industries Trading Co. Ltd., Sinmed Holding International B.V., Societe de Distribution de Logiciels Medicaux, SoftWriters Inc., Softwriters Holdings, Softwriters Holdings Inc., Sohnar Pty Ltd, Star Purchasing Services LLC, Strata Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., Strata Decision Technologies LLC, Strata Decision Technology LLC, Strata Parallel II Inc., Strategic Healthcare Programs Blocker 2 Inc., Strategic Healthcare Programs Blocker LLC, Strategic Healthcare Programs Holdings LLC, Strategic Healthcare Programs Holdings LLC, Strategic Healthcare Programs L.L.C., Struers, Struers (Shanghai) International Trading Ltd., Struers A/S, Struers GmbH, Struers Inc., Struers K.K., Struers Limited, Struers SAS, Sunquest Europe Limited, Sunquest Holdings Inc., Sunquest Information Systems (Europe) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (India) Private Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (International) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems Inc., Sunquest Information Systems Pty Ltd, TLP Holdings LLC, Team TSI Corporation, Technolog Group Limited, Technolog Holdings Limited, Technolog Holdings Ltd., Technolog Limited, Technolog SARL, The CBORD Group Inc., The Foundry Topco No.2 Limited, The Foundry USCo Inc., The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd., The Tidewater Healthcare Shared Services Group Inc., The Washington Management Group Inc., Torque Acquisition Holdco Inc., Transcore Atlantic Inc., Transcore CNUS Inc., Transcore Holdings Inc., Transcore ITS LLC, Transcore LP, Transcore Nova Scotia Corporation, Transcore Partners LLC, Trinity Integrated Systems Limited, Trinity Integrated Systems Ltd., UHF Purchasing Services LLC, Union Square Software (International) Limited, Union Square Software Inc., Union Square Software Limited, Union Square Software Pty, United Controls Group Inc., Uson L.P., Uson Limited, Utilitec Limited, Utilitec Services Limited, Utility Data Services Limited, Verathon Canada Holdings Inc., Verathon Holdings (Delaware) Inc., Verathon Inc., Verathon Inc., Verathon Medical (Australia) Pty Limited, Verathon Medical (Canada) ULC, Verathon Medical (Europe) B.V., Verathon Medical (France) SARL, Verathon Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Verathon Medical (Japan) K.K., Verathon Medical (UK) Ltd., Vertafore, Vertafore Canada Inc., Vertafore Inc., Vertafore India Private Limited, Viastar Services LP, Viatran Corporation, WELIS, Walter Herzog GmbH, WorkBook APAC Ltd., Workbook Software A/S, Zetec (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zetec Canada Ltd., Zetec France, Zetec Inc., Zetec Korea Inc., Zetec Services Inc., iPipeline, iPipeline (TCP) Limited, iPipeline Canada Inc, iPipeline Co. Ltd., iPipeline Holdings Inc, iPipeline Inc, iPipeline Limited, iSqFt Holdings Inc., iSqFt Parent Corporation, iSqFt Sub Inc., iTradeNetwork Inc., and mySBX Corporation. Read More Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electric utility, banking, and renewable/sustainable infrastructure investment businesses in the state of Hawaii. It operates in three segments: Electric Utility, Bank, and Other. The Electric Utility segment engages in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai. Its renewable energy sources and potential sources include wind, solar, photovoltaic, geothermal, wave, hydroelectric, municipal waste, and other biofuels. This segment serves suburban communities, resorts, the United States armed forces installations, and agricultural operations. The Bank segment operates a community bank that offers banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses, including savings and checking accounts; and loans comprising residential and commercial real estate, residential mortgage, construction and development, multifamily residential and commercial real estate, consumer, and commercial loans. This segment operates 42 branches, including 29 branches in Oahu, 6 branches in Maui, 4 branches in Hawaii, 2 branches in Kauai, and 1 branch in Molokai. The Other segment invests in non-regulated renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure in the State of Hawaii. Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. was incorporated in 1891 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Albany State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has prevailed in a two-year effort to get fossil fuel titan ExxonMobil to study how efforts to reduce man-made climate change might affect the company's business prospects. The company agreed to a shareholder proposal first sought by DiNapoli and the Church of England in December 2015, and which the company initially tried to scuttle by blocking a vote by its shareholders, a move that was rejected by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2016. In May 2016, a vote was held at the company's annual meeting, with 38 percent of shareholders voting in favor of it. DiNapoli and the Church of England refiled the proposal this year. Another vote was held in May 2017 , when nearly two-thirds of votes supported having the company analyze the fiscal implications of climate change regulations being proposed under the Paris Accord, an international voluntary agreement to limit global temperature increases to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. "ExxonMobil's adoption of greater climate analysis is a win for shareholders and for the company's ability to manage risk," said DiNapoli. "Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our pension fund's long-term value. Exxon's decision demonstrates that investors have the power to hold corporations accountable and to compel them to address our very real climate-related concerns." DiNapoli said the state will "continue to monitor Exxon's response to climate change as we urge the company, and others in the energy sector, to find ways that they can adapt to the growing lower carbon economy." In a one-page letter written to DiNapoli on Monday, Exxon Vice President Jeffrey Woodbury said the company decided to do the analysis after seeking "input from a number of parties, such as the proponents and major shareholders." He said the report "will include energy demand sensitivities, implications of two degree Celsius scenarios, and positioning for a lower-carbon future. The risk of climate change is an important matter and one that requires thoughtful and objective engagement across society. Thank you for your ongoing engagement on this subject and we look forward to further discussions on this as well as other matters." BALLSTON SPA - A Malta man who admitted to rape and sexually assault of boys, girls, toddlers and teens, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Wednesday. Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III imposed the sentence after Marshall G. Gaudet, 31, whom Murphy said was so dangerous he should never be allowed to leave prison because this is one of the most "bone-chilling, disgusting, nauseating and angering case of sexual perversion" that he has seen. "There is not a person that exists that you are not a danger to. There is a 100 percent chance you will re-offend. No one is safe from you." The sentencing follows Gaudet's October guilty plea to the felony charges of predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree rape and two counts of possessing a sexual performance of a child. Four victims helped to convict Gaudet, but as the county Assistant District Attorney Michele Schettino said in court, Gaudet had many other victims. He cataloged his rapes and assaults in 20,000 images and videos that he kept in a storage unit. His favorites were copied on all of his electronic devices in folders titled "want more of" or "good stuff." The images dated as far back as 2004. "He not only sexually assaulted and raped his victims, but he sought to memorialize it by going back to look at them again and again," Schettino said. Gaudet was arrested in August 2016 after one of his victims came forward. He stole her phone when she put it down in a 5 Below store where he worked. He hacked into her phone and then threatened to expose the images he found if she would not meet him. She went to the police instead. At the time of the arrest, Saratoga County Sheriff's Office searched Gaudet's Malta address at Cottonwood Court and found images of at least 20 victims, some living as far away as Kansas and Texas. They also found that Gaudet downloaded a handbook on how to be a sexual predator and not get caught. Gaudet lured young girls on Facebook with the name of Josh Rivers. Pretending to be an adolescent or teen, he asked them to send pornographic images of themselves. When they wanted to stop cooperating, he threatened to expose the victims. He also raped a toddler, whose parents Gaudet knew, over a 2 1/2 year period. In July 2015, he also raped a 16-year-old girl who came to his house. All of these incidents Gaudet captured on video. Last February, Gaudet was accused in a 55-count indictment of creating child pornography using multiple child victims from 2013 to 2016. He also faced more than 10 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and more than 25 counts of possessing a sexual performance of a child. Gaudet pleaded guilty a week before the 55-count indictment was to go to trial, county District Attorney Karen Heggen said. One of the four victims read a statement in court and called what he did to her sickening. His act made her afraid to go into public because he knew where she lived and where she went to school. Schettino read statements from the other victims including the 16-year-old rape victim who said, "You left me feeling disgusted and scared. It's my body and you had no right to do what you did to me." In asking for the maximum sentence, Schettino said "predator and monster are too gentle of terms for you. You are the definition of danger. You victimized everyone and anyone you could. Today ensures the victimization ends here." How many steps will it take to walk off Thanksgiving dinner? Study: You'd need to walk nearly 80,000 steps to walk off the calories associated with the 10 most popular Thanksgiving Day dishes. Jackson County UW-Extension will host Pesticide Applicator Certification sessions. The sessions will be held at the Jackson County UW-Extension office on Jan. 23 and Feb. 27. The training begins at 10 a.m. until noon, with the open-book exam to follow. The training fee of $30 includes materials and certification with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Reservations are required and space is limited. Contact the Jackson County UW-Extension office with questions or reservations at 715-284-4257. Judging by what you might have read online, you'd think the world was about to end with the imminent rollback of existing net neutrality rules, due for a vote by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) on Dec. 14. (Image credit: Nednape Sopasuntorn/Shutterstock) The reversal would give "major corporations like Verizon and Comcast the power to block mobile apps, slow websites and even control which news outlets we can access," according to the ACLU. "Comcast, Verizon and AT&T ... want to gut FCC rules and then pass bad legislation that allows extra fees, throttling & censorship," said the digital-activist group Fight for the Future. The rule change "paves the way for an internet that works more like cable television, where wealthy insiders decide which speakers can reach a broad audience," warned the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Oh please. I oppose the FCC's proposal to reserve its 2015 decision reclassifying broadband as a utility, but the major internet service providers (ISPs) are not likely to change the way they do business as a result. They make tons of money under the existing rules, and they also made plenty of money before the rules were changed. "If the internet was not a terrible dystopia in 2014, there's not a ton of reasons to think that companies are going to do any of these awful things that they didn't seem to have any reason to do before," said Julian Sanchez, an analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute, on Wisconsin Public Radio last month. MORE: What Is Net Neutrality? Instead of getting angry about net neutrality, we should be outraged that we Americans pay more for broadband and have slower speeds than consumers in almost every other developed country. We should demand that the government force the major broadband ISPs (mostly, cable-TV companies) to open up their last-mile networks (the physical connections between customers' homes and ISP facilities) to competition to "unbundle local loops," in industry parlance. But such forced unbundling is unlikely to happen in the current political climate. The cable ISPs will fight such action tooth and nail, as it completely undermines their business model. "We should be outraged that we pay more for broadband and have slower speeds than consumers in almost every other developed country." So, as an imperfect substitute for local-loop unbundling, we can instead choose to let Verizon, AT&T, Google and other companies roll out technologies such as VDSL, satellite broadband and 5G fixed-wireless broadband to compete with the cable companies. Such moves are already underway, and they've even got support in Congress. They deserve our support. Why I'm neutral about net neutrality The quest for net neutrality is a well-intentioned distraction, a palliative half-measure aimed at preventing the stagnant U.S. broadband market from getting worse. It won't get us what we really need: faster speed and lower prices. No one can agree on what net neutrality exactly means. Are "fast lanes" allowed? Can companies "throttle" bandwidth-hogging consumers? It's like arguing about the shape of a cloud people make it look like whatever they want to see. Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor who came up with the phrase "net neutrality" 15 years ago while he was at the University of Virginia, wrote in his paper introducing the concept that "broadband carriers should not be allowed to discriminate in how they treat traffic on their broadband network." Most proponents (and opponents) of net neutrality would agree. But there's more. Wu's entire sentence for the above quotation: "Absent evidence of harm to the local network or the interests of other users, broadband carriers should not be allowed to discriminate in how they treat traffic on their broadband network on the basis of internetwork criteria." The first clause means that broadband ISPs should be able to throttle bandwidth hogs. If a customer needs more bandwidth, Wu argued in 2002, the customer can pay for more. Many of today's net-neutrality advocates might be disappointed with that interpretation. "The bright line between the open internet and the local ISP networks has been washed away." The second clause "on the basis of internetwork criteria" is even more relevant today than when Wu wrote it. In his paper, Wu drew a bright line between the open internet and the local, "last-mile" networks that broadband operators own and control. Broadband ISPs should "police what they own," Wu said, but they should not discriminate among the many forms and sources of content passing through their local networks on the way to consumers. Fifteen years out of date The problem is that, in 2017, the bright line between the open internet and the local ISP networks has been washed away. Today, Facebook, Netflix, Google and other large online content providers can bypass the open internet to get data more quickly to your ISP and to you. They can connect their own networks directly to your ISP's local network in a procedure known as "peering." They can also use a "content-delivery network," or CDN, to place servers caching their content geographically close to, or even within, your ISP's local network. When I watch a movie on Netflix, the video stream doesn't have to travel from California through a dozen different autonomous networks (the big blobs that make up the internet "backbone") to my living room in Brooklyn. Instead, it needs to travel only a few miles from a Netflix server that's near, or even inside, Time Warner Cable's local New York City network. This arrangement violates some definitions of net neutrality. It gives Netflix an advantage a "fast lane" over other streaming services that can't afford to pay for CDNs. And by hooking into that local Netflix server instead of reaching all the across the continent, the ISP is arguably discriminating in favor of one streaming service at the expense of others. (Image credit: Not necessarily the fast lane. Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock) But this arrangement also gives me what I want: faster speed without greater cost. Only the most bloody-minded net-neutrality proponents would argue that this is a bad thing. Most people would agree that peering and CDNs benefit the consumer. MORE: We've Already Squandered Net Neutrality And That's OK The mobile model It's that kind of consumer benefit that the FCC considered a couple of years ago when it chose not to penalize T-Mobile for "zero-rating" certain sources of video content over the company's mobile networks. Zero rating means that content from some providers in this case, Netflix, HBO and a dozen other big-name video providers doesn't count against a mobile customer's monthly data allotment. T-Mobile's plan discriminated against smaller video streamers, yet the FCC let it slide because it benefited consumers, at least in the short term. As technology-business analyst Ben Thompson pointed out in a recent blog post, this (plus T-Mobile's aggressive pricing) benefited consumers in the long term, too. T-Mobile gained lots of new customers, sparking a price war in the U.S. cellular market that led to plunging subscription costs and more cellular broadband data for consumers. That's exactly the kind of price war the U.S. home broadband market needs. "Increasing competition would not only have the same positive outcomes for customers that T-Mobile demonstrated," said Thompson in his blog post, "but would solve the (mostly theoretical) net-neutrality issue at the same time: The greatest check on an ISP is the likelihood of an unsatisfied customer leaving." Sadly, the competition isn't there yet. While American consumers can choose from among four big nationwide cellular carriers and half a dozen smaller ones, most consumers have only two choices for home broadband: a pricey but fairly fast cable-broadband provider and a cheaper but pitifully slow DSL provider. Fast fiber-to-the-home broadband, often provided by a telephone company, exists in some places as a third alternative, but its coverage is patchy and is likely to stay that way. My boss can get fiber at his house in New Jersey, but I can't get it in Brooklyn. (Image credit: Fiber-optic cable being rolled out in Europe. Credit: PHILIPIMAGE/Shutterstock) A decade ago, Verizon spent millions rolling out its Fios fiber-broadband service to several areas in the Northeast, but in 2010, stopped the expansion in favor of "filling in" territory the company already controlled. Google Fiber reached four cities, then stopped expanding a year ago. Only AT&T's expansion is continuing, bringing fiber broadband to more locations in California, the South and parts of the Midwest. A University of California, Berkeley, study found that AT&T's fiber coverage was rolling out primarily to wealthy communities. MORE: Could Net Neutrality Ruin the Internet? The accidental industry Cable companies got into the ISP business by a historical accident that shaped the entire broadband industry and led directly to the demand for net neutrality. In most developed countries, the telephone company's lines are the primary conduit to access the internet. The U.S. started that way too I remember having the Verizon guy install a second dial-up line in my apartment in 2000 so my wife and I could go online and use the phone at the same time. "Most consumers have only two choices for home broadband: a pricey but fast cable-broadband provider and a cheaper but slow DSL provider." But when American consumers started demanding broadband, the phone companies couldn't deliver. Their DSL connections were much slower than the cable companies' connections. (Even today, Verizon can't guarantee me more than 7 Mbps via DSL at my address, less than half what I get with Time Warner Cable.) The cable companies could deliver fast speeds because they had laid tens of thousands of miles of fat copper wires across the continental U.S. in the '80s and '90s as cable TV went from being a luxury to a near necessity. TV cable wasn't designed to carry two-way traffic, much less internet traffic, but it was quickly adapted to broadband delivery. Why the cable-TV model is a dead end for broadband This stopgap, jerry-rigged solution to the demand for widespread broadband access works just fine technically. The problem is that these accidental broadband ISPs still think like cable companies. Cable companies operate their television-transmission businesses on a local-monopoly basis. They got exclusive television-connection rights to specific towns and neighborhoods in deals made decades ago. There are no such exclusivity rights for broadband, but the costs to build out a competing last-mile broadband network infrastructure are enormous, which is one reason Verizon gave up on its fiber-network expansion. As a result, the ISP business can be pretty profitable for cable companies. "It's just very simple economics," Wu told The New York Times in 2014. "The average market has one or two serious internet providers, and they set their prices at monopoly or duopoly pricing." But once there's no more new territory left to seize, the only way to grow your business if you're a cable-TV operator is to keep raising your rates. Because your customers are captive and can't jump to a different cable-TV provider, you can get away with that every couple of years. Cable companies pay big cable channels like ESPN and Fox News a few bucks per subscriber per month for the right to carry the channels' signals. But when a cable channel is just starting out, it's the other way around it pays cable operators for "carriage" of its signals. So, if cable companies can charge some cable channels for carriage, why can't they charge Facebook or Netflix as well? Why can't they pick and choose which online services their customers can access? The rollback of net-neutrality regulations might make this possible. This nightmare scenario of internet-content packages basically, turning the internet into cable TV is what American broadband consumers are worried about. They don't want cable companies controlling what they can see and do on the internet. That's perfectly reasonable, but net-neutrality regulations may be the wrong solution. Let loose the lions of competition What if you could choose among six or eight different broadband providers and could easily switch from one to the other? That's the situation in many European countries and in South Korea. (For example, heres what you can get (opens in new tab) if you live near the American Embassy in London.) (Image credit: A small sample of your broadband choices in London. Credit: uSwitch Limited) Most of those countries didn't have quite the same level of cable-TV saturation we did, so broadband comes over phone lines as well as cable. Modern phone-line broadband can be very fast; the latest VDSL technologies match or surpass cable-broadband speeds. (The catch is that the VDSL customer often has to be less than a mile from the nearest switching station.) European and South Korean customers also pay less, often $30or $40 per month, compared to the $60 or $80 many American broadband customers pay. European governments forced the phone and cable companies to unbundle their local loops and open up their broadband lines to competing services, which then scrambled to offer customers the best deals. But, you may ask, what about that ISP in Portugal that offers different content packages for different kinds of apps, as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, tweeted about? That example is very misleading. The image Khanna forwarded shows the ISP's zero-rated mobile-data add-ons, not home broadband. Choose one of these app bundles, which is an optional supplement to your regular phone service, and those apps' data won't count toward your monthly mobile data usage. (If you check elsewhere on that ISP's website, you'll see that the company also offers a fiber-based gigabyte-speed home internet, TV and landline-phone bundle for only $70 per month, with no data limits.) "Wireless broadband will play an ever-larger role in broadband infrastructure." -- Peter Rysavy, president, Rysavy Research In the U.S., the government forced the telephone companies to unbundle their lines, too but only for dial-up. Remember EarthLink, MindSpring and NetZero? They were among several dial-up ISPs that used legacy phone-company lines. In a perfect world, every U.S. broadband customer could buy service from them as well as from the cable company. But in 2002, the FCC decided that broadband was a luxury, not a necessity, and classified it as an optional "information service" rather than as a "communication service" and a public utility. As a result, except in special cases, broadband providers were not obligated to open up their lines to competitors. The providers were only obligated to play by vague net-neutrality-ish rules. The FCC did belatedly reclassify broadband as a communication service in 2015, but only because Verizon persuaded a judge to nullify the existing weak net-neutrality rules. (That reclassification is what the FCC now plans to reverse.) But the FCC still didn't force broadband providers to open up their lines; it mandated only that they not block any internet content. Surprisingly, with a few exceptions, net-neutrality advocates have said little about the advantages of opening up broadband to free-market competition. It's the simplest and easiest way to make broadband cheaper and faster for consumers. The ISPs are probably happy that few U.S. customers have considered this issue and instead are worried about net neutrality. The future may be wireless So, absent local-loop unbundling, what could give us more broadband choice? Well, just this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon will roll out wireless home broadband service (opens in new tab) in a few cities next year. The service will be based on a "5G" fixed-wireless protocol (I'm using quotations because "5G" hasn't been officially defined) that delivers high-bandwidth broadband at short distances. Customers will have to place routers in windows within the line of sight of the transmitter, which can't be too far away. Prices haven't been announced, but they won't be cheap at first. "Wireless is coming up fast as a competitor, especially 5G in a few years that may have effectively greater bandwidth, because it has a vastly cheaper last-mile rollout to the home," Rob Graham, a networking and information-security expert based in Atlanta, told Tom's Guide. Verizon's not alone. Last year, Google bought Webpass, a company that beams wireless broadband to antennas atop apartment buildings, which then feed via Ethernet to residential units below. This service is already operating in several U.S. cities. And AT&T is testing its own fixed-wireless service. "Wireless broadband will play an ever-larger role in broadband infrastructure and number of broadband connections," Peter Rysavy, president of Rysavy Research LLC in Oregon, told Tom's Guide. "Challenges are formidable, but none of them are showstoppers, and all [are] resolvable as technology matures over the next several years." (Image credit: This could be real in a few years. Credit: Supparsorn/Shutterstock) Building out fixed-wireless broadband networks will cost less than laying copper cable or fiber-optic lines. Transmitters can be placed on tall buildings or phone poles, and there won't be a "last mile" to wire to the customer's home. Two U.S. senators, John Thune, R-South Dakota, and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, recently drafted legislation that would "fast track" rollout of 5G networks by cutting through local restrictions, in some cases mandating that mandatory local impact reviews regarding deployment of network infrastructure be completed in 90 days. And don't forget VDSL. It's ideal for cities the consumer can get very fast broadband over regular telephone lines as long as the company switching station is within half a mile of the customer's home. But like fiber, VDSL is not widely deployed. (This website can tell you what's available in your ZIP code.) Graham said VDSL is not ideal for many U.S. customers. "America is more spread out than Europe," he pointed out. But he said that for the free market to work, "you have to allow some differentiation of product among the broadband providers." "Net neutrality," Graham added, "strangles any attempt at differentiation." Rysavy pointed out that broadband from low-Earth-orbit satellites should also help shake up the market. A company called OneWeb plans to offer medium-speed (up to 50 Mbps) satellite broadband to rural areas beginning in 2019, and the private rocket-maker SpaceX plans a similar venture. "With the rise of 5G, as well as new LEO-satellite broadband services coming online in the next couple of years, broadband competition should increase, which will make the market competitive," Rysavy said. With luck (and government oversight that encourages new technologies), other companies will jump into the fixed-wireless business, too, breaking the cable monopoly. This will, hopefully, lead to a broadband price war, finally giving U.S. customers the fast, cheap broadband that other rich nations enjoy and making us forget we ever worried about net neutrality. Best Security Cameras A new Wisconsin law is a major expansion from a pact enacted in 2000 that allowed nurses licensed in one state to care for patients in another, according to a La Crosse nurse who submitted testimony supporting the legislation. It is a significant advance to have as many nurses as possible available, especially in emergencies, said Beth Smith-Houskamp, administrative chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System. The original interstate nurse licensure agreement, which Wisconsin joined in 2000, reduced regulations for nurses so their licenses in one state allowed them to practice in other states that belonged to the pact. But significantly fewer states participated in that agreement, compared with more than 25 in the new one, Smith-Houskamp said in an interview Monday. Gov. Scott Walker signed the legislation, Senate Bill 417, to enroll the state in the Enhanced Nurse License Compact Monday at Southwest Health in Platteville. Authors included State Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and state Reps. Nancy VanderMeer, R-Tomah, with bipartisan co-sponsorship from 97 other legislators. The nurses across our state are such a huge part of our communities in so many ways, and to be able to offer legislation that has such a positive impact for them and their profession is tremendously rewarding, VanderMeer said. The law also will help increase access to health care in rural communities, so this particular bill will have a vast impact for a large number of individuals, she said. One of those rural facilities is Tomah Memorial Hospital. The enhanced nurse licensure compact helps streamline the hiring process here at Tomah Memorial for nurses who apply for openings from other compact states, said Tomah Memorial Hospital chief nursing officer Tracy Myhre, MSN, RN. Were thankful to our state Rep. Nancy VanderMeer and the other legislators who worked so quickly to get this legislation put together. The end result will be quality nursing care for our patients. Myhre said the legislation is also beneficial for telehealth services that are offered at Tomah Memorial. The new law, which will take effect on Jan. 19, includes Iowa but not Minnesota because the Gopher State has not opted to join the agreement. As a result, nurses at Gundersen, Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare and other medical facilities in Wisconsin can treat patients in Iowa, and vice versa, but not Minnesota, said Smith-Houskamp, who submitted her written testimony on Oct. 17 on behalf of Gundersen and its more than 1,600 nurses. Instead of requiring a Wisconsin nurse who wanted to cross over to Iowa to obtain licensing in the Hawkeye State, the Wisconsin license would be recognized, she said. Licensing normally takes anywhere from three to eight weeks and costs $86, a fee that is expected to rise in January, she said. This bill is a common sense, modernization of our statutes to provide security, stability and portability for licensed nurses in Wisconsin, said Marklein, whose district borders Iowa. It is important to our nurses who work in other states and for the institutions providing care for our citizens. Appreciation for the law also came from Mayo Clinic Health System. Licensing across state borders gives flexibility to nurses and health care organizations to meet the needs of their patients while keeping high-quality health care in local communities, said Jason Fratzke, chief nursing officer of Mayo Clinic Health System Southwest Wisconsin. In addition to direct care, the law facilitates other nursing services, such as virtual care through telemedicine, as well as situations in which a nurse in one state might be providing advice to a patient in another jurisdiction, Smith-Houskamp said. Although there are times when day-to-day license fluidity comes in handy, such as for a 19-county system like Gundersens, the expansion would be especially helpful in emergencies, Smith-Houskamp said. She cited the need for nurses to provide medical care in Houston, Texas, and other southern cities after Hurricane Harvey raked the Gulf Coast in August. The Wisconsin Health Association also lauded the legislation, noting its potential to affect 112,000 nurses statewide. This is one of the most quickly adopted laws Wisconsin has had, Smith-Houskamp said. Were thankful that the legislative process moved so quickly to help patients, nurses and our institutions. Physicians experienced a similar breakthrough in April, when the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact took effect after five years of lobbying, negotiations and rules drafting among health systems and states. Also referred to as license portability, that pact allows doctors who have navigated the time-consuming and costly process of obtaining a license in one state to get one in another state through the compact without having to repeat the same drill. Unlike the nurse agreement, though, the doctor pact also applies to physicians with Minnesota licenses. That law also had strong support from Gundersen and Mayo-Franciscan because of their multi-state operations. Tomah Journal editor Steve Rundio contributed to this story. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. The last couple times we went it was low season so our room was very cheap. We usually stay at cocolapalm. You can get a room there for as cheap as $89 a night it's a basic room. Or you can upgrade to a suite for $200 a night. They're also rooms in between that price. When I Stay High season I get the basic standard room. When I stay low season I upgrade to a nicer room. We have our driver stop at the grocery store and we get some red stripe, sodas, and snacks for the room. We take a collapsible cooler and take our drinks down to the beach. We eat the free breakfast at cocolapalm. If you want to upgrade to omelettes French toast it is a minimal charge probably $5. Usually leave a couple hundred dollars on a credit card at the hotel so if we decide to go to the snack bar or we want a blended drink we just go up and give our room number and get the drink. So the only time we need to carry cash is if we walk down to a few beach bars. Usually around noon or 1 will start heading down the beach to explore we usually carry a couple red stripes with us. We do stop at some little beach bars because that's the fun of it. The small beach bars are very reasonable for their red stripe. We try to avoid getting drinks at places like Margaritaville that are expensive. For lunch we usually grab a Patty from the Patty man. Sometimes I'll get a lobster for $10 from The Lobster Guy. Other times we'll split a jerk chicken meal. For dinner we usually do a couple nice dinners on the cliff. They pick you up for free. And a nice dinner on the cliff cost about the same that a nice dinner at home does. A few nights we do something more basic. We love the jerk chicken pizza at chances so I'll walk down and get a pizza. We usually have leftovers so we can warm that up the next day for lunch. It's just a different experience like I said I don't think it really cost a lot more in the end. You could go for nice dinners every night and have it cost more or you could do basic dinners like the pizza and jerk chicken meals and have it cost less. I think if you're the type that likes to do a lot of excursions it's a good way to go. I have to admit I eat twice as much and drink twice as much when I stay at an all-inclusive. For me I love to explore I like to sit at the little beach bars talk to the locals. I also love the different atmospheres of all the restaurants up on the clips it's just a different experience. I will say you don't have the entertainment at your Resort at night if you're not one to partake in that and you go to bed early you wouldn't miss it. If you want entertainment in the evening you have to walk down the beach to wherever the live reggae show is. That could be a deal-breaker for some people too Hi Zeezer, We did a similar itinerary (with all of the places that you mention over 6 weeks from mid March to the end of April this year). The only extra we had was a drive from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to Kangaroo Island. I think 4 weeks is really rushed for all of your destinations. Our route was Sydney > flight to Tasmania > flight to Melbourne > drove Great Ocean Road & ferry to Kangaroo Island > ferry/drive to Adelaide > flight to Uluru > flight to Darwin > flight to Cairns (stayed in Port Douglas.) For your itinerary, suggest 5 or 6 nights between Sydney & Blue Mountains, 10 nights Tasmania, 3-4 nights Kangaroo Island, 3 nights Uluru (longer if you're driving one way between AS & Uluru), 5 or 6 nights Port Douglas. If you end up with an extra 4+ days, you could spend a day in Melbourne and a couple of days for the Great Ocean Road (return to Melbourne to fly to Adelaide or KI). To include Darwin, Kakadu, Nitmiluk and Litchfield, an extra 6 days would be good. I arranged our domestic flights with different airlines (Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar) depending on which had the best route/pricing for where we were going. (I use google flights.com for comparison and book directly with the airline.) For car rentals - compare rates on https://www.vroomvroomvroom.ca/ (you can book thru them or directly with the agency). We also used Apex in Cairns (they have agencies in other cities as well - https://www.apexrentals.com.au/ .) We had good weather in Tasmania in March, same with Melbourne, GOR, Kangaroo Island & Uluru in April. It was also great weather in Cairns/Port Douglas/Cape Tribulation, Daintree (late April) - but as mentioned, it's stinger season so you're limited to swimming in netted areas at the beach and if you do a GBR snorkel tour, the tour operator will provide you with a stinger suit. We had no regrets going during stinger season - it's a quiet time in that area, so accommodation prices are more affordable. Kakadu weather was OK in mid April this year, but we missed seeing some places because water levels were still high. You can rent a car and explore on your own on KI - Flinders Chase NP is a good place to see wildlife, and a tour at Seal Bay Conservation Park is well worth it too. We stayed in a lot of places that had kitchens or kitchenettes - great for preparing breakfast, lunches and simple dinners (a good way to economize on food costs, and we enjoy the convenience and healthier aspect of it as well.) We are also in our 60's and enjoy hiking/being active on our holidays. I think you'll really enjoy Australia! Hello. I am a last year medical school student from Slovenia but with italian citizenship and italian passport. I will travel to Perth, Australia next March to perform a 4 week clerkship at the Royal Perth Hospital. So far, the info I got on the visas subcl. 600, 601, 651, we not accurate enought for my situation: I will go for studying purposes, I wont get payed, I will not do any practical work by my own, if not under the supervision of a mentor. I wonder which one of these 3 visas would be more appropriate, since the face that they seem to me quite similar (except for the fee). I guess that the subclass 651 would be more appropriate, since the fact that "... study in Australia for up to three months in some circumstances". I would like to know if these circumstances are referring to my kind of situation or not. I would like to know also if "provide services" in the statement "... do not work for or provide services to, a business or organisation" refers to having a practice as a medical student in a hospital. I hope I was clear enough and that I exposed well my issue. Cheers! ******Useful and Important Info re Covid Quarantine***** ******* What Happens when Testing Positive For Covid****** ****COVID-19 Information For Costa Rica - Includes 2022 Thread**** Tips on getting the most out of this forum Safety precautions to avoid crime? Why shouldn't I feed the monkeys and other wildlife? Beware of Parking Infractions Your License Plates May Be Taken. Water Safety in Costa Rica - Beware of Riptides What are the Entry requirements for Costa Rica? What options are there for travelling around Costa Rica? Everything you need to know about car rentals in Costa Rica I was involved in a car accident, now what? What kind of money should I use in Costa Rica? Are there ATMs? Where should we go? What can we do? Will we have fun? A collection of Trip Reports. Cell Phones in Costa Rica. What options? Is data available? Can I use my iPhone? I am coming to Costa Rica to see wildlife. Any Helpful tips? We are avid birdwatchers. What does Costa Rica have to offer? What to look for and consider when choosing a travel provider or tourist service? Tortuguero Turtle night tours What about medical attention while in Costa Rica? Smoking in Costa Rica. What are the laws? Can I and should I move to Costa Rica? A relocation reality check I hear Easter time - Holy Week is a busy time in Costa Rica. What should we expect? I want to bring home coffee. What should I buy? Where should I buy it? Dental Tourism - recommendations and advice How do I spend my time seeing what I want to to see instead of wasting it? Is there a Farmers Market near where I am staying? What are some memorable moments for travellers to Costa Rica? What 5 items are indispensable to you when traveling in Costa Rica? I guess it is unanimous! Too much time in the Manuel Antonio area. But it is still worth a few days of your time. I have been visiting there for almost thirty years, and have seen a lot of changes. But I still enjoy my visits there. I like a lot of what steverinoh mentioned. Particularly about Tortuguero. I do have to respectfully disagree that Monteverde are Arenal are similar. They are less than 20 miles apart as the crow flies. But the Continental Divide is between them, and there is an almost 5,000 foot difference in altitude. The ecosystems are completely different, and so is the climate. There are some similar activities, in that you can hike or zipline. But both regions are worth a visit, and you have the time to do so. One area that has not been mentioned, is Rincon de la Vieja. Beautiful area, with great hiking and adventure activities. This is a compound volcano. It has a slope. But the fun thing is the bubbling mud pits, and occasional natural hot springs that are scattered through the area. There are some more upscale hotels up there, including some with nice hot springs. And it is only a little over an hour from the Liberia airport. Great place to stay coming or going through Liberia. I'm not as big a fan of the Guanacaste beaches as others here are. Nothing wrong with that, there are some nice ones there. But I much prefer Manuel Antonio. Also not mentioned is Santa Teresa / Mal Pais. This is great beach area as well. Lots of locals, of course. But also lots of European expats that have opened restaurants. Great meals are always part of our travel experience. We have had some very memorable ones here. I'm happy to share some restaurant info, if you end up going there. This is also a major surfing destination. So the water can be turbulent, and you have to pick your swim spots. But the hotel reception staff can point you to the safer areas. There some cool rock formations that create nice tidal pools to poke around in at low tide. Good location for walking the beaches. They actually are all a little different here. I have a macro photo I took of the "sand" at a beach near Mal Pais. It isn't sand at all. It is actually millions of miniscule shells. Tiny. You really don't realize it until you zoom in with a good lens. Very cool. I hope this helps. Let me know if I can offer any further advice. Warm Regards, Pat Hewitt Costa Rica Travel Exchange I must say I am surprised about your view of the nightlife in the north. While Chiang Rai is quiet, I thought it i brilliant in Chiang Mai. I had some very good nights out there. Actually, the night life in most parts of Vietnam will be much more quiet, as often bars will close around midnight (they extended it in Hanoi though). THe big exception is HCMC, as the nightlife can be very very good. Though, in Vietnam the little places selling cheap beer are still more seen in Vietnam (and it is something I like). Personally, one thing I prefer in Vietnam are the people. Don't get me wrong, I met some lovely Thais during my visits there, but I find the Vietnamese more welcoming (and yes, in both countries you find plenty of scammers). I find them more curious as well. Vietnam has a lot of great scenery and activities like trekking, kayaking etc to offer. Though beaches and diving is certainly better in Thailand. IMO both countries can be easily travelled independant, so you find equally package tourists and other tourists in both countries. Overall it is a personal preference I guess, but I absolute fell in love with Vietnam, and while I enjoyed my stay in Thailand, I would choose Vietnam every time, even though I will have to deal with less exciting dive sites.... Oh, and March is a great month to visit both countries. In Vietnam the weather should be nice in the north, central and southern part of Vietnam. Hello! First time posting on TripAdvisor, and a big thank you in advance for reading this! I'm sorry for adding to the number of posts regarding pocket wifis and sim cards, but I have a few rather niche concerns that need addressing. First of all, I'll be in Japan for 17 days, will probably be live streaming parts of my trip, maybe all of it, and I have another person with me who also needs wifi (somewhat heavy to moderate user). This is my 4th trip to Japan, and I've used Sakura Mobile in the past and I was very happy with them, however this time I am in need of a lot more data than what they can provide. From what I can gather, the data necessary for live streaming, assuming I stream for most of trip, will be about 40-50 GB total (7MB/min, 10-12 hrs per day, equates to about 2-3 GB per day). Places I'll be visiting include big cities as well as places like Takayama/Shirakawago. So here are my questions: 1. Can anyone confirm that uploading data does indeed count for your data limit? I have Verizon in the US and it seems that when I live stream on my phone with it, the upload data does not count towards my data usage... 2. After browsing through tons of forums/reddit etc, I've narrowed my choices for pocket wifi down to these: GAC, Japan-wireless, Japan Wifi Buddy, Rental CDJapan. I've searched through this forum as well for specific reviews, but seems like other than GAC, the other three companies have rather few reviews and I'm not sure about their reliability. I'm willing to try them out though, as SakuraMobile had few reviews as well, but their reliability and stability was very good, so no complaints there. For GAC, I've read rather conflicting reviews, and my general impression of them is that either it works perfectly and beyond people's expectations, or it doesn't work at all. For those of you who have been on here a while, or have used those, I would highly appreciate your thoughts on which of these are the most stable/reliable. Links to sites with consolidated reviews on any of these other than their own website would be highly appreciated as well! If anyone has specific data on the speeds (both down and especially! up), it will be very helpful. Honestly, my main priorities are: stability/reliability, data caps, and lastly speed. I can deal with less speed, as long as the first two are met perfectly, and as long as it still allows me to stream (requires around 5-6mb up) which brings us to: 3. For unlimited data plans, Japan Wifi Buddy refuses to list a consumption value at which we could push Softbanks to limit our consumption, whereas the other three company lists specific values (5gb/day for GAC, 20gb/3 days for rental cdjapan etc). For the companies that list specific values, how reliable would you say that value is? If I stick to the consumption limits, can I be guaranteed by them that they will not throttle me? I just don't want to accidentally screw my vacation over by having my mobile wifi throttled and unusable for the rest of the trip if I go over it while streaming. 4.I am considering getting a B-mobile SIM card in addition to the pocket wifi listed above, just in case I get screwed by the pocket wifi, and I was wondering what people's reviews and experiences with the new 5GB/21 day plan is. I've seen some mentions of it on tripadvisor, but nothing much in regards to specific speeds, reliability, etc. I found 3 specific instances of speed data points on flyertalk forums, but nothing much beyond that. I know they have a horrible rep in the past due to their unlimited data, but their plans with specific amounts of data seem okay? I used a b-mobile SIM side by side with sakura mobile last year and it seems that b-mobile is at least just as reliable, if not faster sometimes than sakura mobile, but that's just simply anecdotal evidence, and I'm hoping that some of you guys on here who are more experienced with these can help provide an insight into this. If I were to get this as a backup plan, I would very much prefer a reliable source of wifi, so I would go with the Sakura Mobile if reviews seem bad. 5. After reading all of these, which pocket wifi would you suggest I get based on my needs, and do you think I REALLY need to get a backup SIM just in case? 6. If there are any Japanese websites that allow better unlimited plans for either SIM or pocket wifi, or if you have better alternatives to pocket wifi/sim cards, feel free to link them here! I know Rakuten has some really cheap unlimited mobile wifi for rent but I ruled them out as they only guaranteed something like 10gb/3 days, which is way too little for my needs. Thank you! --Oh one last note: Budget wise, I would prefer to spend at most around USD$100, though if there's a perfect solution that doesn't go too far beyond that budget, I'm willing to consider it :) 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. - President Uhuru Kenyatta has penned a letter to President John Pombe Magufuli following death of 15 Tanzanian soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - The 15 soldiers were reportedly killed on Thursday, December 7, by heavily armed militants while on peacekeeping mission in the DRC - Uhuru has condemned the killings and condoled with the families and friends of those who were killed in the brutal attack President Uhuru Kenyatta has sent an emotional message to his Tanzanian counterpart President John Pombe Magufuli following the brutal killing of 15 Tanzanian soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In a letter shared on his Facebook page on Sunday, December 10, Uhuru condemned the brutal killings and condoled with families and friends of the 15 Tanzanian soldiers. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens "The attack of the soldiers, who were serving the good cause of establishing sustainable peace in the DRC, was vile.The government of Kenya will stand with the government and people of Tanzania in seeking a peaceful and prosperous future for the region," Uhuru said. READ ALSO: Tabia 15 za kukera ambazo wakazi wa Nairobi hufanya wakifika mashinani President Uhuru Kenyatta: Kenya will stand with the government and people of Tanzania in seeking a peaceful and prosperous future for the region.Photo:The Standard. Install TUKO App To Read News For FREE Uhuru underscored the crucial role that the soldiers played in the region's peacekeeping mission and promised to continue working closely with President Magufuli's government in the ongoing efforts to restore stability in the DRC. READ ALSO: Magufuli skips Uhuru swearing-in ceremony, sends vice president Peacekeepers in the the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most of the casualties of the attack on the UN base were Tanzanian. Photo: Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images The 15 soldiers were reportedly killed in North Kivu region of the DRC on Thursday, December 7, by heavily armed militants while on peacekeeping mission. According to a report by The Guardian, over 50 solders were injured in the deadly attack that pitted local Islamist extremist group against the UN peace-keeping soldiers. READ ALSO: Tanzanians angry after Magufuli failed to attend Uhuru's swearing-in President John Magufuli: I am shocked to hear of the deaths of our young and brave soldiers and heroes who lost their lives carrying out their peace mission in the DRC.Photo:The Citizen While reacting to the assault, Magufuli expressed his shock and also condoled with the families of the Tanzanian soldiers who died in the line of duty. "I am extremely shocked to hear of the deaths of our young and brave soldiers and heroes who lost their lives carrying out their peace mission in the DRC," Magufuli said in a statement. READ ALSO: Police deny accusations of killing 7-year-old boy during NASA supporter's confrontation with police The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described the attack as the worst in the UNs recent history and a "war crime. Swearing in of Raila Odinga postponed - On Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke - Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, Wilson Sossion, has lost his position in the giant teachers' union - The government has gazetted him as one of the state officers who will cease to hold their influential positions in the unions - Sossion was nominated by ODM as an MP after the August 8 elections but he has continued to hold onto his position in KNUT - Other unionists in the gazette notice include Edward Kahiga and Tom Odege The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, Wilson Sossion, has lost his position in the union after government's move to stop State Officials from holding leadership positions in unions. The vocal union secretary general was notified through a gazette notice published on December 13, 2017 and signed by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the Ministry of East African Community (EAC), Labour and Social Protection, Phyllis Kandie. It is notified for the general information that the following persons being State Officers as per the provisions of Article 77 and 260 of the Constitution cease to hold office as trade union officials in their respective trade unions, the gazette notice stated. READ ALSO: Sossion makes a U-turn, takes oath despite rejecting Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the Ministry of East African Community (EAC), Labour and Social Protection, Phyllis Kandie.Photo:Facebook/Phyllis Chepkosgei Kandie Install TUKO App To Read News For FREE Also included in the gazette notice, besides Sossion, were Omboko Milemba, Edward Mutahi Kahiga,Tom Mboya Odege, Stanely Kiptis, Mulei Mwalowa, Ronald Tonui, Catherine Wambilianga, Florence Bore and Richard Cheserem. Sossion was nominated as an MP by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party after the August 8 polls but he has continued to hold onto his position in KNUT. READ ALSO: Picha za nyumba iliyojengwa kwa chupa za plastiki itakupendeza Kuppet chairman Omboko Milemba and KNUT assistant national treasurer Ronald Tonui won the Emuhaya and Bomet Central MP seats respectively. Just like Sossion, they have also continued to hold their positions in the unions. Current Nyeri Governor Kahiga, who took over from the late Wahome Gakuru who died in a road crash in Muranga, will also have to completely relinquish his position at KNUT where he served as executive secretary. Same goes to his counterpart Kiptis, the Governor of Baringo, who was also trade union official. READ ALSO: KCPE, KCSE exam dates will not change- CS Matiang'i The move to removal these officials from the unions could be seen as suspect as the late Kabete MP George Muchai served as Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) official without raising eyebrows. Raila Odinga wants the government to apologise to victims of police brutality - On Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke In this episode of Morning Edition, many have expressed concern over the path of some of our U.S. President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill on the $700 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2018, which foresees the allocation of $350 million in military aid to Ukraine, including lethal weapons. The signing ceremony took place in the White House on Tuesday, December 12, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "This historic legislation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to our men and women in uniform - the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. And we're making it a lot better than even that," Trump said in his speech before signing the law, calling it "extremely important" to the country. As reported, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved by both chambers of the U.S. Congress in early November. "The NDAA authorizes $350 million to provide security assistance to Ukraine, including defensive lethal assistance," reads the document. It specifies that the legislation restricts half of these funds until the Secretary of Defense certifies that Ukraine has taken substantial action to make defense institutional reforms critical to sustaining capabilities developed using security assistance. In general, the NDAA authorizes $4.6 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) to reassure NATO allies and enhance the U.S. deterrent and defense postures in Europe. In addition, it is planned to allocate up to $100 million from the European Deterrence Initiative to conduct or support a single joint program of the Baltic nations to improve their resilience against and build their capacity to deter Russian aggression. The document also authorizes to allocate $58 million for measures in response to the Russian violation of the INF Treaty. op Russian-backed militants launched 24 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. The enemy violated ceasefire in ATO area 24 times over the past day. As a result of the enemy shelling, Ukrainian soldiers were neither killed nor injured, the statement reads. In Luhansk direction, illegal armed formations used 152mm artillery to fire at Ukrainian positions near Vrubivka (72km west of Luhansk). The enemy also fired 82mm mortars on Ukrainian strongholds near Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk) and Popasna (90 km north-west of Luhansk). In Donetsk direction, Russian-backed militants launched attacks on Ukrainian strongholds outside Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk) and Talakivka (20km north-west of Mariupol), using mortars and infantry weapons. The enemy used 120mm mortars to fire at ATO troops near Pavlopol (30 km northeast of Mariupol), Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk) and Opytne (11.5km north-west of Donetsk). The enemy fired at ATO troops near Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk) from mortars of 120 mm caliber and launched attacks on ATO troops near Butovka coal mine from tanks. In addition, the militants shelled Ukrainian troops near Kamyanka (62km south of Donetsk) and Novotroitske (32km south of Donetsk), using grenade launchers and small arms. ish Canada should provide Ukraine with lethal weapons to increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian army to counter the Russian aggression. This is stated in a report prepared by the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on National Defense entitled "Canada's Support to Ukraine in Crisis and Armed Conflict," which was made available to Ukrinform. "We recommend the Government of Canada to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine to protect its sovereignty from the Russian aggression," the document reads. For this, Ukraine has to prove that it is "actively working to eradicate corruption at all levels of government." The members of the Committee also offer to include Ukraine into the so-called Automatic Firearms Country Control List that identifies the countries which the Canadian domestic producers supply with weapons. Now it includes 39 countries, including Botswana, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Colombia, but there is no Ukraine. ish No Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in hostilities in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day. Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a press briefing on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "There have been no losses among the Ukrainian soldiers in combat actions over the past day, Motuzianyk said. He also added that Russian-backed militants violated the Minsk agreements, using banned weapons, in particular mortars, tanks and heavy artillery. iy Canada has added Ukraine to the list of countries on the Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL). The corresponding decision has been published in the Canada Gazette, the official newspaper of the Government of Canada. "Once approved, this regulatory amendment of the AFCCL will add Ukraine to the list of countries that the Governor in Council deems appropriate to export certain prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons and prohibited devices, and their components or parts," the report reads. The corresponding decision comes into force on the day it is published. The AFCCL is an additional export control measure that is unique to Canada. Export of automatic firearms is prohibited from Canada unless the country of end-use is listed on the AFCCL. For the purposes of the AFCCL automatic firearms are certain prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons and prohibited devices, and components or parts of such items as defined in the Criminal Code. Examples of these items include fully automatic firearms, electric stun guns and large-capacity magazines. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan says that ongoing negotiations with the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair are coming to an end, as a new agreement with Boryspil Internarial Airport has been reached. I believe that Ryanair will enter the Ukrainian market, our negotiations are coming to an end. We have managed to find a consensus with Boryspil airport, as it was with Lviv airport, and the year 2018 will definitely be a year of cheap air transportation," Omelyan stated on Ukraine's Priamiy TV Channel. As Ukrinform earlier reported, Ryanair suspended negotiations with Ukraine in early July 2017 due to the lack of agreements with Boryspil International Airport. Later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that Ukraine would resume the negotiation process with Ryanair. iy Poland's leadership is open to proposals on the possibility of supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Ukraine, President Andrzej Duda has said. He said this at a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kharkiv on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We also talked [with Petro Poroshenko] about support for Ukraine through investments in the construction of gas interconnectors. I am glad that this investment task is being implemented and that there is close cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. We are open to the question of possible proposals from Ukraine regarding the supply of liquefied gas," Duda said. "On the one hand, we want to be a security provider, and, on the other hand, we also feel that building an interconnector strengthens our security and increases our trading and business opportunities. This is the essence of investments," he added. Poroshenko, in turn, said that Nord Stream 2 was a political project that threatens the energy security of the whole of Europe. "We are very grateful to Poland for a common position with regard to Nord Stream 2 - it poses a threat not only to the energy security of Ukraine or Poland, but also a threat to the energy security of the whole of Europe," Poroshenko said. At the same time, he expressed hope that the "joint voice" of Ukraine and Poland in this matter, along with partners from the EU and the U.S., would be "sufficiently effective" in further steps on energy security. The final date for commissioning a gas interconnector between Ukraine and Poland is 2022, but Poland hopes that it will start operating in 2020. According to Pawel Stanczak, head of PJSC Ukrtransgaz, the interconnector with Poland will enable Ukraine to become a gas hub. He recalled that a new gas interconnector between Ukraine and Poland would help increase gas transportation between the two countries to at least five billion cubic meters. op The State Emergency Service of Ukraine has issued warnings for mountainous areas in Zakarpattia, where possible avalanches are expected today. On December 13, a considerable (III) level of avalanche risk is expected in the Carpathian mountains. There is a danger of snow slide near roads, the State Emergency Service reported, referring to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Centers forecasts. ish Olena Zaitseva, a suspect in a deadly road accident in Kharkiv in which six people were killed, has admitted her guilt during a court hearing on the extension of a preventive measure. The press secretary for the Kharkiv regional prosecutor, Vita Dubovyk, told this to an Ukrinform correspondent. "In her speech, Zaitseva asked for forgiveness and stated that she would never drive a vehicle," Dubovyk said. According to Dubovyk, Zaitseva said at the hearing that she had never used drugs and that any substances found in her blood had been from the analgesics that she sometimes took because of a head injury in a road accident in her childhood. "The court extended the measure of restraint for Zaitseva in the form of detention in a detention center until February 14, 2018," Dubovik added. As reported, on October 18, in the center of Kharkiv, a Lexus car driven by 20-year-old Olena Zaitseva, moving at red light, collided with a Volkswagen Touareg. As a result of the collision, the Lexus moved to the sidewalk on Sumska Street and ploughed into 11 pedestrians, killing five of them on the spot. Six others, including a pregnant woman, were hospitalized. Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 3, Article 286 (violation of rules related to traffic or driving safety by drivers) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article foresees up to ten years in prison. Both suspects were arrested without the possibility of posting bail. op Ukrainian civic organizations have called on international and national human rights organizations to do everything in their power to prevent a dangerous precedent for the return of the Russian delegation to PACE. This has been said in a joint statement of Ukrainian civic organizations, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. We believe that the leadership of the Council of Europe, the member states and the members of PACE should do everything in their power to prevent a dangerous precedent for the return of the Russian delegation to PACE, reads the statement. In addition, Ukrainian civic organizations call on international and national human rights organizations to do their utmost to prevent the valuable surrender of the Council of Europe. It is not just that thanks to the Council of Europe this will be the first significant relaxation of sanctions against Russia for the war unleashed against Ukraine, in which people continue to die every day and more than five and a half million people are forced to live under occupation. But it will also give a free hand to other member states of the Council of Europe in jeopardizing the rights of millions of people who are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. Finally, it will become another point of no return in the process of converting the Council of Europe into a worthless simulacrum, reads the statement. As reported, the Russian parliament received an invitation, signed by President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), to send a Russian delegation to the Paris meeting - two parliamentarians from Russias State Duma and two from the Federation Council. Russias State Council decided to send Deputy Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky to Paris for consultations. As expected, the Russian officials at the meeting in Paris on December 14 will state on Russia's position regarding the Russian delegations participation in the Assembly. Ukrainian civic organizations call on#SaveCouncilEurope 1. The Council of Europe is a unique structure that has no analogues. First, it is the only intergovernmental organization that unites the whole "great Europe". Secondly, it was created to maintain a common space of values, rather than a common market or economic interests of participating countries. Therefore, it is based on three principles: human rights, rule of law and democracy. And thirdly, in addition to the value platform, the Council of Europe offers clear standards and mechanisms. Among them is the European Court of Human Rights, which has long been a sort of brand of international justice. Participation in the gentlemens club of the Council of Europe was a kind of a democratic sign of quality for the country. 2. It is now clear that a process of self-destruction has been launched in the Council of Europe, which is associated with the erosion of the value platform this organization was based on. This is manifested in the organization's tolerance for gross violations of human rights by individual states and the transformation of the gentlemens club into a cohort of countries, among which there are authoritarian regimes that frankly ignore the principles and rules of this club. This process can lead to the transformation of the Council of Europe into a kind of a hybrid institution that declares commitment to values, but does not consider it necessary to follow them in internal processes. 3. One of the manifestations of this self-destructive process is attempts to return to Russia voting rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which it was deprived of after the illegal annexation of Crimea. In recent years, the Council of Europe has adopted a series of resolutions on the illegal occupation of the Crimea and the commencement of hybrid warfare in Donbas. The Council of Europe urged Russia to release political prisoners, to stop the persecution of the Crimean Tatar people, to fulfill the Minsk accords, etc. Russia is clearly ignoring these requirements. The situation of human rights in the occupied territories is deteriorating. Despite this, there are persistent calls for the return of the Russian delegation and a corresponding vote at the PACE session in January 2018 is being prepared. The triumphant return is planned on the eve of the presidential election in Russia, which has long become a formality. 4. The reason for this possible valuable surrender of the leadership of the Council of Europe and a number of developed democracies is the threat of Russia leaving the Council of Europe and refusing to pay the budget until the Russian delegation returns the right to vote in the PACE. However, the best reasons to "preserve the unity of the organization", which are guided by the initiators of this process, actually lead to the opposite result. PACE Resolution 2132 (2016) states that "only substantial and measurable progress towards their [PACE requirements] implementation can form a basis for restoration ofa fully-fledged, mutually respectful dialogue with the Assembly". Russia has not fulfilled any one. Thus, if the Council of Europe closes its eyes to it, it willjeopardize the rights of140 million Russian population, because the Russian government will be finally convinced that the documents of the Council of Europe, and in particular the European Convention on Human Rights, are worthless. 5. In the face of blackmail and denigrating the values of the Council of Europe, the initiators of this process accelerate the process of its self-destruction and sow contempt in civil societies of different countries that are struggling for the standards of human rights proclaimed by the Council of Europe in conditions of constant pressure and persecution by authoritarian regimes. Consequently, there are a number of dangerous issues for the future: If the restrictions against Russia were imposed for a gross violation of international law, and these violations are still ongoing, then what is the basis for lifting these restrictions? If Russia can demonstrably fail to comply with the requirements of the Council of Europe, then what is the point in accepting Council of Europe documents? If the Council of Europe selectively provides to Russia the right not to comply with the requirements of the Council of Europe, does this mean that such behavior is allowed to other participating countries? If we lose the Council of Europe as an intergovernmental organization that takes care of the maintenance of human rights, the rule of law and democracy, then what is the need for this organization in the context of other regional initiatives and actors? We believe that the leadership of the Council of Europe, the member states and the members of PACE should do everything in their power to prevent a dangerous precedent for the return of the Russian delegation to PACE. We call on international and national human rights organizations to do their utmost to prevent the valuable surrender of the Council of Europe. It is not just that thanks to the Council of Europe this will be the first significant relaxation of sanctions against Russia for the war unleashed against Ukraine, in which people continue to die every day and more than five and a half million people are forced to live under occupation. But it will also give a free hand to other member states of the Council of Europe in jeopardizing the rights of millions of people who are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. Finally, it will become another point of no return in the process of converting the Council of Europe into a worthless simulacrum. Center for Civil Liberties Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group Centre for Global Studies 'Strategy XXI' Human Rights Expert Center Centre of Policy and Legal Reform Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiative Foundation Institute of Mass Information Monitors of National preventive mechanism "Ukraine without torture" Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union Lab for Democratic Transformations East Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives Human Rights Information Center Association of relatives of political prisoners of the Kremlin Liberal Democratic League of Ukraine Initiative E+ Women's anticorruption movement European movement of Ukraine Bilozerka center for regional development Center for Reform Support Crimean Diaspora Helsinki Initiative XXI Media Initiative for Human Rights Kharkiv Institute for Social Research DEJURE Foundation Regional Center for Human Rights Open Dialog Foundation Crimea SOS Crimean human rights group Ivano-Frankivsk`s regional organization "Moloda Prosvita" Luhansk oblast Human Rights Centre Alternative Centre "Women's Perspectives" Ukrainian Center for European Policy MART Euromaidan Press Transcarpathian community La Strada-Ukraine Club Dyvosvit JCI Kyiv Faith. Hope.Action Social Projects School iy Ukrainian MPs and Lithuanian friends of Ukraine during a visit to Washington jointly promote the programs of economic and investment support for Ukraine. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko informed this on Facebook. "During meetings at the U.S. Congress, Senate, Department of State, analytical centers, I focus on the security, humanitarian and environmental situation in the occupied Donbas and Crimea, on violation of human rights there. In turn, my colleagues together with our friends from Lithuania, in particular with Lithuania's former prime minister Kubilius, promoted the programs of economic and investment support for Ukraine - the so-called Marshall Plan," Herashchenko wrote. She adds that the meetings in Washington are very informative, and their unusual format involving Ukrainians and Lithuanians who understand Russia's cunning is mutually complementary. Herashchenko notes that there are a lot of issues about domestic situation, fight against corruption, and implementation of reforms. They all will be discussed during the meetings at the U.S. Congress and the Department of State tomorrow. ish Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has informed about agreements on the introduction of a joint customs control with Poland as an effective means to combat corruption and smuggling. He said this during a press conference with President of Poland Andrzej Duda in Kharkiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We have agreed at the intergovernmental level that we introduce a joint customs control as an effective means to combat corruption and smuggling. The sooner we do this, the better," he said. As reported, within the framework of a one-day visit, President of Poland Andrzej Duda met with President Petro Poroshenko in Kharkiv. ish The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has summoned the leader of the Movement of New Forces Party, Mikheil Saakashvili, for questioning on December 18 as a suspect in a criminal proceeding. The relevant notice was posted on the PGO's website on Tuesday. "Mikheil Nikolozovich Saakashvili, born on December 21, 1967, Kyiv, 7 Kostiolna Street, apartment No. 32, in accordance with the requirements of Articles 133, 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, you need to appear on December 18, 2017 at 09.30 at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine at the address: Kyiv, 13/15 Riznytska Street, room No. 1106B," reads the statement. The document states that prosecutor Dombrovsky intends to question Saakashvili as a suspect in criminal proceeding No. 42017000000004873 dated December 4, 2017, on the grounds of criminal offenses envisaged by Part 1, Article 15, Part 3, Article 28, Part 2, Article 256, Part 3, Article 28, Part 4, Article 110-2, Part 1, Article 15, Part 3, Article 28, Part 4, Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Ukrinform is trying to find out whether Saakashvili plans to appear for this questioning. op Canada should support international efforts on the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Ukraine on favorable terms for Kyiv. This is stated in a report prepared by the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on National Defense entitled "Canada's Support to Ukraine in Crisis and Armed Conflict," which was made available to Ukrinform. "The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada advocate for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ukraine that respects its territorial integrity," reads the document. In addition, deputies called for Canada's assistance to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. "The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada increase Canada's contribution to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, and consider including more women monitors," the authors said. The possible placement of a UN peacekeeping force on the Ukrainian-Russian border was one of the issues raised this autumn during visits to Canada by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak. op The Venice Commission's opinion on the language of instruction article in Ukraine's law on education does not oblige Ukraine to amend this article, Ukrainian Education and Science Minister Lilia Hrynevych has said. She told this to journalists before a government meeting on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We will not make any changes to Article 7 of the law on education. In fact, the recommendations of the Venice Commission imply only the need to extend the transition period. This is especially relevant for the national minorities for which it is difficult to study the Ukrainian language," Hrynevych said. She said that according to these conclusions, Ukraine must formulate a model of education for national minorities in the law on general secondary education. As reported, on September 25, President Petro Poroshenko signed the law on education, certain provisions of which, in particular, Article 7 concerning the language of instruction in Ukraine, raised concern in a number of countries. Poroshenko instructed the Foreign Ministry and the Education and Science Ministry to hold consultations on this law with European partners, including the Council of Europe. On September 28, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin submitted the education law for consideration by the Venice Commission. On December 8, the Venice Commission issued an opinion on the language of instruction article of the education law. In particular, the commission recommends "to amend the relevant transitional provisions of the Education Law to provide more time for a gradual reform; to exempt private schools from the new language requirements in accordance with Article 13 of the Framework Convention; to enter, within the framework of the implementation of the new Education Law, into a new dialogue with representatives of national minorities and all interested parties on the language of education; and to ensure that the implementation of the Law does not endanger the preservation of the minorities' cultural heritage and the continuity of minority language education in traditional schools." op Early action during pregnancy and proper follow-up care can stop HIV transmission from mother to child. Darlene is a mother in Burundi who, by taking appropriate actions, kept her children protected from the virus. MURAMVYA, Burundi, 7 December 2017 I started to feel quite sick, says 40-year-old Darlene*, describing a period in her life a few years ago. After going to a health centre, I was referred to a hospital where I was hospitalized for several weeks. I did not know why I was weak, until they asked me to do HIV test. I was diagnosed as living with HIV, she says. At the time, Darlene was married to a man she did not trust. I met him in the capital city of Bujumbura years ago. After finding out I was HIV positive in 2011, I asked him to do the test as well, but he refused, she says. I insisted many times, but it wasnt until two years after my positive test that he also started not feeling well. Finally, he did the test. He was also positive. Darlene is now divorced and lives with her five children in Bukeye, in central-western Burundi, where she farms to feed her family. Despite her illness and the difficulties of taking medication, she says she has a normal life. Her story is similar to many mothers in Burundi who have been unknowingly infected with HIV. UNICEF/UN0120828/English PANAMA CITY/GENEVA, 13 December 2017 Three months after two category-5 hurricanes - Irma and Maria - barreled through the Caribbean, causing widespread damage and loss of life, thousands of children remain in need of support across the region. Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, caused extensive damage to the islands of the Eastern Caribbean, Haiti and Cuba. Hurricane Maria then wrought additional damage across the region with UNICEF estimating that the two hurricanes left 350,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance. Even before the hurricanes hit, UNICEF was on the ground, working with Governments and local partners to prepare communities and preposition humanitarian supplies for the areas at highest risk said Maria Cristina Perceval, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. These included life-saving supplies that were most needed during the immediate response when access to clean water, shelter and basic social services were scarce. Three months on, UNICEF is still on the ground in these countries and territories, working on programmes to support children and families in rebuilding their lives and returning to a sense of normalcy. However, challenges remain, with many of the most vulnerable families still feeling the effects of the storms. In Dominica, over 35 per cent of children - particularly those living in shelters - are yet to be enrolled in education activities. In Antigua & Barbuda, many children and families remain in shelters and are unable to return home. Working in collaboration with Governments and NGO partners, UNICEF has been providing not only immediate humanitarian relief to affected populations but also working to ensure longer term recovery and resilience. While life is returning to normal for many, children and families who have lived through these storms will need committed, sustained support to get their homes, communities and lives back on track, added Perceval. UNICEF, working with Governments and partners, has been able to support children, families and communities through programmes focused on recovery and resilience, including: Anguilla Supporting training activities led by the Ministries of Health, Education and Human Development. All pre-school teachers are now trained on the Return to Happiness programme adapted to young children and their caregivers. Antigua and Barbuda In Antigua, to prevent protection risks in temporary shelters, supporting national authorities to conduct gender-based violence (GBV) trainings for shelter administrators. Assisting in the integration of children displaced from Barbuda, into the Antigua education system. Based on identified needs, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, UNICEF provides materials and guidance for counselors and teachers. Improving child protection services in Barbuda, where displaced children are expected to return from Antigua in the coming months, including the development of age-appropriate psychosocial and resilience-building activities. British Virgin Islands Supported the Ministry of Education in the reopening of schools through technical and recovery assistance. Five primary schools and one technical school received generators. UNICEF and partners will complement an ongoing Cash Transfer programme for vulnerable families, reaching beneficiary families with additional relief items. Cuba Working with the Government on WASH and education initiatives. Dominica Aiming at the strengthening of the social protection system - in partnership with WFP and authorities a non-conditional cash transfer programme will reach 6,000 vulnerable children and their families. Assisting nearly 11,000 people to gain daily access to safe drinking water in key locations. Haiti Supporting the restoration of water services, to ensure that more than 86,000 people get access to cleaner water, and working with vulnerable communities to prevent and combat cholera. Providing education materials for schools and early childhood learning centers, benefiting more than 18,000 children. Funding remains crucial for vulnerable children and communities, especially in the Eastern Caribbean, Haiti and Cuba. UNICEF requires US$9.3 million to provide lifesaving assistance to children in the region. ### "This study, which despite being carried out in centers with bladder cancer and BLC expertise, showed that blue light flexible cystoscopy significantly (p<0.0001) improves detection of patients with recurrent bladder cancer. BLC detects lesions, including CIS that were missed with WLC alone. The detection of additional tumors in the surveillance setting may have profound effects on progression rates through earlier diagnosis of high risk lesions which would have been otherwise missed with WLC. The results of this study confirm the role for BLC in the management of intermediate and high risk bladder cancer patients," says J. Stephen Jones, MD, president of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. TRUCKEE, CA (UroToday.com) Photocure ASA, announced that the official Journal of the American Urologic Association (AUA), the, published the BLFCC Efficacy results from a Phase 3 trial investigating the efficacy of Blue Light Cystoscopy (BLC) with Cysview for surveillance with a flexible cystoscope. In 20.6 percent of patients recurrence was seen only with BLC with Cysview and missed with WLC (p<0.0001).Out of the 304 patients in the study, 103 were referred to the operating room for suspicion of recurrent bladder cancer. Of these, 63 patients were confirmed as having malignant tumors. Forty one percent of the patients with malignant tumors were confirmed having CIS (Carcinoma in Situ), the most aggressive and difficult to detect and treat type of non-muscle bladder cancer (NMIBC). Importantly, 34% of these patients were detected only with BLC with Cysview (p<0,0001) but were missed with WLC."This publication reports the data included in the supplemental NDA submitted to the FDA to get approval for the use of BLC with Cysview in the surveillance setting with flexible cystoscopy. We look forward to bringing this technology to bladder cancer patients and their health care providers for the follow-up of NMIBC in the office setting," said Kjetil Hestdal, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, Photocure ASA.The study is a prospective, open, comparative within-patient controlled study of 304 patients with high risk of recurrence enrolled at 17 academic centers in the US. Krishnan Rajeshwar, UTA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington, received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree last month from the rector of the University of Szeged in Hungary, Gabor Szabo Krishnan Rajeshwar, UTA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington, received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree last month from the University of Szeged in Hungary, in recognition for his outstanding achievements in support for the mission of the University. It is a great honor to be awarded an honorary degree from such an outstanding internationally ranked university, Rajeshwar said. All of my collaborators at the University of Szeged have been top-tier researchers and we have been able to achieve international recognition for our work. Prof. Rajeshwars relationship with the University of Szeged dates back to 2008 when Csaba Visy, now a professor emeritus of the university, contacted him at a conference for a potential collaboration. The cooperation deepened when Csaba Janaky, then an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Szeged, worked in his UTA laboratory between 2011 and 2013 under a Marie Curie Fellowship. Since then, two Hungarian graduate students also spent considerable time in Rajeshwars laboratories learning advanced electrochemistry/photoelectrochemistry and solid-state chemical synthesis techniques which they then took back to Hungary to advance their own research. This cooperation has resulted in 29 joint publications published in prestigious journals, including some extensive review articles such as the cover article in ChemElectroChem in February 2016 on new high-performance materials for solar fuel generation. Rajeshwars research on solar cell conversion and storage has focused around finding new materials that can harness sunlight to split carbon dioxide and water into useable fuels like methanol and hydrogen gas. He has received international recognition and is a former President of the Electrochemical Society. He founded the Center for Renewable Energy Science & Technology or CREST on this campus. He has collaborated with many UTA faculty over the years. For example, he and Brian Dennis, a UTA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, worked on a project with NASA funding to improve methods for oxygen recovery and reuse aboard human spacecraft. Frederick MacDonnell, chair of UTAs Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, underlined the importance of this honorary degree and Rajeshwars research in the context of UTAs focus on high-impact research and scholarship and global engagement within the Universitys Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions|Global Impact. Dr. Rajeshwars honorary degree reflects his ongoing leadership in research around new materials for solar cells, as well as his commitment toward building up global collaborations that benefit the University and our students, he said. Phnom Penh City Hall has set a two-week deadline for residents of the Borei Keila community to accept compensation offers and move out of the area. The deadline was announced on the six-year anniversary of a controversially forced eviction at Borei Keila that forced many residents out of their homes to make way for a development planned by the Phanimex company, owned by tycoon Suy Sophan. The authorities said they would take residents to court if they refused to move by the deadline. Tensions in Borei Keila have risen since security forces clashed with residents in the community in January as they marked the five-year anniversary of their eviction. City Hall said so far some 90 percent of Borei Keila residents have already accepted compensation. Compensation offers to Borei Keila residents have ranged from $3,000 to about $5,000 and have also included modest houses in other areas of the capital. Sophan had pledged to build 10 apartments on the site to house displaced residents, but only built eight before declaring the funds had run dry. Sar Sorn, 58, a community representative who remains in Borei Keila, said the compensation offers were not sufficient and that new homes offered by the company were in remote and economically nonviable areas. When they go to Tuol Sombo and Andoung villages, they will be far away from markets and there is no place for making a living and the schools and hospitals are also far away. I heard them complaining about difficult access to water and electricity, she added. Mean Chanyada, deputy Phnom Penh governor, declined to comment, and City Hall spokesman Meth Measpheakdey could not be reached. Am Sam Ath, chief of local rights group Licadhos investigation unit, said there should be further negotiations between the authorities, company, and residents. We, in the name of civil society, want them to discuss and review the conditions of the agreement since the beginning between the people and the company as well as the authorities in order to solve problems with justice and transparency. I think that there are not many people in Borei Keila, so there should be a peaceful resolution, he said. The United States has said it remains optimistic that Cambodia will reverse course in its crackdown on political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party. On an unannounced visit to Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Southeast Asia, said Washington would consider taking further measures against Cambodia. Hun Sens government has led a crackdown on dissent in recent months which has seen the opposition outlawed and its leader jailed on questionable charges of treason, as well as independent media and civil society targeted. Cambodia has accused the United States of being behind a plot to overthrow Hun Sen in a color revolution modeled on Serbians opposition to Slobodan Milosevic. When we had said that we had a concern, we also said that we would be required to take measures if there were further backtracking of democracy, Murphy said. Murphy met with Ouch Borith, deputy foreign affairs minister, and Sar Kheng, interior minister. We believe there is an opportunity to reverse some to these actions to get back on a good track in order to enter 2018 and conduct an electoral process that is legitimate, he told reporters after the meetings. There is a little bit of friction, a little bit of noise in the official bilateral relationship, but we remain optimistic. Why? Because we have invested, we know Cambodia has come a long, long way, and have too much to lose by going back. Since the Cambodia National Rescue Party was banned on November 16 in a Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has withdrawn financial support for Cambodias general election next year and placed dozens of officials on a restricted visa list. Murphy declined to specify what specific measures the United States may take against the Cambodian government if it does not release the CNRP president, Kem Sokha, and reinstate his party ahead of the election. We have a variety of measures and tools that we can consider. I wont reveal them today, but one message that we have provided to Cambodia is this backtracking on democracy place into jeopardy the legitimacy of the electoral process that lies ahead. According to local media reports, Cambodian officials told Murphy that there was no chance Cambodia would reverse course. In a speech on Tuesday, Hun Sen said his regime had broken the backbone, cut the head and eliminated the body of the supposed attempt to overthrow him. Earlier this week the European Union joined the United States in announcing it was suspending election support for the 2018 general election. A ruling Cambodian Peoples Party spokesman, Sok Eysan, said it was too late for Cambodia to change direction. The ship has departed from the pier and cannot reverse. Any reversal in the cases of Kem Sokha and the CNRP means undermining democracy and the rule of law in Cambodia, he said. I think the [United States], as our friend, should not trade 15 million Cambodian people with a handful of people who commit treason, he said in an apparent reference to the opposition. Thats not right. And please dont push Cambodia to abandon its independence and sovereignty. Since it was dissolved, the CNRP has operated largely from abroad, traveling to lobby for support from foreign governments. Most of its former lawmakers have left the country, while those officials who have remained in Cambodia have complained of harassment and intimidation at the hands of the authorities. On this Straight Talk Africa host Shaka Ssali is joined by Muzi Ncube, Organizing Secretary in the U.S.A. of the Movement for Democratic Change ((MDC is the main opposition party in Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 election) and Nii Akuetteh, African Policy Analyst and Activist to discuss the political realities in Zimbabwe and explore the road ahead. U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a backlash after posting an insulting tweet about a Democratic senator from New York. Kirsten Gillibrand said Tuesday that the president is trying to silence her calls for his resignation following renewed allegations by women who claim that Trump harassed them sexually in the past. VOAs Zlatica Hoke reports the White House has denied the allegations. The U.N. envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict urged the Security Council on Tuesday to demand an immediate end to the violence against civilians in Myanmar's Rakhine state, which has seen more than 626,000 mainly Rohingya Muslim residents flee to neighboring Bangladesh since August. "I urge this body to do everything in its power to seek a swift end to the atrocities; to ensure the alleged perpetrators of sexual and other violence are brought to justice; and to create conditions for a safe and dignified future for the survivors," Pramila Patten told the council. She also urged council members to see firsthand the situation in Myanmar and at the refugee camps at Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. Patten said Myanmar authorities have invited her to visit Naypyidaw and Yangon on Thursday through Saturday of this week, where she plans to meet with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as military and security officials. She did not say whether she would have access to Rakhine state, the source of the exodus. There have been numerous reports and satellite images of the Myanmar military burning villages and killing and terrorizing minority Rohingya there after militants launched deadly attacks on state security forces in August. Atrocities The U.N. envoy visited Bangladesh in early November and over three days heard horrific testimony from survivors. "Women and girls recounted how, upon the arrival of soldiers in their village, they were forced to strip naked and threatened with rape in front of their husbands and fathers while their homes were set ablaze," Patten said. "They related how, in some cases, village leaders were compelled to sign documents stating that they had set fire to their own homes, in order to save the women of their community from rape." Others were not as fortunate. "Some witnesses reported women and girls being tied to either a rock or a tree before multiple soldiers literally raped them to death," Patten told the council. Even Rohingya infants were not spared. "Some women recounted how soldiers drowned babies in the village well," she said. "A few women told me how their own babies were allegedly thrown in the fire as they were dragged away by soldiers and gang-raped." She said the accounts of survivors and witnesses were consistent and corroborated by international medical workers at the camps. "Ethnic cleansing must never be allowed to achieve its goal," Patten said. She also warned that the U.N. and its partners were facing a $10 million funding gap for gender-based violence programs to assist survivors. "As regards the alleged sexual violence, the government of Myanmar has made its position clear that it will not condone any human rights abuses," Myanmar Ambassador Hau Do Suan told the council. "If there is concrete evidence, we are ready to take action against the aggressor in accordance with the law, no matter what or who he is." He said the government would continue to cooperate with the U.N. and its partners to alleviate humanitarian problems and to find a long-term solution to issues related to Rakhine state. Aid access needed U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman told the council that humanitarian workers did not have sufficient access to Rakhine. "Although Myanmar permitted some ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and, more recently, WFP [World Food Program] assistance, access by other U.N. agencies and partners to northern Rakhine is still highly restricted," he said. He told the council that although refugee flows had slowed in recent weeks, new arrivals were "exhausted, destitute and traumatized." Separately, a coalition of more than 80 human rights and faith-based organizations issued an appeal to the Security Council to impose an arms embargo against Myanmar's military, as well as targeted sanctions against those officers found responsible for serious crimes and human rights violations. Aeromexico and the Mexican government are teaming up to train airline staff and crew to spot possible victims of human trafficking, a global crime fueled by "lack of visibility, indifference and tolerance," officials said. Workers at Mexico's largest air carrier will be trained to detect and report signs of trafficking by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Aeromexico said in a statement. An estimated 40 million people around the world live in slavery, which includes human trafficking. Illegal profits are thought to be about $150 billion a year. "It feeds off a lack of visibility, indifference and tolerance of practices that have become socially normalized," Aeromexico and the CNDH said in a joint statement on Monday. The training addresses various forms of trafficking, from sex work to labor exploitation and forced marriage, and sets out a protocol for airline staff and crew to follow if they see possible victims. Aeromexico operates more than 600 flights per day, and its hub is in Mexico City. The company serves more than 90 cities in Mexico, the United States, Latin America, Canada, Europe and Asia. Planes are a key part of the illegal business, as criminal gangs transport thousands of forced laborers each year. Potential victims of trafficking may be young women, men or children who are frightened, nervous or appear under the control of others, experts say. Other signs of trafficking are passengers flying on tickets with multiple stop overs, a cheap way to travel, and have visas and work contracts in a foreign language, experts say. In Mexico and across Latin America, the most common form of human trafficking involves women and girls forced into sex work. Nearly 380,000 people are trapped in modern slavery in Mexico, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index by rights group Walk Free Foundation. The Bangladeshi man accused of attempting a suicide bombing in a busy New York City commuter hub will remain in federal custody while he awaits trial on charges that include supporting a foreign terrorist organization, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old supporter of the Islamic State militant group, appeared by video for a brief hearing from his bed in Bellevue Hospital, where he was recovering from injuries he suffered when his homemade bomb ignited but failed to detonate on Monday. Ullah was covered with a white blanket and remained largely expressionless as Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker told him that he had a right to an attorney and did not have to make any statements. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Crowley asked that Ullah be detained without bail. Ullah's court-appointed attorney, Amy Gallichio, did not dispute the request, meaning her client that will not be released on bail. In addition to Ullah, three people suffered minor injuries when he attempted to detonate a pipe bomb secured to his midsection in a pedestrian tunnel under the sprawling Port Authority Bus Terminal transportation complex, where many commuters from New York's suburbs arrive on buses and transfer to local subways. "I did it for the Islamic State," Ullah told police after the blast, according to papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah, who has lived in the United States since 2011, began his self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online, prosecutors said. He carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, they said. Inside Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, were handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE." The charges he faces include providing material support to terrorists, use of a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. Bangladesh's counterterrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday that his country had found no evidence linking the suspect to militants in his home country. "We have collected evidence and information from his family members," said Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh police's counterterrorism unit. "In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups." The attack was the latest inspired by militants to hit the United States' biggest city by population. In October, an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by racing a rental truck down a bike bath. Also in October, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen was convicted of planting two bombs in New York's Chelsea neighborhood in 2016, one of which exploded and wounded 30 people. Democrat Doug Jones' victory in Alabama's special Senate election sent shock waves Wednesday across Capitol Hill, buoying and emboldening Democrats while forcing Republicans to grapple with a soon-to-be slimmer Senate majority that will make enacting U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda all the more difficult in 2018, an election year. "Things are looking good for us," said a jubilant Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. "It was a great night for the country," Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Bob Casey told VOA. "It did show that there are still folks in the middle who can make a difference in an election, even in a state like Alabama, where voting patterns favor Republicans." Jones, a former federal prosecutor, eked out a win Tuesday over Republican Roy Moore, a former state supreme court justice whose candidacy had been rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors and young women. Alabama has yet to certify the results, but Jones is expected to become the first Democrat the state has sent to the U.S. Senate in more than two decades. Weeks before the election, Senate Republican leaders had declared Moore unfit to serve and some had spoken openly of ousting him from the body if he defeated Jones. "Obviously I'm disappointed that we have another Democratic seat in the Senate, but I'm relieved that we're not going to be dealing with all the mess that was headed our way [had Moore won]," Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota told reporters. Asked by VOA what lesson Republicans should draw from the Alabama election, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said, "It's an age-old lesson, which is: flawed candidates lose." Tax overhaul Republicans are racing to enact an ambitious tax overhaul before the December 25 Christmas holiday, a deadline that is more urgent than ever given that their current two-seat Senate majority will be cut in half once Jones is sworn in. Alabama's election certification could take up to two weeks, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that outgoing Alabama Senator Luther Strange will continue to serve for the remainder of the year. Democrats want the tax vote delayed until Jones is sworn in. "He [Jones] won an election," Schumer said. "It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly-elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote." Democrats noted that Republicans demanded a similar delay after Republican Scott Brown won a special Senate election in Massachusetts in 2010, when then-majority Democrats were preparing to vote on health care reform. Republicans dismissed any delay on tax reform, but some acknowledged that their party's priorities will face steeper legislative hurdles with a one-seat Senate majority next year. "The intention all along was to have the [tax] vote before Christmas, and I think we're on schedule to make that happen," Thune said. "But obviously next year will be a different year. We'll have a lot narrower majority." 2018 midterm elections Democrats, meanwhile, said they look forward to the 2018 midterm elections with renewed optimism after Tuesday's result in Alabama. "The Republican brand, even in deep-red Alabama, is positively toxic," Schumer said. "If they continue to run the government for the benefit of the few special powerful wealthy interests, there will be many more Alabamas [Democratic wins] in 2018." Republicans insisted they are not panicking. "What we have seen is the people of Alabama have made their decision, and over the next weeks and months we'll know how that decision impacts the overall [legislative] body," South Carolina Senator Tim Scott said. Whatever the future holds, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said Democrat Jones' victory in heavily Republican-leaning Alabama demonstrated America's enduring ability to self-govern. "Ultimately the power is with the people. And the people of Alabama showed that last night," Cardin told VOA. In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election on Tuesday, beating back history, an embattled Republican opponent and President Donald Trump, who urgently endorsed GOP rebel Roy Moore despite a litany of sexual misconduct allegations. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but sure in the age of Trump. It was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nation's already divided Republican Party. The victory by Jones, a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for Birmingham's infamous 1963 church bombing, narrows the GOP advantage in the U.S. Senate to 51-49. That imperils already-uncertain Republican tax, budget and health proposals and injects tremendous energy into the Democratic Party's early push to reclaim House and Senate majorities in 2018. Still, many Washington Republicans viewed the defeat of Moore as perhaps the best outcome for the party nationally despite the short-term sting. The fiery Christian conservative's positions have alienated women, racial minorities, gays and Muslims in addition to the multiple allegations that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with teens, one only 14, when he was in his 30s. A number of Republicans declined to support him, including Alabama's long-serving Sen. Richard Shelby. But Trump lent his name and the national GOP's resources to Moore's campaign in recent days. Had Moore won, the GOP would have been saddled with a colleague accused of sordid conduct as Republicans nationwide struggle with Trump's historically low popularity. Senate leaders had promised that Moore would have faced an immediate ethics investigation. Jones takes over the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The term expires in January of 2021. Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed hopes of scheduling a vote on their tax legislation before Jones is sworn in, but lawmakers are still struggling to devise a compromise bill to bridge the divide between the House and Senate legislation that can win majority support in both chambers. The Republican loss also gives Democrats a clearer path to a Senate majority in 2018 albeit a narrow one in an election cycle where Democrats are far more optimistic about seizing control of the House of Representatives. Ultimately, Tuesday's contest came down to which side better motivated its supporters to vote. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said turnout likely would not exceed 25 percent of registered voters. Jones successfully fought to cobble together an unlikely coalition of African-Americans, liberal whites and moderate Republicans. "This is an important time in Alabama's history, and we feel very confident where we are and how this is going to turn out,'' the Democrat said after casting his ballot Tuesday. On the ground in Alabama on Tuesday, those who stood in line to cast their ballots were far more focused on the candidates than the broader political fallout. Teresa Brown, a 53-year-old administrative assistant, said she preferred Jones, in part, because he would be better positioned to work across party lines. "We don't need a pedophile in there,'' Brown added. She was among more than two dozen people queued up in the chilly morning air at Legion Field, a predominantly black precinct in Birmingham, to cast their ballots. Al Bright, 63, who does refrigeration repair, said he voted for Moore. "Regardless of the allegations against him, I believe he is an honorable man,'' Bright said. Mary Multrie, 69, who works in a children's hospital, disagreed. "He's not a truthful man,'' 69-year-old Mary Multrie said of Moore. Multrie wasn't influenced by accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore, she said, because she already did not like him. "He talks about God, but you don't see God in his actions.'' Moore, who largely avoided public events in the final weeks of the race and spent far less money on advertising than his opponent, bet big and lost on the state's traditional Republican leanings and the strength of his passionate evangelical Christian supporters. He sidestepped questions about sexual misconduct as he arrived at his polling place on horseback. Democrats were not supposed to have a chance in Alabama, one of the most Republican-leaning states in the nation. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton here by nearly 28 points just 13 months ago. Yet Moore had political baggage that repelled some moderate Republicans even before allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Virtually the entire Republican establishment, Trump included, supported Moore's primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange in September. Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was one of the only early high-profile Moore backers. Moore was removed from his position as state Supreme Court chief justice the first time after he refused to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument at the state court building. The second time, he was permanently suspended for urging state probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In his final pitch before polls opened across the state, Jones called the choice a "crossroads'' and asked that "decency'' prevail. "We've had this history in the past, going down the road that ... has not been productive,'' Jones said. "We've lagged behind in industry. We've lagged behind in education. We've lagged behind in health care. It's time we take the road that's going to get us on the path to progress.'' Rights group Amnesty International says European nations are taking steps to prevent refugees and migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya, trapping them in a system that exposes them to torture and abuse. In a report issued Tuesday, Amnesty says European governments are "knowingly complicit" because they give technical support to Libya's Department Combating Illegal Migration, give training and equipment to Libya's Coast Guard and make agreements with local authorities and armed groups to encourage efforts to stop human smuggling. "Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya are at the mercy of Libyan authorities, militias, armed groups and smugglers often working seamlessly together for financial gain. Tens of thousands are kept indefinitely in overcrowded detention centers where they are subjected to systematic abuse," said Amnesty International Europe Director John Dalhuisen. Faced with an influx of refugees and migrants in recent years, European nations have responded with measures such as closing borders and working with governments on the other side of the Mediterranean to try to prevent people from making what can be a dangerous crossing. More than 3,000 people have died trying to make the trip this year. The International Organization for Migration said Tuesday that so far in 2017 the number of migrants and refugees entering Europe by sea was down 53 percent compared to the same period last year. About 70 percent of the 166,000 arrivals landed in Italy. The top countries of origin are Nigeria, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Bangladesh. Amnesty International based its report on interviews with 72 refugees and asylum seekers in Italy and Tunisia, as well as meetings with Libyan officials and United Nations representatives. The report says the European Union and its members "have pursued their own goal of restricting the flow of refugees and migrants across the Mediterranean with little thought, or seeming care, for the consequences for those trapped in Libya as a result." "European governments have not just been fully aware of these abuses; by actively supporting the Libyan authorities in stopping sea crossings and containing people in Libya, they are complicit in these abuses," Amnesty said. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said his government can be proud of its treatment of migrants, and that its efforts have helped shine a light on the human rights situation in Libya. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told the European Parliament that while the EU should have taken action earlier, it has been engaged on the issue for several years. "I've said many times that our goal is to close the detention centers," Mogherini said. "We need to give these people the opportunity to leave Libya, safely, toward a better life" She said this year the EU has assisted more than 15,000 migrants who were trapped in Libya. Mogherini also acknowledged that returning home is not an option for people who face war or persecution, saying there is a need to "open new avenues to come to Europe or other safe places." Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture launched a program Tuesday to ensure farmers comply with anti-corruption, environmental and child labor laws, after a highly publicized meatpacking scandal raised doubts about the country's food products. The program set up by the ministry and the farm lobby CNA will grant an agricultural seal of integrity to companies that comply. "The seal of integrity will show domestic and international consumers that the company is producing food according to the highest standards of quality," Deputy Agriculture Minister Eumar Novacki told Reuters. A police investigation uncovered evidence in March that some meatpacking plants were bribing inspectors to overlook outdated and tainted food. The probe targeted companies including BRF SA, the world's biggest poultry exporter, and JBS JBSS3.SA, the No. 1 beef producer. They denied wrongdoing and said their products meet rigorous quality standards. The scandal closed export markets for Brazilian meat. The country's agribusiness industry suffered billions of dollars in losses and its output shrank 2.6 percent this year, according to the CNA. The ministry will set up a committee with members from government, business and civil society that will grant the seals of compliance after a six-month review of companies. Ministry officials said in June that 1,600 additional inspectors were being hired, a 50 percent increase, to expand monitoring at meatpacking facilities. Novacki said the police investigation called "Weak Flesh," aimed at rooting out corruption, undermined the reputation of Brazilian meat producers. "We learned that we had to act in a very tough and transparent way to reaffirm worldwide the quality of our food inspection, and so this compliance program to encourage good governance," he said. Brazil has restored most of its meat markets, though the United States still maintains a ban on Brazilian fresh beef. The United States blocked imports of Brazilian fresh beef in June, less than a year after opening the market to Brazil. U.S. officials said inspections of arriving shipments uncovered defects such as abscesses, prohibited tissues and unidentified material in the meat. Novacki blamed protectionist pressures from U.S. meat producers for the ban, but said talks with the U.S. government have been "very positive," adding it should be lifted soon. A Brazilian appeals court on Tuesday said it would decide on Jan. 24 on an appeal by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against a corruption conviction that could bar him from running in the 2018 presidential race. Despite the conviction and four other charges of corruption, the leftist icon and former labor union leader remains Brazil's most popular politician and is leading early opinion polls ahead of next year's poll. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index rallied on the news, first reported on the website of newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, to close 1.4 percent higher. Investors had been wary that a delay in the appeals court decision until later next year would give Lula more time to consolidate himself as the front-runner in the campaign, making it harder for judges to bar his candidacy. Lula's lawyers criticized the "record" speed at which the appeals process was being brought to a decision. If the TRF-4 regional appeals court in Porto Alegre upholds the conviction, Lula can appeal to higher courts, but he would be blacklisted and unable to run for office. A Datafolha survey published on Dec. 2 showed Lula gaining at least 34 percent of the votes if the election were held today, double the support for his nearest rival. It also showed him winning a runoff against likely contenders, Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, far-right Congressman Jair Bolsonaro or environmentalist Marina Silva. Lula was Brazil's first working-class president and millions of Brazilians were lifted from poverty by social programs introduced during his two terms in office from 2003-2010. His handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff was impeached last year for breaking budget laws, ending 13 years of rule by Lula's Workers Party. Critics say his legacy was Brazil's worst economic recession and its biggest corruption scandal. Lula was sentenced in July to nearly 10 years in jail for accepting 3.7 million reais ($1.1 million) in bribes from an engineering firm in return for help winning public contracts. Prosecutors said the money was spent refurbishing a beach resort apartment for him. In recent months, Lula has toured Brazil as if he were already campaigning, rallying crowds of supporters in rural areas that benefited from his poverty relief programs. But in an interview in August he told Reuters that the conviction might mean his party will have to field a candidate other than him in the Oct. 7 election. Cameroon has closed its border with Nigeria in the north, after a series of attacks by Boko Haram militants on Cameroonian ranchers. The closure is meant to protect the ranchers' cattle, but it is hurting the ranchers' business. Hundreds of ranchers have brought their cattle and livestock to the Bogo market on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria. According to Cameroon's government, this market is the supply point for most of the cattle sold across the border. But cattle rancher and seller Ahminou Ngomna says he has not seen his Nigerian customers since September. Business usually booms with the approach of the Christmas and New Year feasts, but that is not the case now. Only customers from Maroua in northern Cameroon have been buying from the market, and the amount they pay per cattle is not up to what Nigerian buyers pay, Ngomna said. The price per cow, which ranges from $500 to $1,000 depending on size and weight, has fallen to as little as $250. Hamidou Bouba, first deputy mayor of Bogo, says the prices started dropping when Cameroon's government ordered the closure of parts of the border with Nigeria. The move was made because Boko Haram attacks on farmers and cattle ranchers, which had fallen since January, increased in September with armed men crossing the border for supplies. "We are suffering very badly about this situation of Boko Haram," Bouba said. "That is the reason why all the traders cannot go to Nigeria now. We changed their direction, moving their activities to Douala or Yaounde. That is the only solution. I think that we don't have another solution." Bouba says the ranchers are encouraged to transport their cattle some 70 kilometers from the affected zones to the nearest market, because even buyers from the hinterlands of Cameroon are refusing to travel to Bogo. Cattle ranchers and farmers comprise 80 percent of the population of the border areas. Cameroon reports that more than 100,000 have relocated due to the Boko Haram insurgency; others live in abject poverty. Louis Paul Motaze, Cameroon's economy minister, says the government will build new markets in safer areas. "People here are suffering a lot not only because of the war with Boko Haram, but because of poverty," Motaze. "This is why we would like to take into consideration another battle, and this battle is the battle for development." The Boko Haram insurgency, which began in northeast Nigeria eight years ago, has left at least 25,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Revenge is sweet for the makers of France's traditional "calisson" candies, who have won a months-long legal battle with a businessman who trademarked the product's name in China. The lozenge-shaped sweets, made of a mixture of candied fruit and ground almonds topped with icing, are widely enjoyed in France's southern Aix-en-Provence region. Their makers were none too pleased when Chinese entrepreneur Ye Chunlin spotted a sweet opportunity in 2015 to register the "Calisson d'Aix" name for use at home, as well as its Mandarin equivalent, "kalisong". The trademark was set to be valid until 2026, sparking angst among Provence's sweetmakers who worried Ye's move could have barred them from entering the huge Chinese market. But China's copyright office rejected Ye's claim to the brand name in a decision seen by AFP on Wednesday, which said his request to use the label "could confuse consumers on the origin of the products". Laure Pierrisnard, head of the union of calisson makers in Aix, hailed the news as "a real victory". The union has fought the case for months in the name of 12 sweetmakers, accusing Ye of "opportunism." It is not uncommon for Western brands to try to crack the Chinese market only to find that their name or trademark has been registered by a local company. An enterprising Chinese businessman in 2007 registered the brand name "IPHONE" for use in leather products, to the great displeasure of Apple, which lost a court case against him. The courts similarly backed a Chinese company that wanted to use the name of sneaker brand New Balance. Ye, who is from the eastern province of Zhejiang, did not respond to the French sweetmakers' objections to Chinese authorities. But he insisted in late 2016 that he acted in good faith, telling AFP he was "a salesman who does business within the rules." As far as French producers are aware, calissons have never rolled off a factory line in China. Some makers, dreaming of the international success enjoyed by their rival the macaron, are seeking to expand abroad, including to the enticing Chinese market. The Roy Rene chain - owned by Olivier Baussan, the entrepreneur behind Province's best known brand internationally, L'Occitane cosmetics -- has stores in Miami and Canada, and is eyeing Dubai. The company says it has been contacted by several investors over the course of the Chinese court case seeking to bring the sweets to China. The affair has also re-energized makers of the dainty candies in their bid for special European status as a product that comes specifically from Provence. Beijing has already recognized the status of 10 such European foods, including France's Comte and Roquefort cheeses and Italy's Parma ham, as well as 45 different wines from Bordeaux. Aix-en-Provence produces about 800 tons of calissons every year. China marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre at the hands of Japanese imperial forces with a call for the two Asian neighbors and rivals to "deepen" their longstanding, yet frayed relationship. President Xi Jingping was on hand, but did not speak, during Wednesday's ceremony, which included a moment of silence and featured Chinese soldiers bearing large funeral wreaths in honor of the 300,000 victims they said died at the hands of Japanese troops during a six-week long rampage through what was then China's capital. A postwar tribunal eventually cut that to 200,000, but some Japanese officials have questioned whether the incident even took place. The denials have angered Beijing for years, along with many of its Asian neighbors who feel Tokyo has yet to sufficiently atoned for war crimes carried out during its brutal occupation of the region during the first half of the 20th century, through the end of World War II. Yu Zhengsheng, a former high-ranking member of China's top Communist leadership circle, said it was time for the two nations to repair the relationship and move forward in a spirit of friendship that could be passed on to future generations. China has welcomed an offer by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to hold talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. The offer comes amid heightened tensions on the peninsula and as South Korean President Moon Jae-in begins a four-day state visit to China. Speaking at a regular press briefing Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing welcomes all efforts to ease tensions and promote dialogue. China has already proposed "double suspension" proposal and we hope that the United States and North Korea can meet each other halfway and take meaningful steps on dialogue and contact," Lu said. Chinas double suspension or freeze for freeze proposal is that North Korea halt all ballistic missile and nuclear tests and that the United States and South Korea halt all military exercises. During a speech at the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum on Tuesday, Tillerson called on China to continue to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang. He also said that there has to be a period of quiet for talks to begin, or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. And we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson said. Former U.S. officials told VOA on Tuesday that the offer from Tillerson was unusually candid amid increasing threats from North Koreas nuclear and missile proliferation. However, it is not clear whether the White House is fully behind the proposal. President Donald Trump has previously told Tillerson that he was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea. In China, analysts said the statement from Tillerson ahead of President Moons visit will be welcomed by both Beijing and Seoul. "There's a lot of room for both China and South Korea to collaborate on addressing the nuclear crisis in North Korea. In this regard, Chairman Xi (Jinping) will definitely work with President Moon to build on their consensus and strengthen efforts" for peace talks with the North Korea, said Lu Chao, a Korea scholar at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences. President Moons visit to China will focus heavily on North Korea and finding ways to re-start dialogue. On Thursday, Moon will meet with Xi, the third meeting between the two leaders since he was elected earlier this year. He will also meet with South Korean residents in China and attend a business forum. A large entourage of top executives from South Korean companies will be traveling with Moon on his visit. Moon came to office at a time when relations between South Korea and China had hit a historic low. China angrily opposed Seouls deployment of a U.S. based missile defense system, launching tough economic sanctions against South Korea that impacted tourism and trade between the two countries. In late October, however, the two sides agreed to put their relationship back on track, but some believe the relationship has yet to fully thaw.China is likely to bring up the issue during the visit as well. When the two countries agreed to put their relationship back on track, South Korea offered up three "no's" to ease Beijings security concerns. Those three commitments were to not make any additional deployments of THAAD, not participate in a regional missile defense network, and to not join an alliance with Japan and the United States. Moons visit to China comes at a time of heightened tension on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang recently tested what is believed to be its largest and most powerful ballistic missile, an ICBM experts estimate is capable of reaching as far as the east coast of the United States. In China, there have been increased signs that authorities are making preparations for the possibility of conflict on the peninsula. Last week, a state-run newspaper in Chinas northeastern city of Jilin, not far from the border with North Korea, published a page of common sense advice about how to survive a nuclear attack. There have also been reports that refugee camps are being built along Chinas border with North Korea. Something Tillerson appeared to confirm in his remarks Tuesday. China is taking steps to prepare for such an eventuality. I think it is something that they can manage. I dont think the threat is as significant as perhaps others view it. I dont want to be dismissive of it, but its not an unmanageable situation, he said. And they already are taking preparatory actions for such an event. Nike Ching in Washington and Joyce Huang contributed to this report. Eleven members of a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been sentenced to life in prison for the gang rape of dozens of children, and for murder. Human rights groups have hailed the verdict as a landmark decision in a country where sexual violence is frequent and perpetrators most often go unpunished. For too long those who commit rape in the Congo have thought they were invincible, said a statement released by the NGO, Physicians For Human Rights. Slowly, there are signs that impunity is not inevitable. The defendants were said to belong to a militia group called Djeshi ya Yesu Army of Jesus in Swahili led by South Kivu provincial lawmaker Frederic Batumike. According to the prosecution, Batumike hired a spiritual adviser who told his fighter that raping young girls would make them impervious to bullets. The youngest victim was eight months old. Batumikes legislative Immunity was waived so he could stand trial. The violence began in the village of Kavumu, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Bukavu city in 2013 and continued for years. Physicians for Human Rights said it was the first time a sitting government official in Congo had been found guilty of "superior responsibility for crimes he and his militia, whom he controlled and financed, committed.'' The court awarded $5,000 to each victim of sexual violence and $15,000 to the families of those killed for criticizing the militias actions. The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter that the courts decision marks an important step for justice and the respect of rights in Congo. Congress will allow the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran to pass this week, congressional and White House aides said Tuesday, leaving a pact between world powers and Tehran intact at least temporarily. In October, Trump declined to certify that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement reached among Tehran, the United States and others in 2015. His decision triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to bring back sanctions on Iran. Congressional leaders have announced no plans to introduce a resolution to reimpose sanctions before Wednesday's deadline, and aides say lawmakers will let the deadline pass without action. By doing that, Congress passes the ball back to Trump, who must decide in mid-January whether he wants to issue a waiver to keep old sanctions from being imposed on Iran. If Trump doesn't issue the waiver, the nuclear deal would collapse. That course is opposed by European allies, Russia and China, the other parties to the accord, under which Iran got sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear ambitions. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denies it has aimed to build an atomic bomb. It has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will "shred" the deal if Washington pulls out. A senior administration official said Tuesday that the White House planned on leaving the sanctions issue to Congress for the moment and was not asking for sanctions to be reimposed. Efforts to find common ground with Europe on the Iran deal were complicated again last week, when Trump announced Washington would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, breaking with international consensus. 'Worst deal ever' Trump has called the Iran pact the "worst deal ever" and has threatened to pull the United States out of it. His fellow Republicans control both chambers of Congress but their Senate majority is so small that they need some Democratic support to advance most legislation. Senate Democrats, even those who opposed it two years ago, do not want to tear up the nuclear accord. Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declined to say whether he thought Trump would carry through on a threat to tear up the nuclear pact in January if Congress did not pass legislation to further clamp down on Iran. Corker told reporters he and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland met national security adviser H.R. McMaster last week to see "if there's language that fits the bill here within Congress but also ... keeps [the Europeans] at the table with us and not feeling like we've gone off in a different direction." Corker declined to elaborate on specifics of the discussions. Trump threatened to withdraw from the nuclear agreement if lawmakers did not toughen it by amending the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, or INARA, the U.S. law that opened the possibility of bringing sanctions back. Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, has said he would not support changes to the nuclear pact that are not supported by Europe. Democrats also insist that, while sanctions should be imposed over Iran's ballistic missile program or human rights violations, they must be separate from the nuclear agreement. 3 An undercover Israeli security agent detains a Palestinian demonstrator during clashes at a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The European Union in Cambodia on Tuesday said it was suspending planned funding of Cambodia's national election body. The United States last month said it would suspend its funding of the National Election Committee (NEC) and also imposed visa restrictions on officials over the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and the arrest of its leader, Kem Sokha, who has been charged with treason. In a statement, the EU said the CNRP's dissolution meant the government could not organize a legitimate election in 2018 as planned. The EU previously announced $8 million of funding for next year's general election. "The decision to dissolve the CNRP, and the subsequent reallocation of its National Assembly and commune/Sangkat council seats to other parties, denies the choice of those who voted for the party in the elections in 2013 and 2017," it said. "An electoral process from which the main opposition party has been arbitrarily excluded cannot be seen as legitimate," the statement said. Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said the EU was "interfering in Cambodian affairs" and making an "attack on an independent body." Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer who has been in power for more than three decades, said in November that foreign recognition of the 2018 election was not necessary for it to be legitimate. His ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) dominates government administration, the military and the judiciary. One-party state After the dissolution of the CNRP, Cambodia is effectively a one-party state, which critics say could mean the end of a $1.6 billion U.N.-backed effort to seed democracy that began in 1992. The EU said high voter turnout in local elections earlier this year was evidence that people were growing more confident in the electoral system. The CNRP won about 43 percent of the popular vote in the commune elections. Despite the withdrawal of EU funding, NEC officials said the move would not affect the NEC's ability to hold an election, as it had lined up funding from the government and other donors, including China. Som Sorida, NEC deputy secretary-general, said the NEC had set aside about $52 million for the 2018 election. However, he added that the NEC was disappointed by the loss of a partner. "The participation from more partners will show more transparency of the NEC in the electoral process," he said. He added that Japan was providing $7 million toward election costs, while China, South Korea and Russia were also making contributions. Hironori Suzuki, counselor of the Japanese Embassy in Cambodia, said in an email: "It is of utmost importance to have next year's national election reflect the will of the Cambodian people. Japan will keep dialogue with the royal government of Cambodia, will monitor the development of the situation closely with strong interest, and will continue to provide electoral reform assistance." China gives the most Hang Puthea, NEC spokesman, said China was the largest single donor, providing about $12 million. The increasing tensions with the EU and the U.S. come as Cambodia is becoming close to Beijing, which is offering political and economic support to Hun Sen. On November 17, after the U.S. announced it was ending funding for the vote scheduled for July 29, 2018, the pro-government Fresh News website reported that Hun Sen said in a speech to garment workers that he welcomed the cut in U.S. aid, and urged Washington to cut all assistance. Although U.S. assistance to Cambodia for health, education, governance, economic development and clearing unexploded ordnance was worth more than $77.6 million in 2014, China is now Cambodia's biggest donor and lender. According to The Economist, Chinese firms sent nearly $5 billion to Cambodia in loans and investments between 2011 and 2015, which accounts for about 70 percent of total industrial development. This report originated on VOA Khmer. Director Sebastian Lelio feels that A Fantastic Woman has gone beyond the cinematic experience with its social message, to a great extent thanks to the performance of its star, Daniela Vega. The film follows Marina, a transgender woman who, after the passing of her older lover, is mistreated by his family and the police officers investigating his death. It is Chile's selection for the Academy Awards and on Monday was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the best foreign film category. "I am very proud of Daniela, of how she faced the challenge of a movie that not only meant an absolute leading role ... that goes through an emotional spectrum, but that in addition flies, faces windstorms, sings two operatic arias. In short, it's a polytonal role of great complexity and she ... didn't have much experience, so it was an all-or-nothing betting," Lelio told The Associated Press in a phone interview shortly after the Globes nominations were announced. "It was very beautiful to see how she gave herself completely and played this character with such complexity and beauty," he added about Vega, whose performance has received Oscars buzz. If she is nominated next month, it would be the first Oscar nomination for a transgender actress. "Somehow Daniela's presence and the power that her body brings are the heart of the movie and it has been very nice and exciting to witness how she has become a voice not only of the movie but a sort of symbol of everything that is fragile, cornered," said Lelio. "In some ways this is when cinema surpasses cinema and gets in the social fabric, and that is very powerful." A winner in Berlin A Fantastic Woman debuted last February at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for best feature film as well as the Silver Bear for its screenplay, written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza. Among other honors, it has also been nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards. Lelio is in Los Angeles filming an English version of his acclaimed 2013 film Gloria, starring Oscar-winner Julianne Moore. "It has been very exciting to be able to revisit what's universal in the story and see a performer as powerful as Julianne Moore playing this role," he said. For now, he is savoring the Globes nomination, where A Fantastic Woman will compete against Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father (Cambodia), In the Fade (Germany/France), Loveless (Russia) and The Square (Sweden/Germany/France). "It's a joy for the team, for everyone who made this movie, to be among this select group of such powerful movies that have been selected," the director said. As for Vega, he said: "I spoke to her this morning and she was very happy with the news. She is already getting her dress." A project in the Philippines that used debris to rebuild typhoon-ravaged houses and Californian homes providing year-round housing for migrant workers won one of the world's most prestigious housing awards on Tuesday. The development charity CARE used innovative techniques, such as teaching building skills to residents and using wreckage from destroyed homes, to rehouse more than 15,000 Filipino families devastated in 2013 by Typhoon Haiyan. "This is the first time self-recovery has been used on such a large scale," said David Ireland, director of British charity World Habitat, which co-hosts the World Habitat Awards together with the United Nations (U.N.) settlement program, UN-Habitat. "It has helped more people, more quickly, than traditional disaster recovery programs. The potential of this approach to be used elsewhere is absolutely huge." The winners of the competition, which was established in 1985, received 10,000 pounds and opportunities to share their ideas around the world. The second winner was Mutual Housing, a not-for-profit affordable housing developer in Yolo County in northern California, which built the first permanent year-round homes for seasonal fruit and vegetable pickers. Tens of thousands of workers are brought in from Central America at harvest time to do low-wage jobs, often living in sub-standard houses in government-funded migrant centers. "It has been a complete 180 degree turn since we've been living here," said Saul Menses, who moved into one of Mutual Housing's 62 apartments and houses in Spring Lake, some 60 miles (97 km) northeast of San Francisco, in 2015. "For five years, we lived in an apartment there that was very cold and in poor condition. My wife had to board the windows up with tape and unclog the sink daily." The Spring Lake houses are the United States' first certified zero-energy rental homes, meaning they consume less energy than they produce, using solar power, efficient lights and drought-resistant landscaping. Seasonal work also disrupts family life for the estimated 6,000 migrants who come to Yolo County for the harvest, making it difficult for children to stay in one school. The new houses are less than 1 km from a secondary school and other services. "Seasonal agricultural laborers are one of the most marginalized groups in the USA," said World Habitat's Ireland. "Mutual Housing California have managed to help a group not normally reached and proven that you don't have to be a homeowner or on a high income to embrace green lifestyles." Four people drowned while fleeing an attack by a militia group on a mining area in the violence-ridden northeast of DR Congo, local sources said Wednesday. The victims died in the Ituri river attempting to escape the Mai-Mai Simba militia group in the mineral-rich Ituri province on Saturday, according to human rights group Convention for the Development of Forest Peoples and local official Idris Koma Kokodila. Forty-six people were also believed to have been abducted by the militia and used to carry loads from the site, a remote area 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Bunia, a city near the troubled border with Uganda. DR Congo's huge eastern region has long been wracked by violence, with dozens of armed groups some self-described self-defense militias like the Mai-Mai Simba active in the area. Many of these groups were armed during the DR Congos second civil war a conflict that ran from 1998-2003 to fight incursion by Rwandan or Ugandan combatants, and have never been disarmed. African and European leaders called for intensifying the fight against terrorism in the Sahel during a meeting Wednesday outside Paris, as the recently created G5 Sahel force received fresh funding pledges. French President Emmanuel Macron announced Saudi Arabia was contributing $100 million, and the United Arab Emirates another $30 million to the G5 Sahel force. The United States and European Union have already announced contributions of roughly $60 million each. Macron said France's 4,000-strong Barkhane operation in the Sahel will work with the G5 soldiers next year to combat jihadist groups in the region, such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. He predicted victories against the groups early in the year. Wednesday's meeting west of Paris aimed to inject fresh support for the G5, launched last July to tackle rising terrorism across the vast expanse of Africa's Sahel region. Five African nations are contributing to the force, which is expected to grow to 5,000 troops by next March. But experts say it needs more soldiers, training and funding among other things to tackle the spreading jihadi threat. Leaders also talked about other challenges. Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita warned Wednesday that with their routing in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, Islamic State group fighters could end up in the Sahel. Beyond French troops, other Western forces and U.N. peacekeepers are also present in the Sahel. A number have been killed in recent weeks. That includes four U.S. soldiers who were ambushed in October in a remote part of Niger, along with four Nigerien soldiers. U.N. and other African troops have also been targeted. This year also saw terrorist attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso. Leaders of majority Muslim nations gathered in Istanbul Wednesday and condemned U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as unlawful. The meeting came as unrest in the Middle East continues, along with growing criticism over the Jerusalem move. The gathering was under the auspices of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, OIC. Turkey currently leads the OIC and the emergency summit was called by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognize occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," Erdogan told leaders at the start of the meeting Wednesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Bangladeshi President Abdoul Hamid and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are among the 22 heads of state and government attended. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, along with 23 other countries, sent lower-level delegations. Some of the sharpest criticism came from Abbas, who told leaders on Wednesday that Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State was - in his words - "a crime." He said the Palestinians would not accept a U.S. role in the peace process from now on and accused the United States of being biased in favor of Israel. The Palestinian leader said "We are here today to say together and in clear language: Jerusalem was, still is and will always be the capital of the State of Palestine." Abbas called for the United Nations to take over the peace process. While there has been widespread criticism of Trumps Jerusalem decision, questions remain of whether anger over the move can overcome political divisions within the Islamic world, in particular, among Arab leaders. The Arab world cannot take a unified stance without the consent of Saudi Arabia or Egypt, wrote Hurriyet daily news columnist Barcin Yinanc Tuesday. The House of Saud, as well as Egypts current military ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, both need U.S. support to maintain power and also to stand against Iran, which they see as gaining predominance with its advances in Iraq and Syria, Yinanc said. The situation is further complicated by existing tension between summit host Erdogan and key players. Saudi Arabia is more and more distancing itself from Turkey, noted Huseyin Bagci, international relations professor at Ankaras Middle Eastern Technical University. A possible sign of that distance is the absence of the Saudi King and Crown Prince at the Istanbul summit. WATCH: Turkey Summit Condemns Trump's Jerusalem Decision Officially, Saudi Arabia has sharply criticized Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A Saudi statement called the move "unjustified and irresponsible" and "a big step back in efforts to advance the peace process." But Turkish pro-government media have accused Riyadh of tacitly approving Trump's move, and in Ankara there are growing suspicions that Riyadh's allegiances could be shifting. There is belief that this already exists, since Trumps famous sword dance with the Saudi leaders," said political columnist Semih Idiz of the Al Monitor website, referring to Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia. Idiz points to pronouncements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran, "and when you read in between lines, his [Netanyahu's] support of the growing Saudi-U.S. relationship has left people in Turkey thinking that there is this axis already there of Saudi-Israel and U.S, Idiz said. Saudi Arabia sent its minister for religious affairs, a gesture some analysts interpreted as a less than enthusiastic response by the kingdom to President Trump's decision. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusolgu, speaking on Turkish television Tuesday, chided some Arab countries for failing take a more robust stance against Washington, saying Donald Trump scares them." It seems that some Arab countries refrain from challenging Trump, said the Turkish top diplomat. Despite the serious diplomatic obstacles, Erdogan hopes the summit will set up an action plan to counter Trump, under the title of the Istanbul Declaration. Erdogan has spearheaded opposition among both Muslim and European leaders to oppose the U.S. leader's decision on Jerusalem. During his visit to Ankara Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed Erdogans stance. Wednesday's summit gives the Turkish president a world stage at a time when he has been facing growing isolation from some of his traditional allies. The differences among the countries attending the summit are expected to pose a challenge for Erdogan. But with violent confrontations still breaking out over Jerusalem, observers expect him to capitalize on the expressions of anger and stress the need for a strong and united stance. The political landscape in the United States looks a bit different in the wake of Tuesday's Senate election victory by Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama. In an outcome few could have imagined several weeks ago, Jones defeated controversial Republican candidate Roy Moore, who had the backing of President Donald Trump. In the wake of Jones' victory, Democrats are more confident about success in next year's congressional midterm elections, and Republicans are looking for a way to rebound. Late Tuesday, Jones paid tribute to the voters and staffers who supported him in his longshot victory over Moore. "This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of which ZIP code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life!" he told supporters. WATCH: Jones Win in Alabama Senate Race Could Signal a Democratic Wave in 2018 Republicans split on Moore Moore was unable to overcome allegations of sexual misconduct stemming back decades involving several women who were teenagers at the time while Moore was in his 30s. Moore stopped short of conceding the race, however, saying, "We have been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light. We have been put in a hole, if you will, and it reminds me of a [Bible] passage in Psalms 40, 'I waited patiently for the Lord.' That is what we have got to do." Moore had the full backing of the president in the final days of the campaign after Trump initially held back his endorsement in the wake of the allegations against Moore. Trump: I wanted the seat The president responded Wednesday to questions at the White House about the Alabama race and said that he had hoped for a different result. "I wish we would have gotten the seat. A lot of Republicans feel differently. They are very happy with the way it turned out," he said. "But as the leader of the party, I would have liked to have the seat. I want to endorse the people who are running." Jones won in large part because of a strong Democratic turnout, especially by African-Americans. Moore was hurt by a depressed Republican turnout and a write-in campaign that drained away votes. Democrats also saw similarities between the Jones victory and Democratic wins last month in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, which could portend a successful midterm congressional campaign in 2018. "So you put all that together the base being energized, millennials overwhelmingly Democratic, suburbs swinging back to the Democrats and it means that things are looking good for us," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York told reporters at the Capitol. 'A wave building'? Jones' victory in a heavily Republican state like Alabama is sure to send political shockwaves around the country as both parties look ahead to next year's elections. And some Republicans are growing increasingly concerned that Trump's weak national approval rating fueled Democratic energy in the recent elections. In one new survey from Quinnipiac University, Trump's approval rating bumped up slightly to 37 percent. Another new poll from Monmouth University, however, had the president down at 32 percent, a drop of eight points from its last survey in September. In addition to Alabama, the recent Democratic statewide wins in Virginia and New Jersey have energized Democrats, according to several analysts. "If I were running Republican campaigns for Senate, for the House, for governor, for state legislature, I would be really, really worried because there appears to be a wave building and it has a giant 'D' on it 'D' for 'Democrat,' " University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said via Skype. Governing becomes harder Experts see the Democratic victory in Alabama not only as a rejection of Moore as a flawed candidate but also as a setback for Trump. He defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Alabama by a margin of 62 to 34 percent in the 2016 election. However, exit polls from Tuesday's race found that Alabama voters were deadlocked on Trump's job performance, with 48 percent approving and the same percentage disapproving. Jones will now serve out the remaining two years of the term of Jeff Sessions, who left the Senate to serve as Trump's attorney general. Republicans will now have to push through their agenda with one Senate seat fewer in a body that is already sharply divided. "We see that Republicans, once Jones is seated, will now have a 51- instead of a 52-seat majority in the Senate, and we have seen time and again, over the course of the year, that they have trouble governing with just 52 seats. Those challenges won't get easier when they lose one of those senators," said analyst Molly Reynolds at the Brookings Institution in Washington. As if to counter the Democrats' good news on Wednesday, House and Senate Republican leaders said they had now agreed on a final version of a tax reform bill, a key campaign promise made by the president. Republicans hope to iron out final differences in House and Senate versions of the tax cut bill, have it passed by both chambers and signed into law by the president in the next few weeks. LEXINGTON Two Coloradans who fled law enforcement in a high-speed chase and then hid for hours in a cornfield in the July heat each were sentenced in Dawson County District Court to serve time in jail. The suspects were driving a stolen vehicle and sped away after a Nebraska State Patrol trooper attempted to stop them on Interstate 80 near Overton. According to court records, the driver of the vehicle, Michael Medina, 25, of Denver was sentenced to 200 days in jail for felony theft by receiving stolen property of $1,500-$5,000. He will receive 133 days credit for time already served. He was also sentenced to another 210 days in jail for felony possession of a controlled substance and felony operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest. The passenger in the vehicle, Patricia Pacheco, 27, also of Denver was sentenced to 200 days in jail for felony possession of a controlled substance, and she will receive 124 days credit for time already served. She was also sentenced to an additional 180 days in jail for misdemeanor obstruction of a peace officer. The charges stem from a 30-minute pursuit on July 27 that reached 85 mph on rural Dawson County roads. According to court records, the trooper attempted to make a traffic stop at about 3:30 p.m. near the Overton I-80 interchange. Medina and Pacheco fled north on Road 444 at the Overton interchange and sped down county roads. The State Patrol spiked the vehicles tires at Roads 1353 and 763, southwest of Sumner. Shortly after, Medina drove through a cornfield and struck a fence at Roads 444 and 764, court records say. Medina and Pacheco then ran from the vehicle and hid in the cornfield. The pair was spotted later that evening outside the nearby home of Dean and Jean Eberle, Jean said in a July interview with the Hub. After they were spotted, Pacheco and Medina ran off and werent apprehended until about noon the following day, court records say. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has won legislative approval to extend martial law for a year in the southern Mindanao region, which was besieged by Islamic militants earlier this year. A joint session of Congress voted 240-27 Wednesday to grant Duterte power to continue martial law until December 31, 2018. The president imposed martial law in the region back in May, after insurgent forces seized the city of Marawi went on a rampage, burning houses, Catholic churches and taking scores of hostages. Philippine forces drove out the militants after a five-month battle, including a massive bombing campaign that left more than 1,000 people dead and the city in ruins. Opponents said extending martial law in Mindanao is unconstitutional, because Duterte declared Marawi to be "liberated from the terrorist influence" in October. They also warned that Duterte could declare martial law throughout the entire Philippines and restore authoritarian rule similar to that of the late President Ferdinand Marcos from 1972 until he was overthrown in a popular uprising in 1986. Martial law declared in the southern Philippines over much of the year has had little impact on most people in the area, reducing any anxiety about a proposal to renew it in 2018. Despite fears that martial law declared over the island of Mindanao in May would follow the harsher measures taken by authoritarian ex-president Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, people on the island say little has changed outside a single city where troops were fighting a group of armed Muslim rebels. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered martial law through December 31 so troops and police could bypass legal procedures in capturing suspected supporters of the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group in Marawi city. The fighting ended in October with 1,127 dead, but the president is seeking an extension in 2018 as violence flares up on another part of the ever-restive island. Extension of the law that gives local authorities the ability to declare curfews, skirt due process and set up road checkpoints is unlikely to stir fear in people outside conflict zones, locals and analysts say. So far, a lot of common Mindanao inhabitants see just the occasional checkpoint. Its a different martial law compared to the martial law that was imposed in 1972, said Oscar Moreno, mayor of Mindanaos industrial port city Cagayan de Oro. There are safeguards in the Constitution that have certainly been introduced because of the lessons of the 1972 martial law, so martial law as it is universally understood may not necessarily apply here in the city or here in the province or here in Mindanao or here in the whole country. Fear of a Marcos era repeat Martial law under Marcos called for curfews, bans on public assembly and military arrests of people such as Communist insurgents who were suspected of plotting to undermine the government. Marcos was afraid then the government could be toppled. Since 1987, the Philippine constitution has set limits on martial law, including sign-off by legislators and in some cases the Supreme Court. Martial law cannot suspend the constitution. In Mindanao this year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines had set up about 17,500 road checkpoints on the island, established curfews in 129 population centers and deployed some 9,700 people to patrol public spaces by June according to the news website Davaotoday.com. Day in the life of a Mindanao city But on a recent night in Morenos city of 675,000 people, people were shopping around dusk at a sprawling two-story mall. A group laughed and shared mobile phone content over pizza just outside, and across the street a hotel lobby bar filled with business people. No one mentioned curfews. The only persistent sign of martial law in Cagayan de Oro, as locals told it, is a military-run checkpoint between the city and its airport about one hours drive to the west. Marawi lies about another hour west of the airport. Citizens believe martial law has helped troops get a grip on Marawi and stop the war from spreading. Some expect the checkpoints to lower the risk of car-jackings on rural highways. For us its really just the checkpoints, but you get to the checks and theyre really not that strict about it anymore, said Rhona Canoy, president of International School Cagayan de Oro. Thats all there is, no curfews, no nothing, and thats what its been like since they declared (martial law). Cagayan de Oro doesnt need martial law because people in the city already protect themselves, said Michael Esclamado, who works as a driver in the city. Children seem scared about martial law, about war, thats why I dont like martial law here, he said. The city has always been 100 percent safe, he said. Martial law renewal in 2018? This month, the presidential office said the countrys defense department and national police have suggested to the president an extension of martial law in Mindanao, adding that Duterte is studying the recommendations. (Dutertes) paramount concern is the security of our people especially the Mindanaoans in the face of threats and the use of available means under the law to fight them, said a statement on the presidential website. Officials must prove evidence of rebellion to justify martial law, but may have found one December 3. That day, the Muslim rebel group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed two civilians in attacks in Maguindanao province. Duterte suspects Islamic State may be supporting those fighters to establish a caliphate, the news website Rappler.com reported. Its well known theyre gathering forces, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapores public policy school. They dont need a lot of fighters to create a lot of havoc, said Araral, a native of Mindanao. They just have to hold hostage one big mall for a few days and then that could do a lot of damage psychologically to the country, so I think the military and Duterte know something that the rest of the world, the rest of the Philippines doesnt know. Mexican front-runner for next years election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, formalized his bid for the presidency on Tuesday and promised his government would spend on the young, elderly and farmers. Left-winger Lopez Obrador, who had a 12-point lead in one recent poll, wants to significantly change Mexicos approach to the economy, security and education, vowing more support for the poorest but without new taxes or higher debt levels. Cheap fertilizer, fixed prices He promised cheap fertilizer and fixed produce prices for farmers with a goal of making Mexico self-sufficient in food. He also offered paid apprenticeships for unemployed youth, grants for students and higher pensions for the elderly expanding on popular welfare programs introduced when he governed Mexico City. A win by the 64-year-old self-declared nationalist on July 1 could reverse a Latin American trend towards right-leaning governments and set the stage for friction with U.S. President Donald Trump over his anti-migrant language and policies. Lopez Obrador promised friendly ties with the U.S. government but said he would not accept racist, hegemonic or arrogant attitudes. He also proposed a shakeup of government, saying he would move more than a dozen ministries and federal bodies including state oil company Pemex from the capital to regional towns. The federal government will be decentralized, Lopez Obrador said, in a speech in the capital after registering his intention to run for his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party. He also promised not to increase fuel prices. In the clearest language yet, he repeated his intention to consult with victims of drug crime about the possibility of offering amnesty to criminals who commit to rehabilitation. The only aim, there is no other, is to explore all the possibilities to curb the violence and guarantee peace for the people of Mexico, he said. Mexicans reject amnesty A poll this week found that two-thirds of Mexicans rejected the idea of amnesty, in a country on track for its deadliest year in modern history with nearly 21,000 murders through October. Lopez Obrador, who has unsuccessfully run for the presidency twice before, will likely face Jose Antonio Meade, running for the ruling party, and Ricardo Anaya, who heads a left-right coalition of opposition parties. He did not say how he would finance his spending plans, but in the past has said all new spending would be funded by ending government corruption and waste. Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, a Democrat, was named Wednesday to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Al Franken in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations leveled by several women against him. "She genuinely likes people, and people like her," Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said in appointing the 59-year-old Smith, who formerly was his chief of staff before becoming his running mate in the 2014 state election. "She has impeccable integrity and the highest personal and professional standards." Smith's appointment is for the next year, but she said she plans to run in a special 2018 election next November to fill out the last two years of Franken's six-year term. The demise of Franken's Washington tenure unfolded over the last few weeks. It was touched off by claims made by a Los Angeles radio host and former model, Leeann Tweeden. She accused Franken of forcibly kissing her when they both were on a 2006 tour to entertain U.S. troops in the Middle East. Tweeden posted a picture of a smiling Franken groping her breasts while she was sleeping on a return flight to the United States. Franken apologized to Tweeden, but soon after other women also accused the one-time television and film comedian of unwanted advances. He variously apologized, said the incidents did not occur or said he remembered the encounters differently. But as the allegations mounted, dozens of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate demanded that he resign. Franken announced his resignation in a defiant speech on the Senate floor, saying it was ironic that he was quitting even as Donald Trump remains in office after more than a dozen women accused the president of unwanted sexual advances during his 2016 campaign for the White House. Trump, a Republican, says none of the accusations against him is true, but he is facing new calls from Democratic lawmakers to answer the specific allegations. Six senators, all Democrats, have called for his resignation. There was a time -- in this northwest corner of Montana -- when glaciers ruled the land. Crown of the Continent The abundance of the massive rivers of ice -- and their runoff -- created a land of striking scenery. That's how American anthropologist, historian, naturalist and writer George Bird Grinnell described Glacier National Park, nine years before the land was set aside as a national park on May 11, 1910. Today, there are far fewer icy behemoths. And theyre all shrinking. There are currently 26 glaciers in Glacier National Park, says national parks traveler Mikah Meyer. I can't remember the exact number that there were when it was founded but it was vastly higher, he added. The glaciers are melting and the snowfall is not restoring their size in the way that they have in past years." Melting glaciers But the glaciers both those long gone and those that still remain -- have left their mark. As they started melting 10,000 years ago, they carved out majestic mountains, lush valleys, and pristine lakes. Glacial waters are the headwaters for streams that flow west to the Pacific Ocean, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east across the continent to Hudson's Bay, according to the National Park Service. It emphasizes that that runoff affects waters in a huge section of North America. With more than 760 lakes and nearly half a million hectares of parkland, its easy to see why Mikah has returned. Five years ago I stood on this exact same spot; at the end of the dock on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, he said as he stood in front of a landscape so serene, it could have passed as a painting. It was one of my first experiences with the National Park Service site and I was hooked, he admitted. Waters from those melting glaciers also feed Iceberg Lake -- another popular attraction in the park. It is very cold and very windy and lots of little icebergs floating back there by the snow, Mikah said as he braved the winds to capture the scene with his camera. But despite the cold, nearby wildflowers were in full bloom, creating a pastoral setting. As Mikah walked through a field of bear grass, he said he felt like he was in some fairytale land. The elegant white blossoms are a common wildflower in Glacier National Park, which this year grew in prolific numbers. They provided a perfect environment to view the local wildlife, including deer, moose, marmots and mountain goats. Generous tour companies Mikah got lucky when several tour companies offered him a chance to explore the park from a variety of perspectives. With Red Bus Tours, Mikah got a nice overview of the park from their vintage 1930s buses. It's a massive park -- it takes an hour and a half just to cross it, he noted. So it's a guided tour that allows you to focus on looking at the beauty of the park instead of having to stay on these tiny mountain roads. Swan Mountain Outfitters donated a horseback tour for an eight-hour trek to Cracker Lake, an eye-popping turquoise body of water which is also fed by melting glacial waters. Mikah described the scene: You crest over this hill on the horses and you're in the middle, surrounded by bear grass and trees and flowers and these large gray mountains in the background, and it just pops like nothing else. And thanks to Glacier Guides and Montana Raft, Mikah got to experience those glacial waters up close during a rafting tour on the Middle Fork River -- a 150-kilometer river in western Montana that forms the southwestern boundary of the park. It was a very clear river, Mikah said, since the water was a combination of glacier melt and snow runoff. So you could see down through the water to the bottom, see the rocks, and the fish, so very pure, very clear water. Mikah was pleased to have experienced the park from the depths of the water as well as from the top of a ski lift where he could see where it all started. Mikah, whos on a mission to visit all 417 national parks in the U.S., says he hopes to come back again one day, even if the glaciers are gone. Even if the physical glaciers don't still exist because they melted away, it can still be Glacier National Park because that's what created this amazing landscape. Mikah invites you to follow him on his epic journey by visiting him on his website MikahMeyer.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The United States will unveil a new national security strategy Dec. 18 aimed at preserving the world order forged in the aftermath of World War II, despite efforts by powers like Russia and China to tear it down. White House National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster said the new strategy would rely on "peace through strength" to advance U.S. interests abroad. And he promised that alliances with traditional U.S. allies would play a prominent role in Washington's approach. "We have to work together harder than ever to ensure that nations uphold the rule of law, respect the sovereignty of their neighbors and support the post-World War II, post-Cold War order of peace, stability and collective security," McMaster said Tuesday, speaking alongside his British counterpart during a speech in Washington. Despite concerns that President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign might lead to a retreat from the world stage, McMaster said the new strategy would do the opposite, and instead mark the return of a more confident, more determined United States. "In many ways, we vacated a lot of competitive space in recent years and created opportunities for these revisionist powers," he said, referring to Moscow and Beijing. "You'll see a big emphasis on competitive engagement competitive engagement across what we're calling arenas of competition." Trump administration officials have been working on the much-anticipated national security strategy for months. McMaster said the finished document is centered on four main principles: protecting the U.S. homeland; advancing American prosperity and economic security; a stronger, more capable military; and advancing U.S. influence. The strategy also highlights several different threats: those from powers like Russia and China, as well as from so-called rogue regimes, such as Iran and North Korea. Russia and China McMaster specifically called out Russia for threatening the U.S. with "so-called new generation warfare," an apparent reference to the U.S. intelligence community assessment that Moscow tried to influence the 2016 presidential election. "These are very sophisticated campaigns of subversion and disinformation and propaganda using sovereign tools, operating across global domains that attempt to divide our communities within our nations and pit them against each other," McMaster said. The U.S. national security adviser also criticized China for what he termed "economic aggression." "[China] is challenging the rules-based economic order that helped lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty," McMaster said. At the same time, McMaster called on Beijing to do more to corral North Korea, calling China's economic power over Pyongyang "considerable," while warning this might be the world's "last, best chance to avoid military conflict." "The president is not asking [Chinese] President Xi for a favor," McMaster warned. "It is in both our interests to resolve this problem." Iran On Iran, McMaster promised the new U.S. strategy would seek to counter Tehran's destabilizing activities in Syria and across the Middle East, while continuing to block all paths to a nuclear weapon. The new U.S. national security strategy will also address the persistent threat from terror groups and what McMaster called "radical Islamist ideology," describing previous U.S. approaches to the problem as "too myopic." Speaking before McMaster on Tuesday, British National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said the U.S. "remains the indispensable global leader." "We have had a global order that has been underwritten by the United States," Sedwill said. "That will continue to be the case, I'm sure, in the 21st century." A top counterterrorism official in Bangladesh said Wednesday the man accused of detonating a pipe bomb in a New York City subway tunnel does not appear to have any known links to militant groups. Monirul Islam said investigators have interviewed the Akayed Ullah's wife and her parents as part of their probe. The 27-year-old Ullah is due to make his first court appearance Wednesday, a day after U.S. federal prosecutors announced terrorism charges against him. Authorities say the Bangladeshi immigrant's attack was inspired by the Islamic State group. The charges against him include bombing a public place and using a weapon of mass destruction, each of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Ullah was also accused of providing material support to Islamic State, destruction of property by means of an explosive and using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to a criminal complaint disclosed on Tuesday. These charges carry sentences of five to 30 years each. Joon Kim, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the charges at a press conference in New York. "Yesterday morning, as thousands came into New York City through Port Authority, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, one man came with a hate-filled heart and an evil purpose," Kim said. "In the middle of rush hour, as everyday New Yorkers hurried to their jobs, to their schools, ready to start the work week and get going with their busy lives, one man came to kill, to maim and to destroy," he said. The attack took place in a tunnel that connects the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Times Square subway stations. Surveillance footage shows the attacker walking among the rush-hour crowd, and then smoke filling the area as the device goes off. The man is then seen laying on the ground as people rush away from the scene. Kim said Ullah picked his target and timed his attack in order to "maximize human casualties." The bomb, however, did not fully explode, leaving Ullah injured and three others slightly hurt. Ullah remained hospitalized on Tuesday, and Kim said the charges would be formally presented to Ullah at his hospital bedside. In an interview with investigators at the hospital, Ullah admitted to building the bomb and carrying out the attack in the name of the Islamic State terrorist organization. "I did it for the Islamic State," Ullah told interrogators, according to the complaint. Ullah also told authorities he detonated the bomb "in part because of the United States governments policies in, among other places, the Middle East." Ullah immigrated to the United States in 2011 and is a legal permanent resident. From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a taxi driver. Mohammad Toha, Ullahs uncle, told VOAs Bangla Service that a relative had sponsored Ullahs family to immigrate to the United States. With no known ties to a foreign terrorist organization, Ullah appears to have acted on his own. William Sweeney, the assistant FBI director for the New York field office, told reporters Ullah had not registered on the bureaus radar for suspicious activity. The complaint details Ullahs self-radicalization in recent years. It says Ullah became radicalized as he began watching Islamic State propaganda videos online as far back as 2014. One video exhorted Islamic State sympathizers to carry out terror attacks in their homelands if they couldnt join the caliphate in Syria and Iraq. About a year ago, according to the complaint, Ullah began researching how to build homemade bombs. Two to three weeks ago, Ullah started collecting bomb-making materials wires, metal screws, plastic zip ties and a Christmas tree light bulb. He built the crude device at his apartment in New York Citys Brooklyn borough a week before the attack. On Monday morning, as he headed to the Port Authority station with the device strapped to his body, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump, you failed to protect your nation." The bungled attack came less than two months after Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, drove a truck into pedestrians in lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring 12 others. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in New York since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Saipov was charged with eight counts of first degree murder in aid of racketeering; 12 counts of attempted murder; and one count of providing material support for terrorism. Albert Fox Cahn, legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York, issued a statement on behalf of Ullah's family. In it, the family said they were "heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today, and by the allegations being made against a member of our family." President Donald Trump said Monday's attack shows the need for Congress to pass immigration reforms "to protect the American people." Nigeria's court of appeal on Tuesday dismissed 15 charges against the Senate president related to an alleged false declaration of assets, but it upheld three other charges against him. Bukola Saraki's three-year tenure as president of the upper house has been marred by numerous accusations of misconduct and investigations, though none have led to convictions. The original charges are related to allegations that Saraki falsely declared his assets when he was a state governor from 2003 to 2011, to which he pleaded not guilty. A Code of Conduct Tribunal cleared the Senate president of the charges in June, saying the case against him lacked substance. The government mounted a legal challenge which led to Tuesday's ruling by the court of appeal that Saraki should be retried by the tribunal on three of the 18 charges against him. The three counts relate to Saraki's acquisition of two houses in Ikoyi, an upmarket district in the southern commercial metropolis of Lagos. "The appeal is dismissed in part in respects of the other 15 counts", said the judge, Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, at the appeal court in the capital Abuja. The Senate president's camp has previously denied any wrongdoing and on Tuesday issued a statement in which it said Saraki had been "victorious" due to 15 charges being dropped. Saraki ran unopposed for the post of Senate president, mainly with the backing of the opposition. He was not the ruling party's preferred candidate, which led to strains in his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate president has been dogged by legal cases since taking office. In October 2016 Saraki was cleared of altering Senate rules to get himself elected, and in March this year lawmakers cleared him of any wrongdoing over allegations that he attempted to evade payment of customs duties on a car. Families of North Korean abductees feel forgotten by the world, despite the increased international focus on widespread North Korean human rights abuses that a United Nations report described as "on a scale unparalleled in the modern world." Hwang In-cheol's father was among the 47 passengers and crew aboard a Korea Air (KAL) airliner that in 1969 was hijacked into North Korea. Most were released under intense international pressure, but 11 of them, including Hwang's father, who was a journalist and outspoken critic of the then Kim Il Sung regime, have not been allowed to return nor permitted to communicate with his family. "To this day, 48 years later, my father and the rest of the 11 unreturned abductees remain forcefully detained in North Korea and they have been forgotten," said Hwang, who heads an advocacy group called the KAL Abductees' Repatriation Committee that is trying to bring international media attention to this issue. After the 1950-53 Korean War, North Korea returned most prisoners-of-war, but reportedly forced thousands of South Korean citizens to remain, to help rebuild national industries, schools and other basic state functions. In the decades after, thousands more were reportedly abducted by North Korea. Most of them were fishermen, who were purportedly taken to gain intelligence or serve some propaganda purpose in the ongoing inter-Korean cold war. Hwangs father is one of over 500 Korean victims who are still being held in the North, and of that number 300 are more than 70 years old, according to the Citizen's Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), an advocacy group that has worked closely on this issue with victims' families and the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID.) These abduction cases remain unresolved, as escalating inter-Korean tensions over the North's nuclear program have blocked any cooperation on humanitarian issues. Hwang said the South Korea Human Rights Commission has provided "no help" to secure the release of abductees, or to allow families to communicate with them. Charles Jenkins North Korea also stands accused of abducting a number of Japanese and other foreign nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, reportedly to train North Korean spies. Hitomi Soga, a Japanese abductee, who was forcibly taken from a beach in Northern Japan along with her mother in 1978, married Charles Jenkins while in captivity. Jenkins was a U.S Army deserter to North Korea who died Tuesday at the age of 77. Jenkins later said he was a fool for defecting to North Korea in 1965, after drinking 10 beers, to avoid being sent to fight in the Vietnam War. He was abused and tortured during his initial years in captivity. In 1980 he met and soon after married Soga, who was compelled to teach Japanese language and culture to North Korean agents. In 2002, then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il admitted that his government had abducted 13 Japanese citizens and, in an attempt to improve relations with Japan,. Soga and four other Japanese abductees were allowed to travel to Japan for a short visit, but they refused to return to North Korea. In 2004 Jenkins and the two daughters he had with Soga were also allowed to leave. An agreement between Japan and North Korea to ease some sanctions in exchange for an investigation into the status of abduction victims has since fallen apart over Pyongyang's lack of cooperation and its continued testing of nuclear weapons. "There was a brief opening, there was a brief ray of sunshine that came in with Charles Jenkins and others being able to get out, and being able to say what they knew, and then the door slam shut, the curtains were drawn, and there has been nothing further," said Phil Robertson, deputy director in Asia for Human Rights Watch. Jenkins had also confirmed that Anocha Panjoy, a Thai woman who disappeared in 1978 while in Macau, had also been abducted by North Korea. Panjoys family has voiced frustration that the Thai government has done little to secure her release over the years. North denials Robertson said North Korea is now in "complete denial on the case of abductions of foreign nationals." And he has called on the international community to speak out strongly and increase pressure on the Kim Jong Un government to release abductees, hold those responsible for the abductions accountable, and improve human rights conditions in the country. "These are crimes against humanity that have to be answered for by North Korea. Speaking quietly is not an option at this point," said Robertson. The United Nations Security Council also met this week to discuss a General Assembly recommendation to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, based on a 2014 Commission of Inquiry report documenting a network of political prison camps, and systematic human rights abuses, including murder, enslavement, torture, rape, and other sexual violence. China, North Koreas key ally on the Security Council, has blocked any further action on the measure. North Koreas Permanent Mission to the United Nations on Tuesday released a statement condemning the Security Council meeting as a "desperate act of the hostile forces" (led by the U.S.) and called the allegations of human rights violations fictitious." Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report A ladder propped against a stained wall leads up into a dark passage on the second floor of an Indian brothel, lined by a series of locked doors. Hidden inside are tiny cubicles, stashed with sex workers' clothes, blankets, cosmetics and condoms. The barely-lit passageway meanders along, intersected by many other dank corridors, and arrives at a trap door, which swings open to reveal another secret space, rarely seen by clients or outsiders. "They are actually meant to deceive and hide," one sex worker said quietly. "A person can get lost and then simply disappear." Trafficked young girls are being "broken into prostitution" - and hidden from the law - behind a maze of passages and secret cells in crumbling brothels across New Delhi and other major cities, campaigners say. Of an estimated 20 million commercial prostitutes in India, 16 million women and girls are victims of sex trafficking, according to campaigners. Thousands of children, largely from poor families, are lured or abducted by traffickers every year, and sold on to pimps and brothels who force them into sexual slavery. "These tehkhanas (hidden cells) harbour minors and have also become an escape route for them when there are raids," said Swati Jai Hind, head of the Delhi Commission for Women, which has rescued 57 girls this year. "We get specific tip-offs about children being brought here but when we come for rescue, we sometimes find no girls - they vanish." The government has introduced a number of measures to combat sex trafficking - from strengthening laws to boosting social welfare schemes. But reports of young girls being sold for sex and hidden in labyrinths are rising, campaigners say. "There are increasing cases where girls are describing life inside these dark and dirty places," said Rishi Kant of the anti-slavery charity Shakti Vahini. "We were part of a rescue where a seemingly regular cupboard led to a hidden passage from where girls were found. Urgent action is needed." Hidden in bunkers When policeman Prabir Kumar Ball started investigating a missing persons complaint in India's eastern West Bengal state this year, he thought it was a routine case. But the search for a teenage girl led him to the brothels of New Delhi and Agra, a popular tourist destination some 200 km (124 miles) south of the capital and home to Taj Mahal. "The brothels in Agra had bunkers, just like the ones found along international borders," he said. "We had to break into them to rescue the girl. We found six others hidden in these bunkers. Rescuing them was like going to war," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Ball said the traffickers take girls from West Bengal to Delhi safe houses, then sell them on to brothels in other towns. The arrest of a couple from Delhi in November dismantled one of the region's biggest trafficking networks and gave "a rare insight into how bunkers and tunnels are used to hide young girls when police raids happen", he said. Many trafficked young girls end up on the congested streets of New Delhi's largest red light district, known as GB Road. Dimly lit staircases, next to ground floor hardware stores, lead up to hundreds of multi-storied brothels. Pimps haggle with customers, older women solicit and younger ones watch quietly. As exchanges are agreed, customers enter the brothels. They are led to small, windowless rooms and the doors are closed. "Nothing in this place has changed since I was brought here 20 years ago," a sex worker said as she applied make-up and got ready for clients. "It was a dirty place when I came and still is. The maze of rooms, the way deals are struck and the plight of the women stuck here is frozen in time." More and more survivor testimonies are providing evidence about brothel layouts and the extent of exploitation in them, spurring many agencies to push for their closure. West Bengal's child welfare committee ordered the police in May to demolish "hidden places" in GB Road brothels, after listening to the testimony of a rescued girl. The Delhi Commission for Women has also written to the police and civic authorities, demanding they identify and seal the cells and passages. "No action has been taken," said Hind. "We are working on a database of people who own these brothels and are determined to see they are shut down." LEXINGTON Friday, December 8th, was a very colorful day at Terri Wylies art classroom at Lexington Middle School. This was the day that students who had completed their masks, made out of plaster and painted, were to show them off. For those still working on them, this was the day to get them completed. All seven of Wylies classes, grades six, seven, eight and English Language Learners, do masks, Wylie said. I only do it every three years so I can gather extra fun things that they can use such as old jewelry, ribbons, toilet paper rolls, to be cut and used for horns, noses, etc. and any other things that look inviting. By doing it every three years, most get the opportunity once, and then I do it again with a whole new group, she said. To make the masks, students use a plaster gauze material that activates in water. The process takes about two weeks from beginning to end, Wylie said. Wylie spends the beginning of the quarter teaching students about cultural differences in art, face and encouraging creativity. I share several examples of masks from various cultures and time periods and attempt to explain the purpose of the masks I share, she said. Before students start with the plaster, she shows them her collection of stuff that can be added or used on the mask. Students are encouraged to think outside the box and are shown how to make some three dimensional additions, Wylie said. After the gauze and painting is done, students glue extra items on to the finished project with a hot glue gun. Wylie described the project as a messy two weeks in the classroom, but well worth the outcome. The creativity that comes out of this project is amazing. Even when two students do the same idea, it is totally different. I do have to grade these, but I grade on effort and attitude, so most all get As! The effort put forth by all is amazing. This is probably my favorite project to do as the enthusiasm from the students is terrific, she said. Wylie said she takes pictures of each mask and prints them to create a bulletin board display. This allows the students to take their masks home to share with their family and she has a permanent documentation of the masks that the students have enjoyed creating, she said. Jesus Martin made a gold colored mask with slits for eyes to look out of. I kept thinking til I saw examples (of materials for mask decor), I saw the gold paint and I knew I wanted to make a gold mask, Martin said. The hardest part of making his gold mask was making the teeth for the mouth. He used small pieces of plaster and molded them into teeth sized bits, he said. Lazaro Adame made a multi-colored gas mask. For the filter parts, which protrude out of each side around the mouth, he said he used brown toilet paper rolls. Adding plaster to the rolls made them harden to form a part of the mask, Adame said. Falis Hassan made a mask with three colors covered in dots. She said she used a dripper to drop dots on the mask. Hassans mask had a pointed protrusion on the top and had no openings for the eyes to look out. C-H photos Kevin Zelaya Above: Lexington Middle School students Michelle Cano De Leon, left, and Amiryah Flores, left, show the masks they made in Terri Wylies art class. Both are in sixth grade. Photo at right: Wilander Hernandez with his mask which includes a watch. Photo below: Falis Hassan with her mask covered in dots. Two reporters for the Reuters news agency have been arrested in Myanmar on suspicion of possessing "secret police documents" pertaining to the refugee crisis in Rakhine state, the government said Wednesday. Journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested late Tuesday in the main city of Yangon and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act. The journalists allegedly planned "to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine state to foreign agencies abroad," according to the government's Myanmar Press Council. Government spokesman Zaw Htay said police officers "involved in that case" were also arrested and the government "will take action against those policemen and also the reporters." Reuters spokesman Abbe Serphos said the news organization is "urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of their arrest and their current situation." The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, said, "We are deeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters after they were invited to meet with police officials in Yangon last night. For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely. We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists." The U.S. State Deparment also expressed concern, tweeting that "freedom of the press if the cornerstone of democracy." Wa Lone joined Reuters in 2016 and has covered the Rohingya refugee crisis and a variety of other stories. Kyaw Soe Oo joined the media outlet in September. The northern part of the Rakhine state is the focal point of Myanmar's military campaign that has pushed more than 625,000 minority Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh. The operation that began in August in response to attacks on police outposts has been denounced by the United Nations as "ethnic cleansing." The military and the civilian government have prohibited most journalists and international observers from traveling independently to the area. Violations of the Officials Secrets Act, which became law during the country's colonial era of the 1920's, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday offered to begin talks with North Korea without preconditions, while pointing to China to ramp up pressures against Pyongyang, including a complete oil embargo amid heightened tensions in the Korea peninsula. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. And we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," said Tillerson at the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum on Tuesday, while adding there has to be "a period of quiet" for talks to begin, "or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions." "The president would like to see China cut the oil off," said Tillerson, adding the last time the North Koreans came to the table was because China halted its oil supply to Pyongyang. Former U.S. officials told VOA on Tuesday that such an offer is unusually candid amid increasing threats from North Koreas nuclear and missile proliferation. "The one caveat he put on that was that there must be a period of calm because talks cannot proceed in earnest if missiles are being tested and nuclear devices are being exploded," said Dennis Wilder, who served as the senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush. Tillerson "clearly stated willingness to have unconditional talks with North Korea at high levels," said Robert Manning, a former State Department official and now a senior fellow on international security at the Atlantic Council, adding Tillerson did not speak from a prepared text. "The president's views on North Korea have not changed," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said after Tillerson's remarks. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world. North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea." U.N. diplomacy At the United Nations, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told reporters that his visit to Pyongyang last week was "constructive and productive." Feltman, the highest-ranking American at the United Nations, was in Pyongyang from December 5-8. His visit was the first in-depth political exchange of views between U.N. and North Korean officials to take place in North Korea in almost eight years. He met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Pak Myong Guk. Feltman said he did not request a meeting with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. "The North Korean interlocutors agreed it was important to prevent war," Feltman said. "How we do that, was the topic of 15-plus hours of discussions." He said he urged them to signal Pyongyang's readiness to consider the possibility of talks, but he received no commitments. "I think we have left the door ajar," Feltman said. "I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide." Refugee influx Meanwhile, China is taking steps to prepare for the possibility of a mass inflow of North Korean refugees, according to the top U.S. diplomat, amid reports that China is constructing refugee camps along its northeastern border with North Korea. For years, one of China's goals of its North Korea policy has been centered on maintaining the stability of Pyongyang's regime. Beijing fears the collapse of the North Korean government would result in an influx of North Korean refugees. But media reports said China's Changbai County government is constructing refugee camps intended to accommodate North Korean migrants escaping a possible crisis on the Korean peninsula, citing a leaked internal document. "China is taking steps for such an eventuality, I think it is something that they can manage," said Tillerson, days after Chinese vice foreign minister Zheng Zeguang met with U.S. officials at the State Department. A State Department official told VOA Zheng discussed issues of shared interests, including the need to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, in his meeting with Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan last Thursday. Foreign policy experts said China seems to be preparing for all contingencies. "While I would not read into the move some sort of major shift or that Beijing believes massive migrant inflows are coming to Northeast China from a war or an oil embargo, it does seem Beijing does not want to be caught flatfooted," Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington, told VOA on Tuesday. Atlantic Councils Manning told VOA there is a certain logic for China to prepare for a worst-case scenario. "It is very likely the Chinas Peoples Liberation Army has plans to move troops to the Korean side of the Yalu River to prevent North Korean refugees from streaming into China," said Manning. The Yalu River is on the border between North Korea and China. 'Extreme sanctions' The top U.S. diplomat said the pressure campaign has achieved results that were not seen by previous efforts. "Weve never had this level of extreme sanctions. When fully executed, this is going to deny North Korea about $2.3 billion of their export revenue complete ban on coal, textiles, export of forced labor; import limitations on fuel and oil," said Tillerson earlier on Tuesday at a State Department Town Hall meeting. More than 22 countries have cut off their diplomatic ties with North Korea or sent North Korean diplomats back home, including Peru, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. A senior U.S. official said Tillerson plans to meet with top Canadian officials next Tuesday in Ottawa to address issues including North Koreas weapon proliferation. The U.S. and Canada are members of the United Nations Command, a unified command structure for multinational military forces established in 1950 to support Korea during the Korean War. "If North Korea makes bad choices, militarily we're prepared," said Tillerson, noting "that's not the path we want to take." The U.S. and Canada will convene a separate meeting that includes members of the United Nations Command Sending States on countering North Korea's threat to international peace. Korea and Japan are also invited to attend. The International Commission of Jurists is calling for Zimbabwes new government to ensure free and fair elections next year. It is not the only the rights group making that appeal. Following a weeklong visit to Zimbabwe, the International Commission of Jurists led by its Secretary General Saman Zia-Zarifi - said soldiers who helped President Emmerson Mnangagwa come to power last month must return to their barracks. The army has been policing Harare and other cities, and has set up checkpoints along major roads. In an interview Wednesday with VOA, ICJ Director in Africa Arnold Tsunga said civic and opposition groups are worried the situation will compromise Zimbabwes next elections, which are expected around the middle of next year. There is also the question of the indeterminate number of people who were arbitrarily detained without effective judicial oversight," said Tsunga. "So the question of undermining the due process rights, which is essentially the right to trial, as a result of the involvement of the army in policing duties, was brought to the attention of the ICJ Secretary General. And he in fact made as part of his exit press statement, a call that he will not need the army to be involved in policing duties. Ibbo Mandaza is the head of the Southern African Political Economy Series, a regional NGO. He says the Zimbabwe government's overreliance on the army confirmed it had gained power through a coup. We have a situation where the army is above the executive and parliament. This is what a coup means," said Mandaza. "Why should it be acceptable here? It is unacceptable. What is going to happen is that the military will not leave the streets until after elections. That could lead to another disputed poll for Zimbabwe. Former President Robert Mugabe was accused of rigging elections for years, most notably the 2008 election where he lost in the first round. On Tuesday, Zimbabwean opposition and civic leaders were in Washington and appealed to Congress for help in ensuring the 2018 elections are free and fair. The new government has asked for help to in rebuilding countrys moribund economy. The international community has said that will only happen if next years elections are credible. A new report commissioned by Rwanda's government accuses France of supplying weapons to the perpetrators of its 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 people were killed, deepening a feud between the East African country and its former benefactor. The report by U.S. law firm Cunningham Levy Muse cites evidence that purportedly shows French complicity before, during and after the genocide by ethnic Hutu extremists against ethnic Tutsi and some Hutu moderates. French officials provided safe sanctuary to some genocide suspects and have obstructed attempts to bring them to justice, the report says. The report is "a damning summary of conduct by French officials" at the time of the genocide, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in the report, which she said has been transmitted to the French government. There was no immediate comment from French officials. The report underscores the increasingly strained relations between France and Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government, which recently recalled its ambassador. Last year Rwanda published a list of 22 French senior military officers it accused of helping plan and carry out the genocide, including Gen. Jacques Lanxade, France's army chief of staff from April 1991 to Sept. 1995. The publication of the list came after French investigators reopened an inquiry into the plane crash that killed Rwanda's president and sparked the genocide. Militants from the Hutu majority blamed minority Tutsis for the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, sparking the slaughter. The cause of the crash has been a contentious issue. The plane had a French crew. The woman danced with reckless abandon, her head bent forward, moving rhythmically left to right with the drum beat, her long, black, untied hair creating an arc in the air as it flew back and forth. Another woman, probably a relative or a friend, tried to throw a scarf over her head, but gave up after it kept falling off. The scene could have caused an uproar in another part of Pakistan, a conservative country where women in public are expected to be subdued and not draw attention to themselves, but not here. This was the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a famous 13th century Sufi saint. For the last 700 years or so, legend has it, every night around sunset, drummers beat large drums, called naubat, as people men and women, young and old danced to their beat. The dhamaal, as the dance was called, is a form of devotion similar to the whirling of the Turkish dervishes. The shrine, based in the city of Sehwan Sharif, in the Sindh province of Pakistan, is a magnet for people of all faiths. Hindus, a large minority in the province, revere Qalandar just as much as the Muslims of both Shiite and Sunni sects. Folklore says "Daata," a nickname for the saint, can cure infertility in women, who come in droves to pray for children. "This is the door of a saint; you find love here," said Ghulam Sarwar Langha, the manager of the shrine. "Everyone is welcome; no one is turned away." Last February, soon after the dhamaal started, the walls of the shrine shook following a loud blast. A suicide bomber had detonated explosives in his jacket. At least 80 people, including many women and children, were killed. The attack, one of many in Sindh on various holy places in the last few years, was one of the indicators that the inclusive, tolerant culture of Sindh was changing, according to anthropologist Zaigham Khan. "Not only are we seeing incidents of terrorism in Sindh, we are seeing Sindhi youth involved in them, which means they are joining militant groups," Khan said. WATCH: Pakistan's Sindh Celebrate the Other, But for How Long? Forced conversions? Naureen Laghari, from Hyderabad, Sindh, a medical student and the daughter of a university professor, left home to join Islamic State. After her arrest in April of this year, she confessed that she was going to be used as a suicide bomber. Similarly, while the suicide bomber at the Qalandar shrine was believed to be from Afghanistan, the man who allegedly helped facilitate the attack, Nadir Ali Jakharani, alias Murshid, was from a small village in Sindh called Kandhkot. The trend has worried human rights activists who say space for minorities in the province is shrinking. Almost 90 percent of Pakistan's Hindus live in Sindh. When the country separated from India in 1947, the Hindus of another province, Punjab, migrated to India while the ones in Sindh mostly stayed put. Slowly, some of them are choosing to leave. "The main reason is that our minor girls are being kidnapped and forced to change their religion, often to marry a Muslim boy. This fear is forcing many parents to leave the country," said human rights activist Kapil Dev, a Hindu. The Muslim clerics involved in such conversions of religion deny that the rituals are forced. "The girls who come to us are mature," said Mian Abdul Haq, alias Mithu, a politician and influential cleric. "Within hours of their arrival, we call their parents so they can talk to their daughters ... offer them to come meet them. If the girls still refuse to go, as Muslims we then provide them protection." Historically, anthropologist Khan said Sindh was always more spiritual than religious. "Now we see the spirituality being replaced by an orthodox religiosity." Religious schools One of the factors leading to this change, according to human rights activists, local journalists, and historians, is the spread of religious schools, known as madrassas, in Sindh, as they have in the rest of the country. Until the late 1970s, the number of madrassas in Pakistan was under 1,000, according to historian Ilhan Niaz. Then the state, under the rule of military dictator Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, started to pour resources into and patronize a particular, orthodox sect of Islam, the Deobandis. "By the time Haq died, the number of madrassas in Pakistan had ballooned to around 10,000," said Niaz. Most of them belonged to the Deobandi school of thought. "In Pakistan, unfortunately, the orthodox form of Islam is very sectarian, and is based on differences, and conflict," said Khan. The conflict was perpetuated by an Islamic revolution in Iran, followed by a proxy war of influence between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the region. "You saw a polarization happening all over the country, including Sindh," Niaz said. Today, numbers reported in local media suggest Sindh alone has around 10,000 madrassas. The exponential growth has also been facilitated by the state's failure to provide citizens with the basic necessities, like education or health care, although the Sindh government claims it has worked to fill those gaps. Until now, the centuries-old spirit of Sindh has resisted the schisms. The day after the deadly attack on the Qalandar shrine, the musicians beat their drums and people danced again. But will they dance for another 700 years? Indias small farmers are better equipped than large landowners to deal with climate change, but need more support to find innovative ways to minimize the impacts of higher temperatures, uneven rainfall, floods and droughts, analysts said. About 60 percent of Indias population of 1.3 billion depends on agriculture for a living. More than three quarters of farmers cultivate than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land each. While the small size of the land holding is often seen as a challenge to raising incomes, it is an advantage when it comes to tackling extreme weather and rising temperatures, said Arindom Datta, Asia head of sustainability banking at Rabobank. Mono cropping Large farmers tend to do mono cropping, which is far more vulnerable to climate change, and more difficult to change and adapt as the situation demands. Plus they need more water, another resource under threat from warmer weather, he said. Small farmers are far more versatile; they usually plant multiple varieties of crops, so they are more flexible and better able to adjust and adapt, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to double farmers incomes over the next five years, with reforms including better irrigation, crop insurance and higher prices for crops. Size of land holdings drop Poor prices for grains and cereal have led to mounting piles of debt for Indian farmers, triggering thousands of suicides every year. More than two-thirds of farmers who committed suicide were small and marginal farmers, data show. The average size of land holdings in rural India has halved over the past two decades as land is passed down from father to son, and as more land is surrendered for development projects. While a law caps the amount of land that can be owned by individual farmers, several states have introduced leasing laws to enable farmers to increase the land under cultivation. Training for women farmers But smaller land holdings are better suited if the government invests in training particularly for women on topics such as traditional grains such as millets, said Ishira Mehta, founder of CropConnect Enterprises, which links farmers to markets. With rising temperatures, we may not be able to grow basmati rice or wheat 20 years from now; we need to revive traditional grains that are more climate resilient, she said. Women farmers in particular are more adaptable, more willing to learn about new harvest and marketing methods. But they cannot tackle the problem on their own. Farmers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu are already returning to indigenous varieties of rice and traditional seeds as the region suffers more frequent droughts. South Africa's ruling African National Congress holds an election this weekend to replace Jacob Zuma as party leader in a closely fought contest whose winner is likely to emerge as the nation's next president. The front-runners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader and one of South Africa's richest people, and Zuma's preferred candidate, his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former minister and chairwoman of the African Union Commission. In a race seen as too close to call, seven candidates are seeking to succeed Zuma, who has been at the helm of the party for a decade. The stakes are high because the ANC's electoral dominance means whoever wins the party's top job is likely become the next president of South Africa after a national election in 2019. The party holds its conference in Johannesburg between Dec. 16-20. All seven ANC leadership hopefuls pledged to Zuma at a meeting last month that they would accept the outcome of the leadership vote in the interests of keeping the 105-year-old organization intact and avoid splits that could weaken its strength at the national elections in 2019. Ramaphosa edged Dlamini-Zuma by getting the majority of nominations to become leader of the party, but the complexity of the leadership race means it is far from certain he will become the next party leader and therefore the likely next president. Adding another level of complexity, delegates are not bound to vote for the candidate their ANC branch nominated. Zuma said last week he was "very happy" to be stepping down as ANC president. He can remain as head of state until 2019. Political uncertainty over the ANC race is a major threat to the country's credit rating. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch rate South Africa's debt as "junk." Analysts have said South Africa's business and consumer confidence has been dented in recent years by allegations of corruption in Zuma's government and influence-peddling by the Gupta family businessmen who are close friends of the president. Zuma and the Guptas have denied the allegations. Ramaphosa is viewed as more investor friendly, and has pledged to fight the corruption that has plagued Zuma's tenure. Dlamini-Zuma has said she is not tainted by graft and it is fine if the country's white business community will not endorse her. She has said her priority is to improve the prospects for the black majority. South Africa's High Court ruled on Wednesday that President Jacob Zuma, under fire for alleged corruption, must set up a judicial inquiry into state influence-peddling within 30 days. In the latest in a series of judicial blows to Zuma's scandal-tinged administration, the court upheld recommendations by South Africa's anti-graft watchdog calling for an inquiry. Zuma had challenged the move. High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo said Zuma's application against the inquiry was "ill-advised and reckless" and an abuse of the judicial process. Zuma had challenged the right of the report's author to call for a judicial inquiry and the appointment by the chief justice of a judge to head it. Zuma said it was his prerogative whether to set up such an inquiry. It was not immediately clear if Zuma would appeal and a spokesman for Zuma was not immediately available to comment on the ruling. Zuma has survived several votes of no-confidence in parliament. In October the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld an earlier decision by a lower court that the nearly 800 corruption charges relating to an arms deal filed against Zuma before he became president in 2009 be reinstated. Political instability, including questions over who will replace Zuma -- his African National Congress will choose its new leader over the weekend -- has been a major driver in South African debt being rated "junk." South Africa's economy has grown lethargically over the last six years and the jobless rate stands near record levels. Analysts say the political crisis is making it hard to reform the economy, improve social services and fight crime. The influence-peddling inquiry was recommended in a report released a year ago by the Public Protector, the country's anti-graft agency. Zuma also sought to block the report's release. The report focused on allegations that Zuma's friends, the businessmen and brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, had influenced the appointment of ministers. Zuma and the Guptas have denied all accusations of wrongdoing. 'Abuse of process' Ordering Zuma to pay the costs of the latest court challenge, Mlambo, the chief justice, said the president's conduct was "clearly objectionable ... and amounts to clear abuse of the judicial process". Mlambo said a judicial commission was best suited to investigate the allegations against Zuma. "The allegations ... detailed in the report are extremely serious," Mlambo said. The court ordered that once the inquiry is set up, it should complete its task and present its report to Zuma within 180 days. The president would then have to inform parliament of the action he planned to take based on the inquiry's findings within 14 days of receiving its report, the court said. Opposition leader Mmusi Maimane, who was at the court, welcomed the ruling. "The judgment lays out a timeline ... we hope to get to the bottom of this," Maimane said, adding that his party would oppose any appeal in the case should Zuma launch one. Thuli Madonsela, the report's author who was also at the court, said: "An allegation that the state has been captured in the interests of the president and his friends is an allegation that needs to be investigated immediately." Her 355-page report, titled "State of Capture", stopped short of asserting that crimes had been committed, saying the watchdog lacked the resources to reach such conclusions and recommended that they be investigated by a judicial inquiry. On Friday, the top court ruled that Zuma's appointment of a state prosecutor was not valid and should be set aside immediately. Zuma is appealing that ruling. South Sudanese residents of Kapoeta state say they found a way to earn money to feed their families: selling gold. Gold mining is illegal in South Sudan, but locals say it is worth the risk of getting arrested, or buried. They say they might sell as much as 30 grams of gold in a week in a country where six million people are going hungry each day. Gold is found in Kapoeta states Ngauro, Namurunyang, Kauto and Napotpot villages, all dozens of kilometers outside Kapoeta town. A 20-year-old man whom VOA is identifying only as Lokuru for safety reasons is one of the local illegal gold miners in Kauto village, some 30 kilometers outside Kapoeta town. Lokuru said the amateur miners often dig down more than 20 meters to find gold. You can continue digging and the ground might even cover you. That is why people say it is God who is taking care of people. You continue digging deeper since you know it is something that can bring food when sold, Lokuru told VOAs South Sudan in Focus. Once they are down that far, the miners dig sideways in search of the precious mineral. They collect a mixture of dirt and gold dust, place it in basins or bowls, slowly pour water over the top, and shake. If there are gold nuggets inside, they settle at the bottom. Last week, Lokuru was looking for a customer to buy three grams of precious stones he recently found outside of Kapoeta. I came here to Kapoeta and found some white stones. I saw them gathered in one place. I started digging deeper into the ground and found other stones inside, said Lokuru. In the past, most Kapoeta residents did not know they could earn a living from the illegal trade of mining gold and depended entirely on keeping and selling livestock as their only source of livelihood. In a place like South Sudan, gold mining can be extremely lucrative. Lokuru says 20 grams can sell for as much as 50,000 South Sudanese pounds. Another amateur gold miner named Mark, said a friend introduced him to gold mining at Nahanak village. He told South Sudan in Focus his life has improved because of the lucrative gold trade. He taught me to dig this way and that for about two months and I was able to get 10 grams which I sold. I used that money for buying cows and goats which I now take to Juba, Mark said. At the same time, Mark emphasized that gold mining can be dangerous. In areas of Namurunyang the gold is far [underground]. People dig up to eight meters deep and if one gets [gold], everybody will get into that hole and the digging continues. Sometimes the hole will collapse and could bury even more than 10 people, Mark said. Kapoeta officials announced a ban on gold mining earlier this year. Locals were told if they have gold, to sell it directly to the state investment cooperative in Kapoeta. The state said it would pay 6,000 South Sudanese pounds per gram, or $33. ($1 U.S. = 180 South Sudanese pounds on the black market.) Middlemen have smuggled gold out of the country to be sold in neighboring Uganda or Kenya, where a gram of pure gold fetches $35. According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, the same quantity sold for $50 two years ago. Kapoeta Deputy Governor Paul Langa told South Sudan in Focus its not easy to control illegal mining of gold in the state. "The gold is everywhere, ranging from here up to the mountains of Didinga, down to Buya, so it is tremendously hard to control. This is the dust which anyone can just get. For example, when we were renovating the airstrip, the Murrum [paving material] we collected, children were able to mine gold out of it, said Langa. It can sometimes seem as though mass shootings are occurring more frequently. Researchers who have been studying such crimes for decades say they aren't, but they have been getting deadlier. In the five years since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school, the nation has seen a number of massacres topping the death toll from Newtown and previous mass shootings, many of them involving rifles similar to the one used in Sandy Hook. But Americans wanting to know why deadlier mass shootings are happening will get few answers. Is it is the wide availability of firearms? Is it the much-maligned "assault weapon'' with its military style? Is it a failing mental health system? "We're kind of grabbing at straws at this point in terms of trying to understand why the severity of these incidents has increased,'' said Grant Duwe, a criminologist who has been studying mass killings since the 1990s. The federal government does little research on the matter, because a measure dating to the 1990s had the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention retreat from firearms research. Instead, a handful of academics, like Duwe, have toiled sometimes for decades with limited funding trying to better understand why these shootings happen and how to prevent them. While mass shootings happen with regularity, they still remain so rare that there isn't enough information to draw conclusions with any certainty. The profile of mass shooters loners, depressed individuals, people who rarely smile or those who take to the internet to rant about a perceived insult or gripe is so broad and common that it's impossible to pinpoint who might turn that anger into violence. "There are lots of people who are isolated, don't have lots of friends, who don't smile and write ugly things on the internet and blame others for their misfortunes and don't want to live anymore and talk about mass killers and maybe even admire them,'' said Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox, who began studying mass shootings in the 1980s and has written six books on the topic. Five years ago this week, Adam Lanza, a troubled young man in Newtown, Connecticut, shot and killed his mother in their home and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School with an AR-style long gun and a handgun. He fatally shot 20 children and six educators, then himself. In the years since, the nation has witnessed even deadlier attacks: the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016 in which a gunman killed 49 people and this year's shooting in Las Vegas, where a man in a casino hotel fired on concertgoers on the ground below, killing more than 55. This year's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, by an Air Force veteran who shot up a church sanctuary, killing more than two dozen, also is now among the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history. Gun debate Mass shootings are widely defined as one in which four or more people are killed in a public place, excluding both domestic violence and gang-related violence. The rate has remained steady at about 20 per year for the past three decades, Fox said. Still, five of the 10 deadliest have occurred since Sandy Hook, he said. "Some years are worse than others, and bad years tend to be followed by not-so-bad years,'' Fox said. While two of the deadliest took place this year, "you can't take the actions of one or two people and call it a new phenomenon. That's abberational. You can't make any pattern or trend based on that.'' It's also unclear whether the higher death tolls are the result of more firearms being available or firearms being more effective. Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter, used bump stocks to allow a number of his guns to mimic fully automatic weapons, but his perch high above the outdoor concert also made the shooting more effective and deadly. That's the tactic the gunman in the 1966 University of Texas at Austin shooting used when he took to a tower overlooking the campus, shooting down for more than 90 minutes. In half of the deadliest mass shootings, the perpetrator used at least one AR-style firearm. In one, the massacre at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, in 1984, the shooter used an Uzi submachine gun. The others were carried out with handguns, the weapon used in the majority of mass shootings. "Contrary to what some folks may think, the incidence of mass public shootings has not increased since Sandy Hook or even the five years before that,'' Duwe said. "What has changed and this is certainly true around the time of Sandy Hook and even since then the severity of mass public shootings has certainly increased. That is one genuine change we've seen.'' Jillian Peterson, an assistant professor at Hamline University and a forensic psychologist who previously worked in New York crafting psychological profiles of convicted murderers facing the death penalty, recently helped launch a project designed to catalog and analyze mass shootings dating back to the 1960s. The project is being done jointly with James Densley, an associate professor of criminal justice at Metropolitan State University. They have no financing and are relying on about a dozen students to gather research based on public documents and media reports. The reason why someone carries out a mass shooting has been elusive, and it's a question she hopes the research will help answer. Are mass shooters of today and future bent on outdoing previous slayings by inflicting higher death tolls? That, too, is unclear. She cautions that such questions and answers continually evolve. "This is ever-changing,'' Peterson said. "Just because we understand it today, we might not understand it tomorrow. That part gets hard. This is changing as society changes.'' When U.S.-based scientist Christopher Cantrell heard President Donald Trump pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, he did not imagine that six months later he would be shaking the French leader's hand and starting anew in France. Hours after Trumps announcement in June, President Emmanuel Macron made a dramatic TV announcement in English, responding that he would not give up the fight against climate change and adding in a dig: Make our planet great again. That later became the name of a research grant program sponsored by the French presidency to attract U.S.-based scientists like Cantrell, 62, an expert in atmospheric chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. It was all over the news in the United States and on social media, he told Reuters on the sidelines of a summit in Paris marking the Paris accords two year anniversary. I found out about a week ago that I was successful. This is going to be fun, he said. Moving for the funding For Cantrell, the decision to move to France is not a political one, but a response to a gradual decline in public funds in his field, which he did not expect to get better under Trump. Ive been disappointed with this whole administration, as to how they ... view the world of science and policy-making, Cantrell said. I wouldnt say Im coming to France to get away from the Trump administration, but it was an opportunity that wasnt available in the United States, he added. Macron, who repeatedly tried to persuade the U.S. leader to reverse his decision, also sees an opportunity to raise the profile of French research institutes and attract top talent. World-class Some 1,822 researchers applied for the program, the French presidency said, with almost two thirds of them coming from the United States. Thirteen of the initial 18 grants awarded on Monday were given to U.S.-based scientists, including some from prominent Ivy League universities such as Princeton, Stanford and Harvard. A second batch of grants will be awarded early next year. Cantrell, who works on air quality and what happens to pollution when the atmosphere tries to process it, will be based at the University of Paris-Est in the suburb of Creteil. He will study the Paris plume the cloud of pollution that regularly shrouds the French capital. This laboratory that Im going to be associated with has world-class expertise, state-of-the-art computer models to simulate the atmosphere, so this place Im going to is actually perfect for the kind of work Im interested in, he said. Salary covered for five years The 1.5-million-euro ($1.76-million) French grant means the constant hunt for funds to finance his research that was part of his daily life in the U.S. was now less of a concern. It's been tough. Now Ill be able to not have to worry about that part of it. My salary is covered for five years, I can focus on science, he said. He and his wife are now busy brushing up on their French. I came for a week to visit the lab, see the kind of things they did, I got to meet the staff, English works fine for all the people that work there, he said. Turkish police summoned a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official on Wednesday over statements made in a U.S. court by a former Turkish police investigator who fled the country last year, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Anadolu said the FBI official was summoned following testimony given by Huseyin Korkmaz in the trial of a former executive at Turkish state-run bank Halkbank, who is charged with taking part in a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed that an FBI attache at the U.S. Embassy "had been brought in to the Turkish ministry." She provided no details. The former bank executive, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, has pleaded not guilty. Halkbank has denied involvement with any illegal transactions. Korkmaz told jurors in a New York court on Monday that he fled Turkey in 2016 out of fear of retaliation from the government after leading a corruption investigation involving high-ranking officials. He said he took his evidence with him. Korkmaz said he had received $50,000 from the FBI and financial assistance from U.S. prosecutors for his rental payments. The FBI declined to comment on Wednesday. Turkish police said they could not immediately comment on the report that they had summoned an official from the U.S. agency. A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Ankara said the embassy was aware of the report but had no immediate comment. Already strained ties between NATO allies Ankara and Washington have deteriorated further over the court case, in which Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, has detailed a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions. Korkmaz is testifying for the prosecution at the trial. He told the court this week that he began investigating Zarrab in 2012. Zarrab has implicated top Turkish politicians, including Erdogan. Zarrab said on Thursday that when Erdogan was prime minister he authorized a transaction to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. Although he has not yet responded to the courtroom claims, Erdogan has dismissed the case as a politically motivated attempt, led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, to bring down the Turkish government. The government blames Gulen's network for last year's failed military coup in Turkey. Gulen has denied any involvement. Uganda's ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, has proposed scrapping the age-75 limit for presidential candidates and extending the length of a presidential term from five to seven years. The proposal, which would require a constitutional amendment, has the backing of President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for over 30 years. The moves would benefit Museveni, for whom the parliament scrapped term limits in 2005. The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee approved the constitutional change in a closed door meeting last week and the proposal will soon be presented to parliament. Museveni voiced his support for the proposal in a meeting with legislators. Two terms of five years is simply a joke. When you hear somebody talking about it, you know that he just wants to improve his CV, so that they say he was president. But to think that he wants to solve the problems of the people, is sorted out. So, there is merit in looking at the seven years, Museveni said. Opposition proposes referendum But members of the opposition say the ruling National Resistance Movement should let Ugandans vote on the changes through a referendum. Winnie Kizza, leader of the opposition in parliament, said a term extension is not the answer. Whatever Museveni has not done in 30 years and by the time he finishes this term it will be 35 years, he cant do it. We came here to serve a five-year mandate. We cant reach mid-way and then we say 'ahh, look here, we want to change our mandate from five.' And if it is to happen, let Ugandans discuss it and see whether this is the trend they want to go, Kizza said. There are reports that the bill is being delayed because legislators have demanded $83,000 each before they vote yes. Raphael Magyezi, the NRM legislator behind the bill, denied the allegations. Thats untrue. I have not seen even a single shilling. And I dont expect it. Me, I am prepared. I want this report, we debate it, I get the second reading, then, my bill is passed. We should not go for Christmas with this bill still hanging," Magyezi said. The ruling party requires a "yes" vote from two thirds of voting members, 290 in all, for the constitutional amendment to pass. If passed, Museveni will be allowed to run in the 2021 elections, when he will be 77 years old, and could rule Uganda for many years to come. A Ukrainian lawmaker is calling on President Petro Poroshenko to submit a promised draft law establishing a special anti-corruption court before the current parliamentary session concludes next week. The call comes as Poroshenko's government, which in 2015 pledged to tackle entrenched corruption in exchange for a $17.5 billion aid package from the IMF, is increasingly accused of backsliding on promised reforms. Kyiv pledged to pass a law creating the court by June 2018, but MPs have wrangled over wording of the reform, and last week Poroshenko promised to introduce a new bill to replace an existing draft that has languished in parliament. On Tuesday, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said Kyiv's government was aiming to set up the anti-corruption court in February and implement the law within six to eight months. But Hanna Hopko, head of the Ukrainian parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, said that may not be fast enough. Poroshenko, she told VOA's Ukrainian Service, "must use the last plenary week in this year to consider i n the first reading the draft law on establishing the anti-corruption court." "I hope the president, as he promised last week, will submit immediately the draft law and with no delays, no invitation of process," said Hopko, who sits as an independent in parliament. "Sorry, but we have to run on this, we have to speed up." Hopko's sense of urgency is driven by a series of dramatic street protests over the government's failure to deliver on their anti-corruption promises. With Russian-backed separatists still waging a low-intensity war in the east, and the Kremlin anxious to discredit the pro-Western government in Kyiv, Hopko fears the country's critics will seek to exploit any signs of instability. Moving quickly to establish the court, she said, would alleviate those concerns, allowing Kyiv to continue securing aid from the IMF while countering the assumption that the fledgling pro-Western government isn't capable addressing internal corruption and domestic political strife. Dramatic, interrelated events Witnessing the first sustained wave of anti-government protests in Kyiv since the 2014 Maidan protests ousted Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, Poroshenko's majority Solidarity party recently voted to dismiss an opposition lawmaker as chairman of parliament's anti-corruption committee, which is empowered to select candidates to oversee the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). NABU's investigators, who have received logistical support and training from the United States and European Union as part of the financial and diplomatic backing for the post-Maidan government, are tasked with ferreting out government graft. Many Ukrainians see the investigators as the country's only independent anti-corruption watchdogs. Critics of Poroshenko's party called the vote an overt attempt by the ruling coalition to undermine NABU's authority and assign a politically pliant auditor. "It seems like for corrupted kleptocratic elites, it's very dangerous to have truly independent anti-corruption institutions," Hopko said of the vote, which came less than two days before a botched attempt to arrest Mikheil Saakashvili a former Georgian president who became regional governor of Odessa in February 2015 who has spearheaded anti-corruption rallies in Kyiv for months. The United States, European Union and Japan vowed Tuesday to work together to fight market-distorting trade practices and policies that have fueled excess production capacity, naming several key features of China's economic system. In a joint statement that did not single out China or any other country, the three economic powers said they would work within the World Trade Organization and other multilateral groups to eliminate unfair competitive conditions caused by subsidies, state-owned enterprises, "forced" technology transfer and local content requirements. The move was a rare show of solidarity with the United States at a World Trade Organization meeting dominated by differences over U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" trade agenda and U.S. efforts to stall the appointment of WTO judges. It reflected growing frustration among industrial countries over China's trade practices, along with concerns that other developing countries will follow Beijing's lead. The statement said protectionist practices "are serious concerns for the proper functioning of international trade, the creation of innovative technologies and the sustainable growth of the global economy." EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said China's industry subsidies, including for aluminum and steel, were flooding global markets and hurting European workers in a "very, very dramatic" way. "There's no secret that we think that China is a big sinner here, but there are other countries that are as well," Malmstrom told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum. In the opening session of the WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on Monday, the United States and Japan criticized a lack of transparency in some WTO members' trade practices, a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing. China, meanwhile, appealed for members to "join hands" and uphold WTO rules to protect globalization in the face of rising protectionism. The joint statement came after Japan approached the European Union and the United States about overcapacity, according to an EU source, with both Tokyo and Brussels concerned about the possibility the Trump administration could act unilaterally. "There is a thought that if we bring them into the fold, and can work jointly with them, then it reduces the risk of them going alone," the source said. 'Playing by the rules' Washington, Brussels and Tokyo have previously raised complaints about China's excess production capacity in a number of industrial sectors that has pushed down world prices and caused layoffs elsewhere. The United States recently sided with the EU in arguing that such distortions mean the WTO should not grant China market economy status, a move that would severely weaken their trade defenses. "We have been ... reaching out to China to tell them they really must start playing by the rules," Malmstrom told reporters. The EU's and Japan's willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration comes despite disagreements over the role of the WTO and the future of multilateral trade deals. Trump has expressed his preference for bilateral negotiations, and his trade rhetoric has cast a cloud over the WTO meeting. Efforts on Tuesday to make progress on a ministerial statement from all 164 WTO members were unsuccessful, since one country could not agree on the language, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters, declining to name that country. U.S. officials last month blocked WTO efforts to draft a statement of unity over the "centrality" of the global trading system and the need to aid development. A spokeswoman for the office of the U.S. trade representative could not be immediately reached for comment. The Trump administration is considering several unilateral tariff actions on steel, aluminum and China's intellectual property practices that are likely to draw disputes from WTO members. An already tense relationship between the United States and Turkey appears to be under more strain after a top Trump administration official accused Turkey of spreading what he called extreme Islamist ideology around the world. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, said Tuesday that Turkey had joined Qatar as a prime source of funding that contributes to the spread of extremist ideology. "We're seeing great involvement by Turkey from everywhere from western Africa to Southeast Asia," McMaster said during an appearance in Washington. "The Balkans is an area of grave concern now." Not funding terrorists themselves McMaster stopped short of accusing Ankara of funding actual terrorist groups. Instead, he voiced concern that Turkey was following in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, and more recently Qatar, by funding groups that help create the conditions that allow terrorism to flourish. "We didn't pay enough attention to how extremist ideologies were being advanced through madrassas and mosques, and so-called charities more broadly," he said. Turkey's Foreign Ministry criticized McMaster's remarks Wednesday, calling them "astonishing, baseless and unacceptable." "We expect the United States, which we continue to recognize as our friend and ally, to display the same stance to our country, to cease all forms of cooperation with terrorist groups such as YPG and provide more concrete and effective support in our ongoing determined fight against terrorism and radicalism," the ministry said in a statement. Support for YPG U.S. and Turkish relations have eroded in part because of Washington's support for the YPG, a Kurdish militia that has helped fight the Islamic State terror group in Syria. Ankara says the YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is waging a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey. Ankara, along with the European Union and United States, has designated the PKK as a terrorist organization. Relations between Washington and Ankara also soured following a failed July 2016 coup in Turkey. Ankara accuses Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of involvement in the coup attempt. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile Pennsylvania, denies the accusation. The U.S. has refused calls for his extradition. More recently, Trump's decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has upset Turkey, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying, "This could go so far as cutting our diplomatic relations with Israel. You cannot take such a step." Russia, Iran In the meantime, recent Turkish overtures toward Russia and Iran have not gone over well with officials in Washington, who also worry Turkey will serve as a model for Islamist groups hoping to seize power. McMaster said Tuesday, "A lot of Islamist groups have learned from" Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). It is a "model of really operating through civil society," McMaster said, "then the education sector, then the police and judiciary, and then the military to consolidate power in the hands of a particular party, which is something we'd prefer not to see and is sadly contributing to the drift of Turkey away from the West." VOA's Turkish service contributed to this report. The United States has warned Pakistan it could lose control of its territory unless Islamabad abandons ties with terrorist groups operating in the country that are growing in "size and influence." U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued the warning as Washington and Islamabad renew efforts to improve bilateral relations and find "common ground" to promote peace in neighboring Afghanistan. "We want to work with Pakistan to stamp out terrorism within their boundaries as well, but Pakistan has to begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and with others," Tillerson said at a public talk in Washington on Tuesday. A U.S.-led military coalition is helping the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) to contain a resurgent Taliban insurgency. Insurgents and leaders of a group allied with the Haqqani Network are allegedly orchestrating attacks from sanctuaries in Pakistan, with the help of the neighboring country's spy agency. "Pakistan has allowed so many terrorist organizations to find safe haven within its territories, and these organizations are growing in size and influence," Tillerson said. The secretary said he had warned Pakistani leaders that the terrorist groups might turn their attention from Kabul and decide they like Islamabad better as a target. He cautioned, "If they're not careful, Pakistan is going to lose control of their own country." While there has been no formal response to Tillerson's remarks, a senior Pakistani government official has rejected the U.S. assertions as unfounded. "In the last three years, our counterterrorism operations have effectively dismantled all terrorist groups on Pakistani soil while more than 200,000 of our troops are still deployed to areas bordering Afghanistan to consolidate the gains," the official told VOA, requesting anonymity. The Pakistani government has also vowed to take action against any terrorists on its soil linked to the Afghan violence if U.S. officials share "actionable" intelligence with Islamabad. Tillerson on Tuesday indicated Washington might start sharing such information because it is really concerned about Pakistan's stability. "We want to work with them in a positive way. We're willing to share information with them and we want them to be successful. But we cannot continue with the status quo, where terrorist organizations are allowed to find safe haven inside of Pakistan," he said. Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited Islamabad, where he also called on Pakistani leaders to redouble efforts against terrorist groups operating out of their country. He also called for Pakistan to play its vital role in promoting a process in Afghanistan to end the conflict there. At a public talk in Islamabad following the Mattis visit, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif reiterated that his country had made unmatched sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and was making all possible efforts to promote peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. "Peace in Afghanistan is of extreme importance to us. We are almost on all the platforms or forums from where peace in Afghanistan is being pursued. Our participation is with total sincerity with total commitment," Asif said. He added that continued Afghan hostilities were hampering Pakistan's efforts to improve its economy and expand its trade to central Asian states. "I think after Afghanistan the biggest stakeholder in peace in this region or in Afghanistan, is Pakistan," the foreign minister asserted. Venezuelas chief prosecutor has launched a probe into the countrys former oil czar and ambassador to the United Nations for alleged ties to a vast corruption scheme at the state oil company, officials said Tuesday. The investigation against Rafael Ramirez comes one week after the former longtime head of state oil company PDVSA resigned from his U.N. post on orders from President Nicolas Maduro. Relations between the Venezuelan political heavyweights had become increasingly strained. With oil production low and an economic crisis playing out, Maduro ordered a shake-up of PDVSA, the source of almost all of Venezuelas foreign currency earnings. Dozens of oil officials have been arrested in recent weeks, including two former oil ministers. Ramirezs cousin, Diego Salazar, has also been arrested on suspicion of helping siphon off $1.6 billion to banks in the European principality of Andorra. Chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab called Salazar a direct partner of Rafael Ramirez on Tuesday when he announced the investigation into Ramirez for links to the corruption scheme at the state oil company. Ramirez, who was never part of Maduros inner circle, is believed to have been the ultimate target of housecleaning at PDVSA, which he led for 12 years. He was later named as Venezuelas U.N. ambassador. Prosecutors have not announced any charges against Ramirez. Since resigning, he has denied taking part in any corruption schemes and has not made his whereabouts public after leaving New York. He did not respond to a request by The Associated Press seeking comment. Ramirez had becoming increasingly critical of Maduros government amid an unprecedented economic crisis, saying he felt the need to speak out on policies he knew a great deal about from tenure running PDVSA. European Union leaders will grapple Thursday with one of the most divisive issues ever to face the 28-nation bloc; how to collectively share responsibility for the tens of thousands of people arriving on Europe's southern shores in search of a better life. Ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, fresh tensions have surfaced over the perceived need for national refugee quotas. So far, solidarity with front-line nations Greece and Italy, where the refugees land, has been limited. A mandatory quota scheme was opposed mainly by eastern European nations the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. For Europe, the political crisis over migrants is existential, despite the fact that migrant arrivals have dropped dramatically this year. As hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees trekked northward from Greece in 2015, some EU nations erected fences, launched police crackdowns and closed borders, forcing migrants onto their neighbors. ID checks were reintroduced in parts of Europe's passport-free travel area, hampering trade, business and tourism. That fueled anti-immigrant parties and the far-right made significant political inroads. "The migration crisis was a kind of character test for the EU," Roderick Parkes, senior analyst at the EU's Institute for Security Studies, wrote Wednesday. It has tested the EU's "capacity to lead in the field of refugee reception, to seize the economic opportunities of immigration and to share the burden borne by Turkey, Lebanon or Kenya by resettling refugees. And the EU failed the test, on all counts," he wrote. At the center of Europe's migrant malaise are refugee quotas. In response to the arrival of more than 1 million migrants in 2015, EU nations voted by a large majority to share 160,000 of those fleeing conflict or persecution to help ease the burden on overwhelmed Greece and Italy. Hungary challenged the quotas at Europe's top court but lost. In an effort to clear the air, EU Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the two-day summit in Brussels, has put the issue at the top of the agenda. But in branding the scheme ineffective, he has angered Europe's top migration official and lawmakers involved in drawing it up. "The issue of mandatory quotas has proven to be highly divisive and the approach has received disproportionate attention in light of its impact on the ground; in this sense it has turned out to be ineffective," Tusk wrote to the EU leaders. But EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos slammed the note as "unacceptable. It is anti-European and it denies, it ignores, all the work we have done during the past years." "This paper is undermining one of the main pillars of the European project; the principle of solidarity. Europe without solidarity cannot exist," he said. "It is a duty moral and legal to protect refugees." Greens lawmaker Ska Keller said "Tusk is undermining the prospects of a solidarity-based refugee policy in Europe" and that "without a fair redistribution of refugees, European asylum policy will remain vulnerable to crisis." The European Commission says 32,000 people from the asylum scheme have found homes. But that figure less than a quarter of the original target masks the legal challenges, abuses and suffering as thousands of migrants and refugees have languished in the Greek islands. The main reason for the drop in migrant numbers is the EU's agreement with Turkey, which saw the bloc mobilize its financial might to convince Ankara to stop Syrian refugees from crossing the sea to nearby Greece and to take back thousands already there. Spurred by that success, the EU is leveraging its considerable development aid as it draws up other outsourcing arrangements, mostly with Libya's poor neighbors to stop Africans unlikely to qualify for asylum from heading there to take treacherous sea journeys to Italy. Tusk wants Thursday's summit discussions to promote mutual understanding about the migration challenges that the EU's neighbors face. He also wants the leaders to endorse plans to make migration a part of the EU's long-term budget, rather than rely on ad-hoc contributions. No concrete decisions will be made Thursday. The future of mandatory refugee quotas for nations should be made clearer next June. "It is important to look at what has and what has not worked over the past two years, and draw the necessary lessons," Tusk wrote. "The migration challenge is here to stay." At least 30 people were killed in airstrikes Wednesday on a police camp in Yemen's capital. At least 80 others were wounded when pre-dawn raids hit a prison that is run by rebels in the military police compound in Sanaa. The strikes were carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against the rebels a campaign that has not let up since it began in March 2015, despite an appeal Sunday by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres for a renewed push to end the "stupid war." On Sunday, Saudi-led strikes killed at least 26 rebel fighters at a training camp northwest of the capital. On Friday, a strike on a rebel-controlled television station in Sanaa killed four guards. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to curb its military intervention in Yemen, a country in the throes of a humanitarian crisis triggered by a two-year civil war. Last week, Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by Iran-backed rebel Houthis his uneasy allies-turned-foes plunging the country into further uncertainty and violence, and prompting some of the fiercest fighting since the start of a multiparty conflict three years ago. As the killing of the deposed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh broadens the political fracturing in Yemen and the humanitarian crisis worsens, experts warn the war-torn country could soon become a hotbed for jihadists affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State terrorist groups. The unrest in Yemen has been ongoing since 2015 between the supporters of the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels. With a Saudi-led Arab coalition backing President Hadi, and Iran supporting the Houthi rebels, the brutal conflict has stood at a stalemate, leaving thousands killed and injured, and leading to a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations has called the worlds worst. As of March, an estimated 17 million Yemenis, which comprise about 60 percent of the population, are estimated to suffer from food insecurity. Another 7 million are suffering from severe food insecurity, according to data from the World Bank. Meanwhile, the al-Qaida branch in Yemen, more commonly known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and its rival, IS, have exploited the turmoil to establish safe havens in the South and carry out deadly attacks throughout the country. Experts say the government of Hadi, with direct international support, has largely been able to keep AQAP under check in the country by evicting it from large swaths of territory and preventing it the abundant resources it once obtained from the southern oil infrastructure and ports. However, they warn the current escalation of conflict in the country, fueled by the killing of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, could provide yet another opportunity for the group to re-emerge. "Al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Yemen are exploiting every opportunity they have to grow in strength and the ability to be able to conduct attacks both in Yemen and against external targets," Stephen A. Seche, the former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, told VOA. "This may lead to more opportunities for them to develop recruitment to bring more fighters into their ranks," he added. Saleh, 75, was killed by Houthi rebels just outside the capital of Sana'a last week, three days after he broke his alliance with the rebels and called for a "new page" in relations with the Saudi-led coalition. Graphic videos and photos of the killing later surfaced online allegedly showing his corpse being paraded around on the back of a pickup truck as the rebels chanted anti-Western and ant-Saudi slogans. The killing prompted a call from Hadi urging Yemenis to rise up against the Houthi rebels. It also led to an intense bombing campaign by the Saudi-led coalition on the rebels. Revenge Ambassador Seche maintains that Salehs death will likely widen the divide in the country as his loyalists and tribal members attempt to take revenge. It will also shift the balance of power in Sana'a by giving Houthis the opportunity to exert control over the population and the Sunni groups. The Houthi movement consists mostly of the Shi'ite sect known as the Zaidis that account for nearly 35 percent of Yemens nearly 30 million population. The group has been apparently motivated by concerns that it was marginalized by the majority Sunni sect throughout the 33 years of Salehs reign even though Saleh himself was a Zaidi. With the wide support of Iran, the group has been able to successfully push back the loyalists of President Hadi in key strategic areas of the north, including the capital Sana'a. "Certainly this is an issue that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups do play on especially in their recruitment efforts," Seche said "This is a pretty easy argument to make by some of the radical Sunnis who see the Houthis as Shiite Iranian agents." Breeding ground Counterterrorism officials have already warned that signs of AQAP recovery and emergence of IS in the country have started to appear. Mark Mitchell, the Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense told U.S. Congress last week that IS militants regard Yemen as their top breeding ground after being expelled from Iraq and Syria. "The areas that we've seen that are the most troubling and provide the most potential for [IS] in particular to establish a new base -- first of all would be Yemen, which.has a failed government and is wracked by a civil war," Mitchell told U.S Senate Homeland Security Committee during a hearing last week. "Even when it was not at civil war, there was extensive conflict within the society and support for al-Qaida. And now we've seen some support for the Islamic State there.in Yemen" Mitchell added. Regional rivalry Experts charge the lingering conflict in the country indicates that the likelihood of Yemen transitioning towards a peaceful resolution seems as far away as ever with local factions, supported by regional powers, continuing to compete for influence and extremist groups exploiting the lack of governance in certain parts of the country. "What we are going see is a continuing conflict between Sunnis and more secular Zaidis backed the Saudi Arabia and the UAE against the more doctrinaire Houthis," Roby Barrett, an expert on Yemen at the Washington-based Middle East Institute told VOA. Barrett said the escalation of the conflict among the warring factions and the increasing popularity of the extremists will likely result in further divisions which could blur hopes for the establishment of a functioning government in the future. "Yemen has never been a state," he said while speaking of the countrys complex demographics and unstable government. "Its not a state now and will never be. Yemen is about five or six distinct areas." The United States is cautiously considering re-engaging Zimbabwe, following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe, but it remains skeptical of how relations would improve, given that Zimbabwes new president is a close ally of Mr. Mugabe, and been accused of atrocities dating back to the 1980s. Several members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations raised these concerns at a hearing in Washington, Tuesday, titled, The Future of Zimbabwe, where they sought insights on developments and possibilities from a panel of experts on Zimbabwe, which comprised a representative from the U.S. State Department, and several prominent Zimbabweans. Laying the foundation for the deep mistrust surrounding Zimbabwes new President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who described Zimbabwe as a nightmare questioned how much change can be expected under President Mnangagwa, who has faced allegations of human rights violations during his tenure in government, which included being a minister of state security and justice. President Mnangagwa is not unknown to us, said Flake, recalling that, until his dismissal as first vice president last month, he had been closely aligned to President Mugabe, since Mugabes rise to power. He stands accused orchestrating a string of massacres in the early 80s to consolidate Mugabes power, leaving as many as 20-thousand dead in Matabeleland, Flake said. Almost all the Senate members, namely Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Christopher Coons of Delaware, referenced the atrocities committed by the North-Korean trained fifth brigade in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions in the 1980s, also referred to as Gukurahundi, as blemishes on Mnangagwa s record. Coons, who said he was happy to see Mr. Mugabe leave after 37-years in office, queried the kind of reforms that could be expected under Mnangagwa, given his close relationship with Mugabe. Coons indicated that the U.S. would maintain the targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe if there was no indication of reform. I think its critical that the people of Zimbabwe not see one dictator replaced by another and so for one I am reluctant to see us take any steps to lighten or relieve sanctions or other international restrictions on loans or partnerships until we see concrete steps by the administration of Emmerson Mnangagwa or any successors, Coons said. Honorable Stephanie Sullivan of the Bureau of African Affairs in the U.S. State Department, agreed, pointing to areas that she said would need to show improvement before any policy or other changes can be expected from the U.S. As far as governance goes and respect for human rights, we would like to see immediate implementation of freedom of expression that has been lacking for decades in Zimbabwe, freedom of assembly, we are looking also for a free and responsible media including social media, the preparations for elections as I mentioned, anti-corruption I believe they have given a 90-day window for people to return ill-gotten gains as amnesty, said Sullivan. On the economic side the country is crumbling under crushing debt, and we also have a very low, doing business climate that is a deterrent, wed like to see an improved investment climate. A third condition she stipulated, Security sector wed like to see the security sector earn the trust of the citizens, and that would include police reforms. Asked what they would like to see the U.S. to ensure that true democracy takes place in Zimbabwe and that Mnangagwa and his government will be held accountable for their actions, opposition leader Tendai Biti of the Progressive Democratic Party, lawyer Dewa Mavhinga of Human Rights Watch and author and activist Peter Godwin, who all served as witnesses, said theyd like to see continued U.S. engagement with Zimbabwe. Mavhinga urged the U.S. to work with African organizations such as the African Union to ensure that elections scheduled for 2018 are conducted in a free and fair environment. The U.S. could strongly push the African Union and other players to insist on a roadmap for democratic elections, and to then say as my colleagues have said, that a key benchmark really to review relations, is an independent assessment of the environment in which the 2018 elections will be held, said Mavhinga Former finance minister and now opposition leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Tendai Biti, who was speaking in his capacity as a member of the MDC Alliance stressed the importance of continued U.S. engagement with the youth of Zimbabwe and its citizens in general. The United States Congress must continue to do what it has done very well in the past number one, interface with our people, said Biti. The United States remains the biggest donor and supplier of overseas assistance in Zimbabwe. You are very active in our health sector for instance ---that support must continue. Author and activist Peter Godwin, also from Zimbabwe, urged the U.S. to try a new approach to pressuring Zimbabwe to reform, including bringing together all progressive forces of change as well as donors, to incentivize the new government to take better care of its citizens. Godwin also challenged the U.S. to lift the sanctions on Zimbabwe, to see test the new governments commitment to change. And that way you take the excuse of sanctions and whatever, so you take it back and flip it, said Godwin. That would be a way to prioritize the carrot over the stick, and mix it up and see if it works. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to reporters about the GOP tax bill following a closed-door strategy session on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Senior Republican negotiators were moving closer to a deal Tuesday to reduce the top tax rate for high-income households from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, blowing by political concerns about aiding the rich in order to ease passage of a $1.5 trillion tax package. The move, which needs to gain the support of a broad swath of Republicans in the House and Senate, would lower taxes for top earners throughout the country, potentially addressing the concerns of two GOP constituencies about separate tax legislation passed by the House and Senate. Wealthy individuals in New York, California and other high-tax states had complained that their taxes might go up under the plan, which curtails the ability of taxpayers to deduct state and local taxes. And conservative House Republicans had said it did not go far enough to bring down top rates long a principle of Republican economic orthodoxy. But there were signs of immediate resistance to the idea from at least two Senate Republicans, and the GOP can only afford to lose the support of one if they want to pass the bill. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she didnt want to lower the top income tax rate. I dont think lowering the top rate is a good idea, she said as word circulated about the plan. Its hard to believe the Republicans can make this bad bill even worse, but behind closed doors, thats exactly what they seem to be doing, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer D-N.Y.). (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) expressed frustration with the idea in a Twitter post, writing that it was wrong for negotiators to reject his plan to expand tax benefits for working families as anti-growth when they were fine to cut tax for couples making $1 million. Talks remained extremely fluid Tuesday night as the move to reduce the top rate emerged as the most prominent, and most controversial, of the changes being seriously considered by lawmakers as they sought to reconcile House and Senate tax bills by the end of the week. It was not immediately clear whether the negotiations might be affected by Democrat Doug Joness projected victory over Republican Roy Moore in a special U.S. Senate race in Alabama. Republicans insisted Joness upset win Tuesday night would make no difference. Jones is not expected to be seated until after Christmas, and until that happens the Senate seat is occupied by appointed Republican incumbent Luther Strange, a reliable GOP vote. Yet given Republicans already razor-thin margin on the tax legislation, it was possible that the Jones win could buoy Democrats or empower wavering Republicans. If nothing else, the unexpected outcome seemed likely to increase the GOPs determination to wrap up by the end of next week as planned. Amid GOP negotiations earlier Tuesday, the other most significant change under consideration was to the corporate tax rate, which lawmakers now plan to reduce to 21 percent instead of 20 percent. The corporate tax rate is currently 35 percent. Lawmakers also planned to find a middle ground between how the House and Senate bills treat the mortgage-interest deduction. The new legislation appears likely to allow taxpayers to deduct up to $750,000 in new mortgage interest on homes. Lawmakers on Tuesday evening stressed that key elements, including the top tax rate, could shift as Republican leadership seeks to deliver a majority of votes in the House and Senate under an aggressive plan to pass a final tax bill by early next week, sending it to President Trump for his signature by Christmas. Republican leaders were being cautious Tuesday to ensure that the changes would not drive away the support of any members, particularly in the Senate, where they hold a slim majority and narrowly passed an earlier version of the tax bill with just one vote to spare. Republicans are grappling with sensitive demands from their members. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is pushing for big tax cuts for partnerships and sole proprietorships. And Collins also wants for a vote on health-care legislation that would strengthen the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. During Senate debate earlier this month, Rubio proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 20.94 percent in exchange for expanding the child tax credit. His effort was rejected by many Republicans at the time, as they alleged raising the corporate tax rate in such a way would hurt economic growth. Rubio must now decide whether to follow through on his repeated threats and oppose the bill, potentially standing in the way of Trumps top legislative priority. Or he can go along with the rest of Republicans and risk having his complaints dismissed during future political fights. Democrats, for their part, lashed into the bill Tuesday evening. Its hard to believe the Republicans can make this bad bill even worse, but behind closed doors, thats exactly what they seem to be doing, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). In the current tax code, income above $470,700 is taxed at a 39.6 percent rate for a married couple who file their taxes jointly. Only one in 200 taxpayers pay the top tax rate today, according to the Tax Policy Center. The tax bill passed by House in November would keep the 39.6 percent rate but only use it for income above $1 million. The Senate bill would apply a 38.5 percent top rate to people earning over $1 million. It could not be learned at what income level Republicans were considering attaching a new 37 percent rate. Lawmakers plan to hold their only public, official event to discuss the bill Wednesday, and Trump plans to deliver a closing argument in favor of it at the White House. Most polls have shown a lack of support among voters for the tax plan, with many Americans saying it is designed in a way that disproportionately benefits the wealthy. Independent nonpartisan analysis shows the tax plans passed by the House and the Senate would benefit most Americans, at least in the near term, but the wealthiest would see the most gains. But Tuesday, a senior White House official argued these views would evolve as people personally felt the impacts of the tax cut. These polls are not a reflection of what the American people think about what we are doing, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity under the terms of a White House briefing. Does anyone on the planet actually believe that hard-working Americans dont want lower taxes and a simple, easy-to-understand tax code? The White House and GOP leaders had originally envisioned lowering the top rate to 35 percent, but they relented after concerns the tax bill might be seen as tilting too strongly toward the wealthy. Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon had recommended internally that they consider a 44 percent tax bracket for income over $5 million, but his idea was shot down by others in the White House who said all tax rates needed to come down, even for the wealthy, to spur more economic growth. After the House and Senate passed their versions of the tax bill, complaints from wealthy Americans particularly in New York grew louder. Trump has received an earful from friends and supporters in New York, and last week signaled that he could support changes that he said would help a sliver of people. People familiar with the negotiations said House Republicans also pushed for the lower individual rate. They could have been sympathetic to complaints from the wealthy and conservatives that these changes were necessary to boost economic growth and investment. Both bills included as their central feature a massive reduction in the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent down to 20 percent. Trump had insisted for weeks that he would not allow anything above a 20 percent rate, but in recent days the White House has showed more flexibility. We are entering another huge week for tax reform, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday. Tax reform is what people need right now, and I am so thrilled that we are so close to the finish line. We are going to keep at it so we can deliver real tax relief before Christmas. Once House and Senate GOP leaders reach an agreement on the design of the tax compromise, they must submit the package to each chamber for votes. There were a number of other decisions that remained in flux. They were discussing the possibility of allowing the corporate tax cuts to take effect in 2018 instead of the 2019 date set in the Senate bill. They were also discussing the estate tax for inheritances, which the House bill repeals fully and the Senate bill only limits. House conservatives have been pushing to keep full repeal, but House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) indicated openness to the Senate approach. "In the House, we feel very strongly about fully repealing the estate tax," Brady said. "We're having those discussions with the Senate that took a different approach. They did double the exemption, so that helps a lot of family-owned farms and businesses." Beyond the estate tax, the Senate bill retains seven income-tax brackets for individuals and families, while the House bill collapsed those brackets to four. The House and Senate bills also tax partnerships and sole proprietorships differently. And the House bill would eliminate the alternative-minimum tax, which seeks to make sure wealthy individuals are not able to improperly reduce their tax burden, while the Senate bill would not. Congressional leaders have signaled how they plan to resolve some differences between the two bills. For example, the Senate bill would repeal the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, while the House bill would not. But House leaders have suggested they like that change to the health-care law. Were narrowing those differences, were trying to take things off the table so we can narrow those differences, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said. Heather Long and Jeff Stein contributed to this report. House and Senate Republican leaders have reached an agreement in principle that would lower the corporate tax rate to 21 percent beginning in 2018, several people briefed on the plan said, a central component of the $1.5 trillion tax plan they hope to vote into law by next week. The agreement would also lower the top tax rate for families and individuals from 39.6 percent to at least 37 percent, a change that would deliver a major tax cut for upper-income households. We are so close right now, President Trump said at the White House. So close. Many of the tax cuts would go into effect in January, and Trump said Americans would start seeing an impact on their paychecks by February. GOP leaders did not reveal all of the elements of their agreement, which would amount to a rewrite of the tax code that would affect nearly every American household and business, lowering rates while putting new limits on deductions that have been in place for decades. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch R-Utah) gets on an elevator on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP) The deal, which was described by people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to discuss the private talks, is the product of a multiweek effort to reconcile differences between tax bills that passed the House and Senate in recent weeks. If approved, the tax overhaul would amount to the biggest change to the tax code in three decades, as well as the biggest legislative achievement of Trumps presidency so far. The plan has been controversial since its inception. Republicans have billed their plan as a tax cut for the middle class, saying an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, lower rates, and the exemption of more income from taxation would help such households, especially in the next few years. But multiple independent analyses suggest its benefits skew toward corporations and the wealthy a perception polls suggest the public broadly shares and Democrats have accused the GOP of showering the wealthy with benefits that the middle class should reap. This is the ultimate betrayal of the middle class, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said at the lone public meeting held by the GOP lawmakers tasked with reconciling the House and Senate bills. Democrats mounted a last-ditch effort to pressure the GOP to delay votes on the bill, arguing they should wait for Democrat Doug Jones who defeated Republican candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday in an Alabama special election for a U.S. Senate seat to join the chamber. But Republicans rebuffed those attempts and are hoping to pass a final bill early next week. Both chambers would need to vote again to approve the final compromise bill, but Republican leaders believe they have the votes to pass it into law. The House easily passed its version of the tax bill, but Republicans faced more difficulty in the Senate, where the measure passed 51 to 49. Republicans control 52 of the 100 seats in the Senate and need 50 votes to pass their plan, as Vice President Pence could break a tie if necessary. The party can only afford to lose one more GOP vote if it hopes to pass the agreement, as Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) already opposes the measure. It was unclear if all the Republicans who voted for the Senate bill were on board with the compromise arrangement. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has expressed concern about lowering the top tax rate, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has complained that Republicans did not do more to further expand the Child Tax Credit. But neither has said whether they would oppose the bill. Negotiators have spent almost two weeks trying to reconcile differences between separate tax bills passed by the House and Senate, while outside groups pressed for last-minute changes. Wealthy Americans, some of whom were GOP donors, demanded the lower individual tax rate, and Trump said last week the GOP might accommodate some of these concerns. In the deal, the GOP has decided to move the top tax rate for individuals and families to 37 percent, a bigger rate cut for top earners than was proposed by either the House or Senate bill. The House bill had set the highest rate at 39.6 percent, while the Senate bill had sought a 38.5 percent rate. House Republicans from districts in high-tax states, including California, New York and New Jersey, had demanded changes that would allow Americans to deduct more state and local taxes. This demand was also met, with negotiators allowing Americans to deduct up to $10,000 in property and income taxes. And Republicans wrestled with proposals to tweak the centerpiece of their bill: the corporate tax rate. The House bill would have lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent in 2018. The Senate bill would have lowered the corporate rate to 20 percent starting in 2019. Negotiators decided to move the rate to 21 percent to offset some of the cost of having the lower rate kick in immediately. The deal also includes a provision from the Senate plan that would undermine a part of the Affordable Care Act requiring almost all Americans to have some form of health insurance or face a financial penalty. The provision, which was not included in the House bill, is projected to reduce government spending on health-care subsidies but leave millions more without insurance in a decade and lead to a broad increase in insurance premiums.Republicans plan to release the full details of their tax plan by Friday, then hold a vote in the Senate as soon as Monday. The final negotiations played out as much of the tax debate has proceeded so far, with details closely held and little public debate in Congress. Many other tax provisions would be affected. The mortgage interest deduction would be changed to limit the benefit to interest paid on $750,000 in home loans, down from the $1 million limit currently in place. A number of the last-minute changes would make the tax package larger, adding more to the debt. Because of budget rules, the tax cuts cannot add more than $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years, and it could not be learned what steps negotiators took. [7 differences Republicans must resolve between their tax bills] The package is expected to add at least $1 trillion to the debt over 10 years. Republicans and White House officials have said it would lead to so much economic growth that it would wipe out any impact on the debt, though they haven't offered any economic models to back up this assertion. Democrats demanded details of the deal that had been reached, protesting angrily when Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) declined to offer any. "This is indeed a mockery," Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) said. But Republicans said they planned to forge ahead and pass the bill through Congress before Christmas. At the meeting of lawmakers, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) said he was confident in the GOP legislation, but that "if we're wrong, Democrats ought to be happier than the devil. You oughta be real happy; you can say, 'Look at what the Republicans did, look what they did, they hurt you, they hurt your economy.' " Read more: Democrats call for halt to GOP tax bill until Jones is seated in the Senate The Finance 202: Doug Jones victory will likely speed up Republican tax train Democrat Doug Jones pulled off a nail-biting win in Alabamas Senate special election, skating by with 50 percent of the vote to Roy Moores 48. That represents a monumental victory for the Democrats in a deep-red state where Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by 28 points. Joness win comes thanks to a significant, nearly uniform surge of Democratic votes statewide. But he also owes the victory in large part to Moores unpopularity the Republican seriously underperformed in statewide elections even before he faced accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against teenage girls. Moore underperformed Trumps results by 14 percentage points in the north and central region, by nine points in the Black Belt and by 11 points in southern Alabama. Typically reliable and sizable Republican wins in the rural north and south of the state evaporated into razor thin margins. Between that and an increased margin in the Black Belt, Jones was able to eke out a 21,000-vote victory, while Republicans normally win by more than half a million votes. These swings can be seen in counties majority white and black, Republican and Democrat. And that means it couldnt have just been a surge in African American turnout, or just rural Trump voters staying home, or just Republicans crossing over to vote for Jones. Joness campaign was able to achieve a combination of the three that drove him to victory. Despite it being an off-year special election in December, Jones got 92 percent of Clintons vote total. Moore just got 49 percent of Trumps. One area that did stand apart from this near-uniform swing leftward that separated Moores defeat from his previous victories was Alabamas urban and suburban areas. Though Moore experienced less than a four-point drop statewide, earning 52 percent of the vote in 2012 and 48 percent this election, he lost twice that in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham. And in the citys surrounding Shelby and Tuscaloosa counties, he lost seven points apiece. In Madison County, home to Huntsville, he saw an eight-point drop, and in Lee County, home to Auburn, he lost 13 points. Despite all these swings, the big margins were still built with the old Democratic playbook: win big in urban areas such as Birmingham and Montgomery to make up for significant losses in the rural outskirts. And these margins, when taken together, were just enough to deliver a historic Democratic victory, a rejection of President Trumps controversial endorsement, and a 51-49 Republican majority in the Senate. Chiqui Esteban contributed to this report. Source: Election results from Alabama Secretary of State elections data website and via Associated Press. Barry Myers participates in his Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing to become administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Capitol Hill on Nov. 29 in Washington. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Three former administrators of the agency responsible for the governments vast weather forecasting system have serious concerns about the businessman President Trump has nominated to be its next leader, and two of them say the nominee has conflicts of interests that should disqualify him, documents and interviews show. It is the first time in the half-century history of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, that former administrators have voiced such strong opposition, agency veterans say. The nominee, Barry Myers, is among a growing number of controversial figures Trump who has promised to disrupt and downsize the federal government has selected for key posts. Myers, 74, is chief executive of AccuWeather, a private forecasting firm he and two brothers have turned into a multimedia weather and marketing powerhouse, using free data gathered by NOAAs global network of satellites and sensors. Myerss earned more $900,000 last year at AccuWeather, based in State College, Pa., and his holdings in the firm are worth up to $50 million, according to financial disclosure forms and other documents filed with the Senate. Over the past two decades, Myers has been a determined force behind efforts to persuade Congress to curb free initiatives by NOAAs National Weather Service that overlap with services provided by AccuWeather and other private weather firms, while at the same time pressing the government to give AccuWeather expanded access to weather-related data. He has opposed such initiatives as the expanded use of social media by the National Weather Service to spread tornado and other severe weather alerts, saying the agency should focus on core services such as data collection and modeling. Reviews by agency officials and others have found government warnings on social media can save lives by spurring people to take protective measures, documents show. Although Myers has also received support from other former NOAA officials and weather industry executives, the criticism from the three former administrators presents a startling departure for an agency where transitions are typically uncontroversial. The three, who served in Democratic administrations, decided to air their concerns publicly after being contacted by a Washington Post reporter. The many and clear conflicts of interest give me grave concerns about whether this nominee will truly serve the publics interests, said Kathryn Sullivan, a retired NASA astronaut and former chief scientist at NOAA who served as the agencys administrator in the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017. It strains credulity. D. James Baker, NOAA administrator for eight years in the Clinton administration, said he doubts whether Myers can eliminate the financial conflicts because the family-owned firm would still stand to benefit from decisions made by NOAAs administrator. Youve got the potential of decisions being made on the basis of money rather than whats best for the country, Baker, a physicist, told The Post. Jane Lubchenco, an environmental scientist who served as the agencys administrator in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, said she strongly opposes the nomination because of his egregious conflicts of interest, his lack of scientific training, and his aggressive and sustained actions to undermine the National Weather Service. In short, she said, I have grave concerns about the potential damage that Mr. Myers could do to jeopardize the core ability of NOAA to provide lifesaving and other vital services to Americans. Among Myers supporters is former administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., a retired vice admiral who ran the agency in the Bush administration for seven years. Lautenbacher has helped rally support for the Myers nomination, sending letters and making phone calls to lawmakers and former government officials, documents and interviews show. Lautenbacher, who described himself as a friend of Myers, has been a paid member of AccuWeathers board for most of the past decade. In an interview with The Post, he downplayed the pay, saying I get a couple of bucks. Lautenbacher also is a start-up federal contractor whose firm, GeoOptics, plans to build a network of satellites to gather atmospheric and weather data. It received a small contract from NOAA last year as part of a pilot program exploring possible uses of commercial weather satellites, contracting documents show. The firm uses the same lobbyist as AccuWeather a weather industry lobbyist who has worked with Lautenbacher to promote Myers nomination, according to documents and interviews. In a letter to lawmakers on GeoOptics letterhead, Lautenbacher said, I view Barry as an ideal candidate for this assignment. It did not disclose their business ties, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Post. Myers and other AccuWeather executives declined to comment for this story. A spokeswoman referred questions to The White House. On Nov. 29, Myers told a Senate panel he would take steps to address concerns about conflicts. In a prepared statement to the panel, he said he and his wife, an AccuWeather manager, would resign from every company, board and organization that could be in conflict with my new role. We have also agreed to sell ALL of our ownership interests shares and options in AccuWeather and all related companies, he said in the statement, adding later: If confirmed as NOAA Administrator, I pledge to carry out the wishes of Congress with vision, accountability and effective management for the public good. I will ensure that the agency is staffed with top management and scientists and with talented, experienced and capable people. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is set to vote on his nomination on Wednesday. If approved by the full Senate, Myers would become Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmospshere at the Department of Commerce, as well as administrator of NOAA, one of the governments premier science operations. Myers would be responsible for a $5.7 billion science operation, including a global meteorological network of satellites, radar, aircraft and buoys that collect weather data ceaselessly. NOAA has about 12,000 employees, including nearly 6,800 scientists and engineers. In a statement, deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters defended the nomination, saying Myers has the business background needed to help the meet mandates in new legislation requiring NOAA to collaborate more closely with the private sector. The legislation, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, was passed by Congress in April. Myers was a strong supporter of that bill and testified in support of the legislation, Walters said. His experience in the private sector will be useful in carrying out those directives. Since its formation 55 years ago by Myerss brother Joel, a meteorologist, AccuWeather has become one of the worlds most widespread sources of weather information. The company estimates nearly 2 billion people worldwide view its weather reports on television, newspapers, computer, mobile phones and other smart devices. (The Washington Post is an AccuWeather customer.) A key to the companys business model is advertisements and other forms of marketing that accompany its weather content on digital platforms. Myers has worked at the firm part- and full-time since 1964, working as the firms lawyer, digital strategist and other executive positions. As an undergraduate, he enrolled in meteorology but was a horrible student who was never interested in learning, according to a Wall Street Journal interview in 2014. He studied business at Pennsylvania State University and received a law degree from Boston University. Myers and his brothers have been aggressive in pressing the government on weather-related programs that could impact AccuWeathers bottom line, according to documents and interviews. Over the past 14 years, the firm has spent more than $400,000 on lobbyists, according to disclosure forms filed in the Senate. In 2005, Barry and Joel Myers supported legislation proposed by then-senator Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania, that would have prohibited the federal government from performing services that might compete with services offered by AccuWeather, the Weather Channel and other companies. The two also contributed to Santorum and his political action committee. The legislation was not approved. In 2007, Myers became AccuWeathers chief executive. He expanded the firms presence on the web while also stepping up his pressure to thwart government initiatives that might compete with AccuWeather services. Myers has complained repeatedly about National Weather Service initiatives that duplicate private sector services. In 2013, he told a congressional panel NOAA and the government Weather Service should focus on core infrastructure (satellites, radars, remote sensing tools, data networks of sufficient density, research, modeling, warning improvement, and operational warnings). He said the weather industry already handles forecasts and services for business and industry and the general public. Many functions that were only government functions at the dawn of the development of Americas weather industry 50 years ago such as media weather forecasting, business targeted weather forecasting, and general public weather forecasting have been subsumed by Americas weather industry, he said. This is a positive trend saving government expenditures and we can expect to see privatization of other remote sensing platforms such as satellites. Though his aggressive approach has rankled some weather industry and government officials, Myers is held in high regard by some in the private sector. In 2014, the American Meteorological Society gave him its Kenneth C. Spengler Award for outstanding, highly principled leadership of the American weather industry. After his nomination in October, four former NOAA and National Weather Service officials spoke highly about him in an October letter to the Commerce committee. Through our experience working with Mr. Myers, we have seen a person capable of leading a large enterprise underpinned by complex science and technologies required to meet demanding mission needs, retired Air Force brigadier generals John J. (Jack) Kelly and David L. Johnson and two others wrote in the Oct. 25 letter. Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA scientist who now directs the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he believes the appointment reflects a lack of concern in the Trump administration about conflicts of interests. As a civil servant or political appointee, your sole purpose is to promote the public interest, he said. The Star Wars movie opening this week will introduce new birdlike creatures called porgs, which may inspire affection and toy sales. (Disney/Lucasfilm) In a toy meeting far, far away . . . . So the story goes for how some of the creatures that inhabit the world of Star Wars came to life. The popular movie franchise has another chapter in its saga when Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres Friday. The films have provided some of the most iconic figures in pop culture, including Han Solo and Darth Vader, but sometimes these movies also have a scene-stealer. In trailers for the new movie, one character has captured the imagination of fans: porgs. Porgs appeared for only a split second in the trailer, but one glimpse of the creatures was enough to stir up a frenzy. A Google search produces more than 3 million results for porgs, many of them revolving around one question: What are they? The birdlike creature was inspired by puffins on Skellig Michael, an island off the southwest coast of Ireland. That island was the filming location for Ahch-To, the planet where Luke Skywalker appears at the end of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." You fall into those deep, soulful eyes. I think a lot of people are going to want a porg as a pet, said Pablo Hidalgo, creative executive for Lucasfilm, the company that has produced the Star Wars movies. Because plot details of the new movie are kept secret, very few can say for sure what porgs will contribute to the Star Wars universe. But fans have speculated that they might be more than cute window dressing. Fans of the franchise are familiar with a character that, while serving a purpose in the story, can attract kids to buy toys and other merchandise. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had BB-8, and "Return of the Jedi" most famously had Ewoks, little furry creatures that save Luke, Princess Leia and Han Solo from danger. Star Wars fans are sharply divided on the credibility of Ewoks because a squad of furballs seems unlikely to be able to defeat a galactic army. Others have loved them because theyre fun and adorable, and they add laughs to the movie. Many of these fans grew up with Ewok action figures and plush dolls. According to J.W. Rinzler, a former executive editor at Lucasfilm and the author of several books about the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, Ewoks came about because of a thought that series creator George Lucas had about his daughter. Lucas wanted her and all kids to have a character that would appeal specifically to them. He wanted her to have a teddy bearlike Star Wars toy, and there wasnt really anything for girls specifically, Rinzler told KidsPost. Ewoks were popular with kids in an earlier Star Wars movie. George Lucas said the inspiration for them came from his desire to give the intergalactic space saga a Stone Age touch. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images) Lucas has said that selling toys wasnt the reason he created Ewoks. The inspiration, he said, came from his desire to give the intergalactic space saga a Stone Age touch. The forest moon Endor would be the setting for a battle between the rebels and the Empire. It was supposed to be the home of Wookiees, including Chewbacca. But Chewbaccas character was a skilled pilot and mechanic. Lucas realized it wouldnt make sense for him or other Wookiees to live on Endor. So he dreamed up Ewoks to serve as the simple creatures to take down the laser-blasting army of clones. Debates will continue about the intentions of creating porgs, Ewoks or any characters that seem geared toward kids. But Rinzler says he believes that, beyond the business of toys, what has allowed Star Wars to stick for decades with viewers of all ages is the action, energy and message of the movies and how good people feel after watching them. Lucas told me the greatest thing about making these movies was the reaction of kids always, Rinzler said. Read more from KidsPost: Kids holiday movies offer a generous helping of entertainment Girls Star Wars-inspired VectOrb wins toy design contest A cathedral like none other: Moon rock and Darth Vader blend into Gothic architecture The 25 films selected for the 2017 National Film Registry include Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. (Twentieth Century Fox/Paramount Pictures) Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced the addition of 25 films to the librarys National Film Registry, selections deemed worthy of preservation for their cultural, historic and/or aesthetic significance. This years collection brings the number of registry films to 725 and includes such beloved mainstream movies as the historical romance Titanic (1997) and Die Hard (1988). Other popular works include Dumbo (1941), Superman (1978), The Goonies (1985), Field of Dreams (1989) and Memento (2000). Among this years more esoteric fare is The Sinking of the Lusitania, a 1918 short by cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay about the German submarine attack that contributed to the United States entry into World War I, and an archive of amateur home movies from the 1920s and 30s about life in the Mexican American community of Corpus Christi, Tex. Hayden selected the films with input from members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists at the library. The public also was invited to weigh in. [After 20 years, these 8 Titanic moments still wont die. Unlike Jack.] Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder in 1978s Superman. (Warner Bros.) As timely as it may be to see this honor bestowed on Titanic now celebrating its 20th anniversary or Die Hard a holiday staple there could be no more opportune selection than 4 Little Girls. Nominated for a best documentary feature Oscar, Spike Lees 1997 film about the Birmingham church bombing of Sept. 15, 1963, was met by a reopening of the long-dormant criminal case by the FBI a case that just so happens to have been subsequently prosecuted successfully by an Alabama lawyer named Doug Jones. At press time, Jones was locked in a close race for the U.S. Senate with the controversial former judge Roy Moore. On Tuesday Election Day in Alabama Lee phoned from New York to say that he always cherishes the National Film Registry honor. (Two of his narrative features were previously selected: Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X.) Lee also said he wanted to dedicate the films selection to the murdered girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. But mostly, the filmmaker took the opportunity to unleash a torrent of unfiltered invective about Moore. After making a few circumspect comments about the power of storytelling to hold a mirror up to the ugliness that we have become, Lee acknowledged that he was troubled by whats happening in America today, epitomized by the Alabama election, before acknowledging that the word troubled was probably too mild. Three films by director Spike Lee are now on the film registry. (HBO and 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks) But Lee said current affairs had not caused him to lose hope, as a human or as a filmmaker. Like my man Jesse [Jackson] says, youve got to keep hope alive, he said. Never modest, the cinematic bombthrower said he thinks that this latest honor may not be the last time one of his films enters the registry and that his 2006 Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts could be the next. Then theres Lees drama Black Klansman, a fact-based biopic, due out next year, about a black Colorado police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Just wait until you see that one, Lee said. Its set in the early 1970s, but you cant watch it without thinking of today. Films selected for the 2017 National Film Registry: Ace in the Hole (a.k.a. "Big Carnival") (1951) Boulevard Nights (1979) Die Hard (1988) Dumbo (1941) Field of Dreams (1989) 4 Little Girls (1997) Fuentes Family Home Movies Collection (1920s and 1930s) Gentleman's Agreement (1947) The Goonies (1985) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) He Who Gets Slapped (1924) Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905) La Bamba (1987) Lives of Performers (1972) Memento (2000) Only Angels Have Wings (1939) The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) Spartacus (1960) Superman (1978) Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988) Time and Dreams (1976) Titanic (1997) To Sleep With Anger (1990) Wanda (1971) With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain (1937-1938) Stephen K. Bannon, Breitbart chairman and former White House strategist, speaks during a rally for Roy Moore last week in Alabama. (Brynn Anderson/AP) For weeks, Breitbart.com openly campaigned for Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. It also touted the kingmaking powers of its chairman, Stephen K. Bannon, President Trumps former chief strategist. On Tuesday, Moore, Bannon and Breitbart all went down to defeat. The election of Democrat Doug Jones was a stunning rejection of Bannon and the right-wing news-and-commentary website that pushed Moores candidacy despite questions about his moral character he is accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls while in his 30s let alone his ability to win an election long assumed to be a slam dunk for any conventional Republican candidate. The Alabama results suggest that a reckoning is due for both Bannon and Breitbart, whose influence and audience grew exponentially during Trumps presidential campaign. Since then, as support for Trump has declined, so has Breitbarts traffic, settling back to the 15 million people a month it drew before a spike around the election last year. Its obvious that theyre not gaining ground, said Frank Durham, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa who studies conservative media. While drawing broader lessons from a single-state race such as Alabama is problematic, Durham said, Bannons showboating wasnt persuasive to people who arent already in his camp. Bannon and Breitbart worked in tandem to promote Moore, a former state Supreme Court judge who was twice removed from office for disobeying federal court orders. When The Washington Post published credible allegations of child sexual abuse against Moore, for example, Breitbart tried to nitpick the newspapers reporting and discredit Moores accusers. [Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32] At Bannon's direction, Breitbart sent two reporters to Alabama in search of cover for Moore. One of them, Aaron Klein, reported that the mother of one of the accusers said her daughter didn't have a phone installed in her bedroom when Moore, then in his 30s, called the 14-year-old girl to arrange an encounter. This sleuthing suggested a fatal flaw in the womans memory of where Moore had contacted her. Except it overlooked a key detail: The woman and her mother both said their home phone was equipped with an extension cord that made it possible to receive a call in the bedroom. Breitbart frequently made Bannon the subject of laudatory news accounts during the race. The website portrayed him as the leader of the Republican Party's insurgent wing. "Bannon gathers donors as he launches war on GOP establishment," read one headline in mid-October. Another, from mid-November: "Revealed: The 6 books that Steve Bannon says influenced his worldview." But Bannons war effort seemed to stall on Tuesday. Steve Bannon lost an unloseable race, said Ben Shapiro, a former Breitbart editor and frequent Bannon critic. He thought [Moore] was the best pick of his life. His ego is so wild and his incompetence so large that he brought about the Kama Sutra of political debauchery. Every wrong move in the book was on full display here. Bannon stuck with Moore even when a more prudent strategist would have assessed the candidate as fatally wounded and urged a replacement like Jeff Sessions, who gave up the seat in January to become Trumps attorney general, Shapiro said. Instead, he said, Bannon doubled down, persuading Trump to throw his support behind Moore, which reluctantly drew the Republican National Committee back into supporting him. Shapiro, excoriating his old boss, said Bannon grabs onto power with both hands, and he doesnt let go. But he has so little to show for it and has earned so little of it himself. Breitbart editors and spokesmen did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday. To be sure, Breitbart and Bannons influence seems most pronounced during primary races when the most motivated and ideological voters turn out and less so during general elections. The site, which drew 14.97 million unique visitors in October, according to ComScore, appeals most strongly to white conservatives who favor stringent anti-immigration policies, economic nationalism and a powerful military. But as its support of Moore showed, it has a mixed record of picking winners. In 2014, the website threw its editorial support behind tea party candidate Chris McDaniel in the Republican Senate primary in Mississippi; McDaniel lost narrowly to the incumbent, Thad Cochran. Conversely, that same year, it supported insurgent candidate Dave Brat's bid to unseat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.); Brat won the GOP primary in a stunning upset. Even Breitbart and Bannon's greatest triumph Trump's electoral victory last year was late in arriving. The site gave more or less equal time in Republican primary to Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), reflecting a split between Bannon's loyalty to Trump and the tilt toward Cruz by Robert Mercer, the conservative hedge-fund billionaire who had been Breitbart's principal financier. (Mercer said last month that he would pass his stake in the company to his daughter Rebekah.) On Wednesday, a day after Jones declared victory, Breitbart seemed neither bloodied nor bowed. "Patience!" one columnist counseled: Making America great again "will take decades." Another article, "Five things that went wrong for Roy Moore" cited a disunited party, strong support for Jones among urban voters, and higher-than-expected turnout. There was no mention of the molestation allegations against Moore and nothing about Bannons role in his campaign. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is off to a strong start fundraising for her 2018 reelection campaign. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has raised more than $1.4 million since she announced her reelection bid in late September, campaign finance records show, a formidable early haul that could make challengers think twice about entering what is so far an uncontested race for mayor in 2018. With the money she has raised over just 80 days, the Democrat is easily on track to meet or exceed her 2014 total of approximately $3.6 million in contributions. Her campaign chairman, Bill Lightfoot, attributed the fundraising success to energetic involvement from the mayor, who he said has attended about 40 campaign fundraising events since declaring. It really was her. She was energized, Lightfoot said. She had a vision that she wanted to raise this money from individuals and not from corporations. About 85 percent of Bowsers contributions came from individuals, who under District law are limited to giving $2,000 in citywide races. The rest came from corporations, corporation-sponsored political action committees and LLCs, according to a report filed Monday by Bowsers campaign. [Bowser announces 2018 reelection bid] While most of Bowsers donations came from individuals, many of those people are affiliated with prominent D.C. businesses. For example, 16 employees of the energy company Pepco Holdings donated a combined $10,250, campaign finance records show, while 12 employees of the law firm Holland and Knight gave a combined $17,100. Eleven employees of real estate company WC Smith gave $6,900. Lightfoot said the campaign does not yet have a specific fundraising goal but will adapt according to whether any serious challengers emerge for the Democratic primary in June which typically decides elections in the District or for the general election. Theres not an absolute number in mind, he said. It depends on the level of competition and the resources the mayor needs to communicate her message in a competitive race. Bowsers campaign committee has so far spent about $68,000. With six months until the primary, the outlook for the mayor is mostly positive. A June poll by The Washington Post found that she had a 67 percent approval rating among District residents. That support, while broad, was not universally strong. Some 20 percent of Washingtonians surveyed said they strongly approved of her performance, while 47 percent somewhat approved. [Poll: Bowser broadly popular as reelection nears] The poll also found that in a hypothetical three-way Democratic mayoral primary, she would capture 50 percent of the support among registered Democratic voters, followed by former mayor and current D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) with 27 percent and Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) with 10 percent. Racine has since announced that he will not enter the mayors race and will instead seek reelection as attorney general. The competitiveness of the mayoral election could hinge on whether Gray whom Bowser defeated in 2014 seeks a rematch. Gray returned to city hall this year after winning the Ward 7 council seat and has had a high-profile run as chairman of the councils health committee. However, he could still face lingering distrust citywide from a federal investigation into illegal financing of his 2010 mayoral campaign. Gray was not charged in that probe, which led to guilty pleas by six people, including some of his associates. Gray has said he is considering a mayoral run but has not reached a decision. D.C. Health Care Finance Director Wayne Turnage, pictured at a September United Medical Center board meeting, says Veritas of Washington is not to blame for the hospitals financial woes. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) A taxpayer bailout of at least $17 million will be needed if the Districts only public hospital is to stay afloat, the hospitals finance committee has concluded, in the latest setback to afflict United Medical Center. Hospital board members plan to discuss the recommended subsidy request when they meet Wednesday. If approved by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and the D.C. Council, it would be the largest investment of District tax dollars to prop up the hospitals operating budget since 2010, when the city took over the facility. UMCs dire financial situation comes after the D.C. government has spent more than $5 million on a consulting firm, Veritas of Washington, whose job was to financially stabilize the hospital. The firm, which was recommended to the hospital board by Bowsers health-care finance director, has been managing UMC since 2016. But last month, the D.C. Council voted not to extend the companys contract, citing concerns about mismanagement and patient safety. Veritas is running the facility under a month-to-month extension while the hospital board seeks a new operator. [] Veritas said in a statement that of the $17.1 million recommended subsidy request, $15.1 million was needed for new expenses including about $2 million in repayments to Medicare, $5.6 million to settle an outstanding contract dispute with the hospitals nurses and $7.5 million for a new contract with GW Medical Faculty Associates, a group associated with George Washington University. [At D.C.s only public hospital, consultants fees mount along with trouble] The remaining $2 million is needed to cover revenue shortfalls resulting from declining admissions driven by recent media stories about UMC and regulators shutdown of the hospitals obstetrics ward, the statement said. This new subsidy request reflects the work of Veritas to address long-outstanding issues predating Veritas, including medical documentation and disputes with the nurses union, as well as our efforts to enhance and improve the quality of medical staff, equipment and patient care of UMC, said David Boucree, a Veritas employee who is serving as the hospitals interim chief executive. Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), who voted against extending the Veritas contract, said the probable subsidy request makes me wonder what Veritas did during its 18-month stint at the hospital. They were sold as financial experts, she said. [Hospital board extends contract for embattled management firm] Wayne Turnage, director of the citys Health Care Finance Department, said Veritas was not responsible for the hospitals financial woes. He attributed the problems to media attention that he said had damaged UMCs reputation beginning in August, when the Districts Health Department shut down the facilitys nursery and delivery rooms because of dangerous medical errors in the care of pregnant women and newborns. I dont think theyre responsible for it at all, Turnage said. They did what we asked them to do stabilize the hospital, put a system in place that allows physicians to do their jobs. Turnage, who sits on the hospitals board, said the $17 million subsidy does not include money to reopen the obstetrics ward. Should the hospital board decide to reopen the nursery and delivery rooms, the subsidy request will be larger, he said. LaToya Foster, a spokeswoman for the mayor, declined to say whether Bowser would support a subsidy. We look forward to seeing what action the board takes, and we will work with them to ensure the hospital is available to those who use it, Foster said. UMC has long struggled with the grim financial reality of serving its poor and heavily Medicaid-reliant patient base in Southeast Washington and Prince Georges County, Md. The District has subsidized the hospital, which is supposed to be financially independent, every year since it assumed ownership of the facility in 2010. [D.C. lawmakers cut short contract for United Medical Center operator] In 2016, after the hospital needed an extra $10 million from the District to cover its payroll, Bowser directed Turnage to identify a turnaround firm that could contract with the city and prevent the need for future cash infusions. Turnage recommended that the hospital board hire Veritas, a company whose executive chairman was Corbett Price. Prices wife, Chrystie Boucree, owns the firm. She and David Boucree are cousins. Turnage has said he made the recommendation independently based on Prices track record and that the mayor had no role in the selection process. A longtime health-care executive who had previously overseen hospitals in Prince George's County and New York City, Price along with his relatives and companies donated more than $35,000 to Bowser's mayoral campaign and inaugural committee. In 2015, Bowser also appointed Price to the board of the Metro transportation system. The UMC board, which voted to hire Veritas, is an independent body, although under District law the mayor appoints six of its 11 voting members and picks its chair. WASHINGTON, D.C. Hosea Stevens, 25, is photographed in his apartment in the District on Nov. 22. At 17, Stevens served time in a federal prison in Memphis after convictions for carjacking and armed robbery. His family could not afford to visit him in the four years he was in Tennessee. He also didnt receive any programming tailored to young offenders. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Hosea Stevens, who grew up in the Districts Shaw neighborhood, was arrested at 17 and charged with carjacking and armed robbery. When he turned 18, Stevens was shipped nearly 900 miles away from the central detention facility in Southeast, known as the D.C. jail, to a federal prison in Memphis, where he served the majority of his six-year sentence. I was out there on my own, said Stevens, now 25, whose family could not afford to visit him once during the four years he was in Tennessee. Emotionally and mentally, I was detached from love. Stevens was incarcerated in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility hundreds of miles from the only city he knew because of the 1997 National Revitalization Act, which required the nation's capital then in the throes of a prolonged budget crisis to close its prison and transfer custody of adult prisoners to the federal government. The vast majority of people dont realize this is how the system works, said D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), chair of the Judiciary Committee. OLNEY, Md. Eddie Ellis plays with his son Eddie Ellis III, 4, at home in Olney, Md. on Nov. 21. As a D.C. resident, Ellis was convicted of manslaughter and served 15 years in a Colorado prison.When he was released at age 31, he lacked life skills, including how to ride the Metro. He now runs a nonprofit dedicated to youth mentorship. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) In the two decades since the District lost control of its prisoners and its court system, which is also run by the federal government, nearly uninterrupted growth has filled the city's coffers, with reserves totaling more than $2.4 billion in April. As the Districts wealth has increased, so have calls from advocates including ex-offenders to bring home the 4,700 D.C. residents incarcerated in more than 100 federal facilities. But city officials say building and operating a new prison would be too expensive. Kevin Donahue, deputy mayor for public safety and justice, said the District has not estimated the price tag but that the financial burden of operating a prison could only come at the expense of other vital District government programs and services. The city still operates the D.C. jail, which houses pre-trial offenders, residents convicted of misdemeanors and convicted felons over age 18 who are awaiting transfer to federal prison. The Correctional Treatment Facility connected to the jail by a secure catwalk houses women, juveniles and some minimum- and medium-security male inmates. [D.C. has a problem it never expected: Too much money] Most D.C. inmates 85 percent serve time in federal facilities within 500 miles of the District, said a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons. The agency also makes every effort to transfer inmates to halfway houses close to their homes, the spokesman said. Short of building a new prison, officials in the District where ex-offenders account for 1 in 10 residents are increasingly trying to ramp up ways to help them adjust to life in the District after prison. Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) introduced a bill to require the city to maintain a database of ex-offenders returning to the District and provide them with information about housing, employment and applying for birth certificates and identification cards. Allen has proposed legislation to require services and treatment for offenders between the ages of 18 and 22 to help them stay out of the criminal justice system. But that programming would be in place only when residents are in the D.C. jail and when they return home not when they are serving time in federal facilities. The elephant in the room that no one is talking about is that we have no control [over the federal prisons], said Tara Libert, executive director of Free Minds Book Club, which operates in the D.C. jail. [How an accused rapist kept getting second chances from D.C.s justice system] Eddie Ellis, who was convicted of manslaughter when he was 16 and served for 15 years, went without a single visit from his family during the years he spent in the federal penitentiary known as ADX Supermax in Florence, Colo. When Ellis was released at age 31, he lacked many basic life skills, including how to ride the Metro, he said. Its unfair, said Ellis, who now runs a nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring youths and helping those who have been incarcerated reenter society. Theyre sending us all over the country. Its a strain on everything. One of the few opportunities Ellis was offered in prison was a class in banking skills, which, he pointed out, was not particularly helpful because he did not have any money at the time. Job training would have been most helpful, he said. When we come home, a lot of us arent able to remain strong if we cant get a job, Ellis said. Thats why people go back to what they were doing. There is one way that more prisoners could serve time in the District. An agreement between the D.C. Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Prisons allows up to 200 beds in the central treatment facility to be used for D.C. residents with sentences shorter than nine months. The Bureau of Prisons regularly uses no more than 60 of those beds, said Michelle Bonner, executive director of the D.C. Corrections Information Council, an independent monitoring group that inspects facilities where D.C. inmates are incarcerated. One reason is money: It costs the federal government about $133 per day to house an inmate in the District, compared with $70 to $90 in a federal facility, according to data from fiscal year 2015, Bonner said. To get the federal government to move more District residents from federal facilities to the D.C. jail, the city could offer to pay the difference in expenses, Bonner said. Even as advocates push to bring the city's prisoners home, they recognize the challenges posed by the 41-year-old D.C. jail, located in the Hill East neighborhood in Southeast. A 2015 report about the jail from the Washington Lawyers' Committee found unsanitary conditions, crumbling walls and "noncompliance with basic standards established by national correctional authorities." Only 3 percent of total square footage of the jail and the central treatment facility is dedicated to programming, said D.C. Department of Corrections Director Quincy Booth. The physical constraints of the buildings tremendously limit the efficacy of programming, which includes partnerships with the Free Minds Book Club, the Department of Employment Services and the D.C. Public Library, said D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7). They just dont have the physical space, Allen said. They frequently have to do some of the programming in the hallways. You have good programming, but its not without its challenges. [D.C. wants to build a new jail but officials arent talking about it] Under Gray, who served a single term as mayor before he was defeated by Bowser in the Democratic primary in 2014, plans were drafted to build a new jail in Blue Plains in Southwest D.C., where there would have been retail on the ground floor and a community college on the campus. "The idea was something that would have been a lot more dignified," said Gray, who expanded city services for ex-offenders as mayor. "It would have been a center for incarceration, but it wouldn't have been a typical jail." During his failed bid for reelection, Gray also courted ex-offenders who, unlike those in many communities, can cast ballots the day they leave prison. In early 2016, Bowser deemed Grays plan for a new jail fiscally infeasible. The proposal would have cost about $1.1 billion, Donahue said. Although Grays plan is no longer on the table, Donahue said he is hoping a more affordable new jail could be built at some point in the next few years. Monica Hopkins-Maxwell, executive director of the ACLU of D.C., said there have been discussions about redeveloping the site of the current jail but residents of Hill East have not been consulted and there has been little clarity about a timeline. The administration has been incredibly opaque, she said. The more transparent the executive can be, the better it will be in the long run. United Medical Center board chairwoman LaRuby May, second from left, says D.C.s only public hospital will still try to improve prenatal care for women in Southeast Washington. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) The board of D.C.s public hospital voted Wednesday to permanently close the facilitys nursery and delivery rooms, leaving a broad section of the nations capital east of the Anacostia River without a hospital where women can give birth and seek prenatal care. The obstetrics ward at United Medical Center has been closed since Aug. 7, when regulators shut it down after uncovering what they said were serious medical errors in the treatment of pregnant women and newborns. However, elected officials, maternal-health advocates and residents of Southeast Washington had expressed hope that it would reopen. Board Chairwoman LaRuby May said the choice stemmed from financial challenges and questions about whether the hospital could safely provide obstetrics care to patients. Our decision is really based on the needs of the community, May said. Mothers had already decided that were not the place where they want to be. UMC delivered a relatively small number of babies roughly several hundred a year and most women in Wards 7 and 8 give birth at hospitals in other parts of the city. However, the hospital provided a setting where women in Southeast Washington could give birth in emergencies, and also served as a de facto clinic providing prenatal care to walk-ins. [Dangerous errors led to shutdown of United Medical Center obstetrics ward] D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), chairman of the councils health committee, said the boards action sends a powerfully negative message to the poor and predominantly African American residents of Southeast Washington. It says that, in terms of the allocation and equity of services, the people on the East End of the city are seen as not sufficiently worthy to have available to them one of the most important services a population can have, Gray said, adding that he hoped to re-examine the boards decision in a public hearing. The hospital board voted on the resolution not to reopen the labor and delivery ward in a session closed to the public. May said afterward that the decision was not unanimous but that she was unable to provide the vote tally. The boards legal justification for conducting its vote behind closed doors was unclear. While private discussions are common for matters involving contracts, personnel matters and litigation, boards usually reconvene in public for votes. May said she had been advised by the boards lawyer that the closed session was proper but could not cite any specific statutory exemption that justified voting in private. Traci Hughes, director of the D.C. Office of Open Government, said the Districts Open Meetings Act does not allow a public body to vote on a resolution in closed session. News of the closure comes as the Districts only public hospital and the only full-service hospital east of the Anacostia River is weathering an extraordinary bout of organizational turmoil. The board also voted Wednesday to request a $17.1 million bailout from the D.C. government, an amount that would be the largest taxpayer subsidy for the hospital since 2010, the year it was taken over by the District. Had the board chosen to reopen the obstetrics ward, May said, the hospital would have had to ask for an additional amount of at least $19 million. [Hospitals top doctor on consultants: Theyve done tremendous damage] Meanwhile, the hospital is dealing with ongoing questions about patient safety. The D.C. Health Department is investigating an incident, reported by The Washington Post, in which a resident of the hospital's nursing home died after repeatedly crying out for help and being left on the floor by his nurse. Hospital officials did not initially report key details of that case to regulators. Last month, the D.C. Council voted not to extend the $300,000-per-month contract for Veritas of Washington, the consulting firm that has been running UMC since 2016, citing concerns about mismanagement. The firm, whose leaders were campaign donors to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), was given a no-bid contract to run the facility after Bowsers health-care finance director recommended it to the hospital board. After the boards decision Wednesday, a Bowser spokeswoman issued a written statement saying that the mayor hoped the board would explore the feasibility of reopening the obstetrics ward in the future. Meanwhile, said spokeswoman LaToya Foster, the mayor believes that a recently announced initiative by Howard University Hospital and Unity Health Care to offer prenatal care at community clinics in Southeast D.C. is an innovative solution that addresses the access question in a responsible and effective manner. May said she hoped UMC would also be involved in efforts to expand prenatal care in Wards 7 and 8, though the hospital has no specific plan yet. I cant tell you exactly what its going to be. I dont know what its going to be, she said. I can only tell you were committed to it. The exterior of Patricia Handy Place on Fifth Street NW in the Districts Chinatown neighborhood. Operated by N Street Village, the five-story building can accommodate 213 women experiencing homelessness. ( /Courtesy of N Street Village) Columnist Heres how things work at Patricia Handy Place, a womens shelter on Fifth Street NW, two blocks east of the Chinatown arch: Sometime before 4 p.m., two lines start forming outside. The line to the left of the door is for women who spent the previous night at the shelter and are returning. The line to the right of the door is for women who didnt but are hoping there will be space for them that night. The women come from all over the city, drawn because they've been told, or know from experience, that the shelter, run by a charity called N Street Village, is a clean, safe and welcoming place. What they may not know at first is that a simple concept masks a more complex one: If all you want is a place to sleep for the night, you can find it at Pat Handy. But if you want to start a journey that culminates with never again having to stand in line for a place to sleep, you can find that there, too. [From life on the streets of Washington to a home with N Street Village] On a recent weekday evening, both lines comprised a diverse group of women. There were 20-somethings. There were senior citizens. A few women looked as if they were prepared to sleep in a park if they had to. Some were armored in puffy nylon coats, hoods cinched tight around their faces. Other women were carefully turned out and fashionably dressed: your daughter, your sister, your mother. At exactly 4 oclock, the front doors opened, and the line to the left started moving. The women walked past a bulletin board papered with classified ads for housing programs and apartment rentals. They put any bags they had on a table to be inspected. Women are not allowed to bring in weapons, drugs or alcohol. Also prohibited: hair dye. (Its a mess when it spills.) Dont forget your cane, one of the security guards all are female said to a woman in a long black dress. As the women came in, staff member Imani Grant wrote down their names. She recognized most of them. Some women went into an office where Nicole Coates sat. She handed out towels and washcloths to any clients whose evening plans included taking a shower. Across the compact lobby, a screen provided privacy for clients waiting to see a medical professional from Unity Health Care. (Eight women would that night.) The shelter is named for a D.C. Department of Human Services outreach worker, Patricia Handy, who died in 2012. It was dedicated in April 2016. The building is five stories high and can accommodate 213 women. Each floor is a little different. The top floor houses 13 clients in the senior temporary program, for women 62 or older. The fourth floor is for women younger than 62 who are in the temporary program. Theres a distinction between the temporary program and whats called the low-barrier program. The former is for women making strides with education or employment. They typically stay for 18 to 24 months, each in her own room, with a shared bathroom. The latter program provides a bed for a night in a more dormlike setting. The second and third floors are all low-barrier. There are some low-barrier beds on the first floor, too, along with a dozen medically enhanced beds. This is a unique program for women who are recovering from surgery or a medical crisis. Women in the temporary programs dont have to arrive until 10 p.m., but those returning to a low-barrier bed those who were there the previous night must check in by 7 p.m. If a woman doesnt if she shows up at 7:01 her bed will be given to one of the women in line to the right of the door. [N Street Village specializes in making connections and changing lives] The vast majority of women do come back. They come back because of what Leslie Brettschneider, manager of temporary programs for N Street Village, calls the charity's "special sauce." Said Brettschneider: "We aren't just providing our residents with a bed. We're providing them with a community that we hope and endeavor to make safe and welcoming and dignified and respectful." A woman who comes for a bed may stay for counseling, may see a nurse to deal with a chronic health problem, may accept help securing her benefits. At least shell stay for dinner, which that night was turkey meatballs with whole-wheat pasta and collard greens. At 7 p.m., all of the low-barrier beds were filled. There were six women left waiting in the line to the right. There wasnt room for them at Pat Handy. The city had declared a hypothermia emergency, which meant they could go to a rec center that had been opened for people who are homeless. The next day, at a little before 4 p.m., two lines would start forming on Fifth Street NW. . . . We need your help N Street Village is a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand. To support the work it does at Patricia Handy Place and elsewhere in Washington, visit posthelpinghand.com and click where it says "Donate." To give by mail, make a check payable to N Street Village and send it to N Street Village, Attn: Helping Hand, 1333 N St. NW, Washington, DC 20005. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. Prince Georges County NAACP President Bob Ross addresses reporters following a meeting with Gov. Larry Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford about grade-change allegations in the county. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post) The Prince Georges County NAACP told Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday that it wants to initiate an audit of the county school curriculum and overturn a state law that gave County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) the power to select the schools superintendent. Bob Ross, president of the county branch of the NAACP, said the organization is also considering filing a civil rights lawsuit against the school district, which is the second-largest in the state. Ross met for nearly an hour with Hogan, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R) and members of the governor's executive staff to discuss the state's probe of alleged grade-tampering and fraudulent graduation rates in Prince George's. Ross said the NAACP asked Hogan to meet with the group to discuss what [the governor] can do at his level to address their concerns. In the end, they were told: not much. Hogan told the members of the NAACP and several parents who joined their meeting that he supports them and their efforts. He suggested they contact their state representatives and local officials and urge them to take seriously the findings of a recent state audit, which found that grades were changed days before graduation for nearly 5,500 students during the past two years. County and school officials are scheduled to release a corrective plan next week. The governor has repeatedly criticized Baker, one of eight Democrats seeking the nomination to run against him next November, over what he says is a lackluster response to the audit. On Tuesday, after several parents called for the removal of Kevin Maxwell, Bakers handpicked schools chief, Hogan said, They have lost confidence in leadership. A spokesman for Baker said Maxwell and his staff have been working diligently to correct problems identified in the audit. We take our children and their futures very seriously, which is why we are working to correct any deficiencies, Scott Peterson said. Hogan declined to say whether he thought Maxwell should be ousted, calling it a decision for Baker. Ross said his members, who sought the meeting with the governor, planned to meet him in Annapolis but instead were told Hogan would come to Prince Georges, Bakers home area. Aline Griffith was a stunning, well-educated fashion model from Upstate New York who was sent to Francos Spain during World War II as a spy code-named Tiger for the Office of Strategic Services, a CIA forerunner, to gather information on Nazi sympathizers, including the Spanish dictator himself, in what was officially neutral Spain. Her overall aim was to aid the success of the Allied invasions of Europe in 1944. But she fell in love with a Spanish count and, in the decades after the war, became one of that countrys most-photographed members of what Spaniards call la Jet (the jet set) or los beautiful (the beautiful people). In her shimmering diamonds, rubies and emeralds, the Countess of Romanones, as she was known, was seen in the company of sultans and movie stars, of first ladies and fashion tastemakers. Her Rolodex included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Ivana Trump, publisher Malcolm Forbes and Imelda Marcos. She once attended a costume ball at a French palace at which Audrey Hepburn wore a bird cage over her head, while she and Wallis Simpson, the American-born Duchess of Windsor, hunted down a suspected Soviet mole working for NATO. A self-confessed adventure junkie, the countess said she packed a pearl-handled pistol in her handbag for many years and confessed to her husband only on the night before their wedding in 1947 that she had been an agent of the U.S. government. He persuaded her to give up spying for good for her own good and for the good of Spain but she later said she continued periodically to engage in clandestine work for the CIA. "Espionage becomes like a drug," she told People magazine in 1990. "It makes life very exciting. You know things other people don't know you're always going under the surface." In another interview, she said: "My training in the U.S. was very harsh. I was taught how to shoot, parachute and silently kill with a knife or even a newspaper." She did not reveal how you kill someone with a newspaper. She also learned, she said, to unlock safes and pick pockets. In an undated photo, Aline Griffith, Spain's Countess of Quintanilla, wears a redingote, scarf and pearls and holds her cat, in the count's studio, with his paintings. (Henry Clarke/Conde Nast/Getty Images) She died in Madrid on Dec. 11 of undisclosed causes at the age of 94, according to her three sons, having spent most of her married life in an urban chalet in the Spanish capital and with getaway homes in Marbella and a pied-a-terre off Park Avenue in New York. She documented her espionage career in three nonfiction books: The Spy Wore Red (1987), The Spy Went Dancing (1990) and The Spy Wore Silk (1991), but they drew criticism for embellishing, even fictionalizing some of her exploits. In 1991, Womens Wear Daily said it had checked her work with the OSS and other archives and believed she had embroidered her spying escapades. The fashion newspaper said that from 1943 she was a code clerk who had worked her way into a low-level intelligence job, passing on gossip within Spanish society. It said there was no evidence of her shooting a man who tried to kill her or of her helping the OSS uncover a double agent, as she had recounted in The Spy Wore Red. An anonymous former intelligence officer told Womens Wear Daily that the countesss tale of successfully tracking down the Soviet mole with the help of the Duchess of Windsor they invited suspects to sumptuous dinners and charmed vital information out of them was misleading at best. It took the whole CIA two years and about 200 people to do it, the officer said. In a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times, the countess insisted: My stories are all based on truth. Its impossible that whatever details of any mission I did would be in a file. She said she had changed the names of many of those mentioned because they were still alive and might be embarrassed. The CIA has never commented on her role. In 1994, she wrote an admittedly fictional book, The Well-Mannered Assassin, based on the Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal. She claimed that she had unwittingly gotten to know him. He came to Spain escaping from France because he had killed several policemen, she told the Dallas Morning News after the book was published. He got this job in a company of my husbands and he started coming to the house to deliver papers. . . . I told my husband, finally youve got a well-mannered, nice young man in that office. He speaks good English and couldnt be nicer. 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. Mary Aline Griffith was born May 23, 1923, in Pearl River, N.Y., a town with a large Irish-origin population near the New Jersey border. She was one of six children of a father who worked in his own fathers printing-press factory as well as selling real estate and insurance. Her mother claimed to be a descendant of the Mayflower pilgrims. Aline, as she was always known, was sent to the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, N.Y., founded by the Sisters of Charity. Her poise and striking looks attracted modeling agents and, while still living at home, she was hired as a model for the Vienna-born fashion entrepreneur Hattie Carnegie in Manhattan. After the United States entered World War II, she said she felt helpless as all her male friends went off to serve in the military. Nobody young wanted to miss something like that at that moment, she told the Times. But I couldnt get into anything because I was 20 years old when I graduated from college, and you had to be 25 to get into something that would take women overseas. She said she went on a date with a young man with connections to the OSS who helped smooth her entry into the clandestine group. For three months on a private estate near Langley, Va., close to where the CIA was later based, she and one other woman trained with 30 men, learning to parachute, fire .25-caliber Beretta pistols and automatic rifles and prepare for potential suicide by swallowing a poison L-Pill if caught by the enemy. The OSS sent her to Spain with the cover of a rich American socialite working for the American oil mission, which sold petroleum to Spain, in the hope she could infiltrate Spanish high society. On arrival, she booked into the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, the place to see and be seen among Spanish and international royalty, celebrities and artists. She started by recruiting Spanish women from cleaning ladies and hotel clerks to hairdressers who might pick up stray information on Nazi sympathizers. In The Spy Who Wore Red, she wrote of leaving a ball at the Puerta de Hierro, a posh Madrid country club, in 1944 when double agents abducted her and tried to kill her. She recounted to the Morning News that the driver pulled the car to the side of the road, and I jumped out, and he started running after me and he grabbed me. I had high-heeled shoes on. Thats when I had that gun in my bag and I shot him, she continued. He fell on top of me, and I didnt know whether I killed him or not. I suppose I did. The next day [my bosses] told me, first that Id killed him, and then they told me I had not. I had to leave him there, and naturally I didnt wait to take his pulse. It was in Madrid that she met Count Luis de Figueroa y Perez de Guzman el Bueno, Conde (Count) of Quintanilla and later of Romanones, who descended from early Spanish nobility. He died in 1987. They had three sons, Alvaro, Luis and Miguel, who survive along with more than a dozen grandchildren. When she reentered the espionage trade, she said she was motivated by the thrill of having a secret life. She claimed to have helped track down art stolen by Nazis and hidden in Spain and prevent a coup attempt against King Hassan II of Morocco. In a way, it was selfish, she told People. I got accustomed to living with a certain amount of tension: I would have frightening encounters, and I would be quaking, and I couldnt tell Luis. Bruce Brown, a filmmaker whose scrappy 1966 documentary The Endless Summer became an international phenomenon, introducing surfing to the world not as a frivolous fad but as a sacred search for the perfect wave, died Dec. 10 at a hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 80. He had heart ailments and complications from a broken hip, said his son Dana Brown, also a documentarian. Hailed as "the Bergman of the boards" and "the Fellini of the foam," Mr. Brown brought next to no professional training but an abundance of passion to his art form, which he used to popularize surfing far beyond the coastlines of California. He had learned the sport growing up in Southern California before he hit his teens. At the time, surfing did not enjoy the reputation that it would acquire in later years in large part thanks to The Endless Summer as a refuge for pure seekers of the purest thrill. Surfers had long been perceived as "silly and mindless," Matt Warshaw, creator of the Encyclopedia of Surfing, said in an interview. Contributing to that impression was Hollywood fare such as the "Gidget" films of the late 1950s and 1960s, featuring a parade of actresses as the quintessential beach bunny. Neither did "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965), with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, do much to help. Mr. Brown practicing the sport that he captured on film in The Endless Summer. (Bruce Brown Films/SHACC Collection) Mr. Brown began to experiment with film during his Navy service in Hawaii a felicitous posting for a surfer working with rudimentary equipment and improvised techniques. His first production, "Slippery When Wet" (1958), was for surfboard manufacturer Dale Velzy. On its heels came five more surfing documentaries: Surf Crazy (1959), Surfin Shorts and Barefoot Adventure (both 1960), Surfing Hollow Days (1961) and Water-Logged (1962). [The beautiful lie Bruce Brown and The Endless Summer told us about surfing] They were low-budget affairs, featuring no soundtracks, and presented in theaters with Mr. Brown delivering live narration. Sometimes an as-yet unknown musical group, the Beach Boys, would play at intermission. Mr. Brown burst to the fore with "The Endless Summer." The film featured two young surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, who embark in 1963 on a sojourn around the globe, hopscotching across the equator and back several times over, to follow the sun and chase the waves. Its kind of like a pipe dream, Mr. Brown said, according to the Orange County Register. If you traveled around the world just right, youd be in the middle of summer everywhere you went. The trip took the surfers to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, among other locales, with Mr. Brown filming on a handheld 16mm camera and providing narration. The final product, film reviewer Stephen Holden later wrote in the New York Times, had the perky ingenuousness of an early Beach Boys anthem. 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. Mr. Brown presented The Endless Summer in California before renting a theater during the winter in Wichita, where the movie was a blockbuster. We thought that would prove the film to the distributors in New York, and of course it didnt, he told the Times in 2002. So we rented a theater in New York ourselves, hoping that the distributors would drive by the theater and see the crowd, which they did. It was the surfer guys against the New York establishment. The Endless Summer, whose budget had been $50,000, became a sensation. It grossed $30 million, making it one of the most commercially successful documentaries in film history. What it did was show the world the idyllic lifestyle that still resonates with people to this day, even though surfing as a sport has progressed, said Barry Haun, curator and creative director of the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, Calif. You dont have to be a surfer to watch this and enjoy it. I think anybody who watches it wishes they surfed, if they dont already. Bruce Alan Brown was born in San Francisco on Dec. 1, 1937. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father owned a small toy store chain. He grew up in Long Beach, where, according to surfing writer Drew Kampion, he said he "majored in not going to school." After his Navy discharge, he was working as a lifeguard when Velzy offered him $5,000 to make Slippery When Wet. He made few films after The Endless Summer, in part because he found it difficult to tear himself away from surfing. I didnt want to go to Hollywood, Mr. Brown told the Los Angeles Times. Id rather live in a [trailer] on a perfect surf break than live in Beverly Hills in a mansion with 50 servants and Rolls-Royces. The most notable of his subsequent films was "On Any Sunday" (1971), a documentary about motorcycle racing that featured movie star and motorbike enthusiast Steve McQueen and that was nominated for an Academy Award. Mr. Brown also made a sequel to his seminal film, "The Endless Summer II" (1994), with his son. Mr. Browns wife of 46 years, the former Patricia Hunter, died in 2006. In addition to Dana Brown, of Los Angeles, survivors include two other children, Wade Brown and Nancie Brown, both of Gaviota, Calif.; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. For all the drama and beauty that his surfing documentaries captured, there was something that Mr. Brown said he could not catch on film. "The thing you can't show is the fantastic speed and that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach," he said in "The Endless Summer," filming a wave at Cape St. Francis in South Africa. "I couldn't help but think of the hundreds of years these waves must have been breaking here. . . . Think of the thousands of waves that went to waste, and the waves that are going to waste right now." Roy Reed, who covered key events during the civil rights movement for the New York Times before returning to his native Arkansas to write and teach, died Dec. 10 at a hospital in Fayetteville, Ark. He was 87. His wife, the former Norma Pendleton, said the cause was a stroke. He lived in Hogeye, Ark. At the Times, he witnessed in 1965 what became known as Bloody Sunday, when state troopers and others beat black marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. It sent a tidal wave of rage, he later told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I guess people in the North knew bad things were happening in the South, but this they couldnt avoid. It was right there on their television set, and it was so brutal. Mr. Reed covered the White House and worked in Times bureaus in New Orleans and London before leaving the paper in 1978. He returned to Arkansas, where he taught journalism at the University of Arkansas and wrote a biography of former Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, in addition to an autobiography and other published works. Roy Earl Reed was born in Hot Springs, Ark., on Feb. 14, 1930, and grew up in Piney. He received bachelors and masters degrees in journalism at the University of Missouri and joined the Joplin Globe in Missouri and the Arkansas Gazette before landing at the Times. He also studied at Harvard University on a Nieman fellowship in the early 1960s. In addition to his wife, Mr. Reed is survived by two children and five grandchildren. An infant sitting in a car seat was struck by a vehicle after a caregiver put the car seat down on the ground at a parking lot in Gaithersburg, Md., officials said. The infant was being transported to a hospital but did not suffer any life-threatening injuries, according to a Twitter message from Pete Piringer, a spokesman for Montgomery County Fire. The incident happened around 10 a.m. at the Toys R Us on North Frederick Avenue. It was not clear how or why the vehicle struck the child in the car seat. The D.C. Superior Court judge overseeing the trial of six people charged in Inauguration Day protests that turned violent has dismissed one of the most serious charges of inciting a riot. After hearing the cases presented by prosecutors and defense attorneys during the past three weeks, Judge Lynn Leibovitz on Wednesday said there was not enough evidence against the four women and two men to prove they urged others to riot and destroy property along 16 downtown Washington blocks. None of them engaged in conduct that amounted to urging other persons to destroy property, the judge said. The six defendants are the first to go to trial in Inauguration Day rioting cases; more than 150 others who were arrested are set for trials in coming months. Prosecutors said the group of protesters smashed store windows with bricks, hammers and crowbars and damaged a limousine Jan. 20, the day President Trump was sworn in. Leibovitzs decision to dismiss the felony charge was a blow to prosecutors, who aggressively argue that all the protesters in the group bear responsibility for the rioting and damage even though there is no evidence the six people on trial participated in any vandalism. Protesters smash the windows of a limousine in Washington on Inauguration Day. (Stefan Jeremiah/AP) Defense attorneys said their clients were protesting peacefully and exercising their right to freedom of speech. They said that only a small number of protesters broke off from the group and turned violent and that police overreached by making mass arrests. [Were Inauguration Day protesters rioting or lawfully demonstrating? Thats the question for jurors.] The charge of inciting a riot carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. Leibovitz dismissed the charge on a defense motion after attorneys presented their evidence and before closing arguments in the case. The defendants still face seven charges, including five felony destruction of property counts, which carry up to 10 years in prison, and two misdemeanor engaging in a riot charges, each carrying up to 180 days in jail. On Wednesday afternoon, Leibovitz denied requests from defense attorneys to dismiss those counts, saying there was enough evidence for jurors to weigh whether the defendants should be found guilty. She noted the governments argument that the defendants were aware of the destruction of property and that the crowd of protesters dressed in black so it was harder to identify them provided cover for the vandals among them. On trial in the case are Michelle Macchio, 26, of Naples, Fla.; Jennifer Armento, 38, of Philadelphia; Christina Simmons, 20, of Cockeysville, Md.; Alexei Wood, 37, of San Antonio; Oliver Harris, 28, of Philadelphia; and Brittne Lawson, 27, of Pittsburgh. During a brief intermission in the hearing, Woods attorney, Brett E. Cohen, said he was surprised and relieved by the judges decision. We still have a long way to go with the other charges, he said. Steven J. McCool, Harriss attorney, called the judges decision a very positive development in the case. In her ruling, Leibovitz said the incitement charge requires prosecutors to prove that the defendants made a deliberate attempt to encourage people to riot. The judge found that any excitement or enthusiasm shown by defendants that day didnt amount to incitement and that no reasonable juror could find them guilty of that count based on the evidence. During the trial, prosecutors set out to re-create the chaos of the 33-minute march through downtown Washington the morning on Jan. 20. Employees of a Starbucks and a gas station described their fear as protesters pounded on or smashed windows, and prosecutors played video taken by surveillance cameras and cameras worn by police officers that captured the mayhem. Assistant U.S. attorneys Jennifer Kerkhoff and Rizwan Qureshi argued that the six defendants were marching with the rioters at the time of the vandalism and failed to peel off from the group. [] [Inauguration protesters played role in violence and destruction, prosecutors say] The protest was organized by a group called Disrupt J20, and authorities say the rioters used black bloc tactics wearing all black and hiding their faces with masks and goggles so identifying them would be harder. [Trial for 6 charged in Inauguration Day riots nears end as defense calls character witnesses] When the defense presented its case, friends and employers of the defendants took the stand as character witnesses, describing those on trial as peaceful people not prone to violence. The defendants did not testify. A man was arrested in Virginia after getting into a car crash, taking off his clothes and jumping on a vehicle near Dulles International Airport, causing major delays during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour, police said. Officers arrived about 3:30 p.m. at Route 28 and Frying Pan Road after a naked man was reported running in the area, Fairfax County police said. An investigation showed that Jose Gonzalez Flores, 32, of Sterling was involved in a crash with two vehicles while traveling south on Route 28, also known as Sully Road, in his pickup truck, police said in a statement Wednesday. Gonzalez Flores then allegedly assaulted one of the drivers involved in the crash before returning to his truck and throwing items onto the road. Police said he then stripped off his clothing and ran into traffic. [Uber charged a rider $18,000 to go 11 miles] While on the road, Gonzalez Flores jumped onto a passing truck and broke a window before leaving the scene, according to the statement. He was arrested in a drainage ditch on Dulles Airport property with the assistance of officers from the Virginia State Police, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office, police said. Gonzalez Flores was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening. No one else was injured during the disturbance, police said. After his release from the hospital, police said, Gonzalez Flores will be served with warrants charging him with two counts of felony hit and run, throwing an object at a moving vehicle, destruction of property, assault and battery, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. Route 28 was blocked during the incident, and delays stretched for up to three miles, according to authorities. Friends and employers of six people accused of rioting on the day of President Trumps inauguration took the witness stand Tuesday to portray the defendants as peaceful people not prone to violence. The witnesses echoed one another as each described the defendant they knew as calm, helpful and cooperative. The stream of character witnesses marked the end of testimony in the case of the first people to face trial in Inauguration Day protests in the District that turned violent, with participants dressed in black smashing store windows with bricks, hammers and crowbars. During about three weeks of testimony in D.C. Superior Court, prosecutors questioned police officers and store employees caught up in the vandalism. They showed jurors video of the chaos from security cameras, police body cameras and cellphones. Although there is no evidence the defendants on trial caused any of that damage directly, prosecutors argue that the entire group of protesters bears responsibility. Defense attorneys contend that their clients were peacefully protesting Jan. 20 and that police unfairly rounded up a large group when only a handful of people had become violent. D.C. police detain protesters in Washington during President Trumps inauguration in January (Clarence Williams/The Washington Post) [Inauguration protesters played role in violence and destruction, prosecutors say] One defendant, Alexei Wood, sat with his co-defendants Tuesday as his boss of 3 years, Michael Nye, was called to the stand. Nye told jurors that Wood works as a photographer and audio specialist for Nyes San Antonio-based company. I have never heard of him being non-peaceful or aggressive. Hes exemplary, Nye said. Also charged with Wood are Michelle Macchio, 26, of Naples, Fla.; Jennifer Armento, 38, of Philadelphia; Christina Simmons, 20, of Cockeysville, Md.; Oliver Harris, 28, of Philadelphia; and Brittne Lawson, 27, of Pittsburgh. Inauguration Day protesters vandalize a limousine in Washington. (Stefan Jeremiah/AP) Lawsons boss, Valerie Hess, an oncology nurse at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, testified that she hired Lawson last year. Hess said Lawson worked with cancer patients, many of whom become aggressive and confused. Hess said she often watched Lawson calmly de-escalate situations with frightened and disoriented patients. I have never experienced her to be violent in any capacity Hess testified. Under cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff asked Hess whether she had seen any video of the riots. Hess said she saw video of a limousine engulfed in flames. Prosecutors allege that the limousine was damaged by the group charged with rioting but set on fire by another group later in the day. Kerkhoff asked Hess whether she would consider someone who participated in such riots violent. I would have a comment with them to understand more about their behavior, Hess responded. Armentos boss, Robert Sataloff, a surgeon at Drexel Universitys College of Medicine who has also been involved with a Philadelphia-area Republican group, testified via videoconference that he has known Armento, his familys personal assistant, for nine years. Sataloff said Armento has always been exceptionally peaceful and nonviolent and cooperative. In all, prosecutors charged 212 people in connection with the riots. So far, 20 people have pleaded guilty, and prosecutors have dropped cases against another 20. An additional 166 co-defendants are scheduled for trial through 2018. In the ongoing trial, prosecutors rested their case Tuesday afternoon, and the defense presented their evidence over the next few hours. Closing arguments could be as early as Wednesday, and the jury could begin deliberations as soon as Friday. Virginia state Del. Timothy D. Hugo maintained a narrow lead Wednesday in the first of four scheduled election recounts that will determine which party holds power in the House of Delegates after a Democratic sweep in November. Democrat Donte Tanner had shaved into Hugos 106-vote lead in the 40th District by gaining a net of four votes on the Republican incumbent, leaving the difference at 102, by the time poll workers at Fairfax Countys Circuit Court wrapped up for the day. The roughly 40 poll workers from Fairfax and Prince William counties gathered in two jury rooms at 9 a.m. Wednesday to begin feeding about 30,000 ballots into scanning machines. With eight observers from each party watching their every move, the workers unlocked the ballots that had been stored in large blue boxes since the Nov. 9 election and fed them into steadily whirring scanning machines. In cases in which the voters intent couldnt be determined by a machine, the workers scrutinized the ballot by hand, deliberating whether an X or circled name counted as a vote. If the representatives from both parties couldnt agree on who should get the vote, the ballots were sent to two circuit court judges on duty for a decision. Thats the question: Does this mean they wanted this choice or did it mean they didnt want it? Stephen M. Hunt, a Fairfax County electoral board member, said after a team of workers called attention to one ballot that had all Democratic choices but circles filled in for both Tanner and Hugo. The ballot was ultimately flagged to be sent to the judges for review. By the end of the day, there were five such contested ballots. Recounts rarely change results. But this year, the mostly tedious process has taken on extra resonance with four close House races entering recounts and the 51-to-49 Republican majority in the House hanging in the balance. Recounts are also scheduled later this month in: Del. David Yanceys 94th District, where the Republican leads Democrat Shelly Simonds by 10 votes; in the 28th District, where Republican Bob Thomas leads Democrat Joshua Cole by 82 votes; and in the 68th District, where Democrat Dawn Adams leads Del. Manoli Loupassi by 336 votes. In the Hugo-Tanner recount, neither candidate was there to monitor the process. But they both stayed in touch with representatives there, who huddled around a tally board to decipher each new change in the vote count. Tanner picked up a total of eight votes, all of them in Fairfax County precincts, including Centreville, Green Trails and Willow Springs. Hugo gained four votes, with ballots from Fairfaxs Clifton precinct and Prince Williams Battlefield precinct. I greatly appreciate the hard work and service of the election officers, recount officials and volunteer observers on both sides, and am looking forward to having a final result tomorrow Hugo said in a statement. Tanner said he was happy to see no signs of foul play. We just want to make sure every vote is counted and every voice is heard, he said. The process is working as it should, and were thankful for that. The process was also slow. Election workers were sworn in, promising they would not tamper with any ballots, and they were warned to be vigilant and organized every step of the way. The nightmare scenario is someone having some unscanned ballots and scanned ballots in front of them at the same time and then forgetting which is which, Cheryl Jones, an administrator in Fairfaxs elections office, told the poll workers. Its important to be organized. After some procedural glitches, the recount process started about 11 a.m. Fairfaxs two high-speed scanners whipped through the ballots in batches of 100 at a time. The workers from Prince William used 16 hand-fed scanners, making the process there much slower. At just before 5 p.m., officials from both jurisdictions made initial plans to push past the allotted time to end to come up with a final result. But a request to extend the recount to 6:30 p.m. was denied by Judge Bruce D. White, chief judge in Fairfax. The poll workers are scheduled to meet again at 9 a.m. Thursday to finish the recount. THE DISTRICT Woman is stabbed fatally in Northeast A woman who had been reported missing last month was found fatally stabbed Tuesday in Northeast Washington, the D.C. police said. Police said Joni S. Rockingham, 53, of Northeast, was found in the 300 block of 34th Street NE. She had been reported missing the day after Thanksgiving, and was the subject of an active missing persons case, the police said. She had been stabbed multiple times, they said. Before the woman had been officially identified, police had considered the possibility that the victim may have been Rockingham. Its very sad for her family to lose somebody over the holiday season, said Police Chief Peter Newsham. MARYLAND Wrong-way driver dies in Beltway crash A driver who was traveling the wrong way Monday night on the Capital Beltway in Prince Georges County was killed in a crash, Maryland State Police said. A second driver was seriously injured. The crash occurred about 9:15 p.m. and involved a driver who was traveling the wrong way on the outer loop of the Beltway, police said. Police identified the man who died as Nicholas ONeil Clarke, 36, of Greenbelt, Md. Clarke was driving a Toyota southbound in the northbound lanes of the Beltway before striking a white pickup truck, police said. Martin Weil VIRGINIA Police seek suspect in fatal stabbing Fairfax County police said Tuesday that they were seeking an Alexandria man with tattoos on both sides of his neck who is a suspect in the fatal stabbing of a man found in the woods this month. Endless Taylor, 24, is wanted on charges of murder and robbery in the killing of Luis Bonilla, 24, police said in a statement. Officers on routine patrol Dec. 1 found Bonillas remains about 11:15 p.m. in the 7100 block of Fairchild Drive in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, police said. Taylor and Bonilla knew each other and were in a disagreement in the weeks before Bonillas body was found, police said. Authorities ask anyone with information about Taylor to call 703-246-7904 or submit a tip anonymously through fairfaxcrimesolvers.org. Lynh Bui Alan Abramowitz is the Alben Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University. Republican Roy Moore was the most important reason that Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's U.S. Senate election on Tuesday. Moore was simply an atrocious candidate. This can be seen clearly in exit poll results showing that only 41 percent of voters in this Republican stronghold had a favorable opinion of the scandal-plagued GOP nominee. In contrast, 51 percent had a favorable opinion of Jones. A different Republican candidate, probably even the one Moore defeated in the Republican primary, Sen. Luther Strange, would almost certainly have won. But even with a less controversial nominee, the GOP margin probably would have been the smallest in any Alabama Senate contest in recent years and far smaller than Donald Trump's 28-point 2016 margin in the state over Hillary Clinton. When Alabama voters were asked which party they would prefer to control the Senate, 50 percent chose Republicans while 45 percent chose Democrats. That is a stunning result perhaps even more stunning than Jones's victory. Moreover, only 43 percent had a favorable opinion of the Republican Party while 47 percent had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party. President Trump worked hard to help Moore. But even in Alabama, one of the most conservative and Republican states in the nation, Trump's support has eroded considerably in the past year. Only 48 percent of voters in the exit poll approved of his performance, while an identical 48 percent disapproved. Those who strongly disapproved outnumbered those who strongly approved 40 to 33 percent. Joness improbable victory was much more than a rejection of Moore. It reflected a broader trend within the American electorate since the 2016 presidential election. Trumps presidency has divided Republicans and energized Democrats. As a result, Democrats have made substantial gains in special and off-year elections. Last month, Democrats won the Virginia gubernatorial election by a larger-than-expected margin. More surprisingly, they made substantial gains in the Virginia House of Delegates, coming close to regaining control of that chamber. At the same time, Democrats were making inroads in special elections across the country, including flipping three GOP-held seats in the Georgia legislature. Notably, the same coalition of upscale whites and minority voters that propelled Democrats to victory in Virginia was evident in the Alabama results. Based on the exit poll, African Americans made up 29 percent of voters in the Alabama Senate election, slightly higher than their 28 percent share of the Alabama electorate in 2012 a presidential election with an African American candidate heading the Democratic ticket. And Jones won 96 percent of the African American vote slightly higher than the 95 percent won by Barack Obama in 2012. Moore won 68 percent of the white vote in Tuesday's special election, but that was far less than the 84 percent that Republican Mitt Romney won in the 2012 presidential election the most recent presidential contest with exit-poll results for Alabama. And while Moore won 77 percent of the vote among whites without college degrees, he won only 57 percent among whites with college degrees and only 52 percent among white women with college degrees. Joness victory does not mean that Alabama is about to become a swing state. White voters in Alabama are far more conservative than white voters in rim-South states such as Virginia and North Carolina, where Democrats have been successful in recent statewide elections. Even with a strong turnout among African American voters, Jones will have a difficult time holding his seat in 2020. The Democratic presidential nominee will be an even bigger underdog against Trump or any other GOP candidate. However, Joness victory reinforces the conclusion, based on the results of numerous special and off-year elections and other leading indicators, that 2018 is shaping up to be a Democratic wave election. One of those leading indicators is the generic ballot a question on numerous polls asking voters if they would prefer a Democrat or a Republican for Congress. Based on an average of recent national polls, a generic Democrat now holds a 10-point lead over a generic Republican. That is the largest Democratic advantage on the generic ballot question since 2008 and, if it continues into next fall, it would predict substantial Democratic gains in the midterm elections. The Republican Partys problems are far deeper than Roy Moore. IN 2012, Jack C. Phillips declined to design a custom wedding cake for a gay couple who entered his bakery, telling them that his Christian faith prohibited him from crafting cakes for same-sex marriages. The couple sued and last week Mr. Phillips's lawyer made the case before the Supreme Court that the baker had a constitutional right to refuse the request. The justices should reject this radical proposition. The laws of Mr. Phillipss home state of Colorado prohibit public accommodations such as bakeries from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. The baker has no objection to a selling a cake off the shelf for a same-sex wedding, but he argues that creating a custom cake would force him to celebrate that union. In his view, thats a violation of his First Amendment right to speak as he chooses. Yet by all accounts, the happy couple did not ask Mr. Phillips for a cake bearing a message with which the baker might disagree such as "God Bless This Gay Marriage," as a group of First Amendment scholars hypothesized, or a rainbow flag. That could make for a harder case. Instead, the would-be customers stated only that they were seeking a wedding cake before Mr. Phillips said he could not serve them. Mr. Phillips argues that producing any custom cake for a same-sex wedding would communicate his personal celebration of the ceremony. But most people wouldnt interpret the paid labor of florists hired for a wedding to be an endorsement of the couples union, either. Arguing before the justices, Mr. Phillipss attorney struggled to draw a consistent distinction between her clients work as a cake artist and that of the hairdresser or caterer. For just that reason, the Supreme Court will find it hard to grant Mr. Phillips an exemption without bringing the entire structure of anti-discrimination law crashing down around him. What if, as Justice Elena Kagan asked, a chef refused to serve a same-sex couple on their wedding anniversary? What if a baker refused to craft a custom wedding cake for an interracial couple? Both Mr. Phillips's attorney and U.S. Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco insisted that discrimination on the basis of race would not be tolerated, but they could not make a clear case as to why Mr. Phillips's objections were different. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy both suggested the need for tolerance not only on the part of Mr. Phillips and his supporters but on that of gay Americans as well. Perhaps the couple could have sought out another baker rather than forcing Mr. Phillips into an awkward situation, Mr. Kennedy mused. To be sure, many well-meaning people may have found the cultural shift toward full acceptance of same-sex marriage to be uncomfortably rapid. But politeness and tolerance are social values, not legal principles. They are not reasons to overturn anti-discrimination law. When a "cake artist" opens the doors of his bakery, he commits to serving all customers equally. Columnist Stephen K. Bannon and his alt-right movement have helped accomplish something no one in a quarter-century has been able to do: get a Democrat elected in the state of Alabama. Alabama is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. The last time a Democrat was elected was in 1992, and no Democrat has won more than 40 percent of the vote in a Senate race there since 1996. The closest election in recent memory was in 2002, when Jeff Sessions won reelection by a razor-thin margin of 19 points. Sen. Richard Shelby has won his last three elections by 35 points, 30 points and 28 points, respectively. So it takes a special kind of stupid to pick a candidate who can lose to a Democrat in Alabama. Not just any Democrat, but an uncompromising pro-abortion Democrat. Alabama is one of the most pro-life state in the union. According to the Pew Research Center, 58 percent of Alabama voters believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while only 37 percent disagree. And yet the Democrats won with a pro-abortion extremist on the ballot. How extreme? In September, "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd asked Jones what limitations he would support on abortion. He could not name one. "I am a firm believer that a woman should have the freedom to choose what happens to her own body," he said, "and I'm going to stand up for that and I'm going to make sure that that continues to happen." When pressed if he would support a ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks, Jones said, "I'm not in favor of anything that is going to infringe on a woman's right and her freedom to choose," adding that he supports the right to life "once a baby is born. . . . That's where I become a right-to-lifer." Yet despite these radical views, Jones won in pro-life Alabama. Why? Because Bannon and his allies forced Alabamians to choose between a pro-abortion Democrat and an alleged sex predator. Bannon helped nominate a man who was credibly accused of pursuing and sexually molesting teenage girls and then stood by him when his loathsome alleged conduct was exposed. Bannon counted on distrust of the mainstream media and conservative voters repulsion at the Democrats pro-abortion views to put his man over the top. It didnt work. Because while the states evangelical Christian majority is appalled by abortion, they are also appalled by grown men who prey on high-school girls. Now Bannon wants to replicate his disastrous Alabama strategy in Republican primaries across the country. He has announced that he is seeking Moore-like challengers to take on every GOP incumbent except Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.). Bannon is busy taking the GOP back to the glory days of 2010, when Republicans nominated such terrible Senate candidates that they lost very winnable senate races in places such as Delaware and Nevada losing the chance to retake control of the Senate. The difference is, back then, the stakes were not so high. Barack Obama was president, and unless Republicans could win 60 votes, a few more GOP Senate seats would have made little difference. But today, a few GOP Senate seats can make all the difference, because Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House. President Trump was already struggling to get his agenda passed with a narrow 52-seat GOP Senate majority. Thanks to Bannon, that majority has been whittled down to 51. That makes it harder for Trump to advance any of his remaining agenda next year and complicates his ability to confirm judges and get other nominees through the Senate. Joness victory also put the Democrats within striking distance of taking back control of the Senate in 2018. If that happens, the Trump presidency is over. The resistance will control Congress, and Trumps ability to pass conservative legislation and continue appointing conservative judges especially another Supreme Court justice will be gone. Moreover, Democrats will run the Russia investigation and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), as majority leader, will have unbridled subpoena power. Trump could face impeachment proceedings. That is the future if Trump does not learn the lesson of Alabama and tell Bannon to back off. The goal in 2018 should be to expand Trumps governing majority, not lose it. Instead of targeting vulnerable Democrats and strengthening the Trump presidency, Bannon is busy destroying the Trump presidency. Trump may want to suggest he stop. Read more from Marc Thiessen's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. As a 1990 graduate of Georgetown University's law school and the father of an undergraduate, I was disappointed to read that the university is attempting to thwart the unionization efforts of working graduate students ["Georgetown declines to support union effort," Metro, Dec. 7]. Georgetown insists that helping professors research or teach is a student "experience" as opposed to mere work that forms "part of the comprehensive education" the university provides to advanced degree candidates. This position is illogical and, perhaps worse, negates Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit identity. Graduate students are not required to assist a professor or department. If providing such assistance were indeed a crucial aspect of a Georgetown graduate education, then it would be mandatory. Moreover, the labor that the graduate students perform research and teaching furthers the schools mission. It does not, except incidentally, coincide with the goals of the students themselves. Georgetown's position violates its express "commitment" as a Catholic and Jesuit university "to social justice." Echoing the words of Pope Leo XIII in 1891's Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II explicitly linked unions to the struggle for social justice. "Catholic social teaching," he wrote in 1981's Laborem Exercens, holds unions to be "a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people in accordance with their individual professions." The university should follow both secular and canon law by withdrawing its opposition to the efforts of working graduate students to unionize. Hal Ginsberg, Kensington Roberto Figueroa Caballero sits on a small table in what is left of his home, which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, in the La Perla neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Figueroa put his salvageable items back where they originally were, as if his home still had walls, saying that it freed his mind. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press) Jacqueline N. Font-Guzman is professor of law and conflict studies and director of the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Creighton University Graduate School. She is author of Experiencing Puerto Rican Citizenship and Cultural Nationalism. Hurricanes do more than destroy homes, daily routines, power lines, agriculture, communication systems and levees. Hurricanes unveil unequal power dynamics, crush souls and create narratives, such as: "Puerto Ricans are American citizens." This is dangerous and arrogant. It is dangerous because it is incomplete. It is arrogant because it presupposes that the solution to Puerto Ricans' colonial predicament is U.S. citizenship. As a Puerto Rican, I find this story disturbing. It deprives us of our self-determination, and it assumes that the master knows what is best for the slave. The question is not why Puerto Ricans are not treated as U.S. citizens. The question should be whether Puerto Ricans want to be U.S. citizens. It is true that Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship due to a series of congressional statutes. But it is also true that these statutes were enacted without consulting Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rico became a U.S. colony in 1898, when the United States purchased the island and its people as war booty from Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris. Before the United States invaded, Puerto Ricans had Spanish citizenship. The queen of Spain had signed the Autonomic Charter of 1897, granting Puerto Ricans representation (voice and vote) in the courts of Spain. Ironically, Puerto Ricans enjoyed greater political participation under the monarchy of Spain than under the United States. Soon after, in 1900, Congress passed the Foraker Act, implementing a military government in Puerto Rico. Sen. Joseph Foraker (R-Ohio) proposed Puerto Rican citizenship for Puerto Ricans because Congress did not want to give Puerto Ricans even the illusion of having the same rights as those on the mainland. Eventually, Congress did give Puerto Ricans official citizenship under the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917. But to this day, Puerto Ricans continue to be subjects of the United States without a right to vote for the president, without voting representation in Congress and without equal treatment compared with citizens born or naturalized in the United States. The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the statutory citizenship that Puerto Ricans possess is equivalent to U.S. citizenship including guarantees of equal protection laid out in the 14th Amendment. One solution to the separate-and-not-equal nature of Puerto Rican citizenship might be for Puerto Ricans to be granted the full rights enjoyed by other U.S. citizens. This answer to the Puerto Rican citizenship conundrum, however, passes over the essential step of Puerto Rican self-determination. The fact that a minority of Puerto Ricans favor independence does not mean that a minority of Puerto Ricans favor self-determination. Puerto Ricans have a right to decide who they are before they decide whether they wish to be U.S. citizens. The prevailing story that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and should be treated like citizens on the mainland presupposes that Puerto Ricans have already decided their political future or worse, that Puerto Ricans have no say in the matter. This story line promotes Puerto Ricans' perpetual colonial status. Puerto Ricans never asked to be colonized, never asked to be denied their Puerto Rican citizenship and never asked to have U.S. citizenship imposed upon them. Puerto Ricans suffering the devastation of Hurricane Maria are not fellow American citizens; they are colonial subjects of the United States. The United States has an obligation to provide aid to Puerto Ricans because over the past 100 years, it has chosen to keep Puerto Rico as a colony, not because Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship. The stories we share matter. Stories can set boundaries or create possibilities. I do not have much hope that Congress will change its story of oppression. I do hope that Hurricane Maria has disrupted the colonial space in ways that allow Puerto Ricans to construct their story of self-determination and liberation. NORTH KOREA has already provided plenty of evidence that the dynastic regime led by Kim Jong Un threatens the world and its own people. He has developed and tested nuclear weapons; built intercontinental ballistic missiles; brewed chemical weapons such as VX (a nerve agent reportedly used to kill his own half brother) and forced untold thousands of people into concentration camps. Now comes news that he is collecting the capabilities and know-how for biological weapons that could be used for germ warfare. The Post's Joby Warrick reports that North Korea has been acquiring the essential machinery and seeking the know-how to produce large amounts of germ-warfare agents rather quickly. So far, Mr. Kim has not deployed germs into weapons. But U.S. officials are alarmed at signs that technology, barred by sanctions, has been identified within the country, while at the same time Pyongyang has exhibited an interest in genetic engineering and other biotechnology disciplines. By its very nature, biological technology is dual-use; the machines needed to create lifesaving treatments or pesticides can also be used to create lethal agents to be delivered in wartime. A fermenter not connected to any pipes, vents or ductwork could be an innocent start to manufacturing medicines, or signify that Mr. Kim is getting ready for something darker. In the case of the largest biological weapons program ever attempted, in the Soviet Union from 1975 to 1991, much of the industrial base was created first, capable of producing anthrax by the ton, to be ready if and when the orders came to mobilize for war. Biological weapons are tricky from a military point of view. They can be more easily hidden than nuclear missiles or conventional forces. Attacking them preemptively could risk unwanted dispersal of the germs. They are difficult to handle and store for long periods. If dispersed in the air for an attack, germs can shift with winds and weather, endangering troops and civilians, friend and foe alike. But tests in the 1950s and 1960s carried out by the United States and Britain showed that in some conditions, biological weapons can also be deadly over wide swaths of territory. The United States gave up biological weapons in 1969, and an international treaty banning them took effect in 1975. North Korea joined the treaty in 1987,but the treaty's verification requirements are weak. Despite serious obstacles at home, North Korea has demonstrated an ability to evade sanctions and scale up military industrial plants when it wants to. If Mr. Kim is creating the foundations for a biological weapons program, it should serve as one more warning of the escalating threat he poses. Preemptive war could risk millions of casualties. But his malign intent cannot be tolerated forever. Through sanctions, diplomatic pressure and other means, the burden of Mr. Kims despotic and reckless reign must be brought to an end. Columnist The first time ended badly, so when, 156 years later, Alabamians were incited to again try secession, this time from the national consensus that America is a pretty nice place, they said: No. No, that is, to rubbish like this: Interviewer: "[Ronald Reagan] said that Russia was the focus of evil in the modern world." Roy Moore: You could say that very well about America, couldnt you? Interviewer: You think? Moore: Well, we promote a lot of bad things, you know. Interviewer: Like? Moore: Same-sex marriage. Interviewer: Thats the very argument that Vladimir Putin makes. Moore: Well, then, maybe Putin is right, maybe hes more akin to me than I know. In April, Alabama's Republican governor, Robert Bentley, resigned one step ahead of impeachment proceedings arising from his consensual affair with an adult woman. Eight months later, Alabamians spurned presidential pleas that they send to the U.S. Senate a man credibly accused of child molestation. But the dispiriting truth is this: Behavior that reportedly got Moore banned from the Gadsden, Ala., mall was, for most Alabama Republicans, not a sufficient reason to deny him a desk in the U.S. Capitol. [Trump is toxic, and other lessons from Alabama] Although the president is not invariably a stickler for precision when bandying factoids, he said the Everest of evidence against Moore did not rise to his standards of persuasiveness. This fleeting swerve into fastidiousness about facts came hard on the heels of his retweeting of a video of a Muslim immigrant in the Netherlands beating a young man holding crutches. Except the villain was born and raised in the Netherlands. Undaunted, Trump's remarkably pliant spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, defended her employer from the nitpickers: What matters, she said, is not that the video is unreal but that "the threat" (of turbulent Dutchmen?) is real. Moore was such a comprehensive caricature Sinclair Lewis could not have imagined this Elmer Gantry that the acid rain of reports about his sexual predations, and his dissembling about them, almost benefited him by distracting attention from: the remunerative use he made of a "charitable" foundation. And his actions as a public official that by themselves sufficed to disqualify him from any public office. He is an anti-constitutional recidivist, twice removed from Alabama's highest court for his theocratic insistence that his religious convictions take precedence over U.S. Supreme Court decisions, so he could not have sincerely sworn to "support and defend the Constitution" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same." When reports of Sen. Al Franken's misbehaviors against adult women surfaced, the National Republican Congressional Committee pounced: "Democrats who took Senator Franken's campaign money need to . . . return his donations." (Combined, they totaled $15,500.) When, 18 days later, Trump endorsed Moore, the Republican National Committee immediately sent $170,000 to Alabama. If the RNC, which accurately represents the president's portion of the party, did not have situational ethics, it would have none. Moore has been useful as a scythe slicing through some tall stalks of pretentiousness: The self-described values voters and evangelicals of pious vanity who have embraced Trump and his Alabama echo have some repenting to do before trying to reclaim their role as arbiters of Republican, and American, righteousness. We have, alas, not heard the last from them, but henceforth the first reaction to their witness should be resounding guffaws. [Sen. Shelby channels Atticus Finch, saves the day in Alabama] Elation is in order because a gross national embarrassment has been narrowly avoided. But curb your enthusiasm because nationally, as in Alabama, most Republicans still support the president who supported the credibly accused child molester. Alabama, however, has perhaps initiated the inevitable sorting of Republicans who retain a capacity for disgust from the Vichy Republicans who have none. After the presidents full-throated support of the grotesque, he should be icily shunned by all but his diehard collaborators. For example: When the president stages a signing ceremony for the tax legislation, no etiquette requires any Republican to be photographed grinning over his shoulder. Stay away. By basking in the president's approval, Moore became a clarifier. Henry Adams, great-grandson of the second president and grandson of the sixth, was unfair to the 18th when he wrote, "The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin." By joining Stephen K. Bannon's buffoonery on Moore's behalf, the 45th president planted an exclamation point punctuating a year of hitherto unplumbed presidential depths. He completed his remarkably swift it has taken less than 11 months rescue of the 17th, Andrew Johnson, from the ignominy of ranking as the nation's worst president. Read more from George F. Will's archive or follow him on Facebook. QUICK, NAME a major public policy issue on which overwhelming numbers of Americans are united. Stumped? (Granted, it's a short list.) Here's one answer: allowing "dreamers" young undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children to remain in the United States if they pass background checks, go to school and fulfill other basic requirements. In a dozen polls this fall, including one released Tuesday, respondents who favor permitting dreamers to stay in the United States generally outnumber those who would deport them by at least 3-to-1, and often by 4-to-1 or 5-to-1. The support for dreamers is bipartisan, and it shows up clearly and almost identically in surveys conducted by Fox News and CNN, among other media outlets, including The Post. Despite that, an array of bills that would protect dreamers from deportation, either by granting them a form of legal status or by putting them on short- or long-term pathways to citizenship, remain stalled in Congress. The legislative inertia is all the more stupefying given the fact that a clear majority of lawmakers in both chambers on Capitol Hill would vote today to grant dreamers legal status or a route to citizenship. Last week, 34 Republicans in the House of Representatives wrote to Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsing a "permanent legislative solution" for the nearly 700,000 immigrants whose protection from deportation, granted by the Obama administration under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, will lapse starting in March owing to a decision by President Trump. That's more than enough GOP votes to ensure passage of a House bill to address the problem, given overwhelming Democratic support for such a move. So far, though, Mr. Ryan seems to prefer a strategy of delay, deferral and dithering. He says he wants Congress to address the issue next year, free from the entanglements of other pressing year-end legislative business, including a spending package whose defeat would mean a government shutdown. But to many in Congress, his prescription sounds like a recipe for inaction and, potentially, the deportation of thousands of dreamers as their DACA permits expire. In the Senate, that has led some Democrats to consider demanding a DACA fix as the price for their support on the spending bill and avoiding a shutdown. Why should it come to that? In the House, a bill introduced by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and with 34 Republican co-sponsors would set dreamers on a 10-year pathway to citizenship. In the Senate, a measure with three Republican backers would set a 15-year timetable. Why not take a vote now? One answer is Mr. Trump, whose ever-shifting stance on extending protections for the dreamers has had a self-neutering effect. In January, citing his "big heart," he said they "shouldn't be very worried," and in September he urged Congress to act to protect them. More recently, under the influence of anti-immigration hard-liners such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House aide Stephen Miller, he has switched to demanding an array of border-security measures, including construction of a wall on the frontier with Mexico, that are deal-killers for Democrats. The dreamers, it seems, should in fact be very worried by what is happening in Washington. Under the deadline set by Mr. Trump, nearly 1,000 dreamers will lose their protection from deportation each day beginning March 5. At that point, a cohort of youngsters raised in this country will stop being bargaining chips; they will become part of an unfolding American tragedy. Congress should act now to forestall that completely avoidable, and inexcusable, outcome. Columnist Of all the follies of 2017, the most tawdry may be the GOP's headlong rush to pass a tax bill that even its proponents don't understand. What's especially sad is that otherwise sensible Republicans seem to be capitulating to the tax-cut frenzy. Political desperation is the mother of this legislation. Despite Republican control of both houses of Congress, the Trump administration has failed in its first year to enact legislation that deals with major problems, such as health care and immigration. So at year end, we have the spectacle of Trump & Co. bellowing a populist message about lower taxes, even as special-interest lobbyists drive the legislation toward a chaotic conference and final passage. The tax bill is a Rubiks Cube of potential problems, but the difficulties begin with the fact that it has been pushed through Congress in two months without hearings or careful analysis. The provisions were crafted in secret and passed on party-line votes, without a chance for assessment or analysis. This haste guarantees confusion later. Without a clear legislative history, tax lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service wont have adequate guidance when they try to write regulations implementing the law. Courts wont have a record of congressional intent, other than news conferences, tweets, and hurried floor and committee statements. The centerpiece of the legislation is a big cut in corporate taxes, down from 35 percent to roughly 20 percent. The theory is that this will encourage companies to invest in job-creating plants and equipment. But there's little evidence to support this assumption, and lots to challenge it. Companies may instead use the windfall to buy back their own stock, boosting stock prices and inflating executives' personal compensation, as Steven Clifford explains in his recent book, "The CEO Pay Machine." The premise is that by stimulating growth, the tax cuts will pay for themselves. But there's no good evidence for this claim, either. Congress's bookkeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, predicts that over 10 years, the tax law would balloon the deficit by roughly $1 trillion, even assuming that it stimulates new growth. An even more pessimistic estimate was issued this week by the Wharton School, which President Trump is always bragging about having attended. The Treasury Department on Monday offered a one-page rebuttal asserting that Trump administration policies, including the tax cuts, would grow the economy by 2.9 percent annually over the next 10 years (much higher than most other forecasters have projected) and reduce the deficit by $300 billion. Take a bow, Rosy Scenario. The capricious effects of the bill are becoming clearer as Congress races to marry the House and Senate versions. Tech companies are howling that they will lose the benefits of research credits if they have to pay an alternative minimum tax (as in the Senate version). Homeowners will be hurt by new limits on the deductibility of interest payments; but landlords, meanwhile, will benefit from new breaks for pass-through companies, argues a Bloomberg analysis. How is that fair? An analysis by 13 law professors last week warned that the legislation will produce "tax games, roadblocks and glitches" as companies, individuals, and state and local governments try to manipulate the new system. "Congress should immediately reconsider its approach," the tax lawyers pleaded. One of the trickiest games ahead was explained in a research report published Tuesday by Goldman Sachs. The tax bill implicitly punishes high-tax blue states by limiting the deductibility of state and local taxes. But Goldman analyst Alec Phillips noted that affected states might change their own tax systems to reflect the new federal system by reducing personal income taxes and adding more state-level value-added taxes or property taxes. That could reduce federal revenue. One more hidden danger: Existing tax law is mildly countercyclical (in that tax receipts increase when times are good and decline when theyre bad). But the Goldman analyst notes that provisions in the new law look likely to move the tax code in a more procyclical direction. Thats dumb economics. Robert Crandall, the former chief executive of American Airlines and one of the smartest business executives around, described the tax bill last week as "particularly stupid because there is a broad consensus of bipartisan agencies and economists who agree it cannot increase growth by anywhere near enough to offset the revenue losses." He's right. Responsible Republicans seem to have adopted a fatalistic view that its too late to clean up this mess. Theyre wrong. Voters will remember who tried to slow the rush toward passage of this ill-considered legislation and who jumped on the bandwagon. Twitter: @IgnatiusPost Read more from David Ignatius's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Columnist Lets be honest: Doug Jones is likely to be a three-year senator. I don't want to rain on the winner's parade. The former U.S. attorney, lifted from hopeless to victory by the accumulating flaws of his opponent, is the first Democrat in a generation to win a Senate seat in Alabama. That's an achievement. Jones showed enough discipline to avoid a gaffe that might have saved his self-defeating opponent, Roy Moore, a cosplay cowboy and scofflaw who says life was better when we had slavery and women couldn't vote. Jones recognized the political maxim: When your opponent is digging his own grave, dont grab the shovel. But his victory is not about him. On one level, it's about his bizarre opponent. Even before we learned about the mall police who allegedly kept an eye out for him approaching teenage girls by the Orange Julius, there was something badly off about Moore. He had weird obsessions and a messianic complex. He put the creep in creepy. The entire vibe was on display as Moore capped his disastrous campaign by riding to the polling place on Tuesday on a horse. That might be a good idea for a candidate who can ride a horse. Ronald Reagan might have won some votes by riding up to the polls, after a career in Hollywood. But Moore looked like Billy Crystals incompetent understudy for City Slickers. He looked like the rodeo clown who pretends to know how to ride a horse. What gets into a mans mind to think: I would look strong riding a horse, so I will even though I dont know how to ride one? And the Jones victory is about a rising tide of Americans who wont swallow the bilge President Trump is pushing. Make no mistake: If Trump and his would-be Pygmalion, Stephen K. Bannon, cant sell their mix of cultural resentment and paranoia in Alabama, they will be hard-pressed to sell it anywhere. I say this with love: Folks in Alabama do loyalty and clan as well as anyone in America. Thats a virtue up to a point. They would go over the falls in a barrel with George Wallace. But they hopped onto the shore when Moore asked them to strap in, and that ought to give pause to the polarizer in chief. Doug Joness victory is not a big deal because of Doug Jones. Its a big deal because Alabama is a one-party state. Pretty much always has been. For generations going back to Andrew Jackson, it was yellow dog Democrat country meaning Alabamians would vote for a yellow dog over a Republican. The realignment wrought by the civil rights era and the culture wars has reversed the picture. For a Democrat to win here says nothing about the Democrat and everything about the Republican. You can go too far. Theres a point where decent people step off the crazy train. Bannon the angry populist from Goldman Sachs, Hollywood and Washington thought he could blow past that point with a head of steam from the Demagogue Express. Now hes off the rails. Even one-party states have their limits. There was a Louisiana politician in the politically incorrect days of 1983, a man equal parts corrupt and quotable named Edwin Edwards, who said the only way he could lose an election "is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy." Horrible. Pushed to the wall, Alabama Republicans responded with Moore's Law: Getting caught with live girls is fatal, too. Congressional leaders should feel nervous. After responding with appropriate disgust to the first reports of Moores mall-walking, they waffled and quailed in the face of Trumps supreme amorality. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who seems not to realize he is fighting for his life against Bannon and only aggressive moves will win backed away from his initial condemnation of Moore. They have been placating the right wing, and the danger to Republican majorities appears to be bubbling in the other direction. And Trump should be nervous. A scandal playbook dating back to the 1990s has lost its magic. When faced with his "Access Hollywood" tapes, Trump went to school on Bill Clinton. And when Moore's teen-stalking became public, he followed in step. Moore's bald denial ("I do not know Miss Corfman") was a perfect echo of Clinton's ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky"). The Clintonistas blamed "a vast right-wing conspiracy" while the Mooreists demonized "a liberal establishment" and "deep-state RINOs." Deny and attack didnt work in Alabama. And if it doesnt work there, it might not work anywhere. Jones may not get much done in three years as a senator, but his victory Tuesday can accomplish something important if we let it. Weve been asking ourselves: Where do we hit bottom and start back up? This can be it. Read more from David Von Drehle's archive. Former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon speaks before Senate candidate Roy Moore at a Drain the Swamp campaign rally in Midland City, Ala. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) President Trump lost in Alabama on Tuesday. Again. This time, Trump threw his support behind Roy Moore, a polarizing, wounded Republican accused of dating and making sexual advances on teenagers and found himself presiding over a stunning repudiation of Republicans in the Deep South that could have wide reverberations for his agenda and the party he leads. With the Tuesday night victory of Doug Jones, Democrats captured an elusive seat in Alabama, slashed the already razor-thin margin for Republicans in the United States Senate now 51 to 49 and embarrassed a president who bucked many in his party to back Moore. If you take the five best consultants in politics and tell them to lose the Alabama Senate race, Im not sure they could do it, said Josh Holmes, a longtime adviser and former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The president watched the race unfold Tuesday night after a quick holiday party at the White House, devouring the results on television and receiving updates from his political team. He was joined by Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, who stayed with the president at the White House well into the evening and took updates from the staff to pass along, a White House official said. Trump had obsessed over the race in recent days, including asking associates last weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort about Moore and his chances. By late Tuesday night, aides had already begun guessing where the mercurial Trump would hurl the blame and how he would distance himself from Moore, a man he had privately criticized for weeks even as he backed him. Noting that Trumps attorney general, Jeff Sessions, previously held the seat, one senior White House official said, Now Trump hates him and a Democrat is in the Senate. In a tweet Tuesday night, the president congratulated Jones on his win, and the White House official said that, so far, Trump had not erupted at anyone. He knew this was not a sure thing, we all told him that, this person said. The latest internal White House polls showed the race nearly tied with Moore losing by less than two points. Senior White House officials who had crowed about the presidents endorsement and political instincts earlier in the day began to criticize Moore and his campaign Tuesday night even before the results were in. One White House aide said simply trying to ride a populist, anti-establishment wave, as Trump did in 2016, is not enough for victory; the candidates also need to be quality candidates and Moore fell far short, this person said. The election was also a devastating blow for former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who saw Moore winning in the Republican primary, jumped to lead the parade and continued to back him even amid the allegations while urging Trump to do the same. Bannon was at Moores victory party Tuesday night and had been crowing to associates the Republican was going to win. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the president of the United States into this fiasco, said Steven Law, a top McConnell ally who leads the Senate Leadership Fund. Trumps decision to jump into the race was a divisive one in Washington, and it is unclear if the polarizing president popular in his own party but deeply unpopular outside helped. According to exit polls, Trumps stock has fallen in the Yellowhammer State, with almost half of the state now disapproving of his job performance. The president put his own reputation and instincts on the line, recording a robo-call for Moore, heaping praise on him at a Friday night rally and disregarding concerns from party stalwarts and some of his own advisers that Moore could do the unthinkable: lose as a Republican in Alabama. To many, Trumps decision looked like a self-inflicted mistake: The Republican Party had already pulled support from Moore after The Washington Post reported accusations in early November that Moore had made sexual advances toward teenagers, including one 14-year-old girl, while in his 30s. Other Republicans had already extricated themselves from the race. For example, McConnell tried to orchestrate a political Kabuki show to remove Moore. Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, said there was a special place in hell for those who prey on children. And Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) said he wrote in the name of a distinguished Republican. The backstory for Trump was complicated. He had already picked one loser in Alabama, backing Luther Strange over Moore in the GOP primary, and had expressed regret over it. And after initially agreeing for the Republican National Committee to pull its support of Moore after the allegations surfaced, Trump returned from a lengthy trip to Asia and began rethinking his decision. He began questioning the accusations and reminding advisers about his own experience after the explosive Access Hollywood tape emerged showing him boasting about groping womens genitals. The election was almost a carbon copy of what happened in 2016 with President Trump, Andrew Surabian, a top Bannon aide, said before the polls closed Tuesday. All of Presidents Trump supporters felt they were under siege. If anyone understands what a pile-on looks like, its President Trump. Counselor Kellyanne Conway told Trump those who wanted Moore out were the same people who wanted him to leave the presidential race, and his political team showed him polls with Moore on the verge of winning. Trump grew convinced that McConnell had overplayed his hand by so fervently pushing Moore to withdraw. The two men came to an agreement last week to no longer discuss the race, according to a McConnell adviser. And Trump told aides that if he didnt have enough votes in the Senate, he wouldnt get his own agenda passed. Trump was also concerned that his base was eroding and listened to Bannon and others, who said he should eschew governing toward the middle and remember who elected him. At first, he seemed content to torch Jones but keep a distance from Moore, arguing against his liberal record. Then last Monday, he made a surprise call to Moore and gave a full-throated endorsement. The White House told Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, that she would also have to reenter the race against her wishes. Joe Trippi, a senior adviser to the Jones campaign, said it was a worrisome sign to the Democrats when Trump began to back Moore's bid. "There wasn't a whole lot else going for him," Trippi said. "And there's probably no one who is better at it than Trump." Paul Reynolds, a state committeeman in Alabama, said Trump jumping back in the race had been "positive, very positive." Moore's campaign was elated, according to several people. But it wasn't enough. For Republicans in Washington, Wednesday was expected to be a day of serious recriminations and worries about the future. Several people close to the White House said Trump needed to reshape his political shop and get better advisers. Surabian, the Bannon aide, said voters and Bannon would continue to blame McConnell. "These guys don't understand how hated they are outside the Beltway," he said. Holmes, the top McConnell adviser, said in a tweet he wanted to thank Bannon for "showing us how to lose the reddest State of the Union." "This is a lose-lose situation. This is one of the most regrettable episodes in modern political history," Holmes said. "Every terrible facet of American politics has been on full display over the past five months. The sooner this is behind us, the better it is for everyone." One White House official also said the consensus among some in the West Wing was that McConnell deserved more blame than Bannon or Trump. McConnell, this person said, cut off money to Moore, told voters that their candidate would face an ethics investigation, encouraged others to criticize him and tried to change the whole election. As the results rolled in, some aides worked to ready talking points. One White House aide suggested that the West Wing would try to immediately pivot to tax reform, arguing that with an even thinner majority in the Senate, every vote was even more critical. But many of Trumps advisers who were skeptical of Moore were at Il Canale in Georgetown, attending a holiday party thrown by Gary Cohn, Trumps chief economic adviser and a registered Democrat. President Trump, seen here in a file photo, on Wednesday said he knew Roy Moore couldnt win the U.S. Senate race in Alabama. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) In the days leading up to the Alabama Senate election, President Trump called Roy Moore to endorse him, touted his candidacy at a rally just across the state line and recorded a robo-call in which he described Moore as the guy we need. On the day after Moore lost the election, Trump said he saw it coming. In a morning tweet, the president relayed that he had originally endorsed another Republican for the seat because "I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election." I was right! the president exclaimed. Trump, it turns out, is rarely, if ever, wrong at least as he tells it. Since his emergence as a presidential candidate, he has repeatedly refused to accept blame for setbacks or admit hes made a mistake. Instead, the president is quick to try to shift responsibility, deny he ever did something in the first place or otherwise dissemble. After the loss of Luther Strange, the Alabama candidate Trump endorsed in the GOP primary, he literally tried to erase history: Trump deleted several tweets in which he had urged Alabamians to vote for "Big Luther," whom Trump had claimed "will never let you down." Anybody who works in politics knows its part of the job to deflect blame as much as possible, said Doug Heye, a Republican consultant and former communications director for the Republican National Committee. But Trump has taken that to levels previously unheard of. He often tries to rewrite history and minimize his involvement. In many instances, Trump has continued to stick by discredited assertions rather than acknowledge he misspoke or relayed faulty information. During the campaign, Trump doubled down on a claim that he saw "thousands" of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 even after police and others said the claim was unfounded. Trump later disavowed his role in promoting a theory that former president Barack Obama, the nations first African American president, was born outside the United States instead falsely blaming the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton for starting the controversy. [Trump admits Obama was born in U.S., but falsely blames Clinton for starting rumors] And as president, Trump asserted and reasserted that Obama ordered surveillance on Trump Tower during the campaign, insisting that forthcoming evidence which never materialized would prove him right. When the Republican health-care bill failed in September, there was plenty of finger pointing, including some in Trumps direction for not having done more to sell the legislation to a skeptical public and lobby wavering senators. Trump offered an alternative explanation: that he would have had the votes except for the hospitalization of a senator. It turned out that the senator in question Republican Thad Cochran of Mississippi wasnt in the hospital but was recovering from what an aide described as a urological issue. But even if Cochran had been present, the GOP leadership would have been short of the votes needed to pass a bill that no Democrats were supporting. Three Republicans had announced they were firm no votes, and others had expressed skepticism about the bill. In October, the Trump administration came under sharp criticism for its response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, including from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who pleaded on television for more help from a federal government that she said was killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy. Rather than acknowledge shortcomings, Trump attacked Cruz on Twitter as nasty and later gave his administration a grade of 10 out of 10 when a reporter asked him to rate the federal response. I would say its a 10, Trump said, arguing that the destruction wrought by Hurricane Maria was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen. It went right through the middle of the island, right through the middle of Puerto Rico, Trump said. Trumps assessment was at odds with public polling at the time, fewer than half of Americans approved of how he was handling the succession of hurricanes this year. Trumps proclivity to move on whatever the circumstances has long been recognized. During a 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show, he told host Jimmy Fallon: I fully think apologizing is a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize sometime in the distant future if Im wrong. In the case of Moore, there was some truth to what Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. The day before Alabamas GOP primary runoff in September, Trump called into the Rick & Bubba Show, a syndicated radio program based in Alabama that airs across the South. Trump was asked to explain why he was backing Strange, who was struggling in the polls against Moore, a candidate more in sync with much of Trumps political base. He will absolutely win against the Democrat, Trump said of Strange, whereas Rays going to have a hard time; you know that. When one of the hosts pointed out that Moores first name was actually Roy, Trump brushed off his mistake, saying it was more illuminating about Moore than him. I dont know Roy Moore at all, Trump said. And I think its perhaps indicative when somebody doesnt even know his name. You know, thats not a good sign for him. Trump was also slippery when he was fact-checked in real time earlier in his presidency, when he asserted at a news conference that his victory over Clinton was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan. NBCs Peter Alexander challenged Trump, listing electoral college victories bigger than Trumps, including both of Barack Obamas elections, both of Bill Clintons elections and George H.W. Bushs 1988 victory all since Reagan. Well, I was talking about Republicans, Trump said, before Alexander pointed out that Bush was a Republican. Well I dont know, I was given that information, Trump then said. Actually, Ive seen that information around. But it was a very substantial victory; do you agree with that? Tuesday's special U.S. Senate election in Alabama was never destined to bring good news for the Republican Party, no matter the outcome. But the stunning victory by Democrat Doug Jones was a devastating blow to a party wracked by divisions and intraparty rivalries and a humiliating defeat for President Trump. For some Republicans, the fact that the controversial and flawed Roy Moore will not be their new senator from Alabama came with some measure of relief. But the consequences of that outcome will reverberate over the coming months in one legislative battle after another. An already razor-thin margin in the Senate becomes even more tenuous for the party in power. Beyond that, the tumultuous election served to expose further the fissures, fault lines and rivalries that have only widened in the 13 months since Trump captured the White House. The election provided the capstone to a year of tumult inside the GOP, and at a time when the party controls the levers of power in Washington and states across the country, the Alabama campaign was one more reminder that this is a party facing a major identity crisis and no easy answers for how to resolve it. In the face of results that showed Jones leading by 20,000 votes and by more than a percentage point, Moore signaled late Tuesday that he had not given up the fight. He refused to concede the race and said he would seek a possible recount. That decision will produce more heartburn among establishment Republicans, who would prefer to see him fade quickly and quietly into obscurity. Trump suffered mightily after fully embracing Moore in the final weeks of the campaign, despite credible allegations that Moore had engaged in sexually improper behavior with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. It was the second such setback for the president in a state he won by 28 points just a year ago. In the GOP primary earlier this year, he had endorsed, with limited enthusiasm, Sen. Luther Strange, who had taken the seat of Jeff Sessions when Trump made Sessions his attorney general. For Trump, nothing good has come from that appointment from a special counsel investigation into Russias role in the 2016 election to a pair of losses in the Alabama races. The outcome was a bad moment as well for Stephen K. Bannon, once the presidents White House strategist and a man with the expressed commitment of bringing down the GOP establishment. More than Trump, Bannon was all in for Moore, campaigning on his behalf while railing against those in the establishment who had been overtly critical of the GOP nominee. Bannon has threatened a year of turmoil for the GOP, but in this high-profile test, both he and the president proved to have limited ability to transfer Trumps popularity to another candidate. This wont be the last the party hears from Bannon, but he will be viewed differently as a result of what happened on Tuesday. For those reasons, many Republicans will privately be pleased to see Bannon and even Trump get their comeuppance. But that doesnt resolve the split within the party over the direction it should take. As long as Trump is president, this is the division and the reality that Republicans will live with an uneasy coalition at best. Moore brought to the race a history of defiance to the rule of law, twice having been removed from the state Supreme Court for defying orders. He was hardly popular despite defeating Strange in the primary, but in channeling Trumps outsider, drain-the-swamp rhetoric, he appealed to many in the Trump and GOP coalition who wanted to stick the partys congressional leadership in the eye. His candidacy took a damaging hit after the primary, when The Washington Post reported the accusation that he had initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s as well as accounts of other women who said he preyed on them as teenagers. The race turned from an almost-certain victory for the Republicans to a competitive contest that would leave the party with no good outcomes, win or lose. The fact that he will not be in the Senate spares Republicans from what could have been a spectacle of controversya likely ethics investigation that could have led to Moores expulsion but that even if it did not, would keep him and the allegations against him in the forefront of the political conversation to the detriment of the GOP. 1 of 76 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama View Photos Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Caption Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Jabin Botsford Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. A number of Republicans said Tuesday they had feared the worst from a Moore victory, that with him as a sitting senator, supported by the president and the Republican National Committee in his campaign, the party would have put itself on the side of a candidate with racial and other views anathema to most Americans and on the wrong side of the issue of sexual harassment at a moment when the ground is shifting dramatically toward zero tolerance for such behavior. These Republicans expressed concerns that the GOP could lose the support of young voters for a generation as well as declining support from suburban women who have been part of their coalition in their rise to power. The preliminary exit polls showed the validity of some of those fears, as voters under age 45 went overwhelmingly for Jones against Moore. Women also backed the Democrats candidacy, although white women supported Moore. However contentious the campaign proved to be during the final weeks, the aftermath could be similarly destabilizing for the Republicans. Party leaders will attempt to put the election behind them and return to their efforts to pass a tax bill and deal with other pending legislative issues. But recriminations are likely, especially with a president who hates to lose and has a record of lashing out when things have not gone his way. The president was opposed in this contest by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had called for Moore to withdraw after the allegations of sexual misconduct. Though the two will try to come together over the tax cut bill, the ill will that has long existed will remain. Trump faces his own accusations of sexual misconduct, and as the national debate about those issues rises, Democrats are becoming more aggressive in pushing to have Trump held accountable. Moores defeat will be seen as a sign that the public is becoming far less tolerant of such behavior. The presidents allies have said voters took the charges against him into account and elected him anyway. But Moores defeat could be read as a shift in the public mood and Democrats likely will push the issue at every opportunity. Trumps Twitter blast Tuesday morning at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) as someone willing to do anything for campaign contributions further inflamed the issues of sexual misbehavior. Beyond that are questions about how much the addition of one seat to the Democrats column changes the calculus for control of the Senate in 2018. The map remains difficult for the Democrats, and they are still in need of a genuine renewal. But with control of the House already in play, the Alabama race, coupled with the results in Virginia last month, suggest there is energy among rank-and-file Democrats that could put the Republicans at a big disadvantage next year. Its always easy to overstate the importance of a single election and no doubt thats the case even for Alabama. But this is one contest that seemed to bring together much of what is in the forefront of the political debates, from the popularity and influence of the president to the fractured Republican Party to the issue of sexual harassment. For Republicans, it was a bad night, no matter how it was measured. The question is where they go now. Read more: As Democrats add Senate seat, GOP left to bicker over what happened in Alabama Heeding Bannon in Alabama election, Trump gambles and loses Democrats are jubilant and newly confident about 2018 as Alabama delivers win on Trumps turf How different groups voted in Alabama White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was shocked shocked! to find that President Trump had sent a tweet Tuesday that many viewed as sexually suggestive and demeaning to women. After Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called on Trump to resign over sexual harassment allegations, Trump attacked her in an early-morning Twitter missive calling her a political lightweight who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them). Sanders said the president was merely delivering a critique of a corrupt political system. Theres no way that this is sexist at all, she said. This is simply talking about a rigged system that we have that is broken, in which special interests control our government. When pressed on the widespread interpretation that Trumps tweet at the very least contained sexual innuendos, Sanders issued a resolute denial. I mean, only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way, she said. The problem for Trump and his team, however, was that much of official Washington opted for the gutter interpretation. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand D-N.Y.) attends a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) After all, the president has displayed the flexibility and precision of a Russian gymnast when it comes to dancing on the balance beam of outlandish statements, using innuendo and a verbal wink-and-nod to say something and then claim he meant nothing of the sort. [Trump attacks Gillibrand in tweet critics say is sexually suggestive and demeaning] His attack on Gillibrand fits a familiar pattern. After Gillibrand became the first woman to add her name to the growing list of Democratic senators calling on Trump to resign because of sexual misconduct allegations from more than a dozen women, Trump weaponized his preferred social media against her. "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump," he wrote. "Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!" By setting aside begging in quotation marks and noting, in parentheses, that she would do anything for campaign donations, he seemed to offer a sly virtual grin of acknowledgment that what his critics accused him of saying was, in fact, just what he was saying. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on political rhetoric, said there were striking parallels between Trumps Tuesday tweet and his comments in the Access Hollywood tape revealed during the campaign in which Trump boasts about grabbing womens genitals. In the Access Hollywood tape, he says, You can do anything, and in the tweet attacking Gillibrand, he says, she would do anything, Jamieson said. What that language suggests is that the language for Trump is sexual language. We know he uses that language in a sexual context. The backlash was swift and forceful. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused Trump in a tweet of trying to "bully, intimidate and slut-shame" Gillibrand. Despite the clamor, Sanders claimed the meaning of presidents tweet was obvious. This is the same sentiment that the president has expressed many times before when hes exposed the corruption of the entire political system, she said. [The Fix: Trump takes the bait in sexually suggestive tweet about Kirsten Gillibrand] The president, however, has a history of such tweets and statements in which he effectively if not technically asserts something controversial or false. During the presidential campaign, after a feisty primary debate exchange with then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, Trump said that she had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." Yet because Trump never fully articulated the insinuation that Kelly asked Trump tough questions because she was menstruating he was able later to deny it when pressed on CNN. "Do you think I'd make a statement like that?" he said. "Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about that." He also during the campaign implied, without stating outright, that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) may have been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "You know, his father was with Lee Harvey Oswald before Oswald's being you know, shot," Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News. "What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death, before the shooting? It's horrible." More recently, he hinted with no evidence that MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough was involved in the 2001 death of a young female staffer in his Florida office when he was a member of Congress. Sanders dodged questions about Trump's tweeted allegations, saying simply that she had nothing to add. The president also employs another favorite rhetorical trick to float unsubstantiated claims without personally taking responsibility, quipping that many people are saying something outlandish or offensive. [Three women reassert allegations of sexual harassment against President Trump] Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University, called it the non-assertion assertion or the non-allegation allegation. But its not cute its actually cowardly, Naftali said. If you really believe such nonsense, he should be straightforward and tell people he believes it, and then we can adjudicate the truth of the matter. Sometimes, the president uses a degree of remove passing on something specious from someone else as a means of plausible deniability. Early on in the 2016 campaign, for instance, he retweeted a racist image showing a dark-skinned masked man wielding a gun, complete with a set of false homicide data by race. "There's a big difference between a tweet and a retweet," Trump said when asked about it afterward. "It's for other people. Let them find out if it's correct or not." And on his first foreign trip in May, speaking in front of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations new headquarters in Brussels, Trump pointedly refused to affirm the United States commitment to Article 5 of the agreement, which states that an attack on one allied country is an attack on all. Afterward, then-press secretary Sean Spicer sought to play down the controversy, saying reporters were overreacting. Were not playing cutesy with this, Spicer said. Hes fully committed. In fact, Trump had blindsided his own national security team by deliberately cutting the 27 words he was supposed to utter in support of Article 5 and the NATO alliance. So Spicer was wrong. It was the president, yet again, who was playing cutesy. Inside the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) In the lobby of the Trump International Hotel, three blocks from the White House, Suzzanne Monk was wearing a homemade Santa hat embroidered with the words Make America Great Again. Tuesday night. A Republican was ahead in Alabama. The crowd was upbeat. She posted a smiling selfie on Facebook. Watching Alabama returns at Trump International, she wrote. Monk, a 45-year-old author and Trump advocate, was here for the latest MAGA Meetup, a gathering of President Trumps strongest supporters who make monthly pilgrimages to the hotel he owns. Nearby, Trumps daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner strolled through the lobby to attend a holiday party hosted by the pro-Trump super-PAC America First Action, one of three events the group held at the hotel this month. Since last years election, Trumps luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue has operated as a kind of political clubhouse for his aides and fans a refuge filled with like-minded people, where the euphoria of Trumps world-changing 2016 win still persists. On Tuesday, the only windows to the outside world were the two muted TVs on over the bar, set to CNN and Fox News. By about 10 p.m., the bad news started to filter in. Were in trouble, one man hollered to his friends as the returns began to favor Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones. The race was called at about 10:25 p.m. The bar started to empty. Monk stayed on. Better here than anyplace else in Washington. Its our little Trump safe space, Monk said. Thats never been more true than recently, as the hotel has hosted a stream of events celebrating Trumps victory and the people who made it possible. The past few weeks have featured among other Trump-themed events a party thrown by Tampa author and consultant Jill Kelley to celebrate the anniversary of Trumps election victory, a separate $30,000 reception put on by the presidents reelection committee and a book party for former Trump aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. The fact is the Trump International Hotel in D.C. is a hot venue, said Brian O. Walsh, president of America First Action, whose group said it paid the presidents company fair market value for its three events. Hotel officials declined to comment. From the start, the Trump International Hotel built in the federally-owned Old Post Office building, and operated under a contract with the government has functioned as a buoyant bubble for Trump supporters and advisers. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin paid to live there for six months, carrying a small dog through the soaring lobby. Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman got married there in April: hotel staff toasted her by whacking open a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne with a saber. How the Trump hotel changed Washingtons culture of influence On the night in May that Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey, Trump supporters were already gathered at the hotel bar for a regular "MAGA Meetup." Many wore "Make America Great Again" hats. They clinked cocktail glasses to toast the firing. On Nov. 9, just after the first anniversary of the election, Kelley who wrote a book about her role in the Gen. David H. Petraeus scandal hosted a party for dozens of Trump campaign veterans and political appointees. Open bar. Trump Wine. Kelley, who is seeking to start a political consulting company in D.C., said she paid for the whole thing personally. The point, she said, was to gather Trump aides in one place so foreign government representatives could meet them. At least six countries sent envoys, she said. Its important for them to understand this government, Kelley said. A few weeks later, on Nov. 28, Trumps presidential campaign already up and running for 2020 held its own one-year-after celebration in the hotels ballroom. The guests included an array of Trump surrogates such as YouTube duo Diamond and Silk, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) and former campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson as well as presidential son Eric Trump. The VIP reception, which featured deviled egg with hackleback caviar, lobster BLTs and cake pops, cost $30,000, according to an internal hotel billing document obtained by The Washington Post. Campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment. Last Thursday, there was a book party for Let Trump Be Trump, authored by former campaign staffers Lewandowski and Bossie, a holiday party for Republican state attorneys general and an after-party for the official White House Hanukkah Party, the latter sponsored by America First Action and the Republican Jewish Coalition. The emotional pinnacle of the night came at about 10:30 p.m. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner had been eating at a table at BLT Prime, the expensive steakhouse housed on an elevated platform above the hotels lobby. At 10:30, they came down the stairs and out into the lobby itself. Security moved in to clear the way. A crowd of dozens turned to the commotion, and began to move. Men in suits. Women in gowns. The crowd moved, at a fast walk, across the lobby to gather around the two. We love you, Ivanka! someone yelled. Thank you for everything! yelled somebody else. The pair posed for selfies, shook hands, and left. On Monday of this week, worrisome news about the special counsel's Russia investigation played on muted TVs above the bar. CNN: "What did POTUS know, and when?" Fox: "Robert Mueller's witch hunt." But the good mood still held. Lewandowski walked in again, shaking hands and hugging people. An aide trailed him, holding an armload of books for signing. There have been other pro-Trump gatherings at other Trump buildings around the country. On Tuesday night, for instance, another MAGA Meetup was held in a bar at Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, where about 20 people gathered. There, too, the mood soured as the Republican lost in the heartland of Trumps victory. This is a big wake-up call, one man told another in that group, looking down at his phone. This is the first Trump-endorsed candidate thats lost. Back in Washington, as Democrats celebrated on television and pundits called the race a loss of face for Trump, the lobby of the presidents hotel was largely empty. Monk, in the homemade Make America Great Again Santa hat, lingered. She sat on a couch in the lobby, alone, reading the news on her phone. Despite the loss, she said she is still optimistic pro-Trump candidates would prevail in the midterms. Its 2018 already in my mind, she said. Kari Lydersen in Chicago contributed to this report. Alan Marlow was sitting in a downtown bar on Tuesday night, scrolling through election results on his phone and becoming increasingly excited as he watched a Democratic Senate candidate, Doug Jones, hold his own in this deeply red state. As the race was called for Jones, a stunned and rather giddy Marlow left the bar and walked over to the windowed events center near the state capitol where Republican Roy Moore was holding a party. He bobbed with excitement as he stood outside in the bitter cold, gazing through the windows at those inside. Its surreal. This is surreal, said Marlow, 34, who lives in Montgomery and is the manager at a call center. I am very hopeful. This makes me hopeful for the future of this country. After last year, after just wondering whether I knew the place where I lived, I believe that people are seeing whats going on, and theyre truly saying: No more. All across Alabama, Democrats celebrated a victory that they say was greater than just seeing their candidate elected. To them it was a triumph over conservatives who cast them as sinners simply for their political affiliation; over a Republican candidate who had been accused of pursuing sexual relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s; over a deeply unpopular president; and over the notion that this could never happen here. But what do voters expect of Jones when he gets to Washington? Much of this race was focused on the character of the two men running rather than specific policies, and many of Joness supporters across the state said this week that they would be satisfied simply to have him in office and hope he will represent voters like them. Many said they hope he will champion common-sense ideas that could help the middle and working classes, even if those ideas are suggested by Republicans. But many Jones supporters say they also want him to at least occasionally stand up to President Trump. Im totally a realist. Doug Jones is one vote. The Democrats are still in the minority, but this is a signal, said Marlow, who is African American and was alarmed by some of Moores comments on race and religion. Next year we have midterm elections. If a Democrat can win in Alabama, theres organizing thats going to be starting tomorrow in the rest of the country to change whos in power. LaBrena McFadden, 51, who works in civil service and has two grown children, said after casting her vote Tuesday at the Vaughn Park Church of Christ polling location that she has several expectations for Jones: Keep a calm demeanor, as we have enough antics already every day. Work to improve the health-care system and protect Medicare for seniors who need the coverage. And help get Trump out of office. It has been as bad as I thought it would be, McFadden said. It has been very chaotic. Angela Frazier, a 42-year-old mother of two who works in medical billing, said she hopes Jones will work with Republicans including the president when possible, although she has been dismayed at what Republicans have done with their power so far. She said that Medicaid needs to be expanded rather than cut and that the tax reform bill is garbage. She said she doesnt even want to turn on the news because it feels like a never-ending episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. We need someone thats going to support us, not be against us, she said. And in Alabama alone, we just need help. Black women, including McFadden and Frazier, were a powerful force in the special election. Exit polls showed that black women made up 17 percent of overall voters and that 98 percent of them picked Jones. Meanwhile, 93 percent of black men, who made up 11 percent of the electorate, voted for Jones. While the Democrat fared much better with white voters than former president Barack Obama did, the majority of white voters in the state cast their ballots for Moore. Polling locations in major metropolitan areas and across the Black Belt a string of counties with high African American populations that have long voted Democratic saw high traffic throughout the day. 1 of 76 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama View Photos Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Caption Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Jabin Botsford Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Frazier urged Jones to just be himself in Washington. He knows what Alabama needs, she said. He knows what were fighting against, and I think he will go up there and represent the state to the fullest. Hours earlier, about 100 miles to the southeast, a steady stream of voters showed up to the Houston County Farm Center in Dothan, a precinct where Trump won nearly three times as many votes as Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Judith Grenz, a 69-year-old originally from Minnesota, said white Democrats like her in this deeply conservative area have long had to whisper their political affiliation. She voted for Jones because she couldn't believe that Moore was even allowed to stay on the ballot, given the accusations against him, and hopes that Jones will simply represent voters like her. Being a Democrat is kind of equated with sins and being the devil, Grenz said. Im actually a Christian, and its not a sin to belong to one party or the other. Marvin Williams, a 53-year-old truck driver who pulled up to the farm center in his blue Ford pickup, said that he understands that Jones won't be able to get much done legislatively during his short term, but he hopes the Democrat will at least speak up for Alabamians. I hope he takes care of the middle class. It seems like the rich people get taken care of, the poor people get taken care of, but the middle class the ones that actually work they dont get taken care of; they seem to be taken advantage of, said Williams, who is black. Thats what I am basically hoping for, that the little man gets taken care of. About 90 miles to the north of Montgomery in Birmingham on Tuesday morning, African American Democrats at the Memorial Park polling place listed their priorities. Allie Butler, a cook for a Birmingham school, said he hopes Jones will focus on making child care more accessible and affordable, protect Medicaid for the elderly and look out for the homeless. Lloyd Weir wants Jones to "do something about health care." Johnnie B. Craig wants him to "fight for immigrants" and not deport hard-working people. Linda Sanders said she wants to see fewer abandoned homes in her state and more affordable housing options for those with low incomes and the elderly. Back here in Montgomery at Moore's election party Tuesday night, dozens of his supporters left before he took the stage. They clung to hope that perhaps the election was not over, that perhaps Moore could still eke out a win. Many were angry at the media for reporting critically on Moore; at the women who accused Moore of sexual misconduct; at their neighbors for not voting their party; at elected Republicans such as Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) for not supporting Moore; and at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). A few were willing to offer some advice for Jones. A 57-year-old supporter from Shelby, who said he didnt want to be identified because his job requires him to be apolitical, added some advice: Live up to your promises. He made an awful lot of them, and two years is not much time. He ought to follow Jesus, which is what we ought to all do, said Jeff Barganier, a longtime Moore supporter who lives in the area and runs an interior decorating company with his wife. And if he does that, everything will be cool. Kayla Epstein in Birmingham and Jordan Frasier in Montgomery contributed to this report. President Trump tweeted that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) would come to my office begging for campaign contributions and would do anything for them. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) President Trump on Tuesday attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a tweet widely criticized as being sexually suggestive, sparking outrage at a time when the nation is reeling from a wave of accusations about improper behavior by powerful men including Trump himself. In his morning tweet, Trump referred to Gillibrand as a lightweight and a total flunky and said that, when he was a New York real estate developer, she would come to my office begging for campaign contributions and would do anything for them. The tweet, targeting a female senator who has called on Trump to resign for his past behavior, came as the president faces renewed scrutiny of claims of sexual harassment and assault that surfaced during the campaign. Trump has denied all the claims, accusing the women of lying. His attack on Gillibrand prompted a swift backlash on social media and on Capitol Hill, where Democratic calls increased Tuesday for Trump to either resign or face congressional investigations of his actions. Gillibrand, who is often mentioned as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, called Trumps tweet a sexist smear attempt to silence my voice. "You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office," she said in reply to Trump on Twitter, later reiterating to reporters her call for Trump to resign. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed the characterization of Trumps tweet as sexually suggestive, telling reporters that theres no way this is sexist at all and later adding: I think only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way. Sanders said Trump was trying to make a point about the corrosive nature of money in politics and characterized Gillibrand as a wholly owned subsidiary of people who donate to her campaign. Hes used that same terminology many times in reference to men, Sanders said of the language in Trumps tweet. By Tuesday afternoon, six Democratic senators had called on Trump to step down, and more than 100 House Democrats had signed onto a letter calling for a congressional investigation. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), the latest senator to call on Trump to resign, cited the president's tweet as part of her reasoning, calling the president "a misogynist, compulsive liar, and admitted sexual predator." Attacks on Kirsten are the latest example that no one is safe from this bully, Hirono added. He must resign. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) was among the other Democratic senators to rally around Gillibrand, asking Trump on Twitter whether he was trying to "bully, intimidate and slut-shame" Gillibrand. Do you know who youre picking a fight with? Warren wrote. Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. A Republican consultant close to the White House declined to defend the content of Trumps tweet, but said it was drafted with the aim of becoming the water-cooler conversation of the day and diverting attention from his accusers. Its a better conversation for him than for the women who are accusing him to be dominating the conversation, said the consultant, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly. Hes drowning out those voices. Trumps tweet also largely overshadowed a White House event at which he signed a $700 billion defense budget that seeks to increase military spending and operational capabilities, a major priority for his administration. And it came on the eve of a tax speech that the president plans to deliver Wednesday about what could be his first big legislative win. Trump began Tuesday with a separate tweet accusing Democrats of focusing renewed attention on his alleged misconduct out of their supposed frustration that investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election are not harming him. "Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!" Trump posted. Trump has repeatedly denied the accusations against him, but the idea that he does not know or has not met any of the women who have accused him of sexual misbehavior is false. The list of women includes a former contestant on his reality show "The Apprentice," a former business partner, a woman who has a photo of the two of them together, a contestant in one of his pageants and a People reporter who interviewed him. During her White House briefing, Sanders said Trumps denial of knowing the accusers was limited to three women who appeared in a joint television interview and news conference Monday, renewing their public push to gain attention for their stories. Gillibrand was attending a bipartisan Bible study Tuesday morning when Trumps tweet landed, and her phone was immediately filled with supportive and befuddled messages, wondering just what the president was thinking, a Gillibrand aide said. In his tweet, Trump offered no evidence to support his claim that Gillibrand had gone to him begging for campaign donations and would do anything for them. According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit website that tracks campaign contributions, since 1996, Trump has donated $8,900 to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and $5,850 to Gillibrand. Gillibrand met with Trump once in 2010, the Gillibrand aide said, and Trumps oldest daughter, Ivanka, who has tried to cast herself as a champion of women, attended the meeting as well. Asked about her interactions with the president, Gillibrand told reporters that Trump was just a supporter a supporter of my first campaign. Tuesday afternoon, Gillibrand cited the presidents tweet in an email solicitation to raise money for her 2018 reelection campaign. Over her nearly nine years in the Senate, Gillibrand has focused on issues of equal rights for gay men and lesbians, transgender people and women. Trumps attack plays right into her portfolio. Her reelection campaign has drawn no serious opponent, and with speculation that she will renege on her vow not to run for president in 2020, the attack may do her more political good than harm. In a tweet, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, called Trump's tweet "disgusting" but also noted, "It will make the Gillibrand folks ecstatic," implying that the sparring with Trump would raise her profile among what is expected to be a crowded field of Democratic contenders in 2020. Gillibrand, however, does have detractors within the party. After she said in November that Bill Clinton should have resigned as president following his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, longtime Hillary Clinton adviser and confidant Philippe Reines excoriated her on Twitter for being ungrateful and two-faced. Hypocrite. Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck, Reines wrote. Trumps attack on Twitter coincided with a previously scheduled event Tuesday led by 59 female House Democrats, who formally called on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to launch an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the president. The oversight panel has the broadest subpoena power and investigatory mandate of any congressional committee. The female lawmakers had requested the investigation in a letter to the committee Monday. Late Tuesday, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the oversight committee, said in a letter back that most of the allegations against Trump would constitute state-level crimes and that his committee does not have jurisdiction to prosecute crimes. He said he was forwarding the letter to the Justice Department. Besides Gillibrand and Hirono, four male senators have called on Trump to resign: Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Speaking to reporters, Schumer defended his New York colleague, calling Trumps attack nasty and unbecoming of the presidency. But he declined to join other Democrats in calling for a formal investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump. Schumer added that the president should cut it out with the tweeting. He ought to stop tweeting and start leading. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to say whether Congress should investigate the allegations against Trump, saying that were focused on the Senate and that his chambers ethics committee can investigate only allegations against senators. What were in charge of here is the Senate, McConnell told reporters. Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Tuesday in Mountain Brook, Ala. Jones won against Republican Roy Moore. (John Bazemore/AP) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Running for Senate was always something Doug Jones wanted to do. It just all seemed like the right time and the right place and the right moment in my life to do it, he explained in a late-October interview with The Washington Post. On Tuesday, Joness long-shot bet to snatch away a Republican-held seat in the heart of the conservative Deep South paid off. As it turned out, he was in the right place at the right time a candidate who was lifted to victory in large measure by a series of twists and turns on the GOP side. A September primary win by Roy Moore, a polarizing former state judge, ruined plans by Senate GOP leaders to boost to victory Republican Sen. Luther Strange. Then Moore came up against accusations first reported by The Washington Post in November that he made unwanted sexual advances to teenage girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. The controversy jolted Jones into serious competition. 1 of 76 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama View Photos Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Caption Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Jabin Botsford Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Now, Jones, 63, a first-time candidate for office who overcame the strong rightward tilt of his state, will become perhaps the most unexpected member of the Senate in recent history. It remains unclear where he will fit in the chamber, a polarized legislative body that could put him in an awkward middle ground between an increasingly vocal bloc of rising liberal Democratic stars and scores of conservative Republicans. Jones was born and raised in a Birmingham suburb and stayed in Alabama for college and law school. On the campaign trail, Jones liked to mention the late Howell Heflin, Alabama's last Democratic senator and his former boss. Jones worked as staff counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for Heflin, according to the biography on his campaign website. Before his Senate campaign, Jones was best-known for prosecuting Ku Klux Klan members responsible for a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four African American girls. Jones, who is white, told that story often as a candidate. It boosted his credibility among the states many African American voters, whose support for Jones was crucial to his win. Its an open question what kind of senator Jones will be. He often dodged questions about President Trump, cognizant that the president was well-liked among the many crossover Republicans he knew he had to win. He has also dodged questions about his own party's leaders, who are political villains in many parts of this ruby red state. In the October interview, Jones declined to say whether he would support Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) as leader of the Senate Democrats. On abortion, Jones's views are in line with many Democratic leaders. He has voiced support for current laws, not a change some conservatives have embraced, to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. While Jones tried to evoke a strong local flavor in his campaign, a parade of high-profile Democrats from across the country rallied to his side in the campaign's closing days. Former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden recorded phone calls endorsing him that were placed to voters. On the campaigns last full day, Jones claimed not to be aware of the calls even as his campaign confirmed them. In addition to his win over Moore, Jones was celebrating a personal milestone with his wife on Tuesday: their 25th anniversary. Its been a quarter of a century, and I wouldnt be where I am today without my best friend, partner, and running mate on this journey, he wrote on Twitter. Read more at PowerPost Stunned Republicans began casting blame Wednesday over their failure to hold a Senate seat in the Deep South, where Alabama Democrat Doug Jones stitched together just enough support to win amid voter backlash to accusations of sexual misconduct against his firebrand GOP rival. Even as Republican Roy Moore down by more than 20,000 votes in Tuesdays special election refused to concede the race, members of the GOP began pointing fingers at one another for his defeat after being steamrolled in Virginias elections last month. The recriminations highlighted the bitter divisions within the GOP that appear to be worsening as the party looks toward defending its Senate majority in 2018, a task made more difficult by Moores loss and an increasingly unpopular President Trump. The blow in Tuesdays election also highlighted voter dismay over allegations that Moore pursued romantic relationships with teenage girls while in his 30s, as well as the limits of Trumps political influence. Democrats celebrated their victory and called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to delay a vote on the GOP tax plan until after Jones is sworn in. [Trump gambled and lost by following Bannon in Alabama] It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. Schumer said he had spoken to Jones, but did not ask him how he would vote on the measure. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers, strategists and party figures picked sides: either with McConnell, who kept his distance from Moores campaign, or with former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who was among Moores most ardent backers. In a tweet, even Trump suggested that Moore had been a weak candidate, a tacit rebuke of Bannon's support. Trump also tried to defend his track record by saying he knew Moore would lose, though he campaigned for him in the final weeks. Wish we would have gotten the seat, the president later told reporters at the White House. I want to endorse the people that are running, but I will tell you that to me its very, very just very important to get this vote, he said, referring to the tax overhaul. Bannon, speaking on Breitbart News radio, credited Democrats for their ground game. If you get outworked, youre going to lose, and Ive got to tell you, their ability to get out votes thats what it comes down to, he said. On cable news and social media, Republicans tried to explain away the loss which will leave the GOP with just a one-seat majority in the Senate. Mitch McConnell should have stayed out of this race, conservative Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) said in an interview with MSNBC. If he would have, we would have a Republican senator coming out instead of a Democratic one. [Jubilant Democrats look ahead after big gain on Trumps turf] Similar complaints were voiced during the Republican primary runoff in September, when McConnell supported Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) over candidates preferred by conservative voters and then convinced Trump to do the same. Speaking for the partys establishment wing, Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) tweeted that Republicans must DUMP Bannon, who supported Moore even as other conservative Republicans abandoned him over the allegations of sexual misconduct. "If we are to Make America Great Again for all Americans, Bannon must go!" King wrote on Twitter. Other Republicans sought principally to defend Trump, who supported two losing Republicans during the course of the election. "When it comes to Alabama politics Steve Bannon should have followed President @realDonaldTrump lead in supporting Luther Strange. Trump's instincts on the Alabama race proved to be correct," Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a former Trump critic who has joined the president's fold, wrote on Twitter. Trumps former deputy campaign manager, David N. Bossie, suggested that the Republican National Committee should not have cut ties with Moore at one point before changing course and lending him support again earlier this month. [In Europe, Alabama results hailed as a miracle] This president didnt support this candidate [Moore] in the primary, Bossie said in an interview with Fox News. He played the hand that was dealt to him. Jones's victory portended the head winds facing Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections, coming just a month after a historic Republican wipeout in the battleground state of Virginia. With Jones in office, Democrats will have a credible, if still difficult, path to retake control of the Senate two years into Trump's term. The result could also become a factor in upcoming legislative battles, as Republicans will have one less vote in the narrowly divided Senate in 2018. Although McConnell has said that the GOP tax overhaul will be completed before the end of the year, the impact of Tuesdays outcome on the ongoing debate is unknown. Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) spoke with Jones on Wednesday morning. The people of Alabama have spoken. Congratulations to Doug Jones. . . . I look forward to working together to do whats best for the great state of Alabama, Shelby said in a statement. Moore showed no signs he would go quietly. After the race was called by the Associated Press, Moore declined to concede defeat, saying he believed that the margin of victory could narrow enough to trigger a recount. Joness margin of victory was 1.5 percentage points; votes would only be recounted automatically if he won by 0.5 percentage points or fewer. [Jones victory scrambles GOP agenda in Congress] The question now is when Jones could be sworn in and how that timing would affect legislative debates on Capitol Hill. The Alabama Secretary of States office said Tuesday that the election will be certified between Dec. 27 and Jan. 3, giving Republicans as little as two weeks to pass a federal budget and the tax legislation with their current 52-to-48 majority. McConnell on Tuesday said Strange, who holds the seat now, will remain in the Senate through the end of the current session. Once the state certifies and sends us the paperwork, the new senator is sworn in. But since the state said they dont expect to certify until the end of the month, and we expect to finish before the end of the month... McConnell spokesman Don Stewart wrote in an email. Jones kept a low public profile Wednesday morning. He planned to have lunch with his campaign staff, according to a campaign official with knowledge of his plans, and could hold a news conference later in the day. In the end, he won about 50 percent of the vote compared with about 49 percent for Moore, with Jones benefiting from strong African American turnout and a white share of the vote about twice as large as Barack Obama won in 2008. Fifty-six percent of women voted for Jones, according to exit polls, while 58 percent of men voted for Moore. Just under 2 percent of voters in the state wrote in a third candidate. [Preliminary exit poll results: How different groups voted in Alabama] Jones, a former federal prosecutor who made his mark convicting Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, cast his campaign as an opportunity for the state to turn the page on the divisive politics of its past. He supported protecting entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid, defended Obamacare and said he broadly supported abortion. A gun owner, he supported strengthening the background-check system. At the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect, Jones said at his victory rally, a raucous celebration in Birmingham. This campaign has been about the rule of law. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure that everyone in this state, regardless of which Zip code you live in, is going to get a fair shake. [Winners and losers from the Alabama special election] The outcome of the race could have a major impact on Senate primaries in Arizona and Nevada, where Bannon and conservative activists are pushing insurgent candidates who establishment Republicans also fear will be unelectable statewide. Bannons allies struck back at critics Wednesday, blaming McConnells lack of support for handing the seat to a Democrat. Mitch McConnell and the Republican establishment got what they wanted tonight in Alabama, said Andy Surabian, a former Trump White House political aide who works with Bannon. They handed this seat over to a liberal Democrat. One of Moores accusers said the election result gave her hope. Roy Moores loss means to me the fact that Alabama is about to make some changes, Beverly Young Nelson told CNN in an interview. I believe its going to be on the positive side of things. Sullivan reported from Birmingham. Scherer and Viebeck reported from Washington. Weigel reported from Gadsden, Ala. David Fahrenthold, Philip Rucker and Scott Clement in Washington and Larry Bleiberg and Jenna Johnson in Alabama contributed to this report. The Democrats seismic victory Tuesday in the unlikely political battleground of Alabama brought jubilation and a sudden rush of confidence to a party that has been struggling to gain its footing since Donald Trump won the presidency 13 months ago. Democrat Doug Joness triumph, the result of a vigorous turnout of the partys traditional voters and of Republican splintering in a deeply conservative state, sent a thunder clap across the national political landscape that Democrats hope will signify an emerging comeback at the start of the 2018 midterm election campaign. In the immediate aftermath, Democratic leaders are eager to leverage a narrowed Republican majority in the Senate to try to stall the Trump agenda, including the GOPs $1.5 trillion tax package. And they plan to use the defeat of firebrand Republican Roy Moore, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct, to escalate their criticism of Trumps character, believing the Alabama race may show that even the presidents core voters are growing wary of political figures dogged by claims of inappropriate behavior. Trump, who endorsed Moore, has been accused by more than a dozen women of groping or touching them without their consent, which he has denied. More than anything, there was joy. After more than a year of partywide bickering in the wake of Hillary Clintons defeat and months of uncertainty over how to win back voters who abandoned the party in 2016, Democrats found solace in a stunning feat beating a Trump-style Republican in one of the most ruby-red states in the nation. 1 of 76 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama View Photos Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Caption Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Jabin Botsford Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. The recriminations have been tough and stupid, the Bernie Sanders people arguing with the Hillary people has been counterproductive. Jones sends a powerful signal not to do that, said Robert M. Shrum, a longtime Democratic consultant who teaches at the University of Southern California. It was a repudiation of Trump, despite the special circumstances, and were looking at a wave election next year. Amid the celebration, however, there were notes of caution in casting Joness success as a harbinger of the Democrats chances in next years elections, when many Senate Democrats will face difficult reelection contests. Veteran strategists described the result as a crucial if fleeting thrill, and a crippling moment for a fractured Republican Party that is straining to hold its congressional ranks together. Its a hard thing to generalize since Moore was such a singular figure, said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. The practical implication in the Senate is that the Republicans margin slips to 51 seats, and its now very difficult for [Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell to navigate. Democrats will certainly have a role to play in moderating any legislation that comes through. Pointing to last months elections in Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam was elected governor and Democrats made surprising gains in the state legislature, Axelrod said that the exodus of voters in suburban areas away from Republicans remains the biggest takeaway from the elections in Alabama and Virginia this year. Was it because of resistance to Trump? Thats what weve got to figure out before we know if the pattern will continue. Trumps vulnerability in the fallout dominated Democrats discussions late Tuesday, especially on the issue of conduct. Exit polls in Alabama showed that most women and independents considered the allegations against Moore to be true, making Democrats wonder whether the resurgence this week of the accusations against Trump could damage the presidents political standing and burden the GOP. This shows that the president is a huge drag on Republicans, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said in an interview. Suburban voters and moderate Republicans have had it from New Jersey to Virginia to Alabama. A crowd of Democrats in recent days has called on Trump to leave office because of the allegations against him. That call comes as influential men across industries are being held accountable for alleged misconduct. Lifting Democratic spirits nationally were the glimmers of a lurching electorate on Tuesday. Even white Republican voters in Alabama demonstrated that they were uneasy with Moore and perhaps with the Republican Partys direction generally. Exit polls showed Jones won far more white voters than recent Democratic presidential nominees in Alabama, nearly 3 in 10 statewide. There is an incredible opportunity in some of these red states to compete, said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist and former chief of staff to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Flipping a red seat energizes and excites the base. It fuels fundraising and it puts races that people werent thinking about playing in on the map and makes states like Arizona more important as people look ahead. Kofinis said Joness campaign also exposed unexpected GOP weaknesses. They showed how the Republican brand is more broken than people thought, Kofinis said. Joness mobilization of African American voters was critical to his victory, and Democrats saw in his turnout emphasis a model for how the party must mobilize its essential voter coalitions in the coming year. In the final weekend of the campaign, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and other prominent black Democrats rallied for Jones. Geoff Garin, a pollster who advised Northam and worked on past Clinton campaigns, said its arithmetic. Midterms in the past havent always been good for Democrats, and theyve lost seats because good Democratic voters stayed home. Simply having a strong ground game isnt enough. You cant only look at swing voters. In the age of Trump, you have to get out your base. That includes women, said Boston-based Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh, who said she expects a flood of women to run for office next year. You see this building from the womens march in January to [Sen. Kirsten] Gillibrand [D-N.Y.] to the Jones win, Marsh said. Women are taking control, and that includes politics. Youre looking at a tidal wave in 2018, with the Senate and House poised to be taken over by Democrats if this trend keeps on building. Jones repeatedly appealed to women in the closing stretch of the race, courting them on the issue of decency in light of the allegations against Moore, even if they did not share his support for abortion rights. That stance remained an obstacle for him in his outreach to Republicans until the end. I want to make sure that when my granddaughters grow up, they dont have to endure the kinds of things that those girls in Etowah County did and sit silent for 30 or 40 years. I want to make sure that we send a message of who we are and what we are, because were much better than that, Jones said Sunday in remarks at Progressive Union Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville. He was joined by Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Trump allies acknowledged that Joness victory was a blow and blamed Republican infighting as much as Moores controversies. A key Moore backer, for instance, was former Trump adviser and Breitbart executive Stephen K. Bannon, who is vowing to undercut establishment Republican leaders in Congress. Youve got to have a good candidate and unified party. You cant have Steve Bannon going one way with Trump and the Republican Senate committee going another way, said Ed Rollins, an adviser to the pro-Trump Great America Alliance super PAC. Its going to make everything more difficult. Everyone is going to start panicking. Philip Rucker contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost Democrats warned Wednesday that Republican plans to speed ahead with revamping the nations tax code could spell more electoral trouble for President Trump and his party next year, especially with young people and suburban families. Just hours after Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat in a special U.S. Senate election in the GOP stronghold of Alabama, party leaders unveiled a compromise on a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax plan that will significantly lower corporate rates and slash taxes for upper-income households. But Democrats now able to tout recent electoral victories in deep-blue New Jersey, swing state Virginia and Republican Alabama, all of which showed signs of voter discontent with GOP policies called on Republicans to wait to vote on their tax plan until Democrat Doug Jones, the winner of the Alabama race, arrives in Washington. Mired in the minority and sapped of any control of Capitol Hill, Democrats crowed about the implications of the Alabama contest, touting how the partys base young people, black women and, increasingly, suburbanites turned out at higher rates than normal for an off-year election. Jones also cut into Republican advantages in counties that overwhelmingly backed Trump in last years presidential election. If Republicans move ahead with their plans to rush tax reform, there will be many more Alabamas in 2018, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. Many more. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-Calif.) speak before the House-Senate conference on taxes Wednesday. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) The suburbs are swinging back to us, he told reporters, adding that the GOP tax plan is an anti-suburban tax bill because it would reduce how much homeowners can deduct in state and local taxes. [As Democrats add Senate seat, GOP left to bicker over what happened in Alabama] Republicans, however, ignored the Democrats and said they did not expect any slowdown in the tax push, citing a Christmas deadline for action that had been set months in advance. The people back home want to get it done now, said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). In closed-door meetings of Republican lawmakers Wednesday on both sides of Capitol Hill, the Alabama results were not even a topic of official discussion. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), leaving a Senate Republican lunch meeting, said the topic simply hadnt come up. Changing the entire 10 million-word tax code is of great magnitude, too, so thats what we spent our time talking about, he said. The House and Senate are poised to vote on the GOP tax plan by the end of next week. When exactly Jones will join the Senate remains unclear. Alabamas secretary of state, the states senior elections official, said Tuesday that the soonest the election will be certified is Dec. 26 or 27. The Senates holiday break is scheduled to begin Dec. 22, and senators are not expected to return until Jan. 3, although that schedule could change. Calls to slow down the tax plan are only the most immediate consequences of Joness unlikely victory. His arrival will cut the Republican majority in the Senate from two votes to one, making it even harder to move the GOP legislative agenda forward without some bipartisan cooperation. Possible efforts to cut back entitlement programs or replace health-care policy with a more conservative alternative, already difficult, could be impossible in a Senate divided 51 to 49. One veteran Democrat played down the notion that Jones could scramble the Senates political dynamic in a significant way, citing his lack of a voting record that would indicate reliable support for the Democratic agenda and the pressure he may face from his conservative state. I dont know what he wants to do, and hell have to decide what he wants to do, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the Senates longest serving member, said. But, he added, the mere presence of Jones could shape the way Republicans and the White House craft their priorities for the coming year. During the campaign, Jones ran as a centrist, and in his victory speech, he spoke of the need for politicians in Washington to find common ground. Schumer conceded that he doesn't know whether Jones would back the GOP tax plan, saying, "He will make a decision based on what he believes is best for the people of Alabama." Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has become friendly with Trump and frequently plays golf with him, said he has spoken to the president in recent weeks about working on bipartisan deals next year and expects more willingness to reach out to Democrats after a year of focusing on GOP concerns. "In terms of base politics, he's done a lot regulatory reform, [confirming Supreme Court Justice Neil M.] Gorsuch, the tax cut. In the bipartisan portfolio, there's not a whole lot in it," Graham said. "There needs to be both. He gets it. Infrastructure is a bipartisan project; immigration is bipartisan." Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a key moderate Democrat who stands to see his clout build in a closely divided chamber, also urged Trump and Republicans to seek new ways to work with Democrats. Every time Ive been around the president, Ive always felt hes more comfortable working on something bipartisan than on something partisan, he said in an interview. The push hes getting from his party is, its all for the base. In calling for a delay in the tax debate, Democrats pointed to their partys decision to slow down controversial health-care legislation in 2010 when a Republican, Scott Brown, won a special election to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy in liberal Massachusetts. Democrats cited comments that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), now the majority leader, made in January 2010 in the immediate aftermath of Browns win, calling on Democrats to slow down the passage of the Affordable Care Act until he was sworn in. I think the message of the moment is that the American people, all across the country, are asking us, even in the most liberal state, Massachusetts, to stop this health-care bill, he said the day after Brown was elected. The Massachusetts election was squarely focused on the Democratic health-care bill, however, while the Republican tax bill was only an ancillary issue in an Alabama election that was more squarely focused as a referendum on the character of the Republican candidate, Roy Moore. Ultimately, Democrats ended up using special procedures to pass the health-care bill without Browns vote the same reconciliation rules Republicans are using to pass the tax plan without Democratic support. Publicly, Democrats cite the need to wait for Jones as a reason to slow debate on tax reform. But they also know that a delay could help build opposition just as the summerlong fight among Republicans over how to repeal the ACA derailed the effort as closer scrutiny sparked broad public opposition. Republicans offered their own reasons why Alabamas Luther Strange, the outgoing Republican placeholder, should vote on the bill rather than Jones. He doesnt know anything about it, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said of Jones. Hes been on a campaign; hes not been studying the bill. . . . Ideally, you want somebody whos more informed than not, and Luthers informed. For moderate Democrats such as Manchin facing reelection in 2018 in states Trump won handily last year, waiting might give them more time to rewrite the tax plan. Theres no economic meltdown. The stock markets doing fine. There are 17 Democrats who are ready to work on a bipartisan tax bill if they slow things down, Manchin said. Manchin and at least 16 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus have tried at various points to work with Republicans on tax reform. But they have rebuffed pressure from Trump, McConnell and other Republicans to support the tax plan, given its generous tax cuts for high earners and the repeal of the ACAs mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. Earlier this month, the Senate passed the GOP tax plan by a single-vote margin, 51 to 49. Had Jones been seated then, however, Republicans still would have been able to pass the measure, albeit with Vice President Pence casting the tiebreaking vote. Democrats are hoping that at least two Republican senators will step away from the fast-moving legislation in the coming days, forcing GOP leaders to pull back. But on Wednesday, key GOP senators Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) said they saw no reason for delay. But one potential complication arose for GOP leaders: The office of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has an aggressive brain tumor and missed Senate votes Wednesday, issued a statement explaining that he is being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. Senator McCain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible, said the statement, which not did say when he might return. Erica Werner and David Weigel contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost Doug Joness odds-defying victory in Alabama handing Democrats a vanishingly rare Senate win in the Deep South scrambles President Trumps legislative agenda for the coming year, threatens to heighten Republican infighting and sounds an alarm for the GOPs prospects in Novembers midterm elections. Any dent in the two-seat advantage Republicans hold in the Senate would carry major governing consequences, but the loss of what had been considered one of the partys safest seats carries a special sting for the GOP. One consequence is Democrats much more plausible path to the Senate majority next year. The 2018 map was widely seen to favor Republicans, with 10 Democrats seeking reelection in states President Trump won last year and only two Republican seats clearly at risk. Now, if Democratic incumbents can survive in Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, West Virginia and elsewhere in what is shaping up to be a favorable environment, GOP losses in Arizona and Nevada could allow Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to unseat Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as Senate majority leader. [Moore vs. Jones: Alabama Senate race results] 1 of 76 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat from Alabama View Photos Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Caption Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, faced off against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election. Jabin Botsford Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Some Republicans view the Alabama seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first casualty in an internecine GOP battle that has pitted establishment Republicans personified by McConnell against populist insurgents led by former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. It should be a hurricane siren for every Republican, said Josh Holmes, a former top aide to McConnell. This is what the death of a party looks like, and without an immediate course correction and rejection of the Steve Bannon view of the world, you can lose races in states like Alabama. Joness victory over Roy Moore, who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, comes after an improbable series of decisions and revelations that together put the GOPs grasp on the seat at risk starting with Trumps decision to tap Sessions, one of his most loyal campaign supporters, for a key Cabinet position. Scandal-tarred Gov. Robert Bentley (R) filled the vacancy in the interim with Luther Strange, the state attorney general who was investigating Bentley. That appearance of an unseemly bargain gave an opening to Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court whose defiant antics had twice resulted in his removal from office but won him a fervent following among Alabama conservatives. With Bannon's backing, Moore overcame not only Strange's establishment support but also Trump's intervention to emerge from the Republican primary and face Jones on Tuesday. But in November, the race was upended when The Washington Post published the account of a woman who accused Moore of having propositioned and groped her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. More accusations of misconduct followed, and the former state judge faced the desertion of national Republican support and a pressure campaign led by McConnell to force him to end his campaign. But Moore instead turned the tables, casting the attacks as an effort by Washington elites and out-of-town media outlets to drive him from the race. Jones, meanwhile, spent November and much of early December watching as Republicans including the state's GOP senior senator, Richard C. Shelby abandoned Moore while national Democrats and grass-roots donors rallied on his own behalf, giving him a massive spending advantage in the race's final weeks. [Exit poll results: How different groups voted in Alabama] If there is any solace for Republicans, it is in the path not taken: Had Moore won, he would have joined the Senate under an unprecedented cloud that would itself have distracted from the GOPs legislative agenda. Moore faced the prospect of an immediate investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee into the allegations that he sexually harassed and in some cases abused teenage girls three decades ago. Even a swift-moving probe, by Senate standards, would have lasted months, and Moores dealings with his colleagues would have been fraught, to say the least. Many of his potential fellow Republican senators, led by McConnell, called on Moore to drop out of the race. One, Jeff Flake of Arizona, went so far as to donate to Jones. In the days before the election, many Republican senators refused to even speculate about a Moore victory. My hope is that the people of Alabama dont send him here, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said before polls closed Tuesday. But neither a lack of collegiality nor an ethics probe would have prevented Moore from casting votes on the Senate floor for Republican bills. While there was some question about how reliable Moores support might have been for GOP priorities, there is no expectation that Jones will be in the habit of taking cues from Republican leaders. In the immediate aftermath of Joness victory late Tuesday, Moores Republican critics unloaded on Bannon. This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running, said Steven Law, president and chief executive of the Senate Leadership Fund, a well-funded super PAC tied to McConnell. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the president of the United States into his fiasco. Bannon, for his part, as recently as Monday fingered the party elite for undermining Moore. What theyre doing is trying to shut up President Trump and Judge Moore, he said. They would rather see Roy Moore beaten tomorrow, you know that. While Congress remains on track to clear a sweeping tax bill before Jones arrives, any hiccup could suddenly throw the GOP plan to deliver $1.5 trillion in tax cuts into question. And other big potential Republican priorities for 2018 including potential bills to boost infrastructure spending and cut back on entitlement programs are now in limbo as every last vote comes under the election-year spotlight. Barring a new effort at bipartisan dealmaking that has been largely absent so far under the Trump administration, the GOP appears on track to head into the November midterms with only one major accomplishment to tout: a tax-cut bill that has polled poorly and delivers most of its direct benefit to corporations and the wealthy. How the Republican tax bill benefits the rich, according to government analysis Democratic congressional leaders are under tremendous pressure from their partys left flank to resist Trump at every juncture. And ahead of Tuesdays results, moderate Democrats said they were not especially hopeful that a surprise Jones victory would spur a new atmosphere of bipartisanship. "I'm not holding my breath," said Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), who added that a Jones victory on the heels of a strong Democratic showing in Virginia's state races last month "would be a message that people are rejecting the kind of venom-filled rhetoric that comes out of this White House." The few Senate Republicans who would even contemplate serving alongside an Alabama Democrat before the returns came in were not eager to discuss what that outcome might portend. If Mr. Jones wins, thats going to mean Mr. Jones has gotten more votes than Mr. Moore, said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). Other GOP sages, meanwhile, are left to wonder how this ever happened in the first place and whether a reprise can be avoided. Other primary battles await: Bannon and Trump-aligned political organs are backing populist candidates in the Arizona and Nevada primaries that party honchos in Washington fear cannot win a general election. And the shade of politics in Arizona and Nevada, they warn, is nowhere near as Republican red as Alabama crimson. If I had the top five Republican minds in politics and we spent three months attempting to conceive of a way to lose an Alabama Senate race, Im not sure that we could come up with it, Holmes said. You could literally take any name out of a phone book except Roy Moores and win by double digits. And we managed to get the only guy in Alabama that could lose to a Democrat. Paul Kane, Michael Scherer, David Weigel and Erica Werner contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost Republican Roy Moore's stunning defeat in Alabama marked a watershed moment for the national movement around the issue of sexual abuse. The allegations that Moore had made sexual advances on girls as young as 14 decades ago, when he was in his 30s, had created a real contest out of what should have been an easy victory for any Republican candidate in ruby-red Alabama. Women really do seem to be wanting to make their collective voices heard on this issue, and they dont want to see it swept under the rug one more time, said Jessica Leeds, one of those who stepped forward last year to accuse Donald Trump, then the GOP presidential nominee, of having committed sexual misconduct. With Trumps election, that kind of reckoning seemed to have been pushed backward. But the sense of grievance remained, and gained force this fall with the toppling of movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the once-revered figures in media and politics who have been taken down in his wake. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks after losing his race, during an election-night watch party at the RSA activity center in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Democrat Doug Joness unlikely victory may also be a sign that the formula for winning in a deeply polarized political climate, perfected by Trump, may not be so reliable as it seemed. I think the politics may be at a real turning point, said author Taylor Branch, best known for his trilogy of volumes about the civil rights era. Anti-government, obstructionist politics are being reduced to having to be explicitly backward and tribal. That works for Trump, but I just dont think that its going to keep working. As the #MeToo movement takes hold and matures, it is moving beyond the stage of rooting out individual bad actors to seeking a different level of accountability, said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Womens Law Center. They want individuals to be held accountable, but really they are seeking institutions to change, she said. There is a new pressure for institutions to finally get this right. In an interview conducted before the Alabama polls closed, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) had said that a win by Jones would be a huge political victory, and its a victory for women across the country to not have a pedophile in the U.S. Senate. But its not like were done with the question. There are still going to be a lot of issues that we have to resolve, a lot of questions that are going to come up. She noted that many Republican leaders in Washington had also opposed Moore, and said, In some ways, Roy Moore is the easiest of all the questions in front of us for the #MeToo movement. One of those questions is how to deal with lingering accusations against the president. He and his allies continue to insist that all the women who have accused him are politically motivated liars, and that their claims were litigated in the 2016 election. But it has been revived. Even as Alabama voters were going to the polls on Tuesday, the president was engaged in a Twitter battle with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who has been a leading voice on the issue and who has called upon him to resign. Trump called her a lightweight, a total flunky, and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them). In that parenthetical, some saw sexual innuendo. Gillibrand retorted with her own tweet: You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. As the country was watching the political saga unfold in Alabama, it was easy for many in other parts of the country to dismiss the Moore supporters as simply backward, without recognizing some of those sentiments in more elitist circles. We shouldnt beat up on folks in some gas station in Selma as being different from Weinsteins enablers, said historian and author David J. Garrow, who has chronicled the civil rights movement. That is why some of the most important conversations may be the ones that are taking place more quietly. In Michigan, Democratic attorney general candidate Dana Nessel has made the issue of sexual harassment a centerpiece of her campaign even releasing a satirical campaign ad, which quickly went viral, in which she told voters to ask themselves: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? At a campaign event Tuesday night, Nessel said in an interview, a woman pulled her aside and shared her experiences being harassed on the job in the 1980s, how demeaning and dehumanizing it was. The fact that were having these conversations now, in such an audible way, means there are great changes in our future, Nessel said. I think that time is coming to an end. Though Moore will not be a member of the U.S. Senate, Democrats plan to make sure that he is not forgotten as the country moves into the midterm election season. Alabama soundly rejected the new Republican Party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump and their toxic agenda, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement after media organizations projected Jones the winner. President Trump, Republican Senate candidates and the Republican National Committee showed us exactly who they are by standing with Roy Moore and we will make sure voters do not forget it. As it happens, Lyndon B. Johnson was also talking about Alabama 52 years ago, when he said: At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in mans unending search for freedom. It is too early to know what kind of significance history will attach to the pivot point that a special election for a Senate seat in that state represents in a 21st-century civil rights struggle. But it does indicate that forces beyond the pull of party loyalty and ideology still have the power to shape the state of politics and potentially society itself. Read more: In Alabama, a lousy night for Republicans and a resounding defeat for Trump Democrats are jubilant and newly confident about 2018 as Alabama delivers win on Trumps turf Alabama election result seen as miracle in a Europe horrified by Trump Ed OKeefe contributed to this report. A man parks a motorcycle inside a building where a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man, Akayed Ullah used to live in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Counterterrorism officers questioned his wife and other relatives after he was accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York City's subway system. (A.M. Ahad/AP) Hours before Akayed Ullah is alleged to have stepped into a busy Manhattan subway passage, a homemade pipe bomb strapped to his body with Velcro, his wife called him from here to wake him up. The telephone conversation Monday was brief and ordinary Jannatul Ferdous did not detect any signs that her husband was upset or angry, nor did he say anything memorable. She told him to go to work and hung up. Soon, his image would be shown on television screens around the world. His bomb had detonated, and he was severely injured. American authorities accused him of plotting a terrorist attack. On Wednesday, he had his first brief court appearance, by way of a video link between a federal courthouse and the hospital where he is recovering. I always thought he was a good man, Ferdous said Wednesday, speaking through the crack of the front door of her home in Dhaka, and I still consider him a good man. I never thought he could be involved in an incident like this. Ullahs wife and mother-in-law, who spoke to The Washington Post from behind a door with their faces covered, said the incident in New York blindsided them. They said Ullah had shown no signs of being radicalized in phone conversations or on his recent visits to Dhaka. If I knew this was going to happen, wed never have let him leave, said Mahfuza Akter, Ullahs mother-in-law. In a news conference here Wednesday, counterterrorism chief Monirul Islam said that Ullahs attempted attack was inspired by the writings and online sermons of a Bangladeshi cleric named Jasimuddin Rahmani, the spiritual leader of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a banned Bangladeshi terrorist organization. Rahmani is serving a five-year prison term after his conviction on charges of inciting the murder of a Bangladeshi blogger. Islam said that Ferdous and her family had, under questioning, suggested that link implying that they did have some inkling of his radicalization. Violent rhetoric from ABT has been blamed for a series of murders of atheist and secular bloggers and activists. In 2015, the group published a hit list of writers and activists from around the world. Law enforcement officials in the United States said that Ullah told them he was inspired by propaganda from the Islamic State terrorist group. In recent years, Bangladesh has been shaken by a string of terrorist attacks. In July 2016, more than 20 people were killed at the upmarket Holey Artisan Bakery during a 12-hour siege by militants. A week later, in eastern Bangladesh, four people were killed at a prayer gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that ends the holy month of Ramadan. Islamist movements have been active since the countrys independence but recently have been resurgent, with militants targeting secular aspects of Bangladeshi society. Authorities said Ullah, who has lived in the United States since 2011, was not directly linked with militant groups in Bangladesh. Islam said that his investigation so far suggested that Ullah most likely acted alone and was radicalized in the United States. He said Ullahs name had never appeared on anti-terrorism intelligence lists and that he was most probably self-radicalized on the Internet. When he came [back] here to get married, he was bearded and used to be a pious man, Islam said. But normally, being pious does not create any suspicion. Ullah visited Bangladesh at least twice in recent years, once to marry and again in September when he came to visit his wife and infant child. When in Dhaka, Ullah lived with Ferdous and his in-laws in a dimly lit ground-floor apartment in a colorful building in the Hazaribagh area of the city. A leader at a nearby mosque said he vaguely recalled Ullah coming to pray but said he never had any lengthy discussions with him. Neighbors and the buildings caretakers said they exchanged pleasantries but that Ullah was quiet and kept to himself. Rahmani, of the ABT, is especially influential among Bangladeshi emigres, according to Abdur Rob Khan, a professor of political science at North South University in Dhaka. They invite people for jihad, like, sacrifice yourself, he said, speaking about ABT and other radical Islamist groups that post content online. They probably attract people in international situations in the Middle East or with some kind of antagonism to the West. Ullah will be tried in the United States. The family said they have had no contact with him since the incident. Akter, Ullahs mother-in-law, said the family will await a verdict. We will accept it if he is guilty, but we will welcome him back if he is proven innocent, she said. Azad Majumder contributed to this report. Read more Accused NYC attacked followed radical preacher Man in custody after attempted attack inspired by ISIS, officials say Federal authorities file terrorism charges against N.Y. bombing suspect Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, has long asserted its independence of the Russian government. But a court document posted on the Facebook page of a Russian criminal suspect this year shows what appears to be an unusual degree of closeness to the FSB, the countrys powerful security service. The suspect, Konstantin Kozlovskiy, was arrested in the summer of 2016 in connection with several cyber heists of Russian banks, and he is in a Moscow jail awaiting trial. From his cell, he posted documents related to his case. One of them shows that in April 2015, an FSB agent inside the office of Kaspersky Lab in Moscow gave a company technician a password for a suspected Russian cyber criminals computer. The technician gained access to the computer and obtained decrypted documents for the agent. The agent, A.V. Kutasevich, worked side-by-side with the Kaspersky technician, Ruslan Sabitov, in the information retrieval operation, according to the document, dated April 28, 2015. Though American cybersecurity firms sometimes provide technical assistance to the FBI in criminal investigations, the close cooperation between Kaspersky Lab and the FSB raises eyebrows at a time when the Russian firm's software products have been banned by the U.S. government out of concern they can be exploited as a platform for Russian spying. [Israel hacked Kaspersky, then tipped NSA that its tools had been breached] The FSB used the information Kaspersky obtained to help make its case against Kozlovskiy, who is a member of the criminal group Lurk. Kaspersky previously had publicized its help in bringing down Lurk, which allegedly stole up to $45 million from Russian companies and banks. But it was not known that Kaspersky allowed an FSB agent to be inside its Moscow office to supervise the operation. "The most interesting thing is that Kaspersky's experts were not asked to provide expertise," said Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russian surveillance and co-author of The Red Web. "They actively and secretly participated in an ongoing FSB operation, which makes them look like assets rather than experts." Though authorized by a Moscow court, this kind of joint operation raises a question whether the company went too far in its cooperation with the Russian secret services, Soldatov said. The firm said in a statement that as part of its technical assistance in taking down Lurk, it served as a third party expert source for a specified task, as granted by the court. The work completed by a Kaspersky Lab expert was requested by law to ensure that no modifications of any information received from the server were made, and also to assist in the translation of technical data obtained during the procedure into language that could be understood in a legal setting. In addition, this investigation procedure was completed in the presence of an FSB agent and two civil witnesses, and it is important to note that Kaspersky Lab products or services were not used. A former FBI special agent who worked a number of high-profile cyber cases said such an arrangement in the United States would be unusual and outside the realm of something the bureau would approve. The optics are poor, said Milan Patel, co-head of managed services at BlueVoyant, a cybersecurity company. Its one thing to ask a firm to provide intelligence on a particular hacker it has researched, he said. Its another to ask that firm to help the FBI get live access to a computer that might have that information. With a court order, the FBI would conduct the surveillance on its own. A senior executive at a major cyber firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as criticizing another security firm, said: For any commercial security vendor to be overtly involved in work like that is extremely unusual. Youre basically doing an offensive cyber operation, targeting an individual systems people on behalf of an intelligence organization. The companys founder, Eugene Kaspersky, graduated from a KGB-supported cryptography school and had worked in Russian military intelligence. He insists the firm has never helped espionage agencies. It doesnt matter if theyre Russians or from any other nation, he said recently in London. He added that If the Russian government comes to me and asks me to do anything wrong or my employees I will move the business out of Russia. The company said it has also provided technical assistance for national and international law enforcement agencies, including Interpol, Europol and the London police. In addition, its common for law enforcement agencies to work together with cybersecurity companies to effectively fight cybercrime, the company said. Koslovskiy has placed other documents on his Facebook page that have sparked concerns. In August, he posted a letter in which he states he hacked the U.S. Democratic National Committees computers on orders from the FSB. The assertion is dubious, senior intelligence officials said, especially as it was two other Russian spy agencies that penetrated the DNC system. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein defended special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in the face of critical questioning Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee about whether bias might have infected Muellers investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Rosenstein said that he had not seen good cause to fire Mueller, and that although some members of the special counsel team had political views, that did not necessarily taint their work. He disputed that the probe is a witch hunt, as President Trump has alleged. We recognize we have employees with political opinions. Its our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions, Rosenstein said. I believe that Director Mueller understands that, and he is running his office appropriately. Rosenstein also said he and Mueller talked about what his office was allowed to investigate and what it was not, though he declined to answer directly whether he had granted Mueller permission to expand his mandate. Its a clarification in most cases, Rosenstein said. Asked later whether Trump who has in the past expressed concern about the probes scope had ever talked with him about removing Mueller, Rosenstein responded, I am not going to be discussing my communications with the president, but I can tell you that nobody has communicated to me a desire to remove Robert Mueller. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday in Washington. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) Rosenstein has a supervisory role over Mueller. The deputy attorney general's appearance, which lasted a little less than five hours, came the morning after text messages between two senior FBI officials that disparaged Trump and expressed fear that he might win were turned over to lawmakers. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) referred to the texts in his opening statement, saying they were "deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice." Department of Justice investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices, Goodlatte said. [Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies] The officials who exchanged the messages senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page once worked for Muellers team and were key players in a prior investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons use of a private email server. Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin coordinated to influence the 2016 election and already has charged or negotiated plea deals with four people, including former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Even before the messages were revealed, some Republicans had accused Mueller's team of harboring inappropriate bias, pointing to political contributions by several members to Clinton or other Democrats. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) read each of the donations to Rosenstein Wednesday, asking how he could "with a straight face" say they were impartial. The texts which Rosenstein said he and Mueller found out about from the Justice Departments inspector general on July 27 offered new ammunition. Even Rosenstein conceded, I agree that the text messages raise concern. One of the earliest messages, from 2015, shows Strzok calling Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Clintons rival for the Democratic nomination, an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out. On March 4, 2016, Page texted, God, Trump is a loathsome human, to which Strzok replied, Yet he may win. This is not just political opinions. This is disgusting, unaccountable political bias, and theres just no way this could not affect a persons work, said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), as he read out some of the texts. Were you aware, he asked Rosenstein, just how biased Mr. Strzok was? Rosenstein said he was not. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) read an August 2016 text in which Strzok appeared to refer to a meeting in FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabes office and commented, I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andys office that theres no way he gets elected but Im afraid we cant take that risk. This is unbelievable. This is what a lot of Americans are believing right now, and I certainly do: That the Comey FBI and the Obama Justice Department worked with one campaign to go after the other campaign, Jordan said, referencing James B. Comey, the FBI director whom Trump fired in May. Said Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.): If you set out to create an appearance of bias or prejudice or impropriety or conflict of interest, the only way you could do a better job of doing it would be to pick this team and have them wear their Im with her T-shirts to work every day. Im with her was a slogan of the Clinton campaign. Democrats, meanwhile, stood up for Mueller, who is a registered Republican. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked Rosenstein to detail why he had chosen Mueller for the job, and after detailing Muellers credentials, Rosenstein remarked, I believe he was an ideal choice for this task. As Cohen then launched his own defense of Mueller, declaring Everybody respects this man in this country, Gohmert quickly interjected: I dont. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said there was nothing wrong with the officials expressing private political views via private text messages. Strzok, in particular, did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans werent also thinking at the same time, he said. Strzok was removed from Muellers team in late July when his bosses found out about the texts. Page left two weeks earlier for what officials have said were unrelated reasons. Rosenstein said Mueller had taken appropriate action in taking Strzok off the team. Republicans also have long complained about the Clinton investigations conclusion, when Comey recommended that she not be charged even as he criticized her and her aides use of the private server. Goodlatte said the Strzok-Page texts prove what we all suspected high-ranking FBI officials involved in the Clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election and clearly let their strong political opinions cloud their professional judgment. Goodlatte has called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate a host of Clinton-related matters, and Sessions indicated in a response last month that he had directed senior prosecutors to explore some of the topics and report back to him. Nadler said that request was "grossly misguided." Sessions has recused himself from the case because of his work on the Trump campaign. The Justice Department Inspector Generals Office has said its investigators are looking into the handling of the Clinton email investigation, as well as the texts between Strzok and Page. Rosenstein said he was hopeful the inspector general would conclude his investigation in the next couple months, adding, When we get those results, well take appropriate action. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is trying to improve his communication with his own employees and Congress. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson isnt acting like a man whos planning to leave his job anytime soon. Speaking to State Department employees Tuesday in a town hall televised throughout the building and to U.S. missions around the world, Tillerson said he plans to travel to Canada next week and to Africa and Latin America early next year. He acknowledged widespread concern about a planned reorganization that has contributed to flagging morale and staff defections. But he rebutted rumors that embassies would be closed, and he roused applause by saying he would lift a widely disliked hiring freeze for family members at overseas posts although a broader freeze will remain in place. [Tillerson: The sky is not falling at State] Over the next week, between attending internal holiday parties, he will meet with Capitol Hill committees dealing with foreign policy to explain his reorganization plans, about which lawmakers have complained that they are being kept in the dark. Tillerson's outreach efforts mark an attempt to reverse criticism that the former ExxonMobil chief executive is aloof from his employees and is presiding over the decline of U.S. diplomacy. Rumors have circulated for months that he is on the verge of resigning or being fired, which he has consistently denied. The speculation about his future even spawned a name, "Rexit." Tillerson has seemed particularly vexed over reports last month that the White House intended to replace him. Now, the State Department is making a change in strategy aimed at turning the narrative around. It is a tacit acknowledgment that Tillersons previous approach of limited engagement with employees, Congress and the news media is not working and has only hurt him. We have to do a better job of communicating broadly to our external audiences and our internal audiences, said Steve Goldstein, a former communications and marketing executive who is the departments new undersecretary for public diplomacy. Youre going to see more of this, he said. [Rex Tillerson brushes off reports that he is being shown the door] Tillerson's town hall is only his second since he arrived in February. During the event, he answered unscreened questions from employees. Reporters were not allowed inside the hall where Tillerson addressed roughly 300 diplomats and State Department staffers, but it was possible to observe his remarks on closed-circuit television.Wearing a gray suit with a pale-blue tie, Tillerson spoke extemporaneously, using no teleprompter as he shunned the lectern to roam the stage, gesturing with animation for an hour and 40 minutes. The first half of the session was dedicated to what Tillerson called a trip around the world highlighting what he considers the State Departments accomplishments this year. In Asia, he said it remains a goal for the Korean Peninsula to be denuclearized, and he lauded U.S. efforts to persuade other countries to downgrade their diplomatic presence in North Korea and support sanctions designed to starve Pyongyang of the currency needed to develop missiles and nuclear arms. The pace of North Koreas missile tests has accelerated dramatically this year. [Tillerson to North Korea: We are not your enemy] On Iran, he said the Obama administration had focused all its attention on securing the 2015 nuclear deal, while the Trump administration was getting allies to talk about ways to counter Irans missile testing and its support for groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The task, however, is not a victory for U.S. policy, since many allies have publicly urged the United States to stay in the nuclear deal and insist that other issues must be determined separately from the agreement. For the time being, we are in the agreement, Tillerson said, not mentioning President Trumps threat to withdraw. Cameras that occasionally panned across the audience during the diplomacy part of Tillerson's remarks showed expressionless faces. That changed when Tillerson began to address the overhaul that he calls a redesign. Standing before a screen with the logo Our Journey: Redesign Update, Tillerson said 35,000 employee questionnaires and 300 interviews had produced plans for some quick wins. Employees smiled and applauded when he announced an end to the hiring freeze he imposed for "eligible family members," mostly spouses who are given preference for jobs that become vacant in embassies and other missions. They also clapped when Tillerson vowed to streamline security clearances and issue interim security clearances to interns so that workers can do their jobs sooner. He also announced technological updates such as merging email lists and putting communications in the cloud, allowing more teleworking and streamlining the processes for transfers, travel and bidding for jobs. "We want to work more closely, and we want to work as a team together," he said. Tillerson is still an unfamiliar presence to many employees, and he offered small glimpses of his personality. He said that when he came to the State Department, despite being an international businessman who negotiated deals around the world, he did not know a single U.S. diplomat. He described himself as "beginning" to enjoy the job, although he said he wakes every morning asking himself how to keep people from being killed somewhere in the world. This is a hard job, he said. He acknowledged that while he seeks "win-win" scenarios, it has not worked out that way yet, phrasing his remarks in a way that suggested he is embracing the potential and limitations of traditional diplomacy. Do we have any wins to put on the board? he said. No. Thats not the way this works. Diplomacy is not that simple. Tillerson reinforced that view later Tuesday during remarks at the Atlantic Council, when he offered to start negotiations with North Korea with no preconditions. He suggested that the two sides could start with small talk, paving the way for a road map. All he demanded was a period when no missiles are fired. We need a period of quiet, he said. Youve got to tell us youre ready to talk. The doors open, but well show up when you tell us youre willing to talk. Weber State University Launches National Recreation Contest with Camping World December 12, 2017 OGDEN, Utah The Hall Global Entrepreneurship Center at Weber State University will host its first Outdoor Weber contest sponsored by Camping World this spring. Students from around the country are invited to present their ideas for outdoor recreation products or services. Finalists will compete at the Snowbasin, Wolf Creek and Powder Mountain resorts in the Ogden Valley of Northern Utah from March 22-24, 2018. The winner will receive $30,000 to develop their business concept. Chair of Camping World Holdings and star of CNBCs The Profit, Marcus Lemonis, will be the keynote speaker during the awards banquet, March 23 at 5 p.m. I am personally and proudly invested in more than 150 U.S. businesses, Lemonis said. Our business mantra for success has always been people-process-product, but without a doubt, people are the most important part of a businesses' success, which is why I am looking for the brightest, hardest working and most entrepreneurial-minded students, The three-day contest and celebration is open to all U.S. college students. Beginning Jan. 5, students can submit videos outlining their proposals to outdoorweber.com. The 25 semifinalists will be determined by the greatest number of online votes each video submission receives between Jan. 26 and Feb. 15. A panel of industry experts will select 10 finalists who will be invited to Utah to refine their concepts with assistance from some of the worlds most-recognized outdoor recreation-based companies. This is one of a number of contests and events sponsored annually by the Hall Global Entrepreneurship Center. Established in 2013 with a gift from entrepreneur and alumnus Alan E. Hall, the center offers a wide-range of opportunities to motivate, inspire and provide unique resources to help students achieve their dream of starting a business. The competition is a partnership with Camping World Holdings, Inc., a leading outdoor and camping retailer, headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois. This first-of-its-kind competition gives college students across the country the opportunity to advance their outdoor recreation idea, said Brandon Stoddard, Hall Global Entrepreneurship Center director. Those who take advantage of this opportunity will be better prepared to make their dream happen. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. For photos visit the following links: photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2017-photos/December-2017/i-thTvVnP/0/6539fa17/X2/rockclimbinggear-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2017-photos/December-2017/i-qXXsCCD/0/e669ab90/X2/HappyStudents-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2017-photos/December-2017/i-C7mfGgN/0/cffeb342/X2/rockclimbing4-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2017-photos/December-2017/i-tqhcczQ/0/d3350633/X2/Climber2-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2017-photos/December-2017/i-TqCmzzN/0/4a422e5a/X2/Biking-X2.jpg Weber State Hosts 23rd Annual Multicultural Youth Conference December 12, 2017 OGDEN, Utah Weber State Universitys 23rd annual Multicultural Youth Conference will draw hundreds of underrepresented students, from grades nine to 12, who want a head start on higher education to the Shepherd Union Building, Dec. 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Over 660 students from Davis, Weber and Ogden school districts are registered for the daylong event. Workshops will focus on skills needed for college success, including financial literacy and planning, completing scholarship applications, student leadership in college, cultural diversity and community involvement. First-generation, low-income or ethnic minority students can face unique barriers when it comes to education, often lacking knowledge about admissions, enrollment, FAFSA, scholarship options and other ways to pay for college, said Marissa Smith, College Access & First-Year Transition specialist. Young people need opportunities like this to develop skills and competences to not only help them access higher education, but also to help them find their place in the world beyond high school. This years participants will be treated to a special preview of "Shared Ground," a performance by Moving Company, a WSU dance group. Motivational speakers will conclude the conference, sending students off with a renewed sense of their dream and how Weber State can help them achieve it. In collaboration with many departments and academic programs across campus, Weber States Office of Access & Diversity hosts the annual event to empower students to be successful in college. Youth in attendance will have the chance to interact and ask questions of WSU faculty, staff and students. This conference strives to build connections between area high school students and the WSU campus community as a whole, Smith said. Many students come from cultures or socioeconomic backgrounds where they don't believe they can pursue a college education or earn a degree. We not only tell them they can, but also connect them with WSU staff, faculty and college students who have been through similar experiences, reminding them that it is possible. Interspersed throughout the day, university, high school and community volunteers will lead break-out sessions focused on cultural and diversity awareness. More than 15 WSU departments and colleges will participate in a resource fair that the students get a chance to visit. The staff and faculty from the many different disciplines will present workshops relevant to students interests and career ideas. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/12/2017 (1801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The once-isolated Berens River First Nation celebrated the completion of a $200-million all-weather road Tuesday and the hope it will spur ecotourism and other economic opportunities. The 2,000-member community greeted provincial Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler with soup, bannock with butter and jam, and tea after his four-hour trek from Winnipeg. Its supposed to be very beautiful in the summer, but driving up in winter was just magnificent, Schuler said upon his arrival. Jarrod Boscow photo Berens River Road Construction 2017 Berens River Mayor Allan Atlookan said community elders have spoken about a year-round road link for decades. Some have died before they could witness the realization of that dream. Its over 40 to 50 years in the making, he told reporters in a telephone conference call.It is an opening to the world out there for not just the local people, but for tourism. The doors are starting to open up for us. However, its unknown when other communities along the east side of Lake Winnipeg to the north and to the east of Berens River will have the opportunity to host their own celebrations. Schuler could not provide a timeline for construction of any new sections of the proposed multibillion-dollar road project. This is a celebration of what weve completed today, and certainly we want to continue to work with our federal partners on continuing with the road and with our First Nations partners, he said. Schuler was asked if planning had been carried out on any future section of the east-side road. Not at this time, the minister replied. The provincial government would consult with First Nation partners first and then talk to the federal government, he said. Jarrod Boscow photo We feel both of those (conversations) are very important before we get ahead of ourselves and start talking about what will be the next step. The long-term plan to build a 1,000-kilometre, $3-billion all-season road connecting communities east of Manitobas biggest lake has been on the drawing board for decades. Upon completion of the project, more than 36,000 people on the east side of the lake will be served by an all-season road. The newly completed section to Berens River is about 70 kilometres in length, extending south to Bloodvein First Nation. One logical extension would involve construction of a 94-kilometre stretch from Berens River north to Poplar River. Berens River First Nation Chief Hartley Everett said the community wont fully grasp the impact of the new road until next summer. Berens River has been served by winter roads until now. It is in the summertime that transportation options have been limited to air or boat. A lot of people in the community are looking forward to the road, he said. The new road, which is gravel, will slash freight costs and create new economic opportunities, Everett said, adding its possible Berens River could serve as a hub for transporting goods by plane to Island Lake. If new sections of the road were built, there would be more jobs for the community and training that could lead to permanent employment, he said. Jarrod Boscow photo The last section of the road to Berens River was completed less than three weeks ago. First Nations communities were contracted to clear the land and produce gravel. Last year, the provincial government shuttered the East Side Road Authority, the Crown agency tasked with overseeing the construction of the all-season road along Lake Winnipeg, as well as Freedom Road connecting Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the mainland. Its operations were folded into the Infrastructure Department. The fact there are no firm plans for future expansion of the east-side road network is a concern for the affected communities, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said. Theres definitely a need to connect these communities with all-weather roads, and the government should be pursuing a tangible timeline, he said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Two Sikh organizations have complained that city halls proposed taxi/ride-hailing bylaw discriminates against its community members. The Sikh Society of Manitoba and the Canadian Sikh Society sent letters to all members of council Tuesday, calling on council to reject the proposal at todays meeting and to reconsider the bylaw provisions. The Sikh Society of Manitoba is writing to express our support to local taxi industry and its drivers who are either of Sikh faith or members of other minority groups, wrote Sukhdev Singh Brar, president of the organization. We have been apprised this process (new taxi industry regulation) has been rushed through government with little consultation. This news is very distressing and we are concerned that this process is negligent of members interests and that their voices have not been properly heard. The Sikh Society of Manitoba supports the local taxi industry. (John Woods / Free Press files) The national organization raised similar concerns. We write to you, and to all of City Council, to express our full support for the taxi industry in Winnipeg, Unicity Taxi, Duffys Taxi and the Winnipeg Community Taxi Coalition ahead of Wednesdays critical vote that could devastate the industry as you introduce new ridesharing regulations, wrote Simran Chattha, past chair and director of the Canadian Sikh Association. The manner in which these rules are being rushed and on which the consultations have occurred have been nothing short of draconian.Mr. Mayor and respected City Councillors, please vote NO to the regulations on Wednesday. Council will vote on the proposed Vehicles For Hire bylaw later today but delaying the vote seems an unlikely outcome. Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee met behind closed doors Monday and hammered out an agreement on a new set of amendments to the bylaw, almost guaranteeing the provisions will be passed today. aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/12/2017 (1801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Three explosive packages mailed in Winnipeg more than two years ago were all sent by the same person, a provincial court judge has ruled. The decision Tuesday from Judge Tracey Lord means evidence related to one alleged bombing can be considered for all them, and points the court toward the identity of the bomber. Guido Amsel, 51, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder, as well as charges of aggravated assault, mischief and several explosives-related offences, and Crown prosecutors completed their case against him Tuesday. Guido Amsel Amsels defence lawyers have not yet told the court whether they will call the accused to the stand to testify. Based on the nature and number of similarities in evidence and the cumulative effect, Im satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the three devices sent to 252 River, 597 Washington and 280 Stradbrook (avenues) were sent by the same person. Im also satisfied that there is some evidence linking Mr. Amsel to each of the three circumstances, Lord said. Amsel is accused of mailing three explosive packages in July 2015 to his ex-wife, Iris Amsel, her lawyer and his own former lawyer during the couples civil-litigation dispute involving a Winnipeg autobody business they once shared. Hes also accused in an earlier explosion that damaged the front exterior of Iris Amsels home in the RM of St. Clements in December 2013. Although there were some differences between the four events, each involved a high-powered explosive substance, and Lord said she didnt believe the similarities among them were coincidental, particularly considering Iris Amsel was targeted twice. Im satisfied in the context of the case that there are sufficient similarities between the explosion in 2013 and the explosions in 2015, where the evidence of each is admissible with respect to the counts relating to the others, Lord said Tuesday. Im satisfied by the evidence on a balance of probabilities of the objective improbability of these four occurrences being coincidental. While delivering her decision in favour of the Crowns application to introduce similar fact evidence, Lord referenced previous testimony from the accuseds friend and former co-worker that seemed to foreshadow the 2015 bombings. Ollie Ehrmantraut testified he asked Guido Amsel about the 2013 explosion while they were out target shooting some time later. Ehrmantraut said Amsel didnt respond when he asked him if he was behind the explosion. In the same conversation, Mr. Ehrmantraut reported that the accused also posed a question, the gist of which was: if the first time misses, do you think the second time would miss? the judge said Tuesday. One of the mailed bombs, concealed in a digital voice recorder, seriously injured lawyer Maria Mitousis, who had been representing Iris Amsel, on July 3, 2015. The other two explosives, sent to Iris Amsel and the law office that had represented the accused, exploded after they were shot with water cannons from police bomb squad robots. All three explosive devices contained the same brand of button batteries, the judge noted. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/12/2017 (1801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The retired city cop who was fined $7,500 for snooping in his daughters health records also sent unauthorized personal health information to the RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service, a new report from the provincial ombudsman finds. The report, released Tuesday afternoon, wraps up an investigation launched in 2014 after the 58-year-old retired cop looked at the personal records of his estranged daughter while working as an auditor for Manitoba Health. Although the first-of-its-kind court case into the matter concluded in September with the mans lawyer defending his clients actions as parental concern, plain and simple, ombudsman Charlene Paquin revealed for the first time Tuesday it wasnt just his daughter the man spied on. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES An audit of the mans user activity indicates that over a five-year period, he opened hundreds of personal health files which appeared to be questionable in relation to the job he was doing. In some cases he printed the information; in other cases he shared the health information without approval to outside organizations including the police. This was a significant privacy breach, Paquins report says, and Manitoba Health takes ultimate responsibility. As the departments own assessment acknowledges, this breach could result in a variety of harms to individuals, such as identity theft and loss of economic opportunity due to stigmatization based on medical condition or other personal history, the report says. This could cause emotional and other psychological distress and harm. Despite resigning June 30, 2014, the ombudsmans report said the man was able to get into the building the next day, log onto his computer and appeared to have deleted files from his account. Its imperative that organizations have effective policies and procedures in place to prevent, detect and properly manage breaches, should they occur, Paquin said in an emailed statement. The ombudsmans office put forward 11 recommendations geared largely toward better procedures for maintaining and auditing records of user activity. Manitoba Health has already accepted six of the recommendations outright with three more under consideration. Two additional recommendations have been accepted in part, while other aspects of the recommendations remain under consideration. People expect health department staff to follow the rules around the privacy of the information they have access to and so do I, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said in a news release. The ombudsman is recommending the province establish a chief privacy officer, a senior official who would be tasked with co-ordinating the departments privacy responsibilities. Manitoba Health hasnt said if itll accept the recommendation. In its official response, Manitoba Health calls it very timely given the ongoing consolidation and reorganization efforts for health-care delivery provincewide. There is no one in the role yet, a spokeswoman confirmed via email, but said options for creating such a position will be considered. The department has already taken several steps in recent years to improve privacy procedures, including the creation of a more robust auditing process and more expansive guidelines for how to respond to such breaches going forward. Neither the Winnipeg Police Service nor the RCMP returned requests for comment on Tuesday. jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. One man is dead and another is in critical condition after a violent assault in the citys North End. Police responded to an incident involving a number of people in the field at David Livingstone School in the 200 block of Flora Avenue around 2:35 a.m. Wednesday. When police arrived, they found two men suffering from serious injuries one was unconscious and the other wasnt breathing. ERIK PINDERA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A field near David Livingston School is taped off and a police are on the scene. The men were taken to hospital in an ambulance in critical condition. One died a short time later. Its by a school, its in a residential neighbourhood, people who are there and dont know whats going on are anxious and rightly so to find out whats going on, said police spokesman Const. Rob Carver. Police dont believe there is an ongoing concern for area residents regarding the incident, he said. Anytime theres a violent incident, it becomes a topic of discussion as to who we are as a city and what it means for us; what it means for the police service, and what it means for people who live in the area, said Carver. Police are holding a number of people in custody, but couldnt say whether they are suspects or witnesses, or whether any charges have been laid. At least 20 cruiser cars were involved in blocking off the scene. A field adjacent to the school remained taped off Wednesday afternoon and a nearby home is also taped off. Debris and clothing littered the middle of the field next to what appeared to be blood in the snow. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Police tape surrounds the area where debris litters the middle of a field next to what appears to be blood in the snow. Police believe the assault most likely started in the field, then moved over to the residence. Officers were going door to door at a housing complex on Stella Walk, adjacent to the field Wednesday morning. The school was open for the day, but students were kept away from the crime scene, said a school division spokesperson. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. After asylum seekers lost life and limb crossing into Canada in 2017, human rights groups trying to secure a safer way for them to get here to make a refugee claim won a small victory in federal court this week. On Monday, a judge granted the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council of Churches public interest standing in a court case challenging the designation of the United States as a safe third country for refugees. This is an incredible opportunity to stand beside those who seek Canadas protection but also to make a stand in the presence of the highest court in our land, said Dorota Blumczynska, executive director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, which operates two transitional housing apartment blocks in Winnipeg. Close to 20 per cent of IRCOM residents are refugee claimants, she said. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement that took effect in December 2004, Canada and the U.S. each declared the other country safe for refugees and closed the door on most refugee claimants at the U.S.-Canada border. The Canadian rights groups say the U.S. is not a safe country for all refugees. In July 2017, the three organizations joined a woman from El Salvador and her children who are asking the federal court to strike down the Safe Third Country Agreement and allow her to make a refugee claim in Canada. The federal government filed a motion with the court, asking the organizations to be removed as parties from the litigation. The court on Monday rejected the motion, saying the organizations are well-placed to help advance access to justice for refugee claimants affected by the Safe Third Country Agreement and to help the court understand its impact on their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before the U.S. was designated as a safe third country, refugee claimants could present themselves at a Canada port of entry and ask to apply for refugee status. Now most refugee claimants are denied the chance to make a refugee claim if they present themselves at a port of entry. They must cross the border irregularly in order to make a refugee claim inside Canada, since the rules about safe third country do not apply to people who cross the border outside of a port of entry. The rule hasnt proven to be safe for refugee claimant Seidu Mohammed, who lost his fingers to frostbite walking over the border past Emerson last December, and Mavis Otuteye, who died of hypothermia in a Minnesota farmers field trying to get to Canada in May. Thats not what Canada had in mind when it entered into the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S., said Blumczynska. The intent was to ensure the refugee determination systems on both sides of the border were robust, timely, accessible, equitable, fair and transparent that both systems were unbiased and both held to international agreements that both countries signed giving refugee claimants the opportunity to share their story and seek protection, Blumczynska said. We know that in recent years, their experiences have been very different, she said. Whereas Canada has responded in a humanitarian way and fully honoured the intent of its international agreements, we are not seeing the same honouring south of the border with some of the travel bans put in place. It is certain that there is a bias against various communities, said Blumczynska, vice-president of the Canadian Council for Refugees. The council says the U.S. is not safe for refugee claimants for several reasons, including that many are arbitrarily detained in substandard conditions with limited or no access to legal counsel. The Donald Trump administrations new anti-refugee and anti-Muslim measures which Blumczynska calls fear mongering have made things worse. The security mechanisms we have in place thorough interviews, fingerprinting, checking international databases like Interpol are doing an incredible job of screening people, she said. Scrapping the agreement with the U.S. so refugee claimants can present themselves at a Canadian port of entry would allow for a more humane and orderly process, Blumczynska said. The reality is this is our opportunity to show that were going to honour those commitments. We have the means and the space and the most compassionate, kind and welcoming communities of any nation in the world. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The #MeToo hashtag has created a space of female solidarity for victims who have experienced various forms of sexual abuse. The dominant male response has involved a new hashtag #HowIWillChange where men are declaring their intention to stop sexualizing women and to stand in solidarity with them against assault. When men have stepped into the spotlight to say #MeToo applies to them too, as victims of sexual violence, they have sometimes been welcomed and other times less so. Labelling the trauma may represent a first disclosure a sensitive time period. The #MeToo space has evolved towards #HealMeToo, towards recognition of the struggle that sexual assault survivors live with, and the need for healing and ongoing support and activism. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times Files Sexual assault survivors and their supporters at the #MeToo Survivors March against sexual abuse in Los Angeles in November. Yet for real healing to occur, I think we need to ask ourselves: are we ready, as a society, to listen to the male victim? Can we create both virtual and face-to-face culturally safe spaces to listen, without co-opting the female space to listen, especially to male youth? This question resonates with me as a child abuse and dating violence expert. And it resonates with my team of researchers in boys and mens health in McMaster Universitys department of pediatrics and the Offord Centre for Child Studies. If we listen, perhaps we can transform the current of toxic masculinity towards the alternative a compassionate masculinity. Disrupting the cycle of toxic masculinity A 2011 review of the prevalence of child sexual abuse around the world shows that its a female-dominant issue about one in five girls and one in 13 boys globally are sexually abused. A more recent 2017 review shows male victimization rates of about five per cent of school youth globally, rising to 16 per cent among high-risk youth such as those forced to live on the street at times. These statistics tell us that there are tens of millions of male children and teens who confront sexual abuse, as well as girls and young women. To understand and prevent male violence against both women and men, and then to disrupt the cycle of toxic masculinity and trauma, we need to check our biases on who is socially accepted as a victim. The words of one victim summarize this: A boy, being a victim, nobody really buys that, you know? The challenge we deal with is that there are two simple facts in sexual abuse: 1) the vast majority of perpetrators are males, leading us to blame men and hold them accountable; and 2) sexually attacking a person requires a significant degree of emotional distance, which is a key factor in the cycle of toxic masculinity. This emotional distance manifests in many ways as low empathy, low compassion, victim-blaming, micro-aggressions and frankly assaultive behaviour, from cat-calling to rape. In cases of child sexual abuse, or CSA, what I call the want-take violent dynamic is at its highest with total disregard for the vulnerability of the child or adolescent. Young male victims of CSA then have to deal with the violent experience of toxic masculinity from the perpetrator at a time when they are forming their own identities as males, while they are experiencing toxic stress from being maltreated. This occurs within a culture where boys are often asked to be tough and may have few male role models for healthy emotional expression. Its a culture in which men are primarily the perpetrators of violence and in which there may be few compassionate ears to listen. So we must listen. Even if the young male victim first tries to push us away, we must persist in our message: We are here for you when you are ready to talk, we are here. Disconnected emotional lives Our team brings Canadian researchers and projects together to tackle the what about the boys? question. We used data from Quebec City over a 10-year period, comparing child sexual abuse victims (at an average age of 10 years old) to children who had not been abused, following up with both groups five years later, in their adolescence. Abused males were more likely to consult a physician for mental health problems and to be hospitalized for physical health issues than their peers who had not been abused. When compared to female abuse victims, abused males were more than twice as likely to consult a physician for physical health problems, but 2.3 times less likely to consult one for mental health problems. Other results from our research are explained in this research to action video. This leads to a series of questions: are health and other service providers such as social workers and counsellors more likely to respond to physical health challenges in males, funnelling them towards less and less connection to their emotional life? If we as a society cannot accept male emotional distress (and maybe the victims themselves cannot either), then what are we ready to listen to? The violence that ensues when these males act out instead? Are we further stigmatizing marginalized and abused youth and steering them toward trouble with the law and juvenile detention when they are experiencing trauma symptoms of distress, fear and anxiety? Sex as a coping strategy Our prior research has shown that trauma symptoms in maltreated males partially explain the relationship between experiences of childhood psychological abuse and perpetration of adolescent dating violence. Part of the opportunity for positive change may exist in how we support teens in their romantic relationships. With the current conversation in colleges about the need for a culture of consent, is there space to validate the male survivor? Adolescent males who have experienced child sexual abuse are vulnerable to further abuse in their future relationships. They report more sexual coercion from their partners, and other forms of dating violence towards them, than do non-CSA teens. Many males also report feeling scared of their partner. When it comes to why they have sex, teenage boys who have experienced CSA are more likely to report having sex to cope with negative emotions than teens who have not experienced CSA (but have experienced maltreatment). Using sex to cope with negative emotions explains in part the relationship between CSA and adolescent sexual health risk behaviours, like multiple partners or unsafe sex practices, for both male and female victims. Towards compassionate masculinity Adolescence and young adulthood are windows of opportunity for positive change. The first step is to prevent sexual violence. To prevent is to intervene. But to intervene we as parents, friends, teachers, service providers all have to be ready to listen. As our research-based understandings of gender and sexuality develop and expand, collectively, we have to be open to the male victim of CSA and to support their participation in the ongoing, important conversation of #MeToo. As this cultural dialogue moves towards the practical strategies of #HowIWillChange, we can take this moment to pull back the cloak of invisibility from perpetrators, and to support victims coming forward with their stories. Most victims are motivated by a wish to prevent others victimization. If we listen, there will be a profound shift away from toxic masculinity and towards defining the alternative a compassionate masculinity. The Global Partnership to End Violence is gathering stakeholders worldwide so that all victims are heard. Are we #ReadytoListen to male victims? Christine Wekerle is an associate professor of pediatrics at McMaster University. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. In order to keep masses of refugees from reaching Europe, the European Union (EU) is helping build, fund and equip a vast network of prison camps in which refugees are arbitrarily detained, beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted, sold into slavery and murdered. This is the conclusion of a harrowing Amnesty International (AI) report published yesterday, titled Libya's Dark Web of Collusion. The horrific abuses detailed in the AI report are already well known. Protests erupted in North Africa, France and worldwide last month, after CNN broadcast videos of human traffickers selling refugees into slavery in Libya. However, AI's extensively documented report, based on government documents and dozens of interviews with refugees, underscores not only the vast scope of this barbaric prison system, but the key role of EU technical and financial support. Moreover, while the AI report says very little about NATO's 2011 war in Libya, it makes clear that the origins of this prison system lie in the wave of imperialist wars across the Middle East and Africa and the ensuing global refugee crisis. The people-smugglers that operate prison camps in Libya are mostly militias that NATO backed against Gaddafi during the war, and that took power after NATO destroyed the Gaddafi regime. This is a devastating indictment of the pundits, academics and pseudo left parties like France's New Anti-capitalist Party or the International Socialist Organization in the United States that hailed the war in Libya as a humanitarian intervention to aid a democratic revolution. While they claimed that imperialist war would bring democracy and freedom to Libya, it brought slavery, rape and murder. According to International Organization on Migration (IOM) statistics cited by AI, at least 416,556 refugees were trapped in Libya in September 2017. Of these, over 60 percent are from sub-Saharan Africa, 32 percent are from North Africa, and 7 percent from Asia and the Middle East. The EU is working with militias and criminal gangs to keep them in Libya. The strategy was codified in the February 2017 Malta Declaration, in which the EU endorsed and vowed to support Italian cooperation with Libyan authorities against refugees. This involved funding, training and arming border guards and the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) to block refugee departures, and upgrading and financing so-called reception centres where refugees captured by the LCG are detained. Also, AI notes, the EU has struck deals with Libyan local authorities and the leaders of tribes and armed groupsto encourage them to stop the smuggling of people. As a result, AI notes, refugee departures from Libya are collapsing: In the first semester of 2017 a total of 83,754 people had reached Italy by sea, a significant increase over the same period in 2016, when 70,222 arrivals were recorded. However, the trend then changed dramatically: between July and November 2017 a total of 33,288 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy, 67 percent fewer than in the same period of 2016, when 102,786 arrived. With EU assistance, tens of thousands of refugees are being thrown into prison camps where they are subjected to beatings, torture and murder. Currently, AI writes, about 20,000 refugees and migrants are detained in centres normally managed by the General Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), an EU-funded branch of the Libyan Interior Ministry. As Libya does not have a functioning judicial system since Gaddafi's overthrow, AI adds, refugees are deprived of any formal administrative or judicial means of challenging their detention. AI cites testimony from many refugees who escaped to Italy from camps in Libya. Mariam from Eritrea said the guards were hard; they were drunk all the time. Then one day there were four Somalis who tried to escape. The Eritrean smugglers told us they killed them, three of them; the fourth [was] in the hospital. Then they beat the rest of the Somalis. [They were] getting tortured; you could hear the screaming. They used electricity and beat them with Kalashnikov [rifles]. Samir from Sudan described how he escaped from the DCIM's Nasser detention center, but his friends did not and were sold into debt bondage: The electricity was out and there was no water, so they took us outside to gather water. Me and two other friendswe ran; they shot after us but we were fast. ... The other three were bailed out by the Sudanese man and they have to work to pay off 4,500 Libyan dinars to the factory owner. Ousman from Gambia described a DCIM detention center in Tripoli: I saw many people dying in prison, either because they fell sick or were beaten Guards were Libyanthey used to beat everybody, without a reason. Before entering the prison, police search you and take away all money, phone, everything. He added, I saw one boy in the prisonthey gave him a phone to call his family, and they beat him with a metal stick while [he was] on the phone, on arms and everywhere...after five months I escaped with other people, but the guards started shooting and many were killed. I dont now how many were killed, but I saw some falling and screaming. Mohamed, a Bangladeshi steelworker living in Libya, said: A group of Libyans came in the shop one day and said they had work for us. Three of us went with them. There were three of them. We got in the car with them. They told me to put my head down, and not look; they became aggressive. They took us to a place, next to a factory. When they took us inside, there were about 500 people, it was one big place filled with people. They beat me with a metal rod; it broke my fingers [he showed deformed fingers on his right hand]. I have problems with my right leg also and my shoulder because of the beating. One guy was beaten to death in front of my eyes. I stayed there for 20 days. I then paid 2,000 US dollars to get out; my friends managed to collect the money. The NATO war in Libya and the country's ensuing collapse into a bloody civil war are searing lessons in the reactionary role of imperialism. The EU's foreign policy has emerged from the Libyan war completely criminalized, using the most barbaric methods to deny refugees' right to asylum. The EU is complicit in the torture of refugees not only in that it provides support to DCIM to operate its semi-official prison camps in Libya; EU naval aid to train and arm the LCG, as well as deals cut with various regional or local militias that control prison facilities, also play a key role. AI explains, The LCGs increased capacity, due to support from EU member states, has led to an increasing number of such pull-back operations. So far in 2017, 19,452 people have been intercepted by LCG and taken back to Libya. When the LCG intercept boats at sea, they bring refugees and migrants back to Libyan shores and routinely transfer them to DCIM detention centres. AI singled out a particular deal between Italy, the former colonial power, and influential warlord Khalifa Haftar: Italian government representatives also discussed measures to reduce irregular migratory movements with Khalifa Haftar, the head of the self-styled Libyan National Army, which controls the east of the country. Haftar visited Italy on 26 September 2017 to meet with the Italian Ministers of Interior and Defence. An exhibition devoted to the life and career of Jewish art historian and gallery owner Max Stern (1904-1987), who was forced to flee Germany by the Nazis, has been cancelled by the city authorities in Dusseldorf. The exhibition was due to open at the Stadtmuseum Dusseldorf on February 1, 2018. Sterns art collection was auctioned under pressure from the Nazis in the 1930s and has remained largely unseen ever since. The proposed exhibition had been prepared over several years and was also scheduled to run in Canada and Israel. Concordia University and Montreals Jewish community, as well as the Israeli city of Haifa, participated in its planning and funding. The exhibition was intended to set an example for the cross-border, open and responsible treatment of artworks stolen by the Nazis. In November, however, the city of Dusseldorf suddenly canceled the exhibition, apparently without consulting its Canadian and Israeli partners. Mayor Thomas Geisel (Social Democratic Party, SDP) justified the move by citing current information and restitution requests from German museums, relating to Stern. Geisel gave no explanation as to why this constituted sufficient grounds for cancelling the show at the Stadtmuseum Dusseldorf. The citys press office later provided its own statement, which consisted of vague and noncommittal phrases. Critics of the cancellation have suggested the city wanted to avoid a situation where demands could be raised for the restitution of the works of art to be shown, some of which are already subject to negotiations with potential claimants. Max Stern operated an art gallery frequented by affluent customers in the Konigsallee in Dusseldorf. On September 13, 1937, the Nazis Reich Chamber of German Arts told him in writing to shut down his gallery by September 31. A copy of the missive went to the Gestapo. Stern was forbidden to operate, after the date mentioned, in the distribution, reproduction or mediation of the sale of cultural property. He was told to hand over cultural property in his possession to an art dealer or auctioneer, who was a member of the Reich Chamber of Culture. After the auction of 228 paintings on November 13, 1937 held at the Lempertz auction house in Cologne, Stern managed to flee to Paris. The lions share of the auction proceeds went to the so-called Reich tax on refugees levied by the Nazis at the rate of 25 percent of total assets, and the Dego [Deutsche Golddiskontbank] Levy, an extortionate fee to be paid to the latter institution, a subsidiary of the German central bank, for assets and monetary values transferred abroad. In 1936 this levy stood at 81 percent, and was later raised to 95 percent. As is usual in these cases, the value of the paintings at auction was set very low. In addition, art dealers usually arranged amongst themselves to secure the works at the cheapest possible price. Max Stern had inherited most of the paintings in his gallery from his father. The paintings were not modern (or, in the jargon of the Nazis, degenerate art), but rather old masters, including paintings of the Dusseldorf School of Painting and genre paintings from the early 19th century. However, Max Stern had also made efforts to acquire works by contemporary painters such as Otto Dix. In his book, The Pictures Are Among Us. Dealing with Nazi Looted Art and the Gurlitt Case ( Die Bilder sind unter uns. Das Geschaft mit der NS-Raubkunst und der Fall Gurlitt ), author Stefan Koldehoff demonstrates, tracing individual examples, how Sterns art collection came into the possession of Nazi bigwigs. Other paintings repeatedly appeared in the art world and were resold. Some were even auctioned again at Lempertz, without any mention being made of the forced auction in 1937. [1] Sterns private collection was held in storage in Cologne by the Josef Roggendorf shipping agency. From there it was confiscated by the Gestapo before the war broke out and handed over to a Cologne auction house for sale. The proceeds of the auction were then transferred to government headquarters in Dusseldorf. From Paris Stern fled again to London, where he again opened an art gallery. However, he was detained in 1940 as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man and interned. In 1943 he was sent to Canada with many other Jewish refugees. After his release from internment in 1944, he was able to return to the art trade. In 1947, he succeeded in recovering some of his paintings from Germany and making his gallery in Montreal an important centre for modern art. He was apparently well-known for his encouragement and sponsorship of young and unknown Canadian artists. Stern also promoted the work of Emily Carr and the Group of Seven, important Canadian artists. Dying without children, Max Stern bequeathed most of his property to three universities, McGill and Concordia in Montreal and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Another part of his heritage went to the National Gallery of Canada and the McCord Museum of Canadian History. The heirs of Stern were involved in the preparation of the Dusseldorf exhibition. The three universities founded the Max Stern Art Restitution Project which systematically investigated the fate of around 400 artworks that were forcibly auctioned and stolen during the Nazi era. Some works have since been tracked down, restored or reclaimed. Many of them are displayed on the projects web site. The starting point of the planned exhibition was Self-Portrait by Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow (1789-1862), a Romantic painter, a founder of the Dusseldorf School of Painting and director of the citys Academy of Fine Arts. The Dusseldorf Stadtmuseum returned the painting to Sterns heirs four years ago, but it remained on loan at the institution. The museums director, Susanne Anna, announced at the time she was researching Sterns career in Dusseldorf. This is how the idea for the now cancelled exhibition came into being. Numerous documents, including private letters and art gallery inventories, had been assembled for the exhibition. The Lenbachhaus in Munich, the Tate Gallery in London and other institutions agreed to make paintings available on loan. In Canada, more than $50,000 was raised to support the project. Another painting from the Stern collection, Italian Family (1837), by Wilhelm Krafft, is also hanging on loan at the city museum. It was returned in June 2016 by a Dusseldorf auction house to the Max and Iris Stern Foundation, as well as the three universities favoured by Stern. A further work, The Children of the Artist (1830), also by Schadow, which used to hang in the Dusseldorf mayors office and is now in storage at the Kunstpalast Museum, is controversial. The city is still negotiating the demands raised by Sterns heirs. Mayor Geisel has spoken out against returning it to the family. He said he spent a whole day working with experts on the Schadow painting and was not of the opinion that it was subject to restitution, he said, without providing any further explanation. Another statement by Geisel, in which he justified the cancellation of the exhibition, was revealing. He argued there had been the danger that the exhibition could have been misinterpreted in the sense that we exclusively share the standpoint of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project and consider it the only correct one. But that is not true. The only interpretation of these remarks is that the SPD mayor fears that the exhibition could lead to further demands for the restitution of paintings from the Max Stern Collection, which are still in private hands or public collections. The case of Max Liebermanns The Potato Picker, one example given by Koldehoff in his book, is also highly controversial. [2] The painting hangs in the private museum of the Pfanni food company, a subsidiary of Unilever that specializes in potato products, in Munich. Pfannis CEO, Otto Eckart, has categorically ruled out giving back the painting and declared: One would have to say at a certain point that demands of this kind must now be ruled out. The cancellation of the Dusseldorf exhibition has met with widespread international condemnation. The director of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, Clarence Epstein, described it as tragic. Once before Dusseldorf had wiped Max Stern from the historical record, he argued. Now its is happening again, and there is little resistance in Germany from those who could stop it. The director of the Jewish Community Foundation in Montreal said: To say we are disappointed is an understatement. Criticism also came from the boards of the partner museums in Haifa and Montreal. The President of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, also honorary chairman of the New York Museum of Modern Art, considers the Dusseldorf decision to be a major setback, especially for the victims of the Holocaust and their heirs. I sincerely hope that the City of Dusseldorf and its mayor Thomas Geisel will reconsider their decision in the interest of the victims of the National Socialist robberies, their heirs and the international art community. In a letter to the Dusseldorf mayor, Lauder writes that his reasoning sounds like the city has something to hide. Many members of the international art world and Jewish communities had eagerly awaited the exhibition. The official reason for the cancellation of the exhibition, i.e., that the victims of Nazi art theft and their heirs are still searching for their property, is absurd. Lauder referred to the Gurlitt exhibition in the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. (In February 2012, the authorities confiscated hundreds of artworks from the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of art historian and dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, some of which were suspected of having been looted by the Nazis.) The latter show made clear that it was possible to present an exhibition while victims and their heirs were still looking for their rightful property. In the case of the Dusseldorf Max Stern exhibition, it would have been possible to create transparency and clarify the art theft of the Nazis as well as provenance research. The director of Dusseldorfs Jewish Community, Michael Szentei-Heise, also protested against the citys decision and declared: I suspect that there are individual pieces of looted art in the Dusseldorf exhibition that would have triggered a discussion you do not seem to want. In the Cornelius Gurlitt case, there were initial attempts to hide the paintings he had stored in his homes in Munich and Salzburg. Gurlitts father was Hitlers most important art dealer. The German prosecutor's office and the government initially declined to put on the Internet details of the art collection, which had been accidentally uncovered by customs officers. The reason for this reaction was not so much anxiety that relatives of former owners could demand the return of their paintings. Rather, German cultural policy is driven by the fear that the Nazi networks that continued to exist after 1945 could be uncovered. Such networks organised the sale of confiscated artworks at auctions after the war to enrich themselves. Cornelius Gurlitt himself used these same networks to finance his retirement. The topic of the Nazi confiscation of art was hushed up for decades after 1945. It was not until the 1990s that tentative attempts were made in Germany to investigate the fate of artworks stolen from Jewish owners by the Nazis. Institutions such as the Magdeburg-based German Centre for Cultural Property Losses have only recently begun systematically to investigate the whereabouts of lost objects of art that have been secretively stored in museum storerooms or villas of wealthy private owners. German museums are also reluctant to participate in such research. Sources: [1] Stefan Koldehoff, Die Bilder sind unter uns. Das Geschaft mit der NS-Raubkunst, Frankfurt 2009, 24 [2] Ibid., 26 Canadas Liberal government has stood almost alone among Washingtons western allies in refusing to condemn President Donald Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. While Ottawas muted response was in part due to concerns about antagonizing the Trump administration in the midst of the NAFTA renegotiation, it was also bound up with Canadian imperialist strategy in the oil-rich Middle East. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada would not follow Trumps lead in moving its embassy to Jerusalem. However, both refrained from criticizing Trump and were at pains to emphasize Canadas steadfast support for Israel. Asked by a journalist if he would join British Prime Minister Theresa May in passing on his concerns to Trump, Trudeau refused to answer the question, merely noting that Canada would remain engaged with international partners over the Middle East. Trumps announcement was a deliberate provocation, effectively bringing an end to Washingtons backing of the seven-decade-long fraud of a two-state solution. It is part of Washingtons comprehensive plan for an escalation of tensions throughout the Middle East in preparation for war with Iran. Washingtons move triggered sharp denunciations from the European powers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britains May all criticized Trump. This is not an isolated dispute, but reflects a growing rift between the former Trans-Atlantic allies that has grown rapidly in recent months on a host of issues, including Trumps plans to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal, his opposition to the Paris climate change accord, his war threats against North Korea and plans to hit German exports with trade measures. In contrast to the European imperialist powers, Canada is firmly lining up with the Trump administration, including in its preparations for war against North Korea. The deepening global capitalist crisis and the intensifying conflicts among the imperialist powers are undermining Canadas ability to offset the power imbalance with Washington by relying on multilateral institutions and the Trans-Atlantic alliance. Since Trump came to power, Trudeau has gone out of his way to avoid attacking his far-right program and sought to establish good working relations with the fascist-minded president, with Jerusalem merely being one example among many. Trumps decision on Jerusalem grants the right-wing Israeli regime, Washingtons closest ally in the region, a free hand to expand its illegal settlements, continue the brutal oppression of the Palestinians, and prepare for a major conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon or in Syria. The Trudeau government endorses this reactionary agenda because Canadas ruling elite views it as the best option for consolidating its imperialist interests in the region. Ottawa has played a key role in virtually all of the US-led wars of aggression over the past two decades in the Middle East and Central Asia, including in Afghanistan for a decade beginning in 2001, Libya in 2011 and the ongoing war in Syria and Iraq. The latter conflict, publicly sold on the bogus pretext of combating terrorism, grew out of the previous US wars and was from the outset part of Washingtons efforts to bring about regime change in Damascus and weaken Iranian influence. This is becoming all the more clear as US troop levels are being ramped up in Syria at the very point when ISIS, the purported target of the onslaught, has been defeated in its last urban strongholds. Canada has participated in the war in Iraq and Syria since it was launched in 2014. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent six CF-18 fighter jets to carry out air strikes and a small contingent of troops to provide on-the-ground training. Trudeau, who exploited popular opposition to the war by calling for the withdrawal of the CF-18s to win election as prime minister in 2015, tripled the number of Canadian Special Forces deployed to Iraq to advise and assist the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Liberals have also adopted seamlessly the hard-right Harper governments Israel policy. Apart from the United States, no other major power aligns itself so consistently with the Israeli government. At the United Nations, the Trudeau government has a record of joining with the US and a handful of tiny Pacific island states in opposing any criticism of Israel. In December 2016, Canada voted with the US, Israel, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands to reject a resolution guaranteeing Geneva Convention protections to Palestinian residents in the Occupied Territories. 169 countries supported the resolution. Ottawa has also opposed UN motions calling for a two-state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as soon as possible, and ensuring Palestinians inalienable rights. Significantly, Canada also voted against a UN resolution urging Israel to respect Jerusalems international status, which has been in place since 1947. Earlier this month, Canada rejected a second resolution appealing to Israel to disavow its occupation and annexation of Arab East Jerusalem, even as rumours circulated that Trump was set to make his announcement. These pro-Israel positions are bound up with the Canadian ruling elites close ties with the right-wing regime in Tel Aviv and other pro-US states in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia. Last year, Canada became the second-largest weapons exporter to the region, with only the US selling more arms. Illustrating Canadas rise as an important military partner for the despotic oil Gulf sheikdoms, the Trudeau government approved a $15 billion deal to supply Riyadh with armoured vehicles, even though credible evidence has emerged that the Canadian-made equipment is being used to bloodily suppress domestic opposition and wage war in Yemen. Canadian-Israeli cooperation, much of which remains shrouded in secrecy, is also extensive. According to a 2012 Canadian Press report, Ottawa and Tel Aviv have deals on a number of defence and intelligence projects. Canadian and Israeli intelligence share classified information, military science and technology research, and details on defence procurement. When Canada went shopping for drones during its involvement in the Afghan war, it selected the Israeli-made Heron. The article also noted that the Canadian Air Force is looking at deepening relations with Israel given its modern and dynamic Air Force. Canadian-Israeli trade has more than tripled since 1997, when Ottawa and Tel Aviv concluded a bilateral trade agreement, rising from around $500 million to over $1.5 billion. Given these substantial strategic, military and economic interests, it should come as no surprise that Canadas political establishment fully endorses Ottawas pro-Israel stance. In February last year, Trudeaus Liberals united with the Conservatives to adopt a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for its demonization and delegitimization of the state of Israel. Numerous politicians justified this brazen attack on democratic rights with the spurious claim that the supporters of BDS are anti-Semites. Notwithstanding the false political perspective advanced by BDS, which blames the entire Israeli population for the policies pursued by the Israeli ruling class and rules out the possibility of uniting Arab and Jewish workers in a common struggle based on a socialist program, the fact that the Trudeau government was cheered on by the most right-wing sections of the Canadian corporate media, including the Toronto Sun, and by the Netanyahu government itself underscores the bans reactionary character. A similar ban voted on by the Ontario provincial legislature in December 2016 won support from a majority of New Democratic Party (NDP) MPPs. During the 2015 federal election campaign, the NDP purged candidates who had made pro-Palestinian statements or criticized Israel in the past. And in 2014, when at least 2,000 Palestinian civilians lost their lives in Israels ruthless bombardment of Gaza, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair dismissed any criticism of the Israeli regime. Mulcair instead focused his ire on Hamas rocket attacks, which killed only a handful of Israelis, describing them as utterly unacceptable. This won him and his party praise from the neoconservative National Post, which applauded a New Democratic Party that has matured. Trudeau, who was Liberal leader at the time, hailed the bloodbath carried out by Israel as justifiable self-defence. The author also recommends: Canadas New Democratic Party supports Israeli war crimes [26 July 2014] Labor Senator Sam Dastyari announced his resignation from federal parliament yesterday afternoon, following hysterical accusations from the Liberal-National Coalition government and the corporate press that he is an agent of influence for the Chinese Communist Party regime. The Labor senator is the first politician to be ousted in a year-long anti-China witch-hunt, prosecuted by the major parties, the corporate media and the intelligence agencies. It centres on entirely unsubstantiated claims that the Chinese government is interfering in Australian democracy through influence operations and political donations. In the days preceding the resignation, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared that Dastyari had sold Australia out, while Immigration Minister Peter Dutton described the Labor senator as a shady figure and a double agent who shouldnt be in the Australian parliament. This morning, Turnbull called for Dastyari to leave the parliament immediately, rather than at a later date prior to the resumption of the Senate in early February. He declared that Dastyari had betrayed Australia and warned that he was still taking money from the taxpayers of the country that he put second. Dastyari had also come under intense pressure from within his own party, with Labor leader Bill Shorten demoting him to the backbench and senior Labor shadow ministers publicly calling for him to resign from the Senate. Dastyari, a right-wing Labor powerbroker from New South Wales, has been a central target of the anti-China campaign because of his role in soliciting donations from Chinese businessmen. The immediate trigger for Dastyaris resignation were media reports over the past weeks featuring lurid allegations about the senators ties to Huang Xiangmo, a Chinese property developer who has donated to both Labor and the Liberal-Nationals. Dastyari has been particularly denounced over allegations in the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald that he provided counter-surveillance advice to Huang. He took the elementary step of warning the Chinese businessman last year that their mobile phones could be tapped, including by US government agencies. The Fairfax Medias exclusive, likely based on information supplied by ASIO, made clear that Dastyaris fears were not unwarranted. The Australian media has completely ignored the deeply anti-democratic implications of the surveillance of elected politicians by the intelligence agencies, instead labelling Dastyaris advice as disloyal and even treasonous. The Turnbull government has exploited the hysterical denunciations of Dastyari to try and divert from its own deepening political crisis. The Coalition is deeply divided over a range of issues and its majority is hanging by a thread amid widespread popular opposition. However, the central purpose of the protracted anti-China witch-hunt, is to legitimise Australias frontline role in US plans for war in the Indo-Pacific region. In 2011, the Labor government of Julia Gillard, with the support of all the establishment parties, aligned Australia with the US pivot to Asia, including a vast American military-build up in preparation for war with China. The anti-China campaign, initiated late last year, has coincided with a ratcheting-up of US provocations against Beijing, and threats by the Trump administration over the past six months to launch a preemptive attack on North Korea. The stream of hysterical commentaries and unproven allegations is aimed at overcoming anti-war sentiment and bludgeoning the population into accepting ever-more direct Australian involvement in conflicts that could lead to a catastrophic nuclear war, by creating a climate of fear and suspicion directed at China. The campaign was initiated in August 2016 by the state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation and rapidly joined by Fairfax Media-owned publications and other corporate outlets. Among the first exposes was a report in the Australian Financial Review that Dastyari had accepted $1,670 from a Chinese company for travel expenses. He was branded a Manchurian candidate and stripped of his frontbench Senate positions. Over the following weeks, the campaign broadened, with Sydney Morning Herald international editor Peter Hartcher calling for a purge of rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows, including politicians and business figures with links to China, Chinese student and community groups, and anyone opposed to Australias unconditional alignment with US plans for war against Beijing. In June 2017, Fairfax and the ABC carried out a joint investigation, in close collaboration with ASIO, into how Chinas Communist Party is secretly infiltrating Australia. It presented donations by Chinese-born businessmen to Labor and the Liberal-Nationals as a nefarious Chinese government plot to subvert Australian politics. The investigation was shot-through with contradictions, including the fact that some of the named businessmen had no links to the Chinese regime. These unsubstantiated claims have now been invoked by the Coalition government to justify draconian new laws, unveiled this month, targeting unlawful foreign influence. The proposed legislation will include the creation of a register of foreign agents, modelled on US laws which have been used against Russian-owned media companies this year, and a ban on foreign donations for any political activity. What is being prepared is nothing less than a purge, aimed at criminalising any divergence from Australias commitment to US-led threats and provocations in the region. Attorney General George Brandis stated earlier this month that Dastyaris alleged conduct does not reach the threshold of the existing laws of treason and espionage, adding, that is why... we are introducing a new offence of unlawful foreign interference. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald on December 5 gleefully declared that political free speech would likely be targeted, commenting, Political activity such as Labor senator Sam Dastyaris infamous pro-China speech after receiving money from a Beijing-linked businessman would become a crime under new laws to curb foreign interference, the Turnbull government has indicated. In reality, Dastyaris alleged remarks were a tepid suggestion that Australia not become directly involved in territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The US has deliberately stoked longstanding territorial conflicts between China and south-east Asian countries, including the Philippines, to ramp up pressure on Beijing. Dastyari did not criticise US militarism, or the US-Australia alliance, which he supports. Media commentaries, along with Labor and Liberal-National politicians, however, have claimed that his comments were not in line with official Labor policy, which was to agitate for Australia to conduct its own military provocations in the South China Sea in Beijing. Dastyaris ouster signals a stepped-up campaign targeting figures within the political establishment with ties to Chinese business interests and anyone who has expressed concerns about Australias alignment with the US war drive in Asia. Amid the imminent danger of a US attack on North Korea, this is aimed at ensuring that the official political set-up is unwavering in its commitment to participate in war at any time. Further witch-hunts and purges are on the agenda, with ASIO leaking to the press earlier this month that it has identified ten candidates to previous local and state elections that it said had close ties to Chinese intelligence. The anti-China campaign will increasingly be directed at anti-war opposition from workers and young people. Already, government-connected think tanks warned that the 130,000 Chinese international students in Australia could constitute a potential fifth column. This xenophobic agitation recalls the actions of Australian governments in World War One and World War Two, when enemy aliens were locked-up in internment camps, and anti-war activists viciously persecuted. The Trump White House Monday issued a so-called War Powers letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the president pro tempore of the Senate, Orin Hatch, to keep the Congress informed about deployments of United States Armed Forces equipped for combat. In 1973, against the backdrop of the debacle of the Vietnam War, the US Congress, overriding the veto of then-President Richard Nixon, passed the War Powers Act. The aim of the legislation was to prevent future presidents from waging undeclared and open-ended wars with little or no accountability to Congress, which under the US Constitution has the exclusive power to declare war. It gave the president the right to use military force at his discretion for up to 60 daysitself a huge concession of power to the executive branchbut required withdrawal after a total of 90 days if Congress failed to vote its approval of military action. While still on the books, the War Powers Act has long ago been turned into a dead letter by the quarter century of US wars of aggression that have followed the Stalinist bureaucracys dissolution of the Soviet Union, all waged without a declaration of war by Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have willingly acquiesced in the de facto concentration of dictatorial power in the hands of the commander in chief in the all-important matter of the waging of foreign wars. The latest letter from the Trump administration, however, represents another qualitative step in this protracted degeneration of American democracy and the elimination of the last pretenses of civilian control over the military. Failing to even keep Congress informed about US combat deployments, the document, for the first time, omitted any information about the number of troops participating in Washingtons multiple wars and military interventions. The letter acknowledges that the US is continuing and escalating the longest war in its history, the 16-year-long intervention in Afghanistan, stating that the American military is engaged in active hostilities against not only Al Qaeda and ISIS, but also the Taliban and any forces that threaten the viability of the Afghan government and its security forces. How many troops are engaged in this open-ended conflict is kept secret. Similarly, the letter refers to a systematic campaign of airstrikes that have killed and wounded tens of thousands in Iraq and Syria, along with the deployment of ground troops in both countries. But again, their number is concealed. It also mentions, for the first time, that a small number are deployed inside Yemen, where a US-backed Saudi force is carrying out a near genocidal war that has left millions on the brink of mass starvation. It goes on to make reference to US military operations in Libya, East Africa, Africas Lake Chad Basin and Sahel Region and the Philippines, as well as deployments of forces in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Cuba. In sync with Trumps War Powers letter the Pentagon has issued a report listing the current location of fully 44,000 troops deployed across the globe as unknown. During a Pentagon press briefing last Wednesday, Army Col. Rob Manning declared that the US militarys aim was to balance informing the American public with the imperative of operational security and denying the enemy any advantage. This was the same specious argument made by Trump last August when he announced his plan for an escalation of Americas war in Afghanistan. We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities, he said. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. Americas enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will. The Trump White House has removed caps imposed on troop levels under the Obama administration, leaving it up to the military commanders to escalate US deployments at will. Obamas caps themselves were routinely circumvented through so-called temporary deployments that saw far more troops sent into US wars than were officially on the books. The secrecy surrounding troop deployments has been highlighted in recent months following the October firefight in Niger that killed four special operations troops and brought out in the open the deployment of some 1,000 US troops in the central West African country and on its borders, an intervention about which leading members of the US Senate claimed to have known nothing. This was followed by the so-called slip of the tongue by the commander of US special operations forces in Iraq and Syria who told a Pentagon press conference that 4,000 US troops were on the ground in Syria. He quickly caught himself and repeated the official figure of 500. Subsequently, the Pentagon allowed that the real number was over 2,000. Meanwhile, figures posted by the Pentagon last monthwith little media attentionrevealed that the number of US troops deployed in the Middle East as a whole had soared by 33 percent over the previous four months, with the sharpest increases taking place in a number of Persian Gulf countries, indicating advanced preparations for a new US war against Iran. These deployments are kept secret or effectively concealed not out of any concern about tipping off the enemy, which in virtually every case is well aware of the level of US military aggression against their countries. Rather, it is aimed at keeping the information from the American people, which has no interest in continuing the ongoing military interventions in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa, much less launching new and potentially world catastrophic wars against Iran, North Korea and even China and Russia. In terms of the waging of semi-secret wars abroad, as with attacks on democratic rights and the social conditions of the working class at home, Trump represents not an aberration, but rather the culmination of protracted processes that have unfolded under both Democratic and Republican administrations, which have ceded ever greater power over US foreign policy to US military commanders. This trend has only deepened under Trump, with an active duty general serving as national security advisor, and two recently retired Marine generals filling the posts of defense secretary and White House chief of staff. With US forces on the borders of North Korea, China, and Russia on a hair-trigger, the continuous assertion of ever greater war-making powers to the military brass massively increases the danger that a miscalculation, misunderstanding, or accident could quickly lead to full-scale nuclear war. Trumps further assault on the War Powers Act has elicited no protest from the Democrats in Congress. They are not opposed to the governments domination by the military or the drive to war. Their differences are merely of a tactical character, expressed in a campaign of anti-Russia hysteria waged in collaboration with sections of the US military and intelligence apparatus in preparation for a new and far more terrible conflagration. Both parties represent a parasitic financial oligarchy that relies ever more heavily upon militarism and war to defend its wealth and domination. These parties, along with the other institutions of the US ruling establishment, have no interest in reining in the generals or upholding constitutional government and democratic rights. Rather, they are collaborating in the emergence of a system based upon the unfettered domination of the military, working in tandem with Wall Street, in which elections, the Congress and other civilian bodies are becoming little more than window-dressing. There are diverse opinions among the Avengers stars about bullied-boy-turned-viral-video-star Keaton Jones: Though Chris Evans has invited the boy to the premiere of the next Avengers film, Don Cheadle has questions about his mother, Kimberly Jones. Cheadle is alarmed by accusations not yet proven that the mother posted images on Facebook of Confederate flags and wrote a screed that seemed to target African-Americans. Its unclear whether she actually posted them because she has cleared her Facebook page and not responded to requests for comment. Cheadle and many others have also questioned Kimberly Jones decision to post video of Keaton pleading for an end to bullying. The video has been viewed more than 20 million times. Exploiting her son and feeding him garbage and getting his ass beat in the bargain, Cheadle wrote on Twitter. Should be criminal. Also Read: Keaton Jones GoFundMe Drive Halted Over Concerns About Bullied Boy's Mom (Exclusive) exploiting her son and feeding him garbage and getting his ass beat in the bargain. should be criminal. https://t.co/0SsT41oD4K Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) December 11, 2017 Chris Evans, who plays Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was among many celebrities who reached out to Keaton Jones after the video went viral, inviting him to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War next year. Cheadle said the racism accusations against Kimberly Jones called Keaton Jones story into question, saying it was suspect now. And he highlighted the cases of African-American children who have suffered bullying. I dont know if he did or didnt. his story is suspect now. i also dont know what he said or didnt say. but if thats his moms acct it dont look good. this is at best conjecture it seems. https://t.co/F1dh70jQAb Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) December 11, 2017 Also Read: Keaton Jones' Mom Accused of Racist Facebook Posts, Deletes Profile Story continues In response, another Avengers star, Mark Ruffalo, invited a bullied African-American boy to attend the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War with him and Cheadle. He later apologized to Cheadle for not conferring with him first. This is still in committee with @DonCheadle. I dragged him on without conferring with him. Sorry. My bad. My invite with this young man stands. https://t.co/zzbQOUhzag Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) December 12, 2017 A New Jersey man who started a GoFundMe account to raise money for Keaton Jones, Joseph Lam, told TheWrap on Monday he was suspending the fundraising until he can sort out the situation. The fund has collected nearly three times the $20,000 he set out to raise. Related stories from TheWrap: Keaton Jones GoFundMe Drive Halted Over Concerns About Bullied Boy's Mom (Exclusive) Keaton Jones' Mom Accused of Racist Facebook Posts, Deletes Profile Chris Evans, Sean Hannity Reach Out to Bullied Kid Keaton Jones Celebrity chef Mario Batali is taking time off from his businesses, as well as co-hosting The Chew, amid multiple sexual harassment allegations against him. Four women have accused 57-year-old Batali of touching them inappropriatedly over a period that spans at least two decades, Eater New York reports. One woman alleges Batali groped her breasts at an after-party when she was in her 20s, and one woman alleges that he repeatably grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against his body. Three of the women allegedly worked for Batali at some point. Batali apologized in a statement to Eater, and didn't deny the allegations. I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt," the statement reads. "Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family." I have work to do to try to regain the trust of those I have hurt and disappointed," the statement continues. "For this reason, I am going to step away from day-to-day operations of my businesses. We built these restaurants so that our guests could have fun and indulge, but I took that too far in my own behavior. I wont make that mistake again. I want any place I am associated with to feel comfortable and safe for the people who work or dine there." Batali said his actions "have disappointed many people." "The successes I have enjoyed are owned by everyone on my team. The failures are mine alone," he concluded. "To the people who have been at my side during this time -- my family, my partners, my employees, my friends, my fans -- I am grateful for your support and hopeful that I can regain your respect and trust. I will spend the next period of time trying to do that. Story continues According to the report, in October 2017, a restaurant employee officially reported inappropriate behavior by Batali to Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, the first formal complaint against him. Batali has co-hosted the daytime show The Chew since 2011. We have asked Mario Batali to step away from The Chew while we review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention," an ABC spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. "ABC takes matters like this very seriously as we are committed to a safe work environment. While we are unaware of any type of inappropriate behavior involving him and anyone affiliated with the show, we will swiftly address any alleged violations of our standards of conduct. In addition, the Food Network said on Monday that they were now putting plans to relaunch his show, Molto Mario, on hold. Food Network takes matters like this very seriously and we are putting relaunch plans for Molto Mario on hold," the network said in a statement to ET. 'The Chew' addressed Batali's departure on Tuesday's show. Batali's famous friends most notably includes Gwyneth Paltrow. Last July, Paltrow hosted the goop x Cadillac Road to Table dinner at Batali's Manhattan eatery, La Sirena, where she revealed the chef's thoughts on her famous exes. "He was just teasing me about every boyfriend I brought to [Batalis restaurant] Babbo over the years," she quipped. "He liked Brad Pitt, if you want to know. Didnt like Ben Affleck that much." Watch below: RELATED CONTENT: Mario Batali on Mastering Portion Control Terry Crews Passionately Explains Sexual Harassment Lawsuit (Exclusive) Alec Baldwin On Sexual Harassment Accusations in Hollywood: 'I Don't Want to See Innocent People Get Hurt' Related Articles A missing 14-year-old Ohio girl may be traveling with a fugitive 33-year-old man wanted for a parole violation and previously convicted of manslaughter, PEOPLE confirms. Annalys Clay, of Barberton, was reported missing Dec. 4 to Akron Police by her mother, Helena, who said that she believed Annalys is traveling with Louis Jakab, 33. Jakab currently is charged in eight jurisdictions with felony warrants that include robbery, theft, fraud, passing bad checks, receiving stolen property, and interference with custody, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service. Helena Clay also said her daughter is pregnant, and that Jakab may be the unborn childs father, reports the TV station Fox8 Cleveland. She said the two are cousins. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Investigators believe the two are together but have left Ohio, and last were seen in a black 2017 Audi A3 bearing an Ohio license plate HED-3844, the U.S. Marshals Office reports. The license plate had been reported stolen in Cleveland. Clay is described as white, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 125 lbs. with red hair and blue eyes. For more compelling true crime coverage, follow our Crime magazine on Flipboard. Authorities say Jakab is white, about 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighing about 190 lbs., with a shaved head and blue eyes. Anonymous tips about the pairs whereabouts with the potential for reward may be called in to the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-492-6833 or texted with the keyword WANTED to 847411. Tips also may be sent by clicking a button on the U.S. Marshals website. The wife of Roy Moore, the controversial Senate candidate who has been accused of sexual misconduct with minors when he was in his 30s, raised eyebrows on Monday evening when she argued against claims that the couple were anti-Semitic by noting that one of our attorneys is a Jew. Fake news would tell you that we dont care for Jews. And I tell you all this because Ive seen it, and I just want to set the record straight while theyre here, Kayla Moore said at a rally in Midland City, Alabama, the night before the election. One of our attorneys is a Jew. She added, We have very close friends that are Jewish, and rabbis, and we also fellowship with them. Twitter erupted with reactions, including from celebrities such as Zach Braff and comedian Michael Ian Black. Braff joked with a GIF of Mariah Careys infamous I dont know her line. Black added, Oh my God, the clip is so much worse than just reading the quote. And reading the quote is atrocious. Kayla Moore, wife of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, accuses media of painting couple as anti-Semitic. pic.twitter.com/Vcczj6pNPv NBC News (@NBCNews) December 12, 2017 Kayla Moore: We know a Jew. Jews: pic.twitter.com/DAA1JzDBSH Zach Braff (@zachbraff) December 12, 2017 Oh my God, the clip is so much worse than just reading the quote. And reading the quote is atrocious. https://t.co/d49R9QPPsf Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) December 12, 2017 Kayla Moore (Roy Moores wife): Fake news will tell you that we dont care for Jews. One of our attorneys is a Jew! pic.twitter.com/tu6UNctUTS Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 12, 2017 Kayla Moore is a real life SNL sketch. pic.twitter.com/svJXVIcpJ6 Sean Kent (@seankent) December 12, 2017 To those who say we don't like black people. One of our slaves is black. - Kayla Moore probably Sean Kent (@seankent) December 12, 2017 when kayla moore said one of our attorneys is a jew we all know she meant jesus Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) December 12, 2017 Im not homophobic one of my hairdressers is a gay ~ Kayla Moore Robbie Rogers (@robbierogers) December 12, 2017 Kayla Moore: Were no bigots, one of our attorneys is a Jew! pic.twitter.com/8wECVmJCbd Matt Doyle (@MattfDoyle) December 12, 2017 As voters go to the polls in a high-profile Alabama Senate special election, Republican candidate Roy Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones are getting help from some big names: the current and former presidents of the United States. Story continues Former President Barack Obama has recorded a robocall for Jones, a source familiar with the Jones campaign told PEOPLE, as has former Vice President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has recorded a robocall for Moore. CNN reported that, in the call, Obama says: This ones serious you cant sit it out. In Trumps robocall, which lasts about 90 seconds, the President urges voters turn out and support Moore, arguing that Jones victory would undermine his agenda in Washington. If Alabama elects liberal Democrat Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped. Trump says in the call. Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass, make America great again agenda. The Alabama election was thrust into the national spotlight after the Washington Post reported last month that Moore, who was expected to cruise to victory in the overwhelmingly conservative state, had pursued several women when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. Leigh Corfman claims Moore pursued her when when she was just 14, while Beverly Young Nelson, says Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16, groping her against her will, and after she resistedsqueezing my neck and attempting to force my head into his crotch. Roy Moore Moore has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct against him. These allegations are completely false. They are malicious. Specifically, I do not know any of these women nor have I ever engaged in sexual misconduct with anyone, he said at an Alabama rally in late November. Barack Obama is urging Alabama voters to vote against Roy Moore: This one is serious, you cant sit it out Barack Obama is joining the fight to keep accused sexual predator Roy Moore out of the Senate. Just one day before voters started heading to the polls for Tuesdays election, the former President encouraged Alabama voters to support Democratic Senate Candidate Doug Jones in a pre-recorded phone message. Doug Jones is a fighter for equality, for progress, Obama says on the call, according to CNN. Doug will be our champion for justice. So get out and vote, Alabama. Related article: White House says sexual misconduct allegations against President Trump took place long before 2016 election Obama is reportedly part of a larger effort by Democrats to pushback against Donald Trumps endorsement of Moore for the Senate seat, despite Moore facing allegations of sexual misconduct from several women who say the former Alabama state judge pursued relationships with them when they were teens and he was in his 30s. One woman has even accused Moore of sexually assaulting her. This one is serious, Obama adds. You cant sit it out. The 44th U.S. President joins a growing list of politicians, activists, celebrities and other public figures who have spoken out against Moore in recent weeks. Although many across the country have called for Trump to withdraw support from Moore in light of the disgraceful allegations against him, the reality-star-turned-politician has continued to turn a blind eye to any opposition. Given Trumps own history with allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women in addition to the disturbing viral video that heard him brag about grabbing women by the pussy prior to becoming President his support of Moore seems to fall right in line. New satellite images from NASA taken Dec. 5 and 8 revealed the vast extent of damage in California caused by still raging wildfires. The fires have scorched more than 200,000 acres in Southern California and forced the evacuations of thousands of people. The Current Situation in California The images from NASA, as well as satellite images posted to twitter by a NASA astronaut, show how the plumes of smoke floating from California out to the Pacific Ocean can be seen from space. From @Space_Station it looks like the winds have shifted and hopefully dying down, nice to see Point Mugu and Oxnard again, hopefully Ventura soon. #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/7qN8u1M0Q6 Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) December 8, 2017 Nearly 100,000 people have fled their homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Santa Ana winds have fueled the five fires, the largest of which the Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara was only 10 percent contained by Sunday night. How to Help Local newspapers such as the San Luis Obispo Tribune have provided detailed lists of the various ways that people can help victims of the wildfires, and we've rounded up a few of them here. The United Way of Ventura County, American Red Cross of Ventura County, and the Ventura County Sheriffs Office of Emergency Services created the Thomas Fire Fund, and anyone can donate online. Potential donors to crowdsourcing campaigns should be wary of potential fraud and theft. GoFundMe has verified 12 campaigns and created a centralized platform for people who wish to donate. The Ventura County Disaster Relief fund supports local organizations that are providing temporary shelter and other emergency relief services. The wildfires have threatened animals of all kinds, and pet lovers can help by supporting the Humane Society of Ventura County. The animal protection group urged supporters to give monetary donations instead of goods in a Facebook post, and people can donate on their website. The Camarillo Animal Shelter in Ventura County has posted a list of the items they need most, including airline crates to transport animals that are being evacuated. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, all we could think about was her ring. Set on a gold band, the cushion diamond from Botswana is sandwiched between two outside diamonds from Princess Diana's personal collection. In including his mother's jewels, it was a way for Prince Harry to bring Di along for the ride. RELATED: Here's the little-known history behind Duchess Kate's sapphire blue engagement ring Harry designed the ring alongside royal jeweler Cleave and Company, who recently opened up about the incredibly "secretive" process of making the ring and how the proposal brought international attention to their business. Related: Royal rings Explained the director of Cleave and Company Stephen Connelly to Associated Press, all the media attention as a result of the proposal has been "a bit of a shock." It has forced the jewelry company to keep their location mum for fear of being bombarded, according to Cosmopolitan. Echoed Crown jewelry designer David Thomas, who assisted in designing the ring, explained the ring was "biggest and hardest secret" he's ever had to keep. Jewelers are like doctors: we never discuss our patients! Thomas maintained. Though we don't know the price of the ring, we can only imagine its value (Princess Diana and Kate Middleton's ring is now reportedly worth over $500,000...oy vey!). And if royal fanatics are looking to mimic Meghan's unique ring, they're bound to be sorely disappointed. "We're not going to be making replicas of it. If you want a ring, then well design you a different one, Connelly asserted. Well, it was worth a shot! For more details on Meghan's ring, watch the video above! Related: Meghan's best posts Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have inspired a major change in Duchess Kate and Prince William's relationship. During a visit to BBC Studios last week, Kate strayed from royal tradition as she showed some PDA with William. The 35-year-old royal sweetly put a hand on her husband's knee in the middle of an interview where they discussed the Blue Peter honor they received for their campaign work around mental health issues affecting children. They followed in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth, who was awarded the program's highest award during her Golden Jubilee year in 2002. "That's very touching. Thank you very, very much," said William as he received his badge from presenters Radzi Chiny and Lindsey Russell. "Wow, that's amazing! We have won a badge!" Kate added: "It's hugely special. Mental health has been a learning process for us too ... We want to get everyone talking about it so it hasn't got that stigma it's had." Watch the moment below: If you recall, the world took notice of Meghan and Harry's PDA shortly after their engagement reveal. Meghan comforted a nervous-looking Harry by frequently rubbing the small of his back during their photo call and BBC interview. During their World AIDS Day outing, Meghan and Harry couldn't stop holding hands. And as any royal fan would know, William and Kate never hold hands in public nor display any other kind of affection. Queen Elizabeth II actually set a precedent that encourages royals to keep their hands to themselves. Albeit a small gesture, Kate's sweet PDA with William is a sign that the royals are loosening up a bit! Check out the video above for more on the royal family. Duchess Kate is glowing! The pregnant royal attended the Magic Mums Christmas party on Tuesday to celebrate the work of Rugby Portobello Trust, a London charity that aids children and families. Kate, who is expecting baby No. 3, help set up for the party and doled out presents to the young children. Kate looked oh-so-stylish in a Seraphine boucle coat in a rich merlot hue. The famous brand is one of her go-to labels when it comes to her maternity style. The classic coat features a hint of sparkle and a black velvet ribbon trim, adding the perfect festive touch for the holiday event. It's no surprise that Kate has actually worn this look before, during a trip to New York City back in 2014 when she was pregnant with Princess Charlotte. For Tuesday's outing, she completed her ensemble with a pair of black tights, a clutch and dark suede pumps with a block heel. The mother to Prince George and Princess Charlotte was all smiles, showing no signs of hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness she battled early on in her pregnancy. The Duchess of Cambridge is due in April, just a month before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. For more on the royal family, watch the video above! The Last Jedi is dedicated to Carrie Fisher, so be sure to bring EXTRA tissues We all knew this was going to happen, so it should come as no surprise. As the credits roll, youll see that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is dedicated to the late Carrie Fisher. Fisher passed away last year in December, following complications from a cardiac arrest. At the time, she was on her way back home from London. After the plane landed in Los Angeles, she was rushed to the hospital where she spent the next few days. However, she sadly never recovered, and passed away on December 27th, 2016. She was 60 at the time of her passing. Her death sent a shockwave through the entire galaxy world, and that includes within the Star Wars family and fandom. Outpourings of love flooded in, and we learned that even though Fisher might not be with us anymore, she will be with us in spirit forever. Her life and legacy will live on, ultimately, in the movies and in our hearts. The Last Jedi marks her final appearance onscreen and no spoilers! its a great one. Shortly after the credits begin, the screen flashes with: In loving memory of our princess, Carrie Fisher. OUR PRINCESS. OUR HEARTS. Director Rian Johnson also paid tribute to Fisher at Last Jedi premiere over the weekend, telling the audience before the movie, I want to dedicate tonight to Carrie. I know shes up there right now flipping me the bird, saying, Damn it Rian, how dare you bring the mood down and make this night a solemn tribute. So lets all have a blast together for Carrie. Fisher would want us to have a blast, and celebrate everything, and keep being ourselves. So go into The Last Jedi not sad that this is the last time well see Leia onscreen, but happy that we get this one last movie together and we can hold onto it forever. If youve been gobbling up every new headline about Meghan Markles life before meeting Prince Harry, boy do we have good news for you. The royal fiancee will be the subject of a new book written by none other than Princess Dianas biographer, Andrew Morton. Morton confirmed the news himself on Twitter, writing, Excited to be writing #MeghanMarkles story. She has bags of charisma. A royal star who will have tremendous impact on royal family and wider world. Excited to be writing #MeghanMarkles story. She has bags of charisma. A royal star who will have tremendous impact on royal family and wider world https://t.co/TORpgNaB5T Andrew Morton (@andrewmortonUK) December 8, 2017 In a release, Morton says the book will reveal a comprehensive, unparalleled look at her life prior to the royal engagement, as he says that he was a fan of Markles star quality long before she met Prince Harry. Confident, groomed, and camera-ready, she is a dramatic contrast to the blushing, coy royal brides of recent history. The warmth and affection Meghan and Harry displayed during their engagement interview is light years away from the stilted whatever love means conversation with Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. RELATED: Meghan Markle's Empowering Personal Essay on Being "Enough" Is What You Need Today Speaking of Lady Di, Morton is the same man who wrote the bestselling biography, Diana: Her True Story, which was based on secret interviews with Diana conducted within Kensington Palace. In the book, Morton wrote about Dianas battle with bulimia, her suicide attempts, and her heartache over Charless relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Theres no word that Markle will conduct interviews with Morton for his upcoming work, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. The book will be published by Michael OMara Books on April 19, 2018, just one month before their royal wedding. Steve Bannon mocked Ivanka Trump for condemning Roy Moore, and of course he did Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist, made his made known his support for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore at a rally on December 11th. And, while, applauding Moore, Bannon appeared to mock the presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump. Theres a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better, Bannon said, referring to Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Alabama Senator Richard Shelby who have spoken out against Moore. Bannon argued that Republicans who opposed Moore didnt have Trumps back at all and were just using the president to pass a tax cut bill. In November, after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Moore, Trump condemned him in an interview with The Associated Press, saying there is a special place in hell for people who prey on children. Trump added that she believed the victims and had not seen a reasonable explanation for Moores behavior. Bannon echoed Trumps words at the Moore rally to mock her and other Republicans who have spoken out against Moore, like McConnell, who has said that Moore will face an Ethics Committee investigation if he is elected. Moore has been accused of pursuing multiple teenage girls when he was in his 30s. One of the women who accused him, Leigh Corfman, told The Washington Post that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14 years old. A report in The New Yorker also alleged that Moore had been banned from an Alabama mall for his predatory behavior. Steve Bannon: "There's a special place in hell for Republicans who" don't support Roy Moore. #alsen#alpoliticspic.twitter.com/p2NnbGSMh5 American Bridge (@American_Bridge) December 12, 2017 The president officially endorsed Moore on December 4th, and the Republican National Committee resumed its support of Moore not long after. And the older Trump has continued to vocally support Moore since. According to Politico, his daughters opposition to Moore and advisers recommendations that he not get involved in the race only helped solidify Trumps decision to endorse Moore. Story continues The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Bannon resigned from the White House in August amid the presidents complaints that he was leaking to the press. He returned to his former workplace, the conservative media outlet Breitbart News. Given Bannons bombastic personality, its not surprising that he would openly mock the first daughter. But were still disgusted that anyone would use politics as an excuse to overlook sexual misconduct allegations. One things for sure, though: Bannon may no longer be a member of the government, but his influence in politics is far from over, for better or for worse. Related: Where does Doug Jones Roy Moores opponent stand on abortion? Alabama is holding a special election today, and its a big deal on both a local and national level. Republican and accused child abuser Roy Moore goes head-to-head with Democrat Doug Jones for the Alabama Senate seat. Jones campaign has arguably been overshadowed by Moores alleged past misconduct, meaning many still have basic questions about his record and platform perhaps most notably, Doug Jones stance on abortion. Unfortunately, his views are slightly murky. Back in September, Jones did an on-air interview with NBCs Chuck Todd, and his responses indicated that he supports a womans right to choose during the entire length of her pregnancy. Specifically, he said, I am a firm believer that a woman should have the freedom to choose what happens to her own body. And Im going to stand up for that, and Im going to make sure that continues to happen. I want to make sure that as we go forward, people have access to contraception, they have access to the abortion that they might need, if thats what they choose to do. I think thats an issue that we can work with and talk to people about on both sides of the aisle. Currently, abortions after 20 weeks are banned in the state of Alabama, and Jones response led Todd and viewers to believe that he didnt support the current law. When Todd asked if he did, Jones said, Im not in favor of anything that is going to infringe on a womans right and her freedom to choose. Thats just the position that Ive had for many years. Its a position I continue to have. But I want people to understand that once that baby is born, Im going to be there for that child. Thats where I become a right-to-lifer. The response alienated many voters, as Alabama is traditionally a red state that votes in pro-life conservatives. Moore, who does not believe in a womans right to choose (and, in fact, would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned) took advantage of the backlash, and claimed that Jones supports late-term abortions. Jones then clarified his remarks with AL.com, saying, Story continues To be clear, I fully support a womans freedom to choose what happens to her own body. That is an intensely, intensely personal decision that only she, in consultation with her god, her doctor, her partner or family, thats her choice. Having said that, the law for decades has been that late-term procedures are generally restricted except in the case of medical necessity. Thats what I support. I dont see any changes in that. It is a personal decision. Jones essentially stated that he supports a womans right to choose, but he also still supports Alabamas current legislation on late-term abortions which is that they can only be granted for medical reasons. Jones official stance, according to a statement from his team, is that he supports abortion rights, up until a certain point in the pregnancy. A candidates stance on abortion can very well be the make-or-break issue in a state like Alabama, and we will be monitoring the situation closely throughout the day. Why Meghan Markle spending Christmas with the Queen is such a big deal Christmas with the future in-laws may not seem out of the ordinary, but for the royal family, its a total break in tradition. This holiday season, Meghan Markle will become the first royal fiancee to spend Christmas Day with the royal family making her the exception to traditional protocol. Prince William and Kate Middleton, for example, spent Christmas apart, despite announcing their engagement in November 2010. But what Harry asks, the Queen is likely to grant. A family friend has told PEOPLE, If Harry asks for something, the Queen would say yes as she adores him. From hand-holding to private meetings with the Queen, Meghan has blazed her own path since entering Prince Harrys world last year. While theres no official rule restricting PDA, royals usually refrain from holding hands while on official engagements. But Meghan and Harry dont hold back when it comes to showing their affection for one another. It certainly makes a statement, Myka Meier, the founder and director of Beaumont Etiquette and expert on all things proper in the royal family, tells PEOPLE. To show PDA as a representative of the British monarchy at such an official event says everything! Rarely in the past have we seen unmarried royals showing PDA with significant others at a public event. Related article: Christmas at Sandringham: Meghan Markle will join Prince Harry & royal family for the holidays And Meghan has already met Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, on a few occasions, notably winning over her beloved corgis. The corgis took to her straight away. Ive spent the last 33 years being barked at this one walks in, absolutely nothing, Prince Harry revealed during the couples engagement interview. And Meghan, who has two dogs herself, replied: They were laying on my feet during tea! Shes won her way into the hearts of the rest of the family, too. Harry said: William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know being our neighbors we managed to get that in a couple of well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support. Story continues Meghan then added of Kate: Shes been wonderful. Related article: Who will sing at Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding reception? The couple has also had a few visits with Harrys father, Prince Charles. A handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings over at his place as well, Harry said. So the family together have been a solid support and my grandparents as well have been wonderful throughout this whole process and theyve known for quite some time. So how they how they havent told anybody is is again a miracle in itself. But now the whole family have come together and have been a huge amount of support. Meghan added: Theyve been amazing. In addition to attending church with the royal family on Christmas morning, she will spend the festivities as a guest of Queen Elizabeth. That means Meghan will share Christmas lunch and gift-giving on Christmas Eve at Sandringham House, in Norfolk the Queens country home and estate about 110 miles north of London. The palace would not confirm any other details including where Meghan may stay. It has been suggested that Prince William, 35, and Kate Middleton, 35, will host them at Anmer Hall, which is on the estate and only about two miles from the main house. So, Meghan will likely get to spend Christmas morning with little Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2. And if she wants to get in good with her future nephew, we hear George wants a police car for Christmas! Civil rights advocate Doug Jones racked up a stunning victory Tuesday night, defeating Republican Roy Moore to become Alabamas first Democratic senator in 25 years. The race for Attorney General Jeff Sessions vacated Senate seat was dominated by several sexual misconduct allegations leveled against Moore, with Jones candidacy and record often receding to the background. You might have heard that Jones was the prosecutor who convicted two Ku Klux Klan members in the 1990s who had been responsible for the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls. Here are five more key things to know about Alabamas new Democratic senator-elect. 1. He was in high school during desegregation of Alabamas public schools. Jones grew up in 1960s Alabama, a violent era he cites as the reason why he devoted his legal career to championing civil rights. Jones was a member of student government who worked to build relationships and befriend the newly admitted black students. 2. This sentence appears on his campaign website: I want to be perfectly clear: I believe in science. The career prosecutor opposed President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, and he identified the environment as one of the six key priorities of his candidacy. Clean air and clean water are not controversial, Jones wrote on his website. They are essential to our health, our prosperity, and our quality of life. Doug Jones speaks to reporters in 2005. (Photo: Brian Schoenhals via Getty Images) 3. In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Jones as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Jones was nominated by Clinton, a Democrat, and approved by a majority Republican Senate. Soon into his tenure, Eric Robert Rudolph bombed a Birmingham abortion clinic, killing an off-duty police officer and injuring another person. Though Rudolph was arrested after Jones left office, the attorney general worked on his indictment. Former Vice President Joe Biden complimented Jones character while campaigning with him in Alabama. (Photo: NBC via Getty Images) 4. Hes longtime friends with former Vice President Joe Biden, and he worked on Bidens 1988 presidential campaign. Biden campaigned with Jones in October and recorded robocalls that went out to voters just before the special election. Story continues Doug and I have been friends for a long, long time, Biden told a crowd in Alabama, according to AL.com. Doug knows Alabama. He knows your heart, and hell never let you down. The former vice president was also quick to congratulate his friend for his victory. Doug Jones. Thank you, Alabama. Youve elected a man of incredible integrity, grit, and character. A fighter for working class and middle class Alabamians. He is going to make you proud in the Senate. Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 13, 2017 5. Jones father was a manager at U.S. Steel. One of his grandfathers was a steelworker, the other a coal miner. The senator-elect also worked a union job at a steel mill while growing up outside Birmingham. The respect I learned for my parents and grandparents the hard work they did has shaped my respect for those who work to feed a family and try to make their childrens lives better, Jones wrote on his website. His family roots also inform his approach to environmental policy, citing the enormous sympathy he has for families in Alabama who have lost their jobs as coal prices have declined. Jones has called for job retraining for affected workers. BONUS FACT: Coincidentally, Jones and his wife, Louise, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary the night he won the Senate race. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Doug Jones is congratulated by his wife, Louise, on their 25th anniversary Tuesday. Or maybe she's congratulating him on his Senate win. (Photo: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images) This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Another woman who has accused President Donald Trump of groping her is demanding a congressional investigation into the numerous sexual misconduct allegations against him. Melinda McGillivray appeared on NBCs Megyn Kelly Today on Tuesday, breaking down in tears as she described her alleged interactions with Trump. She has accused Trump of grabbing her buttocks at Mar-a-Lago in 2003. I feel a grab on my right side so I quickly turn to look at what this is, said McGillivray, who was 23 at the time of the alleged incident. To my surprise its Donald. ... Im stunned, just speechless. It made me feel very small, inferior, she added. It made me feel like I was objectified. I was sick to my stomach. Trump accuser Melinda McGillivray explains on @MegynTODAY that she thought alleged grab by Trump was her friends camera bag brushing against her but then realized it was Trump pic.twitter.com/X4tS4kgvmX TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 12, 2017 McGillivray said she immediately told her companion about what had happened, and that he discouraged her from confronting Trump and alerting Mar-a-Lago staff. Instead, she said they decided to leave the event. Now, shes joining the call for Congress to investigate the allegations from women who say Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them. I cant believe a guy like [Trump] could make it into the highest office and be revered as this leader, McGillivray said. I think that we got to have higher standards in this country and we need to hold these people very accountable. At least 19 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including forcible kissing and groping, since the 1980s. Trump has denied the allegations. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested in October that all of Trumps accusers were lying. Story continues The president tweeted Tuesday that women he never met were making false accusations against him. Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Four other women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct held a press conference Monday, urging Congress to conduct an investigation into his behavior. Their stories have drawn attention recently, given the wave of sexual harassment allegations against powerful men in Hollywood, media and politics. If they were willing to investigate Sen. [Al] Franken, I think its only fair that they do the same for Trump, said Rachel Crooks, who has accused Trump of forcibly kissing her when she was a receptionist at Trump Tower in the mid-2000s. We shouldnt let politicians get away with this. Several lawmakers, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), have called on Trump to leave office over the allegations. President Trump should resign, Gillibrand said Monday during an appearance on CNN. These allegations are credible; they are numerous. Ive heard these womens testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking. The Democratic Womens Working Group, a coalition of nearly 60 Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives, on Monday sent a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requesting a congressional investigation into the allegations against Trump. We cannot ignore the multitude of women who have come forward with accusations against Mr. Trump, the lawmakers wrote. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Mitch McConnell, Steve Bannon. (Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: James Lawler Duggan/Reuters; Nicole Craine/Bloomberg via Getty Images) DOTHAN, Ala. Steve Bannon insisted Monday night here at Roy Moores final rally before Alabamas special election that Donald Trumps policies, and his own, were of enormous benefit to people of color in America. [Trump] stopped mass illegal immigration. The No. 1 beneficiary of that is the Hispanic and black working class, because they dont have to compete with illegal alien labor, Bannon thundered. Ethno-nationalism has got nothing to do with it, folks! Its easy to get carried away in the heat of a campaign, but Bannon was indulging in an extreme flight of hubris, even for him, in trying to sell black voters on a candidate who had a long record of hostility to civil rights and who in September dated Americas greatest period to before the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Alabamas black voters didnt show much confusion about who they thought had their best interests in mind. Democrat Doug Jones got 96 percent of the African-American vote Tuesday, a point higher than President Barack Obama received when he won reelection in 2012. Bannons power has always been more mirage than reality, and in taking on the entire Republican establishment, notably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he was in way over his head. And after his humiliating pratfall Tuesday night, Bannons political enemies wasted no time in cleaving him from the herd, isolating President Trump from his increasingly toxic former associate. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon at a campaign event for Senate candidate Roy Moore in Fairhope, Ala., Dec. 5, 2017. (Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters) Bannon had dragged Trump into his fiasco, said one ally of McConnell, Steven Law, president of the conservative super-PAC American Crossroads. Another, McConnells former chief of staff Josh Holmes, showed his loyalty by praising the perfect tone of Trumps response to the Alabama result. By Wednesday morning, Trump was scrambling to align himself with McConnell, who had kept a discreet distance from Moore. If last nights election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and the Senate, the president tweeted. Story continues New York Republican Rep. Peter Kings comment that Bannon looked like a disheveled drunk was merely a piling on. When Bannon left the White House last August and immediately got behind Moore, it looked like an opportunistic but shrewd move to gain credit for an electoral win that was going to happen with or without his help. When Moore won the Republican primary over incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, Bannon looked, for a time, like a genius. But he grievously miscalculated, and Moores loss is now an anvil around his neck. It is likely that he has lost his best shot at becoming a serious political figure with real influence. Bannons Breitbart News will remain a loud presence among a segment of Trumps base although Republican megadonor Robert Mercer is no longer supporting it, and is distancing himself from Bannon personally. If McConnells lieutenants can cement their relationship with Trump, and the president continues to keep his former adviser at arms length, that will leave Bannon badly wounded. The question now is how Bannon can regain his footing. Just two months ago, a Bannon ally bragged that incumbent Republicans across the country in the Senate would face primary opponents. Nobodys safe, the unnamed Bannon source said. That was an overstatement then, and seems increasingly like a hollow boast. Corey Stewart speaks in Richmond, Va., March 4, 2017. (Photo: P. Kevin Morley/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) One of the Republican insurgents who had hoped to draft behind a Moore win, Corey Stewart, was at the Moore rally on Monday night. But another, Chris McDaniel of Mississippi, was not, even though his state is right next door to Alabama. That contrast between Stewart and McDaniel demonstrates their relative political seriousness. McDaniel, who is sometimes referred to as Chris McKlaniel by his Republican antagonists in Mississippi in reference to what they suspect are his white supremacist views, narrowly lost the 2014 U.S. Senate primary to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. He is considering a run against the states other incumbent Republican senator, Roger Wicker. But Wicker is a far more able candidate than Cochran, and will not be caught napping by McDaniel. The Mississippi GOP establishment will make sure of that, especially after their 2014 scare. Its likely that McDaniel will pass on a run against Wicker and wait to see if Cochrans seat opens up. Stewart, on the other hand, has little chance of defeating incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in a state that just voted overwhelmingly for another Democratic governor in an off-year election. Besides those two races, Bannon may try to go after the Senate seat being vacated by Arizonas Jeff Flake. Rep. Martha McSally, a Republican who has been critical of Trump, is the establishment-friendly candidate; Bannon is backing Kelli Ward, a physician who has dabbled in conspiracy theories and has drawn fire from McConnells super-Pac, the Senate Leadership Fund, which labeled her crazy. Expect McConnell and his allies to try to paint Ward as another Roy Moore i.e., an extremist who could cost the party a winnable seat. Steve Bannon, right, exits the stage after introducing Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward on Oct. 17, 2017, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP) Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, may retire, but that state has proved resistant to Trumpism. Mitt Romney, the GOPs 2012 presidential nominee, is considering a run for the seat if Hatch steps aside. He would be an overwhelming favorite to win. There has been talk of Bannon recruiting the controversial founder of the Blackwater security firm, Erik Prince, to run against Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., but Barrasso is popular in the state and has a good relationship with Trump. Former New York Rep. Michael Grimm, who had a high-profile meeting with Bannon in the fall, is less appealing after the Moore fiasco. Does Bannon want to go from backing an accused child molester to a convicted felon who served seven months in prison for tax fraud? And its not clear Grimm has much of a chance to defeat incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Donovan anyway. The overall message from the McConnell wing of the GOP now is that Bannons attempt to shake things up is a vanity project, and a deeply disruptive one at that. Holmes, McConnells former chief of staff, argued that for Trump and the GOP to survive the 2018 elections with their majorities intact, they will have to jettison Bannon. A complete break from Bannonism in GOP primaries can reunite the party behind the Trump agenda and salvage the midterms, Holmes told Axios. And Moores loss, resulting in a Democrat winning in one of the most conservative states in the country, is all the evidence McConnell needs to make his case. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: For years -- perhaps even decades, Donald Trump has been known for being brash, outspoken and easily confrontational. Those traits have been criticized by some and applauded by many as part of his frank and no-nonsense approach to his career and life in the White House. But a doctor who specializes in brain injury medicine has suggested in a new article that those very behaviors could indicate that the president suffers from a degenerative brain disorder" and that he should be tested. I see worrisome symptoms that fall into three main categories: problems with language and executive function; problems with social cognition and behavior; and problems with memory, attention, and concentration, Dr. Ford Vox wrote in a piece published by the medical news site STAT last week. Vox names a series of specific examples from his time on the campaign trail and in office as signs of a bigger medical problem, including fragmented and repetitive speech patterns, the battles he engaged some Gold Star families in -- and even his regular claim that millions of illegal votes were cast for rival Hillary Clinton, which has not been substantiated by any reputable reporting. "I see worrisome symptoms that fall into three main categories: problems with language and executive function; problems with social cognition and behavior; and problems with memory, attention, and concentration," he writes. "None of these are symptoms of being a bad or mean person. Nor do they require spelunking into the depths of his psyche to understand. Instead, they raise concern for a neurocognitive disease process in the same sense that wheezing raises the alarm for asthma." "Its time to discuss these issues in a clinical contexteven if the president has a physical exam early next year and releases the records, as announced by the White House, what he really needs is thorough cognitive testing, he continues. He also acknowledges that the evidence provided is not sufficient for a diagnosis, which is why he advocates testing. Story continues SEE MORE: White House announces physical exam for Trump after slurred speech "Its entirely possible that the president does not have predementia or is not progressing toward dementia. But he is definitely behaving as such," he adds. Vox joins a small, but growing chorus of medical experts who have spoke out about the president's behavior in clinical terms. Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee has written two editorials on the matter in the past weeks, one for NBC and another in The New York Times, stressing the need for medical testing in both instances. Trump has already exceeded our usual threshold for evaluation," Lee claimed in his piece for NBC. If reports are accurate, the behaviors may not not gone unnoticed inside the White House either. Most recently, Trump's "Art of the Deal" co-author Tony Schwartz said during an interview on MSNBC that a number of White House officials have expressed concerns about Trumps mental health." I know that two different people from the White House or at least saying that they were from the White House and that turned out to be a White House number have called somebody I know in the last several weeks to say, We are deeply concerned about his mental health,'" he said. Pictures of Jac Holmes (L) and Oliver Hall (R) - Facebook A military ceremony has been held in Syria for two British volunteers with a Kurdish group fighting Islamic State in Raqqa, who were killed while clearing mines in the city. The coffins of Oliver Hall from Portsmouth and Jac Holmes from Bournemouth, both 24, were draped in the flag of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Hall from Portsmouth had been trying to make safe booby traps laid by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in the recently liberated city of Raqqa when he was caught in a blast on Saturday. The former engineering student had only joined the YPG three months ago and had no previous military experience. Foreign volunteers remember Oliver Hall and Jac Holmes, both killed while clearing mines in Raqqa Credit: Facebook Jac Holmes, a 24-year-old from Bournemouth, died also clearing mines in Raqqa in October. He was the longest-serving British volunteer. Their coffins were carried by other foreign volunteers, including Briton Kimmie Taylor, who gave a short speech at the service. "Jac was everyone's best friend," Miss Taylor, from Blackburn, told the BBC. "His determination to see the freedom of the Kurdish people and to see the fall of Daesh (IS) showed his strength. "I hope his family can understand the impact he had." The coffins were given a guard of honour as they were taken across the Semelka border crossing into Iraq where they will be repatriated to the UK. Their coffins were taken to Iraq and will be repatriated to the UK. Credit: Facebook His death underscored the dangers of clearing a city which Islamic State group fighters had rigged with large amounts of explosives. Dozens civilians have been killed by IEDs after returning to their homes before the city has been completely cleared. Seven Britons in total have been killed while fighting with the YPG, including Mehmet Aksoy, 32, Luke Rutter, 22, Ryan Lock, 20, Dean Evans, 22, and Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25. Christmas decorations illuminate a house as the growing Thomas Fire advances toward Santa Barbara County seaside communities on 10 December: Getty One of the largest single wildfires California has ever had to deal with is choking a number of communities with ash after it exploded in size, leaving many gasping for air. The Thomas Fire has moved from Ventura County into neighbouring Santa Barbara County about 100 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles and become the fifth-largest single wildfire in the states history. According to authorities, 15 per cent of that fire has been contained having been reduced down to 10 per cent as it grew to more than 230,000 acres into Monday. The wind gusts that helped push the fire across the county line were slowing as the day wore on, but firefighters faced difficulties in protecting communities such as Carpinteria thanks to the narrow roads into the foothills. Instead they set up defensive positions on residential streets. The number of structures destroyed by the fire stands at almost 800 according to authorities with more damaged. Officials handed out masks to those who stayed behind in Montecito, an exclusive community about 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles thats home to stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges and Drew Barrymore. A number of celebrities had evacuated over the weekend as the fire approached. Actor Rob Lowe wore a mask as he live-streamed his family evacuating Sunday from their smoke-shrouded home. Praying for the people in my area, he said to his Instagram followers. Hope everybodys getting out safe like we are, and thanks for the prayers and thoughts. And good luck to the firefighters, we need you! Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres tweeted that neighbours were helping each other and their animals get to safety. Im sending lots of love and gratitude to the fire department and sheriffs. Thank you all, she wrote. Public health officials have expressed concern as soot and smoke continue to fill the air. Senior Associate at environmental think tank World Resources Institute Todd Gartner told The Independent that there is also a concern about that from the climate change perspective; those plumes of smoke, thats carbon emissions. Story continues Light gusts were driving the flames away from communities, Santa Barbara County fire spokesman Mike Eliason said. But the possibility of unpredictable gusts would keep firefighters on edge, he said. Im not frightened yet, Carpinteria resident Roberta Lehtinen told KABC-TV. I dont think its going to come roaring down unless the winds kick up. Firefighters have gained more control over the other five major blazes in Southern California and so have turned many of their resources to the Santa Barbara foothills to combat the Thomas Fire. The total area scorched by these fires is now approximately 256,000 acres or 1,036sq km (400 square miles), which is an area larger than New York City. Over 16 million people are affected by the fires between Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. More than 200,000 people have already been evacuated from their homes. The fires that began last Monday night collectively amounted to one of the worst conflagrations across Southern California in the last decade. They have, however, been far less deadly than the blazes in Northern Californias wine country in October that killed over 40. One death has been reported, a 70-year-old woman died in a car accident as she attempted to flee the flames in Ventura County last week. However, 46 horses at a thoroughbred training facility in San Diego among several others from ranches, were reported dead. For many, the ash and smoke is the biggest worry for now. Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider said winds have calmed a bit, keeping the fire in the hills outside of the city. The fire was not spreading quickly, but it also is not clearing out smoke and a layer of ash had settled over the city. Every where you go, you see people wearing the masks, said Ms Schneider. Reuters contributed to this report Paris (AFP) - The governor of California Jerry Brown said Tuesday wildfires ravaging his state should serve as a warning for other parts of the world threatened by climate change. "The important fact is that these fires are going to become a very frequent occurence, that's what the science is telling us," he told AFP on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit, held in the French capital two years to the day after 195 nations signed the Paris Agreement to rein in global warming. Brown said the blazes were "far more under control" by Tuesday. "The winds are slowing down... the fires are going to burn another week or two, but they're far more under control than they were a few days ago," he said. Brown has become a leading climate campaigner in the United States and is seeking to rally other states, city authorities and companies to compensate for the inaction of the federal government under President Donald Trump. "This is going to affect France, it's going to affect northern Africa, it's going to affect the southwest of the United States, China," he said of the fires. "It's a real indicator of bad things to come and hopefully will serve to wake up people who right now are too complacent." Fuelled by high winds, wildfires in southern California have charred more than 100,000 hectares of land in the last week, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and leaving one person dead. This has been California's deadliest year for wildfires. Experts say that global warming increases the risk of out-of-control blazes by drying out vegetation, making it more inflammable and easily set alight by lightning, spontaneous combustion, or fires lit by humans. Brown praised French President Emmanuel Macron's efforts in organising Tuesday's summit, which was called following Trump's announcement in June that he would pull the US out of the Paris Agreement. Story continues "Donald Trump has abdicated and President Macron has stepped up along with the president of China and the leaders of India," Brown said following a day of talks between world leaders, who took a boat trip together to reach the conference centre. "Yes, there's a lot of talk, there's a big lunch and a boat ride, but on top of that there is serious commitment, there's the building of awareness, there's the mobilising of efforts and imagination," he said. Brown will host his own international climate summit in San Francisco in September next year. "I'm going to follow the same playbook," he said. Joanne Cacciatore with Chemakoh. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Psychologist and grief counselor Joanne Cacciatore is walking across the sprawling land of her Selah House Respite Center and Care Farm, on the outskirts of Sedona, Ariz., toward the high metal fence of the horse pen. Theres a fall heat wave, and her deeply tanned arms tattooed with an artful array of black-ink images that range from St. Francis of Assisi communing with birds to the Psalms quote God is nearest the brokenhearted glow in the blazing sun. Four mellow horses stand grazing in various shady corners, but were headed for one in particular: Chemakoh, who is a beautiful reddish-brown with patches of white. Hes my soulmate, says Cacciatore, and calls out his name as we get closer. Hes waiting for her at the gate, and she leans right into his broad face, cooing, How are you? Hows my baby? He shudders and flicks his tail and looks back at her intently through fist-size eyes. Joanne Cacciatore enters the property of the Selah care farm, just outside of Sedona, Ariz. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) The horse is healthy and beautiful a far cry from when Cacciatore just happened to come upon him two years ago, hiking with friends on a trail along the Grand Canyons south rim. Then, he was starving and abused and bleeding, packing 150 pounds of gear for a hiking group, and he had fallen down out of exhaustion. When his handler began to yell at him and hit him, the deeply empathetic Cacciatore stopped in her tracks and sat down in the dusty dirt with him, crying. That split-second decision brought an abrupt end to her backpacking journey deep into the remote Havasu Canyon, a trip shed been planning for decades. But suddenly she had a new goal to rescue the horse and three determined days and nearly 100 calls and emails later, Cacciatore made it happen. I had to fight for him, she says now, feeding him carrots out of her open palm. I made a lot of noise. I took a lot of pictures and videos of the abuse. And when I was not allowed to take him on sight I said to him when I was leaving, Youve got to remember me, because Im going to come back for you. I promised I was going to get him out. Story continues Volunteers soon delivered him to Cacciatores house in Sedona. There were about eight people there that day, but he got off the trailer and whinnied and walked right over to me, she recalls. Its like he was saying, Hey, you came back for me. She named him Chemakoh, a Pima (Native American) term that refers to two souls that come together in destiny, and though shed had zero experience with horses before his arrival, she began to love and nourish him back to health. And so did her clients, bereaved parents who would come to see Cacciatore for intense private sessions, and soon find themselves drawn to the rescued horse in her backyard. They would go out to his paddock, and they would stand at his fence and just cry. Bring him carrots and just cry. And I could see this connection, Cacciatores says. People said, Look what he looks like now. Look at what love can do, look what compassion can do and they started seeing themselves in this horse. And Im like, Oh, theres something really important happening here. Seeing those connections, fostered between grieving humans and the badly abused horse, was ultimately what led Cacciatore to the idea of opening Selah, on land embraced by canyons and pine thickets and the iconic red rock mountains. Just five months in and not yet fully up and running, the care farm is already home to a fast-growing menagerie of rescued horses, sheep, dogs, and (so far just one) pig. And it is a unicorn of a place, where people can come and find solace after suffering the death of a loved one, often through bonding with an animal, such as Chemakoh, who truly seems to understand. Because while the idea of care farming in general is rare enough outside of Europe and Australia where the green approach to therapy utilizes the natural healing power of land and animals to help people deal with issues from spectrum disorders to PTSD and addictions Selah is rarer still. Thats due to it being the first care farm ever to focus on treating the traumatically bereaved. This farm is a place where people can go in their trauma and grief and get some space, and just be with their authentic emotions, Cacciatore says, adding that the name comes from the Hebrew selah, meaning an interlude during which to pause and reflect. There arent very many places like that in the world, where you can have that space and freedom to just be. Rae-Ann Wood brushing Wilbur the pig on a recent visit. (GIF:Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Selah is still in its infancy, actively fundraising so that the actual brick-and-mortar therapy residence center, for weeklong stays, can be built. But its already bringing deep comfort to pretty much anyone who spends any time here, either for daytime visits or to volunteer on the land people like Roger and Jennifer Huberty, whose daughter Raine was stillborn in 2011; Beth DuPree, a breast cancer surgeon whose brother was killed by a drunk driver when she was in high school; Diane Keller, whose 18-year-old daughter was murdered at college in 2010; Rachel Tso, whose 3-year-old son Zaadii was run down in 2015 by a distracted driver in a Best Buy parking lot; and even this writer, grateful to find a place at which to plumb the depths of grief, no matter how old or frozen over, decades after surviving the drunk driving accident that killed her brother and best friend. Selahs comforts are simple but immense, gained by caring acts like brushing a pig, feeding a baby sheep its bottle, putting ones hands into the warm earth to plant flowers, or just sitting and crying under an almond tree. Diane Keller, left, and a photo of her daughter Toni, who was murdered in 2010. (Photo: Beth Greenfield for Yahoo Lifestyle) Animals just have this innate ability to connect with us humans in a completely nonjudgmental way, says Joel Bacon of Connecticut. He and his wife, JoAnn, lost their 6-year-old daughter, Charlotte, in the Sandy Hook school shooting five years ago this week, and have made many trips to Sedona for both counseling sessions and retreats with Cacciatore. When their son Guy, now 15, returned to classes after his sisters murder, it was the presence of therapy dogs brought in by the school that made it bearable; the family has since created a program called Charlottes Litter, which advocates for the use of therapy and comfort dogs. They help us to feel, Joel says of animals, which is so important, especially when it comes to grief. Its this cycle of compassion from human to animal and earth and back again that Cacciatore hopes will be the heartbeat here. I believe that the people who have suffered are the peacemakers in this world, she says. If we can stay with our pain and stay with our grief, we can know a compassion that is boundless, and we can enact that in the world. It doesnt make it OK that that person we loved most in the world died, and it shouldnt. And yet we still can bring that love to the world in an amazing way. Jennifer and Roger Huberty, whose daughter Raine was stillborn. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Or as Tso, who owns horses, says, I sometimes find myself more able to relate to animals than people. Were all these sentient, living beings, and to be able to look into the eyes of an animal who has been through trauma and is learning how to live day by day, just like me? Its powerful. Being a warrior is learning how to cry. Nathan Chasing Horse The practice of care farming has gained a toehold in countries including the Netherlands, Australia, and the U.K., where there are currently 250 care farms operating and another 100 in formation, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Care Farming UK. In the U.S., besides Selah, there are only three known setups two in Oregon, Fawn Hills and Sanctuary One, and another in California called Kindred Spirits mostly serving the youth and the elderly through informal volunteer offerings that involve rescue animals. And there are similar types of green, outdoor-based therapy programs, including Operation: Tohidu in Maryland. In the program, clinical psychologist Mary Vieten treats veterans with PTSD through outdoor group retreats involving ropes courses, ziplines, yoga, and equine therapy, which helps them manage their own healing naturally, notes the website. Joanne Cacciatore. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Still, Cacciatores vision for the care farm and her approach to grief in general is exceedingly rare. Thats even as public discussion of the oft-avoided topic of grief has begun to blossom, the result of both a steady clip of mass-scale American tragedies and the willingness of those with major platforms Joe Biden, Sheryl Sandberg, Prince Harry, Jennifer Hudson, and Joan Didion among them to speak and write with heartbreaking honesty on what it feels like to be bereaved. But the role of animals in helping to soothe grief was something Cacciatore has had a sense of for many years: In 1994, she gave birth to her fourth child, a girl named Cheyenne, who was stillborn. It was a life-altering moment that catapulted her into her current role of renowned expert on the topic of traumatic grief, defined as the emotional reaction to a loss that is sudden, unexpected, or violent, or any death of a child. Now she counsels the bereaved and trains other therapists to do the same, runs her national MISS Foundation (a support organization for parents who have lost children), and researches grief in her role as a PhD and tenured professor of social work at Arizona State University. Earlier this year, she released her fourth book, Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, to much acclaim. And despite spending an inordinate amount of time talking, thinking, and hearing about death, Cacciatore exudes a deep, glowing joy and a fierce, unwavering presence. But, she says, for a while, after Cheyenne died, she remained in shock and immobile. She wept frequently. I had dogs at the time, and I used to say my dogs and my 3-year-old were the only beings that could stand to be around me without trying to change how I felt without trying to cheer me up or make me better, she recalls. They just accepted when I cried and just accepted my grief when none of the adults around me could. When Cacciatore began to notice that same quiet intuition between her horse and her clients, she researched equine therapy programs, and discovered that while the approach was used for combat veterans and children with disabilities, there were no examples of it being applied to bereavement. Eventually, she came upon the writings of Rich Gorman, an England-based postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter with expertise in care farming. Gorman had been looking at how care farming could be more compassionate, as the therapy animals in most such settings are part of the existing agricultural system and are eventually sent off to slaughter. So he was intrigued when Cacciatore, a longtime vegan and a Zen Buddhist priest, reached out to him with her vision, which included the compassionate twist that every animal be a rescue. One of the many signs dotting the land of the care farm. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Its an area no one has really looked at before, so I was fascinated, Gorman says, referring to the pairing of care farming and grief. The most exciting thing for me was her story about Chemakoh, and this use of bringing human and animal care together. Gorman headed to Sedona, where the two set to work creating a blueprint for this rare respite center and writing a meticulous review on their vision, publishing it in the journal Health & Place. Components of the farm, once it is up and running in early 2018, are to include group and individual counseling with Cacciatore and a small staff of therapists, animal-based therapies, contemplative practices such as yoga and meditation, and space for other activities, such as kayaking along a narrow offshoot of the Verde River, which snakes along the 10-acre property. The aim is to have costs for a stay here be on a sliding scale based on ability, with no one turned away for lack of funds. The author hanging copper tags from the care farms memorial tree. (Photo: Joanne Cacciatore) For now, nature is the center of the action. Small boulders artfully edge the crimson-dirt paths, and the land is alive with grapevines, weeping willows, and pomegranate trees. Benches dot the property, along with signs that Cacciatore has had made up, bearing quotes about grief from Wendell Berry, Margaret Brownley, and the Book of Psalms. There is a swimming pond near the entrance, a raised yoga platform, and a metal memorial tree, onto which mourners can affix round copper tags bearing the metal-stamped names of those theyve loved and lost. (I take part in the ritual, hammering Adam and Kristin into shiny discs, letter by tiny letter, and the effect is startlingly, physically profound.) Chemakoh remains the original mascot, but hes since been joined by a steadily growing army of beings, from abandoned dogs and formerly slaughter-bound sheep to other abused horses and a sensitive pig named Wilbur, who was left alone in an empty house for one month before he was found, and now has an insatiable appetite for oatmeal with brown sugar. Chemakoh and Cacciatore. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) The actual house of the Selah House, which will have room enough to shelter several families at a time, has yet to be constructed, as land was only just purchased in August by Cacciatore and her engineer husband, a superduper private dude who prefers to remain in the background. (For now, visitors either live in the area or stay at a small guesthouse adjacent to Cacciatores own, just a few miles away.) Fundraising toward a goal of $585,000 has been a painstaking process. I think people dont want to fundraise to be part of a grief process, posits Nancy Borreani, a Massachusetts mom who lost two children within five years a son, 25, in a 2010 drunk driving accident, and a daughter, 23, to cancer in 2015 and credits Cacciatore, and the care farm, with saving her life. People want to talk about happy things, or they want to fundraise for something to have a cure, like cancer or MS, she says. There isnt a cure for this. Sarah Toig and Rae-Ann Wood at the bamboo-thick edge of the care farms property in Sedona, Ariz. The couple holds a photo of their son, Noah, who was stillborn. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Still, contractors have built a barn for Chemakoh and his cohorts, and there is a steady sound here of hammering and digging, as groups of volunteers come together to take on tasks from irrigating the land to hacking down overgrown bamboo thickets and planting flowers around what already feels like a magical corner of the world. You cannot rush your way through grief. Margaret Brownley An essential part of Selah is the community of support and understanding among fellow mourners that the programs aim to build. Its something those who are grieving say they cherish when found, though its often difficult to find in a society that desperately wants them to keep busy and move on and when they dont, that often moves on instead. We lost a lot of friends, recalls Rae-Ann Wood. She and her wife, Sarah Toig, began working with Cacciatore after their son, Noah, was stillborn in 2010. They couldnt handle the grief, they couldnt handle our pain, they didnt know how to respond. I think they wanted us to be better, to get over it. Billie Freiwald, whose 3-year-old son Braden died from complications after a routine tonsillectomy in 2008, reports that after some initial offerings of comfort, people kept their distance. My best friend who was there when he was born disappeared, she tells me, sitting with her husband, Jason, in the fading orange glow of a sunset one evening at the care farm. I think people are scared. I mean, you go to the grocery store and people would see you, and you see them out of the corner of your eye, and they run I mean run the opposite way. Maya Thompson, who lost her son Ronan to cancer, feeding a baby sheep. (Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle) Similarly, says a weepy Maya Thompson, whose son Ronan died of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma just before his 4th birthday in 2010, I walk into my daughters preschool, and Im like every parents worst nightmare. Shes visits Selah regularly, and talks with me here while sitting on a bench beneath a mulberry tree trimmed with a rainbow peace flag and various wind chimes made by bereaved parents. I think its too much reality [for others], because this could happen to anybody anybody can lose a child, and a lot of people dont want that reminder. Thompson, who now helms the Ronan Thompson Foundation, is writing a memoir of her loss, and has a large and loyal social media following, spent time during Ronans treatment meting out heartbreaking updates through her blog, Rockstar Ronan. It went viral after attracting the attention of Taylor Swift, and the pop star eventually wrote a song about the blue-eyed boy using one of Thompsons posts as lyrics. But in the early days of her sons treatment, a well-meaning friend suggested to Thompson, who was sobbing, that she get herself on antidepressant medication not a rare suggestion for the bereaved which she did. I didnt know what I was doing, she recalls, as Wilbur the pig rubs up against her ankle as if he were a cat. I thought it would help, so I saw someone and they put me on a cocktail of so many different things, and I went through Ronans treatment very numb. But instead of providing comfort, she now knows, the drugs simply pushed away the inevitable. Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle Once I was off those medications, I feel like I was able to start the healing process a bit, says Thompson. I know I was suicidal when I was on them. I didnt ever want to be numb to my pain. Though her grief shifted in a life-altering way after she started working with Cacciatore, she says, Theres never a second that Im not carrying the grief with me. It never goes away. The idea of fighting grief by pushing it away or deadening it with psychotropic medications or other substances is a distinctly Western one, Cacciatore says. And she ardently believes it needs to change. Theres so much we [in society] get wrong about grief, she says. I think all this striving for feeling good is really doing us quite a lot of harm. The fact is that life is hard sometimes, and that means we have to feel painful feelings and learn how to bear the unbearable. All of this happiness-chasing doesnt do us any good, because what we wind up feeling is, if were not happy all the time then were not doing something right. GIF: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle Furthering that dilemma, notes Cacciatore, is a systemic problem among caregivers, because were no longer teaching therapists or psychiatrists how to be with people who are suffering, she says. We want to fix people rather than just be with them. A striking example of this was the controversy that erupted among mental-health professionals when the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) came out in 2013. Published by the American Psychiatric Association and used by mental-health providers to diagnose patients and clear them for treatments and medications with insurers, this new edition, the DSM-5, included a change allowing the newly bereaved to be diagnosed with major depression. To qualify, a patient need only have experienced at least five symptoms on a checklist including sadness, sleep disturbance, loss of concentration, and decreased appetite for at least two weeks. Proponents defended the change by noting, as did psychiatrist Ronald Pies in the Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience journal, DSM-5 recognizes that bereavement does not immunize the patient against major depression, and often precipitates it. Photo: Caitlin OHara for Yahoo Lifestyle Cacciatore was a leader in the chorus of critics who spoke out in more than 100 journal articles around the world; she wrote a passionate blog post against the new DSM and its medicalized approach to human suffering that went viral in 2012. Ive had so many circumstances where somebodys baby just died, and before they even leave the hospital theyre being written a prescription for an antidepressant, a sleep aid, and a benzodiazepine [for anxiety]. You mix that with a little bit of alcohol, and youve got a really dangerous situation, she says. Were pathologizing what it means to be human and to grieve. God is nearest the brokenhearted. Psalms 34:18 There is a Sedona hiking trail one of countless footpaths in this trekking hot spot called Brewer Trail, just a few miles east of the care farm. It snakes up through Arizona ash and cottonwood trees, creosote bushes and prickly pears, edging along a steep drop for a dramatic 2-mile climb. Its one of the spots where Cacciatore takes clients, both alone and in groups, for barefoot hikes one of her many out-of-the-box therapy methods, which also include exceedingly long talk sessions, guided meditations, grief journaling, and reconnecting with nature through mindfulness exercises. One of the defining characteristics [of trauma] is that you sort of leave your body and disconnect, she explains, and the idea is to get back in your body, feel safe in it, and start reconnecting with as many things as we can. Left, from the lookout at the top of the Brewer Trail in Sedona, Ariz. At right, the feet of the author and Cacciatore, mid-hike. (Photo: Joanne Cacciatore) Borreani, the Massachusetts mom who lost two of her children, and who came here to work with Cacciatore over the summer as a last-ditch effort to emerge from her deepest, darkest place, says she barely noticed the stunning landscape here upon her arrival, but that she experienced a major shift by the end of her therapeutic week. The mindfulness has helped me appreciate the world again, she says. When I first got [to Sedona] I was like, whatever. By the end, I had to stop and look at every mountain. Sedona, known far and wide for its spiritual vortexes and healing energy, is certainly an ideal setting for Selah. That became particularly clear on the afternoon I went with Cacciatore, shoes and socks left in our wake, up the Brewer Trail. She calls this metaphorical work, and its no mystery why: On the climb, tiny stones feel jarringly sharp and make my eyes water, while larger lumps hitting a particular spot in my arch make me yelp from pain and wonder if I can even go on. Fine sandy patches are gifts, soothing as baby powder, and I linger through them, taking time to look out into the shockingly alien expanse, remembering the rawness of my own long-receded anguish, which is never hard to conjure. The lesson, of course, is that you can navigate pain, but not avoid it. And then theres the hopeful part of the metaphor: that the longer you keep at the exercise, the more you become accustomed to how it feels. At the top of the lookout, where the smooth, sun-warmed sandstone soothes your feet with sweet relief before your return to the rock-strewn path, the rolling expanse of orange and brick red formations seems to stretch as far as the sea. This part is perspective. And connection. This is what people find here, and back down the path and across town at Selah. Its what Chemakoh likely glimpsed as he was led up and out of the canyon where he had spent his life suffering. It is the moment when a new, hopeful reality might click for the first time, and when those mired in grief might first begin to understand that it is possible to survive. Part of the problem is that when we go through a catastrophic loss, theres an existential loneliness that comes over us. Its like, How can anyone possibly know the depth of my pain? Cacciatore had explained earlier, on one of our first walks to the horse pen. And yet you come to a place like this, and despite these animals being a completely different species and having a completely different experience of trauma and grief, you can feel a connectedness. And it makes that loneliness just a little less salient. Its one more little piece of connection to something real. And thats really potent for us as humans. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada announced Tuesday it would buy 18 used Australian jets instead of new Boeing Super Hornets, signaling limits in its unwavering friendship with its US neighbor. A little more than a year after saying it would buy 18 Super Hornets for more than $5 billion, and amid trade tensions, Ottawa formally rejected the deal in favor of used planes from Australia. Senior government and military officials said the Australian F-18 fighter jets will fill an air force interim capability gap while Ottawa holds a competitive procurement process for a new fleet. "We have received an official offer from the Australian government regarding the sale of 18 jets, and we intend to follow up on this offer," Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough told a press conference. Consultations with aircraft makers on the new fleet will begin in January, she said, before Ottawa launches the formal bidding in 2019 for 88 new planes. The winning bidder will be expected to partner with Canadian aerospace firms. A special clause requiring the successful candidate to also cause "no economic harm" to Canada appears aimed at disqualifying Boeing, which riled Ottawa when it launched a trade complaint against the nation's largest manufacturer Bombardier earlier this year. Qualtrough insisted that "no firm will be excluded" from the competition. However, "bidders responsible for harming Canada's economic interest will be at a distinct disadvantage compared to bidders who aren't engaged in detrimental behavior," she added. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals in 2015 scrapped three previous administrations' plans to purchase state-of-the-art, but costly Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets to replace Canada's aging F-18 fleet. Canada spent two decades helping to develop the stealth fighter with the United States and its allies. But it is currently the only nation in the partnership not yet committed to buying the F-35s. Story continues Trudeau had proposed picking up 18 new Super Hornets as a stopgap while it reset the competition. But that deal fell apart after Boeing filed a trade complaint against Bombardier in an effort to keep Bombardier's new CSeries jetliners out of the US market, resulting in 300 percent duties being slapped on the planes. - Payback for Boeing complaint - "Attempts by Boeing to put tens of thousands of aerospace workers out of work across Canada is not something we look on positively," Trudeau told reporters in October when he went to Washington to press US President Donald Trump on the issue. "And I certainly mentioned that this was a block to us purchasing any -- making any military procurements from Boeing." At the same time, ties with Washington have become strained over Trump's hard line in trade talks, and the targeting of Canadian softwood lumber imports. Military and procurement experts praised Canada's decision to buy the used fighter jets for a tenth of the cost of the Super Hornets. They noted the Australian planes would be easily integrated into Canada's existing fleet. "I don't think the purchase of used Australian fighter jets makes as much sense as expediting the purchase of new jets, but it makes more sense than the previous plan to buy a new fleet of aircraft to use temporarily while running a competition to buy more new aircraft for a full fleet replacement," said Dave Perry, an analyst at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute in Ottawa. The contract for a full fleet of new warplanes will be awarded in 2022, after the next election, with the first deliveries expected in 2025. Most critics say only the Super Hornet or the F-35 can meet Canada's needs as the US and Canadian air forces must be interoperable under the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan confirmed this to AFP last year. Airbus, after coming to the rescue of Bombardier in October, has expressed a desire to do more business in Canada and could pitch the Eurofighter Typhoon to replace Canada's F-18s. "There's some hope among the Europeans that they may be able to get Canada to consider one of their jet fighters," said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute. "But that's a pretty outside shot," he said. Shimooka said hawks in the US Congress "are very upset" with Trudeau for canceling the F-35 purchase. "But it's not a big thing on the radar of the (US) administration," he added. "They know Canada will buy either the Super Hornet or F-35 in the end." Cardi B announced her collaboration with Steve Madden. (Photo: Getty Images) If we could choose one person who had an amazing year in 2017, it would hands-down be Cardi B. The incredibly popular Bronx-bred rapper made a splash this year with her hit song Bodak Yellow and has toured the world. Shes also had amazing collaborations with everyone from Elle to her latest and greatest: legendary shoe designer Steve Madden. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old hip-hop artist and reality star announced on Instagram her collaboration with Madden, through a video of one of her Daily Tips in which she explains why every women should have a pointy shoe. All right, if I button this shirt, I could go to a business meeting, but I can wear this to the club, she says in the video while rocking a blue-and-white striped blouse, denim jeans, and a pair of hot pink pointy pumps. Steve Madden!!! A post shared by Cardi B Official IG (@iamcardib) on Dec 12, 2017 at 10:14pm PST Since the posting, many people have shared how excited and proud they are of her. One inspired fan wrote, I need to get to this level of slayage, while another chimed in, You add so much energy to everything you do! Your presence is always felt. Cardi B is our girl, Madden shared in a brand statement. Shes an inspiration to many. Shes the definition of Self Made. Prior to news of the collaboration, Madden had expressed to Yahoo Lifestyle his admiration for Cardi and how she actually is the one who got him more into social media. I have to say, Cardi B, shes blown my mind with her Instagrams, he said. She does these riffs on like a purple blanket I dont know if its her or a character she develops, its just so much fun to watch. Its gotten me more into Instagram. One would think that high-end designer Christian Louboutin would be the first to be knocking down Cardis door, especially since she has the famous lyric, These is red bottoms, these is bloody shoes, in her song Bodak Yellow a clear reference to his famous red-soled shoes. But in an interview with the New York Times, Louboutin suggested that he wasnt that familiar with her. Still, a Teen Vogue article noted recently, None of that seems to faze Cardi. Because as she noted, Its just something youve got to prove to people, just like music. A lot of music people didnt want to work with me at first, and youve just got to prove yourself. Story continues Opinions aside, its clear that Cardi B has proved herself in a major way in 2017. We caught up with Gil Eyal, CEO of HYPR Brands, and he really broke down the power of influence she holds. Cardi has 14 million Instagram followers two out of three are female, 25 percent are African-American, and 38 percent are Caucasian. Half her audience is under the age of 25, and 86 percent are under 32, and 81 percent are in the United States, he says. Cardis ascent started in June 2017. That means shes hot right now, but its hard to say whether shell stay hot for long. Her first post from [Tuesday] night hit a similar audience and got about 700,000 likes. We can assume it was seen by millions of people, based on the publicity that was generated around it. If anything, it brought the new brand some very well needed attention. Whether or not that will convert to sales only time will tell. Cardi B seems to be pretty hyped about her latest gig, and we can almost bet its going to be a hit that leads to more team-ups. Im so excited to be collaborating with one of my all-time favorite shoe designers, she excitedly shared in an official press release from Steve Madden. As a little girl, I would die for a pair of Steve Madden shoes, now Im working with him! Its really a dream come true. Check out some of Cardis curated picks and stylish looks from Steve Madden here. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Charles Jenkins, a former American soldier who defected across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea in 1965 and was held by the totalitarian regime for 40 years, died in Japan on Monday at the age of 77. Jenkins, who was freed in 2004, had lived on Sado Island with his wife, a Japanese woman named Hitomi Soga who herself was kidnapped by North Korea and forced to teach her language to Pyongyangs spies. Jenkins death was first reported by Kyodo News and Japans NHK broadcaster, who said the cause was heart failure. In January 1965, Jenkins decided to cross into the North and desert the U.S. Army in an attempt to avoid serving in Vietnam. He drank 10 beers to soothe his nerves, unloaded his military-issue rifle as a gesture of peace and walked across the border hoping he could travel through the country and possibly seek asylum in Russia. But those hopes were quickly dashed, he told The Los Angeles Times earlier this year, and Jenkins said in retrospect that a lot of his decisions dont make sense now. He was held for eight years in a room with three other American defectors and forced to memorize information about North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, beaten at times and forced to live in bleak, freezing quarters. In North Korea, I lived a dogs life, he told the Times. Aint nobody live good in North Korea. Nothing to eat. No running water. No electricity. In the wintertime you freeze in my bedroom, the walls were covered in ice. Jenkins was eventually moved into his own home, and began to teach English and play roles as an evil American in North Korean propaganda movies. In 1980, a then 21-year-old Soga was moved into his home by government authorities and they were forced to marry just weeks later. They later fell in love through their mutual hatred of the North, he told the Times, and had two daughters. After I met Hitomi, my life changed, he said, according to NHK. Soga was released through a deal between the North Korean and Japanese governments in 2002, and Jenkins and their daughters were released themselves two years later in 2004, according to The Washington Post. Then in his 60s, Jenkins was court-martialed on a U.S. Army base in Japan that year and sentenced to 30 days in prison for desertion, but was released early. Story continues He went on to live in Japan with Soga and told Kyodo in 2012 that he was happy with his newfound freedom and his work at a souvenir shop at a local museum on Sado Island. Shortly after the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea after he was accused of stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel, Jenkins said he couldnt understand why Americans would visit North Korea as tourists. Its crazy, he said in his interview with the Times. North Korea will do anything to keep a foreigner. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. The New York Times The closest House race in the nation has unspooled in unexpected territory: western Colorado. Nine days after the election, the contest, in the states 3rd Congressional District, between Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, remains undecided. As of Thursday afternoon, according to The Associated Press, Boebert leads by 0.34 percentage points or, about 1,100 votes of the more than 320,000 counted to date with a resolution possible before the weekend. Beautiful shades of bright blue, colorful blooms and a fun octopus motif; a rustic elegant wedding with a dash of fabulous fun. And it all took place in a gorgeous olive grove in Greece. Pretty amazing, right? It's no surprise that White Ribbon Boutique Events choreographed this celebration; it's chic and stunning and the photos by 2Brides Photography showcase it all. See more right this way! From White Ribbon Boutique Events... They have been together for ELEVEN years. They met at the age of 18, the first year of university and fell in love. The bride pursued the groom and when he rejected her first invitation for a date, the bride, Courtney didnt give up. They soon started dating, fell in love... and never stopped. After eleven years of life, travel, and love they have formed a true partnership.In 2014 they spent a month traveling and sailing in Greece and absolutely fell in love with the culture, people and beauty and wanted to share this with their friends and family. So three years later, 80 of their nearest and dearest, gathered on the island of Paros in the Cyclades for a four day celebration.Celebrations were kicked off with a welcome dinner at the picturesque Lefkes Village. The next day the group enjoyed a wine tour and tasting followed by a sunset cocktail in Naoussa Town on the waterfront.The next day was the big day. The couple planned a first look followed by an intimate ceremony by the Cycladic cliffs performed by one of their closest friends and the groom's mother. The cocktail hour was held under an aged plane tree with custom cocktails the couple had designed for their guests. The most spectacular setting was that of dinner, which took place on the olive grove of a private villa, with long Italian style tables and glistening lights decorating each olive tree.The celebrations were concluded with a traditional boat trip ride to nearby islands the next day in the majestic Aegean sea. Photography: 2 Brides Photography | Event Planning: White Ribbon Boutique Events | Floral Design: Dianthos | Wedding Dress: Theia | Cake: Pavlov's Lab | Bride's Shoes: Pelle Moda | Catering: Art Catering | Groom's Attire: Klein Epstein & Parker | Wedding Venue: Villa Glyfa | Bar Service: Ramantanis Bros | Decor Design: White Ribbon Boutique Events | Music, Sound + Lights: music essentials | Rentals: Stylebox The Donald Trump administration has taken a soft line on Russia in many areas of contention, except when it comes to Moscows use of energy exports as a geopolitical cudgel. Top administration officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, are sounding the alarm about the threat posed by Russias use of the energy weapon, especially a controversial $11 billion gas pipeline project led by largely state-owned Gazprom that they fear will tear Europe apart and leave Ukraine in the cold. On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear testimony from a pair of senior State Department officials on coercive Russian diplomacy and the threat it poses to the United States. Europeans and Americans have fretted for years about Moscows tendency to use its energy exports as a weapon to cow neighbors in Europe; several times, Russia has cut off supplies of natural gas to punish wayward states, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. But those worries have been given fresh urgency with Russias plan to build a new pipeline alongside an existing gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to Germany, known as Nord Stream 2. Even if Gazprom takes no actions to exert political power through energy trade, the fact that it has the means to do so, the mere threat of a cutoff, gives Russia political leverage, said Meghan OSullivan, a former George W. Bush administration official who is now director of the Geopolitics of Energy project at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School. Russia says the project is purely commercial and is meant to provide more cheap gas to Europe as it seeks cleaner-burning fuels to replace coal. Tillerson specifically called out Russias use of the energy weapon in a speech in late November, warning that the new pipeline would be unwise and leave Europe more reliant on a single supplier. U.S. officials have become increasingly vocal about Nord Stream 2 because, if it is built as planned, the increased capacity would mean Russian gas would no longer need to cross Ukraine to get to Europe. That would take away a huge source of revenue for cash-strapped Kiev just as the war-torn country is trying to get its economy back on track. And losing that valuable transit business would make it harder for Ukraine to clean up and privatize parts of its energy sector, where corruption has been rife. Story continues If that reform stalls, Ukrainian officials warn, the country will slip back closer to Moscows orbit. The anti-corruption fight is the key thing to achieve for our country, said Andriy Kobolyev, the chief executive of Ukraines state-owned Naftogaz, in an interview. Corruption, he said, is a bigger threat to Ukraines future than Russian tanks. Naftogaz, which makes up 16 percent of Ukraines total budget revenue according to Kobolyev, had an anti-corruption showdown when members of its independent supervisory board resigned in September, citing government obstruction and political meddling in its reform efforts. Kobolyev described Nord Stream 2 as a geopolitical wedge meant to sow divisions between Western and Eastern Europe, part of broader Russian efforts to undermine European unity. The consortium of five European energy firms and Gazprom building Nord Stream 2 says that the project will not cut out Ukraine and is badly needed to meet future gas demand in Europe. Additionally, the consortium says, gas sent to Europe by pipeline would be cheaper than liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States sent on tankers, making the pipeline beneficial to Europes economy. The notion that Nord Stream 2 will directly harm Ukraine or result in the termination of Ukrainian gas supply routes is false, said Jens Muller, a spokesperson for Nord Stream 2. Neither LNG nor gas transited through Ukraine alone are sufficient to secure Europes energy needs, he added. Another pipeline across the Baltic is imperative for the future of the EU energy supply. Many policymakers in Germany, where there is plenty of support for the project, would agree. German Social Democrats, who could be part of a grand political coalition, are particularly supportive. And to the pipelines supporters in Berlin, U.S. opposition to it smacks of economic self-interest. In Germany, there are certainly people that think this administrations opposition to Nord Stream 2 is an obvious example of Trump using foreign policy to promote U.S. economic interests, said Ellen Scholl of the Atlantic Council. U.S. administration officials acknowledge as much. While the United States during the Barack Obama administration was a vocal critic of Russias pipeline plans, including Nord Stream 2, and another project in Turkey, the Trump administration has ratcheted up the criticism. The energy boom in recent years, fueled by the fracking revolution and especially the first U.S. exports of natural gas to Europe this year, have made U.S. officials even more willing to use energy as a diplomatic tool to counter Moscows influence. The bottom line is that the strength of the U.S. energy sector impacts how we approach foreign affairs, said John McCarrick, the No. 2 energy official at the State Department, in a November speech. The first cargoes of U.S. natural gas arrived in Lithuania and Poland this summer, and Poland has signed a five-year deal to get more U.S. gas. Increasingly, U.S. natural gas is heading to Europe, where it can compete directly with Russian energy. Those new import terminals have allowed countries like Poland and Lithuania, long almost wholly reliant on Russia for energy, to partially wean themselves from Moscow, McCarrick said. Gas exports offer triple benefits for the Trump administration, he added, helping to open markets, increasing U.S. exports, and bolstering American allies. In the meantime, Nord Stream 2 is plunging ahead, and the consortium has just finalized all the contracts it needs to start construction next year. The risks it now faces are political. The European Union wants to apply internal market regulations to the offshore pipeline, which could scupper the project. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the expansive EU approach seems like an effort to get Moscow to abandon the project. Meanwhile, Denmark could upset the pipelines construction by forcing it to take a new route across the Baltic, adding time and expense. But the biggest risk to Russias pipeline plans comes from the U.S. Congress. Legislation passed in July expands the range of economic sanctions that could be levied on Russian energy firms even on projects outside of Russia. That has put Nord Stream 2 in the crosshairs. If the sanctions are ever enacted by the president, it could be enough to derail the project if EU red tape doesnt first. It would not be too difficult for the United States to throw a spanner into Nord Stream 2 by making the project risky and the financing therefore too expensive, OSullivan said. But she cautioned that a political sledgehammer, such as fresh sanctions, would probably be less effective than letting the invisible hand work, by making it even easier to export U.S. energy to countries that want it. If the United States wants to curb Russian influence, it can probably do few things more effective than just letting energy markets work, she said. Still, the prospect of additional U.S. sanctions is already a headache for Nord Stream 2. The pipeline consortium is meeting every month to see if sanctions are there or not, said Kobolyev. The only question the projects European backers are weighing, he said, is how much is the U.S. against this project? MONTGOMERY, Ala. Democrat Doug Jones shocked this state, and the country, by defeating Republican Roy Moore in Alabamas Senate special election Tuesday, a victory that sounds a loud warning to the White House and the Republican Party. President Trump had thrown his full support behind Moore, who was a controversial figure even before multiple allegations emerged that he had pursued inappropriate relationships with teenagers as an adult. Joness victory is a shot in the arm for Democrats, who are hoping that anger at Trump and congressional Republicans will fuel a wave election in 2018, flipping the U.S. House of Representatives, and perhaps even the Senate, blue. Tonight is a night for rejoicing, Jones told a jubilant crowd in Birmingham after defeating Moore 670,551 votes to 649,240, with 100 percent of the vote counted. Jones, a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted Ku Klux Klan members for an infamous 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, will be the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the Senate in 20 years. He fills the seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moores defeat means that Trump has now suffered three consecutive losses. He first backed Moores opponent, Luther Strange, in the Republican primary only to see him lose to Moore. Then, last month, voters in Virginia turned out in historic numbers to deliver a massive rebuke to Trump in the elections for governor and state legislature. Nonetheless, Trump put forth his best face Tuesday night. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard-fought victory, the president tweeted. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Moore gave brief remarks to his supporters, but did not concede the race, saying a recount was still possible. But state law requires a half-point margin or less to trigger a recount, and Jones bested Moore by 1.5 points. Story continues Roy Moore leaves the stage after speaking in Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 12, 2017. (Photo: Mike Stewart/AP) After suffering decades of stinging losses, Alabama Democrats celebrated a historic night. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, who is just 35 years old, pledged that it would spark a resurgence for the party. This is just the beginning, Daniels said in a phone interview. This gives us the momentum we need. But it wasnt just Democrats who were overjoyed by the result Tuesday night. Alabama is an overwhelmingly Republican state, and Jones received votes from many in the GOP who could not abide the thought of Moore winning. There were more than 22,000 write-in ballots cast, making up almost two percent of the electorate. After Jones was declared the winner, a veteran Republican in the state, Hatton Smith, reached us by phone. Smith, who was an adviser to Luther Strange in the Republican primary, said, We got a bunch of Republicans here that want to tell you something. He held up his phone and the sound of a group of people cheering loudly came over the phone. Its good over evil, Smith said. The state of Alabama won. He added: Heres to 2020 when we defeat Doug Jones. Moore, a former judge who was removed from office twice before running for the Senate, was hit by multiple allegations from women who said he sexually pursued them when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers. One woman said Moore touched her sexually when she was 14; another said he sexually assaulted her when she was just 16 years old and he was an assistant district attorney. Moore vehemently denied the allegations, but several high-profile Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said they believed the women. Trump, however, never abandoned Moore, even recording a robocall for him in Alabama that decried Jones as a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Trump won the state last year by 28 points, and his failure to push Moore over the finish line could spell trouble for the unpopular presidents political strategy going forward. Joness victory also endangers Republicans tax reform legislation in Congress, which passed by a narrow majority in the Senate earlier this month. Both the Senate and the House will have to pass another combined version of the tax bill to send it to the presidents desk. With one fewer Republican in the chamber, McConnell can lose only one vote and still push through the bill, which has not attracted any Democratic support. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has already voted against the legislation once, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has made several demands regarding health care that must be met before shell support it again. McConnell could rush the vote before Jones is seated in January, however. Supporters celebrate at the election night party for Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 12. (Photo: Marvin Gentry/Reuters) Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who chairs the Senate GOPs campaign arm and pulled the groups support for Moore after the allegations of sexual misconduct became public, began immediately Tuesday night to recruit Jones to join the Republican Party. The people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate, Gardner said in a statement in which he called on Jones to do the right thing and truly represent Alabama by choosing to vote with the Senate Republican majority. The result was also a stinging setback for former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who left the administration in August and immediately made Moore his No. 1 cause. He used Breitbart News, which he runs, as a vehicle to prop up the Republican, and appeared poised to accrue significant influence if Moore was elected to the Senate. Now Bannon will have to look for a new vehicle and remains without any significant electoral wins as a power broker. Steven Law, who runs the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC affiliated with McConnell, the Senate majority leader, delivered a cutting criticism of Bannons work. This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running, Law said in a statement. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the president of the United States into his fiasco. Jones ran a vigorous campaign up to the end, targeting the states black population last weekend. He brought in Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., to stump for him. Jones also ran ads featuring prominent Republicans, including Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., disavowing Moore, in a bid to peel off conservatives. Meanwhile, Moore lay low, holding no campaign events until a rally Monday with Bannon. If you dont believe in my character, dont vote for me, Moore said then. Moore was already a controversial figure in Alabama. While serving as the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, he twice was ordered to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse and both times refused. Moores record on race is marked by opposition to removing Jim Crow language from state statues, and he just recently said America was last great during a time when blacks were enslaved. While many religious conservatives in the South might not be enthusiastic about gay marriage, Moores harsh language about gays has been another turnoff for moderate Alabamans. And his antagonism of African-Americans motivated higher than normal turnout by minority voters in what would usually be a sleepy off-year election less than two weeks before Christmas. African-Americans made up a higher percentage of the electorate Tuesday, at 30 percent, than they did in 2008 and 2012, when former President Barack Obama was on the ballot. Blacks were 29 percent of the vote in 2008 and 28 percent in 2012. For establishment Republicans who had distanced themselves from Moores candidacy, the election of a Democrat came as welcome news. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has been one of the most outspoken Trump critics in the Republican Party, delivered a succinct coda to the night on Twitter: Decency wins, he said. Read more from Yahoo News: Leaders of the Democratic Womens Working Group are urging Congress to open an investigation into the multiple sexual misconduct allegations against President Donald Trump. On Monday evening, 59 Democratic congresswomen signed and published a letter to Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The letter received an overwhelming amount of support from the House Democratic Caucus and, as of Tuesday afternoon, had received more than 100 signatures from male as well as female Democrats. The letter, which was spearheaded by Reps. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), requests a formal congressional investigation into the 19 allegations against Trump of sexual harassment and assault. The American people deserve a full inquiry into the truth of these allegations, the letter reads. Trump has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting at least 19 women. In October 2016, a 2005 Access Hollywood tape was leaked to The Washington Post in which Trump can be heard bragging about grabbing women by the pussy. Trump has denied all accusations. In October of this year, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that all of Trumps accusers were lying. Regardless of the victim or alleged perpetrator, every voice deserves to be heard and justice demands transparency, accountability and respect of due process, Lawrence said in a press release. A thorough investigation into these accusations of sexual misconduct by President Trump is long overdue. Cummings issued a statement on Tuesday in support of the request for an investigation. Congress is in the midst of a critical and long-overdue examination of allegations against its own Members both before and after they were elected to Congress, he wrote. The Oversight Committee is charged with examining similar allegations against Executive Branch employees and the President. It is extremely hard for Republicans to argue that Congress should ignore these multiple allegations. They deserve a bipartisan review, and I hope Chairman Gowdy will launch an investigation immediately. Story continues Speier said that Trumps behavior warrants a call for his resignation, but that the most important thing right now is to start an investigation. What I find most disturbing is the fact that his victims were dismissed out of hand or, even worse, called liars, she said in a press release. These women deserve to have us engage in a serious examination of the allegations and facts, as does the American public. On Tuesday evening, Gowdy responded to the Democratic Womens Working Group with a letter addressed to Frankel. He said he would refer the accusations to the Department of Justice because the allegations against Trump constitute crimes. We are sending a copy of your letter to the Department of Justice albeit with the understanding the Department does not have jurisdiction over state law violations, Gowdys letter reads. This Committee, nor any other Committee of Congress, does not, and cannot, prosecute crimes. This is true for many reasons but especially true in crimes of this series nature. The Oversight Committee has investigated criminal behavior in the past (including the Benghazi and the Fast and Furious investigations). The DOJ is allowed to investigate the same issue simultaneously. While previous Chairmen took a different approach, throughout his time in Congress, Chairman Gowdy has been consistent in steering clear of investigating crime. As a former prosecutor, Chairman Gowdy strongly believes criminal investigations should be left up to law enforcement, a Gowdy spokeswoman told HuffPost. Four of Trumps accusers held a press conference on Monday urging Congress to open an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations. Unless Congress gets the courage to act as a body and hold him accountable, then nothing is going to happen, Jessica Leeds, who alleges that Trump groped her on an airplane over 30 years ago, told HuffPost on Monday. Samantha Holvey, who accused Trump of leeringly inspecting her and other 2006 Miss USA candidates during a contest event that year, told HuffPost that Trumps behavior is not limited to just these allegations. This is not even 16 individual instances this is a lifetime of him and how he treats women, Holvey said. A White House spokesperson responded to the womens accusations on Monday in a statement to Megyn Kelly on her NBC show. These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts, were addressed at length during last years campaign, and the American people voiced their judgement by delivering a decisive victory, the statement read. The timing and absurdity of these false claims speaks volumes and the publicity tour that has begun only further confirms the political motives behind them. Read the letter in full below. Dwwg Oversightletter 12.11.2017 by Alanna Vagianos on Scribd These are the 59 representatives who originally signed the letter on Monday evening: Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) Dina Titus (D-Nev.) Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) Norma Torres (D-Calif.) Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) Judy Chu (D-Calif.) Alma Adams (D-N.C.) Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-Calif.) Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.) Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) Val Demings (D-Fla.) Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) Susan Davis (D-Calif.) Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) Karen Bass (D-Calif.) Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) This story has been updated to include Cummings comments, the House Democratic Caucus response to the letter, and response from Gowdy. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related Coverage A Running List Of The Women Who've Accused Donald Trump Of Sexual Misconduct 4 Trump Accusers Call On Congress To Investigate Sexual Misconduct Claims 5 Of Trump's 19 Accusers Leading Call For Congress To Investigate Misconduct Claims This article originally appeared on HuffPost. After several high-profile men have resigned due to claims of sexual misconduct, some Democratic lawmakers are suggesting that President Trump should follow suit. In the wake of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Today show host Matt Lauer and Democratic Sen. Al Franken losing their jobs over misconduct allegations, a couple of high-profile Democratic senators suggested that the president should do the same. President Trump has committed assault, according to these women, and those are very credible allegations of misconduct and criminal activity, and he should be fully investigated and he should resign, Gillibrand told CNNs Christiane Amanpour. The remarks came as three of Trumps accusers spoke out again about his behavior. In an objective setting, without question, a person with this record would have entered the graveyard of political aspirations never to return. Yet, here we are with that man as President, Rachel Crooks, one of Trumps accusers, explained at a press conference Wednesday. Heres what the lawmakers have said. Kirsten Gillibrand Gillibrand told CNNs Chrisiane Amanpour Monday that Trump should resign, and have congress investigate the allegations of he does not. These allegations are credible; they are numerous. Ive heard these womens testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking, she told Amanpour. Ron Wyden Wyden, a Democratic Senator from Oregon, echoed Gillibrands sentiments on Twitter. These women are right. If [President Trump] wont resign, Congress must investigate allegations by many, many women that he sexually assaulted and harassed them. No one is above the law, he tweeted. These women are right. If @realDonaldTrump won't resign, Congress must investigate allegations by many, many women that he sexually assaulted and harassed them. No one is above the law. https://t.co/ySP9DVUgLP Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) December 11, 2017 Cory Booker Booker told Vice News Saturday that if Franken can be coerced into resignation, its only fair that Trump follow suit because the allegations are more damning. I just watched Sen. Al Franken do the honorable thing and resign from his office. My question is, why isnt Donald Trump doing the same thing who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward. The fact pattern on him is far more damning than the fact pattern on Al Franken, the New Jersey Senator told Vice. Jeff Merkley Speaking on MSNBC on Dec. 7 the day Al Franken resigned Merkley mentioned the possibility of Trumps resignation when disavowing Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women is sexual misconduct when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. He should drop out of that race right now. Merkley said of Moore. And by the way, for that, matter, the President should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific conduct. Donald Trump has faced further calls to resign - AFP Donald Trump has been accused of slut-shaming a female senator by claiming she was once begging for donations and would have done anything for them. The US president's comment about Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic senator for New York, came after she called on him to resign over sexual assault allegations. The remark triggered claims of sexism and condemnation from Ms Gillibrand and other prominent politicians, who labeled Mr Trump a bully. It came the day after three women repeated allegations first aired during the election campaign about Mr Trump's sexual conduct towards them. After the interviews, Ms Gillibrand, who took over Hillary Clintons senate seat when she joined the Obama administration, called on Mr Trump to resign. In familiar fashion, Mr Trump hit back with a tweet, indicating that Ms Gillibrand had asked him to contribute financially to her election campaign. Kirsten Gillibrand, right, with Bill Clinton and Scott Murphy, left Mr Trump wrote: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Mr Schumer is the most senior Democrat in the Senate while Mr Trump's final sentence refers to Bill and Hillary Clinton, who he has dubbed Crooked Hillary. Political opponents quickly jumped on the tweet for being sexist and warned that Mr Trump was attempting to silence critics. Ms Gillibrand responded by tweeting: You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017 She later said in an interview: It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue. Neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday. Story continues Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator for Massachusetts sometimes tipped as a future presidential candidate, threw her support behind Ms Gillibrand on Twitter. She wrote: Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. https://t.co/mYJtBZfxiu Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 12, 2017 Ms Warren's "slut-shame" remark appeared to be a reference to Mr Trump's suggestion that Ms Gillibrand "would have done anything" for donations. Other leading Democrats also joined in the criticism. Mazie Hirono, the Democrat senator from Hawaii, called Mr Trump a misogynist. She added: The only thing that will stop him from attacking us, because nobody is safe, is his resignation. Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator for Connecticut, said: I stand with Sen. Gillibrand, a dedicated public servant and friend. America must reject Trumps sexist slurs. In recent weeks two high-profile Democratic congressmen Al Franken and John Conyers have quit office after facing claims over their behavior towards women. It led to claims of double-standards given Roy Moore, the Republican former judge, did not quit his bid to be Alabama despite assault allegations which he denied. Mr Trump has denied the allegations of assault made against him. A White House spokesman repeated the denial on Monday. US President Donald Trump chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Danang, Vietnam on 11 November 2017: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump's claim that Russian meddling in the 2016 election is a hoax has been named the biggest lie of the year by fact-checker PolitiFact. Despite bipartisan evidence to the contrary, Mr Trump has continued to suggest that investigations into the Kremlins interference in last years presidential race are fake news. By making the claim, Mr Trump has contradicted top US intelligence officials, who have concluded that Russia interfered in the election to help Mr Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won, the President said in an interview with NBCs Lester Holt in May. Federal and congressional investigators are also looking into alleged ties between Russia and Trump campaign advisers. On Twitter in September, Mr Trump wrote: The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? Earlier this year, Facebook disclosed that it found more than $150,000 in Russian-linked advertisement spending on more than 5,200 adverts on its platform. During an overseas trip to Asia in November, Mr Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putins claim that the Kremlin did not attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. Every time he sees me, he says, I didn't do that. And I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it, Mr Trump said. When the nations commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to US democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem, PolitiFact editor Angie Holan wrote in a post. For this reason, we name Trumps claim that the Russia interference is a hoax as our Lie of the Year for 2017. She said PolitiFact readers also chose the claim as the year's most significant falsehood by an overwhelming margin. Ms Holan noted that it seems unlikely - but not impossible - that Russian meddling changed the result of the election. Alabama Democrat Doug Jones shocking win in the Senate race Tuesday means President Donald Trump is 0 for 2 in the traditionally deep-red state. Yes, Trump endorsed not one but two Republican candidates who ultimately lost their races. Trumps first loss came with Luther Strange, the former Alabama attorney general who was appointed to take Jeff Sessions Senate seat when Sessions became the U.S. attorney general. Trump backed Strange in the Republican primary race for Senate, though he later expressed some regrets about that decision. Ill be honest, I might have made a mistake, Trump said at a September rally in Alabama. If his opponent wins, Im going to be here campaigning like hell for him. Trump kept his word and endorsed the eventual Republican Senate candidate, Roy Moore, even as multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and child molestation plagued Moores campaign. Trump reiterated his support for Moore as voters took to the polls Tuesday morning. The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Trump congratulated Jones shortly after the race was called Tuesday night. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 The results of Tuesdays election were quite a contrast to the presidential election just a year before, when Trump easily defeated his Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Alabama. Story continues Trumps losing record for endorsements isnt limited to Alabama. In the Virginia governors race, Trump endorsed Republican Ed Gillespie, who lost to Democrat Ralph Northam. Trump was quick to criticize Gillespie after his loss. Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for, Trump tweeted. Trumps record isnt all losses. He supported Republican Karen Handel in the Georgia special congressional election earlier this year. She went on to defeat Democrat Jon Ossoff. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Jon Ossoffs political affiliation. He is a Democrat. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. President Donald Trump targeted Democrats and the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in a tweet Tuesday morning, calling their claims false and fabricated. Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met, the president tweeted. FAKE NEWS! Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 While Trump claimed he did not know and/or have never met these accusers, several of the women had participated in events in which he was the host. Of the 19 women who have come forward with accusations against the president, one of them, Summer Zervose, was a contestant on the fifth season of NBCs The Apprentice, and several of them were contestants in Miss USA pageants. Additionally, one of them is Natasha Stoynoff, a former People magazine staff writer who interviewed Trump and Melania Trump in Mar-a-Lago in 2005, when, she said, Trump forced her against a wall and kissed her. Their claims, many of which have a number of corroborators, were recently detailed again in The Atlantic and The Washington Post. Trumps tweet came after the White House told Megyn Kelly Today that the claims were false and totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts seemingly confirming, at least, that Trump at met at least some of his accusers. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME Tuesday morning. Story continues On Monday, three women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct in the past spoke at a press conference and appeared on Megyn Kelly Today amid a national reckoning as more men in a variety of industries have been fired or forced to resign over accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault. The women repeated their accusations on Kellys program Monday morning in light of newfound attention to the subject and the momentum of the #MeToo movement. The stories told by Samantha Holvey, Rachel Crooks, and Jessica Leeds included allegations that Trump came backstage unexpectedly and inspected contestants during the Miss USA pageant in 2006, and that he had forcibly kissed Crooks on the mouth at Trump Tower in 2005. In an objective setting, without question, a person with this record would have entered the graveyard of political aspirations never to return, said Cooks said Monday. Yet, here we are with that man as President. In recent weeks, a wave of allegations has resulted in men in a variety of industries resigning or being fired. The list includes former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who stepped down last week amid sexual misconduct allegations, as well as Michigan Rep. John Conyers. Democratic lawmakers on Monday called on Trump to resign amid the allegations, as well as recommended a Congressional investigation into the claims. One of those lawmakers included New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Trump also targeted on Twitter on Tuesday. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump, he tweeted. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Gillibrands office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME. Istanbul (AFP) - By repeatedly hitting out at the US move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be catering to his voter base, but he risks sabotaging Turkey's already fragile relations with the Jewish state. While President Donald Trump's decision last week was met with near-universal condemnation, particularly from the Muslim world, Erdogan has emerged as its most outspoken critic. Following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the embassy there, Erdogan has levelled a string of accusations against Israel and the US, in his usual strident style. Among other things he said Israel was a "terrorist state" that kills Palestinian children, adding that the US had "become a partner to this bloodshed". Such sentiments echo those held by many among Erdogan's traditional voter base of Sunni Muslims in Turkey. His statements have also galvanised his popularity among some Muslims in the Arab world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Erdogan, saying he was "not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran go around international sanctions, and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza". Erdogan, who considers himself a fervent supporter of the Palestinians, will hold a summit of leaders of Muslim countries on Wednesday, which he claimed will mark a "turning point" in the response to Washington's decision. Traditional heavyweights of the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Egypt have condemned the move, but without announcing any concrete measures of their own. - 'Serious risk' - Erdogan, who comes from a conservative Islamist background, frequently criticises Israel and does not conceal his support for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, listed as a terrorist organisation by the US, Israel and several countries around the world. Story continues His statements have been "consistent with the prevailing feelings among his own followers inside Turkey", said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and former EU ambassador to Turkey. But Erdogan's escalation comes as Turkey and Israel are working to normalise ties since last year after a near-break in relations triggered by Israel's storming of a Gaza-bound ship in 2010 which left 10 Turkish activists dead. "Given the Israeli reaction to these statements, there is indeed a serious risk for Turkey-Israel normalisation. I think this is a risk that both sides are ready to take," Pierini said. According to Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Centre, Erdogan is already thinking about elections scheduled for November 2019 when he is expected to run for a new term as president with boosted powers under an executive presidency approved in an April referendum. By taking a firm stand against the Jerusalem move, it is "part of his broader effort to paint himself as the protector of oppressed Muslims around the world," Stein added. "The two sides don't like each other, but are not standing in the way of normal economic relations. I think this is likely to continue, given Erdogan's political calculations and Netanyahu's own legal and political problems," he added. - 'Domestic considerations prevail' - Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, believes that Erdogan's rhetoric on Jerusalem more broadly reflects a shift in Turkey's foreign policy approach since the arrival of the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002. "Traditionally, Turkey was able, in its diplomatic practice, to operate more in isolation from domestic political considerations," Ulgen said. "This has changed under AKP rule so that Turkey finds itself at almost another extreme where most foreign policy decisions are driven by domestic calculations." Ulgen said that it was from this perspective that Turkey's efforts to lead the campaign against the US move should be read. Erdogan "believes that there is public support at home to justify this more aggressive rhetoric against Israel", even if it risks provoking a new diplomatic crisis, Ulgen said. "One more time, domestic considerations tend to prevail over more cautious diplomatic practice." By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will discuss how to further curb immigration from across the Mediterranean over dinner on Thursday, but are as divided as ever on how to take care of refugees who still make it to Europe. Their chairman, Donald Tusk, proposed creating a new financing tool in the bloc's next multi-year budget from 2021 to "stem illegal migration", replacing the ad hoc calls for money that EU states have seen since arrivals peaked in 2015. Despite heavy criticism by human rights groups that it is aggravating the suffering of refugees and migrants on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the EU is sticking to its policy of providing various kinds of assistance to the governments and U.N. agencies in the Middle East and Africa in order to prevent people making the trek north. While implementing these plans in some places, notably the lawless Libya, is proving difficult, all EU states and institutions in Brussels agree on the approach. However, the question of how to handle refugees who have made it to the EU is as divisive now as it was two years ago. Italy, Greece and other frontline states on the Mediterranean, as well as the rich destination countries such as Germany, want all member states to be obliged to take in a set allocation of asylum-seekers. But several eastern ex-communist EU members reject mandatory quotas, saying accepting Muslim refugees would undermine their sovereignty and security, and the homogeneous makeup of their societies. They want to help instead with money, equipment and personnel for controlling the bloc's frontiers. The Commission is already suing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for failing to take in their allotment of asylum-seekers from the peak of the EU's migrant crisis in 2015. DIVISIONS Recent proposals for future solutions go in opposite directions, giving little hope of a deal by the target date of June. The bloc's current chair Estonia suggested sticking to the obligatory scheme when immigration is extremely high, but adding some flexibility by legislating that the receiving and sending states must agree on any relocation. That plan has been quickly dismissed as a non-starter by diplomats from several EU states. The bloc's executive, the European Commission, proposed that the bloc approve compulsory and automatic relocation for times of mass immigration, but rely on voluntary help in normal circumstances. The European Parliament wants mandatory relocation at all times, regardless of migratory pressures. But now Tusk himself has also come out against quotas, telling EU leaders in a note that they had proven "highly divisive" and "ineffective". The Commission's migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told a news conference on Tuesday that Tusk's paper was "undermining one of the main pillars of the European project - the principle of solidarity". For now, immigration figures remain so low compared to the peak of 2015-2016 that the public pressure on EU leaders to come up with a quick fix has eased. That could yet change, however, with Italy's parliamentary election next spring, coinciding with the start of a new migration season. Germany, currently consumed with trying to form a new government, has long suggested that if no consensus can be reached, an asylum reform could be passed by majority vote - something that would inevitably deepen the divisions and mistrust between member states. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Brussels (AFP) - A row over controversial quotas for the sharing out of refugees across EU countries broke out on Wednesday on the eve of a summit where leaders will discuss the way forward on migration. EU President Donald Tusk said in a pre-summit letter to leaders that mandatory relocation was "ineffective" and "highly divisive", recommending that efforts should instead be directed to securing Europe's borders. Under a scheme introduced in 2015, asylum seekers from the frontline states of Greece and Italy were moved to other EU countries under a quota system, but Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have refused to take almost any. Plans by the European Commission to introduce a permanent mechanism for refugee-sharing for any future crises have been stalled for months due to fierce opposition from some member states. EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos launched a stinging attack on Tusk on Tuesday, saying that "the paper prepared by President Tusk is unacceptable, it is anti-European." European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas returned to the subject on Wednesday, insisting there was "no dispute, no drama". But Schinas said the commission, the executive arm of the EU, "firmly disagrees with the statement that relocation as an emergency response has been ineffective." He said that over 32,000 people had been relocated under the plan, or 90 percent of those eligible. The scheme was originally meant to relocate 160,000 refugees. Germany and Sweden lead the states backing a permanent quota system under a reform of the EU's asylum rules in the wake of the biggest migration crisis in its history. But many central and eastern European states are against them, promising a long night of talks on the issue on Thursday. "We can expect a very lively and maybe controversial debate," one EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Reflecting the divisions, another European diplomat said that Avramapoulos had overstepped the mark "by far" with his comments, but a third said that there had been "criticism of the balance" in Tusk's note. As cryptocurrency mania continues at the end of 2017, with bitcoin up 160%, ether up 115%, and litecoin up 440% in the past 30 days, Tuesday brought two more signs of cryptocurrency going corporate. David Marcus, the current head of Facebook Messenger, has joined the board of Coinbase. And Indiegogo, one of the worlds leading crowdfunding platforms, has opened its site to initial coin offerings. The moves are significant. Here are two established tech companies, neither of which currently has any involvement in crypto, dipping a toe into crypto. Facebook Messenger head David Marcus (L) and Indiegogo cofounder and chief business officer Slava Rubin. (both photos: Reuters) Marcus bridges Facebook to Coinbase Facebook Messenger has more than 1.2 billion users, and David Marcus is the face of the product, recognizable to anyone who has watched Facebooks annual F8 developer conference. Coinbase is the No. 1 mainstream brokerage for buying bitcoin, with more than 13 million customers. It is so popular right now that last week it briefly became the No. 1 app in the US App Store. Facebook has yet to dive into cryptocurrencies in any real way, and while this is just Marcus joining Coinbases board, a top exec like him certainly has to get permission from Facebook to make a move like this. Its easy to imagine this as step one in an eventual Facebook-Coinbase partnership. Coinbase already has an existing partnership with PayPal, where Marcus was president until he left for Facebook in 2014. Marcus, in a Coinbase blog post, says, Ive been involved with, and fascinated by cryptocurrencies since 2012, and Ive witnessed how Coinbase has started democratizing access to this new asset class. Its generally known that Facebook wants to get more into banking. Last year it launched Marketplace, a Craigslist-like platform for selling things, though it has not taken off yet. Might Facebook want to add a plug-in that allows its members to buy bitcoin without leaving Facebook? It could be done through Coinbase. Square, after all, is testing a bitcoin-buying button in its app. Story continues Indiegogo takes a risk with ICOs Indiegogo is one of the leading crowdfunding platforms online, founded in 2008 and typically mentioned in the same breath as its competitor Kickstarter. Both companies are credited with igniting a boom in the crowdfunding space, where regular people can contribute money to a cause they like (anything from a small theater production to a new tech device), often for a reward if the project meets its funding goal. On Tuesday, Indiegogo opened up its site to initial coin offerings (ICOs), also called token sales, in which an internet company raises money by selling its own token, for use on its own ecosystem, in exchange for dollars or a different cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or ether. (Most ICOs are carried out over the blockchain network Ethereum.) From one perspective, an ICO is simply a new type of business project, and Indiegogo will now allow this type of project to seek funds on its site. Indiegogo allowing ICOs is the result of a partnership it struck a year ago with a third-party firm called MicroVentures. And ICOs have rapidly become extremely popular and lucrative: $3.7 billion in funding has been raised in ICOs to date, according to a CoinDesk tracker. The first ICO project Indiegogo is hosting: a company called the Fan-Controlled Football League, looking to raise $5 million. Slava Rubin, one of Indiegogos three cofounders and its CEO until he changed roles recently, told the New York Times, We want to bring a brand of trust to the entire industry, which we think will bring ICOs to the mainstream. Indiegogo is hardly the only one that wants to bring ICOs mainstream. CoinList, recently spun out of AngelList, is a compliance-services company for ICOs and is selectively listing some ICOs on its own site that it has vetted carefully. Its idea is to add safety, its CEO told Yahoo Finance, to investing in ICOs. But take heed: investing in a token sale is extremely risky. Theres no guarantee that the tokens youre buying will ever be worth anything, since their value is dependent on the success of the company offering them. Many of the companies doing ICOs havent yet shipped any product or built anything consumer-facing, but have merely released a white paper detailing what they plan to build. Nonetheless, Facebook and Indiegogo both got a little bit cozier with crypto this week. Disclosure: The author owns less than 1 bitcoin, purchased in 2015 for reporting purposes. Daniel Roberts covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite. Read more: How to buy bitcoin Why Nasdaq, CME, and CBOE are all rushing in to bitcoin futures The 11 biggest names in crypto right now Why bitcoin matters Squares bitcoin trial is a big deal Bitcoin is becoming the new gold Japan is poised to become the leading bitcoin market We asked members of the HuffPost Parents community about their holiday traditions that dont focus on toys. Baking goodies together was a popular idea. (Photo: Mint Images/Tim Pannell via Getty Images) The end-of-year holidays revolve around the spirit of giving, and many parents are shaking up what it means to give to their kids. Earlier this year, actress Mila Kunis echoed many parents sentiments about holiday gift-giving. In October, she clarified her comment that she was adopting a new Christmas tradition that involved no presents for the kids from her and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kunis explained that shes not anti-gifts but that she wants to scale back when it comes to showering her kids with presents. They get so many wonderful gifts from my family and my husbands family so he and I give her literally one present, she said. We asked the HuffPost Parents community to share their similar holiday traditions ones that dont involve piles of toys for the kiddos. Some prefer to invoke the phrase quality over quantity, others choose to gift experiences rather than toys, and many moms and dads decide to show their kids what it means to give instead of offering presents to them. Here are 19 holiday traditions that focus on more than giving kids tons of toys: We are getting away from toys and a ridiculous amount of presents for useful things and experiences. This year, my 10-year-old daughter asked if we could redecorate her bedroom, so that will be her big gift. Jamie Braithwaite I always make my kids pick out a few toys each that we then donate to less fortunate children (not to the Red Cross or Salvation Army, but locally), even though we arent that fortunate ourselves. I guess it is cliche, but Im hoping to instill a desire to give and sacrifice potential presents to give to others. Kyle Taylor Instead of stocking stuffers, Santa brings us tickets to see a play or a musical so that we can plan on going together and enjoying the theater as a family. Jessica Hoho Instead of gifts for the grown-ups, we each bring grooming items for the homeless and less fortunate (razors, shaving cream, feminine products, lotion, shampoo, baby diapers and wipes). The children get one present each. Christmas feels so much better since we started this. Lynnda Armstrong Owens Story continues This is how we do presents: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read and then Santas gift (something special). Christine Simpson We do three gifts under the tree: something to wear, something to read and something they asked for. Then we do an experience. This year its a trip to Myrtle Beach for the first time. One is getting tickets to dinner theater, and one is getting tickets to the aquarium so well be making memories. Covey Denton My dad passed away in 2008, and my mom wanted to do something different for Christmas that year. So my husband, two sons and I took Mom to Florida over Christmas (were in Indiana). We did a few presents and stockings there, but focused on having fun and making memories. My mom climbed a lighthouse to see the view with her grandsons! Kept that up for three more years until she passed. We still go. Last couple of years we added a visit to Universal Studios over New Years as their big present. Susan Burleigh Every year a different adult family member chooses a charity and in lieu of gifts, we donate money to that well-researched charity. It brings a sense of awareness outside of ourselves and fosters a spirit of gratitude and generosity. My kids and niece and nephew start participating at 10 years old, but they still receive gifts. Julie Lampert Franks Make cookies, drink hot cocoa, wear matching PJs, pop popcorn and watch a movie on Christmas Eve. Then plan a summer vacation as a big Santa gift. Kaitlyn Kambestad Twenty-five days of Christmas books every morning in December, my kids open up a different Christmas book that we read together. Its our version of an Advent calendar, and I enjoy it as much as the kids. Eileen Conlon Blanco We have adopted a quality over quantity rule. Its better to have something nice, valuable, sentimental ... than lots of little things that youll forget about in a week. So we do two to three really thoughtful and nicer gifts. The girls love it, and I think it makes Christmas more magical when its important. Plus its even better when the gift you give relates to an inside joke you have been babying along all year! Brianna Freeburn We do give and receive presents, but we open a couple on Christmas Day plus a stocking, and the rest get opened on the other 11 days of Christmas. We had a rule growing up that you couldnt open another present until you had appreciated the one you already have. Im keen to make sure I continue this rule with my children; too many Christmases are all about a commercially driven mountain of presents being ripped open and discarded. We still always place a walnut and a satsuma [a citrus fruit] in the stockings, too, and its still one of my favorite presents! Alice George We try to do presents that are all experiences and spending time together. We do get a few extra presents that my son wants. We give books about what experiences we are doing. We always give as a present one ornament for our tree, which my son will get when he goes off and has his own. We always pick a charity in giving back and donate to them. We make cinnamon rolls, which my son loves. They are a treat during the holidays. Kathy Fulham Im from northeast Philly and every year around Christmas we go into town and get our meat for Christmas dinner at the Reading Terminal Market. We then visit the light shows in town. We also cut our tree down three weeks before Christmas. The place we go to has a store, train sets, Santa, a big fire pit and hot chocolate. Its so much fun. Glad I started these traditions so my kids can carry them on! Jennifer Vaughn Mom gets her books, Dad makes her something (out of wood) and Santa gets her one gift. Kimberly Ballinger Christmas light tour of the city! Corin Ramos We are doing a family vacation this year. Mandee Kanikula We started the tradition of giving our son experiences/adventures instead of toys. Last year, we gave him a Christmas-themed picnic on a lake with his little friends. Hes now a picnic enthusiast! This year, we may give him a year pass to a local childrens museum as a gift that keeps on giving. Ivette Palomera We always adopted a family in need. We would buy presents, clothes, food, hygiene items ... and deliver them anonymously. We also would bake/make meals and take them to police stations/childrens hospitals for those that had to work the holiday. My favorite Christmas memories are all doing things like this! Mackenzie Schmid These submissions have been edited and condensed for clarity. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Ben Gruber CARPINTERIA, Calif. (Reuters) - An out-of-control California wildfire that has already destroyed nearly 700 homes in its path of destruction crept closer to the upscale hillside community of Montecito on Tuesday despite calmer winds that slowed its progress. The Thomas Fire, which broke out on Dec. 4 near the community of Ojai, has since traveled 27 miles (43 km) to become the fifth-largest blaze in state history. It has blackened more than 368 square miles (953 square km) in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, an area larger than New York City. Officials said that while the conflagration charred another 2,500 acres overnight, a break in the hot, dry Santa Ana winds on Tuesday sapped its forward momentum and allowed crews to prevent further damage to homes. "Its doing what we want it to do. The fire is staying away from the homes," said Captain Steve Concialdi of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames were 25 percent contained as of Tuesday evening. Concialdi said that some of the 7,000 firefighters deployed against the blaze had taken advantage of the better weather to set controlled burns in a canyon near the community of Carpinteria and near homes in an effort to further deprive the flames of fuel. The National Weather Service has warned that the Santa Ana winds could return as early as Wednesday, meaning that the fire remains dangerous and unpredictable. "Severe fire weather will continue to promote significant fire growth further into Santa Barbara County, threatening the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Montecito and Summerland," Cal Fire said in a statement. In Washington, members of the House of Representatives met with Vice President Mike Pence to discuss the crisis. Representative Julia Brownley, whose district includes Ventura, said all resources had arrived to fight the blaze, which could take another week to contain. In Carpinteria, Michelle Warner, who has lived in the seaside town her whole life, and her toddler daughter wore face masks to protect them from the thick smoke. Thanks to the firefighters' efforts, Warner, a 45-year-old writer, said she had no plans to evacuate. "We plan to stick it out for at least another day, hoping that conditions will get better," she said. The Thomas Fire has so far destroyed 904 structures, including 691 homes. Efforts to combat the flames, which have displaced more than 94,000 people, have cost more than $48 million. Many public schools in Santa Barbara and school districts nearby have canceled classes this week and will not reopen until the annual winter break is completed in January. Some of the other fires burning over the past week in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have been largely brought under control by the thousands of firefighters on the ground. The Los Angeles Fire Department said on Tuesday that investigators had determined that the Skirball Fire, which destroyed six homes in the posh Bel-Air community of the city, was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment underneath a freeway. (Additonal reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) Police captain Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was stabbed to death outside his home in Magnanville - AFP French police arrested a man on Monday in connection with the jihadist murder of a police couple after his DNA was allegedly matched to traces found in their home near Paris, legal sources said. It also claimed that the 24-year-old has been linked to Larossi Aballa, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) extremist who claimed the June 2016 attack in a live video from the murder scene before being killed by police in a shootout, the sources added. The suspect, who was not on a terrorism watchlist, was arrested in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. His brother, Charaf-Din Aberouz, 29, has already been charged with providing logistical assistance to Aballa, whose chilling attack - one in a string of assaults in France since January 2015 - caused shock in police ranks. Aballa stabbed police captain Jean-Baptiste Salvaing to death outside his home in Magnanville, 60 kilometres west of Paris, and then slit the throat of his companion Jessica Schneider in front of the couple's three-year-old son. In a Facebook Live video from the scene, he called for further terror attacks. The man arrested Monday was already investigated over a foiled attack by a group of female jihadists who tried to set set fire to a car containing gas canisters near Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in September 2016. Charged with failing to report that plot, he spent four months in preventive custody before being released in January. He is still under formal investigation in that case and faces charges of "failing to denounce a terrorist crime". Investigators believe that a notorious French IS member, Rachid Kassim, directed both attacks from the Middle East, using the encrypted Telegram app. Kassim is believed to have been killed in a coalition air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul in February. Beijing (AFP) - Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among other innovations. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. "Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015," Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new centre, wrote in a blog post on Google's website. "We've already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead." Li noted that Chinese engineers formed the backbones of the winning teams in the past three ImageNet Challenges, an international AI competition to test which computing technology is better at recognising and categorising pictures. Chinese search engine Baidu's team was banned for a year for breaking the rules during the 2015 competition. The country's large population and strong mathematics and sciences education has nurtured a slew of engineering talent. Many land in Beijing's burgeoning AI tech startup scene, supported by universities and government-affiliated institutes. - Young talent - It is not hard to find AI talent in China, said Yuan Jirui of SeetaTech, one of the start-up's core team of founders from the Institute of Computer Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Story continues "There's a trend of AI talent in China being quite young," she said. "AI education is expanding to high schools and middle schools." SeetaTech uses deep learning to solve problems like detecting defects in factory products and finding faces in a crowd for public security organs. "Data fuels our AI engine," Yuan said. AI companies in China suck up personal data from the massive population and use it to train machine-learning algorithms -- but Google, locked out of the internet, has little user data to pull from in the country. For now it is focusing on making use of Chinese talent. Roughly half of its 600 employees in China are engineers working on global products, said company spokesman Taj Meadows. Its job board in China shows about a dozen openings in the AI field. The China centre will join Google's other research facilities outside of its Silicon Valley hub, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich. Google's search engine and many of its services are blocked by China's Great Firewall, but internet regulators have recently allowed access to its translation product, one that has made leaps and bounds in accuracy by incorporating the company's AI research. Even if youre not a parent, youve likely heard of Hatchimals. The interactive eggs that talk and hatch furry little critters have made headlines for failing to open and even spewing out curse words. But the latest claim is downright dangerous: A new version of the toy may give children chemical burns. This month, shortly after Spin Master, the Canadian toy company that produces Hatchimals, debuted the lines Bath Bomb Surprise, one mothers cautionary tale went viral. Parents are concerned about whether Hatchimals Bath Bomb Surprise is safe for kids. (Photo: Hatchimals) In a Facebook post thats been shared more than 130,000 times, a mom named Jennifer Renee posted photos of her childs reddened hands and wrote: PSA! Do NOT buy this for your children! Followed directions on package and placed in her bathtub. Thought it would be fun for her because there was a toy inside. After being in the water 30-45 seconds she stated her skin was hurting, upon looking she has received a chemical burn from a KIDS BATH BOMB. (no she was not holding it and she has used multiple different kinds of bath bombs and never had this reaction) Just a warning people. Renee the posted an update: She has had these before and all different brands. I called the company and the batch number being investigated and is likely going to be recalled as numerous reports have been made (not all the burning reaction she got). It is so easy for a person working in a factory to overdo the ingredients in a batch and just ignore it. Went to the doctor this morning and it was in fact a chemical burn not a reaction. I am posting this just in hopes people will monitor closely. Everyone loves bath bombs. Lesson learned. All natural ones from now on. Renee did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment; however, shes not the only concerned parent. Many commenters vowed to avoid the bath bombs, while others insisted the product has never harmed their own children. Yahoo Lifestyle could not reach a representative from Hatchimals for comment, but the company sent a statement to the fact-checking site Snopes, which determined the danger of the product unproven. Story continues The statement read: Spin Master was made aware of the situation via a Facebook post and we are in the process of looking into the matter with the licensee company to whom Spin Master licensed the Hatchimals brand. We are saddened to learn about a young girls injuries. That said, it would be premature to comment further on the situation until we learn more. We are working closely with the products licensee manufacturer and distributor to determine whether there are any product issues. According to Ava Shamban, a Beverly Hills-based dermatologist and founder of SkinxFive, who reviewed the ingredients pictured in the Facebook post, there are no red flags. It does appear to be safe, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Its basically sodium bicarbonate with some color dye, which is baking soda. Dendy Engelman, a dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon at Medical Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery Centers in New York, agrees. Its possible that some children could experience irritant or contact dermatitis if they have an ingredient sensitivity or have an already compromised skin barrier such as dermatitis, eczema, or an open wound, Engelman tells Yahoo Lifestyle. But a chemical burn is unlikely. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Making decisions can be harder than we realize. (Photo: Getty Images) Making decisions is a normal part of life. And whether you realize it or not, youre constantly making choices. Some, like what kind of coffee you want to drink today, are pretty insignificant, while others, like whether to accept a new job offer, are kind of a big deal. It can be intimidating and a little scary to make those big-impact choices what if you decide wrong? Now new research published in Nature Human Behavior has found a way to increase the odds youll make the right choice and heres how to do it: You should talk to people about it first. For the study, researchers analyzed data from Holland Casino promotional campaigns that ran during the last seven weeks of 2013, 2014, and 2015. For the campaigns, visitors to the casino could take part in an estimation contest the person who most accurately guessed the number of pearls in a huge champagne glass won more than $117,000. Over three years, 1.2 million people participated in the contests. Heres what scientists discovered: The average estimates that people made on their own were pretty accurate. But, they concluded, polling other people before you actually make a decision should help you reach an even more accurate estimation. We find that combining judgments from different people leads to better estimates, and thus decisions, lead study researcher Dennie van Dolder, an assistant professor of finance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. The reasoning is that error in judgments cancels out. This is called the wisdom of crowds. While the study was conducted on a casino game, van Dolder argues that it applies to other decisions in life as well. Consulting people may help you make a good decision because they will bring different perspectives to the problem, he says. Combining their judgments with yours will thus lead to a bigger picture judgment that is less likely to be biased in a particular direction. Licensed clinical psychologist John Mayer, PhD, author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that it just makes sense. Consulting people is good in decision-making because it provides us with more data or facts on the decision, he says. Story continues Still, who you talk to matters. One of the biggest dangers of consulting others before you make a decision is that those you consult may not be reliable, intelligent, and insightful sources to help you make the decision, Mayer says. It makes sense that youd turn to people close to you to help you mull over a big decision, but that might not be helpful because they may share your biases, skewing the overall decision, van Dolder notes. If youre faced with a big decision and you have time to mull it over, van Dolder recommends talking to several different people and taking all of what they say into account before making your final decision. If its not possible to talk to several people about it (for example, with something really personal or highly specialized), he recommends making multiple judgments yourself over time and combining those to get your answer. This works best if the decision maker has a bit of time to make the decision, so that she can sleep on it, and change perspectives between estimates, he says. Ultimately, you know whats best for you, but bringing a few other people into the mix when youre stumped should be able to help you make a decision that feels right. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran will treat a British-Iranian aid worker as an Iranian citizen and she will serve her sentence as determined by the judiciary, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson discussed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case with Iranian officials after flying to Tehran over the weekend to try to seek her release. "One of the issues that Johnson brought up in Tehran was the issue of Ms. Zaghari," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was quoted by state media as saying. "With regard to her dual nationality, from our point of view of course she is Iranian and she has been sentenced by the judiciary and she will serve the period of her sentence." Britain says Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting family on holiday in April 2016 when she was jailed by Iran for attempting to overthrow the government. Johnson said he urged the release of dual nationals. "I urged their release, on humanitarian grounds, where there is cause to do so," Johnson told the British parliament. "These are complex cases involving individuals considered by Iran to be their own citizens, and I do not wish to raise false hopes. But my meetings in Tehran were worthwhile," he said. "It is too early to be confident about the outcome." Zaghari-Ratcliffe is not the only dual national being held in Iran, but her case has taken on political significance in Britain after Johnson said last month that she had been teaching journalists in Iran, which her employer denies. Johnson later apologized. Opponents have called for him to resign if his comments lead to her serving longer in prison. Qassemi said the Iranian foreign ministry would follow up on Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case but said that it was ultimately a matter for the judiciary. A project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News. It says Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been on holiday and had not been teaching journalism in Iran. Johnson also said he raised with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif what he called "the official harassment of journalists working for BBC Persian and their families inside Iran." The BBC has called on Iran to reverse a court order which it said effectively froze the non-liquid assets of 152 staff, former staff and contributors in Iran. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Guy Faulconbridge in London; Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff) Jerusalem (AFP) - The Israeli air force hit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday lightly wounding three people, after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military and Gaza security officials said. Israel also arrested a number of senior Hamas members in the occupied West Bank overnight, including one of its leaders in the territory. Late on Tuesday, the military said that an undefined "projectile" was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was "very probably" a rocket but that it was not clear where it hit. Palestinians in the coastal territory have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. "In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel air force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip," the army said on Wednesday. Gaza security officials said that aircraft hit a Hamas naval base west of the city of Khan Yunis and open land nearby. Three Palestinians were lightly wounded in the strikes, the health ministry in Gaza said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side. Those arrested overnight included Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist movement. He was arrested in Ramallah, a Hamas statement said. Yousef is a member of the largely defunct Palestinian parliament elected in 2006 and was jailed between 2012 and 2014. A spokeswoman for Israel's Shin Beth domestic security agency told AFP: "He was arrested because of his involvement in encouraging and directing Hamas activity in the West Bank." Yousef's son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, gained prominence in recent years after a film was released detailing his spying for Israel, called "The Green Prince." Yousef disowned his son after he admitted to spying on Hamas for Israel. Trump's announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or retaliatory Israeli air strikes so far. An explosion at Austria's main gas hub Tuesday has left one person dead and several injured, according to a report.Gas Connect Austria, which operates the Baumgarten site on the Austrian border with Slovakia, said that the cause of the blast was not yet known.According to Reuters, deliveries to Italy might be most affected. Shortly after the news, Italy's wholesale gas price rose 87 percent to 44.50 euros per megawatt hour.Italian industry minister Carlo Calenda warned of a "serious" energy supply problem and said the country would need to declare a state of emergency.However SNAM, an Italian natural gas infrastructure company, said supplies to the country were currently guaranteed by storage levels and Russian gas imports could resume as early as today.Following the blast, the Austrian Press Agency (APA) is reporting one person dead and 18 injured. The APA also said the plant was now shut down and the fire contained.On Twitter, Austrian police reported that the explosion's origin was "technical". The force later added that the fire was under control and that emergency services were tending to the injured.Tweet 1Russia's Gazprom, which feeds gas to the hub for delivery around Europe, said it had been forced to reroute supplies to customers.British gas prices also affected by a U.K. pipeline outage, lifted to their highest level since 2013. An explosion at Austria's main gas hub Tuesday has left one person dead and several injured, according to a report. Gas Connect Austria, which operates the Baumgarten site on the Austrian border with Slovakia, said that the cause of the blast was not yet known. According to Reuters, deliveries to Italy might be most affected. Shortly after the news, Italy's wholesale gas price rose 87 percent to 44.50 euros per megawatt hour. Italian industry minister Carlo Calenda warned of a "serious" energy supply problem and said the country would need to declare a state of emergency. However SNAM, an Italian natural gas infrastructure company, said supplies to the country were currently guaranteed by storage levels and Russian gas imports could resume as early as today. Following the blast, the Austrian Press Agency (APA) is reporting one person dead and 18 injured. The APA also said the plant was now shut down and the fire contained. On Twitter, Austrian police reported that the explosion's origin was "technical". The force later added that the fire was under control and that emergency services were tending to the injured. Tweet 1 Russia's Gazprom, which feeds gas to the hub for delivery around Europe, said it had been forced to reroute supplies to customers. British gas prices also affected by a U.K. pipeline outage, lifted to their highest level since 2013. More From CNBC Jada Pinkett Smith has a serious issue with the 2018 Golden Globe nominees. In a series of tweets, the Girls Trip star called out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for snubbing the film, which was a box-office success and also a hit with critics. The 46-year-old actress is also miffed by the lack of recognition for the movies breakout star, Tiffany Haddish, and is highlighting a troubling theme she sees with this years nominees. I have so much to say on why @TiffanyHaddish was not nominated for a Globe but I wont Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 11, 2017 Actually I will here we go Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Im not upset about @TiffanyHaddish or @GirlsTripMovie not getting a nom Im discouraged about the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press/@goldenglobes wouldnt even WATCH the movie. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 But yet Tiff has been asked to present at their ceremony. This isnt about shaming, this is about the need for discussion of an antiquated system. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 As for the claim they couldnt get the HFPA to lay eyes on the film or a press conference, a source tells Yahoo there was a screening on July 18. A Variety editor also tweeted, Per [Universal Studios], there was an official HFPA screening, invites to the premiere were sent to the group and they received screeners. However, a press conference was indeed foregone, because the group was unable to travel to New Orleans for the junket. Story continues Smith continued, tweeting its not as simple as racism, but that Hollywood must expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion. And I dare not invalidate all the many journalist and people from all walks of life who have supported this movie by defining the issue as simply racism. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Hollywood has systems in place that must learn to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 The actress also called out the exclusion of Kumail Nanjianis hit film, The Big Sick, and what she believes to be a misidentification of Jordan Peeles hit horror film Get Out. The fact that the brilliance of @TheBigSickMovie went unnoticed and the fact that one of the most prolific films of the year, @GetOutMovie, is considered a comedy illuminates the depths of the sunken place for real. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Moments like this occur so that we have an opportunity to discuss, recreate and regenerate old paradigms. Its all about growth. Love. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Tiffany Haddish has yet to weigh in herself on the snubs, although she was tagged in Smiths tweets. This isnt the first time Smith has called out awards shows for what she believes to be a lack of inclusion. In 2016, she boycotted the Oscars after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. At the Oscarspeople of color are always welcomed to give out awardseven entertain, she tweeted at the time. But we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Should people of color refrain from participating all together? Its safe to venture that the Smiths likely wont be presenting at the Golden Globes. The Golden Globe Awards hosted by Seth Meyers will air Sunday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. on NBC. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: UPDATE: 11:25 a.m. Alabamas state Supreme Court late Monday stayed a judges earlier order that the state preserve digital voting records in Tuesdays election. Previously: An Alabama judge directed state election officials on Monday to save all digital images of the paper ballots filled out by voters in Tuesdays special Senate election. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Roman Ashley Shaul granted a preliminary injunction directing counties to set voting machines to preserve all digital ballot images. The order was requested in a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Alabama citizens demanding that voting records be protected. After hearing arguments and reviewing the filings, it appears that plaintiffs and similarly situated voters would suffer irreparable and immediate harm if digital ballot images are not preserved, Shaul wrote. The judge cited a reasonable belief that the results may be close. Digital ballot images are digitized versions of the paper ballots Alabamians fill out in the voting booth. Its these scans that are counted, not the actual paper ballots, plaintiffs attorney Priscilla Duncan told AL.com, and they were going to be destroyed after the election, she said. We need to make sure we can check on the results of the election if theres any question, plaintiff Anna Victoria Tuggey told Alternet. The confusing ballot design for the special election makes it extra important that human eyes can verify that the machines are counting the votes correctly. The public should be able to look at those images and make sure the machines count every ballot where voter intent is clear. The plaintiffs sought the injunction last week after election officials indicated they do not and will not instruct election officials in each of the Alabama counties to preserve digital ballot images created by digital voting machines used throughout the state, according to the lawsuit. Officials intended only to save the scans of write-in votes. Story continues As a result of defendants failure to comply with Alabamas public records law, digital ballot images used for tabulating votes and possible post-election adjudication will be destroyed following the December 12, 2017, special election for United States Senate in Alabama, the suit said. Under Shauls order, the state must maintain the ballot images for six months. The vote Tuesday between GOP candidate Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones in the special election for the Senate seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to be tight. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. You probably didnt need another reason to love Kelly Marie Tran, but heres one anyway. For the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Los Angeles on Saturday, the actress donned a custom red gown from Vietnamese designer Thai Nguyen, once again uplifting other Vietnamese talent and looking absolutely stunning in the process. How can anyone not fall in love with her? Kelly Marie Tran on Dec. 9, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer via Getty Images) Tran, who plays Rose Tico in the movie, had her makeup done by celebrity makeup artist Mai Quynh, whos of Vietnamese descent as well. Tran earned a whole lot of praise from Asian-Americans for supporting members of her community as well as representing them onscreen. You know what's also freaking amazing about Kelly Marie Tran? She wore a beautiful custom-made gown by Vietnamese designer @TN_Atelier. And her makeup is done by @StoryOfMaiLife who is also Vietnamese! She's repping us through and through. pic.twitter.com/D0oTYT7i7c Teresa Tran (on full-hiatus) (@teresatran__) December 10, 2017 bless kelly marie tran for giving vietnamese and other southeast asian girls a role model to look up to in star wars that actually looks like them princess ube (@bustyasian94) December 11, 2017 Last night was basically Star Wars Prom. And Kelly Marie Tran was our nerdy best friend who got voted Prom Queen. #starwars #thelastjedi pic.twitter.com/Z5KBZ6b2Ei Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) December 10, 2017 Tran has never been afraid of paying homage to her roots and supporting the Vietnamese community. A few weeks ago, while promoting her movie in Vietnam, she donned traditional dress, ao dai, alongside fellow actress Ngo Thanh Van. Tran wrote on Instagram that shes so proud of being Vietnamese. So much of me is because of what my parents experienced in this country, she wrote from Vietnam. So much of me is because of the things my parents overcame so that I could have the luxury of having a dream. Kelly, you are perfect. Never change. Ever. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will keep a naval and an air base in Syria capable of carrying out strikes against insurgents if required after a partial military pull-out announced by President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Putin on Monday ordered "a significant part" of Moscow's military contingent to start pulling out of Syria, declaring their work largely done. Putin made the announcement during a surprise visit to the Russian Hmeymim air base, where he met President Bashar al-Assad and addressed Russian forces. "Thanks to the fact that the operation to save Syria and the liberation of Syrian land from terrorists have been completed, there is no longer a need for broad-scale combat strength," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. But he added that Russia would keep the Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province and its naval facility in the port of Tartous. "The President stressed that the terrorists might try to 'walk tall' again in Syria. If that happens, crushing blows will be carried out," Peskov said. Russia's military operation in Syria, which began in September 2015, turned the tide of the conflict in favor of Moscow's ally, Assad. It also established Russia as a power broker in the Middle East, regaining a role it had relinquished after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Assad's opponents, Western governments and some human rights organizations alleged that Russian air strikes on Syria had killed large numbers of civilians. Moscow has denied the allegation. The Kremlin has presented the partial withdrawal of its forces as evidence that its mission in Syria has been largely accomplished. That gives a boost to Putin as he launches his campaign for re-election. Opinion polls show that he will comfortably win the presidential election, scheduled for March. But the Kremlin fears that, since some voters see the election as a foregone conclusion, they may not turn out, weakening Putin's mandate. Russia had previously announced a partial drawdown of its forces in Syria, in March last year. However, a powerful Russian contingent remained in place and there was little sign of operations being scaled back. Back home in Russia, many people consider the Syrian mission a successful operation to restore peace - as well as an opportunity for Moscow to flex its military muscles. The official death for Russian forces killed in combat is 38, according to a Reuters tally. That is far below the level of losses sustained when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s, the last time Moscow waged a major campaign far beyond its borders. However, many of the losses in Syria were borne by private military contractors working with the Russian military whose deaths have not been officially acknowledged, according to friends, relatives and colleagues of the contractors. The Russian defense ministry denies that there are any Russian contractors in Syria. (Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Jack Stubbs and Christian Lowe; Editing by Richard Balmforth) A cooking fire at a homeless camp ignited the wildfire that threatened the affluent Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel Air, officials have said. Investigators have determined the fire was caused by an illegal cooking fire at an encampment in a brush area adjacent, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement, adding that no arrests had yet been made in connection with the fire. While not as large as the two other blazes that scorched thousands of acres in Los Angeles County, the Skirball Fire attracted attention as it imperilled upscale homes and the Getty Center, feeding on dry brush in the hills. After roaring to life on Wednesday morning, the blaze consumed hundreds of acres, incinerated six structures and damaged a dozen others. Los Angeles residents shared apocalyptic images of hills cupping the city engulfed in flames. Firefighters had the fire 85 percent contained as of Monday evening, and residents who earlier faced mandatory evacuations had begun returning to their homes days earlier. Two fires that had collectively burned across thousands of acres in northern Los Angeles County were also largely under control, as was a conflagration that had roasted some 4,100 acres in San Diego County. But the massive Thomas Fire continued to burn across a wide swathe of Ventura County and Santa Barbara County, where thousands of people have been forced from their homes and nearly 800 structures have crumbled in the flames. Flames have consumed some 234,000 acres. In its latest update, Cal Fire warned that severe fire weather conditions of gusty Santa Ana winds, low humidity and parched vegetation would continue to feed the inferno and create obstacles for firefighters struggling to curb it. Extreme fire behaviour will continue to hamper control efforts, the alert warned. President Donald Trump slammed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a bizarre tweet Tuesday morning, a day after the New York Democrat urged him to resign because of sexual misconduct accusations. Trump called Gillibrand a "lightweight" and a "total flunky" for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , New York's other senator. He also claimed she used to come to his office "begging" for campaign contributions, cryptically adding the senator "would do anything for them." It is unclear what he meant by that statement. Trump also called her "disloyal" to the Clinton family but did not elaborate on why.Trump: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office "begging" for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!Gillibrand shot back on Twitter, saying, "You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office."Gillibrand tweetLater Tuesday, she called Trump's tweet a "sexist smear" and said it would not silence her or the women who "stood up" to Trump on Monday by calling on Congress to investigate misconduct claims against him.Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Schumer called Trump's tweet "nasty" and "unbecoming of a president."Trump made donations to Gillibrand's campaign committee in 2007 and 2010 totaling $5,850. His daughter and advisor, Ivanka, contributed $2,000 to the campaign committee in 2014. The public confrontation started Monday, when Gillibrand told CNN that Trump "should resign" due to the sexual misconduct allegations against him. If Trump does not resign, Congress should investigate the "credible" and "numerous" accusations against the president, she said. More than 50 Democratic women in Congress on Monday asked the House Oversight Committee to investigate Trump, according to NBC News . Three men in the Senate Democratic caucus Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Jeff Merkley have also said Trump should think about resigning or have outright urged him to step down. At least a dozen women have accused the president of sexual misconduct. On Monday, three of those women urged Congress to investigate the president.In a separate tweet Tuesday morning, Trump said he is the target of "false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met."Trump: Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that Americans knew about the allegations last year and had the chance to judge Trump when they elected him president.Other Democratic women in the Senate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire tweeted support for Gillibrand following Trump's jab.Warren tweetHassan tweetAsked later Tuesday whether Trump's tweet was sexist, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president has used the "same terminology" to describe both men and women. She added that Trump was attempting to express that he "can't be bought." President Donald Trump slammed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a bizarre tweet Tuesday morning, a day after the New York Democrat urged him to resign because of sexual misconduct accusations. Trump called Gillibrand a "lightweight" and a "total flunky" for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , New York's other senator. He also claimed she used to come to his office "begging" for campaign contributions, cryptically adding the senator "would do anything for them." It is unclear what he meant by that statement. Trump also called her "disloyal" to the Clinton family but did not elaborate on why. Trump: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office "begging" for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Gillibrand shot back on Twitter, saying, "You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office." Gillibrand tweet Later Tuesday, she called Trump's tweet a "sexist smear" and said it would not silence her or the women who "stood up" to Trump on Monday by calling on Congress to investigate misconduct claims against him. Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Schumer called Trump's tweet "nasty" and "unbecoming of a president." Trump made donations to Gillibrand's campaign committee in 2007 and 2010 totaling $5,850. His daughter and advisor, Ivanka, contributed $2,000 to the campaign committee in 2014. The public confrontation started Monday, when Gillibrand told CNN that Trump "should resign" due to the sexual misconduct allegations against him. If Trump does not resign, Congress should investigate the "credible" and "numerous" accusations against the president, she said. More than 50 Democratic women in Congress on Monday asked the House Oversight Committee to investigate Trump, according to NBC News . Three men in the Senate Democratic caucus Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Jeff Merkley have also said Trump should think about resigning or have outright urged him to step down. At least a dozen women have accused the president of sexual misconduct. On Monday, three of those women urged Congress to investigate the president. In a separate tweet Tuesday morning, Trump said he is the target of "false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met." Trump: Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that Americans knew about the allegations last year and had the chance to judge Trump when they elected him president. Other Democratic women in the Senate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire tweeted support for Gillibrand following Trump's jab. Warren tweet Hassan tweet Asked later Tuesday whether Trump's tweet was sexist, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president has used the "same terminology" to describe both men and women. She added that Trump was attempting to express that he "can't be bought." More From CNBC Gregory Rottjer, 25, of Derby, Connecticut, is accused of throwing a man off a bridge during the early morning hours of Nov. 23. (Photo: Shelton Police Dept) A Connecticut man is facing an attempted murder charge after he allegedly threw another man off a bridge during an argument with his girlfriend. Police arrested 25-year-old Gregory Rottjer on Tuesday in connection with the incident that occurred around 1 a.m. Thanksgiving Day on the bridge connecting the small Connecticut cities of Shelton and Derby. Rottjer and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Hannum, were arguing while walking over the bridge when the victim and his brother asked Hannum if she was OK, according to WFSB-TV. Police said the two good Samaritans attempted to walk away, but Rottjer and a friend who was at the scene, 27-year-old Matthew Dorso, allegedly started a fight with them. During the skirmish, Rottjer allegedly threw the 30-year-old victim off the bridge and into the icy Housatonic River, a drop of 45 feet, according to The Hartford Courant. A rescue crew was called and the victim was saved from drowning by a police officer who jumped into the river and pulled him to shore. Rottjer, Dorso and Hannum fled the scene, police said. The victim is still recovering from his injuries, according to NBC Connecticut. Rottjer has also been charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. Dorso was charged with third-degree assault and released on a promise to appear in court on Dec. 22. Hannum is charged with interfering with an officer and was released on $1,000 bail. She is also due in court Dec. 22, according to The Connecticut Post. Also on HuffPost Donald Crump Police in Memphis charged Donald Crump, 61, with aggravated assault after he allegedly strangled a customer who complained of cold fries. Mitchell Harris Feinberg Mitchell Harris Feinberg, 39, is accused of shattering the front door of a Waffle House restaurant in Brookhaven, Georgia, because he was mad they raised the price of sausage biscuits by 50 cents. Natasha West Natasha West, 27, is accused of assaulting a Denny's waitress who wouldn't let her share her all-you-can-eat pancakes with her friends. Thomas Washburn Washburn was a 54-year-old kindergarten teacher in Mesa, Ariz. when he allegedly punished a crying 6-year-old girl by taking off her shirt and leaving her half-naked for 10 minutes. The student started crying because Washburn had allegedly shouted at the two dozen kids in his class in January, 2014. Delbert Huber Delbert Huber, 82, shot Timothy Larson, a local teacher, after their argument over a missing $50 and farm equipment escalated. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Shirley Nunez Oregon woman Shirley Nunez, 47, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly running over her cop-husband with a Ford F-150 after pointing a gun at a woman he suspected him of cheating on her with. Randy Zipperer This Floridian was so angry at his brother during an argument about missing macaroni and cheese that he allegedly stabbed him. Or, as Zipperer allegedly told cops, "I poked him a little with the knife, but I didn't mean to." Read the whole story here. Deborah Burns Burns allegedly threw a kitchen knife at her boyfriend, cutting his abdomen, because he farted in her face. Jillian Martone Martone is accused of punching a man and threatening him with a knife after he refused to call her his girlfriend following their first date. Holly Solomon Solomon is accused of running over her husband in her SUV because he didn't vote in the 2012 election. Allen Casey Casey was accused in October, 2012 of hitting his boyfriend with a plate for listening to nothing but Alanis Morissette music. Charlene Idelle Hunziker Hunziker is accused of causing a disturbance at a P.F. Chang's in West DDes Moines in October, 2012. She allegedly told police they didn't need to be there because "she was a Republican," according to a police report. Zachary Davis This 15-year-old boy will be charged as an adult in the sledgehammer murder of his mother in August, 2012. Davis allegedly killed his mother and then lit his home on fire in an attempt to kill his older brother while he slept. Read more Disturbed Sleeper Justin Michael Byars, 21, allegedly was so unhappy about being woken up that he assaulted the guy in the head who did it, punching the man in the head before throwing him into a fish tank. Read the whole story here. Lluvia Rodriguez Rodriguez is accused of biting her sister's nose off during a fight. The nose was successfully reattached. Couple's Orgy Goes South Tina Norris and James Barfield, a Florida couple, had an orgy at their house in August 2012. Mid-way through, they apparently agreed that they didn't much care for orgies. They started beating on one another, and not in the good way. Both were charged with domestic battery and locked up. Sheriff officers examine crushed cruisers at the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in Newport, Vt., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Authorities say 34-year old Vermont farmer Roger Pion, angry over a recent arrest last month on charges of resisting arrest and marijuana possession, used a large tractor like a monster truck, destroying seven police cruisers. (AP Photo/Northland Journal, Scott Wheeler) Robert Gernot Germot was accused of threatening his neighbor by saying, "When I get done taking a s--t, I'm gonna kick your f---ing a--!" Christopher Dabney Christopher Dabney, 22, allegedly attacked a US Army veteran in a wheelchair on Halloween, knocking the 35-year-old out of his chair. Dabney reportedly believed that the victim's Army uniform--and wheelchair--were fake, and was angry at what he perceived as an offensive Halloween costume. Read the whole story here. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Paris (AFP) - French police charged a man on Monday in connection with the jihadist murder of a police couple after his DNA was matched to traces found in their home near Paris, legal sources said. Mohamed Lamine Aberouz, 24, has been linked to Larossi Abballa, the Islamic State extremist who claimed the June 2016 attack in a live video from the murder scene before being killed by police in a shootout, the sources added. Aberouz, who was not on a terrorism watchlist but was known to be radicalised, was arrested in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. He was charged with being an accomplice to murder in connection with a terrorist act and remanded in custody. His brother has already been charged with providing logistical assistance to Abballa, whose chilling attack -- one in a string of assaults in France since January 2015 -- caused shock in police ranks. Abballa stabbed police captain Jean-Baptiste Salvaing to death outside his home in Magnanville, 60 kilometres west of Paris, and then slit the throat of his companion Jessica Schneider in front of the couple's three-year-old son. In a Facebook Live video from the scene, he called for further terror attacks. Aberouz was already investigated over a foiled attack by a group of female jihadists who tried to set set fire to a car containing gas canisters near Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in September 2016. Charged with failing to report that plot, he spent four months in preventive custody before being released in January. Investigators believe that a notorious French IS member, Rachid Kassim, directed both attacks from the Middle East, using the encrypted Telegram app. Kassim is believed to have been killed in a coalition air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul in February. Mario Batali, who stepped down from his restaurant group on Monday after four women accused him of sexual misconduct, spoke out in support of womens equality at an event in October. While speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, the celebrity chef positioned himself as a champion for women in the food industry. The industry is changing a lot and people are trying to do the right thing and its still slow to come, Batali said, according to Fast Company. You know, it took a long time for those dinosaurs to go extinct and its gonna be that way and its just... What you can do is push forward and do the right thing in your own place. I think the reckoning is coming across the board, he said. It is a time for women and men to face each other across the board, across the table. Amy Farley, Mario Batali and Jessica Alba at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Oct. 25. (Photo: Craig Barritt via Getty Images) Batali said he employed a majority-female crew at his Del Posto restaurant, not because they have a vagina, its because they are the smartest people for the job. I hate it when someone calls and says, Listen, we want to do a piece on [executive chef] Melissa [Rodriguez] as a great woman chef, he added. Why dont you fucking do a piece about her being a great chef and well talk about her sexuality later? In an Eater report published Monday, four women accused Batali of sexually harassing them over the last two decades. Three had worked for him, and the other worked in the restaurant industry. The chef sent a statement of apology to the publication: I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family. Head to Eater to read the entire report. Related Coverage Story continues Everything You Need To Know About Chef John Besh's Sexual Harassment Accusations Chef Mario Batali Takes Leave After 4 Women Accuse Him Of Sexual Misconduct Anthony Bourdain Responds To Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct Against Mario Batali Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Krishna N. Das and Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has found no evidence linking a Bangladeshi man charged with an attempted suicide bombing in New York with militants in Bangladesh, its counter-terrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday. U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of Islamic State, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground pedestrian corridor between New York's Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. "We have collected evidence and information from his family members: his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law," Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh police's counter-terrorism unit, said in an interview. "In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups." A U.S. enforcement official familiar with the investigation of the attack said officers had found evidence that Ullah had watched Islamic State propaganda on the internet. Islam and his team interviewed Ullah's wife and other relatives for several hours, after picking them up at their rented apartment in central Dhaka. Ullah, a U.S. resident since 2011, had come back to Bangladesh to see his family in September, spending most of the time at home with their six-month-old son, Islam said. "Usually, he did not mix with any of his friends or relatives here. Most of the time he spent time in the house," Islam said. "We're looking for his associates who he used to go to college or school with. We're looking for them, we've not identified anyone yet." 'ISOLATED INCIDENT' Members of the family declined to talk to Reuters when approached at the apartment on Wednesday. Story continues Islam said Bangladesh had passed on information on Ullah to U.S. security agencies, although there was no joint investigation. "I'm not sure whether they will send any formal request for an investigation or inquiry. If they do, we'll comply with the request because we've given highest priority on this issue because we have a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism." Ullah's relatives were under surveillance and would not be allowed to leave Dhaka without police permission. None has a passport. Both Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed several attacks in Bangladesh over the past few years, the most notable being the murder of 22 people, most of them foreigners, in an upmarket restaurant in Dhaka last year. Analysts have said Islamic State could try to radicalise young men in Muslim-majority Bangladesh as the organisation faces reversals in places such as Syria and Iraq. But Islam said Ullah's was an isolated incident and Bangladesh would act decisively against any such activity, wherever it occurred. "If any Bangladeshi national is involved in any such activity we're ready to deal with it with utmost strictness," he said. (Reporting by Krishna N. Das and Serajul Quadir in DHAKA; Additional reporting by Ruma Paul and Rafiqur Rahman; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel) Immediately after the Associated Press called the Alabama Senate race for Democratic candidate Doug Jones, the knives started coming out on the Republican side. It was, after all, a stunning result in a deep red state, even when considering the allegations against Jones opponent, Roy Moore, who multiple women have said pursued relationships with them when they were minors. Some on the right are blaming Jones loss on Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who ardently stood by Moore even as top Republicans abandoned him. Moore was exactly the sort of candidate who appeals to Bannon an outsider populist with extreme views who frustrates party brass and Bannon stood beside him until the very end. Many who are criticizing Bannon are affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a frequent target in Bannons war on establishment Republicans. This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running, read a statement from Steve Law, President and CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a pro-McConnell super PAC that spent millions to defeat Moore. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco. Josh Holmes, McConnells former campaign manager and Chief of Staff, attacked Bannon even before the race was called. Before we get the results, Id just like to thank Steve Bannon for showing us how to lose the reddest state in the union and Governor Ivey for the opportunity to make this national embarrassment a reality, he tweeted late Tuesday, the night of the election. Before we get the results, I'd just like to thank Steve Bannon for showing us how to lose the reddest state in the union and Governor Ivey for the opportunity to make this national embarrassment a reality Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) December 13, 2017 At least two sitting Republican lawmakers hopped on the anti-Bannon wagon Wednesday morning. Rep. Adam Kinzinger disparaged Bannon as a RINO Republican-in-name-only and said his strategies were morally inept and not welcome in his party. New York Congressman Peter King, never afraid to speak his mind, took things a step further. This guy does not belong on the political stage. He looks like some disheveled drunk that wondered onto the political stage, King said of Bannon on CNNs New Day Wednesday. He does not represent anything I stand for. Still, some Republicans fingers are pointing elsewhere particularly those connected to pro-Bannon hands. Fox News anchor Sean Hannity said McConnell deserves a lot of the blame for Moores loss because the majority leader backed Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in the initial Republican primary instead of Rep. Mo Brooks, who failed to make it to the Republican runoff. Mo Brooks would have won by 20% of the vote, and McConnell interference hurt badly, Hannity said on Twitter. Dan Eberhart, a finance and oil executive, Republican donor and frequent McConnell critic, said Moores loss wasnt necessarily referendum on Bannon, but reflected poorly on McConnell. I think Bannon showed candidates he will stick by them when it gets tough. No matter what, Eberhart wrote in an email to TIME. This is a triple loss for McConnell: he blew [Senate Leadership Fund] and [National Republican Senatorial Committee] money, frustrated his relationship with Trump and lost in Alabama. No matter who Republicans hold responsible for Moores loss, the ongoing blame game underscores the partys deep divides. While some on the right are eager to cast Bannon and his divisive populism aside, others are confident that hell remain a force to be reckoned with as 2018s midterm elections near. Nobody on the Republican side is a winner after last night, said Eric Beach, a Republican campaign manager working with a Bannon-backed Senate candidate in Arizona. What matters is there a wave out there that started in 2010 with the Tea Party . . . and really has helped propel Donald Trump into the White House, he said. That hasnt gone anywhere. By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sinking of the U.S. freighter El Faro in 2015 with the loss of 33 lives came after an overconfident captain set the ship and its poorly trained crew on a collision course with a hurricane, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report on Tuesday. It was the worst U.S. maritime disaster in 30 years. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the end of a day-long hearing that tracking the loss of the ill-fated ship on Oct. 1, 2015, was like watching a brewing storm. "At first just a potential problem, then looming trouble, and finally, tragically, the disaster itself. The difference is, unlike storms, we humans can make conscious choices," Sumwalt said. The report said that Captain Michael Davidson ignored his mates' repeated pleas that he change course to avoid a strengthening Hurricane Joaquin off the Bahamas. According to the report, Davidson was relying on out-of-date weather information and declined to leave his quarters to alter course even as the 40-year-old cargo ship steered into the center of the hurricane blinded by lashing spray. The National Transportation Safety Board panel found that a rigid bridge hierarchy contributed to the disaster because officers and helmsmen were reluctant to contest his decision. Davidson, a veteran of Alaska shipping routes, refused to emerge from his cabin even when one mate told him of 100-mile-per-hour (160-km-per-hour) winds ahead, according to the report. "This was every day in Alaska," Davidson said, according to audio files from the vessel's data recorder. The National Transportation Safety Board panel approved 81 findings and 53 recommendations stemming from the sinking of the 790-foot (241 meter) freighter. El Faro, operated by Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, disappeared two days after leaving Jacksonville, Florida, for Puerto Rico. The cargo vessel stopped communicating after reporting early on Oct. 1 that it had lost propulsion and was taking on water and listing. Story continues The wreck site was found more than 15,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Investigators said the crew lacked training in areas including use of cargo stability computer software and damage control. The panel said that the El Faro lacked appropriate lifeboats, and officers were unaware that there was a six-hour lag in information provided its Bon Voyage System weather software. A preliminary report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard found that the El Faro was operating with a minimum margin of stability and would not have met standards for a ship built today. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Wallis and David Gregorio) By Saad Sayeed ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has told at least 10 foreign-funded aid groups to close, an umbrella agency said on Wednesday, including a charity founded by hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, the group said. Pakistan has toughened its stance towards domestic and international non-governmental groups in recent years, accusing some of using their work as a cover for espionage. In January, it ordered about a dozen groups working on women's issues and human rights to halt their operations. A representative of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), which represents 63 international aid groups, said the Ministry of Interior had issued 10 of its members "letters of rejection", meaning their applications to register had been rejected. The forum did not identify the 10 groups but two international groups, the Pakistani branch of the Soros charity the Open Society Foundations, and ActionAid, said they had been told they had to close. "We obviously find what has happened both disappointing and surprising, and are urgently seeking clarification," the executive director of the Open Society's Pakistani office, Saba Khattak, said in a statement. The group had spent $37 million on grants and relief assistance in Pakistan since 2005, she said. The interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment. However, the ministry, in a letter to one of the 10 groups and seen by Reuters, said its registration application had been denied. "Wind up operations/activities of above said INGO within 60 days," the ministry said in the letter. It did give a reason why the group had to stop its work. The ministry lists 139 international non-governmental organizations (INGO) on its website that have submitted registration applications, of which 72 are still being processed. There is no list of those whose applications have been denied. "During the lengthy INGO registration process we provided all the information and documents required and are confident we comply with all necessary rules and regulations," ActionAid country director Iftikhar Nizami said in a statement. This year, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres was ordered to stop work at three facilities in violence-plagued ethnic Pashtun areas bordering Afghanistan, although the interior ministry lists the group as an approved INGO. The Save the Children aid group fell afoul of the government in 2011, when it was linked to a Pakistani doctor recruited by the CIA to help in the hunt that led to the killing of al Qaeda militant leader Osama bin Laden in the town of Abbottabad. Save the Childrens foreign staff were expelled from Pakistan soon after the accusations surfaced, but more than 1,000 local staff continued to operate. The charity denied any links with the doctor or the CIA. (Reporting by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Robert Birsel) Should we tell children the truth about Santa? (Photo: Getty) Every year at Christmas, parents everywhere convince their little ones that if they behave themselves for the next couple of weeks, a wonderful man with a big belly will squeeze down their chimney, eat the cookies theyve left out for them, drink the glass of milk, and leave them a whole wealth of presents on Christmas morning. Santa Claus. Its the magical myth that is an essential part of our childhoods. But could the age-old tale of Santa actually be damaging to kids? Thats the idea that was discussed in an essay published last year in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. The paper, called A wonderful lie, suggests that the trust children have in their parents may be undermined by their spinning stories about Santa. Whats more, the reasons behind maintaining the belief could actually be morally suspect. If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth? the researchers write. If adults have been lying about Santa, even though it has usually been well intentioned, what else is a lie? If Santa isnt real, are fairies real? Is magic? Is God? Psychologist Professor Christopher Boyle and social scientist Dr. Kathy McKay also condemn the idea of a terrifying North Pole, which judges whether children have been naughty or nice each year. All children will eventually find out theyve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies theyve been told, psychologist Christopher Boyle, a professor at the University of Exeter, said in a statement. Whether its right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and its also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered. Should parents prolong the magic of Christmas for their children? (Photo: Getty) But aside from wanting to prolong the magic of Christmas, some experts argue theres another, more selfish, reason parents are choosing to keep the truth about Santa a secret. Story continues Dr. Kathy McKay, of the University of New England in Australia, said there was evidence from the world of make-believe in films and TV that in prolonging the Santa Claus myth, parents were looking for a chance to relive their own childhoods. The persistence of fandom in stories like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Doctor Who well into adulthood demonstrates this desire to briefly re-enter childhood, she said. But not all experts are in agreement that maintaining the magical myth is detrimental to children, or indeed families as a whole. Psychologist Emma Kenny, of makeyourswitch.co.uk, believes that, far from being damaging, keeping a belief in Santa alive can in fact open children up to the idea of possibility. I believe that Father Christmas is an individual who brings magic into our childrens lives, she says. In a world where fear, destruction, and negativity is a daily experience, these kind of lies enable children an opportunity to enjoy a world of possibility. I asked my children, who are 15 and nearly 13, about their feelings towards my lies, and they suggested that it had been wonderful to imagine a world of magic, imagination, and possibility regarding Christmas. As opposed to feeling harmed, they felt inspired and hopeful, she continues. Why steal imagination and magic from childhood? I loved the idea of the Tooth Fairy, Santa and magic per se, and the idea of it upsetting and harming childhood is the PC brigades way of interfering with an amazing time in our little ones lives! Its an opinion shared by one mother of three, who asked for her name not to be used. Theres a magic about Christmas that is about keeping the illusion alive, she says. Plus, faith requires believing in something intangible. And even if parents do decide they want to fess up to the festive truth, theres the question of when children should be told that Santa isnt real. A recent survey by the childrens book publisher NurseryBox revealed that a third of British children stop believing in Santa Claus by the age of 6, but play along to keep their parents happy. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on the subject, a leading parenting expert, Dr. Justin Coulson, claimed that, in his experience, kids get curious between the ages of 5 and 7. Its a constant topic of conversation, and like anything thats supposed to be a secret: Knowledge is power, he said. But if your child hasnt yet found out, when is the right time to spill the beans? The right time to tell your child is as soon as they ask. If theyre old enough and curious enough to question, then theyre old enough to know the truth, he said. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Brussels (AFP) - Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam's lawyer asked on Wednesday for next week's opening of his client's trial in Belgium to be postponed, a senior court official said, adding it is "highly likely" it will be delayed. Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks, had been due to go on trial Monday for his alleged role in a 2016 shootout in Brussels that led to his capture, which in turn investigators believe precipitated the Brussels suicide bombings in March last year. "It is highly likely that the matter will be postponed," said Luc Hennart, who heads the court where Abdeslam and his alleged accomplice Sofian Ayari will be tried. Hennart, who is organising the trial, told AFP that Abdeslam's lawyer Sven Mary had made the request on his client's behalf, confirming information from a source close to the investigation. That source also told AFP on condition of anonymity that Mary's request should "logically be accepted." "There will be a hearing Monday to review the (lawyer's postponement) request, which will be accepted in principle," the source close to the investigation said. Only the lawyers will be present in the court without their clients, the source said, adding the case is likely to be postponed until January. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported on its website that Abdeslam's transfer from France "has been cancelled". Under arrangements between the neighbouring countries, he will be transferred to a prison in the north of France and taken to the Belgian capital when the trial begins. - Terror charges - Abdeslam and Sofian Ayari, also implicated in the shootout, were set to stand trial on charges of "attempting to murder several police officers in a terrorist context" and "carrying prohibited weapons in a terrorist context". Ayari is in a prison in Belgium. During the gun battle on March 15, 2016, in the Brussels neighbourhood of Forest, several police officers were wounded and an alleged Abdeslam accomplice was killed. Story continues Both Abdeslam and Ayari were captured days after the shootout, ending a four-month manhunt for Abdeslam for his alleged role in the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Abdeslam, 28, is linked to the same cell that carried out suicide bombings in Brussels a week after the gun battle. Thirty-two people were killed at Brussels airport and a metro station near the EU's headquarters. Abdeslam, born in Brussels of Moroccan origin, has spent nearly 20 months in isolation, under 24-hour video surveillance, at a prison in the Paris region since his transfer to French authorities in April last year. The Belgian federal prosecutor's office has declined to comment on the development. Manila (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won martial law powers across the southern third of the country for one more year on Wednesday to combat Islamic militants and leftist rebels, as Congress brushed aside fears of a looming dictatorship. Duterte's request to extend martial law in the Mindanao region until December 31 next year and detain rebellion suspects there without charge was approved by 240 votes to 27 at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. Asked by reporters later on Wednesday if he would extend martial law to the whole country, Duterte said "all options are on the table". In May Duterte imposed military rule and suspended a constitutional guarantee against warrantless arrests across the region of 20 million people, hours after armed Islamic militants seized the southern city of Marawi. The initial period of martial law was limited by the constitution to 60 days. However, in July Congress authorised Duterte to extend martial law until the last day of 2017 as he moved to retake the city from hundreds of gunmen he accused of plotting to turn Marawi into a regional base for the Islamic State group. Duterte declared Marawi "liberated" in October after a five-month US-backed bombing campaign that claimed more than 1,100 lives and left large areas of the city in ruins. But on Monday he warned that those who escaped were regrouping. Duterte, who called off peace talks last month with communist rebels, also warned one of Asia's longest armed rebellions had stepped up "terrorist acts". His request added to critics' fears he was seeking to steer the Philippines back into dictatorship like the late president Ferdinand Marcos did in 1972. On Wednesday Duterte compared the communists who operate in rural areas all over the country to the Islamic militants who are based in Mindanao. "They are the same," he said. Opposition legislators said Wednesday that martial law was illegal because Duterte had declared the liberation of Marawi and described the communists as a "spent force". Story continues "Is this now a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide?" said senate minority leader Franklin Drilon. Duterte has repeatedly said he may impose martial law across the entire nation to save the Philippines from narcotics, crime and terrorism-induced anarchy. But his cabinet members downplayed those fears. "We do not ask for unlimited martial law. What we are seeking is unlimited peace," Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told the joint session. Cops say someone targeted drivers on two Michigan highways last week. (Photo: Michigan State Police) Michigan police say theyve linked the individual or individuals who randomly shot at cars traveling on I-94 and I-96 in the Detroit area last week to a fourth shooting. Investigators made the connection over the weekend, after a Southfield woman reported that her vehicle had been hit by a bullet or projectile on Dec. 7 while she was driving on I-94. A Michigan State Police spokesperson said investigators believe the four shootings are one single incident. Investigators closed a five-mile stretch of I-94 on Monday morning to comb the highway lanes for evidence. Its not yet known if they found anything of interest. Each of the shootings occurred during the early morning hours of Dec. 7, along a tangle of interstate highways. Police say the drivers were lucky: A Chesterfield Township man who was shot in the leg while driving on I-94 was the only person known to sustain an injury. The victim told police he was heading westbound near Gratiot Avenue when an unknown vehicle pulled alongside him and opened fire. Bullets or projectiles hit two other cars that morning along I-96, near Detroits west side. One of those drivers told police he believed the shooter was inside a silver Impala that had pulled alongside his vehicle. Currently, there is no known relationship between any of the victims. 3) Please contact MSP if you have information, witnessed these incidents or if your vehicle was struck on December 7th. We continue to have additional patrols on the freeways in the city of Detroit. pic.twitter.com/gAur5ONdzV MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) December 10, 2017 Michigan police have been saturating the freeways where the shootings occurred, looking for suspicious activity. But there have been no additional shootings since Dec. 7 The case is somewhat reminiscent of a similar spate of shootings along Detroit-area highways in October 2012. In that case, Raulie Casteel, then 44, was arrested and ultimately convicted of terrorism after committing 23 shootings. Casteel is currently serving 18 to 40 years in prison. Story continues Anyone with information about Thursdays shootings is asked to call Michigan State Police at (313) 237-2450. Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. El Dorado Jane Doe We know who killed her. But we still dont know her name. That is the enduring mystery that has left investigators stumped for more than two decades. Despite the passge in time, authorities beleive someone, somewhere, can still help solve the identity of the woman known as El Dorado Jane Doe. READ: We Know Who Killed Her. But 24 Years Later, We Still Dont Know Her Name Storyville Slayer Three decades ago, the melting pot of culture and tradition that makes up New Orleans was overshadowed by a cloud of evil. The historic metropolis that Louis Armstrong once dubbed the Land of Dreams had become a nightmare for the families of more than two dozen people who turned up dead in outlying swamps and bayous. READ: Detective Tries To Solve 25-Year-Old Serial Killer Cold Case. One Suspect Is A Cop. Eugene Hicks A womans quest to learn about her fathers 1983 murder uncovered mistakes that may have cost a retired Dallas Cowboys player his life. READ: How Police Failures May Have Allowed A Cocaine Cowboys Suspected Killer To Strike Again Deborah Lee Shelton And Victoria Lee Specials For 65 days in 1969, Marcia Shelton watched, waited and hoped against all odds that her missing 12-year-old daughter, Deborah Lee Shelton, would turn up safe and sound. Then, in December 2001, there was another tragedy as equally disturbing as the first -- the disappearance of her second daughter, 44-year-old Victoria Lee Specials. Marcia Shelton found herself left with the memories of two daughters, taken under mysterious circumstances three decades apart. Read More: Sisters Deborah Lee Shelton And Victoria Lee Specials Vanish 32 Years Apart Tamala Wells Tamala Wells, of Detroit, disappeared on Aug. 6, 2012. Her mother, Donna Wells-Davis, learned of her daughter's disappearance on Aug. 7, 2012, when she received a phone call from her granddaughter, who was then 6 years old. The little girl said that her mom, then 33, had gone out the previous night and never returned. The mystery deepened when the Pontiac that Wells had supposedly been driving was found abandoned just a few blocks from her home. In an interview with HuffPost, the father of Wells' daughter denied any involvement in Wells' disappearance, but he didn't deny how he feels about the mother of his child -- or about the child herself. "She gives me a headache," Rickey Tennant said. "[Wells] used to give me a headache, but I dealt with it, and I'm looking at it right now as 'one headache is better than two headaches.'" READ: Ex-Boyfriend Calls Missing Woman One Less 'Headache' Joy Hibbs On April 19, 1991, the body of 36-year-old Joy Hibbs was found inside her burned-out home in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. According to retired Bristol Township Detective Lt. Richard Bilson, the scene inside the bedroom where Hibbs was found was horrific. "She was lying face-up on a mattress that was nothing but springs," Bilson told HuffPost. "Her body was black -- completely burnt beyond recognition. She looked like a mummy and the entire room was charred." Bilson said fire investigators initially thought Joy Hibbs was the tragic victim of a house fire. The following day, a coroner confirmed part of that theory -- her death was tragic, albeit no accident. "The coroner advised us she died before the fire started," Bilson said. "He located five stab wounds, to her neck and chest, and there was a computer cord wrapped around her neck. At that point, it became a homicide investigation." Read More: Pennsylvania Mom's Brutal Murder An Enduring Mystery Terry And Darleen Anderson In October 2005, an unknown intruder brutally murdered Terry and Darleen Anderson. The crime -- LaGrange County, Indiana's first double homicide -- shocked their rural community and left many deep emotional scars. Inside the couple's home, Darleen was found still dressed in her nightclothes, slumped over on the couch. A book was in her lap and a bowl of popcorn was sitting next to her. Someone had viciously attacked the 57-year-old woman while she sat relaxing inside her home. Outside, in a nearby pole barn, lay Darleen's husband of 25 years. Like his wife, the 59-year-old had been brutally bludgeoned to death. With few clues to follow, the case quickly went cold. Many questions still remain. READ: Who Killed Terry And Darleen Anderson? Neal King Neal Forrest King came to California to make his fortune in the burgeoning illegal marijuana trade. In 2013, the 24-year-old former Texan disappeared like a puff of smoke. March 26 was the last time Jeanette Tully, King's girlfriend of six years, saw him. "It's so painful, and I don't think the pain will ever go away," Tully told HuffPost at the time. "I'm 25, and I was ready to spend rest of my life with him. Our love was true, honest and pure." King's mother, Gayle King, described her son's disappearance as inexplicable. "Neal was a kind person and an amazing son," she said. "That's just how he was. He had strong family values. Family for him was everything." Read More: Marijuana Farmer Neal King Disappears Amid Strange Circumstances Brian Barton Punk rock musician Brian Barton was well on his way to success in 2005. The 25-year-old was in love, was a member of As Fate Would Have It -- a band quickly growing in popularity -- and was gearing up for his first music tour. To outsiders looking in, all the stars in Barton's universe appeared to be in alignment. However, appearances can be deceiving. When Barton disappeared prior to the start of the band's breakout music tour, the bizarre circumstances surrounding his disappearance pitted friends and bandmates against each other. Read More: Did Seattle Punk Rocker Brian Barton Stage His Own Disappearance? Judith Geurin Relatives of Judith Geurin last spoke with the 45-year-old mom in January 1991. Geurin's disappearance is rooted in events that transpired in July 1988, when her husband of 18 years, 57-year-old Joseph Geurin, died of a heart attack. According to family members, Joseph's death devastated her and shattered the family. The grief, they said, was so severe that her mom turned to alcohol for solace. By January 1989, Judith Geurin had collected more than $250,000 in life insurance and pension funds granted to her following her husband's death. She sold the family's four-bedroom, colonial-style house and took out a mortgage on a two-family duplex in nearby Troy. Geurin's children, then ages 21, 16, 13 and 11 -- moved into the duplex. However, unbeknownst to them until moving day, their mother had other plans. Instead of following her children, Geurin moved in with 27-year-old Curtis Pucci. In 1990, Geurin and Pucci moved some 200 miles southwest of Albany to Sodus Point. Even though she had all but abandoned her children, Geurin kept in regular contact with her eldest daughter until January 1991, when Geurin vanished without a trace. Read More: Daughter's Search For Mom Goes On, 23 Years After She Disappeared Anita Knutson In 2007, Anita Knutson was an 18-year-old Minot State University student majoring in elementary education. Knutson was, according to her family, exceptionally responsible for her age and juggled three part-time jobs while attending college. Despite a busy life, she kept in regular contact with her family. So, when she went two days without returning phone calls, her father went to her off-campus apartment on June 4, 2007. When repeated knocks to the door of her 4th Street apartment went unanswered, her father had the building manager open the door. When the concerned father stepped inside, his worst fears became a reality when he found his daughter's lifeless body on the floor of her bedroom. Authorities determined the young woman had been stabbed multiple times, more than a day before her body was found. The murder weapon, a bloody knife, was found discarded in a sink. Detectives also determined someone had cut the screen to Knutson's bedroom window, presumable to gain entry into her apartment. Despite an intensive investigation, authorities were unable to identify a suspect or person of interest in her murder and the case went cold. READ: Family Of Murdered MSU Student Demands Answers JonBenet Ramsey On Dec. 26, 1996, 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found bludgeoned and strangled to death in the basement of her family's Boulder, Colorado, home. A ransom note from an anonymous group of individuals "that represent a foreign faction" asking for $118,000 in exchange for the safe return of JonBenet was found just hours before, but no call ever came from a kidnapper and it was never linked to a murderer. The entire Ramsey family was cleared of any involvement in the murder of JonBenet back in 2008, thanks to then newly discovered DNA evidence, according to 9News. Beginning in 2010, investigators reopened the case and launched a fresh round of interviews with witnesses that could provide more insight into the murder, according to ABC News, but nothing fruitful came of those interviews. The DNA evidence still points to an "unexplained third party" that serves as a vague lead for authorities still pursuing the case, Time magazine reported. Boulder police have tested more than 150 DNA samples and investigated nearly the same amount of potential suspects in their ongoing investigation, but none have ever been linked to the crime. Read More: JonBenet Ramsey's Killer 'May Be Lost Forever' Kathleen Kolodziej Kathleen Kolodziej was reported missing to police in Duanesburg, New York, on Nov. 2, 1974. The 17-year-old college student was last seen early that morning at a local bar. Kolodziej's whereabouts remained a mystery until Nov. 28, 1974, Thanksgiving morning, when investigators located her partially clothed body. Read More: Kathleen Kolodziej's Murder A 38-Year Mystery John Spira John Spira, a 45-year-old blues-rock musician from Chicago known as "Chicago Johnny," has been missing since Feb. 23, 2007. He was last seen at about 7 p.m. at Universal Cable Construction Inc. in DuPage County. Spira co-owned the company with David Stubben, his business partner of 17 years. Spira had plans to meet a friend for dinner in nearby Oak Brook at 8:30 p.m., but he never arrived. The following evening, John's band, The Rabble Rousers, was scheduled to play in Montgomery. However, "Chicago Johnny," well-respected and normally reliable, was a no-show. Read More: John Spira Still Missing 5 Years Later Bobbi Ann Campbell It has been many years since anyone has seen Utah mom Bobbi Ann Campbell. She was last seen in Salt Lake City in December 1994, when she dropped her 5-year-old daughter off at a friend's house. The young mother said she would return after she picked up her paycheck from work and purchased groceries. She never came back. Campbell, then 24, was there one minute and gone the next. She left no immediate trace and no trail to follow. Read More: Bobbi Ann Campbell Missing: Daughter Seeks Closure In 19-Year-Old Case Colonial Parkway Murders The victims, eight in all, came in pairs. Many were young lovers who apparently met their fates mid-assignation. Each of the homicides occurred along the scenic 23-mile route between Jamestown and Yorktown in Virginia, giving them a ready name: the Colonial Parkway murders. Due to the shared location and other similarities among the deaths, law enforcement officials viewed them as the work of a possible serial killer. Read More: Unsolved Murders Of Young Lovers In Va. Sarah Kinslow Sarah Kinslow was last seen by her parents on May 1, 2001, when her dad dropped her off at Greenville Middle School in her hometown of Greenville, Texas, at approximately 7:20 a.m. It was not until after the school day ended that the Kinslows were notified their daughter had not attended any of her classes. When Louise Kinslow spoke to her daughter's friends, they said her daughter was supposed to skip school with them that day and meet up at nearby East Mount Cemetery. Concerned, Kinslow contacted police and reported the teen missing. Authorities took an article of Sarah Kinslow's clothing from the family home and brought a tracking dog to the school. Investigators were able to pick up her scent where she had exited her father's car. The dog followed the scent around the school and to a location two blocks away, where... Read More: Sarah Kinslow Missing: 11 Years, No Answers Robert Levinson Robert Levinson is a former FBI special agent who retired from the FBI in 1998 after 22 years of service. In March 2007, Levinson traveled to Kish Island, Iran, as a private investigator to reportedly look into a cigarette smuggling investigation. He disappeared on March 9 of that year. In 2010, a video purportedly showing Levinson in captivity was sent to his family by his alleged captors. Read More: Retired FBI Agent Missing Since 2007 This article originally appeared on HuffPost. New York (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday unveiled federal terrorism charges against the Bangladeshi driver accused of detonating a bomb in the New York subway after being inspired by the Islamic State extremist group and self-radicalizing as early as 2014. Akayed Ullah, 27, of Brooklyn, was hit with a five-count indictment, which includes providing material support to IS and use of weapons of mass destruction, according to a 10-page complaint released on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when he would appear before a judge. Ullah has been held in a hospital after wounding himself and three other people at the Port Authority bus terminal, close to iconic Times Square, on Monday. The explosion, which sowed panic and disrupted the morning commute during New York's busy Christmas tourism season, came six weeks after another immigrant, also reportedly inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, killed eight people on a bike path. Ullah wanted to avenge US policies in the Middle East, building the pipe bomb in his Brooklyn apartment with metal screws and Christmas tree lights a week before the attack, according to the complaint. En route to carrying out the attempted attack, he allegedly posted on Facebook, "Trump you failed to protect your nation," in an apparent reference to the US president. But his bomb failed to detonate as planned, leaving him with burns to his torso and hands, officials said. The three others suffered minor complaints such as ringing in their ears and headaches. Ullah moved to the United States in 2011 and lived most recently in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn, home to a sizeable Bangladeshi immigrant community. According to the complaint, his radicalization began in 2014, years after his move to the United States, with watching IS propaganda online before he started to research how to make bombs online a year ago. But he radicalized under the radar, his name never appearing on any watch lists. Ullah was not previously known to law enforcement in either the United States or his impoverished, Muslim-majority homeland, officials said. Story continues - Wife questioned - In Bangladesh, counter-terrorism officers questioned his 25-year-old wife, whom he married in 2016 and visited in September after the birth of their son, officials said. Police raided the family home in Dhaka, but neither Ullah's wife, Jannatul Ferdous Piya, nor her father are under any suspicion, officer Saiful Islam told AFP. Mofazzal Hossain, caretaker of the family apartment in Dhaka, described him as "pious and a gentleman." "He used to pray in the local mosque five times a day. He would urge us to pray and do good work," Hossain told AFP. Dhaka police were investigating whether he could have been radicalized in Bangladesh, which is waging its own war against extremism and where IS claimed an assault in July 2016 that killed 22 hostages, 18 of them foreigners. President Donald Trump, who has clamped down on immigration since taking office in January, on Monday called for tougher US immigration rules, saying the current policy allows "far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country." He has called for the elimination of programs that allowed Ullah and bike path attack suspect Sayfullo Saipov to move to the United States, and move to a merit-based immigration policy. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a strident Trump critic, said the president's criticism was misplaced, stressing that Ullah would not have been allowed into the country if his sponsors were not of "good standing." The family issued a statement through the Council on American-Islamic Relations saying they were "heartbroken" by the attack and the allegations against Ullah. The New York Times reported that Ullah appears to have prayed regularly at the Masjid Nur Al Islam mosque, and from 2012 to 2015, held a license to drive for-hire vehicles. A businessman neighbor told the newspaper that he had unpleasant encounters with Ullah in recent years, largely about parking and complaints that his family used to block the driveway. PolitiFact on Tuesday revealed its 2017 Lie of the Year, focusing on how President Donald Trump has regularly disputed whether Russia interfered in last years election and questioned the widely held conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies, which he has frequently undermined and dismissed as political hacks. The evidence that Russia interfered in the election is plentiful and demonstrates an elaborate and sophisticated scheme. Moscow has also attempted to infiltrate elections in Europe. But, as PolitiFact notes, one man keeps saying it didnt even happen: the president of the United States. When the nations commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to U.S. democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem. For this reason, we name Trumps claim that the Russia interference is a hoax as our Lie of the Year for 2017. Trump has said that this Russia thing is a made-up story, tweeted countless times that it is a hoax and Democrats excuse for their election loss, and insisted that when Russian President Vladimir Putin denies the interference, he takes him at face value. The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017 Every time he sees me, he says, I didnt do that. And I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it, Trump said after meeting with Putin during a trip to Asia in November. Trump has often denied the issue of Russian interference in the election in the context of denying collusion between his own campaign and Russian officials, the subject of several ongoing House and Senate probes, as well as an independent investigation from special counsel Robert Mueller. Trumps equivocation on Russian meddling is among the biggest examples of his perpetual attempts to dismiss unfavorable coverage as fake news and to create a different version of reality, PolitiFacts editors note. Story continues PolitiFacts readers also chose the claim as the lie of the year. Read more from PolitiFact. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. There's something especially Parisian about this Portland bridal inspiration session, dreamed up and photographed by Silvius James. Perhaps its Tendue's walls which boast picture frame molding, the large windows that let in the most gorgeous natural lighting, the bride;s effortlessly chic bridal jumpsuit by Lena Medoyeff, or the purple hued palette (hello, Pantone color of the year!). Whatever it is, it strikes that balance between modern and romantic the French have absolutely mastered. From Silvius James... Editorial, modern, fresh all words that describe this inspiration shoot. A new venue opened up in Portland, Oregon, and when I saw the simplicity of the white walls detailed with trim, I knew it was an opportunity to do something different and new. I pulled together an A-list of wedding vendors in the area and styled what I can only describe as a modern day victorian style.Selva Floral created some unique, new-age florals in muted pastel tones and accented with lavender spray paint. She foraged the flowers and botanicals and created something truly unique and beautiful. My model, Kim, wore a stunning bridal jumpsuit from Lena Medoyeff Bridal, which was the perfect modern look for our bride. We also photographed a velvet gown from her new collection as well for the more traditional bride. Kelsey Malie Calligraphy created a custom suite with a mix of lavender and cream cotton papers and lavender ink. My favorite part was introducing some charcuterie boards by Lena Gladstone of Lena's Kitchen. Her styling is amazing, and I had to have her be part of the shoot. I think it added another dimension to the shoot. Photography: Silvius James | Cake: Olive and Artisan | Stationery: Kelsey Malie Calligraphy | Hair + Makeup: Renee Bruhn | Art Direction: Silvius James | Bridal Attire: Lena Medoyeff | Catering + Food Styling: Lena's Kitchen | Ceramics: Carter and Rose PDX | Floral Design + Styling: Selva Floral Design | Location: Tendue | Model: Kim Brooks | Rentals: Classic Vintage Rentals Just a few weeks after giving birth, Eniko Hart slipped into a gown and walked the red carpet with her husband for the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle premiere. The baby body snapback phenomenon is controversial. (Photo: Getty Images) Hart shared a photo of her glam look on Instagram and, as many commenters pointed out, she looks stunning. Fans are congratulating her on the snapback the phenomenon of a new mothers body snapping back to how it looked before pregnancy. Sarah Stage, aka the 6-pack mom, even gave her a compliment: Sooo beautiful !!! that SnapBack. Others chimed in with the phrase: Snapped ALL THE WAY BACK, and You dont even look like you had a baby. Snap back is real. jumanji premiere @lora_arellano @jasonbolden @hair4kicks xo. A post shared by enio ar (@enikonhart) on Dec 11, 2017 at 8:33pm PST Judging by her Instagram, Hart seems to have kept fitness a priority throughout and after her pregnancy. She recently shared a mesmerizing time-lapse video that shows her doing squats, with her bump growing and then receding. #fbf Thx to my awesome trainer @rebeccabroxfit for documenting such a dope pregnancy time-lapse vid. It was a simple & cute idea when you suggested it to me and it came out perfect..i couldnt be happier to see US grow togetherpregnancy is beautiful #babyZo A post shared by enio ar (@enikonhart) on Dec 1, 2017 at 8:19am PST While Hart (and baby Zo) look happy and healthy, should the snapback really be drawing praise? Sherry Ross, MD, ob-gyn, and womens health expert at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., is worried that the phrase puts undue pressure on pregnant women. I cannot support the snapback approach during the postpartum period for the majority of women. The snapback philosophy can cause an overwhelming amount of unnecessary pressure and stress during an already hormonal and emotional time, Ross tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Photos like Harts should be inspirational, not aspirational, she says. If you feel like working out post-baby, go for it. If not, Ross tells her patients, the year after giving birth is a pass. She explains, Realistically, it takes least nine months to feel and look like you did before you embarked on the pregnancy journey. So many major physical and emotional changes are happening in a relatively short period of time, and it definitely counts as a major life milestone. Story continues Dont pressure yourself to get your pre-pregnancy body back and create other expectations that you may not achieve. Life usually gets back to normal as everyone adjusts with an open mind, patience, and understanding, she says. Remember: Whats normal for Hart and baby Zo may not be normal for you. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Seoul (AFP) - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have opened the way to negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear programme, saying Washington was ready to talk "without preconditions". The apparent olive branch -- after a year of mutual threats by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and multiple missile tests by Pyongyang, coupled with its most powerful nuclear blast to date -- could help defuse sky-high tensions. But with the two sides engaged in a war of words there is a long way to go before any negotiations -- let alone a deal. Here are some questions and answers on the issue. What has changed? The US has for years refused to talk unless the North first takes steps towards dismantling its nuclear programme. But the North has staged six atomic tests and declared itself a full nuclear state after the ICBM test on November 28, rendering the prospect of nuclear disarmament increasingly unrealistic, according to experts. "We are ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. We are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let's just meet," Tillerson said at a forum in Washington. William Perry, a former US Defense Secretary who helped broker the 1994 Agreed Framework nuclear deal with the North, said it was "very encouraging news". "We must find a way to come to the table in order to de-escalate the volatile situation with North Korea," he tweeted. What does Donald Trump think? Trump administration officials have piled pressure on Pyongyang with US-led UN sanctions and talk of a potential pre-emptive attack, with National Security Adviser HR McMaster saying this month the potential for war was "increasing every day". The president has previously dismissed Tillerson's push for talks with the North, tweeting in October that his top diplomat was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man" - his favoured epithet for Kim. Story continues "Save your energy, Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" he added -- and rumours have swirled in recent weeks that Trump was about to sack him. Whether Tillerson's words herald a major policy shift by the administration remains to be seen. White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump's views on the North "have not changed". How could North Korea react? The North has long expressed a willingness to talk without preconditions and is likely to respond positively to any such offer, analysts say. "They have believed that the US would have no choice but to sit down with the North for talks in the end... and they might have been right," said Chung Sung-Yoon, of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. "The North's goal is to lay low and endure sanctions until the world will accept the reality that the North has become a nuclear power," he added. The further its weapons programmes advance, the stronger its position becomes -- and it says it is now able to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere on the US mainland, although experts believe it still lacks some of the required technology. What will the North's neighbours say? China, the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline, and South Korea are likely to welcome Tillerson's comments. Beijing -- which is under increasing US pressure to tame its wayward neighbour -- has repeatedly pushed for talks, while South Korean President Moon Jae-In is a well-known advocate for dialogue. Japan -- Washington's key military ally in Asia -- has also called for ways to defuse tensions. Some of the North's rocket tests have overflown the island nation, sparking alarm. What has happened in previous talks? Decades of Western attempts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons have failed. The Agreed Framework, which offered the North civilian nuclear reactors and other assistance in exchange for denuclearisation, fell apart after the US accused the isolated state of covertly restarting its weapons programme and aid delays angered Pyongyang, which eventually stormed out. In 2003 the Beijing-led Six Party Talks began, bringing together the US, both Koreas, Russia, Japan and China in a tortuous process. North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear programmes in 2005, but carried out its first atomic blast the following year. It walked out of the talks three years later, detonating its second device soon afterwards. It has since continued its weapons drive, accelerating it after Kim inherited power in 2011 from his father Kim Jong-Il. After another brutal rape and murder of a young Indian girl, demonstrators have gathered in the northern state of Haryana to protest the failure of police to identify a culprit days after the crime, BBC reports. The grotesque details of the crime and the extent of the girls injuries have shocked the community and renewed outrage that shook the nation in the wake of the 2012 New Delhi gang rape of a 23-year-old student who later died of her wounds. This weekend will mark the five-year anniversary of that incident. In Haryana, the body of a six-year-old girl was found on Dec. 8 after her family alleged she had been abducted from her home overnight, according to BBC. As the chorus of protesters grows, the government has formed a special investigative unit to find the perpetrator. Police have detained three relatives of the childs father for questioning, but have reportedly not yet made an arrest. The victims father, a scavenger, reportedly said he was working away from home on the night his daughter went missing. The girls mother said she awoke to find one of her four children gone. Read more: Surviving Sexual Assault in India With the culprit still at-large, the girls family told BBC they want the federal police to get involved. Theyve set a Wednesday 11am deadline for an arrest, or else have pledged to escalate their protest. The family initially refused to cremate the girls body until the killer was found, but relented after police promised to make an arrest soon. In a separate incident just two days later, police arrested a middle-aged man for raping a family friends six-year-old daughter who was in his care while her parents fetched medicine, according to the Hindustan Times. Doug Jones and Jackie Speier. (Photos: Marvin Gentry/Reuters; Yuri Gripas/Reuters) WASHINGTON As both major political parties hunt for lessons in Alabamas special Senate election, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., cautioned on Wednesday that Doug Joness shock defeat of Roy Moore is a unique result that may not apply to the 2018 midterm contest in general. This was unique. I think that the candidate that the Republicans ended up nominating was deeply flawed, Speier said in an interview for Yahoo News on SiriusXM Channel 124. The results were that many people didnt come out to vote as Republicans, or voted for someone else by writing in, or voted for the Democrat. Democrats in Congress are ecstatic about the results, but I dont think we can take anything to the bank, she said. Her comments came as Democrats and Republicans sifted through the data behind Joness upset victory over Moore in a deep-red state that overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in November 2016. Regarding North Korea, Speier, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee, said she hoped that Secretary of State Rex Tillersons new outreach to the regime in Pyongyang reflected a true shift in strategy. I hope it is an overture from the Trump administration to the North Koreans, she said. Speier said that past statements from the president that seemed to contradict Tillerson on the merits of diplomacy were very disconcerting and warned against using force against the Stalinist state. The last thing we want is to engage in military action in North Korea, she said. It would be the beginning of just the most destructive era in American, or in global history. Instead, she said, we have got to find a way for diplomacy, coupled with pressure and help from frenemies like China to address the threat from North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Speier, who has taken a leading role in confronting the issue of sexual harassment in Congress, said a bad culture on Capitol Hill has too often led to abuses. Story continues When I hear stories of members screaming, and throwing telephones, and throwing things off their desk, I think you know this is unacceptable, she said. Sometimes what happens is they come here, and they get kind of puffed up: All of a sudden theyve got a staff that basically is there to, you know, respond to all of their requests, and laugh at their bad jokes. And, you know, before long, they think that they can do things that are just unacceptable in general society, Speier said. Still, she said, most members are very upstanding and Congress is not Animal House. Speier said that congressional workplace culture has been changing, noting that a recent vote requires sexual harassment prevention training for members and staff. Read more from Yahoo News: Washington (AFP) - Republicans pressed the US Justice Department on Wednesday to name a new independent prosecutor to probe alleged bias in the FBI after a top agent's anti-Trump text messages were released to the media. With Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation increasingly threatening President Donald Trump's inner circle, Republican legislators said the private messages between the agent and a department lawyer, both formerly part of the Mueller team, undermines his investigation's credibility. They also cited fresh evidence of bias of others in the Justice Department and on Mueller's team, including links to Trump's former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, as signs that his probe cannot be carried out fairly. "DOJ's reputation as an impartial arbiter of justice has been called into question," Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Mr Mueller's team." The comments came a day after Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow also called for an outside investigation into bias, in a move aimed at putting the Mueller team on the defensive. "The best course of action in our view as lawyers was that a special counsel be appointed... to look into all of this," Sekulow told Fox News. Speaking to a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Rosenstein acknowledged the individual issues but stressed they had been correctly addressed, and rejected claims that Mueller's probe is politically tainted. "I'm not aware of any impropriety," he said. "We have employees with political opinions and our responsibility is to make sure those opinions don't influence their actions," he said. - Anti-Trump text messages - But Rosenstein took heavy flak after the release of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were both dropped from the Russia investigation in July, reportedly after Mueller became aware of their extramarital affair. Story continues The hundreds of messages, mostly sent during the presidential campaign last year, showed Strzok calling Trump an "idiot" and a "douche" while Page said of Trump: "This man cannot be president." The messages called into question not just the Russia collusion probe, before and after Mueller took it over. They have also sparked calls for the Justice Department to revisit the FBI's decision last year to exonerate Clinton over her use of a private server to handle classified official materials while she was secretary of state. Strzok had been a senior investigator on that, and reportedly had a role in the decision by former FBI director James Comey not to prosecute Clinton. Republican lawmakers and Sekulow also cited the pro-Democratic bias of most of the members of Mueller's team, as shown by their campaign donations. And they also pointed to the newly disclosed role of a senior Justice Department official and his wife in the notorious "Russia dossier," a file compiled by a former British spy detailing links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The official, former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr, was reassigned after it was shown that his wife helped compile the dossier, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign. Psychologist and grief counselor Joanne Cacciatore named her rescue horse Chemakoh, a Pima (Native American) term that refers to two souls that come together in destiny. Though shed had zero experience with horses before his arrival, she began to love and nourish him back to health and so did her clients, bereaved parents who would come to see Cacciatore at her Sedona, Ariz., home office for intense private sessions, and soon find themselves drawn to the rescued horse in her backyard. They would go out to his paddock, and they would stand at his fence and just cry. Bring him carrots and just cry. And I could see this connection, Cacciatores says. People said, Look what he looks like now. Look at what love can do, look what compassion can do and they started seeing themselves in this horse. And Im like, Oh, theres something really important happening here. Seeing those connections, fostered between grieving humans and the badly abused horse, was ultimately what led Cacciatore to the idea of opening the Selah House Respite Center and Care Farm, on land embraced by canyons and pine thickets and the iconic red rock mountains. Just five months in and not yet fully up and running, the care farm is already home to a fast-growing menagerie of rescued horses, sheep, dogs, and (so far just one) pig. And it is a unicorn of a place, where people can come and find solace after suffering the death of a loved one, often through bonding with an animal, such as Chemakoh, who truly seems to understand. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Doug Jones, the man who made his name prosecuting two former Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church, has won a stunning victory in the Senate race in Alabama - the first Democrat to win such a seat in the state for 25 years. In doing so, the 63-year prosecutor, who just weeks ago was trailing Republican Roy Moore by double digits in the polls, also delivered a humiliating blow to Donald Trump, who had mocked Mr Jones and endorsed his opponent. It also reduces the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, complicating Mr Trump's efforts to push forward his legislative agenda. Mr Joness fortunes increased sharply after Mr Moores campaign was rocked by allegations that he abused teenage girls and women when he was in his thirties and working as a local prosecutor. Mr Moore denied the allegations and dismissed them as an attempt to undermine his campaign, but they appeared sufficient to either lead some Republicans to vote for Mr Jones or else to enable the Democrat to persuade a sufficient number of his potential supporters to actually go out and cast their ballots for him. However, Mr Moore's campaign made clear in the wake of the result that they were not conceding yet. It didn't stop Mr Jones and his supporters celebrating the result. He told the victory - indeed the "entire race" - had been "about dignity and respect". Mr Jones said he now wanted to find common ground with other politicians in Washington. Appearing visibly emotional on stage at a campaign victory rally in the city of Birmingham, he said: I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us. We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way - that we can be unified. Celebrating the victory on the same day he marked his 25th wedding anniversary, Mr Jones said he felt overwhelmed by the result. Take this election from the great state of Alabama. Take this opportunity, he said. On a very personal level, I want to thank each of you for fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve in the US Senate. Story continues Thank you ALABAMA!! Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) December 13, 2017 While raucous celebrations went on long into the night in Birmingham, at Mr Moore's headquarters in Montgomery there was silence after the result became clear. One of the former judges longtime supporters, Rich Hobson, took to the stage to say the Republican was not conceding the race. Some people are calling this. Were not calling it yet, he said. In the meantime, I'd ask you to pray." Mr Moore also came out on stage and said that he would not be conceding, telling campaign supporters it's not over. It's going to take some time, the candidate said during a brief appearance before supporters. Campaign chairman Bill Armistead said that because the vote is close and approaching the state's recount requirement, we do not have a final decision on the outcome. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5 per cent. With all precincts reporting, Mr Jones leads by 1.5 percentage points three times the threshold. If the secretary of state determines there were more write-in votes than the difference between Mr Jones and Mr Moore, the state's counties would be required to tally those votes. It's not clear how that would help Mr Moore, who ended the night trailing Mr Jones by more than 20,000 votes. Once again, it means President Trump has thrown his weight behind a candidate in Alabama - and lost. On Tuesday morning, hours after ballots opened, Mr Trump had repeated his support for Mr Moore on Twitter, where he has 45 million followers. The people of Alabama will do the right thing, he said. Doug Jones is pro-abortion, weak on crime, military and illegal immigration, bad for gun owners and veterans and against the wall. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. On Tuesday night, as news of Mr Jones' stunning upset sank in, not just among the political class but across the country, Mr Trump offered measured congratulations. "Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends," he said. If the result was a huge embarrassment for the President it was a similar blow for his former strategist, Steve Bannon, who had become one of Mr Moores most outspoken supporters and who was hoping to use what he believed would be a victory in Alabama, to drive the momentum for similar so-called insurgent campaigns in 2018. "To all the little girls watching...never doubt that you are valuable and powerful & deserving of every chance & opportunity in the world." Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 9, 2016 Mr Bannon had been scornful of Mitch McConnell and other senior Republicans in Washington, who he claimed were working against Mr Trump. It was Mr Bannon those senior Republicans blamed for the result in one of the countrys most conservative states. Steven Law, CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a political fundraising group closely linked to Mr McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, issues a damning statement: This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco. Hillary Clinton, who was beaten 62-34 in Alabama by Mr Trump in the 2016 presidential election, was among the first to congratulate Mr Jones. Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud, she tweeted. And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can and must compete everywhere. Onward! United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia has asked the UN Security Council for permission to supply light arms and ammunition to the struggling armed forces of the Central African Republic beginning next week, according to a request obtained by AFP on Tuesday. The move has raised concerns from France which has questioned Russia's plan, notably over the storage of the weaponry, according to a Security Council diplomat who declined to be named. Russia is asking for an exemption to the arms embargo imposed on the Central African Republic in 2013 when the impoverished country descended into violence. CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the military assistance during talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in October, a diplomat said. Russia is proposing to provide two battalions totaling 1,300 men -- who were recently trained by the European Union -- with automatic rifles, pistols and ammunition. Council members have until Wednesday at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) to consider the request. If no objections are raised, Russia will receive a green light for the shipments that would begin next week, according to the request. A first shipment is planned for Monday, with two others scheduled for February 1 and April 1. - Safe storage of guns - The three-stage delivery would address French concerns that the weapons be stored under tight security to prevent them from falling into the hands of rebel groups. Russian defense ministry officials traveled to CAR on November 25 to 27 to review the newly-trained forces and discuss the military aid. "Having assessed the situation in CAR, the Russian side agreed with the opinion of this country's leadership on the necessity to increase the overall strength of the armed forces of the Central African Republic," said the request from the Russian mission to the United Nations. Among the weapons on the proposed list are 900 pistols, 5,200 assault rifles, 140 sniper rifles, 840 Kalashnikov machine guns, 270 RPGs and 20 anti-aircraft guns, the document said. Story continues Russia would also provide millions of pieces of ammunition including armor-piercing cartridges, hand grenades and mortars, the document said. "Storage and stockpile management of weapons of the first delivery will be organized at the already existing storage facilities under armed protection," said the document. Russia offered to provide additional storage for weapons shipped to areas outside of the capital Bangui, where most of the clashes are taking place. During his address to the United Nations in September, Touadera appealed for an easing of the arms embargo to allow his government to purchase military equipment for his national army. Moscow has also agreed to provide training to CAR's forces but that deal has yet to be approved by the council's sanctions committee. The Central African Republic has been struggling to return to stability since the country exploded into bloodshed after the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance. France intervened militarily to push out the Seleka alliance but the country remains plagued with violence pitting groups competing for control of resources and areas of influence. Moscow (AFP) - The first Russian troops returned home Tuesday from their deployment in Syria, beginning a partial withdrawal from a mission widely seen as decisive in swinging the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Damascus. Some were welcomed by small crowds holding patriotic banners in ceremonies with Soviet-era music in the background. Others were greeted by high placed military officials. On a surprise visit to Syria on Monday, Putin ordered the start of a pullout of Russian troops, saying their task in the war-torn country had been largely completed. Russian state television showed images of servicemen back in the far corners of their country, from Dagestan in the North Caucasus to Ivanovo in Central Russia and Murmansk inside the Arctic Circle, throughout the day. "The battalion of military police from the southern military district (of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan) airport," the Russian army said in a statement. The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers returned to Murmansk, in the north of Russia, and to a military airport in North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent base in the central Kaluga region, the army said. The crew of an A-50 surveillance aircraft flew back to their home base in Ivanovo region where they were met by commanding officers and relatives. Putin's declaration on Monday was the third announcement of a partial withdrawal since troops were deployed in 2015. He did not clarify how many soldiers will be returning home this time but said both Russia's airbase Hmeimim and naval facility in Tartus would continue to function. The commander of Russian troops in Syria, Sergei Surovikin, said 23 planes and two helicopters as well as special forces and medical units will return home in the near future. - 'Up to a month' - Putin, who said last week he would seek a fourth term in a poll in March, was welcomed at Russia's Hmeimim airbase by Assad. Story continues It was the first trip to Syria by a Russian head of state since president Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. Putin continued from there to Cairo and Ankara to meet heads of state for talks. RBK news agency cited sources as saying that Russia will pull out two-thirds of its contingent, both personnel and equipment, from Syria, which could take up to a month. Russia first intervened in the Syrian conflict two years ago with air strikes in support of ally Assad targeting both the Islamic State group and other jihadists as well as rebels fighting government troops. The size of the Russian deployment in Syria is not known but independent Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP that up to 10,000 troops and private contractors could have taken part in the conflict. - A 'political war' - Another Russian military expert Alexander Golts told AFP the intervention in Syria had "exhausted its potential as an instrument of pressure on the West" and threatens to throw Russia into further international isolation. "In the current failure of foreign policy, it is important for Putin to appear as a military victor and a leader of a global power in the eyes of Russian citizens who will vote for him in a few months," said Golts. The decision by Putin, who has led Russia since 2000, to seek a fourth term in March's presidential election, was no surprise but ensures a continuation of his Syria policy. "This war began for political reasons," said Golts. "The aim was not war on terrorism but to come out of political isolation after Ukraine and to support Assad. Since it began as a political war, it will end with a political decision taken by the Russian authorities." Salma Hayek has come forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. The Oscar-nominated Mexican actress, whose films include Frida and Traffic, went public with her allegations on Wednesday, over two months after the movie honcho was first publicly accused of sexual misconduct in a New York Times piece. She shared her first-person story with the same publication in an op-ed titled Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too. Hayek, who has been married to billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault since 2009, says she didnt come forward initially because she had made peace with what happened to her. I didnt consider my voice important, nor did I think it would make a difference. However, she came to realize that while she had confided to loved ones about being bullied by the disgraced movie mogul, she had excluded a couple of details. Now 51, Hayek says that when she was victimized after Weinstein agreed to produce 2002s Frida via his company Miramax it was a time when it was unimaginable for a Mexican actress to aspire to a place in Hollywood. And even though I had proven them wrong, I was still a nobody. Salma Hayek on Nov. 15. (Photo: Getty Images) She was proud of convincing Weinstein to produce her passion project: All I knew of Harvey at the time was that he had a remarkable intellect, he was a loyal friend, and a family man. And he made a deal with her to make more movies with Miramax. However, she soon found herself having to repeatedly say no to him. No to me taking a shower with him, she wrote. No to letting him watch me take a shower. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman. No, no, no, no, no. And with every no came Harveys Machiavellian rage. She wrote that the absurdity of his demands went from getting a furious call in the middle of the night asking me to fire my agent for a fight he was having with him about a different movie to physically dragging me out of the opening gala of the Venice Film Festival, which was in honor of Frida, so I could hang out at his private party with him and some women I thought were models but I was told later were high-priced prostitutes. Story continues Once, in an act of fury, she says Weinstein threatened, I will kill you, dont think I cant. After she rebuffed him, Hayek wrote, Weinstein tried to squeeze her out of Frida. After he made a list of impossible tasks with a tight deadline, she amazed even herself by completing them. However, she continued, once we started filming, the sexual harassment stopped but the rage escalated. When Weinstein visited the set, she said he criticized her performance of the famed artist. He asked everyone in the room to step out except for me. He told me that the only thing I had going for me was my sex appeal and that there was none of that in this movie. So he told me he was going to shut down the film because no one would want to see me in that role. The only way hed let her continue the film, Hayek said, was if agreed to do a sex scene with another woman. And he demanded full-frontal nudity It was clear to me he would never let me finish this movie without him having his fantasy one way or another. I had to say yes. By now so many years of my life had gone into this film. The day she shot the scene that she said she believed would save the movie, she says she had a nervous breakdown: My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry, unable to stop, as if I were throwing up tears. Since those around me had no knowledge of my history of Harvey, they were very surprised by my struggle that morning. It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein. But I could not tell them then. Hayek says Weinstein continued to give her trouble during postproduction, threatening to send the movie straight to video because it was not good enough for a theatrical release. Ultimately it was released and this film that Harvey never wanted to do gave him a box-office success that no one could have predicted, and despite his lack of support, added six Academy Award nominations to his collection, including Best Actress. While Weinstein never offered her a starring role again, Years later, when I ran into him at an event, he pulled me aside and told me he had stopped smoking and he had had a heart attack, Hayek wrote. He said hed fallen in love and married Georgina Chapman, and that he was a changed man. Finally, he said to me: You did well with Frida; we did a beautiful movie. Harvey would never know how much those words meant to me. Salma Hayek and her husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, at the Vanity Fair and Gucci party honoring Martin Scorsese during the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: Getty Images) Hayek concluded her op-ed by thanking people for listening to our experiences. She said, I hope that adding my voice to the chorus of those who are finally speaking out will shed light on why it is so difficult, and why so many of us have waited so long. Men sexually harassed because they could. Women are talking today because, in this new era, we finally can. Hayek is one of 90-some women including fellow actresses Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Asia Argento, and Ashley Judd who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Through his spokesperson, Weinstein has said, Any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: The big VR story this year isn't another headset from Oculus or HTC -- it's Microsoft's entry into the space with Windows 10 Mixed Reality devices. They promise to be cheaper and easier to use than the Rift or Vive, thanks to a bit of help from HoloLens' 3D tracking technology. Acer's was among the first we saw in action, and it was a promising example of what an inexpensive VR headset could look like. Samsung, meanwhile, was late to the party with HMD Odyssey, but it also gave us a glimpse at high-end Mixed Reality headsets. Now that we've spent some time with both (along with HP's headset earlier this week), it's time to decide which handles Mixed Reality best. (Spoiler: It isn't Acer.) Hardware The difference between Samsung's and Acer's headsets is immediately clear. The only thing remarkable about Acer's aesthetic is the glossy-blue plastic visor, which, together with the rest of its design, makes it feel like a basic headset. It's a bit flimsy, almost as if it would break apart if it tumbled to the floor. Acer's choice of materials isn't inspired either, especially the cheap foam around the eyepiece. To the company's credit, the faux leather cushioning on the top and rear portions of the headband feels decent. Samsung's HMD Odyssey, on the other hand, is simply striking. That makes sense though. It was always intended to be a high-end showpiece for Microsoft's Mixed Reality platform. While it, too, is made of plastic, it's of a much higher quality than Acer's device. It looks and feels classier, and it's clearly sturdier. The built-in AKG headphones are also hard to miss: They give the entire device the aura of an expensive pair of audio gear. Samsung's headset is much heavier than Acer's -- it weighs 625 grams versus 380 -- but the plush cushioning around its eyepiece and headband still makes it comfortable to wear. Samsung's headset even feels more premium than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. That's because the company was able to learn from those earlier headsets. The HTC Vive still gives off the impression of being a complex device meant for super geeks; the Oculus Rift is admittedly more consumer friendly but lacking in flair. Compared to the PlayStation VR, the most popular headset out there, Samsung's offering feels less like a toy. You'll notice even more dramatic differences between the two headsets when you examine their displays. Acer's relies on two 2.9-inch screens running at a combined resolution of 2,880 by 1,440 pixels, with a 100-degree field of view. Samsung's, however, uses larger 3.5-inch AMOLED panels, each of which boasts 1,440 by 1,600 resolution (or 3,200 by 1,440 pixels together). Thanks to those bigger screens, the HMD Odyssey also has a wider, 110-degree field of view. And as you'll see below, that makes everything seem much more immersive. When it comes to their motion controllers, the two companies are once again worlds apart. Acer basically followed Microsoft's reference design completely, similar to HP. That allowed it to get the basics down; it has a decent thumbstick and touchpad, along with the trigger and grip buttons that are so essential to VR experiences. But it's not comfortable to hold for very long, since the controller's straight handles don't rest naturally in your hands. Additionally, the buttons feel flimsier and less satisfying than what you'd get with the Vive and Rift. Samsung's controller has the same button layout, but the handles are curved slightly to make them more comfortable to hold. Its plastic frame feels sturdier than Acer's, and its buttons and trackpad are also a step up in quality. My only complaint: The top of its joystick is so smooth that it's hard to actually keep your thumb on it. It would have been nice to have ridges or another type of material to avoid slipping. Despite that, the thumbstick steel feels smoother to use than Acer's; it's more in line with what we expect from gaming-console controllers these days. In use Even at this early stage, there's one thing every Windows Mixed Reality headset has in common: They're incredibly easy to set up. Assuming your computer is powerful enough (at the minimum, Mixed Reality requires a fourth-generation Intel processor and an NVIDIA GTX 960 GPU), all you need to do is plug in HDMI and USB 3.0 cables and you're good to go. Unlike the Oculus Rift, which relies on tabletop sensors, or the HTC Vive, which requires installing two Lightbox devices in opposite corners of your room, Mixed Reality headsets use built-in sensors to track your movement. That instantly solves one of the biggest headaches for consumers. Setting up the Rift's and Vive's sensors can be an annoying ordeal when you just want to hop into VR. Once you have a headset plugged in, Windows automatically launches its Mixed Reality Portal, which double-checks your hardware to make sure it can run VR. You can pair the motion controllers like any other Bluetooth device -- just hit the pairing button under the battery cover and select the controller in your system settings. Finally, the Mixed Reality Portal gives you two ways to use your headset: sitting and standing in place, or walking around. If you choose the latter, it asks you to make a virtual border by holding a headset and walking around the clear area of your room. That's important, since it'll help you avoid walls and obstacles while you're in VR. Once I set up both headsets, it quickly became clear that the Samsung HMD Odyssey is simply better on every level. It's easy to put on, and it fits over my glasses without a problem. Most importantly, it's one of the most comfortable headsets I've ever used, thanks to its liberal use of premium cushions (around the eyepiece, on your forehead, on the back of your head and on the headphones). It feels similar to expensive memory foam I've seen in high-end pillows and mattresses. Upon stepping into Microsoft's virtual living room, which serves as an area to return to between VR experiences, I was astounded by how different it looked with the HMD Odyssey. Colors were brighter, and the entire environment appeared to be much sharper than with other Mixed Reality headsets. And thanks to that 110-degree field of view, I felt enveloped by that virtual world. Mostly, that's because Samsung avoided using simple circular lenses like Acer and HP. Instead, its VR screens are more like uneven ovals that are taller than they are wide. That's in line with what we've seen from the Rift and Vive. Superhot on the Windows Store looked clearer and more vibrant with Samsung's HMD Odyssey, compared to the Rift and Vive. It also did a solid job tracking my movement as I dodged and weaved through bullets and fists flying toward my head. Samsung's controllers felt just as accurate as the Oculus Touch's and HTC Vive's; I easily fired off shots at enemies who were dozens of virtual feet away. That was the case for most games and VR experiences, though I had some trouble with Duck Season in SteamVR (which Windows headsets are also compatible with). Aiming and reloading my virtual shotgun felt clumsy and awkward, even though I had no trouble playing it on the Vive. There's a good chance the developers still need to optimize that game to better support Mixed Reality headsets and controllers. I tested Acer's headset after spending a few hours with Samsung's, and it almost felt unfair to compare them. While the former is lighter and easier to put on, it was much harder to make it fit comfortably. I also grew to hate the foam padding Acer used around its eyepiece. It felt cheap and scratchy on my skin, even after just a few minutes of wearing it. It's baffling why that foam also covers where the headset sits against your nose, since it constantly presses against your nostrils. That sometimes made it a bit hard to breathe while in VR -- and yes, I tried adjusting the headset plenty of times to avoid that. Acer's model is also a clear downgrade from Samsung's once you step into VR. Since its lenses are shorter, your view of the virtual world is more like peering through a pair of binoculars rather than being surrounded by the environment. And beyond that, the screen quality was also much worse; everything looked duller and less sharp than with Samsung's headset. I still managed to enjoy several rounds of Superhot, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was having a worse experience. After bouncing across several VR experiences, including the intimate Through You, by Lily Baldwin and Saschka Unseld, as well as several other 360-degree videos in the Jaunt VR app, the Acer headset felt adequate at best. It does the basics of what we'd want from a VR headset, but it has a hard time competing against more-impressive entries like the HMD Odyssey. Pricing and the competition Acer's Mixed Reality headset was the first we saw from Microsoft's platform, so it's no wonder it feels a bit like a rush job. It was also one of the $300 models Microsoft was initially touting as a discount entry into VR. Now, though, the Acer headset costs $400 together with its controllers. That's harder to stomach when Samsung's HMD Odyssey bundle goes for $500. There's clearly far more than a $100 difference in quality between the two. Meanwhile, HP's Mixed Reality headset, which we reviewed last week, comes in at $450. I'd still recommend Samsung's model over that, since it has far better controllers and displays. Of course, the real competitors to every Windows VR headset are the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Given that the Rift is now down to $400 with its Touch Controllers and it has a larger library of VR titles, it still seems like the better option for most people. You lose the convenience of built-in tracking, but you get a more vibrant software ecosystem in exchange (and it'll also work with SteamVR titles). Wrap-up Side by side, Samsung's and Acer's offerings seem like textbook examples of what to do, and what to avoid, when making VR headsets. The HMD Odyssey is comfortable, well-built and makes virtual reality seem incredibly immersive. Acer's, meanwhile, is none of those things. While it's still early days for Microsoft's Mixed Reality Platform, if you want to jump in, it's clear that Samsung's headset is your best option. San Francisco (AFP) - Ed Lee, the first Asian-American mayor of San Francisco who presided over the city's growth as a high-tech juggernaut, died early Tuesday, his office said in a statement. While no cause of death was given, former mayor Willie Brown told San Francisco media that the 65-year-old Democrat suffered a heart attack while shopping for groceries late Monday. "It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M. Lee passed away on Tuesday, December 12 at 1:11 am (0911 GMT) at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Family, friends and colleagues were at his side," Lee's office said in a statement. Lee, born in Seattle in 1952, was one of six children of Chinese immigrants who had come to the country in the 1930s. His rise to mayor in 2011 marked a historic step for the large Chinese-American community in famously liberal San Francisco. Chinese immigrants first came to California during the mid-19th century gold rush and railroad building spree, and suffered decades of discrimination. Lee's knowledge of Cantonese and Taishanese helped in his early work as a civil rights lawyer serving the city's Chinese-American community. Lee joined the San Francisco bureaucracy in 1989, eventually working in five departments for four mayors. He was appointed mayor in 2011 to replace Gavin Newsom, an up-and-coming Democrat with national political ambitions. Lee was subsequently elected and re-elected as San Francisco mayor. During his time in office San Francisco matured as the world capital of high tech. However this also lead to skyrocketing property and rental prices, forcing many moderate and low income residents out of the city. "Ed was an excellent mayor of a great but sometimes challenging city," wrote US Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, herself a former mayor of San Francisco. "His equanimity and quiet management style was effective and allowed him to solve problems as they occurred," she said in a statement. Lee "was a fierce advocate for civil rights and worked tirelessly for workers' rights and his leadership will be missed," Senator Kamala Harris, also of California, wrote on Twitter. Lee's replacement is Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who becomes San Francisco's first female African-American mayor. DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck a military police camp in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing at least 39 people and wounding 90 more, including some prisoners, an official and witnesses said. The strike is part of an air campaign by the Western-backed coalition on the Iran-allied Houthis that has escalated since the Houthis crushed an uprising last week led by former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and killed him. One official in the camp said the coalition aircraft had launched seven raids on the camp, located in the eastern part of Sanaa, where some 180 prisoners were being held. The official said rescue teams had pulled out 35 bodies from the rubble, while the rest were not accounted for. It was the latest in a string of air raids the coalition has conducted on Sanaa and other parts of the country, sometimes causing multiple casualties among civilians. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment on the report. The coalition denies that it targets civilians. The United States and Britain provide political backing as well as weapons and logistical support for the Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting since 2015 to restore Yemen's internationally-recognised president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to power. (Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Gareth Jones) Senate Republican leaders are happy just to be here, folks. (Photo: Bill Clark via Getty Images) WASHINGTON The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm one of President Donald Trumps judicial nominees, Leonard Steven Grasz, despite the fact that Grasz earned an embarrassing and unanimous not qualified rating from the American Bar Association. Every Republican present voted to confirm Grasz, 56, to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. That includes moderates like Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), as well as retiring Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). Every Democrat opposed him in the 50-48 vote. It is extremely rare for the Senate to confirm a judge with such an abysmal rating from the national legal organization. The ABA has reviewed more than 1,700 federal judicial nominees since 1989, and only three, including Grasz, have been deemed unanimously unqualified. The other two, both nominees of President George W. Bush, were withdrawn and replaced with other nominees after the ABAs assessment came in. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) seemed baffled that Grasz was even getting a vote. A panel of nonpartisan legal experts unanimously concluded that this man is not fit to be a judge, he said on the Senate floor. What else do my colleagues need to know? The ABA interviewed more than 180 people connected to Grasz, who was Nebraskas chief deputy attorney general for 11 years, in evaluating his fitness to be a judge. Colleagues described him as gratuitously rude, per the ABA report, and said they had an unusual fear of consequences if they said anything negative about him because of his deep connection to powerful politicians in Nebraska. ABA members also raised concerns that Grasz would be unable to separate his role as an advocate from that of a judge, given his record on issues like LGBTQ and abortion rights. Among other things, Grasz served on a nonprofit board that backed so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ kids, and in a 1999 article argued that lower courts should be able to overrule Supreme Court decisions on abortion rights because abortion jurisprudence is, to a significant extent, a word game. Story continues In sum, the evaluators and the Committee found that temperament issues, particularly bias and lack of open-mindedness, were problematic, reads a statement by Pam Bresnahan, the chair of the ABAs standing committee that reviews nominees. The evaluators found that the people interviewed believed that the nominees bias and the lens through which he viewed his role as a judge colored his ability to judge fairly. Colleagues of Leonard Steven Grasz said he was "gratuitously rude" and has problems with bias and lack of open-mindedness. Whatever, he's a federal judge now! (Photo: Tom Williams via Getty Images) Grasz is one of four Trump judicial nominees to get a not qualified ABA rating, unanimous or otherwise. Others include district court nominees Brett Talley, who has never tried a case and didnt tell the Senate that his wife is chief of staff to White House counsel Don McGahn; Charles Goodwin, who raised questions about his ability to fulfill the demands of a federal judge; and Holly Teeter, who lacks trial court experience. Grasz is the first of the bunch to get confirmed. He endured a humiliating confirmation hearing, as Democrats pressed him on his awful ABA rating. Part of the problem here is that Trump is flying through judicial nominations without much vetting, and hes not submitting his potential court picks to the ABA before he announces their nominations. Most presidents have waited for the ABA rating to come out before officially announcing a nominee, in part to save face in the event one of their nominees gets a particularly bad rating. Former President Barack Obama, for example, didnt nominate any of his potential court picks who got an unqualified ABA rating. No president has so quickly nominated so many troubling nominees, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor and expert on judicial nominations. Bad process can make for bad judges, and these are life-tenured posts. Republicans had not raised many concerns with Trumps unqualified nominees until Tuesday, when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, unexpectedly said he thinks Trump should withdraw Talley and another district court nominee, Jeff Mateer, who has described transgender children as evidence of Satans plan. Progressive judicial advocacy groups hailed Grassleys comments as a sign that Republicans may stop being a rubber stamp for Trumps questionable court nominees. We believe this is an opportunity for a real turning point, said Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, if the White House uses this moment to reassess its criteria for judicial nominations and to put forward nominees who will be serious about upholding critical legal rights and protections for all. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had no response to Grassleys request at her daily press briefing. Also on HuffPost U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (bottom 2nd L) reacts while chatting with Chief Justice John Roberts (C) during a new U.S. Supreme Court family photo including Justice Neil Gorsuch (top R), their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. Also pictured are Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front row, L-R), Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts (seated C) leads Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front row, L-R), Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Neil Gorsuch in taking a new family photo including Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (bottom L) chats with Chief Justice John Roberts (bottom R) during a new U.S. Supreme Court family photo including Justice Neil Gorsuch (not pictured), their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. Also pictured are Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts (seated L-R), Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor (top L) and Justice Neil Gorsuch (top R) chat during a new U.S. Supreme Court family photo including Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (L) chats with Chief Justice John Roberts (R) during a new U.S. Supreme Court family photo including Justice Neil Gorsuch (not pictured), their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. U.S. Justice Neil Gorsuch (top R) leans in to speak to Justice Stephen Breyer (bottom R) as the members of the U.S. Supreme Court including Chief Justice John Roberts (seated L), Justice Clarence Thomas (seated C) and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (top L) gather for a new family photo with Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts (seated C) leads Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front row, L-R), Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Neil Gorsuch in taking a new family photo including Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts (seated C) leads Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (front row, L-R), Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Elena Kagan (back row, L-R), Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Neil Gorsuch in taking a new family photo including Gorsuch, their most recent addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Nanjing (China) (AFP) - Sirens blared and thousands of doves were released as Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a sombre ceremony in Nanjing marking 80 years since the wartime massacre in the city by Japanese troops. Several thousand black-clad soldiers, civil servants and students with white flowers pinned to their jackets braved chilly temperatures at a monument to a dark World War Two chapter that still divides the two countries. But while vowing never to forget the "great catastrophe" wrought by "Japanese militarism" in a speech to the mourners, a top Chinese official also stressed the need for the two rivals to move forward. "China and Japan are close neighbours, neighbours who can't move away," said Yu Zhengsheng, a former member of China's top Communist leadership who now chairs a parliamentary body. China and Japan should build on their "long, rich history" of links to deepen "friendship", Yu said, avoiding reference to bitter disputes over the massacre. According to China, 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after invading Japanese troops seized Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937. It remains a source of bad blood due to disagreement over the extent of the slaughter and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that it even took place. Officially, Japan concedes that "the killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred" but says it is "difficult" to determine precise figures. The issue receded during the Cold War but has re-emerged in recent decades, with China now striking an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder under conservative leader Shinzo Abe. China in 2014 formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising its profile. Story continues In an anniversary speech that year in Nanjing, Xi said the slaughter of 300,000 victims could not be denied. But Xi did not speak Wednesday or lay any wreaths in the nationally televised ceremony that saw much of the city shut down by security measures. Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University, said Beijing has kept wartime memories alive as leverage against Japan in modern-day disputes such as maritime territorial squabbles. "There are current conflicts between the two countries, so historical issues are re-emerging. All history is contemporary," Liang said. But fewer than 100 people designated as massacre "survivors" remain alive, and both sides have repeatedly expressed desire to look ahead and avoid rocking their huge trade relationship. "Xi cannot avoid anti-Japanese movements, as nationalism is a source of his political power. But deep down he must be hoping to improve ties with Japan," said Mitsuyuki Kagami, professor of China studies at Aichi University. Soldiers carried eight large wreaths representing the decades into the memorial site as sorrowful music played. A "peace bell" was then rung. Sirens blared across the city for one minute and car horns could be heard as well. - 'Deep remorse' - The two countries have struggled to put Japan's wartime aggression behind them and Abe, the grandson of a wartime minister, has been accused of trying to gloss over history. In 2015, he expressed "deep remorse" for Japan's actions in Asia, but also said future Japanese generations need not continually apologise, drawing criticism in China and South Korea, another wartime victim. Japanese politicians have also repeatedly angered Asian neighbours by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine commemorating Japan's military dead, including convicted war criminals. China's Nanjing toll is disputed even by some western academics who put it as low as tens of thousands, but no respected historians dispute that a massacre occurred. China suffered immense loss of life at Japan's hands, reserving special anger over a sense that Tokyo, unlike Germany, has never fully atoned for the war. Relations plunged in 2005 as China was swept by rare anti-Japan protests denouncing its war conduct. But analysts say China's stability-obsessed leaders are deeply fearful of letting such passions burst out again as it could pose a potential political quandary for the ruling Communist Party. burs-dma/kaf Veteran Shawn Sullivan surprised his kids at a Kings game. (Pic via @NBA on Twitter) Two young Sacramento Kings fans got the surprise of their lives during Tuesdays game against the Phoenix Suns. They thought they were being picked as part of one of the teams promotions. Instead, they were surprised by their dad, a veteran who returned home from Afghanistan. The promotion called for the kids to find the Kings mascot on the court while wearing blindfolds. Thats when their dad, Sergeant First Class Shawn Sullivan, came out and surprised them. The result was exactly what you would expect. The kids embraced their dad as the sound system played Coming Home. Weve seen these types of promotions before. Its not the first time a team has surprised family members with a veteran returning from overseas. Even though we know whats coming, its tough not to be impacted by the emotion displayed in these videos. The good vibes would continue for Sullivan and his family. The Kings went on to defeat the Suns 99-92. It was an all-around great game for Sullivans kids, but we dont blame them if the first quarter was better than the end of the fourth. More coverage from Yahoo Sports: Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik By Christine Kim and Ben Blanchard SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions will top South Korean President Moon Jae-in's agenda in Beijing during a visit this week aimed at breaking the ice after a furious row over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system. While both South Korea and China share the goal of getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and stop testing increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles, the two have not seen eye-to-eye on how to achieve this. China has been particularly angered at the deployment of U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, saying its powerful radar can see far into China and will do nothing to ease tension with North Korea. At his third meeting this year with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in Beijing, Moon is expected to reaffirm South Korea's agreement with China in late October that they would normalise exchanges and move past the dispute over THAAD, which froze trade and business exchanges between the two. The THAAD disagreement had dented South Korea's economic growth, especially its tourism industry, as group tours from China came to a halt while charter flights from South Korea were cancelled. While China still objects to THAAD, it has said it understands South Korea's decision to deploy it. In an interview with Chinese state television shown late on Monday, Moon said THAAD's presence was inevitable due to the looming North Korean threat but assured it would not be used against China. "South Korea will be extremely careful from here on out that the THAAD system is not invasive of China's security. South Korea has received promises from the United States multiple times regarding this," Moon said. Joint efforts by China and South Korea could have "good results" if they work together to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, he added. North Korea has shown little sign it wants to engage in formal talks, with its state media citing leader Kim Jong Un as saying on Tuesday North Korea should develop and manufacture more diverse weapons to "completely overpower the enemy". Kim was addressing a rare munitions conference on Monday to laud the North's latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). North Korea last month test-launched what it called its most advanced ICBM in defiance of international sanctions and condemnation as it presses on with its mission to create a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the United States. Speaking over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Moon had chosen to have "friendly cooperation" with China, and China was willing to work with South Korea to bring peace and stability to the Korean peninsula. During his first visit to China since taking office in May this year, Moon is expected to get bilateral economic exchanges back on track. According to South Korean media, Moon will be accompanied by the biggest business entourage ever with more than 220 businesses taking part in the four-day visit. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel) Last month, for the first time ever, astronomers spotted an object which had entered our Solar System from interstellar space: a strange cigar up to 1,200ft long. Now researchers from the Seti (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project are planning to scan the object to see if its actually an alien probe. Its certainly a mysterious asteroid. Scientists initially thought it was a comet, but later reclassified it and named it 1I/2017 U1 (Oumuamua). Researchers from the Seti project Breakthrough Listen are to listen to the asteroid using the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia. Oumuamua asteroid A statement said: Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimise friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust. MOST READ ON YAHOO UK TODAY Labour accuses Theresa May of failing the survivors of Grenfell Tower Black Ice Monday: Britons face travel chaos and sub-zero temperatures grip UK Motorists should NOT be fined for driving in bus lanes, says the AA Three people hurt after gas explosion completely destroys house in Leicester Britain has a new highest mountain (but you cant climb it in the UK) While a natural origin is more likely, there is currently no consensus on what that origin might have been, and Breakthrough Listen is well positioned to explore the possibility that Oumuamua could be an artifact. Scientists believe that it was travelling through space for millions of years before arriving near our sun, according to results published in Nature. On 19 October 2017, the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai`i picked up a faint point of light and scientists realised that its orbit showed that it came from the space between the stars. Scientists suggest that Oumuamua is dense, possibly rocky or with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and that its surface is now dark and reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over millions of years. It is estimated to be at least 400 metres long. Khartoum (AFP) - Seated in his Khartoum office overlooking the Blue Nile, Sudanese journalist Adil al-Baz no longer fears a crackdown by security agents over his articles since he launched an online newspaper. "We are free to publish what we want on our online newspaper," Baz, a former print newspaper editor, told AFP at the office of Al-Ahdath, the website he launched this year. In a country of increasing media censorship, Baz is among several independent journalists who have left newspaper jobs and launched online papers or websites. About a dozen internet papers have been launched in the past year alone as agents of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) continue to confiscate entire print-runs of newspapers over articles opposed to President Omar al-Bashir's regime. The authorities use several laws to curb press freedom, editors say, adding that the overall environment of media censorship has only grown since Sudan's north-south divide in 2011. "A print newspaper faces a new red line almost every day," said Baz, who was jailed in the past for publishing articles critical of government policies in a newspaper he then owned. In 2012, he shut down his paper, also called Al-Ahdath, after NISS agents confiscated its copies. After working in Qatar for four years, Baz returned to Sudan last year to launch Al-Ahdath that now employs nine journalists. The online journal has since run several stories criticising government policies, which he says would have been difficult to report in his print newspaper. - New curbs expected - Earlier this year, said Baz, it was Al-Ahdath that first reported on Bashir sacking his senior aide Taha Osman, who now resides in Saudi Arabia. Osman's sacking was later hotly debated in the Sudanese media. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Sudan 174th out of 180 countries on its 2017 world press freedom index. The NISS "hounds journalists and censors the print media", RSF said. Story continues In November, NISS agents confiscated entire print-runs of independent newspapers Al-Tayar, Al-Jadida, Al-Watan and Akhir Lahza. These journals lost thousands of dollars worth of advertisements, apart from the huge expenses of printing copies that never hit the stands. Curbs on press freedom are expected to grow if the cabinet approves a new press law under which Sudan's press council would be authorised to ban a newspaper for 15 days without any court order. Sudan's existing press law requires the council to file for a court order if it wants to ban a newspaper for any longer than three days. The draft law also permits the council to cancel licences of journalists and newspapers. - Bright future - Several newspapers are no longer financially viable because of the country's weak economy and the threat from security agents. Sixty percent of newspaper advertising comes from government-controlled organisations, said Ahmed al-Sheikh, editor of Sudan Times, another new internet paper. Newspapers that are critical of government policies are hit hardest as authorities often cancel promised advertisements. "Several newspapers are simply not in a position to offer good salaries to journalists," Sheikh said. "And readers who previously bought two newspapers are now buying one to cut costs." The average monthly salary of a Sudanese newspaper journalist is about 3,000 Sudanese pounds ($445). With the print media in difficulty, more online journals, all of them Arabic-language, are expected to be launched. Sheikh said the censors have so far only been concerned with the print media. "Sudanese authorities are still focusing on print media and have not yet seriously looked at the new online media, which explains why they continue to target newspapers more," he said. Sheikh also said that some of the new online newspapers had their registered offices overseas, making them harder to target. "The response to our online newspaper is very encouraging, with nearly 50,000 hits every day," said Baz, adding that Al-Ahdath had started attracting online advertising. In Sudan, the future for online journalism "remains bright" given the freedom of expression it is being allowed, said Osman Mirghani, editor of Al-Tayar newspaper. Known as Sudan's voice of independent journalism, Mirghani was briefly jailed in October over an article in his newspaper accusing Bashir's family of corruption. "Online journalists don't face restrictions like print journalists," said the US-educated engineer turned journalist, whose newspaper has been shut several times by NISS agents. "They don't face risks like newspapers, risks of copies being confiscated." Dozens of people spoke out in defense of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Tuesday after President Donald Trump implied she was willing to trade sex for campaign contributions. In a Tuesday morning tweet, Trump responded to Gillibrands call for his resignation by labeling Gillibrand a lightweight and total flunky for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). He added that Gillibrand would come to Trumps office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago and would do anything for them. Gillibrand responded later in the day, calling Trumps attack a sexist smear and tweeting, You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017 Actresses, journalists and fellow Democrats came to Gillibrands defense on Twitter. Actress Amber Tamblyn tweeted her shock over Trumps words, writing, Hes inferring Senator Gillibrand would use her body to get campaign contributions if she had to. Hes talking. Wow. WOW. This is the president of The United States. Wow. MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski also weighed in: I support @SenGillibrand. She is a great leader and a champion for women. The President crossed another line today. During Tuesday mornings segment of Morning Joe, Brzezinski expanded on her comments, calling Trumps tweet derogatory and disgusting. You treat women terribly, and you treat women around you even worse, she said. And you treat women like punching bags because its fun for you because you are intimidated by women. And would do anything for them. Hes inferring Senator Gillibrand would use her body to get campaign contributions if she had to. Hes talking. Wow. WOW. This is the president of The United States. Wow. https://t.co/zzOP0p8yf5 Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) December 12, 2017 Dear girls of the US: Don't be discouraged. This is not normal. @SenGillibrand has worked tirelessly with integrity, courage & dignity. This stale harassment & derision can't and won't stop her. Ever. Or you. Sorry you have to see a presidency like this. #resist #offthesidelines https://t.co/CdtxEElN71 Connie Britton (@conniebritton) December 12, 2017 I support @SenGillibrand She is a great leader and a chAmpion for women. The President crossed another line today. #Resist #knowyourvalue Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) December 12, 2017 .@chucktodd: its interesting to me that Trump went after Sen Gillibrand calling on him to resign. She wasnt first person to do that, but she was first WOMAN to call on him to do that. Im guessing theres a lot of people in the White House that wish he hadnt tweeted about this Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) December 12, 2017 WORTH NOTING: Sen. Gillibrand is one of several Democrats who've called on @realDonaldTrump to step down. He is attacking the woman who made the call. Kasie Hunt (@kasie) December 12, 2017 Many of Gillibrands fellow Democrats also voiced their alarm in response to Trumps tweet. Story continues Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) retweeted Trump on Tuesday morning, writing, Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who youre picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Other Democratic lawmakers including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) weighed in on the controversy. @SenGillibrand is a fierce advocate for women who deserves the utmost respect, Speier tweeted. The President hasnt seen the full wrath of Americas women yet, but hes about to. Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you're picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. https://t.co/mYJtBZfxiu Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 12, 2017 When I needed her, my friend @SenGillibrand was the epitome of strength and resilience. She is tough. You will lose if you bully her. https://t.co/xqhJ6stWhp Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) December 12, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump your attempts to shame and silence @SenGillibrand will backfire. The American people see you for the cowardly bully that you are -- they know that Senator Gillibrand has more dignity, integrity and courage than you will ever have. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) December 12, 2017 Word of advice for Mr. Trump: publicly disparaging women doesnt make you look strongerit only reveals your weakness as a leader https://t.co/zUHfCsx94E Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) December 12, 2017 .@SenGillibrand is a fierce advocate for women who deserves the utmost respect. The President hasnt seen the full wrath of Americas women yet, but hes about to. #25ththe45th #25thAmendment Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) December 12, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump: I call on you to issue an apology to @SenGillibrand immediately, take down this tweet, halt your efforts to silence women who speak out, and stop degrading the Office of the Presidency. https://t.co/OU4LFnh5cH Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) December 12, 2017 From fighting to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", to ensuring healthcare for 9/11 first responders, & helping to implement campus sexual assault reforms - @SenGillibrand is a leader, whose voice is needed. The only lightweight here is this #failing President, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/TlYC05ud2u Senator Cortez Masto (@SenCortezMasto) December 12, 2017 Responding to allegations of sexual misconduct by trying to publicly shame yet another woman, the president has shown us exactly what kind of person he is. Donald Trump has proven to be a poison for the presidency, a cancer on the country, and a truly disgraceful human being. https://t.co/vwpIayYVbd Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) December 12, 2017 This is a disgusting attack on my friend and colleague @SenGillibrand. President @realDonaldTrump may not like it when women stand up and speak out, but we're not going to back down or be bullied by him. https://t.co/owpfQcgRE1 Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) December 12, 2017 Women know Trump is that guy -- the insecure sexual predator who bullies any woman who dares to hold him accountable. Heres what should really terrify him: @SenGillibrand has been standing up for women her whole career. She wont be intimidated and neither will we. https://t.co/rvDtFMIpQ4 Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) December 12, 2017 I stand with Sen. Gillibrand, a dedicated public servant and friend. America must reject Trumps sexist slurs. Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) December 12, 2017 .@realDonaldTrump is a misogynist, compulsive liar, and admitted sexual predator. Attacks on Kirsten are the latest example that no one is safe from this bully. He must resign. https://t.co/7lNI23K7ib Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) December 12, 2017 Twenty-one women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. On Monday, four of his accusers held a press conference urging Congress to open an investigation into Trumps alleged inappropriate behavior. Nearly 60 Democratic Congresswomen also signed and published a letter Monday night to the chair and ranking members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform calling for an investigation into Trump. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related coverage 4 Trump Accusers Call On Congress To Investigate Sexual Misconduct Claims Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Calls On Trump To Resign Over Sexual Assault Allegations Trump Smears Kirsten Gillibrand As A 'Flunky' Who 'Would Do Anything' For Campaign Money Democratic Congresswomen Call For Investigation Into Trump Sexual Misconduct Allegations This article originally appeared on HuffPost. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - One of Sweden's most notorious criminals appeared in a court in Germany on Wednesday, charged with a murder he is accused of having committed in Frankfurt more than 25 years ago. The man, John Ausonius, went on a racially motivated spree in Sweden in 1991 and 1992 in which he killed one person and injured 10 others in attacks in the Stockholm area, for which he is currently serving a life sentence in Sweden. Dubbed the "laser man" by Swedish media for his use of a laser sight and rifle for some of the shootings, he is thought to have inspired anti-immigrant attacks such as the 2011 massacre by Norwegian Anders Breivik and shootings by Peter Mangs in Sweden. Ausonius, now 64, is suspected of having shot dead a woman in broad daylight in Frankfurt in 1992 while on the run from the authorities after the shootings in Sweden. He had accused the 68-year-old woman of stealing an electronic notebook from his coat pocket in the cloakroom of the Frankfurt hotel in which she worked, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. "The prosecution believes that the defendant thought the woman had his electronic notebook in her handbag," she told Reuters TV outside the courthouse. Ausonius has denied killing the woman but has not objected to being transferred to Germany for the trial on condition he serves any possible jail sentence in Sweden. After the murder trial ends, he is to be returned to Sweden where a court sentenced him to life in 1995 for the Stockholm shootings as well as a string of bank robberies. (Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Hugh Lawson) It was about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, and Ventura resident Matthew Fienup was driving up the 101 Freeway to Santa Barbara. In the previous days, several fierce and unpredictable fires had erupted in two of Southern Californias most iconic counties, Ventura and Los Angeles, and more would follow in the days to come. Driving north along whats typically a stunningly beautiful stretch of California coast, Fienup could see a wall of fire to the right of the freeway. As he passed Faria Beach, about 15 miles north of the city of Ventura, there was some hope. The large palm tree nursery thats visible from the freeway was still there. When he drove back two hours later, it was gone. It wasnt just on fire, it was gone. It had entirely burned down, Fienup recounted. Fienup is the executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University. As a Ventura resident and an economics researcher, hes watched in horror as the Thomas fire has devastated the land he calls home. The Thomas fire is the largest and most uncontrolled of five major blazes that have hit Southern California in the last week. Combined, the fires have burned through more than 250,000 acres in multiple counties and have affected more acreage in Southern California in one week than the 21 massive blazes combined that ravaged the northern part of California throughout the month of October. The devastation the fire has wrought on the Ventura economy, Fienup says, will be felt for years. Palm trees explode into flames as the Thomas wildfire rages in Ventura, California, on Dec. 7. (Photo: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Ventura County is covered with orchards, mostly growing avocados and citrus. The city of Ventura alone has nearly 7,000 acres designated as agricultural land. Fruit produced in the region is marketed mostly through large packing and shipping companies and distributed all across the country. Its still too early to assess the complete effect of the wildfires on the local agriculture industry, but whats clear already is that the damage will be significant, John Krist, chief executive officer of the Ventura Countys Farm Bureau, told HuffPost. Story continues The Thomas fire swept through hillsides containing thousands of acres of avocado groves between Ventura and the neighboring city of Santa Paula. Krist gauged that probably at least several hundred acres had been damaged or destroyed. Portions of the fire that reached into Carpinteria and Ojai also blazed through land heavily planted with avocado and citrus orchards. The CEO suspects there were also major losses in the orange and mandarin orchards on slopes above the Ojai Valley, where fires wreaked havoc last Wednesday night. As of Monday evening, the Thomas fire was still just 20 percent contained and actively spreading into neighboring communities. It will take some time before growers can fully assess how much of their crop they ultimately lost, and the devastation may not be limited to burn areas. Farmers have experienced significant losses as record high Santa Ana winds, which have fueled the fires, have also flung fruit off the trees. Growers will also have to repair damaged irrigation systems and monitor the denuded hillsides that could give way to mudslides and debris flows once the winter rain arrives. Farmers will ultimately have to wait several weeks before deciding what to do with the scorched trees. Some may look terrible now but recover. Others that appear to have suffered only moderate damage may collapse later when stressed, Krist said. It isnt necessarily difficult to replace damage trees, he noted. But it could take up to five years before a new tree starts bearing fruit. Its one thing for a natural disaster to hit an area with a strong economy, but in a place like Ventura, which was was already experiencing economic hardship, the repercussions may be devastating. Venturas agricultural industry had been struggling in recent years, hit hard by Californias record drought. While the drought officially ending in the rest of the state in April, it is ongoing in Ventura. In addition, the local agricultural industry had a hard time adapting to new regulations on the chemicals that can be used on farms, as well as overtime and minimum-wage standards. All of these factors contributed to reduced crop yields in recent years. As Venturas agricultural industry tumbled, one of the regions other major industries went into decline as well. Amgen Inc., the largest independent biotechnology firm in the world, is based in Thousand Oaks and is one of Ventura Countys biggest employers. The company laid off hundreds of Southern California employees earlier this year, with many of the positions being relocated to Tampa, Florida. Ventura County is uniquely unhealthy compared to neighboring counties, Fienup said. Thats where a natural disaster of this sort is really troubling. I dont think Ventura County is well-positioned to absorb an impact of this size. A view of Ventura County's avocado and citrus orchards on a typical day, pre-fires. (Photo: Anne Cusack via Getty Images) He said the countys recovery will likely be slow and difficult and pointed to the Tea fire that destroyed 210 homes in the nearby community of Montecito in 2008. As of 2016, 31 percent of the homes destroyed in that fire still had not been rebuilt. If theres anything that gives Fienup hope right now its that Ventura County has a very strong community identity. Its the cohesiveness of that community that I think gives it real strength, Fienup said. There have been amazing examples of generosity as people reach out to those who have lost their homes. But, he added, the economic reality is much less hopeful. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related Coverage Californias Historically Severe Wildfires California's Wildfires This Year Have Been Breaking Records This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Tig Notaro feels free to open up about her complex history with Louis C.K. But that wasnt always the case. On Monday, the 46-year-old comedian appeared on The View and spoke candidly about her close association with Louis C.K., who helped Notaro sell her show One Mississippi to Amazon and served an executive producer on the project. During the discussion, Notaro admitted that having Louis C.K.s name removed from her show was a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. Its a huge relief to have him removed, Notaro said. She then addressed the allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against Louis C.K. and said she knew about them before they became public. I found out right after we sold the show, that this was happening, and I started publicly trying to distance myself from him for almost two years now, she said. When this all came out, even though I knew firsthand from people, it wasnt my place to call out names, [its] somebody elses story. Notaro and Louis C.K. have had a rocky relationship for years. In 2012, he helped launch Notaros career by offering her now-famous stand-up set about being diagnosed with cancer on his website for $5. Yet, earlier this year, she accused Louis C.K. of plagiarizing her short film Clown Service for one of his Saturday Night Live sketches. Then in August, a frustrated Notaro spoke to The Daily Beast about the rumors surrounding Louis C.K. She told the site that though he had an executive producer credit on her series, he had nothing to do with the show. In fact, a Season 2 episode of One Mississippi includes a scene that closely resembles the claims against C.K. featured in the New York Times November expose. The episode depicts a character named Kate, played by Notaros wife Stephanie Allynne, being forced to watch her male boss masturbate at his desk. Our entire writers room is all female, and every person in the room has had an experience with assault, abuse or harassment in some way, Notaro told the women of The View on Monday when questioned about this particular scene. Every story on One Mississippi is based in truth, and its not necessarily my truth, but its somebodys truth and something that somebody experienced or knew of the experience happening. Story continues CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated that Tig Notaros stand-up set about having cancer was called Hello, I Have Cancer. While thats the well-known first line of the set, it in fact is called Live. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson swung the door wide open to negotiations with North Korea, saying on Tuesday he is open to talks without preconditions as soon as Pyongyang signals it is ready. Were ready to have the first meeting without precondition, Tillerson said Tuesday at an event at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington. Lets just meet. And we can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table if thats what youre excited about. But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, he said. Though he later appeared to suggest a condition to the offer of talks calling for a freeze in North Korean missile tests Tillersons remarks were one of the clearest diplomatic overtures to date from the Trump administration to Pyongyang. He said President Donald Trump, who has heightened fears of war with North Korea through his own verbal and Twitter volleys, is pretty realistic about the need to open a dialogue with Pyongyang. I will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops, Tillerson said. Im going to be confident that were going to be successful, but Im also confident [Defense Secretary James] Mattis will be successful if it ends up being his turn, he said, alluding to ongoing contingency planning for a military solution to the impasse. Since February, North Korea has launched 23 missiles in 16 tests, raising the specter of war on the Korean peninsula. The most recent missile test, on Nov. 29, showcased a new design that flew high and far enough to potentially hit Washington. As North Korea makes strides in its nuclear weapons and missile programs, Tillerson has led a months-long campaign to tighten the economic and diplomatic noose around North Korea in an effort to bring it to the negotiating table. Its one of the few bright spots for the Trump administrations otherwise mixed bag on foreign policy. But its also been undercut at times by Trumps own dismissive attitude toward diplomacy. Story continues Among the wins in the pressure campaign: Italy, Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Kuwait have all expelled their North Korean ambassadors. Other countries have expelled North Korean laborers and cut off limited trade with Pyongyang, both seen as key revenue sources for Kim Jong Uns regime. We know the regime notices when that ambassador comes home, Tillerson said. Experts say those small wins can add up to a lot, even if its a tough slog. Its a monumental task, said Patrick Cronin of the Center for a New American Security. Theres a lot of legal impediments, there are a lot of diplomatic impediments, but I think in general theres definitely some progress under Secretary Tillerson. But even with all that diplomatic spadework, Tillerson still has an uphill battle ahead of him. Cronin said diplomacy may result in only a sliver of a deal without ultimately resolving the crisis, but its still worth pursuing to avert war. Its hardly the first time that a U.S. administration has sought to open discussions with North Korea with few preconditions; Tillersons predecessor Colin Powell did so in 2001. The wild card in the showdown is China, which has thrown the North Korean regime a key economic and diplomatic lifeline despite constant pressure from the United States and its allies to reverse course, fearing a sudden collapse across the border could trigger a refugee exodus. This year, China has shown signs of being more willing to put pressure on Pyongyang. China has slashed exports of textiles, coal, oil, and fuel, and has also clamped down on North Korean forced labor. Tillerson said he and Trump were pushing China to further slash its oil exports to North Korea as a next step. The fact that China is doing as much as it is, even if were not sure how much that is and even if its never enough, its more than its ever done before, Cronin said. By David Brunnstrom and Christine Kim WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillerson's new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. "Let's just meet," Tillerson said in a speech to Washington's Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday. The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether President Donald Trump - who has said Tillerson was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea - had given his approval for the speech. "The president's views on North Korea have not changed," the White House said. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way ... North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea." In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China welcomed all efforts to ease tension and promote dialogue to resolve the problem. China hopes the United States and North Korea can meet each other halfway and take meaningful steps on dialogue and contact, he told reporters. Ahead of Tillerson's speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced ICBM, state media said on Wednesday. Kim said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing "more latest weapons and equipment" to "bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity", the KCNA news agency said. "PERIOD OF QUIET" While reiterating Washington's long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was "ready to talk any time they're ready to talk", but there would first have to be a "period of quiet" without nuclear and missile tests. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, who visited Pyongyang last week, said senior North Korean officials did not offer any type of commitment to talks, but he believed he left "the door ajar". "Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions, but I think we have left the door ajar and I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide," Feltman told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. Not everyone is ready for talks. Japan has advocated a strategy of pressuring North Korea through sanctions to give up its nuclear weapons. Tokyo and Washington are in "100 percent" agreement on that stance, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday, when asked about Tillerson's comments. A former Japanese diplomat said that, while a diplomatic solution was the "only acceptable solution", now was not the time for talks. "We have to see the effects of sanctions on life in North Korea," the former diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. "I heard that they are having a serious impact on everyday life. Let's wait and see. If we were to hint anything for dialogue, we'd be losing clout." South Korea continued military exercises with the United States to check military readiness, exercises the North describes as preparation for war. The South's army said separately on Wednesday it conducted a successful air-to-air missile firing drill from Apache helicopters. U.S. TALKS TO CHINA Tillerson also disclosed the United States had been talking to China about how to secure North Korea's nuclear weapons in the event of a collapse of the government in Pyongyang. He said Beijing had been given assurances that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would pull back across the border into the South. Chinese spokesman Lu would not directly answer a question about those comments, but said China had always clearly told all its interlocutors on the issue that "There can be neither war nor chaos" on the Korean peninsula. Tillerson made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy and, in terms far more tempered than Trump's recent threats against Pyongyang, offered to hold exploratory talks. "We can talk about the weather if you want," he said. "We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards." Tillerson - whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration - said Trump "has encouraged our diplomatic efforts". Trump said on Twitter in October that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man", using his derisive nickname for Kim. North Korea, for its part, has made clear it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. Tillerson also said the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response was needed. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the non-partisan Arms Control Association, said Tillerson's proposal was overdue but added, "In order to get to such talks going, the U.S. side as well as North Korea must demonstrate more restraint". For multimedia cover on North Korea: https://www.reuters.com/north-korea/ (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in WASHINGTON, Michelle Nichols at the UNITED NATIONS, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Tim Kelly and Linda Sieg in TOKYO; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Paul Tait and Clarence Fernandez) Special counsel Robert Mueller arrives at the US Capitol for closed meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee: Alex Wong/Getty Images Donald Trumps legal team has suggested appointing another special counsel to investigate the existing special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is probing the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. Mr Trumps lawyers are concerned by what they see as conflicts of interest within Mr Muellers team. Jay Sekulow, one of Mr Trumps attorneys, told Axios that these conflicts necessitate an investigation of the investigators. "The Department of Justice and FBI cannot ignore the multiple problems that have been created by these obvious conflicts of interests, he said. These new revelations require the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate." These new revelations include the news that a senior Department of Justice official was recently demoted, after failing to disclose his ties to a political opposition research firm. Bruce Ohr, the former Justice Department associate deputy attorney general, was stripped of the title this week after it was revealed that his wife worked for Fusion GPS in 2016. Fusion GPS helped create a controversial opposition dossier on Mr Trump during the election. Conservatives were also incensed by how Mr Muellers team dealt with Peter Strzok, an FBI investigator previously assigned to the Russia probe. Mr Strzok and an FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, were unceremoniously removed from the investigation this summer. Sources familiar with the matter latter claimed that the two were having an extramarital affair, and had exchanged anti-Trump text messages. Trump supporters have rallied around these apparent conflicts of interest to suggest that Mr Mueller should be fired, or his investigation refocused on the alleged wrongdoings of Hillary Clinton. In fact, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently weighed the idea of appointing a special counsel to investigate the Clinton Foundation and Ms Clintons ties to a Russian uranium company. Several law enforcement officials told the Washington Post that they were worried these criticisms of Mr Mueller were an attempt to discredit the lawyer, and possibly build a case for Mr Trump to fire him. Story continues First, they want to kick up dust about Hillary Clinton so the conservative press has something to talk about that isnt Trumps misdeeds, Matthew Miller, a Democrat and former Justice Department spokesman, told the Post. He added: The eventual goal, though, is to delegitimize Mueller in such a way that he can either be fired or can be ignored if he concludes the president broke the law. Mr Mueller has so far charged four former Trump campaign officials with crimes ranging from tax fraud to lying to the FBI. Two of the former staffers, Michael Flynn and George Papadopolous, have pleaded guilty. Donald Trump has called the renewed allegations fake news Donald Trump has dismissed accusations of sexual misconduct, saying the allegations were fabricated by the Democratic Party after they couldnt find evidence collusion with Russia. Several women who came forward during the 2016 campaign to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct renewed their allegations publicly earlier this week. It is his first direct dismissal as President of the allegations that first emerged before he was elected in November 2016. Taking to Twitter, the president wrote: Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia. So now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!, he said. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 In a second message, posted shortly after the first, Trump accused senator Kirsten Gillibrand as being lightweight, after she called on him to resign because of the allegations. President Trump should resign, Gillibrand said. These allegations are credible, they are numerous. Ive heard these womens testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking, she said. Story continues MOST READ ON YAHOO UK TODAY Facebook ex-boss BANS his kids from using it as he says app is ripping society apart Woman dies after being hit by FOUR vehicles and none of the drivers stopped at the scene House fire which killed three children was started by flammable liquid poured down chimney Suspect in New York failed pipe bomb blast targeted subway because it had Christmas posters The tallest pagoda in Asia has just been completely destroyed by fire Temperatures plunge to -13c on UKs coldest night in 20 months and Britons couldnt cope On Twitter, Trump responded: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Gillibrand then wrote on Twitter: You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. On Monday, Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds and Samantha Holvey held a news conference for a film that focuses on women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct. The women are among the at least 15 who came forward with a range of accusations of sexual misconduct against Trump. This took place long before he was elected to be president, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. And the people of this country, at a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process. However, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Trumps accusers deserve to be heard. I know that he was elected, Haley said on CBS. But, you know, women should always feel comfortable coming forward. And we should all be willing to listen to them. By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In backing Roy Moore in Alabama's U.S. Senate race even though the candidate faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, President Donald Trump made a risky bet - and lost big. The victory by Democrat Doug Jones over the Republican Moore in the Alabama special election on Tuesday was a catastrophe for Trump, portending a Democratic wave next year that could cost Republicans control of one or both houses of Congress. The stakes in Alabama were that high. Democrats already were confident they had a strong chance to retake the U.S. House of Representatives in next years congressional elections. Jones' narrow victory increases their once-long odds of retaking control of the Senate as well. If Democrats were to recapture both chambers, they would serve as a check on Trumps agenda and might even initiate impeachment proceedings against him. "That Republicans lost in one of the most Republican states in the nation is a wake-up call no matter how flawed their candidate was," said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Democrats never expected to have a chance in Alabama, where they had not won a U.S. Senate race in 25 years. But the combination of Trumps unpopularity, the sexual misconduct allegations that erupted against Moore in November, and Trump's enthusiastic support of him anyway gave them the opportunity, experts said. Trump was the one who got Jones within firing range, and Moore allowed Jones to win, said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. Even as Democrats lost several special congressional elections this year, they consistently showed higher levels of turnout and engagement, which is attributable to Trump, Kondik said. TRUMP REFERENDUM? The Alabama race showed there were limits both to Trumps endorsement power and his judgment. Even as senior Republicans urged Trump to abandon Moore, the president decided instead in the campaign's final days to throw the full weight of his office behind him. In the end, that was not enough, and early turnout reports suggested that many Republicans stayed home. Moreover, despite the sexual misconduct allegations against Moore, the race near the end increasingly seemed to become about the president. Moores camp this week said the contest was specifically a referendum on Trump and his presidency. It is Donald Trump on trial in Alabama, Dean Young, a strategist for Moore, told ABC News. Trump congratulated Jones on Twitter "on a hard fought victory" and added: "Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time." The loss was also a body blow to Steve Bannon, Trumps former top strategist, who backed Moore in the primary against the Republican incumbent, Luther Strange, because he viewed Moore as a more reliable ally. Bannon also frequently characterized the race as less about Alabama and more about furthering Trumps economic nationalist agenda. Bannon is looking to wage an insurgency against the Republican establishment in the 2018 congressional elections, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who condemned Moore after several women accused him of unwanted sexual contact when they were in their teens and he was in his 30s. Moore, 70, has denied the allegations, and Reuters has not independently verified them. ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT Beyond Moore, Bannon is supporting anti-establishment candidates such as Kelli Ward in Arizona, Danny Tarkanian in Nevada and Kevin Nicholson in Wisconsin, all of whom oppose McConnell staying on as Senate leader. Bannon also may ultimately support challenges against sitting Republicans in Mississippi and Wyoming. But Moores loss seems certain to dampen that effort, and Republicans who fear losing control of Congress may be even less likely to back outsider candidates who may turn off mainstream voters. It is now an open question whether Trump will inject himself into more Republican primaries, given his setback in Alabama. When you nominate candidates who are unqualified and an embarrassment to the party, you run the risk of ruining your entire brand, said Josh Holmes, a Republican consultant and close ally of McConnell. Bannons supporters say rank-and-file Republican voters are more likely to blame McConnell, not Bannon, for the loss in Alabama, arguing that McConnell and his well-resourced Senate Leadership Fund did nothing to help Moore. McConnell actively opposed the Republican candidate in Alabama and threatened our Senate majority by helping to put a liberal Democrat in that seat, said Andy Surabian, a former Bannon protege who now advises a pro-Trump advocacy group, Great America Alliance. Even with the Alabama win, Democrats face a significant challenge next year if they are to take control of the Senate. They must defend 10 incumbents in states that were won by Trump and they must gain two seats currently held by Republicans. Their best opportunities to secure those seats lie in Arizona and Nevada, and perhaps Tennessee. Democrats need 24 seats to retake the House, but that is viewed as a more realistic goal because of the number of congressional districts where they are competitive, particularly in suburban areas. Brian Walsh, president of another pro-Trump group, America First Policies, said Trump could not be blamed for Moores loss, arguing that the president's late endorsement almost won the race for Moore, a deeply flawed candidate. He was trying to push a boulder up a hill, Walsh said. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney) From Esquire UK If nothing else, Donald Trump is a master of distraction. Whenever a negative story starts to emerge about the President (i.e. every single hour of every single day), he launches into an incoherent and downright offensive Twitter rant that buries the story deep within the day's news cycle. That, or he enacts some kind of policy change that destroys peoples' lives the world over. Either/or. But as the pressure starts to mount on his presidency, The Donald is clearly panicking over his legacy. But don't worry: he's got the perfect plan. He's going to do a Kennedy. He's going to put a man on the moon. And then he's going to beat Kennedy by putting a man on Mars, too. "We are the leader and we're going to stay the leader, and we're going to increase it many fold," Trump said while signing "Space Policy Directive 1", at the White House yesterday. 'Directive 1' establishes a foundation for a mission to the moon, with intention of exploring mars, too. "Today we pledge that he will not be the last, and I suspect we will be finding some other places to land other than the Moon. Back in June, China's space official announced that the country was preparing to send a man to the moon. Just the moon, China? SAD. "The directive I am signing today will refocus the space programme on human exploration and discovery. It is an important step in returning American astronauts to the Moon, for the first time since 1972 for long time exploration and use. "This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars," Trump said. "And perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond." Sounds exciting! We think Trump should go. Across all the planets. It might take a while. You Might Also Like By Ali Kucukgocmen ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Muslim leaders on Wednesday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and called on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit of more than 50 Muslim countries in Istanbul, said the U.S. move meant Washington had forfeited its role as broker in efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "From now on, it is out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine, that period is over," Erdogan said at the end of the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states. "We need to discuss who will be a mediator from now on. This needs to be tackled in the U.N. too," Erdogan said. A communique posted on the Turkish Foreign Ministry website said the emirs, presidents and ministers gathered in Istanbul regarded Trump's move "as an announcement of the U.S. Administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace". It described the decision as "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus (for) extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security". Leaders including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Jordan's King Abdullah, a close U.S. ally, all criticized Washington's move. "Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine," Abbas said, adding Trump's decision was "the greatest crime" and a violation of international law. Asked about the criticism at a State Department briefing in Washington, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that despite the "inflammatory rhetoric" from the region, Trump "is committed to this peace process." "That type of rhetoric that we heard has prevented peace in the past," she said, urging people to "ignore some of the distortions" and focus on what Trump actually said. She said his decision did not affect the city's final borders, which were dependent upon negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians. But when asked whether East Jerusalem could similarly be recognized as the capital of a future Palestinian state, Nauert said that determination should be left to final status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. "We're taking a position on how we view Jerusalem," she said. "I think it's up to the Israelis and Palestinians to decide how they want to view the borders - again final status negotiations." Abbas told OIC leaders in Istanbul that Washington had shown it could no longer be an honest broker. "It will be unacceptable for it to have a role in the political process any longer since it is biased in favor of Israel," he said. "This is our position and we hope you support us in this." "PALESTINIAN CAPITAL" Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam's third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognized internationally. The communique on the Turkish ministry website and a separate "Istanbul Declaration" distributed to journalists after the meeting said the leaders called on all countries to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. "We invite the Trump administration to reconsider its unlawful decision that might trigger...chaos in the region, and to rescind its mistaken step," the declaration said. Iran, locked in a regional rivalry with Saudi Arabia, said the Muslim world should overcome internal problems through dialogue so it could unite against Israel. Tehran has repeatedly called for the destruction of the Israeli state and backs several militant groups in their fight against it. "America is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of the Zionists and it has no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians," Rouhani told the summit. King Abdullah, whose country signed a peace treaty with Israel more than 20 years ago, said he rejected any attempt to alter the status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites. Abdullah's Hashemite dynasty is custodian of Jerusalem's Muslim sites, making Amman sensitive to any changes in the city. Not all countries were represented by heads of government. Some sent ministers and Saudi Arabia, another close ally of Washington's, sent a junior foreign minister. Summit host Turkey has warned that Trump's decision would plunge the world into "a fire with no end in sight". Erdogan described it as reward for Israeli actions including occupation, settlement construction, land seizure and "disproportionate violence and murder". "Israel is an occupying state (and) Israel is a terror state," he told the summit. "I invite all countries supporting international law to recognize Jerusalem as the occupied capital of Palestine," Erdogan told OIC leaders and officials. Trump's declaration has been applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Washington had an irreplaceable part to play in the region. (Additional reporting by Daren Butler and Parisa Hafezi in Istanbul, Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, John Davison and Nadine Awadalla in Cairo, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and David Alexander in Washington; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Catherine Evans, William Maclean) Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Two Palestinian militants were killed in Gaza Tuesday in an explosion whose cause was unclear, with Israel firmly denying claims from authorities in the Hamas-run enclave that it was responsible. The circumstances of the incident, which occurred near the Gaza Strip's northern border with Israel, left open the question of whether the explosion was accidental. The Islamic Jihad Islamist militant group said the two men were part of its armed wing, confirming only that they died during a "jihad mission". It identified them as Hussein Ghazi Nasrallah, 25, and Mustafa al-Sultan, 29, saying they were part of the group's engineering unit. The Palestinian health ministry initially said they had been targeted by an Israeli strike while riding a motorcycle, but that was immediately denied by the military. The Islamic Jihad statement made no mention of an Israeli attack. At the scene of the incident a crater several feet deep was left, along with the burnt chassis of a motorcycle. Islamic Jihad fought alongside Gaza's rulers Hamas in the last war with Israel in 2014. In late October, Israel blew up one of its tunnels stretching from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, killing at least 12 militants. A month later, mortar rounds from Gaza targeted Israeli soldiers, with Israel's army signalling Islamic Jihad was responsible. Tuesday's deaths came amid tensions between Palestinians and Israeli forces following US President Donald Trump's announcement he would move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognise the city as Israel's capital. Four Gazans, including two Hamas militants, have died since the announcement last Wednesday. Two were killed in clashes, while two others died in Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza. An American man is on the run after escaping from Bali's infamous Kerobokan prison on Monday. Chrishan Beasley, 32, sawed through steel bars above his cell with a hacksaw and used a rope to rappel down a 20-foot wall, authorities said. The Californian was arrested in August at a post office, carrying a package containing 5.7 grams of hashish, The Associated Press reported. He escaped with another U.S. citizen, 57-year-old Paul Anthony Hoffman, who was serving a 20-month sentence for robbery. Hoffman was captured as he climbed down the wall. Beasley, who had gone over first, managed to run away. Kerobokan is a hellish facility known for brutal violence, overcrowding and too few guards. An investigation is underway to determine if prison staff helped the men, according to a spokesperson for the Law and Human Rights Ministry. The prison on Indonesia's resort island was designed to hold 300 people, but has nearly 1,600 inmates. The country has extremely strict drug laws that sometimes include the death penalty. Beasley was awaiting sentencing for his conviction. It was the second time since June that foreign prisoners have escaped the institution. Four inmates fled through a drainage tunnel. Bulgarian Dimitar Nikolov Iliev and Indian Sayed Mohammed Said were arrested days later in East Timor. Shaun Edward Davidson of Australia and Tee Koko King bin Tee Kim Sai of Malaysia are still at large, the wire service reported. 'Psychopathic' Killer Who Escaped Hawaii Mental Hospital Arrested in California Surveillance Footage of El Chapo's Prison Escape Surfaces Homeless Man Gets $100,000 Reward After Helping Nab California Prison Escapees Related Articles: ((This Dec. 9 story corrects year in 2nd paragraph to 2011 from 2012)) By Jane Chung and Michelle Nichols SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations political affairs chief told senior North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang this week that there was an "urgent need to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce the risks of conflict," the world body said. Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level U.N. official to visit North Korea since 2011, met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Minister Pak Myong Guk, the United Nations said in a statement on Saturday after Feltman arrived back in Beijing. Feltman emphasized the need for the full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and that the international community was committed to achieving a peaceful solution. "He also said there can only be a diplomatic solution to the situation, achieved through a process of sincere dialogue. Time is of the essence," the United Nations said. "They ... agreed that the current situation was the most tense and dangerous peace and security issue in the world today." North Korea is pursuing nuclear and missile weapons programs in defiance of U.N. sanctions and international condemnation. On Nov. 29, it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it said was its most advanced yet, capable of reaching the mainland United States. North Korea said in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency that expressed willingness to ease tension on the Korean peninsula and acknowledged the negative impact of sanctions on humanitarian aid to North Korea. "The United Nations expressed concerns over the heightened situation on the Korean peninsula and expressed willingness to work on easing tensions on the Korean peninsula in accordance with the U.N. Charter which is based on international peace and security," KCNA said. KCNA said North Korean officials and Feltman agreed that his visit helped deepen understanding and that they agreed to communicate regularly. Feltman did not speak to reporters upon arriving back from Pyongyang at Beijing airport on Saturday morning after spending four days in North Korea. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the situation on the Korean peninsula had entered a vicious circle of shows of strength and confrontation, and the outlook was not optimistic, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "But at the same time it can be seen that hopes for peace have yet to extinguished. The prospects for negotiations still exist, and the option of resorting to force cannot be accepted," Wang was quoted as saying. The United States and South Korea conducted large-scale military drills this week, which the North said have made the outbreak of war "an established fact". Last month's missile test prompted a U.S. warning that North Korea's leadership would be "utterly destroyed" if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests. North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States and says its weapons programs are necessary to counter U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jonathan Oatis) ((This Dec. 5 story corrects year in 2nd paragraph to 2011 from 2012)) By Michelle Nichols and David Brunnstrom UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman arrived in North Korea on Tuesday for a rare visit that some analysts and diplomats hope could spark a U.N.-led effort to defuse rising tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. The former senior U.S. State Department official is the highest-level U.N. official to visit North Korea since 2011. During a four-day visit he is due to meet Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to discuss "issues of mutual interest and concern." "This is broadly a policy dialogue with (North Korea). I think we have to wait and see what comes out," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday. "All key member states ... were informed and briefed of the visit." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russia, Japan, the United States, China and North and South Korea in August he was available to help broker talks. So-called six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program stalled in 2008. A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described expectations for Feltman's visit as "modest and high at the same time, meaning that they depend on what our hosts are thinking as well." "We need to find a way to scale back tensions," the official said. "I don't think we will have a major breakthrough being announced at the end of this trip. But the visit could serve as a step to build a framework for engagement." Suzanne DiMaggio of the New America Foundation think tank, a participant in recent unofficial talks with North Korea, said Feltman could propose during his visit to Pyongyang that Guterres play a mediation role. "I do think that the Trump administration would like to explore talks about talks at this stage. I think the North Koreans are assessing the timing of when to do that," she told a seminar in Washington on North Korea. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Feltman was not traveling on behalf of the U.S. government. "And he's not traveling - I want to make this clear - with any kind of message from the U.S. government ... He's going on behalf of the U.N., not the U.S. government," she told a regular news briefing. Nauert said Washington remained open to talks if North Korea showed it was serious about giving up its nuclear weapons, but added: "The activities they have been engaged in recently have shown that they are not interested, they are not serious about sitting down and having conversations." North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States in defiance of U.N. sanctions. It conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test in September and last week tested a missile capable of reaching anywhere in America. Feltman told the 15-member Security Council last week that its unity "creates an opportunity for sustained diplomatic engagement an opportunity that must be seized in these dangerous times to seek off-ramps and work to create conditions for negotiations." In September, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged a return to dialogue, including "by leveraging mediation efforts" by Guterres. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Tuesday that Pyongyang was seeking dialogue with Washington on its nuclear program, according to RIA news agency. Morgulov, at a conference in Berlin, was quoted as saying Russia had communication channels with North Korea open and was ready to exert its influence on Pyongyang. Sweden's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Carl Skau told reporters he hoped Guterres could mediate in "probably the largest threat to international peace and security at the moment." Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Allen said Feltman had "our backing and I think he goes to represent the U.N. family as a whole." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday blacklisted two people it said supported the outlawed Lord's Resistance Army in Central African Republic through the illegal trade in ivory, weapons and money aimed at fueling conflict in the region. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement that it had taken action against Okot Lukwang, a Ugandan national, and Musa Hatari, from Sudan, with help from the governments of their respective countries. The U.S. sanctions, like those imposed last year on the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader Joseph Kony, will block their transactions involving any American or property under U.S. jurisdiction, effective immediately. Kony was indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity in 2005. The United States in August 2016 also imposed sanctions on Kony's sons Salim and Ali, saying they were commanders in the rebel group blamed for extreme violence in a large part of central Africa. The Lord's Resistance Army, like other armed groups, used ivory trade and wildlife trafficking to help fund their activities, the Treasury Department said. "The U.S. government will not tolerate the actions of those who finance destabilizing activities in central Africa," John Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement. Lukwang acts as intelligence officer, oversees supply logistics and serves as an ivory broker for the Lord's Resistance Army, according to the statement. Hatari serves as the main supplier of ammunition, mines, weapons, food, supplies and other goods to the group, it added. The Lord's Resistance Army battled Ugandan forces for about two decades, becoming known for its brutality and kidnapping of children for use as fighters and sex slaves. As the group was ejected from bases in northern Uganda around and what is now South Sudan, it retreated to an area of jungle straddling the borders of South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Richard Chang) By Joseph Ax and Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Monday's attempted suicide bombing in one of New York City's busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of the radical group Islamic State, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to "murder as many human beings as he could ... in support of a vicious terrorist cause," acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. New York City police have said that Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast, "I did it for the Islamic State," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Officials declined to disclose Ullah's condition at Bellevue Hospital late on Tuesday. His first court appearance in the case could come as soon as Wednesday and may be conducted by video conference with a judge, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said. Story continues On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE." HOMEMADE BOMB Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah's pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators that he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah's wife, according to two officials who declined to be identified as they were not permitted to publicly discuss the matter. They said the couple have a six-month-old boy. A police official who took part in that interview, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the United States. New York City police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators were poring through data on Ullah's electronic devices, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said there was so far no indication that Ullah had previously attracted the attention of FBI. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. U.S. President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasized the need for U.S. immigration reforms. Monday's incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards," Trump said. "The first attacker came through the visa lottery, the second came through chain migration. Were going to end both of them." The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed Trump's latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban was needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. John Miller, the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said on Tuesday that police would review the attempted suicide bombing and adjust security plans for the upcoming New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. "This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a suicide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb function. So we're going to take a hard look at it," Miller said in an interview. (Additional reporting by Ruma Paul, Serajul Quadir, Max Lockie, Mark Hosenball and Chris Kenning; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Nick Zieminski; Editing by Scott Malone, Tom Brown, Toni Reinhold) Washington (AFP) - The United States is ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions" but remains determined to force it to abandon its nuclear arsenal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. China and Russia responded positively to Tillerson's remarks, even after the White House appeared to put his proposal in question by saying that US President Donald Trump's "views on North Korea have not changed." While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not spell out the president's views, Trump in the past has chided his secretary of state for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with Pyongyang. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China took note of Tillerson's remarks and expressed hope that the United States and North Korea take "meaningful steps towards dialogue and contact." "We welcome all efforts that are conducive to easing tension and resolving differences through dialogue," Lu said. In Moscow, Kremlin spoksman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: "We can state that such constructive statements impress us far more than the confrontational rhetoric that we have heard up to now. Undoubtedly this can be welcomed." Even as Tillerson stressed the importance of a negotiated end to the standoff, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to make his nation "the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." Trump has promised that Kim will not be allowed to complete his effort to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching mainland US cities. To this end, Tillerson has overseen a global diplomatic effort to isolate Pyongyang and stifle its economy through UN sanctions and, ultimately, the threat of US military force. In two public appearances Tuesday, he warned that these efforts would continue until "the first bomb drops" and that Washington "simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea." Story continues But he said the door to talks with Kim's regime was open, and left the opening wider than he had before, backing away from his former insistence that Pyongyang accept in principle to disarm. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum, speaking of the possibility of laying out a roadmap of goals. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it." A senior UN official returning from Pyongyang said that North Korean officials had told him it was important to prevent war but offered no concrete proposal for talks. "They agreed that it was important to prevent war," Jeffrey Feltman, the UN's political affairs chief, told reporters after briefing the Security Council on his trip. Feltman met with North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-Kuk during his visit to Pyongyang over the weekend -- the first by a high-ranking UN official since 2011. - Devastating conflict - Some in Washington see Tillerson's latest rhetoric as a climbdown. Sanctions expert Anthony Ruggiero, of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said talks should not begin until the US has a way to verify nuclear testing is not continuing. Earlier, in an end-of-year speech to State Department staff and US diplomats, Tillerson stressed the importance of the sanctions regime in forcing North Korea to the table. Despite hopes that China will do more to cut off oil supplies, international action has forced North Korea's fuel prices up by around a half and cost it $2.3 billion in lost exports, he said. And Tillerson added that he would see it as a personal failure if his efforts came up short and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is forced to take military action to deny the North its arsenal. But even if Tillerson remains "confident" that the US strategy is paying off, there was little sign of this in Pyongyang, where Kim gave a typically bellicose speech to workers. According to North Korea's state news agency KCNA, Kim said his country "will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." His latest boast came after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, a missile which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. - Invective - Outside experts agree the rocket appears to have the range, but some are skeptical that Pyongyang has the technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. But US officials have been warning privately for months that Pyongyang is on the verge of a breakthrough, and Tillerson's public confidence appears aimed at much at Trump as at Kim. Both the US and North Korean leaders have a penchant for warlike rhetoric and personal invective that risks plunging east Asia into a devastating conflict that could leave millions dead. Trump habitually refers to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and has threatened to utterly destroy his regime with "fire and fury." North Korea has branded Trump a mentally disturbed "dotard." SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (NASA via YouTube) For the first time, SpaceX has sent a refurbished Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station from a refurbished launch pad, atop a refurbished Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon lifted off at 10:35 a.m. ET (7:35 a.m. PT) today from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Its the first mission to take off from Pad 40 since an earlier Falcon 9 went up in flames during a pre-launch test in September 2016, doing significant damage to the complex. Its taken SpaceX that long to finish its repairs and upgrades. In the meantime, the California-based company has been using Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center for Falcon 9 launches. Switching back to Pad 40 will free up 39A for the maiden launch of SpaceXs super-sized Falcon Heavy rocket, a closely watched event thats currently set for next month. This weeks robotic cargo resupply mission marks a big first for NASA and SpaceX. Previous trips to the space station have relied on brand-new Falcon 9 boosters for their sendoffs, but SpaceX has been steadily building up an inventory of first-stage boosters recovered from past launches. This time around, NASA gave its first go-ahead for the reuse of a flight-proven booster. This one first flew on a space station resupply mission (with a different refurbished Dragon) in June. The Dragon for this mission flew to the space station and back to Earth in 2015. NASAs space station program manager, Kirk Shireman, said the risks of flying a refurbished booster are about equal to those associated with a brand-new booster, although they may be different types of risks. If the mission turns out as expected, NASA may continue using flight-proven boosters. Launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was delayed to give SpaceXs team more time to make sure the rocket was in good condition. Rocket reusability is a key part of SpaceX CEO Elon Musks drive to make dramatic reductions in the cost of access to space and eventually blaze a trail for affordable missions to Mars. Story continues This is the beginning of rapid and reliable reusability. We want to be able to send thousands of people into space, not just tens, and so reusability is a very key part of that, Jessica Jensen, SpaceXs Dragon mission manager, said during a pre-launch briefing. SpaceXs flight-proven Falcon 9 booster touches down at Landing Zone 1 in Florida. (NASA Photo) Minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster flew itself back to SpaceXs Landing Zone 1, not far from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral. That marked the 20th recovery of a Falcon 9 booster, with 14 of those recoveries coming this year. The Falcon 9 boosters return was heralded by a barrage of sonic booms that could be heard along Floridas Space Coast. LZ1, the F9 has landed, SpaceXs launch team reported. With all the logistical firsts, its easy to gloss over the main point of this weeks mission: delivering 4,800 pounds of cargo and material to support scores of science investigations on the space station. Among the payloads due for delivery are: A machine created by a company called Made In Space thats designed to demonstrate the production of fiber-optic filaments in the stations zero-G environment. The experimental hardware could lead to large-scale manufacture of high-quality optical fiber for applications in space as well as on Earth: An experiment to study how bone cells grow in the presence of a new kind of surgical bone adhesive called Tetranite. Researchers say zero-G provides a particularly good setting for simulating osteoporosis and seeing how well the adhesive works for boosting bone structure: A drug delivery system that researchers hope can eventually be used to combat the muscle-wasting effects of long-term spaceflight. During the Dragons stay at the station, the implantable system will be tested on live mice: An instrument known as the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS-1. Its five-year mission: to measure the total amount of sunlight that falls on Earth and analyze how that light is distributed across wavelengths ranging from infrared to ultraviolet. The observations will help scientists monitor climate shifts and atmospheric phenomena such as ozone loss: A space debris sensor that will be mounted on the stations exterior to monitor impacts caused by small-scale space debris over a period of two to three years. The experiment should give researchers a better sense of the risks posed by objects smaller than 4 inches wide which is the detection limit for ground-based sensors: The uncrewed Dragon capsule is due to make its rendezvous on Sunday, when astronauts will use the stations robotic arm to pull in the spacecraft for its berthing. Over the course of a month, the crew will unload the Dragon and fill it back up with about 3,600 pounds of cargo to be returned to Earth. At the end of its stay, the Dragon will be set loose for its descent and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. From there, itll be brought back to shore for unloading and then the round of refurbishment might well begin anew. This report was originally published on Dec. 11 and updated with todays launch. More from GeekWire: Tokyo (AFP) - A tiny replica of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus and a plastic cat squatting on sushi: just two of the weird-and-wonderful capsule toys that have become a multi-million-dollar craze in cute-obsessed Japan. The industry is now worth an estimated 30 billion yen ($265 million), with the fastidious attention to detail in the toys appealing to the Japanese sense of precision along with a well-documented love of all things "kawaii" or cute. One store, in Tokyo's famous Akihabara electronics district, is crammed with around 500 capsule toy vending machines stretching out as far as the eye can see. "When I see something I want, I keep on turning the crank until I get it," said Shota Makita, a 23-year-old careworker on the hunt for a fun toy. "There's a sense of excitement about not knowing what I'll get," said Makita, one of a growing number of adult consumers of capsule toys, known as "gachagacha" or "gachapon" in Japanese after the cranking sound. Store manager Yo Kono says the customer base has changed in the 16 years the shop has been open. "At the beginning, visitors were mainly male anime fans... but recently the number of customers is growing with more female visitors and foreign tourists," Kono said. - 'Cheap and Instagram-worthy' - Capsule toys have been around for more than 40 years but the craze really took off in 2012 when Tokyo-based manufacturer Kitan Club launched its "Koppu no Fuchico" ("Fuchico at the edge of a glass") product. This figurine of a woman wearing a typical office worker's clothes, whose arms or legs were designed to hang over the edge of a glass, became an instant hit with adults. "We never thought of targeting children. Their numbers are dwindling and adults have more money," said spokesman Seita Shiki. Shiki chalks up the Fuchico capsule's success to the fact it is "cheap and Instagram-worthy." Story continues Fans have been sharing photos of Fuchico on social media, which helped boost its popularity without the company even needing to advertise, he boasted. "Fuchico was launched just as social media started to be used widely. It fitted with the times." Kitan Club, which makes various kinds of capsule toys, saw its sales grow from 800 million yen to 1.2 billion yen after the launch of the Fuchico series. The capsule toy became so popular that the company was asked to create a pop-up shop at the cult Paris concept store Colette and to hold an exhibition in Taiwan. - 'Very Japanese' - Now many manufacturers are making capsule toys to appeal to adult consumers, helping to expand the market to around 100 new items each month. Manufacturer Bandai, which occupies around 70 percent of the capsule toy market, said the products sell well because they are expertly made and they come in huge varieties. When Bandai began making capsule toys exactly 40 years ago in 1977, the majority of them were cheap, sold mostly at 20 yen, and were of poor quality, general manager Toshikazu Saita said. "A wide variety of quality products are available at only 200 or 300 yen. I think that's a reason why they're so popular now," said Saita. He said the quality of the products was down to specialists who "hand-carve prototypes by paying attention to angles and colours." "The attention to detail is very Japanese," he said. But to keep costs down, the actual toys are manufactured in China using the Japanese design as a prototype. Shiki of Kitan Club agreed that attention to detail was what set Japanese capsule toys apart. "For example, Fuchico's knees and elbows are slightly sprayed with red paint to make them look real," he explained. "This adds one extra step but we feel we have to do this" even if it adds to the cost, he added. It certainly appeals to Nana Sakuma, 26, who snapped up four capsule toys in the shape of Japanese food stalls from machines in the Akihabara store. She said: "I'm really happy to find toys that are so real. When I see real things turned into miniatures, I find them irresistibly cute. I cannot help but buy them." A Christmas Prince. (Photo: Netflix) Did Netflixs recent tweet shaming users obsessed with its holiday original A Christmas Prince unnerve you? Its probably because youre afraid what your viewing activity might say about you. To the 53 people whove watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you? Netflix US (@netflix) December 11, 2017 So lets just get it out in the open: Whats the worst Netflix could subtweet about you? Well share our confessions. Add yours in the comments section or on Twitter using #NetflixAndGuilt. Kelly Woo: That not only did I watch A Christmas Prince, but because I did, Netflix suggested Christmas in the Smokies and The Spirit of Christmas and I watched them too. Ken Tucker: That Ive watched as many Jeff Dunham videos as Netflix makes available. Does this mean I am pro-Achmed the Dead Terrorist? That Im a fan of Jose Jalapeno? I prefer to think its just that Im a student of the history of ventriloquism, and Netflix doesnt have any Shari Lewis videos available. Yeah, Im not buying it, either. Mandi Bierly: That its decided The Boss Baby is a 97% match for me. (I assure you, Netflix, it is not.) Kristen Baldwin: That I always take advantage of the skip intro feature, and then feel bad about it. I mean, people worked hard on the intro to Mindhunter, and Alias Grace, and Stranger Things, and Grace and Frankie (OK, maybe not Grace and Frankie). I also feel irrationally judged by the Keep watching suggestion that pops up every time you log back on. Why, yes, Netflix, I do want to keep watching Gilmore Girls reruns even though I barely moved from the couch yesterday while plowing through Season 2. WHATS IT TO YOU? Kim Potts: That although Ive watched the first 10 minutes of several new series, I skip out on them to rewatch the Gilmore Girls episodes where Emily goes on a crazy shopping spree at the mall and the one where Emily tells off Shira Huntzberger for being mean to Rory. Story continues Gwynne Watkins: That I have an embarrassing number of unwatched prestige movies in my queue. One day I swear Ill get around to watching Lion and The Immigrant. Ethan Alter: That it might expose my lack of comic-book TV cred. For every superhero show Ive watched Daredevil, Jessica Jones, heck, even Iron Fist there are at least two or three that Ive never completed or even started. How can I recommend The Flash when Netflix reminds me that I didnt get beyond the third episode of the CW series? Leah Neuberth: That Ive likely watched every single rom-com on there. Chrissy Nguyen: That Ive never actually had my own Netflix account. Your turn. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: The White House strongly denied that President Trump was making a sexist comment when he tweeted that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand would do anything for campaign donations. Speaking at the daily press briefing Tuesday, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trumps remark about the New York Democrat was about a corrupt political system and noted hes made similar remarks about male politicians. Theres no way that this is sexist at all, this is simply talking about a system that we have that is broken, she said. This is the same sentiment that the president has expressed many times before when he has exposed the corruption of the entire political system. Politicians repeatedly beg for money, thats not something new. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Trumps remark was harshly criticized by Democrats, including Gillibrand, whose response garnered more engagement on Twitter than Trumps original tweet. Many argued that it was sexist, with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren even calling it slut-shaming, an argument Sanders pushed back on. In March 2016, Trump said former Massachusetts governor was begging for his endorsement. I could have said, Mitt, drop to your knees,' Trump said at the time. He would have dropped to his knees. Sanders chastised anyone who read Trumps comment about Gillibrand as sexual innuendo. I think only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way, she said, arguing that the president does not owe Gillibrand an apology. The White House again denied allegations of sexual misconduct against President Trump, as three of his accusers called for Congress to investigate his past behavior. Speaking at the daily press briefing, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump has denied the womens allegations, that any incidents took place a long time ago and that voters settled the discussion when they picked Trump in the 2016 election. [President Trump] thinks its a good thing that women are coming forward, but he also feels strongly that a mere allegation shouldnt determine the course, she said Monday afternoon. In this case, the president has denied any of these allegations. The comments came after three of the 19 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct spoke on the Today show about their experiences and held a press conference to call for a congressional investigation. Our stories seem to fall on deaf ears, Rachel Crooks, who claims Trump forcibly kissed her, said during a press conference Monday morning. In an objective setting, without question a person with this record would have entered the political graveyard of aspirations, never to return. Along with the accusations from the women, Trump was also caught on a hot mic on Access Hollywood bragging about touching women without their consent, a moment he apologized for and called locker room talk before the election. Sanders repeated arguments she has made before that the election settled the question of whether Trump harassed women: We feel like these allegations have been answered through that process. She also added that the allegations were about things which happened in the past. This took place long before he was elected to be president, she said. Democratic lawmakers have upped the stakes recently, with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand calling for Trump to resign over the allegations in an interview Monday with CNN and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden calling for an investigation. Story continues These women are right. If @realDonaldTrump won't resign, Congress must investigate allegations by many, many women that he sexually assaulted and harassed them. No one is above the law. https://t.co/ySP9DVUgLP Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) December 11, 2017 Trumps three female accusers said they were coming forward again because they felt that things had changed in recent weeks with the downfalls of major public figures like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and Massachusetts Sen. Al Franken over sexual misconduct. Were at the position now where in some areas of our society people are being held accountable for unwanted behavior, said Jessica Leeds, who has alleged that Trump groped her on an airplane, but we are not holding our president accountable for what he is and who he is. WASHINGTON During her daily briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Trump against criticism that a tweet he wrote suggesting that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would do anything for donations was inappropriate sexual innuendo. Sanders argued that the presidents meaning was very obvious and not sexist at all. This is the same sentiment that the president has expressed many times before when he has exposed the corruption of the entire political system, Sanders said. Trump sent the tweet in question on Tuesday morning, a day after Gillibrand said he should resign over multiple allegations of sexual assault that have been made against him. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump, the president wrote. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) The comment about Gillibrand being willing to do anything was widely attacked as sexual innuendo by critics. Gillibrand also denounced the comment during a press briefing on Capitol Hill. It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue, she said. As she was repeatedly asked about the tweet, Sanders framed it as an extension of Trumps past claim that the system is rigged in favor of political donors. When ABC News Cecilia Vega asked what the president was alleging would happen behind closed doors with Gillibrand, Sanders said Trump was not alleging anything. Hes talking about the way that our system functions as it is that politicians repeatedly beg for money. Thats not something new and that comment frankly isnt something new if you look back at past comments that this president has made, said Sanders. During last years presidential race, Trump regularly railed against what he described as a rigged system and vowed to drain the swamp if he was elected. Critics have argued that his appointment of Wall Street executives and Washington veterans in his administration was a violation of that pledge. Story continues Sanders claimed that Gillibrand was a particularly egregious example of this rigged system. I dont think that theres probably many people that are more controlled by political contributions than the senator that the president referenced, Sanders said. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., attends a news conference on Tuesday. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP) Trump, a former Democrat who frequently gave cash to New York politicians, donated $7,950 to Gillibrands House and Senate campaigns between 2007 and 2010. On the campaign trail, Trump boasted that his contributions took advantage of the political system during his business career. Yahoo News asked Sanders what, specifically, he received for these contributions to Gillibrand. Sanders did not cite any specific examples but said generally that politicians offer access in exchange for donations. A member of Congress will take your phone call. Theyll take your meeting and, if youre driving something as a businessman that the president may or may not have been driving at any particular point, you can talk to that individual about it and sometimes they carry your water, Sanders said. Thats the reason that we have a broken system. Thats the reason that often special interests control our government more than the people do. Read more from Yahoo News: Natalia Lorenzo overcame body image issues to become an Art Basel model. (Photo: lordenzo__/Instagram) A teen model who struggled with poor self-image and disordered eating is now a body-positive advocate not to mention a work of art. A portrait of Miami-based plus-size model Natalia Lorenzo was featured on a five-foot-tall canvas in the Art Basel fairs Dec. 10 show, The Art of Beauty. Its an experience Lorenzo could never have imagined, even one year ago, before she signed her first modeling contract. Lorenzo, 19, shared her excitement in a Monday tweet that was shared more than 47,000 times and liked almost 185,000 times: At a young age I developed self-imagery issues about my body. It later lead to depression and anxiety which I suffered from for years. Recently I finally broke out of my shell & my face and my body is on a canvas at Art Basel this year. I couldnt be any more proud of myself. At a young age I developed self imagery issues about my body. It later lead to depression and anxiety which I suffered from for years. Recently I finally broke out of my shell & my face and my body is on a canvas at Art Basel this year. I couldnt be any more proud of myself pic.twitter.com/UbBdsmUkHw Lordenzo (@oknatt_) December 11, 2017 The model, who was born in Colombia, became uncomfortable in her skin shortly after moving to the United States at the age of 7. I started gaining weight and I was very shy, so kids would throw books at me and call me fat, Lorenzo tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Around seventh grade, I started binge eating and throwing up, which went on for two years. As Lorenzo neared high school, she avoided scenarios that required her to wear a bathing suit. My friends would say, Lets go to the beach and Id wear a swimsuit but feel anxiety. So Id hide in the bathroom or wear a T-shirt. I didnt want to engage with anyone, all because of my body. Story continues Last year, when Lorenzo turned 18, she got fed up. I thought, Im turning 19 theres no way in hell Ill keep doing this, she says. I was sad for so long and let my body hold me back. Sometimes, I felt so disgusting, I didnt want to leave my bedroom. I missed so many good times. Recently, Lorenzo discovered social media and the pleasure of taking photos, which helped her view her body in a whole new way. She also started opening up about her experiences on Instagram, where she highlights her cellulite and reveals the camera angles and poses employed by models to look their best. About a month-and-a-half ago, after only a few local modeling jobs under her belt, Lorenzo signed with a new agency, DAS Model Management and landed a major gig: Art Basel. For the show, Lorenzo is featured in the portrait wearing a bra and underwear, and theres a recorded bit of audio in which she discusses why she loves her body. Lorenzo plans to use modeling as a conduit for body positivity. I want to be the person I wish I had in fifth grade, she says. I have cellulite, tummy rolls, and stretch marks, but thats normal and Ill keep putting it out there, no matter what people say. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. A Wisconsin woman who admitted to robbing banks while more than eight months pregnant has been sentenced to four years in prison after she was deemed a public safety threat, officials said. Lisa Harding, 32, pleaded guilty on Friday to robbing two banks in December 2016 as part of a plea agreement that saw a charge related to a third heist dismissed, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Harding first robbed an Associated Bank on Dec. 5, 2016. She then robbed an Old National Bank on Dec. 10, 2016. The third alleged robbery occurred three days later. Harding was arrested after taking a taxi to and from the last of the three robberies on Dec. 13, 2016, authorities said. After her arrest, she was taken to Meriter Hospital. Police had to get a search warrant to perform a cavity search on Harding because it was determined that she hid some of the money taken during the robbery in her body, the State Journal wrote. Harding also had red dye on her fingernails that matched the dye contained in the dye pack that was handed over with cash to the suspect who robbed the Old National Bank, police said. Harding never displayed a weapon during the robberies, but kept her hands in her pockets in a way that suggested she had a weapon, according to reports. Harding's four-year prison sentence will come after the five years she is currently serving for other crimes committed during her probation. She will be on extended supervision for 13 years after she is finally released from prison. The woman's attorney told the court that Harding had a male accomplice for two of the robberies, but she is afraid to reveal the man's identity to him or to police, the State Journal reported. Harding has reportedly suffered abuse since she was a child that reached into adulthood and left her with issues including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky noted she understood Harding had physical and mental health issues and suffered from drug addiction, but said she had to sentence her to prison because of the threat she poses to public safety, the paper reported. Story continues Harding has spent time in federal prison for a 2006 bank robbery. Prosecutors asked for five years for the December bank robberies, while her attorney asked for two. Harding reportedly apologized for what she did, saying things at the time were "going wrong" for her and that she has nightmares about her actions. "I feel bad," Harding said in court, according to the State Journal. "I really do. I wish I could take it all back. I really do." Harding told the judge that she gave birth to a baby boy after her arrest. She said she put the child up for adoption and he was taken in by a family with whom she has kept in touch. RELATED STORIES Mom Robbed Bank While 6-Year-Old Daughter Waited in Taxi: Cops Women Charged With Dressing as Nuns During Bank Robbery Attempt: Feds Man Arrested in 1995 Kidnapping of 9-Year-Old Girl Related Articles: This article came within 59 feet of not being written. On July 7, Air Canada flight 759 was cleared to land on runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport. The pilots, however, attempted to land on a parallel taxiway where four other planes loaded with passengers and fuel sat, pulling back up only when they were less than a second from a disaster, according to one report. But close calls are not catastrophes, and the captain and co-captain of the A320 jet who had logged 20,000 and 10,000 hours of flying time respectively landed the plane safely and without incident. This is among the least remarkable events in Air Canadas year. The airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection just 14 years ago, has achieved one of the most impressive turnarounds in the transportation industry. In 2017, its share price hit a 10-year high. It was named winner in the Finance category of the 2017 Airline Strategy Awards, because of its successful financial rejuvenation. On June 29, it carried 166,850 passengers, setting a single-day company record. Nearly one million people flew AC between June 29 and July 4. Earlier this year, financial analysts from CIBC, RBC Capital Markets and Altacorp deemed the stock undervalued, when it was $21.74 a share. They were right. (Yahoo Canada Finance) The companys share price consistently crushed expectations in 2017, rising 83.5 per cent between January 3 and December 12. But Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu, who took the reins in 2009 when shares were trading at just $0.80, says he doesnt deserve all the kudos. Im not being immodest in saying that the kind of transformation that the Air Canada embarked on is not the responsibility of one person, he said in an interview with Yahoo Canada Finance. The first order of business was stabilizing the company and ensuring it lived to fight another day. That meant bolstering the liquidity, having a strategy to deal with a very significant pension plan deficit and the high costs of our operation. Story continues President and CEO Calin Rovinescu arrives at the airlines annual meeting on May 8, 2009, in Montreal. (The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson) In recent years, the airlines profitability it reported record third quarter 2017 EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, impairment and aircraft rent) of $1.388 billion is in part due to the Rouge brand it launched in 2013 to compete with low cost airlines that had entered the market. Rouge, much maligned by passengers in the past notably actor Rob Lowe back in 2014 is known for smaller seats and reduced legroom. But all this, and the lack of free food, comes at a cost specifically, a lower one for flyers. Rouge is not an ultra-low-cost carrier, Rovinescu says. Its a leisure carrier that is destined towards leisure markets in the sun destinations largely in the wintertime, and in the European destinations largely in the summertime. We estimate that it has a 25 to 30 per cent lower cost, depending on the aircraft type that we use. For the sixth time in eight years, Air Canada was named Best Airline in North America at the 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards in June. It also won Best Long Haul Airline in the Americas for 2018 by AirlineRatings.com. But industry accolades and spreadsheets aside, Air Canada has achieved something many large companies cant get quite right: An engaged and empowered work culture. For the fourth consecutive year, the countrys flagship carrier made Canadas Top 100 Employers and Montreals Top Employers for 2017. It was also number two on Canadas Most Attractive Employers 2017 list by Randstad Canada. Rovinescu puts forward a simple reason for this. Generally speaking, employees are empowered, he says. They have a culture of entrepreneurship. Wed like to think were a big company that behaves like a small company, that can make decisions more quickly. According to Glassdoor, a job site that aggregates workplace reviews by current and former employees, the best things about working at Air Canada are travel benefits, flexible schedule, and great environment. Seventy one per cent would recommend the company to a friend, and 75 per cent approve of Rovinescu as CEO. The company has also been in growth mode over the last few years, hiring, among other positions, hundreds of flight attendants for new Vancouver and Calgary routes launched in 2014. Weve hired, over the last five years, about 4,000 more people, Rovinescu says. In terms of Canadian numbers, at periods of fairly slow growth, I dont think there are many companies that have [done that]. For every single position, we have more than 100 applications. Visitors wait to get on board to view the interior of a newly delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Pearson Airport on May 20, 2014. (Chris So/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Armed with 13 new international routes, an expanding fleet of Dreamliner 787 aircrafts some of which the company sold for a profit, then leased back for commercial flights and a laser focus on upgrading its luxury brand experience, the company is soaring into 2018 with an approximately 3,000 per cent share price increase since 2009. And they have a plan. We continue to strive to improve the product, Rovinescu says. We want to have better on-time performance, we want to be able to have a better airport experience not just the onboard experience. We often use the expression, analysis paralysis. Lets make decisions. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Akayed Ullah receiving treatment after Monday's bomb attack - Polaris / eyevine The New York bomb suspect wrote "Trump you failed to protect your nation" on Facebook before heading to a busy transit hub to set off a pipe bomb, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Akayed Ullah, from Bangladesh, has been charged with providing material support to terrorists and using weapons of mass destruction, following the failed suicide bomb attack on Monday. The 27-year-old was arrested after setting off a pipe bomb strapped to his body at one of New York's busiest commuter hubs which left four other people injured. He later told police that he carried out the attack "for the Islamic State (Isil)," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah posted his message to Trump on his Facebook account on the morning of the attack. Ullah's passport was found at his home covered in handwritten notes, including one that read: "O America, die in your rage." pipe bomb suspect Akayed Ullah Credit: New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission Mr Trump has said he would end immigration provisions in response to the attack. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday the president highlighted that two recent attacks in New York involved foreign nationals living in the US on immigration programs. Ullah first arrived in the US in 2011 on a visa available to those with family connections in the country. Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant who killed eight people in an attack in November, was living in the US under a diversity lottery program which gives permanent resident visas to around 50,000 applicants a year. Five people were injured in the Isil-inspired attack Mr Trump said Congress "must get involved immediately" as he vowed that the two immigration programs "will be ended". It is believed Ullah became radicalised after he began watching pro-Isil material online in 2014 and carried out his attack because he was angry over US policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. The bomb, described by authorities as a low-tech device, exploded inside an underpass leading to three train lines and the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square, the nation's busiest bus station. Story continues Police respond to a report of an explosion near Times Square on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, in New York Credit: AP He has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terrorist threat, New York Police said. US prosecutors also brought federal charges including using a weapon of mass destruction, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Investigators found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah's trouser pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be fairy lights attached to wires. Officials said Ullah told investigators he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home a week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. Meanwhile investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah's wife - with whom he has a six-month old son - and her family, according to US officials. The former Seattle officer served as muscle for the smuggling operation and often transported marijuana to Baltimore in his RV, federal prosecutors said. It has become a routine by now. The Wadi Ara road protesters are the best thing that happened to organizations like Lehava , and organizations like Lehava are the best thing that happened to the Wadi Ara hooligans. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter They can yell the exact same cliche at each other, and in our ears: We told you sotheyre all fascists, terrorists, racists. They refers to either Jews or Arabs, depending on whos doing the yelling. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman added fuel to the fire Sunday, when he called on Israeli citizens to boycott the villages in the Wadi Ara area and said the Arabs there should be handled by the Palestinian Authoritys security services. Wadi Ara protest, Saturday. Several dozen or hundred violent protestors shouldnt dictate the relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel Moving the border and annexing Arab communities to the Palestinian state, if and when it is established, is definitely an issue that can be discussed. But the resistance to the move indicates that the Wadi Ara residents favor Israel with its national insurance and improved economic conditions. But there is one thing that should be indisputable: Several dozen or hundred violent protesters shouldnt dictate the relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel. I should mention the identity of the person behind the Islamist violence, which is occasionally stirred in the Arab sector. Im talking about Sheik Raed Salah , who in recent years has been following the footsteps of the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini. The Islamist Nazi who invented the Al-Aqsa is in danger libel. And his followers from Umm al-Fahm were the ones who carried out the recent attack at the Temple Mount . In the past decade, Salah has been barred from entering countries like Morocco and Jordan. Turkey, on the other hand, is nurturing this evil man. Lieberman should be reminded that a boycott against the residents of Wadi Ara would be the biggest victory for Raed Salahs supporters, because thats exactly what they want: More animosity and more hostility between Jews and Arabs. According to every survey, including polls conducted in the past year, most Israeli Arabs are in the midst of an Israelization process . Theyre not becoming Zionist. Theyre not abandoning Islam. But only a few dozen of them, tiny fractions of a percent, have actually joined hostile activity in the past two decades. Motorcycle of Yedioth photographer smashed in rioting in Wadi Ara A very particular part of the Israeli Left, it should be mentioned, is turning Israel into a fascist apartheid state just because it includes the La Familia and Lehava thugs (who are almost the same people) and other hooligansnot just from the territorieswho protest and chant Death to the Arabs. They are Israelis, but they dont represent Israel. The dozens or hundreds who manage to block the Wadi Ara road are Arabs. They dont represent all Israeli Arabs either. With all due disrespect to the riots on the Wadi Ara road, it should be noted that despite the deep-rooted political disagreements, and despite the serious political conflict, most Israeli Arabs have been and still are loyal citizens to the state, even without a declaration of loyalty. Political events like US President Donald Trumps announcement send the Islamists and the nationalistsSalahs supporters and Knesset Member Hanin Zoabis supportersto the streets. They represent something. They must not be ignored. But they must not be turned into the exclusive representatives of Israels Arabs. While the latest Israel Democracy Institute poll doesnt point to harmony and satisfaction, it does point to a desire to integrate and indicates that 52 percent of Israels Arabs live in peace with Israels definition as a Jewish and democratic state, even if theyre not in love with it. Among Arabs who have worked together with Jews, 95 percent define their relations with Jews as good or very good. They represent the Arabs much more than the stone throwers. Education Minister Naftali Bennett represented this approach too on Sunday, when he expressed his reservations over Liebermans comments. Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Arab Joint List, rushed to condemn Lieberman, but he didnt rush to condemn the hooligans who nearly lynched a Yedioth Ahronoth photographer on Saturday evening. Not all the Arab leadership responded similarly. Two heads of communities near Wadi Ara condemned the hooligans without any reservations and without claiming that it was because of Trump or because of Jerusalem. They represent a considerable part of Israels Arabs. The hooligans must be handled with a firm hand. But if we want to turn the moderates into the dominant voice, theres no need to add fuel to the fire of hooligans. Hundreds of residents of the southern town of Arad gathered on Tuesday evening for the lighting of the first Hanukkah candle at the site where Sgt. Ron Kokia was stabbed to death two weeks ago. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "Our pain is great," said Livna, Ron's mother, who invited some soldiers from her son's army company to join her at the ceremony. "I really hope all of Arad's residents, Jews as well as Bedouins, come together, we want to embrace everyone," she added. Ron Kukia's parents light the candle (Photo: Haim Horenstein) Two days after the attack that claimed her son's life, two Bedouins from the northern Negev were arrested and charged with the murder . The Shin Bet surmises that the murder was a terror attack and the motive was nationalistic. "We will continue to fight internal and external enemies," said Boaz, Ron's father. "Our Bedouin neighbors, who respect the state and its citizens and serve in the army, I embrace and respect. I call on them, together with all of Israel, to reject and punish those that engage in terror, like my son's killers." "Alongside the fight against terror, it is essential that the nation of Israel continues to be united and tolerant, to develop and grow," he added. Ron Kokia Boaz chatted and shook hands with the many Arad residents who came bearing their condolences. Some told about their acquaintance with Ron: "I wanted to honor his parents, I felt a need. They are like family for us. It could have been my son," said a resident who attended the Menorah lighting. Arad's mayor, attorney Nisan Ben-Hamo, told Ron's parents: "The terrible event that befell your family brought the whole city together. You can feel the desire to memorialize and to embrace. A son of Arad was murdered and the city embraces you. We are all here for you." Rabbi Menachem Kutner, Chabad emissary to victims of terror, added: "We are standing where murderers tried to hurt us, each and every Jew. Ron stood here and with his body prevented a greater tragedy. Their goal was to darken the world and we are here tonight to bring light to Israel." The Rabbi turned to the family and said: "When you light the Menorah in this spot, you are delivering a clear message to our enemies that the light will triumph. The holy light of Hanukkah will light up our hearts and with light we will defeat our vile enemies. Your private pain is the pain of all of us. We love you." US prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Monday's attempted suicide bombing in one of New York City's busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of the radical group Islamic State, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in US district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to "murder as many human beings as he could ... in support of a vicious terrorist cause," acting US attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. Akayed Ullah New York City police have said that Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast, "I did it for the Islamic State," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over US policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. Scene of the incident in NY (Photo: Reuters) The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Officials declined to disclose Ullah's condition at Bellevue Hospital late on Tuesday. His first court appearance in the case could come as soon as Wednesday and may be conducted by video conference with a judge, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office said. On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE." Homemade bomb Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah's pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators that he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah's wife, according to two officials. They said the couple have a six-month-old boy. A police official who took part in that interview said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the United States. 8th Avenue (Photo: AP) New York City police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators were poring through data on Ullah's electronic devices, said a law enforcement official. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said there was so far no indication that Ullah had previously attracted the attention of FBI. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. US President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasized the need for US immigration reforms. Monday's incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. "There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards," Trump said. "The first attacker came through the visa lottery, the second came through chain migration. We're going to end both of them." The US Supreme Court last week allowed Trump's latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban was needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. John Miller, the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said on Tuesday that police would review the attempted suicide bombing and adjust security plans for the upcoming New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. "This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a suicide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb function. So we're going to take a hard look at it," Miller said in an interview. The Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas military complex in the southern Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday in response to rocket fire at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Code Red rocket alert siren was sounded at 10:47pm Tuesday in Yad Mordechai and Netiv HaAsara, located near the Gaza Strip's southern border. Shortly after that, a rocket was found after it had fallen in an open area in Netiv HaAsara. A second rocket was found in an open area outside a community in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Police bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion of the rocket. No one was hurt and no damage was reported. Fatah militants in photo allegedly taken before rocket launch at Sderot over the weekend Israeli defense officials believe Islamic Jihad militants are behind the rocket fire in recent days. However, Fatah militants released photos this week that purport to show the recent rocket launches at Israel. Since US President Donald Trump's declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Code Red rocket alert sirens have been going off in the south on an almost daily basis. On Friday night, three rockets were fired at Sderot, with the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting one, while another fell in a street, causing damage to several vehicles. A day later, the remains of a third rocket were found in a kindergarten, which caused damage to the structure. Late Monday night, the Iron Dome intercepted a rocket fired at Ashkelon. Earlier in the day, a rocket fell in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was hurt in the rocket fire, and the IDF retaliated after each rocket launch with attacks on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. It was cleared for publication Sunday that the IDF had blown up a Hamas terror tunnel reaching hundreds of meters into Israeli territory. In response, Hamas threatened that "the enemy must be afraid and know it will pay a price for breaking the rules of engagement with the Gaza resistance. The coming days will prove the enormity of the enemy's mistake and miscalculation as to the resistance's willpower." Senior FBI officials who helped probe Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign told a colleague that Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had to win the race to the White House, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent, said Clinton "just has to win" in a text sent to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, the Times reported. The messages showed concern from Strzok and Page that a Trump presidency could politicize the FBI, the report said, citing texts turned over to Congress and obtained by the newspaper. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is investigating the texts in a probe into FBI's handling of its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server for official correspondence when she was Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama, the report added. Strzok was removed from working on the Russia probe after media reports earlier this month suggested he had exchanged text messages that disparaged Trump and supported Clinton. WASHINGTON - The United States is voicing skepticism about Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a major withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria and is arguing that his declaration of victory against Islamic State was premature. Syrian government forces, US officials said, are too few, too poor and too weak to secure the country. Islamic State, and other militants in Syria, have ample opportunity to regroup, especially if the political grievances that drove the conflict remain unresolved, the officials said. "We think the Russian declarations of ISIS' defeat are premature," a White House National Security Council spokeswoman said. "We have repeatedly seen in recent history that a premature declaration of victory was followed by a failure to consolidate military gains, stabilize the situation, and create the conditions that prevent terrorists from reemerging". Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said the United States had not observed any significant withdrawal since Putin's announcement. Although he did not predict future moves, he said: "There have been no meaningful reductions in combat troops following Russia's previous announcements planned departures from Syria." US President Donald Trumps declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital takes us back to the following question: Why we didnt get such a recognition in the 18 years between the end of the War of Independence and the Six-Day War? Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter As we all known, the armistice bordersknown as the Green Line borderswere established at the end of the War of Independence. West Jerusalem was included inside Israels borders, while east Jerusalem was included in Jordan. So why did the Western world recognize Israels control of west Jerusalem, but refused to recognize the city as the State of Israels capital? Jerusalem's Christian Quarter (Photo: Ron Peled) The answer, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the stance of the Arab states (which didnt even recognize Israel) or of Islam, but with the relations between Christianity and Judaism and the Christian nations stance on Jerusalem. Jerusalem occupies a unique place in Christianity, which includes not only religious sacredness but also a political status. Historian Joshua Prawer pointed out that both the Christians and the Jews had chosen Jerusalem as their capital when they had the military and political power to do so. The Muslims, on the other hand, never did that. The Muslims, who controlled the land for more than 1,000 years, attributed a religious importance to Jerusalem but didnt attribute any political importance to the city. They didnt turn it into a capital, and never saw it as equal to Cairo, Baghdad or Damascus. When Salah ad-Din conquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he didnt turn it into his capital. Neither did the Ottoman occupiers. While it was Sultan Suleiman I who built the wall adorning the Old City, Jerusalem was actually rather neglected during most of the Ottoman rule. It was administratively subject to the Damascus region, and then to the Sidon and Beirut region. Only at the very end of the Ottoman era, after the Western powers invested huge amounts of money in Jerusalem, its importance grew in the eyes of the Ottomans too and its legal system was directly controlled by Istanbul. President Trump's Jerusalem declaration (Photo: Reuters) The Jordanians did the same. After conquering east Jerusalem in the War of Independence, they didnt turn it into their capital. The Jordanian capital remained in Amman. If the Saudis indeed suggested that the Palestinian capital would be outside Jerusalem, in Abu Dis, they acted according to the old Islamic tradition. The Christians, on the other hand, made Jerusalem their capital twice: Once when they established the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the end of the First Crusade, making Jerusalem its capital of course; and the second time, exactly 100 years ago, when General Allenby conquered the Land of Israel from the Ottomans. The Brits received the mandate of the Land of Israel, and the British Mandates capital was Jerusalem of course. The Christian stance was reflected in the United Nations Partition Plan on November 29, 1947. The resolution, which recommended dividing the land into two states, a Jewish one and an Arab one, included a special chapter dedicated to Jerusalem, which was supposed to become a separate political entity controlled by a UN trusteeship council. But such an entity wasnt established, as the world powers and the UN were unwilling to provide the required military and economic measures. Nevertheless, the worlds Christian states, which were willing to recognize the State of Israel, were unwillingin the period before and after the Six-Day Warto recognize Jerusalem, where Jesus was tried and executed and which was the capital of the Crusaders kingdom, as the Jewish peoples capital. The US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital (although without defining its borders) has dramatic implications, therefore, as a significant move of reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism and as a recognition of the Jewish peoples crucial part in determining Jerusalems centrality in the Western culture. Prof. Daniel Friedmann served as Israel's justice minister from 2007 to 2009. Muslim nations rejected US President Donald Trump's "irresponsible, illegal and unilateral" declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and appear set to counter it on Wednesday with a declaration of east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In a draft communique distributed to reporters, the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation said the US decision was "null and void legally" and is considered an attack on the rights of the Palestinians. Trump's decision, the Muslim leaders said, "is deliberate sabotage of all efforts to achieve peace, feeds extremism and terrorism and threatens global peace and security." Jordan's King Abdullah, Turkish President Erdogan and Palestinian President Abbas (Photo: AFP) The draft communique said the bloc considers the US declaration as an "announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace." OIC leaders meeting in Istanbul were expected to release a final statement later Wednesday. Speaking at the conference earlier in the day, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called on world powers to recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and said the United States should reverse its "awful and provocative" decision. "I invite all countries supporting international law to recognise Jerusalem as the occupied capital of Palestine. We cannot be late any more," Erdogan said. "The process to include Palestine in international agreements and institutions should be sped up," he added. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (: AP) A similar call was made by the OIC's secretary-general Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, who said the US decision was "an exceptional challenge" facing Muslim nations. The decision, he added, will fan violence in the region, giving extremists an excuse to sow chaos. Erdogan described Trump's decision last week as a reward for Israeli actions including occupation, settlement construction, land seizure and "disproportionate violence and murder." "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," Erdogan said. "Israel is an occupying state (and) Israel is a terror state," he added. Turkey has said Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital would plunge the world "into a fire with no end," and called an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to urge Washington to change course. Abbas urges UN to take US place as peace mediator In an impassionate speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians won't accept any role for the United States in a peace process with Israel "from now on," as it was biased in favor of Israel. The speech marked a significant shift in Abbas' approach toward the United States, after years of focusing on courting US goodwill because of Washington's role as sole mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Immediately after Trump's announcement last week, Abbas had said the US effectively disqualified itself as a broker, but Wednesday's speech was more sharply worded and delivered to a global audience. It was also part of a speech that called on the gathering for specific steps to counter the US decision on Jerusalem. "We call that the (peace) process in its entirety be transferred to the United Nations," Abbas said. He also called on countries that believe in the two-state solutions to recognize Palestine as a state, and urged Arab and Muslim nations to financially support east Jerusalem. Palestinian President Abbas (: ) In his over-an-hour-long speech, Abbas also urged Muslim nations and countries with relations with Israel to take necessary political and economic measures against Israel "to force it to abide by international consensus" to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem. He slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," stressing that "Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine." Abbas urged those who recognize Israel to reconsider, saying the Jewish state has not committed to any international resolution. "There are laws applied to Israelis, and different laws applied to Palestinians. It is apartheid, can the world accept a new apartheid regime, 30 years after the end of apartheid in Africa South?" he wondered. Branding Trump's move as the "greatest crime" that threatens world peace and a flagrant violation of international law, Abbas noted the international community has nearly unanimously opposed the decision, calling it a "provocation" to Muslim and Christian sentiments. Erdogan, right, welcomes Abbas to Istanbul (Photo: AP) Abbas warned extremists could use Trump's decision to "turn a political struggle into a religious one." Instead, he said the US decision on Jerusalem should galvanize Arab, Muslim and Christian support for the city and that it seeks to change the identity of the divided city, which is home to some of the most sacred Muslim sanctuaries. The Palestinian president also said the Palestinians are mulling withdrawing from international bodies in protest of Trump's decision, and that they will "go to the United Nations Security Council" seeking full UN membership. Rouhani: US only wanted to secure Zionists' interests Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the only reason Trump "dared" recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was because some in the region sought to establish ties to Israela stab at Tehran's archrival Saudi Arabia. Rouhani called on all Muslim countries to resolve their internal disputes through dialogue and unite against Israel, saying Israel had planted seeds of tension in the crisis-hit region. "Iran is ready to cooperate with all Muslim countries without any precondition to defend the legitimate rights of Palestinians," Rouhani said. "Unity among Muslim countries is very important and Quds (Jerusalem) should become our top priority." Erdogan, right, welcomes Rouhani (Photo: EPA) Ahead of his speech, Rouhani took to Twitter to charge that the Jerusalem move shows the United States lacks any respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation. He added the move also showed the US was not "an honest mediator and will never be," because Washington "is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of the Zionists." King Abdullah of Jordan rejected any attempt to change the status of Jerusalem or its holy sites, and said peace would not come to the region without a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "All violence... is a result of a failure to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue," he said. Saudi sends low-level representative The meeting of leaders and ministers from more than 50 Muslim countries takes place a week after US President Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem, which triggered widespread protests in the Middle East and Islamic world. "Firstly, the Palestinian state must be recognized by all other countries. We must all strive together for this," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in opening remarks to a pre-summit meeting. "We must encourage other countries to recognize the Palestinian state on the basis of its 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital." Cavusoglu said the OIC nations "are here to say 'stop' to tyranny," telling the gathered representatives that the US decision aims to "legitimize Israel's attempt to occupy Jerusalem." "They expect the Islamic nation to remain silent," he said. "But we will never be silent. This bullying eliminates the possibility of peace and the grounds for shared life. The US' decision is null for us. " Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam's third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Cavusoglu said this week Turkey would not call for sanctions in response to the US move, but would appeal for all countries that have not formally recognized Palestine as a state to do so, and to issue a strong rejection of the US decision. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation convenes in Istanbul (Photo: Reuters) He said the summit would declare east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and call for Israel to withdraw from territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed east Jerusalem in an action not recognized internationally. Bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran will be a far from easy task, let alone announcing any concrete sanctions agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Furthermore, several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an OIC statement. Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, were also in attendance, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. However the level of Saudi representationcritical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibilitywas only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. Cavusoglu said in a television interview that the summit would "give a strong message." But he acknowledged that some Islamic countries were "in fear", asking, "Why are you scared?" In an emergency meeting in Cairo last weekend, Arab foreign ministers demanded that the United States rescind Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, the ministers also called for the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump's decision, but acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it. The Trump administration says it remains committed to reaching peace between Israel and the Palestinians and its decision does not affect Jerusalem's future borders or status. It says any credible future peace deal will place the Israeli capital in Jerusalem, and ditching old policies is needed to revive a peace process frozen since 2014. Jews all around the world lit the first candle of Hanukkah on Tuesday night. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In the German capital Berlin, many attended Menorah lighting at Pariser Platz, near the Brandenburg Gate. Berlin Hanukkah (Photo: EPA) Brandenburg Gate menorah (Photo: AP) Berlin (Photo: MCT) Hundreds gathered in Budapest, Hungary to light the first candle at the square outside Nyugati Railway Terminal. Menorah by Nyugati Station (Photo: AP) Budapest (Photo: AFP) Oscar winning movie director Laszlo Nemes lit the first candle together with the executive Rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation Rabbi Slomo Koves. Director Laslo Nemes (Photo: EPA) Moscow (Photo: AFP) Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Dr. Ronen Bergman received the 2017 Sokolov Award in a ceremony at the Einav Culture Center in Tel Aviv earlier this week. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Sokolov Award, considered the Israeli Pulitzer, has been awarded since 1965 to "encourage journalists who excel in their journalistic work and made their marks on the world of journalism" and to "note marked achievements in journalistic investigation." Bergman, 45, was selected to receive the award for print journalism for "a series of important and courageous exposes published in Yedioth Ahronoth." Dr. Bergman receives the Sokolov Award from Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai (: ) Bergman has authored dozens of cover stories and main headlines, which received widespread attention both in Israel and abroad. Only recently, Bergman published in Yedioth Ahronoth (in conjunction with the New York Times and Die Zeit) the files on the Mossad's chase after the "Angel of Death from Auschwitz," Dr. Josef Mengele, and an extensive investigative report (in conjunction with Die Zeit) about the deep-rooted corruptionwhich infected even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest circlein Israel's mass deals to purchase submarines from Germany. Bergman also uncovered a list of spies and agents the KGB had operated in Israel , its funding of Palestinian terror elements and its war on the Zionist Movement, from documents smuggled out of the former Soviet Union by the Russian spy agencys former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin. In another article, Bergman brought to light testimonies of IDF commandos who took part in Israels legendary Operation Entebbe to rescue the passengers and crew of an Air France plane hijacked by terrorists. He also conducted exclusive interviews with former Mossad director Meir Dagan, former CIA director Michael Hayden, and with the late Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Yaakov. Yaakov was later convicted of revealing secret information related to Israel's nuclear secrets to Bergman, and sentenced to two years of probation. Bergman with Die Zeit co-writer Holger Stark on a submarine (Photo: Ziv Koren) The judges panel, headed by journalist Ilana Dayan, explained the reasons for their choice: "The award is being given to Dr. Bergman for his determination to expose and cover, for his ability to explain and clarify, for the courage he displayed when facing those who tried to silence, cover up, or suppress (his reports), and for his unique contribution to understanding what is done behind the closed doors of the security world." Dr. Bergman was moved by the honor. "I started writing when I was 12," he said. "Journalism is holy work meant to safeguard the values of democracy important to all of us." "Israel's defense establishment and its intelligence community are massive when compared to any other country in the world proportionate to its size, population and budget," Bergman explained. "Israel's intelligence branches have a covert, but deep-rooted influence over the country's history and, in fact, over the whole world. Despite this, there is no state body that conducts effective supervision of these bodies. This is where our duty liesmy dutyin working to expose and reveal and have proper public and democratic criticism." (Photo: Shaul Golan) Bergman went on to say that "I may be the one receiving the award, but it is shared by the people of Yedioth Ahronothfrom the editor-in-chief, the editorial staff, and the producers to everyone who works every day to publish the newspaper. I accept this award with shaking hands and dedicate it to the team at Yedioth Ahronoth, Ynet and Ynetnews." Bergman, formerly at Haaretz, has been working as an investigative journalist and senior national security correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth since 2000, writing primarily about intelligence, terrorism, national security and nuclear weapons. He is also a contributing writer for the New York Times, and has had articles published on the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Der Spigel and others. He published five best-sellers in Hebrew: Authority Granted (2002), about corruption and terrorism in the Palestinian Authority, based on secret documents from Yasser Arafat's archives; Moment of Truth (2003), which brought to light recordings and original documents from the 1973 Yom Kippur War for the first time; Point Of No Return (2007), about the Israeli intelligence's secret war against Iran; By Any Means Necessary (2009), about the Mossad's search for Israeli POWs and MIAs; and Ha-Bor (2011) with Dan Margalit, about corruptions in the IDF's top command. His book The Secret War With Iran came out in the United States, Europe and Japan in 2008 to raving reviews. His next book, Rise and Kill First, will be released worldwide next year by Random House. During the ceremony on Sunday, Haaretz publicist Yoel Marcus received the lifetime achievement award, while the electronic journalism award was given to Channel Ten foreign news desk editor Nadav Eyal, who writes regular op-eds for Yedioth Ahronoth, and Uvda investigative journalist Itai Anghel. A Hamas plan to kidnap Israelis in the West Bank during the Hannukah holiday was thwarted by Israeli security forces, the Shin Bet said Wednesday. A joint operation by the Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police exposed a Hamas terror cell from a village near Nablus who planned to abduct a soldier or a settler from one of the bus stops at the Samaria region. A Hamas plan to kidnap Israelis in the West Bank during the Hannukah holiday was thwarted by Israeli security forces, the Shin Bet said Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A joint operation by the Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police exposed a Hamas terror cell from the village of Tell near Nablus that planned to abduct a soldier or a settler from one of the bus stops at the Samaria region's main junctions. The abducted Israeli was to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations for prison release with Israel. In its investigation, the Shin Bet learned the cell members conducted observations at major junctions, main roads and bus stops in the area to gather intelligence for the planned attack. The cell leader also made inquiries about possible safe houses in the Nablus area to hide their hostage. The plan was for cell members to disguise themselves as local Jewish residents and entice a victim to enter their vehicle. The Shin Bet seized weapons the cell members planned to use to carry out the kidnapping, including a handgun, an electric shocker and pepper spray. The cell members also allegedly planned to acquire more weapons. The cell leader, 26-year-old Hamas member Muad Ashtiyah, is suspected of planning the attack, purchasing weapons to carry it out and recruiting other members. Hamas members Mahmoud Ramadan and Ahmed Ramadan, both aged 19, are suspected of joining the cell after being recruited by Ashtiyya. The cell members were in contact with Omar Assida, a Hamas militant and member of the Hamas top command in the Gaza Strip, who is responsible for organizing military actions and the flow of funds from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. The Hamas command in Gaza provided guidance and financing for the planned abduction. The Samaria military prosecution is expected to file indictments against the three cell members. The Jerusalem District Court convicted east Jerusalem resident Ahmed Ashair of aggravated battery Wednesday for stabbing ultra-Orthodox youth on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in August 2016. He was also convicted of participating in a riot and throwing a Molotov cocktail, firecrackers and stones at police. ISTANBUL - US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital shows that the United States lacks any respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted on Wednesday. Rouhani, who attended an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey's Istanbul city on Wednesday, also said on his Twitter account that the move showed that the US was not "an honest mediator and will never be", adding that Washington only wanted to "secure the interests of the Zionists". Some 40 masked settlers entered the village of Burin, near Nablus, on Wednesday afternoon and hurled stones at Palestinians and their homes. IDF troops who arrived at the scene removed the settlers from the village. No one was hurt. French prosecutors have called for a Lebanese-Canadian academic suspected of the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue to be put on trial, sources close to the investigation told AFP on Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Paris prosecutor's office considers there to be "sufficient evidence" against Hassan Diab, who has been in preventive custody since his extradition from Canada in 2014, to try him over the October 3, 1980 attack, the sources said. The explosion, which left four dead and around 40 wounded, was the first fatal attack against the French Jewish community since the Nazi occupation in World War II. Paris synagogue (Photo: Itay Blumenthal) Diab, a 64-year-old Canadian of Lebanese descent who taught sociology at an Ottawa university, is accused of having carried out the attack on behalf of the Special Operations branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). French investigators believe he planted the bomb inside the saddle bag of a motorbike parked outside the packed synagogue near the Champs-Elysees, where hundreds of people had gathered for Sabbath prayers. By way of evidence, they point to a sketch of the bomber resembling Diab, the discovery of a passport in his name with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the bomber is believed to have fled, and testimonies that Diab was a member of the PFLP in the early 1980s. French protest antisemitism (Photo: AP) Diab insists that he was taking exams in Beirut at the time of the attack, which witnesses have corroborated. The prosecution has admitted to "doubts" about his whereabouts but said it is a matter for a court to resolve. The final decision on whether the case should go to trial will be taken by an investigating magistrate. Diab was arrested by Canadian police in November 2008, at the request of French authorities, and extradited six years later. He has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property as part of a criminal organisation. On two occasions, he was granted bail only to be taken back into custody after the decisions were overturned on appeal. A group of Canadian artists, activists and politicians, including filmmakers Atom Egoyan and political activist Naomi Klein, have taken up his case, urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene to secure his release. Some 40 masked Jewish settlers entered Burin, near Nablus, on Wednesday afternoon and hurled stones at Palestinians, saying it was retaliation for Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli vehicles near the village. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter IDF troops who arrived at the scene removed the settlers from the village. No one was hurt. Settlers throwing stones at Palestinians X According to the settlers, Palestinians first threw stones at Israeli cars on the Gilad road near Burin, prompting some of the Israelis to exit their cars and throw stones back at the Palestinians. At the same time, the settlers also called security forces to the scene. Palestinians hurling stones at settlers X The Rabbis for Human Rights organization claimed the IDF force that arrived at the scene stood by while the Palestinians were attacked by the settlers. (Photo: Rabbis for Human Rights) This was the latest in a series of similar violent incidents between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in that area of the Samaria region. The violence started in clashes over the annual olive harvest, and was followed by a Palestinian being shot dead by a settler after a group of Palestinian rioters attacked a group of Israeli children. December 10 marks International Human Rights Daya date that honors the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948and as such, recognizes the universal value of human rights. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Declaration clearly defines what is meant by universal human rights, explaining that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedomswithout distinction of any kind. Accordingly, it should not matter what your gender is, what color skin you have, what religion (if any) you believe in, or what country you are fromyour human rights are to be protected. Fifty years later, in 1998, the United Nations (UN) adopted a definition of the individuals meant to uphold and protect the values of the Declaration. These human rights defenders, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, must accept the universality of human rights. The definition further states that a person cannot deny some human rights and yet claim to be a human rights defender because he or she is an advocate for others. They must also completely reject violence and only partake in peaceful actions. Michael Lynk (Photo: UN) Unfortunately, those prestigiously honored as human rights defenders by the international community have made a mockery of these universal values of human rights. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UNs health body, in October appointed Zimbabwes outgoing dictator Robert Mugabe as a Goodwill Ambassador. Mugabes apparent defense of human rights, including the universal right to health, comprises of leading an extremely violent regime, completely destroying Zimbabwes economy, and manipulating elections to maintain his dictatorial role. The ICC has even been urged to investigate Mugabe for crimes against humanity. Another instance is Aung San Suu Kyithe leader of Myanmar. Despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and being affirmed by Hilary Clinton as having a role in giving the world new hope in the ability for countries to transition from dictatorship to democracy, Suu Kyi is currently the leader of a country committing human rights violations against the Rohingya population. She has also lied to the world about her regimes culpability in a humanitarian disaster that many are calling genocide. Likewise, the UNs expert on Israel Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk, who is also a Western University professor, proclaimed that Manal Tamimi, an individual who uses virulently antisemitic and violent rhetoric on her Twitter, is a human rights defender. It is difficult to understand how someone who posts tweets that call for violent uprisings and include cartoons that depict Jews as rats promote the UNs universal values. Finally, is Glamour Magazines inclusion of the Womens March Organizers in its 2017 list of Women of the Year. However, one of the organizers, Linda Sarsour, overtly promotes particularistic human rightsfor instance, arguing that feminism and Zionism are mutually exclusive. Sarsour, in direct opposition to broad international support of a two-state framework for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, supports a one-state solutionwhich would effectively lead to the demise of Israel and a denial of Jewish rights to sovereign equality. She is also an advocate for discriminatory BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel. The organizers of the Womens March further damaged their credibility by publically supporting Rasmea Odeha convicted terrorist, responsible for the 1969 bombing of a supermarket in Israel that killed two students. Linda Sarsour on Facebook So where are these champions of human rights now? After widespread outcry, Mugabe was stripped of his prestigious title of Goodwill Ambassador. Following a complaint submitted by NGO Monitor, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights too removed the listing of Manal Tamimi from its report. Rasmea Odeh was forced to leave America due her lying on her US visa application where she failed to disclose her previous terrorist conviction in Israel. And public condemnations of both Suu Kyi and Sarsour are countless. The sad thing is that the true defenders of universal human rights are neglected, and instead antisemites, terrorists, and perpetrators of mass human rights violations are celebrated. The UN and the international community must do better in their initial selection of human rights defenders and other champions of human rights to ensure that only those who promote universal human rights are celebrated. Terrorists, war criminals, and racists must instead be shamed. Becca Wertman is deputy editor of NGO Monitor in Jerusalem and a Vancouver native. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of having a "Zionist mentality" after recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "The real owner of this land is Palestine, and Mr. Trump wants it all to be Israel, the product of evangelism and a Zionist mentality," Mr. Erdogan said. From a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. "The fate of Jerusalem can not be left in the hands of a country that is drinking blood, expanding its borders by savagely killing children, civilians and women," he added. Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz has called on the King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Israel and to welcome the prime minister in Riyadh in order to advance the regional peace process. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Speaking in an interview with the online Saudi newspaper Elaph, Katz also urged Saudi Arabia to take the lead in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, but his comments on the matter were omitted. Minister Katz According to the articles author, the decision to erase the quote was entirely editorial, rather than political. Other senior Israeli officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, have also been interviewed by the newspaper. Saudi Arabia must head the promotion of the policy initiative. There is no other Arab country that has the strength and the understanding, Katz said. The current Saudi leadership is observing the area, and we welcome this development and the reforms. According to Katz, the US asked both Israel and the Palestinians what would be acceptable in any peace deal, but did not elaborate on the initiative. I think that this is an opportunity and I suggest that Saudi Arabia, as a world Arab leader, takes the initiative and offers the Palestinians its patronage. In a situation of Saudi Arabian leadership I would be ready to enter negotiations. Saudi Arabia can lead the process and make decisions for the region and for the Palestinians, who are weak and are unable today to make decisions, he continued, adding that Israel and the Saudis share a litany of interests. Mutual economic, intelligence and security interests have formed and I hope that this will be accompanied by political peace. Its not contradictory, but rather a complementary process, he stated optimistically. The minister also reiterated red lines that have repeatedly been delineated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vis-a-vis Iran, underscoring the fact that Saudi Arabia shares Israels concerns. Katz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Photo: Reuters, Ohad Zwigenberg) The Iranian threat constitutes today a mutual threat for Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Saudis recognize the threat coming from Iran exactly as Israel does. Today, Israel views positively Saudi leadership in the region. The Iranians that are promoting terror without taking responsibility, support shiite terror groups and militias in the region and undermine stability, Katz said. Laying out certain future scenarios that would not be tolerated by Jerusalem, Katz said: We will not allow an Iranian military presence in Syria, we won't allow the transfer of missiles from Syria to Lebanon and we wont allow the development of iranian missiles in Lebanon. Israel, he vowed, would respond with greater force depending on the accuracy of enemy missile stockpiles. King Salman The minister also suggested that his regional peace initiative be based the construction of a train line from the Gulf to the Haifa port. I want to revive the train tracks (idea). It is a serious reality that will be realized soon if there is a will for it. We recommend to the Gulf states to connect to the Haifa port. It is a connection that will significantly reduce the costs of transporting goods to them, he explained. I held a series of meetings with the Americans in order to advance this project together, and the last one was during my last visit to Washington. They showed a great willingness and things are progressing. Economic peace builds political peace, he concluded. Undercover Border Policemen arrested Wednesday three Palestinian rioters in Ramallah during a mass demonstration staged by some 400 protesters who burned tires, threw stones and Molotov Cocktails at security forces. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Rioters threw rocks at the undercover border cops as they carried out the arrests, prompting security forces to shoot at the legs of those responsible for the violence. The suspects were taken in for questioning. Undercover Israeli Border Policemen arrest Palestinian rioters (: '') X Border Policemen also confiscated overnight Tuesday M4 and M-16 assault rifles, a handgun and ammunition during a raid in a refugee camp in the West Bank. According to suspicions, the weapons were used last Thursday during a demonstration in a refugee camp south of Hebron. Other improvised weapons were also confiscated during the demonstration, including a Carl Gustav submachine gun. The Israeli security forces arrested four Palestinian suspects who were brought in for questioning by the Shin Bet, but it remains unclear whether they are guilty of possession of the confiscated weapons. The protest was just one in a wave of demonstrations that have taken place since US President Donald Trump announced last week Washingtons recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. The IAF attacked three Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Thursday in response to four rockets that were fired at Israel hours before. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The targets attacked include Hamas training sites and arms depots. According to a Palestinian security official, the targetsincluding a naval facility and a military base near Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Striphave been the subject of more than ten strikes. Iron Dome shoots down rocket from Gaza X These sites suffered significant damage while nearby homes suffered minor damage, according to the source, which also reports light injuries. Three consecutive Code Red Alerts were sounded Wednesday evening in the southern city of Sderot and the Negev Regional Council near the Gaza Strip, before the Iron Dome missile defense shot down two rockets, and another exploded in open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. It later emerged that another rocket launched from Gaza landed in an public school in Beit Hanoun inside the strip, causing damage to one of the classrooms. It is the third day straight that quiet has been interrupted in Israeli towns and cities bordering the Palestinian enclave as a total of 16 rockets have been fired from Gaza since US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The IDF said in a statement that "due to the security events and in accordance with security assessments" Kerem Shalom crossing - the main passage point for goods entering the Gaza Strip, and the Erez pedestrian crossing - would be shut as of Thursday. It did not say how long the closure would last. Three people were lightly hurt in Sderot on Wednesday evening while running for shelter and another two were treated for shock. Iron Dome shoots down rockets from Gaza Sderot's mayor urged the IDF to step up its response to the rocket attacks, imploring it it to mercilessly hit the terror organizations. Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin, the former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, wrote on Twitter: "Another day of Code Red. The border area has already gotten into an emergency situation routine, and the IDF must not hold back. Hamas must be hit hard, so they understand we won't stand idly by while rockets are being fired at Gaza border communities." The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, posted a message in Arabic on Facebook, telling the Palestinians in Gaza: "It is important you know the rocket hit a public school in Beit Hanoun and destroyed a classroom there. Gaza terror groups are unequivocally proving what we've been repeatedly saying: They're destroying the future of their children with their own hands. Just think what would've happened had the rocket been launched during the day, when the class would have been full with your children." Iron Dome (Photo: Reuters) The attack comes less than 24 hours after the Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas military complex in the southern Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday in response to rocket fire at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. The Code Red rocket alert siren was sounded at 10:47pm Tuesday in Yad Mordechai and Netiv HaAsara, located near the Gaza Strip's southern border. Shortly after that, a rocket was found after it had fallen in an open area in Netiv HaAsara. A second rocket was found in an open area outside a community in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. Police bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion of the rocket. No one was hurt and no damage was reported. Late Monday night, the Iron Dome intercepted a rocket fired at Ashkelon. Earlier in the day, a rocket fell in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. On Friday night, three rockets were fired at Sderot, with the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting one, while another fell in a street, causing damage to several vehicles. A day later, the remains of a third rocket were found in a kindergarten, which caused damage to the structure. The United States, which wants to prevent violence spilling over from Syria into Lebanon, will give the Lebanese army $120 million more in aid to boost border security and counter-terrorism work, the US ambassador to Lebanon said on Wednesday. Lebanon will get six MD 530G light attack helicopters, six Scan Eagle drones, and communication and night vision equipment under the new programmes, Ambassador Elizabeth Richard said after she met Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. The United States has given the Lebanese Armed Forces more than $1.5 billion in assistance over the past ten years, the Embassy has said previously. The United States hopes to strengthen the Lebanese army to stop the spread of violence over the border from neighbouring Syria and help it become the sole military force defending the country. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which Washington regards as a terrorist organisation, is a powerful military force in the country and also fights in Syria for President Bashar al-Assad. Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees. Israel's Histadrut labour federation called a half-day general strike for Sunday, the first day of the Israeli work week, in protest at what it described as mass layoffs planned by Teva Pharmaceuterical Industries. "The entire economyfrom the airport to the banks to the seaports to the municipalities to the government service to the health clinicswill stand until noon on Sunday in solidarity with Teva's employees," Histadrut chief Avi Nissenkorn told reporters. Breaking with years of courting the US, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the United Nations to replace Washington as a Mideast mediator and suggested he might not cooperate with the Trump administration's much-anticipated effort to hammer out an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter At a summit in Turkey, Arab and Muslim leaders "rejected and condemned" President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capitalthe trigger for Abbas' sharp policy pivotbut stopped short of backing his more combative approach toward Washington. A possible Palestinian refusal to engage with the US and growing backlash against Trump's shift on Jerusalem, including from Arab allies, cast new doubt over the administration's already seemingly remote chances of brokering a deal and succeeding where its predecessors have failed. A senior White House official said the administration will continue to work on a Mideast plan "that we hope will offer the best outcome for both peoples" and will present it when the time is right. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of an expected public statement later Wednesday. In seemingly shunning the US, Abbas finds himself in uncharted territory. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital was decried by Palestinians and others in the region as a provocative show of pro-Israel bias, which many said made it difficult for Abbas to justify dealing with Washington as a mediator. Trump's argument that his announcement does not mean an endorsement of specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem has not gained traction in the ensuing uproar. The fate of Jerusalem is a hot-button issue in the region, and even the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egyptreportedly eager to help advance Trump's Mideast effortscannot afford to be seen as soft on the religious claims of Muslims and political claims of Palestinians to the contested city. Wednesday's extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation ended with a call on Trump to rescind an "unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region" and on the world to recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a state of Palestine. The final statement lacked tougher criticism of US policy contained in an earlier draft, which questioned Washington's continued role as a Mideast mediator and warned that Trump's shift on Jerusalem threatened global security. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit, stuck to the harder line, saying at a news conference that it is "out of the question" for Washington to continue mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. "That process is now over," he said. Abbas' speech marked a high-profile break with what had been his unwavering policy in more than a decade as Palestinian leader. Despite setbacks, he had considered a close relationship with the US the centerpiece of his efforts to win Palestinian statehood through negotiations. When Trump was elected a year ago, Abbas went out of his way not to criticize the new president, for fear of harming the relationship. On Wednesday, he expressed a sense of betrayal. "We were shocked by the US administration," Abbas said. "While we engaged with them in the peace process for the sake of a deal for the ages, (Trump) delivered a slap for the ages." Abbas said the United States has disqualified itself as a mediator. "We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process," Abbas said. In another sign of a harder Palestinian stance, Abbas aides said earlier this week that he would not meet with Mike Pence when the US vice president visits the region, starting this weekend. Abbas was initially to have hosted Pence, a devout Christian, in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, following the vice president's visit to Israel. Trump's nod to Israel on Jerusalem came at a time of mounting speculation about the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian deal the US might propose. Palestinian officials have said they have not heard anything official from the US team led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner or from the powerful Saudi crown prince who met Abbas last month. Saudi Arabia did not participate in a high-level capacity in Wednesday's summit. But in Riyadh, King Salman and his heir met Wednesday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also leads the United Arab Emirates' armed forces. A statement said they discussed "the serious repercussions of the negative decision of the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (: AP) In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to criticize Abbas' comments, though he did not directly refer to the Palestinian leader. Netanyahu said in a speech Wednesday that Palestinians should "work for peace and not for extremism." "All of these declarations do not impress us," Netanyahu said. He said Israel is committed to protecting the freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem, but reaffirmed Israel's claims to the entire city. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the state's establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people Some 1,600 Israeli security personnel conducted one of the Border Polices biggest operations Wednesday evening against Palestinians illegally residing inside Israel, carrying out 367 arrest, 38 of which were against Gaza residents. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The reinvigorated crackdown, which has been dubbed Operation Green Candles, also saw the arrest of 12 people suspected of employing the illegals and four others suspected of illegally transporting them. Massive wave of arrests against Palestinians illegally residing in Israel (: ) X During the raids, the police force located 55 gas containers, two pipe bombs, 16 Molotov Cocktails and three weapons. The Palestinians from Gaza were arrested during a raid on a residential area in Umm al-Fahm. (Photo: Israel Police) According to the police, the Border Police have been operating covertly for weeks in preparation for the sweep, that began at around 3am overnight Tuesday in dozens of sites throughout the country. As part of the operation, the Border Police officers raided a lab used for producing explosives in a home in Abu Dis which is believed to have supplied bombs to terror cells which were dismantled by the Border Police in the Tira area. (Photo: Israel Police) Gas canisters were discovered during the raid and three Abu Dis residents were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing explosives. In the central city of Ra'anana, policemen spotted two suspicions individuals attempting to break into a house, who turned out to be Palestinian residents of Qalqilya. Both were arrested and caught with tools for breaking into buildings. Further north in Beit Keshet, the Border Police discovered five suspects from Daburiyya who were involved in an illegal excavation at an antiquities site. In the southern city of Rahat, police discovered during the arrests 16 Molotov Cocktails and two air guns in a backyard. In Tamra in the Lower Galilee east of Acre, the officers found weapons and two pipe bombs, along with a stolen scooter. A Bangladeshi immigrant accused of setting off a pipe bomb in the New York City subway system has appeared in court by video from a hospital room to face terrorism charges and will remain detained. Akayed Ullah is accused of setting off an explosive strapped to his body, badly injuring himself but no one else. Ullah appeared briefly Wednesday before a US magistrate judge via video, shown on monitors in the courtroom. Two assistant public defenders stood beside his hospital bed but did not request bail. Ullah nodded to acknowledge he understood when the judge read him his rights. He spoke only a few words, acknowledging a financial affidavit filled out on his behalf was "true and correct." Ullah did not enter a plea because he has not been indicted. The judge gave prosecutors until January 13 to obtain an indictment. Menlo Park, Calif. If you add more lithium to the positive electrode of a lithium-ion battery overstuff it, in a sense it can store much more charge in the same amount of space, theoretically powering an electric car 30 to 50 percent farther between charges. But these lithium-rich cathodes quickly lose voltage, and years of research have not been able to pin down why until now. After looking at the problem from many angles, researchers from Stanford University, two Department of Energy national labs and the battery manufacturer Samsung created a comprehensive picture of how the same chemical processes that give these cathodes their high capacity are also linked to changes in atomic structure that sap performance. This is good news, said William E. Gent, a Stanford University graduate student and Siebel Scholar who led the study. It gives us a promising new pathway for optimizing the voltage performance of lithium-rich cathodes by controlling the way their atomic structure evolves as a battery charges and discharges. Michael Toney, a distinguished staff scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and a co-author of the paper, added, It is a huge deal if you can get these lithium-rich electrodes to work because they would be one of the enablers for electric cars with a much longer range. There is enormous interest in the automotive community in developing ways to implement these, and understanding what the technological barriers are may help us solve the problems that are holding them back. The teams report appears today in Nature Communications. The researchers studied the cathodes with a variety of X-ray techniques at SLACs Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorys Advanced Light Source (ALS). Theorists from Berkeley Labs Molecular Foundry, led by David Prendergast, were also involved, helping the experimenters understand what to look for and explain their results. The cathodes themselves were made by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology using commercially relevant processes, and assembled into batteries similar to those in electric vehicles. This ensured that our results represented an understanding of a cutting-edge material that would be directly relevant for our industry partners, Gent said. As an ALS doctoral fellow in residence, he was involved in both the experiments and the theoretical modelling for the study. This animation shows what happens when extra lithium ions are added to the positive electrode the one on the right here of a lithium-ion battery. In a regular lithium-ion battery, lithium ions move from the positive to the negative electrode during charging, and then back to their original positions when the battery is discharging, or doing work. The structure of the positive electrode represented by the horizontal black lines does not change. In lithium-rich electrodes, extra lithium ions are added to layers of the positive electrode where they dont normally appear. When they leave and return during battery operation, the structure of the electrode changes, as shown by the broken black lines, and the batterys voltage fades. (Farrin Abbott/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) Like a Bucket Half Empty Batteries convert electrical energy to chemical energy for storage. They have three basic parts two electrodes, the cathode and the anode, and the liquid electrolyte between them. As a lithium-ion battery charges and discharges, lithium ions shuttle back and forth between the two electrodes, where they insert themselves into the electrode materials. The more ions an electrode can absorb and release in relation to its size and weight a factor known as capacity the more energy it can store and the smaller and lighter a battery can be, allowing batteries to shrink and electric cars to travel more miles between charges. The cathode in todays lithium-ion batteries operates at only about half of its theoretical capacity, which means it should be able to last twice as long per charge, said Stanford Professor William Chueh, an investigator with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) at SLAC. But you cant charge it all the way full. Its like a bucket you fill with water, but then you can only pour half of the water out. This is one of big challenges in the field right now how do you get these cathode materials to behave up to their theoretical capacity? Thats why people have been so excited about the prospect of storing a lot more energy in lithium-rich cathodes. Like todays cathodes, lithium-rich cathodes are made of layers of lithium sandwiched between layers of transition metal oxides elements like nickel, manganese or cobalt combined with oxygen. Adding lithium to the oxide layer increases the cathodes capacity by 30 to 50 percent. Connecting the Dots Previous research had shown that several things happen simultaneously when lithium-rich cathodes charge, Chueh said: Lithium ions move out of the cathode into the anode. Some transition metal atoms move in to take their place. Meanwhile, oxygen atoms release some of their electrons, establishing the electrical current and voltage for charging, according to Chueh. When the lithium ions and electrons return to the cathode during discharge, most of the transition metal interlopers return to their original spots, but not all of them and not right away. With each cycle, this back and forth changes the cathodes atomic structure. Its as if the bucket morphs into a smaller and slightly different bucket, Chueh added. We knew all these phenomena were probably related, but not how, Chueh said. Now this suite of experiments at SSRL and ALS shows the mechanism that connects them and how to control it. This is a significant technological discovery that people have not holistically understood. At SLACs SSRL, Toney and his colleagues used a variety of X-ray methods to make a careful determination of how the cathodes atomic and chemical structure changed as the battery charged and discharged. Another important tool was soft X-ray RIXS, or resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, which gleans atomic-scale information about a materials magnetic and electronic properties. An advanced RIXS system that began operation at ALS last year scans samples much faster than before. RIXS has mostly been used for fundamental physics, ALS scientist Wanli Yang said. But with this new ALS system, we wanted to really open up RIXS for practical materials studies, including energy-related materials. Now that its potential for these studies has been partially demonstrated, we could easily extend RIXS to other battery materials and reveal information that was not accessible before. The team is already working toward using the fundamental knowledge they have gained to design battery materials that can reach their theoretical capacity and not lose voltage over time. The research was funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energys Vehicle Technologies Office and by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology Global Research Outreach Program. -Written by Glennda Chui Citation: W. Gent et al., Nature Communications, 12 December 2017 (10.1038/s41467-017-02041-x) Press Office Contact: Andrew Gordon, agordon@slac.stanford.edu, (650) 926-2282 SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, California, SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. To learn more, please visit www.slac.stanford.edu. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. NEW YORK (AP) "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" has landed a leading four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, including best ensemble. As one of the steadiest bellwethers of the Academy Awards, the SAG Awards have considerable sway on the Oscar race. Wednesday's nominees offered swift redemption for "The Big Sick," which the Golden Globes completely overlooked on Monday. A list of the nominees for the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, announced Wednesday in West Hollywood, California: MOVIES Actor: Timothee Chalamet, "Call Me By Your Name" James Franco, "The Disaster Artist" Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out" Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour" Denzel Washington, "Roman J. Israel, ESQ" Actress: Judi Dench, "Victoria & Abdul" Sally Hawkins, "The Shape of Water" Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya" Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird" Supporting actor: Steve Carell, "Battle of the Sexes" Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project" Woody Harrelson, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Richard Jenkins, "The Shape of Water" Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Supporting actress: Mary J. Blige, "Mudbound" Hong Chau, "Downsizing" Holly Hunter, "The Big Sick" Allison Janney, "I, Tonya" Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird" Cast: "The Big Sick" "Get Out" "Lady Bird" "Mudbound" "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" TELEVISION Actor in a TV movie or miniseries: Benedict Cumberbatch, "Sherlock: The Lying Detective" Jeff Daniels, "Godless" Robert De Niro, "Wizard of Lies" Geoffrey Rush, "Genius" Alexander Skarsgard, "Big Little Lies" Actress in a TV movie or miniseries: Laura Dern, "Big Little Lies" Nicole Kidman, "Big Little Lies "Jessica Lange, "Feud: Bette And Joan" Susan Sarandon, "Feud: Bette And Joan" Reese Witherspoon, "Big Little Lies" Actor in a drama series: Jason Bateman, "Ozark" Sterling K. Brown, "This Is Us" Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones" David Harbour, "Stranger Things" Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul" Actress in a drama series: Millie Bobby Brown, "Stranger Things" Claire Foy, "The Crown" Laura Linney, "Ozark" Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale" Robin Wright, "House of Cards" Actor in a comedy series: Anthony Anderson, "black-ish" Aziz Ansari, "Master of None" Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace" William H. Macy, "Shameless" Marc Maron, "Glow" Actress in a comedy series: Uzo Aduba, "Orange is the New Black" Alison Brie, "Glow" Jane Fonda, "Grace and Frankie" Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep" Lily Tomlin, "Grace and Frankie" Ensemble in a drama series: "The Crown" "Game of Thrones" "The Handmaid's Tale" "Stranger Things" "This is Us" Ensemble in a comedy series: "black-ish" "Curb Your Enthusiasm" "Glow" "Orange is the New Black" "Veep" ___ Life achievement award: Morgan Freeman Winners will be announced during a January 21 telecast hosted by Kristen Bell. LOS ANGELES Tyler Woodward was a Star Wars fan long before his cancer diagnosis. His whole life, really. The 17-year-old says he was born "right when all the prequels were coming out" and grew up having lightsaber fights with his two older brothers. So after chemo took his hair last year, he knew what he wanted from the Make-A-Wish Foundation: A trip to "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" premiere. A week ago, he learned his wish had been granted. And on Saturday, after flying out from Ohio, Tyler put on a blazer and his BB-8 tie for the film's world premiere in Los Angeles. He was one of seven teens with life-threatening illnesses to attend the star-studded premiere and elaborate after-party with Make-A-Wish. While the organization couldn't promise personal interactions with celebrities, the kids and their parents had a special spot on the red carpet where they could see the stars arrive. "I've been telling people that like 50 percent of the reason I wished for this is just so I could meet Daisy Ridley," Tyler said before the premiere from beneath his floppy blond curls. But no matter what happened that night, he said, "I don't really see myself being disappointed." Fourteen-year-old Olivia Sava, who, like Tyler, suffers from a form of leukemia, made a wish about "The Last Jedi" just after "The Force Awakens" came out in 2015. She said her dad got her into Star Wars when she was little. "I'm most excited to see Daisy Ridley," said soft-spoken Olivia of Woodmere, New York, who wore a purse to the premiere that looked like the Death Star. "She's an amazing actress and I really want to meet her." Established in 1980, the nonprofit Make-A-Wish Foundation aims to grant a wish to every child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition. Disney, now the parent company of the Star Wars franchise, granted the very first wish: A trip to Disneyland. The company is now involved with almost half the wishes submitted each year, and is supporting the organization this month with a $5 donation for every photo of Mickey Mouse ears shared on social media with the hashtag #ShareYourEars. The Make-A-Wish group posed at "The Last Jedi" premiere wearing Star Wars-themed Mickey ears. The kids also bonded during their red carpet experience. When one boy sat down during all the excitement, one of the girls checked to see if he was feeling OK. When another boy was trembling too much to take a photo, the boy next to him helped steady his hands. And when the group spotted Ridley arriving on the red carpet, a buzz of collective excitement overcame them. "Daisy, I had cancer!" Tyler playfully shouted to the actress from too far away. "I've had brain surgery!" added Chris Alegria, a gregarious 18-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida, whose head is scarred from having tumors removed. He wore his prom tuxedo to the premiere. Both Tyler and Chris brought their moms along for the wish experience, which included a weekend in Hollywood and a trip to Universal Studios. "My mom led me through this whole cancer fight," Chris said before the premiere. "Cancer sucks, to say the least, and I could always count on her... She would always comfort me. She's my best friend." Tyler's mother, Karen Woodward, said she was just grateful to see her son so happy. "He's been through a lot the last year-and-a-half, with the chemo and losing all his hair and missing school and all that, so this has really been a great event... just to be able to give him something that's exciting to look forward to and that he's going to remember forever," she said. "It's so much fun to watch the excitement in your child. I get a lot out of that." The red carpet outside the Shrine Auditorium, where a giant Imperial Walker towered over guests, was crowded with stars. One by one writer-director Rian Johnson, Andy Serkis, Laura Dern, Gwendoline Christie, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, John Boyega and Adam Driver came over to meet the Make-A-Wish group. And Ridley, too. "Hi. You're Daisy Ridley," Tyler said, mostly to himself, when the actress approached. As she posed for a photo with Chris, Tyler fished a card from his mom's purse that had Ridley, or Rey's, face on it. "Can you sign this?" he asked her. "Sure," Ridley said. "How are you guys doing?" "Great now," Tyler said. It took him a second to snap a selfie because he was shaking, which he acknowledged aloud. "Is it weird if I ask for a hug?" he said. Ridley happily obliged. Then Chris wanted a hug, too. Olivia was content with a handshake and a selfie. Tyler was breathless and shaking as the actress walked away. "I just hugged Daisy Ridley," he said. "That was Daisy Ridley." "We just hugged her. I can't believe it," Chris said. "Daisy Ridley," Tyler said. After watching "The Last Jedi" alongside the cast, the group went to the after-party, which was modeled after a casino-like city in the Star Wars galaxy. Guests could play table games to win souvenir Star Wars pins and pose for photos with characters from the new film. And the Make-A-Wish kids could celebrate being among the first fans in the world to see the anticipated eighth chapter in the core Star Wars saga. "I'm going to see it like hundreds of times before I'm dead, but it's up there in terms of being not only the best Star Wars movie, but the best movie I've ever seen," Tyler said. "Obviously, my experience is better than most, seeing the world premiere and getting to meet all the actors first, but it was amazing." TWIN FALLS A private school in Twin Falls has been operating in a professional office building without a special-use permit a violation thats been overlooked until now. Wali Fedaie with the Russell Square Homeowners Association had asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to revoke the permit for Acorn Learning Center on Eastland Drive. Fedaie cited noise complaints from his tenants, and the item was scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday. About a dozen parents showed up to support the school at the meeting, but the hearing was abruptly canceled. While preparing the hearing, staff discovered the special use-permit that was heard by the Commission last May has not actually, technically been issued to Acorn, Senior Planner Jonathan Spendlove said. The reason for this is they have not yet fulfilled the conditions on that permit. The school has not blocked off the north access or striped its parking lot as required, he said. Actions to revoke a permit would be premature since they dont have one, he said. During a public comment period, Fedaie expressed frustration that he had not been notified of the canceled hearing. The noise level is unbearable, he said. Tenants working graveyard shifts have complained about being unable to sleep during the day because of the school, Fedaie said. Acorn Learning Center is limited to 50 students, and has, at most, 20 students outside at any time, staff said. The Vera C. OLeary Middle School across the street, by comparison, has more than 800 students. My house faces the Bickel school playground, said Richard Kuhn, who lives a few blocks away. Weve never found it to be any kind of a problem, the sound of the kids playing, and Bickel Elementary School is significantly larger than Acorn. I dont see where the size of the Acorn school would create that much noise. Former board president Heidi Campbell said the school went to extraordinary lengths to follow the law and notify nearby property owners when it was working to move there this year. The city notified the school on Tuesday about the non-compliance, and will work to get the situation rectified so it can receive its permit, Spendlove said. The city is aware that children need to remain in school, he said, and intends to work with both Acorn Learning Center and Fedaie to address the problems. TWIN FALLS Last week, Bryania Ellis watched as the man who murdered her sister was sentenced to life in prison. She addressed Glenn Tures face-to-face at his sentencing hearing Friday, telling him the ways he ruined her life when he killed 20-year-old Anessia Winterholer in August 2016. You will never feel any form of kindness, Ellis, 17, said at the hearing, her voice barely wavering. You will never be loved. And you will be nothing more than somebody who sits in a cell. Tures must serve at least 35 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole. Three days after Winterholers body was found, police said Tures walked into the Twin Falls Police Department and confessed to murdering her. That November, Tures wrote a highly unusual letter to the judge on his case objecting to his attorney telling him he was incompetent for trial and saying he would refuse to take medication. The next month, he was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and received treatment at a Boise prison to restore his competence. On April 28, an evaluator determined he was fit to proceed. A trial was set, but Tures pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Oct. 13. While the sentencing wraps up 16 months of court hearings in the case, Ellis said she hasnt felt a sense of closure that families of victims sometimes talk about. Instead, something has bothered her: the publics focus on Winterholers death, rather than her life. It doesnt feel like theres justice thats being served, Ellis said Tuesday. He still has that power, and that kind of upsets me. Ellis described Anessia as a selfless, compassionate big sister who looked out for her family before herself. She was always a protector, Ellis said. Thats what she kind of lived for: for me, my brother and my mom. From the time they were young children, Anessia was known for her signature blunt honesty. She was the most blunt person that you could ever meet, Ellis recalled with a small laugh. She was going to let you know how she really feels. Even as a little kid, she continued, she would let me know that I did something wrong, but she would still love me and cuddle me. Anessia, a graduate of Twin Falls High School, will also be remembered by her family and friends for her beautiful smile, her bravery, and for being super smart. She was so much more than somebody who got killed, Ellis said. She just was too amazing to go unnoticed. She stood up for me her whole life, Ellis added, and I guess its my turn to pay her back. SALT LAKE CITY A former Twin Falls resident has been charged with misdemeanor assault after allegedly beating a young child on a JetBlue flight. Cherice Dawn Klipfel, 46, now of Lakewood, Colo., was arrested after witnesses said she repeatedly hit and kicked her 8-year-old son on a Dec. 10 flight from Boston to Salt Lake City. Passengers reported seeing Klipfel grab the boy by the neck and shove him up against the window, according to a federal complaint. At one point, bystanders said, Klipfel tightly covered her sons face and shook him aggressively. Eventually, a passenger reported the behavior to a flight attendant. The incident was investigated by the FBIs Salt Lake City Division. Klipfel lived in Twin Falls as recently as 2016, according to Twin Falls County court documents. She is being held at the Davis County jail in Utah. TWIN FALLS Police asked officials this week to cut Bumpin Bernies hours because officers are being called to the after-hours bar too often. But commissioners said police didnt provide enough proof the bar is to blame and will allow Bernies to stay open late. The request initially came to the Planning and Zoning Commission in October, when the bar was given more time to tackle problems in its back parking lot. Police Sgt. Kevin Loosli told the commission that Bumpin Bernies got a lot more calls to its business compared with other bars in town. But Bernies has worked to resolve some of the issues hiring more security, and installing back lighting, signage and security cameras. I think hes making an attempt to improve the situation, but I also think we could continue monitoring to make sure thats going to continue, Commissioner Ryan Higley said. Commissioner Craig Hawkins agreed. It sounds to me like hes really trying to improve, he said. A lot of it is out of his control. Loosli said police received 16 calls for service at 139 Shoshone St. N. between Oct. 24 and early December. Not all of those calls could be attributed directly to the business. But some were. A few were noise complaints from other property owners, and a fight just a few days after the public hearing appeared to have started with an argument inside the bar. It escalated outside, Loosli said. The majority of issues occur in the parking lot. Most bar fights, he noted, are outside the establishments. Bumpin Bernies is the only business in the area open past 1:30 a.m. three nights a week, when it becomes a dance club and hookah lounge after it stops serving alcohol. Loosli argued that the business being open naturally attracts the people to the parking lot who are causing problems after 1:30 a.m., when about half of the calls occur. He could not say that calls after 1:30 a.m. were for more violent or worse crimes than before that time. Nor did Loosli give commissioners a better estimate for the number of calls directly caused by the bar. I am a little bit concerned that no one else came to support this potential action, Chairman Tom Frank said, noting the lack of complaints from other businesses. No one spoke in favor or against the request other than the applicant and the bar owner. Burhan Hetemi, co-owner of Bumpin Bernies, said winter is the bars busiest time of year. Yet since business has picked up in recent weeks, there have been no incidences at the bar, he said. Were a very respectful family and we respect others, he said. His father, Afrim Hetemi, said he needs more lighting in the back parking lot. The lot is owned by the Urban Renewal Agency, and may come up for improvements next year. In the meantime, police could be asked to monitor the situation closely in the future, and come back with solid data that could show more definitively what impacts the bar has on police calls. I read some startling news the other day. I am now a minority. Only 40 percent of people in the United States are Caucasian. I really hadnt noticed; not just because I live in Idaho, but because I have lived overseas and in other parts of the country where it was clear that I wasnt even 40 percent. In Japan, my blond kids got a bit tired of all the Japanese who wanted to have their picture taken with them or to pat the hair on their head. I am not upset to be a minority. Here in Idaho, we need agricultural workers. We havent been able to educate enough Americans in STEM subjects to fill the demands for people to fill those jobs. If you have gone for dinner at some popular restaurants lately, you may have noticed that they are short of waitstaff and sometimes cooks. I just went to Sunday brunch and wondered if I should get up and help! Rep. Lance Clow wrote about the H2 visa program in the Nov. 26 Times-News, and that is certainly one answer. It can work well for seasonal jobs for workers who want to maintain their homes elsewhere and dont mind being away from their families. Even with full-time permanent employment, they have not given up their home to establish another in a new country. However, visas are not the whole solution. I must bring up immigration reform. Of course, you say, youre a Democrat. But actually, with this issue I agree with George W. It was Nancy Pelosi who sank immigration reform when Bush proposed it because she would not let Democrats join with the Republicans who would support it. She was pandering to the voters the Democratic Party who blamed the loss of jobs on immigrants. Still, Democrats lost many of those voters in the last election. Instead, I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform for two reasons: security and demographics. I want to talk about demographics first. American citizens are aging. There are various reasons, of course, but the fact is that we are no longer replacing ourselves in the population. Many of the (now) illegal immigrants who want to stay are young. They pay Social Security taxes something people in my age group approve of. They also give their energy and enthusiasm to our communities. To use security to deny entry to immigrants is a mistake. People who have entered our country with their families want to be here for the long term. They have a personal stake in the community and in their job. They are less likely to condone lawlessness in their community. They are less likely to take proprietary information out of the country. They arrive here with every intention to fit in. Why do we have any security problems with immigrants? Because we resist their attempts to fit in. Except for individuals who come into our country with the specific intent to terrorize, terrorists are people who for one reason or another have come to hate the rest of society. Terrorists, home-grown or immigrant, are dissatisfied with their social circumstances and are ripe pickings for recruiters touting a heroic cause. We have a national narrative that we have always welcomed the immigrant, but it is not factual. In early colonial days, there was friction between colonists who chose to immigrate, and those Britain sent to the colonies because they were criminals or vagrants. Women were once named Nina for no Irish need apply rebuffing the prejudice of the time. As various cultures have come to the US, we have added cultural traditions Octoberfest, St. Patricks Day, Cinco de Mayo. We dont require complete Americanization. We add on to what it means to be an American. There is a case to be made for the able and against the lottery system. We dont want criminals. But why should we throw out people who have shown ability? We need workers, we have and can find immigrant labor. What we need is a common-sense immigration policy. With all the prominent men being accused of various forms of sexual harassment and abuse, weve gotten used to a certain kind of statement the men make when the news breaks. Sometimes they deny the accusations, sometimes they apologize if their behavior stepped over the line, sometimes they take complete responsibility, but nearly all of them are sure to include words asserting their belief that women deserve to be free of harassment in their work and personal lives. Except one: President Donald Trump. Monday, three of the more than a dozen women who have accused the president of various forms of harassment and abuse renewed their call for an investigation into all the claims against him. Trumps response, as it has been in the past, is that theyre all liars, even those who are saying he did what he himself is on tape bragging about his ability to do with impunity. He does not bother saying that women should be treated with respect. He does not pay lip service to contemporary values about equality. He attacks them. Tuesday, he added a senator to his list of targets, in a characteristically vulgar way. First Trump tweeted that the Democrats are promoting the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! This is a lie. As Ashley Parker notes, The list of women includes a former Apprentice contestant, a former business partner, a woman who has a photo of the two of them together, a contestant in one of his pageants and a People reporter who interviewed him. Then Trump took direct aim at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. The proximate cause is that Gillibrand, having called for Al Franken to resign over accusations of sexual impropriety, was soon asked whether the president should resign as well, and Monday said that he should. So heres what Trump tweeted about her Tuesday morning: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! This is the part where Im supposed to acknowledge that Trumps words had just enough ambiguity to them that he might not be saying what he seems to be saying. Maybe when he said she would do anything for a campaign contribution, he was implying that Gillibrand would promise to support legislation her donors favored, or would sing Highway to the Danger Zone if they asked. But lets not kid ourselves. We all know what he was saying. In so many words, the president basically just shouted Whore! at a U.S. senator. Gillibrand is functioning as a surrogate for Trumps accusers here, but the attack would be familiar to many women who have resisted advances from men with power over them. She wanted me, but I turned her down is a message men often spread in order to humiliate and denigrate the women who arent willing to submit to them, knowing that there are few surer ways to harm a womans career than to paint her as attempting to use her sexuality to get ahead. Theres another closely related message here, too, an important one for Trump: I could have nailed her. This is a longstanding pattern with him, to make public proclamations about the women he either did or could have had sex with. Its the mark of a desperately insecure man, and its something he has been doing for decades. As a real estate developer in New York and a fixture in the gossip pages, Trump would call up journalists pretending to be his own PR agent, going by the name John Barron or John Miller, regaling them with tales of all the beautiful and famous women who supposedly were desperate to date him. When he dumped his second wife, he spread a false rumor that he was dating model Carla Bruni. Bruni says that not only did they not date, she only met him once, at a charity event. Trump is obviously a lunatic, she said. As we saw when all the accusations against him rolled in, Trump displays his dominance over women who criticize him by asserting that not only are they to be judged primarily by whether he wants to have sex with them, but also that they dont measure up. That was a key aspect of his response to the many women who accused him of various forms of sexual harassment: Not only are they liars, but the proof is that theyre too ugly for me to abuse. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you, he said about a woman who charged that he groped her on an airline flight, the assumption being that its his right to choose which women hes going to assault. When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said, I dont think so. About another woman who accused him of sexual assault, he said, Check out her Facebook, youll understand, to the laughs of the crowd. That even extended to Hillary Clinton. After he debated her, he told another rally, When she walked in front of me, believe me I wasnt impressed. In all that went on in the campaign, you may have missed that Trump proclaimed his displeasure with the quality of his opponents rear end. One of the most important characteristics of Trumps political persona, and one that was particularly thrilling to many of his supporters, is his steadfast refusal to accept many of the political and social values that politicians of all parties take as a given. Its that refusal that granted so many people with despicable views, particularly white supremacists, the permission they sought to express those views more openly. And when Trump responds to charges of sexual harassment by claiming that a senator would have traded sex with him for money, hes telling every man who doesnt like all this talk about harassment and abuse: To hell with these women, thinking they can tell us what we can and cant do to them. Well show them. A number of feminist writers have warned that theres a backlash to the #MeToo movement on its way. If it comes, theres now little doubt about wholl be leading it. iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is "ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk ... without precondition," in a surprising change for a member of the Trump administration. The offer to North Korea comes amid crippling sanctions on the country and high tension over its nuclear weapons program -- and just after another intercontinental ballistic missile test just two weeks ago. "Let's just meet and we can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table if thats what youre excited about," Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council in Washington Tuesday. "But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face and then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap of what we might be willing to work toward?" The new message stands in contrast to President Donald Trumps warnings that talks have failed and that Tillerson was wasting his time another sign of policy difference between the president and his top diplomat. But it also is a shift from Tillersons own previous comments that the U.S. would not negotiate its way to the negotiating table with North Korea and that it would only talk once the regime was ready to address its denuclearization. Tillerson added later, "If there was any condition at all to this is that, 'Look, its going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decide to test another device.'" There needed to be a "period of quiet," he said, "or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions." Tillerson didn't outline any timelines or metrics for how long that period should be. This shift -- removing the commitment to denuclearize as a precondition to talking -- was also a practical idea, according to Tillerson. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it," he said. "The president is very realistic about that as well," he added, although Trump has tweeted the opposite before -- arguing that talks will not work. "Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid," he tweeted on Oct. 7. "... [It] hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!" It was unclear then what the "one thing" was. Still, the final goal for the administration has not changed, with the ultimate objective continuing to be the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula -- and Tillerson said he remains optimistic diplomatic efforts can achieve that. He said Trump is calling on China to cut off the flow of oil to North Korea to accelerate that effort. Tillerson also addressed the U.S.'s relationship with China amid the tension with North Korea. He said the two countries have had talks about how to secure North Korea's nuclear weapons in the event of the regime's collapse -- with the U.S. reassuring China that it would retreat back below the 38th parallel that divides North and South Korea if it ever had to invade the North. The Chinese are also working on their own contingency plans to deal with a massive flow of North Korean refugees into China if the regime fell apart, Tillerson said. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. President Rodrigo Duterte chided government officials and offices for continuing to display his portrait, despite his repeated appeals to take them down. Ang titigas ng mga ulo. You will not flatter me with my picture. Titindig ang balahibo ko niyan, Duterte told Palace reporters whom he hosted a party on Tuesday. He then told journalists to remind public officials and offices of his order to take down his portraits and instead display photos of heroes. Kindly remind them about my order, itong mga government offices, not to display my picture or the picture of [Special Assistant to the President Christopher] Bong [Go]. Hindi kami yung heroes, he said. ADVERTISEMENT Its not yet our time to be there. We are not supposed to be in any corner [of government offices or schools], he added. Without making any apparent reference, Duterte made the reminder a day after the Department of Labor and Employment issued an OFW Card bearing Dutertes image. Im requiring everybody who really want to show a sense of loyalty to the country [to] display the pictures or paintings of our heroes, he said. Malacanang issued on Sept. 15 Memorandum Circular No. 25 signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea urging government offices to display photos of Philippine heroes instead. Part of the Memorandum reads All government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations, state universities and colleges and public schools of all levels, are hereby directed to display or exhibit the photographs, paintings or other forms of visual representations of Philippine Heroes in lieu of the photographs, paintings or other forms of visual representations of elected or appointed government officials. Instead of President Dutertes pictures, government offices may choose to display the likenesses of recognized Philippine heroes from a list published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. These include Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino, Gabriela Silang, Lapu-Lapu, Father Jose Burgos, Father Mariano Gomez, Father Jacinto Zamora, Emilio Jacinto and Jose Abad Santos. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. There are similarities between Catalonia, the Spanish region whose quest for independence climaxed this year in an independence referendum, and the proposed Bangsamoro, which since the 1970s has been the goal of an often violent movement for real autonomy. There are dissimilarities too. One similarity is that the Catalonians agitation for independence from Spain and the Bangsamoro peoples quest for separation from this country are not new things. They have been in existence for centuries, surviving the administrations of colonial powers Spain and the US. In times past they were referred to in reports to Madrid and Washington D.C. as bands of Moros or tulisanes or insurrectionists. Today they are referred to by the more respectable names Moro Independent Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). On the other hand, the people of Catalonia in modern times have considered that region to be in a distinct and prideful part of Spain and regarded themselves as a people distinct from the rest of the Spanish population. Another similarity between Catalonia and the proposed Bangsamoro is that, in the absence of overpowering considerations, Spain and this country will never agree to give up Catalonia and the proposed Bangsamoro. In the first place, the Spanish and Philippine Constitutions allow the grant of autonomy but not the dismemberment of the national territory. This provision of the two Constitutions was invoked during the Congressional hearings on the propose Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and in the pro-independence aftermath of the Catalonian referendum. In the second place, both the Spanish and Philippine governments consider Catalonia and the proposed Bangsamoro to be special to Spain and the Philippines for historical, cultural and social reasons. And, thirdly, Madrid and Manila are experiencing the fear that is experienced by all countries that are confronted by separatist movements: the fear that if one region is allowed to separate, other regions might wish to break away too. One of the dissimilarities between Catalonia and the proposed Bangsamoro are the sizes of the two regions in relation to Spain and the Philippines. Catalonia is a relatively small part of territory located in the northeast corner of one of Western Europes largest countries. In contrast, the proposed Bangsamoro covers about a third of this countrys second largest island plus a slice of Palawan. The proposed Bangsamoro territory is simply too large to stand a fair chance of favorable consideration. In any sensible discussion of BBL, the specter of the dreaded D word dismemberment looms very large. ADVERTISEMENT The other dissimilarity between the Catalonian and Bangsamoro situations is arguably the most important of all the relevant considerations. I refer to the position of the proposed Bangsamoro economy in relation to the economy of this country. Catalonia accounts for fully 24 percent of the Spanish economy. In contrast, because the proposed Bangsamoro is largely agricultural in character, has very little industry and has comparatively poor infrastructure, its share of the Philippine GDP (gross domestic product) is very small. The authorities in Madrid could not, and cannot, contemplate Catalonias ceasing to be a part of Spain. And, small though its place in the national economic scenario is, the Philippine government will not, and cannot, afford to think of letting the proposed Bangsamoro go. E-mail: romero.business.class@gmail.com Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, took part in the One Planet Summit held Tuesday in Paris, evidencing thus his own commitment and that of Morocco to protect the environment and fulfill the global climate agenda His presence in the Summit and his unflinching commitment to the African continent development were highlighted at the opening of this global event, attended by more than 50 world leaders, at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron. We thank HM King Mohammed VI who proved, through his presence in this opening session, his commitment to the climate cause via the organization of the COP22, his leadership for sustainable development in the African continent and an ambitious program for renewable energy development, said the moderator of the opening session. The King of Morocco shows just how the climate issue is universal and involves all countries north and south, said the moderator at the opening session, in the presence of President Macron, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, and other attending Heads of state and delegation. The moderator also underlined that the presence of Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan is a strong signal of youths commitment to defend the future of the planet. The World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development, Laura Tuck, on her part paid tribute to the Monarch and to Morocco for the various initiatives made to gather support for climate action, notably in Africa. She highlighted in this vein some landmark projects, spearheaded by the Monarch, such as the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative (AAA). We are delighted to see Morocco take the lead as part of efforts to implement the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative [AAA), Laura Tuck told reporters following talks with a Moroccan ministerial delegation, on the sidelines of One Planet Summit. The World Bank is taking several innovative measures to improve the management of the agricultural sector with a view to adapting it to climate change and reducing emissions, and in this regard Morocco can play an important role in this area on the African continent, she said. Since Agriculture is the main victim of climate change in the continent, the Morocco- launched AAA initiative seeks to restore African ecosystem balance and enable the continent countries to have access to climate funds. In the same connection, Morocco and the World Bank agreed at the financial summit of COP22 to launch the Green Growth Infrastructure Facility for Africa tasked to spur green economy on the African continent and pull together environment-friendly private and public investments. To back Moroccos climate efforts in Africa and particularly the AAA initiative, the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD) decided to partner with the Kingdom through a one million Euro Funding. The memorandum of understanding on this partnership was signed Tuesday on the sidelines of the Paris summit that highlighted by several pledges and announcements. Among other moves, the World Bank announced that it will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019 in in order to align its support to countries to meet their Paris Agreement goals. Bill Gates, Richard Branson and other energy executives and investment fund leaders announced a dozen international projects emerging from the summit that will inject money into efforts to curb climate change. The projects announced include a program for eight U.S. states to develop electric vehicles, an investment fund for the hurricane-hit Caribbean and money from Gates foundation to help farmers adapt to climate change and develop low-carbon technology. The projects also aim to speed up the end of the combustion engine to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming. British Petroleum (BP) Oman has charged Petrofac to carry development of a central processing facility (CPF) at the Khazzan Phase Two (Ghazeer) gas development with a contract estimated at $800 million. The contract is the second received by the oilfield service group from BP Oman which controls Khazzan project with a 60 per cent interest, while Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production holds 40 per cent. The first contract between the two dates back to 2014. Under the terms of the new contract, Petrofac will undertake engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) works, which include liquid and compression trains and associated infrastructure, as well as brownfield work associated with connecting Phases 1 and 2 facilities, the company said. Petrofac will also work on a third gas train with a capacity for nominally handling 500m standard cubic feet of gas per day, which will help drive increased total production capacity from the CPF to 1,500 mmscfd, the company noted. Dubai authorities made a soft launch of the local Safari built for a total investment of $270 million and with the aim of giving to residents and visitors sheer experience of wildlife. The new park, is beyond just a park, noted Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality. Our vision for this project, which is more than just a wildlife park, is to offer a highly engaging edutainment experience that fosters education on animal welfare, inspires a sense of learning about wildlife diversity and raises awareness on what makes wildlife protection a top priority, he said. The Safari stretches over 119 hectares and is situated at Al Warqaa 5. It will include Asian, African and Arabian villages and an open Safari Village that offers a guided safari drive. The park will be house to more than 2,500 animals representing over 250 species. Visitors who took part in the soft launch were able to see White lions from Timbavati in South Africa, orange and white Siberian tigers, giraffes, chimpanzees, hippos, peacocks, ostriches, antelopes, crocodiles and even hyenas. The tourist attraction site will soon welcome elephants and other animals according to Tim Husband, the technical director. The official launch will take place in January. Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare genetic disease that interferes with the bodys ability to make the survival motor neuron protein, without which patients lose muscle control and strength, and eventually the ability to move, swallow or breathe. The most common type of the disease is SMA-1, which is diagnosed in babies between birth and 6 months old. Nusinersen, which is injected into the spine and works by temporarily enabling SMA patients to make more of the survival motor neuron protein, is one of the most expensive drugs on the market. Six injections are required in the first year, for a cost of $750,000, and three are required in subsequent years, at a cost of $375,000 a year. Insurance companies cover some patients, but the criteria arent uniform. Its also unclear how long insurance companies will cover a particular patient. Burgart said clinicians have encountered cases in which insurance companies cover the medication only for the younger of two siblings because the older child has more disabilities and so doesnt meet their criteria for covering the progressive disorder. I dont know what its like to be that parent and to have the joy at the opportunity to potentially modify one childs life, and not have the opportunity for your slightly older child. Its a very cruel time, I think, she said. Before the FDA approved nusinersen, which is marketed by Biogen and Ionis Pharmaceuticals as Spinraza, the only care options were palliative care or supportive care, including physical therapy, respiratory help or assistive devices. Most babies diagnosed with SMA-1 die before their second birthday, but patients with SMA types that show up later in life live longer. Early treatment crucial Early treatment of SMA is crucial for halting muscle degeneration, especially in infants, Burgart said. A blind national clinical trial of nusinersen involving 121 SMA-1 patients found that babies receiving the drug showed significant motor function improvement when compared with babies in the trial who didnt get the drug. The results were significant enough to prompt the FDA to halt the trial early, in August 2016, and expand access to all SMA-1 patients. But early approval left medical centers scrambling to establish treatment programs, which became more urgent when the FDA approved the drug for all SMA patients in December 2016, Burgart said. Even before final FDA approval, neuromuscular and biomedical ethics teams at Stanford, including pediatric neurologist and SMA expert John Day, MD, PhD, were already collaborating with colleagues around the country to grapple with the practical and ethical challenges of providing treatment. It really was thinking about ethical issues as they were coming up: How can we provide frameworks for what the issues are and what are the fair and ethical ways to address them? said one of the articles co-authors, Holly Tabor, PhD, associate professor of medicine and assistant director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. For example, what would be required to set up SMA treatment programs with high standards of care? How many patients could each clinic accept? How many programs were needed? How would clinics manage waiting lists? Would they have benchmarks, such as disease progression levels, for deciding who gets treatment? Is patient improvement the only measure of success, or is it also maintaining existing ability levels? Bodies fail, but minds work For some of these patients, if all they have left is, say, the ability to move one finger or to move their assistive device or they still have the ability to raise an eyebrow as a way to communicate, how can I say that maintaining that is not just as worthy as treating a baby to prevent another disability? Burgart said. The World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD) decided to partner with Morocco to implement the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative, through a one million Euro Funding. The Memorandum of Understanding related to this partnership was signed in Paris Tuesday on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit that saw the participation of King Mohammed VI who was accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan. The funding will support Moroccos climate efforts in Africa, including the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative, or Triple A Initiative, launched by the Kingdom during the COP22 summit held in Marrakesh in November 2016. Since Agriculture is the main victim of climate change in the continent, the initiative seeks to restore African ecosystem balance and enable the countries of the continent to have access to climate funds. The initiative seeks to mobilize $30 billion. The One Planet Summit was an opportunity to laud the Moroccan Monarch for his commitment to protect the environment at home and in Africa and to fulfill the global climate agenda. At the opening of this global event, attended by more than 50 world leaders, the moderator of the session expressed thanks to King Mohammed VI, who, he said, proved, through his presence in this opening session, his commitment to the climate cause via the organization of the COP22, his leadership for sustainable development in the African continent and his ambitious program for renewable energy development. The King of Morocco shows just how the climate issue is universal and involves all countries north and south, said the moderator at the opening session, attended by President Macron, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, and other Heads of state and delegation. The moderator also underlined that the presence of Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan in the event is a strong signal of youths commitment to defend the future of the planet. Relatedly, the World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development, Laura Tuck, paid tribute to the Monarch and to Morocco for the various initiatives made to gather support for climate action, notably in Africa. The World Bank official highlighted some landmark projects, spearheaded by the Monarch, such as the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative (AAA). We are delighted to see Morocco take the lead as part of efforts to implement the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative, Laura Tuck told reporters following talks with a Moroccan ministerial delegation, on the sidelines of One Planet Summit. The World Bank is taking several innovative measures to improve the management of the agricultural sector with a view to adapting it to climate change and reducing emissions, and in this regards, Morocco can play an important role in this area on the African continent, she said. Besides the Triple A initiative launched at COP22, Morocco and the World Bank had also agreed to launch the Green Growth Infrastructure Facility for Africa tasked to spur green economy on the African continent and pull together environment-friendly private and public investments. On the sidelines of COP22, Morocco hosted the Africa Action Summit, the first of its kind, during which King Mohammed VI stressed that Morocco makes its expertise in renewable energies available to its African partners. Morocco, a pioneer country regarding the development of renewable energies, vowed to generate 52% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 in a move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a message to the 10th World Policy Conference held in November, King Mohammed VI reiterated his commitment to Africa through calling for a Green Revolution in the continent. This Green Revolution should be based on a large-scale overhaul of technology and production methods suited to the African context and consistent with the requirements of climate change, underscored the King, who is aware that countering climate change is a means to safeguard the future of young generations, curb calamities such as migration and displacement and promote agriculture and development. The One Planet Summit was held at the initiative of President Macron on the second anniversary of the 2015 Paris climate agreement that entered into force on November 4, 2016, few days prior to the UN Climate Summit, COP22, held in Marrakech. The French President had had the idea to hold the summit after Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the historic warming pact. EU invests 26 mil GEL for 1,500 cooperatives in Georgia (TBILISI) -- Small farmers in Georgia are benefitting from economies of scale, cutting their production costs and increasing efficiency, finds the latest Annual Cooperative Survey.Today, around 1,500 cooperatives are registered in Georgia, uniting up to 15,000 farmers. Of these, more than 280 cooperatives received direct EU funding and technical assistance worth over 13 million GEL.About 8,000 farmers across Georgia have been trained and improved their skills in farming and business management.Additionally, over 1,000 cooperatives have received a total of 6 million GEL in grants through state aid programs supported by the EU.Indicative studies show that farmers in EU-supported cooperatives have increased their incomes by 27 percent and profit by 30 percent on average, and many cooperatives have doubled their employment.Since 2014, the production value per cooperative has also increased by 37 percent on average.The study also shows that women are actively involved at all levels in agricultural cooperatives.In total, 53 percent of members and/or paid employees are women. Women also take leading managerial positions in cooperatives, out of all surveyed cooperatives 21 percent of management board members are women.This is the brief summary of the four-year work of four partners - Care, Mercy Corps, Oxfam and People in Need - which have been implemented the EUs ENPARDs small farmers cooperation component in Georgia between 2014-2017.The Annual Cooperative Survey, which inquired 281 cooperatives and describes the development of EU-supported cooperatives in Georgia, says that roughly 26 million GEL was invested in those cooperatives during last four years.Moreover, the EU has provided instrumental support in increasing the cooperatives capacity in advocacy. The EU has helped to strengthen institutional capacity of Georgian Farmers Association (GFA) and supported the Government to establish 59 Information and Consultation Centers across the country to provide free advice and training to rural communities on modern farming practices. To date, over 250,000 farmers have benefitted from the services of these centers.One of the milestone achievements of ENPARDs cooperation component was the adoption of the law on agricultural cooperatives and the establishment of the Agricultural Cooperatives Development Agency a key institution under the Ministry of Agriculture that now works towards improving productivity and competitiveness of agricultural cooperatives in Georgia.The EU supports agriculture and rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD program implemented in 2013 with a total budget of 102 million, the main goal of ENPARD is to reduce rural poverty in Georgia.*This article first appeared on Agenda.ge. The figures and information contained above are the sole property of the author and of the original aforementioned publisher. Georgian Ombudsman Calls for Tighter Security at Schools By Tea Mariamidze (TBILISI) -- In the wake of a fatal schoolyard fight in central Tbilisi, Georgias Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili on Tuesday said it is time for the country to strengthen security measures at schools to guarantee safer environment for students and teachers.Nanuashvili wants to grant school security personnel more powers to properly police the facilities that they oversee. The current system calls for reserve police officers to be attached to each school and watch for students who cut lessons, smoke, do drugs or cause general disruptions on the campus grounds.The statement statement came after a brutal confrontation between a group of students of two Tbilisi public schools left a pair of 16-year-olds dead from multiple stab wounds.Nanuashvili stressed that children remain highly vulnerable to various forms of street and domestic violence. Few measures to protect them exist and schools are plagued by insufficient response methods that are ill-equipped to deal with events similar to the deadly brawl on December 1, said Nanuashvili.We will intensify our efforts to prevent similar future crimes. Our efforts will cover all schools and involve all state agencies, NGOs, the media, civil society and the international community, as well, said Education Minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli.The Prosecutors Office have launched a criminal investigation into the incident. Two underage minors are charged with the pre-mediated murder of the boys who died in the altercation.Five other individuals have also been arrested and charged with conspiring to cover up the crime, including an employee of Tbilisis police force and a parent of one of the murder suspects, according to Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia. @alextdaugherty Congress has less than three days to find a solution for Dreamers in order for it to become law by the end of the year, Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo said on Tuesday. But Curbelo is hopeful that Democrats and Republicans can find a compromise for the 800,000 young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents who face uncertainly after President Donald Trump said he will cancel an Obama-era executive order known as DACA that allowed Dreamers to be protected from deportation. "We had very good meetings last night, three meetings," Curbelo said. "For the first time a lot of the like-minded Republicans and Democrats who want to get to yes got together. We're getting closer to filing a compromise, which has been my frustration. There's an obvious compromise out there, DACA fix and border security, but no one has proffered that compromise." If both parties can find a compromise, then a spending bill that funds the government known as a continuing resolution is the likely legislative vehicle that can include a solution for Dreamers. It is expected that a continuing resolution will get a vote sometime next week before a December 22nd deadline. "If they (leadership) want to give us a standalone vote, that's fine, it'll pass. I know it will," Curbelo said. "The most obvious vehicle is whatever continuing resolution is with a budget cap with new bipartisan numbers. We're getting closer and a lot of people have put aside partisan differences we've had in recent weeks to focus on trying to have something next week to take a run at this before the end of the year." If congressional leaders fail to find a compromise in an end of the year spending bill, Curbelo said he will vote against the legislation that keeps the government running. Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she will do the same. "I'm not going to back down from that commitment," Curbelo said. "If I get maybe a time-certain commitment from leadership that there will be a vote, maybe I would think about saying 'Okay, that's good enough.' But I doubt I would get that clarity." Curbelo said that if the year-end spending bill doesn't include a Dreamer solution, the next opportunity will likely be in January when Congress takes up another spending bill. Congress has just under three months to find a solution for Dreamers before the DACA order officially ends on March 5. @NewsbySmiley Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is keeping a bilingual advertising push going over the holidays as he runs for the 2018 Democratic nomination to become Florida's next governor. His political committee, All About Florida, announced Wednesday that it is releasing two more commercials, each featuring his family. One, in English, features his mother, Diane. The second features his fiance, Carolina, and two step-kids, Mica and Beno, and the couple's son, Henry. Both ads tout the independently wealthy Levine's business history, and introduce voters to a candidate who announced his campaign in November and still remains relatively unknown to voters outside of South Florida. The commercials, which the committee said "will air for several weeks beginning today, in a vast majority of the state's media markets," come on the heels of a November that saw Levine raise more than $1 million. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello and Lt. Gov. Luis Rivera Marin will make a final plea on Wednesday to Republican officials, asking them to exempt the U.S. territory from a 20 percent excise tax on goods that American companies import from their overseas subsidiaries. The measure in the GOP tax bill is designed to stop American companies from avoiding taxes by shifting profits overseas. But it would also apply to Puerto Rico because the island is treated as both a foreign and domestic entity under the U.S. tax code. Its a hit that Puerto Ricos elected officials say the islands economy cannot take. If the U.S. Congress ignores our situation and gives us this mortal blow to our economy, the immediate and direct effect will be Puerto Ricans boarding airplanes, Rivera Marin told the Miami Herald. Puerto Rico already was struggling through a deep recession before hurricanes Irma and Maria hit in September. The islands unemployment rate hovered around 10 percent and the country was $72 billion in debt. Since the storms, thousands of Puerto Ricans have lost their jobs as businesses remain without power and unable to reopen. Rivera Marin warned that the tax could wipe out the islands manufacturing sector and a third of the governments tax revenue, sending thousands more families fleeing to Florida and New York. Read more here. Photo by @dsantiagophoto A Frenchtown man faces a felony charge for the second time this month, this time for allegedly vandalizing the utility room at a Missoula hotel, fighting an employee who tried to stop him and fleeing, naked. Jeremy Dee Hanson, 37, had his bail set at $15,000 Tuesday in Missoula County Justice Court on a count of felony aggravated burglary. According to court documents, police were called to the Best Western Grant Creek Inn on Saturday after an employee found Hanson, allegedly naked, in the utility room. Guests at the hotel had complained about a lack of hot water and the employee had gone to investigate. The employee said lights in the utility room had been smashed, a fire extinguisher was ripped from the wall, covers had been torn off the water heaters and the electrical fuse panels had been tampered with. Hanson allegedly attacked the employee, then fled, still naked. Hanson had appeared in court a week earlier after being arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief following another incident where he allegedly crashed his truck into a parked motorcycle, then fled. Holloway had set a $2,000 bail from that incident. LeeAnn Allegretto is trying her best. Ive been casting my line out to reel in this system next week, so cross your fingers, the meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula joked Tuesday. All indications are that the dense, stagnant air blanketing river valleys in western Montana since early December will be replaced by a moist system starting Friday. The cold front should produce snow that sticks, Allegretto said not a lot, but more than weve seen recently. But behind that, starting Sunday, theres an active, moist pattern on the way thatll last through next week. The thing that has me excited is, along about the 20th, all forecast models point to a significant storm thatll put inches (of snow) on the valley floor, Allegretto said. Thats still a week or more away, but Im holding on to that. The prospect of popping out of the gloomy inversion is good news at Missoula International Airport, where forecast freezing fog scuttled two commercial airline arrivals Monday night. Brian Ellestad, assistant airport director, said an Alaska flight from Seattle and the last of three Delta flights from Salt Lake City were scuttled. They were the first two fog-caused cancellations of the inversion. Fog seeding, which is effective only when the temperature dips below 28 degrees, has been taking place off and on throughout the week, Ellestad said. Delta added a flight Tuesday morning for passengers from Salt Lake who didnt make it in late Monday, a flight that normally lands shortly after midnight. It arrived at 10:30 a.m. Were above landing minimums right now, so the planes are coming and going, Ellestad said Tuesday morning. As a rule of thumb, a cloud ceiling of at least 200 feet and visibility of half a mile are required to land in Missoula, though those parameters vary depending on the type of aircraft involved. An early Delta flight to Minneapolis, which normally departs at 5:24 a.m., was delayed Tuesday until 1:40 p.m., but Ellestad said that was due to mechanical issues, not the fog. Climatologists as late as Nov. 16 predicted above-average precipitation this winter throughout Montana. But the Missoula Valley hasnt seen snow that stuck since Nov. 17. The inch and a half that fell on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 was wet to begin with, Allegretto said, and it melted when the sun came up on a 40-degree day. It didnt really do us any favors, because then high pressure set in and trapped the moisture close to the valley floor and never let it go, she said. Thats what continued to build up day after day. The high pressure compresses the air and pushes it down. It kept the stratus trapped with nowhere to go. Its a pattern that the Flathead Valley, lake country, sees in December but its abnormal in Missoula this early in the winter. This weeks low sky, combined with hoarfrost clinging to trees and ice clogged on the rivers, hinted of a white Christmas with no snow. But better days are coming, Allegretto said, and probably in time for Christmas. It could have negative effects on highway travel, but its good news for ski hills, airlines, and school kids on Christmas break, among others. I think were finally rounding the corner and coming to the December we all know and love, said Allegretto. Despite sub-freezing temperatures, around 30 people attended a celebration for lighting the first candle of the Hanukkah holiday Tuesday evening at Missoula's Har Shalom. Led by spiritual leader and rabbinic intern Laurie Franklin, the group said three blessings and sang a Hanukkah song before "lighting" the first candle on the Hanukkiah, also known as a menorah. The nine-foot tall, custom-made Hanukkiah was built by a group of Missoula College welding students in 2014 and has lightbulbs instead of candles adorned at the top of each prong. Franklin said the holiday takes her back to her childhood. "For me personally, I'm a 5-year-old again sitting in my parents' house looking at the candles glowing in the dark, which is just magical," Franklin said. "I love the magic of the lit candles." She added that while some families trade gifts over the holiday's eight days and nights, that wasn't the case in her parent's household. "We just enjoyed each other's company," she said. The eight days of Hanukkah commemorate the miracle of a single day's supply of oil that last for eight days when the Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated in the year 165 BC. There is a custom of eating foods fried in oil, such as potato latkes, because of the oil of the temple lamp. Naomi Kuznia-Leyb traveled from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to be with her close friends who moved to Missoula over the summer. "Hanukkah is family. It's all about being close to the people who mean the most to me," Kuznia-Leyb said. "It's about gathering around everyone you love, holding them close and being thankful you made it through another season." Along with her friend, she said she prepares for the week by buying a lot of potatoes and oil because it's in the spirit of the holiday. Among the crowd was the pastor at Grace United Methodist Church, Tim Scranton, who said that Hanukkah is a celebration that reminds us that light continues to shine in darkness. It's important that different religions understand one another, he added. "All of the early folks of my faith were Jews and so if I don't understand that context, I don't really understand what they were writing or saying or believing," Scranton said. "That's why I bring my kids to things like this because I want them to understand that not everybody believes the same things we do or practices their faith the same way we do, but yet there is a unity underneath it all." That unity and solidarity was on display over the past year, Franklin said, after anti-Semitic propaganda was found around Missoula and parts of western Montana. But she said we're not out of the woods yet. "I actually think we need to double down and work against white nationalism, which is a political philosophy that is bent on ethnic cleansing and it doesn't do anybody any good," she said. "As a Jew, I know that anti-Semitism is a rallying cry and a recruiting cry for that crew." While she said there is still a lot of work to do, she remains positive the white nationalist movement can be countered. Lighting of the Hanukkiah will continue each night this week at 5:30 p.m. at the Missoula Har Shalom, located across from the YMCA on South Russell. University of Montana President Sheila Stearns released Tuesday a draft report with 40 recommendations for campus priorities and some pointed requests. One academic recommendation? "Merge the School of Art and the School of Media Arts within the College of Visual and Performing Arts," the report said. The months-long process has frayed nerves on campus, but this particular recommendation drew praise from a couple of faculty leaders. School of Art director Kevin Bell said the merger comes out of requests from students, and presents an opportunity for UM. "We could grow into a pretty significant regional powerhouse," Bell said. Dean Stephen Kalm of the College of Visual and Performing Arts said many campuses around the country meld digital and non-digital media programs, and doing so at UM could put the flagship on the map for the arts. "Well have one of the largest art schools art-slash-media schools in the Northwest, and one of the largest programs on campus with over 400 majors," Kalm said. An administrative recommendation? Put money into the Office of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. A task force that had reviewed and ranked some 400 academic and administrative programs as part of the prioritization process did not list enrollment at UM as a top priority despite an ongoing drop that has resulted in budget problems. Stearns, though, said the Admissions Office requires additional investments, regardless of how the task force ranked it. But she also requested budget details. "The office must justify with specificity to the president ways it has used its budget in the past two years and how it proposes to use increased investments going forward," the report said. Roughly a year ago, Stearns took the helm at UM when the Montana Commissioner of Higher Education asked former president Royce Engstrom to step down after years of declining enrollment and ensuing budget trouble. Stearns, former commissioner, came out of retirement to serve UM in an interim capacity, and she tapped the provost to undertake the ambitious and arduous review of programs. The process outlined online describes the president's role as presenting decisions to the campus and community. The report Stearns presented shares recommendations and reflections, and it asks deans and directors to use the information in making suggestions for savings in the upcoming budget cycle. In January, Stearns will pass the leadership role to incoming President Seth Bodnar. The report notes Bodnar may revise the process, but one phrase repeated throughout the report in various iterations is this: "We must reduce costs through more strategic deployment of current faculty." "Even with all of the positive information contained in (prioritization) reports, I know that many programs will have to be reduced or discontinued for the University of Montana to operate within budget for the 2018-2020 timeframe," the report said. "(The process) will help with specific decisions so they are as strategic as possible and not 'across the board.'" Early on in her tenure, Stearns said UM spent too much of its operating budget on personnel, at some 80 percent. She wanted to see the percentage drop at least a couple of points, but this semester, the president noted the percentage had climbed to 89. She has continued to stress that UM must spend less on personnel in order to invest in other needs such as technology, and the report notes the campus will reduce faculty in the "near-term future." In the humanities, she recommends cutting programs "in fields that cannot justify current numbers of faculty." That specific recommendation did not name programs that should reduce faculty, and the president and Dean Chris Comer could not be reached late Tuesday afternoon through email for additional information. However, Stearns also suggested keeping strong individual programs, and at the same time, building joint majors "under the tutelage of UM faculty with broad-fields expertise. "For example, UM can build even stronger links among its faculty in history, political science, philosophy and literature, especially as the number of faculty in various departments decline in UM's near-term future," the report said. The report identifies areas for investment as well. The president's recommendations include putting money into biological sciences across various schools and colleges; growing graduate programs "unique to UM" such as the MBA and master's in accountancy; and investing in UM's Health and Medicine Initiative, and if not with money, with "efforts to break down barriers among several colleges." "An innovative, streamlined academic future for the University of Montana is possible," Stearns wrote. "(Prioritization) reports have given a springboard to emerge from a defensive crouch and to go forward through innovative restructuring." *** Wednesday, the Staff Senate and Faculty Senate are slated to discuss the report, and Stearns noted in its conclusion that she will revise the draft based on further review and additional information. However, the timeline for the process has been quick, and Stearns recommended a Jan. 11 deadline for deans and directors to submit "high-level implementation plans." She and Bodnar plan to co-serve as presidents the first two weeks of January as Stearns transitions out of the role and Bodnar takes over. In the report, Stearns said the process should be used as "a catalyst for innovation and consolidation," and she identified some thematic areas for restructuring graduate and undergraduate programs. "UM must save resources and reduce expenses in academic affairs. Just as crucially, it can better define outstanding niches for its future," the report said. She provided a list of those suggestions from her own reflections, and she said it is not comprehensive: Create a World Languages and Culture division as recommended by Dean Chris Comer. "Components of a new division could include disciplines (not necessarily programs) such as, although not limited to, the Classics, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Latin American Studies, Irish Studies, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, East Asian Studies, Central and Southwest Asian Studies, and South and Southeast Asian Studies. Efforts should include even stronger ties to the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center and Global Engagement Office." Consider the opportunity to link applied math, data science, economics, business analytics, cyber security, and "big data," "to name a few." "Penetrate the silos between departments and colleges. We must reduce costs through more strategic deployment of faculty." Strengthen existing and cross-disciplinary connections between the environment and ecology, "programs that characterize the entire campus already." Those include graduate programs in forestry and conservation, English, journalism, social sciences, biological sciences, Native American Studies and Missoula College. "For example, the Ecosystem Science and Restoration program could have been qualified in Category 1 for stable or increased investment, possibly sharing faculty with other worthy programs. The goal is to increase enrollment by efficiently and effectively meeting student demand in thematic ways, while potentially employing fewer numbers of faculty." "The dean of the Davidson Honors College should propose opportunities for the university to invest in the honors program as a tool for student recruitment, retention and success, and as a laboratory for curricular innovation at UM." The dean and director of the Franke Global Leadership Initiative should explore opportunities to integrate their programs. Innovate in public health. "I am struck by the frequent intersection of interests in public health, political science, education, behavioral sciences, social work, counseling, psychology, communication studies, and health and human performance, to name a few. (The prioritization process) has provided us, as a side benefit, the mandate to construct aggressive innovative programs in a rapidly changing field with worldwide demand." Connect education with other disciplines such as political science, history, psychology, business, marketing and environmental studies: "America's public schools and our democracy desperately need our graduates. In spite of polls and ideologies that suggest the contrary, democracy and public well-being depend on universities to educate wise, well-rounded, compassionate teachers." Other recommendations in the report include the following: "Invest in programs that demonstrably support retention, persistence and completion." Decrease or restructure support for the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West "in accordance with donor's gift agreements." "Review whether savings can be achieved through stronger connection between the Broadcast Media Center, School of Journalism and the College of Visual and Performing Arts." "Invest graduate school waivers in robust degree programs to the extent possible, including recruitment of international students." Coordinate administrative services through Academic Affairs and the entire campus. "It is likely that some employees and services are isolated and duplicative." Deans should consider task force reports, including plans for "moratorium or discontinuation," and develop plans regarding sustainability for the following undergraduate programs: applied science major, film studies minor, duplicate history and political science minors, bioethics certificate, health enhancement concentration, administrative systems management minor, and library media minor. Connect the master of public administration program with the Baucus Institute in the School of Law. "The Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies dean and stakeholders should determine the level of resources needed to sustain the program," identified by the task force as a top priority for growth and development. Improve data and metrics and standardize data collection. "UM's Office of Institutional Research needs additional investment." "The university should accept a definition of IT as a critical campus-wide service and utility, as well as an enabler for initiatives in UM's strategic vision." Even during hiring freezes, the president said some areas such as IT require new hires. Evaluate communications as Bodnar plans, including marketing, University Relations, Alumni Relations, and do so in collaboration with admissions and enrollment management. "This appears to be a fruitful area for investment, restructuring and renewed emphasis." Alabama voters are casting their ballots today as the nation watches their US Senate election between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. The big question: whether the allegations against Moore of sexually abusing teens and his history of controversial comments about women and minorities will be enough for a reliably red state to elect its first Democratic senator in a generation. A Jones win would trim the Republican Senate majority to 51-49 and deal a blow to President Donald Trump, who has backed Moore amid the national conversation over sexual misconduct. Moore -- following his Election Day tradition -- arrived at his polling place with his wife, Kayla, on horseback in his hometown of Gallant. He told reporters that voters "ought to go out and vote their conscience, and we'll have a tremendous turnout." Jones voted early Tuesday morning at Brookwood Baptist Church in Mountain Brook. Speaking with reporters, he cast the election as an opportunity for Alabama voters to reject the embarrassment that Moore -- who's been ousted twice as state Supreme Court chief justice and has attacked LGBT Americans, Muslims and women -- could bring the state. "In Alabama we have come so far with too many things, and there is saying: 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' Alabama is not going to let that shame happen again," he said. The stakes are high for Trump -- who has repeatedly endorsed Moore, campaigned in Florida just outside Alabama on Friday night and doesn't want to see the GOP's 52-48 majority trimmed at all. "The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. There's much on the line for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as well. McConnell decided Moore wasn't worth the headache and withdrew support for him -- which means the Senate Republican campaign arm and a super PAC that usually backs its candidates were nowhere to be found in the closing weeks in Alabama. It all takes place amid a broader national conversation about sexual misconduct. At the center of the Trump-McConnell split over Alabama is that McConnell said the allegations facing Moore are credible, while Trump -- who faces allegations of sexual assault himself -- cast doubt on Moore's accusers. Alabama's other senator, Republican Richard Shelby, told CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday that he didn't vote for Moore and it'll be up to GOP leadership to pursue an Ethics Committee investigation if Moore wins. Such a move could be the first step toward Moore's expulsion from the Senate. "Well, I think that's up to the leadership and the Ethics Committee itself. They always look to anyone's fitness to serve" in the Senate, Shelby said. Currently, when I read the news, its clear that our country is paralyzed by partisanship and divisiveness. Our state and our country need some congressional leadership that can bring Montanans back together to move our state and country forward together. One thing I learned in my 15 years of service at the Legislature is that you cant pass policy by yourself. You have to earn the trust of your colleagues, your constituents, and everyone else in the process. Legislating requires bringing people together to find common-sense solutions. Its with those experiences that I endorse Grant Kier as the best choice for Montanas lone congressional seat. Kier has proven his ability to earn the trust of a wide array of people during his tenure at Five Valleys Land Trust. His work required him to earn the trust of landowners, loggers, sportsmen and farmers and ranchers. He was able to build trust, and bring people together who normally dont agree with each other to work towards shared values. To me, that is exactly the value that Montanas U.S. representative must take to Congress. I also learned in my service as a state senator, is that a what will work approach to lawmaking is typically the best. Montanans arent served by partisanship that cripples the process. They are best served when our elected officials set aside partisan ideology to find the best policies for Montana. This too is a Montana value that Kier represents. Ever since the repeated attempts at repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA), the future of healthcare in our country and 1/6 of our economy is in a state of confusion. The costs of healthcare are rising, and so many Montanans are left asking if theyll even have access to affordable healthcare in the months to come. Kier knows that the best way to serve Montanans is to find the fixes to the ACA that Montana needs. We need to address the high prescription drug costs and transparency in pricing, and not just make more promises to Montana that Congress cant deliver on. Kier also is the best poised to stand up for a Montana value that is near and dear to so many: protecting our public lands. As our president and secretary of the Interior drastically reduce national monuments, the fight to protect our outdoor heritage is more important than ever. Kier is the only candidate in the race who has worked with Montana farmers and ranchers to actually create more access to public lands in Montana. No one else is better at understanding the threats that our public lands face, and the best solutions to promote smart management. Kier is that new leadership that our state needs. He understands Montana values and needs, and wont compromise to the big corporations or special interests who are trying to take our democracy away. I fully endorse Grant Kier in his bid to become Montanas lone representative and encourage other Montana Democrats to do the same. The big national parks in Montana are an obvious boon to our states economy, bringing in several million visitors each year. But with the passing of Veterans Day, its important to realize that the National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for maintaining much more than the big draws like Glacier and Yellowstone the agency also manages over 150 sites of military significance around the country, including some here in Montana. And while Veterans Day may have come and gone, the maintenance needs of our military memorials in Montana remain. Military sites account for one-third of NPS units, including national battlefields, military cemeteries, battlegrounds and fortifications where the agency preserves and interprets our history. And like many of the units in the National Park System, most of these sites of military significance are deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance funding. In Montana, the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and Big Hole National Battlefield are all maintained by the NPS. Unfortunately, each of these sites has amassed a significant amount of deferred maintenance as federal funding for needed repairs has been unreliable. The NPS uses the term "deferred maintenance" to categorize any needed repairs that are delayed, sometimes for years, because there is no money to pay for them. Its become a growing problem for NPS as visitation to national parks has been soaring during the past few years and the facilities used to accommodate them can be 50 years or older. The growing strains on national parks is beginning to show, and eventually could have an impact on their desirability as vacation destinations due to accessibility and safety concerns. At Little Bighorn Battlefield alone, NPS has estimated the amount of deferred maintenance at nearly $10 million. Some of the big-ticket items are what you would expect NPS to need in interpreting a large battlefield site needed repairs to drinking and wastewater systems at the visitor center, access roads to monuments and trails, and parking lots. In addition, though, difficult-to-replace aspects of the site itself are in disrepair due to lack of maintenance. The battlefield landscape, trails through the site, interpretative media, and monuments commemorating those who fought there are all on the NPS deferred maintenance inventory. The NPS does the best it can to prioritize what can be repaired on any given year, but does not have the resources to address all it should. This is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. The deferred maintenance backlog for NPS in 2016 was estimated at $11.3 billion. For national parks in Montana, that figure is over $250 million. Allowing that maintenance to go undone year after year has obvious consequences, and eventually could lead to a downturn in visitations. But beyond the important economic boost NPS provides, these sites have important historical significance for Montanans that is well worth preserving. And with one of the largest veteran populations in the country, Montana values its military history. So as we remember our veterans, lets all take a moment to encourage our congressional delegation to seek a long-term solution to the deferred maintenance funding shortfall that has plagued NPS for too long. We need them to provide dedicated annual federal funding for national park repairs. After all, these parks, battlefields and historic sites are treasures to all Montanans, and vital to preserving our heritage. Lets make sure theyre taken care of. Point 1: Gov. Steve Bullock didnt protect $124 million in essential health/community services. His fiscal mismanagement, starting in late 2015 (when revenue shortfalls were first known), contributed significantly to the fiscal crisis addressed in the 2017 special session. A decision not to act is still a decision! Remember his 2016 campaign ads: $300 million ending fund balance and No new taxes? The governor knew revenues were decreasing in late 2015, but put personal election efforts ahead of Montana families. Those are facts omitted by Eck. Point 2: Cuts to services. Among the governors constitutional duties is managing revenues/expenses of Montana. Instead of exercising his sworn duties, he ducked them. Had he initiated cuts under MCA 17-7-140 in 2016, many cuts now being implemented may have been avoided or lessened. Additionally, when he acted, the governor chose to cut frontline staff and recipient services, not administrative staff, a ploy to evoke fear and anxiety. There are better ways to reduce expenses. Its puzzling the governor would choose methods designed to hurt people. Point 3: The $49 million-plus expenditure reduction from the budget of the Department of Public Health and Human Services could result in reductions of $100 million in funds; the fact is the budget of DPHHS is more than 40 percent of the states budget. The only other area where reductions of this magnitude can be made is education, and those dollars are constitutionally guaranteed. To mitigate reductions, the governor couldve consolidated positions, eliminated excess administration and used furloughs to reduce employee work hours, as private sector businesses do during economic downturns. Sadly, the governor vetoed a bill by Rep. Barry Usher, preferring pink slips to reducing hours. Point 4: The Shelby prison. The prison in Shelby, run by Corecivic, is arguably the most efficiently run in the state. The number/severity of human rights and safety complaints at Shelby are no greater than those incurred at state-run facilities, and perhaps far less than those at Boulder. The escrow fund indicated is not money owned by Montana; its CoreCivics, a convenient misstatement. CoreCivic allowed Montana to use their $30 million fund as a down payment on the prison should the state attempt to buy it. Another omitted fact is that if the state failed to renew the contract in 2019, and didnt buy the prison, CoreCivic retains that $30 million. Point 5: Having millionaires pay their fair share of taxes. The bulk of the revenue reduction in the state the past two years was created, according to legislative fiscal staff, by 300 wealthy entities claiming a non-income tax state other than Montana as their home state. Owning a home in a non-income tax state avoids income tax liability in Montana. If these 300 entities now claim another non-income tax state as their home, with the top tax tier in Montana at 6.9 percent, will they declare Montana as their principal state of residence if we raise their taxes? The current, temporary fiscal situation isnt a partisan matter. When troubles affect our state, its the duty of all public servants to find answers, not point fingers. The only solution posited by the governor to this revenue issue in Montana was to raise taxes on income-earning Montanans. The problem in Montana isnt revenue its spending. Revenues have increased 14 percent since 2012, while spending has grown 32 percent. Its time for Montana to prioritize spending and decide to live within our fiscal means. Thats something to which we can all agree. Theres a lot to love if you live in Big Sky Country. In a recent survey, 77 percent of Montanans ranked our state as the best place to live, outperforming all other states. If youre an angler, you already know that Montana consistently ranks at the top of the list for American fly fishing destinations. Our clean, clear, cold waters and protected landscapes draw millions of visitors who spend about $3 billion here each year. Sadly, Montana also ranks atop another, albeit less desirable, list. We are home to the largest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated Superfund site in the country. The Upper Clark Fork River Superfund complex, stretching 120 miles from Butte to Missoula, was severely degraded by mining and smelting for more than 100 years. Only in the last 30 years has cleanup and restoration of this stream corridor shown any progress due to its Superfund status. Montana is heavily dependent on federal funding to address problems at our 17 Superfund sites. And beyond remediation of these sites, federal environmental grants support 39 percent of Montanas environmental budget. Closer to my home, the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) site on the Flathead River recently joined the National Priorities (Superfund) List. CFAC produced aluminum and toxic byproducts such as cyanide and fluoride, along with heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, lead and selenium, from 1955 to 2009. We still dont yet know the lethal legacy of the plant and the full extent of its past and future impact on one of the cleanest rivers in the nation. An ongoing investigation of impacts to the river, soils and groundwater will cost an estimated $4 million and could take nearly five years to complete. The Flathead River System is worth protecting. Its home to some of the most endangered native trout populations in the country. Westslope cutthroat trout remain in only 5 percent of their historic range with the Flathead holding about half of the remaining genetically pure, interconnected populations. Native bull trout have declined in the Flathead from a population of tens of thousands a hundred years ago to fewer than 3,000 adult fish today. Montana is able to address many of the toxic legacies that have impacted our highly valued streams because of things like the establishment of the EPA in 1970, the Clean Water Act in 1972 and the Superfund law in 1980. Montana is not a wealthy state and without help from EPA, many of these cancerous sites would go untreated far into the future. But this month, Congress is debating a federal spending bill that would make disastrous cuts to the EPA budget that would make it harder for the agency to enforce laws and carry out its mission. President Trump proposed a budget that would cut EPA funding by 31 percent and lay off 15,000 employees, 3,000 in Montana alone. It includes a 36 percent budget cut for the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources program, which funds research to help protect threatened waters and fisheries. Funding for these programs would disappear under the presidents proposed budget, and must be protected. These cuts will have disastrous impacts on our ability to partner on a national level to remediate and restore a long and sad history of environmental degradation in Montana and to protect from future impacts. Montanas natural resources have provided benefits across the nation, so its only right that everyone shares in the cleanup. Now is not the time to drastically slash funding for the agency that protects the quality of our waters, the integrity of our aquatic resources and the economies they support. After more than three decades waiting for comprehensive tax reform, Congress is poised to accomplish a rare feat in Washington: pass meaningful legislation that provides a real boost for American families and businesses. That is, if they can muster the political fortitude to pass tax reform once and for all. I hope Montanas families and business community can count on U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to help get the job done. For too long, the middle class has had to deal with a tax system that is too complex and confusing. Small businesses are being suffocated with an unquestionably high business tax rate that hinders job creation and true economic growth. This latest tax reform effort in Congress would help address both of these issues. By simplifying the system and lowering the business tax rate, American businesses will be stronger, our economy will grow, and the country will experience new jobs and economic opportunities being created for regular people. Lowering individual rates and doubling the child tax credit and standard deduction will help middle class American families thrive again. This really is an unprecedented opportunity but Congress needs to act quickly. This bill changes the failed status quo. For the sake of Montanas middle-class families and small businesses, I urge Senator Daines to get behind the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and help make tax reform the gift Washington gives to America this holiday season. David Williams, president, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Washington, D.C. Its conceivable that one day NASA scientists will be able to hold soil taken from Mars thanks to an aerospace program based in Butte. David Micheletti, director of Montana Aerospace Development Association, told The Montana Standard last week that Space Propulsion Group, Inc., is trying to develop a fuel for NASA made from paraffin wax essentially candle wax for a rocket that may one day bring Mars soil samples to Earth. The way it could work is a mother ship will travel approximately seven months to get to Mars, then hover and orbit while the Mars Ascent Vehicle (referred to by its acronym MAV) takes flight from the mother ship and lands on the red planet. A robot will then collect soil samples and put the samples into the Mars Ascent Vehicle. The Mars Ascent Vehicle will return to the mother ship and be flown back to Earth. In order for the Mars Ascent Vehicle to survive the extreme heat and extreme cold that exists on Mars, NASA needs a fuel for the rocket that can stand up to those weather pressures. Wax might work, Micheletti said. SPG has been working on the paraffin wax as Mars rocket fuel model for years. Originally based out of Sunnyvale, Calif., near Stanford University, SPG developed the paraffin wax as a fuel for an Air Force project. When SPG began its experimental testing at the defunct Solvay site in 2009, the engineers were then testing the fuel for the Air Force. The Air Force project ended in 2012 but NASA got interested in the fuel in 2014. Micheletti works part-time for SPG as the vice president of business development and program management. If SPGs work continues to develop with NASA, the small company of 10 employees will likely double its numbers, Micheletti said. But that could be some time in the future. SPG has been testing the experimental rocket fuel every other week since July. The tests will continue through the end of January. At that point, NASA will consider the tests and sometime next year will likely make a decision about the way forward. Micheletti said its entirely likely NASA will want more tests. The object of ground testing is to push the technology to its limits. They want to know what those limitations are, Micheletti said. But when NASA has seen enough testing, SPG hopes the next step will be to start developing the actual Mars Ascent Vehicle based on the fuel technology. The company intends for the design work to take place in Butte. They also hope the Mars rocket will be built in Butte, as well. The company is based at the defunct Solvay site, 8 miles west of Butte in the Montana Connections Business Development Park. The rocket testing is within sight of the mostly buried concrete tank that contains 500,000 gallons of highly flammable phosphorous waste. The waste is leftover from decades of processing phosphorous, mostly for detergent. Belgium-based Solvay purchased the site in 2011 from Rhodia and inherited its status as a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act site. Known more commonly by its acronym, RCRA, the EPA designation is similar to Superfund. Micheletti called the risk posed by the rocket testing's proximity to the phosphorous waste minimal. We evaluated it with Solvay. If they felt there was a risk, they wouldnt have allowed it, Micheletti said. Solvay project site manager Dan Bersanti said he agrees with Micheletti. They have a blast mat over the top of the engine, deflector shields and its pretty well enclosed. Any line of fire to the (tank) is mitigated. Theyre in pretty good shape, Bersanti said. An accident with the fuel did occur in 2011 and destroyed a county-owned building, but no one was hurt. The incident had no impact on the phosphorous waste. But because of that rocket misfire, SPG redesigned the testing area, operating now in an outdoor facility that is surrounded by barricades and has a roof made of interwoven steel cable. If an incident occurs, the debris will be contained in the test cell, Micheletti said. Solvay is making plans to build a mud plant, which is projected to begin processing the phosphorous waste by summer 2020. Before work on that plant begins, SPG will move its testing site and other equipment to a more remote location on the western side of Solvays 150-acre site. In addition to the contract with NASA, SPG recently acquired a new contract with the Air Force for another testing project. That means testing will continue on into next year, even after the testing for the NASA Mars vehicle project comes to an end in early 2018. The reason SPG chose to do their work at Solvay was, in part, because of the low cost of using the site. Micheletti called Montana business friendly. There arent many test facilities that are private. Most government-owned ones are hard for small companies to access and afford, he said. We found a niche. Jim Kambich, president and CEO of MERDI (Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute), which tries to bring new business to southwest Montana and the state, said his group ultimately hopes this is the beginning of an aerospace cluster, in the Mining City. Montana is ripe for this type of economic development, Kambich said. It isnt likely Congress will be voting on a Republican tax cut bill this week, at least not according to Montana Sen. Jon Testers travel plans. Tester, a Democrat, plans to fly out of Washington, D.C., on Thursday night bound for Billings, were hell be working Friday, said Tester spokeswoman Marnee Banks. The only items scheduled for the Senate floor this week are judicial confirmations. That means the shipping deadline on what President Donald Trump previously described as a Christmas gift for America will have passed before Republican leaders call for a vote. The House and the Senate have both passed bills changing the federal tax system, with benefits unevenly distributed between income classes. A conference committee of Senate and House lawmakers will put forth a bill combining the House and Senate versions. Theres been heartburn over the debt the tax plan is expected to create. The U.S. Treasurys Office of Tax Policy reaffirmed earlier federal estimates that the tax cuts proposed would grow the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion. But OTP officials expect economic growth resulting from the tax cuts to eventually kick in, increasing government receipts by $300 billion. Tester on Monday concurred with Gov. Steve Bullock that the tax cuts would cost Montana state tax revenue as breaks at the federal level played out on state income tax returns as well. Im also very concerned that this proposal will add another $1.5 trillion to the national debt and will disproportionately benefit multinational corporations and the wealthiest among us, Tester said in a letter to Bullock, a fellow Democrat. I oppose both versions of the reckless proposal. Montana Department of Revenue Director Mike Kadas told The Gazette on Dec. 6 that the Senate tax cut bill would likely cost Montana $122 million a year in revenue. The income loss is a concern, given that Montana legislators were called back to Helena in November to deal with a $227 million revenue shortfall. Independence is so important in judges that Montana can restrict what the states nonpartisan judicial candidates can do in their election campaigns. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that state interest last week, specifically affirming states judicial conduct standard that bars judicial candidates from seeking and using party endorsements. The Circuit Courts affirmation of an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon of Montana got only a brief news article when it was announced. But Montanans should know that the protecting the states nonpartisan judicial election process has great significance. This case is one of many that have challenged our election laws with the purpose of creating no-holds-barred opportunities to influence Montana elections. Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee summed up the issue: Recognizing that mixing politics with judging could lead to injustice, Montana has prohibited all judges and candidates for judicial office from engaging in political or campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity, or impartiality of the judiciary. The Montana Code of Judicial Conduct provides that a judge or judicial candidate shall not seek, accept, or use endorsements from a political organization, or partisan or independent non-judicial office-holder or candidate. Montana is not alone in restricting the political speech of judges and judicial candidates, Bybee wrote. As of 2012, 39 have judicial elections, and nearly all have enacted laws to treat judicial elections differently from political elections. A friend of the court brief filed in defense of the Montana rule by retired Montana Supreme Court Justice William Leaphart on behalf of six individual Supreme Court justices said that a judge who is elected after having endorsed the Democratic or Republican platform is in a real quandary. In resolving legal issues, a judge should not have one eye on the platform of a political party whose endorsement the judge expressly sought used or accepted. Mark French, the candidate who challenged the judicial conduct rule, ran in 2014 for justice of the peace in Sanders County against an incumbent who had found him guilty of a $20 seat belt violation. French, a Tea Party supporter, maintained that the state seat belt law is unconstitutional. During his justice of the peace campaign, French received the endorsement of the Sanders County Republican Committee, which was headed by his wife. The law allows political parties to endorse judicial candidates because of the 9th Circuits ruling in a 2012 case initiated by the Sanders County Republican Committee. French also wanted to take action himself to get and publicize endorsements from prominent Republicans. Thats where the Montana judicial rule and the Appeals Court said no. Political parties are free to endorse nonpartisan judicial candidates, but the candidates themselves cant seek partisan endorsements. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, whose office successfully defended the state standard said he is pleased with the courts decision: The people of Montana decided our judicial elections should be nonpartisan, and the courts decision respects and protects the will of the people. The 9th Circuit noted that French intends to run again in 2018. Under Montana law, he cannot seek partisan endorsements during the election and neither can any other Montana judicial candidates. Thats key to keeping Montana courts impartial and independent. The Billings Gazette MUSCATINE From prenatal care to child behavioral therapy and free school shoes, young parents Monday night learned about several of the resources available to them at a Teen Parents Resource Fair, hosted by the Muscatine Community YMCA. The resource fair, Family Program Services Assistant Director Holly Brugman said, is marketed as a one-stop shop for parents younger than 20. Existing programs at the Y over the past two decades spurred the creation of the fair, according to Brugman. Parenting is a challenge and kids dont come with a manual, Brugman said. We wanted this to be a place for parents to reach out for peer support and learn about best practices. The Muscatine Y has offered a Teen Parents Group for more than a decade, according to Facilitator Lindsay Thomas. On Monday nights, she said the Y offers a support group for parents who are pregnant or parenting under the age of 19. Its a good way to get acquainted with teen parents and the resources they need, as well as find people in a similar situation, Thomas said. There [have] been people who started coming when they were 16 years old, then stay until they graduate-out at the age of 20. While Mondays event was focused on teen parents, Brugman said the Y wants to offer support for people in every stage of parenting. Once parents graduate from the Teen Parents Group, she said they can join a Wednesday night group for parents of newborns up to elementary students. Then, they can advance to a Thursday night group held for parents of middle-and-high school students. In addition, the Y offers parenting groups and classes for grandparents, Spanish-speaking mothers, dads and others. And while the YMCA hosts the Teen Resource Fair, Brugman said the main goal is putting several organizations in one place to inform parents about the services they have available. United Way of Muscatine attended the fair to promote its Kids First program, which funds shoes and clothing for school children, gas for college visits, school supplies, ACT testing costs, extra-curricular fees and more. And, staff from Lutheran Services in Iowa passed out information about its family support programs. Family Support Worker Cheyenne Driscoll said the organization offers resource referrals and family programs that promote parent-child interaction. She also performs car seat checks, or can provide car seats for families in need. She said most of her clients are under the age of 23, so the Teen Resource Fair is the perfect place to connect with new parents. A lot of people dont know how awesome we are, Driscoll said. So its nice to come here and do fun things with them, and as a community it helps us be inter-connected and bind our resources. Natividad Hirsch-Bautista, also with Lutheran Services in Iowa, said she also offers programs for Spanish-speaking families in Muscatine and Louisa counties. It shows a willingness to be inclusive and recognize a need, she said. Were trying to serve all communities and some people assume its only single mothers, or teen mothers, but its for all mothers. A lot of the women I serve are also married. Maryja Longtin, a Parent Educator with the group Parents as Teachers, told teens Monday night about the organizations services for children, from birth to Pre-K. The group of teachers visit homes and schools to offer lessons on motor abilities, reading, plus cognitive and social skills. We want to support parents because they are their childs most important teacher, Longtin said. Also Monday night, Kelly Peak, with Life Connections, passed out information about family therapy sessions, for people with Medicaid who have children between the ages of 3 and 19. And, Andrew Snyder, Admissions Coordinator with Muscatine Community College, highlighted programs catered to busy, young adults. We try to look at teen parents and the barriers they face and provide an opportunity to further their education and provide for their families in a more fulfilling way, he said. MCC, Snyder said, provides access to GED classes, which is now called HiSET testing, plus short-term certificates, such as the CNA program, which can be completed in a few weeks and lead to nursing opportunities in the future, for example. While, for a number of years, Muscatine has ranked in the top 11 counties in Iowa for having the highest number of teen pregnancies, Brugman said the organizations at the fair have helped lower teen birth rates over the past decade. The pregnancy rate has droppedand I think this makes an impact, she said. Teens are more aware, and contraception and other [services] are more readily available, as well. Why, I am often asked, do media cover President Donald Trump so much? For one thing, the answer is in the question: He's the president. Presidents get covered a lot because what they say -- even coughs, sneezes and harrumphs -- matters. More important, this president offers us an abundance of stuff to talk about. Much of that talk of late has zoomed in on whether the president is coming unglued. Speculation has run vigorously through mainstream media in recent days that President Trump lately has been behaving and speaking strangely, even for President Trump. A recent report in the New York Times, for example, said that shortly before his inauguration, Trump told a Republican senator that he wanted to investigate the "Access Hollywood" recording that had him boasting about grabbing women's genitals. Even though he formally apologized for it last year, the Times quotes three unnamed people 'close to the president' as saying Trump has continued to suggest that the voice on the tape was not actually his. He needs to make up his mind. Other sources cited by the Times say the president continues to boast of winning districts that he did not in fact win and that he claims a majority of the women's vote, even though he actually won less than half. He has even clung to his doubts, says the Times, of the authenticity of former president Barack Obama's birth certificate, despite his announcement to the contrary last year after five years of promoting the bizarre conspiracy theory. More recently the worst job in Washington continues to be the translation of Trump's odd outbursts to make him sound like he really knows what he's doing. That task fell on White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday when she was asked about the president's retweeting of three inflammatory anti-Muslim videos from Britain First, a far-right extremist group that targets mosques and Muslims. Did the president think his retweets, which were rebuked by British Prime Minister Theresa May, had served to "elevate the conversation" about the issues of "extreme violence and terrorism?" Sanders was asked. "I think what he's done is elevate the conversation to talk about a real issue and a real threat," she said. "That's extreme violence and extreme terrorism, something that we know to be very real and something the president feels strongly about talking about and bringing up." If Trump's remarks are his idea of elevation, to borrow an old blues lyric, we've sunk so low in his mind that "bottom looks like up." Is Trump losing touch with reality? My initial reaction to that question was a lot like Dorothy Parker's response to news that former president Calvin Coolidge had died: "How can they tell?" Every time I think Trump has gone off the deep end, he manages to pull himself back by saying something sensible, even if such moments don't last long enough to make me completely comfortable with, for example, his access to the nuclear codes. But maybe keeping us on edge is precisely what he wants. He likes to keep his critics and often his allies off-balance, not quite knowing what to expect from him next. "Chaos candidate" is how one of his opponents branded him during the Republican primaries. He seems to wear the tag of "chaos president" with a smirking pride. We have long been accustomed to Trump's freewheeling use of "alternative facts," as another of his spokeswomen, Kellyanne Conway, famously declared. He also has been accused by various critics of "gaslighting," a term borrowed from an old stage play and two movies called "Gas Light," to describe the manipulation of others to sow seeds of doubt about their own memory or sanity. Could Trump be practicing a version of that on his fellow Americans? As bizarre as Trump's headline-making tweets and verbal outbursts may be, they also drew attention away from the debate in Congress over a Republican tax bill that, according to some experts, falls way short of keeping Trump's promises to spare the middle class while raising taxes on the rich. I'm sure Trump gets a kick out of being the chaos president. It pleases his conservative base to see him gaslight those of us who care about such quaint qualities as facts and consistency. Our challenge as his larger audience is to keep an eye on him without flattering his already-inflated ego -- and without sounding as crazy as he too often does. 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 [] It drives me just a little crazy that once a year American Express has chosen to invest so much in a nationwide marketing platform that encourages local support of small neighborhood entrepreneurship, for exactly one day out of the calendar year with the Small Business Saturday campaign. Not to say there arent any positive results derived from the effort, but it leaves another 364 days in the year for local small businesses once considered the backbone of the American economy to compete with Amazon and the many other discount merchant sites surfacing daily. Talk about your classic David versus Goliath nightmare of a fairy tale. The sad part is that none of the billions and billions of online spending is being directed or reinvested locally. Small business owners in Napa not only need and appreciate your hard earned dollars, theyre also reinvesting it in the local economy. I hear plenty of dialog about the negative impacts of housing, traffic and future growth and development. Theres also the blame being placed on landlords when shop owners are forced to move or shut down because they can no longer afford to pay the cost of raising rents. Well, if youre one of the many allowing Amazon and others to serve as your primary resource for stocking stuffers and gifts this holiday season, you can also share in the blame for merchants not being able to meet the rising cost standards of doing business in todays economy. Patricia Trimble, owner of Roost Napa is a great example of a small business owner with a popular local boutique that no one seems to have enough time to visit, at least not enough to help her maintain a successful business model. It literally took every personal effort imaginable for her to keep her doors open following the earthquake. Only to be told by yours truly that if she wanted to make a blip on the competitive retail radar screen shed have to take on the enormous task and huge investment of time and money to create an e-commerce website for the store. Thats a lot to ask for a small shop owner in day-to-day survival mode, a position shared by many small business owners today. If we really want to support small business and local economy theres really only one way to do that and I cant think of a better time to start than this holiday season. If nothing else look at it as a great way to assist our local police enforcement with the rising number of home package thefts that typically place during this time of the year. I was reminded that Amazon is also trying to stay one step ahead by basically purchasing Whole Foods just to provide you with an alternative for package delivery. Voting is now open: Please go to napachamber.com to vote on your choice for Large and Small Business of the Year, Member of the Year and Customer Person of the Year. There are 21 finalists selected from approximately 150 very deserving nominations doubling last years total of nominees. Annual Meeting and Awards luncheon will be held on Friday, Jan. 26 at the Napa Valley Marriott. Chamber Chairmans Circle member, Pacific Gas and Electric will serve as presenting sponsor of this years event. When the tasting panel first formed they were trying to determine what wines go best with Thanksgiving. Now, 10 years later the St. Helena Star/Napa Valley Vintners Tasting Panel in monthly blind tastings selects their favorites out of some of the best Napa Valley has to offer in a program that celebrated a milestone anniversary and received Congressional recognition. This community tradition has helped journalists and the wine community build stronger relationships, read the proclamation written by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena). The articles that journalists write about these tastings help consumers learn about wine and appreciate the hard working winemakers in our community. The Tasting Panel has been providing quality information to our community about Napa Valley wines for the past 10 years. I am proud to have such a great tradition to showcase the best wine in the world. The framed proclamation was presented by Maria Ayala-Calderon of Thompsons office to Dave Stoneberg, St. Helena Star editor, at the panels tasting last week where they sampled and judged cabernet sauvignons and red blends from the 2007 vintage, in honor of their first tasting. Stoneberg, who founded the Tasting Panel with others in 2007, thanked numerous people, some who were attending as panelists, including Stefan Blicker, co-owner of BPW Merchants, who was the professional wine person who helped kick off the blind tasting program. For quite a few years the wines were delivered to the Star offices and I would carry them, literally across the railroad tracks to Neil Aldorotys 55 Degrees for storage. We got entry sheets for each wine. And I remember a photo of Stefan in his office covered with tasting sheets. He was trying to figure out what wines we would taste that month, how many could we choose from the 50 or 60 wines that were submitted, Stoneberg said. In the beginning years it wasnt always easy to get wines submitted for the tastings, or to get panelists to carve out time of their day to participate in the tastings. For the first few years, Terry Hall and Brandy Leonards from the Napa Valley Vintners worked with me on the panel. This morning as I was picking up the wines for this afternoon, Brandy remembered what it was like. She said she struggled to get people to the tasting, struggled to get people to submit wines. Brandy said shed take them to lunch and begged them to come and taste. Obviously her efforts have paid off, Stoneberg said. Attended by 20 to 25 panelists that include winemakers, vintners, wine educators, journalists and occasional visitors, the blind tastings are conducted in three to five flights depending on the number of wine submissions, all which come from winery members of the Napa Valley Vintners. The room goes quiet as panelists swirl, sniff, sip, spit, and jot down notes before assigning a score, as Stoneberg says, With one being your best, and six your worst. Stoneberg keeps a tally of each flight and at the end of the tasting asks panelists for their thoughts on what they tasted. After conducting more than 100 tastings over the years, Stoneberg has learned who he can count on for frank and honest comments. Its kind of like Las Vegas what is said in the Rudd Center, stays in the Rudd Center, at the Culinary Institute of America, where most of the tastings have taken place. Except for the comments noted by Catherine Bugue, co-owner and director of education at the Napa Valley Wine Academy, who writes a story for the Star about the tasting and the winning wines. Then the wines are revealed and the group scores announced. Those who attend, many of them winemakers, relish the opportunity to not only taste other wines from Napa Valley, but share thoughts on what theyve just tasted, and hear what others think. Sometimes these winemakers are blind-judging their own wines. It is a tremendous opportunity to stay in touch with Napa Valley Wine people, winemakers, owners, marketing/PR folk and new people coming into our industry, said John Skupny, vintner of Lang and Reed Wine Company. On top of that, I get to sharpen the saw tasting some of the best wines made anywhere. The varietal and vintage of the wines being judged varies from month to month. There have been judging of chardonnays made in oak, and those without oak, sauvignon blanc, a wide variety of cabernet sauvignons including tasting those based on price point such as $50 and under one month and $50 and over the next. Pinot noir from Carneros even gets its due. Blind tastings give us an opportunity to fairly evaluate wines, and thats our profession, said Hugh Davies, vintner of Schramsberg and J. Davies wines. We want to produce wines that really taste good, and tasting blind is the key methodology employed to measure success. The Star/NVV tastings get us away from our winery into a broader pool where we can pick up other input as well. There is a lot of camaraderie in this business. Were all working together to improve, enhance and build towards the future. Editor and Publisher, a trade publication for the newspaper industry, recognized the Tasting Panel in its March 2017 article 10 Newspapers that Do it Right, which praised the Tasting Panel for creating a better way to report on the wines they were recommending to readers. You know when I got here almost seven years ago I was the editor of The Weekly Calistogan, started kind of at the bottom of our little chain of newspapers, and Dave invited me to one of these things, and I said to him after, I think, the first one, Dave, do you realize what youve got here? Do you realize how special this is? said Sean Scully, editor of the Napa Valley Register and director of news content for three weeklies, including the Calistogan and the Star. Whats special about it is, it gives us at the Star and the Register, access to you guys, to the wine industry, because what do we do thats any different than any other little 10,000 circulation daily, or 2,500 circulation weekly in the country were right in the heart of wine country and we have access to you guys, who make the wine, who sell the wine, who understand the wine, who grow the grapes. And the thing that I think is most special about this panel, it gives us direct access to your wisdom, Scully said. The access to the wine professionals has helped us all as journalists, individuals and as a company to better understand wine and the industry, he said. I think this panel has a life and an identity thats bigger than the St. Helena Star, its bigger than the Napa Valley Register and its come to exist on its own and its thanks to Dave Stoneberg and his great work. Some of its been accidental, some of its been like planned. Hes done great work with it, Scully said. While some NVV colleagues have come and gone, Stoneberg has been the thread thats held the panel together all these years. Thank you all for being here, for sticking with us through the years. For providing a foundation for newspaper articles that tell the world what we already know in the Napa Valley the wines are pretty fantastic. And weve proven that each month for the past 10 years. Thank you, Stoneberg said. Alarms about poor preparations for the constitutionally-mandated 2020 Census are ringing across the nation, but perhaps no louder than in California. The Golden State, and our approximately 39 million residents, have the largest stake in a fair and accurate census. The U.S. Constitution requires a new count of the countrys population every 10 years. Its a massive undertaking, involving more than a decade of planning, elaborate tests of new counting methods, extensive outreach to a more diverse and mobile population, and hiring a temporary workforce of more than half a million to contact those who fail to self-respond. But so far, our nations policymakers have severely underfunded preparations for the 2020 Census by hundreds of millions of dollars. The census is more than a head count. The Framers intended it to ensure the fair allocation of political power. Population data from the census are used for the reapportionment of congressional seats and the redistricting of Californias state and local government political districts. Census data also guide $87 billion annually in federal funds to the Golden State. These funds are for such vital needs as Medicaid and Medicare (Part B), Head Start, school lunch programs, highways and transportation, and housing assistance. All depend on the census count. Just as importantly, census data are used in civil rights and voting rights enforcement. The information is used to protect access to the ballot, to monitor discrimination, and to examine economic equality. Presently, the Census Bureaus annual budget sits stalled at last years level because of a continuing resolution passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. The administration and Congress have yet to act on more funding. California is more than the largest state; it is the most diverse state in the nation. For the Census Bureau, whose job is to count and place every resident of our state, the challenge in California may be greater than anywhere else in the nation. Latinos are one of the fastest growing population groups in California. They represent about 40 percent of the population and increased by 9 percent since the last census. Nationally, Latinos have one of the highest undercounts of any population group in the census. So, one of the largest, growing segments of Californias population is going to be one of the most difficult to count in the next census. Historically, the Census Bureau put serious resources into neighborhoods with large communities of color. This trend is now threatened by insufficient funding for the 2020 Census. In California, at least 25 percent of residents, or 9.7 million people, are in localities least likely to be fully counted because they reside in what the Census Bureau calls Hard-to-Count tracts. Communities of color make up a large portion of these tracts. In California, 38 percent of African Americans, 34 percent of Latinos and 19 percent of Asians live in Hard-To-Count areas, according to the Census Bureau. Californians cannot afford to wait until 2020 to protect our stake in the national head count. The time to send an alarm to Washington, D.C. policy makers is now. The Trump administration recently asked Congress to increase funding for the Census Bureau in 2018 by $187 million to make up for past underinvestment. We believe the appropriate increase is closer to $400 million to get started in outreach, partnership and testing of new operations that hope to ensure a complete, fair and accurate count. We encourage readers to contact their senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. now, before the final 2018 funding bill is considered in December. Our state has too much at stake for the next decade to settle for anything less. Salon St. Helena, formerly known as Heaven and Earth, will host an open house and Holiday Happening from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at 1317 Main St. There will be gift bags and bits and sips, said Joyce Hoshall. She and her husband Bill acquired the business from Sara Chappellet in May and had planned to host a launch party but that was delayed by the fires. Instead, there will be a ribbon cutting during Thursdays event. Sullivan Vineyards & Winery has agreed to sell to VITE USA, Inc. in the wake of financial turmoil that pushed the family-owned estate in Rutherford to file for bankruptcy earlier this year. The winerys filing and now its sale follow a years-long bout of litigation between the Sullivan family and Stephen A. Finn, Kelleen Sullivans former husband, regarding ownership of the winery which came into dispute amid the fallout of Finns and Sullivans divorce in 2015. The agreement for VITE USA to purchase the 26-acre estate at 1090 Galleron Road was approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Monday and the sale for an undisclosed amount is slated to close after the new year. Winery president Ross Sullivan will stay on as an advisor to the group. Per the sale of the estate his family has owned since 1978, Sullivan said, Theres no secret that the family has been embroiled in some of the unfortunate sides of family relationships and theres no doubt that that was bogging the business down a little bit. And so we see this as a great opportunity to allow business to flourish and get past some of these family issues that have held it back. Juan Pablo Torres-Padilla, the face and CEO of VITE USA, described his group as a family investment fund, whose only winery property to date is Sullivan Vineyards. A native of Mexico with more than 15 years in France behind him, including time spent in the wine regions of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne, Torres-Padilla said the group first eyed wine properties in France but reset their sights on Napa Valley over two years ago. Acquainting themselves with the local wine industry, the group made introductions throughout the valley, meeting eventually with the Sullivan family. The two groups met from time to time for more than a year until, Torres-Padilla said, Some weeks and months ago we started seriously talking about the possibility of making this transaction happen. Of the groups long-term vision for the estate, Torres-Padilla said, We believe we can build upon the success that Sullivan Estate has had so far in terms of winemaking, but also in terms of (being) a top destination in Napa. The specifics of that vision are still materializing, he said, and the group is crafting a mid-to-long term plan for development, though details are scant thus far. Basically it means that we are in a position to actually plan on a long-term project that will require a significant amount of investment in terms of people, in terms of time, leadership, energy, to create this unique and sophisticated experience. The winery has room to expand in terms of production, currently churning out roughly 5,500 of the 9,500 cases allowed per year by its current permit. But while growing the volume of Sullivans wine is an option, Torres-Padilla said, its probably not our immediate priority. Instead of quantity, the groups bent is much more on the quality of the overall experience, he said. The same applies to visitorship for now, as tastings at the winery are and will remain available only by appointment, for the foreseeable future, Sullivan said, adding that the winery sees between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors per year. We believe what we have today is aligned with the model and positioning of our wine, Torres-Padilla said. Maybe in the future that might change But as of now, we believe thats the right balance in order to get the right number of visitors. The estate will retain Jeff Cole, its winemaker since 2013. The Rutherford property features all five Bordeaux varieties, along with chardonnay, Sullivan said, though the winerys focus on cabernet sauvignon will continue to take precedence. The focus is to continue creating a cabernet sauvignon-based experience, Torres-Padilla said. There might be some adjustment in terms of how much of each varietal we will grow, but that will be part of our mid-to-long-term plan that will have a focus to really continue creating a cabernet sauvignon-based perspective, which is really what Napa Valley excels in, what the terroir is for. The elderly woman who killed well-known Napa County cyclist Paul Schapiro with her vehicle last year was sentenced to three years of probation in Napa County Superior Court on Wednesday. Her driving privileges were ordered permanently revoked. Patricia Ann Hill, 77, of Vallejo pleaded no contest to hit and run with injury or death and vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, both misdemeanors, last month. She had originally been charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. Hill was arrested June 3, 2016 after drifting onto the shoulder and striking Schapiro with her 2009 Honda CR-V while travelling south on Highway 29 north of Airport Boulevard, according to California Highway Patrol. Hill, who had left the scene, was stopped just down the road by Napa County Sheriffs deputies and transported to Sutter Solano Medical Center. Schapiro, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene. Schapiro, a former Napa County Bicycle Commuter of the Year, was recognized in 2014 for being a devoted bicyclist who commuted 6.5 miles daily from his home to his job. Schapiros family supplied two victim impact statements to the court. This was a catastrophe for my family, said Schapiros brother, Michael Schapiro. Paul will never again be here to watch and enjoy as the wonderful uncle to my children and grandchildren as they cross each milestone. There are few better (or worse) examples of Washington gridlock than continuing Congressional inaction on immigration reform. When Congress failed again to enact immigration legislation following the 2012 election, President Barack Obama issued a directive called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This policy directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant deferred action to allow an estimated 800,000 young people brought illegally to this country as children by their parents to remain temporarily in the United States. This past September, President Donald Trump announced the end of DACA and set an expiration date on the legal protections granted to those known as Dreamers. The conservative Heritage Foundation argues that Congress, should not provide amnesty to the beneficiaries of DACA [and] should instead focus on enhancing immigration enforcement and border security to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants. Ironically, a 2016 DHS report, found the number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. hit its lowest level in a decade under President Obama. As a result, immigration advocates labeled Obama the Deporter-in-Chief for the 2.5 million people deported on his watch. ABC News reported that this number was more than the total deportees under all American presidents during the 20th century, and it did not include those who left the U.S. voluntarily or who were turned away by U.S. Border and Customs officials. Like Obama, who implemented DACA in frustration with Congressional failure to act, President Trump expresses a desire that the program become a permanent part of comprehensive immigration legislation passed by Congress. There are many perspectives on DACA and the people it affects. Here are expert views on several key technical, legal, and economic issues. DACA does not grant amnesty to Dreamers as did the bipartisan Immigration Reform & Control Act signed by Ronald Reagan in 1986. Rather, it allows those who entered or were brought to the U.S. as minors to apply for two-year periods of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for work permits. DACA is not a path to citizenship. As Obama said in announcing the directive, It is a temporary stop gap measure until Congress enacts immigration legislation. Opponents argue that Obama acted unconstitutionally, however, there has been no court decision to date finding this DACA 2012 policy unconstitutional. There are also economic considerations. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank funded by the Koch brothers, estimates that repealing DACA would cost employers $6 billion to train new employees to achieve the Dreamers levels of productivity. Furthermore, it would result in a $280 billion economic decline due to the loss of personal income, property, and sales taxes paid by Dreamers, who pay into but are ineligible for federal welfare benefits, Medicaid and other government programs. As for DACA taking away jobs from citizens, a July report from the Federal Reserve highlights the shortage of workers as a significant national challenge from trucking, to construction, to software companies. The current unemployment rate is nearing record lows, yet 6 million jobs remain unfilled despite Dreamers being employed. In ending DACA, President Trump issued a statement, saying, I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. To be eligible for DACA protections, Dreamers must have must have come to this country before they were 16 and the average Dreamer arrived before six years of age. The centrist Brookings Institution points to the human costs of deporting hundreds of thousands of people to countries they know little or nothing about, with languages they may not even speak. An estimated 900 Dreamers currently serve in the U.S. military and have developed skills the military considers vital. As President Obama said in announcing the policy, They are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. Jose Varela, my former advisee now the Marin County Public Defender, observes that rather than punishing children for their parents crimes, Dreamers are actually being punished for their parents hopes to provide their children with better lives. Immigrants have always come to America propelled by the push of oppression, threats of violence, the lack of political freedom, and economic deprivation. Respect for legal and constitutional concerns are essential to a democracy; however, compassion and welcoming the stranger particularly the young and the weak are at the heart of the American Story. In this Christmas season, Christians especially would do well to consider Mary and Joseph immigrants who took their child to safety in a foreign land. As a part of the Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan, Emory has committed to reducing energy use per square foot by 50 percent by 2025 and total energy use by 25 percent. Emory surpassed its former energy reduction goal by establishing energy efficiency projects, a building temperature policy, a predictive maintenance program to keep high performance buildings running efficiently and other initiatives that are implemented year-round. In the fall semester, Campus Services and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) partner for two other programs with measurable energy reduction: the Campus Energy Competition and the Holiday Building Turndown. When we use energy in Georgia currently, we are mostly burning coal and natural gas, which contributes to poor air quality, to more instances of respiratory illnesses and to climate change, says Ciannat Howett, director of OSI. The Emory administration and utilities teams continue to partner for energy use reduction programs because of the co-benefits related to using less energy. Throughout October, all Atlanta campus buildings and the Oxford campus residence halls competed in the annual Energy Competition. All buildings in three categories residential, academic and administrative, and research and clinic compete to achieve the most energy use reduction during this October compared to last October. This years Energy Competition winners for Emorys Atlanta campus are the Emory Clinic Building A (research and clinic) with a 29 percent decrease in energy consumption, equating to 125,860 saved kilowatt hours; the North Decatur Building (academic and administrative) with a 14 percent energy use reduction, totaling to a 92,000 kilowatt hour reduction; and Alabama Hall (residence hall) with 23 percent energy reduction, or 3,000 kilowatt hours. Emorys Oxford residence hall winner is Fleming Hall with a 1.1 percent decrease from 2016 energy usage levels. The campus saved 819,701 kilowatt hours from last October, which is equivalent of 610 metric tons of carbon dioxide avoided. The reduction is equal to taking 130 cars off the road for a year or diverting almost 215 tons of garbage from a landfill. Turning down heat for the holidays Consistent with energy reduction efforts over the past several years, over the two periods of official university winter holidays, Dec. 23-26 and Dec. 29-Jan. 1, Emory plans to program the heating systems in many Atlanta campus buildings to maintain a 55 F minimum set point which will reduce energy costs while still protecting building contents. The heat will be turned back up early enough on Dec. 27 and Jan. 2 to ensure a comfortable work environment. In past years, energy reduction from the turndown has resulted in around $40,000 in savings for the campus. For buildings not participating in the Holiday Building Turndown, occupants are reminded to ensure thermostats are locally set to 68 F or the lowest setting. Building occupants are also asked to turn off interior lights, computers and other office equipment before leaving for the holidays. There are some questions about which we are so sure of the answer that anything that makes us question that certainty is both surprising and revelatory. This is what Jonathan Crane, associate professor of medicine and religion, wanted to happen when he challenged the students in his course Nazi Medicine on Trial to confront, and even defend, ideas that society has come to accept as abhorrent. Taught for the first time this semester, the innovative, interdisciplinary course investigated the medical and experimental practices of Nazis before and during WWII, as well as the Nuremberg Medical Trial of 1946-1947. Instead of concluding the class with a typical final research project, Crane tasked his students a mix of undergraduates from a variety of years and majors with putting an experiment on trial. Specifically, they addressed the question Is forced sterilization immoral? Not only were the students disturbed to learn the myriad ways Nazis sterilized people against their will and knowledge, they were astounded to learn that similar practices were done here in the United States under legal protection, says Crane, referring to U.S. eugenics practices including compulsory sterilization laws adopted by over 30 states that led to more than 60,000 sterilizations of disabled and feebleminded individuals undertaken from the first decades of the 20th century until the 1970s. Crane, the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought at Emorys Center for Ethics (CFE) and a rabbi, developed the class in response to a request for proposals from the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies for courses and projects that examined anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, a broad subject that was a natural fit considering his expertise in bioethics, Jewish studies and medicine. In my preliminary research, I discovered quite a bit in that trial that merited further investigation and I put forward a proposal to teach a course looking at Nazi medicine and this trial in particular, Crane says. For that course, I explored both the Nazi medical experiments and the trial itself, as well as the philosophical underpinnings of medicine in late 19th and early 20th century, he continues. What surprised me is how intertwined American and German medicine truly was. Prosecuting and defending forced sterilization After examining Nazi medical experimentation, the Nuremberg trials and a history of eugenics practices in the United States, students were split into two groups defense and prosecution to prepare for a three-day tribunal arguing whether forced sterilization is immoral. The student teams developed opening statements; compiled evidence; gathered expert witnesses, victims and practitioners; anticipated cross-examination questions; outlined rebuttals; and composed compelling concluding arguments based on primary resources and secondary scholarship researched with the assistance of Emory librarians, Crane says. Crane also assembled a panel of Emory experts to serve as judges for the tribunal, led by Emory General Counsel Stephen Sencer and joined by Edward Queen, director of undergraduate education at the CFE; Katie Lewis, Emorys associate general counsel; Timothy Jackson, professor of Christian ethics; April Dworetz, professor of pediatrics; and CFE director Paul Root Wolpe. Encouraged by Crane to take the trial as a formal and serious proceeding, rather than a hypothetical enactment, students threw themselves into preparation and the atmosphere during the trial was convincingly more one of a courtroom than a classroom. Students outfitted in lawyerly attire made compelling arguments, presented expert testimony and deftly cross-examined witnesses over the three days of the tribunal. Emily Fan, a sophomore pursuing a double major in anthropology and human biology and in history focusing on law, economics and human rights, presented the opening statement for the prosecution on the first day of the tribunal. The eugenic ideologies that fueled many forced sterilizations in the 20th century continue to linger on today. On a global perspective, forced sterilization has been used by governments and individuals to oppress, discriminate, dehumanize and cause existential suffering to many human beings, Fan said in the statement. In light of this human rights epidemic, we must take a stand. As the prosecution, we are here to put an end to it, once and for all. Despite defending what many would characterize as indefensible, senior political science major Jacqueline Hayes gave impassioned closing arguments for the defense at the tribunals conclusion. It is important to remember what it is we are discussing. We are not looking at specific sterilization procedures, we are not discussing specific events. We are discussing the morality of the entire concept of forced sterilization. Today, the defense has shown you the act of forced sterilization can be considered moral, Hayes argued. The defense presented a case that focused on the big picture, on forced sterilization as an idea and concept, not a consequence. The prosecutions argument rested solely on consequences, solely on speculation, and solely on the limited experiences of certain individuals, she continued. This is simply not enough to make a decision on morality. Lessons beyond the verdict Although the ultimate decision of the judges panel found forced sterilization immoral, the judges were impressed by the deep, powerful arguments made by both the defense and prosecution. Queen praised the course as an experiment in immersive pedagogy. The students manifested remarkable commitment, knowledge and seriousness in addressing the issue of the trial, he says. Their research into and discussions of the philosophical arguments; the history of government coerced sterilization in the United States and its effects on its victims; and the technical medical issues involved was most impressive. They did an incredible job and their experience undoubtedly will have a lasting influence on their intellectual and ethical development. Sencer told the students when rendering the panels judgment that he came into the experience confident in his belief that forced sterilization is immoral, but his views were impacted by the students arguments. Lawyers have to defend unpopular causes. I commend you for admirably defending a repugnant issue, he told the students. Afterward, Sencer was enthusiastic about the benefit of the exercise. I knew the question going in, but was unprepared for the commitment, engagement and excitement that the students displayed. To use a legal term, I was blown away. The students had a deep command of the material, and were also effective at arguing what evidence should be relied upon and what shouldnt, he says. As a lawyer, that last part was great to see. Too often in our society we treat all evidence as equally valid, Sencer explains. The rules of procedure in courtrooms are designed to focus attention on the most reliable forms of evidence and exclude unreliable evidence. Even without a grounding in the formal rules, the students were arguing the underlying principles. Crane says he hopes his students will move forward from the class with a deeper understanding and commitment to pay attention and have the skills necessary to hold themselves and institutions accountable. One of my hopes is that they will remember, if not the content of this course, at least the accomplishments of this course 30 years from now, he says. This is the kind of experience I hope brings education out of textbooks and history and into their lived lives. When articles about the worlds first head transplant began popping up in news feeds, Emory Neuroethics Program director Karen Rommelfanger thought it must be a hoax. There hadnt been any papers published about the procedure or any serious discussion of practice operations on animals or human corpses. Just a few still photos and lots of online speculation. Most of the conversations were centered on the gross-out factor of the operation or the very high likelihood that such a procedure would fail. Very few were talking about the many ethical concerns a head transplant would raise. But as news spread and it became clear that the planned operation in China was not a hoax, Rommelfanger and other neuroethicists decided it was time for a serious discussion about the ethical implications of head transplants regardless of whether the procedure is possible now, years or decades in the future, or never. This is a real procedure theyre going to attempt. Whether its going to work is a whole other issue, but they are going to do this and have the funding to do it, says Rommelfanger. And Emory was the right institution to lead the discussion. The university is home to the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB) Neuroscience, the official journal of the International Neuroethics Society. Paul Root Wolpe, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics at Emory and editor-in-chief of AJOB-Neuroscience, is considered one of the founders of the field of neuroethics, which combines the disciplines of neuroscience and ethics. And Emorys Center for Ethics, led by Wolpe, also has one of the leading neuroethics programs in the world. Rommelfanger, Wolpe and others kicked off conversation in their monthly Neuroethics and Neuroscience in the News series about the ethics of the transplant and published a summary on AJOB-Neurosciences news blog, The Neuroethics Blog. The blog is the leading online neuroethics forum, with readership in 40 countries. Soon Sergio Canavero, the Italian surgeon leading the planned head transplant, was in touch and wanted to weigh in with his views. I received an email in my inbox from Canavero basically accusing me of not including him in the conversation and not fairly giving him a chance to speak. And he was absolutely right, Rommelfanger says. Canavero and his team were invited to submit an article for AJOB-Neuroscience and the editorial team decided to build an entire issue of the journal around the ethics of head transplants. Canaveros team made their case, Wolpe wrote a rebuttal, and then leading neuroscientists were invited to react to the conversation. Then Canavero was given an opportunity to react to their reactions. It was a robust discussion that tackled many of the thorny issues raised by head transplants. For instance, when one persons head is transplanted to another persons body, is the individual whose head is transplanted the same person they were before the operation? The idea that you can just take someones head and just plop it on someone elses body and it will be the same person is a theory. We take it for granted that its true but its certainly not taken for granted in other cultures or historically, Wolpe says. In the West, were cerebro-centric we believe that the brain constitutes the vast majority of who we are as human beings. Its probably true but we really dont know, he adds. Another issue that needs to be considered, according to Wolpe and Rommelfanger, is the safety of the patient. Transplant procedures are typically undertaken after years, if not decades, of careful research, including papers, animal models and meticulously practiced and documented surgical techniques. Theres no dimension on which this satisfies long-held research standards in medicine, Wolpe says. Theyre just jumping right to a very complicated and difficult surgery in the absence of all the kind of background research information youd normally have. And while the surgeons claim the patient is expected to have some mobility after the procedure, its unclear what quality of life might be possible for the patient. The source of the body for the transplant, as well as the other patients who could have been saved with the functioning organs within that body, are also important to consider, says Rommelfanger. The extremely high cost of head transplants, even if possible, would exclude all but the very rich from undergoing the procedure, she adds. Many of these ethical concerns have been brought up in relation to organ transplant procedures, but the scope of the problem when transplanting an entire body is ten-fold. Our cultures disgust with swapping out body parts as if they were car parts is likely behind some of the outrage directed at the idea of the head transplant and at Canavero, the surgeon trying to make it happen, Rommelfanger says. Everyone knows the system is sick but Canavero is an easy target, Rommelfanger says. With or without him, the problem will still be there and well have to do the hard work of looking at ourselves. The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Atlantas historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, will give a lecture in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Emory University School of Law at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, in the law schools Tull Auditorium, Gambrell Hall, 1301 Clifton Rd., Atlanta. Since 2005, Warnock has served as the senior pastor of Ebenezer, the spiritual home of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The son of two Pentecostal pastors, Warnock became the fifth and the youngest person ever called to the senior pastorate of Ebenezer, which was founded in 1886. Under Warnocks leadership, more than 4,000 new members have joined the church, enhancing its legacy of social activism with both spiritual and numerical growth. Warnock graduated from Morehouse College with honors in 1991, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, from which he graduated with honors and distinctions. Warnock continued his graduate studies at Union, receiving a Master of Philosophy degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of systematic theology. Warnock is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the 100 Black Men of Atlanta Inc., and is a lifetime member of the NAACP. His activism was honored in 2016 when his footprints were placed on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. Warnocks lecture will be followed by a reception in Hunter Atrium. Free parking will be available after 4 p.m. in the Lowergate South Parking Deck, 1705 Lowergate Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322. Admission is free, but attendees should RSVP at bit.ly/2018mlkday. - U.S. urges North Korea to engage in talks as more Chinese sanctions loom. - The U.S. is willing to start discussions without a precondition. - China set to impose more sanctions on North Korea following fresh provocations. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has disclosed that the United States is ready to talk with North Korea to bring an end to the nuclear threats and potential crisis. The secretary of state who has been accused of wasting his time in trying to negotiate with North Korea by U.S. President Donald Trump has also indicated that the U.S. is willing to start discussions with the North without a precondition. Tillerson, speaking on Tuesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, stated the US "cannot accept" a nuclear-armed North Korea but called on the two countries to begin a dialogue. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," he said. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your [nuclear weapons] programme." Tillerson added that North Korea has "too much invested" in their nuclear weapons programme and said US President Donald Trump is "realistic about that". Following the secretary of state's speech, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders reiterated that Trump's views on North Korea remain unchanged. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way ... North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea," she added in a statement to reporters. Rex Tillerson also provided more hints regarding the North Korea situation. He said the US president "would like to see" China stop supplying oil to North Korea in order to drive the government in Pyongyang towards diplomatic talks. "The last time the North Koreans came to the table, it was because China cut the oil off," he said. "Three days later, the North Koreans were at the table talking. And the president feels we're really at that stage. So he's putting a lot of pressure on the Chinese to do more with respect to oil." 22:50 Vijay Mallya's defence today fielded a United Kingdom-based prison service expert to claim that jails in India are overcrowded with poor hygiene as they sought to counter Indian government assurances on how he would be treated on being extradited to face fraud and money laundering charges. Mallya's barrister, Clare Montgomery, deposed Dr Alan Mitchell before the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where the liquor baron is facing an extradition trial. The trial seeks to prove that there are no 'bars to extradition' and that Mallya is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines's alleged default of over Rs 9,000-crore in loans from Indian banks. The defence today made an attempt to highlight that conditions in Barrack 12 of Mumbai Central Prison on Arthur Road, where the 61-year-old flamboyant businessman is to be held, were 'far from satisfactory'. Dr Mitchell, former head of healthcare at the Scottish Prison Service and an elected member of the European Council's European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, said the assurances given by the Indian government were 'general in nature' to state that jail conditions would be 'adequate' for Mallya. "But adequate in the eyes of whom," Mitchell questioned. His evidence relied heavily upon his past inspection visit to Alipore Jail in Kolkata and also on an account of the prison conditions in Puzhal Jail in Chennai, from six former British soldiers -- referred to as the Chennai Six -- have recently been released. Mitchell's account of his telephone conversation with one of the six men, identified only as 'Prisoner A' in court, seemed to have caught the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, off guard. The CPS has questioned the 'unusual' nature of the second-hand narration of an anonymous prisoner's account of an Indian jail on the 'other side of India'. CPS barrister Mark Summers also pointed out that 'Prisoner A' may be using this as a platform to bring a compensation claim against the UK and Indian authorities. As part of his second-hand account, Mitchell related gruesome details of open defecation, rats, cockroaches and snakes that the Chennai Six allegedly contended within their prison cell in Chennai. "In one instance, he recalls the deputy superintendent of the jail beating a prisoner with a lathi, for what appeared to be no apparent reason," Mitchell said. In his cross-examination, Summers made a reference to how the same prison expert's testimony had proved critical in the extradition case of alleged bookie Sanjeev Chawla because he was to be lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, which 'suffered overcrowding, poor conditions, violence and ill treatment'. Chawla has since been discharged on human rights grounds over severe jail conditions by Westminster Magistrates' Court in October. The CPS sought to highlight that Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai cannot be compared with that situation as Barrack 12 is a self-contained facility, which houses just six people. "India is a huge country, both in terms of population and size...some states are more wealthy than others...and conditions in the prisons in any given state can vary greatly from state to state and within a state...," said Summers. Dr Mitchell referenced the medical report he had seen on Mallya, which claims he suffers from 'diabetes, coronary artery disease and sleep apnea' and those conditions would require regular 'monitoring' and a healthy 'diet'. The government of India's assurances highlight that Arthur Road Jail is staffed with four doctors, with one on duty 24 hours a day, and in addition four nursing assistants. Mitchell said he was unable to assess the effectiveness of that medical provision in jail as there is no reference to how 'many doctors are on duty at one time during the day'. He claimed that a jail of the size of Mumbai Central Jail, which houses around 3,000 prisoners in all, in the UK would be required to have 12 full time medical staff and 60 nurses. Today's hearing will continue to hear Mitchell's witness statement with Mallya's defence team trying to establish that India lacks any mechanism to ensure judicial orders on prison conditions are complied with. -- PTI Workshop for drone operators is set for January by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. Slots are available for a Southern Illinois University Carbondale course that will allow drone operators to earn Federal Aviation Administration certification to operate unmanned aircraft systems. The two-day workshop, Jan. 10-11, 2018, is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Transportation Education Center at Southern Illinois Airport. This is the seventh drone operators workshop that faculty from SIUs nationally recognized aviation programs have conducted since November 2016. There have been 125 people participate in SIUs course. The universitys aviation departments will work with large corporations to certify employees. Registration is $500 per person and covers the certification course, FAA knowledge test, and lunch both days of the workshop. More information and course registration is available through the universitys Conference and Scheduling Services. The registration deadline is Jan. 4. FAA regulations put in place in 2015 require certification for drone operators if they will operate drones under commercial guidelines for businesses and surveying. The course will cover all of the subject areas on the test. Topics include airspace, regulations, weather and aeronautical decision making. The FAA began issuing drone pilot licenses to commercial operators in August 2016. The FAA forecasts there will be more than 1.3 million licensed drone pilots by 2020. One of 23 FAA-approved drone test centers in Illinois, SIU Carbondale is the only four-year public university that offers the program. In this frame grab provided on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, by Russian Defence Ministry press service, showing what they say is a long-range Kalibr cruise missile launched by the a Russian submarine in the Mediterranean. MOSCOW, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the lower house of parliament an agreement with Syria, under which Damascus will allow Moscow to keep its naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus for at least 49 years. The document posted on the website of the Russian State Duma on Wednesday states that the deal may be automatically extended every 25 years after its expiry. Under the deal, which was signed on Jan. 18, Russia and Syria agreed to expand and overhaul the maintenance infrastructure in Tartus, which was established in 1977 and is currently Russia's sole naval support facility in the Mediterranean region. The deal allows Russia to deploy up to 11 warships, including nuclear-powered combat vessels, to the Syrian port. The State Duma is expected to ratify the deal later this month. After claiming a victory against the Islamic State, Putin announced on Monday that Russia would pull most of its troops out of Syria, but would maintain the Tartus facility and the Hmeymim airbase in the war-torn country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 00:50:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday promised to focus on economic development and work with all Kenyans in his second and final term in office. Kenyatta, who addressed the nation during 54th Independence Day celebrations in Nairobi, spelt out four pillars of his vision for economic growth, and vowed to respect the constitution by shifting from politics to transforming the east African nation. He said the Big Four -- food security, affordable housing, manufacturing, and affordable healthcare -- are the pillars of his vision to transform Kenya economically. "The Big Four will create jobs, which will enable our people to meet their basic needs. Jobs will transform the lives of our people from that of hardship and want, to new lives of greater comfort and well-being. And that is the future I have seen," Kenyatta said. The Kenyan leader said the Big Four will build on the foundation laid in his first term in sectors such as transport, electricity distribution, education, and ICT. He said Kenya has lost many golden opportunities because leaders have elevated politics to a level higher than economic prosperity. Kenyatta said poverty, as well as weak nations and conflicts in Africa, were a consequence of a wrong approach to nation-building that focused on politics at the expense of the economic well-being of the people. "Poverty is not our fate as Africans," he said. "It is merely the outcome of the wrong solutions and priorities by leaders and their followers." "For proof of this, you only need to take a look at the countries that have focused on politics for its own sake, and they abound on our continent," he said. Kenyatta, who was sworn into office for his second term on Nov. 28, said he will unite and lead Kenyans to make a paradigm shift that will place equal opportunity, dignity for all and the pursuit of material prosperity for all above politics. "I have seen the future, and it is at hand. The pursuit of politics for politics' sake is the past; the pursuit of political leadership for economic liberation is the future," he said. "And it is up to us, as Kenyans, to deliver it." Kenyatta said he is willing to engage with all Kenyans -- including leaders of the opposition -- in focusing the nation on economic transformation. "I reach out to all Kenyans to help in achieving our common goal of peace, stability and prosperity for all. It is our shared responsibility to work for these ends, knowing that we all have a role to play and that we all must listen to one another," he said. He warned that his government will not tolerate any acts that treat Kenya's constitutional order with casual recklessness. "The constitution is the general will of all. No one is above it: no matter who you are, you are subject to its authority. Anything outside the constitution is a hostile intrusion," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 00:55:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The South African Presidency on Tuesday denied media reports that it is drafting regulations for a state of emergency. The Presidency also denied that President Jacob Zuma has appointed a team to draw up such regulations. "The Presidency is not working on regulations for a state of emergency," presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said. He was responding to allegations by Rapport newspaper that for the first time in 20 years, the Presidency has started to compose regulations for a state of emergency. The newspaper said earlier Tuesday it had seen the draft regulations. Under the draft regulations, the paper said, any security official will have far-reaching powers to act within his or her own judgement, arrest people, search property, or cut communication channels such as cellphones or the internet. The draft regulations also prohibit any person to write, publish or broadcast something that could be threatening to somebody else or their family during the time of a state of emergency. The report claimed that Zuma has appointed a team to compose the regulations, taking advantage of his power given by the constitution to declare a state of emergency when war, invasion, revolt, natural disasters or other dangers threaten the nation's safety. This came when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) was busy preparing to hold its elective conference on Dec. 16-20 to elect a successor to Zuma. Two presidential hopefuls, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC Member of Parliament Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, are running neck-and-nect in a tense rivalry that has threatened the unity of the party. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 01:26:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) must act together on Africa to prevent mass migration, and it must take advantage of the ongoing economic recovery to achieve a closer union, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday. Addressing the Senate ahead of the next European Council meeting of Dec. 14 and 15, Gentiloni said that Italy's efforts to fight human traffickers jointly with Libya and to spotlight the need to invest massively in sub-Saharan Africa have set the stage for a wider debate at the EU level. "The question we will ask...is whether, based on these results, the time to invest all together as European Union countries has finally arrived," Gentiloni said to applause from the Senate floor. "I am relatively optimistic," Gentiloni added, noting that the so-called Visegrad Four countries -- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia -- recently announced they would contribute 35 million euros (41 million U.S. dollars) to EU investments in Africa. The Italian prime minister said this was "a significant amount." The Visegrad Four countries hold staunchly anti-immigrant positions, closing their borders to refugees and refusing to accept migrant relocations from Italy and Greece. Gentiloni went on to say that Italy was in favor of closer monetary and banking union, another item on the agenda at the summit to be held next Thursday and Friday. "There is a significant piece of the European family that would like to go backwards and not forwards on these matters," Gentiloni remarked, pointing to "differing center-north and Mediterranean positions." The Italian premier called for an EU-controlled backstop reserve for the banking union, and said Italy was in favor of the creation of an EU finance minister, as long as the position calls for creating economic growth not just "acting as a controller" to make sure individual countries play by the rules. An EU finance minister "is a good thing if it comes with a common budget policy," Gentiloni said. "We need common, European budget items to deal with migration, security, defense, and to set up common welfare mechanisms," he said. Italy, Gentiloni pointed out, has proposed a European social security fund that individual countries grappling with record unemployment could draw on. "We must take advantage of an opportunity, which is due to the fact that after a significant economic crisis, the EU and the eurozone in particular are experiencing stable and widespread growth," Gentiloni said in closing. The Italian premier is set to address the Lower House later Tuesday evening on these same issues. On the agenda at the next European Council summit are finding "solutions to migratory pressures", the new Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defense pact, and Brexit, according to the Council's official website. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 01:56:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives (parliament) will choose a new governor of the country's central bank next week, a parliament member said. "We hope to hold a session to choose a new governor of the central bank, a step that was much delayed due to political division," parliament member Omar Ghaith told Xinhua. Ghaith said the selection of central bank governor depends on technical and security factors. Despite signing a UN-sponsored peace agreement by the political factions, Libya remains politically divided amid insecurity and unrest. The division also includes the central bank, which is divided between the east and the west of the country. Libya's foreign exchange reserves have shrunk over the past four years. The country suffered losses of more than 140 billion U.S. dollars due to repeated closure of oil fields and ports by conflict. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 02:16:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close OTTAWA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday announced appointment of Quebec-born Justice Richard Wagner to be the next chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. "I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead the highest court of Canada, an institution with a long and respected history of judicial independence and excellence. The judiciary, the legal profession, and all Canadians will be well served by his dedication to upholding the laws and Constitution upon which this country is founded," Trudeau said. Wagner, 60, will take the oath of office on Dec. 18. He was born in Montreal and earned a law degree from the University of Ottawa in 1979. Wagner, practised law for more than 20 years, focusing on professional liability and on commercial litigation related in particular to real estate law, oppression remedies and class action suits. As a Quebec Superior Court judge, he sat on several of the court's committees, including the judicial practice committee for training of newly appointed judges. He was named to the Supreme Court by Stephen Harper in 2012. Wagner is a self-declared advocate of judicial independence, once saying that "the judiciary is only accountable to the person subject to trial." Last year, Trudeau's government brought in a new Supreme Court appointment process to encourage more openness, transparency and diversity, which also requires high court justices to be functionally bilingual. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 02:21:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close GENEVA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Swiss employers are expecting an upswing in recruitment in the first three months of 2018, the most upbeat they have been for seven years, a survey showed Tuesday. The report by the Swiss recruitment agency Manpower consulted 759 employers, predicting the outlook for recruitment in the first quarter of 2018 to be three percent, the most optimistic forecast since the first quarter of 2011. "This upbeat forecast demonstrates that the economic recovery is expected to gradually have a knock-on effect on the Swiss labor market," said Leif Agneus, general manager of Manpower Switzerland, in a statement. "The strengthening of the global economy, the growth in the eurozone, and the fall in the Swiss franc are undoubtedly influencing Swiss employers, who are back with renewed confidence, especially those in an export-oriented business." Employers mainly in Zurich and northwest Switzerland are the most optimistic, said the report. No changes in the job market are expected in the Lake Geneva region. The key recruitment figure is predicted by comparing the number of employers expecting an increase in their employment rates within the first quarter, with those expecting a decrease. Most new vacancies will be created by the financial, real estate and service sectors, followed by the manufacturing industry. Most jobs cuts will be seen in the construction industry, as well as in public and social services. The Manpower employment outlook barometer is conducted quarterly with private sector employers in 43 countries and territories, with a view to studying the intentions of companies vis-a-vis their workforce in the coming three months. Manpower says the barometer is considered a respected economic indicator. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 02:36:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TIRANA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Albania and Italy signed Tuesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU), voicing their will to take cooperation in the field of law and judicial to a new level. Albania's minister of Justice Etilda Gjonaj and her visiting Italian counterpart, Andrea Orlando signed the document, pledging to intensify cooperation and yield concrete result from the reforms launched in the judicial field. Gjonaj praised the judicial cooperation with Italy, underlining that Albania had entered a crucial phase of implementation of the justice system reform and cooperation with the international partners was deemed as very important. "Italy will now assist Albania during the implementation of the reform and creation of the new justice bodies," minister Gjonaj said at a joint press conference. On his part, Italian minister told reporters that the MoU signed between two countries focused not only on the cooperation between Italy and Albania, but also on Albania's European Union integration and the attention Italy attached to the Balkan countries. In this regard, Orlando affirmed Italy's support for Albania's EU membership bid. Italian justice minister voiced optimism that in less than a month time they would have done an extraordinary cooperation work. "The memorandum provides for a cooperation policy between the judiciary systems, prosecutors, bailiffs services and all other justice institutions of both countries," Orlando told reporters. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 03:16:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ISTANBUL, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul, one day before Islamic leaders meet in the city over how to respond to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The closed-door meeting lasted for one hour, and no statement was made thereafter, Turkish media said. Erdogan has called for an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for Wednesday in Istanbul in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized some Arab countries for "refraining from challenging Trump," noting that the Islamic summit is seeking recognition of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. Trump's move has sparked days of violent clashes in Gaza Strip and West Bank, while protests are continuing in other Arab countries. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 03:46:40|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close Harry Stine, founder and CEO of the world's largest private seed company Stine Seed, speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Chicago, the United States, on Dec. 6, 2017. "I'm a farmer so I want to do things that benefit farmers worldwide," Harry Stine said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. (Xinhua/Wang Ping) By Xinhua writers Xu Jing Miao Zhuang Wang Ping CHICAGO, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- "I'm a farmer so I want to do things that benefit farmers worldwide," Harry Stine, founder and CEO of the world's largest private seed company Stine Seed, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. 75-year-old Stine grew up on a farm in U.S. midwest state of Iowa. He went to a small liberal arts college taking a general course in agriculture, then went on to Iowa State University and took some graduate work in agricultural economics for one year. "On the farm I grew up on, we would raise a small quantity of seed, sell it to the neighbors and the margins were very small. We would just make a few cents," Stine said. "But on a new variety, we would get a little larger margin for one year. So I thought if I developed new varieties, I could have more control over them." He started plant breeding in mid 1960s, first in soybeans and later in corn. Without attracting any notice, Stine has developed some of the most valuable agricultural products in the world, and applied more than 900 patents. Today about two-thirds of the soybeans planted in the U.S. every year use genetics developed by Stine's company. Its soybean and corn seed genetics also have a strong presence in South America and other international markets. Forbes estimated in 2014 that Stine's company was worth nearly three billion U.S. dollars. "I didn't envision that it would do quite as well as it has, we've been very lucky," Stine said. Stine Seed joined U.S. President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in their visit to China last month, and signed an important collaborative agreement with one of its local partners in China. With this new platform, Stine Seed hoped to further strengthen its young but rapidly increasing presence in China, and to expand more efficiently and effectively. Stine Seed entered China about seven years ago. "We did it at first in a smaller way. We've been gradually expanding on that. China is one of the largest countries in the world with a large population, so we think we want to be there partially because of that and partially because we just have an attraction to China. We like China, we like its people, we like its government," Stine said. The seed company is now cooperating in both corn and soybean research with several Chinese companies. "We take our genetics out of our system and we put them either directly into the Chinese companies or we cooperate and do research combining their genetics with our genetics to make superior material for the Chinese farmers," he added. Stine made his first trip to China in 1976, and has been there three times afterwards. China "has changed over the last 40 years. China has made more rapid progress than any place in the world," he noted. "I've always felt close to China, partially because all of our soybeans originally came from Asia, and China in particular," Stine said. "I'm grateful of the fact that we've been able to be successful based on the origin of material that came from China." Never leaving his homeland in Iowa, Stine is a good friend of former Iowa governor and now U.S. ambassador to China Terry Branstad. "We have a lot of connections to China and have reason to think we'll do things very favorably." "I can't help but think our two countries together can do good things for the world," he stressed. Stine also reiterated since there are many farmers in China, that's "one of the primary areas that we want to work in." He said he does not care much about revenue as long as his company helps the Chinese farmers. Even if the company gets some revenue, "we would leave that revenue in China and do research." Stine Seed's exports to China are minimal at present. "We never planned to have large exports to China. We'll export small quantities of seed that haven't reproduced in China and distribute it there. We want to get our genetics there, we don't need to be exporting large quantities of material," he explained. In face of widespread concern that farmers may become dependent on his seeds, Stine said it is okay for the farmers to keep some seed of their own. "Over time as they become more affluent and intellectual property becomes better protected, it will change," Stine said. Responding to frequent criticism that all Stine Seed has is yield, Stine said frankly: "That's true, we admit that. But we think that's by far the most important thing." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 04:37:00|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close A Christmas tree is seen during the lighting up ceremony on Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece, on Dec. 12, 2017. The annual lighting of the Athens' Christmas tree on Syntagma square in front of the Greek parliament was held on Tuesday evening, officially kicking off the holiday season celebrations in the Greek capital. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) ATHENS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The annual lighting of the Athens' Christmas tree on Syntagma square in front of the Greek parliament was held on Tuesday evening, officially kicking off the holiday season celebrations in the Greek capital. Greeks will celebrate for the seventh consecutive year on an austerity budget compared to the pre-crisis levels, but plenty of optimism and hope for the future, Mayor of Athens Yiorgos Kaminis said before switching on the Christmas tree lights. "We wish to spread joy and optimism... Over the past two years the signs of the city's recovery are obvious. We are very proud," Kaminis told Xinhua. "This year, 2017, ends with an all time record of visitors (to Athens). With five million visitors we have every reason to be optimistic," he said. According to the latest financial indexes, the economy of debt-laden Greece is on the mend nearing the exit of the crisis and the mood out in the streets during the festive season is changing despite the remaining problems and challenges. Hundreds of people danced to the rhythm of Christmas songs performed by the Athens Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra and the Athens jazz Big Band during Tuesday's event. At least 220 outdoor and indoor festive events for children and adults are included in the municipality's holiday program over the next four weeks, according to a press announcement. The Mayor of Athens invited Athenians and visitors to stroll around the city in coming days and enjoy the theater, music and dance performances, children's activities, street parties, workshops and gastronomy events which will be hosted in squares, landmark sites, museums and cultural centers. Addressing Tuesday's event, Kaminis also urged his fellow citizens to not forget to care and stand by those who are in need. The municipality, as in the previous years of the debt crisis, has also made arrangements to help all join in the holiday spirit. Athens will usher the New Year with a big concert by renowned Greek artists at the pedestrian walkway at the foot of the Acropolis hill. File Photo: U.S. forces are seen at the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) headquarters after it was hit by Turkish airstrikes in Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria April 25, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a nearly 700-billion-dollar annual defense policy bill in the White House, which authorizes the U.S. military to add troops, ships, planes and other equipment. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed by the Congress last month, authorizes 626.4 billion U.S. dollars for the base defense budget and 65.7 billion dollars for a war fund known as Overseas Contingency Operations. The money would go toward adding 7,500 active-duty soldiers to the Army, 4,000 active-duty sailors to the Navy, 1,000 active-duty Marines and 4,100 active-duty airmen to the Air Force. It would also allow for a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops, higher than the 2.1 percent requested by the administration. Under the bill, the Pentagon will be allowed to buy 90 F-35s, 20 more than requested; 24 F/A-18s, 10 more than requested; and three littoral combat ships, two more than requested, among other equipment purchases. Moreover, the bill folds in the administration's November request for four billion dollars more for missile defense and 1.2 billion dollars to support sending another 3,500 troops to Afghanistan. The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force would also see increases in the reserves and National Guard, according to a report by the Washington-based political news website The Hill. However, the total money exceeds budget caps by more than 80 billion dollars and the Congress has yet to pass a defense spending bill to make the buildup a reality. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L, Front) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (2nd R) view a military parade in the Russian-run Hmeimim Air Base in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, on Dec. 11, 2017. (Xinhua/Syrian Presidency) MOSCOW, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia has begun a partial withdrawal of its troops in Syria under the order of President Vladimir Putin, local media reported on Tuesday. Putin announced the withdrawal during an unannounced visit to the Hmeymim military airfield in Syria on Monday. The first withdrawal includes 23 warplanes, two Ka-52 helicopters, and partial military troops composed by contingents, special operation forces, field hospital troops and demining teams, Sergey Surovikin, the commander of Russian forces in Syria, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying. Surovikin also pointed out that Russia will keep two military bases in Syria, the Hmeymim airbase and the Tartus naval base, which will guarantee stability of Syria in the future. Local media reported that with the support of the Russian air force, the Syrian army has liberated 98 percent of territory controlled by terrorist groups in the past two years. With 69 warplane deployed in Syria, Russia spent an average of 156 million rubles (2.6 million U.S. dollars) every day in the war-torn country. Moreover, 40 Russian servicemen died and at least seven pieces of Russian military equipment were destroyed in Syria since September 2015 when Moscow began military operations against terrorist groups in Syria at the request of Damascus, according to the reports. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 04:47:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Cao Yupeng made the first maximum break of his career at the Scottish Open in Glasgow on Tuesday. Cao, 27, scored 147 points in the third frame of his clash with Andrew Higginson and took a 3-0 lead. It leaves the world number 67 in line for a potential payout of 20,000 pounds from the rolling 147 prize and an additional 2,000 pounds for the high break this week. The magic run sees Cao become only the third player from mainland China to make a 147 and it's the 134th official maximum break in professional competition. He went on to beat the 40-year-old Englishman 4-0 to reach the second round. Enditem Christmas trees are seen at the central square in Vladivostok, Russia, Dec. 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Wu Gang) KIEV, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The aerospace manufacturing plant Yuzhmash in Ukraine's southeastern city of Dnipro will open its doors to tourists next year, the municipal Dnipro Development Agency (DDA) said on Tuesday. "We are following the path of real development of innovative space tourism in our city," Anna Kolyeda, the head of the DDA, was quoted as saying in the statement. According to her, the plant will be open solely for tour groups, who will undergo intense security checks. Individual tourists will be prohibited from visiting the site. Founded in 1944, the Yuzhmash plant produces space crafts, rocket launch vehicles, rocket engines and other equipment. It works with international aerospace partners in 23 countries. In the recent years, alternative tourism has been on the rise in Ukraine, which has a string of famous industrial facilities. The tour operators in the country have started offering tourists with new tourist sites such as deserted and operational industrial areas, including factories, quarries and coal mines. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 05:57:22|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba attends a business seminar held as part of the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 12, 2017. Jack Ma on Tuesday credited backing from the government for the country's booming e-commerce sector. (Xinhua/Martin Zabala) BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, on Tuesday credited backing from the government for the country's booming e-commerce sector. At a business seminar held as part of the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference being hosted by Buenos Aires, Ma said government policy can have a decisive impact on growth. "China's e-commerce grew because it believed in the entrepreneurs," said Ma, adding that "first innovation, and then policies to facilitate entrepreneurism." China's current reform measures have placed particular stress on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. At the seminar, Ma spoke about the future of trade with Richard Samans, member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum. "Two hundred years ago, trade was controlled by a few kings; in the past 50 years, by 60 companies; but today, any young person with a good idea can patent that idea," said Ma. "In the future, there isn't going to be the denomination 'Made in ...', everything will be 'Made in Internet'. We want the whole world to make it easier, and to be able to work online. We can do it," said Ma. Should countries, especially developing ones, be worried about regulating the world of online sales? "I have heard that many countries are concerned about e-commerce. Our experience is that e-commerce has been designed for developing countries," said Ma. "E-commerce is the future." Online sales set a new record in China on the Singles' Day, also known as Double Eleven as it falls on Nov. 11, with transactions totalling about 250 billion yuan, or nearly 40 billion U.S. dollars. Ma's words were echoed by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, who stressed the importance of supporting startups, saying "entrepreneurism creates opportunities." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 07:22:40|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close WARSAW, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Poland's new government headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki obtained a vote of confidence from the parliament late Tuesday. The vote of confidence was supported by 243 out of 435 members of Sejm (lower house) who took part in voting. Earlier in the day, Morawiecki delivered a keynote address before the Sejm, indicating modernization of the country as one of the key goals of his government's policy. In his speech, Morawiecki stressed the importance of modernization of the country, which would enable Poland to play an important role in the global technological revolution. Morawiecki also announced the increase in spending on healthcare up to 6 percent of the GDP, creation of most modern transport system in Europe, counteracting violence, and modernization of villages and farms. On foreign relations, Morawiecki said Poland didn't want the EU "of two speeds" and said the EU needed to return to its values. He informed that Poland respected the recent decisions of the European Court of Justice regarding the Bialowieza Forest and would act "in accordance with its judgment". Morawiecki also stated that NATO was and would remain the foundation of Polish security. However, he also announced developing relations with other countries of eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Middle East. Morawiecki, who replaces Beata Szydlo, was sworn in as Poland's new prime minister on Monday. Szydlo has been appointed deputy prime minister. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to various units in Samjiyon County, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 9, 2017. (KCNA/via REUTERS) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said here on Tuesday that Washington is willing to begin talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without preconditions. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a policy forum at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. He noted that the dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready. His remarks came amid escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 07:52:44|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's digital transformation is likely to have an increasing influence on the worldwide digital landscape, considering the profound impact it is already having on its own economy, experts said here late Monday. "China is already a global digital economy and it is going to have a greater impact on the global digital world," Jonathan Woetzel, senior partner at Mckinsey and director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), told Xinhua in a recent interview. China is now a major player in digital technology with enormous growth potential, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) released last week. Many experts have said that China has become a leading global force in the digital economy, during that joint report launch by Asia Society and MGI. The shift to a modern and more digitized economy worldwide has proven to be a transformative phenomenon in global business and consumer integration. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in China. The report said China has 42 percent of global e-commerce, which processes 11 times more mobile payments than the United States, and is home to one-third of the world's unicorn companies (private startups valued at more than 1 billion U.S. dollars). "It is going to change China's industries, is going to disaggregate, disintermediate, and dematerialize up to 50 percent of revenues of all Chinese industries. So it will be a big change to all Chinese industries," Woetzel told Xinhua. The report predicted that digital forces can potentially shift and create between 10 and 45 percent of industry revenues in China by 2030. China is in the global top three for venture capital investment in virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, robotics, drones and artificial intelligence, according to the report. Meanwhile, the report also said a large and young market that enables rapid commercialization of digital business models, a rich digital ecosystem expanding beyond a few giants, and the government allowing space for digital companies to experiment and being an investor in and consumer of digital technologies, are three key factors suggesting a huge upside for China. China, one of the world's largest investors and adopters of digital technologies, is with a very large domestic market of consumers who are young and eager to embrace digital in all its forms. "Three aggressive, giant internet companies with global reach - Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, or BAT as they are collectively known - are creating a multifaceted and multi-industry digital ecosystem that touches every aspect of consumers' lives," the report said. It is therefore not surprising that China's rapidly growing "fintech" (financial technology) industry has established the biggest global market for digital payments, accounting for roughly half of the global total. As digital forces shake the status quo and restructure value chains, an even more globally competitive Chinese economy, and dynamic firms can emerge, the report said. "Even if you're not following Chinese innovation closely, Chinese innovators may come and knock on your door anywhere you are in the world and indeed lift the level of competition," Vijay Vaitheeswaran, an award-winning senior correspondent for The Economist, said at the event. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 08:17:47|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's first state visit to China, starting Wednesday, comes at a time when the two countries' ties, once frozen over Seoul's deployment of a controversial anti-missile system, have been thawing, thanks to intensive high-level interactions between the two sides in recent weeks. The visit provides a good opportunity for both to repair their damaged mutual trust, which is not only crucial for re-invigorating bilateral relations, but also for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul has argued that it deploys the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to protect itself from possible missile attacks by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), but it is now almost a global consensus that the U.S.-backed system can hardly ensure South Korea's safety as Pyongyang is more likely to choose low-altitude missiles for not-too-distant targets, for precision and cost reasons. But one thing is for sure that the THAAD system deployed in South Korea, capable of spying on vast areas in China and Russia, is actually a potential threat to regional peace. China has been consistent in its opposition to the deployment of the THAAD system, but values South Korea's assurance not to add to the existing system, or participate in the U.S.-led missile defense system, or develop a military alliance with Japan and the United States. Although the noxious atmosphere stemming from the THAAD system has been partially dealt with, the future of the bilateral relations is still tied to Seoul's adherence to its promises regarding the issue. China and South Korea are also key parties to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, with their common interests far outweighing their differences. As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said earlier, related parties should heed China's proposal of "double suspension", and be willing to take the first step to pull the Korean Peninsula back from confrontation, so as to lay the ground for the resumption of talks. The suspension-for-suspension initiative calls for the DPRK to hold in abeyance its nuclear and missile activities, and for the United States and South Korea to suspend their large-scale war games. The increasingly volatile situation on the Korean Peninsula could lead to a disastrous scenario neither Beijing nor Seoul wants to see. That's the most compelling reason why they should strengthen communication and cooperation on the basis of respecting each other's core interests and grave concerns, and make up for the lost time for developing bilateral ties in the past year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 08:27:49|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and eight others injured after a residential house caught fire in Chaoyang District, Beijing, on Wednesday morning. The fire broke out at 1:18 a.m. in a village house in Shibalidian Township, according to the fire department. The injured were brought to hospital. The fire was triggered by flames from an electric bicycle, said the fire department. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 08:42:55|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks opened essentially flat Wednesday as investors sat on the fence ahead of the U.S. central bank's two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting concluding later in the day. As of 9:15 a.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average edged 9.04 points, or 0.04 percent lower, from Tuesday to 22,857.13. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, inched up 2.62 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,817.70. Electric appliance and rubber product issues comprised those that declined the most in the opening minutes after the morning bell. Bank and marine transportation issues, meanwhile, led those that gained the most. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 08:47:58|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close (Xinhua file photo) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that Washington is willing to begin talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) "without pre-condition." "We're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson told a policy forum at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. "Let's just meet," the top U.S. diplomat told an audience of around 300. "We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table." "Can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," Tillerson said, changing the tough tone long being held by the Trump administration and suggesting some initial contacts to set the ground rules for further negotiations. Tillerson noted that a dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready. Tillerson's remarks came two weeks after the DPRK successfully test-fired a newly developed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. Washington and Pyongyang has been exchanging harsh rhetoric in the past months, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to rain down "fire and fury" and "totally destroy" the country. Before Tillerson's speech, the United States has insisted that negotiations should be based on the DPRK's nuclear disarmament. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 08:52:59|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco Tuesday expressed condolences over city Mayor Ed Lee's sudden death from a heart attack. "The Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco is deeply saddened by the news of Mayor Ed Lee's sudden passing" the consulate general said in a press release. "As the first Chinese-American Mayor of San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee made tremendous contributions to friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between San Francisco and China," it said. May Lee will be remembered as a great mayor and an advocate and practitioner of U.S.-China friendship, it added. Lee, the first Asian American mayor in the history of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California, died unexpectedly early Tuesday morning at the age of 65. He was elected San Francisco mayor in 2011 and won a re-election in 2015. Lee is survived by his wife and two daughters. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 09:18:03|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close YAOUNDE, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least two people, including one civilian, were killed in a suicide attack executed by terror group Boko Haram on Tuesday night in the Cameroonian Far North Region, a local source told Xinhua. The attack occurred between 19:00 and 20:00 local time (2000 and 2100 GMT) in Amchide in the Mayo-Sava Division bordering Nigeria, which is a stronghold of Boko Haram, according to local residents. A villager was killed by the suicide bomber, who wanted to take advantage of the darkness in tandem with people's distraction during prayer-time. The Mayo-Sava Division has witnessed six deaths attributed to Boko Haram since Monday. A young suicide bomber carrying explosive charges attacked the Abdoulaye mosque in Kerawa at 05:45 local time (0645 GMT) Monday, killing three including himself. Four hours later, a truck driver was killed by Boko Haram on National Road One in Mayo-Sava. With many celebrations and festivities held at the end of the year, we are now increasingly worried about security, a source from the local government of Mayo-Sava told Xinhua, calling for residents to be extra-cautious and for additional security reinforcement in conflict zones. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 09:23:04|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close KIEV, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 302 km of roads in the Ukrainian capital have undergone a major modernization this year, setting a historical record, local media cited Kiev mayor to report on Tuesday. "This year, Kiev became the leader among Ukrainian cities in terms of the pace and volume of road repairs," Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kiev, said in an interview with a local "Kiev" TV-channel. In 2017, a total of 25 key highways and about 280 secondary roads were repaired in the capital city, Klitschko said. On top of that, more than 70 new pedestrian crossings are currently under construction in Kiev, he added. The Ukrainian capital has about 1,667 km of roads. In 2016, about 12 percent of them have undergone a major revamp. Blog Archive Nov 2022 (35) Oct 2022 (64) Sep 2022 (60) Aug 2022 (61) Jul 2022 (55) Jun 2022 (60) May 2022 (73) Apr 2022 (60) Mar 2022 (58) Feb 2022 (65) Jan 2022 (69) Dec 2021 (106) Nov 2021 (84) Oct 2021 (58) Sep 2021 (67) Aug 2021 (62) Jul 2021 (54) Jun 2021 (50) May 2021 (58) Apr 2021 (44) Mar 2021 (57) Feb 2021 (64) Jan 2021 (93) Dec 2020 (82) Nov 2020 (62) Oct 2020 (50) Sep 2020 (45) Aug 2020 (51) Jul 2020 (56) Jun 2020 (53) May 2020 (70) Apr 2020 (66) Mar 2020 (169) Feb 2020 (211) Jan 2020 (184) Dec 2019 (54) Nov 2019 (56) Oct 2019 (55) Sep 2019 (63) Aug 2019 (54) Jul 2019 (69) Jun 2019 (56) May 2019 (65) Apr 2019 (68) Mar 2019 (72) Feb 2019 (76) Jan 2019 (62) Dec 2018 (55) Nov 2018 (69) Oct 2018 (90) Sep 2018 (82) Aug 2018 (58) Jul 2018 (36) Jun 2018 (47) May 2018 (44) Apr 2018 (64) Mar 2018 (63) Feb 2018 (68) Jan 2018 (92) Dec 2017 (85) Nov 2017 (64) Oct 2017 (82) Sep 2017 (54) Aug 2017 (89) Jul 2017 (60) Jun 2017 (86) May 2017 (84) Apr 2017 (62) Mar 2017 (86) Feb 2017 (91) Jan 2017 (113) Dec 2016 (109) Nov 2016 (100) Oct 2016 (82) Sep 2016 (95) Aug 2016 (84) Jul 2016 (84) Jun 2016 (99) May 2016 (93) Apr 2016 (106) Mar 2016 (145) Feb 2016 (125) Jan 2016 (103) Dec 2015 (83) Nov 2015 (80) Oct 2015 (100) Sep 2015 (111) Aug 2015 (94) Jul 2015 (98) Jun 2015 (151) May 2015 (125) Apr 2015 (109) Mar 2015 (122) Feb 2015 (113) Jan 2015 (135) Dec 2014 (131) Nov 2014 (115) Oct 2014 (146) Sep 2014 (112) Aug 2014 (128) Jul 2014 (94) Jun 2014 (104) May 2014 (140) Apr 2014 (132) Mar 2014 (81) Feb 2014 (89) Jan 2014 (141) Dec 2013 (100) Nov 2013 (96) Oct 2013 (99) Sep 2013 (94) Aug 2013 (95) Jul 2013 (95) Jun 2013 (91) May 2013 (139) Apr 2013 (179) Mar 2013 (73) Feb 2013 (76) Jan 2013 (85) Dec 2012 (59) Nov 2012 (71) Oct 2012 (85) Sep 2012 (70) Aug 2012 (71) Jul 2012 (53) Jun 2012 (51) May 2012 (52) Apr 2012 (52) Mar 2012 (69) Feb 2012 (76) Jan 2012 (70) Dec 2011 (60) Nov 2011 (54) Oct 2011 (57) Sep 2011 (75) Aug 2011 (72) Jul 2011 (64) Jun 2011 (76) May 2011 (56) Apr 2011 (73) Mar 2011 (114) Feb 2011 (71) Jan 2011 (80) Dec 2010 (92) Nov 2010 (82) Oct 2010 (73) Sep 2010 (95) Aug 2010 (86) Jul 2010 (81) Jun 2010 (76) May 2010 (71) Apr 2010 (74) Mar 2010 (74) Feb 2010 (82) Jan 2010 (101) Dec 2009 (108) Nov 2009 (182) Oct 2009 (136) Sep 2009 (102) Aug 2009 (120) Jul 2009 (151) Jun 2009 (136) May 2009 (180) Apr 2009 (145) Mar 2009 (113) Feb 2009 (113) Jan 2009 (124) Dec 2008 (108) Nov 2008 (69) Oct 2008 (89) Sep 2008 (76) Aug 2008 (75) Jul 2008 (87) Jun 2008 (80) May 2008 (99) Apr 2008 (93) Mar 2008 (115) Feb 2008 (147) Jan 2008 (162) Dec 2007 (124) Nov 2007 (95) Oct 2007 (67) Sep 2007 (42) Aug 2007 (78) Jul 2007 (75) Jun 2007 (123) May 2007 (110) Apr 2007 (108) Mar 2007 (92) Feb 2007 (136) Jan 2007 (119) Dec 2006 (41) Nov 2006 (34) Oct 2006 (12) Sep 2006 (13) Aug 2006 (13) Jul 2006 (16) Jun 2006 (12) May 2006 (21) Apr 2006 (38) Mar 2006 (27) Feb 2006 (25) Jan 2006 (18) Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 09:38:06|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close SYDNEY, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Humpback whales giving birth on the coast of Western Australia do so in areas much further south than previously thought, in the world's largest migration spot for the animals, according to a latest research. The area where the whales give birth extend more than 1,000 km south of Camden Sound in the Kimberley region along their migratory corridor to at least the Ningaloo coast in Pilbara, the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies quoted its researcher Lyn Irvine as saying in a statement on Wednesday. "Up to 30,000 humpbacks are part of the population which migrates along the WA Coast each year as they move from their Antarctic feeding grounds to breeding and calving sites in tropical coastal waters," said Irvine, adding that details about where the whales are born are important because it can help with strategies to "manage and conserve the species." Her research, including aerial surveys, was published in the Marine Mammal Science journal. Whale watching along the Western Australia state coast is a major tourist activity, including swimming tours and cruises near the animals, according to local tourism authorities. "Identifying critical habitat such as calving grounds will become increasingly important in coming years as the humpback whale population continues to grow and potentially overlap with human activities," said Irvine. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 10:03:10|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will pay a state visit to China from Dec. 13 to Dec. 16 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Moon was born on Jan. 24, 1953 in the country's southeastern province of South Gyeongsang. He majored in law at Kyunghee University in Seoul. Moon founded a law firm in 1982. He served as chief presidential secretary for civil affairs in 2003, and chief presidential secretary for civil society in 2004. In 2007, Moon was the chairman of the Council of Promotion for the Second Inter-Korean Summit. In 2010, he served as director at The Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. Moon won a parliamentary seat in the April 2012 general elections. Moon was elected as the leader of New Politics Alliance for Democracy in 2015, and he was elected as South Korea's 19th president in May 2017. Moon is married and has a son and a daughter. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 10:28:14|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close by Feng Yingqiu YAGNON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The two-day 3rd Asia-Pacific Summit on Water ended in Myanmar's Yangon on late Tuesday with a Yangon Declaration calling for action against rising need of water by Asian people by 2050. "About 1.1 billion people in Asia live in areas currently experiencing severe water stress and unless significant action is taken, that number is expected to rise by more than 40 percent by 2050", said the Yangon Declaration released following several discussions by the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region. The summit set out a course for the sustainable development of the region with a perspective on water, improve cooperation in safeguarding against disasters related to water, encourage partnership and share knowledge and experience. Myanmar Minister of Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung, who is also vice chair of Myanmar's National Water Resources Committee, announced the adoption of the Yangon Declaration, urging for mutual cooperation among countries in the region to achieve water security at the regional, national as well as global level. Noting that Myanmar's action with regard to water-related disaster is only half-way that is recovery part, U Thant Sin Maung stressed the need to be proactive in the protection part, which includes mitigation measures that prevent or reduce the impact of water-related disaster. Pointing the water resources potential for the realization of a water-based economy in Myanmar is quite bright, he emphasized the need to use it sustainably and pass it onto the future generations. On the first day of the water summit, Myanmar government had pledged to promote the government-corporate-society (GCS) partnership for the security of water and sustainable development. State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said the partnership will offer considerable opportunities for water-based enterprises within the framework of integrated water resources management in Myanmar, further pledging that the government will continue to provide better security and to develop the necessary policy and legal framework for water-related investment to flourish in the country. Aung San Suu Kyi invited potential investors at home and abroad to engage in the country's bid for sustainable development of water resources. Noting that Asia is home to half of the world's poorest people, Aung San Suu Kyi said water for agriculture continues to consume 80 percent of water resources and even more in Myanmar where about 91 percent is consumed by the sector. Pointing out that the Asia-Pacific region is the most water-related, disaster-prone region in the world, she warned that the rising frequency of water-related disaster in the region has forced the Myanmar government to respond with unity and resilience, however saying that there is a wide variety in the degree and quality of response of individual nations. Aung San Suu Kyi urged all governments in the region to do more to cope with the growing disaster threat caused by climate change. She quoted a report of the Asian Development Bank as pointing out that only a number of countries have been investing wisely in disaster risk reduction projects and programs. She insisted that collaboration between the countries in the region will enable all to combat water-related disaster more effectively. The 3rd Asia-Pacific Summit on Water, hosted by the Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications, under the theme of "Water Security for Sustainable Development", was also attended by Vice President U Henry Van Thio and leaders from 48 countries in Asia-Pacific region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 10:28:15|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The historical truth about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre is undeniable, Japanese scholars said in interviews with Xinhua ahead of the 80th anniversary of the heinous wartime atrocities. The massacre, which lasted for more than 40 days following the Japanese troops' capture of Nanjing, the then Chinese capital, on Dec. 13, 1937, left more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers in Nanjing dead and 20,000 women raped. The Japanese historical revisionists, however, have been trying to downplay the outrageous atrocities by claiming that the number of those killed was not as many as 300,000, or even completely denied that the massacre ever happened at all. "Some claimed that the Nanjing Massacre was fabricated by the victorious nations to avenge Japan during the Tokyo Trials. But the fact is that the evidence about the Nanjing Massacre is both plentiful and irrefutable," said Masataka Mori, a former professor of Irenology at Shizuoka University. "Eleven Nanjing Massacre survivors as well as witnesses from third-party countries testified during the trials, and there have also been plenty of written evidences, such as documents about the refugee camps and diaries of witnesses," he said. "The historical revisionists have been using various methods, such as disguised displacement of concept, to distort the truth about that part of history," said Tamaki Matsuoka, a former primary school teacher who spent the past 30 years collecting and passing on the truth about the Nanjing Massacre. She said one of the fallacies often mentioned by the ultra-right forces in Japan, who have tried to cover up the Nanjing Massacre, was that Nanjing "only had a population of 200,000 people" and thus the number of victims couldn't have been as high as 300,000. "The fact is that the number 200,000 was rushed out by the Japanese troops and the puppet regime at that time in only three days and only covered the population of the refugee settlement, or international safety zone, which occupied about one-eighth of the Nanjing city," she said. "This is a typical disguised displacement of concept. The ultra-right forces never mentioned that the number referred to the population of the safety zone, but just clinched to the number 200,000," she said. Yutaka Yoshida, a professor from Hitotsubashi University, said that according to a letter of the Nanjing government on Nov. 23, 1937, there were some 500,000 people living in the city, and it was obviously wrong to claim there were only 200,000 people in Nanjing. "Records from two charity organizations, Chongshan Hall and Red Wan Association which buried the bodies of the victims, showed that the two charities alone dealt with some 150,000 bodies, let alone the many other people who were killed by the side of the Yangtze River and whose bodies were dumped into it. It was a close estimation that some 300,000 were killed," said professor Mori. Matsuoka stressed that the Japanese troops' notorious contest of killing 100 people using a sword, which had been questioned by ultra-right forces, including former defense minister Tomomi Inada, was indubitalbe. Enroute to capturing Nanjing in 1937, two Japanese officers named Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda held a contest to see who would be the first to succeed in killing 100 people with his sword. "The competition was featured several times in Japanese newspapers including the Mainichi Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun at that time. The two soldiers also bragged about their killings later in Japan to their families," said Matsuoka. While some ultra-right forces claimed that only Chinese soldiers were killed and it was "rightful" in the war, Matsoka said that in most cases the victims were Chinese civilians according to testimonies of Japanese veterans that she interviewed over the years. "Evidences about the Nanjing Massacre have been fully proven by studies of both Chinese and Japanese scholars," said Atsushi Koketsu, professor emeritus of Yamaguchi University in Japan. But why were such groundless denials of the massacre gaining popularity in Japan? In Koketsu's opinion, it was partly due to the Japanese government's attempt to revise the pacifist constitution. "The pacifist constitution was based on Japan reflecting upon the war, and those who were opposed to the Constitution resorted to denying facts about Japan's war crimes and its victimization of other countries," he said. Another reason is that some Japanese people could not accept China's development in economy and other areas, and tried to kindle anti-China sentiment by questioning the authenticity of Nanjing Massacre, he said. Masataka Mori said it was also due to the Japanese government's attempts to whitewash the war crimes in school textbooks. "As the historical facts about the war history have disappeared from textbooks, the young people could hardly get to know about the true history, and have easily been brainwashed," he said. In Koketsu's opinion, China and Japan could not build real mutual trust unless reconciliation was achieved by Japan squarely facing the history. "We have to learn from the history and only by doing so can we preserve peace and create a better future," he said. He also called upon the young people to learn more about history. "Being indifferent to history is being indifferent to your own destiny. It's our responsibility as scholars, politicians and the media to pass on these messages to the younger generations," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 10:43:17|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and nine others injured after a residential house caught fire in Chaoyang District, Beijing, on Wednesday morning. The fire broke out at 1:18 a.m. in a village house in Shibalidian Township, according to the fire department. The injured were brought to hospital. The fire was triggered by flames from two electric bicycles, said the fire department. Police on Wednesday detained the house owner as they found the house was self-built for rental. Cai Qi, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Beijing Municipal Committee, and Chen Jining, acting mayor of Beijing, inspected the fire scene and visited the injured in hospital. The fire happened less than a month after a dorm fire killed 19 in the city's southern district of Daxing on Nov. 18, which was caused by an electric wire fault. The city officials urged a thorough safety overhaul of illegally operated business venues and houses leased for group tenants in Beijing.Owners of the properties should be held responsible for the house safety. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 10:58:20|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close PYONGYANG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of the Russian Defense Ministry is visiting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA reported Tuesday that the delegation led by Victor Kalganov, vice director of the Russian National Defense Command Center, arrived here Tuesday. The visit came two weeks after a delegation of Russian lawmakers visited the country. On Nov. 29, the DPRK test-fired a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile, a move that has drawn condemnation from the international community. On that day, a Russian envoy to the United Nations called for restraint over the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis. "It is essential to take a step back and carefully weigh the consequences of each move, to revise the policy of mutual threat and intimidation because this policy only leads to consequences or goal that are opposite to those that are sought after," Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 11:08:22|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Wang Ye) NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the state memorial ceremony here Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre. Some other senior officials were also present at the ceremony held in the eastern city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The memorial ceremony started at 10 a.m. Xi and the senior officials joined representatives of all walks of life at the ceremony and paid silent tribute for one minute to the massacre victims as sirens howled over the city. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 11:33:25|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close CANBERRA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- More needs to be done to improve Australian students' performance in a range of subjects in school, federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said on Wednesday, who described the performance in civics subjects in particular as "woeful". In a media release, the minister said the results published in the 2017 National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing report should serve as a "warning signal" for educators. Among the concerning results was that just 25 percent of nine-year boys were writing at the national minimum standard, while just 38 percent of 10-year students were at a "proficient standard" in civics, a significant decline since the last round of testing in 2013. "These results are woeful and should be of serious concern," Birmingham said on Wednesday. "Just 55 percent of students in Year 6 met the proficient standard (in civics), while the figure has dropped down to 38 percent for Year 10 students a decline of 6 percent from the previous round of testing in 2013," Birmingham said. Speaking more broadly about the report, which included results in literacy and numeracy among other subjects in the science and civic fields, Birmingham said there was not enough consistency throughout Australia. "The full 2017 NAPLAN National Report highlights while there have been pockets of improvement, we're not seeing the sort of consistency we should expect in these results," Birmingham said. "It confirms the mixed bag' of results we saw in the preliminary report. "We know how vital literacy skills are to setting students up for life beyond school, so the decline in writing scores and the flat lining of reading results should act as a wake-up call that some changes are required." The minister added that while the government was implementing a range of policies to help boost Australia's world ranking in terms of education, parents could also play a vital role in sparking a child's interest in reading and writing. "Children need those basic literacy skills in the early years because they're the building blocks for future school success," Birmingham said. "Families and schools must work together to find ways to keep that engagement in reading beyond the first years of school well into high school." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 11:38:26|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Jobless rate among South Korean youths aged 15 to 29 stayed high last month as the labor market still struggled with uncertainties despite the government's efforts to create decent jobs, a government report showed Wednesday. The young generation's unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in November, up 1 percentage point from a year ago, according to Statistics Korea. It was higher than any November figure since the related data began to be compiled in 1999. The sentiment jobless rate among youths rose 0.1 percentage point over the year to reach 21.4 percent in November. The official unemployment rate refers to those who were immediately available for work but failed to get a job in the past four weeks despite efforts to actively seek a job. The sentiment rate adds those who are too discouraged to seek a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time and those who prepare to get a job after college graduation to the official jobless rate. The sentiment rate began to be compiled in January 2015 to more accurately reflect labor market conditions. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who took office in May, put his top priority on creating decent jobs as many of youths failed to get a job several years after graduation. More than 1 million college graduates reportedly are in a state of unemployment. The Moon government allocated 11.2 trillion won (about 10 billion U.S. dollars) to the second-half supplementary budget, which was passed through the parliament in late July, but the extra budget had yet to take effect. Under the five-year job creation plan, the government aimed to create over 800,000 jobs in the public sector, while providing assistance to help the private sector hire more workers. The number of those employed totaled 26,845,000 in November, up 253,000 from a year earlier. The employment growth continued to fall from 314,000 in September to 279,000 in October. Jobs in the manufacturing industry, seen as "decent" jobs, added 46,000 in November from a year earlier, keeping an upward momentum for the sixth consecutive month. Employment in the public administration, social welfare, healthcare and construction industries gained ground, but those in the publication, broadcasting, information services, finance, insurance, lodging and restaurant sectors lost ground. The number of those self-employed inched up 4,000 in November on a yearly basis, after rising 43,000 in the prior month. Cold weather discouraged people to create new lodging houses and restaurants, the statistical agency said. Unemployment rate stood at 3.2 percent in November, up 0.1 percentage point from a year ago. It was the highest among any November figures since the South Korean economy was negatively affected by the global financial crisis in 2009. The hiring rate stood at 61.2 percent in November, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. The OECD-method employment rate for those aged 15-64 gained 0.4 percentage points to 67.0 percent. The hiring rate gauges the percentage of working people to the working-age population, or those aged above 15. The employment rate is used as an alternative to jobless rate, and the government set its long-term target at 70 percent. The economically inactive population, or those aged above 15 minus the sum of those employed and unemployed, was 16,129,000 in November, up 38,000 from a year earlier. Those who were economically inactive for childcare and housework declined last month, but the so-called "take-a-rest" group posted a double-digit expansion last month. The group refers to those who replied that they took a rest during a job survey period. It is important as the group can include those who are unemployed and too discouraged to search for work for an extended period of time. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 11:38:26|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Japanese people should more cherish the hard-won peace, and the international community need to honestly face up to history, top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said here Wednesday. Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks while addressing the state memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre. War is a mirror, which makes people better understand peace than ever, Yu said. "To avoid any repeat of the historical tragedy, we must make unremitting efforts for the lasting and even eternal peace of mankind," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 11:58:30|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said Tuesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be digesting the message he took to Pyongyang last week. During his visit on Dec. 5-8, Feltman met with DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Guk. The DPRK officials needed time to discuss internally and brief their leaders on the UN message, Feltman told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York after he briefed the Security Council on his visit to Pyongyang. The DPRK interlocutors listened carefully, asked questions and argued with his delegation, said Feltman. The DPRK side did not make any specific pledges, he said. "Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions. But I think we have left the door ajar. And I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide," he said. The DPRK officials agreed that Feltman's visit was the first step and the dialogue should continue, said Feltman. He said he underscored the need to prevent miscalculation and reduce the risk of conflict. The DPRK side agreed that the current situation on the Korean Peninsula is the most tense and dangerous peace and security issue in today's world, and agreed on the importance to prevent war, he said. Feltman said he emphasized the importance of opening or re-opening technical channels of communications, such as the military-to-military hotline, to reduce risks, to signal intentions to prevent misunderstanding and to manage any crisis. He said he urged the DPRK to signal readiness to consider a different direction, to consider engagement, to talk about talks. He told the DPRK officials that the United Nations and others can facilitate the processes if desired. He emphasized that the international community is committed to a peaceful and political solution and is united in its position to the DPRK's pursuit of nuclear weapons. He said he called for the full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions concerning the DPRK, some of which impose sanctions. Feltman's visit was the first by a UN undersecretary-general for political affairs in almost eight years. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 12:03:31|Editor: Lifang Video Player Close TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. forces in Okinawa said on Wednesday that a window fell from a military chopper, according to prefectural officials in Japan's southernmost prefecture. Local authorities confirmed that an object fell from the chopper and onto the grounds of an elementary school in Ginowan, Okinawa. Prefectural authorities said they were notified by the U.S. forces in Okinawa that a window had fallen from a CH-53E transport helicopter. An object measuring 1 meter-square in diameter reportedly fell onto the school located in Ginowan, at around 10:15 a.m. local time. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 13:18:45|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum at Atlantic Council Headquarters in Washington D.C., the United States, on Dec. 12, 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said here on Tuesday that Washington is willing to begin talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without preconditions. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Washington is willing to talk with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) "without precondition," a rhetoric seemingly not fully supported by U.S. President Donald Trump. "We're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson made the remarks at a policy forum at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, signaling a new diplomatic opening for dialogue with Pyongyang. "Let's just meet," the top U.S. diplomat told an audience of around 300 on Tuesday afternoon. "We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table." However, responding to Tillerson's remarks which differed from the harsh tone that has long been held by the Trump administration, the White House said there was no policy change on the DPRK. "The President's views on North Korea (the DPRK) have not changed," said the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement released hours after Tillerson's speech. Accusing Pyongyang of acting "in an unsafe way," Sanders said its actions "are not good for anyone." It was not the first time that Trump and Tillerson found themselves not on the same track over the Korean Peninsula issue. Trump undercut his secretary of state two months ago, when the latter was trying to reach out to Pyongyang to start a dialogue. "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Trump tweeted in October. Tuesday's remarks showed Tillerson's latest effort of seeking a peaceful solution amid escalating tension on the peninsula since the DPRK sped up on its nuclear program development this year. "Can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," Tillerson said at the forum, suggesting some initial contacts to set the ground rules for further negotiations. Tillerson noted the dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready. Tillerson's remarks came two weeks after the DPRK successfully test-fired a newly developed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. Washington and Pyongyang has been exchanging harsh rhetoric in the past months, with Trump threatening to rain down "fire and fury" and "totally destroy" the country. Before Tillerson's speech, the United States has insisted that negotiations should be based on the DPRK's nuclear disarmament. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 13:43:54|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused of pursuing and molesting multiple teenage girls in his 30s, was defeated by his Democratic rival Doug Jones in Alabama's special Senate election on Tuesday, media reports projected here. Jones became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the deep red southern U.S. state since 1992, trimming the Republican Senate majority to 51-49. The result is also seen as a major blow to President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Moore despite all the sexual misconduct accusations. "The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. Polls closed at 8:00 p.m. eastern time (0100 GMT Wednesday) in Alabama. Exit polls were virtually split as to whether voters believed the allegations against Moore: 49 percent said they were probably or definitely true, while 45 percent said they were probably or definitely false. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 13:59:01|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea was estimated to halve this year compared with last year, the central bank's estimate showed Wednesday. Bank of Korea (BOK) estimated that the number of Chinese travelers to South Korea would be cut by 4 million this year compared with over 8,068,000 last year, according to Yonhap news agency report. It would reduce South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) by about 5 trillion won (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, according to the BOK estimate. From March to October, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea totaled 2,382,000, down 60.1 percent from the same period of last year. The BOK said in its October monetary policy meeting that worsened relations between South Korea and China were forecast to pull down South Korea's economic growth this year by 0.4 percentage points. However, the negative effect was expected to be lowered as the two countries agreed to get the bilateral relations into a normal track on Oct. 31. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:14:08|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland resolutely opposes any official or military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, a Chinese mainland spokesperson said Wednesday. An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference that the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair. "Any attempt to undermine the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity is bound to incur the Chinese people's opposition and will not succeed," An said. The mainland will uphold "peaceful reunification" and the "one country, two systems" principle, promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and peaceful reunification, according to a press conference by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week. The Chinese mainland urged the United States to abide by the one-China policy and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and cautiously and properly handle the Taiwan issue. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:24:09|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close MANILA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Congress approved Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's request on Wednesday to extend the martial law in Mindanao for another year to "quell completely" the terrorist and rebels in the southern Philippine region. After debating for more than four hours in a special joint session, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved Duterte's request - in a vote of 14-4 in the Senate and 226-23 in the House of Representatives - to keep Mindanao under military rule until December next year. Duterte initially imposed a 60-day martial law in Mindanao on May 23, after Islamist fighters who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State laid siege to Marawi, a predominantly Muslim city in Mindanao. At the height of the intense fighting to retake Marawi from the pro-IS militants in July, Duterte asked Congress to extend the martial law until December 2017, a request that lawmakers easily approved. Five months after the attack, the government managed to retake the besieged city in October, paving the way for the reconstruction of the ruined city. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who attended the joint session, said placing Mindanao further under martial rule would allow the government troops to protect the region while the rehabilitation and reconstruction is underway. "We do not ask for an unlimited martial law. What we are seeking is an unlimited peace," he told the lawmakers. Duterte formally requested the Congress on Monday to extend martial law in the entire Mindanao until Dec. 31, 2018 in order to "quell completely" the threat of terrorism in southern Philippines. In a letter addressed to Congress, Duterte said "a further extension of the implementation of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao will help (the government security forces) quell completely and put an end to the ongoing rebellion in Mindanao." Duterte said placing Mindanao under martial law for another year will also prevent violent extremism from spreading to other parts of the country. Duterte said he based his decision from the recommendation of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, also the martial law administrator. Citing the security assessment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Lorenzana said extending martial law in Mindanao for another year will ensure total eradication of DAESH-inspired Da'awaful Islamiyah Waliyatul Masriq (DAWM), other like-minded local and foreign terrorist groups and armed lawless groups, and the communist rebels and their coddlers, supporters, and financiers. Moreover, Duterte said that militants continue "to rebuild their organization through the recruitment and training of members and fighters to carry on the rebellion" despite the death of extremist leaders Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute brothers. The president said IS-linked militants "have been monitored" to conduct "radicalization" through active recruitment, financial and logistical buildup and consolidation in central Mindanao particularly in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces, and Sulu and Basilan, the remote island provinces off Mindanao and known hideout of militants. He said other IS-inspired groups Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) are also planning to sow terror in the impoverished region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:29:10|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A special court in the Indian capital Wednesday held four people, including a former chief minister of Jharkhand state, guilty in a multi-billion-dollar coal scam case. This is in fact one of the several cases in the coal mining scandal that rocked the country in 2012 after government auditors pointed out that India had lost 33 billion U.S. dollars as coalfield rights were sold off cheaply, mostly to private firms, between 2004 and 2010. In the latest case, the court convicted former Jharkhand's chief minister Madhu Koda, two former officials, including former Indian Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, and another serving civil servant of criminal conspiracy. The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment Thursday. In this case, the country's premier probe agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, has claimed in its chargesheet that the accused colluded to give mining rights of a state-owned coal block in Rajhara North to a private firm in 2007 illegally. Gupta, who was then the chairman of a screening committee, had concealed facts from his boss, then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had also been heading the Coal Ministry at the time, the probe agency said. The court had earlier rejected a plea of Koda to include former Prime Minister Singh as an accused in the case. In September 2014, India's Supreme Court cancelled almost all of the more than 200 coal mining licences awarded by the government since 1993, saying that they were illegal. Singh's Congress party was in charge when most of the licences were allocated. India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:34:11|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar was dedicated to cooperating with the United Nations on the Rohingya refugee crisis, but hoped the cooperation would be "constructive", a Myanmar representative said here on Tuesday. "We have serious doubt about the attitude of some members of the council who repeatedly refuse to call my country even by its name, its proper name," U Hau Do Suan, Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, told a UN Security Council session. "This behavior of arrogance and hostile mentality will not contribute to constructive cooperation," the ambassador said. The words "'ethnic cleansing' and 'crimes against humanity' should not be used lightly, without concrete evidence and final legal determination," he said. Officials of some UN member states have repeatedly said they saw the alleged forced exodus of Rohingyas from their homes in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State into Bangladesh as a textbook case of "ethnic cleansing." U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said earlier that "Burma (Myanmar) must allow an independent, transparent, and credible investigation into what has happened. Allowing full access for the UN Fact-Finding Mission to gather information and evidence from the ground is vital to accountability and a solution to the crisis." "There is no denying that these atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, have taken place," she said. A flood of Rohingya refugees was triggered by a deadly attack by rebel militia on Myanmar security posts in northern Rakhine State, across the border from Myanmar. Government forces and vigilante groups then allegedly reacted, forcing Rohingyas out of their homes. UN Undersecretary-General Jeffrey Feltman said in his report that during his recent visit to Myanmar, he urged "all Myanmar leaders, including in the military, to condemn incitement to racial hatred and violence." "We encourage them to adopt measures to defuse tensions between communities and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation, including through interfaith initiatives," said Feltman. Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement on Nov. 23 to safely, voluntarily and "with dignity" repatriate the refugees to their original domiciles or near them. Feltman expressed his appreciation of Myanmar's neighbors, particularly China, to facilitate the implementation of the Nov. 23 agreement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:44:13|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Monday's terror bombing could foreshadow a more dangerous future for the United States, experts said. Monday morning saw a man attempt a suicide bombing by strapping a pipe bomb to his body during rush hour in a subway tunnel near Times Square in New York, one of the busiest and most densely packed areas in the United States. The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, an immigrant from Bangladesh, according to U.S. media reports. Experts said that a number of coalescing factors are contributing to the threat towards the United States by radical Islamist extremists. TRUMP'S JERUSALEM MOVE COULD BOOST TERROR RECRUITMENT U.S. President Donald Trump has recently announced that he recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and that he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel to that city, which is claimed by both Jews and Muslims. Trump's move has sparked Muslim protests and prompted violent clashes in the Middle East in recent days, as Jerusalem's ownership is an issue of much contention between religions. Experts said that if protests continue, terror groups could weave the issue into their overall narrative that the West, under the United States, is waging war against Islam -- a narrative that groups like Islamic State (IS) group have successfully used to recruit fighters in recent years. "Jerusalem is an issue that still resonates strongly across the Arab and Islamic world..." and Trump's decision "risks inflaming regional tension and increasing anti-American sentiment. The result is a boon for extremist forces," Dalia Dassa Kaye, director of the Rand Corp's Center for Middle East Public Policy, told Xinhua. With an increase in anti-American sentiment and more recruits, the chance of further attacks could increase, experts said. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that Trump's decision does not help in the fight against terrorists, and that radicals will take advantage of the situation. Already, there has been considerable violence in the Mideast following Trump's decision, and this is likely to continue. Arabs feel that Trump is completely one-sided in favor of Israel and will use this decision to encourage others to fight American interests, West said. Writing in Newsweek last year, Kaye contended that moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would be a boon for the multiple jihadi groups across the Middle East. Despite the Palestinian issue nearly dropping off the map in the Arab world, the emotional draw of Jerusalem continues to resonate across the Muslim world, Kaye argued. "Extremists in the region capitalize on this," she argued. ISLAMIC STATE GOING GLOBAL Another factor that could heighten the risk of future attacks is a possible IS shift in its focus from the Middle East to become a truly global terror force. The Nov. 2015 Paris attacks, in which over 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded, as well as many other instances worldwide, have underscored the IS ability to use social media to inspire individuals to carry out violent attacks against civilians. The group has also inspired or had a hand in several other attacks in recent years, from Belgium to Turkey to Orlando, in the U.S. state of Florida. With the terror group virtually defeated in what used to be its Middle East stronghold, some experts argue that if the terror organization seeks to keep its mission alive, it will have to ramp up attacks outside of Europe. While the IS wreaked havoc in the Middle East for several years and overtook vast swaths of territory, it is now on the run, after years of an anti-IS bombing campaign. With IS so-called Mideast kingdom, or "caliphate" all but destroyed, the group's terrorist capabilities could increase in other parts of the world, Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department's Middle East Intelligence Office, told Xinhua. Police cannot be all places at all times, and White noted that there remain millions of soft targets nationwide, such as shopping malls, churches, mosques, downtown areas or highway rest stops where bombers or shooters could carry out attacks, and where they could inflict severe damage in just minutes, before any police arrive. In cities nationwide, there are sidewalks filled with people, and terrorists could mow them down with cars or trucks, copying terror tactics used to attack cities such as London in recent months, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:49:15|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close PANAMA CITY, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The recently-concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is relevant to the progress of Panama, said Panamanian observers on Tuesday. Xinhua spoke with some representatives of Panama's political, academic and business sectors who attended a lecture here on the 19th CPC National Congress given by Song Xiuyan, a member of the 19th CPC Central Committee. Jose Luis Varela, president of the Panamenista Party, underscored the importance of China's long-term planning and visionary outlook which have helped lift millions out of poverty. "All of the experiences they have presented are of great interest to us as a government and as a political party," Varela said. To boost development, Panama is going to cooperate with China to build a cargo and passenger rail system that would link the capital of Panama City with the country's western border with Costa Rica, some 150 km away, according to Varela. In the long run, the rail system could be extended to the northern part of Central America and Mexico, making it easier and more cost-effective for regional agricultural goods to be shipped to China, said Varela. Oyden Ortega, president of the Panamanian Association of Friendship with China, said the 19th CPC National Congress highlighted China's plans for the coming years. Ortega said that some of the goals put forward at the National Congress, such as protecting the environment, combating corruption and fighting poverty, are important for the entire world, and particularly for Panama. Since China and Panama established diplomatic ties in June, 2017, it is important to continue bilateral exchanges to learn how the two countries can complement each other to benefit both sides, he said. Leonardo Collado, director of the Regional Center of the University of Azuero, affiliated to the University of Panama, said the 19th CPC National Congress has highlighted China's development plans for the coming years. Collado also said Panama could play a strategic role in China's development plans, such as the Belt and Road Initiative. Jorge Barakat, administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority, said the "harmonious" message shared by the CPC's Central Committee expressed a clear desire for global development that goes beyond China's borders. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:54:18|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close HOUSTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Tuesday the federal government wants to eliminate so-called sanctuary states and sanctuary cities. Nielsen made such remarks when he was visiting Austin, Texas and meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday. According to the federal government's definition of the terms, sanctuary states and cities are those that do not collaborate with immigration authorities by transferring custody of undocumented immigrants who are detained at a county or city jail. Nielsen noted that those localities should not receive certain federal grants. "If these sanctuary states and cities do not want to protect their citizens by upholding federal law, then they are not entitled to the federal government's money," said Nielsen. Recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows that there are two sanctuary counties in the State of Texas -- Dallas and Travis. During her visit to Texas, Nielsen also discussed the post-Harvey recovery with Abbott. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 14:54:19|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close VANCOUVER, Dec.12 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people gathered in a gymnasium in Vancouver's Chinatown on Tuesday afternoon to remember the victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. The Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations and the Chinese Association of Greater Vancouver jointly hosted the event, which took place at the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre. Before the ceremony, visitors viewed photographs posted to the wall of the gym of atrocities committed by the Japanese aggressors against Chinese men, women and children. The event marked the 80th anniversary of the day when Nanjing fell to Japanese aggressors, who went on a six-week-long slaughter of civilians and surrendered soldiers who had put down their arms. About 300,000 Chinese were killed, and 20,000 women raped during the massacre. China's newly instated Consul General to Vancouver Tong Xiaoling attended the event. She called the massacre one of the darkest days in human history. "I feel so sad," she told Xinhua in an interview. "When I look at these pictures I feel so sorry for those ... men and woman who were slaughtered by the Japanese invaders." Tong said the event also gives young people a chance to learn about history so that it would never be repeated. "It's why we... hold this memorial ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre, because we want more people to know about, to learn about the dark history in the past and to treasure the peace and the stability we have today." About 450 overseas Chinese groups were set to hold similar memorials around the world to mark the anniversary of the massacre. In 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as a national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. In October 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) included Nanjing Massacre documents into its Memory of the World Register aimed at preserving significant and endangered documents. Michael Lee, a lawmaker in British Colombia (B.C.), joined others to view the photos and he was one of several dignitaries who spoke at the memorial after laying flowers next to a memorial wreath. Lee is running to become the new leader of the B.C. Liberal Party, which governed British Columbia for 16 years until it lost power in the 2017 election. He said he would consider supporting the creation of a day here to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. The province of Ontario is in the process of finalizing a similar motion to designate Dec. 13 Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day. Lee said atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre continue to take place in unstable parts of the world today. "They do happen in other parts of our world of course...And with human understanding and human cooperation, these sorts of things should not be how we're treating each other." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:04:21|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum at Atlantic Council Headquarters in Washington D.C., the United States, on Dec. 12, 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said here on Tuesday that Washington is willing to begin talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without preconditions. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Washington's top diplomat Tuesday expressed willingness to talk with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without precondition, indicating a softening of the hawkish U.S. stance though the White House publicly remained unrelenting. "We're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum, an annual policy forum co-hosted by think tanks Atlantic Council and Korea Foundation. "Let's just meet," he told an audience of around 300, adding, "We can talk about the weather, if you want." However, the White House, responding to Tillerson's remarks, said there was no policy change on the DPRK. "The president's views on North Korea (the DPRK) have not changed," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement released soon after Tillerson's speech. It was not the first time that Trump and Tillerson appeared to be not on the same track over the Korean Peninsula issue. Trump snubbed his state secretary over two months ago when the latter was trying to reach out to Pyongyang to start a dialogue. "Save your energy Rex," Trump tweeted. Tuesday's remarks showed Tillerson's efforts to seek a peaceful solution amid escalating tension on the peninsula. "Can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap, of what we might be willing to work towards?" Tillerson said at the forum. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program," he said, referring to the DPRK's longtime devotion to nuclear and missile programs and fast advancement in the technology and Trump's warning of military intervention if the programs were not halted. Tillerson said dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready. The remarks came two weeks after the DPRK successfully test-fired a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. It led to the U.S. re-designating the DPRK as a "state sponsor of terrorism" and a new round of sanctions on the country, seen by some experts as likely to escalate the ongoing confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington. In his speech, Tillerson also asked for "a period of quiet" if the two countries were going to talk. "We've got to have a period of quiet or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions," he said. Washington and Pyongyang have been exchanging harsh rhetoric in the past months, with Trump threatening to rain down "fire and fury" and "totally destroy" the country. The United States has been insisting that negotiations should be based on the DPRK's nuclear disarmament. However, Tillerson's remarks seem to offer a chance for the longtime foes to sit down and restart their long suspended talk. "The important thing is that we get started," Tillerson said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:04:23|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close JERUSALEM, Dec. 11, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Palestinians participate in a protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City,on Dec. 11, 2017. (Xinhua/Muammar Awad) ISTANBUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Leaders and senior officials from Muslim countries are expected to hold an extraordinary summit Wednesday in Istanbul, Turkey in response to a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as the organization's term-president to produce a unified Islamic position. The Turkish leader has been one of the most outspoken critics of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision which also includes starting immediately the process of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. "Declaring it (Jerusalem) as a capital and relocating the (U.S.) embassy has no validity for us," Erdogan has said. Addressing a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey's central Anatolia city of Sivas on Sunday, he also called Israel "an occupying and a terrorist state." Israel took over East Jerusalem, revered by Muslims as the third holiest site in Islam, in the 1967 war, and declared unilaterally the whole city as its eternal capital. However, this move has never been accepted by the international community, which has called for reaching a final settlement of the dispute through Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday criticized some Arab countries for "refraining from challenging Trump," noting that the OIC summit is seeking recognition of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. Most OIC members are expected to attend, including the Palestinian president, the Iranian president, the Lebanese president and the Jordanian king. Prior to the summit, the Turkish president met on Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul. The closed-door meeting lasted for one hour, and no statement was made thereafter, according to Turkish media. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. Trump's announcement over the contested city has sparked days of violent clashes in Gaza Strip and West Bank as well as protests in other Arab countries. Several rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel over the past few days. According to a health official in Gaza, clashes between Palestinian young protestors and Israeli soldiers continued on Tuesday at the border areas between Gaza and Israel, with five moderately injured by live bullets so far. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:19:25|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign funds flowed out of South Korea's financial markets last month as strong local currency encouraged foreign investors to lock in profits, central bank data showed Wednesday. Foreigners offloaded 950 million U.S. dollars in local stocks and bonds in November, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Offshore investors sold domestic securities worth 3.25 billion U.S. dollars in August and 4.3 billion dollars in September respectively amid the escalating geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula. Foreign capital worth 3.48 billion dollars flowed into the local financial market in October, but foreign funds flowed out of South Korea in November as the appreciation of South Korean currency to the U.S. dollar encouraged foreign investors to take profits. The won/dollar exchange rate traded at 1,088.2 won per dollar as of end-November, down 32.2 won from a month earlier. It was the biggest decline in 10 months. Conditions for South Korean residents to borrow foreign funds improved last month amid the eased geopolitical tensions on the peninsula. Premium on the five-year credit default swap contract averaged 66 basis points in November, down 5 basis points from the previous month. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:40:05|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close People attend the public memorial ceremony of China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims in Toronto, Canada, Dec. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people attended this event on Tuesday to commemorate the victims in Nanjing Massacre 80 years ago. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng) Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:34:29|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close GAZA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets struck early on Wednesday morning two military posts that belong to Islamic Hamas movement in southern Gaza Strip of Khan Younis and south of Gaza City, security sources and paramedics in Gaza said. The airstrikes caused damages to the two posts but no injuries were reported, according to the sources. The Israeli airstrikes on Hamas posts were a retaliation to last night's rockets firing from Gaza into southern Israel, according to an Israeli army spokesman. Tension has been escalating in Gaza and the West Bank between Israel and the Palestinians since the declaration of U.S. President Donald Trump last week that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Six Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 injured in the wave of tension that dominated the Palestinian territories after Trump's announcement. Meanwhile, Hamas movement said Wednesday that the Israeli security forces arrested 35 Hamas leaders all over the West Bank, including Hassan Yousef and x-Hamas prisoners, who were released in the last Egyptian-brokered swap deal reached between Israel and the movement in 2011. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:34:29|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two militants were killed in a premature blast in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz overnight, an army official said Wednesday. "Taliban militants were carrying an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Qarghaz locality of Imam Shaib District last night. Before arriving at a location as they were trying to plant the IED, the device accidently detonated, leaving two militants dead on the spot, and injuring two others," Abdul Khalil, a press officer of army's Division 20 Pamir based in the northern region, told Xinhua. The district bordering Tajikistan has been the scene of heavy clashes between the Taliban and security forces after the Afghan troops waged an offensive there recently. Taliban militants and Islamic State (IS) fighters have been using the home-made IEDs to target security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. Earlier, the Afghan defense ministry tweeted that the army's personnel had found and defused 33 IEDs and landmines elsewhere in the country since early Tuesday. In addition, in neighboring Balkh province, the Afghan army soldiers arrested seven suspected militants in Mohmand village of Chimtal district. The arrestees were shifted to an army camp for questioning, according to Khalil. Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency spreads from its traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful region in the north, where the Taliban has been recruiting from the youth. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:44:31|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential Blue House said on Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks re-emphasized the U.S. position to encourage the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to return to a dialogue table. Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a statement that Tillerson's remarks were assessed to have stressed the U.S. position again that urged the DPRK to stop provocation and threat and return to a dialogue table. According to media reports, Tillerson said at a forum in Washington co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Atlantic Council that the United States was "ready to talk whenever North Korea (DPRK) is ready to talk." "And we're ready to have the first meeting without preconditon," he said. It was different from the previous U.S. stance demanding the DPRK show its sincere attitude toward denuclearization first before launching any dialogue with Pyongyang. It was not clear yet whether Tillerson's remarks were totally in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's position. The Blue House spokesman said South Korea and the United States had opened a door to dialogue with the DPRK and urged Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 15:54:33|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen reiterated Wednesday that the 2018 national election result does not need recognition from the international community to be valid. "Under the Cambodian Constitution, it (the election result) does not require endorsement from presidents of other countries or from the United Nations secretary general to be legitimate," he said in a speech during a get-together with some 15,000 garment factory workers in northern Phnom Penh suburb. The prime minister said the election result would be legitimate when it is recognized by the National Election Committee, the Constitutional Council and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. Hun Sen also reiterated that the national election would be held as scheduled on July 29, 2018. "Now, people are ready to cast their ballots and the government also has enough budget to support the electoral process," he said. His remarks came a day after the European Union (EU) announced that it had suspended its assistance to the country's National Election Committee after the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition party last month. The EU said the upcoming election in which the main opposition party has been arbitrarily excluded cannot be seen as legitimate. The Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) on Nov. 16 in a treason case allegedly committed by its leader Kem Sokha. Sokha, 64, was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with treason for conspiring with a foreign power in an attempt to overthrow the government. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 16:20:50|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close Soldiers of the Philippines Army (PA) execute urban fighting techniques in Singapore's Murai Urban Training Facility on Dec. 13, 2017. The Philippines Army is in Singapore from Dec. 4 to 15 to participate in an urban operations professional exchange with the Singapore Army. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey) Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 16:44:42|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Japanese people should greatly appreciate the hard-won peace, top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said Wednesday. Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks while addressing the national memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13, 1937 and embarked on more than 40 days of slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women raped. Yu described the crimes committed by Japanese invaders in the massacre as "inhumane," "appalling" and a "dark page in the history of humanity." "War is a mirror, which makes people better understand peace," Yu said. "To avoid any repeat of this historical tragedy, we must make unremitting efforts for the lasting and even eternal peace of mankind." China and Japan should take into consideration the fundamental interests of their people and make contributions to human peace, Yu said. "The world should work together to maintain international order with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter at the core," Yu said. "No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, nor will the country impose the plight it once suffered on other nations." He said China wanted to work with the world in building of "a community with a shared future for mankind," and continue to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development and uphold international order. Yu said China was holding the memorial ceremony to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre victims, compatriots killed by the Japanese invaders, national heroes who sacrificed their lives for victory, as well as international soldiers and friends who joined the Chinese in fighting. "The commemoration is meant to proclaim the Chinese people's firm stance in maintaining peace and their sublime aspiration for peaceful development," he said. Yu said the Chinese people would always remember the humanitarian help from foreign friends, such as German businessman John Rabe, Bernhard Arp Sindberg from Denmark and American priest John Magee, who defied the Japanese invaders' brutal killings, protected Chinese civilians and took records of the atrocities. In February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, designated December 13 as the "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 16:59:44|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close BEIRUT, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) Pernille Dahler Kardel arrived in Beirut to take up her new position, a press release by the United Nations said. Kardel was received Tuesday night by an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Beirut Rafik Hariri international airport. "I am delighted to begin my new functions in Lebanon and I look forward to working with Lebanese and international partners and the rest of the UN family in support of Lebanon's peace and security, stability and socio-economic development," Kardel said according to the release. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Kardel on November 22. Kardel, from Denmark, has 25 years of experience in diplomacy, political affairs, international cooperation and economic development, spanning several continents. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:04:45|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Eighty years after the Nanjing Massacre, one of the darkest moments in human history, China again showed the world its commitment to protecting peace by remembering wartime history to avoid repeated atrocities. With doves flying overhead and sirens wailing, a high-profile memorial service attended by President Xi Jinping was held Wednesday in Nanjing to observe the 80th anniversary of the 1937 massacre. Japanese troops killed about 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers in the 40-odd-day slaughter. People around the world have been doing their part to bring the massacre from the history of a city, and a country, into the memory of humanity. An article, titled "Saving Nanjing from the forces of forgetting" and carried by the website of the Boston Globe Saturday, described the massacre as "one of last century's greatest crimes." In October, the Ontario provincial parliament in Canada passed a motion designating Dec. 13 as Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day to commemorate the mass killing. UNESCO included Nanjing Massacre documents in its Memory of the World Register in 2015, making it a crucial and indelible piece of human history. The massacre has already become a collective memory of all righteous forces in the world. What Japan has done so far toward the tragedy, however, has been disappointing many. Despite irrefutable evidence and facts, some right-wing Japanese politicians have repeatedly denied the massacre. The Nanjing Massacre, like many other infamous war atrocities by Japanese invaders, is now merely an "incident" in Japanese textbooks. When UNESCO included the massacre documents in its Memory of the World Register, some Japanese politicians threatened to halt or cut funding for the UN body. In addition, the Japanese government has been trying to revise its pacifist Constitution. Denial of the Nanjing Massacre will not be allowed by the Chinese people or peace-loving people anywhere. It will only alert people to the risks to peace that such denial could bring about. Chinese people remember the past. War is a mirror, which makes people better understand the preciousness of peace. China champions the development of a community with a shared future for mankind. The country is firm in pursuing peaceful development, and being a contributor to world peace and development. However, it is worth noting that only if everyone cherishes and safeguards peace, and only if everyone remembers the bitter lessons of war, can there be hope for peace. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:09:45|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close DUBAI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities signed Wednesday a deal with a local environmental organization to achieve the renewable energy target of 44 percent by 2050, UAE state news agency WAM reported. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), part of the National Energy Strategy, was signed between the UAE Ministry of Energy and Industry and the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS). "This partnership will contribute to achieving the ambitious goals set by the government of the UAE to ensure sustainable development for future generations, especially as the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has extensive expertise and more experience," said Matar Hamed Al Neyadi, the under-secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Industry. Since its establishment in 2001, EWS has been working in association with the WWF. According to its website, the mission of EWS is "to protect biodiversity in key sites across the emirates including species and ecosystems of concern in the region." Laila Mustafa Abdul Latif, general manager of the EWS, also hailed the MoU as a boost to the development of green economy in the UAE. "The strategic partnership will allow us to jointly promote renewable energy options in the UAE, address climate change, and air pollution by taking advantage of the rapid development of technology and lower costs, as both are critical to the growth and prosperity of the green economy in the UAE," he said. The UAE has been committed to producing at least 7 percent of total power generation from clean energy such as solar, wind and bio energy by 2020, according to the ministry's website. As a major oil supplier, the UAE, which hosts the biggest solar plants in the Gulf region, has also set its target for power generation from renewable sources to 30 percent by 2030, and to 44 percent by 2050. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:19:47|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The victims of the Nanjing Massacre that shook the world in its brutality when Japan invaded China are being remembered through events worldwide that are also calling to cherish hard-won peace and acknowledge history with honesty. An annual memorial for the nearly 300,000 people brutally killed 80 years ago was held Wednesday in Nanjing, the city in eastern China that suffered one of the bloodiest times the world has ever witnessed. Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior officials joined representatives from all walks of life at the state memorial ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the carnage to pay a silent tribute. Over 440 overseas Chinese groups reportedly plan to hold memorial ceremonies for Nanjing Massacre victims Wednesday. More than 10,000 overseas Chinese in the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Argentina are expected to attend these commemorations. In Japan, some 200 people attended a testimony meeting in Shizuoka city on Tuesday. Lu Ling, daughter of a massacre survivor who was stabbed 37 times by Japanese soldiers, shared her mother's ordeal with the Japanese attendees. "The massacre imposed tremendous suffering on my family, the people in Nanjing, and the Chinese people," she said. Masataka Mori, a former professor of irenology -- the study of peace -- at Shizuoka University, said people were revising history to distort the truth about the Nanjing carnage. "It is hoped that more people could know about (the Nanjing Massacre) and pass on the truth," Mori said. The massacre was also mourned in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday. Some 200 Chinese people and students living there attended the memorial, held one day ahead of China's "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims". "We hold a memorial ceremony in The Netherlands not only to mourn the victims, but also to tell the truth (about) history. No attempt to deny history will ever be accepted," said Zhong Linchang, head of the Association of Cantonese Business in The Netherlands. Henk Kool, president of Friendship Society Netherlands-China, urged Japanese who deny the truth to look into the facts. "If you want to be forgiven, you must first recognize and remember," he told Xinhua. In the U.S. city of San Francisco, hundreds of people from the Chinese, Korean and Philippine communities gathered Sunday to remember the period of brutality and the victims' spirit of resilience and heroism. Jennifer Cheung, chairperson of the Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition and one of the organizers of the event, said the commemoration meant to promote peace instead of harboring hatred toward the Japanese perpetrators. However, the Japanese government has repeatedly refused to apologize for the atrocities committed by the war-time imperial Japanese troops and continues to deny the fact that approximately 200,000 Asian women and girls, including Chinese, Koreans and Filipinas, were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during World War II, Cheung said. "No real peace can come... without (an) apology from the Japanese government," she said. Japan invaded northeast China in September 1931, followed by a full-scale invasion of China on July 7, 1937. On Dec. 13, 1937, Nanjing fell to the invaders who slaughtered civilians and soldiers who had put down their arms, and burnt and looted for nearly a month. About 300,000 Chinese were killed, and 20,000 women raped. In February 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as a national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:24:47|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants have killed two civilians in the southern Helmand province over the past two days, spokesman for provincial government Omar Zawak said Wednesday. According to the official, Taliban militants have killed "two innocent civilians" in Nawa district on Tuesday and Wednesday to terrorize the locals. Taliban militants haven't commented yet. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:34:48|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Yan Lei TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- While China marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, it is hoped that Japan, the country behind the atrocity, would truly reflect upon its war crimes and work toward a reconciliation. The invading Japanese military brutally killed some 300,000 Chinese citizens and unarmed soldiers following their capture of Nanjing, the then Chinese capital, on Dec. 13, 1937. The massacre, one of the most outrageous crimes committed by Japan during its war of aggression on China, inflicted tremendous suffering upon the Chinese. An unforgettable page in China's history, it still evokes indignation in the Chinese after so many years, especially since Japan, unlike Germany, has never atoned for its war-time wrongdoing. In Japan, the ultra-right wing forces have been eager to downplay and whitewash the atrocities, with the Japanese government rarely repenting its World War II (WWII) history and sometimes, even conniving with the forces seeking to glorify the aggression during that time. Some historians in Japan and elsewhere are concerned that the younger generations would come to know the truth about the war less and less, with museums taking down exhibitions on Japan's war crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre, and textbooks being blatantly revised. The peace-loving people in Japan and some veterans of WWII have called for more people to face history squarely and pass the truth down to younger generations. Their efforts and the raft of hard evidence of Japan's WWII ferocity have enabled an increasing number of people around the world to know about the atrocities committed by Japan's imperial militants. The Japanese government and the ultra-rightist forces should remember that the truth cannot be glossed over. Only by reflecting upon history can Japan learn its lesson and rebuild trust with its Asian neighbors as well as the rest of the international community, and present itself as a normal country. This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, and 2018 will see the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Despite difficulties in bilateral ties in recent years caused by Japan, China has kept the communication channel open at all levels. The sobering remembrance in China today of its 300,000 citizens butchered by invading Japanese forces in 1937 can be seen by the whole world. The more Japan tries to distort or deny its role in this dark page in human history, the further away it is from being an honorable and respectable global player. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:39:50|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- India has invited the heads of state or government of all the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to its Republic Day parade and celebrations on Jan. 26 next year, sources said Wednesday. India showcases its military might at its Republic Day parade every year on Jan. 26, and it will be the first time ever that so many world leaders will attend the same event as chief guests with Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The unusual step has been taken to commemorate the 70th year of India's independence from Britain as well as the 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN ties. And a day before, that is Jan. 25, Delhi will host the India-ASEAN Special Commemorative Summit," sources said. In principle, all the ASEAN leaders have accepted India's invitation to attend the Republic Day parade on the iconic Rajpath overlooking the Rashtrapati Bhawan (presidential house) in the heart of the national capital, sources added. India's ties with ASEAN countries have been on an upward trend, particularly in the areas of trade and investment. While investment from ASEAN to India has been over 70 billion U.S. dollars in the past 17 years accounting for 17 percent of India's total foreign direct investment, India's investment in the bloc during the same period was more than 40 billion U.S. dollars. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are the 10 members of ASEAN. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:49:57|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close MANILA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Congress granted on Wednesday Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's request to extend martial law in Mindanao for a period of one year, from Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2018, to "quell completely" terrorists and local rebels there. After debating for more than four hours in a special joint session, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved Duterte's request -- in a vote of 14-4 in the Senate and 226-23 in the House of Representatives -- to keep the sounthern island of Mindanao under military rule until December next year. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Malacanang presidential palace welcomed the Congress approval. "Public safety is our primordial concern; thus we ask the public to stand behind the administration and rally behind our defenders to quell the continuing rebellion in Mindanao," Roque said in a statement. Roque reiterated that placing Mindanao under martial rule will "eradicate the DAESH-inspired Da'awatul Islamiyah Waliyatul Masriq (DIWM) and other minded local, foreign terrorist groups and armed lawless groups, the communist terrorist and their coddlers, supporters and financiers." Moreover, Roque said martial law will "ensure the unhampered rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi and the lives of its residents." Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the martial law administrator, thanked the Congress for its "affirmation of trust and confidence" to the military. "The Filipino people can rest assured that we will not squander this opportunity to finally end the continuing rebellion and terrorism in Mindanao by destroying the Daesh structure in the area, thwart like-minded groups from conducting further acts of terrorism and prevent the spillover of violence and radicalism in other parts of the country," Lorenzana said in a statement. Duterte initially imposed a 60-day martial law in Mindanao on May 23, after Islamist fighters that have pledged allegiance to ISIS laid siege to Marawi, a predominantly Muslim city on Mindanao. At the height of the intense fighting to retake Marawi from the pro-IS militants in July, Duterte asked Congress to extend the martial law until December 2017, a request that lawmakers easily approved. Five months after the attack, the government managed to retake the besieged city in October, paving way for the reconstruction of the ruined city. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who attended the joint session, said placing Mindanao further under martial rule would allow government troops to protect the region while the rehabilitation and reconstruction is underway. "We do not ask for an unlimited martial law. What we are seeking is an unlimited peace," he told the lawmakers. Duterte formally requested the Congress on Monday to extend martial law in the entire Mindanao until Dec. 31, 2018 in order for the government to "quell completely" the threat of Islamist terrorism in the southern Philippine region. In a letter addressed to Congress, Duterte said placing Mindanao under martial law for another year will also prevent violent extremism from spreading to other parts of the country. Duterte said that militants "continue to rebuild their organisation through recruitment and training of members and fighters to carry on the rebellion" despite the death of extremist leaders Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute brothers. He noted IS-linked militants "have been monitored" to conduct "radicalization" through active recruitment, financial and logistical buildup and consolidation in central Mindanao particularly in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces, and Sulu and Basilan, the remote island provinces off Mindanao and known hideout of militants. Other IS-inspired groups such as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) are also planning to sow terror in the impoverished region. The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines only allows the President to declare martial law for a maximum of 60 days. Any extension would require approval from Congress. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 17:55:02|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- AirAsia, the largest budget airline in Asia, has named Riad Asmat as the new chief executive officer (CEO) for its Malaysia-based operations, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Aireen Omar, the current CEO, will be promoted to deputy group CEO of digital, transformation, corporate services. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said at a press conference that the senior leadership changes are in line with the AirAsia group's new digitalization strategy. "The new appointments bring focus to both our core airline business as well as our digital growth businesses," he said. Fernandes also expects the full results of digitalization to be seen in 2018, and it may save 5 percent to 10 percent of the group's operating cost. The group is also looking for potential partners, including China's Alibaba and Tencent, for digitalization, he said. AirAsia has also on Wednesday announced the appointment of Adrian Jenkins, current group director of flight operations as chief operations officer. Bo Lingam will be the deputy group CEO of AirAsia. It also announced Rozman Omar, current deputy group CEO for strategy, merger and acquisition, as executive director of AirAsia International Limited, which is a holding company of all AirAsia group investments in its overseas joint ventures. All the senior leadership changes will be effective January 10, 2018, according to the statement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:00:03|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close French President Emmanuel Macron (Front R) meets with Ma Kai, Chinese Vice Premier and the special envoy of President Xi Jinping, in Paris, France, on Dec. 12, 2017. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday met with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai, who was in Paris to attend the One Planet Summit as the special envoy of President Xi Jinping. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen) PARIS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday met with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai, who was in Paris to attend the One Planet Summit as the special envoy of President Xi Jinping. Ma conveyed greetings to Macron from the Chinese president, who wished a great success for the one-day summit focusing on mobilizing public funds to achieve climate goals. Ma said that President Xi attaches great importance to China-France relations and their cooperation on climate change. China is determined to honor its commitments made under the framework of the Paris Agreement, and is willing to work with relevant parties, including France, to push forward the multilateral process of combating climate change, he said. China appreciates Macron's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, and expects to continue high-level dialogues with France on mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields such as nuclear energy, aerospace, green finance and advanced manufacturing, said Ma This will inject new momentum into the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership, he added. Macron said that developing relations with China is of great importance for France. France hopes to maintain high-level exchanges with China, be actively engaged in the Belt and Road Initiative, and work with China to contribute more to global multilateral governance processes including the fight against climate change, the president said. In a speech at the summit, Ma stressed that China will continue to support the Paris Agreement and contribute to the global efforts to curb climate change through concrete actions. The One Planet Summit was convened by Macron on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a landmark climate deal reached at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. The summit brought together leaders and high-ranking officials from some 50 countries and nearly 4,000 representatives from non-government actors including international organizations, enterprises and research institutions. \ Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:15:05|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close HONG KONG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Wednesday held an official memorial ceremony to commemorate the victims who died in the Nanjing Massacre and those who were killed during the Japanese invasion. The ceremony was held at the Redoubt Courtyard of the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence on Wednesday morning. After playing the National Anthem, the host read the eulogy:"We gather here today to commemorate the victims who died in Nanjing Massacre." "The Japanese invaders committed heinous crimes in China in 1937. This year is the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre. We hope to take this opportunity to express the firm position that the Chinese people will maintain and safeguard the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and world peace," the eulogy read. Chief Executive of HKSAR Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the ceremony and laid a wreath. Also present at the ceremony were Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Tung Chee Hwa and representatives of the Central People's Government organizations, among others. Ma Shasha, a student from Puiying secondary school who attended the ceremony said that Hong Kong is part of China, and Hong Kong residents have the responsibility to know and remember the history. Ma said she had a deeper understanding of the Nanjing Massacre after attending the ceremony, Earlier in the day, Hong Kong residents also held various activities including picture exhibitions, assemblies and parades to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. Japan invaded northeast China in September 1931, and started a full-scale invasion of China on July 7, 1937. Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec.13, 1937 and started a 40-odd-day slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:15:05|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close HARARE, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) will avail up to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in loans to support Zimbabwe's economic revival efforts, state media reported Wednesday. The Herald said the economic stabilization package would go towards the revival of the productive sector to stimulate more exports. Afreximbank president and chairman of the bank's board of directors Okey Oramah said the bank was eager to help the Zimbabwean economy by providing currency liquidity to curtail bank queues and would also support nostro accounts of banks to ensure that those dealing with U.S. dollars could pay for goods. Oramah, who made the announcement after paying a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices on Tuesday, said the support would extend to investment guarantees to foreign investors who choose to invest in the country. "We are here to extend our congratulations to President Mnangagwa and also to reaffirm our continued support for the government and people of Zimbabwe under his leadership," Oramah said. "We discussed various areas we have been intervening and continue to provide support and so we informed His Excellency, the President that the 600 million dollars (facility) we engaged in a few weeks ago had been finalized. "We also discussed a number of other areas that will involve additional investment from us for something that will be in the order of 1 billion to 1.5 billion dollars that will include certain kinds of guarantees to encourage investors to come into Zimbabwe this time." The 600 million dollar line of credit was extended to Zimbabwe at the end of September to support the Reserve Bank in the financing of trade-related transactions and projects. "We also want to make sure we support the stabilization of the economy - that means providing currency, liquidity to make sure that the situation where people are rushing every time to look for cash is dealt with," Oramah said. "So we will be supporting the nostros of the different banks which will then make it possible for all those who are dealing in United States dollars to have access anytime they want to pay for goods," Oramah said. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the visit and investment by Afreximbank "sends very good signals to the rest of the world that Zimbabwe is open to do business, is open for investment and this is the support that I think we deserve". He said the economy will likely grow by more than 4.5 percent in 2018 if the country continues to receive support from critical players. "I believe this economy is going to be in for some very good times," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:25:08|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five suspects, who have worked at a Shanghai day care center, have been arrested on charges of child abuse, local prosecutors said Wednesday. The suspects were caught on camera in Ctrip day care center, appearing to abuse young children, Changning district people's procutorate said. Leading travel agency Ctrip established the center, run by a third-party organization, in 2016 to help employees with childcare for children under three years old, the minimum age for kindergartens. Video footage showing staff abusing children went viral, leading to an intense public outcry. On Nov. 8, Ctrip reported the abuse to district police. The suspects have been in police custody since then. The district people's procutorate has dispatched prosecutors specializing in child criminal cases to assist the police in the investigation, promising to safeguard the legal rights of the minors involved. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:30:09|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close DOHA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Qatar and Japan announced that they will cooperate in air quality monitoring by carrying out related experimental study, Qatar News Agency said Wednesday. The study, which is expected to be completed at the beginning of next year, is part of a joint project launched between the two sides to enhance technological capabilities of monitoring environment. A Qatari high senior official stressed the importance of cooperation in the field of environmental monitoring in order to achieve sustainable development. Meanwhile, he added, the Japanese devices will be installed in air quality monitoring stations of Qatari environmental monitoring department in the next few days. Qatar and Japan have established strong ties in the energy and infrastructure sectors and signed a number of agreements in various areas, including defense, sports, information and communications technology. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:45:13|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foundation announced Wednesday that sinology research centers will be established in universities in Russia and the United States. "The Chinese side will work with the University of Florida and the Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics in starting the centers," said the China Overseas-Educated Scholars Development Foundation. The non-governmental academic centers will focus on developing textbooks for learning Chinese, and exploring business models with local partners to promote Chinese culture. A similar center in Malta was contracted on Nov. 29. By 2020, sinology centers will be established in 11 countries, including Greece and France, the foundation said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 18:55:15|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close YINCHUAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian forces concluded their joint counter-terror exercises Wednesday at a training base near Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China. Troops from the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and the Russian National Guard conducted exercises on jointly cleaning up terrorist groups in simulated situations, such as a bus hijacking. Wang Ning, commander of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force, said the participating officers and soldiers cooperated with each other closely and carried out exchanges on counter-terror expertise and combat and command. "This is the latest achievement in promoting exchanges and cooperation in security between the two forces, and a concrete action in improving their counter-terror capabilities," Wang said. The exercises were a move to implement the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination that is endorsed by leaders of both countries. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:00:16|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close HANOI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported 105.7 million U.S. dollars worth of paper and paper-based products to China in the first 11 months of this year, up 27.5 times against the same period last year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said on Wednesday. In the 11-month period, Vietnam made total paper and paper product export turnovers of 673.4 million U.S. dollars, up 46.9 percent on-year, with the biggest export market being China, followed by the United States and Japan. Specifically, Vietnam exported 80.6 million U.S. dollars worth of paper and paper products to the United States, down 0.5 percent, and roughly 80 million U.S. dollars worth of paper and paper products to Japan, down 2.4 percent. Vietnamese paper and paper-based products are now available in 17 countries and regions, said the general department. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:10:19|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Workers make cotton quilts and beddings in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Dec. 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma) KATHMANDU, Dec. 13 (Xinhua)-- As the vote counting of the first-past-the-post for the federal parliament and provincial assembly elections in Nepal came to an end on Wednesday, the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) has emerged as the largest party of the Himalayan nation, the Election Commission said. The CPN-UML, the largest communist party in Nepal, was able to secure 80 out of the total 165 seats under the first-past-the-post category of the federal parliament, according to the election body. Meanwhile, the party has garnered 166 out of 330 seats in provincial assembly polls. The CPN (Maoist Centre) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal has become the second largest party by winning 36 seats in federal parliament and 73 seats in provincial assembly under the first-past-the-post category. According to the Election Commission, the Nepali Congress party has managed to win 23 seats in federal parliament and 45 seats in provincial assemblies under the first-past-the-post category. The Nepali Congress, which was the largest party in the last election, has become the third largest party this time. Though the Election Commission announced the final outcomes of the federal and provincial assembly elections on Wednesday, vote counting for the proportionate representation category is still underway. Navaraj Dhakal, a spokesman for the Nepal's Election Commission, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the vote counting for the proportionate representation category is also coming to an end and they will make it public soon. The CPN-UML has taken a clear lead in the proportionate representation category as well, according to the results made public so far. Nepal held the two-phased state and federal elections last week under the milestone new constitution promulgated in 2015. The second phase of the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections was held on Dec. 7 while first phase was held on Nov 26. These historical elections are seen as a crucial step to implement the new constitution which encountered strong protests from some Madhesi ethnic groups in Nepal's Terai region bordering India. After a hiatus of 20 years, local elections were held earlier this year choosing local bodies across the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:15:20|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey, on Dec. 13, 2017. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any U.S. involvement in the peace process. (Xinhua/Anadolu Agency) ISTANBUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any U.S. involvement in the peace process. Addressing an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Erdogan called on countries to recognize "Jerusalem as the capital city of the occupied Palestine," while Abbas urged the world to recognize the state of Palestine. The Turkish leader described U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital as a threat to all humanity, calling on Washington to withdraw the "wrong, provocative and unlawful" decision. "The U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, above all, means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," said Erdogan. "The U.S. has lost its mediator role in the Israel-Palestine peace process, and we will never allow in the future that the U.S. takes part in the process," Abbas said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the U.S. decision on Jerusalem. A joint declaration is to be issued at the conclusion of the one-day summit. The status of Jerusalem is at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as Palestinians are hoping for an independent state with East Jerusalem at the capital. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:25:23|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close GENEVA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 2017 Internet Governance Forum sponsored by the United Nations (UN) will be held at the UN's European headquarters, the Palais des Nations in Geneva, from Dec. 18 to 21. High-level government officials, civil society leaders, private sector representatives and academic and technical experts will attend the annual meeting, the 12th of its kind, to discuss the impact and influence of digitalization on the economy, the media landscape and the political system, the UN information office at Geneva said Wednesday. New technologies and emerging issues such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, block chain technologies, big data, virtual reality and fake news and their impact on public trust and democracy will be the focus of this year's forum. There will be a record 45 sessions, or open forums, organized by governments and inter-governmental organizations, including several UN agencies and regional bodies. Swiss President Doris Leuthard and UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin will deliver the welcome address. The forum, initiated by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2006, aims to facilitate discussion and dialogue about public policy issues pertaining to internet governance. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:30:25|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Tamaki Matsuoka, a former primary school teacher in Japan, has spent the last 30 years interviewing survivors and victimizers of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre to reveal the historical truth about the massacre to the Japanese people. All these started with a journey to Nanjing, China in August 1988, which changed her life. Matsuoka was then teaching six-graders history in Osaka. She found history textbooks vague and ambiguous about the invasive war against China, thus deciding to find out more about the truth. "The textbooks only mentioned that Japan lost the war, but nothing about the invasion. They described the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but missed out the sufferings of the people victimized by Japan's invasion," she said. "As a teacher, I taught the children about justice, but the textbooks in Japan seemed not just." When visiting for the first time in her life at an exhibition in Nanjing, the evidence of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, including photos of the heads cut down and the women raped, Matsuoka could not help shedding tears of pain and shame. "I made up my mind at that time that I have to tell my students in Japan what had really happened, and what pain and sorrow were associated with the historical truth," said Matsuoka. In the next 30 years, Matsuoka interviewed hundreds of survivors and World War II veterans. Based on their testimonies, Matsuoka wrote books and produced documentaries to convey the historical truth. The first testimony that Matsuoka heard from a victim was from Li Xiuying who, born in 1919, was stabbed 37 times by Japanese soldiers and lost her baby in the 1937 massacre. To get testimonies from the victimizers was more difficult. It was not until eight years later that Matsuoka started interviewing Japanese war veterans, and Sho Mitani was one of them. In 1937, 18-year-old Mitani arrived in Nanjing with the Japanese Marine on Dec. 17, when the atrocious massacre was going on in the city. According to Mitani, when he arrived in Nanjing, he could barely see local residents on the streets, but human bodies piled like small hills in Xiaguan area of Nanjing city. In the next few days, Mitani witnessed Japanese troops kill Chinese people with machine guns or burn them alive. The bodies were dumped into the Yangtze River, and the blood turned the river water to a red-brownish color. When he returned to Japan 10 days later, he was ordered by superiors to tighten his lips about what he witnessed. Mitani passed away at the age of 98 in September this year and failed to speak about the massacre as scheduled at a memorial event on Nov. 26 organized by a civil group founded by Matsuoka. But a documentary featuring him was aired at the event to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Some 500 people attended the event. Matsuoka said that Mitani had sought to pass on the truth about the Nanjing Massacre and the terrors of war to the younger generations in order to preserve peace. "I will carry on the work left by him and pass on the truth," said Matsuoka. "It is not just for the Chinese victims, but more for the Japanese people," she said, adding that it would be an misfortune for the Japanese people if they do not know about the truth. "Without knowing the terror of war, we can not understand the preciousness of peace." Three Nanjing massacre survivors, namely Xia Ruirong, She Ziqing and Yang Mingzhen, who Matsuoka knew and had interviewed, also passed away this year. Matsuoka, while mourning the deceased, felt that she is racing with the time. She is now busy with digitalizing the hundreds of tapes that record the testimonies and her interviews of the people who had experienced the war. "Peace could collapse before you know it. We shall pass on the truth about the war crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre and only by doing that, can we consolidate the foundation of peace," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:35:26|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close CHONGQING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Victims of the Chongqing Bombing will appear in the Tokyo High Court Thursday for an appeal hearing on their lawsuit demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government. "This might be the last time that I am able to go to Japan, since I am 85 years old now," said Chen Guifang, one of six people from the plaintiff group, who left southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to travel to Tokyo Tuesday. There are altogether 243 plaintiffs in the case, including victims and their relatives, representing 188 victims. The court is expected to give a verdict on the appeal, after a local court ruled against the then 188 plaintiffs -- all victims -- in 2015. In its ruling, the Tokyo District Court acknowledged damage caused by the air raids, but did not recognize the plaintiffs' right to seek damages. Chen was only six years old when her parents were fatally injured in an air raid. Japanese warplanes indiscriminately bombed Chongqing, then China's capital, and nearby cities between 1938 and 1944, killing and injuring more than 32,000 people. The bombing along with the Nanjing Massacre are viewed as the most horrific atrocities committed by Japan during the war. "I will never forget the scene. Hearing the air-raid sirens wailing, I saw my parents fall down with blood all over them," said Chen, the only survivor in her family. In 2002, more than 500 Chongqing Bombing victims grouped together. Between 2006 and 2015, 188 of them filed four lawsuits against the Japanese government, demanding an apology and compensation. "I can show them the shrapnel wounds on my body, and we have prepared to present the documents and evidence at the court," Chen said. Li Yuankui, head of the plaintiff delegation, said he had grouped three Chongqing Bombing survivors and 28 descendants of the victims, and volunteers, to appear at the court hearing. "This is the largest number of Chinese plaintiffs to appear in the court hearing on the case. Maybe the lawsuit will approach an end, but the mission for seeking justice will never end," he said. Jiang Yifu, in his 50s, was an assistant to Li. He took over the job from his deceased father in 2010 and volunteers as a Japanese interpreter for the group. "We are racing against time to carry on the mission. My constant concerns are that the elderly will die with regret [without hearing the verdict]," Jiang said. By March this year, 22 of the 188 original plaintiffs had died over a period of seven years, according to Jiang. The oldest survivors are now aged 94. "My mother left me her will when she died, asking me to continue the lawsuit seeking justice for her," said Zhong Chuanfeng, who is a volunteer accountant in the group. Pan Xun, history professor with the Southwest University in Chongqing, expressed his admiration for the elderly in the group. "The senior people as witnesses of history have been fighting strenuously to have their voices heard. They have inspired others, and history should never be forgotten," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 19:35:26|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close BANGKOK, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A suspected drug kingpin in Thailand was sentenced by a court to life imprisonment on drug dealing charges on Wednesday. The Criminal Court ruled Lao Ta Saenlee, 77, and his wife, Asama Saenlee, 67, guilty of trading crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," to a police detective, who disguised as a drug dealer, in Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai province last year. The court sentenced his wife Asama to 25 years in prison. Lao Ta, known as a surrogate of drug warlord Khun Sa, would have been given death penalty if he had not confessed to the charges, police said. Besides, the couple were demanded by the court to pay 2.5 million baht (about 73,529 U.S. dollars) in fine each. Meanwhile, Wicharn Saenlee, 41, a son of Lao Ta, and Baramee Barameekuakul, 38, an employee of the drug kingpin, were sentenced to death penalty also on charges of trading crystal methamphetamin. Besides, a fifth suspect, identified as Rapheekarn Photphetcharaluck, 57, a woman employee of the drug lord, was sentenced to life in jail for similar drug dealing charges. All the five drug suspects said they would fight for themselves in the Appeals Court at a later date. Thai authorities once charged Lao Ta of drug dealing in 2003 and a Thai court later ruled that the evidence was insufficient and dismiss the case in 2007. Leaders and representatives of member states pose for a group photo during an Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on last week's US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, on December 13, 2017 in Istanbul. (AFP PHOTO) ISTANBUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any U.S. involvement in the peace process. Addressing an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Erdogan called on countries to recognize "Jerusalem as the capital city of the occupied Palestine," while Abbas urged the world to recognize the state of Palestine. The Turkish leader described U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital as a threat to all humanity, calling on Washington to withdraw the "wrong, provocative and unlawful" decision. "The U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, above all, means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," said Erdogan. "The U.S. has lost its mediator role in the Israel-Palestine peace process, and we will never allow in the future that the U.S. takes part in the process," Abbas said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the U.S. decision on Jerusalem. A joint declaration is to be issued at the conclusion of the one-day summit. The status of Jerusalem is at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as Palestinians are hoping for an independent state with East Jerusalem at the capital. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:00:32|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday responded to U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson's statements, by calling on the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to step forward for dialogue and contact. Tillerson said at a forum in Washington, D.C. Tuesday that the United States was ready to talk with the DPRK without preconditions. "We have noticed the remarks. It has been a consistent stance of the Chinese government to peacefully resolve the peninsula issue through dialogue and negotiation," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang at a press briefing. "China welcomes all efforts to ease tension and promote dialogue to resolve the problem." "China has proposed a dual track approach and suspension for suspension initiative to settle the issue," said the spokesman. "We hope the United States and the DPRK will meet each other halfway and take a significant step to engage in dialogue and contact. China will continue to play a constructive role in promoting proper settlement of the peninsula issue in a peaceful way." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:10:35|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli addresses the China-South Korea business forum in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 13, 2017. Zhang Gaoli and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended the forum. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli and visiting President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Moon Jae-in jointly addressed a China-ROK business forum in Beijing Wednesday. Zhang said China highly values China-ROK relations, and the two countries' heads of state will exchange views on bilateral ties and draw a blueprint for future development. He called on both sides to implement the consensus of the two heads of state to boost progress of China-ROK ties. "Sound China-ROK relations meet the trend of history as well as the common aspirations of both peoples, and cooperation leads to win-win results," he said. Zhang said China-ROK relations are at a "key" stage, and the two countries should combine development strategies to contribute to "building a community with a shared future for mankind." He asked both sides to enhance trade cooperation and cultural exchanges, and boost global cooperation, to open up new prospects for China-ROK relations. China held an annual memorial for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in the eastern city of Nanjing Wednesday, and Moon showed his empathy to the victims while in Beijing. As close neighbors, the ROK and China have similar culture and tradition, Moon said, adding the two sides have fast-developing economic and trade cooperation and frequent personnel exchanges. Moon pointed out that in the past the bilateral ties had their difficult moments, but that he hoped his visit would help the two countries rebuild friendship and trust. Zhang said China and the ROK are high-quality partners with obvious cooperative advantages, and China is ready to work with the ROK to deepen cooperation and promote bilateral ties. Moon said the ROK agrees with the Chinese proposal of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" and that he hopes both countries will usher in a new era of economic and trade cooperation. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:10:35|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's banking regulator Wednesday pledged to steadily advance opening up of the banking industry following the latest government move to widen foreign access to the financial sector. China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao last month disclosed that the country will abolish foreign ownership restrictions in Chinese banks, which limited a single foreign investor's stake to 20 percent or less and that of total foreign ownership to 25 percent. "The core of the policy adjustment is to give foreign investors national treatment in the banking sector," noted Fan Wenzhong, head of the international department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). In the next steps, Fan said China will give foreign banks more freedom in choosing their form of existence in China, expand their scope of business, encourage branches of foreign banks to conduct business concerning government bonds, and ease restrictions on renminbi retail banking for foreign banks. Authorities will also move to improve regulatory rules concerning capital management requirements. To facilitate the implementation of the policies, Fan said the CBRC will start to revise related laws and regulations. Official data showed at the end of November, China had 210 foreign banking institutions. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:15:36|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close DHAKA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh wants China to be its major partner to make the country's digital dreams come true, Bangladeshi Information and Communication Technology (ICT) State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently, the minister said, "For a long, long time we have been time-tested friends and in the field of ICT we are grateful to China and the Chinese government for helping us by providing all kinds of technical and financial support for building our infrastructure." Palak went on to explain that Bangladesh has successfully completed its Info Sarker-2 project. The Bangladeshi government, in collaboration with Chinese companies, implemented the country's largest-ever ICT project which brought nearly 20,000 government offices across the country under nationwide connectivity. Bangladesh's highest economic policy-making body on July 3, 2013, approved the China-financed 13.33 billion taka (160 million U.S. dollars) project titled "National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government Phase-II (Info-Sarker)." Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared her vision to build a digital Bangladesh by 2021. Project Director of Info-Sarkar, Saiful Islam, had earlier told Xinhua that "the Info-Sarker project is the main project for the building of a digital Bangladesh. And this is the largest project of the ICT division as well as for the building of a digital Bangladesh." Under the project, Palak told Xinhua that Bangladesh has been able to connect all the districts and sub-districts with high-speed optic connectivity among the 18,000 government offices. "We have been able to setup our first TR4 data Center under the line of credit kindly extended from China," saod Palak. He said during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh in October 2016, he and Prime Minister Hasina laid stones together to symbolize the union between the two countries in building the TR4 data center. "And we also have some other ongoing projects like Info-Sarker-3. Under this project we are connecting all the union parishad, which is the lowest tier of the local government services delivery platform." "So we are really grateful to the government of China and China Exim bank for allocating the financial support and also for supporting us in building a digital Bangladesh." He added that human resources have been developed with the support of the Chinese government and that an MoU has been signed between the two countries on how they can combat cyber attacks. "So, now we are planning to set up our own digital forensic lab." Bangladesh is the perfect ICT investment destination for the world, the minister said. "I hope all the Chinese companies will benefit from their investments in Bangladesh," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:15:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (4th L, front), and Yu Zhengsheng (4th R, front), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, attend a state memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a national memorial ceremony on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Some other senior officials were also present at the ceremony held in the square of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in the eastern city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. At the ceremony starting at 10 a.m., Xi and the senior officials joined about 10,000 representatives of all walks of life and paid silent tribute to the massacre victims as sirens howled over the city. Eight large wreaths were presented to the memorial altar by guards of honor, followed by 80 teenagers reading out a declaration of peace. Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13, 1937 and embarked on more than 40 days of slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women were raped. In a speech at the ceremony, Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said China was holding the memorial ceremony in honor of the Nanjing Massacre victims, compatriots killed by the Japanese invaders, national heroes who sacrificed their lives for victory, as well as international soldiers and friends who joined the Chinese in fighting. "The commemoration is meant to proclaim the Chinese people's firm stance on maintaining peace and their sublime aspiration for peaceful development," he said. "War is a mirror, which makes people better understand the value of peace." China and Japan should take into consideration the fundamental interests of their people and contribute to peace, he said. "The world should work together to maintain international order and system with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter at the core," Yu said. He said Chinese people are willing to work with people from around the world in building "a community with a shared future for mankind," make contributions to world peace and global development, and uphold international order. Following his speech, six Nanjing citizens struck the Bell of Peace at the site, while 3,000 doves signifying peace flew over the memorial square. After the ceremony, President Xi visited the exhibition in the memorial hall and signed his name on the visitors' book. He also met some survivors of the massacre and relatives of foreign friends who contributed to the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The ceremony was presided over by Huang Kunming, head of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Publicity Department. Veterans, officials from central and local Party and government departments and the military, representatives of the non-Communist parties, personnel without Party affiliation, people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, relatives of foreign friends, foreign diplomats, survivors, and victims' relatives attended the event. In February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, designated December 13 as the "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:30:38|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, watches the rehearsal of a villager orchestra in Mazhuang Village of Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 12, 2017. Xi had an inspection tour in Xuzhou on Dec. 12. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) XUZHOU, Jiangsu, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called for more innovation in the equipment manufacturing sector to accelerate China's drive toward becoming a manufacturing powerhouse and bolster the real economy. "Innovation is the source of business core competitiveness," Xi said, during a two-day inspection tour in Xuzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu Province. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:30:39|Editor: ZD Video Player Close THE HAGUE, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Socialist Party (SP) leader Emile Roemer announced his departure from politics during a last-minute press conference in The Hague on Wednesday. "It is time for someone else to take over," Roemer explained. "My part of the mission is finished. I do not want be the politician who left too late." Roemer will step down in the beginning of January 2018 and will also leave the Dutch House of Representatives. As party leader he will be succeeded by the 32-year-old Lilian Marijnissen, the daughter of former SP party leader Jan Marijnissen. The 55-year-old Roemer became a member of the House of Representatives in November 2006 and took over as SP leader in March 2010, following the resignation of Agnes Kant. At that moment the party was on a low and Roemer led the party to 15 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament during the elections of June 2010. In the buildup to the elections in September 2012, Roemer's SP even was the biggest party in the polls for a moment, but eventually the result was the same as in 2010, which was considered a disappointment. In the March 2017 elections the SP ended up on 14 seats. Roemer excluded cooperation with the winning party of the elections, the rightist liberals VVD of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and therefore the SP played no role in the government formation. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:30:39|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nine aid workers were killed in South Sudan in November, the deadliest month for humanitarian workers in the world's youngest nation since December 2013, the UN said on Wednesday. The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report released in Juba that six humanitarian workers were killed in Duk, Jonglei, one in Ikotos, Eastern Equatoria, and two in Awerial, Lakes. "Fighting forced the relocation of at least 47 aid workers in six incidents in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, and Unity," said the UN. A total of 103 humanitarian access incidents were reported in November, compared to 116 in October, the report said, noting that six security incidents forced the suspension of aid activities in different locations. During the month, local authorities in various locations continued to demand involvement in non-governmental organization staff recruitment and procurement processes. "Incidents of violence, some of which led to the death of aid workers, substantially disrupted aid operations, forcing the suspension of response activities in multiple locations," OCHA said. Some 4 million South Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes in the conflict that erupted nearly four years ago following a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, according to the UN. Despite an August 2015 peace agreement, violence has continued. According to OCHA figures, nearly half of the country's 12 million people are hungry, including about 1.7 million on the brink of famine. OCHA said fighting in southern Unity forced the relocation of aid workers and the suspension of food and nutrition assistance to nearly 34,000 people. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:40:40|Editor: ZD Video Player Close ATHENS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Greece raised 1.3 billion euros (1.53 billion U.S. dollars) in an auction of three-month treasury bills on Wednesday, the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) said. The treasury bills were priced to yield 1.6 percent, down from a previous similar sale held in November. Shut out of international markets since 2010, Greece runs a monthly treasury bill auction program to cover maturing debts and meet its financing needs, in parallel to the bailout program. The debt-ridden country is expected to fully return to the markets in 2018 when the current third bailout program ends. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:45:41|Editor: ZD Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The China National Petroleum Corporation said Wednesday that it had sped up laying natural gas pipelines connecting China and Russia, the largest energy cooperation between the two countries. Welding of the northern part of the 3,371-kilometer east-route natural gas has begun, the company announced. The east-route natural gas pipeline originates in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and terminates in Shanghai in the east. Construction began in June 2015 and will be completed in 2020. Upon completion, the pipeline will provide China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia annually. It will have far-reaching significance for optimizing China's energy structure, cutting emissions and improving air quality. The Russian part of the pipeline began construction in eastern Siberia in 2014. The rise of natural gas use is the result of the government promoting it as a cleaner alternative to coal. China aims to raise the use of natural gas to 10 percent of the country's energy mix by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. China's demand for natural gas will continue to soar toward 2040, outstripping domestic output by around 43 percent, according to an International Energy Agency report published Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:45:41|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing) NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sirens symbolizing grief blared throughout Nanjing, in east China's Jiangsu Province, shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday. The city came to a halt, and the nation took time to reflect. On Wednesday, China marked the fourth national memorial day to commemorate the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese invaders slaughtered about 300,000 Chinese during a six-week rampage after they captured the city, then China's capital, eight decades ago to this day. In the downtown area, pedestrians paused to mourn the deceased in silence and drivers honked their horns to echo the sirens. "The massacre has left a deep scar in our hearts. This is a day we will never forget," said Nanjing resident Yang Yuxiu. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the state memorial ceremony held in the square in front of the Memorial Hall for the Victims in Nanjing Massacre. Other senior officials were also present at the ceremony. In addressing the event, China's top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said Chinese and Japanese people should cherish the hard-won peace, and the international community needs to honestly face up to history. War is a mirror, which helps people understand peace better than ever, said Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "To avoid any repeat of the historic tragedy, we must make unremitting efforts for the lasting and even eternal peace of mankind," he said. After Yu finished speaking, six representatives struck the Bell of Peace and 3,000 doves signifying peace were released to the sky. Despite December's chill, about ten thousand people from all walks of life attended the ceremony, including aging survivors, school children, and foreign visitors. In front of the darkly-dressed crowd, China's national flag flew at half-mast under clear skies. In February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, designated December 13 as the "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims" to mourn the deceased and expose the war crimes committed by Japanese invaders. CHERISH THE PEACE Eighty years after the massacre, the survivors are in their twilight years and number less than 100. Guan Guangjing, previously the oldest known survivor, died Sunday at the age of 100, just three days before the memorial day.x Ge Daorong, a survivor who attended Wednesday's ceremony, was only 10 years old when Nanjing fell to the Japanese invaders. As they went on a killing spree, he and his close family took refuge in a safety zone, but a group of Japanese soldiers barged into their room and one of them stabbed him in the leg with a bayonet, leaving a deep scar that is still visible today. He survived the massacre, but his three uncles did not. Ge is indignant that some right-wing politicians in Japan have tried to whitewash history or even denied that the massacre ever took place. "Those who have committed a crime should have the courage to admit it. Otherwise, they are doomed to repeat it," Ge said. "Remembering the massacre is not to prolong a hatred between China and Japan. Ordinary Japanese were also victimized by the war," he said. "All the peace-loving people around the world should join hands to cherish the peace today and prevent war from ever happening again." "My only hope is that in the future, mothers won't have to shed blood and tears, and children can lead a happy and peaceful life," he said. Among the children who attended the ceremony was 11-year-old Qiu Tianci. She said participating in the event makes her "feel the grief of the massacre." "The peace and prosperity we enjoy today came at the sacrifice of countless lives during the war. It is important that this message is passed down from generation to generation," said Qiu, who wishes to become a businesswoman when she grows up, so that she can travel around the world to raise more awareness of the atrocity. RESURRECTION OUT OF DEVASTATION American Chris Magee was one of the foreign visitors who attended the ceremony Wednesday. He is the grandson of John Magee, an American missionary stationed in Nanjing during the massacre, who secretly shot 105 minutes of film documenting the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders. The footage is considered the only film record of the massacre. Chris Magee said the memorial hall provides a national catharsis, taking people through the grieving process and out the other side. "You recognize the horrors of war, the terrors that happened here, but you also come here to heal,to move past that point," he said. "If you don't know about these atrocities you won't notice when the world slips into that again." In 2002, John Magee's son donated the camera he used to record the events to the the Memorial Hall for the Victims in Nanjing Massacre. The camera and its footage became an important part of the Documents of the Nanjing Massacre that were inscribed on the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO in 2015. "At first, all his camera captured were pleasant happenings in Nanjing such as the celebrations for newborns and birthday parties. But soon after the Japanese aggressors descended on the city, the footage took an ugly turn," said Chris Magee, recalling the disturbing experience of seeing the black-and-white footage. He arrived in Nanjing days ago to continue his project of recapturing his grandfather's images of the city to make its history more widely known. "My grandfather documented devastation. I depict resurrection," said the younger Magee, who hopes the images taken 80 years apart can link the past and the present, and tell the city's transformation from ruins to prosperity. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 20:55:42|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- December 13 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of legendary Flying Tiger pilot Carl Brown, who passed away peacefully at his home in Corcoran, California, three months ago. "He had been doing well and then suddenly took a turn for the worse at the end of August and passed Sept. 8, 2017," said Julia Brown, one of the late pilot's daughters, in an email to Xinhua. Brown attended Michigan State University until 1939, when he suspended his studies to join the U.S. Navy. In 1941, close to 300 young Americans registered to join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) and were deployed to Asia. Organized and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault, the AVG, which came to be known as the "Flying Tigers," was a volunteer band of about 300 pilots and ground staff whose sole purpose was to help China fight invading Japanese troops before the United States officially entered WWII. Through the introduction of his friend Tex Hill, who would go on to become an ace AVG pilot, Brown received an honorable discharge from the Navy and signed up for the AVG. "Most of the pilots were just two to three years out of high school," Brown recalled earlier this year. Brown participated in the Flying Tigers' first battle on Dec. 20 that year. The fighting took place over Kunming and brought down nine Japanese planes. According to a tribute provided by his family, Brown also took part in a mission over the Nujiang River, during which pilot Bob Little was killed while flying on his wing. After the AVG disbanded in July 1942, Brown flew as a pilot transporting supplies between India and China on a dangerous but crucial airlift route over the Himalayas. "My father indicated that he was honored to do his duty and help the Chinese people during the war. My father spoke fondly of the Chinese people," Julia told Xinhua. Brown still drank Tsingtao beer when he was 98 years old. In 1945 he returned to the United States, resumed his undergraduate studies, and graduated in 1946. He went on to receive his M.D. and J.D. degrees in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively. "My memory of Carl Brown is that he was a great friend of my late husband," said Lydia Rossi, wife of late ace pilot Dick Rossi. "Whenever Dick had a medical question he would call Carl and get an educated and helpful answer. They would talk on the phone to each other every month and keep abreast of what was going on in each other's lives," Lydia said. Brown is survived by six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Julia is the only child who has travelled to China. The trip, which she made when she was 19 years old, covered Keelung, Kaohsiung and Hong Kong. "I truly loved traveling to China and the culture was fascinating to me as a young person," Julia said. "I would love to visit again!" "Carl was a man who took his own path in life and did not concern himself with doing the latest popular thing. He was his own man, but he respected others," Lydia told Xinhua. From December 1941 to July 1942, in just seven months, the AVG shot down 299 planes in over 50 battles against the Japanese, forcefully defending critical air space on China's rear front. Their bravery penned a celebrated chapter in China-U.S. friendship. Julia said she was proud that the United States stood up to help and send the Flying Tigers to work with the Chinese people to defend themselves. By now, most of the Flying Tigers have passed away -- not in battle, but from old age. Squadron crew chief Frank Losonsky, 97, is now the last surviving Flying Tiger. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:00:46|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close MOGADISHU, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Commission on Wednesday rejected allegations of human rights violations by its peacekeepers in Somalia, saying the United Nations did not carry out thorough probe into certain incidents on its mission's operations. A report published the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) did not provide evidence to back the allegations, the AU Commission said in a statement issued in Mogadishu. "The commission has noted with concern that the report contains significant misrepresentations of certain incidents pertaining to AMISOM operations in Somalia," the pan-African body said, using the acronym for the African Union Mission in Somalia. The UN report ignored conclusive investigations carried out by the AU Mission's internal investigative organs, such as the Board of Inquiry (BoI), without presenting any hard evidence to substantiate the report's conclusions, the AU statement said. The AU Commission said the report, which accuses AMISOM troops of killing and maiming 178 civilians in the period between Jan. 1, 2016 and Oct. 14, 2017 fails to provide evidence to support these allegations. The UN report said that during the period, UNSOM documented a total of 2,078 civilian deaths and 2,507 injuries, with 60 percent of the casualties attributed to al-Shabaab militants, 13 percent to clan militias, 11 percent to "state actors," including the army and the police, 4 percent to AMISOM, and 12 percent to unidentified or undetermined attackers. The report attributed significant number of recorded civilian casualties -- 251 killed and 343 injured -- to clan militias, in areas where federal or state security forces are largely absent. The report, entitled "Protection of Civilians: Building the Foundation for Peace, Security and Human Rights in Somalia," noted that civilians were the victims of unlawful attacks -- by being directly targeted and through the use of indiscriminate bomb and suicide attacks -- by non-state groups. The UN report said that such attacks, which are prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian laws, are, in most cases, likely to constitute war crimes, and it is imperative that perpetrators are identified and held accountable. However, the AU Commission clarified that AMISOM troops are exonerated in the Ceelbuur incident of May 7, 2016, and the Bulo-Burto incident of April 2016, after investigations provided no evidence of human rights violations by its troops. "These cases are, unfortunately, mentioned in the report as factual cases of rape, perpetrated by AU peacekeepers," it said. The commission said investigations into the Garastan incident of June 18 are still ongoing and have not been concluded, expressing concern that details of a not-yet-concluded investigation has been used to corroborate the report's findings. "Despite the thorough nature of the AMISOM BoI investigation and the fact that its findings were transmitted to the head of UNSOM, the report, ignoring these facts, proceeded to treat the Elbur (Ceelbuur) incident as a conclusively proven allegation against AMISOM," said the AU Commission statement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:15:49|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close MOSCOW, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the lower house of parliament an agreement with Syria, under which Damascus will allow Moscow to keep its naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus for at least 49 years. The document posted on the website of the Russian State Duma on Wednesday states that the deal may be automatically extended every 25 years after its expiry. Under the deal, which was signed on Jan. 18, Russia and Syria agreed to expand and overhaul the maintenance infrastructure in Tartus, which was established in 1977 and is currently Russia's sole naval support facility in the Mediterranean region. The deal allows Russia to deploy up to 11 warships, including nuclear-powered combat vessels, to the Syrian port. The State Duma is expected to ratify the deal later this month. After claiming a victory against the Islamic State, Putin announced on Monday that Russia would pull most of its troops out of Syria, but would maintain the Tartus facility and the Hmeymim airbase in the war-torn country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:20:52|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) intervened on Wednesday to arrest the continuous slide of Pakistani rupees against U.S. dollar in the interbank and the open markets. The central bank pumped greenbacks into the interbank market to halt the steep decline in the value of the local currency, which closed the day at 110.52 on Wednesday as against the close of 110.64 rupees recorded on Tuesday. The local currency moved in a narrow range throughout the day after the central bank's intervention, experts told Xinhua, further stating that the SBP directed a few major banks to sell their holdings which put brakes on the U.S. dollar's rally. The intervention has put an end to a three-day slide of Pakistani rupee against the greenback. Pakistani rupee gave away 5 percent value against U.S. dollars in the three-day fall. During the intraday trade, the greenback surged up to 111.10 rupees besides hitting an intraday low of 110.25 rupees. Due to the recent decline in the value of the national currency, the burden of debt on Pakistan increased tremendously. The country's overall debt jumped by 352 billion rupees to 22,943 billion rupees from the previous figure of 22,591 billion rupees. Photo taken on Dec. 11, 2017 shows EU flags in front of European Commission headquarters during a heavy snowfall in Brussels, Belgium. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) MINSK, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Belarus considered participation in the Central European Initiative (CEI) to be an additional opportunity to improve mutual understanding with the European Union, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said on Tuesday. "The outcomes of 2017 allow us in Belarus to consider the CEI format a significant tool to involve the country more fully and efficiently in global European development," Kobyakov said at a meeting of the CEI countries' prime ministers in Minsk on Tuesday. Kobyakov said participation in the CEI is an additional opportunity for Belarus to improve mutual understanding with the EU through specific programs and projects, including in the field of regional development, which the CEI implements together with the EU. During the chairmanship in the CEI in 2017, Belarus emphasized the fact that the organization unites the countries that are part of various integration formations and formats, Kobyakov added. The CEI leadership highly appreciated the chairmanship of Belarus in the organization this year, CEI Alternate Secretary General Margot Klestil-Loffler said. The official outlined the challenges the CEI countries is facing, including climate change, cyberterrorism, and illegal migration. In 2018, the CEI chairmanship will move from Belarus to Croatia. The CEI was found in 1989 as an organization designed to promote the development of sustainable links between the states of Central, Western and Eastern Europe in the field of politics, economy and culture, as well as to prevent the formation of new dividing lines in the European Region. Until now, the CEI includes 18 countries. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:35:55|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close KUNMING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20 million hectares of vegetable fields and over 800 million tonnes of annual output make China the world's top vegetable grower, authorities said Wednesday. Dai Zhongjiu, executive president of China Vegetable Marketing Association, made the remarks at a vegetable wholesalers' conference in Kunming. "China ranks first in the world in terms of output, sales and export volumes of vegetables. We should do more to build brands and boost quality because people care more about quality, nutrition and taste of vegetables," he said. Dai said information technology will also be used to develop the vegetable-growing sector, remove market barriers, raise the income of farmers and meet the growing demands of consumers. The wholesalers' conference gathered 300 participating groups, including government authorities from major vegetable growing regions in China, vegetable markets owners and wholesalers. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:45:57|Editor: ZD Video Player Close RAMALLAH, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Clashes broke out in several cities in the West Bank on Wednesday between Palestinians and Israeli forces. The clashes broke out after dozens of youths demonstrated towards Israeli military checkpoints in Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron and Tulkarem. Sources and eyewitnesses in Ramallah said that Israeli soldiers threw tear gas bombs and opened gun fire and rubber coated bullets. Medical sources reported at least 12 injured. Sources said that Israeli undercover soldiers arrested four Palestinians, including one female, during the clashes at the northern entrance of Ramallah city. Tensions have been escalating in Gaza and the West Bank between Israel and the Palestinians since U.S. President Donald Trump last week recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Six Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 injured in the wave of tension that dominated the Palestinian territories after Trump's announcement. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 21:55:59|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) militants unleashed Wednesday an offensive in the south of Damascus, capturing 12 buildings, a monitor group reported. The IS militants attacked areas held by the pro-government fighters in the Tadamun neighborhood south of the capital Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The London-based watchdog said the attack in Tadamun is the most violent the southern rim of the capital has witnessed in months. An intense showdown between the government forces and IS militants followed the offensive, said the observatory, adding that the Syrian forces unleashed a counter-offensive in that area to retrieve what they had lost during the IS attack. The offensive is not expected to be a success as the Syrian forces have recaptured several buildings in Tadamun amid ongoing battles. The IS militants have lost all of their key strongholds in Syria either to the Syrian forces or the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, holding a few pockets in northeastern Syria as well as in the southern countryside of Damascus. The attack in Tadamun comes as the IS attempts to prove its capability to wage attacks and undermine the relative calm in the capital. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:01:00|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close ATHENS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Greece's Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the ruling reached by a lower court in October to extradite a Russian cybercrime suspect to the United States where he is wanted in a 4 billion-U.S. dollar bitcoin fraud case, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. Alexander Vinnik, 38, was arrested while on vacation in northern Greece in July on an international warrant. U.S. authorities accuse him of managing a platform, through which he laundered gains from criminal activities. The Russian national has denied the charges and asked not to be extradited to the United States. Following Wednesday's verdict, the final decision on his extradition to the U.S. or Russia rests with Greece's Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis. After Vinnik's arrest in Greece, Russian authorities have also submitted a request for his extradition to his home country where he is wanted in another less serious 10,000 euros (11,746 U.S. dollars) fraud case. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:16:04|Editor: Jiaxin Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Libya's eastern-based army commander Khalifa Haftar on Wednesday met with EU ambassador to Libya Bettina Muscheidt in the eastern city of Benghazi to discuss the latest developments in the country, an army official told Xinhua. Haftar, who returned from Cairo on Tuesday, discussed with Muscheidt the means to solve the Libyan crisis, as well as the international efforts to end it, the official said on condition of anonymity. Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has witnessed a three-year war between the army led by Haftar and extremist groups. In June, Haftar announced the takeover of the entire city of Benghazi after defeating the rival armed groups, but some militants remain in the city and use landmines to cause damage. Following the 2011 uprising, Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid insecurity and political division. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:31:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close YANGON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar authorities will introduce a new Companies Law from Aug. 1 next year, U Aung Naing Oo, director-general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) told a press briefing Wednesday. The promulgation of bylaws and application of the law as well as working on the operating manual for online registration will be done in last week of July next year, he said. The new law will facilitate rapid registration for companies due to the online registration system. In accordance with the new law, foreign investors are allowed to take up 35 percent in local companies. The new Myanmar Companies Act is enacted to replace Companies Act of 1914, which is currently practised in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:36:08|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close Former Indonesian parliament speaker Setya Novanto (C) is seen at Central Jakarta's court in Indonesia, Dec. 13, 2017. Indonesia's anti-graft commission sought maximum prosecution up to life sentence against former parliament speaker Setya Novanto who was on his initial trial over corruption charges on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Dedi Istanto) JAKARTA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's anti-graft commission sought maximum prosecution up to life sentence against former parliament speaker Setya Novanto who was on his initial trial over corruption charges on Wednesday. Learning on non-cooperative stance demonstrated by Setya, Saut Situmorang, deputy chairman of Corruption Eradication Commission, or in Indonesian abbreviation KPK, said that Setya has the potentialities to receive maximum sentence should he take non-cooperative stance against the judging panel. "The KPK has the rights to press for the prosecution. The maximum punishment may reach sentence to life or 20 years," Saut said to respond the trial process against the former parliament speaker. Citing to different legal considerations based on article 2 and 3 in criminal code, he, however, said that Setya might get four and two years of sentences respectively. Setya, who recently resigned himself from parliament speaker post, was reluctant to give clear responses to the judge's inquiries related to the mega corruption case that he embroiled in. He was charged of enriching himself and others by embezzling state funds allocated for national digital ID card project. The amount he embezzled from the project was alleged to be 2.3 trillion rupiah (about 169.2 million U.S. dollars) from total allocation of 5.9 trillion rupiah (about 434.1 million U.S. dollars). Setya was finally arrested by the KPK last month after his several attempts to dodge from the arrest. Setya resigned from his post after being slammed behind bar at KPK detention facility. His position is now temporarily held by one of his deputies in the parliament until a parliament assembly selected the new speaker. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:36:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland would communicate with any political party, organization or individual who adheres to the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, and opposes "Taiwan independence," a spokesperson said Wednesday. An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to an inquiry regarding the visits of delegations from Taiwan's New Party and Kuomintang (KMT) to the mainland. An said that more communication and mutual trust between the Office and the New Party could push forward the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advance the process toward the peaceful reunification of the country. The mainland has also had regular communication with the KMT, according to An. Meanwhile, An pointed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has always obstructed communication and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, and stirred up opposition and hostility between people on both sides. After 30 years of cross-Strait exchanges, communication, cooperation and development have been the common aspiration of people on both sides of the Strait and nothing can reverse this trend, said An. More Taiwanese have realized the mainland's sincerity and view the mainland objectively. The mainland has provided opportunities rather than threats to Taiwan, according to An. Peaceful development of cross-Strait relations has benefited people on both sides while "Taiwan independence" would do harm to the people, especially those in Taiwan, said An. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:51:13|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- December 13 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Carl Kice Brown, the last Flying Tiger pilot, who passed away peacefully at his home in Corcoran, California, three months ago. "He had been doing well and then suddenly took a turn for the worse at the end of August and passed Sept. 8, 2017," said Julia Brown, one of the late pilot's daughters, in an email to Xinhua. Born in 1917, Brown attended Michigan State University until 1939, when he suspended his studies to join the U.S. Navy. In 1941, close to 300 young Americans registered to join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) and were deployed to Asia. Organized and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault, the AVG, which came to be known as the "Flying Tigers," was a volunteer band of about 300 pilots and ground staff whose sole purpose was to help China fight invading Japanese troops before the United States officially entered WWII. Through the introduction of his friend Tex Hill, who would go on to become an AVG squadron leader, Brown received an honorable discharge from the Navy and signed up for the AVG. "Most of the pilots were just two to three years out of high school," Brown recalled earlier this year. Brown participated in the Flying Tigers' first battle on Dec. 20 that year. The fighting took place over Kunming in southwest China and brought down nine Japanese planes. According to a tribute provided by his family, Brown also took part in a mission over the Nujiang River, during which double ace pilot Bob Little was killed while flying on his wing. After the AVG disbanded in July 1942, Brown flew as a pilot transporting supplies between India and China on a dangerous but crucial airlift route over the Himalayas. "My father indicated that he was honored to do his duty and help the Chinese people during the war. My father spoke fondly of the Chinese people," Julia told Xinhua. Brown still drank Tsingtao beer when he was 98 years old. In 1945 the legendary pilot returned to the United States, resumed his undergraduate studies, and graduated in 1946. He went on to receive his M.D. and J.D. degrees in the 1950s and 1980s, respectively. "My memory of Carl Brown is that he was a great friend of my late husband," said Lydia Rossi, wife of late ace pilot Dick Rossi. "Whenever Dick had a medical question he would call Carl and get an educated and helpful answer. They would talk on the phone to each other every month and keep abreast of what was going on in each other's lives," Lydia said. Brown is survived by six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Julia is the only child who has travelled to China. The trip, which she made when she was 19 years old, covered Keelung, Kaohsiung and Hong Kong. "I truly loved traveling to China and the culture was fascinating to me as a young person," Julia said. "I would love to visit again!" "Carl was a man who took his own path in life and did not concern himself with doing the latest popular thing. He was his own man, but he respected others," Lydia told Xinhua. From December 1941 to July 1942, in just seven months, the AVG shot down 299 planes in over 50 battles against the Japanese, forcefully defending critical air space on China's rear front. Their bravery penned a celebrated chapter in China-U.S. friendship. Julia said she was proud that the United States stood up to help and sent the Flying Tigers to work with the Chinese people to defend themselves. By now, most of the Flying Tigers have passed away -- not in battle, but from old age. Squadron crew chief Frank Losonsky, 97, is now the last surviving Flying Tiger. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:56:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MADRID, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Madrid City Hall wants to control the practice of renting out private homes to tourists, local media reported Wednesday. By placing a limit of 90 days in a year for those aiming to do so and demanding a license from those intending to rent private property for a longer period of time, authorities hope to gain better control and demand a more professional approach from the sector. The announcement was made by city mayor Manuel Carmena, saying the demands dated back to the 1997 General Urban Ordinance Plan which had not "been systematically used." She added a thousand new licenses would be transmitted in the New Year for people looking to rent their flats out for over 90 days in a year, but that there will be fines for those who break the rules. Barcelona in recent times had experienced serious problems due to landlords renting out flats to tourists, with residents in key tourist areas of the city complaining of noise, drunkenness, vandalism and excessive litter left by groups of tourists. There have been worries expressed over fire risk in some accommodation, while many who have rented out their flats to tourists without the correct paperwork have attempted to avoid paying taxes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:56:14|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close A Jordanian woman takes part in a protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Amman, Jordan, Dec. 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh) AMMAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scores of Jordanians on Wednesday held a protest in front of the U.S. embassy in Amman against President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Jordanian demonstrators chanted slogans against the U.S. and the decision, and stressed on the Arabic identity of the holy city. "This is a stab to the entire peace process. We do not accept this decision and we will continue to protest because this decision will destroy the future of Palestine and will increase tension," Samhan Ali, one of the demonstrators, told Xinhua Wednesday. Mahmoud Sweilem, another protester, said he will continue to join demonstrations in rejection of the decision. "We want all Arabs and Muslims to take a serious action towards this decision," said Sweilem. The Muslim Brotherhood and several political parties called for holding a one-million man protest on Friday in downtown Amman in rejection of the U.S. decision. Jordan, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, rejected the decision and is exerting efforts at all fronts to reach a solution. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 22:56:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ABUJA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A tanker laden with petrol fell and spilled its content on a busy bridge in Nigeria's economic hub Lagos on Wednesday, causing a huge fire that burnt down at least 20 vehicles and four motorcycles. It remains unclear whether the inferno, which raged on for more than an hour before the arrival of firefighters, has caused any casualties, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. A witness, Olufemi Popoola, said the oil tanker was ascending the bridge in FESTAC Town of Lagos, but suddenly rolled back and fell. The impact of the fall separated the tank from the body, resulting in an explosion, Popoola said. Some residents and passers-by made efforts to douse the fire with buckets of water to no avail, as the fire from the tanker spilled over to nearby vehicles, forcing their occupants to run, abandoning them. "The fire then spilled into a car shop at the foot of the bridge, burning some of the cars, while the attendants quickly drove out some," the witness said. "Furniture items, bags and boxes displayed for sale at the foot of the bridge were all burned." The fire also caused traffic gridlock on the bridge and in the adjoining roads. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:01:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Denis Elamu JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Aid agencies on Wednesday launched the 2018 humanitarian appeal, seeking 1.72 billion U.S. dollars in assistance to 6 million people in South Sudan affected by conflict, displacement, hunger and a deteriorating economy. Alain Noudehou, the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said the money is required to meet the growing need for humanitarian assistance with displacement, food insecurity, malnutrition, violence and economic decline taking a toll on the health, safety and livelihoods of people in need. "Today, we are calling for 1.72 billion dollars to continue providing life-saving assistance and protection for 6 million people most in need in South Sudan," Noudehou told a news conference in Juba. The South Sudan Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) said an earlier-than-normal start of the lean season will result in an estimated 5.1 million people (48 percent of the total population) being classified as severely food insecure in January-March 2018. "With our collective and coordinated efforts, we will be able to effectively provide much needed assistance to the people in need. Children will remain in school. Many more will survive diseases. Livelihoods and hope will be restored. There is so much at stake," Noudehou said. The IPC also said approximately half of all South Sudanese children under five experience acute malnutrition. Noudehou said 7 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in the coming year. Meanwhile, South Sudan Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Hussein Mar said the humanitarian situation could worsen in 2018 with the increasingly deadly inter-communal conflicts. South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief Riek Machar led to split within the military, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines. A 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after the outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:11:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Participants pose for a group photo during the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey, on Dec. 13, 2017. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any U.S. involvement in the peace process. (Xinhua/Anadolu Agency) ISTANBUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A summit of Islamic countries held in Istanbul on Wednesday declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine to counter a U.S. decision in favor of Israel. The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also invited all countries in the world to "recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital," said the draft final communique unveiled at the conclusion of the one-day meeting. The heads of state and government present at the summit rejected as "null and void" and condemned "in the strongest terms" the unilateral decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the communique said. The leaders described the U.S. move as an attack on the rights of the Palestinian people, a "deliberate undermining" of all peace efforts, "an impetus to extremism and terrorism," and a threat to international peace and security. They reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, warning Washington of "all the consequences" of not retracting its decision. Without stepping back, the U.S. would lose its role as a sponsor of the peace process, cautioned the leaders from the OIC, the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. Addressing a press conference following the summit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States is no longer an honest broker of peace. "We cannot accept any more the United States as a peace broker, because basic requirements of being a peace broker are to be honest and objective," he said. Trump broke long-held U.S. practice by announcing his decision on Dec. 6 to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, sparking days of violent clashes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as well as protests in other Arab countries. Speaking at the press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also signaled the end of U.S. mediating role, "because a peace process can only be conducted with an objective mediator." Saying Trump "will play and dance by himself," Erdogan urged the U.S. president to reverse his "wrong decision," stressing that "insisting on a mistake has no benefit to anyone." The summit communique also urged the UN Security Council to protect the legal status of Jerusalem and end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. Addressing the opening session of the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged to cooperate without preconditions with all Islamic countries to defend Jerusalem, while King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke of the need to offer support to enable the Palestinians to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as the capital. Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967 and declared Jerusalem as its undivided capital in 1980, but all countries have continued to keep their embassies in Tel Aviv so far. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:31:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TEHRAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for a collective international effort to end the "nightmare" of war in Yemen, Press TV reported on Wednesday. Iran is ready to contribute to any efforts towards an immediate cease-fire, delivery of humanitarian aid and an intra-Yemeni dialogue to end the conflict in the country, Zarif said on Wednesday. "Ending the nightmare of war in Yemen is our collective responsibility," he said, adding that "we welcome the growing recognition that there is no military solution." On Nov. 23, the chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that the Islamic republic provides "advisory assistance" for Yemeni Shiite Houthi militants. Tehran has so far denied arming Iranian-allied Shiite Houthis against the Saudi-led coalition which seeks to restore President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was ousted by Houthis in September 2014. Saudi Arabia has been leading a mostly Arab military coalition to fight Houthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015. Houthis have been controlling much of Yemen's north by force, including the capital Sanaa, since 2014. The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced over 3 million, according to humanitarian agencies. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:36:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SOFIA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- About 200 people of Arab origin living in Bulgaria on Wednesday held a peaceful protest against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The protest, organized by the local committee "Jerusalem capital of Palestine", occurred at the main entrance of the U.S. embassy in the capital city of Bulgaria. During the one-hour event, protesters waved Palestinian flags and raised banners in Bulgarian and English languages such as "Jerusalem capital of Palestine", "Free Palestine" and "Trump's decision is illegal". In an address during the protest, the organizers called for an immediate cancellation of Trump's decision. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:41:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Ronald Njoroge NAIROBI Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Kenyan special economic zone Tatu City is set to launch a Chinese industrial park to accommodate firms from the Asian nation, officials said Wednesday. Nick Langford, Country Head of Tatu City, told Xinhua that the city, located 15 km northeast of Nairobi, has so far attracted three Chinese firms into its industrial park. "Due to increasing interest by Chinese investors, we are seeking to set aside 50 acres out of the 900 acres of industrial park to Chinese firms," Langford said. Tatu city is a 5,000-acre mixed-use city that will house over 150,000 residents when fully developed. China's construction engineering firm STECOL has bought space at the industrial park as have TianLong, a manufacturer of gas cylinders, and Kyanite Construction firm. Langford said that the fact that three Chinese companies have bought land at Tatu City indicates that there is demand from Chinese companies. "We are also getting many more inquires from Chinese firms," he added. The Tatu city official noted that its industrial park is ideal for setting up a manufacturing plant due to suitable location as well developed infrastructure. He said firms domiciled at the special economic zone are entitled to various tax incentives including a ten-year tax holiday. Data from the ministry of industry indicates that there are approximately 400 Chinese companies operating in Kenya providing over 40,000 jobs to locals. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:41:31|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said Wednesday that it had sped up laying natural gas pipelines connecting China and Russia, a major energy cooperation between the two countries. Welding of the northern part of the 3,371-kilometer east-route natural gas pipeline has begun, the company announced. The pipeline originates in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and terminates in Shanghai in the east. Construction began in June 2015 and will be completed in 2020. Upon completion, the pipeline will provide China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia annually. It will have far-reaching significance for optimizing China's energy structure, cutting emissions and improving air quality. The Russian part of the pipeline began construction in eastern Siberia in 2014. The rise of natural gas use is the result of the government promoting it as a cleaner alternative to coal. China aims to raise the use of natural gas to 10 percent of the country's energy mix by 2020 and 15 percent by 2030, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. China's demand for natural gas will continue to soar toward 2040, outstripping domestic output by around 43 percent, according to an International Energy Agency report published Tuesday. On Dec. 9, CNPC announced that the Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, jointly launched by China and Russia, has begun operation. The Yamal LNG plant is expected to have three production lines by 2019 with a total capacity of 16.5 million tonnes of LNG per year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:41:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WARSAW, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission has approved a 40-billion-zloty (9.4 billion euros) government program to support the renewable energy sector, Polish Press Agency reported Wednesday. The program provides state financial support for producers of energy from renewable sources. In a press release on Wednesday, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager was quoted as saying: "We want to make progress towards green energy for the sake of our environment and also to contribute to European economic growth. The Polish support scheme will increase the share of green energy in Poland's energy mix and help the country's energy transition. It will also preserve the global competitiveness of companies that are heavily energy dependent." Renewable energy producers will be selected for support through competitive auctions. Two rounds of auctions have already been held, in December 2016 and June 2017. Additional auctions will be held until June 30, 2021. According to the press release, small installations with a capacity of up to 500KW can benefit from a "feed-in tariff" while installations of more than 500KW capacity will receive a premium on top of the market price for electricity, so that they can further adapt their production to market signals. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-13 23:51:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday welcomed a court ruling ordering President Jacob Zuma to establish a judicial commission of inquiry into alleged "state capture." "The African National Congress welcomes the judgment of the North Gauteng High Court in relation to the (former) Public Protector's remedial action on the State of Capture Report, specifically the remedial action relating to the appointment of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry," the ANC said in a statement. In the ruling meted out earlier in the day, the full bench of the court gave Zuma 30 days to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into "state capture," to be headed by a judge appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. The court also dismissed Zuma's application for review of the remedial action recommended by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in her report on "state capture." The ruling dealt a heavy blow to Zuma who has been seeking an order by the North Gauteng High Court to have Madonsela's remedial actions, contained in her State of Capture Report, reviewed and set aside. This judgment "brings us a step closer to the implementation of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) resolution which directed that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of state capture be established without delay," ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said. A judicial inquiry is the only recourse in verifying the very serious allegations of "state capture" which threatens the integrity of the democratically elected government, said Kodwa. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry will provide everybody with an opportunity to tell their side of the story, he said. The ANC, he said, believes that Zuma will act in accordance with this judgment without delay in the interest of the country. Zuma has been accused of collaborating with the Indian Gupta family in looting the state coffers. The Guptas allegedly exert undue influence on Zuma in the appointment of cabinet ministers and in the awarding of lucrative contracts with state-owned enterprises to the Guptas in what is called "state capture." Both Zuma and the Guptas have denied the accusations. Also on Wednesday, Madonsela said she is happy with the court's ruling. Zuma has a duty to investigate the matter the moment he found out about the allegations, Madonsela said. Zuma has not commented about the ruling. A call to his office went unanswered. A woman prepares food outside her temporary house at Konyo Konyo burial ground in Juba, capital of South Sudan, Nov. 5, 2017. (Xinhua/ Gale Julius) JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Aid agencies on Wednesday launched the 2018 humanitarian appeal, seeking 1.72 billion U.S. dollars in assistance to 6 million people in South Sudan affected by conflict, displacement, hunger and a deteriorating economy. Alain Noudehou, the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said the money is required to meet the growing need for humanitarian assistance with displacement, food insecurity, malnutrition, violence and economic decline taking a toll on the health, safety and livelihoods of people in need. "Today, we are calling for 1.72 billion dollars to continue providing life-saving assistance and protection for 6 million people most in need in South Sudan," Noudehou told a news conference in Juba. The South Sudan Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) said an earlier-than-normal start of the lean season will result in an estimated 5.1 million people (48 percent of the total population) being classified as severely food insecure in January-March 2018. "With our collective and coordinated efforts, we will be able to effectively provide much needed assistance to the people in need. Children will remain in school. Many more will survive diseases. Livelihoods and hope will be restored. There is so much at stake," Noudehou said. The IPC also said approximately half of all South Sudanese children under five experience acute malnutrition. Noudehou said 7 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in the coming year. Meanwhile, South Sudan Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Hussein Mar said the humanitarian situation could worsen in 2018 with the increasingly deadly inter-communal conflicts. South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief Riek Machar led to split within the military, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines. A 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after the outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa (Front) speaks during a ceremony to rename the country's army and air force headquarters, in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, Dec. 6, 2017. (Xinhua/Shaun Jusa) HARARE, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) will avail up to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in loans to support Zimbabwe's economic revival efforts, state media reported Wednesday. The Herald said the economic stabilization package would go towards the revival of the productive sector to stimulate more exports. Afreximbank president and chairman of the bank's board of directors Okey Oramah said the bank was eager to help the Zimbabwean economy by providing currency liquidity to curtail bank queues and would also support nostro accounts of banks to ensure that those dealing with U.S. dollars could pay for goods. Oramah, who made the announcement after paying a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices on Tuesday, said the support would extend to investment guarantees to foreign investors who choose to invest in the country. "We are here to extend our congratulations to President Mnangagwa and also to reaffirm our continued support for the government and people of Zimbabwe under his leadership," Oramah said. "We discussed various areas we have been intervening and continue to provide support and so we informed His Excellency, the President that the 600 million dollars (facility) we engaged in a few weeks ago had been finalized. "We also discussed a number of other areas that will involve additional investment from us for something that will be in the order of 1 billion to 1.5 billion dollars that will include certain kinds of guarantees to encourage investors to come into Zimbabwe this time." The 600 million dollar line of credit was extended to Zimbabwe at the end of September to support the Reserve Bank in the financing of trade-related transactions and projects. "We also want to make sure we support the stabilization of the economy - that means providing currency, liquidity to make sure that the situation where people are rushing every time to look for cash is dealt with," Oramah said. "So we will be supporting the nostros of the different banks which will then make it possible for all those who are dealing in United States dollars to have access anytime they want to pay for goods," Oramah said. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the visit and investment by Afreximbank "sends very good signals to the rest of the world that Zimbabwe is open to do business, is open for investment and this is the support that I think we deserve." He said the economy will likely grow by more than 4.5 percent in 2018 if the country continues to receive support from critical players. "I believe this economy is going to be in for some very good times," he said. The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Istanbul declares East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine to counter a U.S. decision in favor of Israel. (Reuters photo) ISTANBUL, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A summit of Islamic countries held in Istanbul on Wednesday declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine to counter a U.S. decision in favor of Israel. The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also invited all countries in the world to "recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital," said the draft final communique unveiled at the conclusion of the one-day meeting. The heads of state and government present at the summit rejected as "null and void" and condemned "in the strongest terms" the unilateral decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the communique said. The leaders described the U.S. move as an attack on the rights of the Palestinian people, a "deliberate undermining" of all peace efforts, "an impetus to extremism and terrorism," and a threat to international peace and security. They reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, warning Washington of "all the consequences" of not retracting its decision. Without stepping back, the U.S. would lose its role as a sponsor of the peace process, cautioned the leaders from the OIC, the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. Addressing a press conference following the summit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the United States is no longer an honest broker of peace. "We cannot accept any more the United States as a peace broker, because basic requirements of being a peace broker are to be honest and objective," he said. Trump broke long-held U.S. practice by announcing his decision on Dec. 6 to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, sparking days of violent clashes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as well as protests in other Arab countries. Speaking at the press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also signaled the end of U.S. mediating role, "because a peace process can only be conducted with an objective mediator." Saying Trump "will play and dance by himself," Erdogan urged the U.S. president to reverse his "wrong decision," stressing that "insisting on a mistake has no benefit to anyone." The summit communique also urged the UN Security Council to protect the legal status of Jerusalem and end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. Addressing the opening session of the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged to cooperate without preconditions with all Islamic countries to defend Jerusalem, while King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke of the need to offer support to enable the Palestinians to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as the capital. Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967 and declared Jerusalem as its undivided capital in 1980, but all countries have continued to keep their embassies in Tel Aviv so far. | 2017-12-14 00:10:23|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Li Binian, Liu Jinhui and Shuang Rui ZHENGZHOU, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- From 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., 12-year-old Zhao Di spent all of Saturday in a private tutoring center studying Chinese, math and English. It was the busiest, most exhausting day in his week. Zhao studies at a private middle school in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. In his class, almost everyone takes tutoring classes outside school on weekends. For Chinese parents, private tutoring is not just a supplement to school classes, but a necessity. In 2016, more than 130 million private tutoring courses were taken by primary and middle school students in China, said a report by the Chinese Society of Education. More than 87 percent of Chinese parents consider private tutoring programs important for their children, according to the report. In China, people believe that if their children can go to good schools, they can have a bright future. Many believe that parents' preference for prestigious schools has contributed to a boom in tutoring organizations. Junior middle school entrance examinations are forbidden by the Chinese education authorities, but the policy has not been fully implemented, especially by some prestigious private schools. Tests for top middle schools sometimes go far beyond the primary school curriculum, so students have no choice but to take extra classes outside school. "In the second semester of the sixth grade, some students only attend two or three classes at public school. The rest of the time is spent at tutoring centers, which promise parents their children will be sent to prestigious schools," said Shi Meng, a senior executive of the Jinsha Primary School in Zhengzhou. Chinese parents are spending more of their savings on tutoring schools, too. More than 30 percent of parents are willing to spend -- no matter how much it costs -- for private tutoring programs, and 26.6 percent of them are willing to spend half of their disposable income on these programs, according to the report. For Li Jian, whose son is in fourth grade, the private tutoring fee is a great source of pressure. Every year, he spends an average of 30,000 yuan (around 4,500 U.S. dollars) on his son's tutoring, which is a lot considering the fact that he works as a driver and has to pay rent for his apartment. But he does not regret it. "No matter how hard it is, he has to take tutoring courses so that he will have a better future," said Li. The huge demand has helped tutoring companies thrive in China. The market size for tutoring organizations targeting primary and middle school students exceeds 800 billion yuan, according to the report. Take the Tomorrow Advancing Life Education Group for example. When Zhang Bangxin, the group's founder, was in university for his master's degree, he worked as a family tutor to earn some extra money and realized there was a huge market. In 2003, with 100,000 yuan in funds, Zhang founded the Xue'ersi International Education Group. In October 2010, just seven years later, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2013, the group changed its name to Tomorrow Advancing Life Education Group. Now the group has become one of the largest tutorial organizations in China with over 20,000 employees. Tutoring programs from the group now reach 37 cities in China, with 4 million offline students and more than 35 million online registered users. Still, more newcomers are emerging. Duan Chengcheng, who has years of experience in English language tutoring, just opened her own tutoring school on Dec. 2 in Shenzhen, one of the most prosperous cities in China. Duan's English Language Tutorial School focuses on children ranging from five to 12 years old. Although she did not do any publicity, five children have enrolled, and up to eight students are expected to come in spring next year. "I want to keep my school small but with good teaching quality," said Duan. "I love children and I love teaching. I believe I have made the right choice to bring more opportunities and help realize my dream," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 00:06:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VIENTIANE, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ban Somsanook No. 2 Tunnel, the first tunnel along the China-Laos railway has been bored through in Laos' Vientiane Province with the length of 301 meters. Bai Jian, representative of Sino Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co., Ltd, the tunnel project contractor, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the tunnel has been constructed safely with high quality. The geological conditions of the tunnel area are clay, mudstone and sandstone with high safety risk and difficulties for construction. Since the beginning of building the tunnel, the project department has strictly followed the design and requirements, and has always put safety management and quality control in the first place, said Cheng Pingjun, project manager of Sino Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co., Ltd, on Wednesday. "I feel proud of participating the construction of the tunnel and the railway, one of the most important projects in Laos," Soukthavy Keosouvanh, a Lao translator working with the Bureau 15, adding that the railway, when ready in the future, will bring convenience and benefits to Lao people. Chindasack Nhotmanhkho, general manager of NTP, a Lao company supplying fuel to China-Laos railway construction contractors said, "I feel proud to support such a big project like this." The China-Laos railway is promoted by leaders of the two countries as one of interconnectivity projects. Construction of the railway began in December 2016 and bridges, roadbed and other sections were progressed smoothly along the route. The China-Laos railway has a length over 414 kilometers, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and capital Vientiane. Operating speed on the route is designed at 160 km per hour. The railway is expected to open to traffic in December 2021. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 00:16:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed M'etig said on Wednesday the private sector "could help the Libyan economy." M'etig made the remarks during a workshop held by the Libyan Industry Union in the capital Tripoli, a part of an economic and financial reform program. The deputy prime minister said that private sector can play an important role in economic reforms. "We, as the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord, open the way for the private sector to carry out its national duties, including telecommunications, electricity, livestock, fisheries and many more," M'etig said. He stressed that the public sector is seeing overcrowding of employees, which causes economic problem. "The Libyan state bears large costs and there must be other employment opportunities in other sectors, especially industrial sector," he said. Minister of Economy Naser Dresi added that the private sector in Libya "has not been given its rights." Head of the eastern-based Parliament's Finance Committee Omar Tantoush echoed, calling for "equality between the public and private sectors in order to ease the burden of salaries on the public treasury." He revealed that "the public sector salaries in Libya currently consume about 58 percent of the public budget." Libya is plagued by economic crisis due to escalating violence and political division following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Oil revenues, the country's main source of income, decrease in the past years due to closure of oil fields and ports by armed conflict, resulting in shrinking foreign exchange reserves and losses of more than 140 billion U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 00:46:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ANKARA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey issued warrants on Wednesday for 135 people, including soldiers and civil servants, over their suspected links to Gulenists, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Prosecutors in the central province of Konya issued warrants for 70 soldiers served in land and naval forces, including 23 dismissed from duty since the July 15 coup attempt last year. The operation has been launched across 34 provinces to seize the suspects. In the Mediterranean province of Antalya, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 65 suspects, including 35 civil servants, 25 security officers, and four civilians. Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher, is accused by Ankara of orchestrating the failed coup attempt, in which at least 250 people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured. The Turkish government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen's supporters in the coup-attempt aftermath. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 00:46:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TEHRAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Executives from aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, are due to arrive in Tehran next week to negotiate and decide on the financing of Iran's newly-purchased passenger airplanes, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday. The Iranian airline has reached promising conclusions regarding the financiers of the plane deals, Massoumeh Asgharzadeh, the head of Iran Air Public Relations Office, was quoted as saying. "Our preference is to use domestic financial resources, but we also have the option to finance the purchases through Airbus and Boeing themselves," Asgharzadeh said. The result of negotiations will soon be publicized, she added. Iran Air has ordered 100 airplanes from Airbus and 80 from Boeing. The Iranian flag carrier has received three Airbus planes so far. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 00:56:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed lower on Wednesday, as a handful of blue-chip stocks remained under severe pressure. The all share index was down 0.31 percent to 57,344.41 points at close; the benchmark top 40 index fell 0.31 percent to 51,151.27 points. The resources index was the only major index to close in the green as it gained 0.12 percent. The industrials index lost 0.56 percent while the financials index climbed 0.43 percent. The drops in PSG's share price have come since Markus Jooste resigned as Steinhoff International CEO last Wednesday amid accounting irregularity allegations. Steinhoff shares were particularly volatile, pushing up nearly 20 percent at one stage in the session before settling back to a gain of 6 percent, at R11.82. Gold miners gained 1.71 percent and platinums tumbled 2.33 percent, hovering at the weakest point since February 2016, at 874.71 U.S. dollars an ounce. The spot gold was down 0.24 percent at 1,248.86 dollars. Financial stocks held up reasonably well, as did retailers, in line with a stable South African rand. Naspers, the highest-priced share on the local market, was down 0.59 percent to R3,479.39. AngloGold Ashanti slipped 2.24 percent to R121.22, Gold Fields 2.36 percent to R49.62, and Impala Platinum 4.61 percent to R29. Lonmin rose 12.01 percent to R12.5, after announcing it had completed the acquisition of Pandora mine earlier in the day. FirstRand was up 1.72 percent to R54.44 and Standard Bank regained 1.56 percent to R170.19. Technology group EOH rose 12.81 percent to R55.22, following the announcement that the company's former CEO, Asher Bohbot, would return to the business on a full-time contract. Food producer AVI was up 1.77 percent to R105.52 and Pioneer Foods 1.95 percent to R123.82. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 01:37:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is keen to tap Chinese investments in the manufacturing sector deemed crucial to addressing poverty and unemployment in the country, officials said on Wednesday. Chris Kiptoo, Principal Secretary in the State Department of Trade, said Kenya is keen to harness Beijing's technical prowess, capital and experience to promote industrial growth as outlined in the country's Vision 2030 blue print. "We are exploring new partnerships with Chinese investors to develop a strong manufacturing sector that can create jobs and boost our export potential," Kiptoo said. He spoke in Nairobi during a China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation Forum held on the sidelines of the ongoing China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation Expo. More than 50 Chinese companies drawn from diverse sectors like manufacturing, renewable energy, telecommunications and mining are showcasing their products and services to potential clients during the four-day expo. Kiptoo said the expo provides a chance for Kenya and China to deepen their bilateral cooperation in the manufacturing sector. "This exposition provides an opportunity for Chinese companies to introduce new and appropriate technologies to modernize our industries," Kiptoo said, adding that Kenya is also facilitating Chinese investments in wholesale and retail sectors. Kiptoo said Kenya's industrial sector has potential for growth thanks to political goodwill, availability of skilled labor, modern infrastructure and a stable macro-economic climate. "State-led reforms have improved the business environment thus attracting foreign direct investment flows into key sectors like manufacturing, infrastructure and agro-processing," Kiptoo said. Guo Ce, Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, noted the East African nation is currently one favorite destination for Chinese investors. "Its (Kenya) location is very important and apart from good legislation, the country has a strong human resource base," Guo said. He hailed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's new vision to convert Kenya into a manufacturing hub as a means to address youth unemployment and boost the country's export potential. Moses Ikiara, Managing Director of Kenya Investment Authority (Keinvest), said the expo will help showcase the potential growth of Kenya's manufacturing sector to Chinese investors. "We are very excited Nairobi has been chosen to host the first China-Africa Industrial Cooperation expo. We hope to tap into China's capacity in different areas like technology and man power to grow our industrial sector," said Ikiara. He added that Kenya aims to attract Chinese investments in the Special Economic Zones (SECs) that will be established in the country's hinterland. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 01:57:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ANKARA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has summoned the representative of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Ankara, Daily Sabah reported Wednesday. The office representative was summoned to Turkish Directorate General of Security over suspected links to the Iran sanctions case in the U.S., said the report. The move comes after a former police officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, testified in a trial into a former Turkish bank executive in New York that the FBI gave him 50,000 U.S. dollars of financial aid in operation to overthrow Turkey's government. Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an deputy general manager at the state-owned Halkbank, is accused of taking part in a scheme with a gold trader, Reza Zarrab, to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. Ankara accused Huseyin Korkmaz of being a fugitive suspect over links to the Gulenists. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag slammed Tuesday the U.S. trial as a "plot against Turkey". "It is impossible for them to finish a plot in the U.S. that started in Turkey," Bozdag said, decrying "lies and smears" in the trial. Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher, is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. At least 250 people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured in the coup attempt. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:02:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MANAMA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a report on Wednesday on the country's human rights situation to respond to a critical report that questioned its human rights records. The ministry denounced the report of Amnesty International, a London-based non-governmental rights group, saying it contains false allegations and interpretations of what the group called "suppression of the opposition." "Amnesty International, as a human rights organization, should review with the authorities concerning the information rather than adopt false allegations and interpretations based on false information from vague sources," the ministry said. The ministry added that Bahrain is making every effort at all levels to promote and protect human rights in spite of all challenges. Amnesty International's report is said to be based on its investigators' findings of Bahrain's alleged human rights violations from June 2016 to June 2017, without mentioning its method of verifying the credibility of its sources. "It is striking to refer to the killing of some demonstrators and not to use the same description for members of the security forces," argued the Bahraini ministry's report, which is entitled "The Legal protection of Human Rights -- Achievements and Challenges." As for the shutdown of Al-Wasat newspaper the organization mentioned, the ministry's report stated that the legal procedures to suspend the issuance of it in June 2017 came as a result of the newspaper's repeated violations of laws and involvement in spreading false news that would incite sectarian hatred and racism. The ministry also cited examples in which the Bahraini government compensated victims of human rights violations in February and March 2011. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:02:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHICAGO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities gradually stabilized during Wednesday morning trading following declines over an updated supply and demand report. As of 1554 GMT, January soybeans were up 2 cents at 9.7775 dollars per bushel, March wheat was up 5 cents at 4.1575 while March corn was up 1.75 cents at 3.495. After the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its monthly world agricultural supply and demand estimates report on Tuesday, all the CBOT agricultural commodities went down in prices amid raised 2017/18 end stocks of wheat and soybeans. However, wheat, corn and soybeans started to post modest gains as demand emerged overnight following a round of fund selling in the previous session. Additional support came from the fact that CBOT commodities still remain competitive in prices when compared to their counterparts from Argentina and Brazil. The price of U.S. gulf corn is at 156 dollars per metric ton for January, which is 2-3 dollars below Argentine offers, and 7-8 dollars below Brazilian, the AgResource company noted. The U.S. gulf wheat is at about 174 per metric ton, compared to 177-178 dollars as the Argentine wheat is offered. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:22:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LJUBLJANA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Slovenian government has decided to set up a beekeeping academy to serve mainly foreign learners with Slovenian beekeeping knowledge. The state's initiative was announced on Wednesday by Slovenian Agriculture Minister Dejan Zidan, only a week before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly is scheduled to take a vote on Slovenia's proposal to declare May 20 as World Bee Day. The school, which will charge tuition, will be a part of the Agricultural Institute and be located at the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association in Lukovica. The establishment of the academy is a part of changes to the Agriculture Act, which the government adopted on Wednesday, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA). "The objective is to meet the demand from abroad and pass our knowledge and competence on to others. We will start to market this through the Slovenian beekeeping academy," the minister told local press after the government session. The school will be partly funded by the state, while the rest will come from tuition fees, the STA said quoting Zidan. The academy is to have a programming committee, which will include, among others, representatives of the Chemistry Institute, the Ljubljana faculties of biotechnology and veterinary medicine, as well as the Maribor Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Zidan also expects Slovenia's World Bee Day initiative to be approved by the UN General Assembly. For the upcoming occasion, the Slovenian Agriculture Ministry is also preparing a ministerial-level meeting focusing on the importance of bees, while the Beekeepers' Association will hold an international conference, the minister announced. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:22:17|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei delivers a speech at the College of Business and Economics of the University of Rwanda in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda, on Dec. 13, 2017. The recent 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will bring new opportunities to China-Rwanda relations, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei said here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran) KIGALI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The recent 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will bring new opportunities to China-Rwanda relations, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei said here on Wednesday. The ambassador made the remarks at a speech at the College of Business and Economics of University of Rwanda, where he shared his thoughts and observations about the CPC congress with around 400 students and teachers. According to him, the new opportunities come from China's inclusive development, China's pursuit of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and China's Africa policy. "China is the world's second largest economy and contributes more than 30 percent to world economic growth. A stronger China will certainly make greater contribution to the world," he said. China welcomes Rwanda aboard the "express train" of China's rapid growth, he added. Rao said China strongly supports Rwanda's poverty reduction and development efforts. China will also promote more investment and productivity collaboration between the two countries, inject new energy into the national building of Rwanda, he added. Rao said China stands for democracy in international relations and upholds international fairness and justice. By doing so, China will create an international environment beneficial to Rwanda and other African countries as well. "China never imposes its own will onto other countries," said Rao. The ambassador said China respects the right of the Rwandan people to choose their own social system and development path. China and Rwanda are intimate brothers, good friends, and close partners, said Rao, adding that China is proud of the progress in bilateral ties, and that he feels heartened by the prospects of future China-Rwanda relations. The envoy told the youth who attended the event that they are the future of Rwanda and China-Rwanda relations. "I do wish you become the backbones of Rwanda and good-will ambassadors of China-Rwanda friendship," he said. The ambassador also answered questions from the audience after the speech. Introducing and challenging students to learn Chinese remains the college's priority, said Faustin Gasheja, acting principal of College of Business and Economics of University of Rwanda. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Charles Murigande, who served as Rwandan foreign minister in 2002-2008, was present at the event. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:27:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VILNIUS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania's current government from the very first day of its work has been lacking the support of the country's president Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Wednesday. "We don't have the President's support, we never had it. This is the reality, however, we should deal with what we have," Skvernelis was quoted as speaking to reporters by local website delfi.lt. He was speaking on the occasion of Lithuanian government's one year in place as the cabinet began to work on Dec.13, 2016. Skvernelis refused to put mark for his own work as the head of the government. "I would not do that as it is up to the people," the prime minister noted. Earlier this week, President Grybauskaite criticized the current government led by Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVZS) for the lack of "strategic direction". "In terms of the new ruling majority, people were hoping for big changes and better lives, they gave a huge credit of trust to this coalition; however, the end of the first year of this coalition is marked by uncertainty, faded expectations and lost trustworthiness," the president said in an interview published by daily Lietuvos Zinios on Tuesday. Instead of essential reforms, the government turned to "minor decisions", she added. Meanwhile, among the most important works of his cabinet Skvernelis listed out on Wednesday there were starting the reform of the country's higher education system, steps aimed at diminishing social exclusion, reform of state owned enterprises, reducing prices for medicines. As regards tax system, the implemented steps should be called "changes" rather than "reform", Skvernelis underscored. However, in his words, the government plans to form a group of experts which would propose a comprehensive tax reform. Issues related to demographic challenges and emigration will be on the government's top agenda next year, Skvernelis said. Skvernelis walked away from the question whether he plans to take part in Lithuania's next presidential election due in 2019. "I took the decision long time ago, whether I change it or not -- another question. So far, I am concentrating on my work in the government," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:32:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Moscow expects the upcoming visit of the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to help mend bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday. "The current state and prospects of Russian-British relations are planned to be discussed, focusing on their normalization through a dialogue based on mutual respect and equal rights," she told a weekly news briefing. In October, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said Johnson will visit Moscow "towards the end of the year," after he canceled a planned trip to Russia in April over a deadly chemical weapon incident in Syria. Zakharova said that in the time remaining before the visit, Moscow expected London to take concrete steps confirming its desire to pull bilateral relations out of the current impasse. The relations between the two countries soured in 2014 due to the incorporation of Crimea to Russia and Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. Britain, along with the United States and the European Union, imposed rounds of economic sanctions on Russia and suspended all military cooperation. After Johnson was appointed Foreign Secretary in July 2016, Zakharova said at a briefing that Moscow expected him to contribute to "turning over not the best page in the book of Russian-British relations." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:52:27|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch government announced Wednesday that it would join forces with Austria in an attempt to legally overturn a controversial overhaul of Germany's road toll system. Dutch Infrastructure Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen argued Germany's plans would breach European Union (EU) rules by discriminating against Dutch motorists and disrupting the flow of traffic. According to calculations by van Nieuwenhuizen's ministry, Dutch drivers face additional costs of up to 100 million euros (118 million U.S. dollars) per year as a consequence of the German legislative initiative. Although the toll would be charged to all motorists on roads throughout Germany, German drivers would be able to reclaim the expenses in their tax filings. Foreign drivers from neighboring countries who frequently use German roads would hence be hardest-hit. This has led the Austrian government to launch a lawsuit against the measure at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Vienna believes the law constitutes an illicit discrimination of EU citizens on the grounds of their nationality. "We will not tolerate that Germans do not pay, because they are Germans, while Austrian and Dutch nationals are charged," Austrian Transport Minister Joerg Leichtfried told press. Leichtfried said he wanted to "protect Austrians against this injustice" and hoped to receive a verdict from the ECJ by the end of 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had originally vowed to oppose the toll while running for office in 2013, but eventually gave in to pressure from the Christian Social Union (CSU) on the issue in 2015. Although the legislation was formally passed by the last grand coalition in the German Federal Parliament, it was never enacted due to concerns voiced by the European Commission. Following minor changes by Berlin, the toll recently secured EU approval and is now officially scheduled to be in force by 2019. Even if the law survives the Dutch and Austrian legal challenge, whether or not it actually comes to pass will also hinge on the outcome of ongoing coalition negotiations between the German Social Democrats (SPD), the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the CSU. The SPD is skeptical of the proposed measure, while the CDU and CSU are keen to preserve it. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens (Gruene) are both vehemently opposed. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 02:57:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Mahmoud Darwesh TRIPOLI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Reports about stranded African migrants were sold as slaves in Libya was internationally condemned and drew criticism to Libya for failing to protect illegal immigrants and their human rights, experts said Wednesday. CNN has recently published a report about auctions in different parts of Libya where stranded African migrants were sold as slaves for as little as 400 U.S. dollars. The alleged slave markets in Libya was regionally and internationally condemned and drew criticism to Libya for failing to protect illegal immigrants and their human rights. The allegations have also been questioned locally and internationally. International organizations have not been able to prove the existence of such practices in Libya. Libyan authorities have failed to confute these allegations, but have confirmed they have opened an extensive official investigation into the issue. Member of the eastern-based Parliament, Abdussalam Al-Morabet, does not believe that such practices exist in Libya, saying that "the claims of the U.S. network are false and not based on facts." "I represent southern Libya in the Parliament. Over the few past years, I have not monitored or heard any inhumane treatment (to African immigrants). Africans live among us and move freely, and they work in many trades inside the country." Al-Morabet told Xinhua. Al-Morabet stressed that the purpose of raising such issues is "to achieve political goals and to create conflict between countries, an attempt to blame us for their failure, especially as we are a transit country and not a destination for immigrants." Libyan political analyst, Abdullah Al-Rayes, stressed that such acts of aggression, if they occur, do not represent Libyans, but individual acts taking place in any country in the world suffering from chaos, insecurity and instability. Al-Rayes said that Libya "does not claim to protect human rights and is well aware of the escalating violence locally, but does not accept full responsibility as if it brings migrants from Africa." "Migrants come of their own will. They are aware of the risk of death and torture that they may face on their way to Europe," Al-Rayes said. Tareq Shanbour, director of the General Directorate of Coast Security, confirmed that the "Europeans themselves are not convinced of the allegations of slave trade in Libya," considering that these allegations aim to "make a demographic change for the target countries." The Libyan government announced in November that it had launched an extensive investigation into allegations of migrant slave trade in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:02:31|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close PARIS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The cultural initiative "OPERATION PANDA" was launched on Wednesday in Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighbourhood of Paris by Chengdu International Finance Square (Chengdu IFS) and Saint-Germain-des-Pres Committee. Chengdu IFS is one of the most sophisticated cosmopolitan city complexes in Chengdu of China, and the Saint-Germain-des-Pres Committee is an association of traders and local residents which aims to maintain the cultural traditions and prestige of the neighbourhood. The initiative is the first joint operation between the two sides since they established an international partnership in May to advance in-depth exchanges in art, culture, commerce, and joint tourism promotion, with the support of Chengdu municipal government and the 6th arrondissement of Paris. During the opening ceremony held at the traditional Christmas market of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, a panda artwork, specially created for OPERATION PANDA by French contemporary artist Richard Orlinski, was officially unveiled. The piece of art will be exhibited at the Christmas market for the holiday season before traveling to Beauval Zoo, the French zoo where pandas are on loan to France from China. In June 2018, the art work will take part in the contemporary art fair Parcours Saint-Germain, before being donated to the Necker children's hospital in central Paris. As an important element of OPERATION PANDA, a wood cabin with a panda theme was presented at the Christmas market as a gift from Chengdu to Paris. Profits from the sales of plush panda toys at the cabin will be donated to Necker. Meanwhile, Chengdu is celebrating the event "Romantic Rive Gauche, French Christmas". "Our partnership is facilitating the delivery and exchange of fine arts and culture," said Christina Hau, a representative of Chengdu IFS. "Operation Panda...will lay a solid foundation for" the long-term partnership of the two sides, said Jean-Pierre Lecoq, official of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, at the opening ceremony. In 2018, the two sides will promote exchange and cooperation by forging an artistic bond, with plans to launch a series of themed events entitled "City Hallmarks 2018: Art Invigorating Two Cities". Artists from China's Sichuan province will participate in the Parcours Art Festival at Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and in turn Chengdu IFS will embrace the concept and spirit of Parcours by creating the Chengdu Parcours Art Festival. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:02:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Wednesday appealed to warring parties to help settle conflict that entered its fourth year. Grandi said the devastating effects of the fighting were a direct consequence of failures in political leadership and called on all sides to put an end to deepening humanitarian crisis and Africa's largest refugee crisis. "Urgent, concerted action by regional and international actors is needed before it is too late," Grandi stressed in a statement. He said pressure must be brought to bear on those driving this deadly conflict, which has uprooted a third of South Sudan's people in just four years, and killed and maimed countless more. "The world can not continue to stand by as the people of South Sudan are terrorized by a senseless war," he added. The head of the UNHCR, who noted that 63 percent of all South Sudanese refugees are under 18, labelled the situation "a children's refugee crisis" as "many children are arriving unaccompanied, separated and deeply traumatized." Grandi said the South Sudan conflict has created the largest refugee crisis on the African continent and estimated the refugee population to exceed 3 million by December 2018. According to the UN, insecurity coupled with a failing economy continues to hamper food production and disrupt markets, leading to extremely high food prices. Large sacks of staples such as sorghum, maize, and wheat flour have increased in price by up to 281 percent compared to last year, and were as high as 560 percent during May, the peak of the lean season. Grandi called on the parties to the conflict to find a political solution, stressing that the success of the High Level Revitalization Forum in Ethiopia is key to ending the suffering of South Sudanese refugees and the killing of innocent civilians. South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to split within the Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLA), leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines. A 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after renewed fighting in July 2016 forced Machar to flee the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:22:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Police in Ethiopia's eastern Harari regional state have intercepted about 4,000 Ethiopian migrants in the last two years, a local official said on Wednesday. Speaking to journalists, Tassew Chalew, public relations director at Harari police commission, said the migrants were intercepted on their way to be smuggled to Middle East. Chalew said the police has been able to reduce the number of migrants transiting through the area by arresting several human traffickers. It is estimated that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked into foreign countries annually. The human trafficking goes through three different routes, with the northern one going through Sudan, Libya and Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. The second route goes east through Somalia, Djibouti and the Red Sea to reach Saudi Arabia. The third ones goes south through Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique to reach South Africa. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:42:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LISBON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's minister for work, solidarity and social security, Jose Vieira da Silva, said "his conscience was clear" on Wednesday, as opposition politicians demanded he consider his position in light of a finance scandal at Rarissimas, a children's charity, that implicated him. Vieira da Silva, of the Socialist Party, was president of the general assembly of Rarissimas between 2013 and 2015. The charity which helps children with rare diseases is accused of misusing public funds and donations. Furthermore, Rarissimas receives financial support from the ministry of work, solidarity, and social security, Vieira da Silva's department. Vieira da Silva told reporters in Lisbon that financial irregularities had not been reported to him either when he was president of the charity's assembly or as a government minister. He has ordered a public enquiry, but the Portuguese Social Democrats and Central Social Democrats question whether he could have been more vigilant or acted sooner. On Tuesday, health minister Manuel Delgado was forced to resign when it was revealed that he'd been paid 63,000 euros (74,145 U.S. dollars) by Rarissimas for consultancy work in 2013 and 2014. Meanwhile, President of Rarissimas, Paula Brito e Costa, also stepped down. She is alleged to have used the charity's funds for personal expenses. The irregularities were exposed in a TVI documentary broadcast on Saturday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:47:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SOFIA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg here on Wednesday supported Bulgarian ambition to provide a tangible European perspective for the Western Balkans during its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). Bulgaria would take the EU presidency in a very important time for Europe, Solberg said at a joint press conference after bilateral talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Solberg said her country agreed with Bulgaria's EU presidency priorities, particularly in the fields of migration and the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU. The peoples of the Western Balkan countries should see that the EU has embraced them, Borissov said in turn. Later on Wednesday at a meeting with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, Solberg confirmed her support for the Bulgarian position on the European integration of the Western Balkans. "Although we are far from the region, we support Bulgaria's priority for the integration of the Western Balkans because it will have a positive effect on the security of us all," Solberg said as quoted by the press office of Bulgarian president. According to the press office, Radev said that Bulgaria and Norway have great potential for increasing bilateral trade and economic cooperation. "Bulgaria draws on Oslo's experience and best practices in the field of labor protection and social policy," Radev said, according to his press office. Bulgaria will chair the Council of the EU in the first half of 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:52:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NICOSIA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus's parliament approved the 2018 state budget by a slim majority, parliamentary sources said on Wednesday. Parliament Speaker Demetris Syllouris announced at the end of a roll call after a three-day debate that 30 deputies voted for the budget and 26 against in the 56-seat chamber. The outcome of the debate was uncertain until the last moment, when center opposition Democratic Party (DIKO) announced that its nine deputies would vote in favor of the budget. DIKO president Nicolas Papadopoulos, who is contesting the presidential elections in January, is running an electoral campaign against incumbent President Nicos Anastasiades, who is seeking a second term. Three deputies of the small opposition Solidarity Movement party added their support to the budget. The deputies of opposition left wing AKEL party, socialist EDEK party, Citizens Alliance, extreme right wing ELAM and an independent deputy cast negative votes. The budget for 2018 provides for 7.53 billion euros in expenditure and 7.72 billion euros in revenue. Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, expressed his satisfaction at the outcome of the vote and praised the deputies' for dealing with the budget in a responsible manner. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 03:57:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LONDON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a bruising defeat in the House of Commons Wednesday night when a group of her own Conservative MPs rebelled in a crucial vote on her Brexit withdrawal bill. She lost by just four votes, winning 305 votes against the 309 who voted against the government. Led by former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve, the rebel MPs were supported by the main opposition Labour MPs to win a call for Britain's final deal on its withdrawal from the European Union (EU) to be approved by a statue passed by the Houses of Parliament. They insisted their move was not an attempt to block Britain's withdrawal from the EU, but to stand up for the sovereignty of the British parliament. The defeat came during the latest debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill, a key part of the government's Brexit strategy, currently going through the House of Commons. Grieve defended his rebellion against the government, saying it was "his time to stand up and be counted". He rejected a last-minute intervention by Government minister Dominic Rabb that had aimed to avert the rebellion, saying it had come too late. Earlier, May insisted the parliament would have a "meaningful vote" on the terms of the final Brexit deal before Britain leaves the EU. Immediately after the vote, a government spokesperson said in a statement that the government was disappointed that the parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. "We are as clear as ever that this Bill, and the powers within it, are essential," the spokesperson said. "This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the Bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose." A medic holds the body Ayah Muhammad Mansour, 7, recovered from under the rubble of a house destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters Photo) SANAA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Russia has evacuated 18 diplomatic staff from Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa and shut its embassy due to the security situation in the country, a Houthi official told Xinhua on Wednesday. Russian ambassador was among the evacuated staff who left Sanaa airport in a Russian aircraft on Tuesday morning, the official said on condition of anonymity. The official of the rebel-controlled information ministry refused to provide further details. Tensions have escalated in the capital Sanaa after Houthis killed their top ally former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Dec. 4 after Saleh changed alliance and backed anti-Houthi military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. Saleh and Houthis had aligned in fighting against the Saudi-led coalition since Saleh's loyalists backed Houthis in storming Sanaa in 2014 and forcing Saudi-backed president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile. However, political stances have changed between the former allies, triggering a week-long deadly fighting in the streets of Sanaa between Houthi fighters and Saleh's armed supporters. The week-long street clashes had killed 234 people, while 400 others were wounded, including 383 severely injured, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The clashes ended last week after Houthis killed Saleh, his relatives and senior leaders of his party. Houthis completely controlled the capital after they defeated Saleh's forces and took over houses of Saleh and his military relatives. On Saturday, Houthis announced they buried Saleh's corpse in a hidden place in Sanaa amid a limited presence of his relatives and members of the parliament. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition warplanes have since launched over dozens of airstrikes on positions of Houthis inside and outside Sanaa, targeting Houthi positions, according to local media. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 04:02:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The overall situation in Central Africa remains tense politically and difficult economically with continued attacks by armed groups against civilians, a UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday. Those difficult situation requires concerted national, regional and international actions to prevent a further degradation in the region, said Francois Lounceny Fall, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Central Africa sub-region. In Chad, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo, serious economic difficulties combined with political and social tensions between the respective governments and the oppositions remain a cause for concern, he told the Security Council. In Cameroon, half of the country's regions are affected by either the Boko Haram terrorist group, the spillover of the crisis in the Central African Republic, or the English-speaking separatist movement. He stressed the need to redouble prevention efforts to ensure that prevailing tensions do not deteriorate in the context of the 2018 elections in Cameroon, with the situation in English-speaking regions of the country of particular concern. The situation in the Central African Republic is characterized by continuing attacks and serious abuses by armed groups, including the killing of UN peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers, said Fall. He expressed concern over the activities of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group operating in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With regard to the LRA, he stressed the need to reconfigure the African Union task force and to increase support for the training of Central African Republic soldiers. The Eiffel Tower is illuminated in blue and green to greet the "One Planet Summit" in Paris, France, on Dec. 12, 2017. Political leaders and representatives of key international organizations gathered at the "One Planet Summit" in Paris Tuesday to address the planet's "ecological emergency" and accelerate international climate actions. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen) PARIS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's practice in recent years shows that establishing long-term, effective and ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can attract more capital and technology from all sectors to engage in developing a green economy, Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change, said here on Tuesday. Xie made the remarks while addressing a forum on leveraging public funds to combat climate change, part of activities at the One Planet Summit co-organized by France, the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank. He reminded the attendees that China unveiled such ambitious goals to cut emissions in 2009 and 2015, respectively, in its intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), an action plan submitted to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the 2015 plan, China aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 percent to 65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030. To reach the INDCs, it will require a total investment of 41 trillion yuan (6.2 trillion U.S. dollars) based on 2010 prices, and create 69 million jobs, which signals a clear direction for the flows of capital and technology from all sectors, according to Xie. The envoy underlined that to realize the goals, governments must launch corresponding public policies in pricing, taxation and finance to facilitate the low-carbon development. He gave the example of the Chinese government's investment of 1 billion U.S. dollars in improving energy efficiency in 2016, which was able to convince both the public and the private sectors to invest a large sum of money into the field. Speaking of China's efforts to promote south-south cooperation with government funds, Xie noted that China had provided training for more than 1,600 professionals from over 120 developing countries, to help them enhance the capability of adapting to climate change and raising funds for relevant projects. In addition, China is now working to implement the project to establish ten low-carbon demonstration zones and 100 climate adaptation and relief projects in developing countries, he added. The theme of Tuesday's summit is "public and private finance in support of climate action," which brought together high-ranking officials from some 50 countries and nearly 4,000 representatives from non-government actors including international organizations, enterprises and research institutions. Macron announced the plan to host the summit on Aug. 28, about three months after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a landmark climate deal reached at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 04:12:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAIRO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday directed the government to accelerate steps regarding the establishment of Dabaa nuclear power station, Egyptian Presidency spokesman Bassam Radi said. In a statement, Rady said that President Sisi held a meeting here with Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouli, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker and Minister of Finance Amr al-Garhi to discuss the project of building Egypt's first nuclear power plant. Electricity minister presented a report on the Dabaa nuclear plant and preliminary preparations for implementing the project, Rady said. The finance minister reviewed ways to pay off the total costs of the project, he added. Meanwhile, the electricity minister reviewed the ministry's plan to develop electricity services offered to citizens and measures taken to improve the service and upgrade the electricity distribution and transfer network across the country. On Monday, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt. The agreement was inked in Cairo in the presence of President Sisi and his visiting counterpart Vladimir Putin. Under the deal, Moscow will provide 80 percent of the foreign components of the plant, while Egypt provides 20 percent. The plant will be erected in Dabaa city in Egypt's coastal Matrouh province. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 04:17:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda met on Wednesday and discussed a possible deployment of the UN peacekeeping troops in Ukraine's conflict-hit eastern region of Donbas, Poroshenko's press service said. During the talks in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, the two sides had discussed in details the coordination of joint actions regarding the initiative, the Ukrainian presidential press said. Following the meeting, Poroshenko said the deployment of blue helmets could be an instrument to bring peace to eastern Ukraine and prevent future casualties. He reiterated that Ukraine supports the deployment of the UN patrol only if the troops would be stationed across the whole area controlled by the pro-independence rebels. "Peacekeepers should work in the entire non-controlled territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, not just along the contact line," Poroshenko said. For his part, Duda said that Poland stands ready to support Ukraine's initiative in the UN Security Council. On Sept. 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will ask the UN Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the contact line in eastern Ukraine. The confrontation since April 2014 between government troops and pro-independence insurgents in eastern Ukraine has claimed about 10,000 lives. Duda arrived in Ukraine earlier on Wednesday for a one-day working visit. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 04:17:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Denis Elamu JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Wednesday said it will dialogue with humanitarian agencies to achieve flexible ground on hiked work permit fees that threaten to affect humanitarian work in the war-torn country. Hussein Mar Nyuot, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, admitted there is confusion within the government on how to implement the work permit fees, adding that development partners visiting the country for short periods will be exempted from paying for work permit. "Our understanding of work permit is that those who are resident here, who are working on some programs, indeed you apply for work permit," Nyuot said during the launch of the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) totaling 1.72 billion U.S. dollars. "Those who are coming to oversee some projects, say a medical person wanting to operate here for one week, you don't require a work permit. What you require is entry visa," he added. South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) issued a December ultimatum to more than 1,000 expatriates to pay the work permit hiked by the Ministry of Labor from the previous 100 dollars to 4,000 dollars. "NGOs and the government are not disagreeing on the fees but the category of people supposed to pay for work permit," Nyuot added. Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Alain Noudehou said the change in work permit fees could complicate humanitarian aid to 7 million people in need of assistance in 2018. "An increase to the work permit fee to NGOs will take away resources from the needs we have to address," Noudehou said. According to the 2018 HRP, nearly 5.4 million South Sudanese and 304,560 refugees require food and livelihood support next year and that although localized famine was stopped in 2017, the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) shows record numbers of people in crisis. "Whereas 32 percent of South Sudanese people were recorded as severely food insecure in January 2017, projections show an alarming 48 percent of the population in the same condition in early 2018," it said. Nyuot also appealed to donors for more support toward the suffering South Sudan population as conflict continues since outbreak in December 2013. People are seen through a bullet hole on a broken window as they wait in line to cross the border to Russia on September 12, 2014 in Izvaryne, a border post near Krasnodon, eastern Ukraine. (Xinhua/AFP) KIEV, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government during its meeting on Wednesday has approved the state program on the post-conflict recovery in the country's eastern regions for 2017-2020, the government's press service said. The program named "Recovery and Peace Building in eastern Ukraine" is aimed at boosting social and economic development of the conflict-affected regions and improving the well-being of the local population. It envisages the government support for the economic recovery in the conflict-hit regions, as well as for the restoration of key infrastructure facilities and security. The program covers government-controlled areas in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which were directly affected by the conflict, as well as three peaceful regions in the eastern and southeastern part of the country, which became home to the majority of people displaced by the conflict. Last year, the Ukrainian government estimated that the post-conflict recovery in eastern Ukraine would require about 20 billion U.S. dollars in investment. The conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents started in eastern Ukraine in April 2014. Palestinians look at a militant target that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip December 9, 2017. (Reuters Photo) JERUSALEM, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Three rockets were fired from Gaza to Israel on Wednesday night amid growing tensions, an Israeli statement said. A military spokesperson said in a statement that Israel's Iron Dome rocket defense system successfully intercepted two rockets. A few minutes later, a third rocket was launched from Gaza, hitting an open field in the Eshkol Regional Council, the spokesperson said. Israel has struck the Gaza Strip at least nine times over the past week, saying the strikes were targeting Hamas posts in response to rocket launching. The rockets were reportedly carried out by the Islamic Jihad, a militant Gaza-based group. The army has repeatedly said that it holds Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist organization that runs the Gaza Strip, accountable for any hostility from Gaza. Also on Wednesday, a senior military official told Channel 2 TV news that if the rocket fire will continue, Israel will retaliate "with a much heavier force." Violence between Gaza and Israel has been on the rise since the United States President Donald Trump's recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Dec. 6. British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attend a press conference after their meeting on Brexit at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) by Peter Barker, Gui Tao LONDON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Despite "extraordinary concessions" from the British as they negotiate leaving the European Union (EU), the outcome of Brexit remains unclear, according to a leading commentator. The progress made so far in "divorce" talks between Britain and the EU has seen the British side make substantial concessions, according to the Financial Times associate editor and chief economics commentator Martin Wolf. BRITISH CABINET ACCEPTS SUBSTANTIAL COMPROMISES "The most important thing that has happened ... is that the Brexiters, the leading Leave supporters in the Cabinet, have finally accepted very, very substantial compromises by the British government," Wolf told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview. British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reached an agreement to progress to the next phase of the Brexit negotiations last Friday, after a frantic week of to-ing and fro-ing following months of talks between the two parties. The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said "real, genuine progress" had been made in each of the priority areas: expatriates' rights, Britain's border with the EU, the land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and a financial deal. For Wolf this progress in talks to the second stage had been secured by substantial British concessions. A major issue in the Brexit referendum campaign in the run-up to the June 2016 vote had been Britain's net contribution to the EU, which Leave campaigners had claimed was 350 million pounds (about 466 million U.S. dollars) per week. This money could be reclaimed, and used on entirely British projects once Brexit had happened, the Leave supporters had claimed. Wolf said this figure was dwarfed by the financial "divorce" agreement May and Juncker had agreed on, which would cover outstanding British obligations to the EU budgets. British officials said this was worth between 35-39 billion pounds (about 47-52 billion dollars), although their EU counterparts have not published their estimate. "So that is a very very big concession," Wolf said. "We have also given pretty large concessions on the rights of people, in particular, as I understand the agreement that has been reached, British courts will decide on the rights of EU residents in the UK they will do so in the light of European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgments, they will use the ECJ judgments as a reference point. That is also a pretty big concession." Leave campaigners had wanted to reclaim full British sovereignty from the shared arrangements that EU membership demanded, but Wolf believed that the agreement to allow ECJ influence on British courts was a surrender of some sovereignty. Cases will be adjudicated in British courts, but could be referred to the ECJ for eight years after the Brexit date. "It means that the ECJ will continue to have sway," Wolf said. IRISH BORDER STUMBLING BLOCK Negotiations between the EU and Britain had been taken right to the final deadline last Friday as top leaders and their diplomats worked overnight to produce an agreement that tackled the problem of the Ireland-Northern Ireland border. This is Britain's only land border with the EU, and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 between Ireland, Britain and representatives of the Northern Ireland communities had removed the physical and military barriers on the border as part of the conclusion of a peace process. This had ended 30 years of insurgent warfare in Northern Ireland, commonly known as The Troubles. Since then there has been no return to the scale of conflict between the British state and radical groups seeking a reunion with Ireland and other groups fighting to keep Northern Ireland in Britain. But the return of a hard border with customs checks and border points would divide the island of Ireland once more, splitting communities and the market for goods and services and political leaders feared it would reignite The Troubles. Wolf said that the solution put forward in the May-Juncker agreement in Brussels revealed the British government's weak negotiating hand. The leaders agreed that "in all circumstances" Britain will continue to ensure unfettered access for Northern Ireland's businesses to the whole of the British internal market, keeping the province connected to Britain. But the agreement also said that there would be full alignment with EU single market and customs unions rules between Northern Ireland and Ireland. "Most remarkably, the British government has given a commitment on the Irish question which seems to imply, although it is not completely clear, if no other way is found to avoid a customs border inside Ireland we will have regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and Ireland," he said. "Since we are also committed to avoiding a regulatory border within Britain, that would seem to mean regulatory alignment between Britain and the EU," said Wolf. Maintaining that alignment would imply that Britain would accept EU regulations but have no say in how those regulations were drawn up, if it did leave the EU, although that could be tempered with the details of a trade treaty. "If that were true that is an extraordinarily big concession because it amounts to saying that relevant regulations ... would seem to cover at least product and possible service standards, would remain aligned with the EU which would be a massive derogation from British sovereignty -- which after all is the reason for voting for Leave," Wolf said. "What it confirms, as I have been arguing throughout, is this isn't really a negotiation at all -- the EU has the upper hand, the idea that we are negotiating was an illusion," Wolf said. Wolf said that this meant Britain could either accept EU terms or it will leave without a deal. WHAT COMES NEXT IS UNCERTAIN Britain is scheduled to formally leave the EU at the end of March 2019. To give time for all the remaining 27 EU nations to have their say on the deal, it probably needs to be completed by late 2018 at the latest. The deadline is very tight, but both parties can give themselves time if they can agree to a transition period, in which Britain retains EU rules but formally leaves the 28-nation bloc. "My assumption is that there will be agreement, though it might be difficult, of a so-called transition of some period, mostly talked about for two years, could be longer, during which nothing changes. We would remain in the single market and the customs union," Wolf said. Wolf said staying in the single market and leaving the EU was possible for a transition period, but staying in the customs union posed legal difficulties, as he believed it was only possible for members of the EU to be in it. "You can have a customs agreement with the EU, which Turkey has, but that is not quite the same thing. So if you want to remain in the customs union you would have to stay in the EU and that means the simplest thing to do is to postpone our date of departure to March 2021," said Wolf. "Then the question arises -- what is the final point, because they will have to discuss and finally to implement the question of what our final arrangement will be." TWO CHOICES FOR UK Models of what Britain's relationship with the EU could look like after Brexit have crystallized for the time being around two scenarios -- the Canadian and the Norwegian one. The Norwegian scenario would see Britain strike a deal that would put it into the European Economic Area (EEA), giving it access to the customs union and the single market, but depriving it of voting rights and requiring payments into the EU to continue. The Canadian scenario would see Britain adopt a comprehensive and bespoke trade agreement with the EU, modeled on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) deal between Canada and the EU. Britain would be able to negotiate its own trade deals. The CETA deal does not contain any agreement on financial services, a key sector for the British, and this would have to be dealt with in negotiations. Wolf saw no certainty of direction yet from the British leadership, with May having to balance her stance and policy direction between the Leave and Remain camps of her party. May also needs to listen carefully to the demands of the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who are pro-Leave, on whom she relies to keep her minority government in power after having lost her House of Commons majority in the general election earlier this year. "The government is unclear but chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond and Brexit secretary Davis want what they call Canada plus plus plus, which is essentially the Canada agreement plus what is called enhanced regulatory equivalence." "This is an arrangement which allows Britain to trade with the EU in services, as if almost we were inside the single market. The EU has generally said, and I have spoken to officials there, that that is impossible and so the big argument will be whether the Canada plus plus plus is a feasible option." The outcome is uncertain, but Wolf is pessimistic and believes that a Canada scenario is unlikely because "the EU will get its way," as he believes it has done in the negotiations so far. The complexity of negotiations in the coming year is daunting. In addition no nation has ever left the EU, so there is no precedent. "At the moment it seems the British government has put itself into an impossible situation. The reason that it has done so is because it could not proceed at all without making such concessions," Wolf said. "All of which shows the vote on Brexit was ill considered, ill defined, the meaning of it was never properly understood and we are now in an absolutely absurd position -- where this will end I don't know." Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:08:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two of Libya's eastern-based army soldiers were killed on Wednesday by a terrorist sniper in the eastern city of Benghazi, a military official said. "A terrorist sniper in Ekhrebish area (in central Benghazi) killed assistant commander of the police and protection unit of the special forces, Salem al-Warfalli, and the soldier Mohammed al-Madhak," Miloud al-Zwai, spokesman for the army's special forces, told Xinhua. "The area surrounded by the army is no more than half a square kilometer. It is a residential area with dense trees, and we have difficulty getting inside it," Al-Zwai said regarding the reason for the recent human losses of the army. Al-Zwai also pointed out that "such a situation makes the army a target for snipers." The fighting against extremists in Ekhrebish area in Benghazi killed nine soldiers since the beginning of December, while in November, 10 extremists and 7 army troops were killed. Benghazi, Libya's second largest city and the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has witnessed a three-year war between the army led by General Khalifa Haftar and extremist groups. Haftar announced earlier in June taking over the entire city of Benghazi and defeating the rival armed groups, however, some militants still remain in the city. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:08:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House and Senate Republicans secured a deal Wednesday on the final version of a tax cut bill, paving the way for the U.S. Congress to pass the bill and handle a major legislative achievement to President Donald Trump before Christmas. Since the House and Senate passed respective tax cut bills in last month and early December, Republican lawmakers from both chambers have been working hard to reconcile the differences of the two bills. Congressional Republicans reached the agreement Wednesday before heading to the White House to have a lunch with President Trump. "I think we've got a pretty good deal," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said. The agreement would set the corporate tax rate at 21 percent, slightly higher than the 20 percent in both House and Senate bills, but much lower than the current 35 percent headline rate. Republicans also agreed to lower the top individual income tax rate from the current 39.6 percent to 37 percent, lower than the top rate in both House and Senate bills. Democrats have long been criticizing the tax cut bill for disproportionally favoring big corporations and rich people. Senate Majority Leaders Mitch McConnell said in a statement Wednesday that the final version would include the repeal of the mandate for individuals to buy insurance, a core part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The repeal of the mandate would raise around 300 billion to fund the tax cuts for corporations and the rich, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The repeal, however, would also kick up to 13 million U.S. citizens off health insurance. The full details of the agreement will be released later this week, and both chambers of the Congress are set to vote for the bill as early as next Monday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:13:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Canada on Wednesday has added Ukraine to its Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL), allowing its exporters to sell weapons to the East European country, the Ukrainian state-run news agency Ukrinform said. "The move means that the Canadian government lifted a de-facto embargo on the weapon sale to Ukraine, which lasted for many years," the agency said in a statement. According to it, Ukraine became the 40th country that is allowed to import weapons from Canada. The AFCCL includes members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as Australia, Botswana, Chile, the Republic of Colombia, Finland and other countries. The inclusion in the AFCCL does not guarantee the automatic approval of arms exports. Canadian exporters still would have to apply for export permits to sell arms and related components to Ukraine. Ukraine and Canada launched the talks on placing Ukraine on the AFCCL in 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:13:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Wednesday urged Sudan government and armed groups to resume peace talks regarding South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas, official SUNA news agency reported. U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Khartoum Steven Koutsis said so during talks with Sudan's Presidential Assistant and head of the government delegation to the talks. "Koutsis urged the government and the armed groups to embark on constructive negotiations to achieve peace and stability in the country," the report said. He said it is time for the government and the armed groups to move forward to make use of the available opportunity to achieve peace. The peace talks between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector have ceased since August 2016. The file of humanitarian assistance has remained one of the reasons behind the stalemate of the peace talks between the government and the SPLM/northern sector which is leading an armed rebellion at South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas. Khartoum opposed transport of humanitarian aid from outside Sudan to South Kordofan and Blue Nile, while the SPLM/northern sector demanded provision of external passages to deliver the assistance to its controlled positions in the two areas. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:13:14|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close ROME, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- An Italian high school teacher is among the 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2018, local media reported Wednesday. Lorella Carimali teaches mathematics and physics at the Scientific State High School (Liceo Scientifico Statale Vittorio Veneto) in Milan. She was among 40,000 teachers from 173 countries nominated for the annual one-million-U.S.-dollar award. The winner will be announced in Dubai in March 2018. "I have had a passion for mathematics since I was a little girl, and I have always wanted to be a teacher," Carimali told Italian news agency ANSA. The teacher, who grew up in a low-income neighborhood and was the first in her family to obtain a university degree, has refused high-paying private-sector jobs in order to keep teaching in the Italian public school system. "Her learning model uses drama activities and problem-solving exercises," according to the Global Teacher Prize website. "She calls her method 'cognitive internship' and focuses on being able to think mathematically, developing and applying skills such as intuition and imagination, as well as theorising and evaluation." The other finalists include teachers from countries in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. China is represented by Dongmei Yang, who teaches Mongolian and Chinese at two rural primary schools in the Inner Mongolia region of China. Yang has created her own way of teaching Chinese to Inner Mongolian children, naming her method "the philosophical approach," according to the Global Teacher Prize website. "It is child-led and draws on children's natural curiosity and desire to acquire new knowledge," the website says. The 2017 winner was Canadian Maggie McDonnell, who teaches in Salluit, a small Inuit village in the Canadian Arctic that is reachable only by air. Now in its fourth edition, the Global Teacher Prize is sponsored by the Varkey Foundation, a non-profit organization under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, United Arab Emirates Vice President, Prime Minister, and Emir of Dubai. The Varkey Foundation's stated aim is to improve the standards of education for underprivileged children throughout the world. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:13:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Suggestions made by Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Matthias Mueller to eliminate subsidies for diesel vehicles in favor of cleaner technologies have witnessed an angry backlash in Germany. Free Democratic Party (FDP) secretary general Nicola Beer responded on Wednesday by describing Mueller as a "diesel Judas" on twitter. She sought to draw attention to what she perceived as Volkswagen's hypocrisy of having undermined the international reputation of diesel motors with its involvement in the emissions cheating scandal -- only to turn around and ask for government handouts to shift its business model towards electric mobility. "This is a feigned concern for technical progress," Beer added. Mueller told the newspaper "Handelsblatt" that Germany's transition to environmentally-friendly vehicles could only succeed if the government ceased to subside diesel cars. He proposed shifting public funds towards research and investment into new technologies which were less harmful to the environment instead. German carmakers would be able to weather such a reform "without suffering from existential fears", Mueller said. He could further envision a "blue placard" system which banned heavily-polluting diesel vehicles from inner city areas. The number of new registrations for diesel cars has fallen steadily in Germany in the wake of the global "dieselgate" scandal. Struggling to repair their global image, leading German carmakers including Volkswagen have since announced investments worth billions of euros into electric mobility. However, Beer criticized that Mueller's proposals would amount to nothing less than a double whammy for diesel owners who were already reeling from the consequences of the "dieselgate" scandal after having been sold cars on false premises. Rather than trying to impose additional costs on these customers with higher vehicle taxes, Volkwagen should seek to first compensate customers properly for the company's fraudulent behavior. The German Federation for Motor Trades and Repairs (ZDK) reacted with similar disbelief. Volkswagen was "adding fuel to the flames" of the crisis which it had itself caused in diesel motors, ZDK director Axel Koblitz told German press. Koblitz complained that millions of motorists had acquired relatively expensive and highly-taxed diesel vehicles under the impression that they were saving on fuel costs and helping to lower CO2 emissions. These drivers were now confronted with the prospect of driving bans in cities due to unexpectedly high nitrogen oxide levels and a massive deterioration in the value of their cars. German Transport Minister Christian Schmidt voiced his irritation over Mueller's proposals as well, while several other automotive industry representatives stressed that the Volkswagen executive's comments only reflected his personal views. Executives at rival carmakers BMW and Daimler expressed anger that Mueller had not held any consultations with his counterparts prior to the widely-publicized interview. Both firms reiterated their support for the stance of the Automotive Industry Association (VDA) which recently argued against cutting diesel subsidies at an industry conference. By contrast, although Mueller may appear an unlikely ally given his efforts over the past years to shield Volkswagen from the consequences of the "dieselgate" scandal, his proposals were supported in principal by German environmental organizations and the Green party (Gruene). Nevertheless, things might not change so quickly as Steffen Seibert, spokesperson of Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU), told press that the government had "no intention" of changing the current taxation regime for diesel vehicles. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:43:22|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (R) meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 8, 2017. The European Commission has found sufficient progress in the first phase of the Brexit talks and will recommend to the European Council to open the second phase, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday. (Xinhua/The European Union) LONDON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- British Theresa May suffered her first major defeat as prime minister Wednesday night after a rebellion by a group of her own MPs. By a margin of 309 votes to 305, the final deal that Britain strikes with the European Union on its withdrawal from the bloc will have to be approved by the Houses of Parliament. The vote was forced during a debate on the Brexit withdrawal bill when the former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve put forward a measure to force May to give the final vote to MPs. Although only around 11 Conservative rebels backed Grieve, he won support from the opposition parties, particularly the main opposition Labour Party. The tense seven hour debate became a battle over who holds the reigns of power over Brexit, the government or parliament. As politicians in the main chamber of the House of Commons made their passionate pleas, behind the scenes Conservative party managers were desperately trying to appease the rebels. It had been feared the margin could have been even greater, but a last minute concession by government justice minister Dominic Rabb, led to some MPs ending their rebellion. The Independent newspaper reported that one female MP had been reduced to tears by Conservative party managers, known as party whips. As soon as the government defeat became apparent there were noisy shouts and cheers from Labour MPs. Main opposition leader, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, said the result of the vote means parliament is taking back control. He said: "This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the government on the eve of the European Council meeting. Labour has made the case since the referendum for a meaningful vote in Parliament on the terms of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. "Theresa May has resisted democratic accountability. Her refusal to listen means she will now have to accept Parliament taking back control." Nigel Farage, co-founder of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) reacted to the result on his social media site saying: "My contempt for career politicians knows no bounds." May's government had argued throughout the day that support for the rebellion would jeopardise the chances of delivering a smooth departure from the EU. In the hours before what was a heated debate, May assured MPs they would have a say on the final deal before Britain's exit from the EU in March 2019. The Brexit Secretary David Davis also wrote to Conservative MPs in a vain bid to avert a rebellion, with leading rebels saying they would not back down. Grieve defended his rebellion against the government saying it was "his time to stand up and be counted". The Times newspaper reported the first casualty of the rebellion, saying MP Stephen Hammond had been fired from his role as vice chairman of the Conservative party. There was no immediate response to the government defeat from May, but the Department for Exiting the European Union issued a statement about the defeat. Their spokesman said: "We are disappointed that parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. We are as clear as ever that this bill, and the powers within it, are essential. "This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose." The Times newspaper said in London the vote will not stop Brexit, and by itself it will not necessarily have any substantial effect on the way the government implements Brexit. But the result of the vote shows that, on at least some issues, there is a majority in the House of Commons in favor MPs exerting a greater say over the Brexit process than the government would like, and potentially this could create fresh problems for the government further down the line. It added that government ministers, facing a second defeat next week, will now be under strong pressure to drop from the bill a measure that would set in stone the March 29, 2019 the Brexit day. "After tonight's defeat Downing Street may conclude that they will lose on that one too," says the Times. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:48:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close GAZA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza said Wednesday that the price for the Israeli assaults on the Palestinian people and their holy sites has been growing up higher and higher everyday. The movement said in an official statement marking 30 years for its birth "We promise our people victory and empowerment, adding Hamas prepares the place and tools to lead its people towards liberation." It said that Hamas confirms that "it is continuing in the project of liberation and resistance in all its forms until the last inch of the historic land of Palestine is liberated." Hamas stressed that "it chose the path of reconciliation and the elimination of all forms of division consciously and insistently, and will remain united behind the gun of liberation." Hamas marked its 30th anniversary as tension between Israel and the Palestinians has been escalating since the declaration of Trump that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Since the declaration of Trump, six Palestinians were killed in Gaza and more than 2,000 demonstrators were injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haneya called for launching a new popular intifada or uprising against Israel after Trump's declaration. In the meantime, militants have been firing makeshift rockets from the coastal enclave into southern Israeli communities. More than 15 rockets were fired into Israel causing no damages or casualties. Israeli war jets and Israeli army artillery have been retaliating to rockets' attacks carried out from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Several military posts belong to Hamas militants were bombarded. No one has officially claimed responsibility for the rockets attacks into Israel; however, Israel held Hamas movement responsible for the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 05:58:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SWAKOPMUND, NAMIBIA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese construction companies have contributed greatly to invest in the development of infrastructure in Africa, African experts said here on Wednesday. Attending the Program for Infrastructural Development in Africa (PIDA) Week which was held in Swakopmund, coastal city of Namibia, these African experts said the Chinese companies have done a lot but can still do more. Lindani Ndlovu from Botswana, an independent researcher in international economics, said that although Chinese companies are doing well, there are still a few improvements they can make. "If you go around the continent there are many examples of their impact on infrastructure. In Kenya, they have just completed the first leg of the standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi," Ndlovu said of the Chinese construction companies. However, what these Chinese companies can improve on is firstly making use of local resources wherever it is possible because that has an impact on the local economy, he said. "Secondly, there needs to be more use of local labour during the development and construction of the infrastructure. There needs to be training of these locals for a takeover of the management, administration and the governance of infrastructure which Chinese companies bring to Africa," Ndlovu added. A delegate from Sudan, Eltayeb Barheet, said that Chinese companies have built three dams and also helped in the construction of big transmission lines and substations that are 1760 kilometres long altogether. "I think since they are in Sudan, they will discover over time what other opportunities they can improve in different industries, depending on their economy and their chances of investing," said Barheet. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 06:03:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HELSINKI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Over half of Finns want specific and understandable views from the Finnish presidential candidates on whether Finland should join NATO, the result of a recent poll showed on Wednesday. The poll was commissioned by the publishing house Alma media. In the poll, 53 percent want unequivocal views, a quarter disagree and a fifth cannot formulate. Markku Jokisipila, director of the parliamentary research center in Turku, told newspaper Kauppalehti that the result is understandable as in the candidates' debate over NATO, the difference between their views has been minute. He said the debate has been "in a way cryptic". "If a person is not well versed in security policy, it may be difficult to follow the discussion", Jokisipila said. Matti Pesu, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told Kauppalehti the stand of the incumbent president Sauli Niinisto is the most unclear among all the candidates. Pesu reminded that Niinisto repeatedly said a possible NATO application "depends on the situation". Only Nils Torvalds, the candidate of the Swedish Party, flags openly in favor of NATO. The other six candidates are critical, and Niinisto is somewhat opaque. Jokisipila called for Finnish restraint in the NATO debate. He warned against excessive painting of threats. Pesu said Finland's current companionship, particularly with the U.S. and Sweden, should be reviewed. "The development of companionship has been specifically part of the security policy line of President Niinisto", Pesu said. Analysts also noted that Niinisto on several occasions said that "assistance would be coming, if Finland needs it." The entry of Paavo Vayrynen, former foreign minister and multiple presidential candidate, is expected to bring more focus on security policy into the campaign debates. Vayrynen launched his campaign on Tuesday. In recent polls, the support of NATO membership has somewhat declined. A survey released last month and conducted by official defense information body, MTS, showed that the support of NATO had declined from 25 percent to 22 percent within a year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 06:58:44|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Eric J. Lyman ROME, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A pair of regulatory threats could make life in Italy more difficult for e-commerce companies like Amazon, but commentators said the U.S.-based retailer should be able to weather the storm just fine. The biggest threat could come from communications regulator AgCom, which said it is looking at Amazon as a potential competitor to the Italian postal service through its Amazon Logistics Services, which oversees the company's delivery services. Part of the case is based on the idea that Amazon helps oversee the delivery of packages to consumers from thousands of smaller retailers who reach buyers, for a fee, through the dominant Amazon site. If the view that Amazon is a package delivery platform in addition to its other roles, that would subject the company to the same regulations as state postal services and private courier services like DHL, Federal Express, and UPS. That would open Amazon up to big bureaucratic costs and could also force it to change the legal status of its Italy-based workforce, adding even more costs. Additionally, AgCom, which also regulates the Italian Post Office, is reportedly considering a rule change that would allow parcels weighing up to five kilograms to be considered "small" packages, up from two kilograms under current rules. That would make the delivery market Amazon relies on more competitive. An Amazon spokesman told Xinhua only that the company was "analyzing" AgCom's assertion and was not yet ready to comment. But Pietro Paganini, founder of Competere, a think tank and a business administration professor at Rome's john Cabot University, said the company probably should not be worried. "This is one of those cases where the regulator should have contacted the company before making its charges," Paganini said in an interview. "Amazon isn't a delivery service, and I don't think it will be hard to prove that." Like most large online companies operating in Italy, Amazon will also be subject to the new six-percent "web tax" Italy is planning to begin collecting in January 2019. Italy is on pace to become the first European Union member state to collect the levy, which will be collected on online sales. Because it is easier to determine where sales of merchandise originate from then it is to calculate the value of online ad sales, the new tax is likely to hit Amazon harder than it will fellow Internet giants like Google or Facebook. The two problems were enough to spark several stories in the Italian media speculating that Amazon could have a tough time in the coming months. But despite that, Innocenzo Genna, a telecommunications- and Internet-sector consultant and founder of Digit@lians, also a think tank, told Xinhua he did not believe Amazon would have short-term regulation problems in Italy. "The company is going to be fine in the short-term; I don't think it will be overly worried," Genna said. "The long term? That is still anyone's guess." Amnesty International has denounced European governments inaction over the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained in Libya in appalling conditions. In a report published in the wake of global outrage over the sale of migrants in Libya, AI shed lights on how European governments are actively supporting a sophisticated system of abuse and exploitation of refugees and migrants by the Libyan Coast Guard, detention authorities and smugglers in order to prevent people from crossing the Mediterranean. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya are at the mercy of Libyan authorities, militias, armed groups and smugglers often working seamlessly together for financial gain. Tens of thousands are kept indefinitely in overcrowded detention centers where they are subjected to systematic abuse, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe Director. European governments have not just been fully aware of these abuses; by actively supporting the Libyan authorities in stopping sea crossings and containing people in Libya, they are complicit in these abuses, said Amnesty International. Since late 2016, EU Member States particularly Italy have implemented a series of measures aimed at closing off the migratory route through Libya and across the central Mediterranean, with little care for the consequences for those trapped within Libyas lawless borders. According to AI, the criminalization of irregular entry under Libyan law, coupled with the absence of any legislation or practical infrastructure for the protection of asylum seekers and victims of trafficking, has resulted in mass, arbitrary and indefinite detention becoming the primary migration management system in the country. Refugees and migrants intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard are sent to DCIM detention centers where they endure horrific treatment, said AI in its report, noting that up to 20,000 people currently remain contained in these overcrowded, unsanitary detention centers. By supporting Libyan authorities in trapping people in Libya, without requiring the Libyan authorities to tackle the endemic abuse of refugees and migrants or to even recognize that refugees exist, European governments have shown where their true priorities lie: namely the closure of the central Mediterranean route, with scant regard to the suffering caused, said AI Europe Director. European governments must rethink their cooperation with Libya on migration and enable people to get to Europe through legal pathways, including by resettling tens of thousands of refugees. They must insist that the Libyan authorities end the policy and practice of arbitrary arrests and detention of refugees and migrants, immediately release all foreign nationals held in the detention centres, and allow the UNHCR to operate unhindered, he stressed. The dire situation of migrants in Libya came under the spot-light lately after CNN aired a shocking video footage showing Sub-Saharans being sold at an auction in slave markets in Libya. The video, showing migrants referred to as merchandise sold off for $400, triggered a global outrage. The appalling video footage prompted the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union, during the EU-AU summit held in Abidjan end of November, to put in place a joint Task Force to save and protect lives of migrants and refugees along the routes and in particular inside Libya. The three organizations discussed concrete steps to address jointly the dramatic situation of migrants and refugees victims of criminal networks, in particular inside Libya. Casablanca city authorities are mulling the launch of a monorail or an aerial subway to help ease traffic congestion for its over 5 million inhabitants. After the launch of the Tramway, Casablanca officials are negotiating with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD for the launch of the Monorail or the aerial subway, which are designed to reduce pollution in cities. Moroccan media reported that the future transport infrastructures were discussed by Industry Minister, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, and officials from BYD. The Chinese group Build Your Dreams has just signed an agreement with Morocco, under which it will set up a plant in Tangier for the manufacture of electric engines. The monorail combined with the already existing tramway lines will help ease transportation inside Casablanca and its suburbs. The company managing the Casablanca Tramway is also planning to launch the busway which will cost 50 million dirhams. Jonesing. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc. Republicans will try to paint Doug Joness improbable triumph as a freak occurrence. In a narrow sense, theyre right. Alabama is not the new Brooklyn. If the GOP hadnt nominated a man with the gender politics of the Taliban and the sexual reputation of Humbert Humbert lonely liberals in the Heart of Dixie would have nothing to smile about this morning. And yet, while Joness win was the electoral equivalent of a 500-year flood, it was also indicative of changes in our nations political climate that are bound to increase the frequency and intensity of such freak storms going forward. So, for all that was idiosyncratic about Alabamas special Senate election, the race has plenty of implications for the 2018 midterms and perhaps, for President Trumps policy agenda. Heres a quick rundown of seven lessons from the Democrats triumph in Tuscaloosa: 1) Black votes matter. The Democratic Party is historically powerless. It is also considerably more popular than the GOP, and has won more votes in six of the last seven presidential elections. The conventional explanation for this discrepancy has been that, while Democrats win the most voters, they lose the most valuable ones: Americas political institutions dilute the influence of younger, nonwhite, urban voters who are also less likely to show up at the polls than older, suburban, and rural whites, especially in midterm elections. The first part of that argument is as true today as it was yesterday. The Electoral College, Senate, and (heavily gerrymandered) House map all give disproportionate influence to white rural voters. But the second claim that a party with a nonwhite base is doomed to low turnout in off-year elections is looking mighty specious this morning. If one had to explain Doug Joness win in a sentence itd be this: The Republican base voted like Alabama was holding an off-year special election, while African-Americans turned out like control of the White House was on the line. On Tuesday, Jones won nearly as many votes in Jefferson County (home to Birmingham) as Hillary Clinton did in 2016. And all across the Black Belt the rural region known for its dark, fertile soil and large African-American population voters turned out in aberrantly high numbers. This level of civic participation is remarkable, given all the forms of voter suppression that black Alabamians face. Without such turnout, Joness win would have been impossible. The vast majority of white voters in Alabama preferred a theocratic alleged ephebophile to a Democrat. The strength of black voter participation Tuesday night suggests that the demographics low turnout rates in other recent midterms was borne of the (almost inevitable) complacency that comes from having ones preferred president in the White House, as well as insufficient outreach from the Democratic Party and its affiliated institutions. Neither of those things should be a problem in 2018. And thats a big problem for the GOP. 2) The suburbs are for swingers. When polls showed Donald Trump gaining ground with white, working-class Democrats in the Midwest last summer, Chuck Schumer was sanguine. For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin, the Democratic senator reasoned. This quote became infamous in the days after Trumps election. But Schumers calculus was less faulty than it appeared. Hillary Clinton really did perform historically well in traditionally Republican, upper-middle-class suburbs throughout the Northeast and Sun Belt. The Electoral College just gave her scant credit for these gains. But the inroads Democrats made in Panera-land could prove more valuable in future elections. For decades, high-income suburbs have been a key part of the GOP base. This years special elections have made those enclaves look like battlegrounds or even, Blue Americas new frontiers. In Alabama, Doug Jones won 57 percent of the vote in Madison County, an area with a smaller African-American population than the state as whole but a much more affluent and highly educated white population. And the Democratic candidates massive margin in Jefferson County would have been impossible without his unusually high support in Birminghams (historically conservative) suburbs. On Tuesday night, Jones won a majority of votes in only one of Alabamas (heavily gerrymandered) congressional districts but Democrats made their largest gains, by far, in a deeply suburban district that Jones lost. Unofficial results, but #ALSen by Congressional District. Left is 2016, right is 2017. Doug Jones turned HRC's 28% loss into a 1.5% win while *only* carrying #AL07. Suburban #AL06 has the biggest swing to Jones (he improved 40% from Clinton). pic.twitter.com/ZUi550C4XN J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) December 13, 2017 Republicans will want to dismiss this as a mere rejection of Roy Moores personal and political extremities. But the upper-middle-classs left turn just delivered Democrats a ten-point victory in Virginias gubernatorial race and before that, had helped Team Blue outperform expectations in nearly every special election held in 2017. The GOPs militant anti-feminism and anti-intellectualism have long been liabilities for the party among college-educated, suburban women. Trumps election and the post-Weinstein revolution have made those liabilities more politically salient. These developments could be enough to generate a suburban realignment. And if they arent, the Trump tax cuts just might. A certain kind of moderate Republican voter is wedded to the GOP for material reasons, even as shes grown alienated from the party culturally. But the idea that comfortable professionals and libertarian billionaires have the same economic interests has always been a fiction. And the GOP tax bill reads as if it were designed to alert upper-middle-class voters to this fact. The legislation takes from affluent homeowners in high-tax states to give to the heirs of multimillion-dollar fortunes. The bill hands out large tax breaks to capitalists, but modest-to-nonexisting ones to high-income laborers. Charles Koch may have little use for well-funded public schools and universities, Social Security, or child-care subsidies. But the professional class does. Welfare liberalism is in virtually every Americans material interest. And so, next year, the culturally moderate Republicans of Panera-land could revolt they have nothing to lose but their shame. 3) The modern Republican Party has no future in a democratic United States. Yes, both the Republican nominee and turnout pattern in last nights special election was unusual. But the fact that a Republican lost voters under 45 by 23 points in Alabama suggests that American conservatism, as weve known it, is not long for this Earth (assuming American conservatives dont foment a military coup). Exit poll: Voters under the age of 45 in Alabama went for the Democrat by 23 points pic.twitter.com/tGK6xcHjtK Will Jordan (@williamjordann) December 13, 2017 4) Donald Trumps brand is busted even in Alabama. Trump was an historically unpopular president from the moment he was sworn in. But over his first year in office, his approval has fallen far from a low perch. The president is losing support among self-identified Republicans and self-identified Republicans are becoming a smaller fraction of the overall electorate. Last night in Alabama, 48 percent of voters approved of the president and 48 percent did not. In November 2016, Trump won the Yellowhammer State by nearly 30 points. 5) Republicans (probably) wont be able to pay for tax cuts for the rich by taking food away from poor kids. Joness victory probably wont derail the GOPs tax-cut bill. Alabama wont certify the election results for another ten days, and Republicans plan to complete their overhaul of the tax code by early next week. But Paul Ryan had planned to follow tax cuts for the rich with austerity for the poor. House Republicans have already begun work on a welfare reform package for 2019 one that would involve steep cuts to food stamps, cash assistance to needy families, Medicaid, and, just maybe, Medicare. This was always going to be a tough sell in a Senate that declined to repeal Obamacare a few short months ago. Now, it appears dead on arrival. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have evinced little interest in slashing the safety net. And two GOP no votes will be enough to kill any welfare reform package. 6) Political parties should take pains to avoid nominating sex criminals. For all the GOPs deeper problems, it remains true that any Republican who hadnt (allegedly) been banned from a shopping mall for creeping on middle-school girls would have won last night. But the fact that voters punished the Republican for his alleged sexual misbehavior shouldnt be all that comforting to GOP pooh-bahs in this post-Weinstein moment, for reasons Nate Silver deftly explains: Both Republicans and Democrats will have to deal with other candidates perhaps dozens of them who are credibly accused of sexual harassment or sexual assault. Polls suggest that voters care quite a lot about this misconduct Al Frankens approval ratings tanked in Minnesota after several allegations of groping and unwanted kissing, for example. Again, theres risk here to both parties, but because Republicans occupy most of the swing seats in the House and because a higher percentage of Republican members of Congress are men they have somewhat more liability [my emphasis]. One lesson for Democrats going forward: When in doubt, nominate the female candidate. Sex (crime) scandals come with a big electoral cost, and men are, in the aggregate, far more likely to have one. 7) Donald Trump picking Jeff Sessions for attorney general was (probably) a net win for progressives. President Jeb Bush would (almost certainly) have still afflicted America with heinous health-care and tax-cut bills; reactionary judicial nominees; and a flagrantly corrupt regulatory regime. But one horror that virtually any non-Trump Republican president would have spared America is Jeff Sessionss presence at the top of the Justice Department. Before Trumps rise, the GOP Establishment was making peace with criminal-justice reform, and a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented. Now, a hard-core nativist who believes in imprisoning casual marijuana smokers is the top law-enforcement agent in the United States. And yet, in hindsight, Sessionss appointment to that post might prove to be a boon for American liberalism. Had Trump picked someone else, the Robert Mueller investigation probably wouldnt exist and Doug Jones definitely wouldnt be heading to the Senate. The former is likely depressing support for both the president and his party, and the latter might just save our countrys most vulnerable people from draconian cuts to the safety net. Given that Trump was always going to tap someone at least 75 percent as troglodytic as Sessions for attorney general anyway, it was probably for the best that he settled on the Alabama senator. Somehow firing someone over anti-Trump messages proves Robert Mueller is biased against Trump. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Republicans added a titillating new narrative to their ongoing effort to delegitimize special counsel Robert Muellers investigation earlier this month when it was revealed that a top FBI counterintelligence agent was removed from Muellers team this summer after the Justice Departments inspector general began looking into politically charged text messages he exchanged with another FBI official. On Tuesday night the Justice Department provided Congress with copies of those messages, which were promptly made public, adding more fuel to right-wing claims that Trump is being unfairly persecuted by the nations top law-enforcement agency. Peter Strzok, the deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI, and Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer, were both involved in the investigation of Hillary Clintons private email server and the Trump teams possible Russia ties. The pair reportedly exchanged the messages while carrying on an extramarital affair, and they came up as part of a Justice Department inspector generals probe of how the FBI handled the Clinton and Trump investigations. In the 375 texts shared with Congress, Strzok and Page make it clear theyre not fans of Trump. They called him an idiot, a douche, and a loathsome human. After Trump alluded to his penis size during a debate, Page texted, This man can not be president. At another point Strzok commented, God, Hillary should win 100,000,0000. They both said they were concerned that Trump might actually win, and Strzok remarked, Im scared for our organization. They also criticized a number of Democrats, including Eric Holder, Martin OMalley, and Bernie Sanders. I just saw my first Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. Made me want to key the car, Page wrote in August 2015. Hes an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out, Strzok replied. Under FBI regulations, officials are allowed to privately express their political views. FBI officials who worked with Strzok told the New York Times that they never found him to be biased, but the inspector general is looking into whether he and Page let their personal feelings influence their work. While we now know that Strzok and Page held political views typical of the average Clinton voter, we still know almost nothing about the bigger questions raised by these reports. For starters, what prompted the inspector general to look into top FBI officials private text messages, and why are we hearing about this now? The Times notes its highly unusual for the government to release such documents in the middle of an investigation, and concludes, By releasing the texts, the Justice Department has given Mr. Trump both a shield and a sword in his political battle with Mr. Muellers investigators. The messages span from August 2015 through early December 2016, which is long before Mueller was named special counsel. But, of course, figures on the right are already arguing that they prove Muellers entire investigation is tainted. Firefighters try to save a home in Bel-Air. Photo: Genaro Molina/LA Times via Getty Images A devastating wildfire that ripped through Bel-Air, burning six homes and 400 acres, began at a homeless encampment near a freeway underpass, the Los Angeles Fire Department said Tuesday. Fire officials said they found the encampment, which showed signs of people cooking and sleeping in the area, just hours after the blaze ignited at 5 a.m. last Wednesday. The fire had destroyed most of the site, which had been there for years, but investigators were able to determine that the fire was not set deliberately. It was, rather, one of the more than 100 wildfires in California set every year by illegal open fires. A fraction of those, officials said, are set by homeless people cooking or trying to stay warm. Homelessness in Los Angeles has surged in recent years, with the most recent count, conducted in May, putting the population at 58,000. Thats a 23 percent increase over 2016. Experts blame the increase on rising rents and stagnant wages. An unsustainable 30 percent of households in Los Angeles and Orange Counties pay more than 30 percent of their income toward housing costs, according to Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies. I am deeply concerned that over the next few years we will continue to be overwhelmed by people for whom rents are simply unsustainable, Los Angeles County supervisor Sheila Kuehl said earlier this year. In Bel-Air, residents had long worried that the hillside encampments would lead to a disaster. We knew it was only going to be a matter of time before something horrible happened, Nickie Miner, of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council, told the L.A. Times. Officials said a fire-prevention task force is being established to work on ways to prevent future wildfires. Among the moves they will consider are mandatory evacuations of homeless encampments in high-risk areas during fire season and a program to educate the homeless on fire prevention. On a grander scale, Los Angeles is hoping to decrease the citys homeless population by building more housing. Two separate ballot measures were approved over the past year that dedicate billions of public dollars to building new permanent housing and providing rent subsidies and other services. Now, city officials just have to find places to build. Blameless. Photo: Nicole Craine/Bloomberg via Getty Images Heres a sentence Id never thought Id type: Alabama just elected a pro-choice Democrat to the Senate and now, people are being way too hard on Steve Bannon. The exWhite House strategist (and current wearer of multiple shirts) has taken the brunt of the blame for the GOPs Dixie disaster. Mitch McConnells former chief of staff, Josh Holmes, congratulated Bannon for achieving what was previously regarded as absolutely impossible for Senate Democrats and advised Chuck Schumer to start funding Breitbarts efforts. The head of the Senate Majority Leaders super-PAC derided Bannon for costing the GOP a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country and dragging the president of the United States into his fiasco. Congressman Peter King, meanwhile, branded the populist propagandist a disheveled drunk. Type Steve Bannon into Twitters search bar, and youll find an infinite supply of similar sentiments. Congrats to two-shirted strategic genius Steve Bannon who deftly maneuvered the GOP into a crushing senate loss IN ALABAMA Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 13, 2017 Steve Bannon is probably the best strategist the DNC has right now Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) December 13, 2017 The DNC is going to start paying for Trump & Bannon to campaign in tight races. stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) December 13, 2017 But these attacks are deeply unfair. Steve Bannon may be a disheveled drunk. He may have the moral compass of Joseph Goebbels and the insufferable pretensions of a freshman film major but he is far too irrelevant to bear responsibility for his partys embarrassment in Alabama. Its true that Bannon backed Roy Moore over Luther Strange in Alabamas Senate primary in September, and that (virtually) any Republican who hadnt (allegedly) been banned from a mall for creeping on middle-school girls would have won last nights election. Its also true that Bannon claimed responsibility for Moores primary victory, and framed it as the opening salvo in his war against the GOP Establishment. But one must remember: Much like the president he once worked for, Steve Bannon loves to slap his name onto things he had nothing to do with. Moore won his primary against Strange by nine points. To blame Bannon for Moores nomination, you need to believe that the endorsement of a digital media executive who rambles incoherently about the films of Sergei Eisenstein, all the elite private colleges he got into, and the fourth turning gave Moore a decisive, nearly double-digit boost among Alabamas primary voters, even as Donald Trumps endorsement of Strange had virtually no impact on their voting behavior. Thats a concept so crazy, Roy Moore is probably about to proclaim it as Gods written truth. In reality, Bannon deserves little blame for the outcome of Alabamas special Senate election while the leadership of the Republican Party deserves a whole lot. The GOP would still have 52 Senate votes right now, if Donald Trump hadnt picked Jeff Sessions for attorney general; or if (former) Alabama governor Robert Bentley hadnt appointed Luther Strange which is to say, the state attorney general who was investigating him for an ultimately fatal scandal to Sessionss old seat; or if current governor Kay Ivey hadnt decided to hold the special Senate election this December, when Alabama law would have allowed Strange to stay in the Senate on an interim basis until November 2018; or if Mitch McConnell hadnt spent money against GOP congressman Mo Brooks in Septembers primary, turning that contest into a two-man race between an uncharismatic incumbent tainted by the ex-governors scandal and a theocratic demagogue with a small but intense base of support among Alabamas white Evangelicals. Those decisions by the president, Senate Majority Leader, and governors of Alabama made last night possible. Steve Bannons actions over the past few months, by contrast, were totally irrelevant. Roy Moore didnt need Bannon to win a low-turnout special election against Luther Strange. And Doug Jones certainly didnt need him to win on Tuesday night. Brett Talley at Holy Rood Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images An inexperienced lawyer nominated for a federal judgeship by President Trump and endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee has been withdrawn from consideration to become a district judge in Alabama. The lifetime appointment of Brett Talley, who was called unanimously unqualified by the American Bar Association, will not be moving forward, an administration official told NPR Wednesday. Politico reports that Talley offered to withdraw his nomination after criticism of his lack of credentials and undisclosed ties to the White House. Talleys thin resume he has never tried a case or argued a motion was known when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on his nomination last month. But neither his inexperience, his far-right blog posts, nor his work as a ghost hunter stopped Republican senators from sending his confirmation on to the full Senate after a 119 party-line vote. Days after the committee endorsed Talley, the Times reported that he failed to disclose that his wife is chief of staff to White House lawyer Donald McGahn. For a federal judge, that would be an obvious conflict of interest. For some Republicans in the Senate, that was enough to turn on Talley, and in recent weeks Alabama senator Richard Shelby and Iowa senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged him to step aside. Louisiana senator John Kennedy, also a Republican, said if Talleys nomination was put up to a vote for the entire body, hed vote against it. I had no idea his connection, Kennedy said after learning that Talleys wife works in the White House. And hes never tried a lawsuit in his natural life. And hes gonna be on the federal bench? Give me a break. A break. It is embarrassing. With more ways to bundle up than ever before, heres a guide to everything you need to know about buying a winter coat from whats really in a Canada Goose to how cold-weather workers pick their outerwear, plus what makes them all warm, stylish, or, ideally, both. A Coat That Can Answer the Phone The future of down and denim is within reach. 8K Flexwarm Jacket $250 $250 Photo: Mark Nerys The USB-charged, iOS-connected coat, funded on Kickstarter last year, links to an app so you can program your ideal warmth. It can go from room temperature to 122 degrees in six minutes. $250 at 8K Flexwarm Buy The Micro Puff $300 $300 Photo: Mark Nerys After sitting on the technology for a decade, Patagonia just debuted its first coat with PlumaFill. The super-warm, lab-developed insulation is made from tufted strands that leave enough dead space so the coat can compress into a knapsack. $300 at REI Buy Margaret Rhodes Levis Jacquard by Google Jacket $350 $350 Photo: Mark Nerys Google and Levis launched this denim jacket this year. Its made of Googles conductive Jacquard fabric, which, via a swipe along the cuff, can answer an incoming phone call or change the song on Spotify. $350 at Levi's Buy But When Will Someone Invent This? A coat that combats the subway sweats, as dreamed up by designer Mary Ping. The Coat That Doesnt Exist One that half-unzips and rests on your hips (so you can easily take your arms out and catch a breather if you find yourself overheating on the subway). A Designers Solution We turned to conceptual designer Mary Ping of Slow and Steady Wins the Race, who sketched out a compromise. Its basically two coats, a zip-up motorcycle jacket up top and a buttoned trench coat below thats segmented a little above the waist so when you unzip the top, the sleeves dont drag on the ground. I thought this could also work at department stores when you are likely to overheat, or at museums when you dont want to wait in line for the coat check. Mouse over or tap the image below to read more. A Short History of the Winter Coat From the Middle Ages to Max Mara. 1200s Knights wear surcoats, likely made of linen and often emblazoned with their personal arms, over armor to protect themselves from rain and snow. The coats have slits in the front and back to allow the wearer to ride comfortably. 1779 To cope with Canadas cold winters, fur traders make coats called capotes from wool blankets which are easier to sew than bison skins. In turn, Hudsons Bay makes the first Hudsons Bay Point Blanket. 1887 Photo: Courtesy of John Partridge & Co Ltd John Partridge, inspired by Polish military frock coats, makes Britains first duffel coat, bringing toggles to the masses. 1912 Two parties claim to invent the trench: Burberry, which patents the trench-esque Tielocken in 1912, and Aquascutum, which makes a similar coat for the British military. 1940 Photo: Courtesy of Eddie Bauer Eddie Bauer invents the Skyliner, the first quilted down garment in the U.S., based on a coat his uncle wore to keep from freezing during the Russo-Japanese War. 1968 Photo: Courtesy of Moncler Moncler, a maker of tents and anoraks, defines apres-ski style when it outfits the French ski team for the Winter Olympics in Grenoble. 1970 Photo: Wil Blanche/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images Harlem heroin dealer Frank Lucas, a.k.a. the Original Gangster, wears a $100,000 chinchilla coat. Hes arrested five years later and maintains to this day that the coat is what put him on the cops radar. 1975 Designer Norma Kamali creates her famous sleeping-bag coat. The design was inspired by midnight runs to the bathroom on camping trips, during which she wrapped her sleeping bag around her shoulders. 1989 Olympic gold-medalist runner Diane Dixon poses in a bomber by Daniel Day, whose Harlem shop Dapper Dans Boutique was beloved by rappers and boxers. 1996 Prep-school gangsters make The North Face the jacket brand of choice for East Coast teens. A decade later, its popularity is undiminished: In 2005, students in D.C. are robbed of their North Faces, not cash. 2013 Photo: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images During Milan Fashion Week, Carine Roitfeld steps out in Max Maras teddy-bear coat. Kim Kardashian and Rita Ora follow suit, making it the fuzzy coat of choice for fashions upper echelon. 2016 Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images/This content is subject to copyright. Canada Gooses New York flagship opening is met with animal-rights activists protesting its use of fur and down. The company shoots back, calling down the worlds best insulator. 2017 Photo: Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.tv A Balenciaga model walks down the runway in what is later dubbed one of the top trends of spring 2018 multiple layers of coats. Katy Schneider Inspecting the Innards A closer look at the 247 pieces that make up Canada Gooses marquee (and $1,495) Snow Mantra. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine The Down The company uses 675-fill power goose down rather than 900 or 1,000, because when considering fill power you need to consider the fabric that houses it: The higher the fill, the lighter the fabric you need in order to allow the down to loft effectively. Georgia Tech textile scientist Dr. Krishna Parachuru says, A 675-fill power down is finer than 900-fill. When the down is finer, the space between the fibers is reduced, which keeps out cold air. The Lining The linings are a combination of soft-to-touch fleeces next to the face and at the cuff and then supple but durable nylon linings to build the down envelopes. The Hood The brim, says chief product officer Lee Turlington, has a shapable wire that allows it to be molded tightly around the face. The hood is also padded with fur, whose natural oils, says the company, protect from frostbite. Parachuru adds: The furs oil keeps it from getting cold itself, even when exposed to very low temperatures. The Specs In total, 247 pieces of material go toward building the Snow Mantra; it weighs eight and a half pounds. I wont say its built like a space shuttle, says Turlington. But its quite complicated. The Shell To keep the down from getting wet, the company uses an Arctic Tech polyester-cotton blend for the outer shell. Then its treated with a weather-repellent chemical that provides it with the ability to shed moisture. While polyester and cotton arent waterproof on their own, Parachuru says, he maintains that chemical waterproofing treatments are quite effective. They can last for years and years, he says. The Snow Skirt In many winter-sport garments, a snow skirt keeps wind and snow out from the waist. The Snow Mantra has an insulated snow skirt with an elasticized band that also has a tacky gripper material around it to keep it firmly set, so its not moving up and down. Jessica Silvester And the Ingredients of Two Other Investment Parkas One Japanese, one vegan both obsessively designed down to the zipper. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine The Hood Detachable and lined in down. The Shell Made from Pliantex, a 100 percent polyester fabric designed to be both stretchy and breathable, by a small Japanese textile company called Daiichi Orimono. According to textile scientist Dr. Krishna Parachuru, the trick is combining crimped yarn with straight yarn. The curled yarn will allow it to stretch; the untextured yarn will help to pull back its shape, without allowing air between its fibers. The Down F/CE uses white duck down from Nanga, which makes sleeping bags. Every down feather is hand-picked from ethical down from Europe, says the companys Shannon Watson. This one is 760 fill. The Zipper You know Ziploc bags? Watson asks. This is a more heavy-duty version of that. It seals out water. Weight 2.7 pounds. F/CEs N3B Type A $1,190 at Westerlind Buy M.R. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine The Hood Initially detachable, this year it was redesigned to fully attach so it fits as close to the head as possible to cut out wind. The Shell Vaute founder Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart worked with a mill to develop the organic, tightly woven cotton moleskin she uses for the outer layer here. Its much heavier and more wind- and water- resistant than regular wool, she says. That heaviness is what allows cotton, a naturally colder material, to compete with wool (which has natural heat properties) in terms of warmth and protection, according to Parachuru. To make cotton water resistant, you have to make it difficult to stretch it has to be very tightly woven. The Down Its filled with layers of lightweight Primaloft, a down alternative that unlike down remains insulated even when wet. For the first time this year, the coat is filled with Primaloft Eco, a 100 percent recycled version. Weight 4 pounds. Vaute Coutures Mark $705 at Vaute Couture Buy Lauren Levy And Why Spending Under $500 Is Fine, Too The cheapest, warmest coats vetted by the professionals. Rab Electron Jacket $325 Photo: Courtesy of the vendor This uses metallic microdots to reflect heat back to the wearer, like those marathon blankets. Frederick Reimers, jacket reviewer, Outside magazine $325 at Jet Buy Alpine Escape 550 Turbodown Parka $299 Photo: Courtesy of the vendor Ive worn this walking the dog in single digits in Santa Fe and never felt cold. It also packs into a sack the size of a football. Will Egensteiner, gear editor, Outside $299 at Columbia Buy Cold Forge Down Hoody $299 Photo: Courtesy of the vendor Its helmet compatible, which means it can fit over ponytails. Its warmer than the other lightweight puffers I own. Reily K., outward bound instructor $299 at Black Diamond Buy Nuuk Parka $500 Photo: Courtesy of the vendor This uses a non-down microloft thats really good at trapping heat, and it has a polyurethane membrane thats excellent at resisting moisture. Sarah Savala, gear expert, backcountry $500 at Moosejaw Buy L. L. I Made Joe Namaths Fur And then made one for myself. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage We designed a coyote fur bomber jacket for Joe Namath, when he did the coin toss for the 2014 Super Bowl. It was shown on air for three minutes, but still: That was the most publicized coat ever seen in the history of the fur district. I happened to have an extra one in inventory. I decided to keep it. The next day, it was negative-six degrees and I was walking to Mr. Chows with the coat completely open. I felt nothing. Marc Kaufman, furrier as told to K.S. Me and My Faux Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine This DVF faux fur gets a lot of attention. Once someone messaged me on a dating app and said, I think I saw you on the L train with a cool coat on. Torraine Futurum, model Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine This fuzzy 1970s coat has Andy Warhols Marilyn print all over it. Its Betsey Johnson in her heyday, a coat that stops traffic. Barbara Flood, stylist Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine My style is a Carrie with a Miranda rising. So I love this Shrimps coat, which comes with the broaches. Lauren Garroni, runs @everyoutfitonsatc My Job Is Cold, and This Is My Coat People who spend their days (and nights) outdoors describe the Everest outerwear and Prada outlet finds that keep them from freezing. Meteorologist Amy Freeze, reporter at ABC 7 Marmot 8000M Suit $1,250 $1,250 Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Coldest Moment: 11F with a feels-like temperature in the single digits. I have to stand in every kind of weather, including being so cold I feel like I have no pants on. The warmest outerwear I own is the 8000M Marmot snowsuit. Its 800-fill down and has Gore-Tex Windstopper fabric. Theyre famous in the Mount Everest world, and I wore it for a story I was doing in Mountain Creek, New Jersey. I also have a faux-fur Calvin Klein one that I like for cold days when Im doing just a quick forecast outside the studio. $1,250 at Marmot Buy Ice Skaters Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, program directors at Brookfield Place Rudsak Chapais womens puffer $636 $636 Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Coldest Moment: -20F Everyone at the rink has those Canada Goose jackets, but we wanted something different. We can wear our Rudsaks on top of nothing more than a T-shirt and stay warm. They are heavy, but its easy to raise your arms up. Theyre also not tight on the bottom, so we can skate around and do anything we want to with our legs. $636 at Dejavu Buy Doorman Simonez Wolf, host at the Standard Hotel Prada Down Hooded Jacket $2,680 $2,680 Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Coldest Moment: -13F People standing in line to get into the Boom Boom Room will say things to you like, Who do you think you are; I make more money than you. So I bought a Prada jacket. I love the pockets they have the square pockets that are down toward your legs but also slit pockets that are up at your rib cage, which is more practical for me to be able to put my hands up near my chest to stay warm. I got it at Woodbury Common for about $800. $2,680 at SSENSE Buy Dog Walker Nicholas Rodriguez, owner of Doors and Dawgs The North Face Mens Summit L6 Down Belay Parka $500 $500 Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Coldest Moment: 13F Im out for ten-hour days, with only 15-minute breaks in between walks. I wear the North Face Summit series mine is 700 down and, I think, the warmest for the price. But downs arent good for your wet-weather situations or extreme winds when youre trying to walk along the Hudson. So I improvise. I bought a Marmot windbreaker that I layer underneath the Summit. And that way youre protected from everything. $500 at Backcountry Buy Marie Lorenz, artist and creator of Tide and Current Rowboat Water Taxi Vintage German military jacket $25 Being on the water is always much colder than being on land. Years and years ago, I got a German-military-issue Gore-Tex parka, probably from the 70s or 80s, for $30 at the Lakewood Flea Market in Tacoma, Washington. Its warm but still fairly breathable, so if youre moving and sweating, the heat can come off you. $25 at MilitaryClothing.com Buy Ellen Altfest, landscape painter The North Face Himalayan suit $1,000 Ive spent full days in 9 degrees painting an algae-lichen spot on the side of a rock so I did a lot of research. All the people climbing Mount Everest, they covet this mountain suit. It makes 35 degrees feel like a crisp autumn day. And it has a little flap where you can pee. $1,000 at Backcountry Buy Max Avdeev, Russian arctic photographer Bask khan tengri $480 Where I shoot in Russia, it takes me 30 minutes to dress up in the morning to get out, and I say, Wow, its taking so long. I feel like a girl getting dressed for the Met gala. My jacket looks very strange super-oversize, with no form but its warm. I never wear it when I go into Moscow. $480 at eBay Buy J.S. *This article appears in the December 11, 2017, issue of New York Magazine. get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. The ruling party, National Resistance Movement (NRM) has blocked its members from leaving the country and Kampala city until after the age limit bill has been passed in Parliament. The largely unpopular bill seeks to have Article 102(b) of the Constitution scrapped, thereby dropping the 35-75 age limits for presidential aspirants. President Yoweri Museveni is 73 and would not qualify to run in 2021 if Article 102(b) stands. The order not to travel out of the country was reportedly issued by President Museveni yesterday during the NRM caucus meeting. NRM needs 2/3 majority (291 MPs) in Parliament or about 66 per cent of the 436 lawmakers to pass the controversial age limit amendment bill. "Every clause of that bill requires a quorum of 2/3 of all members so if we let them travel, we may fail to raise the quorum," Robina Nabbanja (Kakumiro woman), a Parliamentary commissioner and one of the key promoters of the bill told The Observer. NRM MPs at Parliament recently All MPs who had travelled have since been called back and security at Entebbe airport has been ordered to turn away any NRM MPs seeking to fly out of the country. According to Joseph Muyomba Kasozi, the NRM caucus general secretary, in the coming days, the MPs will also be stopped from going out of Kampala city. "We want the bill passed before Christmas and if you let them go to their constituencies, we may fail to raise the number," Kasozi said. Burahya County MP Margaret Muhanga also NRM parliamentary caucus spokesperson accused two NGOs, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) and Action Aid of funding NRM MPs out of the country so as to deny the party the 2/3 majority. NRM MPs PAID While the NRM caucus leadership denies giving any money to MPs to soften their stance against the bill, an MP from Buganda has confirmed being on the list of beneficiaries. "I didn't go to Kololo last night but I am picking mine from the Government Chief Whip's office," the MP said. The majority of the recipients are MPs thought to have changed their position on the bill due to pressure from their constituents. In Measure for Measure William Shakespeare warned that some rise by sin and some by virtue fall. In the FDC presidential elections held at Nambole stadium on November 24, 2017, Major General Mugisha Muntu lost because he is known as Mr Nice Guy, while the winner, Patrick O. Amuriat, won because he is seen as the symptom of emerging political thugocracy (coined by The Economist magazine, March 15,2014, page 50). On NTV Frontline, November 23, 2017, Miria Matembe told viewers how she once asked Amuriat whether he was the one leading thugs who were attacking her group. On the evening of final campaigns for the FDC presidency, Major General Muntu, a very conscious man, revealed that Amuriat has a group of thugs answerable to him. Nabilah Naggayi, one of the top FDC leaders, speaking to NBS TV at Namboole, said Dr Kizza Besigyes support for Amuriat was well known and wondered why Besigye had never supported Mugisha Muntu. The Sunday Monitor, November 19, 2017 (page 15) published an article wondering: will Besigye unseat Muntu through Amuriat? What emerges is a party brewed in the pot of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, the FDC Defiance Camp has a big dose of political hucksterism. Their reasoning is that when dealing with a dictator like President Yoweri Museveni, there is need to apply force because Museveni does not respect election results. Accordingly, every time Dr Besigye has won presidential elections, Museveni simply chiseled himself on the presidential seat. Therefore, Muntus gentlemanly approach lacks what is required for the FDC to get into power. It is surprising that Dr Besigye has decided to take a risky defiance journey to State House. In our view, Besigye is donating himself to the very dictator he demonizes. Has Besigye forgotten Musevenis warning in 1988 to the type of opponents he says will find themselves six feet in the ground? Has Besigye forgotten what is happening to Jamil Mukulu in Luzira Upper prison? The FDC Defiance camp wrongly believes that it can pull off the Arab Spring type of revolution. But the concrete realities on the ground are different. In those Arab states (Egypt and Tunisia), there existed a strong middle-class with aspirations of becoming leaders too. In Uganda, an infant economic and political middle-class was destroyed through externalization of Ugandas economy. The millions of unemployed youths, many of them living below poverty levels, are not yet ready to aspire to become political leaders. They can participate in hourly agitation or, at most, in a days verging demonstration, but not in a highly-protracted organized national insurgence that requires years of underground planning. Using defiance to get political power can easily go beyond Dr Besigyes control and slide back to the uprising days of Force Obote Back Again (FOBA), Joseph Kony and Alice Lakwena. At this point, Museveni would be too happy to brand FDC a terrorist group and then mercilessly crush it. When Zimbabweans learnt that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had hired British assassins to kill President Robert Mugabe, they abandoned him, and it gave Mugabe a chance to brand MDC a terrorist group. Consequently, the state machinery flagged Tsvangirai, went after MDC supporters, killed some of them and destroyed their properties. In the end, Tsvangirai, a former prime-minister, has become politically irrelevant in Zimbabwean political affairs. It appears that Besigye and Amuriat are unknowingly leading FDC innocent supporters to the MDC fate as well. Indeed, Amuriats maiden statement warning that we are not going to massage the dictator, but deal with him head-on, sounds more like drumming for war than a mission statement of democratization. Apostle Paulo asked the Galatians: You foolish Galatians, who bewitched you? (Galatian 3:1NIV). Even now, one may be tempted to ask: You foolish opposition, who bewitched you? Why are you splitting? Why are you inciting people for war? Ugandans are clamoring for peaceful democratic change of leadership, not for another uprising/insurgence, or coup. FDCs ostracism of General Muntu means it has squandered its political capital. The author is the publisher of Uganda Confidential. One of Ugandas best judges, Solome Balungi Bbosa, has landed at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). Strangely, although President Museveni is a vociferous critic of the ICC, it is understood that he assigned Attorney General William Byaruhanga and Ugandas permanent representative at the UN, Adonia Ayebare, to lobby and ensure that she gets that posting. The irony is that President Museveni once contemplated pulling Uganda out of ICC. Reason? The court targets African criminals and is lenient on those from Europe and America. The presidents disapproval was particularly noticeable in 2016 when he defied ICC orders to arrest and surrender Sudan president Omar al-Bashir. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010, accusing him of masterminding genocide and crimes against humanity during the campaigns to quell revolts in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a signatory to the Rome Statute which established ICC, Uganda is required to act on its arrest warrants. But in 2016, Bashir attended President Musevenis swearing-in ceremony and he flew out untouched. The ICC is complementary to national jurisdictions, meaning that in cases where national courts could not try crimes under the statutes, the accused could be referred to it. And this is captured in the preamble of the Rome Statute: affirming that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at national level and by enhancing international cooperation. Since this international court does not have a police force, it relies on the cooperation of the state parties to enforce its orders. After the 2016 inauguration ceremony, Museveni explained that he could not invite Bashir and then later arrest and surrender him to ICC. That is very un-African. It is uhuni (buyaye). We dont treat visitors like that, he said. And again this year, President Bashir came back to Uganda and his host drove him around his farm in Kisozi as the two heads of state smiled and chatted away. It is only Botswana and Malawi that threatened Bashir with arrests. In June 2015, South Africa, another state party to the Rome Statute, was served with a request to help ICC arrest Bashir. But the writing was on the wall that they were not willing to help the moment they allowed him on South African soil and accorded him all the immunities enjoyed by foreign dignitaries. In international law, the doctrine of sovereign or diplomatic immunity entitles certain holders of high-ranking offices such as that of a president to enjoy immunities from jurisdiction in other states, both civil and criminal. That means that national courts are unable to try a high official of another state who is suspected of committing crimes, as this would constitute a violation of state sovereignty. This is derived from the United Nations Charter which enunciates the principle of the sovereign equality of all member states, whereby a state is not permitted to interfere in affairs that are within the domestic jurisdiction of another state. Sovereign immunity covers both heads of state and the state itself. Personal immunity only extends to incumbent heads of state. And indeed, Bashir is a sitting president. According to article 27 (irrelevance of official capacity) of the Rome Statute, Bashirs official capacity as a sitting head of state does not exclude his criminal responsibility, neither does it grant him immunity against prosecution before the ICC. The article states: This statute shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a head of state or government, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Statute... Article 27 (2) adds: Imunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person. The good intentions of the ICC to fight impunity of dictators have been defeated by the very signatories to the Rome Statute. There is apprehended bias. African leaders who were very enthusiastic when signing this law have lost vigour partly because many of them thought the law would only catch their opponents. Now it turns out that sitting presidents are subjects to ICCs jurisdiction. So, this is the milieu in which Justice Bbosa will operate. She is representing a country opposed to the conduct of ICC! While her role is to dispense justice, she could as well be deployed to change the negative attitudes prevailing back home. Good luck, my lord! The author is the business development director at Observer Media Limited. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... The Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is optimistic the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will help the private sector to create opportunities for their investment. Speaking at a High Level African Roundtable on Mobilizing Support and Accelerating Implementation of the SDGs, Dr Bawumia stressed it is imperative for countries to work towards achieving the Goals in a bid to eradicate poverty. According to him, the private sector stands to gain more because it will be the vehicle for development. First and foremost, it is important to note that the SDGs come with the objective to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. The SDGs are also about how to make development environmentally sustainable, economically sustainable, as well as socially sustainable. Private businesses are also part of the overall ecosystem of the world economy and will therefore benefit if the SDGs are achieved, Dr. Bawumia told the gathering. He added: Second, private businesses should see the SDGs as helping create opportunities for their investments. Meeting the SDGs requires multi-million dollars investments in new and innovative projects. Because of the continual decline of global growth and reduced overseas development assistance, the private sector will be a key driver to support infrastructure and other development projects. The World Bank Group is taking a similar approach and recently launched a new initiative that aims to raise trillions in development financing, including through partnerships with the private sector. Thus, with the SDGs, investments expected to go into the private sector will be huge. The Business and Sustainable Development Commission which is a group of CEOs and civic leaders that were convened by the UN recently put out a report identifying twelve trillion dollars of opportunities that can be created through achieving the SDGs. That is an extraordinary amount of money, an extraordinary amount of opportunity for businesses around the world. This highlights clearly what the opportunities for the private sector as well as, the SDGs are concerned, he stated. The SDGs The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. These 17 goals build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals, while including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities. The goals are interconnected, often the key to success on one will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another. The SDGs work in the spirit of partnership and pragmatism to make the right choices now to improve life, in a sustainable way, for future generations. They provide clear guidelines and targets for all countries to adopt in accordance with their own priorities and the environmental challenges of the world at large. The SDGs are an inclusive agenda. They tackle the root causes of poverty and unite us together to make a positive change for both people and planet. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Speaker of Parliament, Right Honourable Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, has responded to assertions that he tacitly supports the by declaration of Americas President, Donald Trump, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Contrary to what is being bandied about, this paper learnt the Right Honorable Speaker, who is also a minister of the gospel, only acknowledged Israel as having profound impact on his faith as it had traces of history that, according to him, confirmed the source of his faith as not fictional. He also said he was pleased to be part of the Knesset for the reason that had become necessary for regular interactions to help deal with numerous challenges confronting humanity. Israel should also be willing to share with the world, especially, the developing world of your enormous experience in security and, particularly, in dealing with cyber -crime. Israeli companies should also be willing to invest in the economies of the developing world with the possibility of technology transfer to help deal with the inequalities in the world while promoting inclusiveness in global development, he noted. Excerpts from statements read by the Speaker stated that as part of his remarks, he touched on the imperative inclusiveness of Sustainable Development Goals necessitating both local and international synergies and collaborations for cross-fertilization of ideas and global development for both current and future populations. Rt. Hon. Mike Ocquaye also spoke on the Global Economic situation between African countries, stressing on the recognition that countries and institutions cannot individually solve the myriad of challenges that confront the world in contemporary times given their complexities. The issues of terrorism, crimes of various proportions including cyber- crimes, wars and the threat of wars continue to threaten the very survival of humanity and matter in general. The causes of these challenges are varied and many but we need to collectively isolate them and deal with them distinctively to successfully eliminate them or to reduce their effects on humanity. One of the very basic causes of the problems of our generation is the extent of inequalities that have been orchestrated by colonization which, unfortunately, continue to be perpetrated by the WTO under the new world economic order. The very value systems of whole populations have been altered by colonization and so have the structures of their economies making the once colonized countries to be hewers of wood and drawers of water to feed western industrial concerns without any value addition, he explained. At the Knesset, attended by Five African Speakers of Parliament and their delegations, the Honorable Speaker also bemoaned how it had failed to recognize the facts underpinning the very challenges that confronted humanity but which were humanly caused. He said the new world economic order which dictated unbridled competition on global trade had complicated matters. In the global efforts to boost trade and cooperation, the wealthy and influential nations still influence the WTO to introduce measures that undermine the quest of industrialization on the part of the poor countries which could prop them up from marginalization and all the associated problems and make them effective players of world trade for the benefit of all, he noted. Source: New Crusading 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 This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting. BALLSTON SPA A Saratoga County man who repeatedly raped numerous children, meeting some of them through social media, was sentenced Wednesday to 25-years-to-life in state prison. Marshall G. Gaudet, 31, of Malta was sentenced for his guilty pleas earlier this year to felony counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree rape and two counts of possessing a sexual performance of a child. Authorities said he sexually abused a child as young as 18 months, a and forcibly raping a 16-year-old girl he met through a fake profile on Facebook. He videotaped some of the assaults, and blackmailed some of the victims by telling them he would release photos of them if they told others about what he did. Gaudet had no statement during the hearing before Saratoga County Judge James Murphy, but Murphy ripped him, telling him "there is no lesser sort of human" than him for his actions, according to Post-Star newspartner NewsChannel 13. Murphy recommended he never be released from prison. Prosecutors believe he had sexual contact with some of the children at an unspecified amusement park in Warren County. GLENS FALLS Mayor Jack Diamond received high praise Tuesday at his last Common Council meeting for his nine years of leading the city. Speakers praised Diamonds stewardship during a short meeting the last one of 2017. Judy Calogero, chairwoman of the Glens Falls Industrial Development Agency and Civic Development Corp., cited Diamonds accomplishments, including two public parking structures, the new mixed-use building at 14 Hudson Avenue and other new residential housing downtown that has brought new life to the city. People are eating in our restaurants, walking the street, going into our stores, working in our community and contributing to this community because of your vision, Mayor, she said. She mentioned, too, the demolition of the Madden Hotel, its replacement with the new Glens Falls National Bank building and the renovations to Park Theater. We appreciate you, and were going to miss you very much, she said. Diamond thanked her and offered a compliment of his own. I know with Judy being the chairperson of those boards, the city is going to be going in the right direction, he said. Jim Siplon, chief operating officer of Just Beverages, said he recalled meeting with Diamond and Common Council members about four years ago at The Queensbury Hotel to present what Siplon called a wacky vision of turning the citys water not only into a product to sell but something for the common good. Now, one in three grocery stores in America has a bottle of Just Water, Siplon said. Diamonds dedication to Glens Falls was apparent in every conversation, Siplon said. Siplon said he brags about Glens Falls everywhere he goes, including Africa, where he recently spent a week talking about international distribution of Just Water internationally. He also spoke to Will and Jaden Smith, major investors in the company, to tell them about Diamond leaving office. They pass on their best, he said. Siplon presented Diamond with a framed picture of the watershed near where the water is drawn. He said every key executive has one of these photos. Council member Jim Clark said he had the pleasure of working with Diamond when he served in the administration of Mayor Robert Regan. Clark recalled a discussion about getting a pool in the First Ward. Diamond made it happen. Its been that type of attitude thats served the city well, he said. Mayor-elect Dan Hall recalled Diamonds election to a one-year term as mayor on Nov. 7, 2008, following the death of former Mayor Roy Akins. Hall accepted Diamonds offer to serve as councilor at-large. Just a few weeks before, the stock market had crashed, and the nation was in economic turmoil. Hall said Diamond put in place a hiring freeze and got departments to tighten their budgets. In addition, the city has worked steadily on projects to reduce wastewater discharges into the Hudson River and upgrade infrastructure to follow consent orders issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The city divested itself from the Civic Center and improved its finances, Hall said. He will be a tough act to follow, and I wish him well in his new role as a retiree on the Board of Supervisors, he said. Diamond said hes glad the bipartisan unity ticket was successful, so most of the current council will stay intact. Despite some criticism of the group running as a block, he said, voters approved the ticket. Theyve seen the progress that theyve done and they want to give them an opportunity to do the job again, he said. EDC Warren County President Ed Bartholomew said it has been an extreme honor and privilege to work with Diamond. Diamond said Bartholomew was one of his smarter hires and praised him for his tireless work ethic. Diamond reiterated that the citys accomplishments have been the result of a team effort from the Common Council and city staff such as City Clerk Robert Curtis, City Engineer Steve Gurzler and too many others to list. Im very proud of what weve accomplished. I cant think of a better place in New York to live, work and play than Glens Falls, New York, he said. Diamonds wife Pat, daughters Kimberly and Lindsey, and 3-year-old grandson Tucker were on hand for the meeting. This is the first time theyve appeared at a meeting in 21 years, per my request. It sounds like my grandson might have a taste or liking for this type of work, he said upon hearing Tucker chattering. I dont know. I wouldnt encourage them to do this. Diamond added on a serious note that he is grateful for the support he received. This job can be difficult. There can be a lot of controversy and a lot of criticism and I know it was difficult at time for my family to read those comments in the newspaper, but they stood strong, they supported me, he said. SOUTH GLENS FALLS The tax fight against SCA Tissue may be over. The Moreau Town Board voted to settle with the company, lowering the assessment for the main paper plant, now called Essity. The settlement would reduce its tax bill by 33 percent in 2018. The Village Board wanted to fight it out in court, but did not file for intervenor status in time. School officials at first indicated they might refuse the settlement, which creates an $800,000 hole in their tax revenue over the the next five years. Thats 1 percent of the school districts tax revenue each year. But now, in court, the school districts lawyer said it will not fight the settlement. School officials did not comment further. Mayor Harry Gutheil said he was deeply disappointed by the decision. But he hasnt quite given up. I wont give up until weve exhausted all our reasonable options, he said. But the school district is not going to put up a defense. It puts the village in a very difficult position. He had been proposing a joint effort, in which the village would help pay for a court fight about the assessment. On its own, its not clear if the village has legal standing to go to court. Under the settlement, the village would lose $317,872 in tax revenue over the course of five years. Thats 4 percent of the villages total tax levy each year. In practical terms, it means the village needs to cut about $63,500 from its 2018-2019 budget or raise taxes, and continue to make further cuts of that magnitude each year. It may be too late for this issue, but Gutheil said hes now weighing whether to have a village assessor again. The village used to have its own assessor, but merged with the town. That gave the town the power to make all decisions on tax cases, but the town also had to pay for any court battles. Gutheils opponent in the March mayoral election proposed bringing back the village assessor. Gutheil objected when that idea was raised in 2015, saying the village would be saddled with expensive court cases. You will have to spend more in attorneys fees, he said at the time. I dont think you are realistic. But now he sees things differently. He has been studying the assessment roll, and hes not satisfied with the current numbers. The inequities are all over the place. I dont agree with a lot of these numbers, he said. Some are assessed too high and some are assessed too low. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is George Bailey. Wall Street and the banks is Mr. Potter. The Its a Wonderful Life analogy is the obvious way for me to illustrate this issue, especially if you dont trust banks or Wall Street executives. The Washington agency was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial meltdown in 2008. Its job is to provide stringent regulation designed to hold financial institutions accountable. It is the government watchdog for all financial dealings and exists to make sure customers are not being exploited. Sort of like George Bailey. To do that, it was given unique independent powers under Dodd-Frank so its actions would never be influenced by politics. It was funded through the Federal Reserve so its budget could not be cut by Congress and the president does not have the power to fire its director on a whim. I first learned about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last May when the House of Representatives passed the Financial Choice Act, which undoes much of Dodd-Frank and strips the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of most of its powers. Rep. Elise Stefanik voted for that bill. Thankfully, that legislation has not gone anywhere in the Senate. Plan B was implemented late last month when the agencys current director, Richard Cordray, resigned and President Trump immediately appointed Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to take over. Mulvaney works in the White House, where one assumes he could be influenced by politics. Mulvaney is not a fan of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He called it the worst kind of government entity and says it is unaccountable, but fact checks show that is an exaggeration. Since its beginnings, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been under fire from Republicans. The agency has been accused of slowing down the economy because of excessive regulation and keeping small community banks from handing out loans to regular people. Except, the statistics do not back up those allegations. Last year, the banking industry notched its third year of record profits in the past four. Problem banks fell to a seven-year low and U.S. banks have fared much better than banks in other parts of the world with far less regulation. The agency has also collected more than $11.8 billion in settlements for some 29 million consumers since its inception, including a $100 million fine on Wells Fargo Bank for its widespread illegal practice of secretly opening deposit and credit card accounts that led to unauthorized charges without consumers consent. The agency also runs a public website where consumers can submit complaints about their bank, credit card company or any other financial services company. When I asked New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli about the CFPB under Mulvaney, he said he was concerned that Wall Street would return to the excessive risk-taking that caused the 2008 financial collapse. If you lost money during the 2008 financial collapse valuable retirement money then you might be with me in wanting to err on the side of caution. Im worried about what will happen to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Mulvaney. Im worried that no one will be looking out for the small investors who hope to someday retire. Im worried that if no one holds Wall Street accountable, many of us wont have the opportunity for a wonderful life in retirement. Three American experts on North Korea claim that Pyongyang is preparing for another nuclear test at its Punggye-ri test site, despite reports that the facility is falling apart due to the aftershocks of their previous test on September 3. Joseph Bermudez Jr, Jack Liu and Frank Pabian, experts with Korean Peninsula analysis group 38 North, say there has been a "consistently high level of activity" at Punggye-ri according to satellite imagery. Punggye-ri's testing portals are dug into the side of Mt. Mantap, where all six of North Korea's nuclear tests since 2006, including the most recent one in September 2017, were conducted. "Despite the continuation of small tremors near Mt. Mantap since North Korea's last nuclear test, tunnel work at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site is still underway," the analysts wrote on 38 North. "These efforts continue to be concentrated at the West Portal, leaving the North Portalmostly dormant and likely abandoned, at least for the time being. At the West Portal, there has been a consistently high level of activity since North Korea's last nuclear test." "Activity" includes personnel and vehicles coming and going with loaded mine carts, which suggests that a tunnel is being excavated and expanded. The three scholars claimed something similar in November: the "significant movement of equipment, mining carts, material and netting" around the West Portal. In other words, the excavation has continued for at least five weeks now. The West Portal is a mostly-unused tunnel complex several hundred meters away from the North Portal, which was the site of the September test that is believed to have caused several earthquakes. Tremors included two earthquakes immediately after the explosion: the first is believed to have been caused by the test itself, the second by the collapse of one of the tunnels. Aftershocks were detected as late as November. The tremors may have even affected nearby Paektu Mountain, a sacred mountain throughout Korean history and a major symbol of the North Korean regime. The North Portal, the scholars noted, seems to have been abandoned due to the damage it sustained in the previous nuclear test, the largest to date. Cave-ins and nuclear contamination are also feared at the site. Other analysts corroborated 38 North's claims. Ryan Barenklau, CEO and founder of Strategic Sentinel, a DC-based geostrategy group, told IBTimes UK, "The complex is probably unstable seeing how many tremors have been recording, forcing new tunnels to be created. The West Portal area will probably be where the next nuclear tests will be conducted if there are any more to come." A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Irans southeastern province of Kerman on Tuesday, the Iranian seismological center reported, though minimal damage was reported. Eighteen people were wounded in the quake, which struck in the villages of Hejdak and Ravar in Kerman province, the national emergency service told state broadcaster IRIB. Officials said old houses were damaged in six villages, and classes at schools and universities were cancelled. The quake struck at 12:13 p.m. (0843 GMT) with the epicenter around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the provincial capital of Kerman and about 800 kilometers from Tehran. It was measured as magnitude 5.9 by the US Geological Survey and several smaller aftershocks were reported. Later Tuesday, the USGS reported another quake in the region, a 6.0-magnitude temblor about 65 kilometers from Kernan. Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are extremely vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist, the service said. Iran sits atop several fault lines, and Tuesdays quake comes less than a day after a 6.0-magnitude tremor struck the western province of Kermanshah along the border with Iraq. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: DAVENPORT, Iowa Per Mar Security Services, a leading provider of total security solutions for residential and commercial clients based in Davenport, IA, was a recipient of the 2017 Honeywell Community Service Award. This award recognizes authorized Honeywell Dealers who are committed to community service, and supporting their local communities. Per Mar received the award for its efforts in supporting Hand-in-Hand. Hand-in-Hand is a non-profit organization whose primary propose is to provide life skills, social development, child care and enjoyable memories for special needs children and young adults. Per Mar has been a long-time supporter of Hand-in-Hand and a sponsor of its largest fundraiser, the Hand-in-Hand Chili Cook-Off. Per Mar employees, led by team leaders Ronda Meyer, Susan Richards, and Lori Ryden, raised money for the cook-off by hosting pot lucks, bingo, taco bars, employee jeans days, bake sales and raffles. The Per Mar Charity Fund matched the money raised dollar for dollar. In addition to the money raised, Per Mar employees donated their time to make gallons of chili and volunteer at the Chili Cook-Off event. At the annual cook-off this year, Per Mar took 1st place for Peoples Choice for Best Individual Chili and 1st place for the Spirit Award, which is given to the team who raises the most money. Ronda Meyer, Vice President and Controller at Per Mar, serves on the Hand-in-Hand board. Meyer said, This award means so much to us. Hand-in-Hand is an organization that provides programming and respite care for children with disabilities. This organization is near and dear to my heart as I grew up with a sister and niece who have special needs so I have first-hand knowledge of how important organizations like this are to both the child and their family. I am immensely proud that Per Mar and our employees support this organization. It is definitely a great feeling watching your co-workers come together to do something amazing for the community! About Per Mar Security Services Established in 1953, Per Mar Security Services is the largest, family-owned, full-service security company in the Midwest with more than 2,400 team members, operating in 23 branch locations and 18 satellite locations. The company provides full-service security solutions for homes and businesses including security officer services, smart home automation, burglar and fire alarms, access control, security cameras, alarm monitoring, investigative services and background checks. For more information about Per Mar Security Services, please visit permarsecurity.com. COLONA City water bills now will go to the owner of Colona Mobile Home Park on Cleveland Road instead of individual residents. The distribution change follows legal advice received by the city that it wasn't in line with their own ordinance regarding the bills. In other business Monday, officials learned the city's property tax levy will be $586,032, is up 4.85 percent from a year ago. The levy increase is expected to bring in another $27,000. Also on Monday, the council passed a new ordinance prohibiting sexual harassment. The action follows recent state legislation. The annual audit report also was given, which concluded city finances are fairly stable, according to Mayor Rick Lack. A house was damaged Tuesday during a shooting in Davenport, though no one was reported injured. Davenport police officers were called around 3:15 p.m. for the gunfire complaint in the 1800 block of Ripley Street, according to a Davenport Police Department news release. Once in the area, they found shell casings in the street and the damage to the house. Further information was not available Tuesday afternoon, according to the police department. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125 or use the apps CityConnect Davenport, IA or CrimeReports by Motorola. Information also may be left via Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500. CORDOVA Gov. Bruce Rauner celebrated the one-year milestone of the Future Energy Jobs Act on Tuesday, legislation that prevented Exelon Generation nuclear generating stations from closing in Cordova and Clinton, and guaranteeing the plants will remain in operation for the next decade. Speaking to Exelon employees, Gov. Rauner said the bill was landmark bipartisan legislation. "This bill is historic; it has major national significance," he said. "We were proud to get this bill passed in the General Assembly after hard work on both sides of the aisle. We are here to say congratulations, and celebrate the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act. "This bill laid the foundation for tens of thousands of new energy-related jobs to be developed in the state, all while saving billions of dollars for our energy consumers over the next 12 years. It shows what we can do working on a bipartisan basis, working together to get things done." Gov. Rauner said the bill, which saved 800 jobs in the Quad Cities and 700 in Clinton, Ill., was at the top of his list of accomplishments as governor. It also created 400 construction jobs through infrastructure improvements at the plant, including the addition of the 36,000-square-foot professional learning center. "This was hard work, this took many months. There were competing interests, a lot of people opposed and had different ideas," he said. "We had many months of negotiations. I was personally committed to getting this bill passed. This was a major historic milestone for Illinois." Gov. Rauner was joined by State Rep. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, who played a key role in persuading lawmakers to pass the bill. "Today we not only celebrate the one-year passage of this historic legislation, but celebrate the private and public partnerships; union and business coming together," Rep. Anderson said. "This is bipartisanship at its best and I'm so proud of it. I'm so proud and honored to represent you in Springfield." Ken Ohr, site president for the Quad Cities Generating Station, said employees were able to see the local legislative process work. "It started with a grassroots (effort) by writing letters, use of social media, and bus trips to Springfield to rally for a cause," Mr. Ohr said. "They've been able to become not only a witness to this history, but an active participant in making it a reality. It was a real victory for the Quad Cities' area." Gov. Rauner said energy costs are already 20 percent lower in Illinois than in other states. Ensuring the success of Exelon Generating Station will keep the cost of living down for working families. He said energy efficiency is a growing sector of the economy, and keeping the Cordova plant open has laid the foundation for other manufacturing businesses to come to the area. "I'm out there recruiting companies right now," Gov. Rauner said. "With our workforce, our locations and our transportation systems, Illinois is very attractive for many manufacturing firms. Energy generation is the foundation for more prosperity for the people of Illinois. Your success is Illinois' success." Mr. Ohr said passage of the bill preserved $1.2 billion of economic activity between Cordova and Clinton. "We are recognizing the importance of zero-emission power supplies, especially on the magnitude that nuclear power can provide," Mr. Ohr said. "We also recognized the importance of strengthening the resiliency of our power supply such as wind, solar, and various options so we have energy security in the state of Illinois." In March, Gov. Rauner will face State Rep. Jeanne Ives in the primary election in an effort to keep his seat. He responded to questions from a Dispatch-Argus reporter about allegations by Rep. Ives, who said he has betrayed conservatives on social and economic policy in the state. He dismissed Rep. Ives as a challenger, saying his focus is on "beating the true enemies of the people of Illinois, and that's the political machine that's run by (House) Speaker Mike Madigan." "I'm the one person who can lead the transformation and the revolution to beat that machine to free up more economic growth and jobs in the state, and bring down taxes," he said. "I am a unifying force, and we are going to come together to beat the Chicago political machine and beat Speaker Madigan, and that's 100 percent my focus." After his Cordova stop, Gov. Rauner traveled to Exelon's power plant in Clinton for a similar visit before heading back to Springfield. In closing remarks, Gov. Rauner told the crowd that as he travels across the state, he attends church every Sunday morning in a different community. "You know, the good Lord did not make us Democrats or Republicans," he said. "The good Lord put us on Earth to do His work; to help each other, work together, and make the world a better place." A Bettendorf man was fatally injured Monday while working on a garbage truck at Republic Services in Bettendorf. Authorities were called at 5:16 p.m. to the Republic facility at 6449 Valley Drive, according to a news release from the city. The man, a 40-year-old Republic mechanic, was working on the truck's hydraulics when he was injured. First responders attempted life-saving measures, but the man died on scene. Further details as to how his injuries occurred were not provided in the release, issued Tuesday. The man's identity was also not released pending notification of family. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating the incident, but further details were not being released Tuesday, Iowa OSHA administrator Jens Nissen said. An OSHA investigation could take up to six months. Republic referred to the city's news release when asked for comment on Tuesday. Editors note: Illinois public universities and community colleges were especially clobbered by an unconscionable two-year state budget impasse. It will take decades for many to recover, if at all, as incoming college freshmen flee to other states eager to poach our brightest and best. For students who stay, tuition increases are routine even as programs are on the chopping block. Decimated by staff cuts as they struggle to make ends meet, five of seven of our universities have been rated bad investments by bonding houses. A handful are close to closing their doors, with no hope of rescue by a state hovering just above junk bond status itself, borrowing to keep government running and carrying a staggering unpaid bill backlog. Drastic times require drastic measures, higher-ed leaders have discovered as theyve sought creative ways to meet unprecedented challenges. None, however, are as drastic as the steps being suggested by the chancellor of one state university in especially critical condition. As The Champaign News Gazette told its readers in the editorial below, the effort bears watching not just by the schools in critical condition, but by higher ed leaders across the state as they struggle to make our public institutions thrive again. Stopping the free fall ? With his campus in what he calls a free fall, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Chancellor Carlo Montemagno is asking his faculty and staff to embrace that which they hate the most real change. Contending that SIU-Carbondale is spending way to much time and money on administration, Chancellor Carlo Montemagno insists change is necessary big change to be implemented by next fall. To do otherwise, he said, is to risk the health of the institution. We are not offering programs that are distinctive and relevant to todays students. As we try to correct it, we face limited resources, declining faculty numbers and no help from the state, he said recently in a State of the University speech. Many university officials throughout Illinois probably feel the same way as it relates to monetary support from our financially failing state. But SIUC has been particularly hard hit, and not just during the two-year budget standoff between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders. It has 6,000 fewer students than it did 10 years ago. Over the past year, SIUC suffered a 9 percent enrollment drop, costing it roughly $10 million in revenue. Since 2015, the number of freshman enrollees has fallen from 2,177 to 1,319. SIUC is vital to and located in an economically challenged region of the state, one more reason why state legislators should not continue to resist the policy changes needed to boost Illinois economy. Further, it has competing universities just across its Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky borders. Since something has to give, Chancellor Montemagno wants to eliminate 42 academic departments by folding them into 18 separate schools overseen by five (reduced from eight) colleges. He estimates it would save $2.3 million a year. Just think how many people would be affected by that kind of seismic change, how many fiefdoms will be roiled and how much anger will be generated. But then, what is the alternative when academic institutions or states like Illinois simply dont have enough revenue to finance business as usual? It remains to be seen whether change on the scale Montemagno has proposed will become reality. SIUCs faculty senate already has expressed its opposition by a 19-11 vote, a narrow enough margin to suggest many there understand the problem and are prepared to address it in a realistic way. CORDOVA, Illinois A year ago, the future of two Exelon Nuclear plants in the Quad-Cities area were in question. On Tuesday, a year after his signature saved the plants in Cordova and Clinton from early closure, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner told Exelon Quad-Cities Station employees their energy generation will put Illinois on a path to job growth and prosperity. "Your success is Illinois' success," Rauner told about 175 Exelon employees gathered for a town hall meeting at the Cordova nuclear plant's Professional Learning Center. For the Exelon employees, Rauner's visit was a chance to again celebrate the legislative win that secured their jobs. Exelon had threatened to close both plants within two years if the legislation, called the Future Energy Jobs Act, did not pass. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today," said Heather King, of Hampton, who snapped one of the first cell phone photos with him after his speech. She was hired as a custodian at the plant the day after the bill was signed last year. Her co-worker Kathy Halsted, of Cambridge, Illinois, has 7 years at the plant and remembers too well the stress level felt by the employees ahead of the bill's passage. "Nobody knew if they were going to have a job. It was difficult times. I glad it stayed open." For Training Director Ed Pannell, who will oversee the expanded Professional Learning Center facility now under construction, the developments of the past year "are exciting." "We're investing $6 million just in this building," he said. "This bill lays the foundation for thousands, tens of thousands, of more jobs in Illinois," he told the Exelon workers Tuesday. Rauner also visited the sister Exelon plant in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon. According to the governor, the new law not only creates jobs in nuclear generation and across the energy sector but will make the state of Illinois more competitive in attracting new manufacturing jobs. "I want to make sure we create all energy options and protect them in the state of Illinois," he said. Earlier this month at a reception in Chicago, Rauner said the clean energy act will allow Illinois to "compete head-to-head with any state in the nation to attract clean-energy investment and clean-energy jobs." Speaking to business leaders at the Environmental Entrepreneurs and Clean Energy Trust event, he said Illinois now is in line for $180 million in new investment in renewable resources because of the law's passage. At Exelon, where his message met an appreciative crowd, he said the legislation already has led to the hiring of 400 new Exelon employees at Quad-Cities and Clinton (100 at Quad-Cities). In addition, the plant is employing hundreds of construction workers who are advancing $20 million in construction projects, including the expansion of the Professional Learning Center, said Exelon Site Vice President Kenneth Ohr. "We need competitive energy costs and we need to attract more companies, more business, from around the world to locate in Illinois and you allow that to happen...," Rauner told the workers. After the town hall meeting, Rauner toured the plant's simulation room speaking with reporters about the law's benefits. In addition to protecting "good-paying jobs here in the Quad-Cities," he said it will lead thousands of new jobs in energy including energy efficiency and innovation. In addition, the law keeps energy costs low "so we can keep the cost of living low for our families and businesses that want to grow here," he added. The brief town hall meeting also included Illinois Sen. Neil Anderson, the bill's co-sponsor. Ohr spoke of the three-year journey, during which employees wrote letters, led social media campaigns and filled buses to travel to Springfield to have their voice heard. He recalled how Sen. Anderson was one of the early supporters in what became a bi-partisan effort. "This wasn't about politics. This was about a good business. This was about a clean environment," Ohr said. Anderson said it was an issue that united the Quad-City community. "I think we need to celebrate the fact that public-private partnerships, unions, businesses coming together was a big deal and also the community coming together. That's how this thing got done," he said. But the event comes as Rauner's support of the bill is receiving criticism from the Republican set to challenge him in next year's primary. Illinois Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, who recently filed nomination papers, had opposed the energy bill with its subsidies for Exelon. In an interview last month with the Quad-City Times, she said the state's residents are unfairly subsidizing energy going out of state. She also questioned whether Exelon actually would have closed the plants had the law not passed. An idea from the teachers' union to help save money next year in the Davenport Community School District has been embraced by the school board. The proposal to allow employees who are at least 55 years old to retire after 15 years with the district was approved unanimously Monday by the Davenport School Board. It was accepted for one year only. The district took this step after it was approached by the Davenport Education Association, the teachers' union, including Cari Johnson, president, and Toby Paone, labor representative for the Iowa State Education Association in Davenport. "We were pleased by the board's approval, no question," Paone said, adding that the union representatives have a good working relationship with the district officials. The education association made the proposal to save the district money, Paone said, especially as the district considers the 2018-19 budget next year. "Hopefully this will save some money for 2018," Paone said. The board's actions mean that the association, or teachers union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME in the district, and the district's non-bargaining groups will be affected. Some 237 people, including 181 teachers, would be eligible under the new policy. They must decide by Jan. 5 if they wish to take early retirement. The district is hosting informational sessions on early retirement, Erica Goldstone, the district's director of equity and human resources said. The district has offered early retirement at various times in the past. Policies have required that eligible employees have at least 25, or 20 years of experience. There's no desire to lose too many employees with experience, Goldstone said, noting that employees who are eligible don't necessarily take the step of retiring. "Today's 60-year-olds are not the same as 60-year-olds in the past 10-15 years," she said. "Age is just one component of life." Some cost savings to the district is anticipated, Goldstone said. The district would save an average of $2,500-$2,700 for each teacher who retires. In his union position, Paone keeps a close eye on the Iowa Legislature and its actions concerning education. "This policy is only good for one year, but we'll address the issue again if things don't change in Des Moines," he said. U.S. Reps. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., and Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa., have signed on to a letter asking for an investigation of sexual misconduct allegations made against President Donald Trump. The letter, sent earlier this week, began with more than 50 Democratic women, including Bustos, asking that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee launch an investigation. The letter pointed to allegations by at least 17 women and noted that as members of Congress have come under scrutiny, "we cannot ignore the multitude of women who have come forward with accusations against President Trump." The White House has denied the allegations, and Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the oversight panel, rejected the request in a letter dated Tuesday, saying the allegations are criminal matters. He referred the request to the Justice Department. Bustos said Wednesday she is "disappointed, but not surprised" at the rejection. However, she added, It doesnt matter whether youre working on a factory floor, Congress or in the White House, sexual harassment is unacceptable and this is a moment when we are saying no more." For his part, Loebsack said in an email that "it is clear that a number of women have had a horrific experience and it takes great courage for them to come forward. Regardless of the political affiliation of the accused, these women deserve to have their voices heard. Bustos and Loebsack have been critical of the president but not as aggressive as some in their party. (Both voted against an impeachment resolution a week ago and Bustos declined to sign on to a lawsuit filed in June that accuses the president of violating the Constitution by financially benefiting from his office.) However, as sexual misconduct allegations have enveloped many powerful men in politics, media and business, the women who accused the president of misconduct last year have renewed their complaints. And they are being echoed by congressional Democrats, who have seen some of their colleagues resign or announce they would do so as a result of similar accusations. More than 100 Democratic lawmakers had signed on to the letter, according to an updated posted on the web site of Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Florida. Frankel is the chair of the Democratic Women's Working Group, which initiated the investigation request. Here's the latest from the National Weather Service. A wind advisory is in effect until 6 p.m. tonight. Very windy conditions are expected this afternoon with wind gusts up to 40 mph. Secure lightweight outdoor article such as trash cans and lawn furniture, be especially careful if driving a high-profile vehicle and avoid climbing ladders or onto high places. There's a chance of rain and sleet before 2 p.m., then a chance of sprinkles between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Skies will be mostly cloudy and breezy with a high near 46 degrees. Northwest winds around 25 mph will gusts as high as 45 mph. The chance of precipitation is 40 percent. Tonight will be mostly cloudy and blustery with a low around 23 degrees. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph. The driver of a red Ferrari that crashed into a Maysville, Iowa, home Tuesday night which caused a fire and explosion was dead at the scene, the Scott County Sheriff's Office said this morning. The identity of the driver has not been released yet, pending family notification. Read more. Ugly Christmas sweater parties are popping up around the Quad-Cities. These people are making their own. Scott Countys budget management practices and policy were praised at Tuesdays Committee-of-the-Whole meeting. John Knepel, CPA and partner at Baker Tilly, presented the Fiscal Year 2018 audit to the Board of Supervisors. Knepel credited supervisors conservative approach to finances and good departmental budget controls for the countys solid financial picture. Currently at $29.5 million in outstanding debt, Knepel reported the county is at 95 percent capacity of the established $670 million debt ceiling. All funds are within policy established by the county with only secondary roads over-funded due to unanticipated revenues, Knepel said. Any improvements to be made would be minute. County Administrator Mahesh Sharma recognized staff efforts to stay on budget. We make it a point to keep within board-directed policy, Sharma said. Board President Carol Earnhardt congratulated Sharma, Director of Budget and Administrative Services David Farmer, and the countys budget analysts and support staff for receiving the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the 23rd consecutive year. Scott County is one of three counties in Iowa to hold the award presented by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. In other business, supervisors agreed with County Engineer Jon Burgstrums recommendation to waive the required three readings and approve acceptance of four new streets and nine stop signs into the countys secondary road system. Supervisors approved the final plat of Dexters 7th addition in Park View on June 1, 2017. Supervisors will vote on the agenda item at Thursdays regular 5 p.m. meeting. Sheriff Tim Lane thanked supervisors for approving the over hire of two jail correctional officers two months ago. Lane told supervisors one of the officers has since been hired as a deputy while the other officer voluntarily resigned. The sheriff reported the jail is now fully staffed at 59 employees. Facility and Support Services Director Tammy Speidel accepted the 2017 Excellence in Energy Efficient Design Award. The award recognizes outstanding efforts in reducing energy usage at the new Sheriff Patrol Headquarters, 3106 S. 16th Ave., Eldridge. CEDAR RAPIDS An Iowa family will join President Donald Trump as he makes his closing arguments for passage of the GOP tax reform plan. Aubyn and Anthony Giampolo of Johnston and four other families will be a White House briefing Wednesday afternoon. The Giampolos, who both work for the West Des Moines Police Department, and the other families were chosen to ensure that the group visiting tomorrow would be a good representation of the families around the country that stand to benefit from tax reform, according a member of the White House press office. According to senior White House officials, the president will use their stories and specific tax situations to explain the benefits for middle-class taxpayers of historic, transformative tax reform he hopes to sign into law before the end of the year. This is a great opportunity for the American people to see middle-class families who have similar situations to their own and see how the plan is going to benefit them, Cliff Sims said on a Tuesday call with reporters. The president is expected to make an aspirational argument for tax reform to young people he has invited to the White House for his speech. These are the folks who are, for perhaps the first time in American history, (their) parents no longer think their children will be better off than they are, Sims said. Were going to reverse that. Were going to make it where the kids in that audience know theyre going to have an opportunity to grow up and live the life they want to live ... (and parents) are going to know the next generation will have the opportunity to be more prosperous. Anthony Giampolo has been in law enforcement since 1997, the past four years as a sergeant with the West Des Moines Police Department. Aubyn Giampolo has been a dispatch shift supervisor since 2003. Both hold master of public administration degrees from Drake University. Three of the couples four children are expected to be with them at the White House. The family are making the trip as private citizens. Members of the House and Senate are working toward resolving differences in the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul package that passed the House on Nov. 16 and the Senate on Dec. 2. The impact of the changes are in dispute, with the GOP pointing to analyses by the Tax Policy Center that estimated it will reduce taxes, on average, for every income group, and another by the Tax Foundation, an independent think tank that projects that over the next 10 years the corporate tax cuts could lead to almost 1 million new jobs. Democrats and their allies, however, say the bill will hurt the middle class, benefit the wealthy and create loopholes for corporations and the rich to exploit. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, called the bill no more than a thinly veiled attempt by the Trump administration to cover up an economic agenda that showers corporations with goodies while taking money and health care away from those who need it most. The South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department is asking for hay donations to help feed the bison at Custer State Park as a wildfire continues to burn thousands of acres of grassland. "Due to #LegionLakeFire there is a need for hay for the buffalo herd throughout the winter," GF&P said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. "Please message @CusterStatePark with your information as phone lines are currently not available." The rapidly spreading fire threatened wildlife in the park Tuesday night, and staff spent Wednesday checking on animals along Wildlife Loop Road. Custer State Park said in a tweet that resource managers were evaluating the status of all wildlife but were not aware of any casualties. The park is home to a herd of around 1,000 bison, which designated park staff manage, and many other animals such as elk, deer, antelope, prairie dogs and burros. EMERY | By day, Jeremy Jansen is an accountant but by night, he's decorating. As Christmas approaches, the Emery native's flare for holiday decor is beginning to show. But this year his talents for interior design were not just wowing his family and friends, but a presidential family. Jansen, 24, was one of approximately 75 volunteers nationwide to be selected as a decorator for the White House this holiday season, the Daily Republic reported . And after working this past week in the halls and rooms of the White House, Jansen knows it's a memory he'll always remember. "I will never forget it as long as I live. It was so nice to be there and use my talent to be part of something that's so great and so big," Jansen said. "I know that it's only one season, but I just feel like I'm part of the history of the White House in a way." Jansen spent three days decorating as a volunteer for the White House. Donning a red apron with the phrase "Christmas at the White House 2017," he was tasked with several projects from Nov. 20 through Nov. 23. He returned home for Thanksgiving holiday in Emery shortly after. "It was very surreal," he said of the experience. "It was like, 'Wow, this is actually happening.' I didn't want to get too hyped up about it beforehand, but I was very excited." Decorating the White House has always been a dream of Jansen's. Since he was about 10 years old, Jansen said he's tuned into the HGTV "White House Christmas" special that airs each December. The hour-long feature goes through the entire decorating process of the monstrous presidential home on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. "I used to tell my parents, 'Someday I'm going to do that,'" Jansen said. Selected in mid-October, Jansen applied in early fall, submitting an essay explaining why he wanted to be a volunteer. And now in his job as a tax accountant at Deloitte company in Minneapolis, Minn., he finally decided to give it a go. The 2011 graduate from Bridgewater-Emery High School has always been surrounded by avid decorators as both his mother and grandmother love the holiday season. Their passion rubbed off on Jansen, and he began to help as soon as he could. Home for Thanksgiving this year, Jansen helped with the remaining holiday decorating chores with his mother, Lori. Together, the mother-son duo will also decorate a tree in the high school's recently completed $4.5 million gymnasium. He also will help decorate St. Martin's Catholic Church another tradition he's enjoyed over the years living in Emery. "This is completely a hobby," Jansen said, motioning to the holiday decor surrounding him in his family's home south of Emery. The apron he wore for his three days in the White House now hangs in his family's home, for all to see. The memento is something Jansen plans to treasure, and a reminder of his time in the White House. While he can't go into great detail about the decorations, Jansen said he specifically worked on the ornaments and set-up of the Green Room and foyer. "I will say it's probably the best I've seen in quite awhile," Jansen said. "How it's going to be styled is very true to the White House. I think it's going to be spectacular." Part of his volunteer work also included working in a warehouse and then transporting items to the White House. Jansen said First Lady Melania Trump was very involved in the overall vision of the decorations while one male official served as the organizer, along with few other staffers. But the rest was left up to volunteers, who had designated tasks. Provided with pictures for inspiration and an end goal, Jansen got to work with his fellow volunteers who came from 20 different states and varied in experience. Many of the volunteers had military background, while quite a few also had experience in professional decorating serving as florists and interior designers, Jansen said. But there was also several just like him, who find decorating a hobby. "You're taking something ordinary and making it into something really cool," Jansen said. "... Everything is always different and I like to mix everything up and make everything look brand new without actually buying anything." His passion to re-envision and recreate came in handy, as he estimates 90 percent of the decorations were used in prior years at the White House. And Jansen loved it, he said, as it enabled his creative side. "Honestly, it was amazing," he said. Although he went to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion for accounting and then later to the University of Minnesota for a master's for the same subject, Jansen's future may include a career revolving around design and landscaping. Someday, Jansen said, he would like to return to South Dakota, and possibly start his own business. While that is down the road, he's going to relish in his recent accomplishment, and he is already considering applying for the gig again. While it might not be next year, he plans to encourage his mother to also try. And although he was very skeptical of applying himself this year, he's now learned to "just go for it" and he hopes others will too. "I've wanted to do this for so long and it is kind of a dream of mine," Jansen said. "Give it a shot. You may or may not succeed but if you don't try, you know you won't." Jansen is unsure if he'll appear in the 2017 HGTV "White House Christmas" special, but he'll definitely be watching. The air date is still to be determined, but anybody interested can check the program schedule for mid-December, Jansen said. December 13, 1927 Tom Wilson, well-known rancher of the Buffalo Gap vicinity, came to the Hot Springs clinic Monday to have a foreign body removed from his ear. Mr. Wilson was in much pain and the cause was apparent when a sheep tick, with a multitude of active legs, was taken from a position against the eardrum. Mr. Wilson left for home in a considerably relieved state. A million dollar beet crop, is the slogan adopted by the Belle Fourche Commercial club. The announcement by D.B. Pratt, general manager of the Utah and Idaho (U&I) sugar beet plant at Belle Fourche, that officials had fixed the price per ton at $7.00 for the 1928 crop. Hay CanyonE. Ebersole was a social visitor one day last week at the home of Geo. Schleve. Guy Nelson spent Wednesday evening at the Merdanian ranch. Perreault brothers and George Schleve hauled hogs to Smithwick last Friday for Bert Thompson. Frank Bolton went to Smithwick Sunday. Ellis Allender of Pactola was down this way the middle of the week. PRIZE CONTEST on Outdoor Lighted Christmas Trees: open to all residential customers but not including places of business or organizations. First prize: Westinghouse automatic percolator; Second prize: Westinghouse Cozy Glow (large) and third prize: Kitchen Lighting Fixture. Call at our office for entry blank or help and instructions. Water, Light and Power Company. Sisters Hospital NotesEvenlyn Schultz, an 11-year-old girl of Martin, was brought to the hospital with a ruptured appendix and was operated on immediately. She is doing well. Mrs. J.A. Kelliher of Lance Creek, Wyo. is improving after a course of medical treatments. Valentine Wegh of Scenic is a medical patient. He is an old resident of this locality. Hilda Wasserburger of Montrose, an inland town north of Harrison, Neb. was operated on Sunday for the removal of her appendix, which had ruptured. Her condition is satisfactory. Clarence Kreman of Glenn, Neb. affectionately known as Skeezix by the nurses, who are his devoted admirers, has returned to the hospital for further treatment of a cleft palate. He was brought in here a year ago, when only two days old, and as soon as hi condition would permit, he was operated on for hare lip and cleft palate, it being impossible to complete the palate operation at that time. December 20, 1927 The Star and Times-Herald wish to make public their appreciation of the work of C.N. Alleger, of the Northwest Post, Belle Fourche, who had charge of the campaign. Mrs. Bert West of the Oelrichs vicinity sustained a broken arm when cranking the family car last week and was brought to the Hot Springs Clinic for surgical attention. The break is in the right wrist and will hamper Mrs. West, who is teacher of the school in their district, for some time. After a day or two spent at the Sisters hospital she was taken to her home. Mrs. Frank Merwin of Hot Springs has received several letters this week containing information regarding her son Elvin Merwin who disappeared on November 15. The most encouraging information came through Glenn Weldon, superintendent of the Ardmore public schools, who wrote Mrs. Merwin at Oral that he saw a Merwin boy in Ardmore one day the past week. Mrs. Merwin feels sure it was Elvin, as he is the only son who is away from home. Mr. Weldon formerly lived at Oral and knew the Merwin family personally. OralMrs. Ed Wilson, correspondent Mr. and Mrs. Perry Crom and daughters spent Sunday in the W.E. Pierson home. George Renz and Ed Wilson went to Oelrichs Monday after a load of corn. Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Bledsoe and Mrs. Mary Margareidge were Hot Springs shoppers Wednesday. Ed Schleve and wife and baby have moved out to Vic LaMonts where Ed will shuck corn. Schmidt Bros. shipped a car load of fat cattle to the Omaha market this week. John Eng and Perry Crom shipped two cars of hogs to market this week. Charles McWilliams, the cream separator man, spent a few days in Oral and vicinity this week. SmithwickMrs. M.G. OGara, correspondent Roy Clark finished taking out a 50 acre field of corn Saturday. Vic Marty is now driving a new Chevrolet. R.C. Davison entertained a number of his friends Tuesday evening at a stag party. Mike Sheeley, the oil driller, was in town the last day of the week. The Marty Hall is being decorated and arranged for the school program Wednesday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Barr were in from the Canyon Saturday. Mrs. A.A. Faverty and son Harvey went to Rapid City Friday evening. Mr. Pleas. Ensen spent Sunday at his home in Rapid City. By Kerri Rempp One of four Republican candidates for South Dakotas governors seat touted his ties to West River during a campaign stop in Hot Springs, saying the region helped ground him in conservative values. This is home. I wont forget it. The Black Hills taught me my values, said Attorney General Marty Jackley to a crowd of roughly three dozen at the American Legion Dec. 7. West River is important to me. Jackley faces a crowded Republican field in next Junes primary election to replace the term limited Gov. Dennis Daugaard. He will be joined on the ballot by Representative Kristi Noem, Lora Hubbel and Terry LaFleur. Only one Democrat, Billie Sutton, has filed for the office. But Jackley says his West River ties put him in a unique position to serve as a strong voice for the state, especially when it comes to agriculture and veterans issues. Jackley previously served as the attorney for both the Belle Fourche and Angostura irrigation districts. Were very ag-dependent, he remarked, noting that the answer for the future lies in value-added agriculture and advances in technology, research and development. The state is well-positioned to lead the way in those areas, in large part because of South Dakota State Universitys aggressive efforts. As for veterans issues, a topic near and dear to many in Hot Springs, Jackley said its important the state has a governor who can make Hot Springs voice be heard in Washington, D.C. I understand it and I appreciate it and Ill fight for it, he said of the local VA facility. In more general terms, Jackley said driving economic growth, including in the rural parts of the state, education and affordable healthcare for all are important factors in his decision to run for governor. Keeping children and the rest of the citizenry safe is also a driving force for the former drug prosecutor who was first assigned to cases in Hot Springs. The national methamphetamine epidemic and a rise of prescription drug abuse are affecting South Dakota and there is a need for effective prevention, treatment and enforcement, he said. He would like the state legislature make it a more serious crime to bring drugs into the state. If his petition is granted, Jackley could be arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in the middle of campaign season next spring, making a case that states should be able to collect sales tax on internet sales. Its estimated that the state is losing at least $50 million a year in revenue to online sales, which also hurts Main Street businesses in the form of less revenue and few employment opportunities, Jackley said. His petition garnered support from 34 Republican and Democratic governors and he believes it has a good chance to be argued before the highest court. Should the petition be granted, its likely the Supreme Court will hear arguments in April and release a decision in June. The ability to collect sales tax on internet sales would go a long way toward filling a $33 million budget gap, he added. SALT LAKE CITY | A former polygamous sect leader was sentenced Wednesday to nearly five years in prison for his role in a carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement while awaiting trial. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said during a hearing in Salt Lake City that Lyle Jeffs deserved the 57-month prison sentence because his behavior showed he doesn't respect U.S. laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sect's imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs, above everything else. Stewart said Lyle Jeffs' religious beliefs provide context for his decision to follow his brother's orders, but don't justify the fact that he "cheated" taxpayers out of government funds. Lyle Jeffs is a lifelong member of the Mormon offshoot group based on the Utah-Arizona border known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The group has a small compound near Pringle in western South Dakota. "Mr. Jeffs is an adult. He knows right from wrong," Stewart said. Prosecutors accused Lyle Jeffs of running a scheme to divert some $11 million in food-stamp benefits to a communal storehouse and front companies. The funds were used to pay for a tractor, truck and other items. Jeffs was accused of orchestrating the scheme. Prosecutor Robert Lund asked for the maximum five-year sentence to send a message to Lyle Jeffs and other sect leaders that a "culture of corruption" in recent years won't be tolerated. Lyle Jeffs was also ordered to pay $1 million in restitution. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and failure to appear. Lyle Jeffs, 57, spoke briefly and said he accepted responsibility for his mistakes and that he erred in not properly researching food stamp fraud laws. "I do your honor humbly and respectfully say that I acknowledge my mistakes and decision-making," said Lyle Jeffs, his hands and ankles shackled. "I do humbly accept my responsibly for my actions. I don't blame anyone." His attorney Kathryn Nester said the scheme wasn't malicious but meant to ensure everyone in the group had food to eat as part of the group's religious beliefs in communal living. She said Lyle Jeffs has already suffered tremendously because he's been banned from the sect by his brother Warren Jeffs. That means he's lost his family, his job and his faith. "If you're looking to humble him, I think we're there," Nester said. Lyle Jeffs was first charged in February 2016 along with 10 other members of the sect in the fraud scheme. Cases against the others ended in plea deals without prison time or dismissed charges, including the case against his brother Seth Jeffs, leader of the sect's compound in Custer County. Lyle Jeffs compounded his legal problems when he became a fugitive after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device in in June of that year while out on supervised release. He was caught in South Dakota a year later after Yankton pawn shop workers spotted him and called police. His brother Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered wives. Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. The sect is an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago. A Rapid City man who pleaded guilty to enticing foreign children on the internet was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison. Shane Davison, 48, admitted paying for nude photos of Philippine girls and to view them engaging in sexual activity online, according to court documents. Investigators said the offenses, which occurred in 2015, were discovered when a money-transfer service informed Yahoo that a number of Yahoo accounts were trading in child exploitation material. Chief Judge Jeffrey Viken, of the U.S. District Court of South Dakota, also sentenced Davison to 15 years of supervised release following his prison term. Davisons two other charges, sexual exploitation of a minor and receipt of child pornography, were dismissed under the terms of his plea agreement with prosecutors. For Rapid Citys deer population, a day of reckoning is fast approaching. Come January, deer baiting stations packed with alfalfa and apples will be installed in wooded areas like Skyline Drive and western Rapid City, near the precipice of the Black Hills. As a cold, clear night descends upon the rolling plains and undulating hills, two certified shooters will silently stalk the stations, waiting patiently for a brazen buck to try his luck. Time is of little significance to the shooters, just one solitary number: 150. Thats how many mule doe, whitetail buck and whitetail doe will be harvested, i.e. shot and collected, during what city Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Biegler believes will be a one- to two-week operation. At Tuesdays Public Works Committee meeting, committee members unanimously approved the Parks and Recreation plan to harvest 150 deer for the 2017/2018 season. The plan, which must be formally approved at Monday's Rapid City Council meeting, comes after the Parks department completed its annual deer trend survey in October. Over the span of three shifts two nights and one early morning parks department staffers manned observation points in urban wildlife interface areas where deer typically congregate and the lines between city and forest are blurred. Sightings were tallied and noted. When the survey was complete, the city sent the results to the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, which recommends how many deer should be harvested based on the survey. This year that figure was 150. In 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, it was 100. In 2014/2015, it was 150. The city has conducted the survey and harvest each year since the 1994-95 winter, though Biegler said in 2002 and 2003 the survey found that there was no need for deer harvesting. Deer-vehicle crash data and reports of deer sightings by citizens throughout the city are also considered, especially when determining where to set up baiting stations. During Tuesdays meeting, Biegler said this year would be the first time the city would include areas surrounding the Red Rocks and Countryside subdivisions after they received multiple calls for those residents about deer sightings. Our main reason for doing this is to reduce those incidents (deer-vehicle accidents and landscape destruction) and improve the safety for those who are living, working and driving around Rapid City, Biegler said in an interview. Biegler was hesitant to say why the number jumped to 150 from 100 the previous winter. Im not a game specialist, but it could be a number of things, he said. It could be the drought bringing more deer into the urban areas or it could be just a natural spike in population. As the city has done in the past, the meat will be processed and donated to the local food bank Feeding South Dakota. Sportsmen Against Hunger and Black Hills Sportsmen will continue their partnership with the city by donating $1,000 each toward the cost of the meat processing. The city, using its Parks department operating budget, will pay the remaining balance. In 2016 it cost $11,514 meat processing was the largest expense at $3,940 to harvest 100 deer, according to Journal archives. By the end of January, the harvest will have passed and Rapid Citians may expect to see fewer deer prancing through prairies and bumbling across byways. Just dont expect to see the shooters. They do their shooting at night, Biegler said, explaining that its done after dusk in an effort to avoid public interaction. The long arm of the law reached from Ravalli County to Oaxaca, Mexico, last week to pluck a former Hamilton pastor accused of securities fraud and bring him back for prosecution. James Jeb Bryant was arrested on a federal court warrant in connection with a 2008 securities scam that allegedly involved a fake structural panel business in Mexico and a $150,000 investment from one of his congregants. His partner and fellow pastor, Hamilton Pastor Harris Himes, was convicted in 2013 on felony securities fraud charges that involved them bilking their fellow Christian. Were going to prosecute Bryant, Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright said on Tuesday. Running away doesnt solve the problem. The victim in the case said he was duped into believing the company was already making the structural panels, but when he insisted on traveling to the Mexican factory all he found was a storage shed with agricultural items inside. Himes, who proclaimed himself lead pastor in the Big Sky Christian Center in Hamilton whose address was his post office box was sentenced to 90 days in jail as part of a 10-year suspended sentence, and was ordered to repay the $150,000. Bryant testified at Himes 2013 trial, under qualified immunity, and promised to refund the $150,000 investment. He claimed the business took a downturn due to the economy in 2008. On the same day that Himes started serving his sentence Jan. 11, 2016 a criminal case was opened against Bryant in U.S. District Court alleging that he traveled across state or national lines to avoid prosecution. Bryant appeared at an extradition hearing in Harris County in Texas on Monday, and is expected to be returned to Ravalli County for prosecution on six felony counts, according to Brett ONeil, an attorney for the state Office of the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance. In 2013, Bryant was charged with theft, failure to register as a salesperson, failure to register a security, fraudulent practices, conspiracy to commit theft, and conspiracy to commit fraudulent practices. According to a U.S. District Court affidavit from Selena DeVantier, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bryant acknowledged in 2013 that he was the alleged co-conspirator in the Himes case. Despite knowing that he had outstanding felony charges, Bryant flew back to Mexico after his testimony. A news account during Himes 2013 trial said Bryant testified that he was aware of the charges and had opted to stay in Mexico because people there were depending on him to keep the business in operation. Due to the securities elements of the charges against Bryant, ONeils office a division of the Montana State Auditors office was brought in. He and Fulbright requested the FBIs assistance after Bryant fled Montana. A couple of federales picked him up and are shipping him up here, ONeill said on Tuesday. The U.S. District Court case against Bryant was closed on Friday. The Missoula Police Department is investigating after a box containing bones and teeth believed to be from three children was found in the shed of a home. According to a search warrant recently filed in Missoula County District Court, a Missoula police officer was dispatched in late September to a house on the 2100 block of South 12th Street near Franklin Park after the remains were found. The search warrant application said a former tenant was evicted from the rental, and a cleaning crew was brought in to clear out the home. In a shed on the property, the crew found a box containing bones and teeth. The remains were sent to the Montana State Crime Lab, and the anthropology department at the University of Montana, where it was verified they were human. An anthropology professor determined the remains came from three children, and that they are likely modern and not archaeological, according to a search warrant application. The professor estimated the age of one of the children as 5 to 8 years old at the time of death, another at 6-10 years old, and the third as 2-4 years old. With permission of the property management company, a Missoula detective searched the property in early November but did not find any evidence. He returned with the anthropology professor and a pair of graduate student assistants later in the month, together coming to the decision that a more thorough examination of the property, home and other structures was necessary. District Court Judge Karen Townsend signed a search warrant for a potential homicide at the end of November, and the detective returned to the home, but did not take any additional evidence from it. Public information officer Sgt. Travis Welsh confirmed Tuesday that the investigation remains active. Political Incorrectness Paradoxes, and Anything else out of left field. Guwahati, December 13 : The troops of Assam Rifles had recovered hugecache of arms and ammunition in Nagaland on December 12, officials said. According to the reports, the troops of 32 Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) conducted a search operation based on specific information in general area Tenyiphe-I in Dimapur district alongwith a police representative and one point 22mm pistol with magazine, one 9mm revolver along with eight rounds live ammunition from a house. A suspected person identified as Aso Yimchungar was staying on rent in the house was found absconding. The recoveries were handed over to Chumukedima Police Station, Dimapur, PRO, HQ IGAR (North) Lt Col Amitabh Sharma said. On the other hand, the Assam Rifles troops had conducted another operation at the general area D-Khel, Diphupar along with police representative and recovered 55 live assorted rounds ammunition, 1 Misfired round and 1 Fired cartridge case and Tax Collection letter of NSCN(IM) and other incriminating documents a house. Security personnel also recovered an Identity card of Apong Tangkhul, Tatar of NSCN (IM) from the house and later recovered items were handed over to Diphupar Police Station, Dimapur. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) ISTANBUL, Dec 13: The Palestinian president said Wednesday his people will not accept any role for the United States in the Mideast peace process from now on, following President Donald Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a gathering of heads of state and top officials from Islamic nations at a summit in Turkey that is expected to forge a unified Muslim worlds stance against Trumps move. Abbas called Trumps decision a crime that threatened world peace. He called on the United Nations to take charge of the peace process and create a new mechanism, arguing that Washington is no longer fit for the task. The Palestinians are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas said, but after Trumps seismic shift on Jerusalem, Washington is not accepted as a fair negotiator. The speech marked a significant shift in Abbas approach toward the United States, after years of focusing on courting U.S. goodwill because of Washingtons role as sole mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Immediately after Trumps announcement last week, Abbas had said the U.S. effectively disqualified itself as a broker, but Wednesdays speech was more sharply worded and delivered to a global audience. Last week, Abbas aides said the Palestinian leader would not meet with Mike Pence during the U.S. vice presidents planned visit to Israel and the West Bank next week. Abbas had initially planned to meet with Pence in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, but two senior aides have said the meeting would not take place because of Trumps pivot on Jerusalem. The Istanbul gathering of heads of state and top officials from the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation is also an opportunity for the Muslim world to offer its strongest response yet to Washingtons move. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the current president of the OIC called on countries to urgently recognize the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital. Erdogan has been among the most vocal critics of Trumps announcement. In remarks to the summit, he said Israel is an occupying state and a terror state. Jerusalems status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Trumps Dec. 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem had triggered violent outbreaks. Earlier, in opening remarks to a pre-summit meeting, Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told OIC foreign ministers that the U.S. decision aims to legitimize Israels attempt to occupy Jerusalem. They expect the Islamic nation to remain silent, he said. But we will never be silent. This bullying eliminates the possibility of peace and the grounds for shared life. The U.S. decision is null for us. Most countries around the world have not recognized Israels 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem. Under a long-standing international consensus, the fate of the city is to be determined in negotiations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Lebanons President Michel Aoun, Jordanian King Abdullah II and top ministers of numerous nations were also attending the gathering in Istanbul. The secretary general of OIC called on countries that have not recognized Palestine as a state to do so. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen told the summit the U.S. decision on Jerusalem is an exceptional challenge facing Muslim nations and that it will fan violence in the region, giving extremists an excuse to sow chaos. In an emergency meeting in Cairo last weekend, Arab League foreign ministers demanded that the U.S. rescind Trumps decision. In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, the ministers also called for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trumps decision, but acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the states establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people. In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured the citys eastern sector and later annexed it in a move that is not recognized internationally. The Palestinians equally lay claim to Jerusalem and want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state. Some 320,000 Palestinians live in that part of the city and Palestinians claim a deep cultural, historical and religious connection to the city. The Old City, located in east Jerusalem, is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. These include the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site. Guwahati, December 13 : After Paresh Baruah led ULFA (I) militants shot dead a Village Defence Force (VDF) president and his son in Upper Assams Tinsukia district, suspected militants shot dead another person in lower Assams Kokrajhar district on Tuesday night, officials said on Wednesday. According to the reports, an armed militant group had killed a person identified as Gahain Murmu at Gossaigaon area in the district on Tuesday night, while the person sleeping outside of his house. Top police officials had rushed to the area and started investigation into the incident. On December 11, at least three ULFA (I) militants dressed in army fatigues had shot dead a VDF president and his son at Simaluguri area near Bordumsa and Kakopathar in Tinsukia district. Following the incident, ULFA (I) had claimed responsibility over the killing incident and said that, the two men were working as spies for army and Assam police. On the other hand, several organizations including All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) had staged protest against the killing incident and demanded the Assam government to arrest the hunters immediately. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) By Asian Human Right Commission The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the CIVICUS spoke with Ms. Rajkumari Upadhaya about her experiences as a Woman Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) in Nepal, changing societal attitudes towards women and hope for the future. The interview has also been published as an article by open Democracy, an independent global media platform. Women in Nepal face many challenges due to issues of inequality and injustice in the society. Gender discrimination and gender-based violence are just some of the serious and widespread problems for women. Nepali women are not treated equally, not just in practice, but under law as well. The law regarding nationality, for example, discriminates against women, making some of them second-class citizens in society. The challenges on both the local and national levels can seem insurmountable and sometimes those working to defend womens rights come under attack. A recent case reported by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shows how dangerous it can be for women human rights defenders (WHRDs): Ms. Rajkumari Upadhaya of the District Womens Rights Forum in Parsa District, Nepal was physically attacked by her neighbors, allegedly for her work defending women. The Forum in Parsa is part of a grassroots network empowering women and combating issues of child marriage and gender-based violence. Since the attack against Upadhaya, AHRC has reported another case of persecution of a WHRD. WHRDs efforts are crucial to creating a more just Nepal in which all citizens rights are respected and protected. Greater efforts must be made to protect Nepali WHRDs. The cases cited above show that the issues they work on can be sensitive and controversial in nature, potentially causing a backlash from opponents in society. As AHRCs Nepal Desk Officer Mr. Prakash Mohara has asserted: "In addition to providing donations to women's groups, networks and NGOs, it is important that women get better protection in Nepal. Donors and the government of Nepal must not only provide occasional safety training [but they] must ensure womens safety and security 24/7 and 365 days a year. An increased number of and better access to safe-houses must be a priority in policies and the implementation thereof, if we are to ensure the safety of WHRDs and all women." To draw more attention to the efforts and struggles of WHRDs in Nepal within the 16 days of activism campaign, CIVICUS and AHRC had the opportunity to speak with Upadhaya about her experiences working on womens rights issues. Her thoughts from the interview are as follows and have been translated from Nepali into English and edited for length. Interview with Nepali WHRD Ms. Rajkumari Upadhaya How did you get involved in human rights work, specifically working on womens rights issues? As a woman, I am much more interested in the rights of women. That is why I am involved in womens rights issues. I used to be the District Womens Chairperson of a political party, and heard many cases of violence against women. I used to visit the district police office to help women, and it began to attract my interest more. My friends, brothers and sisters also gave me opportunities to work on womens rights. How has being a woman human rights defender (WHRD) in Nepal been a challenge? There are many challenges while working as a woman human rights defender. We raise issues and develop different plans and policies for further advocacy. However, the central level has had little success in putting these into action. Sometimes womens issues are not being heard in Kathmandu. In other cases, even women do not respect other women. It creates challenge and keeps other women from progressing. I believe that unless a woman respects other women, overall progress for women is not possible. Despite the challenges, what do you enjoy most about your work? In our work as leaders, sometimes we receive appreciation, and sometimes we receive challenges. However, we shouldnt mind it. We are the ones who fix household problems. We come across different issues and cases. We also come across cases between husbands and wives. We must work to settle their issues and protect their households. We must be careful so that they can live peacefully. We might be scolded by the husband claiming that we are trying to destroy their family, and the wife might also think the same. Our role should be to help them resolve their problem. I like this work and have been engaged in it for the last 10 to 12 years. The problem is lack of implementation. Even if cases are filed, it takes many years to reach a conclusion and perpetrators are not always held accountable. What are the main womens rights issues in Nepal (on the local and national level)? Let us start from the local level, where local elections recently took place. Nepals constitutional provisions include equal rights for all. Nevertheless, women cannot access the same positions in local government as men. Therefore, I fear that womens issues have been sidelined. The practice of child marriage, polygamous marriage and dowry is widespread. We are finding it difficult to end such practices. They may end in some years, but we cannot guarantee it yet. Women are being accused of being witches. Why only women, and not men? These are some of the issues in question, and we must continue working. At the national level, we are raising the issue of citizenship in the name of a mother. If a woman gives birth to a child, and the mother is a Nepalese citizen, why cannot the child become a citizen through the mothers name? From the local to the national level, and through different human rights networks, we have been raising these issues. How have civil society and HRDs tried to address some of these issues you mentioned? Civil society, human rights activists and organisations have offered their assistance. Male human rights activists have also played a crucial role. We can never be negative against them, as they have played a very important role in our work. Civil society and HRDs have been supporting our network, and promoting our work. If there is at least one safe house in the district level, women will be better protected. Everyone should understand this. How has the government addressed or maybe not addressed these issues? The government has tried to address these issues. There are plans and policies against polygamous marriages, for example. Our laws also forbid child marriages. However, the problem is lack of implementation. Even if cases are filed, it takes many years to reach a conclusion and perpetrators are not always held accountable. Due to the delay, victims are further victimized. What still needs to be done to ensure greater protection for women in Nepali society? There is a practice of expecting the central level of government to do something. Local and district level activities are hardly promoted. It does not mean that nothing has been done at local levels. However, the main problem is it does not go from the local to the central level, but rather exactly the opposite. Then the issue gets diluted. Also, when women are in trouble, there are no safe houses at the district levels. We have to send women in trouble to Kathmandu for safekeeping. It becomes very expensive for us to manage. There is one safe house in Parsa district, but it is in a dilapidated condition. If there is at least one safe house in the district level, women will be better protected. Everyone should understand this. This is the responsibility of the government of Nepal, as well as different organisations and donor agencies to protect women. Source: - humanrights.asia BARA, Dec 13: Police resorted to open four-round of bullets in air after a clash ensued in victory rally of Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) at Pacharauta municipality-2 of Bara constituency-2 on Wednesday. Superintendent of Police, Raj Kumar Baidawar, said that the clash took place between Forum cadres and locals when local groups started disrupting the victory rally of the Forum. Police opened blank fire after the crowd started pelting stone at police personnel, SP Baidawar further said. Four police personnelone police inspector and three police constables, were injured in the incident. Police have now brought the situation under control. A squad headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhuwaneshwor Prasad Saha, has reached the incident site to carry out further investigation into the incident. RSS Support the 2% that feed the 100% Sometimes its truly not about what you know, but its who you know. Connections really are everything. This week I... Community Hearts thanks supporters Dear Editor: The Sandusky Community Hearts would like to thank all those who participated in our Fall Scarecrow display to... 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. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. "Sex Registries as Modern-Day Witch Pyres: Why Criminal Justice Reform Advocates Need to Address the Treatment of People on the Sex Offender Registry" | Main | "Opioids: Treating an Illness, Ending a War" December 12, 2017 Second Circuit panel reverses as unreasonable way-above-guideline sentence for immigration offense A helpful reader made sure I did not miss a fascinating Second Circuit panel decision today reversing an above-guideline sentence as unreasonable in United States v. Singh, No. 161111 (2d Cir. Dec. 12, 2017) (available here). Here is how the opinion gets started: In this case, defendantappellant Latchman Singh pleaded guilty to one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been removed following a conviction for an aggravated felony. His Guidelines range was 15 to 21 months imprisonment, and both the government and the Probation Office recommended a withinGuidelines sentence. The district court, however, sentenced Singh to a term of imprisonment of 60 months nearly three times the top of the Guidelines range. Singh appeals, contending that the sentence was both procedurally and substantively unreasonable. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the sentence and remand for further proceedings. Singhs request that we order reassignment of the case to a different judge is denied. The opinion goes on to thoughtfully explain its substantive and procedural concerns with the sentence imposed; the discussion defies easy summary and lots of passages could merit highlighting. Here is one from the end of the opinion that seemed especially notable: Sentencing, that is to say punishment, is perhaps the most difficult task of a trial court judge. Jack B. Weinstein, Does Religion Have a Role in Criminal Sentencing?, 23 Touro L. Rev. 539, 539 (2007). While there are many competing considerations in every sentencing decision, a sentencing judge must have some understanding of the diverse frailties of humankind. See Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304 (1976) (plurality opinion). In deciding what sentence will be sufficient, but not greater than necessary to further the goals of punishment, 18 U.S.C. 3553(a), a sentencing judge must have a generosity of spirit, that compassion which causes one to know what it is like to be in trouble and in pain. Guido Calabresi, What Makes a Judge Great: To A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., 142 U. Pa. L. Rev. 513, 513 (1993); see also Edward J. Devitt, Ten Commandments for the New Judge, 65 A.B.A. J. 574 (1979), reprinted in 82 F.R.D. 209, 209 (1979) (Be kind. If we judges could possess but one attribute, it should be a kind and understanding heart. The bench is no place for cruel or callous people regardless of their other qualities and abilities. There is no burden more onerous than imposing sentence in criminal cases.). To the extent the district court increased Singhs punishment because of a perception that in attempting to explain his actions and plead for mercy he did not fully accept responsibility, it committed procedural error. December 12, 2017 at 09:05 PM | Permalink Comments "The bench is no place for cruel or callous people regardless of their other qualities and abilities. " Cruelty and callousness to vicious criminals, no. Cruelty and callousness to innocent crime victims, no problem. Posted by: David Behar | Dec 13, 2017 1:01:13 AM So let's see, we kicked him out, and now he's back, and he's whining. Whatever. Posted by: federalist | Dec 13, 2017 6:43:25 AM "Singhs request that we order reassignment of the case to a different judge is denied." This is one of the most deeply flawed rules of American law. No case that is reversed for abuse of discretion should ever be remanded to the same judge. Posted by: ohwilleke | Dec 13, 2017 10:32:35 AM @David While I appreciate the sentiment in general I'm not sure how it applies to this specific case. This is a victim-less crime. He dared to cross an imaginary line. Boo Hoo. Posted by: Daniel | Dec 13, 2017 11:40:30 AM It looks like you got a shout out in fn 7 (pg. 27). Posted by: anonymous | Dec 13, 2017 12:47:23 PM Daniel. Many thanks for the correction. I stopped reading this stuff a while back. I assume they are all the same. Posted by: David Behar | Dec 13, 2017 10:19:37 PM Daniel, There may be no victim in the sense of someone deprived of life or physically injured but I would argue that we are all his victim. Actually, I wonder if this would be a good case for SCOTUS review to determine if district court judges are really supposed to have discretion or if it's only a pro-criminal thumb on the scale. Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Dec 14, 2017 2:55:16 AM Post a comment The music show will present to music lovers compositions of the Finnish leading composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern periods, Jean Sibelius, including the concerto for Violin in D minor, Op. 47 which is the most performed and recorded composition in the 20th century and released over 50 recordings in the 21st century; the 2nd Symphony in D major, Op. 43 that is also called the Independence Symphony. Musical works will be performed by violinist Vu Viet Chuong, HBSOs symphony orchestra under the baton of Finnish conductor Kalle Kuusava. Jean Sibelius (1865 1957) is widely recognized as his country's greatest composer and, through his music is often credited with having helped Finland to develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia. By THUY BINH Translated by Kim Khanh The event also marked 66 years since President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to honor artists in a fine arts exhibition in Viet Bac in 1951. Speaking at the event, Politburo member and Head of the Party Central Committees Information and Education Commission, Vo Van Thuong highlighted outstanding achievements of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association over the past 60 years. He encouraged the association to continue promoting its creativity and contributions to the Vietnamese fine arts industry. By MAI AN Translated by Kim Khanh SIOUX CITY | The Woodbury County Sheriff's Office and the Sioux City Police Department will combine to pay $131,340 for a video training simulator that will be used by more than 100 sheriff's office and police workers. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the county's cost portion, or $15,670, of the simulator, which Sheriff Dave Drew requested as a good training option for workers in the office. Drew said cost-sharing made the purchase more affordable. "This is a great deal, to partner up on these types of things. We all benefit collectively," Drew said. The VirTra Systems brand video simulator uses live weapons that will be converted for uses, including rifles and a taser that the two law enforcement entities are providing. It uses three interconnected, high-resolution screens to create an immersive training environment. The training is aimed to help law enforcement workers make sound decisions on the fly in high-stress incidents. They can scan a situation, engage moving targets and overcome distractions at the scene, Sheriff's Office Major Todd Wieck said, and getting immediate feedback is a benefit, he added. Wieck said the simulator is an essential form of training that will be highly used. "It is our goal to get our entire staff on the simulator at least four times a year," he said. The city police department agreed to pay $100,000 of the cost from a grant received. Among the combined $1 million awarded in grants to 20 Woodbury County nonprofit organizations in September, the Missouri River Historical Development Inc. gave that money to the Sioux City Police Department for a video simulator. The county and city agencies split the remaining amount of the $131,340 cost. The unit will be located at a police department location. SIOUX CITY | Sioux City police are seeking the public's help to identify suspects in two separate crimes. According to one of the videos posted Tuesday morning on the Sioux City Police Department's Facebook page, an Iowa EBT card that was reported stolen was used by a woman shown in the video. The second video on the police department's Facebook page is in reference to a stolen vehicle. Anyone with information on either case can call Crime Stoppers at 258-TIPS or text 274637 with SCPDTIP in the message line. Callers may also contact Det. Zach Lewis at 279-6375 or via email at zlewis@sioux-city.org. DAKOTA CITY | A South Sioux City man has pleaded no contest to having sex with a woman without her consent. Jose Alvarado, 29, entered his plea Tuesday in Dakota County District Court to one count of attempted abuse of a vulnerable adult or senior adult. The charge was amended from first-degree sexual assault as part of a plea agreement. According to terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors and the defense will recommend at sentencing that Alvarado receive a 13-month jail sentence to be followed by one year of post-release supervision. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 30. According to court documents, Alvarado went to a 58-year-old woman's apartment in the 800 block of Riverview Drive in South Sioux City on May 12 and asked the woman, "How long has it been?" Court documents said Alvarado then led her into the bedroom, where he performed sex acts on the woman before having sex with her, despite the victim telling him to quit. The woman was mentally or physically incapable of resisting Alvarado, court documents said. SIOUX CITY | Republican State Rep. Jim Carlin narrowly defeated Democrat Todd Wendt in a special election Tuesday for a vacant state Senate seat where GOP voters dominate. In unofficial results with all precincts reporting, Carlin, of Sioux City, outlasted Wendt, of Le Mars, by 603 votes in the district, which includes the western two-thirds of Plymouth County and northern and western areas of Woodbury County, including Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood. Carlin totaled 3,591 votes, or about 54 percent, to 2,988 votes, or about 46 percent, for Wendt. With his House district taking in large portions of the Senate district and with 17,677 registered Republican voters, compared to 8,719 registered Democrats and 13,117 no party voters in the district, Carlin was a heavy favorite. But Wendt was well known in the district as a longtime superintendent with the Le Mars public school district and as the son of the late Roger Wendt, a former Democratic state legislator from Sioux City. Both candidates lost their home counties Tuesday. Wendt won Woodbury County by 56 votes while Carlin captured Plymouth by 659 votes in unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State's office. The Senate District 3 vacancy was created by the resignation of two-term Sen. Bill Anderson, a Pierson Republican who in September accepted a job heading the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation. Carlin will serve the remaining year of Anderson's seat, which will be up for election in November 2018. Carlin's victory means there will be another special election early next year to fill his House seat once he resigns it to move to the Senate. Carlin said on Tuesday night that he is looking forward to promoting his agenda in the Senate, which, like the House, Republicans control. "I'm going to advocate that have meant a lot to me since the beginning, you know, tax reform. Iowa has some of the highest personal and corporate tax rates in the country," Carlin said. "Iowa needs to be more business-friendly," he added. Carlin plans to work on social and medical issues as well. "I'm going to work on advocating for more pro-life legislation," he said. In addition, Carlin wants to look into stopgap measure on Iowa health insurance premiums, and wants to see more "choice in education." Carlin, 55, has practiced law for 25 years in Sioux City. He decided to run for the open seat since the terms run for four years instead of the two-year House terms, which Carlin said means he can focus less on campaigning and more on representing people. Wendt, 56, who retired from the Le Mars school district, said on the campaign trail he's seen goodwill by people who liked his late father and hoped that regard could help him in the race. Both candidates previously said they had concerns about the compressed timeframe for the special election, which came just two weeks before Christmas Day. SIOUX CITY | Jacob Bossman, a Sioux City Republican who lost a bid for Iowa House District 6 in 2016, said Wednesday he will run for the seat again in a special election early next year. The announcement from Bossman, a longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, came less than 24 hours after state Rep. Jim Carlin's victory in a special election for an open state Senate seat created a vacancy in House District 6. Jim Carlin, a first-term Republican, defeated Democrat Todd Wendt, of Le Mars, 55 percent to 45 percent in the Senate District 3 race. seat. The district includes the western two-thirds of Plymouth County and northern and western areas of Woodbury County, including the Sioux City neighborhood of Morningside. Carlin will soon resign from the House. The timing for the next special election will be announced by Gov. Kim Reynold's office. In the June 2016 primary, Carlin defeated Bossman, by a count of 51 percent to 48.5 percent. Carlin won election to the House in November over Democratic nominee Perla J Alarcon-Flory, a member of the Sioux City school board. In a news release Wednesday, Bossman, 37, said he has learned the value of providing outstanding service to constituents while serving on Grassley's staff for 13 years. "To represent this district, one must understand this area and have both the experience and relationships to effectively advocate for our community in Des Moines. I will always be responsive to the people of this district...I will work for common sense solutions that benefit our community," Bossman said. Bossman, a married father of two children, lives in Morningside. House District 6 takes in Morningside and northern and western areas of Woodbury County, including the cities of Sergeant Bluff, Bronson and Salix. The Senate District 3 vacancy was created by the resignation of two-term Sen. Bill Anderson, a Pierson Republican who in September accepted a job heading the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation. Carlin will serve the remaining year of Anderson's seat, which will be up for election in November 2018. This is in response to a Nov. 30 Letter to the Editor headlined "Proposed tax bill negatively impacts education." The Letter writer left out some very critical truths in his complaints of the proposed tax bill regarding what many feel are excessive endowment funds with little public benefit. He then lists his own alma mater of Grinnell College as being harmed by this excise tax. Grinnell College is a perfect example of why this excise tax is being proposed and needed to reduce abuses in the system. The excise tax is being proposed for endowments that are funded in excess of $250,000 per enrolled student. Grinnell College, with its massive $1.8 billion endowment, has in excess of $1 million in tax free invested proceeds per enrolled student. If Grinnell College really was interested in the public good they could just use a portion of the earnings from their endowment fund and have all of their students go to college tuition and fee free. Now that would be a public service and help the public good. The taxation of tuition waivers for grad assistants is no different than any other person that receives something of value from an employer. The grad assistants are working for the tuition waiver and thus should pay into the Social Security and Medicare system like every other employee in the country. With the expansion of standard deductions there will be very little income tax payments for these folks, as well. - Mark Lundberg, Orange City, Iowa Recently, a Mini Editorial writer wrote that she did not understand why all the fuss about who is sleeping with whomever. Sadly, I think, this woman missed the point. We do not care who is voluntarily sleeping with whomever they choose. It is the molesting, the groping, the uninvited attacks, rape, grabbing, the remarks, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, there are many of us who do care. I'm sorry that she does not. - Cathy Dailey, Sioux City SERGEANT BLUFF | At the end of every holiday season, The Venue at Aggie's owner Cathy Bishop said she is sick at the sight of salmon, pooped out over prime rib, and don't even get her started about rumaki. "After too many 16 hour days, I do feel like I've have it up to here with making party appetizers," she said her professional kitchen a few weeks before Thanksgiving. "But then I realize I actually love what I do." This has been Bishop's lifestyle for 23 years. After graduating from Texas A&M, the Sergeant Bluff native worked as a bank examiner for more than a decade. Still, Bishop remembered the good times she had when cooking with her mom and grandfather. "I had never worked in a restaurant before opening the original Aggie's (a popular barbecue restaurant) in 1994," she said. "It turned out I had an affinity for it." Since repositioning Aggie's from a restaurant to The Venue at Aggie's (a full service, special events caterer), Bishop said she has never been busier. "We make food for everyone from corporate parties to lunches at area preschools," she admitted. "With that much variety, you've got to stay a step ahead." Which is why Bishop is the perfect expert when it comes to tips for throwing a seasonal soiree. "Holiday parties can be fun when it revolves around food that you love to make and food that your guests will love," she said. GO GLOBAL WITH YOUR GOODIES When Bishop started catering events, there were a handful of dishes that appealed to everyone plus a few appetizers that turned up time after time. Because of thus predictability, things got old fast. That's why Bishop decided to change things by incorporating more international meals. "I love making specialty pot stickers and egg rolls because they work so well at party finger foods," she said. "So do nachos, taco dips and anything that comes from South of the Border." Can we mix and match foods by having a few Asian items and a few Mexican things? Bishop doesn't have a problem with that. In fact, she does it all the time. "There's no wrong way when you're making things that you like," she said. HEATING THINGS UP WITH THE SCRUMPTIOUS SATAY One of the things that Bishop really likes is a skewered chicken satay that comes with a spicy peanut sauce. "I've made this appetizer so many times that I don't even go with a recipe," she said. "I just know it take a tablespoon, a punch of that and, still, it comes out perfect every time." SQUEAL OVER THE ULTIMATE MEAT CANDY Another can't miss item on any buffet is an hors d'oeuvre of Polynesian origin. "My rumaki is brown sugar-sprinkled bacon wrapped water chestnuts that's been marinated in a rich soy sauce," Bishop said. "People say my rumaki is so good, they're addictive. I agree." RESEARCH RECIPES WHILE SWITCHING THINGS UP Bishop said she finds inspiration everywhere from the TV Food Network to social media sites like Pinterest. "Pinterest is a great place to pick up creative ideas," she said. "Even when I'm not looking for a specific recipes I'll discover something that I'd like to try myself." Indeed, Bishop will play around with an idea, add a few personal steps of her own and create something original. "There's so much information about food around," she suggested. "Take advantage of that." UP THE ANTE WITH EYE APPEAL Remember the old axiom "we eat with with our eyes as well as with our stomachs"? Bishop is a big believer in playing with your food. "I like adding splashes of color onto holiday plates," she said. For instance, a simple-but-eye-catching way to make your food pop on a buffet table is to include red grapes that have been dredged in egg wash and drizzles in sugar. "Not only are they pretty but they're also delicious," Bishop said. Another trick of the trade includes taking a sharp knife, turning the skin of a tomato and sculpting it into a festive, rose-shaped garnish. "It's easy once you learn how to do it," Bishop suggested. "It adds a nice elegance to any holiday buffet." This is exactly what everybody wants for a holiday get-together. "Even the simplest things will add panache to your party," she said. 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. In celebration of its thirtieth anniversary, the classic gay romance "Maurice" comes to DVD/Blu-Ray in a new deluxe, two-disc special edition. It's difficult, when viewing "Maurice" today, to realize how groundbreaking--even shocking--the film was in 1987. A tale of gay love lost and found in Edwardian England, the film was made ten years before Ellen DeGeneres' historic coming out. "Maurice" is based on the same-named novel written by E.M. Forster around 1913, the era in which the story is set. Forster would not allow the book to be published during his lifetime, and so it was not published until 1971, the year after he died at age 91. James Wilby stars as the titular character. While attending Cambridge University in 1909, he enters into a romantic, albeit platonic relationship with classmate Clive (Hugh Grant). Maurice wants their relationship to be sexual, but Clive refuses. A few years later, when one of their classmates is sentenced to six months in prison for trying to pick up a man in a bar, a terrified Clive ends their relationship. The two men don't speak for a year--until Maurice is invited to be an usher at Clive's wedding to a woman. Against his better judgement Maurice accepts. Maurice finds himself battling his gay urges while at Clive's palatial country home. One day he notices that Scudder, a young gamekeeper (Rupert Graves) is paying a great deal of attention to him. At first Maurice treats this servant with contempt, but late one night, Scudder brazenly climbs into Maurice's window. "I know sir," Scudder whispers. "I know." The two men proceed to make love--it's an unforgettable sequence. Maurice was directed by James Ivory, who received his greatest fame with a trio of big screen Forster adaptations. "A Room With A View" (1985) and "Howard's End" (1993) were highly successful films, nominated for eight and nine Academy Awards respectively. "Maurice" could be considered Ivory's coming out film--his producing partner, Ismail Merchant, was also his life partner for 44 years. Throughout their career the men worked with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvalathey were a trio which the Guinness Book of World Records cited as the longest partnership in independent film history, according to Wikipedia. As with Ivory's other Forster films, "Maurice" was lushly shot on location in England. The film's elegant settings, period costumes and the stage trained cast effectively capture the England of a century ago. But most importantly "Maurice" captures the beauty of gay love. Maurice and Scudder might not seem like a well-matched couple: Scudder is a foul-mouthed servant, while Maurice is a "gentleman." Their attraction to each other transcends class. They're soulmates, unable to resist their deep need to be with each other, unable to do anything other than make personal sacrifices so they can be together. "Maurice" also reminds us that it wasn't always as easy to be gay as it is in today's world. In Maurice's world being gay is a crime punishable by jail time. The portions of the film that deal with these issues are a sobering reminder of the horrible things currently being done to gay men in places like Chechnya, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Is "Maurice" one of the greatest gay films ever made? That would be up to each viewer to decide--"great" is a subjective term. The film certainly is one of the best in the annals of Queer cinema. In addition to a newly restored, pristine print of the film, "Maurice" includes interviews with auteur James Ivory and stars James Wilby (Maurice) and Rupert Graves (Scudder). Background information on the film's story is also included. "Maurice" is now available. When Tony Lima took the helm at SAVE in September 2013, he was inspired by the young activists that he met working within the community. "Generally, people are recognized at the end of their careers, and I thought, how inspiring to uplift the stories of young people that are also doing great work," Lima said. "How wonderful would it be to highlight these folks for their merits and also show them as glowing examples for other young professionals and the community at large." It was then that the SAVE Luminaries were born. The first event was celebrated as a cocktail party in October 2013, honoring professionals like Dr. Hansel Tookes of University of Miami, Tori Bertran of SunServe and Victor Diaz-Herman of Pridelines. From there, the Luminaries have continued to honor local LGBT people accomplishing great things and giving back to their communities. On Wednesday, Dec. 6, SAVE hosted its fifth annual Luminaries ceremony at the CIC Miami. Lima and local drag superstar Tiffany Fantasia emceed the event and gave out awards honoring the following individuals: Broward County State Rep. Shevrin Jones; MJ Castells, program director for the Aqua Foundation for women; Pioneer Winter, Miami choreographer and director of the Pioneer Winter Collective; Rick Morgan, philanthropist and community volunteer, who works in politics and helped pass protections for transgenders in 2014; Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, founder and CEO of Radical Partners, a startup and management consulting agency; and local drag entertainer and hostess of The Lab Fridays at Score and the Sunday drag brunch at R House Wynwood, Athena Dion, who volunteers her time to visit and perform makeovers on burn victims at the the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center. Jessica Fernandez, president of the Miami-Dade Young Republicans, presented Dion with her award. "Athena's not just a pretty face in our community. She uses her platform to affect positive social change as she often agrees to emcee and support fundraisers and charities throughout our community," Fernandez said. "She uses her talent to be a volunteer at Jackson's Burn Unit, dedicating her time and energy and talents to teaching people with burns and disfigurements how to apply makeup. She brings confidence and hope back into people's lives." A humble Dion happily accepted the award, thanking Lima, SAVE and the community at large for empowering her. "I've never been this honored in my entire life," Dion said. "When you start doing drag, you do it because you like the clothes, the makeup, just being a little gay boy and fabulous. To be able to use this platform and to be recognized...for me, it just leaves me speechless." Additionally, Melba de Leon was named the Super Volunteer and Community Hero and Juan Claudio Oves Jr., co-chair of Latinos Salud, walked away with the People's Luminary Award. Also nominated in this category were Adrian Madriz, project lead of SMASH, or Struggle for Miamis Affordable and Sustainable Housing; Daniel Anzueto, co-founder and board chair at Maven Leadership Collective; and Ashley Mayfaire, director of operations at TranSocial South Florida. "I am honored and humbled to accept this award on behalf of Latinos Salud and to join past recipients who I have long admired and respected," Oves said. "Being Ryan Whites birthday tonight, this award goes to him and every person who fought and continues to fight against HIV stigma. This Peoples Luminary award belongs to each one of you who are continuing the fight against HIV stigma. We all play a role in this epidemic. Latinos Salud believes in the power of community, and together we will turn around this epidemic and move into an era of health equity for all regardless of your sexual orientation and gender identity." Among the major attendees and supporters of the SAVE Luminaries were newly elected Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and the LGBT liaison for the City of Miami, Officer Christopher Bess. Suarez applauded SAVE for putting together an "incredible annual event to commemorate its champions." He also congratulated Bess for highlighting "LGBT issues as they relate with policing." "It really is an honor to have someone in our department who is leading the forefront of police-based LGBT issues," Suarez said. Interspersed with the honors throughout the night were complimentary bites and cocktails, raffles and prizes and performances by some of Miami's most popular drag entertainers. These included Tiffany Fantasia, who brought the house down to Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama;" Missy Meyakie Le Paige, who performed Diana Ross' "The Boss;" Noel Leon, who executed her signature split to Mariah Carey's holiday classic, "All I Want for Christmas is You;" Athena Dion, who performed Christina Aguilera's "Telepathy;" and Tlo Ivy, who wowed audiences with her sexy performance of Camila Cabello's "Havana" and a medley of Selena Quintanilla Perez's hits, including "Como La Flor" and Bidi Bidi Bom Bom." Lima called this year's Luminaries a success. He said as CEO of SAVE, it is important for him to "show the passion and talent of our next generation of leaders. This event tonight did that," he said. On Thursday, Dec. 7, the W Miami hosted artist Sarah Bahbahs first-ever solo exhibition, from the series Sex and Takeout, in celebration of Miamis Art Basel. The Instagram photographer displayed her 30x30 pieces sky-high on the 50th floor in Whisper Cocktail Lounge, overlooking Biscayne Bay, Downtown Miami and Brickell. Known for her explicitly-transparent exploration of female voices, Bahbahs raw storytelling style has developed a cult social following. The photographers profile is recognized as one of the most shared Instagram photography pages in the world. Guests and art world VIPs -- including Bahbahs closest friends and fashion model / TV personality CoryAnne Roberts -- were spotted taking their Instagram moments with the captioned photography, perusing the colorful collection, sipping cocktails, and dancing to the beats of Miamis own Ella Romand. Bahbah told NewNowNext.com that she was teaming up with the W Miami because the hotel was located in the heart of all the Basel action -- "in the electric Brickell neighborhood." "Theyre the perfect brand partner to debut my first ever solo exhibition," Bahbah said. "The show...on the 50th floor rooftop space...just happens to double as a scenic art gallery....My pieces will be open to the public through Art Week at W Miami for guests to view and purchase." Five years ago, David Richardson was the first openly gay state representative elected in Florida. Now the elected official is looking to become the first openly gay Congressman in the Southeast. Richardson is running for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinens congressional seat. Earlier this year Ros-Lehtinen announced she would not run for re-election. Richardson said he's not necessarily relying on positioning himself as a gay legislator to garner votes. "The way I've fashioned myself is I'm not going to Tallahassee or Washington D.C. as a gay legislator. I'm going as a legislator who just happens to be gay," Richardson said. "On the same token, however, we do need our gay representation in the Southeast. There's six openly gay members of Congress right now but no one from the Southeast. From Texas to Rhode Island, there is no openly gay Congressperson." Richardson recently spoke to his constituents at a networking event for LGBT professionals at a private residence at the Murano Grande on Miami Beach Nov. 30. Over the weekend, he attended the Victory Institute Conference in Washington D.C., where he participated in a panel discussion about his Congressional campaign and his experience serving as a State Representative since 2012. At both events, he laid out what his agenda in Washington would be if elected in Congress, including prison reform, healthcare, gun violence and LGBT issues. Richardson has been working on banning conversion therapy for gay minors and housing protections for LGBT individuals facing discrimination. "It was great talking about the positive measures I have accomplished for the LGBT community, especially in the current political environment," Richardson wrote in a Facebook post. He said in Congress, he would like to work on repealing the marriage equality prohibition "we still have on the books." "We actually have a law that says every year we're supposed to clean up the books," Richardson said. "So I really want to work on getting that marriage equality prohibition off the books in much the same way a couple of years ago I was able to get the gay adoption ban off the books even though the courts had overturned it six years earlier." Richardson is in his third term now as a State Representative. The north end of his district is in the city of Miami Beach. The district goes south along the coast all the way down to Cutler Bay and inland to Coral Gables and the area around Dadeland and Kendall, extending into Little Havana. Richardson ran his first campaign in 2012 from Hotel Gaythering on South Beach when the building and business were in their beginning stages. Gaythering co-owner Alexander Guerra said it's important to support local candidates, gay or straight, because "given the social climate that we are in right now and who we have leading this country, I think it's very important that we stick by each other and those who are doing good." "There are plenty of people who are not ethical...and you want to stick by those who are," Guerra said. "And we will always support those people. It's not necessarily because someone is openly gay but because they are right for the job." Richardson said he thinks he's been "very effective in working across the aisle and trying to get things done" for his community -- both gay and straight. "The seat that I represent now in the state house sits 100 percent entirely within the congressional seat," Richardson said. "All of those folks that I'm representing now I will represent in the congressional seat, as well. The district that I represent is a Democratic seat. Of course, Tallahassee is controlled byRepublicans. A Democrat there has to figure out how to get things done to be effective, to bring home projects for the constituents and I've worked very well across the aisle to be able to do that. I know that I'll be able to do that in Washington, as well." Former Miami Beach Commissioner Joy Malakoff has worked with Richardson for many years. She said he is the "best representative we've had for years and years in Tallahassee, and one of the reasons is David's background as a CPA" or certified public accountant. "As a CPA, it's so important in Tallahassee with what they're doing with all the tax monies that they're getting...and he has done his best working from across the aisle," Malakoff said. "He knows how to work with the Republicans and the Democrats and he's been able to be very effective." Malakoff said Richardson has "really gone above and beyond in his position to help in the criminal justice system in the state of Florida, which seems to be a very backwards system in this state." "In some ways, Florida, excluding South Florida, is very much still an old-time Southern state," Malakoff said. "David knows the way to get to everybody. He's really the type of person that we need representing us here in Florida in Washington. And since he has the fiscal background, we need somebody with a background in finance to represent us. And I think that the next representative in Washington needs to be David Richardson." Richardson said he was a little bit surprised when Ros-Lehtinen announced she was deciding to retire in 2018. He thought she would've stuck around through at least 2020. "That would've been my bet," Richardson said. "She's been doing this a long time and has a big following. I don't know exactly her reasons for retiring in 2018 but I feel strongly the seat is going to flip. In fact, it's the No. 1 or No. 2 flip opportunity in the country depending on how you look at it. The demographics for this seat has changed so much. It's very much a Democratic seat right now. I'm really excited about it." Besides being Democratic now the district is also Hispanic and Ros-Lehtinen is a very popular Hispanic Republican. Even though Richardson is not Hispanic, hes not worried. "Some people say only a Hispanic can win this seat, Richardson said. "But the seat that I represent now, that I won in 2012, is about 68 percent Hispanic. Richardson said the other interesting thing about the district, as it pertains to the Democratic primary, is that the district is only 38 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African American and 50 percent Anglo. "Once you get to the general then it becomes 60 percent Hispanic," he said. "The good thing is I speak a little bit of Spanish. 'Un poco de Espanol' goes a long way." An LGBT social club is opening in San Francisco, however many LGBT advocates arent too pleased with who is behind the new establishment. According to the Huffington Post, Yass, will be opening its doors to the public in the spring of 2018 in San Franciscos Mission District. As mentioned on the clubs official site, some of the amenities included in ones membership to the club are access to hangout spots, in the city and library workspaces. Bars, clubs, and apps can be a sugar rush. We love them too, but sometimes were looking for more, Yass site reads. Imagine instead, walking into a room filled with the queer role models you never had. Yass is this space. Despite what the space is offering to the LGBT community, many individuals have expressed their anger due to its ties with Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder and a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump. According to the Huff Post, the 50-year-old man, who is openly gay, donated 1.25 million to Trumps election campaign and believes the president stands for LGBT rights, as he stated in a January interview for the New York Times. Many have been vocal on their disapproval of the new social club that is being opened including, David Campos, Mission Districts former election supervisor. For Campos and several others, a club that supports the Trump administration does not serve the LGBT community. This is a president who has tried to disenfranchise members of the LGBT community, Campos told The Guardian in a interview last week. When a gay man essentially becomes a tool of someone who is prosecuting people, that gay man needs to be called out. For Yasss founder and CEO Brian Tran although he acknowledges Thiel as a controversial figure, he believes their intentions of creating the club are well. My commitment is to serving the queer community and their needs. And that is separate from what individuals at Founders Fund believe, he told The Guardian. I dont know what his real intentions are, and its hard to make a judgment Undeniably, he has made a large impact in our economy. Occator Crater NASA If you could fly aboard NASAs Dawn spacecraft, the surface of dwarf planet Ceres would generally look quite dark, but with notable exceptions. These exceptions are the hundreds of bright areas that stand out in images Dawn has returned. Now, scientists have a better sense of how these reflective areas formed and changed over time processes indicative of an active, evolving world. The mysterious bright spots on Ceres, which have captivated both the Dawn science team and the public, reveal evidence of Ceres past subsurface ocean, and indicate that, far from being a dead world, Ceres is surprisingly active. Geological processes created these bright areas and may still be changing the face of Ceres today, said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Raymond and colleagues presented the latest results about the bright areas at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Different Kinds of Bright Areas Since Dawn arrived in orbit at Ceres in March 2015, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas on Ceres. A new study in the journal Icarus, led by Nathan Stein, a doctoral researcher at Caltech in Pasadena, California, divides Ceres features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the center of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the center is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright material in Occator Crater is made of salt-rich material, which was likely once mixed in water. Although Cerealia Facula is the brightest area on all of Ceres, it would resemble dirty snow to the human eye. More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies likely exposed bright material that was already in the subsurface or had formed in a previous impact event. Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed. The mountain Ahuna Mons gets its own fourth category the one instance on Ceres where bright material is unaffiliated with any impact crater. This likely cryovolcano, a volcano formed by the gradual accumulation of thick, slowly flowing icy materials, has prominent bright streaks on its flanks. Over hundreds of millions of years, bright material has mixed with the dark material that forms the bulk of Ceres surface, as well as debris ejected during impacts. That means billions of years ago, when Ceres experienced more impacts, the dwarf planets surface likely would have been peppered with thousands of bright areas. Previous research has shown that the bright material is made of salts, and we think subsurface fluid activity transported it to the surface to form some of the bright spots, Stein said. The Case of Occator Why do the different bright areas of Occator seem so distinct from one another? Lynnae Quick, a planetary geologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, has been delving into this question. The leading explanation for what happened at Occator is that it could have had, at least in the recent past, a reservoir of salty water beneath it. Vinalia Faculae, the diffuse bright regions to the northeast of the craters central dome, could have formed from a fluid driven to the surface by a small amount of gas, similar to champagne surging out of its bottle when the cork is removed. In the case of the Vinalia Faculae, the dissolved gas could have been a volatile substance such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane or ammonia. Volatile-rich salty water could have been brought close to Ceres surface through fractures that connected to the briny reservoir beneath Occator. The lower pressure at Ceres surface would have caused the fluid to boil off as a vapor. Where fractures reached the surface, this vapor could escape energetically, carrying with it ice and salt particles and depositing them on the surface. Cerealia Facula must have formed in a somewhat different process, given that it is more elevated and brighter than Vinalia Faculae. The material at Cerealia may have been more like an icy lava, seeping up through the fractures and swelling into a dome. Intermittent phases of boiling, similar to what happened when Vinalia Faculae formed, may have occurred during this process, littering the surface with ice and salt particles that formed the Cerealia bright spot. Quicks analyses do not depend on the initial impact that formed Occator. However, the current thinking among Dawn scientists is that when a large body slammed into Ceres, excavating the 57-mile-wide (92-kilometer-wide) crater, the impact may have also created fractures through which liquid later emerged. We also see fractures on other solar system bodies, such as Jupiters icy moon Europa, Quick said. The fractures on Europa are more widespread than the fractures we see at Occator. However, processes related to liquid reservoirs that might exist beneath Europas cracks today could be used as a comparison for what may have happened at Occator in the past. As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists will continue learning about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorates Discovery Program, managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit: https://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission More information about Dawn is available at the following sites: https://www.nasa.gov/dawn https://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov At the Korolev Museum at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 54-55 prime crewmembers Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA, left), Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Scott Tingle of NASA (right) display souvenir launch keys) during traditional pre-flight ceremonies Dec. 13. They will launch Dec. 17 on the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft for a five month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. NASA The Expedition 53 crew is getting ready to split up Thursday morning before another crew begins its mission next week. Soyuz Commander Sergey Ryazanskiy will pilot his crew mates Randy Bresnik of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency in the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft back to Earth after 139 days in space. The trio is scheduled to undock from the Rassvet module at 12:14 a.m. Thursday and parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 3:38 a.m. New Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin will stay onboard the orbital laboratory with Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei of NASA until March. The trio have been onboard the station since Sept. 12 and will welcome a new set of crewmates next week when the Soyuz MS-07 crew ship arrives. The next space travelers to board the station will be veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and new astronauts Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They are the Expedition 54-55 crew and are in Kazakhstan in final training ahead of their launch Sunday at 2:21 a.m. Shkaplerov, flanked by Tingle and Kanai, will take a two-day trip inside the Soyuz to the station before docking Tuesday at 3:43 a.m. for a four-month stay at the station NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than 10:35 a.m. EST Friday, Dec. 15th, for the companys 13th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX is taking additional time for the team to conduct full inspections and cleanings due to detection of particles in 2nd stage fuel system. Next launch opportunity would be no earlier than late December. A Dragon spacecraft will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Dragon is now scheduled to arrive at the space station on Sunday, Dec. 17th. On Sunday, Scott Tingle of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are also scheduled to launch at 2:21 a.m. (1:21 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. NASA Television coverage for launch and arrival activities are as follows: Friday, Dec. 15 10 a.m. Launch commentary coverage begins 12 p.m. Post-launch news conference with representatives from NASAs International Space Station Program and SpaceX Sunday, Dec. 17 1:15 a.m. Soyuz MS-07 launch coverage begins 4:30 a.m. Dragon rendezvous at the space station and capture coverage begins 7:30 a.m. Installation coverage begins On-Orbit Status Report NanoRacks Vuze (One Strange Rock) Camera Operations in the Service Module: The crew used the NanoRacks Vuze camera to record 3-Dementional 360-degree videos inside of the ISS. The handheld camera was used in the USOS and Russian Segment to capture long corridor footage to give the viewer a 3D perspective of floating through the ISS. The mounted camera captured a day in the life style footage of the crew as they conduct their nominal tasks. The National Geographic Channel-Virtual Reality Educational Video for Television Series-One Strange Rock (One Strange Rock Virtual Reality) is a 10-part series that transports a virtual reality camera to the ISS for recording of a National Geographic special on the Earth as a natural life-support system. The crew aboard the ISS records a series of virtual reality pieces for incorporation into a larger documentary about natural history and the solar system. Each episode features a different crewmember and addresses different topics using next generation virtual reality technology to raise awareness about the Earth system and the space program. Dose Distribution Inside the International Space Station 3D (DOSIS-3D): Today the crew de-installed DOSIS 3D passive detectors and handed them over to a Russian crewmember for packing in the returning 51S Soyuz vehicle. DOSIS-3D uses several active and passive detectors to determine the radiation doses inside the ISS. The goal is a three-dimensional radiation map covering all sections of the ISS. Multi-Omics Sample Collections: A 52S crewmember conducted fecal sample collections for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics experiment. The samples were placed into the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Multi-Omics analysis of human microbial-metabolic cross-talk in the space ecosystem (Multi-Omics) investigation evaluates the impacts of space environment and prebiotics on astronauts immune function, by combining the data obtained from the measurements of changes in the gut microbiological composition, metabolites profiles, and the immune system. Human Research Program (HRP) Collections Functional Immune: The crew completed the fourth day of the five day Functional Immune session, which collects saliva samples the each day and blood samples on the fifth day. Today the crew also conducted an audit of the HRP supplies. The samples collected will support the mid-mission HRP compliment for the 52S crewmembers and the return minus zero Day (R-0) compliment for the 51S crewmember. The Functional Immune investigation analyzes blood and saliva samples to determine the changes taking place in crewmembers immune systems during flight. The changes in the immune system are also compared with crewmembers self-reported health information. Results are expected to provide new insight into the possible health risks of long-duration space travel, including future missions to Mars, asteroids, or other distant destinations. Two Phase Flow (TPF) Operations: Following the completion of a TPF experiment run, the crew deactivated the TPF experiment equipment in the Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) and then adjusted the valve setting before re-activating the experiment equipment for the next experiment run. The Two-Phase Flow experiment investigates the heat transfer characteristics of flow boiling in the microgravity environment. It provides a fundamental understanding of the behaviors of bubble formation, liquid-vapor flow in a tube, and how heat transfers in cooling systems. Two-phase flow employs a sample cooling loop using perfluorohexane, often used in coolant for electronics, to establish flow rate, heating power, and other effects on different conditions. Earth Imagery from ISS Target Operations: Using the RED camera, the crew captured images and video footage of the Iberian Peninsula, This investigation creates a series of videos, showcasing Earth from space. These videos will be taken with cameras on the ISS in 6K hi-resolution, then integrated into videos for screensavers for public enjoyment, exploration, and engagement. Water Delivery System (WDS) Disassembly: The crew completed an activity to disassemble the WDS in preparation for returning the unit on SpaceX-13. The WDS was used in the past to provide an interface for the crew to dispense potable water from water containers, but is no longer needed. The WDS Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) is being returned to the ground so that its components can be refurbished and used for Water Processor Assembly (WPA) sparing. Dragon Capture OBT: Today the crew performed on board training to maintain proficiency for the upcoming capture and berthing of the SpaceX-13 Dragon vehicle. Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) preparation: Today the crew prepared the EMU soft goods components for return on SpaceX-13. Todays Planned Activities All activities are complete unless otherwise noted. HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes Subject PARODONT-2. Activities with Microbial Control and Mouthwash sets HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations Functional Immune Saliva Collection Dry Book Subject Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry Subject Auxiliary Computer System [???] Laptops Antivirus Software Checkout and Report 51S Gas Sample Container Pack Multi Omics Fecal Sample Operations Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth Sanitary & Hygiene Status Monitoring iPad Air 2 Charge Multi Omics Fecal Sample MELFI Insertion Multi Omics Fecal Stow International Procedures Viewer Tablet Server Configuration Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Two-Phase Flow Experiment Equipment Deactivation Two-Phase Flow Experiment Equipment Valves Setting Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Two-Phase Flow Experiment Equipment Activation In-Flight Maintenance Water Delivery System (WDS) Disassembly and Packing Dragon Cargo Operations Review Soyuz 736 Stowage Ops for Return. DOSIS 3D Passive Detectors De-Installation from Columbus (10 PDPs and 1 TDP). DOSIS 3D Passive Detector Pouch handover to Russian crew for download of dosimeters with Soyuz. To prepare Extravehicular Mobility Unit soft good components for return on SpX-13 and unpack components that arrived on OA-8. LBNP Exercise (CLOSEOUT). Multiple User System for Earth Sensing Server Vent Cleaning Handover Procedure Review Data Prep for Return ISS HAM Service Module Pass Microbial Sample Collection Dragon Capture Review Dragon Cargo Operations Conference HRF1 Drawer Audit On-board Training (OBT) Dragon Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session 2 FGB Gas Analyzer Vacuum Cleaning NanoRacks Vuze Camera SM Operations Filling (separation) of ??? (???) for Elektron or ???-?? ??? maintenance Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) Lab Preventive Maintenance of Hatch Sealing Mechanism on MRM1 Passive Docking Assembly (???) and Soyuz 736 Active Docking Mechanism [ACA] hatch NanoRacks Vuze Camera SD Removal Completed Task List Activities None Ground Activities All activities are complete unless otherwise noted. 67P propellant purge Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 12/13: Change of Command, Emer Roles & Resp Review, 51S Undock, ECHO, Dragon OBT, PCG Handover, Veggie Facility Clean, HRF Sample, RAM Deploy, Acoustic Monitor Setup, Lighting Effects Thursday, 12/14: 51S Landing, Crew off duty Friday, 12/15: Lighting Effects, MetOx Regen, Earth Imagery from ISS QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group: Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Operate Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Standby Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Process Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Full Up Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Off MU69 Analysis NASA/SwRI Scientists were already excited to learn this summer that New Horizons next flyby target a Kuiper Belt object a billion miles past Pluto might be either peanut-shaped or even two objects orbiting one another. Now new data hints that 2014 MU69 might have company: a small moon. Thats the latest theory coming from NASAs New Horizons team, as it continues to analyze telescope data on the target of a New Years Day 2019 flyby. We really wont know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter, said New Horizons science team member Marc Buie, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, who offered an update on the analysis of MU69 Monday at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans. But even from afar, the more we examine it, the more interesting and amazing this little world becomes. The data that led to these hints at MU69s nature were gathered over six weeks in June and July, when the team made three attempts to place telescopes in the narrow shadow of MU69 as it passed in front of a star. The most valuable recon came on July 17, when five telescopes deployed by the New Horizons team in Argentina were in the right place at the right time to catch this fleeting shadow an event known as an occultation and capture important data on MU69s size, shape and orbit. That data raised the possibility that MU69 might be two like-sized objects, or whats known as a binary. The prospect that MU69 might have a moon arose from data collected during a different occultation on July 10, by NASAs airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Focused on MU69s expected location while flying over the Pacific Ocean, SOFIA detected what appeared to be a very short drop-out in the stars light. Buie said further analysis of that data, including syncing it with MU69 orbit calculations provided by the European Space Agencys Gaia mission, opens the possibility that the blip SOFIA detected could be another object around MU69. A binary with a smaller moon might also help explain the shifts we see in the position of MU69 during these various occultations, Buie added. Its all very suggestive, but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons flies by, just over a year from now. That flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration. Ancient Kuiper Belt object MU69, just discovered in 2014, is more than 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. It appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 kilometers) long, or, if a binary, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 kilometers) in diameter. Like other objects in the Kuiper Belt, MU69 offers a close-up look at the remnants of the ancient planet-building process, small worlds that hold critical clues to the formation of the outer solar system. Coffee is always a great thing to gift over the holidays. But what if the person sucks? Like, really sucks. The answer, then, is to get them coffee that also sucks. But it should be coffee that knows it is no good, puts it right on the front of the package, and lets the giftee know that maybe they should do some soul searching. For this gift, there is really only one option: Quills Coffees new and completely intentional Lump O Coal Blend. Whats in the blend? Who knows. Who cares. Its not good, and thats the point. The impromptu new offering from the Kentucky-based coffee company is due to the power going out in their roasting facility mid-batch. So instead of throwing it all away, they figured, why not give it to someone who really deserves it? And the best part about this giftother than giving someone an item commensurate with their characteris that its cheap. Whereas coffees from Quills normally range from $14 to $22, this 12-ounce bag o fun only costs $5. Its probably $5 more than you want to spend on that special someone, but it beats spending more than that and a fiver is well worth the joke. The Lump O Coal Blend is in very limited supply (because the power didnt go out multiple times) and is only available for purchase at Quills cafes starting today. Sorry, everyone that doesnt live near Louisville or Indianapolis and who isnt willing to drive to buy such an amazing item, youre just going to have to find another awesomely bad gift for your own not awesome but still bad person. Maybe a gift card with no money on it or a hand-drawn pile of poo? Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge. *top image via Quills Coffee Its late October when I travel to Marche, Italy for a visit organised by Simonelli Group to their brand new HQ in Belforte del Chienti. We drive on winding roads past mountains and medieval hill towns as the hot sun shines brightly in the sky. Its a dramatic change of scene and pace after Milan, where I was just the day before to attend the hectic HOST Milan coffee fair. In this beautiful corner of Italy, the Simonelli brand was born more than 80 years ago. The company, founded by Orlando Simonelli in 1936, never moved production away from this small pocket of land, located on the Adriatic coast southeast of Bologna. Today the company gives jobs to more than 100 employees, the majority of whom lives within 20-25km from the factory. In a country that prides itself on manufacturing, from cars to espresso machines, every company has its own identity. Despite manufacturing 95% of their machines for foreign markets, the heart and soul of Simonelli Group remains here in the Marche. Its a region not commonly visited by tourists, and thats a shamewhat it lacks in fame it makes up for in food, wine, culture, and natural beauty, a land of mountains meeting the sea, of Verdicchio and crudo. The new 32,000-square-foot (3,000 sqm) headquarters are adjacent to Simonellis production facility and R&D department, which opened in 2005. The building is comprised of offices, showrooms of Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino machines, 180 sqm auditorium, and a cafe. A 250-sqm museum dedicated to the history of coffee will open soon. The unveiling of this new facility is not only important news for the company, which recently re-branded from Nuova Simonelli to Simonelli Group, but also for the region. This project was one of the first industrial investments to take place in Marche after the 2016 earthquake. Its my first time at a coffee factory and Im excited to visit the production plant, but also to see all the historical machines displayed in the showroom, such as the iconic 1936 or the innovative 1952 Selene, the first machine with continuous brewing with a manual pump. Long gone are the days when Orlando Simonelli, a washing machine salesman with a passion for mechanics and coffee, built his first machine in his small workshop. Today, the company manufactures 35,000 coffee machines every year across two brands: Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino. Counting all the possible iterations of each machine (models, versions, and colours), more than 1,000 different machines come out of the factory in Belforte del Chienti and are then exported to 121 countries around the world. I meet with Mauro Parrini, COO of the Simonelli Group, and leads me on a tour of the factory. Its Thursday early afternoon, but the production has already stopped for the day to make space on the floor for a gala dinner for buyers and distributors (and lucky journalists like me), which will start in a few hours. As I walk through the production lines, Parrini explains the different steps and initiatives taken by Simonelli Group to streamline operations and increase efficiency. For a start, the factory is a paper-free environment. Radio frequency identification tags are applied on each machine at the very beginning of the production phase so the machines can be tracked via GPS. Each and every one of the Nuova Simonelli and Victoria Arduino worldwide can be tracked via GPS and their behaviour and data checked by the research team in Italy. Aside from its efforts to minimise time waste, Simonelli Group is engaged in improving its workplace for employees. There are small initiativesstaff are invited to contribute to a box of ideas (and awarded every year for the best contribution)and big ones, like annual awards given out to the most efficient production team. In what must sound like a dream come from heaven to those working in places like London or the United States, working hours at the factory here in Marche are from 8:00am to 6:00pm with a two-hour lunch break, as most of the workers live close by and like to go home to have lunch with their families (and have a nap). In summer, they start and finish work early to spend the afternoons at the beach. As I chat to Parrini, I find myself dreaming of a slow-paced, family-oriented Italian life in the Marche, building beautiful machines by day and watching the sunset over the Adriatic each evening. We continue the tour, past the R&D department, into the International Hub for Coffee Research and Innovation. This is a new initiative for Simonelli, a scientific laboratory was created in 2016 in collaboration with the University of Camerino to find new ways to improve performance and reduce consumption throughout the coffee chain from production to delivery. The lab employs chemists, physicians, mathematicians, and computer scientists, and one of the main focuses of the hub is sustainability. The researchers have run extensive life cycle assessments of the machines to calculate energy consumption, from sourcing the raw materials and building of the machine to shipping and usage in the coffee shop. Theyve determined that 95% of energy consumption happens in the coffee shop, so the main goal for Simonelli Group is to develop technologies that can raise performance levels while respecting the environment. This experience in Marche, coupled with Simonelli Groups product launches at HOST (Aurelia Wave and Mythos Two), helped bring the moment full circle for me. Through innovation, Simonelli Group has grown from a small company in a little corner of Italy to become, perhaps improbably, one of the top coffee manufacturing companies worldwide. Here in Belforte del Chienti is where it all started, in the hand of a man named Orlando Simonelliwhere it goes next will be determined by the scientists, designers, and extended family who keep his spirit of innovation alive, burning bright and working hard. But not so hard that they miss the beauty of Marche all around them. Giulia Mule is a Sprudge.com contributor based in London. Read more Giulia Mule on Sprudge. Citing the widespread use of drugs on yearlings and two-year-olds that may result in improper bone development and the recent use of horse auctions to launder money for the drug cartel, the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) is formally calling for the independent regulation of the breeding and sales industries. These significant portions of the racing industry are totally unregulated, said ARCI Chair Jeff Colliton. If we care about our horses and the integrity of the sport, the racing industry can no longer turn a blind eye to the need to address this shortcoming. Bisphosphonates: Need to Regulate Use of Drugs in Horses Intended for Sale. The ARCI Equine Welfare Committee, chaired by Dr. Corrine Sweeney, met via conference call on November 7, 2017 to discuss the use of Bisphosphonates on horses that race or are intended to race. While this class of legal medication has been specifically approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat navicular disease in older horses, federal law currently does not preclude their use in young horses despite concerns about their safety and research in other mammals showing a link to stress fractures. In horses, stress fractures may contribute to a catastrophic breakdown. Committee members were concerned about the use of these drugs in young horses amid reports of their widespread use on yearlings and two-year olds to treat pain or get them ready for the auction ring. Some noted that the bones of horses treated with bisphosphonates may falsely appear to be fully developed when subjected to a radiograph prior to entering the auction ring. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see the profit motive for the seller. But this should never be allowed overrule the concerns about the welfare of the horse, said ARCI President Ed Martin. There is sentiment within ARCI to outlaw the use of these drugs in young horses, following the lead of the British Horseracing Authority which has banned their use in horses younger than 3.5 years of age. In addition, the published drug policies of the sales companies are more lenient than those adopted by racing commissions governing the conduct of the race, particularly the permitted stacking of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. DRUG MONEY LAUNDERING. The high-profile US federal investigation and convictions that revealed that the Mexican drug cartel was utilizing quarter horse sales to launder drug money exposed another reason why the breeding and sales aspects of horse racing need to be regulated, Colliton said. The use of 'front' owners and corporations is outlined in the book 'Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty' by Melissa Del Bosque which is reportedly being made into a movie to be released at some point in the future. Per the noted author Alfredo Corchado whose work has focused on the drug cartels, this case is a harrowing portrayal of a cartel familys thirst for power, money and fast horses. He also notes that this work offers a a critical, up close look into organized crimes growing influence over the sport of kings, and the deadly consequences. It is naive to think that this may be an isolated instance in an area of the sport that is unregulated, ARCI President Ed Martin said. I know first-hand from my experience in New York that criminal activity can occur right under the nose of the most prominent people in racing. Martin, as the NY regulator, was instrumental in the 2003 criminal indictment of the New York Racing Association for a federal felony conspiracy to defraud the government, a charge NYRA pled guilty to under a deferred prosecution agreement. Equine breakdowns and activities relating to organized crime are damaging to the public image and acceptability of this sport, he said. While the conduct of the race is adequately regulated and racings anti-doping program is comparable if not superior to corresponding programs in human sport, the above-mentioned issues highlight the limitations of the existing regulatory authority in many ARCI jurisdictions. On December 8, 2017, the ARCI Board of Directors adopted the following resolution: WHEREAS reports that the use of some medications on young horses, yearlings and two year olds, may potentially endanger their proper development as race horses, increasing the potential risk of fractures and catastrophic injury; and, WHEREAS the use of such drugs on young horses may misrepresent the extent to which bones have developed to potential buyers and may mask ailments or conditions that would not only impact the price paid at auction but affect a future racing career; and, WHEREAS young horses intended to be racehorses are often beyond the regulatory authority of the racing regulator and their care and development is not subject to any independent oversight; and, WHEREAS it has also been proven that the sale of racehorses has recently attracted members of the drug cartel who have used racehorses to launder money; and, WHEREAS both the breeding and sales aspects of the racing industry are un-regulated and outside the regulatory framework that prohibits activities deemed dangerous to the horse or contain the necessary safeguards to deter and detect illegal activity; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that The Association of Racing Commissions International (ARCI) is in agreement with statements made by Louis Romanet, President of the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities, indicating that horses should come under the authority of an independent regulatory authority from the moment of birth and throughout their racing career; The ARCI calls for the expansion of the racing regulatory authority of its members or other suitable entity to include the breeding and sale of race horses and empowers its Officers to begin a conversation with policymakers at all levels and racing industry constituencies to advance this concept and develop all appropriate details. (ARCI) MONTGOMERY, Ala., Dec. 13, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- It's no secret that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not like Judge Roy Moore, who ran to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. McConnell endorsed his primary opponent, Luther Strange, and poured an estimated $30 million into a campaign against Moore.When Strange was soundly rejected by the people of Alabama, and Moore became the GOP nominee, McConnell continued to oppose him.At the first sign of an unproven 40-year old allegation of sexual misconduct against Moore in the waning weeks of the campaign, the GOP halted financial support for Moore's campaign, and several Republicans withdrew their endorsements, when they should have maintained their support in the face of such obviously fake allegations. Instead, they allowed Moore to be tarred and feathered by the spurious attacks.However, Mitch McConnell went a step further. He promised to never allow Moore to occupy his Senate seat, if he were to be elected, even though none of the allegations had ever been proved true in the four decades since they supposedly happened.This sent a strong message to the electorate that Moore would never be accepted as a legitimate Senator, that the people of Alabama would be disenfranchised, and chaos would reign in the Senate."It is my opinion that Sen. Mitch McConnell heavily contributed to Moore's defeat, and because that led to giving a seat away to a pro-abortion Democrat, he should resign immediately," said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. "McConnell has ensured that pro-life legislation will never pass, Planned Parenthood will never be defunded, and babies that can feel pain will continue to be aborted after the mid-point of pregnancy. He has made sure that the Trump agenda will stall out, and Congress will continue in gridlock. He has betrayed the will of the American people, who support the Trump agenda, especially when it comes to ending abortion. Sen. McConnell, please resign!"About Operation RescueOperation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Click here to support Operation Rescue Cowlitz Countys top paid public official will get a 4 percent raise next year, solidifying his spot as the only public official in the county to earn more than $200,000 annually. Cowlitz PUD Commissioners Tuesday approved the raise for General Manager Steve Kern, who will make about $214,240 starting in January, an increase from $206,000 last year. Commissioners applauded Kern for his performance since joining the utility in January 2016. I think youre doing a great job since youve come on board. Youve made some great decisions and have protected this utility, Commissioner Kurt Anagnostou told Kern at Tuesdays commission meeting. In determining his raise, Commissioner Dena Diamond Ott said the utility compared Kerns salary with salaries for other general managers of similarly-sized utilities in Washington state. You cant compare the job to other jobs in our community. You have to compare it with other general managers, Diamond-Ott said after the meeting. Diamond-Ott said Kern has netted the utility $1.5 million in savings this year including $800,000 shaved off the budget, $200,000 in salaries by combining positions and not replacing a director level position and $100,000 by selling off a stale transmission. The utility recently earned a grade A with a continued stable outlook rating from Fitch Ratings, recognizing its efforts to improve its budgeting process and reduce its debt. Currently the utility is reducing its debt by about $10 million annually, with an outstanding bond balance of $175 million, said Trent Martin, director of accounting and finance. Diamond-Ott said the utility will hire an independent professional service to evaluate Kerns salary package next year. Kern responded, I feel really strongly that its really staff and employees that have done a great job. Ive pushed a lot of change the last year and half and its been tough on people, but theyve really (done well). Other top executives salaries at large local public agencies include: Norm Krehbiel, Port of Longview CEO at $173,400; Dan Zorn, Longview School District Superintendent, at $172,880; Mark Wilson, Executive Director of the Port of Kalama at $153,749; Dave Campbell, Longview City Manager, at $142,008; and Axel Swanson, Cowlitz County Chief of Staff, at $117,500. With a vote looming Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, some lawmakers in Washington are trying to preserve protections for the state. State Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, is planning to file legislation Wednesday that would undercut the federal panel by requiring internet service providers treat all web traffic equally. GOP Rep. Norma Smith of Clinton said Tuesday she plans to file a similar bill this week. One major hurdle: The FCC plans to block states from making their own regulations that run counter to the federal plan. The move is intended in part to save telecom companies from dealing with a complex mishmash of state laws. Hansen said he believes the FCC doesnt have the authority to stop states from making their own rules without Congressional approval. If the state does pass his legislation, it might end up challenged in court. Hansen said thats a necessary risk to avoid the plan by chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, to dismantle net neutrality with a vote of the five-member panel on Dec. 14. The same (rules) in effect right this second, theyre going to be in effect in Washington state in 2018 if I have anything to do with it, Hansen said Tuesday. Net neutrality rules stop internet providers from blocking certain websites or slowing the speed of rival sites or services. The regulations also stop companies from being able to charge customers more for internet fast lanes. They have been in place since 2015. Telecom companies say the current net neutrality regulations are onerous, slow innovation and discourage investment in broadband. Some companies, including Comcast, have promised to adhere to at least some principals of net neutrality. Comcasts website says the company does not block, slow down or discriminate against lawful content. Pais plan would require internet providers to disclose whether they block or slow web access, or create fast-lanes. Still, state-level net neutrality protections have found some early backing in the Legislature. Lawmakers will convene in January for a 60-day legislative session. State Sen. Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat who chairs the Senates Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee, said he wants lawmakers to do everything we can to keep net neutrality laws in place for people in Washington state. Democrats have found common ground with the GOP in Washington state over internet regulations in the past. Many Republicans want to implement state-level internet data privacy rules that garnered broad support at the Capitol in the 2017 session. Not all have been on board with internet regulations, though. Efforts to pass legislation related to data privacy were halted by Senate Republican leadership in the 2017 session, when the GOP had a slim voting majority in the chamber. Some Republicans are also likely to push back against the push for state net-neutrality regulations. For more than a year I've been trying to gain access to what I would consider to be a super computing cluster that I could run a GPU-based database benchmark on. There have been several challenges I've come across during this time. Some software providers aren't certain their code will scale up to the hardware on offer and often the owners of the hardware are busy running workloads that could very well solve some of the world's biggest challenges. BrytlytDB recently added support for IBM's POWER8 CPU architecture and I've been kindly granted access to a five-node IBM Power System S822LC for HPC cluster to run my 1.1 Billion Taxi Rides benchmark on. The systems are more commonly known by their code-name "Minsky" and, in aggregate, the cluster has 20 Nvidia P100 GPUs with a combined total of 71,680 CUDA cores and 320 GB of HBM2 memory that the CUDA cores can communicate with at 14,640 GB/s. For those unfamiliar with BrytlytDB I'd describe it as PostgreSQL for GPUs. All the regular features of PostgreSQL like Joins, Stored Procedures, ODBC (important for Tableau users) work as expected but once PostgreSQL puts together an execution plan for a query BrytlytDB takes over and executes it on one or more of Nvidia's CUDA-powered GPUs. The software has the added benefit of being able to run single queries across multiple GPUs on multiple machines. In this benchmark I'll see how well the latest version 2.1 of BrytlytDB runs on five IBM Minsky Servers when querying 1.1 billion taxi trips. This dataset is made up of 1.1 billion taxi trips conducted in New York City between 2009 and 2015. In CSV format the data is about 500 GB in size. This is the same dataset I've used to benchmark Amazon Athena, BigQuery, ClickHouse, Elasticsearch, EMR, kdb+/q, MapD, PostgreSQL, Redshift and Vertica. I have a single-page summary of all these benchmarks for comparison. The Hardware In this benchmark I'll be using five IBM Power System S822LC for HPC servers. Each 2U server comes with two 4 GHz, 8-core by 8-thread, POWER8-based CPUs. $ lscpu Architecture: ppc64le Byte Order: Little Endian CPU(s): 128 On-line CPU(s) list: 0-127 Thread(s) per core: 8 Core(s) per socket: 8 Socket(s): 2 NUMA node(s): 2 Model: 1.0 (pvr 004c 0100) Model name: POWER8NVL (raw), altivec supported CPU max MHz: 4023.0000 CPU min MHz: 2061.0000 L1d cache: 64K L1i cache: 32K L2 cache: 512K L3 cache: 8192K NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-63 NUMA node1 CPU(s): 64-127 The CPUs were set to performance mode for this benchmark. $ sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance There is half a terabyte of DDR4 RAM on each machine. $ cat /proc/meminfo | head -n1 MemTotal: 535690368 kB Each server has four Nvidia Tesla P100-SXM2-16GB cards. These cards have 3,584 CUDA cores, 16 GB of HBM2 memory that the CUDA cores can communicate with at 732 GB/s and a total power draw of 300 Watts. $ nvidia-smi +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 361.93.02 Driver Version: 361.93.02 | |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. | |===============================+======================+======================| | 0 Tesla P100-SXM2... On | 0002:01:00.0 Off | 0 | | N/A 33C P0 30W / 300W | 0MiB / 16280MiB | 0% Default | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 1 Tesla P100-SXM2... On | 0003:01:00.0 Off | 0 | | N/A 34C P0 29W / 300W | 0MiB / 16280MiB | 0% Default | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 2 Tesla P100-SXM2... On | 000A:01:00.0 Off | 0 | | N/A 33C P0 28W / 300W | 0MiB / 16280MiB | 0% Default | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | 3 Tesla P100-SXM2... On | 000B:01:00.0 Off | 0 | | N/A 29C P0 28W / 300W | 0MiB / 16280MiB | 0% Default | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ The compute cores on the GPUs are clocked at 1.48 GHz, the memory clocks are set to 715 MHz and performance mode is switched on. $ sudo nvidia-smi -ac 715 ,1480 $ sudo nvidia-smi -pm ENABLED The Minsky boxes are equipped with NVLink which provides much faster interconnectivity between the CPUs and GPUs than you'd find in a PCIe-based system. The CPUs can speak to the system's RAM at 115 GB/s, the CPUs and GPUs can all communicate between one another at 80 GB/s thanks in part to NVLink and the GPUs can speak to their memory at 732 GB/s. The ratio of two P100 cards for each CPU seems to create a good balance for BrytlytDB. Each server has a Seagate 1 TB 2.5" 7200 RPM hard disk drive and a 1.6 TB NVMe Flash drive. Below shows how the partitions are setup. $ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 1 931.5G 0 disk |-sda1 8:1 1 7M 0 part |-sda2 8:2 1 929.6G 0 part / `-sda3 8:3 1 1.9G 0 part [SWAP] sdb 8:16 1 931.5G 0 disk sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom sr1 11:1 1 1024M 0 rom sr2 11:2 1 1024M 0 rom sr3 11:3 1 1024M 0 rom nvme0n1 259:0 0 1.5T 0 disk `-nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1.5T 0 part /nvme3T I ran dd on one of the NVMe drives to get an idea of what sort of single-process, single-thread speeds could be seen with the drive. I was able to max out writes at 3.8 GB/s and reads at 1 GB/s. $ sudo dd if = /dev/zero of = /nvme3T/test bs = 500K count = 1024 1024+0 records in 1024+0 records out 524288000 bytes (524 MB, 500 MiB) copied, 0.137118 s, 3.8 GB/s $ sync $ echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches $ dd if = /nvme3T/test of = /dev/null bs = 500K count = 1024 1024+0 records in 1024+0 records out 524288000 bytes (524 MB, 500 MiB) copied, 0.520857 s, 1.0 GB/s Though the Minsky machines do come with InfiniBand network ports BrytlytDB keeps network chatter at a minimum so for this benchmark we used a 1 Gbps network for communication between the five machines. BrytlytDB Up and Running Each of the servers is running Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS with a 4.4.0-57-generic Kernel compiled for ppc64le. Docker version 17.06.0-ce along with Docker Engine Utility for NVIDIA GPUs were already installed on the machines when I gained access to them. For this benchmark I'll be running the new version 2.1 of BrytlytDB which supports POWER8. In order to minimise the installation steps I'll be using a Docker Image with the software already setup. $ sudo nvidia-docker login $ sudo nvidia-docker pull brytlytdb/ppc64-4n I then launched the containers on each of the five servers. PostgreSQL's CLI client port 5432 and BrytlytDB's data node communication ports will be exposed from the Docker container. $ sudo nvidia-docker run \ -dti \ --name = cluster \ -p 5432 :5432 \ -p 30000 -30003:30000-30003 \ brytlytdb/ppc64-4n $ sudo nvidia-docker exec \ cluster /root/brytlyt start I do have to highlight that there was an oversight: these containers were launched on the mechanical disks rather than the NVMe drives on each of the machines. This will have an impact on the performance of any I/O operation BrytlytDB performs. I'm disappointed this happened and I would have rerun the benchmark but I only noticed this after I surrendered the servers back to their owner. On the coordinator I'll register the other data nodes. The network setup is as such that the other machines are addressed via non-reserved IPv4 addresses so for the sake of the owner's privacy I'll be obscuring the first three IPv4 classes. $ sudo docker exec -ti cluster \ /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql \ brytlyt brytlyt CREATE NODE d04 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.213' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15432 ); CREATE NODE d05 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.213' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15433 ); CREATE NODE d06 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.213' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15434 ); CREATE NODE d07 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.213' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15435 ); CREATE NODE d08 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.103' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15432 ); CREATE NODE d09 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.103' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15433 ); CREATE NODE d10 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.103' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15434 ); CREATE NODE d11 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.103' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15435 ); CREATE NODE d12 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.104' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15432 ); CREATE NODE d13 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.104' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15433 ); CREATE NODE d14 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.104' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15434 ); CREATE NODE d15 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.104' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15435 ); CREATE NODE d16 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.105' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15432 ); CREATE NODE d17 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.105' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15433 ); CREATE NODE d18 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.105' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15434 ); CREATE NODE d19 WITH ( HOST = 'x.x.x.105' , TYPE = 'datanode' , PORT = 15435 ); SELECT pgxc_pool_reload (); With those in place there is now a data node for each of the 20 GPUs in the cluster and they've been federated on the coordinator. Loading 1.1 Billion Trips into BrytlytDB I'll first define the table schema for the 1.1 billion taxi trip records. $ sudo docker exec -ti cluster \ /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql \ brytlyt brytlyt CREATE FOREIGN TABLE trips ( trip_id INTEGER , vendor_id VARCHAR ( 3 ), pickup_datetime TIMESTAMP , dropoff_datetime TIMESTAMP , store_and_fwd_flag VARCHAR ( 1 ), rate_code_id SMALLINT , pickup_longitude DOUBLE PRECISION , pickup_latitude DOUBLE PRECISION , dropoff_longitude DOUBLE PRECISION , dropoff_latitude DOUBLE PRECISION , passenger_count SMALLINT , trip_distance DOUBLE PRECISION , fare_amount DOUBLE PRECISION , extra DOUBLE PRECISION , mta_tax DOUBLE PRECISION , tip_amount DOUBLE PRECISION , tolls_amount DOUBLE PRECISION , ehail_fee DOUBLE PRECISION , improvement_surcharge DOUBLE PRECISION , total_amount DOUBLE PRECISION , payment_type VARCHAR ( 10 ), trip_type SMALLINT , pickup VARCHAR ( 50 ), dropoff VARCHAR ( 50 ), cab_type VARCHAR ( 10 ), precipitation SMALLINT , snow_depth SMALLINT , snowfall SMALLINT , max_temperature SMALLINT , min_temperature SMALLINT , average_wind_speed SMALLINT , pickup_nyct2010_gid SMALLINT , pickup_ctlabel VARCHAR ( 10 ), pickup_borocode SMALLINT , pickup_boroname VARCHAR ( 13 ), pickup_ct2010 VARCHAR ( 6 ), pickup_boroct2010 VARCHAR ( 7 ), pickup_cdeligibil VARCHAR ( 1 ), pickup_ntacode VARCHAR ( 4 ), pickup_ntaname VARCHAR ( 56 ), pickup_puma VARCHAR ( 4 ), dropoff_nyct2010_gid SMALLINT , dropoff_ctlabel VARCHAR ( 10 ), dropoff_borocode SMALLINT , dropoff_boroname VARCHAR ( 13 ), dropoff_ct2010 VARCHAR ( 6 ), dropoff_boroct2010 VARCHAR ( 7 ), dropoff_cdeligibil VARCHAR ( 1 ), dropoff_ntacode VARCHAR ( 4 ), dropoff_ntaname VARCHAR ( 56 ), dropoff_puma VARCHAR ( 4 ) ) SERVER gm_fdw_server OPTIONS ( max_size '55682651' , index '10:24' ) DISTRIBUTE BY ROUNDROBIN ; In the above table declaration there are indices for both the passenger count and cab type columns. The gm_fdw_server identifier tells PostgreSQL to connect to BrytlytDB's GPU foreign data wrapper. The 55,682,651 max_size value is the maximum number of rows I'm intending to import onto each data node. There are 20 data nodes so this should cover the 1.1 billion total records size of the dataset. I'm using the Round Robin data distribution policy here. This table won't be joined with any other data, if it were HASH and/or REPLICATE would be better options. Note that since my last BrytlytDB benchmark version 2.1 of the software has been released and there is now support for both TIMESTAMP and SMALLINT fields. For this benchmark I've downloaded and decompressed the 500 GB of CSV data I created in my Billion Taxi Rides in Redshift blog post. I'll dedicate 1/5th of the dataset for each of the five servers. On each server its dataset is broken up again into four parts so that each CSV file targets one data node. There is a 1-to-1 ratio of data nodes to Tesla P100 cards. The following was all run on the coordinator. $ vi urls.txt https:///trips_xaa.csv.gz https:///trips_xab.csv.gz https:///trips_xac.csv.gz https:///trips_xad.csv.gz https:///trips_xae.csv.gz https:///trips_xaf.csv.gz https:///trips_xag.csv.gz https:///trips_xah.csv.gz https:///trips_xai.csv.gz https:///trips_xaj.csv.gz https:///trips_xak.csv.gz https:///trips_xal.csv.gz https:///trips_xam.csv.gz https:///trips_xan.csv.gz https:///trips_xao.csv.gz https:///trips_xap.csv.gz https:///trips_xaq.csv.gz https:///trips_xar.csv.gz https:///trips_xas.csv.gz https:///trips_xat.csv.gz https:///trips_xau.csv.gz https:///trips_xav.csv.gz https:///trips_xaw.csv.gz https:///trips_xax.csv.gz https:///trips_xay.csv.gz https:///trips_xaz.csv.gz https:///trips_xba.csv.gz https:///trips_xbb.csv.gz https:///trips_xbc.csv.gz https:///trips_xbd.csv.gz https:///trips_xbe.csv.gz https:///trips_xbf.csv.gz https:///trips_xbg.csv.gz https:///trips_xbh.csv.gz https:///trips_xbi.csv.gz https:///trips_xbj.csv.gz https:///trips_xbk.csv.gz https:///trips_xbl.csv.gz https:///trips_xbm.csv.gz https:///trips_xbn.csv.gz https:///trips_xbo.csv.gz https:///trips_xbp.csv.gz https:///trips_xbq.csv.gz https:///trips_xbr.csv.gz https:///trips_xbs.csv.gz https:///trips_xbt.csv.gz https:///trips_xbu.csv.gz https:///trips_xbv.csv.gz https:///trips_xbw.csv.gz https:///trips_xbx.csv.gz https:///trips_xby.csv.gz https:///trips_xbz.csv.gz https:///trips_xca.csv.gz https:///trips_xcb.csv.gz https:///trips_xcc.csv.gz https:///trips_xcd.csv.gz $ cat urls.txt | \ xargs -n 1 -P 6 \ wget $ find trips_x*.csv.gz | \ xargs -n 1 -P 16 \ gunzip $ cat trips_x*.csv \ | split --lines = 55682651 \ --additional-suffix = .csv count = 0 for filename in xa*.csv ; do /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql brytlyt brytlyt \ -c "EXECUTE DIRECT ON ( data_datanode $count ) 'SELECT load_data(''trips'', '' $filename '', '','', 2000000, ''0'', '''', ''append'')'" 2 > & 1 & /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql brytlyt brytlyt \ -c "EXECUTE DIRECT ON ( data_datanode $(( $count + 4 )) ) 'SELECT load_data(''trips'', '' $filename '', '','', 2000000, ''0'', '''', ''append'')'" 2 > & 1 & /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql brytlyt brytlyt \ -c "EXECUTE DIRECT ON ( data_datanode $(( $count + 8 )) ) 'SELECT load_data(''trips'', '' $filename '', '','', 2000000, ''0'', '''', ''append'')'" 2 > & 1 & /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql brytlyt brytlyt \ -c "EXECUTE DIRECT ON ( data_datanode $(( $count + 12 )) ) 'SELECT load_data(''trips'', '' $filename '', '','', 2000000, ''0'', '''', ''append'')'" 2 > & 1 & /usr/local/brytlyt/bin/psql brytlyt brytlyt \ -c "EXECUTE DIRECT ON ( data_datanode $(( $count + 16 )) ) 'SELECT load_data(''trips'', '' $filename '', '','', 2000000, ''0'', '''', ''append'')'" 2 > & 1 & (( count++ )) done The above took around 2.5 hours to complete. Three men have been arrested for the attempted firebombing of a Swedish synagogue in Gothenburg, and according to a far-left group all three are recent asylum seekers from Syria and Palestine. The men, aged 18, 20, and 21, were arrested by police following the attack, which saw a group of around 20 masked individuals attack a Gothenburg synagogue with firebombs in an effort to burn the building down. The three men arrested in connection with the attack are said to be asylum seekers who came to Sweden this year from the Middle East, according to George Soros-funded far-left group Expo. Expo, who are known for their activism against right-wing groups in Sweden, claim they spoke to President of the Swedish Western Regional Police Ulla Brehm, who confirmed the arrests. They also say that they obtained court documents which showed that all three suspects are asylum seekers and that the trio pled not guilty to charges of deliberate arson. The attack occurred around the same time as a demonstration in the heavily migrant-populated city of Malmo, where a group of around 200 demonstrators protested the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital. Participants at the event chanted anti-Semitic rhetoric, declaring: We have announced the intifada from Malmo. We want our freedom back, and we will shoot the Jews. Sweden's fiasco of immigration continues to take a toll as Chanuka takes place (Hat tip: Jihad Watch ):So at least one must be from Israel, but the original reports - or the activists themselves - refer to it by the delegitimizing name.So a Soros-funded activist group appears to have had something to do with enabling these vile scum to enter Sweden, and unsurprisingly, many of the Islamofascists against recognition of Jerusalem made death threats. A pure disgrace. Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, immigration, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, jihad, Moonbattery, political corruption, Scandanavia, terrorism, United States, war on terror, White House Even if your business is not in the tech industry, you must be on top of technology trends for small businesses. You can use President seeks solid OIC stance on Jerusalem issue President M Abdul Hamid on Wednesday said OIC must not remain as bystander on Jerusalem issue as he joined an emergency summit of the Muslim nations' major grouping, convened to decide a coordinated response to the US recognition of the city as Israel's capital. "The OIC cannot remain a bystander at this hostile action . . . we must also go ahead with realistic OIC decisions made so far on Al Quds (Jerusalem) in a focused manner," he told the sixth such extra ordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the Turkish city of Istanbul. President Hamid expected the emergency summit to deliver a strong message to the international community that, "we are rock solid in unity behind them in their struggle for the just cause" and provide Palestinians necessary support and strength. The Bangladesh president's comments came as, chairing the summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Muslim nations must press the world to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. The summit at Istanbul Congress and Exhibition Centre drew heads of state and government and ministers from over 50 Muslim countries a week after US President Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem triggered widespread protests in the Middle East and Muslim world. President Hamid said Bangladesh and its people expressed their full solidarity with the Palestinians against the US announcement - recognition of Jerusalem as the "so-called capital of Israel". "Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joins the Muslim Ummah with a call for an immediate reversal of the US decision and their truly constructive and helpful role as the Palestinians are facing travesty of fairness and justice," he said. The president said Bangladesh affirmed "unswerving position" in favour of establishing the State of Palestine and urged all parties concerned to revive the Middle East Peace Process and take a constructive and pragmatic approach to it under a two-state solution. He said the December 6 US announcement and process to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem came to "shock and outrage the Islamic feelings posing a great threat to the Middle East Peace Process as well". "The decision . . . drastically reduced the credibility of the US administration as an honest mediator in the Arab-Israeli peace process," President Hamid said. He simultaneously sought an immediate and proactive engagement of the international community and particularly of OIC to mobilise pressure on Israel for halting and reversing its policies and practices. President Hamid also thanked the Turkish leader for convening and hosting a special OIC Summit in due urgency and spirit of fraternity and solidarity, "with our Palestinian brothers and sisters subjected to yet another mindless blow on their rights and status". The Bangladesh president feared that the US announcement may trigger "grave consequences" and threaten international peace and security by "inflaming the Muslim world and raising new waves of tension, hostility and violent extremism in the already volatile region of the Middle East," he said. He said the US recognition would impose Israeli control over the holy city of Al Quds and "contribute to changing its historical and legal status, its demographic structure and historic Arab-Islamic character". Alabama Democrat Doug Jones wins US Senate race, blow to Trump Reports said former prosecutor Jones secured 49.6 percent of the vote. AFP, Montgomery : Democrat Doug Jones scored a stunning upset victory Tuesday in a fiercely contested US Senate race in conservative Alabama, defeating a controversial Donald Trump-backed Republican who failed to overcome damaging accusations of sexual misconduct. The Democratic victory in the most contentious US election of 2017, and in one of the reddest of deep South states, marks a bitter blow to the president, who gave his full endorsement to Republican Roy Moore after initial hesitations, despite the scandalous allegations against him. With 94 percent of Alabama precincts reporting, Jones won 49.6 percent of the vote compared to Moore's 48.7 percent, a margin of about 11,000 votes out of 1.1 million cast, according to figures posted by US networks including CNN. Fox News and The New York Times also called the race for Jones. "Thank you ALABAMA!!" Jones tweeted, shortly after his election party in Birmingham burst into celebratory cheers. The loss by Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, shrinks the Republicans' Senate majority to 51 in the 100-seat chamber, and reduces Trump's margin for maneuver to the bare minimum. By all accounts, it is a humiliating setback for Republicans in Washington as they struggle to pass Trump's legislative agenda through Congress and make the case that they are the responsible stewards of government heading into the crucial 2018 mid-term elections. Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud," tweeted Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who lost to Trump in last year's presidential race. "And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can-and must-compete everywhere." The race was being seen as a harbinger of whether the Republican Party can retain its slim Senate majority next year. It carries extraordinarily broad implications, and serves as a test of the partisan nature of American politics at a time of acrimonious debate about President Donald Trump and his policies. The tumultuous election was buffeted for the past month with the shock allegations by several women-first reported by The Washington Post one month ago-that Moore assaulted, molested or pursued several teenage girls, including sexually touching one who was 14 years old at the time. Jones Declared Victor In Alabama Race For Senate; Moore May Seek Recount Speaking to supporters, Moore said he thought the race might go to a recount, which state law requires when a race is within 0.5 percentage points. US embassy unlikely to move to Jerusalem before 2020: Tillerson Xinhua, Washington : U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday the U.S. embassy in Israel was unlikely to be moved to Jerusalem before 2020, national media outlets reported. "It's not going to be anything that happens right away," U.S. news daily the New York Times quoted Tillerson's speech at the State Department to report on Tuesday. "Probably no earlier than three years out, and that's pretty ambitious," the head of the State Department added. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and his intention of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The declaration serves "the interest of the United States and the peace between Israel and the Palestinians," said Trump at a televised speech. Speaking of the moving of the U.S. embassy, Trump said the State Department will immediately begin to hire architects and engineers, so as to make the new embassy "a magnificent tribute to peace" when completed. Meanwhile, the United States is ready to begin talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament without prior conditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a meeting on the crisis at the Atlantic Council policy forum in Washington. Ensuring right to health for all Dr. Samir Kumar Saha : Every year, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is commemorated on December 12 across the globe. It is the anniversary of the first unanimous United Nations resolution, calling for countries to provide affordable and quality health care to every person everywhere. In December 2012, the UN passed a landmark resolution endorsing the UHC. Since then, the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization (WHO) have identified UHC as a top priority for sustainable development. The Day has become the annual rallying point for the growing movement for health for all. UHC means everyone can access quality health services without financial hardship. It is an inherently political goal rooted in the human right to health. It also makes economic sense. Health is a human right, that no one should go bankrupt when they get sick, and that universal health coverage underpins our collective security and prosperity. The World Health Organization's constitution affirms that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right. More than half of the world's countries have included the right to health, public health or medical care in their national constitutions. All people aspire to receive quality, affordable health care. The UHC aims to achieve better health and development outcomes, help prevent people from falling into poverty due to illness, and give people the opportunity to lead healthier, more productive lives. In recent years, the global UHC movement has gained momentum, with the World Health Assembly and the United Nations General Assembly calling on countries to "urgently and significantly scale up efforts to accelerate the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health care services." There is growing global consensus that UHC is a smart investment and an achievable goal everywhere. Lack of affordable, quality health care traps families and nations in poverty. According to World Bank, worldwide 400 million people lack the most basic life-saving health care, and 17% of people in low- and middle-income countries are pushed or further pushed into poverty (US$2/day) because of health spending. Up to one-third of households in Africa and Southeast Asia borrow money or sell assets to pay for health care. According to WHO, the UHC has been included in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) adopted by the United Nations. More than 100 low- and middle-income countries, home to almost 3/4 of the world's population, have taken steps to deliver the UHC. The emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS)-representing almost half the world's population-are all taking steps toward the UHC. Countries implementing the UHC are seeing the benefits: healthier communities and stronger economies. Every $1 that a country invests in health today can produce up to $20 in full-income growth within a generation. When health care is accessible and affordable, families can send their children to school, start a business and save for emergencies. UHC pays a resilience dividend. In times of distress, health minimizes the shock to lives and livelihoods. In times of calm, health promotes community cohesion and economic productivity. Health is a right, not a privilege. The UHC aims to achieve better health and development outcomes in line with the SDGs, which will guide the post-2015 agenda. SDG 3 includes a target to "achieve UHC, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all." The Ebola crisis was a stark reminder of the urgent need to strengthen health systems. The poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of preventable mother and child deaths, infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and heart disease. To effectively fight these threats, we must reach everyone, everywhere, with health care. Sources said, in Bangladesh, about 4.5 million people become poor every year to meet their health expenses. Rather than fighting diseases, we need to go for public health approach such as promotive, preventive and rehabilitative care. Public health approach is cost effective and affordable. It is the best option relating to ensuring the health rights of our people. Bangladesh is facing a number of challenges in its health sector. To overcome the challenges, a multi-sectoral holistic approach can be one of the important strategies. Traditional medicine can play a role in ensuring health care of all. According to WHO, "Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being." We want improved health care for all, but there are still problems prevailing in our country, which is hampering the health services. There are many poor people, who are unable to get proper health services due to financial crisis. Besides, every year, a section of people go abroad for the purpose of taking health care services. The matter deserves urgent attention and all concerned should come forward for improving the health care services in our country. The issue of disparities in health is a matter of life and death. Disparities in health among our people are real and represent a serious threat to our future as a nation. It is time for us to take a public health approach to eliminate disparities in health. It can be said that taking necessary steps on integration of all systems of medicines can ensure health care of our people. Combination of efforts of all the stakeholders and the integration of all the systems of medicine are important for ensuring the health rights of all. It is hoped that the authorities concerned would look into the matter. The day is an opportunity to put aside our differences and work together for a movement that brings benefits to people and patients and reduces poverty and promotes inclusive growth. (The author is Executive Director of Public Health Foundation of Bangladesh (phfbd)& Founder President of Ayurved and Naturopathy Association of Bangladesh (AYUNS). Solution to Rohingya crisis rests in Myanmar UNGA may approve a resolution requesting Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy for Myanmar: Sexual violence 'push factor' for forced displacement of Rohingyas News Desk : The United Nations can help Myanmar defuse inter-communal tensions and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation of Rohingya refugees, quoting the organization's top political official, the UN News Centre reported. "We hope Myanmar will draw upon the wealth of expertise the UN can offer," Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the UN Security Council on Tuesday in his briefing on developments in Myanmar. Tuesday's meeting was a follow-up to the Security Council's presidential statement on the situation in Myanmar adopted on November 6, which requested the UN Secretary-General to brief on development after 30 days of its adoption. The estimated number of refugees who entered Bangladesh from Myanmar since 25 August now exceeds 700,000. "UN is grateful for the continued generosity of the Government and people of Bangladesh. We urge the international community to continue to support these efforts," he said. "But the origins and solutions to the Rohingya crisis rests in Myanmar. Repatriation and reconciliation policies will fail without accountability and non-discriminatory rule of law and public safety measures to address the fears and distrust among communities in Rakhine," he also told the Security Council meeting on Myanmar situation. To that end, one of the major developments Feltman highlighted was a bilateral agreement on the issue of return reached on 23 November between the two countries - [Bangladesh and Myanmar] a pact that recognizes the need for a comprehensive and durable solution through the safe, dignified, and voluntary return in accordance with international law. Feltman said return must be supported through reconciliation efforts, and central to this is the implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission recommendations. He noted that the United Nations General Assembly is expected to approve a resolution that requests the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy for Myanmar. This initiative can strengthen the partnership between the UN and Myanmar, in close consultations with interested Member States in the region and beyond. "We urge all Myanmar leaders, including in the military, to condemn incitement to racial hatred and violence. We encourage them to adopt measures to defuse tensions between communities and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation, including through interfaith initiatives," he said. Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar. The Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten, who visited Bangladesh from 5 to 13 November, also briefed the Council. Describing "the most heartbreaking and horrific" accounts of sexual atrocities against girls and women in Myanmar's Rakhine state, she said that every woman or girl she had spoken with during her visit to Rohingya encampments in Bangladesh had either endured brutal assault or had witnessed sexual violence, including seeing women literally being raped to death. Such shocking accounts indicate a pattern of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Sexual violence was being used as a "push factor" for forced displacement on a massive scale, with some survivors being told to leave because they were not citizens of Myanmar. Palestinians have right to East Jerusalem as capital: Saudi King The Times Of Israel : Palestinians have the right to East Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi King Salman said Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away. "The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital," the king said. Salman did not spell out whether that meant Saudi support for an Israeli capital in West Jerusalem. The king's remarks came at the opening of the annual Consultative Council meeting in Riyadh, as the world's main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to the Trump administration's recognition last week of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and its declaration of intent to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Salman renewed his condemnation of Trump's decision, saying it "represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions." In this photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency, King Salman attends a swearing in ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 6, 2017. SCBA for new gazette with correction Staff Reporter : The leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday said that the published gazette on the disciplinary rules for the lower court judges handed the executive controlling power over the judiciary. "This gazette is ultra vires to the Constitution and contrary to the judgement in the Masdar Hossain case, known as the judiciary separation case," the bar leaders reminded the government. The SC bar leaders said this at a press conference arranged in the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium to express reactions over the recently published gazette. Bar President Advocate Zainul Abedin read a written statement in the conference on behalf of the bar. Bar Secretary Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan and other leaders of the executive body of the organization along with some other members of the bar were also present at the press conference. On December 11, the government published the much-talked gazette on the disciplinary rules for the lower court judges. But widespread criticism is growing soon after the gazette was published, for it handed executive controlling power over the lower court judges. The bar leaders claimed that the government should publish a new gazette with correction according to the directions of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court by January 7 in 2018. Otherwise, SC bar will announce a hard line program to establish rights of the Judiciary. "The government has placed the Judicial Service Commission under the Law Ministry. It should have been done according to the Article 116 of the Constitution, which means that the President will act on advice of the Supreme Court. There is no chance for the Law Ministry to exercise this power." "By defining some words, the gazette has diminished the freedom of the lower court judges. Now the government will control them." Bar Secretary Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan said, "The government forced Justice Sinha to go on leave and finally to go on retirement as he opposed the administrative control over the lower court judges." "Law Minister Advocate Anisul Huq's speech-- published gazette was finalized discussing with the judges of the Appellate Division-- is one sided," says the bar Secretary. "I think, Appellate Division cannot take such decision." BD losing ground to US with Vietnam, India Kazi Zahidul Hasan : Bangladesh is losing ground to the US market on apparel export trade falling behind Vietnam, and India due to lack of product diversification and rising production cost of local apparel products. The country's has exported worth $4.35 billion apparels to the USA in the first ten months (January-October) of the current calendar year, which is 4.93 per cent lower than the value of exports during the corresponding period of the previous year, according to the data released by Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) at the US Department of Commerce. The OTEXA date indicates that only Vietnam and India reported growth, in particular, in both exports volume and value to the US during the said period. Bangladesh exported worth $4.58 billion apparels to the USA during January to October period of the last year. "Vietnam and India are gaining ground on apparel export trade to the American market while Bangladesh is losing ground due mainly to lack of product diversification coupled with declining competitiveness of local apparels," BGMEA President M Siddiqur Rahman told The New Nation yesterday. He also blamed negative publicity about Bangladesh's apparel industry for the falling export in the market. "We are struggling to maintain competitiveness of our garment items due to higher tariffs of gas and electricity as well as structural problems," said Siddiqur Rahman, adding, "Such a situation is making our product costlier than Vietnam and India pushing up their export to the US market." The BGMEA president further said that Vietnam and India have appeared to be Bangladesh's major competitors in global apparel export trade taking advantage of their governments' policy support. "We're also getting support from our government. But this is not enough to compete with them," he added. The OTEXA data shows, apparel import by the US noted a 1.04 per cent rise in volume terms during the January to October 2017 period. US, the largest apparel importer in the world imported 23,109.54 million SME of apparels during the review period as against 22872.37 million SME in the prior-year period. China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India were the top five apparel exporters to the US during the first 10 months of 2017. The countries exported apparels worth $ 23.16 billion (down 3.64 per cent), $9.84 billion (up 6.79 per cent), $ 4.35 billion (down 4.93 per cent), $ 3.93 billion (down 2.81 per cent) and $3.22 billion (up 2.06 per cent), respectively. The cumulative apparel import data of the US will further rise till the end of 2017 as per the projection. Holiday season sales are also expected to surge by 4 per cent this year in the country. US urges talks with North Korea 'without preconditions' AFP : The United States is ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions" but remains determined to force it to abandon its nuclear arsenal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. China and Russia responded positively to Tillerson's remarks, even after the White House appeared to put his proposal in question by saying that US President Donald Trump's "views on North Korea have not changed." While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not spell out the president's views, Trump in the past has chided his secretary of state for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with Pyongyang. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China took note of Tillerson's remarks and expressed hope that the United States and North Korea take "meaningful steps towards dialogue and contact." "We welcome all efforts that are conducive to easing tension and resolving differences through dialogue," Lu said. In Moscow, Kremlin spoksman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: "We can state that such constructive statements impress us far more than the confrontational rhetoric that we have heard up to now. Undoubtedly this can be welcomed." Even as Tillerson stressed the importance of a negotiated end to the standoff, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to make his nation "the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." Trump has promised that Kim will not be allowed to complete his effort to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching mainland US cities. To this end, Tillerson has overseen a global diplomatic effort to isolate Pyongyang and stifle its economy through UN sanctions and, ultimately, the threat of US military force. In two public appearances Tuesday, he warned that these efforts would continue until "the first bomb drops" and that Washington "simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea." Akayed had no link with militant groups: CTTC Staff Reporter : Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit is yet to find any militancy link with New York (NY) blast suspect Akayed Ullah. Akayed could have been radicalized after being exposed to contents that promote extremism through the internet while in America. He could be a "Lone Wolf" who engaged in terrorist activities independently. The CTTC Chief Monirul Islam made the comment while speaking to reporters at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media Centre on the city's Minto Raod on Wednesday. "Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies are unofficially cooperating with US counterparts, for carrying out a thorough probe of the reported terror attack in NY." In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates involved with any terrorist groups. Akayed had no prior criminal record in Bangladesh. Monirul Islam said that the suspect left the country for USA in 2011, leaving behind his ongoing BBA course in the Dhaka City College. Akayed asked his wife to read the books written by Jasim Uddin Rahmani, chief of banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), when he visited his family this September. Responding to a query about why Akayed is not being considered a mental health patient by the American authorities, Monirul Islam stated that only the US officials are capable of answering this question. According to the police, Akayed got married in Jigatala in January last year. His father-in-law works in a shop in the city's Bashundhara shopping mall. Akayed Ullah, who went to New York seven years ago, hailed from Chittagong district. Akayed, a US resident since 2011, came to Bangladesh to see his family on September 8, spending most of the time at home with their six-month old son, Monirul Islam said. "Usually, he did not mix with any of his friends or relatives here. Most of the time he spent time in the house. We're looking for his associates with whom he used to go to college or school with. We're looking for them, we've not identified anyone yet," he said. Quoting Akayed's wife Jannatul Ferdous Jui, the CTTC chief said that Akayed might have been self-radicalised through internet after going to the USA as he had no criminal record in Bangladesh. The CTTC chief said that Jui also discussed the content of the leaflet with her husband. Monirul said Akayed followed Islami dress code, rules strictly and offered Namaz regularly during his last visit to Bangladesh. OIC declares East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital Leaders and representatives of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states pose for a group photo during an extraordinary meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday. Internet photo Al Jazeera News : The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, rejected the US stance as "dangerous", and called on the international community to follow in its footsteps. The group of Muslim leaders on Wednesday called on all countries to "recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital". In a statement, the OIC added that the 57-member group remains committed to a "just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution". It also called on the UN to "end the Israeli occupation" of Palestine and declared US President Donald Trump's administration liable for "all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision". "[We] consider that this dangerous declaration, which aims to change the legal status of the [city], is null and void and lacks any legitimacy," the group said. Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said the summit highlighted that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims continue to be committed to peace. "Now, Muslim countries in addition to a whole lot of others that are allied with the Palestinian cause will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," he said. "And those Islamic countries are ready to sever relations to punish any one country that follows in the footsteps of the United States in recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." Speaking earlier on Wednesday, the OIC's secretary general Yousef al-Othaimeen rejected the United States' decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Al-Othaimeen urged Muslim leaders to work together to present a united response to the move. "The OIC rejects and condemns the American decision," he said. "This is a violation of international law ... and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world. "It will create a situation of instability in the region and in the world." Speaking before al-Othaimeen, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the US had "disqualified" itself from future Israel-Palestine peace talks after proving its "bias in favour of Israel". Founded in 1969, the OIC bills itself as "the collective voice of the Muslim world". President Trump announced on December 6 that the US formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy. The decision violated international law, according to Abbas. "We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process, they have proven their full bias in favour of Israel," he said. "Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine." Palestinians envisage East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel says Jerusalem, which is under Israeli occupation, cannot be divided. Abbas' comments were seen as his strongest yet on the issue. The extraordinary OIC summit was called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following Trump's announcement. Speaking at the meeting, Erdogan accused Israel of being a "state of terror" and said the US' recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel had been rebuked by the international community. "It is null and void except Israel, no country in the world has supported [this decision]," he said. "Anyone who walks a few minutes in the streets of Jerusalem will recognise this city is under occupation." Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Istanbul, said Erdogan was seeking to "unite the Muslim world" and "come up with a concerted response" to the US' move. "He faces a daunting task," our correspondent said. "In the hall that he was addressing, there were countries who are not willing to go beyond rhetoric opposition at the expense of sacrificing their relationship with the United States," he said. Trump's move has provoked a wave of protests from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in recent days to denounce his decision. Attack on New York City is disgusting AN attempted terrorist attack in a New York City bus terminal by a US national of Bangladesh origin has caused widespread surprise and condemnation here and also in the Bangladesh community in the USA. The person Akayed Ullah at his 27 is a taxi driver in New York City and as per some media reports he may have acted alone as an angry reaction when Muslims are agitating against President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. It appears he has no record of involvement in extremist activities back home in Bangladesh or in the USA where his Brooklyn neighbours say he was always a peaceful and decent man. He has however claimed to have link with IS thinking through internet and his actions seems to have resulted from extreme mental sadness. He learned bomb making from downloading internet materials and attempted to blow a pipe bomb which failed to properly explode hurting him seriously. Two other persons also received minor injuries. US prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against Akayed Ullah accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Meanwhile Bangladesh police has carried out anti-terrorism investigation interrogating his family members and relatives in Dhaka city and at Chittagong, the place he hails from. They have told New York police that they have not found any connection to militancy or have not been able so far to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups. A US law enforcement official said they have found evidence that Ullah had watched Islamic State propaganda on the internet and he was charged accordingly. Be he an active member of terrorist group or not his criminal attack on the US target in New York City has seriously tarnished Bangladesh's image. People in Bangladesh are peaceful by and large and any such information brings shock and consternation in them. So also our expatriate community in the USA is seriously perturbed by the event. No one wants to see any Bangladeshi is harming the USA any way or hurting the people in the street. This man has brought shame on Bangladeshi community who are otherwise law abiding and making important contribution to bring prosperity to the USA and prosper themselves. We want to say Bangladeshi nationals are not like that idiot or foolish man. He may have been agitated too much by Trump's announcement, which drew worldwide condemnation for his recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. He has invariably indulged in a criminal act. It is a sheer madness but not an act of terrorist in real sense of the term. In our view Muslims are passing through a volatile time and young people are highly vulnerable to making wrong decisions and step into the trap. Let there be sanity at all level to keep peace. 2 killed in Rajshahi road crash Two persons were killed and 25 others received injuries in a head on collision between two passenger buses at Gadagari in Rajshahi district on Wednesday. UNB, Rajshahi : Two people were killed and 20 others injured in a road accident in Matikata area on Dhaka-Rajshahi highway in Godagari upazila on Wednesday morning. One of the deceased was identified as Shuvo, son of Saikat of Porsha upazila of Naogaon district Abdul Karim, sub-inspector of Godagari Police Station, said the accident took place around 7:00 am when a Dhaka-bound bus of Ekata Enterprise collided head-on with a Chapainawabganj-bound bus of Hridoy Travels here, leaving one dead on the spot and 21 others injured. One of the injured died on way to hospital. The injured were taken to Premtoli Health Complex in Godagari and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The condition of Saiful Islam, driver of the Hridoy Travels bus, and its supervisor Mukul was critical, the SI added. Man commits suicide in city UNB, Dhaka : A young man allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself at his resident in capital's Merul Badda area on Tuesday evening. The deceased was identified as Md Uzzal, 32, a resident of the area. Uzzal used to live with his family on the third floor of a five-storied building, said Sumon Bepari, a neighbour of Uzzal. Sumon said he found Uzzal bullet wound on his head at his resident in the evening. Later, being rescued, he was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctor declared him death around 6:10 pm. His family members said that Uzzal opened fire himself. Robber' killed in city gunfight UNB, Dhaka : A suspected robber was killed in a reported gunfight with police in Tejgaon area of the capital early Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Abdullah, 31, son of Shamsul, hailing from Araiura village in Tarail upazila of Kishoreganj district. Mizanur Rahman, sub-inspector of Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station, said that being tipped of that a gang of robber was preparing for committing robbery in B G Press area, a team of police conducted a drive around 3:30 am. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the robber gang opened fire on them, prompted them to retaliate, triggering a gun fight, leaving Abdullah injured with bullet. The injured Abdullah was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared him dead around 4:15 am. Police recovered a pistol, three rounds of bullets, three cartridges and two machetes. BISE Chairman asked to form managing body Staff Reporter : The Education Ministry has asked the chairman of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka to form the managing committee for Lakehead Grammar School comprising Army official on Wednesday. The Ministry also directed to appoint the principal from the Education Core of the Army. The ministry issued the order following the direction of the Supreme Court. The Education Ministry closed the school on November 6 suspecting militancy connection. "The Supreme Court on December 05 directed the Education Ministry to form a managing committee in seven days to run the Lakehead Grammar School, which was shut down recently. The apex court in its order asked the ministry to form the managing committee headed by a divisional commissioner where the persons with the military background will be included. The principal of the institution will also be from the army. Following the SC's direction, the ministry issued the order," it said. HRW calls for tri-partite deal for repatriation involving UNHCR Human Rights Watch (HRW) has rightly said the Rohingya repatriation deal signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar needs to be elevated to a tri-partite agreement involving the UNHCR to fully protect the right to safe return of Rohingyas to their country. The deal signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar is a bad one that should be rewritten involving international humanitarian agencies as monitors in the ground on both sides and supervisors of the entire process. We have been pointing out the issue since the signing of the deal that the Human Rights Watch now says, because we know Myanmar is not a party; which can be trusted and willing to take back Rohingyas. Despite tremendous diplomatic support by international community and UN resolutions in support of Rohingyas except opposition from China, Russia and India to protect the rights of the Rohingyas, the point is that repatriation is not still making any progress while it suffers the biggest setback in absence of interest of Myanmar government. The draft MoU that Bangladesh signed under certain reported duress from supporters of Myanmar to save it from mounting international pressure for genocide has no safety clause for the refugees in the first place. Its tuning with Myanmar's illogical plan to resettle refugees in make shift camps is equally illogical and not acceptable. Human Rights Watch has therefore raised the very crucial issue that Bangladesh and Myanmar should invite UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to join in the drafting of a new tripartite agreement with it as a third party to make effective repatriation possible in safety and dignity. The international community is watching the situation and such demand shows they don't believe Myanmar's honesty any way. Most importantly, the agreement by Bangladesh and Myanmar stipulates to begin returning of Rohingyas by January 23 next year. It says of voluntary repatriation, which is however totally unrealistic in the present situation in Rakhine State. The Myanmar government is doing nothing to stabilize the situation to suggest they are not serious to create the safe environment for return of the refugees. Human Rights Watch officials believe Bangladesh-Myanmar deal is an international public relation stunt from Myanmar side to quickly close the Rohingya chapter from global stage than undertaking a sincere repatriation of Rohingyas to their abandoned homes. It is exactly here on this point that Bangladesh, UNHCR and the international community should engage Myanmar to redraft the accord in line with UN demands for repatriation in full compliance of international standards. With the aid of high-tech technologies and satellites the world can more than comprehend what the Myanmar army has done in the Rakhine State and what is happening in the ground right now. The international involvement can only make repatriation possible with full safety and national right to the refugees. 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. Housing and Urban Developments newly appointed Midwest Regional Office regional administrator has a complicated relationship with the state of Illinois housing finance agency. In May 2015, Gov. Bruce Rauner named Joseph Galvan chairman of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, a position he held until March of 2016 when the governor pulled his nomination, which had not yet been confirmed by the state Senate. Rauner's about-face on his nomination of Galvan came after the administration received an anonymous letter, claimed to be written by a long-time developer, alleging that Galvan had engaged in misconduct related to his post as IHDA chairman, according to a March 2016 Chicago Sun-Times article authored by the Better Government Associations Casey Toner titled "Rauner ousts clout-heavy board chair after anonymous allegations." Rauner appointed Galvan to serve as IHDA chair shortly after Galvan lost his bid for mayor of Elgin. According to HUD's news release, prior to his appointment announced this week, Galvan worked as a principal with Galvan & Associates, a consulting firm with expertise in financial, operations, procurement and performance management and housing and economic development. According to the Better Government Association/Sun-Times article, the anonymous letter was sent to the Better Government Association, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization, and to the governors office. The article quoted then-Rauner spokesman Lance Trover as saying, in an emailed statement, that the office reviewed the accusations, which prompted the withdrawing of Galvans nomination. While an anonymous letter, on its own, is not evidence of guilt, the Governors office takes allegations such as these very seriously. Out of an abundance of caution, we have withdrawn Mr. Galvans appointment to the IHDA board, Trover said, as quoted in the Better Government Association/Sun-Times article. HUD names new administrator of Midwest Regional Office A former regional administrator of Housing and Urban Developments Midwest Regional Office in Chicago is returning to the position. Asked by The Southern Illinoisan on Tuesday whether HUD had fully vetted the circumstances that led to the Rauner administrations decision to remove Galvan from the IHDA post before announcing his appointment to a top HUD position, Midwest Regional Office spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez declined comment. A spokeswoman for the White House also declined comment, referring the newspaper back to HUD. The Better Government Association/Sun-Times article stated that Galvan, at the time, declined comment directly on the allegations in the letter, though noted his previously unblemished public service. He also said he stood by the governors decision, according to the article. IHDA is a self-supporting state agency that finances affordable housing across Illinois through a number of funding sources including the allocation of federal low-income housing tax credits. IHDA also is a bonding authority and independently sells bonds. The chair of the IHDA board, who is not paid, is a position appointed by the governor. Housing authorities and private developers of low-income housing may combine programs offered by HUD as well as state housing finance agencies such as IHDA to support the financing of affordable housing. It's likely that officials at HUD and state housing agencies would interact in various capacities. Trover, as quoted in the Better Government Association/Sun-Times article, said the matter had been forwarded to the executive inspector generals office. At the time, according to the news report, the inspector generals office declined comment, saying it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. A spokesperson for the executive inspector general did not return a phone call to The Southern Illinoisan on Tuesday evening. The newspaper is not aware of any investigations that have been made public to date concerning this matter. Patty Schuh, Rauners current spokeswoman, said she was unable to immediately provide a comment to The Southern Illinoisan on the matter as of the newspapers deadline Tuesday evening. The news release HUD issued Monday announcing President Donald Trumps appointment of Galvan, who is one of 10 HUD regional administrators across the country, listed a number of roles he previously held including the previous stint he served as the regional administrator for HUDs Midwest Regional Office but it did not include the months he spent as chairman of IHDA. The Midwest regional administrator is responsible for the oversight and delivery of HUD programs and services across six states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Galvan will serve as HUDs liaison to elected officials, congressional delegations, city managers, relevant associations and stakeholders, according to the agencys news release. According to the Galvan & Associates website, Galvan's role in the company, which still lists him as a principal, was advising housing authorities on program performance, HUD compliance and executive management issues. The company's website lists among its clients HUD, FEMA, USDA, and the Chicago Housing Authority Illinois' largest housing authority. Galvan has a long history of involvement in Republican politics. Prior to being named IHDA chairman by the governor, Galvan had campaigned for Rauner in the 2014 gubernatorial election. He previously held the position of Midwest regional administrator from 2001 to January 2009, under the administration of President George W. Bush. Galvan, who holds a top HUD post under Secretary Ben Carson, was highly critical of Trump during the presidential primary season. He was one of 11 signatories to an opinion piece published by Fox News in July 2015 titled Open letter from Hispanic Republicans to Donald Trump. The letter was in reference to inflammatory and disparaging comments Trump made on the campaign trail about Mexican immigrants. The letter began, The undersigned are proud Americans who are either Mexican immigrants or children of Mexican immigrants. Our story, similar to that of millions of immigrants of all races, creeds and nations who came before us is one of hard work, faith and perseverance, ingenuity, sacrifice, success and love for America. We are not rapists. We are not criminals," the letter continued. "And we do not have a lot of problems, just one and that is with the comments you made about Mexican immigrants. The letter concluded by the authors writing that Trump had lost their respect, their buying power and their vote. We will never support you, your candidacy or your enterprises, it read. "Without the Hispanic vote you will not be the Republican nominee, much less the president of our great nation. Galvan was also quoted in a November 2016 Washington Post article titled "Ryan tries to sell GOP unity after tensions with Trump" about House Speaker Paul Ryan's attempts to calm the party's angst stating of party members, "We're family and we have internal bickering sometimes." DECATUR Christmas trees are an important part of many celebrations during the holiday season, but experts warn that it won't take long for a real one to dry up without the right amount of care. Whether it's a Balsam fir or a classic evergreen, Christmas trees are their most healthy and festive when watered regularly and displayed properly within a home or public setting. "If you can get a month out of them, then you're doing a good job," said Josh McGrath, horticulture supervisor for the Decatur Park District. "If you get them fresh cut from a farm instead of going to a store, (the tree) will last substantially longer." McGrath said it's also important for people to plan ahead when disposing of their Christmas trees. If the tree completely dries out before it's taken down, it could increase risks of a fire within a home, he said. WHY A REAL TREE? On its website, the University of Illinois Extension Office said decorated Christmas trees have been used to celebrate the winter season since the 1500s. Despite the accessibility of artificial trees, McGrath said there are still perks to going the extra mile and bringing a fresh-cut tree home. "First off, they smell nice. You'd also be supporting a local Christmas tree farmer, too," he said. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, real trees also benefit the environment by absorbing gases like carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen. The association also touts the benefits of tree farms to help stabilize soil, protect water supplies and provide refuge for various forms of wildlife, in addition to providing beautiful scenery. Candice Hart, a horticulture educator at the extension office, said real trees are much easier to recycle than artificial ones, too. "Artificial trees aren't biodegradable, and they'll probably just end up in the dump at some point," she said. "(Picking a tree) is all a personal choice. It really just depends on the person." HOW TO CHOOSE The extension office suggests keeping the following things in mind when shopping for a real tree: Buy trees early before the best trees have been sold. A fresh tree will have a healthy, green appearance with few browning needles. Needles should be flexible and not fall off if you run a branch through your hand. Choose a tree that fits where it is to be displayed. Before purchasing a tree, measure the height and the width of the space you have available in the room where the tree will be placed. Do some research on the types of Christmas trees before making a decision. Ron Evans, president of 4 E's Tree Farm in Decatur, recommends asking for a fresh cut on the tree before taking it home. Doing so will remove any coagulated sap that has sealed off the bottom, he said, as the sap makes it hard for the tree to absorb water. Evans also advises against purchasing a spruce tree to use as a Christmas tree. Compared to fir trees or pine trees, a spruce doesn't last as long, he said. "Typically, a spruce will last between 7-21 days after they've been cut," Evans said. "They're pretty trees, but the needles just don't stay on there for long." KEEPING IT ALIVE McGrath, Hart and Evans agree that watering a tree regularly is what keeps it fresh. However, McGrath said it can be hard to determine how much water a certain tree may need. "When you first put it on the stand, it takes more water," he said. "It's good to slow down a bit after that." Hart said to fill the tree's stand with about a gallon of water when it's brought home. If the tree is fresh, it will absorb water faster and will need to be refilled more often. If a tree is not receiving enough water, McGrath said, its needles will start to fall off and the tree will dry out. SAYING GOODBYE Instead of just dragging the tree outside and leaving it in the front yard, McGrath said a waste disposal company should be contacted about the tree before a weekly pick-up date. "If you call ahead, the garbage companies will pick them up," he said. "But they have to be free of decorations. They'll take the tree and ground them up into compost." Trees can also be dropped off in Southern Illinois at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources District Office just south of the Old Illinois 13 and Illinois 148 intersection west of Marion until Feb. 24, 2018, to be recycled into fish habitat in Crab Orchard Lake. For more information, call 618-993-7094. Hart said that people also can reuse a Christmas tree by placing it in their yard and leaving bread in the branches for birds to eat. "By the time you put it outside, it'll be fairly dry," she said. "Since it's outside, you don't care as much if it drops needles, and can just dispose of it in the spring." This story originally ran in the Decatur Herald & Review, a sister Lee Enterprises-owned newspaper to The Southern Illinoisan. The Southern contributed. The staff and volunteers of Marion Medical Mission understand the problem many people in the world face no access to clean drinking water. In fact, 663 million people lack access to clean water, and a majority of them are impoverished. UNICEF reports that one in five children in Sub-Saharan Africa die before their fifth birthday because they lack safe drinking water. But understanding the problem is not enough. Marion Medical Mission is doing something about it. They are building wells in the African countries of Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, with the help of volunteers. One the volunteers this year was Joshua Hathy of Mill Creek. I saw people working harder than Ive ever seen just to supply necessities not luxuries. People still living in straw huts and really struggling, Hathy said. I saw a lot of things that would make you speechless. Hathy added that most of the members of the family work to provide food to the family. That leaves the task of fetching water to preschoolers or 70-year-old grandmothers. They often spend hours each day walking to an open water hole and carrying water back to their home. Marion Medical Mission sends two teams of 20 people to Africa during September and October. Hathy said there is a short period of time that is good for installing wells, and that is when the water table is low. The African communities provide bricks, gravel, sand and unskilled labor. MMM provides pump parts, tools, transportation and skilled labor. Volunteers work with African staff to complete the wells. Teams are divided into pairs and work with African staff. Hathy and his partner, a man from Detroit, Michigan, worked in Tanzania. They completed 151 wells during their three-week trip, usually finishing between five and 12 wells each day. They did as few as three wells one day and 20 another. The African side of it is what keeps it going. They are some hard, hard workers, and they are grateful the help that is given to them, Hathy said. Marion Medical Mission has built more than 29,000 wells since 1985, and approximately 90 percent of them are still functional. Those efforts have provided more than 4 million people, including 2.25 million children, with a sustainable source of water. Teams built 2,600 wells in 2017. I have visited 11 countries in last three years (on mission trips). The one thing I will remember is this one was strictly a necessity. What I took away from there is they were the most hard working, grateful people I have ever met, Hathy said. What Hathy cannot get out of his mind is how much more help the people of Tanzania need. He said their life is hard in Africa, and there are many more villages that need clean water. I used to live a materialistic life, like 90 percent of people do in the U.S., and never think about it. After I saw how hard they work for necessities, I can live without those luxuries and donate more, Hathy said. He added that the experience changed his perspective. If anyone is thinking about donating or volunteering, the biggest thing I can say is just go. If you wait someone is not going to be there. It will change your lives, Hathy said. To learn more or donate to Marion Medical Mission, visit mmmwater.org. That special place in hell everyone keeps talking about is getting mighty crowded. The ball got rolling in 2016 when former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright quipped that there was a "special place in hell for women who don't help each other." At the time, she was introducing Hillary Clinton at a New Hampshire campaign event. More recently, Ivanka Trump said the special place was reserved for "people who prey on children." She was referring to allegations against then-Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore that he had pursued and/or made sexual advances toward teenage girls when he was in his early 30s. Next came Steve Bannon, former Trump adviser-turned-freelance-provocateur who seemed to be mocking the first daughter when he said during a pro-Moore rally that hell's special spot was reserved for Republicans "who should know better" but weren't supporting the former judge in the special election. Whew. Is it just me, or is it getting humid down here? Bannon referred specifically to native Alabaman Condoleezza Rice, another former secretary of state, who had written of the election: "These critical times require us to come together to reject bigotry, sexism and intolerance." Without naming anyone, she urged voters to seek leaders who "are dignified, decent and respectful of the values we hold dear." This would seem to have disqualified a raft of current and aspiring officeholders but was clearly aimed at Moore, who has said that the country was better off before the last 17 constitutional amendments, which, among other things, gave women and African-Americans the right to vote. While Bannon railed, and Alabamans voted, the president tweeted. This time, Trump even outdid himself by insulting a female U.S. senator with sexual innuendo. Apparently miffed that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had called for his resignation because of the multiple charges of sexual misconduct leveled against him, Trump tweeted that Gillibrand "would do anything" when she previously had come to him "begging" for campaign contributions. One doesn't need a translator or a dirty mind to understand that he was suggesting that Gillibrand would have exchanged sexual services for cash. It was, as we say, a cultural moment. The tweet heard 'round a world already agog about events in Alabama launched yet another cultural moment at least along the Washington-New York corridor. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," a female guest said the tweet made her "blood boil," while co-anchor Mika Brzezinski wagged her finger at the screen and launched a soliloquy of scold at Ivanka Trump and other White House women. It was her own version of a special place in hell for women, even a daughter, who persist in supporting Donald Trump. It wasn't always thus, Mr. Irony interrupts. For months during the campaign, Bzrezinski and her now-fiance, Joe Scarborough, gave Trump free rein on their show. "Morning Trump," some dubbed it. In recent months, perhaps in penance for helping Trump get elected with free airtime, the couple has become his morning nightmare. Perhaps, too, Trump's personal insults of Brzezinski have turned her into a feminist avenger. On Tuesday, she peered piercingly into the camera, singeing the cameraman with her gaze, and schooled press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. "Today is your day" (to stop supporting the president), she told Sanders, who wasn't present or anywhere listening, as far as anyone knew. "This has got to stop. Do the right thing." Whereupon, Trump chortled with the glee of a schoolyard bully who delights in making the girls cry. Brzezinski's moment wasn't quite Walter Cronkite's "mired in stalemate" declaration of U.S. failure in Vietnam, but she clearly decided to part with journalistic tradition and make Trump's takedown her personal mission. As her message intensified, her male guests remained stoic while Scarborough had the look of a boy trying not to do anything that would attract Momma's attention. If Trump in his strange way had hoped for such a reaction, Alabamans likely enjoyed the distraction after months under the microscope. Media attention has been so intense not only because of the tawdriness of the campaign but because the stakes were so high. Would Alabama go backward or forward? This shouldn't have been a tough choice, but Team Bannon, Trump and Moore have effectively convinced voters that what is true is false and what is false is true. There is surely a special place in hell for such as these. An Elloree man has been accused of striking a person on a moped with his vehicle and leaving the scene of the accident. John Henry Davis Jr., 24, of 953 Santee River Road, has been charged with a leaving the scene of an accident where a person suffered great bodily injury. Authorities allege Davis was the driver of the vehicle that struck 54-year-old John Hutchinson, the operator of the moped, at about 5:35 p.m. Thursday on Tee Vee Road near S.C. Highway 6. Authorities have been searching for the driver of the vehicle since Thursday. On Tuesday afternoon, S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Judd Jones announced Davis was in custody. Davis is being held at the Orangeburg County Detention Center. If convicted, Davis faces 30 days to 10 years in prison and a fine ranging between $5,000 and $10,000. Davis is currently on probation, according to the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. He began serving a three-year probation term on July 10, 2017 after he pleaded guilty to forgery with a value less than $10,000. SPARTANBURG (AP) A South Carolina man convicted of killing seven people says he has more victims who have not been discovered. The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reports that, in an eight-page letter, Todd Kohlhepp wrote that he tried to tell investigators and informed the FBI, but he said "it was blown off." He also wrote, "At this point, I really don't see reason to give numbers or locations." Don Wood, chief division counsel with the FBI's Columbia office, said the agency has a pending investigation, but wouldn't comment specifically on what the FBI is doing. The 46-year-old Kohlhepp pleaded guilty in May to seven counts of murder for killings that took place over more than a decade, all as he ran a real estate business. He was sentenced to life in prison. His string of crimes was uncovered in 2016 after police rescued a woman chained at the neck in a storage container and investigators found a body buried in a shallow grave. The woman told investigators she saw Kohlhepp shoot and kill her boyfriend, who went with her for a cleaning job on the suspect's property. Cecil Williams, an Orangeburg photographer, publisher, artist and inventor, can add the Order of the Palmetto to his long list of accomplishments. Williams and his family and friends gathered at Gov. Henry McMasters office in Columbia on Tuesday for the presentation. Wow! Williams said, trying to find words. I am overwhelmed with happiness and its a great honor to have received this award. The Order of the Palmetto is South Carolinas highest civilian honor and is used to recognize a lifetime of achievement and service. Williams said his wife, Barbara Johnson Williams, was the catalyst for the award and the inspiration behind it. She said she started the application process to ensure he was acknowledged for all that hes done for, the city, the state and even the nation. Williams has made a name for himself as a documentarian of black history and culture in South Carolina and the nation. His photography has been a constant voice throughout the civil rights era and other historical moments. Born in November 1937, Williams began taking pictures around the age of 9. At 11, Williams saw Thurgood Marshall at a train station and was able to snap a picture as the litigator prepared to tackle the Briggs v. Elliott case. At 14, he contributed photographs to Jet Magazine. Hes always been so talented, said Brenda Williams, his sister. Hes always been an inspiration in my life and a role model for me. She believes their parents would be proud to see what he has achieved. Cecil Williams has credited his parents, Cecil Leroy and Ethel Lillian Williams, for helping to foster his love of photography. His mother allowed him to set up a complete photographic darkroom in an unused bedroom of their home. Im so proud of my brother, Brenda Williams said. He was the apple of my mothers eye and my father. I am so deeply affected and appreciative, she continued. Often, people dont receive the accolades until its too late, when theyre not here to enjoy it. Close family and friends affectionately call him CJ. His cousin Loretta Thomas Hammond said he has been an irreplaceable part of history. CJ has always been there when nobody else wanted to cover the events, she said. He was brave, he was intelligent, he was always willing when nobody else was to tell the story. Without him, we would not have that history, she added. Another cousin, Maudelle Salley Bing, agreed. He does wonderful work because along with the written word, we also need the pictures to further enhance the story, she said. I was honored to be present as the Order of the Palmetto was bestowed upon my cousin. Childhood friend Geneva Roach recalled growing up with him. Williams, his older brother and their cousins were some of her very first friends. Ive always admired CJ for his talent and his determination, Roach said. He was destined to be great. Cousin Georgie Williams Sr. joked that he knew Williams when he was first born. When he saw Williams with the governor and state legislators, he said, Its a wonderful thing really. Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, said, Ive always found, throughout the years that Ive known him, hes always been someone that Ive looked up to, both as a mentor and a friend. Cecil has documented through not only his photography but through his writings and authorships of numerous articles, books, etc. the history of the civil rights movement in this portion of the country, Govan said. Whats so important about that is that a lot of people dont realize that much of the civil rights history of this country actually centered in South Carolina and had its origins in Orangeburg. Honoring Williams is significant not only for him and his family, but also in further documenting the contributions of an Orangeburg man, Govan said. Its part of this states history, Govan said. I think its been a long time coming and well-deserved. The governor said Williams talent affects everyone who comes into contact with it. The Lords gift to you is also a gift to us through you, McMaster said. This was an easy decision. Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said he was proud to be able to honor him. Ive been around Orangeburg at various events and I cant think of one that I dont look around and see him with a camera there every time, whether its a political event, convention, parade, Hutto said. If theres something going on in Orangeburg, hes there. Williams has a collection of civil rights era photographs appearing in 128 books, 17 newspapers and 14 television documentaries. His work has helped to preserve the African-American experience throughout the second half of the 20th century. From the 1950s through the 1970s, Williams also served as a stringer and contributor for The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP. He is the director of historic preservation at Claflin University. Williams said he is proud to have been able to document history and is not planning to stop. I, by no means, am giving up on my pursuit of recording South Carolinas history, the history of this country and hope that these images will help to preserve what we all live through, he said. While the Republican Congress remains paralyzed over how to repeal and replace Obamacare, recent activity among two of the health care industrys largest players could signal a new approach to delivering access to affordable health care. CVS, the nations largest pharmacy chain, recently announced that it is acquiring Aetna, one of the nations largest insurers, for a reported $69 billion. This move has the potential to redraw the lines of the U.S. health care map and serve as a new model for the delivery and management of care. The proposed merger is a result of two major factors. Since 2015, when the insurance industry and millions of Americans began to feel the true impact of Obamacare in the form of massive financial losses and skyrocketing premiums, the health care debate has centered on how to fix the current system. Hows that working out? In addition, the rumblings of Amazons potential entry into the drug wholesale market has reverberated within the health care industry like the footsteps of a giant just over the horizon. The CVS-Aetna merger offers a paradigm shift in how to think about achieving the major goals of health care: access and affordability. In the proposed merger, CVS, with close to 10,000 stores in the United States, could become a one-stop-shop for basic health care services. This could include non-emergency services, preventative screenings and immunizations, prescription drugs, and chronic disease counseling. Some of these services are already available at CVS through its Minute-Clinic store formats, found in approximately 10 percent of CVS locations. From Aetnas perspective, the merger makes it easier and potentially cheaper for its clients to access care as well as obtain prescription and over-the-counter medication. The combined power of CVS-Aetna could also help address one of the largest cost-drivers in the health care system: prescription drugs. The two companies have been working together on this front for several years with CVSs Express Scripts, a Pharmacy Benefits Manager, providing prescription drug services to Aetna members. Combined, the newly formed company could potentially be in a better negotiating position with the pharmaceutical industry to lower costs of many prescription drugs. A final factor underlying the proposed mergers impact on health care is the potential for streamlined sharing of patient data and information. Bettering communication between provider, patient and insurer could lead to lower costs and Aetna and CVS already possess sophisticated patient information platforms. If these platforms can be integrated such that it is easier and more efficient for patients to coordinate follow-up care or access preventative care services, the cost implications could be dramatic. The Obama administration had long resisted consolidation in the health care market, blocking or scaling back previously proposed mergers between Aetna and Humana as well as Anthem and Cigna, and Walgreens and Rite-Aid. It is unclear whether the current administration will be open to such a significant change in the health care landscape. Given the inaction of Congress on health care reform, however, the CVS-Aetna merger may be just what the doctor ordered. By Azernews By Sara Israfilbayova Presence of different gas and oil supply routes allows Azerbaijan to expand fuel sales volumes in various directions and reduce dependence on one direction, to ensure the countrys energy security. Diversification of gas and oil supplies is part of the state energy policy of the country. Thus, Azerbaijan exported 6.894 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the amount of $1.156 billion in January-November of this year. During the reporting period, natural gas exports increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year, and costs by 25 percent. The export of natural gas accounted for 9.25 percent of total exports for 11 months of the year. Azerbaijan has a large number of oil and gas fields and promising structures in the Caspian Sea. One of them is the block of oil and gas fields Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), proven oil reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves-350 billion cubic meters. Another large field is the Shah Deniz gas condensate field, reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Within the second stage of field development, the volume of gas production can be increased to 24 billion cubic meters per year, according to forecasts. There are also such deposits as Absheron (350 billion cubic meters), Umid (200 billion cubic meters), and the promising structure of Babek (400 billion cubic meters). Azerbaijani gas is currently exported directly by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan SOCAR to Iran and Georgia, and by the Shah-Deniz consortium via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline to Georgia and Turkey. During this period, the country exported 733,340 tons of oil products in the amount of $291.262 million. The share of oil products in the total export structure was 2.33 percent. Oil from Azerbaijan is exported by the BakuTbilisiCeyhan (BTC) pipeline , BakuSupsa Pipeline and BakuNovorossiysk pipeline and by rail. By rail, Azerbaijan exports ExxonMobil oil, which has 8 percent of the share in the ACG oil and gas field development project. The overwhelming part of oil produced in Azerbaijan falls on ACG block. Almost all oil from the block is exported by the BTC. Azerbaijan's oil is exported from the country not only in raw form, but also in the form of oil products. The countrys only oil producer is SOCAR. Azerbaijans oil products are exported to such countries as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, Bahamas and others. By Trend First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva has today met with Deputy Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes. Mrs. Aliyeva recalled that a reception was held in November in Paris to introduce Baku`s bid to host Expo 2025, and noted with pleasure that Azerbaijan has been successfully cooperating with the Bureau International des Expositions in recent years. Noting that Azerbaijan successfully participated in several international exhibitions, Mrs.Aliyeva emphasized the support of Kerkentzes for holding these exhibitions. Saying that Baku is bidding to host Expo 2025, the first vice-president stressed the country's experience in this area. She noted that Baku has successfully hosted several international events in recent years. Holding these events at the excellent level shows that our country can also make achievements in Expo 2025," she said. Mrs. Aliyeva said that Baku`s bid to host Expo 2025 is supported by both government bodies, private organizations and residents. Mrs. Aliyeva underlined that theme Developing human capital, building a better future, which Azerbaijan proposed for the exhibition, is important to the world. Noting that Kerkentzes visited Azerbaijan for the first time, Mrs.Aliyeva expressed confidence that his proposals and recommendations on Expo 2025 will be very beneficial for the country. She pointed out that next year Azerbaijan will receive an evaluation mission and present its report on the work done, and added that the visit of the deputy secretary general of the Bureau International des Expositions to the country is of great importance in this regard. Expressing his pleasure to be in Azerbaijan, Kerkentzes said the support of the Azerbaijani government, including First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva for the events related to Baku`s bid to host Expo 2025 testifies to the country's attaching importance to this project. By Trend The 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia is taking place in Baku, the press service of Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on December 12. Before the beginning of the plenary session, its participants paid tribute to Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev. During the two-day meeting, the parties will review the current state of military-technical cooperation and discuss main activity directions for 2018. Following the meeting, a protocol will be signed. By Trend The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan has hosted a meeting of the Expert Council on Transport and Logistics. At the meeting, it was noted that the share of motor transport accounts for more than 53.4 percent of Uzbekistans total cargo turnover and more than 95 percent of total cargo transport in the country. The participants of the meeting voiced problems and obstacles that adversely affect the development of the transportation sphere in Uzbekistan. It was noted that the pace of renewal of vehicles greatly lags behind the dynamics of economic growth in Uzbekistan. One-third of the countrys truck fleet consists of outdated vehicles. It was also noted that high tax rates are one of the reasons for tax evasion by international carriers, even when using preferential taxation regimes. A representative of the association of international freight forwarders of Uzbekistan spoke about excessive bureaucracy in drafting direct contracts between the international freight forwarding company and Uzbekistan Railways JSC for the provision of international transportation services. By Trend The United Nations Children's Fund says at least 400,000 children under 5 in Congo's troubled Kasai region are severely malnourished. UNICEF said Tuesday that more than a year and half of deadly violence, displacement and reduced agricultural production are contributing to the problem. It says the children could die next year if not urgently reached with aid. Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, the agency's acting representative in Congo, says the true scale of the problem is becoming clear as security improves in some areas and families return home. UNICEF says about 220 health centers have been destroyed or damaged and crops have been neglected, with 1.4 million people displaced. The Catholic Church estimated months ago that more than 3,300 people have been killed in fighting in the Kasai region. More than 3,000 global business leaders, politicians, experts from 110 countries will attend the worlds largest gathering of internal auditors at the International Internal Audit Conference in May 2018 in Dubai, UAE. The regions first global conference from May 6 to 9, 2018 under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAEs Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), along with the UAE Internal Auditors Association (IAA), will hold the high profile global conference with the theme "Connecting the World Through Innovation," at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre featuring more than 100 world-renowned speakers in over 70 sessions and more than 3,000 professionals from 110 countries. Announcing the conference on the sideline of the 7th Chief Audit Executive Conference in Dubai, IIA-UAE CEO Abdulqader Obaid Ali said: "The UAE is very proud to host this conference, the first of its kind in the Middle East, which we worked on from 2010. We are honoured to hold such a prestigious and anticipated event. It will surely be a programme that delves into timely issues impacting the profession, rich with insights for internal auditors at every level." IIA president and CEO Richard Chambers said: We are truly honoured to bring the conference to the Middle East for the first time. We believe there is no affiliate of the IIA anywhere in the world which has been more successful, innovative and progressive in serving the internal audit profession than the UAE Internal Audit Association, which has more than 3,000 members, considered one of the largest in the Middle East. The event will feature internationally known trailblazers, such as Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE's Minister of Economy, who will examine global issues impacting business. Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, founder and chairman of Emaar Properties, one of the largest real estate development companies in the world, and a pioneer in positioning Dubai as a world-class city, will speak on reaching new heights through innovation. Abdullah Al-Rowais, chief audit executive of Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily), will speak on internal audit in action. We are honoured to have this conference in the UAE and want to send out this message that we do believe good governance is very important. This conference came to Dubai as a testimony of what the region has recently achieved. We see the region in terms of growth and look at governance really very hard. We are bringing important people, including ministers, to talk about what are the challenges around us which really affected the internal audit. We are looking at IT and how IT and internal audit can actually work together, Abdulqader Obaid Ali said. The event will emphasise innovation and tackle emerging technology issues and other relevant topics facing organisations and the internal audit profession worldwide. "The IIA's International Conference showcases the best and brightest in the profession and provides participants with insights, tips, and guidance from an array of thought leaders and industry experts from leading corporations, organizations, and government institutions. The role of internal auditor is very important. He should have the courage to look at other people. The internal auditor's job is not easy; he sees things, he has to report them, in that way he can make change in the organisation, Abdulqader said. Attendees will have access to a number of educational sessions on current and emerging issues and trends, ranging from business sustainability, information security, and governance to risk, fraud, and corruption. It will also present industry best practices in addressing common challenges, as well as knowledge-sharing opportunities. We have ten tracks in the conference, with more than 60-70 international speakers to share their experience and knowledge with the rest of the world, and for the first time we are allowed to have an Arabic track in the international conference to cater for the people of this area, he noted. TradeArabia News Service UAE-based City Properties has announced the launch of its maiden real estate project, Al Haseen Residences in Dubai South. It is the first of 10 residential buildings the developer plans to construct in this area. The developer has also introduced its innovative payment plan called the Cityflex Ownership Plan, which provides a variety of investment options that meet an investors financial planning needs. City Properties is the property development arm of leading UAE real estate service provider City Tower Real Estate, a company that manages over 90 buildings and over 5,000 units in the emirates. Currently under construction and expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019, Al Haseen Residences is a six-storey tower valued at Dh100 million ($27.2 million) situated in a prime locality. A five-minute drive from Al Maktoum International Airport and other key landmarks such as Expo 2020, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Jebel Ali Free Zone, the tower comprises 138 units including studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, incorporating all modern amenities such as a swimming pool, separate gymnasiums for men and women, covered parking, central air-conditioning and a beautiful waterfall lobby entrance. Having been in the real estate business for over 20 years, we can confidently say we understand the real estate market and the needs of investors, remarked Tauseef Khan, the chairman of City Properties and City Tower Real Estate. "Our vast experience has taught us that we can make home ownership a possibility for everyone in the UAE if we offer an affordable alternative to renting, especially since rents often fluctuate and are subject to variations," remarked Khan. "It is with this idea that we decided to venture into property development," he noted. With the studio apartment priced at Dh376,200 and a one-bedroom apartment at Dh739,000, investors can own these units by paying Dh2,020 per month and Dh3,695 per month respectively, using the Cityflex Ownership Plan. With Expo 2020 around the corner and with Al Maktoum International Airport forecasted to be the busiest airport in the world, this area of Dubai will continue to attract a lot of interest. In addition, we expect the population in this area, which many consider to be a city within a city to increase to more than a million in the years ahead, he added. Following an initial payment of five per cent to book the apartment, Khan said the home owners will be required to pay an additional five per cent of the property value every quarter until handover, which will amount to 40 per cent of the property value. Designed to match the funding ability of most individuals living in the UAE, the Cityflex Ownership Plan includes a variety of ultra-flexible ownership options for the balance 60 per cent payment such as post-handover, interest-free payments for up to 10 years via 120 instalments. In addition, investors also have the option to exit the payment process at any time during the payment period by providing a one-year notice. The ownership plan is designed to guarantee investors peace of mind and has no hidden fees, he added. "In order to truly convert tenants to owners, we recognised the need for flexible payment options to help everyone realise their dreams of owning a home in the UAE," explained Khan. "Any individual who plans to rent a home for at least a decade has the potential to own a home at Al Haseen Residences with Cityflex as there are various payment options to suit all requirements. With majority of the payments made after possession, the monthly installments we offer are also more cost effective when compared to average rents in the market today," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Municipality yesterday (December 12) celebrated the soft opening of its world-class wildlife park, a Dh1-billion ($272 million) development spread over a 1.2 million-sq-m area in Al Warqaa 5 off the Dubai-Hatta Highway. Dubai Safari is home to the most diverse array of animals in the UAE with over 2,500 animals representing more than 250 species from around the world. It is set to become a fun-filled living classroom for young minds, as they discover wildlife diversity through an array of immersive and engaging activities that bring them closer to more than 2,500 animals representing more than 250 species, said a statement from Dubai Municipality . The family-friendly experience celebrates wildlife diversity while inviting visitors of all ages and nationalities to enrich their understanding of a wide variety of animal species native to the Middle East, Africa and Asia, through interactive activities and encounters that inspire a sense of discovery and wonder about the animal kingdom, it stated. Hussain Nasser Lootah, the director-general of Dubai Municipality for Communications and Community Sector, said: "Dubai Safari is more than just a wildlife park. Our vision for this project is to offer a highly engaging edutainment experience that fosters education on animal welfare, inspires a sense of learning about wildlife diversity and raises awareness on what makes wildlife protection a top priority." He was speaking during an exclusive first-look media event hosted by Dubai Municipality at Dubai Safari yesterday. "The full range of activities at Dubai Safari have been designed keeping in mind these overarching goals, to ensure that every guest who walks through our doors, leaves the destination with a deeper appreciation for wildlife and wildlife conservation," he noted. "As a unique edutainment destination, the safari park will allow visitors to engage their curiosity as they observe wildlife in their natural habitats, interact with animals in a safe and healthy environment, and discover fascinating facts about a wide diversity of species native to the Middle East, Africa and Asia, while developing a deeper understanding of the importance of wildlife conservation and protection efforts, he added. According to him, a diverse array of family-friendly activities promises to make the park an exciting destination for hands-on learning and endless fun. "From running around in the open in the Kids Farm, hearing fascinating animal stories from the parks expert guides, feeding and petting other children-friendly animals, to experiencing an unforgettable journey of wildlife discovery across the Arabian, African, Asian and Safari Villages Dubai Safari will ensure an unforgettable adventure for visitors of all ages," he added.-TradeArabia News Service More than 150 exhibitors from 20 countries have already signed up to showcase products and services at the upcoming Automechanika Riyadh, a premier international trade and networking event, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The inaugural edition of the event takes place from February 5 to 7, 2018 at Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center. "The Riyadh edition of Automechanika, will be held every alternate year, interspersed with the Jeddah edition, will give us a wider reach across the Kingdom's vast aftermarket, especially in the central and eastern regions of the Kingdom, said Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, who are organising the event in collaboration with Saudi partners, Al-Harithy Company of Exhibitions (ACE). It will also enable international automotive aftermarket brands to gain better access to some of the most important markets and buyers in the country. Zahoor Siddique, vice president of Ace Group, said: ACE is pleased to expand its footprint in Riyadh with the launch of Automechanika Riyadh, importantly because Riyadh has the largest number of aftermarket companies in the Kingdom. Also this show will cater to the neighbouring Eastern Province due to its close proximity. Worldwide interest in the Saudi Arabian automotive sector has surged, given that it is expected to sustain an impressive growth of 5.1 per cent CAGR till 2021, when it is estimated to be worth SR33.6 billion ($9 billion) in revenues. The total number of vehicles in operation in the Kingdom too, is expected to reach 10.3 million by 2021 from the 2015 level of 7.7 million, incrementally increasing the potential aftermarket. Another factor that has tremendously excited key stakeholders in the automotive and aftermarket sectors has been the recent Saudi Arabian government decision to allow women to take to the wheel in the Kingdom. This is expected to drive up cars sales in the Kingdom quite considerably. Currently, women form about 45 per cent of the total Saudi population and about 10 million of them are between the ages of 15 and 64. Additionally, around 65 per cent of the women in the Kingdom, plan to apply for a driving license as soon as the law allows it. Most significantly, around 85 per cent of the women set to take the wheel, are planning to buy cars as soon as they hit the roads. The resulting growth in vehicle sales - both new and used - is also expected to have a ripple effect on the aftermarket, with significant impact on demand for parts and services, procurement and repair and maintenance. Spearheading the foray of international brands making their presence felt at Automechanika Riyadh include Launch Partners: MCB, Samir Odeh and O2Proformance. They are joined by big names such as: Japan Toyamoto Corp, Donaldson Europe, ZF Services Middle East and Blinker. The inaugural event has also attracted country pavilions from Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and China. Based out of Riyadh, Samir Odeh is one of the leading providers of parts and components across the transportation, manufacturing and industrial sectors in the Kingdom. The importance they attach to the Eastern and Central Regions of the Kingdom can be deduced from the fact that they have established their headquarters in the Kingdom in Riyadh since 1968. Ahmed Al Hussaini, the managing director for the Gulf region at O2Proformance, said: We decided to participate at Automechanika Riyadh, as the visitors fit our target market perfectly. The Kingdoms Central and Eastern regions are hugely important to us, and our product range is specifically designed to meet the needs of the regions automotive aftermarkets. With a total area is 15,000 sq m, the Riyadh Exhibition Centre provides a modern and easily accessed venue, with four halls of different sizes. The complex has independent facilities for each hall for reception and registration services and security arrangements. Products and services at the exhibition will cover parts and components, electronics and systems, accessories and customizing, repair and maintenance, tyres and batteries and car wash. Warehouses, temporary storage facilities and dedicated loading and unloading areas are available for the benefit of exhibitors on the eastern side of the complex. TradeArabia News Service A delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain (AmCham Bahrain) was recently invited to tour the Gulf Aluminum Rolling Mill Company (Garmco) plant in northern Sitra, to discuss cooperation and future plans. Mohamed Essa Ebrahim, Garmco acting chief executive officer, welcomed AmCham members and provided them with an overview of the companys growth, future plans, and the way it benefited from the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in opening the US market for its products, said a statement. Ebrahim said: Our company is pleased to showcase its plant and its contribution to Bahrains economy and US-Bahrain bilateral trade. The companys new expansion which will soon be fully operational re-melt plant will increase its production while saving us energy and resources, he said. The US is an important market for us and we are pleased to have AmCham members who come from different sectors to visit us today to learn about Bahrains aluminium industry and hear about our FTA success story, he added. H Delano Roosevelt, AmCham vice president, said: We are honoured to have this unique opportunity to meet the executive leadership team at Garmco and learn about an important industry in Bahrain. The purpose of AmChams plant tours is to better know and understand the industries in Bahrain and the related business opportunities for both in Bahrain and in the US, he said. We are committed to supporting businesses, large and small, in using and benefiting from the FTA, he added. The US is Garmcos largest export market outside of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, currently receiving about 40 per cent of Garmcos manufactured products. Garmco strategically ships and stores stocks of core products from the Bahrain mill at the Baltimore Maryland, Houston Texas, and Long Beach California, facilitating convenient just-in-time delivery to customers. Garmco also partners with a US university for research and development. Aluminium is the top export from Bahrain to the US. In 2016, $406 million worth of aluminium was exported to the US, up from $293 million in 2015. The companys rolled aluminium coils are a significant part of this increasing and important export, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Africa is turning into a prized continent for the global automotive aftermarket, as international manufacturers turn their attention to a region where spare parts demand is estimated to grow by 9 per cent annually over the next four years. With more than 34 million vehicles plying the regions roads, Africa is seen as a major growth market for suppliers of spare parts and accessories, said a statement. The business case is particularly strong in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, which will be the focus of a two-day roadshow examining ways to ease access to the lucrative region. Automechanika Roadshow to West Africa first stopped in Abidjan, the Ivorian capital, at the Radisson Blu Hotel last month, before moving onto Nigerias commercial hub Lagos Golden Tulip hotel, later that same month. More than 200 delegates attended, with one of the topics centred around leveraging opportunities at Automechanika Dubai, the Middle East and Africas largest aftermarket trade exhibition, where African trade buyers have increased exponentially in recent years. Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the organiser of Automechanika Dubai, said the value of African spare parts demand (excluding tires, batteries and lubricants) will reach $15.3 billion by 2020, up from an estimated $10.68 billion in 2016. Pauwels said: Weve noticed a marked increase in trade inquiries from Africa, and visitors from the continent to Automechanika Dubai have grown from 249 in 2012 to 2,215 in 2017, at an average growth of 43 percent annually. The roadshow to Abidjan and Lagos gives us a chance to reach out to and connect key players in these crucial markets and create awareness about the immense business generating and sourcing opportunities available at Automechanika Dubai, he said. The 16th edition of Automechanika Dubai will take place from May 1 to 3, 2018, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, featuring more than 2,000 exhibitors from 57 countries, and attracting 30,000 plus trade buyers from 136 countries. Pauwels said with more than 11.5 million vehicles, Nigeria is seen as one of the top African aftermarket destinations, accounting for more than US$1.5 billion in parts consumption in 2016. He added: Cars that are 16 years or older contribute 54 per cent to overall vehicles in use in Sub-Saharan Africa, creating huge replacement demand for parts. Automechanika Dubai 2018 will return with the popular Automechanika Academy a series of seminars, presentations, and workshops about key issues and regulations that affect the automotive aftermarket, and the African Buyer-Seller Meet, connecting suppliers with buyers from the worlds second largest continent, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Saudi Telecom Company (STC), a leading telecom company, and Qualys, a top provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions, have partnered to deliver a unique regionally hosted, cloud-based security and compliance platform. Under the partnership, STC Solutions will integrate and deliver the Qualys Private Cloud Platform and its suite of Cloud Apps from its data center in Riyadh to expand its managed security services offerings and allow Saudi Arabian enterprises to consolidate a full range of security and compliance solutions in a single-pane-of-glass view. These offerings provide customers with 2-second visibility of their security and compliance posture across all global IT assets whether on premise, in the cloud or on endpoints. The Qualys Cloud Apps that STC will offer include vulnerability management, web application scanning, threat protection, continuous monitoring and policy compliance. The arrangement enables STC to provide its customers the advantage of ensuring that all their security and compliance data stays within Saudi Arabia, which aligns with government regulations developed to safeguard residents and enterprises. With everything hosted in the cloud, there are no capital expenditures, no extra human resources needed, and no infrastructure or software for customers to buy and maintain. Customers will have the ability to conduct security and compliance scans at a Six Sigma accuracy, and analyze this data produced in a state-of-the-art backend, where provisioning additional Cloud Apps is as easy as checking a box. "Through this partnership, we're able to strengthen our existing portfolio of robust managed services with cybersecurity that is built in, as opposed to bolted on as an afterthought," said Fahad Aljutaily, VP of Cybersecurity at STC Solutions. "We can also simultaneously meet our goal of delivering superior value for customers, which is of paramount importance for our business. Given that Qualys is a market leader in this space, we remain confident that our operations are on track to proactively mitigate potential threats, achieve greater agility, cost savings and better business outcomes." "We're thrilled that STC has chosen to host the Qualys Cloud Platform and its Cloud Apps for security and compliance solutions from their data center. As STC plays a vital role in maintaining the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's cyber hygiene, we will continue to work closely with their team of esteemed security professionals to simplify the complexity associated with managing multiple solutions, while increasing the automation, effectiveness and proactive nature of security," added Hadi Jaafarawi, managing director, Qualys Middle East. TradeArabia News Service The Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data and Analytics can unlock huge value for industrial plants by optimizing operations and productivity by connecting processes, assets, and people, said an industry expert. Honeywell, a global software-industrial leader and key supplier of technology to the oil and gas industry for over 100 years, is sharing insights on how connectivity and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is transforming the energy sector at the Energy Digitalisation Summit 2017, taking place December 12-13 at the Fairmont The Palm in Dubai. Leaders from across the energy industry are gathering for the first-ever Energy Digitalisation Summit focused on industry innovation in IoT, Big Data, and analytics to take place in Dubai. The forum is addressing the immediate needs and challenges facing the industry in integrating IIoT technology, through presentations and discussions with global and regional experts. As we speak, a new era of technology innovation is taking the energy industry by storm, disrupting and challenging the way we have been conducting business for the last 30 years, said Yiannis Bessiris, regional business leader for Honeywell Connected Plant. Today, through leading edge solutions like Honeywell Connected Plant, we are can enable operators, refiners and producers to connect their operational data and continually measure and improve performance, making their operations more reliable, profitable, and secure. Increased connectivity is generating substantial value for the energy sector, through greater productivity and efficiency of plant operations as well as reduced downtime. These constantly developing technologies provide new ways to utilize data, help generate insights that create value, and can maximize plant throughput and yields by seven percent, improve plant availability by two percent, and ultimately deliver a potential annual profit increase of up to $26 million. Through this approach, Honeywell ensures that operators have the ultimate tools to access and analyze data, in real time, to best understand the condition of their plant, people, and assets, to enhance the productivity and efficiency of operations. TradeArabia News Service The Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in growth markets, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase, through its funds, a significant minority stake in Societe Nationale des Telecommunications (Tunisie Telecom) , Tunisias largest telecom operator. The stake will be acquired from Emirates International Telecommunications, Dubai Holdings telecoms arm. Upon completion, this will represent the largest ever private equity investment in Tunisia demonstrating Abraajs faith in the company and in the Tunisian economy. The value of the deal has not been revealed. Earlier, Reuters had reported that Abraaj is buying a 35 per cent stake in Tunisie Telecom and EIT had bought the stake for $2.25 billion in 2006, according to its website. Tunisie Telecom is the incumbent integrated telecom services operator in Tunisia and serves over five million customers. The company has state-of-the-art infrastructure, operating a national structure of fixed networks and fiber which enables connectivity to Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as providing the most extensive 3G and 4G mobile coverage in the country. The company holds a strong competitive position, as it is the leading player in fixed voice and fixed broadband in the Tunisian market. Tunisie Telecom is one of the most dynamic operators in the region through several acquisitions that have helped grow the company. Tunisie Telecom holds assets in Malta, Cyprus and Mauritania. In Malta, the company owns the leading incumbent operator Go Malta, which offers multi-play services such as landline, mobile and broadband. Through Go Malta, Tunisie Telecom is also the leading cable operator in Cyprus. Tunisia enjoys a 132 per cent mobile penetration rate and is witnessing growing demand for mobile data and fixed broadband. This was supported by the launch of three 4G licenses by the Tunisian Government in 2016 which spurred the growth of data consumption. According to the Tunisian regulatory agency, mobile data consumption increased by 30 per cent in August 2017 relative to the previous year. Fixed ADSL subscriptions have also increased 9 per cent over the same period. The Tunisian telecommunication market is expected to keep growing, as data usage continues to expand driven by increased smartphone penetration, over the top applications (OTT), e-commerce, the internet of things, Internet Protocol Television or 4k Television and the adoption of other technologies. Abraaj, in partnership with the management team of Tunisie Telecom and the Government of Tunisia, has developed a robust value creation strategy to grow the company as a pan-Mediterranean telecom leader. By leveraging Tunisie Telecoms talent and network leadership, the Group will assist Tunisie Telecom in enhancing its customer service experience and the development of 4G and LTE technologies to capture growing market demand, said the statement. Ahmed Badreldin, partner and head of Middle East & North Africa at The Abraaj Group, said: This is a landmark transaction for Abraaj, as it marks our first investment into the telecommunications sector, as well as our 10th investment in Tunisia. The telecommunications industry in Tunisia is experiencing exponential growth driven by favorable government policies and a rapidly evolving economy. With these positive factors at play, we see immense potential for the sector to advance further. In Tunisie Telecom, we are partnering with a market leader in this dynamic sector. Driven by strong consumer demand, Tunisie Telecom is well positioned to capture greater market share and cement its leading position in Tunisia and beyond. The transaction will close once customary closing conditions including government approvals are obtained. - TradeArabia News Service LinkedIn, the worlds largest professional network, has announced that HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has been named a LinkedIn Influencer. Including top players from the countrys professional landscape, LinkedIn Influencers are selected to join this exclusive program by invitation only and comprise a global collective of 500+ of the world's foremost thinkers, leaders, and innovators, said a statement. Sheikh Hamdan joins a list of Influencers including Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Indian Prime Minister Modi and Ariana Huffington. In his latest post, to celebrate the UAEs 46th National Day, the Crown Prince discussed how the UAE had emerged as a global model for development, a platform for testing future technologies and a force for shaping the future. He also touched upon the unlimited potential of the youth as the driving force for the UAE of the Future. Since expanding his already active social presence and joining the platform in April this year to communicate with the public and keep them updated with projects and initiatives, Sheikh Hamdan has achieved a remarkable increase in followers. On joining, he emphasised the emirates efforts to connect with people wherever they are, through various social media platforms. The Crown Princes reach is truly global, with his followers spanning from the UAE to the UK, US and India. In the same month, LinkedIn announced that it had hit the 500 million members milestone across 200 countries. With over 3 million members in the UAE, and over 23 million members in the Mena region, LinkedIn is growing rapidly. LinkedIn opened its first office in the Mena region in 2012 in Dubai which serves as a regional headquarters to members and customers. Helping members to stay informed on relevant news and views impacting the professional world, LinkedIns UAE members rank as the most connected in the world. UAE users have a reported average of 211 connections per individual, the statement said. -TradeArabia News Service Alpha Destination Management, a leading destination management company in the Arabian Gulf, has registered a growth of almost eight per cent in 2017. Making the announcement Ghassan Aridi, CEO of Alpha Destination Management, said: 2017 had been a very good year for us. Some markets such as the CIS, specifically the Russian market, came back very strongly. We have also seen a very good increase from the UK market. Both are very significant source markets for Dubai. Talking about the new trends that emerged in 2017 in the UAE tourism sector, Aridi, stressed: In 2017 many markets returned back in a big way while other markets disappeared altogether for some reasons. The UAE tourism sector under the leadership of Helal Saeed Almarri, director general of Dubais Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), and his team have done a great job in executing the outstanding vision of HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. As a destination, the UAE continues to impress both residents and visitors with a tourism product that never ceases to evolve. Dubais tourism fundamentals are extremely strong and its vision incomparable. The solid foundation that the government has put in place through broadening portfolio of leisure and business attractions and facilities, diversification of source markets, collaboration between various business sectors will continue to boost and sustain demand." Looking ahead, Aridi is extremely positive and confident about the future of tourism industry in 2018. He said: I think the future is great and we expect to see continuous increase in tourism numbers in 2018 as compared to 2017. We are very positive about the future of the industry because the tourism authorities for Dubai know what is required to boost tourism in the emirate and one can see it from the events happening here. A whole lot of exciting activities and exhibitions are taking place which are helping us a lot to increase our business. Dubai is getting bigger and with it the tourism industry is getting bigger. - TradeArabia News Service Best Western Hotels & Resorts has opened an exciting new midscale hotel in the popular Jimbaran area of Bali, Indonesias Island of the Gods. Best Western Kamala Jimbaran is perfectly positioned in the heart of southern Balis Bukit Peninsula, less than a 30 minute drive from the islands Ngurah Rai International Airport and a short distance from several stunning sandy beaches. It is also located close to Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Cultural Park. This impressive new-build hotel features 120 contemporary rooms and suites, all equipped with cutting-edge facilities, working areas, complimentary Wi-Fi and beautiful views. Guests can enjoy authentic Balinese and international cuisine in the hotels restaurant, relax with drinks and light snacks in the lobby lounge, and even indulge in romantic evening dinners in an exquisite al fresco setting by the poolside. During the day, the tropical outdoor swimming pool is the perfect place to cool off, while the hotels spa is a great place to unwind with an extensive menu of traditional Balinese massages and other blissful body treatments. Guests can also arrange meaningful events in a choice of three meeting rooms, all equipped with audio-visual technology. We are delighted to welcome guests to Best Western Kamala Jimbaran, an excellent midscale hotel that will be suitable for all types of travelers, including couples, families, meetings and incentives, said Olivier Berrivin, Best Western Hotels & Resorts managing director of International Operations - Asia. One of the worlds most sought-after tourist destinations, Bali continues to grow in popularity with international visitors. With its spectacular coastline, exquisite cultural attractions and a wealth of impressive attractions and activities, the Island of the Gods is the ultimate tropical island paradise. Complementing our three excellent hotels in the popular Kuta area and our spectacular upscale resort in Ubud, Balis cultural capital, Best Western Kamala Jimbaran will provide yet another international accommodation option for visitors to this exquisite island, Berrivin added. Best Western Kamala Jimbaran becomes Best Westerns fifth hotel in Bali, following Best Western Kuta Villa, Best Western Kuta Beach, Best Western Resort Kuta and the recently-opened Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud. It also joins an extensive collection of 14 hotels and resorts across Indonesia, located in key destinations such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Solo, Bandung, Batam, Makassar, Medan, Manado and Palu. Best Westerns Indonesian expansion will continue in the coming years, with a series of exciting new international hotels in the pipeline. - TradeArabia News Service Saudi Arabia-based Al Tayyar Travel Group, a leading global travel and tourism company, today announced a strategic transformation plan that will take the company in a new, more focused direction to enhance long-term shareholder value. A statement said the the company's board of directors has approved the new plan. The companys operating environment is undergoing a significant shift, yet with the implementation of this transformation plan it will be able to reconfigure its business divisions, enabling them to expand into new profit pools and revitalise their returns, it said. Abdullah Aldawood, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said: We look forward to turning a new chapter in our companys history. As a leading travel and tourism company we are witnessing very exciting changes on two fronts: firstly, the global travel industry is shifting and agencies are evolving from being airline ticket suppliers to holiday advisors and online booking service providers. Secondly, Saudi Arabia is undergoing an economic and social transformation, whereby the tourism sector is set to be a key beneficiary. Therefore, we are undergoing a strategic transformation which will allow the company to adjust to the changes, capitalise on emerging opportunities and expand into other growth markets. The company will now be organised around four main areas: Travel, Hospitality, Supporting Business and Investments. Travel and Hospitality will undergo significant changes with the aim of driving operational efficiency, promoting customer value and focusing on high growth areas. Supporting Business will be repositioned to supplement the companys profitability and Investments will help enhance the shareholders equity value, the statement said. Travel Services and Online Travel Agency (OTA) will be the principal growth engines of Travel. The Travel Service unit aims to better serve three customer groups: leisure, government and corporate, and Haj and Umrah. For leisure tourists, the company will adopt an omni-channel strategy that serves to reorient its sales approach from a transactional agency to a travel and holiday advisory. To complement this new approach, in 2018 the company will roll out a series of revamped retail outlets, from flagship travel shops to kiosks in shopping centres. As for the government business, the company will upgrade its offerings to public sector employees to offer more cost-effective travel solutions. The company will also accelerate its push into the mid-market corporate segment, providing convenient travel solutions. Also, the company will be working on developing the best travel solutions for Haj and Umrah visitors to help the government achieve its goal of attracting 30 million pilgrims by 2030, it said. OTA is a high growth business where the company will significantly increase capital expenditure to enhance its platform with world class solutions for the customer. The companys goal is to reach a gross booking value of SR3.75 billion by 2020 - led by its brands Almosafer and Tajawal. Since 2015, the two brands have achieved phenomenal growth and have risen to become the leading OTAs in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the company plans to increase the number of new products available, such as insurance and holiday activities, and to expand into other high growth markets, the statement said. Aldawood said: We are very proud of the massive growth the online booking business has amassed in under two years. This is a great testament of our ability to expand into a booming market by building strong brands Almosafer and Tajawal to help us grow our market share in the OTA space and to cement our position as the leader in travel and tourism in the region. The outlook for the OTA business is very bright, so this is where the company will be significantly allocating resources. The hospitality mid-market segment and hotel management will be the key focus of Hospitality. The company currently has five operational hotels, including the Sheraton Makkah and Movenpick Hotel City Star Jeddah. These assets will provide steady cashflow to fund investments into other areas of the company. Going forward, the company will develop and operate hotels in the GCCs mid-market segment through its Choice Hotels master franchise, owner and operator of globally renowned hotel brands including Comfort Inn, Quality Inn and Clarion. Aldawood added: The hospitality business will have two very important functions: to provide the company with steady cashflow and tap into the underserved mid-market hotel segment. Currently, the book value of our hospitality portfolio is over SR4 billion and we are targeting to develop and operate 30 hotels with 6,000 rooms in the mid-market segment by 2022 and will be leveraging the Choice Hotels expertise to help us in achieving our growth ambitions. For Supporting Business, the company will increase its focus on car rental corporate leasing and targeting business travelers. It has a huge competitive advantage by being one of the only car rental companies with access to all major airports in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadhs King Khalid International Airport and Jeddahs King Abdulaziz International Airport. In addition to the actions above, Investments will continue to manage a portfolio of other ventures that carry upside potential and expand our international reach. Some of the company's investments include the leading Mena-based car-hailing app Careem and the ninth largest UK travel management company Portman, it said. Aldawood concluded: We are fully committed to ensure that this transformation shapes our future, delivers strong shareholder value, and continues to protect the trust our customers have placed in our brands for over 35 years. - TradeArabia News Service Premier lifestyle retail company Azadea Group has announced another first for the Middle East dining scene, with popular restaurant brand New Shanghai scheduled to launch in Dubai in 2018. The latest addition to Azadeas fast growing F&B portfolio, New Shanghai has enjoyed significant success in Shanghai and Australia, and is expected to do the same in the Middle East where Asian cuisine is embraced across its multi-cultural population. Offering a taste of modern Chinese cuisine in an ambient setting inspired by the bustling, colourful streets of Shanghai. The restaurant will feature a new dining concept, the Dumpling Theatre, which brings the kitchen to the customers to view the preparation of their Dim Sum and Dumplings. Decor of the outlet includes references to 1930s Shanghai, with cobblestone flooring and a relaxed and entertaining ambience. At the heart of New Shanghai are ancient family recipes, passed down from generation to generation, based on a range of Shanghai-style soup dumplings, noodles, bubbling hot pots, and pan-fried buns. Said G. Daher, chief executive officer, Azadea Group, said: Were proud to add New Shanghai to our portfolio, a dining concept which is a completely unique proposition for the Middle East. New Shanghai is a concept that shares AZADEAs mission to deliver differentiated and authentic lifestyle experiences to our guests this is at the heart of all our F&B and retail offerings. New Shanghai operates in key cities across Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) and in Shanghai. Its expansion into the Middle East begins in Dubai, with a roll out into other markets across the Middle East over the next five years. John Chen, director of New Shanghai said: Our expansion into the Middle East is a milestone achievement for New Shanghai, allowing us to present our unique take on authentic Shanghai cuisine to another corner of the world. Working with the Azadea Group allows us to introduce our brand and concept with a trusted partner who has a deep understanding of the regions customers. Together, we hope to create an unforgettable dining experience, that brings our distinctive offering to Middle Eastern tables. The Azadea Group has been operating across the Middle East & North Africa for 40 years and currently owns and operates more than 50 leading international franchise concepts in food & beverage, fashion & accessories, home furnishings, sporting goods, multimedia, and beauty & cosmetics. - TradeArabia News Service CHEYENNE Wyoming police are investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy who was hit by a truck at an intersection in Cheyenne. Cheyenne Police Department spokesman Kevin Malatesta says the boy and his mother were struck after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Converse Avenue and East Lincolnway. The boy, Aiden Mullinax, died at the scene. The woman, Ashley Nowlin, 31, was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center for treatment. Mullinax and Nowlin were in the crosswalk at the time they were struck by a Chevy Silverado driven by Christopher Wetherholt, according to the Cheyenne Police Department. The turck was making a left turn at the time. No citations have been issued in the case, which remains under investigation, police said. The investigation will involve an accident reconstruction to determine what happened. That process can take several weeks. Wyoming Department of Health Director Tom Forslund did not mince words to lawmakers Tuesday. I just cant handle it this time around, he said of the $32 million deficit facing the department, which has cut roughly $100 million already. Thisll be the first time in my career of public management that I havent been able to deliver a budget in a time period under what was authorized. Were going to blow through it. ... I need help from the Legislature. Such was the tone of the health departments presentation to the Joint Appropriations Committee. It had been cut and cut, and the stark reality, Forslund said, was that there wasnt $32 million floating around that could absorb the deficit. The shortfall is largely accounted for by a wave of older Wyomingites moving into long-term care facilities, a wave that will only swell as baby boomers age and require more care. In a document detailing the departments budgetary needs, at least $28 million of the shortfall was directly related to Wyomings aging population. While $32 million seems significant now, the costs will only climb from here, Forslund said. Long-term care costs about $130 million a year now and could more than double to $312 million by 2030. Forslund and Gov. Matt Mead had sounded the alarm about the situation before. Forslund appeared in front of lawmakers in October and warned them of what was needed now and what would be needed in the future. He told lawmakers Tuesday that there were five subfactors which tentacle back to the larger issue of Americans simply aging that are going to contribute to this growth. One is that the older population is increasingly burdened with chronic disease and that those people are living longer. Second is that theres a decreasing ratio of working-age adults to retirees, meaning that there are fewer people to pay into the programs that pay for their elders. Third, long-term care is costly. Wyoming spends the fourth most money in the country on the aged and the ninth most on caring for those with disabilities, Forslund said. Fourth is that fewer people are prepared to pay for their own long-term care, meaning they end up on state Medicaid rolls. And finally, the long-term care insurance market is small and weakening, Forslund said. Past cuts have left the department with fewer options to move money around and absorb the $32 million shortfall elsewhere. Our ability to flex out is greatly diminished, the director told lawmakers. I just dont have the ability to handle the type of unanticipated costs or unusual things that come up as we have been. Because of this Medicaid overrun, we are trying to absorb a portion of them by moving money around. But we cant absorb all of this overage. While the government cant stop people from aging and it cant stop them from moving into state nursing homes, it can work to keep them home longer a cheaper and, officials say, patient-preferable option. The longer we can keep them out of the nursing home and in their home, the less expensive it is for the state and generally more rewarding it is for the individual, Forslund told lawmakers. We hope, as part of our strategy, is to increase these home and community based services significantly to try to better control nursing home costs. Asked if that would really be cheaper, Forslund said nursing home costs were 157 percent higher than those receiving care in their home. Theres the $32 million that the department is short for the remainder of this two-year budget cycle, which ends June 30. For the next cycle, Forslund requested an additional $49 million from lawmakers roughly $25 million of which is for the aging population. Contributing to both the $32 million current deficit and the $49 million supplemental request was Mead pivoting away from a legislative decision. Lawmakers had previously stripped funding from Medicaid programs for certain individuals with disabilities and with cervical and breast cancer. The thinking was that these individuals could get insurance from the health care exchanges. But Mead apparently balked at the move, Forslund said, because he thought it was too important to cut. Though the funding $1.5 million of it was gone, the governor told the health department to find the money and keep the programs alive. Overall, Forslund said that he hoped he was giving lawmakers his worst-case scenario. I need help is what Im telling you, he said. So do we, said committee vice-chairman Rep. Bob Nicholas, a Cheyenne Republican. I think were in this together, Forslund replied. We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Dec. 13 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages. A federal appeals court has rebuffed efforts by mining interests to reopen a huge area around the Grand Canyon to new uranium mining. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the National Mining Association and allied groups that it was illegal for Kenneth Salazar, the interior secretary in the Obama administration, to withdraw about a million acres around the park to new mining claims for 20 years. The court said while there may be differences in opinion on what danger the mining poses to the water supply, that did not make the withdrawal either arbitrary or capricious. Judge Marsha Berzon, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, also said Salazar and his department did not violate requirements for the federal government to promote multiple uses of public lands. Interior engaged in a careful and reasoned balancing of the potential economic benefits of additional mining against the possible risks to environmental and cultural resources, Berzon said. This approach was fully consonant with the multiple-use principle. And the appellate court said the Interior Department met its legal requirement to consider the potential impact of its actions on local governments. That included a resolution passed by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors against withdrawing the land from new claims. But Berzon said simply more is not required. In particular, the consent of state and local governments to a withdrawal is in no way required, she wrote, saying the National Environmental Policy Act does not confer veto power on potentially affected state or local governments, each with its own economic interests. Sandy Bahr, lobbyist for the Sierra Club in Arizona, acknowledged that the ruling comes as the Trump administration is weighing whether to narrow the off-limits area or rescind Salazars designation entirely. But Bahr said any such move could not be unilateral, with Trump and his administration having to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and justify doing so. We will oppose it and challenge it if he moves forward with rescinding it, she said. Mining Association spokeswoman Jamie Caswell said her organization was disappointed by the decision. We are reviewing it further to determine any future actions, she said. Large quantities of uranium were discovered near the national park in the late 1940s. Production surged in the 1980s and 1990s, with a spike in prices. But Berzon said the collapse of the Soviet Union and decommissioning of many nuclear warheads pretty much halted mining in the area. All that changed in 2007 with another price spike, she said. But in 2012, reacting to concerns about the impact of mining radioactive materials, Salazar proposed withdrawing about a million acres from new claims. The mining interests sued. After being rebuffed in 2014 by a federal judge in Arizona, they took their case to the appellate court. Berzon said there were concerns about the potential impact of a large-scale increase in mining. Uranium mining has been associated with uranium and arsenic contamination in water supplies, which may affect plant and animal growth, survival and reproduction, and which may increase the incidence of kidney damage and cancer in humans, she wrote. And Berzon noted that multiple reports all acknowledged substantial uncertainty regarding water quality and quantity in the area, the possible impact of additional mining on perched and deep aquifers, and the effect of radionuclide exposure on plants, animals and humans. The result, she said, was a measured approach by the department, saying that keeping new mining from starting for 20 years will allow for additional data on things like groundwater flow paths and the contribution that mining makes to radiation. Berzon said legal challenges to decisions like those made by Salazar can be overturned by courts only in cases where they are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law. And the judge said courts give great deference to the actions of an agency and uphold them if a reasonable basis exists for its decision. The appellate court also backed the finding that the area is of profound significance and importance to Native American tribes. And the judges said nothing in law requires the Interior Department to limit protection to smaller carve-outs rather than preserving larger areas that have multiple cultural and historic sites. Berzon agreed with arguments that existing laws and regulations might mitigate the impact of uranium mining on environmental, cultural and visual resources, as well as wildlife and human health. But she said the final environmental study does not suggest that simply enforcing existing laws and regulations would suffice to meet the purposes of the withdrawal. Unable to build the border fence they wanted with private donations or even come close a special legislative panel disbanded itself Tuesday, giving the remaining cash raised to the Cochise County Sheriffs Department. Sheriff Mark Dannels said the lions share of the $55,634 will be used to buy 30 special cameras that can be placed within three miles of the international border to send live still and video feeds by cell phone to deputies. This would supplement the 50 cameras the department bought after getting nearly $200,000 from the Joint Border Security Advisory Committee two years ago. Theres also another $3,000 for antennas as well as rodent shields to protect the cameras. And the balance of the cash is divided up among other equipment the department says it needs, including binoculars and some hand-held GPS position finders. Tuesdays decision comes six years after lawmakers, with great fanfare, announced plans to set up a web site to solicit donations nationwide to have Arizona build its own fence on private property because of the failure of the federal government to secure the border. Backers said they hoped to raise at least $50 million. There was an initial crunch of sorts, with Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, saying donations came in from all 50 states. But the total cash raised fell far short. So the committee, which consists of law enforcement officials and legislators, opted to ask border sheriffs for proposals to spend the cash. Only Dannels submitted a request. But Steve Smith, a candidate for congress, said he did not consider the whole effort a waste of time, if only for public-relations purposes. It was to do nothing other than shame the federal government into doing their job, he said Tuesday. We had no delusion that this was supposed to be the cure-all. That, however, is not what proponents said when they set up the fund. During hearings in 2011, lawmakers were told the kind of pedestrian-proof fence that Steve Smith was proposing could run upward of $7 million a mile. Even Steve Smith conceded the price tag could approach $3 million a mile. But Steve Smith insisted at the time there were ways to save money, including the use of inmate labor and getting suppliers to donate materials or, at least, sell them to the state at cost. REGAINING THE UPPER HAND On Tuesday, the committee heard the results of the money it decided instead to give to Cochise County. Thad Smith, the countys chief deputy, said the way law enforcement kept an eye on the border before the first grant was with forward-looking radar and night vision technology. He said that worked well while drug runners were operating at night. But Thad Smith said they shifted their operations to the daytime, meaning the smugglers could see law enforcement personnel as well as they could see the smugglers. It took away our advantage, he told the committee. Thats where those $900 BuckEye wireless cameras come in. Developed for both hunting and security, Thad Smith said they could be set up in remote areas and left unattended, sending images to law enforcement as they spotted something. The existing cameras were set up along a 14-mile stretch of the border, centered around the San Pedro River, up to three miles away from the line. Thad Smith said this is prime smuggling area given the proximity of State Route 92: Once smugglers get to the road, drivers can quickly disappear into Sierra Vista or Bisbee. Those cameras, he said, resulted in pictures of 62 drug mules since the beginning of 2017. That led to 37 felony drug arrests, all resulting in convictions, as well as the seizure of just short of 4,000 pounds of marijuana. On Twitter: @azcapmedia Believe the buzz, not the numbers. That was the unexpected message UA economist George Hammond delivered in his 2018 economic forecast. An economist telling us to ignore data and trust our feelings?! Well, it wasnt that simple, but Hammond noted that the preliminary survey data delivered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and used by state of Arizona in its employment reports dont seem to add up. For some of the months in late 2017, theyve shown job losses in the Tucson area compared to the same time last year, at a time when we were supposed to be growing steadily. Before you get too concerned about that, I think that those estimates are way too pessimistic, Hammond told us Friday during a luncheon at the Westin La Paloma. I think that data, which is preliminary data, is going to be revised up significantly. Once it is revised up, thats going to square a lot better with the buzz around town about how Tucson is doing. Ive been writing about those state reports and how they paint a more dismal picture than the optimistic one local officials have been painting. The most recent state report, for example, published Nov. 16, says the Tucson areas labor force declined by 3,400 people from October 2016 to October 2017. My assumption has been that those reports reflect reality, one that undermines the perception Pima Countys economy is improving. But Hammond says thats doubtful. And its not just about the optimistic buzz generated by Caterpillars announcement that it is building a headquarters here, or by Raytheons major expansion, or by local space businesses like Vector and World View that are building headquarters. First, he said, its important to remember the survey information collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is preliminary. It will be revised in March using a higher-quality data set. Second, he said, theres an anomaly that has been affecting the jobs reports for months. In the year ending in the third quarter of 2016, the professional and business-services category showed a gain of 1,000 jobs. But that same category showed a decline of 2,000 jobs for the year ending in the third quarter of 2017. Thats a 3,000 job swing, Hammond said Friday. Generally, if something like that happens in Tucson, thats in the air, its in the papers, people are talking about that kind of shift. Seeing that and not having that show up in the papers is weird, and it makes us wonder about what that preliminary data really shows us. In fact, a business information specialist at the Eller Colleges Economic and Business Research Center, Valorie Rice, collects Arizona news stories about businesses hiring people and laying them off. These job announcements have been predominantly positive recently. Its not that all is sweetness and light across Tucson. I spoke with Robert Durnal, branch manager of Remedy Staffing, whose agency specializes in supplying employees for professional-services and industrial jobs. I see far more people who are looking for work who are out of work than the opposite, he said. Earlier in the year, there was a slight pickup on the industrial side of staffing. Toward the middle of the year there was an uptick in professional and business services. Now its kind of flat. The Pima County One Stop offices have also seen steadily increasing use of services like job training offered through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The total enrolled in the programs services in Pima County have gone from 3,294 in 2014-2015 to 3,949 in 2015-2016 to 4,586 in 2016-2017. So far in 2017-2018, those numbers have stayed pretty steady. In other words, the number of people seeking help with getting jobs or improving job skills has increased, perhaps a sign of more underemployed Tucsonans. It could also, of course, reflect people returning to the workforce, and it does include an increasing number of youth joining the workforce. I spoke with a couple of other economists, Doug Walls who leads the states economic research office, and Lee McPheters of Arizona State Universitys Seidman Institute. Both agree that future reports and more reliable data could make this years rash of economic uncertainty in the Tucson area seem like a sniffle that never turned into a cold. Walls noted that the more reliable data take longer to appear. McPheters said, Overall, the dip is a bit extreme and doesnt really accord with what anyone is expecting. So maybe the Tucson area should return to the mildly optimistic buzz we were feeling earlier this year amid all those corporate announcements . At least until the revised numbers come back in March. These are some of the critters you might see while out and about in Southern Arizona. If you are looking for a specific type of critter, you c WASHINGTON (AP) The large building at the corner of 22nd and R streets in downtown Washington, D.C., sticks out like a wart in the otherwise upscale neighborhood. Plywood covers the windows, sleeping bags and empty bottles litter the shuttered doorways and head-high weeds sprout through the asphalt of the empty fenced-off parking lot. For a solid decade, neighbors and local political leaders complained bitterly about the condition of the former Pakistani consulate. But the city remained powerless to do anything as long as the building was classified by the State Department as a diplomatic property. That diplomatic designation has since been revoked, according to the State Department, but the building still stands as perhaps the most egregious example of an only-in-D.C. phenomenon, where diplomatic protocol allows a string of abandoned buildings to fester, untouchable and tax-free. "Residents, who themselves are under obligation to keep their properties in order, are complaining to me," said City Councilwoman Mary Cheh, whose Ward 3 contains several such problematic properties. "Unless the State Department is really committed to the issue, these countries can really string you along." Cheh's office has compiled a partial list of vacant and neglected diplomatic buildings and she co-authored a bill calling for creating a comprehensive citywide list. Violators on Cheh's list include properties owned by the governments of Serbia, Sri Lanka, Cameroon and Argentina. Many of these eyesores are in some of the District's most high-end neighborhoods. The Sheridan-Kalorama area, where several are located, is home to former President Barack Obama, as well as President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and The Washington Post, recently bought a massive house there. The area's most recent prominent resident is Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson, whose department is responsible for making sure these diplomatic properties are maintained. The issue is particularly frustrating for members of the city council, who find themselves unable to use the many instruments at their disposal for dealing with neglected buildings. For example, the city has a three-tiered tax structure designed to compel landlords to maintain their properties. Ordinary buildings are taxed at 85 cents per $100 in assessed value; for a vacant property, that rate increases to $5 per $100 and if a property is judged by the city to be neglected or "blighted" the tax rate jumps to $10 per $100 in assessed value. But that isn't applicable for a diplomatic building. "If I have a vacant house in the Shaw neighborhood that's becoming a problem, I can call in the cops, clean it up, throw a fence around it and if necessary seize it for unpaid taxes," said City Councilman Jack Evans. "I have a lot of tools in my tool box. But I don't have those tools available to me if it's a diplomatic property." The State Department doesn't have a lot of options either. Cliff Seagroves, acting head of the Office of Foreign Missions, said he's largely bound by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Revoking a property's diplomatic status is an extreme step that could provoke a diplomatic crisis and retaliatory action against U.S. properties abroad. "We have to balance (local residents' concerns) with making sure we're not making things harder for ourselves overseas," Seagroves said. With limited options, Seagroves admitted that his office is often pleased to see negative press coverage of the issue that he hopes will embarrass intransigent nations into action. "The shame factor is often our most effective tool in getting these matters resolved," he said. The case of the former Pakistani consulate on R Street stands as a rare recent success. But it's also an example of how bad a situation has to get before the State Department will act. Seagroves said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry built a new embassy, moved its consular staff there and "in effect, walked away" from the old building. After years of nagging, and with the building becoming a magnet for squatters, Seagroves' office finally delivered an ultimatum and a deadline. When that passed, State revoked the diplomatic status in February 2016 and let the city move in and treat the property like any other blighted building. By June 2017, the property had accumulated more than $70,000 in tax debt. That debt was purchased by an investment group at a tax auction in July 2017, giving the Pakistani government about six months to settle the debt or risk losing the property. The Pakistani government, in a statement to The Associated Press, said that "a plan is being worked out" for the building's renovation and it was working with the State Department and District of Columbia government "to amicably resolve the issue." However the Pakistani statement also pointed out that all diplomatic properties are exempt from taxation, a contention that seemingly ignores the revocation of the property's diplomatic status. Repeated queries as to the why the building fell into such an extreme state of disrepair went unanswered. While residents can claim victory there, the fight continues. One block away, down R Street, the former Serbian embassy sits in similar disrepair with its diplomatic status intact. Some of these unused buildings are unused for an understandable reason. The former Iranian Embassy has been empty since the two countries severed ties in 1979 and is now maintained by Seagroves' office. But in other cases, there seems to be multiple reasons why these nations would allow such valuable real estate to sit vacant and neglected. David Bender, head of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, says an ambassador once told him that he couldn't afford to fix up a property, but didn't want to sell it because he didn't want to be responsible for downsizing his country's presence in the U.S. capital. I am a product of military families. My step-father fought in WWII, Korea, and had two tours of duty in Viet Nam. My father-in-law was the Navy Captain of a submarine in WWII. My then husband, a Navy pilot, and on his 4th tour in Viet Nam was shot down and became a POW. My son was a Maryland State Trooper Flight Paramedic and was killed in 2008. All fought for the United States flag and its rights and freedoms guaranteed under our Constitution. The article points out a little discussed fact. Congress has suppressed funding to the CDC for gun violence research since the mid '90s. This creates a "battle of opinion" after every deadly shooting, but no data to support the opinions one way or the other. Without data to identify the root cause, no progress is made on fixing the problems. The lack of data allows politicians to express remorse and take no action after every horrific event. After all, there is "no data to support" the assertion that guns play a central role in American violence. Let's get the funding back to the CDC to do their job and stop hiding behind ignorance. Unemployment in Britain is rapidly decreasing holding at 4.2% compared with the population, as opposed to the almost double 8.3% we faced five years ago in 2012. According to the Office of National Statistics 790,000 of the 1,425,000 unemployed constitute this country's youth; aged 16 to 24 that are not employed or in education (NEET). This statistic has been drastically affected by the steady increase of employment in the UK with a decline of an entire percent of 16-24s falling within NEET since December 2011. This in conjunction with a two million increase of this country's youth not in education is a clear indication that people are more inclined to work as opposed to continuing with their studies. But where are they? Britains working youth With the days of being told University is a necessity to make it in the working world a thing of the past, more and more Brits are beginning their careers early. Many will find a foothold in the retail industry, fast food or manual labour, others will find employment through the serendipitous circumstance of their upbringing. For some, they will find a means of making money online, such as myself, and a small percentage will find themselves ravelled in The Secret world of residential sales. The latter an easily obtainable, any age, zero experience golden ticket into a life of promised freedom, fast earnings and speedy career progression... Or so it may seem. 'No Experience Required' Imagine reading these words as a sixteen-year-old school leaver, caps locked and firmly cemented above a reputable job description for an equally respectable business boasting a whopping 17,000-25,000 pa. This description, even by a man of twenty-threes standards such as myself, exceeds any expectations in terms of earning potential. In disbelief I checked the company's address, viewed their website with a reluctant click on the link posted on Indeed.com and confirmed the expected salary of a Marketing Team Leader as posted. Everything checked out and with that I applied as someone eager to continue a career in digital marketing as the post described. Waiting room Upon arriving and with ten minutes to spare I was welcomed by a short, bald man I had overheard on my way up the creaky, warehouse-esk styled stairs describing an Indian fellow who ran the local fast food van by a word I cannot put on this article. Assuming I had merely misheard the racial slur in their conversation I extended my hand to greet him and with a brisk shake he pointed towards a corner sofa filled with a veritable array of personalities. The first was a kid aged sixteen who was so nervous the heels of his shoes clapped and echoed in the silent waiting room. He said this was his first interview and how he couldnt wait to distribute leaflets. The second was a middle-aged man sporting a beard and a calm demeanour. He spoke with me briefly about his past experience as a salesman or "brand ambassador" that he had obtained as just one of the hundreds of roles he undertook during his travels in a campervan across the world. The third was another lad aged nineteen who merely grunted at me until I mentioned the team leader position I had applied for to which he replied, So you might be my boss? After which he passed the time preemptively seeking a promotion for the position he thought he had applied for which turned out to be a trainee window maker. Something was clearly wrong here. Interview I was welcomed into his office with a fling of the door and pointed to an empty, frayed seat. I sat down, opened my laptop and began described marketing strategies, campaigns and my experiences in digital marketing. He simply stared at me as I talked through my intentions concisely summarised on a PowerPoint presentation with a script I had memorized to the letter to show my commitment for a role I knew was out of my league. Once I was finished he asked what the primary role of marketing entails within the company. It was then I realised it was another Brand Ambassador role; a subdivision of sales which teaches relentless, hard selling tactics with pinpoint precision to pre-scripted conversations as part of a five-step process. I began to pack my things explaining how I was not going to be pulled into another pyramid scheme until he assured me it would be a team leader position as described. Sparking my curiosity I agreed to attend the first day of training. This interview proved to be but an ominous prologue to a series of events that haunt and embarrass me to this day Fears are growing for the health of jailed British woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after it was revealed that she has discovered lumps on her breast. According to ITV News, Richard Ratcliffe released a statement in which he said that his wife was on the verge of having a "nervous breakdown." He went on to say that she had had an "inconclusive mammography" and that his wife has requested to see a specialist for a second opinion. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in Iran since April 2016 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government, a charge that she has denied. She has been imprisoned in the country for over 18 months. A huge blunder The story has been receiving renewed press coverage over comments that the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made to parliament last week. Boris Johnson said that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "simply teaching journalism" in the country. This comment is believed to have reaffirmed the Iranian's belief that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had indeed been working as a spy and this could cause her jail sentence to be increased. In September, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by an Iranian court. Since this blunder by the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, there have been strong calls from the Labour party for Boris Johnson to be sacked. According to MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin, who is from London, told her on the phone that she thought the comments from Boris Johnson could "endanger her life." Boris Johnson is not the only member of the Tory party to have made comments which have been perceived to have added more woes to the plight of Nazanin. On the Andrew Marr show, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said that he "did not know" what the jailed Londoner was doing in Iran. Labour was quick to capitalise on the mistake of Gove, with Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett saying that Theresa May should not allow Mrs Ratcliife to pay the price for "her ministers bungling." This incident is just the latest scandal to rock Theresa May's Conservative government. Over recent weeks there have been two high profile cabinet resignations, strengthening the hand of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party who have been quick to jump on any perceived weakness coming from Theresa May's increasingly weak Tory Government. This incident has been another major embarrassment for an embattled Prime Minister whose slender grip on power is looking weaker by the day. But when the political point scoring is finished there is still one thing we need to remember, the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and what can be done to ensure her safe return home. US President Donald Trump isnt happy. A Republican paedophile was running for the Senate seat in Alabama, Roy Moore, and his campaign had been marred by allegations of sexual assault from women who claimed her assaulted them when they were as young as 14 years old. Things were looking up for the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, but Trump never supported him and was always behind the paedophile. Now that the Republican paedophile lost and the Democrat won, its a huge personal defeat for Trump, and hes not happy about it, to say the least. The President tweeted an obligatory, Congratulations to Doug Jones, before saying that the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! He added that the deck was stacked against [Moore]. Well, yes, it was, because he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old. Trump sent out a further tweet to slam the Fake News Media A further tweet by Trump angrily denounced what he calls the Fake News Media for the fact that more than 90% of their coverage of him is negative. But that might have something to do with the fact that more than 90% of what he does is morally deplorable and quickly destroying the United States of America. He also used the tweet to justify his use of social media, which he says is the only way to get the truth out, and called the mainstream media a joke. Yeah, well, his Presidency is a joke. President Donald trump has signed a new Space policy directive which he claims will "restore American leadership in space". Trump's policy should see American astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972, and could result in "an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps someday to many worlds beyond." A mission to the moon is seen by many within the scientific community as a suitable stepping stone to a mission to Mars. According to NASA, the new programme will "effectively organise government, private industry, and international efforts" allowing humans to travel to the moon and eventually explore Mars. The policy follows a recommendation by the new National Space Council Chaired by Vice President Mike Pence back in October. #OTD 45 years ago, Astronaut Harrison Schmitt landed on the Moon. Here, at a signing ceremony instructing NASA to send humans back to the lunar surface, he shows @IvankaTrump the Moon sample he collected in 1972: https://t.co/rgKiSVsr3B pic.twitter.com/h5deRQF3p9 NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2017 Trump's directive marks a dramatic change from the space plans of the Obama administration, who shifted the target from the moon to other missions like sending humans to asteroids. In a statement acting nasa Administrator, Robert Lightfoot said NASA "looks forward to supporting the presidents directive". Notable dignitaries attending the signing ceremony included Sen. Harrison Jack Schmitt (one of the last men to have walked on the moon), Buzz Aldrin, and Christina Koch. Space exploration could provide some much-needed good-press for Donald Trump who is not the first President to set his sights on getting Americans on the moon again. George W. Bush even advocated the establishment of a lunar colony during his presidency. Space experts show overwhelming support Industry experts reacted positively to the President's directive including chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Congressman Lamar Smith who said a mission to the moon would "enable NASA to test new systems and equipment critical for future missions". Aerospace company Lockheed Martin which has numerous contracts with NASA added that a lunar mission would inspire a "thriving new space economy" creating jobs and driving innovation. The CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration Mary Lynne Dittmar pledged to support NASA in its future missions and congratulated the Trump administration for its "bold vision". Space exploration has recently seen a significant increase in private investment with companies like SpaceX intending to take paying customers on a trip which would loop around the moon as early as 2018. Private companies like SpaceX and Boeing already have contracts with NASA and could play an integral role in future space travel. Net2Phone Partners with Master Agent TeleDomani Share Tweet By Paula Bernier Executive Editor, TMC By Paula BernierExecutive Editor, TMC IDT Corp. (News - Alert)s net2phone has called on master agent TeleDomani to be one of its go-to-market partners. TeleDomani CEO and founder Gina Pigott had this to say about the new partnership. net2phone is a perfect fit for our agency community. With their robust feature sets, unlimited international calling, and free phones all offered in conjunction with agent-driven pricing, an advanced quoting tools, and generous commissions net2phones solutions provide outstanding value for both our agents and their clients. With two decades in business, net2phone offers hosted PBX (News - Alert) and SIP trunking services. Its solutions are offered exclusively via channel partners. IDT Corp. provides retail communications, payment and money transfer services primarily under its Boss Revolution (News - Alert) brand, and cloud-based telecommunications services to businesses through its net2Phone effort. IDTs wholesale telecommunications business supports international long-distance voice calls. TeleDomani is based out of Melville, New York, where it opened a new corporate headquarters in July. It offers cloud, data, managed services, mobility, security, and voice services. And its partners include ACC Business (News - Alert), AccessPint, airespring, American Telephone Co., and Verizon. The global VoIP market was worth more than $43 billion last year. And its set to generate $93.9 billion in revenue by 2024, according to Florida-based market research and consulting company Ameri Research. Global Market Insights says the overall UC market is poised to reach $96 billion by 2023. And it notes the expected proliferation of hosted products in this category. Meanwhile, a 2015 BroadSoft (News - Alert) survey indicates UCs cloud market share will increase six fold by 2020, when its expected to reach 41 percent. The company adds that cloud-based UC is poised to grow by more than seven times in the mid-market arena. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Article comments powered by Disqus Article comments powered by Edited by Mandi Nowitz Over the last week, the allegations of sexual assault against Roy Moore have dominated the headlines. With another week starting off, yet another claim has been revealed by a new accuser. Moore's scandal When Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last year, it was only a matter of time before the new president put together his staff and administration. After Trump decided to nominate then Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to become the new Attorney General, it left a vacancy in the senate. To fill that role, a special election was set up and is scheduled to be held next month, with Democratic nominee Doug Jones facing off against Republican candidate Roy Moore. While it appeared like a sure thing for Moore to keep the seat in the hands of the Republican due to Alabama being a traditionally red state, a bombshell report in the Washington Post last month changed everything. According to the paper, Moore was accused by at least four women of attempting to take part in sexual activity while they were under the age of consent. As expected, Moore has denied any and all wrongdoing and has vowed to stay in the race despite internal pressure from top Republican officials who are urging him to step aside. According to The Hill on November 13, a new accuser has come forward with the most troubling allegation so far. #BREAKING: Woman accuses Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 15 https://t.co/QP1PLgxbsL pic.twitter.com/6yeel7b8A7 The Hill (@thehill) November 13, 2017 With her attorney Gloria Allred by her side, Beverly Young Nelson detailed what allegedly took place between her and Roy Moore when she was only 15-years-old. Nelson claims she was sexually assaulted by Moore, who was working as a local district attorney at the time, and that she was threatened to keep quiet. "You are a child. I am the District Attorney of Etowah County. If you tell anyone about this, no one will believe you," Moore allegedly said. Elaborating further, Nelson explained that she "feared" for her life if she spoke up. "Love, Roy Moore, D.A." #BREAKING: Second Roy Moore accuser shows HS yearbook she says Moore signed when she was 16 in time before alleged sexual assault. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/CUW7QSayal pic.twitter.com/Ht3X7AYOem ABC 7 News - WJLA (@ABC7News) November 13, 2017 In addition, Beverly Young Nelson presented her personal school yearbook as evidence, where Roy Moore signed his name and wrote his own personal message to the accuser. "To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore, D.A.," the note read. GOP pressure As of press time, Roy Moore has not responded back to Beverly Young Nelson, but has pushed back against members of the Republican establishment. Earlier on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked about the scandal in question, before saying "I believe the women" and that Moore should step down. In response, the senate hopeful took to his Twitter account, writing, "The person who should step aside is Mitch McConnell. He has failed conservatives and must be replaced." Ever since Donald Trump pulled off his historic and shocking upset win over Hillary Clinton last November, many have continued to wonder how it all went down. In the latest bombshell, one of the president's sons has been accused of working with WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential election. Trump Jr. on Twitter From the early days of his candidacy, Donald Trump was forced to hit back at allegations that he was in collusion with Russia. As time went on, Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and refusal to release his tax returns caused even more speculation. In the two and a half years since first launching his campaign, various past and present associates of Trump have been outed for having alleged links to Russia, which has been confirmed by several well-respected news outlets, multiple government agencies, and by the current investigation into Russian election interference. Despise this, Trump and the White House have labeled the reports against them as "fake news," while distancing themselves from former associates who have been charged or indicted over their ties to the Kremlin. According to a new report from the Atlantic on November 13, Donald Trump Jr. had reportedly been in contact with WikiLeaks during the election, in regards to various issues pertaining to the his father's campaign. Wikileaks asked Donald Trump Jr. to spread its work, contest the election results, and have Assange appointed ambassador to the U.S. @JuliaIoffe on their secret correspondence: https://t.co/5OQWoiFYTG pic.twitter.com/hGsggnZuF9 The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) November 13, 2017 In the report by the Atlantic, WikiLeaks' Twitter account was in contact with Donald Trump Jr. in September 2016, less than two months before election. The report notes that WikiLeaks had informed the younger Trump about an anti-Trump website that was going to be brought online, and provided him with the password. Other communications included asking the campaign to contest the election, while advocating for Julian Assange to be named an ambassador. Donald Trump Jr. talked to Wikileaks. Attorney for Don Jr. says correspondence not incriminating. "We have no concerns about these documents and any questions raised about them have been easily answered. Selling uranium to Russia? Now THERES a story. pic.twitter.com/jQ0DuMBMEh GRANT J. KIDNEY (@GrantJKidney) November 13, 2017 In addition, in October of last year, WikiLeaks reportedly asked Trump Jr. to "push" a story about Hillary Clinton joking about wanting to "drone" Julian Assange. In response, junior reportedly wrote that he "already did that earlier today." The Atlantic also notes that the correspondence between both sides latest until July 2017, with much of WikiLeak's messages going unanswered. JUST IN: Trump Jr. corresponded privately with WikiLeaks before the election: report https://t.co/m6zKe8K2JT pic.twitter.com/uLJ7Bt8ptN The Hill (@thehill) November 13, 2017 Trump Jr. response After the news broke, the link between Donald Trump Jr. and Wikileaks quickly went viral on social media, while becoming a hot topic on cable news. Responding to the news was Trump Jr., through the use of his legal team. "We can say with confidence that we have no concerns about these documents," a Trump lawyer said in a statement. "Any questions raised about them have been easily answered in the appropriate forum," the statement added. As of press time, neither the president himself nor the White House have offered an offical statement of their own. Democrat Doug Jones has won a special election for the US Senate seat from Alabama tonight. The Associated Press called the race for Jones at 10:23 PM ET, a little more than two hours after the polls closed in Alabama. Jones defeated controversial Judge Roy Moore for the seat vacated by former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions vacated the seat after being confirmed as US Attorney General in the Trump administration. Former Alabama governor Robert Bentley had originally appointed former Alabama attorney general Luther Strange to the seat earlier this year. But Moore defeated Strange in a primary run-off in September to become the Republican nominee in the general. Controversy Controversy had swirled around Moore for the last month after multiple women came forward alleging that Moore initiated inappropriate relationships with them back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they were teenagers and he was in his early to mid-30s. One of the alleged victims was 14 years old at the time. Moore had denied the allegations. Moore is no stranger to controversy, having been previously removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for defying court orders to remove a monument dedicated to The Ten Commandments from the Alabama State Judicial Buildings central rotunda. After being reelected to the Alabama Supreme Court years later, he was suspended for issuing an order to probate judges and their employees ordering them to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of federal court rulings. Rather than serve his suspension, Moore resigned from the Court in February of this year to run for the states open Senate seat. National Bellwether The race garnered national interest after Moore upset Luther Strange in the primary in September. Moore was backed by former top White House adviser Steve Bannon. Strange was the choice of the Republican establishment in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made the race in Alabama a top priority. The Senate Leadership Fund, run by close allies of McConnell, poured $10 million into the effort to defeat Moore and promote Strange. Bannon was successful in painting the race as a battle between the establishment and grassroots Republicans heading into the 2018 midterm elections. Bannon had previously vowed to support primary challengers to every incumbent Republican senator running for reelection. The special election in Alabama was seen as the first battle in the war that Bannon pledged to wage against establishment Republicans for failing to, as he saw it, adequately support President Trumps agenda during his first year in office. McConnell and other Senate Republicans had vowed to subject Moore to an ethics investigation should he have won the seat. A move that McConnell expressed confidence would still take place as recently as this afternoon. The latest updates and spoilers for "Avengers: Infinity War" reveal that Thor Odinson's adopted brother, Loki, will join Thanos and the Black Order in the movie. Brazilian news website Omelete tweeted that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed the long-rumored theory during the CCXP event adding more stake and complications to the story. Feige also revealed that future "Avengers" movies will take place in space after the events of Phase 3 and it will give the studio a chance to tell more enriching stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige confirma que Loki sera um aliado de Thanos em Vingadores: Guerra Infinita #CCXP17 omelete (@omelete) December 9, 2017 Loki's betrayal Kevin Feige confirmed during Marvel's panel at CCXP that Loki will betray his brother once again to save his own skin by aligning himself with Thanos and his forces. It seems that Loki gives him the Tesseract as a bargaining chip to spare his life, while other comic book fans speculated that the trickster god "pretended" to join Mad Titan to save Thor and the Asgardians from death. Thanos has obtained both the Tesseract and the Power Stone in the "Avengers: Infinity War" trailer and he sets his sights on the earth to retrieve the Mind, Time, and Soul Stones. The Black Order will hunt down Doctor Stephen Strange and Vision, while an army of Outriders will invade the African nation of Wakanda for the Soul Stone. Captain America and Iron Man must put aside their differences to unite the Earth's mightiest heroes and stop the Mad Titan's quest to complete the Infinity Stones and reshape the universe to his twisted vision. The Guardians of the Galaxy will also join the fight and comic book fans are excited to see several unlikely team-ups from both factions. There is also a speculation that Bruce Banner will fight his monstrous side for control of his body during the events of the movie. Avengers in space Feige also announced that future "Avengers" storylines will take place in outer space as part their plans for Phase 4 in the MCU. "If the Avengers survive, we will see more films with them in space," Feige said. "I love and would like to see more films in space." "The Guardians of the Galaxy" films have opened the doors for Marvel to explore the unknown regions of space and upcoming projects such as "Captain Marvel," "Infinity War," and the fourth "Avengers" film will feature more outer space adventures. The fifth season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." will also take place in space, but the events of the show will not be connected to the MCU films. "Days of our Lives" spoilers reveal that Sami Brady is set to leave Salem yet again this week, and fans are more than bummed to have to say goodbye to actress Alison Sweeney for the third time in the past few years. Although it's always nice to have Sami back, seeing the beloved bad girl leave the show is always rough for longtime fans. However, there is always a chance that Sami will return to Salem, and the next time she arrives home it could be to execute one of her biggest storylines yet. Sami may return with a big storyline in the future According to the latest "Days of our Lives" spoilers and news, Sami Brady will say a heartbreaking goodbye to her loved ones, including her mother Marlena, twin brother Eric, her ex-husbands Rafe and Lucas, and even her newly found son, Will Horton. Sami has to leave Salem and return to be with her other three children, Johnny, Allie, and Sidney for the holiday season, but Alison Sweeney seems to always be up for a quick return to Salem in the future. If and when Sami ever does come back to the show there are a few loose ends that she could tie up, which could end up being huge storylines for the NBC soap opera. Is EJ still alive? The first possible storyline involves Sami's late husband, EJ DiMera. As "Days Of Our Lives" viewers know, EJ is likely still alive. There are so many signs pointing to EJ being out there somewhere, including the resurrection shot that Kristen seemed to give him after his death, hinting that his family may have faked his death, and of course, Kristen's big reveal while in Memphis. If EJ DiMera were to return to Salem, Sami would have to be part of the storyline. The couple were a huge favorite among fans, and viewers have been hoping for an "EJami" reunion since EJ's death back in 2014. However, that's not the only reason why Sami Brady could show up in Salem in the future. Possible baby bomshell Recently, Sami and her ex-husband, Rafe Hernandez, had a steamy one night stand after Rafe and his fiance, Hope Brady, got into a big blowout fight, in which Hope gave Rafe his engagement ring back. Rafe and Sami were both in a bad place that night and turned to one another for comfort. While they promised to keep quiet about their night of passion in order to preserve Rafe's relationship with Hope, there is always a chance that Sami may have gotten pregnant during the encounter. If so, she could return to Salem at anytime with a Hernandez baby bombshell for "Days of our Lives" fans to gossip about. "Teen Mom 2" star Javi Marroquin is being deployed with the Air Force yet again. The MTV reality star has previously been deployed overseas, and fans of the show will remember that after he left his home state of Delaware for work the real trouble in his marriage with Kailyn Lowry began. Javi to say goodbye to Lincoln and Briana This will mark the second time in two years that Javi Marroquin has been deployed, and the "Teen Mom 2" dad is revealing that he wasn't expecting this deployment at all. Javi revealed in a new interview that he is busy now trying to "put everything together" before he is shipped out. In addition, Marroquin says that his girlfriend and "TM2" co-star, Briana DeJesus is what is keeping him going at this point. Javi and Briana went public with their romance earlier this year and their relationship seemingly got seriously quickly. The pair, who were friends for years before they started dating, have been spending the weekends together and working on their long distance relationship. Javi, who lives in Delaware, says that Briana, who hails from Florida, has been his rock during this difficult time, and that he will be spending a lot of time with his son, Lincoln, before he leaves. Javi's strained relationship with Kailyn As many "Teen Mom 2" fans know, Javi Marroquin's first deployment led to the end of his marriage with Kailyn Lowry. The couple, who were said to be on the rocks before he left, went from bad to worse while Javi was gone. Kailyn seemingly learned what it was like to live without Javi in her everyday life, and she enjoyed it. The couple decided that they would divorce while Marroquin was away, and when he returned home from deployment their relationship really turned sour. Javi accused Kailyn of cheating on him while he was gone. Marroquin revealed that he wanted to save his marriage to Lowry when he returned, but it was too late. Kail didn't want to be with him any longer, and soon after, she announced that she was pregnant with her third child, and later revealed that her former fling, Chris Lopez, was the father of the baby. Baby on the way? Kailyn Lowry gave birth to baby boy, Lux Russell, in August, and began to work on her co-parenting relationship with Javi Marroquin. The "Teen Mom 2" star seemed to be on good terms, and even announced that they would be releasing a book together, that is until Javi began dating Briana DeJesus. Kail was seemingly annoyed that her ex-husband was dating her MTV co-star, and now rumors that Briana may be pregnant have hit the internet. Recenty, Briana spoke out about the rumors, stating that she is not pregnant with Javi's baby, at least "not yet." Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. HA NOI Against global recession and financial crisis, Viet Nams retail industry has cemented its position in the economy as an effective bridge between producers and consumers, actively orienting buyers towards domestic products. Remarks from the Vietnam Retail Forum (VRF) yesterday showed that the countrys modern retail industry had come a long way since the Association of Vietnam Retailers (AVR)s establishment a decade ago. In 10 years as a World Trade Organisation member, Viet Nams retail sector braved many challenges on the domestic market that the AVR considered insurmountable without enterprises determination to implement the Governments action plan, said inh Thi My Loan, AVR president. Pham inh oan, CEO of the Phu Thai Group, spoke on the national retail and distribution system at the forum, including challenges and solutions under the influence of global economic integration and foreign competition. oan said Viet Nam certainly had a potential retail market, but local enterprises had not utilised all the possibilities, especially in finding common ground between producers and distributors. The sector had much to do, from improving human resources to expanding retail activities on the international market. Development and planning strategies for domestic supermarket chains and smaller scaled convenience stores had been largely spontaneous, said oan, as he urged corresponding State agencies to formulate specific policies and financial incentives in helping Vietnamese enterprises construct an organised national retail network. On another note, Nguyen Ky Minh, Deputy Director of the e-commerce Development Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, presented a rather optimistic overview of e-commerce and online retailing in a digital economy. He said that by 2020, the national E-commerce sector would strive to reach US$10 billion in sales and account for 5 per cent of the countrys total retail sales. This followed Decision 1563 by the Prime Minister. This showed the Governments major goal for developing e-commerce potential and drawing firms investment and active participation to this field, he added. Regarding consumer trends, ang Thuy Ha, director of Consumer Behaviour Research at Nielsen Vietnam Company, said that the future of Viet Nams retail industry lay in coping with technological trends, such as electronic payments, in the wake of the 4.0 industrial revolution and make use of them. Melina Lee, South-East Asias Head of Growth at Workplace by Facebook, suggested the use of social media platforms to optimise business capacity for retail distributors. She recommended Vietnamese sellers to take notice of the 2016 collaborative platform Workplace by Facebook, which allowed enterprises to connect, communicate and collaborate with ease and professionalism on the basis of social network. Statistics from the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam showed that the countrys retail market had grown rapidly from $70 billion in 2010 to $158 billion in 2017, accounting for about 25 per cent of the total consumption market. It was expected to reach $180 billion by 2020. Yesterdays event attracted more than 200 participants, including representatives from big names in the countrys retail distribution sector, such as Kangaroo Group Jsc, Big C, Mega Market, state management agencies, industry associations, and economic experts. VNS HA NOI GE Healthcare, the $18 billion healthcare arm of General Electric (GE), has just signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Vinmec Healthcare System (under Vingroup). The signing ceremony took place yesterday in Ha Noi with the aim of promoting the application of science and technology, optimising infrastructure as well as improving healthcare capacity tied to international best practices. Vinmec will increase its presence to 10 hospitals by 2020, including opening the Vinmec University of Health Sciences (VUHS) in 2019. To that end, the partnership between Vinmec and GE Healthcare will play a role in growing Viet Nams next generation of clinicians and establishing the teaching hospital as the standard for medical education. In terms of technology, GE Healthcare is committed to continuously providing innovative medical equipment for imaging, nuclear medicine, ultrasound systems and anesthesia solutions to help Vinmec promote and optimise healthcare outcomes. The capacity building programmes between the two sides will focus on cardiology and oncology, creating a solid foundation for Vinmec to lead in its key areas. Accordingly, GE Healthcare will play a significant role in nurturing a new generation of clinicians at VUHS, helping VUHS to become the standard for medical education in Viet Nam. Terri Bresenham, CEO of GE Healthcare in South Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia, said her company had a long history of collaboration with Vinmec and would continue to support its future development. Medical education and capacity building are vitally important to a sustainable healthcare system and will have a long-term impact on healthcare access and quality for generations to come, she said. VNS HA NOI Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc pledged the Government would continue to improve the business climate for the private sector to thrive, stressing their critical role in national growth. Speaking at the Viet Nam Business Forum (VBF) in Ha Noi on Tuesday, Phuc said that it was the business community who would shape the Vietnamese economy in the coming decades. They are an important driving force to realise the countrys aspirations for prosperity, according to the Prime Minister. The business community contributed to boosting Viet Nam s gross domestic product (GDP) from US$27 billion in 1997 to an estimated $220 billion this year, Phuc said, adding that the country planned to reach a GDP of $300 billion in 2020. Phuc said he had high hopes for a new generation of businesses and entrepreneurs. He acknowledged that most Vietnamese businesses still operated on a small scale. How to enable Vietnamese firms to grow to international reach has been a top concern of the Government, he said. Phuc urged businesses to strive to improve their competitiveness by enhancing their corporate governance and applying modern technologies. He added that the Government always encourages fair competition among firms. "Capital- and labour- intensive production models are no longer appropriate in an era of rapid technological growth and international integration. Instead, the knowledge-based model prevails, requiring Vietnamese firms to adapt," Phuc said. Phuc welcomed investors to do business in Viet Nam but stressed that the country would strictly punish those violating laws, especially those who bring environment pollution, negative impacts on the countrys traditional cultural and social values and labour abuse. Phuc said that the Government would give priority to investments in infrastructure, stabilising the macro-economy and improving the transparency and efficiency of institutions to ensure social advancement the key to promoting economic growth and an expansion of the middle class. Proposals A number of proposals were raised at the VBF yesterday to enhance productivity, improve the business climate and promote the development of the private sector. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that businesses were still struggling with a number of difficulties in administrative procedures, wage increases outpacing productivity growth and burdensome fees. Viet Nam should hasten the efforts to cut business prerequisites, reform the procedure of specialised checks during import and export and reduce costs for businesses, Loc said. According to Ryu Hang Ha, Chairman of Korea Chamber of Commerce (KoCham) in Viet Nam , the Government should increase funding for research and development (R&D) of small- and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups as well as develop policies to encourage their investments in R&D. KoCham also proposed clearer regulations regarding social insurance for foreign employees and minimum capital for foreign-invested companies. According to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), a number of investment opportunities were not realized due to problems relating to a lack of transparency and complicated licensing procedures. Natasha Ansell, Chairwoman of Amcham, stressed that Viet Nam should attract private investment for major projects to help improve the overall financial situation of the country. She said that it was urgent for the country to attract private investment in the power sector, which could amount to billions of dollars if the Government had appropriate policies. In addition, Viet Nam needed to modernise the transportation sector to catch up with rapid technological growth. Hiroshi Karrashima, Chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the lack of transparency in administrative management would undermine the attractiveness of Viet Nam to investors. We hope the Vietnamese Government will have stronger measures to tackle this issue, he said. Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Tri Dung said that the market expansion from the signing of free trade agreements and approach to industry 4.0 technologies would bring opportunities for Viet Nam to engage in the global value chain and speed up the process of industrialisation and modernisation. Viet Nam would continue to review regulations to minimise barriers to businesses and eliminate any discrimination between firms, Dung said, adding that firms should also be proactive in enhancing their competitiveness. VBF, since 1997, has served as a regular and high-level channel of communication between the business community and the Vietnamese Government, initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank Group. - VNS HA NOI The European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP) has helped Viet Nam further integrate into the global and regional trading systems while promoting Viet Nam-EU trade and investment relations. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong made this statement at the closing ceremony of the project in Ha Noi on Tuesday. Lauding contributions of the project, he expressed his belief that a new phase of co-operation would be open for both sides with numerous projects to fully tap benefits of the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Bui Huy Son, director of the EU-MUTRAP Management Board, said that after five years of implementation, the project had fulfilled all of its set plans with 130 technical support activities, 74 reports and research documents, and 300 seminars and training courses in 31 cities and provinces. Through the EU-MUTRAPs six sub-projects, support of the European Union (EU) reached handicraft small and medium enterprises, helping them develop brand names and sustainable designs as well as improve their business results. The project also worked to branch out the support industry, enhance capacity for the leather shoe sector and build a value chain for Long An and Binh Thuans dragon fruits. Unlike previous projects backed by the EU, EU-MUTRAP endorsed improvements in investment, environment and labour policies and shifted from supporting negotiations of international trade deals to supporting the implementation of international trade commitments. Specific support activities were provided for Vietnamese seafood, garment, leather shoes, coffee and cocoa, Son added. Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the delegation of the European Union to Viet Nam, said that bilateral trade between Viet Nam and the EU had increased significantly after the EVFTA took effect. Thanks to EU-MUTRAP, Vietnamese exporters were updated to the latest market information and knowledge about food safety for fruit, vegetable, seafood and honey. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, who is head of the Government negotiation team for the EVFTA, said owing to the proactive involvement of the ministry, the co-ordination of European Union Delegation to Viet Nam, the partners and the efforts of the project management unit, the EU-MUTRAP had put superb finishing touches to the MUTRAP canvas, setting the standard for an effective co-operation between Viet Nam and the EU. The EU-MUTRAP was officially launched at the end of 2012, funded by the EU and implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. After more than five years of implementation, the EU-MUTRAP has successfully accomplished its assigned missions, implemented almost 130 technical assistance activities, publishing 74 reports and research as well as organising nearly 300 workshops and training courses in 31 provinces and cities with the participation of more than 23,700 people. The projects website welcomed over 15 million visits and 100,000 download of materials. It also provided IT office devices and development of application software to 20 departments under ministries, agencies and universities. VNS HA NOI The General Department of Customs (GDC) on Tuesday signed a co-operation agreement with six commercial banks to implement a 24/7 e-tax payment scheme. The five local banks are Sacombank, VPBank, HDBank, LienvietpostBank, SCB and the foreign bank is Mizuho Bank Ltd. The e-tax payment through the six banks will be implemented from December 15. Speaking at the signing ceremony, GDCs Deputy General Director Nguyen Duong Thai said the customs sector was required to upgrade its e-payment portal for the purpose of administrative reform. The e-tax payment would facilitate tax payment anywhere, anytime, reduce time and ensure immediate goods clearance. The customs authority will directly support enterprises to make payment documents from the original data and minimise errors in money transfer procedures. This could help shorten time to complete customs procedures for import-export activities to the average level of ASEAN-4 countries following the Governments instructions. Enterprises can access the website https://epayment.customs.gov.vn/epaymentportal/login to pay tax. Firms only need certificate authority (CA) to transfer money and authorise banks to pay taxes through their accounts without fees. Banks participating in e-tax payment are required to upgrade their e-payment portal. Previously, the e-tax payment agreement was signed with five banks Vietcombank, VietinBank, BIDV, MB and Techcombank on October 23. So far, about 1,500 successful transactions have been processed through the website with a tax payment of VN200 billion (US$8.8 million). VNS BURSA, Turkey Two Vietnamese photographers, Than Nguyen from the central city of a Nang and o Thanh Nhan from southern province of Tay Ninh, picked up awards at the 13th Orhan Holding International Photography Contest last Saturday, December 9. The contest was sponsored by FIAP (Federation Internationale de lArt Photographique, the International Federation of Photographic Art) and Photographic Arts Federation of Turkey (TFSF), and was held in the city of Bursa, in Turkey. Hot stuff: Fire For Turning Steam Engine, photo by o Thanh Nhan. Photo Courtesy of Orhan Holding International Photography Contes Nguyen won the Orhan Holding Mention Award with his photo titled Hug Grandfather in the monochrome photography category, and the FIAP Silver Award with Dependency No4 in the colour category; while Nhan won an Orhan Holding Mention Award with Fire For Turning Steam Engine in the colour category. At the ceremony, a representative of the Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey received campaign medals on behalf of the two photographers due to their absence. Old age: Hug Grandfather, photo by Than Nguyen. Photo Courtesy of Orhan Holding International Photography Contest This years contest attracted over 700 photographers from 70 countries around the world with 6,000 photos in various categories. After many rounds, 57 photos from India, Russia, Hungary, South Korea, Ukraine, mainland China, Turkey, England, Spain, Viet Nam and Malaysia have been displayed and exhibited by the organising board. Orhan Holding International Photography Contest is a prestigious international photography competition in Turkey, organised for the 13th time this year as part of the countrys cultural and artistic promotion activities. VNS NEW YORK The Go-Gos, the pioneering all-woman rock band, are heading to Broadway, with an assist by Gwyneth Paltrow. The Hollywood star was announced on Tuesday as a producer for Head Over Heels, an upcoming musical that will trace the story of the rockers known for infectious pop-rock songs such as Vacation. "If you told us 30 years ago that our songs were going to be in a musical, wed have said, Of course theyll be on Broadway! None of us would have really believed it, though," The Go-Gos said in a statement. The Curran Theatre in San Francisco announced on Tuesday that Head Over Heels would premiere there on April 24 before heading to New York, with the Broadway details not yet revealed. A statement described the musical on The Go-Gos as "a tantalising odyssey wrought with mistaken identities, jealous lovers, romance and scandal". It marks the first production on Broadway for the Shakespeare in Love actress. The musical will be directed by Michael Mayer, the force behind rock musicals such as Green Days American Idiot and Spring Awakening. The New York Post, quoting unnamed sources, reported earlier this year that Paltrow refused an offer to invest in Head Over Heels from Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who soon afterward was disgraced by wide accusations of sexual abuse. The Go-Gos are one of the most successful all-women bands in a rock scene dominated by men. They emerged in Los Angeles in the 1970s, around the time Paltrow was growing up in the city. Go-Gos frontwoman Belinda Carlisle went on to a successful solo career with hits such as Mad About You and Heaven Is a Place on Earth. AFP Hoang Ngoc Giao. Photo tuoitre.vn Dr Hoang Ngoc Giao, director of the Institute for Policy, Law and Development Studies, tells Tuoi Tre (Youth) that the parliament owes the public a law on public private partnership and needs to repay its debt soon. Following the chaotic situation at the Cai Lay BOT toll booth, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered the temporary suspension of toll collection for all vehicles passing the station so that the Transport Ministry and other concerned agencies can decide on the appropriate fees to be collected there. Do you think a satisfactory solution can be found? In my opinion, the difficulty lies in the political will of the concerned authorities, not in legal or technical solutions. Why do I say so? Because, in a project with multiple interests and impacts on various parties, even the Prime Minister cant come up with a final decision off hand. However, we can find a workable solution. For the Cai Lay BOT project, we have to analyse all aspects. If the toll booth has been built on the wrong location by the investor it should be moved and the investor would be legally responsible. If a Ministry of Transport official is responsible, she/he must take the blame. If the booth is wrongly located but there has been no legal violation, the Government can step in and use the State Budget funds to take remedial measures. However, an independent study must be conducted by a group of experts before a solution is applied. The experts can come up with a proposal on how to solve the problem. We organised a seminar on the topic recently and some participants asked a question: Does the BOT policy come from the Government or the Transport Ministry? If it is the latter, we need to look at the problem carefully and see if decisions have been influenced by certain interest groups or not. In short, we need a system for reviewing and approving BOT projects right from the planning stage through its financing and implementation stages. In reality, it is not easy to kill a BOT toll gate as it is an economic contract. As Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said: Things sometimes are totally in line with the law, but they do not work in real life and not enjoy support from the general public. In such a case, we have to look at the issue carefully and make adjustments. The National Assembly Standing Committee last August discussed a supervision report on the implementation of BOT transport projects. In October, the committee issued a resolution. Can you comment on these two documents? In my opinion, in the context of some serious problems arising from BOT transportation projects, the NA Standing Committees supervision report and resolution have pointed out weaknesses and limitations and come up with some key principles and solutions, particularly the demand to put an end to the activity of consolidating the surface of old asphalted roads and not to have BOT investment for a road that offers the only access to a locality. However, in my opinion, the October Resolution is not a far-reaching solution. We need important principles that will govern future BOT projects to make them safe and sound. Some people have raised concerns that many BOT projects have been built on a weak legal foundation. Thats why the border line between right and wrong is very thin. In other words, a BOT project should cover various legal perspectives coming from the Civil Code, the Law on Tender, the Law on Protecting Consumers and other relevant regulations. Why are so many BOT stations getting into problems in terms of the public response to them? Why were these problems not foreseen? People are indignant that several BOT stations have been built in their localities without consulting them. I dont know whether the National Assembly deputies from Tien Giang Province and the Provincial Peoples Council consulted the local people before taking decisions regarding the Cai Lay BOT project, including the toll station. It is well regulated in the law that people who are going to be affected by projects have to be consulted and informed first before a decision is taken. Do you think what has happened with the Cai Lay project will deter potential investors from future BOT projects? No, I dont think so. I think many investors are willing to invest in BOT projects if there is transparency and accountability about all steps and requirements. I also think the financial requirement in a BOT project tender should be increased, i.e., those bidding for a project contract should have a charter capital that is between 30-50 per cent of the total project cost, instead of the current 10 per cent. This is the only way we can attract capable investors for BOT projects, particularly foreign investors. Besides, we should also diversify the forms of investment, even raising funds through the stock exchange. This is already done in many countries. BOT projects have been carried out in our country for almost two decades. Dont you think that it is time for Viet Nam to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of these before including it in the Law on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)? In my opinion, the National Assembly owes the people a law on public-private partnership. And I want it to pay off this debt sooner rather than later. Im pretty sure that when we have a good legal foundation, Viet Nam will have many investors willing to participate in BOT projects. VNS HA NOI The National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) yesterday passed a resolution on allocating additional funds to buy rice and add to the national reserve. A vote was taken on the resolution after discussing the Governments proposal to shore up rice reserves. In the morning session, the deputies heard a Government report on the proposal delivered by deputy Minister of Finance, inh Tien Dung. According to the report, from April 1, 2016, to June 6, 2017, the Prime Minister asked the Finance Ministry to take 58,885 tonnes of rice from the national reserves for distribution as relief to people in natural disaster-prone regions, as gifts to poor people on the Tet holiday (Lunar New Year), and to supply to poor farming households in between crops. The value of rice thus distributed was VN553 billion (US$24.3 million). The Government proposed that the NASC approves the provision of VN553 billion from national reserves budget 2017, to buy more rice and supplement the national reserves. Delivering the evaluation report on the governments proposal, the NA Finance and Budget Commitee Chairman, Nguyen uc Hai, said that in the context of unforeseen natural calamities, providing rice to people in affected areas was an essential task in accordance with regulations in the Law on National Reserve. To ensure implementation of this strategic task and develop national rice reserves as per the law, the additional money to buy rice was necessary, Hai said. The deputies were also scheduled to discuss and comment on financial assistance for irrigation products and services, but it did not happen because the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, could not be present. VNS HA NOI The national watchdog has made notable improvements in its work, but the problems of overlapping, delays and corruption persist, the head of the Government Inspectorate, Le Minh Khai, has acknowledged. Khais admission at a meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday to review six and three years of implementing respectively the 2010 Law on Inspection and the 2013 Law on Reception of Citizens. According to the head of the Government Inspectorate, comprehensive inspections have been conducted in all areas lying within State management, with a focus on problematic and controversial cases that received extensive public attention. These efforts have helped reinforce rule of law and ensure social and legal order, he added. His office, together with provinces and ministries, has been committed to directing quick settlements of complaints and denunciations, with due attention paid to long-standing ones. However, the Government Inspectorate has found numerous cases that continue to pose potential threats to social order and political stability, especially with religious and political elements, the meeting heard. Chairing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh lauded the achievements made in the implementation of the two laws, but urged timely adjustments and solutions to address weaknesses and limitations, meeting the peoples expectations and State managements demands. The Deputy PM asked ministries and localities to strictly follow through on the central-level guidelines and plans, abide by Prime Ministers orders in improving inspection works of enterprises, and ensure that every step of the inspections and drawing of conclusions is done transparently, objectively, with clarity on the scale of violation and damages caused. Deputy PM Binh also stressed the need for follow-up inspections to see whether the violators have corrected themselves after inspection verdicts are handed down. He said this would "ensure that the inspection results are meaningful and are making positive changes". On citizen receptions (meetings organised to receive complaints, petitions and denunciations from the public), Binh said these should be frequent and regular and abide by relevant rules. Ministers, head of ministerial-level agencies, chairpersons of provincial Peoples Committees, and directors of State agencies should also make time to meet the public, to directly engage and converse with citizens, and hear their concerns and expectations, Binh added. VNS Le Quang Thung former president of the VRGs members council. Photo dantri.com.vn HA NOI Ministry of Public Securitys Police Investigation Agency yesterday issued a decision launching criminal proceedings against five former officials of the Viet Nam Rubber Group (VRG) accused of deliberately violating State rules on economic management resulting in serious consequences. The five accused are Le Quang Thung former president of the VRGs members council, Nguyen Thanh Chau and Nguyen Van Minh former director and chief accountant of the ong Nai Rubber Company, Nguyen Hong Phu and Hoang Van Son former director and chief accountant of the Phu Rieng Rubber Company. The criminal proceedings included a search warrant and legal preventive measures needed to be taken against the five accused, following a decision issued on December 6 by the ministrys investigative police and investigations conducted on the case in accordance with Article 165 of the Criminal Code. Police said they were expanding the investigation of the case. VNS VIENTIANE Work began on the construction of a high school, a gift from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong, in Laos Bolikhamsai Province on Wednesday. To be built at a cost of VN30 billion (US$1.32 million), the Sithanaxay school project spans 2,126sq.m. It consists of a four-storey building designed to accommodate eight classrooms, two laboratories and a convention room. The school will be completed in late August 2018, prior to the local 2018-19 school year. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Nguyen Huy Tang, deputy head of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations, said the move reflects Viet Nam - Laos traditional ties, as well as their leaders attention to human resources training. He stressed it is a major project in celebration of Viet Nam Laos friendship year 2017, which marks 55 years of bilateral relations and 40 years of the signing of the countries Treaty on Amity and Cooperation. He asked the project management board under the Office of the Party Central Committee and the Company of Economic Co-operation of Viet Nam to co-ordinate to ensure the quality and safety of the project. Bolikhamsai Provinces deputy governor Bounma Bouchaleuan noted that the school will help the local educational system meet development demands. VNS The Government will spend VN2.269 trillion (US$100 million) over the next two years on buying five active substances and 22 types of drugs for public hospitals and healthcare centres. Photo soha.vn HA NOI The Government will spend VN2.269 trillion (US$100 million) over the next two years on buying five active substances and 22 types of drugs for public hospitals and healthcare centres. This was the main result of the first ever national centralised bidding for procurement of medicines held on Monday. Of the 22 drugs, five are specialised drugs and the remaining 17 are generic ones. Health Ministry officials said the bidding helped save over VN477 billion ($21 million) for the State Budget. Under the earlier decentralised procurement process, the ministry estimates the pharmaceutical products would have cost about VN2.746 trillion ($121 million). Deputy Health Minister Pham Le Tuan said that when the bids were organised separately by localities, hospitals or healthcare centres, the costs of a drug differed greatly, and were also likely to be more expensive. The centralised bidding process would have the added advantage of making it easier to manage the supply, cost and quality of drugs, Tuan said. Deputy General Director of Viet Nam Social Security, Pham Luong Son, said that the centralised bidding was expected to be an effective way to ensure supply of proper medicines to patients at reasonable costs as well as increase efficiency of using health insurance funds for medical check-ups and treatment. The Health Ministry had announced in March, 2017 the establishment of the National Centralised Drug Procurement Centre (NCDPC) to handle shortcomings in the then prevalent bidding process and drug price management in the country. The centre, functioning under the Health Ministry, will assume responsibility of organising bids for procuring pharmaceutical products compiled after collecting requirements from public hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide. The centre will also negotiate prices for drugs on the list in accordance with the law. Bids for drugs outside the list of centralised bidding will be conducted at all three levels central, provincial and lower-level State-run facilities under the management of the new centre. Officials say this will contribute to effective utilisation of health insurance funds for medical check-ups and treatment, enhance fund balancing capability and ensure the rights of patients with health insurance. According to Viet Nam Social Security, in 2015, the expenditure on medicines was VN26 trillion, accounting for 48.3 per cent of the health insurance fund. Deputy director of the Ha Noi Health Department, Tran Van Trung, said that they had organised a local centralised drug bidding procurement for the first time. He said difficulties remained relating to the four different lists of drugs, given that the process was different, with some being handled by the Health Ministry and Viet Nam Social Security, and others by localities or healthcare centres with their own lists. Trung said that for each list, bidding organisers would sign contracts with winning bidders and the contract terms were different, causing difficulties for hospitals in receiving and paying for the medicines. VNS Livestock farmers should join production links with co-operatives as well as processing and trading enterprises to sustain their livelihoods, experts said at a conference in Ha Noi yesterday. Photo danviet.vn HA NOI Livestock farmers should join production links with co-operatives as well as processing and trading enterprises to sustain their livelihoods, experts said at a conference in Ha Noi yesterday. The conference, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), sought measures to enhance production and consumption linkages in the livestock industry. Deputy head of the ministrys Department of Livestock Production, Nguyen Xuan Duong, said the concerted efforts made earlier this year to save the pigs as the prices of live pigs dropped to a record lows can only be a temporary measure. The falling prices were chiefly attributed to weak production organisation of farmers, particularly in linking their production with the market, he said. Farmers were still basing their production on personal perceptions and not knowledge of supply-demand factors. Seeing an increase in pork prices, many farmers flocked to raising pigs, leading to oversupply and falling prices, he said. This will be repeated if farmers do not join production links between themselves, co-operatives and enterprises. And not only pigs, but farmers could suffer losses with other produce such as cattle and chicken, he said. Establishing linkages would help farmers improve disease prevention, hygiene and food safety, establish product origins, identify shortcomings in the whole production process and, most importantly, deal better with supply and demand issues, Duong added. Vinod Ahuja, a policy expert from FAO in the Asia-Pacific region, said the pig crisis had great impacts on small-scale households. How to protect farmers from market shocks was a tough question, he said. Ahuja suggested specific regulations be issued on contracts and polices to protect farmers in cases of difficulties in the market. Farmers should have opportunities to join the process of information supply and decision making, he said. Duong of MARD said policies were needed to ensure benefits of all participants in the production links. At present, farmers often suffered losses while enterprises were always on the safe side, he noted. Other speakers noted at the conference that many production links had gained high economic efficiency, like those established by the Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) and TH True Milk Corporation. These models helped many farmers become rich, they said. Hoang Quang Vu, an expert with the Institute of Policy and Agricultural and Rural Development Strategy, said the institute had studied the efficiency of a number of production links in Viet Nam for many years. The Tan Thong Hoi Co-operative in HCM City, for example, bought milk products from its members at a higher price than what farmers got from intermediaries. The co-operative then sold milk products to dairy firms. "This link helps reduce risks for farmers," Vu said. However, such models were still limited and the linkages between farmers, co-operatives and enterprises remained low in the country, he added. VNS HA NOI Only nine out of 25 provinces in the northern region have developed a green-growth strategy. Another two provinces are in the process of approving the innovations. This was announced by Le uc Chung, a senior expert in the Ministry of Planning and Investment at a conference this week to review mid-term implementation of the national green growth strategy for 2014-2020 (VGG), which embraces three pillars - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, "greening" production, and adopting "green" lifestyles and consumption. According to Chungs study, most of the provincial strategies are self-funded, or have no support from foreign partners specialising in this areas (USAID, UNDP, etc.) or the planning ministry. Therefore, they lack essential components, such as a greenhouse-gas inventory and a MACC (marginal abatement cost curve) a way to illustrate low-carbon alternatives to business-as-usual economics. In Viet Nam, a developing country, plenty of cheap and readily available fuel is needed to the economy expanding at 6-7 per cent a year, but green growth has not been prioritised in development plans. However, the rising intensity of natural disasters and growing environmental pollution resulting from haphazard short-term economic gains is now making the "green growth" concept more popular. Ha Noi, with its large population and dense traffic, is also aiming towards a green development model. The capital city has already adopted the national green-growth strategy, however, its own action plan will not be released until 2018. City authorities noted several challenges in developing an action plan, including lack of central-level guidelines for green-growth development, a budget, lack of ways to implement monitoring, and difficulties in assessing separate emissions for each sector and industry. Dr Nguyen Thi Diem Hang, from Ha Nois Institute for Socio-economic development, added that it was difficult to convince stakeholders in the process, including the private sector, that green-development scenarios would benefit business. She urged the Government to introduce legally binding requirements for localities instead of general guidelines and continue to provide help from both international partners and domestic agencies to provinces in crafting models tailored to their situation. From another perspective, the northern port city of Hai Phong has already built an action plan with the support of Japans Kitakyushu city and OECD. It is focused more on curbing pollution and emissions from the mining sector, promoting cleaner traffic and sustainable eco-tourism. Pham Van Thanh, vice-chairman of Hai Phong Peoples Committee, said that the city aimed to reduce emissions by 10 per cent by 2020 and by 25 per cent by 2030 compared to 2010. One of the most pressing issues is the current top-down paradigm. This means that several goals and solution groups on energy saving, renewable energy, environment protection, and technology application have been introduced by the Government without input from businesses. However, its the businesses who must directly implement the goals. Le uc Chung said this needed to be changed by starting with 1,000 "critical" businesses - large, important ones that are also heavy polluters in the list of commerce ministry, in addition to spearheading businesses in each locality. Private involvement Other experts said the public budget could only afford to cover 30 per cent of expenditure for green growth in the 2016-20 period, and it was essential that the remaining must be borne by the private sector. The public fund can and should serve only as a catalyst, creating favourable conditions for private investment, Pham Hoang Mai, head of the science, education, natural resources and environment department, under the Ministry for Planning and Investment. According to the Government, based on MACC, towards 2020, Viet Nam needed at least US$31 billion in investment for green growth in several polluting industries, except agriculture. As Viet Nam ratified the Paris agreement on climate change in 2016, the country needs to honour its commitment to cutback on greenhouse-gas emissions, which would require about $21 billion. However, public investment allocation (sourced from both State budget and ODA) for green growth in the 2016-2020 period only reached VN2 trillion ($10 billion, adjustable to $10.7 billion), or around 30 per cent of the needed amount. Yet, despite a fairly comprehensive system of policies and institutions to call for private sector investment and enthusiasm, many challenges stand in the way. Inertia in decision-making level, the limited number of start-ups in green energy, difficulties in accessing international green-development funds, and short-term vision over long-term ones are persistent problems. A representative of the Viet Nam Steel Association called for "competent" consultancies that can deal with legal, technical, and financial issues on project proposals to foreign funds. He also complained of obstacles in accessing international funds, which had to be done via intermediary domestic commercial banks, which, as a result, hiked up the original preferential rates One example, according to Chung from MPI, in the south-central provinces where solar potentials were significant, the authorities remained overly cautious on the promotion of this cleaner form of energy. Binh Thuan, for example, in its plan, officially accounts for 850 megawatt (MW), a meagre five per cent of the total output that interested private investors can produce. This means that the "superfluous" output will not be eligible to receive the provinces support and incentives. On the other hand, private businesses, despite being aware of the benefits of green growth, remain reluctant to place their investments in what, in their eyes, are risky and potentially disrupting changes. Chung cited the case of offshore fishing companies hesitating to switch to LED lighting despite studies pointing out that such move could save $100 million a year. The planning ministry said it wanted the National Assembly to be more persistent in asking Governments agencies to follow through on green-growth tasks and commitments. It also called for tighter implementation of environmental taxes for polluters via carbon taxes, easier-to-access financial support and policies for stakeholders as well as monitoring mechanisms. At the conference, UNDP representatives, Global Green Growth Institute and the German governments international co-operation agency GIZ pledged to help northern provinces devise green-growth models exclusively for their localities. VNS HA NOI Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Ministry of Public Security to examine and prevent the online trading of weapons, which is threatening national security and social security. The Prime Ministers request follows an article published in Nguoi Lao ong (The Labourer) newspaper on November 21, 2017, stating that the trade of weapons online was reaching an alarming rate. Statistics from the General Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security showed that over 9,200 cases involving weapons and explosive materials were reported across the country from 2012 to June 2017, the newspaper said. The sale of weapons had become more explicit and complex, especially on social websites. From July 1 to August 26 this year, nearly 92,500 interactions, including posts, comments, shares and likes related to the sale of arms were recorded. In addition, over 4,500 interactions related to the sale of explosive materials were also detected. According to Colonel o Anh Tuan, deputy director of the High-tech Crime Prevention Department under the Ministry of Public Security, to meet customers demands, account holders would get in touch with smugglers to illegally import several types of guns and support equipment, which cost from dozens to hundreds of millions of Vietnamese ong. Many people even use 3D technology to copy, produce and upgrade guns before putting them up for sale. Colonel Tuan said due to legal obstacles, it was difficult to prevent and handle these crimes. For example, for several types of weapons such as hunting guns and alcoholic guns that are deadly, only administrative penalties can be imposed, instead of prosecution and punishment in accordance with the provisions of Article 233 of the 1999 Penal Code (which was amended and supplemented in 2009) on "illegal fabrication, stockpiling, transportation, use, sale or purchase" or "appropriation of rudimentary weapons and support equipment" crimes. Colonel Vu Thanh Chuong, deputy director of the Hai Phong City Police Department, blamed the punishment, which he said was not severe enough, to the prevalence and complex nature of online weapons trading. VNS HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has asked all ministries, sectors and localities to work harder to fight smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods during the coming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. In the document sent to Government bodies and localities, Binh, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on Prevention and Control of Smuggling, Trade Fraud and Fake Commodities, said cases of smuggling, trade fraud and fake goods were forecast to get more complicated, seriously affecting market stability, health of consumers and social security. As a result, the committee asked all agencies to intensify the fight against such crimes. Police, market watch inspectors and specialised inspection teams have been asked to co-operate closely to control the domestic market, intensify supervision and handle violations related to smuggling, trade fraud, production and trade of fake goods. Inspection teams are responsible for checking business conditions, products origin and labelling to ensure quality standards. Border guards have been asked to instruct all units to co-operate with relevant forces, including public security, coast guard and customs, to detect and handle illegal cross-border goods transportation and trade fraud in border gate areas, canals and rivers, and closely control goods and luggage of passengers at entry or exit via air routes, road and waterway. In particular, sea border soldiers are responsible for strengthening patrol and deterring oil, gas and natural resource smuggling in the northeast and southwest sea areas. The committee estimated that during the first 10 months of this year, as many as 181,000 cases of smuggling, trade fraud and fake commodities were detected, an increase of some 35 per cent compared with the previous year. Total fines amounted to nearly VN19 trillion (US$836 million). VNS HCM CITY Doctors at Thu uc District Hospital in HCM City on Tuesday performed the countrys first open heart surgery at a district-level hospital. The operation was conducted on a 23-year-old man with congenital heart defects. Three years ago, the patient from the south central coastal province of Binh inh was diagnosed with atrial septal defects, a common congenital heart defect that causes shunting of blood between systemic and pulmonary circulation. Recently, his health had deteriorated. The man was admitted to Thu uc District Hospital for examination where a Doppler echocardiography showed that he had secundum atrial septal defects 20x23 millimetres in size as well as tricuspid regurgitation, which is an insufficiency of the tricuspid valve, affecting blood flow from the right ventricle to the right atrium. He also was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. The hospitals doctors consulted doctors at the HCM City Heart Institute, who worked with the Thu uc Hospital doctors to perform the three-hour surgery, which closed the secundum atrial septal defects. The patient is recovering and being monitored at the hospitals Cardiac Intensive Care Department. Thu uc District Hospital has been investing in advanced equipment for a long time, according to Dr Nguyen Minh Quan, the head of the hospital. The hospitals doctors, nurses and other staff were trained at the HCM City Heart Institute for more than four years after the citys Department of Health approved open heart surgery at the hospital, Quan said. VNS HA NOI The AEON 1% Club Foundation, a member of Japanese retail and financial services corporation AEON, granted 60 scholarships to Vietnamese university students at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on Tuesday. Yohsei Honda, Secretary General of the AEON 1% Club Foundation, said the AEON Scholarship is an allowance-based scholarship for university students in various Asian countries and self-financed Asian students studying in Japan. The project, designed to Support the Dreams of Asian Students, was started in 2006 in the hope that recipients will play an active role in the future, connecting their home countries with Japan in their respective specialist fields. In addition to year-round financial support, the project offers opportunities for various study curriculums and volunteer activities aimed at scholarship students studying in Japan, and provides support for students aiming to develop into global talent. In Viet Nam, the "AEON Scholarship" has been awarded to a total of 626 university students, including two universities in Ha Noi since 2012 and two in HCM City since 2011. This year in Ha Noi, students from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Foreign Trade University were honoured to receive the scholarships. At the Scholarship Certificate Granting Ceremony, scholarship students gave speeches on their personal dreams and goals. Honda said the AEON 1% Club Foundation was established in 1989 in Japan, has been operating based on 1 per cent of pre-tax profit donated by the major AEON Group companies, engaging in projects with three main themes of Sound Development of the Next Generation, Promotion of Friendship with Foreign Countries, and Sustainable Development of Regional Communities. A similar scholarship awarding ceremony will take place in HCM City on Wednesday. Since its establishment, the "AEON scholarship" has supported 5,117 students in 35 universities and colleges across Japan, China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Myanmar. VNS PARIS French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Germanys Angela Merkel and five African presidents on Wednesday, hoping to bolster the fledging G5 Sahel force fighting jihadists in an area the size of Europe. Two years in the planning, the force brings together troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in a desert region plagued by extremism where France is currently leading counterterrorism operations. The five countries in the G5 Sahel force are among the poorest in the world, and funding will be high on the agenda at the talks in Celle-Saint-Cloud outside Paris. Officials from oil-rich Saudi Arabia -- which may confirm a US$100 million contribution, according to the French presidency are notably on the guestlist, along with representatives of the United Arab Emirates. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will also attend, as well as officials from the European Union, African Union and United States. The ambitious goal is to have 5,000 troops operational by mid-2018, wrestling back border areas from jihadists -- including a local al-Qaeda affiliate -- who often enjoy tacit local support in the near-absence of state structures. Priority number one is to re-establish law and order in the stretch of desert where the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger converge. Several hundred troops, backed by Frances regional 4,000-strong Barkhane force, took part in the forces first mission in the border zone last month. But speeding up deployment is crucial, a French presidential source said, with Macron having expressed frustration at delays. "The terrorists have scored a number of significant military victories, notably in Niger," a Macron aide said when the president visited west Africa late last month. Militants have mounted repeated attacks in recent months, including an assault in Niger on October 4 which killed four US soldiers, another two weeks later in which 21 Niger troops died and an attack at restaurant in Burkina Faso in August, in which 19 people were killed. Strategic region The G5 force is set to work alongside Barkhane troops and the UNs 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali -- the most dangerous in the world, having lost 90 lives since 2013. The International Crisis Group described the G5 force as being part of European efforts to "bring down the expense of their overseas operations by delegating them partially to their African partners". "The Sahel is politically and economically strategic, especially for France and Germany, both of which view the region as posing a potential threat to their own security and as a source of migration and terrorism," it added in a report. Wednesdays talks are the latest effort by Macron to forge an influential role on the world stage, a day after he hosted an international climate summit. They are designed to lay the groundwork for a summit in February focused on raising funds for the G5 Sahel force which will likely take place in Brussels. The European Union has so far pledged 50 million euros ($59 million) for the force and France another eight million, while each of the African countries is putting forward 10 million euros. The United States, another key donor which is sending representatives to Wednesdays talks, has meanwhile promised each of the Sahel countries bilateral aid of $60 million. But this leaves a serious shortfall, with France hoping to raise at least 250 million euros in the short-term, rising eventually to 400 million euros. The arid Sahel region has become a magnet for Islamic militants since Libya descended into chaos in 2011. In 2012, Qaeda-affiliated jihadists overran the north of neighbouring Mali, including the fabled desert city of Timbuktu. France intervened in 2013 to drive the jihadists back but swathes of central and northern Mali remain wracked by violence, which has spilled over into the region. AFP LOS ANGELES Crews battling wildfires ravaging southern California for a week have managed to slow the spread of the worst of the blazes, officials said on Tuesday, as residents were taking stock of the catastrophic damage. The biggest "Thomas" fire has charred nearly 95,000ha of land and is only 20 per cent contained, according to the state agency Calfire. But in the past day or so, that figure has risen by only a thousand hectares. Evacuation orders were issued for threatened areas in the Santa Barbara region about 160km northwest of Los Angeles. Nearly 6,400 firefighters have been toiling for a week against blazes fueled by bone dry conditions and powerful winds. Winds will blow at up to 65km per hour, forecasters said, as public health authorities urged people to wear face masks to protect against ash and smoke. End of an era Retired pilot Don Thompson, who has an avocado farm in Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara, described the loss of his recently deceased brothers house to the blaze as "the end of an era for our family." "He built this house himself," he said pointing to two smoldering stone chimneys that were all that remained. Half of his familys avocado orchard was destroyed, while thick black smoke persisted on Tuesday, limiting visibility to some 50m. "There was some tears," he continued. Though he was more fortunate to save his own property, thanks partly through his familys own efforts with a water pump and hose, he had been overawed by the "majesty" of the inferno. "Its destruction but its still nature and it had some beauty," he said. Another resident of the area, Ken Coffey, said he would remain at his house on Shepard Mesa Lane. "I may fry but if I have to go, what more honorable way than defending your familys house?" "Thomas" is the fifth biggest fire in Californias history, said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. It is the biggest of six blazes that have been burning since last Monday, with the others now more than 90 per cent contained. Altogether, the fires have burned more than 100,000ha of land and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. Californias Governor Jerry Brown, meanwhile, warned the wildfires ravaging his state should serve as a warning for other parts of the world threatened by climate change. "The important fact is that these fires are going to become a very frequent occurrence, thats what the science is telling us," he said on the sidelines of the One Planet Summit, held in Paris. "Its a real indicator of bad things to come and hopefully will serve to wake up people who right now are too complacent," he added. Experts say that global warming increases the risk of out-of-control blazes by drying out vegetation, making it more inflammable and easily set alight by lightning, spontaneous combustion, or fires lit by humans. AFP ELGIN The Friends of the Elgin Library will host a Cookie and Candy Extravaganza on Saturday. Homemade Christmas treats of all kinds will be available for $5 per pound. People can mix and match favorites in a custom box. Proceeds will go to the Friends for the purchase of new materials for the library. Casino bus trip planned WATERLOO The Waterloo Knights of Columbus Council 700 will sponsor an overnight casino bus trip to Treasure Island in Red Wing, Minn., on Jan. 14 and 15. To sign up or for more information, call Bill, 239-2303, or Bruce, 236-2210. Moose Lodge plans events WASHBURN The Moose Lodge is serving all-you-can eat fish from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. On Sunday, breakfast off the menu is set for 9 a.m. to noon. Ag scholarships deadline Feb. 2 JOHNSTON The Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board will again offer the Iowa Corn Future of Agriculture scholarships to aid in the development of future talent for the Iowa agriculture industry. This year, Iowa Corn will award 16 $1,000 one-year scholarships to students enrolled at an accredited U.S. 2-year or 4-year junior college, college or university, or graduate school, in a program of study to equip them in contributing to Iowas agriculture industry. Scholarships are for one year, and previous winners may reapply. Go to www.iowacorn.org to download an application. Deadline to apply is Feb. 2. AMVETS blood drive slated CEDAR FALLS An American Red Cross blood drive is set for 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Cedar Falls AMVETS Post 49. For an appointment, go to rcblood.org/appt or call (800) 733-2767. WILLIAMSBURG A former Northeast Iowa man was almost stabbed to death last weekend in Williamsburg where he now lives, according to authorities. Heath Gerald Hershey, 40, suffered stab wounds to his neck, back and chest in the attack when a man broke into a Willamsburg home in the early morning hours of Dec. 9. In the past, Hershey has lived in Oelwein, Hazleton, Manchester and Brooklyn. Details werent immediately available, but the alleged assailant, 41-year-old Bryan Arthur Grout, of rural Williamsburg, was arrested for attempted murder, first-degree burglary and first-offense operating while intoxicated. Iowa County sheriffs deputies had stopped Grout near his home about 15 minutes after the assault. He smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and was unsteady, and he declined field sobriety and breath tests, court records state. Court records show that in November, Grouts ex-girlfriend, who lives at the address where the attack took place, sought a protection order against Grout. WATERLOO A Waterloo teen on probation for a firearm charge allegedly threw another gun in the river and ran from officers Tuesday night. Demond Deon Rollins, 17, was detained at his home at 209 Thompson Ave. and arrested for felon in possession of a firearm, interference while armed and carrying weapons. He was charged as an adult and is being held without bond on a probation violation. According to police, Rollins was walking on the Mullan Avenue bridge around 9:15 p.m. Tuesday when an officer attempted to approach him because he was a suspect in a recent shooting, court records state. Police allege Rollins tossed a semi-automatic handgun into the Cedar River below and started running but was caught a short time later. Rollins is currently on probation in connection with a Sept. 2, 2016, incident on Elm Street where he allegedly tried to throw a handgun onto a roof, according to court records. At the time, Waterloo police were trying to detain one of his acquaintances, Doncorrion Spates, for murder in the July 2016 slaying of Octavious Brown on Logan Avenue. Spates and Rollins ran from police, and Rollins threw a handgun at a garage roof, records state. The weapon hit the side of the roof and fell to the ground next to Rollins, records state. Investigators determined the gun had been reported stolen from a Waterloo home. In 2017, Rollins was sentenced on gun charges in the Elm Street incident and was granted deferred judgments, meaning the cases would come off his record if he completed probation, and he was sent to the State Training School in Eldora. He was released from the Eldora facility on Nov. 14, according to court records. WAVERLY Haley Cannon and Emily Russell came back from a Turning Point USA conference feeling empowered by the economic messages they heard. The Wartburg College students were energized to start their own chapter of the group on campus, and even secured a booth at the colleges Involvement Fair in the fall to spread the word about the value of limited government, free markets and free speech. We really enjoyed this group ... and we thought it would be good to bring to Wartburg, Cannon said. When it came time for official student group recognition by the Wartburg Student Senate last month, however, they were denied. Cannon and Russell both say it was a politically motivated decision. We feel we are discriminated against with this vote, said Cannon, who graduates this month. Wartburg has a track record of not being inclusive with conservative students. Some students have reached out to us saying they dont feel like theyre welcomed on campus. Turning Point USA is a nonprofit that organizes students to promote conservative principles, according to its website. The organization claims more than 1,000 college chapters. Nationally, tactics of the group have sparked controversy, including a so-called Professor Watchlist that publishes the names of professors the group considers to be advancing leftist propaganda in the classroom. The group has also mocked what is known as safe space culture and includes signage with phrases like Big Government Sucks and Socialism Sucks. Russell, the would-be president of the chapter and a second-year student, said she and Cannon changed parts of their groups constitution to align better with a subcommittees demands the professor watch list would be left out of their group. But after that subcommittee recommended the group for approval, it was still rejected by the full Student Senate. We worked really hard with them and ultimately wanted to make them happy with what we had come up with, Russell said. They ended up throwing that out the window. According to the official minutes of the Nov. 30 meeting, several senators questioned Russell and Cannon, as well as Alli McGough, TPUSAs field director for Iowa, about their ties to the national organization. Senators also expressed concerns about TPUSA chapters suing colleges and about prospective speakers the group might bring to campus. One senator, identified in the minutes only as Senator Jordan, said in the audio recording she was concerned the national organization contradicts what Wartburg stands for. Another, Senator Buckwalter, said Wartburg already had 180 groups on campus. I just cant imagine what is going to come after we approve or disapprove this group. Is someone going to not like the color of some room and start a group? Just five senators voted to approve the group, with 24 senators voting no. Naomi Alene, student body president, was one of 17 senators who abstained from the final vote. She said she did so because she had been helping provide guidance to the subcommittee on the changes TPUSA needed to make to its constitution. One of the tactics TPUSA has (that) was concerning is the professor watchlist, Alene said. They also make very bold remarks and slander other individuals on their social media sites, which also raised concern. In an email to McGough, forwarded to The Courier by Cannon, Dean of Students Dan Kittle said the Student Senate had closed the Turning Point possibility. In short, I believe that the Student Senate body were concerned that the values of Turning Point, as evidenced by expressed tactics, were not in line with the values of Wartburg College, Kittle wrote. Objectively, I would just add that the voting results make clear that there were pervasive concerns that were shared by most student senators. Kittle said he would not comment on which expressed tactics he was most concerned about because Cannon and Russell have appealed the Student Senates decision, and Kittle heads the college committee deciding whether to allow the appeal. It is only appropriate that we continue to let this process progress on campus before having the conversation with outside individuals, Kittle said in a statement. In an article on their national website announcing the decision, Turning Point USA rejected the idea a TPUSA chapter would be inconsistent with Wartburgs other partisan student groups, saying other partisan issue groups, like Students for Peace and Justice, have been operating on campus for some time. Ultimately, it seems that the American universitys famed tolerance only goes so far, the organization wrote on its website. Diversity, too, is limited to those viewpoints deemed acceptable by the mass. What happened at Wartburg smacks of an ironically authoritarian mindset, not to mention mob rule. The Facebook page of the Wartburg Republicans, a group Cannon was previously affiliated with, issued its own rebuke of the decision, calling it a disappointing day for campus conservatives. The sad truth is the senate vote today denied the group official status because the group espoused conservative ideals, and this is not popular on college campuses, the group wrote in a public message Nov. 30. Russell, who said around 15 people came to an off-campus TPUSA meeting recently, said she holds out hope a campus chapter might yet be approved. Thats whats kind of disappointing for me the fact that students got so excited about it and then the Student Senate thought this shouldnt be a group or have these ideas, she said. SIOUX CITY -- Republican State Rep. Jim Carlin narrowly defeated Democrat Todd Wendt in a special election Tuesday for a vacant state Senate seat where GOP voters dominate. In unofficial results with all precincts reporting, Carlin, of Sioux City, outlasted Wendt, of Le Mars, by 603 votes in the district, which includes the western two-thirds of Plymouth County and northern and western areas of Woodbury County, including Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood. Carlin totaled 3,591 votes, or about 54 percent, to 2,988 votes, or about 46 percent, for Wendt. With his House district taking in large portions of the Senate district and with 17,677 registered Republican voters, compared to 8,719 registered Democrats and 13,117 no party voters in the district, Carlin was a heavy favorite. But Wendt was well known in the district as a longtime superintendent with the Le Mars public school district and as the son of the late Roger Wendt, a former Democratic state legislator from Sioux City. Both candidates lost their home counties Tuesday. Wendt won Woodbury County by 56 votes while Carlin captured Plymouth by 659 votes in unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State's office. The Senate District 3 vacancy was created by the resignation of two-term Sen. Bill Anderson, a Pierson Republican who in September accepted a job heading the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation. Carlin will serve the remaining year of Anderson's seat, which will be up for election in November. Carlin's victory means there will be another special election early next year to fill his House seat. Carlin said Tuesday night he is looking forward to promoting his agenda in the Senate, which, like the House, Republicans control. "I'm going to advocate that have meant a lot to me since the beginning, you know, tax reform. Iowa has some of the highest personal and corporate tax rates in the country," Carlin said. "Iowa needs to be more business-friendly," he added. Carlin plans to work on social and medical issues as well. "I'm going to work on advocating for more pro-life legislation," he said. In addition, Carlin wants to look into stopgap measure on Iowa health insurance premiums, and wants to see more "choice in education." Carlin, 55, has practiced law for 25 years in Sioux City. He decided to run for the open seat since the terms run for four years instead of the two-year House terms, which Carlin said means he can focus less on campaigning and more on representing people. Wendt, 56, who retired from the Le Mars school district, said on the campaign trail he's seen goodwill by people who liked his late father and hoped that regard could help him in the race. Both candidates previously said they had concerns about the compressed timeframe for the special election, which came just two weeks before Christmas Day. DES MOINES Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to express concerns to Trump administration officials in Washington this week that talk of U.S. withdrawal from international trade agreements is hurting exports critical to agricultural and manufacturing interests in Iowa. Reynolds, among five U.S. governors to meet with Vice President Mike Pence and other administration representatives, said Tuesday she doesnt have a problem with modernizing language of the treaty with Canada and Mexico, but she is worried how discussions will impact commodity prices. We believe in fair and free trade, but thats our No. 1 and 2 trading partners, and it would have a tremendous impact if we were to withdraw from NAFTA, Reynolds said. I understand they are in negotiations and we need to let that play out, but we have very volatile commodity prices right now and so we need to be very conscientious of that. On Monday, Debi Durham, director of the state Economic Development Authority, made a budget presentation to the governor indicating Iowa exports declined from $15.1 billion in 2014 to $13.2 billion in 2015 and $12.1 billion in 2016. Her best-case guess for 2017 is that figure would flat-line after Iowa managed to open some new markets. Durham cited studies indicating Iowa would be among the top 10 U.S. states most negatively impacted if the United States pulls out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Its concerning, Durham said. We need to figure this out. If were going to do bilateral, then we need to get it done. If theres one thing that keeps me up at night, its that. Its a huge part of our economy. Durham said Iowa export numbers have been hurt by a strong U.S. dollar and emerging middle-class markets in countries that have not met expectations in the demand for U.S. products. This whole conversation of trade agreements and America being left out of that, she said, thats concerning for us going forward, particularly at a time when were seeing such a robust interest in manufacturing. Talent pipeline On a separate topic, Ben McLean, chairman of the Iowa Business Council and chief executive officer of Ruan Transportation Management Systems, announced council members have pledged to hire 30,000 interns, externs and apprentices by the year 2025 as part of its commitment to collaborate with state government to strengthen the talent pipeline in Iowa. The councils commitment to double its yearly base of about 2,100 entry-level positions was designed to tie into the Future Ready Iowa Initiatives goal of having 70 percent of Iowans ages 25 to 64 attain education or training beyond high school by the year 2025. One of the Future Ready Iowa Alliance recommendations issued in October was to expand work-based learning in high-demand careers to all students, especially those who might be underserved. McLean said the Iowa Business Council will track the hires internally through quarterly reporting by its members. The effort will begin in the first quarter of 2018. DES MOINES -- An Iowa family will join President Donald Trump as he makes his closing arguments for passage of the GOP tax reform plan. Aubyn and Anthony Giampolo of Johnston and four other families will be a White House briefing this afternoon. The Giampolos both work for the West Des Moines Police Department, but stressed they are making this trip as private citizens. They and the other families were chosen to ensure that the group visiting would be a good representation of the families around the country that stand to benefit from tax reform, according a member of the White House press office. According to senior White House officials, the president will use their stories and specific tax situations to explain the benefits for middle-class taxpayers of historic, transformative tax reform he hopes to sign into law before the end of the year. This is a great opportunity for the American people to see middle-class families who have similar situations to their own and see how the plan is going to benefit them, Cliff Sims said on a Tuesday call with reporters. The president is expected to make an aspirational argument for tax reform to young people he has invited to the White House for his speech. These are the folks who are, for perhaps the first time in American history, (their) parents no longer think their children will be better off than they are, Sims said. Were going to reverse that. Were going to make it where the kids in that audience know theyre going to have an opportunity to grow up and live the life they want to live ... (and parents) are going to know the next generation will have the opportunity to be more prosperous. Anthony Giampolo has been in law enforcement since 1997, the past four years as a sergeant with the West Des Moines Police Department. Aubyn Giampolo has been a dispatch shift supervisor since 2003. Both hold master of public administration degrees from Drake University. Three of the couples four children are expected to be with them at the White House. Members of the House and Senate are working toward resolving differences in the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul package that passed the House on Nov. 16 and the Senate on Dec. 2. The impact of the changes are in dispute, with the GOP pointing to analyses by the Tax Policy Center that estimated it will reduce taxes, on average, for every income group, and another by the Tax Foundation, an independent think tank that projects that over the next 10 years the corporate tax cuts could lead to almost 1 million new jobs. Democrats and their allies, however, say the bill will hurt the middle class, benefit the wealthy and create loopholes for corporations and the rich to exploit. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, called the bill no more than a thinly veiled attempt by the Trump administration to cover up an economic agenda that showers corporations with goodies while taking money and health care away from those who need it most. WATERLOO Black Hawk County officials are urging area legislators to continue property tax replacement dollars and help keep the Country View care center open. Those were among many issues the Board of Supervisors raised Tuesday during a 90-minute forum with four legislators whose districts include portions of the county. State Sen. Bill Dotzler and Rep. Bob Kressig, both Democrats, and Reps. Walt Rogers and Sandy Salmon, both Republicans, attended the public meeting where the supervisors and county staff laid out their hopes for the upcoming legislative session. County board chairman Frank Magsamen opened the discussion by urging the legislators to fully backfill commercial and industrial property tax reductions. Local governments may lose property tax 'backfill' money DES MOINES When Iowa lawmakers passed a massive commercial property tax cut in 2013, they State lawmakers in 2013 reduced commercial and industrial property taxes through a rollback process and vowed to reimburse cities, school districts and counties for the lost revenue. But shrinking state revenue estimates have sparked concerns the state government would stop honoring that commitment next year. It would be at least a million dollars that we as a county government would lose if that tax credit wasnt committed to by the state of Iowa, Magsamen said. The hope was that this would spur economic growth, he added. We have not seen it to the extent that it would cover all of the reductions in property taxes of commercial and industrial properties in Black Hawk County. Dotzler and Kressig both said they were opposed to cutting the backfill, with Kressig doubling down on Magsamens comments about the impact of the tax cuts on economic growth. The original process was to grow the economy, Kressig said. Well, it hasnt done a thing. Rogers said he felt the tax cuts did have a positive impact. Did the property tax bill spur any economic growth? he said. Its hard to say for sure. Did it just sustain what we were doing? Was that a positive? Rogers acknowledged the backfill issue was on the table as state legislators grapple with the stress Medicaid and mental health issues are putting on the budgets. But he said he would be an advocate to leave the backfill in place next year and, if changes are necessary in the future, to phase the revenue out gradually over time. We are looking at everything, added Salmon. I would be lying if I didnt say this wasnt on the table. This will be looked at too. Meanwhile, the county asked for help with mental health funding and Medicaid issues, which are helping drive a budget crisis at the county-owned Country View care center. Country View is running more than a $1 million deficit this year, pushing costs onto property taxes and forcing county officials to look at grim options for the centers future. Supervisors' concern over Country View grows WATERLOO Mounting losses at the Country View nursing home are taking a toll on Black Hawk Magsamen noted Medicaid is only reimbursing Country View for 80 percent of the countys cost to care for residents there. Country View officials said theyve been having continuous problems with the managed care organizations, which are private for-profit companies former Gov. Terry Branstad hired in 2016 to fund the Iowa Medicaid program. The ongoing billing difficulties we are experiencing with the MCOs really create a significant cash flow issue, said Assistant Country View Administrator Genevieve Shafer. Without those timely payments we cannot operate our business as effectively and efficiently as it should be. She noted mistakes by the MCO led the county to be shorted in payments for persistent mentally ill nursing home clients. As a provider to be asked (by the MCO) to take a settlement of $147,000 when our billings were above $500,000, that is just unacceptable, she said. Rogers and Salmon said they would intervene on Country Views behalf regarding the billing errors but stopped short of calling the Medicaid privatization a mistake. The change from an old Medicaid system to the MCOs was done with good intentions, Rogers said. The reality is going to the new system saved $111 million over two years for our overall budget, he said. The reality is there are some problems with the implementation and weve got to address those. Kressig countered the privatization was an abuse of power by the Branstad administration that has created a mess. We took a system that was pretty well managed and gave it to a private company to run it, Kressig said. That companys focus has been profits. After 15 years of strong, bipartisan American leadership and incredible progress in the global fight against AIDS, the Trump administration appears ready to trade the iconic red ribbon for the white flag of surrender. That's the conclusion of a new ONE Campaign report released this week. Working with some of the nation's leading experts in the global fight against AIDS, ONE's policy experts analyzed the consequences of President Donald Trump's first budget proposal, which included a roughly $800 million cut to bilateral HIV/AIDS efforts, and a new strategy issued by the State Department for the government's transformative flagship global AIDS program, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The lower funding level would force PEPFAR to stop putting additional people on HIV treatment in some of the world's highest-burden countries, like South Africa and Nigeria, as it shifts resources away from dozens of "non-priority" countries. Despite remarkable progress, 15.8 million people living with HIV do not have access to treatment, and many of those individuals live in countries whose bilateral AIDS assistance would be cut under the Trump administration's budget proposal. We need to be doing more -- not less. In fighting the global epidemic, there is simply no substitute for getting more people on treatment. Treatment allows people living with HIV to live healthy and productive lives, and has also proven to be a powerful tool for preventing new HIV infections -- the reduction of mother-to-child transmission by putting pregnant and breastfeeding women on treatment is proof. When properly adhered to, AIDS treatment reduces the amount of human immunodeficiency virus in a person's body to levels low enough that they are no longer infectious. Stopping the treatment of additional people could result in nearly 300,000 deaths and more than 1.75 million new infections each year, and would almost certainly trigger a resurgence in the epidemic. It would also make it mathematically impossible to control the epidemic globally, putting out of reach critical treatment targets for getting ahead of the disease before Africa's young-adult population doubles in 2050. Whether intentional or not, it would mean surrendering the global AIDS fight that the US has led. When President George W. Bush created PEPFAR in 2003, the continent of Africa was under attack, and people with AIDS lived without hope. That year alone, 3 million people died and 5 million people became infected with HIV. By partnering with the hardest-hit countries to provide lifesaving services to patients, PEPFAR has transformed the AIDS landscape. The program contributed to a 47% decrease in AIDS-related deaths since its inception, has saved more than 11 million lives, and is why over 2 million babies have been born HIV-free to HIV-positive mothers. In 2016, 2.4 million people started AIDS treatment (over half of whom were supported by PEPFAR), compared with just 1.5 million in 2010. And because of PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and larger-than-ever contributions from the high-burden countries, themselves for the first time ever, more than half of the people living with HIV around the world are receiving lifesaving treatment. Those to whom PEPFAR has given hope are living monuments to 15 years of passionate bipartisan cooperation in Washington. Republicans and Democrats have stood in lockstep to ensure PEPFAR had the resources it needed to turn the tide and help the world get ahead of the disease. World AIDS Day was Friday, and for the first time in more than a decade, the global AIDS community will mark the day by not only celebrating the incredible progress we have made against the disease, but worrying that America's commitment to ending AIDS is waning. We are finally getting ahead of this deadly disease, but the gains we've made are fragile. They need to be built-upon, not squandered. President Trump should restore full funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund in his budget request for 2019, but if he proposes another cut, Congress should once again push it aside. PEPFAR must be given the resources it needs to stem the disease ahead of Africa's expected population boom. Failure to expand treatment could mean abandoning the historic opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat forever. Our response in the global fight against HIV/AIDS should be to lead, not surrender. The Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour is a movie that should be seen, but not entirely believed. Gary Oldmans alternately fierce and vulnerable Churchill is a triumph of both acting and the cosmeticians art. Just hearing him deliver snippets of Churchills speeches is worth the ticket price. (Am I the only one who tears up at the words We shall fight on the beaches? My wife: Probably.) But the central conceit of the film that a deflated, defeated Churchill required bucking up by average Brits is fiction. Very nearly the opposite was true. The policy of appeasement was broadly popular in Britain during the early to mid-1930s. In 1938, a majority supported Neville Chamberlains deal at Munich (which ceded much of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in return for ... nothing). It is more accurate to say Churchill summoned British courage and defiance by his intense idealization of British character. He saw heroic traits in his countrymen that even they, for a time, could not see. This is not to say May and June of 1940 werent dark times, even for Churchill. As resistance in France collapsed and Italy seemed destined to enter the war on Germanys side, Churchill asked his chiefs of staff if it were possible to continue the war at all (they gave a conditional yes). The despair implied in that question still startles. But on June 3, even as British troops were being evacuated at Dunkirk, Churchills private secretary Jock Colville wrote in his diary: Winston is tired of our always being on the defensive and is contemplating raids on the enemy. How wonderful it would be, he writes to [Gen. Hastings] Ismay, if the Germans could be made to wonder where they were going to be struck next instead of forcing us to try to wall in the Island and roof it over. In the midst of catastrophe, Churchill was dreaming of Normandy (and North Africa, and Italy). Not the thoughts of a defeated man. Where Darkest Hour shines is in presenting the alarming, inspiring contingency of great events. In the spring of 1940, Europe was being shaken by massive, impersonal, world-historic forces the apparent failure of liberal democracy and free markets, the rise of communism and fascism, the unleashing of anti-Semitism. Millions marched, line by line, to the Horst Wessel song or the Internationale. And yet, in saving the remnants of the British Army at Dunkirk, it fell to 665 private British boats (along with 222 British warships) to rescue their country from (likely) capitulation or invasion. All the powerful, impersonal forces funneled down and down to 665 volunteer captains in pleasure craft and fishing trawlers. The future of freedom was determined by the choices and courage of a few hundred free people. And, of course, the choices and courage of one man. A New York Times review of Darkest Hour sneered at the movies great man fetish. But is there really any doubt that history would be darker if Churchill had truly lost his nerve, or had died when hit by a car in New York in December of 1931 (he escaped with two cracked ribs and a severe scalp wound)? History can hinge on a single life. From Churchill, we learn to resist pessimistic extrapolation. May 1940 was terrible, but not permanent. We learn the power of unreasonable optimism the value of planning for revival in the midst of defeat. We see the possibility of leadership that can not only ride the tide but summon it. Many of us view this example, not only with appreciation, but with longing. The problem of our time is not only arrogance without accomplishment or swagger without success. These are common enough in politics. Rather, it is the arrival of leadership that survives by feeding resentment, hatred and disorienting flux. Leadership urging us at angry rallies, in ethnic stereotyping, through religious bigotry to forget who we really are as a people. Leadership that has ceased to believe in the miracle at our countrys heart the inclusive, unifying power of American ideals. But the moment is not permanent. Many are looking for a place to invest their hope. And some leader, we trust, will rise who calls his countrymen to choose decency and civic friendship above the destructive pleasures of hatred and blame. Who can see and summon the best in American character, even if, for the moment, it is hidden. In the meantime, we shall fight on the beaches. Advertisement By The Associated Press Dec. 11, 2017 | FRANKFORT, KY By The Associated Press Dec. 11, 2017 | 05:15 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Kentucky's Republican governor has acknowledged for the first time he might not call a special session of the state legislature to overhaul one of the country's worst funded public pension systems. Matt Bevin has said repeatedly he would call a special session of the state legislature before the end of the year to address the pension issue. But his proposal has received significant opposition from state employees and even members of his own political party. Last week, 47 Republican House members signed a letter asking him not to call a special session this year. Monday, Bevin told reporters there is still a chance he could call the legislature back to Frankfort next week to vote on the bill. But he said lawmakers could take up the issue during the session scheduled to begin Jan. 2. past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Last week I wrote about the interesting hunting habits of our local Harriss Hawks. Today I will cover another one of Mexicos Baja Peninsulas characters, the Zone-tailed Hawk Buteo Albonotatus. Very similar in size and shape to the very common Turkey Vulture, the Zone-tailed Hawk is quite often found circling on the wind currents with those very vultures. Given the scavenger feeding habits of the Turkey Vultures, the small mammals and birds that are on the menu for the Zone-tailed hawks are lulled into complacency by the lack of threat from the vultures. This allows the Zone-tailed Hawk to approach much closer, before swooping in quickly. I have to admit, that I too have been lulled by the very same vultures, as on any given day here in La Paz, I can see 50 or more Turkey Vultures soaring over head. Taking time to give each and every one a good looking over can take away from the time I spend looking for Lazuli Buntings, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, or other more exciting birds. For me, the key to identifying the difference, comes with the banding on the tail, and when a bit closer, the yellow legs and cere. The tail bands on the adult birds consist of three bands with the third, or lower band much wider and cleaner white. In juvenile birds, the tail bands are made up of 8-10 finer bands, and will give more of a silver/gray appearance at any amount of distance. The mature Zone-tailed Hawk is also just a few inches smaller than the Turkey Vulture over all, and I find that the Turkey Vultures naked reddish head tends to protrude a bit more. Zone-tailed Hawks can be found in the extreme lower parts of the US, in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, with an estimated population of 450-650 birds. Mexicos Baja Peninsula has a strong resident population, and they can be found sporadically thru out main land Mexico. Their territory also includes portions of Central America, down into eastern Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. There is a small population in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. While there is a small fraction of these birds that are migratory, mostly the Central American birds, many remain as year round residents. The US population migrate down to Oaxaca, Mexico and parts of the Yucatan area for the winter. Below is a photo I got on Sunday of a juvenile. it was a glooming, gray day, so the photo isnt the best, but it was better than nothing.. ODESSA, FL, December 13, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ultimate 3D Printing Store, the leading expert in 3D printing technology and additive manufacturing, now offers customers financing through QuickSpark Financial to provide a third payment option for buying one or more 3D printers for their business. The ability to finance provides multiple incentives to business owners: They can offset an expensive purchase by structuring affordable monthly payments. They can establish a lease-to-own arrangement. And they also receive a tax benefit at year's end. "It reduces taxable income, if you're a business owner," said Kawika Ahquin, a QuickSpark Financial account manager. "These payments, with no separation of principal and interest, when attached to the business, the IRS views as a monthly operating expense, and they can write those off." It is a financial offer that SMALL, MEDIUM AND LARGE business owners cannot afford to ignore, especially if they are ready to incorporate 3D printing as a new revenue stream. QuickSpark Financial, a Tempe, AZ-based corporate equipment financing company, works with dedicated funding sources to qualify customers and facilitate the purchase. "We can help them get approved. We can help them get their business set up," Ahquin said. "We like to stress the return on the investment. What you stand to make on the equipment, does it exceed the monthly payments?" QuickSpark just recently began working with customers interested in the 3D printing industry, Ahquin said. The company contacted Ultimate 3D Printing Store around July to discuss partnership possibilities. "Many of our clients want to transition into 3D additive manufacturing, but the cost of buying one or more high-end 3D printers can exceed their means," said Roy Kirchner, owner and president of Ultimate 3D Printing Store. "By offering a third option besides paying cash or accruing additional credit card debt, QuickSpark can help our clients start manufacturing products, making money and building their business faster. It's a win-win-win." Ahquin said to date the demand for financing 3D printers has primarily come from start-up ventures, but he expects that to change as the technology grows. Kirchner said there are many businesses across central Florida that can benefit from such a financing arrangement. In Pinellas County alone, there are about 30,000 people who work in manufacturing. "We truly believe that 3D additive manufacturing is the future, but before a company can experience the benefits of this technology, first they have to own at least one machine," Kirchner said. "All we want to do is help provide a path for business owners to join the 3D printing revolution." Ultimate 3D Printing Store (https://ultimate3dprintingstore.com) is a Florida boutique specializing in 3D design and on-demand printing services while supplying one of the largest selection (98+ models) among the best 3D printer brands and 3D parts, Resins and filaments to buy from: Wanhao, Type A Machines, Ultimaker, Zortrax, Bluecast, Photocentric 3D. U3DPS also acts as the Wanhao USA Inventory and as its Master distributor in North America for 3D Duplicators, parts, filaments and resins. # # # WTC acquires global WMS provider Microlistics Sydney, Dec 13, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - WiseTech Global ( ASX:WTC ) today announced the acquisition of Microlistics, a leading provider of warehouse management solutions encompassing enterprise, express, cold storage and third party logistics. Microlistics provides its warehouse management solutions to customers across Asia-Pacific, North America and the Middle East, including Linfox, Mitre 10, ESAB, Thomas Foods International, Berli Jucker Logistics, Spotlight Retail Group, Brand Collective, Concept Logistics, Nick Scali, Russell Corporation, TT Logistics, TNT Express Logistics, and many other leading supply chain organisations. WiseTech Global CEO, Richard White, said "With the impact of ecommerce and advances in automation, warehouse management is an increasingly complex and specialised part of the international supply chain. The combined strength of WiseTech's global innovation capabilities and our CargoWise One supply chain execution platform integrated with Microlistics' powerful warehouse solutions for enterprise, express, third party logistics and cold storage will provide significant benefit to logistics providers." "WiseTech is uniquely well-placed to deliver the technology convergence and deep integration necessary to facilitate omni-channel, multi-modal movements across the supply chain - of which warehousing is a critical component. Ultimately the native embedding of Microlistics leading WMS solutions into our integrated CargoWise One platform operating across 125 countries will substantially increase productivity for local and global logistics providers and their customers." Microlistics' leading-edge software development, its deep domain knowledge of warehousing, rapid deployment, data analytics and reporting capabilities significantly improves customers' warehouse and business operations. In 2017, Gartner recognised Microlistics WMS in its selection of leading systems worldwide. Microlistics Founder and Managing Director, Mark Dawson, said "Joining the WiseTech Global group, is a key part of our evolution. With the global strength and powerful innovation capability of WiseTech, and our WMS expertise, together we will accelerate development of high productivity WMS to bring significant new benefits to the logistics industry. Microlistics will remained focused on warehouse management solutions and we can leverage WiseTech's global reach, resources and the CargoWise One platform, which for our customers will mean the opportunity for end-to-end execution, control and visibility of the supply chain." Remaining under the leadership of Mark Dawson, Microlistics will continue to develop and deliver its warehouse management solutions directly to its worldwide customers, and potentially to the 7,000 logistics providers across 125 countries who utilise WiseTech's integrated supply chain execution solutions. Along with our recent acquisitions in Brazil, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, North America and the Netherlands, the addition of Microlistics to the WiseTech Global group is in line with our stated strategy of accelerating long-term organic growth through targeted, valuable acquisitions across new geographies and larger, globally capable adjacencies. WiseTech's global integrated platform, CargoWise One, enables logistics service providers to execute highly complex transactions in areas such as freight forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing, shipping, land transport and cross-border compliance and to manage their operations on one database across multiple users, functions, countries, languages and currencies. About Microlistics Founded in 1994, Microlistics is a leading warehouse management solutions company working with customers across Australia, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a team of 45 people, Microlistics provides warehouse management solutions to small businesses to middle size international companies to departments within large multinational companies. Microlistics provides its solutions to customers including Linfox, G&S Logistics, ESAB, Thomas Foods International, Berli Jucker Logistics, Spotlight Retail Group, Brand Collective, Concept Logistics, Russell Corporation, TT Logistics and TNT Express Logistics. Microlistics has four product lines: WMS Enterprise, its fully integrated flagship solution; WMS Chilled, its cold storage solution; WMS 3PL, its multi-site and multi-client 3PL solution; and WMS Express, its pre-configured, rapid implementation solution. In 2017, Microlistics WMS is included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems (see Note below) representing a selection of leading systems worldwide with Gartner noting Microlistics founders' deep, long-term expertise and the system capabilities in 3PL and cold storage. For more information about Microlistics visit http://www.microlistics.com.au Note: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management System, February 2017. About WiseTech Global Ltd WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) is a leading developer and provider of software solutions to the logistics execution industry globally. Our customers include over 17,000 of the world's logistics companies across 160 countries, including 41 of the top 50 global thirdparty logistics providers and all of the 25 largest global freight forwarders worldwide2. Our flagship platform, CargoWise, forms an integral link in the global supply chain and executes over 50 billion data transactions annually. At WiseTech, we are relentless about innovation, adding over 4,000 product enhancements to our global platform in the past five years while bringing meaningful continual improvement to the world's supply chains. Our breakthrough software solutions are renowned for their powerful productivity, extensive functionality, comprehensive integration, deep compliance capabilities, and truly global reach. For more information about WiseTech Global or CargoWise, please visit wisetechglobal.com and cargowise.com Morocco is evidencing its firm attachment to achieving the global climate agenda. The presence of King Mohammed VI at the One Planet Summit in Paris is another confirmation of Moroccos commitement in protecting the environment and curbing climate change effects. His presence in the Summit and his unflinching commitment to the African continent development were highlighted at the opening of this global event, attended by more than 50 world leaders, at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron. The One Planet summit, co-hosted by the United Nations and the World Bank, brings together world leaders in Paris to mark the second anniversary of the climate change plan agreed in the French capital in 2015 and entered into force on November 4, 2016, few days prior to the UN Climate Summit, COP22, in Marrakech. The French president Emmanuel Macron had decided to hold the summit after Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the historic warming pact, which aims to contain the average rise in temperature below the critical 2C threshold, at a time the planet is always moving towards +3C compared to the pre-industrial era. The participation of the sovereign, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, in this global event sends a strong message regarding Moroccos endeavors to gather support for global climate efforts. Morocco has been campaigning for a multilateral approach to deal with climate change challenges, while calling for countries of the North to provide the countries of the South, especially the least developed, with urgent financial and technical support to enhance their capacities and enable them to adapt to climate change. Climate remains a landmark feature of Moroccos commitment to Africa in line with a south-south cooperation approach that focuses on pooling efforts to address common challenges. In fact, countering climate change is a means to safeguard the future of young generations, curb calamities such as migration and displacement and promote agriculture. The Supreme Court of Pakistan expressed shock when it came to learn that the idols were missing from the Hindu temples in Katas Raj temple complex in Chakwal. The pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals. The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) over the absence of idols. According to the Dawn, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also ordered to close the tubewells used by a cement factory, which is believed to be one of the industrial units responsible for the drying up of the Katas Raj pond. Katas Raj is the second-most sacred Hindu site and dates back to 600 AD. The temple complex is built around the pond, which finds it origin from Katak Shah, which in Sanskrit means raining eyes. The pond is believed to have been formed from the tears of Shiva after the loss of his wife, Sati. The Supreme Court bench is conducting a suo motu hearing based on media reports that the Katas Raj pond is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories. One of the judges on the bench expressed dismay as to why the authorities could not protect the idols inside the temples. There are two temples within the premises of the Katas Raj Hanuman temple and Sri Ram Mandir. Maharashtra social justice minister Rajkumar Badole, in a written reply to a question, said that there has been an irregular disbursement of Rs 1,826.87 crore under a scholarship programme for students hailing from the backward classes. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former labour minister Hasan Mushrif had raised the question in the assembly House. Replying to it, Badole said, An SIT (Special Investigation Team) was formed to investigate the allegations of irregular disbursement of scholarship for OBC students. An audit conducted of 1,704 institutes revealed that the total irregular scholarship disbursement was Rs 1,826.87 crore of which Rs 96.16 crore has been recovered. He informed that irregularities had been noticed by the SIT in 70 institutes working for the welfare of tribal communities in the state. While two of these institutes are from the tribal development ministry, 68 are from the social welfare department. The report stated that the state government is working on filing police complaints against these institutes. The recovered amount has been deposited in the state treasury. Rest of the amount is being recovered as per legal procedure, Badole said his reply. The Maharashtra assemblys winter session is currently underway in Nagpur. After former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda has been proven guilty of corruption and criminal conspiracy in the coal scam, questions are being raised about when action will be taken against senior Congress leader Kripashankar Singh for amassing disproportionate wealth. Kripashankar and his family have amassed Rs 95.03 crore, of which Rs 18.96 crore is allegedly disproportionate. Singh is also known to have doled out 349 arms licenses out of which 102 went to his friend R N Singh. Singhs son is married to the daughter of former Jharkhand Minister Kamlesh Singh, who has also been raided by the Income Tax and Economic Offence Department (IT/ED) in connection with Madhu Kodas money laundering racket. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by activist Dinanath Tiwari has accused Singh and his family of amassing wealth and assets by using his connections with Koda. Tiwari had alleged that Kripashankar Singh had by virtue of his role as Congress in-charge of Jharkhand played a vital role in installing Koda as the chief minister. After the ED raided Balaji Group in Mumbai, Singhs link with Kodas scam was revealed. Singh suffered another setback when Income Tax authorities disclosed that he had quoted different PAN numbers in the affidavits submitted to the Election Commission in 2004 and 2009. Singhs affidavit, posted on the Election Commissions website, mentions his Income Tax PAN number declared in 2004 as AVAPS1485L, while in 2009 election, it is CFYPS989P. Thus there is a huge disparity pertaining to the information submitted by Singh to the Election Commission. A Permanent Account Number allotted to an individual cannot change during his lifetime. Any change in the address or city would entail a change in the assessing officer but not the number. When AV spoke to eminent personalities they demanded stringent action against Singh. They added that if Singh is proven guilty then he must be barred from contesting elections. Many of them said that there should be zero tolerance policy against those legislators who are proven guilty of corruption charges. AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has completed a successful multi-modal pharma trial shipment for DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) to deliver healthcare products from Moscow to Miami. The shipment, which replaced real vaccines with service water for test purposes, used an RKN active cargo container in accordance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) cool chain standards. Said a spokesperson for Russian all-cargo carrier ABC: This represents a new solution in the Russian market for an RKN to be physically loaded in a pharmaceutical cooler of a production plant without additional cross-dock operations during the main leg delivery to Miami. The total solution provided by the ABC and DGF teams covered delivery, leasing and guaranteed customs clearance for the customer as well as ensuring a minimum transit time and the elimination of temperature risk. The RKN is a certified air cargo ULD container which maintains product temperatures in either the +2 to +8C range, in the controlled room temperature range of +15 to +25 C, or at any chosen set temperature within the operating range of 0 to +20C throughout the transportation process. For the trial shipment, using an Envirotainer RKN unit, the service partners were able to test the delivery process at each step of the transportation and monitor the condition of the water, which replicates the state of vaccines under similar circumstances. Together with DGF Russia, ABC supplied the Envirotainer unit to the customers warehouse and accepted the cargo as a fully built-up unit ready for carriage at its airport warehouse premises. The trial shipment, on an ABC Boeing 747 freighter, flew from Moscow on a direct route to Chicago, where the Envirotainer RKN was loaded onto a refrigerated truck to take the more than 400 kg of vaccines to Miami. Even though the special container can run on battery power for more than 90 hours and sustain the required temperature range, it was decided to maintain +50 C inside the truck to introduce a second safety measures. From Miami, the RKN continued its journey to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, onboard another carrier. Fedor Novikov, global director, pharma for ABC, said: We are proud to be been given this opportunity to demonstrate the quality of the pharma solutions we can provide and to have earned the trust of our customer for the organization of vaccines transportation. With ABC only developing temperature-sensitive solutions for less than a year, it is a huge achievement to be chosen to provide dedicated lift of healthcare products, which will improve the quality of life for people of the Republic of Nicaragua when we commence the delivery of vaccines in 2018. The airline achieved IATA CEIV Pharma certification in 2016 and in September 2017 gained Envirotainer QEP accreditation at its global hub at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport and in Dallas. In the following two months, ABC gained additional accreditation for its online stations in Milan, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Chicago. Read more Pharma Logistics news Share this story Cargo handler Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has opened a new temperature-controlled facility in Copenhagen to support growing pharma volumes. WFS said the investment is in support of its airline customers growing pharma volumes and WFS own IATA CEIV Pharma certification programme in Denmark, which it expects to complete in early 2018. The facility has the capacity to store up to 16 cargo units and offers separate temperature chambers offering both 2-8C and 15-25C environments. Each lane in the building is also equipped with an electronic rollerbed system to expedite the handling of pharma shipments. The WFS team in Denmark is also celebrating winning the cargo handling contract for Air Indias new three times weekly Boeing 787 passenger and cargo services linking the countrys capital city with Delhi. Jimi Daniel Hansen, WFS General Manager Scandinavia, said: WFS is also progressing towards its IATA CEIV certification in Denmark with the opening of our new cooler facility to supports our customers premium cargo products for temperature-sensitive pharma shipments. Earlier this month, Brussels became the first WFS cargo station in Europe to achieve IATA CEIV Pharma certification. WFS is also working towards Good Distribution Practice (GDP) or IATA CEIV Pharma certifications at other major locations across its network, which also includes building new facilities in Paris and Milan. Read more pharma logistics news Share this story Share Article A B-52 readies for a mission in support of Operation Jagged Knife at Al Udeid AB, Qatar. Screenshot from Air National Guard video (below). The US effort to hit the Talibans drug production has continued since the opening salvo in November, with now 25 narcotics processing facilities destroyed and about $80 million eliminated from the groups pockets. The sustained air interdiction campaign is the first time the US has targeted the Talibans revenue, and it directly strengthens the Afghan defense forces in their continued fight, said USAF Brig. Gen. Lance Bunch, the director of future operations with Operation Resolute Support. While the Afghan Air Force kicked off the campaign with A-29 strikes on Taliban locations, the biggest wave came from aircraft not usually used in AfghanistanB-52s and F-22s. The Nov. 19 B-52 strike was the first time that aircraft used its conventional rotary launcher in Afghanistan, delivering the largest number of precision munitions from a Stratofortress in its history, Bunch said. A B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Al Udeid AB, Qatar, taxis and takes off in order to participate in a new offensive campaign in Afghanistan on Nov. 19, 2017. Air National Guard video by SSgt. Aubrey Griffin. _ The stealthy, air superiority-focused F-22 was used in the opening salvo, and continued bombings, because it can carry small diameter bombs. US forces needed the most precise weapon it had at its disposal for some of the strikes and the F-22 was available at the time, even though F-15Es also carry the weapon. In addition to these aircraft, F-16s, US Marine Corps High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, and Navy F/A-18s have conducted strikes as part of the effort to hit the Talibans drug infrastructure. The operationcalled Jagged Knifeis supported by over the horizon flights from USAF JSTARS aircraft, along with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft and aerial refuelers based inside Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East, Bunch said Bunch leads Resolute Supports newly created future operations office, or FuOps. It was created as part of the US governments new South Asia strategy, and move away from time-based planning to a conditions-based future in Afghanistan. While the sustained air interdiction campaign, and a new build up of US forces in the country, is focused on fighting the Talibans momentum, the war is still at a stalemate, US Forces-Afghanistan commander Gen. John Nicholson told NBC News late last month. Share Article Draken International has purchased 12 South African Atlas Cheetahs, shown here, bringing the company's total fleet to 109 aircraft. The Cheetahs are expected to be operational in mid-2018. Draken photo. Draken International announced on Monday the acquisition of 12 South African Atlas Cheetah supersonic fighters. The aircraftnine C-model single-seat and three D-model two-seaterswill be shipped directly from the manufacturer and will already be upgraded with all the things you would expect of a fourth-generation fighter, including radar warning and a radar warning receiver, color multi-function displays, head up display, and upgraded inertial navigation system and GPS, John Baum, Draken vice president of security and strategic projects, told Air Force Magazine. Really, were getting a turn-key airplane, he added. The Mach 2.2 Cheetahs, which means they can fly faster than two times the speed of sound, have an average of 500 hours on each airframe, making them considerably younger than US Air Force, Marine Corps, or Navy aircraft they could potentially challenge in a Red Air capacity, according to a company press release. Baum said the South African air force flew the Cheetahs from 1993 to 2008 when it transitioned to the Saab JAS 39 Gripen. The manufacturer will complete the return to service inspection on the first two aircraft in the near future, then they will be broken down and shipped to Drakens Lakeland, Fla., facility. The company expects the fleet to be ready to fly in mid-2018. _ A Cheetah undergoes acceptance inspection in South Africa. Draken International photo. _ The company conducted a proof of concept in early 2015, fighting the Wisconsin Air National Guard over Volk Field. The US Air Force then contracted with Draken later that year to augment the 64th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., and to fly Red Air in support of the US Weapons School, Red Flag, and the 422nd Training and Evaluation Squadron there. Since then, Baum said the company has flown 2,900 sorties and about 4,650 hours a year, saving the Air Force an estimated $101.2 million. That doesnt include what he calls the soft costs, which he said are not easy to quantify, but include keeping USAF pilots in the cockpit training for the missions they may one day need to fly, instead of going TDY to play the bad guy. Having Draken as a permanent presence [at Nellis] provides a lot of cost stability at a very unstable time in the Air Force, said Baum, a retired USAF F-16 pilot. Fighter Pilots arent flying as much and thats a contributing factor to why theyre are getting out. So, when they do fly, you want it to be valuable flight training they are going to use in combat. Draken has a total of 109 jets, including eight Aermacchi MB-339s, 27 MiG-21s, 21 L-159s, 22 F1s, 13 A-4s, five L-39s, and one T-33. A 12-year-old boy died from a gunshot wound to the head in Anniston over the weekend, and now a vigil is scheduled to remember him and bring attention to his death. The shooting happened Saturday evening at the home of Quinterrius "Pooh" Hutchings. Anniston Police Chief Shane Denham said the investigation is ongoing, but it appears Quinterrius died from an accidental, self-inflicted wound while he and a 15-year-old friend were playing with the gun. The boy's mother, however, said she doesn't think that's what happened. "He would have never played with no gun and shot himself,'' said Margalena Bowers. "He wanted to go to the NFL. He always told me he was going to take care of his mama." Bowers said the shooting happened about 7 p.m. at the family's Paul Street home while she had gone to McDonald's to buy food for the boys and her other children. While she was gone, she said she texted Quinterrius and told him to check the outdoor trash can to see if she had accidentally thrown something away. She received a couple of texts back during the conversation in which she was called "Ma," a term she said her son never used. By the time she arrived home, she said the friend was running out of the house and told her Quinterrius had just shot himself in the head. He told her he tried to stop him, but couldn't. Bowers ran first to her son's room because she said he knew he wasn't allowed in her room. "He feared me,'' she said. "He knew he would be punished if he disobeyed me." She then went to her own bedroom where she kept her gun and found her wounded son. "He was laying on the floor with blood and brain matter everywhere,'' she said. "I asked him if he shot himself and he shook his head no. A tear came down his face, but he couldn't talk to me. He was fighting to live." Quinterrius was rushed to the hospital, but died a short time later. Bowers said she contacted Atlanta radio host Gerald Emerson Rose, who will be the keynote speaker at Thursday's vigil, because she thinks not enough attention is being given to her son's death. "I need and want answers,'' she said. "I want justice for my baby." Quinterrius attended C.E. Hanna Elementary School. She said his family and friends are taking his death hard. "He was just an all-around good kid,'' she said. "Everybody is hurting. My baby left an impression on everybody that laid eyes on him." Rose, founder of the New Order National Human Rights Organization, said he hopes to find out more about the ongoing investigation. "It's sad,'' he said. "It's real sad." The vigil is scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Zinn Park. As the historic Alabama Senate race was called for Democrat Doug Jones, several voters talked about their ballots and their final reactions at a national news event at a Birmingham restaurant. The focus group, hosted by ABC News, started at 6 p.m. at Chuck's Fish. The group's live discussion started at 7:30 p.m., and continued live until 10:30 p.m. The town-hall-style discussion aired on abcnews.com, the ABC News app, and on ABC News' Facebook page. Ten voters talked to ABC News Digital Anchor Amna Nawaz about who they voted for in Tuesday's special Senate election, and about the issues most important to them. Two of the voters supported Republican Roy Moore, one supported a write-in candidate, and seven-- including several Republicans-- supported Democrat Doug Jones. Gene Ruggerio, who voted for Moore, said one of the main factors in his decision was tax reform. "Tax reform means a lot to me, being self employed," he said. "I'm paying more taxes today than I used to make in a year." Another Moore supporter, Jordan Cox, said there does not need to be another Democrat, or "obstructionist" in Washington, D.C. "We need to keep the agenda going," he said. "It was learned during the conversation that Cox is not registered to vote in Alabama and did not cast a ballot in the special election, but he attends the University of Alabama. He also called Jones a "full puppet of the Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi machine that's going on in Washington." Republican Steve Crainich, who voted for Jones, said he voted for the Democratic candidate because he's worried Moore will harm other GOP politicians in next year's elections. ABC Live Coverage of Alabama Special Election The ABC News Politics team is live in Alabama with full coverage of the special election between embattled GOP candidate Roy Moore and Democratic challenger Doug Jones, a race that has been roiled by allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore. Full coverage: http://abcn.ws/2iXcyrG Exit polls analysis: http://abcn.ws/2iZCUcB Posted by ABC News on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Jones voter Alex Smith said his driving force for the Democrat was the debate over healthcare. Smith, who lives with HIV, said that insurance companies could charge him astronomical rates prior to the Affordable Care Act. Smith said he thinks there are problems with the ACA, but he believes Jones will vote to improve the act instead of repeal it. "If I didn't have insurance, I don't know what would happen," he said. "The bible that he reads and I read don't say the same things." Michael Wilbanks, a GOP supporter who voted for Jones, said about the Republican candidate. Overall, the group believed neither candidate could unite the state. "I worry about this country." "Its going to take a lot to bring it back," Ruggerio said. After the race was called for Jones, several of the voters celebrated-- while others stood disappointed. Dez Wilson, a Jones voter, said, "I think this is a great win, even by the slim margin... if we do engage more and go to these different communities... they can come out and vote and support." Two other Jones supporters at the table said the win sends a message to politicians. Ruggerio said he was disappointed with the result, but he congratulated Jones on the win. "We got a new Senator and I have to back him...Whoever goes in there, I'm backing." Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said today's election would show turnout levels around 25 percent, but late counts showed turnout was higher than expected. Jones will serve out the remainder of former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions' term, due to end on Jan. 3, 2021 after the 2020 election. Sessions left the seat when he took the job as U.S. Attorney General, and former Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Luther Strange to fill the spot. Strange lost in the Republican runoff to Moore. Both Jones and Moore voted at their polling stations early this morning. Jones cast his ballot around 8:30 a.m. at Brookwood Baptist Church in Mountain Brook, and said he planned to visit other polling places in the area before ending the day with an election night watch party at the Sheraton Hotel. "In Alabama we have come so far with too many things, and there is saying, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Alabama is not going to let that shame happen again," Jones said. "This is an important time in Alabama's history, and we feel very confident in where we are and how this is going to turn out," Jones added. "More importantly, we feel so good about what we have done and what we have said to the people of Alabama and to the people of the United States." Moore, who rode his horse Sassy to vote at Gallant Fire Station, remained quiet when surrounded by local and national media. When asked about a possible Senate investigation if he wins the race, Moore said he would deal with that problem "when we win." He said, "I think [voters] ought to go out and vote their conscience and we'll have a tremendous turnout. The nation is watching this.... It's a very important race for our country, for our state and the future." This post will be updated throughout Tuesday night. The Alabama Supreme Court on Wednesday set an execution date for a man who has spent 30 years on the state's Death Row. Doyle Lee Hamm, 60, is scheduled to die on Feb. 22, 2018, according to Wednesday's order. Hamm has been in prison since December 1987 after being convicted in the murder of Patrick Cunningham. Cunningham, an employee of Anderson's Motel in Cullman, was killed during a robbery that apparently netted about $410. In the course of the investigation, Hamm confessed to the murder; in exchange for being allowed to plead guilty to lesser offense, two accomplices testified against him. Hamm was from Mississippi at the time. His lawyer said in a press release also issued Wednesday that Hamm is terminally ill and that execution would constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Attorney Bernard E. Harcourt, his lawyer and a professor of law and political science at Columbia, said Hamm has been battling cranial and lymphatic cancer for over three years. Treatment for the illness has compromised his veins, and lethal injection would likely cause "cruel and needless pain," according to papers filed by Harcourt, who has represented Hamm since 1990. "What we're litigating right now is the specific venous protocol for lethal injection as applied to Doyle's situation, given his lymphatic cancer, rather than the general cruelty of the drug cocktail in Alabama," says Harcourt, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, and executive director of the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights. "Overall, I have to say, it's inhumane to execute somebody who's at the end of his life suffering and battling with cancer." Harcourt retained Dr. Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist and professor of medicine at Columbia University, to examine Hamm in late September 2017. Heath assessed Hamm's condition by using Harcourt's tie as a tourniquet to probe for veins because corrections officials did not allow him to bring medical equipment into the prison. "There are no accessible veins on [Hamm's] left upper extremity (arm/hand) or either of his lower extremities (legs/feet)," Heath found. Use of one "potentially accessible" vein on Hamm's right hand "would have a high chance of rupturing the vein and being unsuccessful," he added in a written statement Harcourt filed with the court. The inability of corrections personnel to inject the drugs properly could "cause Mr. Hamm to become paralyzed and consciously suffocate" and would be "an agonizing death," said Heath, whose research has documented problems in the administration of lethal injections nationwide. Seven percent of lethal injections in the U.S. between 1890 and 2010 were botched, according to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. Harcourt asked the court to order corrections officials to disclose how they would successfully complete venous access for the execution, to appoint a special master to oversee a proper medical examination in advance, and to approve an agreed-upon protocol to "humanely achieve lethal injection." Harcourt has fought to have Hamm's death sentence reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, arguing, among other things, that Hamm was sentenced based on an unconstitutional prior conviction and after ineffective assistance of counsel. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Hamm's appeal. Harcourt is assisted in the appeal by two students, Nika Cohen and Phoebe Wolfe, both in their third year at Columbia Law School. Egon Von Conway, a 2017 graduate of Columbia College; Isadora Ruyter-Harcourt, a 2016 graduate of Barnard College; and Anna Krauthamer, executive coordinator of the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought, are also working on Hamm's case and supporting the legal team. In court papers, Harcourt points to the case of David Nelson, a death row inmate in Alabama whose veins were found to be unusable. Heath examined Nelson and testified on his behalf. Nelson's execution was stayed in 2003; he died in prison in 2009. Hamm's execution is the second one already set for 2018. The Alabama Supreme Court set Jan. 25 for the execution of Vernon Madison, who was convicted of killing a Mobile police officer more than 30 years ago. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled Alabama can execute Madison-- who claimed to be mentally incompetent and was granted a stay of execution in 2016. A 65-year-old Connecticut man indicted on several child sex abuse charges involving a young family member in Hoover is now back in Alabama. William Henry Douglas was extradited over the weekend and is being held in the Jefferson County Jail. His bonds total $135,000. Hoover police last month said they launched their investigation on Aug. 11 after the victim's parents discovered evidence of the abuse, said Lt. Keith Czeskleba. The victim told her parents about the abuse and also then told police that a family member had touched her inappropriately and subjected her to sexual acts on several occasions while he was staying with them at their Hoover home. Because of her age and the nature of the crimes, police did not elaborate. The girl's parents confronted Douglas about the accusations, police said, and he then left and returned to his home state of Connecticut. Detectives with Hoover's Special Victims Unit presented their evidence to a Jefferson County grand jury. The grand jury indicted Douglas on two counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of second-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree sex abuse and one count of second-degree sex abuse. "This case was disturbing and one that our Special Victim's Unit put a tremendous amount of effort into,'' Capt. Gregg Rector said last month. "William Douglas' actions were horrible and sickening and we're pleased that he is currently locked away." The first court hearing for Douglas is scheduled for February. President Donald Trump won't be moving forward with his nomination of Brett Talley, the controversial candidate for a federal judgeship in Alabama who as a hobby wrote blogs and participated in ghost hunts, an administration official told NPR on Wednesday. Buzzfeed reported on Tuesday that Brett Talley had offered to withdraw from consideration for the U.S. District Court judgeship in the middle district of Alabama. And also this week Republican Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee had asked Trump to rethink his nomination of Talley and one other man to a Texas judgeship, CNN reported. Talley's nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama - a lifetime appointment if he gets confirmed - had already gone through the Judiciary Committee and he is waiting on a vote from the full Senate. Controversy around Talley since he was approved by the Judiciary Committee last month. An online comment he wrote in 2011 surfaced defending the early KKK. He also didn't disclose his wife's top White House job as a potential conflict of interest on his Senate questionnaire. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) Policy Director Todd A. Cox was pleased with Grassley's decision. "We've spent months raising alarms about Trump's unqualified and inexperienced choices for the federal bench, including Brett Talley," Cox stated. "Talley was not only found unanimously not qualified by the nonpartisan ABA, but he also failed to disclose his marriage to the White House Counsel's chief of staff, as well as thousands of online posts he authored, including one defending the 'first KKK.'" Talley has an eclectic resume that includes Harvard, horror writing and hunting ghosts, but his lack of trial experience has drawn disapproval from an influential legal organization. The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary last week unanimously rated Talley unqualified to serve as a federal district court judge. The group has only rated a handful of judicial picks unqualified since the 1990s. Talley was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 2007, but has only practiced for three years, according to the Los Angeles Times. The 36-year-old attorney grew up in Jasper and attended the University of Alabama and Harvard Law School. He was appointed as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year. For almost two years before that, he worked as deputy solicitor general in the Alabama Office of the Attorney General under former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. Talley has published widely, and not just in law journals. He is an award-nominated horror writer who has also published blog posts in support of gun rights. He has also written guest posts for Al.com, including a column in support of his former boss's campaign for U.S. Senate. Talley's questionnaire also included some information about his hobbies - including fiction writing and ghost hunting. In a question about memberships to civic and professional organizations, Talley listed the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, which he belonged to from 2009 to 2010. He has co-written books about haunted sites in Tuscaloosa and the Black Belt. An airplane and 38 pounds of marijuana were seized when Decatur police arrested a California man at a local airport, authorities said. Yevgeny Faktorovich was arrested at Pryor Field Regional Airport when police found the marijuana hidden in the airplane he was flying, Decatur police Chief Nate Allen announced at a press conference today. Faktorovich, a 56-year-old from Sausalito, California, was taken to jail Friday. He was flying a 1967 Beech Craft V35A. Local police went to the airport after getting a tip from federal authorities about the landing. The officers were waiting at the airport to inspect Faktrovich's pilot certification when the plane landed around 3:45 p.m., Allen said. "Faktorovich immediately became extremely nervous and continued to glance back towards the passenger's compartment of his aircraft," Allen said. Officer Greg Rutherford and K9 "Baron" went to the scene, where the dog sensed the smell of marijuana coming from the plane, police said. Investigators searched the aircraft and found a large garbage bag, suitcase, and a black plastic storage bin full of marijuana, Allen said. Each container had 12 to 15 plastic bags of marijuana. The airport is at 22511 Stearman Way. It's in Limestone County, though it's part of Decatur's police jurisdiction. Allen said he couldn't comment on further details of the case. He said although Faktrovich flew into Decatur, police couldn't say whether the suspect intended to sell the marijuana in the local area. Faktrovich was released Saturday from the Limestone County Jail after posting $100,000 bail. Roy Moore has now lost more statewide races than he's won in Alabama, including a Senate contest that seemed within reach. So will the Republican former judge now abandon politics and ride off into the sunset? Probably not. Instead, he's discussing a possible recount -- a longshot at best -- and depicting himself as a victim of false child molestation allegations. A Christian conservative known for never giving an inch in politics, Moore has not conceded the tight race to Democratic opponent Doug Jones. "Part of the problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light," Moore told supporters Tuesday night. "We've been put in a hole, if you will." Assuming the results of the special election stand, Moore could run for governor in 2018. It would be his third gubernatorial bid, after failed runs in 2006 and 2010. He could also oppose Jones in 2020, when his shortened term ends. At 70, Moore is too old under state law to run for judicial office. One other door is wide open. He could return to the Foundation for Moral Law, a private group that he founded and ran from 2003 until 2012. There, Moore traveled the nation speaking to supportive groups and submitted court briefs stating his conservative Christian beliefs in federal court cases. No matter how he proceeds, battling beyond a bitter end would fit a pattern for Moore, who has a history of claiming any detractor is wrong. During the campaign, he argued that the women who came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct decades ago were lying. Likewise, when a state judicial ethics court suspended him last year from his elected position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, he said the court was incorrect to punish him for issuing a court order against same-sex marriage. So was the same court in 2003, when it removed him as chief justice for defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building, Moore said. The Alabama GOP has effectively drawn a curtain on the Senate race, issuing a statement that said it would hold Jones accountable for his votes in Washington. "Now that this race has ended, may this holiday season of peace, love and hope resonate with everyone, regardless of one's political affiliation," it said. Moore, a Vietnam veteran and one-time kickboxer, wasn't ready to move on. "It's not over, and it's going to take some time," he told supporters. It's uncertain whether Moore has a realistic future in elective politics beyond 2017. Many people couldn't bring themselves to vote for Moore following allegations he forced himself upon two young women and tried to date other teenage girls decades ago when he was in his 30s. Others were put off by the fact that Moore seems to have a hard time keeping a job. "As a small business owner, I think it's important to show up for work and do your job and not get fired twice," said Curt Peinhardt, 34, who runs a tutoring business in Tuscaloosa. Although Moore's evangelical base could not propel him to victory in the Senate race, his most fervent supporters are not abandoning him. Before Moore brought up the idea of fighting on, a backer at his election party held aloft framed artwork of the Ten Commandments and waved it at reporters. Another walked about with the image of an American flag held high. Supporters sang hymns before cheering Moore once again and going off into the night. Conflict first touched Arlette and Fane in 2002 when Congolese rebels rampaged through PK12, a community on the outskirts of the Central African Republics capital of Bangui. Arlette was shot in the knee, sustaining a painful wound that would not heal for another decade. Fane was conceived when rebels repeatedly raped her mother, Amzine a constant reminder of a brutal crime. Before PK12 could recover from the atrocities inflicted on the community, a new conflict reached Bangui in 2013. Fighting between Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian Anti-balaka militias forced both Arlette, a Christian, and Fane, a Muslim, from their homes. Filmmaker Heidi Specogna followed Arlette, Fane and Amzine over the course of seven years for Witness: Cahier Africain. This is their story in photos. These days, South Africas media seem to be reporting continuously on a single subject: the governing ANCs 54th national conference that is expected to be held in Johannesburg from December 16 to 20. The coverage of the upcoming conference is mostly focused on what journalists simply call the race, referring to the election of a new ANC president. There are daily media reports on how many delegates appear to have pledged their support to one or the other candidate for the position which South African President Jacob Zuma is due to vacate. Zumas term as state president is due to end in 2019, unless he is removed, for one of his many misdemeanours, before that term ends. When the ANC held its first official conference in 1991, following a 30-year ban that forced the party to operate illegally, it was simply called a national conference. But today, it is widely described as an elective conference. By changing the description of the conference, the media is echoing the ANCs preoccupations and reducing party politics to discussions on who gets elected to this or that position. Back when the party was illegal, and involvement in the ANC was dangerous, people gained little by being part of the leadership in the party. But today, what position people hold in the party relates to the amount of power and resources they and their associates acquire or control. The ongoing contest for access to resources, which come with holding an elected post within the ANC, has resulted in some people resorting to illegality, violence and even murder. Extensive litigation has also arisen from disputes over the elections of executives for provinces and branches. For example, in the case of KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the largest ANC membership, a leadership that has been declared illegal by a court has continued to oversee the election of branch delegates for the national conference. This and similar developments in other provinces may have legal and political consequences that endanger the conference itself. The conference may be cancelled or cut short if accreditation of participating delegates is repeatedly questioned. If the Zuma-supporting forces sense defeat, they may take illegal steps to ensure that the conference does not take place. by Zuma and his loyal supporters may also cause the conference to collapse. The main contest in the conference will be between those who support the incumbent president and those who, while deriving from the same leadership, are less reliable. Zuma wants a trouble-free retirement. He wants to hold on to his wealth, however acquired, and he wants to avoid prosecution. And to achieve this goal, he needs to transfer control of the party to his loyal supporters. If the Zuma-supporting forces sense defeat, they may take illegal steps to ensure that the conference does not take place. That is not difficult to achieve, as individuals who have been vetted for loyalty to Zuma will be in charge of security at the conference. There are numerous ways of sinking the conference, short of outbreaks of violence already seen in some provincial or branch elections. The partys computer system could be damaged, making it impossible to accredit delegates. The venue can be made unusable in multiple ways by flooding, inflicting damage or even dumping faeces (now a fairly common form of protest). It would be logistically difficult to find and speedily transport 5,000 delegates to a new venue. Much blood has been shed in South Africa in recent years as result of intra-ANC violence relating to elections. Candidates or councillors have been attacked, injured or even murdered. The conflict is generally described as factional. This may be true, but these days the factions in the ANC do not represent political tendencies or ideologies. Instead, they represent people loyal to certain individuals or even criminal networks. It has not always been like this. In the past, divisions in the party were mostly related to ideological differences, as with the breakaway of the Pan Africanist Congress in the late 1950s. There were other factional splits and differences, but these were also related to broad issues like the relationship between race and class, socialism and national liberation, or the resort to armed struggle. Given the ethical corrosion of the ANC and its descent from an organisation with a thriving political inner life into violent and criminal practices, can it recover? All of the candidates for the ANC presidency were complicit in Zuma's rule and advance scrappy, uninspiring alternatives. by One needs to be cautious before suggesting that an organisation that has been at the centre of struggles for freedom for over a century will simply disappear. But it is equally difficult to imagine the ANC ever regaining the moral stature and level of trust that it enjoyed when the ban on its activities was lifted in 1990. The future of the ANC is not assured, and even if it survives this conference, it will remain a deeply fractured organisation. There is no leader or group of people with a vision that unifies its members or attracts the enthusiasm of ordinary citizens. All of the candidates for the ANC presidency were complicit in Zumas rule and advance scrappy, uninspiring alternatives. None of these evokes a sense of excitement that once surrounded the ANC. But there are many who are hoping that this gloomy prognosis is proved wrong. South African business leaders long for stability, and many believe the conference may deliver a level of political certainty that would make this possible. Many ANC veterans and other well-meaning citizens believe that if Cyril Ramaphosa, current deputy president of the ANC and the country, were to be elected, the fortunes of the country could be turned around. Ramaphosa has been a successful business person and is credited, possibly with some exaggeration, with knowing how to fix things up. Some, like dismissed finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, even suggest that Ramaphosa, if elected ANC president, would be able to remove Zuma as state president, but that is not easy to do. What all those who vest so much in Ramaphosa ignore is that Zuma remains president of the country and is impervious to a sense of honour. When Thabo Mbeki, the second post-apartheid president of South Africa, lost the support of the ANC leadership, he resigned as state president. But Zuma fears prosecution for fraud and other crimes. He will not follow Mbekis lead and simply walk away from power, as long as these charges loom over him. It may also be that if Ramaphosa is elected, he will not have a substantial majority to back such actions. Some suggest that a package deal, similar to that offered to Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe, could see Zuma go quietly. But there are doubts about the legality of such a deal. Many who respect the law and the constitution do not want to allow Zuma to hold onto his ill-gotten gains or be exempted from prosecution. South Africans want a democratic state, run on the basis of the existing constitution. But South African democracy cannot be restored through deals behind closed doors. It requires re-empowering the citizenry, who have been so badly betrayed. That may be a difficult task, entailing listening to one another in order to rebuild democratic organisation. That will not be achieved overnight. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. New Delhi, India On a cold winter afternoon in the Indian capital, scores of writers, activists and students gathered under a poster of a blood-splattered pair of sandals on Wednesday, holding up placards that said, Not In My Name. The protest came in response to the brutal murder of Mohammed Afrazul, who was hacked to death in the western state of Rajasthan last week by a man who railed against love jihad, a term used by Hindu nationalists to accuse Muslims of marrying Hindu women in order to convert them. The killing was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. The alleged attacker, Shambu Lal, is seen hitting at Afrazul with a machete before dousing his body with kerosene and setting it on fire. At least 11 other people have been killed on apparent religious grounds this year, according to India Spend, a group that tracks hate crimes in the country. That makes 2017 one of the deadliest in recent years for violence against minority groups. Many of the victims were either Muslim or Dalit, people who belong to the least-privileged of the Hindu castes, and the killings were often prompted by rumours over the slaughter of cows, an animal considered holy in Hinduism. The activists who converged on New Delhis Parliament Street blamed what they called inflammatory rhetoric by Narendra Modi, the prime minister, and officials of his governing Hindu nationalist BJP for the rise in killings. Decrying what they called an assault on Indias secular constitution, activists also called for the resignation of Rajasthans state government. Modi and BJP have denied allegations of stoking communal tensions. Al Jazeera spoke to some of the activists fighting hate in India. Saba Dewan, protest organiser We are gathered here today to demand that the guilty be punished. We sincerely believe that Shambhu Lal is not the only one who murdered Afrazul. The Rajasthan government and the Hindu nationalist groups who have made an industry out of hate videos are just as complicit. Shambhu was apparently addicted to watching these hate videos. We demand an immediate dismissal of Rajasthans state government. This murder is an assault on Indias secular constitution and social fabric. It is also an attack on our right to life, liberty and equality, and freedom of religion and belief. We are protesting to tell the government of India that, at least for some people, these hate killings are not acceptable. We want to tell the government you are failing in your duty, protect the people of this land. Rahul Roy, filmmaker We need to stop the politics of hatred. Its very clear now, as more and more reports of killings come in, that the poison of hatred has entered our villages, towns and cities. It is critical that the citizens of India come out on to the streets and demonstrate that they will not be part of this hatred. The government will hopefully respond if they feel there is anger about what is going on now, and that there are a lot of people who do not agree with this politics of enmity and hate. What is new today is that government officials and ministers are making statements that incite hatred. Instead of protecting the Constitution, the state is coming out as a partisan entity and allowing this hatred to spread. Saagnik Paul, activist There is a very toxic environment in India today, mostly owing to the inflammatory statements made by the people in power. If you examine the statements made in the video by the alleged killer, you will find that most of his statements have been made by members of the ruling party. So you know where the killer is getting his inspiration from. He is not a crazy person. This country was founded on certain principles, and we are completely moving away from them right now. It is time for the people to stand up for what this country stands for. I am here to register my protest. We need to start somewhere. Today, if 10 people are standing, they will inspire 100 others, and that is how movements grow. Neena Verma, writer I am here to protest against this hatred and violence. I am also here to raise my voice for humanity, peace, love and harmony. I am here to raise my voice for the legacy that I want to leave to my children. We should pressure the government, as well as a large section of our society. It is with our participation, whether covert or overt, passive or aggressive, that this monster of hatred has grown so much. The hatred is also coupled with fear. We are all in the grip of fear. I think that Delhis current toxic air is not entirely an environmental issue. I feel that Delhi has also become cursed by its toxic politics. And thats not the kind of environment I want to leave for my child. I follow the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore who said: If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone. Banojyotsna Lahiri, activist The recent killing of this Muslim man was heart-wrenching, but what was most shocking to me is the impunity and the confidence with which the killer acted. Instead of hiding his identity, he was flaunting it on social media. That kind of impunity only comes when the entire ruling regime emboldens you. It is people from the margins who are constantly being targeted Dalits and Muslims. This is why we have come together to say Not In My Name. We dont want to be part of this killing machinery. The guy in the video thought he was representing all of Hindu society and that he was fighting love jihad, which to me is a lot of nonsense. We want to affect the public. A lot of people are afraid of speaking up. But the more we protest, the more people will get courage to speak up. This is a much more difficult struggle than fighting corruption. It is becoming more and more difficult to fight communalisation because the hate is being constantly normalised through propaganda, through media, through everything. Emmanuel Macron has made security in the Sahel a top priority, and the US and EU have contributed funds and weapons to African military force in hopes of combatting ISIL and al-Qaeda, but scepticism remains about the new forces effectiveness. French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting a summit for the leaders of five African nations, in the ongoing effort to combat armed groups in the Sahel region. Earlier this year, the governments of Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania agreed to form a joint regional military force known as the G5. But there are fears it is struggling to cope, as groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda push to expand their operations. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are attending a summit in Paris on Wednesday aimed at accelerating efforts to set up a West African force to combat armed groups in the Sahel region, a sign Gulf Arab states are upping their influence in West Africa. However, France, which has some 4,000 troops in the region, has bemoaned that the fighters have scored military and symbolic victories in West Africa while the G5 force has struggled to win financing and become operational. To achieve those ends, French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting among others the leaders of the five participating countries, Germany and Italy as well as the Saudi and Emirati foreign ministers. Thousands of UN peacekeepers, French troops and US military trainers and drone operators have failed so far to stem the growing wave of violence, leading world powers to pin their hopes on the new force. [There] is an operational urgency to regain control of the region and to increase the military effort, a French diplomatic source said. Among efforts to widen support, Macron has pressed Saudi Arabia to take concrete actions and asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to contribute to the G5 when he saw him last month. TARGET DATE OF MARCH 2018 Macron sees the full implementation of the G5 force as a long-term exit strategy for his own forces that intervened in 2013 to beat back rebels in northern Mali. The objective is increased military, political and financial mobilisation, the source said, adding that the aim was to get the 5,000-strong force running by March 2018. Saudi Arabia has now pledged $100m, a major boost for the force, bringing commitments to more than half the roughly $500m the G5 Sahel says it needs for its first year of operations. The UAE is also funding a G5 war school in Mauritania that is due to open in January. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are interested in the Sahel. Getting a seat at the table, being seen as security stakeholders, is something that fits in their respective strategy. Both have ambitions in large chunks of Africa, said Jalel Harchaoui, a geopolitics researcher at Paris 8 University. Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also setting up a separate Islamic military coalition, whose member countries can request or offer assistance to each other. This could include military help, financial aid, equipment or security expertise. Fearing deportation to Turkey or elsewhere, rejected asylum seekers say they feel unsafe going outside in Lesbos. Mytilene, Lesbos Island, Greece When Armine Nenarehs first asylum application was rejected by Greek authorities three months ago, he was overwhelmed with fear of being sent back to Iran. Living in a squatted office belonging to Syriza, Greeces ruling left-wing party, in Mytilene, the 30-year-old Iranian Kurd explained that he spent more than a year in the decrepit and overcrowded Moria camp, a closed facility on Lesbos Island. Nenareh is one of the dozens of refugees who currently, with the support and assistance of local anti-fascist activists, have occupied Syrizas office for more than two weeks. They want to be moved to Athens and put in proper accommodation rather than refugee camps. It was like hell there, and everyone knows it, he told Al Jazeera, recalling living in a small tent with eight others in the camp, which is currently home to more than 6,000 refugees and migrants. I cant explain how bad it was. After making the dangerous journey across the mountainous border region between Iran and Turkey and taking a dinghy across the Mediterranean Sea to Greece, he found himself waiting in seemingly endless queues to see a doctor or get a bottle of water in Moria. We would wake up at six in the morning and wait for a long time, sometimes two hours, for a small bottle of water and a little piece of bread, he remembered. Theres a lot of pressure and tension [in the camp], and fights broke out in the queues often. Although the Greek government has barred asylum seekers from travelling to the countrys mainland, authorities recently announced a decision to move 5,000 refugees and migrants to Athens to ease the mounting pressure on the islands due to overcrowding. Yet, life took a turn for the worse after Nenareh received news his asylum application was rejected, prompting him to leave Moria out of fear of being apprehended by police. {articleGUID} After the refusal came, I knew that [authorities] could arrest me at any moment, he said, adding that he faced problems in Iran due to Kurdish political activism. Although Nenareh declined to provide details about his situation in Iran owing to concern for the safety of his family, watchdogs have decried the Iranian governments treatment of the Kurdish minority, which comprises around 8 percent of the population. Scared to go outside Because of the March 2016 deal between the European Union and Turkey, which aims to stem the flow of refugees from to Europe, asylum seekers can apply in Greece or be deported to Turkey to apply for relocation from there. More than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece due to that deal and a series of closed borders across the Balkan region. In September, Greeces highest administrative court ruled that two rejected Syrian asylum seekers could be returned to Turkey after rejecting appeals against their deportation orders. That decision drew the condemnation of rights groups, including Amnesty International. John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe director, described the decision as an ominous precedent for many other asylum-seekers who have fled conflict and persecution and are currently stranded on the Greek islands. Explaining in a statement at the time that conditions for refugees in Turkey are unsafe, Dalhuisen continued: Until such time as asylum-seekers and refugees can be guaranteed effective protection in Turkey, EU countries must stop sending them there. For Nenareh, life has become doubly difficult while stuck in limbo, dodging authorities and feeling hopeless and out of options. We no longer feel safe going out, he said, alluding to the chance of being arrested and an apparent upsurge in anti-refugee xenophobia on Lesbos. While Nenareh and dozens of others recently occupied Sappho Square, a central area in Mytilene, for more than a month to protest living conditions in Moria, local far-rightists hurled racist insults at them and photographed their faces. {articleGUID} We go and get food, but then we hurry back. We get a pack of cigarettes, but we dont wait around. Its not safe. At the time of publication, Greeces migration ministry had not replied to Al Jazeeras request for a comment. Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas recently defended the EU-Turkey deal against widespread criticism. Despite the difficulties of [the deal], which has gray areas Europe must clarify, it is a useful agreement for Greece, he told the local Ekathimerini daily last month. Nasim Lomani, a member of the Solidarity Initiative for Political and Economic Refugees activist group, said that Greek authorities often provide asylum to members of a family and reject their relatives. Practically speaking, they divide families so that half of the families can move from the island and other cannot, he told Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, the plan seems to be to keep the conditions [on the islands] so bad that others dont come [from Turkey]. Didnt imagine Europe was like this Raza, a 31-year-old ethnic Arab who fled Irans Ahvaz and arrived in Greece six months ago, also had his first asylum request rejected. Ahvaz is the capital of Irans Khuzestan region, which is home to more than three million Arabs who endure systematic discrimination related to politics, employment and cultural rights, according to rights groups. Ahvazs Arabs have also been targeted by mass arrests and executions for their political activism, Amnesty International has observed in the past. We go and get food, but then we hurry back. We get a pack of cigarettes, but we don't wait around. It's not safe. by Armine Nenareh, Iranian Kurdish refugee in Greece Declining to provide his surname for fear of his relatives safety in Iran, he explained that he spent three months in Moria before leaving the camp after his asylum request was rejected. The police [in Moria] made us feel like we were prisoners, he told Al Jazeera. In every way, they didnt treat us well. Although Raza and Nenareh have filed appeals, they are not hopeful that Greek authorities will reverse their decisions. Razas lawyer recently told him there is 90-percent chance his appeal will be rejected, he said. Raza worries about eventually being returned to Iran, where he says his brother died in prison after being jailed for political activities. I have an Iranian passport, I dont want it, he said, adding that he hopes to reach the United Kingdom and obtain asylum there. I want to study, to get married, and Ive never started my life because of our situation in Iran. {articleGUID} Unsure of his fate, Raza said he is exhausted from stress. Authorities have informed him that he has until January 31 to successfully appeal his asylum rejection or leave the country, he said. Waiting is hard, its like a mental prison, Raza added. I had no idea Europe was going to be like this I am scared to return to either Turkey or Iran. For his part, Nenareh no longer wants to stay in Greece. At this point, I would go anywhere where people treat me like a human being, he concluded. Were all [rejected asylum seekers] in the same situation. Air strikes targeting prison among other facilities kill at least 30 prisoners and injure dozens more, local media says. At least 30 prisoners have been killed in Saudi-led air strikes on Yemens rebel-controlled capital, Sanaa, according to local media. Al Masriet, an online publication, reported on Wednesday that dozens of people were also injured in seven raids targeting facilities controlled by the Houthi rebels, including the prison housing about 180 prisoners at the time of the attack. There was no immediate reaction by the Saudi-led coalition. Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in neighbouring Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to push back the Houthi rebels, who are said to be backed by Iran, and restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The war has killed at least 10,000 people and displaced three million, pushing the country to the brink of famine. The confrontation has intensified recently after Houthis killed their former ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Republic of Ireland, an EU member state, is the only country to share a land border with the UK. Outside of the UK, the Republic of Ireland is the country that will be most affected by Britains exit from the European Union, or Brexit. The UK is the second biggest customer for Irish goods, while Ireland, an EU member state, is the only country to share a land border with Britain. The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK, will become the frontier between the EU and an external country after Britains scheduled departure from the bloc on March 29, 2019. At that frontier, EU rules on trade standards, products and free movement of people will end. Why is Ireland so important to Brexit negotiations? Ever since the UK voted to leave the bloc in June 2016, the Irish border has been a key issue in the Brexit negotiations. The freedom to move across was a key pillar of the peace negotiations that ended in 1998 The Troubles, a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland between mainly Catholic Irish nationalists and pro-British Protestants. Currently, joint EU membership means goods and people can travel across the border freely, but there are fears Britains withdrawal will result in customs checkpoints going up along the border. That would provoke anger from Irish nationalists and there have been warnings that it could potentially result in a violent backlash Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein has warned of civil disobedience over any hard post-Brexit border, while Northern Irelands police service has also issued a warning that customs posts would be an obvious target for dissident Irish republican groups. The Irish government has two key priorities in any Brexit negotiations. The first is to make sure the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is as seamless as possible. The second is to ensure there are as few barriers to trade between itself and the UK as possible. Because of the political sensitivity of the Irish border issue, the EU insisted on guarantees from the British government before entering negotiations on a future trading relationship. That granted the Irish government an effective veto over the Brexit negotiations. What has the UK government said about the Irish border? The British government published several so-called position papers on the Irish border during the early stages of Brexit negotiations. These stated that Britain would refuse to put any physical infrastructure, such as customs checkpoints, on the border. They suggested major volumes of trade could be policed through technology screening goods before shipping them and avoiding any product standards checks at the border. However, as the negotiations continued, the Irish government made clear the proposals did not go far enough. Dublin threatened to veto any progress in the talks unless London pledged to maintain similar or identical trading standards between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that would render customs checks unnecessary. On December 8, Britains government gave in to that demand with a pledge to maintain regulatory alignment between the UK and the EU. The last-minute initial agreement with the EU was reached to allow Brexit talks to move to a second phase. Why is the British government in such a difficult position? Britains Prime Minister Theresa May is performing a very difficult balancing act between many different factions in British politics. The ruling Conservative Party has split down the middle over what kind of Brexit Britain should opt for a soft Brexit involves staying in the EU customs union and single market, or a hard Brexit that involves leaving both. Not only that, but her poor performance in this years general election means the Conservatives do not have a majority and rely on a Northern Irish party to pass legislation. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) believes Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK. Early last week, May thought she had reached a deal to solve the Irish border issue by pledging to maintain regulatory alignment only between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as Dublin demanded. But the agreement was torpedoed at the last minute by the DUP, which threatened to stop supporting Mays Conservatives. The fear for the DUP was that the agreement would result in Northern Ireland adopting different trade regulations to the rest of the UK, which would move it economically and symbolically closer to breaking away from Britain altogether. But the episode exposed Mays weakness, according to Irish commentator Eamonn Mallie, who called it shambolic in the extreme. May, he told Al Jazeera, has been held up to ridicule in Europe by the DUP. What have the EU and British government agreed about Ireland? In order to get around the DUPs objections, May has essentially pledged to keep all of the UK in regulatory alignment with the EU. That means, as well as maintaining an open border between Ireland north and south, the region of Northern Ireland will not be treated any differently from the rest of the UK. This, however, angered Brexit supporters who saw withdrawal from the bloc as a way to devise unique trade rules for Britain. Some critics say the deal will bar Britain from signing trade deals with other countries around the world. Others argue it means the UK has to mimic rules made in the EU without getting any say in creating them. Who are the winners and losers? The Irish government says it could not have gained a better result than the EU deal agreed by May. Leo Varadkar, Irelands prime minister, said Dublin had achieved all we had set out to achieve. Not only will a hard border be avoided, but the British governments pledge to mimic EU rules means any trade barriers between the Republic of Ireland and the UK will be kept to a minimum. The most compelling aspect of the Irish governments position is that it is coherent and it is unambiguous, Sam McBride, political editor at the Northern Irish News Letter newspaper, told Al Jazeera. They state that they have essentially got everything they wanted, that is in stark contrast to how the DUP are presenting the deal, which has ranged between claiming it as an outright victory to the DUP leader, saying it was imperfect and they essentially ran out of time, he said. Arguably, those in Britain who wanted a soft Brexit will also be happy with the deal. The promise to maintain regulatory alignment is the closest possible thing to staying in the blocs single market and customs union, and will increase the chances of Britain retaining good access to its marketplace. But for those who say Britain must leave the single market and customs union, the deal might be a disappointment many of them have already accused May of capitulating to EU demands. Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party and prominent pro-Brexit campaigner, branded the prime minister Theresa the Appeaser. Members of her party also called for an assurance that Britain will have regulatory autonomy. The worry for these critics is that the arrangement outlined in the deal will bar Britain from coming up with its own trade regulations and signing free trade deals with other countries. As Fearghal McKinney, a former legislator in Northern Ireland who runs the Brexit Border Blog, put it: It looks like a defeat for the wilder Brexiteers and an indication that Britain will put most or all of its eggs in the basket of its economic relationship with the EU. An explosion at one of Europes main gas distribution hubs has reduced Italys energy supply by 30 percent. Italy has declared a state of emergency after an explosion and fire at one of Europes main gas distribution hubs in Austria. The blast at Baumgarten on Tuesday morning left one person dead and injured more than a dozen others. And it has forced the closure of the entire facility, significantly disrupting gas supplies from Russia into Europe. Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan reports. The chair of the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) voted to end the 2015 Open Internet Rules on December 14. The 2015 order provided the US with net neutrality rules that said all internet service providers (ISP) must treat all data the same, without blocking or throttling certain data streams. Detractors say the end to net neutrality will cause an increase of media centralisation, censorship and a rise in costs. But the move will also deepen the digital divide between the wealthy and low-income communities, putting these people at a disadvantage in the race towards a digital future. Whos being affected by this? Its poor people, people of colour, Nyasia Valdez, a 22-year-old with Detroits Equitable Internet Initiative in Southwest Detroit, a predominately Latino area also known as Mexicantown, told Al Jazeera. For Detroit, where roughly 40 percent of the population is without internet at home either broadband or mobile the divide is deep. The wrong side Research by EveryoneOn, a nonprofit that works to close the digital divide, a term that refers to social and economic inequality in terms of internet access, agrees with Valdez. Low-income and minority Americans disproportionately find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide, EveryoneOns website states. {articleGUID} The economic crisis in 2008, followed by Detroits bankruptcy in 2013, made ISPs decide the investment was not financially sound, according to Meghan Sobocienski, director of Grace in Action Collectives, one of the anchor organisations working with the EII. EII aims to foster greater internet access for Detroit residents by creating wireless networks and intranets within communities in the city. These intranets, private networks shared among a group, are created by linking 50 households, who are then able to share news, files and communicate among themselves. Valdez says this form of communication has become integral to her and many others communities in the city, which has seen an increasing decline in public services since the economic downturn. If something were to happen in Detroit, if theres a water shut-off or a fire or a natural disaster, [the intranet] is used as a communication system to spread the news, she said. The EII also installs routers for wi-fi access in these neighbourhoods, which has created new opportunities for entrepreneurs in Southwest Detroit who have started their own businesses, whether its carpentry, laundry or food businesses, Valdez said. Pro-competition or increased profits? Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, said on November 22 that an end the governments heavy-handed approach to internet regulation is a pro-competitive move that will help businesses and consumers. Kathy Grillo, Verizons senior vice president and deputy general counsel, agreed in a November statement, saying the Open Internet Order undermined investment and innovation, and posed a significant threat to the internets continued ability to grow and evolve to meet consumers needs. However, experts told Al Jazeera Pai has not presented evidence of greater competition and that a more expensive and limited internet experience, meaning more profits for ISPs is a possibility if net neutrality ends. Detroits poverty level sits at nearly 40 percent, the same as the rate of disconnected households, according to US Census data. Valdez said making the internet more expensive would further economically disadvantage these workers, and by extension, the entire community: It would be so devastating and further exacerbate the inequality thats already there. {articleGUID} Chike Aguh, the CEO of EveryoneOn, told Al Jazeera that increasing poverty after net neutralitys end is a concern not only for Detroit, but for cities and towns across the US. We have over 62 million Americans without internet at home. Thats about 20 percent of the American population, which is crazy for the country that invented the internet, Aguh said. The primary reason these 62 million people arent connected is the price of internet. Cost is 60 to 70 percent of it, Aguh said. Then, concerns surrounding privacy, lack of training in the use of the internet and the users overall experience follow cost as barriers to internet usage. Aguh said closing the digital divide is about making the internet affordable, accessible and providing an experience as good as wed want for ourselves and our own families I think there are very few people who would argue that net neutralitys end would make for a better user experience. Internet connectivity is important for alleviating poverty. EveryoneOns research shows that 94 percent of job recruiters use online means of finding candidates for work. Aguh explained that minority and lower-income populations in the US experience joblessness at higher rates. With so many jobs recruiting online, the problem of unemployment is made worse. The first step Aguh said the vote to end net neutrality is the FCCs first step in an effort to put the poor at a disadvantage. The Lifeline programme, an initiative that began under conservative President Ronald Reagan, has offered subsidies on phone service to low-income since 1985. The FCC agreed to expand the discounts to broadband internet connections in 2016. {articleGUID} This November, the FCC decided to transform the current $9.25 subsidy provided to low-income families in the US and the extra $25 for Native Americans living on Tribal Lands, where only 37 percent of households have broadband access, according to a 2016 Government Accountability Office (GOA) study. The transformation would cap Lifelines budget, block national certification of ISPs for use in the programme and end the subsidy to resellers, telecommunications companies that sell plans which piggyback on major networks such as those of AT&T or Verizon and serve rural and Tribal areas, among other changes. The justification used for the rollback was another GOA study that found fraud and waste in Lifeline. Aguh recognised these concerns, but said none of these changes would actually fix these problems. Furthermore, Lifelines expansion would aid an estimated 40 million people in connecting to the internet. Take that away, those are over 40 million people who will suffer, Aguh concluded. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation calls on international community as it rejects Trumps dangerous declaration. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, rejected the US stance as dangerous and called on the international community to follow in its footsteps. At a summit held in Turkey a week after US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as Israels capital, the group of Muslim leaders on Wednesday called on all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital. In a statement, the OIC added that the 57-member group remains committed to a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution. It also called on the UN to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and declared Trumps administration liable for all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision. [We] consider that this dangerous declaration, which aims to change the legal status of the [city], is null and void and lacks any legitimacy, the group said. Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeeras senior political analyst, said the summit in Istanbul highlighted that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims continue to be committed to peace. Now, Muslim countries in addition to a whole lot of others that are allied with the Palestinian cause will recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, he said. And those Islamic countries are ready to sever relations to punish any one country that follows in the footsteps of the United States in recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Situation of instability Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Yousef al-Othaimeen, the OICs secretary general, rejected the US decision and urged Muslim leaders to work together to present a united response to the move. The OIC rejects and condemns the American decision, he said. This is a violation of international law and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world. It will create a situation of instability in the region and in the world. Speaking before al-Othaimeen, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the US had disqualified itself from future Israel-Palestine peace talks after proving its bias in favour of Israel. Founded in 1969, the OIC bills itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world. Trump announced on December 6 that the US formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy. The decision violated international law, according to Abbas. We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process, they have proven their full bias in favour of Israel, he said. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine. Palestinians envisage East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel, meanwhile, says Jerusalem, which is under Israeli occupation, cannot be divided. The comments by Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) were seen as his strongest yet on the issue. Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Ramallah, said Palestinians were very frustrated after seeing many agreements and many condemnations but nothing really changing for them on the ground. When you ask them who they hold responsible for that, they say certainly the PA, their own leadership, she said, citing Palestinians disappointment about the disunity among their different political factions. Abdel-Hamid also said that there is a belief among many Palestinians that Trumps Jerusalem move couldnt have happened without the green light of Saudi Arabia. The Istanbul summit was attended by just over 20 heads of state. Saudi Arabia, the host of the OIC headquarters, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. Others, including Egypt, deployed their foreign ministers. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces in no uncertain terms that the PA will not accept or allow for the #US government to play a role in mediating a peace deal. His strongest statement since @realDonaldTrump decision on #Jerusalem #OIC pic.twitter.com/nQsoh4Y73k Jamal Elshayyal (@JamalsNews) December 13, 2017 The extraordinary OIC summit was called for by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following Trumps announcement. Speaking at the meeting, Erdogan accused Israel of being a state of terror and said the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel had been rebuked by the international community. It is null and void except Israel, no country in the world has supported [this decision], he said. Anyone who walks a few minutes in the streets of Jerusalem will recognise this city is under occupation. Al Jazeeras Mohammed Adow, reporting from Istanbul, said Erdogan was seeking to unite the Muslim world and come up with a concerted response to the US move. He faces a daunting task, our correspondent said. In the hall that he was addressing, there were countries who are not willing to go beyond rhetoric opposition at the expense of sacrificing their relationship with the United States, he said. Trumps move has provoked a wave of protests from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in recent days to denounce his decision. Congress approves Dutertes request to prolong military rule until end of 2018 in Mindanao region. The Philippines Congress has approved President Rodrigo Dutertes request to extend martial law until the end of 2018 in the countrys southern region of Mindanao to totally eradicate ISIL supporters and communist fighters. Wednesdays move was approved by 226 legislators in the House of Representatives against 23 objections. In the Senate, it had 14 supporters and four opposers, according to Rappler, a local online publication. Duterte appealed for the extension on Monday in a letter to legislators, saying it was necessary to contain an ongoing rebellion by supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and the communist terrorists (CTs) and their coddlers, supporters, and financiers. Al Jazeeras Jamila Alindogan, reporting from the capital Manila, said on Monday that some feared that Duterte might be rehearsing a nationwide enforcement of strongman rule. The issue was raised by the legislators on Wednesday during the four-hour deliberations. The presidential office told them the Duterte administration wanted unlimited peace not unlimited martial law. Duterte initially imposed military rule across Mindanao in May. It was limited by the constitution to 60 days, but in July, a five-month extension was issued until December 31. Hundreds of gunmen had rampaged through Marawi in what authorities said was part of a campaign to establish a Southeast Asian caliphate for ISIL. A US and Chinese-backed military campaign took five months to defeat the group, with the conflict claiming more than 1,100 lives and leaving large parts of Marawi in ruins. Although Duterte declared in October that Marawi had been liberated and military chiefs said most leaders of the group had been killed, authorities have continued to warn that others who escaped are regrouping and recruiting in Mindanao. A total of 262 reporters jailed in 2017 as media crackdown continues, Committee to Protect Journalists finds. The number of journalists jailed reached a record high this year amid an aggressive crackdown by government authorities. A total of 262 reporters were put behind bars for their work in 2017, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) revealed on Wednesday. It is shameful that for the second year in a row, a record number of journalists are behind bars, said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon in a statement on Wednesday. Countries that jail journalists for what they publish are violating international law and must be held accountable, he added. For the second, successive year, Turkey emerged as the country with the highest number of reporters imprisoned, at 73. The crackdown on Turkish press is part of a wider government campaign under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following a failed military coup in June 2016. China and Egypt followed Turkeys lead, with 41 and 20 cases, respectively. #FreeAJStaff The report comes as Al Jazeera reporter Mahmoud Hussein approaches one year of detention in an Egyptian cell. Hussein, an Egyptian national based in Qatar, was detained and questioned by Egyptian authorities on December 20 after travelling to Cairo for a holiday. He is accused of incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos. Al Jazeera has rejected the allegations against him and urges his unconditional release. Besides Hussein, other Al Jazeera reporters have also come under fire. A social media campaign with the hashtag #FreeAJStaff was launched by the Doha-based network to draw awareness of its detained journalists. Over the past few years, Egyptian authorities have arrested several Al Jazeera employees, raising concerns over media freedom in the country. Journalists are being targeted for only being journalists and performing their job professionally. by Baher Mohamed, Al Jazeera journalist In May 2016, a Cairo court sentenced a former editor-in-chief of Al Jazeera Arabic, Ibrahim Helal, to death, charging him in absentia with endangering national security. Al Jazeeras Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste along with seven colleagues outside Egypt were accused of spreading false news during their coverage of the aftermath of the military overthrow of then-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the year they were taken into custody. Mohamed and Fahmy spent 437 days in jail before being released in 2015. Greste spent more than a year in prison. I believe this is the darkest era when it comes to press freedom and journalists, said Al Jazeeras Mohamed, who rejoined the networks headquarters in Doha in October 2015. Journalists are being targeted for only being journalists and performing their job professionally, he added. Dangerous time In its annual census, the US-based non-profit CPJ found that nearly three-quarters of journalists are jailed on anti-state charges, many under broad and vague terror laws. According to the media rights group Reporters Without Borders, North Korea ranks the lowest in terms of press freedom. Iraq and Syria were the deadliest countries for reporters in 2017, CPJ numbers revealed. Politics reporters, who comprise 87 percent of those jailed, are most at risk of being jailed. It is certainly a dangerous time to be a journalist, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, where throwing journalists behind bars seems to be a form of censorship for which countries pay a small price politically, Robert Mahoney, CPJs deputy executive director, told Al Jazeera. {articleGUID} Journalists and media observers believe the limitations imposed by heads of states prevents reporters from doing their jobs effectively. The political situation in some countries has deteriorated and the tolerance for criticism has decreased, said CPJs Mahoney. Authoritarianism is on the rise and journalists are paying the price, he added. Despite the fear of crackdown and intimidation by authorities, many are still determined to continue doing their jobs. Myself, Ill always chase the truth. Ill not stop being a journalist, said our correspondent Mohamed. There are hundreds of thousands of brave journalists who will continue to do the job even better than me. Follow Saba Aziz on Twitter: @saba_aziz Rwanda calls on France to declassify evidence relating to the 1994 genocide, which killed more than 800,000 people. French government and military officials were involved in supplying weapons to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and obstructing attempts to bring them to justice, a new report alleges. The Muse Report, written by US law firm Cunningham Levy Muse, was commissioned by the Rwandan government as part of an investigation into the role of French officials in the genocide that killed more than 800,000 people. The report, published on Tuesday, examined information already publicly available including witness testimonies. It alleges French officials provided sanctuary to genocide suspects and allowed those responsible to meet at the French embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, where they began to form the interim government that ruled the country during the mass killings. Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said the report revealed a damning summary of conduct by French officials in Rwanda during the 1990s and thereafter. {articleGUID} Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe Rwandan minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report showed Frances long-term involvement with the genocidal forces. We have information, mostly from France, which shows how the government of France and French officials were involved before, during, and after the genocide in support of the government that committed genocide, he said. The report has been passed to the French government in an attempt to persuade it to declassify all evidence related to the mass murder. Political analyst Gatete Nyiringabo told Al Jazeera that doing so is crucial. [French officials] claim they have nothing to hide, that there is no wrongdoing the evidence is pointing to the opposite. The only way to find out is to have all the evidence that is classified declassified, Nyiringabo said. A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said on Wednesday that France was committed to prosecuting those involved in the genocide, calling it one of the worst atrocities of our time. The Rwandan government has accepted the reports recommendation to launch a full investigation into the role of French officials. Mushikiwabo said Rwanda is seeking better collaboration with French authorities in the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability. {articleGUID} The report also criticised a 1998 inquiry by a French parliamentary commission, which found no evidence of collaboration in the genocide, as not being fully transparent. While welcoming its call for clarity, Human Rights Watch has criticised the Muse Report for failing to examine the role of the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front, the party of current President Paul Kagame, which took power after the genocide. Relations between Rwanda and France have been strained since the genocide. Last year, Rwanda published a list of 22 senior French military officers accused of helping to plan and carry out the killings. Prior to this, France reopened an investigation into the plane crash that killed Rwandas then-president Juvenal Habyarimana. The crash triggered the violence as fighters from the Hutu majority blamed minority Tutsis for Habyarimanas death. What we want now as a government for our people and for France itself is truth and accountability for those who committed genocide in Rwanda, said Nduhungirehe. Salman reiterates Kingdoms commitment to Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as capital in address to Shura Council. Saudi Arabias King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has reiterated the Kingdoms stated commitment to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem as their capital, Salman said on Wednesday in response to the US decision last week to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there from Tel Aviv. His televised address to the Kingdoms Shura (Consultative) Council in Riyadh on Wednesday came as the worlds main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul, Turkey. At the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the world to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. {articleGUID} Saudi Arabia, which hosts the OICs secretariat, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. The Kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian peoples legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Salman said. Salman said US President Donald Trumps decision represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions. Salman added: I repeat the Kingdoms condemnation and strong regret over the US decision on Jerusalem, for its relinquishment of the historic rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem. Talks with Abdullah His speech came a day after welcoming Jordans King Abdullah II to his palace to discuss the latest regional developments, particularly those relating to Jerusalem and the dangerous repercussions of the US move, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). During the meeting, the two rulers also asserted the necessity to intensify and coordinate the Arab, Islamic and international efforts in order to protect the historic and firm rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, in addition to the importance of finding a just and last solution for the Palestinian Cause in accordance with the international relevant resolutions and Arab Peace Initiative, the SPA report said. {articleGUID} Arab states have put pressure on Jordan to accept the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and a heavily stripped-down version of the Palestinian state, according to Jordanian politicians and analysts. Wafa Bani Mustafa, a Jordanian MP, told Al Jazeera recently that the two main antagonists are the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has taken a dominant role. Jordan sided with the Palestinians and rejected Trumps Jerusalem decision. Bin Salman and the United Arab Emirates are trying to strangle Jordans economy until it agrees to their terms, submit to their leadership in the region, and agree to Trumps so-called ultimate deal, Bani Mustafa said, referring to Trumps as yet unexplained new plan to bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Russian leaders announcement of partial troop exit has little military significance and is about sending a political message, analysts say. On a brief and surprise stopover, Russias President Vladimir Putin landed in Khmeimim airbase in Syrias Latakia early on Monday. Addressing Russian troops before him on the tarmac, an upbeat and triumphant Putin claimed military victory in the war-torn country and announced that a significant part of the deployed force could now return home. It was the first visit to Syria by a Russian head of state since 2010. Yet, the declaration wasnt the first of its kind. In March 2016, Putin had similarly announced a pullout of the main part of his soldiers, who have been backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2015. In the months that followed, however, Moscow ramped up its military presence once again, before declaring a similar scaling down at the end of last year. As in both of those instances, Putin said on Monday that Russias Khmeimim airbase and Tartus naval facility would continue their normal operations. This led many to downplay the military significance of the Russian presidents latest declaration. This is not a withdrawal, since Russia is keeping its air and naval bases, George Alam, a political analyst in Lebanons capital, Beirut, told Al Jazeera. And Putin did say, if terrorists come back, we will strike them. So that means Russias military strength is still present in Syria. US troops in Syria Alam said Putins orders may have a different aim: to send a strong message to the US. Describing the decision as political, Alam said it was Russias way of asking the international community to pressure the US to withdraw its troops from Syria. He added: Russia is bothered by what it sees as the illegal presence of US troops. Last week, the Pentagon disclosed that there are about 2,000 US soldiers in Syria, four times as many as it had been publicly acknowledged before. Army Colonel Rob Manning, Pentagon spokesman, said US troops would remain in Syria, even as the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group nears its end. The United States will sustain a conditions-based military presence in Syria to combat the threat of insurgent-led insurgency, prevent the resurgence of ISIS and to stabilize liberated areas, he said. The Syrian government, however, has accused Washington of coming up with excuses to maintain a presence in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northeast. Last month, Jim Mattis, the US secretary of defence, had also said his country wont just walk away from its efforts in Syria. New stage Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said that the US had found itself marginalised on the diplomatic front, and a military presence would give it more leverage in future negotiations on Syrias future. Over the past year, UN-sponsored Syria talks in Geneva have been increasingly overshadowed by a separate process in the Kazakh capital of Astana led by Turkey which supports some rebels groups and Russia and Iran, both allies of Assad. Russia is pushing for a separate peace process to that of the United Nations, said Khodr. It is hoping to host what is known as the Syrian Congress on National Dialogue that will bring together the Syrian government and the opposition early next year. Saying that a new stage had been achieved in Syrias crisis, Putin said last month that the proposed congress will look at the key questions on Syrias national agenda. 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, he told reporters after a meeting with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Message to Iran Russia began its Syrian intervention in September 2015, after the Syrian government appealed for military help against rebel groups. The military deployment helped turn the tide in favour of Assads ailing forces. Russias air campaign, however, has been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths. The number of Russian soldiers in Syria is not known, but US estimates have previously suggested it varies from 3,000 to 6,000 military personnel on the ground. An independent Russian military expert recently told AFP news agency that as many as 10,000 soldiers and private contractors could have participated in the war. In November, Assad thanked Putin for his support and for saving his country. Elie Hajj, a political analyst, said Putins order for a partial withdrawal was also a message to his own ally, Iran, amid pressure by the US and Israel to curb Tehrans influence in the region. The message to Iran is that there is no need for you to stay permanently in Syria there is no need to further expand your presence, he told Al Jazeera. The big military operations are over and it is time for a political solution. Reporting by Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr Government rejects possibility of direct negotiation with opposition until calls for Syria without Assad are over. The Syrian opposition has said it wants direct talks with the government, as it attends a fresh round of meetings in Geneva to discuss political transition. Al Jazeeras Maan Khader, reporting from the Swiss city, said that the Syrian opposition perceives what was left of the Geneva talks as an opportunity to engage in direct negotiation with the government. The opposition pledged to take the matter seriously in remarks after the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, conveyed the governments refusal to engage in direct negotiations until the topic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads fate was off the table. De Mistura mediated between the two sides, and proposed to move discussions on the Syrian constitution and possible elections to a conference scheduled to take place in Russias Black Sea resort of Sochi, early next year. But when asked of the upcoming event, opposition spokesperson Firas al-Khaldi told Al Jazeera that the group was not interested in discussing the Sochi conferences agenda. He further pointed out that the group would only partake in the Sochi conference if its agenda included a plan to achieve political transition, to guarantee the return of Syrian refugees, and to look into the question of detainees in government-held prisons. Geneva talks are expected to last until December 15. Latest battles in Syria On the ground in Syria, at least three people were killed in government forces shelling of the banks of the eastern Euphrates in al-Shaafah town area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The war monitor also said there were violent clashes in the eastern countryside of Deir Az Zor city. There was no information available on the number of casualties. East of the Euphrates River, the Observatory monitored violent confrontations between the Syria Democratic Forces an alliance backed by the United States and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), in which the latter lost control of a village on the eastern bank. The Observatory said ISIL now controlled only 17 villages and towns east of the Euphrates. In the aftermath of the war in Syria and against a weak field, Russian president poised for 2018 re-election. Moscow, Russia During a surprise visit to the Khmeimim airbase in western Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a withdrawal of Russian servicemen and told them they were going home victorious. They did not just prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime that controlled an ever-shrinking territory and was nearing collapse when the Russian air strikes began in September 2015. They defeated Russias own mortal enemies, Putin said on Monday. By helping the people of Syria to protect their statehood, repel attacks of terrorists, you have dealt a crushing blow, a defeat to those who directly, brazenly and openly threatened our country, he said in televised remarks played dozens of times on Russian television networks. For many in Russia, his speech sounded and looked like a well-staged start of an election campaign a bring-the-boys-back-home pledge that helped countless politicians boost their approval ratings. Just six days before the Syria speech, Putin said he would seek a fourth presidential term in the March 2018 election. Before an election campaign, it is right to announce the return of Russian forces back home, Sergey Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst and former legislator with the ruling United Russia party, told Al Jazeera. No competition Putins election victory seems certain. His traditional competitors who ran against him since 2000 the famously uncharismatic, communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and the eccentric nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, both in their 70s are widely seen as nominal, insignificant figures whose participation will legitimise Putins re-election. They are part of the so-called systemic opposition a handful of political parties with a presence in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, that rarely stand up against the ruling behemoth, United Russia. Putins real rivals are effectively excluded from the campaign. Anti-corruption crusader Alexey Navalny who organised some of the largest anti-Kremlin rallies in post-Soviet history is barred from running because of his suspended jail sentence. {articleGUID} Even such an obscure, marginal figure as Tatyana Sukhareva, a radical, gay feminist whose campaign was limited to a couple of YouTube videos, has been charged with fraud and is awaiting trial behind bars. Ksenia Sobchak a socialite journalist once dubbed Russias Paris Hilton and daughter of late St Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, who started Putins political career in the early 1990s is running too. Some believe she made a secret pact with the Kremlin, and her campaign is designed to divide the opposition vote. A 2018 calendar titled The entire year with the president featuring Putins photos and quotes is sold throughout Russia already. Yet, Moscows triumph in Syria remains one of the most powerful means to electrify voters, amid a deepening economic crisis caused by Western sanctions over Putins boldest and most catastrophic political move. From Donetsk to Damascus The State Duma moved the election to March 18, 2018, the fourth anniversary of Russias annexation of Crimea. Pro-Kremlin media dub it Crimeas return to Russia, and it has raised Putins approval ratings to a stratospheric 88 percent. But the annexations political and economic fallout proved disastrous. Western sanctions hobbled Russias economy that had barely recovered from the 2008 economic meltdown, and the roubles value plunged in late 2014 after oil prices collapsed. Pro-Russian separatists carved out small peoples republics in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, but soon succumbed to chaotic, dog-eat-dog strife between themselves. The July 17, 2014 downing of a Malaysian passenger plane over Donetsk killed 298 people, and once again, Russia became the Wests arch-enemy. It lasted as long as it was supposed to, it ended with the results that were planned. by Alexey Mukhin, head of the Center for Political Information By 2015, Putin urgently needed a new international victory and found a new playground for his political games, in war-ravaged Syria. Even the staunchest pro-Putin stalwarts see Moscows air strikes as an attempt to divert international attention from Ukraine. There was an obvious attempt to isolate Vladimir Putin, to completely isolate the Russian leadership, but after the Syrian campaign began, it became impossible, Markov said. Saving Assad Russias involvement in the Syrian war was an unexpected game-changer. It reversed the momentum in the conflict and helped Assad maintain a grip on power. From Russias viewpoint, it also put former President Barack Obamas administration in an awkward position, since it shared the Kremlins goal of defeating Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and al-Qaeda, but resisted the larger goal of saving Assad. Moscow deployed dozens of bombers and fighter jets and thousands of servicemen. Within weeks, they were conducting up to 60 sorties a day, bombing Assads opponents of all stripes and killing hundreds of civilians with incendiary and bunker-buster bombs. Russias defence ministry released almost daily black-and-white videos of bombings taken by cameras on reconnaissance drones. The videos, coupled with massive propaganda on Kremlin-controlled television networks, kept Putins ratings well above 80 percent and boosted the self-esteem of ordinary Russians. Fifty-seven percent of Russians consider their nation a superpower two times more than in 2016, when only 26 percent thought so, state-run pollster VTsIOM said in March. In 2003, three years into Putins first presidential term and 12 years after the Soviet collapse, only 12 percent of Russians shared the idea. The self-esteem of Russians keeps growing and this self-respect is mostly related to the active role and important position of Russia as an international player, VTsIOMs head Valery Fedorov said in a statement. {articleGUID} After the disastrous, decade-long Soviet-Afghan war that ended acrimoniously in 1989 and contributed to the USSRs collapse, the Syrian campaign was Russias first major military operation outside the former Soviet Union. For Putin, this is an ideal war, Alexey Mukhin, head of the Center for Political Information, a Moscow-based think-tank, told Al Jazeera. It lasted as long as it was supposed to, it ended with the results that were planned and, of course, Vladimir Putin will use the factor during his election campaign, he added. The Kremlin also managed to avoid so far turning the Syrian operation into a quagmire similar to the Afghan war, where at least 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and tens of thousands wounded and psychologically traumatised. It showed that Russia can learn its own mistakes of the Afghan conflict, Georgi Asatryan, an independent Moscow-based expert on the Middle East and Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera. Russia learned that modern military campaigns, including counterterrorism campaigns, have to be waged with minimal interaction, without boost on the ground, he said. Economic woes Meanwhile, Russias oil-addicted economy was going downhill because of the sanctions, cancerous corruption, an aging workforce, and the Kremlins failure to start structural reforms. Additional US sanctions slapped on as punishment for Moscows alleged interference in the 2016 presidential vote targeted oligarchs and companies close to Putin. As Russians drown in debt and witness dramatic cuts in healthcare and education programmes, amid corruption scandals involving top officials, the Kremlins propaganda machine revs up and needs the Syrian war more than ever. Television shows create an image of Russia as a besieged fortress, and Putin as a global peacekeeper fighting ISIL and maintaining the legally elected Syrian government. Many average Russians buy the idea. Honestly, I support Putin because after all, he maintains peace, Viktor Yegorov, a retired resident of the central city of Tver, told Al Jazeera. Let us have pensions of 8,000 roubles [$135], but there is no war going on. Follow Mansur Mirovalev on Twitter: @mirovalev Secretary of state says US is ready to talk anytime with North Korea as tensions escalate after latest missile test. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the United States is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without precondition. Tillerson, speaking on Tuesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, stated the US cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea but called on the two countries to begin a dialogue. Were ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and were ready to have the first meeting without precondition, he said. Its not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your [nuclear weapons] programme. Tillerson added that North Korea has too much invested in their nuclear weapons programme and said US President Donald Trump is realistic about that. Following the secretary of states speech, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders reiterated that Trumps views on North Korea remain unchanged. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way North Koreas actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea, she added in a statement to reporters. Trump has been openly sceptical of diplomatic efforts to engage with Kim in recent months, saying on Twitter on October 1 that Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man (Kim Jong-Un). Trump threatened to impose major sanctions on North Korea after the communist country test-launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile yet on November 29. The missile reached an altitude of 4,500km, with analysts estimating it could fly a distance of 13,000km potentially giving North Korea the ability to strike any part of continental United States with its nuclear weapons. Trump who has previously threatened to totally destroy North Korea tweeted his displeasure after a phone call with President Xi Jinping of China, Pyongyangs increasingly perturbed, main ally. Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017 Tillerson said the US president would like to see China stop supplying oil to North Korea in order to drive the government in Pyongyang towards diplomatic talks. The last time the North Koreans came to the table, it was because China cut the oil off, he said. Three days later, the North Koreans were at the table talking. And the president feels were really at that stage. So hes putting a lot of pressure on the Chinese to do more with respect to oil. Al Jazeeras Adrian Brown, reporting from Beijing, said diplomacy regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula is happening at multiple levels. A delegation from Russias defence ministry has arrived in Pyongyang today, and South Koreas president is in China now, he said on Wednesday. [The South Korean president] is here for one reason only and thats to talk about North Korea, Brown said, adding discussions will focus on how diplomacy can be brought to bear to try and rein in the government in Pyongyang. Both China and South Korea believe that diplomacy can work, they dont believe in the military option what has brought these two leaders together is the spectre of war on the Korean Peninsula. The United Nations and North Korea agree that the current security situation in the Korean Peninsula is the most tense and dangerous in the world today, according to a statement made by Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, on December 9. Analysts say Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital is a mistake with international consequences. Washington, DC President Donald Trumps decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is a blunder driven by domestic US politics, but with international strategic consequences, Middle East analysts and former US diplomats say. The US president, shortly after coming into office nearly a year ago, had raised some hopes of a renewed Middle East peace process by holding a series of meetings with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Washington, Bethlehem and New York. But last week, Trump announced that the US is formally recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital and will begin the process of moving the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv, raising doubts from the Palestinians, as well as Middle East analysts about the US role as a broker of a potential peace deal. It has injected anxiety, pressure, anger, resentment all over because not only is this a legal or political matter, this is the politics of identity, Husam S Zomlot, head of the PLO General Delegation to the US, said in a call with reporters in Washington on Monday. This has touched on a nerve, Zomlot added. Any US peace plan sidelined Trumps ability to introduce a comprehensive peace plan, if not foreclosed, is likely sidelined for the foreseeable future, experts and diplomats say. {articleGUID} The key question, analysts say, is how Palestinian leaders will react. Early indications are that they will press their case with the international community. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Wednesday, said the US had disqualified itself from any future peace talks. We shall not accept any role for the United States in the peace process, they have proven their full bias in favour of Israel, Abbas said. Yousef al-Othaimeen, OIC secretary-general, said the group rejects and condemns the American decision. Aaron David Miller, a former US negotiator and now a Middle East expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, said that this is about as a grim a situation from the Palestinian perspective as I have seen in a long time in terms of what their options are. Even though Trump, in his statement, did not rule out a future resolution of Jerusalems status, the problem is that Israel asserts sovereignty over both East and West Jerusalem and continues to create realities on the ground intended to deny the Palestinians a capital, Miller told Al Jazeera. {articleGUID} All of that combines to create an imbalance of power which I would argue strongly predisposes this issue in favour of the Israelis, Miller added. Trump has, in effect, decided its more important to expand, enhance, deepen and strengthen the US relationship with Israel than it is to advance the very peace process that he has raised expectations about, said Daniel C Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel, now a professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University. Major earthquake The diplomatic reaction worldwide has been largely, though not universally, negative. A meeting of the Arab League in Cairo condemned Trumps move. EU foreign ministers meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Brussels reaffirmed European support for a two-state solution with Jerusalem seen as the eventual capital of both Israel and Palestine. If you look at experts, they are all debating the impact of, is this going to be a disaster, or is this going to be tolerable, Shibley Telhami, a pollster and professor at the University of Maryland, told Al Jazeera. No one is saying this is really going to advance peace. {articleGUID} Trumps advisers on the Middle East are inexperienced, living in a bubble and have no independent way of making an assessment about consequences, Telhami said. The Trump administration appears to have bought Netanyahus argument that the Arabs no longer care about Jerusalem and will only pay lip service to the issue, the anger will die down, and Arab governments will go along because they want to do business with Trump, Telhami add. If in fact another Intifada is unleashed, then all bets are off because then you have another round of violence that disrupts priorities and forces Arab rulers to take positions and maybe distance themselves from Trump. If it doesnt happen, or it happens on a smaller scale, the thing to watch for would be whether or not Abbas would find a way to get back to the negotiating table. {articleGUID} Hady Amr, former special envoy of Trumps predecessor Barack Obama to the Israel-Palestinian negotiations, said that Trumps decision is a major earthquake in the Palestinian public. People are mad as hell, deeply insulted, Amr, who is now a senior fellow for Middle East policy at Brookings, told Al Jazeera. Trumps move has triggered widespread protests across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. At least two Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more injured by Israeli forces during the protests. Demonstrations took place in major cities throughout Asia, the Middle East and North Africa as well. Security forces fired tear gas at protesters outside the US embassy in Beirut, and hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated in front of the US embassy in Amman. Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iranian support, are calling for resistance and confrontation. Strategic moment Trump has provided a convenient excuse for the PLO to declare the US is not an honest broker, renege on its commitments and to take their fight to the UN and the International Criminal Court, Amr said. Asked by Al Jazeera, what the PLO leadership may do, Zomlot said Palestinians would reevaluate the US role as a mediator and seek forums at the UN and elsewhere. This is a strategic moment, he said. Abbas will meet European Union foreign affairs ministers in Brussels in January. EU Foreign Affairs Representative Federica Mogherini said in a press statement after meeting with Netanyahu that the EU would seek to restart the Middle East peace talks through a convening of the quartet including the UN, Russia and the US, perhaps expanded to include Egypt and Jordan. Plight of Palestinians takes centre stage after US decision to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel. US President Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv has reignited the Palestinian cause, according to analysts. Breaking with years of US policy, Trump announced the move on December 6, drawing international condemnation and sparking a wave of heated protests around the world. No country currently has its embassy in Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem has long remained a sensitive topic and one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Trumps decision has touched the nerve of the Arab people and the backbone of the international law, said Salman Abu Sitta, chairman of the Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad. The declaration has ignited the peoples feelings about Palestine and Jerusalem as its symbol, but it also exposed those who ran into the despicable position of the so-called normalisation, he told Al Jazeera, speaking from Kuwait. Jerusalem, home to holy religious sites, has particular significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews. West Jerusalem was seized by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from historic Palestine, referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba (catastrophe) when Israel was officially founded. Israel subsequently occupied and annexed the eastern part of the city after its military victory in the 1967 war, but its control over East Jerusalem has never been recognised by the international community. Palestinians want occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel says the city cannot be divided. Huge early Christmas gift With the issue of Israel and Palestine on the back burner of diplomacy in recent years, Trumps decision comes as a godsend for the people of Jerusalem, explained Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist and columnist. Donald Trump gave Jerusalemites and Palestinians a huge early Christmas gift, he told Al Jazeera. The 300,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem who have been political orphans received more attention than they could have dreamed of, he added. It by Ghada has certainly unified the ordinary Arab and Muslim citizens to demand their government to take a much more determined action to help the Palestinian cause and get away from the US.] The international community has never recognised Israels claim to the entire city. Ghada Karmi, a British-Palestinian author and research fellow at Exeter Universitys Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, said the move has given Israel free license to take over the whole of Jerusalem, but has also brought the Palestinian struggle into the spotlight again. Its had a very unending consequence, she told Al Jazeera from London. Its indeed returned the issue of the Palestinians and of Jerusalem onto the world stage. Karmi added: It faces the official Arab position with a real question: how do they want to proceed from now on? They have to start thinking again. An extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday regarding Jerusalem. The Jeddah-based group rejected and condemned the American decision. This is a violation of international law and this is a provocation of the feelings of Muslims within the world it will create a situation of instability in the region and in the world, Yousef al-Othaimeen, OICs secretary general said. Bold steps need to be taken A series of emergency sessions were held in the days after the US decision and the issue has been high on the agenda of diplomatic meetings and international summits. Several members of the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to roundly condemn the move at the UN headquarters in New York. The Arab League also slammed Trumps decision at an emergency session of foreign ministers from 22 Arab states in Egypts capital, Cairo. But Arab and Muslim leaders have been criticised for not taking concrete steps against Trumps decision. Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas said there was no strong Arab official response and urged bolder steps. Embassies were not closed, ambassadors were not expelled and relations were not cut off or even frozen, he said in a speech delivered by Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on his behalf on Tuesday, adding that rejecting the decision is not enough. Many believe Arab nations are too compromised in their relationship with the US to take any effective action. The Arab regimes issue statements and declarations for public consumption only, said Al Jazeeras senior political analyst Marwan Bishara. In reality, they are too weak or too divided to do anything about it. {articleGUID} However, others feel there is increasing pressure on the diplomats from ordinary citizens. The US move has certainly unified the ordinary Arab and Muslim citizens to demand their government to take a much more determined action to help the Palestinian cause and get away from the US, said Karmi. Diplomats and experts have long vouched for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Afte Trumps announcement, there is growing consensus that such a solution is effectively dead. This has exposed the fallacy of the so-called peace process, said Abu Sitta of the Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad. Some also point towards a one-state solution now as the only option. This last action on the part of the American president by giving the whole of Jerusalem to the Israelis is obviously the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the two-state solution, said Karmi. Follow Saba Aziz on Twitter: @saba_aziz British politicians vote in favour of giving parliament the final say on any withdrawal deal with the European Union. British politicians have voted to give parliament the final say on any withdrawal deal with the European Union, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May on the eve of a crucial summit in Brussels. MPs on Wednesday voted for an amendment to demand parliament pass a separate bill to approve any final agreement signed with the bloc. May lost by a narrow margin of 309 to 305 votes. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. The prime minister had promised legislators a meaningful vote on the UKs deal for its departure from the EU, or Brexit. Rivals, however, said that the pledge did not go far enough. Doesnt stop Brexit Nina Schick, an expert on European politics, said the outcome of the vote was expected, as several members of parliament from Mays Conservative party, which lacks an overall majority, had earlier declared that they would vote against the government. What the Conservative rebels wanted is to have enshrined in the EU Withdrawal Bill, which is the active legislation whereby all of the EU law is going to be transposed into UK law, a commitment that there will be a separate bill in which to enshrine the withdrawal process, she told Al Jazeera. Schick noted that the vote in parliament doesnt actually stop Brexit. This is a very symbolic protest by Conservative MPs who dont believe in the governments current course on Brexit. What theyre trying to do by defeating the government is to show that the power of parliament is sovereign over the government. A spokesperson said the government was disappointed by the vote, adding that this amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. The defeat, however, comes at a difficult time for May. On Thursday, the prime minister will attend a two-day EU summit where leaders are expected to approve the terms of a preliminary Brexit deal, which were agreed to last week after months of painstaking negotiations, before moving to the second phase of the talks. May has been under pressure ever since holding a snap election in June, which resulted in the Conservatives losing their governing majority and negotiating a deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The Conservatives rely on the DUP, which has 10 seats in parliament, to pass legislation. A political leader of Yemens Houthi rebels has met members of late Ali Abdullah Salehs party, days after the killing of the ousted president by the group that controls the capital, Sanaa. On Wednesday, Houthi-controlled media on Wednesday showed photos of a meeting between Houthi political chief Saleh al-Sammad and Yahya al-Rai, assistant secretary-general of the General Peoples Congress (GPC) and a speaker of parliament. The meeting in Sanaa was also attended by Hisham Sharaf, the Houthi minister of foreign affairs. Later in the day, al-Sammad also met other members of Salehs GPC, in a move perceived to be a Houthi attempt to restore an alliance with the party. The Houthis, who protested against Saleh during the countrys 2011 uprisings, formed a shaky alliance with the long-time leader and his party against the government of the internationally recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in 2014. This cooperation broke down completely in recent weeks as Houthi fighters and Saleh loyalists clashed. Two days before he was killed on December 4, Saleh publicly stated his willingness to engage in talks with Saudi Arabia, which has been leading a military coalition against the Iran-aligned Houthis since March 2015. Last month, Saudi Arabia imposed a total blockade on the impoverished country after a rebel missile was shot down near the kingdoms capital, Riyadh, exacerbating an already grave humanitarian crisis. Amid mounting international pressure, Saudi Arabia began to allow some aid to enter the country in the last week of November. Despite this easing, the situation in Yemen remains severe, according to the UN. Splits within the GPC had emerged when Saleh formed an alliance with the Houthis; many party members then shifted their loyalty and support in line with Hadi. GPC Secretary-General Aref Zouka was killed shortly after Saleh and was buried on Saturday in his hometown. With Zouka gone, the GPCs future remains uncertain, with only a handful of leadership figures remaining. Some, including Yasser al-Awadi are missing. According to reports, several GPC leaders have been captured by the Houthis and remain in their custody to pressure the party into maintaining an alliance with them. On Tuesday, a joint statement by the governments of Britain, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates urged Houthis to stop targeting political groups in Yemen. They expressed outrage at reports of indiscriminate killings and intimidation by the Houthis in Sanaa, including against members of the GPC and their families, the statement read. But prominent figures within the GPC, such as Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr and his deputy, Rashad al-Alimi, are expected to take the lead in the near future. Millions of Yemenis are struggling with hunger and disease, including the worst cholera epidemic on record, which has infected about one million people. On Monday, a senior UN official called for parties involved in the war to allow sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access for Yemenis. The war in Yemen, now in its third year, has killed thousands and led to one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. More than eight million people are a step away from famine, according to the UN. There were two big losers last night as the election returns came in from Alabama. You already know about Judge Roy Moore and the GOP Senate majority, but consider Al Franken. He now is going to be forced to live up to his promise to resign the seat when he spoke on the Senate floor and refused to admit having done anything wrong. It was obvious then to all who have observed Franken over the years that this was a P.R. ploy and that once Roy Moore was seated in the Senate after his presumed election, Franken was going to stay in the Senate and pose as a righteous fighter for the female of the species. Franken loves being a big-shot senator and is known for throwing his weight around. But now that Judge Moore will not be traveling to the U.S. Capitol as anything other than a tourist, poor Al is left holding the bag, with no plausible reason to renege on his promise to resign in the coming weeks. Even worse for Al, Minnesota's governor, Mark Dayton, is set to announce today the replacement for Franken, even though he hasn't formally resigned. Christine Rousselle: From the Star Tribune: Gov. Mark Dayton will announce his choice to replace Sen. Al Franken at a Wednesday news conference, according to a statement from his office. Franken announced last week his intention to resign after allegations of improper conduct toward more than half a dozen women. The Wednesday news conference will end days of speculation about whom Dayton would send to Washington and also whether the person intends to run for the office or be a caretaker until the special election in Nov. 2018. According to Minnesota Public Radio, who had some of the first reports about Franken's resignation, five likely choices for Franken's replacement are Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, Attorney General Lori Swanson, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), State Senator Melissa Franzen, or Alan Page, a former Minnesota Supreme Court justice. If Ellison were appointed, he would be the first Muslim member of the Senate. If Dayton appoints Ellison, he will gain plaudits from progressives. But he may also hand the Senate seat to a Republican. Former senator Norm Coleman, whom Franken defeated on the basis of votes found in a car trunk, is said to be anxious for a shot at returning to the Senate. Outside his Minneapolis congressional district, with a large Somali population, Ellison does not hold a lot of appeal. As for Franken, he will be seeking whatever comfort he can find. The zero-accountability Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been caught falsifying documents to shake down a business, a whistleblower says. According to a report in the Washington Free Beacon: A former employee of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is calling for an investigation after accusing managers of falsifying documents to impose fines on a payday lender. Cassandra Jackson, a former CFPB examiner in the southeast division, sent a letter last week to Attorney General Jeff Sessions also accusing managers of "widespread racism and gender discrimination." Jackson said her superiors at the CFPB asked her to falsify documents during her investigation into a Texas-based payday lending company, Ace Cash Express. "During the course of this examination, I was asked to change, remove, and otherwise falsify documents connected with this examination," Jackson said. Frankly, this is shocking, criminal behavior, not at all different from a dirty cop caught planting evidence on an innocent person in a bid to get a conviction. The CFPB just made it up about ACE Cash Express, a payday lender and a vital resource for the poor, in order to shake money out of the company, the eyewitness says money that, according to many previously published reports, goes to finance leftist organizations. Did the CFPB have some sort of perverse incentive to do this? Some ACORN-style group its people wanted to give a birthday present to? If so, this is how corruption works. Did it want revenge for some campaign donation? Again, corruption. Or was the deed just the work of ideological leftists, who are the only people permitted to work for that government agency, according to this insider report, cited here? This, too, is corruption. It calls to mind the questionable legitimacy of this organization. Rammed through Congress during the heady Obama salad days around 2011, the organization is illegitimately "independent" of Congress and its power of the purse, with a bottomless budget bankrolled by the Federal Reserve. It's an entity without any accountability to the taxpayers, even as it purports to represent them. Not surprisingly, it has grown big and strong based on this model. The net result is the white-hot corruption we see here in this case if the whistleblower is right. With no one keeping a look over this agency's shoulder, it can do anything it wants, including inventing the truth. Sound Orwellian? It is. Shut this despicable agency down. Violence in Rio is a major problem, especially if you are an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a report by Sebastian Smith: While the fighting in Rio de Janeiro's crime war is done by commando-style police and heavily armed drug traffickers, a growing number of the victims look quite different: innocent, joyful children like Maria Eduarda. Firefights erupt in densely packed, poor favela neighborhoods, leaving thousands of people with nowhere to hide each time the shooting, involving Kalashnikovs and other military grade rifles, begins. AFP has investigated the stories of those caught in the middle, like 13-year-old schoolgirl Maria Eduarda, in a new multimedia report: "Stray Bullets: violence and broken lives in Rio." With around 60,000 murders a year, Brazil is among the world's most dangerous countries. Rio, host of the 2016 Olympics, has long been one of the hotspots. But as AFP's investigation highlights, stray bullet incidents add a cruel twist to the wider crisis. People are shot outside church, in parks or in restaurants, in daytime or at night. Since the cheap construction of favela houses will not necessarily stop a bullet, even staying at home can be dangerous. As Mr. Smith points out, victims of stray bullets often go unreported. Nevertheless, 60,000 murders is a mammoth number. Rio de Janeiro has a population of 6.5 million, second to Sao Paulo. It is also the sixth largest city in the Americas. Not long ago, a Brazilian friend introduced me to the Rio Times, an English newspaper. My friend said the reporting on crime stories would shock me, and it did. For example, a story from this week tells us that 126 police officers have already been killed this year. The violence in Rio has had a major consequence in state prisons, where gangs are constantly at war with each other. Just recently, the federal government sent troops to control the violence in many of the worst prisons in the world. As my local friend told me recently, they kill each other in Rio or at the state prisons! Very bad for Rio, a city once known for samba rather than stray bullets! PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. The first 90 texts between adulterous FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have been released by the Justice Department, revealing bias so severe as to disqualify the work performed by both government employees (who still are receiving paychecks, so far as anyone can tell) concerning President Trump and Hillary Clinton and any politician of any stripe, for that matter. Even the New York Times and NBC News, both reliably anti-Trump, are giving the story play. The Times summarizes: Senior F.B.I. officials who helped investigate Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign last year wrote in text messages that Hillary Clinton "just has to win" and described a potential Trump victory as "terrifying," according to texts released Tuesday night. A top counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok, exchanged the messages with Lisa Page, a senior F.B.I. lawyer. Some messages criticized Mrs. Clinton's team, the Obama administration, Congress and other Democrats. But the two appeared appalled at some of Mr. Trump's comments during the campaign and feared that he would politicize the F.B.I. ... On July 27, Ms. Page wrote, "She just has to win now. I'm not going to lie, I got a flash of nervousness yesterday about Trump." That text message was sent after the Clinton investigation had been closed. Days later, the F.B.I. began investigating possible coordination between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. The two F.B.I. officials also criticized Mr. Trump as the Russia investigation was continuing. They told internal investigators that their comments were influenced by the troubling evidence they were seeing about Mr. Trump's campaign ties to Russia, according to a person familiar with the internal investigation. Was the "troubling evidence" contained in the tainted oppo research "dossier"? Special Counsel Mueller removed Strzok from his team last July, after becoming aware of the texts, but made no mention of it at the time, and the public learned of the removal only after the texts were leaked to the New York Times earlier this month. Last week, FBI director Wray continued the pattern of stonewalling by refusing to discuss the texts. Both of the illicit lovers are career bureaucrats, and it is obvious they are not committed to impartial justice. They are, in fact the poster children for the Deep State. Update: The Washington Examiner offers more examples of outrageous bias than the NYT or NBC: One message from Page to Strzok is a link to a story about Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, with the text "What an utter idiot." In November 2015, Page said she hopes House Speaker Paul Ryan "falls and crashes in a blaze of glory," to which Strzok replied: "Yes, And me too. At some point the Rep party needs to pull their head out of their *ss. Shows no sign of occurring any time soon." ... Days after the exchange March 2016 Page texted Strzok, "God trump is a loathsome human," to which Strzok replies, "Yet he may win." Moments later, Strzok asked whether Trump would be a worse president than Sen. Ted Cruz, to which Page says, "Trump? Yes, I think so." ... During the Republican National Convention, the two goaded each other to flip it on. "TURN IT ON, TURN IT ON!!! THE DOUCHEBAGS ARE ABOUT TO COME OUT," Strzok messaged Page on July 19, 2016. Page replied moments later: "And wow, Donald Trump is an enormous d*uche." "Hi. How was Trump, other than a douche? Melania?" Strzok replied roughly eight hours later. "Trump barely spoke, but the first thing out of his mouth was 'we're going to win sooo big.' The whole thing is like living in a bad dream," Page replied back. The two go on to say they hope Trump's "disorganization comes back to bite him hard in November," with Strzok saying he feels "Panicked" about the election. Strzok and Page also traded barbs about other Republican leaders, calling Ben Carson "crazy-ass grain storage pyramid Ben Carson," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "a turtle," and Ryan "a jerky." "This campaign is like watching a train wreck happen over and over again," Page messaged Strzok on July 21, 2016. The lovebirds were nasty toward some Dems as well: Just a week later, Strzok called Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders supporters "stupid*ass" and "idiots," to which Page said she "really really" likes former Vice President Joe Biden. But it is clear that the venom toward Republicans and conservatives was consuming: U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council think-tank that the United States stands ready to talk with the North Koreans "with no preconditions." Meanwhile, the White House says there has been no change in the position of President Trump on North Korea nukes. Fox News: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has softened America's stance on possible talks with North Korea, calling it "unrealistic" to expect the nuclear-armed country to come to the table ready to give up a weapons of mass destruction program that it invested so much in developing. Tillerson said his boss, President Donald Trump, endorses this position. Tillerson's remarks Tuesday came two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard a milestone in its decades-long drive to pose an atomic threat to its American adversary that Trump has vowed to prevent, using military force if necessary. "We are ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. And we are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think tank. He said that the North would need to hold off on its weapons testing. This year, the North has conducted more than 20 ballistic missile launches and one nuclear test explosion, its most powerful yet. "Let's just meet and we can talk about the weather if you want to. We can talk about whether it's a square table or a round table if that's what you are excited about," Tillerson said. "But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards." Although Tillerson said the goal of U.S. policy remained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he added it was "not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They've too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well." Whatever happened to "fire and fury"? The fact is, there will be no talks between the U.S. and North Korea about their nuclear and ICBM programs. If Kim Jong-un has made one thing clear, it's that there is no turning back. North Korea is a nuclear power and will settle for nothing less than a recognition of that reality. Tillerson appears to be saying the same thing. And since the U.S. will never accept a nuclear North Korea, there will never be serious talks to resolve the crisis. Kim can play this hard-line game because China has less influence with North Korea than perhaps was previously believed. China has already cut off most of its trade with the North including refusing to sell coal, a major Chinese export to the Kim regime. It's hard to see what other leverage the Chinese could bring to bear that would change Kim's mind. So what's described as a "softening" of the U.S. position is nothing of the sort. It's the kind of meaningless diplomatic gesture made before the bombs start falling. Obviously, the Democrat pollsters were right about their projected win of Doug Jones over Roy Moore. The relentless attacks by self-righteous Democrats and their willing accomplices in the liberal drive-by media to paint Roy Moore as an immoral pedophile worked like a charm. Regardless of the facts concerning any of Moore's accusers' stories, the constant drumbeat of sexual assault by Roy Moore seemed to be enough to wear down many of his supporters while energizing the opposition against him. What's even more significant for the Democrats is that Doug Jones won in a highly red state that Donald Trump won by well over twenty points. This is huge for the Democrats moving forward to the next presidential election and will play the biggest part in their strategy to defeat President Trump. So it's no coincidence that President Trump's sexual assault accusers re-emerged just days before the Alabama Senate election. And it's no coincidence that many Democrats came out and demanded that President Trump resign. The battle for the presidency in 2020 for the Democrats has begun. The strategy to defeat President Trump in 2020 will be exactly what defeated Roy Moore last night. Democrats and their willing accomplices in the liberal drive-by media will continue to paint President Trump as a serial sexual abuser from now until election night in November 2020. You can bet there will be many more women coming out soon with allegations against President Trump, and regardless of the facts of any of their stories, they will be given constant exposure by the liberal media outlets and the full support of every Democrat in office. Because this strategy is really all the Democrats have, they will be relentless and do whatever it takes to pull it off even if it means sacrificing more of their own along the way. Their ace in the hole is the drive-by media which they know will be all in on this strategy. Democrats know that this strategy has a good chance to work because after a couple of years, the American people will be so tired of the constant attacks against President Trump that enough of them will just want it to stop. And the only way to get it to stop will be to get rid of President Trump. Unfortunately for conservatives, the 2020 presidential election will play out in America just as it did in Alabama. I saw firsthand the same strategy work in my home state of North Carolina against a moderate Republican governor. While it wasn't sexual misconduct allegations against Gov. Pat McCrory, there was a constant barrage of negative and mostly false political allegations that were espoused at a weekly liberal gathering in Raleigh called " Moral Mondays ." Those gatherings were covered every week like the Second Coming and were reported religiously by every liberal media outlet. By the end of McCrory's first term, people were so sick of the partisan bickering that they wanted it to stop. It worked, and McCrory was narrowly defeated and Trump even won N.C. Tania Amisi jailed: Express turns crook into a story about immigration If Tania Amisi is Queen of the Scroungers, are her subjects also scroungers? And where might they be found? The Express leads with Tania Amisi, 27, who on Monday began a four-year prison sentence for defrauding 22 councils out of at least 244,000. She raked in the cash by claiming benefits on properties she did not live in. To put the tin id on it, she was living in a swanky flat in Chelsea Harbour. Congo-born Amis, who came the UK as a 12-year-old asylum seeker (she was granted indefinite leave to stay) after her father was murdered, would have most likely gone to prison earlier, having pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud. But she legged it. The law caught up with her in Paris in July. On Monday the judge at Southwark Crown Court told her: You had a flat in Chelsea paid for by your fraudulent activities and your son had all the material benefits he could want. Once discovered, you could not face up to the consequences and you fled to mainland Europe until you were brought back. So how do you tell the story? The BBC told it in a story called Britain on the Fiddle: Over in the Express, theres no word on why Amisi was granted asylum. The paper punctuates its front-page story with a Daily Express Vote (page 5) in which readers are invited to respond to the question Should Britain be more careful about who get asylum? which begs another question not asked by the paper: how can you best vet a 12-year-old whose dads been murdered for any future crimes she may commit? To help Express readers reach an answer, on page 12 the paper delivers the editorial: Fraudster made fortune from soft-touch Britain. Amisi is the pregnant mother-of-three, who came to Britain from the Congo as an asylum seeker. When she was 12. She didnt come when she was pregnant and take Britain as a soft touch by pointing to her kids and her bump. This is a story on benefits fraud. But the Express makes immigration its thrust. The London Evening Standard mentions Amisis place of birth not once. The Guardian doesnt report on the story at all. But to the Express she is the shameless former asylum seeker. Why cant she just be a crook? Paul Sorene Posted: 13th, December 2017 | In: Key Posts, Money, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Airstrike on Houthi rebel prison kills over 30 in Sanaa 'Attack by Saudi-led coalition' (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, DECEMBER 13 - At least 30 prisoners in a detention center run by Houthi rebel fighters in the Yemeni capital were killed on Tuesday by airstrikes conducted by the Saudi-led coalition against the shiite rebel forces, reported Al Jazeera on Wednesday. Sources from the Houthis and local media say that the bombings occurred on Tuesday night and that dozens were injured. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel reported that all these killed in the airstrikes were detainees of the prison, located in a rebel camp in the eastern part of the capital. The UN has said that 8,670 people have been killed and about 50,000 injured in the civil conflict between the internationally recognized government under Saudi-linked president Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi and Iran-allied Houthi rebels. The war has aggravated the already dire living conditions of the Yemeni population and over 20 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. A cholera outbreak has led to 2,200 deaths. The fighting, flanked by airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis, have been stepped up in recent days after the Shia rebels killed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had previously been allied with them, after he said he was prepared to switch sides and work alongside Saudi Arabia. (ANSAmed). ANSAmed - Tomorrow's events in the Mediterranean (ANSAmed) - ROME, DECEMBER 13 - These are some of the main events scheduled for tomorrow in the Euro-Mediterranean area: BRUSSELS - Meeting of the EU-AU-UN task force on migrants. BRUSSELS - EU, Commissioner Johannes Hahn keynote speech at the EUROMED Invest final conference: Four years boosting Business in the Euro-Mediterranean region. BRUSSELS - Decision expected on extradition of dismissed Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. (ANSAmed). Holy Sepulcher guardian refuses to receive US vice president Urges Orthodox patriarch and Custos of Holy Land to do same (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 13 - The Guardian of the Keys of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Adib Joudeh al-Husseini, has said he will refuse to meet with US vice president Mike Pence on his visit next week. He was quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying that "I will not receive Pence" due to "my absolute refusal of President Trump's decision on Jerusalem". Husseini called on Greek Orthodox patriarch Theophilus II and Custos of the Holy Land Francesco Patton "to boycott Pence's visit". The Muslim family Joudeh al-Husseini has held the keys to the Holy Sepulcher for at least 800 years alongside the Arab family Nusseibeh, which is responsible for the opening of the doors of the holy site and the entrance of worshippers. (ANSAmed). ISTANBUL - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recognized East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine in a special summit held in Istanbul on Wednesday. In a joint statement at the end of the summit, the OIC said that it declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and invites all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital". The 23-point declaration condemned US president Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as "dangerous", "illegal" and "illegitimate" and called for the "end of the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine". Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, (Abu Mazen) speaking at the meeting said Palestinians "from this point forward" will no longer accept any US mediation role in the Middle East peace process. "We must clearly recognise that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state," Mahmoud Abbas said. "Our people expect a lot from this meeting," he added. He also said in the face of US President Donald Trump's "unilateral decision" to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, "the whole world reacted in unison from east to west, including those countries that were once on America's side, such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia". "Trump wants to give Jerusalem to Israel, as if he were donating one of the states of the US, as if he were the only person with the authority to decide," he said. The White House replied to the Palestinian leader: "The president remains as committed to peace as ever", an offiicial said. "This rhetoric, which has prevented peace for years, is not surprising as we anticipated reactions like this. We will remain hard at work putting together our plan, which will benefit the Israeli and Palestinian peoples," the White House official said. OIC countries reiterated their support for the two-state solution, praised the "international consensus" against Trump's move as "a message of strong support for Palestinian rights and their just cause". The summit had been called by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to come up with a joint reaction. It also declared in its final statement that if the UN Security Council will not act against Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, OIC countries would denounce this "violation" before the UN General Assembly. Palestinian right to East Jerusalem as capital, Saudi king US ally urges political solution (ANSAmed) - ROME, DECEMBER 13 - Palestinians have the right to make East Jerusalem their capital, king Salman bin Abddul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia - key ally of the US - said on Wednesday. "The Saudi kingdom has called for a political solution for regional crises, first of all the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian population's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital", the king said in speaking at the Saudi Shura (Advisory) Council, according to Dubai-based Gulf News. King Salman reiterated "the kingdom's condemnation and its deep regret over the US decision on Jerusalem, which shows a clear prejudice against the historic rights of the Palestinian population on Jerusalem, which have been guaranteed by pertinent international resolutions and supported by the international community". The Saudi state-run news agency SPA said that the Saudi king had also said that the Palestinians have "the right to their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". The statement is in line with the final declaration of the Istanbul summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). (ANSAmed). Siala says Amnesty 'exaggerated', Libya 'grateful to Italy' Foreign minister comments on Amnesty attack on EU governments (ANSAmed) - MOSCOW, DECEMBER 13 - Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala said Amnesty International's recent report calling European governments, and in particular Italy, "aware accomplices of torture and abuse on tens of thousands of migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in horrible conditions in Libya" is "very exaggerated". "The situation on immigration in Libya is very complicated. We are very satisfied with the help that we're receiving from Italy to improve conditions in detention camps," he said. "We are asking all countries for help, because Libya can't become a large camp for undocumented migration," he said. "If they can obtain asylum or a job they can go to Europe, some of them can find work in Libya, and they are welcome, others will have to go back home," Siala said. "We are asking the EU to put pressure on these countries so that they will take their citizens back," he said.(ANSAmed). Special summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul Convened by Erdogan, with leaders including Abu Mazen and Rohani (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, DECEMBER 13 - The heads of state and government and high political representatives of the 57 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will gather on Thursday in Istanbul for a special OIC summit convened by Turkey in its current role as rotating president. The summit is aimed at defining a "common position" for the Muslim world regarding the recent recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The sessions will be presided over by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called the summit "a turning point". In recent days, Erdogan has been harshly critical towards Trump, accusing Israel of being a "terrorist state and child killer" and Washington as complicit in its "bloodshed". Among the leaders present at the summit will be Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, (Abu Mazen) - who already held a closed-door meeting on Tuesday evening with Erdogan - as well as Iranian President Hassan Rohani, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, and Jordan's King Abdullah II. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco are represented by their respective foreign ministers, while Saudi Arabia sent its minister of Islamic affairs, Saleh bin Abdulaziz al Alshaikh.(ANSAmed). The event was hosted in Paris in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macaron and a number of leaders around the world and was held to coincide with the two years anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement. Dr Mohammed Al Ahbabi, Director General of the UAE Space Agency took part in the meetings with heads of the space agencies' to discuss climate monitoring from space. This including areas such as greenhouse gases, water resource management and the use of satellites during natural disasters. The sessions highlighted the need to share more data, to have a more interoperable data model and build long term observation plans. At the end of the meetings, the space agencies adopted a common declaration called Paris Declaration towards a Space Climate Observatory in the presence of the French Minister of Higher Education and scientific research. The UAE Space Agency was one of the agencies that signed the new declaration. The declaration proposes the creation of a space climate observatory (SCO) based on systematic observation of essential climate variables (ECVs), data validation and intercalibration, a strategic architecture for integration of space and in-situ data and models, and a free and open data policy. As part of his speech during the meetings, Dr. Al Ahbabi commented: The UAE has engaged in the fight against climate change and listed this issue amongst its priority targets to maintain the national and international sustainability and growth. The UAE has advanced capabilities to monitor Earth through a set of satellites that will contribute to the world's supply of data and information. Most notably we have Khalifa Sat, Dubai Sat 1 and 2, satellite monitoring C02 by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center The Dubai Municipality and the Agencys mini-satellite to measure methane in cooperation with the Masdar Institute. The Agency is also currently conducting an advanced study to launch a mini-satellite to monitor the phenomenon of climate change in cooperation with the French Space Agency CNES, added Dr. Al Ahbabi. Dr. Al-Ahbabi highlighted that the Agency's participation in these meetings supports its mission to exchange experiences and learn about the latest specialized practices in space research. It also plays a role in identifying new relevant technologies and regulatory policies in cooperation with a wide range of international organizations operating within the global space sector. The Director General also stressed that the UAE is keen to continue to coordinate with various international stakeholders to enhance cooperation within the space sector. This comes as part of the Agencys strategic objectives to develop national capacities and raise awareness about space, its peaceful uses and its impact on the international community. French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the summit with world leaders to mark two years since 195 nations adopted the climate-rescue Paris Agreement, with the focus this time on raising the necessary capital to implement the agreements goals. The report said that Jio is targeting to improve its financial performance before the IPO. New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani is looking for an initial public offering (IPO) of mobile operator Reliance Jio Infocomm, after spending $31 billion on its roll out. Reliance Industries is holding internal discussions about preparing to list Jio as soon as late 2018 or early 2019, said an agency report on Tuesday quoting sources. The report said that Jio is targeting to improve its financial performance before the IPO. These discussion on Jio listing are at an early stage, and theres no certainty they will lead to a transaction. Jio has accumulated more than 138.6 million subscribers, making it the fourth-largest operator at the end of September. Jio, which is wholly-owned by Reliance Industries, launched a free-for-life call service last year to capture the market share Indias telcos are still burning cash amid a brutal competition for market share. Mr Ambanis aggressive strategy to capture market share has led to rivals consolidating. Bharti Airtel this year agreed to absorb Tata Groups mobile-phone business, while Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular announced they would merge their local operations to create the nations largest wireless operator. Rating agency S&P in its report in August had said that it expects a consolidation in the Indian telecom sector, with the top-three telcos eventually controlling 75 per cent to 85 per cent of industry revenues. It could however take another 12-24 months until the dust settles, which means that margins and cash positions will be further challenged before they get better, it had said. Jio reported a net loss of $42 million in the quarter ended September 30, though the business made a profit before interest and taxes over the period. Modi said that the government is taking steps to improve the condition of banks. New Delhi: Prime minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill is being brought to protect the interest of the bank consumers, even as he termed non-performing assets (NPAs) of state-owned banks as the biggest scam of the UPA government. Rumours are being spread regarding FRDI. The government is working for securing interest of customers and protecting their deposits, but contrary news is being spread, Prime Minister said at the 90th Annual General Meeting of Ficci. Launching an all out attack against the Congress before second phase of Gujarat elections on Thursday, Mr Modi said banks were pressured during UPA rule to give loans worth thousands of crore to select industrialists. This noise over NPAs of banks is the biggest liability handed down by the economists sitting in the previous government, he said. Mr Modi asked what organisations like Ficci were doing when people sitting in the previous government were pressurising banks to give loans to select industrialist. People sitting in previous government knew, banks knew, corporates knew and organisations linked with markets also knew wrong thing is happening, he said. These NPAs are the biggest scam of the UPA government. It is a bigger scam than commonwealth, 2G and coal scam. This in a way was a loot of people money by those in the (UPA) government through select industrialists, the Prime Minister said. He sought to know whether an attempt was ever made to wake up those who silently watched the entire loot. Mr Modi said that the government is taking steps to improve the condition of banks. He also questioned as to why the UPA government did not think of bringing a legislation like the RERA to protect the interests of home buyers and to enhance transparency in the real estate sector. Mr Modi said that implementation of GST was an old demand of the industry and wanted to know what FICCI was doing to promote it among various players. He pointed out how even after GST was reduced on restaurants people were complaining on social media that the restaurants had raised prices of their menu denying them benefit of lower taxes. He said that government was taking steps to prevent such things but what Ficci was doing on it. Mr Modi noted it takes time to implement a system like GST which is replacing a 70 years old way of doing things. He asked Ficci to handhold SMEs and make efforts to ensure that the dues owed to them by big companies are cleared expeditiously. Can you do something to clear the MSME dues lying with big companies on time. There are rules in place, yet it is true that dues of small enterprises are generally stuck with big firms, Mr Modi said. SMEs are scared of demanding their rightful dues stuck with big enterprises in the fear of losing business. If institutions like Ficci make efforts to solve this problems of SMEs, the economy will get a new pace. The NCLT had allowed the government to name new directors on the board of the debt-ridden firm to protect the interest of homebuyers. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directing government takeover of the management of Unitech Ltd, which owes thousands of crores of rupees to homebuyers. A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the December 8 order of the NCLT on a petition filed by Unitech challenging the same. The NCLT had allowed the government to name new directors on the board of the debt-ridden firm to protect the interest of homebuyers. The Bench granted the stay after Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal submitted that the government should not have moved the NCLT when this court was seized of the matter. In a brief order the Bench said When the matter is already pending in the Supreme Court the Centre should not have moved the NCLT. The order of the NCLT is stayed. Unitech alleged that the takeover of the management of the company by the Centre would make it difficult for them to deposit `750 crore as directed by the apex court to safeguard the interests of homebuyers. The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has filed a petition under section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013 that allows the government to apply to the tribunal if it feels that a company is operating in a manner prejudicial to public interest, viz. homebuyers, shareholders and depositors. Unitech owes a total of over Rs 7,800 crore to 16,300 homebuyers in 61 projects, according to data collated by Mint. The MCA petition cited the fate of 19,000 homebuyers, 15000 small depositors and 7 lakh shareholders as being of public interest. It said the firm has also defaulted on debentures worth Rs 251.78 crore and owes small depositors Rs 596.76 crore. On Tuesday, the apex court had expressed displeasure over the manner in which the NCLT entertained governments plea to let it take control of the company. The CJI pointed out that the Centre had not taken its approval before filing the petition. The CJI had observed, Its disturbing. We are hearing the matter and the NCLT passes an order. Shouldnt you (Centre) have come to us and taken leave of this court before filing an application there (NCLT). Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Unitech submitted that this court had allowed Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra to negotiate from jail to sell assets and generate funds. Yet, the Centre moved the NCLT, in breach of the SC order, he said. On October 30 the court said Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra would be granted bail only after the company deposited money with its registry by December end. Last week Taapsee visited Delhi in support of her same English teacher who has now turned as the Principal of the school. Mumbai: Actress Taapsee Pannu is a qualified engineer from Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi and did her schooling from at the Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. She was the brilliant student in school and one of the most pampered students by her school teachers, especially by her English subject teacher. English was one of Taapsee's favourite subject so as her Engish teacher. Last week Taapsee visited Delhi in support of her same English teacher who has now turned as the Principal of Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka Delhi. Taapsee when received the news that her favourite English subject teacher has been promoted as the Principal of the school she couldn't resist and reach out to her teacher to congratulate and support her teacher in Delhi. Taapsee has always been rooted where she comes from and never misses out the opportunity to be associated with such feats and lend her support for such events and causes. Bal Bharti Public in return organized a special event for Taapsee where students of the school put across some amazing performances and show for her. It was a proud moment for all the people who were associated with this celebration including Taapsee. In her address, Taapsee inspired the students to engage themselves in every activity in school and use every opportunity to refine their acumen and talents and most importantly to never give up. She struck a great cord with the audience when she narrated her journey of having to strike a balance between managing excellence in academics on one hand and grabbing hold of every opportunity to participate in co-curricular activities on the other, a feat that ended with her being elected the head girl of the school. Taapsee Pannu speaking at the event. When asked Taapsee about her visit to Delhi school and supporting her teacher, she said "I have always been grateful to my school teachers for being an important reason behind the person I am today and I have really fond memories of my English teacher. She used to be very supportive of me n my public speaking activities which helped me gain confidence. I was very touched by the show she had organised for me in such short notice. The students were also very loving. These beautiful memories will stay with me for really long." On the work front, Taapsee just finished shooting of her upcoming sports-biopic film 'Soorma'. The 'Judwaa 2' star will also be seen playing female lead in Anurag Kashyap's 'Manmarziyan', co-starring Vicky Kaushal and Dulquer Salmaan. The film follows Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland in 1830. Mumbai: The Oscar-winning actor Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in and produce a 19th century true-crime drama to be directed by 'Call Me by Your Name' helmer Luca Guadagnino. Titled 'Burial Rites', the film is based on the Hannah Kent novel of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film follows Agnes Magnusdottir (Lawrence), the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland in 1830. Magnusdottir was sentenced to death for killing two men and setting fire to their home, with the story taking place as she awaits confirmation of her death sentence by the high court. Writer Hannah Kent shared the news on Twitter: A very exciting announcement about the film adaptation of #BurialRites https://t.co/ojQVHYRiS8 Hannah Kent (@HannahFKent) December 12, 2017 Meanwhile, Luca Guadagnino's Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet starrer 'Call Me by Your Name' has received unanimous acclaim, with particular praise given to its direction, screenplay, musical score, and performances, and was chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top 10 films of the year. The film has been nominated for three Golden Globes. It deals with food security problems in 12 countries, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Zimbabwe. According to Sharma, who felicitated for the success of his book at a session in Buenos Aires, the book highlights the issue of public stockholding in India and elsewhere and also the policy constraints being faced by developing nations on account of the WTO rules. (Photo: File) New Delhi/ Buenos Aires: A book on food security written by Sachin Kumar Sharma, associate professor of the Delhi-based Centre for WTO Studies has become a best seller at the 11th ministerial conference in Buenos Aires. Published by Springer, "The WTO and Food Security" deals with public stockholding policies of selected developing countries from the perspective of WTO rules. The book also makes an assessment of the provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and how they could hamper the efforts of countries to address the challenges of food security. According to Sharma, who felicitated for the success of his book at a session in Buenos Aires, the book highlights the issue of public stockholding in India and elsewhere and also the policy constraints being faced by developing nations on account of the WTO rules. The public food stockholding is a hot topic in Buenos Aires as the 11th ministerial is mandated to come out with a permanent solution to deal with the food security issue. The book, according to the author, also made a case for amending the provisions of the AoA to make WTO rules just and fair for the millions of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. It deals with food security problems in 12 countries, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Zimbabwe and steps needed to mitigate the problem of hunger and under nourishment. Wang said that Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial period and most important thing for both nations is to cultivate mutual trust. Wang's visit to New Delhi is the first by a top Chinese official to India after the 73-day Doklam standoff. (Photo: PTI | File) New Delhi/ Beijing: The Doklam standoff had put "severe pressure" on India-China ties though the issue was resolved through diplomatic means, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during their meeting in New Delhi. The bilateral ties went through a serious test after Indian border troops "illegally trespassed" into the Chinese territory in June, Wang told Swaraj. The Chinese foreign minister was in New Delhi to attend the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting. Although the standoff ended eventually through diplomatic means more than two months later, lessons must be learned and efforts must be made to avoid such an incident in the future, said Wang, whose comments were posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website on Tuesday. "The standoff put the bilateral relations under severe pressure," he said. Wang said that the Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial period and the most important thing between the two countries is to really cultivate mutual trust. Leaders from both countries have shared the view that China and India should regard each other's development as opportunities rather than challenges, and China and India are partners rather than rivals, thus the two sides should sincerely implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, Wang noted. While enhancing strategic communication at all levels, restoring dialogue mechanisms that have been established and deepening pragmatic cooperation in all fields, both sides should also properly manage differences so as to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas, he said. Wang's visit to New Delhi is the first by a top Chinese official to India after the 73-day Doklam standoff and after the commencement of the second five-year term of President Xi Jinping. The Doklam standoff ended on August 28 after Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to Indias 'Chicken Neck' corridor. India had objected to the construction highlighting its security concerns. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan. Besides Swaraj, Wang also called on President Ram Nath Kovind and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. In his meeting with Doval, Wang said China and India should make correct choice in development of relations without politicising and complicating issues left over by history. Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial moment when both sides need to make right choice on the future of the bilateral relations, Wang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency. According to procedure, CBI has re-registered the FIRs of the Chhattisgarh Police which were registered against Verma on Munat's complaint. According to police, after investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad, and claimed to have recovered 500 CDs, pen drives etc. (Photo: Twitter | @patrakarvinod) New Delhi: The CBI has taken over investigations of the two cases related to the alleged circulation of a "fake sex CD" allegedly involving a Chhattisgarh minister, agency sources said on Wednesday. Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat had lodged complaints against senior journalist Vinod Verma, who was arrested from Ghaziabad in October, and also state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel for allegedly tarnishing his image through the CD. According to procedure, the CBI has re-registered the FIRs of the Chhattisgarh Police which were registered against Verma on Munat's complaint. The two cases are related to alleged possession and circulation of fake pornographic video and allegations of ransom demand, CBI sources said. The journalist had denied the allegations. According to the Raipur Police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who had said that he "was being harassed over phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his 'aka' (master)". After investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad, the police had said, claiming to have recovered 500 CDs, pen drives etc. The case against Baghel, Verma and others was registered under section 67 (A) of the Information Technology Act following the minister's complaint, Station House Officer (SHO) Civil Lines, Raipur, Hem Prakash Nayak had told PTI. Both the cases have been taken over by the CBI, the sources said. Prince Parmar is on one such bus, travelling to Gandhidham, a town in Kutch district, from Patan town. The 23-year-old son of a landless farmer works as a supervisor in a garments company in Gandhidham for a meagre salary of Rs 10,000 per month. Radhanpur/Patan (Guj): The state highways are smooth but the journeys are long and arduous for the youths, some underpaid, some jobless, and most looking for a better life. So they take refuge in their cheap China-made smartphones, mostly encased in plastic, shutting themselves off from their problems, plunging themselves into the virtual world. Prince Parmar is on one such bus, travelling to Gandhidham, a town in Kutch district, from Patan town. The 23-year-old son of a landless farmer works as a supervisor in a garments company in Gandhidham for a meagre salary of Rs 10,000 per month. And they deduct half the salary if you take even three days off, Parmar, a Dalit, says. While sharing his angst and frustration, Parmar suddenly asks this reporter, How much do you earn? What did you study? As Gujarat prepares to vote in the second and last phase of the election on December 14, Parmar's question takes on added import, reflecting not just the many worries of youth in the state but also sending out a message for parties competing for power. A recurrent highlight of a nearly 550-km road trip across north Gujarat is the Gujarati youth's curiosity about the world of white-collar jobs. Singh said that he sincerely hoped that the PM will show 'maturity and gravitas', as expected of the high office he holds. Singh said that he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday hit out at his successor Narendra Modi again on the eve of the second and final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and seeking an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". Upping the ante two days after his sharp outburst, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narender (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. He said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomatics and public servants present at the dinner," he said. The former premier also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. The Congress Party needs no sermons on "nationalism" from a party and prime minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added. "Let me remind Narender (sic) Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan," he said. He also said that his track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone and no one including Modi, can "lamely" question it to gain lost political ground. PM Modi had earlier exhorted the ASEAN to intensify cooperation in fighting terrorism and violent extremism. The PM had a series of productive bilateral and multilateral engagements at 15th ASEAN-India Summit in Philippines in November this year. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: At least 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be taking part in the 2018 Republic Day celebrations as chief guests, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited the ASEAN leaders to be the chief guests. Prime Minister had a series of productive bilateral and multilateral engagements at 15th ASEAN-India Summit in Manila, Philippines. Recently, Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the intensity of India's collaborations with ASEAN and East Asia has deepened perceptibly. Speaking at the launch of PHD Ambassador's Club here, Jaishankar said, "The relationship with ASEAN and East Asia is, of course, inextricably associated with the era of reform. These nations have been agents of change as much as partners in trade or investment." Prime Minister Modi had exhorted the ASEAN to intensify cooperation in fighting terrorism during his address in the Summit. "We have individually strived very hard to fight terrorism and violent extremism. It is time that we jointly address this challenge by intensifying cooperation in this crucial area," Prime Minister Modi said. The Prime Minister had also assured the ASEAN of India's support in maintaining regional security. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also said it is an answer to the people who did not believe that Ram Setu is man-made. While Prasad welcomed the revelation, Rijiju went on to say that it is an answer to people who did not believe the Ram Setu is man-made. (Photo: Twitter) New Delhi: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday called the Ram Setu an important part of Indian heritage and said that nobody should meddle with it. His reaction came after a US television show cited scientists to state that the Ram Setu, that connects India and Sri Lanka, is not a natural phenomenon, but is man-made. Addressing the media outside the Parliament, Prasad welcomed this revelation and stated that nobody could tamper with Ram Setu. "It came to our knowledge that Ram Setu is man-made and the stones are thousand years old..we welcome this revelation. But would like to say that there should not be any kind of meddling or tempering with the sanctity of Ram Setu as it is a very important part of Indian culture," he added. Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said it is an answer to the people who did not believe that Ram Setu is man-made. Also Read: Ram Setu man-made, coral cannot form mid-ocean: Subramanian Swamy "It is an international research. And the people who said that there is nothing like Ram Setu and it is just an Adam's bridge, it is an answer to them," he said. Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said that his party always believed that Ram Setu exists. "It was revealed long back by NASA, and the Ram Setu photograph was shown by Nasa long back and we all believe in this," he added. An American science channel on Tuesday restarted the debate on the Ram Setu, saying that there exists evidence suggesting that the bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka was man-made not natural. Science Channel, as part of a promo for an upcoming show titled What on Earth, has interviewed an archaeologist who says, "The rocks on top of the sand actually pre-date the sand. So there is more to the story." The Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is wrapped in mystery and mythology. Taking a swipe at chief minister Vasundhara Raje, he said that she too was not confident of coming back to power again. Jaipur: Former Union minister and state congress president Sachin Pilot is confident that BJPP will not return to power next year. Reverse countdown of Vasundhara Raje government has begun from Tuesday onwards, he said pointing out towards the clock he unveiled at the party headquarter on the eve of BJP governments fourth anniversary. The clock shows time left in the assembly election in the state. Taking a swipe at chief minister Vasundhara Raje, he said that she too was not confident of coming back to power again. If the CM was confident of winning election next year, she wouldnt have allowed herself post retirement benefits that include a house for life, he quipped. Accusing BJP government of spectacular failure, Pilot also questioned its anniversary celebration plans. What is there to celebrate about, state congress president Sachin Pilot asked. NCP Chief Sharad Pawar also alleged that Modi has destroyed the country and belittled the office of the Prime Minister. NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that Narendra Modi should be ashamed of making such 'wild allegations' against Singh, whom 'no one in the world could point fingers at'. (Photo: File) Nagpur: Coming down heavily on the Prime Minister for alleging that his predecessor Manmohan Singh was conspiring with Pakistan for the BJP's defeat in Gujarat, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that Narendra Modi should be ashamed of making such "wild allegations" against Singh, whom "no one in the world could point fingers at". Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also alleged that Modi has stooped to a low level and levelling allegations against the people of his own country. Pawar, who turned 77 on Tuesday, addressed 'Jana Akrosh-Halla Bol', a public rally organised by the Congress and the NCP at Nagapur on the issues of agrarian crisis. He appealed to the farmers in Maharashtra not to repay any loan or pay dues such as electricity bills to the state government unless it deposits the "much-touted" loan waiver amount into their bank accounts. Azad was also present at the rally. Pawar criticised Modi for "deliberately" misconstruing a meeting at the residence of suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on December 6 and presenting it as a conspiracy by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "Shame on you, Prime Minister, for making such allegations! You have made the allegations against this country's former prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and former defence officials," Pawar, a former defence minister himself, said. Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing Assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP. "Modi is invoking Pakistan and making wild allegations against renowned people to divert the people's attention from his government's failures and trying to get political mileage out of it," Pawar said. "A different kind of picture is being witnessed in the country today in terms of the attitude of the nation's leadership, which is diverting the attention of the people from important issues," he added. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi just two days back in his speech had raised the suspicion against former PM Manmohan Singh, former Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar and others, alleging that Pakistan was trying to influence the Assembly elections in Gujarat. The PM making such kind of wild allegations against former PM Manmohan Singh, at whom no one in the world could point fingers, is very shameful and not in the interest of the country. It is very sad that an attempt is being made by the PM himself on destroying the tradition of the country," the former Union minister said. "This attempt to invoke Pakistan was made to divert the people's attention towards the government's failures in addressing the farmers' issues, lack of jobs and other people's issues," Pawar alleged. "The Modi government has not solved the issues of farmers and other issues the country is facing, but he is bringing the Pakistan angle as a diversionary tactic during the Gujarat elections," Pawar said. Modi has destroyed the country and belittled the office of the Prime Minister, Pawar alleged. In his address, Azad said that since the BJP is losing in Gujarat, the Prime Minister is blaming his predecessor, former vice-president and former diplomats for conspiring with Pakistan to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. "The Prime Minister has stooped so low that he is levelling allegations against the people of his own country," he said. On the farmers' issues, Pawar said, "Unless the amount of loan waiver is deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers (in Maharashtra), I appeal to the farming community not to repay any dues (to state or cooperative department) or even (pay) electricity bills to the state government." The Maharashtra government announced a mega agriculture loan waiver of Rs 34,022 crore on June 24 after a state-wide agitation by farmers. On July 9, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said around 36 lakh farmers in the state would have their entire debt waived. Pawar also asked Fadnavis to "stay away" from "politics of blackmail". The NCP chief said, "Maharashtra CM uses the language of blackmail against the Opposition. We respect the mandate of people who chose you to govern. But, if he thinks blackmailing a part of the people's mandate to his government, he should remember that people can oust him from power." If the government is of no use to its people, they should not cooperate with it, he said. Speaking to reporters in Nagpur ahead of the winter session of the state legislature, which began on Monday, Fadnavis had said, "I have enough evidence against the leaders of the Opposition and I will disclose these at the right time." On the Centre's promises to farmers, Pawar said that Modi had promised loan waiver to the farmers, but there was no sign of relief to the farmers even after three-and-a-half years. "The situation is such that people are committing suicide, yet the government's heart is not melting," he said. "I remember that five years back, during the agrarian crisis, the then PM Manmohan Singh and I had immediately visited Yavatmal and Wardha to understand the problems faced by the farmers. Subsequently, in the next 15 days, Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver was announced by the then government. We had announced the loan waiver and had told by what time it would be given to them. Today, the chief minister is telling that they are going to give loan waiver, but they are not giving it," Pawar said. Azad questioned Modi over the promises he had made to the farmers that the minimum support price (MSP) would include a profit of 50 per cent above the cost of production. "How can a PM of any country make such false promises to its people? How can a PM give false promises to its farmers and not fulfil it? The PM and the BJP, by insulting the farmers, have insulted the nation, which cannot be forgiven," Azad said. "On the one hand, the farmers in the country are facing an agrarian crisis and committing suicides and on the other hand this government imposes GST and demonetisation, forcing several crore people to stand in queues outside ATMs. The PM had promised 10 crore jobs to the youth, but provided just 3 lakh jobs. This was the second lie from you...first giving it to farmers then to the youth. Modi is giving false promises to the farmers and the youth," the Congress veteran said. Azad also said that Modi hardly remains in office and is only busy in election campaigns and foreign tours. Under Talibans 1996-2001 regime, girls were banned from education. New Delhi: From shooting an AK-47 to dealing with computer-simulated sieges, 20 Afghan women officers are being put through their paces at a military training academy in India. They are the first Afghan women to attend the academy in city of Chennai, which has been training men from the countrys military for several years. The women receive weapons training and learn tactics and logistical and navigational skills at the academy, the only military training establishment in India for both men and women. This week they were taught how to use an AK-47 and given classroom training in ambush situations. The three-week crash course ends on December 24 and is reported to be a pilot for a full training scheme being planned for next year as part of the Afghan National Armys efforts to recruit more women. Afghanistan has said it wants women to make up 10 per cent of the armed forces, an ambitious goal given the current figure is barely three per cent. As well as the dangers of fighting in their war-plagued homeland, those who sign up say they face criticism for their choice. Niloofar Rahmani was hailed as a role model for Afghan women after becoming the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan Air Force. But last year, she sought asylum in the US, saying she had received death threats from insurgents and faced contempt from some of her colleagues. Under the Talibans 1996-2001 regime, girls were banned from education. Made by the frontline Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Heron is its most advanced drone. Heron UAVs, operated by the Army, Navy and the Air Force, were first deployed in 2000 on the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee. (Representational image) New Delhi: Information that the downed Heron UAV, belonging to the Indian Army that landed about 20 km inside Chinese territory in the Doklam plateau region more than two weeks ago, is in decent physical condition, has sparked big security leak concerns in the Indian establishment. What is adding to the worry is that the Heron was equipped with the capability to return back to base on its own in the event of loss of contact with the ground control so why it did not come back is a puzzle Indian experts are trying to solve besides the fact as to why China strongly protested only after two weeks after the drone was downed. With the UAV reported to be in decent condition, the fear that very sensitive technology secrets including that of sensors may have landed in Chinese hands is very real and therefore has implications for our border security and surveillance, said a government official familiar with the developments. Made by the frontline Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Heron is its most advanced drone. The fear is compounded by the fact that the Heron with a 250 kg sensor payload comprised state-of-the-art all-weather technology relating to very advanced optics systems including thermographic infrared camera, visible-light airborne ground surveillance, etc. While it is not known whether the downed Heron has such capability, the latest Heron variant employs augmented reality that overlays information like road names, vegetation, geographical features etc onto the real time video. A leading Israeli security portal reported on Wednesday: While the loss of a good reconnaissance asset is a hit for the Indian armed forces, the payload the UAV carries could be a valuable recovery for Chinese forces that are denied access to all western defense technologies. The drone was deployed to keep an eye on the border region especially on Chinese troop deployments, movements and construction activity. The incident assumes top significance in the backdrop of the 73-day-long standoff at Doklam plateau, a swath of rugged terrain at about 10,500 feet near the tri-junction separating Indias Sikkim, China and Bhutan, that ended on August 28. The Indian Army claims that the UAV on a regular training mission inside the Indian territory lost contact with the ground control due to some technical problem and crossed over the LAC in the Sikkim Sector. Heron UAVs, operated by the Army, Navy and the Air Force, were first deployed in 2000 on the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee. The Indian Army is believed to be operating about 45. Counting of votes for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections is scheduled for December 18. Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi being greeted by village women during an election campaign in Dahod, Gujarat. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: A wide-ranging, frank interview by Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, summing up and analysing the BJP and the Congress election campaign, telecast a day before Gujarat votes in its second and final phase, created controversy with the Election Commission issuing a notice to Mr Gandhi for violating the model code of conduct. The EC asked TV channels to stop airing the interview immediately and directed Gujarat chief election officer B.B. Swain to register FIRs against channels in Gujarat that telecast Mr Gandhis interview. The ECs notice to Mr Gandhi asks him to explain by 5 PM December 18 as to why action should not be taken against him for violating the model code of conduct. Counting of votes for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections is scheduled for December 18. Under the Representation of the People Act, model code of conduct kicks in 48 hours before polling day during which no campaigning is allowed in areas that are to vote. The interview in this case was given to a Gujarati channel and was telecast in areas that go to polls today. Mr Gandhi, in his first interview as the Congress president-elect, claimed that the Congress Party would surprise everyone on December 18, the day of the results. We will do very well. We will surprise you, he said in an interview to Gujarati news channel GSTV telecast on Wednesday. While reiterating that he did not approve of senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyars comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he also said that unlike the BJP, he does not make personal attacks on his opponents. Modiji is the PM of India and we are not going to tolerate this type of language, he said. Mr Aiyar had referred to the Prime Minister as a neech admi (vile man). When asked about comments made against the Nehru-Gandhi family by the Prime Minister, Mr Gandhi said, If you look at religion and the history of the nation, love has to be the response to hatred. There is zero emotion of anger and hatred in me It is the nature of our family. Maybe the legend of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi taught this to our family. Modiji has helped me the most... How can I hate him, Mr Gandhi said, and added, They (BJP) are not scared of Rahul Gandhi, they are scared of the voice of the people of Gujarat. Mr Gandhi also said in the interview that he has not undergone any makeover and added that the BJP has spent a lot of money to tarnish his image. There is no makeover; the truth of Rahul Gandhi was being distorted by BJP workers. I speak the truth and that truth is coming out, he said. As soon as the interview was aired, the BJP charged that fearing defeat in Gujarat polls, Mr Gandhi has turned so desperate that he violated the model code of conduct by giving media interviews a day before the final phase of polling. The Congress on its part accused chief minister Vijay Rupani and others of threatening journalists for airing Mr Gandhis interview and urged the Election Commission to take action against them, including registration of cases against them. We urge the Election Commission to take note of this and demand registration of cases against those threatening journalists, Congress communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said. A BJP delegation soon approached the EC and the commission issued a directive to the Gujarat chief electoral officer to lodge FIRs against TV channels that had telecast the interview. Immediately thereafter it issued a notice to Mr Gandhi. After the ECs notice to Mr Gandhi, a Congress delegation led by Ashok Gehlot, general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, rushed to the commission to lodge a complaint. If FIR against news channels for showing interview of Congress President, why no FIR against PM, FM, Union Minister & BJP president on this ground? Are these not double standards? Let there be accountability, Mr Surjewala tweeted. Mr Modi had addressed Ficci on Wednesday afternoon where he attacked the previous Congress-led UPA regime for NPAs, saying that banks were pressured to give loans worth thousands of crores of rupees to select industrialists in a scam bigger than 2G, coal and Commonwealth Games scams. This comes in the backdrop of increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region. New Delhi: In the wake of the proposed Quadrilateral involving India, the US, Japan and Australia in the Asia-Pacific region, three of these countries-India, Japan and Australia, on Wednesday held a trilateral dialogue in the Capital where they noted their convergence of interests and supported the centrality of the Asean grouping in the Indo-Pacific region as well as the need for greater collaboration on maritime security. This comes in the backdrop of increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region. In a statement, the MEA said, Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar hosted the 4th India-Australia-Japan Trilateral Dialogue with Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Ms. Frances Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Mr. Shinsuke J. Sugiyama, in New Delhi on 13 December 2017. The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region. They underscored their support for ASEAN centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region, the MEA added. The three sides stressed the need for greater collaboration on maritime security and domain awareness and disaster response capabilities. They also renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counterterrorism. They deliberated on strengthening regional connectivity as well, the MEA further said. Singh had lashed out at Modi for allegedly spreading falsehood and canards to score political points in a lost cause. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had an awkward encounter on Wednesday when the leaders came face to face with each other during a function to commemorate the martyrs of 2001 Parliament attack. Mr Modi and Dr Singh shook hands in a manner that was interpreted by many as stiff and cold. (Photo: Pritam Bandyopadhyay) New Delhi: Having accused his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh of colluding with Pakistan to influence Gujarat assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had an awkward encounter with the former when both the leaders came face to face during a function to commemorate the martyrs of Parliament attack. Mr Modi and Dr Singh shook hands outside Parliament as they made their way into the House to pay tribute to the people who lost their lives in the 2001 Parliament attack. Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, who has been engaged in an often present at Parliament and appeared to share some light-hearted moments with Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Ravi Shankar Prasad. Later, the Congress released a video of Dr Singh reading out the statement that he had issued on Monday asking Mr Modi to apologise for his utterances against him. The PM on Sunday had accused Congress leaders including Dr Singh of having a secret meeting with a former Pakistan minister and diplomats to ensure a BJP loss in Gujarat. Dr Singh had lashed out at Mr Modi for allegedly spreading falsehood and canards to score political points in a lost cause. I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than PM. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, the desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable, he said. The former Prime Minister sincerely hoped that Mr Modi will show maturity and gravitas, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring erroneously conceived brownie points. I sincerely hope that he will apologise to the nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies, Dr Singh said. Search engines Google, Microsoft and Yahoo informed the court that they would not sponsor any advertisement on pre-natal sex determination tests. The Court took note of the submission of the Centre that nodal officers have been appointed in all the states to receive complaints and to act on it. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday while expressing serious concern over the fall in the female sex ratio in the country, asked the nodal agency set up by the Centre to take steps to prevent sex determination advertisements on the internet. Passing this order a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud said The expert committee under the Nodal agency will take appropriate steps so that the mandate of the PNDT Act (Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994) is not violated and the female sex ratio which has fallen in the country shall not further fall down. The Bench passed this order on a batch of petitions filed by NGO Sabu George and others after hearing senior counsel Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioners and senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi and K.V. Viswanathan, appearing for the search engines and Ms. Pinky Anand Additional Solicitor General for the Centre. Search engines Google, Microsoft and Yahoo informed the court that they would not sponsor any advertisement on pre-natal sex determination tests. They said if we discover something objectionable we will refer it to the nodal officer appointed by the Union Government and remove the contents if the nodal officer ask us to do so. The Court took note of the submission of the Centre that nodal officers have been appointed in all the states to receive complaints and to act on it. On behalf of search engines it was made clear that objectionable content on sex determination will be removed within 36 hours after getting report from nodal officers. If there is a complaint received by the search engines the in house panel will refer it to nodal officers. It was submitted by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft that they were willing to block all commercial advertisements, but it would be impossible to block knowledge, which are not commercial in nature. Counsel pointed out that while searching for information some advertisements suddenly pop up and it will be impossible to stop them as any such move would amount to curtailing right to information and knowledge. Wang Yi had visited India on Monday for the trilateral Russia-India-China talks but had also held bilateral talks with Ms Swaraj. New Delhi: After media reports from Beijing quoted a statement by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi according to which Beijing slammed Indias actions during the Doklam stand-off, New Delhi said that both Mr Wang Yi and external affairs minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj had discussed the Doklam episode during their bilateral meeting in New Delhi on Monday, with India telling China about the need for approaching our differences with due consideration to each others sensitivities and concerns. New Delhi said both ministers had noted the challenge it had posed to ties. India said that in fact, it was the Chinese foreign minister who had conveyed that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects the political maturity on both sides. India also said it had told China that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations. New Delhi said the two foreign ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, including between them, through the established dialogue mechanisms. According to some media reports from Beijing, after the Chinese foreign minister left India, Wang Yi was quoted as saying that the viciousness caused by infiltration of the Indian border guards put bilateral relations under severe pressure but that the matter was finally settled. Wang Yi had visited India on Monday for the trilateral Russia-India-China talks but had also held bilateral talks with Ms Swaraj. Ahead of his visit to India, he had said China had handled the Doklam episode with restraint. The Doklam episode had been triggered earlier this year after Chinese troops tried to build a road in Doklam which India regards as Bhutanese territory. This had led to a military face-off which lasted more than two months and was finally resolved towards the end of August after troops of both sides pulled back. On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, During the meeting between External Affairs Minister and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang YI on December 11 in New Delhi, the issue of Doklam was raised. The EAM and Chinese Foreign Minister both noted the challenge it had posed to the relationship and both expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with the disengagement of troops at the face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications. Mr. Wang Yi conveyed that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects the political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this, the EAM reiterated that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations. The MEA added, The EAM also underlined the need for approaching our difference with due consideration to each others sensitivities and concerns. She recalled the consensus between the leaders of India and China reached in Astana earlier this year on the need to work together to ensure that our difference do not become disputes. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that India and China share the same objectives of national development and should be natural partners. To this end, both Foreign Ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, including between them, through the established dialogue mechanisms. Pawar was speaking at a public rally jointly organised by the Congress and the NCP in Nagpur to focus on issues relating to agrarian crisis. New Delhi: Wading into the raging controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modis allegations against former PM Manmohan Singh, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that Modi has demeaned the PMs office by making such charges. Shame on you, Prime Minister, for making such allegations. You have made allegations against this countrys former prime minister and former defence officials, said Pawar, who had also held the Union defence minister portfolio. On Sunday, during a poll rally in Gujarat, PM Modi had sought to link a dinner meeting hosted by suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for Pakistan dignitaries, with the ongoing Gujarat state elections and an anti-BJP conspiracy. Manmohan Singh attended the December 6 meeting, among others. Mr Pawar condemned Modi for deliberately misconstruing the dinner meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyars residence and presenting it as a conspiracy by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat polls. Mr Modi had insinuated that his predecessor had colluded with Pakistan for BJPs defeat at the polls. The former premier responded by saying Mr Modi was setting a dangerous precedent and sought his apology to the nation, a demand rejected by the Centre. The meeting took place a day before Mr Aiyar used the neech aadmi (lowly person) term to describe Mr Modi which led to his suspension from the Congress. Mr Pawar was speaking at a public rally jointly organised by the Congress and the NCP in Nagpur to focus on issues relating to agrarian crisis. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray, with 2.22 crore people eligible to vote in the second phase. New Delhi: After a bitter, high-voltage campaign, the stage is set for the final phase of polling in Gujarat on Thursday. This will see 93 Assembly seats across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to the polls. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray, with 2.22 crore people eligible to vote in the second phase. The election is a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a litmus test for incoming Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The campaign was not merely vituperative but eyebrows were raised even in the saffron camp when Prime Minister Modi accused former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of conspiring with Pakistan to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. While the Opposition said the remarks were a desperate attempt to communalise the votebank, the BJP fielded finance minister Arun Jaitley to defend the Prime Minister. This election is the toughest fight the BJP has faced in Gujarat in the past two decades. Besides facing the wrath of traders over demonetisation and the rollout of GST, a dent in its traditional Patidar votebank has also rattled the BJP. On Thursday, psephologist-politician Yogendra Yadav tweeted his projections, in which he predicted between 92 to 113 seats for the Congress and 65 to 86 seats for the BJP. Earlier, another opinion poll predicted a close contest between the BJP and the Congress. The saffron pundits rejected these polls and chief minister Vijay Rupani claimed the party would get over 150 of the 183 Assembly berths. What came as a surprise for the BJP was Rahul Gandhi in his new avatar. A changed man, Mr Gandhi upped the ante and his rallies seemed to have evoked a major response from the electorate. He also strategised the rainbow coalition of Patidar and OBC leaders, which could possibly dent the BJPs base. The first phase on Saturday last recorded heavy polling, particularly in the Patidar-dominated Saurashtra region. While a section claimed this doesnt bode well for the ruling BJP, others maintained people may be angry with Modi, but they are not traitors. Besides Rahul Gandhi, the other thorn in the BJPs foot was 24-year-old Patidar leader Hardik Patel. The BJP tried every possible trick to contain and woo this young man, but eventually failed. A sex CD allegedly about Hardik Patel also went viral, and was aired by a TV channel. Speaking to the media about the CD, Mr Hardik Patel had remarked: If I do not have any problem with the sex CDs, why should those watching it have any? Have fun. Some in the BJP felt the CD had failed to make any major impact against Hardik Patel. In the run-up to the polls, a tug of war on the issue of Hindutva raged between the Congress and the BJP. Mr Gandhis janeu and his temple run forced the BJP to come out openly and claim it was the original Hindu party, while others are fake. Despite apparent advantages, the rejuvenated Congress faces the mighty Modi. The Prime Minister, who is still a major draw for the electorate, addressed 34 rallies. Losing is not an option for Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. The party has pressed in all its resources and leaders in order to retain Gujarat. What could upset the Congress gameplan is also the BJPs organisational and booth-level strength across the state. Authorities alleged that Fay deprived the dogs of medical treatment and fed them maggot-infested food. Authorities said the animals were living in filth and suffering from health problems. (Photo: Pixabay) A judge has found a woman guilty of 10 animal cruelty charges after 84 Great Danes were seized from her New Hampshire home. The dogs were taken from Christina Fay in June. Authorities said the animals were living in filth and suffering from health problems. Fay pleaded not guilty. Fay initially was charged with 12 misdemeanor counts; Judge Charles Greenhalgh dismissed two last month. In his ruling on Tuesday, he found the evidence showed Fay didn't provide proper care or shelter for the dogs. Fay testified at her recent trial before Greenhalgh that she took good care of the animals. Authorities alleged that Fay deprived the dogs of medical treatment and fed them maggot-infested food. Her lawyers didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. The passengers have been advised to check the status of the train before undertaking their journey. The fog makes the visibility very low and trains have to run on a highly-restricted speed to ensure safety of the passengers which leads to considerable delays in the movement of trains. (Photo: File) New Delhi: At least 13 trains were delayed, 10 cancelled and one rescheduled due to foggy weather and low visibility in the national capital on Wednesday. Delhi was engulfed in fog early on Wednesday morning. In order to manage the train operations, the Ministry of Railways on November 29 announced a detailed plan for cancellation and frequency reduction of trains traversing through fog affected areas. This plan was implemented from December 1 and would continue till February 13 next. Advanced cancellations are being done so that passengers can plan their journeys accordingly. In case of cancellation, full refund of fare will be given to the affected passengers. The passengers have been advised to check the status of the train before undertaking their journey. The status of these trains will also be communicated to the passengers on their respective registered mobile numbers. The fog makes the visibility very low and trains have to run on a highly-restricted speed to ensure safety of the passengers which leads to considerable delays in the movement of trains. The status of these trains will be monitored periodically keeping in view the intensity of fog and decisions to restore some of the trains may be taken, as and when operationally feasible. Huge blow for NCP, babus involved in Gosikhurd project. Mumbai: In a major setback to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and particularly to its leaders Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday registered FIRs against irrigation department officials and contractors in connection with alleged irregularities in the four contracts of the Gosikhurd irrigation project. The four FIRs were registered at Sadar police station in Nagpur against the then-engineer and divisional accounts officer besides several other officials of the irrigation department. The development comes close on the heels of the winter state assembly sessions that began in Nagpur on Monday. Mr Pawar and Mr Tatkare have faced allegations of corruptions in irrigation contracts when they were at the helm of the department. The irrigation project in the Godavari river basin, eastern Maharashtra's Bhandardara region has been mired in controversies. Officials said that the action comes in the backdrop of an open inquiry conducted by the ACB following an order of the state government. The corruption pertains to irregularities in the tendering process for undertaking the project, inflating the budget and disbursal of funds for the same, ACB officials said. Contracts for the same were issued under the Vidarbha irrigation development corporation (VIDC). The inquiry conducted by ACB revealed that the contracts were awarded to the entities that lacked the capability and eligibility for handling such projects. Similar irregularities were found at the Mokhaburdi irrigation project, Chikhlapar, Gosikhurdh Left Bank Canal construction work, Mokhaburdi Lift Irrigation Branch Canal project and Gosikhurdh Right Bank Canal project at Jhodjhari, stated a release issued by the ACB following the registration of criminal cases. Earlier, the Nagpur police had registered two cases against nine officials of the irrigation department including four retired staffers in May. The quantum of corruption was to the tune of Rs 23.31 crore under alleged Gosikhurd irrigation project scam, as per the FIR. The release stated that those named in the cases include four contractors who were involved in the project. Gosikhurd is the inter-district irrigation project in Vidarbha which was approved in March 1983-at an estimated cost of Rs 372.22 crore and was expected to be completed by March 1990. However, it remains incomplete even after 33 years after the approvals were granted. During the period, the project cost allegedly escalated several times. In 2016, ACB had filed a chargesheet in Nagpur court against six former officials in for their roles in the alleged fraud in the inter-district irrigation project. The accused, a neighbour of the victim, used to lure her with chocolates or biscuits and inappropriately touch her. The Versova police immediately arrested the accused and booked him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Mumbai: A 42-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly molesting a six-year-old minor girl for more than two months. The accused, a neighbour of the victim, used to lure her with chocolates or biscuits and inappropriately touch her. His deeds came to light late on Monday when the victim confided in her mother about the ordeal. The Versova police immediately arrested the accused and booked him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to police sources, the victims parents lodged a complaint on Monday after their daughter narrated what the uncle did to her on various occasions. The victims parents go to work, due to which the child was left in the neighbours care. After first confronting the neighbour about the alleged sexual advances, the parents then approached the Versova police. A police officer said that in September, the victim had been treated for bleeding from her private parts however at the time, she stayed mum about the abuse. The police suspects that the crime was committed when the victim was left under the neighbours watch for the first time in August. Kiran Kale, senior police inspector, Versova police station, confirmed the news and said, The arrest was made late on Monday, and the accused has been remanded to police custody till December 15. Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta only last year directed civic officials to ban paver blocks on city roads. Mumbai: At a time when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided not to use paver blocks on city roads, the civic administration seems to be flying in the face of its own diktat by planning to repair minor roads in Malad (P-north ward) using paver blocks. So much so that the standing committee has now ordered an inquiry into what it suspects may be a nexus between civic officials and contractors. Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta only last year directed civic officials to ban paver blocks on city roads. He asked the road department to stop using paver blocks at junctions and on arterial roads. Notwithstanding, the Rs 17 crore proposal involving surfacing of minor roads in Malad using paver blocks, was tabled for approval in the civic standing committee Wednesday. However, it drew sharp reactions from corporators. Opposition leader, Congress' Ravi Raja, said, "It seems that civic officials themselves are defying the orders of their chief. The roads made of paver blocks are sub-standard and have caused many deaths in the city. Despite this, the civic administration has decided to repair roads in Malad with paver blocks. It clearly shows that there is a nexus between civic officials and contractors." BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde said that even the death of renowned doctor Prakash Vaze in Thane was caused by paver blocks. "Paver blocks render the road surface uneven, making it very risky for people to drive or ride on roads," he said. Taking note of the corporators' demands, standing committee chairman Ramesh Korgaonkar directed the civic administration to investigate the matter and hold an inquiry against the officials who had tabled the proposal. Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty ImagesWhat do you get when you team The Go-Go's with Goop? A new Broadway musical. According to published reports, a musical comedy featuring The Go-Go's music will head to Broadway, and Oscar-winning actress and Goop lifestyle brand founder Gwyneth Paltrow is producing it. However, the show, titled Head Over Heels, isn't the actual story of the Go-Go's: it's based on a 16th century romance by Sir Philip Sidney called The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. The story will be told through Go-Go's hits like "We Got the Beat, Get Up and Go, Cool Jerk, Vacation, Our Lips Are Sealed, and Head Over Heels, as well as frontwoman Belinda Carlisles solo hits Mad About You and Heaven Is a Place on Earth. The musical had its world premiere in 2015 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and is now coming to San Francisco's Curran Theater, where it'll play from April 24 through May 20. It'll then move to Broadway for the 2018-2019 season. According to Billboard, the Go-Go's said in a statement, "If you told us 30 years ago that our songs were going to be in a musical, wed have said, Of course theyll be on Broadway! None of us would have really believed it, though -- what a crazy idea!" They continue, "Yet here we are, with Head Over Heels -- a celebration of love in all its forms, joyful, fun and full of heart, driven by the songs that for decades have been making people jump from their seats and dance." Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The Aadhaar link simply makes it easier and faster to catch crooks and criminals. The Aadhaar fever started in 2009, when the UPA government was in office. It encountered turbulent times in 2014 when the government changed. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a technology enthusiast, was persuaded to look beyond the past at the opportunity it gave to reduce official discretion and corruption, whilst targeting and delivering public services. The results have been impressive on three counts -- speed, cost and sustainability. First, the system was scaled up at breathtaking speed. Around 15 citizens were digitally registered every second, over seven years, assuming a 60-hour week. Registering 1.2 billion residents out of around 1.3 billion, in a country spanning 3.3 million sq km is by itself a never- before achievement. Second, unbelievably, this feat was achieved at a nominal cost of `73, a little more than $1, per person. The norm for biometric identification anywhere else has been at least $10 per person. Clearly, frugal Indian innovation was at its best here. Third, Nandan Nilekani, the single parent of Aadhaar, moved on in early 2014, serially to politics, social impact ventures and today heads Infosys as its non-executive chairman. But the Unique Identi-fication Authority of India (UIDAI), which he first headed, continues to flourish, which speaks volumes of its sustainable management systems. Small, effective public institutions UIDAI had a sanctioned staff of just 115 in 2009 tend to be helmed by charismatic banyan trees leaders who allow nothing to grow under their horizontally spread branches. So why then the public angst against Aadhaar? Three reasons come to mind all of them related not to the technical effectiveness of the system itself but the manner in which it is proposed to be used. First comes politics. Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh between three million to 20 million along with legal immigrants from Nepal, have acquired voter IDs and ration cards. They are difficult to distinguish from their neighbours. But it has also suited the government politically, till now, to not identify such immigrants. Aadhaar can upset political calculations. Targeting Aad-haar at residents a more inclusive genre than citizens was a compromise solution. But the threat remains that this powerful data set will feed into culling voter lists of duplicates or ghosts and weeding out passports wrongly issued to people who were never Indian citizens. Second is the scale of disruption associated with ending corruption. Consider that 14 per cent of Indians, or 180 million, have a driving licence. But one-third are fake and many more are improperly given to ineligible drivers -- a key factor in road fatalities. 290 million Indians have a unique number called PAN, required for filing income-tax. But 80 per cent are not authenticated with the Aadhaar database. This illustrates the poor integrity of the tax database. Third, managerial ambitions have outrun executive caution in graduating the pushback from those adversely affected. From being a back-office tool, Aadhaar has become a digital shortcut to cull ghosts from the burgeoning food security scheme; weed out manipulations in income-tax submissions; introduce a security check over phone connections or use big data to link bank accounts, phone numbers, vehicles, houses, financial investments with each biometrically identified individual. Aadhaar is the shortcut to dig out our dirty secrets. And no one likes that. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act 2016 specifies that Aadhaar shall not be the sole arbiter of identity for accessing public benefits. Section 5 makes it obligatory for UIDAI to get those, who lack identity documents children, women, the specially-abled, senior citizens, workers in the unorganised sector, nomads are mentioned -- covered under Aadhaar by other means. The intention is clear. The State must devise methods to include all residents in the database and ensure, till then, that the flow of public benefits to eligible recipients continues uninterrupted. Similarly, the onus for protecting the privacy of the individual is on the State. The government has no option except to align with the law. Indeed, it seems to have already diluted its hard stance on the timeline for the implementation of Aadhaar. Two options present themselves for the way forward. First, the government could downsize its ambitions for Aadhaar and allow other modes of identity verification to continue till the availability of Aadhaar becomes universal and, more important, the hardware for authenticating Aadhaar is widely available. This is unlikely, in the short term, till the Bharatnet fibre cables have been laid and are operational in all gram panchayats. Just one-fourth are connected today. But the more real downside here is of a slide into never-ending inertia. This seems alien to the present governments style. The second and better option is to deal with the fears of activists who have petitioned the Supreme Court against linking bank accounts and phones with Aadhaar. With respect to privacy, the fact that the State will be able to trace individuals behind phone conversations or bank accounts seems innocuous. On the contrary, both security and tax revenue considerations point to this being desirable, if not essential. Theoretically, any information, available with the State, can be misused to violate the privacy of an individual. But surely an income-tax officer using the Aadhaar authentication to check if you have included all your bank accounts in your tax return does not fall in that category. What about a duly authorised police officer who traces the owners of phone numbers talking about crime or a threat to public security? Protocols for tapping phones and accessing details of private bank accounts already exist. The Aadhaar link simply makes it easier and faster to catch crooks and criminals. Governments rely on their credibility to gain the trust of citizens. Safeguards for individual rights do help. But only if with governments that are public-spirited and well-intentioned. Once this is no longer the case, the only recourse is to voice your opinion through your vote, and good luck to you on that. Burghart began administrative leave from Tuesday and resigned Friday. The incident, which took place on December 1, came into notice after a student took a picture of the message and shared it with school officials. (Photo: Pixabay/Representational) Commerce City: A school teacher in Colorado, the United States, had to resign after he wrote "I want to kill children" in the classroom, The Washington Post has reported. Kris Burghart, an eighth grade teacher at Otho E Stuart Middle School in Commerce City, resigned after an internal investigation looked into the matter. The incident, which took place on December 1, came into notice after a student took a picture of the message and shared it with school officials, according to Denver Post. "Silent reading . . . I want to kill children but I am a loving Christian man who never would hurt a flee [sic] so please sit down and read," the teacher wrote in a message. School officials said his message, which he displayed on a projector screen, was inappropriate and it "frightened" some of the students in his class. Principal Fabricio Velez, in a letter addressing parents, assured that the students were not in any danger, Fox31 reported. "Please know that we take any allegations concerning the safety and security of our Raptors very seriously," Velez said in the note, which was posted on the school's Facebook page. "Please also understand that in cases such as this, I'm not always able to communicate with you in a timely manner. But, I can assure you that no student was in danger at any time." Burghart went on an administrative leave on Tuesday and resigned on Friday, according to a School District 27J spokesman. "It is my firm belief that at no time, under any circumstance is it acceptable to threaten harm to our students not as a teaching tool, not as venting frustration, not as a joke," School District 27J Superintendent Chris Fiedler wrote to parents late last week in a letter about the matter. "I want to inform you that Mr. Burghart has resigned from his duties as a 27J teacher effective immediately." "He is a very well-liked teacher, so it is unfortunate, but we don't stand for anyone making threatening remarks," district spokeswoman Tracy Rudnick told the Denver Post. Fox News affiliate KDVR posted a picture of the message on Twitter and quoted one parent lambasting Burghart. "We all have bad days, but as a person in a position of trust with our students, it doesn't matter how bad your day is," one parent said, according to the news station. "You don't speak that way. You don't write that way." However, many others came out in his support. "This is truly unfortunate. Stuart lost a great teacher," one woman wrote on the school's Facebook page. Hes the greatest teacher at this school in my opinion, another parent said. Burghart, who accepted the allegation, has not commented further. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. (Photo: AP) New York: US prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Monday's attempted suicide bombing in one of New York City's busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of the radical group Islamic State, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in US district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to "murder as many human beings as he could ... in support of a vicious terrorist cause," acting US attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. New York City police have said that Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast, "I did it for the Islamic State," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over US policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Read: NYC subway blast: B'desh police detain suspects family members Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Officials declined to disclose Ullah's condition at Bellevue Hospital late on Tuesday. His first court appearance in the case could come as soon as Wednesday and may be conducted by video conference with a judge, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office said. On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE." Homemade Bomb Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah's pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators that he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah's wife, according to two officials who declined to be identified as they were not permitted to publicly discuss the matter. They said the couple have a six-month-old boy. A police official who took part in that interview, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the United States. New York City police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators were poring through data on Ullah's electronic devices, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said there was so far no indication that Ullah had previously attracted the attention of FBI. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. US President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasized the need for US immigration reforms. Monday's incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. "There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards," Trump said. "The first attacker came through the visa lottery, the second came through chain migration. We're going to end both of them." The US Supreme Court last week allowed Trump's latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban was needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. John Miller, the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said on Tuesday that police would review the attempted suicide bombing and adjust security plans for the upcoming New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. "This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a suicide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb function. So we're going to take a hard look at it," Miller said in an interview. Pakistan rejected India's plea for consular access claiming that India wants the access to get the information gathered by its 'spy'. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. (Photo: File) Islamabad/The Hague: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the charge-sheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May, media reports have said. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. Following a three-day trial, Hari was convicted on one count of hiring a sex worker who was below 18 years old. Hari responded to the girl's post on a social network app requesting help to buy a new mobile phone. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. (Photo: File/ Representational) Singapore: An Indian-origin student was sentenced to 10 months in jail in Singapore for taking the services of an underage prostitute and not paying her in May 2016, a media report said Wednesday. Hari Kumar Anpalagan, 25, was found guilty of having sex with the girl, who had admitted she was 14-year-old and was providing services in exchange for cash, the Straight Times reported. "You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl...You added salt to the wound by not paying her," District Judge Kenneth Yap chided Hari Tuesday. Following a three-day trial, Hari was convicted on one count of hiring a sex worker who was below 18 years old. The court heard that Hari responded to the girl's post on the Tagged social network app in which she requested help to buy a new mobile phone. He offered to assist and asked what he would receive in return. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. The pair met at around 9 pm in May 2016 at the void deck of her apartment block. She told him then that she was 16, but this did not deter Hari from engaging her services. Later, the girl told Hari that she would wait for him downstairs before running off. He left without paying her. The offences came to light when the girl's school found out about her activities. The police were notified, and officers arrested Hari after they found text messages between him and the girl when they searched her mobile phone. Hari, who was unrepresented, had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed in his defence that he met the girl out of the "goodness of his heart" to give her 70 Singapore dollars to help her buy a phone. Hari asked the court to defer his sentence to a later date, saying that he had to complete an internship. He will be back in court on January 5. According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for investigations for having sex with the girl. For engaging the services of an underage prostitute, Hari could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined. Addressing an election rally in Gujarat, PM Modi had suggested that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. (Photo: PTI) Islamabad: Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri on Wednesday dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Also read: Pak interfering in Guj polls; its officials met Manmohan, Aiyar: Modi Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. The device prematurely exploded between two subway platforms near Port Authority, America's largest bus terminal. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded passageway during the morning rush hour, injuring himself and three others. (Photo: AP) Dhaka: The wife and in-laws of a Bangladeshi-origin man, who triggered a blast at a metro station in New York City, were detained for questioning by the Bangladesh police on Tuesday, according to a media report. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded passageway during the morning rush hour, injuring himself and three others. The device prematurely exploded between two subway platforms near Port Authority, America's largest bus terminal, injuring four persons and causing chaos in one of the busiest commuter hubs in the metropolis, officials said. The Bangladesh police detained the wife and in-laws of Ullah for questioning. The counterterrorism unit detained the trio this afternoon, bdnews reported. "The three have been brought in for questioning," Counterterrorism Unit Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam was quoted as saying by the report. Ullah's wife Jannatul Ferdous and their six-month-old baby live with her parents in Dhaka. Ullah, who hails from Chittagong, has lived in the US for seven years. US police officials said he worked as a cab driver initially and then worked as an electrician at a real estate company. He had pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror group and told investigators that his planned terrorist attack in New York was mainly because of the recent Israeli actions in Gaza, officials said as per multiple media reports. Bangladesh police began searching for Ullah's family after his identity was confirmed. An official from the counter-terrorism unit said they found the address of his in-laws on Tuesday afternoon. Akayed's father-in-law Zulfikar Haider, mother-in-law Mahfuza Akhtar and their children rented the house. by Mario Marazzi "[T]he joy of Christmas, the joy of life, does not come from material things, but from simplicity and the gift of ourselves to others." A PIME priest who experienced his mission between Italy, Hong Kong, and China gives his thoughts and memories. The laity who consecrate their lives to evangelisation following the example of Felice Tantardini. Hong Kong (AsiaNews) Fr Mario Marazzi, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), was born in Varenna (Italy) in 1928. Ordained priest in 1960, he spent the first 20 years of his mission in Hong Kong. Between 1980 and 2000, he was back in Italy where he managed the Museo Popoli e Culture (Peoples and Cultures Museum), worked for the PIME missionary centre in Milan and for AsiaNews. He returned to Hong Kong in 2000 to serve in the parish of St Francis in Ma On Shan, three years later he moved to China. In Guangzhou, Guangdong, he spent a few years in a family home for people with mental disabilities, run by the Chinese non-governmental organisation Huiling. What follows is his Christmas letter. Several years ago, I attended a refresher meeting for priests in Hong Kong. The speaker was Fr Bernard Haring, a German theologian who is especially responsible for Catholic morality with a human and joyful face: from a morality of the law to the morality of love, from "You must!" to "You can", from the fear of sin and hell to the joy of the freedom of the children of God, called to be fulfilled in love. After writing books and giving lectures around the world, Fr Haring retired to the quiet of a monastery in Bavaria in the last years of his life. He passed his time between prayer, study and meditation. To a friend who came to see him he said these words: "I pray because I live, I live because I pray. That is, prayer is a response to the Father who gave me life and who also gives me the strength to live, that is, to accept the sufferings that I do not lack." I sometimes think of these words "I pray because I live, I live because I pray". I continue to live in the PIME Missionaries' home in Hong Kong, but without any particular work commitments. I have more time to read, reflect and pray. I pray to thank God for the gifts I received. I pray to recommend to Him the people I love. I pray for the still suffering Church in China. Praying also helps me find serenity despite the infirmities of age, and understand that all is grace, that "all things work for good for those who love God" (Paul to the Christians of Rome, Romans 8:28). A few weeks ago, we had special guests from Italy at the home Edoardo and Silvia, a young couple of newly-wed who, with the little Giona who were getting ready to go to China as volunteers to help disabled people in Huiling. Looking at this couple that was offering themselves to serve the mission and at the young confreres who come to us from time to time, I thank the Lord for the new forces that are replacing us older missionaries, for whom the time has come to step aside and pass the baton. We at PIME are now engaged in the Year of Lay Missionaries, which will end in September 2018. The presence in PIME of lay people who consecrate their whole life to the evangelising mission is a splendid reality that dates back to the beginning of the Institute, in the mid-19th century. One of the most important lay figures is Felice Tantardini. Originally from Introbio in Valsassina (Italy), he spent almost seventy years in Burma (now called Myanmar), where he died in 1991. Following a request from his bishop, Mgr Alfredo Lanfranconi, of Mandello, Felice wrote his memoirs, the tale of his adventurous life, and is now known and venerated as Gods blacksmith [1]. He was a splendid example! This coming Christmas reminds me of the "mechanical crib" that was set up every year in a room near the church of San Lorenzo in Mandello. The statues moved: some washed clothes, others cooked the chestnuts, etc. and many passed in single file in front of the hut to pay homage to the little Jesus. This memory from my childhood encourages me to offer you a Christmas story [2], where the figurines of the creche are also moving . . . "Dear little angels, said Baby Jesus, no offense, go and sing a little further away. Let no one know what's going on here!" Obediently as always, the little angels, without understanding this strange request, flew further away. Then, Baby Jesus called the Wise Men on the phone and asked them to let things go, not to bother, that the desert war dangerous, that there are terrorists, etc. As for the shepherds and sheep, it was easier. "Run from the wolf!" Naturally the shepherds ran like the wind with the sheep . . . at their heels! At that point the surroundings of the hut were deserted and quiet. And it was indeed a holy and silent night, as the famous song says. With the gathering broken up, everyone had left; only the little man of the polenta stayed behind. Poor fellow! He had hoped until the end that he could rake in the money that evening. With all those people who had come! Disappointed and a little dumbfounded, he approached the babe and asked him: "How could you do this? Why did you chase everyone away?" "See friend, answered Baby Jesus, I did not want everyone to get into the chaotic and crazy pre-Christmas rush, poisoning even more the air of the city. They would have been overwhelmed by the anguishing buying spree, becoming more restless and bad . . . I did not want that old man dressed in red snatch away my birthday party . . .". "Right!" said the little man of the polenta, who then cut it into slices. He gave one to the Babe, one to Mary, one to Joseph, one to the donkey and one to the ox. He cut one for himself and all together they had a simple but nice dinner. This is what we could do at Christmas instead of gorging ourselves like pigs. Nobody can stop us from doing this! May this Christmas story remind us that the joy of Christmas, the joy of life, does not come from material things, but from simplicity and the gift of ourselves to others. I wish you a Christmas in which you can experience such spirit ... ________________________________________ [1] Felice Tantardini, Il fabbro di Dio Con rosario e martello missionario in Birmania. Autobiografia, lettere e testimonianze (Gods blacksmith With rosary and missionary hammer in Burma. Autobiography, letters and stories) Emi Editore, 2016. [2] The Christmas story was taken from the magazine Citta Nuova, December 2016. by Nirmala Carvalho Rev Karan was among those detained. Police broke into Bethel Church and stopped Advent prayers. For Sajan K George, "In small remote areas, Jesus is the only refuge". Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Police in Madhya Pradesh have arrested four Pentecostals, including a clergyman, last Sunday, after breaking into Bethel Church in Kalibai, a village in Dewas district. About thirty people were praying at the time, the second Sunday of Advent. Police took into custody Rev Karan and three worshippers, Kiram, Bhikha and Bagwan Singh, and brought them to Khategaon station, where they are still held in detention. Speaking to AsiaNews, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that their arrest was illegal, calling it the latest episode of intolerance against Christians". According to the GCIC president, "Christians are increasingly intimidated and harassed. There is a palpable fear among, George added, especially during this period of Advent, where prayer services and functions take place in small churches in preparation for the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ ". Anti-conversion legislation, according to him is "an instrument of harassment by radical right-wing groups, with which they can accuse Christians of forced conversions and push the police to quickly detain them." A notorious anti-conversion law is in force in Madhya Pradesh, which was amended in 2013 to make it even more restrictive by punishing anyone who tries to convert Hindus to Christianity. The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act came into force in 1968, banning conversions obtained by force or money. However, the law has been largely used to persecute Christians through false accusations of forced conversions against people who decide to embrace religions other than Hinduism. "In small remote areas, where Jesus is the only refuge, where people come and experience a deep sense of peace and belonging to the community of believers, fringe groups disrupt the act of worship, said the Christian activist. They even use violence against the congregation, beating up women and children." Venkaiah Naidu was the guest of honor at the Christmas greetings ceremony. Catholics "manage the best educational institutions in the country". "Continue your service with special attention to the disadvantaged sectors of society". New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Indian vice president has praised the Catholic Church for "its efforts to build the nation and for the altruistic service rendered to the members of society". Venkaiah Naidu participated as a guest of honor at the Christmas greetings ceremony. Organized by the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI), the event took place yesterday at the center of the archdiocesan community of Delhi. The second highest representative of the State affirmed that "Jesus is the Son of God. He brings Good news to all seasons, peoples, cultures and nations. His message is the message of peace. If there is tension, we cannot have attention to any activities of peace". Naidu emphasized that "people, in every part of the world, regardless of caste, creed or nationality, celebrate Christmas with great joy ". Then he reaffirmed the importance of Catholics for the development of India, "in particular for the well-being of the people. They manage the best educational institutions in the country, which create awareness of the need for education and training for those in need ". According to the vice president, " Education is the most important tool for social transformation. It helps impart values compassion, morality and ethics,". For this reason, he added, "I invite you Christians to continue in your service with special attention to the disadvantaged sectors of society". The politician, an exponent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Hindu nationalist party), recalled that the Catholic Church has opened thousands of dispensaries and hospitals throughout India, to reach the most remote areas. Fr Renold Pascal, of the CBC press office, reports that "in the country Catholics manage 25 thousand schools and universities, and guarantee in hospitals 85 thousand beds for the sick, even in the most inaccessible areas. We also operate in more than 5,000 registered NGOs, which take care of the primary needs of over five million poor and marginalized every year ". At the end of the ceremony, Card. Baselios Cleemis, president of the CBCI, gave the guest of honor a nativity scene and a picture with the image of India, on which the Child Jesus lies in the manger. Then he reiterated the need for the government to "bring relief and aid" to the thousands of fishermen displaced by the Cyclone Ockhi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. "Christmas, a feast of love, sharing and joy, is the time to renew service in families, in the community and in society, to work for the social and economic inclusion of all, to promote lasting peace", concluded Naidu. An extraordinary OIC summit is scheduled today in Istanbul, at the request of current president Turkey. Ankara's goal is to promote a common front in response to the controversial US decision. The Turkish leader stands as a new "defender of the Palestinian cause". But divisions and contrasts remain within the organization. Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is today presiding over an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), scheduled in Istanbul in the presence of 57 Heads of State and Government of Muslim countries. The summit was convened at the request of Ankara as the current president, to respond with a "strong message" to the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to arrange the transfer of the embassy. The controversial US decision has raised protests and indignation - with dead and wounded - in the region and also concerns Pope Francis, who invoked respect for the status quo, as well as the Christian leaders of the Middle East. Three days ago, the Holy See confirmed "attention and concern" for the holy city and peace in the disputed area. This morning, when the extraordinary summit was opened, Turkey turned to the international community, inviting it to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state. Erdogan's goal - which aspires to the role of "defender of the Palestinian cause" - is to unite an often divided and fragmented Muslim front, reaching a common final declaration against the US turning point. He called Israel a "terrorist state" and called for a harsh response against the Jewish leadership, which continues to "throw fuel on the fire". However, analysts and experts point out that aligning positions between the different realities that make up the Muslim community - including the historical rivals Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) - will not be a simple task. Aaron Stein, a researcher at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, is convinced that Muslim leaders will end up issuing a " a boiler-plate condemnation". Several nations that make up the OIC including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates do not want to jeopardize their relations [economic and non] with the United States and Israel, in an anti-Iranian key, for a joint note at the conclusion of a summit. Sinan Ulgen, from the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul, believes that the meeting will end with nothing and there will be no substantial steps against Washington's moves. Introducing the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the gathering intends to send "a strong message" to the international community. He added, however, that some Islamic countries are "fearful" and do not intend to follow the hard line adopted by Ankara. Among the heads of state and government present are Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun. Added to these is the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas, the most interested in the success of the meeting. On the other hand, the Saudi representation does not seem to be composed of prominent personalities. So far, Arab nations have issued formal declarations of condemnation against the United States and Israel, without applying punitive economic or commercial measures or diplomatic retaliation. by Li Yuan He spent several years under house arrest and then in forced labor. He was appointed coadjutor bishop of Hanzhong, when his brother, Msgr. Bartolomeo Yu, was arrested in 1989. Hit by a stroke, he retired, also to safeguard the new found unity of the diocese between official and underground. Hanzhong (AsiaNews) - Msgr. Matthias Yu Chengxin, bishop coadjutor emeritus of Hanzhong (Shaanxi) died on December 7th at the age of 90. His funeral was celebrated yesterday in the church of Xiaozhai (county of Chengguo), coinciding with the 28th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of the deceased. Msgr. Louis Yu Runchen, official bishop of Hanzhong presided over the funeral ceremony. Msgr. Matthias Yu Chengxin was an underground bishop, not recognized by the government. For this reason, his episcopal title was mentioned only during the funeral service, but not written on any notice or sign during the funeral mass, concelebrated by 31 priests, most of the diocese. According to local Catholic sources, this silence was not due to particular pressures from the civil authorities. In the funeral service, Msgr. Louis Yu defined the deceased as "monsignor". Mathias Yu was born into a Catholic family on December 27, 1927. He is the younger brother of Msgr. Bartholomew Yu, also Bishop of Hanzhong, who died in 2009. One of their sisters, Yu Rongjie, still living, is a nun. All three Yu bishops were approved by the Holy See, but only Louis Yu is recognized by the government. Bishop Matthias studied at the Hanzhong seminary in 1950 and entered the regional seminary of Kaifeng (Henan) in 1956, but the seminary was closed two years later by the Three Self-Reform movement [for the building of a national Church autonomous from the Holy See - ed.). During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) he was first subjected to house arrest, then sent to a forced labor camp ("reform through work"). In 1980, after the opening of Deng Xiaoping and the resumption of religious life, he was ordained a priest and placed as spiritual director and teacher of Latin in the underground seminary of St. Joseph in Hanzhong. He is remembered as a jovial person, who toured the parishes on his bicycle to administer the sacraments to his faithful. Msgr. Matthias was ordained bishop secretly in 1989. An eulogy read during the funeral service and signed by all the priests of Hanzhong, states that "he never exercised his episcopal ministry and never allowed others to call him bishop, nor did he ever appear with the episcopal insignia, in private or in public. He has always considered himself and has always served the Church as a priest ". Some faithful say that the deceased bishop was an "auxiliary bishop" and not "coadjutor". The different opinions and statements reflect the difficult history of the diocese, long divided between official and underground. Msgr. Matthias Yu was secretly ordained as coadjutor bishop of Hanzhong by Msgr. Li Zhenrong of Xianxian on December 12, 1989, after his brother, Msgr. Bartholomew Yu Chengti, unofficial bishop of Hanzhong, was arrested in November of the same year, during a heavy repression against underground communities throughout China: the authorities had discovered that underground bishops had secretly gathered as an "episcopal conference" , in the so-called "Sanyuan meeting". An authoritative ecclesial source spoke to AsiaNews about the mighty efforts of Msgr. Anthony Li Duan, official bishop of Xian (Shaanxi), to push his dear friend, Msgr. Bartholomew Yu, to rebuild communion in the diocese in 2000. In 2005, shortly before the death of John Paul II, there was a turning point in the life of the diocese of Hanzhong: Msgr. Louis Yu asked to be reconciled with the Pope and the Holy See. The funeral mass for the Polish pope was also a ceremony of reconciliation because for the first time in decades Msgr. Bartholomew and Msgr. Louis celebrated the Eucharist together. Until his death, Msgr. Bartholomew was the ordinary of the diocese; in 2009, at his death, Msgr. LouisYu succeeded him in leading Hanzhong. The authoritative source states that "in a diocesan meeting, Msgr. Matthias has taken the initiative to retire and not to assert his episcopal status for love of communion in the diocese ". On the other hand, in 2007 Msgr. Matthias was hit by a stroke that created mobility problems. When Msgr. Bartholomew died, Msgr. Matthias was paralyzed and could not take care of himself and the diocese. The eulogy read during the funeral service says that Msgr. Matthias "knew his abilities and the reality of the diocese well. He offered his sufferings, going against the expectations of some, but fulfilling the will of God ". In this year 2017 nine bishops have died in the Church in China. In four of the dioceses concerned, the Chinese government has not yet allowed the ordination of the candidate bishops successors appointed by the Vatican, or has not recognized the successors secretly ordained in the past without government approval. This is creating even greater difficulties in the dialogue between China and the Holy See, which is precisely aimed at solving the thorny problem of the appointment of bishops. French President Macron, who hosted the summit, said "We are losing the battle" against global warming. The temperature should rise by 3.5 degrees Celsius. A new space observatory is planned. Climate change is the cause of increasingly frequent and severe floods, droughts, storms and heat waves. Paris (AsiaNews/Agencies) World Bank Group (WBG) President Jim Yong Kim said that his organisation will stop financing oil and gas exploration and extraction starting in 2019. Mr Yong made the announcement yesterday at the One Planet climate summit in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. For Mr Kim, it is time for WBG to set a good example by aligning its support to countries to meet their Paris Agreement goals. However, In exceptional circumstances, the WBG may still consider funding more polluting sectors in the case of the poorest countries. In 2016, 5 per cent of WBGs investments went into the coal sector. The climate summit was convened by the United Nations and hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. In his address, the French warned that "We are losing the battle" against global warming. In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Macron said that the world is moving towards a 3.5 Celsius rise, which is "very far from the objective set by the Paris agreement to limit the temperature increase below the 2 degrees threshold." Other announcements were made during the summit, including the creation of a space observatory for climate research, a five-year initiative by 220 global investors to step up pressure on the one hundred companies that emit the most greenhouse gases that cause global warming, and the start of a carbon pricing market. For some critical voices, these statements are but a vague list of pledges. For others, yesterday's meeting showed an increased awareness of the problem of climate change. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and Mexican President Enrique Pena were present at the meeting. D Brent Hardt, charge daffaires at the United States Embassy in Paris, was the official US representative was. But Governor Jerry Brown of California, a harsh critic of US President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the Paris agreement, was also in attendance. Governor Brown said the effort in the United States to fight climate change was being led from the cities, from the states, from corporate leaders, from universities. He also noted We cant wait for the White House to wake up. Climate change is increasingly blamed for more frequent and severe floods, droughts, storms and heat waves. As average global temperatures rise to new records, Arctic sea ice melts and sea levels rise. The poorest and most vulnerable countries are paying the heaviest price. The rich countries have so far failed to provide the US$ 100 billion a year pledged by 2020 to help them switch from fossil fuels to greener energy sources. by Paul N. Hung About 9.79 per cent of the countrys population lives in poverty, 5.27 per cent are at risk. About 1.5 million children live in difficult situations. Various social and charitable groups are undertaking a number of initiatives for the upcoming holidays. About three thousand children are expected at the Christmas Festival organised by Caritas Saigon. The diocese of Hanoi and the Goethe Institute are working together to raise funds. Saigon (AsiaNews) For Vietnamese Catholics, the period of Advent and Christmas offers an opportunity to renew their social and charitable work in favour of the poor and of needy children. Members of the Catholic community are involved every day and their efforts are not limited to providing meals or basic necessities, but extend to pastoral initiatives and activities aimed at educating young people and helping the poor, be they Catholic or not. With the Christmas holidays approaching, Fr Peter Tran Van Hai, vicar of the parish of Trieu Phong, in the north-central province of Quang Tri, said that "Christmas is the time when gifts are exchanged. Gods gifts are love and the sharing of concerns. God has left to humanity a final Will, which is love and service." "To fulfill His will, He invites all of His peoples, all Vietnamese Catholics at home and abroad, to sacrifice something for the poor at Christmas time. For this reason, there are many charities such as Hands of Love, Association of Silent Service, Association of Grace, Association of Friends that help and work with the unfortunate, the poor, and sick children, regardless of their religion," the priest said. Responding enthusiastically to the appeals of Pope Francis in favour of the latter, Caritas Saigon has worked with many social and religious organisations to prepare a Christmas Festival, with the theme Coming to Love. This coming Saturday, some three thousand children living in special and difficult circumstances will participate. Volunteers will also welcome 3,361 employees of 48 social organisations, as well as 242 blind children, 523 deaf, 133 with severe disabilities, 333 disabled, 1,769 cared for by the organisation and 361 Catholic and non-Catholic social workers. On 21 December, a concert organised by the Goethe Institute will be held at the church of Cua Bac in Hanoi to raise funds for the unfortunate. "All donations will support the poor and there will be no religious discrimination", says the leaflet advertising the event, the first due to the collaboration between the diocese of the capital and the institute. Despite Vietnams recent economic development, poverty is still widespread in the country. According to statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, 2.31 million people or 9.79 per cent of the population lived in poverty in 2016, whilst more than 1.24 million households were at risk of poverty, or 5.27 per cent. Government data also indicate that around 1.5 million children live in very difficult circumstances. A Canadian man who has been working in Tokyo's finance sector for nearly two decades is suing his employer Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities for what is known in Japan as paternity harassment. Glen Wood, 47, who was the brokerage's head of global sales, is arguing that he has been unfairly sidelined by the company with a demotion and a hefty pay cut after the birth of his son, Alexander, two years ago, reported the Straits Times. Now a single father, he is fighting for his old job and salary back in the ongoing case before the Tokyo District Court. Wood has been suspended without pay since Oct 18. The lawsuit has wider implications for a nation that is struggling to cope with not only a demographic time bomb, but also with a severe lack of interest among top foreign talent which it is wooing by offering the world's quickest road to permanent residency. The number of births recorded in Japan in 2016 fell below one million for the first time, despite generous childcare leave benefits. For one, the law grants fathers up to 52 weeks or an entire year of paid paternity leave. But the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said only about 3 per cent of new fathers took any or all of that benefit last year (2016). The government wants to raise this to 13 per cent by 2020. Childcare is an issue that often incurs public furore. Last month (November), city lawmaker Yuka Ogata, 42, from Kumamoto on the south-west island of Kyushu was reprimanded with an official warning after she brought her seven-month-old son to an assembly session that was slated to last for 15 minutes. Her colleagues, overwhelmingly male, promptly raised heckles. The session was postponed for 40 minutes, just so Ms Ogata could leave her child with a nanny. A study this year, meanwhile, also found that most young fathers hoped to take paternity leave, but are not doing so out of social hurdles including peer pressure and fears that their colleagues would "think unfavourably" of them. This issue of entrenched mindsets is amplified in monolithic, traditional Japanese corporations, Wood told The Straits Times in a recent interview. "In Japan, people are afraid to have children. This is why the birth rate is so low, they don't feel that they can have both children and a career and that is very sad. It is not a humane answer to the situation," said the Ontario, Canada, native, who holds a Masters in Business Administration from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He first came to Japan almost 30 years ago and is fluent in Japanese. According to the court filing seen by The Straits Times, Mr Wood said his demotion had been unjust, given that revenues have doubled between 2012 and 2015 as the company grew its base of institutional investors. Furthermore, he has consistently scored high reviews in internal company appraisals, the document said. "This isn't about a foreigner trying to go against the Japanese system. I follow all the rules, my e-mails are in Japanese, I do everything in Japanese," he stressed. "But I feel very strongly that large traditional corporations should not be allowed to operate above the law. If companies do not follow government policies, then they are useless, just a piece of paper." "It is also about work-life balance. In Japan, historically, when you join a company, you are a soldier. It's like a battle, but if you get sick or have a baby then you are gone," he added. In response to queries from The Straits Times, an MUFJ spokesman said, however, that the company "has set up a childcare leave system even before this incident, and we actively support our employees in applying for childcare leave regardless of their gender or nationality". They added that about 42 per cent of new fathers who qualify for paternity leave applied in fiscal 2016, and that the company is on course for 100 per cent in the current fiscal year. Gelatissimo selling gelato flavour made with camel milk Gelatissimo is selling gelato made with camel milk this festive season. The new Salted Camel is a salted caramel gelato made using camel milk and topped with butterscotch baubles. Gelatissimo Product Development Manager, Filiz Kaya, said the gelato is an ideal Christmas flavour. Australia has gone mad for rich, buttery, caramel flavours so when I first tasted camel milk, I just knew it would be the perfect ingredient to incorporate into a delectable, Christmas time flavor, Kaya said. Salted Camel uses camel milk from the Hunter Valley that is described as smooth on the palate, a little sweet and containing a slight hint of salt. The gelato flavor is available now for a limited-time leading up to Christmas. Gelatissimo is a global franchise brand with 43 stores in Australia and 17 internationally. Founded in 2002, Gelatissimo is 100 per cent Australian owned. The company has grown into one of the largest gelato franchises in the world, establishing the brand in Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Related articles (Aleksandar Todorovic/Shutterstock.com) (Aleksandar Todorovic/Shutterstock.com) The Chinse love affair with Australia continues with the latest figures showing that spending by Chinese visitors now exceeds $10 billion.That is a substantial amount of the record 41.2 billion spend by international visitors overall in Australia by more than eight million international visitors during the record 268 million nights they stayed during the year ending September 2017.This strong growth is being led by key Asian markets including China, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan. During the 12 months Australia welcomed 1.33 million Chinese visitors, just shy of the largest arrivals market of New Zealand with 1.35 million.Tourism Minister Steve Ciobo said that the 2017 China-Australia Year of Tourism, an open capacity aviation agreement with China and significant visa reform, has contributed to the 13% growth in spend by Chinese visitors.Another market that has seen consistent growth is the United States, with visitors and spending both growing by 40% over the last three years and youth travellers to Australia are also growing strongly with a 10% increase in spend in the year ending September 2017.Spending by international visitors was strong across the states and territories with Tasmania seeing a 33% increase and ACT a 27% increase.This comes at a time when the total international aviation capacity to Australia increased by 6% year on year and visitor numbers from China are forecast to continue to grow with eight new aviation routes between China and Australia planned for the next 12 months.Brisbane has just welcomed its first ever direct flight from Beijing with Air China's new route now operating four times a week. The new route is expected to inject more than $191 million into the Queensland economy over the next four years. More than 170,000 Chinese travellers are expected to travel to Queensland.Meanwhile, Tourism Australia's latest youth campaign, Aussie News Today, has already reached over 20 million 18 to 30 year olds in Australia's key youth markets via social media with more than 10 million views of the content recorded since it was launched.The news channel's roving reporters Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins, Teigan Nash and Lincoln Lewis have been sharing some of the unique attractions and life changing experiences available to young travellers and working holidaymakers.Australia was also voted the Best International Youth Destination at the recent British Youth Travel Awards. 'The opportunities for Brits down under are boundless, ranging from some of the world's best surf, to great sporting events and wildlife you can't see anywhere else,' said Denise von Wald, regional general manager for Tourism Australia.'Australia is home to some of the most rewarding youth travel experiences in the world. For those who want to combine travel with temporary work, Australia offers the Working Holiday Maker (WHM) programme where young Brits can work and travel in Australia for up to two years,' she added. Photo of Mazda3 courtesy of Mazda. Mazda North American Operations is recalling 144 2018 Mazda3 cars because theyre equipped with an incorrect exhaust valve spring that may fail and lead to engine stalling, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Mazda dealers will inspect the engines and replace any incorrect exhaust valve springs, NHTSA said. There will be no charge for this service. The recall is expected to begin Jan. 20. Car owners can reach Mazda customer service at (800) 222-5500. Mazdas number for this recall is 1717K. 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. Mission United in Citrus County is working to bring veterans in the community together, most recently doing so on the water. Veterans ventured out to Homosassa Springs to see manatees, wildlife Trip put together by Homosassa Riverside Resort, River Adventure Tours Information for next tour? Contact Mission United The group organized a trip for area veterans to Homosassa Springs to give participants an up close look at the manatees and other wildlife in their natural habitat. About 12 veterans braved the cold for the trip, put on for free by the Homosassa Riverside Resort and River Adventure Tours. One of the veterans, Richard Hunt, said he wouldn't miss it for the world. "I feel most comfortable around other veterans," Hunt explained. Hunt served in the Marines, and was wounded during the Vietnam War. He said it's easier to talk to other veterans because they know what he's been though. "It's kind of a club that no one really wants to join," Hunt said. "It just sort of happens. Veterans that do combat especially share some very unique experiences and it's not something that we necessarily talk about with the world." That's why Mission United Director and Marine Veteran Josh Langston-White said it's important to have trips like this. which help establish ties between veterans in the community. "(Its important to have) a phone number someone you know you can pick up if you're having a difficult time whether it's related to your time in service or not anything that can trigger a difficult time," Langston-White said. "So coming together and having that friendship having someone you can count on you can call at any time is huge." Hunt told us the large veteran community and outreach programs in the county are a big reason he moved here. "I moved from Orlando to here, and it's one of the best things I've ever done," Hunt explained. Mission United hopes to make this trip a monthly event. Any veterans interested in participating in future trips are asked to call Mission United in Citrus County. Tampa Police are searching for an armed suspect wanted in connection with three hotel robberies. Robberies occurred Nov. 20, Dec. 11, and Dec. 12 Suspect seen carrying NY Yankees backpack No injuries, no indication yet how much money stolen The first robbery occurred on Nov. 20 at the Days Inn location at 2905 North 50th Street about 4:30 a.m. Police said a man walked in wearing a hoodie to cover his face. He pointed a gun at the front desk clerk and demanded money. He then took off on foot. On Dec. 11, police said a suspect who appears to be the same man robbed the Quality Inn located at 2708 North 50th Street at 3:13 a.m. The latest incident occurred on Dec. 12 at 3:53 p.m.. Police said an armed man entered the West Wing Hotel at 2501 East Fowler Avenue, and robbed the clerk there. In all three cases, the suspect was carrying a New York Yankees backpack. No one was injured and police aren't saying how much money the man got away with. Anyone with information is being asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-873-TIPS. St. Petersburg Police have arrested and charged two people in a death investigation from December 2016. Three charged in December 2016 death investigation PREVIOUS STORY: Police ID body of woman found in St. Petersburg alleyway Taylor McAllister, 22, was found dead in an alley behind 2101 63 Avenue South on Dec. 22, 2016. After a yearlong investigation, detectives arrested Robert Butler, 52, and Deonte Baker, 35, in the case. Quran Archer, 25, has also been charged but not taken into custody. Police said the charged was referred to the state attorney's office. During the investigation, Baker and Archer admitted to picking up a barely conscious McAllister at Butler's home in Palm Harbor on Dec. 22, 2016. According to police, the victim died shortly after the two left, so they left her body in the alley. Butler has been charged with felony possession of marijuana, failure to report a death, and felon in possession of ammunition. Deonte Baker is charged with failure to report a death and money laundering. Quran Archer is charged with failure to report a death. Two other people were also charged with money laundering, related to the case. Police said other arrests are pending and the investigation is still ongoing. No information on the cause of McAllister's death has been released. Star Wars mania has reached a fever pitch. First look inside Millennium Falcon ride Attraction will be featured in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge The 14-acre land is set to open in 2019 With Star Wars: The Last Jedi set to premiere Friday, fans are focused on any and every thing Star Wars. Enter Disney, which today released a photo from teasing its upcoming Millennium Falcon attraction. The flight simulator ride is one of the attractions that will be featured in the upcoming Star Wars: Galaxys Edge. The photo shows an area that is modeled after the Falcons corridor. In the tweet below, Disney teases that it will release more information on Saturday during its second Star Wars: Galactic Nights event. Star Wars: Galaxys Edge is set to debut at Disneyland and Disneys Hollywood Studios in 2019. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When Texas artist Ellen Tanner sits down to work on her paintings, she gets really close. She puts on one of two sets of magnifying head glasses she has to see the details of her subjects. Tanner likes to keep the elements of her paintings, inspired by fables and myths, small, encouraging viewers to get up close and personal with her work. "You have to get closer to see what's really happening. It encourages a more intimate relationship," Tanner said. "Or drives some people crazy." Ellen Tanner When: Opening reception 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday. On display through March 4. Where: Art Museum of Southeast Texas, 500 Main St., Beaumont Cost: Free Info: www.amset.org See More Collapse Southeast Texans will have their chance to look at Tanner's work on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas beginning Friday through March 4. Tanner was working as a graphic designer for the Fossil watch company when she felt she was losing her identity as an artist. As the company saw new design trends, they would ask Tanner to emulate those styles in her work.With her paintings, she can stay true to her aesthetic of muted colors and small details. Tanner will have works from three series on display at AMSET: "Aesop's Fables," "Love and Loss Families" and "Greek Myths." While Tanner, 42, is no longer a graphic designer by trade, she still approaches stories and painting as an illustrator. She was inspired to take on her the fables series after finding a book of Aesop's stories at her grandmother's house. "Images started flashing through my head of ways I would illustrate that if I had the opportunity to do so," Tanner said. "It's just such a rich collection." That's where Tanner started about 10 years ago, mostly with animals. Then she began researching Victorian mourning traditions and created "Love and Loss Families," which tries to capture sadness and seriousness often missing in images today. "There was something so beautiful about these pictures from the Victorian times," Tanner said. "There's such depth to them." Now, she's tackling a new collection of stories - Greek Myths. Tanner said shes always has been obsessed with mythology but thought she needed to become a better painter before putting her ideas down. "I finally kind of felt like my skills were at a level that I could tackle all the different things going on in those stories," Tanner said. For each painting, Tanner does an extensive amount of research, collecting about 100 images of inspiration. She thinks about the story as a whole and then breaks them down. "It's a fun challenge to read these stories and think about what moments you're going to capture," Tanner said. Once she has collected the images she'll use for inspiration, she draws from elements to create her own paintings. Tanner starts each with a grisaille, or grayish brown layer of paint. She then layers color on top, essentially painting each work three times. She said it takes about three months to complete a painting. "The art I'm most drawn to is old paintings from the 1500s when they worked with layers of colors," Tanner said. "It's just kind of been me trying to teach myself how to do that." While she's done her best to match it, she still feels like something is missing. But viewers don't seem to notice. Tanner's AMSET exhibit will be her second. At her first at Moody Gallery in Houston, she said people were receptive to the stories she tells in her work. "It was really fun to see the delight that people had in the details and the colors," Tanner said. Art buffs interested in learning more about Tanner's work can attend the exhibit's opening reception, where she will give an artist's talk. AFletcher@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/afletcher727 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's been more than three decades since a 6-year-old Matthew Matheny was photographed for the newspaper paper digging rolls of coins out of a brown paper sack to donate to The Beaumont Enterprise's Empty Stocking Fund. Even after moving away for college and starting a family, the Beaumont attorney - now 39 - has carried on the annual tradition of donating to E.J., the charity's pajama-clad toddler mascot. Back in 1984, the sandy-haired, grinning Matheny gave $7.40 in change to help ensure local children had toys under their Christmas trees. "We would save the (coins) up all year long and keep them in a chest my father had," Matheny said. "After school got out for the holidays, I would begin rolling them up and bring them in a huge brown paper bag to The Enterprise's lobby." Matheny's parents, Sarah and Mike, taught him early to give back to his community, he said. "We were very blessed and lucky when I was growing up and we had everything we needed," Matheny said. "They wanted me to understand that." He doesn't remember when his family first started donating to E.J., but said he recognizes why they chose the Empty Stocking Fund, which has been raising money for the community for more than 100 years. "The Empty Stocking Fund is the No. 1 local charity that has a direct impact on children in our community," Matheny said. "There's very little administrative overhead." Even after Matheny moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to get his undergraduate degree at Rhodes College and later to Waco to attend Baylor University School of Law, he said he always made sure to stop by The Enterprise while out on school breaks to drop off a donation. Now a personal injury lawyer at the Provost Umphrey Law Firm, Matheny is teaching his two children - 7-year-old Mason and 4-year-old Meredith - the love of giving that was instilled in him by his parents. "We still track E.J.'s stocking to see if he has a straight face or if he's frowning," Matheny said. The toddler's expression brightens as his stocking fills up during the holiday campaign. E.J.'s fundraising goal this year is $50,000. "Of course we did that with the newspaper when I was a kid, but now we look on the iPad," Matheny said of The Enterprise's e-edition newspaper. In the days leading up to Christmas, when the kids are out of school, the Matheny family will make a field trip to the Enterprise's lobby on Main Street and make a donation to E.J. "Anything we can do for E.J.," Matheny said. "It makes such an impact. I think it taught young people who grew up in these neighborhoods to donate at home." For the past several years, the Empty Stocking Fund has provided toys and books each Christmas to about 1,200 children, but more applications were accepted this year because of Tropical Storm Harvey. More than 1,800 area children will get toys and books this year thanks to the generosity of residents like the Mathenys. MGstalter@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/morgGstalt A Lumberton High School student has been arrested after a hit list was found in the student's belongings Tuesday. The parties on hit list, which reportedly contained students and a former employee, have been notified, according to Lumberton ISD. Police identified a Port Arthur man accused of using stolen credit cards at Lowe's by a tattoo in his online profile pictures, according to a police affidavit. Charles Ashton Ford, 31, was indicted by a Jefferson County Grand Jury Wednesday on a state jail felony charge of credit card abuse. According to an affidavit for Ford's arrest, a Hamshire woman reported in May that credit cards were taken from her Mercedes-Benz, and that charges had been made on the cards, including at Lowe's in Beaumont. An investigation revealed that the Lowe's credit card was used to buy more than $1000 worth of cordless power tools, bolt cutters and hoses on May 16, the day the cards were reported stolen. Surveillance video showed the man who made the purchases, but police were initially unable to identify him. A Sheriff's Deputy found the tools that had been purchased were for sale online on OfferUp.com by a seller named "Ashton," with a tattoo on his arm that said "Georgia Boy." The address listed for the sale was near several "low priced motels that are well known for people with drug habits staying at and selling stolen items," the affidavit said. Through Facebook searches, the deputy located Charles Ashton Ford, whose profile picture was the same as the seller's, with the same tattoo. Ford was interviewed in August, when he denied stealing the cards but said he bought them from someone else. "He said he was high on drugs and could not remember all the places he had used the cards at or what he had bought," the affidavit said. Ford allegedly said that he "had a severe drug habit" and came to Texas from Georgia, "hoping he could get away from methamphetamine." If convicted of credit card abuse, he faces six months to two years in state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/LizTeitz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Global warming's fingerprints were all over the record rainfall from Hurricane Harvey this year, confirming what scientists suspected, according to new research. While scientists say man-made climate change didn't trigger Harvey, new studies calculate that a warmer, wetter world made it at least three times more likely that the stalled storm over Southeast Texas would flood the region. Researchers also said global warming often goosed aspects of two other destructive hurricanes this year, Irma and Maria. Findings were discussed Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans. The Harvey studies used a combination of established and new techniques. An international team used computer simulations and decades of past observations to estimate the odds for the record rainfall that came with Harvey over a period of three days in August with and without global warming. By comparing those two, they concluded global warming tripled the likelihood for the deluge, which reached more than 50 inches in one location. Based on Southeast Texas' weather history, researchers said a storm like Harvey would occur about once every 9,000 years. "Did climate change make this event more likely than in the past? Yes," said Karin van der Wiel of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Another study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used computer simulations to analyze Harvey's downpours over a week and calculated that global warming increased rainfall by nearly 20 percent. Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research linked Harvey's downpours to the heat content in the ocean. Most of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases gets absorbed by oceans and that energy serves as fuel for hurricanes and other storms. The ocean heat content was record high in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere before Harvey hit. If it had been lower, there would have been much less rain, he said. Changes in the jet stream the rivers of air that steer weather led to Harvey's stalling over the region, unleashing rain, said Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who presented two studies. While Emanuel wouldn't directly blame climate change on Harvey, he said destructive hurricanes will be more likely in a warmer world. "I think this is a window into the future. I think nature is giving us a foretaste of the future," Emanuel said in an interview. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears. His work can be found here. U.S. federal prosecutors filed terrorism charges Tuesday against a Bangladeshi immigrant, alleging he scrawled anti-American messages in his passport before detonating a bomb beneath New Yorks Times Square in the name of the extremist group Islamic State. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old U.S. green-card holder who worked as a taxi or limo driver in New York City, is suspected of injuring himself and three other people by setting off a pipe-bomb strapped to his body in a busy subway tunnel during the Monday morning rush hour. He had been planning this particular attack for several weeks, Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told a news conference. The location and timing of his planned attack was no accident, and his motivation was no mystery. Ullah left for the United States in September 2011, when he quit his studies at a private university in Bangladesh, his uncle, Abdul Ahad, told BenarNews in Bangladesh, where police brought the suspects wife and his in-laws in for questioning on Tuesday. I was really surprised to see his face on television, Ahad said. His nephew who is now in trouble with the American authorities last visited Dhaka on Sept. 8 this year to be with his wife, and he stayed till Oct. 22, according to Ahad. He did not visit anyone; he remained indoors. He did not mix with anyone, the suspects uncle said. On Tuesday in New York, U.S. authorities filed a 10-page criminal complaint against Ullah that details five counts of federal charges: Providing material support to a terrorist group, bombing a public place, using a weapon of mass destruction, destruction of property by means of fire or explosives, and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. During the news conference, Kim identified the terrorist group as ISIS, another acronym for Islamic State (IS). The federal charges indicate that Ullah began researching how to build a bomb about a year ago, the U.S. prosecutor said. As alleged, he also admitted that he had been inspired by ISIS to carry out this attack, saying that he had been radicalized by watching ISIS propaganda starting as far back as 2014, Kim said. FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said Ullah was inspired by a group that exploits technology in an effort to spread a violent ideology, effectively convincing sympathizers to commit terrorist acts worldwide. Back in Ullahs home country, Islamic State is the group that claimed responsibility for a terrorist siege at a cafe in the capital Dhaka, during which 29 people, including 20 hostages and five gunmen were killed last year. The nature of this particular strain of the terrorism threat can often mean evaluating behavior that doesnt mean anything until you combine it with other pieces of intelligence, Sweeney said. We rely heavily upon the communitys assistance to accomplish that task. Akayed Ullah [Reuters] O America, Die in your rage New York police arrested Ullah after he allegedly triggered the pipe-bomb while walking in the subway tunnel. The metal pipe was filled with metal screws held together under his jacket with wires and zip ties, investigators said. A photo published by New York news websites showed Ullah crumpled on the ground with his shirt blown off before he was taken to a hospital, where he is recuperating. After police read Ullah his rights, and while receiving treatment for his injuries at the hospital, Ullah claimed he had acted on behalf of IS, Kim said. Federal agents found police metal pipes, pieces of wires and metal screws when they searched Ullahs apartment in Brooklyn on Monday, Kim said, explaining that the seized items were consistent with bomb material recovered at the scene after the explosion. While searching the apartment, officers also found Ullahs Bangladeshi passport, which contained handwritten messages, including O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. While he was on his way to the Times Square area on Monday to carry out his attack, Ullah opened his Facebook account and posted a message for U.S. President Donald Trump, authorities said. Trump you failed to protect your nation, Ullah wrote, according to the federal complaint. The terror act allegedly perpetrated by the Bangladeshi led to the president citing Ullahs case as an example of how, in his view, Americas immigration system needed to be overhauled. Todays terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security, Trump said on Monday. My Executive action to restrict the entry of certain nationals from eight countries, which the Supreme Court recently allowed to take effect, is just one step forward in securing our immigration system. Congress must end chain migration. But the White House offered no evidence about where Ullah was radicalized or whether there were any red flags in his record. At Tuesdays news conference in New York, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions echoed the presidents words. To make law enforcements job easier, however, Congress must finally fix our broken immigration system so that we admit to this country those who are likely to succeed, not violent criminals, gang members, terrorists, or their sympathizers, Sessions said, noting that the U.S. Justice Department had convicted more than 500 criminals for terror-related offenses since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda in New York and Washington. Relatives questioned Meanwhile in Dhaka, police said they had interrogated Ullahs wife and parents in-law. We have not arrested them. We are talking to them to extract information about him, Saiful Islam, a deputy commissioner in the Bangladeshi polices counter-terrorist branch, told BenarNews. According to Ullahs uncle, Ahad, his nephew got married two years ago. Sohaili Ferdous, an assistant inspector general of police in Dhaka, said investigators had not gathered any evidence yet linking Ullah to militants or criminals in Bangladesh. But we will investigate further to ascertain whether he had any connection with the local militant groups, she told BenarNews. International terror plots Mondays explosion in the New York subway tunnel, which Mayor Bill de Blasio described as an attempted terrorist attack, was the second terrorist incident to rock his city in six weeks. On Oct. 31, a man killed eight people and injured a dozen others as he drove a pickup truck down a bicycle path near the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. An officer shot and wounded the suspect, who was identified as a 29-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov. And in England last week, two men, a Bangladeshi-Briton and a Pakistani-Briton were charged on suspicion of planning to assassinate British Prime Minister Theresa May in a foiled plot linked to IS. The Bangladeshi suspect, Naaimur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, was charged with planning to detonate an improvised explosive device at the gates of Mays official office and residence, at No. 10 Downing Street in London, in order to gain access to the prime ministers office in the ensuing chaos and kill her. An Indian paramilitary guards a deserted street in Srinagar during a general strike called by Kashmiri separatists to mark the 70th anniversary of the day Indian troops took control of the region, Oct. 27, 2017. The former chairman of a leading separatist organization in Indian Kashmir defended himself Wednesday after he was fired from his post for meeting a government official assigned to help end a decades-old insurgency in the disputed Himalayan region. Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat was ousted as longtime chief of the Muslim Conference, two weeks after he engaged in a dialogue with Dineshwar Sharma, a former intelligence official who was appointed recently as the Indian governments special representative to Kashmir to hold exploratory meetings with local leaders and stakeholders in an effort to pave the way for potential peace talks. Bhats sacking came amid a raging controversy in the Muslim Conference over his talks with Sharma in Srinagar, the regional capital, on Nov. 27. On Tuesday, Bhat removed three Muslim Conference party members for anti-party activities after they objected to his meeting with the Indian envoy. We must understand [that] dialogue is the only way forward. Talking to Dineshwar Sharma does not mean I am a traitor, Bhat told BenarNews. Kashmiri separatists, who have been spearheading a violent rebellion against Indian rule since the late 1980s, have openly refused to engage in a dialogue with the government interlocutor until New Delhi accepts the Muslim-majority region as a disputed territory. More than 70,000 people have been killed in a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, which is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan and is divided between the two sides by a de facto border called the Line of Control (LoC). India must talk to Pakistan. Then the two countries should engage with Kashmiris to find a lasting solution to the issue that has proven to be a major source of discontent and hostility, Bhat said. Sharma, a former chief of Indias Intelligence Bureau (IB), was deputed as the Kashmir interlocutor by Indias Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in October. He traveled to Kashmir in early November for a series of interactions with students and local trade bodies but separatist groups refused to meet him then. Not against a dialogue The Muslim Conference has elected Mohammad Sultan Magray as its interim president for six months, Magray confirmed to BenarNews. We are not against a dialogue with India. But his [Bhats] meeting with was against the principle stand taken by separatists that a dialogue is only possible after India accepts Kashmir as a disputed territory, Magray said, adding that Bhat was unanimously ousted. The Muslim Conference is affiliated with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations that has been championing Kashmirs independence since 1993. Even as the Muslim Conference confirmed it had fired Bhat for talking to Sharma, experts said the controversial meeting could help break the ice between the Indian government and Kashmiri rebels. Some likeminded separatists may take a cue and come forward to engage in a dialogue at a later stage. Bhat is a moderate separatist leader who, by choosing to talk to Sharma, has lent some credence to the recent peace building move by the Indian government, Noor Baba, a Srinagar-based political analyst, told BenarNews. But the meeting could prove counter-productive, Ajai Sahni, a New Delhi-based counter-terrorism expert, warned. Certainly, talks between the government and the rebels have the potential to bring others to the negotiation table, opening the possibility for a resolution. But it can also evoke a backlash as extremists or anti-state elements may intensify violence to disrupt any peace moves, Sahni said. The BJP said Kashmiri separatists were isolating themselves internationally by refusing to engage in a dialogue with the government-appointed interlocutor. By not meeting Sharma, separatists only want to ensure that the violence continues. They dont want it to stop, and for their own vested reasons. But the government is committed to restore peace using all legitimate options, party leader Ramesh Arora told BenarNews. Bhats talk with the government representative is a good beginning and I hope his colleagues rethink their stance and join talks initiated by the government. They need to realize that further violence will only aggravate the problem, he said. Malaysian internet regulators on Tuesday interviewed executives of a re-born news portal over an editorial that was deemed to have criticized Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, officials said. Salleh Said Keruak, Malaysias minister of information and multimedia, confirmed that The Malaysian Insight (TMI) was under investigation. Salleh did not elaborate. The MCMC is investigating if TMI had breached any laws since it has received a report on the matter, Salleh, who is in charge of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), a regulatory body, told reporters. Salleh is also a high-ranking official of the countrys largest political party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which has dominated Malaysian politics throughout the countrys 60-year history. Najib is poised to run for re-election in polls expected next year. TMI staff members said MCMC officials had questioned five executives with the website about a recent editorial that lambasted the government in connection with a foreign currency scandal dating in the 1990s that involved the countrys central bank. Late last month, a government-appointed panel, the Royal Commission of Inquiry, recommended that the oppositions top two leaders ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim be investigated along with other former government officials over billions of dollars in central bank losses during that period, when Mahathir was in power and Anwar served as his deputy. Since 2015, Mahathir in particular has led calls for Najib to resign over corruption allegations tied to the 1MDB affair, a financial scandal that has overshadowed Malaysian politics. Najib has denied any wrongdoing in deposits into his private bank accounts of nearly U.S. $700 million in money-linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state investment fund that he founded in 2009. He has said that the cash was donated by the Saudi royal family. The Malaysian Insight succeeded The Malaysian Insider, which had aggressively covered the 1MDB story before it ceased operating in March last year over financial difficulties. Those had arisen after the MCMC had ordered the site be blocked online for allegedly publishing content perceived by authorities to be defamatory. The Malaysian Insider became the second news site to be blocked in the country in 2016 after the Hong Kong-based Asia Sentinel suffered a similar fate that January. MCMC said in a statement then that it had blocked the Insider for violating section 233 of the nations 1998 communications law, which bars obscene or offensive use of network facilities. The probe on The Malaysian Insight came after the 10-month-old website ran the editorial headlined A Sham of an RCI, which criticized the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report that blamed Mahathir, Anwar and other officials from the Mahathir era for billions of dollars in foreign exchange losses. The commissions report marked the first time that Mahathir and Anwar were publically accused of potential criminality over the massive losses. On Tuesday, MCMC officials visited TMIs offices near Kuala Lumpur and interviewed five staff members, including Chief Executive Editor Jahabar Sadiq. A commission official declined to comment, but confirmed that the visit took place. Editorial insulted Najib, UMNO officials say On Saturday, during UMNOs annual assembly in Kuala Lumpur, party officials accused The Malaysian Insight of insulting Najib, the partys president, through the editorial. Do not let this to happen, said Nashrol Hisham Abdullah, an UMNO delegate. If someone insults the president, we have to be angry. Three associations of Malaysian journalists issued a joint statement on Sunday questioning the governments move to investigate the website. The Malaysia Media Freedom Committee (WAN-IFRA), Institute of Journalists Malaysia (IoJM) and the Angry Media Movement (Geramm) said criticism of public officials was a key part of freedom of speech guaranteed under the countrys Constitution. The groups called on the government to open up the media space, instead of crippling the news industry with threats of criminal action. It is concerning that a government agency should be so quick to announce a probe against a news agency based on complaints that have not been backed by any proof of intent to insult the prime minister, as alleged, they said. Hata Wahari contributed to this report. Demonstrators burn an effigy of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally in Manila, Nov. 30, 2017. The Philippine Congress on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved President Rodrigo Dutertes request for a one-year extension of military rule in the south to ensure total eradication as he put it of Islamic State-linked militant groups and communist guerrillas operating there. After just a half-day of deliberations, members of the Senate and House of Representatives voted 240-27 to authorize the presidents request, which Duterte made on Friday soon after ending peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA), and declaring them terrorist groups. The vote also came seven weeks the government declared victory over pro-Islamic State (IS) groups and an end to a five-month battle against them in the southern city of Marawi. The fighting uprooted Marawis 200,000 residents and left some 1,200 people dead, including 974 militants. This is a welcome move for [our] security, but the government and the military should allow everyone to return now and make sure that none of our human rights are abused, Mohamina Alawi, a 32-year-old school teacher displaced by the fighting in Marawi, told BenarNews. The battle of Marawi proved to be Dutertes toughest national security test to date during his young presidency, and led to his administration imposing martial law in Mindanao, an island that surrounds the city and makes up the countrys southern third. Martial law was supposed to bring a sense of calm to the restive southern region, but some locals said the congressional authorization to extend military rule through December 2018 could make things worse. The extension of martial law for one year could lead to more widespread suffering for ordinary folks, said Jamalodin Mohammad, 37, a school administrator. Our rights will be limited and privileges we once enjoyed and guaranteed by the constitution could be dismissed. On Wednesday, much of Marawi and nearby towns remained under tight military control. Security checkpoints dotted roads going in and out of the lakeside city. Marawi was destroyed by heavy military bombardment and is still largely deserted, although greenery has started sprouting again now that the military has stopped dropping bombs. The only people allowed to return to the city are those living in areas where the army maintains a presence. Stores have also opened, and students have returned to Mindanao State University, a campus that sits on a hillock overlooking the citys devastated skyline. Ongoing threats In arguing his case before Congress, Duterte said remnants of a group allied with Isnilon Hapilon, the main leader of pro-Islamic State (IS) militants who battled troops in Marawi, were still at-large in Mindanao, and so an extension of military rule was needed to eradicate them for good. Hapilon likely was going to be replaced by Abu Turaipe, an obscure militant leader fighting in a marshland area far from Marawi, the president warned. Turaipe was a former commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who broke away from the separatist group when it signed a peace deal with Manila in 2014. Turaipe has kept waging a fight for an independent Muslim state in the south, but last year he pledged allegiance to IS. His ragtag band of fighters has been fighting with soldiers in central Mindanao since August. Duterte also argued that martial law needed to be prolonged to eliminate communist rebels, who have been waging Asias longest-running insurgency, which stretches back to 1969. Edcel Lagman, a member of the opposition in the House of Representatives who voted against the extension, said there was no factual anchorage and constitutional basis for it. Aside from the cavalier assertion of the military and police authorities that there is continuing rebellion in Mindanao, there is no well-documented support for such a contrived submission, Lagman told Congress. He said the countrys 1987 Constitution had deleted imminent danger as grounds for a sitting president to declare martial law. Any further extension of martial law is unconstitutional because such extension of an extension is not allowed under the Constitution, because what is authorized is only the extension of the original proclamation, he said. In danger of becoming the monsters Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who leads the opposition in the Senate, said Duterte had declared victory over IS in October, thereby admitting that the threat had already subsided. We will be in danger of becoming the monsters that we seek to defeat, those who have no regard for law, order or respect for the constitution, Pangilinan said. But such perceptions were far from whats happening on the ground in Mindanao, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told lawmakers. While the battle in Marawi has ended, clashes linger every day in other parts of Mindanao, he said. Thats why we understand that rebellion is a continuing act not only in one area, but it could spill over to other areas, Lorenzana added. Speaking at a military function on Wednesday, Duterte said he wasnt ruling out martial law being imposed nationwide, noting that all options are on the table. Theres only one rationale there the existence of the Republic of the Philippines, he said. You threaten the existence of the Republic of the Philippines, I am sure that everybody will react and do what he must do to prevent it. A woman who allegedly helped recruit fighters to join militants in the southern Philippine city of Marawi has been indicted on 295 counts of inciting rebellion, the Department of Justice said Wednesday. The suspect, Karen Aizha Hamidon, is the widow of slain militant Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, who founded and led Ansarul Khilafa Philippines, one of the southern militant groups that pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (IS), officials said. Hamidon was arrested in October and detained by the justice ministrys National Bureau of Investigation after authorities accused her of using social media messaging applications WhatsApp and Telegram to recruit foreign and Filipino men to fight alongside the militants in Marawi. [The] respondents acts of inciting others to commit rebellion were done by posting various messages through social media multiple times, Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan said in court documents. Hamidon was charged with inciting to rebellion. If convicted, she faces up to 12 years in prison. The justice department said it has recommended a bail of about 5.9 million pesos (U.S. $118,000) for Hamidons temporary release. But it dropped the more serious charge of rebellion, citing lack of merit. Catalan cited one of Hamidons messages on her Telegram account, in which she invited militants to travel to the Philippines. She also advised her followers to go through the southern backdoor, noting lax security there. Another message she posted called on united brothers in various parts of the world, including in East Asia, to come to the Philippines and join the fighting in the south. Hamidon had denied all the charges against her, saying her messages were made because she was incited to write them by an undercover agent. She had also insisted that she was an Islamic missionary who was using social media to connect with other Muslims in the region. Hamidon whom the justice department described as a former call-center agent and flight attendant said she could not possibly plot against the state because her parents were government workers employed by the national police. Husband trained under Malaysian militant Hamidons husband, Maguid (alias Tokboy), was believed responsible for a string of terrorist attacks in recent years, including bombings, officials said. Tokboy, who was wanted in the southern Philippines for a string of crimes, including robbery, extortion and arson, was a bomb expert who trained under Marwan, a Malaysian militant, officials said. Philippine forces killed Tokboy during a January raid in the southern town of Mamasapano in which 44 police commandos also died. Tokboy was also known to have made connections with IS fighters in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, although it was not clear if he shared his contacts with Hamidon. He also allegedly helped militants carry out a night-market bombing in the southern city of Davao last year, killing more than a dozen people. He was also involved in a failed bid to bomb the U.S. embassy in Manila three months later, officials said. Both attacks were blamed on members of the Maute group, a small group of fighters that eventually helped IS regional leader Isnilon Hapilon mount the Marawi attack. Hapilon and other ranking militant leaders were killed in in a five-month battle there that killed 1,200 people, including 974 militants, and displaced the citys 200,000 residents. With Australian, Indian connection The justice department said Hamidon also was an associate of Musa Cerantonio, an Australian preacher who inspired Muslims to join the IS. Australian police arrested Cerantonio and five others in May on suspicion of preparing to sail to the southern Philippines with the intent of joining an IS faction. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II earlier said a preliminary investigation pointed to Hamidon as a conspirator with the militants. He pushed for her to be charged with the higher crime of rebellion. Hamidon also is the former wife of Muhammad Shamin bin Mohammed (alias Sidek), a Singaporean allegedly linked to IS. It was not clear, however, who she married first. Sidek was arrested and detained in Singapore in August 2015 on suspicion of involvement in terrorist-related activities and held under the city-states Internal Security Act, according to Singapores Ministry of Home Affairs. Last month, Indias top counter-terror unit said it would seek help from the Philippines to question Hamidon, who is wanted by its National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly recruiting Indians for the Middle East-based terror outfit through online platforms. The NIA reached out to the Philippines in July 2016 after discovering that Hamidon had been in touch with more than a dozen IS suspects arrested in India through social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Telegram, agency officials told BenarNews. About 70 Indians are in police custody and facing trial for allegedly being IS operatives or sympathizers, officials said. 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, December 12, 2017 Contact: J.P. Rose, (408) 497-7675, jrose@biologicaldiversity.org Temecula Approves Development That Could Doom Californias Santa Ana Mountain Lions TEMECULA, Calif. The Temecula City Council today approved a development that could wipe out the local mountain lion population, disrupt local wildlife corridors and destroy habitat for rare western pond turtles. Altair would add approximately 200 acres of mixed-use development and a highway in the hills above Old Town Temecula. Part of the development sits on a 55-acre parcel known as the South Parcel, which is adjacent to the Santa Margarita River, Murrieta Creek and San Diego State Universitys Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve. The city council just put these iconic predators on a one-way path to extinction, said J.P. Rose, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Temeculas decision shows a really reckless disregard for the wildlife and wild places that belong to all Californians. The South Parcel is one of the last places that coastal mountain lions known as the Santa Ana mountain lions can safely travel from the coast to inland ranges. To survive, these animals need to maintain genetic diversity by successfully breeding with inland lions. These lions already have the lowest genetic diversity of any mountain lion population in California because theyre isolated by existing sprawl and highway developments. Mountain lion experts including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife have repeatedly informed the city that this development will severely limit the Santa Ana mountain lions ability to migrate to inland areas. Altair will also violate air-quality standards, do little to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and cram houses within a few feet of a highway known as the Western Bypass. Studies document higher rates of asthma, lung cancer and premature death for people living next to highways, as Altair proposes. Its hard to understand why the city is hell-bent on scarring the scenic hills above Old Town Temecula with a highway that will endanger the health of residents and wildlife, said Rose. People come to California for stunning landscapes and wildlife, not air pollution and traffic jams. The Center has repeatedly raised these concerns in comment letters, public hearings, and meetings with the city. Todays vote leaves the public with approximately 30 days to file litigation challenging Temecula officials environmental review of the project. For Immediate Release, December 13, 2017 Contact: John Fleming, (310) 405-1532, jfleming@biologicaldiversity.org L.A. Oil Companies Used 98 Million Pounds of Toxic Chemicals Since 2013 New Report Finds Air Toxics Used Dangerously Close to Homes, Schools LOS ANGELES Oil companies used more than 98 million pounds of chemicals known to cause serious health problems in Los Angeles County since 2013, according to a report released today by the Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling - Los Angeles (STAND-L.A.) coalition. These air toxics were often used dangerously close to homes, hospitals and preschools. The Danger Next Door report analyzed South Coast Air Quality Management District records dating from June 4, 2013 to Feb. 28, 2017. The analysis revealed that over 80 percent of air toxics uses involved just 12 chemicals, including carcinogens like crystalline silica and formaldehyde. Hydrochloric acid, one of the most frequently used air toxics, is a corrosive gas that can cause suffocation or irreversible lung damage at high concentrations. The oil industrys massive use of air toxic chemicals threatens the lungs and lives of thousands of people in Los Angeles, said report co-author John Fleming, a staff scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. With risks ranging from respiratory irritation to cancer, it would be irresponsible for state and local regulators to allow drilling to continue in our densely populated neighborhoods. As of 2013 the air district requires well operators to disclose chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas recovery activities, including well-stimulation techniques like acidizing and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). However, because oil companies used trade secret protection in 21 percent of their reports, more air toxics could have been used than were disclosed. The report further found that over 30 percent of the 1,140 well-stimulation operations using air toxics occurred within 1,500 feet of at least one hospital, preschool or residence in Los Angeles County. One well-stimulation event occurred within 12 feet of a home in the Wilmington neighborhood and another within 200 feet of a hospital in Los Angeles. Its unconscionable that oil companies are using highly toxic chemicals in L.A. neighborhoods, often just yards away from homes, schools and hospitals, said Martha Arguello, chair of STAND-L.A. and executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles. And its inexcusable that oil companies continue to hide behind inadequate reporting and trade secrecy claims to keep the full scope of this danger from the public. Los Angeles officials urgently need to create buffer zones to prohibit risky neighborhood oil drilling. The 12 most commonly used air toxics in Los Angeles County between June 4, 2013, and Feb. 28, 2017 Rank Chemical CASRN** Number of Instances Used Total amount by mass (lbs.) 1 Crystalline Silica* 14808-60-7 3,222 46,886,251 2 Methanol 67-56-1 1,622 219,145 3 Hydrochloric Acid^ 7647-01-0 1,217 20,994,937 4 Formaldehyde 50-00-0 695 79,075 5 Hydrofluoric Acid^ 7664-39-3 593 10,206,305 6 Naphthalene 91-20-3 554 102,159 7 2-Butoxy Ethanol* 111-76-2 522 198,175 8 Xylene 1330-20-7 385 250,238 9 Ethylbenzene 100-41-4 370 120,512 10 Cumene 98-82-8 335 21,828 11 Aluminum Oxide* 1344-28-1 277 1,619,464 12 Glutaral/Pentanedial 111-30-8 259 290,752 13 Remaining Air Toxics# -- 1,572 17,754,394 Total 11,623 98,743,235 ________________________ *Crystalline silica was also reported in the Air District dataset as cristobalite (CASRN 1446-44-61) and tridymite (CASRN 15468-32-3). Additionally, it was reported as quartz, but with the same CASRN as reporting for crystalline silica (14808-60-7). 2-butoxy ethanol was also reported as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and glycol ether EB but with the same CASRN. Aluminum oxide was also reported as alumina but with the same CASRN. ^When reported, concentrations of hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids ranged from 7.6-30% and 1-3%, respectively. In many instances, the concentration was not disclosed. #Remaining air toxics includes a significant contribution from barium sulfate compounds, either barite or sulfuric acid, barium salt (1:1). These are not explicitly stated as reportable air toxics under Rule 1148.2, but barium compounds in general are listed as reportable under the rule. Barium compounds were collectively used 348 times for a total of over 16 million pounds in Los Angeles County. Barium compounds are included in the counts of air toxics, but not as part of the top 12. The same is the case for usage numbers presented for the city of Los Angeles. **The CASRN is the Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number that is the unique numeric identifier for that chemical substance. For Immediate Release, December 13, 2017 Contact: Sarah Baillie, (520) 623-5252 x 308, sbaillie@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Health Appointees Receive Endangered Species Condoms for Holidays Condom Care Packages Encourage Appointees to Protect Reproductive Rights, Address Population Growth WASHINGTON Six Trump appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services today were sent a colorful package of Endangered Species Condoms and a letter urging them to protect reproductive rights and family planning programs and expand comprehensive sex education. The holiday delivery of these condom care packages is part of the Center for Biological Diversity's project to raise awareness about the effects of human population growth on wildlife. These stocking stuffers will remind Trump officials that reproductive healthcare is a human right, said Sarah Baillie, the Center's Endangered Species Condoms coordinator. Family planning and comprehensive sex education are also essential to combating human population growth. Giving every person access to these tools makes the planet better for everyone, including the wildlife who share it with us. The condoms went to Teresa Manning, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs; Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service; Valerie Huber, chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health; Jane Norton, director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs; Charmaine Yoest, assistant secretary of public affairs; and Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Together these appointees have proposed cuts to family planning programs, supported abstinence-only education and limited access to contraception. Everyone should have access to reproductive healthcare, contraception and science-based sex education, said Baillie. But these top-ranking Trump appointees have a disturbing record of fighting these essential programs. Their extremist views have no place in public policy. The officials will receive a package of brightly colored condom boxes featuring images of species threatened by human population growth and slogans like Wrap with care, save the polar bear and Before it gets hotter, remember the sea otter. The appointees will also receive a letter criticizing their disregard of facts and attacks on sexual and reproductive health. Human population continues to grow at a rate of about 227,000 people per day, driving habitat loss and forcing competition for natural resources. Wild plants and animals are going extinct at rates 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural background rate due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and other human-caused problems. There are more than 7.5 billion people on the planet. The United States ranks as the third most populous country and also boasts the highest rate of unintended pregnancies in the developed world. 45 percent of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. The Center's Population and Sustainability program advocates for rights-based, common-sense solutions, including universal access to contraception, reproductive healthcare and family planning services, education and equality for women and girls, and reducing our environmental footprint. For Immediate Release, December 12, 2017 Contacts: Ted Zukoski, Earthjustice (303) 996-9622 (w), (303) 641-3149 (c), tzukoski@earthjustice.org Don Watahomigie, Havasupai Chairman, (928) 448-2731, htchair@havasupai-nsn.gov Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter (602) 999-5790, sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 890-7515, rclark@grandcanyontrust.org Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414 tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org Kevin Dahl, National Parks Conservation Association, (520) 603-6430, kdahl@npca.org House Hearing Attacks Grand Canyon Uranium Ban 20-year Moratorium, Upheld by 9th Circuit Court Today, Protects Tribes, Water, Wildlife, Tourism GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK The Havasupai Tribe and conservation groups decried a House subcommittee hearing today where lawmakers considered lifting a 20-year ban on new uranium mining across 1 million acres of public lands near Grand Canyon National Park. The ban, instituted by the Department of the Interior in 2012, was upheld by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision earlier today. It prevents further soil and water pollution from uranium mining and gives researchers time to study its risks to the Grand Canyons aquifers and springs. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, chaired by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), provided a forum for the National Mining Association to attack the uranium-mining ban that is supported by tribes, regional businesses and the public. The hearing comes days after President Trump ordered more than 2 million acres slashed from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who spearheaded the attacks on the national monuments, has called for lifting the Grand Canyon uranium-mining ban. The Trump administration also recommended rolling back the ban in a November U.S. Forest Service report. The Northern Arizona Mineral Withdrawal must remain in place, said Havasupai tribal Vice Chairman Edmond Tilousi. Opening the doors to uranium mining before we understand how it will affect our waters gambles with the very survival of the Havasupai people. We have always been the protectors of the Grand Canyon, and have faced new threats with every generation. My heart hurts knowing that these companies will stop at nothing to make a profit for themselves today, with complete disregard for the consequences for those of us left to live with their mess. These profiteers do not care if they destroy our waters. They do not care if the waste they make today poisons or kills our tribal members as it seeps into our springs. The 20-year ban and the studies it mandates are the only things protecting us. They need to continue until completion. The Havasupai Tribe, Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and National Parks Conservation Association have for years worked to protect the Grand Canyon region from uranium-mining impacts. Theyve intervened on the side of the government to defend against a uranium-industry lawsuit challenging the 2012 withdrawal. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision today upheld that ban, calling it a cautious approach and risk-averse to potentially permanent damage from uranium mining. The Department of the Interior's decision to enact these critical protections was met with resounding support from a diverse array of stakeholders nationwide," said Ted Zukoski, an attorney with Earthjustice. Given the potential for irreversible uranium contamination to Grand Canyons aquifers and springs, and the direct threat this poses to a critical source of life and identity of the Havasupai Tribe, it made perfect sense in 2012, and it makes perfect sense now. In 2007 more than 10,000 uranium-mining claims were staked on public lands surrounding the Grand Canyon, raising concern among tribes, businesses and local governments. The ban followed an exhaustive environmental impact statement assessing uranium-mining risks. According to Interiors study, new uranium mining could harm springs, wells and aquifers, including increasing levels of uranium beyond federal drinking-water standards, severely depleting aquifers, endangering public health and wildlife, and compromising the values of the tribes who consider the springs sacred. Interiors study showed that without a mining ban, 26 new uranium mines and 700 uranium exploration projects would be developed, resulting in more than 1,300 acres of surface disturbance and the consumption of 970 acre-feet of water. More than 500 abandoned uranium mines still pollute land and water on the Navajo Nation, which has banned uranium mining. Water in Horn Creek, in Grand Canyon National Park, exceeds federal uranium standards owing to pollution from the abandoned Orphan mine on the canyons south rim. Multinational uranium companies export processed uranium mined from our nations public lands, said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust. We are alarmed that this administration favors the interests of foreign investors at the risk of poisoning places like the Grand Canyon, while potentially adding to the more than $1 billion debt that U.S. taxpayers must pay for cleaning up the mess from our regions last uranium boom." There is every reason to keep this mining ban in place and no good reason to reverse it, said Sandy Bahr, Sierra Clubs Grand Canyon chapter director. In fact, public lands around Grand Canyon should be permanently protected from uranium mining and other destructive measures that threaten waters, wildlife, and tribal resources. These public lands are significant in their own right, plus protecting them helps to protect the watershed for Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is the most spectacular gorge in the world and a biodiversity hotspot that anchors the tourism economy of the Four Corners region. The canyon area is home to indigenous people, including the Havasupai, and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 2016 the greater Grand Canyon region attracted a record 6 million tourists and recreationists, and Grand Canyon National Park tourism alone contributed $904 million to local economies and supported nearly 9,800 jobs. We must uphold the current, commonsense plan to protect Grand Canyon National Park and vital tribal water sources, said Kevin Dahl, Arizona program manager for National Parks Conservation Association. The purpose of the moratorium is to stop any risk to the limited underground water that feeds Grand Canyons important seeps, springs, and side creeks and the entire water supply of the Havasupai people. Lets stick with this prudent effort until we can be absolutely sure mining wont pollute the aquifer. Any effort to lift this crucial ban could meet fierce opposition, said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. Theres every reason to believe uranium mining will permanently damage Grand Canyons precious aquifers and springs. Thats an unacceptable risk, and its immoral of Congress and Trump to even consider it. For Immediate Release, December 13, 2017 Contact: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org Republicans Advance Bill to Lock In Trumps Elimination of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument WASHINGTON The House Natural Resources Committee will consider legislation Thursday to eliminate Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. H.R. 4558, sponsored by Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), mirrors President Trumps order last week to slash nearly 900,000 acres of protected public land and create three smaller national monuments. The bill would carve up the existing 1.9-million-acre national monument into three smaller monuments: Grand Staircase (211,983 acres), Kaiparowits (551,117 acres) and Escalante Canyons (243,241 acres). The remaining 862,000 acres would be unprotected and open to fossil fuel extraction and other destructive uses. The bill would create a new Escalante Canyons National Park and Preserve and put Kane and Garfield counties in control of planning and management of the national monuments and park. Stewarts bill ignores the 2.7 million Americans who urged the Trump administration to keep our national monuments protected, said Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Carving up one of Americas iconic national monuments to allow special interests to mine coal and toxic uranium is disgraceful. The new national park would be in name only. The bill would apply Utah state law on these federally owned lands instead of federal law. Unlike on all other national parks, hunting, fishing, trapping of wildlife, and grazing livestock would be allowed. Congressional Republicans continue to push an extreme right-wing agenda that would gut all meaningful protections for our public lands, said Spivak. We wont let them hand control of Americas public lands to corporate interests. Well fight them in court, in Congress and in the streets. Background In 1996 President Clinton, using the Antiquities Act, created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to protect some of the most culturally important heritage sites and landscapes in our nation. The 1906 Antiquities Act grants the president the authority to create national monuments on federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, historic or scientific features. The Antiquities Act does not grant authority to presidents to diminish or rescind the monument designations. Trump issued a proclamation Dec. 4 to strip monument protection from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Conservation organizations, including the Center, filed suit the same day, attacking the proclamation as an abuse of the presidents power. The lawsuit states that the president violated the Antiquities Act by stripping protections from the monument. Trump also ordered more than 1 million acres slashed from Utahs Bears Ears National Monument. The moves to eviscerate these monuments are part of a larger attack on public lands by Trump and some members of Congress who want to slash protections and allow more oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and other industrial uses. Conservation groups, tribes and other organizations also have filed suit on Bears Ears. In the first 11 months of the 115th Congress, Republicans have introduced more than 85 bills that attack public lands, weaken environmental safeguards on those lands or turn over control to states and local governments. These attacks come despite the fact that the vast majority of voters across political parties support protecting and maintaining forests, national parks, monuments and other public lands and waters. For Immediate Release, December 13, 2017 Contact: Patrick Donnelly, (702) 483-0449, pdonnelly@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Administration Leases Out 33,000 Acres of Nevada Public Lands for Fracking Oil Development Threatens Endangered Species LAS VEGAS The Trump administration auctioned off more than 50 square miles of public lands for oil drilling and fracking on Tuesday in Nevadas Great Basin desert. The leased areas include endangered species habitat. Numerous conservation groups protested the lease sale, citing violations of environmental laws. The 17 parcels cover 33,483 acres and include lands in the White River watershed, home to four species of endemic fish, including the White River springfish and Pahranagat roundtail chub, protected under the Endangered Species Act. The fish live in a few isolated springs that are extremely vulnerable to the groundwater pollution created by fracking. Nevadas water and wildlife pay the price for the Trump administrations reckless decision to auction off these beautiful places for drilling and fracking, said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Trump officials are hell-bent on auctioning off our public lands, and they have no regard for environmental laws. To serve corporate polluters, theyre flouting environmental regulations that safeguard endangered wildlife, wildlands and public health. The Bureau of Land Managements permitting process for this oil and gas sale has been marked by controversy, including a cursory environmental assessment claiming that fracking upstream from sensitive springs would cause no environmental harm. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week concurred with the BLM that fracking adjacent to sensitive springs wouldnt threaten the fish that live there. They cited no scientific data, instead relying on BLMs inadequate mitigation measures to protect the fish. BLM has steamrolled the Fish and Wildlife Service into making absurd claims about the safety of fracking, Donnelly said. Its obvious that drilling and fracking upstream from a spring containing endangered fish poses a risk to that species. The Trump administration is once again putting politics before science, and we intend to hold it responsible. Port Harcourt-based startup Touchabl has launched its app, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to enable people search and shop for items in any picture just by touching it. The Touchabl app allows a user that sees something they like such as a shoe, watch or car in any picture, whether on their timeline in the app or in their phone photo gallery, to simply touch it and receive more information about it. We believe that this will revolutionise how we discover things in any of the 675 billions photos shared online every year. Though this solution is tailor-made for fashion and lifestyle, the technology can be adapted for education, medical sciences and diagnostics, and to assist visually impaired persons to storify any picture just by touching it, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Gabriel Eze told Disrupt Africa. Released on Android in October, Touchabl is looking to tap into the growth of online shopping in Africa and the rest of the world, By 2025, online shopping for fashion and lifestyle goods will be digital-first, and young people all over the world are projected to represent nearly half of luxury goods consumers. In 2017 alone, these millennials purchase more than 30% of their luxury goods online, a significant change from how traditional luxury goods consumer shop; and social media represents a key channel for discovering fashion trends, Eze said. By helping these millennials search-and-shop for fashion and lifestyle stuff in a picture just by touching it, we realised that these touches were a better indicator of user interest when compared to the traditional comments and likes. With more people discovering fashion and lifestyle using Touchabl, we can help brands and businesses target user interests more accurately and further improve their product offering respectively, thereby increasing their conversion rate of sales online. The self-funded startup has already seen growth of nearly 200% in downloads, and has a 60% rate. The reception has been exceptionally good, Eze said, adding that Nigeria, the United States (US) and India make up 95% of its user base currently. We have also seen uptake in Ghana, Kenya, Russia, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (UK). We are focused on capturing the Nigerian market first, then expanding to other markets. We have an opportunity to partner with a couple of retail giants in the US and China, and we are also making in-roads with major fashion retailers and e-commerce platforms in Nigeria. We are working on making it possible for fashion bloggers and just about anyone into pictures to make their pictures touchable without having to download our app, use our web app or visit our website. Location, location, location - a real estate term used to describe the benefits of a property investment is as relevant in the online media space. In fact, being located on Bizcommunity within the biggest multi-industry B2B networking hub in Africa, could be considered the virtual equivalent of a desirable address for your company and content. Like your brick-and-mortar office, a Biz Press Office is a showcase for your company. Slightly different from your approach to designing a company website, a Press office may include images of your corporate interior, team and activations, allowing visitors a peek into your corporate culture. Its also the perfect space for display advertising which is included in your Press Office rental! As easy to keep updated as the smell of freshly brewed coffee or vase of flowers in the foyer, your Press Office space on Biz can be considered the closest thing to inviting prospects and partners over for a meeting. With 18 industry sector hubs to choose from, an investment in office space on Bizcommunity puts your company in a win-win position - grow thought leadership in your sector and region via your content which in turn will grow your corporate reputation in your target industries. Tips on how to furnish a Biz Press Office: Images or animations of your corporate interiors/style/location Team images and events Brand activations Product/service offerings Social media feeds Content ideas for your Press Office: Company news Opinion pieces Native content Job vacancies at your company Company event promotions Product and brand promotions and launches Communications that amplify activations Thats why we call them Biz communities 332,000 website readers and 8,2 milion monthly newsletters are waiting for your news. To discuss your company's unique requirements, contact one of our digital estate agents today on +27 (0)21 404 1460 or sales@bizcommunity.com. I have been a creative for 25 years. It is all I have ever done to make a living. First as a photographer, and then as a creative in advertising. So, after a quarter of a century, I thought this would be a good time to write to my younger creative self about what I believe are the rules for successful creative living. I hope this helps a creative out there. And if it doesnt, well, let me steal a joke from the great comic Jackie Mason: Its like giving chicken soup to a dead man. It cant hurt. Beginning. How to begin? Where to start? A blank piece of paper or screen. The clean space of potential and the emptiness of beginning. The fear never goes away. The excitement never goes away. What you do in that moment is everything. What is your intention? The truth is, without an idea, everything that happens afterwards cannot help. Ideas. You cannot go to an idea; it has to come to you. As you do this more and more, you realise the ideas are right in front of you. They are already there. The problem is, the more you look for them the less you can see them. Its hard to put this process into words. But, the first time you have an effortless idea, and you wont have many, you will understand this. Craft. A beautiful, painful and unfortunately necessary circus. Once you have an idea, execution becomes everything. This is the torture a creative loves and nobody else understands. This is what makes the average brilliant. This is what separates the many from the few. This is where talent is not enough and dedication is required. Energy. Sir John Hegarty said that if you are the Rolling Stones, you can still play Brown Sugar and get a standing ovation. That is a 40-year-old idea. We cannot do that. A creative must come up with a brand-new idea every day. Cheeky, but definitely food for thought. Comparison. Do not compare yourself to others. It is a waste of time. You cannot do what they do. They cannot do what you can do. All this does is breed insecurity and fear. And fear kills ideas and creativity instantly. If you dont believe me, watch a comedian who is afraid. He will always suck. As Mark Twain said: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. . It is how you learn anything. Mr Twains quote says it all. If there was a piece of advice I wish I had learnt earlier it would be to listen. There are millions of opinions in our business. But you must listen to hear the answer. Listening is the first thing you must do to let an idea come to you. People. You will meet people in this business who will inspire you to jump without a net into the unknown. You will do more than you thought you could because of them. Surround yourself with these people. You will also meet massive arseholes. They take many forms. Liars, psychopaths, narcissists and those with supernova-size egos. The ones that think that only they can be right. Eventually, you will find out that most are deeply insecure. And hey, arent we all. Kindness. If you can help someone, do it. If you cant, dont make it worse. You see it every day on advertising blogs in the comments section. Nastiness masquerading as high standards. My theory is that this is a bit like people who suffer abuse becoming abusers. My life is sh!t, so I will make yours sh!t too. Why creatives do this to each other beats me. And I doubt they feel any better afterwards. If there is anybody we should help, it is another creative. Bravery. An old CD once told a friend of mine, if you have balls you can roll far. You need bravery in this business. When you are the only person in the room that believes in an idea, those are the moments you must speak up. Speaking up for yourself and what you believe always involves risk. But, the alternative is far riskier. You begin the creative voyage with enthusiasm and try to acquire wisdom. And later, you must make sure your wisdom doesnt dampen your enthusiasm. It is the journey every creative has to take. It is the riddle we all have to solve. Theres something about being a comedian that means you have to not be scared of failing because failing is part of the process. David Walliams M&N Brands: Building an SA-owned ad network, for Africans, by Africans Earlier this week, it was announced that M&N Brands has acquired Mela Events. Here, M&N Brands Group CEO Zibusiso Mkhwanazi and Mela Events' owners, Tiziana Tucci and Enelra Booth, let us in on the secret sauce of their success and what the Mela Events acquisition foretells of M&N Brands' pan-African future. Mela Events owners,Enelra Booth (L) and Tiziana Tucci (R) with M&N Brands Group CEO, Zibusiso Mkhwanazi. Its been a headline year for M&N Brands. Not only has Grant Sithole just been appointed as joint ECD at Avatar, ensuring its creative fire blazes strong into its sixth year it has also just acquired gold Loerie-winning Mela Events. Fittingly, the Mela Events Twitter cover image explains that Mela is the Sotho word for growth in the sense of: Undergoing natural development by increasing in size and changing physically or progressing to maturity as applied to mielies, children and extraordinary ideas. That makes sense as the acquisition increases M&N Brands' consolidated revenue to over R150m, while also opening up the eventing space for Mela Events. Id call that a win-win situation. That makes sense as the acquisition increases M&N Brands' consolidated revenue to over R150m, while also opening up the eventing space for Mela Events. Id call that a win-win situation. Here, Mela Events owners, Tiziana Tucci and Enelra Booth, and M&N Brands Group CEO Zibusiso Mkhwanazi let us in on the benefit of the acquisition for their individual brands, other highlights of the year thats been and what theyre most looking forward to from the year to come Whats the benefit of the acquisition for your brand? Whats the benefit of the acquisition for your brand? Tucci and Booth: Weve been in business for 12 years. Weve won gold at the Loeries. We are looking for the next phase of growth and M&N Brands gives us that, from a skills base to a network base to a transformation base. It opens up the eventing space for us, where we can start building on a complete experience from pre- to post-event, giving clients integrated solutions that have all the touchpoints: from digital to social to media. Mkhwanazi: It simply brings us closer to our dream to ultimately build a South African-owned advertising network, for Africans, by Africans. It also increases the Groups consolidated revenue to over R150m excluding investments where we own less than 50% making this a significant milestone in terms of the financial muscle to be able to handle very large accounts and raise further capital. Mela Events was an attractive buy for us as theyre established, award-winning, successful and great people. We dont acquire to kill great culture. We seek to be value-adding partners. It is very important that agencies continue business as is, with the added benefits of shared resources, tapping into network skill sets, and, of course, scale. List your other highlights of the year thats been. List your other highlights of the year thats been. Tucci and Booth: Weve been fortunate to work with some amazing clients this year, including Cisco Systems, Jaguar Land Rover, Standard Bank and Nandos, to name a few. The Nandos 30th Birthday Celebrations in Cape Town was a definite highlight for us. Nandos embodies a brand with purpose, and we were able to showcase the amazing birth and growth of the Nandos brand to 700 Nandocas, working with the founders to tell their story and celebrating their successes over three days of the conference, gala dinner and excursions. This was an event with a lot of heart! Another highlight for us was the Nandos International Grillers competition a real feel-good event where Nandos grillers from all over the world were flown in and given a true Jozi experience. The five-day event culminated in a Grill-Off at Nandos Central Kitchen, where grillers were able to both learn and showcase their talents. Standard Bank has also provided us with many opportunities and proud moments this year. Right up there was a Standard Bank Incentive Trip we hosted for 150 delegates over three days in Mauritius. A welcome dinner under the stars, a gala dinner in an abandoned sugar factory and series of excursions run concurrently across the island were just some of the highlights. In addition to this, we have delivered and produced amazing content for three leadership conferences, engaged with speakers, produced shows and created events that have left an indelible impression of those who have attended and participated in them. Then Cisco Connect, managed on behalf of Cisco Systems, is a mass production that ranks as one of the key technology events of the year. We managed 1,000 delegates plus 40 sponsors and presenters over three days. We ran 68 sessions, put together a kick-ass keynote and a series of side events. We designed, built and produced 40 exhibition stands as a showcase for our keys sponsors. We delivered on all the delegate logistics, brand awareness and product training. As a paid-for event, Mela was responsible for managing and collecting all sponsorship as well as delegate fees to ensure that this break-even event hit target, and it did! We assisted Cisco in marketing the event by providing them with the necessary tools including marketing collateral, briefing sessions and sponsorship documents as well as a fully-fledged website portal supporting the event. Mkhwanazi: M&N Brands concluded an equity swap earlier this year between M&C Saatchis SA agency network and Avatar (with each business remaining independent), Esihlahleni Womens Empowerment NPC and a soon-to-be-launched PR agency, Bozza. What are you most looking forward to from 2018 from your own brand? What are you most looking forward to from 2018 from your own brand? Tucci and Booth: We aim to continue building on the secret sauce that has made Mela Events successful. With the support of M&N Brands and collaborative opportunities that exist within the network, we are now able to grow our service offering and make Mela magic happen. In 2018 we look to continue working on some amazing events. We start off the year with a product launch for Jaguar Land Rover, as well as employee engagement events and conferences for both Standard Bank and Nandos. So 2018 looks set to be a cracker of a year! Mkhwanazi: Im hoping we will be able to close a few more acquisitions within and outside of South Africa while we are in a window of massive opportunity to create an Africa-wide network on the back of our existing clients and an innovative funding model. "Our dream is to be the largest black owned advertising agency in Africa" - @TheNduna AVATAR South Africa (@Avatar_ZA) November 1, 2017 This will make us a true pan-African brand, with the ability to service South African businesses on the rest of the continent. I am also looking forward to sharing notes and collaborating with the plethora of successful entrepreneurs that we are still talking to become part of the network and existing partners. So yes, 2018 is definitely going to be an interesting year. What are your most looking forward to from the industry as a whole over the coming months? What are your most looking forward to from the industry as a whole over the coming months? Tucci and Booth: Were excited that advertisers and marketers have to be more creative to cut through an increasingly cluttered environment; and we believe that through M&N Brands and the network its building, were able to leverage skills to ramp up the impact of our events through many different channels. This acquisition provides us with new opportunities and the ability to offer our clients a turnkey solution. We want to create events that generate substantial earned media for our clients. Mkhwanazi: To continue driving the transformation message, our thinking is now about transforming the industry as whole and not just individual businesses. We truly believe that diverse minds collaborating to create perspective is the key to transforming SA and building Africa: a network of entrepreneurs shaping brands. M&N Brands hopes to offer SA and Africas agency entrepreneurs a viable alternative to global buyouts: one that will build agencies, their people and the entrepreneurs that started them. Although the food-borne disease, Listeriosis is a serious and sometimes deadly disease, as the 37 fatalities (and over 550 lab-confirmed cases) across the country attest, there are some simple hygiene precautions you can take to help you avoid infection. Photo: Foodessence What is Listeriosis? Its basically food poisoning, caused by the Listeria bacterium, most commonly found in certain high-risk foods, but also other sources in nature. Its found in water, soil, infected animals, human and animal faeces, raw and treated sewage, certain vegetables, effluent from poultry and meat processing facilities, decaying corn and soybeans, improperly fermented silage, and raw or unpasteurised milk, says Gareth-Lloyd Jones, chief commercial officer at Ecowize. There is no vaccine, only treatment with antibiotics if diagnosed in time. The health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, noted that most of the cases of Listeria infection have been reported in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. With at least 66% of the infections recorded in public hospitals, and 34% in private health facilities, Jones suggests that the source is likely to be a food product consumed by South Africans from all socio-economic groups. Symptoms Listeriosis presents with flu-like symptoms - fever, muscle aches, and sometimes nausea or diarrhoea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, symptoms include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions. High-risk foods Foods which are most commonly identified as high-risk for Listeria infection range from improperly pasteurised dairy products such as milk, cheese and ice cream, to raw vegetables, poultry, fermented raw-meat sausages, and cooked or ready-to-eat deli meats, Jones adds. A research study by the Listeria Study Group notes that Listeria monocytogenes grew from at least one food specimen in the refrigerators of 64% of individuals with a confirmed Listeria infection (79 of 123 patients). In addition, 33% of these refrigerators (26 of 79) were also found to contain foods that grew the same strain of Listeria with which the individual had been infected - a frequency much higher than would be expected simply by chance. While anyone can be infected by the disease, certain groups are at higher risk. This includes: newborns; the elderly; pregnant women and their unborn babies; and immune-compromised individuals with HIV, diabetes, cancer and chronic liver or kidney disease. Precautions Wash your hands more regularly when handling food; Ensure that food is cooked thoroughly; Only use pasteurised dairy products; and store food at safe temperatures. It is essential that South Africans become more aware of the risks associated with food contamination and that they practice caution when handling food products, not only during times of disease outbreaks such as this, but in their everyday lives, Jones concludes. An official of the Gauteng department of health has been convicted of conspiring to commit murder, Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa said. Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa. Photo: Lisa Hnatowicz/Daily Sun Briefing the media in Midrand, Ramokgopa said Zandi Qwabe, a clerk at the Bheki Mlangeni Regional Hospital in Soweto, had organised hitmen to have the CEO and the labour relations manager of the hospital killed. "Today one of our employees appeared in Protea Magistrate's Court. This follows her arrest for threatening management at Bheki Mlangeni Regional Hospital. She was convicted on 13 November 2017 for conspiring to commit murder," Ramokgopa said. "The case has been postponed to the 2nd of February 2018 for sentencing. I commend the Hawks and SAPS for working tirelessly on this and other cases that are aimed at protecting the department as a precious asset of our people." She further said that her office has upheld 23 dismissals, eight suspensions and five final written warnings within the department. "These sanctions must serve as a lesson to those who might think of committing crime under our watch. There is no place to hide for corrupt officials, especially those collaborating with criminal elements to defraud a service whose mandate is to save lives. "Public service belongs to the thousands of upright, honest and caring health workers who provided services to over 27 million patient visits in the past year," said Ramokgopa. Four small businesses in the agricultural, hair care, automotive and food sectors are taking part in E's latest Accelerator Programme, the E Elevator - a high-intensity four-month programme with targeted interventions to address four key strategic areas in each business. Sipho Pilime, Associate Programme Officer at E Accelerating entrepreneurial success The E Elevator aims to rapidly scale-up entrepreneurial ventures founded by Allan Gray Fellows, explains Sipho Pilime, associate programme officer at E. It is a structured programme that provides content workshops, the impartation of critical skills and targeted support from highly-skilled business mentors, industry leaders, influencers and experts. As part of the programme, E also provides initial seed funding support to these early-stage business ventures to help them create optimal business and operating models, as well as develop solid business cases that prepare and assist them to be ready and eligible to apply for follow-on funding to scale-up their operations. This they can do upon conclusion of the programme. E is an active investor present throughout their candidates entrepreneurial journey, as their latest group of fellow entrepreneurs confirm. Oh My Cake! Oh My Cake co-founders Naseeha Hassen and Camilla Hyson Naseeha Hassen, co-founder and confectionist perfectionist at the custom cake and macaron studio Oh My Cake! which is 50% black female-owned, says: E and the Allan Gray Fellowship have helped me start my business by giving me and my team far more than just funding: they have given us moral support, resources and constant motivation. Without them, it would have taken me far longer to achieve my goals and dreams. Oh My Cake! has grown from a home-based one-woman operation into a team of eight, with an upmarket artisanal confectionery operating from the Cedar Square mall in Fourways. Mabu Tribe Tlholo Mabelane, Founder of Mabu Tribe Tlholo Mabelane, founder of Mabu Tribe, a 100% black female-owned African hair products company, agrees. E gives us a wealth of support, she says. It has helped me with accountability, support and resources. The team is always there, cheering us on and encouraging us. They keep me in check of my dreams and goals and help me get closer to my dreams. The essence of MabuTribe is the celebration of African identity. We want to empower Africans with crowns of coils and curls to enjoy their hair, explains Mabelane. AgriMash Thato Muleya (Chairman of AgriMash) with Thato Mahosi (Managing Director of AgriMash) AgriMash Industries is a 100% black youth-owned business trading in vegetables in the Northern soil rich Limpopo Province. Their products are supplied to various supermarkets, fresh produce markets and small businesses. E has helped us develop a thorough understanding of many aspects of running a business: Finance, strategy, sustainability and lots more, says Thato Mahosi, one of three co-owners and directors of AgriMash. Driven by a commitment to eradicating poverty in their community through sustainable agriculture, the three have grown their business from humble beginnings and today supply fresh produce to major retailers in Limpopo. We wish to invest more in fixed assets to solidify the business, in turn, increasing our production exponentially during the E programme and beyond, concludes Mahosi. Nkateko Kaytee Mathebula, Founder of Kaytee Automotive Company Kaytee Automotive Company I am going to change the world and E is helping me do this, says a passionate Nkateko Kaytee Mathebula, founder of Kaytee Automotive Company, a Gauteng-based company specialising in high-quality parts and after-sales service for medium to large local commercial fleets. E has given me immense support outside of the funding arena. I had been working in the business alone for a really long time and the support they have given me was unexpected - and frankly a bit scary! They have pushed me to dream bigger, they have helped me focus on getting the detail right so that I can add value to suppliers and customers and are continually supporting me in what I dream about - instead of pushing someone elses dream on me. The relationship is genuinely about seeing me reach my own goals. Financing for future prosperity Besides their support to early-stage entrepreneurial ventures of Allan Gray Fellows, E also supports impactful social enterprises focusing on five sectors: agriculture, education, energy, health, youth. Together with the Allan Gray Foundation and the Allan Gray Association of Fellows, we have some of the brightest minds in the country, says Pilime. We enable Allan Gray Fellows and social entrepreneurs to build and scale high-impact organisations which will create jobs, attack poverty and contribute to economic and social transformation in South Africa. According to the 2017 Ventureburn Startup Survey, only 5% of South African startups focus their attention on the European market despite South Africa's Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) with the EU. Bruce Rolff via 123RF Sergio Codonyer, founder of Door to Europe Business, a social business that helps African entrepreneurs sell their products in Europe, believes that this is a mistake and that the European market could be their key to success. According to the company, when South African entrepreneurs don't consider markets further afield, they close themselves off from potential customers and the capacity to grow their business in multiple economies. The European market has a lot to offer South African entrepreneurs; over 500 million potential customers and the ability to sell their products in any of the EUs 28 member states as well as access to the single market and stable European economy, says Codonyer. Over the past year, Door to Europe Business has partnered with three African businesses and helped introduce their products into the European market. Each business has its own unique focus; Fairafric produces bean to bar chocolate on site in Ghana, Little Pine Tree teaches unemployed women in Johannesburg how to knit amigurumi toys and The Katy Valentine Collection is a collection of modern African jewellery. When selling their products in Europe, Codonyer says Door to Europe carefully considers which European markets will best respond to their partners product. For example, Fairafrics chocolate is already well established in Germany, so we have brought their chocolate to Barcelona and will expand into other European markets from there. "Europeans have a great appreciation for high-quality African products and there is currently a niche in the European market for African businesses. By filling this gap in the market and establishing themselves outside of Africa, entrepreneurs can diversify their business and give their business the best chance possible of seeing well beyond its first five years. Embattled Steinhoff executives face hefty prison sentences and fines if allegations of multibillion-dollar accounting fraud are proven true. Photo: TimesLive The Department of Trade and Industry and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission said they were working with international law enforcement authorities in a global investigation into the retailer. The commission's probe follows calls by parliament's standing committee on public accounts on Monday for the Hawks, Sars, the SA Reserve Bank and Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors to investigate Steinhoff's implosion and financial losses. The commission's senior manager, Lana van Zyl, said it was looking at allegations of accounting fraud. "We are looking into the numerous structures of Steinhoff International which are extensive." Van Zyl said because Steinhoff was operating both locally and internationally, the investigation would prove tricky. "We know there are cross-directorships between South African and international directors. "We'll work closely with our international counterparts and law enforcement authorities and the auditors to examine the allegations. "What action we can take depends on where the alleged fraud occurred and whether any of the company's SA subsidiaries were involved in it or not," she added. Van Zyl said the implications for Steinhoff, if the allegations were proved to be true, were huge, adding that, depending on what the company's staff were convicted of, there could be a R1-million fine issued or the directors could be imprisoned for up to 10 years. On Thursday last week Steinhoff, whose shares dropped from R50 to R8.70 a share on Tuesday, reported that R100-billion had disappeared from its European financial books. Fund managers in South Africa were saying that until Tuesday the numbers on the stock market were looking reasonable. However, not everyone was buying this, with some Steinhoff critics questioning the company's executives' "loose accounting practices" and numerous red flags that were ignored. Futuregrowth's Andrew Canter said the asset manager stopped lending money to Steinhoff about eight years ago. He said it avoided Steinhoff for multiple reasons, including its "horrendous complexity involving different brands and companies across different jurisdictions in multiple currencies, along with the never-ending acquisitions that rendered year-on-year analysis difficult and credit ratios unreliable". "If we can't understand the business why would we lend to it?" asked Canter, a chief investment officer with the asset manager. Canter said they were wary primarily of the way Steinhoff's managers conducted business. He said there were enough signs "which evidently some chose to ignore ... From what we know today, Steinhoff's management appears to have been playing fast and loose with the tax laws and accounting practices." Wits University governance expert Alex van den Heever said one needed to question why some investment and equity loan companies saw the red flags, but others didn't. Van den Heever said: "That some firms did not pull their funds despite other companies' concerns points to a bit of an 'old boys' club' operation with people just accepting the word of others in the industry." However, investor Karin Richards, who has looked at Steinhoff's cash flow, said: "There is nothing here for me that says: 'Oh my ... here is a big problem'." Richards said that, as a former auditor, she had a better idea than the average person on how to "window-dress accounts. The numbers look reasonable." Fund manager Keith McLachlan said: "Everyone knew it was fraud, after the fact. "Intuitively, if one ignores the complexity of the Steinhoff business, if it was obviously fraud, not only would the stock market have seen it, but the auditors would have picked up on it long before it even saw the light of day. "Nothing in the Steinhoff financial statements really screamed fraud or deep obfuscation of the numbers," he added. "At best, it perhaps looked like a business that was growing a bit too fast. At worst, it showed a business whose fundamentals were not particularly great. Fraud by its very nature is subtle." Financial analyst Stuart Theobald said one big mistake was that investors trusted Steinhoff main shareholder Cobus Wiese. "Wiese had a certain halo effect," Theobald said. "People had committed faith in his abilities to manage complexity and stay on the right side of the law, while sometimes going close to the line." Major investors vowed Tuesday, 12 December, to move away from Earth-warming fossil fuels as world leaders met in Paris seeking to unlock new cash to save humanity from climate "doom". Two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement to avert worst-case climate change, banks and companies announced billions of dollars of intended divestments from coal, oil and natural gas at a finance-themed climate summit. But conference host France, as well as the UN and the World Bank, said efforts to shift the global economy into a green energy future were too little and too slow, as a report warned about unprecedented Arctic warming. "We are losing the battle" against climate change, French President Emmanuel Macron told delegates. "We are not moving fast enough." For his part, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said continued fossil-fuel subsidies amounted to humanity "investing in its own doom". "We are in a war for the very existence of life on our planet as we know it," Guterres told more than 50 heads of state including Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, Britain's Theresa May and Spain's Mariano Rajoy, at the summit called by Macron. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Arctic warming - which is happening at twice the planetary rate - was the "new normal", and would have global consequences. "The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator of the planet," said Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA's Arctic Research Program. "But the door to that refrigerator has been left open." The Paris Agreement, which took more than two decades to negotiate, seeks to limit average global warming to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. Under it, countries have pledged non-binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas. US President Donald Trump has called climate change a "hoax", rejecting the Paris deal and vowing to restore jobs in the fossil fuel industry. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced to loud applause Tuesday that the lender would "no longer finance upstream oil and gas after 2019" in a move hailed by Greenpeace as a "damning vote of no confidence to the future of the fossil fuel industry". French insurer Axa, meanwhile, said it would speed up its divestments from the carbon sector, pulling 2.5bn ($2.9bn) from companies which derive more than 30% of their revenues from coal. And a group of more than 200 global investors launched a campaign to pressure the world's largest corporate carbon emitters - including BP, Airbus, Volkswagen and Glencore - to go greener. According to the International Energy Agency, green energy investments of about $3.5tn per year will be needed for the world to stay under the Paris accord's two-degree limit, an amount double current spending. On current emissions trends, the world is on course for warming of three degrees Celsius, experts warn, with life- and asset-threatening superstorms, sea-level rise, floods and droughts the result. Trump came under fire from all quarters on Tuesday. His rejection of the Paris pact was "politically short-sighted and misguided, economically irresponsible, and scientifically wrong", said former UN chief Ban Ki-moon. But American businesses, regions and local government leaders have pushed on with climate efforts regardless of the federal government. "It doesn't matter that Donald Trump backed out of the Paris Agreement," said former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the face of the R20 network of regional climate actors. "We at the subnational level, we're going to pick up the slack." Still, many remain concerned about climate financing for developing countries, of which the US - the world's biggest historical greenhouse gas polluter - has traditionally been a major contributor. Trump has vowed to slash climate finance and withhold $2bn pledged to the Green Climate Fund. Developing nations need the money to ease the costly shift away from fossil fuels and to shore up defences against weather disasters induced by climate change. Rich nations, who have polluted more for longer, pledged in 2009 to muster $100bn per year in climate finance from 2020. On 2015 trends, total public financing would reach about $67bn by that date, according to a report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Climate activists welcomed the outcome of Tuesday's summit, though many said they had hoped for more funding announcements and a clear commitment from governments to stop financing fossil fuels. The meeting showed that "countries, states, cities, businesses and civil society are firmly committed to their Paris commitments and are coming good on their promises, with or without the US," said Mohamed Adow of Christian Aid, which represents the interests of developing nations at the talks. Macron called for a yearly gathering to take stock of progress. "We started today to make ground on the battle field," he said. "I hope that in the coming weeks and months we can accelerate." Source: AFP Since a large portion of Africa's population lives in remote areas, receiving power from the grid could still be decades away, so off-grid energy solutions have the potential to provide much of these marginalised rural population with access to affordable electricity. Photo: M-Kopa To date, however, funding off-grid solutions on a sufficiently large scale has inhibited the potential of these solutions to transform Africas rural economy. In Kenya, approximately 50% of the population has access to electricity. In rural areas, it is as low as 5% - with fire wood accounting for 77% of the total energy consumed. In Uganda, approximately 14% of the population has access to electricity. This slips to 7% in rural areas where the bulk of electricity is supplied by generators, car batteries or solar photovoltaic units - not the national grid. Beyond electricity generation, building and maintaining extensive and expensive distribution networks in Africas often large and sparsely populated countries does not make practical or economic sense, says Stephen Lovell, head, corporate financing solutions, East Africa for Stanbic Bank, a member of the Standard Bank Group. Business models Business models for at-home off-grid power supply have been in existence for some time, particularly in the United States. The ability to take from or supply power into the grid (and pay or get paid for the energy consumed or supplied), coupled with favourable tax treatment on the structure, has created a competitive market for off-grid power solutions. Africa differs fundamentally from the United States in the sense that off-grid in its truest sense, needs to be just that, and also affordable by households with very low disposable income, says Lovell. As such, the cost of the basic technology (a few solar panels, light bulbs, a battery and phone charger) has to be reasonable, and be part of the overall budget a customer can afford. This is critical if investment in this innovative technology is to be financed by commercial banks, he adds. In East Africa, the combination of innovative technology and finance have come together in a landmark off-grid solar transaction with the prospect to transform African growth. Case study Stanbic Banks arranging of $55m funding in Kenya and Uganda for MKopa, an off-grid pay-as-you-go energy company, shows how rapidly and effectively new disruptive off-grid energy solutions can provide affordable energy when coupled with innovative financing solutions says Lovell. Whats exciting about the M-Kopa transaction, the largest off-grid debt funding arranged by a commercial bank in Africa, is that very soon payment records, and hence default rates, will become known to other funders who should be able to lend on a portfolio basis to more off-grid energy suppliers. This will rapidly increase the acquisition of this energy technology in Africa, placing affordable at-home off-grid power generating capacity in individuals hands, he says. Since various sources of research confirm a positive correlation between energy use and economic growth, off-grid solutions are expected to have a measurable positive impact on the broader economy. The improved affordability of the technology, with most solar units being the size of an A4 piece of paper, has resulted in businesses like M-Kopa no longer having to rely solely on equity funding like other start-ups. Instead, the affordability of the product, along with the scale of take up, means that M-Kopa has been able to expand its funding sources to include substantial commercial bank finance. The hunt for professionals who can successfully lead and grow companies with a dual mandate of economic and social returns is on throughout Africa. As well as deal-makers and fund managers who can recognise and realise value for the private equity, venture capital and debt funds who invest in these companies. Debbie Goodman-Bhyat There is an evolving recognition among savvy investors that growth and shareholder returns can - and should - be achieved by measuring more than just the financial bottom line. In fact, data shows that when an organisation has a combined agenda of both commercial and social impact, sustainable growth is the outcome, says Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of Jack Hammer, rated as one of the top three executive search firms in South Africa. Goodman-Bhyat says the growing trend by companies and investors seeking to ensure that they make a profit plus a positive difference, makes sound business sense, particularly when viewed in the context of the dwindling fortunes and even spectacular implosions of more and more companies that chased super financial returns at all costs. In its 2015 report, Impact Investment in Africa: Trends, Constraints and Opportunities the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) notes the following: Impact investments are defined as investments that are made to generate a measurable social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. Since the term was coined at the Rockefeller Foundations 2007 Bellagio Conference, the impact investment industry has steadily grown. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) estimated that in 2012 an approximate $8bn of assets were committed to impact investments by 99 surveyed investors. In 2015, 146 investors reported that they had approximately $60bn worth of assets under management in the impact investment sector. Where visionary leadership is required But according to the report, one of the key challenges for investors in Africa is the difficulty in sourcing viable investments that meet both financial and social/environmental objectives. This is where visionary leadership is required and in high demand, as companies need to identify how they can take their existing core business, and create projects that will meet the requirements of the impact investment model. According to the UNDP report: Deal flow in the impact investment market is significantly hindered by a limited number of viable investment options that are able to provide adequate financial returns as well as demonstrate social and environmental impact. Particularly challenging is the low volume of potential impact investees that are able to demonstrate sufficient track record and capacity development to align with the risk appetite of investors. Right now, throughout Africa, there is more money earmarked for impact investments predominantly in the fields of Fintech, financial and digital inclusion, affordable housing, water and renewable energy, education, health and agriculture - than there are opportunities for these investments, says Goodman-Bhyat. Therefore, investors are struggling to commit funding because there are not enough businesses that can demonstrate social impact on top of track record. The new breed of leader Goodman-Bhyat says the rise in social impact investing presents a great opportunity for business, business leaders and entrepreneurs. But they need to transform a part of their existing business and rethink their business models to attract investment capital earmarked for social impact. The challenge is that most corporate leaders are not able to transform from within using the same approach or mindset that has traditionally focused purely on financial profit. The answer to this dilemma is to start thinking innovatively around how to attract leaders who can disrupt current models and then to give a mandate to them to follow through. This new breed of leader has many of the same key skills as expected of top leaders in successful businesses, with regard to strong commercial capability, she says. They are not different in terms of qualifications or commercial skills. However, they are different in terms of their outlook to business and society and are driven by the bigger picture, rather than just working for profit. This leader is someone who is able to integrate business and social good, someone who can integrate multiple agendas. Goodman-Bhyat says for entrepreneurs and businesses that are driving innovation, and incubators looking for growth opportunities and struggling for funding, there should be no excuse. If you can combine social impact with a for-profit business model, there is capital out there waiting to invest in your vision. Global transportation technology company Uber Technologies has admitted it suffered a breach that saw hackers stealing the personal information of approximately 57 million customers and drivers. So how did it happen? It was reported that two hackers gained access to a private area of the online resource for developers dubbed Github. From that point, the threat actors found the transport giants login credentials for Amazon Web Services (AWS) - a cloud computing platform used by myriad companies to store all sorts of data, including apps. As if that isnt bad enough, the company is now in hot water, as it failed to disclose the breach for nearly a year. It has also been claimed it paid off hackers to destroy the data. Uber is now facing a multimillion-dollar consumer protection lawsuit. The breach exposed the names and drivers license numbers of about 600,000 drivers in the US, and other personal information of all 57 million Uber users and drivers around the world, including names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. The company insisted its forensics experts saw no evidence that trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers or dates of birth were compromised, and said it is monitoring the affected accounts and has flagged them for extra fraud protection. It says it had notified affected drivers whose drivers license numbers were compromised, and is giving them free credit monitoring as well as identity theft protection. Although Uber believes no action is needed, we still need to be aware of other factors when breaches of this scale take place. When well-known entities attract attention in the news, threat actors could try to use the conversation around these incidents to their advantage. One way they could do this is through phishing attacks, or emails that appear to come from Uber, in an effort to fool unwitting users into disclosing sensitive data, including account credentials or payment card information. In any event of this nature, it is advisable to go directly to the source, and get updates only from the organisations official Web site. Be suspicious of mails claiming to be from Uber, and under no circumstances click on any links or attachments in the mails. "No company's data is safe" The bottom line is that Uber was not prepared, and didnt handle the incident well. Even with the latest and most advanced threat protection technologies, no companys data is safe. Theres no silver bullet when it comes to cyber security. Businesses have to ensure they are covered in the event of a data breach. Cyber insurance Had Uber had cyber insurance in place, it could have saved itself a whole world of pain. Cyber insurance is highly specialised, and designed specifically to help protect organisations, as well as help them recover in the event of a security incident. Cyber events come in all shapes and sizes, and can be catastrophic for businesses. Similarly, cyber insurance protects individuals. Should any Uber customers have money stolen out of their credit cards, the insurance would cover this. Cyber insurance offers cover for hardware damage, data loss or corruption, cyber liability and crime, expenses covering recovery and loss of income. Moreover, it covers bringing in specialists to minimise damage to reputation and loss of confidence - something I bet Uber wishes it has now. The sad state of public institutions was recognised as a contributor to the country's precarious near-term economic prospects in the recent downgrade by ratings agency, Standard & Poors (S&P). This should spur institutions - such as pension funds - on to ward off systemic failure. Elias Masilela. Photo: SA Commercial Prop News This rapid decline is hardly news to anyone who has paid attention since then-public protector, Thuli Madonsela, released her State of Capture Report a year ago. Since then, the extent of the governance and accountability failures have repeatedly been exposed, leading to confidence in these important state organs slipping to record lows. I have chosen to focus on the power of institutions and governance in delivering comfortable retirement, instead of reacting to what is happening today, he said. The advice is on focusing on the ability to proactively and predictably manage the risk of bad governance in our institutions, Elias Masilela, director of alternative prosperity and NPC commissioner, told the Batseta Council of Retirement Funds for SA. It is deliberate that I link policy with governance. These are the foundations upon which institutions should be based, upon which decisions are made and behaviours are influenced. They define the inherent incentives that inform our actions, rightly or wrongly. They explain delivery failure in governments, SOEs and the differential performance with the private sector. Guarding against the rot Masilela argues that principal officers, trustees and retirement fund fiduciaries can guard against the rot that has beset public sector institutions. The most effective way to do so would be by committing themselves to building strong institutions with strong governance and oversight, and making use of incentives that encourage correct behaviour. He added that each of the state institutions currently under threat have suffered failures for not respecting these important tenets of good governance but hesitates to make us of examples, as these are always circumstantial. For instance, each of the following, SA Revenue Service, SA Reserve Bank, National Treasury, even Eskom and SAA had in the past been free of scrutiny or doubt when they adhered to these principles. Across time and space, each of these institutions has displayed different governance and delivery records, depending on which time period one is looking at. A common thread across these time periods is that the difference in performance will be a direct function of the incumbents and their governance record. South Africa has extremely solid guidelines on acceptable behaviour as detailed in the King Codes of Good Governance. He appealed to custodians of the countrys retirement funds to commit themselves to these principles and thereby avoid the decline evident in state institutions ensuring outcomes are predictable. Thanks to a consistent string of awards this year, Stellenbosch will again be on display as South Africa's top food and wine destination, primed for the annual influx of local and international wine lovers. "While Stellenbosch is known for heritage, its reputation as the South African region with the most wine awards per capita is also a reflection of the outstanding pioneering work that keeps it at the forefront," says Stellenbosch Wine Routes manager Elmarie Rabe. Magdalena Paluchowska via 123RF The year 2017 will be remembered as another great demonstration of what fine produce and exceptional talent are capable of. While Stellenbosch wines have been showered in gold, chefs in the City of Oaks have also played their part, underscoring Stellenboschs reputation as the Gourmet Capital of South Africa and contributing in large part to the international success of the destination overall. Wine achievements The Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report 2017 was an exceptional highlight with 14 of a total 15 top wines selected hailing from Stellenbosch. Similarly, at the Prescient Chardonnay Report 2017, 23 wines from Stellenbosch made it into the top 42 that scored 90-95 points. At the Veritas Wine and Brandy Awards, Stellenbosch clinched no less than 29 out of the 71 Double Golds, whilst this years top three producers also stem from South Africas first and foremost wine region. As with last year, the Stellenbosch-based Distell was named top achiever with seven Double Golds and 18 Golds. The company also triumphed in the brandy category with six Double Golds and two Golds. Another famous local, Spier, received the first Veritas Vertex Award for the competitions overall champion wine the 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2015, as well the rank of second-best performer overall with six Double Golds and nine Golds. In the third spot was Kleine Zalze with four Double Golds and four Golds. The Best Performer by Entry was Neil Ellis Wines in the category for ten wines or less, while Distell took top honours in the class for more than ten wines. The much-awaited announcement of the Platters South African Wine Guide five-star wines in its 2018 edition brought further joy. Stellenbosch clinched an impressive 36 out of the 111 five-stars awarded. The guides ultimate accolade, Winery of the Year, also went to a Stellenbosch producer, Raats Family Wine Estate, which garnered an incredible five five-star results - the most of any producer. At the Absa Pinotage Top 10, Stellenbosch again dominated. More than half the winners hailed from the region, while a local producer also collected a trophy in the Museum Class. The wineries that made the wines were Delheim, Flagstone, Kanonkop, Lanzerac, Neil Ellis and Stellenbosch Vineyards. The Stellenbosch winner in the Museum Class was the Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection Jonkershoek Pinotage 2007. This year the coveted Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year Award also went to a Proudly Stellenbosch ambassador, Wade Roger-Lund of Jordan Estate. He claimed this sought-after title for the Jordan Blanc de Blancs Methode Cap Classique 2015 (White Wines category). On the global front, Stellenbosch wines stood proud too. A total of four out of six varietal trophies at the International Wine & Spirit Competition were from Stellenbosch while the title of South African Wine Producer of the Year went to Kanonkop. The cherry on the cake was the announcement that Kanonkops Abrie Beeslaar was also named International Winemaker of the Year an accolade he collected in 2008 and 2015. It was international acclaim for Stellenbosch that also arrived with a special award for one of the legends of the region. Glenelly Wine Estate owner May de Lencquesaing was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Wine Challenge in London. The award honours a person in the trade that has shown dedication and commitment and has made a significant difference to the global wine industry. She acquired the Stellenbosch farm in 2003, at the age of 78, and continues to run it with her two grandsons. Foodies delight This year, Stellenbosch also reaffirmed its wealth of creative, top-end gourmet talent by clinching eight nominations in the 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards. The achievements shone the light on a trend of good quality restaurants opening at many of the regions outstanding wine estates. The local venues that rose to glory were The Restaurant at Waterkloof Wines, Camphors at Vergelegen, Indochine at Delaire Graff Estate, George Jardine at Jordan Wine Estate Stellenbosch, Jardine Restaurant, Makaron Restaurant at Majeka House, Overture Restaurant, and Terroir Restaurant at Kleine Zalze. The place to be Of course, no success happens in isolation and much of the worlds familiarity with South Africas most famous wine region is due to the work of the Stellenbosch Wine Routes destination marketing organisation. This was recognised again this year when it was singled out for the third time as a champion among leading wine regions of the world at the UK-based Drinks International Wine Tourism Challenge. Having claimed titles in 2014 and 2015, Stellenbosch Wine Routes was again named the winner of the category for Best Promotional Body. The award recognises Stellenbosch Wine Routes for its commitment and excellence, while the judges paid particular attention to consumer-facing initiatives that entice visitors to the region. Omar Sakr, founder and CEO of Nawah-Scientific has been awarded the winning prize for the "elevator pitch" competition held at Africa 2017 at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt - gaining entry in a training programme at the spiritual home of modern-day entrepreneurs, Stanford Business School in California. The competition, as part of Young Entrepreneurs Day, offered a chance for African startups to gain exposure and raise their profile by pitching their business ideas to an international delegation of executives representing capital prospects, business mentors, and advisors. From over 100 startups and entrepreneurs, 18 were selected to make 'elevator pitches' - each three minute in length maximum - where these young business leaders had the stage to present their idea and opportunity, highlight their needs and generate new leads. Nawah-Scientific is the first, private, multidisciplinary research centre in Egypt catering for natural and medical sciences. Nawah's online platform receives task requests from individual scientists or industrial clients, samples to be analysed are picked up via a partnership with courier services, experiments are carried by high calibre scientists and finally results are sent back online to the client. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research mentioned that Egypt understands the important role that entrepreneurship and young entrepreneurs play in job creation and inclusive growth. The government is creating a favourable environment to facilitate this, he added. "I am thrilled to have won this competition," said Sakr. "There were some amazing startups here and I am pleased to have won the opportunity to go to Stanford for the business management exposure." A collaboration between the Department of Tourism, V&A Waterfront, Robben Island Museum (RIM), and Western Cape Tourism saw an awareness campaign recently launched to encourage domestic and international tourists to practice safe and responsible tourism during the holiday season. The campaign, themed #WeDoTourismResponsibly urges tourists to be safe and responsible while exploring the country, adhering to rules of the road ensuring both a safe travel and the safety of children reducing their carbon footprint and preserving cultural and environmental aesthetics of tourism destinations. Responsible tourism practices Officials from the department, RIM and Western Cape handed out safety pamphlets to tourists containing safety and responsible tourism messages, contact details of the tourism complaints officer and information on responsible tourism practices. The holiday season provides an ideal opportunity for us to encourage tourists to travel in a safe and responsible manner. The #WeDoTourismResponsibly campaign, which we rolled-out at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, is a first of a number of awareness initiatives that we will be conducting in various provinces ahead of all the holidays in 2018, said Lulama Duma, deputy director general at the Department of Tourism. Amplifying the call for safety #WeDoTourismResponsibly is an initiative of the Department of Tourism that responds to governments call to encourage safety during the holiday season. According to the Department of Transport, 1,714 fatalities were recorded during the 2016 December holiday period. The holiday period is often marred by reports of road accidents, drownings, domestic violence and child neglect. We hope that by inculcating a culture of safe and responsible tourism practices, we can contribute to reducing incidents of misconduct and reaffirm our countrys competitiveness and attractiveness in offering safe and authentic tourism experiences, added Duma. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics forecasts that employment of software developers is projected to grow 24% from 2016 to 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations. Dzianis Apolka via www.123RF.com Software developers are in high demand in a range of industries, including computer systems design, electronic product manufacturing and finance. It is estimated that in the decade to 2026, 299,500 jobs will open up in the US. South Africa's "rarest skills" were in the digital and technology sectors, with demands for web developers and coders far outstripping supply.* According to The Future of Jobs, a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), its expected that by 2020, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to jobs today. By partnering with certified African and global learning institutions, Sagarmatha Technologies intends to invest R100 million to help grow the programming skills base for Africas rapidly expanding digital economy. 5,000 young African computer programmers will be trained between 2018-2022. Silicon Africa is a virtual model of the renowned Silicon Valley in the US and seeks to develop a pan-African ecosystem inclusive of governments and decision makers, universities and technical colleges, venture capitalists, NGOs, incubators and accelerators, technology companies and most importantly, digital entrepreneurs, said Paul Lamontagne, chairman of Sagarmatha Technologies. With the change in technology across all sectors, African countries urgently need young people with coding skills in order to thrive in this digital, knowledge-based global economy. By leveraging technology, the approach favours programmes that provide flexibility to learners fortunate to be working but seeking new skills to accelerate or change their career path in software development, as well as the unemployed and those in the most remote areas of Africa. We believe this ground-breaking initiative will lead to 5,000 learners receiving short learning programme certificates in software development, such as Java, C++, and C# programming, as well as database and web design, so they are coder-ready, said Lamontagne. The seismic shift of the fourth industrial revolution is changing the way the world works as the steam engine, car and electricity did in previous centuries. Applications for the first year will be limited to qualified South African learners-only, before rolling out the programme progressively into Africa. For learners wishing to be part of Sagarmathas digital upskilling programme, the minimum requirement for admission will be a matric, high school, or equivalent certificate from an accredited institution in an African country, which is acceptable to one of the partner institutions. It is also necessary to have a certain amount of familiarity with a personal computer. Graduates of the programme will have the option of continuing for a second year of study in another area of software development or to benefit from a one-year membership in a collaborative workspace, incubator, accelerator, or another similar accredited partner venue that is established in their region at that time. This will include a mentorship programme for some learners showing entrepreneurial aptitude to successfully launch a new business venture by leveraging their acquired IT skills. Sagarmathas Talent360 platform will be extended to facilitate access to higher paying, skilled jobs for graduates of the programme as developers, testers, analysts and others. Said Samantha Naidu, executive at Talent360: Research shows that by 2020 there will be nearly one and a half million open jobs in the tech sector. Tech skills are 20 of the top 25 most sought-after skills by employers on career portals and our platform will support and equip young Africans who will fulfil these industry requirements in the next decade, she said. We believe African economies can be re-engineered by creating digital jobs, said Lamontagne. *Source: Fin24.com "No decision has been taken and what we are seeing today in the French press is pure speculation," a spokesman from Airbus, which faces bribery and graft probes in several European countries, told AFP. A source quoted on the French newspaper's website said it will be confirmed that Enders will not continue as chief executive beyond his current term, which runs until May 2019, on Thursday at the final board meeting of the year. "Tom informed the Elysee very recently that he will not seek a third term," the source told Le Figaro. The report indicated that the position of Enders, who was appointed CEO in 2012, was weakened by the corruption scandal that has hit the company. Airbus is under investigation by French prosecutors and Britain's Serious Fraud Office for suspected corruption in its UK-based civil aviation arm. The probes were opened last year after Airbus raised suspicions itself over irregular transactions. The group is also the target of probes in Austria and Germany over the sale of Eurofighter military jets to Austria in 2003. In October, Enders told a German newspaper he was prepared to step down if he was "no longer part of the solution". "I'm not glued to my job," he told the Handelsblatt financial newspaper. The Lagos State Government has stated that the Apapa port was originally designed to receive imported goods and petroleum products and move them out by railway and pipelines, and not to receive articulated trucks and heavy-duty vehicles that transport these products and goods to different parts of the country. The director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mordecai Danteni Baba Ladan has also blamed the Apapa gridlock on depot owners who refused to construct holding bays in their depots for trucks that load petroleum products, contrary to the terms of their operating licenses. Speaking at the 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Lagos Zonal Office of the DPR held recently in Lagos, the Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo stated that all the stakeholders should go back to the original concept used in the design of the Apapa Port as a permanent solution to the gridlock. "We must go back to where we started to solve this Apapa gridlock because the port was conceived and started operations, it was not designed to welcome articulated trucks and heavy-duty vehicles to come and take products and goods out from the port. That was not the plan. The plan was for the port to receive goods and those goods are transported by railway through the Iddo terminal to the other parts of Nigeria. That was the concept. "With respect to petroleum products, the port was constructed to receive petroleum products from the international market and pipe those products through Mossimi Depot in Ogun State to other parts of Nigeria. So, what we are seeing is a complete degradation of the original concept. We must resuscitate the railway lines and we must bring back the pipelines to take products from Apapa to Ejigbo and Mossimi depots and to wherever we agree within ourselves and the DPR," Oluwo explained. Committee to solve the Apapa gridlock The commissioner disclosed that the state government had set up a committee that would start work next week to work out strategies to solve the Apapa gridlock. Also speaking at the AGM, the DPR director said the Apapa gridlock was a major concern to all the stakeholders, adding that all hands should be on deck to tackle the challenges. He blamed the depot operators for not operating a holding bay as stipulated in their operating licenses. "While we recognise that bad roads and inadequate infrastructure have contributed to the gridlock in Apapa axis, the refusal of depot operators to abide by the laid-down rules has further complicated the problems. For example, all trucks now proceed directly to the depots to queue up for loading instead of staying at the holding bays to be invited when it is their turn to load. Let me reiterate that this practice, encouraged by depot operators, is contrary to the terms of their licenses," Ladan said. The DPR director reminded the operators that part of the conditions of their licenses is that every depot should operate a holding bay, where trucks are required to park and wait until it is their turn to load at the depots. Ladan, who was represented by the agency's head of downstream operations, UK Ndanusa, charged the operators to abide by the rules for general safety and decongestion of depot areas. TLC Marketing Worldwide has finally fulfilled its dream of making over the Diepsloot Community Loving and Care Centre in order to improve the learning environment of the young children at the Early Childhood Centre Development (ECD). In partnership with JAM South Africa, employees from as far as Italy and Portugal, together with the Johannesburg team worked on the make over the Diepsloot Community Loving and Care Centre. TLC Marketing Worldwide presented the newly refurbished centre to a group of ecstatic staff and children on Friday, 24 November 2017. What made the project even more special for all involved was the fact that two employees from the Italian and Portuguese offices were able to join the Johannesburg team to assist on the makeover. Natercia Rodrigues who travelled from the Portuguese office to assist in the refurbishment said, Being greeted by the children in the morning as they said, Good morning teacher and then seeing their little faces when they saw their new school, were magical money-cant-buy moments that have changed my life forever. The centre now has two new classrooms and a childrens ablution block. It is definitely a happier and safer environment for the children to learn, play and grow. Funding for the project was secured by TLCs 14 global offices and was managed by TLC Trust, the CSR division of the business. TLC Marketings Chief Operation Officer, Emma Burns, Founder of TLC Trust says, We are thrilled to have been able to complete this renovation project with the involvement of our entire company. It was a truly global effort thats given us the drive to make more of a difference wherever we can. TLC Marketing Worldwide has also pledged to continue to be part of JAM South Africa Nutritional Feeding Programme for the third consecutive year. JAM is a South African founded international humanitarian development organisation. In existence for more than three decades, JAM have provided more than 1,64 billion meals to over a million beneficiaries across Africa. David Brown, Managing Director of JAM South Africa, says, Only 23% of preschool children receive adequate nutrition and 26% are stunted as a result of inadequate nutrition, meaning they cannot play and learn, as children should. Only 60% of preschool children have access to Early Childhood Development. We welcome the partnership with TLC Marketing, which allows us to help give these children the nutrition and education they so sorely need. Thank you TLC Marketing! You are helping give children the future they deserve. While the demise of physical retail abroad - at least as we've come to know it - is sure to cast a shadow on the plans of local counterparts, retail consultant Brett Kaplan believes the long-term outlook for local apparel retail is a good news story. This view was expressed in a talk he presented recently on the 'Apparel Retail Landscape in South Africa' at the ATF Trade Exhibition and co-located China Premium Tex expo held in Cape Town. Kaplan spent over three decades working for Woolworths as the MD for Clothing and General Merchandise, assisting in growing the once family-owned business into the southern hemisphere retail giant it is today. Off the corporate treadmill for three years, he now operates as an independent retail consultant for Choppies Superstores, among other businesses. A global marketplace His presentation kicked off with some insight into the trend of 'globalisation', which is fundamental to understanding the global retail shifts taking place. "We all operate in literally one global marketplace, and there's no place to hide in retail," Kaplan said. Southern hemisphere retailers like Cotton On, Country Road, David Jones, and TFG that bought Australia's Retail Apparel Group are expanding their presence in the south, but are also moving into the northern hemisphere, as can be seen in Brait's purchase of New Look, TFG's stake in Phase Eight and Truworths' acquisition of Office, all in the UK. Meanwhile, northern hemisphere retailers are coming south. A prime example is H&M, which has become a dominant force in South Africa as a northern retailer. "With the growth of store footprint comes scale, and that allows retailers to expand their margins and significantly offer even better value to the customer." Kaplan, however, warned that a cut-and-paste approach to cross-border expansion is often too simplistic. He noted that South African consumers are unique; they look at print, style and colour differently, and it's vital to be aware of that. "An example is Woolworths' private label and David Jones Australia. The market is different and it has been difficult to just transplant the Woolworths private label into the Australian market. A cut-and-paste process is not as easy as it seems." Foreign dominance In addition to economic woes, the popularity of new global entrants into the local marketplace also places significant pressure on local retailers. H&M has a huge presence, occupying flagship status in some of the country's key malls like the V&A Waterfront, Sandton and Cavendish. Australian retailer Cotton On has rolled out over 100 stores, with similar positioning to Mr Price. Zara, on the other hand, which has a massive global presence, has been rather conservative with its roll-out despite having been in South Africa for some years now. According to Kaplan, these retailers all have the benefit of massive scale, global sourcing and margin benefits that allow them to dominate with competitive pricing. "Local retailers are having a tough time. It's a low growth environment with weak consumer demand. Local retailers are achieving at best single-digit growth, which might continue for some time. The days of the dominance of the Edcon Group are over. At one point Edgars had a market share of over 30%, but those days are gone as they've experienced years of decline ... and local competitors like Woolworths, TFG and Mr Price are coming to the fore with better formats and stronger offerings." The burgeoning black middle class The future of local retail is not all doom and gloom, insisted Kaplan. The changing demographics in South Africa, notably the burgeoning black middle class, also referred to as LSM 8-10, is a positive trend for retail. "There's lots of negativity around South Africa when it comes to politics and the economy, but the good news is that the longer-term demographic picture is somewhat more exciting and should assist in building the local economy as the growth of the black middle class gets growing." Retailers catering to LSM bands 3-6, like Pep and Ackermans, are especially benefitting from this demographic shift, with the lower LSM bands 1-3 now moving into their space. Pep specifically shows dominance in the smaller towns in SA, he said. Kaplan churned out stats that support his positive outlook. "80.2% of South Africa is black, with white at 8.4%. Gauteng has 23.9% of the population. More importantly, 40% of them are LSM 8-10 ... there are wealthier, middle-class black people in Gauteng. The importance of Gauteng as the economic powerhouse cannot be ignored." The age bubble In relation to the above, Kaplan pointed out that our ageing population is another positive trend for retail. The 35-years and older population group moved from 34% in 2015 to a predicted 41% by 2030, which means this age bubble is moving northwards, and these consumers spend more money on retail, cars and housing. He noted that 25% of adults are now in the LSM 8-10 category, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%. "When we step back and look at this upward trend line it's encouraging, especially considering our current economic woes. I'm talking about a three, to five, to ten-year trend line that's moving upwards. The population is getting older, wealthier and is being urbanised in the big centres." Destination and online retail Kaplan touched on the need for retailers and shopping malls to become destinations, a trend that he said Sandton City and the V&A Waterfront have implemented to great effect. What plays into this is the pairing of fashion with food, which he said is a significant combination in the fashion retail mix because it keeps customers lingering in store for longer. No retail discussion is complete without reference to the proliferation of online retail. While Kaplan noted that online is still quite small in South Africa, occupying roughly 2% to 3% of the apparel market, it's growing significantly especially when compared to bricks and mortar retail. "The UK has 13% of sales dedicated to apparel online, while in China 17% of apparel sales are done online. So there's plenty of growth for online retail in SA, and companies like Takealot seem to be leading the way." Business and Arts South Africa is significantly expanding its African partnership initiative with the implementation of Creative Futures programme's Business Engagement in Ethiopia. The programme will be implemented in December 2017 and January 2018, in partnership with Creative Futures Programme in Ethiopia. Supported by the European Union (EU), Creative Futures is a two-year programme which aims to contribute to the socio-economic development of Ethiopia by strengthening the creative industries. Powered by the British Council, the Goethe-Institut and iceaddis, CF intends to increase the capacity and network creative professionals in the image sector. The upcoming Addis programme forms part of the BASA Partnered Africa Programme which sees the organisation work with private and creative sectors outside South Africa. Over the past few years, this exciting initiative has seen BASA implement projects and programmes with different partners in Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and other countries. These are an integral part of BASAs commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability of arts and culture on the African continent by engaging the private sector. Using its considerable expertise and in-depth knowledge in working with the private sector to align their corporate and business objectives with opportunities in the creative and cultural sector, BASA will be delivering a series of activities in Ethiopian aiming to engage both the business and Image sector. The first phase is a series of specially curated business breakfasts, starting on 12 December and 14 December 2017. The business breakfasts aim to stimulate conversations with business leaders on how the arts can be a progressive and valuable enabler for business imperatives - including CSI, Marketing, HR and transformational opportunities and strategy. Using real-life examples, the breakfasts will demonstrate the role the arts can play in co-operation and co-creativity, as opposed to competition on the continent. The four speakers at the first Creative Futures Business Engagement breakfast meetings are Wondwossen Meshesha and Yvette Nowell, Mahlet Tecklemariam and Michelle Constant, CEO of BASA, who will also be presenting on the work that the organisation is currently engaging in, with its business members. Meshesha is currently Operations Manager at Tomoca Coffee an Addis Ababa-based family owned and run coffee roasting and Coffee Shop Company. Since its establishment in 1935, Tomoca Coffee has been an integral part of Ethiopian life with its first shop in Piassa still an important landmark and destination for both locals and international tourists. Tomoca Coffee is a supporter of the arts in Ethiopia, and Wondwossen will share insights into his passion for the arts and how Tomoca Coffee uses its resources to provide a wide variety of support, including free showcasing spaces for visual artists and event sponsorship. Nowell heads up Rand Merchant Bank's (RMB) Corporate Social Investment Fund - the RMB Foundation - a requirement of the company's King IV requirements. Her job has seen her work closely with the strategy and shared value both of the Bank, but also of the arts and environmental organisations that the Bank supports. Recently, Nowell completed her Masters in Sustainability Leadership through Cambridge University, and is looking forward to bringing her love for conversations and ideas about creating more integrated value and purpose driven business in the workplace to Ethiopia. It is also important to note that RMB is long standing and active member of BASA. Tecklemariams vision and passion for fashion, especially as it relates to African designers and their talents led her to launch Hub of Africa Fashion Week" which is held annually in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, thereby providing exposure to seasoned and upcoming African designers and the African fashion industry as a whole. It had caught the attention of international agencies like Vogue Italia, UNIDO, as well as International buyers. In recent years Hub of Africa Fashion Week has expanded to include learning and networking opportunities for African designers by working with a variety of stakeholders such as African Development Bank. The Creative Futures Business Engagement activities will also host a series of exclusive arts experiences where Business Leaders can see Arts in Action curated in a way that showcases the opportunities within Ethiopias Image sector, while finding and connecting the dots for mutually beneficial relationships between business and the arts. Thereafter, Creative Futures Business Engagement will also include two workshops the first targeted at the business leaders and the second at the Image sector players and a combined conversation between business and Image sector. These workshops will be underpinned by a localised and customised toolkit. BASA has a wealth of experience and we are very excited to be partnering with British Council, The Goethe Institute and iceaddis to bring it to Ethiopia, comments BASAs Head of Programmes and Development Lonwabo Mavuso. We are confident that the roll-out of events as part of the programme will be of real value to both the arts and business communities of Ethiopia and look forward to getting underway with the programmes events next year. About BASA Business and Arts South Africa NPC: Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) NPC is an internationally recognised South African development agency with a suite of integrated programmes implemented nationally and internationally. BASA encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts, securing the future development of the arts sector in South Africa and contributing to corporate success through Shared Value. BASA was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector as a public/private partnership. For more information on BASA, contact us on 011 447 2295 or visit our website: www.basa.co.za The University of the Witwatersrand has announced that Dr Sibusiso Sibisi has been appointed as director and head of the Wits Business School (WBS) as of January 2018. Dr Sibusiso Sibisi Professor Imraan Valodia, dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand says: It has been a long and extensive search to find the right person and the appointment panel is confident that we have found exactly what the WBS needs to take it forward now. "Sibisi comes from a 14-year stint as president and CEO at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is well known for having built it into a world-class research institution during his tenure. He brings that rare combination of a proven pedigree as a leader at the highest level, world-class research excellence and managerial strength that we have been looking for to lead the WBS. In addition to his work at CSIR, Sibisi has also served on the boards of a number of commercial entities including Harmony Gold, African Rainbow Minerals, Murray and Roberts, and currently Liberty and Telkom-BCX. This experience will prove invaluable as the WBS continues to develop and advance its current and new offerings while strengthening its role within in the business community. Sibisi obtained his PhD in mathematics from Cambridge University and has a keen interest in mathematics and finance an area that the University is looking to grow. He previously held the position of deputy vice-chancellor (research and innovation) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He was a Fulbright Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the late eighties and a senior research associate at Cambridge University in the early nineties. We believe that Sibisis strong strategic, leadership and operational skills, his experience and knowledge within the industry and his academic background are exactly the combination of factors that WBS needs to take it into its next growth phase. In addition, his track record of service to the community is exactly the type of person we want to head up the WBS as it positions itself as a key institution to work on the broader transformation and development agenda not only here in South Africa, but across the continent and beyond, says Valodia. Google hardware is notoriously tough to come by in South Africa, as we've found out over the past couple of years. Image via Gearburn This is chiefly due to a combination of pending localisation and regulatory approval, country manager Luke Mckend told us in an interview earlier this year. For what its worth, I managed to grab a Google Home Mini for $30 during a work trip to the USA last week. And the good news is that it works well enough thus far (in case you didnt know), even without proper localisation in place. In terms of the hardware setup, the Google Home Mini has a microUSB port for power, so you can use any old smartphone charger (as long as its rated 100-240v) in lieu of the included power adapter. From here, youll want to change your smartphone language to UK or US English and then download the Google Home app from the Play Store. But its all plain sailing from here, as you go through a seamless setup process (finding the device, sharing your Wi-Fi password, training it with your voice). And the voice commands work well enough at this point - hard Rs be damned. Youll also need to download some apps to your phone in order to use them on Google Home, such as Podcast Republic and TuneIn Radio. But the Google Home app does indeed list these supported apps in settings. The one notable region-related casualty is the fact that news websites/services are limited to supported countries. So that means no News24, EWN, TechCentral, Burn Media (cheap plug!) and the like. Nevertheless, those wanting to grab a Google Home gadget wont be left with a hobbled device if theyre in an unsupported region. Expect a review in the coming weeks. The Minister of Water and Sanitation's recent water announcement of water restrictions brought home the criticality of South Africa's water scarcity - prolonged drought conditions have meant many of the country's major dams are emptying faster than they can be refilled. Let's explore some of the critical challenges that South Africa's large municipalities face and propose considerations that need to be taken. Melusi Maposa, MD, Accenture Utilities, South Africa For every 1,000 litres of water Rand Water pumps to the City of Johannesburg, approximately 350 litres are lost, seeping out of the value chain unbilled. Part of this water called non-revenue water (NRW) escapes through leaks in major underground pipes or in water storage units; in other words, is lost due to network faults. The rest, however, forms part of what is known as commercial losses losses incurred, for example, due to metering and billing-related inaccuracies. Networks far from perfect As of June 2017, Johannesburg Waters NRW losses stood at 35.3%, against a set target of 32%. The South African average percentage of NRW is currently estimated at 39%, with ranges from 21.3% in the Western Cape to 55.1% in Limpopo Province. South Africas metros vary markedly in terms of NRW figures. The average is 36.9%, and the maximum is above 40%, while Cape Town leads, oscillating at around 19-21%. Important to note, however, is that due to their very nature, even the most efficient water networks are far from perfect: best-in-class international NRW benchmarks are in the single digit figures, with 15% being a generally accepted as an ideal target for most utilities. Johannesburg has aged water infrastructure, some date back as far as 60 or 80 years past their useful life. Johannesburgs mayor is on record saying that the total deferred investment backlog for the City of Johannesburg (spanning water, electricity, roads, and sanitation) is in the region of R170bn. Given the citys current year-on-year capital expenditure, addressing the backlog translates into a 20-year-plus activity. As such, the city needs to act now to ensure the water networks long-term sustainability. Water networks pose unique challenges. Repairing an issue in one area can, for example, lead to pressure imbalances elsewhere, causing other smaller problems to escalate, or new issues to arise. Scientific approach needed As such, there needs to be a scientific approach to fixes. Establishing the optimal way to correct issues must also take capital into account. Put simply, you need a mechanism for prioritising which leaks to fix first, based on the benefits, costs, and network-wide effects and efficiencies of doing so. Further, you need to consider the fact that you are operating in a resource-constrained environment with limits to both budget and access to skills. By way of background, Johannesburgs water is sourced predominantly from Rand Water, although boreholes not connected to the main distribution system add to the supply slightly. Rand Waters main extraction point is the Vaal, supplemented by water coming out of Lesothos Highlands Water Scheme. Water-saving measures instituted in Gauteng have included Rand Water limiting the pressure at which water is supplied. This affects Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekhuruleni among other major Gauteng municipalities including Midvaal but also has impacts as far north as the platinum belt (in the North West Province). Although pressure reduction aims to reduce the amount of water being lost in the very near term, the greatest water-saving measures Johannesburg can implement are likely going to be behavioural sensitising residents to the fact that South Africa is inherently a water-scarce country. Even as plans have been made, there remains a gap in the capacity to execute those plans. Identifying unknown problems Fixing known faults is a major priority, but identifying unknown problems is also necessary. Mass balancing is a technique that has been used in many process/network plants. However, as a water network gets more complex, mass balancing complexities can grow proportionally, if not exponentially. Advanced analytics can be used to empower the network engineer to identify location of water loss issues. Is inefficient pumping at a particular station the cause? Is there a background leak? Through modelling and visualisation, utilities can identify network hotspots as well as understand and manage the performance of their assets as dynamic systems. Johannesburg Water is a R7.9bn-revenue-a-year entity. That revenue, however, comes only from consumption that can be billed. As such, increasing the amount of billable water (by lowering NRW) by even 1% can have significant financial impacts. Reducing NRW by only 5%, for example, would put hundreds of millions of rands into the City of Johannesburgs pocket money that could be used to drive further improvements to the citys water network. Given the citys current NRW figures, reducing losses by 1-2% per year would an achievable goal in the first three to five years of a project. Thereafter, every percentage gain, while realisable, would be more complex and expensive to realise. Cape Town has been very strategic in its deployment and monitoring of water metering changes that were implemented in response to a growing crisis. In Gauteng, acting now, before the situation reaches Cape water crisis levels, will mean that any project can be carried out more cheaply, and with greater planning and consultation. LOME, Togo - Cameroonian authorities detained Patrice Nganang, a Cameroonian-American academic and columnist, as he attempted to fly to Zimbabwe from Douala on December 6, according to his lawyer and media reports. Tomas Griger via 123RF The lawyer, Emmanuel Simh, told the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), that Nganang is being held in Yaounde on accusations of offending the president in a Facebook post. Authorities confiscated the journalist's phone and he was not granted access to legal counsel until today, Simh said. "The detention of Patrice Nganang is an outrage and Cameroonian authorities must immediately release him without charge and allow him to travel," said CPJ Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal, from South Africa. "Cameroon seems intent on violating the right to freedom of expression to silence critical voices, including in the press." Nganang's arrest came a day after he published a critical column in the France-based news magazine Jeune Afrique, that criticised President Paul Biya's handling of unrest in Cameroon's Anglophone regions. Nganang, a professor at the U.S. Stony Brook University and contributing columnist for Jeune Afrique, visited the regions affected by protests, according to a statement by the African Literature Association and media reports. SADC agriculture experts have called for urgent financial support to governments to ensure effective management of the Fall armyworm in Southern Africa. This came out at the recent stakeholder meeting held in South Africa. Tigana chileshe via Wikimedia Commons Fall armyworm is a new pest in Southern Africa, which causes extensive damage to crops if not controlled in time. The pest has 10 to 12 cycles and can continue recurring after the first spray. The meeting, which called for increased investment and stronger coordination and partnerships in responding to the pest, was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Representatives of SADC member states, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), donors, development partners, farmers' organisations, academia and research organisations observed that since the Fall armyworm had established itself on the continent and in the region, there was no other option than to manage it effectively and sustainably. SADC member states and stakeholders were challenged to make strong commitments by allocating more funding, developing programmes and putting in place infrastructure for the management of the fall armyworm and other emerging and re-emerging crop pests and diseases with potential to cause food insecurity in the region. Urgent financial support needed to ensure effective management of Fall armyworm FAO sub-regional coordinator for Southern Africa David Phiri said given its adaptability and tenacious nature, many experts believed the pest would continue spreading and impacting on food security. "We have, however, an opportunity to prevent this threat from reaching disastrous proportions, by building the resilience of farmers and institutions to this pest," he said. The meeting identified funding gaps with respect to farmer education and awareness, monitoring and surveillance, impact assessment, research, as well as rolling out of pest management options. "There is, therefore, an urgent need to support governments in the region with financial resources to ensure effective management of the Fall armyworm in Southern Africa," he said. All Southern African mainland countries, except Lesotho, are infested with the fall armyworm. The pest has also been confirmed in the island states of Madagascar and Seychelles, leaving only Mauritius untouched. According to FAO, 1.5 million hectares in Zimbabwe were affected by the pest, 27,000 hectares of crops in Botswana, 138,000 hectares in Malawi, 23,000 hectares in Namibia and over 280,000 hectares in Zambia. Pesticide management still a challenge Last year, stakeholders undertook a number of responses, including distribution of pesticides, research, surveillance and monitoring and training of extension officers and farmers, and raising awareness of relevant stakeholders. The meeting observed that pesticide management was still a challenge in the region, especially among smallholder farmers. It also agreed that the use of synthetic pesticides should only be used as a last resort, and only if they are safe to humans and the environment and are effective in controlling the Fall armyworm. Motion Icon's escalator step branding offers unlimited creative visual opportunities for brands looking to a new advertising channel that delivers ROI and hyper proximity communication. WASHINGTON (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a USD 692 billion defence budget, which among other things gives funding to provide legislative authority to implement his South Asia strategy and authorises critical missile capabilities to confront threats posed by North Korea. The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) authorises USD 626 billion of the base budget resources for the Department of Defence and the national security programs of the Department of Energy, providing an additional USD 66 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. It approves USD 26.2 billion for shipbuilding, including multi-year procurements of Virginia class submarines, USD 10.1 billion to procure 90 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and USD 2.2 billion for Army ground combat vehicles. The budget would give legislative authority to implement his South Asia strategy and authorises critical missile capabilities to confront threats posed by North Korea. Trump had sought a major role for India in bringing peace in Afghanistan and ruled out a hasty withdrawal of troops from the war-torn nation while announcing his new Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August. Trump at the signing ceremony at the White House said NDAA 2018 could not come at a more opportune or important time. "This legislation represents a momentous step toward rebuilding our military and securing the future for our children," he said. He rued in recent years, military has undergone a series of deep budget cuts that have severely impacted its readiness, shrunk capabilities, and placed substantial burdens on warfighters. "Today, with the signing of this defence bill, we accelerate the process of fully restoring America's military might," he said, adding that this legislation will enhance readiness, expand and modernise forces and help provide service members with the tools that they need to fight and to win. "We will fight and win. But hopefully, with this, we won't have to fight because people will not be wanting to fight with us. It authorises funding for our continued campaign to obliterate the Islamic State. As you know, we've won in Syria, we've won in Iraq. But they spread to other areas and we're getting them as fast as they spread," Trump said. "We've had more success with the ISIS in the last eight months than the entire previous administration has had during its entire term," Trump said. NDAA-2018 approves missile defence capabilities to create maximum pressure on the vile dictatorship in North Korea. "It upgrades our Ground Combat Vehicles, allows for the purchase of new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, and paves the way for beautiful new Virginia-class submarines -- the finest in the world," Trump said. The Dunnes Stores retail empire last year received a 250m (284m) dividend from its main Northern Ireland based company. New accounts filed by Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd, which cover takings from its stores in the North and in Britain, show that it paid out the huge dividend payment to connected firms in the Dunnes group. The size of the payout is much larger than previous years, having paid out 310,000 in 2015 and 760,000 in 2014. Anne Heffernan and Sharon McMahon were appointed as directors to Dunnes companies. Ms Heffernan and Ms McMahon join Margaret Heffernan and Frank Dunne on the board of Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd. The accounts show the company posted a pre-tax loss of 5.1m last year, though the main factor was the firm writing down the value of assets by 7.5m. The firm recorded the loss after revenues dropped by 21.7% to 99.85m. However, the revenues are for more than 47 weeks to December 22 last year compared with the full 52-week trading period in the previous year. The Newry, Co Down, registered firms revenues are generated from the Norths 17 stores and the six stores in England and Scotland. The accounts offer the only insight into the finances of the family-owned business as Dunnes Stores has unlimited status in the Republic and is not required to file annual accounts to the Companies Office. Staff numbers last year fell from 1,474 to 1,289, while staff costs dropped from 18.47m to 15.2m. Key management personnel costs were cited at 463,000. By Ann Loughlin A woman left almost completely blind and paralysed down the right side of her body due to delay in diagnosing and treating an aneurysm has secured 5m under a settlement of her High Court action. Bernadette Surlis,(60) from Drinaum, Strokestown, Co Roscommon, is confined to a wheelchair and is in a nursing home but her overriding, perhaps her only remaining ambition is to be able to go home, Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told. It was hoped the 5m settlement would mean her ambition will be achieved, her counsel Michael Cush SC said. Ms Surlis, a mother of three adult children, sued the HSE alleging negligence in her care and treatment at Sligo General Hospital in November 2013. Today Mr Cush said liability was admitted and it was accepted, had Ms Surlis been appropriately and promptly diagnosed and treated, she would not have suffered the injuries. This was a very sad case involving acquired brain injury, he said. Ms Surlis, then aged 57, went to the Sligo hospital on November 3rd 2013 complaining of headache, vomiting and dilated left eye pupil but was triaged as category three and left waiting for three hours, he said. She was investigated for glaucoma and discharged but re-attended the following day when the seriousness of her condition was appreciated for the first time. She was transferred too late to Dublins Beaumont hospital on November 5th as she had suffered haemorrhage and severe and permanent injury, counsel said. She spent the following year between hospitals and later in the National Rehabilitation Centre before being moved to the nursing home. Her eldest son Daniel and daughter Carla are working, her younger son, Enda, is in college, she has four sisters living locally and the entire family shares her determination to return home, he added. The consensus among the experts is Ms Surlis condition will not improve except marginally and she will need full time care, he said. Ms Surlis is aware of her condition and has difficulties communicating but can do so with her familys assistance, he added. In her proceedings, Ms Surlis claimed she woke up on November 3rd 2013 with a severe pain in her head and a drooping/swelling left eye and had lost a little of her balance. She went to a doctor who thought she might be having a stroke and referred her to Sligo General Hospital. When she went there about 4pm, she had an acute enlargement of a posterior communicating artery aneurysm but was not treated as an emergency and was left waiting for three hours, it was claimed. Only when her sister approached staff was she seen by a doctor. The aneurysm had not ruptured at that stage and, had she been moved to Beaumont that day, she would probably have been treated successfully, leading to a full recovery, it was alleged. The aneurysm ruptured about 7.30pm on November 4th and she was transferred to Beaumont until 1am on November 5th. Arising from the alleged delay in diagnosis and treatment, she suffered a rupture of the aneurysm and sub-arachnoid haemeorrhage, making her case much more serious and her treatment more difficult, it was claimed. Mr Justice Cross said the settlement was a reasonable and very good one and he had no hesitation approving it. Insofar as money can compensate, this would provide the best compensation possible for Ms Surlis to live out her life, hopefully in her home, he said. Outside court, Ms Surlis children, accompanied by their solicitor, Damien Tansey, said it had been a long and difficult few years since 2013 but she and they welcomed the settlement and hoped it would ensure she would spend Christmas 2018 back at home. Its been really hard, its torn apart our whole family, we lost our Mom ... Carla Surlis said. Hopefully shell be home this time next year, its been a long few years now without her. Once shes home, it will be better. A man has been jailed for seven years today for his part in killing a father-of-one in Dublin. Andrew Gibney of Dromheath Avenue in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 was cleared of murdering Gerard Burnett, but convicted of manslaughter. In late August 2012, one week after Gerard Burnett was stabbed to death at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, Andrew Gibney handed himself in to gardai and told them that he was involved. A post mortem revealed Mr Burnett suffered 30 knife injuries, the majority of which were stab wounds. Six stab wounds were to the right hand side of his chest which caused internal injuries to his lung, heart and liver. Gibney was acquitted of murder last month but a jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. It was the prosecutions case that he was part of a joint enterprise to murder Mr Burnett and that he was one of five men who went to his house on the night in question. He was handed an eight-year prison sentence this afternoon, but the judge suspended the final 12 months. The annual Black Santa Sit Out, which has raised more than half a million euro for charity over the past 16 years, is launching its 2017 appeal today. Volunteers collecting donations will sit outside St. Ann's Church on Dawson Street in Dublin from 10am-6pm every day until Christmas Eve. Government plans to extend GP visit cards for 40,000 family carers are coming under fire. The Irish Medical Organisation, which represents doctors, says the measure has been announced as a vote buying exercise that doesn't take account of the GPs dealing with increased demand. Meanwhile Catherine Cox of Family Carers Ireland says it will only benefit one in four carers because it's being attached to the Carer's Allowance, which is means-tested. We have asked the minister to consider extending this to all carers in receiopt of the Carers Support Grant, she said. 100,000 carers get the Carers Support Grant and theyre full-time carers. If you were to extend to that group, we feel that would bring in far more carers who are in a full-time role. A 48-year-old man has been charged in relation to the shooting incident at Parslickstown on Monday afternoon. An eight-month-old baby boys leg was broken in the incident when he was hit by 30 shotgun pellets. One in three women around the world have experienced either sexual or physical violence, an international conference on gender-based violence in Trinity College has heard today. The majority of those affected experienced violence within their relationship, but it can also be used as a war tactic, speakers at the 'Reducing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence: How Can We Improve Programme Design?' conference have said. Christian Aid Ireland says it is particularly a problem in developing countries. Chief executive Rosamond Bennett, who has just returned from South Sudan, said: "I spoke to a women, we were talking about hunger, and she said: 'You know, people think happiness starts int he stomach, because that's where you get your food... but for me, fear starts in the stomach, fear that I am going to be raped when I go for firewood, or raped when my husband goes away'." Assistant Professor Aisling Swaine said that women are particularly at risk of sexual or physical violence in countries experiencing conflict. "When I worked in Darfur we had evidence of the ways that the State and different parties to the conflict were attacking villages," she said. "They would separate men and boys from the woman and girls, they would sexually violate and rape women and girls for the purposes of ethnic cleansing and forced pregnancy, for example, and then kill the men and boys." Also speaking at the conference was trans woman Dr Chloe Schwenke. She said that trans women in developing countries can experience horrific violence and exclusion. She outlined "physical violence - 'corrective rape' they would call it - just stone throwing, humiliations, stigmatisation, and then the structural violence of saying 'you don't exist'." Christian Aid hopes this conference will raise awareness of the gender-based violence. The organisation says work needs to be done with both the victims and the perpetrators of the violence to try and tackle the problem. Update 6.17pm: Ryanair pilots in Portugal are also set to strike next week. The Portuguese union SPAC says the company's refusal to enter negotiations left them with no choice. They'll now join Dublin based IALPA pilots in a 24-hour strike next Wednesday, December 20. Meanwhile, Ryanair pilots in Italy are due to hold a 4-hour stoppage on Friday while German pilots have also threatened strike action. Ryanair has so far refused to say how many flights will be cancelled. Update 5.46pm: Ryanair has not set out how many flights could be cancelled due to next week's planned strike. Around 80 Dublin based pilots have announced a 24 hour work stoppage in a long running row over the recognition of trade unions. Aviation expert Gerry Byrne says the airline is remaining tight lipped. "Ryanair at this remove may not be able to work it out themselves in fairness to them but they are saying nothing on their website on this particular issue." In better news the company have announced extra flights on 40 different routes from Cork, Dublin, Knock and Shannon airports for summer 2018. The new routes will add an extra 250,000 seats to Croatia, France, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Full details Read More: Earlier (6.55am): Ryanair passengers face travel chaos just days before Christmas after the airlines Irish-based pilots gave notice of intention to strike on Wednesday, December 20, writes Catherine Shanahan. Similar moves are afoot in Italy and Portugal, and possibly Germany, as pilots push for better conditions at the budget airline. The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) has called on Ryanair to engage with pilots representatives in an effort to stop the strike going ahead. ITAA president Cormac Meehan said the timing of the strike, just five days before Christmas, is very unsettling and worrying for those planning to travel over the holiday season. This industrial action could result in huge disruptions for Irish travellers, in particular for families who may be returning home for Christmas or planning to holiday aboard, he said. Pilots from the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa), a branch of Impact, backed the action overwhelmingly during secret ballots. The dispute centres on Ryanairs failure to recognise independent pilot representatives, Impact said. Although the number of employees involved in the strike is fewer than the total number of Irish-based Ryanair pilots, the action will have an impact because planes cannot legally or safely fly without a captain. The pilots taking action are directly employed by the company. Impact official Ashley Connolly said Ryanair was the only Irish-based airline that refuses to recognise independent pilot representatives. This dispute is solely about winning independent representation for pilots in the company, said Ms Connolly. Managements failed negotiating model has let down shareholders and tens of thousands of passengers, whose flights were cancelled this year because company-controlled industrial relations proved incapable of recruiting and retaining enough pilots. The failed policy threatens to further disappoint shareholders and passengers, and further damage the airlines reputation, because experienced pilots continue to leave the airline in droves. Ryanair responded by promising to face down any disruptions if, or when they arise and by threatening to withdrawn agreed benefits, secured through pilots dealing directly with the airline. The carrier, which does not recognise trade unions, claimed Ialpa had the support of less than 28% of Ryanairs over 300 Dublin pilots and that those involved belonged to a small group of pilots who are working their notice and will shortly leave Ryanair, so they dont care how much upset they cause colleagues or customers. Impact has warned of further strike days if agreement is not reached on the airlines approach to bargaining with staff. On Friday, Ryanairs Italian pilots are due to stage the companys first ever pilots strike between 1pm and 5pm. Ryanair has always insisted that it will only negotiate with Employee Representative Councils at each of its 87 bases. However, pilots argue this weakens their bargaining power and want to negotiate collectively through a new joint European Employee Representative Council. The situation is further complicated by the fact that a significant proportion of Ryanair pilots are not directly employed by the airline, but are contractors hired through agencies or other intermediary arrangements. This article first appeared on the Irish Examiner The State has urged the Court of Appeal to overturn its decision permitting a retrial of part of Ian Baileys civil action over the conduct of the Garda investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Lawyers for Mr Bailey opposed the application as unstateable and disputed the States argument the Court of Appeal decision was based on a plain error. Having heard arguments today, the three-judge appeal court, comprising Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, reserved judgment on the application. The State contends the Court of Appeal decision last July allowing one ground of Mr Baileys appeal against a High Court jurys March 2015 dismissal of his damages case was based on error and there are strong reasons why it should not stand. The ground of appeal was whether the High Court trial judge erred in not allowing the jury decide if alleged leaking by gardai of confidential information to solicitors for media organisations, prior to the hearing of Mr Baileys libel cases against various media in late 2003, breached his constitutional right to privacy. Mr Bailey claims gardai disclosed information to the media from statements made by Marie Farrell, a key witness in the murder investigation, before the Circuit Court libel proceedings. The Court of Appeal said that particular claim was not statute barred and the trial judge, Mr Justice John Hedigan, was wrong not to let it be decided by the jury. Today, Luan O Braonain SC, for the State, said the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to set aside a finding where there are strong reasons for doing so. The strong reasons were the Court of Appeal decision involved a plain error with fundamental consequences for the parties and for the administration of justice, he said. It was very important finality be achieved. The trial judge, contrary to what the Appeal Court judgment indicated, had not made a statute barred ruling refusing to let the alleged wrongful disclosure issue go to the jury, he argued. The Court of Appeal erred in treating a no case to answer observation by Mr Justice Hedigan as a ruling. There was also no admissible evidence to support the claim of alleged wrongful disclosure of witness statements to the media, he submitted. What was involved was hearsay and not testimony that could be relied on to support Mr Baileys claim. Martin Giblin SC, for Mr Bailey, said the States application was unstateable and the Court of Appeal should approach the issue of jurisdiction in this matter with caution. The defendants had not come anywhere near the necessary threshold for the court to review a written judgment, he said. The alleged wrongful disclosure issue should have been permitted go to the jury and, contrary to what the State argued, there was evidence to support that claim. Much of the evidence was elicited by the State in its cross-examination of Marie Farrell and it had to live with the consequences of that. Ronan Munro SC, also for Mr Bailey, said other evidence given to the High Court included from a retired Garda Supt, Dermot Dwyer, about conversations with Ms Farrell prior to the libel hearings. There was a range of evidence from which it could be inferred gardai leaked information to media, he said. Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan said what was at issue was the question of the alleged disclosure of witness statements by gardai and whether that matter should have gone to the jury. In reply to the judge, Mr Munro said Mr Bailey had not asserted any direct knowledge of his own of alleged wrongful disclosure. The evidence he was relying on included testimony by Ms Farrell during the trial, including testimony elicited in cross-examination, to the effect she had been told her statements were provided to media lawyers. In closing remarks, Mr O Braonain said it was not possible to know what a witness might say during cross-examination and the State should not be bound by that. An investigative news website in the North has won 400,000 in funding from Google to undertake a major project examining the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland. The Detail secured the funding through Google's Digital News Initiative (DNI) Innovation Fund. The two-year project will see the website's data journalists analyse key statistics linked to the UK's exit from the European Union. It will examine the implications for industry, security, politics and society on the island of Ireland. Editor of The Detail Steven McCaffery said the project's aim was to inform public debate. "The UK's exit from the European Union is of international significance, but we can already see that it is having a unique impact on the island of Ireland," he said. "With the support received from Google's DNI Innovation Fund, The Detail is launching an ambitious project to produce accessible data analysis on Brexit, plus human stories on its unfolding implications for the lives of people and the future of businesses across the island." The project will see The Detail work with data analysis and visualisation company Analytics Engines and also collaborate with two digital companies SureCert and City Radar. Britains Brexit secretary David Davis has written to MPs in a last-ditch attempt to avert a Tory revolt and potential Commons defeat for the UK Governments Brexit legislation. British Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned she faces a rebellion unless MPs are guaranteed a meaningful vote on the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the European Union. Rebel ringleader and former attorney general Dominic Grieve believes he has enough support to defeat the Government this evening unless ministers give in. Labour is set to back Mr Grieve and urged would-be rebels not to be bought off by "warm words and woolly concessions". Mr Davis promised MPs there would be "a number of votes" on the final deal struck between the UK and EU. Theresa Mays lack of a majority leaves her vulnerable to any Commons revolt and with up to 20 Tory MPs set to side with Mr Grieve in the division lobbies she could face a damaging blow to her authority. "I think there are quite a few who may support me - I think enough, if this comes to a vote, to defeat the Government," Mr Grieve told the BBC. Brexiteers reacted angrily to the threatened revolt, accusing the rebels of trying to "derail" the whole bill, which is needed to transpose EU legislation on to the UK statute book when Britain leaves in March 2019. Mr Grieve, who campaigned for Remain in the referendum, denied his amendment - which would require any final deal with the EU to be approved by a separate act of Parliament before it could be implemented - was designed to prevent Brexit happening. He said he tabled the change because without it the Government had the power to push the final deal through by the use of statutory instruments, denying MPs the vote they have already been promised by ministers on the outcome of the negotiations. Mr Davis was issuing a written ministerial statement clarifying his approach ahead of the Commons showdown, insisting that the withdrawal agreement would not be implemented until there had been a resolution passed by MPs and peers. David Davis writes to Tory MP promising vote on Brexit deal "as soon as possible after negotiations." norman smith (@Thehackandhound) December 13, 2017 "Our entire approach to this Bill has been to listen to MPs. We listen and value their contribution" - DD letter to Tory MPs norman smith (@Thehackandhound) December 13, 2017 David Davis promises vote on Brexit deal, a Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill and "further legislation" norman smith (@Thehackandhound) December 13, 2017 Some leading Tory Brexit rebels already dismissed Govt WMS on meaningful vote. "Not good enough." #showdown norman smith (@Thehackandhound) December 13, 2017 The move appears to fall short of Mr Grieves demand that the final deal is enshrined in a statute passed by Parliament before it can be put into effect. In his letter to MPs, Mr Davis specifically referred to Mr Grieves attempt to rewrite the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and said he was responding to concerns "by making clear that there will be a number of votes for Parliament on the final deal we strike with the EU". The EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier wants the withdrawal deal finalised by October 2018 and the Government has committed to hold a vote in Parliament as soon as possible after the negotiations have concluded. In an attempt to address Mr Grieves point about the power to use secondary legislation, Mr Davis said: "The Government will not implement any parts of the withdrawal agreement - for example by using Clause 9 of the European Union (Withdrawal) bill - until after this vote has taken place." Dominic Grieve In addition, he said the deal would have to go through the normal treaty ratification process and there would be primary legislation on the Brexit deal. "If Parliament supports the resolution to proceed with the withdrawal agreement and the terms for our future relationship, the Government will bring forward a Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill to give the withdrawal agreement domestic legal effect. "The Bill will implement the terms of the withdrawal agreement in UK law as well as providing a further opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. "This legislation will be introduced before the UK exits the EU and the substantive provisions will only take effect from the moment of exit." Additional new laws may also be required to implement an agreement on the UK-EU relationship after Brexit, he added. Signalling support for Mr Grieves amendment and a similar measure proposed by Labour, shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said: "Tory rebels have talked the talk, now they must walk the walk. "The decision MPs make today will determine whether or not the UK goes down the path of a Brexit that respects parliamentary democracy." While Ms May seeks to avoid a parliamentary setback in Westminster, she may have one to contend with in Strasbourg where MEPs have hit out at the Brexit Secretary over his stance on the divorce deal agreed last week. Mr Daviss comment that the deal agreed by the British Prime Minister and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on the issues of citizens rights, the Irish border and the UKs 44 billion divorce bill amounted to a "statement of intent" rather than a binding agreement has angered prominent MEPs. Jean-Claude Juncker The European Parliament is set to vote today on cross-party amendments tabled by Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, who warned that Mr Daviss comment risked "undermining good faith" established in the negotiations and calling on the UK to "fully respect" last weeks deal. EU leaders are expected to agree on Friday that the Brexit talks can move on to the next phase, discussing a transition arrangement and the future relationship between the UK and the remaining 27 member states. Cabinet minister Justine Greening appeared to suggest that the Government might be preparing further concessions to head off a rebellion. Ms Greening told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: "What weve done is genuinely listened to the debate which has happened in Parliament. "This is a unique process. What we are trying to do is strike a balance between having a negotiating strategy where we dont show all our hand but we can get the best deal for Britain, whilst also, in our democracy, making sure that we absolutely bring Parliament with us and we debate as a whole how best to strike that balance. "Were going to make sure that through the concessions today we continue to command the support of Parliament. "There will be a continued debate about how best to do this. That is because it is uniquely challenging, but its a challenge that I believe our Parliament, our Government and our country can rise to." MPs have "taken back control" of the Brexit process and inflicted a humiliating House of Commons defeat on Theresa May with the help of around a dozen Tory rebels. In a damaging blow to her already diminished authority, Tory rebels rallied around ringleader Dominic Grieve to back his attempt to ensure MPs have a "meaningful vote" on the withdrawal deal. A dramatic last-minute concession by justice minister Dominic Raab was dismissed as "too late" by Mr Grieve, whose amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill squeezed through the Commons on a majority of four amid tense scenes in the chamber. Responding to the news tonight the European Parliaments chief Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt tweeted: "British Parliament takes back control. European and British Parliament together will decide on the final agreement. Interests of the citizens will prevail over narrow party politics. A good day for democracy." British Parliament takes back control. European and British Parliament together will decide on the final agreement. Interests of the citizens will prevail over narrow party politics. A good day for democracy. https://t.co/yV6e6FjWWG Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) December 13, 2017 Tory Remainer Nicky Morgan tweeted "Tonight Parliament took control of the EU Withdrawal process", while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the defeat as "a humiliating loss of authority" for Mrs May. This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the Government on the eve of the European Council meeting. https://t.co/QWqAAvVtRk Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 13, 2017 Amid intense scenes in the Commons as the division was called, would-be rebel Vicky Ford appeared to be wavering between division lobbies before being ushered towards the Government side by Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexiteer MP James Cleverly. She had asked Mr Raab to outline his concession, who told her he was making it "crystal clear" that there would be a "meaningful vote" before the withdrawal deal was put into UK law. As Mrs May prepared to travel to a Brussels summit on Thursday where European Union leaders are expected to rubber-stamp Brexit negotiations moving on to trade, Mr Corbyn said: "This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the Government on the eve of the European Council meeting. "Labour has made the case since the referendum for a meaningful vote in Parliament on the terms of Britains withdrawal from the European Union. "Theresa May has resisted democratic accountability. Her refusal to listen means she will now have to accept Parliament taking back control." A Government spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed that Parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. "We are as clear as ever that this Bill, and the powers within it, are essential. "This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the Bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose." There were 11 Tory rebels in total, according to the official Commons list. Prominent among them was Tory rebel Anna Soubry repeatedly shouted "too late" as Mr Raab outlined his concession and Government whips buzzed around the chamber in an attempt to win over MPs. After a night of high drama in the Commons, Ms Soubry told Sky News: "Nobody takes any pleasure and certainly I dont when the Government loses a vote, these are important things. "But this was a really important moment because it was about actually delivering what the Government said it wanted to do, which was to have a meaningful vote in this place. "The truth is Parliament has been excluded from the whole of the Brexit process and now were back in the frame and that means we can represent all our voters." She added: "It was a stupid fight the Government fought, and they fought it very badly, and Im afraid they did themselves no favour. "It (the rebellion) would have been higher but a number of my colleagues actually abstained because the Government made some sort of strange offer at the end. "Theyve just got to stop playing silly games with this, and theyve got to realise that this Bill was drafted before the general election, it was drafted to deliver a hard Brexit backed up with a majority of 100." Ms Soubry, who earlier revealed she had found a woman MP "upset and shaken" after a whip tried to persuade her not to revolt on Tuesday evening, hit out at the abuse faced by rebels. "Just slagging people off and calling us mutineers and traitors and all the rest of it is not acceptable," she said. Blimey, the moment the government was defeated. Feels symbolic. Our story here: https://t.co/AiSXUeM5K5 pic.twitter.com/3pe385UdBY Jake Kanter (@Jake_Kanter) December 13, 2017 Another rebel, Commons Health Committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston said the move was a "parliamentary victory" rather than a Government defeat, tweeting: "Proud to have supported a #MeaningfulVote". A Downing Street spokesman said: "Today the European Parliament voted to move on to the next phase of talks in our departure from the European Union, and tomorrow the Prime Minister will be attending European Council in Brussels, working towards the deep and special partnership we all want to see. "We respect the will of the House, and will continue to focus on preparing the country to leave the EU in March 2019." Is it game over for Brexit? No. But the government losing a vote is a big deal, as @estwebber explains... pic.twitter.com/0FBi21prEl BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 13, 2017 Mr Grieves amendment means the Government can only implement elements of the withdrawal agreement once a statute allowing them to do so has been passed - a measure which appears to go beyond Mrs Mays promised vote on a resolution of both Houses. The statute sought by Mr Grieve would undergo full parliamentary scrutiny - meaning it could be rewritten by MPs, potentially leaving the Government vulnerable to further revolts over elements of the withdrawal deal. The Beaconsfield MP said he had no option but to push his amendment to a vote because the Bill gave ministers "the biggest Henry VIII power ever conferred on Government" with no justification. "Im obviously pleased with the outcome because I felt it was a vote which had to be taken, particularly in view of the intransigence and difficulty we had in trying to reason with the Government over the last few days," Mr Grieve said. "Do I otherwise feel good about it? No, its the first time Ive ever had to rebel on a national issue against the Government, I think Ive only ever done it once before in respect of High-Speed 2, so its one of the most unpleasant things one can possibly do." He went on: "Unfortunately although we had a sensible discussion to begin with, it petered out at the end of last week despite my best endeavours. "So in those circumstances I have to say it was the only thing open for me to do and Id like to emphasise - it doesnt stop Brexit in any way. "It actually was intended to try to make sure that Brexit takes place in an orderly manner." Mr Raab said the defeat would not hold up the Brexit process. "Its a setback but its a fairly minor setback, it wont frustrate the Brexit process," he said. He added: "Its not going to stop us leaving the EU in March 2019." Facebook says its investigation into alleged Russian attempts to influence the EU referendum has found only three adverts linked to a propaganda group. The Electoral Commission had asked the firm - and fellow social site Twitter - for information on any Russian attempts to interfere with the Brexit vote through the use of political adverts on the site. The social network said less than one dollar was spent on delivering adverts by accounts linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA), which were seen by no more than 200 people. It follows an investigation in the US earlier this year which ruled hundreds of Russia-linked Facebook accounts had attempted to influence the US presidential election. "We strongly support the Commissions efforts to regulate and enforce political campaign finance rules in the United Kingdom, and we take the Commissions request very seriously," Facebook said in a letter to the Commission. "Further to your request, we have examined whether any of the identified Internet Research Agency pages or account profiles funded advertisements to audiences in the United Kingdom during the regulated period for the EU referendum. "We have determined that these accounts associated with the IRA spent a small amount of money (97 US cents, or 82 Euro cents) on advertisements that delivered to UK audiences during that time. "This amount resulted in three advertisements (each of which were also targeted to US audiences and concerned immigration, not the EU referendum) delivering approximately 200 impressions to UK viewers over four days in May 2016." A report in January by the US national director of intelligence ruled that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US election, and Facebook found approximately 470 accounts linked to the agency had spent around $100,000 (85,000) on more than 3,000 adverts. These adverts were run between June 2015 and May 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May has previously accused Russia of spreading fake news and misinformation online as part of a campaign to "sow discord in the West". However, British chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Damian Collins MP, which had previously requested information from the social media giants over Russian meddling, was disappointed with Facebooks response. "Facebook responded only with regards to funded advertisements to audiences in the UK from the 470 accounts and pages run by the Russian based Internet Research Agency, which had been active during the US election," he wrote on Twitter. "It would appear that no work has been done by Facebook to look for other fake accounts and pages that could be linked to Russian backed agencies and which were active during the EU referendum, as I requested. 3) Facebook conducted research to identify 10,000s of fake pages and accounts that were active during the French Presidential election. They should do the same for the EU referendum, and not just rely on external sources referring evidence of suspicious activity back to them Damian Collins (@DamianCollins) December 13, 2017 "Are we to believe that Russian backed targeting of voters through social media with fake news was limited only to Twitter during the EU referendum, when both Twitter and Facebook had been used by them in the USA during the Presidential election." Mr Collins added that he met with Facebook today to ask again for a "full response" to the select committee, as part of its inquiry into fake news. "This includes looking for Russian activity linked to the 2017 General Election, as well as the EU referendum," he said. UK ministers have promised fresh limits on powers contained in flagship Brexit legislation in a bid to avoid a Tory rebellion in the British Commons. UK justice minister Dominic Raab told MPs that no statutory instrument approved under the controversial clause nine in the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill would take effect until Parliament had voted on Britains final deal with the bloc. Dominic Grieve, the Tory former British attorney general, wants the Bill changed to require any final Brexit deal to be approved by a separate Act of Parliament before it could be implemented. His amendment seeks to make changes to clause nine of the Bill, which provides the Government with the power to use secondary legislation to implement any Brexit deal - which would require less scrutiny from MPs. Mr Raab said: "I want to provide three very clear assurances to the House today. "First, secondary legislation passed under clause nine will either be affirmative, or considered by the committee established under the amendment tabled by (Procedure Committee chairman Charles Walker). "Second, the Government is committed to publishing in draft such statutory instruments, as far as possible, as early as possible to facilitate maximum scrutiny, which is another point that we discussed. It is absolutely vital Parliament reasserts itself in the #Brexit process and does not give the Government a blank cheque. This is Dominic Grieves crucial Amendment 7 to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, being voted on later, to ensure Parliament takes back control. pic.twitter.com/K5ncuCEGdt ChukaUmunna (@ChukaUmunna) December 13, 2017 "Third, we expect that the vast majority of statutory instruments enacted under clause nine will not come into force until exit day when the withdrawal agreement comes into force. "But I can give my right honourable friend and the House the concrete assurance, following the timeframe set out in todays written ministerial statement, that none of the SIs, none of the statutory instruments, under clause nine will come into effect until Parliament has voted on the final deal. "And I hope this provides the important and sufficient reassurance for honourable members to withdraw these amendments." This approach has two advantages, Mr Raab said, adding: "It retains our ability to use clause nine in time to fully implement the withdrawal agreement. "But it also squarely addresses the concern, fairly and honestly reflected in amendment seven, that there should be a meaningful vote ... and that we should not bring new law implementing the withdrawal agreement into effect if Parliament votes the withdrawal agreement down." Update 5.10pm: A three-year-old girl has become the fourth child victim of a house fire. Lia Pearson had been critically ill since she was rushed to hospital following the blaze in Worsley, Greater Manchester, in the early hours of Monday. Her elder sister Demi Pearson, 15, was pronounced dead at the scene, while eight-year-old brother Brandon and seven-year-old sister Lacie later died in hospital. The children's mother, Michelle Pearson, 35, is in a coma fighting for her life and is unaware they have died. Ms Pearson's mother, Sandra Lever, posted on Facebook: Formal identification of the children has yet to take place, although Greater Manchester Police have now named all four. Before Lia's death was announced, Zac Bolland, 23, and Courtney Brierley, 20, entered the dock together at Manchester Magistrates' Court accused of the murders of Demi, Brandon and Lacie. Update 12.42pm: A man and a woman accused of murdering three children in a house fire have made their first appearance in court. Zac Bolland, 23, and Courtney Brierley, 20, entered the dock together at Manchester Magistrates' Court for a brief hearing and were further remanded in custody. Two people have been charged after a house fire which left three children dead. They will appear at court today (Wednesday 13 December). #Salford https://t.co/OsCZFkgIQ2 pic.twitter.com/cVsL2f1yQh Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) December 13, 2017 The pair are accused of murdering Demi Pearson, 14, her eight-year-old brother Brandon and seven-year-old sister Lacie, who all died following a blaze in Greater Manchester, on Monday. Both defendants are also accused of arson with intent to endanger life and the attempted murders of the victims' mother, Michelle Pearson, 35, and three other children who cannot be named for legal reasons. No details of the case were presented in court as District Judge Khalid Quereshi said the matter was too serious to be dealt with in his jurisdiction and will be heard again tomorrow at Manchester Crown Court. Bolland and Brierley - both wearing grey jogging bottoms and grey tops - spoke to confirm their names and give their addresses and dates of birth. When asked what their nationality was, both replied: "White British." Bolland, of Blackleach Drive, Worsley, and Brierley, of Worsley Avenue, Worsley, were in the dock for less than two minutes before they were led away by prison officers. It has emerged that Bolland was arrested just a few hundred yards from the scene in Jackson Street on Monday evening, footage posted to Facebook appears to show. In the video, several dark-clothed officers can be seen flanking a man with his face obscured by a grey hooded top as a number of people shout at him as he is led away. Lauren Murray, who captured the moment in Grosvenor Road at around 6pm, said: "I was walking down the street to go home and saw the police driving down really slow and then they pulled up outside my house. "The next thing, I saw Zak in a silver car so I got my phone out and started filming... Courtney was sat in the back of the car surrounded by police while he was led away, her face was just white." Detectives continued to question a 25-year-old man arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of murder. Two men, aged 19 and 20, also arrested on suspicion of murder were bailed pending further inquiries, as was a 24-year-old man detained on suspicion of assisting an offender. Ms Pearson remains in a serious condition in hospital and is unaware her children have died while a three-year-old girl is critically ill and continues to fight for her life. Two 16-year-old boys were also in the house but managed to escape before fire crews arrived. Update 8.25am: Two people have been charged with murder after a house fire left three children dead. Demi Pearson, 14, her eight-year-old brother Brandon and seven-year-old sister Lacie died in the blaze in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on Monday. Police said today that a man and a woman had been charged. Zac Bolland, 23, of Blackleach Drive, Worsley has been charged with three counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and one count of arson with intent to endanger life. Courtney Brierley, 20, of Worsley Avenue, Worsley, has been charged with the same offences. They are due to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on today. Police made six arrests in the hours following the suspected arson attack on the family home of Michelle Pearson, 35, and her children in Jackson Street, Walkden, at around 5am. The children's mother is still in a serious condition in hospital, while a fourth sibling, three-year-old Lia, is critically ill. Two 16-year-old boys - Ms Pearson's son, Kyle, and a friend - were also in the house but managed to escape before fire crews arrived. Kyle reportedly tried to get back into the home to help family members but was beaten back by flames and smoke. Since the tragedy it has emerged that the Pearson family had been living under threat, sources have confirmed. Security measures were put in place at the mid-terrace home, including the fitting of a device to the property's letterbox. The arrangements, known as target hardening, are generally used to strengthen a building to protect it in the event of an attack. Greater Manchester Police confirmed there had been "earlier incidents" at the address and said the force had referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It is understood the voluntary referral was in response to police contact with the family less than 24 hours before the fatal incident. Ms Pearson remains heavily sedated in hospital and is unaware that her children have died. The IPCC investigation is under way and is expected to focus on the contact between Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the family after officers were called to the address in the hours before the fire. Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller, of GMP, speaking at press conference yesterday, said: "I can't imagine what the family are going through. "My heart breaks for them, it really does." Mr Miller said the force was "so grateful to members of the public who have come forward and given us information" and said there was a greater police presence on the streets as a result of the attack. Emma Henderson, headteacher at Bridgewater Primary School, which Brandon and Lacie attended, said: "We are consoling our pupils and their families and send our deepest sympathies and prayers to all those affected." Drew Povey, head of Harrop Fold School, where Demi was a pupil, said: "We are all truly devastated by the loss of precious life that our community has recently suffered. Words seem inadequate in these tragic circumstances. "The spirit of Salford cannot and will not be crushed. We will work together to comfort and rebuild those lives that have been forever changed." A UK surgeon has admitted assaulting two patients by marking his initials on their livers during transplant operations. Simon Bramhall, 53, admitted two counts of assault by beating at Birmingham Crown Court but pleaded not guilty to alternative charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. After Bramhalls pleas were entered, prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said the Crown accepted the medics not guilty pleas in a case which was "without legal precedent in criminal law". Bramhall, who appeared in the dock wearing a pink shirt and dark suit, was granted unconditional bail and will be sentenced on January 12. Judge Paul Farrer allowed Bramhall to stand in front of the dock, in the well of the court, as the surgeon pleaded guilty to assaulting a patient whose name is protected by a court order during an operation in August 2013. He also entered a guilty plea relating to an operation performed on an unknown patient in February of the same year. Addressing the court after the pleas, Mr Badenoch said: "This has been a highly unusual and complex case, both within the expert medical testimony served by both sides and in law. "It is factually, so far as we have been able to establish, without legal precedent in criminal law." The barrister added that Bramhall was employed as a consultant surgeon in Birmingham at the time of the transplant operations and that both patients had been under anaesthetic. "The pleas of guilty now entered represent an acceptance that that which he did was not just ethically wrong but criminally wrong," Mr Badenoch told the court. "They reflect the fact that Dr Bramhalls initialling on a patients liver was not an isolated incident but rather a repeated act on two occasions, requiring some skill and concentration. It was done in the presence of colleagues." Describing the offences as an abuse of position, Mr Badenoch said they had been carried out with a disregard for the feelings of unconscious patients. The prosecutor said of the assaults: "It was an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient whilst anaesthetised. "His acts in marking the livers of those patients were deliberate and conscious acts. "Suffice to say, for current purposes, these pleas meet the broad public interest. "It will be for others to decide whether and to what extent his fitness to practise is impaired." The offence of assault by beating was brought against Bramhall to reflect the act of marking the liver and there is no suggestion that he was responsible for physically "beating" either patient. Adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report, Judge Farrer told Bramhall: "For reasons that you are aware of, I am not going to sentence you today. "The prosecution need to do further work. Your legal team need to do further work in terms of completing the documents that you wish to place before me in due course." In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Bramhall wrote his initials on the livers of the two patients without their consent and for no clinical reason while working as a liver transplant surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The CPS said he used a medical instrument called an argon beam coagulator - which seals bleeding blood vessels by directing a beam of electricity on to the area - to "burn" his initials on to their livers. Elizabeth Reid, from the CPS, said: "Simon Bramhall was a respected surgeon who assaulted two of his patients while they were undergoing surgery. "His acts in marking the livers of those patients, in a wholly unnecessary way, were deliberate and conscious acts on his part." Latest News Which banks have passed on the latest rate hike to mortgage borrowers? Here's a breakdown on how the major lenders have responded to the latest OCR hike Bridgit joins Finsure's panel Partnership expands lender's offering to brokers Mortgage and wealth management franchise Yellow Brick Road (YBR) is positioning itself for a future in which small and medium enterprise lending will play a major role within the financial space.In an interview with Australian Broker, YBR executive chairman Mark Bouris said that the current push by government into the small business space would transform banking, lending and finance.I reckon within three years, every discussion in this country around financial services will, by necessity, include the small business market as a huge market.To tap into this growing sector, YBR has been planning its move into SME lending for the past 18 months, seeking suitable products and partnerships to strengthen its panel.My personal vision has always been that we become a small business lender, not just for unsecured but for secured as well.Bouris said he had been talking with the small business community during this time. This was a sector that was totally underserviced by the banks despite being a river of gold for the country, he added.Everyone keeps talking about them as the engine room of Australia. Right now, Ive got 1,500 small businesses which are brokers under Vow. Every one of those is a small business owner. And I know its not just capital for these guys they need all sorts of things.In his own research through his podcast and conversing with small business owners on social media, Bouris said the sector had a massive demand to grow their businesses but were locked out of the necessary capital.The first step toward entering the SME space was YBRs recent partnership with online lender Prospa which will make their products available to both YBR franchisees and Vow brokers.Its going to be rolled out in January next year at our annual conference.The transition into SME lending should be simple with YBR already experienced in the small business space, Bouris said.We dont have to do the credit, its just the product. So its more a matter of identifying small business borrowers and getting them onto the Prospa system. 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... Last time on NCIS, Delilah and McGee finally welcomed their twins and named the boy Johnny and the girl Morgan. I love the names, but I was hoping that there would be a nod to Gibbs somehow when the monikers were revealed. The winter finale of NCIS season 15, Double Down, has Torres and Jack tasked with protecting a senator on his journey back from Afghanistan. That doesnt sound like a recipe for holiday cheer. NCIS Recap: McGee and Delilah Welcome Their Twins>>> A Call from Back Home Jack and Torres are in Afghanistan to protect Senator John Phillips for the holidays. Phillips heckles a comedian who is on a goodwill tour of the base. Apparently, Marine General Philips doesnt find much humor in the mans routine. Jack receives a call from Gibbs giving her some bad news. Chandler, Senator Phillips son, is in the ICU, and his condition is grave. Gibbs and McGee video conference with a shocked Senator Phillips from the hospital. Chandler fell from a stairway landing in his apartment building. Chandler hit his head on the concrete steps and broke his foot. When the Senator asks if there is any more information, Gibbs reluctantly adds that the police believe that Chandler was drunk. Senator Phillips states that he is coming home to see his son, and Torres tells him that they are trying to arrange an earlier flight. At the hospital, Vance speaks with the head of the neurology department, and the news is not good. Senator Phillips wont be able to get back in time before his son passes away. Vance adds that he knows that Gibbs and Philips have known each other a long time and that Gibbs had wanted to be on Phillips security detail. Gibbs responds with, Whats done is done. Stealing the Case Bishop is staking out the hospital lobby and quizzing Detective Mayer for the newest information from the doctors. Mayer says that Chandlers injuries are the result of a drunken fall. Bishop counters with the fact that Chandlers blood alcohol shows that he had been drinking but was not drunk. Mayer warns Bishop not to handle the file, and once she does, Mayer gives Bishop what she really wants for Christmas NCIS now has the case! Senator Phillips takes a moment to chat with Jack. He realizes that she has been to Afghanistan before. Jack confirms that she was part of Army Psy-op 10 years ago. She skirts his other questions and tells the Senator that they cannot get a flight out for 48 hours. The air field is no longer secure because of a large number of Taliban in the area, and Senator Phillips will need an air escort. Phillips is not going to give up and decides that they will switch air fields. That night, Torres hears a noise and rolls over in bed with his gun drawn. Senator Phillips is packing his belongings to catch a flight in the morning from Lashkargah airport. The airport is a few hours away. Jack has figured out a way to take one Humvee to the airport. It will be a dangerous journey, and Jack had to make one small adjustment to make the plan come together riding with Chet, the comedian. No one is pleased about this, except for Chet. A Not Merry McGee Back at headquarters, McGee is upset that Bishop poached the case from the Metro police just before his twins first Christmas. Bishops gut is telling her that this may not be a simple accident. Chandler is a case of the apple falling far, far away from the tree. Unlike his father, Chandler is unemployed and was arrested for possession of illegal prescription drugs the previous year. Senator Phillips had just presented an anti-drug bill, and his only childs conviction was big news. Senator Phillips paid his sons bail, then disowned him. Yikes! Bishop thinks this is really harsh, especially because it happened right after the death of Senator Phillips wife. Gibbs tells them that all parents love their kids, period. Bishop and McGee check out where Chandlers accident happened. The building is run-down and a far cry from all the fabulous locales in Chandlers social media posts. So who was paying the tab for Chandlers partying lifestyle? The duo knocks on the door to talk to Seth Hendrix, Chandlers roommate. They enter when no one answers. Hendrix didnt hear them over the loud rap music, and he is grieving for his still-living friend. What is also interesting is that there is a huge casino table in the apartment, but it is solely for practice as Hendrix and Chandler are professional gamblers. Hendrix tells Bishop and McGee that he and Chandler were playing video games and drinking, and Chandler decided to go and get coffee. Hendrix was in the apartment the whole time and didnt see anything. A Large Bump in the Road Back in Afghanistan, the group calls Gibbs from the Humvee. Gibbs tells Senator Phillips that his son is still holding on, even though the brain swelling has not decreased. Jack notices that the driver is taking them on a different route, and it turns out that Senator Phillips changed the route to make it faster. Jack isnt thrilled with this idea. She is even less thrilled with the constant bickering between Chet and the Senator. When something is spotted ahead in the road, everyone exits the Humvee. It is an old IED, and that means that the Taliban is back in this area. The driver of the Humvee states that they cannot continue this route and goes to call in what has happened. A moment later, the Humvee explodes. The group has no radio and no satellite phone, and no one knows their location. It was clearly an IED that caused the explosion, and the group knows that they must find shelter and fast. Adding to their woes is the constant chatter of the comedian bemoaning his lost Christmas plans. Palmer goes to see Abby in the lab, and he has the Christmas blues. He was preparing to have Breenas parents over for a themed Christmas celebration. Palmer was set to make his best figgy pudding and don his Dickensian coat. Abby shows him the first 3D model that she constructed. According to Chandlers medical file, it is not possible for him to have fallen forward and sustained the head injuries that he suffered to the back of his head. Abbys second animation model shows that Chandler had to have fallen backward and with a high rate of speed. Abby and Palmer both realize that Chandler was pushed and that their holiday plans are in jeopardy. They say a sad Humbug! in unison. Abby has checked out Chandlers craps table, and it makes a stunning addition to her lab, which is otherwise decked out for Christmas. You can always count on Abby to be festive. She determines that the casino-grade dice are, in fact, rigged. They are exquisitely made, and Abby posits that someone with a degree in chemical engineering would have made the dice. Hello, Seth Hendrix! Bishop and McGee go back to Hendrixs place and surprise him and a woman in bed asleep. They also note a large amount of cash on the nightstand. In interrogation, Hendrix admits to tampering with the dice. At headquarters, Hendrix says that he didnt know that Chandler was giving up their scheme and joining the marines. He also explains that Misty is part of the con. Quiz: Which Character Should You Bring Home for the Holidays?>>> Where No One is Searching In Afghanistan, they finally find a deserted cave. Jack believes that in a few hours, they will send out a search team to locate them. Everyone is a little less hopeful once Senator Phillips tells the group that he did not file the route change at base camp because he knew that they would insist on him taking the longer, safer route. Chet continues to needle Senator Phillips about how he disowned Chandler. Chet mentions how Phillips just caused the death of a marine, and Phillips comes out swinging. The fight is broken up a second before gunfire is heard. Jack and Torres shoot as some Taliban members enter the cave. But there is even worse news Senator Phillips has been shot. Jack tends to the Senators injuries, and Chet (sort of) thanks him for saving his life. Gibbs calls Vance to the hospital because Chandler is awake. That is not the only surprise in store. A gunnery sergeant stops by and informs the two men that Chandler had stopped by the recruitment office the previous day and enlisted in the Marines. Vance summons Gibbs to M-TAC. Chandlers breathing tube has been removed, but he has no memory of what happened. Vance tells Gibbs that the transport carrying Phillips, Bishop and Torres never arrived and that a search is underway. Vance states that he denied Jacks request for the assignment. He wanted Gibbs on that detail, not Jack. Gibbs gave up his spot to Jack because he thought that it was important to her. Vance doesnt want history to repeat itself. How to Con Everyone Abby, Palmer, Bishop and McGee re-enact how the con works with the craps table. I love it! Misty states that there was a pit boss from New Jersey that Chandler thought was following him. Misty recalls that he was tall and thin with a mustache. Bishop whispers to McGee that she saw a man who looked like that pounding on Hendrixs door that morning. Bishop uses her computer skills to locate and identify the name of their suspect: Axel McKenzie III. A moment later, McKenzie strolls into the office with Gibbs. McKenzie was looking for Chandler, but no to harm him. He wanted to hire him to spot other cheaters. He claims that he talked to Chandler at the hotel bar, and Chandler admitted to the entire scam. Chandler asked McKenzie to not press charges, and he agreed to turn his life around. McKenzie floors the team when he explains that Chandler paid back the entire $90,000, which was both his cut and Hendrixs cut. Bishop and McGee once again confront Hendrix about his role in Chandlers fall. Hendrix reluctantly tells them that Misty was angry and pushed Chandler. A furious Misty tells Gibbs that Hendrix is the culprit. She even claims to have proof. She was videotaping herself practicing changing the dice when Hendrix confessed to pushing Chandler. The case is finally closed before Christmas, but the team isnt in the mood to celebrate until Jack and Torres are home. Jack Has Secrets Torres puts his dirt bike skills to use and roars out of the cave. Senator Phillips asks Jack if she was part of the Wingos. He saw her staring at a name etched on a wall at the base camp. The operation was classified, but Phillips knows that not everyone survived. He also confides that he avoids being home for the holidays since the death of his wife, and he now regrets his decision. Jack uses bullets that she places on the ground to show the vibration of approaching vehicles. She sees a Humvee approaching, flying the American flag. The medics get right to work on Senator Phillips. At camp, Jack digs in the gravel under the Wingos carving and pulls out a small metal box. It is engraved with names on the back. Four days later, Senator Phillips is brought to Gibbs house by Torres and Jack as soon as they land. The Senator is surprised to see Chandler, and they embrace as they tell each other how much they love each other. I enjoyed this episode of NCIS, but I would have loved to see the Dickens-style Christmas! What do you think is in the box that Jack recovered? Why did Vance not want Jack on the security detail? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. NCIS season 15 returns Tuesday, January 2, 2018, at 8/7c on CBS. Want more news? Like our Facebook page. (Image courtesy of CBS) 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... Your smartphones next trick? Fighting cybercrime. Each device, regardless of the manufacturer or make, can be identified through a pattern of microscopic imaging flaws that are present in every picture they take. Credit: Douglas Levere. Like bullets fired from a gun, photos can be traced to individual smartphones, opening up new ways to prevent identity theft Its kind of like matching bullets to a gun, only were matching photos to a smartphone camera. BUFFALO, N.Y. Not comfortable with Face ID and other biometrics? This cybersecurity advancement may be for you. A University at Buffalo-led team of researchers has discovered how to identify smartphones by examining just one photo taken by the device. The advancement opens the possibility of using smartphones instead of body parts as a form of identification to deter cybercrime. Like snowflakes, no two smartphones are the same. Each device, regardless of the manufacturer or make, can be identified through a pattern of microscopic imaging flaws that are present in every picture they take, says Kui Ren, the studys lead author. Its kind of like matching bullets to a gun, only were matching photos to a smartphone camera. The new technology, to be presented in February at the 2018 Network and Distributed Systems Security Conference in California, is not yet available to the public. However, it could become part of the authentication process like PIN numbers and passwords that customers complete at cash registers, ATMs and during online transactions. For people whove had their personal identification stolen, it could also help prevent cybercriminals from using that information to make purchases in their name, says Ren, PhD, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in UBs School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. How each camera is unique The study ABC: Enabling Smartphone Authentication with Built-in Camera centers on an obscure flaw in digital imaging called photo-response non-uniformity (PRNU). Digital cameras are built to be identical. However, manufacturing imperfections create tiny variations in each cameras sensors. These variations can cause some of sensors millions of pixels to project colors that are slightly brighter or darker than they should be. Not visible to the naked eye, this lack of uniformity forms a systemic distortion in the photo called pattern noise. Extracted by special filters, the pattern is unique for each camera. First observed in conventional digital cameras, PRNU analysis is common in digital forensic science. For example, it can help settle copyright lawsuits involving photographs. But it hasnt been applied to cybersecurity despite the ubiquity of smartphones because extracting it had required analyzing 50 photos taken by a camera, and experts though that customers wouldnt be willing to supply that many photos. Plus, savvy cybercriminals can fake the pattern by analyzing images taken with a smartphone that victims post on unsecured websites. Applying the technique to cybersecurity The study addresses how each of these challenges can be overcome. Compared to a conventional digital camera, the image sensor of a smartphone is much smaller. The reduction amplifies the pixels dimensional non-uniformity and generates a much stronger PRNU. As a result, its possible to match a photo to a smartphone camera using one photo instead of the 50 normally required for digital forensics. I think most people assumed you would need 50 images to identify a smartphone camera. But our research shows thats not the case, says Ren, an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Fellow and an ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Distinguished Scientist. To prevent forgeries, Ren designed a protocol it is part of the authentication process described below which detects and stops two types of attacks. How the new security protocol works The study discusses how such a system might work. First, a customer registers with a business such as a bank or retailer and provides that business with a photo that serves as a reference. When a customer initiates a transaction, the retailer asks the customer (likely through an app) to photograph two QR codes (a type of barcode that contains information about the transaction) presented on an ATM, cash register or other screen. Using the app, the customer then sends the photograph back to the retailer, which scans the picture to measure the smartphones PRNU. The retailer can detect a forgery because the PRNU of the attackers camera will alter the PRNU component of the photograph. More savvy cybercriminals could potentially remove the PRNU from their device. But Rens protocol can spot this because the QR codes include an embedded probe signal that will be weakened by the removal process. The transaction is either approved or denied based upon these tests. Results and whats next The protocol defeats three of the most common tactics used by cybercriminals: fingerprint forgery attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks and replay attacks. It was 99.5 percent accurate in tests involving 16,000 images and 30 different iPhone 6s smartphones and 10 different Galaxy Note 5s smartphones. Ren plans to lead future experiments on smartphones that include two cameras, which he said could be used to make the forgery attacks more difficult. In addition to Ren, co-authors include Zhongjie Ba (UB), Sixu Piao (UB), Dimitrios Koutsonikolas (UB), Aziz Mohaisen (formerly of UB, and now of the University of Central Florida), and Xinwen Fu (University of Central Florida). 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. Global app-based taxi aggregator on Tuesday revealed that Bengaluru and Hyderabad had seen the highest number of shared cab trips through its UberPOOL service in 2017. Kolkata and Delhi saw the next highest numbers. Among some of the interesting trends the company shared for 2017, one of its users in the Delhi-NCR region took as many as 1,969 trips during the year -- an average of five rides a day. "In 2017, we were focused on moving from a startup to a sustainable business in India. As a result, we recorded double-digits growth and continue to clock over 1 million trips a day," Amit Jain, president, India and South Asia said in a statement. He pointed out that the company has also launched products that encourage ridesharing and complement public transportation through reliable first and last mile connectivity. Uber's busiest day in the country is Fridays and the busiest hour of the week is 6 pm, when riders make a getaway from work, the company said, adding the maximum rides this year was on August 11. Bangalore and Hyderabad saw the highest number of uberPool trips, followed by Kolkata and Delhi. Globally too, riders from India took Ubers in 566 cities spanning 80 countries. The most-popular travel destinations include the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Britain and the UAE, noted. It hit the 500 millionth trip milestone on July 17 this year. Further, India emerged as the second-largest contributor to the global milestone, of reaching 5 billion rides by May this year. It also launched UberEats here and expanded into six cities in seven months. Real estate major on Tuesday sought the suspension of an NCLT order suspending its directors and allowing the government to appoint its nominee directors in a take over of the management of the company. The company told the Supreme Court that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) "could not pass such an order" in the wake of the apex court's earlier order and asked for the stay on the tribunal order allowing the government to appointment of 10 directors on the company's board. Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the firm, told Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that the Corporate Affairs Ministry had taken the government's permission to proceed against the real estate major in July this year but acted on it only after four months in December. Giving time till Wednesday to Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to take instructions on the plea by Unitech, Chief Justice Misra observed that the government should have taken the leave of the court before embarking on taking over the company management. Rohatgi told the court that the NCLT could not have passed its December 8 order suspending eight directors of the company and allowing government to nominate its own Directors in the wake of October 30 order of the top court. The top court, by this order, had asked Managing Director Sanjay Chandra to deposit Rs 750 crore by December end - a condition for the grant of bail - but had refused to interfere with other proceedings before other judicial forums while making it clear that "no coercive steps will be taken" for the execution of orders passed by them. The NCLT's principal bench, by its December 8 order, had suspended eight directors of the . It had further restrained them from "alienating, mortgaging, creating charge, or lien, or interest in the properties owned by them personally or that of the company till the conclusion of investigation as ordered by it on October 6, 2016. The government had moved the NCLT under Section 241(2) of the Act for taking over the management of Unitech in public interest. This is the second occasion when the government has taken recourse to this provision for taking over the management of an embattled company. In 2009, the government had invoked the provision of the Company Act to take over the management of Satyam Computers Services Limited citing mismanagement after it surfaced that the company had inflated its balance sheet Chandra and his brother Ajay were arrested in April after investors, who did not get flats in the company projects as promised, filed complaints of cheating against them. They were sent in judicial custody after the trial court refused to extend the three- month interim bail granted to them in April. The Delhi High Court too refused to extend the interim bail that ended on August 10. The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Union of India's nodal agency to convene a meeting with all the stakeholders, including Internet companies Google, Yahoo and Microsoft within six weeks to remove objectionable content pertaining to sex determination tests. Earlier in September, the apex court directed internet majors like Google, Yahoo and Facebook and instant messaging application WhatsApp to furnish details of complaints they have received in India about the uploading of objectionable content on child pornography, rape and gangrape. In February this year, the apex court ordered all companies to immediately constitute in-house expert bodies to identify and block keywords indicative of sex determination. In April, the apex court observed that it cannot curtail free choice of a researcher as right to know is a fundamental right. An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra observed that tech giants Google India, Yahoo India and Microsoft India were not honouring the Indian law by allowing online advertisements on sex determination tests, to which the companies responded and stated that they are complying with all laws. The Supreme Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2008 by one Sabu Mathew George, complaining that a number of foreign websites are soliciting couples to undergo sex determination tests banned under the Indian laws. Supporters waer mask of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign rally in support of BJP candidates, in Gujarat Campaigning for the second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly elections on Thursday ended on Tuesday evening after one of the most vicious round of attacks, with the stakes high both for the ruling BJP and an aggressive Congress. After the first round of voting on December 9 for 89 seats, the remaining 93 constituencies spread across 14 rpt 14 districts of northern and central Gujarat will see balloting to pick a new state Assembly. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray, with the BJP determined to continue its 22-year-long rule and the Congress equally confident of coming to power. Over two crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. From Tuesday evening, political parties confined themselves to door-to-door campaigning. The districts which will see polling on Thursday include Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur. The maximum number of 33 candidates are in Mehsana seat. This includes Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel. There are only two candidates in Jhalod. Gujarat's financial capital Ahmedabad accounts for 16 seats, out of which the BJP holds 14. The Congress is hoping to change this scenario. On the last day of campaigning on Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said his party was confident of dislodging the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew by a seaplane from the Sabarmati riverfront to Dharoi dam, sparking a row. Thursday's polling will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. There are a total of 25,319 polling booths and 2,22,96,867 voters are registered on the electoral rolls. Of the 851 candidates, the BJP has fielded 93, the Congress 91, the NCP 28 and the Bahujan Samaj Party 75. The AAP has put up eight candidates. There are also some 350 independents. A special court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand chief minister and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. The court will hear arguments on quantum of punishment on Thursday. The debate whether or Adams Bridge (as it is known globally) existed, has been given a fresh life after Discovery Communications-owned Science Channel aired a promo providing scientific evidence to a man-made bridge between India and Sri Lanka. The economic offences wing (EOW) has reportedly taken over the probe in PanCard Club (PCL) investment cheating case in which more than 5 million investors from across the country were allegedly duped of more than Rs 7,000 crore. On December 14, Gujarat will be voting for the Phase 2 election.Gujarat's north, west and central parts of the state will see polling on Thursday. The final counting of votes will be done on December 18. With due respect to all the spectacular stuff that will feed the planets appetite for a new episodeand to the solemnity of Mark Hamills battle-weary LukeStar Wars: The Last Jedi lives most vividly in two of its women: General Leia Organa, whos played by Carrie Fisher for the last time (mostly, and poignantly, in the films turbulent present, though also in a flash of hologram that reminds us how bright and dear Princess Leia was when we first met her all those decades ago); and Daisy Ridleys Rey, the former scavenger of unknown parentage who is the storys driving forceas distinct from Force. Unswerving in her courage and touching in her simplicity, Rey has the most moving line: I need someone to show me my place in all of this. Its an irresistible invitation for us to care in a narrative that mixes, not always successfully, stirring moments and sensational action with angst and grim conflictedness on a galactic scale. The government is in talks with Indonesia for partnering in the oil refining and liquefied natural gas (LNG) segments, petroleum minister said, as part of a plan to get involved with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in the hydrocarbon sector. Indian shrimp export, says rating agency CRISIL, could nearly double to $7 billion (Rs 45,000 crore) by 2022, driven by strong demand, high quality and improved product mix. And, an increase in aquaculture area in Andhra, Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, while Asian rivals battle structural issues and rising domestic consumption. Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov join hands before the Russia-India-China Foreign Ministerial Meeting | Photo: PTI At his meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the military stand-off in Doklam had put a "severe" strain on bilateral ties. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday released a statement detailing what Wang told Sushma Swaraj during their bilateral meet in New Delhi where the Chinese leader attended the Russia, India and trilateral meet. According to the statement, Wang also said that lessons should be learned from Doklam crisis so that it does not happen again even though the crisis was resolved peacefully. "The viciousness caused by the cross-border infiltration of the Indian border guards put bilateral relations under severe pressure. "The matter was finally settled peacefully through diplomatic means, reflecting the maturing of bilateral relations. However, lessons should be learned and (it) should not happen again," Wang was quoted as saying. "In 2017, relations between and India have maintained their momentum of development as a whole. Both sides have made efforts in this regard, but they are not very satisfactory," the Foreign Minister said. The armies of both countries were locked in a 73-day stand-off at Doklam in the Sikkim section of Sino-Indian border over the building of a road by the Chinese military in the area that is claimed by Bhutan. Indian troops stalled the work citing the disputed status of Doklam and its proximity to its key artery in the northeast. The crisis was resolved on August 28 after both the armies retreated from the point of the face-off. It was Wang's first visit to India since the Doklam crisis. "The leaders of the two countries pointed out that both and India should regard each other as partners rather than adversaries." Wang said that Sino-India relations were at a crucial period and the most important thing between them should be to cultivate mutual trust. "With mutual trust, the specific problems are expected to be resolved on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. "Without mutual trust, individual problems will continue to overflow and erode the overall situation of bilateral relations. "To this end, both sides should strengthen strategic communication at all levels, restore the established dialogue mechanism, deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields and at the same time control the existing differences and safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas. "If China and India speak with one voice, the world will listen. I hope this day will come soon," Wang was quoted as saying. After much delay due to airport slot constraints, Captain Gopinaths Air Deccan is set to relaunch operations with its first flight under the government's Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme on December 23. Last week Google announced it will remove its YouTube service from Amazons Fire TV streaming devices, as well as its Echo Show smart-home device, effective January 1, 2018. The announcement is the most recent in a months-long feud between the tech giants. Google's move is a retaliation against Amazon's refusal to carry Google's products like the Chromecast or Google Home in its online store. When big tech companies compete in almost every space, this sort of tech war is inevitable. This author discusses the need for the next phase of regulation to not just involve content but also commerce especially in virtual goods. Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard. The transport ministry has asked passenger carmakers and equipment manufacturers to seek a solution wherein the vehicles meant for commercial use do not feature child lock system, according to a report in the Times of India. Eyeing to play a more pro-active role in the Indo-Pacific, India is expected to push for a deeper strategic cooperation with ASEAN to balance the China- dominated power dynamics in the region when the two sides hold talks here next month. A range of key issues including effectively tackling threat of terrorism, boosting maritime security cooperation and enhancing connectivity will be the other areas of deliberations at the India-ASEAN commemorative summit to be held on January 25, sources said. They said there is no friction point between India and ASEAN over formation of the proposed quadrilateral coalition comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia which is seen as a move to counter China's expansionist behaviour in the Indo- Pacific region. All the 10 ASEAN member countries have already confirmed that their participation at the summit as well as at the Republic Day celebrations will be at the level of heads of state, they said. The summit is being hosted by India to celebrate 25 years of India-ASEAN engagement. The sources, while referring to the evolving security situation in the Indo-Pacific, said India supports the ASEAN's centrality and the bloc's unity in the regional security architecture, in the wake of "emergence" of China. They also said, at the same time India believes there must be a balancing factor in the regional security architecture when there have been competing claims of various countries in maritime disputes, in a clear reference to South China Sea issue. The sources said India's benign presence in the Indo- Pacific region would be a welcome one considering its historical and civilisational links with the resource rich region. India's presence definitely helps balance the power dynamics in the region, they said. A number of ASEAN member countries have territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea. Widening the security cooperation under the proposed quadrilateral coalition, officials of India, the US, Japan and Australia had held extensive talks on the sidelines of the in Manila for pursuing common interests in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. The sources said India wants to see further deepening of ties between India and ASEAN in the strategic and political spheres, besides rekindling its focus on "commerce, connectivity and culture" with the bloc. While attending the India- in Manila last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited the leaders of the 10 South East Asian countries to attend India's next Republic Day celebrations as well as participate at the commemorative summit marking 25th anniversary of the country's ties with the bloc. Modi is also expected to have separate bilateral meetings with all ASEAN leaders. India has also invited groups from all the ASEAN countries for performance on themes based on Ramayana as it reflected India's civilisational links with the bloc. The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing, particularly in the areas of trade and investment. The ASEAN region along with India together comprises combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over USD 3.8 trillion. Investment from ASEAN to Indian has been over USD 70 billion in the last 17 years accounting for more than 17 per cent of India's total FDI. India's investment in ASEAN during the same period has been more than USD 40 billion. India had hosted an India-ASEAN commemorative summit in December 2012 to mark 20 years of engagement between the two sides. The sources said India is the only dialogue partner of ASEAN with which it has agreed to hold a second such commemorative summit. A number of major countries including the US, Russia and China are dialogue partners of ASEAN. Last month, Essar sold off its stake in outsourcing major Aegis to Capital Square. And last month, KKR sold its stake in product engineering company Aricent after building it into a lucrative company over almost a decade. Madhu Koda, former Jharkhand Chief Minister, has been held guilty in a coal scam case by a special court. Along with Koda, ex-coal secretary H C Gupta has also been declared guilty of corruption and other charges in the case. In the wake of this development, Business Standard is republishing this 07/11/2009 article. The first whiff that something had gone bad came 18 months ago, when officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) apprehended an individual at the Mumbai international airport as he was about to board an aircraft bound for Bangkok. ED officials found in his possession travellers cheques in excess of Rs 6 lakh. Many of these cheques had been countersigned, which meant they were as good as currency. With the hawala business in a slump following the liberalisation of foreign exchange rules, the man was clearly carrying money abroad to launder it. The question ED officials needed to answer was: whose money was it? But they were obstructed. A top minister in the Maharashtra government, originally from north India and related to this person, told them to go easy. ED didnt close the case, the man didnt go to jail: he was, however, questioned intensively. The directorate is now in a better position to answer the questions raised then. Quiet investigations revealed the money belonged to half a dozen politicians. Painstaking research into mobile communication and intelligence gathering led ED to where it is today getting ready to arrest former Jharkhand chief minister and some of his friends. The first five years of Kodas life as a BJP legislator were uneventful: he used this time to consolidate relationships. But elections came around in 2005 and the BJP turned down Kodas claim of a nomination. He contested as an Independent from his old constituency and won. This was the time Koda along with friends Kamlesh Singh and Bandhu Tirkey discovered he too had some value. Koda agreed to support a BJP-led government led by Arjun Munda, taking over as the minister of mines. But Mundas government lasted only till September 2006 when Koda and his friends dislodged the NDA government to pave way for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government with Koda at its head. Just who were Kodas friends? The 2005 elections created what Jharkhandis called the G5 a group of five Independents, or single MLAs from small parties, without whom the government could not function. They were (Independent) Kamlesh Singh, Bandhu Tirkey, Enos Ekka and Sudesh Mahto. Most of these MLAs are involved in pending criminal cases. Take Kamlesh Singh. He is the son of a judicial officer with fairly humble beginnings. But two years ago, when his daughter got married, five chartered planes landed in Ranchi with relatives and friends, not just from India but also abroad. Ranchi had never seen anything like that. When became chief minister backed by the UPA in 2006, his first statements were: he would undo the last few decisions taken by the previous government and would look afresh at the 40-odd memoranda of understanding signed by the previous government sending shivers down the spines of steel tycoons, including LN Mittal. Today, inquiries into Kodas affairs indicate not just a huge international empire of assets but a list of leaders he had business dealings with. At least one of them is a former minister from Bihar and another a sitting cabinet minister from Maharashtra. Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime on Wednesday for leaving behind a messed-up banking sector as well as hapless homebuyers, while asserting that the current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was replacing old and archaic policies with new frameworks to generate employment and help small and medium businesses compete globally. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made it clear on Wednesday that it would stay firm on recent revisions to the merchant discount rate (MDR). The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) has reportedly shared the schedule for practical and internal assessment with the affiliated schools. The practical exams for class 12 and 10 for 2018 are scheduled to start from January 16, 2018. Last date if the exams is before February 25, 2018. Voting for the second phase in Gujarat Assembly elections commences on Thursday. This phase takes the battle to the urban centres of Ahmedabad and Vadodara, which have traditionally been the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s strongholds. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could be in for a rude shock in the Gujarat Assembly elections, said noted political scientist Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday a day before the last phase of voting in the state. There was a sharp swing against the BJP in the past few weeks, and he said, adding: Unless the trend is dramatically reversed, surveys lead to the same conclusion defeat for the BJP. Yadav, a leader of the political organisation Swaraj Abhiyan with nearly two decades of experience as a psephologist, had based his projections on the data collected in three surveys since August by CSDS-ABP. He said the results if the could be subdivided between urban, semi-urban, and rural areas. Polling will be held for 93 seats on Thursday. The first phase of polling was held on December 9 for 89 of the 182 seats in the Assembly. The counting of votes is on December 18. Exit polls will be in after voting ends. In a tweet, Yadav said the BJP was on a solid wicket in the 39 urban seats. It cant lose more than 10 seats [in urban areas]. In semi-urban areas, where it now has 36 seats, it might lose half. Yadav forecast that the BJP faced a steady downhill in the 98 rural seats, where it had trailed the Congress in 2012 Assembly polls, and could now face a rout. He told this newspaper that he was no longer in the business of election forecasting. That was my previous birth. Nor have I the desire to compete with pollsters and journalists, who have access to better technology and information. It isnt also about me saying on the counting day that I was right. But, given the very loud silence (around election forecast and coverage), and in the larger public interest, someone needed to say it. He said it seemed to him that all observers journalists, pollsters and other analysts were sitting with evidence that pointed in one direction. For various reasons, they were not putting all that evidence together, which pointed to the most obvious conclusion. That is why I decided to put it in the public domain. The CSDS-ABP survey has forecast a slim majority for the BJP. It had predicted 95 seats (range: 91 to 99) for the ruling party, and 82 seats (range: 78 to 86) for the Congress. Other parties and Independents are likely to win five seats (range: three to seven). The survey had put the vote share of both the BJP and the Congress at 43 per cent each. On December 4, after the CSDS-ABP survey findings were released, Yadav had said that the survey showed a consistent fall in BJPs lead from the first survey in August, where it was ahead of the Congress by 30 per cent share of votes. In the October survey, BJPs lead over the Congress shrunk to 6 per cent, and the latest survey in November showed the two parties would have an equal share of votes. Also, pre-poll surveys overestimate the ruling party. My overall conclusion: BJP headed for big defeat. This could be a political earthquake, Yadav tweeted. The Times Now-VMR survey, released a couple of days after CSDS-ABP, forecast a comfortable majority for the BJP at 106 to 116 seats. The CVoter-TV9 survey also predicted 109 seats for the BJP. The majority mark in the 182 member Gujarat Assembly is 92 seats. Yadav had then said the Times Now-VMR survey confirmed the trend reported by CSDS-ABP. He said the biggest take away from the Times Now-VMR survey was that the BJPs lead dropped by 10 per cent since October. As election drama intensifies in battlefield Gujarat, allegations are flying thick. The Gujarat Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against leading industrialist in the state Pankaj Patel, chairman of pharmaceutical giant Cadila Healthcare and also the outgoing Ficci president. Prime minister's aerial ride to bypass the lack of police permission for a road show in Gujarat is now generating a controversy. Questions are being raised on social media about possible violations of safety and security norms in this 20-minute VVIP flight. Are non-performing assets (NPAs) the biggest challenge for the Indian banking system at present? Or is there too much stress on recognition of NPAs rather than recovery? State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar agrees NPAs are a key challenge but he is also worried about data security in an increasingly digitising banking payments system. There were many issues that came to the fore as the stalwarts of the banking industry put their minds together at the and discussed the future of banking and payments system in India. PM addresses inaugural session of 90th Annual General Meeting of FICCI . The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today addressed the inaugural session of the 90th Annual General Meeting of FICCI. . . He recalled that around the time of FICCI's founding in 1927, Indian Industry had united against the Simon Commission that was constituted by the then British Government. He said that Indian Industry had joined all other sections of Indian society, in national interest, at that time. . . The Prime Minister said that a similar atmosphere exists today when people of the country are coming forward to fulfill their responsibilities towards the nation. He said the hopes and aspirations of people are to rid the country from internal problems like corruption, and black money. He said political parties and chambers of industry should keep in mind the country's requirements and the feelings of the people, and work accordingly. . . The Prime Minister said that a lot has been achieved since independence, but several challenges have arisen as well. He said the poor seemed to be struggling against the system that came to be established, for things such as bank accounts, gas connections, scholarships, pensions etc. He said the Union Government is working to end this struggle, and to create a system that is transparent and sensitive. He said the Jan Dhan Yojana is one example of this, and increasing "ease of living" has been the focus of the Union Government. He also mentioned the Ujjwala Yojana, construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. He said that he has come through poverty, and understands the need to work for the requirements of the poor and the nation. He also mentioned the Mudra Yojana, for collateral-free loans to entrepreneurs. . . The Prime Minister said that the Union Government is working to strengthen the banking system. He said the issue of NPAs is a legacy received by the current Government. He said, rumours are now being spread about the Financial Regulation and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill. He said the Government is working to protect the interests of the account holders, but rumours that are being spread are the exact opposite. He said organizations such as FICCI have a responsibility to generate awareness about such issues. He said, that similarly, FICCI has a role to play in making GST more effective. He said the Government's effort is to ensure that maximum businesses register for GST. He said the more formal the system becomes, the more it will benefit the poor. It will enable easier availability of credit from the banks, and reduce cost of logistics, thereby enhancing competitiveness of businesses. I hope FICCI has some plan to generate large-scale awareness among small traders, he added. He also said that FICCI must also voice concerns, when necessary, on issues such as builders exploiting the common man. . . The Prime Minister mentioned policy decisions taken in sectors such as urea, textile, civil aviation, and health, and the benefits achieved from them. He also mentioned reforms in sectors such as defence, construction, food-processing etc. He said that as a result of these measures, India's rank has risen from 142 to 100, in the World Bank "Ease of Doing Business" rankings. He also mentioned other indicators which point to the robust health of the economy. He said that the steps taken by the Government are also playing a key role in job creation. . . The Prime Minister said FICCI has a key role to play in sectors such as food processing, start-ups, artificial intelligence, solar power, healthcare etc. He urged FICCI to play the role of a think-tank for the MSME sector. . . Trade ministers looked set to wrap up their biennial World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting without having reached a single agreement on Wednesday, still reeling from criticism brought by the United States, once the WTO's driving force. The ministers gathered in Buenos Aires were never expected to agree great reforms, with relatively minor and unrelated proposals on the table, including discussions on fishing subsidies and e-commerce. But a discordant intervention by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the first morning effectively left the conference adrift, since the WTO requires consensus -- unanimity among all 164 members -- to reach any agreement. Even the perfunctory joint ministerial statement looked uncertain. Driven by President Donald Trump's "America First" strategy and a preference for bilateral deals, the United States had already blocked ambassadors from drafting a text in Geneva, rejecting references to the WTO's central role in the global trading system and to trade as a driver of development. WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters that the chairwoman of the conference, Argentina's former foreign minister Susana Malcorra, was still hoping to get ministers to agree on one text later on Wednesday. "There still seems to be significant gaps. Whether they can find wording that can bridge those gaps I don't know," Rockwell said. The failure to reach any major deals means that negotiations on the same topics will continue into 2018, with no deadline and no heavyweight ministerial momentum to get agreement. "It's very appropriate to stay at this stage that we are in a forward-looking mode," Rockwell said. "The focus of most of the work here is on work programs, and while there is disappointment that we couldn't get a little further in terms of concrete outcomes, being able to nail down an effective work program is very important." Lighthizer told the WTO ministers on Monday that it was impossible to negotiate new rules while many of the current rules were not being followed, and that the WTO was losing its focus and becoming too litigation-focused. He said the WTO should make markets more efficient, reducing overcapacity and the influence of state-owned enterprises, widely seen as a swipe at China. Many trade experts disagree with parts of his analysis and are dismayed that the United States is vetoing new judicial appointments at the WTO, which has plunged the settlement of trade disputes into crisis. Ministers who followed Lighthizer onto the podium offered widespread support for the global trading system, with the WTO at its heart. The worlds largest bloc of Muslim countries declared East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state at a meeting convened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, solidifying opposition to President Donald Trumps recognition of the city as Israels capital. The United States is ready to begin talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament without prior conditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a meeting on the crisis at the Atlantic Council policy forum in Washington. "Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want and talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about." This appeared to represent a softening in the US position, seeing as officials had previously demanded that Kim Jong-Un's regime demonstrate a willingness to consider giving up their arsenal. But elsewhere in his remarks, Tillerson insisted the US- led pressure campaign of economic and diplomatic sanctions would continue until "the first bomb drops." He stressed that Washington "simply cannot accept a nuclear armed North Korea" and that President Donald Trump "intends to ensure that they do not have deliverable nuclear weapons to (reach) the shores of the United States. The man accused of blowing up a bus terminal in the heart of New York City had posted a warning to United States President Donald Trump just before the attack. The post by Akayed Ullah was revealed in charges filed by federal prosecutors on Tuesday. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," the Facebook post read. Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man, faces five federal terrorism-related charges and three state terrorism-related charges after he detonated a device during the busy morning commute on Monday. According to CNN, in an interview with investigators, Ullah admitted that he built and detonated the device and said he was inspired to do so by the Islamic State. "I did it for the Islamic State," Ullah told investigators, according to the federal complaint. The New York Police Department (NYPD) also tweeted that Ullah was facing state charges including criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terroristic threat. Following the incident, five people were treated for minor injuries in area hospitals, CNN reports. Ullah was apprehended by Port Authority police officers shortly after the blast. He is currently hospitalised at the Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for lacerations and burns to his hands and abdomen, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. He is said to be seriously injured. Ullah's ISIS radicalisation began in 2014, He began researching how to build improvised explosive devices about a year ago, began collecting the necessary items two to three weeks ago, and built the bomb in his home a week ago, the complaint states. Pakistan's political leadership would lose control over the country if it does not begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and other terror groups having safe havens there, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned. Tillerson's remarks came amid Trump administration's repeated calls to Pakistan to do more against terrorist outfits. "We want to work with Pakistan to stamp out terrorism within their boundaries as well, but Pakistan has to begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and with others," Tillerson told a Washington audience. In his remarks on 'Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond' organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council- Korea Foundation Forum, Tillerson said that Pakistan's relationship with the Haqqani Network needs to be altered. "I understand that this is a relationship that has emerged probably for, in their view, good reasons a decade ago, but now that relationship has to be altered because if they're not careful, Pakistan is going to lose control of their own country," he warned. He said the US was willing to share information with them to be successful. "But we cannot continue with the status quo, where terrorist organisations are allowed to find safe haven inside of Pakistan," the top American diplomat warned. Notably despite repeated warning from the Trump Administration there is not much impact on Pakistans attitude towards terrorist groups. It has been more than two weeks now that the White House issued a stern warning to Pakistan and asked Islamabad to re- arrest Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind. Tillerson made no reference to this in his speech. The US and Pakistan have had a long history of good relations, but that relationship has really deteriorated over the past decade, he conceded. "So now were engaged with Pakistan in a conversation to ensure our expectations of them are clear, that our concern is really about Pakistan's stability," he said. "Pakistan has allowed so many terrorist organisations to find safe haven within its territories, and these organisations are growing in size and influence, that at some point I have said to the leadership of Pakistan, you may be the target, and they turn their attention from Kabul and decide they like Islamabad as a target better," Tillerson said. The global effort to defeat the Islamic State and the global effort to defeat terrorism is one of President Donald Trump's top priorities, he said. "The President made a decision and announced the policy that we would remain in Afghanistan, we would remain engaged in the fight to defeat the Taliban, and that the time and effort would be conditions-based. He said its not a blank check," Tillerson said. Separately during a townhall, Tillerson said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan. "Dealing with Pakistan I don't enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during the town hall with the State Department employees here. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today that's just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. The Supreme Court of Pakistan expressed shock when it came to learn that the idols were missing from the Hindu temples in complex in Chakwal. The pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals. The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) over the absence of idols. According to the Dawn, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also ordered to close the tubewells used by a cement factory, which is believed to be one of the industrial units responsible for the drying up of the Katas Raj pond. Katas Raj is the second-most sacred Hindu site and dates back to 600 AD. The temple complex is built around the pond, which finds it origin from Katak Shah, which in Sanskrit means 'raining eyes'. The pond is believed to have been formed from the tears of Shiva after the loss of his wife, Sati. The Supreme Court bench is conducting a suo motu hearing based on media reports that the Katas Raj pond is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories. One of the judges on the bench expressed dismay as to why the authorities could not protect the idols inside the temples. There are two temples within the premises of the Katas Raj -- Hanuman temple and Sri Ram Mandir. Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east as their capital, Saudi King Salman said today, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away. "The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with east as its capital," the king said. Salman's address to the kingdom's Consultative Council came as the world's main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to last week's US recognition of as Israel's capital. The king renewed his condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision, saying it "represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by resolutions". At today's summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the world to recognise east Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", while Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani - a Saudi arch foe - used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at Washington's Arab allies. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine," he said. Jordanian King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit. But Saudi Arabia, which hosts the pan-Islamic bloc's secretariat, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won martial law powers across the southern third of the country for one more year today to combat Islamic militants and leftist rebels, as Congress brushed aside fears of a looming dictatorship. Duterte's request to extend martial law in the Mindanao region until December 31 next year and detain rebellion suspects there without charge was approved by 240 votes to 27 at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. Asked by reporters later on Wednesday if he would extend martial law to the whole country, Duterte said "all options are on the table". In May Duterte imposed military rule and suspended a constitutional guarantee against warrantless arrests across the region of 20 million people, hours after armed Islamic militants seized the southern city of Marawi. The initial period of martial law was limited by the constitution to 60 days. However, in July Congress authorised Duterte to extend martial law until the last day of 2017 as he moved to retake the city from hundreds of gunmen he accused of plotting to turn Marawi into a regional base for the Islamic State group. Duterte declared Marawi "liberated" in October after a five-month US-backed bombing campaign that claimed more than 1,100 lives and left large areas of the city in ruins. But on Monday he warned that those who escaped were regrouping. Duterte, who called off peace talks last month with communist rebels, also warned one of Asia's longest armed rebellions had stepped up "terrorist acts". His request added to critics' fears he was seeking to steer the Philippines back into dictatorship like the late president Ferdinand Marcos did in 1972. Today Duterte compared the communists who operate in rural areas all over the country to the Islamic militants who are based in Mindanao. "They are the same," he said. Opposition legislators said today that martial law was illegal because Duterte had declared the liberation of Marawi and described the communists as a "spent force". "Is this now a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide?" said senate minority leader Franklin Drilon. Duterte has repeatedly said he may impose martial law across the entire nation to save the Philippines from narcotics, crime and terrorism-induced anarchy. But his cabinet members downplayed those fears. "We do not ask for unlimited martial law. What we are seeking is unlimited peace," Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told the joint session. White House National Security Adviser HR McMaster warned on Tuesday that shipping companies caught smuggling goods into North Korea could be making their "last delivery" anywhere. McMaster said UN sanctions have not halted deliveries of essential goods like refined fuel products that North Korea wants. The smuggling is done by ship-to-ship transfers, he said, suggesting that foreign vessels are moving the goods on the high seas to North Korean ships that take them ashore. "We've seen quite a bit of that in ship-to-ship transfers of refined fuel products, for example," McMaster said, speaking at an event in Washington hosted by the British think tank Policy Exchange. "Any company whose ships engage in that ought to face the most severe economic consequences and sanctions." "A company whose ships would engage in that activity ought to be on notice that that might be the last delivery of anything they do for a long time, anywhere." Washington remains frustrated that sanctions on Pyongyang have not resulted in the North halting its nuclear and long-range ballistic missile tests. On November 28 North Korea test-fired a nuclear-capable missile that showed the potential to strike anywhere on the continental United States. The US in particular has pressured China to shut down a pipeline delivering crude oil to North Korea, which it hopes would place enough economic pressure on Pyongyang to force it to halt its nuclear activities. McMaster called on the community to go beyond UN sanctions to pressure the country, saying it "might be our last best chance to avoid military conflict. A would-be suicide attacker detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in the heart of Manhattans busiest subway corridor on Monday, sending thousands of terrified commuters fleeing the smoke-choked passageways, and bringing the heart of Midtown to a standstill as hundreds of police officers converged on Times Square and the surrounding streets. US President Donald Trump today renewed calls to end immigration based on family ties in view of the two recent terrorist attacks that rocked New York. Blaming a "lax" immigration system for the bomb attack here by a Bangladeshi immigrant, Trump said he will end the diversity visa and chain migration system "fast", both of which gives green cards to foreign nationals. Trump issued a statement yesterday after the morning's terrorist attack, carried out by Bangladeshi-native Brooklyn resident Akayed Ullah. He detonated a pipe bomb in the 42nd Street passageway tunnel in midtown Manhattan, injuring himself and three others. Calling the bombing at a New York transportation hub by Ullah "attempted mass murder", Trump said: "Today's terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security". Ullah's attack was the second terrorist attack in New York in less than two months. On October 31, an immigrant from Uzbekistan drove a small truck into pedestrians near the World Trade Centre killing eight people. "There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards. The first attacker came through the visa lottery and the second through chain migration," Trump told reporters after he signed the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018. "We're going to end both of them: The lottery system and chain migration. We're going to end them. Fast. Congress must get involved immediately, and they are involved immediately and I can tell you we have tremendous support. They will be ended," said the US President. In his remarks, Trump praised first responders, "local police and federal law enforcement for their quick action." Trump announced immigration reform proposals in August that would end chain immigration and a green card lottery system that allows people from some countries like Uzbekistan and Bangladesh to immigrate without sponsorship or professional qualification. Councillors from the British city of York have refused to renew Uber's licence to operate in the area after they received several complaints from hackney carriage and private hire drivers about the company. According to a report on yorkpress.co.uk, several Hackney carriage and private hire drivers hailed the decision of City of York Council's Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee to refuse Uber a new licence to operate in the city after a 12-month certificate was granted last year. The report said the decision was taken after councillors heard from nine objectors to the company and decided not to give the ride-hailing company licence to ply on the streets of the city. The authority had received a number of complaints about the company and questioned the way Uber handled a cyber attack in October 2016 when the data of 57 million users and drivers was hacked and it was not disclosed for 13 months. "I always consider York taxi drivers to be the foremost ambassadors for our city and they are the first people visitors will meet," Cllr Dave Taylor, who was one of seven councillors to refuse the company a licence, was quoted as saying. "I think we expect a high standard from all taxi drivers and it's difficult if these standards can be undermined and undercut by out of town drivers," Taylor added. Meanwhile, Uber said it was disappointing for both the company's drivers and users and it would review the details of the decision. "This is a disappointing vote for the riders and drivers who use our app in the city," Neil McGonigle, General Manager for Uber in York, was quoted as saying. "More choice and competition is a good thing for both consumers and licensed drivers in the area. Passengers tell us they love being able to track their car on a live map, pay without cash and get a receipt with their fare and the route taken," he added. "Licensed drivers partner with us because with Uber they can choose if, when and where they drive. We will review the details of the decision once we receive the formal notice from the council," he said. The stock has gained 18 per cent over the previous month, given the outperformance in the domestic market, stability in African business, and growth in US business. While Africa contributes about 37 per cent to sales, India accounts for about 31 per cent and the US about nine per cent. In addition to steady revenues, analysts expect margins to improve by 100 basis points (bps) over the next year on higher revenue growth and improving utilisation levels at Dahej and Guwahati. Future Group's home furnishing arm Praxis Home Retail may be listed on Friday, said sources familiar with the development. Praxis was formed by de-merging the furnishing store chain HomeTown and the groups on-line furnishing arm Fabfurnish, from Future Retail this year. Investors will get 1 share of Praxis Home for every 20 share held in Future Retail as per scheme of arrangement announced last month. Unitech dipped 11% to Rs 6.85 on the BSE in intra-day trade, extending its Tuesday 5% decline, after the Supreme Court today stayed on the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Order suspending its directors and allowing the government to appoint its nominees in their place. At least 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be taking part in the 2018 Republic Day celebrations as chief guests, sources told ANI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited the ASEAN leaders to be the chief guests. Prime Minister had a series of productive bilateral and multilateral engagements at 15th ASEAN-India Summit in Manila, Philippines. Recently, Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the intensity of India's collaborations with ASEAN and East Asia has deepened perceptibly. Speaking at the launch of PHD Ambassador's Club here, Jaishankar said, "The relationship with ASEAN and East Asia is, of course, inextricably associated with the era of reform. These nations have been agents of change as much as partners in trade or investment." Prime Minister Modi had exhorted the ASEAN to intensify cooperation in fighting terrorism during his address in the Summit. "We have individually strived very hard to fight terrorism and violent extremism. It is time that we jointly address this challenge by intensifying cooperation in this crucial area," Prime Minister Modi said. The Prime Minister had also assured the ASEAN of India's support in maintaining regional security. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that the Palestinians won't accept any American role in the Middle East peace process "from now on" after United States President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Addressing a summit of the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation (OIC), Abbas stated that while the Palestinians remain committed to peace, Washington can no longer be accepted as a "fair negotiator", the Independent reported. Turkey hosted the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday. The emergency meeting aimed at forging a unified stance from the Muslim to the U.S.' unprecedented move, reversing decades of U.S. foreign policy. Trump's announcement was a "crime" that threatens peace, the Palestinian Authority leader said. Abbas called on the United Nations to take charge of the Mideast peace process, and revamp it with a new mechanism as, he said, Washington is no longer "fit" for the task, the report said. He added that new measures are needed to protect the identity of the divided city, which is claimed by both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state. Meanwhile, Abbas will not meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence later this month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Amit Shah on Wednesday launched a scathing attack at former prime minister Manmohan Singh after the latter sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for levelling false allegations against him. While speaking to the media here, Shah said the Congress party is making desperate attempts to defame Prime Minister Modi. He said, "Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking Prime Minister Modi." "If Congress is nervous after more than 60 rallies by Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat, last day attacks on Prime Minister Modi are also not going to help them," he said. Further lashing out at the former prime minister, Shah said, "We want to remind respected Manmohan Singh ji that he has done his best to mislead the people of Gujarat in previous elections but Gujarat has rejected him and Congress every time." "We also want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry and anguished when a Chief Minister of his country was called 'Maut Ka Saudagar'. Why is he still silent when Prime Minister of his country was called 'Neech'?" Shah further added that "Why did Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala vehemently deny that the meeting with a top Pakistani leader has never happened?" Earlier in the day, former prime minister hit out at Prime Minister Modi again, accusing him of spreading falsehood and canards to score political points and seeking an apology for his ill-thought transgression. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC) in the Republic of Palau and Japan's NEC Corporation recently announced that the construction of a new submarine cable linking the Republic of Palau has been completed and is now ready for commercial service. The Palau Spur interconnects with the existing SEA-US submarine cable (which connects the Philippines and Indonesia to the west coast of the United States via Guam and Hawaii) from a branching unit located between the Philippines and Guam. The Palau Spur has an initial design capacity of 500 Gigabits per second (Gbps), using NEC's state-of-the-art 100Gbps technology. The new submarine cable will connect the Republic of Palau to Guam and onward connectivity to Asia, North America and the rest of the world. The President of the Republic of Palau, E. Tommy Remengesau, Jr. declared the BSCC open for at a Ready for Service celebration held at the National Museum in Koror, Palau. "This marks the completion of critical national infrastructure, that has already made its presence felt in improved services, and will continue to support the sustainable development of Palau long into the future as technologies evolve," the President remarked. BSCC Board Chairman, George Rechucher, said, "BSCC is proud to have partnered with NEC to deliver a world class international submarine network on time and under budget." "NEC is honored to have been selected as a partner for this significant project for the Republic of Palau and it is with deep pride that we hand over the keys to launch the new submarine cable link to the BSCC and the people of Palau," said Mr. Toru Kawauchi, General Manager of NEC's Submarine Network Division. He added, "Yesterday, this island nation was still dependent on satellite communications, but from today, this new cable will bring information at the speed of light, improving the quality of life for those living in and traveling to Palau." NEC has more than 40 years of experience in the submarine cable and is recognized as one of the world's top submarine system vendors. NEC has laid a total of more than 250,000 kilometers of submarine cable, the equivalent of six trips around the earth. As a total system integrator, NEC produces optical submarine cable, optical submarine repeaters and equipment for connecting optical transmissions to land, in addition to carrying out ocean surveys, route design, laying optical submarine cable and training personnel for the handover of these systems. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Along with about two lakh employees nationwide, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) employees in Tripura joined the two-day nationwide strike that had begun from today. The BSNL employees accused the Narendra Modi government at the centre of bifurcating the organisation by starting a new company for the 70,000-odd mobile phone towers in the country, so that the telecommunication company incurs losses and can be privatised. All Union and Association of BSNL employees here had called this strike to protest the Central Government's anti-BSNL moves. "There has been no pay review of the employees of BSNL in 2017 beside the government has decided to form a new company separating the existing 70,000 towers of the BSNL which will further add to the woes of the state owned telecom service provider which is unable to purchase necessary equipment for the regular maintenance work because of lack of funds," Tirthankar Choudhury, convener of BSNL Employee Union of Tripura told ANI. The routine work at BSNL offices across India has been disrupted as the employees are on strike. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday registered two cases in connection with alleged possession and circulation of a fake sex CD allegedly involving a Chhattisgarh minister. The Chhattisgarh minister had lodged a complaint against senior journalist Vinod Verma, who was arrested from Ghaziabad in October for allegedly tarnishing his image through the CD. Following that, this case, which was earlier registered by the Chhattisgarh police, was taken up on request of the state government and further notification from the Government of India. The first case was registered under section 384 and 506 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station Pandri, Raipur on October 26, 2017 vide FIR No. 340/2017 against unknown persons on the allegations that the complainant received a call on his phone, wherein the unknown caller said that he possessed a pornographic video of his "Aaka" and threatened to distribute CDs of the same in case his demand of ransom was not met. The other case was registered under section 67 (A) of I.T. Act at Police Station Civil Lines, Raipur on October 27, 2017 vide FIR No. 665/2017 against two accused, residents of Raipur and others on the allegations that the said accused persons and others had circulated complainant's fake pornographic video on various social media platforms and distributed its CD to malign his character and to obtain political mileage. Verma was arrested last month on an FIR filed by a man over a certain 'vulgar' video that featured his boss. He was sent to judicial remand till November 13 by the court during a hearing on October 31. The journalist has maintained that he possessed 'a sex CD' of a state minister. "I have a sex CD of Chhattisgarh Minister and that is why the state government is not happy with me," he said. Earlier, the Chhattisgarh government had handed over the probe to the CBI. Further investigation is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In continuation to its commitment to patient-centricity and digitization, Cipla announces the launch of two digital assets, one aimed at healthcare professionals and the other at patients - Ciplamed and Breathefree respectively. While CME's remains a critical component of our healthcare system, low physician to patient ratio in the Indian setting most often leaves the physician very little time for any extra educational engagements. On the other side, the new digital era also presents opportunity to learn & sharpen skills through alternate channels as per one's convenience. The all new Ciplamed is a uniquely designed comprehensive medical portal for healthcare professionals, available as a mobile app (Android and iOS) and a mobile-responsive website. Ciplamed offers a range of scientific resources such as eCMEs, infographics, presentations, medical news, patient education material and much more across specialities to keep oneself updated with the new advances in the medical field. Ciplamed aims to offer reliable medical information on-the-go to the time-crunched physicians, to promote best clinical practice and improved health outcomes. Website link: www.ciplamed.com While the nation encounters a steady rise in breathing related problems, people are seeking credible & vital information on their disease conditions and its management. The new Breathefree website will continue to be a complete and comprehensive source of patient information tool relating to breathing disorders and is also designed to be a powerful, closely connected community of people suffering from various breathing ailments. So, while anyone can, of course, learn everything about a breathing issue that may be bothering them, it also provides a powerful platform for people to share experiences, insights and stories of personal triumphs. Nikhil Chopra, Head India Business, Cipla, "Continuing Cipla's commitment towards patient centricity and Innovation; we are happy to bring to life 2 great educational efforts delivered through a digital route. We hope these assets will empower better healthcare decisions & outcomes." Kiran Pai, Head Digital Marketing, Cipla, "Simplified content and great user interface is the hallmark of new age digital education platforms and we have tried to do just that with Ciplamed and breathe free platforms. Needless to mention that both platforms are mobile responsive to fuel consumption across the mobile first segment." DrJaideepGogaty, Chief Medical Officer, Cipla "Cipla has always partnered with the medical fraternity towards enhancing patient care. Ciplamed and Breathefree are two unique initiatives in this continuing endeavour. While Ciplamed provides a wide range of comprehensive and practice-oriented medical resources and updates for the busy healthcare professional, Breathefree aims to enhance patient awareness on asthma, COPD and allergic rhinitis in a lucid and user-friendly format. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday will continue hearing on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a lifetime ban on convicted and charge-sheeted MPs and MLAs from contesting elections. The PIL, filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwani Upadhyay, has also sought a direction from the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to fix a minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for persons contesting elections. Earlier on July 12, the poll commission took a U-turn on the plea and said it did not want a permanent ban, but it supported the de-criminalisation of politics within a certain framework. The ECI, in its short affidavit submitted before the court, said the plea made by Upadhyay was "not adversarial" in seeking directives for ensuring the trials of MPs and MLAs were concluded within a year and that such convicts were prohibited for life from the political process. "The answering respondent (EC) supports the cause espoused by the petitioner," stated the affidavit, filed by EC Director Vijay Kumar Pandey. Under the current law, a legislator is debarred for six years from contesting elections once he is convicted for heinous or moral offences. Various pleas have knocked the doors of the apex court arguing that the ban should be lifetime at par with the judiciary and executive where a person cannot hold office for life post conviction. The Centre has, however, opposed the lifetime ban on convicted MPs and MLAs and vehemently opposed the suggestion of the EC to bar the legislators, who have been convicted of criminal offences. Submitting its response to the PIL, the Centre has argued that the current debarment for six years is in no way violative of Article 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Pakistan are gearing up to celebrate Vijay Diwas, which is commemorated every year to mark both the countries' military victory over Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. In order to keep alive the spirit of War of Liberation of 1971 an arrangement of reciprocal visits by Muktijodhas and War Veterans was institutionalised in 2005. A delegation of Muktijodhas along with their spouses or companions is invited by the Government of India to participate in the Vijay Diwas celebrations that are held at Fort Williams, Kolkata. The Government of Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh also invites Indian war veterans along with their spouses or companions to participate in the Victory day celebrations. More than 300 Muktijodhas from Bangladesh and 150 Indian war veterans have participated in these celebrations. This initiative was further extended to include serving officers so as to pass on the spirit to the current generation. This year a delegation of 30 Muktijodhas and six serving Bangladesh Armed Forces officers, along with their companions will participate in the Vijay Diwas celebrations in Kolkata from December 14-18, 2017. The delegation is led by Mosharraf Hossain, Minister of Housing and Public Works and has three Members of Parliament, one Prosecutor Additional attorney general of ICT, retired officers from Bangladesh Armed Forces, diplomats, senior bureaucrats and prominent personalities from the civil society. The delegation will participate in large number of ceremonial functions and receptions being held in their honour as also get an opportunity to interact with Indian veterans of the War. They will also visit 'Jorashanko' (Thakurbari), the family house of Shri Rabindranath Tagore and other historical places. Twenty seven Indian War veterans and four serving officers, accompanied by their companions will arrive in Dhaka on December 14, 2017 to participate in the Victory day celebrations. The Indian delegation is led by Lt Gen (retired) Jai Bhagwan Singh Yadava. He was awarded with the gallantry award 'Vir Chakra' in the 1971 war for his acts of gallantry in the battle of BOGRA. The delegation will participate in the Victory day functions and also call on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hassina, the Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force and Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division. They will also get opportunities to interact with Muktijodhas during separate receptions being hosted by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, War Course Foundation of Bangladesh, Dhaka club and the High Commission of India. The delegation will also pay homage to Father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Memorial museum as also visit some of the battle sites of Liberation war. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today said that India and China have raised the Doklam incident during a meeting on Monday, wherein External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with disengagement of troops at face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications. "During the meeting between External Affairs Minister and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang YI on 11.12.2017 in New Delhi, the issue of DOKLAM was raised," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. "EAM and Chinese Foreign Minister both noted the challenge it had posed disengagement of troops at the face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications," he added. The Chinese Foreign Minister conveyed that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this, EAM Swaraj reiterated that maintenance of peace in border areas is an essential pre-requisite for smooth development of bilateral relations. EAM Swaraj also underlined the need for approaching difference with due consideration to each other's sensitivities and concerns. Both the Foreign Ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, through the established dialogue mechanisms. On Monday, EAM Swaraj held the 15th Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi. Wang's visit to New Delhi was the first by a top Chinese official to India after the Doklam stand-off. The Doklam stand-off came to an end on August 28 after the two sides agreed to withdraw their respective troops from the Doklam plateau and the Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to India's corridor. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan. India had objected to the construction highlighting its security concerns. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Issues related to counter-terrorism, economic cooperation and maritime security were highlighted in the 4th India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting hosted by Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar here on Wednesday. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar took to twitter to inform about the meeting that the Foreign Secretary held with his Australian and Japanese counterparts. "Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar hosts the 4th India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting with his Australian and Japanese counterparts in New Delhi. Issues of maritime security, counter terrorism and economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region were discussed," he tweeted. On Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held the 15th Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In the trilateral meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries discussed terrorism, the political scenario in the Middle East and North Africa, different challenges in putting economy back on growth track, transnational organised crime, illicit drug trafficking, food security and climate change, Swaraj said, in a press briefing after the meeting. Russia and India also extended support and cooperation for China as the chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for 2017-2018 and for China's hosting of 2018 SCO Summit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday called the Ram Setu as an important part of Indian heritage and said that nobody should meddle with it. His reaction came after a US television show cited scientists to state that the Ram Setu, that connects India and Sri Lanka, is not a natural phenomenon, but is man-made. Addressing the media outside the Parliament, Prasad welcomed this revelation and stated that nobody could tamper with Ram Setu. "It came to our knowledge that Ram Setu is man-made and the stones are thousand years old..we welcome this revelation. But would like to say that there should not be any kind of meddling or tempering with the sanctity of Ram Setu as it is a very important part of Indian culture," he added. Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said it is an answer to the people who did not believe that Ram Setu is man-made. "It is an international research. And the people who said that there is nothing like Ram Setu and it is just an Adam's bridge, it is an answer to them," he said. Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said that his party always believed that Ram Setu exists. "It was revealed long back by NASA, and the Ram Setu photograph was shown by Nasa long back and we all believe in this," he added. An American science channel on Tuesday restarted the debate on the Ram Setu, saying that there exists evidence suggesting that the bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka was man-made not natural. Science Channel, as part of a promo for an upcoming show titled What on Earth, has interviewed an archaeologist who says, "The rocks on top of the sand actually pre-date the sand. So there is more to the story." The Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is wrapped in mystery and mythology. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The accused in Jisha rape and murder case, Ameerul Islam, has been brought to Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate court on Wednesday for the announcement of the quantum of punishment. The quantum of punishment will be announced today after the court in Kerala on Tuesday had found the accused guilty of raping and murdering law student Jisha. Claiming innocence, Islam told ANI, ''I didn't do anything. I don't know who did it." The 29-year-old law student, Jisha was brutally raped and murdered on April 28 last year, in which her body sustained at least 30 injuries, including in her private parts. Yesterday, the Counsel for Islam told media, "The court has found the accused guilty to an extent that he had entered with a commission of an offense and thereafter has committed the murder. The court found him guilty for that." "I will try to get minimum punishment for the accused before the high court," he added. Earlier on September 17, 2016, the charges against Islam were filed under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (punishment for rape), 376A (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim), 442 (house trespass), 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offense, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (punishment for murder) and charges on Dalit Atrocities Prevention Act. The chargesheet of the case revealed that Islam, a resident of Assam, murdered Jisha following an attempt to rape her at the latter's residence in Iringol near Perumbavoor. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently inaugurated an upgraded airport terminal at Hubballi in North Karnataka. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and senior Airports Authority of India officials were also present on the occasion. A new flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai via Hubbali was also flagged off. This flight will operate thrice a week. Mr. Gajapati Raju appealed to the Karnataka Governments to jointly work with the Centre to realise the dream of providing robust aviation in states. He said, "I am sure that aviation has a bright future and If we all work together and keep taxation in limit because those states which have brought down the taxation within reasonable parameters have seen aviation activity boost." Sinha said, "The Honorable Prime Minister of India has a dream of seeing everyone fly and connect, and we are doing our best to fulfill this dream." Hubballi Airport is a centrally air-conditioned building and with an area of 3,600 square metres, it has a capacity to handle 300 peak hour passengers at a time. It has all essential passenger friendly amenities and conveniences like check-in counters, baggage conveyors, elevator, public address system, firefighting and fire alarm system, HVAC, flight information display system (FIDS), CCTV, baggage scanners and car parking etc. In view of the government's initiative of Green India, the new terminal has green features like a standing seam double insulated roofing system, provision of sky light system for energy savings and many others. Sudhir Raheja, Member (Planning), Airports Authority of India, said, "Primarily it's a big state of North Karnataka and we have initially started with a small terminal building that can handle 300 passengers at a time, 150 arrivals and 150 departures. But, considering the response that Hubli got in the second round of bidding in RCS-UDAN Scheme, it will get connected to Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune, Sholapur, Kolhapur, Kannur, Tirupathi and Delhi." "So, we hope to expand the building, considering the response that Hubli has received in the second round of bidding in the RCS. This area right now is of 3600 square meter, perhaps we may have to add it further and go upto 10,000 square meter in the long run, because I am sure this airport will develop very fast, we will get a lot of connectivity from Hubli," he added. India has taken giant strides in domestic civil aviation with growth rate of 21.5 per cent per annum for last two years and is only behind US and China in the race. Regional connectivity Scheme- UDAN has added a staggering number of 30 airports in just one year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Cabinet members have contributed their one month's salary to the Ockhi Cyclone Relief Fund. Earlier, the state government had set up a special relief fund with contributions from the public to initiate relief and rehabilitation measures for families affected by cyclone Ockhi. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also called upon all political parties, institutions and the public to donate generously to the special fund. The death toll due to the cyclone, which hit the Kerala coast, mounted to 52 yesterday. The severe cyclone has left a trail of destruction in India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. In India, the cyclone struck the coasts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat killing more than 64 people and displacing over hundreds. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Marijuana is considered to be a medicinal drug and if consumed for purposes, it can be useful for a person. But, now a study has found that marijuana might really help HIV patients keep mental stamina longer. A group of researchers have found that a chemical found in marijuana, known as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has been found to potentially slow the process in which mental decline can occur in up to 50 per cent of HIV patients. While talking about the study Norbert Kaminski, lead author of the study, said, "It is believed that cognitive function decreases in many of those with HIV partly due to chronic inflammation that occurs in the brain. This happens because the immune system is constantly being stimulated to fight off disease." Kaminski and his co-author, Mike Rizzo, a graduate student in toxicology, discovered that the compounds in marijuana were able to act as anti-inflammatory agents, reducing the number of inflammatory white blood cells, called monocytes, and decreasing the proteins they release in the body. Rizzo noted, "This decrease of cells could slow down, or maybe even stop, the inflammatory process, potentially helping patients maintain their cognitive function longer." The two researchers took blood samples from 40 HIV patients who reported whether or not they used marijuana. Then, they isolated the white blood cells from each donor and studied inflammatory cell levels and the effect marijuana had on the cells. "The patients who didn't smoke marijuana had a very high level of inflammatory cells compared to those who did use. In fact, those who used marijuana had levels pretty close to a healthy person not infected with HIV," explained Kaminski. With antiretroviral therapy -- a standard form of treatment that includes a cocktail of drugs to ward off the virus -- these cells have a better chance of staying intact. Yet, even with this therapy, certain white blood cells can still be overly stimulated and eventually become inflammatory. Rizzo explained, "We'll continue investigating these cells and how they interact and cause inflammation specifically in the brain. What we learn from this could also have implications to other brain-related diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's since the same inflammatory cells have been found to be involved." They believe that knowing more about this interaction could ultimately lead to new therapeutic agents that could help HIV patients specifically maintain their mental function. HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, infects and can destroy or change the functions of immune cells that defend the body. HIV continues to be a major global public issue. In 2016, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV (including 1.8 million children). Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 78 million people have become infected with HIV and 35 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2016, 1 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. India remains the country with the third largest population of people with HIV after South Africa and Nigeria. India had 2.1 million people living with HIV at the end of 2016, with new infections falling to 80,000 in 2016 from 1,50,000 in 2005. The study was published in journal, AIDS. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 268 illegal migrants were apprehended in Turkey by security forces on Wednesday in three different provinces of the country, security officials said. The Turkish security forces held 208 undocumented migrants in several operations across the northwestern Edirne province, Anadolu news agency quoted a source, as saying. According to a security source, 47 undocumented migrants were held in Turkey's western Izmir province in another operation. Security forces also held 13 people including five Syrians, seven Iranians and one Afghan national in the southwestern Mugla province. All the migrants were reportedly sent to regional immigration departments. Turkey and the European Union had signed a deal last year aimed at discouraging irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The man accused of blowing up a bus terminal in the heart of New York City had posted a warning to United States President Donald Trump just before the attack. The post by Akayed Ullah was revealed in charges filed by federal prosecutors on Tuesday. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," the Facebook post read. Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man, faces five federal terrorism-related charges and three state terrorism-related charges after he detonated a device during the busy morning commute on Monday. According to CNN, in an interview with investigators, Ullah admitted that he built and detonated the device and said he was inspired to do so by the Islamic State. "I did it for the Islamic State," Ullah told investigators, according to the federal complaint. The New York Police Department (NYPD) also tweeted that Ullah was facing state charges including criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terroristic threat. Following the incident, five people were treated for minor injuries in area hospitals, CNN reports. Ullah was apprehended by Port Authority police officers shortly after the blast. He is currently hospitalised at the Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for lacerations and burns to his hands and abdomen, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. He is said to be seriously injured. Ullah's ISIS radicalisation began in 2014, He began researching how to build improvised explosive devices about a year ago, began collecting the necessary items two to three weeks ago, and built the bomb in his home a week ago, the complaint states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oscar Pistorius has been injured in a prison brawl after allegedly starting a fight with another inmate while waiting to use a pay phone. According to the Mirror, The six-time paralympic champion, who had his murder sentence more than doubled last month, was queuing to use the phone at Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, near Pretoria, when he reportedly began fighting with an inmate "he knows well". The 31-year-old, who is serving a 13-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, sustained a bruised arm from the incident. Singabakho Nxumalo, from the Department of Correctional Services, said, "Oscar Pistorius sustained a bruise following an alleged incident with another inmate over the use of a public phone in the special care unit where both offenders are detained at Attridgeville Correctional Centre." Nxumalo claimed that an official investigation into the incident had been launched. Pistorius had his sentence for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29, increased to 13 years last month in a successful appeal by prosecutors. Pistorius was initially imprisoned for six years last July after being found guilty on appeal of murdering Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013 in a case that attracted worldwide interest. The Supreme Court ruling was widely welcomed in his native South Africa, including by the family of his victim. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the Bestway Cement Factory on Wednesday to refill the Katas Raj pond within one week, during the hearing of the suo motu case on the depletion of the pond located at the site of Hindus in Chakwal. The historic pond is said to have deplet ed due to the presence of nearby cement factories which have sucked out the underground water. Katas Raj is the second-most sacred Hindu site and dates back to 600 AD. The temple complex is built around the pond, which finds it origin from Katak Shah, which in Sanskrit means 'raining eyes'. The pond is believed to have been formed from the tears of Shiva after the loss of his wife, Sati. The Supreme Court bench is conducting a suo motu hearing based on media reports that the Katas Raj pond is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories. There are two temples within the premises of the Katas Raj -- Hanuman temple and Sri Ram Mandir. Earlier on December 13, the Supreme Court of Pakistan expressed shock when it came to learn that the idols were missing from the Hindu temples in Katas Raj temple complex. The pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals. The Supreme Court had sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) over the absence of idols. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After a series of allegations and worldwide protests by Pakistanis against the (CPEC), Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has announced that the long-term plan (LTP) for CPEC will be made public on December 18. The Pakistan government is accused of secretly benefiting China through CPEC. Addressing a gathering for the CPEC Business Opportunities Conference here on Tuesday, the minister pitched in its favour saying it is a "game-changer" for Pakistan and also mentioned that its implementation is accelerating without any smugness, keeping the rapid pace of change in the economy in mind. "We cannot remain idle, if the slows, we need to create new demand. There are around three billion people living in this region and 25 per cent GDP, which the CPEC will be in a position to connect," he said. Criticising the western countries, Iqbal said, "The Chinese are doing what the Americans and the Europeans should have done after the end of the Afghan war that evicted the Soviets from Afghanistan.'' "That war helped bring down the Berlin Wall, and made Europe safe. But we here in Pakistan are still paying the price for it," he added. The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the CPEC had approved the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) without agreeing on development projects and special economic zones on November 21. 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 in November, a Pakistan media report raised concern over one of the provisions of the LTP 2017-30 - Beijing's demand to allow its currency, the Yuan, to be used in the Gwadar Free Zone under the CPEC framework. Quoting that "the CPEC plan raises far more questions than it answers," Khurram Husain, a leading business and economy journalist in Pakistan, in an article titled 'China's Road Through Pakistan' for the Dawn, propounds the idea of making the LTP public to prevent few pertinent questions from clouding the overall positive prospects that the CPEC has for Islamabad. Last week, people of Gilgit-Baltistan have strengthened their voice against Pakistan's immoral imposition of taxes on them. Shutter down strikes and massive protests by traders and local residents are continuing in Gilgit as they accuse Pakistan for misusing power. The lawyers say imposition of any tax in Gilgit Baltistan is illegal and immoral act as people here do not have any representation in national assembly and senate. "Since the beginning, our motto remains that 'no taxation without representation'. If we are not given any rights, why should we pay taxes? We should be given proper rights and we are ready to pay taxes as similar to other four provinces of Pakistan. But, we should be given equal rights. It is important to collect taxes to run any country, but it is only implacable if the people are given constitutional rights. We are not given any constitutional rights, so what taxes are they collecting from us?" said Mohammad Khan, an advocate in Gilgit. Gilgit-Baltistan is part of princely state of Jammu and Kashmir which remains under Paksitani occupation for the past 70 years. The locals made a demand of granting them royalty of rich mineral resources. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Gilgit Baltistan is also an illegal act by Pakistan and China. The people of Gilgit Baltistan accuse both Pakistan and China for exploiting their resources and creating ecological imbalance in the region. People of Gilgit-Baltistan have now become increasingly intolerant of the Pakistani occupation and they have intensified their ante against the authorities who have done nothing except plundering the resources. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has apparently announced that his countrymen would no longer work with American peace negotiators in the wake of United States President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on December 6. According to Vox News, speaking to a conference of Muslim leaders in Istanbul, Abbas called Trump's decision a "crime" that left the US unqualified to continue in its historic role as the main international arbiter in the conflict. The role, he said, should now go to the United Nations. The leaders at the conference further asked the international community to recognise East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. In the days leading up to Trump's announcement last week, Abbas said recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv would have grave consequences "for the peace process and security and stability in the region and ." Meanwhile, a public opinion poll published on Wednesday by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research found that more than 90 per cent of Palestinians rejected Trump's announcement and that 70 per cent of those polled want Abbas to step down. When Trump and Abbas had met back in May at the White House, Trump assured the press that the Palestinian leader would soon be back in Washington to sign a peace deal with the Israelis. For the unversed, Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed that half of the city. Though Israel's parliament and the prime minister's home are in Jerusalem, they sit in West Jerusalem, the side of the city Israel has controlled since 1949. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid floral tributes to the bravehearts of the 2001 at the Parliament House on its 16th Anniversary. Leaders from the BJP, the Congress and other parties came together along with Prime Minister Modi to pay tribute. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi along with other ministers were also present. On December 13, 2001 in a horrific incident, five heavily-armed terrorists belonging to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), stormed the complex in New Delhi and opened fire indiscriminately. Around 14 people, mostly security forces and one civilian, were killed in this incident. The incident took place around 40 minutes after Parliament was adjourned and about 100 members were present in the building. Extensive investigations revealed the involvement of four accused namely Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain, SAR Geelani and Navjot Sandhu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday will pay floral tribute to the bravehearts of the 2001 at the Parliament House on its 16th Anniversary. On December 13, 2001 in a horrific incident, five heavily-armed terrorists belonging to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), stormed the complex in New Delhi and opened fire indiscriminately. Around 14 people, mostly security forces and one civilian, were killed in this incident. The incident took place around 40 minutes after the Parliament was adjourned and about 100 members of parliament were present in the building. Extensive investigations revealed the involvement of four accused namely Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain, SAR Geelani and Navjot Sandhu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to initiate action against the media channels in state that telecast Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi's interview across poll-bound districts. The ECI has ordered the Gujarat CEO to file an FIR against the concerned media houses for violating Section 126 (1)(b) of R P Act. Earlier in the day, the Gujarat Election Commission received a complaint regarding the telecast of Rahul's interview to a TV channel. "We have got a complaint regarding telecast of an interview. We have collected the DVDs. We will be doing due examination and look into whether it has violated Rules 126 Representation of the People Act or not," the state Chief Electoral Officer, B B Swain said at a press conference in Gandhinagar. Union Minister Piyush Goyal had also pointed out that Rahul had given interview to a local TV channel in Gujarat, an act not permitted during the last 48 hours of campaigning. "I am sure the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and take an action," Goyal added. Rahul gave his first interview as Congress president-elect to a local TV channel in Gujarat today, a day prior to the second phase of Gujarat Assembly election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi has pitched for greater participation of women in the party to "compensate for not having a woman president anymore". Addressing the Mahila Congress Programme, his first event as the party's president-elect, Gandhi said, "We have to work on transforming the Congress Party, and a fundamental part of it is going to be the role of women in the party at every single level." "Unfortunately we do not have a woman president anymore, so we will have to compensate. We will work on having women Chief Ministers in states," he added. While batting for women, Gandhi took a shot at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), claiming that "women cannot even enter the RSS." Gandhi added that it was the organisation's ideology, and that the Congress' ideology comprises of greater participation for women. "We have to prepare women systematically and actively at all levels, and get them to contest elections. Our women will represent party at every level", Gandhi said. The newly elected party president also assured mandating reservation for women. "There's no 'If' about it; it will surely happen. We'll push the government to implement women's reservation. Congress Party will not a give a choice to the government," Gandhi said. Gandhi also commended the work of the Congress unit in Gujarat, and hinted that the party may win the state's assembly elections. "In difficult circumstances, the Congress Party has fought in unison, and you'll get the result of it on 18th December. Maybe you are going to get a surprise in Gujarat, about who won and by what margin," Gandhi said. The counting of votes for the election will be held on December 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has defended United States President Donald Trump's recent Twitter attack on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and claimed it was not sexist at all. Trump, hours before, had responded to Gillibrand's call for the president to step down after several women on Tuesday accused him of sexual abuse. "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!" he had tweeted. At Tuesday's press briefing, Sanders was asked to explain what Trump meant when he said that Gillibrand "would do anything" for a campaign contribution and if this contained any contained sexual innuendo. "It's clear that the president is very obvious. This is the same sentiment the president has expressed many times before when he has exposed corruption of the entire political system," she said. Sanders added, "There's no way that this is sexist at all. Only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way." When probed about Trump's tweet that said he didn't know his accusers, Sanders said, "The president was referencing the three individuals that were part of the press conference yesterday." This episode comes in the backdrop of three women who previously had accused Trump of sexual harassment shared their stories in an interview on NBC and at a press conference in New York. The women - Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey and Rachel Crooks - urged Congress to investigate Trump's behaviour. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar and directed him to appear before it for not complying with its order to construct night shelter houses for homeless people. The apex court also slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for not complying with its earlier order in the case. The top court had earlier in its order directed the Uttar Pradesh government to construct and provide night shelters to the homeless people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader and former president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) Chaudhary Prem Singh died following a cardiac arrest. The 84-year-old Congress leader passed away late Tuesday night. The body will be kept in the DPCC office to pay homage today at 1 pm onwards and the cremation will take place at 2 pm at Nigambodh Ghat here. He is survived by his wife Shivkauri, six daughters and two sons. He was admitted to Max hospital in Saket on December 9 when he suffered a heart attack. Singh, who joined the Congress in 1952, became the youngest member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the first chairman of its Committee on Delhi Rural Area in 1958. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has moved into the top 10 of the ICC Test Player Rankings, after a fine performance during his side's 240-run win over the West Indies in the second and final Test in Hamilton. Taylor, who enjoyed a career-high third position in December 2013 when he tallied 871 points, 132 more than his current total of 739, scored 16 and 107 not out to move up three places and take 10th position in a list led by Australia captain Steve Smith. The 33-year-old's 17th Test century has helped him re-enter the top 10 after last being there in August 2016. He is now the second-best placed New Zealand batsman with captain Kane Williamson occupying fifth position. New Zealand opener Jeet Raval and all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme have also made significant gains. Raval has gained four slots to reach 30th position after scores of 84 and four in Hamilton, while de Grandhomme has gained five places to reach a career-best 70th position with scores of 58 and 22. Mitchell Santner (up one place to a career-best 51st) has moved up among bowlers for New Zealand, while pace bowlers Shannon Gabriel (up two places to 21st) and Miguel Cummins (up 14 places to 63rd) have gained for the visiting side. Among the Windies batsmen, Roston Chase has gained seven slots to reach 38th position while Shane Dowrich has gained six places to reach 83rd position. Meanwhile, there has been no change of positions in the ICC Test Team Rankings. New Zealand have gained three points to reach 100 points but remain in fourth position. The Windies have lost three points but are still in eighth position, ahead of Bangladesh on decimal points. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafiz Saeed and former Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf's open admission of his liking towards the former and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) will win Islamabad foes, more than friends, says an expert. Paul Stott, a senior teaching fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London, has, in an article titled 'Hafiz Saeed: A Series of Curious Developments', opined that the view of Pakistan's courts - that there was no evidence to link Saeed to Mumbai - was unwelcome news for Indo-Pakistani relations, "and may even have had United States President Trump's trigger finger hovering over the Twitter icon on his mobile phone." Case in point - last week's meeting of the US Secretary of State for Defence, General James Mattis, with Pakistan's Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Rawalpindi. They had much to discuss. "Both parties were too polite, in public at least, to comment on the release of long term jihadist Hafiz Saeed, from Pakistani custody on 23/11/17. Both the US and India consider Saeed a terrorist, the latter seeking his trial for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166. There is near unanimity that Pakistan, and Saeed's group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, co-ordinated the rolling gun and bomb attacks which targeted India's largest city. Britain, whose mosques and university Islamic societies once served as a welcoming home to Saeed's calls for jihad in Kashmir, has also closed the door on LeT and its charitable wing Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)," Stott said. But the overlooking of Saeed misdemeanours and his subsequent accession to politics in Pakistan may cause a dent in Islamabad's foreign policies. No evidence to link Saeed to Mumbai certainly cleared "the way for the next projected stage in Saeed's career - an entry into politics. This is through a new party, the Milli Muslim League, which claims, rather unconvincingly, to be acting in the political lineage of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The MML has struck an early obstacle though in the form of Pakistan's Electoral Commission, which is reluctant to register the party," Stott added. Further drawing attention towards Musharraf's "unrequited love" towards LeT and JuD, Stott said, "This outbreak of unrequited love made even hardened observers blush. Not least as Musharraf himself had proscribed LeT in 2002. In his autobiography, he had talked of 9/11 bringing issues around terrorism to a head, but that under his leadership Pakistan was already itching for action against its own armed groups. How times change." Stott then drove the point home by saying that Pakistan has a clear absence of a published security strategy, and that the commentators have struggled to pin down the exact components of President Trump's military doctrine. Stott said Trump has though been surprisingly consistent. "He expects countries - from Europe to the Gulf - to step up and take responsibility for their own defence, whilst working bi-laterally against common foes. Not for the first time, Pakistan does not seem to be 'down with the programme'," and hence, risks losing the friendship with America. "Whilst politics in Northern Ireland was stabilised by bringing former paramilitaries into the political process, few would hold out such hopes, at this stage, in Pakistan. Indeed, any consequent 'reforms' are likely to include a hardening of attitudes towards minority groups, rigid enforcement of blasphemy laws and a resurgence of the Kashmiri armed struggle. Which is rather where Hafiz Saeed came in, in the first place," Stott concluded. Salman Khan just took the action benchmark several notches higher with an information revealing that the superstar pulled off a "brilliant action sequence" with a pack of wolves. Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer 'Tiger Zinda Hai' death-defying action sequence presumably will add to the edge-of-the-seat thrill. Director Ali Abbas Zafar said, "Tiger's encounter with the wolves marks one of the most important chapters in the film. The idea was to do something which has never been seen on the Indian screen and give Tiger's character an edge." "This is a very dramatic chase and action sequence between Tiger and pack of real wolves," he added. Right from the first look of the film, Yash Raj Films made it clear that it is going more than the extra mile to ensure that their forthcoming spy drama is all set to make a new benchmark in action entertainers. "Salman has been pushing the envelope in action over the years now and in 'Tiger Zinda Hai,' he has just taken it to a whole new level," informs the source. "Salman has pulled off a brilliant action sequence with a pack of wolves! This will take the excitement of seeing the film to a whole new level as people haven't seen this kind of action at all," the source added. The scene has been shot in the snow-capped forests of Austria, where the international action crew took all cautionary measures to ensure that the wolves are well taken care of and that security measures were on point, the source stated. This is a dangerous sequence and the crew spent months planning this with specialised wolf trainers. The action crew lead by visionary action choreographer Tom Struthers has pulled off the unimaginable, adds the source. The much-awaited action entertainer is set to release on December 22. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump made his closing arguments for tax reform, just hours after the White House and Senate negotiators reached an 'agreement in principle' on an overhaul. Speaking from the White House, Trump cast the GOP's tax bill as a boon to middle-class families and a victory for ordinary Americans over what he described as out-of-control government bureaucracy. "Our tax cuts will break down - and they'll break it down fast - all forms of government and all forms of government barriers and breathe new life into the American economy. They will unleash the American people, they will tear down the constraints on discovery, innovation and creation, and they will restore the hopes and dreams of the American family. Millions of middle class families will win under our plan," Trump said. The speech comes as congressional negotiators are working to reconcile separate bills passed by the House and Senate. The tax overhaul can give the president his first major legislative victory. The final version of the bill is expected to lower the top individual rate from 39.6 per cent to 37 per cent and will implement a cap on the popular mortgage interest deduction at USD 7,50,000. The corporate tax rate will be cut to 21 per cent, and the deduction for pass-through companies will be 20 per cent. Trump on Wednesday predicted the tax bill would pass with "very little Democrats support, probably none." "That's purely for political reasons. They like it a lot and they can't say it," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump's approval rating stands at 32 per cent, according to a new poll released by the Pew Research Centre. The 32-per cent matches the lowest level in any poll on his approval since he took office in January. The disapproval of the president's job performance sits at 63 per cent, and just 14 per cent of those who disapprove of his performance say they can think of something he has done that they have been happy with. The polls also found that 37 per cent of those who approve of his job performance say they can think of something Trump has done that they have been disappointed with or unhappy with. The poll additionally found that the majority of Americans -- 59 per cent -- think an inappropriate contact between senior Trump officials and Russia during the campaign "definitely or probably occurred." The poll was conducted between November 29 and December 4, and has a margin of sampling error of 2.9 percentage points, CNN reports. Trump's approval rating has been fairly stagnant since October. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the to recognise "occupied" East Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine." Addressing a summit of the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation (OIC), Erdogan stated, "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand, the Independent reported. In addition, Erdogan lashed out at Israel, calling it as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror" and added that the U.S.' decision to recognise the city as Israel's capital was "null and void." Turkey hosted the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday. The emergency meeting aimed at forging a unified stance after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US foreign policy. Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United Kingdom Government has issued a travel advisory for it citizens, warning them that terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Bangladesh. "Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Bangladesh. The threat extends across the country," said the advisory on the U.K. Government's website. "There's also the risk that foreign nationals could be directly targeted in future attacks; you should consider your movements carefully and follow any specific advice of the local security authorities," the advisory added. Up to 150,000 British nationals visit Bangladesh every year. Mentioning the last terrorist attack, targeting security forces, occurred in March 2017, the travel advisory warns of a risk that future attacks could target public gatherings. The travel advisory comes after Bangladeshi national Akayed Ullah was arrested in connection with the recent terror attack near Times Square in New York. An explosion took place on Monday in an underground tunnel linking the Port Authority Bus Terminal to Times Square in New York. The 27-year-old Ullah was carrying a suspected pipe bomb that malfunctioned and exploded prematurely, leaving him and three others injured in the blast. The New York City Police Department said that Ullah has been charged with- criminal possession of a weapon, support act of terrorism, and making terroristic threat. He reportedly told investigators that the recent Israeli actions in Gaza, which were consequences of U.S. President Donald Trump declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, compelled him to carry out the attack in New York, and that he was avenging attacks on the Islamic State (IS) group in the Middle East. However, there is no evidence that Akayed, who is an electrician, had any direct contact with the IS. The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC condemned the New York City terror attack and assured that Bangladesh Government was committed to its declared policy of 'Zero Tolerance' against terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Ottawa next week to discuss North Korea's nuclear programne with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as international tensions over Pyongyang's actions ramp up. According to iPolitics, Tillerson also is expected to meet with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland during his one-day visit. Tillerson is expected to arrive in the nation's capital on December 19, local media reported. The visit comes ahead of an international diplomatic summit on the North Korea crisis in Vancouver in January, which Canada and the United States are set to co-host. In recent weeks, North Korea has fired nuclear missiles over Japan as it works to strengthen its nuclear programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The fourth day of the defence arguments in the efforts of the Government of India to extradite liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the UK was marked by questions over the role of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and its special director, Rakesh Asthana, as well as the Enforcement Directorate, by a London-based political economist. Professor Lawrence Saez, an expert defence witness, was brought in to reaffirm Mallya's long-standing contention that the case against him is politically motivated. Saez, a professor in Political Economy of Asia in the Department of Politics at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), University of London, said, "The politicisation of cases such as this is widespread. It will continue to have political value. The next general election is scheduled for 2019 and if there isn't any conclusion to this case, it will be used for political purposes by both the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)." Further drawing attention towards the "lack of independence" of the CBI, Professor Saez said, "I'm a student of Indian political institutions. There have been alarm bells raised about its independence by former CBI directors as well as the Supreme Court, which labelled the CBI as a 'caged parrot' of its masters. An institution which cannot act autonomously and independently without political interference." "This is a fact that is widely accepted as true in India. It is unfortunate for those of us who want to see India prosper. It has remained true despite the change in governments. In recent years both with the Congress, and especially with the BJP, there has been far less independence in the CBI than its formative early years," he added. He also highlighted research conducted between 1988 and 2009 that looked at the correlation between election cycles and the number of corruption cases registered. Professor Saez cited an academic study published in The Economic and Political Weekly that indicated that election campaigns saw an increase in anti-corruption cases, suggesting political manipulation of anti-corruption agencies such as the CBI. The government, in its response to Professor Saez's testimony, pointed to the CBI's investigation of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination as an example of the competence and independence of the CBI. Professor Saez responded by claiming that there had been serious breaches of protocol in the case by CBI officer in that case too. The court also heard of the controversial circumstances leading to the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the special director of CBI. Professor Saez reiterated his contention that even though Asthana was not proved to have done anything wrong, the accusations against him undermined the integrity of the CBI. In response, Mark Summers of the Crown Prosecution Service representing the Indian Government pointed to the fact that the Supreme Court had approved the appointment of Asthana as the special director of the CBI. Professor also cited concerns about the independence of the ED. He mentioned the Herald case and ruling BJP MP's aiding and abetting in the ED's investigations of Congress politicians. Professor Saez also said Mallya should not be held responsible for the poor lending decisions of the bankers. In the previous hearing on Monday, a senior British executive of the Force India Formula One team, appearing as the defence witness for Mallya, vehemently denied the Indian government's allegation that the Force India Formula 1 racing team was used to illegally channel money to the liquor baron. Mallya's extradition trial began at the London's Westminster court on December 4, wherein Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) outlined the Indian Government's case against him. The Indian government through CPS has been contending in the court that liquor baron had misled banks back home with regard to his company's net worth while seeking loan totalling around Rs 2,000 crore. Mallya, who has been out on bail since Scotland Yard executed an extradition warrant in April this year, will be in the dock for the duration of the trial scheduled to end on December 14. In the hearing on Wednesday, Alan Mitchell, a prison expert, will provide testimony. Written closing statements will be presented in the New Year. Bharti Airtel and Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing, announced that an affiliate of Warburg Pincus will acquire up to a 20% equity stake in Bharti Telemedia, the DTH arm of Airtel, for approximately $350 million. Of this, 15% stake will be sold by Bharti Airtel and the balance by another Bharti entity which holds 5% stake. Upon closing of the transaction, Airtel will own an 80% equity stake in Bharti Telemedia. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. Bharti Telemedia is one of the largest Direct-To-Home (DTH) paid TV service providers in India and offers services under the Airtel TV brand. It had approximately 14 million subscribers and approximately $550 million in revenues during the 12-month period ended 30 September 2017. Asain Paints said that the company has acquired 100% stake in Reno Chemicals Pharmaceuticals And Cosmetics (Reno), Mumbai consisting of 4950 equity shares of the face value of Rs 100 for an amount of Rs 159.52 crore. The transaction is with an objective of using the land and building of Reno to meet the company's growing infrastructure requirements. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. Wipro will be watched. Topcoder, the world's largest workforce marketplace for designers, developers, and data scientists, announced the launch of Hybrid Crowd, an extension of the Topcoder platform that enables enterprises to crowdsource work to public, private, and certified communities. Topcoder became a part of Wipro in November 2016. Hybrid Crowd is a first-of-its-kind platform that combines the power of Topcoder's 1.2 million member global community with the networks of technical talent that exist within every organization. Enterprises now have access to an integrated platform for crowdsourced talent which they can utilize to provision work to the right people at any stage of a project. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. InterGlobe Aviation said that Acquire proposes to sell up to 79.52 lakh equity shares representing 2.07% of the total paid up equity share capital of the company and IGE (Mauritius) proposes to sell 32.40 lakh equity shares representing 0.84% of the total paid up equity share capital of the company, on 13 December 2017 for non-retail investors only and on 14 December 2017 for retail investors and for non-retail investors who choose to carry forward their unallotted bids through a separate, designated window on the Stock Exchanges. The floor price of the offer is Rs 1130 per share. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. BEML has launched 5.4 ton, 3.1 cum bucket wheel loader BL30-1 at Excon Exhibition 2017 at Bangalore. This high performance and rugged wheel loader was designed and developed by BEML research and development (R&D). The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. BL30-1 front-end wheel loader is designed for maximum equipment utilization, with best-in-class fuel efficient engine, ergonomically designed cabin added to superior production performance. This wheel loader is suited for various loading applications and provide higher return on investment. Apart from this, BEML is showcasing other construction equipment such as BG605I and BG405A motor graders, BE220G hydraulic excavator, BL9H backhoe loader in this exhibition. NBCC (India) announced that it has secured new business valuing $23 million for social housing units in Mauritius. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. The company had earlier announced signing an agreement with the Republic of Mauritius for construction of social housing units in Mauritius valuing $22 million (Rs 150 crore approximately). Now, Government of Mauritius has increased the number of housing units and revised the project cost to $45 million (Rs 300 crore approximately). Accordingly, NBCC has secured new business valuing $23 million for social housing units in Mauritius. Gujarat Apollo Industries' net profit dropped 85.88% to Rs 1.96 crore on 28.77% slide in total income to Rs 27.29 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 12 December 2017. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry of Electronics and IT has been working to translate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, through digital inclusion. Digital India program was launched by the Government to ensure digital service delivery to the common people as well as to create new opportunities in the digital economy. Schemes such as BPO Promotion and Common Services Centres have helped us create digital inclusion and equitable growth. Growth of IT sector in India has traditionally remained confined to a few select urban clusters. Urban pockets like Delhi-NOIDA-Gurugram, Mumbai-Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru-Mysore and Chennai saw the concentration of majority of the IT companies. In 2014, it was decided to work towards spreading IT jobs across small towns of India. The objective was to create opportunities for the youth living in these areas so that they do not need to migrate to urban clusters. As a result, the India BPO Promotion Scheme was conceived. Given the special focus of the Government to develop the North East regions of India, the North East BPO Promotion Scheme was also conceived simultaneously. The schemes provide special incentives of upto Rs. 1 lakh per seat in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF). Disbursement of financial support under these schemes is directly linked with employment generation. These schemes provide special incentives for employment to women and Divyang, setting up operations in towns other than capital towns, generating employment beyond target and promoting local entrepreneurship. There are also special provisions for the Himalayan states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. A total of 48,300 seats under India BPO Promotion Scheme and 5000 seats under North East BPO Promotion Scheme have been distributed across different states in proportion to their populations. India BPO Promotion Scheme: After 4 rounds of open bidding process, 18,160 seats have been allocated to 109 units of 87 companies distributed across 60 locations of 19 states and Union Territories. Out of these, 76 units have started operations on 13,480 seats distributed across 48 locations of 17 states and Union Territories. It has already created an initial employment for 10,297 persons. Some of the new and interior locations where BPOs have started operations at Tirupati, Guntupalli, Rajamudry in Andhra Pradesh, Patna and Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Baddi and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Jaleshwar in Odisha, Kottakuppam, Madurai, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruppattur and Vellor in Tamil Nadu, KarimNagar in Telangana, Bhaderwah, Budgam, Jammu, Sopore and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, Aurangabad, Bhiwandi, Sangli and Wardha in Maharashtra, Bareilly, Kanpur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Detailed list of all locations is attached. After the 5th round of bidding that closed on 4th November, 2017, 68 companies submitted bids for 17,000 seats which are currently under evaluation. Out of these, 54 new companies have made a bid for 40 new towns taking the total number of possible locations to 88. Approximately, an additional 14,000 seats have been finalized and are being awarded. This takes the total number of allocated seats to 35,160. Bids have been received for locations like Chittoor, Mathura, Baitalpur (Deoria), Farukkhabad, Jahanabad, Gaya, Dalsinghsarai, Pathankot, Amritsar, Gwalior, Raisen, Sringeri, Udupi, Hubbali, Balasore, Cuttack, Puri, Ranchi, Deoghar, Vellore, Tirupur that are currently under evaluation. North East BPO Promotion Scheme: The government remains committed to rapid and comprehensive development in the North Eastern states of India. Integrating initiatives to improve connectivity and recognising the talent of the youth of North Eastern states, the government by setting-up the BPOs has given a massive push to development in the region. 1,630 seats have been allocated to 12 units of 11 companies across 5 states of North East India. Out of these, 7 units have started operations on 900 seats giving initial employment to 723 persons. Some of the locations where BPOs have commenced operations in the North East are Guwahati, Jorhat, Kohima, Imphal etc. After the 8th round of bidding that closed on 10th November, 2017, six companies have submitted their bids for an additional 550 seats, which are under evaluation. There are 5 new bidder who have bid for six new locations such as Diphu, Majuli, Kokrajhar and Silchar in Assam, Dimapur (Nagaland) and Agartala (Tripura). Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) DIC India hit 20% upper circuit at Rs 587.25 at 14:00 IST on BSE after the company said that it has identified a prospective buyer for the sale of company's land. The announcement was made during market hours today, 13 December 2017. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 81.06 points or 0.24% at 33,146.93. Spurt in volume was witnessed on the counter. On the BSE, 30,028 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 469 shares in the past one quarter. The stock was locked at a high of Rs 587.25 in intraday trade. The stock had hit a low of Rs 514 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 593.25 on 13 July 2017 and a 52-week low of Rs 432.65 on 9 June 2017. The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 9.18 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. DIC India said that at the meeting of the company's board of directors held today, 13 December 2017, it has identified a prospective buyer for the sale of company's land admeasuring around 12,830 square meters located Off Saki Vihar Road at Chandivali, Mumbai. DIC India is one of the largest companies in the Indian printing, publishing and packaging industry segment, serving top-of-the-line newspapers, magazines, packaging and printing establishments in the country. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sales rise 35.57% to Rs 19.97 crore Net profit of Gujarat Apollo Industries declined 85.88% to Rs 1.96 crore in the quarter ended September 2017 as against Rs 13.88 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2016. Sales rose 35.57% to Rs 19.97 crore in the quarter ended September 2017 as against Rs 14.73 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2016.19.9714.73-7.66-43.995.0414.494.4213.881.9613.88 Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) S&P Global Ratings S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term issuer credit rating on Indian Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd. (IIFCL). The outlook remains stable. The rating on IIFCL, which facilitates the financing of selected Indian infrastructure projects, reflects the company's position as a key agency of the Republic of India (unsolicited, BBB-/Stable/A-3), and is based on our view of an almost certain likelihood of timely extraordinary support from the Indian government to meet its debt obligations in case of financial stress. We have therefore equalized the rating on IIFCL with that on the sovereign. We base our assessment of an almost certain likelihood of extraordinary government support on our assessment of the following IIFCL characteristics: Its critical role as the entity responsible for providing long-term financing for viable infrastructure projects. Infrastructure is vital to supporting India's economy, given the country's size and level of development. Its integral link with the Indian government via 100% sovereign ownership, government appointments to the board of directors, strategies, and borrowing through operational and financial performance targets. The sovereign also provides regular capital injections, guarantees and permits it to issue tax-free bonds. Employee remuneration is determined in accordance with civil service protocols and India's auditor general is responsible for auditing IIFCL's annual accounts, which are then presented to parliament. We do not assign a stand-alone credit profile to IIFCL as we view the likelihood of government support as almost certain. In addition, we do not believe government support is currently subject to transition risk. IIFCL executes strategic governmental policies and is largely used as a vehicle to implement government policy. IIFCL's policy role and operating conditions are spelt out in the government's "Scheme For Financing Viable Infrastructure Projects Through A Special-Purpose Vehicle Called The India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd." (SIFTI). IIFCL's loans cannot exceed 20% of total project costs under its Direct Lending Scheme, but in the case of the Takeout Finance Scheme, it can go up to 30% of the project cost (inclusive of Direct Lending). The company can only fund commercially viable projects and these projects are typically set up with funds from other specialized institutions and via capital markets. We believe IIFCL's activities signal the critical role the government sees itself as providing in helping to achieve faster financial closure for infrastructure projects. However, in our view, the lack of predictability stemming from IIFCL's relatively short track record and the possible uncertain long-term viability of its public policy mandate temper these strengths. We consider that IIFCL's importance could reduce once the Indian capital markets mature and become more conducive to raising long-term capital for infrastructure projects. The government could then reduce, and even potentially withdraw, the guarantees it currently extends under SIFTI. The governments' guarantee facilities are reviewed every five years, or earlier if required. Nevertheless, IIFCL's current integral links to the central government are evident. The company is the first and only institution that is allowed to tap the country's foreign exchange reserves. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can lend up to US$5 billion to IIFCL (UK) with a government guarantee. These funds are then lent to Indian infrastructure companies for importing capital goods for projects in India. IIFCL follows regulatory norms applicable to nonbank finance companies (NBFCs) as stipulated by the RBI. IIFCL's capital adequacy has been comfortable at more than 19% against a stipulated 12% that the RBI imposes for IIFCL, which is below the 15% norm set for most other NBFCs. IIFCL has been fairly cautious in raising debt and its debt-to-equity ratio is less than 5x, against a stipulated maximum of 7x. The government provided significant guarantees to IIFCL during its initial years and currently guarantees about half of IIFCL's borrowings. The maximum amount of guarantees that IIFCL can draw upon depends on its funding requirements after consultation with the Ministry of Finance at the beginning of each fiscal year. The government has also consistently injected capital into the company since its inception. Following an Indian rupee (INR) 1 billion capital injection in May 2017, the total paid-up capital stood at INR41 billion. IIFCL's borrowings are incorporated into the Indian government's balance sheet. IIFCL's loan portfolio has a concentrated exposure to the infrastructure sector and is curtailed because of the company's limited history. IIFCL's profitability declined in the financial year ending March2017 (April 2016-March 2017), with return on average assets dropping to 0.1% from 1.1% in 2016 due to an increase in loan write-offs as well as IIFCL adopting accelerated provisioning. Loan write-offs were largely tied to delays, and environmental and legal challenges on key infrastructure projects. Systemwide, nonperforming loans in India have been relatively high in recent years because a number of infrastructure and industry projects have faced difficulties. We expect asset quality to remain a key variable that may continue to affect IIFCL's profitability. The stable outlook on IIFCL mirrors the outlook on the sovereign rating on India. It reflects our assessment that there is an almost certain likelihood of extraordinary government support for IIFCL over the next two years because IIFCL is a policy instrument to promote infrastructure financing. We believe IIFCL will continue to play a critical role in the Indian government's economic development plans and policies, regardless of the government's composition. That said, any sign of a change in IIFCL's policy role, a reduction in government support, or a move to significantly reduce the government's stake in IIFCL could erode the government's obligation or willingness to provide extraordinary support to the company. The ratings on IIFCL could face downward pressure if IIFCL's role or link with the government diminishes materially. This could occur due to a substantial change in the company's role. We would also lower the ratings on IIFCL if we downgrade the sovereign. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Financing Agreement for IBRD loan of USD 250 million (equivalent) for the Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) Project was today signed with the World Bank. The Financing Agreement was signed in New Delhi by Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs Shri Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank. The Objective of the project is to enhance institutional mechanisms for skills development and increase access to quality and market-relevant training for the work force. The Key result areas for the project include Institutional Strengthening at the National and State Levels for Planning, Delivering, and Monitoring High-Quality Market-Relevant Training; Improved Quality and Market Relevance of Skills Development Programs; Improved access to and completion of skills training for female trainees and other disadvantaged groups; and Expanding skills training through private-public partnerships (PPPs). The closing date for the project is 31st March, 2023. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China and India are most exposed to high corporate leverage risks Moody's Investors Service says that the banking systems in Asia Pacific overall show a stable outlook for 2018, but challenges are apparent in terms of long-term risks related to the high level of private-sector leverage. "Solvency metrics will be stable in most of the banking systems rated by Moody's in Asia Pacific, driven by a synchronized global recovery and moderate credit growth", says Eugene Tarzimanov, a Vice President and Senior Credit Officer for Moody's Financial Institutions Group. "Furthermore, bank funding and liquidity will remain strong, while most governments will maintain their supportive stance towards the banks, with a low likelihood that senior creditors will be required to bail-in banks," adds Tarzimanov. Of the 16 banking systems discussed, two have positive outlooks, one negative and the remaining 13 stable. Support for banks' asset quality comes from the steady global and regional economic recovery, as well as largely stable commodity prices, while problem loan ratios are steadying and problem loan coverage is generally strong. In addition, capital buffers have improved due to moderate growth in risk weighted assets and more stringent regulatory requirements, and profitability at the banks will be broadly stable in 2018. Funding and liquidity also remain a strength, and Asian banks are mostly deposit-funded with liquid balance sheets, while their reliance on wholesale funding is moderate. Meanwhile, banks in Australia and New Zealand -- which rely more heavily on wholesale funding -- have shown tangible improvements since 2008. However, the high level of private-sector leverage -- both corporate and household -- remains a medium-term risk but will not spill over into bank balance sheets in 2018. In this context, China and India are most exposed to high corporate leverage risks, while Australia, New Zealand and Korea are most exposed to household-related risks. Furthermore, real estate price appreciation is spurring housing loan growth and is linked to a rise in household leverage. Finally, Moody's expects that governments in the region will remain supportive of the banks, which provides uplift for senior unsecured and deposit ratings, and most economies are unwilling to introduce burden sharing through statutory bail-in for senior creditors. In Asia Pacific, the exception is Hong Kong, where the authorities have introduced a statutory bail-in regime that subjects senior unsecured creditors and uninsured depositors to the risk of burden sharing. Asia Pacific banks are also facing several secular trends. For example, rapid digitization of personal finances brings not only opportunities but also risks to the banks -- particularly as related to new entrants such as financial technology firms. Another trend is rapid population aging in some markets, which in the long run may undermine the banks' strong deposit-focused funding bases. The systems with stable outlooks in the advanced economies are Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and Taiwan; and for the emerging and developing economies, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Mongolia. Indonesia and Vietnam have positive outlooks, and Sri Lanka negative. 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 12 December 2017 Rico Auto Industries has signed the Joint Venture Agreement with Ultra Fairwood, Singapore on 12 December, 2017, to manufacture PODs (Autonomous Electric Vehicles to be run on dedicated track) for PRT (Personal Rapid Transport), GRT (Group Rapid Transport) or any variant thereof. The shareholding in the JV will be in ratio of 50:50. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unravelling just how vulnerable your details on your favourite websites are, a new study says that out of the top 1000 most visited sites on the Internet, ten are likely to be hacked every year. "No one is above this - companies or nation states -- it's going to happen; it's just a question of when," said the paper's senior author Alex C. Snoeren, Professor at the University of California San Diego in the US. One percent might not seem like much. But given that there are over a billion sites on the Internet, this means tens of millions of websites could be breached every year, said Joe DeBlasio, one of Snoeren's Ph.D. students and the paper's first author. "One per cent of the really big shops getting owned is terrifying," DeBlasio said. The computer scientists built and successfully tested a tool designed to detect when websites are hacked by monitoring the activity of email accounts associated with them. The team presented the tool at the ACM Internet Measurement Conference in London. The concept behind the tool, called Tripwire, is relatively simple. DeBlasio created a bot that registers and creates accounts on a large number of websites -- around 2,300 were included in their study. Each account is associated with a unique email address. The tool was designed to use the same password for the email account and the website account associated with that email. Researchers then waited to see if an outside party used the password to access the email account. This would indicate that the website's account information had been leaked. The researchers were surprised to find that almost one percent of the websites they tested had suffered a data breach during their 18-month study period, regardless of how big the companies' reach and audience are. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The fifth edition of 'Route 55', a 10 km walkathon event in the city, aimed at raising funds for the impoverished in the society, would be held on December 24, organisers said on Wednesday. The fundraising initiative organised by the alumni of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) in Howrah district's Sibpur and Belur Sramajibi Hospital, has been held since 2013 on the iconic bus route 55, a key link between Howrah and Kolkata, to help improve healthcare access for the poor. Organisers also plan to give out free health cards to at least 70 city bus drivers and conductors this year. "There are a number of walkathons and other mass running events in the city now but this one is unique as the entire fund raised in the event is donated to Belur Sramajibi Hospital that has been providing treatment to the impoverished at a nominal cost," said Ajay Kumar Roy, Director of IIEST, formerly known as Sibpur BE College. "This year the drivers, conductors and helpers of all the buses in that route would be given free health cards by the hospital which would enable them to get medical check ups and diagnostic tests for a year," he noted. About the title of the event, he said the route of the walk is significant to all the students of the century-old institute as most of them have used it during their days in college. "The route 55 was the only route to go to BE college in Howrah from Esplanade. So it can be said that most of the students of our institution for the last 161 years have used this route. The event was planned by the alumni as a tribute to the route," he noted. The organisers said, nearly 150 people including existing students and the alumni of IIEST from 15 Indian and international cities are expected to participate in the event and donate Rs 3,500, or approximately $55, each directly to the hospital. Hailing the initiative, the hospital authority said the donation received by them is used in infrastructural development to provide better treatment to its patients. "We use the donation for the development of our hospital. We are planning to open a blood bank next month. So all the donation of this walk event this year would be utilised in hat purpose," said Fanibhusan Bhattacharya, working president of the hospital. --IANS mgr/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Army on Wednesday deployed a team from the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) to trace three soldiers missing after an avalanche hit their post in Gurez Sector of the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. Defence Ministry sources said here that the HAWS team from Sonamarg was deployed at the spot on the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipora district after the avalanche on Tuesday morning. HAWS is the Army's training establishment for special operations in very high altitudes, glaciated, and snow-bound areas. --IANS sq/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The annual lighting of the Athens' Christmas tree on Syntagma square in front of the Greek parliament has been held, officially kicking off the holiday season celebrations in the Greek capital. Greeks will celebrate for the seventh consecutive year on an austerity budget compared to the pre-crisis levels, but plenty of optimism and hope for the future, Mayor of Athens Yiorgos Kaminis said on Tuesday before switching on the Christmas tree lights. "We wish to spread joy and optimism... Over the past two years the signs of the city's recovery are obvious. We are very proud," Kaminis told Xinhua news agency. "This year, 2017, ends with an all time record of visitors (to Athens). With five million visitors we have every reason to be optimistic," he said. According to the latest financial indexes, the economy of debt-laden Greece is on the mend nearing the exit of the crisis and the mood out in the streets during the festive season is changing despite the remaining problems and challenges. Hundreds of people danced to the rhythm of Christmas songs performed by the Athens Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra and the Athens jazz Big Band during Tuesday's event. At least 220 outdoor and indoor festive events for children and adults are included in the municipality's holiday program over the next four weeks, according to a press announcement. Athens will usher the New Year with a big concert by renowned Greek artists at the pedestrian walkway at the foot of the Acropolis hill. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by former Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy in which he had accused the West Bengal government of tapping his phone, after the state police authorities denied it. As Justice Vibhu Bakhru was informed by the state Director General of Police, Crime Investigation Department, and the Kolkata Police Commissioner through an affidavit that there was no "interception" of his phones, the court dismissed Roy's plea. Reading from a state police affidavit submitted in a sealed cover, Justice Bakhru said: "Apprehensions expressed by the petitioner are without basis and incorrect. The petitioner's apprehensions are unfounded." "At no point of time has an order been issued to intercept or tap any of the four (phone) numbers mentioned by the petitioner (Roy)," the Judge said after going through the affidavit. Roy, who has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had approached the High Court that his mobile phone was being tapped for many months now. He had sought direction to his telecom service provider to submit in the court if any communication was issued by the Centre or the West Bengal government to intercept telephonic messages originating from or received by him or any of his relatives. The West Bengal politician had claimed the state government had been tapping the phones of several other persons not belonging to the ruling TMC. BJP ally Hindustan Awami Morcha (HAM) chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's much-hyped prohibition policy in Bihar and termed it a failure. "Prohibition has failed in Bihar. Several state government officials including Secretary-level officers have been consuming liquor in the dry state. It can be confirmed if the state government orders a probe," Manjhi said here while addressing party workers at a dharna. Manjhi's HAM is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and ever since the Nitish Kumar-led faction of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) joined hands with the BJP and formed the state government last July, he is said to not be comfortable. Manjhi has already hinted that was a game of possibilities, and therefore, he could change sides. He has further expressed his displeasure over prohibition, saying it had been harming the age-old culture of tribals and Dalits, because they would offer liquor to different deities. Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has already declared prohibition a big failure. Only two days ago, Nitish Kumar demanded "total prohibition across India" and stressed the need for it. "When Gujarat implemented a liquor ban, Bihar also proved that it can be banned in any state. So, why not ban it in the entire country?" he said. --IANS ik/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Wednesday attacked the Congress for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices after a court here found former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda guilty in a coal block allocation case and Delhi Police arrested its MLA in a money laundering case. Addressing the media here, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the Koda government was backed by the Congress when the scam occurred, which put the party and the previous UPA government in the dock. The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday pronounced Koda and three others guilty of criminal conspiracy in the coal scam case, in which they allegedly illegally ensured allocation of a Jharkhand coal block to a Kolkata-based firm. Goyal also said that three-time former Congress MLA from Delhi Rajesh Jain was arrested last month allegedly for converting black money through shell companies and hawala after demonetisation. "Madhu Koda was propped up by Ahmed Patel. The party made Independent legislator Koda the Chief Minister. And at that time, the Jharkhand government was being run by Congress leaders from Delhi. The UPA government had then allocated coal blocks in the 36th screening committee (meeting)," Goyal said. "All this put then Jharkhand government and the Congress-led UPA government in the dock. The allegations have been proved now... Congress compromised with the national interest and the losses incurred are estimated to be Rs 1.86 lakh crore, as per then CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General)." Responding to the Congress' demand for a discussion on corruption under the present regime, he said: "BJP governments are not involved in corruption. So, there is no such talk. However, cases of corruption by Congress are coming out again and again. The Congress leadership must answer." Referring to Rajesh Jain's case, Goyal said it proved why the Congress was opposed to demonetisation. "Congress must tell whether it will support the (BJP) government in making the country free of corruption and black money or oppose it." Reacting to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi's interview to a local news channel post the campaigning period, Goyal said Gandhi had violated the model code of conduct. "As per law, the Election Commission is supposed to take action in the case as we understand interview cannot be given within 48 hours before the polling. We are hopeful that the Election Commission will take cognizance of it and take proper action." He also took a dig at the Congress-led alliance in the state, calling it "unholy". The minister said the BJP was confident of bagging more than 150 seats in the Gujarat Assembly election and that the undercurrent was anti-Congress. "It forced the President-elect to violate the model code of conduct and give an interview to channel (when the code was in force)," he said. "BJP was written off in Uttar Pradesh before the elections. However, we got over 80 per cent of seats while Congress could get just seven." He also said the BJP believed that Hindu God Ram existed and no damage should be done to the Ram Setu. Holding the erratic monsoon responsible for the hike in vegetable prices, he said the government would ensure fast distribution to cool off the prices. He said the government had "finalised" the framework for commercial mining and it was expected to be sent to the Cabinet "shortly". --IANS rak-spk/nir/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Parliament on Wednesday gave conditional approval to move the negotiations onto the second phase, although it added an amendment calling for agreements adopted on citizens rights and the divorce bill in the preliminary stages to be written into a legal document. The vote edges the UK and the EU closer to talks on a future trade deal but the amendment calling for phase one commitments to be legally enshrined and concerns raised about comments made by Secretary David Davis suggesting the agreements were merely "a statement of intent," demonstrated the European Parliament's caution heading into stage two. "By 556 votes to 62, the European Parliament has just confirmed its conditional support for the Article 50 talks to move to Phase 2," according to a statement cited by Efe news. "But, the European Parliament resolution adopted today makes clear that phase 1 commitments entered into the Joint Report should be translated into a legal text asap," it added. Following a crunch meeting in Brussels on Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker announced a breakthrough in the first phase of talks. It suggested that sufficient progress had been made on the rights of EU citizens in the UK and vice-versa, the so-called Brexit divorce bill that could see London pay some $52 billion to leave the bloc and the issue of maintaining a soft border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, a UK territory. It was widely regarded as a success for May, who had to overcome a rebellion not just from a regional Northern Irish party that supports her government but also from her own backbenchers over the future status of Northern Ireland. Speaking on British TV days later, however, Davis suggested that the agreements would not be legally binding, a statement that caught the attention of Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit spokesperson, who signed an amendment to the Council's resolution directly raising concerns about Davis' remarks. It said his comments "risked undermining the good faith that has been built during the negotiations". The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 after narrowly voting in favour of Brexit in June 2016. After a month of heavy exchange of fire with Pakistan, it was finally the BSF's "Operation Arjun" that brought the Pakistani border guards to commit themselves to a peaceful resolution of issues, say defence officials. "Operation Arjun", targeting farms and residences of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers and retired Pakistani Army officers, was unleashed after heavy Pakistani firing and shelling killed Border Security Force constable K.K. Appa Rao on August 25. Rao, deployed with BSF's 192 Battalion in Jammu sector's Budhwar border outpost, fell victim to snipers of the Pakistan Rangers. An official document accessed by IANS revealed that "Operation Arjun" continued till September 24, with the BSF using small and medium arms as well as aerial weapons, causing heavy casualties and damage on the Pakistani side. This led to more heavy firing and intermittent shelling by the Pakistanis in the Akhnoor, Jammu and Samba sectors, mostly targeting BSF posts and civilian-inhabited areas in Jammu and Kashmir. In the month-long cross-border firing between August 25 and September 24, seven Pakistan Rangers personnel and militant infiltrators as well as 11 Pakistani civilians were killed. "As many as 35 Pakistan Rangers were also injured in BSF's retaliatory firing." Firing by Pakistan Rangers also claimed the lives of a BSF trooper and a civilian, the document showed, adding that six BSF personnel and 16 civilians were also injured in the ceasefire violations by the Rangers. But "Operation Arjun" dramatically changed the situation, leading to the Pakistan Rangers initiating a request at the level of Director General for bi-annual border talks in a bid to end the spiralling clashes. "Operation Arjun" followed the equally successful 2016 "Operation Rustam" by the BSF. The BSF forced the Pakistan Rangers to silence their guns gradually and then talk, the document noted. As a result, the Rangers' Director General told BSF chief K.K. Sharma they were ready for DG-level bi-annual border talks in New Delhi, the document said. Three days of talks between the two sides took place from November 8 -- after a gap of over one year. At the conference, the BSF chief said the dialogue was a limited success. "My feeling is these conferences are held in a very friendly atmosphere and both sides are eager to make things better. Unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is such that not much headway takes place on the actual ground, I am sorry to say," Sharma told IANS. "The limited takeaway was that a dialogue started after a long gap," Sharma added. According to Sharma, the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 1,020 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces in the last one year, followed by numerous attempts by militants to sneak into India. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) --IANS rak/mr/ky/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An investigation into a gold heist in Chennai claimed the life of a Tamil Nadu Police Inspector who was shot dead on Wednesday by an alleged burglar in Rajasthan who then escaped. Police sources said Periyapandi, 48, was shot by one of the alleged robbers, Nathuram, after snatching the officer's revolver at Jaitaran in Pali district. Periyapandi was part of a special team of Chennai police set up to solve the robbery in the Tamil Nadu capital last month. The criminals had escaped with 3.5 kg of gold after drilling a hole in a jewellery shop's ceiling in Kolathur area. The Chennai police team was in Rajasthan for further investigation. On a tip off, a team of seven police personnel went to Jaitaran and caught Nathuram on Wednesday. As he was being led away, he snatched Periyapandi's revolver and opened fire, killing the Inspector on the spot. Nathuram then escaped. Some others were injured in the firing and were rushed to a hospital. Additional Superintendent of Police Jyotiswaroop Sharma of Rajasthan Police told IANS that the Chennai police acted unilaterally in the operation. But he said the Rajasthan Police were extending all cooperation to their colleagues from Tamil Nadu. The Inspector's body had been sent for postmortem to Jodhpur after which it would be flown to Chennai, he added. --IANS arc/mr/soni (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation into the mysterious death of Hindu activist Paresh Mesta to the CBI, police said. "The state government has decided to handover the inquiry into the death of Mesta to the CBI on the request of his father Kamalakar Mesta," Inspector General of Police, Western Range, Hemant Nimbalkar told IANS from Karwar. "I have directed the state Director General of Police and Chief Secretary to complete the formalities and hand over the probe to the CBI at the earliest," state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters here later. The 19-year-old's mutilated body was found on December 8 floating in a lake at Honnavar, a coastal town in Uttara Kannada district, about 490km northwest of Bengaluru. According to Mesta's family, he went missing on December 6. "My son did not return home after visiting a temple on December 6. There were clashes in the town that day after which he was found missing. We suspect he was kidnapped and murdered. I want his killers punished," his father told reporters at Honnavar earlier on Wednesday. Police, however, denied Mesta's family charge that he was abducted and killed by some members of another community. "Mesta's body has been sent for autopsy, whose report will reveal the cause of his death. The report is expected in 8-10 days," said Reddy. Suspecting foul play, the opposition BJP demanded a National Investigation Agency or Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Mesta's unnatural death, alleging that he was "murdered by Jihadi elements". Mesta's death sparked off unrest in the coastal towns of Kumta, Sirsi and Honnavar during the last two days, as hundreds of BJP cadres and right-wing activists held protest rallies and sought action against the alleged killers. --IANS fb/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese authorities are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints and other biometric data of millions of people in the country's far western Xinjiang region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Wednesday. Officials are also building a database of eye scans and blood types of everyone aged between 12 and 65 in the region, adding to controls in a place some experts called an "open-air prison", the Guardian reported. The data can be used for "surveillance of persons because of ethnicity, religion, opinion or other protected exercise of rights like free speech", Human Rights Watch said. Xinjiang has long been subject to tight controls and is home to over 11 million Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic minority. Heavily armed troops in the region are a common sight. Authorities frequently hold mass rallies in the region to bolster their support in the fight against the Islamic extremists Beijing blames for a series of attacks on government officials and civilians. But rights groups said most of the violence stemmed from restrictions on religion, culture, language and expression as well as a lack of economic opportunities in the impoverished region. According to HRW, part of the collection was being done through government-provided medical check-ups and it was unclear if patients were aware that the exam was also designed to transmit biometric data to the police. Although the checks were officially voluntary, one Uighur said local cadres "had demanded that they must participate in the physicals". Nearly 19 million people participated in the medical exams, dubbed "Physicals for All" in 2017, state news agency Xinhua reported. "The mandatory databanking of a whole population's biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms," said Sophie Richardson, China director at HRW. However, officials in the region claimed the scheme was meant to improve policies aimed at poverty alleviation. They also said it was targeted at "social stability". Police in Xinjiang bought DNA sequencers from the US company Thermo Fisher Scientific, according to HRW. The company refused to directly address its products being used in Xinjiang, saying: "We do expect all of our customers to act in accordance with appropriate regulations and industry-standard best practices." The Ministry of Public Security and the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region government did not comment on the move. --IANS soni/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland on Wednesday praised India's initiative of Smart Cities and zero balance accounts (Jan Dhan) scheme as "innovative" and "smart". "India is leading the way with commitment and innovation that is smart and transformative for the way in which we live, learn and work together," Scotland said. She was speaking on the challenge of climate change and sustainable development at an event organised by think-tank Observer Research Foundation here. "A smarter future is more than simply a technologically advanced future... We see social and economic inclusion as being inextricably intertwined and interlinked. Each is vital in building resilience and reducing vulnerability. "This calls for upholding human rights under rule of law with impartial access to justice. And this is reflected in the excellent Smart Cities mission of the Indian government," she said. By providing for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, it aims to develop the "entire urban ecosystem which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development -- institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure", she said. Scotland said that such smart approaches to social inclusion encompass inter-generational justice with due attention paid to the needs, aspirations and dignity of all demographics. Drawing the attention towards the challenge of climate change, which she said was one of the biggest and most urgent challenges, the official stressed that it needed to be tackled with a combined effort. Earlier, Rudendra Tandon, Joint Secretary (UNP) in the External Affairs Ministry, said that India is planning to step up its engagement with the Commonwealth. "We do plan to step up our engagement because we see the London Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (slated for April 2018) as an important stepping stone for revitalisation of this multilateral platform which actually delivers a lot of utility to a lot of countries," Tandon said. --IANS mak/him/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following the Election Commission notice to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi for allegedly violating the poll code, the Congress on Wednesday asked the poll panel to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech at at Ficci on eve of Gujarat polls' second phase. It also said that the Prime Minister had misused the business chamber's platform to attack Congress and an FIR must be registered against Modi. The party also demanded that EC should immeditely withdraw "the order, if any, directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Congress President". The Election Commission on Wednesday shot off a notice to Gandhi for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct by giving election-related interviews to TV channels a day prior to the second phase polling in Gujarat, and asked him to respond by December 18. A Congress delegation led by senior party leader Ashok Gehlot met the Election Commission after the notice to Rahul Gandhi. "BJP was putting pressure on the EC to file an FIR against the press. Journalists are being suppressed. "By the same standards, we urged the Election Commission to that in 2014, one day before the elections, Modiji gave interviews to many news channels. "Election Commission did not take any action against him," said Congress spokesperson Randeeep Singh Surjewala after meeting the EC. "Narendra Modi entered the polling booth to cast his vote and openly showed the BJP symbol. No action was taken by Election Commission," he said. The party also said that for the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9, the campaign period ended at 5 p.m. on December 7 but despite that Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley accompanied by BJP and other leaders held a press conference in Ahmedabad in the afternoon of December 8. "Not only this, they proceeded to release the election manifesto of the BJP. EC took no action," said Surjewala. "BJP President Amit Shah gave extensive TV interviews at Ahmedabad Airport today (Wednesday), which were televised by the same channels. "He also issued a statement criticizing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Even this statement was also televised by the same news channels. EC has taken no action," he added. In a memorandum submitted to EC, the party also said that Union Minister Piyush Goel held two press conferences on Wednesday on Gujarat, which were televised, but, the EC took no action. "In case, the yardsticks of violation of Model Code of Conduct is to be applied as is being done by EC, order registration of FIR against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goel, Jeetu Baghani and other BJP leaders for flouting the Code of Conduct. "Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state that aforesaid apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion," it said. --IANS sid/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura's ruling CPI-M and the BJP on Wednesday accused each other of damaging Hindu idols to fuel communal tensions ahead of Assembly polls in February. Bijan Dhar, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state Secretary, said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party had damaged the idols of goddesses in at least six different places in the state. "These were done to create communal tensions in Tripura before the Assembly election," said Dhar. He said police arrested some people, including BJP and RSS members, in connection with the incidents. One of the BJP workers was a former militant. The BJP refuted the accusations and blamed the Left for the sacrilege. The reports of damage to idols first appeared in the CPI-M mouthpiece 'Daily Desher Katha', BJP Tripura President Biplab Kumar Deb told the media. "(By) creating communal tension and ethnic trouble, the CPI-M has remained in power for around 25 years. They always divided people on communal and ethnic lines," he said. --IANS sc/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The movement of nomads, vagabonds and hawkers will be restricted on Goa's beaches so that tourists are not disturbed, the government said on Wednesday. Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar told the Assembly that Lamanis, members of a nomadic tribe, harass tourists who frequent coastal regions. "Any person who disturbs the tourists and hampers tourism will not be allowed to do so," said Ajgaonkar. He said the India Reserve Battalion police force, tourist wardens and the Tourist Security Force had been deployed to restrict the movement of vagabonds and hawkers and check "illegal activities" on the beaches of north and south Goa. Lamanis are a nomadic community from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, many thousands of whom are settled in Goa. They are engaged in a variety of businesses on the coastal belt. In May, Lamanis in Goa protested against Ajgaonkar for demanding a ban on them. Goa attracts more than six million tourists every year, half a million of whom are foreigners. --IANS maya/him/mr (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 Delhi government on Wednesday decided to act strictly against private schools that arbitrarily increased school fees citing the Seventh Pay Commission revision as reason. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia chaired a meeting at the Secretariat on Wednesday on several complaints of arbitrary increase in fees by schools in the name of Seventh Pay Commission revision, an official told IANS. On Thursday, all MLAs are scheduled to meet officials of the Education Department, with complaints from their respective constituencies on the issue. The meeting is expected to be attended by Kejriwal and Sisodia. --IANS nkh/umer/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The economies of developing countries of Asia are expected to record a six per cent growth in 2017, a decimal higher than the September-forecast, the Asian Development Bank said on Wednesday. The bank, headquartered here in the Philippines, kept the 2018 GDP growth forecast at 5.8 per cent and attributed the elevated forecast for 2017 to stronger exports and domestic consumption, Efe news reported. "Developing Asia's growth momentum, supported by recovering exports, demonstrates that openness to trade remains an essential component of inclusive economic development," ADB's Chief Economist, Yasuyuki Sawada, said in a statement. According to the ADB, higher growth in Central, East and Southeast Asia compensated for the deceleration in South Asia, which continued to be the fastest growing region despite slowing down, with forecasts of 6.5 per cent for 2017 and seven per cent for 2018. The bank predicted a 6.2 per cent growth in 2017 for East Asia, two decimal points higher than the earlier prediction, due to resilient consumption in China - where 6.8 per cent growth has been predicted - and maintained a 5.8 per cent forecast for the region in 2018. For Southeast Asia, the forecast was 5.2 per cent for both 2017 and 2018, a rise of two and one decimal points, respectively. The forecast for Central Asia has been revised from 3.3 to 3.6 per cent for 2017 while maintaining a 3.9 per cent prediction for 2018, while the Pacific region is expected to grow at 2.9 per cent this year and 3.2 per cent in the next, same as predicted earlier. The ADB also revised forecasts for combined growth for the major industrial economies upward to 2.2 per cent for 2017 and two per cent for 2018, owing to strong domestic demand in the euro area, and private investment in Japan. --IANS in/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it would hear on December 14 the plea of former Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav challenging his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha. Justice Vibhu Bakhru posted the matter for Thursday as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, urged the court to hear it urgently as the parliament session would start soon. Challenging his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha, Yadav said he was not given any chance to defend his case by the authorities before passing the order against him. On December 4, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Rajya Sabha Chairman, disqualified rebel JD-U leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar as members of the Upper House of Parliament. The JD-U had sought their disqualification on the grounds that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its direction. Naidu had agreed with the JD-U's contention that the two senior leaders had "voluntarily given up" their membership by defying their party's directives. Yadav and Ansari and a section of the JD-U fell out with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after the latter broke away from the "Mahagathbandhan" (Grand Alliance) with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress to re-align with the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier in 2017. Yadav was elected to the House in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in 2022 and Anwar's term was to expire in 2018. In November, the Election Commission ruled that the Nitish Kumar-led faction was the real JD-U and also allowed it to use the "arrow" symbol. --IANS gt/in/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hollywood actor Adam Driver's villainous Kylo Ren might have managed to intimidate the audience with his brutal act and black cloak teamed up with a helmet. But he doesn't see his "Star Wars" character as the "bad guy", and says he doesn't know what being "pure evil" is, as he believes there are "more scary" people in the world. The "Girls" actor joined the "Star Wars" franchise with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", which released in 2015. He has returned as the villain for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi", set to hit the screens on Friday. Asked if it is difficult to play the bad guy rather than the hero, Driver said in a recorded response to a question by IANS: "I don't think of him as the bad guy. I don't know what being pure evil is. That seems like something that doesn't sustain itself. I thought of him as a good guy in his world. "I thought of him as more like... what he is doing is right as opposed to what he is doing is evil because there are people who think that they are right and can't hear another side because they are sure that this is right. There is no limit to what they will do to ensure that their agenda is pushed." That to him is "more scary and unpredictable". Irrespective of his character's dark side, he has a strong fan following, especially among children. "It's great. I live in New York. There are lots of kids in my building; so I kind of supply them with masks, and motivation to be evil to their parents," he quipped during a press interaction in Tokyo. But he doesn't enjoy "a lot of attention". Among other things, he feels it seems to counter his job. "My job is to be anonymous, to make mistakes and live life and observe. When you feel like you are the one being observed, it's a weird calibration." What moves him is that "Star Wars" is a "cross-generational thing, so families sit down together" to watch it. "For me, that's moving. I didn't anticipate that when I took up this job," he said. On being on the sets of "Star Wars", he said: "Sometimes I am and sometimes I am not (in character). It all depends on what day it is and whom I am doing the scenes with. 'Star Wars' that you see is an action-adventure-family drama but in between takes on the set, it's pure comedy. "Stormtroopers trying to find how to go to the bathroom, puppets not working and giving everyone the finger... it's hilarious. So sometimes it's hard to stay focussed." He watched "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" a few weeks ago. "I try not to watch everything because I know what was going on when we were shooting it, but apart from that I don't find it helpful in a lot of ways. It makes you more self-cautious. "I would like to be there for the people I am acting with and not just trying hard to make it look good or perfect just trying to be available, but for something like this that's so huge, the visual part is missing when you are shooting it. "On the sets, I hear voices behind me that say things like, 'Trust us there is space behind you'. So there was a visual element that I was missing, so I wanted to watch it for that." And it's interesting to watch, he feels. "What (director) Rian Johnson has done this time is something that's never been seen before in a 'Star Wars' movie, which is exciting," said Driver. The film will continue the story of Rey's (Daisy Ridley's) journey to find her place in the galaxy with the help of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). (Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in) --IANS nn/rb/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following the Election Commission notice to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi for allegedly violating the model poll code, the Congress on Wednesday asked the poll panel to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech at at Ficci on eve of Gujarat polls' second phase. Arguing that the Prime Minister had misused the business chamber's platform to attack Congress and an FIR must be registered against Modi, it cited more examples of the Model Code of Conduct's (MCC) violation by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and questioned the poll panel's silence on it. The Congress also demanded that EC should immeditely withdraw "the order, if any, directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Congress President", while saying that Modi is going to make an attempt on Thursday again to influence the elections. "It is EC's duty to take steps. We have also submitted examples and video proof," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. The EC on Wednesday shot off a notice to Gandhi for allegedly violating the by giving election-related interviews to TV channels a day prior to the second phase polling in Gujarat, and asked him to respond by December 18. A Congress delegation led by senior party leader Ashok Gehlot met the EC after the notice to Gandhi. He was accompanied by Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ahmed Patel. "BJP was putting pressure on the EC to file an FIR against the press. Journalists are being suppressed. "By the same standards, we urged the Election Commission to that in 2014, one day before the elections, Modiji gave interviews to many news channels. "Election Commission did not take any action against him," said Surjewala after the meeting. "Narendra Modi entered the polling booth to cast his vote and openly showed the BJP symbol. No action was taken by Election Commission," he said. The party also said that for the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9, the campaign period ended at 5 p.m. on December 7 but despite that Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley accompanied by BJP and other leaders held a press conference in Ahmedabad in the afternoon of December 8. "Not only this, they proceeded to release the election manifesto of the BJP. EC took no action," said Surjewala. "BJP President Amit Shah gave extensive TV interviews at Ahmedabad Airport today (Wednesday), which were televised by the same channels. "He also issued a statement criticizing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Even this statement was also televised by the same news channels. EC has taken no action," he added. Sharma told reporeters that Election Commission heard them and said "'hum isko dekhenge' (we'll see)". In a memorandum submitted to EC, the party also said that Union Minister Piyush Goel held two press conferences on Wednesday on Gujarat, which were televised, but, the EC took no action. "In case, the yardsticks of violation of Model Code of Conduct is to be applied as is being done by EC, order registration of FIR against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goel, Jeetu Baghani and other BJP leaders for flouting the Code of Conduct. The party also pointed out that on the day of the polling i.e. December 9, Narendra Modi proceeded to hold four public meetings in Gujarat - in Lunawada, Bodeli, Anand and Mehsana. "Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state that aforesaid apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion," it said. --IANS sid/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jain leader Tarun Sagar on Wednesday urged the government to enforce a two-child norm. He told the media that strict action should be taken against everyone who have more than two children. This policy should be applicable to people of all castes and religions, he added. --IANS arc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as Palestine's capital while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any US involvement in the peace process. Addressing a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) here, Erdogan called on countries to recognize "Jerusalem as the capital city of the occupied Palestine" while Abbas urged the world to recognize the state of Palestine, Xinhua news agency reported. Erdogan described his US counterpart Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision a "threat to all humanity" and called on Washington to withdraw the "wrong, provocative and unlawful" decision. "The US decision ... means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," he said. "The US has lost its mediator role in the Israel-Palestine peace process and we will never allow in the future that the US takes part in the process," Abbas said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the US decision on Jerusalem. --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Facebook on Wednesday announced a virtual reality (VR) programme in partnership with Bengaluru-based Startup Village Collective (SV.CO) to help students in the country build their ideas into globally marketable products and services. The new VR programme under SV.CO's School of Innovation will provide a platform for nearly four million engineering students across 3,300 colleges to learn how to build innovative products while they are in college and get polished under the guidance of the industry experts. "India is host to one of the largest community of developers and is also one of the fastest growing regions for start-ups. The School of Innovation programme is our investment into skill for tomorrow. We want to make sure, that we have invested in not only helping the communities in building products today, but also in building a world for tomorrow," Satyajeet Singh, Head of Platform Partnerships, Facebook India and South Asia, told reporters here. "The new programme is a step forward, in realising our vision of building an ecosystem that inspires innovation and empowers young talent to build products using emerging technologies such as VR that will shape the future of businesses," Singh added. As part of the new VR-based programme, top 10 student teams from across 3,300 engineering colleges in India will be selected to build a next generation VR product idea they have. The selected teams will be on-board the SV.CO Online Learning Platform for a six-month programme that includes online and in-person learning to progress their idea, build a low and high-fidelity prototype and finally launch to customers. The successful teams will be selected and given an opportunity to represent their product in front of a leadership panel on demo day, to be organised at Facebook India office in January 2019. "Startup ecosystem in India is plagued by the notion that they are copycats of the US models. We need to change this perception that our startups only hop into the bandwagon while others blaze the trail," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman at SV.CO -- India's first digital incubator for students. "The VR platform, in throwing open uncharted areas, provides us just that opportunity. And we are a happy partner with Facebook which recognises the potential of bright 18-22 year olds in Indian colleges in working wonders with the new technology," Vijayakumar said. --IANS rt/umer/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With political pressure mounting on digital giants to pay more taxes, Facebook has announced plans to move to a local selling structure in countries where it has an office -- a move aimed at paying tax in the country where profits are earned. Currently, advertising revenue supported by Facebook's local teams are recorded by its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. The change in its selling structure announced on Tuesday means that advertising revenue supported by the local teams would be recorded by its office in that country. "We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally supported sales in their countries," Dave Wehner, Chief Financial Officer, Facebook, wrote in a blog post. The social media giant is expected to start paying tax on its local operations across roughly 30 jurisdictions outside the US including France, Germany and eight other EU countries where it has local offices, according to Politico.eu. "It is our expectation that we will make this change in countries where we have a local office supporting advertisers in that country. That said, each country is unique, and we want to make sure we get this change right," Wehner said "We plan to implement this change throughout 2018, with the goal of completing all offices by the first half of 2019," Wehner added. The company has been under pressure from the US and Europe for its tax practices. The European Commission feels that digital companies pay less tax than it should. --IANS ksc/gb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A giant species of penguins, which had the size of an adult human, inhabited New Zealand between 55 and 60 million years ago, scientific researchers revealed on Wednesday. A group of researchers from Germany and New Zealand revealed in a study published in the scientific journal Nature Communications that this ancient species measured about 1.65 meters on foot, or about 1.77 meters from its tail to the top of its head, and weighed about 100 kg. The fossils, which were discovered in 2004 on some rocks near Hampden Beach in South Island of New Zealand, suggested that it was one of the largest penguins in history. In comparison, the Emperor Penguin, the largest species living now, measures around 1.22 meters and weighs 23 kg. Alan Tennyson, a scientist from New Zealand who worked with Gerald Mayr, the lead author of the study and a German scientist from the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Natural History Museum of Frankfurt, commented that it was difficult to determine what these ancient penguins would look like in real life. Tennyson said in a telephone conversation with Efe that "it's difficult to determine exactly what it would have looked like in life, but it would have been very impressive, as tall as many people, and a very solid, muscly animal built to withstand frequent deep dives to catch its prey." Tennyson, also a paleontologist at the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand, added that "the discovery of this incredible creature tells us how the earth changed over time". Due to its height, these penguins are named "Kumimanu biceae", which combines two Maori words - "Kumi", meaning a monstrous animal, and "Manu", a bird - while "Bice" is added at the end in honor of Tennyson's mother Beatriz. The discovery of Kumimanu biceae shows that many species of flightless birds, like these and other penguins which inhabited the Antarctic and other parts of the southern Hemisphere, were also very tall. The extinction of their predators such as dinosaurs or marine reptiles allowed these birds to grow in size as they did not have to fly. However, these large-sized penguins finally vanished 20 million years ago. "Their extinction could have been triggered by the evolution of seals and other toothed marine mammals that ate them or competed for access to food," Tennyson said. Although the fossils of the Kumimanu biceae, which comprise parts of its body and legs, were found in 2004, the rocks that housed the ancient remains were stored for several years and only in 2015 was the relevant paleontological work carried out. Tennyson further explained that fragments of fossils previously found in Antarctica indicated that there could be penguins that measured about 2 meters high such as the Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, but the fossils found of the Kumimanu biceae are more diverse and prove that the proportions were more consistent with the calculated height of 1.65 meters. "We therefore conclude that K. biceae is among the largest fossil penguins reported so far and may have been exceeded only in size by the above-mentioned fragmentary P. klekowskii specimens from the Eocene of Antarctica," said the report. --IANS mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Alleging that the Narendra Modi government's proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill would create problems for bank depositors in getting their money back, CPI-M politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra on Wednesday urged people to join protest demonstrations before bank, insurance and financial institutions against the legislation. "In adherence to the recommendations of G20, the Central government wants to pass the FRDI bill in the winter session of parliament. Though the declared objective is to insure deposits to solve the economic problems of sick banks and financial institutions, the real objective is something else. "Through this legislation, the sick banks, insurance and financial institutions would try to regain their financial health by utilising the money parked by the depositors with them," Mishra said. Pointing out that the banks were incurring heavy losses due to the big corporate houses not repaying the huge loans they had taken from them, he said the unrepaid loans have doubled to over Rs 10 lakh crore during the three years of the Modi regime. "The government now wants to come up with a law to use the deposito rs' money to improve the banks' financial health, but it refuses to take any action against the guilty corporates," he said. "The bill that has been prepared, may cancel out the losses of the bank, insurance and financial institutions, but the three steps that the law prescribes in case banks turn bankrupt, will reduce the power and authority of the Reserve Bank of India and the deposits of depositors will not have the guarantee of security any more," he said. The steps are selling off the bankrupt banks and financial institutions to private financial companies including foreign corporate, merging them with other such institutions and cancelling out the losses by using the money of the crores of depositors without their permission. According to Mishra, it was an "unprecedented attack" on th e crores of common people, particularly, the poor, lower income, middle income groups, pensioners, and small manufacturers and businessmen who are already troubled after the GST rollout. "Such attacks had never been seen before. The depositors cutting across party lines should raise a chorus of protests against the move. People from all strata need to be rallied before banks, insurance and financial institutions to launch continuous protest programmes," he said. --IANS ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Google on Wednesday announced launch of a research lab focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in China, its first such centre in Asia, after months of speculation fuelled by a major push to hire AI talent in the country. "I am excited to launch the Google AI China Centre, our first such in Asia, at our 'Google Developer Days' event in Shanghai. This Centre joins other AI research groups we have all over the world," Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist, Google Cloud AI and Machine Learning, wrote in a blog post. The tech giant has many employees in China who work on its services. However, its search engine is blocked in the country. "I believe AI and its benefits have no borders. Whether a breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing or anywhere else, it has the potential to make everyone's life better. And we want to work with the best AI talent, wherever that talent is, to achieve it," Li added. Focused on basic AI research, the lab will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by the company's engineering teams. will publish its own work, support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops and work closely with the AI research community. The search engine giant's other machine learning (ML) research groups, besides the Googleplex, are located in New York, London, Zurich and Toronto. In an apparent move to rebuild its presence in China, Google on Wednesday said it will open a research lab focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Beijing -- its first such centre in Asia. Google's search engine and many of its services -- including YouTube -- remain blocked in mainland China. The "Google AI China Centre" will join the other AI research groups that the company has in other parts of the world, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich. Focused on basic AI research, the lab will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by the company's engineering teams. "We've already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead," Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist, Google Cloud AI and Machine Learning, wrote in a blog post. Google said China is home to many of the world's top experts in AI and machine learning and the objective behind opening the centre in Beijing was to tap the best AI talent in the country. "I believe AI and its benefits have no borders. Whether a breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing or anywhere else, it has the potential to make everyone's life better. And we want to work with the best AI talent, wherever that talent is, to achieve it," Li added. The "Google AI China Centre" will publish its own work, support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops and work closely with the AI research community. Google shut down its Chinese search engine seven years ago after a direct confrontation over Beijing's censorship policies. Earlier in the month, Google's India-born Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said that a lot of the tech giant's work actually helps Chinese companies. Attending the fourth edition of the Chinese state-run "World Internet Conference" in Wuzhen, near Shanghai, Pichai said that many small and medium-sized businesses in China take advantage of Google to get their products to many other countries outside of China. --IANS ksc/gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The second phase of elections in Gujarat on Thursday will see polling held for 93 assembly constituencies across 14 districts in northern and central regions of the state, with a host of VVIPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, descending on Ahmedabad to cast their vote. Meanwhile, in the so-called 'dry' state of Gujarat, the police and administration have seized around Rs 53 crore worth of goods for violation of the state's liquor prohibition policy. The seizure was carried out as a special drive and a part of the election procedure. Special deployment of the police has been made for the elections and for law and order. The second phase will see 851 candidates contest for the 93 assembly seats. Elections will be held in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur districts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.. A total of 25,575 polling booths have been set up in 14,523 places. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat's office has completed all the necessary procedures and claimed to be fully prepared for the day. Apart from the 112 general observers deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the Gujarat elections, 70 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI for counting of votes registered in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which will be carried out on December 18 in 37 selected regions of the state. To take care of the law and order situation, the ECI has deployed hundreds of companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 12 companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and 19 more companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) for the election. Prime Minister Modi will be casting his vote at Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad, while Amit Shah will be in the city to cast his vote from his former state assembly constituency, Naranpura. Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely will cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad. Former Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar. State Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi. During elections in the second phase, 1,700 of the critical poling booths will be covered under the web casting with constant monitoring of these booths. On the seizures made, Additional Director General of Police (DGP) adminstration, Mohan Jha said, "Since the date of announcement of the assembly polls, the administration has seized Rs 23.50 crore worth Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Rs 30.06 lakh worth of country liquor and confiscated Rs 23.16 crore of other goods like the vehicles used for transportation, amounting to Rs 52.97 crore worth for the violation of the prohibition law that is effective in the state. We have also arrested 26,913 persons for violation of prohibition in 33,191 cases." Jha said, "Under the law, the police have filed 1,59,486 cases under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Out of the total 56, 490 licensed arms in the state, 51,974 have submitted, while 4,436 are exempted with remaining only 80 arms that have not been submitted. The police have issued non bailable warrants to 60,989 persons and also confiscated 92 illegal arms, 122 cartridges and 100 grams of explosives." The Flying Squad and the Static Surveillance Teams (SST) have seized Rs 2.52 crore of unaccounted cash in 22 cases and in five cases bullion worth Rs 4.14 crore have been seized. Out of these 16 cases have been handed over to the Income Tax (IT) department. --IANS amc/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday brushed aside a question on whether a Congress loss in Gujarat will be a referendum on him and insisted that the election outcome will be "shocking" for the BJP. "Gujarat will this time throw a surprising result. It will be shocking for the BJP. They are scared. BJP workers who talk to our leaders say that the Congress effectively campaigned in Gujarat and their own campaign was not so effective. Even they feel they will not be able to defend their own record," Gandhi told CNN News18. He avoided a reply when asked if a possible poor showing by the Congress would be considered a referendum on him as he was set to take over as party President and was also the star campaigner in the BJP-ruled state. Gandhi sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his attack on his predecessor and Congress leader Manmohan Singh for alleging that the latter had conspired with Pakistanis to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. "That was wrong. If Modiji is Prime Minister, Manmohanji was also Prime Minister. He devoted his life for the country. It is not acceptable. Frankly, he (Modi) should apologize. But that is for him to decide. What he has said is wrong." Gandhi said he won't indulge in personal attacks on Modi even if the Prime Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party do so daily. "The BJP and Modiji indulge in aggressive attacks against me. But I don't retaliate because I don't mind it." He said the language Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar used to attack Modi was unacceptable to him and the Congress, which acted promptly by suspending the former MP. At the same time, Gandhi hit out at Modi. "He has lost his credibility. It seems difficult that he will regain it. "The youth had reposed their faith in Modiji. But the trust has been broken. He had promised to create two crore jobs every year. But he doesn't speak about that now. And he doesn't speak a word even about corruption. "You may have noted that he didn't utter a word when reports about (BJP President Amit Shah's son) Jay Shah and (the French) Rafale deal came in." The Congress leader said the Modi government was not able to create in one full year the number of jobs China produces in two days. "This is the challenge India faces. There are lots of distractions. Modiji speaks about a lot of things. But the main issue in India or in Gujarat is about unemployment. This is the challenge before the country and the Congress." Gandhi said the Congress fought the Gujarat elections -- whose second and final phase will be held on Thursday -- on the strength of what people in the state desired and added that the BJP was cornered on every issue. --IANS sar-bns-vsc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India, Australia and Japan on Wednesday underscored their support for the Asean bloc's centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region, amid China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and rising influence in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The three countries held their fourth Trilateral Dialogue here at the Foreign Secretay-level, a month after the three countries alongwith the US held their first Quadrilateral Dialogue. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar hosted the dialogue which was attended by Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Frances Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J. Sugiyama. "The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries' interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region," the Eternal Affairs Ministry said in a statement. "They underscored their support for Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region," the statement said. It stated that the three sides stressed the need for greater collaboration on maritime security and domain awareness and disaster response capabilities. "They also renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism. They deliberated on strengthening regional connectivity as well." Wednesday's meeting comes a day after the India-Australia 2+2 Foreign Secretaries and Defence Secretaries Dialogue and a month after the India-Australia-Japan-US quadrilateral dialogue in the Philippines on the sidelines of the East Asia and Asean summits in which the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region was discussed. With China's increasing influence in the Indian Ocean region and aggressiveness in the South China Sea, the trilateral meeting can be seen as a reassertion of the freedom of navigation in the open seas. Japan is also locked in a dispute with China over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both the nations. North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes is another reason for the significance of the trilateral meeting. According to Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, his country has placed India right at the centre of its strategic Indo-Pacific policy. With the changing global scenario, Australia too is looking at India as a potential partner in promoting regional security and stability. The first India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting was held in India in 2015, the next one in Japan and third in Australia in April 2017. In Wednesday's meeting, the Japanese Vice Minister proposed to host the next round in Tokyo. --IANS ab/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 25-year-old Indian-origin student has been sentenced to 10 months jail after he was found guilty of taking the services of an underage sex worker in May last year. Hari Kumar Anpalagan was found guilty on Tuesday following a three-day trial and convicted of hiring the sex worker who was below 18 years. The girl admitted that she started providing services in exchange for cash when she was 14, the Strait Times reported on Wednesday. He also didn't pay the girl. "You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl... You added salt to the wound by not paying her," District Judge Kenneth Yap chided Anpalagan. The court heard that Anpalagan responded to the girl's post on the Tagged social network app in which she sought help to buy a new mobile phone last year. He offered to assist and asked what he would get in return. The girl offered sexual services and after negotiating they agreed she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. The pair met in May at the deck of her apartment. The girl told Anpalagan that she was 16 but this did not deter him from engaging her services. Later, Anpalagan left without paying the girl. The matter came to light when the girl's school found out about her activities and the police were notified. Officers arrested Anpalagan after they found messages he exchanged with the girl in her phone. Anpalagan had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed that he met the girl out of the "goodness of his heart" to give her the money to buy a phone. He will be back in court on January 5. According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for seeking sex with the underage girl. --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A summit of Islamic countries held in Istanbul on Wednesday declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also invited all the countries to "recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital", said the draft final communique unveiled at the conclusion of the one-day meeting. The heads of states and governments present at the summit "reject and condemn in the strongest terms" the unilateral decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the communique was cited as saying by Efe news. The OIC communique declared Trump's move "null and void" and considered it an "attack" on the rights of the Palestinian people. It accused the US of "deliberately undermining" peace efforts and warned that it has given "impetus to extremism and terrorism". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier said the UN should take over. In a speech to the OIC summit, he said it would be "unacceptable" for the US to be the mediator "since it is biased in favour of Israel". The communique said Washington will be held "fully liable for all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision". The leaders at the summit asked the UN to assume its responsibilities and reaffirm the city's legal position. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Trump's Jerusalem decision a "threat to all humanity". "The US decision ... means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," he said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the US decision on Jerusalem. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday summoned the session of the state's bicameral legislature on January 2, an official statement said. Vohra has summoned the state legislative assembly and the legislative council to meet at the new secretariat premises here on January 2, when he will address a combined sitting of members of both houses, said the statement from the Governor's Office. "After the said address, each house of the legislature will meet as a separate body at the time to be specified by the respective presiding officers," it said, adding the announcement followed the Governor's nod to the Mehbooba Mufti-led state government's proposal in this regard on Wednesday. --IANS sq/vd/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday again accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of spreading "falsehood and canards" and tarnishing every constitutional office in a bid to win the Gujarat election and asked him to "apologize to the nation". "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than ... Modi," the Congress leader said in a video release in a repeat of his Monday statement. Manmohan Singh said the Congress needed no sermons on nationalism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Prime Minister whose "compromised track record in fighting terrorism is well known". Reading out his hard-hitting statement of December 11, Manmohan Singh again denied Modi's charge that he and others, including former Vice President Hamid Ansari and former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, discussed the Gujarat election with Pakistani diplomats at a dinner at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence. Manmohan Singh said it was also "wrong and unfair" to question the nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants who attended the dinner. "Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of the Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable. "Sadly and regrettably, Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former Prime Minister and Army chief." Modi alleged at a rally in Gujarat that guests at Aiyar's house discussed the Assembly election with Pakistan's High Commissioner to India and former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss the Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Aiyar, as alleged by Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner," Manmohan Singh said. "The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," he added. "Let me remind Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. "Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan to our strategic air base in Pathankot (in Punjab) to investigate terror attack that emanated from Pakistan." He said: "My track record of public service to the country over the last five decades is known to everyone. No one, including Modi, can lamely question it to gain lost political ground." Manmohan Singh went on: "I sincerely hope that the Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring erroneously conceived brownie points. "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill-thought transgression (so as) to restore the dignity of the office he occupies." --IANS sid/tsb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi's Shalimar Bagh-located Max Super Speciality Hospital on Wednesday said they have appealed to the authorities concerned to revoke cancellation of their licence. The appeal comes nearly a week after the Delhi government cancelled the 250-bedded health institution's registration licence after its doctors on November 30 declared a newborn premature baby as dead even though he was alive. "Following the due process of law, we have filed an appeal with the appropriate authorities against cancellation of registration of Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh," said the hospital in a statement. Stating that earlier they had also requested the Delhi government to review their decision and restore the registration, the hospitals said the licence cancellation had caused significant inconvenience to thousands of patients and local residents who did not have suitable alternatives for their medical needs in the vicinity. "Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh on a monthly basis treats around 14,000 patients in the OPD, attends to over 1,600 emergency patients and additional 3,000 are treated in in-patient wards. "In compliance of the cancellation order, not only did we have to turn down the OPD and new IPD (cases), but planned procedures such as 171 chemotherapies, 63 surgeries and 241 dialysis sessions had to be cancelled, rescheduled or transferred," said the hospital. "In the interest of public welfare, we urge the government to reconsider their decision of cancelling the hospital's registration," the statement read. Through its cancellation order dated December 8, which came after a three-member panel submitted a report to Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the Delhi government restrained the hospital from admitting any more new patients and put a stop to all outpatient treatment services and laboratory testing on the premises with immediate effect. The 22-week premature baby boy was declared dead by the hospital on November 30 and handed over to the parents in a plastic bag, along with his still-born sister. However, the baby showed physical movements while being taken for burial. The baby was then admitted in north Delhi's Agarwal Nursing Home but died on December 6. --IANS rup/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Wednesday accused the Central government of irregular release of funds to northeastern states. Replying to a special motion moved in the assembly by opposition United Democratic Party legislator Paul Lyngdoh on the need to extend financial benefits to school teachers, casual employees, daily wage earners and others, he cited the issue of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers not getting their salary on time. "The SSA teachers are being made to suffer due to the insensitivity of the Central government," Sangma said, telling the house that a total of 12,481 SSA teachers across the state are yet to receive their salaries for the past eight months. On Wednesday, the SSA teachers launched mass protest in the city demanding the release of their salaries. "We have to take on the Central government and will not allow them to shrug off its responsibility. We will fight with the Central government (on this)," Sangma said. He said that there is a tendency on the part of the Central government to withdraw the schemes or funding and slowly shift the burden on the states. "There are also many ways in blocking funds to the states....." the Congress leader said. --IANS rrk/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More and more people are being picked up in Pakistan by security agencies "for reasons never disclosed", a commentary in a Pakistani newspaper said on Wednesday. Raza Khan, a young civil society activist, "is the latest addition to a long list of those subjected to enforced disappearances", the Dawn commentary said. Khan has been missing from his home in Lahore for several weeks. His family and friends believe he has been detained by the security agencies. "His crime is that he has a thinking mind and idealises regional peace and co-existence, something that is unacceptable to the self-appointed guardians of our ideological frontiers," the Dawn said. Khan, in his late 30s, reportedly formed a group called Aaghaz-i-Dosti, a platform to further the cause of peace between India and Pakistan. He was also active with a group working for environmental protection. "Many more people are now being picked up from cities for reasons never disclosed. Some of them may have returned home after suffering torture, but many others have not been so lucky. No one knows what crime they have committed or are even accused of," the Dawn said. Khan is said to be the seventh civil society activist to go missing from his home this year. In January, six bloggers and civil rights activists were picked up in Islamabad and in the cities of Punjab, the report said. "Apart from one, who remains missing, they returned to their homes within two months after protests from rights groups and pressure from the international community. "They were reportedly tortured in detention. Moreover, a systematic campaign was launched on electronic media accusing them of blasphemy, thus putting their lives at risk." Last year, Pakistani security agencies allegedly abducted from Karachi Abdul Wahid Baloch, "a progressive man of letters who also worked as a telephone operator", the Dawn said. "He returned home after four months and was so shaken that like the others he would not speak about his ordeal. Obviously, no action would be taken against those responsible for his unlawful detention." Zeenat Shahzadi, a young journalist who was investigating the disappearance of Hamid Ansari, an Indian, was abducted by armed men in Lahore in August 2015. "While there were recent reports that she had returned, nothing has been heard of her since. Her younger brother was so traumatized by her disappearance that he committed suicide." The Dawn said that what was alarming was that the number of missing persons had marked a massive rise this year -- under civilian rule. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances set up by the government received nearly 300 complaints of alleged enforced disappearances from August to October 2017, by far the largest number in a three-month period in recent years. --IANS mr/soni (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shia cleric Kalbe Jawwad has praised the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for their "outreach to the minorities" and said that the Muslims were safest under their rule. Barring some incidents of 'love jihad' and cow vigilantism, law and order in Uttar Pradesh had improved considerably under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Shia cleric told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Kanpur late Tuesday. "There has not been a single communal riot in the eight months of the Adityanath government as against more than 600 big and small riots during Akhilesh Yadav's tenure," he said. As for the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya, Jawwad said all stakeholders should wait for the Supreme Court verdict on the matter. He accused the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh of being the "most corrupt and dishonest". Jawwad accused Akhilesh government of wasting over Rs 20,000 crore of public money in the name of building cycle tracks, a pet project of Akhilesh Yadav. Commenting on Gujarat assembly elections, the cleric said the results will have far reaching ramifications for both the BJP and the Congress. --IANS md/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Far from being a dead world, the dwarf planet Ceres is an active and evolving world, indicate hundreds of bright areas that stand out in images NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned, say scientists. The surface of Ceres is otherwise dark. "The mysterious bright spots on Ceres, which have captivated both the Dawn science team and the public, reveal evidence of Ceres' past subsurface ocean, and indicate that, far from being a dead world, Ceres is surprisingly active," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Geological processes created these bright areas and may still be changing the face of Ceres today," Raymond said. The researchers presented the latest results about the bright areas at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on Tuesday. Since Dawn arrived in orbit at Ceres in March 2015, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system. A new study in the journal Icarus, led by Nathan Stein, a doctoral researcher at California Institute of Technology divided Ceres' features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the centre of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 10-kilometre-wide pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the centre is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright material in Occator Crater is made of salt-rich material, which was likely once mixed in water. More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies likely exposed bright material that was already in the subsurface or had formed in a previous impact event. Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed, the study said. As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists hope to learn more about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator. --IANS gb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The next flyby target of NASA's New Horizons mission which is an icy world billion kilometres past Pluto might have a small moon as orbital company, new data suggests. The New Horizons probe, which flew past Pluto in 2015, is set to encounter the Kuiper Belt object, referred to as 2014 MU69, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 2019. "We really won't know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter," said New Horizons science team member Marc Buie, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. Buie offered an update on the analysis of MU69 this week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans. Scientists were already excited to learn earlier this year that MU69 might be either peanut-shaped or even two objects orbiting one another, or what's known as a binary. The data that led to these hints at MU69's nature were gathered over six weeks in June and July, when the team made three attempts to place telescopes in the narrow shadow - an event known as an occultation - of MU69 as it passed in front of a star. The prospect that MU69 might have a moon arose from data collected during a different occultation on July 10 by NASA's airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Focused on MU69's expected location while flying over the Pacific Ocean, SOFIA detected what appeared to be a very short drop-out in the star's light. Further analysis of that data, including syncing it with MU69 orbit calculations provided by the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, opens the possibility that the "blip" SOFIA detected could be another object around MU69, Buie said. "A binary with a smaller moon might also help explain the shifts we see in the position of MU69 during these various occultations," Buie added. "It's all very suggestive, but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons flies by, just over a year from now," Buie said. That flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration. Discovered in 2014, the object MU69 is more than 6.5 billion kilometres from Earth. --IANS gb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday declared the Amarnath shrine a "silent zone", and barred the chiming of bells or chanting of mantras in the areas surrounding the famed cave shrine to preserve its eco sensitivity. The Amarnath shrine, located in the Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, is visited by lakhs of pilgrims during the pilgrimage season in the monsoon. The decision came following the tribunal's earlier hearing when it suggested that the shrine be declared a silent zone to prevent avalanches and noise pollution. The bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also directed officials to remove the iron rods and grilles installed inside the Amarnath cave so that pilgrims can get a better view of the shrine. "All the parts of stairs and surroundings of the holy cave shall be declared a silent zone," the bench directed. "No chanting of mantras inside the cave and surrounding areas shall be allowed," the bench said, adding that pilgrims shall be allowed inside the cave in a single file. The bench directed the concerned authorities to ensure that mobile phones and food offerings like coconuts are not allowed inside the holy cave. "No committee or authority can sit on the implementation of these directions," the bench declared. The Tribunal, which on November 15 appointed a committee to look at environment protection during the annual Amarnath Yatra, asked the authorities to ensure that the directions come into effect before January 18, the next date of hearing. This year the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath shrine saw over 2.6 lakh pilgrims over 40 days between June 29 to August 7. Over 200 stairs lead to the cave from the base camp sites. Pilgrims take two traditional routes of 14 km and 45 km to reach the shrine situated at 3,888 meters above sea level. --IANS kd/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Lahore High Court on Wednesday called on the police to explain the disappearance of Raza Mahmood Khan, an activist who formed a group to promote peaceful relations with India. Judge Anwar ul Haq ordered the chief of police in charge of the investigation to update the court on December 19 on the progress of the inquiry into the disappearance of Khan, who was last seen on December 2, Dawn online reported. The hearing was conducted on a petition filed by Hamid Nasir Mahmood, the missing activist's brother. Khan, in his late 30s, reportedly formed a group called Aaghaz-i-Dosti, a platform to further the cause of peace between India and Pakistan. He was also active with a group working for environmental protection. The activist is also known for posting messages on social media critical of the Army and its alleged links with extremist groups. Activists belonging to various rights groups, along with friends and family, have been agitating for Khan's release. Amnesty International strongly criticized Khan's disappearance and called on Pakistani authorities to take all available measures to locate him. "Scarcely does a week go by without Amnesty International receiving reports of people going missing in Pakistan. Many of them may have been subjected to enforced disappearances, which is a crime under international law", it said in a statement last week. Five activists who criticized the government and religious extremism online went missing for almost a month in January 2016. After they resurfaced, two of the activists accused Pakistan's intelligence services of having kidnapped and tortured them. However, the Army denied any involvement in their disappearance. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, whose social media following has been rising steadily, on Wednesday launched an innovative Social Media Grievance Handling Mechanism that the state government hopes will rejuvenate the government-public interface. The government said it would create a strong bond of trust between the government and the people. The mechanism includes a Web Portal as well as a Mobile App. It is an internal mechanism of the government to efficiently manage people's grievances. Launching the grievance redressal mechanism, the Chief Minister said he would personally monitor the performance of officers in attending the grievances of people on social media. The officers are expected to respond to grievances ideally within 24 hours. The officers with better performance on grievance redressal will be marked green, and those with below average performance will be marked red, Patnaik noted. The Chief Minister said he would call both the green and red marked officers to thank or suggest improvements as the case may be. This new Social Media Grievance Handling System perfectly encapsulates the principles of 3Ts - Technology, Teamwork and Transparency, and combines them to address the issues faced by the common citizens directly and efficiently, he added. It will also be a measure of government's sensitivity and empathy towards citizens' needs and concerns. Notably, the Chief Minister's followers on Twitter have touched 1.5 million. The combined social media connectivity on both Twitter and Facebook is more than two million. A presentation was made to officers present on how to use this new mechanism effectively. The meeting was attended by state IT Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner, Secretaries of various departments along with district collectors and superintendents of police through video conferencing. --IANS cd/gh/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Peace along the India-China border is a pre-requisite for strong bilateral relations, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a meeting earlier this week, the government said on Wednesday. Both Sushma Swaraj and Wang Yi also noted the "challenge" that the Doklam stand-off posed to bilateral ties and both sides expressed satisfaction at its resolution "through concerted diplomatic communications" when they met on Monday, the External Affairs Ministry said. A day after media reports on the Chinese version of what transpired at the meeting, the External Affairs Ministry said both sides expressed satisfaction over the way the 73-day standoff was resolved. Confirming that the Doklam issue was discussed by India and China when the Foreign Ministers of the two countries met on December 11, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in a statement said both sides noted the "challenge" the 73-day standoff posed to bilateral ties. On Tuesday, China had issued a statement giving details of the meeting. According to it, Wang, in the meeting, had said that the military stand-off in Doklam had put a "severe" strain on bilateral ties. He blamed it on "viciousness caused by the cross-border infiltration of the Indian border guards". "EAM (Sushma Swaraj) and Chinese Foreign Minister both noted the challenge it had posed to the relationship and both expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with the disengagement of troops at the face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications," Kumar said. According to the Spokesperson, Wang said that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects the political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this, Sushma Swaraj reiterated that "maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations". She also underlined the need for approaching their bilateral difference with due consideration to each other's sensitivities and concerns. "She recalled the consensus between the leaders of India and China reached in Astana earlier this year on the need to work together to ensure that our difference do not become disputes," Kumar said. Wang also said that India and China share the same objectives of national development and should be natural partners. "To this end, both Foreign Ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, including between them, through the established dialogue mechanisms," the spokesperson added. Wang was in Delhi for the Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers' meeting. The armies of both countries were locked in a 73-day stand-off at Doklam in the Sikkim section of the Sino-Indian border over the building of a road by the Chinese military in the area that is claimed by Bhutan. Indian troops stalled the work citing the disputed status of Doklam and its proximity to its key artery in the northeast. The crisis was resolved on August 28 after both the armies retreated from the point of the face-off, days ahead of the BRICS summit in China. --IANS ao/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped him "the most" and he does not hate him. "Modiji has helped me the most... How can I hate him," Rahul Gandhi said in an interview to Gujarati news channel GSTV. He was asked about the comments made against the Nehru-Gandhi family by the Prime Minister. "If you look at religion and the history of the nation, love has to be the response to hatred. There is zero emotion of anger and hatred in me," he said in response to a question on the comments made on the Nehru-Gandhi family. "It is the nature of our family. Maybe the legend of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi taught this to our family...," he added. Actress Priyanka Chopra was on Wednesday honoured with a Digital Marketers Award for 'Most Effective Use Of Digital Platforms For A Social Cause'. The actor, who is serving as Unicef's Global Goodwill Ambassador, reached out to Syrian refugee children who were displaced and uprooted from their homes and loved ones. She took to social media to capture her journey and raise awareness about the life of these children who are in need of help and support. "My association with Unicef to bring light to the issues that children face today is very important to me. Social media is a powerful tool that I can rely on to take their stories and messages across the world, especially to the younger audience," Priyanka said in a statement. "The idea is to involve the young ones and make them aware of the situations and problems people face in different parts of the world." She thanked the organisers Moneycontrol and Internet & Mobile Association of India for recognising her efforts and honouring her with the award. Digital Marketers Awards stands for honouring excellence and innovation in employing digital marketing tools to effectively promote businesses, brands, causes, individuals and beyond. --IANS nn/him/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A delegation of the Russian Defence Ministry is visiting North Korea amid efforts "to revise the policy of mutual threat and intimidation", media reports said. The delegation led by Victor Kalganov, vice director of the Russian National Defence Command Centre, arrived here on Tuesday, the Korean Central News Agency said. The visit came two weeks after another delegation of Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang. The Russian defence delegation landed in the country on the same day the US announced its readiness to open nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, without preconditions. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: "Let's just meet and talk about the weather if you want." He insisted that the economic and diplomatic sanctions would continue until "the first bomb drops", the BBC reported. On November 29, the Kim Jong-un regime test-fired a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile that it claimed could strike anywhere in the US mainland. Russia has called for restraint over the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis, Xinhua news agency reported. "It is essential to take a step back and carefully weigh the consequences of each move,... because this policy only leads to consequences that are opposite to those that are sought after," Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian envoy to the UN, had said. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea's President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday left for China on a four-day visit. He will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to discuss the North Korean crisis and bilateral issues. Moon and Xi are set to hold their third summit on Thursday, when they are expected to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, Efe news reported. They would also discuss ways to improve bilateral relations strained in the wake of the installation of US-built anti-missile system -- the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD)-- on South Korean soil. Beijing regards the missile system as a threat to China's internal security. The meeting between the two leaders comes days after North Korea launched its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, breaking a two-and-a-half-month hiatus on November 29. Moon is accompanied by executives of large South Korean companies, such as Samsung, Hyundai Motor and LG, Yonhap news agency said. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi addresses during All India Mahila Congress' workshop "I Am Courage : The Way Forward" in New Delhi (Photo: PTI) The Gujarat election result will be "shocking" for the BJP, Congress President-elect said on Wednesday, maintaining he didn't return Prime Minister Narendra Modi's verbal barbs targeting him and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because he wanted to change the culture of personal attacks in political discourse. "Gujarat will this time throw a surprising result. It will be shocking for the BJP. They are scared. BJP workers who talk to our leaders say that the Congress effectively campaigned in Gujarat and their own campaign was not so effective. Even they feel they will not be able to defend their own record," Gandhi told CNN News18. He, however, avoided a reply when asked if a possible poor showing by the Congress would be considered a referendum on him since he is set to take over as party President on Saturday and was also the star campaigner for the party in the BJP-ruled state. Gandhi sought an apology from Modi for his attack on Congress leader Manmohan Singh for alleging that he had conspired with Pakistanis to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat. "That was wrong. If Modiji is Prime Minister, Manmohanji was also Prime Minister. He devoted his life for the country. It is not acceptable. Frankly, he (Modi) should apologize. But that is for him to decide. What he has said is wrong," he said. He said he won't make personal attacks on his political opponents even if the Prime Minister and the BJP do so daily because "we want to bring about this change". "The BJP and Modiji indulge in aggressive attacks against me. But I don't retaliate because I don't mind it." He said the language Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar used to attack Modi was unacceptable to him and the Congress, which acted promptly by suspending the former MP. "Modiji is the PM of India and we are not going to tolerate this type of language," Gandhi said, referring to Aiyar's description of Modi as a "neech qisam ka aadmi". In another interview with Gujarat Samachar TV, Gandhi said Modi's criticism had helped him grow "the most" and that "there is zero emotion of anger and hatred in me". "How can I hate him? If you look at the religion and the history of this nation, love has to be the response to hatred," he said, responding to Modi's repeated attacks on the Nehru-Gandhi family. "It is the nature of our family. Maybe the legend of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi, taught this to our family." At the same time, Gandhi said Modi had "lost his credibility" and it seemd "difficult that he will regain it". "The youth had reposed their faith in Modiji. But the trust has been broken. He had promised to create two crore jobs every year. But he doesn't speak about that now. And he doesn't speak a word even about corruption. "You may have noted that he didn't utter a word when reports about (BJP President Amit Shah's son) Jay Shah and (the French) Rafale deal came in. He doesn't talk about development any more but about himself and the Congress." The back-to-back TV interviews a day before Gujarat votes in the second and final phase of Assembly elections triggered criticism from the BJP that it violated the model code of conduct. "It was not permitted to give an interview in the last 48 hours of campaigning in Gujarat. I am sure the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and take action," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters. The Congress accused the BJP of using the Election Commission as a tool for political gains. Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday reported extensive use of oppressive laws and regulations and lawsuits by the authorities of Singapore to curb freedom of expression and assembly in the city-state. In a new report, the organisation reported that Singaporeans who criticize the government and the judiciary or religion and issues of race were often slapped with lawsuits with high damage claims or face criminal investigations, reports Efe news. According to HRW, Singapore uses laws and regulations, including the Public Order Act, the Sedition Act, the Broadcasting Act, penal code provisions and laws on criminal contempt to impose censorship and limit debate in the media, Internet and movies. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that these restrictions have "long stifled debate" on matters of public interest. "Singapore promotes itself as a modern nation and a good place to do business, but people in a country that calls itself a democracy shouldn't be afraid to criticize their government or speak out about political issues," he said in a statement. The organization cites the case of Roy Ngerng, an activist who, after criticizing the government and reporting inequalities in Singapore on his blog, was sentenced to pay over S$ 100,000 ($73,490) to the Prime Minister - who sued him for defamation - and then fired from his job. HRW also reported restrictions on protests in public spaces without police permits, with such protests being allowed to be held only in a section of the tiny Hong Lim Park where foreigners are barred. "Singapore's kneejerk response to sue or prosecute critics has for many years limited critical reporting on the city-state," according to Robertson, who urged Singapore's trading partners to "call on the government to modernize its views of human rights". --IANS mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The solar power auction in November saw a 98 per cent drop with only 5 MW auctioned against 270 MW in October, a report said on Wednesday. It also pointed out that total solar project tendered also saw a steep decline with 300 MW offered in November against 400 MW in October. "The solar capacity tendered across the country during the month fell by 25 per cent to 300 MW compared to the October 2017 total and the amount of solar auctioned dropped by 98 per cent to just 5 MW," said the report by clean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital Group. According to experts, one of the reasons for this steep fall is rise in Goods and Services Tax (GST) slab on solar equipment and the anti-dumping case, where Indian manufacturers demand drop in duty to compete against the very-low priced equipment offered by Chinese exporters. Also, the All India Solar Industries Association on Wednesday said that GST has led to 10-12 per cent rise in overall cost of solar projects. In August, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said clarified that 5 per cent GST will be applicable on solar equipment and the government cannot do anything about it. Mercom Capital Group CEO Raj Prabhu said: "Hopefully, tender and auction activity has bottomed out. "The GST issue is almost behind us and the government is asking Discoms to refrain from PPA renegotiations, even though the anti-dumping case is still looming." As per the report, the largest tender seen in November was by Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL), the renewable energy implementing agency in the southern state, which re-tendered 200 MW of solar power to be developed at the state's Pavagada Solar Park. The only solar auction in November was by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) that auctioned a 5 MW grid-connected solar PV project under the National Solar Mission Defence viability gap funding programme for an ordnance factory in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur. Under the auction, Giriraj Renewables Pvt Ltd emerged as the successful bidder by quoting a tariff of Rs 4.18 per kWh. According to Mercom Group, the cumulative solar installations in India surpassed 17 GW as of September 2017, with over 7 GW installed in the first nine months of the year. "Following the recent lull in tender activity, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) revealed that it is preparing to announce a spate of tenders for solar projects over the course of four months starting in December 2017," the report said, adding these aim to help the government reach its goal of installing 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. The MNRE says it will work alongside states to announce tenders needed to reach 20 GW of ground-mounted capacity in solar parks in 2017-18. Of the 20 GW, 3.6 GW have already been tendered while another 3 GW were set to be tendered in December, followed by 3 GW in January 2018, 5 GW in February and 6 GW in March. Another 30 GW is expected to be tendered in 2018-19 with 30 GW to follow in 2019-20. --IANS kd/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention on the issue of the waters of river Brahmaputra, that flows in from China, turning black in parts of the state. Sonowal met the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Tuesday. The meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of Road Transport, Water Resources and River Development Nitin Gadkari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Prime Minister assured Sonowal that the Centre took up the matter seriously and even engaged Central Water Commission to look into the matter and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Modi also asked other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure scientific tests of the Brahmaputra water to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river water where it turned black. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, the Prime Minister also asked the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Swashma Swaraj maintained that her ministry took up the matter very seriously and has already contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study is being undertaken to find the real cause. Sonowal informed Prime Minister Modi that the state government following the development directed Director General of Emergency and Fire Services A.P. Rawat to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri and in pursuance to the direction Emergency and Fire Services Department already sent the water samples to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Minister of Water Resources, Government of Assam also was directed to do the needful considering the problem. --IANS ah/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two government school teachers in Jaipur have been suspended after the question paper framed for the Class 10 half-yearly exams, that included a section on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was found replete with errors. Speaking to IANS, Ratan Singh Yadav, District Officer, said the teachers who framed the question paper have been suspended with immediate effect. The teachers suspended are Sarita Yadav and Ritu Bhargav. He said action has also been taken against the firm which printed the question paper. "All the terms and conditions mentioned in the contract will be looked into and suitable action will be taken against the firm," said Yadav. Students were in for a shock when they saw the question paper full of spelling and factual errors. In the examination paper on Monday, there was a passage on the life sketch of Prime Minister Modi, which described him as a "croad puller" instead of crowd puller. He is also described as a "spoker", instead of speaker, while defining his characteristics. It also called him "the most sovy political leader of India", instead savvy. Gujarat was spelt as Gujrat. The next passage on "little boy" had spelling errors. It had the question: "What kind of the boy was?" In the passage, obese was spelt as "obessed" and violence as "voilence". --IANS arc/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill for a new tough law -- UPCOCA (Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act) -- to deal with the mafia, land grabbers and goons in the state. The state police mooted the proposal that is in line with the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. The state's Bharatiya Janata Party government had made its intentions of "zero tolerance" against crime amply clear with its approval to the proposed law, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said while briefing the media on the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. "The proposed law will be used as an effective weapon to control crime and has been made after due study of similar laws in other states," the Minister added. The legislation will now be put before the assembly during the winter session that starts on Thursday. Under the new law, he said, an Organised Crime Control Authority will be constituted under the Principal Secretary (Home). District Magistrates will head these bodies at the district-level. The bill provides for powers to police to confiscate the property of criminals found guilty under UPCOCA. The cabinet also approved the implementation of biometric attendance for state Secretariat officials. The Cabinet also gave its nod to amendments in the Waqf Authority rules, under which the Waqf Authority would be shifted from Rampur, bastion of senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, to Lucknow. This body will have one Chairman and two members. All cases pending after March 3, 2014, will be heard in this proposed authority. --IANS md/tsb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the US embassy in Israel was unlikely to move to Jerusalem before 2020. "It's not going to be anything that happens right away," Tillerson said in a speech at the State Department on Tuesday. "Probably no earlier than three years out, and that's pretty ambitious." US President Donald Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the Israeli capital last week but he nevertheless signed a national security waiver which will allow him to delay the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv for an additional six months. Administration officials said there were functional and logistical reasons the US cannot open a new embassy any time in the near future, the New York Times reported. Speaking of the moving of the US embassy, Trump had said the State Department will immediately begin to hire architects and engineers so as to make the new embassy "a magnificent tribute to peace" when completed. Trump's decision, which was seen as undermining the Middle East peace process and further destabilizing the region, has drawn condemnation and opposition globally. Tillerson also spoke about North Korea at a policy forum here. He said the US was ready to open nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea without preconditions, CNN reported. "We've said from the diplomatic side, we're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk," Tillerson said, in what amounted to a direct public invitation for Pyongyang to put aside an escalating cycle of tests and taunts and engage in diplomacy. "Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want and talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about. "Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," the US Secretary of State said. But he insisted that there needed to be a "period of quiet" first, without any nuclear or missile tests. He added that economic and diplomatic sanctions would continue until "the first bomb drops", and Trump still wanted China -- Pyongyang's main economic ally -- to cut off oil supplies to North Korea. Tillerson said China had made contingency plans to accommodate North Korean refugees in the event of a conflict. Meanwhile, North Korean state media on Wednesday said Kim Jong-un had vowed his country would become "the strongest nuclear and military power in the world". --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A window of an US military helicopter fell on the grounds of an elementary school in Okinawa in Japan on Wednesday, injuring a student and sparking a backlash from officials. Authorities said they were notified by the US forces in Okinawa that a window had fallen from a CH-53E transport helicopter. An object was found on the grounds of the Futenma Second Elementary School. School teachers said around 30 children from the 4th grade were on the school grounds when the metal-framed window struck the ground from the chopper. One child sustained slight injuries, the BBC reported. The US military apologized. "This is a regrettable incident and we apologize for any anxiety it has caused the community," a statement said. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga was furious. "It is unforgivable that it dropped in the middle of the playground," he said. Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera urged the US military to suspend flights of the same type of helicopter until the safety of the chopper can be confirmed. The incident comes just two months after an American military chopper burst into flames after landing on an empty field in Okinawa. --IANS umer-soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) So #MeToo has finally cost a politician a US Senate election. Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for the Alabama Senate seat, lost narrowly following appalling revelations of stalking and assaulting teenage girls. So far, the spontaneously revelatory campaign has taken its toll on senior politicians, star journalists, and artistes of all political shades. Kiran Verma had made a booking for herself and her son on a customisable tour called European Bonanza of 12/13 days conducted by . The booking was done through its franchisee Domestic International Holiday Consultant. It was represented that the trip would be customised as per Vermas wish, otherwise the amount would be refunded. Fifteen nonagenarians was felicitated at a recent programme in the city to make them feel they are an invaluable part of society. The event 'Nabatipar' (beyond 90), organised by NGO 'Kolkata Cultural Centre', gave them an opportunity to share stories and anecdotes from their life. Former High Court Chief Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee handed over citations to all 15 veterans, including 104-year-old ex-JU professor Dr Amiya Kumar Chatterjee. Chatterjee spoke for 15 minutes, giving insights into his day-to-day activities and engagements. Poet Rajanikanta Sen's grandson and former head of the chemistry department of St Xavier's College Dilip Kumar Roy, eminent social worker Ganesh Ghosh, writer Sarojmohan Mitra, businessman Taraknath Mukherjee, who has been running a grocery shop for over seven decades, former West Bengal minister and lawyer Kashi Kanta Maitra and Arati Dasgupta were also felicitated at the programme. The former HC chief justice said the nonagenarians were an inspiration to him. "After coming here and seeing them, all I can feel is that I am not ageing anymore," he said. Swami Suparnanda Maharaj of RKM Golpark, who was also present at the programme, said events such as this one recognises and respects the rights of the elderly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The chairman of a child welfare committee of a government home for boys in Tamil Nadu was sentenced to two months' simple imprisonment by the Madras High Court today for disobeying its order relating to the restoration of custody of five children back to an orphanage. Justice M Duraiswamy sentenced Manikandan, chairman of the child welfare committee of the Government Children Home for Boys in Chengalpattu, to two months' simple imprisonment on a petition filed by the Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph, which runs the orphanage. The judge, however, stayed the operation of the order for two weeks, to enable the contemnor to prefer an appeal against his order. "In spite of disobeying the orders of this court, he has not even bothered to tender an unconditional apology. If the act of the contemnor is condoned and allowed to go without any punishment, it will set a bad precedence and many will think of flouting court orders, which cannot be permitted," he said. The judge, on June 7, had directed Manikandan to restore the custody of the children to the orphanage the next day. The court had said that since the children, in the age group of 9 to 12 years, were brought up by the orphanage right from their childhood, it would not be proper on the part of Manikandan to take their custody all of a sudden. It was also brought to the court's notice that the children were studying in one of the best schools in the locality. As Manikandan had not complied with the order, the petitioner had preferred a contempt application. Allowing the application, Justice Duraiswami held that there was wilful disobedience of the June 6 order by Manikandan. The contemnor had not only committed contempt, but his conduct proved that he abused the process of court by flouting and disobeying the orders, the judge said. He then sentenced Manikandan to two months' simple imprisonment and also slapped a fine of Rs 2,000 on him. The fine amount should be paid within a week. In case of a default, Manikandan would undergo simple imprisonment for 15 more days, the judge said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two of President Donald Trump's nominees for federal judge are not moving forward amid criticism from a leading Republican senator. White House officials say the nomination of Brett Talley has been withdrawn. And a person familiar with the process says the administration hasn't submitted paperwork for the nomination of Jeff Mateer and does not intend to. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said the two nominees were going nowhere. In speeches, Mateer has described transgender children as evidence of "Satan's plan." Talley has never argued a case in court and was rated "unanimously unqualified" by the American Bar Association. Grassley said in an interview with CNN yesterday that he told the White House to rethink both nominations. Mateer was tapped to be a federal judge in Texas, while Talley was picked for US District Court in Alabama. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Mumbai court today sent Vikas Sachdev, arrested for allegedly molesting a teenage Bollywood actor aboard a flight, to judicial custody till December 22. He was produced before the Dindoshi court in suburban Malad after his two-day police custody ended. The police sought his further custody, saying statements of passengers and the victim were yet to be recorded. However, Sachdev's lawyer Harvinder Singh Anand opposed extension of his client's police custody saying he cooperated with the police in the investigation and that there was no evidence that he tried to hamper the probe. After hearing the arguments, the court sent the accused to judicial custody till December 22. Sachdev also moved an application for bail, which will be heard on December 15. The bail plea said the arrest of the accused was illegal on the ground that he was not aware of the FIR lodged by the victim at the time of his arrest, nor was he served any notice under the Criminal Procedure Code to appear before the police. The actor, during the flight, never complained about the alleged incident to the crew or filed any complaint upon landing at the airport, it contended, calling her allegations an afterthought. Sachdev was arrested on Sunday for allegedly molesting the film actor on board a Delhi-Mumbai flight. The 17-year-old actor, in an Instagram post, said the passenger sitting behind her was rubbing his foot against her back and neck while she was half-asleep. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Newly-established multilateral funding agency Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) today said its is considering investing in India's sovereign wealth fund National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). "We are actively looking at it. We are considering whether we should invest in it and decision will be taken sometime next year," AIIB vice president and corporate secretary Danny Alexander told PTI. He, however, did not give more details, saying the AIIB board will take a final call on this. India is the second largest shareholder of Beijing-based AIIB with 7.5 per cent share after China which holds 20.06 per cent in the bank. It is to be noted that NIIF last month signed an investment agreement worth USD 1 billion with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The government has set up NIIF with the aim to attract investments from both domestic and international sources for infrastructure development in commercially viable projects. The corpus of the NIIF is proposed to be Rs 40,000 crore (USD 6 billion) wherein the government will invest 49 per cent. It will raise third party capital for the remaining Rs 20,000 crore (USD 3 billion), from long-term international investors, such as a sovereign wealth funds, insurance and pension funds, and endowments. The Fund is expected to play the role of a catalyst for supporting investments in infrastructure with the objective of maximising economic impact through its investments. Alexander further said the multi-lateral funding agency has already made investment in six projects including a USD 335 million (Rs 2,159 crore) loan for a 100 per cent electric metro project Bangalore Metro Rail Project-Reach 6 (R6) since its inception in January 2016. The project is AIIB's first metro project and its first joint financing partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB). EIB is the project's lead financier with Euro 500 million in funding. Various other projects are under pipeline and those are at different stages of consideration, he said. He also said India will host the third annual meeting of the Board of Governors of AIIB at Mumbai on June 25-26 next year. The theme of the meeting will be 'Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An air of expectancy pervades Gujarat a day ahead of the second and final phase of Assembly polls after an acrimony-filled campaign for the key western state ended yesterday. Plumes of dust raised by campaign vehicles have settled down and loudspeakers at election rallies have fallen silent after 49 days of frenzied electioneering by leaders of the ruling BJP and challenger Congress that seeks to reclaim power after being in the opposition for 22 years. The hustings this time were dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who powered the BJP's campaign in his home state, while Congress's president-designate Rahul Gandhi was the party's face in the elections. "Never before I had seen both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi coming here so frequently, at times on the same day, to woo voters," said shopkeeper Raju Doshi. He somewhat misses the hustle and bustle of the high- octane campaign. "It was hard to miss a single ever since the campaigning began. It was pretty entertaining," he says. The lull looks like a break from the routine after the protracted cut and thrust of high-decibel electoral politics. "It's a lull before the real storm," says Amit Patel, a student, summing up the the mood of the state ahead of the crucial vote that will decide the winner on December 18, the day the ballots are counted. "The fight is likely to be close given the aggressive campaigning by both the sides," says Patel. Many poll watchers have predicted a dead heat between the two parties. From the common man on the street to those in the lobbies of think tanks, there is near unanimity that the contest is too close to call, though the two major contenders to power are confident of their victory. The tone of the campaign, which began on a somewhat subdued note with the talk of development politics, assumed rare stridency which saw the protagonists in the electoral arena making personal attacks against each other. The acrimony between political rivals peaked with Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's "neech aadmi" barb at the prime minister, who used it as a stick to beat the rival party with rally after election rally. The dying moments of electioneering saw a rare row break out after prime minister Modi seemed to suggest that Pakistan was trying to meddle in the Gujarat elections through his predecessor Manmohan Singh. Addressing a rally in Palanpur on December 10, Modi claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6, a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against him. Shedding his usual taciturnity, Manmohan Singh issued a strongly worded statement against Modi and demanded an apology. "I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points. "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said, adding he was "deeply pained and anguished" by the "falsehood and canards" being spread by the prime minister to score political points in what he said was a "lost cause" in Gujarat. Gujarati pride remained the only constant in the rapidly changing election rhetoric of the BJP. The party's campaign began with the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' by the party and Modi repeatedly invoked the issue of injured Gujarati pride as he planned the end game, calling upon the electorate to "avenge" the insult on the 'son of Gujarat' by the Congress. Whether the sense of Gujarati pride, which Modi appealed to, sways the voters in favour of the BJP, or the the prophecy of "zabardast" result by Rahul Gandhi comes true, will be known on December 20, the day the electorate's verdict is announced. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In less than a week, a second judge today lost his cool after lawyers tried to outshout each other and refused to hear a case, saying the court now needed to act tough against such advocates. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan refused to hear a batch of petitions related to embattled firm Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd (PACL) and posted them for further hearing in the second week of February. It all started when the bench was hearing arguments from senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for petitioner PACL, and a lady lawyer, appearing for the respondents, intervened allegedly in a high-pitch voice. "When one senior lawyer is speaking,there is no point for another lawyer to shout. I am otherwise very patient man but I am allergic to this type of argument. We can't tolerate this," Justice Sikri, who was heading the bench, said. "It is high time for courts to act tough against shouting lawyers to maintain discipline and decorum of court proceedings," he said, adding that the courts need to be tough against lawyers shouting in courts. The bench deferred the hearing of matter in second week of February saying it will not hear the case if the arguments were made at the bar in this manner. Singhvi said that the PACL should not be penalised (PACL) for no fault of theirs, but the bench refused to budge from its order and said the matter will be heard in February. On December 7, Chief Justice Dipak Misra had warned the shouting advocates by observing that "it will not be tolerated at any cost" and raising their voice "just shows inadequacy and incompetence". When a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was hearing a legal question whether a Parsi woman loses her religious identity after marrying a man of different religion, it got upset over growing incidents of senior lawyers arguing on a high pitch in cases like the Babri Masjid title suit and the Delhi-Centre disputes. The CJI had then observed: "Come what may, shouting in the courtroom will not be tolerated at any cost". "Lawyers are traditionally called ministers of justice. Unfortunately a small group of lawyers think they can raise their voice...argue with authority and conviction. Raising your voice just shows inadequacy and incompetence," the CJI had said, adding that some senior members of the Bar have been indulging in high pitch arguments. The bench had then said, "when lawyers argue in a manner not in tune with the constitutional language, we will tolerate it but for how long? If the Bar does not regulate itself, we will be compelled to regulate". Incidentally, Justice Sikri and Justice Bhushan were also part of that five-judge constitution bench headed by CJI. On July 25 last year, the apex court had restrained PACL and its promoters from disposing of its properties both in India and abroad after SEBI had alleged that the company has siphoned off 98 million dollars in Australia. PACL Ltd and its promoters and directors, including Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, have been embroiled in a legal battle for their alleged failure to refund Rs 49,100 crore to investors, an amount collected through chit funds schemes. The apex court had earlier asked PACL to approach the panel appointed by it to monitor the sale of assets and refund of money to the investors, for any relief for release of funds. It had on February 2, last year, appointed the panel headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha to monitor the sale of assets of the company and refund of money to the investors of PACL. The apex court had directed that title deeds of various lands of PACL should be handed over by CBI to SEBI, which shall accordingly take appropriate steps to ensure their sale for the purpose of refunding the money to the investors. SEBI has initiated recovery proceedings against the group and its promoters and directors. Earlier, SEBI had passed a refund order against various PACL group companies after holding them guilty of illegitimately pooling funds from the public through a collective investment scheme. SEBI had found that PACL had collected money from crores of investors through unauthorised collective investment schemes in the name of real estate projects and some agricultural land-related schemes. Accused-turned-approver in the Sheena Bora murder case Shyamvar Rai today told a court here that he harboured no evil intentions against the deceased as claimed by the defence lawyers. Niranjan Mundergi and Shreyansh Mithare, lawyers of accused Sanjeev Khanna, told Rai that he was keeping her photograph at his residence which too was denied by him. Rai told the court it was not necessary for him to keep Sheena's photograph with him. Mundergi and Mithare claimed that police had detained Rai and started interrogating him about disappearance of Sheena before Rai's actual arrest in August 2015. Rai also told the court that on the day of Sheena's murder in April 2012, he did not notice how much liquor Sheena's brother Mikhail had consumed. According to CBI, Mikhail was also supposed to be killed along with Sheena but the accused later dropped the plan. The murder came to light in August, 2015 after Rai, arrested in another case, spilled the beans and Mumbai police arrested key accused Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, and Rai. Later, Indrani's husband Peter Mukerjea, a former media businessman, was also arrested. The victim was also in a relationship with Peter's son. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam will host its first global investors summit in February to showcase its manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. Industrialists Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani will be amongst those participating in the February 3-4 'Advantage Assam: Global Investors Summit 2018', which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The event will showcase the manufacturing prowess and the opportunities offered by Assam in terms of export-oriented manufacturing and services to growing economies like ASEAN and South East Asian countries," Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI. The summit aims at highlighting Assam's geostrategic advantages and core competencies in different sectors and policy initiatives taken by the state government. Sonowal said the prime minister's special focus for the development of the Northeast and his multiple initiatives for the region will be the basis for the success of the summit. The state has identified a number of focus sectors, including agriculture and food processing, organic cultivation and bamboo, handloom, textile and handicrafts, inland water transport, port township and river front development and logistics. Other focus areas include information technology and information technology enabled services, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, plastics and petrochemicals, power, tourism, hospitality and wellness, petroleum and natural gas and civil aviation. As a precursor to the main event, roadshows are being organised at various domestic and international locations to invite investors to the summit and also showcase the business potential and investment opportunities in the state. "Roadshows held in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Toronto, Sanfrancisco, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore have already generated very positive response from the investors," said Hrishikesh Goswami, media advisor to the chief minister. "Very aptly, 'India's Expressway to ASEAN' has been chosen as the tagline of the summit," he added. The government is planning a roadshow in Bangalore on December 19. This will be preceded by a diplomats' meet in New Delhi on December 15. The summit is expected to attract a number of international business delegations apart from domestic investors. Around 2,000 industry leaders and representatives from India and abroad are expected to participate. The chief minister has had one-to-one meetings with top industrialists, including Tata, Ambani, Adi Godrej, Kishore Biyani, Gautam Singhania, Harsh Mariwala and Subhash Chandra. He has invited them to invest in Assam, Goswami said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan today rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the charge-sheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. Invoking Babasaheb Ambedkar, Union minister Ramdas Athawale today said he embraced Buddhism only after he was convinced that Dalits would not get justice in the Hindu religion and asked all members of the community to do so. "Only when Babasaheb Ambedkar was convinced that Dalits would not get justice in Hindu religion did he convert to Buddhism. Lakhs of Dalits converted as well," Athawale, the minister of state for social justice and empowerment, said in a statement issued here. According to the statement, Ambedkar had given opportunity to staunch "Hindutvavadis" to make amends but that did not happen, and hence he converted. "All Dalits should give up Hinduism and embrace Buddhism to stop atrocities against them," Athawale said. Athawale, the chief of the Republican Party of India (A), also slammed BSP chief Mayawati and said instead of issuing repeated threats, she should once and for all convert to Buddhism. Mayawati, addressing a rally at Nagpur on December 10, had attacked the BJP and the RSS, and said that Dalits, tribals, OBCs and minorities were facing castiest, religious and communal discrimination from the so-called custodians of the Hindu religion. Mayawati had warned the BJP and the RSS that if their attitude towards the backward sections of society didn't change, she would embrace Buddhism with crores of others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "It's part of the global order, the system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administration's relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administration's engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trump's recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was these need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixon's historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did it has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue we're having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and we're in a different place," he said. On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and that they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed lay claim to and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia region." "In our view, China has gone too far in this area. So can can we achieve some kind of halt? Can we freeze it where it is so we can sort out how we're going to work through this?" he asked. Attivo Economic Zones Private Limited today signed an MoU with the Telangana government for developing an infrastructure equipment manufacturing park in the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone near Zaheerabad. According to a statement issued by Attivo, the park, spread over 500 acres, will create a sustainable and comprehensive industrial zone of international standards as most of the world's leading original equipment makers (OEM) are expected to set up their units in the park, which has a potential to generate direct and indirect employment in excess of 10,000 over the next ten years. Attivo Economic Zones Private Limited, a Srei initiative, is in the business of developing, managing and marketing industrial parks, economic zones, SEZs and smart cities. The MoU was signed in Bengaluru. The industrial park is located within two hours of driving distance from the state cpital Hyderabad. K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana Minister for Information Technology and Industries, said the southern state is emerging as a preferred destination for industry. "Our priority has been to ensure ease of doing business and we will continue to support business ventures, which have the potential to drive industrial growth and economic progress of the state," KTR said. Sunil Kanoria, Vice Chairman, Srei Group, said the proposed park would be the most ideal location for all construction and mining equipment manufacturers as a plethora of road, irrigation and mining work is being awarded by the State Government and most of the contractors and construction companies are based there. "It makes great economic sense to set up the manufacturing base in the zone, which will be fully enabled from all infrastructure aspect. It would be the most ideal location for all equipment manufacturers," Kanoria said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the US, Australia today came out in strong support of India playing a leading role in East Asia and said the security interests of both the countries are "congruent" in ensuring stability and openness in the Indo-Pacific region. Australian Foreign Secretary Frances Adamson also said Canberra's trilateral and quadrilateral dialogues with India along with other major powers are a central part of its approach to "order-building" in the Indo-Pacific. "Beyond an increasingly important economic relationship, our security interests are congruent, particularly in relation to the stability and openness of the Indian Ocean," she said during a media interaction. She said Australia "strongly encourages" India's strategic interests in East Asia. The Trump administration has been favouring a larger role for India in the Indo-Pacific region. At the same time, Adamson said Australia will pursue "an active and positive" agenda with China and encourage it to use its growing influence to support regional security. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J Sugiyama today held held the 4th Australia-Japan trilateral dialogue here which discussed a range of issues including the regional security scenario, counter-terror cooperation and North Korea's nuclear missile tests. Australia, India, the US and Japan had held a meeting of the proposed quadrilateral coalition in Manila last month, seen as a move to counter China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific. Adamson said the quadrilateral and the trilateral coalition will continue to exist alongside as both the platforms are broadening discussions in pursuing common interests. Asked whether China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) figured in the trilateral talks, she said all the three countries were "very clear" that there should be transparency around these mega connectivity projects including in award of contracts and financing arrangements. India has opposed the BRI due to its sovereignty concerns over the USD 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). CPEC is part of the BRI. "It does not matter under whose auspices infrastructure is being developed," Adamson said. Referring to Australia's recently unveiled "white paper" on foreign policy, she said it recognises that India now sits in the front rank of Australia's international partnerships. On bilateral trade and economic ties, Adamson said Australia is developing an 'India Economic Strategy' to identify new ways of doing business together and to work towards free trade between the two sides. She also said Australia will back India if it wants to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a forum comprising 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Asked about Australia's interests in joining the Malabar naval exercise, she said her country would be part of it provided there is an invitation to it. At present, the US and Japan are part of the Malabar exercise along with India. Noting that China is Australia's largest trading partner, she said Australia recognises that China increasingly has a capacity to contribute to peace and security in the region. Referring to South China Sea disputes, the Australian foreign secretary said China must follow the ruling by an international tribunal in The Hague which favoured claims made by the Philippines. Adamson said the evolving security scenario in Indo- Pacific figured during the trilateral dialogue today as well as '2+2' dialogue between India and Australia yesterday. On supply of Australian uranium to India, Adamson said it is up to the issue is in the commercial domain as there is no obstacle for the supply. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to keep the Test specialists match-ready, the BCCI has decided to allow the likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav to turn up for their respective states in the Ranji Trophy semi-final from December 17-21. Bengal will be playing Delhi in Pune in the first semi- final while Karnataka will take on Vidarbha in the second semi-final. "Shami and Wriddhiman Saha will turn up for Bengal while Ishant Sharma might turn up for Delhi. Umesh Yadav will get to play for Vidarbha against Karnataka which will have KL Rahul in their ranks. Since there aren't any practice games in South Africa, it is only fair that they play Ranji Trophy," a senior BCCI official told PTI here today. It is learnt that the national selectors also wanted the Test specialists to play the semi-final. When asked CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya said: "Yes, Shami and Wriddhi will be playing for Bengal. It has been a good move by BCCI to allow the top stars take part in a marquee match. Ranji Trophy is the premier tournament and at a stage like semi-final, it will be a boost for the Bengal team to get two of its senior most players," Dalmiya said. However when contacted, a senior DDCA official said that there is still no clarity whether Ishant will be available for the match. Ishant, who has captained the side impressively at the group league stage also bowled brilliantly taking 20 wickets in four games. The final is set to be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore from December 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government does not differentiate people on caste or religious lines and those pursuing politics of hatred should not call themselves patriots. Unlike Gujarat, minority communities do not face any discrimination here, Banerjee said in a veiled attack on the BJP government in the western state. "We don't differentiate between Dalits, minorities or other communities. There are certain leaders from New Delhi, who are only busy spreading canards against us. I want to know what happens to a Dalit when he attends a programme in Gujarat. He is beaten to death," she said at a public meeting. Such incidents never occur in Bengal, she asserted. Banerjee credited her government for bringing peace and stability to Junglemahal - comprising forested areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts - once synonymous with Maoist violence. The state government has doled out Rs 25,000 each to 2,500 clubs in Junglemahal for the promotion of sports-related activities, she said. The CM also inaugurated 11 development projects in the district and laid the foundation stones for 11 more. The Trinamool Congress chief, who is a bitter critic of the BJP-led government at the Centre, stressed on the need to exist peacefully, irrespective of caste and creed. "Our biggest identity is that we are human beings. We have to love and respect everybody irrespective of religion, caste and creed. I have to look after minority communities, scheduled caste and scheduled tribes too. I cannot leave them behind. Those who love the nation don't pursue politics of hatred," Banerjee said. Referring to the recent incident in Rajasthan, where a Malda labourer was hacked and burned to death, she said her government doesn't believe in hurting someone because of his religion and caste. "A labourer from Bengal was burned to death in Rajasthan. Why will you kill someone? Why will you burn someone to death?" she asked. Banerjee also cautioned people against communal polarisation in the area. "If you see anybody distributing money and asking someone to convert into a particular religion, please inform the police," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP and the Congress were locked in a war of words today over Rahul Gandhi's interviews aired by Gujarati TV channels on the eve of final phase of the Assembly polls which also led the former to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission. The EC said it will examine the complaint by the BJP that the interviews of the Congress president-elect telecast today violated the Model Code of Conduct. As a controversy erupted after several Gujarati channels started airing the interviews, the BJP alleged he has turned so "desperate" fearing defeat in the Gujarat polls that he "violated" the Model Code of Conduct to giving the media interviews a day before the second and final phase of the elections tomorrow. The Congress on its part accused Chief Minister Vijay Ruapani and others of threatening journalists for airing Rahul Gandhi's interview and urged the Election Commission for action against them including registration of cases. Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat B B Swain told reporters in Gandhinagar that a report will be submitted to the Election Commission of India. While the BJP claimed that airing of interviews today was a "clear violation" of the poll code, Swain said the rules and guidelines which prohibit campaigning in the 48-hour period before the end of polling do not amount to a "gag order". "There are rules and guidelines which ban broadcasting of certain election-related content on TV during 48 hours... But we can not call it a gag order. "Yes, we have received a complaint. We will acquire the CD of interview(s) and watch it to decide whether it has violated various provisions of section 126 of the Representation of the People Act. After that we will convey our opinion to the Election Commission," Swain said. Section 126 relates to prohibition of public meetings during period of 48 hours prior to the end of polling. When asked if a restraining order has been issued to channels to stop the broadcast, Swain only said that he will first examine the evidence. "Before the start of 48-hour period, all the rules related to campaigning as prescribed under section 126 were brought to the attention of political parties and candidates. Now if a complaint comes about an interview, we will first examine the evidence," said Swain. As per the EC guideline for the media, electronic media, including TV channels, can't broadcast anything related to the elections after 5.00 pm of December 12. "We filed three complaints, through e-mail, with the EC as well as the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer, yesterday and today, as we came to know yesterday itself that such interviews will be aired today. Though we sought immediate action, the interviews went on air," said a state BJP leader who did not want be identified. As Gandhi spoke about Gujarat in these interviews, it was a clear violation of section 126, he alleged. "We even asked officials yesterday to take suo motu (on their own) action and stop channels from airing the interviews today. However, they were aired. It does not make any difference if the interview is conducted in Delhi. As Rahul spoke about Gujarat and it was aired in Gujarat, it violates the code," said the leader. Union minister Piyush Goyal said the Election Commission should act following these interviews and claimed that the undercurrent which Gandhi said was present in Gujarat, will work against the Congress and the BJP will win over 150 seats in the 182-seat assembly. "Congress is so scared and Rahul Gandhi is desperate to save his face. That is why he violated the Model Code of Conduct and gave interviews. We don't think such interviews are allowed in the 48 hours prior to polls. We have never given such interviews," Goyal told a press conference in Delhi. Congress incharge of communications department Randeep Surjewala alleged that some state BJP leaders were threatening TV channels with cases in the name of Election Commission for violation of model code of conduct. "We strongly condemn the BJP and its leaders for their arrogant behaviour. We warn the BJP that they cannot impose such restrictions on the media as there is still rule of democracy in the country. "We urge the Election Commission to take note of this and demand registration of cases against those threatening journalists," Surjewala told reporters in Delhi. Asked who were issuing such threats to journalists, he said, "We are on record to say that Gujarat chief minister and Gujarat BJP chief are calling up TV channels and have threatened them. Union minister Piyush Goyal has also said that cases will be registered against those airing Gandhi's interview." Surjewala said it is for the Election Commission to decide whether someone has violated the model code of conduct or not and BJP leaders cannot threatene anyone over it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rejecting the ruling Congress party's charge that it was fomenting communal trouble, the BJP today demanded an investigation by the CBI or the NIA into the mysterious death of a young fisherman last week, which has sparked tension in the coastal Uttara Kannada district. Paresh Kamalakar Mesta (19) had gone missing on December 6. His body was found near a lake in Honnavar in the district on the night of December 8 under mysterious circumstances. Sirsi and Kumata towns in the district have been hit by violence since then. Mesta's family and local residents have alleged he was abducted andkilled amid reports the body bore marks of attack bysharp objects. Police, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination. The BJP has blamed "jihadi elements" for Mesta's death, while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the saffron party of using the incident for "political gains". The party has been saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu organisations have been killed in coastalKarnataka and elsewhere in the past a few months. Speaking to reporters today, senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Shobha Karandlaje accused the Congress party of "shying" away from a National Investigation Agency probe. Rubbishing state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy's claim that Mesta's death was not mysterious, she said he was ignoring eyewitnesses account that the victim's face was blackened. "There were injuries on his face. 'Jai Sri Ram' tattooed on his hand was burnt and his private parts were mutilated. How can the death of a 19-year-old breadwinner of a family be treated as an ordinary case? Why is the government shying away from an NIA probe? Let CBI or NIA investigate it," she said. The BJP leader claimed the involvement of Muslim outfit Popular Front of India in the death of Mesta. "Investigations have shown the involvement of PFI behind the murder of RSS worker Rudresh (early this year) and other leaders in Karnataka and Kerala. Why is the government soft on PFI and not banning it," she asked. The PFI had earlier rejected the BJP's charge pinning the blame on it for the killings of Hindu activists. Karandlaje dismissed Reddy's charges that she and other BJP leaders were responsible for the riot-like situation in the coastal belt. "We are not giving any inflammatory speeches. All that we want is an NIA probe into the matter," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) District election authorities have issued a show-cause notice to Bhushan Bhatt, a BJP MLA from the city, for allegedly saying that he does not care about the Election Commission while offering money to those attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally. Bhatt, whom the BJP has fielded from Jamalpur-Khadia seat this time too, was caught up in the controversy after a video, purportedly showing him making the statement, went viral yesterday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally at the Sabarmati Riverfront. Jamalpur-Khadia is among the 93 seats where the second phase of polling for Gujarat Assembly elections will be held tomorrow. "We came across that video yesterday and ordered an inquiry. The Ahmedabad district election authorities have also served him a show-cause notice," said the state's Chief Electoral Officer B B Swain. Asad Khan, a city-based lawyer, lodged a complaint with the Gujarat CEO against Bhatt for "bribing voters and supporters as well as insulting the EC and its poll code" yesterday. "Our PM's rally is at Sabarmati Riverfront. Before that, arrange a rally of 4,000 to 5,000 two-wheelers here (Khadia) and then come to that venue. I am telling you again, just don't worry about the EC. I don't care about the EC. Let them do whatever they want to," Bhushan is purportedly heard telling his supporters in the video. He can also be heard offering petrol expenses to his supporters, and more than Rs 200 to each person they bring for the PM's rally, held on the night of December 11. "Don't be under the impression that people will get just Rs 200. I know that people of this area are not rich. Just ensure a large crowd," Bhatt purportedly said. In his complaint, Khan requested the EC and the Gujarat CEO to lodge an FIR against Bhatt, and defer the election in Jamalpur-Khadia constituency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP today raised in the Jharkhand Assembly the issue of some JMM legislators organising a "kissing competition" at a village fair, claiming that hosting such an event was an "insult" to women. But the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) launched a counter- attack by raising land acquisition and domicile policy of the state government, forcing adjournment of the House twice, and subsequently for the day. Chief Minister Raghubar Das was present in the House. Two JMM MLAs - Simon Marandi and Stephen Marandi - have courted controversy by organising a "kissing competition" for tribal couples during a traditional village fair in Pakur district in Santhal pargana of Jharkhand on Sunday. "It is an insult to women. Half of the population is women. JMM MLA says it is a tradition. Let there be a debate over it," BJP's chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore said after BJP MLAs Ram Kumar Pahan, Biranchi Narayan, Raj Sinha and other ruling party MLAs waved newspapers reporting the event soon after the House convened. They resumed in their seats on the request of Speaker Dinesh Oraon. However, slogan-shouting JMM MLAs trooped into the well of the House, protesting land acquisition and domicile policy of the Raghubar Das government, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House twice during the morning session. With the chaos refusing to die, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. The "kissing competition" event has hogged the limelight for the past few days. JMM president Shibu Soren yesterday served a showcause notice to its MLA Simon Marandi following newspaper reports about the event at Jhumaria in his Littipara constituency in Pakur district on December 10. Shibu Soren, a former chief minister of Jharkhand and JMM patriarch who hails from Santhal pargana region, directed the party MLA to reply in writing within seven days. Today was the second day of the winter session of the Jharkhand Assembly. The BJP has made a scathing attack on its rivals over the event, demanding that the two MLAs be suspended from the assembly as they had "insulted" the local culture. Simon Marandi, the organiser, has argued that the "kissing competition" was held to stop the increasing number of divorce in the tribal society. Party MLA Stephen Marandi was also present at the fair. A video of the "kissing competition" had gone viral on social media on Monday. In the video, tribal couples could be seen locked in a kiss while the crowd cheered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The probe into the alleged distribution of a "fake" sex CD involving Chhattisgarh minister Rajesh Moonat has been taken over by the CBI at the request of the BJP government in the state and two FIRs have been registered, officials said here today. The first case registered by the agency is against state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and senior journalist Vinod Verma based on allegations levelled by Moonat following which the Chhattisgarh Police had filed an FIR, they said. The second case deals with a state police FIR against unidentified persons lodged on a complaint by BJP leader Prakash Bajaj alleging that a ransom call was made to him saying if demand was not met the "obscene CD" of his masters would be distributed, according to them. The sources said the agency has re-registered has both the state police FIRs as its cases. Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Moonat had lodged complaints against scribe Verma, who was arrested from Ghaziabad in October, and Baghel for allegedly tarnishing his image through the CD. Verma and Baghel have denied the allegations. The Chhattisgarh government had recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter on October 28. State Revenue Minister Prakash Pandey had said that the matter seemed to be a "political and criminal conspiracy" and, therefore, it was felt that the CBI should probe it. The alleged video sparked a political row in the state with the Congress and the BJP trading charges over it. The matter came to light when Verma was arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police from his Ghaziabad residence for suspected blackmail and extortion related to the CD. As Verma was being escorted by the police, he had claimed that the state government was not happy with him as it suspected that he had a "sex CD of Chhattisgarh PWD Minister Rajesh Moonat" and suggested he was being framed. Moonat had called it "fake" and an attempt at character assasination. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI has taken over the probe into the alleged distribution of a "fake" sex CD of Chhattisgarh minister Rajesh Moonat at the request of the BJP government in the state and registered two FIRs, officials said today. State PWD Minister Moonat and BJP leader Prakash Bajaj had lodged two separate complaints based on which the Chhattisgarh Police registered two FIRs in the case. The Chhattisgarh government had recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter and transferred the FIRs to the agency October 28. "The first case was registered at the Pandri police station in Raipur on October 26, this year against unknown persons on the allegation that the complainant (Bajaj) received a call on his phone wherein an unidentified caller said that he possessed a pornographic video of his "aaka" (master) and threatened to distribute it in case his demand of ransom was not met," CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said here. He said the other case was registered at the Civil Lines police station in Raipur on October 27 against Chhattisgarh Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and senior journalist Vinod Verma on the allegation that they had given Moonat's fake pornographic video to various social media platforms to malign his character and obtain political mileage. Verma and Baghel have denied the allegations. State Revenue Minister Prakash Pandey had said that the matter seemed to be a "political and criminal conspiracy" and, therefore, it was felt that the CBI should probe it. The video sparked a political row in the state with the Congress and the BJP trading charges over it. The matter came to light when Verma was arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police from his Ghaziabad residence in October for suspected blackmail and extortion in the case. When Verma was being escorted by the police, he had claimed that the state government was not happy with him as it suspected that he had a "sex CD of Chhattisgarh PWD Minister Rajesh Moonat" and suggested he was being framed. Moonat had called it "fake" and an attempt at character assasination. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cheetahs, one of the planet's most iconic big cats, should be listed as "endangered", according to scientists who have found evidence of low cheetah population estimates in southern Africa. A comprehensive assessment of cheetah populations prompted the researchers to support the call for uplisting of cheetahs from "vulnerable" to "endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The study revealed that only 3,577 adult cheetahs remain in southern Africa. This estimate is 11 percent lower than the IUCN's current assessment. With partial support from the National Geographic Society, researchers analysed more than two million collared cheetah observations. Their findings showed that free-ranging cheetahs were present across about 789,700 square kilometres in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2016. "This is the area with the largest population of free- ranging cheetahs left on Earth. Knowing how many cheetahs there are and where they occur is crucial for developing suitable conservation management plans for the species," said Varsha Vijay, from the Duke University in the US. According to the study published in the journal Peer J, 49.7 per cent farmers consider cheetahs a source of conflict, while only a minority of farmers (26.5 percent) actively persecute (eg, kill or trap) the species. "The future of the cheetah relies heavily on working with farmers who host these big cats on their lands, bearing the heaviest cost of coexistence," said Florian Weise of the Claws Conservancy. The study not only estimated the number of cheetahs in areas with confirmed sightings, but also identified places where it is possible for cheetahs to live but where they have not been recently observed. "To better understand this rare and elusive species, we need to complement the monitoring of confirmed populations with the investigation of possible cheetah habitat," said Vijay. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today denied plans to construct a tunnel to divert Brahmaputra river waters amid reports of highly polluted waters from its tributary Siang flowing into India. "I would like to point out that China's position on the eastern part of the China-India border is consistent and clear," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to questions about the reports on blackened, muddy waters with cement and sledge of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh. He refuted reports that it may due to a tunnel being constructed on Chinese side. "I have never heard of the project mentioned by the Indian side. It is hoped that the Indian side will not conduct unfounded speculation and reports," he said in a written response to a question in this regard. In October, China had denied reports of plans to build 1000-km long tunnel to divert Brahmaputra waters to the arid regions of Xinjiang, saying the report is untrue and false. There is, however, no explanation for the highly-polluted waters in Siang river. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. In 2016, China had declared that it would be building a dam on a tributary of the river, sparking concerns of its potential downstream impact in India. Arunachal Pradesh State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL) in a recent report said the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had drawn the attention of the Centre on the river's contamination, which he said might have been caused due to activities on the Chinese side and asked the Government of India to take up the matter with Beijing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops, an enduring source of bad blood as present-day rivalry between the two countries keeps a spotlight on historical animosities. President Xi Jinping oversaw a memorial service with columns of black-clad mourners wearing a white flower on their jackets, braving freezing temperatures at a monument featuring statues of victims in the eastern city. Sirens blared at the start of the ceremony, while a giant "peace bell" tolled as doves were released into the air. According to China some 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after the invading Japanese military entered Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937. It remains one of the most fraught anniversaries for the two powerful neighbours due to stubborn disputes over the toll and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that the episode even took place. Many in China say this symbolises Japan's unwillingness to completely atone for its wartime aggression. Officially, Japan concedes that "the killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred" but says it is "difficult" to determine precise figures. The issue receded during the Cold War but has re-emerged as China strikes an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder under conservative leader Shinzo Abe. China in 2014 formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising its profile. Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University, said Beijing wants to keep such memories alive as leverage against Japan in modern-day disputes such as maritime territorial squabbles. "There are current conflicts between the two countries, so historical issues are re-emerging. All history is contemporary," Liang said. "Japan thinks these historical issues should have ended but China keeps hammering them as it becomes more powerful." Commemorations centred on the sombre and poignant memorial hall and museum in Nanjing, with soldiers carrying a large wreath at the site as Xi stood sombrely. Beijing has said little about the anniversary, but a Chinese group this week reiterated its annual demand for Japan to compensate relatives of victims. Fewer than 100 people designated as massacre "survivors" remain alive, however, and both sides have repeatedly expressed a desire to look forward and avoiding rocking their huge trade relationship. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The winter session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature commencing tomorrow will see Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma discharging their duties as full-fledged members of the Upper House. The two other new faces of the BJP in the UP Legislative Council will be ministers Swatantra Dev Singh (MoS Transport and Protocol), and Mohsin Raza (MoS Science and Technology, Electronics, Information Technology, Muslim Waqf and Haj). Raza is the lone Muslim face in the council of ministers headed by Adityanath. All of them, in September this year, were declared elected unopposed to the UP Legislative Council in the bypolls to five seats that fell vacant when the sitting members belonging to the opposition Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party resigned and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Adityanath had taken over as the chief minister of the state on March 19. He, along with the four other ministers, contested the Council bypolls to become a legislator within the stipulated time-frame of six months since assuming office. The seats fell vacant when Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant, Sarojini Agarwal and Ashok Bajpai - all from the SP - and BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh resigned and joined the BJP subsequently. Adityanath has now become the third successive chief minister after Akhilesh Yadav (SP) and Mayawati (BSP), to take the Upper House route. Other UP chief ministers who had opted for the Legislative Council route were Narayan Dutt Tiwari and late Ram Prakash Gupta (BJP). Former chief minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh had become a member of UP Legislative Council in November 1980 after assuming the chief minister's office in June 1980. He later contested a byelection from Tindwari assembly constituency, and became a member of UP Legislative Assembly in 1981. With all the five seats going to the BJP, the party's tally has risen to 13 in the 100-member Upper House, where the Opposition still enjoys majority. The SP has 61 members in the Legislative Council, the BSP nine, the Congress two and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one. While 12 seats are held by 'others', two are vacant. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will enjoy the rare distinction of being member of a third House. Maurya was a member of UP Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2014, representing Siarthu assembly constituency. In May 2014, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Phulpur parliamentary constituency in Allahabad and resigned from Lok Sabha membership on September 21, 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Conceding a BJP demand, the Karnataka government today decided to hand over to CBI the case relating to the mysterious death of a youth, which has sparked violence in coastal Uttara Kannada district. "The state government has decided to hand over Paresh Kamalakar Mesta's mysterious death case to Central Bureau of Investigation," state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told PTI here, as the BJP upped the ante on the issue. Maintaining that Mesta was a Hindu activist and had been 'killed' by "Jihadi elements", the BJP has demanded an investigation by the CBI or the National Investigation Agency. Hitting out at BJP, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had accused it of using the incident for "political gains." Mesta (19), hailing from the fisherman community, was reported missing on December 6 before his body was found near a lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district two days later. Sirsi and Kumata towns in the district have been hit by violence since then. Mesta's family and local residents alleged he was abducted and killed amid reports that the body bore marks of attack by sharp objects. Police, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination. Earlier today, senior BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje claimedthe involvement of Muslim outfit Popular Front of India Mesta'sdeath as she pressed for CBI or NIA probe. "Investigations have shown the involvement of PFI behind the murder of RSS worker Rudresh (early this year) and other leaders in Karnataka and Kerala. Why is the government soft on PFI and not banning it?" she asked. PFI had earlier rejected the BJP charge pinning the blame on it for the killings of Hindu activists. Karandlaje dismissed Reddy's charges that she and other firebrand BJP leaders were responsible for the riotous situation in the coastal belt. To a query, Reddy said, "We do not want to indulge in political mud-slinging, and the government is not shielding anyone in this case, and hence we thought it fit to hand over the case to CBI." Charging the BJP with playing politics over Mesta's death in poll-bound Karnataka, where assembly elections are due early next year, he said the victim did not belong to any political party. "Mesta's father, in a TV interview yesterday, had denied that his son belonged to any political party. This is just in contrast to BJP allegations that Mesta belonged to a Hindu outfit," he said. The death of Mesta had given a fresh ammunition to the BJP which has been targeting the Siddaramaiah government in recent months, saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu outfits have been killed in coastal Karnataka and elsewhere. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Union Minister Piyush Goyal threatened journalists in the name of poll code for airing Rahul Gandhi's interviews, and requested the Election Commission for registration of cases against them. Congress in-charge of communications department Randeep Surjewala alleged that some state BJP leaders were threatening TV channels with cases in the name of the Election Commission. "We strongly condemn the BJP and its leaders for their arrogant behaviour, for their unconstitutional attitude. We warn the BJP that they cannot impose such restrictions on the media as there is still rule of democracy in the country. "We urge the Election Commission to take note of these threats and initiate action against BJP leaders," he told reporters. Alleging that the BJP leaders were now acting as "chief electoral officers", he said that the party demand the the EC register cases against them for "conspiring to tarnish the poll body's name". Asked who were issuing such threats to journalists, he said, "We are on record to say that the Gujarat chief minister and the Gujarat BJP chief are calling up TV channels and have threatened them. Union minister Piyush Goyal has also said that cases will be registered against those airing Gandhi's interview." Surjewala said it was for the Election Commission to decide whether someone has violated the model code of conduct or not and BJP leaders cannot threaten anyone over it. He also said that during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an interview to a channel a day prior to voting. "If that was not violation of Model Code of Conduct, how could Rahul Gandhi's interview be?" he asked. The Congress leader also referred to the BJP releasing its manifesto a day ahead of the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9. Some local channels in Gujarat telecast Rahul Gandhi's interview ahead of the second phase polling in the state on December 14. The BJP complained to the EC about the airing of the interview after which Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer B B Swain said a report will be submitted to the Election Commission of India. While the BJP claimed that airing of interviews was a "clear violation" of the poll code, Swain said the rules and guidelines prohibit campaigning in the 48-hour period before the end of polling do not amount to a "gag order". "There are rules and guidelines which ban broadcasting of certain election-related content on TV during 48 hours... But we cannot call it a gag order," Swain told reporters. "Yes, we have received a complaint. We will acquire the CD of interview(s) and watch it to decide whether it has violated various provisions of section 126 of the Representation of the People Act. After that we will convey our opinion to the Election Commission," he said. Section 126 is about 'prohibition of public meetings during period of forty-eight hours' prior to end of polling. When asked if a restraining order has been issued to channels to stop the broadcast, Swain only said that he would first examine the evidence. "Before the start of 48-hour period, all the rules related to campaigning as prescribed under section 126 were brought to the attention of political parties and candidates. Now if a complaint comes about an interview, we will first examine the evidence," said Swain. As per the EC guideline for the media, electronic media, including TV channels, can't broadcast anything related to the elections after 5.00 pm of December 12. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi today made a strong pitch for the empowerment of women by passing a bill in Parliament providing a 33-per cent reservation to them and told the Centre that his party would not leave it with any choice in the matter. Addressing a day-long workshop organised by the Congress' women's wing here, Gandhi underscored the important role women had to play in "transforming" the Grand Old Party of India. "You (government) will have to give the women reservation. The Congress party will not leave you with any choice," he said. The Congress has been pushing for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, which has been languishing in the Lok Sabha. The bill envisages a 33-per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and all the state legislative assemblies. Gandhi's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, reminding him that the bill had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A hearing to decide the quantum of punishment to the lone convict found guilty in the rape and murder of a 30-year-old Dalit law student in Kerala last year, was held in a trial court here today. Ernakulam Principal Sessions court judge N Anil Kumar, who yesterday found Ameerul Islam, a migrant labourer from Assam, guilty of raping the law student at nearby Perumbavoor, heard the versions of defence and prosecution in awarding the quantum of punishment in the case. He then adjourned the hearing to tomorrow, when the quantum of judgement is expected to be pronounced. Today, the defence counsel moved an application seeking a fair probe, arguing that Islam, who only understands his mother tongue Assamese, was not given a fair treatment by the Kerala Police which probed the case. The court, however, rejected the application, saying that the application submitted by the accused for further investigaion was not in accordance with law. The prosecution narrated the brutal manner in which the 30-year-old law student was raped and murdered, and argued that it was a rarest of the rare case. They argued that a death sentence should be awarded to the convict, who, they said was a pervert. The diabolic and barbaric manner in which the crime was committed on the unarmed woman was almost like that committed on Nirbhaya, victim of the gangrape and fatal assault in New Delhi in 2012, it said. Islam's counsel said he was not guilty and that the police had framed him in the case. Referring to various judgements by the Supreme Court and high courts, he argued there was no eyewitness to the crime and the death penalty cannot be awarded merely on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Islam was found guilty by the court yesterday under various sections of the IPC, including 449 (house trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) 376 (A) (causing death or causes the woman to be in persistent vegetative state while committing rape). The Special Investigation Team probing the case had used DNA technology and verification of call record details to prove Islam's involvement in the crime. The court had on December 6 completed hearing in the case and posted for today the pronouncement of the judgement. Islam was charged with raping and murdering the woman at Perumbavoor on April 28, 2016. He was booked under various sections of IPC and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules. As many as 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which commenced in April last. The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house. Islam, who had left Perumbavoor soon after committing the crime, was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after the gruesome incident. More than 100 police personnel questioned over 1,500 people in the case. Fingerprints of over 5,000 people were also examined by the SIT personnel, who went through over 20 lakh telephonic conversations before reaching the convict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) today organised a car rally to take home a women who was allegedly beaten up by locals for helping authorities unearth an illicit liquor racket in Narela area. The woman was discharged from hospital today. She was first taken to Rajghat where she offered prayers before heading home. Over 400 vehicles and thousands of women from across the city assembled at Rajghat to take her home. "We appeal to people to join the campaign by giving missed call at 9313-181-181 and send information on illegal liqour and drugs trade through whatsapp. The identity of those providing information to the commission shall be kept secret," DCW chief Swati Maliwal said. Last week, the woman was allegedly assaulted for helping the DCW and police unearth an illicit liquor racket Terming the incident as "shocking and shameful", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had sought intervention from Lt Governor Anil Baijal and demanded action against local policemen who were allegedly colluding with those running the racket. Police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against those who assaulted the woman. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government today constituted a nine-member expert committee to recommend it the norms to be followed by city hospitals, including on capping the margin of profit from the sale of medicines, in medical investigation and for behavioural protocols. Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the committee will be headed by the Directorate General Of Health Services. He told reporters that the committee will have senior doctors from the Delhi Medical Council, the Delhi Medical Association and the Indian Medical Association president as members. It will send its report by December 31. "They will not be mere recommendations. The Delhi government will use them come up with protocols related to medical service," Jain said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government today set up a nine-member expert committee to recommend it the norms to be followed by private hospitals in the city, including on capping the margin of profit from the sale of medicines, in medical investigation and for behavioural protocols. Making the announcement at a press conference here, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the committee will be headed by Director-General Of Health Services Kirti Bhushan. The minister, in response to a question on the Centre's Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, said the city government is working on its own Delhi health act, which should come into being soon. On what prompted the setting up of the panel, Jain said his department had received several complaints related to alleged overcharging, refusal or delay in providing immediate medical care to victims of crime or road accidents, or hospitals compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy, rude behaviour by healthcare workers and delay in initiating medico-legal cases. "So, we have formed this committee, which would also include Indian Medical Association president Dr K K Aggarwal, Delhi Medical Council president Dr Arun Gupta, former president of Delhi Medical Association, Dr R K Gupta, and experts from our government," he told reporters. The panel has been requested to submit its recommendations by December 31. "They will not be mere recommendations. The Delhi government will use them to come up with protocols related to medical services," Jain said. Asked if the step was prompted by the recent alleged incidents of overcharging and medical negligence by two upscale private hospitals, he said: "No. We have been pro- actively working on it for months." Registered private hospitals and nursing homes will come under its purview. "We have been saying that open loot and criminal negligence by any private hospital will not be tolerated. And, the panel will, among other recommendations, also suggest the capping limit on the margin of profit availed from the sale of medicine. So, it will tell what percentage of profit margin can they go for," the health minister said. They will also recommend measures for norms to be followed in medical investigation and suggest behavioural protocols, he said. The government, later in a statement, said the panel will suggest mechanism so that all private hospitals and nursing homes should, as far as possible, only prescribe drugs mentioned in the National List of Essential Medicines (NELM). Price to be charged by them for medicines and consumables and not compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy and price charged for various diagnostic investigations would also be deliberated by the panel. They will also offer suggestions that will seek to "develop a mechanism for eradicating cuts and commissions in medical practice", the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Parents aggrieved with arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in the national capital will be able to register complaints with 'Fees Anomaly Committees' in each district with the Delhi government ordering disposal of the complaints within 90 days. The Delhi government has also decided to act tough against private schools hiking their fees, citing implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission and called a meeting of all the MLAs and education department officials. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia met at the Delhi Secretariat today following complaints from parents that schools have increased their fees and are asking for arrears. "Any parent or guardian aggrieved by the amount of fees or any other charge being levied by the school may register a complaint with the fee anomaly committee of respective district with a processing fees of Rs 100," an official order said. "All private schools are hereby directed to make available to the panel any record of the school and submit its accounts in the proforma as prescribed for the purpose. The committees shall examine and scrutinise the complaint within 90 days and submit its report to the office with its definite findings on the issue referred to it for their disposal," it added. In the meeting scheduled tomorrow, the MLAs have been asked to get data regarding complaints against private schools in their area which have increased the fees. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today disposed of former TMC leader Mukul Roy's plea alleging phone tapping, after the Centre and the West Bengal government said his numbers were not being intercepted. The order was passed by Justice Vibhu Bakhru after he perused the affidavits filed by the two governments. The court, however, gave Roy the liberty to approach it again if he finds any concrete evidence substantiating his allegations. Former Trinamool Congress MP, who has now joined the BJP, had sought a CBI probe into the alleged surveillance and tapping of his phone by the West Bengal police. Roy has alleged that while he was in West Bengal, he always found that the local police were monitoring his movements. The plea has claimed that similar apprehensions were put on record by several other persons, including union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today bluntly told the government that it could send its officials to jail for contempt of Supreme Court's 19-year old direction to augment its bus fleet, but the city needed more buses now rather than officials in prison. "We can still send you to jail. But what the city needs is buses, not you in jail," the court said as it also pulled up the Delhi government for not buying low floor disabled- friendly CNG buses in the last 10 years on the ground that their cost was unrealistic. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar questioned the basis for the Delhi government's assessment that the cost cited by Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland for supplying the buses was "unrealistic, exorbitant and unjustifiable". "If you are comparing low floor buses with standard floor buses to say the cost is unrealistic, then it is like comparing apples with oranges. Take a practical, pragmatic and realistic view," the court said. "For the last 10 years you have justified not buying low floor buses saying the price was unrealistic without saying what is realistic or carrying out an empirical study," it said, adding "we are pained by this". The court said if there was only a single manufacturer of a specialised product, then the government should go for it by taking into account the interests of the disabled persons as well as the environment. "You should see what you are balancing the cost against," the bench said to the Delhi government. The court has impleaded Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland as parties in the matter so that they can inform it about the basis for the costs of their low floor CNG buses. The bench was hearing a PIL by a person suffering from locomotor disability challenging the Delhi government's move to procure 2,000 standard floor buses at a cost of Rs 300 crore. During the hearing, advocate Sanjoy Ghose, appearing for the Delhi government, said the PIL be dismissed as the petitioner -- Nipun Malhotra -- has moved a contempt plea for not procuring low floor buses when the bench had allowed the purchase of the 2,000 standard floor buses. The bench did not agree with the contention of the Delhi government, saying its officials can be held in contempt and sent to jail for not complying with the Supreme Court's 1998 direction to augment its bus fleet from 5,000 to 10,000. "The contempt plea does not preclude us from issuing directions to you to get the buses," the court said while terming the Delhi government's stand as "recalcitrant and unfortunate". Advocate Jai Dehadrai, appearing for the petitioner, said a contempt plea was moved since, according to a 2007 high court judgement, no bus which does not have low floor can be registered by the transport department. However, till date several thousand standard floor buses have been registered in violation of the judgement, Dehadrai said and added that his client would pursue the plea for contempt action. With regard to the Delhi government's argument that they need more land for parking before procuring additional low floor buses, the court did not accept the contention and said "get the buses first". The bench said if the land is made available first, then by the time the buses are procured, it would be encroached upon. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde faced an embarrassment in the House today when he unwittingly revealed that a dairy controlled by him is buying milk from farmers below the rate prescribed by the state government. The Opposition parties today raised a question under calling attention objecting to the government's circular which made it mandatory to dairies to buy milk from farmers at Rs 27 per litre. During an uproar on the issue, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar rose and started listing out the problems being faced by dairies on the cost front due to the circular. He suddenly turned towards Bagde and said, "Even you control a dairy in your Aurangabad district. You are also one of the directors of Mahanand, the state run dairy. Why don't you tell us, at what rates your Aurangabad-based dairy purchases milk?" Agitated by the continuous din, Speaker Bagde said, "Earlier the dairy used to buy milk at Rs 27 per litre but now it buys at around Rs 21 or Rs 22 per litre". Latching on to the Speaker's reply, Pawar led the chorus of the Opposition MLAs on the issue of milk purchase rate. Bagde, however, did not withdraw his statement. "Bagde's statement is a clear admission of the violation of a circular issued by the Maharashtra government. I demand an answer from the state government on how much time do they need to initiate an action against his dairy," Congress MLA Sunil Kedar said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defused the situation by assuring the opposition parties that the government would withdraw the circular if it is found to be impractical. With this assurance, the opposition calmed down and order was restored. Minister of State for Dairy Development Arjun Khotkar said, "A committee is set up for finding an amicable solution to this issue as the government is keen to increase farmers' income. Till the committee's report is out, the government will not take any action against dairies that buy milk at lower rate. It will take two months to get the report". Dairies in Maharashtra have been opposing the circular arguing that they cannot sustain if they are made to purchase milk from farmers at Rs 27 per litre. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The DMK today urged Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to take steps to declare Cyclone Ockhi that battered Kanyakumari as a "national calamity," and sought expeditious search and rescue operation for missing fishermen. A DMK delegation led by party Working President MK Stalin submitted a memorandum to the Governor at the Raj Bhavan here. It accused the K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government of failing to give due importance to the search and rescue operations for the missing fishermen from the state in the aftermath of the cyclone that hit Kanyakumari on November 30. The DMK claimed the chief minister, his deputy O Panneerselvam and senior state government officials were making "contradictory" statements on the number of missing and stranded fishermen as it had no true account in this regard. The state administration has "grossly failed" to wake up and quickly respond to the emerging situation, it alleged. Therefore, the Centre should intervene to help trace the missing fishermen quickly within a time-frame, in coordination with state agencies, the memorandum said. The party appealed to the Governor to urge the Centre to ensure immediate deployment of more Naval helicopters and ships for a massive rescue operation in deep sea to "trace thousands of fishermen missing." It also requested Purohit to apprise the Home Ministry of the situation and prevail upon it to declare the cyclone as a national calamity. The DMK also alleged that "a complete breakdown in day-to-day business of the Government, resulting in untold sorrow and sufferings to the people." Later, speaking to reporters, Stalin said Purohit has assured him that he would 'forward' the memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also said the Governor recalled his meeting with affected persons in Kanyakumari recently. Purohit also told them he had taken up the matter with Finance minister Arun Jaitley, Home minister Rajnath Singh and Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman during his two-day Delhi visit which ended yesterday, Stalin said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If the country wants to develop cruise tourism which has vast potential, she needs to upgrade infrastructure, ease security and immigration policies and attract investments, says a leading cruise-line operator. Government is keen to develop cruise tourism and working on a policy to increase the cruise liner traffic. Currently the country doesn't figure in the world's cruise tourism map as she gets only a very small fraction of the world cruise tourism market, which was estimated at 23 million passengers in 2016. "India has long coast line but it she wants to develop cruise tourism, she needs to improve the infrastructure, ease policies and attract investments. More and more Indians are now looking at adventure vacations on cruise," Royal Caribbean Cruises India representative Ratna Chadha told reports on- board the Celebrity Constellation here. The cruise tourism to develop, there has to be world- class port berths for cruise ships and simplify security and immigration procedures for tourists as already there is a surge in international passenger vessels making round trips to the country's ports, she said. The 90,000-tonne Celebrity Constellation from the US- based Celebrity Cruises, is on her maiden sail to the city as part of her round-trip voyage from Abu Dhabi, carrying around 2,000 guests both foreign and Indian. "This is the first time we have segmented a cruise ship for 12 nights sailing from Abu Dhabi to Goa and Mumbai and begin return trip to Abu Dhabi from Thursday," she said. Lisa Vogt, vice-president, international corporate charter sales at Celebrity Cruises, "India is on our radar and we are strategically targeting the MICE segment and identify opportunities, which include weddings and global meetings. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to appear before it on December 18 for adjudication proceedings related to a foreign exchange violation case involving USD 10,000 "illegally" possessed by him in 2002. The foreign currency was seized during an Income Tax raid at his residence in Srinagar's Hyderpora area in 2002. The central probe agency, early this year, issued a notice under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to the 87-year-old separatist leader based in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, has been asked to either appear in person or through his legal representative before the agency in Srinagar on December 18. The adjudication notice has asked him to "explain or produce documents or evidences, as may be useful for or relevant to the subject matter of enquiry". The notice, issued by the Enforcement Assistant Director in Srinagar Deepak Chauhan, said if he failed to appear on the date, "adjudication proceedings shall proceed against the noticee (Geelani), exparte". Geelani can be penalised up to three times the amount contravened under the FEMA after these proceedings end. The ED took up the case after taking cognisance of the Income Tax report and issued summons to Geelani to appear before it in Srinagar in March this year. The agency earlier said that Geelani's counsel had submitted a written reply and "denied" the recovery of foreign currency from his residence and seizure. "Following further summons, his chartered accountant submitted the appeal documents confirming the recovery and seizure of foreign currency. However, he failed to furnish legitimate source for its acquisition and possession thus making himself liable for action under FEMA," an ED statement earlier said. Under the FEMA, foreign exchange dealings are regulated in India and the acquisition and possession of foreign exchange by resident Indians are required to be conducted in accordance with the general or special permission. "Geelani did not have any such permission or bona fide explanation for acquisition and possession of the foreign currency. "Therefore, he has been asked to show cause to the adjudicating officer under FEMA within 30 days as to why the recovered currency should not be confiscated and penalty imposed on him," the agency said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An elderly couple were hacked to death while they were sleeping in their hut in the neighbouring Chitrakoot district, police said. Chota Kol (60) and his wife Bhudi (56) were sleeping in their hut in Nihi village under Manikpurwa police station area when they were hacked to death, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Balwant Chaudhary said. According to the ASP, the four-year-old grandson, who was with the deceased during the incident, has provided some vital clues about the incident. "Two blood stained axes have been recovered from the scene of crime. We will nab the culprits soon," he said. The son of the deceased has lodged an FIR and a youth has been taken into custody for questioning, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today accused US counterpart Donald Trump of having a "Zionist mentality" over his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding Washington had no further role to play in the peace process. "The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine. Mr Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality," he said at the close of an emergency Muslim summit, adding that there can no longer be "any question" of the United States being a mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Erdogan opened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking to marshal Muslim leaders towards a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Abbas warned that the United States has lost its role as the mediator in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians as a result of the move by US President Donald Trump. Erdogan - who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause - described Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror". "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," he said. Erdogan added: "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand. Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. "Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state... There will be no peace, no stability without that," Abbas told the meeting. He slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, will be hoping to unite often feuding Muslim leaders into a tough final statement on the move by Trump. His top diplomat early today indicated that Ankara would be pushing for OIC states to, in a counter move, recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. "This step taken by the US legitimises the occupation," of the Palestinian territories, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavsuoglu told a meeting of OIC foreign ministers. "We will never be silent," he said, urging countries to recognise Palestine on the basis of its 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital. But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran will be a far from easy task, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, told AFP he believed Muslim leaders would merely "issue a boiler-plate condemnation". Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti- Washington OIC statement. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance. However the level of Saudi representation - critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility - was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures. Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A former Congress MLA allegedly routed and laundered black money to the tune of over Rs 8 crore post demonetisation as part of his purported nexus with Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon and others, an ED investigation has found. The MLA, Rajesh Jain, was arrested by the Delhi Police crime branch last month in a post-demonetisation illegal funds case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) now will soon seek his remand from a court and question him at length, official sources said. He is at present in judicial custody. The investigation revealed that Jain and his son Prateek are proprietors of firms named Jai Jinendra Sales and Srinivas Sales and "during demonetisation these firms received money to the tune of Rs 8.71 crore (Rs 8.56 crore by RTGS and Rs 15 lakh in cash) from firms where the demonetised cash of Rohit Tandon was deposited," an ED report said. This amount, it said, was allegedly transferred and laundered to various other firms in a very "short duration." Agency sources said a detailed questioning of Jain is required to "unravel the entire conspiracy that was chalked out to illegally convert black funds into white in the wake of demonetisation." The agency had also conducted searches at the premises of Jain in Delhi in May as part of its probe against Tandon and few others, whom it had booked and arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED had alleged that Tandon and the other accused in the case "conspired so that demonetised currency would be collected and deposited in various accounts of the firms which have huge cash in hand, and from those accounts demand drafts in fictitious names would be issued." The probe also found, the report said, that Jain and Mittal were "instrumental in picking demonetised cash of Tandon between November 14-19 last year from various place at evening and night and the same cash was transported and deposited in various bank accounts of shell companies." The Enforcement Directorate took over the case and registered an FIR under PMLA after taking cognisance of Delhi Police crime branch FIR on alleged fake accounts with deposits worth Rs 34 crore. Last year, the Crime Branch had registered a case of cheating and forgery against lawyer Tandon, Ashish, a bank manager, Kamal Jain, Dinesh Bhola, Raj Kumar Goel, R C Sharma, Yogesh Mittal and Jain. They had allegedly conspired to exchange the demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes for new notes that were introduced and to earn a huge profit by illegal means. The case was registered to unearth the organised rackets that were exchanging old currency. In a raid conducted on December 10 last year, Rs 13.5 crore was seized from a law firm's office in southeast Delhi's GK-I area, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new currency released after demonetisation. The raid was carried out at the office of T&T law firm owned by Tandon. Jain, the crime branch had said, was arrested for allegedly conspiring with Tandon to make illegal money transactions by using fake bank accounts worth Rs 50 crore. It was found during investigation that the forged documents and shell company accounts were used to carry out huge transactions to earn huge profits, they had said. Ex-servicemen will celebrate Vijay Diwas, which commemorates India's victory over Pakistan in 1971 war, on a grand scale at India Gate here on December 16. A number of ex-servicemen who fought in the war will participate in the celebrations, along with hundreds of NCC cadets and schoolchildren, said Major General (retired) G D Bakshi, a patron of the ex-servicemen organisation Veterans India. Union minister V K Singh will release a book, '1971: The Fall of Dhaka', penned by Bakshi. The book gives a detailed account of the 13-day war. The celebrations will begin in the morning of December 16 at NCC auditorium in Delhi Cantt., he said. A 45-minute documentary will be screened on the occasion. In the evening, the documentary will be showed at the India Gate. Bakshi said that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman might take part in the celebrations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a dig at Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on completion of four years in office, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot today said she had pushed the state backwards during her tenure. He alleged that corruption and nepotism flourished and crimes like rape of minor girls and murders have become a daily routine in the four years of BJP rule. "I have never seen such an irresponsible and useless government in 50 years of my political career. The state home minister and health minister should feel ashamed for being in the government," Gehlot said in a statement. "It seems she (Raje) knows that it is her last term as chief minister, therefore, corruption is rampant and decisions are being made at the CMO level instead at the level of ministers. There is resentment among people and she knows it," he said. The AICC general secretary and former chief minister also accused the government of wasting crores of rupees in the name of foreign tours and Resurgent Rajasthan investment summit. "The state government was also not ready for a CBI or judicial inquiry into the mines scam. There would be a big expose if corruption cases of Rajasthan government are probed by CBI," Gehlot said, adding it would be better if the chief minister tendered the resignation herself. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has amended rules requiring mandatory quoting of national biometric identifier Aadhaar and PAN for certain financial transactions like opening of a bank account by keeping the deadline open-ended in place of the current December 31. A new rule modifying the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 has been notified to replace the requirement of submitting "the Aadhaar number and Permanent Account Number by December 31, 2017" with "submit the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form No. 60, by such date as may be notified by the Central Government". The notification by the Department of Revenue in the finance ministry effectively paves the way for extending the deadline for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar for activities like the opening of a bank account. This is in line with the Centre last week informing the Supreme Court that it is willing to extend till March 31 the deadline fixed for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail various services and welfare schemes. On December 7, the deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar was extended by three months to March 31, 2018. Under the PMLA, Aadhaar, PAN and other official documents are required to be obtained by banks and financial institutions from anyone opening a bank account as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above. The notification issued yesterday stated that accounts where Aadhaar and PAN are not furnished by the date notified by the government will cease to be operational. If the account holder "fails to submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by such date as may be notified by the central government, the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar number and Permanent Account Number is submitted by the client", it said. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) forms the core of the legal framework put in place by India to combat money laundering and generation of black money. The PMLA and its rules impose an obligation on reporting entities like banks, financial institutions and intermediaries to verify the identity of clients, maintain records and furnish information to the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND). As per Rule 9, every reporting entity shall at the time of commencement of an account-based relationship identify its clients, verify their identity and obtain information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship. Intermediaries like stockbroker, chit fund company, cooperative bank, housing finance institution and non-banking finance companies are also classified as reporting entities. Biometric identification number Aadhaar and other official documents are required to be obtained by the reporting entities from anyone opening a bank account as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above. The rule also applies to all cash dealing of more than Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency, cash transactions where forged or counterfeit currency notes have been used and all suspicious dealings. All cross-border wire transfers of more than Rs 5 lakh in foreign currency and purchase and sale of immovable property valued at Rs 50 lakh or more also fall under this category, according to the reporting rules. The notification issued yesterday said amendments are being made in Rule 9 of the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005. When governments fail to keep their promises, they talk about a former Prime Minister "conspiring with Pakistan to sabotage a particular party", Janata Dal (U) leader Pavan Varma has said. The former Member of Parliament and spokesperson of the JD(U), an NDA ally, yesterday said democracy was threatened by populist governments which made emotional statements to deflect voters' attention from governance. "When faith in the promises made by you is lost, when it becomes transparent to people and they rather wish to talk about governance, then you start talking about issues like 'Khilji ki aulaad', 'Aurangzeb'... or say that a former PM is conspiring with Pakistan to sabotage a particular party. That is the ultimate threat to democracy," Varma said. Though the former diplomat did not name any party, the reference was to the BJP's electoral campaign in Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had insinuated at a recent rally that former prime minister Manmohan Singh had colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls. Varma, who, along with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, took part in a panel discussion on "Populism is the Greatest Threat to Democracy" at the curtain raiser here of the 11th Jaipur Literature festival, said populism devalued democracy because it shifted the focus of attention from governance to promises. When populism was turned into a tool to win an election, never-to-be-fulfilled promises were made, he said. "It becomes a contest about who can tell the biggest lie," Varma said. "When there are false promises all around, common people don't trust even the legitimate ones," he added. Former Union minister Tharoor said populism presumed it spoke for the masses, often ending the scope for pluralism. "It tells the masses, 'we are all you need and we know what is good for you'," the Congress MP said. Tharoor also took took a dig at the "populist mindset" of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. He said it was the political party's "populist nature" that led them to say they represented the "will of India" after winning 31 per cent votes. "...and those who disagree with them are anti-national," Tharoor said. He also noted that a populist mindset could be on either side of the political spectrum -- left or right. The organisers released the third list of speakers attending the festival in Jaipur, set to take place from January 25 next year. It includes eminent personalities from varied fields such as environmentalist and filmmaker Pradip Krishen, economist Gurcharan Das and Burmese human rights activist Ma Thida. The literary event will also see sessions by forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, whose books inspired the popular American television series "Bones", Philip Norman, author of biographies on The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Elton John, who will speak on The Beatles' 1968 visit to India. Namita Gokhale, author and festival co-director, said JLF always tried to remain "plural, diverse and multilingual" balancing intellectual rigour with popular culture. "We have also tried to maintain a gender balance in our panels, and resist 'manelists' and their all-knowing superiority," she said. The five-day festival will be attended by Hindi writers of the next generation, including Akhil Katyal, Anu Singh Choudhry and Yatindra Mishra. William Dalrymple, author and festival co-director, pointed out that the festival was open to all. "There are several major international literature festivals across the world, but JLF is the only place where you can listen to the A-listers, Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer winners without paying anything at all," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Voting for the second phase of the crucial Gujarat Assembly polls will be held tomorrow after the high-voltage campaign witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi leading the electioneering for their parties. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat, in the final phase of the polls, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise. Prominent candidates in the fray for tomorrow's battle include state deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana against Jivabhai Patel of Congress. Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress, is seeking election from Radhanpur constituency. Lavingji Thakor of the BJP is contesting against him. Vadgam SC seat is another key constituency from where independent candidate Jignesh Mevani is fighting the election on Congress support against BJP's Vijay Chakravarti. In Maninagar, the constituency once represented by PM Modi, Congress has given ticket to foreign-educated young face Sweta Bhrambhatt against BJP's sitting MLA Suresh Patel. Modi had vacated the constituency after becoming the PM in 2014. In its bid to form a caste bloc against the BJP, the Congress has won over Hardik Patel, Thakor and Mevani, who have emerged as the young Turks representing the Patidars, OBCs and Dalits respectively. The elections, being viewed as precursor to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, are a prestige battle for Modi, who helmed the campaign for the ruling BJP in his home state, and a litmus test for Gandhi, who spearheaded the campaign for the Congress. The electioneering for the second phase concluded yesterday after Modi took a seaplane ride from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam in north Gujarat, and returned after offering prayers at the famous Ambaji Temple and holding a road show. On the concluding day of the campaign, Gandhi told reporters that there was "tremendous undercurrent" against the ruling BJP in Gujarat and predicted a victory for his party in the Assembly polls. He claimed that "public mood" had undergone a radical change with all sections of society angry with the saffron party. In the final stages of the electioneering, Modi set off a political firestorm after he alleged during a rally in Palanpur that Pakistan was trying to influence the Gujarat polls. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met a day before Mani Shankar Aiyar made the "neech aadmi" jibe against him. However, the next day Manmohan Singh asked Modi to apologise to the nation for his remarks. Earlier, at a rally in Bhabhar town in Banaskantha district in north Gujarat, Modi accused Aiyar of giving "supari" (contract) while on a visit to Pakistan to get him "removed" from the way to ensure peace between India and the neighbouring country. This came a after Aiyar called Modi a "neech kism ka aadmi" (lowly man). Several senior leaders from both the BJP and the Congress also campaigned extensively for their candidates in major parts of north and central Gujarat. Apart from Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah also trained guns at the Congress over several issues, including the Ayodhya dispute. On the other hand, Gandhi persistently attacked Modi and the BJP for "not talking about the future of Gujarat" and skipping key issues being faced by the people of the state. He accused Modi of ignoring the masses and working for only a handful of industrialists. Patidar reservation agitation spearhead Hardik Patel charged up the campaign by holding a massive rally in Nikol area of the city, where he appealed to voters to "teach a lesson" to the BJP this time. The 24-year-old, arguably the most talked-about personality in Gujarat today, even held a road show although the authorities had denied permission for the event. The influential Patidar community, which accounts for around 12 per cent of the state's population, could prove to be the 'X factor' in the polls, in which Hardik Patel has pledged support to the Congress and appealed to the people to "uproot the BJP" this time. The Election Commission (EC) had earlier announced that Gujarat would be the second state after Goa, where the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system would be used, along with electronic voting machines (EVMs). In the 2012 assembly polls, the BJP had won 115 seats, while the Congress bagged 61. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana is heading towards realising the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double the income of farmers by 2022, state agriculture minister O P Dhankar said today. In this series, a new scheme called 'Bhavantar Bharpai' is being implemented in the interest of farming community for fixing the procurement rates of vegetables such as potato, tomato, onion and cabbage from January 2018 onwards, he said here. "Haryana is definitely heading towards to realise the Prime Ministers vision to double the income of farmers by year 2022," he said. Dhankar said the BJP government in the state had provided about Rs 3,000 crore to compensate the crop loss to farmers during the last three years. The government had also increased the compensation amount for crop loss due to natural calamity from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre, he said. Dhankar was speaking after launching the portal of 'Haryana Pashu Chikitsak Parishad' and Haryana Veterinary journal here today. Dhankar said that there were about 36 lakh milch animals in the state and average milk production per day is 2.46 crore litres. "We want to enhance this figure to 3.60 crore litres in coming five years," he said. The per capita milk availability in the state has also increased during last three years, he 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 state government to consider a representation of S A Basha, an Al-Umma leader serving life term for the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blasts, seeking premature release. A division bench headed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher passed the order on a habeas corpus plea moved by Basha's daughter Mubeena. Basha was arrested in 1991 by the Coimbatore city police in connection with a murder case and was remanded to judicial custody. The trial court awarded life imprisonment to him in the case. He was also arrested in connection with the 1998 serial bomb blasts cases. The sessions court had on August 1, 2007, sentenced him to life imprisonment. Basha's daughter, in her plea, sought the benefit of Section 428 of the CrPC for setting off the period of incarceration already served by her father in the 1991 murder case against the jail term served in the blast case. She contended that the sentences were ordered to run concurrently with the previous conviction in which her father was given life term. She also referred to a 1994 scheme of the Tamil Nadu government for premature release of life convicts on humanitarian grounds after 20 years of actual imprisonment. A representation was also made to the state government on March 23, 2017. The petitioner said since the state has not responded, she approached the court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tripura High Court has issued separate notices to the state government, the Centre and the CBI seeking a reply as to why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the killing of TV journalist Shantanu Bhowmik. The journalist was hacked to death on September 20 last when he went to Mandai in West Tripura district to cover a protest by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT). The writ petition filed by the journalist's father Sadhan Bhowmik, seeking a CBI probe, came up for hearing yesterday. A division bench comprising Chief Justice T Vaiphei and Justice S Talapatra served the notices after studying the submission of advocate Samrat Kar Bhowmik, who represented the petitioner. Tripura Advocate General Bijan Chandra Das said the court had issued notice to all the three parties. The petition will be again heard on December 20, he said. The journalists father had filed the case on December 7 last. Earlier he had expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the state government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today sought responses from the Centre and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on a plea seeking to conduct security audit at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Centre and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security under the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the plea which has also sought installation of PNR scanners at the airport to verify the authencity of e-tickets at the entry gate. Passenger Name Record (PNR) is a record of passengers or a group of passengers travelling together by train or flight. The court posted the matter for further hearing on March 20 next year. The petition, filed by advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, has arrayed the Director General Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, Delhi International Airports Ltd and the Ministry of Home Affairs as parties in the matter. The DGCA counsel who was present in the court said the security matter fell under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. "Security is under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security which falls under Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA has nothing to do with the security at IGI," the counsel said. The petitioner pointed to the plight of a British national who had to recently undergo the legal quagmire for entering the wrong terminal at the IGI airport despite having a valid e-ticket. "The only fault of the said person was that he was erroneously allowed by the CISF officials to enter the wrong Terminal Building albeit he had a valid e-ticket, which staggeringly only mentioned Indira Gandhi Airport and did not mention the terminal number. "But the price he had to pay was to face criminal prosecution as he was arrested and arraigned as an accused besides confiscating his British Passport and mobile phone," the petition said. However, later the foreigner was absolved from the case. Siddiqui also pointed out various instances in which people have entered or attempted to enter the airport with fake tickets. The petition also sought to provide adequate education and training to the staff and CISF officials deployed at the entry gate of the terminal buildings of the airport. It also sought to establish an "Airport Security Committee" for the effective coordination amongst different government agencies responsible for the management of security at the IGI Airport. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today voiced its anguish over a large number of illegal entries in the voters' list in the bypoll-bound RK Nagar Assembly constituency in the city, prior to their deletion, and said it expected the EC to take severe action, even a permanent ban on contesting polls on parties or persons responsible for it. Noting that the Election Commission (EC) had deleted 45,836 entries in the electoral roll, following a verification on a representation made by the DMK, a bench of justices T S Sivagnanam and K Ravichandrabaabu said these deleted figures were not minimal or negligible. "These figures undoubtedly shock our judicial conscience as the total number of (names of) voters deleted so far itself is alarmingly very high. In other words, one-fifth of the present eligible voters or 45,836 voters were found to be not eligible to vote and (their names) were deleted," it said. The deleted entries included multiple entries of same voters with a different address or age. This sort of entries, if not found and corrected at the appropriate time, would have resulted in bogus voting, as rightly contended by the petitioner, the bench said, adding that it was needless to say that even a single vote might change the outcome of the bypoll. Observing that elections were the sole lifeline of a democracy, it said, "We do expect the Election Commission to take severe action" not only against such deleted voters, but also against the person or persons or political party or parties instrumental in effecting the inclusion of these entries. The punishment against those persons must be "severe in nature, even to the extent of banning" them from voting in or contesting an election permanently, it said. "Unless such strong measures are taken and messages sent, this sort of evil attempts will continue, which will only result in a mockery of democracy," the bench said. The court directed the EC to keep under the shifted list the names of 1,947 voters, found to be multiple entries even after the deletion of 45,836 voters. The bypoll in the RK Nagar Assembly constituency is scheduled to be held on December 21 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of its sitting MLA and late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa last year. The order was passed on a miscellaneous petition filed by the DMK, seeking to re-open its PIL regarding the voters' list, on the ground that it still contained multiple entries of voters' names. The bench, in its order, appreciated the main opposition party in the state for the steps taken by it to purify the electoral roll. "We strongly believe that the EC will take all effective steps and assure the people that a free-and-fair election will never be compromised on any account and the same will be achieved at any cost, as an election is the sole lifeline of a democracy," it added. Earlier, on November 21, the first bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, had disposed off the PIL filed by the DMK, seeking a door-to-door verification of the voters' list, as infructuous after recording a submission of the EC that 45,836 names of voters were deleted. The DMK had moved the court again, contending that about 5,000 more entries needed to be deleted from the list. The high court had, on December 11, reserved orders on the plea after hearing the DMK and the EC. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla today sought investments from a visiting Japanese delegation for bettering road connectivity in the state. The 11-member Buddhist delegation, led by Bhikshu Gyomyo Nakamura, called on the governor at the Raj Bhavan this afternoon. "I had earlier discussed the issue of cleaning Loktak Lake with the Japanese Ambassador," Heptulla said. Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Northeast and is located in Manipur. Heptulla also told the visiting team that the Far East Asian country has been close to Manipur since World War II as the state was a battleground then and several Japanese soldiers were killed here. Nakamura said the purpose of the visit was to pray for the victims of the Japanese Army, the Indian Army and civilians who died in the War. He also added several Japanese tourists were keen to visit Manipur. Nakamura also said Japan wants to improve relationship with the North East region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following are the top stories from the Western Region at 1630 hrs. BOM 5 MH-SUBMARINE-PM Mumbai: Kalvari, the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines handed over by shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Limited, will be commissioned into the Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai on Thursday. BES 7 MP-RIVER-LINK Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government approves the Rs 7,546-crore Narmada-Parvati river linking project that seeks to create irrigation facilities on two lakh hectares of agriculture land in Malwa region of the state. BOM 2 BIZ-BANKS-NPA-DEADLINE Mumbai: With the RBI's deadline ending today to resolve the 28 large stressed accounts that the regulator had identified on its second list, banks are set to refer as many as 23 of them for insolvency proceedings. BES 10 MH-ASSEMBLY-SHELL Nagpur: Over 60,000 shell companies have been closed down in Maharashtra so far, industries minister Subhash Desai says in a written reply in the Maharashtra state assembly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-owned Hindustan Copper Ltd is bullish on its Jharkhand operations, reopening the Kendadih copper mine after 17 years and planning full-fledged operation in Surda mine, a top official said today. "The reopening of Kendadih Copper mine at Ghatsila in Jharkhand, which was lying closed since 2000 due to economic reasons, is expected to add in excess Rs 60 crore in revenue a year from FY'19," Hindustan Copper chairman and managing director Santosh Sharma told PTI. He said the company is focused on Jharkhand operations and efforts are on for a full-fledged operations for Surda copper mine which was abandoned by India Resources Ltd (IRL) -- the mining contractor -- terminated the contract to operate the mine with effect from June this year. Currently, Hindustan Copper has made a short-term arrangement for maintenance of the mine till a proper contract is awarded and expansion is carried out to enable total ore production to reach 0.9 million tonne. Meanwhile, Sharma said the mine (after completion of mine development activities till this year) is expected to produce 2.25 lakhs metric tonnes of copper ore annually. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Haryana government has recommended cancellation of a recognition to Fortis Memorial and Research Institute (FMRI) hospital in Gurgaon following the death of a seven-year-old dengue patient due to alleged medical negligence and allegations by her family that they were overcharged. The charges against the hospital were investigated by a government panel following which a letter in this regard was sent to the chairman of the Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABHHP). The panel in its report accused hospital authorities of removing Adya Singh from ventilators without alternative arrangements and sending her in an ordinary ambulance even though her condition was "very critical" at that stage. The letter was sent to the accreditation body's chairman by the Haryana director general of health services (DGHS) on December 9, state government reports said. Besides, it was also been found by the panel that the hospital had overcharged by using expensive medicines. "The hospital could have used generic medicines for Adya's treatment instead of expensive allopathic medicines," the letter read. Besides, the DGHS in a letter to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has also sought that the hospital's land lease be cancelled as it had violated the terms and conditions of allotment. However, HUDA Administrator, Yashpal Yadav, said he had not received the official copy of the letter from the Haryana Health Department for cancellation of the hospital's land lease. "If we receive any order from the state government in this regard, we will act accordingly," he said. The information and broadcasting ministry has ordered an Assamese television channel to go off air for three days and a Gujarati channel for a day for violating the cable television network rules. The Assamese channel had aired a report on a ritual, wherein a man was seen tossing a newborn up and down in the air without a "shred of care and concern". The video, aired in June last year, was reportedly meant to expose a superstition prevalent in some parts of Assam, as per which it is believed that the dangerous practice of tossing a child up and down in the air would keep it safe. The ministry said the visuals were "extremely disturbing and not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition". However, the channel had claimed that by airing the "informational" video, it had tried to "educate the masses against such evil practices". "The Central Government...orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of the...channel for three days on any platform throughout India with effect from 0001 hrs on 15.12.2017 till 0001 hrs on 18.12.2017," the order of the ministry read. In another order, the ministry asked a Gujarati channel to go off air for a day on December 16. The Gujarati channel had telecast a programme in March, in which a man was seen brutally beating up children. The order said the video of the incident, which the channel claimed took place in a Gujarat school, had started trending on the social media. However, following a subsequent investigation carried out by the channel, it had come to light that the video was of an incident that had taken place in an orphanage in Egypt. The order said it appeared that the channel had tried to "sensationalise the issue" in order to grab the attention of the viewers. Moreover, such visuals were not only in good taste, but also denigrated children by showing them being brutally tortured, it added. Both the channels were asked to go off air for violating the provisions of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, according to the orders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Income Tax Department today conducted survey operations at major bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspicion of alleged tax evasion and detected several lakh entries of high-networth individuals (HNIs) in their databases, official sources said. The operations that began early morning at nine major exchanges in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi were on till last reports came in. Sources said the taxman has deployed an heavy assortment of software cloning and 'mirror imaging' devices to drain out "complete details" of emails, addresses and correspondence ids of the investors and players from the computers. They said that the sleuths detected a number of high- networth individuals (HNIs) and customer ids in these databases and prima facie about 20-25 lakh such entities have been traced. Entries of HNIs suggest that they were trading on these exchanges. "Out of these, about 8-10 lakh entities would be active for transactions. However, the operations are still on and final findings will emerge later," a senior official here said. The operations were supervised by the Bengaluru investigation wing of the department as the sleuths have worked on these cases for long and have conducted similar actions in 2013 in the Karnataka capital. The surveys, under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, are being conducted for "gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and traders, transaction undertaken by them, identity of counter-parties, related bank accounts used, among others", they said. A survey action under I-T law pertains to the tax officials making a surprise visit to the business premises of the party under action but not their residential ones. The trigger for the action is understood to be the huge spike being registered in the value of the bitcoins and other virtual currencies in the recent past in the country. A huge amount of black money converted into white, post demonetisation, by using bitcoins is also under the scanner of the department. Earlier this month, there was a spurt in the value of a bitcoin. It rose from under USD 10,000 at start of the year to close to USD 20,000, before a sharp 20 per cent plunge within hours. The survey teams, the sources said, were armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big comprehensive action against them in the country. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause for concern among central bankers the world over for quite a while now. The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins. The government has also said that it does not recognise crypto currency as legal tender in India as of now. In March, the Union finance ministry constituted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of virtual currencies both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies. The committee has submitted its report to the government and it is being examined. Bitcoins were in recently after a massive global ransomware attack 'WannaCry' hit systems in over 100 countries. The cyber criminals demanded a fee of about USD 300 in crypto-currencies such as bitcoin for unlocking affected devices. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India, Australia and Japan today stressed on a rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific and decided to enhance cooperation in the area of maritime security, amidst increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar hosted the 4th India- Australia-Japan Trilateral Dialogue and held talks with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Frances Adamson and Japanese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shinsuke J Sugiyama, the external affairs ministry said. During the talks, the three sides underscored their support for the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region. The meeting of the top diplomats of the three countries comes less than a month after leaders from India, the US, Australia and Japan held the first 'Quad' talks in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit. The Quad is viewed by many countries as a coalition to counter China in the region that has witnessed its assertiveness over maritime territorial claims especially in the South China Sea and East China Sea. "The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region," a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said. India holds maritime exercises with Australia and Japan. In October, the Indian Navy and the Japanese Marine Self Defence Force participated in Passage Exercise (PASSEX). AUSINDEX 2017 between the navies of India and Ausutrlia was held in June. They also renewed their resolve to fight "the scourge of terrorism" in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism, the statement said. The three sides also deliberated on strengthening regional connectivity. They welcomed the regular meetings of this important dialogue mechanism. Japanese minister Sugiyama proposed to host the next round in Tokyo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is discussing setting up refineries and LNG plants in Indonesia, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. In an attempt to increase its presence in its eastern neighbourhood, India is selling diesel to Bangladesh via rail. "Recently, we have dispatched the first consignment of diesel to Myanmar," he said at India-ASEAN Partnership@25 conference here. "We are currently in consultation with Indonesia for partnering in the refining and LNG sector." He, however, did not give details. Stating that India's presence in the ASEAN region has been historic, he said one of the country's oldest overseas oil and gas fields was acquired in 1988 in Vietnam. "We also have oil and gas assets and equity in gas pipeline in Myanmar. Today, we have a growing engagement with ASEAN region in the hydrocarbon sector," he said. ASEAN region, he said, is also a source of crude oil and LNG to meet India's hydrocarbon requirement. Last year, India imported 6 million tonnes of crude oil from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, accounting for 2.8 per cent of the total crude oil imports, which is an increase of 12 per cent from the year before. It also imported 1.45 million tonnes of LNG mainly from Singapore and Malaysia accounting for 7 per cent of the total LNG imported. India also imported one million tonnes of petroleum products and some quantities of LPG from the region, he said. Pradhan said there is a healthy collaboration between oil majors Indian Oil Corporation and Petronas of Malaysia. The two companies, he said, are working in India and third country. The Malaysian national oil company is a reliable partner in technology. "Our oil marketing companies are also in the process of increasing their foot prints in the retail marketing segment in the ASEAN countries," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, has invited heads of ASEAN countries next month. "It is our tradition that we call foreign dignitaries on the occasion of our Republic Day. First time since independence heads of ten countries would be visiting the country," he said. India and ASEAN together represent one-fourth of world's total population. "It is our endeavour to work together. We have shared culture and long standing economic ties. If you work together it will have great impact on the world's economy," he said. ASEAN is India's 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of its total trade. Investment flows are also substantial both ways, with ASEAN accounting for about 12.5 per cent of investment flows into India since 2000. FDI inflows into India from ASEAN between April 2007- March 2015 were about USD 32 billion. Whereas FDI outflows from India to ASEAN countries, from April 2007 to March 2015 was about USD 38 billion. "The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has been completed with the entering into force of the ASEAN-India Agreements on Trade in Service and Investments on July 1, 2015," Pradhan said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is looking to set up few more land ports after the success of such integrated check posts at Agartala and other places, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said today. "We are thinking of identifying few more (land ports). Beyond that we have border huts, custom stations and there are many things," Rijiju said addressing a function here today to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN and 25 years of India-ASEAN Partnership. He talked about the success and brisk business being done at land ports at Agartala and other places in the country saying that it is not easy to set up a land port because you have to have an outlet. Elaborating further, he said, "These borders along the Eastern coast and Northeast must be hugely explored ... otherwise people think they are far away from Delhi." "The heart of the country may be Delhi. But shape and size of country is defined by its border. The country does not begin with the capital but it begins from the border. So borders are important." He also said that the obsession with the western education and issues with Pakistan must be done away with. The minister said that Home Ministry has started opening various channels on the borders to foster relations with neighbours, particularly in Eastern and North-Eastern Region (NER). The Land Ports Authority of India has taken up expansion of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Moreh in Manipur for expansion of trade with Myanmar, India's gateway to the ASEAN, and it will be inaugurated soon. He said the ICP in Agartala on Bangladesh border has started and few more ICPs besides Land Customs Stations and Border Haats will be set up. Echoing the views, Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that under the Northeast BPO (business processing outsourcing) scheme, the BPOs have already started working in Guwahati, Jorhat, Kohima and Imphal. Elaborating further, he said that in the latest bid the BPOs are going to come in Dipu, Kokrajhar and Silchar in Assam; Dimpapur in Nagaland and Agratala in Tripura. He also told that Bhubaneswar, Cuttak and Baleshwar in Odisha have become the new centres of BPOs. "The most moving moment for me was... Kashmir... today BPOs are working in Bhadarwah, Budgam, Jammu, Sopore and Srinagar." He said, "The latest BPOs have come out in Chittor, Mathura, Deoria, Farukabad, Jahanabad, Gaya, Pathankot, Gwalior and Amritsar. It is new India emerging." Rijiju also said East India and the NER (northeast region) are rich in mineral and natural resources. He said many of us will be surprised to learn that Dibrugarh contributed more to governments revenues than Indias commercial capital, Mumbai. Myanmar has the third highest Indian diaspora, next only to Nepal and the US, he added. Rijiju said East Asia and South East Asia stretching from Japan and China and upto India is emerging as the worlds next economic powerhouse. India cannot be delineated from South East Asia and East Asia, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's food security programmes will not be adversely impacted even as the WTO members failed to find a permanent solution to the food stockholding issue at the ministerial meeting which is closing on Wednesday, officials said. Even after hectic parleys, the 164-member World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed to reach a common ground for resolving the food security issue as the US refused to engage, threatening a successful conclusion of the four-day conference. The officials said that India's food security programmes are "fully protected because we insisted in 2014 that the Peace Clause, which was initially for a period of four years, is given for perpetuity till a satisfactory and permanent solution is agreed upon ... Our Minimum Support Price (MSP) is absolutely protected." The officials expressed disappointment over the failure of the member nations to reach an agreement on public food stockholding issue even on the fourth and final day of the ministerial conference. The Indian team led by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, in cooperation with the G33 grouping, has been pitching hard for permanent solution to food security issue as it was crucial for livelihood of 800 million people across the globe. India has expressed "deep disappointment" over the decision of the US to block permanent solution to the public food stockholding issue. "India is surprised and deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of members reiterating it, a major member country has reneged on a commitment made two years ago to deliver a solution of critical importance for addressing hunger in some of the poorest countries of the world," an official statement said yesterday. Under the global trade norms, a WTO member country's food subsidy bill should not breach the limit of 10 per cent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88. Apprehending that full implementation of food security programme may result in breach of the WTO cap, India has been seeking amendments in the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap. As an interim measure, the WTO members at the Bali ministerial meeting in December 2013 had agreed to put in place a mechanism popularly called the Peace Clause and had committed to negotiate an agreement for permanent solution at the 11th ministerial meeting at Buenos Aires. India had also said that non-fulfilment of a mandate flowing from a ministerial decision at Nairobi could "irreversibly" damage the credibility of the WTO. Under the Peace Clause, WTO members agreed to refrain from challenging any breach in prescribe ceiling by a developing nation at the dispute settlement forum of the WTO. This Peace Clause will be there till a permanent solution is found to the food stockpiling issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) World Bank will provide $250 million loan to India for skill development programme to support livelihood. India today signed a loan agreement with World Bank under 'Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion' (SANKALP) Project, an official statement said today. World Bank's financing arm IBRD ( Bank for Reconstruction and Development) will provide this $250 million loan. The loan agreement was signed here by Economic Affairs Department Joint Secretary Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf of the government and Junaid Kamal Ahmad, World Bank, Country Director for India. "The objective of the project is to enhance institutional mechanisms for skills development and increase access to quality and market-relevant training for the work force," said the statement. The project will cover institutional strengthening at the national and state levels for planning, delivering, and monitoring high-quality market-relevant training, improved quality and market relevance of skills development programmes. It will also include improved access to and completion of skills training for female trainees and other disadvantaged groups and expanding skills training through private-public partnerships (PPPs). The closing date for the project is 31st March, 2023. An Indian-American has pleaded guilty to charges of launching a cyberattack on a US university's computer network, officials said today. Paras Jha, 21, of New Jersey along with two others Josiah White, 20, from Pennsylvania and Dalton Norman, 21, from Louisiana also pleaded guilty to creating and operating two botnets, which targeted 'Internet of Things' (IoT) devices, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. "Paras Jha has admitted his responsibility for multiple hacks of the Rutgers University computer system," Acting US Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "These computer attacks shut down the server used for all communications among faculty, staff and students, including assignment of course work to students, and students submission of their work to professors to be graded," he said. "The defendant's actions effectively paralysed the system for days at a time and maliciously disrupted the educational process for tens of thousands of Rutgers' students. Today, the defendant has admitted his role in this criminal offence and will face the legal consequences for it, Fitzpatrick said. In a guilty plea before US District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton federal court in New Jersey, Paras accepted of violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act. According to court documents, between November 2014 and September 2016, Paras executed a series of attacks on the networks of Rutgers University. His attacks effectively shut down Rutgers Universitys central authentication server, which maintained, among other things, the gateway portal through which staff, faculty, and students delivered assignments and assessments. At times, he succeeded in taking the portal offline for multiple consecutive periods, causing damage to Rutgers University, its faculty, and its students. The count to which Jha pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of USD250,000, or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain or loss derived from the offence, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for March 13, 2018. Earlier on December 8, Jha, White and Norman pleaded guilty to criminal informations in the District of Alaska charging them each with conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act in operating the Mirai Botnet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian restaurant owner has been jailed for two years in the UK for stealing 90,000 pounds in taxes by falsifying repayment claims, an official spokesperson has said. Monir Miah, 58, admitted lying about his income from 'The Crown of India' restaurant, in High Street, Stone, and falsifying value-added tax (VAT) repayment claims, after he was investigated by the Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Routine tax checks raised concerns and Miah was offered the chance to put his tax affairs in order, declare any mistakes or irregularities and pay what he owed in full, plus interest and penalties, through HMRC's civil Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF). The owner of the Indian restaurant in Staffordshire has been jailed for two years after stealing 90,000 pounds in tax after test purchases revealed his fraud, the official spkesperson of the HMRC said. But Miah only declared half the business the restaurant was doing and deregistered for VAT. The HMRC began a criminal prosecution as Miah had failed to make a full disclosure and continued to lie about his business. The investigation clearly showed how he was illegally under-declaring the true scale of his restaurant business. HMRC officers discovered the truth by tracing customer payments, counting customers on the premises, and doing test purchases on specific dates, which were compared with his records and tax returns. Paul Maybury, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: While Miah, and his family, enjoyed the illegal untaxed income from his restaurant he was depriving public services of vital funding and gave himself an unfair advantage over his honest competitors. He was offered the opportunity to put his tax affairs in order through the Contractual Disclosure Facility. Instead he made a conscious decision to make only a partial disclosure of the tax offences he had committed. He could have been spared a criminal conviction had he fully cooperated with HMRC. On sentencing Miah, Judge Martin Walsh said the crime was sophisticated in the way it was carried out. "It was an intentional act of dishonesty on your part and you were given opportunity in 2016 to come clean but declined that opportunity. It was a calculated dishonesty designed to achieve a significant financial benefit to yourself and a loss to the revenue," Walsh said. Miah became the sixth person to be convicted for failing to comply with the Contractual Disclosure Facility (CDF) in the last 18 months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Country's shrimp exports is likely to double from USD 3.8 billion to USD 7 billion by 2022 due to strong demand, high quality, improved product mix and an increase in aquaculture area in several states, a report said. "We expect shrimp exports from India to nearly double to USD 7 billion by 2022, driven by strong demand, high quality, improved product mix and an increase in aquaculture area in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, even as our Asian rivals battle structural issues and rising domestic consumption," the rating agency Crisil said here. The global shrimp industry is estimated at USD 30 billion and India's market share is estimated at 13 per cent by value terms. India became the biggest exporter of shrimps with USD 3.8 billion exports during fiscal 2016. Indian exporters have in the past few years emphasised on lower-density shrimp farms to control diseases, while maintaining quality across the value chain. The use of resilient specific pathogen free (SPF) brood-stock imported from the United States has also helped the industry greatly. Consequently, between fiscal 2012 and 2017, India's shrimp production doubled, and helped it grab the opportunity created by lower supplies from Asia, the report said. Since 2010, shrimp production in Asia has been severely affected by diseases, floods, labour issues and tightening environmental norms. Production in Vietnam has declined 40 per cent from peak levels because of shortage of fresh water, salinity intrusion and illegal shrimp farming. Thailand, which was once the top exporter, is now ranked 5th after a 65 per cent plunge in production from peak levels. During 2016, China's shrimp production also nosedived 60 per cent even as its consumption more than doubled, rendering it a marginal exporter. In addition, these countries also faced significant quality challenges. Crisil said that the rival countries are now trying to get their house in order. Improving hatchery procedures is helping Thailand to recover slowly, but Vietnam is expected to take more time to sort out quality issues. China is struggling with both structural issues and surging domestic demand. Consequently, India's primacy in shrimp exports is unlikely to be seriously challenged over the medium term. Additionally, larger Indian exporters are expanding infrastructure to cater to increasing demand for value-added products from big global retail chains and restaurants. Therefore, we foresee value-added exports also rising from the current 15 per cent levels significantly. "Strong volume growth and higher proportion of value-added products will bolster the operating profitability of several shrimp exporters. Additionally, healthy accretions and the absence of major debt-funded capital expenditure will reduce leverage and further strengthen their credit profiles," Crisil Ratings director Rahul Guha said. Going forward, the movement of rupee value, protectionist tendencies and increasing stringency towards quality are among importer nations key monitorables, Crisil said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian-origin student was sentenced to 10 months in jail in Singapore for taking the services of an underage prostitute and not paying her in May last year, a media report said today. Hari Kumar Anpalagan, 25, was found guilty of having sex with the girl, who had admitted she was 14-year-old and was providing services in exchange for cash, the Sraight Times reported. "You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl... You added salt to the wound by not paying her," District Judge Kenneth Yap chided Hari yesterday. Following a three-day trial, Hari was convicted on one count of hiring a sex worker who was below 18 years old. The court heard that Hari responded to the girl's post on the Tagged social network app in which she requested help to buy a new mobile phone. He offered to assist and asked what he would receive in return. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive SGD 70. The pair met at around 9 pm in May last year at the void deck of her apartment block. She told him then that she was 16, but this did not deter Hari from engaging her services. Later, the girl told Hari that she would wait for him downstairs before running off. He left without paying her. The offences came to light when the girl's school found out about her activities. The police were notified, and officers arrested Hari after they found text messages between him and the girl when they searched her mobile phone. Hari, who was unrepresented, had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed in his defence that he met the girl out of the "goodness of his heart" to give her SGD70 to help her buy a phone. Hari asked the court to defer his sentence to a later date, saying that he had to complete an internship. He will be back in court on January 5. According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for investigations for having sex with the girl. For engaging the services of an underage prostitute, Hari could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An inter-faith delegation from Bahrain, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, is on a five day visit to the Jewish state, drawing angry reactions from the Palestinians. Ten of the 24 members in the inter-faith delegation are Indians practising Hinduism, Sikhism and Budhhism, its leader Betsy Mathieson said. The visit comes at an extremely volatile time when Palestinians and the Arab world have been protesting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "It is not a political visit and was planned much before this political development. We are here to pass on a message that we live peacefully in Bahrain. People of all faiths can co-exist there. We have not met any political leader during our stay in Israel," Chairman of the Hindu Temple in Bahrain Sushil Muljimal told PTI. "Everybody we have met here during our stay has met us with warmth and we have seen nothing but respect in their eyes," he said. Muljimal's family built a Hindu temple in Bahrain's capital Manama some 200 years ago and have been living in the Gulf country for almost 150-200 years. "We'd planned this trip many months ago and all the relevant reservations were also made several weeks ago. We'll never let a political statement stop us. Politics and politicians can change at a heartbeat but our mission to spread coexistence doesn't change," Mathieson, who is from the 'This is Bahrain' non-governmental organisation (NGO), said. She said that the delegation reflects the religious co- existence in Bahrain, citing the presence of Christians, Sunni Muslims, one Shiite, Hindu leaders, a Buddhist, a Sikh among others in the delegation. Mathieson also stressed that the delegation is non- political and was coordinated between two NGOs - 'This is Bahrain' and Israel's 'Somin Wiesenthal Centre' (SWC). "We have also planned an inter-faith event in Mumbai starting January 24 next year," she said. Associate Dean of SWC Rabbi Abraham Cooper said that the visit was not "under the radar" and has been blessed by the Bahraini leadership. The visit should be viewed as a follow-up trip of a pledge by Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa to him and SWC dean Marvin Hier who visited Manama in February to allow his subjects to travel to Israel freely, Cooper said. "A delegation of Israeli business leaders is due to visit Bahrain next month in a follow up to the current visit to Jerusalem of a Bahraini inter-faith group," Copper was quoted as saying in a local media report. "The Bahrainis have approved it. It will be a Wiesenthal Center delegation. The idea is to establish some direct contacts, which are not political, but the idea is to start normal contacts," he told The Jerusalem Post. The delegation's visit, however, has not gone down well with the Palestinians who have been protesting US President Donald Trump's controversial announcement recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last week. "They either are totally clueless or being deliberately provocative. I think the lesser of these two evils is that they are clueless," PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told the Post. "This whole lovey-dovey approach of we're here to show tolerance. Then go home and show tolerance at home. Bahrain certainly can't boast of a lot of tolerance domestically," Ashrawi said as he condemned the visit. The Palestinian leader sharply criticised Bahrain's poor human rights record in its treatment of the Shi'ite majority. "They've chosen a very inappropriate time to spread their message of tolerance. This is a time the whole world is centered on the future of Jerusalem after the American move to recognise it as Israel's capital", Qais Abdul Kareem, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, reacted. "This was politically wrong from the beginning and it caused more anger because it came at a very inappropriate time," he said. Majority of the delegation members are expatriates, but it includes several native Bahrainis carrying the country's passport. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Islamic leaders today urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned the US no longer had any role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States. But their final statement declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital." They declared Trump's decision "null and void legally" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts" that would give impetus to "extremism and terrorism." Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel as the capital of their future state. Erdogan -- who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause -- denounced Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror", in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership. "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," said Erdogan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC. He said all countries who "value international law and fairness" should recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand. Using unusually strong language, Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. Moreover, he said that with Trump's move the United States had withdrawn itself from a traditional role as the mediator in the search for Mideast peace. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. The final statement from the OIC echoed this sentiment, saying Trump's move was "an announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace" in the Middle East. Abbas slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran was always a tall order, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti- Washington OIC statement. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. The level of Saudi representation -- critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility -- was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine," seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel and has dire relations with Saudi Arabia. But as the summit was being held, Saudi King Salman in Riyadh echoed the calls over Jerusalem, saying it was the "right" of the Palestinians to establish "their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has received US health regulator's nod for Atenolol tablets, used in treatment of high blood pressure. "The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved the company's supplementary Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Atenolol tablets USP 25mg, 50mg and 100 mg," J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals said in a BSE filing today. The company, which plans to commercialise this product in the next quarter, said the market for the approved product is about USD 70 million. "The company is focused on US business and this approval will help the company grow its exports," it added. The stock was trading at Rs 301, up 0.87 per cent on BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Jada Pinkett Smith is upset with the omission of her film and its breakout star from Golden Globe nominations. The "Girls Trip" actor took to Twitter to voice her displeasure, alleging that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not even watch the film. "I'm not upset about Tiffany Haddish or 'Girls Trip' not getting a (nomination)... I'm discouraged about the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press/ Golden Globes wouldn't even watch the movie," Pinkett Smith wrote. "Girls Trip" stars Pinkett Smith, Haddish, Queen Latifah and Regina Hall as a group of friends reconnecting, after years apart, on a trip to New Orleans' annual Essence Music Festival. The actor continued her condemnation of the Globes by relating their nominations to Hollywood at large, tweeting, "Hollywood has systems in place that must learn to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board." Pinkett Smith has also been very vocal in the past during the #OscarsSoWhite campaign the last two years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japan has decided to offer a grant worth 8.4 million Yen for the construction of a vocational training centre for poor women and youth in Rajasthan's Baran district, its embassy said here. The signing ceremony for the project to be executed under that country's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP), will be held on December 19 at the Embassy of Japan here, the mission said in a statement yesterday. It will be signed between Ambassador of Japan to India Kenji Hiramatsu and the representative of the recipient organisation, the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society, the statement said. "This project, to be signed at this ceremony, the amount of which totals 8.4 million Yen, will construct a vocational training centre for poor women and youth in Baran, Rajasthan," it added. The Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP) for development projects are designed to meet the diverse basic human needs of the people in developing countries. Since 1989, the scheme has been supporting relatively small-scaled projects implemented by non-profit organisations, such as NGOs, educational and medical institutions, through Japanese diplomatic missions in developing countries. "The Government of Japan hopes that this grant will help improve the lives of people in the project area, and further strengthen the friendly relationship and cooperation between Japan and India," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the India Japan Culture Treaty, a cultural performance by a Japanese performing arts group was organised here. Organised by Min-On Concert Association in collaboration with the Indian Council of Cultural Relation (ICCR), the event at Siri Fort Auditorium last night by Hana-Zakura (Cherry Blossoms) group, was aimed at promoting cultural ties between the two countries. The year 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the India Japan Culture Treaty to encourage cultural exchanges and promote world peace. Min-On was founded in 1963 at the initiative of Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and has since grown to become one of Japan's leading cultural institutions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A city court today granted interim bail on health grounds to Kannada tabloid editor Ravi Belagere who was arrested for allegedly hiring a contract killer to kill one of his colleagues. The 65th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court granted a three-day bail till December 16 to Belagere who made the plea for relief citing his health condition. Belagere, who brings out "Hai Bangalore", was sent to Parapanna Agrahara Central Prison two days ago after a local court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody till December 23. He was staying in the hospital ward of the jail. The court had directed the police to provide proper medical treatment to Belagere, who is suffering from different ailments, at the prison. Belagere was arrested from his house here on December 8 on charges of hiring a "supari" (contract) killer from Vijayapura in north Karnataka to kill Sunil Heggaravalli. He was produced before a magistrate at the latter's residence on December 8 and remanded to police custody. The police had got the lead about the alleged plot to eliminate Heggaravalli when contract killer Shashidhar Mundewadi was questioned in connection with a probe into the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Based on the inputs, Belagare was arrested and a pistol and double barrel gun were seized from his possession. The Karnataka Legislative Assembly had earlier passed a resolution sentencing Belagare and Anil Raju, the editor of tabloid Yelahanka Voice, to one year in jail for their alleged defamatory articles against state legislators. The assembly recently rejected a plea by both the journalists to reconsider its decision. On a petition by the journalists earlier this week, the Karnataka High Court directed the assembly not to pursue the proceedings against them until further orders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri today dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind would be the chief guest at the 14th annual convocation of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) to be held here on Friday. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be the guest of honors, said Professor Rajeev Tripathi, Director MNNIT, while addressing the pre-convocation press meet today. "MNNIT has created a coveted niche for itself in the field of education, research, industry-institute interface at large," he said. In the last academic year, MNNIT had organized seven International Conferrences and 18 patents were filed, he added. Professor Ramesh Tripathi, Dean Academics, said that around 655 recipients, including 875 BTech, 337 MTech, 90 MCA and 78 PhD scholars will receive the degrees in various disciplines at the convocation on December 15. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ghaziabad administration today freed five acres of land worth nearly Rs 150 crores from the clutches of the mafia in a village here, officials said. District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said the land, belonging to the Land Management Committee (LMC) and the Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam, was freed during an 'anti-land mafia' drive launched in Akbarbar Bahrampur village here. A team of district administration and nagar nigam officials headed by sub-divisional magistrate Prem Ranjan Singh freed the land from the clutches of mafia with the help of the police. A total of 72 FIRs have been lodged against land grabbers till today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in a 19th century true-crime drama to be directed by "Call Me by Your Name" helmer Luca Guadagnino. Titled "Burial Rites", the film is based on the Hannah Kent novel of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film follows Agnes Magnusdottir (Lawrence), the last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland in 1830. Magnusdottir was sentenced to death for killing two men and setting fire to their home, with the story taking place as she awaits confirmation of her death sentence by the high court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Left alliance has won a majority in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls, with the CPN-UML emerging as the largest party after counting of votes of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) ended today. The CPN-UML led by former premier K P Oli and the CPN- Maoist led by former premier Prachanda had forged electoral alliance for both the provincial and parliamentary elections. The alliance bagged 116 seats out of a total 165 under the first-past-the-post system. The CPN-UML won 80 seats, which is close to 50 per cent of the total 165 seats under the direct voting system. The CPN-Maoist and the Nepali Congress have won 36 and 23 seats respectively. The Left alliance would form a government at the centre. CPN-UML chairman Oli is likely to lead the new government. The combined strength of the two Madhesi parties, Rastriya Janata Party and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, has reached 21. RJP secured 11 seats whereas FSFN won 10. The remaining four seats were divided among three fringe parties and an independent candidate. The Left alliance also secured majority in all provincial assemblies except province No. 2. In the provincial assembly, out of a total 330 seats, the CPN-UML secured highest number of 168 seats followed by the Maoist Centre with 73 seats. The Nepali Congress stood third by securing 41 seats. The RJP and FSFN have secured 16 and 24 seats respectively, and the remaining 8 seats went to the fringe parties. Under proportionate voting system, the CPN-UML is leading the Nepali Congress with a thin margin. The CPN-UML has so far received 2.25 million votes where as the Nepali Congress has secured 2.16 million votes. The house of representatives consists of 275 members, of which 165 would be elected directly under the first-past-the- post system while the remaining 110 will come through the proportional representation system. Voting in two-phased parliamentary and provincial assembly elections were held on November 26 and December 7. In the first phase, polling was held in 32 districts, mostly situated in the hilly and mountainous region, in which 65 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise. In the second phase, 67 per cent voter turnout was registered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rohingya Muslims remaining in Myanmar's Rakhine state and other communities in the violence- racked region are so terrified of each other that life has basically ground to a halt, the Red Cross said today. More than 620,000 of Myanmar's Muslim minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh since late August, when the Myanmar army launched a sweeping crackdown on Rohingya rebels in northern Rakhine state. The Red Cross, the only international aid organisation with broad access on the ground in Rakhine, estimates that only about 300,000 Rohingya remain in the entire state. But Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the number should be taken with a "big pinch of salt" since a proper count has so far been impossible. Speaking to reporters in Geneva after a three-day visit to the area, Stillhart said the situation in Rakhine appeared to have "stabilised", with few incidents of violence. Yet people are continuing to flee, with around 300 still crossing the border each day, mainly because of fear and anxiety for the future, he said. He said he was especially struck by a lack of people on the roads, in the markets and out in the fields. "Life has stopped in its tracks... There are hardly any people moving around and you can really see that life has come to a halt," Stillhart said. While it was no surprise that the remaining Rohingya are living in fear, he said it was striking that Buddhist populations in neighbouring villages also appeared to be frightened. "You really get a sense that both communities are deeply scared of each other," he said. The United Nations has warned that abuses against the Rohingya in Myanmar could amount to ethnic cleansing. Stillhart refrained from commenting on the abuses, but did say he had personally seen several burned villages. "You really see on both sides of the road, villages that are completely destroyed. It just gives you a bit of a sense of the scale of destruction," he said. Meanwhile, Red Cross staff in the area had not seen many wounded people in the hospitals, and surprisingly few people appeared to have been rounded up and detained, he said. "Apparently there wasn't a huge wave of people arrested. The wave is out to Bangladesh, and not into the detention centres." Stillhart also said the area did not seem heavily militarised at the moment, and there was no indication troops or police were restricting people's movement. Rather, it appeared that people were restricting their own movement, he said. "People are deeply traumatised by what has happened and they are full of fear and anxiety," he said, emphasising the need for "a very clear message from the authorities that it is fine" to move about and that all communities "will be protected". Until then, any large return movement from Bangladesh is unlikely. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation deal last month, but so far, Stillhart said, basically no Muslims have returned home. There has been concern that Myanmar is planning to build camps to house returnees, as they did in central Rakhine state after a 2012 outbreak of violence. More than 100,000 Rohingya have been trapped in those squalid camps ever since. "One thing that we definitely don't wish to see is people being in camps," Stillhart said, saying the camps in central Rakhine were "clearly not a model to follow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Global aerospace firm Lockheed Martin and the India chapter of the Women in Aviation International (WAI)got together to stage a "Girls in Aviation" Day here. As part of the event, around 50 girls from two schools here visited the Visakhapatnam airport, where they had an opportunity to learn from employees and discuss airport operations with members of the senior airport management team. The girls also met with representatives from industry and local government to discuss the relevance of careers in engineering and aviation to todays young women. Phil Shaw, chief executive Lockheed Martin India said, "Lockheed Martin has a diverse workforce in every sense and is proud to partner with organisations which have a similar mindset and a mutual interest in developing the next generation of engineers, technologists, aviators and scientists." Shaw added that in this way we can unlock the full national potential, underpinning the Government of Indias Skills India initiative. Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Bird Group and President WAI (India Chapter) said, "We aim to empower more and more girls with the requisite skill sets to take up aviation as a viable career option." The WAI India Chapter comprises of a group of women professionals from various sectors of aviation with an aim to expand the participation of girls into more sectors of occupations in aviation and aerospace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government has referred around 589 cases to a committee headed by a retired High Court judge wherein undertrials continue to remain in jails despite securing bail from various courts, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said. In a written reply to a starred question submitted in the Legislative Council, Fadnavis said a programme has been launched by the government in collaboration with Tata Trust to offer help to undertrials who have been granted bail. He said the programme has been introduced in central jails at Taloja in Navi Mumbai, Yerwada in Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Nashik Road. The chief minister stated that the committee was set up under Justice (retired) Dr Radhakrishnan on the directions of the Bombay High Court. The panel was set up to give recommendations on the release of undertrials who have been granted bail by courts. He said the government has forwarded the information to the committee about the undertrials facing cases in which they could be sentenced up to seven years conviction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is undergoing an extradition trial in a UK court over Rs 9,000-crore fraud and money laundering charges, will be dealing with a parallel litigation around an estimated $1.5 billion worldwide freeze order on his assets well into 2018. According to court documents submitted at the UK High Court, the claim brought by 13 Indian banks against the 61- year-old businessman will come up for a hearing in April next year. Mallya assets freeze order in UK courts until April 2018 "The First Respondent's (Mallya) application to set aside the Freezing Injunction is to be set down for hearing on the first available date after 11 April 2018 with a time estimate of 2 days," states the court document. The litigation in the Queen's Bench Division of the commercial court in England's High Court of Justice lists the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd as the applicants. Mallya and related concerns Ladywalk LLP, Rose Capital Ventures Ltd and Orange India Holdings are listed as respondents. The claim, dated November 23, relates to a judgment of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Karnataka dated January 19 this year, which concluded that Mallya was "liable" to the banks in the sum of INR 62,033,503,879.42 plus interest and as at November 22, that judgment sum is "still unsatisfied as to INR 98,530,512,249.42". The "freezing order" involves Mallya and related concerns being "restrained until further order, from removing from the jurisdiction any of their assets in the jurisdiction up to a limit of 1,145,000,000 pounds and in any way disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of their assets whether they are inside or outside the jurisdiction up to the same value". The UK court had upheld the Indian courts injunction last week and given Mallya's lawyers more time to respond due to the ongoing extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates Court, which is now expected to conclude on December 20. A ruling in the extradition case is expected a few weeks later, by mid-January. Meanwhile, Mallya remains on a 650,000-pound bail bond since his arrest on an extradition warrant by Scotland Yard in April this year. Since December 4, he has been in court over five days of hearings to establish if he can be forced to return to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines default of bank loans worth nearly Rs 9,000-crore. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), representing the Indian government, has claimed that the evidence they have presented confirms "dishonesty" on the part of the businessman, who acquired the loans through misrepresentation and had no intentions of repaying them. Mallyas defence team has been deposing a series of expert witnesses to try and establish that the default by Kingfisher Airlines was the result of business failure within a wider context of a global financial crisis and that its owner had no "fraudulent" intentions. The extradition case returns for one of its final hearings tomorrow, when Judge Emma Arbuthnot is set to hear the testimony of prisons expert Dr Alan Mitchell, who is expected to critique Indian jail conditions as a potential "bar to extradition". The CPS will need to demonstrate a prima facie case to show that the criminal charges against Mallya, for which his extradition is sought, are justified. The defence, on the other hand, will try and prove that the businessman will notget a fair trial in India because the case against him is "politically motivated". A district court has awarded three years' rigorous imprisonment to a 34-year-old man for molesting a 15-year-old girl in his neighbourhood. District judge and special designated judge for cases under POCSO Act, P R Kadam, held the accused -- Mavji Lalji Verat -- guilty under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint). The judge also held the man guilty under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, while pronouncing the punishment to him along with a fine of Rs 21,000. Special prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale told the court that the victim, residing at the home of a relative and the accused were neighbours in Airoli township of Navi Mumbai in the district. On March 4, 2015 the girl's relatives left for Gujarat to celebrate the Holi festival while leaving her in the care of the family of the accused. On March 5, the man entered the girl's house when she was alone and asked for some water to drink. The girl gave him water and returned to the kitchen to arrange utensils. But, the man followed her there and touched her inappropriately. The girl then pushed him aside and rushed out of the house to save herself. She also reported the matter to a relative following which her parents came to the place and filed a complaint against the accused, Hiwrale said. The accused pleaded not guilty while stating that he was falsely roped in the case because of a financial dispute with the complainant. The defence argued that the victim did not make a hue and cry when the incident occurred and did not inform immediately about it to anyone. However, Judge Kadam said, "I do not find substance in this submission. The court cannot overlook the situation in which the minor girl was. She managed to escape from the hands of the accused and came out of the house immediately. Thereafter, the accused went away on his motorcycle." The judge also noted that the girl immediately called her uncle asking him not to allow the man in their house and that she will inform him in detail about the incident on his return. "What else is expected in this situation from a 15-year-old girl. Is she expected to communicate the humiliating incident to all neighbours by making a loud hue and cry when she came out of danger? Certainly not," the judge said. He held that the prosecution had successfully proved all charges against the accused, while pronouncing the order on December 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today hit out at his successor Narendra Modi again on the eve of the second and final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and seeking an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". Upping the ante two days after his sharp outburst, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narender (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. He said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomatics and public servants present at the dinner," he said. The former premier also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. The Congress Party needs no sermons on "nationalism" from a party and prime minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added. "Let me remind Narender (sic) Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan," he said. He also said that his track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone and no one including Modi, can "lamely" question it to gain lost political ground. Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former premier Manmohan Singh today released a video message on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading "falsehoods and canards" to score political points. The sharply-worded attack was virtually the same as the written statement that the 86-year-old Congress leader had released on Monday following Modi's remarks insinuating that Singh had colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls. "Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," Singh said in the message released to TV stations. The second salvo by Singh in three days serves to ensure that there is no let up in Congress' charge against Modi ahead of tomorrow's polls in 93 constituencies of Gujarat. The remaining 89 constituencies voted in the first phase on December 9. Results will be known on December 18. The campaign was marked by a fiesty and often acrimonious speeches where Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi locked horns repeatedly. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said and demanded an apology. Singh and Modi ran into each other earlier today at an event to pay homage to the victims of the 2001 Parliament attack, and greeted each other briefly. The BJP hit back at Singh with party chief Amit Shah and senior leaders including Piyush Goel questioning the former prime minister's track record when he headed the UPA government. "We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed his anger then!" Shah tweeted. Singh urged the prime minister to show "maturity and gravitas, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomatics and public servants present at the dinner," he said. Singh also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. The Congress Party needs no sermons on "nationalism" from a party and prime minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added. Pointing out that Modi had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur, Singh said "let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Max Healthcare today moved a "government authority" against the cancellation of licence of its hospital in Shalimar Bagh in north-west Delhi, even as it appealed to the DGHS to "reconsider" its decision. The development comes four days after the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of the Delhi government's heath department had cancelled licence of the hospital for alleged medical negligence in multiple instances, including a case in which one of the twins was found alive after being declared dead by doctors. "Following the due process of law, we have filed an appeal with the appropriate authority against the cancellation of registration of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh," the Max group said in a statement tonight. A spokesperson of the Max Healthcare, when asked to elaborate about the appropriate authority approached, only said, "It is not a court authority but a government authority. And, the appeal was filed today." The hospital group also appealed to the government to "reconsider their decision of cancelling the hospital's registration". "Earlier, we had also requested the Delhi government to review their decision and restore the registration," the statement said, while claiming that the "decision has caused significant inconvenience to thousands of patients and local residents and this is further compounded by unavailability of suitable alternatives for their medical needs in the vicinity". Max Healthcare authorities declined to share details on the appropriate government authority approached by them. However, Delhi High Court advocate Ashok Agarwal, claimed, in such cases, "the appellate authority is the Lt Governor's office". "As per the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953, in cases related to cancellation of licence, the appellate authority is the L-G office," Agarwal, also a member of the Delhi High Court-appointed EWS Monitoring Committee for hospitals, said. Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh on a monthly basis treats around 14,000 patients in the OPD, attends to over 1,600 emergency patients and additional 3,000 are treated in inpatient wards, the hospital group said. "In compliance with the cancellation order, not only did we have to turn down the OPD and new IPD, but, planned procedures such as 171 chemotherapies, 63 surgeries and 241 dialysis sessions had to be cancelled, rescheduled or transferred," the hospital group claimed in the statement. "In the interest of public welfare, we urge the government to reconsider their decision of cancelling the hospital's registration," it said. The Max Hospital case pertains to one of the premature twins, wrongly declared dead on November 30 at the hospital where he was born, and who died during treatment at a nursing home in Pitampura a week later. Both the babies were declared stillborn by the hospital and handed over to the family allegedly in a polythene bag. But to their utter horror, they found that the boy was still alive, while they were on way to do their final rites. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Microsoft, which is facing increasing competition, especially from Google, in the cloud business, today said it has two lakh Indian companies as clients for its cloud offerings, including 70 of the top 100 listed entities. It pegged overall digital opportunity in India, including cloud offerings, at USD 107 billion. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are considered as entrenched players in this category, where Google is seeking to make inroads through initiatives such as dedicated 'cloud regions'. Anant Maheshwari, the country president for Microsoft, said 70 of the top 100 listed BSE companies are using its cloud services for digital transformation. The company claimed it was the first global cloud services player to offer local cloud services in India through its three data-centres started in September 2015. The centres are located in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, he said. Google, as part of a USD 30-billion global investment programme, opened three data-centres in Mumbai this year. Microsoft serves a total of 2 lakh enterprises and 5,000 start-ups with cloud offerings, he said. Maheshwari said the Indian digital opportunity has evolved into a USD 107 billion potential where intelligent cloud and intelligent edge supported by connected devices will play a major role. The company said 10 of the top 12 domestic financial institutions including SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank use its cloud offerings. Similarly, top auto players like Tata Motors and Hero Motocorp also use its services, he said. On the Government front, the company said it works with the Union government and 29 states. It also announced the launch of 'Azure Stack' for the country created with partners. It has a total of 9,000 cloud partners in the country. Strongly backing the virtues of artificial intelligence amid a global debate about its possible drawbacks, Maheshwari said even though machines outnumber humans, they only add to our capability. "I believe AI will help create better doctors, farmers and teachers," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP chief on Wednesday hit back at former prime minister Manmohan Singh over his criticism of Narendra Modi and asked the "angry" Congress veteran why he was silent when a "monumental loot" took place during his tenure at the Centre. Shah said in series of tweets: We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry & anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called Neech? (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot & plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed this anger then! (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 The BJP president's reference was to remarks made against Prime Minister Modi by Congress leaders. He said the nation missed Singh's anger when the "monumental loot and plunder" were taking place during his tenure as the prime minister. "Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking PM," he said. Shah was responding to Singh's remarks earlier this week when he accused Modi of "spreading falsehood and canards" to score political points and sought an apology for his "ill- thought transgression". On the eve of the second and final phase of Gujarat's Assembly elections, Shah also accused Singh of taking a U-turn in declaring that he had attended a meeting with Pakistani diplomats after denying it. "Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh jisaid that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," Shah said, asking him why he had not apprised the government of the meeting. Shah also took Singh on over party leader Rahul Gandhi publicly tearing up an ordinance during the UPA rule. "Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office," Shah asked. Describing the attacks and allegations by both Singh and Gandhi as the "desperation" of the Congress party a day before polling, Shah said both leaders had "maliciously" attack the Prime Minister. The next flyby target of NASA's New Horizons' mission, which is a peanut-shaped object a billion miles past Pluto, might have company in the form of a small moon, astronomers say. The latest theory on the object named 2014 MU69 comes as New Horizons team continues to analyse telescope data on the target of a New Year's Day 2019 flyby, said. "We really won't know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter," said New Horizons science team member Marc Buie, of the Southwest Research Institute in the US. "But even from afar, the more we examine it, the more interesting and amazing this little world becomes," said Buie. The data that led to these hints at MU69's nature were gathered over six weeks in June and July, when the team made three attempts to place telescopes in the narrow shadow of MU69 as it passed in front of a star, said. The most valuable recon came on July 17, when five telescopes deployed in Argentina were in the right place at the right time to catch this fleeting shadow - an event known as an occultation - and capture important data on MU69's size, shape and orbit. That data raised the possibility that MU69 might be two like-sized objects, or what is known as a binary. The prospect that MU69 might have a moon arose from data collected during a different occultation on July 10, by NASA's airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Focused on MU69's expected location while flying over the Pacific Ocean, SOFIA detected what appeared to be a very short drop-out in the star's light. Buie said further analysis of that data, including syncing it with MU69 orbit calculations provided by the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, opens the possibility that the "blip" SOFIA detected could be another object around MU69. "A binary with a smaller moon might also help explain the shifts we see in the position of MU69 during these various occultations. "It's all very suggestive, but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons flies by, just over a year from now," Buie added. That flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration. Ancient Kuiper Belt object MU69, just discovered in 2014, is more than 6.5 billion kilometres from Earth, researchers said. Kuiper Belt is a circumstellar disc in the outer solar system, extending from the orbit of Neptune to about 50 AU from the Sun. It appears to be no more than 30 kilometres long, or, if a binary, each about 15-20 kilometers in diameter. Like other objects in the Kuiper Belt, MU69 offers a close-up look at the remnants of the ancient planet-building process, small worlds that hold critical clues to the formation of the outer solar system. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," the ISIS-inspired Bangladeshi-origin man mocked the US president on Facebook before detonating a pipe bomb in a Manhattan subway station, according to a complaint filed in a court here. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, had wires and a pipe bomb strapped to his body. The device exploded prematurely on Monday between two subway platforms near Port Authority, which is America's largest bus terminal. Ullah is reported to be in a serious condition in hospital after suffering burns in the explosion. Three other people suffered minor wounds in the blast during rush hour. The suspect posted a statement indicating allegiance to ISIS on Facebook before the attack, the Daily Beast reported, citing the complaint. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," Ullah wrote on Facebook on Monday morning as he mocked US President Donald Trump. On his Facebook page, Ullah also posted a statement that he believed he would be understood by members and supporters of the Islamic state to convey that he carried out the attack in the name of ISIS. A passport in the name of Akayed Ullah with multiple handwritten notations, including: "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE," was also recovered from his home. The suspect was taken into custody after the device partially exploded. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far, though it is being treated as terror-related. Ullah has been charged on five counts, including providing material support and resources to terrorist organisations, use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public law, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of destructive device. The pipe bomb comprised of a metal pipe, which Ullah filled with explosive material that he created. He used Christmas tree lights, wiring, and a nine-volt battery to cause the detonation of the pipe bomb. Ullah filled the pipe bomb with metal screws, which he believed would cause maximum damage. He used zip ties to secure the Pipe Bomb to his body. Based on preliminary investigation, federal prosecutors said Ullah carried out the December 11 attack in part because of the US government's policies in, among other places, the Middle East. One of his goals in carrying out the December 11 attack was to terrorise as many people as possible. He chose to carry out the attack on a workday because he believed that there would be more people, the charge sheet said. Federal prosecutors said Ullah's radicalisation began around 2014 when he started viewing pro-ISIS materials online, including a video instructing, in substance, that if supporters of ISIS were unable to travel overseas to join ISIS, they should carry out attacks in their homelands. He began researching how to build IEDs on the Internet approximately one year ago. The Bangladesh police yesterday detained the wife and in-laws of Ullah for questioning, according to a media report. His wife Jannatul Ferdous and their six-month-old baby live with her parents in Dhaka. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bangladeshi-origin New York City bomber had read books by an Islamist cleric convicted for inciting the murder of an atheist blogger in the country and also "encouraged" his wife to do so to learn about religion, police said here today. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, had a crude pipe bomb strapped to his body. The device exploded prematurely on Monday between two subway platforms near Port Authority, injuring him and three others. Bangladesh security officials said that they have found no evidence of a local militant link of Ullah despite his fascination to Islamist literatures. "We have not found any link between Akayed Ullah and local militant groups or any political party. We have not found any clue of his affiliation with any militant outfit in Bangladesh," police counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam told reporters here. His wife told investigators that Ullah used to "encourage" her to read books by a convicted Islamist outfit chief Jashim Uddin Rahmani as he appeared to have been radicalised over the internet after moving to the United States, he said. "She said he used to tell her to read the books of Jashim Uddin Rahmani to learn about religion or Islam. We are reviewing the information provided by his wife and other relatives," Islam said. Rahmani, the leader of the outlawed Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), was jailed by a Bangladesh court in 2015 for five years for inciting the murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in Dhaka. His books were easily accessible on the internet until some years ago. The ABT is a homegrown extremist group which is behind the killings of several bloggers, writers and gay rights activists in Bangladesh. Reports suggest that US officials have found evidence that Ullah had watched Islamic State propaganda on the internet. Islam said that though no official request has been made, Bangladesh passed on the information on Ullah to US security agencies on its own as "we have given highest priority on this issue because of our zero-tolerance policy against terrorism". An official familiar with the investigation said Ulllah's wife was "surprised to find out what her husband did" after he exploded a pipe bomb strapped to his body which he did some 30 minutes after his routine telephonic talks with her. Bangladesh police's counter-terrorism unit questioned her and other relatives for several hours. Police said that Ullah, who became a US resident in 2011, visited Bangladesh three months ago and spent most of the time at home with their six-month-old son. Ullah is suspected of trying to blow himself up at New York's main bus terminal presumably inspired by Islamic State ideals while investigators are trying to unearth what led to the bombing, and who - if anyone - might have assisted him. His improvised explosive device, however, did not work as intended, causing minor injuries to bystanders. Authorities took the suspect into custody alive and later brought federal charges against Ullah, who has so far appeared to be the lone wolf in plotting and staging the attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into six cases in Punjab in which the role of terror groups owing allegiance to the so- called Khalistan movement are suspected, officials said. Earlier, these cases were being probed by the Punjab Police. An NIA spokesman said in a statement that the cases relate to the killings of Hindu leaders and a priest, and firing at an RSS 'shakha' (centre). The first case relates to the firing at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 'shakha' in Ludhiana city on January 19 last year, the spokesman said. Two people riding a motorcycle and wearing monkey caps fired a single shot at the 'shakha'. The second case relates to the attempt to murder of Punjab Shiv Sena youth wing president Amit Arora in Ludhiana in February this year. Thirty-five-year-old Arora, a hosiery unit owner, was at Basti Jodhewal Chowk in his car waiting for someone when the two motorcycle-borne men fired at him and fled. He was rushed to a local hospital and survived the bid on his life. Another case relates to the killing of Shiv Sena leader Durga Dass Gupta in Khanna in Punjab on April 23 last year. The two cases of killings of Amit Sharma, the publicity manager of Sri Hindu Takht, and two followers of the quasi- religious cult Dera Sacha Sauda were also taken over by the NIA. Amit Sharma was killed in Ludhiana on January 17, while the killings of the Dera followers took place on February 25. The NIA also took over the case of killing of the pastor of a local church, Sultan Masih, who was shot dead by two assailants in Ludhiana in July this year. All these cases were claimed to have been cracked by the Punjab Police in the first week of November when Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that four people had been arrested in connection with the killings of Sharma, Gupta, Masih in Ludhiana and Dera Sacha Sauda followers. The chief minister had claimed the killings and other terror-related activities were part of a major conspiracy to fan communal disturbance and destabilise the state and was hatched by the ISI, external snooping agency of neighbouring Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The cyber cell of the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police busted an online fraud racket by arresting a Nigerian national from Delhi today for allegedly duping more than 100 people of lakhs of rupees, an official said. The Nigerian, along with a female accomplice who is absconding, would befriend people on social media sites posing as US citizens and tell them that they were coming to India, Triveni Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police (UP STF), said. They would then trick their victims into sending them money saying that they were facing problems with Customs, Singh said. The accused had recently duped a resident of Jaipur and a few others from Uttar Pradesh by sending them mails of fake money transfers and then seeking duty charge on those transactions while impersonating as tax officials, Singh added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi High Court judge today recused herself from hearing a plea by Vishal Yadav, serving life term in the Nitish Katara murder case, seeking three- month parole to sell his property to arrange funds for his daughter's education. When the matter came up before Justice Mukta Gupta, she said the case be listed before another bench on December 15. The judge did not give any reason for her recusal. The matter was listed before this bench after the transfer of the previous judge who had asked the Delhi Police to file a status report after full verification of the facts. The court had also sought response of Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish, on the plea and said that the notice be also served to witness Ajay Katara to present his case. Yadav, in his plea, has said he was in custody and could not challenge the December 2014 order of the high court by which his appeal was dismissed in the murder case and sought a three-month parole to engage a lawyer and make other arrangements to exercise his legal and constitutional rights. He has claimed there was no one else to look after his daughter, studying in class 10, for her education and that he has to dispose of his property in Ghaziabad's Vaishali to arrange for funds for her studies and his litigation. He also wished to meet his grandmother who was in an advanced stage of life, the plea said. On August 29, the Supreme Court had dismissed his plea seeking review of its verdict sending him to prison for 25 years. Besides Vishal Yadav, the apex court had awarded a 25- year jail term to his cousin Vikas Yadav and 20 years in prison for third convict Sukhdev Pehalwan in the case. The top court had earlier dismissed the appeals against their conviction in the case for kidnapping of Katara from a marriage party on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002 before killing him for his alleged affair with Bharti Yadav, the sister of Vikas Yadav. Bharti is the daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav who is in jail in connection with a murder case. Katara was murdered as Vishal and Vikas Yadav did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the lower court had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala JD(U) President M P Veerendra Kumar today said there was no change in his decision to resign his Rajya Sabha seat and that he would submit his resignation letter within three days. "The future course of action will be decided after consulting Sharad Yadav. I have not yet decided to join some other party or form a new one," he told reporters after a JD(U) leaders party meeting here. Veerendra Kumar, the chairman and managing director of the Malayalam daily newspaper Mathrubhumi, is also a director in PTI. I Kumar had announced his decision to quit the RS seat last month as he did not want to be a part of JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, whichjoined BJP led NDA. He said he would resign even he is removed from the party by Nitish Kumar. "I do not want any concession from Nitish Kumar," he said. Sharad Yadav was recently disqualified as a Rajya Sabha member after Upper House chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu agreed to his party's plea that he had "voluntarily given up" his membership by joining a rally of opposition parties in Patna in August. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after Janata Dal(U) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Alliance with RJD and Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July this year. Yesterday, he moved Delhi High Court seeking immediate setting aside of his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha. Veerendra Kumar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March 2016. JD(U) is presently a partner in the opposition Congress led UDF in Kerala. Kumar joined the UDF fold after snapping ties with the CPI(M) led LDF over differences on Kozhikode Lok saba seat with CPI-M in 2009. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said the US was paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. The "One Belt One Road" is a maze of projects meant to connect China with Asia, Europe and Africa. "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "It's part of the global order, the international system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administration's relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administration's engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: diplomatic and security dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trump's recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was these need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixon's historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did it has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue we're having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and we're in a different place," he said. On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and that they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed others lay claim to and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia region." China claims almost all of the South China Sea but Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the waterway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan as America's relationship with the South Asian country has "drifted over the years", noting that the two countries need to restore the ties to "one of common interest". "Dealing with Pakistan I don't enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during a town hall with the State Department employees here. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today that's just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. Earlier in his remarks, Tillerson referred to the new South Asia Policy as one of the key foreign policy highlights in the first year of the Trump administration. Tillerson said that President Donald Trump took a very bold decision by asserting that the US will be in Afghanistan with its military presence and continue to fight terrorism and the Taliban on a conditions-based effort. He, however, refused to give any time limit for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. "We're there until this thing is brought to a conclusion. It's not a blank cheque. It's not forever. But we're going to stay on the ground and support the Afghan Government," he said. "The Afghan government has to continue to deliver on the needed reforms and create the conditions to have an inclusive government that allows for participation of all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. "When the Taliban are ready to come to that negotiating table, there will be a place for them to participate in a future Afghan government," Tillerson said. According to him, Trump's South Asia policy aims to deny any safe haven to terrorist organisations in the Afghanistan- Pakistan region. "Our policy is to deny them the ability to have a safe haven where they can organise, recruit fighters, raise money; plan and carry out attacks against our allies, our own homeland, as they did in the past. So the entire policy in South Asia is to achieve that," Tillerson said. The top American diplomat asserted that the policy could be achieved by "eliminating the safe havens"; bringing on board the groups fighting with each other, to get them involved in dialogues and creating the conditions for a reconciliation process within Afghanistan for peace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 91-year-old man voiced his anguish, while a schoolgirl held up a placard. "Not in my name," they said, as people gathered to protest against hate crimes in the country. Urdu poet Gulzar Dehlvi spoke about "Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb", the syncretic culture that embraces Hinduism and Islam at the "Not In My Name" meeting, described by its organisers as a citizens' protest against the killing of Afrazul Khan in Rajasthan, and other victims of violence. The world, the poet said, was proud of the tradition that embraced multiple languages and religions. "And today it is being attacked. Hindu religion doesn't teach this hate. It talks of humanity, mankind, human race," he said, ruing that people were trying to divide the people in the name of Hinduism and Islam. Under the "Not In My Name" banner, protests had earlier been organised against the killing of teenager Junaid and of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Afrazul Khan was hacked and burnt to death in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district last week. The violence was recorded and clips were circulated on social media sites. Mihika Sinha, a Class 5 student, was present at the protest march, carrying a placard with the question, "Why was Afrazul Killed?". "You can't kill people," she said, when asked why she was there. Her mother, Delhi academic Monami Basu, said it was difficult to answer the question because her daughter did not understand the concept of bigotry. "She does not completely grasp what is going on. And when I explain about bigotry, go back into history to explain what hate is, she finds it strange," Basu said. Also present at the meeting was the author of "Framed As A Terrorist", Mohammad Aamir Khan, who was acquitted after 14 years in jail. Khan believed there was a growing climate of fear. Students, academics, human right activists and others took part in the event held in the heart of the capital. Similar protests were organised in Bengaluru and Bhopal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said the Centre has agreed to continue search operations for the missing fishermen in Cyclone Ockhi that hit the state's coast on November 29 and 30. The death toll in the disaster has, meanwhile, climbed to 58 with more bodies recovered from high seas. State control room officials said three bodies were found off the coast of Kozhikode and three from Kochi. Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has agreed to continue the search operations in the high seas as requested by the state, Vijayan told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting. However, the chief minister said complete information was still not available on the fishermen who went out to sea during the cyclone days. "Several fishermen had ventured into sea in boats and some in small crafts. The anxiety is about people who had gone in crafts," Vijayan said. When pointed out that the Latin Catholic Church, to which most of the affected fishermen belonged, had disputed the official figure on missing fishermen, Vijayan said, "there is no need for dispute on that." The government has a figure of missing persons and if there were any more persons other than in the list, that also would be confirmed, he added. The official missing toll is 94. In a bid to set up a mechanism to ensure safety of fishermen, Vijayan said a system was being planned in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The chief minister said the government would speed up relief and rehabilitation work. The financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for families of fishermen killed in the cyclone would be given in one go, he said adding "it will be given shortly without any hassle." An amount of Rs five lakh would be given to those who were seriously injured and not able to go for work in future as an "alternative livelihood" initiative, he said. Efforts were on to identify the bodies through DNA test, he said. Observing that the Centre seems to have understood the gravity of the damage caused by the cyclone in the state, Vijayan said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured him that a Central team would visit the affected areas very soon. Seeking support of all sections of society for relief and rehabilitation of cyclone victims, Vijayan said all cabinet members have donated their one month's salary to Ockhi cyclone relief fund. He appealed to government employees to donate three days salary and workers in other sectors one day's salary to the fund. Giving details of the measures planned for the victims, he said houses would be built for those who had lost it under the government's Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha government has directed superintendents of police and collectors of the districts to keep strict vigil on the activities of ponzi firms. A toll-free number 1800-345-7154 has also been set up at the Reserve Bank of India, Bhubaneswar, where people can call to complaint over unauthorised collection of money across the state. "The SPs and collectors of districts were asked to keep strict vigil on activities of non-banking financial entities including multi-state cooperative societies and fake insurance companies who are trying to cheat people," chief secretary A P Padhi told reporters after a meeting yesterday. The meeting chaired by Padhi issued the direction after the government received reports of fresh chit fund companies coming up in the state. The police were also asked to give a monthly report on activities of such non-banking institutions and act against them. Some firms have adopted new ways to collect money from the public such as misusing names of branded companies and these issues were also discussed in the meeting, he said. The chief secretary said messages warning people about false promises by chit fund companies are also being sent to mobile phones of the public. Meanwhile, a toll-free telephone number 1800-345-7154 has been operationalised at RBI, Bhubaneswar for receiving calls from complainants regarding unauthorised money collection across the state. The RBI is also taking steps to make people aware of fake phone calls and email messages announcing winning of prize or lottery, officials said. It was also decided at the meeting that no multi-state cooperative society can run business in Odisha without no objection certificate from the Registrar Cooperative Societies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seeking to corner the government on several issues, the leaders of key opposition parties will meet tomorrow to work out their floor strategy for Parliament's Winter Session beginning Friday. The session is scheduled to end on January 5. Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi may attend the meeting to be chaired by the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, opposition sources said. It will be held at Azad's office in Parliament ahead of the all-party meeting in the evening tomorrow. "Gandhi had attended such a meeting in the past too. So, he may come for the meeting of the opposition parties tomorrow as well," they said. According to them, the leaders may take up the issues such as the killing of a Bengali worker in BJP-ruled Rajasthan, GST and demonetisation. "Plus, there are issues relating to the agrarian crisis and the devastation caused by Cyclone Ockhi in southern state," they added. Besides the Congress, the leaders of the Left parties, SP, BSP, NCP and others are expected to take part in the scheduled discussion. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the Legislative Council in a written reply that between January 2012 to October 2017, as many as 12,047 offences were registered in the state under the Information Technology (IT) Act. Of these, 4,342 cases were registered in Mumbai, the country's financial capital, including 1,801 related to credit and debit card frauds. The reply was submitted to questions asked by Congress legislator Anant Gadgil and others. Of the 12,047 offences registered under the act in the state, 3,602 offences were solved, stated Fadnavis, who also holds the charge of home ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BSF today seized a Pakistani boat here from the Ravi river in Indian territory, police said. The boat with a Pakistani flag was spotted by the BSF near Dharamkot Pattan, which is close to the India-Pakistan border, they said. The BSF is investigating how the boat strayed into Indian territory, the police said. In October last year, a Pakistani boat had been found in an area under the Kakkar Border Outpost (BOP) in the Amritsar Sector. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A high court in Pakistan today barred the government from releasing a former top Taliban militant who had surrendered in April this year. Ehsanullah Ehsan, who was associated with the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and later its splinter group Jamaat-ul Ahrar (JuA), had voluntarily surrendered to security forces. A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi passed the order on a petition filed by the father of a student who was killed in the December 16 attack on an army public school in Peshawar. The petitioner had said that the government was planning to give clemency to Ehsan. The government had said that it was still investigating the former TTP spokesman. The court asked the government to continue its probe against Ehsan and barred it from releasing him on any ground and keep the court updated about the proceedings. JuA was behind the horrific attack on Lahore's Mall Road earlier this year in which 13 people were killed and over 100 others injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Supreme Court today ordered a cement plant to fill up the historic Katas Raj temple's pond within a week after reports emerged that it is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories, according to a media report. A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, is hearing a suo motu case based on media reports that the Katas Raj pond in Punjab province is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories, Dawn reported. The factories are reportedly draining the pond through a number of bored wells which have reduced the subsoil water level the created shortages for domestic users as well, it said. Bestway Cement factory is one of the four major cement production units located in the area. In the hearing of the case, the bench expressed anger over the continued absence of Bestway Cement's counsel. The bench told the Punjab government to provide details of the conditions under which the authorities had allowed the construction of cement factories in the area. The court also sought reports on the environmental pollution factories cause in the area. The prosecution claims that the cement factories in the Katas Raj temple area have worsened the risks of breast cancer and respiratory diseases among people living nearby due to their activities. "We will not allow cement factories to operate at the cost of people's health," the chief justice said. The apex court had also expressed dismay over the absence of representations of Hindu deities in the historic Sri Ram and Hanuman temples in the complex and sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in this regard a day earlier. The ETPB said the temples were locked up to prevent desecration that might be caused by wild jackals and bats in the area. The court was perturbed to learn that Hindu pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals, the report said. The chairman also claimed that no religious services are held in Shri Ram and Hanuman temples since they are archaeological sites. The Shiv Ling was present in all temples where people come to worship, he said. The Katas Raj temple is one of the Hindu community's most well-known places of worship. The name 'Katas' is derived from Kataksha, a Sanskrit word meaning 'tearful eyes'. According to legend, the sacred pond was formed after lord Shiva wept upon the death of his wife Satti. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CPI(M) MLA Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami today expressed concern about the safety of Raza Mahmood Khan, a Pakistani rights activist who is suspected to be a victim of "enforced disappearance", and urged the Pakistani authorities to ensure his speedy release. Raza was an active member of the civil society in Lahore and an activist of 'Aaghaz-e-Dosti' (Initiation of Friendship), an organisation that focuses on peace education, advocates dialogue and people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. He has been missing since December 2 from Lahore, prompting human rights activists to term the incident a case of "enforced disappearance". "The peace constituency in India and Pakistan is concerned about the safety and welfare of Raza Mahmood Khan. I urge the civil society of Pakistan to use its influence to persuade the Pakistani authorities to ensure safe and speedy release of Raza Khan," Tarigami, an MLA from Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam constituency, said here. "People like Raza Khan, who work for Indo-Pak friendship and peace, are persons who need encouragement and protection from their respective governments in Pakistan and India," the senior CPM leader added, hoping that Raza will return soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Palestinian president said today his people will not accept any role for the United States in the Mideast peace process "from now on," following President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a gathering of heads of state and top officials from Islamic nations at a summit in Turkey that is expected to forge a unified Muslim world's stance against Trump's move. Abbas called Trump's decision a "crime" that threatened world peace. He called on the United Nations to take charge of the peace process and create a new mechanism, arguing that Washington is no longer "fit" for the task. The Palestinian leader also said that the Palestinians are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict but that after Trump's pivot on Jerusalem, Washington is not accepted as a fair negotiator. The Istanbul gathering of heads of state and top officials from the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation could offer the Muslim world's strongest response yet to Washington's move. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president of the OIC, called on countries to urgently recognise the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital. Erdogan has been among the most vocal critics of Trump's announcement. In remarks to the summit, he said Israel is an "occupying state" and a "terror state." Jerusalem's status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Trump's December 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem had triggered violent outbreaks. Earlier, in opening remarks to a pre-summit meeting, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told OIC foreign ministers that the US decision aims to "legitimize Israel's attempt to occupy Jerusalem." "They expect the Islamic nation to remain silent," he said. "But we will never be silent. This bullying eliminates the possibility of peace and the grounds for shared life. The US' decision is null for us." Most countries around the world have not recognised Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem. Under a long- standing international consensus, the fate of the city is to be determined in negotiations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, Jordanian King Abdullah II and top ministers of numerous nations were to attend the gathering in Istanbul. In an emergency meeting in Cairo last weekend, Arab foreign ministers demanded that the United States rescind Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, the ministers also called for the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump's decision, but acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the state's establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people. In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured the city's eastern sector and later annexed it in a move that is not recognised internationally. The Palestinians equally lay claim to Jerusalem and want the eastern part of the city as capital of their future state. Some 320,000 Palestinians live in that part of the city and Palestinians claim a deep cultural, historical and religious connection to the city. The Old City, located in east Jerusalem, is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. These include the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wished Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on his 62nd birthday. "On his birthday, my greetings to Goa CM @manoharparrikar Ji. May he lead a long life filled with good health," the prime minister tweeted this morning. Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi too wished Parrikar through her twitter account. "Birthday greetings toShri @manoharparrikar Ji. Wish you good health, happiness and success in all your future endeavours," she said in her post on twitter. Union Minister of Coal and Railways Piyush Goyal also extended birthday greetings to his former Cabinet colleague. "Warm birthday greetings to Shri @ManoharParrikar, a humble & compassionate leader, working tirelessly towards the development and prosperity for the people of Goa," he tweeted. Parrikar had resigned as the defence minister in March this year to be sworn-in as the chief minister of Goa after the Bharatiya Janata Party stitched up a coalition to form a government in the coastal state. The chief minister is celebrating his birthday today with several programmes scheduled to mark the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar today told the House that any person who disturbs tourists and hampers tourism "will not be allowed to do so" on the state's beaches. He was responding to a question tabled by Congress legislator Francis Silveira on the floor of the House during the assembly session that began today. "Yes. Sir, any person who disturbs the tourists and hampers tourism will not be allowed to do so," mentions the written reply tabled by the minister. This was to a question on whether the Government would restrict the movement of Lamannis on Goan beaches who disturb the tourists and hamper tourism. Lamannis are a nomadic community which has its origin in neighbouring Karnataka and have settled in Goa running their trade in the coastal belt. The minister said the department haa deployed India Reserve Batallion (IRB) Police,Tourist Police, ex-servicemen and tourist wardens for ensuring safety and security of the tourists. "In addition, the government has already constituted an Anti Narcotic Cell under Police Department," he said. Replying to a question on services provided on the beaches to attract more tourists, the minister said, "The Government of India has approved Rs 99.99 crore under Swadesh Darshan Scheme - I for North Goa coastal areas for implementing various development works." These works, he said, include infrastructure such as parking spaces, toilets, changing rooms, illumination, drinking water, free wifi among others at locations wherever the government has land in its possession or at the locations wherever the panchayats or private bodies have provided lands by the way of NOC. The minister informed that the Union government during 2017-18 has approved Rs 99.35 crore under Swadesh Darshan Scheme -II wherein it is proposed to provide such infrastructure at Miramar, Donapaula, Bambolim, Siridao, Utorda, Majorda, Betal-Batim, Cavelossim, Mobar, Palolem, Agonda wherever land is available. The ongoing State legislative assembly session will culminate on December 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 23-year-old woman from the city has approached the Bombay High Court with a contention that she, and not her stepmother, be declared the legal heir of her deceased father, so that she can get a job on compassionate grounds at her father's place of work. Harsha Kale alleged that the marriage between her father and her stepmother was not in accordance with law. At the time of the marriage, Kale claimed her stepmother was yet to get a divorce from her first husband. Kale also claimed that such marriage thus will be considered null and void and her stepmother must be disentitled from claiming any right over her father's assets, and availing of benefits such as receiving her father's pension, or securing a job on compassionate grounds. A bench of justices Shantanu Kemkar and Rajesh Ketkar today directed the Union government to clarify its stand on who is entitled to get a job on compassionate grounds at the government institute where the deceased used to work. In the meanwhile, the bench has also directed the Union government to consider Kale's interim prayer seeking that she should not be evicted from the government quarter allotted to her father during his service, since she and her two younger siblings have no alternate place of residence. The bench, however, clarified that such direction to the Union government to consider Kale's interim prayer "did not create any rights" in her favour. According to Kale's plea filed through her counsel Madhav Thorat, her father was employed at an institute of speech and learning disabilities in the city that comes under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. "After Kale's mother passed away, her father got married for a second time. When he died in 2015, Kale's stepmother began receiving the deceased's pension and related benefits. Her stepmother also claimed a right to getting a government job under the Ministry on compassionate grounds," Thorat told the court. However, soon after, Kale got to know that her stepmother had failed to get legally divorced from her first husband before getting married to the petitioner's father, he added. Kale then wrote to the institute and to the government claiming that since her father's second marriage was null and void by law, she should get that job on compassionate grounds. "The authorities however, are yet to sort the issue out. In the meanwhile, she was asked to vacate the government quarter allotted to her father. While her stepmother now lives in Pune, the petitioner (Kale) lives in the government quarter with her two younger siblings and her ailing grandmother. With her parents dead, and without a job, she has nowhere else to go," Thorat said. The high court has now directed the government to consider Kale's plea and to inform the court of its stand on the issue by December 22. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government today found itself cornered in the Legislative Assembly after it came to fore that officials have failed to brief Agriculture Minister Pandurang Fundkar on the issue of pink bollworm infestation in cotton crop. Speaker Haribhau Bagde deferred the Calling Attention Motion on the issue raised by Opposition MLAs citing the lack of information from officers, which led to an uproar. Opposition has been demanding immediate relief to farmers saying that Bt cotton seed "BG II" has failed to protect cotton from the pink bollworm attack in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. Opposition members alleged that though the government was aware that BG II seed lacked potential to prevent pink bollworm infestation it purposefully didn't act as it "wanted private seed-producing companies to be benefitted". The government said the production of cotton is on the rise though it has acknowledged the problem. It also said that farmers will be compensated for the loss. Against this backdrop, over 69 MLAs of the 288-member Assembly had raised the calling attention motion demanding a detailed discussion and government's response on the issue. However, Speaker Bagde announced postponement of the motion citing the lack of information from officers, prompting the Opposition to demand an apology from the government which it alleged is "shielding" private seed producers. "The issue is not new. How can the (Agriculture) Minister not get answer from his department? Has he completely lost the hold? Or is he shielding someone?" asked senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil also demanded an apology from the government. "At a time when the state is staring at a loss of Rs 30,000 crore, the Agriculture department is claiming that it does not have information, which is a shameful thing," he said. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defused the situation by assuring Opposition MLAs, who were planning a sit-in protest, to answer all their queries during a discussion later this evening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the ministries of external affairs and water resources to find out why the waters of the Brahmaputra turned black and take remedial measures for it. This was conveyed at a high-level meeting chaired by the prime minister and attended by Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and others on Tuesday evening, a statement issued by the Assam government said. Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre had already taken up the issue of the seriously and even engaged the Central Water Commission to look into it and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. The prime minister also asked the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter to get to the root cause of the problem and find a solution. Swaraj said her ministry had contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study was being undertaken to find the real cause, the statement said. The prime minister also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of the Brahmaputra waters are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. The waters of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. The waters became muddy and cement-like apparently due to the construction of a 1,000-km tunnel by China to divert the waters. Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Attorney General KK Venugopal, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. (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.) Prime Minster Narendra Modi today appreciated the strengthening of bilateral relationship between India and Singapore in various sectors, including trade and investment, connectivity, defence and security. Modi made these remarks during his meeting with visiting Emeritus Senior Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong here today. The prime minister also warmly recalled their long association, and congratulated Goh Chok Tong on assuming charge as the chairman of the governing board of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy earlier this year, an official statement said. "The prime minister welcomed the momentum imparted by the exchange of several high-level visits between India and Singapore in recent years, and appreciated the strengthening of the bilateral relationship in all sectors, including trade and investment, connectivity, defence and security," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP leader today claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met two of his demands regarding permitting CAG to audit GSTN, the company providing the IT backbone of the GST regime, and the MHA investigating it for security compliance. "Two of my demands were met by the Prime Minister. One, to permit Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to audit Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) and two, to ask Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate GSTN for security compliance," he told PTI. GSTN, a not-for-profit private limited company, is providing the technology backbone for the collection of taxes and filing of returns in the new indirect tax regime and Infosys has developed the software for the same. The company had won a Rs 1,380 crore deal in 2015 in this regard. In a letter to Modi last August, Swamy had raised strong objections to a majority stake for private entities inthe company formed during the UPA regime to manage and control the accounting and collection of GST. He had also urged Modi to ensure that it is replaced by a government-owned structure. Swamy, a Rajya Sabha member, had also asked Modi to subject GSTN to a "close second look" and "thorough scrutiny", questioning how a private entity can be allowed access to "sensitive" information without security clearance. Replying to a query, Swamy said he was waiting for probe reports, but did not reveal the timeline Prime Minister has fixed for submissions. "I am waiting for probe reports," he said. In an interview to a news portal in April this year, Swamy had said he would challenge GSTN as "anti-national" in court as it violates his fundamental rights. Swamy said, "Since I am waiting for probe reports, till then, no court action. (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.) Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu today impressed upon the US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer the need to agree to a permanent solution on the public food stock holding issue that flows from the Nairobi ministerial. Prabhu met Lighthizer at the initiative of Argentinean minister Susana Malcorra, who is also the chair of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) 11th Ministerial Conference, official sources said. Lighthizer, the officials said, told the commerce minister that the US administration is against the WTO system and not against India per se. Earlier in an oblique reference to India and other developing countries, Lighthizer had accused five of the six richest countries in the world for seeking concessions on the basis of self-proclaimed development status. "We need to clarify our understanding of development within the WTO. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to the few, and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status. There is something wrong, in our view, when five of the six richest countries in the world presently claim developing country status," Lighthizer had said in his address at the plenary. Prabhu had retorted by emphasising that special and differential treatment was "an important component of the WTO... You cannot ignore realities that certain societies have been left behind in the process of development." Later, the minister called on Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and held discussions on a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation. Among others, Prabhu met Johann N Schneider-Amman, Minister of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, and Jorge Faurie, Foreign Affairs Minister of Argentina. Participating in a session on food, the minister underlined the need for promoting food and nutrition security for India's vast population. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today called upon political parties and progressive Muslims to come out in support of the draft bill banning triple talaq and containing provisions for providing assistance to women affected by the practice. "Governments, whether at the Centre or in the states, ought not to interfere in religious matters as far as beliefs and rituals are concerned. But intervention becomes necessary when it comes to social evils like untouchability, dowry, child marriage and triple talaq", Modi said at a meeting of the BJP's minorities front here. "There are some people who oppose any type of social reform. Even the ban on the brutal practice of sati was met with opposition. Triple talaq has nothing to do with religion. It is a gross injustice meted out to women", he said. "The Supreme Court had declared triple talaq as unconstitutional in its judgement dated August 22. A draft bill proposing a ban on the practice and rehabilitation of women affected by it is likely to be brought in the upcoming session of the Parliament. All political parties, besides progressive Muslims, should support it", he added. In a veiled attack on the Congress, the BJP leader said "the Supreme Court had given a historic ruling in the Shah Bano case 31 years ago. But the same was overturned by the Rajiv Gandhi government, much to the detriment of divorced Muslim women". The Deputy CM also highlighted measures taken by the Bihar government for welfare of Muslims like raising financial assistance for divorced women from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, scholarships to meritorious madarsa students, equipping madarsas with computers, toilets, libraries etc. and removing encroachments from Wakf land. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri today expressed anguish for being unnecessarily dragged into Indian politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that even the word 'Gujarat' was not mentioned by anyone at a private dinner in New Delhi. Kasuri, who was last week hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar in New Delhi, suddenly found himself at the center of controversy after Prime Minister Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence Gujarat polls. Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi claimed some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met at Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Kasuri expressed anguish for being unnecessarily "dragged" into Indian politics, when none of Pak-India domestic issues came up for discussion at the dinner. "Let me tell you that no discussion whatsoever took place about the internal politics of India or Pakistan. Even the word 'Gujarat' was not mentioned by any participant of the meeting during the discussion," Kasuri asserted. "I am surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics - surprised because of the nature of the allegations and apparently anti-Pakistani sloganeering can perhaps can still garner votes in India." To a question as why Modi alleged Pakistani interference in Gujarat polls, Kasuri said: "...this is most unfortunate as India is a mature democracy. In Pakistan on the other hand, during our election campaigns, Indian is never mentioned." Sharing the guest list at the dinner, Kasuri said former premier Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, former minister K Natwar Singh, Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood, some former Indian higher commissioner to Islamabad, defence analysts and well-known journalists were also present. "Sohail Mahmood was invited since the dinner was organised for a former foreign minister of Pakistan," he said but feigned ignorance about the presence of any Pakistani former intelligence official in the meeting. "I am not aware of it (presence of Pakistani intelligence official)." Kasuri said that he has also links with politicians from Modi's BJP and was instrumental for the visit of L K Advani to Pakistan. "On my invitation, Advani visited to Katas Raj (Hindu holy place) in Pakistan. The impression given in media that I have only links with Congress men is wrong," Kasuri said. He remembered Aiyar as old "friend from Cambridge days" and said the presence of "dignitaries" at the dinner was due to his "involvement with the peace process." He also took credit for making progress towards resolution of all issues when he was foreign minister of the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. "When I was the Foreign Minister we made a lot of progress on all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir," said Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007. Kasuri said that he has long been involved on the Track II diplomacy and expressed his desire that Pakistan and India must resolve all their disputes through bilateral negotiations. "This (peaceful resolution of disputes) is essential to fight poverty in both the countries," he said. In his speech, Modi had also mentioned Sardar Arshad Rafiq, whom he identified as "Pakistan's former Army director general" for alleged interference in Gujarat polls. Rafiq has apparently deleted a Facebook post that "our leader and mentor Ahmed Patel (Rajya Sabha member and Sonia Gandhis political secretary) must be made Gujarat Chief Minister". Little is known about Rafiq except that he belongs to Palandri area of Pakistani Kashmir and served in the army. He currently lives in garrison city of Rawalpindi, according to his Facebook account. Earlier, Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal urged rival Indian leaders to stop dragging Pakistan in its domestic politics. "India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible," Faisal tweeted on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra social justice minister Rajkumar Badole, in a written reply to a question, said that there has been an irregular disbursement of Rs 1,826.87 crore under a scholarship programme for students hailing from the backward classes. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former labour minister Hasan Mushrif had raised the question in the assembly House. Replying to it, Badole said, "An SIT (Special Investigation Team) was formed to investigate the allegations of irregular disbursement of scholarship for OBC students. An audit conducted of 1,704 institutes revealed that the total irregular scholarship disbursement was Rs 1,826.87 crore of which Rs 96.16 crore has been recovered." He informed that irregularities had been noticed by the SIT in 70 institutes working for the welfare of tribal communities in the state. While two of these institutes are from the tribal development ministry, 68 are from the social welfare department. The report stated that the state government is working on filing police complaints against these institutes. "The recovered amount has been deposited in the state treasury. Rest of the amount is being recovered as per legal procedure," Badole said his reply. The Maharashtra assembly's winter session is currently underway in Nagpur. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Since 2006, Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections has been an independent view of family history resources and developments seen from an Ottawa perspective. Maharashtra Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule today admitted that Rs 34,495 crore dues of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) are yet to be recovered from nearly one and half crore consumers across the state. The minister gave this information in a written reply in the state Legislative Assembly in response to a question raised by Anil Babar, Shiv Sena MLA from Khanapur seat in Sangli district. "Till August end, the dues are worth Rs 34,495 crore from 1,45,84,101 consumers. Out of the total amount, Rs 27,935 crore have to come from the regular consumers, while Rs 6,560 crore dues are from those, whose power connections have been permanently snapped," he said. There are 32,83,906 consumers in Maharashtra, whose power supply has been permanently disconnected, Bawankule informed. Seventy three per cent of dues are yet to be recovered for using electricity for the water supply schemes and street light facility implemented by the local governing bodies, and for agricultural pumps. The state government has already come up with 'Mukhyamantri Krushi Sanjeevani Yajana-2017' for improving the recovery, Bawankule said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A total of Rs 305.14 crore has been sanctioned as central assistance to Manipur, Kerala and Mizoram, which faced various natural calamities in 2016-17, the home ministry said. A decision to grant the amount was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba among others. The central assistance has been approved to Manipur and Mizoram affected floods and landslides, and drought-hit Kerala, according to a home ministry statement. The committee approved an assistance of Rs 130.65 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) to Manipur. The committee approved Rs 125.47 crore to Kerala -- Rs 112.05 crore from the NDRF and Rs 13.42 crore from the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). It also approved Rs 49.02 crore for Mizoram -- Rs 42.77 crore from the NDRF and Rs 6.25 crore from the NRDWP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A South African court today reprimanded President Jacob Zuma as "seriously reckless" after he challenged the recommendations of the country's anti- corruption watchdog for a graft probe against him. The High Court in the capital Pretoria ordered Zuma to appoint within 30 days a judicial inquiry into the allegations that have hung over him and his associates. The ruling came days before a crucial elective conference of the governing African National Congress (ANC), where Zuma is due to step down as leader. Zuma had tried to dodge implementing the recommendations contained in a scathing 2016 report by South Africa's corruption watchdog. But judge Dunstan Mlambo dismissed Zuma's case, saying the "the president was seriously reckless in pursuing it as he has done". The judge said the watchdog's report "uncovered worrying levels of malfeasance and corruption" and had presented Zuma with an opportunity to "confront and address the problem". But the president had chosen to challenge it in court, "further delaying the resolution" of the allegations, Mlambo added. "The president had no justifiable basis to simply ignore the impact of this corruption on the South African public," he said. The judge added that Zuma's conduct fell "short of the high standards" expressed in the constitution. He also ruled that Zuma should personally pay the litigation cost for a different case, in which he had sought to halt the release of a report linking him to the wealthy Gupta family. The business family of Indian origin is accused of having undue influence over Zuma's government, including power over the appointment of some cabinet ministers. Zuma had tried to block the publication of the report arguing that he had not been granted enough opportunity to respond to the charges. Zuma steps down next week as president of the ANC after a 10-year term marked by damning court judgements against him. He will resign as state president after general elections in 2019. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today permitted the Centre to modify the notification banning use of pet coke and furnace oil in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana for industries like cement, lime stone and thermal power plants. While cement and lime industries use pet coke, thermal power plants use furnace oil. The apex court also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to come out with regulations for the sale of pet coke and fix emission standards for thermal power plants. A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said that the notification might be modified after the regulations were finalised and put in place. The Centre had earlier informed the top court that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has issued a direction prohibiting the use of pet coke and furnace oil until further orders in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. The use of pet coke and furnace oil is already prohibited in Delhi. The top court had on October 24 banned use of pet coke and furnace oil in these three states from November 1 in view of the pollution levels in Delhi-national capital region (NCR) and noted that these states had no objection to it. During the hearing today, the bench dealt with several issues related to ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil. Regarding the use of pet coke in cement industries, the bench noted the submissions of an advocate, assisting the court as amicus curiae, as well as contentions of the MoEF. Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for MoEF, told the court that the system of regulation on sale of pet coke would be brought into force within four weeks. On the use of pet coke in lime industries, the bench asked the government to come out with emission standards. Regarding the use of furnace oil in thermal power plants, the amicus told the bench that Ministry of Power has requested allowing the use of furnace oil for a period of one year till the thermal power plants switch over to alternate fuel. The bench accepted timeline given in this regard by the MoEF and said that thermal power plants would have to switch over to alternative fuel within a year. The apex court said the other issues, including emission standards for thermal power plants, would be considered on the next date of hearing in January. Meanwhile, the MoEF has said in its affidavit filed in the court that they were considering the issue of ban on import of pet coke. "We expect the MoEF to take a final decision in this regard," the bench said, adding that the ministry might consult apex court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) and other stakeholders in this. It said that its direction should not be understood to be limited only to the national capital region (NCR) since air pollution was a nationwide problem. The court asked the MoEF to look into these aspects so that standards were made applicable to the entire country. The court was hearing a PIL filed in 1985 by environmentalist M C Mehta who had raised the issue of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court is likely to hear tomorrow a plea of Centre challenging the Delhi High Court order asking it and the Vodafone Group to participate in dual arbitration proceedings initiated in connection with a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore through a retrospective law. The high court had asked Vodafone representatives to participate in the process of appointing a presiding arbitrator in its international arbitration process against India. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan posted the matter for tomorrow after the counsel for the telecom company said the matter was earlier listed for hearing on December 15. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh said he had no objection if the matter is listed tomorrow for hearing. Justice R F Nariman had recused from hearing the matter on December 8. On October 26, the high court had allowed the telecom company to participate in the second arbitration against India on the same issue of tax demand. The high court had on August 22 restrained Vodafone from participating in the arbitration initiated under the India- United Kingdom Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) in connection with the tax demand raised against the company in relation to its USD 11 billion deal acquiring the stake of Hutchinson Telecom. Earlier, the company had initiated a similar arbitration process under the India-Netherlands BIPA on the same issue and the proceeding on it is going on. The high court on October 26 had given the Centre time till November 17 to indicate whether it was amenable to re- scheduling of these proceedings after a final decision is given in the first arbitration. The court had said it was not in favour of stalling the process as both sides had already appointed an arbitrator each in the second arbitration. The telecom major had told the high court that the company was not looking for a declaration or award from the two arbitrations and "any one would do." It had claimed that the Centre had not disclosed to the court an undertaking it had given to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to appoint an arbitrator. The Centre had, however, opposed the contention denying that any such undertaking was given and said it was rather forced to appoint an arbitrator. The union government has opposed the arbitration proceedings under the two BIPAs, claiming it was an abuse of the process of law. It had earlier contended that disputes encompassing tax demands raised by a host state were beyond the scope of arbitration provided under the bilateral investment treaty as taxation is a sovereign function and can only be agitated before a constitutional court of the host state. It had also argued that laws passed by Parliament cannot be adjudicated by an arbitral tribunal and do not fall within the ambit of BIPA or any other international treaty. The government is of the view that the USD 11 billion acquisition of stake of Hutchinson Telecommunications International Limited (HTIL) in Hutchinson Essar Limited (HEL) by Vodafone was liable for tax deduction at source (TDS) under the Income Tax Act. As Vodafone had not deducted the tax at source, the government had raised the demand of Rs 11,000 crore which was subsequently quashed by the Supreme Court on January 20, 2012. Thereafter, the government made a retrospective amendment to the Income Tax Act which re-fastened the liability on Vodafone. Aggrieved by the imposition of tax by the retrospective amendment, Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIHBV), a Vodafone Group subsidiary, had invoked the arbitration clause under BIPA between India and Netherlands through a notice of dispute of April 17, 2012 and notice of arbitration of April 17, 2014. While the proceedings under the India-Netherlands BIPA was pending, Vodafone had initiated arbitration under the India-UK BIPA as well on January 24 this year. Challenging the second arbitration, the government had said the two claims were based on the same cause of action and seek identical reliefs but from two different tribunals constituted under two different investment treaties against the same host state. Solar tender and auction activity declined steeply in India during November, Mercom Capital Group said today. The solar capacity tendered across the country during the month fell by 25 per cent to 300 MW compared to October and the amount of solar auctioned dropped by 98 per cent to just 5 MW, a Mercom Capital Group statement said. "Hopefully, tender and auction activity has bottomed out. The GST issue is almost behind us and the government is asking DISCOMs to refrain from PPA (power purchase agreement) renegotiations, even though the anti-dumping case is still looming," said Raj Prabhu, the CEO of Mercom Capital Group. The largest tender seen during the month was issued by Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) which re- tendered 200 MW of solar to be developed at the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka. The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was responsible for the only solar auction held in November when it auctioned a 5 MW grid-connected solar PV project under the National Solar Mission Defense viability gap funding (VGF) programme for the Ordinance Factory in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Giriraj Renewables Private Ltd emerged as the successful bidder by quoting a tariff of Rs 4.18 (USD 0.064)/kWh without VGF (viability gap funding). According to Mercom's India Solar Project Tracker, cumulative solar installations in India surpassed 17 GW as of September 2017, with over 7 GW installed in the first nine months of 2017. During August 2017, Mercom reported that the Ministry of Power issued the final guidelines for tariff-based competitive bidding process for solar projects. It said that the guidelines address some of the challenges faced by large-scale project developers in India and aim to replicate the success of the REWA auction by including payment guarantees, longer construction timelines for large projects, and deemed generation benefits. Also included in the guidelines was a provision for an intermediary procurer and clarity on the change in law clause. In the third quarter of 2017, a total of 1,456 MW of solar power was tendered and 1,232 MW of solar was auctioned. That total represented a marked reduction from the activity seen in the second quarter when 3,408 MW of solar projects were tendered and 2,505 MW projects were auctioned. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korean President Moon Jae-In began his first state visit to China today to soothe relations strained by the US deployment of an anti-missile system that has angered Beijing. Moon is also expected to discuss the North Korean nuclear crisis during his four-day trip, which includes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. The US military installed the powerful THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in the South earlier this year to guard against threats from the nuclear-armed North. The move angered Beijing, which considers the deployment a threat to its own security. China slapped a string of measures against South Korean businesses and banned group tours to the South, in moves seen as economic retaliation. But last month, the two countries issued identically- worded statements on their mutual desire to improve relations. It did not state any specifics, but Beijing has demanded that Seoul formally promise not to deploy any more THAAD launchers and not to join any regional US missile defence system. Moon's office said ahead of the trip that the president, who took office in May, wanted to "normalise" ties with Beijing, and that the visit would be a turning point towards a "more mature" relationship. South Korea's Yonhap agency said Moon had arrived in Beijing, and would meet with South Korean residents and attend a business roundtable on Wednesday. Ties recently showed some -- albeit limited -- signs of thaw as China's state tourism board approved last month Seoul-bound group tours from some parts of the country. "China and the ROK (South Korea) have reached some consensus on dealing with the (THAAD) issue in the current stage," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said yesterday. "We hope that the issue can continue to be handled properly and that the two sides can bring China-South Korea relations totally back to the track of sound and steady development," Lu added. China has also urged the United States, Japan and South Korea to suspend joint military drills in the region in return for North Korea to halt its nuclear activities -- an idea consistently rejected by Washington and Seoul. Beijing has pressed for talks to peacefully resolve the crisis. Moon's visit comes hours after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington was ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions", though it remains determined to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Investor interest was strong today as Abu Dhabi's state energy company listed a stake in its retail distribution arm, the first time the emirate has sold shares in one of its oil firms. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said it had raised USD 845 million by floating 10 per cent of its subsidiary ADNOC Distribution, a landmark share offering as Gulf energy firms open up to outside investments. The initial public offering price for the shares was at 2.5 dirhams (68 US cents) and by 0915 GMT they were trading at 73 cents. ADNOC said the IPO brought the subsidiary's market capitalisation to $8.5 billion, making it the fourth-largest firm on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The statement said the IPO was oversubscribed several times and that 90 per cent of the shares were sold to institutional investors, a third of them international, and the rest to individual investors. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital which holds more than 90 per cent of the country's 98 billion barrels of crude reserves, has never before offered public shares in one of its oil companies. Hit hard by the sharp drop in oil prices, energy- dependent Gulf states have resorted to a string of reforms including hiking fuel and power prices, imposing taxes and selling off part of their strategic assets to raise funds. Neighbouring oil kingpin Saudi Arabia is planning to eventually float up to five percent of its national oil company Aramco, in what many expect would be the biggest IPO in history. With 360 fuel stations and more than 235 stores, ADNOC Distribution is the UAE's largest operator of petrol stations and the sole retail fuel operator in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. "We were extremely pleased with the demand for this landmark IPO. We received substantial interest from the international investment community, as well as an overwhelming response from investors in the UAE," ADNOC CEO Sultan al-Jaber said in the statement. Established in 1973, ADNOC Distribution posted net profits of $485 million in 2016. ADNOC has recently renewed concession rights and offered new joint ventures to a number of international oil companies as it bids to raise UAE output to 3.5 million barrels per day next year, from the current 3.2 million bpd. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor Professor Gurmeet Singh today urged the youth to nurture new ideas and translate them into innovations for the betterment of the nation as a whole. He was presiding over the inaugural of the seven-day national workshop on 'Computational Approaches to Drug Discovery.' Singh assumed charge as Vice-Chancellor in November this year. Advisor to the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, inaugurated the workshop. As per a university release, the worskhop is part of the celebrations of the silver jubilee of BTISNet (Bio Technology Information System Network). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today ruled out for now the release of former youth Congress leader Sushil Kumar Sharma, serving life term in the murder case of his wife Naina Sahni. Sharma has sought release on the ground that he has already spent 25 years in jail. He has challenged the decision of the Sentence Review Board, which examines the records of those who have spent 14 years in jail and those who were given life term, declining his plea for release. The board, which was constituted in 2004 as per Supreme Court directives and is chaired by the Delhi Home Minister, decides on the pleas of convicts and other related issues. The board also has representatives of Tihar Jail, Delhi Police and Home Department as its members. According to Sharma's counsel, he has applied for release before the board thrice and his pleas were turned down in January 2016, September 2016 and in September this year. During the day's hearing, the court said though he has a right to be considered for release by the board, he cannot claim his release as a matter of right. "You have a right to be considered for release but you do not have the right for grant of release," Justice Mukta Gupta said while posting the matter to March 14 for further hearing. Sharma, who is serving life term for murdering his wife Naina Sahni, chopping it off and throwing the body parts in a restaurant's tandoor here, has sought premature release on the ground that he has spent over 25 years in jail. Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Sharma, said the valuable rights of the convict are also at stake and the board has rejected the plea without giving any reason. When advocates Sumeet Verma and Amit Sahni, also representing Sharma, said the convicts in more henious offences have been released, the court said there can be no comparison. The counsel claimed that the board's decision was arbitrary and in violation of the guidelines. To this, the bench said it was not going to sit in appeal on the decision of the board. The counsel submitted that the years also include four years in remission earned over the period of jail term. In September 2015, 20 years after he was sent to jail for the murder, Sharma was released on unconditional parole till a final decision on his release was taken. Now 56, Sharma had shot his wife Naina Sahni to death in 1995 objecting to her alleged relationship with a male friend. He had then chopped her body into pieces and attempted to burn it in a restaurant's oven. Popularly known as the tandoor murder case, it is one of the landmark cases in India in which DNA evidence and a second autopsy were used to establish the guilt of the accused. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) According to the Google search engine data that were made public in recent times, tourists from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now visit Armenia and Georgia more often. December 13, 2017, 15:25 Armenia among most popular destinations for UAE tourists STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS:The algorithm of this search engine indicates that UAE residents more often search for France, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Armenia, Montenegro and Cambodia, in that order, on Google, according to The National. The paper notes that tourist destinations in the South Caucasus are popular also because of direct flights to these places. While the capital cities of Georgia, Azerbaijan and ArmeniaTbilisi, Baku and Yerevan, respectivelyhave been popular for the past few years, UAE travelers are now exploring further afield in these three South Caucasus countries. This year also saw an increase in the number of new multi-country trips to this region, allowing travelers to take in, for example, both Armenia and Georgia in one cultural tour. Tata Steel today said its board will meet next week to consider raising of funds by issuing securities. A meeting of the company's board will be held on December 18-19 to consider a proposal to raise funds by issue shares or securities, Tata Steel said in a regulatory filing. The board will consider raising of funds via qualified institutions placement, rights issue, preferential issue or through any other permissible mode, it added. "The proposal for the issue will be considered by the board on December 19," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The district court here today sentenced three criminals to six years' imprisonment underthe Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, officials said. Naseer, alias Zakir, Israeel, alias Ajay Bidhudi, and Kalu, alias Om Shiv, each were awarded six years' rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 6000 by Special Judge RC Yadav," Senior Prosecution Officer Lalit Mudgal said here. The prosecution had alleged that the accused had created such an atmosphere of terror that people were afraid to record statements against them. "They were wanted in robbery, attempt to murder and murder cases," Mudgal said. On December 5, the court had awarded rigorous imprisonment of two years and fine of Rs 5000 to two other criminals, Sanjay and Bittu, under the gangster act, Mudgal said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Head Master and two teachers of a government high school in Tumakuru district have been suspended for allegedly serving alcohol to students on a trip when they asked for water to quench their thirst, officials said. The incident occurred near Hassan on December 10 when they were returning after a trip to tourist places in Dakshina Kannada. The officials said when the tired students asked for water, the teachers, who were in an inebriated condition, served them bottles containing alcohol, following which few students felt uneasiness and even vomited. The students' parents complained to authorities. The Deputy Director of Public Instruction today visited theschool at Bommala Devi Pura and conducted an inquiry following which the teachers were suspended, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer spy thriller "Tiger Zinda Hai" will not release in Pakistan after it failed to obtain a clearance from the country's Central Board of Film Censors. Geo Films, which has the distribution rights for the film in Pakistan, had started publishing the release of the film with the note 'subject to censor clearance' but its release on December 22 is unlikely now. The first part, "Ek Tha Tiger", was also not cleared for the release in Pakistan. Sources said the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage has refused to grant a No-Objection Certificate for the film upon CBFC's recommendation. Pakistan-related scenes are reportedly the basis for the film's non-clearance. In the spy thriller, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, Salman plays the role of a Raw agent who falls in love with Pakistani spy Zoya (Katrina) and together they team up to fight against terrorists. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A city police inspector was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthan's Pali district in the early hours today where a special team was sent to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist here. Four other police personnel were injured in the incident. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami expressed grief over the death of S Periyapandiyan (48) and announced a solatium of Rs 1 crore to his family. Periyapandiyan was Inspector (Law and Order), Maduravoyal police station. The state government will also bear the education expenses of the slain inspector's two sons, Palaniswami said in a statement. The chief minister said a five-member team comprising Periyapandiyan, Kolathur inspector Munisekar and three other police personnel--Ambrose, Gurumurthy and Sudharsan--had gone to Rajasthan in search of one Nathuram and some of his accomplices in connection with the heist. In the early hours of today, the police team had surrounded the culprits in Pali district, Palaniswami, who also holds the Home portfolio, said. "Periyapandian was killed when they (culprits) opened fire (on the police team) and I was grieved to know about this," he said. "I express my sympathies with the family of Periyapandian, who was killed in the incident while doing his duty," he said. The chief minister also prayed for the recovery of other policemen who sustained injuries in the incident. Palaniswami announced a sum of Rs one lakh to each of them. The government will also bear their medical expenses. "I have directed the police department to immediately arrest those who stole the gold (last month) and carried out the attack today," he added. Last month, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur here, after entering it by drilling a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to catch the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. Four persons hailing from that state had been earlier arrested in connection with the robbery. DMK working president M K Stalin expressed grief over the incident. He also met the bereaved family members. City Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan also met the affected family members. Periyapandian was a native of Sankarankovil in Tirunelveli district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Rajasthan Police today said unidentified persons have been detained in connection with the death of a Tamil Nadu policeman in a shoot-out in Pali district. S Periyapandiyan (48) was killed in Rajasthan's Pali district in the early hours where a special team was sent to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist in Chennai. Pali SP Deepak Bhargav said the team from Chennai had reached Jaitaran town of Pali district late last night in search of one Nathuram. Periyapandiyan was probably shot at with his own service pistol and he eventually died, he said. "A murder case has been registered against unidentified men by the Chennai police. We have detained a few persons in connection with the case. Postmortem of the slain inspector was done at Jodhpur," Bhargav said. Eight to nine persons were present in the house raided by the Chennai cops. A scuffle ensued between the culprits and the forces, with the former forcing the police team to retreat. Peripandian was somehow left behind, Bhargav said, adding the constables heard a gunshot and found the officer fatally injured when they rushed back. They took them to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said. Bhargav said an empty shell of 9 mm pistol used by the police was found from the spot, hinting that the officer was probably shot with his service weapon during the scuffle. Last month, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur in Chennai, after entering it by drilling a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to catch the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. Four persons hailing from that state had been earlier arrested in connection with the robbery. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seventeen top Indian doctors will hold a two-day health camp for the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jagti township, which is home to more than 4,500 families, from Saturday, the head of an organisation representing the interests of the migrants said today. Doctors from Medicity, Medanta, in Gurgaon, and from Jammu and Kashmir, including neurologist Sushil Razdan, will be a part of the mega health camp, Vishwa Kashmiri Pandit Samiti (VKPS) head Kiran Watal told reporters here. The Jagti township is one of the biggest neighbourhoods of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. It is located on the outskirts of Jammu winter capital city and houses more than 12,000 people. Watal said the camp is expected to cover all residents of the township. "The check-up includes lab investigations, including body-profile tests, ECG, BMD, PFT etc free of cost." "Seventeen top doctors from J&K and the rest of the country will conduct health check-up of the displaced KPs during the two-day health camp on Dec 16 and 17," Watal said. The trauma of forced exodus and the exposure to an alien environment are compounded by the problems of acclimatisation. A lack of basic healthcare facilities have affected Kashmiri Pandits in camps with various diseases. Most of these have led to many psychological and behavioural disturbances in them. There is perhaps no study to assess the magnitude of the psychological problems the displaced Kashmiri Pandits face, which manifest in the form of various psychiatric disorders. The VKPS, Global Solace - an international NGO, Shri Amarnath Yatra Welfare Society are jointly organising the health camp. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tripura Government has introduced Child Care Leave (CCL) for women employees with minor children for 730 days in their entire service life, a minister said today. Such employees enjoying the CCL for children's sickness or examinations would be paid leave salary equal to the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on the CCL. "The Child Care Leave will be granted to women employees of the state government, who have children below 18 years for a maximum period of 730 days in the entire service life," State Information and Culture Minister Bhanu Lal Saha told reporters. This decision was taken in the council of ministers held here yesterday. The Supreme Court passed an order in 2014 that a woman employee of the central government could get uninterrupted leave for two years for child care, which would include needs like examination and sickness. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A British surgeon today admitted branding his initials on the livers of two patients undergoing transplants at a hospital while his colleagues looked on. Simon Bramhall, 53, pleaded guilty to assault but not guilty to charges of assault causing actual bodily harm. The case was "without legal precedent in criminal law," prosecutor Tony Badenoch said of the offences that occurred at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It was "not an isolated incident but rather a repeated act on two occasions, requiring some skill and concentration... done in the presence of colleagues," he said, calling it a "highly unusual and complex" case. Elizabeth Reid of the Crown Prosecution Service added in a statement: "Simon Bramhall was a respected surgeon who assaulted two of his patients while they were undergoing surgery. "It was an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient while anaesthetised. Those assaults were wrong not just ethically, but also criminally. It was an abuse of the trust placed in him by the patients." Bramhall was granted bail and will be sentenced on January 12. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The presidents of Ukraine and Poland have met to find ways of overcoming the World War II legacy that sours relations between the neighbouring countries. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and visiting President Andrzej Duda of Poland laid flowers yesterday at a monument to Polish soldiers killed by Soviet security forces in 1940. Duda says they discussed bringing in peacekeepers as a step in ending the armed conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko said: "History should not affect the strategic nature of Ukrainian-Polish relations." Poland generally supports closer relations between Ukraine and the European Union. But the government also wants Polish civilians who were victims of Ukrainian armed units during World War II recognised. In Ukraine, the fighters are regarded as heroes who fought both German Nazis and the Soviets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council is a big winner yet again in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's annual competition for state funding. The council, which represents Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties, received one of five top performer awards and $86.4 million to support 112 economic development projects. It is the highest total given to any of the state's 10 regional councils. More than $755 million was awarded to the regional councils. The other top performer award winners were the Mohawk Valley, Capital Region, Mid-Hudson region and Long Island. The Finger Lakes region, which includes Seneca County, received $63.9 million. This was the seventh regional council awards ceremony since Cuomo became governor in 2011. He touted his economic development policies and argued that despite criticism of these programs, they are working. He also sought to dismiss cynics who say the state isn't good for businesses. He highlighted what he believes are key achievements during his tenure: limits on government spending, lower taxes and aggressive economic development initiatives. "You add up those three elements, that's a business-friendly economy and that is now what the state of New York offers," he said. While most regions have had mixed success in the regional council program, central New York has been a big winner. Prior to Wednesday's ceremony, the region won $906.8 million in state support in the first six years of the competition. The total includes $500 million from the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, a separate contest held in 2015 that awarded $1.5 billion to central New York and two other regions. Central New York's success in the seventh round of the regional economic development council awards will benefit Cayuga County. State funding will support 26 projects within the county. The list is highlighted by $1.98 million for Currier Plastics, an Auburn-based plastics manufacturer, to expand its operations, $1.2 million for the Auburn Schine Theater's restoration and $1.18 million for Martens Companies, a Port Byron farm, to build a food processing and distribution center. Prison City Pub & Brewery in Auburn received $900,000 for its expansion project. DuMond Farms was awarded $879,000 to construct a soybean processing plant in the town of Fleming. The state gave $380,000 in grants and tax credits to Copper John Corporation, an Auburn archery accessories manufacturer, to buy new equipment and bring jobs back to the U.S. Rounding out the priority projects is a $283,000 grant for the Cayuga County Industrial Development Agency's plan to expand the sewer system in the Aurelius Industrial Park. One of the park's main tenants is Cayuga Milk Ingredients. The Uttar Pradesh government today approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crime in the state. The bill is expected to be introduced in the winter session of the state legislature, which commences here tomorrow. The Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was approved in a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, state government spokesperson and power minister Srikant Sharma told reporters. "The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia and 'goonda' activities, and disturbing peace in the society are identified and a special drive is launched against them... The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind," he said after the meeting. The draft of the proposed legislation has been prepared in consultation with the law department to check organised and white-collar crime, and mafias, he said, adding that there are 28 provisions in the draft bill which are not present in the existing Gangsters Act. The committee set up to examine the draft bill also took into account a similar act in Maharashtra. It was headed by the home department's secretary with the additional director general of police for crime and special secretary law as its members, the minister said. "Organised crime has been defined in detail in the (draft) bill. Kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, manufacturing illicit liquor and its sale, acquiring contracts on the basis of muscle power, organised exploitation of forest produce, trade in wildlife, fake medicines, grabbing of government and private properties, and 'rangdari' (extortion) will come under the ambit of the new law," Sharma said. He said that arrangements have also been made to check the misuse of the bill and that cases under it will be filed only on the recommendations of the committee of divisional commissioner and range deputy inspector general of police. The permission of the zonal inspector general of police will be required before filing of charge sheet after thorough inquiry, he said. It has also been proposed that properties amassed through organised crime would be taken over by the government with the permission of the court during the course of investigation to check criminal elements from taking advantage of it, Sharma said. The property will be confiscated by the state government after conviction, the minister said. Sharma said that special courts will be constituted for hearing of cases lodged under the provisions of this bill and that a "state-level organised crime control authority" has been proposed to monitor gangs involved in organised crime. The state level authority will be headed by the principal secretary for Home. "This authority will either take cognisance on its own or on a complaint. It will probe the activities of organised gangs and will be entitled to examine any government file related to the case," he said. There is also a provision to form district level organised crime control authorities, which will be led by district magistrates. They can recommend cases to the state level authority after thorough probe, Sharma said. The draft bill also proposes a tribunal led by a retired high court judge for appealing against it, and will have a principal secretary and an official of DGP rank as its members, the minister said, adding that anyone can appeal against the decision of the authority in this tribunal. Those found involved in organised crime and having security will no longer be extended government protection and all white-collar criminals will be treated as such, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uttar Pradesh government today approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crimes in the state. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Winter session of the state legislature, which commences here tomorrow. The Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was approved at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, the state government spokesperson and Power minister Srikant Sharma told mediapersons after the meeting. "The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia, goonda activities and disturbing peace in society are identified and a special drive is launched against them...the bill is being brought with this purpose in mind," Sharma said. The draft of the proposed legislation has been prepared in consultation with the law department for effective check on organised crime, mafia and white collared crimes, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has unveiled a new multi-coloured logo for the Kumbh Mela that is scheduled to be held in Allahabad in January 2019. The logo, which comprises temples, seers, a kalash (pitcher) and a 'Swastika', was launched by the governor at a function in the Raj Bhawan here last evening. The unveiling comes close on the heels of the Kumbh Mela this month being recognised by the UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" and held up as the world's largest peaceful gathering of pilgrims. Naik also launched the Kumbh's tagline "Chalo Kumbh Chalo-Chalo, Kumbh Chalo", Uttar Pradesh Tourism's slogan "UP Nahin Dekha to India Nahin Dekha" and a one-stop travel solution portal. "The UNESCO has declared the Kumbh as a world heritage, realising the importance of the event... Sometimes outsiders realise the importance of things sooner than the locals," the governor said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present at the function, said it was a matter of pride that the UNESCO had recognised the Kumbh as a world heritage. He promised that the Uttar Pradesh government would ensure that Kumbh 2019 is celebrated with grandeur. Claiming that there was "nothing half in the Sanatan Hindu culture", the chief minister said that the Ardh Kumbh, held every six years, will be referred to as 'Kumbh' and the Kumbh, held every 12 years, as 'Maha Kumbh'. The Kumbh Mela is believed to be the largest religious gathering on earth and is held every 12 years on the banks of the 'Sangam'- the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati -- in Allahabad. The Mela alternates between Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The one celebrated at the Sangam is the largest and holiest of them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today pulled up governments of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for showing "lack of concern" over the issue of providing shelter to urban homeless in their states and asked their chief secretaries to appear before it. The top court, after going through the affidavit filed by Uttar Pradesh, observed it was quite clear that the state was unable to provide shelter to urban homeless and implement the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) scheme. A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta expressed anguish that West Bengal government has not filed an affidavit giving all particulars, including a road map on the issue, despite the apex court's direction. When the lawyer appearing for West Bengal government told the court that they would file the affidavit today, the bench observed, "this is total lack of concern for urban homeless. Your state has not done it. This cannot go on. You tell us one thing and your state government do something else." The bench directed the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal to appear before it on January 10 to inform it as to how these states proposes to implement the NULM scheme. At the outset, the apex court referred to the affidavit filed by Uttar Pradesh government and said that state has no plans on urban homeless and it was not possible for it to implement the scheme. "It is impossible for you (Uttar Pradesh) to implement the scheme," the bench said, adding, "look at your roadmap. It is zero, nothing is there". "It (scheme) started in 2013. For four years, you have done nothing. You admit it that you cannot do it. You do not have land, money and perhaps you do not have the will," the court told the counsel representing Uttar Pradesh Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner, argued that the court should crack the whip on these states. "Land is given to big capitalists but land is not available to provide shelter for poor people. You (court) have to crack the whip," he said, adding that something drastic has to be done. Meanwhile, the bench referred to an affidavit filed by the Centre and said the Union of India has suggested the court to appoint a committee in each states to deal with the issue of urban homeless. The Centre also apprised the court that a special audit has been directed to look into the aspect of utilisation of funds by Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal given under the scheme. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Haryana, placed on record a vision document on urban homeless in the state along with a road map and timeline. The bench purused the document placed by Mehta and asked the Centre to circulate it to other states as well. The apex court had on November 23 directed these states to place before it a roadmap on implementation of scheme for urban homeless, saying it was the government's "obligation" to help these poor people. The petitioners had earlier referred to the report of the apex court-appointed committee headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice Kailash Gambhir and said the number of shelter homes in these states were much less than what was required. The court is first dealing with the status of three states -- Haryana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh -- among 11 and two Union Territories which have been highlighted by the apex court-appointed committee to oversee implementation of NULM scheme across the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The claim made in a new show of a US science channel that the 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka is man-made has reaffirmed the party's stand on the issue, the BJP said today, asserting that it believes in the existence of Lord Ram. "It is unfortunate that the Congress has always been apologetic when it came to respecting Hindu religion. I wish once and for all this debate (on Ram Setu) is settled. We should respect Ram Setu and no damage should be done to it," Union minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference at the BJP headquarters. His cabinet colleague and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out at the UPA government for an affidavit in the Supreme Court which had questioned the belief among Hindus that the land bridge was built by Lord Ram to reach then Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, as depicted in the epic Ramayana. "Those who filed the affidavit should explain now. The research has supported what the BJP has been claiming all along...The setu is part of our cultural heritage," Prasad told reporters here. In a promo for its upcoming show, the channel quotes an archaeologist that the rocks on top of sand pre-date the sand. "This is what the BJP has been saying all along," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said here. The BJP, Goyal said, is not apologetic about its love for Lord Ram and for the party functionaries he was an ideal human being. "A secular democratic framework allows each Indian to respect his religion. We are proud of our religion and we are proud of every religion in India," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Air strikes by a US-led coalition killed 23 civilians today in a village held by the Islamic State group in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, a monitor said. "At least 23 civilians, among them eight children and six women, were killed Wednesday before dawn by air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition, targeting a village controlled by IS on the eastern banks of the Euphrates river," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US is ready to talk to North Korea over its nuclear disarmament without preconditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said, in what appeared to be a softening of America's stance toward Pyongyang. The offer to North Korea comes amid crippling sanctions on the country and just two weeks after after another intercontinental ballistic missile test by the reclusive nation. It also marks a shift from Tillerson's own previous comments that the US would not negotiate its way to the negotiating table with North Korea and that it would only talk once the regime was ready to address its denuclearisation. "We've said from the diplomatic side we're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and were ready to have the first meeting without precondition. Let's just meet," Tillerson said. He was speaking on 'Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond' organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council- Korea Foundation Forum. "And then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap of what we might be willing to work towards," he said. The offer stands in contrast to President Donald Trump's warnings that talks have failed and that Tillerson was wasting his time. Tillerson said it was not workable to demand that North Korea give up its weapons before talks begin. "Its not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it. And the President is very realistic about that as well," he said. in response to a question after delivering his remarks. However, the White House was quick to assert that there had been no change in the views of the president on North Korea. "The President's views on North Korea have not changed. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world. North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement to the press. The secretary of state made clear that full North Korean nuclear disarmament would be the ultimate goal of substantive negotiations. He argued that containment was not an option, as an impoverished North Korea would seek to earn money by selling its nuclear weapons on the black market. "Because were dealing with a new leader in North Korea that no ones ever engaged with. And he clearly is not like his father nor is he like his grandfather, and we dont know a whole lot about what it will be like to engage with him," he said. "I have to understand how do they process, how do they think. Because getting to an agreement, as all of us know, in negotiations means a willingness to talk about a lot of things," he said. However, he then laid down one condition and said there should be a "period of quiet" in which such preliminary talks could take place. "If there was any condition at all to this, its that, look, its going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks, you decide to test another device. Its going to be difficult to talk if in the middle of our talks, you decide to fire another one off. So I think they clearly understand that if we're going to talk, we have to have a period of quiet," Tillerson said. North Korea, he noted, can't be treated like other nuclear weapons states. "Many people have asked the question of, well, why cant you live with a containment strategy? You lived with it with Russia; you lived with it with China; you lived with it with others," he said. "The difference is that the past behaviour of North Korea, its clear to us that they would not just use the possession of nuclear weapons as a deterrent. This would become a commercial activity for them. Because we already see elements of it in the commercial marketplace. And in a world we live in today where our greatest threats are non-state actors, we simply cannot accept that," Tillerson said. Tillerson's comments came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to make North Korea the "world's strongest nuclear power". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People of a village in Mizoram have objected to the commissioning of a power project of the NEEPCO, scheduled to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on Saturday, alleging that the company did not follow norms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the 60 megawatt Tuirial Hydro Electric Project from here during his visit to the state on December 16. "Public hearings on environmental issues were never held and the NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation) failed to provide compensation to a large number of families who were displaced by the project and those who lost agricultural land," the All NGO Committee said today. Villagers of Saipum in Aizawl district where the project is located took out a protest march yesterday and demanded that Modi should not inaugurate the project. Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla should visit the project site and hear the grievances of the people, the committee said in a statement. State Inspector General of Police Zorammawia told PTI that there was no major problem due to protests by the villagers of Saipum. The village leaders and the NEEPCO authorities reached an agreement today and was optimistic of avoiding any confrontation, he said. The villagers had no intention of coming to Aizawl to disrupt the Prime Minister's program at the Assam Rifles ground and were contented with staging protests in their village, Zorammawia added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pitching the Gujarat assembly polls as a battle between "dynastic rule and rule of development", BJP chief Amit Shah tonight asked people to vote in large numbers to help the rule of development win. In a statement on the eve of the second and last phase of the Gujarat assembly polls, he claimed that the state suffered a lot of discrimination and injustice under the UPA government but is now developing fast, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm in the Centre. Gujarat has become a model state in the 22 years of the BJP rule, he said. "Vote in large numbers tomorrow and choose rule of development in its battle against rule of dynasty," he said. The BJP has used the dynasty plank to attack the Congress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes, attended today an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic group in Istanbul. Bashir was among leaders who responded to a call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the meeting after US President Donald Trump outraged the Islamic world with his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Images showed Bashir warmly greeted by Erdogan and then attending the family photo and summit plenary session in traditional dress. Sudan's deadly conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against Bashir's Arab- dominated government, which launched a brutal counter- insurgency. The UN says at least 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced as a result of the conflict. Top Sudanese officials including Bashir now claim that the conflict has ended, but the region continues to see regular fighting between numerous ethnic and tribal groups. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict, charges he denies. Erdogan had while serving as prime minister in November 2009 defended Bashir against the charges, saying "a Muslim could not commit genocide, he is not capable of it". However Bashir scrapped a plan that month to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey after the EU pressured Ankara over his attendance. Turkey at the time pointed out it is not a signatory to the treaty, which set up the Hague-based ICC. Today's meeting is the first time that Bashir has visited Turkey since that controversy, and there have been no reports of such pressure concerning his current appearance. Bashir most recently visited Russia on November 23 where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the emergency summit in Istanbul, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population, but is a bitter critic of US policy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand fired back at President Donald Trump after he published a tweet Tuesday calling New York's junior senator a "lightweight" and claimed she "would do anything" for campaign donations. Trump's tweet was a response to Gillibrand, who said Monday that the president should resign after several women accused him of sexual misconduct. "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump," the president tweeted. "Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!" The reference to "Bill & Crooked" is about former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said last month that Bill Clinton should have resigned as president when his affair with Monica Lewinsky was revealed. Gillibrand responded to Trump's post with a tweet of her own. "You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office," she wrote. During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Gillibrand added, "I think the president was using a sexist smear to try to silence my voice and silence the voice of the many survivors who came forward yesterday. He's not going to silence me and he's not going to silence them." The White House dismissed the notion that Trump was using sexual innuendo in his tweet attacking Gillibrand. At her press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary said Trump's tweet could only be interpreted as a sexual statement "if your mind is in the gutter." She insisted Trump was referring to the political system. "(Gillibrand) is a wholly owned subsidiary of people who donate to her campaign," Sanders said. "She's a puppet of Chuck Schumer." Trump is a past supporter of Gillibrand's campaigns. When he donated to Democratic causes, he gave $3,150 to Gillibrand's congressional campaign in 2007. When she became a U.S. senator, he contributed $4,800 to her Senate campaign in 2010. That was before he began supporting mainly Republican candidates in races across the country. And it preceded his presidential bid in 2016. Gillibrand has been a leading voice in Congress against sex crimes on college campuses and in the military. As more and more women come forward to tell their stories about being sexually assaulted or harassed in their workplace, she has advocated for new measures to improve conditions for women. Last week, she introduced legislation that would end forced arbitration in sexual harassment cases. The goal of the bill is to expose these offenses in the workplace instead of silencing victims by requiring them to proceed with arbitration. Gillibrand has been mentioned as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, which would likely pit her against Trump. She has said in multiple interviews that she is focused on her 2018 Senate re-election campaign. You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017 The Delhi High Court today said there was no material to accept the claim of BJP politician Mukul Roy that his mobile phones were being tapped by the police of West Bengal, as the state and the Centre have denied the charge. Justice Vibhu Bakhru arrived at the finding after perusing the affidavits filed by the Centre and West Bengal government which have "unequivocally" denied any interception of the mobile numbers of Roy, who recently joined the BJP leaving the Trinamool Congress. The Centre and state government's affidavits contained letters of the UNion Home Ministry, DGP and IG of West Bengal, Kolkata Police Commissioner and CID of Kolkata stating that no such action has been authorised or taken. "In view of the unequivocal stand of the respondents (Centre and West Bengal), the court finds no material to accept that mobile numbers of the petitioner (Roy) were being monitored," the court said. It, however, granted him liberty to approach it again if he gets any evidence to substantiate his apprehension that his phones were being tapped. Roy had sought a CBI probe into the alleged tapping and surveillance of his mobile numbers by the state police. After perusing the affidavits which were filed in sealed covers in response to the plea, the court said since there was no secret information in them, they will be taken on record. Roy had alleged in his plea that while he was in West Bengal, he always found that the local police were monitoring his movements. The plea had claimed that similar apprehensions were put on record by several other persons including Union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Family members of the labourer from West Bengal, who was found dead in Kerala, claimed that he was murdered and did not commit suicide as said by the police of the southern state. Forensic examination of the body of Hemanta Roy Bagdi, an electrician working in Alappuzha district of Kerala, would be conducted after it arrives here tonight or tomorrow, the police here said. The incident came shortly after another labourer from West Bengal was hacked and burnt to death in Rajasthan. Hemanta was found dead with his throat slit in the toilet of the house where he was staying at Pannvally under Poochhakkahl police station on December 10, Bankura SP Sukhendu Heera said. Bankura police also talked over phone to people who had been working with Hemanta and they too said he killed himself with a knife which has been recovered. Though the local police authorities in Kerala said after post-mortem examination that he committed suicide, his family members are not convinced and alleged he was murdered, Heera said. He said Hemanta's father Ananda Roy Bagdi was of the opinion that his son was murdered but did not know the reason. Sub-divisional Police Officer of Bishnupur S K Das said forensic examination of the body would be conducted after its arrival from Kerala. Hemanta, a resident of Roll village under Indas police station in Bankura district, had gone to Kerala in search of a job in September. He was married and had a 6-month-old daughter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Women are at the forefront in every field and will soon rule the world, believes megastar Amitabh Bachchan, calling it a much needed change. The 75-year-old actor, who is currently shooting in Thailand for his forthcoming film "Thugs of Hindostan", said he admires the way female crew members take the charge on the sets. "Serenity not just in the woods and the skies above, but on the work place as well, a serenity of a different kind. A kind that exudes diligence and sincerity, speed of compliance, organising mastery, orderly management and professional diligence. "And it all comes from the ladies working on set. An entire bunch of them, running about fulfilling commands, organising production needs and assuring the unit of the efficiency of their work. Simply admirable and heartening to observe," Bachchan wrote on his blog. The actor said that soon women will rule the world. "A time when the only ladies on set was the heroine and her mother, this change in scenario is quite remarkable. The women are taking over the world. This is not just vacant banter. It is indeed factual, they shall, in time and that time is not too far away," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Women police personnel will also be trained as beat officers to strengthen grassroot policing, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi said today. She said women personnel would equally police the streets as their male counterparts. In a WhatsApp message to media persons at the end of a meeting she had with women police personnel at the police training centre here, Bedi said she had obtained feedback from the women personnel to several queries she raised in the form of a questionnaire. She wanted to know in writing as to how the women police felt about their service since the training they had at the centre and got posted in police stations. "It was an anonymous feedback I had from the cops to read their feeling and also state of their mind and difficulties they faced," Bedi said. She said she specifically asked them as to how their families and parents felt about they being in police service. The former IPS officer said the women pointed out that they had the support of their families. A majority of the women felt that there was a need toinculcate better sense of law abiding habits among people. The women also wanted to learn Hindi and French so that they could easily respond to tourists better, Bedi said. They also wanted training in technology and Crime and Criminal Tracking Networking Systems. Bedi said in her message that a joint meeting of all police Beat Officers would be held at Raj Nivas as part of the Pongal harvest festival celebrations in January. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese President Xi Jinping today refrained from speaking at a memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops, raising speculation that he did not want to upset Japan. About 10,000 representatives from all walks of life paid silent tribute to thousands of victims of the 1937 massacre as sirens howled over the eastern city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. Xi, 64, along with senior officials attended the ceremony held in the square of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in the Nanjing city. Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on December 13, 1937 and embarked on more than 40 days of slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women were raped, state-run Xinhua agency reported. Surprisingly Xi did not speak at the meeting, raising speculation that he did not like to upset Japan in the midst of efforts by both the countries to warm up to each other after a prolonged spat over the disputed islands in the East China Sea since 2012. Asked whether Xi skipped speaking at the meeting so as not to upset Japan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told media briefing that "for me I don't see any links you have made. For China and Japan relations, it is important to learn from history so as to get our steps towards future". Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Yu Zhengsheng, who spoke at the meeting, said China was holding the memorial ceremony in honour of the Nanjing massacre victims, compatriots killed by the Japanese invaders. Yu said the ceremony was held to honour national heroes who sacrificed their lives for victory, as well as international soldiers and friends who joined the Chinese in fighting. "The commemoration is meant to proclaim the Chinese people's firm stance on maintaining peace and their sublime aspiration for peaceful development," he said. "War is a mirror, which makes people better understand the value of peace," Yu said. China is involved in maritime disputes in the South and East China Seas. It claims almost all of South China Sea and has also laid claims on the Senkaku islands under the control of Japan in the East China Sea, believed to harbour vast natural resources below their seabed. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the South China Sea. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tough competition and falling ticket prices have led to the demise of Monarch and Air Berlin while Alitalia has filed for insolvency protection. Air Berlin filed for insolvency in August and Lufthansa agreed a deal in October to buy its Niki and LGW businesses. However, Lufthansa said on Wednesday it was withdrawing the bid for Niki after the European Commission indicated it would not approve the deal. Austria-based Niki, with a fleet of 23 Airbus A321 planes, had not filed for insolvency itself, but was still flying with the help of funding from Lufthansa. Air Berlin's administrators in response said they could not find another buyer for leisure airline Niki, founded by former motor racing driver Niki Lauda in 2003, at short notice and so Niki had filed for insolvency proceedings in Berlin and stopped flying. They had been in contact with British Airways' parent IAG and Thomas Cook following the Commission's concerns but those failed to result in a new deal. "The failure of the Niki sale and the insolvency is incredibly disappointing and would have been avoidable," Air Berlin administrator Frank Kebekus said. He said the Commission's stance was not understandable and that the collapse of Niki would lead to less competition, due to flights being removed from the market. He had previously said a collapse could threaten 1,000 jobs, and render 800,000 flight tickets worthless. The Austrian transport ministry estimated that up to 10,000 Niki passengers could be stranded within the next two weeks and a spokesman said chartering planes was an option to bring them back. Lufthansa's planned takeover of the Air Berlin units had raised concerns among rivals that Lufthansa would become too dominant in Germany, with Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary describing the deal as a "stitch-up". Lufthansa said it had offered to give up take-off and landing slots in order to get the deal approved, but that the European Commission considered that to be insufficient. "It was clear from the start that Lufthansa and Air Berlin overlap on a very significant number of routes, with clear risks to Austrian, Germans and Swiss consumers and to effective competition," the Commission said. Lufthansa said it still planned to buy Air Berlin subsidiary LGW and would submit a revised proposal, including foregoing slots, to the Commission on Wednesday. The Commission said it would now limit its review to LGW. Niki Lauda said he was interested in buying the airline he founded back, but out of insolvency proceedings. LUFTHANSA GROWTH PLANS Lufthansa will likely still be able to expand its market position even without the Niki deal. It has previously said it planned to grow the Eurowings' fleet to about 210 aircraft from 160 as a result of the Air Berlin insolvency. Lufthansa said on Wednesday it still intended to pursue growth plans for its Eurowings budget subsidiary and would apply for any Niki slots that become free in the event of an insolvency. It said the money it planned to pay Niki would now be used to grow on its own in Niki's markets. "(From a financial point of view), this leads to a comparable result for the Lufthansa Group," it said. If Lufthansa's purchase of LGW can proceed the price will be around 18 million euros ($22 million), Air Berlin said, compared to a previous price of 210 million euros for the deal including Niki. The German government had been expecting to use the sale proceeds as repayment for a 150 million euro bridge loan it awarded to Air Berlin to keep it flying after it filed for insolvency protection. The government said it expected only part of the loan could now be repaid and it would take steps to minimise losses for taxpayers. Britain's easyJet is paying 40 million euros for Air Berlin's operations at Berlin Tegel, a deal which has received Commission approval. That would leave the German government nearly 100 million euros short. ($1 = 0.8499 euros) (Reporting by Victoria Bryan, Kirsti Knolle in Vienna; Additional reporting by Klaus Lauer in Berlin and Alistair Smout in London; Editing by Tom Sims, Elaine Hardcastle and David Evans) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-run Corporation Bank said on Wednesday that the Reserve Bank of India has initiated 'prompt corrective action' for the lender over high bad loans and the need to raise capital. The bank did not provide further details on the central bank move, but said it would not have any material impact. http://bit.ly/2Canye1 The bank had a net non-performing assets ratio of 10.24 percent as of end-September. The central bank has this year put several other state-run lenders under its corrective action plan, mainly due to their high bad loans. MADRID (Reuters) - Inditex, the world's biggest clothes retailer and owner of Zara stores, reported a slowdown in sales growth in its third quarter on Wednesday as Europe's warm autumn kept shoppers away, although analysts pointed to a brighter end of the year. Fashion retailers such as Next and John Lewis have already reported a hit from warmer-than-usual weather as shoppers passed on new winter ranges. Inditex's biggest rival, Sweden's H&M, will report results on Friday. Inditex's sales between August and October rose 6 percent to 6.3 billion euros ($7.4 billion), in line with analysts' forecasts, against 10 percent growth in February-October. Third-quarter net profit rose 2.7 percent to 975 million euros. "The top line is showing a big deceleration versus previous quarters," analysts from Kepler Cheuvreux wrote in a note. They said most of the lower growth was already priced into the shares. Inditex shares have fallen about 5 percent so far this year, while H&M's have fallen almost 20 percent. The arrival of chilly weather in November should boost Inditex's sales again, analysts said, and its shares opened up 4 percent. Inditex said sales at its more than 7,500 stores and online increased 13 percent at constant exchange rates between Nov. 1 and Dec. 11, as shoppers snapped up items such as oversized sweaters and puffer parkas from new collections. Analysts said the lower sales growth and a strong euro helped push Inditex's gross sales margin for the third quarter to 58.4 percent, down 33 basis points from the year before. Inditex's profits are sensitive to fluctuations in the euro as it makes most of its clothes in the euro zone to respond quickly to fashion trends but generates more than half of its sales in countries outside the currency bloc Inditex's business model has kept it consistently ahead of rivals such as H&M. By keeping its manufacturing bases close to its distribution centre in the northern Spanish region of Galicia, it can shift new fashion trends from the catwalk to the shop window within weeks. The Spanish retailer's other brands include teen label Bershka and underwear chain Oysho. ($1 = 0.8506 euros) (Reporting by Robert Hetz and Paul Day; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Mark Potter) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Kirsti Knolle VIENNA (Reuters) - The supply of gas to neighbouring countries from Austria's main pipeline hub was back to normal on Wednesday after a deadly explosion shut it down. The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria is a major regional transfer node, taking gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbours including Italy - its biggest recipient - as well as Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. "We are back in normal operation," a spokesman for Gas Connect Austria, a subsidiary of energy group OMV, said the day after Tuesday's explosion. All transit systems in all directions were well functioning. Russia separately pointed to the accident as underlining the need for its own Gazprom gas projects to proceed. The amount of damage was not clear yet, and the Gas Austria Connect spokesman said he did not know to what claims against it, if any, would be made against his company. Tuesday's explosion, in which one person was killed and 21 were injured, led Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the site were cut off for most of the day. Italian gas grid operator Snam said flows from Russia resumed on Tuesday night. of the blast sent gas prices in Europe soaring on fears it would restrict supply as winter sets in, as one third of Russian natural gas is transported via the transport hub, according to Gas Connect. In response to the outage, the Kremlin pushed its Gazprom plans. "Of course this accident shows how important sustainable supplies of natural gas and energy resources (are) to Europe and how acute is the issue of sustainability of the whole (energy) system functioning," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular conference call. The Russian energy group, which redirected its gas flows on Tuesday after the incident in Austria, plans to build a new pipeline to pump natural gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing existing land routes over Ukraine, Poland and Belarus. European Union executives see Russia's plan as undercutting EU efforts to reduce dependence on Moscow. Russian gas transit through Ukraine dropped 23 percent to 200 million cubic metres per day after the explosion, Maksim Belyavsky, aide to Ukraine's energy minister, told on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine was now ready to ramp up pumping to levels seen before the blast. The cause of the explosion could have been a technical fault of the filter system, the Gas Connect Austria spokesman said. Work was carried out on the filter system on Monday, and staff from the licensing authority TUV Austria was on site for a technical certification at the time of the blast, he said. He was informed that the person killed was a TUV employee. TUV Austria was not immediately available for comment. Two independent probes, one internal by Gas Connect and one by Lower Austria's criminal police, were being conducted. (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes in MILAN, Pavel Polityuk in KIEV, Dmitry Solovyov in MOSCOW; Editing by Ludwig Burger/Jeremy Gaunt) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi Aramco signed on Wednesday agreements with foreign and local worth at least 39 billion riyals ($10.4 billion). The bulk of the memorandum of understanding agreements were part of a drive to promote local manufacturing, the company said. One agreement was also signed with drilling and oil service company Schlumberger worth 6 billion riyals. A senior attorney at a state agency has been arrested after an investigation revealed she allegedly stole more than $12,000 by filing false attendance records. Laura Cail, 48, of Troy, has been charged with 36 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and third-degree grand larceny, both felonies. Cail's arrest follows an investigation conducted by the state inspector general's office. The inquiry found Cail, who was a senior attorney for the state Office of Children and Family Services, filed false records claiming she was at work when she was absent or arrived past her scheduled start time. Cail is accused of submitting false attendance records in 36 of 39 pay periods between June 2015 and October 2016, according to the inspector general's office. She has been charged with grand larceny because the false documents allowed her to collect $12,668 in pay when she wasn't actually at work. "This defendant flouted her commitment to state taxpayers and the public she was hired to serve, allegedly treating her employment as a 'come as you please' job," said state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. "Her alleged actions undermine the integrity of the vast majority of the state workforce, and I remain fully committed to vigorously pursuing any government employee who violates the public trust." Cail remains on the state workforce, according to a news release. She is employed as a senior attorney at the state Workers' Compensation Board. After her arrest Tuesday, Cail was arraigned in Rensselaer city court. She was released and is scheduled to reappear in court Jan. 17, 2018. The New York State Police assisted with Cail's arrest. The case is being prosecuted by the Rensselaer County District Attorney's office. The state inspector general's office has jurisdiction over executive agencies and authorities. There are separate entities responsible for investigating and eliminating corruption within the legislative and judicial branches. By Eliana Raszewski and Luc Cohen BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The United States, European Union and Japan vowed on Tuesday to work together to fight market-distorting trade practices and policies that have fuelled excess production capacity, naming several key features of China's economic system. In a joint statement that did not single out China or any other country, the three economic powers said they would work within the World Trade Organization and other multilateral groups to eliminate unfair competitive conditions caused by subsidies, state-owned enterprises, "forced" technology transfer and local content requirements. The move was a rare show of solidarity with the United States at a World Trade Organization meeting dominated by differences over U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" trade agenda and U.S. efforts to stall the appointment of WTO judges. It reflected growing frustration among industrial countries over China's trade practices, along with concerns that other developing countries will follow Beijing's lead. The statement said protectionist practices "are serious concerns for the proper functioning of international trade, the creation of innovative technologies and the sustainable growth of the global economy." EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said China's industry subsidies, including for aluminium and steel, were flooding global markets and hurting European workers in a "very, very dramatic" way. "There's no secret that we think that China is a big sinner here, but there are other countries that are as well," Malmstrom told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum. In the opening session of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on Monday, the United States and Japan criticized a lack of transparency in some WTO members' trade practices, a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing. China, meanwhile, appealed for members to "join hands" and uphold WTO rules to protect globalization in the face of rising protectionism. The joint statement came after Japan approached the European Union and the United States about overcapacity, according to an EU source, with both Tokyo and Brussels concerned about the possibility the Trump administration could act unilaterally. "There is a thought that if we bring them into the fold, and can work jointly with them, then it reduces the risk of them going alone," the source said. 'PLAY BY THE RULES' Washington, Brussels and Tokyo have previously raised complaints about China's excess production capacity in a number of industrial sectors that has pushed down world prices and caused layoffs elsewhere. The United States recently sided with the EU in arguing that such distortions mean the WTO should not grant China market economy status, a move that would severely weaken their trade defences. "We have been...reaching out to China to tell them they really must start playing by the rules," Malmstrom told reporters. The EU's and Japan's willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration comes despite disagreements over the role of the WTO and the future of multilateral trade deals. Trump has expressed his preference for bilateral negotiations, and his trade rhetoric has cast a cloud over the WTO meeting. Efforts on Tuesday to make progress on a ministerial statement from all 164 WTO members were unsuccessful since one country could not agree on the language, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters, declining to name that country. U.S. officials last month blocked WTO efforts to draft a statement of unity over the "centrality" of the global trading system and the need to aid development.. A USTR spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment. The Trump administration is considering several unilateral tariff actions on steel, aluminium and China's intellectual property practices likely to draw disputes from WTO members. (Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Susan Thomas and Andrew Hay) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In early December, it surfaced that Tiger Global, the New York-based hedge fund, had put $5 million (Rs 32.2 crore) in news curation app InShorts. In October, the hedge fund co-invested $2 mn in tea cafe chain Chaayos. It also participated this year in a $75-mn fund-raise by insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar, a $50-mn one by home rental start-up NestAway and a $100-mn one by logistics firm Delhivery, in March. The ongoing eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may not arrive at a consensus on India's key agenda - an agreement on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes. The draft ministerial decision on the topic, circulated for consultation among the delegates, does not address any of the concerns of the developing world, participants say. "We express deep disappointment with the new text of agricultural that was released by the Chair in consultation with a few Member States today. The way this text has emerged flouts all democratic and multilateral principles. Only 7 countries, in consultation with the Chair, have drafted this and sprung it on their fellow Members. This process therefore suffers from a severe lack of legitimacy," civil society representatives attending MC11 in Buenos Aires complained. On public food stockholding, the critics felt the current proposal is far worse than the Peace Clause which itself suffered from several problems in terms of onerous notification requirements, restriction to staple crops which itself is undefined, and that the relevant subsidy do not distort trade or adversely affect the food security of others. "These almost impossible notification and safeguard conditions have been retained in this text. In addition, higher standards are proposed on safeguards as footnotes which say such stocks cannot be "exported directly or indirectly". Again this condition, especially related to indirect exports, is impossible to meet," they point out. According to them, the transparency and notification requirements that have been underscored in the draft text will impose burdensome compliance costs on developing and least developed countries. "Overall the text on Domestic Support is biased against developing countries, while going easy on the developed countries". Meanwhile, in a strongly-worded statement India has blamed "a major country", which civil society groups term as USA, for derailing the whole process of finding a permanent solution to the public food stockholding issue. "Today in the agriculture negotiations in Buenos Aires, a major country stated categorically that they cannot agree to any permanent solution on the public stockholding issue at MC11," a release from the Commerce ministry says. "This has posed a severe threat to a successful conclusion of the Conference as there was a Ministerial mandate for a permanent solution by MC11. India is surprised and deeply disappointed that despite an overwhelming majority of Members reiterating it, a major member country has reneged on a commitment made two years ago to deliver a solution of critical importance for addressing hunger in some of the poorest countries of the world. This has the potential to irreversibly damage the credibility of the WTO as a Ministerial Decision of all countries present in Nairobi has not been honoured". While India continues to participate in the efforts to draft a credible Ministerial Declaration, an agreement at the moment looks unlikely. Also read: Prabhu's dilemma: Maintaining peace or go for permanent solution Also read: India may wait for more clarity before agreeing to WTO negotiations on e-commerce Download BT Podcast RIL rubbishes news about IPO RIL has rubbished all news about Reliance Industries Ltd considering an IPO of mobile operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. It was earlier reported that Mukesh Ambani backed RIL was holding internal discussions about preparing to list JIO. Jio hasn't made a profit since its official launch last year. We would like to state that the said article is speculative and as a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours," said an RIL spokesperson SEBI looks into social media messages Indian market regulator is looking into the issue of messages on company results circulated by market insiders in private WhatsApp groups, its chairman has said. This is a sign the investigation is gaining momentum.SEBI had summoned chief financial officers and company secretaries of at least 12 firms over the issue of whether social media messages involving them were being circulated. India ranks poorly on mobile Speedtest Global Index India was ranked 109 for mobile internet speed out of 122 countries, while it was ranked a little better, but not at a very encouraging, 76 out of 133 countries for broadband speed, speed testing service, Ookla mentioned in its November edition of the Speedtest Global Index. The index reveals that mobile speed for November is 8.80 mbps, while of broadband is 18.82 mbps. Apple sales in India to touch $2 bn mark Apple Inc is ready to touch the $2 bn mark in sales from India although the going was tough after demonetisation last year. Apple India has posted sales of Rs 11619 cr or $1.8 bn for the year ended March 2017 which translates to a 17% growth in India. Apple has termed India as one of its fastest growing markets and has launched several initiatives in the country over the past 2 years including production and manufacturing of iphones. SC slams NCLT over Unitech Calling the NCLT's recent ruling on Unitech "disturbing", the Supreme Court slammed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for directing the government to form a nominee board to initiate the takeover process at a time when the SC is hearing the case. The top court said the government should have sought its permission before approaching the tribunal for the company takeover and suspension of its board of directors. How the government and the NCLT will react to the issue remains to be seen. Bharti Airtel launches 'Project Leap' As part of 'Project Leap', Bharti Airtel has launched 4G services in Kargil, Dras, and Leh areas of Ladakh. The biggest telecom service provider in India claimed to be the the first telecom operator to launch high-speed telecom services in the difficult terrain. Project Leap is an initiative under which Airtel is creating a nationwide 4G footprint extending from Ladakh to Kanyakumari and from Tawang to Kutch. BSE to take firms to bankruptcy court For the first time, a stock exchange is taking firms that have failed to pay up dues to the bankruptcy court. BSE Ltd is taking 7 companies to NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for non-payment of annual listing fees.The exchange has identified 130 such companies.. Feminism is 'word of the year' Meriam-Webster's word of the year for 2017 is 'feminism'. In 2017, lookups for the word 'feminism' increased 70% over 2016 on Meriamwebster.com and spiked several times after key events. The word has ridden on the back of key events like the Women's march in Washington, sister demonstrations, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the hugely successful 'Metoo' movement on social media. Download BT Podcast The India pharmaceutical industry is incredible in more ways than one. On the one hand, it takes pride in the fact that India is home to the largest number of drug-making facilities outside the US that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) - over 600 of them. And in the fact that Indian companies lead in the number of applications for generic drug approvals - Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) - in the US. About 40 per cent of the generics supplied to the US, by volume, come from India. On the other hand, the number of Indian companies getting pulled up by the USFDA for non-compliance with good manufacturing practices is rising. One reason is the increasing dominance of Indian companies. India and China lead in the number of warning letters issued, outside the US, by the USFDA. "Do not go back with the feeling that we are seeing more warning letters because there are more inspections. There are concerns too, and recurring citations that companies need to look into and address," an official from a global regulatory agency cautioned an official of an Indian company. The person mentioned this at a four-city advanced GMP (good manufacturing practice) workshop that global regulators USFDA, MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, UK) and EMA (European Medicines Agency) conducted in India recently. Analysing its findings in India between 2013 and 2016, an official from the EMA, responsible for evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the European Union, put up non-compliance issues into 10 categories ranging from data integrity, documentation and records, contamination and quality control to those around manufacturing and personnel training. Those from the USFDA also made some hard-hitting observations. But then, regulatory challenges are just one set of problems. The companies are trying to cope with issues ranging from price erosion in the US to regulatory changes and uncertainties at home. As this package on pharmaceutical and health care shows, the sector is hurting from a combination of factors that have come together like never before. The report by P.B Jayakumar takes you through the minefield faced by Indian companies in global markets, mainly the US. This is followed by a report on options the companies are left with on the home turf and the likely new growth drivers such as products with limited competition and a portfolio in biosimilars that most companies are building. Joe C. Mathew takes a look at India's moves against import of bulk drugs from China that was threatening to eat into Indian players' pie. In health care, Gina Krishnan looks at new hospital chains coming up in Tier-II and Tier-III towns. Finally, Rana Mehta, partner, Healthcare, PricewaterhouseCoopers, takes a journey into how technological changes are transforming the face of pharmaceutical and health care industry. What will you prefer if you have to choose between a medical doctor and a robot with artificial intelligence (AI) to examine, diagnose and prescribe medicines and treatment? Will you allow the robot to carry out surgery on you? It is no longer stuff out of science fiction. All over the world, robotics, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and related technologies are transforming healthcare and pharmaceutical sciences in a manner that has never happened before. AI and robots, which support diagnosis and treat people, are already in homes, workplaces and clinical environments. It is yet to become common in India, but technologies that are more basic, the ones that capture and analyse data, are quite commonplace in the country. The buzz words are mobile apps, analytics, standardisation, Big Data, IoT, barcoding and robotics. Electronic Capture of Data All leading Indian healthcare organisations have been focussing on capturing data through information systems such as hospital information system (HIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), lab information system (LIS) and radiology information system (RIS), for some time now. The next step is to standardise this information for easy interpretation. Major Indian healthcare players have identified interoperability as their priority and have started taking steps towards it. The power of standardised data is immense. It enables organisations to understand and analyse their ecosystems properly. Both healthcare and pharmaceutical companies have been able to generate useful insights through analytics and take informed decisions about the future. Today, hospital chains are beginning to adopt such uniform standards and terminologies. There is still huge scope for improvement although leading organisations have started seeing benefits of analytics and have started looking positively at latest and advanced technologies, including Big Data. The need of the hour is collaboration as the right advice, right technology and right product partnerships can only result in best and improved outcomes for themselves and their customers. Mobile Apps Smartphones and mobile apps can make a huge difference in all aspects of healthcare delivery - be it educational, wellness, disease management, medication adherence or fitness. Leading healthcare organisations can leverage basic functions like texting and advanced functions like inbuilt sensors or integration with wearables to target specific segments, say, mother and child care, diabetes or heart diseases, which are extremely relevant in the Indian context. Health insurance companies have already come up with mobile apps for the insured to promote healthy habits and physical activities by offering good discounts and offers. Recruitment of patients for clinical trials through mobile apps is another service that is already being offered. Apple's ResearchKit and CareKit have helped medical researchers across the globe in their studies. Mobile apps can also be used for marketing campaigns and to connect not only with customers but also with suppliers and vendors. Internet of Things According to the World Health Organization, out of every 100 hospitalised patients at any given time, seven in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection or HAI. In high-income countries, approximately 30 per cent of the patients in intensive care units are affected by at least one healthcare-associated infection. HAI is a major concern globally. In developing nations like India, the incidence of HAI is two-three times more than what it is in developed countries. Some hospitals across the world have shown improvement through IoT-enabled tracking and controlling of HAI. Leading Indian hospitals use analytics and Big Data to improve hand hygiene compliance for their staff and thus prevent HAI. Similarly, a large number of lives can be saved if we can enable our ambulances with IoT. In India, the traffic situation is a big hindrance and results in delays that often result in fatalities. Currently, data from ambulance is primarily transmitted verbally, on the phone or by using the computer on board after typing. It takes a lot of time and often results in delays in transmitting critical information to the Emergency Department doctors in the hospital. IoT-enabled ambulances can be used to transfer vitals, pulse and ECG details quickly and also to highlight the critical changes in their values that can save a lot of time. Every minute saved is critical in an emergency. Pharma companies can improve their supply chain, logistics and manufacturing functions to a great extent by leveraging IoT. Sensors can be used to track temperature and humidity conditions, track and trace mechanism, and improve in-transit visibility. Trucks with sensors can communicate directly with warehouse management systems to plan better. Analytics is one area that has generated a lot of interest and traction. It has been helping healthcare and pharma organisations generate key insights about themselves and take informed decisions. It has helped them improve operations, thus reducing costs, generating new revenue categories, ensuring clinical decision support, identifying frauds, etc. Big Data can help the healthcare organisations in storing and using the huge amount of data that they need to generate and store. Barcoding/RFID and Robotics Leading organisations have benefited from barcoding/RFID use in supply chain, especially in inventory management, product serialisation, following track-and-trace regulations, speeding up the picking process, space planning and demand planning. Robotics has the potential to play a significant role in labour-intensive, repetitive and precision-handling jobs like picking, packaging, transporting, vial filling and manipulations, assay analysis, test tube movements and so on. Long Way Ahead The way India's largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical rose and fell in the US, a country that accounts for 44 per cent of the $1.1 trillion global drug market, is an indication of the challenges that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is facing in that market. Sun entered the US in 2008/09 by acquiring Caraco and ramped up its business in the next few years, launching complex generics and coming up with many first-to-files (FTFs) to reap exclusive generic sales opportunities. In FY2010, Taro Pharmaceuticals was also acquired. Between 2006/07 and 2013/14, Sun Pharma's US sales grew steeply, from `500 crore to `9,800 crore. In 2014/15, it reached `13,700 crore, around 60 per cent of the firm's total revenue, even though the company acquired a trouble-torn Ranbaxy. From then on, its sales growth in the US market went flat. Its US earnings fell to `13,500 crore in 2015/16 (50 per cent of its total sales) and reached `13,800 crore (around 45 per cent of its total sales) in 2016/17. Overall, its 10-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in US sales stood at 39 per cent. The slowdown came in spite of the Sun's all-out efforts to resolve the regulatory issues at its Halol plant beside expanding its business with new products and three small key acquisitions over the past two years. So, what has gone wrong? Fast-increasing regulatory hurdles, rising competition, consolidation of channel partners in the US leading to less bargaining power, price erosion and lack of new opportunities are now plaguing Indian pharma. Going forward, Indian drug companies must develop new scientific skills and identify less-competitive, high-margin difficult-to-develop complex products to keep the momentum going. Also, they will have to find fresh R&D capabilities in biologics to keep the US success story intact. After the 1972 Patent Act (it allowed reverse engineering of drugs) helped create an Indian generics industry, initial sales were restricted to domestic and traditional export markets. Exports accounted for 3 per cent of the total production in 1980/81, which jumped to 24 per cent by 1994/95. Around 90 per cent of the exports were sold to developing markets, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Russia. At the time, exports to the US, the most lucrative market, were restricted to active pharmaceutical ingredients or APIs, but that business gained momentum post 1995. Soon, the Indian industry evolved into a generic powerhouse, and 33 per cent of their total sales are now coming from the US market. Indian companies, which made 30-plus acquisitions in the US over the past two decades, account for 40 per cent of the generic sales in that market. They hold another 40 per cent of the abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) containing the data submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of generic drug products. India now has 600-plus USFDA-approved facilities, the biggest ever outside that country. Regulatory Hurdles As of now, most Indian pharma companies exporting to the US are facing issues with the USFDA, the gold standard in drug regulations across the globe. A few years ago, a US accounting office had observed that the organisation failed to inspect nearly one-third facilities supplying drugs to the US market. It led to the enactment of the Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA) mandating focus on quality and ensuring that companies, foreign or domestic, that participate in the US generic drug system must have the same consistent and high quality standards. In FY2015/16 alone, about 20 Indian companies were served warning letters by the FDA for not complying with its standards. "Many plants in India are more modern and younger than (those) in the US. But the biggest issue of Indian companies lies with trust, which means quality is an assurance that you promise and have to deliver," US-based Dr Ajaz Hussain, Senior Advisor, Risk Consulting, at KPMG in India, told Business Today in a recent interview. He had worked with the USFDA and its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for more than a decade. Inability to follow procedures, lack of scientifically sound laboratory controls, discrepancies in data maintenance records, ignoring high-end hygiene and problems with plant maintenance/factory environment are some of the common issues raised against the Indian companies in those warning letters and inspection reports called '483' observations. A couple of years ago, an EY survey revealed that 25 per cent of the participants from the Indian drug industry were unaware of the 21 Code Federal Regulation Part 11 standards prescribed by the USFDA, which establish the criteria to record data in electronic form. Another survey by Deloitte covered 33 leading organisations and found that poor compliance management and lack of internal controls, data security, quality systems and skilled resources plagued most of those firms. Industry sources say lack of proper education and training for professionals working on the front end at the factories is an issue with most manufacturers and attrition level for such trained professionals are nearly 40 per cent. Experts further observe that drug manufacturing will become more technology intensive and the FDA is moving towards the concept of continuous manufacturing, and real-time process control and monitoring standards. Unless Indian companies are willing to spend on the standard rules prescribed by the USFDA from time to time, the US market will remain a challenge for them. Adding to the woes of India's leading US exporters, the USFDA has significantly reduced approval timing in the past couple of years. Earlier, it would have taken up to 42 months to clear an ANDA, but it has been reduced to nine months or so in 2017. With more and more new companies coming in and the number of approvals going up, competition has become more intense. Pricing Pressure A wave of consolidations and novel alliances among drug distributors is currently redefining the market dynamics in the US, pressuring Indian generics companies to settle for lower margins. Now the top pharmacies - CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Express Scripts, Walmart, Rite Aid and UnitedHealth Group - account for the majority of the US prescription dispensing revenues. In 2012, the US drug retail market had numerous players with CVS/Caremark leading with 21 per cent, followed by Walgreens (16 per cent), Express Script (12 per cent) and Rite Aid (6 per cent). The remaining 45 per cent market share was held by different companies. But the companies either merged or formed alliances to consolidate and thus by 2017, the combine of CVS/Caremark, Cardinal and Omnicare holds 28 per cent of the market. Walgreens is also teaming up with AmerisourceBergen, Rite Aid, Express Script and a few others to create a majority combine. Again, Walmart is teaming up with McKesson to corner 18 per cent of market share. The full impact of such actions is yet to be seen, but analysts predict it will create a medium-term setback for Indian companies. In fact, the prescription share of leading Indian drug companies has been falling over the past two years. "Today, clearly, we are in a situation where regulatory approvals for products are coming much faster than they used to do and there are many more players in the market than historically there used to be. So, I do not know whether what had happened in the past may happen in the future," Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Pharma, said while reviewing the company's Q2 results a few weeks ago. "Structural down cycle in the US will persist in the medium term as there are headwinds in supply side (spike in filings/approvals earned by 'increased' number of players) and demand side (channel consolidation leading to fewer buyers, implying pricing pressure for manufacturers). Companies with a high concentration on fewer products continue to get worst hit given increased competition as the GDUFA has accelerated the approval rate," a recent report from Axis Capital says. Future is 'Complex' With simple generics facing immense competition, companies will have to move to complex ones, speciality drugs, limited-competition products and biosimilars in the future, experts say. For instance, Sun is currently concentrating on speciality areas such as ophthalmology, dermatology and oncology. However, development costs will be high as new scientific expertise must be developed and the company will have to acquire or build manufacturing units to leverage these advanced technologies. "We have been investing over the past few years to transform from a generics company to a branded speciality and complex generics-focussed company. We will soon see the results although currently the US business remains under pressure," said Lupin CEO Vinita Gupta in a recent interaction. As of now, 48 per cent of Lupin's revenues come from the US market. At the Nairobi ministerial of World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2015, the five big sides - the US, European Union (EU), Brazil, China and India - decided to break the convention of open discussions and sat in a close room to decide the outcome of the world trade order. The result - the Western countries were able to convince India and China to allow circumvention of several crucial aspects of Doha Development Agenda (DDA), a new alliance of Brazil, the US and European Union was able to push trade facilitation. India was left diminished with assurances of reaching permanent solution for stockholding programme for food security in next round. Flash forward to the ongoing Buenos Aires round, if the speeches of the trade representatives - especially Indian commerce minister Suresh Prabhu and US Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer) - at the plenary session of the ongoing ministerial were any indicators, the impasse in talks is no surprise. But But what it is leading to is much worse is much worse; WTO itself losing credibility. As committed in the Bali round and ratified in the Nairobi ministerial, India was pushing for a permanent solution on public stockholding issue at the ongoing ministerial along with the safeguard mechanism. This will be a setback to the WTO process, if the mandate on finding a permanent solution is not met by the end of this year. The big trade elephants, like the US and EU don't want to continue with the initial commitments of bringing development to the poor and poorest countries via trade, they all are pushing to put DDA on slow death part. India, along with Indonesia, Venezuela, various African countries et al are not letting them backtrack. At every ministerial, these two biggies want to throw their weight to get their pound of flesh in global trade order. Development was one of the biggest commitment of WTO to bring on board poorer countries. WTO needs to rethink, can the present mode of Globalisation survive without this crucial component and what role this organization envisages for themselves. WTO can't be alone for trade. In Tuesday meeting facilitated by the chair of MC11 Susana Malcorra, between Prabhu & Lighthizer, the US trade representative on Agriculture negotiations, the US stated categorically that they cannot agree to any permanent solution on the public stockholding issue at MC11, leaving no room for further talks. He told Prabhu, the US has difficulties with the WTO system and not with India. In his plenary speech, Lighthizer already lamented many grudges against WTO, and the policy of differential implementation of the decisions. The new regime in Washington under president Donald Trump has little belief in the previous negotiations at other multi-laterals and in last one year have backed out of many, this include Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA and commitments at COP21 at Paris for conservation of climate. They have also given confusing signals related to Iran's nuclear programme. The stance at WTO is seen as an extension of the same policy, where the new establishment in the US is not convinced with the agreements reached at various deliberations by the erstwhile occupants of Beltway. Those who are aware of the deliberations told Business Today, the US trade negotiators were trying to link the decision with India's stand on halting the deliberations on new issues such as e-commerce and investment facilitation. India continues to maintain the commitment to the DDA, and is seeking the completion of agenda before taking up new issues. Moreover, India entrusted that the new issues should be within the mandate of the WTO - i.e. trade and development - there are several issues, such as investment facilitation and components of e-commerce which don't fall in the same category. This impasse also gave ammunition to the nationalist forces in the developing countries, who are disappointed and diminished. RSS's economic think-tank Swadeshi Jagran Manch immediately issued the statement backing Prabhu, and assured full support. A delegation of this outfit is in Buenos Aires, and criticized the role of the US using harsh words. For India the only takeaway, from the Buenos Aires is a consolation, Suresh Prabhu was better prepared and didn't hurry to push outcome in the ministerial. Earlier, Anand Sharma (at Bali) and Nirmala Sitharaman (at Nairobi) returned home disappointed. The continuation of peace clause and no outcome at the ministerial would not threaten country's food programme, but surrender on starting the discussion of ecommerce would have killed the indigenous players along with shrinking the policy space for the digital arena, which is at its nascent stage in India. But for WTO, there is point to rethink, that continuous two decade of negotiations can go wrong with one adamant member; it is high time to shape up else ship out... Never let it be said that my kids dont have a sense of humor @canned_walrus_meat #merrychristmas #gingerbreadhouse #gingerbreadhousefail #gingerbreadhouseattempt #mykidsarehilarious #humor #lovemyfamily A post shared by Buff Yogi (@twidhalm) on Dec 9, 2017 at 9:36pm PST After years of discussion and planning, Auburn Community Hospital will begin sharing programs and services with St. Joseph's Health in Syracuse and the University of Rochester Medical Center. During a press conference at ACH Wednesday morning, President and CEO Scott Berlucchi said the board of trustees at ACH approved a strategic partnership with the larger regional hospitals, which will allow health professionals to share resources while providing Auburn-area residents easier access to more specialized care. "This is a very, very big day for ACH," Berlucchi said. "We have been working on this affiliation and partnership for really quite some time and this is a fantastic opportunity to bring care locally." The collaboration with St. Joseph's and URMC has been in the works since September 2015. Prior to that, ACH had hoped to form a partnership with Rochester General Health System in 2011; however, that affiliation ultimately fell through in 2012. On Wednesday, Berlucchi and other hospital officials were careful to note that this partnership is not a buyout or bailout for ACH, which will continue to operate as an independent, separately licensed community hospital while maintaining its existing board governance structure. St. Joseph's President and CEO Leslie Paul Luke said the collaboration comes with no change in ownership or management and no exchange of money for any purpose. "This is going to be the largest and strongest health care collaboration in central New York," he said. "With the combination of all of our medical staffs and talent ... we will be able to have more business essentially among all of us and be able to direct the care for quality outcomes." Through the partnership, St. Joseph's Health and URMC will support ACH's primary care network while assisting the hospital with physician recruitment, quality improvement initiatives and patient safety. The relationship will also establish new services at ACH, including neurology, cancer care, orthopedics and cardiology. "As a small community hospital, we can provide good community medicine, but there's a lot of services that we don't provide," Berlucchi said. "By having this collaboration, it's one system where a patient can start here and go to St. Joseph's or URMC to get better access and coordination of care." Finally, Luke said the hospitals will switch to a value-based purchasing system. Rather than billing an insurance company for service, this approach allows hospitals to take a risk on a certain population. Those hospitals are then rewarded or penalized depending on whether they maintained, reduced or enhanced their costs and quality of care. "By working together, we are going to be able to find the lowest-cost, highest-quality service and location for our population and thereby bring a tremendous amount of value to insurance companies and Medicare," Luke said. Berlucchi said he does not anticipate any job loss as a result of the partnership; rather, he expects to stabilize and create jobs with the addition of services at the hospital. Dr. John Riccio, the chief medical officer and former president of medical staff at ACH, said Auburn employees were excited about the partnership. "This actually was pushed very strongly by the medical staff," Riccio said. "Many of the medical staff were trained at the University of Rochester and many staff are previous attending physicians at St. Joseph's Health ... so there was already a collaborative effect being felt between the staff." Steven Goldstein, the vice president of URMC and president and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital, added, "This is all about the future success of Auburn hospital. We really congratulate (ACH) for having the foresight to enter into these kind of relationships. They're not easy, but they really have the opportunity to provide a great benefit to the community." AUBURN The Cayuga County Legislature's Ways and Means Committee talked raises Tuesday night, for themselves and other county workers and elected officials. It's been 12 years since legislators received a raise. At a special Legislature meeting in November 2005, the body voted to increase legislators' pay to $10,100 and the salary has been that ever since. There are some increases for those who take on committee chair positions, and the chair of the Legislature makes a $30,000 salary. At first the committee had a draft local law, which was created after a Government Operations Committee meeting, before them with no pay increase filled in. Government Operations Chair Ryan Foley said there had been discussion about investigating what other legislators in different counties are paid. "We can have this discussion now, or we could wait and have a public hearing and see what the public says," Foley said. Legislator Ben Vitale asked Cayuga County Attorney Fred Westphal if there needed to be a salary in the local law before it could move to a public hearing. "It's customary to have a number in there, because that's the number the public would be responding to," Westphal said. "It's a little bit unusual not to have a number." Vitale suggested a $1,000 increase to bring the salary up to $11,100. He also suggested an annual $1,000 pay raise. No others on the committee suggested another option, and the committee inserted those figures into the local law. Should the full Legislature pass the resolution scheduling a public hearing for that local law at its meeting on Thursday, it will hold a public hearing on that salary increase, and also on salary increases for fixed term elected and appointed officials. Those positions include a few part-time positions including civil service commissioner and chairperson, a civil service commissioner and elections commissioner. Full-time positions include the county coroner, county clerk, county treasurer, county highway superintendent, public health director, director of real property tax services and county sheriff. The final Legislature meeting of 2017 is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 in the Sixth Floor Chambers of the Cayuga County Office Building, 160 Genesee St., Auburn. If the body passes the resolutions, a public hearing will be held 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23. The committee also passed 1.9 percent salary increase for some non-bargaining positions in the county. Those raises do not require a local law or a public hearing. Booker T. Washington Community Center officials are warning the public about a man going around Auburn raising funds for the Christmas Hair Kut A Thon. Knowledge Ali-El called recently and asked to use the center for an event in which he would be offering free haircuts on Saturday, Dec. 16, BTW Program Director Brandon Wakeham said. Wakeham told Ali-El they were interested and that Ali-El would need to come in to talk and go through the rental and liability policy if approved. However, Ali-El never came to two meetings set up with Wakeham. On Monday, Wakeham learned that Ali-El was using our logo, asking people to donate, and going to businesses asking for donations. He was saying that he was affiliated with Booker T Washington, which is not the case. The Auburn Days Inn tipped off Wakeham after Ali-El stayed a night, and left in the morning without paying. He had piles of checks from local businesses, Susan Cimildora from Days Inn said. Ali-El insisted he ran a children's charity based out of Syracuse, and he was doing haircuts for children and veterans for Christmas. He showed her the checks, saying "'I've got to put this money in the bank and then come back to pay [for the hotel],'" Cimildora said. Ali-El made an appearance at Booker T Washington Community Center on Monday, acting like he wanted to go through the paperwork, Wakeham said. Wakeham told him that they would not be hosting his event as they assumed it was not legitimate due to him missing meetings, and due to his use of their name and logo without permission. He was upset, but just talked about how great it would be, Wakeham said. He's very charismatic, super-nice person, a professional talker. Ali-El, who could not be reached for comment, was seen collecting donations at Kwik Fill, Dunkin Donuts, Salon Mariposa and The Mane Strand salon, among other businesses, as well as stopping people on the street. He carries a binder with information and a list of all the people who have "donated," Salon Mariposa owner Karen Carr said. Carr said Ali-El was asking for $7 but claimed that most places were giving $100. He denied Carr documentation and forms for taxes, so she dismissed his requests. Ali-El calls his business Gods and Kings Barbershop Home Of Kuts For Kids, and he received a business certificate from the Onondaga County Clerk's office on June 3, 2015. All addresses and phone numbers on his fliers are inaccurate or disconnected. He also claims to have an in-school tutoring program, as well as an after-school program called Kuts for Kids Youth Endorsement Drop in After School Program. The Auburn Police Department said on Tuesday that it is aware of Ali-El's activity in Auburn and is investigating. | BY Ricki Green | The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that brothers Piyush (left) and Prasoon Pandey (right) will be honoured with the Lion of St. Mark award at the 2018 Festival. Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director Ogilvy South Asia won his first Cannes Lions awards with two Gold Lions for his work on an anti-smoking campaign in 2002, marking the start of a period of global recognition for a man who was already a creative legend in his native India. Piyushs work is considered instrumental in the popularity of advertising campaigns produced in Hindi during the 1980s and 90s, heralding a shift to more universally accessible creativity in India. Prasoon Pandey, younger brother of Piyush is a highly respected director whose name has repeatedly featured in global rankings of top film directors. Prasoon is credited for directing the first Indian campaign to win a Lion, for Ericssons One Black Coffee in 1996 and is one of the most awarded directors in India. Says Jose Papa, managing director of Cannes Lions: The Lion of St. Mark recognises those who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry. Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous, and rightly so, in their homeland, Im thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage. The fact we get to honour the achievements of two brothers makes this years Lion of St. Mark award particularly special. Says Piyush Pandey: This is a huge, huge honour. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the people of India. It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and to create good work. I am also indebted to my clients, my colleagues and Ogilvy who gave me the support and the freedom to fly. Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they. Says Prasoon Pandey: The Lion of St Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15 year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing Emperors and Thugs, Dragons and Demons, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends. We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesnt make the kids inside us conscious. Piyush Pandey joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982, and made his name on work for Fevicol, Luna Moped, Cadbury and Asian Paints. In 1994 he was made national creative director for Ogilvy & Mather India. Piyush was the first jury president from Asia at the 2004 Cannes Lions Festival. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016. Prasoon Pandey started his career at Lintas Delhi, eventually becoming the creative director for Lowe India. He set up his own production company, Corcoise Films, in 2002. Piyush and Prasoon will be presented with the Lion of St. Mark at the closing awards ceremony of the 2018 Festival. The brothers will also take part in an interview hosted by Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential Events in the Lumiere Theatre as part of the 2018 content programme. Cannes Lions is the annual meeting place for the global creative communications industry and takes place from 18-22 June 2017 in Cannes, France. Further information can be found at www.canneslions.com. Previous Lion of St. Mark Winners: 2017: David Droga, founder and Creative Chairman, Droga5 2016: Marcello Serpa, former Partner, AlmapBBDO 2015: Bob Greenberg, Founder, Chairman and CEO, R/GA 2014: Joe Pytka, Director, PYTKA 2013: Lee Clow, Chairman, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Director of Media Arts, TBWA\Worldwide 2012: Dan Wieden, Co-Founder and Global Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy | BY Ricki Green | One of the regions most formidable creative talents, Levi Slavin, chief creative officer of Colenso BBDO Auckland, is joining AdFest 2018 as jury president, Film Lotus and Radio Lotus. Slavin has won over 100 international awards across dozens of campaigns, including one Black and five Yellow Pencils at D&AD. His work has featured at TED, ranked #1 on the iTunes music and podcast charts, and has spanned product innovation, literature, television series, and film. Says Salvin, who first joined Colenso in 2006, leaving in 2014 to take a global creative director role at Anomaly in New York: I cant wait to join the Film and Radio jury at AdFest next year. Having recently returned to New Zealand, its the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends and reacquaint myself with the best work being produced in Asia. In 2015, he returned to the BBDO fold as VP, group creative director at BBDO New York. This year, he returned to the best agency on earth, in the best place on earth as Colenso BBDOs chief creative officer, based in Auckland. Says Jimmy Lam, President of AdFest: Levi has consistently produced brilliant ideas for leading brands at agencies all over the world. To say were excited to have him lead our Film and Radio Jury at AdFest 2018 is an understatement. | BY Ricki Green | D&AD has revealed the global line-up of creatives set to take part in the 56th edition of its Awards. D&AD Awards exist to stimulate, inspire and award the very best in creative excellence. Recognising beautiful creative ideas, brilliantly executed. In keeping with tradition, the D&AD Awards will be judged by some of the international creative communities highest profile members. Australian creatives are represented by 12 judges this year, led by Jury President Tea Uglow (pictured above), creative director at Google Creative. Australian agencies took home 57 awards in 2017, including a Black Pencil for Public Affairs Campaign in PR for Meet Graham. Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne also took home the coveted prize of Most Awarded Advertising Agency. For the 2018 Awards judges represented are as follows: Jury President: Tea Uglow, Creative Director at Google Creative (Digital Design) Gemma OBrien, Designer (Crafts for Design) Mike Spirkovski, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi Sydney (Digital Marketing) Stephen de Wolf, Executive Creative Director, Clemenger BBDO (Direct) Scott Nowell, Co-Founder, Executive Creative Director, The Monkeys (Film Advertising) Steve Rogers, Director, Revolver / Will ORourke (Film Advertising Craft) Jason Williams, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Australia (Integrated) Sarah Marshall, Creative Director, Aesop (Integrated) Tara Ford, Executive Creative Director, DDB Sydney (Media) James Wright, Chief Executive Officer, Red Agency (PR) Bridget Jung, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy PR (PR) Shnoosee Bailey, Creative Director & Managing Partner, HeyHuman Agency (Art Direction) Caitlin Ryan, Executive Creative Director, Cheil London (Direct) New Zealand will also be represented by Beth OBrien, group creative lead, Colenso BBDO NZ (Experiential) with others to be confirmed. This year, two new Award categories will be launched for entries. The first being Collaborative, which will award continued creative executions achieved from a long-standing relationship between an agency and a client. The second new category is Experiential, which will highlight the importance of brilliant all encompassing brand experience and activation. The category will recognise work that succeeds in demonstrating the interaction between consumers and brands through experience-led activations. Says Tim Lindsay, CEO, D&AD: In a media environment that encourages the short-term and tactical its never been more important to stand up for craft and creativity. Why? Because the good creates better outcomes than the bad commercially, socially, sustainably, culturally and politically. D&ADs role in this is stimulation, not congratulation. Theres too much backslapping when what is needed is a focus on and enablement of creative excellence in advertising and design. We are engaged in a war against mediocrity and you are an important ally. Get involved! Entries for the 56th D&AD Professional Awards are already open. Full information on categories, pricing and dates can be found at https://www.dandad.org/awards-2018. | BY Ricki Green | Director Jason Smith, represented locally in Australia and Asia by Filmgraphics, has just shot a split screen visual feast for German supermarket chain REWE via German agency thjnk, Hamburg and Cobblestone. Smith is a true international director, who has directed jobs all over the globe this year, including this years NRL State of Origin campaign for Sydney based agency Archibald/Williams. His work spans all genres and remains relevant throughout all cultures. He has been lauded for his stunning visual style and his revolutionising of the one shot technique in the commercial film industry. Client: REWE Agency: Thjnk Hamburg Production Company: Cobblestone Exec Producer: Juri Weisner | BY Ricki Green | OMD has today announced the appointment of Dianne Richardson to managing director, OMD Melbourne. Richardson joins OMD from her US based position of executive vice president, chief strategy officer at UM USA. Richardsons career spans more than 20 years in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., working within media agencies UM and Starcom, as well as client side with Mars Inc. and PepsiCo. Her key passion is utilising media as a lever for client growth, which she has contributed to for brands such as BMW, MINI, H&M as well as platforms such as Hulu. Her Australian experience is also extensive, having worked with some of Australias biggest and most progressive brands, including Optus, Virgin, Suncorp, Mars, Lion Dairy and Drinks, GM Holden, Subaru, Sportsbet and Seek. In her new position, Richardson will lead the OMD Melbourne team and be responsible for the agencys overall output. Richardson will also join the OMD National Executive team. Says Aimee Buchanan, CEO of OMD Australia: We are extremely excited to have someone of Diannes calibre join the OMD family. She will bring an enormous wealth of global experience and knowledge to lead our outstanding Melbourne team into the next chapter. I was immediately impressed with Diannes passion for growing client businesses and I know she will be a great cultural fit for our business. Richardson is highly awarded both in Australia and globally having won many Cannes Lions and Festival of Media awards. Says Richardson: It was clear to me through every conversation that OMD is an agency that walk the talk with integrity and have a real focus on creating a thriving agency culture. Im really looking forward to leading the OMD Melbourne team to further unlock great opportunities for client success. And of course, its so exciting to be returning home to Melbourne, there are so many talented people that I cant wait to collaborate with. WASHINGTON (AP) The large building at the corner of 22nd and R streets in downtown Washington, D.C., sticks out like a wart in the otherwise upscale neighborhood. Plywood covers the windows, sleeping bags and empty bottles litter the shuttered doorways and head-high weeds sprout through the asphalt of the empty fenced-off parking lot. For a solid decade, neighbors and local political leaders complained bitterly about the condition of the former Pakistani consulate. But the city remained powerless to do anything as long as the building was classified by the State Department as a diplomatic property. That diplomatic designation has since been revoked, according to the State Department, but the building still stands as perhaps the most egregious example of an only-in-D.C. phenomenon, where diplomatic protocol allows a string of abandoned buildings to fester, untouchable and tax-free. "Residents, who themselves are under obligation to keep their properties in order, are complaining to me," said City Councilwoman Mary Cheh, whose Ward 3 contains several such problematic properties. "Unless the State Department is really committed to the issue, these countries can really string you along." Cheh's office has compiled a partial list of vacant and neglected diplomatic buildings and she co-authored a bill calling for creating a comprehensive citywide list. Violators on Cheh's list include properties owned by the governments of Serbia, Sri Lanka, Cameroon and Argentina. Many of these eyesores are in some of the District's most high-end neighborhoods. The Sheridan-Kalorama area, where several are located, is home to former President Barack Obama, as well as President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and The Washington Post, recently bought a massive house there. The area's most recent prominent resident is Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson, whose department is responsible for making sure these diplomatic properties are maintained. The issue is particularly frustrating for members of the city council, who find themselves unable to use the many instruments at their disposal for dealing with neglected buildings. For example, the city has a three-tiered tax structure designed to compel landlords to maintain their properties. Ordinary buildings are taxed at 85 cents per $100 in assessed value; for a vacant property, that rate increases to $5 per $100 and if a property is judged by the city to be neglected or "blighted" the tax rate jumps to $10 per $100 in assessed value. But that isn't applicable for a diplomatic building. "If I have a vacant house in the Shaw neighborhood that's becoming a problem, I can call in the cops, clean it up, throw a fence around it and if necessary seize it for unpaid taxes," said City Councilman Jack Evans. "I have a lot of tools in my tool box. But I don't have those tools available to me if it's a diplomatic property." The State Department doesn't have a lot of options either. Cliff Seagroves, acting head of the Office of Foreign Missions, said he's largely bound by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Revoking a property's diplomatic status is an extreme step that could provoke a diplomatic crisis and retaliatory action against U.S. properties abroad. "We have to balance (local residents' concerns) with making sure we're not making things harder for ourselves overseas," Seagroves said. With limited options, Seagroves admitted that his office is often pleased to see negative press coverage of the issue that he hopes will embarrass intransigent nations into action. "The shame factor is often our most effective tool in getting these matters resolved," he said. The case of the former Pakistani consulate on R Street stands as a rare recent success. But it's also an example of how bad a situation has to get before the State Department will act. Seagroves said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry built a new embassy, moved its consular staff there and "in effect, walked away" from the old building. After years of nagging, and with the building becoming a magnet for squatters, Seagroves' office finally delivered an ultimatum and a deadline. When that passed, State revoked the diplomatic status in February 2016 and let the city move in and treat the property like any other blighted building. By June 2017, the property had accumulated more than $70,000 in tax debt. That debt was purchased by an investment group at a tax auction in July 2017, giving the Pakistani government about six months to settle the debt or risk losing the property. The Pakistani government, in a statement to The Associated Press, said that "a plan is being worked out" for the building's renovation and it was working with the State Department and District of Columbia government "to amicably resolve the issue." However the Pakistani statement also pointed out that all diplomatic properties are exempt from taxation, a contention that seemingly ignores the revocation of the property's diplomatic status. Repeated queries as to the why the building fell into such an extreme state of disrepair went unanswered. While residents can claim victory there, the fight continues. One block away, down R Street, the former Serbian embassy sits in similar disrepair with its diplomatic status intact. Some of these unused buildings are unused for an understandable reason. The former Iranian Embassy has been empty since the two countries severed ties in 1979 and is now maintained by Seagroves' office. But in other cases, there seems to be multiple reasons why these nations would allow such valuable real estate to sit vacant and neglected. David Bender, head of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, says an ambassador once told him that he couldn't afford to fix up a property, but didn't want to sell it because he didn't want to be responsible for downsizing his country's presence in the U.S. capital. Seagroves said one foreign ministry official told him "the cost to renovate a particular property in D.C. was equivalent to their entire annual budget for maintaining diplomatic properties around the world." | BY Ricki Green | Scoundrel in partnership with Blinkink has announced the launch of Scoundrel Animation. 14 animation and mixed media directors will come under the Scoundrel Animation banner to be represented through the Australian, New Zealand and Asian markets. The partnership opens the door for local agencies to work with globally recognised animation directors. Says Adrian Shapiro, executive producer, Scoundrel: The soulful and artful nature of Blinkinks combined works is a great fit with Scoundrel and were really excited about launching Scoundrel Animation and creating some exceptional work locally. Directors on the roster include Greg Barth, PES, Noah Harris, Chris Bristow, Layzell Bros, Joseph Mann, Becky and Joe, Nicos Livesey, Elliot Dear, Michael Marczewski, Rune Spaans, Parabella, Kyle Bean, Catherine Losing Visit scoundrel.co/animations to view reels. Email adrian@scoundrel.co or call Scoundrel for more info +61 2 8287 8800. Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 4:16PM Apple today announced that it is working with the city of Chicago to bring coding opportunities to Chicagos nearly 500,000 students through a citywide expansion of Apples Everyone Can Code program. The initiative in Chicago was designed in collaboration with the Mayors Office of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, local businesses and non-profit organizations. Together, Apple and local organizations are helping expand opportunities for students to build the skills they need to pursue careers in the app economy by becoming proficient in Swift, Apples easy-to-learn programming language that empowers anyone to create world-class apps. At Apple we believe coding is an essential skill, so weve designed Everyone Can Code to give everyone the power to learn, write and teach coding, said Tim Cook, Apples CEO. Were thrilled to be working with our friends and partners in the great city of Chicago on this initiative. Together with Mayor Emanuel, Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges, we look forward to helping students learn Swift and build the skills they need to thrive in todays workplace. Starting this spring, Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago will expand Everyone Can Code curriculum and materials to reach students citywide. For the first time, City Colleges of Chicago will offer the innovative App Development with Swift curriculum, helping students build skills around coding and app development. Here's hoping Apple and more cities go into similar partnerships. Chicago Public Schools will also offer new Swift Coding Clubs, which bring coding education to after-school programs. Swift Coding Clubs guide students through key coding concepts, introduce them to Swift and walk them through an app design and prototyping project. "We know there are additional people who have assisted these offenders. We are aware that some of these people might have given this assistance inadvertently, they may not have known the offence occurred. "This is part of a much broader agenda the vice-chancellor has to make ANU the best university in the world in terms of gender equity, so if we're genuine and sincere about that - which we are - we have to start doing things like this right across the board," he said. "I would like to thank Canberra Metro and all those involved in the transportation of the vehicle, including NSW and ACT police, who ensured the transportation was done in a safe and secure manner." Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. "We will continue to use every resource available to protect the safety of our communities, families and frontline service workers who are affected by these insidious drugs," he said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo will take the spotlight Wednesday morning to announce hundreds of millions in state funding designed to help grow New York's economy. As much as we applaud the state's investment in job creation and retention, we hope today marks the final episode in Cuomo's annual "Hunger Games" awards show. At stake is more than $800 million in funding that will be divvied up among regional economic development councils around the state, with some getting much large pieces of the pie than others. The process began many months ago, with councils coming up with their plans based on projects that came before them. The state then reviewed those plans and chose "winning" regions. In this part of the state, the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council has endorsed 38 priority projects, including seven in Cayuga County. Currier Plastics in Auburn is hoping for a $1.8 million grant and $180,000 in tax credits to support a proposed $9.9 million expansion. The Cayuga County Industrial Development Agency is seeking a $284,000 grant to help pay for the expansion of sewer capacity for Cayuga Milk Ingredients and Grober Nutrition at the industrial park in Aurelius. While it's great to encourage regional planning and coordination, the reality is that economic development should not be subject to a set schedule. There is no reason that projects can't be quietly awarded funding one at a time throughout the year. The reality is that potential projects are standing by waiting to go. Developers need to know if they'll be getting state assistance and if so, how much but everyone is kept in a holding pattern waiting for this yearly spectacle to occur. It also can't help for some projects to have to wait until December, because there are plenty of projects that won't be able to start until after the winter further delaying progress. This yearly ritual of turning economic development into an awards show has run its course, and we urge legislators and the governor to reexamine this model to make it more flexible for businesses trying to invest in this state and less promotional for officials trying to get re-elected. The Citizen editorial board includes publisher Rob Forcey, executive editor Jeremy Boyer and managing editor Mike Dowd. 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. Jika Anda mencari situs web sbobet88 login yang andal dan aman untuk bermain poker online, permainan kasino, dan bentuk perjudian lainnya, Anda telah datang ke tempat yang tepat. Situs web kami menampilkan daftar lengkap permainan, opsi pembayaran, dan lainnya untuk memastikan Anda bersenang-senang saat bermain. Agen Judi judi adalah salah satu permainan poker online yang paling populer. Ribuan orang dari seluruh dunia telah bergabung dengan kasino online ini untuk bermain poker demi uang. Ini juga sangat mudah digunakan; yang Anda butuhkan hanyalah komputer atau smartphone dengan koneksi internet. Anda juga memerlukan koneksi wifi yang berfungsi. adalah situs poker top di Indonesia karena berbagai macam permainan dan layanan pelanggan yang sangat baik. Sangat mudah untuk memahami mengapa begitu banyak orang menikmati bermain poker online dan menikmati kesenangan dan hadiah dari permainan. Ini juga nyaman untuk bermain dari rumah, sehingga Anda dapat bermain kapan saja. tersedia di beberapa zona waktu, sehingga Anda dapat bermain kapan saja sesuai keinginan Anda. Anda bisa bermain saat pagi, siang, dan malam hari. Jika Anda merasa lesu, Anda selalu dapat bermain selama periode waktu yang kurang populer seperti jam 1 5 pagi. Gim ini mudah dimainkan dan memiliki RTP tinggi. Ini memiliki banyak tema dan kompatibel di berbagai platform. Ia juga menawarkan permainan seperti Lucky Lion, Queens of Glory, dan Bubbles Bonanza. Flow Gaming juga menyediakan slot video dan permainan jackpot dengan RTP tinggi. Selain itu, seorang petaruh harus mengamati tangan pemain lain sebelum mengambil keputusan. Ini akan membantunya membuat keputusan yang tepat untuk langkah selanjutnya. Selain itu, seorang pemain poker harus mempelajari dasar-dasar perjudian dan memahami konsekuensi dari kemenangan. Sebuah permainan kesempatan hanya sebagus pemainnya. Saat memilih situs kasino, pastikan untuk memeriksa reputasinya. Beberapa situs memiliki reputasi buruk, sementara yang lain memiliki reputasi baik. Penting untuk membaca syarat dan ketentuan dan memilih situs terbaik berdasarkan detail ini. Sebuah terpercaya Indonesia dapat menawarkan berbagai macam permainan dan deposit minimum yang rendah. Ini juga memiliki jackpot besar. Situs Judi Situs Judi adalah kasino online berlisensi yang menawarkan berbagai macam permainan dan menawarkan jaminan keamanan 100%. Permainan di situs ini sangat populer dan menawarkan jackpot besar setiap hari. Beragam permainan judi online bisa Anda temukan di , antara lain mesin slot, baccarat, dan poker. Situs ini juga menawarkan berbagai permainan arcade dan togel. Situs ini juga menawarkan fitur putaran gratis bagi pemain untuk memenangkan uang gratis. menawarkan berbagai macam metode pembayaran. Anda dapat menyetor menggunakan sebagian besar kartu kredit dan operator seluler utama dan bermain dengan uang sungguhan. Anda juga dapat menggunakan e-money untuk deposit. adalah kasino online yang aman dan ramah pengguna. Situs ini tersedia dalam berbagai bahasa dan didukung oleh penyedia internasional yang andal. Terdapat pilihan live chat 24 jam yang dapat diakses melalui perangkat mobile Anda. menawarkan keamanan dan privasi yang luar biasa. Informasi pribadi dan uang Anda 100% dilindungi. Situs web ini juga menawarkan berbagai permainan dan menggunakan dompet elektronik yang aman untuk pembayaran. Anda harus memilih permainan yang Anda sukai untuk dimainkan. Dalam hal ini, permainan slot adalah pilihan yang paling cocok. Jackpotnya sangat besar! Jadi, bermainlah dengan cerdas dan menangkan yang besar! Jadi, nikmati permainan pilihan Anda dengan bantuan kasino online Indonesia. di Indonesia adalah salah satu situs pembayaran online terbaik. Ini juga menawarkan berbagai macam permainan dan bonus. Selain pembayaran, ia juga menawarkan informasi lengkap tentang permainan slot. juga menawarkan berbagai metode deposit. Anda dapat melakukan setoran melalui transfer bank, telepon, atau mata uang digital. Situs ini juga tersedia di Indonesia dan Asia. adalah kasino online hebat yang menawarkan berbagai macam permainan slot. Selain itu, ia menawarkan bonus pendaftaran gratis. Dan, semua gimnya aman dan mudah diakses. Baik Anda seorang veteran atau baru memulai, adalah tempat terbaik untuk bermain. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- By the end of November, a total of three luxury car brands have delivered over 500,00 vehicles in China this year. BMW Group was the most popular automaker in China in the past eleven months, with a cumulative sales volume of 542,362 units. In November, Audi delivered 56,208 vehicles, up 6.5 percent year on year and was again the champion of monthly sales. However, with a year-on-year decrease of 2.1 percent, the luxury brand of VW Group still lagged behind BMW and Benz in cumulative sales. The total sales of BMW Group (including BMW brand and Mini) reached 55,293, jumping 12 percent year on year. The third most popular luxury brand in China in November was Benz, soaring 22.2 percent from a year earlier to 50,813 units. With a year-on-year growth of 23.4 percent, Cadillac sold 16,629 vehicles in November, nearly 3,000 more than Lexus. For the first time, Volvos annual sales exceeded 100,000 units. Last month, Volvo China sales were 11,259 units, increasing 24 percent compared with the same period of last month. Up to the end of November, Volvo has delivered 104,344 vehicles in China in 2017. Lincoln had a good performance either in monthly sales or cumulative sales. In the previous eleven months, the American brand sold 51,735 vehicles in China, surging 83 percent from a year earlier. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Recently, Jinbei Auto announced, "Jinbei Auto has already completed the procedures of transferring all Jinbei Vehicles shares." This announcement drew a conclusion to Jinbei Auto's transferring plan. Thereafter, how to turn the tables through its strong parts and components business has become a new challenge. Jinbei Vehicle was a share-controlled company of Jinbei Auto, and Jinbei Auto held 90% share while Jinchen, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jinbei Auto, held 10% share. As of the asset appraisal day, the net assets of Jinbei Vehicle were minus RMB 70.57 million, in deficit for the third consecutive year. This equity transfer of Jinbei Auto was considered by insiders as an attempt to protect the shell resources by selling commercial vehicles business to its parent company. This was not the first time. Before June 24th, Jinbei Auto sold 39.1% share of Brilliance Jinbei at the price of RMB 1 to a holding company of Brilliance Auto, Shenyang Jinbei. Brilliance Jinbei was similar to Jinbei Vehicle for it also lost money for years before equity transfer. For these two transfer cases, Brilliance Auto engaged in neither of them, yet it was obvious that Jinbei Auto wanted to sell non-performing assets to Brilliance Auto to protect shell resources. In the meantime, Jinbei Auto also made new arrangements to its parts and components subsidiaries. The transactions between Jinbei Jiangsen and Jinbei Andaotuo were close. Jinbei Jiangsen transferred 50% share of CRH, and then its asset unit on car seat business to Jinbei Adient. However, Jinbei Auto clarified in its announcement that, the transactions were among subsidiaries, and won't bring influence to the overall profitability of Jinbei Auto. Though the independent directors of Jinbei Auto reached a consensus that the business transfer aligned with the overall development of Jinbei's vehicle parts and components business, yet Cao He, an investment company president said in an interview that, the asset transaction among subsidiaries might be a prelude to Jinbei Auto's "shell selling". Despite adjustments to parts and components business, Jinbei Auto's future development remains uncertain. While many new self-owned brands emerged strikingly, Jinbei Auto with years of experience spun off its vehicle business. Jia Xinguang, a well-known auto industry analyst, said that, relying on conventional products, lacking technical advances, and losing the grasp of SUV market opportunities are main reasons why Jinbei Auto missed a great timing to expand market shares. Besides, Jinbei Auto's parts and components business relied greatly on Brilliance BMW, which also limited its further development. Australians love Audi Sport models and the German company has decided to reward local enthusiasts with 10 limited-edition R8 V10 Plus vehicles, dubbed the Neuberg Edition. Named after Audi Sports home municipality in Germany, the Audi R8 V10 Plus Neuberg Edition is said to feature a number of distinctive elements to differentiate it from a regular R8 V10 Plus. In reality, all of the custom touches can be specced on any V10 Plus. Nevertheless, the car comes equipped with gloss black 20-inch wheels, a gloss black engine cover and wing mirror caps, and the usually-optional high-gloss titanium exterior package. Locals will be able to select between a Tango Red, Mythos Black, Suzuka Grey or Daytona Grey exterior paint scheme. Inside, Audi has equipped the model with black Alcantara, red accent stitching on the black nappa leather seats, aluminum door sills, and gloss carbon fiber inlays. Customers of the R8 V10 Plus Neuberg Edition will also receive a gift box complete with a Samsung Galaxy S2 tab and Bang & OIufsen H6 headphones. Local pricing starts at $402,500 ($303,444). Note: Regular Audi R8 V10 Plus pictured. PHOTO GALLERY Chinese car manufacturer BAIC Motor is aiming to stop selling petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by 2025. Local publication China Daily recently received word of the plan from BAIC chairman Xu Heyi during an event to celebrate the launch of a new energy car innovation center in Beijing. Our goal is to stop sales of self-developed conventional fuel-powered cars in Beijing by 2020 and stop their production and sales nationwide by 2025, Heyi said. Reuters says that BAICs plan comes in response to legislation from the Chinese government to ensure all domestic and international automakers produce a minimum number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2019. Two months ago, fellow Chinese carmaker Chongqing Changan Automobile confirmed that it would stop selling conventional combustion-engine cars from 2025 and shift entirely to New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). PHOTO GALLERY There is a saying that theres no place like home and for 37-year-old Jonathan Joseph Locksmith that apparently means the Ada County Jail in Boise, Idaho. According to the Associated Press, Locksmith was upset with the court system and simply wanted to be arrested so he could return to jail. Thats never a good sign but Locksmith thankfully avoided violence and decided to make his feelings known by doing donuts in front of the Ada County Courthouse last Sunday. Unfortunately, Locksmiths driving skills were about as good as the 1990s Honda Accord he was driving. As a result, Locksmith crashed into the courthouses fountain and received his wish to be arrested. Locksmith is currently behind bars and is charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. Idaho law says people who are found guilty of reckless driving for the first time face a fine of up to a $1,000 and / or up to six months in jail. Interestingly, for Idaho at least, the Ada county government says they have received numerous phone calls from concerned citizens about the status of the fountain. Officials say the fountain wasnt damaged and noted it was strategically placed to prevent cars from driving into the courthouse. As a Facebook post stated Were happy to see these features not only did their job but did it very well! Photo Gallery Photo: Google Maps A man will be spending three weeks in jail for stealing from a Penticton 7-Eleven and smashing a window at the store. Police were called to the convenience store on Skaha Lake Rd. at 3 a.m. on Monday. It was for a report of a male who stole a phone and assaulted a store employee, said Cpl. Ted Manchulenko. He then kicked out a glass window prior to fleeing north. He was quickly located and arrested a short distance away. Aaron Hillstad, 26, was charged with theft and mischief under $5,000, according to court records. He pleaded guilty at his first appearance Monday and was sentenced to 21 days jail, 15 months probation and $100 victim surcharge. with files from Colin Dacre Shanghai (Gasgoo)-According to a local report, Brilliance Renault Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd. will be officially set up on Dec. 15. The new JV will focus on light commercial vehicles (LCV) and NEVs sectors, and will introduce and manufacture Renault's new LCV models in China. In the future, vehicle products under Brilliance Jinbei brand are expected to bear Renault's badge. Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd. (SBJ) covers such businesses as commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and specialty vehicles, but it has never entered into the NEV sector. With the new JV, SBJ and Renault will cooperate in the technological development, products research and market sales of NEVs and LCVs. They will also jointly develop new NEV models based on the existing products, and proactively promote the local production of Renault's LCVs. Early in July, 2017, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Limited (CBA) had signed a framework cooperation agreement with Groupe Renault, saying that both parties will establish a JV to drive the development of Jinbei, Renault and Huasong by virtue of both parties' advanced technologies and rich experience. Photo: The Canadian Press UCP Leader Jason Kenney, centre, stands with his leadership team, from left, Jason Nixon, Angela Pitt, Leela Aheer, Ric McIver and Prab Gill, in Edmonton Alta on Oct. 30. Alberta's Opposition house leader says he regrets once firing a female employee because she complained about sexual harassment. But Jason Nixon says he and his United Conservative Party caucus are committed to ending harassment and abuse in the workplace. Nixon is the leader of the United Conservatives in the house until leader Jason Kenney wins a seat. Last week, Nixon spoke out in the legislature against a bill that will toughen sanctions on workplace harassment, saying the industry has shown it can police itself. But new reports show that Nixon, while in private business a decade ago, was fined by a B.C. human rights panel after he fired a female employee at the behest of a contractor when she complained of sexual harassment. Premier Rachel Notley says it was dishonest of Nixon to criticize proposed new workplace harassment rules without mentioning that he had been fined for firing a woman who had spoken out. Notley says if Nixon was her house leader he'd be out of a job immediately. Photo: The Canadian Press Public sector integrity commissioner Mario Dion is shown in Ottawa on December 13, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld The nominee for federal ethics watchdog won't commit to completing ongoing investigations into the prime minister or finance minister if he gets the job. But Mario Dion tells the House of Commons ethics committee that if he is appointed, reviewing the files would be a top priority so he could understand them fully before deciding if and how they should proceed. Outgoing conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson is currently looking into a trip Justin Trudeau took to the Aga Khan's private island last Christmas, as well as the finance minister's role in tabling new pension legislation that could impact his family's company. But with Dawson's term at an end, there's no guarantee those reviews will be completed before she leaves and no requirement for her successor to do so. Both the NDP and the Tories have expressed frustration with how the search for Dawson's replacement was handled, saying they were never consulted by the government. Dion told the committee he decided to apply for the job in August and was interviewed in mid-November for about an hour before being named to the post this week. Photo: The Canadian Press Dana Larsen is pictured at The Dispensary in Vancouver, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward A prominent cannabis activist who was arrested in Calgary during a national tour to distribute millions of free marijuana seeds to the public is heading back to court. Police charged Dana Larsen with drug trafficking and possession in April 2016 after small packets of pot seeds were handed out to the audience at an event as part of his Overgrow Canada tour. Last month provincial court Judge A. J. Brown stayed the charges saying the case took too long to get to trial. Alberta's Justice Department said Tuesday the Crown is appealing the ruling and a court date has been set for July 2. In her ruling, Brown blamed much of the delay on the prosecution, noting the history of the case looks like "the route of a driverless bus." "Without firm, overall direction of the prosecution, the file has been rife with unacceptable Crown delay," Brown wrote. Larsen said he's surprised by the appeal when more serious cases have been tossed due to trial delays. "I find it disheartening that there are so many other cases in Alberta over the last year that have had charges dropped because of these court delays for people with accusations of murder, rape serious crimes," he said in an interview from Vancouver. "But they are finding court time to deal with me and to appeal my decision when I am giving away low THC cannabis seeds." Larsen has distributed more than seven million free marijuana seeds to Canadians in 14 cities over the past two years, including Calgary. He said Calgary was the only place where police showed up. The aim of the campaign is to encourage Canadians to plant the seeds in public places as an act of civil disobedience. "The idea is to normalize the presence of cannabis plants in public spaces," he said. Photo: Colin Dacre A South Okanagan man who begged in court for help with his drug addiction will spend just under three more months in prison for a car theft and several breaches of probation and bail. Trevor Garowey, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of stolen property over $5,000 and breach in connection to a van theft in Penticton back in 2015. Garowey was arrested in the driver's seat of a van that was stolen just five hours prior on Nov. 6, 2015. He was released on a promise to appear and failed to do so several times, not showing up for his trial date. He ended up in custody in Alberta for most of 2016, making his way back to B.C. in 2017, where he breached his bail conditions again on April 10. Defence lawyer James Pennington said his clients Asperger's disorder has created problems with impulse control. Garowey stood to address Judge Michelle Daneliuk, and requested she impose drug counselling conditions on him. The reason I keep coming to jail, is I keep getting high, and Ive had no help with my drug addiction, he said, adding he needed treatment for his methadone addiction rather than time in jail. The court heard that Garowey has struggled with meth since his teens and has grown estranged from his parents. Pennington noted that if the court ordered the drug treatment, his client would have it covered financially by BC Corrections. Garowey said he has been in regular contact with residential treatment facilities in Kelowna and Penticton, trying to secure a bed for when he is released, but its likely he will be living in a homeless shelter if one isnt ready for him when hes released from jail. Daneliuk imposed a 165-day sentence and 12 months of probation. With credit for time served, he will be out in 82 days. Photo: Contributed Thieves are trolling area parking lots looking for stuff to steal. It's not just shoppers who are heading to the mall looking for Christmas gifts. Thieves are also actively looking for presents left unattended in cars. Const. Kelly Brett said RCMP are reminding the public to be extra vigilant during the holiday season in securing vehicles and belongings. With the busy holiday season upon us, the Vernon Crime Prevention unit and the RCMP want to stress the necessity for minimizing the risk of someone breaking into your vehicle because of tempting packages or belongings that may be on display, said Brett. Regan Borisenko, the City of Vernon crime prevention co-ordinator, said insuring vehicles are securely locked and not leaving valuables in the vehicle will deter thefts from occurring If you must leave valuables in the vehicle, securing them in the trunk or in a non-visible spot is your best option, said Borisenko. Brett said Vernon RCMP volunteers have been hard at work, walking through parking lots in the city checking to make sure vehicles are secure, if any valuables are present and if there are any anti-theft devices installed. Prevention infractions called Crime Prevention Notices, will be issued to vehicles that are seen left in-secure or with visible items in them. There is nothing punitive about the notices, it is simply to promote the prevention and raise awareness of thefts from vehicles, said Borisenko. Theft from auto is a crime of opportunity and as such is preventable. Something as insignificant as small change may lure a thief and the damages caused to the vehicle can outweigh the value of what was actually taken. The RCMP is finding that the majority of the reports of thefts from auto were to vehicles with un-locked doors, often with valuables left in plain sight. In the event of a theft from auto where valuables, personal identification or credit cards have been stolen, please contact your local RCMP detachment and notify your financial institutions, said Brett. If you see any suspicious persons or activities near a vehicle, call the police immediately. Let the police determine if its a crime in progress. Photo: Contributed The provincial government is faltering in its efforts to find permanent homes for the children and youth in its care, particularly for Indigenous children and youth according to Bernard Richard, B.C.'s child, and youth representative. Richard says in a report that he is disappointed that adoption rates have declined this year, especially for Indigenous children and youth. These statistics are very disappointing, said Representative Bernard Richard, because they are not just numbers. These are children and youth, waiting for a family to nurture them and provide them with a sense of belonging. Three years ago, an RCY report noted that there were more than 1,000 B.C. children and youth in care waiting to be adopted. This remains the case today and its simply not good enough when were talking about young peoples lives. The decline in adoption placements this fiscal year follows a period of marked improvement for the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) in the two years immediately following RCYs initial report. Only 84 B.C. children and youth in care were adopted during the first six months of this fiscal year, well behind the pace of the previous two years, according to the B.C. Adoption and Permanency Options Update. Government must keep its commitment to B.C.s most vulnerable children, Richard said. It must do a better job of finding them families whether its through adoption, transfer of custody, or custom adoption for Indigenous children. This must be a priority. Photo: Orvis.com A dismal return for steelhead salmon in British Columbia's Interior Fraser River system has prompted an emergency assessment of the species. Eric Taylor, chair of Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, said two recent requests from the public for an investigation into the species in addition to mounting evidence of the steelhead decline led to last week's decision to take action. "A lot of us are aware of the problems of the severe reduction in abundance that's been observed," he said. Alan Sinclair, a marine fisheries expert on the committee, said average annual returns of the fish should be in the range of 1,000 to 2,000. But the Steelhead Society of B.C. said only about 200 steelhead returned this year to the Thompson River and fewer than 50 came back to the Chilcotin River. The exact cause of the decline is unclear. Sinclair said warming river temperatures and changing ocean conditions have contributed added stress to steelhead and other salmon populations. Taylor said steelhead have been on the committee's radar for several years as data collected by the province has shown a steady decline. "This year was one more data point in a time series of decline," he said. "There is always hope the next year will be a little bit better but because of the weight of the evidence over the last couple of decades, we just decided well maybe we should expedite the process." An emergency assessment of the two watersheds will take place in early January over a two-week period. It's a faster process than a full study that typically takes two years to reach a conclusion. The Steelhead Society of B.C. is applauding the assessment. Depending on the results, Taylor said it could lead to steelhead being listed as an endangered species by the federal government. The findings would first be delivered to the federal Ministry of Environment, Taylor said. The ministry then has 90 days to respond with a decision or to launch a further review. Taylor said there is no deadline for the government to decide whether or not to list a species as at risk once it's responded to the assessment. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- All major self-independent brands all showed their November sales performances recently with GWM, Geely, Changan Auto all selling more than 100,000 units. Even though BYDs total sales were less than those of the above automakers, its new energy vehicle sales soared 65.48 percent to 13,758 units. Besides, BYD also set its annual sales target up to 200,000 for next year. Among the five traditional first-tier self-independent auto brands, only Chery performed disappointedly. Chery had monthly sales of 43,162 units in November, decreasing several thousand units on the basis of 48,103 units in the same period of last year. It also ranked behind Changan, GWM, Geely and BYD in terms of sales, even lagging behind SAIC Passenger Vehicle and GAC Passenger Vehicle and leveling with Zotye Auto in sales. Cherys sales exceeded 500,000 units eight years ago in 2009, ranking first among self-independent auto brands and fourth in terms of comprehensive strengths. Domestic auto industry changes greatly in the past eight years, with the market size growing to more than 30m units from 10m units. Self-independent brands including Changan, GWM and Geely all rise quickly with the total market shares reaching 43%, basically levelling with joint-venture brands. In contrast, Chery faces the declining market ranking and nearly drops out of first-tier self-independent brands. Besides, many technological and quality problems are shown in Chery products. Chery has just announced to recall some Arrizo 7 models for gearbox oil leakage hazard. Another highly-expected brand Qoros will also be transferred by Chery for continuous losses and bad sales performances for several years. Complex reasons including development strategy, group structure, brand problems and product positions can explain Cherys current situation. In fact, Chery is still confusing about its own production lines. The Sedona International Film Festival will present the Flagstaff premiere of Loving Vincent today as part of the festivals monthly Flagstaff Cinema Series. There will be one screening of the film at 7 p.m. at Harkins Flagstaff 16 Theatres. Loving Vincent the worlds first fully oil painted feature film brings the artwork of Vincent van Gogh to life in an exploration of the complicated life and controversial death of one of historys most celebrated artists. More than six years in the making with the help of 125 specially trained painters, Loving Vincent is a uniquely animated film composed of 65,000 painted frames. Drawn from meticulous research and inspired by van Goghs masterpieces, subjects, and 800 personal letters, Loving Vincent captures the world of van Gogh. No other artist has attracted more legends than Vincent van Gogh. Variously labelled a martyr, a lustful satyr, a madman, a genius and a layabout, the real Vincent is at once revealed in his letters, and obscured by myth and time. Vincent himself said in his last letter: We cannot speak other than by our paintings. Loving Vincent was first shot as a live action film with actors, and then hand-painted over frame-by-frame in oils. The final effect is an interaction of the performance of the actors playing Vincents famous portraits, and the performance of the painting animators, bringing these characters into the medium of paint. A representative from the NAU Philosophy Department and Philosophy in the Public Interest will lead a discussion following the film screening. Tickets are $12 and will be available starting at 6 p.m. in the Harkins lobby. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 928-282-1177 or online at www.SedonaFilmFestival.org. Festival features Native American art and culture Native Americans for Community Action, Inc and the First Nations Development Institute will host the 2017 Native American Festival of Art & Culture Saturday. The festival will be from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., at Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Flagstaff, 1175 W. Route 66. The celebration of Indigenous cultures in Arizona and the Southwest will include 40 Native American artisans, traditional cultural performances, raffle prizes, silent raffle, photos with Santa, information, resources and more. Numerous people have been arrested following a drug investigation by area law enforcement. On Tuesday, the Gage County Sheriffs Office, with assistance from the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force, Beatrice Police Department, Wymore Police Department and Nebraska State Patrol, arrested the following people for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, along with additional, related charges: Barbara Coleman, 57, of Wymore; Christina Lewien, 34, of Virginia; Destiny Burr, 19, of Blue Springs; Michael Hockman, 34, of Liberty; and Skyler Hutchison, 22, of Blue Springs. The arrests were part of an ongoing drug investigation being conducted by the Gage County Sheriffs Office, according to a press release. While arresting Lewien at 415 3rd St. in Virginia, deputies also located a small amount of methamphetamine and marijuana in Lewiens bedroom. These latest arrests bring the total to 13 people who are facing criminal charges as a result of the investigation. Those who have already been charged include: Amanda Cline, 37, of Wymore; Roger Cline, 48, of Wymore; Kyle Wathor, 29, of Wymore; Dennis Burr, 29, of Beatrice; Charles Burr, 32, of Blue Springs; Aaron Burr, 37, of Blue Springs; Thomas Sailors, 58, of Blue Springs; and Ashley Bartels, 19, of Blue Springs. The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible. Merck announced an upcoming leadership change in China. Allan Gabor will succeed Alasdair Jelfs as Managing Director and Country Speaker as of February 1, 2018. He will also take over operational responsibility for the Performance Materials business in China. Additionally, Allan Gabor will become a permanent member of the Performance Materials Leadership Team. In his new position, he will report to Kai Beckmann, CEO Performance Materials and Executive Board member responsible for Asia. I am very happy that Allan Gabor, who has extensive management experience, also in China, will be taking on this important task in one of the most important regional markets for Merck. He has known the sector and the country for two decades and has already achieved important advances in our Healthcare business in China, said Beckmann, who also praised the accomplishments of Alasdair Jelfs: I thank him for his many years of service in China. Jelfs will take over other responsibilities at Merck. The inclusion of the future head of Merck in China in the Performance Materials Leadership Team underscores the strategic importance of the Chinese market to the business sector. The change is part of a realignment of the entire business sector, which under the leadership of Kai Beckmann has developed a strategy to sharpen its focus on markets and customers. The OLED materials business will be combined with the Liquid Crystals business into a single business unit. In addition, all activities pertaining to research, business development and external partnerships will be united in a central research and innovation unit. Production and Supply Chain activities will also be realigned. Allan Gabor has been working for Merck since 2013 and serves as the Head of the Biopharma business in Asia, including China. He has more than 25 years of management experience in leadership roles in countries such as China, Turkey, Russia, and the United States. Prior to joining Merck, he was head of Pfizer in China, where he has been working since 1999. Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers. 404 Try searching for the content you're looking for, or take a look at our recently published stories General Motors Chairman and CEO, Mary Barra, is interviewed by Cox Automotive's Michelle Krebs during an Automotive Press Association event, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, in Detroit. Barra said General Motors is committed to creating a sexual harassment-free workplace. (Carlos Osorio / AP) Detroit General Motors is committed to creating a sexual "harassment-free" workplace, CEO Mary Barra said Monday. "It's unacceptable to not have a policy (against sexual harassment)," she said. Her year-end interview and press conference at an Automotive Press Association reception came less than a week after Time magazine named the "Silence Breakers" women who have spoken up about sexual harassment to be 2017's person of the year. Advertisement "We encourage our employees that if something is happening, that they raise it. There will be no retaliation," said Barra, who is the first woman to lead a major auto company On other topics, Barra said during the event at the Gem Theater in downtown Detroit that she opposes the Trump administration's proposal to repeal the $7,500 federal tax credit for consumers who buy or lease all-electric vehicles. She also supports the "general direction" of tax legislation before Congress that would reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. Advertisement "We're very supportive of tax reform, and generally the bills before Congress move in the right direction," Barra said. But tucked in the bill passed by the House of Representatives is the proposed repeal of the electric vehicle tax credit. ""Repealing that credit will have an impact because it changes the equation that determines whether people want an electric vehicle," she said. Another provision in the tax bill would eliminate the deduction for interest paid on graduate school loans. Barra and other industry leaders support so-called STEM education, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math. To be ready to step into software, electrical engineering and product development jobs in the auto industry, most young people earn at least one master's degree. Barra didn't address that provision specifically, but she did say that almost 40 percent of GM's salaried workers in the U.S. have been with the company less than five years. The other topic consuming much of the nearly hour-long exchange was autonomous vehicle technology. Barra and her leadership team have convinced analysts, suppliers and some journalists that GM is moving faster than many others in this rapidly emerging area. In early 2016, the largest U.S. automaker invested $500 million in the ride-hailing business Lyft and acquiring Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based company focused on autonomous vehicle technology. GM and Cruise are testing fleets of self-driving Chevrolet Bolts in San Francisco, Scottsdale, Ariz., and metro Detroit. Early in 2018 they will start testing autonomous Bolts in Manhattan. Last month, Barra told investors that GM should make a profit on the next generation of electric vehicles, launching in 2021, because the batteries will cost nearly one-third less than the batteries in today's Bolt. Advertisement "We are committed to a future electric vehicle portfolio that is profitable," said Barra, speaking at the Barclays 2017 Global Automotive Conference in New York. In October, GM product development chief Mark Reuss said the company intends to introduce 20 new electric vehicles by 2023. Perhaps the most significant decision General Motors completed in 2017 was its decision to sell its Opel and Vauxhall businesses in Europe, where it had lost money for most of the 21st century. While Wall Street saluted the move, it also means GM won't likely reclaim the crown it once coveted as the world's largest automaker. "We have to be good stewards of our shareholders' capital," Barra said. "We want to grow, but if we're somewhere we just don't see a path to earning an adequate return we will change. "We're not the company that plants a flag everywhere and tries to be everything to all people." A Chicago-area investment manager has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly duping 17 clients and lenders out of more than $10 million. Shawn Baldwin, 51, of Olympia Fields, who owned and ran a number of local investment firms, is accused of using clients and lenders funds for his personal gain, while telling them the money would be put into stocks or other investments, according to the indictment that was issued Thursday but unsealed Monday. Advertisement According to the indictment, Baldwin also assured clients and lenders that he had relationships with compliance officers and professional advisers in order to put them at ease about their investments and minimized or misrepresented disciplinary actions taken against him by regulators. Those disciplinary actions included the loss of professional certifications from the main governing body for financial professionals in 2009 and being permanently barred from selling securities or offering investment advice in Illinois, a penalty imposed in 2013. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. His attorney could not be reached for comment. Advertisement According to the indictment, the fraud scheme allegedly ran from 2006 until May of this year. Baldwin was charged with eight counts of fraud. If he were to be found guilty, each count of fraud could carry a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. sbomkamp@chicagotribune.com Twitter @SamWillTravel Pamela Winkelman, a former LuLaRoe consultant, is involved in the class-action lawsuit against the company. (Jason Wachter / St. Cloud Times) Betsy Stover was 17 when her mother asked her to help fax strangers, hawking a service that had the markings of a pyramid scheme. I always felt like a creep sending unsolicited faxes, said Stover, who hated the chore, but knew the work required cold calls to succeed. Advertisement Stover, now a 38-year-old comedian based in Los Angeles, had largely forgotten about the experience until about three years ago. Thats when her Facebook feed started filling up with new direct sales posts touting cosmetics, jewelry and leggings. Unbeknownst to her, friends Stover hadnt seen in years had added her to private Facebook groups promoting body oils and makeup. She had little interest. It felt too similar to her mothers get-rich-quick schemes, which had more to do with recruiting new distributors than selling actual products. Advertisement It was super awkward, said Stover, who discreetly left the groups. With these people, there was always a looming sales pitch in the background. Unsolicited calls and face-to-face pitches once defined multilevel marketing a $35-billion industry that recruits an ever expanding network of independent distributors to sell their products rather than rely on bricks-and-mortar stores. Instead, todays generation of multilevel marketing brands including Rodan + Fields, Stella & Dot and LipSense are often discovered on social media platforms such as Facebook, which gives distributors instant access to a vast network of potential customers and recruits with the swipe of a finger. Rather than suffer the humiliation of cold calling, adherents can blast sales pitches and promote their brands online with little effort, attracting increasingly distant acquaintances who would have been previously unreachable. Its why many women such as Stover have seen their news feeds transformed from a place to keep up with friends and family into a clutter of livestreamed sales events, invitations to trunk shows and incessant promotional threads about moisturizers and lipsticks. This is what multilevel marketing has always done, said Robert FitzPatrick, president of watchdog group Pyramid Scheme Alert. It is the only business that ignores the boundaries of private life and professional life. It simply follows where people are gathered, and now that people communicate on digital forums like Facebook, it has invaded social networks. Some of the inventory Pamela Winkelman has not sold. (Jason Wachter / St. Cloud Times) No recent company exemplifies the industrys shift more fittingly and controversially than LuLaRoe, a Corona multilevel marketing brand that through Facebook developed a cult-like following for its patterned leggings and is now the target of five class-action lawsuits. One of those suits, filed in October, seeks $1 billion in damages and alleges LuLaRoe operated a pyramid scheme, enriching itself by primarily selling inventory to its distributors, or sales consultants, rather than its customers. Advertisement The plaintiffs say the company did this by using social media to lure a sales force mostly made up of stay-at-home mothers into paying thousands of dollars to become consultants with dim hopes of turning a profit. Defendants achieved such rapid growth by enticing consultants with social media posts boasting large bonus checks and other lavish material possessions, the suit says. Those rewards were celebrated with the hashtag #becauseofLLR. Another popular social media slogan, Part-time work for full time pay, has been chided by critics as mostly untrue except for those lucky enough to get in on the business early. LuLaRoe, which was founded in 2012 and surpassed $2 billion in annual sales this year, called the lawsuits baseless. The company said it has given thousands of consultants the opportunity to earn income. And it rejected allegations it was a pyramid scheme, explaining it does not reward consultants for simply signing up new sellers, but instead offers bonuses based on a cut of retail sales achieved by a consultants recruits. Only 27% of LuLaRoes consultants received such bonus payments last year, which means about a quarter of the companys consultants were involved in recruiting and maintaining a sales team the multilevel part of multilevel marketing. LuLaRoe has grown exponentially over the last four years. Our success has made us the target of orchestrated competitive attacks and predatory litigation. We take all litigation regardless of its lack of merit seriously, the company said in a statement. Advertisement In addition to the pyramid scheme claims, LuLaRoe has been saddled with complaints about shoddy merchandise, an unfair return policy and unsympathetic leadership (consultants say the company pressured mothers to sell their breast milk to pay for more inventory). It was an endless chain. They always wanted you to buy more, said Pamela Winkelman, a Minnesota consultant who was introduced to LuLaRoe over Facebook and is a member of the $1-billion class action. Before the lawsuits, LuLaRoe had built an ultra-loyal following thanks to its buttery soft leggings. The companys embrace of all body types positioned it as something of an anti-Lululemon, the maker of pricey yoga pants whose former chief executive once suggested its clothes werent appropriate for bigger women. By 2015, LuLaRoe had become a social media sensation. Its clothes couldnt be found at stores or e-commerce sites. Instead, women had to join private Facebook groups run by the companys consultants. Once in, they had to hope the seller had their size and pattern not an easy task because consultants had no say over what pieces LuLaRoe would give them to sell. Those restrictions on supply sparked a frenzy. Women joined multiple Facebook groups scavenging for rare leggings known as unicorns with playful prints such as purple dragons or the solar system. Eventually, unicorns would show-up on EBay for double or triple their typical $25 sticker price. Advertisement The clamor for leggings also boosted the ranks of consultants, who were charged a minimum of $5,000 for their initial batch of inventory. LuLaRoe had about 30,000 consultants by the middle of 2016. Since then, the number has grown to more than 80,000. I never would have heard of LuLaRoe if it wasnt for Facebook, said a 31-year-old consultant in Southern California who didnt want to use her name for fear of reprisal from the company. (She is not a member of any of the lawsuits directed at LuLaRoe). I saw how these women were buying these crazy prints left and right. I figured there was a lot of money to be made, she added. The mother of two signed-up as a LuLaRoe consultant in 2015 and initially made a tidy profit. But within months, her suburban neighborhood was saturated with rival consultants who cut her earnings by two-thirds. Now Im sitting on $22,000 of inventory in my spare bedroom that I cant move, she said. Consultants say new recruits were being minted each day, in no small part because of LuLaRoes pervasiveness on Facebook. They say the company drove up engagement on the platform by encouraging consultants to post and comment as much as possible. It also urged consultants to launch Facebook business pages from which they could place ads. Advertisement LuLaRoe says it was its consultants who pioneered the companys Facebook strategy. The brand adopted the strategy because it allowed consultants to interact more intimately with customers in a manner similar to salespeople in bricks-and-mortar stores. [W]e want to help get you to a place where you are a Facebook diva and your Facebook group isnt just helping your business its practically running it for you, the company says in a Facebook strategy tutorial posted on its website. The Facebook groups, which routinely had hundreds of members, had a culture of their own. Negative comments about the brand were frowned upon. Acronyms such as FSOT (for sale or trade) and DISO (desperately in search of) abounded. Roe became a blanket verb, said Jill Robbins, a San Antonio blogger who wrote about her observations as a member of several LuLaRoe Facebook groups. I found a lot of people who drank the Kool-Aid, Robbins said. LuLaRoe rose as the number of people involved in direct selling in the U.S. grew to a record 20.5 million in 2016, up from 15.9 million in 2012, according to the Direct Selling Assn. Experts say economic insecurity born out of the Great Recession has pushed more Americans to multilevel marketing not unlike the way people have seized on the gig economy working for companies such as Uber. Advertisement With her background in direct sales, LuLaRoe co-founder DeAnne Brady has said she started the company envisioning a sales force of mothers who could earn income while raising children. Jessica Wernz, a writer focused on family issues, says direct selling appeals to women in several ways: It offers a path to entrepreneurship and a promise of sisterhood to stay-at-home moms who otherwise struggle to find time for socializing. And it gives mothers in the workforce an alternative source of income that allows them to spend more time with their children. What troubles Wernz is that it perpetuates the idea that mothers are best suited at home, not in an office. I love the idea of empowering women, but this is the exact opposite, she said. These companies are selling them on the idea that theyll miss their kids childhoods if they have to go into an office. Facebook has taken a hands-off approach to multilevel marketing, saying it has no reason to limit the industrys presence on the social network. A Facebook spokesman declined to share any data about LuLaRoe. The deluge of posts about direct sales can easily be removed by selected hide post next to any unwanted content, the spokesman added. Otherwise, posts about LuLaRoe and other multilevel marketing brands are subject to the whims of Facebooks algorithm like most other topics. Advertisement The rules are different for paid ads. Facebook requires multilevel marketing brands to fully describe the associated product or business model and never to promote business models offering quick compensation for little investment. However, LuLaRoe consultants interviewed for this story who placed ads on Facebook say they never disclosed such information. Facebook also prohibits ads and landing pages from containing deceptive, false, or misleading content, including deceptive claims, offers, or methods.Even if Facebook decided to banish pyramid schemes from its networks, it would have a hard time determining which companies to target. Pyramid scheme isnt a legal term, and the nations laws are notoriously vague about what it means. Most experts and industry officials, including those at the Direct Sales Assn, say the bar for a scam is when the majority of revenue is derived from recruiting new consultants rather than sales. But others say thats not enough. They argue the majority of multilevel marketing is predatory because its founded on the false promise of quick returns, when in reality, the overwhelming majority of consultants lose money. Ive never once met a single person who earned income in multilevel marketing sustainably from retailing, said FitzPartick of Pyramid Scheme Alert. The model is impossible. FitzPatrick said legal ambiguity and powerful lobbying has protected multilevel marketing, an industry with close ties to the Trump administration. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is married to former Amway CEO Dick DeVos, the son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. President Trump was once a paid promoter of direct sales firm ACN Inc. Advertisement Some of the biggest names in the industry, including Amway, Avon and Mary Kay have survived scrutiny for decades. Other stalwarts such as Herbalife and Nu Skin have paid millions in settlements, while upstarts such as beverage distributor Vemma Nutrition were effectively shuttered by the Federal Trade Commission. LuLaRoe needs to take its consultants concerns more seriously if it hopes to continue growing, said Terri Villasenor. The Whittier resident signed up with the brand in August 2016 and believes it expanded too fast. The first three months were OK, but then it plateaued because they were saturating the market, said Villasenor, 55, who gave her middle and maiden names because she worried LuLaRoe would retaliate. Shes now stuck with 200 pieces of clothing no one wants to buy. She has no intention of purchasing any more inventory. Though not a member of any of the lawsuits against LuLaRoe, Villasenor is encouraged that disgruntled consultants are fighting back. Dissenters are even exchanging ideas through private Facebook groups much like the ones they started to lure recruits and customers. The forums can feel liberating to consultants such as Villasenor, who were wary of questioning LuLaRoes business until they saw others come forward. I felt like I was stuck in a cult, she said. Family members of Gizzell Ford, Angela Mendez, left, and Frandes Mercado, leave the Leighton Criminal Court Building on June 7, 2017, in Chicago. Helen Ford was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her 8-year-old granddaughter Gizzell. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) For five days, jurors heard how the states child protection system had repeatedly failed Gizzell Ford, an 8-year-old girl found strangled, starved and brutally beaten inside her grandmothers West Side apartment. They were blown away by crime scene photos and injury details, one juror said, so horrific the judge stopped opening statements in the Daley Center civil case last week after a juror began sobbing uncontrollably. Advertisement On Wednesday, they decided to send a strong message. After deliberating about two hours, jurors awarded $48 million to the girls family, finding that respected Chicago child-abuse pediatrician Dr. Norell Rosado had been medically negligent in his treatment of Gizzell just weeks before her 2013 murder. Rosado was part of a multidisciplinary team, including a Department of Children and Family Services investigator, that was evaluating the girl after an abuse report. Helen Ford, the girls paternal grandmother, is serving a life sentence for the torture slaying. Advertisement We just wanted justice for Gizzell, and in our eyes we got it, said her mother Sandra Mercado. I just hope this doesnt happen to anyone else. The wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the girls family accused Rosado of failing to immediately alert authorities to possible signs of abuse, failing to ask basic questions about the injuries he uncovered in an exam and failing to properly document his findings. He examined Gizzell as part of a molestation investigation initiated by the Fords against her mothers boyfriend. Rosado showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the verdict Wednesday. Cook Countys insurer will likely be on the hook for paying out the nearly $50 million verdict since Rosado worked for the countys hospital system at the time, attorneys said. Afterward, a spokeswoman for the Cook County states attorneys office, which represented Rosado in the lawsuit because he was a county employee at the time he examined the girl, declined to comment. At trial, Rosado, now at Lurie Childrens Hospital, denied the allegations, testifying that he found only nonspecific and nonsuspicious abrasions on Gizzells legs and buttocks that were not indicative of child abuse. But he wrote in a report that he found a possible healing loop mark on Gizzells buttock which the girls attorneys argued is a common sign of child abuse and never asked Gizzell how she got the injuries. His attorneys said the blame for Gizzells slaying rests solely on the girls grandmother. Jurors didnt buy it. It was hard to sit there and not say anything, said juror and South Side resident Lawrence Morris, 52, who like other jurors interviewed Wednesday were stunned at how the promising fourth-graders life ended. What happened to this little girl was really devastating and disturbing, so we took our role seriously, said a 50-year-old juror who declined to give his name, explaining that jurors wanted to take a stand for her. The Mercados attorney, Martin Dolan, said Wednesdays verdict the largest of his career should send a message to medical professionals on the front lines of fighting child abuse. He had urged jurors earlier in his closing remarks not to let Rosado hide behind his sterling credentials or give him a pass. Advertisement This child should never have gone through what she did, Dolan told jurors during closing statements. There are people in place who shouldve stopped this. Dr. Rosado failed to save her. He didnt advocate for her. He didnt protect her that day. It was like a green light for Helen Ford to do what she was going to do in the following weeks. Dr. Norell Rosado, foreground, leaves court at the Daley Center in Chicago on Dec. 13, 2017, after a Cook County jury ruled against the him in a $48 million wrongful death and negligence lawsuit filed by the family of 8-year-old Gizzell Ford. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) But Assistant Cook County States Attorney Chaka Patterson, head of the states attorneys civil bureau and one of Rosados attorneys, reminded jurors of trial evidence that at least half of all children who see a doctor will have scratches and abrasions. He said Rosado, who was working for the county when he examined Gizzell as part of a sex abuse investigation, had built his entire 17-year career on protecting children, conducting more than 3,000 child abuse exams, training over 1,000 doctors and testifying for the state in 40 criminal prosecutions. Dr. Rosado should not be held responsible for what Helen Ford did, Patterson said during his closing arguments. He said Rosado had reported his findings to DCFS 16 days before Gizzells death, even calling the DCFS investigator to explain his report. The state child welfare agency as well as a former DCFS investigator had also been defendants in the lawsuit, but a judge dismissed them from the case, finding that their actions were protected from a civil court challenge under state law. Jurors were asked to decide whether it was more likely than not that Rosado failed to act as a reasonably careful physician would under the circumstances. If they had believed Ford was the only cause of Gizzells death, they would have ruled in the doctors favor. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Instead they awarded $48 million in damages to the family the exact amount Gizzells family attorney had asked for. Gizzells mother Sandra and grandfather Juan Mercado, who filed the lawsuit, sat in the courtroom during closing arguments, wiping their eyes at times as Dolan gave his closing arguments. The trial was briefly halted on its first day last week after jurors appeared overwhelmed seeing photos and hearing details about the brutal end to the girls promising life. A male juror began sobbing telling the judge he needed a tissue and several of the other 14 jurors fought back tears. Judge James M. Varga stopped the trial and called for a break during opening remarks to allow jurors to compose themselves. Gizzell, a bright fourth-grader whose diary captured her love of school, left behind her own account of the horrific abuse, writing in her diary two days before she was found dead that I hate this life because now Im in super big trouble. sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com Twitter @SteveSchmadeke Advertisement RELATED [ Doctor testifies exam of 8-year-old Gizzell Ford three weeks before she died revealed nothing suspicious ] [ Jurors in doctor's civil trial overwhelmed by photos, details of 8-year-old's torture slaying ] [ Promised reforms after brutal death of 8-year-old Gizzell Ford fall short ] "Top Chef" Season 12 premieres Oct. 15 and of its 16 competitors, only one hails from Chicago: Trenchermen executive sous chef Rebecca LaMalfa. A Culinary Institute of America graduate, she worked at several Michelin-rated restaurants, including Michael Mina in San Francisco and Daniel Boulud Brasserie and Le Cirque in Las Vegas, before moving to Chicago in 2012 to assist in opening Trenchermen (named one of Bon Appetit's "Top 50 Best New Restaurants" in 2013). Advertisement LaMalfa's no stranger to competition: the 32-year old, who says her go-to style is French comfort food ("I definitely lean towards classic bistro dishes with a twist, and just kind of moderned up and lightened up"), grew up professionally competing in horse shows with her mom. Reared in Northern California, her dad's a second-generation farmer and her great-grandfather was a butcher. LaMalfa, who's married to Sixteen executive chef Thomas Lents, had to be mum about show specifics when we spoke in mid-September. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation. Advertisement Q: Did you do anything specific to get on "Top Chef"? A: They asked me (to come in and interview). I was called and asked, and then I literally flew (back to Chicago) from a humongous horse show in Scottsdale, (Ariz., where LaMalfa won the amateur reining class). I jumped off the plane and I still had my champion jacket on, and I went into the interview and (the people there) were like, "That is the craziest jacket I've ever seen!" I was like, it was a little bit weird to be walking around in downtown Chicago, interviewing for a "Top Chef" position when I have riding jeans on, boots and a giant sparkly jacket that says "Scottsdale Champion" on it (laughing). Q: What did you do to prepare? A: Nothing is going to prepare you completely for "Top Chef." Like, you think you're prepared ... and you're like, OK, you have dish prototypes in your head, and then you get there and it's not anything that you'd ever expect. You are armed with the tools that you have given yourself with your career. Hopefully you have chosen wisely! Q: Dessert seems to be a particular challenge for competitors. Did you have dessert recipes in mind? A: I went with probably two desserts in my head that I knew I could do that had been successful and that parts of them I had done at Trenchermen that were pretty versatile, but I did knowing that that was a testing for other contestants on "Top Chef" that I needed to have something in my arsenal that I could do. I was also terrified of having to be on Restaurant Wars and doing the desserts. Q: If you were able to pick the cuisine on Restaurant Wars, what would it be? A: I went into that kind of, that was the one that I wasn't prepared for because you're working with four other people that you may or may not get along with, so it's like (you do) whatever you can do to make peace, to make the most successful restaurant you can with what you're given in the time frame that you got. Advertisement Q: How important is it to be a team player? A: I think that is a huge part of being successful, but that's also a huge part of being successful in a restaurant. You cannot be just a lone warrior swimming against a stream when it takes a village to make a successful restaurant. Everyone has to be working together, on the same page. And if you can't follow directions or you always think you know better and you're gonna do whatever anyway, if you're in my restaurant, you're not going to be in my restaurant very much longer. Q: What are your strengths over your competitors that gave you confidence going into "Top Chef"? A: I know I'm a good chef, I know that I'm good at this, this isn't gonna take that away from me. And I know I can work with people even if I don't particularly like them. Like, I can figure out. And I'm pretty good at manipulating situations that I can pretty much be successful in. Q: The competition's in Boston with challenges at The Bull and Finch, Fenway Park, Plimoth Plantation, and one involves preparing a meal with ingredients that were only available at the first Thanksgiving. What's had you most excited and most anxious culinary-wise about these specific challenges? A: I'm kind of weird. I was so much more into the task at hand than where we were going or what was going to happen and what I needed to do. Like, I rewrote my prep list probably seven times a night and then had a mental timeline of what I was going to get done to be successful, and then if I couldn't find this, I was going to change it to that. Advertisement Q: If you're a finalist, what will you prepare for your final menu? A: One thing that I learned when I was there is you can have that menu planned all you want to, and like it doesn't matter, because your final menu might have to be out of these 10 ingredients or with these certain people and they don't cook that way. And if you have a hard-line menu of "this is what you're gonna do," you're done. Q: So, having ideas prepped ahead of time doesn't make a difference in the end? A: You have to be able to roll with the punches to survive this. And then be able to calm yourself enough to go, "OK I know I have this person and they're good at this, and this person and they're good at this." Like, OK, this is what we're going to do. Plan and go. Q: What was the most intimidating aspect of "Top Chef"? A: Just the actual being there and realizing that this is happening right now. Go! Like, you just walk in there for the first time and try to breathe it all in, and it looks kinda like it does on TV but it doesn't. ... You're surrounded by all these people that you know are really good or they wouldn't be there, and then there's (host and judge) Padma (Lakshmi) standing there in the middle looking all perfect, and then you know she's going to tell you something that you kinda don't want to hear. (Laughs.) Advertisement Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Q: I wouldn't want to stand next to Padma, either. A: She's all perfect and you're a sweat ball 'cause you've been running around and you're like, "Can you please stand over there?" Or like I'm just gonna like move around everybody else at the end of the line, so nobody can see that I look like I just jumped out of a pool. (Laughs.) Q: If you win, what do you plan to do with the money? (The "Top Chef" winner receives $125,000.) A: Oh my God, pay off my student loans from Culinary Institute of America thank God! ctc-dining@tribune.com "Top Chef" Advertisement 9 p.m. Oct. 15, Bravo During Prohibition, Capt. William McCoy smuggled Cutty Sark whiskey and other spirits to speak-easies along the eastern United States. Since there was no regulation on alcohol, the quality of spirits was often questionable. McCoy's reputation for only dealing in high-quality unadulterated liquor led to Cutty Sark being called "the real McCoy" or so the story goes. Just a little more than 80 years after the end of that dark era for scotch lovers, Cutty Sark has dubbed its latest blended scotch Prohibition Edition in celebration. Advertisement "This blend is created with exact precision as Capt. McCoy himself would appreciate to celebrate the 80th anniversary of such a significant era," says Kirsteen Campbell, Cutty Sark's master blender. Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition will make you rethink blended scotch. Bottled at 100 proof, a good deal stronger than the 80 proof of most blended scotch, Cutty Prohibition can be consumed neat, on the rocks, with a splash of soda, or in your favorite cocktail. Advertisement "At 100 proof, this expression is fuller in flavor, initially powerful but with a super-smooth finish," Campbell says. "The thing that makes this new expression so great is our ingredients we ensure our grain and malt spirits are matured in top-quality casks. We use American oak sherry casks, which provide the flavors that are at the heart of Cutty's DNA. Every cask is nosed to ensure its suitability for the whiskey. "We also take our time and respect the quality of the whiskey," she says. "Therefore, we allow it to rest before bottling, ensuring that all the flavors come together and become fully rounded." Blended scotch is a combination of single malts and grain whiskey. Most of what's in the bottle is grain whiskey made in column stills, which is relatively inexpensive to produce but lacks flavor. The single malts, made in potstills, are expensive to produce but add unique flavors. In Cutty Sark, the single malts are primarily Glenrothes, Tamdhu, and Bunnahabhain, but also include Glengoyne, Highland Park, Macallan, Macduff, Craigellachie and Glenfarclas. The grain whiskey is mainly north British but also comes from Invergordon, Scotland, and elsewhere. Fifteen percent of the malt whiskeys in Cutty Sark are from first-fill former sherry casks, which are typically 3-to-1 ratio American oak to European oak, but all the malts in Cutty Prohibition have been matured in American oak sherry casks. The malt whiskeys are split into five vats, where they are combined with a tanker of grain whiskey, reduced to 46 percent alcohol and returned to marrying casks for at least two months. Marrying the single malt and grain whiskey helps the blend become integrated. Finally, water from Loch Katrine in Trossachs, north of Glasgow, is used to reduce Cutty Sark to bottling strength. What does all of this do for the whiskey in the glass? Plenty. The nose is replete with baked apples, cinnamon and vanilla. On the palate, Prohibition is nutty but creamy, with vanilla, black pepper, toffee, hazelnuts, shortbread cookies and hints of cocoa. The finish displays moderate notes of malt and oak. Overall, it is a wonderful blend to be sipped neat from a brandy snifter, liberally poured over rocks in a double old-fashioned glass, or used to spice up your favorite whiskey cocktail. Crossing the Paseo and the globe in one show Public art marks either end of Paseo Boricua, the slice of Division Street between Western and California avenues where Chicago's Puerto Rican community holds court. Installed by former Humboldt Park Alderman Billy Ocasio in 1995, two enormous steel Puerto Rican flags make iconic welcome signs for the neighborhood and, in light of the island's recent hurricane and its presidents disturbing response, they also express a galvanizing materiality. Ocasio still spearheads the neighborhoods thriving art scene and currently serves as CEO of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. In a collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, the museum is exhibiting Galeria Chicago, a bicultural show that centers on abstraction as a transcendent language. The gallery moves through both time and space, pulling from the Ukranian art institutes permanent collection of 1950s and 60s artwork while the Puerto Rican museum stirs in contemporary Puerto Rican artists living or working in Chicago. Advertisement Were so close to each other and thought this would be a great chance to highlight our local artists, says Ocasio. The show aims to reflect Ukrainian Village and Humboldt Parks legacies as neighbors. Artists include Wasyl Kacurovsky, the Ukrainian institues first curator, and Edra Soto, whose solo show is now debuting the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicagos Commons Artist Projects. Galeria was initiated by the Chicago Cultural Alliances Inherit Chicago, an intercultural festival working against the citys pervasive history of segregation. Past programming has included the Muslim American Leadership Alliance, the American Indian Center and Southside Together Organizing for Power. Advertisement In spite of the citys economy, Humboldt Park is recognized as a location for local artists, and we welcome them, Ocasio continues. Public art will continue to grow, and its up to government to decide whether or not they grow with us. Through June 29, National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, 3015 W. Division St.; www.nmprac.org New A/V gallery plugs into a two-part show The mention of lithium conjures two different images: two batteries stuffed into the back of a remote, or a rattling bottle of pills used to manage the manic episodes of bipolar disorder. With this kind of evocation, Lithium makes a potent name for the new audio/visual gallery on South Halsted Street. With Alternating/Currents, Lithium Gallery hosts a duplicate series of shows, the first one running until Dec. 24, and the second opening taking place in March. As the names of the exhibition and gallery would suggest, Alernating/Currents explores modes of alternating dynamism: experience/experiment, grow/decay, hand-drawn/computer-generated, mundane/desire, physical/digital. In turn, the series will possess its own kind of dynamism and allow the featured artists to twice examine how context alchemizes with specific works. The exhibitions lineup includes Theo Chin, Anneli Goeller, Jillian Musielak and Amanda VanValkenburg; each arrive in the space with practices already textured with dualism. Summed up, Alternating/Currents is also a reflection on the oozy categories of old and new media your place on the chronological map determines whether or not the media at hand is old or new. Its a kinetic state that isnt exclusive to visual art like video and animation; it also takes place in spots like newsrooms, where generations of media-producers try to express whats in front of them with the tools that feel most innovative. In that respect, Alternating/Currents is a truly charged show. Through Dec. 24, Lithium Gallery, 1932 S. Halsted St., Suite 200; www.lithium.gallery khawbaker@tronc.com Twitter: @kthawbaker [ RELATED: These books command, not capture, your attention ] [ DePaul profs create series zinging parent-teacher conferences ] [ Taylor Swift explains her blunt testimony during her sexual assault trial ] This year, you could arrive at your company holiday party to find a woman from human resources distributing drink tickets, two per head, as if it's communist Russia and we're rationing trash red wine now. Of course, you shouldn't be surprised. Not in the era of Harvey Weinstein. Advertisement Weinstein and the tidal wave of other bad men accused of sexual harassment and assault have cast a long, dark shadow over the American workplace. As party season descends, companies are nervously wondering whether any of us can truly come together and drink spiked egg nog without someone who means to pat a colleague on the back accidentally putting his hands inside her blouse instead. (Which happened to Garrison Keillor. Even though it's impossible. Right, ladies?) Weinstein and all the others - so, so many others - are why corporate clients of all sizes have been calling Tracy Billows, a Chicago-based labor and employment lawyer specializing in sexual harassment. Their questions: "Should I have a holiday party? Alcohol or no alcohol? Spouses or no spouses?" Advertisement Don't cancel outright, she's telling them, but set a respectful tone. And yeah, bring the partner. Nothing like the evil eye from the S.O. to keep a harasser in check. Still, many companies have already decided that the endless whiskey-filled well of the open bar, that mainstay of the corporate shindig, has finally dried up. That's what human resources staffers said in a poll conducted this fall by placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas - in the midst of Weinstein and Kevin Spacey and Al Franken and Louis C.K. et al. Only 48 percent of companies said they planned to serve alcohol at their soirees. That's compared with 62 percent last year. That's if they were having a party at all. This year, 11.3 percent said "Pass" to a holiday event. Last year, only 4 percent skipped it. After conducting the poll for 10 years, vice president Andrew Challenger was caught off guard by this year's responses. "When unemployment is low, when the economy is moving at a good pace," he says, companies are more likely to have holiday parties, spend more on them and offer more alcohol. What else could the new booze-free approach reflect, Challenger wonders, but "the Weinstein Effect?" Advertisement --- As American traditions go, the office holiday party is decidedly odd: It's a collegial, company-sponsored get-together with free-flowing vodka. "Let loose a little!" an off-site setting can imply. But also, the invites suggest, "Decline at your own career peril." Can any good come of this? "The holiday function is supposed to be the unifying event of the year, for jobs well done. It's also supposed to be a morale boost for the employees," says Ross J. Peters, who specializes in sexual harassment at his llinois-based employment law firm. And yet. All the booze and informality add up to scenarios where employees and management can misplace their moral compasses. Advertisement "Sometimes, men feel it's an opportunity to make themselves more familiar in a party atmosphere. Harassers use it for intimate conversation," says Peters, frustration creeping into his voice. "You should not be asking about people's boyfriends or girlfriends!" "People tend to feel more comfortable away from the workplace," adds Billows. The lines are blurred, and management and employees begin to convince themselves, " 'I'm at a social gathering. The rules don't apply anymore.' " Which is why the office holiday party-related cases have stacked up for Peters, who represents harassment victims. Over the years, he has had a case of servers working a company event who found themselves groped by partygoers while passing the canapes. "I've had cases," he says, "where men said, 'That outfit makes your (we'll allow you, dear reader, to fill in this blank) look great.' " The worst case of all? An alleged rape. --- Advertisement Attention, employers: This did not begin in 2017. Peters says the cases he has worked in his decades practicing in the field have proved how rampant harassment is. For him, the scandals of the past year show only that "sexual harassment has finally taken its place in social discourse." Not that everyone has learned the lessons of the past months. Bloomberg reports that in Silicon Valley, where Uber endured an ugly avalanche of sexual-harassment firings this year, some unnamed tech companies are actually hiring models to attend their holiday parties and bring cheer to the mostly male staffs. (One agency said that a client asked for those models to wear "Pink Panther-themed latex bodysuits.") Bad behavior at office holiday parties is so pervasive that Hollywood - home of Harvey Weinstein - has long had a field day depicting the debauchery. A Christmas episode of "Mad Men" featured the slick New York ad execs and their nubile young secretaries mingling on a smoky, boozy night involving Santa hats, a conga line and cringe-worthy boss-secretary sexual high jinks. One particularly cruel attendee forced underlings to sit on Santa's lap and then kept the photographic evidence. Advertisement Then there's the 2016 Jennifer Aniston movie, actually called "Office Christmas Party," in which a "nondenominational mixer" at a Chicago firm becomes a frat-house rager, complete with this mid-party announcement: "If you are going to have intercourse tonight, please do not do it on company property. Go into the Rite-Aid parking lot!" Perhaps a lawyer can offer a better way to phrase that. A company statement, pithy but firm, just before the festivities is actually a very smart idea, says Peters. He suggests: "There is zero tolerance for sexual harassment. Zero. Zero. Zero." (Got it?) And if it happens? "They have to fire that person," he says. "That's the only thing a harasser will understand. It's got to cost him his job." Some companies are already making substantial changes. Media company Vox, which recently fired its editorial director over sexual harassment accusations, informed employees that they would receive just two drink tickets a person at the company party this week. Any further imbibing would be of the nonalcoholic variety. Advertisement "We recognize that even though alcohol isn't always the reason for unprofessional behavior," a leaked internal memo cheerily noted, "creating an environment that encourages overconsumption certainly contributes to it." OK, we've gotten that ugly stuff out of the way. Now, who's ready to party? All votes in the CO-3 election won't be counted until the end of this week By Alexander Chipman Koty and Zhou Qian Guangdong province, Chinas manufacturing heartland, has announced new measures to attract foreign investment. On December 1, the Guangdong provincial government issued a report delineating 10 policies to expand the provinces openness to foreign investors and foreign capital. The measures are in support of the State Councils Measures to Expand Opening-up and Actively Utilize Foreign Investment (Guo Fa [2017] No. 5) and the Measures to Promote Foreign Capital Growth (Guo Fa [2017] No. 39). They include policies to improve Guangdongs business environment, promote fair competition between foreign and domestic companies, expand market access, and offer investment incentives. RELATED: Hong Kong Finalizes FTA with ASEAN, DTAA with India The 10 measures for relaxing foreign investment: Further expand market access, including relaxing ownership limits and/or operation scope in the following industries: Special vehicle manufacturing; New energy vehicle manufacturing ; ; Ship design; Regional aircraft and general aircraft maintenance; Human resources service agencies; International maritime transport companies; Railway passenger transport companies; Construction and operation of gas stations; Internet service and call centers; Performance brokerages; Brokerage, banking, securities, futures, and life insurance companies; Law firms jointly owned by Hong Kong / Macau investors and domestic investors; and / investors and domestic investors; and Hong Kong/Macau airlines will be treated as special domestic airlines. Increase the use of financial incentives for foreign investment for the 2017-2022 period, including: For new projects worth more than US$50 million, replenishment projects worth more than US$30 million, and for multinational or regional headquarters worth at least US$10 million, the provincial government will give financial bonuses worth no less than two percent of the years actual investment amount, capped at RMB 100 million (US$15.1 million). For Fortune 500 companies and leading global companies with actual investments (new projects or replenishment projects) in manufacturing worth over US$100 million in one year, and newly established IAB (new generation of information, automatic equipment, and bio-pharmaceuticals) and NEM (new energy, new material) projects with actual investments of no less than US$30 million in one year, the provincial government will provide financial support on a case-by-case basis. For multinational or regional headquarters that contribute over RMB 10 million (US$1.5 million) to provincial revenue, 30 percent of the contributions will be awarded to the company in a lump sum payment, capped at RMB 10 million (US$1.5 million). Local governments can provide other financial incentives based on provincial incentive standards. Strengthen the use of land security, including land-use incentives for Fortune 500 companies, regional headquarters, and advanced factories. Support innovation and research & development (R&D), including financial support for foreign R&D institutions and encourage participation in the development of public service platforms. Increase financial support, particularly for Fortune 500 companies, global industry leaders, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Strengthen personnel support, including incentives and visa conveniences for high-level foreign talent. Strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, including by accelerating the construction of the China (Guangdong) Intellectual Property Protection Center. Enhance the level of investment and trade facilitation, including the full implementation of the Negative List and access to national treatment. Optimize the environment for attracting foreign investment in key parks, including implementation of administrative streamlining in eligible development zones and other supportive policies. Improve the use of foreign investment guarantee mechanisms, including setting up a coordinated mechanism to coordinate and solve the key problems that prevent investment in Guangdong. Pre-Investment, Market Entry Strategy Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates The measures represent a step forward in boosting Guangdongs competitiveness in attracting foreign investment. Although Guangdong is Chinas richest province by GDP, and already one of the most open to foreign investment, rising labor and land costs have seen many businesses relocate their manufacturing operations to lower cost alternatives, such as Western China, Vietnam, and India. Some areas in Guangdong have been successful in upgrading their local economies beyond low-value manufacturing. Most notably, Shenzhen has emerged as a hub for innovation and high-tech startups, and also boasts a robust financial sector. Guangzhou has also had success in moving up the value chain, by producing higher-end goods like automobiles and high-tech products, while surrounding cities like Foshan have also benefited from regional integration and high-tech manufacturing. The new measures reflect Guangdongs continued desire to attract high quality capital-heavy investments; many of the policies specifically state a preference for Fortune 500 companies or recognizable industry leaders. Stephen ORegan, Senior International Business Advisory Associate at Dezan Shira & Associates in Guangzhou said, These new regulations certainly show a more open approach by the Guangdong government towards foreign investment, particularly in trying to attract high level talent. However, many smaller companies still find it difficult to incorporate in China; the country is lowering entry barriers only for already strong enterprises. According to ORegan, The new policies show a step in the right direction, but overseas SMEs may still find it difficult to enter the south China market without more government support. In this environment, local expertise proves valuable. ORegan noted that SMEs can still benefit from some of the new measures both directly and indirectly, as well as other regional incentives. He explained, Many of Guangdongs cities offer incentives and subsidies that foreign SMEs find attractive. The Guangdong government is ultimately paving the way for more foreign SME investment by making it easier to access incentives. About Us China Briefing is published by Asia Briefing, a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. We produce material for foreign investors throughout Asia, including ASEAN, India, Indonesia, Russia, the Silk Road, and Vietnam. For editorial matters please contact us here, and for a complimentary subscription to our products, please click here. Dezan Shira & Associates is a full service practice in China, providing business intelligence, due diligence, legal, tax, IT, HR, payroll, and advisory services throughout the China and Asian region. For assistance with China business issues or investments into China, please contact us at china@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com 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 China 2017 This Dezan Shira & Associates 2017 China guide provides a comprehensive background and details of all aspects of setting up and operating an American business in China, including due diligence and compliance issues, IP protection, corporate establishment options, calculating tax liabilities, as well as discussing on-going operational issues such as managing bookkeeping, accounts, banking, HR, Payroll, annual license renewals, audit, FCPA compliance and consolidation with US standards and Head Office reporting. Managing Chinas Financial System Foreign investors often find Chinas financial system to be one of the most difficult areas to navigate when establishing or growing their presence in the country. Navigating Chinas tax system, and its complexities, requires time and commitment. In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we look at the factors that make Chinas tax system unique, and identify steps foreign investors can take to manage its challenges. We first examine the issues that most commonly disorient foreign investors. We then discuss the importance of pre-investment capital planning, within the context of tough foreign exchange controls, before examining the ever-maturing regulations for the transfer pricing system. Dezan Shira & Associates The Belt and Road Initiative inspired Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), a leading Chinese publishing house, to participate in Sofia International Book Fair. Zou Xiaobai, FLTRP's deputy director Multi-language Publishing and deputy general manager Language Service Center, told Xinhua that they were the first Chinese publishing house to participate in the fair. "We came here to get Bulgarian readers to know us, and we want to know more about Bulgarian readers, publishers, bookshops, markets. The more, the better," said Zou, whose employer is the largest foreign languages publisher and university press in China, ranking third in sales turnover among all the publishing houses in China. FLTRP is not an absolute newcomer on the Bulgarian book market. In 2016, FLTRP started cooperation with Bulgarian publishing house Iztok-Zapad (East-West). This March, the Chinese publisher established its editorial department in Sofia, FLTRP`s first overseas branch among all Belt and Road countries. "We will introduce Bulgarian literature works into China, and hopefully we can see more of Chinese literature works on the Bulgarian market," Zou said. "We started our cooperation with Iztok-Zapad under the Belt and Road Initiative," Zou said. "Without this initiative, we could not have imagined to make this trip to Bulgaria," she added. The two publishing houses have jointly published several Chinese books in Bulgarian such as "Insights into Chinese Culture" and "Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture". "Bulgarian readers are hungry for Chinese books," Luben Kozarev, Iztok-Zapad's founder and president, told Xinhua. In its 15 years, Iztok-Zapad has published some 50 books related to China, of which more than 30 have been written by Chinese authors, such as the Bulgarian version of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book "The Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation". The 45th edition of the six-day exhibition, which kicked off in the National Palace of Culture on Tuesday, gathered more than 150 publishers from Bulgaria, China, Italy, Iran, Romania and Turkey. Henrik Fisker, the automotive designer behind cars like the BMW Z8 and the Aston Martin DB9, will soon unveil his newest design driverless cars for China. At the end of November, the designer announced that his company will cooperate with China's Hakim Unique Group, the conglomerate of more than 160 wholly-owned or partly-controlled companies developing smart city infrastructure, to jointly produce autonomous vehicles in the country. "We have expressions of interest from several large Chinese financial institutions, as everybody agrees China will be the largest electric car market in the world and Fisker is one of the early pioneers with a strong brand that can take a large market share, especially with a future production facility in China," Fisker said. Alan Murray, editor-in-chief of Fortune magazine, said at the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou on Dec. 6 that technology is reshaping the business world in ways never seen before. Like Fisker, several foreign companies are hoping to strike gold in the Chinese market with technological products. In order to attract young Chinese customers, Fisker explained why his product makes public transportation desirable. "The ride will be extremely smooth, with gentle acceleration and gentle stopping, due to specific programming. The exterior was designed with a sloping roof and a strong side graphic to show which direction it is going. The exterior design features large digital communicators that are fully connected and will be adjusted in real time," Fisker said. Fisker also proposed the concept of a "smart city" in which driverless cars will be deployed in public places as well as on corporate and university campuses. Passengers will use apps to decide which vehicles to take. Fisker believes that this new kind of transportation will fit passengers' lifestyles better than it does today. "In the future, transport will be like a menu in a restaurant. The consumer will have many options depending on their needs and it will still include the private car as well, when it fits the need or desire," he said. According to Fisker, the advanced battery technology of these smart vehicles will be fully clean and good for the environment. "This breakthrough marks the beginning of a new era in solid-state materials and manufacturing technologies," said Fabio Albano, vice-president of battery systems at Fisker. "We are addressing all of the hurdles that solid-state batteries have encountered on the path to commercialization, such as performance in cold temperatures." A memorial hall for the Tokyo Trial, the tribunal for accused Japanese war criminals, will be built in Shanghai, a leading expert in the field said ahead of the National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. Students from Dongnan University in Nanjing light candles on Tuesday to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre, which began 80 years ago on Wednesday. A memorial hall commemorating the tribunal of accused war criminals in Tokyo will be built in Shanghai. [Photo/China News Service] Official planning for the memorial hall started early last year and preparatory work is steadily advancing, said Cheng Zhaoqi, director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Center for the Tokyo Trial Studies. The memorial day falls annually on Dec 13 and this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were killed by Japanese invaders when Nanjing was occupied in December 1937. "The government has been selecting a site for the memorial hall for months. Such a hall will be of major significance for the country, and we all understand that it's difficult to find a spot in downtown Shanghai," Cheng said. "I believe it will come into being soon." Precious historical evidence collected by researchers at home and abroad about the whole process of the court trial from the establishment of the court and the disputes over jurisdiction to the trial and the discussion over measurement of penalties as well as its far-reaching effects of the trial will be shown in the memorial hall, according to Cheng. The post-World War II trial, known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, began in Tokyo on May 3, 1946, and remained active until Nov 12, 1948. As an initiative to implement the Cairo Declaration a 1943 statement by China, Britain and the United States setting postwar goals the tribunal followed the model of the Nuremberg trials. Japanese leaders were tried for conspiracy to start and wage war, atrocities against humanity, and planning, authorizing or failing to prevent transgressions by commanders. However, officials in Japan have repeatedly tried to negate the results of the Tokyo Trial, Cheng said. "It's been imperative to recognize the achievements of the Tokyo Trial, and our country must air a voice of justice," he said. Gao Wenbin, then a translator and secretary to Chinese prosecutors, and the only Chinese still alive among those who participated in the work related to the Tokyo Trial, initiated the idea of establishing such a memorial hall. "History should never be forgotten and facts should never be distorted," Gao, a 96-year-old Shanghai native, told Xinhua News Agency. Cheng also said some reports by foreign media that had quoted him as saying the memorial hall will have the same social significance as the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre and become another national memorial facility for the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggressions (1931-45) were incorrect. "The Nanjing Massacre was publicly recognized as a major disaster for the country, while the Tokyo Trial was the final judgment of the atrocity by the Japanese war criminals. It's hard to compare their importance," he said. An injured female snow leopard received surgery on her fractured left hind-leg Monday, according to the provincial rescue and breeding center in northwest China's Qinghai Province. An injured female snow leopard received surgery on her fractured left hind-leg Monday in northwest China's Qinghai Province. [Photo: Chinanews.com] The wild snow leopard, a species which is on China's top protection list, was rescued by four herders in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on Nov. 24. The feline was diagnosed with a fracture to the left hind-leg and other minor injuries which had healed prior to the surgery. About 400 milliliters of liquid was removed from the injured limb, and 11 pins and a steel plate were implanted in the leg during the surgery, which took nearly four hours. "We are relieved the leopard will have the possibility of standing again after the successful surgery," said Qi Xinzhang, deputy director of the provincial rescue and breeding center. "More importantly, we hope to raise public awareness of the rescue and protection of wild animals." China is home to between 2,000 and 2,500 snow leopards, which roam across the provincial level regions of Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia. Both the population of snow leopards and their habitat area in China account for more than half of the global total. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for more reforms and opening-up to transform government functions and energize the market. He made the remarks during an inspection tour, which ran from Monday to Tuesday in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province. Government staff should step up reforms to make administrative procedures easier and create a better business environment by using the Internet, Li said when visiting an administrative service center at the province's free trade zone (FTZ). Addressing a firm providing multi-language translation services by pooling global talent online, Li said the Internet and big data should be utilized to integrate resources and talent, and develop new business models. During the tour, the premier also chaired a symposium on the work of the country's FTZs. Reforms at the FTZs have brought rapid development of new growth momentum in the past few years, he said. The FTZs should try bold moves and take the initiative to make greater breakthroughs in reforms, including the negative list approach. Talking with store managers and vendors on a shopping street, Li encouraged them to combine online and offline sales to better adapt to market competition and meet the needs of consumers. During a visit to a hospital, he said greater policy support was needed to remove restraints on medical research funding and medicine approvals. More work should be done to ensure the long-term, stable supply of much-needed medicines and expand the coverage of insurance to cover serious illnesses, he said. Pan Tieji is on a yearlong tour across the country with a senior man she has no blood connection to, but who she sees and treats as her grandfather. Pan Tieji (back) and the homeless senior man (on wheelchair) she met on street five years ago. [Zibo Evening News] "Grandpa is happy and really enjoys the old cities that have famous heroes," said Pan, president of the Heart-to-Heart Association of Jinzhou in Liaoning province. Pan met Li Jinghai five years ago by chance when the homeless man was begging for food in the street. Pan said she was worried about him and tried to help him contact his family. But the 85-year-old from Zibo, Shandong province, said he had no family and did not want to go to a relief station or a nursing home. "I am dying. Could you please take care for me for the next few years?" Li said. Pan could not refuse Li's plea for help so she rented an apartment for him near her home. She gives him 1,000 yuan ($151) a month for living expenses and visits him every day to chat. In late October, she made a decision to spend a year traveling with Li everywhere he wanted to go. "I want to take him to see something while he is still hale and hearty," she said. As for her intentions, she said her aim is charitable and her family supports her. "Love can give people courage and strength, so let love pervade everyone's whole being." She said she has not made a detailed schedule in line with Li's wishes and also because of his health. First, they set off for Li's hometown in Shandong, and then paid a visit to Jiangsu province. "After Changzhou, we plan to visit Shanghai, which Grandpa has old memories of. I am really moved that so many people have offered help since I started the journey. Giving is the best way of showing love," she said. "We are ready to celebrate Spring Festival in Yiwu (in Zhejiang province). After taking a few days off, we will travel to Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. As long as he is in good health, I will travel with him everywhere he wants to go." Communist Party of China (CPC) in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting [Photo/Xinhua] The Communist Party of China (CPC) is now pursuing a broader vision for maintaining sound relations with political parties all across the world. Its practical and flexible approach was well reflected in its desire for a meaningful dialogue with parties of divergent ideologies at a recent Beijing forum entitled "CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting. As Party General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly stated:"The CPC is willing to work with other political parties around the world to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity and create a better world. These words were addressed to 600 representatives of nearly 300 political parties and organizations from more than 120 countries. The CPC is the world's largest party and is leading the world's second largest economy. Unlike other communist parties, the CPC's success story is amazing and almost mesmerizing. It successfully engineered the New Democracy revolution and flushed out the foreign aggressors threatening the homeland. With the rise of paramount leader Deng, the CPC's orientation became more pragmatic and dynamic. It shook off rigidity and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics. While allowing the market forces to grow and flourish, the CPC never wavered from the core value of communism and its mission of building a prosperous and modern socialist state. Today China is a global power with overwhelming political and economic clout; however, it has refused to copy the style of the old Soviet Union to lead the communist parties from all over the world under the banner of the Comintern (The Communist International) and Cominform (Communist Information Bureau). Xi, who is also China's president, proposed developing a new model of party-to-party relations to seek common ground, and to respect and learn from one another. He is for building an international network of political parties for mutual cooperation and exchanges of ideas at multiple levels. In the next five years, the CPC is expected to invite 15,000 members of foreign political parties to China for exchanges. It is strongly seeking to interact and work with non-communist parties everywhere for the common cause of humanity. In the past, there was tendency of exporting "revolution" to other countries, which alienated communist nations from non-communist ones. In order to promote confidence in the latter, Xi said the CPC would neither import foreign models of development nor export the Chinese model. In 2013, Xi unveiled the concept of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrument of building a shared future for humanity. It has now become "a huge cooperation platform for countries concerned to realize their common development." The BRI has become one of the biggest global development projects involving over 60 countries across the globe. Endorsed by the United Nations, the BRI has been incorporated in the constitution of CPC as it seeks to boost connectivity, mutual cooperation, investment and people-to-people relations. The ultimate goal of Marxism and Leninism is to create an egalitarian classless society that is free of all forms of exploitations and oppressions. President Xi has embraced this vision when he underlined that all countries should create fair, just and shared security to eliminate the root causes of war and rescue people from the pains brought about by war. The major wars in the past took place owing to imperialist ambition and capitalist greed to expand markets and capture territories for their resources. Xi noted that efforts now needed to be made to build a safe world free of fear in which no country could gain its security at the cost of others. He called for adopting a new concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security for lasting peace and prosperity. Only collective efforts would enable nations to end poverty; however, Xi warned that the old-school winner-takes-all mentality and beggar-thy-neighbor approach by any country would not only block the door for others, but also barricade their own path. At a time when the U.S. is retreating into a cocoon of a protectionist and isolationist policy, Xi has stressed economic globalization that is "more open and inclusive, more balanced, more equitable and beneficial to all, to bring prosperity to all countries." This approach is essential for making globalization fair and international order more democratic. Ritu Raj Subedi is an associate editor of The Rising Nepal. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash The U.S. Attorney's Office in southern New York filed federal terrorism charges on Tuesday against a bombing suspect who was accused of detonating a pipe bomb at New York City's commuter hub during rush hour Monday morning. The suspect, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, faces five charges ranging from using weapon of mass destruction to providing support to a terrorist organization, according to a court complaint filed on Tuesday. Ullah, a U.S. lawful permanent resident from Bangladesh, admitted to investigators that he had built the pipe bomb and carried out the attack, the complaint said. It also stated that Ullah had been inspired and radicalized by the ISIS extremist group as far back as 2014. "I did it for the Islamic State," he said, according to the complaint. Moreover, prosecutors said in the charging document that before the attack, Ullah posted an update to his Facebook account on Monday that stated, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a news conference on Tuesday that "in plotting his attack, Ullah had hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him." "But through incredibly good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone," he added. The attack, using a low-tech bomb strapped to Ullah's body, took place at around 7:20 a.m. local time in an underground passageway near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, wounding Ullah himself and injuring three others near him. Ullah admitted that he began researching about how to build bombs about a year ago, and had been planning this particular attack for several weeks. Kim added that Ullah allegedly selected the location and timing to "maximize human casualties." "Like many others before him, we believe Ullah was inspired by a group that exploits technology in an effort to spread a violent ideology, effectively convincing sympathizers to commit terrorist acts worldwide," said Federal Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. Flash U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Washington is willing to talk with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) "without precondition," a rhetoric seemingly not fully supported by U.S. President Donald Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum at Atlantic Council Headquarters in Washington D.C., the United States, on Dec. 12, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] "We're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson made the remarks at a policy forum at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, signaling a new diplomatic opening for dialogue with Pyongyang. "Let's just meet," the top U.S. diplomat told an audience of around 300 on Tuesday afternoon. "We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table." However, responding to Tillerson's remarks which differed from the harsh tone that has long been held by the Trump administration, the White House said there was no policy change on the DPRK. "The President's views on North Korea (the DPRK) have not changed," said the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement released hours after Tillerson's speech. Accusing Pyongyang of acting "in an unsafe way," Sanders said its actions "are not good for anyone." It was not the first time that Trump and Tillerson found themselves not on the same track over the Korean Peninsula issue. Trump undercut his secretary of state two months ago, when the latter was trying to reach out to Pyongyang to start a dialogue. "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Trump tweeted in October. Tuesday's remarks showed Tillerson's latest effort of seeking a peaceful solution amid escalating tension on the peninsula since the DPRK sped up on its nuclear program development this year. "Can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," Tillerson said at the forum, suggesting some initial contacts to set the ground rules for further negotiations. Tillerson noted the dialogue is possible whenever Pyongyang is ready. Tillerson's remarks came two weeks after the DPRK successfully test-fired a newly developed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. Washington and Pyongyang has been exchanging harsh rhetoric in the past months, with Trump threatening to rain down "fire and fury" and "totally destroy" the country. Before Tillerson's speech, the United States has insisted that negotiations should be based on the DPRK's nuclear disarmament. Flash Political leaders and representatives of key international organizations gathered at the "One Planet Summit" in Paris Tuesday to address the planet's "ecological emergency" and accelerate international climate actions. Organized jointly by France, the United Nations and the World Bank, in partnership with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the one-day summit's focus is to explore how public and private finance can innovate to support and accelerate common efforts to fight climate change. During the G20 Summit in Hamburg in July, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that France would host an international summit on climate mobilization on Dec. 12, 2017, two years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. More than 50 speakers, including representatives of nongovernmental organizations, entrepreneurs, investors, government officials, local stakeholders and scientists will take part in four round tables in the morning to identify and implement tangible solutions and mobilize public and private funding to enable large-scale their deployment, especially in the most vulnerable countries. In the afternoon, the summit's three key themes -- "Adaptation" "Mitigation" and "Mobilization" -- will be discussed. Each section will be moderated by one of the three co-organizers: Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, and Macron. On Dec. 12, 2015, a total of 196 parties to the UNFCCC reached the historic Paris Agreement on climate change to cut greenhouse gas emissions and set a global target of keeping the average temperature rise in their countries no higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement also saw developed countries commit to contribute 100 billion U.S. dollars a year from 2020 to mitigate climate change impacts in developing countries. After the United States, one of the world's largest main greenhouse producers, withdrew from the Paris Agreement this year, Macron pledged to continue the fight against climate deterioration that has triggered a wave of drought, seas rising and torrential rainfall. Via a web platform "Make Our Planet Great Again" launched in June, Macron invited scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, associations and NGOs and students from across the globe to join the fight against global warming. You are here: World Flash Israel's military on Tuesday denied it carried out an airstrike which killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Media reports said two Palestinians, identified as Islamic Jihad militants, were killed in an Israeli airstrike while riding a motorcycle in Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military, however, denied the reports in a statement. "Contrary to reports earlier today, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) did not attack in the northern Gaza Strip," the statement said. Overnight between Monday and Tuesday, an Israeli tank and an aircraft attacked northern Gaza. The spokesperson said they targeted Hamas posts in retaliation for a rocket fired earlier in the night by an unidentified group in Gaza. The spokesperson also said the military holds the Hamas responsible for any hostile act from Gaza. The tension between the besieged Palestinian enclave and Israel has been on the rise since U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last week. Flash Some 200 Japanese people attended a testimony meeting on Tuesday in Shizuoka city, central Japan, in commemoration of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre. Lu Ling, daughter of a Nanjing Massacre survivor who passed away in 2004, shared her mother's story with Japanese residents at the meeting. Lu's mother Li Xiuying, born in 1919, was stabbed 37 times by Japanese soldiers and lost her baby in the massacre. "The massacre imposed tremendous sufferings to my family, the people in Nanjing and the Chinese people," said Lu. "The truth about the Nanjing Massacre and the crimes committed by the invading Japanese troops are undeniable," she said. She added that her mother used to call upon people to cherish peace and never forget the history, and she would like to pass on those messages on behalf of her mother. "The atrocities committed by the Japanese troops at that time were so cruel and unforgivable," said Sakurai, a local resident, after watching a documentary about the massacre and hearing Lu's testimony. She said she felt sorry that the Japanese government has been trying to cover up that part of history and deliver wrong messages to the people. Masataka Mori, a former professor of irenology at Shizuoka University, said that Japan's ultra-rightist forces had been trying to erase the Nanjing Massacre history. "Nowadays, more and more young people know nothing about that part of history, which is rather alarming," he said. "On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre, it is hoped that more people could know about and pass on the truth about Nanjing Massacre," he added. The invading Japanese military brutally killed over 300,000 Chinese citizens and unarmed soldiers following the capture of Nanjing in 1937. Japan, however, has been trying to downplay its atrocities by claiming that the number of killed was not as many as 300,000. Flash The German government urged British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday to remain honest in her public communication about the recent breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. Germany's Europe Minister Michael Roth told press it was imperative that May truthfully adhered to the text of last week's agreement in Brussels on the first stage of Britain's departure from the bloc. "One must appear and speak (in Brussels), just as one does in London," Roth said. The Europe Minister said he was "confused" about the difference in narratives presented by British policymakers during the negotiations in the European Union's de-facto capital on the one hand, and to domestic audiences on the other. Roth's comments were referring to a speech given by May in the British Houses of Parliament on Monday, in which she seemed to suggest that Britain's payment of a "divorce bill" was still contingent on achieving a free trade agreement to govern future relations. This assertion directly contradicts key passages of the agreement between the EU and Britain which state that the payment of a financial settlement will be enshrined in a legally-binding exit treaty regardless of the outcome of trade talks. Based on the outlines of the methodology to calculate outstanding liabilities which have surfaced so far in European media, the bill presented to Britain as a consequence of its departure is estimated to amount to around 45 billion euros (US$53 billion). Roth's concern that Britain was backtracking on its commitments was shared by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday. Delegates in the assembly were particularly irked by a comment made by British Brexit secretary David Davis which likened the Brussels agreement to a "statement of intent" rather than a "legally-enforceable thing". In response, German MEP Manfred Weber called for the EU to send a clear signal to May to clarify her stance, while the European Parliament's chief negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, warned that progress on the second stage of negotiations was only possible in an environment of trust. The EU also reacted by hardening its stance on Brexit, with senior national officials effecting a change of draft guidelines on the next stage of talks which are scheduled to be agreed this week. According to the new text cited by the Financial Times newspaper, discussion of the future relationship between the EU and Britain cannot begin before March. The document further emphasizes that London will be fully bound by EU rules and regulations throughout a potential transition phase after 2019 without retaining any influence over their formulation. You are here: World Flash Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan said Tuesday China is willing to work with Iran to maintain friendly military exchanges and strengthen cooperation. Chang made the remarks while meeting visiting Ghadir Nezamipour, deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces. Chang said the two countries have developed sound bilateral relations, deepened political mutual trust and made achievements in trade and energy cooperation. "Under the new circumstances, China-Iran cooperation faces an important opportunity, and China is willing to cooperate with Iran to make new contribution to bilateral ties," Chang said. Nezamipour said he hoped for increasing communication, more pragmatic cooperation and a higher level of military relations between the two countries. You are here: World Flash The U.S. forces in Okinawa said on Wednesday that a window fell from a military chopper, according to prefectural officials in Japan's southernmost prefecture. Local authorities confirmed that an object fell from the chopper and onto the grounds of an elementary school in Ginowan City, Okinawa. Prefectural authorities said they were notified by the U.S. forces in Okinawa that a window had fallen from a CH-53E transport helicopter. An object measuring 1-meter in diameter reportedly fell onto the Futenma Second Elementary School grounds in Ginowan, at around 10:15 a.m. local time (0115 GMT). Teachers at the school said that around 30 children from the 4th grade were on the school grounds taking a physical education lesson at the time the object fell. The school said that one child sustained slight injuries as a result of the falling object. The Futenma Second Elementary School is located on the north side of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The Futenma base is central to an ongoing feud between the central government of Japan and local Okinawan government officials and citizens about its planned relocation to a coastal area within Okinawa. Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military bases in Japan, yet represents just a tiny percentage of Japan's land mass. Anti-U.S. sentiment has been rising on the subtropical island amid rising instances of U.S. base-linked crimes, noise, pollution and military accidents. Local police and investigators in collaboration with the U.S. Military and regional Defense Bureau were investigating the detailed information related to the accident, authorities said Wednesday. I have a plan for my morningrun by the store to pick up a side for dinner and some dish soap, then head to a meeting. So after I brush my teeth and help Jonathan get the kids off to their activities, I get dressed quickly and eat breakfast. I throw on my favorite corduroy coat, hoist my computer bag over my shoulder, and head toward the door. I go to grab the car keys on the entry table that we bought (and painted robins egg blue) for the express purpose of having a spot for keys. Next to the jar of dried lavender and stack of mail are two key rings that hold the keys to the car, the house, and our neighbors house, as well as a couple others the purpose of which Ive forgotten (but I keep holding on to them because you never know). Cue the sound of screeching brakes. The keys arent there. I check the side pocket of my bag, then the pants I wore yesterday, then my bag again. I start to panic a little. I take off my coat. I walk into my kitchen and look on the counter. I have lost my keys. With them goes all sense of perspective. With them goes my plan; with them goes my cool. These instruments that I use for security and freedomto lock out bad guys and get where I need to gohave suddenly become a means of imprisonment. Im stuck. Where could they be? I go through my Stages of Searching for Lost Objects: Stage 1.Logic. I retrace my steps. I look in the places that make sense. I breathe. I try to remain calm and rational: This is not that big of a deal. Theyll turn up. Stage 2. Self-condemnation. As I make my way through each room, scanning shelves and surfaces, I begin to self-flagellate under my breath: Im such an idiot. Where did I put those keys? Why am I such an idiot? Stage 3.Vexation. I get frustrated. I curse. Each second that passes leaves me slightly angrier. I switch back and forth between blaming myself and blaming others. Did Jonathan take them? I text him. No help there. God must know where my keys are. Why isnt he helping here? Im having a mild theological crisis over a two-inch piece of metal. Stage 4.Desperation. I start looking everywhere, even places that dont make sense. Im rummaging through random drawers and looking under beds, checking the pants pocket that Ive already checked three times, grumbling. I check the time. Its been nine minutes. Stage 5.Last-ditch. I stop and pray. Okay, breathe. I tell myself that Im being ridiculous, that Im overreacting. I quickly ask God for a restoration of perspective. I remember that a Catholic friend once told me to ask Saint Anthony to pray for us when weve lost something. So, for good measure, I murmur as I check my sock drawer, Uh, Saint Anthony, not sure how this works, but if you can hear me, can you please pray for me to find my keys? Stage 6.Despair. I give up and plop on the couch. I will never find my keys. The cause is hopeless. I am hopeless. I will be trapped here until the end of time or until we shell out the money to replace them. Outside the window, by my locked car, are naked trees and hopping sparrows, but I will not notice. Everything is worthless. The morning is ruined. Stupid keys. Stupid me. Stupid planet. Stupid universe. Then, a bit ashamed and guilty about my overreaction, I pull myself together and, beginning at step one, repeat the cycle. Seven minutes later, I find my keys under the couch. I have no idea how they got there. I yelp to no one in particular, Found them! Cue the Hallelujah chorus. I quickly move on. Out the driveway. Skip the grocery store and head straight to the meeting. My lost keys ended up being a hiccup in the day, no big deal, a tiny, forgettable 15 minutes. But it was also the apocalypse. Article continues below Apocalypse literally means an unveiling or uncovering. In my anger, grumbling, self-berating, cursing, doubt, and despair, I glimpsed, for a few minutes, how tightly I cling to control and how little control I actually have. And in the absence of control, feeling stuck and stressed, those parts of me that I prefer to keep hidden were momentarily unveiled. A Tear in the Tape Sometimes my days run smoothly. Like ticker tape, they hum along, pleasant enough, productive at timesmy plans, for the most part, uninterrupted. And then something small happens, the slightest tear in the tape, and the whole thing halts and becomes an unbidden morality tale. The neediness and sinfulness, neurosis and weakness that I try to pretty up and manage through control, ease, and privilege are suddenly on display. A few weeks ago the dryer, the dishwasher, and the ceiling fan all broke within a few hours. Most of my adult life I have had neither a dryer (we used a clothesline or the laundromat) nor a dishwasher (we did the dishes by hand) nor ceiling fans (we have air conditioning), but when they all broke simultaneously it felt like the universe had me on some kind of hit list. I took it personally. Small things go wrong. I feel hurried or overwhelmed, burdened by sad news or worried for a friend, and like a rising flood, inch by inch, the collective sadness and frustration mounts and I snap. I yell at my daughters to quiet down. I slam the broken dishwasher door just a bit harder than necessary. I mutter something under my breath. If I were a lioness, I would snarl. As it is, I brood. These unbidden unveilings in my day are insignificant compared to the immense suffering in our lives and in the broader world. There are people who face profound agony every day: chronic pain, heart-wrenching loss, desperation. In my own life, there have been seasons of deep sorrow. But this is not that. This is not the Valley of the Shadow of Death. This is the roadside ditch of broken things and lost objects, the potholes of gloom and unwanted interruptions. And yet here is where I find myself on an ordinary day, and here, in my petty anger and irritation, is where the Savior deigns to meet me. These moments are an opportunity for formation, for sanctification. Underneath these overreactions and aggravations lie true fears. My lost keys reveal my anxiety that I wont be able to do what I need to do to take care of myself and those around me. They hit on my fear of failure and incompetency. My broken dishwasher uncovers my worries about moneywill we have enough to fix it? And it exposes my idolatry of ease, my false hope in comfort and convenienceI just want things to run smoothly. Today my lost keys provide a moment of revelation, revealing the lostness inside me and my misplaced reliance. When the day is lovely and sunny and everything is going according to plan, I can look like a pretty good person. But little things gone wrong and interrupted plans reveal who I really am; my cracks show and I see that I am profoundly in need of grace. But heres the thing: Pretty good people do not need Jesus. He came for the lost. He came for the broken. In his love for us, he came to usher us into his foundness and wholeness. Taken from Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. Copyright 2016 by Lutitia Harrison Warren. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com (Dont miss our judges comments on the Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year, or the rest of the CT Book Awards.) Have something to say about this topic? Let us know here. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up. Its no secret that President Donald Trump feels strongly about wishing people a Merry Christmas. Im a good Christian. If I become president, were gonna be saying Merry Christmas at every store, he told Iowa voters back in 2015. You can leave Happy Holidays at the corner. Two weeks ago, he lit the White House Christmas tree with his wife Melania, then tweeted: As the president of the United States, its my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world a very merry Christmas. But fewer Americans feel as strongly about the greeting, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Research Center. Those who say it doesnt matter what companies or organizations call the holiday season rose to 52 percent in 2017, up from 45 percent in 2005. At the same time, those who prefer Merry Christmas dropped to 32 percent in 2017, down from 43 percent in 2005. The trend holds true among self-identified white evangelicals. Those who prefer Merry Christmas dropped to 61 percent in 2017 (down from 70 percent in 2012), while those who say it doesnt matter rose to 33 percent in 2017 (up from 26 percent in 2012). Pew didnt break out black Protestantstwo-thirds of whom identify as evangelicalin its earlier surveys, but in 2017 more than half said the holiday greeting didnt matter (54%), while the remainder were split between Merry Christmas (23%) and something less religious such as Seasons Greetings (23%). Predictably, those who attend church weekly would rather hear Merry Christmas. But even they are more ambivalent than they used to be. The 56 percent who preferred a religious greeting in 2012 dropped to 44 percent in 2017, while desire rose for both a nonreligious greeting (7% to 13%) or for either greeting (37% to 42%). A recent Morning Consult survey asked the question a little differently, querying whether it was appropriate or inappropriate for store employees to wish customers a Merry Christmas. Three-quarters of adults (76%) said the greeting was fine, compared to 7 percent who said it was inappropriate and 17 percent who didnt know. Among self-identified evangelicals, 85 percent said Merry Christmas was fine, while 5 percent said it was inappropriate and 9 percent said they didnt know. Most American adults (71%) and evangelicals (67%) also said Happy Holidays was a good greeting, though more evangelicals (20%) than Americans (13%) said it would be inappropriate. More than half of evangelicals said if a store uses Merry Christmas, theyd be more likely to shop there (65%), while 3 percent said they would be less likely to shop there and 27 percent said it made no difference. The use of Happy Holidays would attract 34 percent of evangelicals, push away 22 percent, and make no difference for 36 percent, according to Morning Consult. Fewer Americans than evangelicals said the use of Merry Christmas would make them more likely to use a companys services (47%), but it wouldnt make them stay away (4%), and 42 percent said it wouldnt make a difference. If a store used Happy Holidays, 29 percent said theyd be more likely to shop there, 14 percent said theyd be less likely to shop there, and 48 percent said it wouldnt make a difference. Even though white evangelicals are more likely to shrug over holiday greetings, slightly more of them see Christmas as a religious holiday, Pew found. In 2013, 82 percent said Christmas was more religious than cultural; this year, 84 percent said the same. At the same time, those who saw Christmas as more cultural than religious dropped from 9 percent to 5 percent. Theyre the only group to move this direction; all others are slightly less likely to consider Christmas more religious than cultural. Black Protestants dropped from 60 percent to 55 percent; weekly church attendees dropped from 76 percent to 69 percent; and Americans overall dropped from 51 percent to 46 percent. More white evangelicals also said they would include church in their festivities, perhaps because Christmas Eve lands on a Sunday this year. More than three-quarters said they would attend religious services in 2017, up from 71 percent in 2013 when Christmas was on a Wednesday. White mainline Christians are also far more likely to attend church this year (57%, up from 47% in 2013). In contrast, both black Protestants (59%, down from 65%) and Catholics (68%, down from 76%) are less likely to attend. Weekly church attendees are just as likely to go this year (84%) as they were four years ago (83%). While Americans in general are less likely to believe the history of the Nativity, almost all evangelicals still do. Nearly all said Jesus was born to a virgin (95%), that an angel announced Jesuss birth to the shepherds (97%), that wise men brought gifts (95%), and that Jesus was laid in a manger (98%). About 9 in 10 black Protestants were also convinced: 96 percent said Jesus was born to a virgin, 91 percent said an angel made the birth announcement, 90 percent said wise men came with gifts, and 88 percent said Jesus was laid in a manger. Overall, more than two-thirds of Americans know Jesus was born to a virgin (66%), that an angel announced Jesus birth (67%), that wise men brought gifts (68%), and that Jesus was laid in a manger (75%). However, the share of American adults who believe in all four elements of the biblical Christmas story has declined, from 65 percent in 2014 to 57 percent in 2017. The share who dont believe in any of the four elements has risen, from 14 percent in 2014 to 19 percent in 2017. While white evangelicals are just as likely to see and celebrate Christmas religiously, their stance on Christmas in the public sphere has softened. Along with lessening zeal for Merry Christmas, fewer white evangelicals said it was okay to display Christian symbols like nativity scenes on government property (80%, down from 90% in 2014). While the same number said government-displayed nativities were okay if they were accompanied by other religious symbols such as Hanukkah candles (24% in 2017, vs. 23% in 2014), fewer thought the nativity alone would be appropriate (57% in 2017, vs. 67% in 2014), and more said government property should be free of religious Christmas displays altogether (13% in 2017, vs. 5% in 2014). Fewer black Protestants than white evangelicals said displaying Christian symbols on government property was okay (71% in 2017). Two out of five black Protestants said it was okay to have a nativity without symbols from other religions (41%), while about one-third said other religions needed to be represented (31%), and 16 percent said government property should be religion-free. That might explain why white evangelicals believe the religious aspects of Christmas are less emphasized in American society now than in the past (71%), more so than black Protestants (52%) or weekly worshipers (63%). That change also bothers white evangelicals (59%) more than black Protestants (31%) or weekly worshipers (44%). A November YouGov poll found that the British also prefer to call the holidays Christmas, (83%), though a separate study revealed 1 in 5 didnt know the celebration is for Jesus birthday. (They thought he was born on Easter.) Only about 30 percent said they learned about Jesus from reading the Bible. Aware that fewer British children know the Christmas story, one Christian charity is trying to make their annual storytelling less confusing by cutting out the references to the Bible. In previous versions of the Christmas story, which it sends to 100,000 children each year, Scripture Union included Bible verse references and encouragement for children to compare the story among the gospels. But this year it took that barrier away, church and community fundraising manager Jennifer Babb toldThe Telegraph. When we realized that children dont even know the basics of what they are celebrating, then the traditional, simple story is the best way. Still, most British evangelicals said that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus birth and a great time to tell people about him (66%), according to a 2016 poll by the UK Evangelical Alliance. Nearly all said they would attend take part in a religious activity like singing carols or attending church (99%), while 89 percent said they planned tovolunteer or give money to a charitable cause. Lectrus Corp. plans to close its Houston factory after filing for bankruptcy earlier this month. The plant, 1318 Bammel, is set to permanently close in February 2018, according to letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based custom metal manufacturing company will lay off 64 workers at its local plant. The letter from Lectrus attributed the plant closure to the company's "financial situation." A Lectrus spokesman declined to comment. A call to the company's attorney in Chattanooga was not immediately returned. Lectrus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 7. The company reported it owes $35.2 million to hundreds of creditors, and has $13.3 million in assets. The company leased its Houston plant on a month-to-month basis from Mobile Modular Management, according to court filings. WASHINGTON - In an interview this week about the coming FCC vote over whether to repeal landmark net neutrality rules, agency chairman Ajit Pai took aim at a different group - the web platforms themselves. Content providers such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, Pai said, deserve more scrutiny over their decisions to restrict political content with pro-Trump and conservative messaging. Pai's comments on the Fox News show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" come shortly before a major vote in which the chairman and his fellow Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission are expected to eliminate the Obama-era rules that were designed to ensure that internet service providers treat all web traffic equally. Host Tucker Carlson told Pai that he didn't have a firm position on net neutrality. But he used the interview to highlight what he described as a media environment dominated by tech giants, companies he has recently criticized. "A lot of people, a lot of famous people, have very strong opinions about net neutrality," Carlson said. "They warn if it's repealed, a handful of tech companies will have total control of the internet. Wait, doesn't that already describe the status quo?" If net neutrality is dismantled, Carlson asked Pai, what, if anything, would prevent internet providers from censoring Fox News over complains about hate speech? Pai said that the FCC requires transparency, mandating that companies such as Comcast and Verizon disclose such actions and that a different agency, the Federal Trade Commission, would oversee that kind of content restriction. Defending his push to repeal net neutrality, Pai then shifted the focus from internet service providers to Web platforms, which he said are already impinging on free expression online. "You've actually put your finger on something that's very important that I've talked about: Where is the threat to the free and open internet?" Pai asked. "One of the things that people have suggested is it's not internet service providers, it's some of the content companies that decide what you see on the internet and, more importantly, what you don't see. Where's the transparency there? Shouldn't we have a conversation that involves them, as well?" Pai noted that there have been rumblings in Congress about the lack of transparency from Web platforms when they decide to remove or restrict political posts and videos. "I, too, have raised some of these concerns," he said. He cited Twitter's move to block a campaign video ad by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who spoke about her effort to "stop the sale of baby body parts" in a reference to false claims about Planned Parenthood. Pai also mentioned YouTube's crackdown on some pro-Trump and right-wing internet personalities, whose videos were recently stripped of advertising for violating the company's terms of service. Now Playing: At 9:09 p.m. Tuesday, Houston police and firefighters responded to the report of a shooting at Napolen Square Apartments, 6001 Gulfton. An unidentified male was found dead in the parking lot. Video: OnScene.TV A teen has died after a shooting Tuesday evening at a southwest Houston apartment complex, according to the Houston Police Department. He was found dead shortly after 9 p.m. in the 6000 block of Gulfton at Napoleon Square Apartments. A Florida Chick-fil-A went all out with its Christmas display this year, complete with lights, carousel and a nativity scene. A video featuring the store shows the Tampa restaurant completely covered in red and green lights. The parking lot is covered by a canopy of blue and white lights, flanked by color-changing decorations shaped like trees. HERO: 'Tweeter laureate of Texas' saves man's life performing Heimlich at Chick-fil-A A decoration arching over the 6299 W. Waters Ave. Chick-fil-A entrance reads, "We wish you wood eat more chikin," tying into the company's advertising of cows urging people to eat chicken. Decorating for Christmas is a tradition for the Tampa Chick-fil-A location. According to a 2015 press release from Chick-fil-A, the Christmas lights are installed the week before Thanksgiving and remain lit until a week after the new year. Store operator Jason Dittman said that he started decorating his restaurant 20 years ago and it has now grown into an annual tradition. "Our customers are very appreciative. They enjoy coming each year, and it becomes a family tradition for our customers and our community," Dittman said. Watch the video above to see how the Chick-fil-A went all out with its Christmas lights. Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter. When it comes to Hollywood, some areas of Houston are more popular than others. Of all of the neighborhoods (besides downtown) to appear on the big screen, Clear Lake seems to be the most popular thanks to NASA's Johnson Space Center. Eastside As Found & Encounter, a collaborative art show by architectural designer Jae Boggess, University of Houston (UH) graphic design and creative writing students and Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP), is now on display through the end of January at the historic Sunset Coffee Building at Allen's Landing, 1019 Commerce Street. The show features photography from Boggess, an associate designer at the architecture firm Brett Zamore Design, of industrial and commercial buildings east of downtown, and design proposals from UH students for installations along Buffalo Bayou's east sector. For Boggess' design thesis (she graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University in 2016), she presented a concept for the renovation of a dilapidated former rice mill in the Fifth Ward, now known as "The Silo," into a mixed-use urban farm and community center with apartments. "Around that time the Rice Design Alliance was accepting proposals for their 2016 Initiatives for Houston Grant, and I was fortunate to receive funding from them to turn my explorations into a photography series," Boggess said. "The grant selection committee felt that Jae presented a wonderful project to help Houstonians with understanding the area further. It is an important part of what makes up Houston," Angie Chen, interim executive director of Rice Design Alliance, said. Despite having grown up in Houston, Boggess said that she was not familiar with the Eastside, which lead to her interest in wanting to photograph the area. "I was intrigued by how a banal industrial building could evolve into a community icon and take on new life with different uses, so I began scouting the area for other neglected buildings that could use a new lease on life," Boggess said. Boggess initially thought the project would be about proposing architectural interventions at a selection of sites, but as she found more and more interesting buildings in need of attention, she realized that a catalogue of all the buildings would be appropriate. Buffalo Bayou President Anne Olson reached out after reading an article that Boggess had written for Offcite, Rice Design Alliance's blog, about her project intentions. Olson suggested to host a show at Sunset Coffee Building, since it was relevant to what BBP was focusing on. According to Olson, there is currently a large master plan effort underway in the Buffalo Bayou's eastern sector, from U.S. 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. A team of consults were hired to look into three main things: authenticity, bringing in long-time residents and businesses, and connectivity. "We wanted to do something over in the east sector because of the master plan, to highlight the industrial and cultural legacy over there let people know how rich the area is. The two projects just fit together perfectly," Olson said. "Partnering up with BBP allowed the project to reach a wider audience, and I am so grateful for that," Boggess said. "I think there is value to being mindful of the past when considering new visions for the future, and I hope that my photos will help people see beauty where it might otherwise be overlooked." UH graduate and undergraduate students worked on a number of proposed design installations to go in six different locations along the bayou in the Eastside and Fifth Ward communities. The proposals ranged from small interventions, such as repurposed oil barrels, to large scale installations and community events, like typographic murals. Jinyong Choi, a graphic design graduate student, was a part of a team that developed a design concept for the Old Gravel Silos site, that included a cylinder beacon to draw people in, with an informative kiosk. "We also planned to apply the large scale of the graphic letters 'together' to the exterior of the silos. I suggested the word together because this simple word embraces the purposes of the project: connectivity and inclusivity of the communities. Moreover, materials that had been stored in the silos were gravels, shells, sand, and cement, and those turned into the concrete together and became a fundamental resource for building the city of Houston," Choi said. Alwyn Brownewell, a senior in the UH undergrad graphic design program, noted that exploring the Eastside of the bayou was an eye-opening experience for her, as she had never been to the sites even though she has lived in Houston for over 10 years. "I think that these meeting points, that both UH and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership are working together on, help to reinvigorate and reconnect the communities and other visitors. Engaging with Houston's history and communities in such a fun way is an amazing feat! We Houstonians should preserve these areas and keep them authentic while at the same time retaining the connectivity and the inclusivity of the communities and their visitors," Brownewell said. Olson says that BBP plans to implement the student's projects in the spring of next year. "They are incredible. Very creative and doable," Olson said. "The students have done so much work, and Jae has photographed all of these amazing industrial buildings. Visually it is all exciting." Eastside As Found & Encounter is on exhibit through January 29. Dave Rossman/Freelance The Houston Archeological Society has scheduled its next meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at Doherty Library 009, University of St. Thomas. The program will highlight all its field activities, programs, presentations and awards in 2017. Organizers will also give an overview of what to expect in 2018. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Dabfoto Creative Services Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Courtesy photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 "For 35 years, the American Leadership Forum (ALF) has been a significant driving force in creating the vibrant Houston region we embrace today," Randy Sim, the newly elected Chair of the ALF Board of Trustees, said. He continued, "We salute those before us and look confidently into the future knowing that ALF supports leaders in our community to tackle the tough issues we face, together." ALF offered its first class in 1982 to create a regional network of diverse senior-level leaders across private, public and nonprofit sectors. The nonprofit organization, whose mission is to join and strengthen diverse leaders to serve the common good, has served more than 3,500 nationwide and 1,300 in Houston. The Navajo Nation has sued Wells Fargo, saying its citizens were targeted by workers trying to meet the bank's aggressive sales quotas. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., alleges many of the same practices that led to last year's $185-million settlement between Wells Fargo and regulators, including the creation of unauthorized banking accounts, credit cards and other products. But the lawsuit also goes further, alleging that the San Francisco bank targeted particularly vulnerable members of the Navajo Nation, including minors, the elderly and those who do not speak English. It also alleges that Wells Fargo lied to the tribe when, in a letter sent early this year, it said no tribal members were harmed by the bank's sales practices. "This shows a specific targeting of an ethnic community in the United States and, within that, subgroups of vulnerable Navajos," said John Hueston, a Los Angeles attorney representing the tribe. "It's a level of exploitation of a vulnerable community that has not surfaced in other cases to date." The nation is seeking damages, fines and penalties of more than $50 million, Hueston said. Wells Fargo spokesman Jim Seitz said in a statement that the bank could not comment on ongoing litigation, but he reiterated steps the bank has taken to compensate consumers and change practices in the wake of last year's accounts scandal. "Over the past year we have taken significant steps to make things right for our customers, including members of the Navajo Nation, who may have been affected by unacceptable retail sales practices," he said. The bank has eliminated the sales goals that, along with pressure from managers and lax oversight from top executives, were blamed for pushing workers to open sham accounts and credit cards for customers. It has also agreed to pay $142 million in a class-action settlement that will be open to all customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their names since 2002. Wells Fargo is the only major bank that has locations within the Navajo Nation, Hueston said. AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse) has expanded its free legal aid for victims of domestic violence into Fort Bend County. The organization serves clients by appointment at the United Way Fort Bend Center, 12300 Parc Crest Drive, Suite 140, Stafford, and the Fort Bend County Women's Center administration building, 501 E Hwy 90A, Richmond. To get assistance, call 281-207-2312 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or request help online. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Noble Energy's pipeline business created a new joint venture to buy Colorado's Saddle Butte Pipeline for $625 million. The deal is a play by Houston's Noble Midstream Partners to expand in Colorado's DJ Basin and capitalize on the region's growing oil production. Noble Midstream, which spun out last year from Noble Energy, is focusing on the DJ Basin and West Texas' booming Permian Basin. Noble said it is forming the Black Diamond Gathering joint venture with Greenfield Midstream, a Houston-based company backed by San Antonio private equity firm EnCap Flatrock Midstream. Noble and Greenfield will split the purchase price in half, but Noble will operate the joint venture and own 54.4 percent of the JV. The privately owned Saddle Butte system includes 160 miles of pipelines in operation with 300,000 barrels a day of crude capacity. Saddle Butte also has about 210,000 barrels of oil storage capacity. Saddle Butte also brings ongoing oil gathering deals with Denver-based PDC Energy, and PDC is planning to expand in the DJ Basin. RELATED: Plains All American and Noble team up in the Permian Noble said it's buying a premier oil gathering system in the heart of the DJ Basin that fits well with its existing pipeline network. "Saddle Butte is a strategic expansion of our footprint in the DJ Basin, which creates a premier DJ Basin crude gathering system and significantly enhances our third-party customer base," said Noble Midstream CEO Terry Gerhart. "The expanded crude gathering system and JV structure provides Noble Midstream flexibility to enhance returns on future capital projects." Greenfield CEO Jeremy Ham said the new JV is a powerful combination in one of the fastest growing oil basins in the country. Burke/Triolo Productions/Thinkstock Nashville's iconic Bluebird Cafe will kick off its 25th Annual Alive at the Bluebird Concert Series on January 2 to raise money for Alive Hospice. Vince Gill and Amy Grant will play January 3, and it's just one of 27 shows that run through February 1. You can find out more at BluebirdCafe.com. Tracy Lawrence recently donated more than $148,000 to the Nashville Rescue Mission. The money was raised through his 12th Annual Mission:Possible Turkey Fry and 3rd Annual Concert. American Idol alum Josh Gracin will release a new single in January. It's called "Nothin' Like Us." If you missed Brett Eldredge performing "The Long Way" Tuesday on ABC's Good Morning America, you can watch it online. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 260-foot-long aquarium of sorts has popped up in a remote corner of the East End, between Hidalgo Park and the Houston Ship Channel's Turning Basin: It's a new mural called "Turtle Soup," which the East End Management District commissioned from Up Art Studio. A bit of a soup it is, for those who might think it depicts species in the murky waters of Buffalo Bayou nearby. Porpoises, check. Jellyfish, check, if the tides are right. Goldfish, maybe, set free by misguided souls. Giant sea turtles, not so much. Or the tropical varieties of finned wonders that artist Pilot FX has painted there, whose names he doesn't know. He just liked the aesthetic value of their vivid colors, he said. Pilot, whose legal name is Adam Socie, excels at realistic depictions of all kinds of figurative subjects on a large scale. He also creates murals for the city's fire stations and has done more mini-murals on Houston traffic boxes than he can count. And he's painted quite elaborate underwater scenes that cover entire rooms of clinics and other types of businesses. Area resident Jesse Rodriguez, a graphic designer who lives in the neighborhood, also helpd. "We're just trying to bring color back into the neighborhood," Rodriguez said. He often sees families taking the Port of Houston's free boat tours. "Kids get all excited when they board the boat, but then everything they see is gray and rusty. There's nothing bright to look at and enjoy." Although the area could look greener soon. The mural, in the 7400 block of J.W. Peavy Drive, fills a tapered concrete wall retaining what might pass for a hill in Houston, between a couple of liquid tank storage facilities. But it's a block or so from the city-owned Hidalgo Park, which in the not-too-distant future will be connected via a hike and bike trail at its other end to Harris County's two-year-old Yolanda Black Navarro Buffalo Bend Nature Park. Buffalo Bayou Partnership president Anne Olson said her organization recently acquired trail easements and properties between the two parks, which are less than a mile apart. The latest acquisitions of about 13 acres provide a clear shot between 11-acre Hidalgo Park, which has a historic faux bois gazebo and neighborhood ball fields; and the 10-acre nature park, which contains wetland ponds, a cistern, native plantings, an overlook and hike and bike trails. That begins to look like a significant amount of green space. For now, both parks are relatively unknown to outsiders, in an area where small neighborhoods of modest frame houses are separated from Buffalo Bayou by industrial complexes. The waterway makes a natural, sharp "S" curve there just before it expands into the Houston Ship Channel's Turning Basin. Olson said the partnership plans to work with the county and city to develop a plan to connect the two parks. Her group also has a larger master planning effort underway along this stretch of Buffalo Bayou, and will be seeking input from neighborhood residents after the first of the year. Beyond the mural, J.W. Peavy Drive winds through overgrown, vacant land that looks ripe for whatever comes next. Several years ago, community volunteers cleared brush and built a mulched walking path on an abandoned rail spur. The decrepit, circa 1939 U.S. Appraisers Stores Building looms nearby like a set from an Alfred Hitchcock film. Customs officials once inspected goods coming through the port there. This place has serious potential, if it is redeveloped responsibly in a way that doesn't displace families who have lived nearby for several generations. "It will be interesting to see what the neighborhood wants to happen," Olson said. In the meantime, a pair of exhibits at the partnership's office could help jump-start conversations. University of Houston students have proposed installations and events for next spring along the bayou's East End sector with "Encounter: Meeting Points on Buffalo Bayou." Architectural designer Jae Boggess documents neglected industrial and commercial buildings in the area with her photography show "Eastside as Found." Both exhibits can be viewed 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through Jan. 29 at the Sunset Coffee Building, 1019 Commerce. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil that spilled in Fort Bend County last week after an oil rig blowout should be cleaned up in the next few days, company officials said, a relief for residents who say the "burnt rubber" smell is giving them headaches, burning eyes and nausea. About 240,000 gallons of crude and 30,000 gallons of sludge had been removed by midday Wednesday, one week after the rig near the Fort Bend County Tollway and FM 2234 in southwest Houston blew Dec. 6. The well was capped the next day, and driller IWR Operating, LLC called in Haz Mat Special Services, an environmental cleanup company from La Porte, to manage the site. But the smell has continued to hover over nearby neighborhoods in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties as the cleanup crews stir up the sludge while removing it. Texas health officials say the smell poses no danger to human health or safety, but residents say they are feeling the effects. "The smell is really, really intense," said Tennille Warren-Phillips, who lives about six miles east of the drill site in the Shadow Creek Ranch development of Pearland. "You most definitely cannot go outside." Warren-Phillips said she noticed the smell right away on Dec. 6 as the intense odor settled onto her neighborhood. Her neighborhood Facebook group has been busy with discussions about the smell. "It's been a popular topic: 'What is that foul odor?' " she said. Clean-up underway The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees drilling in Texas, is monitoring the clean-up. "The well is under control and spilled fluids are contained," said Ramona Nye, RRC spokeswoman. "Our inspectors have found no evidence of the spill impacting area waterways, homes or public land." Steven Childers, Haz Mat's vice president of emergency response, said Wednesday the well blew after experiencing what he called "an unexpected pressure-up" a "kick," as it's known in the industry. At 2,880 feet deep, it encountered a pocket of pressure that overpowered the amount of mud packed in to prevent the oil from shooting up. "They had not weighted their mud for that kind of pressure," Childers said. "It came up around, up through the casing on the outside of the drill stem, and it was over." A 30-mph wind that day created a "pretty heavy spray," Childers said. For the past week, 50 to 60 workers have been mopping up oil and removing the oil-soaked dirt from the area; much of the oil will be recycled. So far, the equivalent of about 30 tanker-trucks worth of crude and four tanker-trucks full of sludge have been removed. 'A very pungent odor' Officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality began investigating neighbors' complaints Dec. 7 and "detected odors consistent" with hydrogen sulfide in the community and near the well site. Low concentrations of the gas can irritate a person's eyes, nose and throat and may cause breathing difficulties for individuals with asthma. Prolonged exposure can cause headache, fatigue and eye inflammation, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "When TCEQ staff have noted odors, low levels of hydrogen sulfide ... have been detected below levels that would be a health concern," said Brian McGovern, TCEQ spokesman. He noted that "persistent, strong odors have the potential to cause, indirect, odor-related health effects," such as headache and nausea. "It's just sulfur," Childers said a byproduct of petroleum crude oil exploration. "It's not in every field, but in this field it's prevalent," he said. "There's a vein of sulfur that's in the salt dome they're drilling into." What's in the air, Childers said, "is the same sulfur people use in medications, that people use in their gardens, that people use for snake repellent. It's just got a very pungent odor." If the weather cooperates, Childers said, the crew should finish scooping up the oil-saturated dirt by Saturday or Sunday. That means the smell should dissipate after the weekend. Alex Stuckey covers science and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. Alyson Ward writes about the Houston area. As many people set out to accomplish their holiday shopping list, a few stores partnered with the American Lung Association to give them the chance to shop while giving back. Stores across the Houston area like the Heights Fly High Little Bunny, the nine Charming Charlie locations and Elaine Turner in Rice Village are holding events throughout the week inviting shoppers to spend money on items spanned across the stores with proceeds going to the organization. From Dec. 11-16, the stores designated a time frame where shoppers can buy items knowing the proceeds will benefit the local Houston office which provides support to Texans living with lung cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung diseases. "We are honored to partner with these retailers to do more for those living with lung disease and their families," said Katie Jones, executive director of the American Lung Associate in Texas - Houston. Michelle Sampson, development manager with Houston Office of American Lung Association said the idea to hold a weeklong event came from working with past non-profits who practice the same methods. "We were looking to have a opportunity for people to shop and have a little of something for everyone in order to get the broadest audience that we could," Sampson said. Fly High Little Bunny, one of two local Houston retail shops participating, was chosen for what Sampson said was based off her own positive experience with the store. "I though Fly High Little Bunny was great to show the history of our local retailers and because one of my favorite jewelry pieces is a ring I received as a gift from the store over 20 years ago," Sampson said. Owner, Cody Reaves, established the store with the help of a friend first in 1994 in Montrose before it was named with the unconventional name it holds today, Fly High Little Bunny. Reaves said the name was only used with his friend and meant the equivalent of, "go get them tiger." The store prides itself on collecting unique pieces found from traveling the world to fulfilling a costumer's wildest requests. "We are all about the unique stuff, we appeal to those who want to purchase something they know they won't see on another person again," Reaves said. He said his participation was to help bring more awareness to lung cancer, a form of cancer the often receives negative backlash. Participating stores are: Fly High Little Bunny on Dec. 11 from 5-8 p.m. Kendra Scott (Rice Village) on Dec. 12 from 5-8 p.m. Charming Charlie stores (City Center, Cypress, Brazos Town Center, Champions, Conroe, Baybrook, Katy, Pearland and The Woodlands) on December noon-6 p.m. Michael Kors (First Colony) on Dec. 13 from 5- 8 p.m. Elaine Turner (Rice Village) on Dec. 14 from 5-8 p.m. Vera Bradley (First Colony) on Dec. 15 from 5-8 p.m. Sampson revealed that Elaine Turner intends on being in attendance at the event on Dec. 14. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Hundreds of Katy-area homes flooded as a result of the August visit by Hurricane Harvey, but only one of them represents a loss to preservationists as well as the homeowners. The B. Ray and Charlotte Woods House at 610 Woods Lane was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2004 because of its architectural significance by Hill and Carol Adams, who moved there in 1992. "It was the only privately owned home on the register in Fort Bend County," said Shereen Sampson, chairman of the Historic Preservation Committee of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission. Carol Adams, known for her work on behalf of historical preservation, said the house will be leveled because of the damage caused by floodwaters as much as 2 feet deep over an extended period of time. "It was pleasure to take care of it," said Adams. "I'm sorry I couldn't save it." The house had never flooded before. But according to Costello, the engineering firm hired by the city of Katy after the Tax Day flooding, Hurricane Harvey flooded 685 residential structures in the Katy area Aug. 25-29. "Of all people who would have done anything that she could she would have certainly have saved it," said Sampson. "Once water sits for a length of time, there's not really much that can be salvaged," added Sampson, calling the loss of the house devastating to the historical commission. "It's hard to get on the national register," said Sampson. "As you can imagine, it was a treasure for our county. It's really a tragedy to know that it will no longer be part of our historic fabric in this county." The house was built in 1951 from natural materials, including limestone and cedar, for Ray Woods, the owner of a lumberyard. Architect Wylie W. Vale designed the nearly 4,000-square-foot ranch-style house. The architectural style is called "Modern Movement." Adams said the Wylie style involves using lots of high-quality natural material and lots of details. "I was blessed to get to know him. He did come by one time and was very pleased because it (the house) looked like it had looked." "We are certainly sad to see the damage to the Ray & Charlotte Woods home. It is a great loss to the community," said Sandy Schmidt, chairman of Keep Katy Beautiful. "What a tragic loss the entire community will be so saddened for the many losses to our historic home town," said Kay Callender, vice chairman of Keep Katy Beautiful. "Carol and Hill Adams have certainly been stewards of historic Katy and it is hurtful to all, that one of our most unique and historic homes was so damaged. As members of KKB we all treasure these homes that define our history." "It does lend something to the community if it has a historical house," said Adams, who noted that some people research historic sites and visit communities to find those sites. Added Schmidt, "The Woods home was always open for church functions, parties and wedding showers. Its current owner, Carol Adams, completed the intense research and paperwork required for National Register status a few years ago." It's tedious process, according to Adams, and there's no financial benefit or tax breaks to it. The Woods House isn't the first historic home for the couple. While they lived in The Heights for 13 years before moving to Katy, their 1912 bungalow was placed on the National Register. In 1992, they received the Good Brick Award from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance for their renovation of 221 E. 12th St. According to the group's website, the awards "recognize local contributions to the preservation, restoration and enhancement of Houston's architectural and cultural heritage." Since 2000, Adams, has belonged to the Katy Heritage Society, which she also led as president, to preserve and protect Katy's history. Katy Heritage Park is the site of some of those historic structures. Adams also wrote "Historic Katy: An Illustrated History," as well as "Images of America - Katy." According to the https://www.nps.gov/nr/, the Department of Interior website, "The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources." Ray Woods hand selected some of the limestone, said Adams. "They cut all the brick for the house on-site." "We worked so hard to keep everything structured the same," she continued. Replacing the roof, they used hand-split cedar shingles, for example. When the Adamses rebuild, the house will be raised higher, though it will include some items that could be salvaged from the Woods house. Beyond the history, though, it was where the Adams family lived and raised two children. "It was our home," she said. Returning to the homesite after Harvey, they found personal items removed from the house by volunteers all over the lawn. "So many kind people showed up with food and water. I'd never asked for or needed help. People were incredibly kind. They packed up all the stuff. Boxed it up." "Maybe it's a good way to let go and move on," reflected Adams. "I loved it all. I'll miss this year the first cold snap. We had a big fireplace and would build a fire." The couple is living in Houston now but plans to return to Katy after the first of the year. And she is hopeful that what happened might encourage others to pursue the national designation as a historic structure. The Dr. James M. and Dove Stewart House at 5702 Fourth St. in Katy gained register status in 1996, based on architecture and design. The Queen Anne style architecture was historically significant for the period 1900-24. Schmidt said that is the only other Katy home on the National Register. As to Keep Katy Beautiful working with homeowners who want their properties recognized for their historic importance, Schmidt said, "The process for National Register status is very involved and includes researching old property records, locating old photographs, etc. "It is my understanding that very little change can be made to the buildings and they must be located on the original property. Property owners take that project on themselves. There are many other properties in Katy that could be recognized but the homeowners must be willing and able to take on a major project." But Sampson called the Texas Historical Commission website fantastic for those interested in pursuing the historic designation. "It's a daunting process but there are people who can assist," she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Katy Independent School District this week finalized plans to purchase a University of Houston satellite campus now housing students from the flooded-out Betty Sue Creech Elementary School. On Dec. 12, the district's board of trustees officially ratified the motion to spend $6.7 million to buy the 10-acre plot of the University of Houston's Cinco Ranch branch at 4242 S. Mason. Katy ISD officials moved the 800 Creech Elementary students to the former college campus after Hurricane Harvey left floodwaters 2 to 4 feet deep inside the school at 5905 S. Mason. All the books in the library and most of the contents in the classrooms were lost. The district had been leasing the campus from the University of Houston while repairs were underway. "I'm very excited that we're getting this done," said Katy ISD trustee Bill Lacy. "There were a lot of people who were eyeing that property." Katy ISD officials said they haven't formalized plans for their new property. "We've got several options out there. We've got some programs we can look at," said Katy ISD Superintendent Lance Hindt. "We're not ready to commit on that right now. We'll bring it back to the board." In 2016, University of Houston officials approved plans to sell the Cinco Ranch site that opened in 1989. Katy ISD had been occupying the property under a temporary lease that allowed them to make structural changes as needed for its elementary school-age students. The school board were enthusiastic about the plan to buy the former college branch. "I still think this is probably the single best real estate deal made in the history of this district. It's just a tremendous deal," said Katy ISD trustee George Scott. The Creech Elementary students are expected to remain in the former college building for the rest of the school year. By that time, the repairs to the main school campus are expected to have been completed, officials said. "It has served us very well," said Katy ISD trustee Rebecca Fox. Katy ISD The Memorial Parkway Elementary choir officially kicked off the dedication ceremony of their new SPARK Park, which is now available for public use during non-school hours and on weekends. This park is a collaborative effort between Katy Independent School District, MPE parents, students, staff, the PTA, as well as local entities, who together contributed to the SPARK grant in the amount of $129,331. The park includes a concrete trail, sensory play panels, modular playground equipment, an amphitheater and other amenities. When visitors walk through the main entrance of the park, they will notice the school mascot, a panther, as well as 26 new trees from Trees for Houston. Talk about Hurricane Harvey has slowly ebbed months after the hurricane struck, but some families have yet to recover as Christmas approaches. Donors for Katy Christian Ministries' annual Santa's Sleigh: Adopt a Child for Christmas program dropped off gifts for close to 500 children and senior citizens last weekend. It is around 80 more than last year, according to KCM Social Services Director Lily Rodgers. "Five-hundred children is a lot of children, and some individuals take one child, so that means we have 500 people out there shopping for these kids, which is really neat," Rodgers said. Adoptees listed five gift ideas along with their clothing size, favorite color and other information that donors used to find presents, according to KCM's website. KCM's social services branch is restricted to serving people in the Katy ISD area, according to Rodgers, but the children of abuse victims in the greater Houston area were also selected for the Santa's Sleigh program. Hurricane Harvey left some families desperate this Christmas, making the program especially important this year, according to Rodgers. "They've lost their Christmas trees, they're having to spend their savings on repairs, that the last thing they're thinking of is putting gifts under a tree," Rodgers said. "So I think this year the need is much larger than it was before, in previous years." Families of children in the program can pick up the donations this weekend, and volunteers will deliver the gifts to the senior citizens' homes, according to Rodgers. Most adopters already delivered their gifts, however Rodgers said donors may still be needed. "We could always use donors, because if someone, for some reason, for whatever reason, doesn't drop off their gifts and they've adopted a child, then we could possibly have a child that needs adopting," Rodgers said. If wish to sign up for one of KCM's programs or wish to donate, visit ktcm.org. The Katy Independent School District wants to know if students are interested in participating in a junior ROTC program. Mayde Creek High School is currently the sole district campus that has a junior ROTC program - in their case one that is sponsored by the Navy. Now the district is exploring whether to expand the military-themed training for students. "We've been talking about this as a board for many years," said trustee Rebecca Fox. "There has been interest throughout our district to increase it." Katy ISD deputy superintendent Ken Gregorski is the district's junior ROTC point man. He told board members there's not much chance for another program from the Army, Marine Corps or the Air Force. Those military branches are not accepting any more applications at this point. However, another Naval Junior ROTC program within Katy ISD is a possibility although any new school would be put on a 200 campus waiting list, Gregorski said. An active junior ROTC program must have at least 100 students participating. Each program also requires at least two military members as instructors - at least one of whom must be a commissioned officer. The Department of Defense will pick up the cost for uniforms and any necessary equipment as well as pay the salary of one of the junior ROTC instructors, who are generally retired from the military. Katy ISD Superintendent Lance Hindt said he didn't think the district could sustain junior ROTC programs at each high school in the district. "We're looking at the possibility of putting in maybe one more unit," Hindt said. To achieve balance, another junior ROTC program would likely be based in a high school south of Interstate 10, officials said. Gregorski said there is a way for Katy ISD to move up the waiting list with the Navy. It would entail the district establishing a National Defense Cadet Corps chapter - which is similar to junior ROTC but with Katy ISD paying for all the expenses other than curriculum. Also, a NDCC chapter need only 50 members rather than 100 in junior ROTC. It would be, in effect, a tryout before the chapter would be adopted by the military. Both programs focus on traits like citizenship and leadership development, Katy ISD officials said. "If you put it on for a couple of years, the government will fund the program for us," Gregorski said. Trustee George Scott said the district should put together a survey to determine whether there is sufficient student interest to pursue at least one more junior ROTC program and track how former students have benefited from their participation. "I've had an opportunity to speak to a couple of them. They all seem so dedicated and really bright kids," Scott said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One of Houston's favorite barbecue joints is closing its downtown location but there is still hope for hungry, carnivorous Houstonians. Pappa Charlies owner Wes Jurena told Chron.com on Wednesday that his 2012 Rusk spot is closed effective immediately. RELATED: Pappa Charlies opens EaDo barbecue joint today (SEPT. 2015) The combination of a Hurricane Harvey downturn -- which has impacted many business owners in Houston -- and EaDo's somewhat finicky environment are to blame he says. A cherry spot near Minute Maid Park and BBVA Compass Stadium brought out plenty of Astros and Dynamo fans but that traffic dwindled when the sun went down. "EaDo is a nighttime spot," Jurena says. "But that doesn't make much sense for me in my business plan." He toyed with the idea of opening longer and installing a full bar but ultimately decided to not pull the trigger. He is proud of what he and his crew have done since opening the location in late 2015. Now Playing: Highlights of chef Chris Shepard's Southern Smoke 2017 Lexus Super VIP Culinary Tour, with special guests (brisket guy) Aaron Franklin and (whole hog guy) Rodney Scott. The tour starts at Underbelly, then visits Crawfish & Noodles, Saigon Pagolac and finally, London Sizzler. Video: Dylan Aguilar, Houston Chronicle "A lot of places opened around the time we did and they closed and we managed to last and we're proud of that," Jurena says. RELATED: Meet the faces of Houston barbecue Lauded by barbecue experts and local foodies alike, Pappa Charlies was well liked and a hit with area eaters daily. "Pappa Charlies was a hit almost immediately, and garnered rave reviews for its pork ribs, brisket, swaggery sides and 'goofy 'cue' specials such as smoked meatloaf," wrote the Houston Chronicle's Jody Schmal in October. "We helped push the bar in Houston barbecue," Jurena says. "I kept getting mad when I heard people tearing down Houston barbecue so I decided to help elevate it." A veteran of the barbecue competition circuit, civilians first got a taste of what Jurena was capable of when he pulled up with a smoker and a trailer at Jackson's on Richmond in 2014, slinging sandwiches and plates for hungry LSU fans. Jurena said that he is eyeing a spot on the west or northwest side of Houston to begin the next chapter. RELATED: Readers' choice: Pizzitola's wins Houston's best barbecue joint This wasn't a total surprise to keen-eared barbecue fans in Houston as he previously told the Houston Chronicle's BBQ State of Mind podcast in early October that a change of venue for the shop named after his father was imminent. "We were going to move anyway," U.S. Army vet Jurena says. "It was just a matter of when and where." That whole plan to widen I-45 and revamp its route would have likely spelled doom for Jurena and other businesses east of downtown and near the George R. Brown Convention Center. Still, a ton of Houston barbecue fans that got used to having the location just blocks from their downtown offices will be missing Jurena's unique takes of smoked meats and sides. People in Houston are willing to drive for great barbecue, as evidenced by the success of Killen's in Pearland. Tejas Chocolate in Tomball, and Corkscrew in Old Town Spring, so Jurena just needs to do what he's always done. For now, Jurena's location is still open for special events booking and catering. 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. An apparent drive-by shooting overnight has left one teenage boy dead and a teenage girl in critical condition, Houston police said. The shooting occurred just after midnight at the Sir John Apartments on Madrid near Yellowstone in southeast Houston, Houston Police Department Lt. Larry Crowson said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate From residents to first-responders, thousands of Houstonians lost their homes and struggled to find shelter and resources after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in late August and triggered catastrophic flooding. The University of Houston's Center for Public History plans to document their stories. In one of the center's largest oral history projects to date, "Resilient Houston: Documenting Hurricane Harvey," faculty, staff and students will conduct an estimated 300 interviews over the next three years to chronicle the human impact of the hurricane and record-breaking flood event. Todd Romero, co-director of the project, said it will ultimately serve as an archive for future scholars and writers studying Houston. He said the project will provide scientists and engineers with an understanding of the human and community dimension when they consider ways to address issues that arise with severe weather events, like Harvey. "We're giving them the human experience of the storm so that when they're making decisions about flood abatement, they're considering how those decisions impact individual communities," Romero said. By looking at the storm from five angles neighborhood narratives, feeding a flooded city, emergency medical services and first responders, the impact on Houston's energy industry, and flood abatement and control Romero said the project aims to show the effect of the storm on specific communities. Such impacts aren't always taken into consideration during policy-making decisions. The angles selected coincide with faculty expertise, Romero said, so finding and conducting interviews depends largely on utilizing each person's connections in the community. When students in his "Houston Eats!" history course returned to the university after the storm, Romero proposed Harvey's impact on Houston food as a focus topic. Brian Kling had only just become familiar with the field of public history when Harvey made landfall, but he and classmate Miguel Ramirez went on to produce a film and website about communities that came together to provide food for first responders during the storm. "So, as soon as I found out that public history was something you could do and learn and talk about, we found ourselves in the middle of an event that we should record and talk about," Kling said. He reached out to friends from his hometown of Baton Rouge whom he knew had been volunteering, and ultimately worked with Romero to interview three people in Baton Rouge who had assisted in providing food for Houston's first responders. "You'll see when you look at this film that the three interviewees talk at different points about how Houstonians have reached out to Louisianans at times of need," Romero said. "When they saw what was going on in Houston, they hopped on the highway, gathered a bunch of food, gathered their equipment and made their way to Pasadena and helped feed first responders during the storm." Another group is focusing on how flood-abatement efforts stand to affect Meyerland's Jewish population as part of the "neighborhood narratives" aspect of the project. "Meyerland's really been a center of Jewish life since the middle of the 20th century, and there's been so much institution building there that the threat of repeated hurricane and flood events is really pitch for that community," Romero said. The project now consists of nearly 20 people, a number that Romero expects to grow. While students already involved in the project are mostly undergraduate history majors, Romero said the endeavor will likely play a part in coming graduate classes on oral and public history, in keeping up with the practice of using Houston as a laboratory for such research. While the project isn't expected to reach completion for another three years, Romero said the Center for Public History plans to maintain a website featuring curated materials, including photos, audio and video interviews. All interviews and supporting materials will be archived at UH's MD Anderson Memorial Library. "History doesn't just live in textbooks or classrooms," said Monica Perales, director of the Center for Public History, in a news release. "It lives all around us." Houston neighborhoods with the most registered sex offenders This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Police added a 49-year-old Houston man to Texas' list of most wanted sex offenders on Tuesday. The Texas Department of Public Safety said John Wayne Stoneham is a "high-risk" sex offender wanted for violating his parole and failing to comply with the state's sex offender registry. In 1991, Stoneham was convicted of two counts of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. Police said he broke into the home a 25-year-old woman multiple times. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but released early on parole. JAIL TIME: Sugar Land woman sentenced for making 'vile' calls to ex-husband's girlfriend Now Playing: Anchor Isiah Carey with Waller Police Department Detective Sgt. Nanci Anderson and Chief Michael Williams Video: Fox 26 Houston Authorities said Stoneham has been wanted since May 2017, when he prematurely left a Houston facility designed to help convicts transition back into society. Stoneham lived in the transitional center starting in 2012 as part of his parole requirements. Stoneham's criminal history also includes indecency/sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl, according to police. He is described as 5 feet 5 inches, 145 pounds with cut scars near both eyes and on his forehead. FUGITIVE: Man accused of beating woman and injuring a child wanted by Houston police Authorities warn that Stoneham should be considered armed and dangerous. Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online. Above: See Houston neighborhoods with the most registered sex offenders. 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 Austin police say they found hundreds of doses of heroin along with marijuana and methamphetamine in a man's car after he drove recklessly across three lanes of traffic, causing other vehicles to apply their brakes. According to an arrest affidavit, Cory Patton, 24, had shaky legs and rapid speech after he was pulled over in north Austin on Dec 6. An officer said Patton initially couldn't remember his address and had a hard time finding his wallet. The officer said he became suspicious of Patton's intentions when he saw that he had two phones. FLOATING DRUGS: Narco sub filled with 3,800 pounds of cocaine intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard near Texas The affidavit states the officer had made drug related arrests in the area before and suspected Patton of selling drugs. Patton denied the officer's request to search his vehicle, according to police. The officer then requested a K9 unit, which was dispatched to sniff Patton's vehicle. Once on the scene, the K9 unit alerted police to possible drugs inside of the vehicle. During a probable cause search of Patton's vehicle, police say they recovered approximately 210 individual doses of heroin, an unspecified amount of methamphetamine as well as clear plastic bags and rubber bands inside of Patton's backpack. The affidavit states that Patton also admitted to having marijuana on his person and surrendered it to police. Austin police did not comment on the arrest. A mug shot of Patton was not available as Patton is still under investigation, according to the Austin Police Department. Patton was arrested for possession of controlled substances with intent to sell. As of Tuesday, Patton was not listed in custody at the Travis County jail. Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter. A man accused of hitting a woman and causing harm to his stepson after pushing him is considered a fugitive and wanted by Houston police and Crime Stoppers. According to a release, Eli Escamilla assaulted his wife and seven year-old stepson at their home in their 5800 block of N. Houston Rosslyn on June 30. During an argument, Escamilla allegedly punched his wife in the face and body. When Escamilla's stepson tried to protect his mother, Escamilla reportedly pushed the boy. Crime Stoppers said the boy struck his head on an unidentified object, causing him pain and dizziness. Police don't have any leads after an officer found a man shot and killed inside a car in southeast Houston early Wednesday morning. Residents on the 5100 block of Bataan near Jutland called police about 3:30 a.m., saying they heard gunshots, Houston Police Department Lt. Larry Crowson said. A Spring man has been charged with murder after admitting to investigators that he killed his roommate and buried him in a shallow grave, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Oscar Fermin Escobar Antunez, 33 and a native of Honduras, was taken into custody Tuesday after a sheriff's deputy located the victim's vehicle at Escobar's workplace, in Spring. Escobar voluntarily agreed to an interview with investigators, then admitted to killing Diogene Cerrato with a metal pipe, said HCSO spokesman Deputy Tom Gilliland. He then led investigators to the body, wrapped in trash bags in a wooded area along the 600 block of Willow Timber, just north of Greenspoint. Gilliland said the sheriff's office opened a missing person case on December 11, when Cerrato's family called to say Cerrato had been missing since December 6 and had not been at work. Cerrato and Escobar were roommates at the family's home in Spring, Gilliland said. The Cerrato family had taken in Escobar when he arrived in the United States from Honduras, where Escobar had known the Cerrato family when they all used to live in the Central American country, Gilliland said. On December 12, when HCSO located Cerrato's car at Escobar's workplace, deputies asked Escobar whether he knew where Cerrato was. "He said he didn't know, but that he was allowed to use the car," Gilliland said, "which didn't really sound that convincing." So deputies asked if they could bring him into the station for an interview, Gilliland said. Escobar agreed. That's when he confessed to killing Cerrato, Gilliland said. Escobar then told investigators where they could find the body, and led them there himself. The medical examiner exhumed the body from a shallow grave and from the trash bags. The official cause of death is pending. "It's a tragedy," Gilliland said. "This family had taken [Escobar] in to help him." Escobar's bail was set at $500,000 early Thursday morning. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed an immigration detainer on Escobar given that authorities believe he is a Honduran national who is not residing her legally. The body of the 2012 valedictorian of Klein Collins High School was found in the San Francisco Bay last week. Chuchu Ma, 23, of Mountain View, Calif. was found dead on Dec. 9. The Mercury News, a daily newspaper published in San Jose, Calif., reported that a bicyclist on the Bay Trail reported seeing a body in the water. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office dive team was called in to help recover the body. A few hours after the discovery, a report came into the Mountain View Police Department from Ma's boyfriend who reported her missing. "It's still an active investigation. We do know there is a missing persons report for her from Mount View Police Department. The medical examiner was able to confirm her identification for us, so we do know she was reported missing," said Capt. Shawn Ahearn of the Sunnyvale DPS. "Now everything else is awaiting the results of the autopsy report. We don't rule out anything. This was an unattended death; we don't rule out any possibilities. The autopsy report is going to give us a cause of death and let us know if we are heading in the right direction or if we need to be looking some place else." Ma was Klein Collins' valedictorian in 2012 and was one of five students selected among 2,500 distinguished high school students to earn a National Merit scholarship. The engineer earned scholarships such as the Evelyn Frensley Award for Excellence in Science/Mathematics, a scholarship from Cockrell School of Engineering, Thomas Watson Memorial Scholarship and a National Merit Scholarship. "The Klein family was heartbroken to learn of Chuchu Ma's passing. After graduating as the 2012 valedictorian of Klein Collins High School, Chuchu went on to study at The University of Texas at Austin," said Judy Rimato, Klein ISD associate superintendent of communications and planning. "We extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends." Ma graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2016, then became an engineer for Google. "Chuchu was an excellent software engineer in our developer product team," said Gina Scigliano, a spokeswoman for Google. "We are devastated to learn of her passing and our deepest condolences are with her family and friends." Fort Bend ISD officials recently announced plans are in motion for a November 2018 bond election to fund new schools, repairs to aging schools and other district improvements. Currently is the seventh largest district in the state with current enrollment at 75,340 students, approximately 6,000 new students are expect over the next two years. School officials say bond funding is needed to accommodate the growing student population. School board president Kristin Tassin said a facility study to evaluate what projects are needed is already underway and a yet-to-be appointed steering committee will begin meeting next month to gather input from the community, parents and district staff. "In January, we will hit the ground running fast and hard with community involvement and collaboration," Tassin said Tuesday, Nov. 28, during a joint workshop of Fort Bend ISD trustees and the Sugar Land City Council. Each trustee was recently asked to nominate three people to serve on the steering committee with superintendent Charles Dupree to nominate nine members to be considered for the 30 member board, Tassin said. Once appointments are made, the committee will meet five times to consider what projects to recommend for the bond referendum. The district also plans to host a series of focus groups and meetings in the coming months to allow residents to learn about projects being considered for the bond and voice their opinions. For residents who may be unable to attend a meeting, the district will host virtual meetings on its website. Meetings videos will also posted online and residents will be able to download bond-related informational materials, Tassin said. "We want the process to be collaborative and completely transparent," Tassin told city officials and trustees. Sugar Land City Council member Amy Mitchell asked how steering committee members would be selected. "How do you ensure people from every area of the district are appointed to your committee and people feel that their voice is being heard?" Mitchell asked. "The steering committee members will represent the diversity of our committee in all ways, economic diversity and geographic diversity" Tassin said. "We want to make sure it's not just parents of elementary school students or all business people. As trustees, we will work together with the superintendent to make sure we have a good balance among the members." Fort Bend ISD voters have approved school bonds twice over the last decade. Voters approved a $428 million bond in 2007 and a $428 million bond in 2014. The planning process for the 2018 bond formally started at the Sept. 11 trustee meeting when the board approved an $835,298 professional services contract with PBK Architects to create a facility-needs assessment plan. As part of that process, trustees meet one-on-one with a six member team of experts from PBK Architects in October to discuss their vision for the district. Todd Spore, PBK partner, spoke at the Oct. 16 board meeting and shared a draft of design guidelines created based on trustees' feedback. He told trustees he would be personally leading the long-range planning process. At the Nov. 13 board meeting, FBISD chief financial officer Steven Bassett reviewed documents outlining the district's current bonds and told trustees a bond package of up to $500 million could be proposed without raising the current tax-rate. Carolina Fuzetti, FBISD executive director of design and construction, also spoke at the meeting and outlined plans to begin design and engineering work on some potential projects during the bond planning process. "The HGAC systems at six or seven schools are in a critical state and we'd like to get a head start on those," she said. "There are also structural issues at Hall Stadium and Mercer Stadium which we could fund through a reimbursement resolution so that we can start construction as soon as the bond passes." After the steering committee completes its work, members will make a formal recommendation to trustees as to what projects should be included. Trustees are expected to review the recommendations and consider approving a November 2018 bond election measure at the April FBISD board meeting. December is a month full of fun holiday celebrations and traditions for loved ones to enjoy together. However, there are many children in the foster care system across Texas who do not have the same opportunities to experience a joyful holiday season. Child Advocates of Fort Bend is a non-profit agency dedicated to advocating on behalf of abused and neglected children through the use of specially trained community volunteers and staff. Volunteers advocate for children's emotional, physical and educational needs while they are involved in the court system. Child Advocates of Fort Bend is the only program in Texas that is able to provide a volunteer advocate for every child in foster care. For more information on CAFB and how you can help these small victims, visit www.cafb.org or call 281-341-9955. The next volunteer training session begins on February 12. Please call 281-344-5259 for details. Due to circumstances that are no fault of their own, these children have been removed from their homes and placed in the child welfare system, many times far from everyone they know and love. This holiday season, Child Advocates of Fort Bend urges you to be mindful of all the children in foster care who are waiting to be adopted or reunited with their families. "December is meant to be a festive time to spend with your family," Ruthanne Mefford, CEO of Child Advocates of Fort Bend. "Without the opportunity to share the holidays with the loved ones in their lives, children in foster care are deprived of precious memories that make the holiday season so special." According to The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), in 2016, more than 18,990 children were removed from their homes in Texas alone. This past year, Child Advocates of Fort Bend served 267 children in foster care in Fort Bend County who were removed from their homes. The agency is challenging more members of the community to become a part of the solution by becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. "CASA volunteers get to know the child and provide a voice for them in court, standing by their side to make sure they do not have to face an overburdened system alone," said Mefford. During the holiday season, children are especially vulnerable and hopeful to be a part of a family. Each year, more and more children enter the foster care system and don't get the opportunity to spend the holiday season baking, opening presents and participating in other family traditions. "We need more members of the community to step up and get involved," said Mefford. Whether you become a CASA volunteer, a foster parent or provide support to a local foster family, you can make a difference this holiday season." There is an urgent need for volunteers to offer foster children a consistent person in their life that they can trust and rely on. Every child in foster care needs someone to support them through this difficult time. They need a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer to be by their side to help them move through the foster care system as quickly as possible, and into safe, permanent homes where they can spend the holidays creating happy memories. Consider joining the movement and becoming a CASA volunteer. The next volunteer training session starts in February. For information or an application contact ljordin@cafb.org. Fifth-graders of Seguin Elementary School in Fort Bend Independent School District are getting an unexpected preview of what's ahead for them next year. They're temporarily housed at Crockett Middle School, which teaches grades 6-8, along with their elementary's third- and fourth-graders, thanks to Hurricane Harvey. Seguin Elementary, 7817 Grand Mission Blvd. in Richmond, is closed because of damage caused by hurricane-related flooding and the mold that followed. The younger grades from Seguin are assigned to Patterson Elementary for the remainder of the school year. And, the fifth-graders are living up to this year's school motto of "Shining Stars," said Tasha Grant, a Seguin Elementary fifth-grade math teacher. "The motto is so appropriate for what they've gone through, they continue to shine." Class had been in session for four days in Fort Bend ISD before Harvey arrived and teachers and students then had to start over again, she said. But help - both material and personal - came and still comes from many sources. For example, schoolchildren from other schools sent letters to their peers at Seguin who are taking the time to respond to their notes of support and encouragement. UNICEF USA stepped forward with school supplies from carts to enable art, music and PE teachers who travel between Patterson and Crockett to carry their materials with them to dry erase lapboards for classroom use, which Grant, an 18-year teacher, said are much appreciated. While UNICEF usually doesn't work in industrialized nations, Caryl Stern, president/CEO, UNICEF USA, said it has the wherewithal to respond after Hurricane Harvey just like it did post Hurricane Katrina. "We put children first," said Stern. Providing school supplies is but one aspect of its assistance. Looking down the road at long-term needs, she and Lisa Szarkowski, vice president, humanitarian emergencies and executive communications, UNICEF USA, talk of psychotherapy training for teachers/principals/educators to help them help their students. Grant, who has taught at Seguin for five years, said staff and students are adjusting to their circumstances. A wing of Crockett Middle School houses classrooms for the elementary students who like Grant have become used to the bells signaling the change of classes for the older students as well as the regular loudspeaker announcements. "We would have never imagined being in the situation we're in," said Grant. "An elementary and a middle school are you serious?" While Grant said she never imagined two separate entities functioning under one roof, she added, "It's amazing how everything is so seamless." The district and middle school staff have made the transition easier. "We haven't wanted or needed for anything," she said. Quoting the familiar phrase, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Grant said, "We definitely have been strengthened." Because staff are temporarily based in separate buildings, staff meetings have become an occasion of higher levels of sharing and support. And student ties to the school remain strong. "A lot of the children were displaced and still are," said Grant, referring to their family homes, but though they could have attended another school, they didn't. Grant said some families are living in the Galleria area but still have their children attend Seguin. "They didn't want to pull them out of school. All the students chose to stay here," she said. Teachers met with counselors before they started their displaced assignment to focus on children and how they could be of help. "It's amazing how resilient they were," said Grant, referring to the first days back at school after Harvey. Students talked about what happened and how everyone was OK, she said. Everyone just wants to get back home, she added. But for now, the Crockett students, whose mascot is the Maverick, and the Seguin students, whose mascot is the Stallion, are making what initially seemed an odd-couple pairing work. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the state's education commissioner to waive some rules used in evaluating schools in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Harvey, a move that could bring a one-year reprieve to Houston ISD and other school districts facing possible state takeover over long-struggling schools. Districts most severely affected by Harvey have been urging the state to postpone grading and potentially penalizing them in the wake of a storm that triggered catastrophic flooding, damaged schools, delayed the start of classes and displaced students. State Education Commissioner Mike Morath recently told lawmakers that the state faced the loss of federal funds if it didn't administer standardized tests, but Abbott urged Morath to seek a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education that would give Texas the option of not rating certain campuses without the loss of federal dollars. Abbott's proposal could give Houston ISD and three other districts within the federal disaster area Victoria, Ruge and Luling another year to improve student scores on standardized tests at chronically under-performing schools. Abbott stressed in a Dec. 11 letter that he believes in academic accountability and wants to ensure that students graduate college- or career-ready. "However," he wrote Morath, "in times of crisis, it is important to re-examine some regulations related to accountability placed on those living in devastated areas. With that in mind, consider ways to help relieve some of the pressures on students in areas most affected by Hurricane Harvey." Houston ISD Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones commended Abbott for recognizing that the accountability system should be tweaked to accommodate students in areas drenched by more than 3 feet of rain during Harvey. "I applaud accountability, but when you have kids whose lives have been severely impacted, you're treating trauma, you still have students and teachers displaced it's difficult to hold (them) to the same standard as others in the state who were not affected," Skillern-Jones said. "I'm glad the governor is recognizing that there needs to be some compassion as Houston recovers." Morath has not yet announced how or if the state will use standardized test scores to grade students, teachers, schools and districts in storm-torn areas. But TEA spokeswoman Lauren Callahan said Tuesday that the department has been working to address concerns about accountability in the storm's aftermath. There is precedent for relaxing such standards. After Hurricane Ike swept across Galveston Bay in 2008, state officials gave storm-affected districts a "not rated" grade if they performed worse than the previous year or were deemed "academically unacceptable." Morath had warned lawmakers and education leaders that failing to administer the state's battery of standardized tests would put the state in violation of U.S. law, threatening federal education funding. Federal dollars account for about 10 percent of the state's school funding. "We don't think a waiver could be or would be granted," Morath said in November. "There's no precedent for that in federal history." School superintendents across Southeast Texas have said they would be willing to have their students take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), as that data could help schools address students' problem areas. Administrators just don't want to be labeled or punished based on the results. Education leaders across Texas are also anxious about the state's coming accountability rating system, which will make a soft debut next year. The Texas Legislature approved evaluating schools and districts on an A-through-F letter grade system based on various performance factors, including student scores on the STAAR exams. Districts are scheduled to receive letter grades in August, with individual schools getting the grades in 2019. Linda Macias, associate superintendent of curriculum, instruction and accountability at the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, said the TEA has not finalized how the letter grades will be calculated, even with STAAR testing only a few months away. She said it would be unfair for any campus or district to be judged by a set of measures they do not yet know and especially cruel to use the soon-to-be-finished system in Harvey-affected areas. "We're not opposed to accountability, it just needs to be fair," Macias said. "And at this time, there's nothing fair about (the accountability ratings) for schools or districts that are part of the federal disaster area." Katy ISD Superintendent Lance Hindt asked the state Senate Committee on Education to rate all schools and districts within the Hurricane Harvey Disaster Area as "not rated- data integrity issues." That idea has gained traction among superintendents and other education leaders anxious about potential letter grades. "For us, F stands for flood, not a failing district," said Charlotte Baker, executive director of the Education Service Center 3 located in Victoria, in testimony before the Texas House's Public Education Committee. "It should not stand for a district dealing with the social and emotional challenges of the community and schools as we allocate all efforts towards recovery." Abbott also asked that the TEA waive certain parts of the Student Success Initiative, including grade placement committees that use STAAR scores to determine whether fifth and eighth graders should be able to advance to the next grade. Staff writer Jacob Carpenter contributed to this report. A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to strangling, then slitting the throat of a Rosenberg woman before setting her home on fire to hide evidence. Valentine Gonzalez Jr., 52, pleaded guilty in a Fort Bend County courtroom Monday to the Sept. 3, 2016, murder of Nancy Dean, 32. Authorities said Gonzalez, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1989 in Nueces County, fled to Matamoros, Mexico after the crime, where he stayed for six months before being extradited back to Fort Bend County in March. According to court records, Gonzalez initially denied killing Dean and stealing her car, but ultimately confessed to investigators in March. All of this happened by accident, Gonzalez told investigators, according to court documents. It wasnt planned to do that. It was an accident. I lost my cool. Court documents state that Gonzalez had been asked by Deans mother to mow her daughters grass that day. Investigators said Deans mother did not know until after her daughters death that Gonzalez was wanted at that time for failing to comply with sex offender requirements. Dean mostly had kept to herself in the neighborhood she had moved to months earlier, neighbors told investigators. Gonzalez told authorities he had never met the young woman. After finishing the yard work, Gonzalez told investigators, he and Dean began drinking. Records show Gonzalez told investigators at least three different stories about what happened next. In one recounting, Gonzalez said the two were about to have sex, when Dean mentioned another man shed been seeing and Gonzalez snapped. In another version, he said he told her the details of the sexual assault for which he was sentenced to 27 years in prison, after which she teased him about being a rapist, court documents show. Instead of seeing Nancy Dean, I saw (the woman he assaulted four decades earlier), and I just lost control, Gonzalez told investigators. Me and her struggled for about 5-10 minutes before I put her away, he told investigators. He then used a kitchen knife to make sure she was dead, according to court documents. What gave me the idea to burn the house down is because I know that fire burns all kinds of evidence that detectives or anybody would to try to look for, Gonzalez told investigators, according to court records. Thats why I poured gas on top of her, on top of her bed, her sheets and all over. Gonzalez later told investigators he had no choice but to kill Dean, who he said would have called the police and gotten him sent back to jail, court records show. He will serve life in prison after pleading guilty Monday. Assistant District Attorney Loretta Owen said Gonzalez was eligible for a death sentence, but was offered life without parole in lieu of a trial that would have required Dean's mother to testify. "There's never an easy answer or comfortable resolution to these cases," Owen said in a statement. "And there's not supposed to be. Balancing the victims' need for closure and healing, the defendant's deserved punishment, and the state's duty to protect the community, justice was done here." The kick-off of a seven-part Harvey series, a zoo up for sale, and a glance at changing death penalty trends, all in this week's investigative and in-depth reporting. Harvey's health toll only now starting to be realized By Jenny Deam and Nancy Sarnoff Three months after Hurricane Harvey, local health officials now are beginning to see the storm after the storm. In Harris County and the other hardest-hit regions of Texas, 17 percent of those who had houses damaged or suffered income loss report that someone in their household has a new or worsening health condition. A sweeping new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Houston-based Episcopal Health Foundation shows a similar proportion feels their own mental health has worsened. The story behind the Houston-area man who built his own zoo By Craig Hlavaty Clint Wolston loves Pee Wee like his own son. A 4,500-pound son with a giant horn sticking out the front of his head. "An amazing looking animal," Wolston said. "How you could design something like that is beyond me." Now Playing: For decades Bayou Wildlife Zoo has been a staple of childhoods in Brazoria County. Now the man who founded it is looking for a new owner to continue the magic for the next generation. Video: Craig Hlavaty Wolston has lots of amazing animals, but he turns 81 years old in April and is fatigued. He loves his furry and horned friends like children but he's ready to relax, watch TV, and have dinner with his wife. A photo of Pee Wee and Wolston is on display in the main building on site, when Pee Wee was just over a year old and waist-high. Houston After Harvey, Part One: Nature Ruled, Man Reacted By Susan Carroll After decades of successfully taming Buffalo Bayou by impounding storm runoff inside the reservoirs until the skies cleared, the Army Corps had finally faced its Sophie's Choice with Hurricane Harvey. In the Chronicle's seven-part series, explore how that choice - and others before - came to bear on the chaos and destruction of the massive storm. Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle Houston After Harvey, Part Two: Build, Flood, Rebuild By David Hunn, Ryan Maye Handy, and James Osborne The National Flood Insurance Program, designed to protect Americans from catastrophic floods, has failed in almost every way, encouraging people to buy and build in flood-prone areas while increasing the cost and magnitude of disasters. Congress' efforts to reform the program have failed just as thoroughly. For first time in 30 years, no Harris County death row inmates executed By Keri Blakinger For the first time since 1985, no Harris County killers will be executed by the state of Texas this year, a landmark shift for a county once known as the "capital of capital punishment." Despite a slight uptick in executions nationwide, Harris County's one execution this year was cancelled after a desperate death row plot led to a last-minute stay for serial killer Anthony Shore in October. Two U.S. Supreme Court rulings spared two other inmates. "This has been an important year in terms of death penalty litigation," said District Attorney Kim Ogg. "I view it as a positive thing. I don't think that being the death penalty capital of America is a selling point for Harris County." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Few things are more stressful for a parent than having their newborn baby in the Intensive Care Unit. Fortunately, Houston's Texas Children's Hospital is helping spread the holiday cheer. Working with First Memories Texas, a volunteer organization that helps comfort families with premature or critically-ill children, the hospital hosted Santa Claus in an adorable Christmas-themed photo shoot. CUTE: Freak out occurs after Houston gender reveal party turns into marriage proposal Now Playing: Having a newborn in a neonatal intensive care unit is hard on parents. Fortunately for the babies at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite's neonatal ICU, theres 82-year-old David Deutschman. He holds the babies whose parents cant b Video: Fox2Detroit In a prepared statement, April Neal, a mother whose son was born 13 weeks early and is being cared for at the Houston hospital, said the merry visit helped her family through a difficult time. "We were told Santa would be visiting a few days beforehand and I was so excited I was even able to dress up my son for the very first time, which was really special," Neal said. "I was a little bit emotional during Santa's visit, and grateful for an experience that normalized the NICU for families. I will always cherish these photos and was excited to share them with family and friends." "It's wonderful that Texas Children's has volunteer organizations that help put these events together for families they help bring a little holiday joy and spirit to families who are going through challenging times," she said. See images from the heartwarming photoshoot above. 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. Christmas came a little early for the Houston Zoo this week as they welcomed a new lion into the family. The 400-pound male lion named Hasani came from the Oregon Zoo. The burly 3-year-old is currently getting used to his new habitat and the three resident lionesses. It's common for zoos to move animals around to different facilities. The Texas prison system last month banned the use of solitary confinement for punitive purposes - but there are still thousands of inmates locked alone in cells across the state. However, those inmates aren't there for punishment; they're isolated in administrative segregation for safety or security reasons, such as suspected gang activity or escape attempts. NEW YORK - The Bangladeshi immigrant arrested in a botched suicide bombing in the New York subway mocked President Donald Trump on Facebook on his way to carry out the attack, writing "Trump you failed to protect your nation," authorities said Tuesday as they brought federal charges against him. Akayed Ullah, 27, was accused of detonating a pipe bomb strapped to his body in an underground passageway between Times Square - the city's busiest subway station - and the bustling Port Authority Bus Terminal. The device did not fully detonate, and Ullah was the only one seriously hurt in the Monday morning attack. At the hospital where he was taken with burns on his hands and torso, he told officers, "I did it for the Islamic State," according to the criminal complaint. Also, a search of his Brooklyn apartment turned up a passport in his name, scrawled with the words "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE," authorities said. He was expected to appear before a magistrate, though it was not immediately clear if he was well enough to go to court. At a news conference, Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said Ullah picked a rush hour on a weekday to maximize casualties in his quest "to kill, to maim and to destroy." The bomb was assembled in the past week using fragments of a metal pipe, a battery and a Christmas tree light bulb, along with metal screws as shrapnel, authorities said. They said it was strapped to his body with wires and zip ties. The defendant "had apparently hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself," Kim said. Ullah was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. He could get up to life in prison. According to the court papers, Ullah started to become radicalized in 2014 and began researching how to build a bomb after watching ISIS propaganda materials online, include a video urging supporters to carry out attacks in their home countries. Law enforcement officials said there was no evidence he had any direct contact with the militants. He taunted Trump on Facebook just before the attack, authorities said. Trump demanded a tightening of immigration rules. Ullah entered the country in 2011 on a visa available to certain relatives of U.S. citizens. Less than two months ago, an Uzbek immigrant who came to the U.S. through a visa lottery was accused of killing eight people in New York by mowing them down with a truck along a bike path. "We're going to end both of them - the lottery system and chain migration. We're going to end them fast," Trump said at the White House. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON The White House said Wednesday that it is withdrawing the nomination of Jeffrey Mateer to be a federal judge in Texas, following outcries in the Senate over past remarks he made linking transgender rights to "Satan's plan." The decision came as Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett was confirmed to a position of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, overcoming objections from Democrats about Tweets that they said reveal bias against gay and transgender people. GOP OPPOSITION: Top Republican calls on Trump to 'reconsider' nominee The U.S. Senate voted 50-47 along party lines to confirm Willett, one of two Texas jurists up for positions on the federal appeals court based in New Orleans. Now Playing: Ten finalists have been selected for five federal judge vacancies in South Florida. President Donald Trump is expected to nominate his choices in the next few months. Video: Sun-Sentinel A final vote is scheduled Thursday on former Texas Solicitor General James Ho, who was nominated along with Willett by President Donald Trump. A procedural vote to move forward on Ho's nomination passed later Wednesday by a slightly wider 53-47 margin. The votes for Willett and Ho come as some top Republicans, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, had urged Trump to reconsider two recent federal court nominations, including that of Mateer, an aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. A White House official, speaking on background, told the Chronicle that Mateer's nomination will no longer go forward. White House officials also decided to withdraw the nomination of Brett Talley, Trump's nominee to a federal court position in Alabama. Democrats had criticized Talley, a Justice Department official, because he had never argued a case in court. Mateer came under fire for controversial remarks he made in a series of speeches in 2015, including one in which he linked a transgender child to "Satan's plan." He also equated same-sex marriage with "bestiality," and defended the controversial practice of "conversion therapy" for gays and lesbians. GREEN LIGHT: Judge clears Trump's pick for consumer agency Gay rights sand civil liberties groups cheered the White House decision. "Jeff Mateer's extreme rhetoric and hateful comments are disqualifying for any public official and should have prevented Donald Trump from nominating him to begin with," Chad Griffin, president of national LGBTQ organization Human Rights Campaign. "We thank the senators who expressed concern about this dangerous nominee and the many supporters who joined us to #StopJeffMateer." Paxton's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent confirmation hearings and press conferences, Democrats also accused Willett, an avid Twitter user, of showing insensitivity in a tweet that they said mocked a transgender high school student. They also attacked a memorandum he wrote in 1998 to then Texas Gov. George W. Bush that was critical of the wording on a proclamation declaring "Business Women's Week." Willett, dubbed Texas' "Twitter Laureate," denied any attempt to denigrate transgender youths and argued that he was trying to remove partisan references in the Bush proclamation praising women in business. Texas U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, who recommended Willett and Ho to the White House, offered strong praise on the Senate floor, as did Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Cornyn and Cruz have praised Willett, the son of a truck stop waitress, and Ho, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, as the embodiments of the American Dream. "I have known the both of them for decades," Cruz said in a floor speech Wednesday. "Both are close friends. Both are brilliant lawyers. Both have spent decades earning a reputation as principled constitutionalists who will remain faithful to the law and will not impose their own policy preferences from the bench. Beyond that, both Don and Jim are testaments to the American Dream." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON Even as President Donald Trump rushes to fill federal judge openings across the nation, a top Senate Republican is urging the White House to put the brakes on an outspoken nominee from Texas. Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he told Trump to "reconsider" two controversial judicial nominees: Jeff Mateer of Texas and Brett Talley of Alabama. TOP PROSECUTOR: Trump taps Houston lawyer to the Southern District of Texas "I've advised the White House they ought to reconsider," Grassley told CNN. "I would advise the White House not to proceed." Mateer, a top aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, was nominated by Trump to be federal judge in Texas. He has faced bipartisan criticism for a series of speeches in 2015 on homosexuality, including a reference to transgender children as part of "Satan's plan." Talley, a Justice Department lawyer and candidate for a federal judge position in Alabama, has come under fire for urging readers in a 2013 blog post to join the National Rifle Association while attacking gun control legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre as "the greatest attack on our constitutional freedoms in our lifetime." With no previous judicial experience, Talley became the third judicial nominee since 1989 to receive a unanimous rating of "not qualified" from the American Bar Association, a move that Republicans have decried as partisan. Paxton spokesman Marc Rylander said that Mateer maintains the Attorney General's full confidence. "Jeff Mateer has faithfully served the State of Texas with the highest level of integrity and we have full confidence he would make an exceptional jurist," he said. Grassley's warnings came as the Senate moved closer to approving the nominations of two other Texas jurists, state Supreme Court Justice Don Willett and former state Solicitor General James Ho, to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. RICE FELLOW: New head of Energy Information Administration from Houston, too Unlike Willett and Ho, Mateer has yet to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for approval. Talley's nomination passed the Judiciary Committee, but has yet to go to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate aides said no action has been scheduled on Mateer, who is widely known among Christian conservatives. He ran afoul of Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn earlier this year for reportedly failing to disclose his controversial 2015 speeches to an advisory committee that vetted candidates for Cornyn and fellow Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Both Cruz and Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, serve on the Judiciary Committee and recommended Mateer to the White House. Cornyn, however, has since expressed surprise at Mateer's past statements. "We requested that sort of information about speeches and the like on his application," Cornyn told Texas reporters in September. "And to my knowledge there was no information given about those, so it's fair to say I was surprised." Cornyn, formerly a Texas Supreme Court Justice, said at the time there should be no "religious test" for judges. "But it is important," he added, "that all of our judges be people who can administer equal justice under the law and can separate their personal views from their duties as a judge." He added: "Because the information had not been previously disclosed, we were not able to have that kind of conversation with Mr. Mateer, so we've got some work to do." The Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, questioned Mateer's impartiality. In a recent statement to the Chronicle she called his views "reprehensible." Gay rights and civil liberties groups have long been critical of Mateer. "Mateer has spent his career publicly voicing his contempt for LGBTQ people, opposing LGBTQ non-discrimination protections, and even attacking transgender children," said David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign. "As we have said from the beginning, the White House must immediately withdraw his nomination." Trump nominated Mateer to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In a 2015 speech titled "The Church and Homosexuality," Mateer objected to a transgender student using a restroom matching her gender identity, saying "it just really shows you how Satan's plan is working and the destruction that's going on." Mateer also endorsed the controversial practice of "conversion therapy" for gays and lesbians, and likened legal same-sex marriage as acceptance of "bestiality." Republicans have cheered the impact on the federal judiciary from Trump's conservative judicial selections, starting with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Democrats, meanwhile, have generally opposed his picks and criticized GOP Senate leaders for rushing them through the nomination process. AUSTIN -- In a surprise move, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday dispatched the Texas Rangers to conduct a "detailed investigation" into growing allegations of sexual misconduct and assaults in state-run lockups for teen aged lawbreakers. Top state officials quickly confirmed the inquiry is a likely prelude to significant reforms the governor wants enacted in the agency that incarcerates 1,000 youth offenders. Those moves could cut the number of youths who are behind bars at state facilities in half, and increase Texas' reliance on community-based programs to lower the number of youths who end up in state prisons. In a one-page letter, Abbott directed Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety to send elite Rangers into the five-unit state system to investigate and "ensure that these acts are dealt with swiftly and to the fullest extent of the law." He said "additional action is needed to guarantee the protection of the youth in the care and custody of the State of Texas." Officials said Rangers were being sent immediately to the state's five youth lockups to begin interviewing staff and youths about the ongoing problems. One guard was recently convicted and three other employees were recently arrested for allegedly having sexual relationships with youths at the Gainesville State School, and officials have confirmed ongoing investigations are underway over similar allegations in at least one other lockup. Wednesday's move marked the first time state police have been sent into the lockups since 2007, when a scandal exploded over sex abuse and an official cover-up sparked top-to-bottom reforms in the state's youth corrections system. In recent months the Houston Chronicle and other media outlets have detailed the new allegations of sexual misconduct in the state's lockups and how assaults and staff shortages have deteriorated conditions inside the lockups. In his letter, Abbott called the allegations of abuse "reprehensible." Officials at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and legislative leaders applauded Abbott's directive. "Governor Abbott's letter to Col. McCraw reflects a strong commitment to the safety and well-being of the youth in TJJD's care," Carolyn Beck, the agency's director of external relations, said in a statement. "We welcome and share that commitment. Both the youth, and our dedicated staff members, deserve protections at every step. We appreciate added law enforcement support and involvement and look forward to working with the Rangers." David Reilly, the agency's executive director who is retiring in a few weeks, acknowledged to the Senate Finance Committee last week that high staff turnover has left his department unable to properly supervise the youths. Senators at a public hearing blasted his assessment, and demanded immediate action to curb the violence and sexual misconduct. On Tuesday, the agency's governing board hired Camille Cain, Abbott's criminal justice director, as the new executive director -- a move that was widely seen as a first step towards a shake-up of operations. At the time, top aides said Abbott was unhappy that faster actions had not been taken to stop the problems. In a letter delivered to Cain on Wednesday, Abbott directed her to ensure the safety of incarcerated youths as a first priority. He also recommended that Cain should begin work to reduce the population of the state's juvenile lockups downward from the current 1,000 to a more manageable number. Agency officials have said that as many as 500 of the 1,000 could be better housed in community-based programs rather than a remotely located state facility. Doing so would allow the lockups, which have been plagues by staffing shortages for years, to better supervise the remaining confines, according to officials. As a result of the 2007 reforms, the state reduced the population from 5,000 to 1,000 and shuttered more than half of the state-run lockups. In addition, state leaders are said to be looking at reducing the population even more by transferring troublemakers who pose security risks and commit assaults to a more-secure lockup, especially those with determinate sentences who are not sent to do time for open-ended terms until they successfully complete treatment programs. Recent statistics show that a majority of the youths in the lockups are 17 and 18 years of age, most doing time for violent crimes such as aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault. The state lockups have been plagued for years with violence, gang activity, staffing shortages and lack of programming that has been blamed for a high recidivism rate, especially after the 2007 reforms removed the low-level, non-violent offenders from the state lockups. 'Environment of fear' Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who has been critical of the agency's lack of supervision and violence at its lockups, applauded Abbott's decision. "It's exactly the type of intervention we need to get control of these facilities," he said. "They are being run by the bullies and the gangs, and the employees are working in an environment of fear." As a result of the continuing problems, four Texas civil rights and youth-justice reform groups called in late November for state officials to close all remaining juvenile-justice lockups and replace them with community-based treatment and rehabilitation centers -- a plan that was recommended in 2007 but never fully implemented, partly because of the cost and partly because of political opposition to job losses in the rural areas where the lockups are located. The remaining lockups are in Gainesville north of Dallas, Brownwood in West Texas, Mart near Waco, Giddings northwest of Houston and Edinburg in South Texas. As the controversy over the recent arrests and assaults has grown in recent days, top state officials have indicated a willingness to examine further consolidations and program changes to improve security and safety for youths and employees, who have the highest on-the-job injury rate in state government. Many are reported to be afraid to come to work and reportedly let some youths alone to avoid violent confrontations inside the lockups. While the lockups are equipped with thousands of surveillance cameras, installed after the 2007 scandal, TJJD officials have said that staffing shortages prevent them from monitoring the cameras around the clock as they should. Officials have blamed the remote locations of the remaining lockups as one reason for the chronic staffing shortages. Texas' juvenile justice system grew from a network of orphanages and work farms into training centers that gradually became secure facilities between the 1940s until the 1990s, when gang and drug violence increased and sent many more youths into state custody for more serious felony crimes. Mike Ward covers state government and politics, including the executive branch, criminal justice and ethics issues, in the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau. Send him tips at mike.ward@chron.com and follow him on Twitter @ChronicleMike. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, is calling for renewed legislative efforts to stop the operation of red light cameras in cities as litigation plays out in Dallas on the cameras. Oral arguments are being heard in the Fifth Court of Appeals today between the city of Richardson and Russell Bowman, who sued the city in 2016 for not following procedures under state law when installing their red light cameras. SUGAR LAND SUIT: A resident now seeks to overturn an earlier dismissal Bowman originally won the suit, saying the the city failed to conduct an engineering study prior to installing the cameras, but Richardson is now appealing the verdict. Now Playing: Researchers at Virginia Tech have debunked the widely-held belief that lining up bumper to bumper at stop lights will aid the flow of traffic once the light turns green. Video: GeoBeats "When the 86th Texas Legislature convenes in 2019, I will pursue legislation to stop red light cameras and to hold cities accountable for violating state laws," Huffines said in a press release. "Cities need to stop hiding behind 'government immunity' to avoid accountability. It's an option that isn't afforded to a hardworking, taxpaying Texan who is accused of breaking the law." Huffines cited an KXAN television report from September in Austin that said 46 Texas cities with red light cameras had failed to do the engineering study required by state law. "When a citizen breaks state law, he or she is fined or winds up in jail," Huffines said in the press release. "Yet with dozens of Texas cities illegally operating red light cameras, there appears to be no consequence or accountability. That's more than unacceptable, it's an outrage." SHORT YELLOWS: Motorists nabbed by the cams cite a common issue Red light cameras have previously received attention in the Texas Legislature but haven't faced any serious challenges since the law originally passed in 2007. The earliest the cameras could face a test in the form of a bill is 2019, when the Legislature next convenes in a regular session. Until then, litigation will continue to work its way through the Texas courts system. "Today's oral arguments are about Texas cities' unpopular, unsafe, and unjust red light cameras, and also about accountability and the rule of law," Huffines said. "I urge the Fifth Court of Appeals to stand against red light cameras and against lawless cities that think they don't have to follow state law. Mr. Bowman is a true patriot for standing up for accountability and the rule of law." What started off as a jokey meme that celebrated the close relationship between former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama is now bromance-official. Biden made the admission during an onstage conversation promoting his book "Promise Me, Dad" to a Chicago audience Monday. "You know all those memes are basically true," Biden said to the crowd, according to the Chicago Tribune. Biden called Obama his "brother" and said their relationship and the fact that Biden is 19 years older than Obama meant that he could "say things to him that no one else can say." The memes featuring Obama and Biden surfaced shortly after the 2016 presidential election, just as the transition to the Trump presidency began. The meme usually featured a photo of Biden and Obama, along with an imagined conversation between the two, with Biden being the jokester while Obama played the straight man in their comedic duo. More memes of their relationship were later borne out of Obama surprising Biden with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during has last days in office. Biden accepted the award, but notably shed some tears during Obama's speech. BROTUS LOVE: Obama wishes Biden Happy Birthday with a Joe/Barack bromance meme Now Playing: The Barack Obama-Joe Biden friendship launched many memes, and, on Monday, Obama referenced them in his happy birthday tweet to Biden. Video: GeoBeats Biden has confirmed his love of the Biden-Obama memes in the past, sharing his favorites in recent interviews. Obama also recently acknowledged the memes in a birthday greeting to Biden, where he tweeted a photo of the two and a meme-inspired conversation, writing at the end, "Happy birthday to @JoeBiden, my brother and the best vice president anybody could have." 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. A.O. Centrul de Drept al Femeilor anunta concurs pentru selectarea expertilor nationali pentru dezvoltarea conceptului de sprijin psihosocial si a Curriculumului de instruire in acest sens Two Veterans Day Ceremonies Two Veterans Day ceremonies were held in Town Park Clubhouse on Friday, Nov. 11, in addition to a flag retirement ceremony the night before in Main Street Town Park. Clarence veterans honored on Veterans Day Friday morning dawned rainy and dreary in Western New York, but the weather was not enough to keep the community from coming together to honor its veterans. On this day,... Town adopts 2023 budget The Clarence Town Board has adopted a 2023 budget of approximately $28 million, which includes a tax levy of approximately $13.6 million and stays within the states 2% tax cap.... Christmas movies: They let us celebrate the birth of Jesus while also basking in the warm irradiating glow of television. There's everything from the magic of Miracle On 34th Street to the commie propaganda of It's A Wonderful Life. Hell, even a movie in which a small boy tries to straight up murder petty cat burglars somehow became a seasonal classic. If you hadn't noticed, Disney has a real boner for money, which is presumably why they turned one of their hit Christmas flicks into a whole trilogy. Yup, there are three goddamn Santa Clause movies. And while most Christmas stories pretty much keep their shit together, the Santa Clause franchise is a wacky Yuletide fever dream that inexplicably stars Tim Allen. Let's start by looking at the first movie, The Santa Clause, in which Allen stars as Scott Calvin, a divorced executive spending Christmas Eve with his son, Charlie. While most divorced dads only metaphorically kill the spirit of Christmas with their crappy presents, Scott literally kills Kris Kringle in the first ten minutes. Walt Disney Studios Components & Peripherals News Xerox Partners: Icahn's Complaints Are 'Short-Sighted' And CEO Jacobson Is Leading The Channel In The Right Direction Alec Shirkey Share this Carl Icahn's public criticisms of Xerox and CEO Jeff Jacobson caught channel partners by surprise this week, when the billionaire activist investor launched his campaign to install a new chief executive and four board director nominees at the Norwalk, Conn.-based printing giant. In a letter sent to investors on Tuesday, Icahn who owns more than 9 percent of the company argued that Xerox has introduced underwhelming products and relied too heavily on sales, marketing and R&D cost-cutting in Jacobson's 12 months at the helm. He added that Jacobson, chairman Bob Keegan and other "old guard" members of the Xerox board have failed to recognize that further change is needed. "We are hopeful that a change in senior leadership will lead to value creation at Xerox," Icahn wrote. "The long-tenured members of the board seem to have their heads in the sand just like at Eastman Kodak. There is still time for change but very little time." [Related: Carl Icahn Wants Jeff Jacobson Out As Xerox CEO] Xerox partners who spoke with CRN, however, painted a different picture. They praised many of the strategic changes made in the past year, including improvements in the managed print services program and the app development made possible through a broader lineup of ConnectKey devices, and expressed support for Jacobson. "Jeff is very passionate about the business," said Troy Tafoya, president of Fort Collins, Colo.-based Professional Document Solutions. "If you get somebody who isn't as passionate about the business, it can go in the wrong direction. That's a concern we'd all have. I think he has made Xerox great again in terms of focusing on the core business, more focus on employee and partner satisfaction, and most importantly customer satisfaction. At the end of the day, they decide if we have a job or not." Tafoya said he has been excited to transition away from the traditional agent-only partnership model, despite the associated challenges, and believes apps could become a true difference-maker for the Xerox channel down the road. He also believes that Icahn's call for a leadership change is hasty, given that many of these examples are recently-launched developments. "That is a shocker," Tafoya said. "Maybe they expected a quicker turnaround in terms of profit and where the company is heading. I think that's unrealistic in that short amount of time." Just-Tech President Josh Justice echoed similar sentiments. The La Plata, Md.-based solution provider, named Xerox App Developer of the Year in March, maintains a flourishing apps business that accounted for 10 percent of company revenue as of this past spring. Justice said the growth in custom Xerox app development has allowed his company to streamline workflows and, in turn, create new value for customers. "Just-Tech has had an incredible year being a Xerox partner and taking advantage of Xeroxs partner programs, and bringing these new products, apps and solutions to our customers," he said. "We are anticipating a huge 2018." In years past, some partners saw Xerox setting itself up for trouble by commoditizing equipment sales and prioritizing market share over profit. By 2015, when Icahn bought more than a 7 percent stake in the company, it had just taken a third-quarter loss of $34 million amid declining revenue. Many of Icahn's latest complaints target decision-makers who were at Xerox before he took interest in the company and pushed it to split in mid-2016, when services powerhouse Conduent was spun off as a separate entity. Jacobson, who became CEO in January, has been a top executive at Xerox since 2012. Keegan, a longtime board member, spent 25 years at Eastman Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Icahn went on to claim that 75 percent of the value created at Xerox since last year stemmed from the Conduent spin-off, meaning its stock has "dramatically underperformed the S&P 500" during that time. He also noted that companies such as eBay and Forest Laboratories benefited from CEO changes he prompted. In an interview with TheStreet, Icahn mused that Xerox could make for an appealing acquisition target down the line. "This company would be a much better candidate for an acquisition once they clean certain things up," Icahn said. But the past year has marked a positive departure from the "old guard" Xerox mindset, said Patrick Leone, founder and CEO of Bloomington, Ind.-based MidAmerica Technology. He believes the market needs more than 12 months to catch up with Xerox's new ConnectKey devices, which were launched in the first half of 2017, because customers need to see how those can create efficiencies in practice. "It's up to partners to be developing apps to take advantage of that technology they created," he said. "It's short-sighted to say, 'Where are the profits now from it?' It's hard if (Icahn) wants to be forward-thinking and not playing catch-up. It would be inconsistent to say, 'I don't think we're seeing ROI on the platform that was launched' because that was based on the future. As Icahn's board battle rages, Leone also hopes that Xerox continues to view partner relationships as a key source of future value. Leveraging the channel to sell solution-based products in a large footprint, he argued, is the best way for Xerox to drive profits. "If (Icahn) is looking to drive profit for shareholders, I can't see any way to do that better," Leone said. "The alternatives are not going to drive profits. The way they got shareholder values down was doing the same thing for years. Pushing into the solution side and the partner side is the way to go." In a letter to employees that was published in its SEC filings this week, Xerox waved off Icahn's antics as a distraction. "The most important thing for you to know is that it is business as usual at Xerox," the company wrote to its employees. "This news has no impact on our operations, our team, our strategy or our priorities. Thanks to all of your hard work, we are on track as a company and we reaffirmed our financial guidance for this year." Components & Peripherals News Intel Partner Advocate Tichelman No Longer Heading Up Channel Business Lindsey O'Donnell Share this Intel channel chief Maurits Tichelman -- lauded by solution providers as a true partner advocate -- is no longer heading up the chip company's channel business, CRN has learned. Tichelman, who had been serving as vice president of Intel's sales and marketing group and general manager of sales within the worldwide direct and channel sales, is moving to a new leadership position outside of the company's channel business, effective Jan. 1, Intel confirmed. In his new role, Tichelman will lead sales initiatives in the European market, serving as marketing group vice president and general manager for Intel's Europe, Middle East and Africa territory. Meanwhile, Ricardo Moreno, who Intel hired this past year as vice president of channel sales, will continue to stay in his role, said Todd Garrigues, director of channels and distribution for Americas marketing at Intel, in an interview with CRN. "The key message here is that there have been some changes ... These are normal changes and we will continue to have a strong focus on our partner base heading into 2018," Garrigues said. [Related: Sources: Intel Planning Steep Cuts To Landmark 'Intel Inside' Program That Will Ripple Across PC Industry] As channel chief, Tichelman introduced Intel's specialty benefits for existing channel partners selling solutions into the Education, Internet of Things (IoT) Retail, High-Performance Computing Data Center and Retailer segments. Tichelman, who has led Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's channel business for the last four years, developed a reputation as a genuine channel supporter among Intel solution providers. "This is a loss for the Intel reseller channel from a big-picture standpoint. Maurits had deep roots in the global channel and solid relationships with channel partners of all levels," said one Intel solution provider via email, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was very approachable and had a sincere desire to understand channel partners' business models." Tichelman also spearheaded the reorganization of Intel's channel staff structure to bring together more support for the traditional reseller business and also streamlined the embedded and IoT business and account teams into one worldwide organization. "The more we're looking at areas of growth, the more we're reaching into new customers, you see that the channel is at the center point of the opportunity," said Tichelman, in an interview with CRN in May. "We're growing businesses with new customers, and growing with new products into existing customers -- it's a very natural fit where the channel has a natural fit for us." Tichelman is the latest executive to move out of Intel's channel business. In August, Intel revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Greg Pearson, who has been the senior vice president and general manager of Intel's sales and marketing group since 2013, would move out of his channel role. Meanwhile, in the fall of 2016, Intel underwent a management shakeup that saw Americas General Manager CJ Bruno move to a new role as the vice president and general manager of global accounts. Internet of things News New Pwnie Express CEO Cites Channel As Key To Growth In IoT Security Market Lindsey O'Donnell Share this The new CEO of IoT security company Pwnie Express is stirring up a "Stampede." "We're going to build our partner program and continue investment in the Stampede program," said Todd DeSisto, the Pwnie Express chief executive. He said he hopes to "build on the successes of 2017" by continuing the rollout of the startup's Stampede channel program. DeSisto is taking over for former CEO Paul Paget, the company announced at the beginning of December. Paget will remain at Pwnie Express as the executive vice president focused on strategy, according to the company. "We clearly value what can be done in the channel and that will continue to be a focus for us," said DeSisto. [Related: CRN Exclusive: Fortinet Tightens IoT Security Focus With New OT Security Solution For Partners] Pwnie Express, founded in 2009, touts its Pulse IoT security platform, which continually identifies and assesses all devices and IoT systems, helping customers by providing tools to respond to threats that put systems at risk. The platform discovers all devices and establishes device identities, and then enables customers to respond to any threats directly from Pulse. In September, Pwnie announced the launch of the new Stampede partner program, its first partner program to help facilitate sales through targeted regional reseller partners and MSSPs. The start of the partner program is a departure for Pwnie, which has previously sold directly to customers, and DeSisto, for his part, wants to continue that channel push. The executive was formerly the CEO of Axeda Corporation, an IoT company that was focused on securely connecting machines and sensors to the cloud. Axeda, which was acquired by PTC in 2014, also had a broad partner ecosystem made up of mobile network operators and systems integrators and DeSisto hopes to bring his skills from working with the channel at the IoT company to Pwnie Express. "Some of these IoT security problems are pretty big and broad it is natural to address the solution through a channel, and we want to leverage our partners' reach and base," he said. Another goal for Pwnie Express in the coming year revolves around leveraging its channel to secure operational technology in the industrial market. DeSisto said "the time is coming for Industrie 4.0" the trend of more manufacturing technologies becoming data-driven and automated: "We see that pickup security is a common need in these operational technology environments," he said. "Many times, manufacturers can't even see where their devices will be compromised, and these are environments where the stakes are high." The company in November announced $8 million in funding, led by existing investors .406 Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners and Fairhaven Capital with participation from the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET). That funding, which brings the total invested in the company to date to $28 million, will be used in part for continued customer growth. Well head into 2018 with great products and additional resources. Were in a great position to continue to grow by providing new and existing customers with the best IoT security product in the marketplace," DeSisto said. Every Thursday through the end of the year, the Connecticut Post will publish short stories about local families and people in need of a helping hand. The names of those included have been changed to protect their privacy. Each case will include an estimated dollar amount that would help them face everyday challenges like rent payments, child care costs and transportation. Every dollar donated to the Giving Fund goes directly to the clients in need. Click here to donate to The Giving Fund. Natalia Case 029 Natalia is a single mother of two who is the sole support for herself and her family. She does not receive public assistance. She is a hard worker; has two jobs and attends school part time, but struggles to keep up with the household bills. Natalia can use some help this holiday season to provide food and warm clothes for her growing children. A gift card of $300 from Target will give her great relief and take away some of the burden. Nina Case 030 Nina is a resident of Bridgeport who has been homeless for the past year. She has been moving from one family member to another. She has no income and has medical issues that prevent her from getting work. She currently lives with her daughter and her daughters family. Nina assists her as much as she can but cannot contribute financially to rent or household items. A gift of $350 would allow Nina to feel that she can contribute to help supplement the rent and household expenses. Lucas Case 031 Lucas is married with one young child, living in Bridgeport. Lucas and his wife have been out of work for an extended period of time. He recently completed a security guard course and expects to be employed as soon as he receives his credentials in about four months. Currently, Lucas and his wife are unable to afford a Christmas tree or presents for their son. A gift of $400 would help Lucas and his family celebrate Christmas an keep their heat and utilities on throughout the winter. Oscar Case 032 Oscar is a LifeBridge client in the Tech Connection Program. He is 16 and lives in Bridgeport. Oscars mom is behind on a few bills and needs money for groceries. Oscars mother only works part-time to support herself and her son. His mom is making minimum payments on her bills, but is still behind. A gift of $500 would help Oscar and his mom pay some bills and fill their fridge. Kristy Case 033 Kristy is a single mom of five children, ages 2 and 12. Theyre living in a shelter in Westport. Kristy is a domestic violence survivor who endured years of physical and emotional abuse. She lost her apartment because her abuser would not let her go to work to get money for rent. Kristy has frequent medical appointments and is struggling to find a new job to support her family. A gift of $500 would help her pay for transportation and winter coats and other necessities. Ingrid Case 034 Ingrid is a single, deaf mom with an 8-year-old autistic son. Ingrids landlord recently evicted her, her son and their roommate because of a foreclosure issue. The landlord did not alert the tenants ahead of time. Ingrid found an apartment in Philadelphia but needs money for movers. A gift of $400 would allow Ingrid, her son and their roommate to have a stable home thats closer to their family. Angelo Case 035 Angelo is a LifeBridge client, involved in the behavioral health department. He lives in Stratford with his elderly grandparents. Angelos grandmothers disability income is the familys only income. His grandfather is sick and they are struggling to pay for his medicine. The family is low on food and Angelo needs clothes and shoes. Angelo is not capable of working. A gift of $400 for medicine, groceries and clothes would help Angelo and his grandparents. Diane Case 036 Diane is a LifeBridge client and a single mother of four. The family lives in the Bridgeport area and was recently displaced by a house fire that destroyed the childrens clothing and school supplies. The family would benefit from a $500 gift card to Marshalls or Wal-Mart to help them replace clothes and school supplies. Elsie Case 037 Elsie is an 18-year-old student at the University of Connecticut Stamford campus and part of the Tech Connections Program at LifeBridge. She is pursuing a business degree and hopes to practice law someday. Elsie would like to get her degree in three years and would need to take a winter class to do so. Winter classes arent covered by financial aid and classes cost more than $1,000. A gift of $500 would help Elsie pay for the class and be the first in her family to get a bachelors degree. Mickey Case 038 Mickey is a breast cancer survivor who has been actively involved with LifeBridges Deaf Services program for more than 10 years. She wants to return to work part-time but is struggling to apply for jobs because her laptop is broken. A gift of $300 would allow Mickey to continue her job search online. Marshall Case 039 Marshall is 45 and married with four children. He works full-time and is known to be a conscientious, hard worker. Still, Marshall struggles to provide food for his family and pay the bills. His wife is a stay-at-home mom who hopes to return to work now that the kids are in school. A gift of $350 would help them with groceries and bills. Teddy Case 040 Teddy is a deaf 74-year-old man who plans to move into an assisted-living facility. He would like to have an iPad so he can stay connected with his family and friends. Teddy used to use a videophone, but the facility does not have access to one. A gift of $250 would allow Teddy to get an iPad to communicate whenever he needs. BRIDGEPORT Despite opposition from a handful of members, the City Council this week raised the car tax to start to recoup millions of dollars lost to cuts in state aid. Bridgeports tax or mill rate for motor vehicles is rising from 37 mills to 39 mills, which, according to the city, translates roughly into an $8 to $12 increase for the average $200 bill. The change will be reflected in tax notices the city is mailing out this month and is expected to bring in $933,131. Its not fair. I pay car taxes too, lamented new Council President Aidee Nieves. (But) we have to start closing this (budget) gap. Freshman Councilman Kyle Langan told his colleagues that he heard over and over on the campaign trail complaints about Bridgeports property taxes some of the highest rates in the state: Now Im being asked with my first action to increase them (taxes)? I will not. Run Kyle for mayor, right away, cheered audience member Clyde Nicholson. Tuesdays 12 to 6 vote for upping the car tax had its origins in the spring. The prior council and Mayor Joseph Ganim, all Democrats, had to adopt a new $542 million budget months before the states contentious budget process concluded in late October. So the city balanced its fiscal plan with state aid projections that did not come to pass. Finance Director Ken Flatto and Budget Director Nestor Nkwo told the council Tuesday that Bridgeport is facing a $15 million to $17 million shortfall including $6.5 million the city was supposed to receive from the state as a car tax reimbursement. State lawmakers in 2015 capped municipal car tax mill rates at 37 mills to address the higher bills city drivers paid versus suburban car owners. In return, the state was supposed to pay back places like Bridgeport that, with a 42.2 car tax, would lose money. Then the 2017/18 state budget gave cities and towns the option of going up to 39 mills by Dec. 15 something other big cities like Hartford and New Haven have also taken advantage of. The increase was unanimously adopted last week by the Bridgeport City Councils Budget Committee. Councilman Ernie Newton on Tuesday portrayed the tax increase as something that we have to do, whether we like it or not because Bridgeport was shortchanged by the state. He passed a resolution pledging to try to lower the car tax again next year. But council freshmen Peter Spain and Langan, who won their September primaries and Novembers general election in part by campaigning against the citys high property taxes, questioned whether the council should raise motorists bills. Spain asked Councilwomen Denese Taylor-Moye and freshman Maria Zambrano Viggiano, the budget committees co-chairs, whether they had pushed the Ganim administration to find cuts to save the $933,131 being raised. Zambrano Viggiano argued the city is struggling to address the full $15 million to $17 million shortfall: It (the car tax increase) certainly does not make the city of Bridgeport whole. Langan started asking questions of Flatto and Nkwo. Councilwoman Eneida Martinez sought to cut off discussion and force a vote, arguing council members should attend committee meetings to ask questions. Ganim, who runs council meetings, agreed with her. But Langan pushed back and was allowed to continue speaking. Langan, who is white, lambasted the state for shifting the burden of Connecticuts budget woes on to our black and brown cities. But he was also skeptical City Hall had sought alternatives. We do not have to go along with this, he told his colleagues right before the majority on the Council voted to raise the car tax. Contributed / Contributed The Bridgeport Hospital Foundation has received a $25,000 grant from Newmans Own Foundation, the independent foundation created by the late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman, to support the unmet needs of underserved outpatients. The award was made by Newmans Own Foundation as part of its commitment to empower individuals and extends the inpatient Fay Fund to include outpatients at Bridgeport Hospitals Primary Care Center and Ahlbin Rehabilitation Centers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT The former head of the Bridgeport Police Departments minority officers organization, demoted last year in connection with a fake racist letter, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Sgt. Lonnie Blackwell claims he is the victim of racial discrimination by the city. My client was placed on administrative leave for a year and then demoted, and by any measure or standard that was excessive, said Blackwells lawyer, Thomas Bucci. We are seeking to reverse the demotion and recover monetary damages for excessive discipline by the chief of police. Bucci said he would leave it to a jury to decide what those monetary damages should be. Blackwell, the former president of The Guardians, was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant by Police Chief Armando Perez in November 2016, based on investigations by state police and the citys Office of Internal Affairs into whether Blackwell conspired with former officer Clive Higgins to disseminate a racist hate letter in the Bridgeport Police Department in February 2015. While Higgins later pleaded guilty to criminal charges for the letter, Blackwell was not charged. On Feb. 9, 2015, Higgins reported finding a racist letter in his mailbox at the police department. The letter, which was circulated around the department, was typed on city letterhead and made negative comments about African-American officers and complained that Higgins, who is black, didnt belong on the police force. The discovery sparked calls for an investigation by the NAACP and national organizations of African-American police officers. The city called in the state police to investigate. State police said Higgins admitted he wrote the letter after they presented him with surveillance video that showed him typing it at the police department. State police said Higgins told them he was ordered to write the letter by Blackwell to bring attention to the department with respect to ongoing racial complaints. Blackwell, then supervisor of the departments police academy, denied Higgins claims but was placed on administrative duty by Police Chief Joseph Gaudett on Dec. 2, 2015. Perez, in a memorandum accompanying his decision to demote Blackwell, said there is no credible evidence that Blackwell directed the writing of the phony letter, but that he violated department rules for the way the letter was reported to authorities. The lawsuit states that as a result of the discipline, Blackwell lost his eligibility to be promoted to captain. The defendant, without just cause, imposed discipline on the plaintiff that was demonstrably harsher than the discipline it imposed on non-black police officers similarly situated to the plaintiff, the lawsuit states. In May the city agreed to pay Blackwell $65,000 to settle an earlier federal discrimination suit he had filed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Show up or get out. Thats what Tim Herbst is telling his Republican rivals in the governors race who skipped last weeks debate, the first of five organized by the state GOP in each congressional district. The no-shows were Mark Boughton and Mark Lauretti, the mayors of Danbury and Shelton; Greenwich hedge fund mogul David Stemerman; and one-time UBS and General Electric executive Bob Stefanowski, of Madison. The next time Republicans will face off is Jan. 10 at RHAM High School in Hebron, which southeast of Hartford in Tolland County. Herbst, who served as Trumbulls first selectman for the past eight years but did not seek re-election this fall, said some of his rivals havent been vetted and put through the meat grinder like he has. These debates are critical because theyre job interviews, said Herbst, who left office at the beginning of December. Were going to select the 89th governor of Connecticut, not through a coronation, not through an auction. Seven Republicans shared the stage at the opening debate Dec. 6 in Windsor, mixing it up over how to cut billion-dollar budget deficits and keep companies such as GE and Aetna from fleeing Connecticut - and their outsider credentials. Now, the arena is about to get even more crowded. Before Herbst issued his challenge Tuesday, Boughton had already confirmed his participation in the next debate to Hearst Connecticut Media. He cited scheduling conflict with the first debate his exploratory committee held a fundraiser the same night. Look, just because someone throws a temper tantrum doesnt change my campaign schedule, Boughton said. This is the big leagues. Since the rules for exploratory committees prohibit politicians from using them to campaign for a specific office, there has been some speculation that those like Boughton would seek to avoid debates for governor. But Boughton, who has run for governor twice before, said that didnt play a role in his absence. Youve got to be very clear that youve got an exploratory committee for statewide office that is unspecified, he said. Stefanowski bypassed the first debate to do a roadshow promoting his economic blueprint with Reaganomics guru Art Laffer, who has endorsed the action plan. It calls for the state income, the corporate income and business entity taxes to be phased out, as well as the elimination of the gift and estate taxes. I am focused on rolling out a comprehensive economic plan to rebuild Connecticut and look forward to a healthy discussion at the debates next year on how we return our state to prosperity, Stefanowksi said in a text message. Pressed whether he will participate in the Jan. 10 debate, he responded, Schedule permitting. Lauretti skipped the first debate to attend a brownfields cleanup conference in Pittsburgh, while Stemerman sat out because he is still disentangling himself from his $1.6 billion Conatus Capital Management firm. As we've said before, David is focused on winding down his company right now and studying state issues, Stemermans campaign said in a statement. No scheduling decisions have been made yet. Remember, we are basically a year away from the election. Voters dont like a permanent campaign. Lauretti, who has raised more than $250,000 from at least 2,500 donors to qualify for public campaign financing, said he wont have other candidates such as Herbst dictate debate terms. I am not sure I feel obligated to go to a debate with people who are not at the same status, he said. Raise to $250,000 and demonstrate your value at least in one category. Qualifications and experience matter, and being employed would help. Perhaps a different career would serve him better. Nothing prepared me for this. As an entrepreneur I expected to have my share of crises, but nothing like the utter and total devastation that the one-two-punch of hurricanes Irma and Maria wreaked in Puerto Rico in September (and continues to wreak). The storms wiped out power and cell phone service,threatening basic needs like water, food and medicine. It also blurred the lines between business needs and personal survival. When Hurricane Irma hit, it left most of the island without power for five days and an unstable grid that was not equipped to handle the next blow. We again lost power on Sept. 19 when the strong winds preceding Hurricane Maria swept the island. With compromised infrastructure and only three power lines connecting the island's northern economic engine with the southern power generation plants, it's been hard for the electric company to get power back on line. On Nov. 2, as the first of these lines was connected, we finally had some spotty power at our office. Our hope is that the other two power lines will also get up and running within a few weeks. This lack of power has affected our business and personal lives tremendously in ways we couldn't have imagined. On the business front, as Maria approached, we were working against a September 21 deadline to deliver a custom product update to a key client. Realizing the impact that this major storm would have on our software engineering services business, we moved up the deadline for client delivery by two days. That meant an all-hands-on deck effort as we worked to finish the job. Since our power was already out on the 19th, we worked out of the offices of ConPRmetidos (a non-profit organization where I'm a board member and which we actively support). While our team members were focused on trying to beat the storm and get the job done, they were also concerned about the increasing bands of wind and rain we were receiving, and worried about getting home safe to their families. Related: Franchise Organization Joins Forces to Help Hurricane Victims We tried to alleviate some of this personal stress in advance by asking our employees to prepare their homes the weekend before the storm and we setting the expectation that we would be working the days leading up to it. Another approach we have taken is to treat our business like an emergency room and triage the most important client needs first. By evaluating priorities and deadlines, we have been able to re-assign workloads to make sure we are addressing the most pressing needs first and that all client needs are being met. At the same time, we have been over communicating with our clients. I made sure to personally reach out to them every day after the storms so they didn't wonder what we were doing or the status of their work. I also know that with no power and spotty cell service, clients may have difficulty reaching me, so I make sure to pre-empt those calls and any concerns by reaching out first, through internet or a mobile connection. We constantly charge our cell phones and portable power banks whenever we have available power. Related: Here's How Richard Branson Survived Hurricane Irma and How He's Helping Others We earlier had a backup plan in place for power outages, but unfortunately, there were multiple failures. The backup generator provided by our office building was damaged during Hurricane Irma and was not fixed in time. And we weren't the only ones in this situation. Just about every business has been struggling with the same challenges. We're able to overcome these obstacles by working together as a business community and pooling our resources. When one company has power, others come to use it, regardless of whether they are competitors. Thankfully, since we're U.S. citizens and can travel freely to the mainland without restrictions, we've been able to send many of our team members to work directly at customer sites in the U.S. -- in Oregon, D.C., Texas and other places. Making the tough decisions. I felt it was important to tackle the tough decisions right away, and one of the most pressing ones was how to handle employee pay. Many firms opted to lay off their employees for several months with the plan to re-hire them once they were up and running. We are committed to our employees, but also to the stability of our business, so with that in mind, we decided to pay our employees as usual, but we expect them to make up any lost time. Because of the fuel shortages, we have allowed employees to work from home during this time, with the expectation that they would return to the office once gas was readily available. And because most schools are closed, employees are welcome to bring their children into the office, as needed. Related: When Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Struck, This App Hit the Top of the Charts. Here's What Its CEO Has Learned. Managing the personal with the business. One of the most difficult aspects of managing the business during a crisis is balancing personal concerns as well. Since my home generator runs 10 hours a day, we have to schedule our home lives around that. I wait in long lines for hours for fuel, and stand in line for water delivery and other basic needs that we often take for granted. With everything going on in the business, I also need to make sure everything is set on the home front and that my family is safe and sound. This push-pull between business and personal means that I have to continually make decisions on which most needs my attention. Related: 8 Ways to Stay Calm During a Crisis Changes on the horizon. As a result of this ongoing crisis, we will be making some technology and equipment changes. We will bring on a third internet provider -- we currently have two -- for redundancy; improve our back-up disaster recovery services so it will be easier and faster for us to retrieve our data; and buy our own power generator for our office in order to use the building's generator as a backup to our backup. We will also revise our preparedness plans for disasters, and document new procedures: how we will communicate, how decisions will be made and what employees can expect. Two of our biggest assets in handling this disaster were making advanced preparations and having a plan that we were able to adapt on the fly when the "perfect storm" hit and destroyed many of our contingencies. Looking back, what surprises me the most is the response that many businesses have to the crisis -- paralysis. Many have been so overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem that they aren't sure what to do. But, this paralysis is a death knoll to a business. According to FEMA, 40 percent of businesses don't reopen after a disaster and an additional 25 percent won't survive the year. Businesses in Puerto Rico have an additional strike against them trying to operate in an already depressed economy. Our response now is to double down on our strategy. Because most of our customers are in the mainland U.S. we are somewhat immunized against the problems of the local economy. We are moving full steam ahead to expand our nearshoring and artificial intelligence services, and we are looking into establishing a satellite office in the mainland. If there is any silver lining to this disaster, it's coming to the realization that we're resilient -- we can get our business through this disaster, meet client deadlines and keep employees engaged, and find a way to weather any storm that comes our way. We still believe that the best is yet to come. Related: Staying on Course Despite the Ravages of Hurricane Maria Cannabis Industry Rallies to Overcome Unique Legal Barriers to Recovery From Northern California Fires 3 Steps Effective Leaders Take When Dealing With Crisis Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com 12 Aralk 2017 Sal, 16:01 Ozan Cepni The Ministry of National Education (MNE) has taken the first step towards implementing FETOs much-criticised home chats. From beneath the home religious chats project launched in Istanbuls Maltepe, a partnership has emerged between the AKP, Religious Affairs Directorate, religious orders and pro-regime trade unions. Under an instruction for the commencement of chats outside school hours aimed at raising children as generations endowed with national and moral values, the AKP, Ensar Foundation and Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge will enter homes under the auspices of the MNE bringing with them anti-republican content branded as being religious chat. In the AKP period in which education is undergoing religification at every stage, the MNE has lent its signature to yet another scandal. The MNE, not satisfied with compulsory religious education and elective religious courses in schools and incapable of learning the lesson of the 15 July coup attempt, has decided to continue with religious education at home with the chat implementation that FETO used as a method to brainwash children. Under the instruction of Istanbul Maltepe Sub-Province Director of National Education Faik Kaptan, a home religious chat initiative has been started with content that portrays the initial period of the Republic in a hostile manner to children, named the Teacher Chats Project. The use of material from a foundation named the Civilisation Travelers Foundation instead of MNE-approved textbooks has been decided on to cover the topics to be addressed in the home religious chats. It has emerged that lying behind the foundation administered by AKP Sancaktepe Mayor Ismail Erdem is a partnership between the AKP, Religious Affairs Directorate, MNE, Ensar Foundation which attained notoriety for its child abuse scandal, Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge, pro-regime Egitim-Bir-Sen trade union and Leader Religious Vocational High School Graduates Association. Pious generation the goal In the letter that the Directorate of National Education sent to schools, the aim of the home religious chats is stated to be to contribute towards the raising of generations endowed with national and moral values outside school hours. The instruction was given for religious education work to be performed with Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge teachers whose salaries are paid by the MNE by teachers with ten-person student groups, if possible at home in a family visit and chat manner and, if possible, in a dedicated space. It is noticeable that the weekly topic materials that the Directorate of National Education has loaded onto its website originate from the Civilisation Travelers Foundation. It has been planned for religious education to be given over 28 units, with unit names such as faith, worship, 15 July and canonical laws. 70,000 pupils targeted With it emerging that the home religious chat project has been implemented by the Civilisation Travelers Foundation over the past three years, there is a marked effort to see this initiative spread to all schools using state resources and backing. It is noteworthy that the chat system as described under the heading education system on the foundations website is identical word for word with the Directorate of National Educations official letter. With the foundation announcing that it has reached 424 educators and 4,275 pupils in three years, the 70,000 pupils receiving education in Maltepe sub-province have become the latest target for the foundations teaching with the MNEs support. Local, national and conscious youth The new educational model that the MNE will roll out is explained on the foundations site as, Setting out from basic catechistic knowledge, our Master the Prophets Life, the Period of the Four Caliphs, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Andalusian Umayyads and the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, religion and state relations in the Republic periods and the legendary struggle that His Excellency our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waged along with the founding of the AK Party for our people, the Islamic World and all our territory that is dear to our heart constitute this road map for National and Conscious Youth. Same goal as FETO: Belonging There is a notable similarity between the Civilisation Travelers Foundations model that it proclaims on its site to be supported by the AKP, Religious Affairs Directorate, MNE, Ensar Foundation, Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge, Egitim-Bir-Sen and Leader Religious Vocational High School Graduates Association, and the method used by FETO, which staged the 15 July coup attempt. The foundation underlying the ministrys project states that they conduct an education that touches souls and thanks to this arouses a warmer and more lasting sense of belonging by reaching out to children at places like homes, youth centres, culture centres, course centres and knowledge houses. The MNE will give instruction in anti-Republicanism There is egregiously scandalous content in the material for the project that will pave the way for the AKP and religious orders to gain entry to homes under the auspices of the MNE and for children to be placed under their education model outside school. Opposition to the Republican period is clearly present in the text entitled Watching the Rupture from Essence on the Swing of Torment numbering among the topics in which the MNE is to instruct children under the heading of General Culture. In the text, following the pronouncement, The Ottoman State, which maintained its sovereignty for more than six centuries, was no more. Our people placed all their hope in the newly established state. The first implementations, rather than meeting our peoples expectations, were of a troubling nature, there is criticism of the abolition of the caliphate, the abolition of the Ministry of Islamic Law and Foundations and the closure of the theological schools under the Law on Unification of Education along with the comment of Minister of National Education of the day, Hasan Ali Yucel, on the Law on Unification of Education, This law abolished the theological school that was entirely a religious education institution, and Turkish education assumed a secular and worldly character... The unification of education is a movement to destroy the way of thinking that was connected to the past and establish a modern culture. In this sense, this is one of the most important revolutions of our history and future. The text, in which the founding years of the Republic are criticised without using Ataturks name, contains the pronouncement, The period known as the Single Party Period between the years of 1923-1946 has considerable importance as far as our recent history is concerned. In this period, in which, under the For the people despite the people approach, the peoples demands and expectations were not taken into account and ideological approaches predominated, serious material and spiritual crises were experienced in the country. Just as the people were not taken into account, as there was also no political opposition, the single-party political rulership set about implementing everything it wished with an authoritarian attitude. As will be realised from their being ingrained in memories as The years in which it was forbidden to speak of God and the information that has in part been provided above, considerable difficulties were experienced in religious life. Omarosa quit her role in President Trump's White House today reportedly because of Roy Moore's Alabama Senate loss to Democrat Doug Jones. DailyMailTV's Washington Correspondent has this developing story. Salma Hayek now claims she was also sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein for close to a decade in an op-ed piece in The New York Times. She claims she repeatedly rebuffed his requests to shower together and jumped through countless hoops to get her Oscar-winning film Frida released. The serial killer who inspired Silence of the Lambs and Netflix's new series Mindhunter murdered 10 people in a decade, including his own mother. Edmund Kemper is now up for parole and his half-brother exclusively tells DailyMailTV that he now fears for his life. If you're still trying to cross items off your holiday gift list, DailyMailTV has got you covered. Lifestyle expert Sonia Isabelle is back with exclusive holiday deals on jewelry, ear buds and a digital activity tracker to keep your friends and family fit. Get all the details at DailyMailTV.com\bargains. And, one family gearing up for the holidays is also celebrating an incredible reunion. In this remarkable DailyMailTV exclusive, watch as a mother and father adopt their own biological daughter 40 years after they thought they had lost her forever. Many of Donald Trumps opinions are objectionable, and his asinine bedtime tweets are not the ideal way to conduct politics, but the fact is that he is President of the country that is Britains greatest ally. So, when the leader of the free world has been invited to make a visit to this country, whether it be a full state visit at the invitation of the Queen or a more scaled-down working trip, we as a nation have a duty to respect his status. You dont have to be a full-blooded believer in the special relationship which binds Britain to America to recognise the profound importance of the U.S. to the health of our economy, national security and living standards. Yet, predictably, we are witnessing a sanctimonious protest by Trumps critics here on the Left who seem to be frothing at the mouth in anger and preparing mass protests if and when he visits. Donald Trump's views are objectionable and his asinine bedtime tweets are not the ideal way to conduct politics but the fact remains he is President of Britain's greatest ally Typically, London mayor Sadiq Khan, ignoring the enormous contribution which the U.S. makes to the economy and safety of our capital city, pompously declares an official visit here would not be welcome. True, Trumps misogyny towards women, his sometimes manic tweets (particularly his recent retweet of anti-Islamic videos by the odious far-Right group Britain First) and his attacks on news organisations do not endear him to the liberal elites in the United States or our own weaker-minded politicians. As someone who looked on with horror at the divisive and deadly race riots in Charlottesville in August, which Trump declined to condemn, I cannot say I view Trump with any equanimity. The so called alt-Right, with its apparent support of white nationalism, is wholly abhorrent. But what can never be ignored is that, for all his faults, Trump is the elected President of the United States. Crucially, the significance of Britains relationship with the U.S. looms even larger as this country, in the run-up to Brexit, looks to strike new trade arrangements. It would be an act of self-harm, indeed insanity, to reject a visit by Trump because of a few of this narcissists ill-judged comments and indiscretions. What is unsaid by those who would bar Trump is that the Americans are our kith and kin, who fought beside us in two world wars in defence of freedom. Their soldiers lie buried alongside our own in the killing fields of Normandy. This sacred bond was recognised when Trump joined President Macron of France in July to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S.s entry into World War I. London mayor Sadiq Khan is one of many British politicians who have been vocal in their criticism of President Trump. He said: 'An official visit here would not be welcome' Much further back in history, the French may have allied with America when it secured independence from Britain, but our present ties with the U.S. are infinitely closer. Among those voices trying to ban Trump are Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, who has called him an evil racist. And during the recent debate in Westminster over Trumps endorsement of Britain First, Commons Speaker John Bercow praised MPs for supporting victims of racism and bigotry. These two men seem blind to Americas importance to our economy. The remaining 27 countries of the EU may, together, continue to be our biggest trading partner, but we should not ignore the fact that our largest single market is the United States. (On a personal level, too, they seem to have forgotten Trumps close personal links with this country. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was brought up on the Scottish island of Lewis before emigrating to New York.) Although we run a huge trade deficit with the EU, the most recent analysis of the UKs business relationship with America shows we maintain a trade surplus which means they send more custom our way than vice versa. At the heart of the UKs ties to the U.S. are the financial institutions based in the City of London. During the recent debate in Westminster over Trump's endorsement of Britain First, Commons Speaker John Bercow praised MPs for supporting 'victims of racism and bigotry' Brexit notwithstanding, almost all the major American banks J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley etc have their European headquarters in London and employ tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, across Britain. Similarly, the internet giants Google, Apple and Amazon are investing heavily in Britain. Apple has chosen to locate in Battersea, south-west London, close to the new U.S. Embassy, which Americans want Trump to open officially on his visit. Analysis by the Office for National Statistics shows that the U.S. is our biggest export partner, accounting for one-fifth of all the goods and services we sell overseas. More to the point, Britain ran a trade surplus with the U.S. in every single year between 2005 and 2015, at an average of 28.1 billion. Over that ten-year period, America spent 280 billion more with UK companies than our firms spent in the U.S. Most recent data shows that our surplus with the U.S. is just short of 40 billion a year. Famously during his election campaign, Trump expressed huge discontent over what he perceived as unfair competition to American businesses caused by cheap imports from Mexico and China. As he wrestles with those issues, it would be madness for those perennial malcontents of the British Left who were happy to allow visits by totalitarian thugs such as Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe to add to his diplomatic problems. Among those voices trying to ban Trump are Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, who has called him an 'evil racist' Another key, yet less understood or discussed, aspect of the relationship between London and Washington, is security ties. Clearly visible to anyone travelling into Washington DCs airport is the huge BAE (British Aerospace) emblem adorning a shining tower block, nestled among the big defence firms. Britains defence contractors, particularly BAE, are the only non-U.S. firms granted special status by the Pentagon to work on U.S. defence contracts. As a result of this special relationship, BAE secured a 6 billion contract last week to sell 24 Typhoon fighter jets and missiles to Qatar in a deal that secures up to 5,000 jobs in the UK. That was only achieved thanks to the fast-track agreement with the Pentagon. The truth is that there are much wider opportunities opening up as Asian democracies seek to protect themselves from threats by North Korea and guard themselves against Beijings ambitions in the South China Sea. For example, the U.S. Defence Department enlisted Britains help through BAE to update the advanced avionics on the U.S.s ageing fleet of F-16 jets, including planes sold to South Korea. Meanwhile, naive and spittle-flecked critics of Trump and, by extension, critics of the Special Relationship which was cemented more than 70 years ago by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to defeat the worlds darkest tyranny prove they have no understanding of history. Trump may be deeply flawed but he is far from the first U.S. President to breach the rules of civilised society. John F. Kennedy was a womaniser who unwisely slept with gangsters molls. Richard Nixon was a rabid anti-Semite who broke the law during Watergate. Bill Clinton had sexual relations with a young intern, Monica Lewinsky, in the Oval Office. Donald Trumps behaviour may be extreme and erratic. But when he comes to London and meets Theresa May, it is the office of President and the deep economic and security partnership that will be honoured not simply the brash and boorish billionaire. Picking a fight with the leader of the free world is potentially ruinous for Britains future at the very moment when we need desperately to underpin and strengthen our global ties. For many young girls, the modelling industry is a glamorous world filled with flawless figures, million dollar mansions and wardrobes most can only dream of. But New Zealand born Victoria's Secret model, Jessica Clarke, says this is simply 'fantasy'. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 24-year-old London-based based beauty, who has walked from some of the world's most elite fashion houses, revealed a candid insight into the trillion-dollar industry from her own experiences. 'So many people are trying to meet up with the expectations of the fashion industry and it just needs to be known that it is fantasy, there's airbrushing, there's $20,000 gowns,' Jessica told Daily Mail Australia. Jessica Clarke (pictured) is an international model who has walked for Victoria's Secret The 24-year-old revealed what really goes on in the fashion industry after her own experiences 'Those models you see on the catwalk are like athletes, they really do put loads of work into looking like that, they don't just wake up like that, no one just wakes up like that. 'We train really hard, we eat healthy and that's all part of the job.' The 24-year-old says there is a stigma attached to the modelling world that natural 'beauties' don't have to put hard work in. 'I feel like nowadays... with things like Instagram it's about ''this is my real life and it's perfect, I'm always airbrushed'' and it's just not true. 'It's always been something that's not quite real and it's not supposed to be taken to heart as much as it is today.' Jessica is speaking out in a bid to offer an insight to the trillion-dollar fashion industry She fears that the younger girls, including up and coming models, will buy into the 'perfect' facade which could be detrimental to their bodies or state of mind. 'There's so many girls, like younger models, that go into this world thinking that's who they have to be, and it's just cookie cutters set out by agencies of what size you should be, how you have to look and how you have to have no cellulite. 'We don't have to be those people because guess what? Us, the models, we're not those people either. 'On a good day I will have perfect skin but other than that there's caked on make up, highlighter and all of that other stuff.' The esteemed model was the first to walk the Victoria's Secret catwalk from New Zealand Jessica says that transitioning to styling has given her an opportunity to take some control back. 'Styling is an amazing way to express creativity in the industry and how you put the clothes together. 'I feel like making those decisions can make the models and the young girls so much more comfortable and confident, and also portray something to the rest of the world which is more real and it can be more of a wonderland than fantasy.' 'I think with styling, the pressures of being that tiny aren't as great when a stylist like me can choose clothes that fit the girls and work with these girls who can make beautiful art instead of trying to squish people - who are all different - into one certain type of clothes and still look beautiful no matter what size you are, as long as you have the right size. 'You can take creations by the designers and use them to reflect a culture or a movement or just create beautiful imagery, that's something that I really love because it brings the fashion industry back to what it actually is. Jessica has worked alongside many designers, photographers and artists - and she said she has the utmost respect for them. 'They are the stars and the reason the fashion world is such an amazing wonderland.' She said the models you see on the catwalk are athletes who pour loads of work into looking like they do The modelling industry is a glamorous world filled with flawless figures, million dollar mansions and wardrobes most can only dream of but all is not as it appears at face value After hailing from humble beginnings in Palmerston North, New Zealand, Jessica doesn't overlook the chances she was given or doubt how lucky she is to be able to go as far as she has. 'I had a really rooted upbringing, so I always stayed genuine, luckily I have my mum and dad, and my brothers and my cousins who always shoot me down if I get too cocky and my friends from Palmerston North.' She spends her time working and studying between New York and London, with an occasional visit to Australia and New Zealand, with her boyfriend Rufus Taylor, who is the drummer for The Darkness. Jessica said that despite the perks of her job, she isn't chasing the approval of others, she just wants it to be known that it isn't all as it might appear at face value. 'A lot to do with luck and timing, there's a lot of times where I doubted if this was what I wanted to do.' She said young women, who are still teenagers, might not be prepared for the industry. 'When they think this is who they have to be, it's such a massive thing to have put on you. 'I believe when you leave home you get to really explore yourself and start your own adventure. I encourage my fellow ladies to not succumb to the idealistic expectations and follow there own path.' Jessica has made friends who are renowned for their stunning beauty but she says they too suffer at the hands of pressure Jessica says no one is immune to feeling the pressures of the fashion world, not even the models Although Jessica isn't afraid to admit she has a lot to learn, she said she is passionate about the industry. 'No one is perfect. We are all here for a good time not a long time. Be weird and happy and embrace our differences,' she said. She encourages others to be something they can believe in, imploring others to: 'Take risks and be brave.' With a string of successes worldwide, including a lucrative commercial modelling career which allows her to fly under the radar, she has made some friends who are renowned for their stunning beauty, but everything doesn't always meet the eye. 'I know some people in the fashion industry, but some of those really talented people, they might look like they ''have it all'' but they find it hard to be in front of everyone's prying eyes, and it's just as hard for them not to feel the pressure.' As the countdown to Christmas begins, men are no doubt frantically scouring shops and websites for the perfect gift for the women in their life. But if you're on a tight budget and still clueless of what to buy - look no further. Here, Femail has rounded up the ultimate gift guide under $50 to help you find a little something for your friend, girlfriend, mother or grandmother. From lipsticks that react to the warmth of the lips to Oprah's favourite shower caps, these are the top 10 products that will suit every taste. Femail has rounded up the ultimate gift guide under $50 to help you find a little something for your friend, girlfriend, mother or grandmother Louvelle shower cap - $40 A stylish gift for someone who's often busy - and they don't have time to blow dry their hair after a shower - Louvelle's turban-inspired shower cap. The Australian brand was recently featured in Oprah's Favourite Things of 2017 in the December issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. 'A Blow-Out Is a Terrible Thing to Waste...It's no secret that our country is deeply divided. But here's one thing we can all agree on: Every woman needs a good shower cap! These turban-style numbers have quick-dry fabric and a waterproof lining,' Oprah said. Simone Taylor launched Louvelle showerwear in 2014 after seeing a gap in the market for a fashionable shower cap that women would feel glamorous wearing. 'I had a brainwave why isn't there a more fashionable style to protect your hair in the shower that doesn't make you look like an old maid?' she said. Lipstick Queen mini trio - $36 If she's a lipstick person, this adorable mini trio from Lipstick Queen is the perfect gift this Christmas! The brand's best-selling Transformers comes in three colours - each one reacts with the warmth of your lips, working in perfect harmony with your complexion, becoming your own unique shade that's perfect just for you. Play with sunny yellow, Mornin' Sunshine as it morphs into a flattering peachy watermelon; experience your own fairy tale as emerald green Frog Prince magically transforms into rosebud pink; or make waves with Hello Sailor as nautical blue changes into a blueberry mauve tint. VS Sassoon Pro Dry 2300 hair dryer - $29.95 Buying a good hairdryer can sometimes be really expensive. But VS Sassoon Pro Dry 2300 Hair Dryer VSD120A is a hair dryer with a lightweight yet powerful design - and it costs a fraction of a designer brand. It delivers foolproof styling and fast results for all hair types. Three heat and two speed settings as well as a cool shot button allows for all hair type and styling needs. The professional power cord, hanging loop, ergonomic handle and removable rear filter allow for a professional salon blow-dry at home. Head Beds - $30 If you love the feeling of the sun on your face, but don't find the sand to be a comfortable place, Head Beds may be able to save your beach day. Designed in Australia, the product is a miniature deckchair for your head, outfitted with a pillow made out of 100 per cent cotton. The Australian founder was inspired to launch the design during a trip to South America, when he noticed people were propping up their heads with 'a whole heap of weird and wonderful items'. 'It was clear that something more bespoke was needed that actually provided the necessary support, and was easy to transport to the beach,' he explained. Harry met a local market trader named Diego in Brazil, who handmade beach deckchairs, and together they designed something on a smaller scale. NARS Love Triangle - $35 Get her something twice as nice. These made-for-each-other duos pair two NARS icons for the perfect lip and cheek flush. Double your pleasure. Because too much of a good thing isn't nearly enough. These lustworthy duos are available in bestselling shades so you can hit lips and cheeks with a flush of flattering colour. Go classic with the Orgasm set or give in to the dark side with Dolce Vita and Audrey. kikki.K 2018 diary gift pack - $39.95 Help someone special make every day of 2018 oh-so-sweet with this kikki.K sweet diary gift pack. Valued at $49.80, the pack includes an A5 Weekly Diary, ballpoint pen and a pack of magnetic page markers, perfect for marking important pages in the diary. The gorgeous hand-illustrated designs are sure to add a touch of sweetness to your recipient's year. Republica Organic coffee pods - $5 for a box of 10 Perfect for coffee lovers who are all about saving the planet, these biodegradable pods will certainly warm hearts this Christmas. Designed by Sydney's coffee company Republica Organic, the capsules are made from Food Grade BPA-Free plastic - meaning the pods break down in just 730 days - the same rate as orange peels. 'Every day 55 million coffee capsules are thrown away worldwide, which is creating mountains of plastic and metal that can take up to 500 years to break down,' founder of Republica Organic Jacqueline Arias said. 'Our coffee capsules breaks down in just 730 days, which is how long it takes for orange peel to degrade. You simply put the pods in with your normal rubbish, so there's no need to recycle or compost.' Christina Re mug gift set - $45 As a must-have essential for any kitchen, surprise a loved one with these beautiful high-tea inspired mugs by Cristina Re. Valued at $54.40, the signature sets feature pink and white stripes with gold foil. When you sip tea or coffee from the Cristina Re piece, you won't be able to resist the sensation of luxury. From everyday use to special occasions, the stylishly mugs are individually boxed. Peter Alexander pyjamas shorts - $49.95 These Peter Alexander Rice Bubbles pyjamas shorts will sure make someone feel nostalgic. Anyone growing up in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, will have fond memories with one of Australia's favourite Kellogg's breakfast cereals. Snap, Crackle, and Pop into these women's printed shorts! Crafted from cotton sateen, the bedtime wear features the vintage Kellogg's print. The best part - the garment comes in a matching cereal box! ECOYA candle Madison jar - $44.95 Stuck for a last-minute Christmas present? Scented candles are always a safe bet! ECOYA has launched a festive-inspired collection of three different candles in Madison jars to celebrate the magic of a Southern Hemisphere Christmas. Summer Spritz, was inspired by the frivolity of summer, morning beach swims followed by long family lunches outdoors and the delicious cocktail of the moment, Aperol Spritz - a fresh, uplifting fragrance with a fizz. Dark Chocolate Meringue & Raspberry was inspired by the perfect finale to a Christmas feast, the legendary pavlova - a rich and decadent fragrance. And the best-selling Fresh Pine has a scent of a freshly sawn Christmas tree that evokes memories of every antipodean home during the Christmas season. Aldi has beaten John Lewis and Marks & Spencer to be named this year's most popular Christmas advert. Analysis of millions of social media posts revealed this year's top 10 most talked-about TV adverts - as well as those most liked by viewers. Aldi's offering, which saw the return of festive favourite Kevin the Carrot, topped the list of the most discussed TV spot and came second in the list of the most liked, leading it to be crowned the overall winner. Boots' heart-warming story about two sisters also struck a viewers, prompting a spike in interest in the brand in the minutes after it aired. Meanwhile M&S' Paddington Bear campaign was seen as 'positive' by close to 90 per cent of viewers. Released from early November onwards, the TV spots battled it out to win over customers as the festive season got underway - and continue to jostle for attention as the big day looms ever closer. However research reveals that some failed to strike a chord with viewers. Data firm 4C used artificial intelligence to process the number of times each brand was discussed on Facebook and Twitter in the five minutes after its advert aired. This year's winner! Aldi has beaten John Lewis and Marks & Spencer to be named this year's most popular Christmas advert with its Kevin the Carrot storyline (pictured) Mixed reviews: Aldi's offering, which saw the return of festive favourite Kevin the Carrot, topped the list of the most discussed TV spot and came second in the list of the most liked Heart-warming: The M&S Paddington Bear advert was the one that was most 'liked' by viewers It compared the figure to the number of times the brand was mentioned in the lead up to the advert and used this to calculate the increase in social media interest, or the 'lift', generated by the advert. The programme also analysed whether the words used in association with the advert were positive and negative to determine the number of viewers who felt positively towards it. Marks & Spencer topped the 'sentimentality' list with 87.5 per cent of tweets being classed as positive. Aldi was second while Boots came in third place. Heavyweight: The 7million Moz the Monster advert from John Lewis sparked little interest Christmas advert heavyweight John Lewis ranked surprisingly low in the 'social lift' table, coming in tenth place. The 7million two-minute spot, which tells the tale of friendship between saucer-eyed Moz the Monster and his seven-year-old host Joe, prompted just a 54 per cent increase in the number of social media mentions. However the posts that were shared were overwhelmingly positive at 71.2 per cent. Netflix has been compared to Big Brother after posting a 'creepy' tweet in which it shared very detailed information about customers' viewing habits - while using it to rather cruelly poke fun at people for watching a Christmas movie. However, a Reddit user has cast a new light on the streaming site's monitoring tactics, by revealing how positively they were impacted when someone from Netflix sent them an email asking if they were feeling 'okay' after they binge-watched The Office for a whole week. The anonymous Redditor also shared that they were suffering from depression at the time and actually said that the kind-hearted message made them feel better - despite others pointing out the more worrying aspects of what this incident shows about how closely Netflix is monitoring its customers. Scroll down for video Heartfelt: An anonymous Reddit user has revealed that someone from Netflix emailed them to make sure they were okay after they watched The Office solidly for a week Meaningful: The user revealed that during this time they had been suffering from depression and that the email from Netflix helped them to realize that someone really cared 'One summer I was going through an episode of depression and I wasn't working as I was on break from college and waiting until I moved back to my college town to start again,' they wrote. 'I ended up doing nothing but watching Netflix, and after I finished the office in something like 5 - 10 days, I don't quite remember, I received an email from Netflix asking if I was okay.' Explaining that the streaming service had noticed their account was 'running non-stop for over a week', King_Salamander explained why they got in touch. 'Honestly made me feel better just knowing that someone, even a stranger working at a customer support agency, cared about my mental health,' the added. After publishing its year-end report, in which it celebrated its most successful day as a result of the popularity of Stranger Things, the streaming service has been posting certain pieces of very specific information on its social media account, with one tweet in particular sparking a flurry of concerned, and angry, replies. 'To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?' the tweet read, referring to Netflix's original festive movie which was released on the site just a few weeks ago. A big hit: Earlier this week, Netflix revealed that 53 of its subscribers have watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days On blast: The particular stat about the popular Christmas film prompted Netflix to call out the users on Twitter - a moved which was slammed by some as 'creepy' and 'weird' Outrage: People were quick to respond to the tweet, accusing Netflix of 'creepy' tactics, and blasting the site for using data to 'laugh' at its customers Scary tactics: One person even compared Netflix to 'Big Brother' Hot take: Journalist Hugo Rifkind called the Netflix tweet 'f*****g creepy' And while some were quick to see the attempted humor within the post, happily replying with their own embarrassing viewing habits, others blasted the much 'creepier' aspect, calling out the fact that the site is not only monitoring its viewers incredibly closely, but that it is also using this data to troll its customers. 'Hot Take: Netflix tweeting this is f*****g creepy,' journalist Hugo Rifkind shared. Christian Christiensen then chimed in: 'Good to know @netflix staff are sitting around their offices looking at private user data, laughing about it, then sending out a tweet to millions. 'Creepy and a complete violation.' 'So unknown creepy Netflix staff have access to your viewing data, use it to creep on you, laugh at you, maybe publicly,' Ben Goldacre shared on his Twitter account. 'I guess it's like video store staff, except a massive database means it's easier for creepy Netflix staff to find and creep on individual people they know.' 'I liked this tweet because it's good to be reminded that huge unaccountable companies use our personal data to dunk on us both literally and figuratively,' wrote another Twitter user. Seeing the light side? One person also made the Big Brother reference, but added some humor in the form of a winking face A question: Some people decided to engage in witty conversations with the site, however The big one: Stranger Things gave the service its biggest streaming day of the year after coming out with a second season on October 29 An interesting choice: One UK-based viewer was found to have Bee Movie a total of 357 times There were some users, however, who seemed happy to engage with the streaming site's tweet, snapping back with their own witty replies, and even joining the Netflix account in a war of words in some cases. 'Why are you calling people out like that Netflix?' asked one user, to which the account responded: 'I just want to make sure you're okay.' The user quickly retorted: 'You're not my mom.' Another chimed in: 'Does Netflix actually pay attention to how often I watch or re-watch things? Because if so, I'm sorry.' But the A Christmas Prince fans weren't the only ones called out by the year-end review, such as the single Netflix user in the UK who has watched Bee Movie a total of 357 times. One serious Johnny Depp fan watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl every single day this year, while another Canadian user watched the third Lord of the Rings movie 361 times. Other data released by the streaming service revealed that Greenleaf, a series about a family and their sprawling megachurch in Memphis, was the most 'devoured' show in 2017 - meaning the program had been watched for more than two hours per day. The Crown was named the most savored show, and Narcos was named the show customers were more likely to 'cheat' and watch ahead of their partner. What was supposed to be just a funny photo has turned into a headache for Rosie Waterland. The Sydney author has taken to Instagram to deliver a statement after posting a picture of herself enjoying a night in. Rosie shared a snap of herself on the couch, happily watching Netflix with bottle of vodka on her lap and using her breast to lift a fallen cookie back up to her mouth. 'Almost at the end of 2017 like...,' she captioned the image. But some commenters didn't find the humour in Rosie's photo, instead writing that they were 'concerned' about her belly - which is exposed in the picture. Australian author Rosie Waterland received judgement from fans after posting this image of herself enjoying vodka and using her boob to pick up a cookie that had missed her mouth Rosie posted a lengthy statement to address the comments, asking why a 'random, funny photo of my belly caused such a strong reaction' The Anti Cool Girl author was not pleased, writing: 'Can a fat girl post a joke photo that includes her body without the entire narrative becoming about her body?' Rosie then posted a lengthy statement to address the comments, asking why a 'random, funny photo of my belly caused such a strong reaction'. 'I replied to one "concerned" commenter (deleted the rest) and my reply basically applies to everyone who has not been able to get their "concern" over my dumb photo off their minds,' she wrote. 'Everyone who has had a problem with this photo has assumed my body is the joke.' Rosie noted that many of her fans 'with all kinds of bodies' related to the picture, which had nothing to do with their shapes at all 'If you automatically assume that a fat body is where the humour comes from thenwell that kind of makes me sad,' Rosie wrote in her statement 'And if you assume my body is the joke and not the set-up of the picture itself, then those are your hang-ups, not mine.' 'If you automatically assume that a fat body is where the humour comes from thenwell that kind of makes me sad.' Rosie noted that many of her fans 'with all kinds of bodies' related to the picture. 'It's about being tired and fed-up and having had a tough year and just wanting to get a bit pissed and watch Netflix and not waste the cookie you just dropped on your boob,' she wrote. 'I could have a six-pack and the joke would be the same. I have found today that the people who have focused on my belly have kind of missed the point (and it also reveals a lot about what they put the most value on).' Rosie said the photo was actually about being 'tired and fed up and having had a tough year', and was not supposed to be a statement on her body Both the original photo and the following statement received thousands of likes, and a number of supportive comments. 'Love everything about you Rosie. One of the most real people on social media right now. Never change,' wrote user jessica_bigg. 'Over the faux concern. You can't tell health by how a body looks on the outside! People have issues. Go, Rosie!' added web_etch. 'Perfectly said as always, but then you dont ever need to justify yourself,' said kimberlytakespics. 'Those that know you and love you laughed, and laughed hard. Fuck wasting a cookie!' A Christmas-loving couple have got into the festive spirit remarkably early this year after they started decking their halls in September. Mary Kartesz-Wardroper, originally from Pennsylvania, and her Australian husband Alan Wardroper have been spending six months of the year celebrating the silly season for more than a decade, That's Life reported. The pair - who met online in 2003 - put up 700 boxes full of decorations, including 400 trees, 32 Nativity scenes, countless fairy lights and tinsel. The couple - dubbed the real life Santa and Mrs Claus - said their electricity bill usually 'triples' around this time of year - and the decorations take at least two months to pull down. Mary Kartesz-Wardroper and her Australian husband Alan Wardroper have been spending six months of the year celebrating the silly season for more than a decade (pictured together) The couple - dubbed the real life Santa and Mrs Claus - said their electricity bill usually 'triples' around this time of year - and the decorations take at least two months to pull down Read more: The Perth couple's full story is available in That's Life magazine now 'You just can't put a price on spreading Christmas cheer,' she told the magazine. When the couple struck up a romantic relationship in 2003 after they met while playing bridge online, Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper was hiding a secret. 'I had to confess my secret - I was obsessed with Christmas,' she said. When he travelled to the US to meet her, she decided to leave her Christmas decorations up after the festive season so he could see her obsession. 'If he wants to be with me, this comes too,' she said. And fast forward, Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper has been embracing the festive season Down Under after she accumulated her decorations over the years. The pair - who met online in 2003 - put up 700 boxes full of decorations, including 400 trees, 32 Nativity scenes, tinsel and countless flashing lights The Christmas-loving couple have got into the festive spirit remarkably early this year after they started decking their halls in September Appearing on The Morning Show, the pair revealed Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper takes full control of the decorations while her husband is out of the country. 'Mary sends me away... I've been to Bulgaria, England, Wales... while she does [the decorations] and then I come back and it's all done,' Mr Wardroper said. Their electricity bill usually triples this time around - but Mr Wardroper insisted they were saving power because most of their electrical appliances are not switched on. 'Mary has a great big Christmas tree in front of our TV, the air conditioner is covered by one of the scenes in the living room so I think actually, we save power because we can't put any electric things on, it's pretty good,' he said, laughing. The pair revealed Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper takes full control of the decorations while her husband is out of the country When the couple first met, Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper had told her now-husband that she had an obsession with Christmas When the couple met, Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper had told her now-husband that she had an obsessive compulsive disorder with Christmas When the couple first met, Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper had told her now-husband that she had an obsession with Christmas. 'I didn't know what OCD meant until I met her,' Mr Wardroper said. 'But it's not just Christmas, it's Halloween, Easter, Harvest,' before his wife interjected: 'I just enjoy the holidays.' When Halloween comes around, their home is festive on the inside and spooky on the outside. So where do they store 700 boxes of their decorations once everything has been taken down? 'We have two sheds but we have a friend that has a huge shed,' Mrs Kartesz-Wardroper said. 'So we haul about 700 boxes over to their place.' BOZEMAN During this summer's solar eclipse an area of Earths atmosphere, called the planetary boundary layer, sank to roughly 2,500 feet above the Earths surface an altitude that normally corresponds to early morning or late afternoon. Change in the boundary layer was anticipated, but has never been measured in this level of detail before, said Angela Des Jardins, principal investigator of the Montana State University-led, nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. The boundary layer is where the absorption of sunlight by the ground generates wind and other weather. Des Jardins was one of five scientists on a panel presenting eclipse findings at the American Geophysical Unions fall meeting in New Orleans. She spoke at a Monday press conference. The sudden blocking of the sun during an eclipse has a huge effect because it reduces the light and changes the temperature of the ground and air, said NASAs lead scientist for the 2017 total solar eclipse, Lika Guhathakurta, who introduced the press conference. Des Jardins' Eclipse Ballooning Project experiment used devices called radiosondes to study how the eclipse affected temperature, pressure and humidity in the planetary boundary. More than a dozen Eclipse Ballooning Project teams launched a total of 40 radiosonde-equipped, helium-filled balloons that gathered data while ascending to altitudes of 70,000 feet or more. A Montana Space Grant Consortium team that included students from MSU, the University of Montana, Chief Dull Knife College and Miles Community College launched 19 of the balloons before, during and after the eclipse from locations near Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Analysis of the atmospheric data from all the sites will conclude in the coming months, Des Jardins said. She also showed videos taken by some of the 55 Eclipse Ballooning Project teams that launched larger balloons equipped with an MSU-designed camera system. The videos, many of which were livestreamed to NASAs website during the eclipse, show a space-like perspective of the moons shadow crossing the Earths surface. NASAs solar eclipse coverage, which included the Eclipse Ballooning Project livestream as well as other video feeds, was viewed by more people than any other NASA broadcast, Guhathakurta said. Des Jardins also discussed a part of the Eclipse Ballooning Project in which 34 teams attached small samples of harmless bacteria to their balloon payloads in order to study how microbes hitching a ride on spacecraft might behave on Mars. Scientists from NASA Ames (Research Center) and Cornell (University) are busy analyzing the data and will have results soon, she said. Also at the press conference, scientists from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, National Solar Observatory, Virginia Tech and the Southwest Research Institute discussed results from experiments that, among other things, captured detailed images of the Suns super-heated atmosphere and measured the eclipses effects on the transmission of radio waves through the Earths upper atmosphere. Des Jardins initiated the Eclipse Ballooning Project in 2014 as a way to engage students in the Space Grant network with a significant hands-on project. MSU undergraduates, primarily engineering majors, played a leading role in designing the ballooning system and training teams from across the country. The eclipse ballooning project was a resounding success, she said. For me, it was even more powerful because students were involved in every aspect of the project. Like it or loathe it, the wellness revolution is in full swing - and it's set to go nowhere in 2018. In anticipation of the New Year, Pinterest have put together a list of the top wellness trends for 2018 - and there's plenty to enjoy. From vitamin C serums to taking yourself on a self-care staycation, here FEMAIL takes a look at the health, beauty, fitness and general wellness trends set to dominate the headlines over the course of the next 12 months. Pinterest have put together a whole host of wellness trends for 2018 - which include swapping out your cardio for more strength training (stock image) Tai Chi made an appearance, thanks to its potential to reduce stress, release pain and create whole body harmony (pictured) Self-care staycations are also on the rise, with searches for self care and me time up 537 per cent (stock image) For Pinterest, wellness goes beyond what you might think and expect: 'Everything mind, body and soul is covered, and we've got two billion pins to prove it,' the visual scrapbook service's report stated. With 61 per cent of pinners saying Pinterest is where they find ideas to be their best selves - whether that's through meditation or a daily workout - the site said you can expect gut health to be at the forefront of people's minds in 2018: 'To deal with digestive issues, people are balancing their bacteria with more gut-friendly grub,' the report stated - adding that searches for 'gut health' are up by 251 per cent. Get your gut fix with a daily dose of prebiotics and probiotics. You can also try powders, such as those by the Australian-owned Beauty Chef brand. Elsewhere, the clean movement continues to grow - with people searching for air purifiers and air purifying plants frequently (stock image) Meanwhile, when it comes to beauty, vitamin C serums are up by a massive 3379 per cent - the vitamin is said to improve skin texture and quality, as well as brighten up the complexion British-based brand, The Ordinary, have a great vitamin C-infused serum (pictured) Next on their list is a clear signifier that people are taking an interest in weights over cardio. Pinterest reported that strength training saves are up by 415 per cent. Elsewhere, the clean movement continues to grow - with people searching for air purifiers and air purifying plants (270 per cent). Meanwhile, when it comes to beauty, vitamin C serums are up by a massive 3379 per cent. The vitamin is said to improve skin texture and quality, as well as brightening your complexion. British-based brand, The Ordinary, have a great vitamin C-infused serum. The trend-driven website are even expecting we see a rise in essential oils as flavouring for our food - essential oil food recipe searches were up by 689 per cent (pictured) Last but not least, the next 12 months are set to see an increase in props such as the 'yoga wheel', which massage the spine and stretch the front and side body (pictured) Finally, Tai Chi made an appearance, thanks to its potential to reduce stress, release pain and create whole body harmony. Self-care staycations are also on the rise, with searches for self care and me time up 537 per cent. Last but not least, the next 12 months are set to see an increase in props such as the 'yoga wheel', which massage the spine and stretch the front and side body. The trend-driven website are even expecting we see a rise in essential oils as flavouring for our food - essential oil food recipe searches were up by 689 per cent. One word of warning on this one. Make sure your essential oil is labelled food grade. Furry friends bring lots of joy and love to people's lives and before we know it, they become a part of the family. Unfortunately with the demand for specific breeds, breeders often put in place cruel practices. The latest to join PETA in an anti-cruelty campaign is Sydney-based actor, Hugh Sheridan, 32, who is asking people to adopt, not shop, when it comes to their pets. 'It's hard to know how breeders operate. Some people run this as a business and I don't think any animal should have to be forced to have babies as a business,' he said in the ad. The latest to join PETA in an anti-cruelty campaign is Sydney-based actor, Hugh Sheridan, who is asking people to adopt, not shop (pictured) 'Sometimes the one dog can be forced to have 40 puppies or more in her lifetime so what does that do to the dog?,' Hugh continued. 'And then have all of her babies taken away from her? It's very cruel. 'I personally would not feel happy knowing that I had a small dog or cat that their parents might have suffered to have them [sic] and that someone might have gained a lot of money and all I could be doing is encouraging them to do more of that.' Hugh found his own bundle of joy on the streets of Hollywood. On the way to an acting class, he found a small kitten who had been dumped on the side of the road. Hugh found his own bundle of joy on the streets of Hollywood as when he was on the way to an acting class His cat, Addie, had been dumped on the side of the road when he found her 'I personally would not feel happy knowing that I had a small dog or cat that their parent's might have suffered to have them,' Hugh said in the ad He took her in and named her Addie, after his grandmother and also as a homage to his hometown, Adelaide. 'Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I didn't find her and that she could just be dead or just wandering around the streets,' he said. 'She'd probably be dead,' he said. Hugh is now on a mission to encourage others to have animals' best interests at heart, as he asks the public to adopt a companion from a shelter. Hugh named the cat he took in Addie, after his grandmother and also as a homage to his hometown, Adelaide (pictured) 'Sometimes the one dog can be forced to have 40 puppies or more in her lifetime so what does that do to the dog?,' Hugh said (pictured) 'She was just so cute and so dependent on me already, you know, and just so wanting to know where I was,' he explained in the video for PETA. 'And I thought, this is a really good friend. And I love her so much now. 'The thing about rescuing an animal rather than getting it through a breeder is that the more love the animal gives you and the more you connect to it you start to think about what could have happened to it if you didn't take it and that's a really scary feeling.' 'She was just so cute and so dependent on me already, you know, and just so wanting to know where I was,' he explained in the video for PETA When it comes to those people who are considering going to a breeder rather than an animal shelter Hugh has one simple message: 'Go and check shelters first to make sure that there's not an animal there that's waiting - and praying - that someone will come and pick them up.' Unfortunately not every cat, or animal, is as lucky as Addie as every year, hundreds of thousands of puppies and kittens are born in unwanted litters in Australia. Like Addie, many are abandoned on the streets or left to languish in shelters. As a result, around 200,000 healthy dogs and cats are euthanised each year, simply for lack of good homes. For more information about PETA, please click here. Gogglebox star Giles Wood entertains viewers with his armchair bickering with his agony aunt wife Mary Killen and now hes given his Wiltshire neighbours Lord and Lady Rothschild a piece of his mind. Artist Giles has accused the financier and his wife, Serena, of planning to build an inappropriate luxury barn conversion down the road from his and Marys thatched cottage in a small village. The Rothschilds, whose fortune is estimated at 735 million, have won planning permission to create a 2,540 sq ft five-bedroom house in an area of outstanding natural beauty on their West Stowell Farm near Pewsey. Gogglebox star Giles Wood entertains viewers with his armchair bickering with his agony aunt wife Mary Killen But Giles says the two-storey barn conversion is run-of-the-mill and quoted poet Edward Thomas in a letter asking the council to block the plans. To grant permission would diminish the local distinctiveness of the area, which Edward Thomas described as a beautiful, a quiet, an unrenowned and a most visibly ancient land, he wrote. The main issue is one of inappropriate development, leading to the erosion of local character and distinctiveness. The controversial plans were filed under Lady Rothschilds name, but locals believe the luxury house is meant for their son Nat, 46, a reformed playboy who splits his time between Wiltshire and Klosters in Switzerland. Everyone knows its for Nat, says a source. A flint-clad house designed for Lord Rothschild at his Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire won a Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year award in 2015. But Giles says the Rothschilds barn conversion sets a precedent for other owners looking to cash in, and that it will change the Vale of Pewsey into just another suburb complete with inappropriate swimming pools and helicopter pads. A flint-clad house designed for Lord Rothschild at his Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire won a Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year award in 2015 The Campaign For Rural England also opposes the house, because it will harm the remoteness and tranquillity in the magnificent panorama of the North Wessex Downs, and create light pollution. If Nat and new wife Loretta Basey, a former topless model, dont enjoy the barns three en-suite bathrooms, perhaps Nats good friend Lord Mandelson might take the plunge. In 2014, I revealed the former Labour Cabinet minister and his Brazilian boyfriend, Reinaldo da Silva, rented a cottage on the estate, so Mandy could realise his dream of a farming life. My lambing and milking skills will soon be tested, he said. Baa and moo. A spokesman for Stowell Farms says the occupant of the barn conversion has not been determined. Dame Judi Dench should have played Bond instead of MI6 chief M, according to leading Hollywood screenwriters. Male stars can be into their 50s, but you are going to have a hard time selling the studio on making a 100 million action movie with a 45-year-old actress. You have Liam Neeson, but you would never have people say, Judi Dench should really star in this action film, says Geneva Robertson-Dworet, the Captain Marvel writer. Its the Bond spinoff we really need, agrees fellow blockbuster screenwriter Lindsey Beer. Over to you, Barbara Broccoli. Tarrant in disguise! Is that your final answer? TV presenter Chris Tarrant sneaked in to see the new play Quiz, inspired by the cheating scandal on his old show TV presenter Chris Tarrant sneaked in to see the new play Quiz, inspired by the cheating scandal on his old show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The play chronicles the story of ex-Army major Charles Ingham, a contestant who was found guilty in 2003 of getting a friend in the audience to indicate answers by coughing. Tarrant, 71, who hosted the show for 15 years, turned up to watch the production in Chichester before it transfers to the West End. He clearly didnt want to be identified, as he went in disguise. A member of the cast reveals: It was hilarious because he had worn this disguise, but it was so obvious it was him. The theatre isnt that big, so it was easy to spot him in the audience. A restaurant due to open next door to the London home of cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard is giving the postie a headache. Building alterations have made it unclear which door is the comedians and which belongs to the Spanish eatery. Eddie has been receiving boxes of langoustines and the restaurateur has been getting deliveries of dresses and shoes, a chum tells me. Perhaps the comic should put up a sign reading Eddies Casa? Solo Davina wraps up for carols Davina McCall, 50, took her mind off her marital woes on Tuesday as she made a solo appearance at a carol concert in London. The former Big Brother host recently confirmed she was separating from husband Matthew Robertson after 17 years of marriage. They have three children. Davina, who has been spotted with her wedding ring on her other hand, wore a pale pink roll-neck and brown leather skirt, showing she can still put on a sartorial display. A mother's instinct may be the reason that her 12-year-old daughter is alive today. When a lump and rash first developed under Rhianna Chisolme's armpit, doctors said it was most likely from a cat scratch. But her mum Amanda Lee, 39, couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong. Rhianna, who was 10 at the time, had lost 13kg, complained of pain in her arm, and slept with a fan on full blast in the winter because she was sweating so much. Rhianna Chisolme, 12, was diagnosed with lymphoma after her mother Amanda Lee insisted that doctors conduct a biopsy Amanda took Rhianna to the hospital three times over the course of six weeks, and each time she said her daughter was hooked up to a drip to receive antibiotics Amanda took Rhianna to the hospital three times over the course of six weeks, and each time she said her daughter was hooked up to a drip to receive antibiotics. When a lump and rash (pictured) first developed under Rhianna's armpit, doctors said it was simply from a cat scratch Doctors believed Rhianna had developed Cat-scratch disease, in which a scratch infects the lymph nodes, and sent her home with an antibiotic. The third time the mum-of-five took Rhianna to the hospital, nurses asked why she had returned and not given the tablets time to work. 'But something was telling me it wasn't Cat-scratch disease,' Amanda told Daily Mail Australia. 'During the third admission I was in the ward, praying my heart out for answers when an ad for lymphoma came on the telly.' Amanda quickly Googled the symptoms and immediately buzzed the nurse. She was sure. 'I told her that my daughter had lymphoma,' Amanda recalled, before requesting that Rhianna have a biopsy - the only way to officially diagnose the blood cancer. Amanda was in the hospital when she saw an ad for lymphoma on television. She Googled the symptoms and immediately buzzed the nurse (pictured are Rhianna and her siblings) Amanda told the nurse that she wouldn't leave until Rhianna (pictured this year) had a biopsy 'I said, ''I'm not leaving this hospital until she gets one,"' the mum recalled. The next week Amanda's fear was confirmed. Rhianna was diagnosed with Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and began a gruelling six-month course of chemotherapy. The young girl cried in her mother's arms and asked if she was going to die. Rhianna was diagnosed with Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She is pictured here with her sister, who was born while she was undergoing chemotherapy A week after her diagnosis, Rhianna (pictured right recently) began a gruelling six-month course of chemotherapy. She was then declared to be in remission But Amanda said Rhianna, who was also born with a heart murmur, is still dealing with the effects of her treatment It was a tough road, one that Amanda said left her an 'emotional wreck' and crying for five weeks straight. 'I had 12 weeks left of my pregnancy at the time, but got induced at 37.5 weeks to fit it in with my daughter's chemotherapy,' she recalled. After six long months, Rhianna was declared to be in remission. After six long months, Rhianna was declared to be in remission But Amanda said Rhianna, who was also born with a heart murmur, is still dealing with the effects of her treatment two years later. Amanda has suffered from PTSD since the whole ordeal, but said she believes her prayers were answered the day that fateful ad came on the television. 'I had this gut feeling that something isn't right,' she said. 'My gut feeling was telling me she had lymphoma.' When royal bride-to-be Meghan Markle stepped out for her first official appearance to mark her engagement, women the world over were flooding stores in a bid to replicate her stylish get-up. And shortly afterwards, the well-dressed Suits star, along with her fiance Prince Harry were snapped looking every inch the stylish couple when they attended a charity event to mark World Aids Day. At that very event, it wasn't Ms Markle's navy wool Mackage coat sending women into a frenzy but her statement tote by Scottish brand Strathberry. And now, you too can get your hands on the stunning accessory. Meghan Markle (pictured left) with her fiance Prince Harry (pictured right) were recently snapped marking their first official appearance at a charity event The newly-engaged former actress cut a stylish figure in a shin-length navy coat accessorised with her much-coveted Strathberry tote Due to the 'Meghan' effect, within 11 minutes of photos surfacing featuring her look, the handbag sold out across all international stockists. Humbled by the international exposure, Strathberry are now auctioning the last currently available Midi Tote in aid of The Terrence Higgins Trust. The Terrence Higgins Trust is the British-based charity the pair were visiting at the time she was spotted with the bag. Fans of Ms Markle took the the internet in droves in the hopes of buying her stylish accessory - sadly for many it sold out within 11 minutes 'We are thrilled and honoured to see Meghan Markle carrying our Strathberry Midi Tote in Tri-Colour Burdundy/Navy/Vanilla,' a spokesperson for Strathberry said. 'We are delighted at the news of her and Prince Harry's engagement and wish them all the best for this exciting period. 'It was a fantastic surprise to see that Meghan selected one of our core Strathberry styles to carry on her first royal engagement.' Exciting news for fashionistas: The luxe Scottish brand will be available in select David Jones stores from next year. Bidding for the bag has already started on the Strathberry website and the auction will run until 7 am December 18. Fashionistas hoping to emulate a little of Ms Markle's inimitable style will soon have all their fashion prayers answered with the brand set to launch in Australia next year. The exclusive luxury accessory brand will be available in select David Jones stores across the country from April 2018. A 21-year-old student fell in love with a ventriloquist 43 years her senior after the pair bonded over a shared love for Harpo Marx. Alexandria Gayton-Gutierrez, from San Antonio, Texas, and Jonathan Geffner, 64, met online when she was 19 before deciding to meet in person shortly after she turned 20. Divorcee Jonathan flew three hours from New York City to Texas for their first date, bringing his youngest daughter Sabrina, then 16. That same day he also met Alexandria's parents, who at 62 and 54 years old are both younger than him. Over the last year the couple have been in a long distance relationship, travelling back and forth between San Antonio and New York City for dates. However the couple admit that strangers are often confused about their relationship. Alexandria Gayton-Gutierrez, 21, and Jonathan Geffner, 64, have been dating for a year Alexandria and Jonathan, pictured, bonded over their shared love of comedian Harpo Marx The couple share a kiss in the middle of Times Square - but admit their relationship turns heads 'People do sometimes think we are father and daughter, but we just laugh it off,' Jonathan said. 'It might be unusual, but our relationship works.' Jonathan and Alexandria met on a Harpo Marx Facebook page Alexandria had created and in March 2016 they added each other as friends so they could private message and began chatting. 'I told her about my work as a ventriloquist, my daughters, Michelle, now 20, and Sabrina, now 17,' he explained. 'I learnt she was about to go to college and lived 1,800 miles away San Antonio, Texas.' As well as talking about their lives, the pair shared titbits about the Marx brothers, Harpo, Chico, Groucho, Gummo and Zeppo, and jazz music, of which they are both fans. Alexandria flew to New York to stay with Jonathan in January and spent the summer with him Jonathan first tried to deny his feelings but eventually admitted he had fallen for Alexandria The couple brought their families when they first met in San Antonio in November last year Jonathan continued: 'The chat got personal. I complimented her, I thought she was wonderful and very beautiful.' Within a few weeks, the couple were speaking every day, largely through Facebook but occasionally via video chat. Two months later in May 2016 Alexandria confessed something which had been playing on her mind. 'I told him I thought he was very attractive,' she said. 'That I really liked him.' Alexandria's parents initially struggled to accept the relationship but are now happy The couple, pictured, met on a Facebook group Alexandria had set up about Harpo Marx Jonathan said he hopes Alexandria will consider transferring to a New York university Jonathan admitted he didn't believe her at first. 'I told her I was too old for her,' he said. 'I really couldn't believe someone like her could like me.' They continued chatting but Jonathan continued to rebuff Alexandria's advances. 'She'd sometimes say she was falling in love with me,' he said. 'I was trying to fight it, but truthfully I felt the same.' Finally, despite having never met in person, Jonathan confessed his true feelings, telling Alexandria: 'It would be a mistake to be with you, and it would be a bigger mistake not to pursue a relationship with you.' A few weeks later in November 2016, he flew the three hours to San Antonio to see her. During the trip, Johnathan met Alexandria's parents, who he got on well with. Jonathan said their first kiss, in an animal sanctuary in San Antonio, was 'magical' Jonathan has two daughters who are just slightly younger than Alexandria, pictured together Strangers mistaken the couple, pictured, for father and daughter when they are on dates Their families thought the pair were just friends and did not realise the depth of their feelings towards each other. They shared their first kiss at an animal sanctuary. 'It was magical,' Jonathan said. 'Behind a tower I realised she was the one.' In January 2017 Alexandria flew to New York City to visit Jonathan. In the summer she spent two months with her partner. After initial scepticism, people, including her parents, have now accepted their relationship. 'They can see we are happy,' Jonathan said. 'Right now, she is in college studying for about three years. I want her to transfer to a college here though.' Reflecting on the relationship, Alexandria added: 'We met virtually in a Harpo Marx fan page on Facebook. I'd set it up because I love him. 'Jonathan joined the group and the rest is history. We've Harpo Marx to thank to for bringing us together.' A MasterChef: The Professionals contestant left viewers blinking at their television screens after he served up half a fried carrot as a 'steak'. Carnivores united on Twitter to rail against the idea that the orange vegetable could ever be presented as a steak - even if you chop it in half and pan-fry it with butter. Last night's episode of the show saw semi-finalist Jamie presenting 'carrot steak' to the judges in the invention test section of the show. Scroll down for video Carrot steak: Pro chef Jamie's dish didn't impress viewers watching MasterChef: The Professionals at home last night with many regaling against the idea that the orange vegetable could be called a 'steak' A tense-looking Jamie had failed to make the final originally...but his vegetarian dish wowed judges Gregg Wallace, Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing - and he's through to the show finale Would you like carrot with your carrot, sir? The dish also served up carrot slaw and carrot puree alongside crispy wild rice, ricotta and orange segments It works for us! The judges (from left: Marcus Wareing, Gregg Wallace and Monica Galetti) were impressed with the creativity of the vegetarian dish The professional chef presented Gregg Wallace, Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing with the lively-looking 'steak' which also included carrot slaw, orange segments, carrot puree, fresh ricotta, ricotta fritters and crispy wild rice. While the judges marvelled at what Jamie had managed to do with the vegetable; Gregg Wallace said it had 'cleverness, creativity and bags of flavour', viewers baulked at the idea that a carrot could ever be described as a steak. On Twitter, a tirade against Jamie's dish was quickly unleashed. 'It's not a steak, it's half a carrot' Twitter was awash with carrot steak rage after the show aired on BBC2 yesterday evening Marcus Wareing said he was 'surprised' the dish was so delicious - and promptly put Jamie through to the final @polsuth raged: 'A guy on MasterChef has just presented half a carrot as a carrot steak and been praised for his incredible invention, youre having a laugh.' @megaplums clearly wasn't impressed either. They wrote: 'Chap cooks a "carrot steak with carrot puree & carrot slaw. Plus a "ricotta fritter". What a time to be alive.' @bigajm added: '"Carrot steak". Go home, now. #MasterChef' Louisa, second from left, Tom, second from right, and Jamie, far right will now join three other professional chefs in the show's final The criticism is unlikely to worry Jamie, who told viewers that he regularly cooks vegetarian cuisine at home because his girlfriend isn't a meat-eater. The affable pro booked himself a place among the six remaining semi finalists of the show with the dish, after originally failing to make the grade in the first semi final challenge. A tense cook-off saw Jamie, Louisa and Tom win through to the next semi final programme, on tonight at 8pm, BBC Two. A mother-of-six on benefits was blasted by This Morning viewers after she defended her decision to spend 2,000 on Christmas presents. Claire Young, who was signed off work in 2012 due to disability, receives an average of 850-a-week in benefits and explained she saves 50-a-week throughout the year so she can treat her six children, aged 12 and under. She appeared on This Morning to defend her spending habits, arguing that she should be allowed to decide how she wants to spend her money. Presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby also spoke to single mother Emma Tapping, from the Isle of Man, who has bought 300 Christmas presents for her three children. She first made headlines in 2015 when a photo of her gift haul went viral. Scroll down for video Claire, who was signed off work in 2012 due to disability, receives an average of 850-a-week in benefits and explained she saves 50-a-week so she can treat her six children Presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby also spoke to mother-of-three Emma Tapping, from the Isle of Man, who has bought 300 Christmas presents for her children 2015: Emma Tapping first made headlines two years ago when a photo of her enormous pile of Christmas presents, seen above, went viral. That year she had bought 210 gifts 2017: Emma later shared a photo of her Christmas tree, revealing the massive pile of gifts Outraged viewers blasted both Claire and Emma for their 'excessive' Christmas spending Outraged viewers took to Twitter to blast both mothers, claiming they were 'setting a bad example' for their children - and were losing the true meaning of Christmas. Commenting on Emma's spending, one woman tweeted: 'Why doesn't she donate some of those presents to the less fortunate! Ridiculous!' Another wrote: 'That pile of presents is just ridiculous. Something missing in her life. Of course her kids don't appreciate it. They expect it.' Other parents argued Claire should be saving more of her money that she receives in benefits. 'If you're on benefits, why spend 2,000 on kids? Stupid,' one wrote. Claire, whose children are all aged 10 and under, explained how she could not work because she suffered from both ME and fibromyalgia. Her partner gave up his career as a tradesman three years ago to become her full-time carer. Emma appeared via video link from her living room, sitting in front of the massive pile of gifts Presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield quizzed the mothers on their spending Dozens of viewers took to Twitter to criticise the women, saying their spending is unnecessary They now receive a combination of housing benefits, cash credits and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), with payments averaging 850-a-week. Claire explained she is able to afford her Christmas because she starts saving at the start of the year. Excessive? Emma's lavish present hauls Emma Tapping first made headlines two years ago when a photo of her enormous pile of Christmas presents went viral. The 2015 picture shows her twinkling tree surrounded by 210 presents - 85 each for her daughters and 40 for her son, who was then just a year old. The following year she purchased 96 each for the girls and 45 for her son. This year she has bought 85 each for Mia and Ella, and 60 for Tatun. Advertisement 'I start in January, I save all the year through,' she said. 'I put 50 into a pot every week. Throughout the year if I have it to dip into.' The mother-of-six hit back at the suggestion her spending was excessive, saying: 'Christmas is only once a year and that's how I see it. Yes we're on benefits but that shouldn't stop the children from having gifts... [They get] 11 [gifts] each. Some of those presents could cost a 1.' Claire explained that she 'didn't like' being on benefits, adding: 'If I could go to work right now, I would do. If just because I'm on benefits does that mean my children shouldn't have Christmas?' She explained she doesn't 'drink, smoke or go out every weekend' and instead sets aside the money for her children. She added: 'I don't tell people how to spend their money so they shouldn't tell me how to spend my money.' Proud: Emma Tapping, pictured, later spoke out to defend the amount she spends on gifts Some viewers stepped in to defend the women, arguing they could do what they want with their money Phillip and Holly also spoke to mother-of-three Emma Tapping, who appeared on video link in front of her Christmas tree that is piled high with presents. She became an online sensation two years ago when a photo of another massive haul of Christmas presents went viral. The working mother defended her lavishness, saying she started buying in January and slowly built up the gifts over the year. 'I work hard for my money, I work all year round for my money,' she said. 'Why would I be slogging my guts out all year if I can't treat my kids at Christmas?' Emma estimated she has spent some 2000 on gifts for children Mia, 15, Ella, 11 and Tatun, three. Speaking from her home this afternoon, she said: 'I don't spoil them throughout the year. If they want something they have to do chores and buy it themselves. 'If they break their phones for example, they don't just get a new one from me. They get stuff they need but they don't get spoiled. Christmas has always been a big day for me and I like to carry that on. I don't really care what people think. 'I work and I work hard. I have two jobs. I think to myself 'it's my money and they are my kids'. If I want to spoil them at Christmas, I'm going to do it and nobody is going to change my mind.' However she was widely criticised by viewers, who claimed she was 'spoiling' her children. One wrote: 'That pile of presents is obscene.' Another tweeted: 'That's an obscene amount of gifts. Give them to kids that don't even get one present let alone 300!' As a member of the royal family there is no doubt that Camilla is used to being waited on, however the Duchess of Cornwall took on a little role reversal on Wednesday. Camilla, 70, took on the role of waitress as she welcomed children into her home of Clarence House to decorate her Christmas tree. The wife of Prince Charles was more than happy to muck in as a hostess and could be seen offering out food to her young guests with terminal and life-limiting medical conditions. Amid festive scenes, Camilla invited the youngsters from Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity to Clarence House, her official London home, for a fun-filled event, helping to decorate her Christmas tree before enjoying a slap-up tea. A royal guard was on hand to greet Camilla's young guests as they arrived at her home (pictured: Perfect Akerejola, seven, from Bexhill who has sickle cell disease) The Duchess of Cornwall turned waitress today as she welcomed children and their families to her home of Clarence House (pictured here with Anthony Brine, five, who has recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa) It is the 12th year that the royal has held the party which is, she said, always one of the loveliest engagements of her year. Along with the children she met was adorable Anthony Brine, five, who suffers from a painful genetic condition which causes his body to develop blisters both inside and out, from any kind of friction, called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. He is under the care of Helen House Hospice. Camilla admired his festive jumper and Santa socks, and asked him what he wanted from Father Christmas. 'A surprise,' he said merrily (although his mother later admitted that there were five other things on his list). 'Oh, how sweet,' the duchess cooed. The event is held for families supported by Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity (pictured here with Anthony Brine, five, who has recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa) The duchess is patron of the charity and each year invites the families who are coping with caring for terminally ill children, to help decorate her Christmas tree Anthony's mother, Daniela Brine, 29, said his condition was discovered at birth when the midwives rubbed his little hands and feet and his skin came away. She explained that she and her husband, Richard, have an older daughter who does not have the condition, but that with a one in four chance of another child inheriting it, they had reluctantly decided not to have another child and focus their attention on Anthony who needs daily care. Barely 5,000 children in the UK suffer from the condition in various forms but Anthony's is so severe that it is the equivalent of experiencing third degree burns on a daily basis. Despite this he still attends a mainstream school. 'He is such a brave little boy,' she said, 'and copes with his condition so bravely. He knows what he can and can't do. 'It is just so amazing to be here. What a wonderful thing to invite us to. It really feels like a friend has asked us into their home. ' The royal handed out Christmas gifts to each of her guests in Buckingham Palace gift bags Camilla could be seen helping a brightly dressed guest attach a Union Jack to her headband in aid of the celebrations that take place annually The Duchess also admired the red bow tie sported by Perfect Akerejola, seven, from Bexhill who has sickle cell disease and is helped by the Ronald Dahl charity. 'You look so smart, did you chose it yourself?' asked Camilla to a proud-looking Perfect. As the duchess left he said knowledgeably: 'She is the deputy Queen.' After a meet and greet, Camilla invited the youngsters in to dress the Christmas tree with the help of assistant equerry, Welsh Guardsman Jack Farmelo, before serving up tea and goodie bags to the youngsters. In an off-the-cuff speech, the Duchess said: 'May I wish you a very Happy Christmas. I always feel like today is the start of Christmas. It is such a joy to meet all of you. I hope the children have enjoyed themselves as much as I have.' After helping the children to decorate the tree Camilla passed out Christmas gifts in Buckingham Palace gift bags. One little girl appeared to receive a special gift of a teddy bear from Camilla on Wednesday The royal guard could be seen raising a smile among guests as he introduced the Christmas tree The event is held for families supported by Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity. The duchess is patron of Helen & Douglas House, which helps families cope with the challenges of looking after a terminally ill baby, child or young adult who will die prematurely. Camilla took up her role in 2007 and this will be the eighth time that families supported by the charity, along with hospice staff, have been invited to decorate the Clarence House Christmas tree. Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity was founded more than 25 years ago by Felicity Dahl in memory of the determination of her husband Roald Dahl, the famous childrens author, to improve the lives of those around him. The charity provides specialist nurses for a range of conditions to ensure all seriously ill children and their families receive the support they need and deserve. Working in tandem with the NHS, the charity has now funded 58 specialist nursing posts around the UK, helping more than 12,000 seriously ill children and their families each year. The Spanish Queen today visited a project designed to help stop the practice of female genital mutilation in areas of southern Senegal, as she continued her four-day visit to the West African country. The 45-year-old royal, dressed in an elegant long-sleeve khaki blouse and cream trousers, was surrounded by Senegalese military as she travelled to the southern region of Casamance. The Queen chatted with some of the girls and women affected by FGM as she helped to launch the Spanish-supported project against the debilitating cultural tradition. Queen Letizia spent her third day in Senegal touring a Naatangue familiar farm in Oussouye and launching a initiative to stamp out FGM in the West African country The Queen consort opted for cooler attire in the warm West African sun; wearing a khaki-coloured blouse and cream trousers Opting for simple elegance, the Queen consort wore her brunette hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and barely-there make-up. With temperatures in excess of 26 degrees, Letizia swapped yesterday's smart trouser-suit for a lighter blouse and trouser combination. After visiting a Naatangue familiar farm in Oussouye, the Queen helped to launch a FGM initiative. Meeting a woman of the Bambara ethnic group, who'd suffered FGM, the Queen listened intently as she was told: 'I suffered it in my flesh, not because of my will, but because of my parents.' The Queen, who is on her final overseas royal engagement before Christmas looked relaxed as she toured the farm in Oussouye Later the Spanish royal met with women and girls who had been affected by FGM Letizia smiles as she accepts a gift from a rural farmworker in the country's southern region The four-day royal visit is designed to support Spanish co-operation projects including the defense of women's rights and social and economic developments in the country. The Queen consort is on her last overseas visit before the Christmas break and yesterday attended a meeting at Dakar University. She wore her highlighted brunette locks in loose ringlets and donned a pair of festive earrings - diamond-studded stars. The Spanish style icon finished the look with a glossy lip and smokey eyes. Spanish smile! Queen Letizia, currently on a four-day visit to Dakar in Senegal, West Africa poses with a staff member outside the city's university building Stylish in cream! Hundreds of well-wishers - including students at the university - turned out to see the Spanish Queen consort, who looked sharp in a tailored cream trouser suit, as she arrived this morning at the educational establishment Letizia, 45, wore her highlighted brunette locks in loose ringlets as she flicked through documents in a weighty folder Sporting festive diamond star earrings, the Queen opted for a glossy lip and smoky eye The royal visit is the Queen's last overseas tour before Christmas, which she'll spend in Madrid with her husband King Felipe IV and daughters Leonor and Sofia Thick as thieves: Queen Letizia of Spain made a typically glamorous entrance when she touched down in Senegal on Monday night Letizia steps off her plane. The mother-of-two is accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Fernando Garcia Casas Two first ladies: The pair appeared to be getting along famously as the laughed and joked on the tarmac before heading indoors Queen of style: Letizia, 45, who is on a four-day working visit to the west African country, opted for a fit-and-flare dress in eye-catching monochrome stripes when she landed at Dakar airport When she touched down on Monday night, Letizia showcased her faultless style in a fit-and-flare dress with eye-catching monochrome stripes for her arrival at at Dakar airport. She was met by First Lady Marieme Faye Sall, who is the wife of the country's President Macky Sall. The pair appeared to be getting along famously as the laughed and joked on the tarmac before heading indoors. The Spanish queen consort's visit is intended to boost support for the cooperation projects that Spain has in Senegal, such as the defence of women's rights and social and economic development. Letizia, who is the wife of King Felipe VI, is due to kick off her engagements tomorrow at the Technical Cooperation Office of the AECID, where she will hold a meeting with Spanish and international cooperation workers. Important visit: The Spanish queen consort's visit is intended to boost support for the cooperation projects that Spain has in Senegal, such as the defence of women's rights and social and economic development Flying start: Letizia, who is the wife of King Felipe VI, is due to kick off her engagements tomorrow at the Technical Cooperation Office of the AECID Working trip: Later on Tuesday, Letizia will move to the 'Aula Cervantes' in the Campus of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD), the country's main university Later, she moved to the 'Aula Cervantes' in the Campus of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD), the country's main university. There, she was informed of the work of the Cervantes Institute in Senegal and attend a meeting with the rector of the UCAD and other academic authorities, as well as Spanish teachers and students. She was treated to lunch at the luxurious Terou-Ki hotel, a five star hotel with spectacular sea views, before heading on to visit to Red Cross of Dakar to learn about a project for the protection of Senegalese women's rights. Queen Letizia arriving for a luncheon ceremony on ocassion of her official visit to Senegal in Dakar The royal attended a speech at the Senegalese Red Cross office with first lady of Senegal Marieme Faye Sall The Queen is welcomed by Marieme Faye Sall (left), wife of the Senegal's President Macky Sall The Spanish royal greeted other officials at the Red Cross office before heading inside to learn more about women's rights in the country The Queen was all smiles as she waved to the waiting crowds while walking alongside the Senegal president's wife There she was welcomed by Marieme Faye Sall, the wife of the Senegal's President Macky Sall. The mother-of-two looked a picture of elegance as she swapped stripes for a green and floral knee-length dress. They waved to the crowds gathered before heading inside the building for a speech about Senegalese women's rights Queen Letizia is accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Fernando Garcia Casas, as well as the Director of Cooperation with Africa and Asia of the AECID, Cristina Diaz. BISMARCK, N.D. A new law in North Dakota will end monthly child support obligations for parents who are sentenced to jail or prison for more than 180 days. The Legislature recently approved the change as a way to prevent the accumulation of past-due child support owed by incarcerated parents, as a way to help former inmates transition once they're released. The law will take effect on Jan. 1. Under the law, a child support obligation can be re-established if an incarcerated parent has more than $750 of net monthly income from outside sources. It does not apply to parents on work release or probation, as long as they can earn an income outside of a correctional facility. Leann Bertsch, director of the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the law will help former inmates successfully re-enter the community by reducing debt that could set them up for failure and possible re-incarceration. The new law doesn't forgive any past-due support owed prior to the change, noted Jim Fleming, director of North Dakota's Child Support Program. "We anticipate there will be some people not happy with this new law, but in reality, it will not reduce collections or increase the need for public assistance for the child," Fleming said. "Past-due support that accrues during long-term incarceration often goes uncollected, even after the parent is released." Fleming said that removing the buildup of unpaid child support gives a parent incentive to find meaningful employment and re-establish support payments upon release. The state's Child Support Program will serve as a resource for parents trying to re-establish such payments. State records show that about 330 inmates with 416 child support obligations will have their obligations terminated under the law. North Dakota's Child Support Program will send letters notifying parents affected by the new law. Chrissy Teigen appears to have found a new style inspiration in none other than Ivanka Trump. While celebrating her mother's birthday last night, Chrissy, 32, wore the same faux kimono dress previously sported by Ivanka during an official visit in Japan. The $2,000 dress, made in Italy by Johanna Ortiz, has a distinct floral pattern with pink accents and a black belt that ties into a bow high on the waist. Deja vu: While celebrating her mother's birthday last night, Chrissy Teigen wore the same faux kimono dress previously modeled by Ivanka Trump last month during her visit in Japan Throwback: The first daughter donned the Italian-made garment while having dinner with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, who had invited her to visit the country Focus: Ivanka let the dress take center stage by keeping the rest of her outfit simple, while Chrissy teamed hers with a fun party hat (left) and opted for a lower-cut neckline Chrissy modeled it in downtown Manhattan, during the celebration with her husband John Legend, 32, and her mother Vilailuck Teigen, 56. Poll Who wore it better? Chrissy Teigen Ivanka Trump Who wore it better? Chrissy Teigen 363 votes Ivanka Trump 454 votes Now share your opinion The mother, who is currently pregnant with her second child, paired the kimono-like garment with black boots and a matching coat to keep warm in the chilly New York City temperatures. She wore her hair in a bun and framed her face with large hoop earrings. Chrissy and her mother, who both appeared to be in high spirits, both carried balloons, including one shaped like an ice cream cone and reading 'Happy birthday'. Ivanka first wore the kimono dress last month, when she traveled to Tokyo to give a speech about female entrepreneurs and women's role in the economy at the World Assembly for Women 2017. The first daughter donned the Italian-made garment while having dinner with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, who had invited her to visit the country. She paired the below-the-knee dress with black stilettos and otherwise let the garment take center stage by keeping her accessories minimal. Party on! Both John and Chrissy shared images of the dinner on their social media accounts, with the trio enjoying her food while wearing cone hats fit for the occasion Duo: Chrissy and her mother Vilailuck, who is of Thai descent, posed together for this affectionate photo during the meal Details: The embellishments on Chrissy's shoulders were clearly visible while she sat at the dinner table with her mother and husband Sweet: John made sure to take a selfie to wish his mother-in-law a happy birthday while Chrissy later shared a video of herself and daughter Luna on Snapchat (right) The dress proved to be a fitting maternity pick for Chrissy, who already has a daughter, one-year-old Luna, with John. Chrissy revealed she was pregnant last month by sharing a sweet Instagram video, in which she can be heard asking her daughter 'Luna, what's in there?' in reference to her belly. Luna, already aware that she's about to become a big sister, then replies: 'Baby!' In order to celebrate Vilailuck's birthday last night, Chrissy, John and the star of the evening headed to Fish Cheeks, a Thai seafood restaurant in Noho. Both John and Chrissy shared images of the dinner on their social media accounts, with the trio enjoying her food while wearing cone hats fit for the occasion. Their pick of venue appeared to be a nod to Vilailuck's Thai descent. Chrissy opened up earlier this month about embracing her heritage and enjoying Thai cuisine thanks to her mother, who lives with her and John and has many Thai dishes in her repertoire. 'Thailand is such a big part of my family and me,' she told People before referring to her mother by her family nickname. 'My mom, Pepper, who lives with us, is from there and is constantly cooking Thai recipes at home (some of which will be in my upcoming cookbook).' Chrissy, who has relatives in the Thai village of Korat, explained that she wasn't always at ease with her heritage. 'I used to be embarrassed of Thai food's weird smells as a little kid (especially the strong garlic scent), but now I crave all of the different Thai spices and use endless amounts of garlic in my recipes,' she added. 'I've come to be proud of my heritage, instead of shying away from it.' Opening Ceremony calls one section of its 2017 gift guide 'Crazy Gifts' and in terms of price, they totally are. The fashion brand is offering five one-of-a-kind experiences for shoppers, each of which costs thousands of dollars. The good news? The hefty price tags are actually donations that will be made to several different nonprofit organizations. Something special: Opening Ceremony's 'crazy gift' guide includes one-of-a-kind celebrity experiences Splurge: Fans can spend thousands on lunch with Chloe Sevigny or a private video message from Jonah Hill '90s kids: Also on offer is a custom illustration from the people behind Ren & Stimpy Alternatives: Fans can also spend $1,000 on a video message from Whoopi Goldberg or $5,000 for a package from the New York City Ballet and Justin Peck One of those special experiences already seems to be sold out: The brand was offering lunch with actress Chloe Sevigny for $2,000, but the link on the gift guide's homepage no longer leads customers to a place to purchase it. Still up for grabs, though, is a video message from actor Jonah Hill for $1,000, the proceeds of which will be donated to Swing Left, an organization that benefits democratic candidates in swing districts. Also for $1,000, Whoopi Goldberg is offering a video message as well. Ren & Stimpy fans with $3,000 to spare can buy 'a custom Ren & Stimpy-style rendering of you and a friend, drawn by the shows illustrators'. Proceeds go to the ACLU. Finally, the highest price tag belongs to the $5,000 New York City Ballet and Justin Peck package. A customer who buys this will get to watch a private rehearsal, get a backstage tour, and see a performance with Justin Peck, the Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet. Launching it: Last year, Opening Ceremony designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon offered other 'crazy' gifts Style splurge: The rest of the gift guide's packed with fashion items like a $1,055 Chen Peng coat and $525 Nicole Saldana denim boots Stocking stuffer: These funky Claire Barrow earrings will set a shopper back $250 Unique: These $178 slippers by Ariana Bohling are meant to be worn outside Proceeds go to NYCB's Educational Programs, which do public school residencies, special family performances, and dance workshops for disabled students in New York City. The 'crazy gifts' are slightly less pricey than last year's, when Opening Ceremony launched the special guide. For 2016, shoppers could spend $10,000 on a custom piece designed by Opening Ceremony's Humberto Leon or $5,000 on dinner with the store's founders. There was also an auction starting at $5,500 for a lunch date with Spike Jonze and Jonah Hill. Customers who don't have quite so much to spend can still find some more unusual gifts on the site. Among the clothing, jewelry, and accessories in the gift guide edit are a pair of $178 fur slippers (meant for wearing outside), $525 denim thigh-high boots, some funky earrings for $250, and a $1,055 puffy silver coat. For Justine Bold, it was only after three miscarriages, five gruelling rounds of IVF and years of financial sacrifice and anguish that she finally fulfilled her dreams of motherhood. The moment she held her twin boys, Otto and Orin, in her arms, all the difficulties of her long journey were forgotten. When they were born, I remember just smiling a huge smile and feeling so very lucky, says Justine, now 48. Yet while Justine still feels lucky to have her sons, now nearly five, she also experienced a rather more unwanted side-effect of IVF. When Otto and Orin were just 16 months old, her long-term relationship with their father broke down, partly because of the strain caused by undergoing fertility treatment. Since then Justine has found herself a single mother. Last month marked the 40th anniversary since the first successful transplantation of an embryo grown in a test tube. Louise Brown, famously the worlds first IVF baby, was born on July 25, 1978. Its estimated six million children globally and more than 300,000 in the UK have been born from IVF, or fertility treatments developed from it. Justine Bold (pictured centre with her twin sons Orin and Otto) believes her IVF treatment partly affected the break down of the relationship with her children's father This gift of parenthood is surely one of the defining inventions of the 20th century. And yet theres no denying the IVF revolution has come at a price. As Justines experience illustrates, its by no means a straightforward solution to the fertility problems that currently face one in seven British couples. Whats often not heard about is the impact the often cripplingly expensive, not to mention physically demanding, treatment can have on the couples involved. Danish researchers, for example, estimate those who go through failed IVF are three times more likely to separate than those who go on to have a baby. Jennifer Edwards, a relationship therapist with more than 20 years of experience, sees many couples who are trying to pick up the pieces of relationships broken by the expense and intrusion of fertility procedures. She says: Infertility is still a subject lots of couples do not discuss with friends and family. Many couples only disclose that a child was conceived through IVF when theyre well into their pregnancy and confident nothing is likely to go wrong. I still hear women and men express a sense of shame that they are not able to conceive a child. Men, in particular, can feel left out by female partners intent on conception. They are often more willing to accept children just wont happen and move on, while their wives remain determined to become mothers at any cost. Musician and former Strictly Come Dancing winner Harry Judd recently spoke of the disconnect that often occurs, after his experience with wife Izzy. She so desperately wanted to be a mother. As soon as we realised there was a problem, it took over her life, Harry said. The dynamic changed because all the focus was on getting pregnant and in a way I lost her a little bit. I lost that smiley, confident, beautiful wife. The couple now have Lola, nearly two, who was born after IVF, and a three-month-old son, Kit, who was conceived naturally. Relationship therapist Jennifer Edwards says she still sees couples who sense shame from being unable to conceive naturally (file image) But even successful treatment is not always enough to heal the rifts, as Justine, from Worcestershire, discovered. She had wanted to be a mother since her early 30s, but suffered a miscarriage aged 32 while in a previous relationship. After meeting her partner at 37, they started trying for a baby around ten months later. At 39, she went to her GP. I was told I had a good ovarian egg reserve and got pregnant naturally in 2011 but had a miscarriage. I then had an early miscarriage after a cycle of ICSI (where the sperm is injected directly into the egg). More tests revealed I had Hughes syndrome, which makes the placenta fail, and my immune system was attacking embryos. Finally, with a fifth cycle of IVF, the treatment worked. But she says: Struggling with fertility problems and going through fertility treatment was more of a strain on our relationship than Id expected. Having a baby was more of a focus for me. My partner started to resent it. The fertility drugs made me feel fat and emotional. It became harder to deal with the grief that was accumulating each time I had a miscarriage or an IVF cycle failed It became harder to deal with the grief that was accumulating each time I had a miscarriage or an IVF cycle failed. I kept wanting to try, but my ex got less keen as time went on, so this was a problem that built up between us. Then when I did get pregnant with twins, he was very apprehensive about coping with two. I think a lot of people believe the journey stops when you get pregnant and its plain sailing from there, but my experience is the journey doesnt stop then. There can be loss and surprises on the way like twins that add to the pressures, particularly on relationships. But I think if you are lucky and you bring new life into the world, you just have to deal with whatever happens, even if it means doing it on your own, as then you have a child to think about and their needs are more important. Fertility treatment can also play havoc with the physical side of a relationship. A Stanford University study found that 40 per cent of women struggling with infertility experienced low libido, even though they previously had no difficulties when it came to intimacy. It wasnt clear whether IVF drugs or psychological issues were the main factor. Jessica Hepburn who underwent 11 failed cycles of IVF believes the impact of fertility treatment on love life isn't spoken about enough (file image) Justine, a lecturer in nutrition who has edited a book on infertility, concurs: There are long periods where you cant have sex after treatment or feel too sore. Years of timing sex around ovulation also takes a toll as it destroys spontaneity. The detrimental impact of fertility treatment on a couples love life is something thats not talked about enough, says Jessica Hepburn. Now 47, she went through 11 failed cycles of IVF because of unexplained infertility before she accepted biological motherhood would not happen for her. Jessica, who now campaigns for improved care for infertility patients, believes couples are often not prepared, emotionally or financially, for what can be a very long journey. Going through IVF is definitely a catalyst for separation- Jessica Hepburn The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimates three rounds of IVF will cumulatively give a woman under 40 up to an 80 per cent chance of a successful pregnancy. A single IVF cycle has an average success rate of 32.3 per cent for those under 35, dropping to five per cent for women aged 43 and 44 and only 1.9 per cent for those 45 and older. Jessica says: Taking into account all the tests and three cycles of IVF that means its likely to be a journey of anywhere between three to six years. She admits that over the years her relationship with her partner Peter has been pushed to the brink. Going through IVF is definitely a catalyst for separation, she says. Pete and I have had some really dark times and for a while he moved out because he was unable to cope with my violent mood swings. During one row I poured a bottle of wine over his head. Jessica says she regularly gets emails from women who are depressed and suicidal as they go through fertility treatment (file image) She adds: Infertility is treated as a clinical problem. But whats not considered is the psychological trauma which starts the moment you discover you have a problem. I regularly get emails from women who are very depressed; some are even suicidal. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) recommend everyone going through fertility treatment should have one session of counselling, but that wasnt something I was offered, and is it enough anyway? Then there are the financial pressures on a couple. Jessicas unsuccessful treatment cost a crippling 70,000, while nearly eight years on from her first IVF cycle, Justine is still paying off the 50,000 bill for her treatment, despite help from relatives. As many discover, bills for IVF can soar. A single cycle costs upwards of 5,000, and often far more. With some 60 percent of IVF cycles paid for privately, its perhaps unsurprising the fertility industry now worth an estimated 600 million in the UK faces accusations of exploiting that desperate urge for a child. I thought making the decision to fit a baby into my busy life was the hard part. I was wrong As Jessica, a writer and arts producer, puts it: Youll do anything if someone says it will give you a baby. Youll take the extra treatments or medications that are recommended. Youd cut off your arm. Yet an investigation by Panorama last year revealed some add-on treatments being offered by some clinics simply do not have the clinical evidence to back up the claims being made. Over the past 40 years the landscape of motherhood has changed dramatically, with the average age of mothers climbing ever higher. Its now 30.3 years, compared to 26.4 in the mid-Seventies. More worryingly, latest statistics show women in their mid-40s are almost twice as likely to be childless as their parents generation. One in five women born in 1969 is childless today, compared with one in nine women born in 1942. So has IVF inadvertently contributed to the infertility problems that it set out to resolve? Does it give women a false sense that they can delay conception by a decade or more at little personal cost? After all, if they fail to get pregnant, theres always IVF She also believes schools give more information about not getting pregnant than understanding fertility life (file image) Despite IVF being most effective for the under 35s, 57 per cent of IVF cycles are undergone by women 35 or older. To Jessica Hepburns mind, knowing you can have fertility treatment encourages the impression that its fine to delay motherhood. Its something to get round to when all the other elements of our lives are in place. She was 34 and successfully running a London theatre when she decided to start a family. Echoing the thoughts of many, Jessica admits: I thought making the decision to fit a baby into my busy life was the hard part. I was wrong. She sees IVF contributing, in part, to a fundamental societal disconnect from the reality of conceiving a child that its just more likely when youre young. I dont know what we would have done without that IVF. This was our one chance at parenthood- Su Lawrence People are leaving it later to have children, and theyre not having them at the biologically optimal age, she says. Were told in schools how not to get pregnant, but were not told what we need to know about our fertility life cycle. Were told that as women we should go to university, get on the career ladder, be picky about a partner, and that our mid-30s is the perfect age to have a family, but thats the point when your fertility starts to drop off. This problem is only going to get worse. Think of all the women in their 20s who are still living at home and struggling to find a job. IVF cant cheat nature, it can only get everything in the rightplace at the right time. Just as in nature, not every embryo makes babies. Jessica feels so strongly about this that she co-founded Fertility Fest, an annual festival that provides support for those going through treatment by bringing together artists and fertility experts, as well as educating teenagers about the realities of fertility. Su Lawrence believes IVF should be given on the NHS. She fell pregnant with her daughter after one round (file image) I am in no way anti-IVF, she says. Its given so many people I know families. But there are lots of issues that we need to talk about. Adam Balen, professor of reproductive medicine and surgery at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and chair of the British Fertility Society, which works to promote standards of fertility care and research, agrees there needs to be improved education around fertility for young people. Women come to the clinic and are surprised when you say to them, Actually your chances arent that high as youre now 43, he says. Concerns have even been raised that children born from IVF may face health problems later in life. Some argue that, in overriding the ways a womans body decides whether conception should succeed, IVF increases the risks of abnormalities in embryos. But Sally Cheshire, HFEA chair, is keen to stress that there is only one study relating to health complications for IVF children she considers credible. It found that boys born through ICSI go on to have lower sperm counts themselves. Despite all these complex issues, IVF has brought joy to the lives of so many like Su Lawrence, 46, who passionately believes IVF should be available on the NHS. Her daughter Amy, ten, was the result of her one round of free IVF. Su, a textile designer, started trying for a baby with her husband Simon at 30 after being diagnosed with endometriosis in her late 20s. Apart from an ectopic pregnancy at 33, which resulted in the loss of one of her fallopian tubes, she had no success. A year later she was referred for IVF. Fertility treatment takes the fun out of your life, she says. Its very stressful and you cant enjoy life until you see a heartbeat. But we are so thankful to have Amy. Shes everything we wanted. I dont know what we would have done without that IVF. This was our one chance at parenthood. Professor Balen sees the amazing revolution of IVF as a cost-effective one. Financial pressures mean just one in eight commissioning groups now offers the recommended three cycles, with some regions ceasing to fund IVF. People throw their hands up in horror and say IVF is a luxury. The reality is that its not that expensive, he says. If you go into hospital for a day or two, you can easily rack up the same sum. Its cost-effective and there are huge benefits to society, not just because of the children born and the taxes they pay when they work, but also the wellbeing of the patients who require the IVF. Theres much evidence of the huge amount of distress and time off work for people who suffer infertility problems. Yet we still know relatively little about the potential long-term effects of IVF. For example, some have questioned a lack of studies monitoring the long-term effects of fertility drugs on women to stimulate egg production. Add to this the fact that scientists now have the ability to edit an embryos genes, as well as screen for abnormalities, and we are very much in brave new world territory. For while this development has the potential to eradicate cruel genetic illnesses, it also has the power to change the human race permanently. Forty years on from that first test-tube baby, the true legacy of IVF remains unknown. For many who have already been through the experience, it has been a mixed blessing. Princess Margaret was impossible to ignore: glamorous, intelligent, passionate and mesmerically attractive to men. Always unpredictable, she could be warmly alluring or she could freeze you in your tracks. As one of her suitors put it: She has the lure of the unexpected. Her role in the Royal Family may have been secondary, but she stole the spotlight, just as her character does in The Crown, the Netflix TV series about the monarchy that has captured imaginations all over again with its second season. Actress Vanessa Kirby has done a remarkable job of portraying Margarets allure. Not only was she one of the most photographed women in the world, she really appreciated fashion. And when it came to clothes, she knew how to play to her strengths. The Princess was only 5ft 1in, with a voluptuous hourglass figure. She had the superb complexion she and the Queen inherited from the Queen Mother, and deep blue-violet eyes. COME-HITHER SHADES Margarets signature sunglasses and a bold coat in The Crown (left) are just right for a freezing winter day. Sunglasses, 24, topshop.com. Tweed coat, 186, Brian Dales at yoox.com. Tan leather gloves, 39, dents.co.uk. Leather bag, 255, russellandbromley.co.uk But she undoubtedly looked her best in the evening, her preferred time of day, when she was usually seen in a long, tight-waisted evening dress, cut low to enhance her decolletage. Swathed in furs, diamonds round her neck, she was the epitome of a metropolitan princess. She adored Diors New Look, the ultra feminine, luxurious style that was a reaction to the hard years of World War II. And she embraced trends such as ankle-strap shoes, bright head scarves and fashionable sunglasses. She also, in a break from royal tradition, often sported a suntan and a considerable expanse of bare flesh. Her favourite precious stones were rubies, thanks to her first brooch, which was given to her by her beloved father who died when she was only 21. Season two of The Crown, which started last Friday, captures Margaret coming into her own. No longer the tragic heroine of a doomed romance with Group Captain Peter Townsend, she was the sparky core of the Margaret Set gilded young men and women with whom she went to theatres, dined in restaurants, or entertained at Clarence House. She was at the height of her beauty, a glittering, social butterfly. Now, with these princess-inspired clothes, you can be one, too. SHOW-OFF SHOULDERS Margarets strapless styles (as depicted in The Crown) displeased some courtiers and they still bring drama to any look today. Add princess-worthy gems for a showstopping look. Diamante tiara, 28, Jon Richard at debenhams.com. Diamante necklace, 15, marksandspencer.com. Pale green strapless maxi dress, 55, Adrianna Papell at houseoffraser.co.uk. Grey leather elbow length gloves, 145, dents.co.uk PASTEL PRINCESS Margaret (in The Crown) chose dresses that showed off her decolletage this fur stole covers upper arms while the necklace throws light onto your face, giving a youthful look. Margaret ( pictured in The Crown) accessorized fur with signature diamonds Diamante tiara, 28, Jon Richard at debenhams.com. Pink dress, 48.75, prettykittyfashion.co.uk. Diamante necklace 22.50, marksandspencer.com. Faux-fur wrap, 59, coast-stores.com. Clutch, 29.50, marksandspencer.com. Satin gloves, 20, dents.co.uk. Glitter courts, 245, russellandbromley.co.uk LITTLE BLACK DRESS & COAT A perfectly matched dress and coat, as worn by actress Vanessa Kirby on set in The Crown, will take you effortlessly from the office to a smart evening do. SENSUAL SIREN In The Crown, the Princess wears this to a steamy photoshoot with her future husband. Its pure Hollywood glamour with a regal twist. Pictured right: Burgundy dress, 49.99, prettykittyfashion.co.uk P.S. AND THE ROYAL UNDIES! A moulded, strapless bra will give you the hourglass curves Margaret was famed for as shown here in a scene from The Crown. Advertisement Two Chicago-based fashion bloggers who once counted each other as close friends have found themselves at the center of a bitter viral battle, after one accused the other of 'systematically' copying her Instagram posts - a claim which is evidenced by a series of near-identical images across their accounts. Jennifer Lake who runs the successful blog, Style Charade, took to the social media app last week to announce that she has 'had enough' of an unnamed individual posting similar outfit pictures and captions on their own account, effectively copying every aspect of her Instagram from the backgrounds to the poses to the outfits. 'I'm not talking about just a dress, a pose, a wall, etc. (although there's that too),' she explained. 'It's about ongoing examples of copying (exact looks, images, and ideas).' Feud: Chicago-based bloggers Jennifer Lake (left) and Rosie Clayton (right) are two of Chicago's biggest social media stars, but the two appear to have found themselves at the center of a bitter viral battle Anonymous: Lake took to Instagram to call out an unnamed blogger who she claims has been copying her for three years, and Chicago magazine exposed Clayton as the copycat Copycat: Lake accused the unnamed person of constantly copying 'exact looks, images, and ideas'. Although Clayton has shared pictures very similar to to the ones on Lake's Instagram page, she denies the accusation Writing on her blog, she expanded on the subject, telling readers that when someone copies her style so directly, it has a direct impact on how much money she can earn as they 'rob you of money and campaigns'. She also added that 'a small part of your creative soul dies inside'. 'How do we, as an Instagram, blogging, and online community, protect our creative content and brands?' Lake concludes in her blog post. 'We can't patent our ideas or pages. So how do we fix this? How do we protect each other from this situation happening?' While Lake didn't name names, Chicago magazine took it upon themselves to get to the bottom of the drama and did a deep dive into several Instagram account to see if they could find the copycat in question. Their conclusion? Former friend and fellow Chicago-based fashion blogger, Rosie Clayton is the woman in question. While Clayton was the first to join Instagram back in November 2011, followed shortly after by Lake who joined in December 2011, Lake now has more followers - 150,000 to Clayton's 120,000 - and when compared side-by-side, the similarities are strikingly similar. In a series of snaps pointed out by the magazine, both women can be seen posing against the exact same backdrops, wearing similar colors and styles of clothes. However, Clayton has denied the accusation, telling Chicago that she is 'not connected with certain fashion bloggers' and that she doesn't have a blog. She also explained that the clothes she wears in her pictures are on trend, meaning they are popular with 'many women, not just the two of them'. But she conceded that because she has less followers, it looked like she was the one doing the copying. However, Chicago did point out that Lake was the first one to post pun-laden captions first in the spring of 2014, ahead of Clayton who started littering her captions with puns in the fall of 2014. And in comments section Chicago readers have been quick to draw their own conclusions, asserting that Clayton has in fact copied Lake's aesthetic. Not so pretty in pink: Chicago magazine also pointed out that Lake was the first one to post pun-laden captions first in the spring of 2014, ahead of Clayton who started littering her captions with puns in the fall of 2014 Too close for comfort: Both women can be seen posing against the exact same backdrops, wearing similar colors and styles of clothes in many of the photos on their individual Instagram pages Say what? Some followers have suggested that the pair engineered the fight in order to further their online careers One person wrote: 'If you scroll back to through Jenn and Rosie's Instagram feeds is it clear that Jenn had developed this bold and bright aesthetic first, only to have it mimicked by Rosie shortly thereafter.' While another said: 'They both started doing mostly walls in August 2015. They both also posted random shots of walls very sporadically before that, just like literally everyone else on Instagram (they sure as hell didn't invent the idea of posing against walls).' For fans who share her outrage, Lake's advice is simple - 'give credit where credit is due' and 'choose sides'. She also suggested that people should un-follow accounts that copy other ones, and pleaded with Instagram to step in and resolve the situation. 'From what I understand, Instagram cant do anything unless someone is impersonating someone else,' she wrote on her blog. 'Not copying content. Instagram gods (if youre listening) please consider a policy change for larger instances of systematic copying.' However, in a plot twist, some eagle-eyed amateur investigators have called out the pair on Jezebel, suggesting the women are 'in cahoots' with each other. 'They were obviously friends who were biting off of each other. Whats more believable: They went on a trip together and one posted before the other (7days) or one saw the picture, bought a ticket to CA, and found the exact same mural to take a picture in front of for the likes,' wrote one woman. While another added: 'I agree. Especially since it switches between who posted first in which location. They have to be talking. How does one or the other get to California or Chicago within a week to copy the other (Lake being based in Chicago it looks like, but they both wound up in Venice/LA)? Thats a lot of work.' Struggling Australian fashion brand Lover has been sold to Hotsprings after going into voluntary administration last month. The popular designer label, was rescued by the apparel business, administrators Ferrier Hodgson announced on Wednesday. 'We are delighted with the outcome of the sale process, being able to announce a sale to Hotsprings is an exciting development that represents a great outcome for employees, customers and suppliers,' Morgan Kelly of Ferrier Hodgson said. Bridget Malcolm models a Lover outfit at the David Jones Autumn Winter 2017 Collections Launch Lover will join Hotsprings' stable of Australian fashion brands which includes P.E. Nation, Rebecca Vallance, Cooper St Clothing and Jasmine and Will. Nic Briand and Susien Chong started their brand at Bondi Markets in 2001 and was branded by Vogue Australia as 'one of Australia's most successful labels'. Their unique lace designs were worn by celebrities including Jesinta Campbell, Jennifer Lopez and Candice Swanepoel. Annual revenue for the 2016-2017 year totalled more than $5 million. Under the new deal the co-founders will be responsible for design and creative direction, reporting to Hotsprings Chief Executive Officer Joanne Goldman, the company said in a statement. Mr Briand and Ms Chong, together with all staff from the original Lover team will relocate to Hotsprings' headquarters in Alexandria in early 2018. Lover is known for its lace and feminine designs (pictured a model wearing a floral Lover dress) 'We are excited to acquire Lover and work alongside Nic Briand and Susien Chong, two leading creative talents,' said Ms Goldman. 'Lover is an established iconic label with a signature aesthetic and strong brand following. Our entrepreneurial culture and supply chain expertise will give Lover the platform to accelerate its domestic and international growth.' Lover co-founder Nic Briand said: 'Both Susien and I are very excited about the next stage for Lover. With the business strength and acumen of Hotsprings we will now all be able to fully realise the brand's potential. Nic Briand and Susien Chong started the Lover brand at Bondi Markets and went on to stock their designs in David Jones (pictured Samantha Harris and a model wearing Lover) 'We would like to thank our staff, creditors and customers for the patience and support they have shown us throughout this period, allowing us to achieve this positive outcome.' The brand will keep its Strand Arcade store and continue to work with retailers, David Jones and The Iconic. Hotsprings said they are also planning to open additional Lover retail stores and invest in online and e-commerce platforms. She moved to Paris full-time last year, and now Kym Ellery has revealed she is taking her label to the next level. The West Australian designer announced on Wednesday that, for the first time ever, Ellery will present a runway collection at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. She is one of only four female creative directors in the world who have been invited to do so, joining Donatella Versace, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and Tamara Ralph. And the first ever couture show was not the only news the 34-year-old designer had up her sleeve. West Australian designer Kym Ellery announced on Wednesday that, for the first time ever, her label will present a runway collection at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week Although Ellery will be showing haute couture for the first time, the label won't be abandoning its ready-to-wear fans. But this year the brand will release two collections instead of four, showing at Haute Couture Fashion Week in January and then Paris Fashion Week in March. The designer will also launch a new commercial strategy, to be announced in tandem with her couture show. Ellery explained that the changes were made to give her team more time to create, without the pressure of churning out collections for show after show. 'As we all know, the system needs to change,' she told Vogue. 'The benefit of this new business model is to create time. Time to design, innovate, and produce designer product.' 'Our aim is to give the garments and the artisans the respect that they deserve. The significant time that it takes to create a collection should be reflected in the subsequent weeks and months that the garments spend on the shop floor.' This year Ellery will release two collections instead of four, showing at Haute Couture Fashion Week in January and Paris Fashion Week in March Ellery is known for its dramatic shapes, colours and textures (pictured: Ellery designs at Paris Fashion Week earlier this year The change was also an important one for the designer herself, who said she wanted to 'bring back the dream' she had when first starting the brand. 'I want to rediscover the feeling that I had 10 years ago,' she added. It has been an incredible journey for Ellery, who went from a childhood in a Pilbara mining town to opening an atelier in Paris last year. Ellery moved to Sydney at the age of 20 with no contacts or money and no formal design training, other than a summer course at legendary London fashion school Central Saint Martins. While working at independent fashion magazine Russh, Ellery started making her collection at night 'as a hobby', she told Sydney Morning Herald last year. Within that first year she had a pair of sparkly tights featured in Vogue, and shown her first collection at Australian Fashion Week. Ellery explained that the changes were made to give her team more time to create, without the pressure of churning out collections for a multitude of shows (Pictured left at Paris Fashion Week 2017, and right at the David Jones Spring/Summer 2017 show) The change was also an important one for the designer herself, who said she wanted to 'bring back the dream' she had when first starting Ellery Ellery, who now counts Rhianna, Emma Watson, and Olivia Palermo among her most famous fans, moved to Paris full-time last year to grow the brand. And Ellery revealed to Daily Mail Australia earlier this year that she is inspired daily by the French women around her. 'I adore how French women dress,' she said. 'Their effortless cool transcends age. Coming from such a young country, I am learning a lot by living amongst such a historically rich culture.' 'I feel very fortunate to be around such constant beauty daily - it would be hard not to be inspired!' While she adores Paris' metropolitan landscape, it is the natural scenery of Australia that she misses most when it comes to her homeland. 'I miss the ocean,' she said. 'And being surrounded by incredible mother nature.' You might think you know your wine so well you're practically a sommelier. White wine goes with fish, red wine goes with red meat and red wine should be served at room temperature, right? Perhaps not. New research conducted by Sydney Wine Academy and Taylors Wines has found that we've actually been drinking red wine wrong for the entirety of our lives. New research conducted by Sydney Wine Academy and Taylors Wines has found that we've actually been drinking red wine wrong for the entirety of our lives (stock image) The research found that while 82 per cent of us leave our reds to settle at room temperature, we should in fact be serving them between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius (stock image) Why? Because we've been storing our reds at room temperature, leaving just our whites and roses for the fridge. The research found that while 82 per cent of us leave our reds to settle at room temperature, we should in fact be serving them between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius, depending on the type of red wine. Describing this as 'the myth of room temperature', Taylors wrote in their report: 'The idea of drinking wine at room temperature or "Au chamber" comes from the chilly drawing rooms of medieval French castles.' However, in modern homes with central heating or for those living in hot climates, the average room temperature is likely to be much warmer. For instance, average room temperature in the UK is 18 degrees in winter and 20 in summer, while in Australia it's a toasty 23 degrees The ideal temperature for your wine depends on the variety you're serving (data pictured) So what should you do instead? According to the wine buffs, each varietal has its own perfect temperature. 'Full bodied red wines such as Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon should be served between 16 and 18 degrees, while lighter bodied reds like Pinot Noir should be served at a cooler 12 to 14 degrees.' The experts recommend 'aromatic whites', including Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, be best enjoyed when lightly chilled to six to eight degrees. 'Experts believe the right temperature does more for your wine than the shape of your glass or letting it breathe,' the report stated. 'If red wine is too warm the alcohol dominates, and masks its subtle flavours. 'Chill a wine too far and the flavours are suppressed, the tannins become harsher and the acids too sharp. 'However, a wine lightly chilled to its ideal temperature reveals its delicious flavours, just as the winemaker intended.' 'Experts believe the right temperature does more for your wine than the shape of your glass or letting it breathe,' the report stated - warmness and coolness mask flavours (stock image) Lastly, the report offered a short temperature challenge, to illustrate the importance of temperature with regards to your favourite wines. First, you need to pour yourself a glass of red wine as you would usually enjoy. Then, put the bottle in the fridge for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the experts recommend removing the bottle from the fridge and tasting it. You should be able to taste the difference, and see that the flavours are more pronounced but balanced. For more information from Taylors Wines, please click here. Prue Leith unwittingly left fans hotly debating food safety today, after she suggested freezing turkey before Christmas day She was merely trying to suggest ways to take the strain out of cooking a traditional family Christmas dinner. But Prue Leith unwittingly left fans hotly debating an old chestnut today. For the Great British Bake Off judge advised home cooks to stuff and freeze their turkey in advance. And this raised fears over food safety. A stuffed turkey is harder to defrost properly and takes longer to cook through. If it is not thoroughly defrosted and cooked, there is a risk of food poisoning from bugs such as salmonella and campylobacter. The issue was aired after Miss Leith revealed her foolproof way to ensure Christmas diner is a success, avoiding turkey that is too dry, roast potatoes that wont crisp up and soggy sprouts. The celebrity chef says she cheats like anything by freezing a boned, stuffed turkey and parboiling her potatoes the day before, although she did not reveal the ingredients in her chestnut stuffing. Miss Leith had hinted in the Daily Mails Weekend magazine that she prepares and freezes parts of her Christmas dinner. But speaking ahead of Channel 4s two Bake Off festive specials, she revealed the full extent of her Christmas plans. The 77-year-old said: I have already got prepared a boned turkey which is stuffed with chestnut stuffing but I will have to remember to take it out a couple of days before as its pretty huge and will need a good thaw. The most important part for me is to have a stress free Christmas day. So many people ruin their day because they are not used to feeding that many people and panic, they arent necessarily experienced cooks. A huge bird and all the extras can give you collywobbles. You should be relaxed, your friends and family havent come to judge you or expect a Michelin-star lunch, they just want to be with you and have a lovely day. 'The most important part for me is to have a stress free Christmas day' Prue said. Pictured here with fellow Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood and series 8 winner Sophie Faldo Most food safety experts say it is safe to freeze a stuffed turkey as long as it is then thoroughly defrosted. And Marks & Spencer sells a stuffed turkey crown that is marked as suitable for home freezing. However, you should allow two days for a large stuffed turkey to defrost. If it is not thawed thoroughly, it may not cook evenly, meaning harmful bacteria could survive. Eating undercooked turkey can lead to food poisoning, so no pink meat should be visible when you cut into the thickest part and the juices should run clear. Despite the GBBO judges advice, eating turkey that's not thoroughly defrosted can be dangerous. Prue (far right) is pictured here with co-stars Paul Hollywood, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding There are almost 500,000 cases of campylobacter poisoning in the UK every year, with the Christmas holidays a peak time for incidents. Most are a result of poorly prepared or cooked poultry. The bug, which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever, claims around 100 lives a year. Dr Slim Dinsdale, a food industry consultant, said: It is not a problem [to stuff a turkey and freeze it] but she must make sure that it is fully defrosted and up to room temperature before she puts it in the oven. It is a big mass for the heat to penetrate. It would probably be better to freeze the turkey and the stuffing separately, and thaw them both before combining. The Food Standards Agency advises 'defrost your turkey in the fridge or somewhere cool' to avoid growth of germs The Food Standards Agency says: Defrost your turkey in the fridge if possible, or somewhere cool but not the bathroom or shed to slow the growth of germs and keep it safe and fresh. Cover while defrosting and place at the bottom of the fridge to avoid cross-contamination. To cook your stuffing inside the turkey, youll need to extend the cooking time to ensure that everything is properly cooked. This is particularly important when cooking turkey or chicken. The FSA recommends cooking your stuffing in a separate roasting tin. It says: The bird will cook more easily and the cooking guidelines will be more accurate if it isnt stuffed. More than 1,400 dementia patients will be stranded in hospital on Christmas Day - despite being well enough to go home, a charity investigation has revealed. The Alzheimer's Society has blamed a 'woefully inadequate' lack of social care funding, in the region of 2 billion, for 'turning wards into waiting rooms'. Their damning investigation found dementia patients are becoming 'part of the furniture' and face delays up to 10 times as long as those without the disease. Victims of dementia, which robs sufferers of their memory, rely on social care as drugs are unable to slow the progression of the incurable disease. Karen Moore, 40, from Hebden Bridge, lost her father, Edward Knowles, who suffered from dementia, after he was stranded in hospital for six months. She said: 'Mum died of cancer while Dad was stuck in hospital, so I was grieving while also trying to sort out Dads care. Karen Moore, 40, from Hebden Bridge, lost her father, Edward Knowles, who suffered from dementia, after he was stranded in hospital for six months 'It was a nightmare. The hospital was great, but it wasnt the right environment for Dad and we were under pressure to free-up a bed. 'But because his needs fluctuated so much it was impossible to get him sorted with social care, so he was stuck in hospital for six months. 'Dad got infection after infection; it was like he was being taken down by a pack of wolves. Eventually, he died on the ward.' The charity studied hospital audits and found that people with dementia stayed an extra 500,000 days in hospital despite being well enough to leave. They projected this costs the NHS in excess of 170 million - but admitted it was a 'conservative estimate' and the real figure could be higher. BRITAIN'S SOCIAL CARE CRISIS Britain is facing a desperate shortage of care home places as the number of elderly people with poor health soars, a study found in August. More than 71,000 new care places for over-65s will be needed in England alone by 2025 a third more than those available in 2015, it said. And by 2035 demand will have boomed by 86 per cent, with a total of 189,000 extra places needed, Newcastle University researchers calculated. Social care in the UK is already at crisis point, with the sector predicted to face an annual 2.3billion shortfall in funding by 2020, care homes closing and organisations struggling to recruit staff. Yet these challenges are only set to increase, with booming life expectancy, a growing population and rising rates of dementia, diabetes, back pain and bad joints putting more and more elderly people in need of care. Advertisement The society said only two out of three people with dementia have been diagnosed, with 850,000 known sufferers in the UK. Longer than necessary stays in hospital can have severe consequences for patients, as they may become too frail to be discharged home. Hospitals can also be very upsetting and confusing environments for those with dementia, according to the charity. Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the society, said: 'People with dementia are repeatedly falling victim to a system that cannot meet their needs. 'With such scarce social care funding, wards are being turned into waiting rooms, and safety is being jeopardised. 'One million people will have dementia by 2021, yet local authorities social care budgets are woefully inadequate.' Mr Hughes, who attacked the Government for not promising any new money in its budget, gave examples of sufferers let down by the system. He pointed to a woman who spent two months on a bed in a corridor because there were no available care home places. Dominic Carter, senior policy officer at the charity said: Dementia patients are becoming part of the furniture in hospitals.' And Mr Hughes told the story of a man who died after months of waiting left him debilitated by hospital-acquired infections. He demanded more money for social care to reduce the pressure on hospitals and the suffering of people with dementia on its wards. Advertisement Premature babies in Texas experienced holiday cheer for the first time when Santa Claus came to visit them in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The infants at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston were dressed from head to toe in adorable red Santa hats and booties. All of the infants pictured were born premature, before 37 weeks, and require specialized care due the high risk of them developing physical and neurological disorders. The adorable babies who struck a pose for the camera are just a handful of the 145 infants in the hospital's NICU who are hoping to make it home in time for their first Christmas. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Adorable photos show babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) dressed in Santa costumes for the holidays Baby Wyatt was born at 27 weeks weighing just two pounds and five ounces and is hoping to come home by February Santa Claus stopped by Texas Children's Hospital in Houston to bring some holiday cheer to the infants and their families Because the infants were born before 37 weeks they require specialized care to assure they are healthy enough to go home All the infants pictured were born premature and may be spending their first Christmas in the hospital Santa's visit was hosted by the hospitals Newborn Center Family Advisory Committee and First Memories Texas, a volunteer organization dedicated to helping families whose infants are in the NICU at Texas Childrens. The organization's goal is to celebrate, honor and tell childrens stories through photography and album-making. First-time-mother April Neal, 30, told Daily Mail Online: 'Santa's visit took you out of the daily funk - the NICU funk.' Her son Wyatt was born in November at 27 weeks old weighing just two pounds five ounces. He suffers from chronic lung disease and has been in the NICU ever since with his mother by his side everyday. The woman who loves Christmas said this year she hasn't had time to decorate or buy gifts and her spirits have been down from spending more than a month in the hospital. But once she heard Santa Claus was coming she bought Wyatt a premature Christmas outfit and said it finally felt like the holiday season. Texas Children Hospital has the largest NICU in the US and currently has 145 infants under their care. While some of the infants struck a pose and smiled for the camera, others slept. The premature babies in the adorable photos are at a higher risk of long-term physical and developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy and autism. Their lungs can also be affected if they have not fully developed by the time of birth which can lead to asthma and chronic lung diseases, like Wyatt. The NICU provides them with special care and also admits infants who are born with medical conditions. Twins, triplets and other multiples are admitted into the NICU after birth because they typically are born underweight. One in 10 babies will require neonatal intensive care and about 15 million infants are born premature each year. April Neal, 30, is pictured standing over her son Wyatt and said Santa's visit took her out of the daily funk of being in the NICU Most twins, triplets and other multiples are admitted into the NICU after birth because they typically are born underweight While some babies smiled and posed for the camera, others napped throughout the photo shoot An elderly woman who had simple surgery to remove a mole on her face now has a tumour twice the size of her head. Teresita Briones, 79, visited her doctor five years ago to have the small blemish on her right cheek removed in what should have been a straight-forward procedure, local reports state. But she began to suffer complications within a few moths of the short operation in Iligan City, Philippines, and the area became painful. Her jaw began to swell and by the end of 2012 a large bulge had started to appear under the skin which doctors told her would subside. But the tumour continued to grow and after having it checked by medics they told her it was benign. Teresita refuses to have an operation 'in case she didn't wake up after' and chose instead to spend her money on food. Teresita Briones, from Iligan City, Philippines, began to suffer complications after she had a small blemish on her cheek removed The 79-year-old refuses to have an operation 'in case she didn't wake up after' BENIGN TUMOURS The exact cause of a benign tumour is often unknown. It develops when cells in the body divide and grow at an excessive rate. Typically, the body is able to balance cell growth and division. When old or damaged cells die, they are automatically replaced with new, healthy cells. In the case of tumours, dead cells remain and form a growth known as a tumor. Cancer cells grow in the same manner. However, unlike the cells in benign tumors, cancerous cells can invade nearby tissue and spread to other parts of the body. Whether benign tumours need treatment depends on how bothersome they are. Advertisement 'She's afraid she might never wake up' The spinster now carries the enormous tumour round with her as she begs for money from passers-by in the poverty-stricken country. Local resident Henry Santos, 24, said: 'She's old but I don't think it's too late for her. Our elders deserve to have a good life when they are retired. 'She could live until she's 90. I feel sorry for her to have to walk around with this. It looks hard for her and she has a hunched back because of the weight.' Kunz Paz, who spoke with the woman, said: 'She has no money and I gave her a little bit to help her. I'm not sure if her tumour could be operated on, but she said she would not want to anyway. She is afraid she might never wake up. 'If there is a chance that anybody can help her, I am praying it is so. I hope we can make it a better Christmas this year for her.' A British Skin Foundation spokesperson said it may be perfectly safe for Teresita to have surgery if medics assessing her say she's strong enough. 'Providing anesthetists consider this removal to be carried out safe under general anesthetics the risks are not very big,' explained Dr Anton Alexandroff, who is a consultant dermatologist. 'The patient would need to have a graft to cover surgical defect and there is a risk that graft may not take. There are also risks of infection and bleeding. 'She is likely to have a significant scar as the result. There is also risk of recurrence. 'The key matter here is whether anesthetists are satisfied that this procedure would be safe to undertake.' A 23-month-old Canadian boy survives on just peaches - but they can't be frozen, canned or dried. Micah Gabriel Masson Lopez, from Quebec, suffers from an agonising condition which means he is allergic to almost every other food. He faces a risk of going into a deadly shock or turning blue if he eats anything other than fresh peaches, his terrified parents claim. Doctors diagnosed him with food-protein induced enterocolitis syndrome, often shortened to FPIES, when he was six months old. Micah's mother, Caroline Masson, said the first solid food that he tried was a banana - but it caused him to go into shock. Children often need a lot of persuasion to eat fruit and vegetables. But not Micah Gabriel Masson Lopez - a toddler who survives on peaches She told GlobalNews: 'He proceeded to vomit four hours later, six times in a row and pass out, pale and almost blue. 'Life revolves around making sure he is the happiest little boy he can be and for that, we need to be able to provide him peaches every day.' Micah, who is underweight and visits nine different specialists every month, is only able to eat peaches currently. He eats them once a day. Doctors are concerned he is on the brink of another failure to thrive diagnosis, which could see him hospital-bound and reliant on a feeding tube. He faces a risk of going into a deadly shock or turning blue if he eats anything other than fresh peaches, his terrified parents claim WHAT IS FPIES? Food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome or FPIES is a severe reaction to food proteins that happens one to four hours after a problematic food is ingested. The condition primarily occurs in infants, with most outgrowing it by the age of three, but it can also exist in adults and older children. At its most extreme, the allergy sparks vomiting, diarrhoea and a shock-like state. The exact cause within the body is unknown. The most common problem foods are milk and soy protein, but rice, chicken, oats, peanuts, potato and fish are also known to have caused problems. The condition is often missed by paediatricians because it does not spark the usual immune response and is not traceable through typical allergy tests. Skin prick tests for allergies come up negative. Advertisement Ms Masson struggles to get hold of fresh peaches for her son. They 'are very hard to find off-season', she told reporters. Because of additives, which could prove deadly for Max, she has to steer clear of buying frozen, canned or dried peaches. Even non-organic peaches are off the cards because of the small risk of the peach being cross-contaminated with corn - one of Micah's trigger foods. Ms Masson told GlobalNews: 'We are buying peaches in bulk and are running out of funds to do so, as we also have to pay for his complex medical needs.' She has been forced to delve into holiday funds for her other children to pay for Micah's medical needs and has started a GoFundMe page. Micah has started to eat half a teaspoon of rabbit broth every day in the past few weeks, which has been 'going well'. He also drinks a special food formula, paid for by the Canadian Government, because of his condition. However, he'll have to prove to officials that he is still allergic to dairy - one of his biggest trigger foods - next October by taking a test. Ms Masson said this cruel decision would lead to him being 'hospitalized yet again for over 24 hours'. MailOnline has reported on this condition before. Last April, an Australian mother revealed her 14-month-old girl is also allergic to all foods, even breast milk. And in September 2014, the story of Max Billingham came to light. The toddler, then two, suffered from FPIES and could only eat carrots, potatoes and bananas. A TV doctor has shared an 'eye-opening' post on social media that reveals a single day working as an over-stretched GP as she hit out at the 10-minute GP consultation period. Dr Zoe Williams, who regularly appears on This Morning to dish out health advice, explained some of the complex cases she had to deal with in the allocated time slot. Recent research by Cambridge University has highlighted the 10-minute consultation in Britain is among the shortest in Europe. Dr Williams told her Instagram followers about three people she saw all immigrants and victims of violence, rape, torture or poverty who she said showed 'the warmest gratitude' for their NHS care. She added two of the three needed telephone interpreters before she could help them in her post that offered a glimpse of 'what normal life is really like for so many'. It comes after it emerged that Britons on average are seen for just 9 minutes and 22 seconds by their GP. Dr Zoe Williams shared a post on social media that shows a typical day as a GP It has also been reported that one third of family doctors plan to close their surgeries to new patients, according to a survey released earlier this week. GP surgeries are under huge strain as a result of an aging population as well as immigration but Dr Williams said the main problem is that general practice is underfunded. ONE THIRD OF GPS PLAN TO CLOSE DOORS TO NEW PATIENTS Dr Williams' post comes as it emerged earlier this week that one third of family doctors plan to close their surgeries to new patients. They claim that without drastic action they will be unable to give safe care to those already on their books. One in ten GPs said they had already closed surgery lists to new patients temporarily within the past 12 months. A further 28 per cent nearly a third said they were considering doing so. GP surgeries are under huge strain from the ageing population with many more patients having complex illnesses as well as immigration. They are also in the grip of a recruitment crisis, with an exodus of doctors retiring or quitting who are not being replaced by young trainees. Doctors leaders say the only way surgeries can cope with the pressure is to refuse to accept new patients. NHS guidelines forbid GPs from closing their lists unless they have been granted special approval from their local health board. Figures from NHS England show that 145 surgeries were given permission in 2016/17, although a total of 231 surgeries had applied. But a survey of 500 partner GPs suggests hundreds of others are closing their lists informally, without approval. According to the poll by Pulse, a website for GPs, 9 per cent had temporarily stopped accepting new patients in 2016/17, with or without permission. If the findings are representative for the 7,700 surgeries in England, then almost 700 closed their lists. Another 28 per cent of partner GPs said they were considering closing their lists. Some said they were taking legal advice on whether to defy NHS Englands orders to remain open. Advertisement '10-minute consultations not fit for purpose' Dr Williams explains in her post how the 10 minute she has for patient is inadequate to deal with the problems she encounters. A woman in her sixties asked for a fit to return to work certificate only nine days after surgery because she was desperate to return to work as a cleaner to be able to earn money. She also mentions a man, originally from war-torn African country, who is suffering post traumatic stress after being beaten in London by a gang for 'absolutely no reason'. Another patient she saw was a young woman who was a victim of rape and torture, who was recently discharged from hospital following a suicide attempt. She says she now 'faces a closed door at every job interview'. Dr Williams says she was forced to pay for letters from her GP to get proof of ID and added that 'She got her letter today and didnt pay today! #rogueGP'. She wrote: 'All 3 if (sic) these people are immigrants to this country. 2 if (sic) the 3 required a telephone interpreter as we dont speak the and (sic) language which adds yet another barrier to them receiving optimal care. 'All 3 of these people showed the warmest gratitude for the short amount of time that I spent with them. I only wished I could have helped more. 'This is why I will never switch to being a private doctor. 10 minute consultations in GP are not fit for purpose. 'General Practice is underfunded and under appreciated but still the best job. #bekind' One person commented: 'It scares me that the "system" seems to be trying to stamp out empathy and compassion. I'm amazed that people can be so unaffected by the suffering of others. But posts like this restore my faith in humanity.' Another doctor wrote: 'There are so many days like this when I dont pick up a stethoscope helping patients cope with their mental health, life traumas and to navigate the stresses of the world we live in is such an important part of what we do.' Researchers exposed inadequacy of 10-minute consultation A study published last month found that British patients see their family doctor for less time than patients in the USA, Sweden, Canada, Spain and Japan. Patients in Lithuania, Belgium and Portugal all have longer visits to their doctors than Britons, according to the study by Cambridge University, which appeared in BMJ Open. It will take 70 years before the NHS achieves 15 minute appointments, it was suggested. The British Medical Association has previously called for 15 minute appointments, arguing it is impossible to make a thorough diagnosis in less time. But if current trends continue, that target will not be reached until 2086. The research looked at 67 countries for which data was available and discovered that 28 had longer consultations than Britain. The average appointment varied from just 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden. Those in Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Iceland, Cyprus and Peru currently enjoy 15 minute consultations, a third longer than in the UK. E-cigarettes shouldn't be used as a stop smoking tool because there is not enough evidence to prove they are safe, a researcher has claimed. Dr Stuart Flint, a psychologist at Leeds Beckett University, believes it is premature to call the trendy gadgets a 'healthier alternative' to traditional cigarettes. In a strongly worded letter published in a prestigious journal, he urgently called for more studies delving into their supposed health benefits. Dr Flint branded health organisations 'irresponsible and unethical' for promoting the gadgets as a cessation tool - their original purpose. He wrote: 'We need to understand more about the potential health effects of e-cigarettes before theyre used as an alternative for stopping smoking. Dr Stuart Flint, a psychologist at Leeds Beckett University, believes it is premature to call the trendy gadgets a 'healthier alternative' to traditional cigarettes (stock) 'There is, at best, very low low-quality evidence of e-cigarettes promoting smoking cessation or reduction, and insufficient data for confident estimation. 'Offering e-cigarettes as an alternative to normal cigarettes, alongside evidence-based medicinal products, such as nicotine patches, is premature. 'Preliminary evidence even suggests e-cigarette use may actually have a harmful effect in relevant patient groups.' Dr Flint added that it is 'irresponsible, unethical and potentially harmful for health organisations to promote' e-cigarettes without the evidence. His letter, titled 'The irresponsible promotion of e-cigarettes and Swaptober', was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The dangers of e-cigarettes It follows two recent worrying studies which linked the gadgets, often used to help smokers quit, to heart disease - the world's leading killer. Around three million Britons and some 10 million in the US use e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices containing nicotine. The smokeless devices do not produce tar and carbon monoxide the nasty toxins found in tobacco cigarettes. E-CIGARETTES: ARE THEY SAFE? Fresh concerns have been raised about e-cigarettes after research in November found the devices may slow down your heart rate. Aerosols found in the trendy gadgets led to bradycardia - which can be life-threatening and trigger a cardiac arrest - in mice, scientists discovered. The damage was similar to that of traditional cigarettes, which scientists have tried to coax the public out of smoking for decades. The findings, made by researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, are the latest to delve into the dangers of e-cigarettes. The study, which exposed mice to e-cigarettes and tobacco products, back up repeated claims that it can lead to heart disease. Researchers said their evidence suggest the use of e-cigarettes 'may increase risks of arrhythmia and overall cardiovascular disease'. Advertisement Although thought to be considerably safer than traditional cigarettes, studies have linked long-term use to heart disease and cancer. Dr Flint slammed the conflicting advice given by health officials in the UK which could 'confuse' those looking to give up smoking. Conflicting advice Nice, the drug's rationing watchdog, has previously issued a warning over e-cigarettes because there is limited evidence to consider them safe. It made the claim in guidelines it circulated to family doctors in September. However, Public Health England on the same day paid for 30-second television adverts to urge smokers to switch to e-cigarettes. The short clips formed part of the Government's annual 'Stoptober' campaign to encourage those with the notoriously bad habit to quit. Dr Flint wrote: 'The contradictory stance of the UKs expert health organisations is likely to confuse public understanding.' Smoking: The facts Smoking kills seven million people across the world each year and is considered to be the leading cause of preventable death. The notoriously bad habit, which is known to cause heart disease and lung cancer, 'threatens us all', experts have insisted in recent years. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and arsenic. Air pollution may be fueling delinquency and bad behavior among teenagers, according to new research. Evidence of the detrimental effects of pollution has long been building, and this large study shows strong link between pollution and behavioral traits that may be caused by underlying changes to the brain. Tiny, toxic particles are damaging to the neurons responsible for emotions and decision-making, and nearly 75 percent of Los Angeles teens in the study were exposed to unhealthy levels of them. Scientists from the University of Southern California say this is because they creep into developing brains, causing inflammation and ultimately leading to anti-social behavior. Air pollution, which is more concentrated in urban areas like Los Angeles (pictured), may cause inflammation in developing brains, leading to bad behavior in teens (file image) A study of almost 700 people under 19 found those most exposed to traffic fumes were more likely to indulge in anti-social behavior while growing up. These behaviors included lying and cheating, truancy, stealing, vandalism, arson or substance abuse. Lead author Dr Diana Younan of the University of Southern California said it could be having the same effect on young people as exposure to lead, which has also been linked to juvenile delinquency. The discovery adds to growing evidence of the grave harm pollution can do to the brain - especially when it's still developing. Previous research has shown connections between air pollution and an increased risk of mental illness among children and dementia and strokes among older people. Dr Younan said that PM2.5s - fine particulate matter made up of dust and soot - are known to be extremely harmful to both physical and mental health. 'These tiny, toxic particles creep into your body, affecting your lungs and your heart,' Dr Younan, a preventive medicine research associate at the university's Keck School of Medicine, said. 'Studies are beginning to show exposure to various air pollutants also causes inflammation in the brain. 'PM2.5 is particularly harmful to developing brains because it can damage brain structure and neural networks and, as our study suggests, influence adolescent behaviors.' The particles are 2.5 micrometers or smaller - enabling them to enter a person's lungs through the respiratory system. They are released from car exhausts, for example, as well as other industrial, domestic and natural sources. Dr Younan said: 'Previous studies by others have shown early exposure to lead disrupts brain development and increases aggressive behavior and juvenile delinquency. 'It's possible growing up in places with unhealthy levels of small particles outdoors may have similar negative behavioral outcomes, though more research is needed to confirm this. 'Both lead and PM2.5 are environmental factors that we can clean up through a concerted intervention effort and policy change.' How PM2.5 endangers developing brains PM2.5 is extremely fine particulate matter in the air. This kind of pollution is mostly created by cars and combustion engines, so it is more concentrated in urban areas. Because it is about one third the diameter of a human hair, they easily slip into and become embedded in lung tissue. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, PM2.5 levels above 12 micrograms are unacceptable and dangerous to human health. Once the fine particulate matter has been inhaled, scientists think it either travels directly to the brain, or is carried there through the bloodstream. Previous studies have linked PM2.5 to risks for dementia, respiratory issues and, increasingly, mental health problems. Advertisement This means cleaner air and the need more parks in urban spaces. Air pollution was highest near freeways and in neighborhoods with limited green space or foliage, and those who lived in these areas were also more likely to exhibit delinquent behavior. The study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, followed 682 participants for nine years - starting when they were just nine. Parents completed a behavior checklist every few years and noted if their child had engaged in 13 rule-breaking behaviors, with up to four assessments recorded. The researchers used 25 air quality monitors to measure daily pollution in Southern California from 2000 to 2014 with a computer analysis comparing each participant's home address with PM2.5 levels outside. About three quarters of the teens breathed ambient air pollution that exceeded the US government's recommended levels of 12 micrograms per cubic meter. In some areas, the pollution was nearly double those levels. Senior author Professor Jiu-Chiuan Chen, based in the same lab, said air pollution is triggering more than just lung and heart conditions. He said: 'It's widely recognized ambient air pollution is detrimental to the respiratory and cardiovascular health of young and old alike. 'But in recent years scientists have come to acknowledge the negative impact of air pollution on human brains and behaviors.' It has been suggested air pollution could increase levels of crime in communities. The researchers noted that both ambient PM2.5 concentration and crime rates in Southern California have been on the decline. They called for future studies to examine whether it's mere coincidence or if tightened air regulation might have contributed to the trend. Dr Younan said: 'Poor people, unfortunately, are more likely to live in urban areas in less than ideal neighborhoods. 'Many affordable housing developments are built near freeways. Living so close to freeways causes health problems such as asthma and, perhaps, alters teenagers' brain structures so they are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior.' Rates were also worse in boys, African Americans and adolescents from poorer families. The bad behaviors linked to air pollution were magnified when children did not have good relationships with their parents, lived with depressed mothers or grew up in homes with higher levels of parental stress. Dr Younan added that those that live in pollution-prone areas should 'try to avoid being outside so much and keep windows closed as much as possible when the ambient PM2.5 levels are high. 'Try to compensate for air pollution by having a good indoor environment and healthy family dynamics. 'A bad parent-child relationship causes a stressful family environment, and if this goes on for too long, the teenager could be in a chronic state of stress. 'This could wreak havoc on the body, making teens more vulnerable to the effects of exposure to small particles. 'Many scientists suspect PM2.5 causes inflammation in the brain or somehow travels directly into the brain and messes with neural network connections, resulting in the observed bad behaviors,' she said. In more than two decades of previous research, her lab has found air pollution increases obesity and that teenagers in urban communities with less parks tend to be more aggressive. Graphic posters meant to discourage people from smoking may actually encourage teens to take up the habit, new research reveals. Convenience stores are a prime ground for tobacco companies to advertise, especially to teens, among whom smoking is still on the rise in the US. In the new study from the RAND research corporation found that when they displayed one of these posters in their mock convenience store, more teens bought cigarettes. The behavioral scientists behind the study said they believe it could be a 'defensive' reaction from teens against big firms trying to influence their actions. The researchers made a poster out of this mock-up that the FDA intended for use on cigarette packaging. More teens wanted to buy cigarettes after seeing the poster, the study says Tobacco companies spend the majority of their marketing budgets in these stores, the study claims. To counteract their marketing, some jurisdictions, including New York City, have pushed to require these stores to post large images of people whose health has been visibly damaged by cigarette smoking. In the US, about 15 percent of adults still smoke, even though there are more than 480,00 cigarette-related deaths each year. Tobacco companies are required to include written warnings, reading 'Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health,' on the sides of cigarette packages. But in recent years, there has been a push for more forceful warnings, and tighter restrictions on the packaging, presentation and advertising of cigarettes. The World Health Organization released guidelines to curb tobacco use and called on governments to begin implementing plain packaging, meaning that the packs can have no branding on them. Fifteen countries and the European Union now require plain packaging for cigarettes. Some countries require varying sizes and degrees of warning labels, and some require the kinds of graphic images used on convenience store posters. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created a rule requiring plain packaging in 2011, and, in response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designed a series of nine of these images - which feature photographs of the effects of smoking, like decaying teeth or degenerated lungs - for use on packages and posters. New York City introduced its convenience store regulations in 2009, but US courts struck the FDA's rule down in 2012, and the city rule fell with it. HOW DEADLY IS SMOKING? Smoking now kills seven million people a year - almost double the number recorded in 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in May. The startling figures showed that tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths across the world, ahead of obesity. Experts stressed the death toll is only going to keep on rising without tougher laws and regulations on cigarettes in developing countries, where 80 per cent of lives are lost due to smoking. However, they claimed hiking cigarette prices would help to combat the problem, encouraging people to give up the costly addiction. In a report, the UN agency said it was bracing itself for more than one billion tobacco-related deaths by the end of this century. Advertisement For the new study, published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, RAND researchers created a replica convenience store and turned the FDA's plain packaging mock-ups into posters and put them up where cigarettes and tobacco products normally be displayed. They recruited 441 young people between ages 11 and 17 to answer surveys about their convenience store shopping and smoking habits before and after visiting the replica store. About five percent of the adolescents were already smokers, and about 20 percent were considered 'at-risk' of taking up cigarettes. The researchers found that the posters had no effect on the habits of never smokers, but that the at-risk group was 'significantly' more likely to take up smoking after they'd visited the store with the posters. 'It is possible that at-risk adolescents responded to the graphic warning posters in a defensive manner, causing them to discount or downplay the health risks portrayed in the poster,' study author and RAND behavioral scientist Dr William Shadel. The findings, according to Dr Shadel, should give the government pause as it considers campaigns to dissuade teens from smoking. They 'suggest that policymakers should be careful when considering graphic warning posters as part of anti-tobacco education in retail environments. 'This type of action either needs additional research or potentially should be abandoned in favor of better-demonstrated anti-smoking efforts,' he said. A three-year-old girl from Alabama made a remarkable recovery when she began breathing on her own as doctors prepared to take her off life support. Lacey Jane Ayers was in a horrific car accident Saturday afternoon while coming home from Christmas shopping with her mother, father and newborn brother in the car. While the rest of the family only sustained minor injuries, Lacey Jane was airlifted to Alabama Children's Hospital where she was put on life support. Though her condition improved before pulling the plug, the family is now waiting for the swelling in her brain to go down in order to know if she will have permanent damage and how long the road to recovery will be. Three-year-old Lacey Jayne was in a horrific car accident that almost left her dead while coming home from Christmas shopping with her family in Alabama Lacey Jane's mother Shayla, 20, and father Cody, 21, (pictured) were in the car with their daughter and newborn son Waylon but only sustained minor injuries Lacey Jane's uncle Daniel Horton, 32, told Daily Mail Online that the family is mostly worried about the damage to her skull and brain. She sustained serious injuries to her head during the crash and has a cracked skull and is in a neck brace due to a fracture in her neck. But Daniel said he is hopeful because she is moving and aware of her surroundings when she is not sedated. The crash happened on Saturday December 9 when the family-of-four was on their way home from Christmas shopping in Russellville, Alabama. Both Lacey Jane and her two-month-old brother Waylon were properly buckled in their car seat, according to her uncle. The details of the crash are unclear but while Lacey Jane was being airlifted to a hospital three hours away in Birmingham, her mother Shayla, 20, was being treated for stitches at a hospital near the crash, according to family. Daniel said he got a call from his mother-in-law that Lacey Jane was not going to make it. He said the doctors were waiting for her mother to arrive so she could say goodbye before they took her off life support. It was then that Lacey Jane began breathing on her own ever so slightly and showed signs of movement. 'I visited her Monday and she squeezed my hand,' said Daniel, 'It was hard to look at her in that condition.' Daniel said that Lacey Jane is like a daughter to he and his wife Sharla and just a week ago was at their home playing. He describes her as a tough and resilient little girl and is hopeful that she will recover from this accident. 'She's a real goofy, hipster kid - very individualistic,' he added, 'She has to make it.' The family has started a Facebook page to keep family and friends updated on the little girl's progress. Daniel said they plan to start a GoFundMe to raise money for family expenses beyond what insurance can cover. He hopes to have a big celebration for Lacey Jane once she is released from the hospital. On Monday Lacey Jane's doctor said she was very impressed by her progress and that if things continue in the direction she will make a positive recovery. Support: Donald Trump is replacing Fed boss Janet Yellen Theyre selling Janet Yellen wigs on Broadway. The Federal Reserve chairman, a sweet but rather dry old dear, is about to depart after President Donald Trump decided to replace her with Jay Powell next year. Liberal activists have taken to showing their support for matronly Janet by donning hairpieces modelled on her trademark platinum bob. Could our own Mark Carney, at the Bank of England, ever inspire such affection? New Yorkers are furious with Donald Trumps tax reforms. Under current proposals, bankers and hedge funders could go from paying 50 per cent tax to the somewhere-in-the-mid-50s. Speak to any of them and theyll moan theyre now considering relocating. But then, when arent they? Tabloids continue to salivate over a War of the Roses-style divorce involving Swiss businessman Maurice Alain Amon and his pneumatic wife Tracey. After accusing her bearded hubby, 64, whose firm Sicpa makes bank note ink, of cheating with his private jet trolley dolly, Tracey took a blow torch to his $25million (18.7million) art collection, which included unlamented works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. Taking sides in such matters is unbecoming, but I like the sound of feisty Madame Amon. The Four Seasons has gone. Once the see-and-be-seen destination for New York power brokers, the legendary Midtown restaurant closed its doors last year, reopening in June under German owner Aby Rosen as The Grill. The new interior is stunning and the food is exquisite but its a very different dining room to the one which once hummed to the sound of Citigroups chief, Sandy Weill, and JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon. Sad. Pocket-sized WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell rang Wall Streets opening bell yesterday to mark his firms transfer to the New York Stock Exchange. Children given this honour often require a lift up to push the button, but Sir Martin, 72, managed it all by himself. The Brexit-hit pound is forcing British holidaymakers to ditch long-haul holidays in favour of cheaper destinations closer to home, travel group Tui has warned, while reporting booming annual sales. In its annual results, the German-based travel group said it was concerned about whether or not its aircrafts would be able to continue using EU airspace freely after Brexit. The FTSE 100 group revealed it is continuing to lobby key UK and EU officials and regulators on the need for a 'liberalised and deregulated' aviation market after Brexit. In charge: Tui's chief executive Fritz Joussen said holidaymakers are choosing cheaper destinations Fritz Joussen, Tui's chief executive, said that while British households continue to spend around 1,000 on their overseas jaunts, poor exchange rates are forcing many to seek out cheaper destinations. He said: 'In reality, if the vacation to some of the destinations for 1,000 is not possible any more, then the destinations will change.' The group has set up a 'Brexit Steering Committee' and said it was putting in place 'contingency' plans depending on how the situation develops. In currency markets, sterling is currently up 0.29 per cent to $1.3354 against the US dollar and up 0.17 per cent to 1.1367 against the euro. In the last year, Tui's annual pre-tax earnings increase by 12 per cent to 1.1billion, while turnover rose 11.7 per cent to 18.5billion on a constant currency basis. Over the next year, the company expects to see its earnings rise a further 10 per cent. The company, which is the world's biggest holiday group, saw strong sales across Europe and further afield in countries like Thailand, with bookings to Turkey and North Africa also on the up. Demand for cruises in the Caribbean remained 'subdued' following a string of hurricanes in the area. The group's airlines have faced a number of difficulties this year. Multiple flight crews at its Tuifly airline called in sick during an industrial dispute leading to flight cancellations, while the collapse of Air Berlin required the group to renegotiate crucial flight agreements. But, the group has not seen any drop off in UK demand and is forecasting another strong year ahead for bookings, thanks in part to the collapse of Monarch airline earlier this year. Boost: In the last year, Tui's annual pre-tax earnings increase by 12 per cent to 1.1billion Subdued: The group said sales of its cruises to the Caribbean remained 'subdued' Tui's share price is at a record high and currently up 0.43 per cent or 6p to 1,415p. Helal Miah, an investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said: 'The group have overcome some major obstacles such as terrorism, political uncertainty and pressures on consumer's pockets. 'But their geographical diversity, an improving Eurozone economy, expanded capacity and group rationalisation programmes continue to lead us to believe in the management. 'We continue with our Buy recommendation for investors seeking a balanced return and willing to accept a medium level of risk.' David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets, said: 'The share price of the company has been in a strong upward trend since June 2016, and today it hit an all-time high, and it is likely the bullish sentiment will continue.' Purple bricks revenues jumped 150 per cent to 46.8m Revenues at online estate agent Purplebricks have more than doubled as it makes inroads into the UK housing market. The company, which was set up in 2014 and tempts customers to desert traditional high street agents by charging a flat fee, said first-half revenues jumped 150pc to 46.8million. But losses widened from 6.1million to 8.2million as profits in the UK were wiped out by mounting costs in Australia and the US. Purplebricks shares fell 8.9 per cent, or 35.25p, to 361.75p leaving investors including fund manager Neil Woodford and founders Michael and Kenny Bruce, aged 44 and 42, nursing losses. The value of Woodford Investment Managements 28 per cent stake fell 20million to 285million while the Bruce brothers holding fell more than 12million to 177million. The stock listed at 100p two years ago. Michael Bruce said: Purplebricks has been able to outperform its peers, delivering rapid growth and market share gains. An artist's impression of a third runway at Heathrow passing over the M25 Heathrow airport has pledged to compensate families booted out of their homes and ban flights for six-and-a-half hours overnight, if it wins its fight for a new runway. Britain's biggest airport, in London, wants to build a third runway and a sixth terminal amid estimates that London's airports will hit full capacity within 20 years. But the 16billion plan involves compulsorily buying more than 750 homes. With a 10-week public consultation on the expansion starting on January 17, it said: 'Heathrow will not compromise on any of its commitments to the local communities as part of this consultation.' As well as the pledges on night flights and compensation of 25 per cent above market value for any homes bought, Heathrow has promised to only release new capacity if strict air quality limits can be met. Emma Gilthorpe, in charge of plans to grow, said: 'Expanding Heathrow is pivotal to Britain's future prosperity and it's a chance to make the airport a better neighbour for our local communities.' MPs are expected to vote on the expansion by the summer, before Heathrow can submit a planning application. It hopes to build a runway by 2025. Half the advice given to workers over their pensions is bad, according to the FCA Half the advice given to workers over their pensions is bad, a top city regulator warned amid fears that sharks are preying on vulnerable former steelworkers. The Financial Conduct Authority has stepped in, concerned workers will lose huge chunks of their pensions due to rogue advisers pocketing sky-high fees. Yesterday, Megan Butler, director of supervision at the FCA, told Channel 4: We saw low rates of proven suitable advice quite frankly, less than 50 per cent. It certainly would indicate that the advisory community needs to improve. The British Steel Pension Scheme is being closed in favour of a new one being set up by Port Talbot owner Tata Steel, while members can also leave. But a short deadline for thousands to make a decision has created a feeding frenzy among financial advisers. Some are charging steelworkers up to 6,000 for transferring their pensions, a parliamentary committee probing the situation heard yesterday. As of mid-November, around 1,700 members had transferred benefits, while 11,000 had asked for information about transferring their pot to a new provider. Laura Bajurny from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation says recreational drug users need to exercise extreme caution, as Fentanyl is now being used to cut party drugs like ecstasy and MDMA Australian revellers are being issued a grave warning about recreational drugs as festival season approaches, with experts claiming dealers are using deadly Fentanyl to cut cheaper 'party drugs'. Fentanyl, a wholly synthetic opiod pain medication, has sparked a public health crisis in Canada, with 1,002 overdose deaths recorded in the past 10 months involving the drug. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection claims around 30 international shipments of the drug have entered Australia in the past 18 months, and the drug has been linked to 10 overdose deaths in Melbourne. Laura Bajurny, a spokeswoman for the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, said there are not yet any confirmed cases of Fentanyl being cut into recreational drugs in Australia, but traces of it were found in 'everything but cannabis' in Canada. 'Police in Vancouver are finding Fentanyl in everything: cocaine, ecstacy, GHB and MDMA,' she said. 'The NSW coroner and the drug and alcohol research centre have flagged concerns of a slow but steady increase in the usage in Australia.' '[A crisis the size of Canada's] is not definite, but considering the devastating impacts in North America, I think it's a very legitimate fear.' Pictured: Fentanyl and heroin branded 'Pray for Death' that was sold in envelopes featuring a kneeling skeleton, found by authorities in the US Fentanyl, a wholly synthetic opiod pain medication, has sparked a public health crisis in Canada, with 1,002 overdose deaths recorded in the past 10 months involving the drug A police report from Canada said recreational users and young people were being exposed to 'the same risk of death as addicted persons' because of the prevalence of Fentanyl Ms Bajurny said she believed many drug dealers in Canada were cutting Fentanyl into their drugs as a 'cost cutting measure'. 'Fentantyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, so when you're talking about moving amounts of it, you need so little to get a significant dose,' she said. 'It's less risky and it's cheaper and easier.' The spokeswoman explained that other than those using it under a prescription, more people were taking the drug by accident than were buying it to get a high. 'It's not considered a desirable drug - the people who are overdosing in Canada, chances are they have no idea what they're taking,' she said. 'They don't want it, they're not asking for it - people aren't going down and purchasing it.' A report from the Vancouver Police Department said the addition of Fentanyl to other illicit drugs was: 'exposing recreational users and young people experimenting with party drugs to the same risk of death as addicted persons'. Fentanyl (pictured in envelopes after being seized from the home of an alleged dealer) is 100 times stronger than morphine The most recent results of Australia's National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program shows the consumption of Fentanyl, which could be legal or illegal, exceeded the use of cocaine and MDMA nationwide Ms Bajurny said pill testing technology used in Europe needed to be brought in to Australian festivals to lessen the risk of drug spiking The most recent results of Australia's National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program shows the consumption of Fentanyl, which could be legal or illegal, exceeded the use of cocaine and MDMA nationwide. The report said Australians were consuming the drug at 'concerning levels', though there had been a drop in national capital city consumption. Ms Bajurny told Daily Mail Australia she wanted recreational drug users to be aware the synthetic opiod could be found in their party drugs. 'That's the big lesson out of Canada, having found it in almost all recreational drugs,' she said. 'The Alcohol and Drug Foundation advocates for pill testing at festivals, and high-tech machinery like what's used in Europe would be able to detect Fentanyl.' She also urged people to become educated about what an overdose looks like, and how a person overdosing can be helped. Ms Bajurny said if Naloxone, used in heroin overdoses, was carried by emergency workers and more readily available in places where drugs may be used, there could be a big reduction in risk. 'A Fentanyl overdose is similar to other opiod overdoses,' she said. 'People will stop breathing, be unresponsive, they might turn blue, and might start to feel cold... the signalling between your brain and your body becomes so slow that your brain doesn't get any oxygen.' A lethal dose of Fentanyl is two milligrams. Notorious serial killer Edmund Kemper has been behind bars for more than 40 years after killing ten people including his mother David Weber didn't celebrate when he was told that his half-brother Edmund Kemper had been denied parole last month. He just breathed a sigh of relief. For over 40 years, Kemper's relatives have been living in fear that one of America's most notorious serial killers might be released from prison and come after them. Speaking publicly for the first time, David Weber - a name he uses to protect his identity - tells DailyMail.com: 'He has this control over the family, and there's still anger over what he did. So many people live in fear that he could be allowed freedom, you just can't trust what a President may decide.' Edmund Kemper, also known as 'The Co-Ed Killer' and the inspiration behind the film Silence of the Lambs, and a key player in the new Netflix hit show Mindhunter, killed and dismembered six young women, as well as his grandparents, mother, and her best friend, between 1964 and 1973. Kemper chopped up the corpses and had sex with every one, including his domineering mom, Clarnell Strandberg, whom he beheaded and used as a dartboard. The 68-year-old, who stands at 6ft 9in and weighs over 250lbs, was given eight life sentences and is currently living with the normal prison population at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. And now, his chilling story has been depicted in the new Netflix crime drama, Mindhunter, which follows a group of FBI special agents as they interview imprisoned serial killers in an attempt to gain insight into the minds of cold-blooded murderers such as Jerry Brudos and Richard Speck. Scroll down for video Kemper is considered one of the most fascinating murderers to investigators due to his calm and cool demeanor when speaking about his heinous crimes. He is pictured left during an interview in 1984. Actor Cameron Britton (right) plays the serial killer on the Netflix show Mindhunter Kemper killed ten people between 1964 and 1973, having committed his first murder (his grandparents) at age 15. Above he is pictured at his trial where he was found guilty on eight counts of first-degree murder Kemper's sociopathic behavior has been attributed to his rough upbringing. Weber claims his brother was mistreated by his stepmother and was devastated after his father 'left the family.' This is a picture of Edmund with little sister Allyn Last year, lawyer Scott Currey - who represented Kemper during his previous parole hearing in 2007 - claimed that he was happy in prison and content to stay there for the rest of his life, saying: 'His feeling is that - and this is his belief - no one's ever going to let him out and he's just happy, he's just as happy going about his life in prison.' On July 25, the California Parole Board quietly denied him parole and it was listed on the website that he wouldn't be eligible again for another seven years. Rather than this be a comfort to the family, they still live in fear of the monster, who was known as 'Guy' by his loved ones. Weber believes that only Kemper knows how many victims are truly out there as he says his brother has kept up to '30 per cent' of the truth to himself. Kemper's half-brother, David Weber (a name he uses to protect his identity) says the murders tore his family apart 'I don't want to live in fear, not be able to work or walk around, but other relatives are afraid to go to a restaurant or park, because of what happened, it's still there,' he tells DailyMail.com. 'There are several members of the extended family that have claimed they'd hunt Guy down and kill him if he ever got out. Mostly for killing my grandparents but also for hurting so many people while destroying our whole family unit. This is while feeling zero remorse for what he did. 'But he's smart enough to know that he should never be released because he cannot stop himself from continuing where he left off. When he was sentenced during his final statement, it's why he threatened to kill the judge and jury if he was ever let out. 'I think he manipulates everyone. I think that he has never told anyone the truth about things he has done. I would suspect he is holding back a good 20 to 30 per cent of the truth about himself, his past, and how he thinks. 'All I know is that he gets to live better there than most people on the streets. Free gym, free food, free housekeeping. Thanks to liberals, he has it good. Personally, I hope he chokes. If he came around to my family, I'd shoot him on sight.' No one in the family has agreed to an interview before since Kemper's atrocities have always kept the family divided. Kemper's cold-blooded murders are featured in the new Netflix crime drama Mindhunter, which is based on FBI agents who interview serial killers including Edmund Kemper Kemper is portrayed by actor Cameron Britton (pictured) who has a striking resemblance to the notorious killer Half of the family, including his sisters Susan Swanson and Allyn Smith, believe he's a 'good person who did bad things', but the other half want him to 'burn in hell' for what he did. Weber is now speaking out to break the myths surrounding his infamous sibling and denounce the celebrity status that serial killers have in society, to the point that he says people 'fantasize' to be like Kemper. They're brothers through Kemper's father, Edmund II, who it's claimed walked out on the family when Kemper was only nine years old - something Weber denies - devastating his son, and was a catalyst for the killing of the elder Edmund's parents, Edmund I and Maude. Maude was an extra in Gone With The Wind and a writer for Redbook McCall's. When Kemper found out his dad had remarried a German immigrant, Elfriede, and had a son, David, he ran away from his home in Santa Cruz to find his dad in Los Angeles. But Edmund II sent his son to his grandparents, whom Kemper hated. He called his grandfather 'senile' and transferred the hatred of his mother onto his grandmother, whom he shot in the back and head while she was home alone, then shot his grandfather upon his return in the driveway. Says Weber: 'My mother passed away in 2009, she was terribly affected by [Kemper] personally. I found out later that while she was pregnant with me and the reason he was sent to my grandparents was because he came to the house one day and started following her. 'She was getting creeped out when he started shutting all of the drapes and blinds claiming it was too bright. She started opening them telling him he needed to leave.' Fresno State University students Mary Ann Pesce (left) and Anita Luchessa (right) were murdered and dismembered after Kemper picked them up in his car in May 1972. He then brought them home and photographed them naked and performed a sex act on their skulls His next victim came four months later, when he murdered 15-year-old Aiko Koo in September 1972 after she hitchhiked a ride from him In January 1973, he killed 18-year-old student Cindy Schall (left) in January 1973. Four weeks later, he murdered Rosalind Thorpe (center) 23, and Alison Liu (right) 20, and had sex with their corpses before mutilating their bodies Kemper is the son of Clarnell Strandberg (left) - who was described as an alcoholic and a negligent mother - and WWII vet Edmund II (right) who died years ago. Kemper killed his mother in April 1973 and beheaded her before using it as a dartboard At this time his half-brother, Gilbert, from his mother's previous marriage, arrived at the house, which Weber called 'divine intervention.' 'So now Gilbert shows up, sees how freaked out our mom is and how creepy Guy is acting and immediately grabs a hammer and chases him off,' he said. His father, he says, was at a loss as to what to do with his unruly son until Kemper's grandparents offered to take him in and straighten him out. [Kemper] is a complete sociopath. He could look you straight in the eye telling you how sorry he is for everything he did while at the same time plotting your demise and you'd never even have a clue 'It was a fatal mistake. My father never forgave himself for that and only on his deathbed forgave Guy for what he did. Susan arranged a phone call between Guy, my dad, and a minister while my dad was dying in the hospital,' Weber said. Edmund II fought to keep his son behind bars, but when Kemper was sent to a mental institution instead, the family began moving 'a lot.' 'When my parents found out it was Guy who did the killings of the girls, my dad disappeared for two or three days with his guns. He came back and we moved again. I'm guessing he went to kill him but couldn't do it without hurting someone innocent. Weber maintains that there is not much known about the Kempers because the family grew distant after the murders. In fact, Weber and his parents moved 18 times before he turned 16 - something he blames on his sisters, Susan and Allyn, who he says would always tell their brother of their whereabouts. 'Neither Susan or Allyn ever held Guy responsible for what he did. They actually believed that their mother was an angel and that my dad was at fault. Whether it is due to denial or a form of brainwashed psychosis, I do not know,' he says. The 68-year-old, who is also known for his extraordinary IQ and height, standing at 6ft 9in and weighs over 250lbs, was given eight life sentences and is currently living with the normal prison population at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville Weber has described Kemper (pictured at 24 years old ) as a 'complete sociopath' who makes OJ Simpson 'look like a rank amateur at best' After killing his grandparents at the age of 15, Kemper, a so-called evil genius due to his extraordinary IQ, spent six years in Atascadero State Hospital after convincing psychiatrists that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Yet, he was so well liked by medical experts that he became their assistant in prison, conducting psychiatric tests on other inmates, which helped gain his release in 1969 after they concluded he was 'not typical of a sociopath.' But Weber says it's quite the contrary. 'It's laughable. Guy is a complete sociopath. He could look you straight in the eye telling you how sorry he is for everything he did while at the same time plotting your demise and you'd never even have a clue,' says Weber. 'Susan told me once that Guy's IQ is far higher than the reported 146, more like 180 plus. He faked his IQ tests so it would always come out showing he had an IQ in the upper 140s. He's a demented super-genius of a sociopath. He is incapable of caring regardless of what he says or shows. He makes OJ Simpson look like a rank amateur at best.' After serving five years in the hospital after murdering his grandparents, Kemper was released to live with his mother. Then, in May 1972, he picked up two Fresno State University students, Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa, and killed them. He then brought them home and photographed them naked before dismembering them. He performed a sex act on their skulls. Above is the California Medical Facility where Kemper remains behind bars. Weber claims his half-brother is living better than 'most people on the street' with 'free gym, free food, free housekeeping' His next victim came four months later, when he murdered 15-year-old Aiko Koo in September 1972 and then 18-year-old Cindy Schall in January 1973. Four weeks later, he murdered Rosalind Thorpe, 23, and Alison Liu, 20, and had sex with their corpses before mutilating their bodies. Kemper's murder spree came to an end when he killed his mother and best friend, Sally Hallett in April 1973. He reportedly lured Hallett around to the house where he strangled her and then went on the run. The horror film American Psycho alludes to Kemper when the character of Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, utters the same lines as Kemper when he was interviewed by police: 'When I see a pretty girl walking down the street, I think two things. One part wants me to take her out, talk to her, be real nice and sweet and treat her right. When asked about 'what the other part thinks?' he replied: 'What her head would look like on a stick.' Weber firmly puts the blame down to Kemper's alcoholic and negligent mother, who mentally and physically abused her son. From an early age, Kemper would torture and kill small animals and try to molest his sisters. In response, his mother would force him to sleep in the basement away from his siblings. Kemper had two sisters Susan Swanson, left, (who died in 2013) and Allyn Smith, right. According to Weber, the two sisters believe he's a 'good person who did bad things', but the other half of his family want him to 'burn in hell' for what he did This is a picture of Kemper's sisters - Susan, left, and Allyn 'His mother was a complete alcoholic psycho. She was the cause for Guy turning out the way he did. Sociopaths can never escape the cause of their demise. He will die cursing her name,' Weber said. 'My father had to work away from home quite a bit in order to pay the bills she'd run up. My father had no idea that she would always ridicule Guy because he looked a lot like my dad whom she hated. 'She would even lock Guy up in the basement. Anytime he tried to talk to her about girls, she would say something about girls never wanting to date someone so ugly as him,' he says. Weber denies that his father left Kemper's family and instead alleges that his dad returned home from working on the famed Operation Ivy nuclear test in 1952 to find his wife and family were gone. I would want to kill him on the spot. It would be doing society and mankind a favor. As a Christian, I would not forgive him, I'd tell him to go to Hell where he belongs. 'If my father had ever known Guy was doing what he did, my father would have hunted him down to end him. He had no clue he was killing all of those girls. I would want to kill him on the spot. It would be doing society and mankind a favor. As a Christian, I would not forgive him, I'd tell him to go to Hell where he belongs.' Weber is now married with children living in California, but cut ties with most of the family, whom he says always favored Kemper and he was seen as the black sheep, often not receiving birthday or Christmas presents. He burned his bridges after his mother's death, which Weber says he kept secret from the others as per her wishes. They were not invited to the funeral service and things went even more downhill after he did not invite his sisters to his wedding. 'I told them that because they both lived so far away that I wanted to be able to send them a care package instead consisting of videos and photos - they agreed and said it would be fine. I sent them the care packages and two weeks later, I got them both back in the mail together with letters from each of them disowning me, blaming our father for everything,' he said. Weber has not spoken to either of his sisters since 1997, and found out Susan had died in 2013 only after researching his genealogy. Now Weber, in his 50s, says that his 20s were blighted by therapy and drug and alcohol abuse, but is now happy with life, adding: 'I spent years in self-imposed therapy before realizing that I was normal. It also helped that the therapists said the same thing. 'My life was tough growing up, moving so many times. I eventually worked things out rationally and moved on. I have a functional God-fearing family now. I'm happier now than I have been in the past. I was heavy into drugs and alcohol in my late teens and early twenties as a coping mechanism.' Weber is 'disgusted' that his evil brother has a celebrity-status in society like other high-profile prisoners criminals such as Charles Manson. He says: 'It irritates me. Personally, I think that if someone is glorifying a sicko like Guy, they are showing signs of a warped mind and should be locked up for observation. Overall, it disgusts us. There needs to be less people fantasizing being like him, I blame society, it's crazy. 'I think we are far too lenient on criminals. What I do know is that the vast majority of them could have been picked out in a room while they were kids. A sociopath, like a psychopath, is incurable. They begin showing signs at an early age. If we were to put them away as soon as they started showing signs, we'd have a healthier, safer society as a whole.' Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, pledged the Islamic Republic's 'complete support for Palestinian Islamic resistance movements' Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will hasten the country's destruction, Iran's defense minister said on Monday, while a top Revolutionary Guards commander phoned two Palestinian armed groups and pledged support for them. Leaders of Iran, where opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause has been central to foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, have denounced last week's announcement by the US president, including a plan to move the US embassy to the city. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. '(Trump's) step will hasten the destruction of the Zionist regime and will double the unity of Muslims,' Iran's defense minister, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, said on Monday, according to state media. The army's chief of staff, General Mohammad Baqeri, said Trump's 'foolish move' could be seen as the beginning of a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising. Scroll down for video Iran's defense minister warned that US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will hasten the country's destruction. A man is silhouetted while he blows a Shofar, a ram or antelope horn, in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday Trump's decision ignited a wave of protests throughout the world as governments lined up to condemn the move Iran has long supported a number of anti-Israeli militant groups, including the military wing of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which the deputy commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, said was 'stronger than the Zionist regime.' Similarly, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the branch of the Guards that oversees operations outside of Iran's borders pledged the Islamic Republic's 'complete support for Palestinian Islamic resistance movements' after phone calls with commanders from Islamic Jihad and the Izz al-Deen Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, on Monday according to Sepah News, the news site of the Guards. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stepped up efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which EU foreign ministers meanwhile declined to support. The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Monday said the group and its allies in the region would renew their focus on the Palestinian cause after what he called their victories elsewhere in the region. A Palestinian protestor throws stones using a sling shot towards Israeli security forces during clashes in Tulkarm on Tuesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stepped up efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which EU foreign ministers meanwhile declined to support. A Palestinian protester is seen in Ramallah on Monday Nasrallah called on Hezbollah's allies to put in place a united strategy 'in the field' to confront Israel. The Iran-backed group has been fighting Islamic State in Syria alongside regional allies and the group has been largely defeated. Nasrallah was speaking by video link to a large protest in Beirut over the United States decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there. On Saturday a video was released of the commander of an Iraqi Shi'ite militia allied to Hezbollah visiting Lebanon's border with Israel, apparently accompanied by a Hezbollah commander. Nasrallah said in June that any future war waged by Israel against Lebanon or Syria could draw in fighters from countries including Iran and Iraq. On Monday he repeated a call he made last week for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel and called on Arab states to abandon the peace process, describing negotiations with the United States as futile. 'Today the axis of resistance, including Hezbollah, will return as its most important priority ... Jerusalem and Palestine and the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance in all its factions,' he said. Hezbollah was formed in the 1980s as a resistance movement against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon and they remain bitter enemies. Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006 and tensions rose again this year as Israel struck Hezbollah arms stores and convoys in Syria. Bruce Brown, whose 1966 surfing documentary 'The Endless Summer' transformed the image of the sport, has died. Brown, who was 80, died of natural causes in Santa Barbara on Sunday, said Alex Mecl, general manager of Bruce Brown Films. Surfers had largely been portrayed as beach buffoons in the mindless party movies of the early 1960s but his film was the first to document their lives as adventurers, inspiring a generation of surfers to travel the world. Along with the music of the Beach Boys, Brown took surfing from a quirky hobby to a fundamental part of American culture. Bruce Brown surfs a wave and holds a camera while making 'Endless Summer', a film that helped to make surfing a part of American culture Filmmaker Bruce Brown holds a camera while making one of his many surfing movies. Brown, whose 1966 surfing documentary Then came Brown and 'The Endless Summer' with his beautiful, soulful story of surfers on a quest for fulfillment - an image that became emblazoned on the cultural psyche. 'Thank you for showing us the world as you saw it, Bruce Brown,' Kelly Slater, 11-time world champion surfer, said in an Instagram post Monday. 'There are never enough words to say goodbye properly.' Legendary big-wave surfer Greg Noll, a friend of Brown's since they were young and a fellow filmmaker, said: 'His timing, everything, was perfect.' People were interested in surfing and Brown took it to a new level, Noll added. 'Thank you for showing us the world as you saw it, Bruce Brown,' Kelly Slater, 11-time world champion surfer, said in an Instagram post Monday. 'There are never enough words to say goodbye properly.' Brown, who took up surfing in the early 1950s, had made five other documentaries about the sport before 'The Endless Summer,' including 1958's 'Slippery When Wet' and 1960's 'Barefoot Adventure.' Like all the others, it was shot on a tiny budget with Brown performing nearly every duty, from camera operator to narrator. Brown was untrained but for 'Endless Summer' he performed nearly ever duty, from beginning to end Bruce Brown tries to control a surfboard with a mounted camera mounted while making one of his many surfing movies Kelly Slater, 11-time world champion surfer, paid tribute to Brown saying: 'There are never enough words to say goodbye properly.' The film follows two surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, as they hop hemispheres to constantly surf wherever it is summer, from Hawaii to Australia to South Africa to Senegal. 'He had a great theme,' Noll said. Surfers considered Brown a peer who just happened to carry a camera instead of a board. He shot the film loosely and casually and the style proved infectious when the public saw the movie. 'I never had formal training in filmmaking, and that probably worked to my advantage,' Brown said in a 2004 interview for his film company's website. The trio's charisma and the film's natural beauty made it an unlikely hit. 'The beautiful photography he brought home almost makes you wonder if Hollywood hasn't been trying too hard,' Roger Ebert said in his 1967 review of the film in The Chicago Sun-Times. The film inspired many surfers to leave their home beaches, drop out of their sedentary lives and seek isolated places with bigger waves. Brown on a motorbike with his two sons. He went onto make other documentaries, including 'On Any Sunday,' which gave the same treatment to motorcycle riding as 'The Endless Summer' did to surfing Some surfers blamed Brown's film for turning their serene spots into forever-crowded hotspots. 'A lot of people try to make me feel guilty about that,' Brown said in the 2004 interview, 'and while I'm sure 'Endless Summer' hurried it up, the sport was growing by leaps and bounds simply because it's so much fun. No one could have stopped it.' Brown went on to make many other documentaries, most notably the 1971 film 'On Any Sunday,' which gave the same treatment to motorcycle riding as 'The Endless Summer' did to surfing. A sequel, 'On Any Sunday II,' was released in 1981. In 1994, he revisited his classic and made 'The Endless Summer II' with his filmmaker son Dana Brown. In 2009, he narrated a surfing-themed episode of 'SpongeBob SquarePants' called 'SpongeBob vs. The Big One.' Brown was born in San Francisco and raised in Long Beach. He retired to a ranch near Santa Barbara, putting down the camera to ride motorcycles and surf. 'All the good guys are going ... we were on the cusp of the giant wave of surfing that hit California and spread out to the rest of the world,' Noll said. President Donald Trump is being criticized by members of his own party for choosing the advice of Steve Bannon and endorsing accused pedophile Roy Moore rather than listening to his daughter, Ivanka Trump. Last month, Ivanka weighed in on the controversial allegations detailed about Moore in the Washington Post. The first daughter distanced herself from the GOP candidate backed by Bannon and said there was a 'special place in hell' for people who 'prey on children' as Moore has been accused of doing by multiple women. However, despite the strident opinion of his influential and eldest daughter, Trump appeared to be unswayed and decided to unequivocally endorse Moore, despite the multiple allegations of sexual impropriety against Moore. Trump cited the need for GOP votes on his legislative agenda and some felt it was a test of his own political patronage, having romped home in Alabama little over one year ago. Bannon came under attack from prominent conservative voices, including Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report, Rich Lowry of National Review, and others. 'Steve Bannon without Donald Trump as the candidate is the same guy he's always been - a promoter of a collection of kooky candidates with little or no electoral appeal,' Lowry tweeted. 'Steve Bannon's campaign to depose Mitch McConnell takes a big step forward, by throwing away a seat in a ruby red state.' The Jones victory also prompted Republicans to say that Luther Strange, the current senator who lost in the primary to Moore, would have defeated the Democrat handily. 'Luther Strange would have won in a landslide... Just too much crazy in nerve racking times. There IS a limit!' Drudge tweeted. Some Republicans on Twitter criticized the president for going with Bannon over Ivanka. 'GOP needs more of Ivanka and less of Bannon and Moore!' tweeted Jason Bellows, a Virginia Republican. 'Party is on a path to Waterloo! Our party needs new leadership!' 'I am Republican and this is making me sick!!!' tweeted a GOP supporter. 'What are we as American people allowing? Where is the morals in this country? 'This country is so divided even more by Trump - you and Bannon are embarrassing this country.' Steve Bannon was eviscerated on Twitter by Democrats and Republicans alike for backing Moore despite the allegations against him Indeed, Ivanka's criticism last month reportedly irked her father, the president, who was angry over the comment, according to The New York Times. Despite calls from Republicans to ditch Moore, Trump doubled down on his support for the controversial judge by calling on Alabamians to vote for him. After Tuesday's election, Trump tweeted: 'The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win.' Jones' victory will narrow the Senate Republican majority to 51-49. His term lasts until January 2021. The defeat of Moore is also a major blow to Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and Trump ally who blasted Republicans for expressing reservations about the candidate during the race on Monday. Bannon channeled Ivanka Trump as he knocked establishment enemies at a rally supporting Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore Monday evening. 'Mitch McConnell and Senator Shelby, and Condi Rice and all that, Little Bobby Corker, all the establishment out there, all that establishment every day, that doesn't have Trump's back at all,' Bannon said, listing members of the Republican Party who wouldn't back Moore. 'There's a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better,' Bannon said. Ivanka Trump (left) said last month that there was a 'special place in hell' for people who 'prey on children' - as Moore (right) has been accused of doing by multiple women President Donald Trump (above) is being criticized by members of his own party for choosing the advice of Steve Bannon rather than listening to his daughter, Ivanka Trump, when she said that accused pedophile Roy Moore is fated for 'a special place in hell' The defeat of Moore is also a major blow to Bannon (above), the former White House chief strategist and Trump ally who blasted Republicans for expressing reservations about the candidate during the race Trump congratulated Democrat Doug Jones (above) on a 'hard fought' win in Alabama, adding Republicans will have 'another shot' at the Senate seat Bannon's phrasing had a similar ring to what Ivanka Trump said when she heard the teen predator allegations against Moore, which has tripped up the Republican's Senate bid in the bright red state ever since. 'Theres a special place in hell for in hell for people who prey on children,' the first daughter, and a top adviser to the president, said then. It appeared that Trump erred in picking Bannon over his the advice of his daughter. This is the second time in recent months that the president has badly miscalculated a race in Alabama. Laws to protect MPs from abuse should be toughened up to protect politicians from the 'persistent, vile and shocking' harassment they received in the General Election campaign, an ethics watchdog has told the PM. MPs received such a barrage of abuse and violent threats that some resorted to installing panic alarms in their offices, the Committee on Standards in Public life found. It called for greater action from social media firms like Facebook and Twitter, political parties, and the law enforcement to crack down on it. The report called for a new criminal offence of intimidating Parliamentary candidates and party campaigners to be created. And it also demanded a legal overhaul so that social media firms are reclassified as 'publishers' and can be held to account for hate-filled and extremist material posted on its sites. Tory Mp maria Caulfield (pictured left) called for greater support for MPs after she received death threats during the election campaign while labour MP Luciana Berger (pictured right) said there is currently 'virtually no' support for candidates at the moment The watchdog compiled a massive dossier of the violent abuse and threats hurled at parliamentary candidates during this year's bitter election campaign. A third of the 950 candidates surveyed said they reported 'inappropriate behaviour' by supporters of opposition parties or rival candidates. Tories reported receiving more abuse than Labour candidates, with 68 per cent of the 118 Conservatives who responded to the survey saying they experienced inappropriate and intimidating behaviour during the campaign. Meanwhile, just over a a third (36 per cent) of the 229 Labour candidates surveyed said they were on the receiving end of this. Maria Caulfield, the Tory MP for Lewes in Sussex, installed panic alarms at her office after she received death threats and had her car tyres slashed in the campaign. She told the watchdog: 'I now have video entry only into my constituency office. I have panic alarms installed. 'I only post on social media after I have attended events so people can't track my movements, on the advice of local police. 'I no longer put anything personal on social media. I no longer hold open surgeries, they are by appointment only and are not advertised in advance.' While Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said she received such a constant stream of abuse and hate that she sat down each morning 'porridge with one hand, deleting abuse with the other'. The ethics watchdog found that hundreds of MPs and parliamentary candidates said they received abuse during the campaign. Lord Bew, a crossbench peer and chairman of the watchdog, told Theresa May the increasing barrage of abuse MPs are receiving 'should concern everyone who cares about democracy'. Labour Mp Jo Cox (pictured left) was murdered outside her constituency surgery at a local library in her Batley and Spen constituency by Thomas Mair (*pictured right) a far-right fanatic who lived in the area. Her death sparked shock across the country and raised concerns about the safety and security of MPs Mourners gathered at Trafalgar Square after Jo Cox's death to express their outrage at her murder. Her husband Brendan told the report: 'We need to build back to an era not of deference but of mutual respect' In a letter to the PM attached the report he said: 'A significant proportion of candidates at the 2017 general election experienced harassment, abuse and intimidation. 'There has been persistent, vile and shocking abuse, threatened violence including sexual violence, and damage to property. 'It is clear that much of this behaviour is targeted at certain groups. The widespread use of social media platforms is the most significant factor driving the behaviour we are seeing. 'Intimidatory behaviour is already affecting the way in which MPs are relating to their constituents, has put off candidates who want to serve their communities from standing for public offices, and threatens to damage the vibrancy and diversity of our public life. 'However, the Committee believes that our political culture can be protected from further damage if action is taken now.' He called for a legal shake up to toughen up laws against those carrying out abuse in person and online, and the tech companies that facilitate it. But he also called for more leadership from political parties - and said the recent Westminster sex harassment scandal meant that it is more important than ever that party leaders collaborate to stamp it out. Politicians told the watchdog that MPs trading bitter blows with their rivals risks breeding an environment of intolerance that facilitates abuse. Labour MP Lucian Berger, who has received anti-semitic abuse, said: 'Anything that could be introduced to support MPs in their role would be very helpful, at the moment there is virtually nothing.' Lib Dem Baroness Brinton said: 'We seem to have lost in this country in the past 15 to 20 years the ability to disagree well. 'We can have robust debate, but it is about the level of personal abuse and deliberately trying to undermine people.' And Brendan Cox, the husband of the late Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a right-wing fanatic in her constituency of Batley and Spen last year, called for greater respect. Lord Bew (pictured in the House of Lords last month), the peer who chairs the committee, said social media firms and politicians must do more to crack down on the rising tide of abuse levelled at parliamentray candidates Theresa May's (pictured in the Commons on Monday) ethics watchdog called for a legal overhaul so firms like Twitter and Facebook can be held liable for the hate and offensive content posted on their platforms He said: 'We need to build back to an era not of deference but of mutual respect. Politicians have a key role to play in that in how they behave and treat each other, and calling out behaviour.' The committee was also 'deeply concerned' about the failure of Facebook, Twitter and Google to collect data on their processes for reporting and taking down illegal content. 'Their lack of transparency is part of the problem,' the report said. The watchdog called for a legal overhaul so firms like Twitter and Facebook can be held liable for the hate and offensive content posted on their platforms. This could mean that they would face fines or even criminal prosecution if they failed to do comply with their new legal obligations. Twitter's UK head of public policy Nick Pickles said: 'Abuse and harassment - no matter the victim - have no place on Twitter.' He added: 'We remain committed to playing our part in the electoral process and working with political parties to support candidates, as well as working with the police and parliamentary authorities to facilitate their vital work,' Mr Pickles added. A Liberal MP who proposed to his boyfriend in federal parliament billed taxpayers for raunchy magazines of muscle men in swimmers. Tim Wilson bought two editions of the DNA magazine in August and September 2016, featuring articles about penis sizes and the sexiest men alive. Taxpayers forked about $9.05 for each edition featuring topless male beefcakes in swimmers sporting toned six-pack abs, bulging pecs and sculptured biceps. Scroll down for video Liberal MP Tim Wilson who proposed to his boyfriend in parliament also likes gay magazines Tim Wilson isn't just worrying about the size of his majority in his Melbourne seat of Goldstein (August 2016 edition of DNA magazine pictured) The DNA magazine's website is considered so risque in Canberra it is banned from Parliament House computers for containing nudity and sexual material. However, Mr Wilson appears to be more open-minded than the bureaucrats, at least when it comes to buying a magazine that caters for gay men who enjoy images of good-looking men in swimmers. Editions of the niche-conservative publications Spectator and Quadrant were also on his publications list, which was revealed on Tuesday by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority. A spokesman for Mr Wilson said he had in fact bought the DNA magazines for the articles. The sexist men alive were possibly much better looking than the politicians Tim Wilson sees in the corridors of Parliament House (September 2016 edition of DNA magazine pictured) 'The magazines included articles on the election, including a profile of Mr Wilson as a newly elected member,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday. He added the Liberal politician was 'furious' a former staff member had bought the DNA magazine at taxpayers' expense. 'Further, once Mr Wilson understood it was purchased on his account, he asked for it to be reimbursed on five separate occasions,' he said. 'This was not followed through by a staff member who resigned many months ago. 'It has now been reimbursed and Mr Wilson is furious.' The House of Representatives may have alpha males but it has nothing on DNA's hot beefcakes Tim Wilson had asked a former staffer in his electorate office to cancel the DNA invoice Daily Mail Australia has obtained an email Mr Wilson had sent to his former electorate media adviser asking him to cancel the DNA magazine invoice to taxpayers. 'The magazine covers a series of public policy issues but I am conscious it could be misinterpreted,' the email from September 2016 said. 'Can you please get an invoice for me to repay the Parliament for the two editions we have purchased of DNA ASAP.' The 37-year-old Melbourne-based member for Goldstein was a key campaigner for gay marriage in the socially-divided Liberal Party and emotionally proposed to his boyfriend in parliament during a debate on the issue. The Liberal MP was emotional as he spoke during the debate in early December, as he stood and thanked his long-term partner, primary school teacher Ryan Bolger, 33, for supporting him. DNA is considered so raunchy in Canberra it is banned from Parliament House computers You have had to tolerate more than most because you had to put up with me trust me, he said between tears. This debate has been the soundtrack to our relationship. We both know this issue isnt the reason we got involved in politics but in my first speech, I defined our bond by the ring that sits on both of our left hands and they are the answer to the questions we cannot ask. Mr Wilson then addressed his partner and popped the question. So theres only one thing left to do. Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me? Mr Bolger answered yes, to strong applause. Mr Wilson, 37, became emotional as he addressed his partner before proposing Mr Wilson was congratulated by other politicians after Mr Bolger accepted his proposal Deputy speaker Rob Mitchell, a Labor MP, said the 'resounding yes' should be recorded in the notes, before offering his congratulations to Mr Wilson. 'Well done mate,' Mr Mitchell said. In his maiden speech to parliament, Mr Wilson became emotional when speaking about Mr Bolger. 'For seven years, a ring has sat on both of our left hands, and they are the answer to a question we still cannot ask,' he said at the time. One in 10 Montanans relies on a Community Health Center for primary care. These federally subsidized, locally directed clinics deliver lower cost and high quality, stretching every dollar they receive from patients and taxpayers. Montanas federally qualified health centers received $35.5 million in FY17 federal funds to serve vulnerable, underserved and rural communities. Most of those patients are below poverty level. This holiday season isnt as bright as it should be for Montana health centers. Congress and President Donald Trump havent reauthorized the funding that makes services accessible to all community members. Seventy percent of their federal funding expired on Sept. 30, and the House passed a two-year extension last month. The Senate hasnt yet acted. Federally Qualified Community Health Centers serve more than 100,000 Montanans from Hardin and Miles City to Kalispell and Libby. Billings has two: Montana Migrant Council and RiverStone Health. Besides 17 main clinics, there are more than 40 satellite clinics. RiverStone, for example, provides medical, dental and other health services from its main clinic on South 27th Street. It also delivers health care at Orchard and Medicine Crow school clinics, at Healthcare for the Homeless clinics at Montana Rescue Mission, the HUB and St. Vincent de Paul Society. RiverStone operates rural health clinics in Worden, Joliet and Bridger. Last Friday, leaders of Montanas Community Health Centers wrote to Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines, asking their support of the multi-year funding extension needed to bring stability for the patients we serve. Funding cliff Eleven Montana health centers will be seriously affected by funding delay starting in early 2018, the leaders wrote, adding: There are at least five Montana health centers that will struggle to survive if funding is not reauthorized to continue coverage for underserved and rural populations. Community Health Partners serves 11,000 patients in Livingston, Bozeman, Belgrade and West Yellowstone. Executive Director Lander Cooney said her organizations grant runs through April, so the cliff isnt as near as for some other centers. However, Congress also has failed to reauthorize the National Health Service Corps, which reimburses educational loans for doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners, counselors and other health care professionals who work in rural and underserved communities. More than 50 percent of the licensed professionals working in Community Health Partners Clinics receive NHSC loan reimbursement, Cooney said. If there was no NHSC, that would take a significant toll on rural health care, she said. Small, rural clinics just cannot compete without loan reimbursement. Physician training Medical education itself is on the line, too. Congress has failed to reauthorize the graduate medical education program that funds three residency positions in the Montana Family Medicine Residency at RiverStone in Billings. If Congress does not act to fix the primary care fiscal cliff, $3.6 billion of this Community Health Center funding will be lost, along with all funding for the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Center program, said John Felton, chief executive for RiverStone For RiverStone Health Clinic, that means a loss of about $2.8 million, or about 20 percent of the clinics total budget. Felton said that could result in loss of up to 25 staff members and loss of capacity to serve 3,200 patients. RiverStone is fully funded until March 31. Surely Tester and Daines understand how important these health care supports are in Montana. Politics has taken these community health programs hostage along with the Childrens Health Insurance Plan. Thats not what Montanans want. We want to take care of our neighbors who rely on community health centers, and we want to ensure that doctors are available to care for us when we need them. We call on Tester and Daines to press their party leaders to send President Trump legislation that will sustain these vital health care programs for at least two years before Christmas. Roy Moore's spokesman Ted Crockett said his candidate 'probably' believes homosexual behavior is a crime during an interview on CNN tonight, as the last of Alabama's voters head to the polls. 'It's just a sin, OK? That's what it is,' Crockett said on CNN. 'It's what my Bible tells me the Old Testament and the New Testament. That's what this is about.' Moore has attracted the far-right in his state, which has created an opportunity for Democrats to potentially nab back a U.S. Senate seat for the first time in 31 years. Scroll down for video A spokesman for Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore (pictured) said Tuesday night that the candidate 'probably' believes homosexual conduct is a sin Moore has expressed hard line positions on homosexuality, immigration, Islam and abortion, while Democrat Doug Jones has tried to position himself as a moderate, as his party affiliation alone is a turn off for many voters. However, allegations that Moore preyed on teenagers girls when he was a man in his 30s has dented the Republican hopeful's campaign. That hasn't been helped by a number of eyebrow-raising statements coming from campaign surrogates in the last 24 hours. At a rally in Midland City, Alabama, Monday night, Moore's Vietnam buddy Bill Staehle defended the candidate's character by telling a story about how they accidentally entered an underage brothel. The moral of the story was that Moore decided not to hang around. 'We shouldn't be here, I'm leaving,' Moore said, according to Staehle. Then the candidate's wife Kayla Moore tried to defend her husband against anti-Semitism charges, which she branded 'fake news.' One of our attorneys is a Jew,' she said. Then tonight, Crockett went on television to condemn homosexuality. 'You people want to take the whole 2,000 or 3,000 years of our history and you all just want to throw it out the window, as if you're just going to make your own rules, your own man-made rules, and do whatever you want,' Crockett said. Days after she disappeared, the family of murdered mother Karen Ristevski cut a press conference short when a reporter dared to ask her husband Borce if he had killed her. Video shows the 53-year-old being directly asked by a reporter: 'Did you kill Karen?'. He remained stony-faced at the accusation, refusing to answer and turning away, holding his daughter by the arm. Mr Ristevski's refusal to respond caused his image to change in the eyes of the public, with many beginning to question whether he may have been involved in his wife's disappearance. Weeks after she disappeared, in mid-2016, the husband of Karen Ristevski (left) was asked if he had killed her. On Wednesday, Borce Ristevski (pictured with daughter Sarah, right) was charged with her murder A reporter directly asked Mr Ristevski: 'Did you kill Karen', before the press conference was immediately shut down (pictured) Mr Ristevski was a pall-bearer at his wife's funeral, and has vehemently denied any involvement in Karen's disappearance or murder Karen's sister, who was only referred to as Patrice, had told reporters she didn't know anyone who would want to harm the Victorian mother earlier in the conference. When her brother-in-law was asked if he had murdered his wife, Patrice immediately interrupted. 'I really think that is inappropriate ... This is about Karen, it's not about anyone else,' she said. At this point, Karen was only considered missing, and her body would not be recovered for another seven months. Days after Karen's body was found by joggers, wedged between two logs in bushland, Mr Ristevski's lawyer Robert Stary told reporters his client was the 'number one suspect'. Karen's body was found wedged between two logs (pictured) in bush land at Mount Macedon, seven months after she disappeared Mr Ristevski (centre, with wife Karen, left, and daughter Sarah, right) has been charged with one count of murder and will appear before Melbourne Magistrate's Court at 10am, where he is expected to plead not guilty Police later confirmed they were investigating the man's involvement in his wife's disappearance and death. On Wednesday morning, nearly 18 months after the video was filmed, Mr Ristevski, 53, was charged with the murder of his wife. Victoria Police issued a statement on Wednesday morning revealing an Avondale Heights man, 53, had been arrested by detectives at 7.20am. Mr Ristevski has been charged with one count of murder and will appear before Melbourne Magistrate's Court at 10am. The man has vehemently denied any involvement during the investigation, and Mr Stary has indicated Ristevski will plead not guilty. Kim Jong-un has vowed to make North Korea the 'world's strongest nuclear power' as the reclusive nation shows little sign of reining in its weapons programme. The North has rattled the international community with a flurry of missile launches and its largest ever nuclear test in recent months in its bid to develop a warhead capable of striking the United States. Pyongyang's dictator told workers behind the recent test of a new missile the country 'will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world,' in a ceremony on Tuesday, according to state news agency KCNA. The US is backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim Jon-Un's regime to halt its nuclear drive His comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim's regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the recluse North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US President Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with the US President pejoratively dubbing his rival 'Little Rocket Man'. ension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a 'super-large heavy warhead' anywhere on the US mainland Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a 'super-large heavy warhead' anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. Last month's launch was the first test of any kind since September 15, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was confident that Washington is doing all it can to force North Korea to discuss nuclear disarmament. 'As I've told people many times, I will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops,' he said in a speech to the Atlantic Council policy forum. But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. Washington has ramped up the pressure on the North and last week the United States and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise. Pyongyang slammed those manoeuvres as a provocation, accusing the drills of 'revealing its intention to mount a surprise nuclear pre-emptive strike.' An Oklahoma mother and father couldn't figure out what was happening to their child's pacifiers until the baby's grandmother saw the family dog swipe one off a counter. But when veterinarians at Gentle Care Animal Hospital in Edmond, Oklahoma, went to retrieve the pacifier, they were shocked to find 20 additional ones in Dovey's stomach. The Rogers family had brought their Shar Pei into the vet's office after the dog had slowed down her eating and was vomiting. Veterinarians at Gentle Care Animal Hospital in Edmond, Oklahoma were shocked to find 21 pacifiers inside the Roger family's dog, Dovey The family told the vet that they had found one pacifier in the Shar Pei's vomit and x-rays revealed at least seven more When an examination of the vomit literally coughed up the first pacifier, a soon following X-ray showed that the dog had munched on at least seven more. The pooch was immediately rushed to surgery by Dr Chris Rispoli. In an interview with KFOR-TV, Dr Rispoli said that the pacifiers were 'too big to go through the GI tract, so we decided we had to open her up and get them out. And they just kept coming out.' The pooch was immediately rushed to surgery by Dr Chris Rispoli He said of the dog eating something like the pacifier: 'Dogs will eat anything, anytime and at any age so always be watching!!!' 'This was the most fascinating and exciting surgery I have ever done or my staff has ever been a part of,' the doctor said on a Facebook post about the surgery, revealing they pulled 21 out. They also added that they 'loved' and Dovey and that she was recovering well. He added: 'Dogs will eat anything, anytime and at any age so always be watching!!!' Advertisement The first snowflakes of winter 2017 had barely settled before Britains schools went into full meltdown this week. As Storm Caroline cast a chilly pall over the UK, one seat of learning after another locked its doors and, with a predictable cry about health and safety, declined to teach its pupils. More than 2,300 were closed on Monday and yesterday over 48 hours after the first snowfall scores more were still shut. School closures happen because of an emergency like severe weather, the governments website, Gov Uk, declared frostily. But in timorous, post-millennial Britain, what is an emergency, and how severe does weather have to be before life grinds to a halt? Are we, as Max Hastings argued in yesterdays Mail, becoming a limp-wristed nation, a society of whingers and suers? As these pictures show, there was a time well within living memory when Britain battled through snow and ice. The Big Freeze of 1962-63 lasted until March. It was so cold that the sea froze up to a mile off shore. But the schools most of them stayed open. Although shorter, the winter of 1946-1947 was even worse. Rationing was still in place and there was only enough coal to last four weeks. Herds of livestock froze to death on Welsh hillsides. Australia and Canada sent food parcels. Yet, as Britain shivered, life went on. In Sheffield, future Cabinet minister Roy Hattersley was one of the many toboganning children using the roads as a daily Cresta Run. But only after 4pm his school stayed open, you see. Please, Miss! In 1935, a resourceful teacher delivers an al fresco lesson on snow crystals Charge! Children at Walton-on-the Hill County School pelt the photographer with snowballs in 1977. No winter footwear here: its Start-rite shoes and sandals instead The Battle of Stavely Road School: Cheeky chaps from Chiswick, West London, take aim in 1958 Give it some wellie: Britain froze in the early months of 1947, but these Derby schoolboys are having a great time The slippery slope: Playground skaters in short trousers at Nightingale School, Hornsey, North London in 1931 It is the age-old festive debate for families fighting over which song to put on at this time of year. But while the battles rage over whether Wham! or the Pogues is the best, a statistician has announced Britains favourite Christmas song. A nine-year statistical analysis, taking in charts and streaming, has revealed Mariah Carey is in fact the most popular with her song All I Want for Christmas is You. Mariah Carey released 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' in 1994. It's since made more than $60 million in royalties The Pogues' Fairytale of New York, released in 1987, came second in the chart And while modern pop bands may keep trying to write a festive classic, they really do not have what it takes. Dr Craig Anderson, from the University of Glasgow, who compiled a top 20, found all but three of the nations favourites were written more than two decades ago. Writing on website The Conversation, Dr Anderson, said: The highest placed new song on the list was Michael Bubles Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, which placed in ninth and even that is a cover of an older song. The first brand new song is Coldplays Christmas Lights, which placed 13th on our list. When Slade sang: Does your granny always tell you, that the old songs are the best?, it seems as though she was right. Michael Buble, who has had commercial success with Christmas songs in recent years, was the only artist in the top 10 from the last 10 years Mariah Careys song, already a staple of Christmas hits albums, is given an extra boost from appearing in romantic comedy Love Actually. It appeared in the UK Top 100 in every single week studied by Dr Anderson, with the Pogues Fairytale of New York doing so for all but two weeks. Ultimately, Carey came top on account of spending more weeks in the Top 10 than the Pogues. Dr Anderson, whose work is more often concerned with mapping disease, worked on the definitive Christmas song list in his spare time. His research team used a points system, allocating a song 10 points for every week in the Top 10, five points for every additional week in the Top 20, two points for each additional week in the Top 40 and one point for each additional week in the Top 100. To ensure that newer songs were not discriminated against, the figures were adjusted to account for post-2007 release dates. Wham!'s Last Christmas, released in 1984 came third in the chart. George Michael, who died on Christmas Day last year wrote the song The top five Christmas songs include Wizzards I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday, Slades Merry Xmas Everybody and Last Christmas by Wham! All of these songs have had at least one appearance in the Top 20 over the past decade and cracked the Top 40 more than 10 times. Dr Anderson said: For me, one of the best bits about the Christmas season is hearing a favourite Christmas songs on the radio or while out shopping. But he found most attempts to judge the most popular song were completely subjective, so decided to analyse the streaming and chart data himself. Wizzard, known for their 1973 track 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' came fourth in the poll Other top-ranking Christmas songs include Step Into Christmas by Elton John and Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue, as well as Dean Martins Let It Snow!Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Where there was a tie in the number of points, the song which reached the highest chart position was placed highest. Dr Anderson said: Now, when the inevitable debate about festive songs starts while youre rocking around the Christmas tree or driving home for Christmas, you can add some facts and figures to the discussion. An inmate who was moved from Parklea Jail last week smuggled stolen documents that contained sensitive information about the prison's plans to build a new maximum security wing. The confidential plans were seized last week at Silverwater Correctional Complex, in Sydney's western suburbs. One of the documents showed details of an office for an area manager, while another was for demountable buildings. 'The prisoner didn't have the plans to do an arts course, he had them because he was up to no good', told a source to the Daily Telegraph. The prisoner had the documents after being moved from to Silverwater (pictured) on December 5 The confidential plans were seized last week at Silverwater Correctional Complex Other sources explained that the secret documents could have been used to plan an escape, smuggle contraband, or tap in to plumbing and phones. Peter Severin, NSW Corrective Services Commissioner, explained that the actual 'off-the-shelf demountable' would have been temporarily set for site security staff and removed before the new wing became operational. 'There is no inmate access to this demountable building and no security concerns whatsoever,' he added. Former Grafton jail governor, John Heffernan, explained to the Telegraph that inmates were sometimes involved with helping builders and it was possible the man had picked up the plans and taken them but that this should never have happened. 'How could this inmate walk out of a prison with these documents?' he asked. 'This is beyond joke' said opposition justice spokesman Guy Zangari 'The new wing, which will house 500 maximum security prisoners, had been compromised.' Opposition justice spokesman Guy Zangari said the new wing, which will house 500 maximum security prisoners, had been compromised. This is beyond a joke, Mr Zangari said. The contract is now up for tender as operator Geo Group struggles to retain it. It is the latest security breach at the correctional center as The state government has just ordered a full parliamentary inquiry into Parklea jail amid allegations of corruption and drug trafficking. Raids taking place at the Parklea Correctional Center British glamour model Chloe Ayling was not part of a 'publicity stunt' plot to kidnap herself to make her famous, a court in Italy ruled today. Lukasz Herba, who is accused of abducting Miss Ayling said her whole ordeal and the demand for a 264,000 ransom was staged to raise her profile. But the court in Milan dismissed the claims made by Herba's lawyer Katia Kolakowska. A judge at the Corte dAssises in Milan also rejected an application by Ms Kolakowska to force Miss Ayling to travel to Italy to be questioned in the court. The case until February 7. Herba's brother Michal, 36, from Birmingham is facing extradition to Italy to face trial. Lukasz Herba, who is accused of abducting Miss Ayling said her whole ordeal and the demand for a 264,000 ransom was staged to raise her profile Herba, who appeared in court in Milan today, says the plot to kidnap Miss Ayling was staged with her involvement to raise her profile, a claim rejected by the court Miss Ayling, (pictured) told of her ordeal and said that she was convinced that she was going to die when she was lured to a fake photoshoot in Milan Michal is currently fighting extradition from the UK and a British judge has previously said he should fly to Italy to join his sibling to face the allegations. Lukasz, a Polish resident, had claimed that they 'planned' the kidnapping plot when they met in Paris and that she did it to become a celebrity. Ms Kolakowska said before today's hearing: 'He says the kidnap was a fabrication. They planned it together so she would become famous.' She also said that there was evidence they had an 'existing relationship'. Miss Ayling said she was sedated and bundled into the boot of a car after being tricked into attending a bogus photoshoot on July 11, then held captive in a remote farmhouse in Turin. But Lukasz said he did not knowingly take part in any crime. The young model (pictured), from south London, claimed she would have been sold on the dark web She is said to have been snatched by a group calling itself Black Death after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan But Lukasz Herba (pictured) as claimed that they 'planned' the kidnapping plot when they met in Paris and that she did it to become a celebrity Her former manager Phil Green previously told MailOnline: 'Of course it wasn't a sham! 'I said six weeks ago that Chloe was genuinely kidnapped and I still stand by that. 'Herba's lawyer is in cloud cuckcoo land if he thinks he is going to successfully defend his client by suggesting it was staged.' Herba's solicitor reportedly asked for the trial to be adjourned until his brother, Michal, is able to defend himself alongside his sibling. The young model claims she was sedated and bundled into the boot of a car after being tricked into attending a fake shoot A sex addicted chiropractor secretly filmed hundreds of patients, including children, undressing in his practice using a camera hidden in a clock. The 50-year-old, who can't be named, pleaded guilty to 216 sex crimes as 30 of his victims packed the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday. He filmed patients including women and children as young as 11 getting undressed before sessions between 2012 and earlier this year. A sex addicted chiropractor (pictured in promotion video) secretly filmed hundreds of patients, including children, undressing in his practice using a camera hidden in a clock The 50-year-old, who can't be named, pleaded guilty to 216 sex crimes as 30 of his victims packed the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday The cameras were hidden in a digital clock and a pen near an x-ray machine in the changeroom of his practice in eastern Adelaide. He also filmed the genitals of some patients with a camcorder as he worked on them. Police found more victims with each of his court appearances, rising from 56 charges in August to more than 200 within a few months. The number could be double that as the court heard the accused told a friend he filmed more than 400 people over four years. The former chiropractor claimed to his friend he was a sex addict and used the videos for sexual gratification. He filmed patients including women and children as young as 11 getting undressed before sessions between 2012 and earlier this year The former chiropractor claimed to his friend he was a sex addict and used the videos for sexual gratification He also pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault, and attacked a patient after she grabbed his camera and he tried to retrieve it. All up his crimes included indecent filming, producing child pornography, possessing child exploitation material, and indecent assault. He was originally given home detention after his mother put up $40,000 bail, but it was revoked in October. Chief Magistrate Mary-Louise Hribal ruled the alleged crimes were too serious and the prosecution case was too strong for him to be released. A suppression order on his identity was expected to be lifted when he next appeared in court in January when the prosecution would present more evidence. When Karen Ristevski first went missing last year and a reporter asked husband Borce if he was the one who killed her, their only daughter Sarah burst into tears. Seven months later when Karen's decomposed body was found hidden in bushland, Sarah clutched a framed photo of her mum and led the procession at the funeral. In the 18 months since, the fiercely loyal 22-year-old has stood by her father, refusing to even entertain the thought he played any part in the murder of her mother. Just two months ago it was revealed that she had stopped co-operating with police because she felt they were pressuring her into turning against her father. But on Wednesday morning, the man who once held her in his arms and wiped away her tears was charged with the murder of her beloved mother. Sarah Ristevski (left) has stood by her father Borce (right) for 18 months. She burst into tears when a reporter asked her father if he had killed Karen Ristevski last year The 22-year-old clutched a framed photograph of her mother and led the procession at the funeral when her decomposed body was found earlier this year On Wednesday, Borce (centre) was charged with the murder of his wife Karen (left) Ristevski. The news will no doubt be a bitter pill to swallow for their loyal only daughter Sarah (right) The horrifying news will no doubt be a bitter pill to swallow for the young woman. Sarah and Karen were said to be best friends with a 'special' bond. 'She was very dedicated to Sarah,' Mrs Ristevski's brother Stephen Williams told 9 News last year. Borce Ristevski, the husband of deceased Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski, appeared before a court for the first time on Wednesday after being charged with her murder. Detectives from the Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad arrested the Avondale Heights father-of-one, 53, about 7.20am on Wednesday. Hours later, Mr Ristevski's lawyer Rob Stary told a court his client would be fighting the charge. 'He will be pleading not guilty,' Mr Stary told magistrate Angela Bolger. Sarah and Karen (pictured together) were said to be best friends with a 'special' bond 'She was very dedicated to Sarah (pictured),' Mrs Ristevski's brother Stephen Williams said On June 29, when Karen Ristevski went missing, there were 100 minutes of the day her husband Borce could not account for. Information recovered by police from the couple's phones showed his last pinged at Diggers Rest, and hers was last near Gisborne, about 10kms from where her body was found at Mt Macedon Regional Park. Officers also found information that showed Mr Ristevski's phone had been turned off for two hours during the day Loyal till the end? Sarah (pictured being comforted by her father after a reporter asked him if he killed Karen) reportedly stopped talking to police earlier this year in solidarity Mr Ristevski's wife, 47, who ran the fashion retailer Bella Bleu, went missing from her Oakley Drive home on the morning of June 29, 2016. A bushwalker discovered her body wedged between two logs in Mt Macedon National Park on February 20. Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said police needed extra time to complete their brief of evidence 'because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be done.' Mr Stary said his client had already been under investigation for a number of months: 'This man doesn't have any history and we want the matter expedited'. Appearing calm in a white T-shirt, Mr Ristevski did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.He will front court again in April for a committal mention. The businessman has long been considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance - with Mr Stary conceding in February he was the 'number one' person of interest. But Mr Ristevski has vehemently denied any involvement in Karen's death. He was a pallbearer at his wife's funeral in March. Close family friends had long insisted they were '95 per cent certain' Borce had nothing to do with the killing. Just two months ago it was revealed that Sarah (right) had stopped co-operating with police because she felt they were pressuring her into turning against her father (left) Montana is blessed with some of the wildest and most pristine public lands in our country. Montanans fought long and hard in the past to make sure our last best places stayed the way they are for future generations to use and enjoy. Along the way, weve learned that our public lands are the perfect place to find common ground between folks of all political stripes. For most of us, our favorite places where we hike, fish, hunt, bird, ride, whatever are on public lands. Montanas wilderness study areas places like the Pryor Mountains, Terry Badlands, Bitter Creek and Big Snowy Mountains represent the heart and soul of Big Sky Country. Families have enjoyed these largely undisturbed landscapes for generations and they want these places to remain unchanged for their childrens children into posterity. I was disappointed by recent comments from Sen. Steve Daines proposing to eliminate half-a-million acres of wilderness study areas in Montana essentially dividing Montanans over the issue instead of bringing them together. For 40 years, these places have been sources of clean drinking water for local communities, safe habitat for abundant wildlife, and outstanding places to recreate. A one-size-fits-all solution for these special places is no way to treat our treasured landscapes and our precious outdoor way of life. Public lands, including our wilderness study areas, bring health, happiness and inspiration to Montanans. These places deserve thoughtful plans and viable solutions created by all of us not just some of us. Join me in asking Daines to stop playing politics with our public land and to work with all Montanans to reach consensus on how our wilderness study areas should be managed. Rita Harding Billings A mother says her daughter, who has Down syndrome, was left emotionally traumatised when a furious cyclist confronted them in a road rage attack before ripping the keys from the ignition and throwing them away. The driver, Naomi, said she was traveling in her Kia hatchback along Devils Elbow on Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, in Tremont east of Melbourne, shortly before 2.30pm Tuesday when the confrontation occurred. She had just picked up her daughter from school and was on the way to collect her mother from hospital when she was set upon by the furious cyclist, she told 3AW. Naomi (pictured with her daughter) said the angry cyclist traumatised her child during his furious rampage, where he was 'swearing his head off' and threw her keys into bushland '(I was) coming down the hill and ... had slowed down quite a bit, then I hear this bang on my back window and there's a cyclist literally in the bend with me,' she recalled. 'I pulled over, he hit the car several times, so I'm unsure if I came close to hitting him or had actually touched him which is why I pulled over to find out what the problem was and make sure that he's OK.' 'As soon as I pulled up and put my car in park, he put his fist through the window and grabbed my keys and proceeded to throw them over the top of the car.' 'I panicked, I had no idea what I had done and he just kept riding. He was swearing his head off at me and yelling at me.' Naomi said her daughter, who has also survived leukaemia, became panicked by the encounter and hasn't been herself since. Police are hunting a cyclist who stole keys from the ignition of a driver who was on her way to the hospital in Tremont, east of Melbourne, on Tuesday afternoon '(She was) very shaky (and) very teary. She doesn't like loud noises, she doesn't like big crowds and when that happened it just freaked her out.' 'She's very clingy this morning. she's visibly upset, I know she's upset.' The cyclist was unnecessarily aggressive in his approach, according to Naomi. 'I panicked, I had no idea what I had done and he just kept riding. He was swearing his head off at me and yelling at me.' Police are on the hunt for the cyclist, after he left Naomi and her daughter stranded in the middle of the dangerous bend. The male, who was reported as wearing a red, yellow and orange lycra suit, hurled the keys down an embankment into bushland before riding away. Unable to find the keys, Naomi contacted police for assistance. Officers arrived and eventually found them amongst the dense tall grass. Investigators are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about the cyclist's identity. Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au. Only one in three convictions for violence against the person ends in a prison sentence, a report reveals. In figures that will raise concerns about soft justice, almost 25,000 violent thugs in England and Wales were spared prison last year. Despite committing appalling crimes, judges handed them non-custodial sentences instead of ordering them behind bars. An analysis by the Civitas think tank shows just 34 per cent of the 37,367 people convicted of violence were locked up. Campaigners are horrified that so many criminals escaped with effectively a slap on the wrist. In figures that will raise concerns about soft justice, almost 25,000 violent thugs in England and Wales were spared prison last year (stock photo) It will provide fresh ammunition to claims that courts are going soft to save money and reduce overcrowding in jails. The figures also raise questions about whether the public are being protected from violent serial offenders. Nearly 40 per cent of those receiving jail sentences in 2016 for violent offences including murder, grievous bodily harm, assault, kidnapping, stalking and harassment already had 15 or more convictions. Crime expert Peter Cuthbertson, who wrote the report Who Goes To Prison, said: This review looks at the results of every conviction and caution last year. It shows that only an unlucky minority of violent and non-violent offenders get a prison sentence. Prison is actually very hard to get into, with very few going to prison for a first offence. Nearly 40 per cent of those receiving jail sentences in 2016 for violent offences including murder, grievous bodily harm, assault, kidnapping, stalking and harassment already had 15 or more convictions (stock photo) Last year, only half of those with between 11 and 14 previous convictions went to prison for violence against the person. There are a large number in prison for non-violent offences. But they tend to be the most prolific criminals. Meanwhile, those prisoners without a long rap sheet have usually gone to prison for committing the most serious crimes. Either way, reducing the prison population would put the public at extreme risk. It means being softer on the most serious offenders, or on the most prolific offenders, or both. David Green, of Civitas, said: Even commentators who doubt the effectiveness of prison accept that violent offenders should go to jail. But about two-thirds of criminals convicted of violence against the person are given only a non-custodial sentence. The Government is failing to perform one of its elemental duties, protection of the public. The study found prolific criminals dominate the prison population. About 70 per cent of jail sentences are imposed on those with at least seven previous convictions or cautions. The Ministry of Justice said immediate custody is the most common outcome for indictable offences. In the year ending June 2017, the custody rate was 31 per cent up from 29 per cent in the year to June 2016 and 24 per cent in 2007. A spokesman said: Under this Government the most serious offenders are increasingly likely to go to prison, and for longer, helping protect the public and keep communities safe. Lawyers said Steve McGuirk, pictured, was compromised by his time as a former chief fire officer, when he and others advised the Government on crucial safety issues due to be considered by the new inquiry A fire expert appointed by the Grenfell Tower public inquiry faced calls to stand down yesterday amid claims he had overseen swingeing cuts to the fire service. Lawyers said Steve McGuirk was compromised by his time as a former chief fire officer, when he and others advised the Government on crucial safety issues due to be considered by the new inquiry. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said he was also the principal adviser to local councils on fire safety and questioned if he could be impartial and independent about recommendations given to councils, including the West London council which owns Grenfell Tower. Martin Seaward, for the FBU, said Mr McGuirk had overseen cuts and closures during his time as chief fire officer and chief executive of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. The FBU has asked the inquiry to analyse the effect of cuts and closures on the emergency service response to the fire at Grenfell, in which 71 people were killed. Mr Seaward said: He has been at the forefront of deregulation in the fire service from 1999 to 2015. He has been a champion of the change and transformation that has taken place in the fire service, and that has led to cuts and closures. The lawyer said firefighters sent into the tower and control room operators who took 999 calls from trapped residents - had faced harrowing scenes which had left them deeply traumatised, and urged the inquiry to treat them as victims of the disaster. Richard Millett QC, counsel for the inquiry, said it had carried out checks on all experts appointed to help the inquiry, adding: We are satisfied that none of our experts is conflicted. Meanwhile a group of bereaved families and Grenfell survivors called on Theresa May to appoint a panel to sit alongside inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and handed a petition of 16,000 signatures into Downing Street. The FBU has asked the inquiry to analyse the effect of cuts and closures on the emergency service response to the fire at Grenfell, in which 71 people were killed Five law firms, representing 179 people from the Grenfell community, have written to the Prime Minister saying Sir Martin does not have the confidence of survivors and residents. The Prime Minister is due to attend tomorrows national memorial service at St Pauls Cathedral and Sandra Ruiz, whose niece was killed in the tower block, said she would find it difficult to face Mrs May unless a panel was appointed. She said: I would find that very difficult for her to come and shake our hands without the appointment of a panel. Obviously we will welcome her, but she will have to come and face us and we will be asking those questions of her. Its not much to ask. Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman was killed, said: Were really losing confidence in this public inquiry we feel like were being forgotten and not listened to. The Prime Minister was booed and heckled by some residents when she visited the tower in the immediate aftermath of the deadly fire, amid criticism of the Governments response to the disaster. Lawyers for Kensington and Chelsea council, which owns Grenfell Tower, said it had made more than 1.5million documents available to police as part of the criminal investigation into the blaze. The Grenfell inquiry is expected to analyse whether previous fire safety recommendations were implemented in the wake of a 2009 fire at Lakenhal House in South London, which killed six. Councils have now been ordered to introduce tougher safety measures in tower blocks but the BBC reported the cost had reached at least 600million, and was likely to top 1billion. Rapper Kendrick Lamar revealed that he believes the truth is out there and that he was 'probably abducted by aliens' when he was a kid. In an extensive interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM, the Grammy award winner shared that he had been visited by aliens when he was just six. 'Nobody believed me then and they don't believe me now,' Lamar said. In an extensive interview with Howard Stern (right) on SiriusXM, Kendrick Lamar (left) shared that he had been visited by aliens when he was just six Of the encounter he said: 'It's just something I can't really describe, because it just sounds like,'Okay, you just seen a dart go past. That s--t don't make sense' (stock) 'It's just something I can't really describe, because it just sounds like,'Okay, you just seen a dart go past. That s--t don't make sense.' The musician said he believes he was 'probably' abducted, attributing the connection as to why he became an artist Howard, of course, had to ask if the Alright crooner if he was abducted and he replied 'I probably did.' The 30-year-old from Compton, California, would continue citing that as the possible reason he's become the respected musician that he's become. 'That's probably why I'm doing music right now,' Lamar said. 'Who knows. They probably gave me the energy.' Kendrick was recently nominated for seven Grammy awards for an exceptional 2017, with the release of DAMN. He closely follows fellow rapper Jay-Z, who has eight nominations. NASA is scheduled to hold a press conference on Thursday at 1pm EST to share about a new discovery found by the Kepler space telescope. The groundbreaking telescope has been looking for possible alien life since 2009. Olympic swimming champ Samantha Riley Olympic swimming champion Samantha Riley is being sued for $2.34 million over a swimming business that went bankrupt just four months after she sold it to new owners. The Olympic medalist's company, Sam Riley Promotions (SRP), has been accused of breaching an agreement with the new buyer of the swimming school in Capalaba, Brisbane's southeast, in September 2014. The buyer, Alex Brown, said Ms Riley agreed to train the new owner and staff for six months after the business changed hands, The Courier Mail reported. Under new ownership, the business went bust in January 2015, just four months after Ms Riley sold it to Mr Brown for $210,000. The business, called Summer Swim, traded as Capalaba Swim Stars. The business told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday it only went bust because Ms Riley did not train the staff as 'promised'. Summer Swim also alleged one of its senior staffers quit the job two months after the business changed hands because Ms Riley poached her for another business she owned. The business said the staffer's resignation was 'encouraged or counselled by' Ms Riley's company SRP. Ms Riley denied the claim. Samantha Riley of Australia poses for a photo with her two gold medals during the 1994 World Swimming Championships held in Rome The pool (pictured) at the centre of the drama now goes by the name Aqua Champs Swim School Ms Riley's lawyers also said she gave 'no promise' she would refrain from taking staff from the business. Justice David Jackson was critical of Summer Swim's $2.34 million claim. 'On any view, this is an unsustainable claim for damages. Even if the plaintiff's claim is successful, it is nothing like a claim for $2.34 million,' he said. The case will return to court next year. The Olympic medalist's company, Sam Riley Promotions (SRP), has been accused of breaching an agreement with the new buyer of the swimming school in Capalaba, Brisbane's southeast, in September 2014 Following the controversy in early 2015, Sam Riley's swimming school was brought back as the acting manager. Ms Riley's business stayed on as acting manager of the swimming school even when the school changed hands again in October 2015. Triple Olympian Ashley Callus bought the school, which now goes by the name Aqua Champs Swim Schools. Primary school head teachers are being told to include books featuring transgender parents on the curriculum. Guidance from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says trans perspectives must be visible in the classroom to combat prejudice among pupils. The advice, endorsed by the Government and Ofsted, is expected to be rolled out in primaries across the country. It tells schools to ensure books featuring trans parents or celebrating gender identity and difference are included in the curriculum for pupils aged four to 11. And it advocates gender neutral phrasing for dress codes, asking schools to ensure uniform rules avoid gender stereotypes. Primary school head teachers are being told to include books featuring transgender parents on the curriculum (file photo) However critics said schools were putting too much focus on an issue that only affects a small minority and could leave children confused. It comes after it emerged that children as young as ten are being asked by the NHS if they feel comfortable with their gender. The survey handed out to schools in Lancashire which came under fire from parents and MPs included questions such as: Do you feel the same inside as the gender you were born with? (Feeling male or female). The NAHT is a teaching union made up 28,500 school leaders, most of whom are primary heads. The guidance, released today, is contained in a document about supporting trans staff, which was compiled with the help of LGBT rights charity Stonewall. It states that heads should celebrate trans people, issues and experiences within the school and across the curriculum to celebrate diversity and ensure visibility of trans perspectives. The document says: Ensure trans students and children with trans parents feel included in their learning, and trans staff members feel positively represented in lesson content and welcomed in the school environment. Primary school leaders may want to ensure books featuring trans parents or celebrating gender identity and difference are included in the curriculum. The guidance, the first of its kind in the UK, has been issued to tackle harassment of transgender teachers and make children more accepting of those with gender dysphoria and feel more able to be open if they experience it themselves. Guidance from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says trans perspectives must be visible in the classroom to combat prejudice among pupils (file photo) It urges schools to ensure trans teachers are allowed to use the toilets and changing rooms which align with their gender identity. Complaints from parents, governors or staff members about transgender issues should not be allowed to interfere with the inclusive school environment. And it warns that if a member of staff finds out that a colleague has a trans history and lets it slip to others without their consent, this could be considered a criminal act under the Gender Recognition Act. Emphasising how trans staff can be important role models for pupils, it states: When pupils see staff members able to be authentic about themselves ... they are more likely to feel able to be authentic and open themselves as well as encouraged to treat all members of the school community with equal respect. Last night the document was met with criticism from campaigners who warned the inclusion of trans issues in the curriculum could confuse and upset children. Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: Indoctrination in the politically correct anxieties, passions and neuroses of adults has no place in school. The advice, endorsed by the Government and Ofsted, is expected to be rolled out in primaries across the country (file photo) This latest intrusion into childhood will cause upset, confusion and trauma for many youngsters. The only lesson children need to learn is The Golden Rule treat others as you would wish to be treated. Laura Perrins, co-editor of the Conservative Woman website, said: This radical, ideological guidance is being introduced with no consultation with parents and has real potential to confuse children. The NAHTs general secretary, Paul Whiteman, said: School leaders should develop and maintain an environment that welcomes diversity, champions equality and encourages staff members to be their own authentic selves. Weve produced this guidance to help schools become the model that other workplaces should follow. A Government spokesman said: We welcome any initiative which supports LGBT staff in schools, helping to create a more inclusive environment. Ofsted said: Ofsted of course welcomes any initiative that helps schools and other education providers to promote and support equality, inclusivity and diversity. Our inspections consider how well school leaders and governors promote equality and respect for people of all sexual orientations. A Georgia man who went viral after his profanity-laced tirade against a sentencing judge has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murdering his cellmate. Denver Fenton Allen, 33, will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the Rome News-Tribune reported. Allen had tried to argue that he killed his cellmate, Stephen Rudolph Nalley, in self defense. Scroll down for video Denver Fenton Allen, 33, has pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the murder of his cellmate. He has been sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole At right is Stephen Rudolph Nalley, the cellmate who Allen killed. At left is Judge Bryant Durham, with whom Allen exchanged a wildly vulgar set of words in a courtroom last year Judge Billy Sparks rejected Allen's claim. The prosecution had argued that Allen used the murder as a means to bolster his reputation in jail. He had only been an inmate in Floyd County Hail for five days before the murder. A state hospital previously found that Allen suffered from schizophrenia. Allen is perhaps most known for an exchange he had with Superior Court Judge Bryant Durham made public in June 2016. At one point, Durham said: 'Im finding you in contempt of court.' Allen replied: 'I don't care.' Durham: 'I know you dont. And I sentence you to 20 days for that. And if you say anything else, Im going to add 20 days for everything you say.' Allen: 'F**k you.' Durham: 'Forty days.' Allen: F**k you again.' Eventually, Allen says: 'Your mama.' Durham replies: 'Ten years.' Durham came under fire himself for at one point telling Allen: 'You know, you look like a queer.' He later apologized and recused himself from the case. The infamous exchange was even spoofed on the television series Rick and Morty. The entire exchange can be seen on IMGUR. This is the extraordinary moment the Queen and former president Ronald Reagan chatted candidly about the economic problems facing the West, while enjoying a party on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Reagan and his wife Nancy had been invited aboard Her Majesty's yacht for a function with the Queen in 1991. Despite the black tie nature of the event, their conversation, in which the Queen prophetically warns that the next generation will 'have a very difficult time', is very relaxed as they chat over a coffee. They were filmed for a BBC documentary, Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen, discussing the perilous economic situation. The UK was suffering a recession primarily caused by high-interest rates, falling house prices and an overvalued exchange rate. The US had also been in recession the previous year, after the boom years of the late 1980s. The footage was unearthed by student Tom Harwood in the United Kingdom. Vintage clips of the Queen have become popular on social media as fans of Netflix series The Crown seek out original footage of Her Majesty. This is the moment the Queen Elizabeth II and former president Ronald Reagan discussed the problems faced by the next generation in the West Reagan (left) and his wife Nancy (center) had been invited aboard Her Majesty's yacht, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, for a function with the Queen (right) in 1991 The footage begins with the former president asking if the coffee being served is decaffeinated. The Queen calls replies 'No, it's ordinary' before calling over a waiter to request some, then telling Mr Reagan 'We try our best. It's coming.' Their conversation then turns to economics. Mr Reagan, who finished his second term as president in 1989, told the British monarch: 'Now if youve got two thirds... paying for the bureaucrats and give only one third to the needy people, something's wrong there.' The Queen responded by saying that 'democracies are bankrupt' because of such policies. 'But you see all of the democracies are bankrupt now, because of the way the services have been planned for people to grab,' she told him. A BBC documentary captured the moment the pair discussed the perilous economic situation facing the UK and US over a coffee Reagan, told the British monarch: 'Now if youve got two thirds... paying for the bureaucrats and give only one third to the needy people, something's wrong there' The Queen in conversation with the Reagans on board HMY Britannia, off the coast of Florida, 1991. pic.twitter.com/7edtrlsA9V Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) December 12, 2017 'I know, we tried to get some of these things changed and reduce them,' said Reagan. 'For example, we have a rule to this day, that a supervisor's salary is based on the number of people he supervises,' he continued. 'Well now, you have a group of people that have no interest in reducing the payroll, even if they can, because it will reduce their salary.' The Queen, who had hosted the event for Florida's grandest society including another former US president - Jimmy Carter - agreed. 'Obviously, yes. It's extraordinary, isn't it? I think the next generation is going to have a very difficult time.' While Reagan, who was around 80 years old at the time, appeared to carry on the conversation with ease, it is likely that he was already battling with the early onset of Alzheimer's. Queen Elizabeth responded by saying that 'democracies are bankrupt' because of such policies The monarch was also seen chatting to the then-First Lady Nancy Reagan The 40th president of the United States was diagnosed with the degenerative disorder just three years later in 1994. He receded from political and public life and died at home a decade later aged 93. DID REAGAN HAVE DEMENTIA WHILE MEETING THE QUEEN? In 2010, a book marking the 100th anniversary of his birth, Ronald Reagan's son Ron, claimed that he saw early signs of dementia in 'an out-of-touch president' during the 1984 campaign. He says he saw those signs again in 1986 where he claimed his father could not remember the names of the familiar California canyons he was flying over. Researchers at the University of Arizona also believe Reagan was suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer's while acting as president. They came to the conclusion after comparing transcripts of 46 news conferences that Reagan held to the 101 sessions George H. W. Bush held in his term. The team used a new algorithm to analyse changes in his speech over his presidency, compared to George H. W. Bush, and found Reagan showed a 'significant reduction in the number of unique words over time and a significant increase in conversational fillers and non-specific nouns over time.' Bush did not. Advertisement The brief clip of Reagan and the Queen also shows other guests at the party in conversation. Former President Carter is seen discussing setting off metal detectors at airports, 'due to the amount of metal they put in'. He says he has to carry a special card to explain it, although the footage unfortunately does not include a proper explanation. He had a heart pacemaker fitted in 2006. Countless former foreign leaders, celebrities and other high profile persons were invited aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia until it was decommissioned in 1997. The Queen's son Charles and then-wife Diana even honeymooned aboard the boat in 1981. They famously divorced a few years later in 1986 after multiple affairs. Her Majesty is said to have loved Royal Yacht Britannia, which she viewed as a country home at sea, and was often seen wandering the decks in an old headscarf and slacks. The royal apartments were filled with photographs of her family and heirlooms. Britannia was commissioned for the Queens father King George VI, but he died before the keel could be laid. One of his daughters first acts on becoming monarch was to reject the designs for its royal apartments as too stuffy and opulent. She opted instead for white-painted walls, mahogany woodwork and brass metalwork, with homely touches including chintzy sofas and armchairs. The overall idea was to give the impression of a country house at sea, said Sir Hugh Casson, Britannias architect. There was no question of her saying That will do. She had definite views on everything, from door handles to the shape of the lampshades. Other practical considerations included a garage for the Queens Rolls-Royce, and a knighting stool to be carried on all voyages. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh entertaining then-President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan on board HMY Britannia on a previous occasion on March 4, 1983 in San Francisco harbor, California On April 16, 1953, the Queen launched the yacht from Clydeside, UK, with a bottle of Empire wine. At 412ft long, and weighing nearly 6,000 tons, she was then the largest yacht in the world. The recession of the Nineties saw questions asked about whether Britain could afford the luxury of a Royal Yacht. Tony Blairs Labour Government decided to retire her in 1997, and she became a tourist attraction in Edinburgh where she still sits in the port of Leith. MPs reacted with fury yesterday after a defence minister said a policy which had not allowed a single Afghan interpreter to Britain was fit for purpose. Under current rules, Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for UK troops on the frontline can only come to Britain if they were employed on an arbitrary date of 19 December 2012. Those several hundred who were not serving on that date can apply to the UK under a second so-called intimidation scheme where they have to prove they are at risk. Under current rules, Afghan interpreters who risked their lives for UK troops on the frontline can only come to Britain if they were employed on an arbitrary date of 19 December 2012 (file image of Lt. Col. David Flynn, left, with U.S. Army interpreter) In a written statement published yesterday, Mark Lancaster admitted that not a single Afghan interpreter has been allowed to the UK under the second scheme. He said: The level of intimidation faced has not so far been such that an individual has had to be relocated to the UK in order to ensure their safety. However, the changing security position in Afghanistan is kept under careful review. This is despite the Daily Mail revealing how interpreters abandoned in the war-ravaged country have been repeatedly threatened and attacked by the Taliban. Mr Lancaster pointed out that the first scheme with a cut-off date of 2012 - has seen some 385 former staff and their families moved to the UK. Last night politicians reacted with fury at the statement, describing the current policy in which interpreters are abandoned as shameful Another 60 families expected to relocate over the next year or so. He said: It is the Governments belief that our Ex-Gratia Redundancy Scheme and Intimidation Policy remain fit for purpose and properly meet our responsibilities to men and women who played such an important part in our efforts to bring peace and security to Afghanistan. Last night politicians reacted with fury at the statement, describing the current policy in which interpreters are abandoned as shameful. Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said: Afghan citizens who worked with British forces as interpreters or drivers put themselves in extreme danger and many continue to face threats and intimidation today. Paddy Ashdown said: 'Failure to reassess this policy sends exactly the wrong message to our allies at a time when Afghanistan is less stable by the day' It is hugely disappointing that the Government has refused to extend support packages to those who completed their duties between 2006 and 2011. This arbitrary approach risks letting down those who put their lives on the line in support of our forces. The Ministry of Defence should re-examine this short-sighted decision as a matter of urgency. Paddy Ashdown, former Lib Dem leader and ex-Royal Marine, said: It is shameful that the government is sticking by its current policy, even though not a single interpreter who started after December 2012 has been relocated here. Failure to reassess this policy sends exactly the wrong message to our allies at a time when Afghanistan is less stable by the day. We owe these interpreters a debt of gratitude, but instead we are giving them empty platitudes. The Mails Betrayal of the Brave campaign for loyal interpreters to be given sanctuary in Britain from Taliban reprisals is supported by MPs, ex-military commanders and an 180,000-strong petition. Salaries for vice chancellors should be linked to the size of the universities they run, the head of the new higher education regulator has said. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students (OfS), has told MPs that universities which have less responsibilities should be paying their bosses more modestly. The watchdog, which comes into being in April, will be tasked with holding universities to account on their spending on senior pay. Salaries for vice chancellors should be linked to the size of the universities they run, a watchdog chief has said. Bath University paid Dame Glynis Breakwell 468,000 last year It follows a scandal which saw one of the countrys smaller institutions Bath paying its vice chancellor the highest salary of any in the country. Dame Glynis Breakwell was paid 468,000 last year, a pay rise of 18,000 on the previous year. Meanwhile, nearby Bath Spa University paid its outgoing vice chancellor Christina Slade 808,000 which included a golden goodbye package worth almost half a million. Yesterday, Ms Dandridge told the education select committee that universities would need to justify themselves if they are paying vast amounts. Asked if pay should be linked to performance, she said: Yes, and also linked to the size of the organisation you are running some are huge, billion pound international operations and some have far less responsibility. She added: I am not sure what the uniform metrics will look like but it must be linked in some transparent way to performance, that must be right. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students (OfS), has told MPs that universities which have less responsibilities should be paying their bosses more modestly She said the public was right to be concerned about excessive remuneration for university leaders and outlined plans for the sector to have to justify all pay above 150,000. She added: We are waiting to see whether the sector can address this, seriously address this, and address the levels of pay and ensure that they are justified. And if they are not, the OfS will have to intervene. New proposals for setting senior pay are being drawn up by the Committee of University Chairs (CUC). She added: There is a sense in which some senior salaries have got out of kilter and there is a legitimate public concern about the levels of some of the salaries. We are proposing that anyone being paid more than 150,000 per year will be required to justify it, and the OfS will look at that justification to make sure that it is appropriate. There is an issue that needs to be addressed and it is something that we at the Office for Students, I think, have to take very seriously. If the pay cant be justified then we will have to get into a discussion with the institution about what happens next. But we have an array of tools and responses available to us to deal with it. Theresa May has pledged to use cash from the 13 billion foreign aid budget to tackle the scourge of plastic polluting our seas. At a climate change summit in Paris yesterday, she said she was very concerned by the impact of waste on marine life. She pointed to Government action on carrier bags and banning microbeads campaigns championed by the Mail but said there was more to be done. Plastic pollution: Theresa May says she will use foreign aid cash to tackle the issue We are looking to see what more we can do to use overseas aid money to ensure that we are doing what I think everybody wants, which is reducing this terrible pollution that is taking place and affecting marine life so devastatingly, she said. Her pledge came as it emerged that environment secretary Michael Gove has written to international development secretary Penny Mordaunt to urge that aid is spent on protecting the oceans. May pointed to Government action on carrier bags and banning microbeads campaigns championed by the Mail but said there was more to be done Their departments are discussing increasing the small portion of the budget currently spent on protecting marine life from plastic. Mr Goves request follows a study which found that 90 per cent of the plastic waste in our seas came from ten rivers in Asia and Africa. Environmental campaigner Lewis Pugh said he had asked Mr Gove to raise the issue with the Department for International Development (DfID). I told him that plastic is now endemic in our oceans, from the Antarctic to the Arctic and from the surface to down below, he told the Mail, which has launched the Turn The Tide On Plastic initiative to further reduce the damage being done to oceans. I asked him if he could speak to DfID to see if they could use the aid fund to help address this problem and he promised to do that. Mr Goves request follows a study which found that 90 per cent of the plastic waste in our seas came from ten rivers in Asia and Africa He said: Plastic has a huge effect on fishing, tourism, the local economy and peoples health in places like India and Africa. Surely these places are where we should be concentrating our efforts. Weve got to prevent it getting in to the waterways first. Britain must lead the world on this. Bag can be ripped into 1.7m pieces A single carrier bag in the ocean can be shredded into 1.7 million pieces, scientists have found. Marine wildlife may be unwittingly contributing to the spread of microplastics which threatens them. A crustacean in northern and western Europe was found to be capable of breaking a single plastic bag into 1.75 million microscopic fragments. The creature, like seabirds and fish, appears to mistake plastic waste in the ocean for food and swallow it, according to scientists at the University of Plymouth. Scientists found a single carrier bag can be shredded into 1.7 million pieces Their previous research has found more than 700 marine species have encountered plastic debris, with clear evidence that ingestion and entanglement is harming them. Professor Richard Thompson, head of the universitys International Marine Litter Research Unit, said: An estimated 120 million tonnes of single-use plastic items, such as carrier bags, are produced each year and they are one of the main sources of plastic pollution. They already represent a potential hazard to marine life, but this research shows species might also be contributing to the spread of such debris. It further demonstrates that marine litter is not only an aesthetic problem but has the potential to cause more serious and persistent environmental damage. The scientists examined how fast a crustacean called Orchestia gammarellus broke down bags. Their research appeared in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin. Advertisement Mr Pugh, the United Nations Environment Programmes patron of the oceans, told Mr Gove that the money should be spent on engineering, waste management strategies and developing technology. Some of the 13 billion foreign aid budget, which can be accessed by several departments, already goes towards helping marine life. DfID said it already contributed to the Global Environment Facility, which has a 1.5 million programme to address plastic in the oceans. It also provides 7.6 million to the World Banks pollution management programme, part of which funds work to reduce pollution of the sea from various sources. The environment has been put at the heart of a rebranding of the Conservatives, who want to be known as the caring party. Mr Gove has seized on the strategy and has announced a series of environmental policies, including increasing jail terms for animal cruelty. Tackling plastic waste in our oceans has become the centrepiece of his plans and he has described being affected by scenes in the BBC documentary, Blue Planet II. It came as the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany found that 90 per cent of plastic waste comes from ten rivers in Asia and Africa. Two the Nile and the Niger are in Africa, and the other eight are in Asia: the Yangtze, Yellow, Haihe, Pearl, Mekong, Amur, Ganges and Indus. A DfID spokesman said ministers were working closely to discuss ideas and new solutions to tackle the plastic waste that is polluting the worlds rivers and oceans. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: The environment secretary and the international development secretary are working together to see what more we can do. The departments have a strong record working on the environment and development. In Paris yesterday, Mrs May announced a 140 million boost to funding for poorer communities affected by climate change through deforestation or vulnerability to natural disasters and extreme weather. She also pledged 15 million of additional support for the hurricane-hit island of Dominica in the Caribbean. Some 5.8 billion of the aid budget from 2016 to 2021 has been committed to tackle climate change through projects in poor countries. Proposals which could let criminals, rogue business leaders and corrupt politicians escape being exposed will be voted on in the House of Lords today. In a fresh assault on Press freedom, peers have tabled a raft of chilling amendments to the Data Protection Bill passing through Parliament. Changes would make it easier for the rich and powerful to avoid being held to account by making it more difficult to carry out investigative journalism and protect the identity of sources who reveal wrongdoing. Some of the amendments are aimed only at newspapers, but others would affect every media outlet, from national newspapers and broadcasters including the BBC to small community newspapers, charities and think-tanks. Proposals which could let criminals, rogue business leaders and corrupt politicians escape being exposed will be voted on in the House of Lords today (file photo) Crucially, the latest moves threaten 300 years of Press freedom by undermining the principle that journalists have the right to print whatever information they believe is in the public interest, and only answer for it to the courts afterward. The Bill aims to deliver a 21st century data protection regime. It would strengthen rights and empower individuals to have more control over their personal information, while slapping heavy fines on organisations that did not protect sensitive data. Significantly, as proposed by ministers the legislation provides an exemption for journalists who access and store personal information without consent when reporting news in the public interest. But the amendments would make it easier for individuals to find out what information journalists hold about them and prevent it being used before any article has even been published. The changes would only exempt material necessary for publication not material compiled as part of a probe but never used. That would mean criminal masterminds, terror suspects, paedophiles, rogue business bosses and philandering MPs could stifle stories. A second amendment would strip out freedom of expression safeguards, and could see the public interest in investigating wrong-doing being trumped by an individuals right to privacy a further obstacle to publishing reports the public have a right to read. Critics also fear amendments are being used as a backdoor route to force publishers to join state-approved regulator Impress, which depends on money from the former Formula One boss Max Mosley. Under the existing Bill, as proposed by the Government, the exemption for journalists depends on whether their reporting is in the public interest, as defined by the Ofcom code, the BBC editorial guidelines or the Editors Code of Practice of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). Almost all national and local newspapers, including the Daily Mail, are members of Ipso, which is entirely free of state control and is recognised in other pieces of legislation, including the existing Data Protection Act. But some peers want to remove Ipso from the legislation and replace it with Impress, which covers only a handful of hyper-local publications and blogs. This would make it impossible for the newspapers read by most members of the public to claim full journalistic exemption. Mr Mosley, who has handed millions to the controversial regulator, has been a vocal supporter of more restrictive regulation on the Press since being exposed by the News of the World for taking part in an S&M orgy with prostitutes. A further Labour amendment to the Bill would mean that the Information Commissioner would have powers to decide whether codes of conduct under which journalists work should be recognised by the new law therefore allowing the state the power to interfere in the Press. Peers will also try to rewrite the new law so that a second half of the Leveson inquiry into Press standards would go ahead, potentially binding journalists. And another amendment would force publishers, however large or small, to pay all the costs of data protection claims their own and their accusers even if a court had vindicated their investigation and reporting. The amendments would have hampered probes by the Daily Mail. These include the long-running campaign to convict the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, our exposure of how BBC TV licence fee collectors were bullying families and how charity fundraisers were hounding pensioners for donations. A yob who bent and snapped trees planted in memory of a school's war dead has appeared in court to admit the offence. Jordan West, 27, was caught on CCTV damaging five of the seven memorial cherry trees in the quad at Loughborough Grammar School. West, of Vernon Avenue, Beeston, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrate's Court and pleaded guilty to the offence of criminal damage. He was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 500 compensation to the school, Leicestershire Police said. The footage showed West on the A6, Leicester Road at 9.25pm on Friday, August 25 before he made his way on to school premises. After causing the damage, he scaled high railings before running away. People commenting on Facebook at the time were united in their condemnation of the incident. Peter Bright posted: 'Serious punishment needs giving for this. Sad fact is that he will probably get off with a fine.' Jordan West, 27, from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was caught on CCTV snapping and bending trees which had been planted in memory of students and staff who died in the First World War West pleaded guilty to the offence of criminal damage. He was ordered to pay 500 compensation to the school, and was given a 12 month conditional discharge Rebecca Warrington wrote: 'That is just mindless and stupid. Although sums up the intellect of more than a few members of society today.' Paul Boyd posted: 'I can't for the life of me understand why someone would go out of their way to do that. I really hope he's caught and given a darn sight more than a slap on the wrist.' Jorge Hills posted: 'This is heartbreaking, and very maddening.' Following the conviction, Jane Harker, director of development and external relations at Loughborough Endowed Schools, said: 'We are grateful to the local community and Leicestershire Police for their help in bringing this matter to a conclusion.' 'A constant reminder to all of the sacrifice they made': Loughborough Grammar School were devastated by the damage to the cherry trees At the time of the vandalism, she said: 'The trees are very precious to everyone in the school community. 'Each has, at its base, a plaque which carries the name of fallen pupils. 'Their presence in the quad, at the heart of school life, serves as a constant reminder to all of the sacrifice they made. 'To see them snapped at their bases and lying on the ground is devastating.' The school was overwhelmed by offers of sympathy and support in the wake of West's crime. 'Just mindless and stupid': Facebook users were furious at the damage to the trees in Loughborough Last month, the school hosted an emotional Remembrance Day service at which it was able to 'rededicate' newly planted trees. A school spokesperson said after the service: 'The memorial has stood since the Great War in remembrance of former pupils and staff who lost their lives in conflict.' 'The school was overwhelmed by offers of sympathy and support and a number of nurseries contacted the school to offer replacements.' Clint Barratt, tree production manager for Thurnby-based James Coles Nurseries, told the Leicester Mercury: 'I wanted to help the school out to plant some new trees and say to the guy who did it that we're not going to be beaten.' The elderly neighbour of a 58-year-old greyhound trainer who was killed in a 2015 fatal explosion in New South Wales' Central West has been arrested. John Burrows was killed by a bomb detonated using an improvised remote control device in Portland, west of Sydney, on July 24, 2015. He was struck down as he approached the rear garage of his mother's property in a laneway behind Villiers Street, about 6.30am. Police arrested 70-year-old Paul John Fitzpatrick at his home in Portland on Wednesday, after an extensive two-year-long Strike Force Avail investigation. Scroll down for video The neighbour of John Burrows, 58, who was killed in a 2015 bomb explosion, has been arrested at his Portland home, in New South Wales' Central West Police arrested 70-year-old Paul John Fitzpatrick (pictured) at his home in Portland about 9.30am Wednesday Mr Burrows was struck down as he approached the rear garage (pictured) of his mother's property in a laneway behind Villiers Street, about 6.30am He was taken to Lithgow Police Station, where he was assisting with inquiries. Mr Burrows was en route to get his car when the device - hidden inside a cardboard box - blew up. The impact of the explosion smashed windows up to 20 metres away, with black soot reportedly still staining rooftops along the lane way. Remains of an IED (improvised explosive device) were found near the garage, and police revealed the bomb was detonated by a radio-contolled receiver. Mr Burrows (pictured) was killed by a bomb detonated using an improvised remote control device in Portland, west of Sydney, on July 24, 2015 Mr Burrows was killed by a bomb detonated using a toy remote control as he walked towards his mother's garage on July 24, 2015 Another cunning plan by Labour and it backfired. BANG. Oily faces all round. Well, thank you, Stanley, thats another fine mess you got us into. Harriet Harman (Lab, Camberwell & Peckham) was responsible. She asked Speaker Bercow to permit an Urgent Question on the much-hyped resignation of Lord Kerslake as chairman of Kings College Hospital, London. Her request was naturally granted, for Bercow worships Miss Harman as a drone bee reveres its hives queen. But where were the Labour MPs to witness this great parliamentary event? When an Urgent Question is properly urgent, the Opposition benches can be rammed. Yesterday they were almost empty. Harriet Harman asked Speaker Bercow to permit an Urgent Question on the much-hyped resignation of Lord Kerslake as chairmain of King's College Hospital, London Perhaps I can explain. The days Order Paper had ordained that up to eight hours would later have to be spent debating the EU (Withdrawal) Bill day six. That Bill is the leviathan which is currently being chewed on by Parliament. Think boa constrictor trying to digest cow. Although backbench MPs noisily demanded days of debate, not all of them worked out at the time how many hours they would have to put in and at such a busy time of year. Politicians have evening Christmas drinks parties to attend. They can do their present-shopping on Oxford Street and thereabouts in the early evenings. But not if some Blairite keenie has gone and kept them back at school late. Miss Harmans Urgent Question meant that the parliamentary day was extended by the best part of an hour. Some of Harriets comrades were distinctly unimpressed by this. Uncharitable words were muttered. Then there was the way the debate went. Lord Kerslake is a former Civil Service chief who quit with much palaver on Monday. As he left his chairmanship, he made public denunciations of the Tories healthcare spending plans. This caused a brief stir because Lord Kerslake is a crossbench peer and was described as a man of high, independent principle. Except, cough, he is not quite that, is he? As I may have mentioned in yesterdays Mail, he is currently doing some work for the Labour party. It was also later learned that he had been told at the end of last week that he might be fired, such was the mess he and his senior colleagues were making of the hospitals finances. This kept coming out yesterday. Lord Kerslake presided over what the regulators described as a period of significant deterioration in the finances at Kings. Conservative MPs were quick to observe that you could not trust a Corbynist with public money. Lord Kerslake is a former Civil Service chief who quit on Monday. When he left his chairmanship he spoke out about public denunciations of the Tories healthcare spending plans The Health Minister given the task of answering Miss Harmans question and the 45 minutes or so of further exchanges from other MPs was Philip Dunne. There are few ministers more gentlemanly. Mr Dunne is not one of lifes tub-thumpers or partisan agitators. He is a pukka sort of fellow who finds ad hominem attacks rather vulgar. Thats the sketchwriters job. And yet, with encouragement from his own side, Mr Dunne did note that Lord Kerslake was paid some 65,000 a year for his part-time role at the hospital. Cheryl Gillan (Con, Chesham & Amersham) said Kerslake had seven other remunerated positions and four non-paying jobs. Hes even busier than George Osborne! Kate Hoey (Lab, Vauxhall) wondered if perhaps he had been so consumed by his other jobs (ie working for Comrade Corbyn) he had taken his eye off the ball. The longer the session lasted, the more it was hammered into the record that Lord Kerslake was an astonishingly useless chairman whose resignation was politically-motivated. Miss Harman and her friends clucked a bit, shaking their heads as they saw their ruse turn to powder. They tried to argue that the Kerslake resignation showed that you just cant trust the Tories with the NHS (that from Elthams Clive Efford). Conservative MPs cried weaponise!, meaning that Labour was trying to make cheap political points out of the NHS. Ben Bradshaw (Lab, Exeter) went off on one about Brexit. Poor Ben. Brexit has quite unkeeled him. The death and disappearance of Karen Ristevski (pictured) has been shrouded in mystery The mystery surrounding the disappearance and death of Victorian mother Karen Ristevski has had Australians on the edge of their seats for the past 18 months. And as her husband Borce prepares to go to trial for the woman's murder, it is expected the answers to some of the more nagging questions will be revealed. One such revelation will likely be where Mr Ristevski was for the 100 minutes that are unaccounted for on the day his wife went missing. Karen Ristevski went missing from her family home at Avondale Heights on June 29, and police interviewed her husband shortly after her disappearance was reported to police. For 100 minutes of the day, the 53-year-old was unable to tell officers what he had been doing. On Wednesday, Mrs Ristevski's husband Borce was arrested and charged with his wife's murder During the investigation, Mr Ristevski was unable to account for 100 minutes of his time on the day his wife went missing. Because he has pleaded not guilty, it is likely the details of this 100 minutes will be revealed in court Police pulled information from the phones of Mr and Mrs Ristevski after the woman vanished, and both phones were found to have connected with transmission towers on the Calder Freeway. Police tracked transmission signals emitted by both Mr and Mrs Ristevski's phones on June 29, when the Victorian mother went missing, and found them both on the Calder Freeway Mr Ristevski was seen to be near Diggers Rest, about 20 kilometres north of Avondale Heights, where the family lived, during the day. Mrs Ristevski's phone was last pinged near Gisborne - a further 20 kilometres north along the Calder Freeway, and about 10kms south of Mount Macedon, where her body was found. The evidence obtained by police also shows Mr Ristevski's phone had been turned off for two hours. In their initial interviews, police learned the couple had been fighting before Mrs Ristevski left the house on June 29. Mr Ristevski then claimed he drove her car, a black Mercedes SLK 200, along the Calder Freeway to try and correct a faulty fuel gauge, which he said was fixed by a bump in the road. The Mercedes was captured on CCTV being driven through Diggers Rest, the last known location of Mr Ristevski's phone, towards Mt Macedon, where his wife's body was found, on the same day. On June 29, when Karen Ristevski went missing, there were 100 minutes of the day her husband Borce could not account for. Information recovered by police from the couple's phones showed his last pinged at Diggers Rest, and hers was last near Gisborne, about 10kms from where her body was found at Mt Macedon Regional Park. Officers also found information that showed Mr Ristevski's phone had been turned off for two hours during the day Mr Ristevski's phone was found to have pinged a transmission tower in Diggers Rest on the day, and is believed to have been turned off for two hours Mrs Ristevski's phone last pinged off a tower in Gisborne, about 10 kilometres from Mount Macedon, where her body was found wedged between two logs (pictured) Mrs Ristevski's body was discovered wedged between two logs in bushland in Mt Macedon by passing joggers on February 20. Mr Ristevski's lawyer, Robert Stary, said earlier this year the 53-year-old was a suspect 'from day one', and police also revealed the man was of interest to them. On Wednesday, he was arrested in Keilor by detectives from the missing persons squad, and charged with murder. Mr Ristevski has pleaded not guilty, and will reappear in court on April 18. Foreign nationals should be barred from buying more than half the houses or flats in large new developments, according to a Conservative MP. The cap on developments of more than 20 units is among changes put forward by Croydon South MP Chris Philp to boost house-building towards the Governments target of 300,000 a year and ensure more new homes go to first-time buyers. Mr Philp is an aide to Chancellor Philip Hammond, so his proposals will carry weight at the Treasury. In his report for the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, Mr Philp highlighted a development at Baltimore Wharf, in Londons Docklands, where 87 per cent of 2,999 apartments were sold abroad. The development at Baltimore Wharf, in Londons Docklands, where 87 per cent of 2,999 apartments were sold abroad At one in Manchester, 94 per cent of 230 flats went to foreigners more than half of them to a company based in the British Virgin Islands. Mr Philp said overseas buyers were taking around 50 per cent of all new-build stock in London, including cheap suburban flats. Non-UK resident purchasers of flats were predominantly from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Malaysia and some Gulf states, buying off-plan two or three years before the properties were even built and often before potential British purchasers had a chance to look at the scheme, he said. By snapping up new-build stock off-plan including cheaper flats that are ideal for first-time buyers non-UK buyers are preventing young Britons getting on to the housing ladder, the report says. Arguments that the Government should not intervene in the free market for property do not hold water, it adds. Mr Philp wrote: First, housing is far from a free market. The planning system means that the state plays a significant role in shaping its outcomes. Second, land is not like other goods. You can always make more iPhones. You cannot create more land. Third, home ownership is so economically and socially advantageous there is an imperative for Government to support it. Countries including Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark and New Zealand limit or ban non-resident foreign buyers from purchasing property. Kris Burghart, an eighth grade teacher at Otho E. Stuart Middle School in Commerce City, resigned on Friday A Colorado middle school teacher quit his job on Friday after he posted a message on a classroom screen which read, in part, I want to kill children. Kris Burghart, an eighth grade teacher at Otho E. Stuart Middle School in Commerce City, was placed on administrative leave last week. Burghart used a projector to show a message which read: 'Silent reading I want to kill children but I am a loving Christian man who never would hurt a flee (sic) so please sit down and read.' One of his students took a picture of the screened message with a cell phone. He resigned his position on Friday, a spokesperson for Commerce City School District 27J told the Denver Post. He is a very well-liked teacher, so it is unfortunate, but we dont stand for anyone making threatening remarks, the spokesperson, Tracy Rudnick, said. Burghart used a projector to show a message which read: 'Silent reading I want to kill children but I am a loving Christian man who never would hurt a flee (sic) so please sit down and read' The school principal, Fabricio Velez, wrote a letter to parents informing them of the decision to initially suspend Burghart. The Otho E. Stuart Middle School is seen above The school principal, Fabricio Velez, wrote a letter to parents informing them of the decision to initially suspend Burghart. It was reported to me, by a parent, that Mr. Burghart had projected a message on the board that frightened some of our Raptors, Velez wrote. I can assure you that no student was in danger at any time. I will communicate back to you once we review the facts and come to a final decision. It was reported to me, by a parent, that Mr. Burghart had projected a message on the board that frightened some of our Raptors, Velez wrote If at any time you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email or telephone. Another letter was sent to parents this one from 27J superintendent Chris Fiedler. It is my firm belief that at no time, under any circumstance is it acceptable to threaten harm to our students - not as a teaching tool, not as venting frustration, not as a joke, he wrote. One parent wrote on Facebook that the school made a mistake in firing Burghart. My daughter is so upset about this, Jeanne Swanson Buscietta wrote. She felt Mr. Burghart was and is a great teacher. He also stated that he was a good Christian man, which is not supported by the school or the district. We do not support this decision. Burghart declined to comment. The National Lottery operator has seen its profits soar even though the amount going towards good causes has risen by only 2 per cent. Official auditors found profits at Camelot rose from 39million to 71million from 2009-10 to 2016-17 up 122 per cent. But over the same period, the amount of cash given to charities went up by just 31million, or 2 per cent, to 1.5billion. Official auditors found profits at Camelot rose from 39million to 71million from 2009-10 to 2016-17 up 122 per cent The National Audit Office said the discrepancy was down to official rules linking Camelots profits to sales rather than the amount raised for good causes. The same figures show sales of tickets and scratch cards went up 27 per cent to 6.9billion from 2009-10 to 2016-17 far lower than the increase in profits. Part of the reason for the difference is that scratch cards have become more popular but do not pay out as much to good causes. The NAO report said this trend led to overall sales falling 9 per cent last year, leading to a 15 per cent drop in income for good causes. Camelot has predicted a further fall in sales and income for good causes in 2017-18. This could lead to a shortfall for organisations which allocate funds. The NAO said distributors, which include UK Sport, Spirit of 2012, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund, often had commitments spanning many years so it is likely that commitments will exceed their fund balance at a given date. As of February this year, the approximate return for good causes ranged from 34p for each pound spent on online draw-based games to 10p for scratch cards, with some scratch cards returning as little as 5p. A Camelot spokesman said: We have carried out a wide-ranging strategic review of the business and announced strong plans to get the National Lottery back into growth next year and raising as much money as possible for good causes. Australians are being warned against falling for an opportunistic scam targeting online Christmas shoppers. Emails claiming to be from Australia Post are being sent to customers claiming a parcel has not been delivered and is being held at a depot, according to MailGuard. People are encouraged to click on a link in the email which actually downloads a malware file, which can then install spyware or viruses on the victim's computer. The scammers are aiming to take advantage of Australia Post's trusted branding to trick people into falling for the fake. Australians are being warned against falling for an opportunistic scam targeting online Christmas shoppers The scam is a large-scale fraud attempt, aiming to capitalise on the large number of people expecting deliveries at this time of year. The email claims that a parcel was unable to be delivered, and if it is not collected in seven days then the intended recipient will be charged for storing it. Customers are asked to click on a link marked 'Get Dispatch Note', which actually downloads malware. The email is riddled with poor spelling and grammatical errors, tell-tale signs for a scam. 'You can find any information about the procedure and conditions of sending storing, in the nearest post office,' it reads. 'Please check information otherwise, you may be fined wrongly.' Customers are asked to click on a link marked 'Get Dispatch Note', which actually downloads malware It is signed off by the 'Australia Post Private Agency Online Team'. MailGuard advises customers to check the sender information on emails carefully to avoid scams. People are urged to contact companies directly if they're in doubt about the veracity of an email, rather than click on any links. The fate of North Korea women smuggled into China with the promise of jobs and a better life only to be sold as brides has been revealed in a series of rare interviews. Experts believe thousands of women have been trafficked in this way since the famine in North Korea in the 1990s, often leaving families and children behind in order to make the journey. While many leave expecting to find a job and earn money to support their families back home, instead they find themselves sold to poor farmers in border towns, unable to leave for fear of being captured and tortured. S.Y. is a North Korean woman who was trafficked to China 11 years ago, thinking she would be able to work, earn some money for her family, then return. Instead she found herself as the wife of a poor farmer with polio, unable to go back to her children (pictured in silhouette) Experts believe that thousands of North Korean women have been trafficked in this way. They are in the country illegally, so cannot officially marry their husbands, and as such have no freedom or rights. They fear being sent back home to face imprisonment and torture S.Y. said she suffered from depression after arriving in China, drank heavily, and attempted suicide - distraught over the two children she had left behind. But she felt obligated to her new husband and the daughter they have together, so decided to stay S.Y., who spoke to Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she is in China illegally, came to the country 11 years ago - lured by the prospect of work. But when she arrived, she found herself as the property of a disabled farmer. In those years, she's lived with the dread that Chinese police will arrest her and send her back to be jailed and tortured in North Korea. She's struggled with the scorn of neighbors who see her as an outsider. But most of all, she's been haunted by grief and regret over the children she had to leave behind. 'When I first came here, I spent all day drinking because I worried a lot about my kids in North Korea. I was quite out of my mind.' While some women get along with their new families and find good husbands, others are abused or mocked and bullied by their neighbours. Their plight is largely ignored, partly because the women almost never agree to interviews. The Associated Press spoke with seven trafficked North Korean women and three Chinese husbands. Because the women have been trafficked to China, they are living in the country illegally and have never officially married their husbands. Some of the women chose to stay, fearful of what might happen to them if they try to escape, and preferring their new life to the one they left behind - dangerous and abusive though it might be. Others flee a second time, this time to South Korea, where settlement money is provided and there is the guarantee of citizenship. S.Y is one of those who stayed. She says he first years were the hardest. A widow from a city near Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, she didn't even give her two sons a proper goodbye when she left for China, thinking she would be able to quickly return home after making some money. Instead a broker sold her to her new husband for 14,000 yuan ($2,100). Though the now 53-year-old said she was treated well by her Chinese husband - and the two have a daughter together - she was never able to forget her North Korean children who she last saw in 2006. One day, saddened and frustrated, she swallowed a box of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. When she was revived she said she began to realize that her half-Chinese daughter needed her. Kim Sun-hee, 38, is another North Korean defector who was sold to her Korean-Chinese husband for $1,200 when she was 18 years old. The pair now live happily in South Korea, but don't like to discuss how their relationship started Chang Kil-dong, 48, Kim's husband, says he wishes he could go back and pay his wife's family instead of a broker in a traditional marriage pact Kim and Chang admit that their relationship started because of human trafficking, but have managed to find happiness together and now live in relative freedom in Gunpo, South Korea She's passed on the chance to flee to South Korea, saying she worries about leaving her daughter and husband, a poor farmer with polio. 'I'm living here because of my family ... and because I feel grateful to my husband,' S.Y. said. 'What matters is not breaking up our family.' Her 55-year-old husband and his relatives sold hogs and corn to pay brokers to check on S.Y.'s children in North Korea. They found that her brother was raising her sons and S.Y.'s husband sent 15,000 yuan ($2,260) to help support them. 'I felt really, really good when I first met her,' S.Y.'s sun-bronzed husband said, his crutch by his side. 'But I'm a disabled man and I thought it was unfair to her. She could have met a better husband.' Two other North Korean women interviewed in western Liaoning province said their husbands treated them well, but others described abuse. One former bride who fled to South Korea said her Chinese husband tied her to a post for hours after she once tried to escape. The women who stay live with the worry of being arrested and repatriated to North Korea. They avoid traveling because they say authorities in recent years require citizens to show their ID cards before leaving the area. They speak little Chinese, have few local friends and don't enjoy the same social and medical benefits that ordinary Chinese have. They stay because of their half-Chinese children. 'My 10-year-old son knows his friends' (North Korean) mothers have all fled, so he's very obedient to me because he worries I could leave him too,' said another North Korean woman from a village near where S.Y. lives. She asked to be identified by only her surname, Kim. Chinese authorities, including the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing and police in the three provinces closest to North Korea where most of the women end up, did not respond to requests to comment on the plight of the trafficked brides. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a written response that China has worked to fight the trafficking of women and children in recent years by strengthening laws, efforts that 'have had noticeable results.' For North Korean brides who want out of Chinese towns, South Korea is a tempting option because of the promise of citizenship, resettlement money, almost-free apartments and no language problems. But reaching South Korea requires a long, treacherous journey and once again putting trust in brokers. Some lie to their husbands and say they'll return after making money in South Korea. Some flee in the middle of the night. Often they have to leave their children behind. After living in a village in China's northeastern Liaoning province for 2 1/2 years, Kim Jungah could no longer bear the possibility of her daughter seeing her dragged away by Chinese authorities. 'I slept badly every night,' the 41-year-old said. 'Whenever I heard the sound of cars, I was afraid they might be the police.' So in 2009 she left, thinking that later she could persuade her husband to come to South Korea with her daughter if she made enough money. She eventually made such an offer, but her husband rejected it. Kim hasn't spoken to her daughter since early 2013, when her husband changed his phone number after finding that she had gotten married in South Korea. She said her daughter's biological father is actually North Korean and that she didn't know she was pregnant when she was sold to her Chinese husband in 2006 for 19,000 yuan ($2,860). Kim Jungah, 41, lived in China for two and a half years, during which time she had a daughter with her new husband. But unable to bear the thought of being caught by Chinese authorities she fled to South Korea, hoping she would later be able to persuade her husband to join her Jungah made it to South Korea in 2009 and reached out to her former husband with an offer to move with her, but he rejected it. She has not spoken to her daughter since 2013 when her husband cut off contact after learning she had remarried During a recent visit to the man's house, Kim's daughter, now 10, looked cheerful and healthy as she ran around her yard. Her Chinese father said he treats the girl like his biological daughter and that she's doing well at school. Kim said she would give her former husband 50,000 yuan ($7,530) if he sends her daughter to her and if he refuses she will sue him. He said he won't allow the girl to reunite with Kim until she becomes an adult. The man, who asked that his name not be revealed in order to protect the girl, called himself a victim of 'marriage fraud.' 'She came here, bore a child and left,' the 50-year-old said. 'She had food and a place to live. I don't understand why she left.' Others have been able to reunite. North Korean defector Kim Sun-hee, 38, who came to South Korea in 2008, lives in a small apartment near Seoul with her Korean-Chinese husband, Chang Kil-dong, 48, who bought her for 8,000 yuan ($1,200) when she was 18. Chang, now a manual laborer in the South, said he was delighted when his wife called him to come to South Korea because he thought she might abandon him. Still the two don't like to talk about how their relationship started. Chang said he wishes he could go back and instead of paying a broker, give money to his wife's family in a traditional marriage contract. 'It was human trafficking,' he said. All three of the North Korean women interviewed in China left children behind in their homeland, thinking their trip across the border would be temporary. S.Y. wants to raise hogs to make money to hire brokers again so she can find out how her sons in North Korea are doing. Kim, the woman with the 10-year-old half-Chinese son, said she is too poor to hire someone to search for her 12-year-old son who she left back home in 2007. 'I cry whenever I think about my child in the North,' the 46-year-old said. So many North Korean women have run away - 13 out of 15 in one of the women's village - that those who stay are looked down on. 'People call us 'hens.'' S.Y. said. 'They say we aren't real mothers because we lay eggs and then flee to somewhere else.' The children of North Korean women left behind in China also face a stigma. One of the North Korean women said her daughter's high school classmate, whose mother fled soon after he was born, is often teased at school. Some of the women who fled to South Korea are conflicted - torn between the life they have made for themselves and the life they were sold into. A woman who fled to South Korea in 2006 has not contacted her Chinese family even though she has a son there because she was treated poorly. She asked to be identified only as Y because of worries that publicity about her past could destroy her new life, adding that the South Korean father of her newest child left them when he found out about her life in China. 'Some might say I am cold-hearted, but I left that house determined never to go back,' she said with tears in her eyes. 'Now I sometimes feel like going there because I'm curious about how my boy has grown up. But I can't do that.' A Florida day care has shut down following the deaths of two toddlers a week apart from possible meningitis infections. The Miami Herald reports that the YWCA Carol Glassman Donaldson Center Day Care closed Tuesday. YWCA Miami director Kerry-Ann Royes says she decided to close the center as a precaution. The day care is located in downtown Miami next to Miami-Dade County's main government building. Scroll down for video Health officials will inspect a Miami YWCA day care center after a child diagnosed with meningitis died and another also possibly died from the same infection A medical epidemiologist at the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County said the children who died were a 22-month-old boy Dec. 3 and a 2-year-old boy Sunday Courtesy of WPLG County officials say a 22-month-old boy died on Dec. 3. He was initially diagnosed with pneumonia before a doctor concluded it was meningitis. A 2-year-old boy died Sunday after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Lab tests should reveal whether either child contracted meningitis. Regulators and county officials say the day care won't reopen until it's cleared by the state. YWCA Miami director Kerry-Ann Royes (left) says she decided to close the center as a precaution The death of the first child led the agency to send a letter to parents warning that a child was recently diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis. The letter did not tell parents the child died 'It's still under investigation. We're not sure yet if both cases are meningitis. It is flu season,' head of epidemiology for the state health department's office, Dr. Reynald Jean, told the newspaper. 'We're just devastated by this. These are our babies,' Royes added. The Florida Department of Children and Families, which oversees the day care facility, released a statement this week. 'We are devastated by the death of two small children who attended this child care facility and we continue to grieve with their families and loved ones.' The Times reported that Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured, the president of the European Commission faces new claims that 'tampered' evidence misled an inquiry A judge has ordered a new criminal investigation into whether Jean-Claude Juncker's officials misled Luxembourg's judiciary over phone tapping. The European Commission President was dragged back into the decade-old scandal last week while he was locked in talks with Theresa May over Brexit. The Times revealed today Mr Juncker faces new claims his staff that 'tampered' evidence misled an inquiry. Last week a Luxembourg judge opened a criminal inquiry into whether officials working for Mr Juncker were responsible for an incomplete transcript of a covertly recorded conversation, which may have disguised his alleged role in phone tapping. The case relates to allegations that officials misled a parliamentary and then judicial investigation in 2012 and 2013. The transcript was of a conversation, taped on a recorder disguised as a wristwatch, between Mr Juncker and Marco Mille, the former director of the Luxembourg intelligence service. Mr Mille is on trial for illegal phone tapping. Eric Schammo, an investigating judge, has now begun an inquiry into whether the transcripts were falsified. Frank Schneider, the former head of SREL operations and a defendant in the trial, said Mr Juncker must take the claims seriously. He told The Times: 'It is, after all, something that caused him to resign his government in 2013 requiring early elections. 'I am certain that if Juncker can come to Luxembourg to speak to students . . . about the future of Europe as he did in October this year, he could have found two hours during one of the eight proposed dates . . . to attend court.' The European Commission said it would not discuss 'alleged comments or alleged documents'. A commission spokesman told the Times: 'He (Mr Juncker) is very willing to testify as a witness but it happens that he is also president of the EC, so we have to find a date that matches his institutional obligations.' A gang who murdered three young children after pouring fuel down a chimney reportedly ran to a nearby house to watch the devastating blaze. Michelle Pearson, 35, and her three-year-old daughter Lia were asleep when their terraced home was set on fire and the pair are 'fighting for their lives' in hospital. Greater Manchester Police said the blaze in Walkden at 5am on Monday claimed the lives of her daughters Demi, 14, and Lacie, seven, and son Brandon, eight. Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller said they had also recovered CCTV that proved that it was a 'targeted attack'. Ms Pearson's son Kyle Pearson, 16, escaped through a window and was left with minor injuries sustained as he tried to get back into the house to save his family. Brandon Pearson, eight, (left) and Lacie Pearson, seven, (centre left and pictured on the right) ledied in the Manchester fire but their youngest sister Lia, three (pictured in their arms, left) is in a critical condition in hospital Aerial footage above the terraced home showed police officers searching the property on Tuesday Demi Pearson, 14, was the eldest child to be killed in the deliberate fire in Manchester as it emerged police had already been to their house hours earlier. Her mother Michelle, 35, survived but is fighting for her life This is the moment the number one suspect in the Salford arson attack (pictured in a white top) that killed three children was arrested on suspicion of murder in front of a crowd baying for his blood The gang who targeted the house are said to have poured the flammable fluid through their letterbox and window before setting it alight. A source told The Sun: 'They watched it all from a window.' According to The Times, Ms Pearson had 'begged and begged to be moved' after her home was installed with tighter security measures following a number of incidents. MailOnline also revealed a recent dispute between rival gangs which saw a dog beaten with a hammer could have led to the arson attack. Five people have been arrested on suspicion of murder and other offences and a man, 25, was also held today. Three of the six are in custody and the remaining suspects are on bail. The key suspect wanted over the Salford fire was arrested on suspicion of murder last night in front of a crowd baying for his blood and screaming 'dead man walking'. Neighbours have claimed that the arson attack was the culmination of weeks of intensifying hostilities between gangs including a hammer attack on a dog. Police were also called to the property three hours before the fatal fire, reportedly to a wheelie bin which was ablaze, and a two weeks ago a house had its windows smashed. One neighbour said: 'They've all been at each other for ages now. I don't know what started it, but it's just got worse and worse'. It has also emerged that Michelle has suffered a number of tragedies in recent years and was forced to bring up her five children alone after her long term partner Paul died of cancer one year ago. Family friend Kyle Skelhorn, 31, said: 'It's devastating. The mother tries her hardest to make ends meet. It's a crying shame a poor family can experience this'. He added: 'The youngest's dad died last year, if her mother doesn't make it she [Lia] has no-one left.' The father of the remaining four children is understood to be in prison. The scorched and fire damaged windows of the property where three 'petrol-fuelled' fires are believed to have been started while the family slept inside Pictures from the scene show the fire-damaged window frames of the house. There are claims the fire may have been started via the chimney after climbing up the scaffolding (pictured left) and forensics teams are using a high ladder to inspect its roof A forensics officer inspects the chimney where a fire bomb is believed to have been dropped into the house below Police officers were searching the property on Tuesday afternoon and aerial footage showed scaffolding outside the home Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller (pictured on Tuesday night) said it was a 'targeted attack' The arson suspect, believed to be a 23-year-old man, was dragged from his car and marched away in handcuffs by police at around 7pm last night. The arrest was a mile away from the house in Walkden, Greater Manchester, ripped apart by fire at 5am on Monday. A large crowd gathered in the snow to see the suspect taken away hurled abuse at him and one man screamed: 'I hope you die you b*****d. F*****g dead man walking' while a woman screams 'evil c***'. It also emerged the alleged arsonist may have thrown lit petrol bombs down the chimney hours after warning them: 'I'll kill you all'. The main suspect was reportedly dragged from his car. A witness said: 'My girlfriend was coming home from work last night at about 6pm and she was adamant she'd seen him driving down the road. 'She said 'I'm sure he's just driven past in a car'. We saw him being pulled from the car by police and being patted down. He flipped his hood up over his head when he saw I was videoing him. The police led him away to a van'. Police confirm it was a 'targeted' attack on the house Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller said on Tuesday evening: 'We now have a much deeper understanding of the devastating events that led to the tragic deaths of three children in Walkden in the early hours of yesterday morning and have made significant progress in this investigation. 'Although no formal identification has taken place the children are believed to be 14-year-old Demi Pearson, eight-year-old Brandon Pearson and seven-year-old Lacie Pearson. 'Their mum and their three year old little sister are still fighting for their lives in hospital. 'We cannot imagine what their family are going through. They are all obviously completely devastated. The loss of a child in any circumstance is unthinkable but to lose three in such deplorable circumstances, words cannot describe. 'My heart breaks for them - it really does. Our specially trained family liaison officers are supporting the family and we are doing all that we can to get them the answers they quite rightly deserve. 'We have connected CCTV from the area and now believe this to be a targeted attack on this house. 'We have a full team of detectives and special trained officers working on the case and overnight we arrested five people - four on suspicion of murder and one on suspicion of assisting an offender. 'Today we have arrested a 25-year-old man, also on suspicion of murder. 'Two of those arrested on suspicion of murder - age 19 and 20 - have been released on bail as has the 24-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. 'We are so very grateful to the members of the public who have come forward and given us information to help with our investigation. 'We have received vital information which has helped us to make this progress. 'We are continuing to appeal for information, however. We have made arrests but the hard or has only just begun. 'Justice can only be don e with the help and support of the local community. 'Anyone with information is asked to call us on 0161 856 8797 or call crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. 'A mandatory referral has been made to the IPCC. This will be a painstaking investigation from all involved.' Advertisement A plastic bottle and a length or pipe was taken away from a property around a mile from the fire where the suspect is believed to live with his mother The investigation is centred on the chimney - but the fire is believed to have engulfed both floors after being started in three places Flowers, toys and candles left for the children who lost their lives in the deliberate fire in Jackson Street yesterday Floral tributes, toys and candles have began expanding on the pavement outside. Investigators, wearing white plastic suits, took pictures of the roof and chimney of the burned-out property. The heavy-duty blockade is lined with police vehicles and officers making enquiries as they patrol the scene. The large steal blanket blocks off public access to the street as people from the surrounding community pay tributes. A smiley emoji soft-toy placed underneath the Jackson Street road sign has the words 'RIP Demi, Brandon and Lacie' penned across it. A fundraising site has also been launched to support the family with 1,000 raised from a 2,000 target. Two teenage boys Ms Pearson's son Kyle and a friend named locally as Bobby - managed to flee the house as it went up in flames from an upstairs window. Kyle said last night: 'I can't get my head around it. It's disgraceful. It's hard to talk about it. I'm in shock'. The fire may have been started after fuel was poured into the house from the roof and set alight after clambering up some scaffolding. The blown out windows of the house where three children were killed and a three-year-old was left critically ill Forensic officers attended the scene of a house fire in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Monday. There are claims the fire was started by pouring fuel down the chimney Notes and cards have been left for the children including 14-year-old Demi, described as a great friend and sister in messages outside the house Police have been removing evidence from the house today with detectives describing the attack as 'murder using fire' Killer started three 'petrol-fuelled' fires as children slept inside The killer of three children who died in an arson attack set a series of petrol-fuelled fires at their home - torching both floors of the property as they slept. It is understood that the culprit targeted the chimney, the door, and a ground floor window in the attack which claimed the lives of Michelle Pearson's three children. It is believed that it was the second time in a week that the family home at Jackson Street, Walkden, was targeted by arson. It is understood the evidence uncovered so far points to a sustained and determined attack on the property. It has emerged: Traces of fuel were found in at least three locations - the chimney, a ground-floor room, and the front door. The downstairs front room, back room, kitchen, and entrance were all damaged by fire. The killer may have scaled scaffolding to reach the chimney - which fire investigators were today using an aerial platform to examine. At the end of last month firefighters fitted a security device on the letterbox to prevent flammable materials being poured through it. Family had been living under threat of an arson attack for at least two weeks Advertisement A family friend told The Sun: 'I heard it (came) down the chimney.' A stepfather of one of the teenagers who survived told the paper that a man turned up at the house 'yelling abuse' and was 'banging on the door'. He said: 'The mum was speaking to him out the window, telling him to 'pack it in'. She called the police. Officers attended. They took statements. I heard that before the man walked away he yelled, 'I'll kill you all'.' Close friend Janette Dean, 54, claimed Ms Pearson had been in a long-running row with a neighbour, who she said had 'smashed up' her house with a hammer last week after an argument. 'Shell was involved in a row with a bloke and his girlfriend and he smashed up Michelle's house with a hammer last week after an argument,' she said. 'I felt sick when I found out about what had happened. What happened today is terrible, it's the worst - it's unbelievable those kids are dead. 'At the end of the day Michelle had her fair share of problems, but she loved those kids and she was good woman and good mum.' A metal screen was put up at the entrance to the street following the deliberate fire on Monday morning Police had set up a forensics tent outside the home, where burnt out windows can be seen Friends of Demi posted tributes on Facebook after hearing of her tragic death this morning Police reported to watchdog over visit to house hours earlier The family of Michelle Pearson had been living under threat before the devastating attack. Security had been stepped up at the mid-terrace property before the fire and sources confirmed the house had been 'target hardened' to protect the family living there from attack. Measures included the fitting of an increased security device on the letterbox to prevent things being thrown in or even a fire being started. Police confirmed that the force had 'very recent physical contact' with the family - understood to be within 24 hours of the devastating attack. Police had been called there to a reported incident at the house at around 2am, around three hours before the blaze took hold. As well as the possibility that a flammable liquid was poured through the home's letterbox, there have also been reports that the perpetrator used scaffolding to launch the attack through the chimney although there has been been no confirmation of this by Greater Manchester Police. Chief Supt Wayne Miller confirmed at a press conference held at Swinton police station that there had been 'earlier incidents' at the address, but refused to elaborate further or confirm the nature of the call. As a result of the prior police contact GMP has voluntarily referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in line with procedure. IPCC acting Deputy Director of Operations for the North of England Steve Noonan said: 'This is a most tragic incident in which three young lives have been lost, and our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of the children who sadly died, and those injured. 'We have carefully assessed the referral from Greater Manchester Police, and as there was prior police contact, feel that it is necessary to independently investigate the circumstances of this incident in relation to the force's actions.' Advertisement Kyle revealed how he climbed out of an upstairs window then tried to fight his way back inside but was beaten back by flames and smoke. He said: 'I fell asleep and the next thing I knew was I could hear my mum screaming 'Fire!' There was lots of smoke so I climbed out of an upstairs window. 'I've gone to get back in but a cloud of smoke hit me in the face. I tried to break the front door down and smashed a window, but I couldn't get in because of the flames and the smoke'. Paying tribute to his siblings he added: 'Demi was a top girl, very funny. Brandon was very clever and doing well at school. He was brainy. He loved playing computer games and he was looking forward to Christmas.' Of Lacie, he said: 'She was the same, clever.' Demi was a pupil at Harrop Fold School in Salford, which featured in the Channel 4 documentary Educating Greater Manchester. Headteacher Drew Povey said: 'We are devastated at the tragic loss of life today in our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family involved.' Jackson Street remains cordoned off, with one end blocked by large steel barriers, as the joint police and fire service investigation continues. Emergency services were called to the house in Salford just before 5am yesterday. One neighbour said she awoke to hear a woman screaming and could see the red glow of the fire through her curtains. Chief Supt Wayne Miller said there had been 'earlier incidents' at the address, but refused to elaborate further or confirm the nature of the call. As a result of the prior police contact GMP has voluntarily referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in line with procedure. Brandon, 8, Lacie, 7, and Lia Pearson, three, sleep together at home, which was set alight yesterday Lacie Pearson, seven, (left) and her sister Demi (right) have been named as two of the victims of the fire Brandon, eight, and Lacie, seven, pictured with Peppa Pig, also died following the tragedy in the early hours of Monday Their mother has been named as Michelle Pearson (pictured) and is still in hospital in a serious condition Timeline: How the fire horror unfolded 2am Police called to the house after an incident and leave again. 4.58am Fire service called to Jackson Street in Walkden, Salford, after reports of a large fire in terraced house. 7.26am Street closed off as it emerges six people - five from the same family - are taken to hospital. 12.11pm Neighbours describe hearing 'screaming and banging' during the night and a 'quite loud' argument 1.41pm Police confirmed three children died in the fire and a three-year-old girl remained in hospital in a critical condition with her 35-year-old mother 2.46pm First victim of the fire was named as 14-year-old Demi Pearson. 6.58pm Police arrest man, 23, and a woman, 20, on suspicion of murder. 7.58pm Demi's younger brother Brandon, eight, and his sister Lacie, seven, named as victims. 8.51pm Police make three further arrests. Two men, 18 and 20, held on suspicion of murder. Man, 24, held on suspicion of assisting an offender Source: MEN Advertisement Police have launched a murder probe amid claims fuel may have been used and poured down the chimney 'The love of her life, Borce': Mr Ristevski, seen at Karen's funeral in Essendon on March 6 A tearful Borce Ristevski sat in the front row at his wife Karen's funeral service and listened to stories about their love. It was the morning of March 6, weeks after Karen's body was found in bushland, and his cousin's wife Anica Naumovski was eulogising her 'best friend' at an Essendon church. 'She had the biggest love of her beautiful daughter Sarah and the love of her life, Borce,' Ms Naumovski told hundreds of mourners. 'The three of them were not just a family. They were a team ... I can truly say they were inseparable'. What went unsaid among the stories of Karen's first encounter with her 'spunky' future husband was Borce was the chief police suspect in his wife's murder. The sunny autumn ceremony takes on a more tragic light after Mr Ristevski was charged with the killing on Wednesday morning - a charge he plans to fight. Borce Ristevski (front, on right) carried his wife's casket with her brother, Stephen Williams (left) 'They were a team... inseparable': Mourners at Karen Ristevski's funeral service were regaled with stories of their love A man comforts Mr Ristevski following the conclusion of Mrs Ristevski's funeral service on March 6 Ms Naumovski told the service how Karen and Borce met at a party in Victoria when she was 16. The New Zealand expat spotted the 'spunk' from a balcony and boldly told Borce: 'I like you, and I want you'. 'I like you too,' Borce said. In her narrative of Karen's life, Ms Naumovski recalled Borce would later propose to Karen in a 'beautiful setting' near Williamstown. Later, she would be buried at the Williamstown Cemetery. Family (Borce, centre-left) and friends bury Mrs Ristevski at the Williamstown cemetery Remembering Karen Ann Ristevski: The order of service at Mrs Ristevski's funeral Borce and Karen's daughter Sarah did not speak at the memorial. Her boyfriend Alan Mai said a prayer and Ms Ristevski led the procession out the door, carrying a photo of her mother. Borce Ristevski kept himself together as he carried her casket to the hearse with other pallbearers. He broke down in tears after the service as he embraced mourners and hopped in the back of the hearse with Karen's brother, Stephen Williams, to bury her. Mr Ristevski has long been pegged as a suspect in his wife's disappearance. Sarah Ristevski led the procession, carrying a portrait of her mother In July 2016, weeks after she vanished, Borce was asked by a Channel Seven journalist: 'Did you kill your wife?' His lawyer later confirmed he was a police suspect. A week ago, plugged-in Melbourne crime writer John Sylvester suggested on radio that police were getting close to making news. 'We also know police have said in many press conferences they are confident charges will be laid. 'If you use that as a mathematical formula, what did that mean?... 'If I was Borce, I wouldn't be booking a Contiki tour early in new year'. Mr Ristevski appeared calm and unshaven at court on Wednesday. His lawyer Rob Stary told a magistrate: 'He will plead not guilty.' He will return to court in April for committal. A paedophile has been nabbed while trying to fly out of the country, the first caught under tough new child sex tourism laws. The registered child sex offender was stopped under tough new laws that came into effect at midnight preventing registered child sex offenders from leaving Australia. The man is now being questioned by the Australian Federal Police, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters at Sydney International Airport on Wednesday. A paedophile has been nabbed while trying to fly out of the country, the first caught under tough new child sex tourism laws (pictured are Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, left, and Justice Minister Michael Keenan at Sydney Airport) 'A registered child sex offender was stopped here at the smart gates and has been prevented from travelling overseas,' said Ms Bishop. The Foreign Minister could not confirm where the man was flying to. The new laws require the most serious offenders to register their travel plans and they cannot leave the country without government approval. Their passports can be cancelled by authorities. The registered child sex offender was stopped under tough new laws that came into effect at midnight preventing registered child sex offenders from leaving Australia (pictured is SmartGate passport detection technology at Sydney Airport) 'Almost 800 registered child sex offenders travelled overseas last year, and about 40 per cent did so without informing authorities,' said Ms Bishop in a statement. 'For too long, these predators have travelled overseas undetected, including to countries where weaker laws mean they have opportunities to commit heinous crimes.' 'We are aware they have a high propensity to re-offend if they are in a country where they are not monitored and where child sex exploitation is rampant,' she said. When introducing draft laws to parliament in June, Ms Bishop said about 20,000 child sex criminals were on the Australian National Child Offender Register. Justice Minister Michael Keenan, who joined Ms Bishop on Wednesday, said the laws were the most comprehensive of their nature in the world. A feminist campaigner was thrown out of a Labour Christmas party because her 'anti-transgender' views made a trans teen party member 'feel unsafe'. Venice Allan, 42, a single mother from Lewisham, known for her controversial views, accused the Labour Party of 'an appalling, Orwellian betrayal of women' when she was made to leave a Labour Women's Network Event. She claimed she was removed from the event by chair Olivia Bailey because her presence was making Lily Madigan - the first transgender person to be elected as a women's officer - feel uncomfortable. Venice Allan, 42, accused the Labour Party of 'an appalling, Orwellian betrayal of women' after she was made to leave a Women's Network Event (pictured: Lily Madigan in the background of the photo) She posted a photo of her and Yvette Cooper at the event on Twitter with the caption: 'So I was asked to leave the 'feminist' Xmas party because my very presence made certain people feel unsafe' Miss Allan has been campaigning for a more detailed debate on Theresa May's plan to allow a person to decide their gender without having to undergo medical testing. She has espoused anti-transgender views in the past, including posting a Facebook photo of a T-shirt with the slogan: 'Trans rights erase women's rights.' The 42-year-old posted a photo of her and Yvette Cooper at the event on Twitter with the caption: 'So I was asked to leave the 'feminist' Xmas party because my very presence made certain people feel unsafe.' She also took a selfie which showed Madigan in the background of the photo. She later wrote on Twitter: 'I wasn't disruptive or rude as many witnesses can confirm. I am waiting for an explanation and apology from Labour Women's Network.' She added: 'I wanted to speak to other Labour women about the proposals to change the Gender Recognition Act. It was an exceptionally safe space. How can they keep on silencing and censoring women like this?' Miss Allan upset Lily Madigan (left), the transgender teenager controversially appointed as a Constituency Labour Party women's officer (pictured with Angela Rayner) Responding to that Madigan said the radical feminist had been 'rightly removed' from the event. She said: 'Venice Allan was rightly removed from the @LabourWomensNet event yesterday. I didnt ask for her removal but I found her presence uncomfortable in light of her personal attacks on me.' She added: 'Thanks to all those who approached me at the @LabourWomensNet Christmas party yesterday to offer solidarity. It meant a lot.' A Labour Women's Network spokeswoman said: 'It is important that all Labour Women's Network events are a safe and welcoming space for all those in attendance. Sadly, following a number of complaints, we had no choice but to politely ask an individual to leave.' Allan, from Lewisham, south London, has been campaigning for a more detailed debate on Theresa May's plan to allow a person to decide their gender without having to undergo medical testing A Florida university student was found dead in her on-campus dormitory room after suffering mysterious headaches and vomiting. Alyssa Michelle Lewis, a 19-year-old student at the University of Central Florida, was found after 10:30am after her family called police because they could not contact her, News4Jax reports. Her mother and sister had traveled from home to take her to the doctors and had to get staff to help them force their way into the room. Police say that the death did not appear to be suspicious. Alyssa Michelle Lewis, 19, was found dead in her on-campus dorm room at the University of Central Florida. Police say her death did not appear to be suspicious Pictured is a general view of the University of Central Florida's Lake Claire apartments, where Lewis had lived and where she was found dead Lewis, of Jacksonville, was in her fourth semester at the school, which is in Orlando. Her father Told News4Jax that his daughter had recently been suffering headaches and vomiting. 'She's banging on the door and she's trying to call. Alyssa's not answering. My other daughter shows up with her and they have to go get someone to let them in the dorm room from housing,' Bill Lewis said. 'They go in and find Alyssa ... passed away.' Fall semester classes had ended last week and her roommates had left by Sunday. She lived in the vast campus's Lake Claire apartments, WESH reports. In a statement, the university's dean of students said: 'We offer our most sincere sympathies to Michelle's family and loved ones, and we will make all of our resources available to support them.' The University of Central Florida has about 60,000 undergraduate and graduate students. A Perth apprentice has been bashed so horrifically by gang of seven men that his kidney split in two. Craig, who opted not to disclose his surname, was coward punched in the back of the head twice outside the Lakers Tavern in Thornlie. He was then brutally kicked a number of times by at least half a dozen men he didnt know in November. An apprentice (pictured) was bashed so badly by gang of men that his kidney split in two Craig, who didn't share his last name, was coward punched in the back of the head twice in Thornlie, Perth He has four broken ribs and a lacerated kidney which blew up about five times the normal size. The 20-year-old also suffered a bruised bladder, bruised spleen, and a ruptured right lung. Police believe the attack was unprovoked and that Craig was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 'Before I even got the chance to look around, I remember getting punched in the head,' Craig told 7 News. He was then brutally kicked a number of times by at least half a dozen men putting him in hospital Police are still on the hunt for the attackers and are asking for public assistance as Craig speaks out about the incident 'As soon as I hit the ground, I remember trying to get up and I got hit in the head again.' He estimates he probably got kicked and hit about 40 to 50 times. In January Craig will return to Royal Perth Hospital to find out if his kidney has to be removed. As police are still on the hunt for the attackers anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. The LAPD have announced they are investigating claims disgraced director Roman Polanski molested a ten-year-old girl in 1975 - even though the statute of limitations has long expired on the case. Female artist Marianne Barnard claimed in October that Polanski had sexually abused her on a Malibu, California beach when she was child. She told The Sun she was finally inspired to come forward by actresses like Rose McGowan who have been speaking out in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Even though the allegations are too old for charges to be brought against the convicted child molester, cops say they can use any evidence they find to help prosecute other cases. The LAPD have announced they are investigating claims disgraced director Roman Polanski molested a ten-year-old girl in 1975 California artist Marianne Barnard came forward in October alleging Roman Polanski sexually abused her when she was 10 Los Angeles Police confirmed they will 'always take a report from any victim and then determine if the case is within the statute of limitations'. Polanski, remains a fugitive in France where he has been living since in 1978 where he fled a sentencing for sexually assaulting a then-13-year-old girl. Polanski's attorney Harland Braun, told Page Six that the director had hired an investigator to carry out their own probe, speaking to the accuser's relatives and working with the police. 'I believe that a competent LAPD investigation will prove the whole story to be bogus,' he said. Barnard, now in her early 50s, claims ex-convict Polanski snapped photographs of her half-naked body on a beach in Malibu, California back in 1975. He allegedly then asked her to change into an open fur coat and molested her. Barnard (pictured left and right as a younger girl) said she believed the beach photographs were being taken for a magazine Polanski, remains a fugitive in France where he has been living as a fugitive since in 1978, (he's pictured in 1969) The Santa Barbara-born artist said her mother initiated the meeting, and brought her to a beach near their home, where she would meet Polanski for a photo shoot. 'The beach is south of where a restaurant called Ted's El Rancho used to be at the bottom of Coastline Drive and Pacific Coast Highway near where I grew up in Malibu,' Barnard said. 'There was a group of rocks there and he took the photographs of me on those rocks. 'At first I had the understanding I was just going to the beach with my mom. We were there for a little while by ourselves, and then he was there.' The impressionable Barnard said she believed the beach photographs were being snapped for a magazine. Barnard voiced details on the incident to her Twitter page and Care 2 Petition Barnard (left and right) decided to finally break her silence in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal 'First, he was taking pictures of me in the bikini, then it was with the coat then he said take off the bikini top, which I was comfortable with as I was only 10 and I often ran around with no top on,' she said, according to The Sun report. 'But then he wanted me to take my bikini bottoms off - I started to feel very uncomfortable. Then at some point I realized my mom had gone. 'I don't know where she went and I didn't really register her leaving but she was no longer there ... Then he molested me.' Barnard admitted to suffering 'post traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia' for decades since the alleged abuse happened. Polanski (pictured left in 2017, and with then-wife Sharon Tate at their wedding in 1968, before she was murdered by the Manson Family) has continued to make movies while living as a fugitive A total of eleven women have now come forward to accuse Polanski of molesting them when they were children. They women described how the convicted child rapist sexually assaulted them in the late 1960s and 70s before he went on the run for the statutory rape of another underage girl. Of the new accusers, two say they were attacked by him in 1969, the same year in which his first wife Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Charles Manson family. It is not clear whether the alleged attacks happened before or after her slaying. The other alleged attack happened in 1976 when the woman was 12. Mallory Millet, 77, who starred in Tootsie under the stage name Mallory Jones, was the latest alleged vicitm to accuse Polanski last month. She says she was 29 and a struggling actress when she was invited to a dinner with the director and her friends following his wife, pregnant actress Sharon Tate, being murdered by Charles Manson's followers. When her friends originally invited her to dinner, Mallory says 'They asked if they could bring Roman Polanski because he was devastated over the loss of his wife and they thought I might be able to cheer him up.' In her interview with The Sun, Mallory says the first incident happened at the Plaza Hotel in February of 1970 and her friends warned her the director, now 84, was on LSD when she arrived. Mallory came forward through the website imetpolanski.com. Several such websites have popped up over the past two months for various powerful men who are being accused of similar alleged behavior for women to be able to come forward with their own stories. 'He should be removed from the Oscars academy, he should be vilified, he should be shunned.' Harvey Weinstein was removed from the academy in October, but Polanski has since remained on. Barnard has now created a petition against the Oscar Award-winning director, urging for Polanski to be kicked out of The Academy. Polanski remains on the run after fleeing the US following his 1977 attack on 13-year-old Samantha Geimer (pictured in 2017) 'The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently voted to revoke the membership of film producer, Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting countless women for nearly 30 years,' Barnard wrote. 'It is a small consequence for him considering his crimes and the great amount of harm he has caused me and his other victims.' Polanski remains on the run after fleeing the US following his 1977 attack on 13-year-old Samantha Geimer. Yet he has continued to make movies and has even won awards while on the run as a convicted child molester, winning an Academy Award for best director for his 2002 film 'The Pianist' and was nominated for 1974's 'Chinatown' and 1979's 'Tess.' He has been pleading for years to have the 1978 arrest warrant thrown out so that he can return to America. He fled to France days before he was due to go to court over the attack. At the time, Polanski had reached a deal with prosecutors which meant he would serve a shorter sentence. Amber Schmunk, 29, on Monday pleaded not guilty to recklessly endangering safety A woman who allegedly told her 9-year-old son to ride on the roof of her minivan to hold down a plastic wading pool has pleaded not guilty. Amber Schmunk, 29, on Monday pleaded not guilty to second-degree recklessly endangering safety in a Port Washington, Wisconsin court in connection with the September 9 incident in nearby Saukville. 'I am very certain that throughout the trial process, that the jurors will see Ms. Schmunk as I do: a very loving, selfless and devoted mother,' her attorney, Rachel Boaz, told news cameras at the courthouse. Boas called the charge 'very serious' and said Schmunk, who is free on a $5,000 signature bond, is 'looking forward to spending the holidays with her family.' If convicted, Schmunk faces 10 years behind bars as well as a $25,000 fine. The unusual incident occurred on September 9, when a 911 caller reported a strange sight. Scroll down for videos Schmunk (seen with her son) is a 'very loving, selfless and devoted mother', her attorney said If convicted, Schmunk faces 10 years behind bars as well as a $25,000 fine 'There's a child on the top of the van holding a plastic pool,' the frantic female caller told the 911 operator. 'I don't know what she's doing.' 'I just couldn't believe I saw that,' said the caller, who followed the minivan to a home and reported the address to police. Officers responded the corner of Hillcrest Road and Claremont Road in Saukville. Schmunk told them that she had picked up the pool at someones house to take over to her sisters', but had no way to strap it to her minivan, according to the police complaint. The mom told cops that she had her son climb on the roof to hold the pool down briefly as she drove, the complaint said. Schmunk said he wasnt in danger because she used a strap to tie the boy and the pool to the top of the vehicle. Schmunk allegedly told cops that she didn't think she'd done anything wrong, since her dad let her do similar things at age nine. She is see with her son on the first day of school in 2011 She told officers the child was only on the roof for 'maybe 20 to 30 seconds' before she pulled over and managed to fit the pool inside the van, the complaint said. Police said Schmunk told them 'she believed it was OK as her father let her do things like that when she was that age'. A neighbor, Barbara Sellin, told Fox6Now: 'That woman needs to think the safety of her children. 'As a grandparent right now, I mean, I know the kids have to be strapped in. 'That's just common sense. You love your kids and take care of them. To put a kid on top of the car is beyond ridiculous.' Schmunk is next due in court on January 16. Her attorney said Monday that she would likely have no further comment until after trial. A bakery has been fined more than $120,000 after a Salmonella outbreak linked to its chicken schnitzel rolls gave 200 people food poisoning. The owners of the Box Hill Bakery in Sylvania, south of Sydney, were fined a total of $122,000 after they were convicted of ten breaches each of the Food Act 2003. Thi Thu Ngo and Hung Son Le, who each pleaded guilty to five breaches of selling unsafe food and five of failing to meet food safety standards. They were also ordered to pay $7,199 professional costs. A bakery has been fined more than $120,000 after a Salmonella outbreak linked to its chicken schnitzel rolls gave 200 people food poisoning The NSW Food Authority began an investigation into the bakery after it was notified of an outbreak where everyone affected had eaten something from there. In January 2016, there were 203 documented cases of people who went to hospitals and other health care providers with symptoms of gastroenteritis including vomiting, diarrhea and fever after eating chicken rolls and salads that were linked back to the bakery. One pregnant woman who got sick after eating from the bakery had to have a C-section at 35 weeks because of it. During its investigation, the NSW Food Authority issued a Prohibition Order banning the bakery from operating. The owners of the Box Hill Bakery in Sylvania, south of Sydney, were fined a total of $122,000 In January 2016, there were 203 cases of people who went to hospital with symptoms of gastroenteritis after eating chicken rolls and salads linked back to the bakery. File photo The business was only permitted to reopen and trade after it completed extensive work to ensure the premises had been thoroughly cleaned and fully compliant with food safety laws. The NSW Food Authority also conducted skills testing with staff and management to improve their food safety knowledge and conducted a number of inspections after the bakery reopened. The agency's CEO Dr Lisa Szabo said the court-ordered fine served as a reminder to all businesses about why food safety systems are crucial. 'Consumers have the right to have confidence and certainty that the food they purchase and consume is safe to eat and won't harm the health of them or their family,' Dr Szabo said. 'Food-borne disease cost Australia $1.25 billion each year. In New South Wales this cost is estimated to be $375 million. She added that there are currently approximately 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia every year, which result in, on average, 31,920 hospitalisations, 86 deaths and one million visits to doctors each year. Located on Havasupai tribal lands, the waterfall is located in a remote part of the Grand Canyon Before taking the death-defying plunge, however, the unidentified diver, along with supporters and friends, begin chanting 'Brad, Brad, Brad Footage shows a man jumping off the highest ledge of Havasupai Falls in Arizona A man in Arizona decided to honor his friend who had recently passed away A man in Arizona decided to honor his friend who had recently passed away by jumping off the highest ledge of Havasupai Falls. Footage of the event, uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, shows a shirtless man atop the massive waterfall preparing to jump into a small pool of water below. Before taking the death-defying plunge, however, the unidentified diver, along with supporters and friends, begin chanting 'Brad, Brad, Brad.' As they pay homage to their deceased friend, the diver hops off the ledge, performing flips in the air. The clip captures the moment perfectly, transitioning into slow motion for viewers to see the diver's terrifying decent into the water Located on Havasupai tribal lands, the waterfall is located in a remote, 'hidden' part of the Grand Canyon. A man in Arizona decided to honor his friend who had recently passed away by jumping off a waterfall Footage shows a man jumping off the highest ledge of Havasupai Falls, located inside the Grand Canyon Before taking the death-defying plunge, the unidentified diver, along with supporters and friends, begin chanting 'Brad, Brad, Brad A man who murdered his niece before dumping her body in a blowhole has told a Sydney court of his self disgust following his violent, sexually motivated crimes. Derek Barrett, 29, previously pleaded guilty to the stabbing murder of Chinese university student Mengmei Leng, whose naked body was found floating face down inside the blowhole at Snapper Point on the New South Wales Central Coast on April 24, 2016. He also pleaded guilty to another 21 offences relating to the filming of Ms Leng for sexual gratification. Derek Barrett (left) admitted he killed his niece Mengmei Leng (right) because he was sexually attracted to her Mengmei Leng, 25, was stabbed to death and dumped on the NSW Central Coast in April 2016 Ms Leng, 25, had lived with Barrett and her aunt in the southwest Sydney suburb of Campsie since arriving in Australia to study five years before her murder. 'I betrayed my own family and hers for my actions,' Barrett said at the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday during his sentencing hearing. 'I disgust myself.' Barrett admitted he was sexually attracted to Ms Leng. 'She was a pretty girl,' he said. One of the last images of Mengmei Leng seen alive in 2016 at Sydney's St James train station Mengmei Leng was gagged and bound by Derek Barrett in the early hours of April 22, 2016 Barrett gagged and bound Ms Leng to her bed in the early hours of April 22 while his wife away, agreed facts said. He then took 19 photos of her naked body. At some point over the next two days, Barrett stabbed Ms Leng multiple times, inflicting a fatal stab wound to the throat. On the morning of April 24, he drove her body, wrapped in plastic, to Snapper Point and dumped it over a cliff into the blowhole. Derek Barrett, an IT worker, drove Mengmei Leng's body to Snapper Point north of Sydney The former IT worker then took seven photos of the area before driving to his parents' house nearby and later returning to Sydney. Barrett told the court he only has flashes of memory from that weekend - an argument, his face reflected in the mirror and seeing blood in the sink. He said he'd been on an ice binge before killing Ms Leng, which affected his memory. He admitted initially lying to police because he 'couldn't figure out what exactly happened until a little later.' 'With the memory gaps I basically filled them in with lies,' he said. The sentence hearing continues. Two high ranking FBI officials involved in Robert Mueller's Russian probe exchanged text messages calling Donald Trump 'an idiot'. FBI agent Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president. During their exchanges, they described Trump as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election, the Washington Post reported. Special Counsel Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation into collusion between Trump's administration and Russia during the 2016 election, after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. FBI agent Peter Strzok (left) and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page (right) who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president and their hopes he would lose the election Page had already ended her assignment to Mueller's office. The pair's texts are now under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general. Both Strzok and Page were key players in the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server as well as the Russian probe. They'd been involved in an extra martial affair during the Clinton investigation. The texts date back to 2015, shortly after Trump announced his plans to run for president, when Strzok texted that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was 'an idiot like Trump. During their exchanges, they described Trump (pictured) as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election Special Counsel Mueller (pictured, front) removed Strzok from the investigation after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. 'Figure they cancel each other out.' The following year, on March 4, 2016, Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' THE SHOCKING TEXTS BETWEEN THE FBI OFFICIALS March 2016: Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' March 2016: Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' The same month, Page texted asking if Strzok had heard Trump: 'Make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president.' July 2016, Strzok texted: 'HE [Trump] appears to have no ability to experience reverence which I [SIC] the foundation for any capacity to admire or serve anything bigger than self to want to learn about anything beyond self, to want to know and deeply honor the people around you.' Advertisement 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' 'Also did you hear [Trump] make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president,' Page said later that same evening, according to Politico. On March 16, 2016, Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' In April, they seemed to become a little nervous of their anti-Trump rants. Page texted: 'So look, you say we text on that phone when we talk about Hillary because it can't be traced, you were just venting bc you feel bad that you're gone so much but it can't be helped right now.' The texts also showed that the pair were horrified at the idea then-Sen. Jeff Sessions might be nominated as attorney general. The messages were uncovered by the Justice Department during an investigation into potential political influence on the Clinton emails and Russian probes. While many have argued that the comments were simply discussion between the pair, any suggestion that investigators may have been biased against Trump will fuel calls by Republicans for second special counsel to investigate Mueller's operation. A Democratic lawmaker from Alaska who has been accused by seven women of sexual misconduct and otherwise inappropriate behavior refused to resign on Tuesday. State Rep. Dean Westlake, 57, who is recovering from heart surgery, said he sought the counsel of friends, family, native leaders, elders, and God when making his decision to remain in office amid calls for him to leave his post from leaders of the House majority and the head of the state Democratic Party. He announced his decision in a statement, and was confirmed by his staff. 'I want to once again apologize to any woman whom I have made uncomfortable with either my actions or words. I never intended to hurt anyone, but I understand now that I have. I am truly sorry for that, and I want to thank anyone who came forward. Doing so required strength and bravery,' he said. Defiant: State Rep. Dean Westlake, 57, an Alaska Democrat, is refusing to resign in the face of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct Silence breaker: Former legislative aide Olivia Garrett (left and right) last week went public with claims that earlier this year, Westlake grabbed her buttocks and told her her hair 'turns him on' Garrett sent this letter complaining about Westlake to House leadership in March Westlake, who is divorced, vowed to become an ally and supporter of women moving forward. 'I am committed to being better and to changing my behavior. I will learn from this experience,' Westlake stated. His announcement came after a former legislative aide, Olivia Garrett, complained last spring to House leadership about two instances of unwelcome physical contact from the Democrat at work-related functions outside the Capitol. Garrett decided to break her silence after she said no one informed her how the matter was handled. The Anchorage Daily News reported on Friday that six other female aides said Westlake acted inappropriately toward them or made them feel uncomfortable. Garrett, who did not work for Westlake, told The Associated Press on Friday that she recently filed a human resources complaint against Westlake and said it was being investigated. 'These allegations have become a confidential personnel matter, and in respecting the process I cannot discuss the details,' Westlake said. Westlake, 57, is divorced and is currently recovering from heart surgery Garrett initially complained last March in a letter to House Speaker Bryce Edgmon and House Majority Leader Chris Tuck detailing two alleged instances of unwanted physical contact. In her letter, Garrett alleged that on January 16, she and Westalke were at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum when the lawmaker grabbed her in a narrow hallways and told her that her hair 'turned him on.' Then on March 11, Garrett wrote that Westlake accosted her at a downtown art studio and grabbed her buttocks as he walked by in the dark, crowded room. 'I pushed his shoulder, but not with enough force for him to move or probably even notice since he kept moving,' she stated. 'A nearby staffer saw the incident.' Edgmon, a Democrat from Dillingham, said he spoke with Westlake after receiving the complaint in March. Tuck, an Anchorage Democrat, declined to comment on the matter to the AP, saying it was a personnel issue. Westlake's six other accusers recounted for the Anchorage Daily News last week how the lawmaker would give them overly long hugs, make sexual comments, ask them out and even make unwelcome physical contact. Four of the women said they had encounters with Westlake after Garrett had filed her complaint. One staffer at the state Capitol claimed that Westlake put his hand on her leg during a meeting in January. Six other former legislative aides have come forward, accusing the lawmaker of making inappropriate comments, giving lingering hugs and asking them out A second staffer said Westlake passed a note to her boss, also a legislator, saying she looked good in the dress she had on that day. A third aide alleged that Westlake once made a comment about her outfit and at various times called her 'baby,' 'honey' and 'sweetheart.' Two others staffers claimed that Westlake gave them lingering hugs, and one of the women said the lawmaker also asked her to go out with him. Another legislative aide claimed that on three occasions, Westlake made comments to her, or touched her, in ways that made her feel uncomfortable. The Alaska Legislature recently put together a panel to recommend changes to its policy on sexual and other workplace harassment. After Garrett went public, Westlake issued a statement saying he welcomed a review and updated sexual harassment policies. 'I firmly believe that everyone deserves a safe, healthy, and professional working environment,' he said in a press release last week. 'I sincerely apologize if an encounter with me has made anyone uncomfortable. That has certainly never been my intent. 'I welcome both the review and update to the legislatures sexual harassment policies, as well as new training for members and staff.' Westlake is a freshman lawmaker from the western Alaska community of Kotzebue who narrowly won the Democratic primary in 2016 Leaders of the House majority coalition on Friday called for Westlake to step down after the six other women came forward with their own allegations. A statement from majority leaders, released by Edgmon, said the coalition, largely comprised of Democrats, takes seriously its obligation that everyone who works in the Capitol should feel safe and respected. 'In light of recent reports of inappropriate behavior related to his position in the Legislature, House leadership believes Representative Dean Westlake should resign from the office his constituents sent him to Juneau to represent,' the statement said. The chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, Casey Steinau, said Westlake should immediately step down. 'There is no place where sexual misconduct, harassment, or sexual assault is acceptable,' Steinau said in a statement. 'Elected officials, regardless of party must be held accountable.' Westlake is a freshman lawmaker from the western Alaska community of Kotzebue. He narrowly won the Democratic primary over incumbent state Rep. Benjamin Nageak of Barrow in August 2016. Nageak challenged the results, claiming election workers botched the election, which Westlake won by eight votes. Nageak won at the state court level, but the Alaska Supreme Court reversed that decision and awarded Westlake the primary election. He was unopposed in the general election. Mums picnicking in Sydney's Centennial Park ran in terror as police dramatically arrested three suspected organised crime figures in hi-vis jackets. A mother told reporters she was nearby with her nine-month-old child when officers pounced on two vehicles containing two handguns and $500,000 cash. One of the men was arrested in a van, its windscreen seen peppered with holes in the aftermath of the operation. Heavily-armed police made the first two arrests just before noon, smashing the passenger-side window of a Toyota Pajero. Scroll down for video Mums picnicking in Sydney's Centennial Park ran in terror as police dramatically arrested three suspected organised crime figures in hi-vis (pictured is a white van after the arrests) A mother told reporters she was nearby with her nine-month-old child when officers pounced on two vehicles containing two handguns and $500,000 cash (pictured is the white van) One of the men was arrested in a white van, its windscreen seen peppered with holes in the aftermath of the operation (pictured are police on the scene) Police then arrested a third man in a white Thrifty hire van 20 metres away and deployed tactical devices. Organised Crime Squad officers from the State Crime Command seized bundles of cash and two firearms during the operation, The Daily Telegraph reported. Detective Acting Superintendent Damien Beaufils said police followed the men for hours after receiving a tip-off. A Beretta and a Smith & Wesson were found, and police believe the men belong to an organised crime gang, Superintendent Beaufils said. The holes in the van's windscreen were made by non-lethal projectiles fired from tactical devices, he told reporters. 'We've been following these people throughout the day, and at the earliest opportunity and safest location we decided to arrest these people,' he said. One of two firearms seized by Organised Crime Squad detectives following an arrest at Centennial Park in Sydney A Beretta and a Smith & Wesson were found, and police believe the men belong to an organised crime gang, Superintendent Beaufils said (pictured is one of the firearms) A mother told reports she was nearby with her nine-month-old child when officers pounced on two vehicles (pictured is the Toyota Pajero where two men were arrested) Witnesses reported hearing shots, but police said the noises were made by a tactical device used by officers (pictured is the Thrifty hire van where one man was arrested) 'I was sitting in my car writing and then ... bang, bang, bang, bang, bang ... I looked over and there was smoke coming out of these automatic rifles,' a witness said. 'First thing I thought was "Oh it's a movie, where's the cast?" I knew to be careful and not put my head up or anything.' Nobody was injured, but witnesses reported being shocked by the loud bangs and the dramatic police operation, Nine News reported. Witnesses reported hearing shots, but police said the noises were made by the tactical devices deployed by officers. 'The arrests relate to an ongoing investigation by the State Crime Command's Organised Crime Squad,' a New South Wales Police spokesman said on Wednesday. At least three people have been arrested, two in a white Toyota Pajero in Sydney's Centennial Park after shots were reportedly fired at a van (pictured) Just after noon on Wednesday police smashed the passenger-side window of a white Toyota Pajero, arrested two men, and seized a number of items (pictured is one of the arrests) Footage from the scene showed a white four-wheel drive with its doors flung open parked precariously in the middle of Grand Drive. Police searched both vehicles while nearby officers processed evidence retrieved from the cars. The operation unfolded around 100 metres away from the park's main cafe. The police spokesperson said the operation was not counter-terrorism related. A man has been killed and another arrested after a suspected shooting in Melbourne's suburbs. The dead body was found at a home on Poole Street at Deer Park, in the city's west on Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman for Victoria Police said Homicide Squad detectives are investigating but the circumstances surrounding the man's death weren't yet known. 'Investigators have been told a 37-year-old Deer Park man was located deceased on Poole Street with suspected gunshot wounds just after 2pm,' the spokesman said. A man has been killed and another arrested after a shooting in the Melbourne 's suburb of Deer Park (pictured) on Wednesday afternoon 'A 48-year-old Deer Park man was arrested at the scene and is currently being interviewed by police.' A Poole Street resident told the ABC he heard what he thought were gunshots. '[I] heard a bang, I thought it was a car so I look outside and I see nothing and I hear it again,' the man said. 'I have another look and I thought, it's nothing, like a car or something because that always happens here. 'I didn't think anything about it and Mum comes in all frantic.' Steven Spaliviero pictured with his ex-girlfriend Charlotte Lindstrom, a Swedish model Steven Spaliviero was the son of a suburban migrant family before he became one of Australia's largest drug kingpins. The Sydney man lived a fast-paced life partying with celebrities, driving fast cars and dating models all while running one of the world's largest ecstasy laboratories. His glamorous lifestyle fell apart when he was caught manufacturing 500kg of the party drug and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After serving 11 years behind bars in some of NSW's toughest prisons, Spaliviero, now aged 52, finally walked free in October. The former drug manufacturer has now revealed his life story in his book Narco X. Spaliviero's career manufacturing drugs began when he landed in a prison cell in California's San Joaquin Valley with a man called Igor. Spaliviero was in jail for a luxury car racket, and Igor was serving 12 years in jail for manufacturing the drug MDMA. The pair quickly struck up a friendship and a business relationship. Igor agreed to teach Spaliviero the tricks of the drug trade, and in exchange, Spaliviero agreed to send Igor's family some of the profits. When Spaliviero left the Californian jail, it was the beginning of his career as one of the biggest ecstasy manufacturers in the world. When Spaliviero left the Californian jail, it was the beginning of his career as one of the biggest ecstasy manufacturers in the world After serving 11 years behind bars in some of NSW's toughest prisons, Spaliviero, now aged 52, finally walked free in October His career grew so quickly it was likened to the popular TV series, Breaking Bad (pictured) His career grew so quickly it was likened to the popular TV series, Breaking Bad. Spaliviero himself admitted it was similar, but said his production was even larger than that depicted in the series. 'As far as the size of the fictional Breaking Bad operation was, they used 25 litre drums weighing around 25kg to load on to a 400 litre reaction vessel,' he told News.com.au. Spaliviero said the drug business grew so quickly, without detection from the police, he felt 'untouchable'. 'Instantly little white pills started pouring out like coints from a Las Vegas poker machine having hit the jackpot, except these coins were $6 ecstasy pills,' he told the publication. 'I became addicted to the thrill of hearing police sirens blaring past the factory on the way to enforce traffic violations knowing I was invisible behind the factory walls.' 'As far as the size of the fictional Breaking Bad (pictured) operation was, they used 25 litre drums weighing around 25kg to load on to a 400 litre reaction vessel,' Spaliviero said Steven Spaliviero (right) is pictured with celebrity Keanu Reeves (left) Spaliviero moved his business to the suburbs in Sydney's northwest, where he continued manufacturing ecstasy. By 2001, Spaliviero said he made $23 million through the illegal drug trade. In 2005 Spaliviero's fast paced life, spending days on yachts and manufacturing drugs by night, all came crashing down. Spaliviero was caught manufacturing 44kg of ecstasy in a laboratory based in Riverstone, in Sydney's northwest. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, serving his time at Long Bay, Cooma and Goulburn correctional centres. Since his release from prison in October, Spaliviero has taken up work as a bartender on a friend's boat and has embraced several other work opportunities with friends and family Spaliviero met his new girlfriend, Sydney model Chelsea Coates (pictured), on the dating app Tinder Since his release from prison in October, Spaliviero has taken up work as a bartender on a friend's boat and has embraced several other work opportunities with friends and family. He said he would never return to the drug trade. Since becoming a free man, Spaliviero revealed he started using the dating app, Tinder. He said he met his new girlfriend, Chelsea Coates, on the dating app, and was now in a happy relatiosnhip with the Sydney-based model. With the announcement, Spaliviero said he no longer loved his ex-girlfriend Charlotte Lindstrom. Ms Lindstrom, a Swedish model, gave evidence against her boyfriend when he was arrested in 2005. In his book Narco X, Spaliviero revealed the heartache he felt by Ms Lindstrom. 'Being betrayed by her was a horrible feeling, which I'll never forget,' he told The Daily Telegraph. Children aged between 11 and 16-years-old have been found responsible for the sickening killing of a tiny, defenceless kitten - as police reveal one of them owned three other kittens. The shocking video was posted on Facebook by New Zealand animal rights group Paw Justice on Tuesday, and has been viewed almost 220,000 times. It was filmed in Invercargill on the South Island, and shows a young girl hitting the kitten several times with a piece of concrete while two other people laugh and encourage her. 'Put it on the concrete or else it won't f**king die,' a girl off camera is heard saying. Sickening footage has emerged showing a young woman throwing a concrete block at a defenceless, tiny kitten and leaving it for dead 'Put it on the concrete or else it won't f**king die,' a girl off camera is heard saying Constable Chris Wakelin of New Zealand Police said they made enquiries after seeing the video Constable Chris Wakelin of New Zealand Police said they made enquiries after seeing the video. 'We have identified those responsible, who are all aged between 11 and 16-years-old,' he said. 'The offenders will all be interviewed and referred to the Invercargill Youth Services team for appropriate action.' Together with the SPCA, police removed three kittens from the home of one of the girls. The kittens will be checked over before being rehomed. 'We recognise that the content of the video has been extremely upsetting for people across New Zealand. Our staff have also been sickened by the video,' he said. In the video, a girl throws the kitten onto a patch of grass before another person throws a block of concrete at it. Another block is thrown at the animal but it misses, as the terrified and clearly injured kitten tries to escape. It scurries into a bush where it apparently died. In posting the video to Facebook, Paw Justice said the footage 'sickens and saddens us at the same time'. 'We can't even begin [to] understand why this little soul was stoned to death. What the hell is happening with our youth if they can do this and laugh,' the post reads. 'We need to let people know this conduct is not right, and in fact it's so wrong it's beyond sick.' Another block is thrown at the animal but it misses, as the terrified and clearly injured kitten tries to escape The group asked people to come forward with information on the people involved in the video. Outraged viewers shared their opinions on the actions captured in the footage. 'This makes me so damn angry I am struggling for words if this was my child I would be devastated,' one person wrote. Outraged viewers shared their opinions on the actions captured in the footage The shocking impact of the video was evidenced in the comments left by viewers Another posted: 'I just can't deal with the disgusting act of violence against a poor, defenceless kitten'. 'I'm crying, this is just horrendous.' People said they had written to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about the incident. Donald Trump fired off a conciliatory tweet Tuesday night shortly after Roy Moore, the candidate he endorsed in the Alabama Senate race, was knocked off his high horse by Democrat Doug Jones. But the tone of his words didn't capture the rage that filled the White House residence, according to two sources with knowledge of the president's mood. 'Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win,' the president wrote. 'The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!' Trump staked his political reputation on the advice of Steve Bannon, his hard-right former chief strategist who campaigned hard for Moore despite sexual misconduct allegations from nine different women including two who said he molested them when they were teen girls. A senior administration official told DailyMail.com on Tuesday night that Bannon had guaranteed to the president that Moore would win in the deep-red state where Trump himself triumphed by 28 points last year. Scroll down for video FURIOUS: President Donald Trump was beside himself Tuesday night after Roy Moore's crash-and-burn loss in an Alabama U.S. Senate election, according to a senior administration official Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon had guaranteed the president that Moore would win in the deep-red state, but allegations of sexual misconduct doomed his chances Trump fired off a conciliatory tweet Tuesday night that hid the depth of his anger 'He's really upset right now,' the official said of the president shortly after Trump's tweet hit the Internet. A Republican strategist told DailyMail.com that Tuesday night 'will be Steve Bannon's political epitaph.' 'There's no way to see this other than a huge defeat for the GOP, and it's mostly because Bannon bamboozled the president with his Svengali pocket-watch,' the veteran of more than 10 congressional elections said. 'Mitch McConnell will take some lumps,' he added, 'but this was all Bannon's doing. And political capital at Breitbart has just fallen through the floor too.' Breitbart News, a conservative website where Bannon is executive chairman, had pushed hard for Moore. Moore lost in large part because of write-in votes spurred by Republicans who couldn't justify supporting an accused pedophile Democrat Doug Jones notched a stunning victory aided by scandal on Tuesday despite Trump's endorsement of his GOP opponent Republicans in Washington's establishment ranks were also quick to pin blame on Bannon. 'This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running,' Senate Leadership Fund president Steve Law said in a statement. The group is a super PAC aligned with McConnell. 'Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco,' Law said. Trump used his Twitter soapbox six separate times to encourage Moore, and eventually offer his explicit endorsement. 'The people of Alabama will do the right thing,' he wrote Tuesday morning. 'Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet.' 'Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!' he added. Bannon openly campaigned for Roy Moore, appearing at Alabama events both this week and last The statewide election in Alabama became a referendum on Trump, although the White House has been unwilling to say so A second source who said he spoke with Trump on Tuesday told DailyMail.com that 'the Oval [office] and POTUS's phone lines will be a Bannon-free zone for awhile.' Jones won't be seated in the U.S. Senate until January, giving Majority Leader Mitch McConnell until the end of next week to put the finishing touches on a tax-code revamp that Trump is anxiously awaiting. The House and Senate are hammering out details and reconciling the differences between their respective bills. With 99.3 per cent of Alabama's precincts reporting results, Jones led Moore by more than 14,500 votes, more than double the 0.5 per cent threshold for an automatic recount. Trump's observation about write-in votes rings true: They accounted for more than 22,400 votes, a sufficient number to have turned the tide for Moore. Trump re-re-re-endorsed Moore on Tuesday morning with a tweet predicting that Alabama voters would 'do the right thing' Bannon's spokeswoman did not respond Tuesday night to a request for comment. But Andy Surabian, a Bannon political adviser, texted multiple reporters a defiant statement. 'Mitch McConnell and his establishment allies got the Democrat that they wanted in Alabama, and are now threatening and openly defying President Trump's agenda,' he wrote. 'Make no mistake about it, Mitch McConnell is now the highest ranking Democrat in America. Congratulations, Swamp.' Alabama's Secretary of State John Merrill said Republican Senate loser Roy Moore could get a recount of the election if he paid for it. 'The people of Alabama have spoken tonight. Theyve made their voice heard loud and clear,' Merrill said on CNN. Moore outdid even Democrat Doug Jones who shocked the political world by winning by dramatically coming onstage at his election night party and pronouncing the race not over. Senate candidate Roy Moore refused to concede Tuesday night, urging journalists to ask Alabama's secretary of state about a recount. On CNN, the secretary of state said the people of Alabama 'made their voice heard loud and clear' 'I really want to thank you for coming tonight and realize when the vote is this close it is not over,' Moore said. He urged journalists in the room to check in with the state's secretary of state about a recount provision, suggesting the race was close enough to trigger a second look. At last counting, Jones had bested Moore by 20,000 votes or 1.5 per cent. 'But we know that God is always in control,' Moore also said. 'Part of the problem with this campaign is that we've been painted in unfavorable and unfaithful light. We've been put in a hole.' The right-wing Christian, who has been accused of preying on teenage girls, then quoted from scripture a passage about patience and sent his flock home. 'And that's what we've got to do, is wait on God and let this process play out,' Moore said. 'I know it's late, we can't wait and let everybody wait 'til 10, 11 o'clock, but these votes are still coming in and we're looking at that.' Major news networks showed that 100 per cent of precincts are reporting. 'Let's go home and sleep on it,' Moore urged. CNN's Jake Tapper appeared to completely befuddle a Roy Moore surrogate who was confused about United States law. Appearing on The Lead tonight, former county commissioner Ted Crockett defended Moore's position that Muslim congressmen should not be allowed in the United States. Tapper asks: 'Why? Under what provision of the Constitution?' Crockett says: 'Because, you have to swear on the Bible...I'm an elected official, three terms, I had to swear on a Bible. You have to swear on a Bible to be an elected official in the United States of America. '[Moore] alleges that a Muslim cannot do that ethically.' Scroll down for video Jake Tapper (left) and Roy Moore surrogate Ted Crockett (right) had an awkward exchange about Moore's position that Muslim congressmen should not be allowed Moore apparently holds this view because he believes that elected officials must be sworn in on a Christian Bible, and feels that Muslims cannot do so 'ethically'. Tapper reveals to Crockett on-air that, in fact, elected officials can be sworn in on 'anything, really'. Crockett responds to this revelation with silence Roy Moore campaign spokesman responds with silence when asked if he knew people can be sworn in with a text other than the Christian bible pic.twitter.com/B65qIKBjlI The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) December 12, 2017 Tapper interrupts: 'You don't have to actually swear on a Christian Bible. You can swear on anything, really. I don't know if you knew that...' Crockett interjects and cites his own personal experience swearing on a Christian Bible as evidence that it is law. Tapper replies: 'The law is not that you have to swear on a Christian Bible. That is not the law.' Crockett sits silently with his mouth agape. Tapper prods: 'You don't know that?' The news anchor then begins proceedings to wave Crockett off of his show before the former commissioner of Shelby County makes one last valiant defense. 'I know that Donald Trump did it when he, we made him President,' Crockett says. Tapper replies: 'Because he's Christian, and he picked it. That's what he wanted to swear in on.' The interview then concludes. Crockett also discussed the accusations of sexual assault against Moore, branding them a 'smear campaign'. As well, he pedaled Moore's belief that homosexuality is a sin and should be made illegal. Doug Jones (right) defeated Roy Moore (left) in the Alabama senate race 'It's just a sin, OK? You seem to want to take the whole, 2,000 or 3,000 years of our history and y'all want to throw it out the window as if you're going to make your own rules, your own man-made rules and do whatever you want in sin,' the lawmaker who did not understand the Constitution said. The interview occurred as Alabamans turned out in droves to vote in a new senator. Doug Jones, a Democrat, narrowly beat out Moore, a Republican. The victory marked the first time in 31 years that the Southern state voted in a Democratic senator. Speaking to a crowd in Birmingham, Jones said: 'We have work to do in this state to build those bridges within this state, to reach across with those that didn't vote for us to try to find that common ground. 'I'm pledging to do that tonight.' The taxi driver who attempted to blow up a busy New York City subway station has been arraigned from his hospital bed. Akayed Ullah, 27, was seriously injured after the homemade suicide bomb strapped to his chest ignited but failed to fully detonate in an underground tunnel connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square on Monday. On Wednesday, he appeared by video for a brief hearing from his bed in Bellevue Hospital. He will remain in federal custody while he awaits trial on terrorism charges, a judge ruled on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Akayed Ullah appeared by video for a brief hearing from his bed in Bellevue Hospital Ullah, 27, was seriously injured after the homemade suicide bomb strapped to his chest ignited but failed to fully detonate in an underground tunnel connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square on Monday Ullah suffered serious injuries, and three others suffered minor injuries after his crude pipe bomb partially detonated on Monday morning (pictured in a sketch in his hospital bed) If convicted, he faces life in prison. Ullah was covered with a white blanket and remained largely expressionless as Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker told him that he had a right to an attorney and did not have to make any statements. He did not enter a plea and said little during the hearing, which lasted a little over 10 minutes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Crowley asked that Ullah be detained without bail and Ullah's court-appointed attorney, Amy Gallichio, did not dispute the request. If convicted, he faces life in prison. He did not enter a plea and said little during the hearing, which lasted a little over 10 minutes. It was the second lone-wolf terror attack on the city in six weeks. On October 31, a man in a rented truck mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a crowded bike path, killing eight. Ullah suffered serious injuries, and three others suffered minor injuries after his crude pipe bomb partially detonated on Monday morning. 'I did it for the Islamic State,' Ullah told police after the blast, according to papers filed by federal prosecutors. Video from inside the tunnel purports to show the moment the explosion occurred Video from inside the tunnel then shows the injured suspect (right) lying on the ground The bombing attack occurred just days afterDonald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, sparking violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Ullah told police he was walking through the underground tunnel at 7.20am when he saw the Christmas-themed posters on the wall, which reminded him ofISIS' calls last month for militants and lone wolves to attack holiday markets. 'He acknowledges he purposely set it off then and there,' a senior law enforcement official told the New York Post. The Bangladeshi immigrant added that he was specifically inspired by ISIS, 'not Al Qaeda'. Authorities say that if the explosive had fully detonated in the busy Midtown Manhattan subway station, there would have been more injuries and doubtless loss of life. The attack came days after Ullah's Brooklyn neighbors say they heard a huge row coming from his home, reporting yelling and screaming over the past two nights. His parents have since released a statement saying they are 'outraged' by the allegations, and the treatment of their family since the terror attack. The cordoned off walkway where Ullah is believed to have walked down before detonating the bomb. On the walls are paintings of people in seasonal dress. Ullah says he was inspired to set off the explosion after seeing Christmas posters These are the 4 Port Authority police officers who arrested NYC terror attack suspect: Officers Sean Gallagher 26; Drew Preston 36; Jack Collins, 45; Anthony Manfredini, 28 Ullah, who has lived in the United States since 2011, began his self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online, prosecutors said. He carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, they said. The Bangladeshi former taxi driver who botched his 'revenge' attack on the US with a homemade bomb: What we know about Akayed Ullah Akayed Ullah moved to the U.S. from Bangladesh with his family seven years ago. He came to the U.S. on a F-4 visa, a preferential visa for those who have family already in the country, according to Fox News. He is now a legal green-card holder according to the New York Post. Bangladesh's police chief said the suspect, who lived in Chittagong, had no criminal record and wasn't on the radar of authorities. Ullah lived in Brooklyn and held a taxi license from 2012 to 2015, when it lapsed. It was for a livery service rather than a yellow cab. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN that Ullah was 'disgruntled' and learned how to make the pipe bomb online. There are conflicting reports about where Ullah made the device. The New York Post say he constructed it at the electrical company where he worked, while a law enforcement source who spoke to the AP said he made it in his apartment. Law enforcement sources who spoke to Ullah at the hospital say he confessed to plotting the attack in retribution for recent actions by Israelis against Muslim Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Investigators have yet to determine an official motivation for the failed attack, but there have been reports that Ullah was inspired by ISIS. Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press he was not in direct contact with the terrorist group. So far, officials believe that Ullah carried out the attack as a 'lone wolf' Advertisement Inside Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, were handwritten notes, including one that read, 'O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE.' The charges he faces include providing material support to terrorists, use of a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. Bangladesh's counterterrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday that his country had found no evidence linking the suspect to militants in his home country. 'We have collected evidence and information from his family members,' said Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh police's counterterrorism unit. 'In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups.' The attack was the latest inspired by militants to hit the United States' biggest city by population. In October, an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by racing a rental truck down a bike bath. Also in October, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen was convicted of planting two bombs in New York's Chelsea neighborhood in 2016, one of which exploded and wounded 30 people. The blast this week was the first bombing on the subway in 23 years, a streak police attribute in part to a multilayered security approach that begins with 3,000 officers underground every day, patrolling trains and platforms. It also served as a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of the city's subway, a 24-hour-a-day operation with 472 stations and more than 5 million daily riders. While police say the nation's largest subway system has some of the tightest security possible that still allows busy New Yorkers to get where they're going, they acknowledge they can't be everywhere or anticipate every kind of attack, particularly in this era of lone-wolf terrorism. 'It's very difficult and it's getting harder,' John Miller, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said on CBS's 'This Morning.' ''This is not the al-Qaida model, where a cell of people who are communicating with a base are an intelligence problem.' Instead, he said, the threat is coming from people 'where the conspiracy is within the confines of their own mind.' Investigators say that appears to be what happened Monday, when a Bangladeshi immigrant indoctrinated into terrorism through Internet videos strapped a bomb to his body and set it off in a busy passageway. He was the only one seriously hurt, suffering burns on his hands and torso. A 27-year-old Bangladeshi national was arrested on Monday after a pipe bomb partially exploded in a New York City Subway tunnel Akayed Ullah, a resident of Brooklyn, was taken into custody after the attack. He says he wanted to carry out the terrorist attack in retribution for Muslim Palestinians. Ullah is seen here being taken to the hospital That's bolstered by hundreds of security cameras, including one that captured detailed pictures of Monday's explosion, and roving teams of officers with heavy weapons and dogs to sweep subway stations and trains. Officers are outfitted with pager-size radiation detectors to guard against a radioactive 'dirty bomb.' Police also conduct tens of thousands of random bag searches in the system each year. SUSPECT'S FAMILY 'OUTRAGED' BY TREATMENT We are heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today, and by the allegations being made against a member of our family. But we are also outraged by the behavior of law enforcement officials who have held children as small as 4 years old out in the cold and who held a teenager out of high school classes to interrogate him without a lawyer, without his parents. These are not the sorts of actions that we expect from our justice system, and we have every confidence that our justice system will find the truth behind this attack and that we will, in the end, be able to learn what occurred today. Advertisement Yet those officers are confronted daily with thousands of people of every background, from every corner of the globe, carrying big backpacks, suitcases and large boxes, with no easy way of knowing whether any of those items contain a bomb. As a result, police have to rely on riders as their eyes and ears, constantly reminding them, 'If you see something, say something.' 'Look up from your phones. Look up from your books now and then. Take your earphones out. You can't say something when you see something if you don't look at it,' Joseph Fox, chief of the NYPD's transit bureau, urged New Yorkers after the attack. While some have wondered whether more can be done to prevent these kinds of attacks, police and politicians have repeatedly said that measures such as adding metal detectors and bag checks to all stations could bring the system to a crawl. 'You can't have a police person on every block at every moment - that would be impractical,' Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a TV interview this week. 'But in terms of the sophistication of our security system, it's second to none on the planet.' Only about six crimes are reported per day in the entire subway system. Celebrities are throwing their support behind the newly elected Alabaman senator after he defeated alleged teen molester Roy Moore. Hillary Clinton lead the charge of the cheerleaders, tweeting to celebrate Doug Jones' surprise win on Tuesday. 'Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud,' the former presidential candidate tweeted. 'And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must - compete everywhere. Onward!' Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton lead the charge of the cheerleaders, tweeting to celebrate Doug Jones' surprise win on Tuesday Democrat Doug Jones beat Roy Moore in Alabama's hotly contested Senate race on Tuesday Her husband, and former US president Bill Clinton, also also shared his support, tweeting: 'Congratulations, Doug Jones. You were a great US Attorney, and you ran a terrific campaign. You deserve this win. It's a win for the people of Alabama.' The Clintons were joined by the likes of Julianne Moore, Joe Biden and Kerry Washington who rushed to Twitter to celebrate the Democrat's victory in the traditionally Republican state. 'Thank you Alabama and thank you Doug Jones,' Ellen Degeneres tweeted. 'Hope lives,' added Ava DuVernay. 'Never give up on this gorgeous mystery called Life. A Democrat from Alabama? Hope lives. Kerry Washington, the star of Scandal, shared her thanks for everyone in Alabama who voted for Jones 'because today u voted for a more perfect union. A place where we ALL matter. God bless u.' Captain America star Chris Evans said that the vote was one of the few redeeming outcomes of 2017. 'Holy s**t!!!!! Does this mean I DONT have to bury 2017 in the back yard?? Thank you, Alabama!!!!' he wrote. 'My tweets worked,' comedian and actor Billy Eichner added. Actresses Julianne Moore and Alyssa Milano added their congratulations to the newly elected senator. 'Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity, Alabama,' said Charmed star Milano. 'And thank you for fighting for whats right, @GDouglasJones. And thank you to every volunteer who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and that worked tirelessly to make this happen.' Republican Roy Moore should have easily slid into a Senate seat in Alabama, but accusations that he habitually preyed on teenagers eroded his support. Here he's photographed at his election night party in Montgomery before the final results were in Several celebs referenced the fact that black voters had turned out in force to back Jones in Tuesday's election. Actress Patricia Arquette wrote: 'Once again we are depending on the goodness of black voters to save the world.' 'GOD BLESS BLACK WOMEN,' Amber Tamblyn added. Jones emerged victorious against Moore, whose has been plagued by allegations he preyed on teenage girls while he was in his thirties. Jones proclaimed a victory for 'common courtesy and decency' as he defeated accused pedophile Moore. But Moore insisted the race wasn't done. 'Realize when the vote is this close, then it's not over,' said Moore, who exasperated national party establishment leaders with his run. 'And we've still got to go by the rules about this recount provision.' 'We also know that God is always in control,' Moore told his supporters, who were left stunned at their party in Montgomery as the race got called for Jones. Jones defeated Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. There were just under 21,000 votes separating the winner and the loser, out of 1.3 million cast. John Merrill, the secretary of state of Alabama, said Moore can get a recount if he pays for it. An automatic recount occurs if the vote difference is less than 0.5 percent of the vote. 'The people of Alabama have spoken tonight. Theyve made their voice heard loud and clear,' he told CNN. Merrill said it would be 'highly unlikely' for Jones not to be certified the winner. Moore complained in his speech: 'Part of the problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light.' 'We've been put in a hole, if you will,' he said, referencing the Bible's Psalm 40 and speaking rapidly. 'I waited patiently for the Lord. That's what we've got to do,' Moore told his supporters, who include many evangelical voters. 'And he inclined to me and heard my cry and brought us also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet on the rock and established my goings and put a new song in our mouth. He then prays unto our God. Many shall see it hear it, and shall be moved by that if you will.' 'And that's what we've got to do is wait on God and let this process play out,' Moore said. 'But the votes are still coming in and we're looking at that,' Moore added. 'It's not over, and it's going to take some time. Thank you.' Jones' victory in the deep red state came despite a final push by President Donald Trump, who campaigned in Pensacola and endorsed Moore despite a series of women who made accusations against him from when he was a prosecutor in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His win peeled back the Senate GOP's Republican majority to just 51-49, and dealt a blow to Trump, who weighed in with campaigning in nearby Florida, tweets and a robocall. 'Tonight is a night for rejoicing,' Moore told cheering supporters at his victory speech Tuesday evening. After a nasty race that featured multiple women accusing opponent Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, Jones told a Birmingham crowd: 'We have work to do. We have work to do in this state to build those bridges within this state, to reach across with those that didn't vote for us to try to find that common ground. I'm pledging to do that tonight.' After the divisive contest, Jones thanked his African-American supporters, Hispanics, and even wished his Jewish friends a 'Happy Channukah!' That was a subtle rebuke to Moore's wife, who made a cringe-worthy election eve comment denying anti-Semitism by saying one of their lawyers was Jewish. 'As Dr. King liked to quote, the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,' he said, using a favorite line of President Obama's. 'Tonight in this time in this place, you helped bend that moral arc a little closer to that justice,' he said to applause. 'Not only was it bent more, not only was its aim truer, but you sent it right through the heart of the great state of Alabama in doing so,' he said. It was every community. You know I keep hearing about the different communities in this state. The African American community - thank you! My friends in the Latino community thank you! To all my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah! 'At the end of the day this entire race has been about dignity and respect,' Jones said. This campaign has been about the rule of law. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state ... is gonna get a fair shake in life.' The Associated Press called the Alabama Senate race for Doug Jones at 9:23 p.m. local time, less than two and a half hours after the final votes were cast. For Jones, just having a (D) next to his name meant an extremely steep climb in a state that hadn't voted for a Democratic senator in 31 years and that man, Sen. Richard Shelby, later changed his affiliation to Republican. But Jones was buoyed by a mix of grit and chance campaigning rabidly through the end, while Moore traveled out-of-state, haunted by accusations that he had pursued and molested teenagers while he was a man in his 30s. The election had become bigger than these two men, with Trump's name and also that of his former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon also attached to Moore's name on the ballot. On the Democratic side, former President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and potential 2020 candidate Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey, had chimed in. President Trump tweeted his congratulations to Jones on a 'hard fought victory,' less than an hour after the race was called. 'The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win,' Trump added. 'he people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!' The unique taste of Vegemite has been at the centre of heated debate since 1922. And now the creator, Australian Bega Cheese Group, is ruffling even more feathers with its release of Vegemite 'Ice Cream Pops'. Taking to its social media pages on Wednesday, Vegemite warned Australia to 'brace itself' for the controversial release. Vegemite creators are ruffling feathers with its release of Vegemite 'Ice Cream Pops' (pictured) Alongside its Ice Cream Pop creation, the company recommended a range of other dubious concoctions including Halloween popcorn (pictured) Vegemite lovers were told to mix the paste with caster sugar, cocoa, honey, and cream, to create a delicious treat for Summer. Alongside its Ice Cream Pop creation, the company also recommended a range of other dubious concoctions. The list of 'delicious recipes' included Vegemite Halloween Popcorn and Vegemite Breakfast Pizza. The creators of the Aussie staple suggest list of 'delicious recipes' included Vegemite Breakfast Pizza (pictured right) An office building has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found underneath a Christmas tree in the foyer. Police officers rushed to the building in Darwin this afternoon and ordered all workers to leave. The building, on Woods Street, is home to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the NT News reported. An office building on Woods Street has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found underneath a Christmas tree in the foyer Police said they were 'erring on the side of caution' by evacuating the building. Workers have since been allowed back into the building. David Davis is making a last-ditch bid to win round Tory rebels as the government faces its first defeat on flagship Brexit laws today. The Brexit Secretary has sent a letter to MPs assuring them there will be a Commons vote on the terms of the divorce deal with the EU before it is implemented. But the concession is not likely to be enough to satisfy restive Remainers led by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who have been calling for the final agreement to be enshrined in statute before it can take effect. Mr Grieve has vowed to force through his amendment writing the need for a 'meaningful vote' into the EU Withdrawal Bill tonight. Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured centre at a meeting in Whitehall yesterday) has sent a letter to MPs assuring them there will be a Commons vote on the terms of the divorce deal with the EU before it is implemented Theresa May (pictured in Paris yesterday with French President Emmanuel Macron) has been warned she faces defeat on her flagship Brexit laws without further concessions to rebel MPs He claims there are as many as 20 Tory rebels, enough to overturn the government's slender majority as Labour and other opposition parties are backing the change. Defeat would be deeply embarrassing for Mrs May, who has never lost a Commons vote on legislation, just before a crunch EU summit which is expected to approve her divorce deal. Brexiteers have branded the measure an attempt to derail the Bill. In his letter to MPs, Mr Davis specifically referred to Mr Grieve's attempt to rewrite the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and said he was responding to concerns 'by making clear that there will be a number of votes for Parliament on the final deal we strike with the EU'. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier wants the withdrawal deal finalised by October 2018 and the Government has committed to hold a vote in Parliament as soon as possible after the negotiations have concluded. In an attempt to address Mr Grieve's point about the power to use secondary legislation, Mr Davis said: 'The Government will not implement any parts of the withdrawal agreement - for example by using Clause 9 of the European Union (Withdrawal) bill - until after this vote has taken place.' In addition, he said the deal would have to go through the normal treaty ratification process and there would be primary legislation on the Brexit deal. 'If Parliament supports the resolution to proceed with the withdrawal agreement and the terms for our future relationship, the Government will bring forward a Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill to give the withdrawal agreement domestic legal effect. 'The Bill will implement the terms of the withdrawal agreement in UK law as well as providing a further opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. 'This legislation will be introduced before the UK exits the EU and the substantive provisions will only take effect from the moment of exit.' Senior Tory Dominic Grieve (pictured in the Commons yesterday) has vowed to force through his amendment writing the need for a 'meaningful vote' into the EU withdrawal laws tomorrow night The Government announced a U-turn earlier this week to avert a possible defeat on so-called Henry VIII powers in the legislation. Another very tight vote is expected next Wednesday as ministers stand behind controversial plans to write the Exit Date into the withdrawal legislation. Mr Grieve confirmed yesterday that he was determined to force a vote on an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill unless ministers back down. With up to 20 Conservative MPs reportedly willing to support the change in the division lobbies on Wednesday, he said they could well have the votes needed to get it through. 'I think there are quite a few who may support me - I think enough, if this comes to a vote, to defeat the Government,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One. 'I think there is a real possibility that that will happen.' The move threatened to wreck the fragile unity in the Conservative ranks in the wake of Mrs May's divorce deal agreement in Brussels on Friday. Conservative former leader Iain Duncan Smith accused Mr Grieve and his supporters of 'grandstanding' and trying to tie the Government's hands in the Brexit talks. 'I think this is looking for ways to derail the bill,' he told The World At One. 'There comes a moment when really grandstanding has to stop. Tying the Government's hands in the way that he would wish to tie them so early on is quite wrong.' MPs gathered yesterday for the sixth day of committee stage debate (pictured) on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. Ministers have won every vote contested so far ' Jamey Anderson vividly recalls being a skinny kid trembling on the floor of a dank, windowless storage room, waiting in terror for the next adult to open the door. He was bruised and exhausted after being held down while a group of Word of Faith Fellowship congregants - including his mother and future stepfather - beat him with a wooden paddle, he said. As with most punishments at the secretive Christian church in Spindale, North Carolina, Anderson said, it was prompted by some vague accusation: He had sin in his heart, or he had given in to the 'unclean.' The attacks could last for hours until he confessed to something, anything, and cried out to Jesus, he said. Sometimes even that wasn't enough for redemption. Then, Anderson said, he would be locked in a dark place he called the 'green room,' where he would bang his head against the brick wall, wanting to die. Scroll down for video Jamey Anderson holds a photo on his phone of himself, bottom left, at the Word of Faith Christian School with classmates, from left, Liam, Risa Burgeson Pires, and Christopher Davies, and teachers Lisa Brown, top left, and Marty Roper, top right 'I just wanted it to end,' he recalled in a series of interviews with The Associated Press. 'Of course, they told us that killing yourself is the unforgivable sin.' Today, Anderson is a 29-year-old handsome, articulate attorney with a quick wit and a sarcastic side. At first glance, he seems well-adjusted. But he finds it hard to trust anyone. He fled the secretive evangelical church when he was 18, but he is not free. More than a decade later, he still struggles to find his footing in a world that he doesn't understand, having been raised, as he puts it, in a 'cult.' Night terrors jolt him awake. He fears people will think he's delusional if he discusses his experiences in Word of Faith because the stories seem unbelievable. He missed a lifetime of pop culture, which makes it difficult for him to build connections with his peers. Throughout his adolescence, he says he was singled out as a rebel and suffered some of the most brutal treatment in the church. 'There were times that mentally you just feel broken,' he said. 'I mean, I was a kid - I couldn't even process why this was happening to me' Jamey Anderson's high school transcript and diploma from the Word of Faith Christian School is displayed during an interview Worst of all is the suffocating anguish that rushes in when he looks back on the beatings and isolation. 'There were times that mentally you just feel broken,' he said. 'I mean, I was a kid - I couldn't even process why this was happening to me.' As part of an ongoing investigation into Word of Faith Fellowship, dozens of former congregants have told the AP that church members were regularly beaten in an effort to 'purify' sinners - even children. But despite allegations of abuse spanning two decades, authorities have done little to intervene. As a child, Anderson said, he was questioned by social services investigators in church co-founder Jane Whaley's office, but was too afraid to tell the truth. In 2003, he said, the church forced him to sign an affidavit saying he had not been abused and that 'church discipline' was 'God's mercy on my life.' Anderson was about four years old when his mother joined Word of Faith. He describes his childhood as nothing short of hell. Throughout his adolescence, he was singled out as a rebel and suffered some of the most brutal treatment in the church, nearly two dozen former congregants told the AP. Among his transgressions: making a funny face at a classmate. His most traumatizing memories stem from the 'green room,' a storage area named for the color of its outdoor carpeting in a house his family shared with more than a dozen church members. The long stretches of isolation, the incessant hum of a dehumidifier and the pervasive smell of mildew almost drove him mad, he said. Jamey Anderson wrings his hands as he talks about the letter to his grandfather, front, that was returned to him unopened. After breaking with Word of Faith, Anderson lost all contact with his mother and brother, who remain in the church 'I remember thinking about it in that room, thinking, 'I wish that someone cared. I wish that someone got me out of here,''' he recalled. Former Word of Faith member Risa Pires said that when she visited her aunt, who lived with Anderson's family, it seemed like 'Jamey was always in that room.' Pires, who left the church three years ago, said children were encouraged to tell on Anderson - and others - for the slightest perceived infractions in the church's K-12 school, where she was in his class until the ninth grade. Anderson would be pulled from the classroom and brought to another room where he would be 'brutally paddled,' she said. 'You could hear the loud whacks through the wall,' she said. 'You just sat there, hoping you weren't next.' Jamey Anderson stands outside his childhood home in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, on Friday, Nov. 17, 2017. When he was a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship, Anderson says he was brutally beaten and locked in a basement storage room in the house because church leaders said he was in the thrall of Satan After breaking with Word of Faith, Anderson lost all contact with his mother and brother, who remain in the church. He said Whaley even refused to let him attend the funeral of his grandfather, the most important male figure in his childhood, and that he was omitted from the list of family members in the obituary. He is free and yet, he said, he cannot escape the church's reach. It has branded him - permanently, he fears. He is speaking out now, he said, because 'I want to make sure that kids there, they know that there's a better way to live. That people can love you for who you are. That they're not going to mistreat you.' Noell Tin, an attorney for Whaley, denied Anderson had been mistreated. 'Mr. Anderson's claims are disputed not only by Ms. Whaley, but also by members of the church,' he said. To understand what Anderson lived through, it is necessary to understand Word of Faith. Founded in 1979 by Whaley, a former math teacher, and her husband, Sam, the church has grown to a congregation of nearly 750 people in rural Spindale with hundreds more followers extending to Brazil, Ghana and other countries. Jane Whaley is the unquestioned leader, presenting herself as a prophet. Over the years, she has decreed ever more stringent rules, dictating how followers dress, where they live, who they marry and even when they have sex. Birthday celebrations, television and music are strictly off-limits. Anderson was about 4 years old when his mother joined Word of Faith Fellowship church, moving into a house with other single women. From early childhood, he says he always seemed to be in trouble - and that resulted in regular severe beatings A series of AP stories over the past year have documented widespread abuses within Word of Faith, prompting investigations in the U.S. and South America. In July, the AP revealed how the church mined its two branches in Brazil for a steady supply of young laborers who say they were forced to work for little or no pay in the U.S. at businesses owned by church leaders. In November, the AP documented how the sect used it power and influence to wrest children from poor single mothers. Anderson said some of his earliest memories are of a church practice called 'blasting,' in which congregants are shrieked at, sometimes for hours, to drive out devils. The sessions often graduate to slapping, punching and choking, according to more than 40 former members interviewed by the AP. Jamey Anderson, center, poses during his commencement ceremony in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in May 2015/ With him are fellow former Word of Faith Fellowship members Peter Cooper, second left blue shirt; Ben Carmona, third left; Jay Plummer, tan suit; John Blanton, red plaid shirt and sunglasses, and other friends The members said Whaley quotes Acts 2:2 and other scriptures to justify the practice: 'When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast ...' From early childhood, Anderson always seemed to be in trouble, resulting in regular severe beatings, several former members said. Anderson recounted a particularly brutal attack when he was about nine, when he said a female church member pinned his arms down while his mother sat on his legs and beat him with a paddle. 'It hit me in many other places than where it was supposed to. But they didn't stop, because I needed a 'breakthrough.' The demons were 'taking me over,' as a kid. I was going to go to hell. And so they kept swinging the paddle, swinging the paddle,' he said. Anderson's mother, Patricia Dolan, did not respond to phone and text messages from the AP. Former congregant Danielle Cordes said it was common for adults to hold children down by their arms and legs during attacks. It happened to her, too. 'That was normal,' she said. Forced child labor was another staple of life, several former members told the AP. Anderson said his work details began around sixth grade - sometimes during school hours - on construction and real estate projects performed for church members. He recalled being diagnosed with asthma in middle school, a condition aggravated by the outdoor work, and being rebuked for 'laziness and foolishness.' Over the years, he said, the work increased. Anderson said he cleaned the Whaleys' house, sometimes working until after midnight, then would return in the morning to mow their lawn. At times, he said, he was forced to work several nights a week, often doing remodeling work like painting and drywall repair. He said church leaders called it 'volunteer work,' but that the punishment for refusing could be severe. Dozens of interviews and hundreds of pages of court records, police reports and social services documents show that Word of Faith Fellowship's leaders and members used positions of authority, intimidation or deception to bring children into the church's folds or keep them from leaving And though he thought his life couldn't get any worse, it did. When he was 14, Anderson said, Jane Whaley called a mandatory church meeting, on a weekday. Waiting in the sanctuary that day in early 2002, 'we knew it couldn't be good,' he said. When Whaley arrived, she pointed to Anderson and a group of 'troublemakers' she called the 'five boys.' For two hours, he said, Whaley screamed and shamed them. They were expected to fall to the floor and cry out to Jesus for forgiveness. Some did, but Anderson said he was too scared to move. 'That meant to Jane that my heart was hard. I was unreachable and that's when she got very close to my face and called me everything she could think of, yelling at me at the top of her lungs,' he said. Whaley placed Anderson and his four friends in isolation for a year, he said. Instead of attending class, he said they sat in a room watching videos of Whaley preaching and were confined to their homes after school and on weekends. Family members weren't allowed to talk to them. When it was time to eat, someone would open the door and slide food in, 'like in a prison,' Anderson said. They were treated as if they did not exist - except when it came time for punishment and they were told they were full of 'witchcraft and warfare,' he said. Ministers constantly grilled them with questions that would devolve into the 'sexual realm,' said Peter Cooper, another of the five, who called the ministers relentless. If the boys didn't answer the 'right way,' he said, they were blasted and beaten. 'After you've been told repeatedly that you're unclean, you know it's better to go ahead and admit it. You start confessing to things you didn't think about. They destroy your will,' said Cooper, 28, who left the church in 2014. To this day, Anderson said he can't understand why the boys were singled out and considered so unworthy of love and acceptance. 'If there was ever a time I was broken, that was it,' he said, pushing back tears. When Anderson walked away from Word of Faith, he left behind the only life he had ever known. He wanted 'freedom,' even though he wasn't quite sure what that meant. Despite having an outgoing personality, his isolated upbringing makes it hard for him to fit in. If he's hanging out with a group of peers and someone cites a scene from a movie or line from a song, he has no idea what they're talking about. He doesn't get their jokes. The loneliness can be crushing, he said. It also remains difficult for him to maintain romantic relationships, crippled by the fear of questions about his past and embarrassment about his night terrors. 'I don't trust anybody. With this thing, it can change the way people look at you,' Anderson said. Still, he forges on, determined to build a happy life. He graduated from law school and was hired by a respected firm in Charlotte, and his future - for a change - seemed bright. Then one night in October 2016, the police knocked on his apartment door and arrested him for trespassing on his brother's property. Nick Anderson had sworn to a magistrate judge that another church member spotted Jamey on his property. When presented with overwhelming evidence that Jamey was nowhere near his brother's home that night, District Attorney Ted Bell dismissed the case. But Jamey said he was humiliated by having to explain to his neighbors and law firm that members of a 'crazy church' had made false accusations against him. Reached by phone, Nick Anderson declined to comment. The district attorney said he considered charging Nick Anderson and the church member with intimidating a witness, but instead would 'send them a strongly worded letter to not do it again.' That provides little solace to Jamey. Like the skinny little kid locked away in the storage room anticipating the next beating, he still can't escape the fear of what the church might do next. Because he does not want any other child in Word of Faith to suffer like he says he suffered, he tells his story to 'be the light that I used to see as a small child, that got extinguished when nobody saved us. . I don't want to watch and see as other kids grow up and they start to leave and say, 'Why didn't someone come and help us? Why was our childhood destroyed, when you knew better?'' A woman accidentally took her own life after she pretended to commit suicide in a bungled attempt to stop her troubled boyfriend killing himself. Healthcare worker Corinne Hayes, 23, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, feared Brian Marshall was about to kill himself and threatened to hang herself at his flat in the belief he would find her in time. But despite sending 33-year old Marshall a text message saying: 'If you are going to do it, so am I. Meet you on the other side,' he was too late getting back to save her. Healthcare worker Corinne Hayes, 23, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, feared Brian Marshall was about to kill himself and said she would hang herself at his flat in the belief he would find her in time Miss Hayes - who was godmother to three children - was pronounced dead at his apartment after being found hanged from a door in the lounge. She was due to attend the iconic Manchester music festival, Parklife the next day. An inquest heard the couple had got together in September 2016 but Marshall suffered mental health problems. Her mother, Mandy Hayes told the Heywood hearing: 'Corrine had been working as a support worker and had been studying level three child care and had an NVQ in social care. She was kind and sociable and had a heart of gold - she was everyone's best friend. 'She had been diagnosed with anxiety but I put that down to the way she was being treated. I thought Brian Marshall didn't treat Corinne very well. 'She was paying for everything for him and said that she would move with him. It felt like he was doing it to get her away from us and they moved to Burnley together. She made out like she was okay but I stopped seeing her so much and I found out this was because she was covered in bruises. But despite sending 33-year old Marshall a text message saying: 'If you are going to do it, so am I. Meet you on the other side,' he was too late getting back to save her 'Brian moved back to Oldham and Corrine decided she didn't want to live in Burnley anyway and so when the tenancy was up she was going to move in with her friend Sarah. She was staying with Sarah quite a lot as it was. 'They broke up but got back together in June but he just wanted to use her for a week or two until and then finished it again. She said she still loved him and wanted to work things out. She knew what he was like but she loved him. 'I last spoke to her when she was going out with friends that night. She had plans to go to Parklife festival the next day with her friend Sarah. She had just got a promotion at work and everything to look forward to. Miss Hayes had been due to attend Manchester music festival Parklife the next day 'As far as I knew she had never attempted to self harm and she was always so happy. Anything that was said about Brian she would just brush off because she knew I didn't like him. They had been trying for a baby but he used to get her down by the way he spoke to her about it. She wanted children but not at that moment. On June 9 Miss Hayes attended Marshall's flat to discover he had thrown a party without inviting her. The hearing was told the pair argued and the party came to an abrupt end whereupon the couple left the flat and went separate ways. But the argument continued over text messages and Miss Hayes sent Marshall a message saying: 'If you are going to do something I couldn't hack it. I couldn't live without you.' Another read: 'What about your kids, what about your nan? I am going to have to tell her everything, I can't deal with this.' Detective Inspector Kenny Blain told the hearing: 'At 3.11am police received a call from Brian Marshall who had contacted the ambulance service to report finding Corine in his flat. At the property also were two of Brian's friends, Jon Shepherd and James Brooks. 'James Brooks was present at the property when police attended but the fact that Brian Marshall had left the property resulted in some concern. Brooks was very elusive and evasive when being asked questions about Corinne. 'An arrest was put out for Brian Marshall and all three men were declared suspects at that time. Shepherd and Brookes said there had been a party at Brian's flat which went on till about 12.30pm. They said that Corine had not been at the party for the first part of the evening but arrived later. Miss Hayes uploaded this picture the day she died, with the caption implying she was excited to attend the Parklife festival in Manchester the following day 'Corine's friend, Sarah told police that she had been with Corine earlier in the evening and they had consumed alcohol before Sarah retired to her bed. Corine told her she was going out but didn't say where. Sarah said she thought she heard the front door close at about 11pm. 'Corine had not indicated any intention of self harm and had been excited about attending Parklife festival the next day. Phone records show that a taxi took her to Brian's address at 12.10am. 'James Brooks recalls that when Corinne arrived at the flat, almost instantly they began to argue. He said he recalls her hitting him in the face and shouting that he had tried to strangle her and at that point Brian put an end to the party. 'In a text message to Brian, Corinne said: 'If you are going to do something I couldn't hack it. I couldn't live without you.' It appeared that Brian had got into her head and had made her very upset and distressed. 'My opinion was, had he gone too far? My concern was that she had gone into a state and had he said something to her push her to do what she did. At 00.49 hours Corinne sent Brian a text saying: 'I tell you what, if you are going to do it, so am I. Meet you on the other side.' Another text read: 'What about your kids, what about your nan? I am going to have to tell her everything, I can't deal with this.' 'After 2am there was no further activity on Corinne's phone. At about 2.38am cell cite data put Brian back in the location of his flat. Shepherd went into the property first, said he went into the living room and found Corine behind the door. Miss Hayes - who was godmother to three children - was pronounced dead at his apartment in Oldham, Greater Manchester after being found hanged from a door in the lounge 'He said that Brian didn't want to go into the property because he thought he was going to be arrested. I believe that Brian may have expressed a wish to harm himself that night.' In interview Marshall said: 'That is what made me keep calling her. I kept calling her because there was something there.' He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and was not at the inquest. His two friends were cleared of any wrongdoing. Recording a conclusion of misadventure, coroner Joanne Kearsley said: 'Corine had so much to live for. She had clearly got herself into a relationship with Brian Marshall who she clearly loved. There were some concerns about that relationship and his behaviour on June 10. I do accept that Corine had been out drinking with a friend and Brian had not wanted her to go to the party that evening. 'When she did go round it caused a bit of an altercation and there comes a point where they both leave the property. Corine stays within that area and Brian stays away from the property - I do not believe he was in the property when the incident occurred. 'This is a young girl with no history of mental health issues. I don't believe this was a young girl who intended to die that night. I think this was a very misguided attempt to him to seek help or get his attention. I don't accept that she intended to take her life.' For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details. Evacuation orders for residents east of Custer State Park and west of Highway 79, including the towns of Fairburn and Buffalo Gap, have been lifted. Firefighters successfully stopped the eastern progression of the fire at Highway 79, according to Travis Lipp, operation section chief from the Rocky Mountain Blue Team charged with fighting the blaze. Fire officials' fears came true Tuesday evening as high winds hit, fanning the flames of the Legion Lake Fire in Custer State Park in South Dakota where the blaze spread from 4,000 acres to an estimated 31,000 acres overnight. "The wind was real squirrely," said Lipp of the wind which whipped the fire in all directions. While winds tapered overnight Wednesday, breezy conditions were expected to pick up this morning and blow in some snow that might stick in the northern Black Hills, according to the National Weather Service. Custer State Park officials have turned their concern to the park's wildlife, including buffalo, and are putting out a call for donated hay to feed the herds through the winter. The park is home to a herd of around 1,000 bison, which designated park staff manage, and many other animals, such as elk, deer, antelope and prairie dogs. More than 250 firefighters battling the fire braced for the Tuesday evening cold front and its as-advertised gusty winds, which officials knew carried the potential to push flames past tenuous lines barely holding the blaze in check in the rugged, timbered terrain. Breezes from the southeast pushed smoke from the fire into Rapid City and the northern Black Hills on Tuesday and Wednesday, with more smoke entering today's weather forecasts near Buffalo Gap. The official cause of the fire remains under investigation. The blaze sparked to life near the intersection of U.S. Highway 16A and S.D. Highway 87 North about 7:30 a.m. Monday. Park officials initially listed a wind-blown tree toppling a power line as a potential cause. Custer State Park spokesman Kobee Stalder called the level of dryness in the timber and grassland extraordinary for mid-December. We havent seen a lot of precipitation for probably two months, Stalder said. Journal staffer Candy DenOuden and Bismarck Tribune staff contributed to this report. Advertisement Hills near Montecito appeared to be covered in lava last night as the catastrophic wildfires raging across California continue to expand. In photographs taken by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department as it battled to push back the flames near Romero Canyon, the ridges seem to resemble an erupting volcano. Officials handed out masks to those who stayed behind in Montecito, an exclusive community about 75 miles from Los Angeles that's home to stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges and Drew Barrymore. Actor Rob Lowe was among residents who evacuated over the weekend. This astonishing image appears show hills near Montecito covered in lava as the devastating wildfires raging across California continue to expand. The picture was taken by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and shows fire burning along canyons and ridges above Bella Vista Drive near Romero Canyon The so-called Thomas fire, one of several burning around the state, has burned over 900 structures, at least 700 of them homes. Another 18,000 buildings are under threat. Pictured: A helicopter drops water over Toro Canyon hillsides north of Santa Barbara yesterday Officials handed out masks to those who stayed behind in Montecito, an exclusive community about 75 miles from Los Angeles that's home to stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges and Drew Barrymore. Pictured: A firefighter watches as a blaze rages along Romero Canyon hillsides in Montecito In photographs taken by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department as it battled to push back the flames near Romero Canyon, the ridges seem to resemble an erupting volcano. Pictured: A firefighter looks over a map from the back of his truck parked off Bella Vista Drive above Montecito The blaze has stretched across nearly 370 square miles of territory, consuming 236,000 acres, making it the fifth largest in state history. Pictured: An eerie view of the burning hills near Montecito The haunting, almost apocalyptic was captured as the Golden State struggles to cope with the one of the biggest infernos in its history. The so-called Thomas fire, one of several burning around the state, has burned over 900 structures, at least 700 of them homes. Another 18,000 buildings are under threat. It has stretched across nearly 370 square miles of territory, consuming 236,000 acres, making it the fifth largest in state history. It is now over five times the size of the District of Columbia, which is 68 square miles. Over 7,800 firefighters are working to hold back the blaze, which has now been 25 per cent contained. The haunting, almost apocalyptic scene comes as the Golden State struggles to cope with the one of the biggest infernos in its history. In this photograph, the Pacific is glowing an ominous orange as a helicopter hovers over a reservoir to fill a bucket with water The fire has stretched across nearly 370 square miles of territory, consuming 236,000 acres, making it the fifth largest in state history. But surfers still found the time to hit the waves near Carpinteria Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara appears in an eerie light as wildfire smoke darkens the sunrise during while the Thomas fire blazes across California The fire straddling Santa Barbara and Ventura counties has burned for ten days, with the cause still being investigated. It has even illuminated the Pacific off the California coast Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a blaze last week that destroyed six homes in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. Pictured: The fire raging at Romero Canyon A smoke-filled sky filter orange light around surfers as the Thomas Fire continues to grow and threaten communities from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara Firefighters watch as a fire rages in a Romero Canyon hillside in Montecito. It is still growing, threatening thousands of homes and stranding tens of thousands of evacuees Yesterday, firefighters finally eked out progress on the titanic task of cutting fire lines around the gigantic conflagration. Pictured: A surfer enjoys a bizarre moment on the glowing waves Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended into the week, with a possible increase in gusts Thursday into Friday. Pictured: A dog runs along a beach below a smoke-filled sky Arson investigators determined that the so-called Skirball fire near the world-famous Getty museum was started by an illegal fire at a camp near a freeway underpass, city fire Captain Erik Scott said. Pictured: Men cover their faces near Carpinteria The fire straddling Santa Barbara and Ventura counties has burned for ten days, with the cause still being investigated. Yesterday, firefighters finally eked out progress on the titanic task of cutting fire lines around the gigantic conflagration. But the wildfire is still raging, threatening thousands of homes and stranding tens of thousands of evacuees. Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a blaze last week that destroyed six homes in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. Arson investigators determined that the so-called Skirball fire near the world-famous Getty museum was started by an illegal fire at a camp near a freeway underpass, city fire Captain Erik Scott said. The camp was empty when firefighters found it but people apparently had been sleeping and cooking there for at least several days, he said. A fire truck drives up Romero Canyon to a house surrounded by smoke from the Thomas Fire in Montecito as California battles against a devastating blaze The hills above Santa Barbara are shrouded in smoke from the Thomas Fire. Actor Rob Lowe was among residents who were evacuated from nearby Montecito over the weekend In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a member of a Santa Barbara County Fire Crew keeps an eye on a bulldozer building a fire break in the hills above Bella Vista Drive in Montecito A valley is filled with smoke from the Thomas Fire in Carpinteria as fire crews battle to push back the catastrophic inferno Visitors wearing masks walk to protect themselves from smoke and ash from the Thomas Fire walk on State Street, the main shopping street in Santa Barbara Evacuations continued for the seaside enclaves of Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria and the inland agricultural town of Fillmore. Pictured: The Romero Canyon ablaze yesterday Back at the largest of the wildfires, firefighters protected foothill homes while the fire grew mostly into forest land, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said. Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended into the week, with a possible increase in gusts Thursday into Friday. Evacuations continued for the seaside enclaves of Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria and the inland agricultural town of Fillmore. The charred remains of vehicles at a home in the Toro Canyon hillsides north of Santa Barbara yesterday Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Eric Burdon and his wife, Marianna, of Ojai were among the people who fled the smoke Tuesday. Last week, Burdon wrote on Facebook about having to flee and returning temporarily to find their home still standing with ashes all around. Pictured: A dolphin statue is seen at a property destroyed by the Thomas Fire in Carpintera This satellite image taken on December 12, 2017, and released by NASA and NOAA, shows the Thomas Fire between Santa Barbara and Ventura Residents near a Carpinteria avocado orchard said the trees could end up saving their homes. Pictured: A firefighter unrolls fresh hoses in Ventura Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Eric Burdon and his wife, Marianna, of Ojai were among the people who fled the smoke Tuesday. Last week, Burdon wrote on Facebook about having to flee and returning temporarily to find their home still standing with ashes all around. 'A week like this gives you the perspective that life is what truly matters,' he wrote. A photo accompanying the post showed his handprint and signature written in ashes. Residents near a Carpinteria avocado orchard said the trees could end up saving their homes. 'You have a thick layer of leaves underneath the bottom and they are watered regularly, so it's like a sponge,' Jeff Dreyer, who lives nearby, told KEYT-TV. 'So the fire gets to the sponge full of water and it slows it down.' A North Korean ghost ship has washed up in Japan after dozens of the vessels drifted ashore in November. The 35ft boat (10.7m), bearing markings in the North Korean alphabet, was discovered on a beach in central Niigata prefecture early Tuesday, CNN reported. The body of a man, wearing a pin bearing the image of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, was found on board while another body was found floating off shore. A rickety fishing vessel bearing North Korean letters on its prow washed ashore in central Japan on Tuesday, the latest in a string of 'ghost ships' to arrive The body of a man wearing a lapel pin bearing the image of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder, was discovered on board the partially-destroyed boat A second body was found floating several hundreds meters out to sea, and marks the latest in a long line of grisly discoveries by the Japanese coast guard Experts believe tough sanctions leading to a food and currency shortage in North Korea is forcing fishermen further out to sea, leading to more accidents It is just the latest in a string of grim discoveries of North Korean vessels along the Japanese coast. In November 28 boats were discovered, including one containing the skeletal remains of eight people. In the same month last year, just four vessels were found. Analysts believe the rise is likely because boat crews are being pushed to take more risks - venturing further out and in dangerous conditions - in order to bring in food. It comes after the international community tightened sanctions on the country due to Kim Jong-un repeatedly holding banned missile tests. Exacerbating the phenomenon is the fact that North Korea has sold fishing rights to China in a bid to raise hard currency, forcing fishermen further out. Japanese authorities are also holding 18 people who claim to be North Korean from two other boats. The first batch of 10 landed on a small uninhabited island off southern Hokkaido on a damaged fishing boat and allegedly stole electronic appliances and other items from an unmanned shelter while temporarily taking refuge from rough seas. In November alone 28 of the vessels came ashore in Japan, marking a huge spike from this time last year when just four arrived This boat was found with the skeletal remains of eight people, believed to be North Korean fishermen, on board Several fishermen were rescued alive from this boat before later stealing the vessel and sinking it. They are currently being held in Japan Japan's coast guard rescued them in November. Eight other survivors managed to reach shore in Akita on a ragged boat - which is believed to have fallen apart and sunk soon after they were rescued - have been transferred to immigration custody. Japanese officials said the 10 are being investigated for possible theft, while the other eight are expected to be sent home via China. The last time a large number of vessels washed ashore in Japan was in 2015, when around a dozen boats - many containing bodies - arrived. Reports at the time claimed the bodies could belong to desperate fishermen driven into treacherous waters by food shortages, while other suggested a refugee exodus from the hermit state. Pyongyang has denied any of its fishermen were trying to flee, and said all deaths had come as the result of navigational errors. A far-right killer who inspired 'lone wolf' murderers including Anders Breivik with his 1990s shooting spree in Sweden is going on trial over the murder of an Auschwitz survivor 25 years ago. John Ausonius was dubbed 'laser man' for his use of rifle laser sights that helped him to target 11 people with immigrant backgrounds in the Stockholm and Uppsala areas. The 64-year-old, who said he wanted to scare migrants out of the country, is already serving a life sentence for the spree between August 1991 and January 1992, which left an Iranian student dead and several other victims severely disabled. But he is now set to appear in court again, this time in Frankfurt, Germany, over the unresolved murder of a 68-year-old Auschwitz survivor in the city a quarter of a century ago. John Ausonius (pictured in court in 1995) was dubbed 'laser man' for his use of rifle laser sights that helped him to target 11 people with immigrant backgrounds in the Stockholm and Uppsala areas Ausonius is known to have been in a restaurant in the city in 1992 while on the run for his shooting spree and accused cloakroom attendant Blanka Zmigrod of stealing an electronic device from his pocket. According to The Guardian, a row erupted and the next night, Zmigrod - who had survived imprisonment at four concentration camps during the war - was shot dead by a cyclist as she walked home. A Swedish police officer reportedly said Ausonius, who denies carrying out the shooting, appeared happy when he was told Zmigrod had a Jewish background. His lawyer has said there is 'no self-sustaining chain' of evidence which proves Ausonius carried out the killing - though the suspect has admitted that he once possessed the same kind of gun and bullets used in the murder. German prosecutors had shelved the case, but it was reopened in 2014 as part of a nationwide effort to review suspected far-right killings following revelations about a neo-Nazi gang that had committed a string of murders which authorities initially blamed on migrant gangs The 64-year-old, who said he wanted to scare migrants out of the country, is already serving a life sentence for the spree between August 1991 and January 1992, which left one dead and several others severely disabled. Surveillance video released by police shows him robbing a bank in Stockholm in 1991 The case comes amid fears his 1990s shooting spree may have inspired killings carried out by the far-right German terror group the National Socialist Underground between 2000 and 2007. There are also suggestions his actions may have inspired Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik who slaughtered 77 in attacks in 2011 after he referenced the 'Laserman in Sweden' during a court appearance. However, it is not clear whether he was referring to Ausonius of a separate Swedish killed called Peter Mangs. Experts say Ausonius was the first white nationalist to operate as a 'lone wolf' operating on his own to avoid detection. Ausonius is set for several court appearances between now and late January in Frankfurt but will return to prison in Sweden regardless of the trial verdict. Nigel Farage raged at 'Theresa the Appeaser' today as MEPs gave the green light to the Brexit divorce deal. The former Ukip leader said the EU was 'delighted' with the agreement because the PM had 'given in on virtually everything'. He branded signing up to a 39billion divorce deal 'ludicrous' and warned that concessions over rights of EU citizens would mean 'open door immigration for years to come'. The scathing assessment came as a close ally of Angela Merkel gloated about the exit package during a fiery debate in the European Parliament. Manfred Weber faced shouts of 'rubbish' as he claimed that most Britons had now changed their minds about leaving the EU. The senior MEP said the UK had been forced to bow to the will of Ireland over the border issue, saying: 'The British will lose a lot'. The incendiary comments came as MEPs gave their approval to the divorce deal package, clearing the way for EU leaders to declare that trade talks can start at a summit on Friday. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage slammed the divorce deal in the European Parliament today Manfred Weber (pictured right) faced shouts of 'rubbish' today as he claimed that most Britons had now changed their minds about leaving the EU. Guy Verhofstadt (left) said Ireland would not become 'collateral damage' in the Brexit talks The former Ukip leader said the EU was 'delighted' with the agreement because the PM had 'given in on virtually everything The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier told the session that there was still work to be done in areas like citizens' rights but 'sufficient progress' had been made to move on to the next phase. He said he hoped the framework he was setting would make those talks 'more serene' than the first stage. But the debate showed little evidence that would be the case. Mr Weber, who heads the main centre-right group in the parliament, said a poll had shown 50 per cent of Britons wanted a second referendum. 'The British people realise now that Brexit means losing many things, but not necessarily gaining anything,' he said. Amid shouts of 'rubbish' from UK MEPs, he added: 'The British people realise that Brexit means losing many things, but not gaining anything. 'I can only mention one example which was an interesting ones the debate in the last days about the decision of the (European) commission that British cities cannot become a European capital of culture. 'A very easy message that you can understand that the British can lose a lot.' Mr Weber said the UK had been able to impose terms on the Irish border in years gone by, but Dublin's membership of the EU meant it was much more 'powerful'. EU PRESSURES MAY BY DRAGGING HEELS ON TRADE TALKS Michel Barnier gave a clear sign today that the EU will try to drag out Brexit talks to up the pressure on the UK. The EU's chief negotiator told the European Parliament there were 'very many more steps' that need to be taken before a final Brexit deal is thrashed out. He said the EU's next priority is to consider a possible transition period, before turning to trade later. Brussels insists that trade negotiations will not begin until March 2018 at the earliest, with work in the first three months of the year focusing on an 'implementation period' of around two years following the official Brexit date of March 2019. The timetable appears designed to exert maximum pressure on Britain to make concessions. It will again raise fears that Mrs May will be unable to stick to her mantra of 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed'. Mr Barnier told MEPs in Strasbourg that if EU27 leaders agree on Friday to move Brexit negotiations on to their second phase, he will begin by hammering out the final wording of a Withdrawal Agreement. He said this could be done 'fairly swiftly' on the basis of the joint report agreed by the Prime Minister and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker last week. Meanwhile, the European Council 'will also be looking at the definition of the transition period', including the question of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, he said. Advertisement The parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt and the leader of the socialist group Gianni Pittella attacked David Davis for suggesting that the deal on the Irish border was merely a 'statement of intent' and not legally enforceable. Mr Verhofstadt insisted: 'Ireland cannot become the collateral damage of Brexit. We will not let it happen.' He demanded that the joint report be turned into a binding agreement 'within weeks'. 'I think the best way to secure this is that, in the coming weeks, we transpose all these commitments into the legal text of a Withdrawal Agreement. That is the best way to do it, and to do it not in the coming months but the coming weeks,' he said, But Mr Weber was taken to task by Tory politician Syed Kamall over his jibe that the EU represented the modern world. Mr Kamall said he is Muslim and saw the EU institutions as still having a 'lot of work to do' on diversity. German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel criticised the level of 'Schadenfreude' on the chamber and said the EU would not be 'competitive without Great Britain'. And Mr Farage stormed that Mrs May was 'dancing to the tune' of the EU, suggesting Brexit might have to be 'refought'. 'It is as if, even though we are leaving, effectively the British Government wants to keep us in some form of single market relationship,' said Mr Farage. 'I'm not surprised you are all very pleased with her.' He said the proposed transition period was 'the biggest deception yet played on the British people'. 'We are volunteering to go on paying the membership fee, accepting all the existing rules and all the new rules, we will effectively - once transition is granted - have left the EU in name only,' he said. 'If that transition deal lasts up to the next general election, there is a real possibility that a new incoming British government-stroke-coalition could sign us up to the single market and customs union forever.' EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said he hoped that the next phase of Brexit talks would be more 'serene' MEPs debated the divorce deal package ahead of an EU summit tomorrow, which is due to sign off the start of trade talk Mr Barnier drew battle lines on the divorce deal yesterday after Mr Davis was accused of 'undermining trust' and behaving like a 'gangster'. He warned that the bloc would 'not accept any backtracking' on the package that was painstakingly assembled by Theresa May in Brussels last week. He also raised the stakes on trade, warning there was 'no possibility' of a full agreement on the future relationship being reached by the time Brexit happens in March 2019. By contrast Mr Davis suggested at the weekend that a trade deal could be struck 'one minute' after we leave the EU. The combative comments came after Mr Davis scrambled to defuse a bitter row over playing down the UK's commitments on the Irish border. Furious MEPs seized on the 'unacceptable' remarks to accuse the UK of 'behaving like gangsters', while Mr Weber opened a new front by warning the UK should not 'assume' it will get a transition period if it does not honour commitments. EU leaders responded by signalling a crucial summit on Friday will push for fast progress on writing the divorce deal - which also includes a 39billion financial payment and guarantees on rights for EU citizens - into a formal Treaty. At a press conference in Brussels this evening, Mr Barnier echoed the hard line. 'We will have a final agreement only if the political commitments taken by May in the name of the British Govt last Friday are respected and we will be vigilant. We will not accept any backtracking from the UK,' he said. In a letter to EU premiers, council chief Donald Tusk appealed for them to stand together in the second phase of the talks. 'This will be a furious race against time, where again our unity will be key,' he said. Advertisement China today marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. President Xi Jinping joined thousands of people to mourn the victims killed by Japanese soldiers during the WWII in the former capital city. President Xi kept a low profile at the state memorial ceremony and left the main public remarks to another senior Communist official, who called to work with Japan for peace. Scroll down for video Sombre: Thousands of people participate in a state memorial ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in China today Paying tribute: The event held on the annual national day of remembrance marked the 80th anniversary of the massacre Showing respect: Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Yu Zhengsheng (right) arrive at the memorial ceremony before a minute's silence began in Nanjing, China, today China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 massacre, also known as 'Rape of Nanjing', in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. In 2014, China formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising the historic and political significance of the Nanjing Massacre. A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll in the eastern city of Nanjing at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all. Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued by a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets and suspicion in China about efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to amend Japan's pacifist constitution. However the two countries have sought to get relations back on track, and Abe and Xi met last month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam. Chinese paramilitary policemen stand guard during the state memorial ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall Beijing claims that 300,000 people were killed by the Japanese troops in Nanjing between December 1937 and January 1938 Bodies of Chinese people slaughtered by the Japanese Army lined a river bank in Nanjing, China, during the Nanjing Massacre Chinese youths with their hands bound together were forced to get on a truck under armed escort of Japanese soldiers Yu Zhengsheng, who heads a high-profile but largely ceremonial advisory body to China's parliament, spoke at the memorial at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Yu said China and Japan were neighbours with deep historic ties. China would deepen relations with all its neighbours, including Japan, on the basis of amity, sincerity and friendship, Yu said, in comments carried live on state television. 'China and Japan must act on the basis of both their people's basic interests, correctly grasp the broad direction of peaceful and friendly cooperation, take history as a mirror, face the future and pass on friendship down the generations,' Yu said. Sirens blare and thousands of doves are released as Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) attends the state memorial ceremony in Nanjing. Chinese paramilitary policemen present wreaths to mourn the victims during the event (right) Painful past: One of the survivors of Nanjing Massacre weeps as she attends the state memorial ceremony in eastern China Yu Zhengsheng, head of China's parliamentary advisory body, said China and Japan were neighbours with deep historic ties A sombre Xi, wearing a white flower in his lapel to symbolise mourning, stood in the audience but did not speak. Doves to signify peace flew overhead after Yu finished speaking. Xi later met massacre survivors, the official Xinhua news agency said, telling them, 'Lessons learned from the past can guide one in the future'. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who arrived in Beijing for a four-day visit, offered condolences to the victims in a speech to businessmen, in what his office called the first such public mention of the massacre by a South Korean leader. The state memorial ceremony was also attended by policemen, soldiers, students and local residents. Yu said China would deepen relations with all its neighbours, including Japan, on the basis of amity, sincerity and friendship China consistently reminds its people, especially students, of the 1937 massacre in which it says 300,000 people were killed Representatives of policemen mourn the massacre victims at the ceremony, alongside soldiers, students and residents In 2014, China formally made December 13, the anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, a National Day of Remembrance In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga spoke of the importance of looking to the future. 'The leaders of Japan and China have agreed in past meetings to further improve relations and it is important, while cherishing this trend, to together show a future-oriented stance,' Suga told a regular news conference: It was the second time Xi has attended the event since China marked its first national memorial day for the massacre in 2014. At that time, he called on China and Japan to set aside hatred and not allow the minority who led Japan to war to affect relations now. Some 200 homeless people will receive Christmas dinner at London's Euston Station on Christmas Day when the facility opens a a temporary shelter. Around 30 volunteers from Network Rail along with volunteers with homeless charities St Mungo's and Streets Kitchen. The homeless people will arrive at the station from 11am on Christmas Day, with the concourse prepared with tables and Christmas decorations. Some 200 homeless people will be served food at Euston Station in London on Christmas day Volunteers from Network Rail will work alongside St Mungo's and Streets Kitchen to transform the main concourse, pictured, into a lunch venue with Christmas decorations St Mungo's provides beds and support to 2,700 homeless people each night across England, while Streets Kitchen feed 1,000 people a week. Steve Naybour of Network Rail said: 'Using a station to give homeless people a Christmas dinner and some festive cheer is a great thing to do. 'Thousands and thousands of my colleagues will already be working on Christmas Day to improve the railway for passengers. Working on Christmas Day is pretty much par for the course for many of us who work for Network Rail but this year, because I wasnt scheduled to work, myself and a handful of colleagues came up with this plan to feed some of Londons homeless instead. 'St Mungos and Streets Kitchen have been fantastic. And Im proud to say weve had lots of interest from Network Rail colleagues to volunteer to come along on the day to help out. 'All of this is possible due to great support from the station team, British Transport Police (BTP) and local and national suppliers including the Pret Foundation Trust, Blacks outdoor clothing, Virgin Trains and Abellio theyve been amazing in making this event happen.' Joe Hendry, manager of Euston Station said: 'The station team is delighted to bring this unique event to life. Stations are at the heart of local communities and we want to provide a legacy through good relationships with organisations like St Mungos and Streets Kitchen that supports the homeless community in and around our station long after the buzz of Christmas has died down.' John Glackin from Streets Kitchen, who will be providing the food and service on the day praised the decision to open up the station. He said: 'This is a shining example of local businesses, community groups and individuals coming together at Christmas in solidarity to assist others in need over Christmas. 'Its fantastic to work with all the Network Rail team innovatively employing one of their prestigious stations to spread some festive cheer for our homeless community. This will be a fantastic fun day for our homeless friends that we will all hope could be replicated anywhere and everywhere.' Network Rail's staff as well as volunteers from St Mungo's will help the Streets Kitchen people serve the food as well as cleaning the station following the event and clearing away the tables. Beth Norden, community and events manager for St Mungo's added: 'Many people become homeless because of relationship breakdowns so Christmas can be a particularly lonely time for some of our residents. 'Our thanks to Network Rail, their staff and volunteers, for helping some of our residents in Camden and neighbouring boroughs feel included in the community this Christmas Day.' Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the United States is willing to negotiate with North Korea about its nuclear weapons program without preconditions. Tillerson said it was 'unrealistic' to expect the nuclear-armed country to come to the table ready to give up a weapons of mass destruction program that it invested so much in developing, a stance he says President Donald Trump backs. The Secretary of State remarks Tuesday came two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is ready to talk 'anytime' to North Korea The test marks a milestone in Pyongyang's decades-long drive to pose an atomic threat to its American adversary that Trump has vowed to prevent, using military force if necessary. 'We are ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. And we are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions,' Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think tank. He said that the North would need to hold off on its weapons testing. This year, the North has conducted more than 20 ballistic missile launches and one nuclear test explosion, its most powerful yet. 'Let's just meet and we can talk about the weather if you want to. We can talk about whether it's a square table or a round table if that's what you are excited about,' Tillerson said. Tillerson said it was 'unrealistic' to expect the nuclear-armed North Korea to give up its weapons program 'But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards.' Although Tillerson said the goal of U.S. policy remained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he added it was 'not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They've too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well.' Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman of Seoul's Unification Ministry, said of Tillerson's comments that Seoul wishes for talks to 'happen soon' if they contribute to the goal of finding a peaceful solution for the North Korean nuclear problem. He said Washington and Seoul both maintain a firm stance that North Korea's nuclear weapons cannot be tolerated and should be completely discarded in a peaceful way. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement later Tuesday that: 'The President's views on North Korea have not changed.' 'North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea, but the entire world. North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea,' she said. The Secretary of State said the U.S remained committed to the 'denuclearization' of the Korean peninsula In public, Trump has been less sanguine about the possibilities of diplomacy with Kim Jong Un's authoritarian government, which faces growing international isolation and sanctions as it pursues nuclear weapons in defiance of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. In October, Trump appeared to undercut Tillerson when he said he was 'wasting his time' trying to negotiate with North Korea, just as Tillerson said the U.S. had backchannel communications with the North. Trump, who has traded insults with Kim, kept up his tough talk on Tuesday. As he signed a $700 billion defense authorization bill that includes additional spending on missile defense, he referred to North Korea as a 'vile dictatorship.' 'We're working very diligently on that - building up forces. We'll see how it all turns out. It's a very bad situation - a situation that should have been handled long ago by other administrations,' Trump said. President Donald Trump has kept up the tough talk on North Korea, calling Kim Jong-un's regime a 'vile dictatorship' Tillerson did not indicate that North Korea had signaled a new readiness to talk, but said that 'they clearly understand that if we're going to talk, we've got to have a period of quiet' in weapons tests. Tillerson stressed that the U.S. would not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, as it flouts international norms and might spread weapons technology to non-state groups in ways that other nuclear powers have not. In a rare admission of discussion of a highly sensitive topic, Tillerson said Washington has discussed with Beijing how North Korea's nuclear weapons might be secured in case of instability there. 'The most important thing to us would be securing those nuclear weapons that they have already developed and ensuring that nothing falls into the hands of people who we would not want to have it. We've had conversations with the Chinese about how that might be done,' Tillerson said. It appeared to be the first public recognition from an administration official that the U.S. has discussed North Korean contingencies with China, which fought with the North against the U.S. in the 1950-53 Korean War. tNorth Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard The Trump administration has held a series of high-level dialogues with Beijing this year, and U.S. and Chinese generals held rare talks in late November about how the two militaries might communicate in a crisis although U.S. officials said the dialogue wasn't centered on North Korea. Tillerson said that the U.S. has assured China that in the event that American troops had to cross northward of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, it would retreat back south once stability returned. 'That is our commitment we made to them. Our only objective is to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and that is all,' Tillerson said. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said Tillerson's proposal for direct talks with North Korea without preconditions was overdue and a welcome shift in position, but both sides needed to demonstrate restraint. 'For North Korea that means a halt to all nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and for the United States, refraining from military maneuvers and overflights that appear to be practice runs for an attack on the North,' Kimball said. 'If such restraint is not forthcoming, we can expect a further escalation of tensions and a growing risk of a catastrophic war.' Last week, the United States flew a B-1B supersonic bomber over South Korea as part of a massive combined aerial exercise involving more than 200 warplanes. North Korea says such drills are preparations for invasion. Rugby league star Kieran Foran was reportedly being personally-sponsored by an 81-year-old grandmother - paying the representative halfback 'hundreds of thousands of dollars'. The NRL is currently investigating the Manly Sea Eagles after issuing the club a breach notice on Monday, alleging a string of dodgy deals with third-party companies and failing to register the full amounts of the payments. Foran, who left the club in 2015, had a trust fund set up by Brenda Duchen, a lifelong supporter of the club who 'was only trying to help the club by personally-sponsoring players', Seven reported. Scroll down for video Rugby league star Kieran Foran was reportedly being personally-sponsored by an 81-year-old grandmother - paying the representative halfback 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' Foran, who left the club in 2015, had a trust fund set up by Brenda Duchen (pictured), a lifelong supporter of the club who 'was only trying to help the club by personally-sponsoring players' Ms Duchen was reportedly 'very upset' by the accusations of any wrongdoing and says the 'significant amount of money' invested into Foran, who is her favourite player, was registered through the NRL. The code however believe Manly have helped facilitate the deal, which would break salary cap rules. 'I have done nothing wrong and can't imagine what the problem would be. There's been no payments other than what I have done through the NRL,' she told the Daily Telegraph. 'I have not been spoken to and would happily show them my books, they can have a look at them anytime they like. I've got nothing to hide at all.' 'I sponsored Kieran Foran before. I became great friends with him, I'm still great friends with him. I see him all the time. I had Kieran for three years.' There is no suggestion Ms Duchen was doing anything wrong. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ms Duchen and the Manly Sea Eagles for comment. Foran's father Greg is the president and CEO of Walmart. He earned $25.8 million in salary from the retail giant in 2016. Ms Duchen was reportedly 'very upset' by the accusations of any wrongdoing and says the 'significant amount of money' invested into Foran was registered through the NRL Foran signed a three-year deal with the Bulldogs earlier this year. Canterbury-Bankstown will be the third club Foran has played for in three years since leaving Manly Manly are the latest club to face such allegations from the NRL, after several scandals have rocked the code in the past 15 years. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs were stripped of 37 competition points in 2002, the Melbourne Storm had two premierships and three minor premierships taken in 2010 and Parramatta were deducted 12 points in 2016, all for wide-ranging salary cap breaches. The Sea Eagles have denied the allegations in the breach notice, but have five days to officially respond. They are not expected to face penalties similar to the aforementioned clubs. Foran has had a tumultuous few years involved in rugby league, including match-fixing investigations. He walked out on a lucrative contract with the Parramatta Eels in July of 2016 after a very public relationship breakdown with his long-term partner and mother of his two children. Later that year, the 27-year-old, his brother Liam and former brothel-owner Eddie Hayson were scrutinised by police over claims NRL matches were fixed. The men denied any involvement and NSW Crime Commission investigations are ongoing. Kim Jong-un may be planning another missile launch this Sunday to mark the anniversary of his father's death, experts say. A Washington DC think-tank has warned of potential 'weapons of mass destruction activities' in North Korea with December 17 seen as a possible date for a new ballistic missile test. Previous North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il died on that date in 2011. In the past, Pyongyang has marked such commemorations with rocket tests and military drills. Kim Jong-un may be planning another missile launch this Sunday to mark the anniversary of his father's death, experts say. He is pictured attending the 8th Conference of Munitions Industry in Pyongyang yesteday Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons on Tuesday while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15 In research released in late November, the respected Center for Strategic and International Studies said date analysis showed elevated chances for provocations by the secretive nation within four weeks. Meanwhile Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons on Tuesday while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15. Hwasong-15, which was test-launched on November 29, has been largely perceived by analysts and government officials to have a range that can reach all of the mainland United States. However, experts believe North Korea still has some technical points it needs to improve before fully completing its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the entirety of the United States. Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing 'more latest weapons and equipment' to 'bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity', the North's central news agency reported The North Korean leader was speaking at the close of a rare two-day munitions conference to celebrate the Hwasong-15 Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing 'more latest weapons and equipment' to 'bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity', the North's central news agency reported on Wednesday. The North Korean leader was speaking at the close of a rare two-day munitions conference to celebrate the Hwasong-15. Kim also said North Korea should develop and manufacture more diverse weapons. Kim personally awarded medals to 'those in the field of defense science who most faithfully and perfectly carried out the Party's plan for building strategic nuclear force, successfully test-fired ICBM Hwasong-15 and thus demonstrated the dignity and might of our powerful state all over the world once again,' KCNA said without naming the recipients. They were given several medals, including the Order of Kim Il Sung and Order of Kim Jong Il, the highest orders of the DPRK, an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Scientists were given several medals, including the Order of Kim Il Sung and Order of Kim Jong Il, the highest orders of the DPRK, an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea In addition to the medals, KCNA said the scientists and officials were given watches engraved with the names of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader's grandfather and father. 'He solemnly declared that the development of new strategic weapon systems including A-bomb, H-bomb and ICBM Hwasong-15 with indigenous efforts and technology and the realization of the great cause of completing the state nuclear force serve as a great historic victory of our Party and people of the country,' North Korea's state media added citing Kim. The isolated state has previously said it has succeeded in developing atom bombs and hydrogen bombs as it carried out six nuclear tests from 2006, with the latest in September this year, although no outside entity has been able to confirm the North's announcements. Reporters from the Washington Post were banned from entering failed Senate candidate Roy Moore's election party last night. Controversial Republican Moore was defeated by Democrat Doug Jones in a stunning upset in the Alabama poll yesterday. But as his campaign team gathered in Montgomery to watch the results come in, journalists from the Post were told they would have to report on the evening from outside. Scroll down for video The paper's social media reporter, Kayla Epstein, even took photographs of her banishment. She joked: 'Im reporting from outside Roy Moores Election Night party on the Snapchat. Tune in to see what I can see!' Epstein also took a surreptitious picture of a buffet at the party, which she spotted through locked doors The Post, which published a story last month featuring claims by several women that Moore dated them when he was in his 30s and they in their teens, explained: 'We were denied credentials and when our reporters asked to enter they were told no.' The paper's social media reporter, Kayla Epstein, even took photographs of her banishment. She joked: 'Im reporting from outside Roy Moores Election Night party on the Snapchat. Tune in to see what I can see!' Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore takes the stage upon arriving at his election night party in Montgomery, Alabama Roy Moore's supporters hug as he loses the race in a historic upset to Democrat Doug Jones, who's the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama in 31 years Mike Tate (left) holds his son Seth as he and his family await the arrival of Roy Moore at the Republican's election night party in Montgomery, Alabama Roy Moore's supporters hug in sadness as the election is called for Democrat Doug Jones less than two and a half hours after polls closed Epstein also took a surreptitious picture of a buffet at the party, which she spotted through locked doors. Politics reporter Jenna Johnson, meanwhile, also uploaded photographs of the party from the wrong side of the closed doors. Reporters from the newspaper were also told to leave a Moore rally in Midland City on Monday, according to a spokeswoman for the campaign. Moore was infuriated by the Post's piece alleging he had dated underage girls. He branded it a 'terrible, disgusting article' and accused the newspaper of pursuing a 'political agenda'. After it was published, more women came out against Moore with similar claims. He strongly denied all of the accusations, stressing that the women had waited '40 years' and then only come forward '30 days before' the election. In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election Jones defeated Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. There were just under 21,000 votes separating the winner and the loser, out of 1.3 million cast. Moore complained in his speech: 'Part of the problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light.' 'We've been put in a hole, if you will,' he said, referencing the Bible's Psalm 40 and speaking rapidly. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election on Tuesday, beating back history, an embattled Republican opponent and President Donald Trump, who urgently endorsed GOP rebel Roy Moore despite a litany of sexual misconduct allegations. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but sure in the age of Trump. The Republican loss was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nation's already divided GOP. "We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified," Jones declared as supporters in a Birmingham ballroom cheered, danced and cried tears of joy. Still in shock, the Democrat struggled for words: "I think that I have been waiting all my life, and now I just don't know what the hell to say." Moore, meanwhile, refused to concede and raised the possibility of a recount during a brief appearance at a somber campaign party in Montgomery. "It's not over," Moore said. He added, "We know that God is still in control." From the White House, Trump tweeted his congratulations to Jones "on a hard-fought victory" but added pointedly that "the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!" Jones takes over the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The term expires in January of 2021. The victory by Jones, a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for Birmingham's infamous 1963 church bombing, narrows the GOP advantage in the U.S. Senate to 51-49. That imperils already-uncertain Republican tax, budget and health proposals and injects tremendous energy into the Democratic Party's early push to reclaim House and Senate majorities in 2018. Still, many Washington Republicans viewed the defeat of Moore as perhaps the best outcome for the party nationally despite the short-term sting. The fiery Christian conservative's positions have alienated women, racial minorities, gays and Muslims in addition to the multiple allegations that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with teens, one only 14, when he was in his 30s. "Tonight's results are clear the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate," said Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who leads the national GOP's Senate campaign arm and called on Moore to quit the race weeks ago. A number of Republicans declined to support him, including Alabama's long-serving Sen. Richard Shelby. But Trump lent his name and the national GOP's resources to Moore's campaign in recent days. Had Moore won, the GOP would have been saddled with a colleague accused of sordid conduct as Republicans nationwide struggle with Trump's historically low popularity. Senate leaders had promised that Moore would have faced an immediate ethics investigation. Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed hopes of scheduling a vote on their tax legislation before Jones is sworn in, but lawmakers are still struggling to devise a compromise bill to bridge the divide between the House and Senate legislation that can win majority support in both chambers. The Republican loss also gives Democrats a clearer path to a Senate majority in 2018 albeit a narrow one in an election cycle where Democrats are far more optimistic about seizing control of the House of Representatives. Ultimately, Tuesday's contest came down to which side better motivated its supporters to vote. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said turnout likely would not exceed 25 percent of registered voters. Jones successfully fought to cobble together an unlikely coalition of African-Americans, liberal whites and moderate Republicans. He had his strongest support across Alabama's "black belt," named for the color of its soil, and in the larger urban areas, including Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile, Tuscaloosa and Huntsville. Turnout in those areas, which features a large African-American population, also ran higher than in some of the more heavily Republican parts of the state. At his election night headquarters, stunned supporters erupted in celebration as news of his victory was announced. Many danced to the song "Happy." Some cried. "I honestly did not know that this was even an option. I didn't think that we could elect a Democrat," said 26-year-old campaign volunteer Jess Eddington, her eyes red from tears of joy. "I am so proud we did." Moore, who largely avoided public events in the final weeks of the race and spent far less money on advertising than his opponent, bet big and lost on the state's traditional Republican leanings and the strength of his passionate evangelical Christian supporters. He sidestepped questions about sexual misconduct as he arrived at his polling place on horseback earlier in the day. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percentage point. With all precincts reporting, Jones led by 1.5 points three times that margin. If the secretary of state determines there were more write-in votes than the difference between Jones and Moore, the state's counties would be required to tally those votes. It's not clear how that would help Moore, who ended the night trailing Jones by more than 20,000 votes. Democrats were not supposed to have a chance in Alabama, one of the most Republican-leaning states in the nation. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton here by nearly 28 points just 13 months ago. Yet Moore had political baggage that repelled some moderate Republicans even before allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Virtually the entire Republican establishment, Trump included, supported Moore's primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange in September. Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was one of the only early high-profile Moore backers. Moore was once removed from his position as state Supreme Court chief justice after he refused to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument at the state court building. A second time, he was permanently suspended for urging state probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Said Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez: "The people of Alabama sent a loud and clear message to Donald Trump and the Republican Party: You can't call yourself the party of family values as long as you're willing to accept vile men like Roy Moore as members." Santa has been spotted sweating through a Sydney heatwave using a fan to cool down as temperatures fired above 30C. Taking a break from his busy schedule at the North Pole, Mr Claus was at Luna Park on Wednesday to greet families and their children. But it seems the stress of the holiday season coupled with Australia's hottest week in 54 years sent Santa into a meltdown. Santa has been spotted sweating through a Sydney heatwave using a fan to cool down as temperatures fired above 30C But it seems the stress of the holiday season coupled with Australia's hottest week in 54 years sent Santa into a meltdown Taking a break from his busy schedule in the North Pole, Mr Claus was at Luna Park on Wednesday to greet families and their children Santa Claus poses for photos with children at Luna Park He was spotted with a red handheld water fan to cool himself down in the hot summer sunshine. Even with his big bushy beard and donning his red suit - more suitable for the icy temperatures in the North Pole Santa manage to keep his cool as he posed for photos. The heat was also causing trouble for residents with thousands of homes losing power (and air-conditioning!) across Sydney. Emergency crews spent the afternoon responding to calls. 'Emergency crews are working to restore power to 5,000 customers in Sydney's south-east & inner west after two separate outages this afternoon,' Ausgrid tweeted on Wednesday. But there will be no respite with the mercury tipped to peak at 35C in Sydney on Thursday. Cooling down: Santa was spotted with a red handheld water fan to cool himself down in the hot summer sunshine Checking his list- TWICE! Santa Claus makes notes of children's present requests in the hot summer sunshine An extremist husband and wife who practised knife attacks on a dummy while plotting a terror attack have been jailed. Nursery worker Madihah Taheer and her husband Ummariyat Mirza, from Birmingham, argued over which of them was more radical as they planned to emulate the San Bernardino attack in California which killed 14 and left 22 injured. Taheer, 22, encouraged husband Mirza, 21, by buying him a hunting knife and telling him before they were married that 'I want you to kill ppl for me'. They were both jailed at Woolwich Crown Court today - Mirza for 16 years for preparing acts of terrorism in the UK, assisted by his wife Taheer who was sentenced to 10 years. Madihah Taheer and Ummariyat Mirza have been jailed for plotting a terrorist attack The knife bought by Madihah Taheer, who along with husband Ummariyat Mirza was sentenced after they plotted a terror attack on the UK Mirza made a harness so that he could hide the knife under his clothing and pull it out quickly for the attack (pictured) In messages to each other, Mirza, 21, said he wanted to stab someone 27 times, to which Taheer replied that 'sounds so satisfying'. He then sent her a video of him pretending to stab a chair and asked her to buy him a knife. The court also heard how Mirza fantasised about beheading Britain First's leader Paul Golding. When police searched the couple's home in St Agathas Road, Birmingham, they found the training dummy with slash marks across the forehead, throat and abdomen. Mirza admitted preparing terrorist acts and two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist, after he researched potential targets including a Birmingham military base on his phone. Taheer denied any involvement but was found guilty of the preparation of terrorist acts after trial at Woolwich Crown Court in October. Ummariyat Mirza posinjg with a gun Among the messages between the couple were several sent in September 2015, predating their marriage in April 2016, in which Taheer told Mirza: 'Can we get married already ffs. I want you to kill for me. I have a list.' Mirza replied: 'The day of the nikkah (marriage) I'll kill em all. Give me the list. The only thing that stops me is we are not married. I will defo I'm not joking.' The Crown Prosecution Service said the conversations showed Taheer was a 'willing accomplice' who knew what Mirza wanted to use the knife for. Also sentenced was 23-year-old Zainab Mirza, Mirza's sister, who shared Islamic State propaganda with the couple on social media. Zainab, of Eastfield Road, Birmingham, earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of disseminating terrorist publications, which she had sent to her brother. She was sentenced to 30 months. Judge Christopher Kinch said: 'There is a clear and seemingly inexorable progress from interest and enthusiasm in terrorism, through research and study, into training, sourcing and acquiring equipment and then researching targets for action. 'At each stage the discussions between husband and wife demonstrate that Madihah Taheer was supportive throughout. 'At the time that the discussions and plans of Umar Mirza and Madihah Taheer were reaching their final stages, Zainub Mirza was fuelling the extremist sentiments that were driving her brother and sister-in-law.' Madihah Taheer with a gun. She uploaded this picture with the caption: 'Told I was a shottah mann' Mirza was arrested on March 29, a week after Khalid Masood killed five people in Westminster including PC Keith Palmer. Taheer was seven months pregnant at the time, giving birth to a son in May. Mirza had been researching Masood on his computer, alongside potential targets, googling Birmingham Barracks as well as Jewish areas of London and Birmingham Central Synagogue. When he posted a knife emoji on his WhatsApp account police decided it was time to swoop. Madihah Taheer was jailed for 10 years; Ummar Mirza was jailed for 16 years and his sister Zainub Mirza, 24, was locked up for 30 months. The trio embraced before they were taken down. Taheer, 22, an administrator for a children's nursery, who was seven months pregnant, was found guilty of lending him her debit card to buy a knife. Mirza had trained as an accountant but failed his exams and was working in an administrative role at the accountancy firm in Alum Rock. The death of a little boy who died despite seeing six doctors over four days could have been prevented, a coroner has ruled. Two-year-old Lachlan Black died in August 2014 after being unwell for a number of days with a high fever, septicaemia and high heart rate. The Melbourne toddler's parents, Angela and Tim Black, were wrongly told by doctors their little boy was suffering from 'a virus', The Age reported. Parents Angela and Tim Black (pictured) were wrongly told by doctors their little boy was suffering 'a virus' Coroner Rosemary Carlin choked back tears as she announced her findings that Lachlan's death was caused by human error. Ms Carlin said the two-year-old would have survived if he was given the 'appropriate care from the outset', according to the publication. 'They appear to have been caused by a combination of human errors and failures of the system to prevent or counteract human errors,' she said. Lachlan was rushed to the emergency department at Monash Medical Centre on August 17, 2014, after twice saying he felt cold and refusing to walk. He later saw two different doctors before he was again rushed back to emergency for his final, fatal visit. He had earlier been to the emergency room twice and seen two other GPs. It reportedly took more than ten hours for doctors to give the two-year-old antibiotics where he later died after 30 minutes of CPR on August 18. Ms Black (left) said last month her son 'died a third-world death in a first-world country' The coroner found medical teams failed to reassess the toddler's condition after a rash appeared and his heart rate increased, the publication reported. Talking to Seven News in November, the young parents believed that had antibiotics been prescribed to Lachlan sooner, he would have survived. 'He died a third-world death in a first-world country,' Mrs Black told the network. 'He suffered in hospital and we had to see that, he shouldn't have had to go through that and we have to live with that for the rest of our lives.' Monash Health director of emergency medicine Dr Neil Goldie apologised to the heartbroken family. 'Since 2014 we have made a number of changes to our clinical care processes, to reduce the likelihood that this kind of tragedy could occur again,' he said according to News Corp. Tony Boyd (pictured in a mug shot), 23, was released on bail following his arrest A British medical student accused of beating up and firing a gun at his girlfriend when he visited her in the US has dismissed her claims as lies. Tony Boyd, 23, was released on bail following his arrest in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for an alleged attack on Sophie Kelly. Mr Boyd, from Troon in Scotland, said he only 'threw a few punches' when he discovered his girlfriend was 'having an affair', after walking in on Miss Kelly in the bedroom with a work colleague. However, the attack was directed at his love rival, not Miss Kelly, he claimed. He said the gun went off by accident when he emptied the contents of the other man's bag over the balcony. Mr Boyd told MailOnline: 'It is hard to believe that this is happening. Me and her were going out for over a year - she lived with me for over a year. 'Her parents were in the US. She qualified as a vet at the start of this summer and got a job over there. 'So I said to her that I'd go over there and help her settle in for two months. Two weeks prior to me leaving, one night I came home to the apartment to find her with another guy in her bedroom. 'She was having an affair. I threw a few punches at the guy. I chased him out of the apartment and she quickly followed. 'She is trying to press charges that I had physical contact with her but that completely didn't happen and there is no evidence for that. It was very obvious that I threw punches at the guy.' The student, who also runs an online sportswear company, is accused of firing a gun at Sophie and a friend just weeks after she moved to the US to work as a veterinary surgeon Aspiring doctor Tony Boyd, 23, (pictured right) of Troon, Ayrshire, was released on bail following his arrest in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for an alleged attack on Fife-born Sophie Kelly Miss Kelly, who is from Fife, was accused by her boyfriend of 'having an affair' Discussing the gun, he added: 'I saw the guy's bag beside the couch where I was sitting. I took his bag out to the porch out the back and started emptying it. 'There was a firearm so I pulled it out - I've never even held a gun before so originally I thought 'what's this?' - so as I pulled it out a bullet goes off into the distance in front of me. At this point there was nobody there apart from myself. 'There were no gun shots fired at anyone, there was no intention of firing gun shots at anyone. It was complete fluke accident. If anything the gun probably had more effect on me because I was completely shocked. 'I dropped the gun and ran out. The police turned up. I gave myself up and told them exactly what happened. I didn't lie.' Miss Kelly, from Fife, moved to the US to work as a veterinary surgeon The Scottish couple pictured together on a romantic trip to Thailand earlier this year Court papers show Boyd is charged with one count of discharging a firearm, two charges of battery and a charge of criminal damage to a property on August 11. He pleaded not guilty on August 14 and after paying an 11,000 bail fee he was allowed to return to the UK to continue his final year of study at the University of Glasgow. The couple dated for several months and enjoyed luxury holidays to Thailand, Spain and Greece together, and Miss Kelly even modelled for Boyd's sportswear brand. At a case hearing this week the court noted Boyd was not in attendance due to his studies in Scotland and another hearing was set for March next year. He has been told he cannot drink alcohol or contact his ex-girlfriend while on bail. His father Lewis, a restauranteur, added: 'Tony had gone to America where Sophie got a job as a vet. 'They got set up and he came home one night and she had someone in the bedroom with her. 'Obviously, emotions were running high. He kicked open the bedroom door of the apartment he and his girlfriend shared. He didn't touch her. I know that for a fact because I was over there in the States and bailed him out. I spoke to his attorney and the DA. 'He has been done with vandalism for breaking the door, assault for punching the guy and also discharging a firearm within 100 yards of a residential buillding. 'His attorney, a Mr Buchard, has said each charge carries a penalty of 30 days. 30 days for vandalism, 30 days for assault and 30 days for the firearm charge. The worst case scenario is 90 days. 'He was due in court on Monday, but the attorney got the trial postponed until June to allow him to finish his medical degree.' Boyd, who also runs an online sportswear company, is accused of firing a gun at Miss Kelly A Labour shadow cabinet minister looks set to keep her job despite flouting party policy to call for a boycott on Israeli goods. Kate Osamor, Shadow International Development Secretary, tweeted a link to a campaign calling for the 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' against the country. And she linked to the Institute Middle East Institute for Understanding which calls for a boycott of Israel until 'it ended its occupation, allowed Palestinian refugees to return, and implemented equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel'. Her support for the boycott of Israel - one of the only democracies in the Middle East - contradicts official Labour policy. And it flies in the face of comments made by other senior Labour MPs including Emily Thornberry who said a boycott amounted to 'bigotry' while Tom Watson said it is 'morally wrong'. Tory MP and former minister Andrew Percy said: 'Even the Labour Party themselves, which has its own issues with anti-Semitism, has called the BDS campaign out for its bigotry. 'This is a group that picks put the world's one Jewish state and deliberately targets them and the fact a Labour MP should endorse this sort of hate and bigotry is really worrying.' Kate Osamor, Shadow International Development Secretary, tweeted a link to a campaign calling for 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' against the country (file pic) Kate Osamor tweeted a link to the Institute Middle East Institute for Understanding which calls for a boycott of Israel until 'it ended its occupation, allowed Palestinian refugees to return, and implemented equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel' But a Labour spokesman appeared to downplay the tweet by comparing Ms Osamor's decision to back a boycott to being a member of the National Trust. The spokesman stressed that her position in the shadow cabinet was not at risk, adding: 'You don't necessarily consult everybody before you put out a tweet.' The spokesman insisted it was not the party's policy to support BDS and Mr Corbyn was 'not in favour of a comprehensive or blanket boycott'. But while refusing to say whether Mr Corbyn was comfortable with Ms Osamor's message they added 'I'm not saying he is uncomfortable with the tweet either'. The Labour spokesman also indicated the party was relaxed about shadow cabinet members being in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) which backs BDS and lists Mr Corbyn as a patron. He compared the group to other organisations which senior Labour MPs might join, such as the National Trust. He said: 'I'm sure members of the shadow cabinet are members of the National Trust and the National Trust might have policies which aren't necessarily entirely in line with Labour Party policies.' The row comes just a week after Ms Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary told a Labour Friends of Israel lunch that a boycott of Israeli academics and goods amounted to 'bigotry'. And she heaped praise on the Israeli Labour Party - saying it showed how 'a Labour-led government can build a more peaceful, more prosperous and more progressive future both for Israel and its neighbours.' But a Labour spokesman appeared to downplay the tweet by comparing Kate Osamor's decision to back a boycott to being a member of the National Trust She added: 'A constant rejoinder to all those who somehow believe that opposition to the policies of an individual Israeli government can ever justify a hatred of the nation and its people, or a boycott of its products, its culture or its academics, or a denial of its right to defend itself from military assault and terror attacks. 'That sort of bigotry against the Israeli nation has never been justified and it never will be.' Ms Osamor's stance also sets her on a collision course with Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson, who has said the boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is 'morally wrong'. Addressing an Labour Friends of Israel event last year, he said: 'Those in this country who campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions seek to demonise and de-legitimise the world's only Jewish state. 'Let me be clear. The BDS movement is morally wrong. It is failing. And it does nothing to advance the cause of peace or advance a two-state solution.' Ms Osamor's comments come after Labour has been dogged by rows over anti-Semitism in the party. Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, told a Labour Friends of Israel lunch that a boycott of Israeli academics and goods amounted to 'bigotry' Mr Corbyn has been heavily criticised for staying largely silent while activists are embroiled in anti-Semitic abuse, and failing to do enough to root it out. The anti-Semitism row reared its head again at Labour's annual conference in Brighton in September when an academic at a fringe event suggested the party should debate whether the Holocaust even happened. And three days ago a Labour activist linked to the Momentum group was suspended after allegedly creating an anti-Semitic video mocking three councillors. Daniel Harris posted a video on Facebook featuring the faces of three Labour councillors superimposed on the heads of dancing Jewish figures. The video, entitled 'The Dancing Brighton and Hove Councillors', featured city council leader Warren Morgan and his colleagues Anne Meadows and Caroline Penn. It is understood that two of the councillors have close family ties to the Jewish community. Staff Sgt David Thomas Brabander, 24, died in a noncombat-related vehicle incident in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Monday The US soldier who died in a noncombat-related vehicle incident in eastern Afghanistan on Monday has been identified by the Army as 24-year-old Staff Sgt David Thomas Brabander. Two other American service members were injured in the incident, which took place in eastern Nangarhar province. Brabander was an airborne infantryman and squad leader from Anchorage, Alaska, who had been deployed in Afghanistan since September in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division with US Army Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, the Army Times reported. The 24-year-old enlisted in the Army in March 2014 and had been stationed at US Army Alaska since November 2014. Prior to that, he was stationed in Hawaii. According to a statement from the US military, Brabander and his comrades were not in contact with enemy forces at the time of the vehicle incident. The statement added that US Gen John Nicholson, commander of the US troops in Afghanistan, expressed his deepest sympathies and prayers to the families and friends of the fallen and injured service members. US troops have supported their Afghan counterparts in the Nangarhar province for nearly two years in a battle against an Islamic State affiliate 'We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our own,' said Nicholson. 'Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with the families and friends of our fallen and injured comrades.' An military investigation into the crash is still ongoing. Brabander's family still don't know what caused the vehicle crash, according to the Anchorage Daily News. His only sister, Brittany Hunnings, told the newspaper that her brother 'really believed in the cause that he was fighting for'. 'He told me upon arriving at his destination that it was tragic to see the reality of what these people had been through and that he really believed he could help them,' she told the Anchorage Daily News. Brabander's noncombat death marks the fourth such death of US troops in Afghanistan this year. Eleven US service-members have died as a result of combat incidents in the same time period. People magazine has published a photograph showing President Donald Trump stood next to a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her - but who he claimed to have never met. Trump has denied multiple accusations of sexual assault and harassment, at one point branding ex-People journalist Natasha Stoynoff a 'liar' for claiming he pushed her against a wall before 'forcing his tongue down [her] throat'. She said the attack took place during a 2005 party at his Mar-a-Lago estate. But Trump raged in a tweet yesterday about 'false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!'. .@realDonaldTrump claims he 'never met' accusers like PEOPLE's Natasha Stoynoff, but we have the photo https://t.co/3oIcMyRFWW pic.twitter.com/GwnmjFKzUm People (@people) December 12, 2017 Stoynoff (pictured) asked if - given the momentum of the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment movement - 'the president of the United States [is] held to a different standard than, say, Louis C.K.? Or will Trump too face a day of reckoning?. Above: The picture, tweeted by People magazine, that shows Trump stood next to the woman he claimed to have never met Trump has denied multiple accusations of sexual assault and harassment, at one point branding ex-People journalist Natasha Stoynoff a 'liar' for claiming he pushed her against a wall before 'forcing his tongue down [her] throat' People explained: 'Stoynoff was at Mar-a-Lago in late 2005 for a joint interview and photo shoot with Trump and his wife Melania, as shown in a photo the Trumps took with the full PEOPLE crew that day' But Trump raged in a tweet yesterday about 'false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!' In response, People posted a photograph of Stonyoff stood next to Trump on the day she claimed he assaulted her. Stood in front of the president is his wife, and now first lady, Melania. People explained: 'Stoynoff was at Mar-a-Lago in late 2005 for a joint interview and photo shoot with Trump and his wife Melania, as shown in a photo the Trumps took with the full PEOPLE crew that day.' In 2016, Stoynoff went public with her story. She said: 'Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one "tremendous" room in particular, he said, that I just had to see. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's spokeswoman, defended his tweet yesterday on Megyn Kelly Today 'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. 'I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.' Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's spokeswoman, defended his tweet yesterday on Megyn Kelly Today by explaining: 'Simply stating that you don't know someone means that you don't have a relationship with them.' It comes after four women to have accused Trump renewed their appeals to see the president investigated by an ethics committee in Congress. Samantha Holvey, Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds and Melinda McGillivray made the demand this week. Stoynoff asked if - given the momentum of the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment movement - 'the president of the United States [is] held to a different standard than, say, Louis C.K.? Or will Trump too face a day of reckoning?' A 25-year-old man has been hospitalised after allegedly being drugged and raped by two women in northeast South Africa. The man had been hitchhiking in Polokwane, Limpopo province when he was picked up by two middle-aged women who offered him a lift However, after a short drive, the women allegedly pulled out a gun and forced him to drink an 'unknown substance' before gang-raping him. Alleged attack: The hitchhiker had been picked up by two women in northeast South Africa who allegedly subsequently drugged and gang-raped him at gunpoint (stock image) The man claims that the women then drove him to the neabry town of Tzaneen, where they dumped him by the side of the road. 'After the ordeal, it is alleged they drove further with the victim and dropped him off in a secluded area near Tzaneen CBD, where he proceeded to the Tzaneen Police Station and reported the matter,' Lt Col Moatshe Ngoepe told Capricorn Voice. The victim was taken to a local hospital where he is currently in a 'serious condition' the newspaper wrote on its website. Limpopo province borders Zimbabwe, where police recently investigated a 'semen bandit' gang, who carried out similar attacks to sell their victims' sperm for 'good luck'. In July a 39-year-old teacher was kidnapped, drugged and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a gang of three women who had offered him a lift as he waited at a bus stop in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. In February, another teacher who was on his way to Bulawayo, southwest Zimbabwe, was kidnapped, drugged and gang-raped by four women. Last year, three other women reportedly stole a man's semen after forcing him to have sex with them during an abduction in Bulawayo. In 2011, three women were arrested after picking up men on a road between Gweru and Harare. Police found 31 condoms full of semen, believed to have been intended for ritual purposes, when they were stopped at a road block. A concrete wall in Calais designed to stop UK-bound migrants from crossing the Channel has been fitted with unlocked doors along its length, it has been revealed. The multi-million pound barrier runs half a mile along the N216 motorway near the French town's ferry terminal. But the 13ft wall, which was supposed to stop refugees from boarding lorries heading for the UK, has doors that can be opened without a key from the motorway side. A concrete wall in Calais designed to stop UK-bound migrants from crossing the Channel has been fitted with unlocked doors along its length, it has been revealed. Refugees are pictured running past one of the doors Unlocked: The steel doors have a latch on the motorway side, an investigation has revealed The 13ft wall, which was supposed to discourage refugees from boarding lorries heading for the UK, has doors that can be opened without a key from the motorway side The multi-million pound barrier runs half a mile along the N216 motorway near the French town's ferry terminal According to Oliver Pritchard for the Daily Star, who revealed the bizarre design after an investigation, migrants revealed it is possible to walk to the end of the wall where it reaches a roundabout and then walk back to open the door from the other side. On the motorway side, the steel doors have handles and a catch which can be opened without a key. It is thought the idea was to provide access for emergency services and maintenance workers. The Daily Star quoted one aid worker in the area as saying: 'The wall is totally pointless.' On the motorway side, the steel doors have handles and a catch which can be opened without a key. It is thought the idea was to provide access for emergency services and maintenance workers Work started on the controversial wall, which cost British taxpayers more than 2million, in September 2016 and was completed in December of that year A Home Office spokesman added: 'Security for the wall is a responsibility for the French authorities.' Work started on the controversial wall, which cost British taxpayers more than 2million, in September 2016 and was completed in December of that year. French charities and politicians from both left and right said they were disgusted by the prospect of the 13ft high structure, which was dubbed the 'Wall of Shame'. It runs along the site of the former Calais Jungle where thousands of migrants once camped in squalid conditions before the shanty town was destroyed. A paedophile who avoided a 50-year prison term for reasons including his sleeping problems and high cholesterol cannot be identified - but his victims can, a court has ruled. The 55-year-old man, from Dubbo, New South Wales, was spared jail last month after pleading guilty to historic sex crimes involving two young girls, with District Court Judge John North granting a suppression order on his name. In criminal proceedings, the identities of offenders are usually only withheld to ensure those of the victims are not revealed. But Judge North ruled this week the victims could be publicly named, while the paedophile's identity must remain secret, The Daily Telegraph reported. The 55-year-old Dubbo man was spared jail last month after pleaded guilty to historic sex crimes involving two young girls, with District Court Judge John North (pictured) granting a suppression order on his name Both victims have spoken of their outrage at the decision to suppress the man's name and say the justice system has let them down. 'I truly feel from my heart that they have failed me and that the system is protecting a paedophile,' one told the paper. 'The initial case took four years in court and they decided not jail him. To have it so he can't even be named is heartbreaking. This man has ruined my life and he completely gets away with it.' Another victim, who started being abused when she was just eight years old, slammed the decision. 'I am shocked that we are being named but he isn't... There are other victims and they need to know about this case,' she said. NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman told the paper he was investigating the reasons behind the decision to suppress the offender's name. Both victims have spoken of their outrage at the decision to suppress the man's name and say the justice system has let them down (stock image) The man was 19 years old when he began abusing the girls, aged eight and 10, between 1980 and 1987, the paper previously reported. Despite facing 54 years' jail for his crimes, Judge North handed him a two-year suspended sentence with no supervision order, listing a series of bizarre reasons for why the man should receive credit. Judge North spoke of the offender's 'good character' and naivety because of his lack of sex education, as well as his sleep deprivation over the case. He noted the man's diabetes, high cholesterol and chronic kidney disease would be difficult to treat in prison, where Judge North said he would have to be contained in isolation. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Doug Jones, a Democrat who once prosecuted two Ku Klux Klansmen in a deadly church bombing and has now broken the Republican lock grip on Alabama, is the state's new U.S. senator. Here are some facts about Jones: CLOSE TO HOME Jones, 63, grew up in the working-class city of Fairfield, just west of Birmingham, an area where steel mills once belched smoke that left a rust-colored haze hanging over the metro area. His father was a steelworker and so was one of his grandfathers; the other worked in a coal mine. Jones spent time working in a mill when not in school. Now an attorney in private practice, Jones lives just a few miles from his hometown in the hilly suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama's richest locale with an average family income estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau at $225,000 annually. DEMOCRATIC ROOTS Jones got his start in government as an aide to the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama, the late Howell Heflin. After graduating from Samford University's law school in 1979, Jones worked as staff counsel to the Judiciary Committee for Heflin, and Jones still considers Heflin a role model. Heflin cited his health in retiring from the Senate, and Republican Jeff Sessions was elected to replace him in 1996. Jones will now assume the seat vacated by Sessions when he was nominated as U.S. attorney general by President Donald Trump. Republican appointee Luther Strange has held the seat in the interim. CHURCH BOMBING Years before running for Senate, Jones made a name for himself prosecuting two KKK members for the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, a brutal crime that killed four black girls in 1963. One Klansman was convicted in the blast in 1977, and a renewed investigation was underway by the time President Bill Clinton appointed Jones as U.S. attorney in Birmingham in 1997. Jones led a team of federal and state attorneys during trials that resulted in the convictions of Thomas Blanton Jr. in 2001 and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002. Last year, Jones was among the speakers who urged Alabama's parole board to refuse an early release for Blanton. The board agreed, and Blanton remains in prison serving life for murder. PARTY GUY Alabama's Democratic Party has been on life support since Republicans gained ascendency years ago, holding no statewide offices and a minority in each legislative chamber, but Jones supported an effort to revive the organization in 2013. A former party chairman formed the Alabama Democratic Majority to raise money and recruit candidates, and Jones was among those publicly supportive of the effort. The foundation was dormant by 2014, but Trump's victory has helped breathe new life into local organizations, including the Democratic Party in Republican-heavy Shelby County, where officials say membership has jumped from around a dozen to more than 200 people since the 2016 election. Jones' victory can only help re-energize the party even more. The estranged father of tween at the center of a Tennessee bullying scandal, has a history of sharing white supremacy propaganda on Facebook, it has been revealed. Keaton Jones's father, Shawn White, has been in prison since May 2015 for a probation violation related to a 2012 aggravated assault conviction. But before he was locked up, he shared a series of Facebook photos wearing an 'SS' sweatshirt and showing off his 'Pure Breed' and 'White Pride' tattoos. The convict at Knox County Jail also has a neck tattoo of 'CWB', which is connected to the Crazy White Boy gang. It's unclear what type of relationship White has with Keaton, who shares a last name with his mother. White last shared a photo of his son in 2015. White's Facebook photos have emerged a day after Keaton's mother, Kimberly, broke down in tears while discussing the backlash against photos she posted showing herself and her son posing with Confederate flags. Keaton Jones's father, Shawn White, has been in prison since May 2015 for a probation violation related to a 2012 aggravated assault conviction. But before he was locked up, he shared a series of Facebook photos wearing an 'SS' sweatshirt and showing off his 'Pure Breed' and 'White Pride' tattoos In one image, White (right) and friends hold up a hand sign connected the Aryan Circle, one of the largest white supremacist gangs in US prisons This mugshot shows Shawn White in May of 2015 White also shared a number of white supremacy memes, that say things like 'I love the skin I'm in'. One meme read 'thank you for being apart of this family, without you there is no us!! We are the Aryan Circle'. The words are typed over the number '13', which reference the first and third letters of the alphabet, AC, or the initials of the Aryan Circle Response: Kimberly Jones appeared on Good Morning America (above with son Keaton) to address accusations that she and her family are racist On his Facebook, White, who will be released from prison in 2018, also shared a number of white supremacy memes, that say things like 'I love the skin I'm in'. On another page, he shared memes that said 'HOLY F*** I LOVE BEING WHITE,' 'Keep Calm and be White Pride,' and 'Aryan Pride,' according to TMZ. In more than one photo, he and friends hold up a hand sign connected the Aryan Circle, one of the largest white supremacist gangs in US prisons. Meanwhile, Kimberly Jones opened up about her Confederate flag photos on Access Hollywood on Tuesday. 'I mean, you know, yesterday, he was a hero. Yesterday, the world loved us. Today, the world hates us,' said Kimberly Jones while fighting back tears. 'And I'm trying to think that I was trying not to get caught up in the positives. We're not going to get caught up in the negatives.' Earlier in the day, Kimberly defended herself against accusations that she and her family are racist after the photos emerged online. 'I feel like anybody who wants to take the time to ask anybody who I am or even troll through some other pictures, I mean I feel like we're not racist,' said Kimberly Jones on Tuesday. 'I mean, people that know us, know us.' 'And I'm trying to think that I was trying not to get caught up in the positives. We're not going to get caught up in the negatives.' Earlier in the day, Kimberly defended herself against accusations that she and her family are racist after the photos emerged online. 'I feel like anybody who wants to take the time to ask anybody who I am or even troll through some other pictures, I mean I feel like we're not racist,' said Kimberly Jones on Tuesday. 'I mean, people that know us, know us.' Offensive optics: The mother of bullied Tennessee tween Keaton Jones has been attacked after photos emerged of her (above) and her son posing with Confederate flags Explanation: She said of the photos: 'It was meant to be ironic and funny and extreme. I am genuinely truly sorry. If I could take it back, I would' Backlash over viral bullying video of Keaton Jones as mother's alleged online posts with the Confederate Flag spark new questions: https://t.co/MHgc3aJZjl pic.twitter.com/5RWnXqpkJP Good Morning America (@GMA) December 12, 2017 The mother-of-three then defended the Confederate flag pictures she and her daughter posted to their social media accounts by stating: 'It was meant to be ironic and funny and extreme. I am genuinely truly sorry. If I could take it back, I would.' Kimberly was joined by Keaton for the pre-taped segment, which aired on Good Morning America just 24 hours after many began to question her motives upon seeing these images. Union County school officials meanwhile have confirmed that Keaton was in fact that victim of at least one recent bullying incident. Kimberly also addressed those who believe she is simply looking to profit of her son's misfortune, pointing to the multiple Go Fund Me accounts that have been launched in the past few days for Keaton. She explained that only one of those pages has her blessing and the others are fake. That official Go Fund Me has since been frozen with $58,000 in donations already received by the account. The mother also urged people to try and look beyond their misgivings about her and continue to voice their support for her young son. 'They want to hate me, I mean, whatever, that's fine, but still talk to your kids,' said Kimberly of her detractors. 'Talk to your kids because this is - this is - this is an epidemic.' It has only been four days since Kimberly posted the video of her sobbing son explaining why he was too afraid to go to lunch at his middle school. The 11-year-old boy claimed that other students call him ugly, make fun of his nose and tell him he has no friends. Keaton also alleged that milk was poured on him and ham shoved down his clothes by these bullies. 'Just out of curiosity, why do they bully?' asked Keaton while looking directly at his mother's camera phone. 'What's the point of it? Why do they find joy in taking innocent people and find a way to be mean to them? It's not OK.' He then went on to say while tears streamed down his face: 'People that are different don't need to be criticized about it. It's not their fault. If you are made fun of, just don't let it bother you.' Over 20 million people had viewed the video on Kimberly's Facebook page before she shut down the account on Monday. Kimberly quickly shuttered all her social media accounts once the confederate flag photos began to emerge online. There were also claims that a PayPal account soliciting donations was launched by someone under Kimberly's name. Kimberly's daughter Lakyn took to social media soon after learning of this Paypal account, explaining: 'The Instagram KimberlyJones_38 is NOT my mom. She has a private Instagram and hasn't talked to anyone. We haven't received any money and don't plan on it. The gofundme's aren't by any of us.' She then added: 'Those who know me and my family know we aren't racist. My brother doesn't say the 'N' word. Please leave it alone.' Lakyn also made a point of leaving up the image she posted to social media of herself and her brother posing with the Confederate flag that ignited the controversy. She posted the image on the Fourth of July back in 2015, writing: 'Murica #WelcomeToTheDirtySouth #Happy4th.' Optimistic: 'It made me feel like I had accomplished something real. Something that could actually change the world,' said Keaton (above) Focus: Kimberly said that she had no problem with people hating her but hopes they will continue to support her 11-year-old son It seems that many people are standing by Keaton's side for the time being, though the wave of celebrities eager to voice their support for the boy on social media has died down over the past two days. A number of celebrities from Chris Evans and LeBron James to Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez recorded videos or posted heartwarming messages for the boy over the weekend. Evans even invited him to the premiere of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. 'All this attention really just feels amazing,' said Keaton. '[I'm] speechless, honestly. I did not ever imagine for any of this to happen.' The support Keaton is receiving does stand in stark contrast to the stories of Ashawnty Davis and Rosalie Avila, two young girls of color who took their lives as a result of bullying in the past few weeks. Ashwanty, a fifth-grade student from Colorado died on November 29 after she was found hanged following a fight at school. She was 10. Rosalie, a middle-school student in California, died on December 1 after she too was found hanged in the wake of bullying by her fellow students. She was 13. Keaton's school is also addressing the issue of bullying it was revealed on Monday. 'To fulfill our mission of educating all children in Union County Public Schools, we must provide an academic environment that is safe, civil and supportive,' read a statement from Union County Public Schools director James Carter. 'We do not and will not tolerate bullying and have a policy in place that addresses conduct taking place on school grounds, at any school-sponsored activity, on school-provided transportation or at any official school bus stop.' Family matters: Union County public school officials did confirm that a bullying incident did occur recently involving Keaton (Kimberly and her three children above) Keaton said on CBS This Morning that he is still happy with how things have played out in the days since his video was posted online. 'It made me feel like I had accomplished something real. Something that could actually change the world,' said the boy. Keaton also explained why he made the video, stating: 'I had enough of it. They had said that someone was going to beat me up in lunch so I texted my mom and I said 'what do I do here?'' He was then quick to note however that the video was his idea, saying he was reluctant to tells administrators at the school or his teachers out of fear that the five boys who were taunting him would make good on their threats. 'He became more and more agitated and didn't want to go back to school,' explained Kimberly. Keaton's embattled mother was not as enthusiastic with the reception, explaining: 'I knew that it could be great and I knew that it could be awful. And it has been.' She also used that interview to further address the photos of her and Keaton with Confederate flags. 'The only two photos on my entire planet that I am anywhere near a confederate flag. It was ironic. It was funny,' she said in that pre-taped interview. When then asked if there was any racist intent at all, Kimberly responded: 'No, absolutely not.' She then added: 'I've spent most of my life being judged because I wasn't racist.' Leaders from 57 Islamic nations have announced that they now officially recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, in response to the recognition of the city as Israel's capital by U.S. President Donald Trump. A statement by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) declared Trump's decision 'null and void legally' and 'a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts' that would give impetus to 'extremism and terrorism.' The OIC, which includes the presidents of Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan, gathered in Istanbul, Turkey today for an emergency summit in response to Trump's announcement last week. Unified stance: Left to right are Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who all released a joint-statement In a statement released today, the OIC leaders said they regarded Trump's move 'as an announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace' in the Middle East. The step by Washington amounted to 'encouragement of Israel... to continue its policy of colonialism, settlement, apartheid and ethnic cleansing,' it added. Opening the summit this morning, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criticized Israel, calling it a 'terror state.' 'I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,' Erdogan told the summit, saying Islamic countries would 'never give up' on this demand. He said in his speech to the gathering that Jerusalem is a 'red line' for Muslims who will not accept any aggression on its Islamic sanctuaries. Picking sides: Backdropped by a map of Israel and Palestine, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul on Wednesday Meanwhile, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who did not attend the meeting today, said that Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. 'The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital,' the king said in an address to the kingdom's Consultative Council. The king renewed his condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision, saying it 'represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions'. Jerusalem's status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Trump's announcement last week was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem had triggered violent outbreaks. Most countries around the world have not recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem. Under a long-standing international consensus, the fate of the city is to be determined in negotiations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, Jordanian King Abdullah II and top ministers of numerous nations were to attend the gathering in Istanbul. Palestinian lawyers wave their national flag during clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah today Palestinian protestors throw stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes following a demonstration in Ramallah today In an emergency meeting in Cairo last weekend, Arab foreign ministers demanded that the United States rescind Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, the ministers also called for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump's decision, but acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the state's establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people. In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured the city's eastern sector and later annexed it in a move that is not recognized internationally. The Palestinians equally lay claim to Jerusalem and want the eastern part of the city as capital of their future state. Some 200,000 Palestinians live in that part of the city and Palestinians claim a deep cultural, historical and religious connection to the city. The Old City, located in east Jerusalem, is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. These include the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site. This tragic footage of a young man playing in the snow was shot shortly before he was stabbed to death following a row in an off-licence. Patryk Jezmanski, 23, who was originally from Poland, died after he was found collapsed in the street following an incident at the shop in Perivale, west London, on Sunday. Eyewitnesses said paramedics tried to resuscitate him in the street for more than an hour, but he died at 10.25pm that evening. Patryk Jezmanski, 23, who was originally from Poland, died after he was found collapsed in the street following an incident at the shop in Perivale, west London, on Sunday. Patricia Hidalgo told the London Evening Standard: 'He was laying on the ground and the paramedics were working on him for about an hour. It was really horrible to see. 'I could not see him moving, they were trying to desperately hard. They just kept going, they did their best.' A Metropolitan Police spokesman said he suffered a single stab wound to the chest. His devastated mother has paid tribute to her 'kind and wonderful' son. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said he suffered a single stab wound to the chest Violetta Abubaker, from Greenford, said they were planning on visiting his two siblings in Poland over Christmas . She said: 'My son was a kind wonderful boy who has been taken from us in a tragic and brutal manner. My heart is broken and my life will never be the same. 'He was only 23 years old. We were due to visit Poland together for Christmas and enjoy the simple things like decorating the tree together. Instead I am burying my child, I am heartbroken.' The devastated mother of three has now set up an online fundraiser to repatriate her son's body to Poland and has already raised more than 2,500. This footage of Mr Jezmanski playing in the snow was shot shortly before he was stabbed On the GoFundMe page she wrote: 'We came with Patryk to England to work for a better life. 'We are going back with only one, broken, suffering mother's heart. My son will never decorate a Christmas tree again with us. 'He will never again laugh or cry. All the love he had to give was taken away.' A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday and has since been released under investigation. A young man has drowned at a northern NSW beach after becoming overwhelmed by large waves and swept hundreds of metres in a strong rip. The 22-year-old Brisbane man was swimming with his girlfriend at Broken Heads beach, a popular and unpatrolled spot near Byron Bay, on Wednesday afternoon but they were both caught in a rip and dragged about 300 metres south, Sergeant Jason Dowds told AAP. 'The surf was quite big,' he said. A young man has drowned at a northern NSW beach after becoming overwhelmed by large waves and swept hundreds of metres in a strong rip (file picture) The man's girlfriends managed to get to safety but lost sight of him. About five minutes later she found him floating face down and with the help of some locals brought him to shore. Bystanders and emergency services attempted to revive the man but he died on the beach. The man's family have been notified and have travelled to Byron Bay but police were unable to provide his identity. His death is the third drowning on Australian beaches in a week after a 15-year-old Indian girl drowned at an Adelaide beach on Monday and an 11-year-old boy died after being swept out to sea Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast last Wednesday. Advertisement This brave burns survivor has had three children despite doctors saying that her injuries would stop her from ever conceiving. On Thanksgiving Day in 1993, a three-year-old Kanisha Anthony - now 28 - was scarred for life after her Missouri home was engulfed in flames. She survived only because a heroic police officer pulled her out of a window, but her two brothers - aged one and six - didn't make it out alive. Her injuries were so severe, however, that she was forced to travel six hours every day for various surgeries from the age of four up until she was 17. Scroll down for video On Thanksgiving Day in 1993, a three-year-old Kanisha Anthony was scarred for life after her Missouri home was engulfed in flames. She survived only because a heroic police officer pulled her out of a window, but her two brothers - aged one and six - didn't make it out alive. Despite growing up with people constantly staring at her - and despite having been bullied at school - Kanisha still met the love of her life, whom she married when she was 19. Pictured: Kanisha with her family Her injuries were so severe that she was forced to travel six hours every day for various surgeries from the age of four up until she was 17. She said: 'I was three years old when the fire happened, and I remember waking up seeing flames and hearing the screams of my two brothers. I don't remember much after that. But I know a police officer was able to pull me out of the window by my foot. I was taken to a nearby hospital but was told there was nothing they could do for me there' She went on: 'I was flown by helicopter to another hospital but by the time I made it there my heart had stopped beating. They were able to revive me after a few minutes. I was burnt so badly on my head and had to have many surgeries. Before my last surgery with my head, the doctors said that I wouldn't be able to function and would be in a vegetative state for the rest of my life'. Pictured: Young Kanisha after the tragic fire Kanisha said suffered growing up, with many people failing to accept her. She explained: 'I was picked on in school and suffered with self-esteem issues for a long time. Some days it was really hard for me to look in the mirror. It was as if I had become a different person'. Pictured: The mother-of-three shows off her scars Not only did she have to suffer with her physical injuries, Kanisha also had to deal with the incomprehensible agony of losing her brothers. Pictured: Kanisha and the family before the disastrous fire Kanisha explained that she had to undergo surgeries from the age of four to the age of 17. She added: 'Recovery felt like a never-ending process - it felt like once I was fully healed from one thing, it was time for something else and it was extremely painful'. Pictured: Kanisha were her two brothers before the fire With the constant surgeries and operations and countless skin grafts, Kanisha has had to change her perception of the world. This has been a tough process, she says, but it has helped develop her character. Pictured left and right: Kanisha after the fire Despite growing up with people constantly staring at her - and despite having been bullied at school - Kanisha still met the love of her life, whom she married when she was 19, and went on to have a 'miracle' family. She met him at a camp for young burns survivors. 'I was three years old when the fire happened, and I remember waking up seeing flames and hearing the screams of my two brothers,' Kanisha said. 'I don't remember much after that. But I know a police officer was able to pull me out of the window by my foot. I was taken to a nearby hospital but was told there was nothing they could do for me there. 'I was then flown by helicopter to another hospital but by the time I made it there my heart had stopped beating. They were able to revive me after a few minutes. 'I was burnt so badly on my head and had to have many surgeries. Before my last surgery with my head, the doctors said that I wouldn't be able to function and would be in a vegetative state for the rest of my life. 'When I woke up from that surgery the doctors were so amazed, I was known as the "miracle girl". 'I was also told I would never be able to have children due to my scars not being able to stretch enough on my baby. I've had three healthy babies. 'Life was tougher for me than your average kid. Everywhere I went, I was stared at. 'I lost four fingers, I lost an ear and my hair is unable to grow back, but even after losing all of that I have gained so much more in life,' Kanisha said. Pictured: Kanisha as a child 'I was picked on in school and suffered with self-esteem issues for a long time. Some days it was really hard for me to look in the mirror. It was as if I had become a different person. 'I had many operations over the years - too many to count. I had surgeries from the age of four all the way up to the age of seventeen. 'Recovery felt like a never-ending process - it felt like once I was fully healed from one thing, it was time for something else and it was extremely painful. 'I had to have my bandages changed every day. I remember crying just at the thought that it was time to change them. 'I had so many supporters - I think my biggest one would be my grandma. She was always there. As far as my confidence, I would say that my family played a huge role in that. 'They always made me feel like I was just like everyone else. I never felt different at home. I used to think it changed my life in a bad way, but as I've grown older, I realised that it has changed my life in a good way. 'I wouldn't be the person I am today, encouraging others and helping others feel confident no matter what the circumstance. 'My family and loved ones were very hurt from the incident. They didn't like seeing me in so much pain, not just physically but emotionally. They would get very upset when people stared or asked questions.' With the constant surgeries and operations and countless skin grafts, Kanisha has had to change her perception of the world. This has been a tough process, she says, but it has helped develop her character. 'I lost four fingers, I lost an ear and my hair is unable to grow back, but even after losing all of that I have gained so much more in life,' she said. Kanisha with the family doctors told her she would never be able to have. Left is her husband, who she met at a camp for burns survivors She said her outlook on life is strongly influenced by her experiences. 'I realise now how beautiful the world is and how most of us take it for granted and pay attention to people for who they are and not their outer appearance,' she explained She added: 'My life motto is "you are you and that's what makes you beautiful", it's not what others say or think. Also, to take what happened to them and use it to encourage someone else. Encouraging others keeps yourself encouraged' Kanisha advises people to 'love the skin you're in' and to avoid feeling bogged down by what others say. Pictured left: Kanish wearing a T-shirt expressing her philosophy. Right: Before the fire 'The biggest thing that I've had to change would be my mindset. I look at the world and the people in it in a different way. 'I realise now how beautiful the world is and how most of us take it for granted and pay attention to people for who they are and not their outer appearance. 'The hardest thing about it all was losing my brothers in the fire and watching my family in so much pain. 'But most people say that I have such a good perspective on life and that I inspire them to look at life in a different way. 'I think you need to love the skin you're in and to try really hard not to let other's opinions to get you down. 'My life motto is "you are you and that's what makes you beautiful", it's not what others say or think. Also, to take what happened to them and use it to encourage someone else. Encouraging others keeps yourself encouraged.' The suspect, named as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant, had asked his wife in his home country to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani The man accused of carrying out a failed terrorist attack on New York City's subway system was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, Bangladeshi officials said today. The suspect, named as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant, had allegedly asked his wife in his home country to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani. Rahmani is the imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of the counterterrorism department. The group has been linked to killings and attacks on secular academics and atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. Rahmani is serving time in prison for his involvement in the killings. The wife, 25-year-old Jannatul Ferdous Jui, was questioned in Bangladesh and told investigators that her husband discussed Rahman's writings with her during his last visit home, Islam said. Ullah is accused of strapping a crude pipe bomb to his body and detonating it at the Port Authority during rush hour Monday. Ullah, 27, lived with his mother, sister and two brothers on this street in Brooklyn. He built his homemade pipe bomb inside the residence Rahmani is the imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of the counterterrorism department. Pictured: Journalists try to talk with the family of Ullah at a building in Bangladesh Ullah is accused of strapping a crude pipe bomb to his body and detonating it during rush hour Monday. Pictured: A man parks a motorcycle inside a building where 27-year-old Bangladeshi man Akayed Ullah, used to live in Dhaka, Bangladesh Relatives and police said Ullah last visited his wife and six-month-old son in Bangladesh in September, after which he returned to the United States. Counterterrorism officials questioned the wife and her parents before releasing her Tuesday night, Islam said, adding that investigators were currently questioning his brother-in-law and also planned to question any known close associates. Bangladeshi police spokeswoman Sahely Ferdous told CNN that Ullah's wife of one year had spoken to him on the phone 30 minutes before he allegedly tried to detonate the explosive device, but he did not bring up his plot. According to the police official, the suspect's conversations with his wife 'were very normal' and he 'never mentioned radicalization or planning these types of activities.' Ullah arrived in the United States in 2011 and the Department of Homeland Security said he is a legal permanent resident of the US who was living in Brooklyn. He came to the US on a visa issued to him based on a family connection to a US citizen. Law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said Ullah had looked at ISIS propaganda online and told investigators in the United States he was retaliating against US military aggression, but had no direct contact with the group. Ullah's uncle, Abdul Ahad, said Tuesday that the suspect mostly remained inside a small apartment in Dhaka's Hazribagh area when he visited, leaving only to offer prayers at a nearby mosque. Investigators said Ullah had no criminal record in Bangladesh. Muslim-majority Bangladesh is governed by largely secular laws but has struggled with a rise in radical Islam in recent years. The Bangladeshi immigrant detonated a pipe bomb in a commuter tunnel linking Times Square with the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Monday Ullah said he carried out the attack as revenge for recent Israeli actions against Palestinians. Above, the scene near the failed bombing on Monday Ullah was hospitalized after the failed attack for burns and lacerations to his stomach and hands. Pictured above being loaded onto a stretcher after the attack In July of last year, five young men who reportedly belonged to the domestic militant group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh attacked a popular restaurant frequented by foreigners and wealthy Bangladeshis, leaving 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, dead. But even before that a spate of smaller attacks had targeted secular academics, atheist bloggers, foreigners and members of the country's tiny Hindu minority. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, including the one at the restaurant, but the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina denied that the Sunni extremist group has any presence in the impoverished country. The government has blamed the attacks on local radical groups. Theresa May immediately fired one of the 11 Tory rebels as a party vice-chairman last night after she was humiliatingly defeated in the Commons. Stephen Hammond was sacked within minutes of the revolt, which consigned the Prime Minister to an historic first defeat on Brexit. The Wimbledon MP said he was 'very disappointed' but stood by his decision to 'put country and constituency before party' in the crunch Commons vote. The former minister contributed to the 309-305 defeat for the Government over demands for a 'meaningful' vote on the final Brexit deal last night. Labour MPs punched the air in jubilation and Remain MPs across the Commons cheered and applauded as the extraordinary result was announced. Mrs May left Westminster and was on the red carpet at the Sun's 'Military Awards' minutes after the humiliating defeat, which risks undermining her when she meets EU leaders in Brussels this afternoon. Stephen Hammond was sacked as a Tory party vice-chairman within minutes of last night's revolt, which consigned the Prime Minister to an historic first defeat on Brexit The Wimbledon MP stood by his decision to 'put country and constituency before party' in the crunch Commons vote Mr Hammond said he was 'very disappointed' to lose his job in the party, which was focused on the Tory campaign in London ahead of next year's local elections As the drama built last night, rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve rejected as 'too late' a desperate last minute concession made by ministers just moments before the crunch vote at 7pm. Mr Grieve's amendment demands ministers pass a full law enshrining the exit deal before the Government is allowed start implementing it. It puts huge new pressure on the Brexit timetable approaching exit day on March 29, 2019. Rebels hope it will allow Parliament to reject anything they consider a bad deal for Britain in time for further negotiation. In the aftermath of the vote, the Government said it was 'disappointed' but that the defeat would not stop it preparing Britain's laws for Brexit - and hinted it could try to overturn the result at a later vote. Justice Minister Dominic Raab, who made the last second concession, said it was a 'minor setback' on a 'wafer thin margin'. Brexiteer Nadine Dorries demanded all the rebels be 'deselected and never allowed to stand as a Tory MP ever again'. Theresa May (pictured on the red carpet at the Sun Military Awards minutes after last night's defeat' has vowed to press on with her Brexit legislation A rebellion of Conservative MPs secured a crunch Commons vote 309 to 305 - handing Mrs May her first ever legislative defeat by just four votes in an historic blow to her already shaky credibility (pictured is the vote being declared last night) Labour MPs bunched the air in jubilation and Remain MPs across the Commons cheered and applauded as the extraordinary vote was announced (pictured) Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve (pictured in the Commons today) tabled the crucial amendment that was backed by MPs in the Commons tonight As the rebellion built, Justice Minister Dominic Raab offered last ditch assurances that powers in the legislation that trouble Tory rebels will not be used until the exit agreement is written into UK law. ELEVEN TORY REBELS ENOUGH TO DEFEAT MAY Eleven Conservative MPs were enough to defeat Theresa May - despite her concession winning over three others moments before the vote. The 11 rebels were: Dominic Grieve Heidi Allen Ken Clarke Nicky Morgan Anna Soubry Sarah Wollaston Bob Neill Stephen Hammond Oliver Heald Jonathan Djanogly Antoinette Sandbach A 12th Tory in the aye lobby was John Stevenson who voted both ways - an active abstention Advertisement At 6.45pm he returned to the Despatch Box to promise MPs he would turn his assurance into an amendment if MPs back down. His concession appeared to peal off at least two Tory rebels as Vicky Ford and Paul Masterton backed down. Two Labour MPs - Frank Field and Kate Hoey - voted with the Government. But after Mr Grieve declared 'It's too late, I'm sorry, you cannot treat the House in this fashion' other rebels inflicted the punishing defeat. Insisting the rebellion would go ahead this afternoon, Mr Grieve quoted Winston Churchill as warned Mrs May: 'A good party man...will put his country before his party.' After the vote, a Government spokesman said: 'We are disappointed that Parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. 'We are as clear as ever that this Bill, and the powers within it, are essential. 'This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the Bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose.' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded it a 'a humiliating loss of authority for the Government on the eve of the European Council meeting'. Debate began at 1pm with Tory grandee Ken Clarke and Anna Soubry leading the charge for the rebels, demanding the Government concede before votes begin at 7pm tonight Justice minister Dominic Raab tonight (pictured) offered assurances that powers in the bill that trouble Tory rebels will not be used until the exit agreement is written into UK law Theresa May was consigned to an humiliating Commons defeat tonight as Tory MPs revolted over demands for a 'meaningful' vote on the final Brexit deal GOVERNMENT DEFEAT: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Twelve Tories rebelled against the Government tonight to consign it to an historic defeat on Brexit. But the result - a narrow four vote win - does not stop Brexit or even derail this legislation. What it does do is make significantly more complicated the path to Brexit day and rebels hope it will allow them to change the exit deal or even delay departure. The first step for the Government is to keep pushing the legislation through Parliament - there are more votes to win tonight and more debate this evening. Another dangerous day of committee stage debate is due next week, including the prospect of another defeat. Then the Bill returns to the Commons in January for more scrutiny and more changes. It must then go through the House of Lords. The amendment passed tonight demands ministers pass a full law enshrining the exit deal before the Government is allowed start implementing it. It puts huge new pressure on the Brexit timetable approaching exit day on March 29, 2019. Ministers could try to change the new amendment with re-writes of their own at the later stages. Advertisement The debate saw furious blue-on-blue exchanges as Brexiteers Bernard Jenkin and Bill Cash rose to defend the Government. Mr Grieve warned the Government he had tried to be helpful but that on the issue of a meaningful vote 'we have run out of road - and all rational discourse starts to evaporate'. He said this has led to 'confrontation' in which it is 'suggested the underlying purpose is sabotage, followed by hurling of public abuse' including by other Tories. Signalling support for the amendment, Mr Clarke said the key thing around a meaningful vote was its timing, adding: 'The vote's got to take place before the British Government has committed itself to the terms of the treaty-like agreement that is entered into with the other members. 'Any other vote is not meaningful.' Mr Clarke said it was 'quite obvious' that the Government was not going to be 'remotely near' a detailed agreement by March 2019. He added: 'It's not a question, I may say, to my desperately paranoid eurosceptic friends, that somehow I am trying in some surreptitious Remainer way to put a spoke in the wheels of the vast progress of the United Kingdom towards the destination to which we are going. 'But they don't know what Leave means, because nobody discussed what Leave meant when we were having the referendum.' Brexiteer Nadine Dorries reacted furiously to the vote, demanding the rebels be 'deselected' Another rebel, Antoinette Sandbach, expressed fears that a vote on a Brexit deal motion outlined by the Government could be 'meaningless'. In an attempt to sooth rebel concerns, Mr Raab vowed powers they want to modify - that allow ministers to bring in the exit agreement using secondary legislation - would not be used until Parliament has voted on the deal as a whole. Offering a political assurance - rather than a change to the bill - Mr Raab said: 'None of the Statutory Instruments will come into effect until Parliament has voted on the final deal.' He urged the rebels to drop their amendment, adding: 'If we waited for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill not just to be introduced after the withdrawal agreement has been signed, but fully enacted, waiting for the full passage of that to happen we would not have the time deal with the volume of technical legislation that we need to put through under secondary legislation. 'There is no getting around the timing issue, we have got the long tail of technical regulatory secondary legislation we need to get through if we want to provide legal certainty that will make a smooth Brexit.' Peter Kay, pictured on The Jonathan Ross Show last month, has cancelled his hotly-anticipated stand-up comedy tour Peter Kay apologised to fans yesterday for cancelling every date of his hotly-anticipated stand-up comedy tour due to 'unforeseen family circumstances'. The surprise announcement shocked the 1.7million people across Britain and Ireland who managed to get hold of tickets to see the 44-year-old comedian. The father-of-two was expected to earn up to 40million from hosting 109 nights from next April until March 2019 at cities including Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Dublin. Fans said they were 'absolutely gutted' and 'so sad' at the news, while one tweeted: 'Sending thoughts and prayers to Peter and her family at this time.' Earlier yesterday, Kay said: 'Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I deeply regret that I am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects. This unfortunately includes my upcoming stand-up tour, Dance for Life shows and any outstanding live work commitments. 'My sincerest apologies. This decision has not been taken lightly and I'm sure you'll understand my family must always come first.' Kay was said to have earned 20million in record ticket sales and DVD revenues from his last tour eight years ago, when tickets averaged around 35 a head. Kay is married to Susan Gargan (pictured together in 2003) and has a son, Charlie Michael Kay Kay was due to host more than 100 nights in Britain and Ireland from April 2018 to March 2019 Now, with 600,000 extra tickets selling out across Britain and average prices soaring to around 50 a head, he could have doubled that astronomical sum. Fans shared their disappointment at the news yesterday, while offering support to Kay and his family. Fellow comedian Jason Manford simply tweeted: 'Family first xx.' Kay married his wife Susan Gargan, 46, in 2001 after three years of dating. They met when Kay was working in a cinema and she was employed at a Boots store. The couple one son, 13-year-old Charlie Michael Kay. Kay was out of the public eye for much of 2013 and 2014 before making a TV comeback in 2015 with Car Share and Cradle To Grave. Tickets for the new show have been selling on resale websites for more than 2,000 with fans desperate to see the much-loved comedian's first tour in eight years. Kay issued this statement through Twitter, which said he 'deeply regrets' the decision Saira Khan added: 'Gutted about Peter Kay cancelling his tour, I had bought tickets - but more importantly I hope he and his family are OK. Family always comes first.' Another fan tweeted: 'Peter Kay cancelled his tour, that's all my Christmas presents for everyone ruined.' And one said: 'Well hasn't Peter Kay ruined Christmas.' As well as the tour, Kay has also cancelled his Dance for Life shows in Coventry, Liverpool and Manchester early next year, which were in aid of Cancer Research UK. He has over the years arranged numerous gigs to raise money for cancer charities. This year he put on shows for two of his fans Polly Haydock and Kyle Buckley. Kay raised 223,620 with shows in Blackpool for Ms Haydock but she died in August aged 37. The comedian revealed last month in an interview with Jonathan Ross on ITV that he did not like performing live and that this would likely have been his last tour. Kay's fellow comedian Jason Manford tweeted his support, saying: 'Family first xx' Saira Khan also tweeted her support to Kay, saying: 'I hope he and his family are OK' He said: 'I don't like it! I do like it, but it's terrifying standing on a stage in front of 14,000 people trying to make them laugh. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. 'I like it, but once in a blue moon. I should have called the tour that, Once In a Blue Moon. I don't think I'll do another after this, I'm getting on now.' Kay, whose new tour was called Have Gags, Will Travel, added: 'It's ideal for the old mum and dad, nan and grandad, very clean. I do a family show. 'If my mum or my wife says that something isn't funny, I know I've struck gold. They said the monkey wasn't funny in Car Share, they said 'You can't do that'... 'They just said it was stupid and would never happen. They had to train this monkey for three weeks to wear sunglasses and eat Werther's Originals.' He was also due to host nights in Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool with the first date listed for Birmingham on April 21 next year. His 2010/11 stand-up comedy tour, The Tour That Didn't Tour, was officially inaugurated into the Guinness World Records as the most successful of all time. Kay's fans took to Twitter to share their disappointment at the news of the cancellations More than 1.2million people watched the tour, which came after the comedian - who is also known for Phoenix Nights - had taken a seven-year break from stand-up. The comic - who has sold more than ten million DVDs - earned more than 20million from the 2010/11 tour, and he used a helicopter to get back to Bolton each night. After being recognised by Guinness World Records for selling 1,140,798 tickets in 113 dates between February 2010 and November 2011, he made it into the 2013 book. Kay said at that time: 'I'm extremely proud to have receiving such an honour. I never imagined that one day I'd be included in the Guinness World Records. 'Just goes to show that the lovely Roy Castle was right, dedication is exactly what you need if you want to be a record breaker.' Ticket sales for the new 2017/18 tour have been estimated to have breached the 80million mark, with average prices for most venues set at about 50 each. Some of Kay's fans voiced their concerns yesterday after buying tickets on resale websites Kay revealed last month in an interview with Jonathan Ross on ITV that he did not like performing live and that this would likely have been his last tour Kay, who is from the Greater Manchester town, has written, produced and acted in several award-winning television and film projects and authored three books. In 2016 he won Bafta TV awards for best male comedy performance and best scripted comedy and the National Television Award for best comedy for Car Share. Car Share, in which he stars with Sian Gibson, will still return in 2018 with two more episodes after the series two finale in May, which fans thought was the end of it. Kay had previously said he would not be creating a third series. But he later consoled dismayed fans by promising two further episodes, including an official finale. Announcing the news during the 2017 Children In Need show, he also pledged his support to the charity by auctioning tickets to a one-off intimate gig in Blackpool. Speaking to Jonathan Ross last month, he also talked about his famous phrases, and admitted: 'I still get that, people shouting 'garlic bread' at me. Peter Kay's Car Share, in which he stars with Sian Gibson, will return next year with two more episodes after the series two finale in May, which fans thought was the end of it Some unimpressed fans claimed Kay had 'ruined Christmas' by cancelling the comedy dates 'Who'd have thought that a food would be a catchphrase? It wasn't even a catchphrase, it's a food! I couldn't get it in the supermarket the other week. 'I couldn't find it and I couldn't ask for it because I was mortified to say garlic bread because they all would have (shouted it back at me).' Reports last weekend suggested Kay's businesses are now worth 29.6million, with two of his companies making 1.9million profit - working out at 5,200 every day. Announcing the tour to great fanfare last month, Kay had said: 'I really miss it. 'I know how lucky I am to be making television series and have really loved these past few years working on Car Share but I miss doing stand-up. 'As terrifying as it is, when it works there's nothing more fun and exciting. Plus, a lot has happened in the last eight years, with Trump, Twitter and my nan getting her front bush trimmed at the age of 96. I can't wait to get back up on stage.' HOW PETER KAY WAS DUE TO BE PERFORMING TO 1.7MILLION PEOPLE VENUE NIGHTS CAPACITY TOTAL TICKETS Birmingham Genting Arena 10 16,000 160,000 The SSE Hydro, Glasgow 8 13,000 104,000 Manchester Arena 16 21,000 336,000 The O2, London 9 20,000 180,000 Leeds First Direct Arena 8 13,500 108,000 Belfast SSE Arena 6 11,000 66,000 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena 5 10,000 50,000 Dublin 3 Arena 6 9,000 54,000 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena 7 11,000 77,000 Sheffield FlyDSA Arena 7 13,500 94,500 Liverpool Echo Arena 7 11,000 77,000 Manchester Arena (again) 6 21,000 126,000 Leeds First Direct Arena (again) 3 13,500 40,500 Birmingham Genting Arena (again) 2 16,000 32,000 Sheffield FlyDSA Arena (again) 1 13,500 13,500 London The O2 (again) 8 20,000 160,000 T OTALS 109 n/a 1,678,500 Peter Kay profile: From stand-up comic to TV club owner and Car Share Comedian Peter Kay hosts the Blackpool illuminations switch-on event in 2004 Comedian Peter Kay became best known by the nation following his early 2000s TV creation, Phoenix Nights. As well as writing both seasons of the hit Manchester-based comedy show, his alter ego, the beleaguered club owner Brian Potter, earned him legions of fans across the country. He later made his television comeback with 2015 series Car Share, where, again, he took on the role of both penning the script and playing lead character, John. The show, which pulled on viewer's heartstrings as they watched his 'will they, won't they' friendship with Sian Gibson's Kayleigh develop over two series, and won him two Bafta awards last year. Fans were distraught when he announced that he would not be creating a third run of the show, but were delighted when he later promised two extra one-off episodes - including an improvised show and a finale. Breaking the news during this year's BBC One Children In Need 2017 appeal show, the 44-year-old said: 'We knew we couldn't end the story there.' Kay appears with Paddy McGuinness in Max And Paddy: The Power Of Two in 2005 He also pledged his support to the charity by auctioning off tickets to a one-off intimate performance in Blackpool next summer, raising a total of 633,225. An acclaimed stand-up comic, Kay's 2018 live tour was to be his first in eight years following his record-breaking string of gigs in 2010. Due to huge demand as the tickets went on sale last month, he announced an extension of the tour with extra performances in all cities. Kay initially announced 26 dates across 2018 and 2019, kicking off in Birmingham in April 2018, but soon tripled the line-up to more than 80 shows, including 16 nights in Manchester. Kay in his famous Live at the Top of the Tower stand up performance in Blackpool in 2000 Speaking of the prospect of returning to the stage, he said: 'I really miss it. I know how lucky I am to be making television series and have really loved these past few years working on Car Share, but I miss doing stand-up. 'As terrifying as it is, when it works there's nothing more fun and exciting. Plus, a lot has happened in the last eight years, with Trump, Twitter and my Nan getting her front bush trimmed at the age of 96. I can't wait to get back up on stage.' A Mancunian born and bred, he also took to the stage for the We Are Manchester concert in September, following the terror atrocity at Manchester Arena, where he worked as a steward when the venue opened in 1995. Kay, who is now worth nearly 30million, appears in That Peter Kay Thing in 2000 He delivered an emotional speech before introducing singer Noel Gallagher, telling the crowd: 'The victims will never, ever, be forgotten, but we've got to move forward with love and not hate, and that's how we win.' Among his earliest writing credits are That Peter Kay Thing in 2000 and Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere, featuring an appearance from Brian Potter. Throughout his career, boosted by his 1996 North West Comedian of the Year prize, he has made special appearances in shows such as Doctor Who, ITV soap Coronation Street, Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Inside No 9. He is to married Susan Gargan and has a son, Charlie Michael Kay. President Trump had a new take on the shocking conclusion to Alabama's special election Tuesday when Democrat Doug Jones won that he was right all along. 'The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election,' Trump said in an early morning tweet. 'I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!' Even before sexual misconduct allegations came out about Roy Moore, who Alabama Republicans chose as their Senate candidate in September, the twice removed state Supreme Court judge came with baggage. Though he was backed by Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who's been absorbing much of the blame for Moore's loss. Scroll down for video In an early morning tweet, President Donald Trump said 'the deck was stacked against' accused pedophile Roy Moore throughout the Alabama special Senate election race FURIOUS: President Donald Trump was beside himself Tuesday night after Roy Moore's crash-and-burn loss in an Alabama U.S. Senate election, according to a senior administration official President Trump also tweeted later Wednesday morning about the importance of choosing the right candidate for various races Trump's first tweet on the race came last night and wasn't as combative. 'Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win,' the president wrote. 'The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!' He also tweeted later Wednesday morning about the importance of choosing the correct candidates. 'If last nights election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate,' Trump said. Trump staked his political reputation on the advice of Bannon, his hard-right former chief strategist who campaigned hard for Moore despite sexual misconduct allegations from nine different women including two who said he molested them when they were teen girls. A senior administration official told DailyMail.com on Tuesday night that Bannon had guaranteed to the president that Moore would win in the deep-red state where Trump himself triumphed by 28 points last year. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon had guaranteed the president that Moore would win in the deep-red state, but allegations of sexual misconduct doomed his chances Trump fired off a conciliatory tweet Tuesday night that hid the depth of his anger 'He's really upset right now,' the official said of the president shortly after Trump's tweet hit the Internet. A Republican strategist told DailyMail.com that Tuesday night 'will be Steve Bannon's political epitaph'. 'There's no way to see this other than a huge defeat for the GOP, and it's mostly because Bannon bamboozled the president with his Svengali pocket-watch,' the veteran of more than 20 congressional elections said. 'Mitch McConnell will take some lumps,' he added, 'but this was all Bannon's doing. And political capital at Breitbart has just fallen through the floor too.' Breitbart News, a conservative website where Bannon is executive chairman, had pushed hard for Moore. A second source who said he spoke with Trump on Tuesday told DailyMail.com that 'the Oval [office] and POTUS's phone lines will be a Bannon-free zone for awhile.' Bannon's spokeswoman did not respond Tuesday night to a request for comment. But Andy Surabian, a Bannon political adviser, texted multiple reporters a defiant statement. 'Mitch McConnell and his establishment allies got the Democrat that they wanted in Alabama, and are now threatening and openly defying President Trump's agenda,' he wrote. 'Make no mistake about it, Mitch McConnell is now the highest ranking Democrat in America. Congratulations, Swamp.' Moore lost in large part because of write-in votes spurred by Republicans who couldn't justify supporting an accused pedophile Democrat Doug Jones notched a stunning victory aided by scandal on Tuesday despite Trump's endorsement of his GOP opponent Republicans in Washington's establishment ranks were also quick to pin blame on Bannon. 'This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running,' Senate Leadership Fund president Steve Law said in a statement. The group is a super PAC aligned with McConnell. 'Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco,' Law said. Trump used his Twitter soapbox six separate times to encourage voters to choose Moore, who was accused of preying on teenage girls. A week and a day before voters headed to the polls, Trump offered the candidate his official endorsement. 'The people of Alabama will do the right thing,' he wrote Tuesday morning, as Alabamans began heading to the polls. 'Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet.' 'Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!' he added. Bannon openly campaigned for Roy Moore, appearing at Alabama events both this week and last The statewide election in Alabama became a referendum on Trump, although the White House has been unwilling to say so Trump re-re-re-endorsed Moore on Tuesday morning with a tweet predicting that Alabama voters would 'do the right thing' Jones won't be seated in the U.S. Senate until January, giving Majority Leader Mitch McConnell until the end of next week to put the finishing touches on a tax-code revamp that Trump is anxiously awaiting. The House and Senate are hammering out details and reconciling the differences between their respective bills. Trump's compliant about write-in votes rings true. The write-in vote total of 22,819 is larger than the about 20,716 votes separating Jones and Moore. With 100 per cent of the vote in, Jones led Moore by 1.5 per cent of the vote a percentage point larger than the .5 that would have triggered an automatic recount. Several minutes after Jones gave his victory address in Birmingham Alabama last night, Moore stepped onstage in Montgomery and refused to concede. 'I really want to thank you for coming tonight and realize when the vote is this close it is not over,' Moore said. 'Let's go home and sleep on it,' Moore urged. Russia is looking to expand its nuclear forces to comprise a total of 8,000 warheads by 2026, a U.S. news website reports. President Vladimir Putin is 'aggressively building up' Russia's nuclear arsenal in the coming years, and is also building underground bunkers, according to unnamed Pentagon officials. The current New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia limits the number of nuclear warheads to 1,550 each. Claims: President Vladimir Putin is expanding Russia's nuclear arsenal to 8,000 warheads by 2026, according to unnamed Pentagon officials. Quoting Pentagon officials, alternative news website Washington Free Beacon says Russia is 'fortifying underground facilities for command and control during a nuclear conflict'. Increasing the number of nuclear warheads to 8,000 would seriously violate the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, signed by the U.S. and Russia. The treaty, meant to build trust and cut the risk of nuclear war, limits each side to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads, but reduced numbers do not necessarily mean reduced danger. At Russia's insistence, each bomber is counted as a single warhead, no matter how many nuclear bombs it carries or has ready for use. As a result, the real limit for each side is about 2,000. It is estimated that the U.S. has 1,740 deployed warheads, and Russia is believed to have a similar number. Each side also has thousands of warheads in storage and retired bombs and missiles awaiting dismantlement. Big bomb: Russia's arsenal of ground-based missiles includes a super ICBM, the RS-28 Sarmat, also known as Satan 2, pictured The New START treaty limits the numbers, but it says nothing about the design of the 'delivery' methods - land- and submarine-based ballistic missiles, hydrogen bombs and cruise missiles. Thus both sides are increasing exponentially the killing power of these weapons, upgrading the delivery vehicles so that they are bigger, more accurate and equipped with dangerous new features - without increasing the number of warheads or vehicles. Russia's arsenal of ground-based missiles includes a super ICBM, the RS-28 Sarmat, also known as Satan 2, which has room for at least ten warheads that can be aimed at separate targets. Russian state media has said that the missile could destroy areas as large as Texas or France. U.S. analysts say this is unlikely, but the weapon is nonetheless devastatingly powerful. Russia's new ICBMs have room to add additional warheads, in case the New START treaty expires or either side abrogates it. The United States by its own decision currently has only a single warhead in each of its ICBMS, but these too have room for more. A former partner of Borce Ristevski has revealed she was asked by police if the accused killer had been violent towards her during sex. Ristevski, was charged with the murder of his wife Karen on Wednesday, nearly 18 months after she vanished from her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne. Following her disappearance, detectives questioned the family's friends and relatives about the Ristevski's marriage and whether it had been volatile. An ex-girlfriend of Mr Ristevski's was asked about his sexual fantasies and whether he had been violent towards her - including during sex, the Herald Sun reported. Borce Ristevski (right) was charged with the murder of his wife Karen (left) on Wednesday, nearly 18 months after she vanished from her Avondale Heights home in Melbourne Borce Ristevski was arrested by detectives from the Missing Persons Squad on Wednesday '[The detective] asked me if he ever hit me and if he had a temper,' the woman told the paper. Family members also said police asked whether Karen's stepson Anthony Rickard would 'cover up' for his alleged killer father. 'A missing person's detective called me, it was quite late at night' one woman said, according to the publication. 'He asked me things like, ''do I think Anthony could be covering for his father'' and I said, ''not in a million years''.' Ristevski is accused of murdering his 47-year-old wife at Avondale Heights on June 29, 2016, according to documents tendered to court Family members also said police asked whether Karen's stepson Anthony Rickard (pictured) would 'cover up' for his alleged killer father Mr Rickard previously accused Mr Ristevski of his wife's murder on social media after her body was found in bushland on February 20. The ice addict also declared he had been in a relationship with his stepmother and had plans to flee the family home together. 'Boris u were not there for me for my first 14 years why the f**k did u come into my life and f**k the next 14 years (sic)?' Mr Rickard wrote in April. Meanwhile, Ms Ristevski's brother Stephen Williams said he was one step closer to justice after charges were laid over her murder. Shortly after the arrest, Karen's only sibling said he had 'waited patiently' for an arrest to be made over his sister's death. Karen Ristevski's brother Stephen Williams (pictured together) says he is one step closer to justice after the slain mother's husband was charged with her murder Pictured, the location of where Karen Ristevski's body was found. Her husband now faces murder charges over her death 'Today has been a surprisingly emotional day - one which I have been patiently waiting for,' Mr Williams said in a statement. 'It is in no way a celebration, it's another stage in bringing my beautiful sister Karen the justice she so deserves. 'A huge thank you to the Missing Persons Squad - also to Emily, Lachlan, my cousins and work colleagues who have been very supportive through these long last 18 months'. In March, Borce Ristevski was one of the pallbearers at a private funeral service for his slain wife. In March, Borce Ristevski was one of the pallbearers at a private funeral service for his slain wife Nine months later, he faced Melbourne Magistrates Court accused of her murder. 'He will be pleading not guilty,' his lawyer Rob Stary told magistrate Angela Bolger on Wednesday. Ristevski is accused of murdering his 47-year-old wife at Avondale Heights on June 29, 2016, according to documents tendered to court. Ms Ristevski went missing from the couple's Oakley Drive home the same morning. Her remains were discovered in bushland in the Mount Macedon Regional Park almost eight months later, on February 20. Mr Ristevski is pictured being comforted by a friend while attending his wife's funeral at the St Johns Uniting Church in Essendon Friends and family of Ms Ristevski attended her funeral service at St Johns Uniting Church in Essendon in March Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said police needed extra time to complete their brief of evidence 'because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be a done'. Mr Stary said his client had already been under investigation for a number of months. 'This man doesn't have any history and we want the matter expedited,' he told the court. Ristevski has been remanded in custody and is scheduled to return to court on April 18. No one from his family was in court on Wednesday. Heartwarming film showing United States air force personnel from the Second World War using their Christmas break to visit an orphanage in the UK has resurfaced. The footage, taken over the winter of 1944 which saw tens of thousands of Americans stationed in Great Britain as part of their D-Day service, shows the men dressing up in Santa outfits and dancing around a giant Christmas tree with children from the orphanage. Further footage shows another airman dressing up as a cowboy to play songs to a group of listening children, while 'Father Christmas' can be seen handing out gifts to the children later on in the film. Thousands of children were sent to orphanages during the war and visiting servicemen were always a welcome distraction in the homes. Britain found itself inundated with American visitors toward the end of the Second World War Men of the American air force often found themselves alone and with time on their hands on the British mainland Great Britain found itself inundated with American visitors toward the end of the Second World War, with military personnel from the army, navy and air force being shipped to our shores en-masse in 1944 ahead of the D-Day landings. On the first day of D-Day alone upward of 73,000 Americans left British shores to launch a land invasion of France, with thousands more setting off from the UK over the next few days. The men of the air force, who can be seen in the video, often found themselves using Great Britain as a base from which to launch attacks. While not conducting operations the men of the American air force often found themselves alone and with time on their hands on the British mainland. As such, British families were encouraged to invite American GI's round to their house for Christmas dinner, to 'fill the space left behind by our own fighting men.' Thousands of children were sent to orphanages after losing their parents to the fighting or in the Blitz Orphanages provided the men with the perfect opportunity to do some good with their time off An airman dressed up as a cowboy to play songs to a group of listening children at the orphanage The film shows the men dressing up in Santa outfits and dancing around a giant Christmas tree with children This was often an offer taken up to enthusiastically by American GI's, though, with thousands of British women said to have been seduced by their American visitors. But orphanages such as the one visited in the film provided the men with the perfect opportunity to do some good with their time off. Thousands of children were sent to orphanages after losing their parents to the fighting, the Blitz or both, and visiting servicemen were always a welcome distraction in the homes. By the time the war was over approximately three million US soldiers had spent time in Britain, where they were frequently described as being 'overpaid, oversexed and over here'. Joshua Luke Cummings, 36, was accidentally shot dead at a shooting range in Cypress, Texas on Tuesday A 36-year-old married father-of-three was killed on Tuesday after a gun range employee accidentally discharged a hunting rifle and shot him in in the head. The deadly incident happened just after 9am when an unnamed male employee at the Hot Wells Shooting Range was cleaning the weapon in the small range building. The rifle accidentally went off, sending a bullet through a wall and a window to the parking lot outside where Joshua Luke Cummings had just gotten out of his car. Cummings was about 70 to 80 feet away. The bullet struck Cummings in the head and he was rushed to a hospital in downtown Houston by a helicopter. However, he didn't make it and was pronounced dead on arrival. Harris County Sheriff's Office officials say they believe the shooting was an accident, and that homicide detectives are trying to determine whether the gun accidentally fired due to human error or a mechanical issue. 'Homicide will investigate all of the employees, witnesses (and) take control of the weapon. That weapon will be investigated also to find out if there's anything wrong with it; if there was a malfunction, or if it was human error,' Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland said. An unnamed male employee at the Hot Wells Shooting Range was cleaning a hunting rifle when it accidentally fired and struck Cummings, who had just gotten out of his car Cummings was struck in the head and had to be rushed to the hospital via a helicopter. He was pronounced dead once he arrived at the downtown Houston hospital where he was taken The shooting range released a statement on Tuesday, saying they were heartbroken over the death Shooting range employee Stacy Byrd witnessed the shooting and spoke to KTRK after. He called it a 'terrible tragedy'. 'I didn't really want to see that this morning,' Byrd said. 'I really didn't want to see that at all, ever.' The shooting range released a statement on Tuesday, saying they were heartbroken over the death. 'We apologize in advance for the brevity of this response. We simply do not have the words to express the sorrow in our hearts. For 44 years we have operated this facility accident free, yet today we are shaken by tragedy. According to Facebook, Cummings appeared to be married with three young kids 'There is an ongoing investigation into the circumstances that surround this accident, and until that investigation is complete we will have no comment on the accident details. 'We understand that this accident has, and will continue to affect the lives of many. We ask that our community joins us in prayer for the healing of all parties involved,' the statement reads. According to Cummings' Facebook, he appears to be married with three young kids - two daughters and a son. A family has put up what they believe is Britain's oldest Christmas tree which at 97 has survived gale force winds and World War Two bombings. The 2ft tree has been passed down through a family's maternal line since it was first purchased by Elizabeth Naylor from Woolworths at Christmas in 1920. It was named William's tree because it was bought for her eldest son William's first Christmas - and, after his premature death aged 19 in 1940, the tree became a memorial to him. The family have continued their special tradition of decorating and displaying the artificial spruce each year. This Christmas tree belonging to Kay Ashton is believed to be the UK's oldest. Pictured is Mrs Ashton's granddaughter Phoebe Plaistow with the tree Mrs Ashton said the tree was bought by her grandmother Elizabeth Naylor in 1920 and was named William's tree for her first son, who later died aged just 19 When Ms Naylor- known as Nanan - died in 1981 aged 80, her beloved tree was inherited by her daughter, Joyce Ashton. When she passed away in 2012, Kay Ashton became the third generation to own William's Tree. Despite being battered by a bombing in 1941 and gale force winds in the 1960s, the tree is still standing - and is lovingly decorated with its original 1920s trimmings every year. Grandmother-of-three Ms Ashton, 63, of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: 'It's a great piece of history and I'm so glad to have it. 'To think the tree has stayed the same for almost 100 years but everything around it has changed so much. The things it will have seen. 'It's outlived two generations and even the shop it was bought from, so it's obviously made of strong stuff. I get it out every year and decorate it and it takes pride of place in my living room. 'It's a bit battered but it's definitely a talking point and people are always amazed when I tell them it was bought just two years after the First World War. 'I think my Nanan would be really touched to know the tree is still going strong and being used - and so would William. The tree, pictured with Phoebe, is said to have survived the Blitz in Sheffield as well as gale force winds Ms Ashton said the tree, pictured with festive decorations, even outlasted the shop it was bought from The family say they will have a party when the tree, pictured, reaches 100 years old 'We'll definitely have to have a party when it reaches 100. It's amazing to think it's lived through so much. I can't imagine it not being around.' Ms Ashton explained: 'My Nanan always had the tree in the kitchen. It was the only tree she ever had. 'During the Sheffield Blitz in the Christmas of 1941 they'd been warned to leave the house, but instead the whole family went down into the cellar. 'My Nanan had put a heavy wrought iron mangle against the back door to keep it closed. 'But when a bomb was dropped across the road, the force blew the back door open, and the mangle went flying across the room and into the tree. 'When they came back upstairs, the living room was a mess - with the tree lying in the middle of it. 'The top of it had nearly come off and it's been bent ever since, but it was fixed with sellotape and wire - some of the original bits of tape are still on the tree and I daren't take them off. 'Then in 1962, Sheffield was hit by awful gales, people were even killed when buildings collapsed. Mas Ashton said the force of a bomb blast over the road caused everything in her grandmother's Sheffield home to 'go flying' in 1941, but the tree was found slightly bent but still in one piece Over the years it has undergone slight repairs with tape and was once almost blown into a fire by winds, but is set to continue on with the next generation of the family 'I remember being at my nanan's house, and she asked my mother to close the back door. But before we knew, it, the tree had gone flying across the room and almost into the fire. 'She cried: 'The bloody tree nearly went into the fire' and it made us all laugh. 'My Nanan took great care with the tree and its decorations, and to this day I'll only decorate William's tree with the original decoration she used. 'There's an ornament shaped like a dog with a dead bird in its mouth that hangs on the tree. It does sound a bit gory but it was my favourite when I was little.' Ms Ashton, a customer service advisor, said her two daughters, Amy Wilcox, 45, and Rebecca Goodhand, 38, would keep up the family tradition. And as Mrs Goodhand has two daughters, Phoebe, 13 and Tallulah, 11, the tradition is set to continue into its fifth generation. An Afghan man who claimed he was 17 years old to be granted asylum in Germany where he later raped and killed an EU official's daughter is 33 years old, a court heard. Hussein Khavari ambushed 19-year-old medical student Maria Ladenburger in Freiberg in October last year before raping her and drowning her in a river. Khavari had applied for asylum as an 'unaccompanied minor' when the attack took place, but his father has told German authorities that he is much older. On trial: Afghan migrant Hussein Khavari claimed he was 17 to be granted asylum in Germany, but his father says he is 33. Charged: Hussein Khavari has admitted to raping and murderiong 19-year-old medical student Maria Ladenburger in Freiberg, Germany last year Last month, dental checks found with 'near certainty' that Khavari is aged between 22 and 29 years old. But his father, who lives in Iran, informed the court via telephone that his son is born in January 1984, making him nearly 34 years old, Welt reports. This comes after an analysis of his canine tooth by research scientist Ursula Wittwer-Backofen, presented to the court last month, found him to be nearly ten years older than his claim of 17. The upper right canine tooth had been removed eight months before Khavari attacked the teenager. Khavari had kept the tooth as some sort of souvenir and it was later seized by police in Freiburg, southern Germany, where he has been standing trial for the past three months for the crime. Police stand in front of the court in Freiburg ahead of a case that fueled a nationwide debate about the country's migration policy Mrs. Wittwer-Backofen said it has been established with 99.7 per cent probability that his true age is between 22.05 and 29.55 years, but that she was certain he was 25. This means when he is sentenced for Maria's murder he can expert no leniency for his age but a mandatory life sentence. He had earlier testified that on the night of the killing he was so drunk he was ejected from a bar and left alone by his friends in town. He claims he accidentally came across Maria who shouted out as she fell from her bicycle. He said he pressed her mouth shut then choked her with a scarf and put her unconscious into the water. Khavari's trial is taking place in Freiburg, where he was seen in handcuffs being led in to court (pictured) 'When I saw how pretty she was, I wanted to have sex with her,' he said, but claims he was too drunk. He broke down in court and added: 'I want to apologize to the family of Maria'. Reading from a statement he went on: 'I beg your pardon. I want to apologise to the family of Maria. I wish I could undo it. What I have done, I am sad for from the bottom of my heart '. Prosecutors dispute his account of the murder and say he planned it beforehand. Khavari ended a life rich in potential and polarised a nation struggling to adapt to over a million refugees in its midst. It was learned after his arrest that he had been arrested and sentenced to ten years for attempted murder in Corfu in 2013 before coming to Germany seeking refuge in 2015 as an 'unaccompanied minor.' The defendant Hussein Khavari is brought back into the court room wearing shackles after a break during his trial in Freiburg German authorities knew nothing of his past and so let him into the country as a registered asylum seeker. His victim, whose father is a senior legal adviser to the European Commission in Brussels, worked in her spare time in Freiburg helping out migrants in various shelters and homes. The killing sparked frenzied new waves of hatred and fear of refugees. Even the leader of the country's police union said her death would have been prevented had the open door asylum-seeker policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel been less lax than it is. After several court hearings Khavari said he did not know his true age but that he was no older than 19 - again an age would would have seen him sentenced as a juvenile. But the tooth evidence now means he faces sentencing next year as an adult. Advertisement The US Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson has shown off his new 750 million embassy building in south London. The structure is believed to be the most expensive embassy building in the world and features state-of-the-art security systems. The new building is expected to be officially inaugurated in February during President Donald Trump's planned working visit to the UK. Scroll down for video The US State Department announced the competition to design the 12-storey building back in 2008. It was won by architecture firm KieranTimberlake in 2010 which is headed by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake in Philadelphia A wall inside the embassy building shows the names of all the former ambassadors from the United States. The ambassadorship has been held by various notable politicians, including five who would later become presidents: John Adams, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan The new building is designed to make the most of the space and natural light to encourage 'transparency and openness'. Pictured: The Canyonlands Garden, which represents the Grand Canyon and the south west desert landscapes of the US Among one of the features at the US Embassy is this circular bar with stunning views overlooking the London skyline. The bar has raised seats around the outside with large glass windows providing an expansive view of the city This sculpture by British artist Rachel Whiteread depicts a typical home in the United States built in the 1950s. The sculpture has been placed in the consular lobby inside the US embassy This map shows the location of the new embassy in Nine Elms, London. The area was formerly mainly industrial but is now becoming more residential and commercial in character. It is dominated by Battersea Power Station, various railway lines and New Covent Garden Market. Also in the area is the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home This is the stunning new riverside embassy building constructed by the US government at a cost of 750 million. The Houses of Parliament and the London eye can be seen in the distance The state-of-the-art building has been unveiled today by the US Ambassador Woody Johnson who said the 750 million embassy was a 'signal to the world' that the special relationship between Britain and the US is as strong as ever. He said he would like to have President Trump at the embassy's official opening in February. The building is protected by a moat and features a sculpture by British artist Rachel Whiteread which depicts a typical home in the United States built in the 1950s. Mr Trump had tasked him with strengthening the special bond between the two countries, he said, adding that the president recognised the UK was 'the gateway to Europe'. He said: 'President Trump wants to work more closely than ever with the UK, and it will make both of our countries more prosperous and secure. 'So the new embassy is a signal to the world that this special relationship that we have is stronger and is going to grow and get better. Ambassador Woody Johnson, pictured, said he hoped President Donald Trump will attend the embassy's official opening 'He mentioned that to me himself ... He said "I want you to make it stronger", and I intend to do that if I can. 'We are looking forward to welcoming the president when he comes over here. I think he will be very impressed with this building and the people who occupy it.' He said the president's schedule is difficult and it's not clear when he will visit. Trump has accepted an invitation for a state visit to be hosted by Queen Elizabeth II, but no date has been set. Officials say it would have been prohibitively expensive to renovate the Grosvenor Square embassy, which opened in 1960, and update it with modern security features. The new building, with its distinctive cube shape, is nearly twice as large as the Grosvenor Square facility. It is the single most expensive embassy building ever built by the United States, Ambassador William Moser said, even though U.S. diplomatic compounds in Kabul, Afghanistan and Baghdad, Iraq cost more. Moser, who supervises overseas building construction for the State Department, said the money for the site and its development was generated by selling other U.S. government properties in Britain. 'It was built with no taxpayer dollars,' he said. The 12-storey building offers a commanding view of the Thames and its design emphasises sustainability, including the use of water runoff to form a waterfall. The new building features 518,000 square feet of space - far more than the 225,000 square feet in Grosvenor Square. However, three of the nine floors at the old building are below ground to confirm with stringent height restrictions in Mayfair. Acclaimed US architect firm Kieran Timberlake was selected to design the new, carbon-neutral embassy south of the river. In environmental terms, it will be nearly self-sufficient in energy production and even capable of operating off-grid 'for an extended period', according to officials. Unlike most glass office buildings, which appear slick and hard-edged, this one has been fitted with lightweight plastic scrims attached to the facade like boat sails. The scrims do triple a duty. They are made from the same 'Etfe' fabric that was quilted on to the Beijing Watercube for the Olympics, they have been embedded with photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into energy. They will also act as sunscreens to keep interiors from overheating. And because the fins are pinched at regular intervals, they create a rippling, sculptural effect on the glass surface. One of the main security features of the new embassy is a moat between the building and the River Thames to the north. Construction of the building started in 2013 and has been completed more or less on time The Embassy has been designed to reduce the impact of peak energy demands to reduce its environmental impact. Pictured: The Pacific Forest Garden in the 12-storey building in Nine Elms A spokesperson for the embassy said the glass structure 'gives form to the core democratic values of transparency'. Pictured: The main lobby with the names of previous ambassadors on the wall Ambassador Johnson open the Embassy today for a special tour in advance of his staff moving in next month. Mr Johnson said: 'President Trump wants to work more closely than ever with the UK, and it will make both of our countries more prosperous and secure' He added: 'We are looking forward to welcoming the president when he comes over here. I think he will be very impressed with this building and the people who occupy it.' Flanked by the American and UK flags, Mr Johnson spoke eloquently about the embassy's attachment to the former site, which he said had been home to the US in some form for 200 years. For more than half a century, the embassy has been located in the Grade II-listed London Chancery Building in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair. This corridor features a photograph of Winfield House garden, the official residence of the US Ambassador to the UK. The new embassy which was funded by the sale of US property in London These glass tiles featuring the US State Department seal are part of an installation in a cafe area inside the Embassy building. Mr Johnson said: 'The new embassy is a signal to the world that this special relationship that we have is stronger and is going to grow and get better' But the diplomatic mission is moving across the River Thames to the new 12-storey cube-shaped building on a 4.9-acre site in Vauxhall, and will formally open on January 16. Construction on the building has taken four years and will replace the existing embassy on Grosvenor Square which will be sold off as a hotel. The old embassy was built in 1960 of stone and concrete, although Grosvenor Square was known as 'Little America' during World War II and was home to the military headquarters of General Dwight D Eisenhower. The U.S. State Department ran a competition to design the new building in 2008. It described the embassy as 'a physical manifestation of the long-term commitment to the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom'. The increased space in the new building will make it easier for visitors to attend their interviews for US visas. The 12-storey building offers a commanding view of the Thames and its design emphasises sustainability, including the use of water runoff to form a waterfall Work is continuing preparing the new building for the arrival of 800 staff on January 16 ahead of the formal opening. The US State Department ran a competition to design the new building in 2008 The US Embassy is moving from its existing location on Grosvenor Square, pictured, which has deemed as less than secure. The old embassy was built in 1960 of stone and concrete, although Grosvenor Square was known as 'Little America' during World War II and was home to the military headquarters of General Dwight D Eisenhower According to the US State Department, the building has been funded by the sale of other property in London. The embassy features six interior and exterior gardens. The interior gardens are all inspired by a different region of the country Ambassador Johnson said Grosvenor Square had been home to the US in some form for 200 years. The glass structure 'gives form to core democratic values of transparency, openness and equality' a State Department briefing document said The embassy features six interior and exterior gardens. The interior gardens are all inspired by a different region of the country, including the Canyonlands, the Gulf Coast, the Midwest, the Potomac River Valley, the Pacific Coast and the Mid Atlantic. According to the officials at the embassy: 'The garden plantings not only represent the diversity of the United States landscape, they were also selected for their capacity to thrive in specific garden orientations.' The glass structure 'gives form to core democratic values of transparency, openness and equality' a State Department briefing document said. Its 750m construction was wholly funded by the sale of other properties in London. Workers are completing the final touches inside the massive project which will be opened to the public in the new year. Pictured: The Department of The Treasury logo inside the new United States Embassy The 518,000 square foot building is the first embassy in Nine Elms which is likely to become a new diplomatic centre. According to the US Embassy, the architect firm's design had to consider environmental as well as security concerns when building the structure The building has been designed to minimise its impact on the environment and has been fitted with solar panels Ambassador Johnson said President Trump viewed Britain as his gateway into Europe and wanted to improve relations The building has magnificent views over the River Thames from its new location in Nine Elms. Pictured: The view from an office toward River Thames. The building will have solar power as well as natural gas fueled combined heating The 800 staff at the US Embassy will move into the new building in Nine Elms in the new year ahead of Donald Trump's visit The building has special sails on the outside with prevent the interior overheating and make the most of natural light According to the US Embassy, the architect firm's design had to consider environmental as well as security concerns when building the structure. Officials said: 'Energy and environmental design issues have been balanced with the overall project goals of openness, diplomacy, functionality, security and value. Employing technologies that use alternative energy sources and reduce peak energy demand and overall energy consumption represents a commitment to sustainable design. These strategies also provide enhanced occupant comfort which has been shown to contribute to better functionality and productivity by improving employee satisfaction.' The building will have solar power as well as natural gas fueled combined heating and a biomass heating scheme providing heat to the surrounding community. The building does not have a high security barrier around the perimeter. Instead there are some public gardens with benches on the edge of the property, then a pond to keep unauthorised people from approaching the new building south of the River Thames. James Timberlake, of Kieran Timberlake, said: 'It meets and exceeds all the security requirements. We are using elements of landscaping that have been around for centuries and centuries. 'But it's not a fortress. We are able to use the landscape as a security device. There's no wall and no fences.' The British-U.S. relationship has been tested in recent months. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit the White House after Trump's surprise election in November 2016. While the two leaders have committed to strengthen trade links and spoken regularly, their governments have disagreed on several issues, such as Trump's decision to decertify Iran's compliance with a multilateral nuclear deal, and his move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Earlier this month, May publicly criticised Trump for reposting British far-right anti-Islam videos from his Twitter accounts. He responded with a rebuke, telling May to focus on Islamic extremism in Britain. Ambassador Johnson hopes President Trump will be able to attend the official opening of the embassy in February. James Timberlake, of Kieran Timberlake, said: 'It meets and exceeds all the security requirements. We are using elements of landscaping that have been around for centuries and centuries' The new building is expected to open next month with the first staff moving into the building early next month. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit the White House after Trump's surprise election in November 2016 A Chinese boy died yesterday after being impaled by a sword belonging to a classmate during a PE lesson. The 13-year-old pupil, named Guo Sheng, was said to be playing with the classmate who had brought the weapon with him, according to reports. Guo died shortly after his frightened classmate pulled out the blade, the school said in a statement. The incident was deemed as an accident by the regional government, school authority and police, but Guo's parents and the general public disagreed. CCTV footage captures the moment Li, circled, was said to be playing with Guo during break Guo, circled, appeared in pain as the sword stabbed into his back and caused him death According to Beijing Youth Daily, the sword belonged to a Year Eight student, known as Li, who studies at a secondary school in Changning, Hunan Province. Li was seen playing with Guo during a break in a physical education lesson on the morning of December 12. It's reported that Li lost his grip of the sword and it 'accidentally' impaled Guo's back. The incident came into light when the staff at the Quan Feng Secondary School called emergency service and the police. Guo had been pronounced dead when his parents arrived. Police measured the sword and said it was around a foot long. Guo Sheng has died when the paramedics arrived (left). His family cried and tried to wake him up as onlookers watched (right) A statement from the school said Li pulled out the sword from Guo's back as he was scared. The county council of Changning announced in a statement that the incident was an accident. The local education bureau, government and council were helping to handle the related matters, said the statement. However, Guo's parents claimed that the incident was not 'an accident'. The parents apparently wrote in a social media post: 'No one cared about my son and no paramedics could be seen. 'It's been five hours pass and the school staff refused to see us and give us an explanation.' CCTV footage emerged online showed a few other classmates were present when Guo was impaled by the sword. Web users suggested that Li's action had been intentional and not 'by accident'. 'Obviously he was throwing the sword at him fiercely,' said 'MrMiTung'. Another web user 'qiziyuqing' questioned: 'If the sword slid out by accident, how can that be strong enough to stab into a body and cause death?' Chinese social media were sharing screenshot of an alleged document signed by the school and Guo's parents, suggesting the local government was trying to settle the matter. The signed paper stated that Quan Feng Secondary School and the local government had agreed to pay 790,000 yuan (89,333) to Guo's parents as compensation. The incident has also raised safety concerns from parents who wonder how sharp weapons could have been brought to school by children. A Tory minister has been mocked for 'robot a*** licking' after he gushed about the Government's artificial intelligence (AI) strategy online. Theresa May yesterday welcomed a new report which said Britain is the best equipped country in the world to embrace AI - but added on Twitter: 'I want us to do even more'. Her digital policy minister Matt Hancock rushed to respond to his boss online telling her that he was 'on it'. But his tweet was greeted with mockery by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson who replied: 'We're not quite there with robot a*** licking yet but Matt's on it.' The jibe comes as both parties try to vie to be the champion of the rise of the robots despite fears they could cause millions of job losses in the UK as they muscle humans out of the workplace. Politicians hope that if the UK stays at the forefront of technology it will boost the economy. Digital minister Matt Hancock (pictured left) rushed to tell Theresa May that he was 'on it' when she said the UK must do more to embrace AI, but his tweet was greeted with mockery by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson who replied: 'We're not quite there with robot a*** licking yet but Matt's on it.' Theresa May, pictured outside No10 today, welcomed a new report which said Britain is the best equipped country in the world to embrace AI - but added on Twitter: 'I want us to do even more'. The Tories and Labour are vying to be seen as champions of robotics Chancellor Philip Hammond said that driverless cars will be put on British streets by 2021 as he announced measures in his Budget last month to boost new technology. The AI Readiness Index, published yesterday by the Oxford Insights Team, said Britain is the best prepared country in the world for the looming AI revolution - well ahead of Germany and France. It put the UK in the top spot out of the world's 35 most advanced countries - beating the US into second place. Canada came in third, South Korea came fourth while the Netherlands was fifth, according to the survey. It came a day after Mr Watson, shadow culture and digital minister, said the rise of robots can be a good thing for Britain because they will do boring jobs and boost the economy. He urged Britons to 'embrace an android' and insist that if the Government invests properly in automation then it could produce as many jobs as it destroys. The mocking jibe comes as both parties try to vie to be the champion of the rise of the robots despite fears they could cause millions of job losses in the UK as they muscle humans out of the workplace The Labour deputy leader said: 'Much has been written about the impact of technological change and the dystopian future we could all face as a result of the rise of the robots. 'It can sometimes feel like we are preparing for a world in which artificial intelligence, algorithms and automation, rather than human endeavour and hard work, will shape every aspect of our society and our economy. 'That sounds like a frightening prospect. But it needn't be.' He said that by allowing '21st-century machines' to undertake boring and routine tasks in the workplace humans will be freed to do other jobs with bigger economic benefits. And, paraphrasing David Cameron's famous call to 'hug a hoodie' he added: 'That is liberating. 'So I suppose what I'm really saying is: robots can set us free ... A former prime minister once famously said "hug a hoodie". Today, I'm asking you to embrace an android.' A rising number of religious schools are actively undermining British values, with children exposed to 'sexist and sectarian' books, the head of Ofsted has warned. Amanda Spielman, the watchdog's chief inspector, said 'shared values and tolerance clash with community expectations' in some parts of the country. Figures show 58% of the 160 independent Muslim schools inspected are either inadequate or require improvement, more than 80 schools nationwide. Meanwhile 54% of the 60 independent Jewish schools fall in the same bottom two categories and 33% or the 110 independent Christian schools. Some faith schools are 'actively undermining fundamental British values', a report found A graph in the report shows a higher percentage of faith schools are inadequate, with Jewish and Muslim schools most likely to require improvement In her first annual report, Ms Spielman said: 'In the overwhelming majority of state-funded schools, whether faith or not, these values are embedded in the school's ethos and teaching. 'However, there are also those who seek to isolate young people from the mainstream, do not prepare them for life in Britain or, worse, actively undermine fundamental British values.' She added: 'We have found an increasing number of conservative religious schools where the legal requirements that set the expectations for shared values and tolerance clash with community expectations. 'The schools are, therefore, deliberately choosing not to meet these standards. 'This tension is also leading to the creation of illegal 'schools' that avoid teaching the unifying messages taught in the vast majority of schools in England. Both of these situations are of great concern.' Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman made the criticisms in her first annual report Ms Spielman later told London's Evening Standard: 'When I see books in schools entitled Women Who Deserve To Go To Hell, children being educated in dank, squalid conditions, children being taught solely religious texts at the expense of learning basic English and mathematics, I cannot let it be ignored. 'We have a proud tradition in this country of respecting religious freedom. But there are occasions when multiculturalism can and does comes into tension with the expectation that students should be prepared for life in modern Britain.' Some of the schools found to be inadequate had premises which were 'unsafe, even squalid'. The report said: 'The most basic checks, such as whether staff were suitable to work with children, were not in place. 'Perhaps more significantly, in a handful of schools inspectors found instances of sexist and sectarian literature.' The reported highlight the Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham as one where issues of 'discriminatory views about women' had arisen Blunder sees 135 schools wrongly named as failing by Ofsted Ofsted has apologised after several schools were mistakenly featured on a list of more than 100 consistently underachieving schools. The education watchdog named 135 primary and secondary schools which have failed to record a good or outstanding inspection since 2005, but later said 11 had been included in error. All 135 schools initially named had been judged to be satisfactory, inadequate or requiring improvement at each of their last four inspections, Ofsted said. Advertisement Focusing on one example, the report states: 'The recent case of Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham showed that an ethos that completely segregates children in school and that spreads discriminatory views about women is unacceptable. 'The fact that this reflects a cultural norm in that community does not mean that children can be disadvantaged in their education.' Since January 2016, Ofsted has identified 291 possible settings which may be unregistered, the report said. Around 125 inspections have taken place, 38 warning notices have been issued, 34 settings have closed or ceased operating illegally and the remaining cases remain under active investigation, the report said. Ms Spielman called for greater powers to combat 'illegal schools'. She said: 'Current legislation is inadequate to tackle unregistered schools. 'It limits our powers to tackle them and allows institutions to exploit loopholes about definitions of education.' She found 'community expectations' were forced some schools to 'avoid teaching the unifying messages taught in the vast majority of schools in England' A Department for Education spokeswoman said: 'Extremism has no place in our society. 'That's why we changed the law and the requirements on schools so that they have to actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and the mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. 'It is absolutely right that Ofsted reports on schools that fail to protect children or fail in any other way to meet the standards we expect, so that we can take action to ensure they adhere to the law. 'An academy could be re-brokered, and a maintained school have an interim board appointed or be converted into an academy. 'Any independent school that does not comply with the independent school standards must either improve or we will close it down. 'We always support Ofsted, local authorities and the police in tackling unregistered schools, which are illegal and unsafe.' 1980 - Jessica Leeds Jessica Leeds, a 75-year-old former businesswoman who lives in Manhattan, told the New York Times last year that she was 'assaulted' by Trump on a flight when she was 38. Leeds explained how she was sat beside Trump in first class on a flight, when the Republican nominee lifted the arm-rest between then and allegedly began touching her. 'He was like an octopus,' she told the Times. 'His hands were everywhere.' 1989 - Ivana Trump The Donald's first wife claimed she was 'violated' by him after a violent attack, documents filed as part of the couple's divorce claimed, according to the Daily Beast. Ivana distanced herself from the claims last year when Trump started his campaign. Early 1990s - Kristin Anderson Kristin Anderson was out with friends, chatting up a storm at a Manhattan nightspot, when she felt fingers creep up her miniskirt, slide up her inner thigh and then touch her vagina through her panties. Anderson, now 47, told the Washington Post that it was Donald Trump who touched her at the nightclub. She said the incident took place in the early 1990s, when she was in her early twenties and an aspiring model. 1993 - Jill Harth Jill Harth, a makeup artist, accused Trump of 'attempted rape' stemming from an incident in 1993. Harth told the Guardian the incident in question took place during a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in January of that year. 'He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,' she told the newspaper. 'I had to physically say: 'What are you doing? Stop it.'' 1993 - Vendela Kirsebom Former supermodel Vendela Kirsebom exclusively told DailyMail.com that Donald Trump's 'vulgar' and 'sexist' remarks about the size of women's breasts forced her to switch tables at a White House dinner party. The sports Illustrated cover model claims her night at a 1993 Vanity Fair event was ruined because she was sat next to the billionaire. Recalling the 'excruciating' night, Kirsebom, 50, said: 'Everything he said was so vulgar. 'I couldn't listen to his nonsense for an entire night so I asked if I could be moved.' 1996 - Lisa Boyne Lisa Boyne, CEO of a health food company, claims that in the summer of 1996 she saw Trump make a series of women walk up and down a restaurant table so that he could announce whether they were wearing underwear. 'It was the most offensive scene I've ever been a part of,' she told The Huffington Post last year. 'I wanted to get the heck out of there.' According to Boyne, she and friend Sonja Tremont - better known today as Sonja Morgan of 'Real Housewives of New York' - had been invited to dinner in Manhattan with Trump and late modelling agent John Casablancas. 1997 - Four Miss Teen USA contestants Mariah Billado and three other contestants claimed to Buzzfeed that Trump walked into dressing rooms prior to the pageant while competitors were naked. 'I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here',' she told Buzzfeed Bilado told the website that Trump then said something like: 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before'. 1997 - Miss USA contestant Temple Taggart Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times last year that Trump kissed her on the lips during the pageant. 'I thought, 'Oh my God, gross'... I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like 'Wow, that's inappropriate',' she told the newspaper. Taggart has also sat down for an interview with NBC News. 'When I first heard the leaked tape, it's very unsettling... you don't want to hear anyone talking about women like that,' she said in a promotion clip for the interview. 1997 - Cathy Heller Cathy Heller, now 64, claims the billionaire kissed her on the mouth without her consent in 1997 while she attended a Mother's Day luncheon with her family at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. She told The Guardian last year: 'He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips,' she said. She claimed she held back but he persevered. 'And he said, 'Oh, come on'. He was strong. He grabbed me and went for my mouth and went for my lips.' Trump denied the accusation, claiming she was motivated by a personal vendetta to have her family's membership fees reimbursed. 2000 - Miss USA contestant Bridget Sullivan Bridget Sullivan told Buzzfeed last year that the then-owner of the pageant walked through the backstage area to wish contestants good luck, despite the fact many of them were naked at the time. 'The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked,' Sullivan said. She went on to describe Trump as a 'creepy uncle', saying he would 'hug you just a little low on your back.' Buzzfeed spoke with four other contestants from that year - none whom remembered Trump walking through the dressing room when contestants were naked. 2001 - Miss USA contestant Tasha Dixon Tasha Dixon told CBS News last year walked into the changing rooms at the pageant without warning, meaning many of the competitors were naked or not fully dressed. 'Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,' Dixon said in an interview. 'He just came strolling right in. 'There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.' 2003 - Mindy McGillivray Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump grabbed her backside after she helped a photographer who was covering a concert at Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion. McGillivray, who was 23 at the time, said she was with Ken Davidoff at the Mar-a-Lago on January 24, 2003. 'All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's Ken's camera bag, that was my first instinct,' she told the newspaper. 'I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly.' 2004 - Trump discussed what he thought it would be like to have sex with a teenage Lindsay Lohan on the Howard Stern Show 'She's probably deeply troubled and therefore great in bed,' Trump told Stern when asked by the shock jock if he could imagine bedding 'troubled teen' Lindsay Lohan. Trump went on to say: 'How come the deeply troubled women, you know, deeply, deeply troubled, they're always the best in bed?' At the time of the interview, Lohan was just 18 years old. Trump was 58. The conversation continued with Trump speaking about a friend he described as 'a great Playboy' and who he said only wants to date 'crazy' women. 2005 - Rachel Crooks Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old working as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate company based in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she says Trump kissed her on the mouth without permission while in an elevator in 2005. 'It was so inappropriate,' Ms. Crooks told the New York Times. 'I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.' Crooks told the newspaper the incident took place after she shook hands with Trump in an elevator and he allegedly refused to let go. She says he then began kissing her on the cheeks, before then kissing her lips. 2005 - Donald Trump admits he would 'inspect' pageant contestants backstage Donald Trump bragged about the extra power he had during an interview with Howard Stern in April 2005, the tapes of which have been released by CNN. 'I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed,' Trump said about the pageant. 'No men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in, because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. 'Is everyone OK?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody OK?' 'And you see these incredible looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.' 2005 - Trump brags about being able to grope women without consent to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood '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,' he was heard saying to Billy Bush on the set of Access Hollywood in 2005 in a recording published by the Washington Post last year. 'And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.' 2005 - Natasha Stoynoff Natasha Stoynoff recounted how she had traveled to Mar-a-Largo to interview Trump and his wife, Melania, in December 2005. She said Donald took her into a room he really wanted to see, before forcing himself on her. 'We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,' she wrote for People. Stoynoff went on to say how she was rescued when a butler walked in, however when the two were alone again shortly after Trump told her they were 'going to have an affair'. 2006 - Samantha Holvey Samantha Holvey claims that as a 20-year-old representing North Carolina in the 2006 Miss USA pageant, Trump would inspect her and other contestants before the competition. She has said she was 'disgusted' by the now-president's repeated behavior. It was 'the dirtiest I felt in my entire life,' she told CNN last year. 'He would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people.' 2007 - Summer Zervos - contestant on The Apprentice Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on the fifth season of The Apprentice, said Trump groped and kissed her in his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007. She claims that she reached out to Trump a year after she left the show to speak about possible business opportunities, and when she met with him he kissed her 'open mouthed' multiple times, and at one point placed his hand on her breast. She claims he then had her lie in bed with him she said telling her he wanted to watch 'telly telly', but soon after began 'thrusting his genitals' at her despite her pleas asking him to stop. Zervos said during a press conference about her accusations: 'You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star.' 2009 - Called Khloe Kardashian 'a fat piglet' Trump made rude and offensive comments about Khloe Kardashian's physical appearance and weight while she filmed Celebrity Apprentice back in 2009, according to multiple people who worked on the set. 'He said: 'Why don't we fire Khloe? She is a fat piglet. Why did we get the ugly Kardashian?'' a source told Huffington Post. 2010 - Friend of CNN anchor Erin Burnett Erin Burnett detailed an encounter that a friend had with Trump in March 2010 in the boardroom at Trump Tower, when he allegedly tried to kiss her without permission. The woman told Burnett, according to CNN: 'Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out. 'After (the meeting), Trump asked me to come into his office alone. Was really unsure what to do. ... Figured I could handle myself. 'Anyway, once in his office he kept telling me how special I am and gave me his cell, asked me to call him. I ran the hell out of there.' 2013 - Miss USA contestant Cassandra Searles Searles, who won Miss Washington in 2013, said Trump tried to seduce her, groped her, and treated the women in the pageant 'like cattle', according to Yahoo News. 'Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes?' she wrote last year. 'Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property? 'Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States.' She then added: 'He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my a** and invited me to his hotel room.' 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas was found beaten and stabbed on Long Island last September A $110 million lawsuit has been filed by the family of a New York high school student who was found beaten and stabbed to death in September 2016. The mother of 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas filed the lawsuit on Monday against the Brentwood School District on Long Island. Cuevas' mother, Evelyn Rodriguez, claims in the lawsuit that the school ignored warnings MS-13 members were threatening her daughter who was later found dead alongside her best friend 15-year-old Nisa Mickens. She had been attacked so severely with bats and machetes that her body was nearly unrecognizable. 'They let my daughter into that environment with no protection. They told me my daughter was safe and she wasn't,' said Rodriguez to News 12. Evelyn Rodriguez, whose 16-year-old daughter, Kayla Cuevas was killed in an MS-13 killing last September is now suing the school district her daughter attended Best friends Nisa Mickens, right, and Kayla Cuevas, left, had been feuding with gang members on social media. Authorities said Mickens was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time In the federal lawsuit, Rodriguez claims school officials 'refused to take action to rectify the problem of bullying' at the hands of known MS-13 members for two years. Rodriguez says she and her daughter made repeated complaints about threats at the school to the dean, who said he would address the problem but didn't. 'They lied to me. They lied to my daughter,' Rodriguez said. In the days leading to Kayla's murder, Rodriguez said school officials failed to intervene when another student threatened her daughter using throat-slicing gestures. Evelyn Rodriguez, the mother of Kayla Cuevas, 16, has filed a $110 million lawsuit against the Brentwood Union Free School District Rodriguez claims the district knew MS-13 gang members were harassing her daughter and threatened her life but did nothing about it The court papers say the district was aware of the threats and were told by Cuevas and Rodriguez that the threats were captured on the school's surveillance system. The documents state that the district did not inform law enforcement. The court papers said that school employees including teachers assured Cuevas that this student who is not named in the documents would not be on school grounds, however on the first day of the 2016-17 school year, Cuevas encountered the student at Brentwood High School's Ross Center. Cuevas and her mother were assured that the student 'was not and could not' be on school grounds, according to the documents. More than a half-dozen alleged MS-13 gang members were indicted in the killings of the teens Kayla's mother says she and her daughter made repeated complaints about threats at the school to the dean, who said he would address the problem but didn't Five days later, Cuevas was on school grounds when she was accosted by the student and gang members and 'ultimately chased off school grounds and brutally murdered,' the court papers state. In the 15 months since the killing, more than a half-dozen alleged MS-13 gang members were indicted. Suspects in their killings were arrested in March. Federal authorities have also arrested more than a half-dozen alleged members of MS-13 which has been blamed for 25 killings on Long Island since January 2016. A spokesman for the Brentwood School District declined to comment. According to NBC News, Rodriguez says that the school failed to act when told that the girl was being threatened. The lawsuit states that bullying went on for two years before the teenager was killed. MS-13 is blamed for 25 killings on Long Island since January 2016. The murders, many of which have involved teenagers, have caught the attention of both President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, both of whom visited earlier this year to promise federal action to stem the violence. A memorial pays tribute in Brentwood, Long Island to teenage victims Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens School employees including teachers assured Cuevas that a student who was making threat, but is not named in court documents would not be on school grounds A Tinder love rat who conned thirty rich women has been confronted by his ex-girlfriends after leaving court. Brett Joseph, a notorious Australian con-artist who prayed on wealthy women he met on the internet, was arrested in June and charged with being in possession of and disposing stolen goods. The 30-year-old faced a New South Wales court on Wednesday, and was flanked by two of his former flames after his hearing, who colourfully referred to him as a 'f***ing a*****e'. A Tinder love rat who conned thirty rich women has been confronted by his ex-girlfriends after leaving court The 30-year-old faced a New South Wales court on Wednesday, and was flanked by two of his former flames after his hearing, who colourfully referred to him as a 'f***ing a*****e' Brett Joseph, a notorious Australian con-artist who prayed on wealthy women he met on the internet, was arrested in June and charged with being in possession of and disposing stolen goods Joseph conned partners by pretending he was the member of a famous family, constantly lying that his last name was Ingham, Waterhouse or Myer. Mike Gerondis, the former boss of the Australia fraud squad, says the man dubbed 'Australia's Tinder love rat' could have manipulated more than 30 women. Daily Mail Australia believes that number could be higher than 50. American woman Stephanie Hoskins, 23, claimed Joseph seduced her in a whirlwind romance after they met on dating site Plenty of Fish in November last year. The smitten Texan belle had no idea the man of her dreams was unemployed and from Mudgee, in country NSW, accused of fleecing at least 50 Australian women out of their money using dozens of aliases, including an heir to the Myer fortune. 'He was very charming, very handsome and he knew all the right things to say,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'He made me believe we were looking for the same things in life starting a family and building a life together in Texas.' Ms Armstrong was outside a regional New South Wales courthouse on Wednesday alongside Alana Kopas, another victim American woman Stephanie Hoskins (pictured) claimed Joseph seduced her in a whirlwind romance after they met on dating site Plenty of Fish in November last year Mike Gerondis, the former boss of the Australia fraud squad, says the man dubbed 'Australia's Tinder love rat' could have manipulated more than 30 women. Daily Mail Australia believes that number could be higher than 50 Ms Hoskins was just the tip of the iceberg, with dozens of other women sharing similar stories. Daisy Armstrong also met Joseph online and supported him for six months while they lived on their family farm. Joseph allegedly then used images of the farm to support his lies of being the heir to a rich estate, including that of the famous racing family Waterhouse, retail giant Myer and poultry empire Ingham. Ms Armstrong was outside a regional New South Wales courthouse on Wednesday alongside Alana Kopas, another victim. 'At least your filthy f---ing face is everywhere now,' Ms Arstrmong said. 'You are never going to be able to get another victim.' Joseph will find out his fate for the possession of and disposing stolen goods charges on March 8 next year. A British woman is fighting for life in Australia with a rare form of blood poisoning she picked up from a stray kitten. Scarlet Goodrich, from Teignmouth, Devon, was also struck down by meningitis and has been in intensive care in hospital in Melbourne. The 22-year-old was working on a fruit farm when she came into contact with the animal. British woman Scarlet Goodrich (pictured) is fighting for her life in Australia after getting a rare form of blood poisoning from a stray kitten, it has emerged Her friends and family are raising funds to pay for her care and get her back to her home in Britain. Her uncle Christian Goodrich said: 'The doctors think she might have picked up this very rare and unusual toxin from a stray kitten she came into contact with while fruit picking on a farm. 'This has come as such a shock to the family. It's a very rare and unusual scenario which has baffled the doctors and specialists. 'She had contracted pneumococcal meningitis as well as mutated strain of toxin plasma. She's also got acute ADEM which is a swelling of the brain, and last week had to have an emergency operation. 'She has battled through the meningitis and the toxin, so it is mainly the ADEM which doctors are trying to address.' Her mother Alethea has flown to be at her daughter's bedside. Scarlet Goodrich (pictured), from Teignmouth, Devon, is in hospital in Melbourne after being struck down with meningitis and swelling of the brain A JustGiving website has been set up to raise money to help pay for the costs associated with Scarlet's treatment. Christian wrote on the page: 'She is being closely monitored on an hourly basis, and is being well looked after. 'The medical team at the hospital in Melbourne have been so incredible, and she is truly in the hands of a superb hospital and medical team. 'As I write this, her mum (Alethea) is with her, having got the quickest available flight from the UK the next day. Scarlet's auntie from Auckland has also made her way across to be with her and provide support. 'The past few days, and the days and weeks that will follow from here are are uncertain to say the least, but there is hope. 'Scarlet is on heavy pain medication but has shown signs of improvement over the past few days, and once further tests have concluded the 2nd cause of her current state, doctors and specialists will better informed to know how best to provide treatment going forward. 'All that being said, Scarlet and those close to her face a long road ahead, and her recovery is expected to take at least six months.' Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has called the cops after claiming to have been targeted by a forged sexual harassment claim. The Senate minority leader's office said a fake 13-page document purporting to be a legal complaint against Schumer by a staffer had been sent to media outlets yesterday. It contains detailed allegations that Schumer sexually harassed a female member of his staff while she worked for him between 2009 and 2012. The Senate minority leader's office said a fake 13-page document purporting to be a legal complaint against Schumer by a staffer had been sent to media outlets The document reportedly features an allegation of 'inappropriate behavior' from September 16, 2011 that took place in Washington. Pictured: Schumer (right) speaking with President Trump on December 7 Speaking to Axios, however, the staffer said the document is 'completely false', her signature has been forged and 'even the basic facts about me are wrong'. The woman - who asked to remain anonymous - added: 'I have contacted law enforcement to determine who is responsible. I parted with Senator Schumer's office on good terms and have nothing but the fondest memories of my time there.' Schumer's spokesman Matt House also attacked the supposed forgery. He said: 'The document is a forged document and every allegation is false. We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken. 'We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same.' A source told Axios some of the specifics of the document's allegedly false claims. It reportedly features an allegation of 'inappropriate behavior' from September 16, 2011 that took place in Washington. But Schumer was in fact in New York City. The woman - who asked to remain anonymous - added: 'I have contacted law enforcement to determine who is responsible. I parted with Senator Schumer's office on good terms and have nothing but the fondest memories of my time there.' Pictured: Schumer holds a letter written to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, expressing concern about funding cuts yesterday Another of the claims is predicated on Schumer being in Washington on August 25 of the same year, but the New York senator was actually in France. ABC News, meanwhile, found revealed that the document contained numerous unusual formatting features. The female staffer supposedly making the complaints in the document was also not represented by a lawyer, a major red flag for analysts. The document - dated from 2012 and named 'Schumer_Complaint' - was sent to various media outlets yesterday. An Australian mother and her young son have been brutally murdered in their home on the Pacific island of Kiribati. Sarah Moses, a bureaucrat from Hobart, Tasmania, and her three-year-old son Jack were found stabbed to death in their home in the central Pacific on Saturday in what police believe is a domestic violence incident. A man, believed to be an extended family member of Ms Moses, has been arrested over the incident. Sarah Moses (pictured left), a bureaucrat from Hobart, and her three-year-old son Jack (right) were found dead in their home in Kiribati on Saturday Kiribati Police say the stabbing occurred between 5am and 6am on Saturday in Batio, the largest area in South Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati. The 46-year-old had been working as a public servant her entire life and moved to the country, home to just 110,000 people, to be the director of the Kiribati Institute of Technology. The organisation is funded by foreign aid programs in Australia. She had worked for the government in her home state of Tasmania and the Commonwealth Department of Finance. Mrs Moses, previously named Sarah Goodwin, married Nauruan man Bryce Moses in 2013. He posted an image of his wife and son on Saturday, with people commenting to express their sympathy. 'May God Almighty blessed and showers you with his love in his Kingdom RIP Sarah n Jack,' one person said. '#RestInLoveSarahandJack Stay strong Taina, much love to you bro,' another posted. Mrs Moses married Nauruan man Bryce Moses (pictured right) in 2013. He posted an image of his wife and son on Saturday Ms Moses was remembered at a funeral in the tiny nation, located north-west of Fiji, on Tuesday. Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and Australia's high commisioner Bruce Cowled attended, alongside several other ministers. Tasmania Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Jenny Gale said the news was 'shocking'. 'She was a much loved and respected colleague,' Ms Gale said. 'This will come as shocking news to many in our community and our thoughts are with her family and friends.' OUCH! What a stunning win for the Democrats, and what a thumping loss for the Republicans. As CNN political commentator Jen Psaki put it: This is an earthquake. Indeed it is. In fact, the result of the Alabama Senate race win was so seismic it even jolted Donald Trump into sounding sincere, humble and gracious in defeat. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory, tweeted the President through what must have been severely gritted teeth. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. By this morning, Trump had recovered to remind people hed warned Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election and to claim Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him. Tuesday's election was such an earthquake it even shook Donald Trump into a sincere Tweet But bWednesday morning he had recovered and tweeted this, reminding everyone he didn't want Roy to run as the nominee to begin with But the truth is Roy Moore was an unprecedentedly terrible candidate and Trump made a catastrophically bad decision to support him. As a result, Trumps now down to a perilous 51 Republican majority in the Senate, and hes given his opponents a massively unexpected shot in the arm as we head into next years mid-term elections. Its difficult to overstate the scale or significance of this defeat. I was down in Alabama recently filming a documentary and theres nowhere more Trump-centric in the whole of America. This is die-hard deep red Republican country, and these are Trumps people, his voters. Not any more. Alabama turned blue last night, driven largely by black men and women, and this astonishing turnaround may have potentially very far-reaching consequences for not just for 2018 but also the 2020 General Election. President Trump has only himself to blame. He should never have backed such a wretched horse. Roy Moore is a dumb, vile, racist, homophobic, anti-semitic, sexist Islamophobe. If you think thats harsh, then judge him by his own words. President Trump has only himself to blame for Tuesday.. Roy Moore is a dumb, vile, racist, homophobic, anti-semitic, sexist Islamophobe and Trump never should backed this horse Moore thinks homosexuality should be made illegal, has likened it to bestiality and said its abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature. He believes the 9/11 attacks happened because God was angry, Islam is a false religion, America was last great when slavery was still legal, women are unfit for office, and Barack Obama was born in Kenya. But, incredibly, none of these things are why he lost. No, the reason Moore lost is because he stands accused by nine women of inappropriate sexual conduct or social conduct. Several said he assaulted them as teenagers, others said he romantically pursued them when they were underage. Moore has denied the claims, though he did not dispute approaching or dating teenagers over the age of 16 (the age of consent in Alabama). But as the maelstrom around the charges intensified, prominent Republicans like John McCain and Mitt Romney called for him to quit the race. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believed the women and urged Moore to step aside. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the same. Even Ivanka Trump, the Presidents daughter, said: Theres 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. Her father initially also said that Moore should step aside if the charges were true. But then he dramatically changed his mind and threw the full weight of the White House behind him. It turned out to be one of the worst decisions of Trumps entire presidency. Who turned his head towards this political suicide? It was Steve Bannon, the renegade political firebrand who helped propel him to victory last November and who was convinced Moore could prevail against all the odds, even multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, just like Trump did. Republicans wanted Moore to step aside when horrible stories started emerging. Ivanka Trump, said: Theres a special place in hell for people who prey on children.' But Steve Bannon, seen here with Moore, helped steer Trump and thought the pedophile could win He was wrong, badly wrong. The only silver lining in an otherwise cloud-infested night for Trump is that Roy Moore wont now become a lightning rod for negativity in the Senate. If hed won, the Democrats were planning to go to war on him and use him as an enduringly nasty, scandalous yardstick with which to beat other Republicans and the President. Trump would still have preferred Moore to win, obviously. But there will be some in the Republican camp quite happy he lost rather than have him hanging over the party in 2018 and 2020 like a bad, predatory smell. All is not lost for Trump though. As I wrote earlier this week, he has been achieving considerable success in delivering on campaign promises like defeating ISIS on the battlefield, growing the US economy and jobs, his tax plan and cutting illegal immigration. This defeat will sting and hurt him but he may also help him in the long run, if he heeds the lessons from it. Trump is no doubt stinging from Moore's defeat, but there are three easy lessons he can learn if he wants to be helped by the loss First, Trump has to stop listening to Steve Bannon. The Brietbart mans incendiary brand of anti-establishment chaos indisputably played a major part in the 2016 election win. But now it has become a self-defeating problem. If Trump is to win big again, he has to start being more inclusive. Bannon wouldnt even know how to spell the word, such is his blind hatred for anyone who doesnt share his world view. Second, Trump has to start listening harder to other senior Republicans He could afford to ignore them if he kept winning, but he cant now hes started losing. They will be sweating on the potential loss of Congress in 2018 and even the Senate and Presidency in 2020. That fear could quickly turn into open treachery if they believe Trump will cost them their jobs. Third, Trump has to cut out his below-the-belt attacks on Twitter, particularly on women. His tweet yesterday strongly suggesting that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would provide sexual favours in return for campaign contributions was an absolute disgrace. There is a new mood in America, one of zero tolerance for anything but respect and equality for women, and its one where Trumps own highly dubious track record with women as exemplified by the notorious Access Hollywood tape - will now be revived to hammer him time and again. If Democrats have any sense they will realize that putting up decent, honest candidates like Doug Jones, who dont play dirty, is the way to win. It's why they should have had Biden run against Trump, he may have won in 2016 The Democrats, if they have any sense, will surely realize from Alabama that putting up decent, honest candidates who dont play dirty is a winning proposition in a political atmosphere so skewed with hatred and unpleasantness. I always thought Joe Biden could have beaten Trump in the 2016 Election with a good-versus-evil style campaign. Last nights win for Doug Jones has convinced me even more that this type of candidate has a far better chance of defeating Trump in 2020 than one like Hillary who preferred to slug it out in the gutter with him. What is certain is that Alabama has changed everything. Trump and the Republicans got a well-deserved smack in the nose for arrogantly standing by a hideously flawed and damaged candidate. The Democrats, by contrast, were vindicated in fielding someone who stood on a platform of integrity, cross-party reconciliation and old-fashioned American values. If Trump doesnt heed the gigantic alarm bells that went off last night, hes a fool. Momentum is everything in politics and the pendulum just swung dramatically back toward the Democrats. An eight-year-old New Jersey girl took her own life after reportedly reading a news story on Facebook about a Colorado girl who hanged herself in November. Imani McCray had been sent to her room for a time out just before the suicide attempt. Authorities said her family members tried to revive her before medics arrived. Emergency crews were called to her family's apartment building in Newark around 1.40pm on Sunday. Scroll down for video Eight-year-old, mani McCray (left and right) took her own life after reportedly reading a story about a Colorado girl who hanged herself in November Imani had a faint pulse when paramedics arrived, but prosecutors said she was pronounced dead at the University Hospital in Newark Emergency crews were called to her family's apartment building (pictured) in Newark around 1.40pm on Sunday Imani had a faint pulse when paramedics arrived, but prosecutors said she was pronounced dead at the University Hospital in Newark, according to NBC New York. Essex County prosecutors said they are trying to determine if Imani may have seen the story about 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis, who hanged herself in November, and copied what she had read. Prosecutors also said Imani may have hanged herself in a case of tragic playacting at her home, according to NBC. Imani would have turned nine years old next week. Her death comes a little over a week after Ashawnty was taken off life support. Ashawnty died two weeks after she hanged herself because a video of her being bullied was posted on social media. 'It's just devastating,' her father, Anthony Davis, told KDVR-TV. 'She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone.' In late October, Ashawnty, a fifth-grade student at Sunrise Elementary in Aurora, was involved in a fight after school. It was recorded by another student, who then sent the footage to an app called Musical.ly. Essex County prosecutors said they are trying to determine if Imani may have seen the story about 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis (pictured), who hanged herself in November, and copied what she had read Imani would have turned nine years old next week. Her death comes a little over a week after Ashawnty (pictured) was taken off life support. Ashawnty died two weeks after she hanged herself because a video of her being bullied was posted on social media In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch. Ashawnty's mother, Latoshia Harris, says that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her. It was recorded by a student and sent to an app called Musical.ly Two weeks after the clip of the fight was posted to social media, Ashawnty hanged herself in a closet. She then spent another two weeks on life support at Children's Hospital Colorado In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch. Ashawnty's mother, Latoshia Harris, said that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her. 'I saw my daughter was scared,' Harris said. Harris and Davis showed the clip to KDVR-TV which broadcast parts of it though the children's images were muzzed. 'She was devastated when she found out that it had made it to Musical.ly,' Davis said. After the clip was posted to Musical.ly, Ashawnty was subjected to frequent teasing and bullying at school, according to her parents. They said that the abuse their daughter took turned her into a different person. Ashawnty could no longer live with the shame. 'My daughter came home two weeks later and hanged herself in the closet,' Harris said. Harris and Davis are urging other parents to be on the lookout for signs of 'bullycide' or when a child is driven to suicide because of bullying. 'We have to stop it and we have to stop it within our kids,' Davis said. 'I want other parents to know that it's happening,' Harris said. 'That was my baby and I love my baby and I just want mothers to listen.' 'It's just devastating,' her father, Anthony Davis (left, with her mother Latoshia Harris), told KDVR-TV. 'She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone' Imani was taken off life support at Children's Hospital Colorado following her suicide attempt. Authorities said that there is no indication that Imani was bullied. Imani's family is making funeral arrangements. The tragic deaths of Imani and Ashawnty are reminders that more than 3.2 million students who fall victim to bullying each year. About 17 per cent of American students report being bullied two to three times a month or more within a school semester. Stand up against bullying by visiting StopBullying.gov to learn more about what you can do. President Donald Trump returned to bashing the 'fake news media' Wednesday morning, hours after he congratulated Democrat Doug Jones for defeating Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race. The stunning GOP defeat came despite Trump's efforts to prop up GOP candidate Roy Moore even after a slew of women came forward to say he tried to date or touch them when they were teenagers. The women came forward after being contacted by the Washington Post, whose stunning expose helped bring about Moore's defeat. 'Wow, more than 90% of Fake News Media coverage of me is negative, with numerous forced retractions of untrue stories,' Trump tweeted Wednesday. 'Hence my use of Social Media, the only way to get the truth out. Much of Mainstream Meadia has become a joke! @foxandfriends' he wrote. President Trump went back to attacking the 'fake news media,' citing a study by a conservative research group that 90 per cent of statements about him on network news were negative Earlier Wednesday, Trump tried to give himself a pass, noting on twitter that he had backed Sen. Luther Strange in the primary though he also decided to endorse Moore and stump for him in nearby Pensacola, Florida. 'Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!' Trump wrote. The president's favorable rating was just 48 per cent in deep red Alabama according to election day exit polls. Trump's comments followed a study by the conservative Media Research Center, which tallied up positive and negative statements about Trump during the last three months, finding they were 91 per cent negative. In November there were 33 positive statements compared to 320 negative statements, according to the analysis. The group, which gets funding from conservative foundations, says its mission is 'to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media. This makes the MRC's work unique within the conservative movement.' Confetti falls as Democrat Doug Jones and his wife Louise wave to supporters Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election on Tuesday Trump's media attack came hours after he tweeted congratulations to Democrat Doug Jones The story that kicked off some of that negative coverage came out Nov. 9, when the Post reported Leigh Corfman's claims that Roy Moore took her back to his home and touched her when she was just 14 years old, adding that he guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 'I wanted it over with I wanted out,' Corfman recalled. 'Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.' On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders uncorked a furious attack on the media after news outlets had to pull back critical stories saying reporters are 'purposely misleading the American people.' Sanders escalated her attack on the media after CNN's Jim Acosta told her that 'journalists make honest mistakes and that doesn't make them fake news.' White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused reporters of 'purposely putting out information that you know to be false' 'You cannot say that it's an honest mistake when you are purposely putting out information that you know to be false,' Sanders responded. 'There's a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposely misleading the American people, something that happens regularly,' Sanders said. Over the weekend, a Washington Post reporter apologized after he tweeted out a photo of a half empty arena after President Trump had said the Pensacola arena was packed. The photo was taken before Trump started speaking. In another media embarrassment, ABC had to pull back a story by correspondent Brian Ross, who erroneously reported that a source claimed that a close associate of retired national security advisor Mike Flynn's was prepared to testify that Trump 'directed him to make contact with the Russians' during the course of the 2016 presidential race. The direction came during the transition. Ross got suspended. Amanda Knox is set to host a new show that will explore how girls and women have been 'shamed' publicly and attacked in the media. Her new show, 'The Scarlet Letter Reports,' is from Vice Media and will be launching soon on Facebook's video platform. The 30-year-old, who spent four years in an Italian prison after being convicted of murdering her roommate before being exonerated, will interview women to discuss their experiences of being 'sexualized, scrutinized and demonized' by media coverage. She will also discuss how they've rebuilt their lives. 'While on trial for a murder I didn't commit, my prosecutor painted me as a sex-crazed femme fatale with magical powers to control men,' Knox said in a statement provided by Vice. Amanda Knox (left) is set to host a new show, 'The Scarlet Letter Reports,' that will explore how girls and women have been 'shamed' publicly and attacked in the media. One of her first interviews is with model Amber Rose (right) The 30-year-old famously spent four years in an Italian prison after being convicted of murdering her roommate before being exonerated (above right in 2011 during an appeal hearing for her case in Italy) Knox tweeted the above statement on Wednesday morning about her new show 'I lost years of my life to prison because of two-dimensional and misogynist stereotypes. 'In 'The Scarlet Letter Reports,' I'm hoping to re-humanize others who have been similarly shamed and vilified, and elevate the standard for how we think and talk about public women.' She also took to social media with news of her show and tweeted: 'In the midst of this important cultural moment, Im thrilled to be partnering with VICE & Facebook to mind-meld with incredible women & address an issue very close to my heart. Look out for The Scarlet Letter Reports this Spring.' On Instagram, she posted a photo showing a camera screen image of herself smiling at ease while sporting a turtleneck. On Instagram, she posted a photo showing a camera screen image of herself smiling at ease while sporting a turtleneck. Of the new show, Knox said: 'I lost years of my life to prison because of two-dimensional and misogynist stereotypes. 'In 'The Scarlet Letter Reports,' I'm hoping to re-humanize others who have been similarly shamed and vilified...' (above in 2015 after being acquitted) Her interview subjects include Daisy Coleman, the Missouri teen who became an advocate for sexual-assault education and model Amber Rose. Knox's show will be among three original weekly series from Vice that Facebook ordered. The other two shows include a renovation reality show called 'Breaking & Entertaining' while the other is titled 'The Hangover Show' and is about how to recover from a night of excessive drinking. 'Breaking & Entertaining' is a five-episode unscripted series where a person invites Vice to throw a party Vice is one of the select partners Facebook is buying content from. Knox currently lives in Seattle, Washington with her partner novelist Christopher Robinson. She works as an Arts Correspondent and columnist at West Seattle Herald. A local council has been slammed for sending out a Christmas card wishing residents a 'happy holidays'. Ratepayers have accused Gympie Regional Council in Queensland of being too politically correct by using 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'. 'The Mayor, Councillors and Staff at Gympie Regional Council wish you Happy Holidays and a safe 2018,' the newsletter reads. Ratepayers have accused Gympie Regional Council in Queensland of being too politically correct by using 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas' (Gympie Regional Council pictured) Ratepayer Martin Callinan said it could be a sign the council did not want to offend non-Christians by using the word 'Christmas'. 'Just received a magazine from Gympie Council,' Mr Callinan told The Gympie Times. 'On the back page it says "Happy Holidays" What happened to "Happy Christmas" or "Merry Christmas"? 'Are they scared of upsetting the 5% of residents that are not Christian? 'What about the 95% of residents who do believe in Christmas?' But also in the newsletter is a message from the mayor in which Merry Christmas is used. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Gympie Regional Council for comment. Advertisement This is the dramatic moment undercover police arrested Palestinian protesters at gun point amid continued fury over Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Pictures show officers with handguns bundling men to the ground after infiltrating a demonstration of up to 150 men in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Police fired into the air as they dispersed the crowd on the outskirts of the city before dozens of soldiers moved in. Several men wearing keffiyehs or balaclavas, including one with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his head, then pulled out pistols. Scroll down for video Dramatic pictures capture the moment undercover police arrested Palestinian protesters at gun point amid continued fury over Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital Flashpoint: Pictures show officers with handguns bundling men to the ground after infiltrating a demonstration of up to 150 men in the West Bank town of Ramallah The arrests came after Palestinian protesters set tyres on fire during demonstrations on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah in protest against Donald Trump's stance on Jerusalem Staring down the barrel: Undercover Israeli security personnel detain a Palestinian demonstrator after infiltrating their protest Several men wearing keffiyehs or balaclavas, including one with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his head, pulled out pistols and made a series of dramatic arrests as soldiers moved in Armed response: Police fired into the air as they dispersed the crowd on the outskirts of the city before dozens of soldiers moved in One threw a smoke grenade while others fired in the air. The army then rapidly moved towards the remaining protesters, who fled. Medics on the scene said three Palestinians had been injured during the protests. Israel's military had not immediately responded to a request for comment. Rare video footage of the operation was captured by an AFP journalist. Israeli forces regularly carry out such operations against stone-throwing protests in which agents pretend to be demonstrators before turning on the crowd. Israeli forces regularly carry out such operations against stone-throwing protests in which agents pretend to be demonstrators before turning on the crowd Medics on the scene said three Palestinians had been injured during the protests. Israel's military had not immediately responded to a request for comment Israeli forces regularly carry out such operations against stone-throwing protests in which agents pretend to be demonstrators before turning on the crowd Such agents are referred to by Palestinians as mustarabeen, a word used to refer to those who disguise themselves as Arabs Wednesday's protest was part of demonstrations and clashes that have occurred in the Palestinian territories since US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital a week ago Four Palestinians have been killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza. One Israeli has been seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem A Palestinian protester is held on the ground while a police officer grabs his head and kneels on his back during the arrests Such agents are referred to by Palestinians as mustarabeen, a word used to refer to those who disguise themselves as Arabs. Wednesday's protest was part of demonstrations and clashes that have occurred in the Palestinian territories since US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital a week ago. Four Palestinians have been killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza. One Israeli has been seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem. Dozens of soldiers rushed in as undercover police made their arrests. A protester is pictured being bundled to the ground The arrests come amid tensions over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last week, leading to days of protests and clashes in the Palestinian territories An undercover runs with his handgun in the air and holding a Palestinian in a headlock towards Israeli military vehicles Surrounded: A Palestinian protester is dragged away after being arrested in an undercover operation by Israeli police Gun point: A soldier points his weapon as an undercover police officer arrests a Palestinian protester in Ramallah today Two men and two women have been arrested on suspicion of murdering an 87-year-old who has died three weeks after being savagely beaten and robbed. Widower Arthur 'Bob' Gumbley, who ran a successful heating and plumbing supplies company before retiring, was set upon in his own home on November 21. His gated property was broken into at around 8pm and repeatedly punched him in the face before kicking him as he lay helplessly on the floor, before making off with items including a purse belonging to his late wife. Mr Gumbley succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Monday. Widower Arthur 'Bob' Gumbley died in hospital on Monday, some three weeks after he was attacked in his own home The intruders broke into Mr Gumbley's property and repeatedly punched him in the face before kicking him as he lay helplessly on the floor When paramedics arrived at the scene in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, at 10pm to find the retired company director lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to Good Hope Hospital were he was treated for severe bruising to his left eye, neck, chest, both hands and right arm. Staffordshire Police released photographs of Mr Gumbley's injuries in a bid to catch the perpetrators. Yesterday police confirmed Mr Gumbley died from his injuries on Monday (December 11) and officers had arrested four people on suspicion of murder. Two men aged 42 and 34, and two women aged 33 and 29, who are all from Birmingham, are currently being quizzed by detectives. Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Dan Ison, said: 'This was an horrific and despicable attack on a defenceless elderly man in his own home, which has now resulted in his untimely death and a murder investigation. 'He had been punched in the face and kicked while on the floor. 'He was taken by ambulance to Good Hope Hospital where he was initially treated for injuries to his chest, neck, arms and face. 'Despite being in good health prior to the attack, his condition deteriorated last week and he sadly passed away on Monday 11 December. The heartless thieves made off with Mr Gumbley's belongings, including his late wife's purse Mr Gumbley was taken to Good Hope Hospital were he was treated for severe bruising to his left eye, neck, chest, both hands and right arm. But he passed away on Monday 'The robbery is believed to have taken place between 7pm and 9pm, when thieves ransacked the house and stole items of jewellery and cash, as well as a purse that belonged to Arthur's late wife. 'Crimes of this nature cannot go unpunished, and I want to reassure Arthur's family that every effort is now being made to bring those responsible to justice.' Speaking at a press conference after the attack, Mr Gumbley's daughter Sue said before he died: 'It's started to become real to him now, and he's said he's scared. 'His question is, why did it happen to him? What did he do wrong? How do you tell somebody that? That he did nothing wrong? 'To do that to an old person, to push them around and kick them and punch them, and cut them, it's really frightening. 'To see your dad, that you've looked up to all these years, sitting in a pool of blood is just awful. 'We've shown him a picture of himself and it's frightened him. He's a scared old man now, and he was a tall, upright person that people respected, he's worked hard all of his life.' Mitchell Goldman (pictured) was shocked by an unidentified Umatilla County deputy in Oregon as the two responded to a 'belligerent' man last week A state trooper who was shot with a Taser by a fellow cop has been given a cake as an apology. Mitchell Goldman was shocked by an unidentified Umatilla County deputy in Oregon as the two responded to a 'belligerent' man last week. Goldman, who was first on the scene, was trying to pat down the aggressive suspect when the two began scuffling. The deputy arrived just in time to fire his two-pronged Taser - with one sticking into the suspect and the other landing in Goldman's vest. In a post on Facebook, Oregon State Police explained on Monday that, 'since they were in contact with each other, they both took the tase'. To apologise, the cop sent his colleague a cake with 'Sorry you got tased' written in icing. Goldman then posted a photograph of himself holding the cake and smiling, accompanied by the words: '"Getting tased is a cake walk" thanks to Umatilla County Sheriff's Office for the cake. #everyonewasmoving #ithappens'. The police Facebook post added that the deputy 'felt so bad' he thought himself obliged to bring the cake. 'Accidents happen,' the statement added. Doner kebab sellers across Europe have won a victory after MEPs blocked a bid to outlaw additives regularly used to preserve taste and moisture. The European Commission had proposed permitting the use of phosphates in frozen kebab meat to reflect current practice. Greens and Socialists moved to block the Commission, saying phosphate additives might increase the risk of heart disease and damage bones and was not allowed in meat in general. MEPs have blocked a bid to ban the phosphates used in the slabs of meat at the heart of the popular street snack that originated in Turkey EU lawmakers present backed their motion by 373 votes for to 272 against, but to block the Commission an absolute majority of all members of the European Parliament was required - 376 votes. The centre-right European People's Party, the largest group in parliament, said blocking the use of phosphates could lead to 200,000 job losses across Europe, more than half of them in Germany. It added there was no health risk. Owners of takeaway restaurants and industry groups claim the additives are needed to keep seasoned kebab meat juicy and flavorful, both during transport and on the vertical retail rotisseries where it is cooked. 'We saved your kebab. You're welcome,' said the Christian Democrat EPP group, which argued for keeping the phosphates in since it claims there is no proof of negative health effects. Fueling the brouhaha is that some sausages containing phosphates are allowed to be sold in EU countries and would not be affected by any move involving kebab meat. Just the threat of any changes to the beloved dish - in Europe, shaved kebab meat usually comes stuffed into pita bread with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and one, or several, dressings - made headlines in Germany, where the doner kebab is the late night grub of choice. The disparity has some vendors alleging that 'doner discrimination' was cooked up deliberately to disadvantage Turkish-owned businesses. 'If the European Parliament gets its way, this would be the death sentence for the entire doner kebab industry in the European Union,' Kenan Koyuncu of the German Association of Doner Kebab Producers told Germany's Bild daily newspaper. 'They are looking for ways to hurt Turkish businesses here,' said Baris Donmez, the owner of a 24-hour kebab bistro in Berlin's Mitte district. 'Such a ban would be the biggest pile of garbage imaginable.' 'They are looking for ways to hurt Turkish businesses here,' said Baris Donmez, the owner of a 24-hour kebab bistro in Berlin's Mitte district. 'Such a ban would be the biggest pile of garbage imaginable.' Renate Sommer, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party in the European Parliament, wrote on Facebook that 'a ban of the phosphate addition would be the end of doner production and would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.' The European Food Safety Agency plans to re-evaluate the safety of phosphate food additives by the end of 2018. 'Unless they can show without doubt that phosphate additives are not harmful, their use in all foods must be immediately reviewed by the Commission,' said Bart Staes, the Belgian Greens lawmaker behind the motion. The kebab issue came up when the EU Commission proposed to officially authorize the use of phosphates in the lamb, mutton, beef or veal that goes onto a shop spit. Some other meats had previously received such clearance. The proposal ran into trouble in the European Parliament earlier this week when its Health Committee voted 32-22 to oppose it. Based on more recent health studies, legislators expressed concern that carving out blanket approval for kebab meat could put Europeans at greater risk of heart disease. Congressional Republicans grilled top Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein about the FBI hours after the release of private emails where a top investigator called then-candidate Donald Trump 'awful.' Republican Judiciary chairman Robert Goodlatte of Virginia called reports of 'political predisposition and potential bias' on Mueller's team ''deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice.' Rosenstein said he was 'not aware of any impropriety' on Mueller's team. 'DOJ investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices. We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Mr. Mueller's team,' he said. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein arrives to testify before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in Washington Republican lawmakers pounded on newly-revealed private texts between top FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who exchanged private texts where they blasted Donald Trump during the primaries. 'This is disgusting unaccountable bias and theres no way that could not affect a persons work,' said Texas Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert. 'Were you aware of just how biased Mr. Strzok was?' he asked Rosenstein. 'No I was not,' he replied. Goodlatte continued: 'First, we have FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page exchanging communications showing extreme bias against President Trump, a fact that would be bad enough if it weren't for the fact that these two individuals were employed as part of the Mueller 'dream team' investigating the very person for whom they were showing disdain,' Goodlatte said. 'And calling it mere 'disdain' is generous,' he fumed in his opening statement. 'According to the documents produced last night to this Committee, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page referred to the President as 'an utter idiot,' 'a loathsome human,' and 'awful,' while continually praising Hillary Clinton and the Obamas.' 'These text messages prove what we all suspected: high-ranking FBI officials involved in the Clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election, and clearly let their strong political opinions cloud their professional judgment. And this was only an 'initial disclosure,' containing heavy redactions.' But Rosenstein, under questioning by Rep. Jerold Nadler of New York, acknowledged that he has seen a good cause reason to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller reassigned Strzok after learning of the texts. Republicans grilled Rosenstein on private texts by some of his investigators that were highly critical of Donald Trump House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., left, shakes hands with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, right, as he arrives to testify before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in Washington 'I would follow the regulation if there were good cause,' he said, asked if he would fire Mueller if the president ordered him to. Nadler, the new ranking member after the resignation of Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, said he reviewed the texts, which he said expressed 'private political views' that are allowable. 'Peter Strzok did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren't also thinking at the same time,' Nadler said. And he rejected growing GOP calls to have a new special counsel investigate Mueller. 'I understand the instinct to want to change the subject after the Flynn and Manafort indictments, but this request is grossly misguided,' he said, in reference to Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort, two former top Trump advisors. After reciting Mueller's accomplishments, from Marine service to serving as a prosecutor and running the FBI, he called him an 'ideal choice' for the role of special counsel. Republican Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio ran through the political contributions to Democrats by many of Mueller's top investigators. FBI agent Peter Strzok (left) and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page (right) who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president and their hopes he would lose the election THIS SHOULD BE FUN: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein prepares to testify before a full committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election 'How with a straight face can you say that this group of Democrat partisans are unbiased and will give President Trump a fair shake?' he asked. Rosenstein responded: 'We recognize we have employees with political opinions. It is our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions. I believe that Dir. Mueller understands that. He is running that office appropriately.' Two high ranking FBI officials involved in Robert Mueller's Russian probe exchanged text messages calling Donald Trump 'an idiot'. FBI agent Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president. In one of the texts, Page wrote Strzok: 'Maybe youre meant to stay where you are because you are meant to protect the country from that menace,' in reference to Trump. During their exchanges, they described Trump as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election, the Washington Post reported. Special Counsel Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation into collusion between Trump's administration and Russia during the 2016 election, after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. Page had already ended her assignment to Mueller's office. The pair's texts are now under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general. Both Strzok and Page were key players in the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server as well as the Russian probe. They'd been involved in an extra martial affair during the Clinton investigation. The texts date back to 2015, shortly after Trump announced his plans to run for president, when Strzok texted that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was 'an idiot like Trump. During their exchanges, they described Trump (pictured) as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election Special Counsel Mueller (pictured, front) removed Strzok from the investigation after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. 'Figure they cancel each other out.' The following year, on March 4, 2016, Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' THE SHOCKING TEXTS BETWEEN THE FBI OFFICIALS March 2016: Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' March 2016: Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' The same month, Page texted asking if Strzok had heard Trump: 'Make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president.' July 2016, Strzok texted: 'HE [Trump] appears to have no ability to experience reverence which I [SIC] the foundation for any capacity to admire or serve anything bigger than self to want to learn about anything beyond self, to want to know and deeply honor the people around you.' Advertisement 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' 'Also did you hear [Trump] make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president,' Page said later that same evening, according to Politico. On March 16, 2016, Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' In April, they seemed to become a little nervous of their anti-Trump rants. Page texted: 'So look, you say we text on that phone when we talk about Hillary because it can't be traced, you were just venting bc you feel bad that you're gone so much but it can't be helped right now.' The texts also showed that the pair were horrified at the idea then-Sen. Jeff Sessions might be nominated as attorney general. The messages were uncovered by the Justice Department during an investigation into potential political influence on the Clinton emails and Russian probes. While many have argued that the comments were simply discussion between the pair, any suggestion that investigators may have been biased against Trump will fuel calls by Republicans for second special counsel to investigate Mueller's operation. Hundreds of devout Catholics have flocked to see what has been called an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the form of algae growing where water leaks out of a pipe. The alleged miracle was spotted by a street in Nobsa, in the central-western Colombian department of Boyaca. A young boy passing through the street was the first to discover the small leak of water running down the side of the brick wall of a canal, with algae growing in the form of the robed virgin. The vision of the Virgin Mary first appeared in a small leak of water running down the side of the brick wall of a canal from a pipe It was first discovered by a boy, whose mother said he heard a sound like a trapped animal As he began to take pictures, the boy said the image moved and he then knelt and prayed in fear before running to tell his mother The woman said she then went to check with her own eyes and 'it turned out to be true' The mother of the young lad who witnessed the supposed appearance reported her son's story to local media. She said: 'He says that when he crossed the bridge, he heard a sound, as if there were a small animal trapped there. 'When he turned to look, my son saw the image of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe. He says that he immediately walked through the stream and began to take pictures of the image. 'At that moment, the image moved, and he was afraid, he knelt and prayed, and then he ran out to tell me. I was in the warehouse and I went to check it with my own eyes, because initially, I did not believe him, but it turned out to be true.' Word of the appearance rapidly passed through the community and locals began to flock to see it One local man said locals were 'paralyzed' with shock at see the image of the Virgin Mary As well as locals, the apparent image of the Virgin Mary has also attracted tourists The local church is carrying out all the procedures to see if the algae can be certified as a 'miracle' A local priest said the church must act 'prudently' before certifying a miracle Our Lady of Guadaloupe is a title used for the Virgin Mary associated with an image of her in a church in Mexican capital Mexico City. Word of the appearance rapidly passed through the community. Local man Hugo Fuertes told Colombian media: 'The people there were shocked, almost paralysed. The news spread everywhere, and began the procession of people praying the holy rosary to the image of the Virgin.' However, the local church is asking for people to wait for the miracle to be certified. Father Victor Leguizamon said: 'When there is an apparition, one must act prudently until the competent authority certifies the authenticity.' While the church is carrying out all the necessary protocols to determine if it is indeed a miraculous apparition, the image has attracted a pilgrimage of hundreds of parishioners and tourists. Two young men accused of theft were stripped naked and hit on their bare bottoms with planks of wood by masked vigilantes in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. A video, thought to have been made by one of the mob who captured the men, shows two youths being let out of a car boot in the city of Culiaca. They emerge naked holding their clothes to cover themselves before they are both hit with a wooden plank by a masked vigilante and run away. A video thought to be made by a group of Mexican vigilantes shows two men accused of theft stripped naked As the men are hit and run away someone in the mob says: 'This is happening to you because you are rats (which is also a slang word for thief in Spanish), abusers and fags.' Police in Culiacan said that they have not found or identified the two young men being punished in the video, or the mob that carried out the attack. One of the victims is thought to be a minor. It is not clear what exactly the masked men accused the duo of, or whether they were guilty. In the past few months, similar acts of vigilante violence have been reported in the Sinaloa municipalities of Culiacan, Navolato, Mazatlan and Elota. In the Navolato incident, the family of a man named as Luis Enrique reported that a group of armed men stripped him and beat him while hanging a sign around his neck saying: 'This is against rats.' Last month two young men elsewhere in Sinaloa were attacked and partially stripped by armed men. The men wrote a message on their victims' bodies accusing them of being criminals. A Los Angeles man is dead after he was apparently run over by his own vehicle during a carjacking on the rooftop level of a parking garage. Police were called to a parking structure on Carondelet Street in the Westlake district on Monday night. When officers arrived, 54-year-old Ricardo Mota was suffering from severe head and body trauma. Paramedics were called to the scene but Mota died from his injuries, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a press release. Ricardo Mota died Monday night after he was carjacked and run over with his own vehicle on the top level of a Los Angeles parking structure The victim suffered severe head and body trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene Witnesses told officers that Mota and another man were seen arguing around 6.30pm near Mota's Nissan Tracker. At some point the two men got into a physical altercation and the suspect fled the scene in Mota's truck. Surveillance video inside the parking garage showed the thief leaving the garage in the victim's car. Investigators said they believe the thief is 36-year-old Mitchell Castillo and he ran over Mota before fleeing. The truck was found a few hours after the incident in the San Fernando Valley. Castillo was arrested after he was allegedly seen removing items from the truck, and booked for carjacking. Witnesses told officers that the victim and suspect got into a verbal and physical altercation before the deadly incident Mitchell Castillo was arrested in San Fernando Valley. He was booked on carjacking Police said Castillo has several different addresses in and around the Los Angeles area and may be a transient. It's not clear if he knew the victim. Detectives are continuing to investigate the incident and are urging witnesses with information to contact the Rampart division of the LAPD. Anyone with information is urged to call Rampart Area Detectives at 213-484-3400. Those who wish to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Ministers have been hit by a bullying row after a Tory whip allegedly reduced a female MP to tears as they scrambled to try to head off a Brexit rebellion tonight. A male whip is said to have used 'bully boy tactics' to try to cajole the MP into not defying the Government on a crunch Brexit vote. The woman is said to have started crying and trembling after receiving the harsh dressing down - a claim No10 have said is 'categorically not true'. But another report says the chief whip Julian Smith has threatened to sue rebels if they make defamatory allegations about the tactics used to keep them in line. The claims have surfaced as tensions soar ahead of an expected Tory rebellion tonight on the flagship Brexit Bill demanding MPs are given a meaningful vote on the deal. It would be Theresa May's first proper defeat on a piece of legislation and a major blow for the PM ahead of a major EU summit in Brussels tomorrow. Anna Soubry, a leading Tory rebel, accused a Tory whip of overstepping the mark and resorting to bullying to strong-arm MPs into toeing the line. Anna Soubry, a leading Tory rebel pictured in the Commons today, said a female MP was reduced to tears and trembling after a Tory whip resorting to try to stop an expected rebellion She told the Evening Standard: 'It is right that the whips should exert pressure, cajole people that's perfectly proper in my view. 'But bullying, reducing colleagues to tears and making them shake is not acceptable. It has got to stop. We are the Conservative Party, not Momentum thugs.' Two other MPs also said they were aware of the incident with one telling the newspaper: 'The person was left shaken and upset. These were bully boy tactics.' Up to 20 Tory MPs are s id to be ready to rebel against the Government tonight and vote for Dominic Grieve's amendment to demand a meaningful vote on the deal. This would be enough to overturn the PM's wafer thin working majority of 12 a deal a humiliating blow to her. During last night's Brexit debate in the Commons Tory whip Chris Heaton-Harris was reportedly spotted talking to one of the potential rebels, who was said to have been upset afterwards. Tory chief whip Julian Smith (pictured outside NO 10 last month) has reportedly told rebellious backbenchers they will be sued if they make false claims about the heavy-handed tactics of his office against them. But No10 have furiously denied claims he has intimidated the MP or caused them to cry, while he told the Standard: 'You will have to go through No 10 to get any comment from me.' Meanwhile, Tory chief whip Julian Smith has reportedly told rebellious backbenchers they will be sued if they make false claims about the heavy-handed tactics of his office against them. According to The Guardian, the newly promoted chief whip has issued the threat to at least one backbencher. The revelation will spark controversy as it comes after Westminster has been hit by sleaze and bullying allegations in the past two months. Mrs May has promised to crack down on the mistreatment of MPs and their staff and bring in new employment procedures and practices to better protect them. Gary Haggarty, 45, is a former loyalist paramilitary turned supergrass informer who has admitted 202 terror offences including five murders The brutal crimes committed by a loyalist paramilitary commander-turned-supergrass witness including the murder of a man babysitting his grandchildren have been revealed in court 'in graphic detail'. Gary Haggarty admitted shooting defenceless grandfather Sean McParland in the neck at close range and kidnapping and viciously assaulting father-of-four John Harbinson when part of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. Haggarty, 45, a long-time police informer, has pleaded guilty to 202 terror offences, including five murders, as his part of a controversial state deal that offered a significantly reduced prison term in return for giving evidence against other terrorist suspects. The opening day of the sentence hearing at Belfast Crown Court was told Haggarty and another UVF member were due to toss a coin to determine who would be the man to pull the trigger ahead of Mr McParland's murder. Eventually Haggarty dismissed the idea and demanded he would be the killer. Crown lawyer Ciaran Murphy QC told judge Mr Justice Colton that Haggarty said he was handed a promotion within the UVF for shooting Mr McParland. He broke into a house in Belfast where the 55-year-old victim, who spoke with the aid of a voice box, was babysitting his young grandchildren. But the court heard Mr McParland was not the intended target of the UVF attack in 1994. Haggarty was ex-chief of the Ulster Volunteer Force's notorious north Belfast Mount Vernon unit (pictured) Mr Murphy told the court that Haggarty, once leader of the UVF's notorious Mount Vernon gang in north Belfast, expressed regret in his admission to detectives. 'He said he is sorry, it was the wrong person killed - he is sorry for the kids that were there,' the barrister said. The sentence hearing was also told that Haggarty has acknowledged that two more of his victims - Eamon Fox and Gary Convie - were innocent men and not republican paramilitaries as loyalists claimed at the time of their shooting in 1994. Catholic workmen Mr Fox, 44, and Mr Convie, 24, were gunned down while they ate lunch in their car at a building site on North Queen Street in Belfast. Haggarty claims he was not the gunman on that occasion, but that he escorted the killer to the location, shaking hands with him just prior to him opening fire on the men through a fence. Mr Murphy told the court: 'He said he did not believe the victims were republicans, just soft, easy targets.' Haggarty, dressed in a grey suit, sat impassively in the dock as his litany of crimes were detailed. Mr Fox's son Ciaran was one of a number of victims' relatives in court as the details of Haggarty's reign of terror were recounted. Haggarty admitted leading a gunman to shoot dead Eamon Fox and Gary Convie as they ate lunch Ciaran Fox, pictured, said after the hearing he was pleased Haggarty admitted he knew both his father and Mr Convie were innocent men and not republican Outside court, Mr Fox said: 'I knew the truth all along that my father was an innocent man but to hear that Haggarty has admitted before they actually carried out the shooting that my dad and Gary were both innocent, that they were not republicans as they claimed at the time - it was nice to hear that part.' Haggarty also admitted being in the gang that abducted unemployed taxi driver Mr Harbinson in Belfast in 1997 prior to the brutal beating that ended his life. The loyalist commander claimed he later went to retrieve a gun to deliver a 'punishment' shooting on the 39-year-old, but that colleagues had already administered the fatal beating in an alleyway while he was gone. Due to the need to outline details of all 200-plus offences on Haggarty's charge sheet, the sentence hearing is expected to take at least two days. Mr Justice Colton will then deliberate before determining the extent of sentence reduction the loyalist will be handed. He has already spent a number of years in custody on remand, so could potentially serve no further time in prison. Prosecutors have already announced that he is to be used as a witness in the prosecution of an individual for the murders of Mr Fox and Mr Convie. Haggarty also admitted viciously beating John Harbinson with UVF members. Pictured is Mr Harbinson's son Aaron McCone outside court after attending the hearing However, the vast majority of individuals named by Haggarty in his police interviews will not face prosecution, amid state concerns about a lack of supporting evidence. Prosecutors have said Haggarty's evidence is insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction against 11 suspected UVF members and two former police intelligence officers, allegedly his then handlers. As well as the five murders, Haggarty, who is in protective custody, has also admitted five attempted murders, including against police officers; 23 counts of conspiracy to murder; directing terrorism; and membership of a proscribed organisation. He was interviewed more than 1,000 times by detectives in one of the biggest and most complex cases undertaken in Northern Ireland. The catalogue of offences stretch over a 16-year period from 1991 to 2007 and include the loyalist murders of Mr Harbinson, Mr McParland, Mr Convie, Mr Fox and Sean McDermott. Mr McDermott, a 37-year-old Catholic, was abducted and murdered by the UVF in Antrim in 1994. Mason Mercer, 16, (pictured) took his own life after he was banned from the lead role of his school play as punishment for an incident on a school trip, an inquest heard today A young drama student took his own life after he was banned from the lead role of his school play as punishment for an incident on a school trip, an inquest heard today. Mason Mercer, 16, who was described as 'shy', 'quiet', and 'passionate about drama' by his family, was found dead at his home in Gravesend, Kent, on September 20. His body was discovered by his mother, who had feared that the punishment would 'tip him over the edge', and two of his younger brothers after returning home from school. Mason's father said his son's suicide had been a 'moment of madness' but that the school play disappointment had been the 'catalyst' for what happened. An inquest at Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone, Kent, heard how the Northfleet Technology College student had killed himself just hours after he had a meeting with teachers who informed him he had been excluded from the school production, Dick Whittington. PC Sinitta Dale told the court how Mason had the lead role in the play alongside his girlfriend, but this was revoked from him following an incident during a school trip in Folkestone the previous day. She noted that the teen, who was 'passionate for drama productions', had a 'change in mood following the meeting'. Coroner Roger Hatch declared the verdict as a suicide by hanging. He said: 'There was a sanction placed on Mason by the school, but following that he took the action that he tragically did'. Among the family members attending the inquest was Mason's dad Jason Hancock, who described Mason as having 'everything to look forward to'. He said: 'Drama was a major role in his life. 'He had the lead role alongside his girlfriend for Dick Whittington, and he had been working for so hard towards it. Mason Mercer, 16, who was described as 'shy', 'quiet', and 'passionate about drama' by his family, was found dead at his home in Gravesend, Kent, on September 20 'His mum said to the teacher - don't do that to him. That's his passion. You will tip him over the edge. 'Drama was what he lived for. He had holidays to Butlins, Goa - he had everything to look forward to. He was not in a bad state of mind. 'It was a moment of madness, but it (the school play) was a catalyst'. Mr Hancock added that Mason, who he described as 'quiet', 'shy' and someone who 'loved his brothers and sisters', was also banned from going on his school trip to Disneyland Paris due to walking over the brow of a hill during a trip. He added: 'I'll never understand why he got punished for doing what he did.' Mason's family said they will be complaining to Northfleet Technical College's Board of Governors about the incident. Headteacher at Northfleet Technology College, Jane Partridge said: 'The whole school was shocked and deeply saddened at Masons death. He was a talented student who is sadly missed. Mason Mercer, 16, was a student at the Northfleet Technology College (pictured) 'Senior members of staff offered condolences to Masons family following his death and staff liaised with them regarding funeral arrangements. 'The staff and students, identified by the family, attended Masons funeral and a floral arrangement was sent from the school. In addition, the school purchased a memory tree, which was on display at Masons funeral and contained messages sent to the family. 'The school arranged for counsellors to support any students or staff affected by this tragic event. 'Student safety is paramount, particularly on school trips. Risk assessments are conducted, which outline potential hazards and it is expected that students follow the instructions given. The school has a protocol in place to sanction students, which may result in privileges being withdrawn. That protocol was followed in this case. 'The school has not received any formal complaints from Masons family but will co-operate fully with any future investigation. 'Our thoughts remain with Masons family and his many friends, both in and out of school, at this terribly sad time.' For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details. A Ukrainian heiress who killed six pedestrians after running a red light in her Lexus, has issued a grovelling apology to her victims after admitting her guilt. Glamorous oligarch's daughter Alyona Zaitseva, 20, begged for forgiveness during a court appearance in Kharkiv, Ukraine, telling judges she is ready to face 'punishment'. Footage of the 18 October crash, which also injured five people while Zaitseva walked away unharmed, went viral and caused shock around the world. Guilty: Heiress Alyona Zaitseva, 20, looks downcast as she is led into a court in Kharkiv, Ukraine today for a hearing A handcuffed Zaitseva swore to never drive again as she was remanded in custody until February as investigations continue into the horrific smash. Fighting back tears, in an emotional appeal from a glass 'court cage' she addressed the bereaved and injured, pleading: 'I sympathise - and ask you for forgiveness. 'I know that it will not change anything, but please forgive me if you can. 'I pray every day for the dead and the victims. If it was possible to turn everything back, I would give half my life. 'I'll never sit at the wheel of a car again. I did not want that to happen. Please forgive me.' If convicted of dangerous driving causing death, she faces up to ten years in prison. Deadly: Zaitseva killed six pedestrians after running a red light in her Lexus in October Glamorous: The 20-year-old is the daughter of a multi-millionaire oligarch Video footage shows the moment Alyona Zaitseva comes speeding through a junction and hitting a Volkswagen, which sent her Lexus spinning into pedestrians Looking tired and drawn after almost two months in an overcrowded detention centre, she replied to rumours that she was on illegal drugs before the crash. She insisted that had taken no more than painkillers she has been prescribed for a decade since being injured herself in a terrible road accident. 'I know that everyone thinks that I am a drug addict,' she told the hushed court. 'I do not want the victims first to think that the accused is a drug addict. 'I'm not a drug addict. I never took drugs. It's dangerous to me because of my injuries. 'If I ever take drugs, for me there can be a fatal outcome. I admit my guilt. 'I am ready to be responsible and prepared to bear the punishment that the court will give me. 'But please excuse me. This did not happen under some kind of drug. 'Any substances that were found in my blood are from painkillers that I use from time to time because of my problems. 'Please forgive me.' Locked up: A handcuffed Zaitseva swore to never drive again as she was remanded in custody until February Bribes: Her parents have been paying compensation to victims, but many have handed it back, amid claims they are seeking to minimise her sentence when she appears in court. Shocking images showed bodies lying on the ground after the deadly crash (pictured) Several victims have handed back money paid as compensation by her wealthy father and mother, amid claims he is seeking to minimise her sentence when she appears in court. In a message to victims, her 61-year-old father Vasily said: 'On our knees we are asking families of the perished and injured in this horrific road accident to forgive our daughter.' Zaitseva is believed to have been driving at 64 mph, double the speed limit. One victim Oksana Berchenko, 27, awoke from a coma to she told she had lost her husband Alexander, 27, and sister Diana, 22,in the crash. The devastated widow later begged fellow-victims not to accept 'compensation' from Zaitseva's energy tycoon father. Ukraine's courts are notoriously corrupt and she called for a fair verdict in the trial next year. 'My happy life turned into the worst nightmare', said Oksana. She has deep scars on her face, head injuries and a severely broken pelvis. Alexander's mother Svetlana was furious to find 1,400 had been paid into her account without her knowledge. 'I want to return it,' she said. 'We are like dogs for them. They throw us a bone - and that's it.' In an earlier hearing after the crash Zaitseva had wept as she was refused bail . U.S. President Donald Trump's eldest son met with the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday as part of the panel's investigation into Russia, the 2016 U.S. election and whether his father's election campaign colluded with Moscow. Donald Trump Jr. arrived at a Senate office building shortly after 10 a.m. Capitol police officers tried to keep journalists from witnessing his arrival, but he was spotted by reporters as he rushed to a room the committee uses for classified briefings. U.S. intelligence agencies said in the wake of Trump's victory in the November 2016 U.S. presidential election that they had concluded Russia sought to influence the campaign to boost Trump's chances of defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his Democratic challenger. Secret testimony: Donald Trump Jr. arrived at a Senate office building shortly after 10 a.m. Capitol police officers tried to keep journalists from witnessing his arrival, but he was spotted by reporters as he rushed to a room the committee uses for classified briefings. Moscow has denied any such activity, and Trump has dismissed talk of possible collusion as a 'witch hunt' led by Democrats disappointed about his victory. The Senate committee is conducting one of the main congressional investigations. Richard Burr, the panel's chairman, told reporters on Tuesday he expected its probe to last into 2018, but likely not for many months into the new year. Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller is also investigating the matter. Trump Jr. testified to the House Intelligence Committee last week. Lawmakers are interested in talking to him about a meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City at which he said he hoped to get information about the 'fitness, character and qualifications' of Clinton. Campaign claims: President Trump's 2016 run for the White House is the subject of multiple investigations Trump Jr's lawyer on Tuesday accused Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee of leaking information about his interview last week while it was still going on. In a stinging letter to committee members, attorney Alan Futerfas said Trump Jr. and his counsel were promised his interview would be 'kept strictly confidential and not discussed publicly unless and until the full committee voted to release the transcript.' Futerfas cites tweets from CNN reporters and a paid contributor during the nearly 8-hour grilling as evidence that Democrats were secreting information to the press. '[W]hile the interview was in progress, members of the Committee and/or their staff began selectively leaking information provided during the interview to various press outlets, most notably CNN,' he claims. A 12-year-old Colorado boy was thrown to the ground by a man after the kid threw an object at the driver's car. Bram Pappas and 10 other classmates were on their way home from Aurora's Thunder Ridge Middle School around 4.30pm on Monday when the incident occurred. As they were walking, the kids were throwing around a glove. Bram Pappas, 12, and 10 other classmates were on their way home from Aurora's Thunder Ridge Middle School around 4.30pm on Monday when they reportedly threw something at a man's car. The man then got out and chased (left and right) Bram over the incident The video shows Brandt sprinting down the sidewalk walk and grabbing the seventh-grader by his backpack. Brandt then slams the boy (right) to the ground as Bram's friends run to over to help Bram's dad, Eric Pappas, told The Denver Post that the glove hit a man's car. A man, believed to be Lee Brandt, 46, then stopped and got out of his vehicle. Bram's girlfriend recorded the moment Bram started running as Brandt chased after him. The video shwos Brandt sprinting down the sidewalk walk and grabbing the seventh-grader by his backpack. Brandt then slams the child to the ground as Bram's friends run to over to help. According to Bram's dad, Brandt 'put his knee onto his [Bram's] throat', once he caught up to the boy. 'There's nothing that could justify what happened to my son,' Eric Pappas told the Post. Bram's dad, Eric Pappas (pictured), said a glove hit a man's car. The man, Lee Brandt, 46, then stopped and got out of his vehicle Eric Pappas said Brandt held Bram down for 15 to 30 seconds as Bram's friends tried to free the boy. Brandt also reportedly dragged Bram by the shirt toward his car as the boy's friends hit him. Eventually, he let Bram go Eric said Brandt held Bram down for 15 to 30 seconds as Bram's friends tried to free the boy. According to the Post, Brandt dragged Bram by the shirt toward his car as the boy's friends hit him. Eventually, he let Bram go. Brandt said a glove didn't hit his car, adding that whatever it was it hit his car pretty hard. Bram had a headache and red welts on his elbow, Eric Pappas said. Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Julie Brooks said Brandt has been summoned on a charge of third-degree assault, according to the Post. Bram faces pending charges of throwing an object at the vehicle. A couple, who buried their secret four-day-old baby in a shallow grave after he died in mysterious circumstances, have walked free from court. Anthony Clark, 35 and Catherine Davies, 25, from Bolton, hid both the birth and death of their son, Ian, after he passed away aged just four days. Instead of alerting the authorities, they put the body in a shoebox and sealed it with sellotape. The pair then took him to Heaton Cemetery, where Clark used a chisel to dig a grave. Police were made aware of the incident after Davies told her mother five weeks later and sniffer dogs found the skeleton of the baby. At Manchester Crown Court, Clark and Davies were each jailed for 15 months, but were freed as they had already spent nine months in prison awaiting their trial. Anthony Clark, 35 and Catherine Davies (pictured with a different baby), 25, from Bolton, hid both the birth and death of their son, Ian, after he passed away aged just four days Officers also found Davies' diary in which she referred her then unborn baby as a 'monstrosity' and wrote: 'Shall I pop it in two weeks? Pregnancy is p*****g me right off.' Other entries said: 'Gave birth to baby boy' and a final entry said: 'died in sleep' and 'buried in box - love you always'. Doctors who examined Ian's body said the child's remains appeared to be malnourished but a post mortem was unable to reveal a cause of death. During investigations it emerged the couple were seen leaving the flat only once after the birth in August 2016 so Clark could attend at the job centre to collect his state benefits. They were caught on CCTV with Clark passing the baby boy to Davies, ensuring that staff did not see the child, before they left to buy provisions for themselves. A neighbour came forward to say she saw Clark with the baby and saying: 'The little bastard is not sleeping' when she asked about him. At Manchester Crown Court, Clark and Davies admitted concealing the birth of a child and were each sentenced to 15 months jail. Pictured is Catherine Davies with a different child They were freed as they had already spent nine months behind bars awaiting trial. Both were originally charged with murder but a jury were ordered to acquit them on the orders of the judge. An order banning identification of the dead baby was also lifted. Passing sentence the judge Mr Justice Julian Goose said: 'Neither of you told the authorities or any health professional about the pregnancy and I'm satisfied the reason was because you feared you would have the baby taken from you. 'The birth was in your flat with no medical help sought and within four days the baby died. Between you it was agreed you would secretly dispose of the body. 'The decision to conceal the birth was a joint one but I'm satisfied it was principally Anthony Clark's idea. You both went to considerable lengths to conceal the child from authorities. Had you not, it might have been possible that some medical help could have been given to the child.' The court heard the couple had been in a relationship for ten years but when Davies became pregnant last year the couple only told one neighbour and asked him not to tell anyone. They also failed to alert the health authorities or social services she was expecting again. In her diary Davies wrote: 'Don't want hosp. Don't want head full on easier to dispose of and less complicated at the end. Less people involved.' Then referring to Clark, she said: 'You make me feel special while the monstrosity makes me feel fat. You make me feel loved while I hate the bump.' Neighbour Michelle Gibson recalled how after the birth she saw Clark with the newborn infant in his arms as the couple emerged from their apartment block in August last year. At Manchester Crown Court, Clark and Davies were each jailed for 15 months, but were freed as they had already spent nine months in prison awaiting their trial Miss Gibson told the trial: 'I asked if he had a baby lad. He said 'yes, but the little bastard is not sleeping.' It took me aback because it wasn't something I was expecting him to say. 'I asked him a polite question and he gave me a really nasty answer. He wasn't interested, disengaged. 'He wasn't bothered. That's the way it came across to me at the time. She just looked at me and came across as she was frightened of her partner - scared and didn't want to speak. They just wanted to go.' Five weeks later Davies told her mother Marjorie Davies she had given birth to a child which had died and police were alerted. Officers attended at the couple's home but Davies initially denied the birth of her child, and 'expressed disbelief' at the 'lies' her mother had told the authorities. But Clark later confirmed the baby had been born alive and had died in his sleep. He also added that Davies had attempted to breast feed him but failed. Davies told her mother Marjorie Davies she had given birth to a child which had died and police were alerted Davies eventually told officers the child had been born quickly and admitted she had initially refused to hold her son. She said: 'The baby was going on, he was waking up every an hour to an half an hour because of the way. There was weird birth defects with the baby. He had a circle underneath his rib cage. He was too tiny.' She alleged Clark refused to buy anything for the child and added: 'He said he could only provide for me or the baby - one or the other. He wasn't a strong baby. He needed an incubator. 'I wanted to get someone involved. I was worried about his needs. When I was speaking about it to Anthony he said I wasn't entitled to any help.' A skeletal survey of the baby showed that Davies was at least 36 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to the baby. In mitigation for Davies, defence counsel Nicholas Clarke QC, said his client was an alcoholic from the age 12 to 14 before dating Clark. Mr Clarke added: 'She said she was naive and became almost completely under the control of Anthony Clarke. 'She originally had a mobile phone but it made no contact with the outside world other than the occasional data signalling - until she made contact with her mother to disclose the terrible reality of what happened to the baby. 'She is clearly someone who was disadvantaged in life and she doesn't have any further contact with Anthony Clark. She doesn't want him to contact her in the future and wishes to make a fresh start as soon as she can with her mother who is her only contact with the outside world.' For Clark Peter Weatherby QC, said: 'It is not accepted by Mr Clarke that he was abusive in that relationship but he has no plans to contact Miss Davies in the future.' The wait is over for 77,000 HSC students across NSW who are set to find out their results. On Wednesday, 120 of the state's top-performing students were congratulated by the NSW Premier for coming first out of 114 HSC courses. The top scoring students in each subject has been revealed, with Fort Street High School's Julian Van Gerwen taking the cake in mathematics and Bailey Wray from Magdalene Catholic High School received the top mark for standard English. Chemistry's top scorer was Danny Yu from Sydney Boys High School, Dawnlicity Charls Fort from Street High School was the top in biology, and the Physics mastermind was Kieran Shivakumaarun, also from Sydney Boys High School. 77,000 students across NSW eagerly anticipate the release of their all important HSC results Reflective photos were shared online Thursday morning ahead of results being released Year 11 student Serena Gao, from Smith's High School in Wollongong, was one of the students to be recognised by the premier for her achievements. 'I'm really happy to be able to inspire other girls to pursue the course and show that yes girls can do computers and be good at it,' Serena told AAP on Wednesday. HSC results will be released from 6am on Thursday by SMS, email or online. As thousands of NSW Year 12 students wake to their HSC results, the state's peak business organisation is calling for an urgent overhaul of the system to better prepare students for adult life. On Thursday, NSW Business Chamber Chief Executive Stephen Cartwright said business needed transferable enterprise skills, rather than 'subject matter expertise borne of rote learning'. 'This year marks the fiftieth year of the HSC and since its introduction in 1967 much has changed. 'The world has shifted from an industrial to the digital age, and business is calling for transferable 'enterprise' skills rather than the subject matter expertise borne of rote learning,' Mr Cartwright said in a statement. As almost 80,000 NSW high school graduates eagerly await their HSC results some of the state's top 120 students have already set their sights on changing the future. Among them is Year 11 'accelerant' student John Bivell from Fort Street High who made waves by beating his Year 12 colleagues in Earth and Environmental Science. Organisations offered their support to students receiving the crucial news 120 of the state's top-performing students were congratulated by the NSW Premier for coming first out of 114 HSC courses on Wednesday 'I think it's ridiculous we really haven't been doing enough to tackle climate change,' John told AAP on Wednesday. 'I'd really like to look after environmental policy, I think that's one of the most effective ways you can initiate actual change in the world.' During a ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday, the bright sparks who topped 114 HSC courses were personally congratulated by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. 'The HSC is challenging for every student, so to come first in a course is an outstanding achievement,' Ms Berejiklian said. Fort Street High School in Sydney's inner-west dominated the awards with six first-in-course certificates. The top-scoring students came from 85 schools across the state comprising 45 government and 40 non-government schools. Some students openly shared their results to their Instagram pages The top-scoring students for 2017 came from 85 schools across the state comprising 45 government and 40 non-government schools Eight students topped more than one course, including one girl who topped three languages. Year 12 student, Ms Gao, is out to prove girls can hold their own in the male-dominated world of computer coding after she topped Software Design and Development. 'Girls bring a unique perspective to the kind of software community,' Serena told AAP. 'We see problems differently so we can see solutions in different ways.' Females made up nine per cent of the software design course for 2017. Meghan McCain broke down in tears on The View on Wednesday as she talked about her father's cancer diagnosis in an interview with Joe Biden. The emotional interview came as Sen. McCain's office announced he had been hospitalized for 'normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy'. Sen. John McCain was diagnosed with the same form of aggressive brain cancer that Biden's son Beau died of two years ago. 'I think about Beau almost every day,' Meghan said, 'and I was told that this doesn't get easier but you cultivate the tools to work with this and live with this.' Scroll down for video Meghan McCain broke down in tears on The View on Wednesday as she talked about her father's cancer diagnosis in an interview with Joe Biden Biden's son Beau died of the same type of cancer that Meghan's father John McCain was recently diagnosed with She then started to cry as she tried to ask Biden what tips he had for families dealing with cancer. At that point, Biden came over and consoled Meghan, holding her hand as he described all the breakthroughs researchers have been making in cancer treatment. 'There is hope and if anyone can make it, it's her dad,' Biden said. He went on to call Sen. McCain, who he helped Barack Obama beat in the 2008 presidential election, one of his 'best friends'. 'Her dad goes after me hammer and tongs, we're like two brothers who were somehow raised by different fathers or something because of our points of view,' Biden, 75, said with a smile. He then made Meghan start laughing when he recalled how McCain had told him to 'get the hell off the ticket' at one point during the 2008 campaign. But despite their political differences, Biden said they are friends because McCain is the kind of person who would drop anything to help a friend. 'If I picked up the phone tonight and called John McCain and said "I'm on the corner of Second and Vine in Oshkosh and I need your help, come" - he would get on a plane and come and I would for him too,' Biden said. Biden said the most important thing he learned from his son's cancer battle is how important it is to maintain hope. Meghan McCain got engaged shortly after her father's cancer diagnosis in July. She celebrated her marriage to Ben Domenech last month with her father and mother at the family's home in Sedona, Arizona McCain was diagnosed with the same kind of cancer Biden's son Beau died of in 2015. Beau is pictured above with his father in 2008 'The thing that I've found was, and Beau insisted on and your dad is gonna insist on, is you gotta maintain hope. There's hope, you have to have hope,' Biden said. Meghan was likely extra emotional on Wednesday because her father has been hospitalized. 'Senator McCain is currently receiving treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center for normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy. As ever, he remains grateful to ihs physicians for their excellent care, and his friends and supporters for their encouragement and good wishes. Senator McCain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible,' his office said in a statement on Wednesday. McCain, 81, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor, in July. The survival rate is approximately 14 months, even with chemotherapy and radiation. In a September interview on 60 Minutes, McCain said doctors said the prognosis was bad. 'Some say 3 percent, some say 14 percent. You know itsits a very poor prognosis,' he told CBS. 'So I just said, "I understand. Now were going to do what we can, get the best doctors we can find and do the best we can, and at the same time celebrate with gratitude a life well lived."' One thing Meghan has done for her dad since his diagnosis is make sure he got to attend her wedding. Meghan became engaged the same month her father's diagnosis was announced, to conservative writer and commentator Ben Domenech. They were married late last month at the McCain family ranch in Sedona, Arizona. Prosecutors are investigating the tragic death of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after his family said he was bullied online. Connor Tronerud died on December 4 'after struggling with bullying from peers,' the family wrote at the beginning of his obituary. Connor's family did not reveal how long he had been bullied or the circumstances surrounding what he reportedly endured. But a GoFundMe page created in his memory stated that he was 'an intensely private person' who 'struggled with peers invading that privacy in order to provoke a response. He had many spaces in which he felt safe and nurtured; others - including social media - proved overwhelming and harmful.' Tim Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.'s office, said: 'The case... is still under investigation by the State Police Detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney's Office.' The teen was a sophomore who attended Marianapolis Preparatory School, which is an independent day and boarding school that cost at most $52,515 a year in Thompson, Connecticut. Prosecutors are investigating the death of Connor Tronerud (above left with his family and right), a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after his family said he wad bullied online. He died on December 4 'after struggling with bullying from peers,' the family wrote in his obituary. The teen was a sophomore who attended Marianapolis Preparatory School (file above), which is an independent day and boarding school that cost at most $52,515 a year in Thompson, Connecticut The pricey school, which touts itself online as having a 100 per cent college acceptance rate and has 400 students enrolled, will host a memorial service for the the teen at the school's chapel on Saturday. School officials have not commented publicly about his family's claim that he was bullied. The Facebook page for the prep school has been disabled. But the school's Twitter page shared a photo of Connor along with a brief statement that reads: 'The Marianapolis community is grieving the loss of sophomore Connor Tronerud. Connor will be greatly missed by the entire community.' Connor's family did not reveal the circumstances surrounding what he reportedly endured. But a GoFundMe page created in his memory stated that he was 'an intensely private person' who 'struggled with peers invading that privacy in order to provoke a response.' The school did not return a request seeking comment from DailyMail.com. The pastor of his parish at Our Lady of the Assumption in Millbury, Massachussetts told the Hartford Courant that Conner seemed troubled by the world's tumult in the past year. 'He was upset about the world's situation, how cruel people in the world can be,' Rev. Dan Mulcahy told the newspaper. 'I guess something broke in Connor.' He explained that Connor ended up in a body cast after breaking his legs in a running accident during the summer. The teen kept up with his classes by using FaceTime and email and still managed to make the honor roll. He had apparently returned to campus about two weeks ago and had seemed in to be in a good mood after being bed-ridden for months, according to Mulcahy. Since his death, his family has received an outpouring of support and condolences online after his obituary went viral. He is pictured above right next to his older brother 'He was really excited about that, so when I learned of what he decided to do, I was so shocked,' Mulcahy said. 'Totally shocked. I feel awful for his family. 'This shouldn't happen to anybody. Certainly not this soon.' Since his death, his family has received an outpouring of support and condolences online after his obituary went viral. His funeral service was held on Monday and the church was filled with many of his peers, Mulcahy said. A man from New Jersey had a friend kidnapped and held at gunpoint so he could steal $1.8million in virtual money the man, prosecutors have said. Louis Meza, 35, arranged for a gunman to pick up his friend, who has not been identified, and point a pistol at him until he revealed his 24-word passphrase for the cryptocurrency Ether on November 4, officials have said. The victim revealed his code, and cryptocurrency investor and sales executive Meza was able to gain access to the man's Ethereum wallet, where he allegedly stole $1.8million in the Bitcoin-rival currency. Meza and his gunman are also accused of stealing the man's actual wallet, house keys, and cellphone so they could access the man's home. Louis Meza (pictured), 35, was arrested after allegedly arranging the kidnapping of a friend so he could gain access to his cryptocurrency on Ether and steal $1.8million from the man While the gunman was gathering the man's items, the victim was able to escape and dial 911, according to Gizmodo. The stolen $1.8million in ether showed up in Meza's account the day after the kidnapping, Manhattan Defense Attorney Cy Vance Jr said. The incident came after Meza arranged to meet his friend at his apartment for unknown reasons. Meza then called a car for the man. The man believed the hired minivan was going to drive him to his destination, but instead the driver pulled out a gun and demanded his cryptocurrency passphrase. It was then that the man's other items were also stolen. The stolen $1.8million in ether showed up in Meza's account the day after the kidnapping, Manhattan Defense Attorney Cy Vance Jr said The DA said in a statement: 'Video surveillance later obtained from the victim's apartment building showed Meza using the set of keys stolen from the victim to enter the victim's apartment and then leave the apartment holding a box believed to contain the victim's digital wallet. 'Additional records reveal that soon after obtaining the victim's digital wallet, the defendant then transferred approximately $1.8 million in Ether to his own personal account.' Meza was arrested and charged with Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Kidnapping in the Second Degree, Robbery in the First Degree, Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree, Computer Trespass and other offenses. He has pleaded not guilty and held on a $1million bond or $500,000 cash bail. His alleged accomplice has not yet been caught. His identity is not publicly known. The US Coast Guard Academy says an investigator has recommended discipline against two white cadets for harassing a black classmate. The investigation was prompted by an October incident that happened while the black cadet and his roommate, a white cadet, were doing homework in their room. A third cadet, also white, came to the black cadet's room and played a racially offensive song. An investigation was prompted by an October incident that happened while the black cadet and his roommate, a white cadet, were doing homework. A third cadet, also white, came to the black cadet's room and played a racially offensive song. Pictured is the Coast Guard Academy After leaving to tell a diversity peer counselor, the black cadet returned to find the background screen on his computer had been changed to show the Mississippi state flag, which includes the Confederate battle flag. When asked about it, his roommate told him it was 'just a joke,' academy spokesman David Santos told The Day. The Connecticut-based academy said Wednesday that two investigations by the Coast Guard found the white cadets harassed their classmate. Investigators found that by changing the background to the Mississippi flag, the two white cadets 'committed prohibited harassment by creating an offensive environment on the basis of race'. An investigator recommended the students be charged with violations of the Regulations of the Corps of Cadets, failure to use good judgment and lack of or failure to respect. The two cadets face discipline ranging from demerits to a recommendation for disenrollment. Capt. Melissa Rivera, commandant of cadets, will decide whether to dismiss the charges or punish the cadets, according The Day. Superintendent Rear Adm. James Rendon was angered by the incident and held an academy-wide meeting, saying the school 'will not tolerate racist behavior of any kind'. The identities of all three cadets were withheld. A handful of rogue Republican senators relished in Roy Moore's loss to Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama's special Senate election. 'I know we're supposed to cheer for our side of the aisle, if you will,' said Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker. 'But I'm really, really happy with what happened for all of us in our nation, for people serving in the Senate, to not have to deal with what we were likely going to have to deal with should the outcome have been the other way.' Legally, Moore an accused pedophile would have had to have been seated, but then his Senate colleagues could vote to expel. At a luncheon with House and Senate members at the White House to discuss the tax deal, President Trump expressed disappointment in the race result, though smarted that some GOP lawmakers disagreed. 'A lot of Republicans feel differently, they're very happy how it turned out,' Trump said. Scroll down for video Sen. Bob Corker, a retiring Republican from Tennessee, relished Democrat Doug Jones win when speaking to reporters on Wednesday. 'I'm really, really happy,' Corker said Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, praised Alabama for voting Democrat Doug Jones in, as Republican Roy Moore had been accused of sexual harassment and assault by multiple women Sen. Jeff Flake (right) was among the Republicans hoping that Roy Moore would lose. Flake said he's not running for re-election in a move that allows him to be a thorn in President Trump's (left) side A number of Senate Republicans have expressed relief that GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama won't be joining them in the upper chamber Corker's sentiment was shared by Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who announced his retirement in order to be a thorn in President Trump's side. 'Decency wins,' Corker tweeted Tuesday night, shortly after Jones' win was announced. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who was previously wavering on Trump's tax reform bill, had a frank assessment of what lost Moore the race. 'Alabamians didn't want somebody who dated 14-year-old girls,' Johnson quipped to reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill. And while Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, stayed mum on the subject, his daughter Meghan, a co-host on The View, tweeted her delight. 'Suck it, Bannon,' she wrote. Even before Tuesday's upset, Republicans on the Hill warned of the damage Moore could do for their brand, as Democrats could use the accused pedophile in political messaging to hit the party through 2018. 'Roy Moore will be the gift that keeps on giving for the Democrats,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said Monday on CNN. 'It will define the 2018 election ... To think you can elect Roy Moore without getting the baggage of Roy Moore is pretty naive.' However, these sighs of relief will add more fuel to the fire from the GOP's anti-establishment wing, who have been baited by Bannon to blame their own party and not Democratic strength or candidate weakness for the losses in Virginia and Alabama, despite how different the candidates were. In Virginia, gubernatorial hopeful Ed Gillespie was a former lobbyist, a Washington guy, who couldn't overcome anti-Trump forces in the Northern Virginia suburbs of D.C. 'I do believe that Gillespie's going to pull this thing out,' Bannon said directly ahead of the race, before Gillespie got walloped by Democrat Ralph Northam. Once Gillespie lost, Bannon's Breitbart website branded him a 'Republican swamp thing,' in an effort to get readers to blame the establishment. In Alabama, Moore was an extremely conservative candidate with a checkered political past, who was then accused of sexual assault and harassment over the course of his general election campaign. But if there was to be blame, Bannon said it was squarely on the side of his party's naysayers, as he name-dropped a number of them at the Midland City rally. 'Mitch McConnell and Senator Shelby, and Condi Rice and all that, Little Bobby Corker, all the establishment out there, all that establishment every day, that doesn't have Trump's back at all,' Bannon said onstage at the 'Drain the Swamp' rally, held at a rustic barn where organizers build a faux 'swamp' outside. 'There's a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better,' Bannon said. And in a further effort to divide the party into us versus them, Bannon warned the crowd, who were fully pro-Trump, that the establishment would come after the president next. 'What they want him for is that corporate tax cut, that's all they want him for,' Bannon said referring to the tax package making its way through Capitol Hill. 'As soon as they get that tax cut, watch what happens,' Bannon warned. Theatrical producer Jerry Lane, who was charged under his real name Carl Jackson, pleaded guilty to the offence at Worcester Crown Court A drag queen who played Danny La Rue in the sellout show Hello Danny has been given a suspended jail term for having indecent images of children. Theatrical producer Jerry Lane, who was charged under his real name Carl Jackson, pleaded guilty to the offence at Worcester Crown Court. As Jerry Lane he worked with stars including Lionel Blair, Joe Longthorne, Lynda Bellingham and Elaine Page and was a regular performer on the show scene in Benidorm. Lane, of Worcester, had previously been famous for playing legendary entertainer Danny La Rue in the sell-out show Hello Danny. Lane had been a good friend of the star. He worked as a impersonator for around 30 years, starring in many shows in Gloucestershire, including appearances at the former New Olympus Theatre in Barton Street, Gloucester. He moved to Spain but returned to Gloucester in 2007 to perform in a show at the New Olympus. As Jerry Lane he worked with stars including Lionel Blair, Joe Longthorne, Lynda Bellingham and Elaine Page and was a regular performer on the show scene in Benidorm (He is pictured in 2015) Lane, of Worcester, had previously been famous for playing legendary entertainer Danny La Rue in the sell-out show Hello Danny. Danny La Rue is pictured In 2014 he was the producer and artistic director for the Gloucester Operatic and Dramatic Societys 100th anniversary production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar in Gloucester Cathedral, starring TV Superstar finalist Jon Moses. It was the first time Jesus Christ Superstar had been staged in a cathedral. Cheltenham-born Lane also ran the No. 50 antique shop in the towns Winchcombe Street, having opened it in early 2015. The charges against him was making indecent photograph/pseudo-photographs of a child between September 20, 2010 and May 6, 2015. He was sentenced to 15 months jail suspended for 18 months, made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years, and ordered to sign the sex offenders notice for ten years. He was also ordered to complete 30 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement and pay 1,000 towards prosecution costs and a 140 victim surcharge. This picture was tweeted by a Falkland Islands account, saying: '#ARASanJuan as she left port for the last time on Monday, Nov 13' The Ministry of Defence has denied claims that a Royal Navy helicopter was chasing an Argentine submarine when it went missing. Jesica Medina, the sister of one of the 44 missing sailors, Roberto Daniel Medina, claimed she had received a 'strange' message from her brother days before the vessel's last known communication. In the Whatsapp message, he is said to have told her that the ARA San Juan submarine travelled close to the Falkland Islands that a Royal Navy helicopter was trying to track them. Second sub-officer Roberto told her they were now heading for home, writing: 'On Monday an English helicopter was looking for us, and yesterday the Chileans, there has been a lot going on.' Jesica told Argentina's La Gaceta newspaper that 'many' other families of other missing crew members also received reports from their loved ones that they had been fleeing a British helicopter at the time of their disappearance. She said: 'It was a strange message in which he told us a British helicopter and a Chilean ship had been chasing them. The Argentine submarine that disappeared with 44 crew members on board was being 'chased by a British helicopter' when it went missing, it has been claimed by a crew member's sister The Ministry of Defence has said the woman's story is 'completely untrue'. Pictured: A Royal Navy Wildcat attack helicopter Jesica told Argentina's La Gaceta newspaper that 'many' other families of other missing crew members also received reports from their loved ones The sister said she is making the message public now so that it can be included in a federal investigation into the disappearance headed by federal judge Marta Yanez Jesica said the sub sailed close to the Falkands - which Argentina calls Malvinas - on November 3, alerting the British Navy which began searching for the vessel. She added: 'I don't know how close they got to the Malvinas, and I don't know what the political situation is like. That's what he told us and that is what we were left with.' Jesica, from Salta, northwest Argentina, said she didn't show the message to the Argentinian authorities after the submarine went missing on November 15 because she 'didn't feel able'. But she said she is making the message public now so that it can be included in a federal investigation into the disappearance headed by federal judge Marta Yanez. She added: 'I think we're not the only family who has heard something like this, I think there are many others, Judge Yanez will have to investigate. Relatives of the crew of the submarine ARA San Juan react after hearing that the Argentine Navy will discontinue rescue operations on November 30 Family members of the missing crew members collapsed in grief as Babi broke the news at the naval base in Mar del Plata, where the sub was travelling before it vanished 'We all feel they are hiding things from us. The Navy has practically tortured us with all this situation they have made us live.' But a MoD spokesman told MailOnline: 'This story is completely untrue'. The German-built ARA San Juan sub went missing on November 15 in the South Atlantic as it made its way back to the Navy base in Mar del Plata, with 43 men and one woman on board. The vessel last made contact with commanders to report that water had entered the vessel through its snorkel and caused a battery fault. Experts said the crew only had up to 10 days of oxygen if the sub remained intact under the sea. An explosion was later detected around the time and place where the submarine last made contact. The search for the sub is still ongoing but naval officials have admitted they hold out no hope for the survival of the crew, while judge Yanez, who is now probing the circumstances surrounding the vessel's disappearance, admitted the submarine 'may never be found or recovered.' A City trader has been cleared of raping a drunk university student at her halls of residence after helping her home from a jazz club. Livio Dinaj, 24, was accused of attacking the young woman within hours of meeting her during a night out at Casablancas in Brighton, East Sussex. The complainant said she woke up to find Dinaj naked in her bed and no memory of meeting him or getting back to her flat. Livio Dinaj, 24, was accused of raping a woman after a night out at a jazz club in Brighton She ushered him out of the front door and then spoke to a housemate before calling the police. The woman said: I had never seen him before. I felt like I had sex. I dont remember it happening. I had no idea how I got back. I thought I have to do something about it because I dont know. At the time of the alleged rape in the early hours of 5 November 2015 Dinaj was a Masters student at the University of Sussex in Brighton. He now describes himself online as a derivatives trader, Bitcoin specialist and co-founder of a cryptocurrency consultancy firm. Dinaj admitted having sex with the victim both with and without a condom but claimed that she was consenting and that they were both drunk. Today he was cleared of one count of rape following a three-day trial at the Old Bailey. Dinaj told police how he started talking to the woman after going out to meet friends at the Casablanca Jazz Club. He said when they went back to the womans flat he was sure she wanted sex. Dinaj added: I sat down and started stroking her, kissing her. She kissed back. She moved to allow me to take her top off, that indicates to me there is some desire to continue. There was fondling on her behalf too. He said they had sex using a condom he kept in his pocket but admitted she wasnt very active. Dinaj said he went to the bathroom to clean up afterwards and then left after she told him: I think it is time for you to leave. He said: There was never any freaking out, no indication that what happened she didnt want. There was never any stress in her voice. Dinaj said he could no longer remember the girls name but said he left after kissing her on the cheek. He claimed he was shocked when police later turned up on his doorstep to question him about the accusation of rape. Dinaj, of no fixed address but previously living in Brighton, denied and was cleared of one count of rape. Facebook has found just 73p was spent by a Russian group on pro Brexit adverts during the EU referendum campaign - pouring cold water on claims the vote was swayed by foreign interference. The social media firm said it found just three ads linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) and they were viewed by just 200 people. The revelations come after the Electoral Commission asked Facebook and Twitter for information on any Russian attempts to interfere with the Brexit vote. It follows an investigation in the US earlier this year which ruled hundreds of Russia-linked Facebook accounts had attempted to influence the US presidential election. The findings cast doubt over assertions by pro Remain MPs that Moscow-based propaganda groups were trying to sway the vote by posting ads online. Facebook said it found just three ads linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) and they were viewed by just 200 people (file photo of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) In a letter to the Commission Facebook said: 'We strongly support the Commission's efforts to regulate and enforce political campaign finance rules in the United Kingdom, and we take the Commission's request very seriously. 'Further to your request, we have examined whether any of the identified Internet Research Agency pages or account profiles funded advertisements to audiences in the United Kingdom during the regulated period for the EU referendum. 'We have determined that these accounts associated with the IRA spent a small amount of money (97 cents, or 73p) on advertisements that delivered to UK audiences during that time. 'This amount resulted in three advertisements (each of which were also targeted to US audiences and concerned immigration, not the EU referendum) delivering approximately 200 impressions to UK viewers over four days in May 2016.' A report in January by the US national director of intelligence ruled that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US election. And Facebook found approximately 470 accounts linked to the agency had spent around 100,000 dollars (75,000) on more than 3,000 adverts. These adverts were run between June 2015 and May 2017. Theresa May has previously accused Russia of spreading fake news and misinformation online as part of a campaign to 'sow discord in the West'. However Damian Collins, MP and chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, hit out at Facebook's response accusing the social media giant of not properly investigating the claims of Russian meddling. He said: 'Facebook responded only with regards to funded advertisements to audiences in the UK from the 470 accounts and pages run by the Russian based Internet Research Agency, which had been active during the US election. Damian Collins, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, hit out at Facebook's response accusing the social media giant of not properly investigating the claims of Russian meddling (file photo) 'It would appear that no work has been done by Facebook to look for other fake accounts and pages that could be linked to Russian backed agencies and which were active during the EU referendum, as I requested. 'Facebook conducted research to identify 10,000s of fake pages and accounts that were active during the French Presidential election. 'They should do the same for the EU referendum, and not just rely on external sources referring evidence of suspicious activity back to them. 'Are we to believe that Russian backed targeting of voters through social media with fake news was limited only to Twitter during the EU referendum, when both Twitter and Facebook had been used by them in the USA during the Presidential election.' Mr Collins added that he met with Facebook on Wednesday to ask again for a 'full response' to the select committee, as part of its inquiry into fake news. 'This includes looking for Russian activity linked to the 2017 General Election, as well as the EU referendum,' he said. New York stinks and this time there's a reason for it. In one suburb of Buffalo, in the western part of the state, the beautifully named Orchard Park is having to deal with a 'mad pooper'. The person simply goes around and relieves themselves wherever they please. According to the New York Post one woman has already called cops about delinquent defecater stinking up her lawn while another tried to warn them by placing an advert in the newspaper telling them to stop it. Police in Orchard Park near Buffalo, New York are investigating a report of a person pooping in lawns in the village An advert in the Orchard Park Penny Saver requested that 'the person/jogger who is pooping on our lawns' to stop. 'To the person/jogger who is pooping on our lawns in the Village of O.P.: STOP!!' the anonymous ad in the Orchard Park PennySaver reads. 'We have installed trail cams to identify you!' the ad continues. 'You are violating a health ordinance that prohibits depositing untreated sewage on land or water!!!' the ad warns. 'You are putting our neighborhood at a serious health risk, especially children!' The residents say they are determined to catch the pooper in the act and say police are increasing patrols in the area. Orchard Park police revealed that one woman found feces and toilet paper several times outside her home. She believes the problem pooper is a jogger. Police told the Buffalo News that they are adding patrols to the neighborhood but that they 'don't have much to go on.' If the culprit is caught, they could face possible public lewdness or exposure charges. In September, residents in Colorado Springs, Colorado, reported seeing 'mad pooper' defecating on peoples' lawns during jogs as seen in this image It's not the only neighborhood that has had to deal with such a stink. In September, residents in Colorado Springs had their own 'mad pooper' after a still-unidentified jogger defecated on a front lawn. However, it was recently revealed that the woman was not at fault because she has a traumatic brain injury caused by gender reassignment surgery. An unidentified man claiming to be 'a family representative' of the woman said the jogger wanted to apologize but added that she couldn't help it because she could no longer control her bowels. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he aims to give Americans 'a giant tax cut for Christmas.' 'It's going to be a lot of money,' he said in the Grand Foyer of the White House, projecting a $2,000 savings for an average middle-class family. 'Our current tax code is burdensome, complex and profoundly unfair it has exported our jobs, closed our factories, and left millions of parents worried that their children might be the first generation to have less opportunity than the last,' the president said. 'I am here today to tell you that we will never let that happen.' In what senior administration officials said would be a 'closing argument speech,' Trump recalled a campaign promise to 'pass a massive tax cut for the everyday, working Americans who are the backbone and heartbeat of our country.' 'Now we are just days away from keeping that promise and delivering a truly amazing victory for American families. We want to give you the American People a giant tax cut for Christmas. And when I say giant, I mean giant.' Scroll down for video President Donald Trump said Wednesday that 'we want to give you the American People a giant tax cut for Christmas. And when I say giant, I mean giant' 'Our current tax code is burdensome, complex and profoundly unfair,' the president said, closing the deal on a massive tax-code overhaul Trump predicted that typical middle-class families will see $2,000 in annual savings from tax cuts Trump appeared with five middle-class families including the Benjamins (African-American family at left); 'Urban communities and families all across need this now,' Rev. Leon Benjamin said' The scene in the Grand Foyer of the White House, decorated with Christmas displays, as Trump made his speech Republicans in the House and Senate said hours earlier that they had reached a deal in principle covering final details of the first major tax-code overhaul in more than 30 years. 'We're very close to getting it done,' Trump told reporters at the White House in the early afternoon as he sat down for lunch with Republican congressional leaders. 'We're very close to voting.' Trump then called the coming changes 'a tax cut the likes of which we haven't seen, for not only business but for the working families of our country.' And he lashed out at Democrats who are trying to stand in his way. 'The cynical voices that opposed tax cuts grow smaller and weaker, and the American people grow smaller,' he said as a handful of middle-class families and about 40 members of Young Republicans and College Republicans groups. Trump leaned on the example of another president to make his case in the afternoon. 'Fifty-five years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy a Democrat launched a historic effort to pass sweeping, top-to-bottom tax cuts,' he said. 'A half-century later, we're reminded that lowering taxes is neither a Republican or Democrat idea, but an American principle and an American idea.' WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? Final details of the Republican compromise won't likely be public until Friday, but here are some of the main changes that tax experts expect to be included in the new law: The top individual tax rate will fall from 39.6% to 37% as of February The standard deduction for individual tax filers will roughly double, resulting in far fewer Americans needing to itemize and more being able to file their returns on a single page The corporate tax rate will fall from 35% to 21% as of February The federal estate tax will have a higher exemption, meaning survivors won't have to pay it on the first $11 million of an inheritance's value up from $5.6 million and eventually the tax will go away completely Homeowners will only be able to deduct interest on the first $750,000 of their mortgages down from $1 million The child tax credit will at least double but the increase could be phased out in seven years Those who pay high state and local taxes will be allowed to deduct just $10,000 in total, split between property taxes and either income or sales taxes Advertisement Trump lashed out of Democrats, saying that 'the cynical voices that opposed tax cuts grow smaller and weaker, and the American people grow smaller' 'We are greatly excited about this,' gushed Bryant Glick, who said he would 'put that money into home renovations' Adam Kovach, a military veteran, said he would set aside the product of tax cuts for his children's college education The tax overhaul is complicated by Tuesday's U.S. Senate special election in Alabama, which cost Republicans a precious seat when Republican Roy Moore lost meaning they will have less wiggle-room to reach a tax-cut majority once Democrat Doug Jones is seated One attendee,Bryant Glick of New Holland, Pennsylvania, told Trump: 'Well done. Many of your predecessors promised that this reform was coming, but you did it. We are greatly excited.' Glick said his family would pour their tax savings into home renovations. Trump leaned on the legacy of Democratic President John F. Kennedy, who pushed to dramatically lower the top income tax rates Another couple, pastors from Richmond, Virginia, said they expected to have a $3,000 tax cut. 'African-American families, urban communities and families all across need this now,' Rev. Leon Benjamin said. 'And it's time for a change, and it's time that we recognize our president is making good on his promises.' Adam Kovach, a military veteran, said he would set aside the product of tax cuts for his children's college education. The sweeping tax-code changes will likely see final votes next week in both chambers of Congress, slashing income taxes for businesses and individual taxpayers starting in February. The president's main mission is to persuade Americans that while the tax rewrite will benefit corporations, ordinary earners will also see a significant benefit in the form of greater job security or higher wages as the IRS leaves more money on the table. President Trump met with Republican legislative managers from the House and Senate hours beforehand and said they had reached a deal 'We have so many different things in this bill that are going to create jobs. ... It's a massive tax cut for the middle-class, and it's about jobs,'Trump said Tax reform will be Trump's first major legislative achievement. A last-minute thumbs-down from Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain killed his Obamacare repeal measure in the fall. Timing, though, is everything: Congress ends its year a week from Friday, and Republicans will lose a Senate seat just days later. With Alabama Democrat Doug Jones' stunning triumph Tuesday night, the GOP's majority will shrink there from four votes to just two a thin 51-49 advantage. So if House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell hope to succeed in rewriting the loophole-cluttered federal tax code and putting a bill on Trump's desk to sign, the clock is ticking. Alabama's secretary of state could certify the results as soon as December 27. 'I think it's very important for the country, to get a vote next week,' Trump said a few hours before his speech. 'Not because we lost a seat which, we would have gotten the seat. A lot of Republicans feel differently. They're very happy with the way it turned out. But I would have, as the leader of the party, I would have liked to have had the seat.' Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, whose role is to cut deals with conference members and assess how many votes the proposal will get on the Senate floor, said Wednesday that a final deal is very close Democrats led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer want Jones, the Alabamian, seated in the Senate before a final tax vote is called but that's highly unlikely Democrats have complained that the GOP's tax plan tilts too far in the direction of cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy. Outside liberal groups are already agitating for a delay in final votes until Jones can be seated. The hashtag '#DelayForDoug' began trending in some cities just hours after Tuesday night's election results were clear. The latest tax negotiations settled on a small drop in the highest individual marginal tax rate, from 39.6 per cent to 37 per cent. Business tax rates will settle at a maximum of 21 per cent, a level that is only slightly higher than in the Republicans' first draft, but still represents significant relief for job-creators. Lawmakers sold the slight uptick to conservatives as a way to pay for a higher child tax credit. The current top corporate rate is 35 per cent, a number that Trump on Wednesday called 'the highest in the industrialized world in many cases, by far.' Moore, a former state Supreme Court judge in Alabama, crashed and burned in a state where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 28 percentage points; Trump said 'as the leader of the party' he would rather Moore had won , but some Republicans are 'very happy with the way it turned out' Other than Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan (left) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) stand to gain the most politically from the first major tax code rewrite in more than 30 years The president said he expected businesses to repatriate 'probably $4 trillion' in money held offshore after it's subject to a lower tax rate. 'It could even be higher than that,' he suggested as he met with GOP congressional leaders. 'It's so much money we don't even know how much it is,' Trump said, citing wealth Apple Computer and other companies have stashed in foreign countries. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas told Politico that chairmen of the bicameral 'conference committee' selected to hammer out differences in the House and Senate tax blueprints are 'very close' to a final deal. 'We've got to get this thing wrapped up so we can get it on the floor next week,' Cornyn said. Trump said that 'while the media has focused on the differences between the House and the Senate bills, I can only tell you that we have very, very talented representatives right here.' 'We're close,' he added. 'We're very, very close.' Former polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs was sentenced in Utah on Wednesday to nearly five years in prison for running an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme and then going on the run while awaiting trial. US District Judge Ted Stewart said during a hearing in Salt Lake City that Jeffs deserved the 57-month prison sentence, followed by three years of probation, because his behavior showed he doesn't respect US laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sect's imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs, above everything else. Stewart said Lyle Jeffs' religious beliefs provide context for his decision to follow his brother's orders, but don't justify the fact that he 'cheated' taxpayers out of government funds. Punishment: Lyle Jeff, former leader of the polygamous sect FLDS, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly five years for carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme (pictured above in 2015) Lyle Jeffs, 57, is lifelong member of the Mormon offshoot group based on the Utah-Arizona border known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. 'Mr. Jeffs is an adult. He knows right from wrong,' Stewart said. Prosecutors accused Lyle Jeffs of running a scheme to divert some $11million in food-stamp benefits to a communal storehouse and front companies. The defense disputed that figure, arguing that Jeffs had swindled under $2million, and the judge agreed with the lower estimate, reported Salt Lake Tribune. Former members of the sect have claimed that FLDS leaders like Jeffs lived on 'shrimp and lobster' thanks to the multimillion-dollar scam, while the rest of the community starved. Prosecutor Robert Lund asked for the maximum five-year sentence to send a message to Lyle Jeffs and other sect leaders that a 'culture of corruption' in recent years won't be tolerated. Lyle Jeffs was also ordered to pay $1million in restitution. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and failure to appear. This 2017 file booking photo provided by the Tooele County Sheriff's Office shows Lyle Jeffs. He was captured ths past summer after escaping house arrest Jeffs spoke briefly and said he accepted responsibility for his mistakes and that he erred in not properly researching food stamp fraud laws. 'I do, your honor, humbly and respectfully say that I acknowledge my mistakes and decision-making,' said Lyle Jeffs, his hands and ankles shackled. 'I do humbly accept my responsibly for my actions. I don't blame anyone.' His attorney Kathryn Nester said the scheme wasn't malicious but meant to ensure everyone in the group had food to eat as part of the group's religious beliefs in communal living. She said Lyle Jeffs has already suffered tremendously because he's been banned from the sect by his brother Warren Jeffs. That means he's lost his family, his job and his faith. Pedophile: Lyle Jeff's brother and the sect's imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs (pictured), is serving a life sentence plus 20 years in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he considered wives 'If you're looking to humble him, I think we're there,' Nester said. Lyle Jeffs was first charged in February 2016 along with 10 other members of the sect in the fraud scheme. Cases against the others ended in plea deals without prison time or dismissed charges. Lyle Jeffs compounded his legal problems when he became a fugitive after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device in in June of that year while out on supervised release. He was caught in South Dakota this summer after pawning two pairs of pliers while apparently living out of his pickup truck. Pawn-shop workers tipped off the FBI, and he was arrested in a lakeside area near the South Dakota-Nebraska border. He pleaded guilty to committing fraud and failure to appear in September. His brother Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence plus 20 years in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he considered wives. Lyle Jeffs' legal wife divorced him in 2015, but he is believed to still have eight 'spiritual wives' and 60 children. His son Thomas, who broke with the sect years ago, said outside court that he was satisfied with his father's sentence, and expressed hope that spending time behind bars would make him 'think about things.' Other relatives of the defendant, including his brother, told Fox13Now they thought the 57-month sentence was too lenient. Roger Hawes was cleared of laundering proceeds from a 245m loan scam for corrupt bankers A solicitor wept as he was cleared of laundering proceeds from a 245m loan scam for corrupt bankers who blew a fortune on lavish holidays and prostitutes. Roger Hawes, 56, socialised with crooked investment banker David Mills and holidayed on his 30-metre yacht named The Powder Monkey. Hawes also jetted off to Barbados to join Mills wifes 40th birthday celebrations. But the bespectacled lawyer was in tears today as he was cleared of concealing cash for senior HBOS official Lynden Scourfield, 55, and his associates between 2003 and 2010. He denied any wrongdoing and insisted corporate hospitality was part of the job. Scourfield worked as a senior manager for HBOS in Reading and agreed 245m worth of business loans in return for romps with high-class hookers and gifts. The banker - dubbed a Danny Devito lookalike - liked the escorts to dress in suspenders and kept a drawer full of viagra. He pumped eye-watering sums of cash into the failing businesses as Mills and his associates charged exorbitant fees for consultancy services and ran the companies into the ground. Mr Hawes socialised with crooked investment banker David Mills (left). He was cleared of concealing cash for senior HBOS official Lynden Scourfield (right), 55, and his associates between 2003 and 2010 HBOS, once the UKs biggest mortgage lender, suffered a devastating collapse during the 2008 credit crunch - and taxpayers were left to foot the 20.5billion bill. Scourfield admitted charges including corruption and was jailed for 11 years in February. Mills, 61, his wife Alison Mills, 51, Michael Bancroft, 74 and John Cartwright, 72, were variously convicted of offences including corruption and fraudulent trading last year, Southwark Crown Court heard. Mills was jailed for 15 years, Bancroft was jailed for 10 years, Cartwright for three-and-a-half years and HBOS banker Mark Dobson, 56, received four and a half years. Alison was sentenced to three and a half years. Hawes, a partner at Bristol law firm Burges Salmon until he left in 2010, was said to have been instrumental in diverting and concealing money for the crooked gang. He met Mills in 2003 and their relationship developed to the point where they went on holidays together. David Mills and Lynden Scoufield are pictured together. Mills had a 30-metre yacht named The Powder Monkey' Roger Hawes knowingly permitted a Burgess Salmon client account in the name of Clothing Proceeds Ltd over which he had supervision and control, said prosecutor Brian ONeill QC. Hawes was alleged to have used the Clothing Proceeds Ltd account to improperly dissipate monies to Mills, Bancroft, Cartwright and associated entities. What is clear is that a very substantial proportion of the received funds were improperly and fraudulently diverted, said Mr ONeill. It was for the benefit of David Mills, Michael Bancroft and Tony Cartwright, either directly, or to companies owned or controlled by them. He added: Over the years, Hawes undoubtedly became very close to Mills, his family and his circle. He attended Alison Mills 40th birthday in Barbados, stayed on Mills 30-metre yacht The Powder Monkey and went to the racing with them at Ascot. The court also heard that Scourfield sent an email to Hawes in May 2005 asking if he wanted to come on a night out. Mills, 61, his wife Alison Mills, 51, were convicted of various offences last year. They are pictured outside Southwark Crown Court in January Roger, how about a night out in London or Bristol, you me and Millsie? he wrote. Hawes replied: Bl***y good idea! Im on the case. As an advisor to struggling customers Scourfield had recommended Mills as an expert to rescue their failing businesses. In return Scourfield was lavished with cash, expensive gifts, the use of an American Express card, and luxurious foreign travel. The HBOS loans scandal came to light after a six year investigation dubbed Operation Hornet, by Thames Valley Polices history. Mills used much more than just money and gifts to keep Scourfield sweet. Porn star Suzie Best, a favourite of Scourfield, did a girl-on-girl show for a the group, who she described as the posh tw*t bankers She recalled performing sex acts on some of the men including a Danny DeVito lookalike. Hawes admitted he had worked for Mills and his companies for a number of years but insisted it did not represent anywhere near his sole source of business. He said the fact that he was Mills power of attorney was nothing unusual for a solicitor. The solicitor considered that any hospitality was reasonable and proportionate in the context of their business relationship. Hawes recalled a night out with Mills, Bancroft and a Lloyds Bank worker where they were introduced to a group of girls they had never met before. He claimed one of their party suggested the women accompany them back to Bancrofts room for a nightcap but insisted he had no idea the girls would then perform lap dances for them. Michael Bancroft, 74 and John Cartwright, 72, were also convicted of carious offences last year The solicitor immediately left the room to tell his wife what had happened. Hawes said he had no knowledge that a loan to Scourfield was anything other than an arms length commercial loan. He also said he always acted properly in respect of the transfers from the Clothing Proceeds client account. Jurors were also told that corporate hospitality was considered part of the job and essential for fostering business contacts and consolidating relationships with clients. After the jury of eight women and four men took more than seven hours to acquit Hawes of conspiring to conceal criminal property a number of his relatives gasped with relief. They began to cry as the verdict was announced and Hawes also wept. Mr ONeill confirmed there are ongoing investigations ahead of confiscation proceedings relating to those convicted next year. Hawes, of Winscombe, Somerset, denied one count of conspiring to conceal criminal property between 1 April 2003 and 29 September 2010 and was found not guilty by the jury. The Pope has claimed the Devil is a real person who is more intelligent that mortals. In a strong television interview, Pope Francis insisted Satan was not a fictitious character but rather a real being with dark powers. The pontiff regularly refers to the Devil in his sermons in the Vatican and routinely praises exorcists for their work in combating evil. In a strong television interview, Pope Francis insisted Satan was not a fictitious character but rather a real being with dark powers In an interview with TV2000 - a Catholic broadcaster - he said: 'He is evil, he's not like mist. He's not a diffuse thing, he is a person. 'I'm convinced that one must never converse with Satan - if you do that, you'll be lost. 'He's more intelligent than us, and he'll turn you upside down, he'll make your head spin.' 'He always pretends to be polite - he does it with priests, with bishops. That's how he enters your mind. VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - DECEMBER 06: Pope Francis attends his weekly audience at the Paul VI Hall on December 6, 2017 in Vatican City 'But it ends badly if you don't realise what is happening in time. We should tell him, "Go away",' according to the Telegraph. It comes just days after the Argentinian Pope said he wants to change the interpretation of 'Our Father', the best known prayer in Christianity. The pontiff said the Roman Catholic Church should adopt a better translation of the phrase 'lead us not into temptation' in the Italian version of the Lord's Prayer. He said the current phrasing, which is the same in English and many other languages, suggests that it is God who has a choice to lead us into temptation or not. He said this was the work of Satan, not God. 'That is not a good translation, because it speaks of a God who induces temptation',' the pope said in a television interview last Wednesday night. Francis said the Catholic Church in France had opted for a different phrasing, which worked around this particular issue. The French translation uses the phrase 'do not let us fall into temptation' as an alternative, which, the Pope said, implies that the fault would be human. He indicated that it or something similar should be applied worldwide. The prayer is part of Christian liturgical culture and memorised from childhood by hundreds of millions of people within all branches of the religion - both Catholic and Protestant. It is a translation from the Latin vulgate, which was translated from ancient Greek, which was in turn translated from Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. Liturgical translations are usually done by local Churches in coordination with the Vatican. Reuters Rushes to Publicize Claim of "Israeli Attack." You Won't Believe What Happened Next | Main | Wheres the Coverage of New Jersey Imams Call for Genocide? December 13, 2017 DPA Captions Wrongly Blame Israel for Islamic Jihad Deaths Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) published photo captions yesterday which incorrectly imply that an Israeli strike was responsible for the deaths of two Islamic Jihad members in Gaza. The photos and captions, distributed by major photo agencies including Agence France Presse (AFP) and Associated Press, note the funeral procession for the Islamic Jihad men "follow[ed] an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, Northern Gaza Strip." ATTENTION/GRAPHIC CONTENT: Palestinians carry the body of one of two Islamic Jihad militants, during a funral procession following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, Northern Gaza Strip, 12 December 2017.Wissam Nassar. ATTENTION/GRAPHIC'CONTENT: Palestinians mourn and shout slogans as they carry the body of one of two Islamic Jihad militants, during a funral procession following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, Northern Gaza Strip, 12 December 2017.Wissam Nassar. But as DPA reported today ("Israeli air force bombs Gaza Strip after rocket attacks"): Also on Tuesday, two Palestinian militants were confirmed dead after an explosion in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said that the two militants - Hassan Ghazi Nasrallah and Mustafa al-Sultan - were preparing rockets when the explosion occurred. (Emphasis added.) In addition, Haaretz reported yesterday ("Gaza-based Islamic Jihad Drops Claim of Israeli Drone Strike"): The Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza now says the blast that killed two of its members was an accident. The group earlier Tuesday accused Israel of killing the men in an airstrike. But it has issued a new statement saying the men had mishandled explosives. Ealier [sic] reports from Gaza's Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said Tuesday that two Palestinians were killed in what was described as an assassination by an Israeli military drone. Palestinians say the two killed were members of the Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of Islamic Jihad. The Israeli army denied any role in the incident and said that contrary to the Palestinian report, the military had not carried out any such drone strike in Gaza. Israeli army officials said that the explosion was believed to have been the result of a "work accident," the term generally used when explosives intended to be used by militants against Israel explode prematurely. CAMERA has contacted DPA to request a clarification. Stay tuned for an update. Posted by TS at December 13, 2017 01:17 PM I have a message for the Islamic Jihad thugs, to Hamas: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Even when we are no-where near we, Israel, can kill you. Even when it seems that your bungling operatives killed themselves, we are responsible. Perhaps we are using our invisible cloaks? Perhaps we have magic rays? Powers of teleporting? So, as I said, be very afraid! Posted by: Pamela Levene at December 14, 2017 12:43 AM 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 Two Alabama police officers were arrested on first-degree rape charges, prompting their resignation. Former Southside Police Department Brian Edward Walker, 44, and Jonathan Perry Works, 41, were taken into custody by the Etowah County Sheriff's Office Monday night. Their arrests come after Southside police received details November 21 regarding the alleged sex crimes. Walker has been charged with two counts of rape for 'sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex who was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated. 'Or, having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, did fail to make an effort he is legally required to make,' according to Alabama.com. Brian Edward Walker, 44, (left) and Jonathan Perry Works, 41, (right) were arrested Monday night on charges of first-degree rape Two women were named as victims in the alleged crimes against Walker, while no identities could be released. Works has been charged with two counts of first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sodomy. His charges stem from 'sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex who was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated,' court documents obtained by Alabama.com said. For sodomy, Works is 'accused of engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex who was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.' It is currently unclear whether the counts involved one or more victims. Their arrests come after the Southside Police Department, where they worked, received details November 21 regarding the alleged sex crimes Walker was found on Facebook under the name 'Brian Caminante.' His profile bio says he is married and currently works as a sports instructor at Gadsden Combatives Jiu Jitsu Academy in Southside Southside Police Chief Chris Jones told the newspaper investigation had been turned to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency immediately after the department received the disturbing information. 'We're going to help them (investigators) in any way we can,' Jones said in the statement. Jones said the alleged incidents were 'off-duty' and had 'nothing to do with their profession.' Phone request for further information by the Daily Mail to Jones was not immediately returned Wednesday. Walker is being held on $50,000 bond and Works, $100,000. An Army soldier has died from severe injuries he suffered during live-fire training at Fort Stewart. Officials at the Army post in southeast Georgia said in a news release that 31-year-old Sgt. Michael Trask of Olalla, Washington, died Tuesday at a hospital in nearby Savannah. Trask was in critical condition when he was hospitalized on December 6 after being hurt during a nighttime training exercise in which soldiers fired weapons using live ammunition. Army Sgt. Michael Trask of Olalla, Washington, died Tuesday at a hospital in nearby Savannah after suffering fatal injuries during a training exercise He was injured during the exercise at Fort Stewart in which soldiers fired weapons using live ammunition Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson declined to comment Wednesday on how Trask got injured, citing an open Army investigation. Trask was an infantry soldier assigned to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. The Army said he arrived at Fort Stewart two years ago and had served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trask is survived by his wife, Angela (shown together on Angela's Facebook page) His wife, Angela (shown with him right) posted to his Facebook page: 'For anyone who hasn't been in contact with me and would like updates about Michael please message me' Commander of Trask's battalion, Lt. Col. Justin Harper, said in a statement that Trask was an 'outstanding' solider that helped his unit sharpen their skills with every training even 'His experience and personal example were instrumental in developing his unit into a cohesive team,' Harper added. Trask is survived by his wife, Angela. It is at least the second time this year that a soldier has died during an exercise using live ammunition. Army Spc. Matthew R. Turcotte was shot and killed in August during a nighttime live-fire training exercise at Fort Carson, Colorado According to Angela's Facebook page, the couple had just got married this year. Wedding photos were shared to her page in August Islamic State has threatened to attack Austria's capital city after their latest propaganda poster showed an ISIS fighter holding a blood-stained knife in Vienna. The shocking image was posted online and shows an the man with blood on his left hand as people strolled through a high street in the city. Shops are covered in festive lights and the caption at the top of the image reads: 'Soon on your holidays'. The chilling poster comes just weeks after terrorists threatened an attack on London, the Queen and New York City. The chilling image of an ISIS fighter holding a knife in Vienna was posted online and had the caption 'soon on your holidays' Last month, a poster was released on encrypted social media channels and showed an ISIS fighter standing in front of a burning Big Ben in London Another poster showed a picture of the Queen covered in blood next to a large knife last month A propaganda poster showed Santa Claus looking out over a crowd of shoppers with the words: 'we meet at Christmas in New York... soon' An image was released on encrypted social media channels and showed an ISIS fighter firing an assault rifle next to a burning Union Flag. Meanwhile, a second image showed an ISIS flag flying from the top of a burning Big Ben, which also has a large crack running across the building. A message on the side of the image read: 'We will destroy your country, as you destroyed our country'. The other shows a bloody knife over an image of Queen Elizabeth II, with the message: 'Under observation... soon'. Another poster shared on encrypted channels showed Santa kneeling in front of a terrorist with London's Regent Street in the background One poster showed a jihadi with a bloody knife looking out over a Christmas market with the Eiffel Tower in the background and the message 'soon in your holidays' ISIS fanatics have also urged jihadists to attack Rome in an online poster showing a wolf overlooking St Peter's Square ISIS appeared to be revving up their propaganda machine ahead of the holidays, producing a series of graphic posters threatening attacks on Christmas shoppers in both Europe and the United States. Fanatics shared a disturbing image threatening a Christmas-time attack on New York City just weeks before an explosion on Monday morning in a Times Square subway station. The image showed Santa Claus standing on a low roof next to a box of dynamite looking out over a crowd of shoppers in Times Square. The poster featured the words 'We meet at Christmas in New York... soon', written across it in black on white. Another showed a terrorist standing next to a rocket launcher looking down at St Peter's Square in the Vatican. Four people, including the suspect, were hurt following a pipe bomb explosion in a New York City subway at the height of the morning rush hour on Monday. A former middle school teacher and married mother-of-one from Texas has been arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a male high school student whom she met at church. Nicole Marie Faires-Andrews, 31, was taken into custody on Tuesday and booked into the Williamson County Jail on felony counts of sexual assault of a child and improper relationship between educator and student. The sexual assault charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Bad teacher: Nicole Marie Faires-Andrews, 31 (pictured left in mugshot), a former middle school teacher form Texas, has been charged with having sex with a teenage boy Until her resignation in November, Faires-Andrews had taught sixth-grade English at Cedar Park Middle School in Texas (pictured) Investigators say Faires-Andrews met her teenage lover while volunteering with the youth ministry at the Church at Canyon Creek (pictured) Investigators say the victim in this case did not attend Cedar Park Middle Student, where Faires-Andrews had taught English and language arts until her resignation in early November. According to local authorities, Faires-Andrews met the teenage boy while volunteering with the youth ministry at the Church at Canyon Creek in Austin, where her father-in-law is the head pastor. Officials with the Leander School District say Faires-Andrews was hired in August 2015 to teach sixth grade and left her position on November 6, reported the station KXAN. The Williamson County Sheriffs Office began looking into Faires-Andrews' suspected sexual misconduct on October 24. In a letter sent to parents and students at Cedar Park Middle School, the principal said administrators learned on October 25 of a possible sexual relationship between Faires-Andrews and a male high school student. Married woman: Faires-Andrews is pictured above with her husband, Dustin Andrews Getting physical: Dustin Andrews, 30, co-owns a CrossFit gym and is a fitness instructor Young family: The married couple have a young son together (pictured left) . Pictured right: Nicle is seen paddleboarding The English teacher was placed on administrative leave the same day, and resigned less than two weeks later. Records show that the Texas Education Agency is conducting its own investigation into Faires-Andrews, which got under way on November 21. The former teacher is married to Dustin Andrews, 30, and the couple have a young son together. Mr Andrews' father is the executive pastor at the Church at Canyon Creek, where his daughter-in-law had volunteered as a youth administrator for a couple of years, according to a statement put out by a senior church official, and cited by CBS Austin. This is not the first time that the Andrews family have been touched by misfortune: in 2006, Dustin Andrews' sister, Lauren Andrews Brown, was killed in a murder-suicide that was carried out by her husband, an airman in the US Air Force, as Heavy.com first reported. According to his Facebook page, Dustin Andrews co-owns a CrossFit gym in Cedar Park and has worked as a fitness instructor since 2010. Dustin and Nicole are pictured above in 2009, long before tying the knot Pictured: Tim Varchmin, 44, arriving at court yesterday wearing a helmet A former judge caught with indecent photos of Afro-Carribean children on his MacBook has suggested someone else must have downloaded them because he is not attracted to black people. German-born lawyer Tim Varchmin, 44, told the Old Bailey strangers may have downloaded the illegal material on his laptop during a series of wild chemsex parties at his luxury 2 million flat in Lancaster Gate, west London. Varchmin used gay dating app Grindr to arrange the drug-fuelled debauchery at his 2,000 square foot home, which was raided on 14 October 2014 after Sky Broadband tipped off the police. Officers found a stash of 112 indecent images and six indecent films involving children on the former Barclays and JP Morgan lawyers iPhone and MacBook. He is accused of downloading 22 illegal files which were then automatically duplicated on his synchronised Apple devices. Police also discovered 830mg of crystal meth on the glass coffee table in his third-floor flat, one of two spectacular properties he owned in central London. Today Old Bailey jurors heard that all of the indecent images found on Varchmins devices were of black children. His barrister David Cohen asked about the ethnicity of his former partners. He said: Have you ever had a boyfriend who was black or afro-Caribbean? Do you find people of that ethnicity attractive? The softly-spoken German said he didnt, adding: I dont want to sound racist, its just not my... my preference. Varchmin denies seven charges of possessing indecent images of children and possessing 830 milligrams of crystal meth. He used to work for Barclays in Canary Wharf as a lawyer (pictured) Varchmin, originally from Hamburg, was previously married to a half-Lebanese half-European man who he described as white, but not as German. The court heard about Varchmins high-flying law career, which saw him work as a criminal and civil law judge in Germany before securing roles with JP Morgan, Clifford Chance and Barclays. He studied law at the University of Hamburg and Kings College London and also worked as a civil servant in Germanys foreign office in Tokyo. Varchmin says he would disable his password and give people free reign to use his MacBook while he hosted up to three chemsex orgies every week. He insists he had nothing to do with the illegal downloads. The material on Varchmin's equipment came to light after Sky Broadband alerted the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation team to suspicious activity. The case is being heard at the Old Bailey this week The child porn, which includes category A images of most obscene kind, was found among 45,000 images and 106 videos of adult gay pornography on his devices. Police also found search terms including guy f**k kids, boy being f**ked by man and the German phrase kinder fi**en on his devices, jurors heard. Varchmin told officers he may have used the search term boys but said it could have been used to refer to men, the court heard. The lawyer said he does not use crystal meth but would not throw it out of the window when people brought it to his home. He told police: When people use crystal meth they are completely different and they do the most ridiculous things that you would not imagine. The lawyer has declined to give police the names of those attending his parties. Varchmin, of Lancaster Gate, Kensington, denies seven counts of possessing indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing a controlled drug of class A. The trial continues Pupils have cancelled their Christmas celebrations after a 15-year-old boy died following a 'tragic incident' at school. Anton Michael attended the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway on the remote Scottish island, Isle of Lewis. Emergency services were called to the secondary school at 2.30pm on Tuesday and the teenager was transferred to the Western Isles Hospital where he later died. Heartbroken pupils at the school on the remote island have since postponed their Christmas dance to mourn their former classmate. Anton Michael attended the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis (pictured) The festive event was due to take place before the school breaks up for the Christmas period next week and it will now take place early next year. Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and said a report would be sent to the procurator fiscal. Western Isles Council said the school fully supports the students' gesture. A council spokesman said: 'The decision was made by pupils themselves and they are to be commended for their thoughtful and respectful actions. 'Other Christmas events are also being cancelled out of respect.' Tributes have been paid to the boy, from Great Bernera, and parents vented their anger after the school opened 'as if it's business as usual'. Flowers were placed by heartbroken pupils in the school's churchyard and one pupil wrote online: 'The tragic death of Anton Michael will always be one of most or the most awful thing that has occurred in the Nicolson Institute.' Western Isles local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said it was 'a tragic incident.' Frances Murray, the rector of the Nicolson Institure, Stornoway, said in a statement: 'This is a tragic incident. 'Anton was a lovely young man who was well regarded by staff and pupils and made a very positive contribution to the school. 'His death is affecting the entire school community. Our thoughts at this time are with Anton's parents, family and friends. The teenager was transferred to the Western Isles Hospital (pictured) where he later died 'We appreciate the support provided by all the emergency services yesterday. They did all they could, but unfortunately could not save Anton's life. 'With assistance from the Comhairle, we have put in place appropriate support and counselling services for all staff and pupils and a confidential 24 hour helpline service is available for anyone affected by Anton's passing - 01851 705600. 'We are grateful to all those who have contacted the school to express their sympathies. We would ask the media to continue to respect the sensitivity of the situation.' A police spokesman said: 'Police Scotland attended the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway shortly after 14:30 on Tuesday following concern for a 15-year-old male. 'He was conveyed to Western Isles Hospital where he has since died. 'There are no suspicious circumstances and as with all sudden deaths a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.' The council said 'appropriate support mechanisms' would be put in place for staff and pupils. It also expressed its sympathy to the dead youngster's family. The two young sons of a Pennsylvania sheriff's deputy died in an early morning house fire on Wednesday. A fire broke out at a home on the 900 block of Summit Ave in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania around 5:30am. Firefighters raced to the scene and found a male, female and adolescent girl outside the home. Scroll down for video Two young boys were killed in an early morning house fire in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania Bryan Lukens (top left), his wife Tracy (top right) and their nine-year-old daughter Soffia (center) got out of the house while their sons, 11-year-old Bryan Jr (bottom right) and six-year-old Parter (bottom left), died After the fire was put out, the firefighters found the remains of the brothers on the second floor of the home Firefighters were able to control the blaze relatively quickly, but once they put out the fire they found the remains of two young boys on the second floor. The victims have been identified as 11-year-old Bryan Lukens Jr and his younger brother Parker, age six. The boy's father, Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Bryan Lukens, mom Tracy, and sister Soffia, age 9, were the three firefighters found outside the home. The parents and their daughter were rushed to the hospital. Dep. Lukens had more serious injuries so he was taken to the burn unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital. His wife and daughter were taken to Pottstown Hospital where they were treated and have since been released. The mother and daughter later went to Lehigh Valley Hospital to be by Dep. Lukens' side. He was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon. Fire marshals are still investigating what started the early morning house fire Bryan Lukens, his wife and daughter were rushed to the hospital to be treated for their injuries Tracy Lukens and her daughter were treated and released. Bryan Lukens was expected to be released Wednesday afternoon 'Our office is devastated to learn about this tragedy,' Montgomery County Sheriff Sean P. Kilkenny said. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lukens family as they grieve their losses.' Fire marshals are working to determine the cause of the fire. Montgomery County Sheriff Sean P. Kilkenny issued a statement regarding the tragic house fire. 'Our office is devastated to learn about this tragedy,' Kilkenny said. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lukens family as they grieve their losses.' Lukens joined the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in May of 2014. He previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a sergeant infantry team leader in Iraq. He received several medals and awards during his tours of duty. He also has an associate's degree in fine arts from the Montgomery County Community College. A family friend set up a Go Fund Me campaign for the family that raised more than $52,000 of a $200,000 goal in the hours after the fire. Andrew Lavender faces charges of aggravated murder after the killing of 36-year-old Ceran Lipscomb, an incident that occurred on August 1, 2014, when Lavender was 16-years-old A suspected contract killer has been accused of shooting and killing a man near a playground when he was just 16 in a bid to get rich. Andrew Lavender, now 19, is on trial for aggravated murder after he allegedly shot and killed Ceran Lipscomb, 36, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in August 2014. Officials believe Lipscomb by shooting him in the head near a West End park, according to Cincinnati.com. Lipscomb was taken to a medical center but died two days later. Prosecutors argue that less than two months before the killing of Lipscomb Lavender wrote in a text message, 'I'm fittin to get a body on me.' A girl also allegedly messaged him asking why people call him 'shooter.' Prosecutors showed the courtroom, and Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Charles Kubicki, several photos of Lavender from Facebook with him wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the arms cut off, pointing a gun directly toward the camera. Another photo shows him flaunting his wealth as he fans out a large stack of $20 bills. Lavender was arrested the same month as the killing in 2014 and because he was 16 at the time he was initially charged in juvenile court. However, in October 2014 due to the seriousness of the crime, he was ordered to stand trial as an adult and the case was transferred to Common Pleas Court. Ohio Supreme Court deliberated as to whether or not juvenile or adult court would be more suitable for Lavender. In court Tuesday his attorney, Rodney Harris, said police targeted the wrong person, arguing police overlooked a witness who 'unequivocally said this is not the person who did this.' Harris said the witness' statement that Lavender wasn't the shooter 'didn't match their theory.' Officials believe Lavender killed 36-year-old Ceran Lipscomb (pictured here) by shooting him in the head near a West End park Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor David Prem showed jurors a sketch of the suspected shooter, which was created eleven days after the murder before anyone had brought up Lavender's name. Prem claims two police officers said the sketch was 'dead on how he looks.' Prem argues Lavender's motive was money and added in court that the man has been described as a drug dealer, to which a man testified he overheard Lavender talking about 'taking a hit on' a man. 'He needs a big hit,' Prem said. 'He needs to become rich.' Prem said someone suggested to Lavender that he get a job. His response, according to Prem: 'For real?' 'I think it's sad that someone like Andrew Lavender would come to a decision to consciously execute someone,' he said. Thousands of Hamper King customers are worried that Christmas will be ruined after their deliveries failed to arrive on time. The online gift company offers customers payment plans, aimed for families who want to save for the holidays throughout the year, as well as Christmas hampers. Their VISA cards were meant to be delivered last week, but countless customers have vented on social media that they still haven't received them. Thousands of Hamper King customers are worried that Christmas will be ruined after their deliveries failed to arrive on time Many claim they also haven't been able to track their orders with Australia Post, 7News reports. As a result, mum-of-four Renee McKinnon started a Facebook page for customers to write their complaints this week and hours later, it had amassed more than 450 followers. 'Not even 24 hours, and there's hundreds of people, thousands of people commenting, panicking about their money,' she told 7News. Ms McKinnon, from Adelaide, has spent almost $3,000 over the past 12 months on Hamper King but her cards have still not arrived. Tania Butler, a mother of seven, ordered a shopping card worth $1,000 and after 26 fortnightly payments, her delivery hadn't arrived Renee McKinnon has spent almost $3,000 over the past 12 months on Hamper King but her cards have still not arrive She started a Facebook page for customers to write their complaints this week and hours later, it had amassed more than 450 followers Tania Butler, a mother of seven, ordered a shopping card worth $1,000 and after 26 fortnightly payments, her delivery hadn't arrived. While her card eventually arrived on Tuesday night, many other customers are still waiting and say they'll never buy from Hamper King again. Hamper King blamed high demand for the delay in deliveries, according to 7News. General manager David White said he expected customers to receive their orders in the next few days. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Hamper King for further comment. Democrats who want an investigation of accusations that President Donald Trump groped and harassed women forced deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to listen to a long list of graphic descriptions of conduct women say Trump undertook. 'Id like to ask you about sexual assault by the President of the United States of America,' said Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illionis asked Rosenstein during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Three of Trump's accusers have called for a congressional investigation, which appears highly unlikely in the Republican Congress. That didn't prevent lawmakers from asking Rosenstein whether the women could get the FBI to probe the president's treatment of women or from reading the accusations aloud during a televised hearing. 'At least 16 women have come forward to say that the president of the United States felt them up, kissed them without permission, put his hands under their clothing without permission, groped them, touched their genitalia, walked into dressing rooms unannounced to see them naked, and made other unwanted sexual advances that every one are clear violations of the law,' said Gutierrez. THIS COULD GET AWKWARD: Lawmakers asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein whether FBI agents could investigate President Donald Trump's past alleged treatment of women - then read him descriptions of what accusers say happened Then, as a stone-faced Rosenstein looked on, the retiring Gutierrez read quotations from a sampling of Trump's accusers. Gutierrez quoted Kristen Anderson referencing how: 'The person on their right who unbeknownst to me was Donald Trump, put their hand up my skirt. He then touched my vagina through my underwear.' He also read from Jill Harth, who said, 'He groped me, he absolutely groped me and he just slipped his hand there touching my private parts.' Then he read from Cassandra Searles, who said 'he continually groped my ass and invited me to his hotel room.' 'These are very serious allegations of crimes committed by the president, are they not,' he asked, without waiting for an answer. President Trump and the White House have denied all the charges. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois read statements by some of President Donald Trump's 16 female accusers at a House Judiciary hearing Then he brought up Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA pageant who says Trump ogled her in a pageant dressing room. She was among three accusers calling for Congress to look into the president's alleged treatment of women. He read back Trump's quote to Howard Stern on his radio show that 'Im allowed to go in because Im the owner' during pageants and that 'the chicks will be almost naked.' NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: Samantha Holvey speaks during the press conference held by women accusing Trump of sexual harassment in NYC on December 11, 2017 in New York City. She asked for a congressional investigation of Trump Miss Washington USA 2013 Cassandra Searles is introduced during the 2013 Miss USA pageant at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 16, 2013 in Las Vegas The lawmaker quoted Kristen Anderson saying Trump put his 'hand up my skirt' About the only time he censored himself was when he read Trump's quotes from the infamous 'p****' tape'. 'Would it be appropriate for you to investigate these and other allegations of assault and unwanted sexual advances by the president of the United States?' Gutierrez asked. Rosenstein repeated an earlier answer that the people are welcome to go to the FBI if they believe a crime has been committed. 'I would invite you to submit the evidence and the department will review it if you believe theres a federal crime and thats all I have to say about that,' said Rosenstein, eager to move on, at an appearance where he also got probed about private explosive texts between two FBI agents who had been working on the Mueller probe. Joining the effort was Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee. 'What intentions does the Department of Justice have to allow these women, who are accusing the president of sexual misconduct and have never been heard in terms of a public setting,' she said. 'What does the Department of Justice intend to do in light of the fact that the president is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America?' she asked. Rosenstein responded that, 'I don't think I have any position on that congresswomen, he said. 'If they file a lawsuit, theyre free to do so, it would be a Department matter.' Then he added, 'If theres anything that warrants federal investigation then we would certainly look at it,' he added the DailyCaller reported. It is doubtful committee members haven't heard explicit language before: As Gutierrez noted, two members of the panel quit Congress just last week 'because women came forward and made credible claims.' L-R) Rachel Crooks, a former receptionist in Trump Tower in 2005, Jessica Leeds and Samantha Holvey, a former Miss North Carolina, attend a news conference for the film "16 Women and Donald Trump" which focuses on women who have publicly accused President Trump of sexual misconduct, in Manhattan 'The person on their right who unbeknownst to me was Donald Trump, put their hand up my skirt. He then touched my vagina through my underwear,' said Rep. Gutierrez, reading from an account by accuser Kristen Anderson One of them was Democratic Rep. John Conyers, 88, the most senior member of the House, who had his office budget pay a woman who charged him with harassment, which he denied. The other was Republican Trent Franks of Arizona, who resigned suddenly Friday after it was revealed he asked female staffers to be surrogates to help him have a child. 'And others on this dais right now are among the additional members of the body who are accused, creditably accused of misconduct,' Gutierrez added, in reference to Texas Republican Rep. Blake Fahrenthold, who paid his former communications director $84,000 after she accused him of harassment. Meanwhile, Republicans grilled top Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein about the FBI hours after the release of private emails where a top investigator called then-candidate Donald Trump 'awful.' Republican Judiciary chairman Robert Goodlatte of Virginia called reports of 'political predisposition and potential bias' on Mueller's team ''deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice.' Rosenstein said he was 'not aware of any impropriety' on Mueller's team. 'DOJ investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices. We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Mr. Mueller's team,' he said. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein arrives to testify before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in Washington Republican lawmakers pounded on newly-revealed private texts between top FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who exchanged private texts where they blasted Donald Trump during the primaries. 'This is disgusting unaccountable bias and theres no way that could not affect a persons work,' said Texas Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert. 'Were you aware of just how biased Mr. Strzok was?' he asked Rosenstein. 'No I was not,' he replied. Goodlatte continued: 'First, we have FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page exchanging communications showing extreme bias against President Trump, a fact that would be bad enough if it weren't for the fact that these two individuals were employed as part of the Mueller 'dream team' investigating the very person for whom they were showing disdain,' Goodlatte said. 'And calling it mere 'disdain' is generous,' he fumed in his opening statement. 'According to the documents produced last night to this Committee, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page referred to the President as 'an utter idiot,' 'a loathsome human,' and 'awful,' while continually praising Hillary Clinton and the Obamas.' 'These text messages prove what we all suspected: high-ranking FBI officials involved in the Clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election, and clearly let their strong political opinions cloud their professional judgment. And this was only an 'initial disclosure,' containing heavy redactions.' But Rosenstein, under questioning by Rep. Jerold Nadler of New York, acknowledged that he has seen a good cause reason to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller reassigned Strzok after learning of the texts. Republicans grilled Rosenstein on private texts by some of his investigators that were highly critical of Donald Trump House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., left, shakes hands with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, right, as he arrives to testify before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in Washington 'I would follow the regulation if there were good cause,' he said, asked if he would fire Mueller if the president ordered him to. Nadler, the new ranking member after the resignation of Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, said he reviewed the texts, which he said expressed 'private political views' that are allowable. 'Peter Strzok did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren't also thinking at the same time,' Nadler said. And he rejected growing GOP calls to have a new special counsel investigate Mueller. 'I understand the instinct to want to change the subject after the Flynn and Manafort indictments, but this request is grossly misguided,' he said, in reference to Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort, two former top Trump advisors. After reciting Mueller's accomplishments, from Marine service to serving as a prosecutor and running the FBI, he called him an 'ideal choice' for the role of special counsel. Republican Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio ran through the political contributions to Democrats by many of Mueller's top investigators. FBI agent Peter Strzok (left) and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page (right) who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president and their hopes he would lose the election THIS SHOULD BE FUN: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein prepares to testify before a full committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election 'How with a straight face can you say that this group of Democrat partisans are unbiased and will give President Trump a fair shake?' he asked. Rosenstein responded: 'We recognize we have employees with political opinions. It is our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions. I believe that Dir. Mueller understands that. He is running that office appropriately.' Two high ranking FBI officials involved in Robert Mueller's Russian probe exchanged text messages calling Donald Trump 'an idiot'. FBI agent Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were having an affair, shared more than 10,000 texts in 2016 discussing the future president. In one of the texts, Page wrote Strzok: 'Maybe youre meant to stay where you are because you are meant to protect the country from that menace,' in reference to Trump. During their exchanges, they described Trump as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election, the Washington Post reported. Special Counsel Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation into collusion between Trump's administration and Russia during the 2016 election, after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. Page had already ended her assignment to Mueller's office. The pair's texts are now under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general. Both Strzok and Page were key players in the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server as well as the Russian probe. They'd been involved in an extra martial affair during the Clinton investigation. The texts date back to 2015, shortly after Trump announced his plans to run for president, when Strzok texted that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was 'an idiot like Trump. During their exchanges, they described Trump (pictured) as an 'idiot' and a 'loathsome human' and shared their hopes that Hillary Clinton should win the election Special Counsel Mueller (pictured, front) removed Strzok from the investigation after the messages revealing anti-Trump sentiment first emerged in July. 'Figure they cancel each other out.' The following year, on March 4, 2016, Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' THE SHOCKING TEXTS BETWEEN THE FBI OFFICIALS March 2016: Page, sent a text to Strzok saying: 'God, Trump is a loathsome human... omg he's an idiot.' 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' March 2016: Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' The same month, Page texted asking if Strzok had heard Trump: 'Make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president.' July 2016, Strzok texted: 'HE [Trump] appears to have no ability to experience reverence which I [SIC] the foundation for any capacity to admire or serve anything bigger than self to want to learn about anything beyond self, to want to know and deeply honor the people around you.' Advertisement 'He's awful,' Strzok replied. 'Yet he may win' (the Republican nomination), he said, adding that could be 'Good for Hillary.' Strzok later added that Hillary 'should win 100,000,000-0.' 'Also did you hear [Trump] make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man can not be president,' Page said later that same evening, according to Politico. On March 16, 2016, Page texted Strzok: 'I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president.' In April, they seemed to become a little nervous of their anti-Trump rants. Page texted: 'So look, you say we text on that phone when we talk about Hillary because it can't be traced, you were just venting bc you feel bad that you're gone so much but it can't be helped right now.' The texts also showed that the pair were horrified at the idea then-Sen. Jeff Sessions might be nominated as attorney general. The messages were uncovered by the Justice Department during an investigation into potential political influence on the Clinton emails and Russian probes. While many have argued that the comments were simply discussion between the pair, any suggestion that investigators may have been biased against Trump will fuel calls by Republicans for second special counsel to investigate Mueller's operation. J.K. Rowling suggested that God might be a black woman as she criticized Roy Moore's election night speech, in which he failed to concede to rival Doug Jones. The Alabama Senate race was called in Jones' favor late Tuesday night, but Moore refused to concede, saying that it was too close to call and there might be a recount. In his speech he said that 'God is always in control'. Rowling taunted Moore over his speech in a tweet posted Wednesday morning. 'Narrator's voice: Roy was right. God was in control. What he didn't realise was, She's black,' the Harry Potter author wrote. Scroll down for video J.K. Rowling suggested God was a black woman when she criticized Roy Moore's non-concession speech Moore said that 'God is in control' of the Alabama Senate race. Rowling said that he's right... but that 'She's black' Democrat Doug Jones beat Roy Moore in Alabama's hotly contested Senate race on Tuesday Rowling was referring to the voter turnout for the Senate race. Jones' win was due in large part to an astronomical turnout of back voters - especially black women. Ninety-eight per cent of black women voted for Jones, while just two per cent voted for Moore. Rowling was one of just many celebrities celebrating the Jones victory on Wednesday. 'Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud,' Hillary Clinton tweeted. 'And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must - compete everywhere. Onward!' Hillary Clinton also tweeted to celebrate Doug Jones' surprise win on Tuesday Her husband, and former US president Bill Clinton, also also shared his support, tweeting: 'Congratulations, Doug Jones. You were a great US Attorney, and you ran a terrific campaign. You deserve this win. It's a win for the people of Alabama.' The Clintons were joined by the likes of Julianne Moore, Joe Biden and Kerry Washington who rushed to Twitter to celebrate the Democrat's victory in the traditionally Republican state. 'Thank you Alabama and thank you Doug Jones,' Ellen Degeneres tweeted. 'Hope lives,' added Ava DuVernay. 'Never give up on this gorgeous mystery called Life. A Democrat from Alabama? Hope lives. Kerry Washington, the star of Scandal, shared her thanks for everyone in Alabama who voted for Jones 'because today u voted for a more perfect union. A place where we ALL matter. God bless u.' Captain America star Chris Evans said that the vote was one of the few redeeming outcomes of 2017. 'Holy s**t!!!!! Does this mean I DONT have to bury 2017 in the back yard?? Thank you, Alabama!!!!' he wrote. 'My tweets worked,' comedian and actor Billy Eichner added. Actresses Julianne Moore and Alyssa Milano added their congratulations to the newly elected senator. 'Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity, Alabama,' said Charmed star Milano. 'And thank you for fighting for whats right, @GDouglasJones. And thank you to every volunteer who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and that worked tirelessly to make this happen.' Republican Roy Moore should have easily slid into a Senate seat in Alabama, but accusations that he habitually preyed on teenagers eroded his support. Here he's photographed at his election night party in Montgomery before the final results were in Several celebs referenced the fact that black voters had turned out in force to back Jones in Tuesday's election. Actress Patricia Arquette wrote: 'Once again we are depending on the goodness of black voters to save the world.' 'GOD BLESS BLACK WOMEN,' Amber Tamblyn added. Jones emerged victorious against Moore, whose has been plagued by allegations he preyed on teenage girls while he was in his thirties. Jones proclaimed a victory for 'common courtesy and decency' as he defeated accused pedophile Moore. But Moore insisted the race wasn't done. 'Realize when the vote is this close, then it's not over,' said Moore, who exasperated national party establishment leaders with his run. 'And we've still got to go by the rules about this recount provision.' 'We also know that God is always in control,' Moore told his supporters, who were left stunned at their party in Montgomery as the race got called for Jones. Jones defeated Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. There were just under 21,000 votes separating the winner and the loser, out of 1.3 million cast. John Merrill, the secretary of state of Alabama, said Moore can get a recount if he pays for it. An automatic recount occurs if the vote difference is less than 0.5 percent of the vote. 'The people of Alabama have spoken tonight. Theyve made their voice heard loud and clear,' he told CNN. Merrill said it would be 'highly unlikely' for Jones not to be certified the winner. Moore complained in his speech: 'Part of the problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light.' 'We've been put in a hole, if you will,' he said, referencing the Bible's Psalm 40 and speaking rapidly. 'I waited patiently for the Lord. That's what we've got to do,' Moore told his supporters, who include many evangelical voters. 'And he inclined to me and heard my cry and brought us also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet on the rock and established my goings and put a new song in our mouth. He then prays unto our God. Many shall see it hear it, and shall be moved by that if you will.' 'And that's what we've got to do is wait on God and let this process play out,' Moore said. 'But the votes are still coming in and we're looking at that,' Moore added. 'It's not over, and it's going to take some time. Thank you.' Jones' victory in the deep red state came despite a final push by President Donald Trump, who campaigned in Pensacola and endorsed Moore despite a series of women who made accusations against him from when he was a prosecutor in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His win peeled back the Senate GOP's Republican majority to just 51-49, and dealt a blow to Trump, who weighed in with campaigning in nearby Florida, tweets and a robocall. 'Tonight is a night for rejoicing,' Moore told cheering supporters at his victory speech Tuesday evening. After a nasty race that featured multiple women accusing opponent Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, Jones told a Birmingham crowd: 'We have work to do. We have work to do in this state to build those bridges within this state, to reach across with those that didn't vote for us to try to find that common ground. I'm pledging to do that tonight.' After the divisive contest, Jones thanked his African-American supporters, Hispanics, and even wished his Jewish friends a 'Happy Channukah!' That was a subtle rebuke to Moore's wife, who made a cringe-worthy election eve comment denying anti-Semitism by saying one of their lawyers was Jewish. 'As Dr. King liked to quote, the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,' he said, using a favorite line of President Obama's. 'Tonight in this time in this place, you helped bend that moral arc a little closer to that justice,' he said to applause. 'Not only was it bent more, not only was its aim truer, but you sent it right through the heart of the great state of Alabama in doing so,' he said. It was every community. You know I keep hearing about the different communities in this state. The African American community - thank you! My friends in the Latino community thank you! To all my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah! 'At the end of the day this entire race has been about dignity and respect,' Jones said. This campaign has been about the rule of law. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state ... is gonna get a fair shake in life.' The Associated Press called the Alabama Senate race for Doug Jones at 9:23 p.m. local time, less than two and a half hours after the final votes were cast. For Jones, just having a (D) next to his name meant an extremely steep climb in a state that hadn't voted for a Democratic senator in 31 years and that man, Sen. Richard Shelby, later changed his affiliation to Republican. But Jones was buoyed by a mix of grit and chance campaigning rabidly through the end, while Moore traveled out-of-state, haunted by accusations that he had pursued and molested teenagers while he was a man in his 30s. The election had become bigger than these two men, with Trump's name and also that of his former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon also attached to Moore's name on the ballot. On the Democratic side, former President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and potential 2020 candidate Sen. Cory Booker, of New Jersey, had chimed in. President Trump tweeted his congratulations to Jones on a 'hard fought victory,' less than an hour after the race was called. 'The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win,' Trump added. 'he people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!' President Trump phoned Alabama Senate victor Doug Jones and even invited him to the White House while his rival, Republican Roy Moore, still refuses to concede. In a press conference in Birmingham Wednesday afternoon, Jones listed the lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, who called him, which led to the obvious questions, had he heard from Moore? 'I have not,' Jones replied. 'I'm going to leave that to him,' the Democratic senator-elect answered when asked by a reporter if Moore should concede. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told DailyMail.com she was 'not aware' of any effort by Trump to make a call to Moore. Scroll down for video Alabama senator-elect Doug Jones revealed at a press conference Wednesday that President Trump had called him and offered him congratulations Doug Jones' revelation comes as his Republican rival in the race, Roy Moore, has refused to concede - not being seen in public today Democrat Doug Jones was asked if he heard from Roy Moore since the race has been called. 'I have not,' he told reporters Doug Jones, answering questions from reporters in Birmingham today, revealed that President Trump had extended a White House invitation to him Doug Jones named a number of lawmakers who reached out to him today, both Democratic and Republican, but said he still hadn't received a phone call from Roy Moore Election night in Alabama provided a dramatic conclusion to what was already a topsy-turvy campaign. Jones shocked the political world by winning, being the first Democrat to do so since 1986. But then Moore pulled the political version of 'hold my beer' by getting onstage at his Montgomery rally and refusing to drop out. 'Realize when the vote is this close, then it's not over,' Moore told the crowd. 'And we've still got to go by the rules about this recount provision.' With that, Moore urged his supporters, stunned by the Republican's loss to, 'go home and sleep on it.' Now, a day later, Moore's next move is unknown. Three emails to Moore's spokeswoman have gone unreturned and a campaign official DailyMail.com reached by phone said he didn't know Moore's plans. Senator-elect Doug Jones (right) waves to reporters as he and his wife Louise (left) leave a news conference in Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday A source in Alabama's secretary of state's office told DailyMail.com that beyond an initial conversation staffers had with both teams, prompted by media interest, Moore's campaign hadn't been back in touch about a recount today. Moore had floated last night that he would wait until the mail-in ballots, which include many military members, were counted to see if the closeness of the race would trigger an automatic, state-paid-for, recount. But Alabama's Secretary of State John Merrill said on CNN this morning that making up a full point difference isn't likely, as Jones currently bests Moore by 1.5 per cent, and a recount provision kicks in if the results are under .5 per cent. The GOP candidate hasn't been seen publicly today. Meanwhile, the political world has started to move on, as evidenced by the parade of people calling Jones today. 'I have received calls from so many well-wishers, of friends and families, but also future colleagues in Washington on both sides of the aisle,' Jones said. 'I've received calls from Democratic senators, I've received calls from my long-time friend Senator Shelby, Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer.' 'And calls from the president of the United States, President Trump,' he added. The senator-elect called his conversation with the president a 'very gracious call,' also 'pleasant' and 'nice' that Jones 'much appreciated.' 'He congratulated me on the race that we won, he congratulated me and my staff on the manner in which we handled this campaign and went forward and we talked about finding that common ground, to work together,' Jones said. 'And he invited me over to the White House to visit just as soon as I get up there,' Jones revealed. An apparent murder-suicide on a college campus a few miles outside of Pittsburgh has left at least two people dead, according to news reports on Wednesday. A person armed with a gun fired as many as 15 rounds on the Penn State Beaver campus in Monaca, KDKA-TV reported on Wednesday. The gunman was the estranged husband of a woman who works on campus, Pennsylvania state police said. The woman was killed near her car. Her husband then turned the gun on himself. An apparent murder-suicide on a college campus a few miles outside of Pittsburgh has left at least two people dead, according to news reports on Wednesday. Emergency vehicles are seen above at the Penn State Beaver campus, the site of the shooting, on Tuesday Investigators believe the husband persuaded his wife to walk outside with him to the parking lot. It was there that the alleged murder-suicide took place, investigators say. The identities of the husband and wife have yet to be revealed. A number of ambulances rushed to the scene. No students or other faculty were harmed. The gunman was the estranged husband of a woman who works on campus, Pennsylvania state police said. Investigators are seen above at the scene of the shooting A tweet by the Penn State Beaver administration urged the public to avoid the Student Union building and the food services area A tweet by the Penn State Beaver administration urged the public to avoid the Student Union building and the food services area. The campus has been closed until further notice. Penn State Beaver is a campus branch of Penn State University in Center Township, a small town 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The chancellor of Penn State Beaver says he hopes to have the campus re-opened tomorrow. Final exams that were originally scheduled for Thursday will be moved to Friday. Grief counselors will be available when the campus re-opens. Video courtesy WPXI Mika Brzezinski said Ivanka Trump was useless at her job and doing a disservice to this country by standing quietly by her father's side in a blistering attack Wednesday on Morning Joe. It was during a segment devoted to President Trump's tweet about Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that the topic came up, with Brzezinski criticizing the administration for not addressing the Commander-in-Chief's offensive tweet. 'That is the saddest thing I've ever seen in the White House ever in my life,' said Brzezinski. 'And his daughter, who came to Washington to work for the president and develop a platform for women, go home. Go home.' She then added: 'You are doing nothing if you stand by this president. And you should think of the country rather than your brand.' Scroll down for video Morning no: Mika Brzezinski attacked Ivanka Trump for not calling out her father after his offensive tweet about Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday Drop the Mika: 'Go home. Go home. You are doing nothing if you stand by this president. And you should think of the country rather than your brand,' said Brzezinski (Ivanka above with her family in a photo posted after her father's tweet on Tuesday) Brzezinski also called out Ivanka one day prior, with the First Daughter posting no content other than party photos and images of her and her family in recent days. 'Ivanka. Please step up. It is your chance to do the right thing. Pictures and parties and photos dont amount to action. Keep your promise,' tweeted Brzezinski. She also tried to appeal to Melania, writing: 'Melania, If cyber-bullying is your cause, today is the day u should tell your husband to stop-make him take that tweet down.' President Trump took to Twitter to attack Senator Gillibrand on Wednesday, writing: 'Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!' Gillibrand responded on Tuesday by stating: 'It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue. 'Neither will the millions of women and men who have marched against the president and his policies.' Family affair: Mika also went after Melania on social media for her lack of evident work on the anti-bullying campaign she promised Ivanka looked as though she did not have a care in the world on Tuesday night as she stepped out in thigh-high boots with her husband Jared Kushner for date night Brzezinski responded to this, and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' claim that President Trump was not making a sexual innuendo, by saying: 'I want to know how she does that and where the chief-of-staff is or where anybody else in the White House is this morning or where they were after that tweet went out yesterday.' She went on to state: 'The president should have taken it down. The president should have apologized if he didn't take it down. He should have apologized for hurting senator Kirsten Gillibrand's feelings at the very least.' And she did not stop there either, going on to say this has been a trend with President Trump. 'He should have apologized for being a sexist pig, for sexually harassing on Twitter, for using sex to denigrate women and again, I mentioned yesterday, the president is obsessed with women, especially some women, especially women who go on television and have a voice or especially women who serve in congress or in the senate who use their voices, any woman that stands up against him, he is obsessed with. 'He has some special problem with women and the women around him, his wife, who has a platform against cyber bullying. That's a joke.' Ivanka looked as though she did not have a care in the world on Tuesday night as she stepped out in thigh-high boots with her husband Jared Kushner for date night. She shared a picture early in the evening as the family lit their menorah, but then left the kids behind for some alone time with Jared. The husband and wife smiles masked any fear of the ongoing Mueller investigation, which some believe might cause major problems for Kushner. Three friends of the couple told Vanity Fair that they have even begun discussing 'how long Jared has' amongst themselves. President Trump is also reportedly less than thrilled after his daughter became a accidental player in the Doug Jones campaign. Ivanka said in an interview that 'theres a special place in hell for people who prey on children,' a comment that Jones then used as a soundbite in one of his ads in Alabama. 'You have Trump robo-calling for Moore, and Jones using Ivanka in an ad,' noted one person. 'If that doesnt show you how f***** up that White House is, I dont know what does.' A Maine woman who told investigators that she must have 'blacked out' after drinking multiple shots of liquor and smoking marijuana on the night of her infant son's death has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. Miranda Hopkins, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of her son Jaxson and sentenced on Wednesday in Belfast. Following 13 years in prison, Hopkins was given four years of probation, during which she wil be required to refrain from using drugs or alcohol. She will head to prison on December 26 after being allowed to spend Christmas with her father, who is in poor health. Miranda Hopkins (pictured), who told investigators that she must have 'blacked out' after drinking multiple shots of liquor and smoking marijuana on the night of her infant son's death, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison She was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of her son Jaxson and sentenced on Wednesday in Belfast. Hopkins said she still doesn't know how the seven-week-old infant died in January. Hopkins is pictured in court last month Hopkins will be placed under house arrest at her cousins home, according to Bangor Daily News. Her attorney, Christopher MacLean, said he has filed a notice of appeal in the case, but he may or may not follow through with the appeal because he feels the trial was handled fairly by the court. Hopkins said she still doesn't know how seven-week-old Jaxson died in January, but she previously told police that one of her two autistic sons may have been responsible. Jaxson (pictured) suffered from skull fractures, 15 broken ribs, a broken right arm, and cuts and bruises from head to toe Jaxson suffered extensive injuries, including skull fractures, 15 broken ribs, a broken right arm, and cuts and bruises from head to toe. Police have said that Hopkins had been drinking whisky and told investigators that she must have 'blacked out'. But she had previously told police that one of her two autistic sons, aged six and eight, may have been responsible. In multiple interviews, Hopkins reportedly told authorities that she was co-sleeping with Jaxson when she woke up with gall bladder pain in the middle of the night, according to the Bangor Daily News. Hopkins said she had checked on her other two sons, who share a bedroom in the home, before checking on Jaxson. But a few hours later, she said she woke up to find her baby cold and 'beat to hell'. The baby's cause of death was listed as blunt force head injuries. At the time, Hopkins claimed that one of her sons, likely the eight-year-old, must have climbed onto the bed, and either crushed or beat Jaxson without her hearing or feeling anything. But much of this initial story was a lie, she told jurors last month. 'I'd been drinking, I'd passed out, and my baby was killed,' she told jurors in November. 'I was scared of what might happen.' Hopkins told jurors at the time that she didn't have much of a dinner before drinking several shots of whisky and smoking marijuana. She said she did 'pass out' in her older sons' bedroom while putting them to bed while Jaxson was in his 'bouncy chair' in the living room. Police said Hopkins had been drinking whisky and told investigators that she must have 'blacked out'. She'spictured in court in November Hopkins (pictured) claimed that one of her autistic sons, likely the eight-year-old, must have climbed onto the bed, and either crushed or beat Jaxson without her hearing or feeling anything Video courtesy WVII But when she woke up in pain that night, she checked on her older sons, but didn't check on Jaxson, which contradicts her initial story. She said she awoke a few hours later to find Jaxson dead in her bed, between her and her wall, and her eldest son asleep on the couch. Hopkins said last month that she initially lied to police because she feared her sons would be taken away from her. Her older sons have since moved in with a relative. The defense initially argued that the boys would have been capable of seriously harming their sibling. According to the defense, the six-year-old had shown aggressive tendencies against other children in the past. Despite her son's horrific injuries, Hopkins said she never heard cries, a scuffle, or the loud vocalizations that her autistic sons make when they're agitated or excited. A prominent state barrister who had serial killer Ivan Milat jailed has called for prosecutors to hand out harsher sentences for criminals in a series of leaked emails. Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi also urged lawyers to stop agreeing to soft deals after a series of light sentences ignited outrage among the public, including a recent decision to spare a 55-year-old paedophile from jail because of his high cholesterol. 'There have been recent examples of inappropriate concessions where the evidence did not warrant a concession being made,' he said on December 6, according to The Daily Telegraph. 'Inappropriate concessions should not be made.' Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi (left) also urged lawyers to stop agreeing to soft deals after a series of light sentences ignited outrage among the public The prominent state barrister jailed serial killer Ivan Milat (pictured) in the 1990s The president of the Australian Association of Crown Prosecutors warned prosecutors not to agree to facts that did not match the evidence and to question defence lawyers' claims. Milat, who is the country's worst serial killer, is serving seven consecutive life sentences at Goulburn prison for the murder of seven young backpackers between 1989 and 1992. Milat buried his victims in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney. The identity of the Dubbo paedophile who avoided a 50-year prison term after pleading guilty to historic sex crimes involving two young girls has been protected after District Court Judge John North granted a suppression order on his name. In criminal proceedings, the identities of offenders are usually only withheld to ensure those of the victims are not revealed. But Judge North ruled this week the victims could be publicly named, while the paedophile's identity must remain secret, The Daily Telegraph reported. The 55-year-old Dubbo man was spared jail last month after pleaded guilty to historic sex crimes involving two young girls, with District Court Judge John North (pictured) granting a suppression order on his name Both victims have spoken of their outrage at the decision to suppress the man's name and say the justice system has let them down. 'I truly feel from my heart that they have failed me and that the system is protecting a paedophile,' one told the paper. 'The initial case took four years in court and they decided not jail him. To have it so he can't even be named is heartbreaking. This man has ruined my life and he completely gets away with it.' Another victim, who started being abused when she was just eight years old, slammed the decision. 'I am shocked that we are being named but he isn't... There are other victims and they need to know about this case,' she said. NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman told the paper he was investigating the reasons behind the decision to suppress the offender's name. Both victims have spoken of their outrage at the decision to suppress the man's name and say the justice system has let them down (stock image) The man was 19 years old when he began abusing the girls, aged eight and 10, between 1980 and 1987, the paper previously reported. Despite facing 54 years' jail for his crimes, Judge North handed him a two-year suspended sentence with no supervision order, listing a series of bizarre reasons for why the man should receive credit. Judge North spoke of the offender's 'good character' and naivety because of his lack of sex education, as well as his sleep deprivation over the case. He noted the man's diabetes, high cholesterol and chronic kidney disease would be difficult to treat in prison, where Judge North said he would have to be contained in isolation. Ecuador's vice president Jorge Glas (pictured) has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking illegal kickbacks from a Brazilian construction giant Ecuador's vice president has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking illegal kickbacks from a Brazilian construction giant. Jorge Glas is highest-ranking politician to be convicted in the sprawling case centred on Odebrecht, whose practice of giving bribes to secure public works contracts has cast a cloud over officials and ex-officials in several Latin American countries. Glas, 48, had been in preventive custody since October. His trial before Ecuador's Supreme Court started last month and he was sentenced today. Prosecutors said he received a total of $13.5 million in Odebrecht bribes, via an uncle who is also under arrest. Fallout from the massive Odebrecht corruption scandal has continued to sweep Latin America. The company, which has admitted to paying bribes to win contracts in a number of countries, has already paid $3.5billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland. A close ally of leftist ex-President Rafael Correa, Glas served as Correa's vice president from 2013 and retained the position under current President Lenin Moreno. In August he was suspended from his duties by Moreno, who accused him of not being a team player. Prosecutors said Glas received a total of $13.5 million in Odebrecht bribes, via an uncle who is also under arrest Three other individuals have been sentenced to 14 months in prison in the same case, their sentences lightened by 'effective cooperation' with authorities, according to the verdict read by judge Edgar Flores. In an October interview from prison in Quito, Glas said he was a victim of the construction giant's revenge after he was instrumental in kicking the company out of Ecuador in 2008 following a dispute over repair of a hydroelectric plant. Glas, who was minister of strategic sectors before becoming vice president in 2013, denied any link to the Odebrecht scandal, though his uncle, Ricardo Rivera, has been arrested for his alleged involvement. Under investigation by the US Justice Department, Odebrecht agreed in December to pay the record $3.5 billion fine after admitting to paying $788 million in bribes across 12 countries to secure contracts. The scandal has ensnared politicians in several countries, including Mexico, Peru, Panama and Venezuela. Ecuadoran prosecutors said Odebrecht spent $47.3 million in bribes in their country to get public contracts. Ecuador's former president, Rafael Correa, told CNN Spanish from Panama that Glas was a 'political prisoner' and there was 'no evidence against him'. He claimed the conviction was a way for his successor, President Lenin Moreno, to seize control of the vice president's office. 'Overdose' death: Dr Ravindra Rajmane, 51, a pulmonologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, was found dead on Tuesday from a suspected heroin overdose A pulmonologist at NYU Langone Medical Center has been found dead in his Manhattan apartment after apparently overdosing on heroin marked 'Knock Out King.' A co-worker of Dr Ravindra Rajmane summoned police to his home on Park Avenue South at 9.30am on Tuesday after not hearing from him in several days and growing concerned for his well-being. According to a New York Daily News report, citing police sources, NYPD officers who responded to the medic's apartment near East 27th Street discovered several glassine envelopes in his room bearing the stamp 'Knock Out King.' NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce went on Twitter Wednesday and made a public plea, asking anyone with information about this brand of heroin to call CrimeStoppers. The tweet did not mention Dr Rajmane by name, but characterized the fatality as an 'overdose death' and included the hashtag '#OpioidCrisis.' A co-worker of Dr Rajmane summoned police to his apartment on Park Avenue South (pictured) after not hearing from him in several days Public plea: NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce went on Twitter Wednesday asking for information on the heroin brand Rajmane had not been seen since Friday, and a female colleague of his at Langone went to check up on him on Tuesday morning. After knocking on the door of his apartment and getting no response, a maintenance worker was summoned to open the door. Inside, Rajmane's co-worker found the pulmonologist dead in his bed and ran out of the unit in tears, according to the Daily News. The paper also reported, citing a police source, that the man had been deceased for at least two days. An autopsy is expected to be performed on Rajmane to determine the cause and manner of death. DailyMail.com on Wednesday reached out to NYU Langone Medical Center for comment on the physician's passing, but a spokesperson declined to provide a statement. A Dallas mother took her 8-year-old son Christopher (shown) on 323 hospital visits since his birth. He has had 13 major surgeries A father in Texas is fighting to get custody of his eight-year-old son after the boy's mother faked years of illnesses in a plot that lead to numerous unneeded medical operations. Dallas mother Kaylene Bowen, 34, was arrested for felony injury to a child after she admitted to convincing doctors that her son, Christopher, was severely ill. Since he was born, she's taken the now eight-year-old child to the hospital at least 323 times. He's also underwent 13 major surgeries since birth after she lied to doctors saying he had a severe milk allergy and needed a lung transplant due to the severe side effects. The boy's father, Ryan Crawford, said that Bowen's arrest was a long time coming and that he hopes she goes to prison for life for what she's done. He said that he is upset it took so many years for the system to finally figure out that she was lying about their son's illnesses. 'How do you do 13 surgeries? How do you do it?' he asked while speaking to KHOU. 'How do you do 13 surgeries and not question the fifth surgery? The sixth surgery?' Crawford explained after his son was born, he questioned the medical issues she was claiming he was suffering from. He said the more he questioned Bowen, the less she was willing to let him see his son. Crawford said that he tried to explain to Lori Hockett, a family court district judge in 2012, that his son was not sick, but she reportedly believed his ex and stripped him of his visitation rights because he refused to accept that his son was dying. Mom Kaylene Bowen, 34, (pictured) was arrested for felony injury to a child after she admitted to convincing doctors that her son, Christopher, was severely ill for years Bowen went so far as to share posts to social media with her son after treatment, alleging he had cancer. She created several crowdfunding pages as well Christopher's father, Ryan Crawford, (shown in an interview) said that Bowen's arrest was a long time coming and that he hopes she goes to prison for life for what she's done 'Every single [time] she went into [the] courtroom, she would say Christopher is dying,' Crawford said. 'The judge stated that I needed to accept that my son was dying and I said, 'No, I'm not going to accept that my son was dying' and she took away from my visitation.'' Then, two years later she hired an attorney to get full custody of their son. He said he obtained medical records showing he was not sick, but claims the judge refused to even look at the records and dismissed his motion. 'It makes me feel as if the system wants to believe the mother all the time in situations, when the father is there fighting,' Crawford said. Hockett, who is not currently a judge, told the Star-Telegram that she could not comment on Crawford's allegations. Crawford said that despite everything, he still continued to pay $600 a month in child support. The doctors did not find Christopher to be sick, a Child Protective Services caseworker wrote after an investigation last month. The boy is now in foster care with his two other siblings and Crawford is fighting to get him back The mother said her son was terminally ill and would have problems leading to a lifelong feeding tube He also said he complained to Child Protective Services twice, but a spokeswoman for the agency said they have no record of the complaints. Since her arrest, the boy along with his two other siblings have been put in foster care. Crawford has seen him twice and is fighting to get custody. 'He looked as if nothing had ever happened to him,' he said. 'He's a blessing. God has watched over him.' His coworkers have created a GoFundMe to help him in the difficult process ahead. 'Out of everything that has happened, the worst thing you can do is put my children in foster care with strangers,' he said. 'I need my son in my life and my son needs me in [his] life.' 'I was at a club and she seemed like a nice woman. She was pleasant, pretty. She just caught my eye,' Crawford said of when he first met Bowen According to her Facebook page, Bowen publicly broadcasted her son's 'terminal cancer' and started crowdfunding pages to aid in the his medical treatments and operations. She continually concocted the stories to doctors - who became suspicious two years ago, and contacted CPS. Both doctors confirmed Christopher was not actually sick. Bowen apparently told doctors during visits that her son would violently 'throw up' every time he drank milk, Crawford told NBC Dallas Fort-Worth. Mental disorder Munchhausen by Proxy (MSBP) MSBP is a mental disorder 'in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care, such as a child, an elderly adult, or a person who has a disability,' according to WebMB The behavior may stem from 'poor self-esteem, stress, anxiety' or a need for attention Advertisement 'She started explaining to the judge that the doctors stated my son would never walk,' Crawford said. 'And then she stated that he had problems continuing to eat and that he's going to need a feeding tube.' The now-separated couple started dating in 2009 when they met while at a club. 'I was at a club and she seemed like a nice woman. She was pleasant, pretty. She just caught my eye,' he said of Bowen. Now, Crawford said he is worried that, rather than his son, Bowen may actually be the one with the medical condition. He's convinced she suffers from a condition called Munchhausen by Proxy, or MSBP. MSBP is a 'mental health problem in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care' which is often times a child, according to WebMD. The crying father said he feels partially to blame for not putting a stop to the visits years ago 'Just so many surgeries that are just unbelievable,' Crawford said. 'He could have died' The behavior may stem from 'poor self-esteem, stress, anxiety'or a need for attention, the medical website said. Of her extreme behavior, Crawford said it began eight days after their son was born. 'The issues escalated to eventually she claimed that my son was dying,' Crawford said. 'I was horrified because from what I knew, my son was fine. He just needed -- not even extra care -- he was fine.' A crying Crawford said he feels partially to blame for not putting a stop to the visits years ago. 'Just so many surgeries that are just unbelievable,' Crawford shared. 'He could have died ... only God saved him.' The country should brace for the unveiling of another Australian media personality accused of sexual misconduct. Veteran news reader Tracey Spicer, who collated a damning dossier of Australian media figures accused of sexual harrasment, said the next 'perpetrator's' name could be released before Christmas. The 50-year-old has spoken to more than 1000 victims, with allegations ranging from verbal harassment to criminal indecent assault. Tracey Spicer (pictured) has warned the country should brace for the identity of another Australian male media personality accused of sexual misconduct to be revealed 'The next story will be imminent, within the next couple of weeks,' Ms Spicer told Who Magazine. But the journalist said her full investigation to 'name and shame' the 65 media figures accused of sexual harassment will take some time. 'This could be five to 10 years. I know media organisations have covered up incidences like this for a long time, but the floodgates have been opened. I see this going for a long, long time.' Ms Spicer believes the severity of the issue requires a more formal investigation to be launched. The freelance journalist encouraged people to share their own sexual harassment stories with her on Twitter as she investigates 'two long-term offenders' in the media industry 'It's time to start talking about whether there should be an inquiry or review or commission into the protection racket that has existed in the media.' She said while her team was still investigating the recent allegations made against Don Burke, they remained focused on 'keeping the investigation moving.' Another 'two or three names' were being actively worked on, while she continues communications with victims. The mother-of-two is working with police to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable for their actions. 'It is an absolute tsunami of sexual assault, intimidation and abuse. It is absolutely horrific,' she told The Daily Telegraph. Another 'two or three names' were being actively worked on, while she continues communications with victims Ms Spicer claims the alleged perpetrators are well-known people in the media whether they are on air or a production executive. 'Many of them are still offending to this day. There have been perpetrators in pretty much every one of the past four decades.' The 50-year-old discussed the harassment she experienced earlier this year in her book, Good Girl Stripped Bare. 'We're talking about p***y-grabbing stuff in the workplace - and in front of witnesses. It's just ridiculous,' Ms Spicer told The Australian. Advertisement A shocking new map has revealed the full extent of our planet's shrinking wilderness areas. The maps show that the majority of remaining wilderness areas are in the deserts of Central Australia, the Amazon rainforest in South America, the Tibetan plateau in central Asia, and the boreal (snow) forests of Canada and Russia. Almost 10 per cent of the planet's wilderness has been lost since the early 1990s, researchers say, as it is increasingly hemmed in as forests are converted to farmland and developed. The maps reveals our planet's shrinking wilderness areas. The green areas show the wilderness areas that currently exist, which the purple areas show the areas that have been lost since 1993. THE WILDERNESS The researchers say their definition was 'a biologically and ecologically largely intact landscapes that are mostly free of human disturbance.' These areas do not exclude people, as many are in fact critical to certain communities, including indigenous peoples, the team said. Rather, they have lower levels of impacts from the kinds of human uses that result in significant biophysical disturbance to natural habitats, such as large-scale land conversion, industrial activity, or infrastructure development. Advertisement UQ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student James Allan said these wilderness areas were strongholds for endangered biodiversity and critical in the fight to mitigate climate change. 'These ecosystems play a key role in regulating local climates, sequestering and storing large amounts of carbon and supporting many of the world's most culturally diverse - but politically and economically marginalized communities,' said University of Queensland student James Allan. The maps of the world's most important wilderness areas are now freely available online following a University of Queensland and Wildlife Conservation Society-led study published today. The authors have made the maps available to assist researchers, conservationists and policy makers to improve wilderness conservation. 'Despite their importance, wilderness areas are being destroyed at an alarming rate and need urgent protection with almost 10 per cent being lost since the early 1990s. 'Their conservation is a global priority,' Allan said. Wildlife Conservation Society and UQ Associate Professor James Watson said he anticipated the maps would be important for identifying places where conservation actions must occur, and as indicators of progress towards United Nations commitments such as Sustainable Development Goals. Niassa National Reserve, one of Africa's last remaining wilderness areas. A 2016 study showed that a total of 30.1 million km2 (around 20 percent of the world's land area) now remains as wilderness, with the majority being located in North America, North Asia, North Africa, and the Australian continent. 'Our maps of wilderness areas have already been used to highlight catastrophic declines in wilderness extent over the last two decades, and show that conservation efforts has been greatly outpaced by these losses,' the researchers wrote. 'This has raised the profile of wilderness conservation globally, and it seems that international targets for wilderness conservation may be developed shortly. 'We anticipate that our maps will be important tools in the process of developing such targets, and for the conservation planning and decision making necessary to ensure representative protection of wilderness areas globally.' THE ASTONISHING DROP IN WILDERNESS AREAS A 2016 study showed that a total of 30.1 million km2 (around 20 percent of the world's land area) now remains as wilderness, with the majority being located in North America, North Asia, North Africa, and the Australian continent. They demonstrate alarming losses comprising a tenth of global wilderness since the 1990s - an area twice the size of Alaska and half the size of the Amazon. The Amazon and Central Africa have been hardest hit. Only 235 of the planet's original wilderness now remains, researchers found - with 10% loss in the last two decades alone Comparisons show that an estimated 3.3 million km2 (almost 10 percent) of wilderness area has been lost in the intervening years. Those losses have occurred primarily in South America, which has experienced a 30 percent decline in wilderness, and Africa, which has experienced a 14 percent loss. Advertisement 'Environmental policy almost completely ignored wilderness conservation but this has to change,' warned Watson. 'National governments and multilateral environmental agreements such as the World Heritage convention need to step up and protect wilderness before it is too late.' The researcher admit they may even have underestimated the amount of wilderness left. 'Threats such as poaching, logging, invasive species, pollution and climate change are not directly captured, although many of them are often highly correlated to the pressures that were included in the Human Footprint,' they wrote. 'This in turn suggests that our maps of wilderness are likely overestimates, and would benefit from being downscaled when used in a national or sub-national contex.' Could this finally be our first close encounter, the visit from ET we have waited our whole lives for? Scientists led by Stephen Hawking are today using high-tech scanners to discover if a huge, cigar-shaped space object currently hurtling through our solar system was sent by an alien civilisation. The object in question, christened Oumuamua, is about a quarter of a mile long, 260ft wide and currently travelling at 196,000mph. And while it could just be an asteroid, barmy as it may seem, researchers are taking seriously the possibility that it could instead be a spaceship. The team of scientists, called Breakthrough Listen, will use the worlds largest directable radio telescope, at Green Bank in West Virginia, to follow it for ten hours. They are listening for electromagnetic signals, no stronger than those emitted by a mobile phone, that cannot be produced by natural celestial bodies. If they find them, it would be proof that extraterrestrial forces really could be at play. The object in question, christened Oumuamua, seen above in an artist's impression, is about a quarter of a mile long, 260ft wide and currently travelling at 196,000mph Scientists led by Stephen Hawking, pictured, are today using high-tech scanners to discover if a huge, cigar-shaped space object currently hurtling through our solar system was sent by an alien civilisation For the moment, they are trying to contain their excitement. But the name they have given this bizarre object betrays their optimism. Oumuamua is a Hawaiian term meaning a messenger from afar arriving first. (The far less sexy official name is A/207 U). Most intriguingly, it is the wrong shape for an asteroid they are typically round. Hawking and his colleagues at Breakthrough Listen report: Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimise friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust. Another oddity is that Oumuamua is flying very cleanly, without emitting the usual cloud of space dust that astronomers observe around asteroids. Experts say this suggests it is made of something dense: probably rock, but possibly metal. It was first detected on October 19 by a long-running research programme called Pan-STARRS, which uses powerful telescopes to photograph and monitor the night sky at the University of Hawaii. Its amazing speed has led some experts to conclude it is the first such object to have come towards us from outside our solar system. Analysts also say its faintly red colour indicates it has been subjected to interstellar cosmic radiation which is harsher than we experience in our solar system. The fact that it doesnt seem to have engines or show signs of propulsion may wreck the interplanetary-spacecraft theory. But Professor Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist from Harvard University, suggests it might just be coasting. Perhaps the aliens have a mothership that travels fast and releases baby spacecraft that freely fall into planetary systems on a reconnaissance mission, Professor Loeb posited to the journal Scientific American. The cigar-shaped object, named 'Oumuamua by its discoverers, sailed past Earth last month and is the first interstellar object seen in the solar system In such a case, we might be able to intercept a communication signal between the different spacecraft. While he acknowledges that the chances of detecting alien activity are very small, Prof Loeb adds that its prudent to check. After all, it could even turn out to be some sort of intergalactic Marie Celeste, the infamous ghost ship found drifting with no crew. Even if we find an artefact that was left over some space device or junk from an alien civilisation and there are no signs of life on it, that would be the greatest thrill I can imagine having in my lifetime, he says. Its really one of the fundamental questions in science, perhaps the most fundamental: are we alone? Today, we may finally find out, even if it is a bit late. When Oumuamua was first spotted, it was already heading away from Earth, having passed within 15 million miles of us on October 15. (Thats about 85 times the distance from Earth to the moon, which may sound an awfully long way, but considering the speed it travels, its really a squeak away.) At that point, no alien passenger seems to have waved from the window. Perhaps they scanned Earth for signs of intelligent life and chose to keep whizzing along. Nevertheless, we can still get a good enough look at Oumuamuas rear end to detect any extraterrestrial technology on board, says Andrew Siemion, the research centre director at the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (Seti) in California, which works with the scientists at Breakthrough Listen. The Green Bank telescopes ten-hour scan will check for any transmissions across the full spectrum of electromagnetic wavelengths, Dr Siemion says. Its like a radio station you tune into with your car stereo, he explains. Nature doesnt broadcast on a very specific frequency it smears it out. Technology behaves differently. It can compress electromagnetic energy. So we look for those specific signs and for repeating patterns which nature doesnt tend to do. We look for structure. Presumably they are also looking for Nobel Prizes, along with a place in the roll-call of humankinds greatest discoveries. On the other hand, if Green Bank draws a blank, there is always the possibility that the aliens are using technologies that even our best kit cant detect. That, of course, is one of the challenges of hunting for aliens. Meanwhile, Oumuamua will still present us with a host of other problematic questions. For example, where did this weird object come from? Scientists initial calculations suggested Oumuamua came from Vega, a star some 25 light years away in the Lyra constellation. This might be plausible, were it not for the fact that, even travelling at its amazing speed, it would have taken around 300,000 years to get here. But space doesnt stand still, and Lyra wasnt in that position 300,000 years ago. Instead, its likely Oumuamua has been travelling through space for hundreds of millions of years. Furthermore, how many other Oumuamuas are there pinging about, and could they pose a lethal danger to us if they were to come rather closer than this one? The answers to those questions seem to be a lot, and yes. That astronomers have finally confirmed the existence of such an interstellar interloper (as they call it) may prove earlier theories true that there are multitudes of these things flying through our cosmic neighbourhood. A new report in The Astrophysical Journal, by astronomers at the University of California, makes the bold projection that there could be as many as 1,000 interstellar visitors arriving and leaving our solar system every year or one every three days. Oumuamua is now due to pass Jupiter in May 2018, and Saturn in January 2019. After that, it will fade from view and leave us for ever. But what about the others? The odds suggest that our planet has survived countless near-misses by these intergalactic speedsters. And each time one shoots past, the odds against a collision can only get smaller. It is not clear what would happen if one were to hit us. But a report in the respected journal Nature warns that the sheer speed of an intergalactic object such as Oumuamua would make its impact on Earth more catastrophic than any wrought by a comet or asteroid from within our home solar system. Depending on its size, it is possible it could wipe out life on the planet. The most likely lesson Oumuamua brings is that we may be a cosmic hairs width away from being smashed out of existence, just like our dinosaur forebears. With that in mind, perhaps it would be reassuring if this interstellar visitor turned out to be a tin can full of aliens. Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among other innovations. Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. File photo GOOGLE'S NEW LAB Google announced in December that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. AI companies in China suck up personal data from the massive population and use it to train machine-learning algorithms -- but Google, locked out of the internet, has little user data to pull from in the country. For now it is focusing on making use of Chinese talent. Roughly half of its 600 employees in China are engineers working on global products, said company spokesman. Its job board in China shows about a dozen openings in the AI field. Advertisement Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. 'Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015,' Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new centre, wrote in a blog post on Google's website. 'We've already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead.' Li noted that Chinese engineers formed the backbones of the winning teams in the past three ImageNet Challenges, an international AI competition to test which computing technology is better at recognising and categorising pictures. Chinese search engine Baidu's team was banned for a year for breaking the rules during the 2015 competition. The country's large population and strong mathematics and sciences education has nurtured a slew of engineering talent. Many land in Beijing's burgeoning AI tech startup scene, supported by universities and government-affiliated institutes. It is not hard to find AI talent in China, said Yuan Jirui of SeetaTech, one of the start-up's core team of founders from the Institute of Computer Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. A file photo of Google's China headquarters is pictured 'There's a trend of AI talent in China being quite young,' she said. 'AI education is expanding to high schools and middle schools.' SeetaTech uses deep learning to solve problems like detecting defects in factory products and finding faces in a crowd for public security organs. 'Data fuels our AI engine,' Yuan said. AI companies in China suck up personal data from the massive population and use it to train machine-learning algorithms -- but Google, locked out of the internet, has little user data to pull from in the country. For now it is focusing on making use of Chinese talent. Google's search engine and many of its services are blocked by China's Great Firewall, but internet regulators have recently allowed access to its translation product. File photo of Google's China HQ in Beijing Roughly half of its 600 employees in China are engineers working on global products, said company spokesman Taj Meadows. Its job board in China shows about a dozen openings in the AI field. The China centre will join Google's other research facilities outside of its Silicon Valley hub, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich. Google's search engine and many of its services are blocked by China's Great Firewall, but internet regulators have recently allowed access to its translation product, one that has made leaps and bounds in accuracy by incorporating the company's AI research. Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft could uncover an ancient moon during its next mission, set to be the 'farthest exploration in the history of mankind'. Experts say they are unsure exactly how many rocks they will find when they close in on the probe's latest target, known as 2014 MU69. The object, which orbits the sun a billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto, could in fact be two rocks orbiting each other, and the pair may host an orbiting moon. Nasa is keen to study MU69 because it formed as part of the early solar system, and could help us understand how stars and planets are born. Scroll down for video Nasa says it is unsure how many rocks it will find its New Horizons probe (top right) closes in on it latest target, known as 2014 MU69. The object could in fact be two rocks orbiting each other, and the pair may host a small moon (artist's impression) WHAT IS MU69? Ancient object MU69, discovered in 2014, is more than 4 billion miles (6.5 billion km) from Earth. It orbits the sun in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy comets, planet fragments and dwarf stars a billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto. MU69 appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 km) long, or, if a 'binary' pair of rocks, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 km) in diameter. 'Like other objects in the Kuiper Belt, MU69 offers a close-up look at the remnants of the ancient planet-building process, small worlds that hold critical clues to the formation of the outer solar system,' Nasa said. Advertisement MU69 sits in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy comets, planet fragments and dwarf stars 4.1 billion miles (6.5 billion km) from Earth. Objects at this distance are extremely difficult to study with telescopes, meaning much about MU69 remains a mystery. Despite this, Nasa's New Horizons team has spent months gathering data on the object in preparation for New Horizons' flyby in January 2019. 'We really won't know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter,' said New Horizons team member Dr Marc Buie, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. 'But even from afar, the more we examine it, the more interesting and amazing this little world becomes.' Earlier this year, Nasa observations of MU69 showed it might be either peanut-shaped or even two objects orbiting one another. But new data collected by the Horizons team hints the ancient object might have company in the shape of a tiny, orbiting moon. The data were gathered in July, when the team studied a narrow shadow cast by MU69 as it passed in front of a star - an event known as an occultation. MU69 orbits the sun 4.1 billion miles (6.5 billion km) from Earth. At this distance, observations from Earth (top line) struggle to decipher whether the object is two separate rocks (bottom left), a 'contact binary' (bottom centre), or a potato-shaped comet or asteroid (bottom right) Earlier this year, Nasa observations of MU69 showed it might be either peanut-shaped (artist's impression) or even two objects orbiting one another. New data collected by the Horizons team hint the ancient object might have company in the shape of a tiny, orbiting moon PUBLIC POLL TO NICKNAME MU69 Nasa is seeking suggestions from the public to nickname MU69 before New Horizons arrives at the object in 2019. While the ballot includes a number of legitimate options, including Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), Camalor (fictional city in the Kuiper Belt), and Pluck & Persistence (traits of New Horizons), Twitter users have shared a slew of absurd suggestions. Popular posts have ranged from 'Donald Trump's heart', to countless space-themed spin-offs of the Boaty McBoatface debacle, to 'Dave'. Nasa says it plans to choose a formal name once the true nature of the object is uncovered by New Horizons. Nasa is seeking suggestions from the public to nickname MU69 before New Horizons arrives at the object in 2019. Popular posts included countless space-themed spin-offs of the Boaty McBoatface debacle Advertisement The events are frequently used by astronomers to estimate the size, shape and orbit of very distant objects in space. Experts at Nasa's airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) detected a short drop in the star's light during an MU69 occultation. Dr Buie said further analysis of that data, including syncing it with MU69 orbit estimates, suggests the 'blip' Sofia detected could be another object around MU69. New Horizons (trajectory pictured in yellow) made history in 2015 when it performed the first ever fly-by of Pluto. The probe has since sailed beyond the icy dwarf planet to the outer reaches of the solar system, where it will explore ancient objects Nasa scientists tracked MU69 as it passed in front of a star an event known as an occultation. The coloured lines in this image mark the path of the star as seen from different telescopes on each day, while the blank spaces indicate the few seconds when MU69 blocked the starlight 'A binary with a smaller moon might also help explain the shifts we see in the position of MU69 during these various occultations,' Dr Buie said. 'It's all very suggestive, but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons flies by, just over a year from now.' New Horizons made history in 2015 when it performed the first ever fly-by of Pluto. MU69, discovered in 2014, appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 km) long, or, if a 'binary' pair of rocks (artist's impression), each about 9-12 miles (15-20 km) in diameter The probe has since sailed beyond the icy dwarf planet to the outer reaches of the solar system, where it will explore ancient objects. MU69, discovered in 2014, appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 km) long, or, if a 'binary' pair of rocks, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 km) in diameter. 'Like other objects in the Kuiper Belt, MU69 offers a close-up look at the remnants of the ancient planet-building process, small worlds that hold critical clues to the formation of the outer solar system,' Nasa said. Louis Ferrante, the former member of the notorious New York Gambino family once said 'accomplished mobsters are just like top business leaders'. A new study supports this claim, and has found the best-educated mobsters become the highest earners - suggesting it's brains not brawn that got them to the top. American mafia in the 1930s to 1960s could increase their earnings by eight per cent with just one additional year of education, a new study has found. Scroll down for video At 14 Al Capone (pictured), the infamous American mobster nicknamed 'Scarface', was expelled for punching a teacher - a year longer than most mafia members. Research suggests on average earnings increased by eight per cent with just one additional year of education WELL-EDUCATED MOBSTERS At 14 Al Capone, the infamous American mobster nicknamed 'Scarface', was expelled for punching a teacher. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, considered the father of modern organized crime in the US, left school at the same age. This might seem young but it was a year longer than most of their fellow mafia members, and could have been why they rose to the top. The average mobster spent eight years in education - one year less than the average person of a similar age and race. Joe Bonanno founded one of the nation's most enduring Mafia families. He studied at a well-regarded Scicilian nautical institute before migrating to the US aged 19. The most prolific hitman in New York, known only as 'Buster from Chicago', was described as 'a college boy'. He died in 1931. Born in 1920, Louis Dragona was one of the top earners in the Los Angeles mafia and spent two years in college. Advertisement To excel at gambling enterprises, drug distribution and selling and loan sharking, the top personal needed to be able to understand logistics, probabilities and risk. Researchers, led by Giovanni Mastrobuoni from the University of Essex, found the average mobster spent eight years in education - one year less than the average person of a similar age and race. 'But our research also revealed that for every additional year a mobster spent in education, the average increase in income was in fact quite high', researchers wrote in an article for The Conversation. 'So although most mafia members did not attend school for very long, they saw a large economic benefit from any extra time spent there.' Researchers found mobsters involved in business crime, such as embezzlement, forgery, fraud, counterfeiting, gambling and liquor offences could earn between 13 to 18 per cent more from an extra year of education. For workers from similar immigrant backgrounds, the increase was just nine per cent, resesarchers found. For those involved in non-business crime the gains were significantly smaller - between four to six per cent. Dr Mastrobuoni was inspired by A Man of Honour, the biography of Joe 'Bananas Bonanno', writes The Times. Bananas Bonanno founded one of the nation's most enduring Mafia families and studied at a well-regarded Sicilian nautical institute before migrating to the US aged 19. As leader of the Bonanno family, the mafia leader sued the publishers of his book for depicting him as a 'cheap gangster' as he claimed he was a venture capitalist. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, considered the father of modern organized crime in the US, left school at the age of 14. Researchers found mobsters involved in business crime could earn between 13 to 18 per cent more from an extra year of education Joe Bonanno (pictured) founded one of the nation's most enduring Mafia families. He studied at a well-regarded Scicilian nautical institute before migrating to the US aged 19 WHAT DID THEY DO? The study looked at the 1940 population census for 723 mobsters listed with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). This database reveals the details of education attainment, occupation, wages, employment, address and housing value. This was cross-referenced with the individual's mob engagement and criminal career, collected for investigative purposes. Advertisement Bonanno is not the only well-educated gangster that rose to fame. The most prolific hitman in New York, known only as 'Buster from Chicago', who died in 1931, was described as 'a college boy'. Born in 1920, Louis Dragona was one of the top earners in the Los Angeles mafia and spent two years in college. At 14, Al Capone, the infamous American mobster nicknamed 'Scarface', was expelled for punching a teacher. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, considered the father of modern organized crime in the US, left school at the same age. Although this may seem young it was a year longer than most of their fellow mafia members. The study looked at the 1940 population census for 723 mobsters listed with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). This database reveals the details of education attainment, occupation, wages, employment, address and housing value. Louis Ferrante (pictured), the former member of the notorious New York Gambino family once said 'accomplished mobsters are just like top business leaders' This was cross-referenced with the individual's mob engagement and criminal career, collected for investigative purposes. 'Our research also demonstrates how participation in the Italian American mafia allowed first and second generation immigrants of Italian origin to achieve fairly large economic benefits from education', researchers wrote. 'But this was only true for those involved in 'white collar' crimes where cognitive abilities were likely to be more valuable.' Climate change made Hurricane Harvey's deadly rains and flooding three times more likely, new research has found. Harvey's catastrophic downpour, which lashed Houston in August, was made 15 per cent more intense by global warming, the study found. The storm left 80 people dead and 800,000 either homeless or in need of help, and caused an estimated $200 billion (150 billion) in damages. The research shows climate change is already making extreme weather events worse in the US, scientists said. Scroll down for video Climate change made Hurricane Harvey's (pictured) deadly rains and flooding three times more likely, new research has found. Harvey's catastrophic downpour, which lashed Houston in August, was made 15 per cent more intense by global warming, the study found HURRICANE HARVEY Hurricane Harvey first hit US shores on August 25 before hovering over Texas, causing torrential downpours and flooding. In Houston, a year's worth of rain was dumped on the city in just a few days, leaving 80 people dead and 800,000 in need of assistance With an estimated $200 billion (150 billion) in damages, Harvey is the most costly weather disaster in US history, more than Hurricanes Sandy and Catrina combined. Scientists have now found that climate change made Hurricane Harvey's deadly rains and flooding three times more likely. Advertisement While scientists say man-made climate change didn't trigger Harvey, two studies show that a warmer, wetter world tripled the likelihood that the hurricane would douse and flood Houston. Other studies also find climate change factored into the storm's record rainfall. The findings, from the World Weather Attribution, were presented today at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans. As Harvey battered Texas, researchers suspected that the storm was made worse by global warming, but didn't have the data to back that up until now. With an estimated $200 billion (150 billion) in damages, Harvey is the most costly weather disaster in US history, more than Hurricanes Sandy and Catrina combined. A number of new studies have linked global warming to an increased likelihood in extreme heatwaves, droughts, floods, storms and wildfires across the globe. Another new report published today by the American Meteorological Society studied 21 extreme weather events in 2016. The disasters included South African drought, US snowstorms and Arctic heating. Hurricane Harvey left 80 people dead and 800,000 either homeless or in need of help, and caused an estimated $200 billion (150 billion) in damages. New research shows that the storm's heavy rains and floods (pictured) were made worse by man-made climate change Most of the devastating events can be at least partly attributed to climate change, the scientists concluded. Hurricane Harvey first hit US shores on August 25 before hovering over Texas, causing torrential downpours and flooding. In Houston, a year's worth of rain was dumped on the city in just a few days. WWA researchers used climate models and historical rainfall records to study how global warming influenced the hurricane. While scientists say man-made climate change didn't trigger Harvey, two studies show that a warmer, wetter world tripled the likelihood that the hurricane would douse and flood Houston. Pictured are Houston residents wading through floods following the storm As Harvey battered Texas, researchers suspected that the storm was made worse by global warming, but didn't have the data to back that up until now. Pictured is a truck struggles through floodwaters in Corpus Christi in August 'This multi-method analysis confirms that heavy rainfall events are increasing substantially across the Gulf Coast region because of human interference with our climate system,' said study lead author Dr Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). 'It was very a rare event they were very unlucky.' The team found that the chances of Harvey's deadly downpours were tripled by global warming. The researchers said their work shows climate change is making extreme weather events worse in the US. Pictured is the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey after it hit Houston They estimate that the likelihood of such extreme downpours is set to triple again in future, even if the world meets the Paris Climate Accords target to keep global temperatures no more than 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels. 'But, if we miss those targets, the increase in frequency and intensity could be much higher,' said Karin van der Wiel, also at KNMI. Dr Friederike Otto, from Oxford University, said: 'We're now finding that for many kinds of extreme weather event, especially heatwaves and extreme rainfall, we can be quite confident about the effect of climate change. 'The ECIU report shows just how quickly knowledge is accumulating, and I think it's only going to accelerate.' Dr Dann Mitchell, Lecturer in Climate Physics at Bristol University, said: 'The recent study suggests that the extreme rainfall component of Hurricane Harvey was made 15 per cent more intense due to climate change, which is broadly in agreement with the atmospheric theory that has been developed in this area. 'Attribution of hurricane characteristics to climate change is extremely challenging, and the authors have focused only on the precipitation response, which is perhaps the most well understood, and is particularly important given the nature of the flooding in Texas due to Harvey. 'The purpose of the authors' work is to provide fast attribution statements on specific events, which they have done. 'Future extensive research on the validation and understanding of tropical cyclones in their models, rather than only the precipitation statistics, will help to give more confidence in their results. 'Such research is needed for understanding future changes in cyclones and avoided impacts if we follow the Paris Agreement on climate change, rather than current, high greenhouse gas emission pathways.' Climate campaigners who emitted 30,000 tonnes of CO2 travelling by air to a global warming conference have come under fire from a Nasa colleague. Peter Kalmus, an atmospheric researcher at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has highlighted what he sees as hypocrisy among his peers. The expert decided not to attend the meeting, due to the effect flying has on the planet, and is calling on fellow scientists to think more about their carbon footprint. Scroll down for video Climate campaigners who emitted 30,000 tonnes of CO2 travelling by air to a global warming conference have come under fire from Peter Kalmus, an atmospheric researcher at Nasas Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for what he sees as hypocrisy among his peers (stock image) THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is an international non-profit scientific association with 60,000 members in 137 countries. It was established in 1919 by the National Research Council operated as an unincorporated affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences until it was independently incorporated in 1972. The AGU is dedicated to the furtherance of the Earth and space sciences, and to communicating sciences ability to benefit humanity. Research conducted by members encompasses everything from astronomy and deep Earth geology, to understanding the planets atmosphere and the causes of climate change. The AGU's Fall Meeting is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world. Advertisement In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Mr Kalmus, took aim at some of the 25,000 Earth, sun, and planetary scientists who flew to New Orleans for the annual American Geophysical Unions Fall Meeting. In 2010, the climate expert worked out his own climate emissions from the 50,000 air miles he had travelled in the previous 12 months, three quarters of which was to scientific meetings. As a result, he decided to gradually reduce his own flying over the next two years, before stopping air travel entirely in 2012. Mr Kalmus is one of more than 400 academics who have signed a petition calling for increased use of web-based and regional meetings, as well as more remote support from the AGU and academic institutions, to reduce the need for flights to conduct climate science. Writing in The Guardian, he said: 'In becoming scientists, we didnt sign up to burn less fossil fuel or to be activists. 'But in the case of Earth science, we have front row seats to an unfolding catastrophe. 'Because of this, the public takes our temperature: if the experts dont seem worried, how bad can it be? 'Burning fossil fuel causes real harm, and will become socially unacceptable sooner or later. Mr Kalmus decided not to attend the AGU's annual Fall Meeting, the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world, due to the effect flying would have on the planet. He is calling on fellow scientists to think more about their carbon footprint (stock image) 'Those of us who know the seriousness of global warming must do everything we can to stop it, and like it or not, AGU scientists play a key role.' The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is an international non-profit scientific association with 60,000 members in 137 countries. It was established in 1919 by the National Research Council operated as an unincorporated affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences until it was independently incorporated in 1972. REVEALED: THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST CELEBRITIES In September, a number of high profile celebrities took part in a telethon raising funds for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. It began with a lecture about global warming and how climate change is driving more extreme weather events, like the hurricanes. It included performances and messages from Beyonce, Justin Bieber, George Clooney, Cher and Leonardo DiCaprio. But a MailOnline investigation revealed the extent to which the stars who appeared in it have contributed to the catastrophic weather phenomena with their jet-setting lifestyles. Justin Bieber is calculated to have travelled at least 136,000 miles in a plane over the last year, environmentalist DiCaprio is believed to have done more than 87,000 miles while fellow actor Clooney did 61,000 miles. A MailOnline investigation revealed the extent to which celebrities jet-setting lifestyles is contributing to catastrophic weather phenomena like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Justin Bieber was the biggest culprit, taking 45 flights in the space of 52 weeks Bieber was the biggest culprit, having flown on approximately 45 flights in the previous 52 weeks. His longest flight was from Australia to the UK at the beginning of July having been down under on his Purpose World Tour. The 10,638-mile flight burned through a massive 1.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide alone in a year that stacked up against him in terms of his carbon footprint. Trips to Germany, Dublin, Paris, Cape Town, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and to his homeland Canada meant he clocked up a staggering 136,947 air miles burning through 22.45 tonnes of CO2 since September 2016. Staunch environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has been jetting across the globe around twice a month in the past year. Staunch environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has been jetting across the globe around twice a month in the past year. The 42-year-old actor flew around 87,609 miles, burning up 14.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide The 42-year-old actor flew around 87,609 miles on various business trips and jaunts around the world which burned up 14.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide. His longest trip was his return journey from California to the south of France where he enjoyed the iconic Cannes film festival. George Clooney spent around 61,448 in the air since September last year which included a long trip to Italy this summer. He is thought to have flown 4,265 miles from Toronto to Los Angeles to attend the Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Relief telethon at a cost of 720kg of CO2. George Clooney spent around 61,448 in the air since September last year, which included a long trip to Italy this summer. At 71, Cher has been a relative homebird, only appearing to fly within the US in a total of 6,546 miles His total air time meant his carbon emissions from flying alone was 10.31 tonnes of CO2. Meanwhile, despite being pregnant with twins, Beyonce still managed to clock up 28,040 miles in 12 months burning through 4.55 tonnes of CO2. And at 71, Cher has been a relative homebird compared to the rest of her celebrity compatriots, only appearing to fly within the US in a total of 6,546 miles. The total emissions only takes into account the flights the celebrities have taken and is likely to be astronomic when driving, pollution from their concerts or films and the electric in their homes are considered. Advertisement The AGU is dedicated to the furtherance of the Earth and space sciences, and to communicating sciences ability to benefit humanity. Research conducted by members encompasses everything from astronomy and deep Earth geology, to understanding the planets atmosphere and the causes of climate change. The AGU's Fall Meeting is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world. Drones could be about to become even more deadly, thanks to a new technology which promises to make them lighter, faster and harder to detect. Complex mechanical 'flaps' have been dropped in favour of a cutting edge control system for the jet-powered Magma concept craft, currently under development in the UK. The system will use unique blown-air devices to manoeuvre the aircraft, paving the way for future stealthier aircraft designs. Scroll down for video Drones could be about to become even more deadly, thanks to a new technology which promises to make them lighter, faster and harder to detect. The cutting edge new system, which ditches control flaps, has been built for the Magma concept craft (artist's impression) TWO NEW UAV TECHNOLOGIES Two new technologies to be tested using the jet-powered UAV are Wing Circulation Control (WCC) and Fluidic Thrust Vectoring (FTV). WCC takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft. FTV uses blown air to deflect the exhaust, allowing for the direction of the aircraft to be changed. Advertisement The craft has been developed by BAE Systems, in conjunction with the University of Manchester, who has announced the successful completion of the first phase of flight trials. The new concept removes the need for conventional moving parts used to move flaps to control the aircraft during flight. This could give greater control as well as reduce weight and maintenance costs, allowing for efficient military and civil aircraft in the future. In a written statement Professor Clyde Warsop, engineering fellow at BAE Systems, said: 'The technologies we are developing with the University of Manchester will make it possible to design cheaper, higher performance, next generation aircraft. 'Our investment in research and development drives continued technological improvements in our advanced military aircraft. 'This will help to ensure UK aerospace remains at the forefront of the industry and that we retain the right skills to design and build the aircraft of the future.' Two new technologies to be tested using the jet-powered UAV are Wing Circulation Control (WCC) and Fluidic Thrust Vectoring (FTV). Two new technologies to be tested using the jet-powered UAV are Wing Circulation Control and Fluidic Thrust Vectoring Further flight trials are planned for the coming months, with the ultimate aim of flying the aircraft (artist's impression) without any moving control surfaces or fins WCC takes air from the aircraft engine and blows it supersonically through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control for the aircraft. FTV uses blown air to deflect the exhaust, allowing for the direction of the aircraft to be changed. Further flight trials are planned for the coming months, with the ultimate aim of flying the aircraft without any moving control surfaces or fins. If successful, the tests will demonstrate the first ever use of such circulation control in flight on a gas turbine aircraft and from a single engine. Dr Bill Crowther, a reader in engineering at the University of Manchester, sees the trials as an important step forward in efforts to explore adaptable airframes. He added: 'Were demonstrating that were at the cutting edge when it comes to developing next-generation aircraft. 'I believe that what were seeking to do is truly groundbreaking.' Most hotel guests expect a comfortable bed, clean sheets and towels and a tidy bathroom. Not bullets in a draw and cold pizza at the bottom of the bed. But that's precisely what two unfortunate guests found in their hotel rooms according to a shocking internet thread. Hotel guests have been revealing the most shocking things they've found in their rooms The revelations were made on Quora, after a user posed the question: 'What's the weirdest thing you've found in a hotel room?' And for Steve Brewer, it was an unwelcome cold surprise at the bottom of his bed. He told the forum: 'There deep into my bed, right where your feet would rest, was an ice-cold pizza! Thats right a pizza! What sick, perverted son of a b***h would do such a thing? 'I sat in a chair, laughed hysterically for five minutes and then called hotel security.' One guest found bullet in a box of bullets in a drawer next to the bed, while another found cold pizza under the sheets And Susannah Archer also received a shock when she pulled back the sheets of her bed. She explained: 'My mom was straightening the blankets. As she was pulling the sheets, something white fell out onto the floor. My mom looked at the object and screamed. 'We ran over to find somebodys underwear lying on the floor. A mans XXL sized underwear. Covered in faded brown stains. Definitely not ours.' While Andrea Lopez recalled a story he was told while working in a resort in Mexico. He added: 'A couple arrived at the hotel (fancy beach resort) for just one night. They looked like hippies and werent exactly clean, so they attracted everyones attention. Still, they got treated with great service, as any other guest would. 'The next morning they asked for the general manager to go up to their room. They insisted upon it and said they wanted to show him something. 'He was surprised when he came in and saw the wall against the bed completely painted in graffiti! It was a big disaster of color and shapes of body parts. Other strange things guests - and staff - have found in hotel rooms include naked men, hair dye and graffiti 'Then the guests proceeded to explain that they were artists and wanted to offer their service to paint all rooms in the hotel! They said this one was a courtesy and for free.' Meanwhile Ricardo Caetano was left gobsmacked by a discovery in a bedside table at one hotel. He explained: 'I've stopped on a chain hotel on the journey from Vegas to Grand Canyon. In the drawer of the bedside table there was the usual bible and a box of bullets one was missing. 'Didn't mess with them, didn't tell the receptionist, left in the morning.' But the weirdness doesn't stop there. Codi Nowacki divulged that while on a business trip a colleague knocked on her door and said she was waiting for a new room - as there was a naked man in her shower. Meanwhile, hotel cleaner Amy Wilson once found a hotel bathroom completely covered in blue ink, while user Will Seiller found 26 unopened bottles of commercial hair dye in various shades in a room in New York City. Internet user Sean Kernan discovered a mirror on the ceiling above the bed in one room and Lorrie Williams Kresse found dog faeces under a table. George Deitz said he opened a drawer in a hotel room in Iowa to find a giant bag of marijuana. And Rob Wall, CEO of Natural Ability, said that his daughters, aged 18 and 21, discovered a red dildo under the bed sheets. The owner, he said, blamed the previous guests and 'shoddy cleaners'. Advertisement Emirates, the Middle East's largest air carrier, has just upped its game after unveiling its brand new, state-of-the-art first class suites - which are estimated to cost from 7,000 per flight. The fully-enclosed cabins measure 40 square-feet (3.7-square-metres) and are billed as 'game-changers' with their privacy, gourmet dining, mood lighting and 32in TV screens. And now YouTube star Casey Neistat has given the swanky suites his seal of approval. YouTube star Casey Neistat, pictured, has given Emirates' new fully enclosed first-class suites his seal of approval The legroom borders on the ridiculous, says Neistat. You could fit a small family down here [said as he squeezes under the table in front of his seat]' Neistat is pictured here being served a gourmet meal. His online review has been watched over three million times After travelling from Brussels to Dubai in one, he declared them the 'all time greatest airplane seat'. It feels like a small but extremely elegant hotel room than it does an airplane seat, he says on his vlog, which has so far garnered more than three million views. The seats feature floor-to-ceiling sliding doors for maximum solitude and most also provide a window view, which can be enjoyed with a personal pair of binoculars. Those positioned in the middle aisle are given 'virtual windows', which live-stream views from the plane via fibre optic external cameras, ensuring they don't miss out. The fully-enclosed cabins measure 40 square-feet (3.7-square-metres) and are billed as 'game-changers' with their privacy, gourmet dining, mood lighting and 32in TV screens As if that wasn't enough, the cabins also come with a personal wardrobe, private stowage space for carry-on bags, soft lighting and temperature settings that can be customised at a touch of a button. The legroom borders on the ridiculous, continues Neistat. You could fit a small family down here [said as he squeezes under the table in front of his seat]. He is amazed at the fact that the suite comes with two screens [the 32in one and one iPad] that are not connected, so you can double-screen to your hearts content. Neistat also marvels at the video call facility, which puts passengers through to the cabin crew via the iPad. It really was all its cracked up to be, he concludes as he disembarks. It was everything I ever wanted. Jeremy Clarkson, who Emirates used to launch the private suites, said: 'Seriously, these new seats on Emirates are better than half the hotels I ever stay in.' In 2018, when 36 governors seats and three-fourths of states legislative seats will be up for grabs, education is looking to be one of the few issues that could catch the eye of voters from both sides of the aisle in todays hyperpartisan climate. And what better way to appeal to voters education interests than to have actual educators and education advocates themselves run for office? Consider: Wisconsin state Superintendent Tony Evers already has filed to run as a Democrat in that states gubernatorial race next year. to run as a Democrat in that states gubernatorial race next year. Four high school students have entered Kansas governors Democratic and Republican primaries. Kansas governors Democratic and Republican primaries. The National Education Association says it will urge its teacher members to run for office themselves in the near future. to run for office themselves in the near future. And this week, Jared Henderson, the former head of a nonprofit group that recruits teachers to work in low-income areas, said he will run as a Democrat in the Arkansas race for governor race. In a state as conservative as Arkansas, its a long shot. Mike Beebe, whose term ended in 2015, was the states last Democratic governor before the state turned deep red. This state does have a history, and its not a long-gone history, of voting for Democrtas, Henderson told the Associated Press. The main way Im going to run this campaign is Im going to go all over the state, Im going to meet with everyone I can sit down with over the next 12 months, look them in the eye, do more listening than I do talking. In Arkansas, we have a record that you can win peoples trust if you deserve it. Henderson, 39, said he doesnt necessarily abhor current Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinsons education policies, but he did say Arkansas education goals dont necessarily prepare it for the future. I think we need to think on a more fundamental level about how to build an education system that will work in a job market we cant define right now, he said. Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. When it comes to celebrating Christmas, Australian A-listers will do anything to impress with their glitzy festive cheer. And this year's silly season is no different, with a slew of celebrities heralding the holidays by flaunting their enviable Christmas trees on social media. From designer baubles to perfectly-placed fairy-lights, Daily Mail Australia takes a look at Australia's best Christmas trees. Scroll down for video Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree! From designer baubles to perfectly-placed fairy-lights, Daily Mail Australia takes a look at Australia's best Christmas trees Topping our list this year is PR maven Roxy Jacenko, whose designer tree and couture embellishments could easily belong in the pages of a Christmas decorating catalogue. Unlike many of her celebrity counterparts, the famously well-organised mother-of-two debuted her tree back in November in a series of sparkling Instagram snaps. In one photo, Roxy and Pixie were seen gleefully decorating the large natural pine, which had been delivered to her door by retailer Oh Deer! Christmas Trees. O Holy night! Topping our list this year is PR maven Roxy Jacenko, whose designer tree and couture embellishments could easily belong in the pages of a Christmas decorating catalogue Jingle bells! The tree itself was festooned with an array of designer ornaments from Bed Bath N' Table Birkenhead Point Outlet, twinkling LED lights from ChasClarkson and a pile of expertly-wrapped gifts at its base A subsequent photo saw her son Hunter join in on the embellishment action. The tree itself was festooned with an array of designer ornaments from Bed Bath N' Table Birkenhead Point Outlet, twinkling LED lights from ChasClarkson and a pile of expertly-wrapped gifts at its base. Joining Roxy in her pursuit of decorative perfection was Jodi Anasta (nee Gordon), who didn't hold back when it came to illuminating her Christmas tree with fairy-lights. Santa Claus is coming to town! Joining Roxy in her pursuit of decorative perfection was Jodi Anasta, who didn't hold back when it came to illuminating her Christmas tree with fairy-lights The Neighbours actress added even more glitz to her tree by stringing a selection of silver-and-white ornaments, including glitter-frosted baubles, hanging star shapes and ceramic angel figurines. Meanwhile, Storm Keating has been dazzling fans with her blizzard-themed Christmas tree. Taking to Instagram to debut her exquisite tree Storm's exquisite, faux-snow encrusted tree is decorated with babbles in ice-blue, gold and silver shades, as well as snowflake cut-out shapes and natural pine cones. Dashing through the snow! Meanwhile, Storm Keating has been dazzling fans with her blizzard-themed Christmas tree Storm (whose real name is Sharon) also gave the tree a rustic feel by wrapping her mountain of gifts in recycled brown paper with ice-blue and silver ribbons. 'This year Ive worked our Christmas theme back from an icy blue/teal colour to mark Coopers very #firstchristmas [sic],' the wife of Ronan Keating cooed in the caption, referring to her new baby boy. Sonia Kruger's Christmas tree also made a splash on social media last week with a video that enhanced the twinkling LED lights that wove through it's bright green boughs. Joy to the world! Sonia Kruger's Christmas tree also made a splash on social media last week with a video that enhanced the twinkling LED lights that wove through it's bright green boughs All she wants for Christmas is a selfie! Also jumping on the blue bauble trend was Home And Away star Pia Miller, who shared an effervescent Instagram snap displaying the tree in all it's glory last week The breakfast TV host completed her design with a modest sprinkling of large teal-hued baubles and white cut-out stars ornaments. Also jumping on the blue bauble trend was Home And Away star Pia Miller, who shared an effervescent Instagram snap displaying the tree in all it's glory last week. While the glamorous actress couldn't help but obscure the view of her tree with a pouty selfie, she did provide a glimpse of the design in the background. In Dulce Jubilo! Leah Costa's tree featured whimsical decorations in a kaleidoscope of colours, including blown-glass lantern style ornaments, dangling star-shapes and glittery baubles Meanwhile, former Bachelor star Leah Costa also revealed her impressively decorated this week on Instagram as she enjoyed a rural getaway. The tree featured whimsical decorations in a kaleidoscope of colours, including blown-glass lantern style ornaments, dangling star-shapes and glittery baubles. The festive design was completed with bunting-style LED lights that wound all the way to the tree's see-through star topper. Oh baby! Pregnant Bachelor star Bec Chin unveiled her traditionally-decorated Christmas tree this Wednesday, uploading a photo of herself adding a glitter-covered star to it's head Fellow Bachelor star Bec Chin unveiled her traditionally-decorated Christmas tree this Wednesday, uploading a photo of herself adding a glitter-covered star to it's head. Bec, who is currently pregnant with her first child, decorated the quaint tree with a sprinkling of glittery-encrusted gold and silver baubles as well as ornaments in the shape of nutcrackers, angels and birds. 'Finishing touch Love coming home to the smell of pine through the house from my fresh @oxfamaustralia Christmas tree,' she wrote in the caption, before revealing that her decorations were all ethically sourced. All that glitters! Elsewhere, Lindy Klim couldn't resist giving her Christmas tree a very personal touch by dedicating its theme to the name of her new daughter Goldie Elsewhere, Lindy Klim couldn't resist giving her Christmas tree a very personal touch by dedicating its theme to the name of her new daughter Goldie. Taking to Instagram earlier this week, the former wife of Michael Klim uploaded a snap of herself decorating her tree's boughs with a handful of star, candy can and bauble-shaped embellishments. 'Gold is the theme for his year!' she wrote next to the image. Christmas in Summer! WAG Joanna Burgess's tree, on the other hand, featured a distinctively Australian theme thanks to the inclusion of native wildlife-inspired ornaments WAG Joanna Burgess's tree, on the other hand, featured a distinctively Australian theme thanks to the inclusion of native wildlife-inspired ornaments. In an Instagram snap shared to her page this Wednesday, the wife of NRL star George Burgess shared a top-down snap of the tree as her son Boston tinkered with the lower-hanging decorations from the floor. Joanna's tree was festooned with small plush koalas and kangaroos as well as bunting-style lights and baubles in white-and-gold. Finally, Home And Away actress Ada Nicodemou showcased her tinsel-dressed tree this Wednesday after decorating it with her son for the first time. 'Its a bit bare and sad but we did it together for the first time. Presenting our Christmas tree,' she quipped in the caption. Sunrise's David 'Kochie' Koch has been slammed for claiming 'men work harder than women'. Former Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank hit out at the 61-year-old for his controversial comments during a segment on the breakfast show on Wednesday. The fiery clash came during the news feed segment, where show guests Jackie, journalist Melissa Hoyer and The Thinkergirls' Kristie Mercer discussed the topic of 'man flu.' His comments left his co-host Samantha Armytage looking on in disbelief while presenter Natalie Barr looked shocked. Scroll down for video 'Science has proven that we get worn out because we work harder': Sunrise host Kochie SLAMMED by his female co-stars after he says men 'work harder than women' Kochie said Canadian research found that man flu is real, as men have a weaker immune system because they work 'harder' than women. He later went along with the research claims, before being shot down by the female panel. 'It's official, man flu is real. A Canadian researcher says males have a weaker immune system than women because we work so hard and are more likely to suffer complications,' Kochie said during his segment introductions. 'Do men demand more sympathy because women go to bed and get over it and men just keep moving and going on and working?' he asked to uproars from the female guests. Controversial: The fiery clash came during the news feed segment, where Jackie, (L), journalist Melissa Hoyer, (R), and The Thinkergirls' Kristie Mercer (M) discussed the topic of 'man flu' 'Women power through, men do not...what universe are you on?,' Jackie said. Kochie added that men 'rarely whinge and moan' about being sick, which set Jackie off. 'There's a reason mother nature gave us the possibility to deliver children, because you men could never do it,' she said. 'We soldier through everything and anything, 24/7,' Melissa added. Kochie tried to defend himself, saying that the divide in life expectancy between men and women, with women apparently living longer, says it all. 'Science has proven that we get worn out because we work harder,' Kochie said, with a smile coming across his face, presumably because he was joking. Not impressed: Jackie then pointed out that his co-host Sam Armytage (seen) works the same hours as him Jackie then pointed out that his co-host Sam Armytage works the same hours as him, and gets up earlier than Kochie as she has to get her hair and makeup done before each show. Kochie said the extra time isn't needed, but Sam disagreed. 'Do you think our ratings would be as high if Nat and I just came and sat on set looking all crappy in the morning?' she said, as Natalie Barr sat beside her. Awkward: Kochie's comments come after he said that he wants to scale back his work commitments Kochie's comments come after he said that he wants to scale back his work commitments. The TV star told The Daily Telegraph that he wasn't leaving Sunrise, but will be 'scaling back' his role to just four days a week at some point. 'I can definitely say I am around for a bit longer,' he said. 'Two years ago when I signed my last contract I said if I want to renew in future I would want to look at scaling back,' he added. Channel Seven declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday. The princes tried not to overshadow the impressive cast of Star Wars: The Last Jedi at Tuesday night's premiere - but fans are already talking about their cameo. The secret part of Prince William and Harry could have already been narrowed down to a short sequence in the Star Wars: Last Jedi film, thanks to their towering height. Breezing past a line-up of Stormtroopers - who are required to be 5ft 11in in height - on the red carpet, the duo certainly seemed a little tall to play the imperial troopers. Scroll down for video Harry and Wills go to Hollywood: Following their red carpet appearance at the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in London on Tuesday (pictured) there are reports that Prince William and Harry's cameo has already been identified While it's nigh-on impossible to identify the duo in the new film, thanks to their white helmets and full shiny suits, speculation about their role has reached fever-pitch including reports that their height has blown the secret. Fans of the franchise may know that Stormtroopers have to be 5ft 11in to play the part of the men in white suits. However, Prince William is a towering 6ft 2in and Harry is only a fraction less at 6ft1in, which could set them apart from the rest of the group. Set to storm your screens: It was confirmed earlier this year that the royals had a small part as Stormtroopers in the Episode VIII film Fighting spirit: The Royals were seen showing off their lightsaber skills during a visit to the Star Wars film set at Pinewood Studios last year Spot the odd one out: While it's nigh-on impossible to identify the duo in the new film, thanks to their white helmets their height may have blown the secret He's behind you: Star Wars leading man John Boyega stars in the scene with the royals - but could you identify which Stormtrooper they are? According to a report in The Telegraph, the towering princes feature within a group of Stormtroopers guarding the Empire ship in the 152-minute film, as speculation mounts about their Hollywood cameo. The duo are said to be part of a group who reprimand rebels Finn - played by John Boyega - and DJ - played by Benicio Del Toro. Harry and William were pictured at Pinewood Studios last April, when their secret film cameo was unveiled to the public. A source told The Mail on Sunday at the time: The line given was that they were going to have lunch and a private tour of the rest of the set. Towering in height: Stormtroopers are reportedly expected to be 5ft11in in height Take a bow: It is believed that the princes' height - both over 6ft tall - could have already scuppered their Star Wars secret The height of fame: The brothers were hoping to slip in and out of filming without being identified Standing out from the crowd: The royals tried not to overshadow the all-star cast with their appearance on Tuesday Chirpy: The royals seemed in great spirits ahead of the premiere where they would no doubt be looking out for their cameo role on the big screen 'What really happened is that the director came over and told them it was time to get suited and off they went to the wardrobe department. The Princes dressed up in full Stormtrooper gear and filmed a scene in which Rey - actress Daisy Ridley - and Finn infiltrate a secret base. 'The rebel characters are in a lift with Benicia del Toros character when a group of Stormtroopers enter two of whom are William and Harry. During that visit, William admitted that he was 'total Star Wars geek' and he and Harry couldn't hide their delight as they got to pose with Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill - and Chewbacca, played by Joonas Suotamo. Bestowing the role: In a symbolic move, Prince Harry was given a Stormtrooper helmet on Tuesday Ready to wear: The newly-engaged royal seemed delighted with the prop in hand Coming soon: Due out of Friday, the film is expected to see the princes play Stormtroopers If reports are to be believed, Dunkirk actor Tom Hardy, as well as Take That's Gary Barlow also make unlikely appearances in the same scene. Hinting that they worked closely together, it was British star John who originally confirmed that Harry and William play Stormtroopers in Episode VIII. He said: 'I've had enough with those secrets. They came on set. They were there. I'm sick of hiding it. It think it was leaked, anyway.' William and John were also seen sharing a brief chat in the red carpet line-up on Tuesday, when the royals arrived at the Royal Albert Hall. Having a laugh: William was seen catching up with John Boyega in the line-up on Tuesday night Familiar: He rested a hand on the British actor's shoulder as they enjoyed a brief chat Royal visit: (L-R) Mark Hamill,director Rian Johnson, Prince Harry, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, John Boyega, Chewbacca and Daisy Ridley posed during a tour of the Star Wars sets at Pinewood studios in Iver Heath last year The brothers were special guests among an audience of 400, who turned out to see the latest film premiere in London. Inside the Royal Albert Hall tonight, the two princes conducted a traditional royal line up, meeting the stars and crew. William could just about be heard chatting with John Boyega and Oscar Osaac, who plays Poe Damon, about the lift which appeared to confirm the story about their cameo appearance. Further hints: John plays Finn in the franchise and was the first one to let slip about the princes' cameo On the red carpet: Stars on the red carpet included Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill William appeared to be remonstrating with Boyaga who laughed uproariously as the prince wagged his finger. Among the attendees were British actress Daisy - who plays Rey - and Mark Hamill - famous for his Luke Skywalker role. On the red carpet, Daisy remained schtum on the royals' part in the film, saying: I cannot comment on whether the princes are storm troopers or not. They're very tall: Previously Daisy said that the most surprising thing about meeting them was that they were so tall However, she previously supported claims that the princes' height may stand in the way of their big Star Wars secret, saying their height surprised her. She said on Good Morning America in November: 'They're really, really nice. Also really tall, which was the most surprising thing. Really tall yeah. They were lovely.' In 2015, James Bond actor Daniel Craig was famously exposed as playing a small cameo as a Stormtrooper in The Force Awakens. Storming the screen: Tom Hardy (left) and Gary Barlow (right) are also expected to feature in the same scene as Prince William and Harry Alum: Daniel Craig was said to have had a Stormtrooper role in the 2015 film The Last Jedi, which is out on December 15, picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snokes First Order which is trying to take over the galaxy. The film's release comes two years after The Force Awakens. Rey (Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to join the Resistance and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule. Odd ones out: It's claimed that Stormtrooper actors have to be 5ft 11in (here at the premiere) to play the part Star appearance: It wasn't just Stormtroopers on the red carpet but C-3PO (left) and R2-D2 (right) also made an appearance for the big night out The star-studded ensemble cast, including Ridley, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong'o, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis and Hamill. The original trilogy's plot focused on the Rebel Alliance, led by Leia and its battle to destroy the Galactic Empire's space station, the infamous Death Star, manned by supervillain Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker, then a simple farm boy, acquires droids that possess stolen blueprints for the Death star. A Force to be reckoned with! (L-R) Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Composer John Williams, Writer/Director Rian Johnson, actors Anthony Daniels, Lupita Nyong'o, Benicio del Toro, Mark Hamill, The Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO, Bob Iger, actors Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Joonas Suotamo, John Boyega, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, actors Kelly Marie Tran, Andy Serkis, Laura Dern, Producer Ram Bergman, actors Domhnall Gleeson and Gwendoline Christie posed together at the LA premiere last week She has been low key about her recent surgery, only making hints at a foot injury in recent Instagram posts. And Fiona Falkiner has shared a cheeky post, showing off her wheel chair on Wednesday, since her operation last week. The 34-year-old took to her Instagram story to upload a short clip flaunting her 'new wheels', along with an laughing face emoji. Scroll down for video New wheels! Fiona Falkiner has shared a cheeky post, showing off her wheel chair on Wednesday, since her operation last week It was only last week the blonde beauty revealed to fans that she would be doing her last training session before her surgery. She shared a snap of herself looking strong and confident in her plus size active wear like for women's Autograph. Fiona captioned her post: 'Ok here it goes final training session for 8 weeks.... #whenyourfeetfailyou #surgeryday wearing @ActiveByFionaFalkiner' Fans of the body positivity queen were taken aback by the news of her surgery, but wished her all the best for the procedure. Having a laugh: The 34-year-old took to her Instagram story to upload a short clip flaunting her 'new wheels', along with an laughing face emoji Get better soon! Fans of the body positivity queen were taken aback by the news of her surgery and wished her all the best for the procedure One wrote: 'Train hard today as i know you will. All the best with the Surgery Fiona rest up and look forward to seeing you in the new year x' 'Hope everything goes well for you rest up and keep inspiring people to be better themselves,' another wrote. Meanwhile a fan speculated: 'I'm going to guess by looking at her feet in previous photos and by having the issue myself that it is bunion surgery.' Concern: Meanwhile a fan speculated: 'I'm going to guess by looking at her feet in previous photos and by having the issue myself that it is bunion surgery' Recover mode: The following day she revealed to fans that she was recovering from her operation after sharing another snap of herself looking very saucy in a black swimsuit with her feet up and the caption 'Me for the next few weeks #recovery' The following day she revealed to fans that she was recovering from her operation after sharing another snap of herself looking very saucy in a black swimsuit with her feet up. She captioned the post: 'Me for the next few weeks #recovery.' In recent news, Fiona recently shared loved up photo of herself with girlfriend Lara Creber to commemorate Parliament's passing of the same-sex legislation. She's the Bunbury-born star who appears on a weekly television show on Seven. Celebrating her 49th birthday earlier this year, the mother-of-two has been in the public eye since she was 21. The brunette stunner shared a throwback on Wednesday... but can you tell who this teenage student with a perm is today? Scroll down for video Guess who! Popular TV presenter shares embarrassing curly-haired teen throwback from 1985 ... but do YOU recognise them? The picture appeared to be from a highschool yearbook, as the 17-year-old wore a white dress shirt and tie for the snap. Her curly-hair was voluminous, with the star sporting a fresh-faced look without makeup. She had previously shared the flashback with her 73k Instagram followers, writing: 'Peter Brady? ?? No.. Me in 1985. Bunbury Catholic College. Age of the perm. And the pimple.' Fresh-faced reporter! She launched her journalism career at the Wanneroo Times in 1987 and landed her first TV gig at 21 on WA's Golden West Network She launched her journalism career at the Wanneroo Times in 1987 and landed her first TV gig at 21 on WA's Golden West Network. She joined Seven News in Sydney as a reporter in 1994 and also presented afternoon news updates, before moving to Sunrise in 2003. The successful media personality now juggles 3am wake-ups with motherhood for her role on the hit breakfast show. TV star! The successful media personality now juggles 3am wake-ups with motherhood for her role on the hit breakfast show Sunrise Married to TV commercial editor Andrew Thomson, the mystery TV newsreader is Natalie Barr. She appears alongside David 'Kochie' Koch, Samantha Armytage and Mark Baretta weekdays from 5.30am on Seven's Sunrise. Her throwback photo was used during a segment where the panel were discussing if the perm could see a comeback in 2018. 'I was quite proud of that. Stop laughing Sam!' Nat said as her co-stars mocked her perm and mullet look from year 12. 'I was quite proud of that': Her throwback photo was used during a segment where the panel were discussing if the perm could see a comeback in 2018 REVEALED! Married to TV commercial editor Andrew Thomson, the mystery TV newsreader is Natalie Barr, who joined Sunrise in 2003 Uncontrollably laughing during the segment, Sam made another dig: 'You were a very handsome little girl.' 'You don't want to be too pretty too early,' Sam added, to which Nat hit her co-star with her papers repeatedly as she laughed along. Natalie wed husband Andrew in 1999. The Sydney-based couple share two sons: Lachlan and Hunter James. A lawsuit filed earlier this month against Pierce Brosnan for costs related to a 2015 fire at his Malibu mansion has been dismissed. The Fireman's Fund Insurance Company had sought reimbursement of costs of repairs to the star's neighbor's home that was damaged after a blaze in Brosnan's garage spread to the adjacent property. But the insurance company asked the court to dismiss the case, TMZ reported Tuesday, and the judge agreed. Dismissed: An insurance company has dropped its lawsuit against Pierce Brosnan that sought to recover costs of repairs to his neighbor's house that was damaged in a blaze that started on the actor's property in February 2015; Brosnan, 64, is pictured the night of the fire TMZ claims the action suggests that Brosnan and the company managed to reach a confidential settlement. The former James Bond actor was sued for carelessly starting the fire that began in the garage of his $18.5 million beachfront property in February 2015 and spread to neighbor Alexander Haagen's house. The cause was thought to be an electrical problem exacerbated by rags that the 64-year-old Irishman had failed to dispose of properly, TMZ reported. Haagen was paid for the damage by his insurance company and the company turned around and sued Brosnan. Sued: Brosnan, pictured last month, was sued for carelessly starting the fire that began in the garage of his beachfront property and spread to neighbor Alexander Haagen's house Lucky escape: The actor and his wife Keely, along with their two sons, were at the multi-million dollar beachfront home when fire broke out in the garage. No-one was injured Around 20 firefighters were called to the blaze which took abut 30 minutes to extinguish. Brosnan, 64, and his wife Keely, 54, were home with their sons Dylan, 20, and Paris, 16, at the time of the incident. All escaped unharmed and were seen sitting in the family car as firefighters fought the blaze. However, it caused $1 million-worth of damage to the property. While she has turned her hand to acting in recent weeks, she first rose to fame as a model. So it is no wonder Poppy Delevingne was chosen to host a Christmas party with LOVE Magazine and Moet on Tuesday night. The blonde beauty, 31, stole the show in a trendy silk tracksuit as she fronted proceedings at the swanky George venue - catching up with Adwoa Aboah, before snapping a few hilarious selfies with the event's bizarre mascot, a camel. Scroll down for video Glam girls: Poppy Delevingne posed Adwoa Aboah as she hosted a Christmas party with LOVE Magazine and Moet on Tuesday night Say cheese! The blonde caught up with the model inside, before she was seen snapping a few hilarious selfies with the bash's bizarre mascot - a camel The model commanded attention in a typically quirky ensemble at her very own bash - titled Love x Chaos x Poppy Delevingne x Moet Christmas Party. Poppy slipped into a silk navy bomber jacket, which maintained a sporty feel with its chunky gold zip, but teased at her cleavage with a plunging neckline. Known for her quirky sense of style, the British beauty then paired the garment with matching trousers, which skimmed her famously long legs to the floor. Got the hump? Poppy looked thrilled to be up close to the exotic animal, even if it didn't seem too impressed Arabian nights! The beauty went to stroke the mammal, which is usually more likely to be found in the deserts of the Middle East Sports chic: Poppy slipped into a silk navy bomber jacket, which maintained a sporty feel with its chunky gold zip, but teased at her cleavage with a plunging neckline Leggy: Known for her quirky sense of style, the British beauty then paired the garment with matching trousers, which skimmed her famously long legs to her matching suede boots Model material: Styling her hair into big, bouncy curls and opting for minimal make-up, the model proved her striking natural beauty as she posed with Adwoa Aboah Graceful: The Vogue cover girl had made a stylish arrival earlier in the evening Poppy, who is the sister of supermodel Cara Delevingne, tied her look together with suede Chelsea boots of matching hue and barely-there gold hoops. Styling her hair into big, bouncy curls and opting for minimal make-up, the model proved her striking natural beauty as she fronted the star-studded bash. Poppy was first seen mingling with model of the moment Adwoa Aboah, who slipped her slender frame into a boho bardot maxi dress - made more festive by its gold glitter embellishments. Quirky: The model slipped her slender frame into a boho bardot maxi dress - made more festive by its gold glitter embellishments Statement: Never one to shy away from a fashion statement however, the model offset her glamorous outfit with a sporty beanie hat, complete with bright red bobble Mingling: Poppy later parted ways with Adwoa to catch up with the likes of Mary Charteris (above) Abs-olute confidence: Mary layered her garish jacket over black skinny jeans and a crop top, which displayed her slim figure to all Never one to shy away from a fashion statement however, the model offset her glamorous outfit with a sporty beanie hat, complete with bright red bobble. The duo put on a giggly display as they caught up in front of cameras, before parting ways mingle with the likes of Mary Charteris and Alice Naylor-Leyland. However, Poppy ensured she still found time to pose with the evening's special guest - a camel, clad in a headdress formed of multi-coloured pom poms. First stroking the bizarre mascot, the Londoner then proceeded to snap a few cheeky selfies with the camel - laughing with delight as it leaned in for the snap. Not got the hump yet? However, Poppy ensured she still found time to pose with the evening's special guest - a camel Getting into the spirit: The camel was clad in a headdress formed of multi-coloured pom poms Having a ball: Poppy laughed with delight as she stroked the camel and snapped a few cheeky selfies Not got the hump yet? The camel continued to pose with Poppy and Katie Grand (centre) during their lengthy photo snapping session Woman of the hour: It is no wonder Poppy was chosen to host the bash as a well-known model, who has worked for the likes of Burberry, Laura Ashley and Alberta Ferreti It is no wonder Poppy was chosen to host the bash as a well-known model, who has worked for the likes of Burberry, Laura Ashley and Alberta Ferreti. However, she made a foray into acting earlier this year - starring as Clara Von Gluckfberg in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and Igraine, in Guy Ritchie's blockbuster King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Poppy took centre stage at her very own festive party - with husband James Cook nowhere to be seen. The handsome hunk proposed to the model back in October 2012, with a bespoke Anya Hindmarch memories box embossed with the words 'Will you marry me?' and filled with pictures of them together. Say cheese! Poppy, who recently swapped modelling to try her hand at acting, later posed with Katie Lyall, Katie Grand and Charlotte Stockdale (L-R) Relaxed: The group shared a number of jokes, leaving them in stitches as they posed for cameras The lovebirds went onto exchange their vows in a lavish ceremony at St. Paul's Church, in Knightsbridge, London in May 2014. They then enjoyed a honeymoon in Marrakech, Morocco, where their second ceremony took place. Meanwhile Adwoa is currently riding the wave of fame as the first cover girl of the new British Vogue, now in the safe hands of editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. The British-Ghanaian model, 25, has since gone on to star in the 2018 all-black edition of the famous Pirelli calendar, alongside supermodel Naomi Campbell. Quirky: Mimi Wade attended the bash in a kooky dress patterned with a film poster (L) while Katie Grand, editor-in-chief of LOVE, opted for a black midi and glittering green heels (R) Joining the fray: Phoebe Arnold and Nicholas Kirkwood also sipped on wine as they joined the guests inside All eyes on her: Pam Hogg later arrived in a striking PVC and lace coat, teamed with a studded beret She's the high-flying lawyer who courted controversy with her no-holds-barred criticism on My Kitchen Rules. And now Zana Pali is breaking out to open a brand new business in a cut throat industry. The 26-year-old has revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she is opening her own Italian cafe in highly competitive central Melbourne. 'I'm pursuing my own dreams': My Kitchen Rules' Zana Pali reveals her brand new business venture...just days after showing off her luxurious Melbourne mansion 'It'll be my first hospitality venture with more to come,' the reality star said. Zana is a lawyer by profession but stepped back from law to work at Lygon Street restaurant 400 Gradi, earlier in the year. 'Ive left Gradi to pursue my own hospitality dreams,' Zana explained, 'I have a business partner who is also a lawyer and we are both opening espresso bars around Melbourne.' Team Romano! Zana and her husband Gianni competed on last year's My Kitchen Rules Zana is married to Gianni Romano, who is of Italian heritage, which may have inspired the coffee shop. 'It's Italian themed/ Florence style with marble bench tops and the tiles all being hand crafted and painted in Italy,' she divulged. 'We are opening on the 15th of January at 91 William Street. Its called Culpa Espresso Latin for guilty as it's near the courts.' 'It's Florence style' Zana's husband Gianni Romano is of Italian heritage, which may have inspired her coffee shop's interiors and cuisine The fare that will be on offer at Culpa will certainly fulfill the guilty pleasures of some. 'It'll be high end, proper stuff from Italy,' reveals Zana. 'Desserts and pastries are all from little artisan Italian paticcieria and there will be handmade Italian panninis and the like.' 'Its called Culpa Espresso Latin for guilty as it's near the courts' Zana's coffee shop will be located on Melbourne's William Street Although Zana and her husband are a tight unit, this will be her project. 'Gianni is staying in law this is more my dream but hes always there helping and supporting me,' she said. On Monday Zana treated fans to a full look at both the interior and the exterior of their jaw-dropping abode in City of Port Phillip, which she claims is 'built the way Gianni and I like it!' She shared images of the four bedroom property, which features a lap pool and a self-contained studio above a double garage to her blog. The couple previously lived in a $2 million pad in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. 'Gianni is staying in law this is more my dream but hes always there helping and supporting me' Although Zana and her husband are a tight unit, this will be her project She's gearing up for a busy holiday season with her famous family. But Kourtney Kardashian, 38, seemed to be keen on enjoying a quiet afternoon date with boyfriend Younes Bendjima, 24, as they headed for a romantic bite to eat at Little Door restaurant in West Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon. The loved-up couple held hands as they headed inside eatery amid claims the model is set to spend Christmas with the Kardashian family. Scroll down for video Lovers in LA: Kourtney Kardashian , 38, enjoyed a quiet date with Younes Bendjima, 24, as they headed for a bite to eat at Little Door restaurant in West Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon The mother-of-three's slender waistline was fully on display in a pair of high-waisted black leather pants. Kourtney showed off her tanned and toned arms in a skimpy grey tank top tucked into the top of her trousers. The eldest Kardashian daughter carried a small black bag in one hand as she held on to her young lover. Kourtney added a pair of black leather booties to her ensemble, in addition to circular black sunglasses. Taking things to the next step: The loved-up couple held hands as they headed inside eatery amid claims the model is set to spend Christmas with the Kardashian family Walk it out: Kourtney's slender waistline was fully on display in a pair of high-waisted black leather pants Younes opted for a more casual outfit, wearing a crisp white T-shirt and forest green cargo pants. Comfort was key for the model as he donned a pair of bright white Nike trainers with a black watch on his wrist. Not only has her family has taken the hunk in, but she has also introduced him to the three kids she has with ex Scott Disick: Mason, seven, Penelope, five, and Reign, two, according to People. A source said: 'Younes has met her kids. Kourtneys family really likes him. He is the opposite of Scott. He doesnt party, isnt flashy and really treats Kourtney with a lot of respect. Its obvious that he really cares about Kourtney.' As far as Kourtney and Younes, the source said: 'Its definitely serious. No one thought their relationship would last this long, but Kourtney is very happy.' Cute couple: The eldest Kardashian daughter carried a small black bag in one hand as she held on to her young lover Date: Younes opted for a more casual outfit, wearing a crisp white T-shirt and forest green cargo pants, teamed with white sneakers And he will be at Kris Jenner's annual Christmas party on December 24. 'Younes will be in L.A. for Christmas and is invited to celebrate with Kourtneys family,' said the source. The two met in Paris on October 2016 and were first seen affectionate with each other in Cannes in May 2017. Kourtney dated Keeping Up With The Kardashians co-star Scott, 34, for almost a decade before they split in the summer of 2015 amid allegations he had cheated on her with blonde stylist Chloe Bartoli. After spending the summer womanizing throughout Europe, Scott has now seemingly settled down and went public with teen model Sofia Richie, 19, in September. Katie Price was mocked by cruel trolls as she returned to social media on Tuesday night after breaking down on live television just hours before. The 39-year-old TV personality shared a snap of herself promoting handbags as she thanked fans for their support after she had to be escorted off Loose Women when she broke down in tears discussing her mother Amy's terminal lung condition. Taking to Twitter and Instagram, the mother-of-five wrote: 'Todays been a difficult day but thanks for everyones support ,Chilling tonight checking out all my new @claireabellaltd goodies planning all my Christmas presents'. Scroll down for video Comeback: Katie Price was mocked by cruel trolls as she returned to social media on Tuesday night after breaking down on live television just hours before Whilst Katie's post was not marked as sponsored, trolls were quick to cruelly mock the star for mentioning products. They wrote: 'Wow have you no shame!!!! Is there nothing you wouldn't do for a freebie'; 'I do have plenty of empathy and I'm sure she is distressed about her mother...but just not enough to stay of Twitter endorsing product's....I'm sure she's delighted she's got your vote, and will sleep well tonight knowing your backing her.' 'Always difficult when people pass away but got to make sure you get your sponsored tweets in at the same time ay!'; 'You have all the money to give yourself quality time with your Mum and you are promoting bags on Twitter. What a shame'; 'A perfect message... of How sympathy can turn to apathy in seconds'. Other fans were quick to defend Katie, however, hitting back: 'And have you no empathy! Anyone can see the distress she is in, no matter who the person is they serve some empathy! Really! Although she has my vote !'; 'looking snug Katie.. take care'; 'Poor darling xxx'; 'Sending hugs katie thinking about you and your mum and all the family xx I can understand what you are going through you're an amazing women and you and your family don't deserve what your having to go through you're a Inspiration hun we are all here for u xxx' Emotional: The 39-year-old TV personality thanked fans for their support after she had to be escorted off Loose Women when she broke down in tears discussing her mother Amy's terminal lung condition Meanwhile, Katie is said to be looking forward to the Christmas holidays as she hopes to spend the festive period with all her children and her mother. Katie shares son Junior, 12, and Princess, 10, with ex-husband Peter Andre, and when they split eight years ago they struck a deal whereby they have the children on alternate Christmas and New Year's. However, Katie revealed her agony as she fears that by Peter having Junior and Princess over the festive holidays, it could mean the children miss out on their grandmother Amy's last Christmas. Divided: Whilst Katie's post was not marked as sponsored, trolls were quick to cruelly mock the star for mentioning products, but several fans came to her defence A source told Closer magazine: 'Katie wants to show Pete they've all moved on and can be friends again. 'She's come up with the idea of making a huge gesture and is even talking about gate-crashing on Christmas Day as a surprise with loads of gifts for everyone.' Katie is also mother to son Harvey, 15, with ex Dwight Yorke, and Jett, four and Bunny, three with estranged partner Kieran Hayler. MailOnline has contacted Katie's representatives for comment. Overwhelmed: The mother-of-five, 39, has endured a tough few months following news surfacing of her beau's affair with their children's nanny, with her mum being diagnosed just days before with IPF (Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis) - a progressive lung condition with no cure The former glamour model has endured a tough few months following news surfacing of her husband's affair with their children's nanny and with her mum being diagnosed just days before with IPF (Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis) aged just 60 - a progressive lung condition with no cure. Katie, who recently admitted she turned to anti-depressants after learning of her husband Kieran Hayler's affair, broke down on live TV on Tuesday as she discussed Keith Chegwin's recent death, after he lost his battle with the same disease. Appearing on Loose Women on Tuesday, an emotional Katie addressed Keith Chegwin's death and her mum's experience of the same condition he suffered from - losing his battle with IPF in just six months. 'It hadn't hit me last time': Katie admitted the news hadn't sunk in when she appeared on the show with her mum Amy Price, 64, in September Katie's close friend and former Celebrity Big Brother co-star Keith had been diagnosed with the same illness as her mum, and sadly passed away on Monday. Breaking down in tears before being escorted off the set, the beauty was inconsolable as she told the panel: 'He has the same condition as my mum. Not many people know about it... there should be more awareness. 'Once youre diagnosed it's too late. Its incurable. You dont know how you get it,' she explained, before trying to compose herself. Close: The Loose Women star revealed that her close friend and late comedian Keith Chegwin had offered her advice on her mum's condition just days before his shock passing Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a condition in which the lungs become scarred and breathing becomes increasingly difficult. IPF has a prognosis worse than many cancers and most sufferers go on to develop respiratory failure and die of suffocation as their lung capacity reduces. The disease which kills 5,300 people every year creates a build-up of scar tissue in the lung which makes them thick and less able to take in oxygen. Regardless of treatment, people with IPF, which usually strikes those in their late 40s or early 50s - on average only live for around three to five years from diagnosis. Although still considered a rare disease, IPF has become more common in both the UK and the US over the last 30 years. The symptoms of IPF tend to develop gradually and get slowly worse over time. Symptoms can include: shortness of breath a persistent dry cough tiredness loss of appetite and weight loss rounded and swollen fingertips (clubbed fingers) There is no cure and it's very difficult to predict how long someone with IPF will survive at the time of diagnosis. Regular monitoring over time can indicate whether it's getting worse quickly or slowly. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement Speaking of her mother's diagnosis, Katie admitted the severity of the condition 'hadn't hit her' at first. She added: 'But Keith got in touch, he was trying to help my mum.' Katie also admitted the news hadn't sunk in when she appeared on the show with her mum in September, putting on a brave display. 'I knew about [his condition] all along. I can't believe he's gone in six months,' Katie said of mum Amy, who has been forced to sell her house as she becomes less mobile. Delving into Amy's battle with IPF, a heartbroken Katie cried: 'My mum is getting worse. My mum had a cough for five years and thought it was asthma. How can my mum die? It might be my last Christmas with her.' Junior and Princess will be spending this Christmas with their father Peter Andre, surely adding to Katie's woes with her worrying that Amy will miss her potentially last Christmas with them. 'She's so healthy, she's never smoked,' Katie insisted, before admitting: 'I couldn't see her for a few weeks and I had to explain to her I didn't want to see her like that, I can't see her growing old. She can't see Harvey turn 18, I love her so much.' Ruth Langsford then escorted Katie out of the studio as her emotions got the better of her and she broke down in tears. The panel then returned with just the three presenters, with Denise Van Outen telling viewers: '[Katie's] had a hard night. She hasn't slept... she wanted to raise awareness.' The beauty had earlier confessed that she turned to anti-depressants to help her deal with her heartache, as just days before Kieran's infidelity surfaced, her mother Amy was diagnosed with IPF. Inconsolable: An emotional Katie had appeared on Loose Women on Tuesday, addressing Keith Chegwin's death and her mum's experience of the same condition he suffered from - losing his battle with IPF in just six months Struggling: 'I knew about [his condition] all along. I can't believe he's gone in six months.' she said of Keith's death, comparing his condition to that of her mum Amy's 'They won't spend their last Christmas with her (seen September)': - Junior and Princess will be spending this Christmas with their father Peter Andre, surely adding to Katie's woes Katie said: 'I've been on medication since my mum was diagnosed. It's just been a lot to deal with.' The TV personality admitted the medication has been 'helping' her through her family woes. Katie first opened up about her mother's diagnosis in October, when her mum was told she was diagnosed with IPF unexpectedly after going for a routine X-Ray. Tough times: 'Once youre diagnosed it's too late. Its incurable. You dont know how you get it,' she explained, before trying to compose herself. Broken: 'She's so healthy, she's never smoked,' Katie insisted, before admitting: 'I couldn't see her for a few weeks and I had to explain to her I didn't want to see her like that', she stammered The former glamour model had told The Sun at the time: 'She's got something wrong with her lungs and she's been told she hasn't got very long to live. She's on tablets... at least I'm making her laugh. Whatever is happening, we've got to be upbeat about it.' IPF is a lung condition that causes progressive scarring of the lungs, leading to breathing difficulties and those suffering from it rarely survive more than five years past their diagnosis. Paying her respects to Keith on Monday, Katie revealed that the TV presenter, who she remained firm friends with following their stint on the Channel 5 reality series together in 2015, had given her advice about the condition her mother is currently battling. All love: 'I can't see her growing old. She can't see Harvey turn 18, I love her so much,' Katie said, understandably struggling to contain herself 'My mum is getting worse. My mum had a cough for five years and thought it was asthma. How can my mum die? It might be my last Christmas with her' she questioned 'I've been on medication since my mum was diagnosed. It's just been a lot to deal with,' a devastated Katie admitted Taking to Twitter with a heart-felt post about the late star, Katie penned: 'I'm absolutely gutted that Keith has passed away. 'I only spoke to him few weeks ago and he was giving my mum advice as she is suffering with the same lung condition my mum has which is IPF an incurable disease! 'He was such a very down to earth and extremely funny and absolutely loved his wife maria and children so much! 'I will miss him and so gutted as we were all trying to fit in a date to meet up. I'm just in shock how quick this has all happened since I spoke to him. Devasted: Ruth Langsford had to escort Katie out of the studio as her emotions got the better of her. The panel then returned with just the three presenters Honest: The beauty confessed in an interview with Reveal magazine that she had turned to anti-depressants to help her deal with her heartache, as just days before Kieran's infidelity surfaced, her mother Amy was diagnosed with IPF 'It's just been a lot to deal with': The TV personality admitted the medication has been 'helping' her through her family woes. She had first opened up about her mother's diagnosis in October 'RIP Keith and will continue with your advice for my mum.' Additionally Katie was left devastated in August on learning that her husband of three years Kieran had embarked on an affair with their children's nanny. It followed his previous infidelities that saw him cheat on Katie with her former best friend of 20 years Jane Pountney and close pal Chrissy Thomas. Despite vowing to leave her beau, Katie admits that she is 'still in love' with Kieran despite his wrongdoing and he is still currently living with the star in her family home. The couple share two children together; son Jett, four, and daughter Bunny, three. Heartbreaking: IPF is a lung condition that causes progressive scarring of the lungs, leading to breathing difficulties and those suffering from it rarely survive more than five years past their diagnosis Sad: Katie's close friend and former Celebrity Big Brother co-star Keith had been diagnosed with the same illness and sadly passed away on Monday She said: 'I still love him. The Kieran that I know, I love. The other Kieran... is horrible. It's just so far away from the man I married.' Katie shared her disbelief over his cheating ways and claimed: 'It proves he has an addiction - he has an addiction because those women are disgusting.' Seeming to reflect on her mother's diagnosis, Katie shared a photo of mum Amy to Instagram the day after Keith's passing and penned in an emotional tribute: 'I love my mum so much but time is limited and running out due to her incurable lung condition IPF nothing in the world is important to me but love loyalty support.' Close: Paying her respects to the TV presenter, Katie revealed that Keith, who she remained firm friends with following their stint on the Channel 5 reality series together in 2015, had given her advice about the condition her mother is currently battling. Emotional: She penned: 'I'm absolutely gutted that Keith has passed away. I only spoke to him few weeks ago and he was giving my mum advice as she is suffering with the same lung condition... He was such a very down to earth and extremely funny... I will miss him' Firm friends: Katie and Keith had formed a close bond while joining each other in the Celebrity Big Brother house back in 2015 Reflective: Katie shared a photo of mum Amy to Instagram the day after Keith's passing and penned in an emotional tribute: 'I love my mum so much but time is limited and running out' Keith passed away following his long-term battle with the progressive lung condition, aged 60. The star died at home surrounded by his second wife Maria and two children Rose, who is married to White Lies frontman Harry McVeigh, and Ted who described him as a 'loving husband and father'. His family today revealed he had been seriously ill for around six months with IPF. He told fans in a heartbreaking final tweet in September: 'Still not right. I will be back - But not for a bit yet. I'm so sorry'. 'Cheggers' became a household name presenting Swap Shop and Cheggers Plays Pop in the 1970s followed by Saturday Superstore in the 1980s. After a high-profile battle with alcoholism he relaunched his career on Channel 4's Big Breakfast knocking on celebrities' front doors in the mid-1990s crying: 'Wake up you beggars, it's Cheggers!'. Shock: Keith passed away following his long-term battle with the progressive lung condition, aged 60 In a statement, the entertainer's family said: 'We are heartbroken to share the news that Keith Chegwin sadly passed away following a long-term battle with a progressive lung condition, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which rapidly worsened towards the end of this year. 'Keith died peacefully at home shortly after midnight on December 11. His wife Maria, his daughter Rose and his son Ted were by his side. 'We would like to take this opportunity to thank Severn Hospice for the kindness, support and care they have shown us all over the last few weeks.' 'Keith was a loving husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. We would respectfully ask to be left to mourn his passing in private.' Upset: Katie's latest interview addressing her tumultuous relationship with Kieran comes after reports claim she has been left 'distraught and humiliated' by the former stripper Meanwhile, Katie's latest interview addressing her tumultuous relationship with Kieran comes after reports claim she has been left 'distraught and humiliated' by the former stripper, after learning he has been 'texting' a girl from her horse riding school, Pony Club. A friend of the star told The Sun: 'Katie's horse school was the one thing she was most invested in. She absolutely loves it, but it has been ruined. 'When she found out Kieran was messaging one of the girls from the club, she was absolutely destroyed - this has ruined their relationship.' They added that Katie has vowed her on/off marriage to Kieran is now 'over for good'. MailOnline had contacted representatives for Katie and Kieran for comment at the time. Reports claim Kieran has been 'texting' a girl from Katie's horse riding school, Pony Club, and she has now vowed their on/off marriage is 'over for good' as a result Kieran, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to get a second tattoo of Katie on his chest as part of his Christmas mission to get her back. It's also been reported he is desperate for the couple to 'have another baby' in order for him to prove his commitment to Katie. As well as her children with Kieran, she is also mum to Harvey, 15, Junior, 12, and Princess, 10. Katie married third husband Kieran in a romantic ceremony at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa in the Bahamas in January 2013. The hunk had got down on one knee and popped the question to the beauty on Christmas Day in 2012. Katie has been married twice, first to Peter Andre and later to MMA fighter Alex Reid. Supporters of school choice closely followed events in Douglas County, Colorado because it was there that the only school district in the nation implemented vouchers by itself rather than by a state legislature (Douglas County school board ends controversial voucher program, The Denver Post, Dec. 4). But much to their dismay, voters elected a new anti-voucher board majority in November. Although I support parental choice, I believe voters did the right thing. I say that because the Colorado Constitution explicitly prohibits public money going to religious schools. Its why the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Douglas County program was unconstitutional. Nevertheless, in June the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Colorado high court to reconsider. But it was not until the recent election that voters made their voice heard. Im not a lawyer, but the language in the Colorado Constitution is unambiguous. I never understood how the Douglas County school board could violate what it swore to uphold. Critics will argue that there is a difference between the religious character of a school and the religious use of funds (Narrow Opening for School Choice , Education Next, Winter 2018). I dont agree. I think the two are inextricably tied together. Im glad the new board rectified matters, but the issue of vouchers and their variants is far from settled. I expect to see the matter raised elsewhere. For example, elementary and secondary education savings account programs are already in place in four states. Parents withdraw their children from public schools and sign contracts agreeing not to re-enroll them there while using the accounts. The state deposits most or all of the formula funding it would normally have spent into the students ESAs. Most programs allow parents to use a dedicated-use debit card to pay for authorized expenses, including private and religious schools. She's the successful breakfast TV presenter who known for her caustic humour. And on Sunrise on Wednesday, Samantha Armytage unleashed her wit on co-anchor Natalie Barr after the latter shared a picture of her 17-year-old self on air. 'You were a very handsome little girl,' Samantha said as she burst into hysterical laughter. 'You were a very handsome little girl!' Samantha Armytage teases Sunrise co-star Natalie Barr for her teenage looks So many laughs: On Wednesday, Samantha Armytage unleashed her wit on her Sunrise co-anchor Natalie Barr after the latter shared a picture of her 17-year-old self on air Natalie's throwback photo was used during a segment where the panel were discussing if the perm could see a comeback in 2018. 'I was quite proud of that. Stop laughing Sam!' Nat said as her deskmate mocked her perm and mullet look from year 12. 'You don't want to be too pretty too early,' Sam added, to which Nat hit her co-star with her papers repeatedly as she laughed along. The picture of Natalie appeared to be from a high school yearbook, as the 17-year-old wore a white dress shirt and tie for the snap. Her curly-hair was voluminous, with the star sporting a fresh-faced look without makeup. 'Stop laughing Sam!' Nat said as her deskmate mocked her perm and mullet look from year 12 But will the perm make a come back in 2018? The picture of Natalie appeared to be from a highschool yearbook, as the 17-year-old wore a white dress shirt and tie for the snap She had previously shared the flashback with her 73k Instagram followers, writing: 'Peter Brady? ?? No.. Me in 1985. Bunbury Catholic College. Age of the perm. And the pimple.' Natalie launched her journalism career at the Wanneroo Times in 1987 and landed her first TV gig at 21 on WA's Golden West Network. She joined Seven News in Sydney as a reporter in 1994 and also presented afternoon news updates, before moving to Sunrise in 2003. Fresh-faced reporter! She launched her journalism career at the Wanneroo Times in 1987 and landed her first TV gig at 21 on WA's Golden West Network The successful media personality now juggles 3am wake-ups with motherhood for her role on the hit breakfast show. Married to TV commercial editor Andrew Thomson, the mystery TV newsreader is Natalie Barr. She appears alongside David 'Kochie' Koch, Samantha Armytage and Mark Baretta weekdays from 5.30am on Seven's Sunrise. TV star! The successful media personality now juggles 3am wake-ups with motherhood for her role on the hit breakfast show Sunrise Her throwback photo was used during a segment where the panel were discussing if the perm could see a comeback in 2018. 'I was quite proud of that. Stop laughing Sam!' Nat said as her co-stars mocked her perm and mullet look from year 12. He shocked fans in August when he announced he required life-saving emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour. And after completing six weeks of radiotherapy treatment for his brain cancer diagnosis in October, Home And Away star Johnny Ruffo appears to be on a steady road to recovery. The 29-year-old shared a picture of his healing scar on Instagram on Wednesday, comparing it to his raised stapled wound from the surgery. Scroll down for video Road to recovery: Johnny Ruffo gives fans an update on his devastating battle with brain cancer as he shows off healing head scar after emergency life-saving surgery to remove tumour Johnny emerged from theatre at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on August 7 with 27 staples in his head and 95 per cent of the tumour removed. The hunk, who rose to fame on The X Factor Australia, told Daily Mail Australia that he went to hospital with what he thought was a severe migraine, before being rushed into emergency surgery. It's been 10 weeks since Johnny completed his radiotherapy treatment at Chris OBrien Lifehouse in Bondi. Sharing an update on his cosmetic recovery, the Channel Seven personality shared a selfie showing off his shorn head after the seven cent centimeter long tumour was removed. 'What a huge difference': The Home and Away star noted how his head was healing well following the August surgey, which saw the actor emerge from theatre at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on August 7 with 27 staples in his head and 95 per cent of the SEVEN CENTIRMETER tumour removed 'Just need my hair back': The hunky singer appeared in good spirits, as he joked that he was looking forward to growing his locks back He wrote on the before-and-after comparison, 'what a huge difference', before jokingly adding: 'just need my hair back.' Fans were pleased by Johnny's positive update, writing: 'Healing up nicely legend!', 'So happy you are doing better', 'God bless you, you beautiful young man' and 'youve healed amazingly Johnny.' Others wished the star a speedy recovery as he continue to: 'Wish you much love and luck for a speedy full recovery', 'keep fighting buddy. You are doing well xxx', 'you look amazing. so proud of u.' Brave star! Johnny, who rose to fame on The X Factor Australia, told Daily Mail Australia that he went to hospital with what he thought was a severe migraine, before being rushed into emergency surgery in August 'Wish you much love and luck for a speedy full recovery': Fans were pleased by Johnny's positive update and flooded his feed with praise and well wishes (Pictured left on Seven soap Home And Away) One step at a time: It's been 10 weeks since Johnny completed his radiotherapy treatment at Chris OBrien Lifehouse in Bondi In an interview with New Idea magazine, Johnny said he would have died if it wasn't for the life-changing operation to remove the tumour in his brain. 'Without the operation, there was a 100 per cent certainty I would have died because of the pressure on my brain,' he told the publication. He has also credited long-time dancer girlfriend Tahnee Sims for being the reason he is still alive. Johnny told Nova's Fitzy and Wippa the blonde beauty was in 'absolute tears' when she found out he had a brain tumour and would need to sign off on his life-saving emergency surgery to have it removed while he was in a coma. 'It's 8am in the morning and she gets a call from the emergency department, saying "you need get down here immediately because he's got a brain tumour", so she was in absolute tears at the time,' Johnny said. 'She had to sign a form to give permission': Johnny has credited long-time dancer girlfriend Tahnee Sims for being the reason he is still alive, after she was asked to give permission for the life-saving surgery when he slipped into a coma 'She had to drive down there and they said "look, we need to do an emergency operation." Because by this stage, I had slipped into a coma,' he added. 'She had to sign a form to give permission.' Johnny said that doctors told Tahnee there was a one in 20 chance he could die from the operation. That's love! Johnny said that doctors told Tahnee there was a one in 20 chance he could die from the operation and she was in 'absolute tears' when confronted by the news In late October, Johnny took to Instagram, praising radiotherapy staff in his recovery. Uploading a snap that saw him standing alongside medical professionals, he wrote: 'These guys are the real stars, my amazing radiotherapy team.' Since then he has attended red carpet events and even returned behind the microphone for a recording session in Sydney. However, while the star has consistently remained positive during his heartbreaking ordeal, he has admitted he is prepared for the worse in his battle with brain cancer. Speaking to Studio 10, Johnny revealed he already has a will ready. At Christmas, its always such a headache choosing the perfectly tasteless gift for the tacky billionaire in your life. Fear not: a blingtastic business called Goldgenie has the answer. Theyll gold-plate a useless status symbol for you, because nothing says pointless waste of money like a thin veneer of gilt. Theyre turning a McLaren F1 supercar a glittery shade of yellow but, as The Worlds Most Expensive Presents (C4) revealed, lesser items are available. Golden specialities include a single rose, because everybody knows these are the epitome of class. Or you might want a gold-plated cigar. Arfur Daley would be most impressed. Blingtastic business Goldgenie will try to gold-plate any of your belongings from a cigar to a pet pooch but Christopher Stevens thinks they are barking Goldgenies salesman Laban demonstrated how the magic was achieved, with a cotton bud, a solution of metallic syrup and an electric current. It looked like something that might be done with an old kit from Woolworths. But it didnt work on everything. One woman wanted her dead dog gold-plated. Laban turned her down, which seemed a bit squeamish. Theres a gap in the market there . . . GoldFido! For dogs that are still alive and wagging, the range of canine accoutrements is endless. Dog couturier Rachelle made ballgowns and capes for spoiled pooches, such as Monsieur Lulu the dachshund, who was being fitted with a gold lame coat. Goldgenies salesman Laban was happy to show how the magic worked and demonstrated using a cotton bud To show off her most extravagant creations, Rachelle hired a supermodel called Mollie half chihuahua, half pug, all diva. Mollie could wear a 40,000 bridal gown with more confidence than any A-lister. This show fawned over the luxury goods merchants and their tawdry creations as shamelessly as gossip columnists at a movie premiere. It needed a presenter, someone who wasnt dazzled, to ask the super-rich whether their shiny purchases really gave them any happiness, or just left them with a deeper sense of emptiness. Somebody should have challenged the people making poker chips from stingray skin and Swarovski crystals, with the box covered in alligator hide at 250 a square inch: has anyone ever spent more money to make something that looks like it came from Poundland? Not every bit of tat found a buyer, though. The leather-bound colouring book, filled with bespoke drawings, that retailed at 23,900, stayed on the shelf. They ought to get it gold-plated. That would be classy. The most stylish moments of Invasion! (BBC4) were supplied by the movie clips, illustrating dramatic moments in British history. Best of all were the scenes from Robin Hood in 1922, with Sam de Grasse as Bad King John a monarch so wicked that his thugs snatched a puppy from the hands of an innocent peasant in the market place. The dire cads! This show fawned over the luxury goods merchants and their tawdry creations as shamelessly as gossip columnists at a movie premiere We glimpsed Robert Newton in Treasure Island and Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I, but the one that proved harder to place was a blood-and-thunder William the Conquerer, pounding the table with his fist as he recited lines from a school textbook. It looked like a clip from a Sixties educational TV episode answers on a postcard, please. Presenter Sam Willis was having a marvellous time, bounding around the South Coast to explain the juiciest bits from history how Barbary pirates kidnapped thousands of Brits and sold them into slavery in Africa, for instance. He tried his hand at lobshotting: firing arrows high in the air, so they rained down on the enemy behind their shield walls. Thats how King Harold got pierced through the eye, apparently. Nuggets like that are pure gold. She is known for her classic, simple style. And on Tuesday, Selma Blair looked stylish in a black-and-white, gingham-print dress. The 45-year-old stopped by Alfred's in Studio City to grab a coffee. Picking up a pick-me-up: On Tuesday, Selma Blair, 45, stopped by Alfred's in Studio City to grab a coffee The pretty, mother-of-one paired her day dress with a set of black Mary Jane flats. Selma accessorized with a watch, ring, layered bracelets, a green purse and shades. The Legally Blonde star wore her brunette locks back and in a low bun. Classic beauty: The actress looked stylish in a black-and-white, gingham-print dress Selma's outing comes just days after heading to Miami's Art Basel last Tuesday. She, along with 15 other woman, stood for an hour in the wind, clad in black leotards and crying, according to W magazine. The women were united against screenwriter James Toback, with each reportedly having stories of alleged sexual harassment by him. In an interview with the magazine, the star revealed her emotions following her Basel experience. The right additions: Selma accessorized with a watch, ring, layered bracelets, a green purse and shades 'Exactly a full hourI didn't move my feet once, and I had nothing planned. I just wanted to feel compassion for myself, and there ended up being a lot of emotions: a lot of grief, some rage, some amusement, some shame, joy. Not as much joy, but there was hope,' she said. When asked if there was a particular incident that she thought of during her performance, Selma said that it came from multiple experiences. 'I thought of interviews, I thought of times as a young girl when people tried to take advantage of me every day. I did think of my experience with James Toback and how shaming that was and how angry I was to have to be silent for so long because I was afraid.' 'But then I also thought of the wonder of this moment, that women are finally able to express things publicly that they hadnt felt they would ever tell a souleven though I never wanted to tell my story publicly. I just wanted him to stop. I didnt want anyone to ever know private details of my life, but so be it. If thats what it takes to change things, then Im on board...' Selma's reportedly happened in 1999, and Toback has since denied any allegations from all the women who have accused him, according to Vanity Fair. She's up bright and early every weekday for her show Sunrise. So you could hardly blame Natalie Barr from making a little slip-up from time to time. On Wednesday, the newsreader struggled to read her lines while presenting the news bulletin. Scroll down for video Feeling sleepy? Sunrise's Natalie Barr struggles to read her lines during a news bulletin and gets tongue-tied when talking about Star Wars Speaking about Prince Harry and Prince William meeting the cast of Star Wars in London, she appeared to get a little tongue-tied. 'The royals walked the red carpet alongside the red carpet alongside fan favourites like Chewbacca and Mark Hamill, who play, who plays Luke Skywalker,' Natalie said. 'It follows rumours the royal pair actually play minor roles, pretty minor roles, in the new newly filmed, um film, appearing as storm troopers,' she added, stumbling through. She then recovered and discussed the film with her Sunrise co-stars. Working mum: The TV personality juggles her media career and motherhood Guess who! Meanwhile Natalie, took part in a funny segment on the show on Wednesday. The show shared a flashback of herself from her teenage years, looking remarkably different Meanwhile Natalie, took part in a funny segment on the show on Wednesday. The show shared a flashback of herself from her teenage years, looking remarkably different. In the snap, the well known star is seen with curly hair and is makeup-free. Natalie launched her journalism career at the Wanneroo Times in 1987 and landed her first TV gig at 21 on WA's Golden West Network. She joined Seven News in Sydney as a reporter in 1994, and also presented afternoon news updates, before moving to Sunrise in 2003. The successful media personality now juggles 3am wake-ups with motherhood for her role on the hit breakfast show. She often flaunts her impeccably toned figure on social media. And former Big Brother star Tully Smyth was up to her old trick again on Wednesday, sharing sizzling swimwear-clad snaps of herself. In the cheeky images, the 29-year-old wore a cute black and white floral bikini by Seafolly. Sizzling! Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth shares sexy bikini clad snaps amid Melbourne's scorching temperatures Cute suit! In the cheeky images, the 29-year-old wore a cute black and white floral bikini by Seafolly With her dyed blonde hair pushed to one side of her face, the blogger chose to accessorise with a blue and gold pendant. 'Summer is well and truly here,' the popular blogger wrote under the image. The post comes after Tully shared another sexy image of herself ahead of Melbourne's near record 37-degree day, which showed her in white hot pants and a strapless red top with heart bust line. The blonde beauty first shot to fame in 2013 after starring in Big Brother. It's getting hot in here! The post comes after Tully shared another sexy image of herself ahead of Melbourne's near record 37 degree day, which showed her in white hot pants and a strapless red top with a heart bust line Claim to fame: The blonde beauty first shot to fame in 2013 after starring in Big Brother Tully currently has 230,000 followers on Instagram. More recently, the social media star publicly spoke about her mother's battle with Alzheimer's disease, declaring she wanted to give fans an insight into her reality away from her happy snaps. '[You want to know] what goes on in my every day life? This,' the blogger said. 'I would normally never share something so private, so personal,' she continued. 'In fact I've sat here and changed my mind about posting it at least a hundred times. Since I gained a social media following overnight due to my appearance on Big Brother back in 2013, I've struggled with wanting to use my platform to raise awareness for @alzheimersaus,' she said. 'And wanting to keep our family's heartbreak private.' He is the star of the new Netflix drama, Wormwood. And on Thursday, Maggie Gyllenhaal supported husband Peter Sarsgaard at the New York premiere of the series. While on the carpet, the actress cuddled up to her hubby and showered him with affection. On Thursday, Maggie Gyllenhaal, 40, supported husband Peter Sarsgaard, 46, at the New York premiere of Wormwood Maggie was festive in floral. The mother-of-two wore a long-sleeve, pink jumpsuit and red pumps. Peter was styled in a classic black-and-white suit, sans tie. True love: The actress cuddled up to her hubby and showered him with affection Night look: Maggie was festive in floral. The mother-of-two wore a long-sleeve, pink jumpsuit and red pumps Ready for his close-up: Peter was styled in a classic black-and-white suit, sans tie Maggie and Peter met through her brother Jake. The couple have been married for eight years, since May of 2009. They share daughters Ramona, eleven, and Gloria, five. A big deal: Peter is the star of the new Netflix drama, Wormwood True story: Wormwood is a six-part series that seeks to investigate the real-life death of Frank Olson, a scientist and former employee of the CIA Wormwood is a six-part series that seeks to investigate the real-life death of Frank Olson, a scientist and former employee of the CIA. Frank was given LSD without his knowledge. The CIA told his family that he jumped out of a window, but it later appeared that it could have been a homicide. Happy to be there: Christian Camargo, Errol Morris, Peter, Scott Shepherd and Molly Parker came out to celebrate for the big night He's the Hollywood hunk, known for his impressive acting ability and his commitment to charity work. And as if Hugh Jackman couldn't get any more perfect, the 49-year-old showed off his fluent Spanish in a video shared to Instagram last week. The Aussie star confidently addressed fans in the clip while promoting his new flick The Greatest Showman, ahead of its Mexico premiere. Bilingual: Hugh Jackman showed off his fluent Spanish in a video shared to Instagram last week He captioned the video: 'Estoy deseando verte!' - which translates into 'I look forward to seeing you.' The film also stars Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya and is being billed as a biographical musical drama. Spanish-speaking fans of the actor immediately took to their social media accounts to express their excitement at the actor speaking their native tongue. 'How nice to speak our language, @thehughjackman thanks,' one Instagram user wrote. Star-studded cast: The Greatest Showman also stars Zac Efron (L), Michelle Williams and Zendaya Another user gushed over the Sydney-born actor: 'OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND NOW YOU SPEAK MY LANGUAGE,' the user posted. This isn't the first time the Sydney-born native has showed off his linguistic skills. The actor recorded a Spanish language message for Mexican fans in February, while he was promoting his film Logan after he couldn't make the country's premiere. His message translated as: 'Hello! Greetings to all my fans from Mexico. I regret not being able to visit you this time, but I love you all very much, I hope you enjoy Logan.' Both English and Spanish-speaking fans couldn't get enough of the bilingual star, even challenging him to expand his skill level. 'Now do it in Portuguese,' one Instagram user wrote. She's known for her chameleon abilities, winning an Oscar after donning a prosthetic nose to portray Virginia Woolf in 2003 film The Hours. And Nicole Kidman was spotted for the second day in a row on set of new crime thriller Destroyer in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The 50-year-old wore makeup to disguise herself in the role of a gritty detective, appearing almost completely unrecognizable. Chameleon: Nicole Kidman was spotted for the second day in a row on set of new crime thriller Destroyer in Los Angeles on Tuesday The Academy Award-winning actress who normally who normally boasts long golden locks donned a scruffy dull brunette wig instead and an over-sized leather jacket to portray a police detective in the Karyn Kusama directed film. Appearing worlds away from her usually glamorous self, Nicole ditched her Hollywood sense of style she is often showcasing on the red carpet to get her teeth stuck into her gritty new role. She teamed her leather outerwear with a pair of flared denim jeans and a plain black sweater-style top - donning matching black boots on her feet. The 50-year-old wore makeup to disguise herself in the role of a gritty detective, appearing almost completely unrecognizable Costumed: The Academy Award-winning actress who normally shows off long golden hair donned a scruffy brunette wig and over-sized leather jacket to portray a police detective in the Karyn Kusama film Nicole appeared to cut a solo figure on set while filming for the movie's latest scenes and was seen stood on the driveway of a house the day before on Monday. Destroyer follows the story of police detective Erin Bell, played by Kidman, who reconnects with people from an undercover assignment from her past that concerned a cult-like gang and had tragic results. According to Deadline, the leader of that same gang re-emerges years later and Bell if forced to re-address her history and the gang's remaining members in order to 'reckon with the demons that destroyed her past'. In addition to being hard at work on Destroyer, set for a 2018 release, Nicole has been seen on hit HBO series Big Little Lies. Congrats! The good news has come in waves as it was recently announced that the hit show will return for a second season with co-star Reese Witherspoon The acting talent found herself recently nominated for a Golden Globe award for her portrayal of Celeste Wright in the show - that is adapted from the Liane Moriarty novel of the same name. And the good news has come in waves for Nicole, as it was recently announced that the hit show will return for a second season with co-star Reese Witherspoon. The drama has been one of the most talked-about series of the year, bagging eight Emmys and a score of awards season nominations. The duo, who executive produce the show, will once again be joined by creator and writer David E. Kelley, but will welcome a new director in the form of Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold. Action! The drama - an adaptation of Liane Moriarty's novel by the same name - has been one of the most talked-about series of the year, bagging eight Emmys and a score of awards season nominations Kidman, 50, said in a statement via Variety: 'This is inspired by the overwhelming response by audiences around the world, conceived once again by Liane Moriarty, realized by David Kelley and now in the hands of visionary filmmaker Andrea Arnold. 'What a journey this has been. Im so grateful to have this opportunity to keep exploring these female characters and make this series with my friends.' Nicole has been married to Keith Urban for more than a decade, and the couple share two daughters; Sunday, nine, and Faith, six. Kidman also shares two children with former husband Tom Cruise, Isabella, 24. and Connor, 22. She's currently on the promotional trail for the third instalment of Pitch Perfect. And at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday, Ruby Rose hit all right notes in a dramatic gothic-inspired halterneck frock. The 31-year-old actress revealed her tattooed arms in a semi-sheer design of graduating hues. Scroll down for video Hitting the right note! Ruby Rose, 31, sported a gothic-inspired dramatic halterneck frock, at the Los Angeles premiere, for Pitch Perfect 3 on Tuesday The brunette beauty posed for photos in front of the media wall in the statement gown. Sheer fabric highlighted her delicate decolletage, while flaring from the hips down added a dramatic touch. A belt in a purple velvet tone, also cinched in at Ruby's slender waist, and a black box clutch and delicate stud earrings worked as accessories. Making a statement: Sheer fabric highlighted her delicate decolletage, while flaring from the hips down added a dramatic touch Details: A belt in a purple velvet tone, cinched in at Ruby's slender waist, while a black box clutch worked as an accessory Styling her short cropped locks in a deep side part, the former MTV presenter enhanced her striking facial features with a flawless makeup palette that included defined brows, a metallic eye, lashings of mascara and a glossy lip. The sighting comes just days after Ruby returned to her home base in Los Angeles, after being forced to flee due to the raging wildfires in the region. On Sunday, the Melbourne-born star was pictured in high spirits as she took a leisurely stroll with her two rescue pooches in Beverly Hills. Tressed to perfection: The Melbourne-born star styled her cropped locks in a deep side part In profile: Ruby enhanced her striking facial features with a flawless complexion, defined brows, a metallic eye, lashings of mascara and a glossy lip Ruby took to Twitter a day prior, telling her fans she and her dogs, Ru and Chance were safe, and that she's able to return to her Californian abode. The Orange Is the New Black star wrote: 'After 3 days of being evacuated with my dogs and a suitcase I can finally go home tomorrow. 'Thanks to the hard and dangerous work put in by the firefighters who risked their lives to save ours.' Ruby's home was threatened by the Skirball Fire, that tore through 475 acres of land close to the ritzy Bel-Air area. Tatt's nice: The frock's design offered glimpses of Ruby's toned back that featured several tattoos State education departments looking to amplify teachers voices and include them at the policymaking table should look to New Mexico, a new report says . The report, released by Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit group for district and state education chiefs, praises the Land of Enchantments teacher leadership model for its sustained, bold reform. Chiefs for Change had previously released a policy brief on what makes an effective teacher leadership systemnamely, a culture of innovation, a call to address specific challenges, and a sense of empowerment to create and sustain education policy. (Hanna Skandera, the former longtime New Mexico education secretary, and her successor Christopher Ruszkowski are both Chiefs for Change members.) See also: Best State-Level Practices for Teacher Leadership Outlined in Report Teachers in New Mexico had been distrustful of the state education department after a series of changes were madenew standards, tests, and a rollout of a really tough evaluation system without incorporating their input or concerns. If you had asked me seven years ago if it was my job to reach teachers and principals directly, I would have said no, Skandera told Education Week opinion blogger Rick Hess . As a state chief, the chain of command typically goes through the superintendents. But I realized quickly that was the worst game of telephone, ever. There was a lot of confusion out there about what changes were taking place, and voices in the classroom were not getting back up to my office. Over the last three years, however, New Mexicos education department has worked to identify the most effective teachers in the state and then leverage their expertise. As my colleague Alyson Klein recently reported , the department created several pathways for teacher voice. She writes: Those pathways include an advisory council, made up of 26 teachers who meet quarterly in person and once a month by phone. There are also 50 "teacher leader ambassadors," who have biweekly, virtual meetings to talk about different professional topics. They also receive leadership training. A 36-member literacy "dream team" helped develop curriculum materials, and a similar group is in the works for social studies. The PED is also hoping to place a liaison in every one of the state's nearly 850 schools, to improve teacher communication. So far, more than 600 teachers have applied for the posts. And two full-time teacher liaisons work at the department, both of them fresh from the classroom. Klein reports that some teachers feel empowered by the new forums, while others see them as little more than a public relations push. Still, Michael Magee, the CEO of Chiefs for Change, said in an interview that the teacher-leadership system has created a continuous feedback loop between highly effective teachers and policymakers. As teachers see that their ideas and policy recommendations are actually taken seriously and have an impact on policy implementation, you build trust, and thats absolutely critical, he said. See also: Here Are 10 Policy Lessons Teachers Should Know The Chiefs for Change report found that many teachers are interested in joining the departments initiativesfor example, more than 700 teachers applied for the 50 spots in the ambassador program. And tickets to the state teacher summit this yeara two-day convening for teachers across the statewere all distributed within 72 hours of their release. The report concludes with the New Mexico state education agencys takeaways on building a successful teacher leadership system: Teachers must lead from within. High-quality teachers should serve as a bridge between educators in the state and the state agency. They should both represent their peers and ask state education leaders tough questions. (The federal education department also has teacher liasons .) High-quality teachers should serve as a bridge between educators in the state and the state agency. They should both represent their peers and ask state education leaders tough questions. (The federal education department also has teacher liasons .) Teachers must have opportunities to voice their feedback. When teachers have an opportunity to weigh in on initial plans, the rollout process should go more smoothly, because teachers feel like the education department is taking their concerns seriously. When teachers have an opportunity to weigh in on initial plans, the rollout process should go more smoothly, because teachers feel like the education department is taking their concerns seriously. Start somewhereeven if it feels small. New Mexico started with 18 teacher-leaders involved at the state level, and now about 650 teachers are doing work for the department. Chiefs for Change acknowledged the role of the Every Student Succeeds Act, and its increased flexibility for state leaders to deploy Title II funds for these sorts of initiatives. (Title II funding is at stake in Congress , as the House and Senate work to reach a compromise on federal education policy: The House and President Trump both want to scrap the entire program.) I think its a pivotal moment in the broad effort to transform Americas public schoolsone where theres a much greater and increasing awareness that our highly effective teachers and teacher-leaders need to be deeply involved in that process, Magee said. Chiefs for Change has also highlighted teacher leadership systems in Louisiana and Tennessee. And Margie Yeager, the director of advocacy and policy for the group, said there are initiatives underway in Nevada, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia. Were just scratching the surface about whats possible, Magee said. Theres an enormous amount of pent-up teacher demand for change thats being unlocked. ... Its an exciting time [thats] probably long overdue. (Clarification: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the way tickets to the New Mexico teacher summit were distributedthey were given out free of charge.) Nineties supermodel Cindy Crawford rocked edgy leather pants and buckled boots while out in West Hollywood Tuesday night with her second husband Rande Gerber and their daughter Kaia. The evergreen mother-of-two easily defied her 51 years as her nepotistically-privileged 16-year-old opted for a navy-patterned blouse tucked into blue jean cut-offs and combat boots. Earlier that morning, the Malibu High School junior - who scored her California driver's license on September 5 - shared a twinning car selfie with the 55-year-old nightlife impresario. Scroll down for video Nineties supermodel: Cindy Crawford rocked edgy leather pants and buckled boots while out in West Hollywood Tuesday with her second husband Rande Gerber and their daughter Kaia Evergreen: The mother-of-two easily defied her 51 years as her nepotistically-privileged 16-year-old opted for a navy-patterned blouse tucked into blue jean cut-offs and combat boots Kaia captioned the sunglasses snap to her 2.1M followers: 'Just a couple of dads.' Gerber also proudly Insta-storied a full-page ad in the newspaper featuring her Omega SA campaign shot by famed lensman Peter Lindbergh. The IMG Model was simply following in the fancy footsteps of Crawford, who's been the brand ambassador for the Swiss luxury watchmaker as far back as 1995. 'I'm so happy for Kaia and tell her there are no beauty secrets,' Cindy (born Cynthia) told People last Wednesday. 'Just a couple of dads!' Earlier, the Malibu High School junior - who scored her driver's license on September 5 - shared a twinning car selfie with the 55-year-old nightlife impresario 'I'm so happy for Kaia': Gerber also proudly Insta-storied a full-page ad in the newspaper featuring her Omega SA campaign shot by famed lensman Peter Lindbergh 'I tell her there are no beauty secrets': The IMG Model was simply following in the footsteps of Crawford, who's been the brand ambassador for the Swiss luxury watchmaker since 1995 'But she needs to remember to take off her makeup before she goes to bed each night. I also tell her not to over tweeze her eyebrows because they won't necessarily grow back.' On Monday, the Northwestern University drop-out shared a 1990 clip of herself voguing with British funnywoman Tracey Ullman while perched on a table at Manhattan's posh Plaza Hotel. The vintage video came from episode five of MTV's House of Style, which the Midwestern beauty famously hosted during her hey-day from 1989-1995. Strike a pose! On Monday, Cindy shared a 1990 clip of herself voguing with British funnywoman Tracey Ullman while perched on a table at Manhattan's posh Plaza Hotel It's officially party season! Trying on holiday dresses at The Plaza with #TracyUllman #MTVMondays A post shared by Cindy Crawford (@cindycrawford) on Dec 11, 2017 at 9:08am PST 'Trying on holiday dresses!' The vintage video came from episode five of MTV's House of Style, which the Midwestern beauty famously hosted during her hey-day from 1989-1995 The married couple of 19 years plan on celebrating Christmas with the Chanel Metiers d'Art catwalker and their 18-year-old son Presley at a 'resort for five days.' 'Last year, we were with Rande's family. This year it is mine, and I am so excited that all of the cousins will be together,' Crawford revealed. 'We used to take everyone to our house in Mexico and stay a little longer. But now the kids are growing up and prefer to spend New Year's Eve with their friends and not with us!' She's the comedic actress, currently on a whirlwind promotional tour for Pitch Perfect 3. And Rebel Wilson was in a jovial mood, as she posed for photos on the red carpet, at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday. The 37-year-old stunned in a red sequinned Adrianna Papell frock, and drew attention to her jewel-encrusted slogan clutch, emblazoned with the words 'YES!' and 'NO!' on each side. Scroll down for video Making a statement! Rebel Wilson, 37, stunned in a red sequinned frock, and drew attention to her jewel-encrusted slogan clutch, at the Los Angeles premiere, for Pitch Perfect 3 on Tuesday Rebel sported an off-the-shoulder sequinned frock, that offered a glimpse of her delicate decolletage. The fabric skimmed over her upper frame, flaring out slightly from the hips. Rebel accessorised with a jewel-encrusted slogan clutch, bearing the text 'YES!' and 'NO!' on either side. Ravishing in red: The comedic actress sported an off-the-shoulder sequinned Adrianna Papell frock, that offered a glimpse of her delicate decolletage Elegant: The fabric skimmed over Rebel's upper frame, flaring out slightly from the hips Quirky touch: The Bridesmaids star accessorised with a jewel-encrusted slogan clutch, bearing the text 'YES!' and 'NO!' on either side Clearly impressed with the design, the Bridesmaids actress made it the focal point of photographs, holding it up to her waist. Looking every inch the Hollywood movie star, Rebel had her blonde locks styled in glamorous waves with a sleek fringe. The budding fashion designer's makeup palette consisted of a matte complexion, bold brows, kohl-rimmed eyes and a glossy lip. Focal point: Clearly impressed with the design, Rebel made the clutch the focal point of photographs, holding it up to her waist Spotlight: The blonde starlet beamed for photos and cast a few sultry gazes, in front of the media wall Tressed to perfection: Rebel looked every inch the Hollywood star, sporting glamorous waves and a sleek fringe Rebel's sighting comes after she clamied to Yahoo 7Be that she's not as genetically blessed as her Pitch Perfect 3 co-stars - Brittany Snow, Ruby Rose, Hailee Steinfeld and Anna Kendrick, while gushing about the movie's female cast. 'Everyone is so different looking and I think that's great but I think all the girls (I'll take myself out) they're so beautiful and they're all so gorgeous,' she told the outlet. Rebel went on to fawn over the ensemble adding that their beauty is not just on the outside. In profile: The Sydney-born entertainer opted for a makeup palette consisting of a matte complexion, defined brows, subtle kohl-rimmed eyes and a glossy lip Gesture: Rebel pointed to her jewel-encrusted slogan clutch All in a word: Flipping the clutch around, the household name drew attention to the text 'YES!' 'They all have a light that shines through and I think that's why we have so much fun working together, because they're beautiful inside and out.' Back in 2015, Rebel told Cosmopolitan magazine that she embraces standing out from the pack. The personality said that 'being unique and different was a really good thing' and that she would never want to 'compete' with actresses for roles, based on looks. Candid comments: Rebel's sighting comes after she told Yahoo 7Be that she's not as genetically blessed as her Pitch Perfect 3 co-stars - Brittany Snow, Ruby Rose, Hailee Steinfeld and Anna Kendrick Unique: 'Everyone is so different looking and I think that's great but I think all the girls (I'll take myself out) they're so beautiful and they're all so gorgeous,' she told the outlet He claimed filming the movie saw them go through 'the beats of a real relationship'. And Idris Elba proved just how convincing his union with fellow esteemed superstar Kate Winslet could truly be as they got extremely hot and heavy in steamy love scenes for The Mountain Between Us, which is set for DVD release later this month. The 42-year-old Titanic actress showed off her sensational figure while the Luther star, 45, flashed his eye-popping muscles in the sizzling scenes, in which their characters form a connection after being stranded together following a plane crash. Scroll down for video Hot stuff: Idris Elba proved just how convincing his union with fellow esteemed superstar Kate Winslet could truly be as they got extremely hot and heavy in steamy love scenes for The Mountain Between Us, which is set for DVD release later this month Kate stars alongside Idris in the epic drama, which was released in October, in which her character, photojournalist Alex and Idris' character, brain surgeon Ben are left abandoned in the midst of perilous weather. Alex, who photographs images of Neo-Nazis for a publication is getting married the following day, while Ben is required to operate on a dying 10-year-old, yet they are stuck at Salt Lake City Airport with all flights cancelled. With an impending storm looming, the pair decide to persuade a charter pilot to fly them across the mountain range yet the plane inevitably crashes and they are left stranded, relying on one another for comfort and survival. In the midst of this comfort, the couple naturally form an intense bond which culminated in their intimacy - with the scenes undoubtedly sending temperatures soaring for fans of the Hollywood heavyweight duo. Woah! The 42-year-old Titanic actress showed off her sensational figure while the Luther star, 45, flashed his eye-popping muscles in the sizzling scenes, in which their characters form a connection after being stranded together following a plane crash Having starred in an array of sex scenes throughout her 26 years on film, Kate is a dab hand at such roles - as illustrated while she stripped off for the sexy scene. As she is undressed by the heartthrob actor, stunning Kate showed off her eye-popping assets in a black lace bra worn beneath a skin-tight white vest. Shirtless Idris meanwhile was displaying his eye-popping muscles in all their glory as he locked lips with his co-star in an extremely intimate moment. Steamier than ever: Having starred in an array of sex scenes throughout her 26 years on film, Kate is a dab hand at such roles - as illustrated while she stripped off for the sexy scene Hot stuff: Idris went on to explain the complexities of his on-screen romance with Kate, saying she encouraged the pair to follow Idris' idea of becoming increasingly closer to make their characters seem more authentic Upon the film's initial release in October, cheeky Kate discussed the prospect of filming with the established Hollywood hunk. The stunning star was feeling particularly playful as she said: 'I was so excited to go up a mountain with Idris Elba. I don't know how else to put it.' Meanwhile, Idris reflected on the experience, revealing that having Kate as his on-screen lover was comforting, as he had never played a proper romantic role before. Sexy stuff: Upon the film's initial release in October, cheeky Kate discussed the prospect of filming with the established Hollywood hunk Tough times: Idris went on to explain the complexities of his on-screen romance with Kate, saying she encouraged the pair to follow Idris' idea of becoming increasingly closer to make their characters seem more authentic She said: 'I said 'Listen, I really want to get into this and I hope you don't mind if we spend a lot of time together. We had a relationship - I don't mean in the sense that we had a real relationship, but we went through the beats of a real relationship.' Idris went on to explain the complexities of his on-screen romance with Kate, saying she encouraged the pair to follow Idris' idea of becoming increasingly closer to make their characters seem more authentic. 'And she said, ''Yes! That's the way to do it, otherwise it just comes across as fake,'' Idris revealed. She's preparing to give birth to her second child, with musician husband Gary Clark Jr. And Nicole Trunfio showed off her baby belly in a skin-tight black frock, while out in West Hollywood, California, on Tuesday. The 31-year-old was very much the doting mother, taking her adorable firstborn, son Zion, two, to a play date at Au Fudge Restaurant. In full bloom! Heavily pregnant Nicole Trunfio, 31, showed off her baby belly in a skin-tight black frock, as she took her adorable son Zion, two, to a play date in West Hollywood, California, on Tuesday Nicole showed off her pregnancy curves in a skin-tight black frock, with a dramatic thigh split. A camouflage print jacket covered the model's upper frame, while a pair of white sneakers ensured she was light on her feet. Nicole accessorised with her sparkling wedding rings, a delicate necklace from her own label Erth, and stylish round-rimmed sunglasses. Allowing her brunette locks to fall effortlessly in a centre part, the former television presenter appeared to sport a minimal makeup palette. Bumping along nicely: The model showed off her pregnancy curves in a skin-tight black frock, with a dramatic thigh split Coordinating style: A camouflage print jacket covered Nicole's upper frame, while a pair of white sneakers ensured she was light on her feet Very much a hands-on mother, Nicole kept a close eye on her precious son Zion. The toddler looked cute as a button in a red striped T-shirt, cropped lightwash jeans, red socks and silver glitter lace-up boots. Every inch the cool kid, Zion wore a beaded necklace. Hands-on: The former television presenter doted on her precious son, carrying him on her hip Precious: Zion looked cute as a button in a red striped T-shirt, cropped lightwash jeans, red socks and glitter lace-up boots Adorable: The pair looked to be relishing quality time together In high spirits, Zion was pictured jumping on the pavement. Nicole later carried Zion on her hip, clearly relishing quality time with her young son. The Vogue Australia cover girl is believed to be 34 weeks along, and is expecting her second child with musician husband, Gary Clark Jr., 33. Her little man: Nicole gazed adoringly at her firstborn High spirits: Zion could not contain his excitement as he headed to the play date with his famous mother Nicole announced on October 17 that she and Gary are expecting a girl. The entrepreneur is believed to have had two baby showers recently, one in Austin, Texas, and the other in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. A number of celebrity friends joined Nicole for her baby shower in LA, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jessica Gomes and Renee Bargh in attendance. Expanding their brood: The Vogue Australia cover girl is believed to be 34 weeks along, and is expecting her second child with musician husband, Gary Clark Jr., 33 She had stormed the runway as part of this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai at the end of November. And showcasing her catwalk credentials in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday, Blanca Padilla looked simply stunning as she stepped out in her native to attend the 15th anniversary of Glamour magazine at the Ritz Hotel. The beauty, 22, slipped into a ballerina-inspired mini dress that sheathed her lithe frame and boasted a statement tutu skirt, as she found herself honoured with the International Model Award at the fashion bash. Scroll down for video Beauty: Blanca Padilla looked simply stunning as she stepped out in her native to attend the 15th anniversary of Glamour magazine at the Ritz Hotel Thrilled with the honour, Blanca couldn't hide her delight as she rubbed shoulders with the fashion world's elite while commanding attention in her cream and gold frock. It boasted a bandeau neckline and a fitted bodice that highlighted the starlet's model physique, before billowing out around her in a structured tutu skirt that came complete with multiple petticoat layers. Making a very leggy appearance in the eye-wateringly short number, Blanca showcased her catwalk-worthy pins while strutting along in a pair of black sandal heels that came complete with ribbon detailing around the ankle. Stunning: The beauty, 22, slipped into a ballerina-inspired mini dress that sheathed her lithe frame and boasted a statement tutu skirt, as she found herself honoured with the International Model Award at the fashion bash Model behaviour: Thrilled with the honour, Blanca couldn't hide her delight as she rubbed shoulders with the fashion world's elite while commanding attention in her cream and gold frock She wore her glossy brunette mane down to fall past her shoulders, with her tresses styled into soft glamorous curls and swept over to one side. To receive her prize, Blanca favoured a flawless make-up look that made sure to accentuate her striking features with contoured cheeks, a subtle smokey-eye and a dark red lip. She was seen striking up a slew of poses on her arrival to the bash held in the Spanish capital, before clasping her hands in delight - no doubt honoured to have been name the publication's International Model of the Year. Her appearance in her native Spain comes after Blanca was recently unveiled as the new face of Givenchy Beauty in October. Making a statement: It boasted a bandeau neckline and fitted bodice, before billowing out around her in a structured tutu skirt that came complete with multiple petticoat layers She was first discovered on the subway in Madrid as a teen and later signed to Next Model Management. Since then, Blanca has gone on to star in campaigns for Dolce & Gabbanna and has graced the covers of both Vogue Mexico and Vogue Espana. Other major fashion houses she has walked for include Balmain, Anna Sui, Dior, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Versace. Blanca made her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show debut in 2014 - becoming the fourth Spanish model to take to the runway for the lingerie brand. Fans recently saw her storm the runway in Shanghai, alongside Adriana Lima, Bella Hadid, Sara Sampaio, and Karlie Kloss. The showcase had been the last to include Victoria's Secret veteran Alessandra Ambrosio, as she has decided to give up her wings. Sensational: Making a very leggy appearance in the eye-wateringly short number, Blanca showcased her catwalk-worthy pins while strutting along in a pair of black sandal heels In-demand: Her appearance in her native Spain comes after Blanca was recently unveiled as the new face of Givenchy Beauty in October, with the star storming the runway for Victoria's Secret a month later She has retired from her modelling duties with the brand in the hope of spending more time with her family and focusing on her swimwear range, as well as expanding on her acting career. This year, Harry Styles and Miguel had performed alongside the angles as they took to the catwalk in their dazzling designs. The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is considered to be the most-watched fashion event of the years, with 800million people believed to tune in to see the models take to the catwalk in the bejewelled ensembles. According to Harper's Bazaar, it's claimed around $12million (9.2million) is spent on putting the major fashion event together, with a slew of famous musicians accompanying the models as they showcase the brand's show-stopping designs. Delight! She stormed the runway in Shanghai, alongside Adriana Lima, Bella Hadid, Sara Sampaio, and Karlie Kloss for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2017 held in Shanghai She is no stranger to having all eyes on her both on and off the screen. And Tuesday night proved to be no exception for Lily James, as she garnered attention by pulling a slew of funny faces while stepping out to attend a secret screening of new movie The Darkest Hour in Leicester Square, London. Her animated display comes after the actress, 28, stopped by The One Show to discuss her new movie, but left fans amused after revealing how she had 'broken her toe' on the set of Mamma Mia 2. Scroll down for video Amusing: Lily James garnered attention by pulling a slew of funny faces while stepping out to attend a secret screening of new movie The Darkest Hour in Leicester Square, London on Tuesday Lily looked nothing short of glamorous for her jam-packed evening in the capital and paired together a monochrome ensemble and leather Baker cap. The beauty sported a cream polka dot blouse, that boasted a keyhole design at the chest, and teamed it with a spotted black pleated midi skirt. Lily donned a pair of leather brogues on her feet and kept the winter chill at bay with a tailored coat and complementing scarf. She left her blonde tresses down to fall just past her shoulders and wore her locks in soft glamorous curls. Accentuating her natural beauty, the starlet favoured a subtle make-up look, that came complete with blusher swept cheeks and a bronzed-hue around her eyes. Pulling a grimace: The actress, 28, looked nothing short of glamorous for her jam-packed evening in the capital and paired together a monochrome ensemble and leather Baker cap As she made her way into the screening, Lily had all eyes on her thanks to her playful display, as she was caught making a number of amusing faces in front of photographers. Hours earlier, she had stopped by The One Show to discuss her latest release which follows the life of Winston Churchill played by Gary Oldman. Lily plays the role of his personal secretary Elizabeth Layton and insisted filming for the movie had been 'thrilling', thanks to Oldman's convincing portrayal of the former Prime Minister. She said: 'It was so thrilling for me working with Gary - it felt like Churchill really was pacing behind me and I was hoping I wasn't going to screw it up!' Speaking about the movie, which is set for release in January, Lily added: 'I just think it's incredible to play that woman, Elizabeth Layton, who was with [Churchill] throughout the Second World War and to be that close to this great man who is saving our future. Centre of attention: As she made her way into the screening, Lily had all eyes on her thanks to her playful display Chic: The beauty sported a cream polka dot blouse, that boasted a keyhole design at the chest, and teamed it with a spotted black pleated midi skirt 'She is his personal secretary and she's literally with him when he is creating these speeches and pacing the room... I knew that Churchill had this extravagant sense of humour, but when I watched it, I was surprised at how much it made me laugh.' As well as The Darkest Hour, Lily has been busy working on the second Mamma Mia movie, where she plays the teen version of Meryl Streep's character Donna, as the film delves into her younger years and her relationships. Lily confessed that while on set she had actually broken her toe, as she told One Show hosts Alex Jones and Matt Baker: 'I do actually have a broken toe that I am squeezing into shoes I shouldn't. I ran into a lighting stand... I'm really clumsy!' Hours earlier, she had stopped by The One Show to discuss her latest The Darkest Hour which follows the life of Winston Churchill played by Gary Oldman - she stars as Churchill's personal secretary Elizabeth Layton Oops! Lily also confessed during her TV appearance that she had 'broken her toe' set of the Mamma Mia sequel, as she had walked into a lighting stand She added of the film: 'I had the best time [on set]. It was just an insane amount of fun.' When quizzed over which Abba tracks would be included this time round, given that so many of the band's iconic hits featured in the first movie, Lily teased: 'You'd be surprised! 'There's some absolute bangers and a lot of original songs are repeated too... and I should probably stop there before I get murdered.' Lily features in the Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again cast with returning stars Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper. Having a ball: She added of the film: 'I had the best time [on set]. It was just an insane amount of fun' She's never afraid to throw herself into her characters onscreen. And Nicole Kidman's latest movie role in new release The Killing of a Sacred Deer sees her stripping off in very explicit scenes alongside her co-star Colin Farrell. The actress, 50, is seen stripping down to just her lacy lingerie, as she writhes around on a bed before indulging in a steamy encounter with her character's beau. Scroll down for video Steamy: Nicole Kidman's latest movie role in new release The Killing of a Sacred Deer sees her stripping off in very explicit scenes alongside her co-star Colin Farrell The Killing of a Sacred Deer follows the life of a surgeon named Steven Murphy (played by Farrell) who forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, played by Barry Keoghan, that leads to disastrous results. Steven is faced with a 'terrible decision as his family succumbs to inexplicable suffering' in the psychological thriller, where Nicole plays the role of his wife Anna. In the release, the relationship between the married couple is depicted in a number of steamy scenes, with Nicole putting on a very racy display as her character appears to seduce her onscreen husband. Racy: The actress, 50, is seen stripping down to just her lacy lingerie, as she writhes around on a bed before indulging in a steamy encounter with her character's beau Scantily-clad: Nicole oozes confidence in her lace underwear in the scenes Experienced: Having starred in a number of sex scenes throughout her movie career, including a number of intense encounters in hit HBO series Big Little Lies, Nicole is no stranger to putting herself out there on screen Sultry: Nicole's character appears to seduce her onscreen husband played by Farrell Stripping off, the beauty is pictured in just a lilac lace bra, teasing a look at her assets and exposing her incredibly toned stomach. She leaves little to the imagination in a pair of barely-there briefs, as she throws herself onto a bed while her beau watches on. Having starred in a number of sex scenes throughout her movie career, including a number of intense encounters in hit HBO series Big Little Lies, Nicole is no stranger to putting herself out there on screen. The intimate moment, set to send pulses racing, then leads to the two characters enjoying a steamy romp, with Farrell's character removing his onscreen love's lingerie and Nicole appearing completely nude. Explicit: Stripping off, the beauty is pictured in just a lilac lace bra, teasing a look at her assets and exposing her incredibly toned stomach Setting pulses racing: She leaves little to the imagination in a pair of barely-there briefs, as she throws herself onto a bed before her onscreen beau climbs on top of her Intimate: The intimate moment, set to send temperatures soaring, then leads to the two characters enjoying a steamy romp Up close: Farrell's character Steven is seen kissing his wife's bare body in the steamy scenes Speaking about the release, Farrell admits that he found filming for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, very 'dark'. He and Kidman had appeared alongside each other on BBC's The Graham Norton Show, with the Irish actor revealing: 'The director is a very particular film maker. It is very dark but I found it fascinating to morph into what he wanted. 'I think Yorgos thought he had made an outright comedy. But I found it pretty dark and I was depressed by it.' Colin, talking about the preparation he did for his character, cardiologist Stephen Murphy, had said: 'I attended a real heart bypass surgery, it was disturbing and fascinating. I turned green and had to step out of the room. Even though the patient was alive and survived, it screamed "cadaver."' Hot and heavy: The surgeon appears to remove his wife's lingerie as they get up close and personal in bed Woah: At one point during the steamy clinch, Nicole's character Anna is sprawled out across the bed completely nude Nicole, meanwhile, told The Upcoming on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year that she likes to 'takes risks' when it comes to her movie roles. She said: 'I'm crazy and I will continue to be crazy until I am an old woman, I always say, "Why not?" instead of overthinking things. 'I like to try things and be open and embrace people like Yorgos, he has a very distinctive style... it's a privilege.' Intense: The Killing of a Sacred Deer follows the life of a surgeon named Steven Murphy (played by Farrell) who forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, played by Barry Keoghan, that leads to disastrous results Dark: Steven is faced with a 'terrible decision as his family succumbs to inexplicable suffering' in the psychological thriller, where Nicole plays the role of his wife Anna Daring to bare: At one point, Nicole's character Anna is seen removing her clothing to reveal her bare assets underneath 'The beauty of being an actor is discovering different voices of different directors and being able to mould yourself,' she claimed. Director Yorgos, meanwhile, has revealed that Nicole had approached him when it comes to his work. 'Nicole seeks out filmmakers when she knows their word,' he told Indie Wire. 'She knows she wants to work with them. We knew that we liked each other. I obviously liked her!' Twisted: Speaking about the release, Farrell admits that he found filming for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, very 'dark' CONTAINS STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI SPOILER Fans can barely contain themselves as they wait for the latest Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, to hit cinema screens on Thursday. But with less than 24 hours to go, Holly Willoughby slipped up live on This Morning and revealed a major plot point as she interviewed star of the film John Boyega. Interviewing him alongside Phillip Schofield the morning after the London premiere of the eighth film in the sci-fi franchise, Holly declared that iconic character Yoda is set to return in the movie. Scroll down for video 'You can't tell the fans what happens!' John Boyega scolds Holly Willoughby as she drops MASSIVE Star Wars: The Last Jedi spoiler on live TV This left John speechless, looking around the hotel room he was being interviewed from in shock. Cringing at Holly's bombshell, he said to her: 'You cant tell the fans what happens!' Clearly dumbstruck and slightly panicked, Holly tried to cover her tracks. 'I dont know what happens. But its out there,' she stammered. John was quick to reply: 'I cant reveal that.' Slip of the tongue: Clearly dumbstruck and slightly panicked, Holly tried to cover her tracks. 'I dont know what happens. But its out there,' she stammered Oops: This left John speechless, looking around the hotel room he was being interviewed from in shock Still flustered, Holly said: 'I dont know!' Trying to add humour to proceedings, John joked: 'Maybe it was just another short alien. Maybe it was me on my knees.' Still grasping, Holly added: 'You do a good Yoda impression, thats what I was getting at...' Should the spoiler be correct, this will be Yoda's first appearance in the franchise since 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His voice was heard in 2015's The Force Awakens when the character Rey discovers Luke Skywalker's lightsaber; but this was not an on-screen appearance. Back again? Should the spoiler be correct, this will be Yoda's first appearance in the franchise since 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith The character has appeared in every other movie in the franchise aside from the very first film, A New Home, in 1977. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been well-received by the critics. Taking control of the franchise from J.J. Abrams, director Rian Johnson has been lauded for his 'bold' but also 'witty' and 'nostalgic' eighth installment, which is set for release on December 15. However, with an 152-minute running time, other critics were quick to bemoan its length, which they claim caused the plot to become 'muddled' and 'confused'. The Last Jedi comes two years after The Force Awakens, and picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke's First Order - which is trying to take over the galaxy. Success: It is the most highly anticipated movie of the year - and if the reviews are anything to go by, Star Wars: The Last Jedi certainly does not disappoint (Daisy Ridley pictured) Main man: Director Rian Johnson has been lauded for his 'bold' but also 'witty' and 'nostalgic' eighth installment, which is set for release on December 15. Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to join the Resistance, and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule. Jam-packed with action scenes and exciting lightsaber sequences, Johnson's thrilling but also thought-provoking narrative received rave reviews. The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft'. Total Film commented on its 'excellent' twists and turns, calling it a 'middle chapter bursting with wit, wisdom, emotion, shocks, old-fashioned derring-do, state-of-the-art tech, and stonking set-pieces.' The publication were also quick to praise Johnson himself, calling him a 'master' of misdirection, who leaves the viewer thrilled by its 'breakneck twists and hairpin turns'. Moving: The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft' Dragging: However, the Last Jedi's length and confused mid-section was a prominent theme in the reviews - with many critics agreeing a number of scenes were unnecessary However, the Last Jedi's dragging length and confused mid-section was also a prominent theme in the reviews - with many critics agreeing a number of scenes were unnecessary to the story. The Washington Post praised its action scenes, affirming it contained 'arguably the most exciting lightsaber fight in the entire franchise'. However, they added the contrast of the thrilling action with what felt like 'fundamental failures of movie writing' resulted in a 'jarring' finished piece, including unnecessary new characters and difficult dialogue. Others were more brutal in their criticism - with The Verge claiming 'audiences will likely come away from The Last Jedi with a lot of complaints and questions,' while Variety deemed it 'the longest and least essential chapter in the series.' Bold: The Washington Post praised its action scenes, affirming it contained 'arguably the most exciting lightsaber fight in the entire franchise' People were more positive with their critique, adding: 'Rian Johnson's entry into the Star Wars canon is rebelliously bold at times and full of rousing surprises, which make up for a few lulls in the lengthy two-and-a-half-hour run time.' The Independent followed suit, praising the 'new aliens and areas aplenty' and revealing 'the movie zings with fresh ideas.' Yet, they also claimed the action was perhaps a tool to overshadow the lacking storyline, writing: 'One of the criticisms will be that many of the plot devices feel clunky just excuses for cool scenes.' However, the publication confirmed the film will still 'leave fans beaming with surprise', thanks to the 'tidal wave of energy and emotion that crashes out of the screen'. Star of the show: However, critics appeared to pin this high level of rousing emotion to Mark Hamill - who reprises his role as Luke Skywalker, first played in 1977 (above) Critics appeared to pin this high level of rousing emotion to Mark Hamill - who reprises his famous Luke Skywalker role, which he first played in 1977. After a fleeting appearance in The Force Awakens, Empire praised his 'moving performance', which 'perfectly captured how a gosh-and-golly farm boy can become sarcastic and embittered,' upon return to action beside the younger Daisy Ridley. Radio Times agreed it was his fall from idol status that made the film so moving - admitting it was 'great to see [him] back in the Skywalker saddle, albeit now riddled with self-doubt and a broken spirit.' Here he is: After a fleeting appearance in The Force Awakens, Empire praised his 'moving performance', which 'captured how a farm boy can become sarcastic and embittered' Dream team: In the film, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley, above) tries to convince Skywalker to join the Resistance, and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule Tough: Despite their winning chemistry on-screen, Daisy recently admitted she struggled learning to trust her new on-screen partner and franchise veteran Mark Despite their winning chemistry on-screen, Daisy recently admitted she struggled learning to trust her new on-screen partner and franchise veteran Mark. Speaking at the UK premiere she said: 'I was nervous going in, because John [Boyega] and I were no longer together, and John is my peanut. 'So I think more than anything, I learned to put your trust in those around you and itll all turn out pretty well. Putting my trust in Mark and Rian [Johnson, the movies director] mainly, was wonderful.' When asked if she found it any easier the second time around, she said: 'I actually felt more nervous because I didnt know what I was doing the first time around, and you kind of think, how am I supposed to do something again when I didnt know what I did the first time? Having a ball: However, she added: 'Putting my trust in Mark and Rian [Johnson, the movies director] mainly, was wonderful' Dark horse: Adam's Kylo Ren received particularly positive reviews, with the Guardian calling his appearance 'superb' This is her moment: Meanwhile Kelly Marie Tran (above) was praised as 'terrifically good' 'And I think because people responded so well to John and I together that was a big thing too, thinking how are people going to respond when were not together. 'So it was nerve-wracking. But again, as relationships grow and you start to get comfortable, it settles into a wonderful six months.' The star-studded ensemble cast joining the two leads this time included John Boyega, as well as Lupita Nyong'o, Adam Driver and Andy Serkis. Adam's Kylo Ren received particularly positive reviews, with the Guardian calling his appearance 'superb', alongside the 'terrifically good' Kelly Marie Tran. The Last Jedi also ends with a dedication to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher, in her final film appearance - universally praised as the ultimate tear-jerking moment by critics. RIP: The Last Jedi also ends with a dedication to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher, in her final film appearance - universally praised as the ultimate tear-jerking moment by critics George Clooney once gifted 14 of his closest friends $1.3million each as a thank you gift for helping him make it in Hollywood. His close pal Rande Gerber - who is married to supermodel Cindy Crawford - recalled the highly generous moment on the US show Headliners which saw the silver-haired fox invite everyone to his pad and surprise them with a suitcase full of money each. It was also recently reported by Page Six that the actor, 56, and his wife Amal Clooney, 39, handed out personalised headphones to fellow passengers on a flight to apologise for any potential noise caused by their six-month-old twins, Ella and Alexander. Scroll down for video Jackpot! George Clooney, 56, once gifted 14 of his closest friends $1.3million each as a thank you gift for helping him make it in Hollywood With humble beginnings in Kentucky, George proved to be more than grateful for the people who saw, and helped him, rise through the ranks on his journey to stardom. His role as Dr. Doug Ross on ER finally catapulted him to fame in 1994 and he soon became Hollywood's most famous leading man - no doubt, giving him financial stability. Businessman and former model Rande, 55, detailed the moment Clooney finally thanked those nearest and dearest with a lavish gift. 'There's a group of guys that we call 'The Boys'. George had called me and 'The Boys' and said, "Hey, mark September 27, 2013 on your calendar. Everyone's going to come to my house for dinner." Thinking about others: It was also recently reported that the actor and his wife Amal Clooney , 39, handed out personalised headphones to fellow passengers on a flight to apologise for any noise caused by their six-month-old twins, Ella and Alexander 'George begins to say, "Listen, I want you guys to know how much you've meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life. I came to Los Angeles, I slept on your couch. I'm so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldn't be where I am today without all of you. "So it was really important to me that while we're still all here together, that I give back. So I want you all to open your suitcases,"' Rande teased the story which happened four years ago. Rande then detailed their surprise at what was in their suitcases: 'Every one of us - 14 of us - got a million dollars. Every single one of us. We're in shock. Like, what is this? 'He goes, "I know we've all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You don't have to worry about your kids, you don't have to worry about, you know, school, you don't have to worry about paying your mortgage'", Rande recalled his heartfelt speech. 'We were in shock!' Rande detailed everyone's surprise at the $1.3million in their suitcases 'One was working at a bar in Texas at the airport, trying just to support his family. Rides a bicycle to work every day. I mean these are guys that took care of George and now he's giving it all back. And George said, "Not only that, I have paid everyone's taxes so this million dollars is yours."' Rande, who is dad to rising models Kaia, 16, and Presley, 18, admitted that he initially refused the money - but was met with blackmail in return. Further cementing George's generosity, Rande explained: 'I pull him aside and said, "I absolutely am not taking this million dollars." 'Immediately George goes, "I'm just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesn't take the million dollars, nobody gets it." ... This is who George is!' Speaking how things came full circle, George's buddy noted: 'That was September 27th, 2013. Now September 27th, 2014, he marries Amal. Now that's good karma right there.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for George for further comment. George's kindhearted nature also came to light by Page Six who revealed that George and wife Amal handed all the passengers on their flight to the UK noise-cancelling headphones to shield them from any noise from their young twins. A note 'apologising ahead of time' - and featured George's Casamigos Tequila logo - was also included. This comes after George opened up about being hands-on parents alongside Amal, even though it can be a 'total train wreck' when he changes the babies' diapers. The Ocean's Eleven star spoke with Sunday Life earlier this month about his responsibilities as a parent and getting his 'hands dirty' after it was reported the couple don't have a full-time nanny. 'It's my job. What's the point of being a parent if you don't get your hands dirty? That's what it's all about,' he said. He expressed his amazement at how Ella and Alexander have already formed their personalities in five short months. 'He's this little thug, this out-there personality, and she's very sweet-natured and dainty,'' he described. Paul Hogan has launched legal action against Grill'd claiming it used one of Crocodile Dundee's catchphrases on its cutlery sleeves. The 78-year-old actor has accused the fast food chain of 'flagrant' breach of copyright for including his famous line 'That's not a knife, that's a knife' on their products. Paul claims the restaurant company 'refused' to stop making the cutlery sleeves and has asked for increased damages due to their 'flagrant disregard' for his copyright, The Australian reported. Scroll down for video Sharpening up for a knife fight! Paul Hogan launches legal action against Grill'd after the burger chain used his famous line from Crocodile Dundee on their store merchandise Grill'd has yet to file a defense to these claims. The Crocodile Dundee star claims that by using 'the knife line' it looks like he has endorsed the use-this, he amounts to Grill'd making a 'false' representation that their use of the quote was sanctioned by him on their cutlery sleeves and have breached copyright. According to News Corp, in his court papers Paul is seeking increased 'exemplary damages' because Grill'd 'has been engaged in flagrant disregard' of his copyright and 'refused to enter an agreement' to stop making the sleeves. Paul argues in court documents the 'knife line' is valuable to him and his company, Rimfire Films, as Crocodile Dundee is an important part of Australia pop culture and has been seen by many Grill'd customers. Legal action: Paul is going to court over the use of the Crocodile Dundee line on the cutlery sleeve Argument: Paul is seeking increased 'exemplary damages' because Grill'd 'has been engaged in flagrant disregard' of his copyright Iconic role: Paul followed up the successful film with two sequels 1988's Crocodile Dundee II and 2001's Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles Film history: In the now famous scene, Paul's character Mick Dundee scares off a mugger with a switchblade by pulling out a larger knife In the now famous scene, Paul's character Mick Dundee scares off a mugger with a switchblade by pulling out a larger knife. Along with 'throwing another shrimp on the barbie', the 'that's a knife' line has gone down in movie history. Paul followed up the successful film with two sequels 1988's Crocodile Dundee II and 2001's Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. Interest in the film series was renewed earlier in February after Channel Seven released a two part biopic on Paul's rise to fame titled Hoges. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Grill'd and Paul's representatives for comment. She was recognised as a 2018 Golden Globe nominee on Monday, for her portrayal of figure skater Tonya Harding, in I, Tonya. And on Wednesday, Margot Robbie received another nomination for the same role, this time for an AACTA International Award. The 27-year-old scored a nod for Best Lead Actress. Scroll down for video Australia's golden girl! Margot Robbie, 27, continued her nomination streak on Wednesday, as she's recognised by the AACTA International Awards for her portrayal of figure skater Tonya Harding, in biographical drama, I, Tonya Margot plays competitive ice skater Tonya Harding, in the biographical drama I, Tonya. The film is produced by the actress and her husband Tom Ackerley, 27. Not only is Margot a contender for an AACTA International Award, she is also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, in the musical and comedy category. Meanwhile, the blonde beauty is not the only Australian to be recognised at the Golden Globes, with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman also receiving nominations. On a roll: The starlet's nomination for an AACTA International Award, comes shortly after the Golden Globes listed their nominees for 2018 Aussie stars: Margot, Nicole Kidman (right) and Hugh Jackman, have all been nominated for Golden Globes in 2018, it was announced on Monday While her show Big Little Lies headed up the nominations, Nicole Kidman was personally recognised for her portrayal of Celeste Wright. The 50-year-old actress was given the nod for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, for her role in Big Little Lies. And Big Little Lies wasn't the only project of hers to be up for an accolade, with Top of the Lake: China Girl also up for an award. Nicole's husband Keith Urban was quick to congratulate his wife, writing on Twitter: 'Hey baby- CONGRATULATIONS on all the GLOBES love this morn!!!!!! He added: 'Incredibly proud of you, the work, and all the BLL and TOTL team. THE STARS ALIGNED!!! xxxxxx KU #GoldenGlobes.' Doing the Aussies proud: Nicole Kidman is up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, while Big Little Lies has six nominations in total (Pictured from left: Shailene Woodley, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman) Not to be outdone by his female counterparts, Hugh Jackman also impressed with his acting skills. The 49-year-old nabbed a nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, in the musical and comedy category, for his performance in The Greatest Showman. Reacting to the news, Hugh took to Twitter, writing: 'Over 7 years ago we began the journey to get @GreatestShowman made into a major motion picture. 'Through all of the (literal) blood, sweat and tears .... giving up was never an option. As it is said - with great risk comes great reward. Thank you #HFPA! @goldenglobes.' He's still got it! Hugh Jackman, 49, nabbed a nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture in the musical and comedy category, for his role in The Greatest Showman Also receiving recognition for his on-screen performance is industry stalwart Geoffrey Rush, 66. The Australian actor got the nod in the Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie category for his role in Genius. Meanwhile, rising star Katherine Langford was nominated for the Best Actress in a TV Drama award, for her portrayal of Hannah Baker in controversial Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Last Christmas saw Sally Obermeder in a hotel room, awaiting the birth of her second daughter, via a US surrogate. But fast forward a year, and the festive season looks remarkably different, as the 44-year-old reflects on the special bond between her two daughters, Annabelle, six, and Elyssa, one. 'She adores Elyssa and in the morning she gets into her cot with her,' the television presenter revealed in an interview with News Corp on Thursday. 'Annabelle adores Elyssa': Sally Obermeder, 44, opened up on the special bond between her two daughters, in Thursday's The Daily Telegraph, as she prepares to celebrate Christmas with her brood Sally welcomed her second daughter Elyssa into the world, with husband Marcus, last December, via a surrogate, after doctors were concerned that a pregnancy could be fatal. 'Our surrogate, Rachel, is special, she's just a special human being,' the mother-of-two gushed, before adding: 'Watching her give birth to Elyssa was so joyous.' Sally received a breast cancer diagnosis the day before she was due to give birth to first daughter Annabelle, in October 2011. Bundle of joy: Sally welcomed her second daughter Elyssa into the world, with husband Marcus, last December, via a surrogate, after doctors were concerned that a pregnancy could be fatal Gushing: 'Our surrogate, Rachel, is special, she's just a special human being,' the mother-of-two gushed in an interview with News Corp, before adding: 'Watching her give birth to Elyssa was so joyous' The media personality faced an uphill battle as she underwent intense treatment to eliminate the cancer, including chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. But as of September this year, Sally was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, revealing to Body & Soul that she's reached the milestone of being five years cancer-free. Speaking to the publication, the entrepreneur said she was ecstatic to receive the 'all-clear.' Challenging times: The television presenter received a breast cancer diagnosis the day before she was due to give birth to first daughter Annabelle (pictured), in October 2011 Road to recovery: But as of September this year, Sally was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, revealing to Body & Soul that she's reached the milestone of being five years cancer-free 'I feel like I've been holding my breath for five years and I can finally breathe properly again,' she divulged. 'There's always a low-level anxiety you live with will it come back? Is this going to be it? especially before a scan. 'I know the routine well but the inner dialogue and emotion is so full on, I was nervous going to that scan and when it came back clear... My gosh, the relief!' Since getting her first all-clear scan back in 2012, Sally has experienced a new lease on life and admitted she'd been living every day like it was her last. Relief: The entrepreneur said she was ecstatic to receive the 'all-clear': 'I feel like I've been holding my breath for five years and I can finally breathe properly again' There was a report that Brad Pitt had 'landed the woman of his dreams' in Jennifer Lawrence. But love between two of the biggest stars in the world seems to be a mere fantasy. A source close to the 54-year-old star told Dailymail.com that he is not actually dating the 27-year-old Oscar-winning actress. 'It is complely false,' the source explained. 'It is completely false': Dailymail.com has been told that Brad Pitt is NOT dating Jennifer Lawrence after a Star magazine report that the two A-listers 'have an intense connection' This comes after a report from Star magazine in which an insider for their publication said: 'Brad and Jennifer have been enjoying lots of late nights together. There's an intense connection between them!' Dailymail.com has also reached out to Lawrence's reps for comment. Lawrence recently split with 48-year-old director Darren Aronofsky after one year of dating just last month so she is may be single and ready to mingle. Pitt has stayed relatively quiet romantically since splitting with estranged wife Angelina Jolie in September 2016. Former flame: Lawrence recently split with 48-year-old director Darren Aronofsky after one year of dating just last month, as the two are pictured together in New York back in September A-listers: Brad was famously married to Angelina Jolie before they split in September 2016, they are pictured together in New York back in November 2015 However according to the tabloid the Fight Club actor has been interested in the Silver Linings Playbook actress for quite sometime and apparently reached out after her split with the Black Swan director. An insider for star said: 'Brad has had his eye on Jennifer for years.' Brad reportedly reached out after getting her phone number from a mutual friend as it is claimed that he had a hard time gaining the courage to call the stunner' but was encouraged by one of her friends because 'he's been single long enough.' Jennifer had enjoyed a short romance with Coldplay frontman and Gwyneth Paltrow's ex Chris Martin which ended in August 2015, they are pictured in LA in May 2015 Back in the day: Gwyneth is a common thread between Brad and Jennifer as the Inglorious Basterds star dated the Shakespeare In Love Oscar winner for three years before breaking up in 1997, they are pictured in New York in March 1997 The source for the publication explained: 'Brad has been nervous to date, but anyone who knows Jen thinks she's perfect.' Before dating director Darren, Jennifer had enjoyed a short romance with Coldplay frontman and Gwyneth Paltrow's ex Chris Martin. Jennifer and the 40-year-old musician dated on-and-off for a year and ultimately split in August 2015. Young love: Jennifer also dated her X-Men: First Class co-star Nicolas Hoult after meeting on set of the film in 2010 as they were together on-off for five years, they are seen here in Monaco back in May 2012 Gwyneth is a common thread between Brad and Jennifer as the Inglorious Basterds star dated the Shakespeare In Love Oscar winner for three years before breaking up in 1997. Jennifer also dated her X-Men: First Class co-star Nicolas Hoult after meeting on set of the film in 2010. She and the 28-year-old British star split briefly in 2013 and ultimately ended a five year relationship in August 2014 before moving on with singer Martin. Not true: More recently there was a rumor that Brad had been dating Kate Hudson (in LA on Saturday) but the actress denied it during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live Brad famously split with Angelina Jolie in September 2016 just two years after their wedding in France in August 2014. The two infamously began dating after filming Mr & Mrs Smith together in 2005. The former A-list couple share six children together. More recently there was a rumor that Brad had been dating Kate Hudson but the actress denied it during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live last month. The 38-year-old star said: 'That was the craziest rumor of all time. No, there's nothing true to that. As a matter of fact I hadn't actually seen him in, like, four years.' One interesting thing is that both Brad and Jennifer were a part of the legendary Ellen DeGeneres star-studded selfie during the Oscars in February 2014. The cast of Pitch Perfect 3 made a hilarious appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday. Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Anna Camp played Heads Up! and discussed the future of the hit musical comedy series with host Ellen DeGeneres. 'We don't know. We're in denial. We don't want it to be the last one,' answered Camp, when asked about the possibility of a fourth installment. Scroll down for video Aca-awesome! Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Anna Camp played Heads Up! and discussed the future of the hit musical comedy series with host Ellen DeGeneres The four co-stars were sophisticated chic as they entered the holiday themed set in Burbank, California. Wilson, 37, dazzled in a red top and black miniskirt as Kendrick, 32, cut a cool figure in a bedazzled jacket and thigh high boots. Daring to impress, Snow, 31, looked pretty as a petal in floral couture as Camp rocked a sheer white top. The comedic actors opened up the interview with a revealing anecdote. Arrival: The four co-stars were sophisticated chic as they entered the holiday themed set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in Burbank, California, for Wednesday's episode Laugh it off: The comedic actors opened up the interview with a revealing anecdote about Kendrick forgetting her bra Kendrick had forgotten her bra and was wearing one of Camp's, which begged Ellen to ask Camp: 'So you travel with two bras?' Camp quickly quipped: 'No, I'm going commando', with Wilson adding: 'That would never work for me.' They also touched upon the fact that Snow has a silly theory that everybody has a 'serial killer trait'. Game on! The co-stars then donned two-person ugly Christmas sweaters to play the Charades-like game Heads Up! Good sports: The four ladies did their best with the game and looked hilarious in their double-headed holiday knitwear 'When it turns out you're a serial killer, that's the thing people will look at and go "ya know what, I should have known... she preferred creamy peanut butter,"' joked Kendrick. Snow brought up her theory because she teased Kendrick who lines up all her sunglasses neatly in a row in her hotel rooms. The co-stars then donned two-person ugly Christmas sweaters to play the Charades-like game Heads Up! Stretch it out! Wilson and Kendrick performed a yoga pose, which proved tricky thanks to their choice of outfit for the game Fall down funny: Camp and Snow couldn't contain their laughter and tumbled to the floor The first Pitch Perfect debuted in 2012 and was considered a sleeper hit as it earned $115 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. In 2015, the cast was brought back for an encore with Pitch Perfect 2 which grossed $287 million in five days. When asked if this was the last sequel, the actors lamented the idea. Original hit: The first Pitch Perfect debuted in 2012 and was considered a sleeper hit as it earned $115 million worldwide against a $17 million budget 'We hope not,' answered Snow. 'If it is the ending, we tried to make it satisfying and cathartic and it was certainly emotional to us because we don't know... it's not up to us if there will be more. 'But we would do it forever if we could,' added Kendrick. Pitch Perfect 3 debuts December 22. She is currently on the promo trail for the latest movie installment in the Star Wars franchise; The Last Jedi. And stealing the limelight once again, Daisy Ridley looked simply sensational as she stepped out for the film's photocall in London, held at the Corinthia Hotel on Thursday. The actress, 25, joined the upcoming release's star-studded cast in the capital, but caught the eye in a sleek tailored two-piece suit that made for a very sophisticated and chic display. Scroll down for video Beaming: Daisy Ridley looked simply sensational as she stepped out for the film's photocall in London, held at the Corinthia Hotel on Thursday Daisy, who plays the lead role of Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, donned a fitted blazer jacket that came complete with statement shoulders and a plunging neckline, before nipping in at the waist to accentuate her slender frame. It boasted two star embellishments, that sat just underneath her bust on the lapel of the jacket, and was paired together with matching cigarette style trousers. Adding extra height to her ensemble, Daisy sported a pair of semi-sheer stiletto boots on her feet and chose to forgo any accessories in order to let her minimalist getup take centre stage. Happy: Stars of the film (left to right) John Boyega, Daisy and Mark Hamill all posed together Stealing the show: Despite her glamorous appearance, it appeared BB-8 was keen on stealing the show Beauty: The actress, 25 caught the eye in a sleek tailored two-piece suit that made for a very sophisticated and chic display Leading lady: Daisy, who plays the lead role of Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, donned a fitted blazer jacket that came complete with statement shoulders and a plunging neckline, before nipping in at the waist to accentuate her slender frame The beauty wore her brunette mane in a slicked back style that was pinned back behind her ears and sectioned over to one side. She sported a flawless make-up, that highlighted her natural beauty and flawless complexion, with Daisy favouring a bold red lip to offset her attire. Her appearance in London comes after she was spotted with her rumoured new 'beau' Tom Bateman at the after-party of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi's UK premiere held on Tuesday night in the capital. Delight! She sported a flawless make-up, that highlighted her natural beauty and flawless complexion, with Daisy favouring a bold red lip to offset her attire Fabulous: It boasted two star embellishments, that sat just underneath her bust on the lapel of the jacket, and was paired together with matching cigarette style trousers The duo were pictured together in the bar in the lobby of their hotel - a month after film producer Judy Hofflund let slip last month that 'something kind happened' between the stars. Daisy and Tom are said to have 'fallen for one another' on the set of new movie Murder On The Orient Express, with Hofflund letting slip to the Daily Mirror: 'Something kinda happened with Tom and Daisy... but that's public news, right? I should keep my mouth shut.' When later pushed on whether the rumour was true, Tom skirted around the question and claimed the producers just like to 'create a buzz' sometimes. Daisy - who previously dated Charlie Hamblett - refused to comment last month when she was asked by press whether she had a man on the scene. She coyly replied at the time: 'I'm not saying.' New romance? Her appearance in London comes after she was spotted with her rumoured new 'beau' Tom Bateman at the after-party of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi's UK premiere held on Tuesday night in the capital Glamour: Daisy joined the star-studded cast of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, including Gwendoline Christie, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran (pictured L-R) She, meanwhile, was joined by her Star Wars co-stars in London, including John Boyega who cut a dapper figure at the photo call. He stepped out sporting a camel-hued sweatshirt and complementing coat with a pair of dark jeans. Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie favoured a black shift dress that boasted pussy-bow detailing at the neck, while Laura Dern stunned in an eye-catching metallic red suit. Joining the stars on the red carpet had been Domhnall Gleeson and returning star Mark Hamill, who had played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars franchise released in 1977. They were joined by BB-8 who appeared to steal the show, once again after causing a stir at the movie's premiere. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, has been well-received by critics. Dapper! John Boyega cut a suave figure for the event and sported a camel-hued sweatshirt and complementing coat with a pair of dark jeans In-demand: Boyega was seen rubbing shoulders with Ridley and returning Star Wars actor Mark Hamill Out-shined: The leading trio, however, appeared to be overshadowed by their robotic co-star Taking control of the franchise from J.J. Abrams, director Rian Johnson has been lauded for his 'bold' but also 'witty' and 'nostalgic' eighth installment, which is set for release on December 15. However, with a 152-minute running time, other critics were quick to bemoan its length, which they claim caused the plot to become 'muddled' and 'confused'. The Last Jedi comes two years after The Force Awakens, and picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke's First Order - which is trying to take over the galaxy. Rey (played by Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Hamill) to join the Resistance, and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule. Jam-packed with action scenes and exciting lightsaber sequences, Johnson's thrilling but also thought-provoking narrative received rave reviews. Making a comeback: Mark Hamill had played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars franchise released in 1977 Warm embrace: Laura Dern was seen greeting Hamill fondly as they took their place among their co-stars Sensational: Gwendoline and Laura caught the eye as they cut elegant figures on the red carpet Stylish: Game of Thrones star Gwendoline donned a chic shirt dress that boasted pussy-bow detailing at the neck, along with a pair of leather brogues The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft'. Total Film commented on its 'excellent' twists and turns, calling it a 'middle chapter bursting with wit, wisdom, emotion, shocks, old-fashioned derring-do, state-of-the-art tech, and stonking set-pieces.' The publication were also quick to praise Johnson himself, calling him a 'master' of misdirection, who leaves the viewer thrilled by its 'breakneck twists and hairpin turns'. However, the Last Jedi's dragging length and confused mid-section was also a prominent theme in the reviews - with many critics agreeing a number of scenes were unnecessary to the story. Competitive: She appeared to challenge her co-star Domhnall Glesson to a wall sit Feeling the burn? Gleeson proved he was a good sport as he assumed the gruelling position Trouble? Although, it appeared to cause the actor some difficulty when it came to his tight trousers The Washington Post praised its action scenes, affirming it contained 'arguably the most exciting lightsaber fight in the entire franchise'. However, they added the contrast of the thrilling action with what felt like 'fundamental failures of movie writing' resulted in a 'jarring' finished piece, including unnecessary new characters and difficult dialogue. Others were more brutal in their criticism - with The Verge claiming 'audiences will likely come away from The Last Jedi with a lot of complaints and questions,' while Variety deemed it 'the longest and least essential chapter in the series.' People were more positive with their critique, adding: 'Rian Johnson's entry into the Star Wars canon is rebelliously bold at times and full of rousing surprises, which make up for a few lulls in the lengthy two-and-a-half-hour run time.' Good spirits: Andy Serkis also stars in the upcoming release Powerful trio: Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been well-received by critics The Independent followed suit, praising the 'new aliens and areas aplenty' and revealing 'the movie zings with fresh ideas.' Yet, they also claimed the action was perhaps a tool to overshadow the lacking storyline, writing: 'One of the criticisms will be that many of the plot devices feel clunky just excuses for cool scenes.' However, the publication confirmed the film will still 'leave fans beaming with surprise', thanks to the 'tidal wave of energy and emotion that crashes out of the screen'. Critics appeared to pin this high level of rousing emotion to Mark Hamill - who reprises his famous Luke Skywalker role, which he first played in 1977. Close bond? Boyega was seen interacting with the film's fictional character BB-8 After a fleeting appearance in The Force Awakens, Empire praised his 'moving performance', which 'perfectly captured how a gosh-and-golly farm boy can become sarcastic and embittered,' upon return to action beside the younger Daisy Ridley. Radio Times agreed it was his fall from idol status that made the film so moving - admitting it was 'great to see [him] back in the Skywalker saddle, albeit now riddled with self-doubt and a broken spirit.' Despite their winning chemistry on-screen, Daisy recently admitted she struggled learning to trust her new on-screen partner and franchise veteran Mark. Speaking at the UK premiere she said: 'I was nervous going in, because John [Boyega] and I were no longer together, and John is my peanut. 'So I think more than anything, I learned to put your trust in those around you and itll all turn out pretty well. Putting my trust in Mark and Rian [Johnson, the movies director] mainly, was wonderful.' Well-received: The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft' When asked if she found it any easier the second time around, she said: 'I actually felt more nervous because I didnt know what I was doing the first time around, and you kind of think, how am I supposed to do something again when I didnt know what I did the first time? 'And I think because people responded so well to John and I together that was a big thing too, thinking how are people going to respond when were not together. 'So it was nerve-wracking. But again, as relationships grow and you start to get comfortable, it settles into a wonderful six months.' The Last Jedi also ends with a dedication to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher, in her final film appearance - universally praised as the ultimate tear-jerking moment by critics. He enjoyed a stellar series of his hit show which marked the triumphant return of his troubled sidekick Ant McParlin. But after over a month in Australia, Declan Donnelly looked thrilled to be finally back at his London home on Wednesday. Dressed in the same ensemble he jetted out of the country in, the star smiled after getting out of his taxi following a tiring 24 hour flight. Scroll down for video Time to relax! After over a month in Australia, Declan Donnelly looked thrilled to be finally back at his London home on Wednesday He was followed by his doting wife and manager, Ali Astall, who still managed to look glam despite the lengthy journey. The trip has been a huge success for Dec, who reunited with his best friend and co-presenter on the show, marking Ant's first time on TV following his rehab stint. However, despite looking happy and healthy, Ant didn't look quite as happy with the prospect of his return to the UK. The 42-year-old looked glum as he headed to the airport to catch a flight back to the UK, following rumours he will spend Christmas with his wife Lisa Armstrong, 'even if it is their last'. Dressed in the same ensemble he jetted out of the country in, the star smiled after getting out of his taxi following a tiring 24 hour flight as he was followed by wife Ali Astall Ready for a rest: Ali, dressed casually in a throw and jeans, looked ready to relax after a 24 hour flight Christmas time! The couple are expected to enjoy a leisurely Christmas after the pair's exhaustive stint Down Under Time for face the music: However, despite looking happy and healthy, Ant didn't look quite as happy with the prospect of his return to the UK as he jetted off from the Gold Coast Reports: Fuelling speculation that his 11-year marriage over, Ant is said to be putting his energy into overcoming his demons and focusing on his recovery when he jets back to London (Pictured with pal Declan Donnelly and wife Ali Astall) The pair have been living separately as Ant battled his addiction issues, with Lisa focusing on her job as head make-up artist on Strictly Come Dancing. Ant was joined by his ever supporting sidekick Declan Donnelly and his wife Ali Astall. They led the latest round of campmates who have been through the trials and tribulations of the show this year. Jungle queen Georgia Toffolo was still grinning from ear to ear as she arrived to fly home in a blue playsuit. Downcast: The 42-year-old looked glum as he headed to the airport to catch a flight back to the UK, following rumours he will spend Christmas with his wife Lisa Armstrong, 'even if it is their last' Firm friends: Ant was joined by his ever supporting sidekick Declan Donnelly and his wife Ali Astall Home for the holidays: Ali looked thrilled to be heading home after her and husband Dec's lengthy stint in Australia Matching: The presenters were coordinated as usual in casual clothes and trainers Reunion: Their return is just in time for Christmas, and according to sources close to Ant, he is keen to spend another festive season with his wife of eleven years, even if it is their last one Legging it: Jungle queen Georgia Toffolo was still grinning from ear to ear as she arrived to fly home in a blue playsuit Beaming: The champ was joined by her proud mum Nicola as they headed home after her stellar turn on the show Family affair: WAG Rebekah Vardy also headed to the airport with her children as they jetted home in time for Christmas Tickled pink: The brunette beauty flashed her tanned legs in a tiny denim hotpants as she pushed her own trolley Bag it up! Vanessa White went for ripped hot pants as she carried a plethora of hand luggage Happy families: Shappi Khorsandi held hands with her daughter as she finally headed home - after being evicted first The champ was joined by her proud mum Nicola as they headed home after her stellar turn on the show. WAG Rebekah Vardy also headed to the airport with her children as they jetted home in time for Christmas. The brunette beauty flashed her tanned legs in a tiny denim hotpants as she pushed her own trolley. Their return is just in time for Christmas, and according to sources close to Ant, he is keen to spend another festive season with his wife of eleven years, even if it is their last one. 'She's said they will see each other over Christmas,' a source told Heat of make-up artist Lisa. 'Lisa would rather stay friendly than be resentful. She doesn't want to ruin what they had this isn't a blame game. 'Ant wants to spend this Christmas with Lisa as her husband even if this could be the last time,' they added. MailOnline has contacted Lisa's representative for comment. This comes a few weeks after it was reported that Ant McPartlin will not move back in with his wife Lisa Armstrong after he returns from I'm A Celebrity hosting duties. The ITV host, 42, is currently making his TV comeback in the jungle Down Under following his summer stint in rehab for alcohol and painkiller addiction. Fuelling speculation that his 11-year marriage over, Ant is said to be putting his energy into overcoming his demons and focusing on his recovery when he jets back to London. The final festive season? The pair are believed to have been living separately as Dec battled his addiction issues Uncertain? This comes a few weeks after it was reported that Ant McPartlin will not move back in with his wife Lisa Armstrong after he returns from I'm A Celebrity hosting duties A source told the publication: 'This has been a difficult time and, while both want to make things work, they are struggling to find a way to move forward together. The insider added: 'Ants been bolstered by Im a Celebs viewing figures, which seem to show the public still support him. Lisa has been by herself, and having a good time with her pals has proved a good distraction.' A rep for Ant McPartlin declined to comment to MailOnline. Last month Lisa finally broke her silence on reports of marital woes with Ant following his battles with addiction. She took to Twitter to hit back at the long-running reports that the duo have separated, as she penned on the microblogging site: 'I'm not estranged thank you', adding that she hadn't been to Australia for 10 years so it wasn't a surprise that she hadn't joined Ant in the jungle. Viewers were delighted when Ant made his much-anticipated return to TV screens on the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! launch last Sunday night. And it has now been revealed that the TV presenter - who looked happy and healthy during the first episode alongside co-host Declan Donnelly in Australia- has lost 'up to a stone in weight' following his recent stint in rehab. A source told The Mirror: 'The last couple of months have been about him getting back to the Ant people know and love, and he has been exercising the knee, eating more healthily and drinking a lot less.' Speaking of the Ant - who checked into rehab in June to battle a two year battle to painkillers after a devastating knee injury and fertility issues - a source admitted: 'He put on some weight and looked tired and had bags under his eyes.' But with a visibly slimmed down Ant appearing on ITV screens, it was divulged: 'The results of all that, and work in the gym, are there for all to see now. He has lost up to a stone in weight and looks better than he has for years. It was also revealed that other than the grisly series ahead, it was his 'new look and physique' which was the 'talk of the crew over the weekend.' Broken silence: Last month Lisa finally broke her silence on reports of marital woes with Ant following his battles with addiction. She took to Twitter to hit back at the long-running reports that the duo have separated, writing: 'I'm not estranged thank you' (Pictured in 2006) Bouncing back: Viewers were delighted when Ant made his much-anticipated return to TV screens on the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! launch last Sunday night And for Ant, his recent stint in rehab was addressed as Dec opened the show by playfully joking he was planning to replace Ant with Holly Willoughby - quipping: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!' Beaming widely for cameras and walking to their famous perch in the jungle for the first time this series, Ant proved he was back to his best - after a summer battling drink and drug addictions. In the duo's usual witty style however, Dec immediately opened the show by joking about his friend's much-anticipated return. Having fun: And for Ant, his recent stint in rehab was addressed as Dec opened the show by playfully joking he was planning to replace Ant with Holly Willoughby - quipping: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!' He said to viewers: 'I'm here with the gorgeous Holly Willoughby...' before adding in mock horror: 'Wait, no! Guys that's the wrong script! You've put the wrong script in!' Turning to Ant, who was stood in mock outrage, Dec continued the joke by stating, in reference to his pal's rehab stint: 'No one was sure if you would make it or not!' Confirming to fans he was better than ever however, the famous Geordie assured: 'I was always going to make it, come on.' He then added excitedly: 'I'm back my friend!', before the pair sweetly hugged, to the applause of the production crew. Comedian Artie Lange has been arrested for skipping a court appearance. Lange, 50, was arrested Tuesday night at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey and was still in jail as of Wednesday morning, TMZ reports. Authorities say Lange failed to appear in Superior Court in Essex County for charges stemming from a drug arrest earlier this year. Worrying: Artie Lange was arrested on Tuesday night for skipping court for charges stemming from a drug arrest earlier this year. He posted this selfie Friday displaying a swollen nose The star's arrest follows a strange incident on Friday in which the comedian tweeted a picture of himself with a swollen nose. He captioned it: 'Hey I got a quick message for u Ang. U aint the man. U run for the man. I fear nothing.' It's not clear whether his swollen nose is an injury or an infection but Hoboken police responded to Lange's home and he later apologized. 'Everything isnt funny as the Great Hoboken Police just explained to me. Im so sorry I made those guys deal with unimportant crap. Im fine. In a related issue how do u delete a tweet?' he commented on the photo the following day. It's not clear whether Lange's swollen nose is due to an injury or an infection but Hoboken police responded to Lange's home on Friday and he later apologized saying 'I'm fine' More trouble: The author (pictured in August) also tweeted that he missed court because of 'bad communication' with his lawyer He wrote in a tweet that he missed court because of a 'bad communication' with his lawyer. In Lange's latest mugshot, obtained by TMZ, the actor is still displaying a swollen nose. In October Lange missed a gig in Ohio when he was hospitalized due to medical complications arising from diabetes. Lange, shock jock Howard Stern's sidekick from 2001 until 2009, fell ill due to elevated sugar levels as result of his condition, TMZ reported, and was advised not to get on a plane. In October Lange missed a gig in Ohio when he was hospitalized due to medical complications arising from diabetes. He is pictured in July He was previously hospitalized in April of 2014 in Michigan after he said he went 'into diabetic shock,' In May Lange was found with a bag of heroin during a traffic stop. He is facing charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and drug paraphernalia in the case. Lange has been candid about his drug issues in the past and detailed his addiction to substances such as heroin and cocaine on numerous platforms, including his books Too Fat To Fish and Crash And Burn. She returned from a sun-soaked girls' vacation in Hawaii earlier this week. And Olivia Munn was back to work as she announced the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild nominations at SilverScreen Theater at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Wednesday morning. The actress, 37, revealed her toned physique in a caramel-colored crop top and high waisted pants as she made an appearance at the high-profile event alongside Niecy Nash, 47. Scroll down for video Busy bee: Olivia Munn was back to work as she announced the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild nominations at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on Wednesday morning The X-Men: Apocalypse starlet commanded attention in the elegant ensemble, which offered a peek at her washboard abs. Olivia added height to her frame with a pair of chocolate brown strappy heels, and accessorized with silver hoop earrings. The Newsroom star opted for minimal make-up to showcase her naturally stunning looks, and wore her brunette locks in loose waves. Olivia was joined by Reno 911's Niecy Nash at the podium to announce this year's nominations for the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Big moment: The actress, 37, revealed her toned physique in a caramel-colored crop top and high waisted pants at the high-profile event alongside Niecy Nash, 47 Abs-olutely fabulous: The X-Men: Apocalypse starlet commanded attention in the elegant ensemble, which offered a peek at her washboard abs HBO's Big Little Lies scored four TV nods with Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern battling it out for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor. And the two stars of Feud: Bette And Joan - Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon - will also go head to head in the same category. Stranger Things and GLOW scored four nods on the TV side as well. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri landed four nominations on the film side and Lady Bird received three. Pretty as a picture: The Newsroom star opted for minimal make-up to showcase her naturally stunning looks, and wore her brunette locks in loose waves Dressed to impress: Olivia added height to her frame with a pair of chocolate brown strappy heels, and accessorized with silver hoop earrings Gangs all here: Olivia and Niecy were joined by the SAG committee (L-R) Woody Shultz, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Gabrielle Carteris, Daryl Anderson, Jason George and JoBeth Williams One of the most notable snubs was for The Post - starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep - which shockingly came away empty-handed after scoring six Golden Globe nominations earlier this week. Olivia was back to work after returning from a quick girls' getaway to the tropical island of Hawaii this week. The vacation was well deserved as the actress worked tirelessly to stack her 2018 film schedule. Next year, she will star in The Predator, the all-female reboot Ocean's Eight, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and Dick Movie. The 2018 SAG Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell, will air January 21 on TNT and TBS. What a view: Olivia was back to work after returning from a quick girls' getaway to the tropical island of Hawaii earlier this week Shining bright: Next year, the actress will star in The Predator, Ocean's Eight, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and Dick Movie John Boyega has claimed Prince William and Prince Harry's hotly-tipped cameos in the new Star Wars film were cut from the final version. The actor suggested the royals played Stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Last Jedi but were scrapped from the final edit, in a revelation that left This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield baffled. The 25-year-old also said he 'personally apologised' to the Princes for the disappointment and claimed the Duke of Cambridge joked that he needs to 'work on his skills'. Clearly unsure as to whether John was telling the truth, Holly and Phillip raised a few eyebrows after he dropped the shocking bombshell. Scroll down for video Cut? John Boyega has claimed Prince William and Prince Harry's hotly-tipped cameos in the new Star Wars film were cut from the final version. Pictured at the film's premiere on Tuesday John - who plays Finn in the sci-fi franchise - made the shocking admission on the ITV daytime show This Morning on Wednesday. 'Were they Stormtroopers?' Phil asked the actor. Boyega answered: 'Yeah they were man, I'm sick of this. They were but they were cut out of the film.' 'So they ended up on the cutting room floor?' Phillip asked in confusion. Hang on a tick! The actor claimed the royals played Stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Last Jedi but were scrapped from the final edit, in an interview on This Morning - leaving hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield baffled Oh dear: The 25-year-old said he 'personally apologised' to the Princes for the disappointment and said the Duke of Cambridge (pictured) joked that he needs to 'work on his skills' 'I did personally apologise to them yesterday and said: "Sorry you were cut out of the film," John insisted. 'And Will was like: "I probably just need to work more on the skills." I was like: "Maybe bruv.'' MailOnline has contacted reps for John and Kensington Palace for comment. While it's nigh-on impossible to identify the Princes in the new film, thanks to the Stormtroopers white helmets and full shiny suits, speculation about their role had reached fever-pitch including reports that their height has blown the secret. Fans of the franchise may know that Stormtroopers have to be 5ft 11in to play the part of the men in white suits. Set to storm your screens: It was confirmed earlier this year that the royals had a small part as Stormtroopers in the Episode VIII film Claims: John said: 'Will was like: "I probably just need to work more on the skills." I was like: "Maybe bruv' However, Prince William is a towering 6ft 2in and Harry is only a fraction less at 6ft1in, which could set them apart from the rest of the group. According to a report in The Telegraph, the towering princes featured within a group of Stormtroopers guarding the Empire ship in the 152-minute film, as speculation mounted about their Hollywood cameo. The duo were said to be part of a group who reprimand rebels Finn - played by John Boyega - and DJ - played by Benicio Del Toro. Harry and William were pictured at Pinewood Studios last April, when their secret film cameo was unveiled to the public. A source told The Mail on Sunday at the time: The line given was that they were going to have lunch and a private tour of the rest of the set. Fighting spirit: The Royals were seen showing off their lightsaber skills during a visit to the Star Wars film set at Pinewood Studios last year 'What really happened is that the director came over and told them it was time to get suited and off they went to the wardrobe department. The Princes dressed up in full Stormtrooper gear and filmed a scene in which Rey - actress Daisy Ridley - and Finn infiltrate a secret base. 'The rebel characters are in a lift with Benicia del Toros character when a group of Stormtroopers enter two of whom are William and Harry. In the same interview, Holly slipped up live on air and revealed a major plot point. Interviewing John the morning after the London premiere of the eighth film in the sci-fi franchise, Holly declared that iconic character Yoda is set to return in the movie. Slip of the tongue: In the same interview, Holly revealed that iconic character Yoda is set to return in the movie. Clearly dumbstruck and slightly panicked, Holly tried to cover her tracks. 'I don't know what happens. But it's out there,' she stammered This left John speechless, looking around the hotel room he was being interviewed from in shock. Cringing at Holly's bombshell, he said to her: 'You can't tell the fans what happens!' Clearly dumbstruck and slightly panicked, Holly tried to cover her tracks. 'I don't know what happens. But it's out there,' she stammered. John was quick to reply: 'I can't reveal that.' Oops: This left John speechless, looking around the hotel room he was being interviewed from in shock Still flustered, Holly said: 'I don't know!' Trying to add humour to proceedings, John joked: 'Maybe it was just another short alien. Maybe it was me on my knees.' Still grasping, Holly added: 'You do a good Yoda impression, that's what I was getting at...' Should the spoiler be correct, this will be Yoda's first appearance in the franchise since 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His voice was heard in 2015's The Force Awakens when the character Rey discovers Luke Skywalker's lightsaber; but this was not an on-screen appearance. Back again? Should the spoiler be correct, this will be Yoda's first appearance in the franchise since 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith The character has appeared in every other movie in the franchise aside from the very first film, A New Home, in 1977. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been well-received by the critics. Taking control of the franchise from J.J. Abrams, director Rian Johnson has been lauded for his 'bold' but also 'witty' and 'nostalgic' eighth installment, which is set for release on December 15. However, with an 152-minute running time, other critics were quick to bemoan its length, which they claim caused the plot to become 'muddled' and 'confused'. The Last Jedi comes two years after The Force Awakens, and picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke's First Order - which is trying to take over the galaxy. Success: It is the most highly anticipated movie of the year - and if the reviews are anything to go by, Star Wars: The Last Jedi certainly does not disappoint (Daisy Ridley pictured) Main man: Director Rian Johnson has been lauded for his 'bold' but also 'witty' and 'nostalgic' eighth installment, which is set for release on December 15. Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to join the Resistance, and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule. Jam-packed with action scenes and exciting lightsaber sequences, Johnson's thrilling but also thought-provoking narrative received rave reviews. The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft'. Total Film commented on its 'excellent' twists and turns, calling it a 'middle chapter bursting with wit, wisdom, emotion, shocks, old-fashioned derring-do, state-of-the-art tech, and stonking set-pieces.' The publication were also quick to praise Johnson himself, calling him a 'master' of misdirection, who leaves the viewer thrilled by its 'breakneck twists and hairpin turns'. Moving: The Daily Mail called it 'a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster,' while Empire claimed the flick was 'fun, funny but with emotional heft' Dragging: However, the Last Jedi's length and confused mid-section was a prominent theme in the reviews - with many critics agreeing a number of scenes were unnecessary However, the Last Jedi's dragging length and confused mid-section was also a prominent theme in the reviews - with many critics agreeing a number of scenes were unnecessary to the story. The Washington Post praised its action scenes, affirming it contained 'arguably the most exciting lightsaber fight in the entire franchise'. However, they added the contrast of the thrilling action with what felt like 'fundamental failures of movie writing' resulted in a 'jarring' finished piece, including unnecessary new characters and difficult dialogue. Others were more brutal in their criticism - with The Verge claiming 'audiences will likely come away from The Last Jedi with a lot of complaints and questions,' while Variety deemed it 'the longest and least essential chapter in the series.' Bold: The Washington Post praised its action scenes, affirming it contained 'arguably the most exciting lightsaber fight in the entire franchise' People were more positive with their critique, adding: 'Rian Johnson's entry into the Star Wars canon is rebelliously bold at times and full of rousing surprises, which make up for a few lulls in the lengthy two-and-a-half-hour run time.' The Independent followed suit, praising the 'new aliens and areas aplenty' and revealing 'the movie zings with fresh ideas.' Yet, they also claimed the action was perhaps a tool to overshadow the lacking storyline, writing: 'One of the criticisms will be that many of the plot devices feel clunky just excuses for cool scenes.' However, the publication confirmed the film will still 'leave fans beaming with surprise', thanks to the 'tidal wave of energy and emotion that crashes out of the screen'. Star of the show: However, critics appeared to pin this high level of rousing emotion to Mark Hamill - who reprises his role as Luke Skywalker, first played in 1977 (above) Critics appeared to pin this high level of rousing emotion to Mark Hamill - who reprises his famous Luke Skywalker role, which he first played in 1977. After a fleeting appearance in The Force Awakens, Empire praised his 'moving performance', which 'perfectly captured how a gosh-and-golly farm boy can become sarcastic and embittered,' upon return to action beside the younger Daisy Ridley. Radio Times agreed it was his fall from idol status that made the film so moving - admitting it was 'great to see [him] back in the Skywalker saddle, albeit now riddled with self-doubt and a broken spirit.' Here he is: After a fleeting appearance in The Force Awakens, Empire praised his 'moving performance', which 'captured how a farm boy can become sarcastic and embittered' Dream team: In the film, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley, above) tries to convince Skywalker to join the Resistance, and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule Tough: Despite their winning chemistry on-screen, Daisy recently admitted she struggled learning to trust her new on-screen partner and franchise veteran Mark Despite their winning chemistry on-screen, Daisy recently admitted she struggled learning to trust her new on-screen partner and franchise veteran Mark. Speaking at the UK premiere she said: 'I was nervous going in, because John [Boyega] and I were no longer together, and John is my peanut. 'So I think more than anything, I learned to put your trust in those around you and it'll all turn out pretty well. Putting my trust in Mark and Rian [Johnson, the movie's director] mainly, was wonderful.' When asked if she found it any easier the second time around, she said: 'I actually felt more nervous because I didn't know what I was doing the first time around, and you kind of think, how am I supposed to do something again when I didn't know what I did the first time? Having a ball: However, she added: 'Putting my trust in Mark and Rian [Johnson, the movie's director] mainly, was wonderful' Dark horse: Adam's Kylo Ren received particularly positive reviews, with the Guardian calling his appearance 'superb' This is her moment: Meanwhile Kelly Marie Tran (above) was praised as 'terrifically good' 'And I think because people responded so well to John and I together that was a big thing too, thinking how are people going to respond when we're not together. 'So it was nerve-wracking. But again, as relationships grow and you start to get comfortable, it settles into a wonderful six months.' The star-studded ensemble cast joining the two leads this time included John Boyega, as well as Lupita Nyong'o, Adam Driver and Andy Serkis. Adam's Kylo Ren received particularly positive reviews, with the Guardian calling his appearance 'superb', alongside the 'terrifically good' Kelly Marie Tran. The Last Jedi also ends with a dedication to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher, in her final film appearance - universally praised as the ultimate tear-jerking moment by critics. RIP: The Last Jedi also ends with a dedication to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher, in her final film appearance - universally praised as the ultimate tear-jerking moment by critics She always looks preened to perfection at red carpet events. And Jorgie Porter cemented her sartorial credentials on Wednesday night, as she attended the star-studded The Sun's Military Awards in London. Embracing the festive spirit, the former Hollyoaks actress, 29, showcased her enviably lithe limbs in a thigh-grazing silver glittery minidress as she posed up a storm on the red carpet. Scroll down for video Looking good: Jorgie Porter cemented her sartorial credentials on Wednesday night, as she attended the star-studded The Sun Military Awards in London The blonde beauty certainly took centre-stage in the dazzling dress, which balanced out the scanty hemline with long sleeves. Accentuating her bronzed limbs further, the Celebs Go Dating star rocked a vertiginous pair of nude leather stilettos. Sweeping her golden tresses back into an elegant chignon, the actress framed her eyes with lashings of mascara and iridescent shimmer. The Sun Military Awards is an annual ceremony which honours members of the British armed forces and civilians involved with the forces. The awards were created by The Prince of Wales. Embracing the festive spirit: The former Hollyoaks actress, 29, showcased her enviably lithe limbs in a thigh-grazing silver glittery minidress as she posed up a storm on the red carpet Chic: The blonde beauty certainly took centre-stage in the dazzling dress, which balanced out the scanty hemline with long sleeves Glam: Sweeping her golden tresses back into an elegant chignon, the actress framed her eyes with lashings of mascara and iridescent shimmer Jorgie's outing comes after she proved she hadn't lost her skating skills as she took to the rink with fellow former Dancing On Ice contestant Matthew Wolfenden on Tuesday. The actress, who finished second during the 2012 series of Dancing On Ice and was invited back for their All-Stars series, wasted no time getting her skates on and zooming around the rink. Performing a routine with Emmerdale star Matthew - who narrowly beat Jorgie to win the 2012 series - the pair looked like naturals on the ice. Going hell for leather: Frankie Bridge stunned in a purple printed midi dress with a chic pleated skirt and plunging neckline Taking the plunge: The Saturdays singer, 28, showcased a peek of cleavage in the revealing garment Stealing the limelight: The brunette beauty accessorised with printed bow-detail sandals Lovely in lace: Helen Flanagan went for a glamorous Gothic vibe in a black semi-sheer gown teamed with vampy make-up Preened to perfection: Her high collar dress cinched in her tiny waist thanks to a velvet belt The pair were on the show to discuss the return of Dancing On Ice - which will be back on screens next year, four years after the All-Stars finale season. Whilst Jorgie may be a professional on the ice, she recently revealed her plans to move to far balmier climes. The actress, who shot to fame as Theresa McQueen in Channel 4's Hollyoaks, recently admitted she was planning on relocating to the States for a fresh start. All white on the night: Ola Jordan dazzled in a decadent ivory gown with a chic bodice dripping in opulent embellishments Working her angles: The 35-year-old former Strictly Come Dancing professional posed up a storm for the cameras Ready for her close-up: The Polish beauty framed her pretty features with taupe lipstick and lashings of mascara After a visit to the West Coast in August, she told The Sun: 'I'm moving back to LA at some point.' She continued: 'I'm not pressuring myself into getting a job, I never want to think like that. I love England so I want to come back and do stuff here. 'I'm not going to say I want to crack Hollywood or anything like that because I want to do as much stuff as I can over here too.' The move will no doubt be something she needs to discuss with rumoured new man Philip Parker, however, as she was recently spotted packing on the PDA with the hunk after they met on Celebs Go Dating earlier this year. Advertisement First created by The Prince of Wales, it is a special annual event that honours those involved in the British Armed forces. So it is no wonder the stars were out in full force to support the The Sun's Military Awards 2017 in London on Wednesday night. Beauties Frankie Bridge, Ola Jordan and Helen Flanagan commanded attention on the carpet in equally glittery ensembles, as they arrived at The Banqueting Hall in London, ahead of the exciting evening. Scroll down for video Leading the glamour: Beauties Frankie Bridge, Helen Flanagan and Ola Jordan commanded attention on the carpet in equally glittery ensembles, as they arrived at The Sun's Military Awards 2017 on Wednesday night Girl band star Frankie, 28, stunned in a shimmering purple pleated dress and revealed she had gone back to brunette, as she gave cameras a twirl on the red carpet. The dress, formed of a chic iridescent purple material, plunged into a deep V at the chest to give a flash of her cleavage, before it cascaded into a stunning floral pleated skirt, all the way to her ankle. Keeping all eyes on her show-stopping look, the mother-of-two accessorised with glittering gold heeled sandals, and a sleek leather clutch bag. After a stint as a blonde in recent weeks however, Frankie's newly brunette pixie crop stole the show - having has returned to the style she was known for during her time in The Saturdays. Playful: Girl band star Frankie, 28, stunned in a shimmering purple pleated dress and revealed she had gone back to brunette, as she gave cameras a twirl on the red carpet Sizzling: The dress, formed of a chic iridescent purple material, plunged into a deep V at the chest to give a flash of her cleavage, before it cascaded into a stunning floral pleated skirt, all the way to her ankle Glamorous: Her short cropped 'do (left) drew attention to her naturally stunning features, which she accentuated with a dark, smoky eye and a bold burgundy lip, having just gone back to brunette from platinum blonde (right, in September) Killer accessories: The brunette beauty offset her stunning statement dress with a chic metallic clutch Her short cropped 'do drew attention to her naturally stunning features, which she accentuated with a dark, smoky eye and a bold burgundy lip. Frankie was joined by her former Strictly Come Dancing co-star Ola Jordan at the event, who showcased her recent weight-loss in a glamorous white gown. The professional ballroom and Latin dancer certainly upped the glamour in the dress, which featured a dazzling beaded bodice of shimmering silver sequins and beads. Cinching in at her slim waist, the gown then fell into a soft white chiffon skirt all the way to the floor - where it met matching white pointed court shoes. All white on the night: Frankie was joined by her former Strictly Come Dancing co-star Ola Jordan at the event, who showcased her recent weight-loss in a glamorous white gown All that glitters: The professional ballroom and Latin dancer certainly upped the glamour in the dress, which featured a dazzling beaded bodice of shimmering silver sequins and beads Trim: Ola was the picture of confidence on the carpet - having revealed earlier this week she has shed a whopping 15lbs in just two months She tied her look together with a sleek silver clutch bag, and swept her hair into a stylish half up-do, to let her glowing make-up look shine through as she beamed for cameras. Ola was the picture of confidence on the carpet - having revealed earlier this week she has shed a whopping 15lbs in just two months. Alongside her husband James, Ola embarked on her weight loss programme after people started presuming she was pregnant - while her partner realised he had weight to lose after photos of him on the beach emerged online. Helen Flanagan next arrived in an equally glittering Gothic-inspired dress, which was embellished with silver sequins in the shape of flowers all over. Stunning: Helen Flanagan next arrived in an equally glittering Gothic-inspired dress, which was embellished with silver sequins in the shape of flowers all over Radiant: The Coronation Street star styled her hair into big, bouncy waves, and opted for a sultry, smoky eye and dark brown lip to maintain the glamorous feel as she posed for cameras Like mother like daughter: Helen beamed widely for cameras beside her equally glamorous mother Julia, (R), who stunned in a black wraparound gown with daring side split Red hot! Also making a style statement on the carpet was model Vogue Williams, who arrived in a sizzling red strapless gown adorned with an oversized frill across the front Besotted: Pulling straight across her chest to display her decolletage to all, the gown then flashed even more skin by cutting into a daring thigh-high split at the front, as she posed with beau Spencer Matthews Remaining demure with a high neck and floor length hem, the black number then injected a sexy touch to the carpet with its mesh lace sleeves and semi-sheer skirt, which teased at the actress' leggy frame underneath. In further striking touches, the dress also featured a stylish velvet collar and waistband - which accentuated her enviably slender figure as she posed. She co-ordinated her look with a chic Yves Saint-Laurent clutch bag, but tied her ensemble together with bright red strappy heels, for an added splash of colour. The Coronation Street star styled her hair into big, bouncy waves, and opted for a sultry, smoky eye and dark brown lip to maintain the classic feel, as she posed for cameras beside her equally glamorous mother Julia. Cute couple: Rod Stewart, 72, beamed as he attended the awards with his stunning wife of 10 years, Penny Lancaster, 46 The couple who dress together: Rod complemented Penny's chic scarlet fur jacket with his red blazer, picking out the same hue in his funky creepers All that glitters: Jorgie Porter also cemented her sartorial credentials at the bash, as she posed in a thigh grazing silver glittery minidress Glamorous: Sweeping her golden tresses back into an elegant chignon, the actress framed her eyes with lashings of mascara and iridescent shimmer Also making a style statement on the carpet was model Vogue Williams, who arrived in a sizzling red strapless gown adorned with an oversized frill across the front. Pulling straight across her chest to display her decolletage to all, the gown then flashed even more skin by cutting into a daring thigh-high split at the front. The Irish model proved her fashionable flair further with silver metallic gladiator heels, and accessorised with a mini leather box bag of matching red hue. Sweeping her hair to one side and sporting a barely-there make-up look, Vogue was effortlessly stunning as she worked the cameras, before cosying up to her suited-and-booted beau Spencer Matthews for further snaps. Making a splash: Olympic swimming sensation Rebecca Adlington opted for a chic gown with a plunging neckline and a polka dot print Avert your eyes! The 28-year-old grappled with her gown's perilously revealing neckline as she posed up a storm What-er team! Rebecca was joined by fellow swimmer, Mark Foster, 47, who cut a dapper figure in a sharp tuxedo Happy couple: Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne, 68, beamed as he cosied up to his stunning wife Nigora Woman of the hour: Prime minister Theresa May looked chic in an ivory textured coat as she attended with husband Philip Jorgie Porter also cemented her sartorial credentials at the bash, as she posed in a thigh grazing silver glittery minidress. Accentuating her bronzed limbs further, the Celebs Go Dating star rocked a vertiginous pair of nude leather stilettos. Sweeping her golden tresses back into an elegant chignon, the actress framed her eyes with lashings of mascara and iridescent shimmer. Silver siren: Lorraine Kelly, 58, dazzled in a metallic floral shirtdress with a chic belted waist, which she teamed with matching bejewelled courts The classic LBD: Andrea McLean showed off her svelte frame in a figure-flattering midi dress, wrapping an opulent fur stole around her shoulders Monochrome mavens: (From left) Presenter Anita Rani, actress Charlie Brooks and former skeleton racer Amy Williams all kept it chic in all-black ensembles Age-defying: Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips, 74, showed off her youthful looks in a keyhole gown The actress, who shot to fame as Theresa McQueen in Channel 4's Hollyoaks, recently admitted she was planning on relocating to the States for a fresh start. After a visit to the West Coast in August, she told The Sun: 'I'm moving to LA at some point. I'm not pressuring myself into getting a job, I never want to think like that. I love England so I want to come back and do stuff here.' The Sun Military Awards is an annual ceremony which honours members of the British armed forces and civilians involved with the forces. The awards were created by The Prince of Wales. Here come the boys: (From left) TOWIE stars James Argent and Joey Essex were joined by presenter Ben Fogle Suited and booted: Survival expert Bear Grylls swapped his usual hiking gear for a smart black suit Couple central: Bargain Hunt presenter Tim Wonnacott was also in attendance with his glamorous wife Helen Striking: Vogue Williams showed off her legs as she left in the rain Striking: She couldn't be missed in her scarlet ankle-grazing dress Leaving alone: Despite arriving with boyfriend Spencer Matthews, Vogue left alone That's my name! Vogue wore a namesake handbag which she flashed in the car home After a long night! After their show-stopping appearance at the Military Awards, Duncan Bannatyne, 68 and his wife Nigora, 37, turned heads in an altered sense, as the pair appeared worn out while leaving the star-studded later that day Racy: Partly bundled in a fur coat, the brunette beauty she boasted her leggy toned pins in fish net tights and a beaded see-through maxi with a thigh-high split, which revealed her underwear Still enthusiastic: The Dragon's Den star managed to take pictures with supporters in the late hours of the night, as he wore a thick long line blazer jacket Heading home: Rod Stewart and wife Penny Lancaster looked giddy as they departed Robing up: Frankie Bridge wore a jacket around her shoulders as she departed Stylish look: She still look stylish, even as she shielded herself from the wet Glamorous: Loose Women presenter Andrea Mclean headed into her car with a smile Glamorous exit: Andrea wore a fluffy jacket to keep her warm outside Glamorous: Glittering Helen Flanagan offset her dress with bright red shoes They're doing little to hide their high-profile romance amid an ongoing custody battle with his estranged wife Melissa. But 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks and girlfriend Chloe Green enjoyed yet another date night as they headed out for dinner in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The inmate-turned-model, 33, and the Topshop heiress, 26, looked happy and relaxed as they grabbed a bite to eat. Hitting the town: 'Hot felon' Jeremy Meeks and girlfriend Chloe Green enjoyed yet another date night as they headed out for dinner in Los Angeles on Tuesday The emerging catwalk star has been at odds with his estranged wife Melissa over custody of their son Jeremy Jr, eight, in recent weeks. She has accused the star of not paying child support and not spending time with their son. Jeremy - who rocketed to fame in 2014 after his mugshot went viral - looked handsome in a black zip up and well-fitted tee during his outing with Chloe. Dark trousers with a bit of a sheen covered his bottom half, while the Northern California native accessorized with a gold necklace and black sneakers. British girlfriend Chloe combined an Alexander McQueen skull scarf and bedazzled booties for a fashion-forward look. Melissa who? The inmate-turned-model, 33, and the Topshop heiress, 26, looked relaxed as they grabbed a bite to eat amid his ongoing custody dispute with estranged wife Melissa Why so serious? Chloe and Jeremy (pictured in LA in October) appear to be getting quite serious, as the fashion heiress was seen bonding with her beau's son last weekend The former reality star added leather leggings and a cozy sweater, while matching her kicks with a studded clutch. The fashion heiress let her ombre locks cascade down, while opting for natural looking make-up. The couple headed inside a restaurant, where they reportedly met up with TV host and Planet Hollywood CEO Robert Earl. Jeremy and his estranged wife Melissa continue to work out the terms of their divorce and their custody arrangements for son, Jeremy Jr. Custody battle: Jeremy's estranged wife Melissa (pictured left) claims that the star has failed to pay child support for their son Jeremy Jr and 'barely' sees the son they share The homecare nurse, who was married to Jeremy for eight years before learning he was unfaithful to her via the tabloids earlier this year, filed legal documents asking for child support last week, according to TMZ. The mother-of-three's legal papers claim the model has stopped paying child support and barely sees their son, and her two other children who saw Meeks as a 'father figure.' While she claims he's pulling in $1 million a month from modelling contract, he has claimed he receives just $6,000 per month. Chloe and Jeremy's relationship seems to be moving quickly, with the socialite already having been introduced to Jeremy jr. He is considered as one of the hottest actors in the world. But Ryan Gosling felt the heat in a much different way on set of his latest flick. The 37-year-old actor looked in rough shape as he filmed his new Neil Armstrong biopic titled First Man in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday morning. Disheveled: Ryan Gosling looked in rough shape as he filmed his new Neil Armstrong biopic titled First Man in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday morning No doubt it was an emotional scene as he could be seen rummaging through the remains of his character's burned down home. The handsome actor wore a blue robe over a white shirt, patterned pajama pants, and worn out black leather boots on set. Giving the illusion of smoke damage, Ryan's face had black powder on it along with his white shirt. Sad: The 37-year-old actor could be seen rummaging through the remains of his character's burned down home Heating up: As degrees were in the twenties for the day of filming, Ryan could be seen tucking a hot red pouch under his robe to keep warm As degrees were in the twenties for the day of filming, Ryan could be seen tucking a hot red pouch under his robe to keep warm. At one point he was seen going through the 'burnt' parts of the home including wooden panels and roofing. Gosling is filming the movie with his La La Land director Damien Chazelle. Mix and match: The handsome actor wore a blue robe over a white shirt, patterned pajama pants, and worn out black leather boots on set Iconic: The biopic is based on James R. Hansen's 2005 biography of Armstrong who died in 2012 The biopic is based on James R. Hansen's 2005 biography of Armstrong who died in 2012. After his casting was announced in July, the Canadian actor tweeted: 'Incredibly honored to be a part of telling this story. The Crown actress Claire Foy plays Armstrong's wife Janet while House Of Cards star Corey Stoll plays Buzz Aldrin, who accompanied Armstrong to the moon. Teaming up: The Crown actress Claire Foy plays Armstrong's wife Janet while House Of Cards star Corey Stoll plays Buzz Aldrin, who accompanied Armstrong to the moon Gosling, who shares two daughters with longtime love Eva Mendes, expressed support for the women who have alleged they are victims of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The actor starred in the Weinstein-produced drama All Good Things in 2010 and said on Twitter he was 'deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse.' Gosling added: 'He is emblematic of a systemic problem. Men should stand with women and work together until there is real accountability and change.' Heidi Pratt has been sharing photos of her new baby boy Gunner for three months now. In each shot the little guy, who was born on October 1 at 6 pounds, 12 ounces, looks off in the distance with a blank expression. But in a new photo shared to Instagram on Wednesday the darling child can be seen smiling for the very first time. Insta memories: Heidi Pratt shared a photo on Instagram of three-month-old Gunner smiling for the first time in Los Angeles on Wednesday Her caption read: 'Its amazing to watch him learn and change so quickly. These moments are so special and already going by so fast! I never thought I could love so deep. My angel. Everything I dreamed of and so much more.' Gunner was dressed adorably in a white airplane and star printed onesie. He looked cozy on a white baby pillow. Mom, Heidi, was wearing a soft pink sweater and black leggings. The two looked beyond happy as they smiled at each other. Little slugger: Heidi and Spencer Pratt's son was born on October 1 in Los Angeles. He weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces at birth The Pratts have had one wild, tabloid-heavy journey since their days on the hit reality show The Hills. The two met in 2006 while filming the first season of the show and eloped in 2008. Their first wedding took place in Mexico. They did not make their union legal in the US until 2009 when Spencer proposed again and the couple planned a traditional big white wedding. In between marriage and baby, the couple filed for divorce once, but claimed it was all for publicity. The couple have dealt with their own identity struggles rather publicly over the years. The blonde babe from Colorado wound up going under the plastic surgery knife 10 different times to alter her chin, boobs, ears, and more. Meanwhile, Spencer became obsessed with healing crystalsputting the couple into massive financial jeopardy. Piggyback: The couple began dating back in 2006 when filming The Hills Us Weekly jumped on the Speidi roller coaster early on and has been granted exclusive press access over the course of their relationship. The couple struck a deal with Us and allowed them into the hospital room to document the birth of their first born. The exclusive ran in the magazine on October 23. Spencer told the magazine that hed bought an iPhone specifically for photos of Gunner. We did our first selfie with Enya playing Only Time which is one of my favorite songs, he said. That was the moment when my brain started to officially explode. Holding him is still so unbelievable. Precious boy: Spencer can't help but share his adorable three-month-old on social media Baby Gunner Pratt will definitely get his shot at fame. Mom and dad took their son to his first audition in late October for a commercial that would air during the 2018 Super Bowl. You excited to upstage Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl? Spencer joked to his son as they left the audition room, as seen in a video he posted on Snapchat. Gunner, you nailed that audition.' Whether or not Gunner landed the gig is uncertain. Kirsten Dunst was spotted out and about in Los Angeles on Wednesday, amid claims she is pregnant with her first child. The actress, 35, looked pretty in a floral navy blue dress as she ran errands near her home amid US Weekly reports she's expecting with fiance Jesse Plemons, 29. Skimming over her shape, the star looked in full bloom in her pretty frock, which flared out to just above the knee while displaying her notably rounded stomach. Scroll down for video In full bloom: Kirsten Dunst was spotted out and about in Los Angeles on Wednesday, amid claims she is pregnant with her first child Kirsten cut a low-key figure as she headed out in the midst of the resounding reports that she is set to be a mum - claims which surfaced just months after she revealed she was ready for kids. The starlet added height to her 5'5" frame with silver heeled navy shoes. Keeping her accessories simple, the Suicide Virgins star finished off the look with a small navy bag and a pair of retro style shades. Kirsten wore her blonde locks in loose waves and accentuated her radiant features with a slick of rouge lipstick. The couple's happy news was reported on Wednesday morning in the new issue of US Weekly magazine, with a source telling a publication they are expecting their first child. Floral fancy: The actress, 35, looked pretty as a petal in a floral navy blue dress as she ran errands near her home amid US Weekly reports she's expecting with fiance Jesse Plemons, 29 Style icon: Skimming over her shape, the screen star looked in full bloom in her pretty frock, which flared out to just above the knee Statuesque: The starlet added height to her 5'5" frame with silver heeled navy shoes Hair today: Kirsten wore her blonde locks in loose waves and accentuated her radiant features with a slick of rouge lipstick Kirsten, who announced her engagement Breaking Bad star Plemons earlier this year, revealed in an interview in Marie Claire's July issue that she felt: 'Its time to have babies and chill.' In her insightful interview earlier this year, she continued: 'I wasn't one of those 'I need a baby!' people until my goddaughter was born. I love her so much. 'That love is just like you can't experience that unless you have a kid. I put her to bed last night and she woke up this morning and said to her mom, 'Where's Kiki?' I just love that love. That's what I want.' On Saturday, Kirsten was seen out in Los Angeles while sporting an over-sized pink T-shirt and cradling her stomach which appeared slightly rounded - adding fuel to the rumors. Speaking about the moment her Fargo co-star proposed to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, she quipped: 'I was a little sick when [he proposed], which was funny. But that's good. Sickness and in health, you know I was in sweats.' Stunner: Keeping her accessories simple, the Suicide Virgins star finished off the look with a small navy bag and a pair of retro style shades Hunk: Kirsten's beau Jesse was ready for a travel day The Beguiled star said she became good friends with Jesse when working on Fargo season two back in 2015, though their relationship was purely platonic until a year later. The couple play married high school sweethearts Peggy and local butcher Ed in the FX show. Kirsten's candid interview with the chat show host also saw her joke about naming her child after the show to honor their romance. 'I'll name my kid 'Fargo season two'!' the actress joked. Meet up: The Beguiled star said she became good friends with Jesse when working on Fargo season two back in 2015, though their relationship was purely platonic until a year later Art imitating life: The couple play married high school sweethearts Peggy and local butcher Ed in the FX show The couple play married high school sweethearts Peggy and local butcher Ed in the FX show. Kirsten's candid interview with the chat show host also saw her joke about naming her child after the show to honor their romance. 'I'll name my kid 'Fargo season two'!' the actress joked. The actress has made no secret of her desire to start a family with Plemons, admitting earlier this year that she is ready to put the brakes on her career for motherhood. Happy days! Kirsten said in a recent interview 'it's time to have babies and chill' after getting engaged to Breaking Bad star Jesse earlier this year (pictured together in November) Covering up: On Saturday, the star was seen out in Los Angeles while sporting an over-sized pink T-shirt and cradling her stomach, which appeared slightly rounded In a 2015 interview with NET-A-PORTER magazine, Kirsten once again opened up on the subject of motherhood, admitting: 'I want to continue acting, but I also want to have kids. I think Ill be ready to have them in two years or something.' Kirsten and Jesse kept their romance under wraps until they were spotted kissing in May 2016. Their engagement was confirmed through sources in January. The pair are set to work together again. Kirsten and Jesse are in pre-production on her feature directorial debut, dramedy The Bell Jar, which she also wrote. Oh baby! The actress was seen grabbing a coffee to go from Alfred's on Melrose Place on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the news broke Jesse will portray Lenny Shepherd opposite Dakota Fanning's Esther Greenwood in the movie, which also features Oscar winner Patricia Arquette, which has yet to set a release date. Jesse told Page Six on October 9 that he loved working with his real-life leading lady and gushed: 'We have the same taste and sensibility. Shes really smart and good at what she does.' DailyMail.com has approached representatives for the couple for comment. Borce Ristevski will fight a charge he murdered his wife Karen, whose body was found in Victorian bushland months after she went missing in 2016. Homicide detectives arrested the 53-year-old on Wednesday morning and a short time later he faced Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with his wife's murder. "He will be pleading not guilty," his lawyer Rob Stary told magistrate Angela Bolger. Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said police needed extra time to complete their brief of evidence "because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be a done". Mr Stary said his client had already been under investigation for a number of months. "This man doesn't have any history and we want the matter expedited," he told the court. Ristevski has been remanded in custody and will return to court on April 18. No one from his family was in court on Wednesday. Ms Ristevski went missing from her Oakley Drive, Avondale Heights home on the morning of June 29 in 2016. Her remains were discovered in bushland in the Mount Macedon Regional Park eight months later, on February 20. In March, hundreds of mourners dressed in black filled St John's Uniting Church at Essendon for a private funeral service for Ms Ristevski. Her husband was one of the pallbearers, while their daughter Sarah carried a framed photo of her mother to lead the funeral procession. Eight more women have come forward to accuse a NSW amateur photographer of preying on them during modelling sessions at his studio in a shed in his backyard. Prosecutor Jai Silkman told the Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday that the police brief of evidence against Allan Todd Cameron, 54, in relation to the new alleged victims was yet to be completed. But the court heard additional charges had been laid against Cameron. He was initially charged with indecently and sexually assaulting three women during modelling sessions at his Gateshead studio over the past five years. The amateur photographer has been in custody since his arrest in October after a 20-year-old woman claimed she had been sexually assaulted during a session in June 2017. As a result of that initial complaint, police officers seized a computer, which allegedly contained more than 300,000 images, a number of which were sexually explicit. Detectives then spoke with two other women, both aged 25, who reported that they, too, were assaulted during modelling sessions in 2012 and 2017. Cameron did not appear during the brief mention of his case on Wednesday before magistrate Robert Stone. Defence lawyer Mark Evans told the court Cameron would not be applying for bail and the matter was adjourned to January 31. Mr Evans indicated he would no longer be representing Cameron who was planning to apply for legal aid. Promoting his business online Cameron described himself as a "specialist people photographer". He said his photo sessions were about fun "be it a family portrait, a commercial 'headshot' or a glamour session with a difference". "The aim is always the same ... quality imagery while having fun." If you thought assembling a cot from IKEA was tricky, try getting baby furniture in a refugee camp. Janat Ara, 22, gave birth to Mohammad Arshat, four weeks ago. He's soundly asleep in a homemade hammock hanging from the ceiling of his family's bamboo and tarp shelter in the buzzing refugee camp. It's fashioned from a rice bag, sticks and fabric straps. Janat was nine months pregnant with Mohammad, her third child, when she and her family escaped from Myanmar to Bangladesh two months ago. They are part of a still-growing exodus of some 646,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar since a military crackdown in August. Villagers were massacred, homes slashed and burned, women gang-raped and babies thrown on fires and burnt alive. Janat's family endured a seven-day barefoot journey through the jungle to make it to the camps an hour away from the Bangladesh holiday resort town of Cox's Bazar. The former rice farmer lamented she only had the clothes on her back when she arrived in Bangladesh. There hadn't been enough time to pack any baby things because their home was burnt. Her husband was unable to carry her when she was too tired to walk because his arms were full with their two other children, both aged under five. "I fell down many times during the travel and my legs swelled up, I thought they were broken," she told AAP through an interpreter. At one point attackers whacked her pregnant belly and she was in so much pain she had to crawl along the ground. Fortunately, the assault did not affect the baby's health. She gave birth in her family's tent in the camp and was severely ill in the immediate aftermath but has now regained her strength. There's a bit of a baby boom in the camps as tens of thousands of pregnant women escaping Myanmar give birth. Exact numbers are unclear because many give birth in their tents without any medical help. Save the Children's maternal health nurses make regular 'house calls' to find newborns, check on mums' progress and provide breastfeeding advice. Births in the refugee camps are basically the equivalent of being born in no-man's land, with the babies deemed stateless because neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh will recognise them. Plus there are practical dangers - newborns are particularly vulnerable to diseases until they have their vaccinations. The World Health Organisation is scrambling to contain a diphtheria outbreak and estimates 722 probable cases and nine deaths between November 12 and December 10. Aid groups and governments are ramping up a vaccination program to target 255,000 kids aged from six weeks to six years. * AAP reporter Lisa Martin and photographer Tracey Nearmy travelled to Bangladesh with help from Save the Children. Police will man a mobile facility as part of investigations into a Perth brawl which led to 17-year-old Jacob Cummins being run down and killed by a car and two other people stabbed. Witnesses to the incidents can talk to homicide squad detectives from 2pm to 4pm on the corner of Ranford and Nicholson Roads in Canning Vale on Wednesday. A 20-year-old woman, Anya Hishmeh, has been charged with murder after she alleged ran down Mr Cummins and four other teenagers with her car on Thursday. A 35-year-old Canning Vale man was charged on Tuesday after allegedly being involved in fights outside a McDonald's restaurant where two youths were stabbed. A man who murdered his niece before dumping her body in a blowhole has told a Sydney court of his self disgust following his violent, sexually motivated crimes. Derek Barrett, 29, previously pleaded guilty to the stabbing murder of Chinese university student Mengmei Leng, whose naked body was found floating face down inside the blowhole at Snapper Point on the NSW Central Coast on April 24, 2016. He also pleaded guilty to another 21 offences relating to the filming of Ms Leng for sexual gratification. Ms Leng, 25, had lived with Barrett and her aunt in the southwest Sydney suburb of Campsie since arriving in Australia to study five years before her murder. "I betrayed my own family and hers for my actions," Barrett said at the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday during his sentencing hearing. "I disgust myself." Barrett admitted he was sexually attracted to Ms Leng. "She was a pretty girl," he said. According to agreed facts, Barrett gagged and bound Ms Leng to her bed in the early hours of April 22 while his wife away. He then took 19 photos of her naked body. At some point over the next two days, Barrett stabbed Ms Leng multiple times, inflicting a fatal stab wound to the throat. On the morning of April 24, he drove her body, wrapped in plastic, to Snapper Point and dumped it over a cliff into the blowhole. The former IT worker then took seven photos of the area before driving to his parents' house nearby and later returning to Sydney. Barrett told the court he only has flashes of memory from that weekend - an argument, his face reflected in the mirror and seeing blood in the sink. He said he'd been on an ice binge before killing Ms Leng, which affected his memory. He admitted initially lying to police because he "couldn't figure out what exactly happened until a little later." "With the memory gaps I basically filled them in with lies," he said. The sentence hearing continues. 121217 Financial factors affecting Bougainvilles progress, says Napto By- Theresa Baranangko The people of Nissan are working collaboratively to achieve ABGs dream of being Independent, this was according to the Member for Nissan Hon. Jerry Napto. However, due to financial constraint, most of the development that is expected is not eventuating. He says that as a requirement under the Bougainville Peace Agreement, Bougainville must be an Autonomous Region to prepare Bougainvillians to the next level which is Referendum. With regard to this, the people of Nissan are working together to achieve ABGs goal. He said that he want to make sure that Nissan is part of this process that is taking place in Bougainville. However, at this time ABG is facing financial problem which is affecting the progress of Referendum as well as other developments that needs to be addressed in areas such as Nissan. According to the Member, this is because the National Government is not financially assisting ABG. He said that the implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement should be carried out together by the two Governments; however, the National Government is not committed to its end of Agreement. He said that at this stage, ABG really needs assistance from the National Government in terms of Finance so that remote places like Nissan where development such as communication is greatly needed wont be affected during this progress towards Referendum. ends// WACA curator Matt Page says he still has nightmares about his pitch two years ago, but he's confident the deck for the third Ashes Test will be different. The Australia-New Zealand Test in 2015 descended into a run-fest, with each team posting more than 550 in their first innings in a match that ended in a dull draw. Page says he will leave a bit more grass on the deck this time around, and he expects the pitch to boast more pace than what has been seen this season in some Sheffield Shield games. A dog walker has left a dog locked in a car for most of the day in Sydney's east, with the owner later finding her pet dead in the vehicle. The four-year-old Keeshond was allegedly left in the car at Rose Bay on Tuesday morning. The dog's owner, a 46-year-old woman, became concerned when her pet had not been returned home and about 5.30pm she found the car with her dead animal inside, police say. The RSPCA has been notified and a police investigation is underway. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, temperatures reached 22.41C at Rose Bay on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to reach at least 29C in Sydney on Wednesday and 35C on Thursday. Police urge people not to leave pets in cars on hot days, saying it is an offence to do so even with the air conditioning on. Northern Territory students continue to significantly underperform their national peers on all NAPLAN measures, with Aboriginal kids in remote communities the most likely to miss minimum Australian benchmarks. The National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy report released on Wednesday show indigenous students and those from backgrounds other than English are making the most progress across the country. But the NT remains the worst-performing jurisdiction in every educational metric and age group amid low school attendance rates and high socio-economic disadvantage in the bush. Education Department boss Vicki Baylis concedes there's much work to do. "Nearly 50 per cent of our students are located in remote or very remote locations across the Territory with many speaking English as a second language," she said. The more remote an Aboriginal NT child lives, the less likely they are to attain the national minimum standard, with 92 per cent of Year 9 indigenous students in very isolated regions failing to reach that benchmark for reading. In stark contrast, 92 per cent of their non indigenous peers from very remote areas hit the national minimum standard. Ms Baylis said Territory kids have been making gains over the past six years, noting remote Aboriginal students achieved better results this year for every test domain and year level apart from Year 3 grammar and punctuation, compared to 2016. The figures also reveal the less education a Territory parent has, the less likely their child is to reach the national minimum standard across all domains and year groups. The former head of the federal Department of Communications, Neville Stevens, has been appointed chair of the Australian Press Council. His appointment comes after former chair Professor David Weisbrot resigned in July, blaming "persistent personal attacks" over the appointment of GetUp!'s deputy chair Carla McGrath as a public member of the council. Ms McGrath joined the APC in May but the appointment was criticised by sections of the media given her links to the left-leaning activist group. Mr Stevens says he embraced the opportunity to build on Mr Weisbrot's work at a time when digital technologies are causing rapid changes in the media. "The need for a robust and responsible media sector has never been greater," Mr Stevens said. Mr Stevens retired as secretary of the Communications Department in 2001 and has since chaired a range of public and private organisations, including the Communications Alliance. He starts in his new role on January 22. Four men have been charged for allegedly being part of an interstate drug network that trafficked 2.2 tonnes of cannabis between Brisbane and Sydney. An investigation began when detectives found 100kg of high-grade cannabis hidden in a car at the Gold Coast in May and led to raids across Brisbane on Tuesday, police say. Following searches at several properties the men, 48, 24 and two aged 28, were charged with drug trafficking and possession of dangerous drugs and are due before Richlands Magistrate Court on January 8. A prisoner has been stabbed at a Sydney prison on the same day NSW Corrections announced it had confiscated schematics that had been smuggled out by another inmate. A 23-year-old inmate was allegedly assaulted by two other inmates at Parklea Correctional Centre on Wednesday morning, a NSW Corrective Services spokeswoman told AAP in a statement. The injuries, which AAP understands are stab wounds, are not life-threatening. The incident is being investigated by NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW. No staff were injured in the incident. The alleged attack comes as the department announced it had seized documents of a demountable building, which had been smuggled out by an inmate who had been housed at Parklea. The architectural drawings were of a temporary building and had no detail in them that created a risk to security, the department said in a statement on Wednesday. "These drawings are for an off-the-shelf demountable building, which will be temporarily located at Parklea to enable staff to monitor inmate movements," Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said. Two inmates from Lithgow prison were also hospitalised on Wednesday after separate attacks. A 28-year-old inmate remains in Westmead Hospital in a stable condition. The incidents at Parklea are the latest in a series of scandals plaguing the privately run prison. A 40-year-old female guard was nabbed at the prison on Sunday after allegedly supplying the drug to an inmate in exchange for cash, NSW Police said on Monday. She was sacked and will appear in Blacktown Local Court on January 29 to face corruption charges. A parliamentary inquiry was launched last month into Parklea jail following the widespread allegations of corruption and drug trafficking. The inquiry comes after a video was published online in July showing an inmate at Parklea jail boasting about having a blade, the drug ice and a mobile phone. The inmate, Carl Walton, at the time described the security arrangements at the privately run facility as "a dead-set joke" and alleged guards were involved in the mobile phone smuggling. The video prompted a series of contraband stings in Parklea and other NSW prisons in recent months. As the Sydney's Bennelong by-election intensifies a new poll suggests incumbent John Alexander will hang on to the seat for the Coalition. A Fairfax Media-ReachTEL poll published on Thursday puts Mr Alexander at 53 per cent to Labor's Kristina Keneally's 47, on a two-party preferred basis. Half of surveyed voters said news of disgraced Labor senator Sam Dastyari and his Chinese connections would affect their vote in the Saturday by-election. A third of those voters said it would make them less likely to vote Labor. Separately, a Newspoll published earlier in the week suggested the Liberal party's primary vote had collapsed in Bennelong, putting Labor and the Liberals evenly split on a two-party preferred basis. The by-election, sparked by federal parliament's ongoing citizenship crisis, puts the Turnbull government's absolute majority at risk if Labor's star candidate and former NSW premier Ms Keneally wins. The ReachTEL poll recorded a drop in primary vote support for Mr Alexander to 40.4 per cent, from a previous 41.6 per cent in November and 50.4 per cent in the 2016 federal election. The Queensland government will have a "close look" at a scathing report that found the state-controlled road network was deteriorating and being underfunded. The Queensland Audit Office delivered a scathing assessment in its Integrated Transport Planning document on Tuesday. It found the Department of Transport and Main Roads had a $4 billion backlog for renewal and maintenance work on existing roads as of June 30. But that figure will blow out to $9 billion unless funding issues are addressed. The QAO also found the existing underfunding meant the condition of the state's roads fell "well short" of the department's own target standards. "Without alternative strategies to address the funding issues, DTMR faces a risk that it will not be able to maintain or improve service standards on the transport network to meet Queensland's future needs," the report read. A spokesman for Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey told AAP it would have a "close look" at the QAO report. "The Palaszczuk government is delivering record road and transport infrastructure spend for the second year in a row - $21 billion over four years," he said. But Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the report showed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had no plan to build the roads the state needed because it couldn't even keep up with fixing existing ones. Plumes of black smoke have been blowing across Cairns after a petrol tanker exploded, prompting police to evacuate businesses and declare an emergency. The explosion caused a fire to ignite just before midday on Wednesday at a scrap metal yard in Portsmith. Two people were treated by paramedics at the scene, one for shock and another with an ear injury. Firefighters spent much of Wednesday battling the blaze, and urged nearby residents to keep windows shut and switch air conditioners to recycle to prevent smoke coming inside. The child abuse royal commission will thank the community for its support before calling for widespread reforms aimed at making the protection of children the highest priority. The royal commission is holding a half-hour sitting in Sydney on Thursday morning to mark the end of the $500 million, five-year inquiry. Its final report will be handed to Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove on Friday, and is expected to be tabled in parliament and released the same day. The royal commission has already called for significant reforms in areas such as the criminal and civil justice systems, as well as measures to make institutions safe for children. Its final report will outline further changes, with commission chair Justice Peter McClellan saying the future protection of Australian children must be given the highest priority. Justice McClellan has warned the sexual abuse of children is not just a problem from the past, with many cases occurring in a range of institutions in the last 10 to 15 years. "We heard in private sessions from children as young as seven years of age who had been recently abused," he said last month. "In some case studies into schools the abuse was so recent that the abused children are still attending school." The commission heard directly from 8013 survivors in private sessions, held 57 public hearings involving more than 1300 witnesses over 444 days, delivered findings on 44 case studies and conducted extensive research and policy work. Blue Knot Foundation president Dr Cathy Kezelman said the royal commission brought enormous validation to people who have not previously been heard and believed by someone in a position of authority. "The systemic approach the commission's taken in terms of the public hearings and the research has also given survivors hope that what happened to them hopefully will be less likely to happen in the future," she said. 121217ABG TO SIT FOR 2018 BUDGET By Aloysius Laukai The Autonomous Bougainville Governments House of Representatives will meet next week Tuesday for the ABG Minister for Finance and Treasury, ROBIN WILSON to present the 2018 ABG Budget to the house. The ABG Speaker, SIMON PENTANU issued the notice today in Buka fixing that the house will meet on Tuesday December 19th for the ABG final session for 2017. All ABG members are called to attend this important parliament session in which the Finance and Treasury Minister will table the money plans for the region for consideration by the house. The last ABG session will start at 2pm on Tuesday. As usual New Dawn FM will carry life the budget session to its listeners in Buka and Buin whilst Arawa is still off. Ends If England captain Joe Root wins the toss in Perth, he is certain to bat first in the third Ashes Test. Root copped widespread criticism for his decision to bowl first during the day-night Test at Adelaide Oval. Australia made the most of the surprise decision to compile 8(dec)-442 in the first innings - a sizeable total that set up victory and a 2-0 series lead. England are on the verge of a series defeat, and need to pull off at least a draw during the Perth Test to have any hope of retaining the urn. The WACA deck has featured few demons during the Sheffield Shield season. Australian captain Steve Smith commented on how "soft" the pitch appeared on Tuesday when he inspected it. But even if a green monster is unveiled on Thursday morning when the covers come off, Root is considered certain to bat if he wins the toss. "Winning the toss and batting first is probably the way to go here," Root said with a wry smile when asked about the pitch. "Traditionally, you do get big scores - especially the last couple of years here. "Guys have gone on and made big individual contributions, and first-innings runs have been quite crucial. "I think that's got to be our focus. It has been throughout the trip - we've just not quite managed to do that as well as we'd have liked. "We know we have the potential to go out and make runs, and this is just a great opportunity for us to do that." Australia appear certain to opt for the extra bowling option by recalling allrounder Mitch Marsh at the expense of Peter Handscomb. Handscomb has struggled to deal with England's swing during the series, posting scores of 14, 36 and 12. But Smith stressed if Handscomb did get dropped, it would only be for team balance, rather than uncertainties over his batting capabilities. Marsh underwent a shoulder reconstruction in March, and only returned late last month to bowling duties. Despite being underdone on the bowling front, his ability to deliver about 10 overs per innings of 140km/h seamers could prove crucial on a WACA deck that has given up plenty of runs of late. The South Australian government will work quickly to impose a permanent ban on swimming at a dangerous section of an Adelaide beach following the death of an Indian teenager, the third drowning in the area in less than two years. The Holdfast Bay Council has imposed an interim ban on swimming at the breakwater at the northern end of Glenelg beach with the government drafting regulations to make the ban permanent. Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan says the new regulations, which will not prevent access to safe areas of the beach, will be ready as soon as possible. The action comes after 15-year-old Indian student Nitisha Negi drowned on Sunday with her body found on Monday after an extensive search. She was with four other Indian girls at Holdfast Marina when they all got into trouble. The other four were rescued by surf life savers. Mr Mullighan said the government was working with the council, the surf lifesaving club, and the public to try and prevent such a tragedy occurring again. "We are also working with all stakeholders to make sure we are appropriately monitoring the area and educating the public about the dangers posed by the breakwaters," he said. Two boys drowned at the same spot on New Year's Day last year and another boy died there in 2007. The family of Karen Ristevski says they have never lost faith there would be justice for the slain Melbourne mother, more than one year after she went missing. Her husband Borce Ristevski, 53, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with murder and is expected to spend Christmas in custody and behind bars. Ms Ristevski's cousin Lisa Gray told Melbourne's Herald Sun her relative was a "beautiful" person. "No person, particularly Karen, deserved to die in such a way. We have never lost faith that they will get justice for our beautiful Karen. This is another step towards Karen being remembered with dignity and love," she said. Ms Ristevski's brother Steve Williams on Wednesday said it had been an emotional day. "It is no way a celebration, it's another stage in bringing my beautiful sister Karen the justice she so deserves," he said in a statement. Ristevski is accused of murdering his 47-year-old wife at Avondale Heights on June 29, 2016, according to documents tendered to the court. Ms Ristevski went missing from the couple's Oakley Drive home the same morning. Her remains were discovered in bushland in the Mount Macedon Regional Park almost eight months later, on February 20 this year. Ristevski was remanded in custody and is scheduled to return to court on April 18. Neon dogs will frolic atop the State Library, Little Bourke St will be covered in snow and Federation Square will be draped in a 'liquid sky' for Melbourne's next White Night. Traffic will be banished from the CBD and the arts will reclaim the streets when the weird, wonderful and eccentric 12-hour event takes place in February. Among the installations announced on Thursday is the Serpent Mother - a massive skeletal snake that shoots fire 40 feet into the air - made famous at the wild Burning Man festival held in the Nevada desert earlier this year. The event, which drew a crowd of 600,000, will "shock the senses", Artistic Director David Atkins said. "White Night should challenge perceptions and conventions... it should be uplifting and exhausting it should shock the senses and lift the spirit," Mr Atkins said. White Night will take place in Melbourne on February 17, while the regional town of Ballarat will host its own White Night on March 17, following the success of its debut in 2017. A 30-year-old South Korean man is behind bars after after two women were attacked, with one sexually assaulted, in Sydney's inner west. A 24-year-old woman was allegedly approached by the man in Burwood after midnight on Sunday, when he attacked her and demanded her bankcards. He then allegedly took photos the woman before dragging her across the road and sexually assaulting her before fleeing. Two days later, a 21-year-old woman was walking to Burwood railway station about 4.20am on Tuesday when she was grabbed from behind, assaulted and pushed to the ground as her attacker demanded money. Police arrested the 30-year-old in nearby Strathfield on Wednesday and charged him over the two attacks. He is facing a string of charges including sexual assault, choking, stalking, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, and is due to face Burwood Local Court on Thursday. Victoria's opposition wants the corruption watchdog to investigate a Labor preference deal in the recent Northcote by-election. Nationals Leader Peter Walsh told reporters on Thursday he's written to the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission over the Animal Justice Party reportedly agreeing to direct preferences to Labor in return for $500,000 in grants for the party's favoured causes. Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said it was a "ridiculous assertion" and the grants announced in October were an "animal welfare grants program that has existed for many years, in fact one Peter Walsh used to administer himself". A widespread drug bust in the rice-growing capital of NSW has nabbed 14 "criminals" after police seized ice, cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and weapons. Police from six local commands swooped on six properties in the small Riverina town of Leeton on Wednesday afternoon in an operation targeting drug dealers. Fourteen men and women, aged from 22 to 55, are facing drug supply charges, with half of them behind bars and due to face Griffith Local Court on Thursday. The other seven will face Leeton Court next week. "If you are going to supply prohibited drugs... you are a drug dealer ... you are a criminal and we will target you," Superintendent Michael Rowan said in Leeton on Wednesday. A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) removes an Islamic State group flag in the northern town of Tabqa on April 30, 2017 after capturing it from the jihadists Syria is expected to soon follow in Iraq's footsteps in proclaiming victory against the Islamic State group, whose fighters are either on the run or trapped and largely toothless. On Saturday, the Baghdad government declared the end of a huge military effort that saw Iraqi forces painstakingly reclaim every little piece of the third of the country the jihadists controlled three years ago. The Syrian side of the "caliphate" IS proclaimed in 2014 has also disintegrated, with now only gaggles of fighters launching short-lived attacks or clinging to small pockets where they are completely besieged. IS no longer controls a single town in Syria and while it may still count several thousand fighters among its ranks, observers expect Damascus to declare final victory before the end of the year. Syria's top ally Russia called it last week when senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi claimed "Syria has been completely liberated from fighters of this terrorist organisation". On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron argued that was slightly premature and predicted that "military operations against Daesh (IS) in Syria will continue until mid- to late February". Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, argued that IS was now largely rudderless and that surviving units were essentially fending for themselves. "There no longer is one central command giving orders. IS has been turned into groups scattered over Syria," said Abdel Rahman, whose monitoring group relies on a wide network of sources across the country. The group's fighters are most active in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, where they are defending the last specks of land that used to be part of their "caliphate". Several hundred fighters remain in that province alone, not enough to plan any realistic territorial reconquest but enough to cause damage in guerrilla-style attacks. A handout picture released by Syrian state news agency SANA on November 21, 2017 shows pro-government celebrating after capturing from IS Albu Kamal, the group's last major urban stronghold in Syria According to Abdel Rahman, 23 pro-government forces were killed Monday in an attack near Albu Kamal, the last major town IS controlled fully before it eventually lost it in November. - Dregs of the caliphate - IS is still active in the following areas: + The group still holds 18 villages on the eastern side of the Euphrates river in Deir Ezzor province, according to the Observatory. + It controls a small area in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, which Kurdish-led forces hope to reclaim swiftly. + The jihadists also hold remote areas in the central Homs province, mostly two pockets which the regime is expected to take on soon. + IS fighters are also in a small sliver of Hama province, further north, where they are battling jihadists from a rival group. + IS also has a presence in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk, in Damascus, but IS fighters there have been besieged for years. + The group also has fixed positions in two other areas of southern Damascus, Hajar al-Aswad and Tadamun. + In the southern province of Daraa, fighters affiliated to IS also have a small presence. - No cohesion - Syrian government forces walk in a district of Deir Ezzor on November 5, 2017, after retaking the city from the Islamic State group but jihadists still hold several villages in the province "We will probably witness the end of IS as a land-holding force very soon but it will keep existing through sleeper cells," Abdel Rahman said. As the myriad of anti-jihadist forces clawed back land from IS over the past three years, thousands of routed jihadists are believed to have simply melted back into the desert or blended into civilian life. The "caliphate" was doomed almost from birth and IS has long begun morphing back into an insurgency that can still strike almost anywhere in Iraq and Syria with deadly suicide attacks. "It has tried to maintain governance where it exercises formal and full control, but the norm now is functioning as an insurgent group," said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, an academic and expert on jihadists. The whereabouts and current level of involvement of IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are unknown. The group no longer has a clear centre of power and its once unstoppable propaganda machine is sputtering out a now anaemic production. "I am sure there is still a chain of command but the overall structure is likely less cohesive than before," Tamimi said. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says North Korea will not be allowed to deploy nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States but that Washington is ready to talk The United States is ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions" but remains determined to force it to abandon its nuclear arsenal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. The White House later appeared to put Tillerson's proposal in question, however, saying US President Donald Trump's "views on North Korea have not changed." While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not spell out the president's views, Trump in the past has chided his secretary of state for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with Pyongyang. Even as Tillerson stressed the importance of a negotiated end to the standoff, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to make his nation "the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." Trump has promised that Kim will not be allowed to complete his effort to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching mainland US cities. To this end, Tillerson has overseen a global diplomatic effort to isolate Pyongyang and stifle its economy through UN sanctions and, ultimately, the threat of US military force. In two public appearances Tuesday, he warned that these efforts would continue until "the first bomb drops" and that Washington "simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea." But he said the door to talks with Kim's regime was open, and left the opening wider than he had before, backing away from his former insistence that Pyongyang accept in principle to disarm. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum, speaking of the possibility of laying out a roadmap of goals. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it." Sanders, however, responded: "The president's views on North Korea have not changed. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China and South Korea, but the entire world." "North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea," she added. A senior UN official returning from Pyongyang said that North Korean officials had told him it was important to prevent war but offered no concrete proposal for talks. "They agreed that it was important to prevent war," Jeffrey Feltman, the UN's political affairs chief, told reporters after briefing the Security Council on his trip. Feltman met with North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-Kuk during his visit to Pyongyang over the weekend -- the first by a high-ranking UN official since 2011. - Devastating conflict - Some in Washington see Tillerson's latest rhetoric as a climbdown. Sanctions expert Anthony Ruggiero, of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said talks should not begin until the US has a way to verify nuclear testing is not continuing. Earlier, in an end-of-year speech to State Department staff and US diplomats, Tillerson stressed the importance of the sanctions regime in forcing North Korea to the table. Despite hopes that China will do more to cut off oil supplies, international action has forced North Korea's fuel prices up by around a half and cost it $2.3 billion in lost exports, he said. And Tillerson added that he would see it as a personal failure if his efforts came up short and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is forced to take military action to deny the North its arsenal. But even if Tillerson remains "confident" that the US strategy is paying off, there was little sign of this in Pyongyang, where Kim gave a typically bellicose speech to workers. According to North Korea's state news agency KCNA, Kim said his country "will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." His latest boast came after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, a missile which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Outside experts agree the rocket appears to have the range, but some are skeptical that Pyongyang has the technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. But US officials have been warning privately for months that Pyongyang is on the verge of a breakthrough, and Tillerson's public confidence appears aimed at much at Trump as at Kim. - Invective - Both the US and North Korean leaders have a penchant for warlike rhetoric and personal invective that risks plunging east Asia into a devastating conflict that could leave millions dead. Trump habitually refers to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and has threatened to utterly destroy his regime with "fire and fury." North Korea has branded Trump a mentally disturbed "dotard." In October, after Tillerson revealed he had open diplomatic channels to contact Pyongyang, Trump tweeted that his top diplomat was "wasting his time" trying to talk to Kim. Further inflaming tensions, in the last week, the US and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise, despite calls from China and Russia for a freeze in maneuvers. Belarus's Victoria Azarenka returns against Britain's Heather Watson during their women's singles match at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships July 7, 2017 Two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, who has been locked in a custody battle over her baby son, was Wednesday handed a wildcard into January's Australian Open. Tournament director Craig Tiley said every assistance would be provided to the former Belarus world number one so she can compete at the Melbourne event where she has achieved her greatest success. "Vika's current situation is obviously very difficult for her and we have reached out to offer any support we can," Tiley said. "As a two-time Australian Open champion we've awarded her a wildcard and look forward to seeing her back on court in Melbourne in January." Azarenka returned from maternity leave in the middle of the year but was forced to skip the US Open in August after a Los Angeles judge presiding in a custody case over her son Leo ruled the child could not leave California until the matter had been settled. Azarenka, who has slipped down the rankings to be world number 210, said she was looking forward to returning to the opening Grand Slam of the year. "Im so excited about coming back to Melbourne for the Australian Open, its my favourite tournament," she said. "Ive won there twice and always feel so comfortable on court and the city is great. "Its been a tough year and being able to come back to the Australian Open will be a really positive way to start 2018. Id like to thank Craig and his team for their understanding and support and cant wait to see all my Aussie fans again." The tournament runs from January 15-28. 121217NBC BUKA PAYMENTS By Aloysius Laukai The NBC Radio Bougainville has stopped broadcasting to the people of Bougainville due to no funds for fuel for their Standbye Generators at Hutjena studios and the Kubu Transmitter site. And it has been about a week since the PNG POWER switched off its generators due to shortage of fuel. A reliable source told New Dawn FM that NBC Bougainville receives grants from the Autonomous Bougainville Government of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINA a year but these funds which are controlled by the Media and Communications Division has not been paid to NBC in the last four years. This has resulted in having run out of funds to operate whilst the PNG POWER is not operating in Buka. The source called on the Autonomous Bougainville Government to investigate where these funds allocated to support the NBC has gone to. Under the arrangement between NBC and the provincial stations throughout Papua New Guinea, the NBC Headquater looks after the salaries of staff and the technical equipments whilst the Provincial Governments fund operations of local stations. Our attempts to talk to the Media and Communications division people were unsuccessful. Ends During a meeting held on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly debate in September, US President Donald Trump said the United Nations had failed to reach its "full potential due to bureaucracy and mismanagement" The United States is seeking a $250 million cut to the core budget of the United Nations for 2018-2019, on top of $200 million in savings already proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, diplomats said Tuesday. The budget is under negotiations in a General Assembly committee which is expected to adopt it before the end of December. Guterres has proposed capping the UN biennial budget at $5.4 billion, shaving off $200 million from the 2016-2017 budget. Two diplomats told AFP that the United States had put forward a proposal for an additional $250 million reduction - a 5 percent cut that another diplomat said would be nearly impossible to achieve. The United States is the UN's number one financial contributor, providing 22 percent of the core budget. Diplomats said the proposed US budget cuts could target political missions in Libya and Afghanistan as well as the office for Palestinian rights and communication services. The UN mission to the United Nations declined to comment. There was no immediate UN reaction. The European Union has also put forward a proposal to seek an additional $170 million in savings from the budget. "This is a classic game," said a diplomat. "There's always two camps - the United States and the European Union - who want to reduce the budget and the rest of the countries who don't." The UN's operating budget is separate from its peacekeeping budget, which was cut by $600 million this year, under pressure from the US administration of President Donald Trump. The push for deeper cuts comes as Guterres is trying to build support for his plans for reform of the UN bureaucracy. During a meeting held on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly debate in September, Trump said the United Nations had failed to reach its "full potential due to bureaucracy and mismanagement." "We are not seeing the results in line with this investment," he said. The United Nations employs 40,000 people recruited worldwide. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told workers behind the country's latest missile test that Pyongyang would 'victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world' North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to "win victory in the showdown" against the US with his rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, state media said Wednesday, after the country's latest missile test heightened global tensions. The nuclear-armed North has rattled the international community with a flurry of nuclear blasts and missile launches, most recently on November 29 when it test-fired its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching all major US cities. Kim told workers behind the latest test that his country would "victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world" at a conference on Tuesday, according to state news agency KCNA. "The... national defence industry will continue to develop and we will win victory in the showdown with the imperialists and the US," he was indirectly quoted as saying. The country's nuclear force had been completed in a "death-defying struggle" and despite a high cost, he added. Kim's comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim's regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US President Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with Trump dubbing his rival "Little Rocket Man". North Korean reach Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. Last month's launch was the first test of any kind since September 15, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said for the first time that Washington was willing to talk to Pyongyang "without preconditions". The US has long insisted that the North should take concrete steps towards disarming before any negotiations, which should lead to complete, irreversible and verifiable denuclearisation. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your programme," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum. "They have too much invested in it." But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. The latest military standoff prompted concerns of another full-scale conflict in the region after the 1950-53 Korean War that left much of the peninsula in ruins. Even if a second war remained conventional, tens of thousands of South Koreans -- as well as many of the 28,500 US troops stationed in the country -- are expected to be killed just in the first days of fighting, analysts say. According to the authorities, there are more than 5,000 Nigerians in Libya, but those who have come back say there are many more When Bright stepped off the plane from Libya and heard that his home state in southern Nigeria had begun a rehabilitation programme for returned migrants, he thought it was another scam. "So many people cheated us in the past few months," he told AFP on the tarmac at Lagos airport, where he arrived earlier this month with nearly 300 other Nigerians. After months of fear, torture and prayers in detention centres in Tripoli or Benghazi, the returnees registered their name, their former address and the telephone number of a loved one. Bright, who is in his 40s, barely reacted as the Nigerian foreign ministry official, fresh off the plane from Abuja, distributed jollof rice before television cameras. He didn't even see the huge poster of President Muhammadu Buhari's wife, Aisha, welcoming them back to the country. But when he found out the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, had hired a bus to drive them the 400 kilometres (250 miles) home, he felt goosebumps. "It's the first time in history that this government is doing something for us," the father of three said. "I've always thought I was transparent in my own country." Bright got on the bus with 42,500 naira ($120, 100 euros) in his pocket from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and a bag of toiletries, to be reunited with his family. "I thank God that I came back from hell," he said. But he was under no illusions that it would take more than that for him to start a new life. "I was a danfo (minibus) driver but I sold it to go to Europe. My family had to borrow money to bail me out of the detention camp in Libya. I have nothing left. I came back empty," he said. - 'Big crisis situation' - Videos shown recently on CNN of Nigerians being sold like slaves by criminal gangs in Libya provoked global outrage and reaction from the international community. During the Europe-Africa summit, nine heads of state pledged to tackle illegal immigration, with Nigeria's Buhari vowing to repatriate all of his compatriots stuck in Libya. According to the authorities, there are more than 5,000 Nigerians stranded in Libya. But those who have come back say there are many more. Two planes chartered by the International Organization for Migration now arrive twice a week from Tripoli. Nearly 1,300 Nigerians were brought back in November, 826 in October The back and forth of IOM charter flights between Libya and Nigeria, which began last year, has increased in recent months. Two planes now arrive twice a week from Tripoli. Nearly 1,300 Nigerians were brought back in November. The figure was 826 in October. Buhari has vowed to offer work and a place in society for the returnees' children. In reality, only Edo state, where some 80 percent of Nigerian migrants come from, has put in place a proper rehabilitation programme. Others returnees disappear into the urban sprawl of Lagos, a megacity of 20 million people, where millionaire preacher TB Joshua has also promised to pay returnees. Bright was one of 257 people who made the journey from Lagos to the Edo state capital Benin City. Three days later, another convoy arrived at the hotel where returnees were put up for two nights and where they were offered professional training, particularly in agriculture. It's a far cry from their European dream. Governor Obaseki has set aside 30 million naira to tackle the problem of illegal migration, which sees thousands of Nigerians risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. In September, he set up a special taskforce against human trafficking to take the longstanding problem seriously. "The state is facing a big crisis situation," said Sister Florence, a nun who counsels returned migrants. "The number is too high. I don't know how long we will be able to cope with it," she added, cradling a tiny, dehydrated newborn baby in her arms. - Confidence - The following day, only about 20 of the returnees were seen wandering about between the rooms of the hotel. Only those unable to face their families and admit failure remained. "We can't force them to stay but we will definitely follow up on them," said Abieyuwa Oyemwense, a member of the governor's special taskforce. In Edo State, where some 80 percent of Nigerian migrants come from, the governor has set aside 30 million naira ($80,000) to tackle the problem of illegal migration "Those who get proper training will also help to spread the word." Kelvin hasn't bothered to even register. "What for?" asked the well-built 28-year-old, whose arms covered in scars are a permanent reminder of his time in Libya. "They never did anything for us." Kelvin gathered his IOM money and a plastic bag containing flip-flops, soap and a bath towel, and joined his wife. On the pavement outside, he walked slowly, like an inmate just released from prison who is happy to have cheated death but petrified at the thought of having to start again from scratch. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, convened the emergency summit of Muslim leaders to denounce Trump's move 'Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged world powers to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the "State of Palestine", as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned that the United States no longer had a role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Istanbul, seeking a tough response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing any concrete sanction against Israel or the United States. But their final statement declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital." - 'Null and void - They declared Trump's decision "null and void legally" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts" that would give impetus to "extremism and terrorism". The status of Jerusalem, a city considered holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims, is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel, as the capital of their future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response that he was "not impressed" by the OIC statements. "The Palestinians would do better by recognising reality and acting in favour of peace and not extremism," Netanyahu said. Erdogan, who sees himself a champion of the Palestinian cause, sought to underline his point with a powerpoint map presentation, flashing a laser pointer at how Palestinian territory had shrunk since the 1948 creation of Israel. "The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine," he said. "Mr Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality," said Erdogan, the current OIC chairman. - 'No more role for US' - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel, was among the leaders attending the Istanbul meeting Using unusually strong language and bitterly anti-American rhetoric, Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. He added that Trump's move had withdrawn the United States from its traditional role as Mideast peace mediator. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. The final OIC statement echoed his words, saying Trump's move was "an announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace". Successive US administrations have sought unsuccessfully to broker a final peace deal since the 1990s Oslo accords. Trump, too, is working on such an offer through his son-in-law Jared Kushner. - Saudi snub? - But bridging the gaps between 57 OIC member states -- which include archrivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran -- was always a tall order. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy Key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington by putting their name to anti-American measures. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. But there was no sign of Saudi King Salman or his powerful crown prince and son Mohammed bin Salman, who has reportedly been in close contact with Trump over the Middle East. Instead, Riyadh sent a senior foreign ministry official. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine," seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel. But as the summit was being held, King Salman echoed the calls over Jerusalem in an address in Riyadh, saying it was the "right" of the Palestinians to establish "their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the United States no longer had a role to play in the peace process Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce Israel and show solidarity with Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded. Jose Figueroa (R) and two others clean kayaks and equipment used for tours to the bioluminescent bay in Fajardo, Puerto Rico -- one of many tourist sites suffering after Hurricane Maria Until Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Jose Figueroa did brisk business renting kayaks to tourists itching to see a lagoon that lights up by night thanks to millions of microorganisms. Today, things are so dire he's considering selling water to motorists stopped at red lights. "Now we are trying to survive," the 46-year-old tour guide said. It used to be that visitors had to reserve a month in advance to get one of his kayaks and paddle around in the dark on the enchanting, bioluminescent body of water called Laguna Grande. But tourists are scarce these days as the Caribbean island tries to recover from the ravages of the storm back in September. "We do not know if we will have any work tonight," Figueroa said. "Last week, we worked only one day." He and another employee of a company called Glass Bottom PR are cleaning kayaks on the seaside promenade of Fajardo, a tourist town in eastern Puerto Rico whose main attraction is the so-called Bio Bay. The year started off well for Puerto Rico, with the global success of the song "Despacito" by local musicians Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The catchy tune helped promote the US commonwealth island of 3.4 million people, which is saddled with huge debts and declared bankruptcy in May. But the hurricane turned what should be an island bustling with tourists into one with deserted beaches, shuttered restaurants and hotels full of mainland US officials working on the rebuilding of the island. "What few tourists we have are the federal officials themselves," said Figueroa. - Locals only - The grim outlook spreads up and down the seaside promenade of Fajardo, where many restaurants are closed because there is no electricity. On this particular day around noon, the only restaurant open is one called Racar Seafood. It has its own emergency generator. "We get by on local tourists," said its 61-year-old owner, Justino Cruz. "Our clients are local -- those who have no electricity, no generator, cold food or no food." Cruise ship piers like this one in the tourist zone of Old San Juan were empty in the wake of Hurricane Maria, but the ships have started to return Puerto Rico's once-devastated power grid is now back up to 70 percent capacity, but this is mainly concentrated in the capital San Juan. So while inland towns that depend on tourism are struggling mightily, things are getting better in San Juan as cruise ships are once again docking. On November 30, the first cruise ship since the storm arrived with thousands of vacationers on board. They were received with great fanfare -- quite literally, with trumpet blaring and cymbals crashing. - Pitching in to help - The World Travel & Tourism Council, based in London, says tourism accounted for about eight percent of Puerto Rico's GDP in 2016, or $8.1 billion. Hurricane Maria's damage has been uneven. Although some tour guides now have no work and many eateries are shut down, hotels that have their own generators are doing just fine. Thanks to the thousands of US government officials and reconstruction crew members that came in after the storm, the hotels that are open -- about 80 percent of the total -- are pretty much full. These people are starting to leave the island this month but hotels may receive tourists around Christmas, at least in San Juan, where power has for the most part been restored. The hurricane "undoubtedly cost billions in lost revenue," said Jose Izquierdo, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Hurricane Maria has devastated Puerto Rico's tourism industry -- here, sailboats are seen washed ashore in Fajardo in September But Izquierdo nevertheless says he is "optimistic" and suggests an alternative: put tourists to work as volunteers in the gargantuan reconstruction effort that the island needs. "We want to look for travelers who want to travel with a purpose, who might have the commitment to help rebuild," said Izquierdo. The program, called "Meaningful Travel" and launched in mid-November, organizes trips on which residents, Puerto Ricans living abroad and tourists are invited to help the island get back on its feet. "The plan aims to create empathy with this tourist destination," said Izquierdo. "We want to be like New Orleans after Katrina, where 10 years after the hurricane, tourism is the driving force of its economy. We want to build that narrative of recovery," he added. "There are different ways in which the world wants to help Puerto Rico. The best way is to visit us." China in 2014 formally made the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre a National Day of Remembrance Sirens blared and thousands of doves were released as Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a sombre ceremony in Nanjing marking 80 years since the wartime massacre in the city by Japanese troops. Several thousand black-clad soldiers, civil servants and students with white flowers pinned to their jackets braved chilly temperatures at a monument to a dark World War Two chapter that still divides the two countries. But while vowing never to forget the "great catastrophe" wrought by "Japanese militarism" in a speech to the mourners, a top Chinese official also stressed the need for the two rivals to move forward. "China and Japan are close neighbours, neighbours who can't move away," said Yu Zhengsheng, a former member of China's top Communist leadership who now chairs a parliamentary body. China and Japan should build on their "long, rich history" of links to deepen "friendship", Yu said, avoiding reference to bitter disputes over the massacre. According to China, 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after invading Japanese troops seized Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937. It remains a source of bad blood due to disagreement over the extent of the slaughter and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that it even took place. Officially, Japan concedes that "the killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred" but says it is "difficult" to determine precise figures. Sirens blared across the city for one minute and car horns could be heard as well The issue receded during the Cold War but has re-emerged in recent decades, with China now striking an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder under conservative leader Shinzo Abe. China in 2014 formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising its profile. In an anniversary speech that year in Nanjing, Xi said the slaughter of 300,000 victims could not be denied. But Xi did not speak Wednesday or lay any wreaths in the nationally televised ceremony that saw much of the city shut down by security measures. Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University, said Beijing has kept wartime memories alive as leverage against Japan in modern-day disputes such as maritime territorial squabbles. "There are current conflicts between the two countries, so historical issues are re-emerging. All history is contemporary," Liang said. But fewer than 100 people designated as massacre "survivors" remain alive, and both sides have repeatedly expressed desire to look ahead and avoid rocking their huge trade relationship. "Xi cannot avoid anti-Japanese movements, as nationalism is a source of his political power. But deep down he must be hoping to improve ties with Japan," said Mitsuyuki Kagami, professor of China studies at Aichi University. Soldiers carried eight large wreaths representing the decades into the memorial site as sorrowful music played. A "peace bell" was then rung. Sirens blared across the city for one minute and car horns could be heard as well. - 'Deep remorse' - The two countries have struggled to put Japan's wartime aggression behind them and Abe, the grandson of a wartime minister, has been accused of trying to gloss over history. In 2015, he expressed "deep remorse" for Japan's actions in Asia, but also said future Japanese generations need not continually apologise, drawing criticism in China and South Korea, another wartime victim. Soldiers carried eight large wreaths representing the decades into the memorial site as sorrowful music played Japanese politicians have also repeatedly angered Asian neighbours by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine commemorating Japan's military dead, including convicted war criminals. China's Nanjing toll is disputed even by some western academics who put it as low as tens of thousands, but no respected historians dispute that a massacre occurred. China suffered immense loss of life at Japan's hands, reserving special anger over a sense that Tokyo, unlike Germany, has never fully atoned for the war. Relations plunged in 2005 as China was swept by rare anti-Japan protests denouncing its war conduct. But analysts say China's stability-obsessed leaders are deeply fearful of letting such passions burst out again as it could pose a potential political quandary for the ruling Communist Party. burs-dma/kaf Palestinian protesters watch on during clashes with Israeli forces near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City on December 12, 2017 as demonstrations continue over US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital The Israeli air force hit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday lightly wounding three people, after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military and Gaza security officials said. Israel also arrested a number of senior Hamas members in the occupied West Bank overnight, including one of its leaders in the territory. Late on Tuesday, the military said that an undefined "projectile" was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was "very probably" a rocket but that it was not clear where it hit. Palestinians in the coastal territory have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. "In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel air force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip," the army said on Wednesday. Gaza security officials said that aircraft hit a Hamas naval base west of the city of Khan Yunis and open land nearby. Three Palestinians were lightly wounded in the strikes, the health ministry in Gaza said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side. Those arrested overnight included Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist movement. He was arrested in Ramallah, a Hamas statement said. Yousef is a member of the largely defunct Palestinian parliament elected in 2006 and was jailed between 2012 and 2014. A spokeswoman for Israel's Shin Beth domestic security agency told AFP: "He was arrested because of his involvement in encouraging and directing Hamas activity in the West Bank." Yousef's son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, gained prominence in recent years after a film was released detailing his spying for Israel, called "The Green Prince." Yousef disowned his son after he admitted to spying on Hamas for Israel. Trump's announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or retaliatory Israeli air strikes so far. Beijing authorities have begun tearing down unsafe homes following a series of deadly fires sparking uproar A building fire killed five people and injured eight in one of Beijing's migrant neighbourhoods Wednesday, just weeks after local authorities began mass evictions in response to another deadly blaze. Beijing's Communist Party chief Cai Qi visited both the injured in hospital and the fire scene, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that police had detained the building's owner. The visit by Cai -- a rising political star -- underscored government concern about the unfolding public relations disaster that has followed the city's brutal response to last month's dormitory fire. City officials began tearing down unsafe buildings in late November after a fire that killed 19, driving residents out into the winter cold with little notice in the name of fire safety, a move that has provoked public outroar. Wednesday's blaze started at around 1:18 am when two electric bicycles caught fire, Xinhua said, citing the fire department. The house was "self-built for rental", Xinhua said. The vehicles are a popular means of transportation for the many migrant workers who have flooded into the capital city from around the country in search of work. Dozens of police and onlookers gathered behind yellow tape sealing off the scene, watching fire inspectors and local government officials go about their work. The neighbourhood is a collection of crude homes that have sprung up across the street from a massive wholesale market specialising in home fixtures, such as doors and lamps, an area well-known to the city's many itinerant construction workers. In recent weeks, authorities have torn most of the buildings to the ground. Furniture, clothes and even food littered the piles of rubble surrounding the fire scene, evidence that former residents were driven out by authorities without time to collect their belongings. Fire safety is a major problem in the city's cheap migrant housing, which often features jerry-rigged electrical wiring and no easy way to flee a blaze. But the brutal efficiency of the demolitions and mass evictions has provoked an unusual public outcry that has put officials on edge. Laota Seanlee arrives at a court in Bangkok ahead of his sentencing A Thai court on Wednesday sentenced a notorious 76-year-old drug trafficker to life in prison after he was allegedly caught trying to sell 20 kilogrammes of crystal meth in the Golden Triangle drug producing region. Laota Seanlee -- a former anti-Communist guerilla turned drug runner who famously opened an eponymous coffee store in Thailand's far north -- was nabbed with several of his relatives by undercover officers in a sting operation last year. The rugged Golden Triangle zone -- which also includes parts of Myanmar Laos and southern China -- is home to some of the world's most prolific drug producers, with cartels moving heroin and methamphetamine across Asia. Yet high-profile arrests are rare. Laota, who hails from the Lisu ethnic minority, had been detained multiple times over the decades but authorities never managed to make major drug charges stick -- until now. On Wednesday Bangkok's criminal court sentenced him to life in prison for selling 'ice' to undercover police and possessing 20 kilogrammes of the high-purity narcotic in his compound -- charges he confessed to. "The court ruled to give him the death penalty for possession and intention to sell 20 kilogrammes of ice but due to his confession the sentence was reduced to life in prison and 2.5 million baht ($77,000) fine," the judge said. Laota's wife was also sentenced to 25 years in prison while his two sons, who denied helping facilitate the drug sales, were handed the death penalty, a sentence that is rarely carried out in Thailand. The sons, one of whom was a local administrator in Chiang Mai province, will appeal, according to Laota's lawyer. At the time of his arrest, some commentators expressed surprise that such a wily survivor of the drug trade had allowed himself to be caught so red-handed. Laota's wife Asama Seanlee was also jailed along with their two sons In a 2011 interview with the Bangkok Post Laota shared details of his remarkable life. He said he joined the anti-communist Kuomintang as a child soldier and rose up through the ranks. Like many Kuomintang cadres, he later fought for Thailand against communist insurgents in the 1970s in exchange for sanctuary. He is widely thought to have had ties to Asia's most notorious drug trafficker Khun Sa, a Myanmar-based rebel leader who was one of the world's most wanted men until his death in 2007. In recent years Laota opened a coffee store -- Lao Ta Coffee -- visited by more intrepid travellers journeying across Thailand's north. During its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s the Golden Triangle was home to the world's top opium market in Myanmar -- a designation it lost to the Afghan farmers who now dominate the trade. But the region is now the heart of Asia's methamphetamine production, with warlords pumping out record numbers of caffeine-laced "yaba" meth pills and the more addictive crystallised 'ice' version. Thai police have made record seizures. But those arrested tend to be low level mules whilst there has been no rise in street prices, showing the cartels can easily make up for busts. The drug war in the Philippines has claimed thousands of lives and led rights groups to warn President Duterte may be orchestrating crimes against humanity A Philippine police chief who lost his lead role in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war because his officers murdered a South Korean businessman has won a promotion, a move slammed Wednesday by rights campaigners. Senior Superintendent Albert Ferro was demoted in January after officers in his anti-narcotics unit kidnapped the businessman in a bid to extort money from his wife, then strangled him to death inside the national police headquarters. A backlash after the murder forced Duterte to abolish Ferro's unit and briefly suspend all police from the drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives and led rights groups to warn the president may be orchestrating crimes against humanity. Philippine National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said Tuesday Ferro had been promoted to head a new anti-drugs unit with a similar mission to the abandoned one. "He is very competent in his job but he was unlucky because crazy people got into his unit," Dela Rosa said. "He has learned his lessons well so he deserves another chance." Ferro had been serving in a less prominent role in a firearms unit as punishment for what Dela Rosa described as his command responsibility for the murder. Duterte has relied heavily on the police to fulfil his election pledge last year to eradicate drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 people. Since then, police say they have killed nearly 4,000 "drug personalities", while thousands of others have been killed under unexplained circumstances. Rights groups allege corrupt police are killing defenceless people, fabricating evidence, paying assassins to murder drug addicts and stealing from those they kill. Duterte conceded in January that his police force was "corrupt to the core", and suspended them from the counter-narcotics campaign briefly for a second time in October in a bid to quieten mounting opposition to the drug war. But the president, who has said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, has on both occasions brought the police back to the drug war's frontlines without any major reforms to eradicate corruption. On Wednesday, prominent human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno said Ferro's appointment highlighted fundamental problems in the police force. "It just reflects their disdain for accountability. The records show (the police) are not capable of policing themselves," Diokno told AFP. Opposition senator Francis Pangilinan said the move would embolden officers to commit abuses. "How can the people trust the (police) campaign against illegal drugs if those people spearheading it are involved in controversy," said Pangilinan. 131217- Teachers Leave pays finally settled By- Theresa Baranangko The Education Department is finally settling the outstanding leave pays for Teachers who were left out during the payouts since last week. Due to Financial hold up which was beyond the control of the Education office, the teachers were not paid on time. Nearly half of the estimated 300 plus teachers were left out in their leave entitlements until today. Because of that issue, more than 50 teachers gathered yesterday in front of the education office demanding explanations as to why most of their leave pays was not settled on time. Teachers were told that because of the financial hold up, most of them were not paid on time. This explanation was not excepted as they said the office should have done this one week before schools in Bougainville started to close and not wait till last minute as they claim this week is not processing week but travelling week. The Education Office has taken that matter into consideration and is finally paying out the rest of the teachers who were on queue yesterday. Ends// Guards search through the rubble of a rebel-run prison camp in the Yemeni capital Sana after it was hit by Saudi-led air strikes on December 13, 2017 Saudi-led air strikes on a prison run by rebels in Yemen killed 30 people and wounded 80 on Wednesday, the rebels' Al-Masirah TV reported. The rebel outlet earlier reported that 12 people were killed -- all prisoners -- when the pre-dawn raids hit the military police compound in the capital Sanaa where the detention centre is located. The latest update did not say how many of the dead were detainees or Huthi rebels. There has been no let-up in the air campaign against the rebels that a Saudi-led coalition has been waging since March 2015 despite an appeal by UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday for a renewed push to end the "stupid war". An AFP photographer saw rebel fighters carrying away bodies from the rubble of heavily damaged buildings. One of the guards, Mohammed al-Aqel, said the strikes had begun at 1:00 am (2200 GMT Tuesday). He said a first strike had damaged one wing of the jail, prompting some of the prisoners to try to escape, but it was then almost flattened by a second strike. Three further strikes damaged two other prison buildings and the perimeter wall, Aqel added. On Sunday, Saudi-led strikes on a rebel training camp northwest of the capital killed at least 26 rebel fighters, security sources said. On Friday, a strike on a rebel-controlled television station in Sanaa killed four guards. The raids come with Yemen plunged deeper into turmoil by the killing this month of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh by the rebels after their uneasy alliance collapsed. Despite the superior firepower of the Saudi-led coalition, the rebels still control the capital and much of the north. More than 8,750 people have been killed since the coalition intervened, most of them civilians, according to the World Health Organization. On Monday, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, warned: "8.4 million Yemenis are a step away from famine." Mahathir is gearing up to take on the ruling party at elections that must be called by August Malaysian police Wednesday questioned former leader Mahathir Mohamad, who is seeking to oust the government at looming polls, for allegedly insulting a seafaring ethnic group when he attacked the country's scandal-plagued premier. Political tensions are rising, with Mahathir -- who was premier for 22 years -- gearing up to take on Prime Minister Najib Razak at elections that must be called by August. At a rally in October against a massive financial scandal embroiling the current government, Mahathir had said Najib was descended from "Bugis pirates". The Bugis are a seafaring ethnic group that come from neighbouring Indonesia. Large numbers migrated to Malaysia, and many in the country claim Bugis ancestry. The comments sparked anger among the Bugis community and last month the powerful Sultan of Selangor called for Mahathir to face a sedition probe as the remarks insulted his royal family, who claim descent from the ethnic group. Malaysia has nine state sultans who have no formal power, but are accorded great respect. On Wednesday Mahathir was questioned by police at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya for 45 minutes, his lawyer Haniff Khatri told AFP. He is being investigated for offences including alleged sedition, which has been used to jail numerous government critics in recent years, and making an insulting remark intended to cause a breach of the peace, the lawyer said. Haniff said that Mahathir had already explained his remark was not directed at the Bugis community as a whole but "one person only". "He will answer in court all the charges without any concern of what sentence may be meted out," he said. Najib is battling allegations billions of dollars were looted from a sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, that he founded. Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing. After buying the needles, unscrupulous dog dealers would target pet dogs Poisoned syringes that could be fired at dogs on the street to kill them instantly were sold by a gang in China, allowing pets to be snatched and sold for the dinner table, state media said. Police in the eastern province of Anhui arrested eight gang members, alleging they sold 200,000 of the syringes throughout China filled with a large dose of the muscle relaxant suxamethonium. The buyers were mainly dog vendors who collect and sell dogs to restaurants for meat, the Xinhua news agency said, citing police who warned that people who ate the meat were also in danger of being poisoned. The needles were modified by the gang with a spring and tailfin so they could be shot from a distance like a dart. After buying the needles, unscrupulous dog dealers would target pet dogs, then abduct them. Police said that the hunt was on to find more of the syringes, which contained enough suxamethonium to kill the animals immediately. When police raided the gang's lair in Enshi City, in central Hubei Province, in October, they found four kilos of chemical powder, 10,000 needles and 100,000 yuan ($15,000). Thousands of people demonstrated on October 4, 1980 in Paris against a bomb attack in a synagogue the day before French prosecutors have called for a Lebanese-Canadian academic suspected of the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue to be put on trial, sources close to the investigation told AFP on Wednesday. The Paris prosecutor's office considers there to be "sufficient evidence" against Hassan Diab, who has been in preventive custody since his extradition from Canada in 2014, to try him over the October 3, 1980 attack, the sources said. The explosion, which left four dead and around 40 wounded, was the first fatal attack against the French Jewish community since the Nazi occupation in World War II. Diab, a 64-year-old Canadian of Lebanese descent who taught sociology at an Ottawa university, is accused of having carried out the attack on behalf of the Special Operations branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). French investigators believe he planted the bomb inside the saddle bag of a motorbike parked outside the packed synagogue near the Champs-Elysees, where hundreds of people had gathered for Sabbath prayers. By way of evidence, they point to a sketch of the bomber resembling Diab, the discovery of a passport in his name with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the bomber is believed to have fled, and testimonies that Diab was a member of the PFLP in the early 1980s. Diab insists that he was taking exams in Beirut at the time of the attack, which witnesses have corroborated. The prosecution has admitted to "doubts" about his whereabouts but said it is a matter for a court to resolve. The final decision on whether the case should go to trial will be taken by an investigating magistrate. Diab was arrested by Canadian police in November 2008, at the request of French authorities, and extradited six years later. He has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property as part of a criminal organisation. On two occasions, he was granted bail only to be taken back into custody after the decisions were overturned on appeal. A group of Canadian artists, activists and politicians, including filmmakers Atom Egoyan and political activist Naomi Klein, have taken up his case, urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene to secure his release. burs-cb/kjl/ser Two reactors are under construction in China's Taishan in southern Guangdong province Defects were found in equipment for a third-generation nuclear reactor under construction in southern China with the problematic parts being replaced, the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said Wednesday. The issue concerned equipment used in one of two new European Pressurised Reactors (EPR), large units designed to offer improved power and safety. With EPRs in Finland and France facing setbacks, the Chinese Taishan 1 and 2 are on track to become the first working reactors of their kind in the world. But "local defects" were recently found in Taishan 1's deaerator, a device used to remove oxygen from water circuits, CGN -- which manages the project alongside French state utility EDF -- told AFP in an email. Problems were "discovered in the non-bearing welding line of the internal support of (Taishan 1's) deaerator", CGN said. The deaerator is located "outside the nuclear zone", it added, noting that "replacement measures" are being taken. The two reactors under construction in Taishan, southern Guangdong province, are 51 percent owned by CGN, 30 percent owned by EDF and 19 percent owned by the province's electrical utility firm. Taishan 1 is slated to go onstream before the end of the year. Britain in September also gave the green light, with conditions, to EDF and CGN to build another such reactor at England's Hinkley Point, after a heated debate which included worries over China's involvement. Sri Lanka's heavily state-subsidised railways transported 136 million passengers last year Sri Lanka's railway workers called off an island-wide strike Wednesday that disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of students ahead of crucial school exams, prompting a public backlash. Railway trade unions said they would return to work after receiving assurances from the government that their concerns over pay would be addressed within two months. President Maithripala Sirisena had appealed to drivers, station masters and technical staff to end their industrial action to enable students to get to school. But the workers had refused to abandon their strike, which began on Friday and ran for five days before being cancelled. Sri Lankans blasted the unions for creating crippling transport problems as 400,000 teenage students prepared to sit their exams. Many students were left stranded when the tests kicked off on Tuesday and angry commuters have been calling for those responsible to be sacked. "We did not want to strike at the time of the exams, but the government had forced us," union spokesman Janaka Fernando told AFP. "We have a promise that our issues will be resolved in two months and no disciplinary action will be taken against the strikers." Union sources said the strike was called off after the furious backlash from the public. Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne apologised to commuters and students for the inconvenience. "We acknowledge there are some salary issues, but it is something that has to be resolved without causing ripple effect in other sectors (of government service)," he said. Train services are expected to return to normal by Wednesday evening, he added. Sri Lanka's heavily state-subsidised railways transported 136 million passengers last year. The world's newest joint international force, the five-nation G5 Sahel, has already held operations with France's regional Barkhane force Oil-rich Gulf countries pledged 130 million euros Wednesday towards fighting jihadists in West Africa's Sahel region, as French President Emmanuel Macron hosted leaders in a bid to boost a fledgling five-nation military force. The G5 Sahel force brings together troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- some of the poorest countries in the world -- and money had been a major obstacle to getting it off the ground. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir promised 100 million euros ($118 million) at the talks while the United Arab Emirates offered 30 million euros, as both seek to show commitment to fighting extremism. That brings total pledges over the 250 million euros initially needed, a relief for Macron who had lobbied the United States and the Gulf for cash. "We must win the war against terrorism in the Sahel-Sahara region," Macron told reporters after meeting with the five countries' presidents and other leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel. "There are attacks every day. There are states which are currently in jeopardy," he said following the talks at a chateau outside Paris. Former colonial power France has been leading regional counterterrorism efforts through its 4,000-strong Barkhane force, but is keen to spread the burden as its military is engaged on various fronts. Two years in the planning, the G5 Sahel force is set to cover a desert region the size of Europe. The idea is for the five nations to develop their capacity to defend themselves through the new force, but their military forces are poorly equipped and need training in the new role. The talks, which also gathered the prime ministers of Italy and Belgium and officials from the European Union and African Union, come in a busy week of diplomacy for Macron after a climate summit Tuesday. - 'Time is running out' - The International Crisis Group described the G5 force as a European effort to "bring down the expense of their overseas operations by delegating them partially to their African partners". Both France and Germany view the "politically and economically strategic" Sahel as "a source of migration and terrorism", it added in a report Tuesday. (L-R) Presidents of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, France, Emmanuel Macron, Chad, Idriss Deby, Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy PM Paolo Gentiloni at the G5 Sahel anti-terror summit near Paris, on December 13, 2017 The ambitious goal is to have a pooled force of 5,000 local troops operational by mid-2018, wresting back border areas from jihadists including an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Re-establishing law and order in the border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where several hundred soldiers carried out last month's debut mission, is top priority. "We are aware that time is running out for us," Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told reporters. "With what is happening in the Middle East, with the end of the war in Syria, there will be an influx (of jihadists) towards us," he predicted. The mission is complicated by the support enjoyed by the Islamists on the ground in areas where people's experience of the state has often been one of inefficacy or outright abuse of power. In central Mali, Human Rights Watch noted that many villagers welcomed Islamists' efforts to punish livestock thieves, while others "expressed anger at Malian army abuses". The rights group urged the new international force to respect civilians' rights in areas where ordinary people have often borne the brunt of the violence. Across the region, thousands have died in years of attacks, and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Troops have also been a frequent target, including an assault in Niger in October which left four US soldiers dead. - Dangerous region - The G5 force is set to work alongside Barkhane troops and the UN's 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali -- the most dangerous in the world, having lost 90 lives since 2013. The EU has so far pledged 50 million euros to fund the force and France another eight million, while each of the African countries is putting forward 10 million euros. Macron had visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, and had also pressed the United States -- which has promised $60 million in aid to the countries -- when he met President Donald Trump in July. A summit in Brussels in February is set to focus on raising more cash to secure a region that has become a magnet for Islamist militants since Libya descended into chaos in 2011. In 2012, Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists overran northern Mali, including the fabled desert city of Timbuktu. France intervened in 2013 to drive the jihadists back but swathes of central and northern Mali remain wracked by violence, which has spilled across its borders. An Afghan cadet fires at a target during a practice session at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai From shooting an AK-47 to dealing with computer-simulated sieges, 20 Afghan women officers are being put through their paces at a military training academy in India. They are the first Afghan women to attend the academy in the south Indian city of Chennai, which has been training men from the country's military for several years. The women receive weapons training and learn tactics and logistical and navigational skills at the academy, the only military training establishment in India for both men and women. This week they were taught how to use an AK-47 and given classroom training in ambush situations. Afghanistan has said it wants women to make up 10 percent of the armed forces, an ambitious goal given the current figure is barely three percent The three-week crash course ends on December 24 and is reported to be a pilot for a full training scheme being planned for next year as part of the Afghan National Armys efforts to recruit more women. Afghanistan has said it wants women to make up 10 percent of the armed forces, an ambitious goal given the current figure is barely three percent. As well as the dangers of fighting in their war-plagued homeland, those who sign up say they face criticism for their choice. Niloofar Rahmani was hailed as a role model for Afghan women after becoming the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan air force. But last year she sought asylum in the US saying she had received death threats from insurgents and faced contempt from some of her colleagues. Under the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, girls were banned from education and women were not allowed outside unless wearing a burqa and accompanied by a man. More than 15 years after the fall of the regime gender equality remains a distant dream, in spite of official promises. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) warmly greeted his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir at the emergency summit in Istanbul Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes, attended Wednesday an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic group in Istanbul. Bashir was among leaders who responded to a call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the meeting after US President Donald Trump outraged the Islamic world with his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Images showed Bashir warmly greeted by Erdogan and then attending the family photo and summit plenary session in traditional dress. Sudan's deadly conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN says at least 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced as a result of the conflict. Top Sudanese officials including Bashir now claim that the conflict has ended, but the region continues to see regular fighting between numerous ethnic and tribal groups. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict, charges he denies. Erdogan had while serving as prime minister in November 2009 defended Bashir against the charges, saying "a Muslim could not commit genocide, he is not capable of it". However Bashir scrapped a plan that month to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey after the EU pressured Ankara over his attendance. Turkey at the time pointed out it is not a signatory to the treaty, which set up the Hague-based ICC. Wednesday's meeting is the first time that Bashir has visited Turkey since that controversy, and there have been no reports of such pressure concerning his current appearance. Bashir most recently visited Russia on November 23 where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the emergency summit in Istanbul, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population, but is a bitter critic of US policy. About 1.8 million people made homeless by Boko Haram live in camps or with relatives in the worst-affected Nigeria states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon Some 100,000 Nigerians made homeless by Boko Haram received formal identification papers on Wednesday, to help boost security and restore normality in the country's restive northeast. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHRC) began documenting personal details of the displaced at the Dalori camp, just outside the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. Dangana Ibrahim, from the agency, told AFP: "We are capturing their data and issuing them with temporary ID pending the production of the ID card in the next week." At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the eight-year conflict, which has destroyed livelihoods and triggered a humanitarian crisis. About 1.8 million people live in camps or with relatives in the worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon. According to the UNHCR, 99 percent of vulnerable IDP (internally displaced people) households in Borno state lack legal documentation. Even before the insurgency began, levels of registration and documentation were low, and were compounded by lack of literacy. When fighting broke out, civilians were at risk. Ibrahim said a female IDP had been shot as a soldier mistook her for a suicide bomber, as she could not produce any identification. In May, UNHCR regional representative for West Africa, Liz Ahua, said more than 200,000 Nigerian refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroon also lacked "adequate documentation". That made their "access to protection and rights" more difficult, she added. "The link between issues of statelessness, sustaining peace and security in the region cannot be separated as statelessness can lead to insecurity and instability. "Stateless persons could easily be used as tools of destruction." Borno state is being given priority for ID cards because it has been hardest hit by the insurgency but Ibrahim said there were plans to extend the scheme. The UNHCR is working with Nigeria's National Identity Card Management Commission, as well as village chiefs of displaced communities, he added. 131217MEMBER ON INVESTORS BY Aloysius Laukai SOUTH Bougainville MP Timothy Masiu has reminded potential investors to be genuine about their interest and not use the people to make a quick buck. Mr Masiu made the comment when he met with a foreign investor in Buka on Monday at the invitation of landowners from Bana in South Bougainville. The Chinese investor has shown interest in a number of resource development areas including fisheries, forestry and mining and is meeting with the Bana landowners and the Bana based Jaba Resource Limited to discuss his interest. We appreciate your interest and we welcome you. We are prepared to work hand in hand with you. But we will not allow investors to use us to make quick money and get out. We welcome you with open hands. We will not sell our land to you but we will allow you to work on our land, Mr Masiu told the investor. Mr Masiu insisted that the investor provides a company profile so that he as the member and the landowners know exactly who they are dealing with. Member Masiu also invited the investor to present his interest in a proposal form for the benefit of the landowners and himself to deliberate and make decisions. He also reminded both the investor and landowner representatives to ensure the interest and benefits to both the landowners and investor are exhaustively and adequately addressed to have a win win situation. Landowner representatives told the member his presence gave them the confidence that he supported their development initiative. They said the meeting with the investor was for consultation and no decisions and commitment have yet been made. ENDS A military-led crackdown has forced more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee Rakhine and cross the border to Bangladesh Reuters news agency said it was "outraged" by the arrest of two of its journalists in Myanmar Wednesday and accused authorities of an attack on press freedoms, as the US voiced concern over the detentions. Myanmar reporters Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were held under the Official Secrets Act, the government announced, accusing them of having documents relating to unrest in Rakhine State, where a military crackdown has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh. The United States Embassy in Myanmar said it was "deeply concerned" about the arrests and urged the government to allow access to the pair. "For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely," it said in a statement. Authorities released a staged image of the two journalists wearing handcuffs with documents displayed before them. "We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom," said Reuters President and Editor-In-Chief Stephen J. Adler, in a statement posted on the company's website. "We call for authorities to release them immediately." The pair stand accused of intending "to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine State to foreign agencies abroad," a statement released by the information ministry said. They have been charged under a section of the Official Secrets Act that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. - Media freedom fears - The arrests come as Myanmar faces international opprobrium over the army crackdown in Rakhine, as refugees tell of horrifying attacks, murder, rape and arson. The UN has said the army campaign, which saw hundreds of Rohingya villages razed to the ground, likely amounts to ethnic cleansing and has possible "elements of genocide" -- charges Myanmar vehemently denies. Authorities have banned journalists from independently travelling to northern Rakhine, the epicentre of the unrest, which has been left virtually abandoned and scarred with torched villages. The government statement said that action will also be taken against two policemen who had recently returned from duty in northern Rakhine. Since Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in 2016 after decades of military rule, rights groups have expressed alarm over worsening freedom of expression. The number of online defamation cases has shot up compared to the previous military-backed administration with a notorious telecommunications law ensnaring online satirists, activists and journalists. A report by Free Expression Myanmar on Monday said that every case that has made it to court so far has ended with a guilty verdict and a prison sentence. In one prominent case, Myanmar Now news agency editor Swe Win was charged with insulting a Buddhist monk who praised the killer of a Muslim government lawyer. The trial is still ongoing. In October, a Burmese journalist, two reporters from Malaysia and Singapore and their driver were arrested in the capital Naypyidaw for flying a drone over parliament and sentenced to two months in prison while awaiting additional charges. Independent reporting was almost completely snuffed out during Myanmar's half century under the junta, which operated one of the world's most draconian pre-publication censorship regimes. An undercover Israeli policeman detains a Palestinian protester in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 13, 2017 An Israeli undercover unit infiltrated a Palestinian protest where stones were thrown at soldiers on the outskirts of Ramallah on Wednesday before dispersing it by firing into the air and making arrests. Israeli security forces also fired toward the "lower part" of the body of one Palestinian who threw a large stone at them, according to the military. It was unclear if anyone was hit. AFP journalists witnessed the operation during the protest by around 100 to 150 Palestinians near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The operation saw a few dozen soldiers move from further down the street towards the crowd. Suddenly, several men wearing keffiyehs or balaclavas, including one with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his head, pulled out pistols. One threw a smoke grenade while others fired in the air. The army then rapidly moved towards the remaining protesters, who fled. Medics on the scene said three Palestinians had been injured during the protests. Israel's military said forces including an undercover unit carried out the operation during what it called a "violent riot". It said Palestinians threw stones and firebombs at its forces while rolling burning tyres. Three people were arrested, it said in a statement. Rare video footage of the operation was captured by an AFP journalist. - 'You don't own Jerusalem' - An undercover Israeli policeman detains a Palestinian protester in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 13, 2017 Israeli forces regularly carry out such operations against stone-throwing protests in which agents pretend to be demonstrators before turning on the crowd. Such agents are referred to by Palestinians as mustarabeen, a word used to refer to those who disguise themselves as Arabs. Wednesday's protest was part of demonstrations and clashes that have occurred in the Palestinian territories since US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on December 6. Four Palestinians have been killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza. One Israeli has been seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem. In the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and live fire, an AFP journalist reported. Eight people were wounded by rubber bullets and two by live fire, medics said. The protesters also burned a fake pig with Trump's face on it. Another 3,000 people demonstrated in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, carrying banners reading "no state without Jerusalem". "We came out to tell that idiot Trump that you don't own Jerusalem to gift it to Israelis and settlers," said Talal Dweikat of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah. Hundreds later went to an Israeli checkpoint and clashed with Israeli soldiers. Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state. Russian Alexander Vinnik is in jail in Greece facing a US extradition demand for allegedly laundering $4 billion in bitcoins Greece's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that a Russian accused of laundering $4 billion using bitcoin digital currency be extradited to the United States, a court source said. Greece's justice minister will now have the final say on whether to extradite Alexander Vinnik, who headed BTC-e, an exchange for the cyber currency. He was indicted by a US court in July on 21 charges ranging from identity theft and facilitating drug trafficking to money laundering. Vinnik has been held in a Greek jail since his arrest on July 25 in the northern Greek tourist resort of Halkidiki. He denies the accusation. Russia has also filed a demand to extradite Vinnik so he can stand trial on separate fraud charges. Two Greek courts separately approved both extradition requests in October. BTC-e, founded in 2011, became one of the world's largest and most widely used digital currency exchanges. According to the US indictment, it was "heavily reliant on criminals". In addition, BTC-e "was noted for its role in numerous ransomware and other cyber-criminal activity". It allegedly received more than $4 billion (3.4 billion euros) worth of Bitcoin over the course of its operation. Vinnik was also charged with receiving funds from the infamous hack of Mt. Gox -- an earlier digital currency exchange that eventually failed, in part due to losses attributable to hacking. The US Treasury Department has slapped BTC-e with a $110 million fine for "wilfully violating" US anti-money laundering laws. Vinnik himself has been ordered to pay $12 million. In Russia, Vinnik is wanted on separate fraud charges totalling 9,500 euros. He has said he would accept extradition to his home country. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have had an influx of migrants at their land and sea borders Equatorial Guinea's coastguard intercepted a makeshift boat carrying 205 West African migrants headed for Gabon, local media reported Wednesday. The migrants, including a newborn baby and three pregnant women, were apprehended on Tuesday off the coast of the capital Malabo, according to state television. Coming from West African countries such as Benin, Nigeria and Togo, the migrants are being held at Malabo's central police station, dubbed Equatorial Guinea's "Guantanamo". "The boat's leader told us that they on their way to Gabon. We do not know if it is true," a coastguard told state TV. Authorities aim to send the migrants back to their home countries in the coming days, police said. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have had an influx of migrants at their land and sea borders over the last few years, attracted by the relatively strong economies of the two oil-producers. The two countries have been reluctant to implement long-running plans to allow visa-free movement in six central African countries -- an agreement finally ratified in October -- as they feared they would be swamped by job-seekers from poorer members. Israeli leaders have repeatedly spoken of improving ties with Saudi Arabia and now appear to want Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz wants Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit, his spokesman said Wednesday, in what would be a historic trip involving two nations with no official diplomatic ties. Israeli leaders have repeatedly spoken of improving ties with the Arab world and hinted at behind-the-scenes cooperation, particularly involving their efforts to limit their common enemy Iran. Katz issued the call during an interview with Elaph, a news website run by a Saudi businessman, his spokesman Arye Shalicar said. The call was not included in the final version of the interview published online. Shalicar could not comment on why, but said Katz had indeed made the comments. "He said that he asks the king to invite (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu officially to Riyadh, and he asks MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, the son, to come and visit Israel," Shalicar said of Katz, who is also transportation minister. Katz made the call because "he wants regional peace -- that's part of his three-layered programme," his spokesman said, referring to security and economic cooperation leading to eventual peace. He referred to Saudi Arabia as a leader in the Arab world. Netanyahu has spoken repeatedly and with pride about growing rapprochement with "moderate Arab states" without naming them, although he is assumed to be referring to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies. In November, Israeli military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot said in an interview with the same website Katz spoke to that his country was prepared to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to face Iran's plans "to control the Middle East." Arab countries have not made similar statements publicly and continue to criticise Israel over its 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory. US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last week has drawn sharp criticism from Saudi Arabia. King Salman said Wednesday that Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. Only two Arab countries -- Jordan and Egypt -- have peace treaties with Israel. In Katz's interview on Wednesday, he also issued a warning to Lebanon and Shiite group Hezbollah, which is based in the neighbouring country. Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 and often trade warnings. Katz said if Hezbollah initiates a war against Israel, "this time all of Lebanon will be a target." "What happened in 2006 would be a picnic compared to what could happen... I say Lebanon will return to the stone age." The US Department of Defense will give Lebanon six MD530G light attack helicopters, six new Scan Eagle drones (pictured here), and other equipment and training The United States will provide the Lebanese army with its first attack helicopters in a bid to bolster border security and fight jihadist groups, US officials said Wednesday in Beirut. The landmark announcement came during a visit to Lebanon by General Joseph Votel, the top commander for US military forces in the Middle East. The US Department of Defense will give Lebanon six MD530G light attack helicopters as part of its security assistance programme, according to US Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard. It will also provide six new Scan Eagle drones, night vision devices, other equipment and training, she added. Richard said the assistance, worth more than $120 million, "will help the army build on its steady strong capability to conduct border security and counterterrorism operations". Votel, who met on Wednesday with Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Defence Minister Yaacoub al-Sarraf, and army chief General Joseph Aoun, said the US was "proud" to partner with the army. Lebanon shares a 330 kilometre (205 mile) border with war-torn Syria, and jihadist factions including the Islamic State group had entrenched themselves in the hilly territory along the frontier. This year, assaults by Lebanese troops and Iran-backed armed movement Hezbollah have pushed them back, and the army has since increased its presence in the border area. Aram Nerguizian, a senior associate at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Wednesday's announcement marked the first time the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would receive attack helicopters. He said the LAF had needed aircraft for close air support, precision targeting, and intelligence gathering and surveillance. "It was also looking for a system that could operate at altitude -- such as Lebanon's frontier with Syria, which is well above sea level -- and that is reasonably easy to maintain and sustain," Nerguizian told AFP. "The MD530G is intended to meet those requirements." The US has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance to Lebanon over the past decade. In 2017 alone, Lebanon received the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft from the US, which also announced it would deliver 32 infantry fighting vehicles known as M2A2 Bradleys to the LAF. "Each provides a degree of sophistication and capability that far exceeds the LAF's mix of capabilities in the post-War period, and all of them are far more lethal than appearance alone suggests," Nerguizian said. David Byrne, shown in this May 11, 2017 file photo, will open the tour on March 3 at the historic Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey before heading to other small venues around the US East Coast Rock icon David Byrne is planning a tour with an ultra-minimalist stage, calling the concerts his most ambitious since 1984's film "Stop Making Sense" with his band Talking Heads. "Stop Making Sense," directed by then little-known Jonathan Demme, has become a classic among concert movies with its sleek, unadorned footage of the art-house rockers as they play songs such as "Psycho Killer" and "Burning Down the House." Byrne, a Scot who has long lived in New York, said his 2018 tour will feature musicians moving around a bare stage with no risers, no gear lying about and no crew lurking in the corner. "With everyone mobile, I realized the stage could be completely clear," Byrne wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. "This is the most ambitious show I've done since the shows that were filmed for 'Stop Making Sense,' so fingers crossed," he said. Byrne will open the tour on March 3 at the historic Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey before moving on to other small venues around the US East Coast. He will also play the Lollapalooza festivals in Chile and Argentina and later the Roskilde festival in Denmark. Byrne said the tour will feature new as well as old music. He has earlier said he plans to release an album in 2018, which would be his first since 2012's "Love This Giant," a collaboration with younger indie rocker St. Vincent. Talking Heads disbanded in the early 1990s but Byrne has remained a prolific presence including as a film composer and author. He also founded the Luaka Bop label, which has been influential in bringing African, Brazilian and other artists to a wider international audience. Palestinian Director Annemarie Jacir celebrates after receiving an award for her film "Wajib" during the closing ceremony of the Dubai International Film Festival on December 13, 2017 Films about Yazidi suffering at the hands of the Islamic State group, Syrian labourers cut off from home and Palestinians estranged from family earned top awards Wednesday at the Dubai film festival. As industry stars crowded the red carpet for this year's glitzy showcase event the troubles roiling the surrounding Middle East region were brought sharply into focus on the big screen. Dhyaa Joda's short film "Sabyea" won the special jury prize for its unflinching portrayal of the persecution of the Yazidi religious minority by IS jihadists. In 2014, the Sunni extremists overran Yazidi villages in northern Iraq, slaughtering thousands of men, taking women and girls as sex slaves and sending boys to military training camps. The United Nations has called the massacres of Yazidis -- dubbed heretics by the IS jihadists for their non-Muslim faith -- a genocide. Emirati director Abdallah Juneidi (R) and producer Faisal Ali arrives for the closing ceremony of the Dubai International Film Festival in Dubai on December 13, 2017 In "Sabyea" (a Koranic term for concubine), a Yazidi woman waits with her young daughter in a deserted village for her husband to return. Among the woman's meagre possessions are a rifle and a radio, which gives horrific daily dispatches on the IS advance, as well as a mirror she uses to burn her daughter's face to make her uglier to potential captors. A young Yazidi man stumbles up their mountain one day with news of mass killings, only to die of his wounds the next morning. The messenger confirms the woman's deepest fears, and she will eventually sacrifice herself but save her daughter. The film drew applause from the festival's Arab audience, which included conservative Muslim women in face coverings with only their eyes showing. - Displacement - Modern suffering in the Middle East was also portrayed in "Taste of Cement", a documentary by Syrian director Ziad Khalthoum, which took the prize for best non-fiction production. The work focuses on the lives of seasonal Syrian construction workers in Lebanon who were cut off from their homeland by the outbreak of the war in 2011. In Lebanon, a country of four million where half a million Palestinian refugees already live in purgatory, the Syrians find themselves increasingly unwelcome. Egyptian actress Bushra Rozza arrives on the red carpet during the closing ceremony of the Dubai International Film Festival on December 13, 2017 Forbidden to leave the building site after dusk, the men gather at night around a communal television, watching anxiously for news from home. The issue of displacement and a loss of roots in a region wracked by conflict was a recurrent theme at the festival. Annemarie Jacir's "Wajib" -- the Palestinian entry for the 2018 foreign language film Oscar -- scooped the top prize for the best feature film and best actor gongs for father-and-son duo Mohammad and Saleh Bakri. It is the tale of a Palestinian man who returns home to Nazareth from Rome to help his father hand-deliver wedding invitations for his sister's big day. The pair, who live two very different lives, are compelled to reconcile as they go about their task. The cross-generational Palestinian tale was feted as Arab and Muslim leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. US President Donald Trump last week sparked international condemnation by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, further throwing into doubt the right for Palestinian refugees to ever return home. US billionaire philanthropist George Soros' Open Society Foundations issued a statement seeking clarification from Pakistan's interior ministry over tightened controls on foreign charities Pakistan has ordered a host of international aid groups to wrap up their operations in 60 days, a global NGO said Wednesday, as officials tighten controls on foreign charities in the country. Authorities have moved to force overseas-funded aid organisations to re-register under stricter rules that came into force two years ago, leading several to lose their licenses. "We believe that we are one of more than 20 organisations whose registrations have been rejected," Jonathan Birchall, the lead Communications Officer for Open Society Foundations told AFP. The organisation, which is funded by the US billionaire philanthropist George Soros and runs a raft of programmes from education to governance, had earlier issued a statement seeking clarification from the interior ministry over the move. International charity ActionAid, which supports a range of projects from livelihoods to women's rights, has also said it is being forced to leave Pakistan. The organisation "has been given 60 days to close all operations in the country", it said in a statement released last week, after its application to register under Pakistan's new rules for international non-governmental organisations was declined. Pakistan officials declined to comment when contacted by AFP. In September, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had been ordered to close its facilities in a militancy-wracked tribal district, leaving thousands without healthcare. While militancy and natural disasters plague parts of Pakistan, the country has shown increasing suspicion of foreign aid groups in recent years. In 2012, a Pakistan intelligence report linked the aid group Save the Children to the doctor, Shakeel Afridi, who the CIA used to carry out a fake vaccination programme as they searched for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Save the Children has always denied it had any links with Afridi or the CIA. But the charity's expat staff were forced to leave Pakistan after the accusations emerged. Pakistan has since hardened its policies towards international aid groups, accusing them of being covers for spying operations, and has repeatedly warned them to restrict their activities. US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein rejects accusations that the investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia is politically biased against the president Republicans pressed the US Justice Department on Wednesday to name a new independent prosecutor to probe alleged bias in the FBI after a top agent's anti-Trump text messages were released to the media. With Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation increasingly threatening President Donald Trump's inner circle, Republican legislators said the private messages between the agent and a department lawyer, both formerly part of the Mueller team, undermines his investigation's credibility. They also cited fresh evidence of bias of others in the Justice Department and on Mueller's team, including links to Trump's former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, as signs that his probe cannot be carried out fairly. "DOJ's reputation as an impartial arbiter of justice has been called into question," Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Mr Mueller's team." The comments came a day after Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow also called for an outside investigation into bias, in a move aimed at putting the Mueller team on the defensive. "The best course of action in our view as lawyers was that a special counsel be appointed... to look into all of this," Sekulow told Fox News. Speaking to a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Rosenstein acknowledged the individual issues but stressed they had been correctly addressed, and rejected claims that Mueller's probe is politically tainted. "I'm not aware of any impropriety," he said. "We have employees with political opinions and our responsibility is to make sure those opinions don't influence their actions," he said. - Anti-Trump text messages - But Rosenstein took heavy flak after the release of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were both dropped from the Russia investigation in July, reportedly after Mueller became aware of their extramarital affair. The hundreds of messages, mostly sent during the presidential campaign last year, showed Strzok calling Trump an "idiot" and a "douche" while Page said of Trump: "This man cannot be president." The messages called into question not just the Russia collusion probe, before and after Mueller took it over. They have also sparked calls for the Justice Department to revisit the FBI's decision last year to exonerate Clinton over her use of a private server to handle classified official materials while she was secretary of state. Strzok had been a senior investigator on that, and reportedly had a role in the decision by former FBI director James Comey not to prosecute Clinton. Republican lawmakers and Sekulow also cited the pro-Democratic bias of most of the members of Mueller's team, as shown by their campaign donations. And they also pointed to the newly disclosed role of a senior Justice Department official and his wife in the notorious "Russia dossier," a file compiled by a former British spy detailing links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The official, former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr, was reassigned after it was shown that his wife helped compile the dossier, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign. Three men have pleaded guilty to US charges stemming from the Mirai botnet attacks that shut down parts of the internet last year US officials unveiled criminal charges Wednesday against a former university student and two others in the Mirai botnet attacks which shut down parts of the internet in several countries starting in mid-2016. The Justice Department announced plea agreements for Paras Jha, 21 -- a former Rutgers University computer science student who acknowledged writing the malware code -- and Josiah White, 20, and Dalton Norman, 21, who helped profit from the attacks. In documents unsealed Wednesday, Jha admitted writing the code for the botnet which harnessed more than 100,000 "internet of things" (IoT) devices such as cameras, light bulbs and appliances to launch the attacks. By commanding an army of bots -- or computers under control of the attackers -- the malware shut down networks and websites in the United States, Germany, Liberia and elsewhere. Jha admitted he "set up and managed command and control servers to manage the infected computers" in the scheme. Officials said the three used the botnet "to conduct a number of powerful distributed denial-of-service" attacks which flood the internet and can shut down networks. Later, Jha posted the source code for the Mirai malware on a criminal forum, allowing other groups to use it. The malware was used to make money through "click fraud," a scheme that makes it appear that a real user has clicked on an advertisement for the purpose of artificially generating revenue, according to officials. The three generated some $180,000 from the scheme in bitcoin, Justice officials added. Jha was identified as a suspect earlier this year by security blogger Brian Krebs -- who was himself a victim of the attacks. Krebs said Jha used the online moniker Anna-Senpai, who had claimed responsibility for earlier denial of service attacks using various versions of Mirai -- including some targeting Rutgers University, the school in New Jersey where Jha was studying. In January 2017, "Jha and his co-conspirators leased access to their botnet to other criminals in exchange for payment," according to the plea agreement in federal court. According to Krebs, Jha and White operated ProTraf Solutions LLC, which masqueraded as a security firm that dealt with "denial of service" attacks it created. The three face possible prison terms and monetary fines as a result of the conspiracy and fraud charges. Jha pleaded guilty separately to a series of attacks which shut down the Rutgers computer networks from 2014 to 2016, officials said. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said that he was working on a draft text for a UN reolution that would "reaffirm the positions of the Security Council and ask the Americans to rescind" after Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian diplomats want the UN Security Council to vote on a draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, even though the measure would almost certainly face a US veto, diplomats said Wednesday. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told AFP that the text would demand that the United States scrap the decision on Jerusalem, but other diplomats suggested the wording would not be so strong. Egypt was expected to circulate a draft resolution to council members, possibly as early as this week, according to senior council diplomats. Mansour said late Tuesday that he was working on a draft text that would "reaffirm the positions of the Security Council and ask the Americans to rescind." The United States found itself isolated at the Security Council last week when all 14 other members including allies Britain, France and Italy condemned the decision, which broke with international consensus. The status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims, is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and later annexed, as the capital of their future state. Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized during the 1967 war and have reaffirmed the need to end the occupation of that land. In 1980, the council adopted a resolution stating that "all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, which purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal validity." - Choosing your words - A council diplomat said several draft texts had been shared informally but that the exact wording of the proposed draft resolution was key to ensure that all 14 council members vote in favor of the measure. That would force the United States to resort to its veto power, a move that would highlight its isolation. The Palestinians "actively want a US veto and they actively want the other 14 to stay together," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named. Some council members such as Britain, Japan and Ukraine are reluctant to back a toughly worded measure that would strongly condemn the US decision and demand its reversal. But they would probably rally around a resolution that repeats previous language and expresses regret "about recent developments," he said. Backed by Arab countries, the Palestinians are also expected to ask the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution condemning the US move. The Palestinian campaign at the United Nations however is not intended to remove the United States from the peace process but rather to gain leverage on any future peace plan, diplomats said. "This is not about pushing the US out of the picture. This is about them trying to shape the eventual content of a US-led proposal to be more in line" with the Palestinian stance, said a council diplomat. Strong support from African-American voters helped fuel Democrat Doug Jones' upset victory in the Senate race in Alabama In Alabama, African-American voters helped power an underdog Democrat to a stunning upset victory in the southern state's special US Senate election. Now, Democratic leaders hope that display of strength can be replicated in other parts of the country they once had all but written off. "We turned a lot of folks out," said Richard Mauk, chairman of the Democratic Party in Alabama's Jefferson County, calling Doug Jones's Senate candidacy "transformative." "It re-energized people that can now be part of a Democratic base," he told AFP. Mauk and other Democrats noted that Jones had managed to carve out a win over scandal-hit Republican rival Roy Moore in a deeply conservative state where the Democratic Party was effectively dead. "We had nothing," Mauk told AFP. "The Democratic Party in Alabama has been non-functioning for years." Party leaders said lessons learned from the unexpected Alabama win could be applied to next year's mid-term elections, when Democrats hope to wrest back control of both the House and Senate. And the African-American vote is being seen as an important part of the national formula. "African-Americans have been the backbone of the Democratic Party," said a jubilant Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Speaking to CNN, Perez chalked up the victory to unprecedented organization in a state which Trump won by 28 points last year over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Influential black Democratic congressman Keith Ellison agreed. "Voter turn-out did it for Doug Jones. African-American turn-out, overall Alabama turn-out, both way up. It's about organizing," Ellison tweeted. - 'Compete everywhere' - After Clinton's loss to Trump in 2016, the Democratic Party relaunched an age-old debate within its ranks -- should it have spent more time campaigning in areas that previously seemed unwinnable Republican strongholds? Some said that if Clinton had done so in the Rust Belt, she might have won. After Jones's victory, Clinton seemed to confirm that the party needed to adopt new tactics. "If Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must -- compete everywhere. Onward!" she said on Twitter. According to exit polls, black voters made up 29 percent of the electorate and 96 percent of them cast their ballots for Jones. But some warned the party not to buy into another time-honored political given: that black voters always vote for Democrats. NBA legend Charles Barkley, who urged voters of his native state to elect Jones in an appearance at his final campaign rally, nevertheless offered the party some typically blunt-spoken advice. Democrats have "taken the black vote and the poor vote for granted for a long time," he said. "It's time for them to get off their ass and start making life better for black folks and people who are poor." - 'Organize and inspire' - In Alabama, a battleground during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Democrats went door to door urging black voters to choose Jones, who is the first Democratic senator elected in Alabama in 25 years. Result: long lines of black voters could be seen in cities such as Montgomery, where Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1955, and Birmingham, where four young girls were killed in the 1963 bombing of a black church. Jones, a 63-year-old former federal prosecutor, earned his reputation as a champion of civil rights by prosecuting two members of the Ku Klux Klan responsible for the church bombing and sending them to prison for life. African-American US Senator Cory Booker (R) campaigns with Doug Jones (L) in Alabama A number of black politicians and athletes also stumped for him during the final days of the campaign including Barkley and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Barack Obama, America's first black president, personally lent his weight to Jones with a robo-call to Alabama voters urging them to support the Democrat. "He's been a champion for justice," John Lewis -- a civil rights icon who was brutally beaten by state troopers in Selma, Alabama, during a 1965 march known as "Bloody Sunday -- said of Jones during a campaign appearance. "Organize and inspire people to come out and vote like they've never voted before," Lewis said. "You can make it happen." - Caution - Marty Connors, a former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, however cautioned against reading too much into the results. "This was a referendum on a single candidate," Connors said in a reference to Moore. Beyond the allegations of sexual impropriety that dogged his candidacy, Moore was twice removed from the state supreme court, the second time for disobeying a US Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. "They were running against a candidate that had an entire 18-wheeler worth of baggage that was pulling behind him." The Lord's Resistance Army relies "on the global ivory trade and wildlife trafficking to finance their violent campaigns," according to the US Treasury Department The United States on Wednesday imposed economic sanctions on two Africans accused of using the illegal ivory trade to funnel weapons and money to Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. Washington blacklisted Kony and his rebel guerilla group last year, accusing them of targeting civilians in the Central African Republic, displacing populations and carrying out abductions. "Treasury will continue to target armed groups such as the Lords Resistance Army and their support networks that rely on the global ivory trade and wildlife trafficking to finance their violent campaigns," John Smith, who administers the Treasury Department's sanctions office, said in a statement. The US received assistance from Ugandan and Sudanese authorities in the effort, he said. The sanctioned individuals are Okut Lukwang, a Ugandan serving as an LRA intelligence officer, and Musa Hatari, a Sudanese merchant, according the Treasury. US authorities did not have precise dates of birth for either person. As a result of the sanctions, financial institutions subject to US legal jurisdiction are generally prohibited from dealing with both people, freezing them out of much of the global financial system. Any US-based assets are also frozen. According to the Treasury, Lukwang has overseen logistics and run day-to-day operations for the LRA group directly controlled by Kony, which has command and control of three other LRA groups. US officials say Lukwang acted as the LRA's ivory broker, drawing on Kony's hidden caches of elephant tusks to sell the contraband material in exchange for cash, ammunition and weapons. They also allege he has coerced civilians to provide information on troop deployments to provide intelligence to Kony. Hatari is allegedly the primary supplier of munitions, food and supplies to the LRA and moves the rebel group's ivory through shops in the Songo Market in the disputed Kafia Kingi region between Sudan and South Sudan. Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz sparked the crisis when he sacked then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira in 2015 Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has proposed fresh talks on the country's grinding political crisis days before the issue was to be raised at a regional summit, but opposition parties have rejected the plan, both sides revealed on Wednesday. The tiny west African state has been in the grip of a power struggle since August 2015, when the president sacked then prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Talks mediated by Guinean President Alpha Conde in October 2016 had envisaged naming a new prime minister and assembling a unity government including PAIGC lawmakers. A new prime minister, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, was sworn in last December but the majority of the PAIGC rejected him, accusing Vaz of breaching an agreement calling for a consensual choice of prime minister. In a presidential note dated December 11, Vaz invited the signatories to the Conakry accord to meet and "together analyse" a way forward. "In the process of implementing the Conakry accord, it is my responsibility as head of state to invite two members of each signatory party to analyse the application of the agreement," Vaz said in the note. The would include PAIGC, as well as representatives from other political parties, civil society and the international community. But PAIGC and its allies, including the Union for Change (UM) and the Party for Democratic Convergence (PCD) declined the invitation, asking the president to provide details about what was on the proposed meeting's agenda, a PAIGC statement said. The ongoing crisis is to be addressed at a summit for leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja on Saturday. With the backing of Conde and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, the Conakry signatories are expected to meet, a source close to ECOWAS said. Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by military coups and instability since its independence from Portugal in 1974. More than 340,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in March 2011 when protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule sparked a brutal crackdown The United Nations peace envoy for Syria called Wednesday on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "have the courage" to convince his ally in Damascus to hold new elections in the war-ravaged country. Staffan de Mistura, who is mediating peace negotiations in Geneva, said that a military victory alone in Syria's six-year civil war was not enough for President Bashar al-Assad and that new polls were needed for him to "win the peace". "There needs, straight away, to be a political process that includes everyone to achieve a new constitution and new elections," he told Swiss RTS television. Russia intervened in Syria's devastating conflict in 2015, providing aerial and ground support for government forces, ostensibly to combat advances by what Moscow and Damascus termed "terrorist" groups. On Tuesday, the first Russian troops began returning home after Putin ordered a pullout, saying their mission had been largely completed. De Mistura said Putin "had to convince the (Syrian) government that there's no time to lose". "We can talk about having won the territorial war, which is temporary, but the peace also needs to be won and for that there needs to be the courage to push the government to accept" new elections, which De Mistura said should be monitored by the UN. Talks this month, the eight round of UN-brokered negotiations between the Syrian government and rebel factions, have snagged on the issue of Assad's future, with a rebel alliance insisting the president must go as part of any peace deal. A parallel process organised by Moscow and including fellow government ally Iran and rebel backer Turkey, is set to resume next week in Astana, Kazakhstan. More than 340,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in March 2011 when protests against Assad's rule sparked a brutal crackdown. Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for her apparent failure to defend the Rohingya minority Dublin councillors on Wednesday voted to revoke an award given to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to protest her handling of violence against Rohingya Muslims in her country, Irish media reported. The vast majority of councillors backed the move to revoke the Freedom of the City of Dublin award, with 59 votes in favour, two against and one abstention, broadcaster RTE said. The decision comes after more than 620,000 of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority fled across the border to Bangladesh, escaping a crackdown by the army which the refugees have said involved murder, rape and arson. Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for her apparent failure to defend the Rohingya minority; a dramatic fall from grace for the Nobel Peace laureate who spent years under house arrest in Myanmar. "The daily oppression of the Rohingya people cannot be allowed to continue and if the revoking of this honour contributes to the pressure on the Burmese (Myanmar) government to respect their fellow citizens it is to be welcomed," councillor Cieran Perry said, quoted in the Irish Independent. The city council's decision comes a month after musician Bob Geldof returned his own freedom award at Dublin City Hall, as a protest against Suu Kyi. "I would be a hypocrite now were I to share honours with one who has become at best an accomplice to murder, complicit in ethnic cleansing and a handmaiden to genocide," Geldof had said. The Red Cross estimates only around 300,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state since the mass exodus started in August, with around 300 continuing to cross the border each day. Bangladesh and Myanmar last month signed an agreement to repatriate Rohingya refugees, although the United Nations at the time said the conditions were not safe for their return. South Korean President Moon Jae-In's office has said he hopes to "normalise" ties with China during his visit to Beijing South Korean President Moon Jae-In will hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, seeking to repair a relationship strained over Seoul hosting a US missile system. Moon's office has said he hopes to "normalise" ties during the visit, after Beijing was angered by the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), installed earlier this year to protect South Korea against threats from the nuclear-armed North. Beijing, which sees the system as a threat to its own security, then launched a series of measures against South Korean businesses and banned group tours to the South, in moves seen as economic retaliation. The diplomatic spat took a major toll on many South Korean firms, most notably retail giant Lotte Group, which provided the land to host the powerful US missile system. Angry boycott campaigns and regulatory crackdowns by Chinese authorities decimated its business in the world's second-largest economy, and it was forced to put its supermarket unit in China up for sale. Moon has brought with him a business delegation that includes executives from Samsung, Hyundai and LG for the trip, which began Wednesday and is his first state visit to China since he took office in May. "The visit is itself an important sign of the normalisation of bilateral relations," said Zhu Feng, international studies professor at Peking University. Zhu said economic relations are getting back on track but that it is important for Moon's visit to take "the shadow of THAAD off the economy". Last month the two countries issued identically-worded statements on their mutual desire to improve relations. They did not state any specifics, but Beijing has demanded that Seoul formally promise not to deploy any more THAAD launchers and not to join any regional US missile defence system. In one limited sign of improved ties, China's state tourism board approved Seoul-bound group tours from some parts of the country last month. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday that the two countries have reached "some consensus" on dealing with THAAD. "We hope that the issue can continue to be handled properly and that the two sides can bring China-South Korea relations totally back to the track of sound and steady development," Lu said. China has also urged the United States, Japan and South Korea to suspend joint military drills in the region in return for North Korea to halt its nuclear activities -- an idea consistently rejected by Washington and Seoul. Moon's visit comes after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington was ready to talk to North Korea "without preconditions", though it remains determined to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal. Beijing has pressed for talks to peacefully resolve the crisis. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley ll hold a press conference in Washington on December 14, 2017, on Iran's "ongoing destabilizing activities in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world" US Ambassador Nikki Haley will present "irrefutable evidence" that Iran has tried to cover up violations of international obligations, the US mission said Wednesday. Haley will hold a press conference in Washington on Thursday on Iran's "ongoing destabilizing activities in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world." The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of supplying weapons to Yemen's Huthi rebels, who fired a missile intercepted near Riyadh airport on November 4. "Ambassador Haley will offer irrefutable evidence that Iran has deliberately violated its international obligations and has tried and failed to cover up these violations," a statement from the mission said. Haley has called on the UN Security Council to take a tougher stance toward Iran, accusing Tehran of making illegal arms deals in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. A confidential report to the council says UN officials had examined debris from missiles fired at Saudi Arabia which pointed to a "common origin" but there was no firm conclusions as to whether they came from an Iranian supplier. The report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which was obtained by AFP, said the officials were still analyzing the information. A separate team of UN experts who inspected the missile fragments during a visit to Riyadh last month found a possible link to an Iranian manufacturer, the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, which is on the UN sanctions blacklist. The experts, who report to the sanctions committee, found a component marked by a logo similar to that of the banned group, which is a subsidiary of the Iranian Aerospace Industries Organization. In his report, Guterres said officials had seen the logo but that they were still analyzing the information. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels in Yemen imposed a blockade of Yemen's air and sea ports and borders after the missile was fired at Riyadh, citing concerns that weapons were being smuggled into Yemen. Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh addresses loyalists in the capital Sanaa in March 2011 Yemen's Huthi rebels have freed the journalists and staff of Yemen Today, the TV channel of the country's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the rebel-run Saba news agency said Wednesday. A photo released by Saba showed 37 members of the Yemen Today crew upon their release. An official in Saleh's General Peoples' Congress party and fellow Yemeni journalists said to AFP, however, that all 41 journalists and associated staff -- taken captive earlier this month -- had been released. The Iran-allied Huthi rebels overran the television's Sanaa offices on December 2 as their three-year alliance with Saleh's forces unravelled, attacking it with rocket-propelled grenades and wounding three guards. Rebel information minister Ahmed Hamed moved to open a new page with pro-Saleh journalists on Wednesday. "The homeland is open to all and requires the contributions of all of its citizens, especially media professionals," he said. He said unity was needed in the face of "aggression" by the Saudi-led coalition -- which Saleh had sought to repair ties with before his death at the hands of the Huthis on December 4. Members of the Yemeni press, who declined to be named, said the journalists had been informed they could return to work, but this time under "supervision" of the Huthis. The freeing of the Yemen Today staff comes after pressure from global media watchdogs as well as from Yemen's Sanaa-based national syndicate of journalists. But it was an emergency parliament meeting between Huthi representatives and those of Saleh's General Peoples' Congress focused on reconciliation and a salvaging of their alliance which led to the journalists' release, the press sources said. Hurricane Irma, which caused devastation in a wide region, was the top search item for 2017, according to Google's tally Hurricane Irma, bitcoin, sex scandal and royal romance made up some of the hot topics explored this year at internet giant Google. Irma, the devastating storm, was the top trending topic globally when it came to news or searches at Google, according to rankings of top trending topics and people release on Wednesday by the California-based company. Stories about cryptocurrency bitcoin were the second most keenly sought news, followed by coverage of the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas, the crisis with North Korea and the solar eclipse. Apple's latest iPhone models ranked second and third overall in search, and topped the chart when it came to consumer electronics. The fourth fiercest overall search trend was focused on TV host Matt Lauer, who was also the person who garnered the most interest at Google. Matt Lauer's two decade run as host of NBC's morning show "Today" came to an abrupt end last month following harassment allegations by several colleagues, including one who claimed he locked her in his office and assaulted her. Two others embroiled in sex harassment accusations, film producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey also made a top five list of people who prompted online queries this year. Weinstein was until a few months ago a king of Hollywood whose golden touch bagged his productions 81 Oscars. That all changed in October, when he was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. Two-time Oscar winner Spacey, considered one of the finest actors of his generation, was accused in October of having harassed several young male actors. The second-most sought after person at Google was Meghan Markle, an American actress recently engaged to marry Britain's Prince Harry. The third most Googled person this year was Italian television personality Nadia Toffa who raised alarm about a nuclear experiment that did not happen. Netflix appeared to strike a chord with its original series "Stranger Things," which ranked as the television show getting the most interest at Google. And when it came to people getting their hands dirty offline, a "how to" category was topped by queries about making slime. US District Court Judge Janet Neff handed Larry Nassar, 54, an effective life sentence for child pornography possession Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar filed notice Wednesday that he will appeal his 60-year prison sentence for child pornography possession. Nassar pleaded guilty to the charges and last week a federal judge in his home state of Michigan handed down the maximum possible prison term. One of his lawyers filed notice Wednesday of an impending appeal, since the sentence was longer than what had been expected in a plea agreement. Nassar has also pleaded guilty in two separate state courts to sexually abusing young girls, some under 13 years old, under the guise of treatment. He is awaiting additional sentencing in January. More than 100 athletes have accused Nassar of abuse, including members of the gold medal-winning US Olympic team. Nassar's lawyers had agreed not to oppose an advisory sentencing range of 22-27 years in the child pornography case, but US District Court Judge Janet Neff instead handed down an effective life sentence to the 54-year-old. "He has demonstrated he should never again have access to children," Judge Neff said in court, according to the Grand Rapids Press newspaper. Several experts interpreted Rex Tillerson's comments that the US would negotiate with North Korea without prior conditions as a change in strategy The US State Department said Wednesday its policy on North Korea "has not changed," following remarks by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Washington is ready to talk without prior conditions. Tillerson's comments, made on Tuesday, were interpreted by some experts as a softening of the US position. The Secretary of State stated the need for a "period of calm" in Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic tests before negotiations could begin. However, he also said talks could begin "without preconditions," including without confirmation that Kim Jong-Un's regime will abandon its nuclear program. Tillerson had said in August that "a condition of those talks is there is no future where North Korea holds nuclear weapons." "The secretary was not creating a new policy, our policy remains exactly the same as it was," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Wednesday. "We remain open to dialogue when North Korea is willing to conduct a credible dialogue on the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," she said, adding "clearly the time is not right now" and that the State Department is "on the same page" as the White House on the issue. Donald Trump's national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, also said Wednesday that denuclearization is "the only viable objective in North Korea." "Talks with North Korea won't be an end in themselves," he added during a conference organized by the Jamestown Foundation research institute in Washington. Meanwhile, he interpreted Tillerson's offer of discussions "without preconditions" as meaning that the US is "not going to relieve any pressure on North Korea, or cave in to any demands for pay offs." Tillerson Tuesday told the Atlantic Council policy forum that North Korea is welcome to talk about anything at a first meeting -- even the weather. "Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want and talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about," he said. But elsewhere in his remarks, Tillerson insisted the US-led pressure campaign of economic and diplomatic sanctions would continue until "the first bomb drops." PARIS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting an international summit Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, hoping to inject the pact with new energy after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from it. The accord reached two years ago set goals for slowing the rate of climate change by reducing the emissions that contribute to melting Arctic ice, increasing sea levels and changing weather patterns across the globe. While some critics have questioned whether the summit will accomplish more than drawing attention to France's media-savvy president, celebrities, corporations, environmental groups and others are preparing to make a string of announcements there. Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, Monday Dec. 11, 2017 in Paris. Schwarzenegger is in Paris to attend the One Planet climate summit Tuesday with more than 50 world leaders and co-hosted by the U.N. and the World Bank. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) The issues expected to come up at the event range from research to corporate pledges. ___ GREEN CASH Poor countries are waiting to hear how the United Nations' goal of raising $100 billion dollars for climate-related measures will be achieved by 2020. The target was set in 2009, but commitments so far from rich nations only will cover about two-thirds of the fund. The money is intended to help developing countries invest in green energy projects and avoid the path taken by wealthy countries decades earlier that saw massive growth in the use of fossil fuels. Scientists say ending fossil fuel use, also known as 'decarbonization,' needs to happen worldwide by 2050, but poor countries only would be able to reach the goal with financial help. Climate campaigner Mohamed Adow of the group Christian Aid says one important step would be for the World Bank, which is co-hosting Tuesday's meeting, to switch its investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy in developing countries. ___ CORPORATE COMMITMENT Dozens of companies have signed a joint call for governments to maintain momentum on implementing the Paris accord and set long-term strategies for cutting carbon emissions. The companies - including insurer Allianz, tire maker Michelin and consumer goods giant Unilever - said Monday they are committed to a greener economy that includes imposing levies on carbon emissions. Allianz CEO Oliver Baete said in the statement that "business requires stable regulatory frameworks and an adequate price on carbon." Financial institutions such as Allianz also want greater transparency on climate-related data to help them make sound investment decisions, Baete said. ___ NEW RESEARCH The Paris summit takes place while the American Geophysical Union is holding its fall meeting in New Orleans. Scientists are expected to present new research on climate changes and ways to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F.) Separately, Microsoft says it will let researchers use its artificial intelligence technology to monitor and model the planet's climate. The technology giant says its commitment - worth about $10 million a year - could also help companies use vast amounts of data to reduce carbon emissions, by reducing waste, making power grids more efficient and improving weather predictions. ___ STAR SCIENTISTS Macron has invited U.S.-based climate scientists to apply for generous grants and relocate to France, a direct response to Trump's rejection of the Paris accord. The French president was announcing the first grant winners on Monday. Overall, the French government and research institutions plan to fund about 50 projects with 60 million euros ($70 million) Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives on bicycle to meet Paris mayor Anne Hdalgo, Monday Dec. 11, 2017 in Paris. Schwarzenegger is in Paris to attend the One Planet climate summit Tuesday with more than 50 world leaders and co-hosted by the U.N. and the World Bank. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives on bicycle to meet Paris mayor Anne HIdalgo, Monday Dec. 11, 2017 in Paris. Schwarzenegger is in Paris to attend the One Planet climate summit Tuesday with more than 50 world leaders and co-hosted by the U.N. and the World Bank. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) BALTIMORE (AP) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that an attack on the New York City subway system showed in the "starkest terms" that the failures of the U.S. immigration system are a national security issue. Speaking at a news conference with the new chief of Homeland Security, Sessions said two terrorist attacks in New York in recent months were each carried out by men who were in the U.S. "as a result of failed immigration policies." Authorities said a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant is in custody after Monday's rush hour attack in New York, described as a botched suicide bombing mission. Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens to a reporter's question during a news conference in Baltimore, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, to announce efforts to combat the MS-13 street gang with law enforcement and immigration actions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Sessions called anew Tuesday on Congress to strengthen immigration laws and said President Donald Trump's administration was taking steps to more strictly enforce immigration law. Among those steps, he said, the administration has hired 50 immigration judges since January and plans to hire another 60 over the next six months to manage a backlog of cases that have "overwhelmed" the U.S. immigration system. Sessions also said the immigration caseload has tripled since fiscal 2009, but that "under President Trump, we have already taken steps to bring down the backlog in cases." He also said border crossings by undocumented immigrants are now at their lowest level in 45 years, but vowed "that number can be zero." Sessions spoke at the news conference with the new secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen M. Nielsen. She said U.S. law enforcement is redoubling efforts to sweep up members of MS-13 and other violent gangs that have spread from Latin America, adding their violence will not be tolerated within American communities. She noted that MS-13 members are suspected of committing high-profile slayings in Maryland, Virginia and New York - at least one of those attacks just miles from the nation's capital. A hallmark of the gang, which has ties to Central America, is repeated slashes to a victim's body. The MS-13 gang has become a prime target of the Trump administration amid its broader crackdown on immigration. Authorities said a national sweep in October netted more than 200 members. Sessions afterward told reporters he had cast an absentee ballot in Tuesday's special U.S. Senate election in Alabama but declined to specify who he voted for, saying he "valued the sanctity of the ballot." The winner takes the seat Sessions held before he was tapped by Trump to become attorney general. "The people of Alabama are good and decent and wonderful people I've been proud to serve for 20 years in the Senate, and they'll make the right decision, I'm sure," Sessions said after the news conference. Republican Roy Moore, 70 - who was twice ousted as Alabama Supreme Court chief justice after flouting federal law - is seeking a political resurrection amid accusations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. He is facing Democrat Doug Jones, 63, a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen who killed four black girls in a 1963 church bombing. When asked if he stood by comments made last month to the House Judiciary Committee that he had "no reason to doubt" the women who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct, Sessions said: "I answered the question as I knew it at the time." He did not make any further comment Tuesday. Republicans hold a narrow 52-48 Senate majority. A routine election in Republican-dominated Alabama wouldn't be expected to alter that balance because Alabamians haven't sent a Democrat to the upper chamber of Congress since 1992. Trump notched a 28-point win in Alabama in 2016 and remains popular in the Deep South state. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, left, speaks alongside Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen during a news conference in Baltimore, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, to announce efforts to combat the MS-13 street gang with law enforcement and immigration actions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference in Baltimore, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, to announce efforts to combat the MS-13 street gang with law enforcement and immigration actions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference in Baltimore, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, to announce efforts to combat the MS-13 street gang with law enforcement and immigration actions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens as Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen speaks during a news conference in Baltimore, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, to announce efforts to combat the MS-13 street gang with law enforcement and immigration actions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - A woman who pleaded guilty to murder in the beating death of her 3-year-old son in a mobile home near Philadelphia has been sentenced to 42 to 94 years in prison. Thirty-three-year-old Jillian Tait pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime in the November 2014 death of Scott McMillan in West Caln Township. Her ex-boyfriend was sentenced earlier to life in prison plus 10 to 20 years. Authorities allege spankings of the boy escalated and he was "punched and beaten with blunt and sharp objects, whipped, taped to a chair with electrical tape and beaten, hung up by his feet." Prosecutors say Tait and the ex-boyfriend went car shopping, bought pizza and engaged in sexual activity as the boy lay dying. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - New U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen harshly criticized so-called "sanctuary cities" late Tuesday, urging the rest of the nation to emulate Texas' tough law banning them. President Donald Trump's former deputy White House chief of staff, Nielsen was confirmed by the Senate last week. She wasted little time visiting Austin, where Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez once promised not to comply with some "detainers," or federal requests to hold for possible deportation people who were already jailed on non-immigration charges. That helped prompt the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature to approve in May a sanctuary cities crackdown known as SB4, where sheriffs and police chiefs can face removal from office and even criminal charges for failing to fully enforce federal immigration policy. The measure now is being contested in federal court, but Nielsen nonetheless praised Texas for taking a "firm stand against dangerous and destructive sanctuary cities." Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen stands with a group of Texas sheriffs during a news conference to address sanctuary cities Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) "I hope other states follow this lead," she said, calling for an elimination of a "shadow society outside the rule of law." Choosing to come to Texas to discuss sanctuary cities so soon after taking her post sent a political message. Homeland Security has been leading the charge on implementing Trump's aggressive immigration agenda, and Nielsen has pledged to continue that. She was in Baltimore earlier Tuesday with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said that this week's attack on the New York City subway system showed in the "starkest terms" that the failures of the U.S. immigration system are a national security issue. Nielsen told reporters in Austin that years of relaxed federal immigration policy have also endangered police officers, saying "sanctuary cities put law enforcement lives at risk in favor of criminals who have no right to be in the United States." Hernandez, a Democrat, had announced on the day of Trump's inauguration that Austin jails would only comply with federal requests to hold in jail immigrants suspected of violent crimes - not those being held on the most-common offenses like drunken driving, She cited a need to create trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities. But Hernandez also announced policy changes after Texas' sanctuary cities ban was approved. She was the only Texas law enforcement official to publicly oppose full compliance with federal detainer requests, but the state's largest cities, including Houston and Dallas, have joined forces in suing to block the law. Opponents argue such crackdowns make combating crime harder since it spreads fear and mistrust among immigrant communities and spooks potential witnesses to crimes from cooperating with police. Nielsen didn't mention Hernandez by name, but called Texas' capital "a city whose political leadership has at times fought SB4." She urged Congress to deny "certain grants and funding" to communities nationwide that don't have anti-sanctuary cities policies. "It is quite simple to me," she said. "If these sanctuary states and cities do not want to protect their citizens by upholding federal law, then they are not entitled to the federal government's money." Also Tuesday, Nielsen announced that seven Texas counties had signed new agreements to join a federal program known as 287(g), which allows sheriff's deputies and other officials to get training to become certified immigration officers. Expanding the program has been a priority for the Trump administration, and the government now has 67 agreements with law enforcement agencies in 18 states - up from 31 agreements at the start of the year. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen stands with a group of Texas sheriffs during a news conference to address sanctuary cities Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A company that helps to manage the Medicaid program in Kansas has fired an employee who was accused of sexual misconduct while working as a state social services administrator. Amerigroup Kansas Inc. spokeswoman Olga Gallardo said Tuesday in an email that Brandt Haehn "was terminated." She provided no other details about the firing or his employment. For nearly two years until he left the agency in June, Haehn was the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services commissioner overseeing in-home and community services for the disabled. The agency said Haehn left after earlier spending several weeks on unpaid leave over his alleged conduct toward a woman who formerly worked for a company providing services to the disabled. The woman, Jennifer Gill, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that Haehn solicited sex from her and even offered her a job if she would comply. She said Haehn pursued her for four months starting in September 2016 with graphic messages, images and even a video of himself masturbating, which the newspaper said it reviewed. In a complaint before the Kansas Human Rights Commission, Gill alleges that her employer, Equi-Venture Farms, based in Topeka, reprimanded her and then fired her last December for "having openly opposed" discriminatory acts prohibited by state law. The company's executive director disputed those allegations, saying Gill was fired over performance issues. News reports about Gill's complaint and her allegations against Haehn prompted legislators and others to call on Amerigroup to fire Haehn. Others were upset that Haehn returned to work for several more weeks after his leave and before he was fired. "Brandt Haehn was terminated from Amerigroup and is no longer employed with the company," Gallardo said in her email. A Topeka phone listing for Haehn has been disconnected, and it wasn't clear whether he has an attorney. Gill's complaint is against her former employer, not the state agency; complaints with the Human Rights Commission name employers, not individual supervisors or executives. Gill told The Topeka Capital-Journal that she worked for Equi-Venture Farms in Newton and returned home to Tennessee after losing her house in Wichita. A phone listing for her in Savannah, Tennessee, has been disconnected, and she didn't immediately reply to a voicemail left on a cellphone listed as hers. Gill's complaint to the Human Rights Commission identifies Haehn only by his state job, but Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Tim Keck confirmed in a statement that Haehn had been placed on administrative leave and left the agency. Gill filed her complaint Feb. 27. In the complaint, she alleges that she told her supervisor at Equi-Venture about Haehn's conduct "in or about" September 2016. "However, no action was taken," the complaint said. Ben Swinnen, Equi-Venture's executive director, disputed Gill's account. He said Tuesday that she told him about Haehn's conduct on Dec. 2 or Dec. 3, 2016, and he called Haehn to tell him to stop his behavior. Swinnen also said that on Dec. 1, 2016, he and Gill agreed she would leave Equi-Venture over performance issues. He said they then agreed on Dec. 9 that she would remain, on probation, but she violated the terms and was dismissed on Dec. 27. "I did not engage in any unlawful discriminatory practices, nor did Equi-Venture Farms," said Swinnen, who also is an attorney. Keck said he took disciplinary action against Haehn "as soon as we became aware of these allegations." Department for Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said she could not provide further details of how the case unfolded within the department, which typically does not comment on personnel issues. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A top Indonesian politician accused of involvement in one of the country's biggest corruption scandals told a court on the first day of his trial that he was suffering a stomach complaint, forcing a postponement while his medical condition was checked. Lawyers for Setya Novanto, the former speaker of Indonesia's parliament, argued Wednesday he was too ill to stand trial but prosecutors said he was in good health. Judges postponed the hearing until later in the day. Novanto was allegedly part of a conspiracy of dozens of officials who used the introduction of an electronic ID system to steal more than $170 million of public money. Former speaker of Indonesia's parliament Setya Novanto, center, walks as he is escorted by investigators during his trial in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The top Indonesian politician accused of involvement in one of the country's biggest corruption scandals told a court on the first day of his trial he's suffering a stomach complaint, forcing a postponement while his medical condition is checked. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) He evaded questioning by anti-corruption officials for months but was arrested in November at a hospital after being involved in a car accident. In court Wednesday, Novanto initially refused to respond to repeated questions from judges and then told the court, "I am suffering diarrhea, I asked for drugs but they were not given." Prosecutors said prison guards reported he was coughing in his cell. "This is a lie by the defendant," state prosecutor Irene Putri told the court before Novanto was excused for a checkup. After two postponements, during which the defendant was examined at the court clinic, the five-judge panel concluded that he was fit to face trial and the hearing resumed. The panel then allowed prosecutors to read out the indictment, in which Novanto was accused of involvement in the scandal and enriching himself and others. Novanto, also a senior figure in the Golkar party, which is part of Indonesia's governing coalition, has denied any wrongdoing. An admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, Novanto made an unexpected appearance at a Trump news conference at Trump Tower in New York in September 2015 along with another Indonesian lawmaker, Fadli Zon. Novanto was introduced by Trump as one of Indonesia's most powerful men who would do great things for the U.S. Former speaker of Indonesia's parliament Setya Novanto, left, talks to his lawyer during his trial in Jakarta, Indonesia , Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The top Indonesian politician accused of involvement in one of the country's biggest corruption scandals told a court on the first day of his trial he's suffering a stomach complaint, forcing a postponement while his medical condition is checked.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military said it intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Wednesday in the latest barrage by Palestinian militants. The army said in a statement that the Iron Dome missile defense system downed the rockets as they headed toward Israel. A third projectile hit an open area in southern Israel. No injuries were reported. Palestinian militants have fired about a dozen rockets at Israel in the week since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Hamas called for a new armed uprising against Israel in response to Trump's declaration. A Palestinian boy stands inside a damaged home following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Israeli strikes on Gaza in response to rocket fire over the weekend left at least two Palestinians dead and several others wounded. Earlier on Wednesday, Israel carried out retaliatory strikes on a Hamas military compound in Gaza in response to rocket fire late Tuesday. No casualties were reported. The bombardment came after a rocket fired toward Israel's southern coastal city of Ashkelon was intercepted by the anti-missile Iron Dome defense system. Israel typically responds to each Gaza attack and holds Hamas responsible, even though other armed groups in the territory fire rockets. The area has been largely calm since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, but the week since Trump's statement has seen violent protests by Palestinians and the most intensive exchange of cross-border fire since the 2014 conflict. Palestinians have clashed with Israeli troops across the West Bank and along the Gaza border since Trump's announcement on Dec. 6. At least two Palestinians have been killed and scores wounded. A Palestinian looks at the damaged homes following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Palestinians check their damaged homes following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Palestinians look out from a damaged window of their home following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Palestinians look at a hole caused by early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Palestinians check their damaged home following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) A Palestinian checks the damage to a home following early morning Israeli airstrikes in town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. The Israeli military says it has carried out airstrikes in Gaza is response to rocket fire toward southern Israel. The military says it struck a Hamas military compound in southern Gaza early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) News / National by Staff reporter AP Video from Dec. 22/1982 shows "scenes from the visit of the Ethiopian Head of State Mengistu Haile Mariam to #Zimbabwe where he is greeted by Prime Minister Robert Mugabe & President Canaan Banana." The question of what would happen to Mengistu is what #Ethiopians are asking pic.twitter.com/fI7bdRcrEf Addis Standard (@addisstandard) November 15, 2017 Mugabe will be gone soon but what happens to our own dictator Mengistu Hailemariam? "The official said Mugabe would resign later this week and be replaced by Mnangagwa, with opposition leaders taking posts as vice-president and prime minister." https://t.co/Ub2A5e8ExA Awol Allo (@awol_allo) November 15, 2017 In a move that stunned the world, Zimbabwe's defense forces ousted President Robert Mugabe from power on November 21 2017, bringing his 37 years of strongman rule to an end. When his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, took office three days later, a new chapter opened for the country.Major General SB Moyo, the country's chief of staff logistics, said the transition was aimed at ending social and economic suffering and bringing criminals to justice. The unfolding transition of power with its promise of change has brought hope not only to Zimbabweans but also to other Africans.One such hope is that Ethiopia's former Marxist-leaning leader Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam could finally be brought to justice. Mugabe gave Haile Mariam a residency permit after the latter fled Ethiopia in 1991. His motive for giving Haile Mariam refuge was thought to be to allow the Ethiopian ex-leader to train and arm Zimbabweans during their liberation struggle in the 1970s.In a campaign aimed at repressing political dissent that would become called the "Red Terror," Mengistu's administration was alleged to have killed an estimated half a million people, including the last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.After the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power, a court sentenced Mengistu to life in prison in absentia. Although the Ethiopian government requested his extradition in 2006, Mugabe reportedly refused to hand over the ex-leader, who was at the time his adviser on Ethiopia's security affairs.Social media hopes of repatriationSocial media users in Ethiopia have recently been asking about the fate of the 80-year-old Mengistu now that Mugabe is gone.Others were quick to demand the forced repatriation of Mengistu to Ethiopia, where they hope he can face justice. But such demands, even though genuine, seem sometimes to be mixed with sarcasm.A tweet bearing the name Zirak Asfaw congratulates Mnangagwa on the peaceful power transition and pleads: "Please remember the mothers of #Ethiopia who are still waiting for justice: extradite #Mengistu Hailemariam."Another Twitter user under the name Deki sawa went further, urging Zimbabweans: "If #Zimbabweans are the kind of justice-loving people they claim to be, it is time to pressure their government to transfer the #genocidal #MengistuHaileMariam "Among those who weighed in was Awol Kassim Allo, an assistant professor of law at the London School of Economics, who also asked what would happen to Haile Mariam.Dwindling appetite' for obtaining justiceSpeaking to DW, Allo said states could give asylum to any individuals they chose, but this did not mean their actions were not in breach of international obligations. He noted that hosting countries often displayed a lack of political will and turned a blind eye to international law, which made extradition difficult.Allo was not also sure whether the two countries had signed an extradition treaty and expressed doubts that the current Zimbabwe administration would do such a thing."I think what people forget," Allo said, is that "it is still the same party that is ruling Zimbabwe, still the same individuals who were very much part of Mugabe's inner circle that are in control of the government."Yacob Hailemariam, a lawyer based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and former senior prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, argues, for his part, that there has not been any serious demand made by the Ethiopian government for Mengistu's extradition. Hailemariam also maintains that authorities in Harare "remain indebted to him [Mengistu] for the liberation of Zimbabwe".Although Mengistu Haile Mariam was tried in absentia in 2006 along with 73 high ranking Derg, alsoknown as "committee" officials, victims and other people concerned with the case have been alleging that the EPRDF has not put much pressure on Zimbabwe to help bring Mengistu to justice.Allo contends that the EPRDF's initial move of bringing those officials to the courtroom was merely for political reasons, such as trying to obtain international legitimacy as a country and to publicly show a determination to do away with wrongful impunity and ensure criminals were held to account."I think there is not the same appetite today as there was back in the 1990s," Allo added.Mengistu's denialMengistu has been quoted as saying he had "never killed even a fly" let alone a human, and that the crimes he was accused of "are all lies perpetrated by my enemies.""He doesn't have to have killed a fly," says the lawyer Yacob Hailemaraim, but "he was an instrumental in ordering many of these killings. He was responsible. He knew these killings were going on."Yacob Hailemaraim, 73, who fled to Kenya from prosecution at the time, remembers the Derg's era as "the most horrible thing that the country had to go through." Hailemaraim said that he had lost many friends and accused Haile Mariam of "killing several people himself.""If [the Red Terror] is not an atrocity, what is an atrocity?" asks Allo.Political and legal analysts draw a very thin line between the EPRDF and Derg regime on their respective human rights records: The EPRDF, which has now been in power for more than quarter a century, is also being accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity."As it has turned out, the Ethiopian government has itself become extremely authoritarian and repressive, almost in the same way as the previous government," Allo notes. NANJING, China (AP) - Chinese officials struck a tempered tone on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre on Wednesday, saying China would "look forward" and deepen friendship with its neighbor Japan despite historical misgivings. Chinese President Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of China's parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future. The remarks were a departure from China's frequent criticism of Japan for not showing sufficient contrition for the brutality of its expansionist campaign that swept across Asia during the first half of the 20th century. China's ruling Communist Party has often allowed anti-Japanese sentiment to build domestically, but relations have improved in recent months. Chinese paramilitary policemen stand at attention near a Chinese flag flown at half mast to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre held at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese troops in Nanjing in eastern China's Jiangsu province Wednesday Dec. 13, 2017. (Chinatopix Via AP) China's government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops in a weeks-long frenzy of murder, rape and arson after Nanking - China's capital at the time - fell on Dec. 13, 1937, after bitter street fighting in Shanghai. Some right-wing Japanese politicians, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have downplayed the death toll or denied outright that the Nanking atrocity happened. Wearing a white flower on his lapel, Xi watched somberly on Wednesday as Chinese soldiers bearing large funeral wreaths marched slowly past a memorial showing the figure 300,000 - the number of massacre victims, according to official Chinese estimates. Denial by conservative Japanese quarters of the country's wartime history has frequently incensed neighbors that bore the brunt of its militarism and colonial rule, including China, South Korea and the Philippines, and it continues to fuel debate in contemporary Japan. A Japanese hotel chain attracted condemnation in January when it distributed a book questioning Japan's use of forced sex workers and calling the Nanking Massacre a fake. Nanking, an ancient Chinese capital 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Shanghai, is now commonly known as Nanjing. Relations between Xi and Abe, both known for their nationalist bent, have warmed in recent months, with the two leaders posing together with smiles and pledging to seek a "fresh start" at a November summit in Vietnam. Yu, a former member of the Communist Party's top leadership circle, did not touch on the historical controversies Wednesday but said China and Japan share a long, rich history and should promote friendship for generations to come. China has raised alarms in Asia with its more assertive military and diplomatic posture in recent years, particularly over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Yu said in his address that Beijing would "never be hegemonic or expansionist." "It will never impose the tragic experience that it experienced on other peoples," he said. In an op-ed in the Financial Times Chinese edition on Wednesday, the French and German ambassadors to China said their countries' experience as opponents in the war's European theater showed that "perpetrators need to recognize their crimes, and victims need to forgive" to achieve a measure of reconciliation. Reflecting the occasion, the Nanking memorial was far more low-key than China's 2015 celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which unfurled as a propaganda showpiece with a massive military parade observed by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin from atop Tiananmen Gate. China similarly pressured foreign ambassadors in Beijing to attend the Nanking memorial - but many did not, according to a Beijing-based diplomat. "They fear being instrumentalized by propaganda," the diplomat said. EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - This is the lesson that the working-class city of Everett has learned: It takes a community to rescue the hardcore homeless. It takes teams of outreach workers - building relationships with men and women struggling with addiction or untreated mental illness, prodding them to get help. It takes police and other agencies, working together to provide for their needs. And it takes a prosecutor who was tired of managing the unending cycle of homelessness - jail-street-jail-street-jail. Hil Kaman left his job prosecuting the homeless and took up the challenge of finding solutions. For starters, he helped put together a team that would track the 25 most costly and vulnerable cases, and hover over each one individually until he or she was in treatment or housing. In this Nov. 8, 2017 photo, Steph Gaspar, a volunteer outreach worker with The Hand Up Project, an addiction and homeless advocacy group, cleans up needles used for drug injection that were found at a homeless encampment in Everett, Wash. The number of unsheltered chronically homeless - those who have been homeless for longer than a year while struggling with a serious mental illness, substance use disorder or physical disability - more than doubled in the Everett region since 2015. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) "It was when everything else seems to have failed," said Kaman, who became the city's public health and safety director 17 months ago. "They'll bring someone to jail several hundred times, bring someone to the emergency department dozens of times - the (people) resistant to treatment and other alternatives. It was a call to say, 'Isn't there anything else that we could do?'" In two years, Everett's specialized team has found some form of housing for 14 chronically homeless people on its by-name list. The city's newly formed community outreach enforcement team has gotten more than two dozen people into long-term treatment, primarily using beds paid through a partnership with a nonprofit that helps officers deal with the opioid crisis. The city also set up a flex fund that accepts private donations to help pay for motel rooms, bus tickets and other costs. It's among an array of strategies the city has tried. There is still much work to do: Everett, a city of 110,000 north of Seattle hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, and surrounding Snohomish County saw a 65 percent jump in people living outside between 2015 and 2017 - one of the largest increases on the West Coast in that period, according to a one-night count earlier this year. The number of unsheltered chronically homeless - those who have been homeless for longer than a year while struggling with a serious mental illness, substance use disorder or physical disability - has grown steadily in the Everett region, more than doubling since 2015. That's even as the city and county added more supportive housing. Kaman and others say a combination of the opioid epidemic, poverty, lack of unskilled jobs, rising rents, and a shortage of affordable housing have made it even harder for those who fall into homelessness to get out. The problem is not limited to Everett; up and down the West Coast, the high cost of housing has forced thousands of people to live on the streets, a trend that opioids have exacerbated. "These are expensive places to live. It's expensive for everybody. But the burden falls the hardest on people with the biggest problems," said Steve Berg, vice president for programs and policy with the National Alliance to End Homelessness. ___ In 2011, roughly one in every five opioid-related deaths in Washington state took place in this county. That was the peak, but heroin deaths remain high and deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are climbing. Last month, county officials partially activated its emergency coordination center, typically used for natural disasters, to respond to the opioid crisis. So far this year, health officials have collected 2 million discarded needles. In this former lumber town on scenic Puget Sound, where thousands of workers assemble the newest Boeing airplanes, the crisis had become so dire that Everett city officials became the first to sue the manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin this year. The city blames Purdue Pharma for an addiction crisis that has overwhelmed city resources and deepened its homelessness problem. Kaman joined the city's mayor, police chief, city council members and others who drove to Seattle in September for the city's successful argument that a federal judge allow its lawsuit against the drug manufacturer to proceed. While that case works through the court, social workers and police officers are fanning out to find people camping under the freeway or living in RVs or the woods and try to connect them to services. Many of them initially deflect treatment, or are too ill to even know they need aid. James McGee, a heroin addict who was living in his minivan on the streets, was among those who got help. The 27-year-old started popping OxyContin prescription pills after a shoulder surgery. When the drug manufacturer changed its formula, he switched to cheaper heroin. He first told himself he would never shoot up. Then he did. "You draw that line, tell yourself you're not going to pass that, and the next thing, you do," McGee said. "Then you keep going and going. Before I know it, I'm sticking needles in my body, doing heroin and meth every day." He eventually lost his job at Costco and his apartment. Shortly after overdosing in the parking lot this summer - and being revived by someone who had overdose-reversal spray at hand - McGee walked into a police station and pleaded for help. Kaitlyn Dowd, a social worker embedded with Everett police, helped connect him to treatment about 100 miles away. Now he's living in sober housing, more than 90 days clean, working a construction job and attending as many recovery meetings as possible. "I never thought I would taste recovery like this," he said. "Everyone deserves a second chance." ___ For every person who finds a treatment bed or permanent supportive housing, many more wait. Until this summer, when a second facility opened, the county had only 16 publicly funded detox beds for its 785,000 residents. Many must go out of the county, or even state, to find beds. Experts say lack of on-demand treatment and a shortage of appropriate housing to meet specific needs are among the biggest barriers to helping people off the streets. Without permanent housing, advocates and city officials say the homeless will end up back on the street after completing their treatment, repeating the cycle. Kaman said the city has been moving the chronically homeless into private rental units using vouchers, but the region's low vacancy rate makes that much more challenging. That's part of the reason Everett is pushing ahead with a low-barrier permanent supportive housing project on city land. The project with Catholic Housing Services will house 65 chronically homeless people without first requiring they be addiction-free or deal with other issues. Residents will have access to mental health, recovery and other services and around-the-clock on-site staff. Studies have found that such housing can save taxpayer money when compared to the costs of serving chronically homeless in emergency rooms, shelters and jails. But so many chronically homeless people in the Everett region are on the waitlist for housing that those units will fill up when it opens in 2019. "Housing is as, if not more, important than any medication" or other services, said Tom Sebastian, CEO of Compass Health, Snohomish County's largest behavioral health provider. His agency is developing an 84-unit housing project for mentally ill and addicted homeless on a vacant lot in downtown Everett. Compass Health doesn't typically develop housing, but "because there's that shortage, we feel a driving sense to step into that breach to do something to help solve that problem," Sebastian said. For those who can get housing and services, stability can be a lifeline. Garrick Heller, 35, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, said he would be on the streets otherwise. Several years ago, he was involuntary civilly committed because he posed a danger to himself or others. He spent time on the streets, in shelters and eventually at a locked psychiatric facility run by Compass Health. Over time, he gradually moved into more independent living situations run by Compass Health. Now he lives in a small studio apartment, where he sleeps on an air mattress. He gets mental health counseling and other services within blocks of his home. A service helps him pay his bills and rent, which is one-third of the $735 he gets in monthly disability payment. Heller said he regularly takes his medication and works hard each day to stick to his treatment plan. He plans on looking for a job soon and wants to pass his GED. "Getting myself back to normal - that took a long time," he said. "I'm determined to get better." ___ Finding solutions to homelessness is expensive. Voters in the city and county of Los Angeles since last year have passed a pair of ballot initiatives that will raise about $4.7 billion over the next decade to pay for thousands of affordable housing units and homeless services. In May, a nonprofit pledged $100 million to help San Francisco cut its number of chronically homeless in half in five years by creating more permanent housing and increasing mental health services. In Sacramento, where the number of people living on the streets has soared 116 percent over the past two years, the city and county last month agreed to spend tens of millions of dollars to coordinate services for those with mental illness and substance abuse problems. Steering them toward permanent housing is a cornerstone of the new effort. And last month, King County, which includes Seattle, partnered with the Ballmer Group and others in a new program that will pay incentives to agencies that provide outpatient treatment on demand. The hardcore homeless represent a major financial burden on Everett, putting pressure on the jail, emergency room and other services. In one extreme example, officials estimated one person used about $500,000 in such resources in one year. Another homeless man spent 800 nights in jail over eight years for trespassing and other nuisance crimes. Hard cases resist easy solutions, but Everett's team persists. Teams try to serve people where they are - in streets, in the woods or under freeways. Volunteers with The Hand Up Project - many of whom are recently homeless and recovering addicts - have been hitting familiar haunts to find others who might be ready for recovery. One rainy day, they found 34-year-old Robart Blocher living high up in the trees in a two-story fort he built out of discarded materials. He is addicted to meth, he said, and suffers from social anxiety disorder and other mental health issues, making it hard for him to go to places and seek help. He used to make $14.50 an hour as a chef until his addiction, a series of bad choices and medical issues forced him to find shelter in the woods. He had been living in a basement apartment, but got kicked out when his roommate died. Then he moved into a trailer and couch surfed. He eventually lost his job. A recent report found there is nowhere nearby where someone working a full-time minimum-wage job could afford an apartment that was not subsidized or shared with others, and that's Blocher's experience: "Nowadays, no way," he said. When the outreach team approached Blocher, offering to help him into treatment, he seemed receptive. He said he needed a mental health evaluation - but he had to deal with other stuff first. The volunteers back off, for now. They will return. ___ In the past, Hil Kaman had prosecuted 38-year-old Joshua Rape. For years, his life has been a revolving door of jail stints, shelters and couches, and street-wanderings. A specialized team of mental health professionals, housing and recovery experts, social workers, jail staff and officers worked to build a relationship with him. There were times when he'd tell them he wanted to get better but then he would disappear: "I was pretty evasive and elusive," Rape recalled. Opioid outreach specialist Amy Austin kept after him. "She was all over me," he said, recalling how she went searching for him a year ago when he missed an appointment after relapsing. "I just wanted him to know that he could always come and find me," she said. When he decided in jail this fall that he was ready for treatment, the team got him into a motel until a slot opened up. They took turns checking in daily as he waited more than a week for a treatment bed. In October, they drove him to catch a bus to the recovery center 200 miles away. "We've all been counting down the days until he's been ready. We've tried so hard to get him engaged," said Dowd, the social worker. "We've known him for a long time. We all want to see him being successful." Now he's back in Everett, having wrapped up 30 days of inpatient treatment. He goes to outpatient treatment and recovery meetings several times a week. For the first time, the man who has been homeless for six years will have his own place - a one-bedroom apartment that he'll move into this month, using a housing voucher. "I had to make multiple attempts at doing this," he said. "But it's working out. It can be done. You have to work for it." ___ Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report. In this Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 photo, Hil Kaman walks near land that was used for a homeless encampment directly adjacent to the site of a planned low-barrier permanent supportive housing project on city land that will eventually house 65 chronically homeless people. Kaman is a former prosecutor who became the city's public health and safety director in 2016. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, Dominic, who battles mental illness, sits on a sidewalk under the Smith Ave. Bridge in Everett, Wash., which is a constant gathering place for homeless people battling addiction and mental illness. Dominic has been identified as one of the top chronic and costliest users of emergency and other services in Everett, but despite the efforts of a specialized team of experts, he remains on the streets. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this MON., Dec. 4, 2017 photo, Joshua Rape sits on his bed in the motel where he was living while waiting to move into an apartment paid for with a housing voucher in Everett, Wash. For years, Rape's life was a revolving door of drug use, jail stints, homeless shelters, and street-wanderings, until a specialized team of mental health professionals, housing and recovery experts, social workers and police officers worked to build a relationship with him. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, Everett Police officers arrest a man with an outstanding warrant near the Smith Ave. Bridge in Everett, Wash., which is a constant gathering place for homeless people battling addiction and mental illness. The hardcore homeless represent a major financial burden on Everett, putting pressure on jail, emergency room and other services. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, a homeless man rests on a sidewalk under the Smith Ave. Bridge in Everett, Wash., which is a constant gathering place for homeless people battling addiction and mental illness. The city of Everett has tried to identify and work with the top chronic and costliest users of emergency and other services in Everett, but despite the efforts of a specialized team of experts, many remain on the streets. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 8, 2017 photo, Everett Police officer Inci Yarkut, left, and embedded social worker Kaitlyn Dowd, right, make contact with a homeless man camping on private property in Everett, Wash. The number of unsheltered chronically homeless with a serious mental illness, substance use disorder or physical disability has grown steadily in the Everett region - more than doubling since 2015 - and sending social workers out with police officers is one of the programs used by the city to try and deal with the crisis. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 8, 2017 photo, Steph Gaspar, a volunteer outreach worker with The Hand Up Project, an addiction and homeless advocacy group, cleans up needles used for drug injection that were found at a homeless encampment in Everett, Wash. The number of unsheltered chronically homeless with a serious mental illness, substance use disorder or physical disability has grown steadily in the Everett region, more than doubling since 2015. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 1, 2017 photo, Garrick Heller stands in the doorway of his studio apartment in Everett, Wash. Heller, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and has lived on the streets, in shelters and eventually in a locked psychiatric facility, has been able to transition into housing and mental health counseling run by Compass Health, a Snohomish County behavioral health provider. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, Paige Clem sits in the car she lives in along with her husband and three dogs outside a church where free food was being distributed in Everett, Wash. In addition to being homeless, Clem said she has battled drug addiction to heroin and meth in the past but is now clean with the help of medication. In 2011, roughly one in every five opioid-related deaths in Washington state took place in Snohomish county, where Everett is located, following that peak heroin deaths remain high and deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are climbing. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 8, 2017 photo, Steph Gaspar, a volunteer outreach worker with The Hand Up Project, an addiction and homeless advocacy group, holds a used and blood-filled needle used for drug injection that she found while cleaning up a homeless encampment in Everett, Wash. Gaspar said used needles like the one shown are the most dangerous to addicts who may find and them re-use them in their desperation, exposing them to additional health risks and diseases. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 1, 2017 photo, Ron Berry, left, talks with his daughter Alexis McKee after Berry was admitted to a mental health triage facility run by Compass Health, a Snohomish County behavioral health provider, in Everett, Wash. The facility allows people experiencing mental health crises to be treated more effectively and reduces the loads placed on jails and emergency rooms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Nov. 8, 2017 photo, Robart Blocher poses for a photo near the two-story tree fort he built from discarded materials while living homeless in some woods near Everett, Wash. Blocher said he is addicted to meth and suffers from social anxiety disorder and other mental health issues, making it hard for him to go to places and seek help. The number of unsheltered chronically homeless with a serious mental illness, substance use disorder or physical disability has grown steadily in the Everett region, more than doubling since 2015. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) In this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, Alex Rehn, right, a homeless heroin and meth addict, talks with Tim McNamara, a doctor volunteering with MercyWatch, an outreach group that serves the medical and other needs of the homeless population in Everett, Wash. as they kneel on a sidewalk under the Smith Ave. Bridge, which is a constant gathering place for homeless people battling addiction and mental illness. Rehn, who has since entered a treatment program, said his addiction had destroyed everything he once had, including a job and time with his young son. "It's a deep dark ugly hole that tricks your mind into believing it's not what it really is," Rehn said. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska lawmaker accused by several women of inappropriate behavior has bucked his party's leadership and refused to quit. State Rep. Dean Westlake announced late Tuesday he will not resign from office. The Democrat from the western Alaska community of Kotzebue announced his decision amid calls for him to resign from leaders of the House majority and the head of the state Democratic Party. Olivia Garrett, a former legislative aide, complained to House leadership last spring about two instances of unwelcome physical contact from Westlake. She recently went public after she had not been told how the matter was handled. File - In this Jan. 17, 2017 file photo, state Rep. Dean Westlake, D-Kotzebue, talks with another legislator during a break in the opening session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau, Alaska. The rural Alaska lawmaker has refused calls that he resign amid allegations of inappropriate behavior from seven women. Westlake issued a statement Tuesday evening, Dec. 12, 2017, saying he plans to stay in office. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File) The Anchorage Daily News reported Friday that six other female aides said Westlake acted inappropriately toward them or made them feel uncomfortable. The paper said those women asked to not be identified. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A Saudi human rights group said Wednesday that an 82-year-old former judge and prominent rights advocate has been freed in the kingdom, after serving five years of a 15-year prison sentence. Sulaiman al-Rashudi was president of the now-dissolved Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, also known by its Arabic acronym as HASM. His age may have been a factor in his early release. Dozens of liberal reformers, such as lawyer Waleed Abulkhair and Raif Badawi, a blogger who was publicly flogged in early 2015, remain imprisoned. While Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has helped push through a number of social reforms to boost the economy - including allowing women to drive next year and lifting a ban on movie theaters - he has also overseen a wave of arrests this year against perceived critics and those calling for political reforms in addition to social reforms. In early November, Saudi authorities carried out an unprecedented move, arresting a number of top princes, military officers, government officials and influential businessmen in the kingdom as part of a purported anti-corruption sweep led by the crown prince. Also, dozens of popular Islamists, writers and academics perceived as critics of the prince's foreign policy have been detained since September. Among them is Salman al-Awda who had advocated for greater social reforms but who was also perceived as being sympathetic to Qatar, which Saudi Arabia cut off ties with in June. At the height of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, al-Rashudi was convicted for helping establish HASM and sentenced to 15 years in prison on various charges, including disobeying the king. He remained free on bail until 2012, when the former judge who studied Islamic law, was arrested after saying that demonstrations are not religiously forbidden. In total, 11 HASM members have been sentenced to a combined 92 years in prison. The group was shut down in 2013. The London-based ALQST Saudi rights group said al-Rashudi was released on Tuesday. The government does not typically comment on such cases. Al-Rashudi had been also detained in the 1990s, in 2004 and in 2007, spending some seven years in prison intermittently for his rights activism during those years and for calling for political reform in the absolute monarchy. Prominent writer Jamal Khashoggi fled the country amid the wave of arrests this year, saying he was banned from writing his column in the Saudi al-Hayat newspaper and is now in self-imposed exile. He has written opinion pieces for the Washington Post since, saying the atmosphere of repression in Saudi Arabia had become "unbearable." "In the starkest terms, Saudi Arabia is trying to moderate the extreme viewpoints of both liberal reformers and conservative clerics. And the arrests span that spectrum," he wrote. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - A coffin carrying the body of Romania's late King Michael I arrived Wednesday at the Royal Palace in Bucharest, where it was met by applause and will lie in state ahead of his funeral this weekend. The former king, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. Michael's five daughters and his estranged grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills, who was stripped of his title in 2015, took part in a Wednesday ceremony at Bucharest's airport, where flags were flown at half-mast. Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) A military plane transported the coffin, which was covered in the royal coat of arms. Orthodox priests performed a short religious service before the coffin left for Peles Castle in the resort of Sinaia. Michael was born at small palace nearby on Oct. 25, 1921. President Klaus Iohannis laid a wreath and Prime Minister Mihai Tudose and other government ministers signed the book of condolences and paid their respects. Later, the coffin was taken to the palace in the capital, on Bucharest's Victory Way. Hundreds of well-wishers applauded and shouted, "King Michael!" and "The monarchy saves Romania." The royal house said Prince Charles of Britain, King Carl Gustav XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain would be among those attending the funeral on Saturday. Michael, who played a pivotal role in Romania's switch to the Allied cause following a coup in 1944, spent decades in exile working as a chicken farmer and aircraft pilot. He finally got his citizenship back in 1997, eight years after the collapse of communism in Romania. Earlier, a handful of people paid their respects at the royal palace Wednesday. Flickering candles, poems, flags and hundreds of flowers - roses, lilies, carnations and poinsettias, symbols of the nation's grief - were placed on the palace railings. Retired psychologist Aurelia Turcu, 85, said Michael made "a radical contribution to our country's history in WWII and (showed) fantastic courage." She said the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty that ruled Romania from 1866 until Michael's abdication "brought civilization and prosperity to us. I am convinced Romania would have been better with a monarchy." Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael I at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Princess Margaret of Hohenzollern, daughter of former Romanian King Michael I, cries next to his coffin, along with the King's estranged grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on Dec. 5 in Switzerland at age 96. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of the late Romanian King Michael off a military plane at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania during WWII, has died on Dec.5, aged 96, in Switzerland and will be buried this weekend.. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Princess Margaret of Hohenzollern, daughter of former Romanian King Michael I, cries next to his coffin, at Bucharest's Henri Coanda airport, outside Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Former King Michael, who ruled Romania during WWII, has died on Dec. 5, aged 96, in Switzerland and will be buried this weekend. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A prosecutor urged U.N. judges Wednesday to overturn the acquittals of a prominent Serbian ultranationalist on atrocity charges, saying that a failure to do so would inflict lasting damage to the legacy of the groundbreaking war crimes tribunal. Prosecutor Mathias Marcussen told a five-judge appeals panel that the 2016 acquittals of Vojislav Seselj on nine war crimes and crimes against humanity charges were so deeply flawed that they must be reversed or a new trial ordered. "Justice has not been done," Marcussen said. He argued that the three-judge trial bench that found Seselj not guilty at the end of his marathon trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia made critical errors of fact and law and failed to properly evaluate all the evidence. FILE - This is a Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 file photo of Serbia's extreme nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj as he speaks during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia. Prosecutors are set to explain to United Nations judges why they believe that the 2016 acquittal of a Serbian ultranationalist on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges should be overturned on appeal. Serbian lawmaker Vojislav Seselj, who was found not guilty of all nine charges against him at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, has vowed not to attend Wednesday's hearing in The Hague. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File) At trial, prosecutors accused Seselj of crimes including persecution, murder and torture and demanded a 28-year sentence for his support of Serb paramilitaries during the region's bitter, bloody wars in the early 1990s. Prosecutors argue that Seselj's actions were part of a plan to drive Croats and Muslims out of large areas of Croatia and Bosnia that leaders in Belgrade considered Serb territory. Marcussen said that allowing Seselj's acquittals to stand would be "not only an affront to the victims of the alleged crimes, it would also seriously undermine the credibility" of the tribunal and the institution called the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals which has been established to deal with appeals and other legal issues left pending when ad hoc tribunals like the Yugoslav court close their doors for good. A tribunal that prosecuted cases arising from Rwanda's genocide has already closed and the Yugoslav tribunal formally shuts down at the end of December. Seselj's appeal is being handled by the new mechanism. Seselj, now a Serbian lawmaker, did not attend Wednesday's hearing. Judges gave him 10 days to respond in writing after he receives a transcript of the hearing. Seselj said in Belgrade that he will not respond and that he is "finished" with the U.N. judges. "I didn't even watch the hearing today, I slept at the time," Seselj told the private Beta news agency. Trial judges acquitted Seselj in a majority decision, saying there was insufficient evidence linking him to crimes. One of the three judges dissented, saying the acquittals ignored international law and the tribunal's own jurisprudence. Among the trial chamber's most controversial findings was that operations in which non-Serbs were bussed out of the territory were a "humanitarian mission" and not illegal deportations. Marcussen called the finding "an insult to the victims and witnesses who testified" at trial. Presiding Judge Theodor Meron said the appeals panel would issue a ruling "in due course." FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2003 file photo, Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj is seen during his initial appearance at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Prosecutors are set to explain to United Nations judges why they believe that the 2016 acquittal of a Serbian ultranationalist on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges should be overturned on appeal in Wednesday's Dec. 13, 2017, hearing in The Hague. (AP Photo/Toussaint Kluiters, Pool, File) BRUSSELS (AP) - Venezuela's democratic opposition and its political prisoners have received the European Union's Sakharov Prize for human rights. The European Parliament said Thursday that it wanted to reward the courage of students and politicians who are fighting for freedom in the face of a repressive government. Julio Borges, one of the Sakharov Prize laureates, says "the recognition of Sakharov prize has a lot of meaning for us, not only because we've gone through years of struggle. The most important thing is that we feel there is a real understanding of what happens in Venezuela." The Venezuelan laureates follow the footsteps of last year's winners, two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by the Islamic State group. HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AP) - An Air Force installation in Florida has closed its child care centers due to an outbreak of norovirus. In a Facebook post , Hurlburt Field officials said its youth center and three child development centers would remain closed until Dec. 18 "in an abundance of caution to prevent the continued spread of illness." A Northwest Florida Daily News report says 1st Special Operations Wing Commander Col. Thomas Palenske said over 40 cases of norovirus had been reported by Friday at the installation that's the headquarters of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Norovirus is a contagious virus that causes stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea. In a post on his Facebook page , Palenske urged troops with sick children to stay home with them until they are well to "protect our families and our combat capability." ___ Information from: Northwest Florida Daily News (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.), http://www.nwfdailynews.com BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - After a contentious upset over Manny Pacquiao to win his first world title and a successful defense on home soil, Jeff Horn is ready to take his WBO welterweight belt to Las Vegas. The former school teacher from Australia won by knockout in the 11th round Wednesday when Gary Corcoran's corner threw in the towel with the England-based boxer bleeding from a deep cut above his left eye. It was Horn's first fight since his unanimous decision upset over eight-division champion Pacquiao in front of more than 51,000 fans in an outdoor afternoon fight at nearby Suncorp Stadium in July in the "Battle of Brisbane" - a victory that some critics dismissed as a hometown decision. Jeff Horn of Australia, right, looks at Britain's Gary Corcoran, left, as he takes a fall during their WBO Welterweight title fight in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec.13, 2017. Horn wins the fight by TKO. (Dan Peled/AAP Image via AP) Horn, now unbeaten in 19 bouts, is hoping the win Wednesday at the smaller Brisbane Convention Centre sets him up for a fight against Terence Crawford next year. "Yeah, there is a lot to prove to a lot of the Americans," Horn said, reflecting on the criticism following his win over Pacquiao. "There's always going to be the doubters. All I can do is keep winning, that's the key - hopefully I can start changing people's minds one by one." Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said he expected to soon confirm a Crawford-Horn fight in Las Vegas in April. "We move on now. Terence Crawford is the mandatory contender," Arum said. "Terence Crawford is one of the best fighters around. He was a lightweight champion - that's 135 pounds - then he became a junior welterweight (140 pounds), and wiped out that division." Arum said the step up to the 147-pound division would be another challenge for the unbeaten Crawford. "Anybody that says that because of Terence's skillset that Jeff doesn't have a chance is crazy," Arum said. "This is going to be a very competitive fight." The early rounds Wednesday were close with Corcoran continually walking forward and the pair clinching in close, but Horn landed enough punches to have a lead before he started to find his range in the seventh and dominated the next three rounds. "It was a bit different this time, I wasn't the underdog for a change. I was coming in (as) the champion," Horn said. "He definitely pushed me. I felt my timing was a bit off, but I got him in the end. "As soon as I started working off that jab and going first, I managed to break him down quite easily after that." Two judges had awarded all but one round to Horn before the fight was stopped, and the other had given all 10 rounds to Horn. Corcoran (17-2) needed six stitches to the cut above his left eye and another four stitches to a cut on the right. He said he wasted energy in the early rounds and it cost him in the end. "I just didn't let my shots go, was getting very tense," he said. "You're fighting for a world title. Better man won on the night, that's it. I fought a good fighter. I'll be back." Horn had plenty of support in Brisbane, where he's related to the Lord Mayor and was part of a public campaign to back the state premier in a recent election. Crawford, who watched the fight on ESPN, predicts Horn will get more than he's expecting in America. "Jeff Horn did what he had to do to get the job done tonight but ... I have more power and more speed than Corcoran," Crawford said. "When he steps in to the ring with me, it's going to be a very different story." Crawford, who moved to No. 1 spot on the pound-for-pound list in 2017, said he'd be bigger and stronger when he moves up to welterweight and he plans to again "clean out the division." For his part, Horn is ready to fulfill a long-time plan to fight in the United States. "From the start, it's where I pictured myself fighting for a world title," he said, adding the he was confident against Crawford. "He's someone definitely I can beat in the boxing world. I'm sure of that. I'm very confident, and that's the first step in this game." Jeff Horn of Australia, right, punches Britain's Gary Corcoran as he falls into the ropes during their WBO Welterweight title fight in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Dec.13, 2017. Horn followed up his contentious WBO welterweight title win over Manny Pacquiao with a successful first defense on Wednesday against Gary Corcoran. (Glenn Hunt/AAP Image via AP) News / National by Staff reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration ha no plans extradite former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam.This is in spite of renewed pressure from the opposition and the civil society.Mengistu, who has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since fleeing an armed rebellion that ended his rule in 1991, is wanted in Ethiopia.He was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia for leading a terror campaign that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians between 1977 and 1991.Harare, under Robert Mugabe's administration, had refused to send him back to Ethiopia to face justice. But critics have been quick to seize the opportunity presented by Mugabe's deposal last month to renew calls for Mengistu's extradition.This week, the MDC-T said Mengistu must be sent back to his country.Party spokesperson, Obert Gutu, insisted that Mengistu was a fugitive from justice and that the new government under Mnangagwa should not give sanctuary to despots and other international criminals who are wanted in their own countries."The bottom line is that Mengistu should be promptly extradited to Ethiopia to face justice," Gutu said.But government spokesperson, George Charamba, told the Daily News yesterday that there were no such plans to extradite Mengistu.Instead, Charamba took a swipe at civil society organisations and opposition parties for "meddling in issues they have no knowledge about"."I thought that was not a domestic issue. Where are they coming in? The Ethiopian government has not said anything, who then are they to poke their noses when his own government has not said anything?" he asked."They do not even know how he came here. This issue is covered by an international protocol. It was seen to be necessary that he stayed here for the peace of Ethiopia. Those people (calling for his extradition) are looking for relevance. If they don't have jobs, let them come and we can give them the jobs. "We cannot be seen spending time and effort on that issue when there are pressing national issues to attend to.Mnangagwa on the peaceful power transition and pleads: "Please remember the mothers of #Ethiopia who are still waiting for justice: extradite #Mengistu Hailemariam."Another Twitter user under the name Deki Sawa went further, urging Zimbabweans: "If #Zimbabweans are the kind of justice-loving people they claim to be, it is time to pressure their government to transfer the #genocidal #MengistuHaileMariam ."Among those who weighed in was Awol Kassim Allo, an assistant professor of law at the London School of Economics, who also asked what would happen to the former strongman."Mugabe will be gone soon but what happens to our own dictator Mengistu Hailemariam?"In a campaign aimed at repressing political dissent that came to be known as the "Red Terror," Mengistu's administration was alleged to have killed an estimated half a million people, including the last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.After the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power, a court sentenced Mengistu to life in prison in absentia. Although the Ethiopian government requested his extradition in 2006, Mugabe refused to hand over the ex-leader, who was at the time his adviser on Ethiopia's security affairs.As one of Africa's worst murderers, Mengistu fled Addis Ababa almost two decades ago after overseeing what has been described as one of the bloodiest terror campaigns to be inflicted on political opponents by a head of state. He killed opponents on a genocidal scale and last year a High court in Addis Ababa sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia. He has been living in the Harare since. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith on Wednesday to fill fellow Democrat Al Franken's Senate seat until a special election in November, setting up his longtime and trusted adviser for a potentially bruising 2018 special election. Smith was widely seen as Dayton's top choice from the moment Franken announced his resignation last week. But her previous decision not to run for governor had raised questions about her appetite for a closely watched and expensive Senate campaign. Smith said she is in and fully committed. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton listens to Lt. Gov. Tina Smith as she was named to replace fellow Democrat Al Franken in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in St. Paul, Minn. Franken announced his resignation last week amid growing sexual misconduct allegations. (Brian Peterson/Star Tribune via AP) "I can tell you I shouldn't be underestimated and if I weren't confident I wouldn't be doing this," she said. It's not clear when Smith will head to Washington. Franken, who resigned under pressure from his own party after he was accused of improper behavior by at least eight women, announced last Thursday that he would resign "in the coming weeks." His office hasn't set a final departure date yet; Smith indicated it would likely be in early January. In a statement, Franken called his successor the perfect choice but didn't shed light on his formal resignation plans, saying only that he would work with Smith to ensure "a speedy and seamless transition." Smith will be the second Democrat on a path to the Senate in as many days, after Doug Jones' victory in Alabama in Tuesday's special election. Smith, 59, served as Dayton's chief of staff for four years before ascending to become his No. 2 when his previous lieutenant chose not to join him in seeking a second term in 2014. Dayton has long treated Smith as an equal in the office, and it was that deference that fueled speculation she was being groomed to succeed him. Her path to politics was unconventional. A native of New Mexico, she graduated from Stanford and earned an MBA from Dartmouth. A marketing job with General Mills brought her to Minnesota, where she eventually started her own marketing and political consulting firm. She managed Ted Mondale's unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1998, then ran the short-lived 2002 Senate campaign for his dad, former Vice President Walter Mondale. Smith served as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak before eventually taking the same job with Dayton in 2011. Smith, a soft-spoken, smiling presence at the Capitol, is credited with quiet but key roles in the response to the 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis and in the building of a new Vikings stadium. Dayton made her his point person on a massive public-private partnership to work with Mayo Clinic on an ambitious expansion in Rochester. Next year's race to fill the final two years of Franken's term is certain to be one of the nation's most closely watched and expensive, and Dayton was under pressure from fellow Democrats in Washington to ensure his pick would use the appointment as a springboard for that election. Meanwhile, Republicans immediately floated former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a possible candidate, but many others were said to be weighing a race. Republicans said Dayton's selection of Smith for the seat could upset voters. "Minnesota voters deserve a senator who will look out for their best interests, not another DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) insider handpicked by Mark Dayton," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Michael McAdams said in a written statement. And Smith's past work with Planned Parenthood in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, which provides abortions along with other health services, was sure to become a flash point with Republicans on the campaign trail. Smith, who served as vice president of external affairs, said Planned Parenthood provides critical health care and sexual transmitted disease treatment to "thousands and thousands and thousands of women." "I'm proud of that work," Smith said. FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2015 file photo, Minnesota Democratic Lt. Gov. Tina Smith speaks to attendees at the North Star Ball in St. Paul, Minn. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is set to name his choice to replace Al Franken in the U.S. Senate, with the top contender seen as Lt. Gov. Smith. Dayton was expected to make the appointment Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, nearly a week after Franken announced his plan to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File) KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - A military court in eastern Congo has sentenced a dozen militia members, including a lawmaker, to life in prison for the rapes of more than 46 children as young as 11 months old. Human rights organizations have called the trial groundbreaking in a country where sexual violence is rampant and perpetrators often go unpunished. Dozens of armed groups are active in the mineral-rich nation. The court in Bukavu on Wednesday also convicted provincial deputy Frederic Batumike for organizing the militia violence and for crimes against humanity that took place for years in Kavumu starting in 2013. The village is 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Bukavu. The court awarded $5,000 to each victim of sexual violence and $15,000 to the families of those killed. CHICAGO (AP) - The Chicago City Council on Wednesday approved a $31 million settlement to be shared by four men who were exonerated by DNA evidence after being imprisoned for more than a decade for a rape and killing. The decision to accept the police misconduct settlement - one of the largest in Chicago's history - followed a heated exchange between aldermen. Some argued the city is too quick to settle such lawsuits, while other aldermen blamed the police force, saying it has looked the other way for years and even rewarded abusive officers. The case before the council involved the 1994 rape and strangulation of Nina Glover and the convictions of four men who were teenagers at the time of the 30-year-old prostitute's death. Michael Saunders, Vincent Thames, Harold Richardson and Terrill Swift were between 15 and 18 years old when they were arrested and they served as long as 17 years before DNA evidence cleared them and linked the crime to a now-dead career criminal. FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2012 file photo, Harold Richardson, left, Vincent Thames, second from left, Terrill Swift, and Michael Saunders, right, pose for a photo after a hearing in Chicago for the four men known as "the Englewood Four," whose 1994 rape and murder convictions were overturned in November 2011. New DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. The Chicago City Council approved Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, a $31 million settlement to be shared by the men who each spent more than a decade in prison. The police misconduct settlement is one of the largest in the history of the city . (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File) A judge overturned their convictions in 2011 and issued each of them certificates of innocence. Saunders and Richardson were set free after 17 years in prison. Thames and Swift had already been released after serving a dozen years. An FBI report unsealed this year accused investigators of pressuring the then-teenagers and manipulating them into giving false confessions. But on Wednesday, as the council gathered to sign off on the settlement, two aldermen suggested the city was too quick to reach such settlements. Approving police misconduct cases has become a familiar chore for Chicago's leaders and the city has spent more than $660 million since 2004 on settling the cases. Echoing a police union official who angrily told aldermen at a hearing earlier in the week that there was "powerful evidence' that the four men were involved in the crime, the two aldermen said there was ample evidence that the men were guilty. "I feel we are opening a gateway for settlements like this in the future over and over again," Alderman Anthony V. Napolitano said. That drew an angry response from several others on the council, who pointed to a long history of wrongful convictions that have resulted in the city being forced to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars. "We are not talking about opening a gateway," Alderman Leslie Hairston said. "The gateway for settlement was opened when they started shooting black men in the back." Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. said the issue is not that the council is too quick to sign off on settlements. He said the problem is a police culture that for years has allowed officers to abuse their authority and go unpunished. The settlement amount is significantly less than the $70 million originally sought by the men, Alderman Edward Burke said. ATLANTA (AP) - "Avengers" star Mark Ruffalo said he is disgusted with President Donald Trump's plan to shrink two sprawling Utah national monuments by nearly two-thirds. Ruffalo told The Associated Press in a recent interview that Trump's decision was a "slap in the face" to Native Americans. Last week, the president signed two proclamations to reduce the Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 85 percent and cut Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by almost half. Trump's declarations would replace the federally-protected lands with five smaller monuments, cutting them by 2 million acres. Several lawsuits have been filed against the president, challenging his cuts. There are fears drilling or mining might be authorized without the protections. In this Dec. 8, 2017 photo, actor and environmental advocate Mark Ruffalo speaks during an interview in Atlanta. Ruffalo said he is disgusted with President Donald Trump's plan to shrink two sprawling Utah national monuments by nearly two-thirds and said that Trump's decision was a "slap in the face" to Native Americans. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) President Barack Obama created the Bears Ears monument last year. The Grand Staircase-Escalante was instituted by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Ruffalo said Trump's decision is environmentally wrong and an attempt to cater to a group of wealthy people. "Honestly, it's disgusting," Ruffalo said before he was honored at the Captain Planet Foundation annual gala on Friday in Atlanta. The Oscar-nominated actor received an award for his dedication to renewable energy transformation at the event to raise funds for its programs and to recognize environmental stewardship. "They are giving away our land that we own collectively to a small elite group of people, so they can do nothing but make money," he continued. Ruffalo is starring both as Bruce Banner and the Hulk in the upcoming "Avengers: Infinity War" movie, which is expected to release in May 2018. He is also known for his lead role in the Academy Award-winning film "Spotlight." Aside from acting, Ruffalo is an advocate for addressing climate change and increasing renewable and clean energy with the Solutions Project organization. He's also a co-founder of the Water Defense, which aims to raise awareness about energy extraction impact on water and the public health. "This guy (Trump) ran on a populist platform where he was going to be more fair; he was going to push away the elites," Ruffalo said. "But all we've seen is him catering to a small group of people that are already very, very, very wealthy. Already very powerful. Yes, it's disgusting. Not only that, its sacred native land. ... Until we start to address these inequalities, we're in trouble." ___ Online: http://www.captainplanetfoundation.org/benefitgala ___ Follow Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MrLandrum31 . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/jonathan%20landrum WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina retirement community has apologized for distributing a calendar featuring a racially tinged caricature of a slave. WWAY-TV in Wilmington reports the Bradley Creek Health Center at Carolina Bay circulated a community calendar Dec. 1 with a 1920s Christmas greeting card featuring the image of a black woman portrayed as a "mammy," a slave who took care of white children. Dictionary.com notes the term is "disparaging and offensive." Officials of the community said they weren't aware of the image, adding there was no approval process for the calendar. They said the calendars were immediately removed, adding, "the thoughtless choice by one employee to use this image is not in any way a reflection of this organization's values or culture." The story was first reported by The Wilmington Journal. ___ Information from: WWAY-TV. SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A Texas police officer who was fatally shot last week was a compassionate man who loved being a police officer and a father, mourners recalled Wednesday at his funeral. Kenneth Copeland, who was a San Marcos officer, was killed Dec. 4 while serving a warrant on a domestic violence suspect. A friend of Copeland's, Jeff Caldwell, told those attending the service at the Community Bible Church in San Antonio that Copeland was an "amazing man." People salute as the funeral procession for San Marcos Police officer Kenneth Copeland passes on Interstate 35 in San Marcos, Texas, on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Copeland was fatally shot last week while trying to serve a warrant on a domestic violence suspect. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP) "His smile was larger than life," said Caldwell, who added, "Ken loved his boys and he loved being a dad." He said that Copeland, an avid collector of a variety of items including Coca-Cola memorabilia, was always looking for a way to connect with other people. "If he saw that you were hungry, he'd feed you," Caldwell said. A procession of emergency vehicles escorted Copeland's body from a funeral home in San Marcos to the church about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Copeland, 58, had been with the San Marcos Police Department for 19 years. He is survived by his wife and four sons - 13-year-old twins and 10-year-old twins. The man suspected of shooting Copeland has been charged with capital murder of a peace officer. He also faces charges of family violence assault and injury to an elderly person for allegedly attacking his wife and mother-in-law. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Roy Moore has now lost more statewide races than he's won in Alabama, including a Senate contest that seemed within reach. So will the Republican former judge now abandon politics? Probably not. Instead, he's discussing a possible recount and depicting himself as a victim of false child molestation allegations. Assuming the results of the special election stand, Moore could run for governor in 2018. It would be his third gubernatorial bid, after failed runs in 2006 and 2010. He could also oppose Jones in 2020, when his shortened term ends. At 70, Moore is too old under state law to run for judicial office. Another option would be to return to the Foundation for Moral Law, a private group that he founded and ran from 2003 until 2012. FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - A gold mining company has acquired mineral rights to land in Alaska north of Fairbanks that is believed to contain millions of ounces of gold. Kinross Gold Corp. acquired the mineral rights Monday on the more than 1-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) parcel after the U.S. government transferred the land to the state of Alaska, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported . Kinross Fort Knox Vice President and General Manager Eric Hill said the company's state mining claims could not be used when the federal government controlled the land. The land was previously a buffer for radio interference around an array of weather satellite receivers. But in 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it no longer needed the buffer. The land is west of the company's Fort Knox Gold Mine and is estimated to contain 2.1 million ounces (59,500 kilograms) of gold. The estimate comes from drilling the company has done on the land since 2014. "It's too early to tell what (the land) means to us in the long-term," Hill said. "It has the potential to expand mine life." The company plans to begin the permitting process before the end of 2017 and release a feasibility update in mid-2018. Hill said the land's true potential will be unknown until after the feasibility study. The company produced more than 400,000 ounces (11,300 kilograms) of gold in both 2015 and 2016. ___ Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peruvian prosecutors are seeking the arrest of the leader of a Catholic religious society accused of sexual and psychological abuse against minors. Luis Figari is the lay founder of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a conservative Roman Catholic society with chapters across South America and in the U.S. Prosecutors said Wednesday they were requesting Figari's detention for nine months as well as that of five close aides to avoid him interfering with their investigation. A journalist and former member of the society began publicly accusing Figari of abuse in 2010. While Figari has never been charged, many of the allegations were confirmed by a Vatican inquiry. He was ordered to cut contact with members of the society. He's now living in Rome. He had no immediate reaction. AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - A federal grand jury has indicted a Missouri man with making threatening phone calls to a mosque in Georgia. An indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court charges 49-year-old Preston Q. Howard with placing 10 threatening calls to the Islamic Society of Augusta, Georgia, between June and August. The indictment says Howard phoned in a series of threats to "blow up the mosque" and "shoot and kill Muslims," as well as to "behead" worshippers and set them on fire after dousing them with gasoline. U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine is prosecuting the case in the Southern District of Georgia. Court records don't list an attorney for Howard. News / National by Staff reporter A Zimbabwean man has died in South Africa after he was stabbed twice during an armed robbery that occurred last Friday night at Loftheim Flats area at Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal.According to media reports, Trust Chipunha (30), who was based at Melmoth, was stabbed twice on Friday night during the robbery and the murder of the LifeLine Zululand social worker has sent shock waves through the organisation's ranks. South Africa Police Services spokesperson Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said a case of murder was under investigation at Empangeni Police Station and that no arrest had been made.Chipunha was declared dead at Ngwelezana Hospital after five hours after waiting to be rushed to the Durban hospital for an emergency operation as there was allegedly no surgeon on standby at the hospital before Saturday morning. He was allegedly attacked by two suspects at about 7pm after he had jumped off the taxi from work. The two suspects demanded his cellphone and after handing it over, they also demanded his bag, which had valuable documents such as his passport and work permit.When he tried to resist, they stabbed him. Chipunha was found by some of his relatives sitting outside the gate of one of the flats, bleeding from stab wounds to his neck and back. He was taken to hospital, where nurses administered intravenous fluids) on him as he had lost a lot of blood. The doctors later tried to resuscitate him, but he succumbed to death at about 12.45am. LifeLine Zululand director Michelle Jewlal was quoted describing Chipunha as a deeply spiritual man."He was humble, always pleasant and committed to his work. He was a true asset to our staff," said Jewlal, who added that Chipunha was always sending spiritual messages and uplifting words of encouragement to her and other colleagues. He only graduated in August this year and his proud mother was there to witness it. He also has a brother and sister in South Africa," she said. WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of U.S. Africa Command has asked for an additional investigation into whether civilians were killed during a deadly August raid in Somalia involving American and Somali forces. Army Col. Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for Africa Command, said Wednesday that Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser has asked the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to look into the details of the raid in Bariire village by Somali troops supported by U.S. special operations forces. The decision comes just two weeks after Africa Command released a statement discounting reports that several civilians, including children, were killed in the attack. Cheadle said Waldhauser requested the NCIS investigation in recent days after additional published reports came out saying that local villagers were insisting that innocent civilians were killed. He said Waldhauser also questioned why there have been discrepancies in how many were killed, and decided an additional investigation was needed. The Aug. 25 raid caused an uproar, with bloodied bodies laid out in the capital, Mogadishu, for display. Some government officials also charged that civilians were killed. In late November, Africa Command announced it had completed a thorough assessment of the raid and concluded that only armed enemy combatants had been killed. The raid targeted a local farm, and the deputy governor, Ali Nur Mohamed, told reporters that the dead, including children age 8 to 10 and a woman, were killed "one by one mercilessly." The Trump administration earlier this year approved expanded military operations against the Somalia-based, al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab. The U.S. has been launching frequent drone strikes against militants in the country this year, including on the small but growing presence of Islamic State group fighters there. The U.S. trains Somalia forces and at times supports them in raids. WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's new prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and powerful ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski have attended ceremonies marking 36 years since the country's communist regime used tanks and troops to clamp down on the Solidarity freedom movement. The 49-year-old Morawiecki is the son of a prominent anti-communist Polish dissident from the 1970s and 1980s and was active in his father's Fight Solidarity Organization. Both the future prime minister and his father, Kornel Morawiecki, were repeatedly detained and beaten by communist security forces. Poland's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, background centre, attends ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, marking 36 years since the communist authorities of the time imposed martial law in Poland intending to crush the massive independence Solidarity movement, which eventually prevailed leading to the ouster of the communist regime.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) The Polish government imposed martial law on Dec. 13, 1981 amid a growing pro-democracy movement. The country remained under martial law for more than 1 years. Several hundred supporters of the ruling Law and Justice party raised flags and sang the national anthem at Wednesday's anniversary event. The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, centre, attends ceremonies in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, marking 36 years since the communist authorities of the time imposed martial law in Poland intending to crush the massive independence Solidarity movement, which eventually prevailed leading to the ouster of the communist regime. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) NEW YORK (AP) - An advocacy group for journalists said Wednesday that 262 people are imprisoned around the world for their work gathering and reporting the news, a record high. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the number of imprisoned journalists is the highest since it began conducting its annual survey of journalists behind bars in the early 1990s. It said the 2017 number topped last year's total of 259 imprisoned journalists, the highest number until then. "The pattern reflects a dismal failure by the international community to address a global crisis in freedom of the press," said the group's editorial director, Elana Beiser. The three countries where the most journalists are imprisoned are Turkey, China and Egypt, the organization said. There are 73 journalists behind bars in Turkey, 41 in China and 20 in Egypt, it said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year began a crackdown on journalists he suspected of having links to the organizers of a failed coup. The crackdown has continued, the advocacy group said, with Turkish authorities accusing some journalists of terrorist activity based solely on their reported use of a messaging app, Bylock, or bank accounts at institutions supposedly linked to the coup plotters. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is based in New York, said Erdogan's government "appeared to pay little price for its repressive tactics," noting that U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Erdogan at the White House in May and has praised him as a friend. The organization also noted that Trump, a Republican, visited China in November and made no public reference to human rights despite recent abuses and the arrests of journalists. The group said its list is a snapshot of those journalists who were incarcerated for doing their jobs on Dec. 1. The list does not include journalists who were imprisoned and released throughout the year. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump likes to trumpet his opinions on Twitter, even when they change dramatically. He put his presidential weight behind two different candidates for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, and both lost. A look at Trump's tweets over the course of the race: BEFORE AUG. 15 PRIMARY Aug. 14 These tweets are from President Donald Trump. Trump likes to trumpet his opinions on Twitter, even when they change dramatically. He put his presidential weight behind two different candidates for the U.S. Senate from Alabama _ both lost. His view of the race evolved as circumstances changed on the ground. How the changing circumstances on the ground forced him to change his position, change that can be seen in his tweets. (The White House via Twitter via AP) "Luther Strange of the Great State of Alabama has my endorsement. He is strong on Border & Wall, the military, tax cuts & law enforcement." Aug. 15 "Big day in Alabama. Vote for Luther Strange, he will be great!" __ DAY AFTER PRIMARY LEADS TO SEPT. 26 RUNOFF BETWEEN STRANGE AND ROY MOORE Aug. 16 "Wow, Senator Luther Strange picked up a lot of additional support since my endorsement. Now in September runoff. Strong on Wall & Crime!" Sept. 20 "Looking forward to Friday night in the Great State of Alabama. I am supporting 'Big' Luther Strange because he was so loyal & helpful to me!" __ AFTER STRANGE LOSES TO MOORE IN SEPT. 26 GOP RUNOFF Sept. 27 "Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. He will help to #MAGA!" __ THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTS ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT AGAINST MOORE ON NOV. 9 Dec. 8 "LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He's bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!" Dec. 12 "The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!" __ MOORE LOSES DEC. 12 SPECIAL ELECTION TO DEMOCRAT DOUG JONES Dec. 13 "The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) - U.S. Steel failed to test a Lake Michigan tributary for a potentially carcinogenic chemical after a spill from one of the company's plants in northwest Indiana, documents show. The October spill was the second time this year that the company's Portage plant dumped chromium into Burns Waterway. Plant managers told an inspector in November that they had opted not to test for the most dangerous form of the metal after that spill, according to an inspection report posted online Tuesday by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Chicago Tribune reported. Steel mills are required to regularly administer two types of tests for chromium, which is used to make steel alloys rust-resistant. One test measures total chromium, including a significantly less toxic form known as trivalent chromium. The other tests for hexavalent chromium, which was made infamous by the movie "Erin Brockovich." An April spill at the Portage plant released up to 920 pounds (417 kilograms) of hexavalent chromium into the water. The October spill discharged 56.7 pounds (25.7 kilograms) of chromium, an amount 89 percent higher than the plant's permit allows over 24 hours, but tests weren't done for hexavalent chromium. The spill happened when a wastewater treatment system malfunctioned. U.S. Steel said in a statement that it already has retrained treatment plant operators and made changes to monitoring equipment. Burns Waterway flows into Lake Michigan, which supplies drinking water to Chicago and other communities. Tests by the nation's third-largest city have not found elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in Chicago's drinking water, nor did any tests on the Indiana side of the border. The October spill was disclosed last month after the University of Chicago's Abrams Environmental Law Clinic found that U.S. Steel had reported it in a letter to Indiana regulators that asked them to keep it a secret. The letter was discovered while the university was researching pollution problems at factories along the southwest shore of Lake Michigan for Surfrider, a nonprofit group that represents Great Lakes surfers. "It is shocking and mind-boggling," said Mark Templeton, director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic. "Once U.S. Steel observed that the illegal chromium discharge was blue and full of solids, did they not run the test because they didn't want to know the results?" Portage officials have said they're deciding whether to join a lawsuit against the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker that Templeton is planning. Chicago officials also are also drafting a lawsuit. Sir Richard Branson has fanned the flames of a long-running feud with the boss of British Airways, calling on Willie Walsh to settle a very public and painful 1 million bet. The billionaire founder of Virgin Group is claiming victory after pitching the wager to Mr Walsh in 2012 that Virgin Atlantic would still exist in five years time. However, the chief executive of BA-owner IAG refused to cede defeat, claiming the serial entrepreneur is the loser because he no longer owns or controls the business after giving up majority ownership earlier this year. Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group (PA) Now Willie Walsh has lost his bet that @virginatlantic brand would disappear within 5 years, rather than his churlish knee in groin I propose he honours our original wager and donates 1 million to Virgin Atlantic team https://t.co/iyH7GYegRU pic.twitter.com/Elg6bPgdWL Richard Branson (@richardbranson) December 11, 2017 The initial terms of the bet were for the loser to pay 1 million bonus to the rival airlines staff, but Mr Walsh wanted to shift them to a knee in the groin. Writing on his Virgin blog, Sir Richard said it was time for the pair to settle this matter once and for all. He said: Five years ago today, BA chief Willie Walsh wagered me a very public and painful bet. He bet that the Virgin Atlantic brand would disappear within five years. I disagreed. He said that the loser should accept a knee in the groin. Although people might be amused to see me give Willie a low blow, I ideally have no wish to do so. So to settle this matter once and for all, and in the spirit of Christmas, I suggest he donates 1 million to Virgin Atlantics team. If he doesnt agree then well just have to agree a time, date and place for the knee in the groin. Once this is over (one way or the other), lunch or dinner is on me, Willie, and perhaps we can draw a line under the past. Sir Richard claims the public spat harks back to 1993 when BA was forced to apologise and stump up 500,000 to the billionaire and a further 110,000 to his airline following a libel battle. However, the Virgin founder devised the bet 19 years later after Mr Walsh told reporters he thought Virgin Atlantic could disappear after Delta snapped up a 49% stake in the airline. Virgin Group currently owns a 51% stake in Virgin Atlantic, but has secured a deal to sell a 31% slice to Air France-KLM, leaving it with a 20% share of the business. The deal is expected to go through next year. Responding to Sir Richards latest blog post, Mr Walsh said: When Richard Branson sold out to Delta five years ago, he said he would never give up control. As everyone knows, he no longer owns or controls the business, a reality confirmed by the decision to sell more of his shares to Air France. Hes lost the bet. EU nationals seeking to stay in the UK after Brexit will be able to complete applications in minutes, the Immigration Minister has said. Brandon Lewis told a House of Lords committee requests for the newly created settled status should be processed and answered within a fortnight after they are submitted. He emphasised that the Home Office will adopt a presumption in favour of granting status with refusals only likely in cases where issues are flagged up in criminal records checks or where the application is fraudulent. Mr Lewis said the new scheme, which is expected to go live in the second half of next year, will be much easier than the system currently in place for those seeking permanent residence. Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said the Government wants EU nationals in the UK to stay (David Mirzoeff/PA) He said: The way we are looking to develop this is using online processes where somebody spends literally a few minutes online and within a couple of weeks your settled status is dealt with and granted. What we need to confirm is that theres not a criminal record issue and the person who is applying really has been and is living in the UK. Mr Lewis told the Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee there will be a presumption that applications will be accepted. He added: The only circumstance in which I can foresee somebody not being granted settled status is either the criminal records check shows they are a criminal and if somebody was trying to claim they were an EU citizen in the UK and they are not ie, a fraudulent application. A document published by the Government last month set out its intention to ask applicants to self-declare criminal convictions, while officials will check UK criminal records databases. Consideration of deportation on the grounds of public policy or public security as set out in an existing EU directive will continue to apply to any pre-exit criminality. This means UK authorities will weigh up whether the individual poses a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to the fundamental interests of UK society. The fee for applying for settled status will not exceed the cost of a British passport, which is currently 72.50 for an adult. Mr Lewis said: There will be a charge. Weve not set the price yet. The fee will be reduced, or possibly waived altogether, for those who have already been through the permanent residency process, the committee heard. Mr Lewis also emphasised that the Government does not want EU citizens to leave. We want them to stay, he said. His remarks chime with the message delivered by Theresa May in an open letter to EU nationals. She wrote: I know our country would be poorer if you left and I want you to stay. EU citizens who arrive by March 29 2019 and have been continuously and lawfully living in the UK for five years will be able to apply to stay indefinitely by getting settled status. Those who have been in the country for less than five years before the exit date will be able to apply to remain until they have reached the five-year threshold. Scrutiny has fallen on the Home Offices capacity to complete the administrative task of processing potentially more than three million applications from EU citizens and their families. The department came under fire earlier this year when it emerged around 100 letters were wrongly sent to EU nationals warning them they faced detention and removal from the UK. The Home Office has launched a recruitment drive to bring in 1,200 extra caseworkers in preparation for the new system. York has followed London by refusing to grant ride-hailing app Uber a licence to operate in the city. Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew Ubers licence on the grounds of public safety and security implications in September and Sheffield suspended the companys licence last week. A committee at the City of York Council cited the number of complaints it had received about the service and a recent well-publicised data protection breach as reasons for the decision. City Of York council @CityofYork REFUSE to renew Ubers licence. You can listen to the meeting here. https://t.co/ZZF5gf4joO Save Our Black Taxis (@SaveTaxi) December 12, 2017 The 7-3 vote of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee was greeted by applause and cries of thank you from the public gallery on Tuesday night. Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, told the meeting Uber was systematically abusing the local laws and looking for loopholes by using out-of-town vehicles. He said: The trade does not object to fair competition, but Uber are not a fair player in the public transport world in the UK. Ubers licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate most recently on December 21 2016. Never seen a bunch of taxi drivers so happy - Uber just refused licence to operate in York kurt missive (@rtjramblings) December 12, 2017 Last month it was revealed that Uber had been the subject of a massive data breach which affected 2.7 million UK users of its app. Hackers obtained personal details of 57 million customers and drivers worldwide, including peoples names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Neil McGonigle, head of cities for the north of England for Uber, told councillors there were 28,000 people who regularly use the app in the city. He said: Over the course of the last 12 months we have seen a steady increase in the number of people looking to use the service we provide. Visitors to York walk along the old City walls towards York Minster (PA) From our experience, the passengers love the ability to have the convenience of pressing a button to request a car, to take a trip without having to use cash at all and, from a safety point of view, being able to track every element of that journey. I believe that increased choice and competition is a good thing for both passengers and drivers in terms of increasing standards across the board. He added the company had been open and cooperative with the council in tackling issues, including where drivers have applied for hire illegally. A report provided to the meeting at the City of York council offices said that in the previous 12 months, the authority had received 296 complaints about hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, of which more than half related to Uber drivers. Details of the specific complaints were not made public. The company has 21 days to make a decision on whether to appeal the committees decision and can continue to operate in York until its licence expires or the appeal is heard. Ubers appeal against TfLs decision not to renew its licence will be heard in the spring. TfL has informed Uber that it will not be issued with a private hire operator licence pic.twitter.com/rskozKoaL6 Transport for London (@TfL) September 24, 2017 Sheffield City suspended the companys licence on December 7 after the firm failed to respond to requests for information about its management. Uber is allowed to continue operating in the city until December 18, and if it chooses to appeal the suspension, it can function until that has been heard. Chris Froome could lose his La Vuelta title and World Road Championships medals and miss most of next season after an adverse test for asthma drug salbutamol. A urine sample Froome gave during La Vuelta was found to contain twice the permitted concentration of the drug and, unless he can prove there was no fault on his part, he is likely to lose his title and be unable to defend the Tour de France next July or chase a third straight Grand Tour win at Mays Giro dItalia. British Cycling was told about the finding before Froome competed at Septembers World Road Championships, and his two bronze medals in Bergen could also be stripped. After 6 years of trying I finally made it to the top step! Massive thanks to an amazing team #lv2017 pic.twitter.com/1tLKEZMXOe Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) September 10, 2017 The International Cycling Union (UCI) wrote to British Cyclings president Bob Howden on the same day, September 20, that Froome was told. In a statement released to Press Association Sport, a British Cycling spokesman added: The UCI have confirmed that their investigations do not preclude Chris Froome from competing. Froome and new performance director Stephen Park were informed of the news before the 32-year-old raced in the mens individual time trial, finishing third to add to his team time trial bronze in Team Sky colours. He was among the favourites for Sundays BBC Sports Personality of the Year award after becoming the first British winner of La Vuelta and completing only the third Tour-Vuelta double in history. The broadcaster declined to comment on the Vuelta issue but confirmed Froome remained on its shortlist. Froome was named British Sportsman of the Year by Sports Journalists Association last week. Co-chairman Andy Elliott told Press Association Sport: The award for SJA sportsman of the year is voted on by our 700-plus members based on performances throughout the year and Chris Froome gained the most votes in a close contest. Froome must now answer the UCIs request to explain the adverse finding, which occurred after the Vueltas 18th stage on September 7 when Froome responded to a disappointing ride the day before by stretching his lead over Vincenzo Nibali on the last climb. NEWS: Chris Froome responding to UCI enquiries about asthma medication - https://t.co/9Ub0120NzH INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) December 13, 2017 The concentration of salbutamol in Froomes sample was 2,000 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL), double the World Anti-Doping Agencys limit of 1,000 ng/mL. A member of the beta-2 agonist family of drugs, salbutamol is banned by WADA when taken intravenously or in pill form but asthma sufferers can take up 1,600 micrograms over 24 hours using an inhaler, without exceeding 800 micrograms (mcg) every 12 hours. A typical dosage, or puff, is 100 mcg. In a statement issued by Team Sky, Froome said: My asthma got worse at the Vuelta so I followed the team doctors advice to increase my salbutamol dosage. As always, I took the greatest care to ensure I did not use more than the permissible dose. In a message posted on his Twitter account on Wednesday morning, Froome added: I am confident that we will get to the bottom of this. Thank you for all the messages of support this morning. I am confident that we will get to the bottom of this. Unfortunately I can't share any more information than I already have until the enquiry is complete. Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) December 13, 2017 The inquiry will focus on when Froome took his last dose, how dehydrated he was and if anything else he was taking or eating may have had an impact. Italian rider Alessandro Petacchi was given a one-year ban and stripped of five stage wins at the 2007 Giro after returning a Salbutamol concentration of 1,320 ng/mL. Leonardo Piepoli returned a sample with an even higher concentration on the same day but was not banned and a third Italian, Diego Ulissi, was given a nine-month ban in 2015 after a sample from the previous years Giro showed a similar salbutamol level to Froomes. Ulissis attempts to explain the reading included trying to replicate the conditions of the day he was tested in a lab something the UCI is likely to insist of Froome, too. Chris Froome So far, the UCI has only confirmed the details of his finding and said he is not subject to a mandatory suspension. UK Anti-Doping said it is a matter for the UCI but it will liaise with them as appropriate. Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford said: There are complex medical and physiological issues which affect the metabolism and excretion of salbutamol. Were committed to establishing the facts and understanding exactly what happened. I have the utmost confidence that Chris followed the medical guidance in managing his asthma symptoms, staying within the permissible dose. Rider and team will try to continue as normal but there is no escaping the fact this is a crisis, particularly so soon after the controversy surrounding the delivery of a mystery package to Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2011. Froome played no part in that episode but now finds himself facing a ban that could cost him one of his greatest wins, a shot at joining cyclings greats next year and his standing within the sport and wider public. Norwegian Air Shuttle has snapped up a raft of take-off and landing slots at Gatwick Airport as it intensifies its push into the UK market. The airline has sealed an undisclosed deal to buy 28 weekly slots from Small Planet Airlines, bolstering its presence at Britains second busiest airport. It is widely expected that the new slots will be used to support Norwegians growing network of low-cost long-haul routes from the airport Norwegian Air Shuttle (PA) The move comes just weeks after British Airways-owner IAG announced it had secured prized runway slots at Gatwick when they were put up for sale by the administrator of collapsed airline Monarch. Thomas Ramdahl, Norwegian chief commercial officer, said: London Gatwick is at the heart of our global growth ambitions so securing these crucial new slots will allow us to offer our passengers even more new routes, additional flights and affordable fares. Together with the launch of new routes to Argentina, Chicago and Austin in 2018, gaining extra capacity at London Gatwick is another huge boost as we get ready for our biggest ever year in the UK. Norwegian, which carries 5.2 million UK passengers each year, already runs budget long-haul flights from Gatwick to nine US cities and Singapore. IAG, which also owns Vueling and Aer Lingus, is stepping up its position in the low-cost long-haul market as it looks to fend off fierce competition from the likes of Norwegian. A string of airlines had been linked with the runway slots since Monarchs collapse in September, with easyJet, Norwegian, Wizz Air and Jet2 all understood to have made inquiries. News / National by Staff reporter THE African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday announced a $1,5 billion economic stabilisation package for Zimbabwe that will go towards the revival of the productive sector to stimulate more exports.Afreximbank president and board of directors chairman, Dr Okey Oramah, said the bank was keen to support the stabilisation of the Zimbabwean economy by providing currency liquidity to avoid bank queues.He said Afreximbank would also be supporting nostros of the different banks to ensure that those dealing in American dollars had access every time they needed them to pay for goods.The funds being provided by Afreximbank will also provide investment guarantees for investors, to entice them come to Zimbabwe.Dr Oramah was speaking after paying a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices in Harare.He also revealed that the $600 million nostro stabilisation facility extended to the country to meet its foreign currency requirements for productive foreign payments had been finalised.Dr Oramah was leading the delegation that met President Mnangagwa.The $1,5 billion facility will support the productive sector through banks, especially the mining and manufacturing sectors."We are here to extend congratulations to President Mnangagwa and to also reaffirm our continued support for the Government and people of Zimbabwe under his leadership," said Dr Oramah."We discussed various areas where we have been intervening and will continue to intervene. We also informed the President that the $600 million we engaged a few weeks ago has now been finalised. We also discussed a number of areas that will involve additional investments from us, something that will be in the order of $1 billion to $1,5 billion that will include certain kinds of guarantees to encourage investors to come into Zimbabwe at this time."It will include a $150 million facility we are doing for banks to enable them to confirm letters of credit to ensure that we have a good supply of essential items like fuel, fertilizers and so on."Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said he was delighted that Dr Oramah had been able to come to Zimbabwe and pay a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa after his inauguration."His visit sends very good signals to the rest of the world that Zimbabwe is open to do business," he said."It is open for investment and this is the support that I think we deserve."As you are aware, Afreximbank has been a pillar of strength throughout our most difficult times and I am happy to say that they have been with us from the beginning and they will be with us even in the new era of prosperity that is beckoning for us."As things stand now, we have, through the inaugural speech by the President and through the budget that I delivered in the National Assembly on Thursday, given a clear policy direction as to where we are headed as far as the management of the economy is concerned."Minister Chinamasa said Afreximbank's interventions were going to support the country to have an investment guarantee.He said this was adequate demonstration that next year the country should register a higher growth rate than he anticipated in the budget.Minister Chinamasa anticipated a 4,5 percent economic growth in the budget delivered last week.He said with these developments, the country should do better."The support they (Afreximbank) are going to give is to support the productive sector, of course through our banks, mining sector, especially the gold sector, retooling of our manufacturing industry. All those are good things that are going to happen to our economy and I believe this economy is going to be in for a good time ahead," Minister Chinamasa said.The funding is expected to restore confidence in the economy, a good foundation for attracting both domestic and foreign investment. A baby girl who vanished after social workers raised concern about her welfare has been found safe and well in the wake of a High Court judges appeal for help. Rose Paduraru disappeared with seven-year-old sister Oliwia Ilksa and 12-year-old brother Krzysztof Ilksa about a month ago. Mr Justice Keehan appealed for help finding the youngsters shortly after they went missing, when analysing the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Missing baby Rose Paduraru found safe after judge makes appeal at High Court in London (Martin Keene/PA) The judge said he was very seriously concerned and particularly worried about Rose, who is nearly nine months old. He said the children had been living with their Polish mother, Joanna Ilksa, in Hillingdon, west London and disappeared shortly after another family court judge decided they should go into the care of social services bosses at Hillingdon Council. Social workers initially thought all three children had been taken out of Britain by a relative despite ports being on alert. They thought the children had flown from Stansted to Poland with their mothers mother, Barbara Wyrzykowska. However, on Wednesday, lawyers representing Hillingdon Council told the judge, at another High Court hearing, that Rose had been found in England. They said she had been placed temporarily with foster carers pending decisions about her long-term future. Lawyers said the two older children had been taken to Poland, adding they had started legal action aimed at getting the children returned to England. Roses mother and Romanian father Nelu Paduraru, both in their 20s, were arrested after lawyers representing Hillingdon Council suggested they might have breached a judges orders by not revealing all they know about the childrens whereabouts and could be in contempt of court. Mr Justice Keehan ruled that both could be released. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has told an international summit that the United States was unfit to mediate the Mideast conflict. The statement marked a major policy shift after decades spent courting American goodwill. He announced the shift, which came in response to President Donald Trumps declaration of Jerusalem as Israels capital, at a summit of Muslim leaders that condemned the US move and called for world recognition of a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem. Mahmoud Abbas at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul (Yasin Bulbul/Pool Photo via AP) Mr Abbas said Mr Trumps decision was a crime, which came at a time when the Palestinians were engaged with Washington in a new push to reach a long-elusive peace agreement with Israel, the deal of our times. Instead we got the slap of our times, Mr Abbas said. The United States has chosen to lose its qualification as a mediator We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process. He suggested the UN should take over as mediator. The summit of the 57-member Organisation of Muslim Cooperation concluded with the so-called Istanbul Declaration, outlining the blocs response to Mr Trumps declaration. It called the decision null and void and urged Mr Trump to reconsider the move, which it said was an unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit, said it is out of the question for Washington to continue mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right (Yasin Bulbul/Pool Photo via AP) That process is now over, he said. An earlier draft communique had similarly declared the US role over, but it was not clear if that language was ultimately adopted by the attendees. Mr Erdogan said OIC members should look for a new mediator and consider taking the matter to the UN. In earlier remarks to the summit, he called Israel a terror state. Jerusalems status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Mr Trumps December 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem have triggered violence. Mr Abbas said the Palestinians remain committed to international resolutions, which have formed the basis of the peace process, urging Muslim nations and countries with relations with Israel to take measures to force it to abide by international consensus to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem. Last week, Mr Abbas aides said the Palestinian leader would not meet with Mike Pence during the US vice presidents planned visit to Israel and the West Bank next week. Mr Abbas had initially planned to meet with Pence in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, but two senior aides have said the meeting would not take place because of Mr Trumps change in policy on Jerusalem. King Abdullah II of Jordan told the gathering that Mr Trumps grave decision threatened the resumption of any peace talks. The Archbishop of Canterbury has praised the courage of those caught up in the harrowing London Bridge terrorist attack for picking themselves up and carrying on with their lives. Justin Welby joined the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall for a visit to Borough Market to see how traders, restaurateurs and shoppers have recovered from the deadly attacks and were preparing for Christmas. Knife-wielding attackers ran amok at the popular London food market, stabbing passers-by after mowing down pedestrians on nearby London Bridge. They were later shot dead by officers. Eight people were killed and scores of others injured in the atrocity in June. After touring the many stalls, chatting to shoppers, meeting traders and sampling their goods, from cheese to nuts, the trio spoke to a group of people who experienced the attack or whose staff helped clients to safety. Among those they met were market security guard Ganga Garbuja, who helped barricade people in a pub, and Monika Linton, founder of tapas chain restaurant Brindisa, whose staff were left terrified after police shot the three attackers close to her eatery. Asked about his thoughts on seeing the market up and running, the Archbishop said: I think what makes it so good is that it looks as though nothing has happened, everyone is just getting on with life which is how you should deal with these sorts of circumstances. Charles and Camilla meet stall-holders and members of the local community at the Borough Market (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA) I think the courage of people I was just talking to one of the security guards and someone at the pub the courage of people of just picking themselves up, pressing on and keeping going just says so much about this country and this city. Ms Linton said the weekend trade of her restaurant had yet to fully recover to the levels experienced before the summer terrorist attack. The restaurant owner, who was not in her Borough Market outlet when the incident happened, added: We were very lucky, we had nobody injured, some of our customers had to run for their lives, some of our staff did, and we had a lockdown. The shootings happened straight outside so it was difficult to know, for our team, whether bullets were going to come through the window. Camilla at the Borough Market (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA) But it was horrifying to hear those shots later on a video recording, that was pretty spooky. It was terrifying for the staff, they didnt know what was going on, if they were going to set bombs off, we didnt know they were fake til afterwards. The royal party and the Archbishop spent around an hour meeting stallholders to hear their stories as heavy rain fell on London. The visit concluded with the Archbishop and Charles and Camilla attending a service of light at nearby Southwark Cathedral. Dec 12 (Reuters) - Kosmos Energy Ltd said it would plug one of its exploration wells offshore Mauritania after it failed to find significant amount of oil and gas. Evaluation of logs and samples collected during drilling and wireline operations suggests the Campanian reservoir objective was water-bearing with some residual hydrocarbons, Kosmos said. "We are still in the early stages of exploring this newly emerging basin and our forward drilling program remains unchanged given the independent nature of the prospects," Chief Executive Andrew Inglis said in a statement. (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier) By Matthias Williams and Pavel Polityuk KIEV, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine aims to pass legislation backed by the International Monetary Fund to set up a special anti-corruption court in February and implement the law within 6-8 months, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko told Reuters. The pro-Western government has pledged to tackle entrenched corruption in exchange for a $17.5 billion staggered aid package from the IMF, but has faced criticism for perceived backsliding that has delayed billions of dollars in new loans. Passing the court law in February would be a significant step towards securing more aid from the IMF, which also wants Ukraine to raise gas tariffs, make its pension system sustainable and lift a moratorium on the sale of farmland. Ukraine pledged to pass the law by last June but MPs have wrangled over the reform, with President Petro Poroshenko promising to introduce a new bill this week to replace an existing draft that has languished in parliament. Petrenko said gathering support for the law is delicate given that some lawmakers might find themselves under investigation from law enforcement, but thinks it would pass if the majority of MPs believed it would be fairly applied. The law outlines how the anti-corruption court will be given financial autonomy and the process of choosing new judges, aiming to break the system of members of the judiciary amassing wealth and influence through bribes. "I think that there is every chance that the parliament will vote it through literally in the first days of the next session, in February," Petrenko said in an interview. "If this law is introduced with the principles of non-political, transparent and independent recruitment of judges, there is a high probability that there will be a majority in the parliament," he added. Petrenko also said recent battles between rival law enforcement agencies were hurting Ukraine's fight against corruption and offered to mediate between the sides. Actions against the national anti-corruption bureau (NABU) by lawmakers and prosecutors have provoked a chorus of criticism from the IMF and Ukraine's main western backers. One recent episode had the General Prosecutor's office unmasking an alleged sting operation being carried out by NABU against suspected corruption in the migration service. It said NABU had overstepped the law. "There should be no wars between law enforcement agencies because this harms the effectiveness of the fight against corruption," Petrenko said, adding that there should be no question of NABU's independence being curtailed. (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A top U.N. official recounted to the Security Council on Tuesday "heartbreaking and horrific accounts of sexual atrocities" by Myanmar soldiers against Rohingya Muslim women, urging the body to visit the region and demand an end to attacks on civilians. Pramila Patten, special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on sexual violence in conflict, said one woman told her she was held by Myanmar troops for 45 days and raped repeatedly, while another woman could no longer see out of one eye after it was bitten by a soldier during a sexual assault. "Some witnesses reported women and girls being tied to either a rock or a tree before multiple soldiers raped them to death," Patten told the Security Council. "Some women recounted how soldiers drowned babies in the village well. A few women told me how their own babies were allegedly thrown in the fire as they were dragged away by soldiers and gang raped," she said. Patten said the 15-member Security Council should visit Myanmar - also known as Burma - and Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, where more than 626,000 refugees have fled to since violence erupted in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State on Aug. 25. She said that a Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to violations against civilians in Rakhine state and outlining measures to hold the perpetrators accountable "would send an important signal." Myanmar's army released a report last month denying all allegations of rapes and killings by security forces. "This is unacceptable," said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. "Burma must allow an independent, transparent and credible investigation into what has happened." "While we are hearing promises from the government of Burma, we need to see action," she said. Myanmar has been stung by international criticism for the way its security forces responded to Aug. 25 attacks by Rohingya militants on 30 security posts. Last month the Security Council urged the Myanmar government to "ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine state." China's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Wu Haitao said the crisis had to be solved through an agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh and warned that any solution "reached under strong pressure from outside may ease the situation temporarily but will leave negative after effects." The two countries signed an agreement on voluntary repatriation Nov. 23. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman pushed on Tuesday for the United Nations to be involved in any operation to return Rohingya. "Plans alone are not sufficient. We hope Myanmar will draw upon the wealth of expertise the U.N. can offer," Feltman told the Security Council. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Tom Brown) KIEV, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Russian gas transit through Ukraine dropped 23 percent to 200 million cubic metres per day in the wake of an explosion at Austria's Baumgarten gas hub, a Ukrainian energy ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday. But Maksim Belyavsky, aide to Ukraine's energy minister, added that Ukraine was now ready to ramp up pumping to levels seen before the blast. The explosion on Tuesday killed one person and injured at least 18 others, prompting Italy to declare a state of emergency as flows from the strategic site were cut off. It also disrupted deliveries to Austria's southern and southeastern borders. However, all transit lines at the hub were put back online before midnight, the co-head of Gas Connect Austria said on Austrian radio on Wednesday. The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria, near Slovakia, is a major regional transfer point, taking natural gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbours including Germany and Italy, its biggest recipient. Russia pumped 85.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas via Ukraine in the first 11 months of this year, 16 percent more than in the same period of 2016. Belyavsky said that supply to Ukrainian consumers would not be affected by the blast. Ukraine, which previously imported gas from Russia, has switched to buying supplies from EU neighbours in an effort to increase its independence from Moscow following the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Ukraine's state gas and oil firm Naftogaz said earlier this year that it had imported 7.1 bcm of natural gas in the first nine months of 2017, mainly from Slovakia. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Joseph Radford) COPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Danish brewer Carlsberg has edged closer to reaching an agreement with the Vietnamese government to increase its stake in Habeco, one of Vietnam's biggest brewers, which it hopes will speed up the process. Vietnam has one of the world's most attractive beer markets and the biggest in Southeast Asia, buoyed by a young population that consumed nearly 4 billion litres last year. The government wants to fully divest its majority stake in Habeco and also in rival Sabeco. Carlsberg, which already owns 17.3 percent of shares in Habeco, has been discussing its priority purchase rights with the Vietnamese government for years. "Carlsberg, the Vietnamese government and Habeco have reached a common understanding on a number of issues during the negotiations, and we expect this will accelerate the process," a Carlsberg spokesman said. Most recently, Carlsberg has acknowledged its long-term obligations in Vietnam with regards to Habeco and the oldest beer brand in Hanoi, he said without elaborating. The government said last month it expects a stake sale in Habeco to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. The government is pushing ahead with a privatisation process against the backdrop of a rally in Vietnam's broader equity market. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Louise Heavens) AMSTERDAM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Dutch subsidiary of Russia's Alfa Bank, owned by billionaire Mikhail Fridman, was searched last week as part of an investigation into possible money laundering, the Dutch financial crimes prosecutor said on Tuesday. Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) is suspected of violating anti-money laundering laws by withholding information on "unusual transactions" made by clients and failing to do adequate background checks on its clients, the prosecutor's office, FIOD, said in a statement. "The bank's office has been searched and accounts were seized as part of a criminal investigation", FIOD spokeswoman Marieke van der Molen said. ATB said on Wednesday that a new management team since 2014 has focused on "bringing compliance and risk management standards in line with best practices". "The investigation focuses on a client portfolio that ceased to be part of the banks business some years ago," it said in a statement. "Clearly, ATB has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the investigation." ATB, part of the Alfa Bank Group, mainly provides international trade financing to companies and had total assets worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) at the end of last year, according to its most recent annual report. The bank has come under financial stress in recent years due to the Russian economic crisis and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which damaged its creditworthiness. The bank also became entangled in a corruption scandal in which telecom company Veon, formerly known as Vimpelcom, paid $795 million to Dutch and U.S. authorities in 2016 to settle claims of bribery in Uzbekistan. Fridman's investment vehicle, LetterOne, owns roughly 48 percent of Veon shares. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, accounts of ATB, amongst others, were used to pay the bribes by Vimpelcom. ($1 = 0.8500 euros) (Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Anthony Deutsch/Susan Fenton/Alexander Smith) By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - To critics who say the EU's new defence pact is little more than an alphabet soup of extra bureaucracy for Brussels, EU officials have their riposte: give us time before you judge us. European Union leaders will on Thursday bless the biggest step in EU defence integration in more than two decades, a pact dubbed by France and Germany as historic to help match the bloc's economic and trade prowess with a more powerful military. "It is a historic step," said Jorge Domecq, the chief executive of the European Defence Agency, which helps EU governments develop their military capabilities. "It is not a quick fix. It requires a higher level of ambition, it requires time," he told Reuters in an interview, saying a five-to-10 year period would allow for real progress. Long blocked by London, the pact, called Permanent Structured Cooperation or PESCO, is one of the most tangible steps in EU integration since Britons voted to leave the bloc, as militaries begin to plan, spend and deploy together. Paris and Berlin say it will answer U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Europe to pay more for its own defence. To outsiders, the branding is bizarre: Germany, which already shares its tanks with the Netherlands, and nuclear-armed France, which stands to be the EU's top military power after Britain departs, are the architects of PESCO. Twenty five EU governments - all but Britain, Denmark and Malta - have committed to offer their money and expertise to PESCO, as well as a willingness to intervene abroad. "A group of 25 member states have decided on more binding commitments in defence, and for the longer term. That's why this is called 'permanent'," said Domecq, a long-serving Spanish diplomat who took over the EDA in 2015 at a time when Britain regularly blocked budget increases for the agency. Britain, still a member of the EDA until it leaves the EU, is no longer blocking the agency's budget increases, a sign officials see as London's possible future involvement in individual PESCO projects, although not as a member of the club. With competing industries, duplicative weapons programmes and EU "battlegroups" that have never been used, European defence policy was in a sorry state after the global financial crisis, which hit defence budgets, officials say. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said in 2015 that "a bunch of chickens would be a more unified combat unit" than the common European defence policy. "WE CANNOT EXCLUDE ANYONE" With more than a dozen projects already agreed by EU foreign ministers - from a European medical command to a crisis response centre - the PESCO format is likely to have its first formal session early next year, Domecq said. Some experts say the club has become too big to be effective and will be held back by the internal workings of the consensus-based EU. Nick Witney, a former EDA chief, said last month the main result of PESCO would be "lots more bureaucracy." France's vision for an avant-garde of willing countries clashed with that of Germany, which said all EU governments should take part, with the exception of Britain, which is leaving, and Denmark, which has opted out of EU defence. Even now, countries such as Sweden worry the club could push out smaller defence industries. Poland is concerned about duplication with NATO, which has its own defence planning. The set-up is also complex: PESCO will join an annual defence review and a government defence fund with European Commission money. Those and other steps that have generated a capital-letter-laden alphabet soup of acronyms for procedures. But Domecq, who worked at NATO in the late 1990s, said the pact still had legitimacy because EU surveys showed most Europeans wanted the bloc to provide more security following Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea, militant attacks on European cities and state-sponsored computer hackers. All weapons developed in PESCO will be owned by individual EU countries and the 22 EU countries which are also members of U.S.-led NATO can deploy them with the alliance, Domecq said. "The security environment has become a wake-up call for citizens across Europe," he said. "We cannot exclude anyone." (Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Richard Balmforth) News / National by Staff reporter Members of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance are expected to appear before a United States Congressional Committee on Foreign Relations in USA to appraise Americans on the situation in Zimbabwe.MDC-T vice president Nelson Chamisa, Jacob Ngarivhume of Transform Zimbabwe and Tendai Biti (People's Democratic Party) will share the stage with Stephanie Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Director (Bureau of African Affairs U.S Department of State). Author and journalist Peter Godwin will also be part of the panel focusing on the future of Zimbabwe.Ngarivhume told VOA Studio 7 that "we will be talking about the current situation in Zimbabwe and forthcoming elections which we expect to be free and fair."We will also be meeting with various organizations and representatives of President Donald Trump's government."But this has upset some members of the ruling Zanu PF party, who suggest that they should have been included in the panel.Zanu PF activist, Frenk Guni, said, "We know that they are here to urge the government to maintain targeted sanctions imposed by the West on members of our party."It's very unfair for these people to come here to present one side of what is happening in Zimbabwe. The ruling party should have been invited to attend the meeting."The USA imposed targeted sanctions on former President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle for alleged human rights violations and electoral fraud. By Parisa Hafezi ISTANBUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians following Donald Trump's decision last week to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Rouhani, attending an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, said the U.S. president's move showed the United States lacked any respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation. "Iran is ready to cooperate with all Muslim countries without any precondition to defend the legitimate rights of Palestinians," Rouhani told the gathering in the Turkish city Istanbul. "Unity among Muslim countries is very important and Quds (Jerusalem) should become our top priority." Opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause have been central to Iran's foreign policy since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Iran, the leading Shi'ite Muslim power, and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia are competing for influence in the Middle East, where they support rival groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Tehran and Riyadh see each other as the paramount threat to regional peace and stability. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and the city of Mashhad following Riyadhs execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Rouhani said Muslim countries should resolve their disputes through dialogue and he also accused Israel of planting seeds of tension across the Middle East. On his Twitter account, Rouhani said Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital showed that Washington was not "an honest mediator and never will be", adding that it only wanted to "secure the interests of the Zionists". Iran does not recognise Israel and regards Palestine as comprising all of the holy land, including Israeli territory. Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. Tehran backs several militant Islamist groups in their fight against Israel. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Gareth Jones) By Byron Kaye and Sonali Paul SYDNEY/MELBOURNE, Dec 13 (Reuters) - For investors in Australia's Westfield Corp, its $16 billion sale to European property giant Unibail-Rodamco may mark a turning point for a mall industry under pressure to reinvent itself amid fierce online competition. But to billionaire Frank Lowy, who built Westfield's vast European and U.S. shopping centre network into multi-purpose leisure venues, it was also the perfect moment to call time on a family empire. "He probably thought that he'd taken it as far as he could with his sons, and there were other people that may have a different way of approaching the industry," said Harold Finger, founder of Sydney-based shopping centre investor Haben Property Fund Pty Ltd, who has known Lowy since he was a boy. "He's 87 years old, his kids are not little babies any more, they've got kids and they've got other interests that they can get involved in," he said, referring to two of Lowy's sons, Peter and Steven. The sale of Westfield to Paris and Amsterdam-listed Unibail-Rodamco is a milestone for so-called bricks-and-mortar retailers, which have so far argued they can downsize or, in Westfield's case, go upmarket to avoid the incursion of online competitors led by U.S. giant Amazon.com Inc. But analysts and investors in the sector disagree about what comes next. "Lowy has bailed on Westfield before Amazon destroys his malls and turns them into relic tombs of the 20th century," said Eric Schiffer, CEO of private equity investor the Patriarch Organization, by telephone from Los Angeles. "You can only do so much to re-imagine a shopping mall, and they've tried here in Los Angeles, but it's like trying to reinvent the horse and carriage. No matter how much you try you can't turn a horse into a Tesla. It's not going to happen." The deal may nudge other mall owners towards considering a sale more seriously, though some point out that further M&A action will be more difficult with Westfield and Unibail-Rodamco - two big players - now off the board. The Lowy family, which owns 9 percent of Westfield, will end up with a 2.8 percent stake in the combined group. Citi analysts noted Lowy's public statement that he remained committed to his seven-decade-old company as an investor but said "it's hard not to see today's announcement as signalling a significant shift in view". The deal has lifted expectations in a sector sold down by investors over its gloomy outlook. Shares of Scentre Group, which Westfield spun off in 2014 to hold its Australian shopping centres while Westfield kept the U.S. and British assets, rose 2 percent on Wednesday, on top of a 4 percent jump a day earlier. GOING HIGH-END The explosion of online retail has led to a worldwide decline in department store footprints, forcing mall owners such as Westfield to rethink their business models to sustain or grow earnings. In the United States, Macy's Inc and J C Penney Co Inc have said they would shut hundreds of stores to protect themselves from declining sales. Credit Suisse estimates that up to 25 percent of U.S. malls will shut by 2025. Westfield has been seen as a pioneer of reinventing the mall concept, adding cinemas, apartment towers, high-end food courts and luxury fashion labels to its rental mix. The overhaul - which has spanned the Westfield portfolio from Beverly Hills, California, to London and Milan - has nonetheless curtailed earnings growth as capital works hit rents, weighing on the company's share price and making it attractive for buyers. "Westfield particularly we saw as a good opportunity because it's rare that you see a group that has such high quality assets, and they're building out what is really the pre-eminent retail portfolio globally," said Grant Berry, a portfolio manager at Australian broker S.G. Hiscock, which invests in retail real estate investment trusts (REITs), including Westfield. "They've been doing all the right things and the market hasn't been giving them credit for that." Winston Sammut, managing director of Folkestone Maxim Asset Management, said the deal offered Lowy and his family an exit just as their business entered its most challenge phase, while offering the buyer access to a fresh market. "It'll probably turn out to be good timing," said Sammut. "There's still a lot of headwinds for the sector in general. The writing's on the wall. You've got to take opportunities as they come." (Reporting by Byron Kaye in SYDNEY and Sonali Paul in MELBOURNE; Additional reporting by Jonathan Barrett; Editing by Alex Richardson) By Giselda Vagnoni ROME, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Italy's parliament will be dissolved between Christmas and the New Year, a parliamentary source said on Wednesday, opening the way for national elections in early March that look unlikely to produce a clear winner. The source said the most likely date for the vote was March 4 but added that March 11 remained a possibility, with a final decision due shortly. A national election must be held by May, but most political parties are keen to hold elections as soon as possible, with the last major piece of legislation, the 2018 budget, scheduled to be approved before the end of the year. "A vote on March 4? That would be excellent. The sooner we go to the polls the better," said Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right Northern League party. Italy's 10-year bond yield rose to a two-week high on the election reports, with investors concerned about political uncertainty in the euro zone's third biggest economy. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance is seen winning the most seats at the forthcoming ballot, opinion polls say. But he looks unlikely to secure enough votes to hold an absolute majority. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement is predicted to emerge as the largest single party in the next parliament, but it has repeatedly ruled out joining any coalition. Berlusconi said at a book presentation on Wednesday that Italy should return to the polls if the vote produces no clear majority, with current Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni carrying on for "at least three months" during a new election campaign. The often fractious alliance between Berlusconi and Salvini creaked on Wednesday when Salvini threatened to break off talks after Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party declined to back a League proposal to toughen sanctions for violent crime. The two parties have no common platform and have not settled on a commonly agreed candidate for prime minister. ITALY AT A CROSSROADS Support for the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), headed by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, has fallen steadily in recent months, with the group heavily penalised by deep schisms and personality clashes. The parliamentary source, who was in contact with President Sergio Mattarella, said the head of state would almost certainly dissolve both houses after Gentiloni had held a traditional end-of-year news conference, set for Dec. 28. Gentiloni will remain as a caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, helping to guarantee political stability in the interim. Italy's economy is finally pulling clear of years of recession and is expected to post growth of 1.5 percent this year and next -- still lagging most of its euro zone peers. Employers' association Confindustria warned on Wednesday that the recovery could be jeopardised by political uncertainty. "The next elections will be very important, placing the country at a crossroads, with one path leading to a continuation of reforms and the other leading nowhere," it said in a report, warning parties against pursuing "demagogic measures". Political leaders have already made a rash of promises that economists warn could damage the country's fragile finances, including pledges of generous handouts for pensioners and large tax cuts. (Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Writing by Crispian Balmer and Gavin Jones; Editing by William Maclean and Hugh Lawson) By Umberto Bacchi MURATOVE, Ukraine, Dec 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U krainian pensioner Mariya Semiriad has a cold house, a painful hernia, little to eat and no money to buy enough food, wood and painkillers for the winter. Her barren home lies on a muddy side-road of Muratove, a small, secluded village in a wooded area of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region - only a few kilometres from the frontline separating government forces from pro-Russian separatists. "We can't afford anything anymore because of this war," Semiriad told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as she sat on a single bed facing a wood-burning stove with a coat wrapped around her shoulders. "We are not living, we are just surviving." The 70-year-old settled in what was her sister's country shack with her husband Vladimir in 2014 - the year the conflict erupted - hoping to weather out fighting that had damaged their home in the nearby city of Stakhanov, now in rebel hands. More than three years later, the conflict is dragging on and the elderly couple has joined the millions that the United Nations says have exhausted their resources and are struggling to make ends meet. Older people are bearing the brunt of violence that has killed more than 10,000 people, including 2,500 civilians, and forced 1.6 million to flee their homes since 2014. Nearly a third of the 3.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance are over 60 years of age. "Ukraine has the dubious distinction of being the (world's) oldest humanitarian crisis," said Neal Walker, the U.N.'s top representative in Ukraine. Like most European countries, Ukraine has an ageing population, with 16 percent of people over 65 in 2017 - a much higher rate than in other war-torn nations, like Syria or Yemen, where the figure stands below 5 percent. As violence broke out when Luhansk and neighbouring Donetsk rebelled against Kiev's pro-Western government in 2014, many young people left, while the elderly stayed behind, said Walker. LITTLE WOOD, LITTLE FOOD Most survive on meagre pensions, which have been eroded by fast-rising prices of food and utilities. Semiriad's two children lost their jobs to the violence and are now unable to support their parents, who earn a combined monthly pension of 4,500 hryvnias ($165). The sum is barely enough to cover their needs. They are already 1,000 hryvnias in debt to the local woodseller as they burn logs in their stove to stave off the well-below-zero temperatures. Semiriad said her hernia has been worsening but she can't afford therapy or to take painkillers regularly. She has also had to cut down on food. The number of people going hungry in eastern Ukraine has doubled to 1.2 million in 2017, according to the U.N. "I cry every day. I am not used to living like this," she said, sitting beside her 78-year-old husband under their house's corrugated iron roof. PENSION CHECKPOINT For hundreds of thousands of people living in rebel-held territory, it's an arduous journey just to pick up their pensions. To receive payment they have to register as internally displaced persons on the government side - even if they have a liveable home on the rebel side - and regularly cross the frontline to withdraw their entitlement. Ukraine's ministry for temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced people was not immediately available to comment. In the whole Luhansk region, there is only one crossing point - a bombed out, pedestrian-only bridge on the Seversky Donets river. Every day thousands of people queue for hours on both sides of the Stanytsia Luhanska crossing, exposed to the cold, snow and wind. "We left (home) at 5 a.m. and arrived here at 9. I don't know how long it will take to cross," said Alexandra Petrovna, 80, as she sat inside a temporary Red Cross shelter, while her daughter waited in line. "I am not worried, I am focused on the result (of getting the pension)," she added, a walking cane in one hand and a cup of hot tea in the other. Outside a stream of people walked across the no man's land carrying their belongings in bags and trolleys. Two men wheeled a coffin draped in purple. Up to 100 people a day come into the Red Cross shelter to warm up and get their blood pressure checked. Many show signs of stress, anxiety and hypertension, say volunteers. "When temperatures drop some get hurt as they slip and fall because of the ice," said Red Cross volunteer Tatiana Mironenko. At least 14 civilians died or suffered from serious health complications whilst queuing in 2017, the U.N. says. FUNDING SHORTFALL Reaching all those in need is a daunting task for aid groups facing a shortfall in funding. In 2017 the U.N. received less than 30 percent of about $200 million it asked to tackle the crisis. Last week, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said it would stop providing food aid due to dwindling resources. "Governments tend to view this as a political crisis ... but it is also a humanitarian crisis," said Walker. Access to people in need has also been difficult. Only a minority of those displaced live in collective centres - set up across the country, often in disused buildings. Most have found accommodation in empty houses, sometimes hosted by family and friends. They have a roof over their heads but are spread out in often out far-flung villages. "The challenge is to establish their location and number, make a proper assessment of their needs and get to them," said Yanna Thay, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Up to 200,000 people live close to the frontline, under threat from fighting, with limited access to humanitarian aid and basic services - unable or unwilling to abandon their homes. Lyudmila Vladimirova, 82, held out for three years before surrendering her frontline home near the city of Horlivka - despite the building being repeatedly hit by shellfire. "During nights of shelling I would take cover in the bath tub under a wooden panel," she said. "I prayed not to die". She moved out in October, when, with most windows smashed, no heating or water, the house became inhabitable. She has since found shelter in a small nursing home in Chasiv Yar, but in losing her home she also lost hope. "I want to go back in spring ... I have relatives buried there," she said. "It's time for me to die". (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org) By Justyna Pawlak and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk WARSAW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Poland's new prime minister faces a difficult balancing act trying to repair bruised relations with the European Union without alienating the eurosceptic government's core voters. A Western-educated former banker who is fluent in German and English and was sworn in on Monday, Mateusz Morawiecki boasts the credentials needed to negotiate with Brussels. But any compromises to improve relations with Brussels, which sees the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party as a threat to democracy, would risk upsetting the traditional, Catholic supporters who propelled it into power two years ago. It is a gamble that could backfire, and it is not yet clear how far Morawiecki, 49, and his party, dominated by former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, are ready to go to please Brussels. "The idea to build up international credibility seems rational," said Jaroslaw Flis, a sociologist at the Jagiellonian University. "But such actions would have to be in complete contrast with what Mateusz Morawiecki would have to do domestically to prevent the PiS from falling apart." The PiS government has alienated many people at home and abroad with its nationalist rhetoric and changes to state institutions which the EU says subvert the bloc's laws. The European Commission, the EU executive, opened an inquiry into the rule of law in Poland in January 2016 and the European Parliament has started a process that could deprive Poland of its voting rights in the 28-nation bloc. Any hope in Brussels that Morawiecki's appointment signals a change of course by PiS will have been tempered by Polish parliament approving legal changes to the judiciary in defiance of the EU on Friday - the day after his nomination. The changes give parliament, where PiS has a majority, de facto control over the selection of judges. LOOKING FOR CLUES EU leaders looking for clues about Morawiecki's plans will also have taken little comfort from comments he has made since being nominated, making clear he backs a tough line on the EU and believes in PiS's traditional vision of the Polish state. "We want to transform Europe, this is my dream, to re-christianise it," Morawiecki told the Catholic Radio Maryja broadcaster. "We want Poland to be strong, but also to contain ... Christian values. We will defend them against the background of laicisation and a deepening consumerism." Asked by the radio interviewer about demands by French President Emmanuel Macron for Poland to face sanctions over a subversion of democratic rules, Morawiecki said he would not "bow down to blackmail." In comments to parliament on Tuesday, Morawiecki suggested Poland might relent in a conflict with Brussels over logging in an ancient forest, which an EU court has said contravenes EU laws. But he said Poland's national interests came first in any debate over the future of the EU and that he "wholeheartedly" supported PiS's overhaul of the judiciary. Like Beata Szydlo, whom he replaced as prime minister, Morawiecki is likely to have to defer to PiS leader and co-founder Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Prime minister from July 2006 to November 2007, Kaczynski is widely seen as the power behind the party and Poland's main decision-maker. How much scope that will leave Morawiecki to carve out his own path remains to be seen. Former Polish President Lech Walesa, a PiS critic, has suggested that nothing of substance will change. "The circus has stayed the same, only the clowns have changed their roles," Walesa, who led the Solidarity trade union movement that ended communist rule, said on Twitter. The appointment of Morawiecki, whose father founded and led a radical offshoot of Solidarity in the 1980s, appears designed in part to present a new face of Poland to the EU. Szydlo, 54, at times responded angrily to EU criticism and relations with the bloc soured under her government. Underlining PiS opposition to Muslim immigration, she said last month Poland wanted to be sure Christian traditions were not subject to "ideological censorship" in the EU. Along with Hungary, Poland has refused to take in any of its quota of the wave of refugees from Syria and elsewhere who have come to Europe since 2015, on the grounds that Muslim immigrants are a threat to national security and stability. Such comments appeal to core PiS voters, and Szydlo's government, which promised generous welfare payouts and a dedication to traditional Catholic values, was one of Poland's most popular since communist rule ended in 1989. ECONOMIC CREDENTIALS A relative newcomer to politics, Morawiecki lacks Szydlo's broad appeal. But he has overseen significant economic achievements since becoming finance minister in 2016, a position he has retained in the new government. Tusk has welcomed what he sees as signs that Morawiecki is a liberal economist who wants better ties with the EU. "There is no doubt that (Morawiecki's) liberal bias and some pro-western gestures could be a sign that there is a lurking desire to improve relations," Tusk said last week. But an economic stimulus plan Morawiecki unveiled in 2016 has been criticised by economists who say it depends heavily on private investment, which is low in Poland despite fast economic growth. "What Morawiecki sees as a solution, meaning more political influence in the economy, is actually dangerous," said Leszek Balcerowicz, a former finance minister who coordinated the transition to a market economy after decades of communist rule. Any hint of protectionism is also likely to worry EU leaders, who seek to break down trade barriers. Morawiecki has called the privatisation of state-owned companies a tragedy and said he will give more power to domestic capital at the expense of foreign investors. In his comments to parliament on Tuesday, he said economic policy should not change. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz and Pawel Sobczak, Editing by Timothy Heritage) Dec 19 (Reuters) - Below are insurers' plans for EU subsidiaries (in alphabetical order) in case Britain does not have access to the single market after Brexit: ADMIRAL British motor insurer Admiral Group said last year that it could move its European business to Ireland or another country and said in March that it was looking at a large number of locations. ADVENT CLAIMS Advent Claims said it had partnered with pan-European claims specialist Van Ameyde, helping the company establish European operations to sell its services in the EU, in one of the first examples of a claims firm planning post-Brexit operations. AIG U.S. insurer AIG will set up a European subsidiary in Luxembourg, in addition to its European headquarters in London, it said in March. AIOI NISSAY DOWA Japanese insurer Aioi Nissay Dowa, part of MS&AD Insurance , said it would set up a European subsidiary in Luxembourg after Britain decided to leave the EU. (http://bit.ly/2zY62ZA) AVIVA Aviva is converting its Irish life and general insurance branches to regulated subsidiaries to meet the needs of its Irish insurance customers after Brexit. BEAZLEY Specialist insurer Beazley said it had received approval to convert its Dublin-based reinsurance company into an insurance company. The firm had said in February that it would hire additional staff in Ireland. BRITANNIA British ship insurer Britannia plans to set up a subsidiary in Luxembourg as a result of Britain's decision to leave the European Union, to ensure it can continue to trade in Europe. CHAUCER Specialist insurance group Chaucer, part of Hanover Insurance Group, said the Central Bank of Ireland has approved the formation of a Dublin-based company that will trade as Chaucer Dublin to write international speciality insurance and reinsurance business. (http://bit.ly/2tXaJ2i) CHESNARA UK insurer Chesnara could move its headquarters to the Netherlands or Sweden if required, depending on the regulatory situation after Britain leaves the European Union, the company said. CHUBB U.S. insurer Chubb plans to put its European Union headquarters in Paris if Britain leaves the EU as expected in March 2019, it said on Sept. 11. CNA HARDY CNA Hardy, part of CNA Financial Corp, will set up a new European subsidiary in Luxembourg to allow it to operate across the EU after Britain leaves the bloc, the specialist commercial insurer said. EVEREST RE Everest Re Group Ltd said its Dublin-based unit had received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to become a non-life insurer, allowing it to operate in the European Union under a single regulatory framework. FM GLOBAL U.S. commercial property insurer FM Global is planning a European hub in Luxembourg following Britain's decision to leave the bloc, it said in April. GLOBAL AEROSPACE UK insurer Global Aerospace is setting up a European Union subsidiary in Paris to make sure it can continue to serve customers after Britain leaves the bloc, the firm's chief executive told Reuters. HISCOX Lloyd's of London underwriter Hiscox will establish a new subsidiary in Luxembourg to underwrite its retail business in Europe, it said in May. JLT Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group said it would continue to invest and expand on the ground in Europe so that it remains fully equipped to serve its clients. It said its acquisition of Belgian specialty broker Belgibo NV would provide it with a larger continental European presence, ensuring that its clients in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway can access its services after Britain leaves the bloc. LANCASHIRE Lancashire said in May that it has options to write EU business out of its Bermuda headquarters or via Lloyd's of London's Brussels base. The insurer added it was in no hurry to set up an EU base and saw itself staying in Britain for the foreseeable future. LEGAL & GENERAL British insurer Legal & General said in May that it would move some of its investment management operations to Ireland to ensure it can continue to serve its customers after Brexit. LIBERTY SPECIALTY MARKETS Liberty Specialty Markets, part of U.S. insurer Liberty Mutual, which had revenues of $38 billion last year, and one of the largest U.S. property and casualty insurers, said it was switching the domicile of its insurance company to Luxembourg from London. It announced its intention for a Luxembourg hub in July. LLOYD'S OF LONDON Lloyd's of London, an integral part of the British business scene since the 17th century, has chosen Brussels as the site for its EU subsidiary, it said in March. CEO Inga Beale said in December that the insurance market was pressing ahead with plans for the subsidiary. MARKEL U.S. insurer Markel plans to apply for regulatory approval to set up a European Union subsidiary in Munich, it said in May. MS AMLIN Japanese-owned insurer and reinsurer MS Amlin said it would move its European business to Belgium to make sure it can continue to serve customers after Britain leaves the European Union. NEON Neon Underwriting could set up a Dublin business to sell insurance policies throughout the EU if Britain loses access to the single market, chief executive of the specialist Lloyd's of London insurer said in December. NORTH British ship insurer North is setting up a subsidiary in Dublin in case Britain loses access to the single market after Brexit, becoming the first of these specialised providers to announce such a move. QBE QBE Insurance Group will set up a subsidiary in Brussels to preserve its ability to operate across the EU, the Australian business insurer said. ROYAL LONDON British life insurer Royal London Mutual Insurance Society plans to turn its Irish business into a regulated subsidiary, it said in March. RSA RSA is planning a subsidiary in Luxembourg to act as the headquarters of its EU operations after Britain's decision to leave the bloc. It said it chose Luxembourg because it has "multinational expertise", is "strategically located within RSAs existing EU branch network" and has an experienced regulator. SOMPO Sompo International Holdings, a Bermuda-based unit of Japanese insurer Sompo, is to set up a subsidiary in Luxembourg following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. STANDARD CLUB British ship insurer Standard Club is setting up a new European Union subsidiary in Dublin in case Britain loses access to the single market after Brexit, becoming the second of these specialised providers to opt for Ireland. STANDARD LIFE British insurer and asset manager Standard Life said in May that it was likely to choose Dublin for its EU hub. TOKIO MARINE Tokio Marine is applying for regulatory approval to set up an insurance company in Luxembourg to continue servicing European clients after Brexit, it said on Sept. 6. TRAVELERS Travelers said on Dec. 19 its European arm will create a subsidiary in Dublin since Britain's vote to leave the European Union meant it risked losing "passporting" rights that allow UK financial services firms to trade elsewhere in Europe. UK P&I CLUB Specialist ship insurer UK P&I Club plans to set up a subsidiary in the Netherlands as a result of Britain's decision to leave the European Union. XL GROUP Bermuda-domiciled insurer XL Group said it would move its European Union insurance company from Britain to Ireland in 2018. (Compiled by Noor Zainab Hussain and Carolyn Cohn; Editing by David Evans and Susan Fenton) HARARE, Dec 13 (Reuters) - An illegal shipment of 200 kg (440 lb) of ivory destined for Malaysia has been seized at Zimbabwe's main airport, an official said on Wednesday. Security agents from Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority intercepted the shipment on Monday, its spokesman Tinashe Farawo said. The ivory was stashed in four boxes at Robert Mugabe International Airport. Controlled ivory trade is allowed in Zimbabwe, but its export is not permitted. Farawo said at current market prices of $2,100 a kg, the ivory was worth $420,000. "We have made contact with the travel agent involved to identify the owner of the ivory. We are also investigating its origin," said Farawo. He did not give further details. Farawo said although state security agents had in the past arrested people trying to smuggle ivory through airports, this was one of the largest interceptions they had made. Zimbabwe, together with Namibia failed last year in October to convince a U.N. body that they should be allowed to export elephant ivory, moves the countries argued would protect the animals rather than endanger them. Ivory is prized for its decorative qualities while rhino horn is a key ingredient in traditional Asian medicines. There is also speculative demand from buyers betting that prices will skyrocket if rhinos are poached to extinction. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) HARARE, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's new agriculture minister on Wednesday ordered illegal occupiers of farms to vacate the land immediately, a move that could ultimately see some white farmers who say they were unfairly evicted coming back to farming again. Land is an emotional in the southern African nation after the violent invasion of white-owned farms in 2000 by supporters of former president Robert Mugabe, who defended the seizures as a necessary redress of colonial-era imbalances. "All those who were illegally settled or who just settled themselves on resettlement land should vacate immediately," the minister, Perrance Shiri, was quoted as saying by the website of the government-owned Herald newspaper after meeting provincial ministers in Harare. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley and Andrew Heavens) LJUBLJANA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Slovenian finance and tourism company Sava has agreed to sell its stake in small lender Gorenjska Banka to Serbia's AIK bank, news agency STA reported on Wednesday, citing unofficial sources. Sava is Gorenjska's biggest shareholder with a 37.7 percent stake but was ordered to sell its stake in 2015 by the Bank of Slovenia, which believed Sava, which has a heavy debt burden, was not financially strong enough to support Gorenjska. Sava, which has been trying to sell the stake since last year, said in a statement that it had decided to sell its stake, subject to its shareholders' approval, but did not name the buyer. STA's report did not say what price had been agreed for the sale. According to local media reports, Sava was fined 500,000 euros ($588,000) by the central bank in October for failing to sell its Gorenjska stake by a set deadline. Gorenjska has about a 4.7 percent share of Slovenia's banking market. AIK currently owns 21 percent of Gorenjska but has been aiming to gain a majority stake and earlier this year gained central bank permission to increase its stake to above 50 percent. ($1 = 0.8500 euros) (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Susan Fenton) By Mitra Taj LIMA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A public prosecutor in Peru is seeking the pre-trial detention of Luis Figari, founder of an elite Catholic society who is accused of sexually and physically abusing children and former members of the group, the attorney for the victims of the alleged abuse told Reuters on Wednesday. The prosecutor will ask a judge to order Figari and three other former leaders of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae to spend up to nine months in jail ahead of trial, said Hector Gadea. Gadea said he received a copy of the prosecutor's so-called preventive prison request earlier on Wednesday and a hearing on the request has yet to be scheduled. The prosecutors' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gadea said prosecutor Maria Leon is charging Figari and other former leaders of the Sodalitium of conspiracy to commit crimes because statute of limitations would prohibit charges for most of the alleged abuse. Figari, who denies wrongdoing, lives in Rome. He is not clergy but Sodalitium has pontifical approval. The accusations against him come ahead of a trip to Peru by Pope Francis, who has promised to hold all sex abusers in the Church accountable. Juan Armando Lengua, Figari's attorney, said on local broadcaster Canal N that the request had no legal basis and no evidence had been found to prove any abuse took place. The attorney general's office first opened a probe into Figari in 2015 following the publication of a book into the alleged abuse by Peruvian investigative journalists Pao Ugaz and Pedro Salinas. Salinas once belonged to Sodalitium, whose members include businessmen, writers and politicians from Lima's upper classes. The book described Figari as cult-like leader who raped and molested vulnerable boys and young men in the group. He also regularly committed physical and psychological abuse to exert control over his followers, the authors wrote. The probe was closed early this year and later was reopened by a new prosecutor. "Without a doubt this is redemption for the victims. This is no longer a struggle we're fighting alone," Gadea said. Sodalitium was founded in 1971 before expanding in Latin America, Italy and the United States. (Reporting By Mitra Taj, Additional Reporting By Marco Aquino; Editing by David Gregorio) News / National by Staff reporter A Zimbabwean man living in Boston, United States of America, has spent more than eight months in jail after he was arrested on allegations of robbing 16 banks.Albert Taderera (36), of Brighton, was believed to be the notorious "incognito bandit" who robbed 16 banks in the Boston area while wearing a dark hoodie, dark gloves, and a face mask or sunglasses. He carried out the robberies between February 2015 and March 2017.Taderera, a technical engineer, who had travelled to the US on a student visa, was arrested in March after he tried to flee on a South Africa-bound flight. He allegedly held up a TD Bank on Boston Post Road in Wayland with a semi-automatic gun on October 7, and made off with about $8 142, according to a copy of the criminal complaint released by the FBI.He was arrested in March at Dulles International Airport in Virginia as he tried to board an international flight. According to media reports, for two-and-a-half years, the "Incognito Bandit" remained one step ahead of the law as he single-handedly robbed the banks.The FBI were so desperate to catch him that in early March they increased the reward money for his capture from $10 000 to $20 000.The bank robber was dubbed the "Incognito Bandit" because of the disguise he wore during his crimes, which included a dark, hooded sweatshirt with gloves and a dark mask and sunglasses that covered his face. The bandit's modus operandi was to approach the bank tellers and demand money while armed with a black semi-automatic handgun."All of the robberies occurred in suburban settings where banks were free-standing and featured adjacent wooded areas or foliage. In many of the robberies, eyewitnesses observed the robber leaving the bank following the robbery and entering the wooded areas," read a statement from the FBI.The robber was also seen leaving in a black BMW, and it was the car, according to the FBI, that gave them the breakthrough they so desperately needed. According to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent, who was part of a task team formed to apprehend the "Incognito Bandit", police in the area where they suspected the robber would strike next were tasked to look out for a black BMW sedan.On March 16, police spotted a vehicle matching the description of the get-away car in Concord, Massachusetts. The driver also fitted the physical profile of the "Incognito Bandit". Police stopped the vehicle and found Taderera driving the car. It was discovered that the registration on the BMW had been revoked and police had the car towed and impounded. Taderera was allowed to go. By Luc Cohen BUENOS AIRES, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Mexico and the European Union could reach a framework for a trade deal by the end of the year, though differences remain over agricultural market access, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Wednesday. The two sides are currently in technical meetings and preparing for higher-level talks in Brussels next week, said Guajardo, who noted that efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) remained hung up on a U.S. proposal to increase North American content in autos. Mexico has been aiming to reduce its reliance on U.S. imports and exports since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and the start of the NAFTA talks. "There is a possibility, but not a guarantee" of an "agreement in principle" by year-end, Guajardo said of an EU deal during an interview on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial conference in Buenos Aires "That will depend on the technical discussions that the teams are having in Brussels to see if there are conditions to get the ministers together and close it out." Mexico and the 28-member bloc have an existing accord dating to 2000 that principally cut tariffs on industrial goods. The two parties agreed in 2015 to modernize their trade relations and held various rounds of talks last year. The negotiations come as the EU seeks to signal its rejection of Trump's more protectionist stance. It signed the world's largest free trade accord with Japan last week, and is in talks with South American bloc Mercosur. Mexico and the EU have reached agreements on areas like e-commerce, but agricultural market access and product origin labeling remain significant sticking points. The two sides have also not yet agreed on a mechanism for resolving investment disputes, Guajardo said. "There are few items left, but they are significant," he said. Talks to rework NAFTA - which comprises the United States, Mexico and Canada - remain at an impasse over the U.S. proposal to raise the minimum threshold for North American content in autos to 85 percent from 62.5 percent over a three-year period. Guajardo said Mexico was still "having difficulty seeing how this is possible." But he said the government was discussing the degree and timeframe of possible changes to content percentages with the Mexican automobile parts industry. "The goal is to have significant advances in the first quarter of 2018," Guajardo said. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Andrew Hay) The Living Heritage conference organised by the Embassies of the EU, the Netherlands, Germany and the British High Commission was launched at the Grand Oriental Hotel in Colombo today. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the event as the Chief Guest. Pix by Pradeep Pathirana BoardPAC, the award-winning Sri Lanka-developed, iPad-enabled paperless board communication and meetings solution has been launched in Australia to service large corporations in that country. Headquartered in Melbourne, with a regional office in Sydney, the Australian company BoardPAC Pty Ltd is located at 120 Collin Street, Melbourne, Victoria and is positioned as the hub for BoardPACs Australian and New Zealand operations. The Sri Lankan delegation that attended the commencement of operations in Australia included BoardPAC CEO Lakmini Wijesundera and BoardPAC Chief Operations Officer Rajitha Kuruppumulle. The launch activities were carried out with the support of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources of the State Government of Victoria. Commenting on this latest landmark expansion, Wijesundera said: The support of the State Government of Victoria in setting up our innovative paperless board and executive meeting automation solution has been overwhelming. We wish to specially thank Kathy Coultas Director ICT and Tech Sector Development at the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, for her personal attention and efforts towards this initiative, along with her dynamic team. Notably, Australia has 2,192 listed companies in the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with a market capitalisation of approximately AU$ 1.6 trillion. BoardPACs target market encompasses listed companies, large privately held companies and government organisations. The secure digital solutions of BoardPAC are designed to provide flexibility and convenience to its users, while also playing a part in environmental conservation, the company said. An award winning company which was placed in the IT and professional services sector as the winner across all sectors at the recently held National Chamber of Exporters awards 2017, BoardPAC provides users the ability to view and approve papers from the ease of a Board Members iPad. It has a host of features such as collaboration, meeting management and RSVP, the ability to search and refer to past board papers, as well as to annotate and approve documents and update agendas. The solution meets with the highest security standards including the ISO 27001 certification. The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Sri Lanka-organised L.S. De Silva Memorial Lecture 2017 was held recently at the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7. In the welcome speech, CILTSL Vice Chairperson Gayani de Alwis highlighted the yeoman service that the late L.S. De Silva has rendered not only to the railway sector but also as CILTSL Founding Chairman and then known as Chartered Institute of Transport (CIT) from 1984 to 1987. The late L.S. De Sivas daughter garlanded his photo prior to the commencement of the lecture. The memorial lecture titled Can Sri Lankas railway sector gear up to serve the future? was delivered by C&S Dev Co Managing Director Dr. Prianka Seneviratne. Following is an extract from his lecture. Few will disagree that Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) has enormous potential to contribute more to developing and uniting the country today than when the Railway Ordinance in 1902 formalized the Ceylon Railways for that very reason. Railways must continue to be an integral part of the countrys transportation system and a key player in Colombos urban transportation market. SLR has an ambitious vision to be the most sought-after land transport provider in Sri Lanka, providing unsurpassed value to our stakeholders and a challenging mission to provide safe, reliable and punctual rail transport service for both passenger and freight traffic, economically and efficiently. It has an on-going investment programme financed from bilateral loans from India and China. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing a project for possible financing in 2018. Leading local transport experts and SLR are calling for more investment. Some believe that the way forward is for SLR to think big, modernize operational assets and institutions and train and increase staff salaries. This author believes that investments must be immediate and in measures to improve SLRs cash flow and service performance by 2023. That means: (i) developing the workforce and instilling a commercial outlook in the organisation, (ii) adding rolling stock and improving infrastructure to increase service frequencies, capacity and reliability, (iii) marketing aggressively for new and more freight traffic by offering enhanced end-to-end solutions, (iv) revamping the physical asset repair and maintenance programme and (v) technologising all operations to improve customer service and asset and financial management. Instead of depending solely on Treasury allocations, SLR must finance part of these measures by enhancing revenues through: (i) adjusting fares and tariffs to better reflect costs and improved services, (ii) leasing more real estate and advertising space at market prices and (iii) partnering with the private sector to provide freight and ancillary services such as catering, courier and real estate management. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated below using a strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of SLR. Analysis SLR still has many strengths. It is a globally known brand name with a loyal customer basemany local riders are 20+-year veteran rail-users. The five-year average annual passenger traffic growth since 2011 was 7 percent despite the low service quality. Its 1300-kilometre network connects every major city in the north, south, east and west of the country, which is vital for rapid deployment of emergency relief and security forces. Intercity and urban travel times by rail are substantially lower than by road. For example, according to the current schedule, a rail trip from Mount Lavinia railway station to Colombo Fort railway station at 0700 hours will take about 30 minutes whereas the same trip by car will take up to 50 minutes. SLR owns extensive real estate nationwide about 13,000 acres of land (Lanka Business Online (LBO), June 5, 2017), 160 main stations and other structures that have enormous development potential and more than 1,000 wagons and carriages that have unused advertising space. SLRs weaknesses stem mainly from lack of timely investment in fleet replacement, technology and workforce development in the past. According to the Urban Transport Master Plan (2014), all locomotives, except the diesel multiple units are older than 10 years. SLR says most of its infrastructure is archaic. These cause frequent breakdowns (mean time between engine failures in 2015 was 17 hours), derailments, accidents and speed restrictions. Low on-time performance (35 percent in 2015), long delays and accidents have become routine. Scheduled headways of the commuter services are high, even during the peaks. For example, the average scheduled headway from Gampaha to Maradana between 0530 and 0730 on weekdays is more than 12 minutes. If the typical train configuration is six 80-seat carriages, each train can carry 480 passengers. However, the average riders-per-train in 2014 was 616, which explains the riders hanging on the doors during the peak. Colombo Page, the Internet Newspaper of October 20, 2017, reported that there were 436 rail-related accidents in 2016 resulting in 180 deaths. Another 76 people were reportedly killed by falling off trains. Table 1 shows that all but one of its key performance indicators are even lower than of Indian Railways, which are not the best benchmarks. Poor cash flow is the root cause of SLRs operational problems. Its revenue growth is lower than the rise in expenditure as evident from Figure 1. The average annual deficit from 2007-2016 is Rs.5.5 billion. SLRs public service obligation to offer low fares and tariffs is unsustainable and unnecessary in the current economy. The institution lacks a workforce development programme particularly for knowledge retention and succession and a commercial mindset to accomplish its mission. Low use of technology in all aspects of operation is keeping the costs high and efficiency and transparency low. There are tremendous opportunities for SLR to turn its losses into profits and be the player in the transport sector that it can and must be. Many of its weaknesses in fact are opportunities. For instance, the individual and corporate earnings, jobs and trade will undoubtedly rise as the economy grows at over 5 percent up to 2020. With this will be a rise in passenger and freight demand and the willingness to pay for more and better services. SLR can serve a larger portion of the existing and generated demand by quickly expanding capacity with targeted investments and spreading the peak. Freight traffic demand, which has been declining at 7 percent in the last 10 years, can be increased by attracting other traffic types. Tea producers are particularly keen to use SLR to bring their produce from the hill country to Colombo as was historically done. The opportunities to better utilize its real estate are also massive. According to LBO, only 15 percent of its 13,000 acres was leased for commercial use and only 28 percent of the 6400 lessees were paying their rent on time. The rest of the lessees owed SLR Rs.1.5 billion, which could have reduced its deficit by nearly 23 percent in 2016. Additionally, there is vast scope for using technology for improving customer service, operations management and workforce development. Online ticketing, technology-based inventory control, real estate management, auditing and accounting will not only increase productivity but also customer convenience and governance. More rail traffic also means less emissions, energy consumption and need for road investment. SLR must be mindful of the external, internal and environmental threats. The privately-owned freight transport services are employing technology and benefitting from better roads to reduce costs and improve service quality. Although the import duty on buses has risen, the operators are offering higher frequency and reliable services to retain and lure more riders. These two trends can cause SLR to lose its already small market share and even the loyal riders, unless it can improve delivery. Encroachments and illegal use of railway properties and right-of-way are increasing according to SLR. This could threaten the capacity expansion and modernization plans. The main environmental threat is rain. Services are routinely interrupted by floods and landslides because SLR has no early warning systems and emergency management and financing plans in place. What are other nations thinking and doing? Operators around the world, both public and private, are seeking to maximize and capitalize on the advantages railways offer. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to see railways as the backbone of economic development. Indian Railways (IR), in its Business Plan 2017-2018, has identified key improvement strategies for freight and passenger services and non-fare revenue sources. Among them are rationalizing freight tariffs and improving asset utilization through IT solutions, paperless ticketing and improved travel comfort and generating additional revenue from courier services and advertising. India already has a 10 percent passenger market share and more than 30 percent of the freight market and its operating ratio in 2015 was 91 percent. IRs capital expenditure is financed from public and market borrowings. The British government thinks that rail investment in this generation is vital for the next and its treasury has approved 48 billion for investment in the five years starting in 2019. It plans to digitize the railways with innovations such as biometric ticketing and provide more trains, greater reliability and better connections. It is investing despite having a modern system with below European Union (EU)-average running cost, the most satisfied customers in the EU, an overall passenger market share of 10 percent and a 12 percent share of the freight market. The UK governments subsidy for public service obligations is negative, meaning that the rail companies are paying back the taxpayers. The investment objective is to increase reliability and punctuality for the benefit of passengers, communities, the supply chain and the wider economy. What is SLR doing? SLR has started investing in some key performance improvement measures. According to media reports, India has extended a line of credit of more than US $ 1.3 billion, of which US $ 318 million will be used to procure six power sets with air-conditioned carriages, 10 engines, 160 carriages, 30 wagons with oil tanks and 20 container carrying wagons. The Asian Development Bank is financing an electronic ticketing system. Additionally, the bank has lent US $ 1 million to prepare a US $ 600-million investment proposal to: (i) upgrade and modernize 64 kilometres of infrastructure, (ii) commission new trains and (iii) strengthen project implementation capacity. China has lent the government nearly US $ 280 million for the 27-kilometre first leg of the new 115-kilometre Matara-Kataragama line and pledged US $ 363 million for the 48-kilometre second leg. Will these investments improve SLRs 200 percent+ annual operating ratio and its key performance indicators? Conclusion Even with the ongoing infrastructure and rolling stock investments, the speaker believes that SLR must make immediate parallel investments in the measures mentioned at the outset to sustain the gains from the ongoing projects. To recap, investment is needed in: (i) Workforce development, (ii) Freight market share expansion, (iii) Asset maintenance capacity development and (iv) Digitization particularly making management and service delivery more smart device based for remote and real-time communication. Simultaneously, SLR must lower its debt, improve governance and provide end-to-end services by: (i) Increasing internal revenue by revising fares and tariffs, developing real estate development and advertising, at the least, (ii) Integrating with road public transport by synchronizing schedules and payment modes using technology to provide seamless and paperless travel, (iii) Partnering with the private sector and academia to develop freight services, courier services and information technology, (iv) Increasing emergency preparedness and (v) Assuring the government and its partners of annual KPI improvements. These measures do not undermine the propositions in the 2014 Urban Transport Master Plan, which includes six rail investment projects valued at more than US $ 2 billion--mostly for track renewal, signalling, fleet enhancement and electrification but without an O&M funding strategy. Nor do they contradict the experts proposing big thinking, electrification and developing the railways instead of the Central Expressway and myriad other big-ticket items. They are measures that can be implemented in a short time and derive significant benefits to travellers while reducing the burden on government coffers. There is no doubt that the projects financed from bilateral and multilateral loans and the private financing are necessary. However, these projects will take longer to deliver benefits because of their scope and scale, particularly the land acquisition and resettlement requirements. The proposed investments, on the other hand, will prevent further deterioration of services, improve cash flow and deliver a workforce and instil a commercial outlook in SLR to derive the maximum benefits from future investments. CILT The CILT is a leading global professional body associated with the logistics and transport industry. The institute holds unparalleled international recognition and works towards achieving its objectives of promoting and encouraging the art and science of logistics and transport through its membership and its educational qualifications. With a global membership of over 33,000 from 32 countries across the globe, CILT provides a professional identity to those in the ever expanding logistics and transport sector. It is a strong, active and a unified professional association that is able to speak with authority on strategic issues affecting businesses and people in the industry and support their careers. The Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu Show will be held in Sri Lanka for the first time from December 12 - 17. The five day programme is organized by the Association for Sri Lanka China Social and Cultural Cooperation, Sri Lanka China Friendship Association, Sri Lanka China Society and the Sri Lanka China Journalists Forum. The Shongshan Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks Training Base is considered to be the cradle of Kung Fu martial arts in China. This mythical, but practical style of martial arts was formed by studying the behavior and the survival skills of the wild animals. The Kung Fu relates to survival, which matters the most when in the Jungle. It is said that the Shaolin Monks spend time in the jungles in meditation with no apparent safety tools, such as weapons, being used. Martial arts arent used offensively to hurt anyone, but are put to use only to defend and protect oneself and also to protect those who are unable to defend themselves. Martial artists believe that this is the law of the nature. Whats special is that this is the first occasion where Sri Lankans will get to witness a display by actual Shaolin Monks Long history The origins of Kung Fu dates back to 1500 years ago. However the world has got to know of this art of self-defence only in the recent times. The Chinese culture and history were discovered by the Wes in recent centuries. Thanks to many famous martial arts specialists Kong Fu is now considered to be a famous martial art in the world. Kung Fu has been included in movies made all over the world. This art and style of Kung Fu will come alive in Sri Lanka with an exceptional performance to be produced by members of the Zhengzhou Song & Dance Theater as well as students from the famous Songshan Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks Training Base. What is special about this show is that this is the first occasion where Sri Lankans will get to witness a display by actual Shaolin Monks. An elaborate five-day show is organized in collaboration with the Peoples Government of Henan Province and Ministry of Culture, China Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs Sri Lanka, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development. The embassy of the Peoples Republic of China has also partnered with the organisers with the vision of cultivating a lasting relationship between China and Sri Lanka. This event becomes special to all the associations and institutions working towards maintaining a stable bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and China as the two countries are celebrating the 60th Anniversary in diplomatic relations. The occasion will also be used to mark the 65th Anniversary of the Signing of the Rice & Rubber Pact. The visit of the Chinese to Sri Lanka will further establish the friendship between the people of both countries specially at a time where One Belt One Road Initiative is promoted by China. Today, China and Sri Lanka are at a new starting point of strategic cooperative partnership with Sri Lanka becoming a significant trade and cultural partner in the new Maritime Silk route. China is ready to join hands with Sri Lanka to brave the winds and waves along the 21st century maritime silk route, bringing the culture of both countries much closer to its peoples. Meandering on hazardous tracks: a professional speaks her mind Constituents should prevail upon their MPs to vote against new Constitution if brought in Dr. Anula Wijesundere Dr. Anula Wijesundere, a consultant physician involved with the work of the Nationalist Movement in Sri Lanka, speaks about the constitution making process, womens rights and the impact of the price reduction of beer as proposed in the Budget. She is the president of the organization Society for the Upliftment and Conservation of the Cultural, Economic and Social Standards (SUCCESS). Alongside, she is the vice president of the Temperance Association of Sri Lanka. Besides, she is also the co-chairman of the National Joint Committee, an umbrella organization of around 20 patriotic organizations. Excerpts of the interview: UNP is hell-bent on bringing it by hook or by crook We have lost faith in the JVP although we thought it is fair-minded We believe JVP will vote for a new Constitution Mere quotas for women candidates will not be helpful without creating an atmosphere for them to come into politics Constitutional recognition of LGBT rights will break up the family structure Sri Lankas concept of extended family is very important It is a foolish decision by Finance Minister to reduce tax on beer It will encourage young people to drink stronger beer in large quantities It is against Yahapalana policies Q How do you see the current constitution making process? People are not asking for a new Constitution. It is being done due to the machinations of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Tamil diaspora, LTTE loyalists and NGOs. It is also influenced by the governments of the United States, Britain and India. There is no mandate for the President to bring in a new Constitution. The President only said he would bring in amendments to it [ constitution] that warrants the approval of the people by referendum. This is just to please the federalists and the Tamil diaspora. The LTTE has been destroyed militarily; but, its mindset is still present. If you look at the constitution making process, it was the Lal Wijenayake Committee Report that came first. They advocated a federal state. It said Sri Lanka should be a secular state. In fact, it said the national flag should not reflect any religion and proposed that the four Bo-leaves were removed. It sought to legalize the LGBT rights. All religions, practised in Sri Lanka do not condone LGBT rights because they break up the family structure. We know it exists. But, we should not give a provision in the Constitution to recognize it. It will encourage people to enter into such relationships if we do so. Some countries have legalized it, But, it is against all religions. Every religion values the family as an institution. They had deliberations for one- and-a- half years. They went about the country; we went and gave our suggestions. These were purely their own ideas and not the ideas of those who made representation to the committee. They have acted regardless of views expressed by the people who made representations. We totally rejected this report. Q After that, there were six sub-committees appointed. They also submitted reports. What are your views on them? There was one committee to work on the centre-peripheral relations. It was headed by TNA MP Dharmalingam Sithanathan. Why was a TNA MP appointed to head such an important committee? It should have been given to an MP from the majority community. That is the most important of all the six committees. Every sub-committee report has been scrutinized by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran and Government MP Jayampathi Wickremaratne. They are total federalists. They appear to have incorporated their own ideas into these reports. Why did 29,000 war heroes sacrifice their lives and another 40,000 war heroes got disabled? That is to maintain the unitary status and territorial integrity of our country. What the LTTE could not achieve through military means is now going to be given to them on a silver platter. In the report by the sub-committee on the centre-peripheral relations, it has been proposed to give land, police, finance and administration powers to the periphery. There is also power on taxation proposed to be devolved. That way, all the vital powers of the Central Government are proposed to be given away. Then, the President and the Central Government will have no powers absolutely. Then, the entire power is devolved to the provinces. Police and land powers must be maintained with the Centre that must also have powers in taxation, finance, health etc. If you devolve health further, it will lead to a further crisis. Already, the health sector is in crisis. There are dangers in the devolution of police power. If a person commits a crime in the Western Province and goes to the North, the police will find it difficult to take action. The provincial IGP is responsible to the Chief Minister, not the Governor. The Governor can be appointed only with the approval of the Chief Minister concerned. Q In your opinion, how can we achieve reconciliation among the different ethnic groups then? You talk about reconciliation. The Education Minister of the Northern Province refused to hoist the national flag at a school function in Vavuniya in front of all the students. The Northern Governor Reginald Cooray should have taken action. And all have taken an oath of allegiance to the State. The Governor should have dismissed him. Is that reconciliation? Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran wants all the Buddha statues to be removed. Today, reconciliation is one sided. It is only with the Sinhalese. If there is genuine reconciliation, the Sinhalese who lived there as bakery owners and carpenters should be allowed to resettle. In the South, all three communities live in harmony with each other. In the North, it is not so. Can a Sinhalese put up a business there? All the Sinhalese, who were driven out should be allowed to return. Earlier, there were four Sinhala medium schools in Jaffna. Now there is not a single school. As for the Grade 5 scholarship examination, there is a cut-off point for the entire country covering the Tamil medium. For the Sinhala medium, there is no cut off point for three districts. No legal document is worked out in Sinhala in the North and East. Correspondence is done only in Tamil at government institutions in the North. We met the President and brought to his notice the common problems faced by all the communities in terms of education, land, employment, food and water etc. In Navakulli, there were 30 Sinhalese families. Now, there are only ten; the rest have left because there are no schools for their children. Q In what way are you planning to defeat the constitution making process? That is a major problem. As you see, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is hell-bent on passing this new Constitution. He is determined to do it by hook or by crook. So UNP MPs will not vote against the party policy. We have lost all faith in the JVP. We thought they were fair-minded but the JVP will also vote with the government. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is always there for it. We are going to ask people at electorate level to prevail upon the members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in the government to vote against the new proposal. People should tell them not to come to their areas asking for votes if they vote in favour of the new Constitution. Q As part of reconciliation, there is a lot of talk about the need for empowerment of women by NGOs. There is discussion on womens emancipation from a western point of view. As a woman activist, how do you look at it? It is the Buddha who espoused the supreme place for women in society. He advocated complete equality between males and females. The Buddha always highlighted virtues of women as mothers, spouses and so on, in different Suttas. In the medical profession which I represent, there is no gender discrimination at all. Q In politics, the government ensured a certain quota for woman candidates. How do you look at it? Women do not enter politics because it is considered a dirty game. There is so much of corruption. Most politicians are there to amass wealth for future elections. There may be a few who are honest but the majority are dishonest. It is good if women take part in politics. Then, they will speak up for the rights of women. When Renuka Herath was the Health Minister, she got maternity leave extended for women. A mere quota will not work properly without creating a conducive atmosphere for women to enter politics. Politics must be a fair playing field. It must be on clean ground. Q In your view what are the pressing concerns of women? Most women are educated now. So they can get gainful employment to supplement the family income. What is important is to strike a balance between family life and career life. To achieve a balance, the support of the husband is necessary. The concept of the extended family in our culture is important. You do not find it in Western countries. In those countries, when parents age, they are sent to live in elders homes. There is such a tendency in our country too. Yet, it is still a small percentage. In most countries, parents live with their children. When parents are away for work, grandparents look after grandchildren. The presence of grandparents is also important to ensure spirituality in the family. Their influence enhances the religious atmosphere. It will certainly help character building of a child. It is against our culture to send aged parents to elders homes. Every religion in our country emphasizes the importance of looking after parents during their old age. They have sacrificed so much to give us a better life. It is the imperative duty of children to look after their parents during the sunset years of their lives. Q As a medical specialist, what are the grievances of women you have identified? Poverty is a main feature in rural Sri Lanka. Poverty is caused by drunkenness among men. When men are addicted to alcohol, they spend a lot of money on it leaving little for other expenses such as for food and childrens requirements. Drunkenness also triggers sexual harassment of women. Alcohol Dependence Syndrome is a major problem. I have written many newspaper articles about it. Q What is your view on the budget proposal to reduce tax on beer? I have raised my voice against it. I wrote about it and I have made representation in this regard. I spoke against it representing the Sri Lanka Medical Council and the Temperance Association of Sri Lanka. Today, a price of a coconut is Rs.95. Once tax is reduced, a can of beer will be Rs.85 making beer less expensive than a coconut. The Finance Minister says the reduction of tax on beer will reduce the consumption of hard liquor and kasippu. He must realize that people who drink beer are different; they are of a different segment of society. One cannot expect kasippu drinkers to take to beer, but more young people will start drinking beer. They will drink beer with an alcohol percentage of 8.5, not beer with the alcohol at 5 per cent. It means they will drink a larger quantity of stronger beer at low cost. It is a very foolish decision on the part of the Finance Minister. On top of that, Labour Minister John Seneviratne proposed to reduce the price of gal arakku as a solace to plantation workers. Sri Lanka will enter the Guinness Book of Records as the country that promotes the habit of drinking among its people. When the price of beer was reduced once in the past, the consumption increased by many folds. It is also against Yahapalana policies and it is against the National Alcohol and Tobacco Control Policy. Now, the Presidential Task Force in this regard has no task and force. The President spoke in Parliament; but speaking alone is not enough. He must rescind the relevant gazette notification. Q You work for the conservation of archaeological sites in the North and East. How is the situation now? Archaeological sites in the North and East are being vandalized; they are being bulldozed. Recently in Trincomalee, a site in Randala Vihare has been bulldozed and converted to a burial ground. Another archaeological site has been made into a childrens park. As Saudi Arabia shifts its focus from being an oil production-dependent nation, opportunities will open up for Sri Lankan businesses, professionals and other skilled workers, according to Sri Lankas top diplomat in the Middle Eastern nation. So, they are now looking for other semi-skilled, skilled and professionals, as they move from an oil dependency to build the economy on non-oil dependency, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Azmi Thassim said. Thassim was speaking recently at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce after arriving back in the country with a visiting business delegation. Currently, around 200,000 Sri Lankans are working as domestic helpers in the Middle Eastern country, while around 5,000 are working as professionals. Saudi Arabia has the largest population of Sri Lankan citizens working overseas. Thassim noted that while Saudi Arabias economy is slowing down in some aspects, the opportunities are clearly present. He said that Sri Lankan businesses have an opportunity to tap into the food and beverage market in Saudi Arabia by exporting products such as processed food and vegetable. Cut flowers were also highlighted as a potential growth area. He also noted that there is a growing opportunity for exchange in tourists, as Sri Lanka is looking to grow its economy through tourism, while Saudi Arabia is looking at liberalizing tourism in the country. Several companies are looking to operate in Sri Lanka, in the IT/BPO sector, Thassim said of further bilateral business relations, which could be cultivated. Pic by Kushan Pathiraja Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on Sunday, the Straight Times reported yesterday. In a statement, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said Malaysian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah was reassigned by the ministry prior to Najib's two-day official visit starting from December 17. He is due to take up an important assignment related to Malaysias chairmanship of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April 2020. Given the scale of CHOGM,which will involve 52 countries, early preparations are essential for it to be a success, it said. A high-level team from the ministry will arrive as an advance party to help in the visit by Prime Minister Najib, who will depart to Maldives after visiting Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Najib's visits are expected to further strengthen ties between the countries, it said. Before she and her husband left for Canada and settled down there, actress Nita Fernando put on hold what was considered to be a promising film career. She returned to acting almost 20 years later, continuing to exude and exemplify a freewheeling, idealistic, innocent girlishness that no other actress here could match. This girlishness, and the naivete of idealism, crop up in her two best performances from her first phase; in K. A. W. Pereras Wasana (one of her first hits) and Vijaya Dharma Sris Duhulu Malak (which marked her breakthrough). Its a testament to how serious she was about her portrayals that these two directors and movies never succumbed completely to the tropes of the commercial cinema, especially Duhulu Malak. Probably thats why and how Nitas girlish idealism caught us so quickly, and immediately. She wanted to be a stage actress. Naturally then, her entry to the film industry was accidental, having been selected to act opposite Gamini Fonseka in Parasathumal A brief biographical sketch might help us understand this phase of her career. Nita was born in Katuneriya in Chilaw and was educated at Holy Family Convent, Wennapuwa, where she took part in stage dramas that inculcated in her a love to go out there, perform and show her face to the world. I was once fed with these memories by none other than Nita herself. Chilaw at the time had a veritable performing arts centre (a Kala Ayathanaya) and this she joined right after leaving school. B ut like most people from her generation, and the generations that preceded hers, she didnt want to enter the cinema. She wanted to be a stage actress. Naturally then, her entry to the film industry was accidental, having been selected to act opposite Gamini Fonseka in Parasathumal, but having had to give the offer up because of her parents disapproval. One thing led to another, though, and she found herself in R. T. Studios, headed by the formidable Robin Tampoe (who had earlier groomed and initiated Swineetha Weerasinghe). Getting noticed But it wasnt Tampoes films that she was featured in. It was K. A. W. Pereras, with Wasana and Lasanda, followed by Sathischandra Edirisinghes Rajagedara Parawiyo. By the end of her first 10 years in the industry she had taken part in more than 40 movies, most of them forgettable and a few of them notable. Those few including Wasana and Rajagedara Parawiyo, as more than a secondary player got her noticed by Vijaya Dharma Sri, who selected her for his Duhulu Malak. Partly (and crudely) inspired by Lady Chatterleys Lover, Duhulu Malak was touted by contemporary critics and even audiences as being ahead of its time. It was a deeply sensitive production, and its theme the immutability of love and of the family institution was rather controversial. In it Nita was the wife (to Tony Ranasinghe, who became a lifelong friend) as well as the lover (to Ravindra Randeniya, who like Nita was cast in his breakthrough role). The controversy of the theme notwithstanding, I find the morality of Duhulu Malak rather muddled up, if not confusing, and I discern that most clearly in Nitas astute, idealistic, but naively ecstatic portrayal of Nirupa Suraweera. While vaguely reminiscent of Lady Chatterleys Lover, Dharma Sris film repudiates the sexual indifference of Lawrences novel and instead uses the theme of adultery, not to emancipate the woman at the heart of the love triangle (caught between the husband and the lover, Nirupa can only confess to her close friends, who while sympathetic implore her to choose wisely), but to affirm the family institution she wants to escape from. The husband is characterised solidly; busy, but caring, indifferent, but infatuated. Not even two song-and-dance sequences that show this conflict between family ties and personal feelings (Bonda Meedum and Ran Kenden) are, in my opinion, enough to set aside the forced, contrived morality of the script, and Nitas lovable, doll-like fragility, threatened most poignantly in that last sequence where the husband imagines shooting and killing her, serves to compound this self-contradictory morality. In the end Dharma Sri resorts to depicting the husband as an irrational, angered crybaby and the lover as a careless playboy who refuses to give up, and despite the confused morality of the plot, the only strong character who comes out is Nirupa herself. On her hinges the thin line between personal feelings and familial obligations, and she finally chooses, not the former, but the latter. Girlish idealist The strength of a film like Duhulu Malak comes from the solidity of its characters, and all three characters the wife, the husband, the lover were depicted squarely, with enough complexity to make them seem less the types they could have been and more the fleshed out individuals they were: Nita as the girlish idealist; Tony as the condescending husband who learns to care more for his woman; and Ravindra as the almost boyish prodigal who only at the end learns to grow up. That Duhulu Malak gave her the breakthrough and it was confirmed by the fact that she left the country, with her husband Elias, soon after production wrapped up (His final act, of throwing his shoe to the sea, is a contrivance by the script to make us forget everything that preceded it, but in that act we see him mature: hes no longer a rabid, obsessive stalker, but a youthful idealist whos lost his love.) And perhaps its the writer in me, but in her performance I see in Nita the schoolgirl aspiring to be a star. I put to her that even in Duhulu Malak, we come across a woman beset with little to no problems, who isnt, but should be content with her station in life, and who, even in the most mundane pursuits, displays a naive and innocent attitude to the world around her. She agreed and replied, When I was a girl, I wanted to be an actress because I wanted to act in everything. And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING. That Duhulu Malak gave her the breakthrough and it was confirmed by the fact that she left the country, with her husband Elias, soon after production wrapped up, and that when she returned 18 years later she was taken in for qualitatively different roles. I didnt even get to read reviews of the movies I had acted in, after I departed. I regretted that very much and I complained frequently. But Elias was a very understanding man. Very down to earth, in fact. He got me acquainted with the issues and the problems people from that part of the world, especially expatriates like us, faced, she said. Perhaps those experiences account for her transformation from the girlish idealist to a self-conscious, responsible woman, exemplified most vividly in her first outing after her return to Sri Lanka in Prasanna Vithanages Pawuru Walalu. Again cast as a woman (the widowed Violet) caught between personal feelings and familial obligations, Nita nevertheless tempered her performance and became more vividly and solidly realised. Vithanages films, with one or two notable exceptions, delve into a rigid, but textured Catholicised worldview, teetering between guilt and pleasure. That confused morality in Duhulu Malak, therefore, doesnt quite come out in Pawuru Walalu, especially since in the former the transgression of moral boundaries is depicted flippantly, almost casually, as an innocent interlude on the part of the woman, whereas in the latter it provokes a crisis of faith in both the woman and her daughter (Sangeetha Weeraratne), along with her closest friends (at one point, in a Church, she admits to a friend that she has become a sinner), which not even a poignant ending can resolve. That Nitas portrayal was more fleshed out was confirmed when she won the Best Actress Award at the 11th International Film Festival in Singapore. Pawuru Walalu was a landmark for her for another reason: it was the first movie she produced. To a considerable extent, this opened her to the cinema in ways that her acting career had not, as she herself put it: The art of making movies is more difficult, yet more rewarding, than the art of acting in them. I am not belittling my earlier career, but the truth was that I was able to finance films which appealed to my conscience and my priorities. I have unfortunately not seen this phase of her career completely, apart from a few performances in serious forays like Saroja and Bambara Walalla, the latter of which she produced. In Saroja she comes out as the most complex character in the story, as the mildly racist yet concerned wife to the protagonist, an idealistic schoolteacher (Janaka Kumbukage),who decides to shelter the daughter of a LTTE soldier. At times her maternal instincts for the forlorn girl conquer her, while at others she pushes her husband to give in to what the villagers want; force the girl away. Pawuru Walalu was a landmark for her for another reason: it was the first movie she produced. To a considerable extent, this opened her to the cinema in ways that her acting career had not Its an inversion of all her previous roles, because shes likeable and dislikeable and also because in that act of being both at the same time shes easier to relate to, as a flawed onlooker. As for Bambara Walalla, as the mother she occupies less screen time, but the intensity of her portrayal comes out. In any case, her penchant for serious, socially conscious themes were articulated in every film she had a hand in shaping patriarchy in Nisala Gira, societal violence in Bambara Walalla, and the stigma of AIDS in her latest production, Swara, which clinched awards at the Jaipur Film Festival two years ago. I sincerely believe Nita has done what she can to make us aware of certain things. Important things. Wed be indifferent not to acknowledge the performances shes dished out to us, and more pertinently, the films shes financed out of a desire to propagate pressing issues. She herself affirms what shes done with a reference to her faith: I dont think God says, Go to church and pray all day, and everything will be fine. For me, God says, Go out and make a change, and Ill be there to help you. Sense Micro Distributors (SMD) partnered Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd, a leading solution provider in the global video surveillance industry. The partnership will allow SMDs extensive customer base to have access to the latest technologies in surveillance and security equipment. Having commenced operations in 2001, SMD has come a long way on a journey of success to become a leader in importing and selling high quality computer accessories within Sri Lanka. The partnership is geared for success given the fact that Dahua Technology was ranked fourth in Security Top 50 by a&s international, the leading international security magazine for professional buyers. Commenting on the partnership, SMD Managing Director/Founder Waruna Godagedara stated: We are excited about the future prospects that the partnership entails. The fast-paced, security conscious modern society requires cutting edge surveillance and monitoring technology to successfully challenge the realities of todays world. Partnering a world renowned expert in the field enables us to offer Sri Lankans the same technological edge that first world business entities and individuals enjoy in terms of surveillance and monitoring equipment. Through this alliance, we plan to aggressively market Dahuas multifarious security products in all major cities and towns in Sri Lanka. We also propose to educate our rural customers on the importance of security and drive home the need for safety. We look forward to many exciting projects and developments with Dahua in 2018 and beyond. Sense Micro Distributors (SMD) has established its strong presence in the Sri Lankan market through partnerships with various global entities and continue to import a plethora of computer accessories. These include high quality routers, switches, access points, POE components, ADSL devices, WLAN devices CCTV line up, home automations, passive cables, UPS, hard disks, RAMs, internal cards, various cables, keyboards, mouse, flash drives, KVM switches, dongles, DVD writers, toner cartridges, ink cartridges, tablet PCs, microphones, speakers, virus guards, digital cameras and many more items. Having begun operations with an ambitious vision and a small capital, SMD forged its way ahead with determination and defied many challenges to achieve success. Disclosing the partnership, Dahua Technology India (Pvt.) Ltd India and SAARC Region Director Robbin Shen said: We are glad to partner ourselves with Sense Micro Distributors, the leading and the most reputable company known for its dynamic distributorship and vast reach in Sri Lanka. We will leverage our ties in reaching out to a large section of hitherto untapped customers for our security solutions in this island nation for a mutually beneficial business relation. Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd is committed to providing the highest quality solutions and products with the latest technologies to enable end users to perform their business successfully. The company has more than 5,000 R&D engineers and technical staff working on cutting-edge technologies in camera lens, image sensor, video encoding and transmission, embedded processor, graphic processing, video analytics, software reliability, network security and other technologies. News / National by Staff Reporter SELF-exiled Zimbabwean businessman James Makamba's is reportedly back in the country.Makamba is a entrepreneur, politician and former commercial broadcasterIn 1997, one of his companies leased Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's second colour television channel, turning it into the country's first independent television station, known as Joy TV.The station's licence was revoked in 2002 due to licensing complications.Makamba, a former Zanu-PF central committee member, fled the country in 2005 for an unknown destination with speculation that he had landed in the United Kingdom. Makamba was then allegedly facing charges of illegally dealing in foreign currency. C P De Silva Past Chairman of CCC presenting the award to Sirio Ltd Finance Manager Roshan Panawala and Production Manager Duminda Sasanapala. Samantha Ranathunge Immediate Past Chairman of CCC looks on. With a continuous drive towards long-term growth and highly focused export-oriented strategy, Badalgama-based apparel manufacturer Sirio Ltd was recently awarded for its financial performance at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2017. Held on 28th of Nov, the annual event which is organized by Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Sri Lankas premier business chamber, applauded some of the countrys top corporates that place high importance on sustainability, ethics and governance. This years award ceremony was held for the 14th consecutive time and was graced by chief guest His Excellency Kenichi Suganuma, the ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka while David Bent, a renowned global corporate sustainability expert, delivered the keynote address. We are honored to have been recognized as one of the best performers in corporate sustainability initiatives in Sri Lanka primarily being awarded for our companys financial performance and growth. This is indeed a great milestone and were confident to thrive in similar initiatives in future, commented Felix A. Fernando, CEO/Director, Sirio Ltd. The Sirio Ltd team with the award Operated under the flagship of Calzedonia S.p.A in Italy, Sirio Ltd is one of the many locally-associated apparel companies. Calzedonia S.p.A manufactures and specializes in womens undergarments, stockings, nightdresses, socks and swimwear. Other companies locally include Omega Line Ltd, which was awarded the highest value-added exporter in the apparel sector category at the recent Presidential Export Awards, Alpha Apparels Ltd in Polgahawela, Benji Ltd in Bingiriya and Vavuniya Apparels in Vavuniya, all comprising a total workforce exceeding 12,000 employees. Calzedonia S.p.A has over 4,200 retail sales outlets in over 40 countries across Europe, Russia, Middle East, Asia and America and sells its products labelled with various brands such as Intimissimi, Calzedonia, Tezenis and Falconeri. The event featured many awards ranging from the best corporate citizen sustainability award 2017, top ten corporates, category awards, sector awards to top performers for key sectors of the economy and the best presented application. Sri Lanka should show the world that it is not a country which is afraid of the open economy and take steps to modernize the city of Colombo and elsewhere while preserving its heritage, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today. Prime Minister made this remark at a seminar Living Heritage organized by the European Union together with the British Council last morning. The civilization of Sri Lanka was a powerful commercial one. The modern commercialization came to Asia from Sri Lanka.. We were one of the important countries in Asia during the old days. Preserving buildings of Rajarata Kingdom and during the European colonial period is not enough. Our effort today should be to become the hub of the Indian Ocean. A new architecture and new buildings would be introduced to the country under this programme. If we introduced an economy based on trade in Rajarata during the old days we must not be afraid to do it today and introduce a modern architecture to the country which is essential for it. Let us try to create a perception that Sri Lanka is not a nation that is afraid of open economy, the Prime Minister said . I find it ironic, that the government of Netherlands is spending money to preserve the buildings which were put up by destroying the Dutch buildings. Colombo together with Goa happens to be the oldest cities which were opened out to the Europeans. In this area is the Fort of Colombo put up by the Portuguese. There is also the residence of the Dutch governor. There are other Dutch buildings here. Subsequently after the British took over some buildings came down. They said the house of the Dutch Governor had to be brought down. However, one part of it is left. That is the mission to the seamen that is next to this Hotel GOH. There were other buildings such as Cargills and all those buildings were brought down by the British and their buildings were put in place. I am not complaining about it as in the process my great grandfather made money by giving the bricks, Don Carolis made money by giving furniture and Artigala by giving the plants. Artigala through the money he earned found Kahatagaha Graphite, he also said. Colombo has a lot of old architecture, the warehouse building from Fort is from the Dutch period, Wolfendhal Church in the early British period, Srimathipaya, the Prime Ministers office, Prime Ministers residence which comes from Dutch period to early British period. Actually the transformation of out architecture taking in the national design where you find Edward Reed did the Kelaniya Temple in the format of Lankatilaka Vihara, subsequently which Abaknodi Will Jones has done with the Lake House building with the Independence Squire and the Peradeniya building and the National Art Gallery which was destroyed. Wherever you go you find old buildings of Europen heritage in the country. We have a history of architecture going down to the era of Thuparamaya. We have already seen some of them getting converted. How do we preserve them and build them up? We put a group of our officials to come up with a final report on the situation with regard to old buildings. Help us to identify and see how they should be preserved. There are many more old buildings that have to be preserved. Are there any groups to undertake it?. There are students from University of Moratuwa, if they are willing to do it we will fund it, he added. Ambassador of European Union and in Sri Lanka and Maldives Tung-Lai Margue said the challenge of balancing conservation and development and marrying each other is faced not only in Sri Lanka but everywhere in the world. This is a challenge we have accepted. I hope Sri Lanka will not face the hardships which countries such as Singapore has faced in conserving old buildings and undertaking development , he said. (Yohan Perera) Donald Trump will come to Britain next year despite anger over his far-right retweets, the US ambassador to London said today. Woody Johnson admitted that the public spat with Theresa May meant some feathers were ruffled. But he said the leaders still had a very very good relationship and he believed the visit would still happen. The row erupted last month when the US President retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by the Britain First group. One claimed to show a Muslim migrant beating up a Dutch boy on crutches. Dutch authorities have insisted the alleged migrant was born and raised in the country and his religion is unknown. The PM insisted retweeting Britain First was the wrong thing to do, and said she would not hesitate to tell Mr Trump when she disagreed with him. But in the worst public clashes between US and UK leaders in memory, Mr Trump doubled down by demanding that Mrs May focus on tackling Islamic Terrorism in Britain rather than criticising him. Downing Street has said Mrs May wants to speak to the US president by telephone, but weeks later the call has still not taken place. It is conceived as a pared-back trip, rather than a red carpet occasion. Ministers have admitted they are deeply uncomfortable about the prospect of him coming to the UK. Asked about the visit, US ambassador Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Absolutely, I think he will come... UK, (Daily Mail), 12 December 2017 - Sarah Hassanally and Dilendri Wettewe the Bronze award winners at the Young Spikes Media Competition with Ranil de Silva Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and Mark Tutssel Global Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide Leo Burnett Sri Lankas Sarah Hassanally and Dilendri Wettewe recently won the Bronze award at the Young Spikes Media Competition, which took place in Singapore. The contesting teams comprised some of the best young professionals from around the world, who responded to a brief on the challenging topic of combating poverty alleviation. Following an intense competition and a rigorous judging process, Sarah and Dilendri were awarded the Bronze award. They were the only team from Sri Lanka to secure a metal at the young Spikes competition. Conducted as part of the globally hailed Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, the Young Spikes Competition offers young talent within the industry a platform to showcase their talent, knowledge, insights and strategic skills. Each country conducted a competition in their respective territories to choose the teams that would represent the country at the Young Spikes competition. After the briefing session, the teams take on the challenge of developing an innovative media strategy to achieve the objectives of the brief, which is judged by a panel of highly acclaimed jurors from a wide cross section of agencies and specializations. This year, the teams in the media category were issued with briefs featuring Asia P3 Hub, a platform for multi-sector collaboration which is hosted by the international NGO World Vision. The Hub focuses on bringing together individuals from various sectors, including governments, businesses, start-up enterprises, NGOs and academia to address the effects of poverty. According to the brief, the main challenges faced by the Asia P3 Hub focussed on the fact that a multi-sector partnership is a concept that is not easily understood, as well as the fact that private sector organizations,who are often equipped with newer technology, greater operating efficiency and larger investment capacity do not have a strong incentive to partner with other sectors to solve large-scale poverty issues. The contestants had to respond to this brief by formulating a campaign that would raise awareness and draw the private sector towards multi-sector partnerships, by demonstrating how sustainability and poverty alleviation can benefit their businesses in the long term. Sarah Hassanally and Dilendri Wettewe with Ranil de Silva Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Commenting on Sarahs and Dilendris achievement at the Young Spikes Media Competition in Singapore, Ranil de Silva Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka said: I am extremely proud that two of our very own young professionals from Leo Burnett Sri Lanka have secured the Bronze award at the Young Spikes Media Competition. I would like to congratulate Sarah and Dilendri on their outstanding performance at this prestigious competition. I strongly believe their enthusiasm and passion is what brought them this success. The Spikes Asia Festival is the regions oldest and most prestigious event of its kind, which not only recognizes the best work in the region, but also brings together Asia Pacifics leading creative thinkers and brightest young minds. The exposure they gained from this competition as well as from the festival will I am sure empowers them to enjoy progress in this industry. The team at Leo Burnett in Sri Lanka joins me to congratulate our two talented young professionals on this significant achievement. I am confident they will continue to excel and to reach even greater heights in their careers. Over the years, Leo Burnett has built many powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, whilst delivering gratifying results for its clients while gaining peer recognition in the industry. This year the agency celebrated its 18th anniversary in Sri Lanka whilst the global company commemorated its 82nd anniversary. As Leo Burnett looks ahead to the future, the agency remains dedicated to developing new ideas inspired by HumanKind Leo Burnetts philosophy which is rooted in the belief that creativity has the power to transform human behaviour. Rotaractors of National School of Business Management create platform of power When beauty and brains combine the result could be a formidable force! The effect of the combined synergies of Dr. Janaki Kuruppu, Rosy Senanayake, Kaishika Rodrigo and Stephanie Siriwardhana caused a ripple effect in the hearts and minds of those present at a forum at LakshmanKadirgamar Institute on November 25. Setting the pace for the event, held under the theme Women of Change, were the Rotaractors of National School of Business Management, who paved the way for the interesting, thought-provoking and radical ideas to be shared from womb-to-tomb transition of women and also men in contention. This event was a success due to the patronage of Youth Magazine Sri Lanka (the strategic partner of the event), Brandix Lanka Limited and Millennium IT (Platinum Sponsor). Powerful themes Themes ranging from girl-child to motherhood, parenting patterns, part-time and professional work, societal attitudes, taboos, stereotyping and empowerment in essence were discussed in order to feed the minds of youth and society at large. These topics have the power to serve as change-agents and empower women. The topics also have the potential to positively influence the thinking of men. Dr. Kuruppu reiterated the strong influence of her father as being contributory to her professional success in perceived male-dominated realms such as mathematics, which enabled her to step out of traditional cocoons and compete on equal footing with men. Dr. Kuruppu champions the ideals of motherhood and the power of a mothers love. She is invited to corporate meetings, corporate boards and has been at the helm of commerce and enterprise in Sri Lanka, at Tea-Board and Mother Lanka, owing to her brilliance, business acumen and resilience. Echoing her sentiments Siriwardhana, who having grown-up with three brothers, a supportive father, and now a fiance, as well as a mother who championed her dreams and ideals, is a unique example of a woman whose brains and beauty have showcased Sri Lanka at international beauty pageants, as a contestant and judge. Championing her intrinsic talents in Latin American dance, she is undeterred by societal criticism or norms and has delved into Pole Dancing, with elegance and fervour. First Sri Lanka female comedian Contrary to Siriwardhana, Rodrigo faced challenges to champion her plethora of talents, which ranged from drama, music, public speaking, debating and sports. She was finally able to fund her unique niche of being a stand-up Comedian; a first for a Sri Lankan woman! She endorses the fact that siblings of different gender should ideally be brought up by parents on an equal footing and given opportunities for talents to emerge and develop, rather than be kept dormant. Touching a chord with children and women, a globally well-known face in the spheres of beauty, deportment, grooming and also in politics, Senanayake commands respect. She has an inimitable persona which speaks of courage, compassion and yet takes on the every challenge and battle with strength and zeal. Her forthcoming initiative Think Equal will be mooted in schools, montessori and will permeate across society to parents, teachers and caregivers. Its envisioned as a powerful tool set to shatter mindsets that debar positive thinking and progress. There is hope that a new paradigm shift in thinking will benefit for the girl-child and boy-child alike. Her many citations of being discriminated in politics, degraded and side-lined struck a chord of sympathy for the marginalised women in Sri Lanka, India and the rest of the world. Her determination and strong voice for equality and justice, through policy and legislation should be applauded. Alles in her address to the gathering spoke of heroines, such as women who trudged for miles to fetch water, to feed their children and then went to work. She shared an emphatic story of a selfless woman, who shared her property and erected a tube-well; the memories she recalled capturing the imagination of the affluent men and women who formed the audience. The event generated much interest and thought-provoking new ideals for empowerment, action plans for change and the power of a collective voice to resonate around the world, through media and like-minded forums, to benefit all Sri Lankans. Ushan Samarakone, Brand Activation Manager, was present on behalf of Youth Magazine Sri Lanka to endorse the event. The event was organised and executed by Rtr. Farshard Samsudeen and Rtr. Tabit Jeffrey and their Women of Change Team from Rotaract Club of National School of Business Management The public is invited to collaborate with the organisers for future themed events which will be catalyst in positive change. The importance for a country of having reliable power supply cannot be over-emphasised. Energy supports industrialisation, especially through small and medium-sized enterprises that are crucial to sustaining poverty reduction. Energy also gives people living in rural areas more livelihood opportunities. Countries that lack sufficient energy resources of their own are increasingly trying to reap the many benefits of cross-border power trading. First, unanticipated shortages in one countrys power grid can be readily solved by imports from a neighboring grid. Second, given the different times of peak power demands of neighboring national grids, one grid doesnt need to generate all its power to meet peak demand; it can instead buy from another grid for its partial requirements, and vice versa. This resulting load diversity reduces overall investment needs in national energy generation plans. Moreover, between neighboring countries with varying energy resource endowments, power trading enables grids to access the cheapest power sources available. A good example is in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, where power trading has been promoted for about 25 years now. Tapping the enormous hydropower potential of the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and Myanmar has the added environmental benefit of replacing dirty coal-fired plants. Since the power production of both countries far outstrips their domestic demand, the Lao PDR and Myanmar export their excess hydropower to the Peoples Republic of China, Thailand and Vietnam, all of which need more energy to continue growing. The hydropower exporters also take advantage of the neighboring grid to electrify remote border communities. The member countries of the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) programme are in a similar situation. Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar have enormous hydropower potential far in excess of current local demand, which can be exported to rapidly growing but energy-constrained economies such as Bangladesh and India. SASEC countries have been actively forging bilateral and regional arrangements for power trade, recognising that these will help further tap cheaper and cleaner energy sources within the sub-region. They also enable them to jointly share in developing new capacity or in the use of already available capacity. ADB is actively backing these efforts by supporting projects like the 114 MW run-of-the-river Dagachhu hydropower plant in Bhutan, which now provides reliable power supply to about 9,000 rural households and allows the Himalayan kingdom to export 750 gigawatt hours per year of clean energy to replace electricity from thermal plants in India. This project is widely considered the first certified cross-border project in the world under clean development mechanism. Energy cooperation An interesting variation on these traditional power trading projects are grid-to-grid connections. Instead of exporting power from a generation plant to a grid, grid-to-grid connections entail direct transfer of power from one national grid to another. For instance, Bangladesh now imports up to 500 MW from India under a 2013 project supported by a US$ 112 million ADB loan. In four years, this grid-to-grid connection has significantly improved power supply and cost, and reduced power interruptions in Bangladesh, where shortages were rampant at the time. The two countries are now looking to double the capacity of their power trading arrangement financed through another ADB loan of US$ 120 million. SASEC countries recognise that strengthening energy cooperation can help them to cope better with emerging energy sector challenges such as rapidly increasing energy access needs and emphasis on climate change mitigation. Under the 2016-2025 Operational Plan, SASEC countries are looking to expand energy trade infrastructure, and boost power trading with the overall goal of creating a sub-regional power market. SASEC countries need to continue interacting at all levels to address remaining barriers to power trade. These include absence of adequate cross-border transmission capacity, and lack of clarity on regulatory oversight on cross-border trade. Continuing efforts to enlighten the decision makers and other stakeholders is key in this regard. Also, harmonising technical and regulatory requirements, such as a common cross-border transmission grid-code, rules and regulations for open access to transmission facilities, and identifying optimal investments for cross-border trade are both critical for further power trade development. ADBs SASEC programme can continue to facilitate these activities with lessons and experience from other regions, and by providing advice and much needed financing. The current bilateral arrangements for power trading among SASEC countries need to gradually expand in their volume and beyond two-country agreements. Some initiatives in this regard can already be seen, like the agreement to export power from a specific generator in Nepal to Bangladesh through transmission grid in India, and preliminary discussions for Bangladesh to invest in a hydropower plant in Bhutan. We hope they will further expand in the near future. More bilateral and multilateral power trading can pave the way to developing a single interconnected power market in the SASEC region that will benefit all countries. In such a market, the power systems of all the SASEC countries would be integrated through adequate cross-border transmission capacity, so that the countries can share their generation with each other. Under this arrangement, smaller countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka would rely on the market to provide reserve generation capacity, lowering their own investment costs, while fossil fuel-based generation in Bangladesh and India would be replaced with cleaner hydropower from Bhutan and Nepal. A single interconnected power market is a clear win for SASEC countries. ADB will continue to support efforts to achieve this goal. (Priyantha Wijayatunga is the Director (Energy Division), South Asia Regional Department of the Asian Development Bank) News / National by Staff reporter Botswana Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Pelenomi Vincent Moitoi has delivered a special message to President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his counterpart President Ian Khama congratulating him on his recent appointment and also indicating areas of further cooperation between the two countries.Dr Moitoi said the relationship between the two countries is bound to grow from strength to strength following the smooth transition of power in Zimbabwe.Botswana ambassador to Zimbabwe Lieutenant General Louis Fisher accompanied the minister to the meeting which was also attended by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Major General Sibusiso Moyo.Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa is currently chairing a Zanu-PF politburo meeting whose agenda is to discuss final preparations of the extraordinary congress set to be held this Friday.Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa will also brief the politburo on the progress of ZIM ASSET while the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Air Marshal Perrance Shiri will brief the meeting on the progress of command agriculture and preparations for the summer cropping season. News / National by Staff reporter Home Affairs minister Obert Mpofu has challenged the police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to end smuggling at the country's border posts and contribute towards revival of the economy.He said the two organisations were failing in their duties of creating sustainable employment across the country by promoting illegal activities."The norm is that various employees of government are deployed at the border posts. These include the police, immigration, Zimra officials, among many."How then do cases of smuggling that rob the fiscus of the much-needed revenue become common place at such places? Is there anything wrong with our policies?"How best can we plug off revenue leakages in order to grow our economy?" he queried.Mpofu challenged all departments to meaningfully and collectively contribute to the realisation of a professionally, properly and profitably run economy."Working together we can improve the lives of our fellow citizens and reduce the incidence of poverty," he said.This comes as the Zimbabwe Republic Police has come under fire from various stakeholders for fuelling corruption and hampering tourism growth by their numerous roadblocks in the past few months before thecoming in of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.However, Zimra has been working around the clock to collect revenue and has for the last nine months surpassed its targets.In the nine months to September, Zimra collected $2,789 billion against a target of $2.5 billion.Zimra chairperson Willia Bonyongwe said her organisation believes that current collections are still a tip of the iceberg and is determined to stir up management to re-double the current measures to ensure increased compliance."The authority will continue with its anti-corruption initiatives including effective utilisation of the anti-corruption hot line, lifestyle audits, whistle blower facility and of late, engaging our political leadership in Parliament to assist in education for the taxpayers in their various constituencies."Zimra is also lobbying government to make the penalties for tax evasion more deterrent including disgorgement and even time in jail.Most developed and developing countries treat tax evasion as a very serious crime," she added. News / National by Staff reporter Former President Robert Mugabe appears to be an enduring source of inspiration for Dendera music star Suluman Chimbetu.A year after composing a song titled Chirombo which borrowed the statement "Ndiri kunzwa masimba ekupinda muzana, kuita kunge munhu uya ari kumhanya race..." from Mugabe's birthday interview, Suluman has done it again.This time around the Dendera star has composed a song titled Asante Sana once again quoting the veteran nationalist. After a meeting with Zimbabwe Defence Forces commanders headed by Constantino Chiwenga, who were pushing him to resign, Mugabe shocked many when he simply said "Asante Sana." Loosely translated "Asante Sana" is a Swahili phrase that means "thank you a lot" in English.Asante Sana, which has become a common phrase among Zimbabweans largely thanks to Mugabe, has now formed a basis of a song that Suluman hopes will be a hit.The Dendera artiste sampled the song during his concerts over the weekend much to the delight of his fans."I was inspired by mdara Bob (Mugabe) to pen the song Asante Sana. The song is found on my forthcoming project. I haven't yet decided on the title of the album."The song will remind people of what the former president said: ini newe tine basa rekushandira Zimbabwe (We have a role to play in building Zimbabwe)...," Suluman told the Daily News.The Dendera artiste is hopeful that Asante Sana will follow in the footsteps of Chirombo which was one of the standout tracks of his latest album Jamboree.Sulu's latest album, on which he sang about the deteriorating political and economic situation in the country, has been hailed by music critics as the dendera artiste's best to date.The politically potent album includes the track "Moses" which he pleads for a Moses to take people away from Pharoah's cruelty and bondage.Another favourite of many is "Tiringwe" in which Sulu calls for God's intervention and guidance to rescue people from the harsh economic conditions prevailing in the country, adding that people are working tirelessly in a bid to make ends meet. News / National by Stephen Jakes MDC-T official Chalton Hwende has said the MDC-T delegation to US is over government's defiance on human rights upholding."The Zanu PF propaganda on our delegation to the US deficient of reasoning international isolation and targeted Sanctions were for human rights abuses(e.g. Dzamara , the murder of opposition supporters in 2008 etc ), not respecting the rule of law including the constitution & property rights, rigged elections etc. These can be objectively assessed by anyone," he said."What has ED (Emmerson Mnangagwa) done to address these concerns apart from his nice speech and going to work on a Saturday. We are still denied access to the State Media, ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) is still controlled by the junta, our applications for rallies are still being denied, soldiers are in the streets committing human rights abuses, selective application of the law is still the order of the Day, Agriculture inputs in Rural areas are still being given only to Zanu PF supporters."He said what has changed only is the portrait of Robert Mugabe in public offices. News / National by Staff reporter Civic and opposition groups in Matabeleland region have challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government to show commitment towards providing meaningful national healing to the victims of the Gukurahundi atrocities.Among some of the steps that government should take, include allowing the organ on Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation, to work independent of the President's Office.This came out during a discussion on possibilities in the aftermath of former president Robert Mugabe departure which was organised by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) in conjunction with WILD and Norwegian Peoples Aid whose theme was "Post 37 years of Mugabe's rule wither Zimbabwe and Possibilities for National Healing.""It's quite a very emotive issue where we find that from this part of the region, we actually have stateless persons who don't actually belong to Zimbabwe or to any part of the southern region."Because of that we become excluded from any developmental processes and you are excluded from participation. I think it's an issue that we need to address as a nation and we need to get to the root cause of it," said civic leader, Liberty Bhebhe.An estimated 20 000 people were killed in a government-sanctioned operation in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces which became known as Gukurahundi.Government said it was an operation targeted at containing insurrection which was being driven by alleged members of Zapu, claims which were dismissed by rights groups who argued that it was a well-orchestrated plan to create a one party State by Mugabe and Zanu PF.During the discussion matters almost boiled over as panellists and delegates reacted with anger at Mnangagwa's special adviser, Christopher Mutsvangwa, whose remarks on Gukurahundi, torched off a fresh storm on the emotive issue."The departure of Mugabe has revealed that change can happen so now there is an opportunity to make sure that we begin to push for the things that we need in terms of ensuring that national healing happens."We need an independent National Peace and Reconciliation Commission; we do not need it to be controlled from the office of the president.Allow the commission to function, give it the tools to enable it function," Bhebhe told delegates.Outspoken MDC deputy national spokesperson Thabitha Khumalo said Mnangagwa and his government had an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past which have driven thousands of undocumented people into neighbouring South Africa."Why are people from Matabeleland scattered in South Africa because they do not have national identity cards. These are the hazards of Gukurahundi. So where are we healing here when the people who are supposed to heal have decided to eke a living in a country where they are working like dogs?," said Khumalo.Feisty director of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) pressure group - Jenni Williams whose organisation had many run-ins with Mugabe government - said the people of Matabeleland needed to unite on what they wanted done to have the emotive issue given full attention by the authorities."National healing will not occur until we decide to be united on what we want and how we want it." News / National by Staff Reporter The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Retired Major General Dr Sibusiso Moyo says it is shocking to watch fellow Zimbabweans led by Tendai Biti, Dewa Mavhinga and Peter Godwin take turns before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to tarnish and further soil the image of their country, Zimbabwe.In a statement to the ZBC News, Dr Moyo said it is ironic that fellow Zimbabweans were performing their macabre charade only hours after he had met the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Harry Thomas Junior in his office in Harare, amicably to outline how the two nations could re-engage and pursue measures which will benefit people from both countries.US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Zimbabwe in Washington DC"Zimbabwe's new government has been in office for shorter than two weeks [and] it is staggering that these gentlemen should have expected the deeds of 37 years to be corrected and livelihoods improved in such a short time," he said."As if that myopia was not enough, the trio and others requested their American hosts for more of the same policies which have inflicted suffering on our people. How could any serious putative future leader of our country ask that ZIDERA remains in place?" the Minister added.He also said Zimbabweans from all walks of life know that the damaging US sanctions against Zimbabwe cause little discomfort to the political elite and the well-off, as represented by the trio on their junkate in Washington DC.Instead, he said, "All of us should be working to revive our economy, till our fertile soil and trade more competitively so that we all realise better health delivery, education and improved welfare in general."Retired Major General Moyo also said any internal disagreements should be resolved by Zimbabweans engaging with one another."There is no need to invite outside referees whose own fate has no relationship to ours. Let us advance our political goals without inviting punitive measures by strangers on our fellow citizens," he said.On next year's elections, Retired Major General Moyo as President Emmerson Mnangagwa said upon taking office, Zimbabwe shall hold peaceful elections in 2018 guided by SADC principles and African Union recommendations."Any leadership changes can therefore be gotten at the ballot box. There is no need to go abroad and seek assistance to further harm one's own country. All Zimbabweans are free to canvas for political fortunes of their choice. Let us do this without reversing the promise of our new dawn. All nations of goodwill are invited to assist us to regain our position in the family of nations, not as beggars but, as a prospering and vibrant democracy," he said.He also said it is therefore incumbent upon every Zimbabwean to contribute towards the elimination of any threats to the peace and stability of the country. News / Press Release by Khulani David Ndhlovu Revolutionary greetings comrades. Land is the most vital resource of socio-economic development. It was the main grievance of Black Africans that led to the struggle for independence. Therefore, attainment of independence without land led to the creation of what Franz Fanon labelled as pseudo or flag independence. Professor Nomboniso Gasa in one of her articles on land asserted that land is a metaphor for freedom, belonging and security. Proper and sound land reform policies must guide the redistribution project and ensure transparency. Professor Gasa concluded that populist fantasia will not provide panacea to the land question, but sound land reform policies might.The Zimbabwean land reform project was poorly executed. It only favoured the political elite, especially Zanu Pf ultra-loyalists, friends and relatives. Furthermore, it was littered with violence and bloodshed hence it lost its credibility before the humane citizens and the international community.In his inauguration speech, Mnangagwa pronounced that the land reform will not be reversed. What is disturbing in his move to give back land to a few white farmers. What will happen to the other farmers who lost their farms in the same fashion? Are these white farmers who are getting their land back his handlers? Why cant the process be transparent?If land is to be given back to a few white farmers, then the whole programme must be reversed. Preferential treatment of the white farmers must be condemned. The white farmers must therefore, be treated the same because they are all equal before the law and the throne of grace.The case in point is the Manhanga issue. Trevor Manhanga, a Zimbabwean cleric who has close ties with the Mugabes was given a directive by President Mnangagwa's government to vacate the farm he grabbed from Robert Smart in Rusape, in June 2017.Smart was evicted from his farm in June after a heavily armed Zimbabwean riot police besieged his property and forcefully pushed him out to pave way for Manhanga. The act was uncostitutional and therefore, a violation of Smart's property rights.Zanu Pf committed the worst land fraud. Land was violently grabbed from white farmers and given to Zanu Pf heavy weights, suporters and friends. It was not fairly distributed to the landless citizens. That is not land reform at all but land theft by Zanu Pf.Zimbabwe still has today, poor landless citizens. Such citizens are not free indeed because they resort to squatting and renting. A proper land redistribution programme must bail the poor from socio-economic misery and eventually economically empower them. It must ensure fair land distribution to all the citizens regardless of their political affiliation and ethnic extraction.All we need is a fair land audit which will strip those politicians with multiple farms of some of their farms. Mugabe, Mnangagwa, Chiwenga et al have multiple farms hence the need for land auditing, and a transparent land redistribution process.The 'one man one farm' concept must be constitutionalised. The farms seized from the Zanu Pf multiple farm holders must be leased out to white farmers for a prescribed period of time. The black farmers must be given financial support by the government to increase their agricultural productivity. Leasing out farms to white farmers and giving out financial support to black farmers can possibly revive the Zimbabwean agrarian economy.Zimbabwe does not belong to Zanu Pf and its supporters, but to all who live in it. Land does not belong only to those with fat liberation credentials, but to all the citizens of Zimbabwe. There is no citizen who is more equal than the other or a breed apart.Victory is certain, allutta continua.NPP National youth spokesperson Khulani David Ndhlovu News / Press Release by Obert Chaurura Gutu The MDC is a social democratic political party that firmly believes in the full and total re- integration of Zimbabwe into the international comity of nations. Zimbabwe cannot afford to remain as a reclusive pariah state whilst the rest of the world is moving closer together by forming progressive regional and international alliances that foster political stability and socio-economic growth and integration. Thus, we shall continue to vigorously pursue a diplomatic thrust that is deliberately targeted at stabilising our beloved country politically, economically, morally and socially. In fact, it is a truism that Zimbabwe needs the world more than the world needs Zimbabwe.To enable Zimbabwe to be fully re-integrated into the global community, there are certain essential deliverables that have to be discharged. First and foremost, we should be able to conduct free and fair elections that do not give rise to disputed and contested results. We sincerely hope and trust that the Zimbabwe government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa shall honestly work towards the cultivation of a conducive political environment that will guarantee the holding of free and fair elections in 2018. In this respect, therefore, we demand that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) should be adequately capacitated to enable them to run credible, free and fair elections next year.We also look forward to a situation whereby the military shall promptly return to the barracks in order to avoid the perception that Zimbabwe is now a military state that is being run by a military junta. Of course, we are acutely aware of the fact that more often than not, perception can easily be deduced as reality. In addition, the MDC also calls upon the freeing of the State-owned print and electronic media to enable all political players to have free and unfettered access, in tandem with the dictates of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.Traditional leaders should abide by their constitutional mandate of being apolitical. Zanu PF should not abuse the institution of traditional leadership by directly and indirectly converting traditional leaders into de facto political commissars of the ruling party. The MDC shall continue to respect the institution of traditional leadership and in fact, we call upon the implementation of programs that adequately remunerate all traditional leaders in order to maintain their dignity and respectability.As a patriotic and homegrown political party, the MDC doesn't call for the imposition of sanctions against the Republic of Zimbabwe. We would like to participate in the socio - economic regeneration of our beloved motherland and as such, sanctions remain an anathema in our political discourse. The government of Zimbabwe should allow all its citizens to enjoy their fundamental rights and liberties as fully provided for by the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Political parties should be given the leeway and latitude to lawfully go about their day to day activities without any undue interference and/or hindrance by any organ of the State.MDC: Equal Opportunities for AllObert Chaurura GutuMDC National Spokesperson Opinion / Columnist Robert Mugabe, one of Africa's longest-serving, and worst, presidents is gone after 37 years of misruling the southern African country of Zimbabwe.That is cause for rejoicing. It was not a voluntary retirement. In late November, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces swooped into the capital, Harare, to arrest "criminals around" him, his wife (and heir-apparent) Grace, and a number of politicians associated with Grace.The "coup" was the latest development in a years' long battle within the ruling Zanu PF party over who would succeed Mugabe, who is 93.Sadly, Mugabe's successor is unlikely to be much of an improvement. The military installed as the new leader former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, one of Mugabe's enforcers.In the 1980s, Mnangagwa was central to the Gukurahundi massacre campaign in opposition stronghold areas of Zimbabwe. At least 20 000 people died in that campaign.Mnangagwa has been under United States sanctions for nearly 15 years for "undermining democratic processes or institutions." Institutionally, the Zanu PF system that enthusiastically empowered Mugabe remains intact.Mnangagwa is a long-standing party pillar, and now its head, and Mugabe-era Zanu PF officials, dominate the Cabinet he announced on November 30.The "coup" also appears to have only strengthened the kleptocratic and the military's hand.Mnangagwa rewarded his patrons by appointing two senior officers to the Cabinet: Major General Sibusiso Moyo, who announced the "coup" on Zimbabwean television, and Air Marshal Perrance Shiri, who led the brigade accused of being responsible for the Gukurahundi massacre.As bleak as the situation is, there are some opportunities for Zimbabweans who want a free and democratic country.The party's 2015 expulsion of former presidential contender Joice Mujuru likely shrank its base with voters loyal to her. Doubtless, there are more than a few Mugabe devotees now disgruntled over the party's treatment of their heroes.Mnangagwa also faces a difficult task ahead. He has promised to follow through with scheduled elections next year, but he is unlikely to win them given his unpopularity with many Zimbabweans unhappy with his past.That means he will either have to delay the contest or steal a page from the old Zanu PF playbook.Certainly, he will need as much Zanu PF and military support as he can muster. That will require resuscitating the patronage networks that sustained Mugabe in power. Given the blighted state of the Zimbabwean economy, that could be difficult.Zimbabwe also has a feisty civil society that Mugabe was unable to crush, and a number of competent and accomplished opposition figures.However, the opposition has frequently been divided; it must heal those rifts if it is to have a chance to seize the opportunity. The difficult task before the international community is to use what little leverage it has to help pressure Mnangagwa into staging genuinely equitable elections - for the first time in nearly four decades.Until there are signs of progress, the US should not lift any of the sanctions it has on Zimbabwe's leadership.Washington should work with its allies that have interests in Zimbabwe to bring concerted pressure on the regime. It can also offer economic and diplomatic support to kick in after a free and fair election.Only Zimbabweans can break the Zanu PF stranglehold on their country. Doing so will be difficult, and it will not be accomplished overnight.It will require the many Zimbabweans who resisted Mugabe's regime to continue striving for a free Zimbabwe.The US and the rest of the international community should do what it can to support their efforts to prevent one dictator from replacing another. Meservey is The Heritage Foundation's senior policy analyst for Africa and the Middle East. Former New York City Ballet dancer Wilhelmina Frankfurt first spoke out about sexual misconduct at NYCB in Psychology Tomorrow in 2012. Since October, shes been working with The Washington Post reporter Sarah Kaufman for a story about Peter Martins, and when the School of American Ballet began investigating Martins for an anonymous accusation, she was called in to discuss her experiences. But Frankfurt feels theres more to the larger picture, and shares that here with Dance Magazine, as edited by Maggie Levin. In 1994, I began to write a book of essays about my life in dancemostly as an exercise. When the #MeToo movement began this year, I knew it was time to brush the dust off and take another look. Although incomplete, these essays addressed the roots that have long run between sexual abuse, alcoholism and ballet. They involve George Balanchine, Peter Martins and numerous stars of the New York City Ballet. Its painfully clear that my story is the same story that has occurred thousands of times, all over the world. That story is essentially this: An abused and/or fatherless child is brought by an ambitious mother to the court of the fairytale castle to perform for the drunken king. The girl soon learns how to get and keep his attentionand roles in ballets. She learns how to maneuver in a deviant, alcoholic culture. She learns how to ignore boys her own age and seduce old rich men who write checks for the company. Andif she is smartshe marries one of them before she is 30. For by that age, shes usually too old to dance. One of my essays was published in Psychology Tomorrow magazine in 2012, and in light of the Harvey Weinstein accusations, I unearthed the link and posted it to my personal Facebook page. It sparked a conversation about the sexual misconduct and the abuse of power in the ballet world. The subject became Peter Martins. He is currently being investigated. I have, to this date been contacted by all interested parties in the press, the School of American Ballet and the law firm conducting the investigation for both NYCB and SAB to speak out further about Martins. I have the utmost respect for Sarah Kaufman from The Washington Post, whom I worked with on this for months. Kelly Cass Boals story of mental and physical abuse in The Washington Post paints a clear picture of that aspect. Am I a victim of Martins abuse? Yes. Was it sexual? Yes. Was it consensual? No. But my own trauma is a surmountable issue. What keeps me up at night is the thought of how many dancers still live in fear, subject to the confused sexuality and morality of these powerful people. Why are they not educated, informed and protected? And who are the adults that turn their heads the other way, knowing what they know? I pose this question: Is Martins being thrown under the bus to avoid addressing the larger, more deep-seated problem? Shouldnt the board of directors of both organizations and all related organizations be a part of this investigation? Unearthing lurid details of past abuses for public consumption is, to me, far less important than exposing 35 years of cover-ups, mismanagement, greed and corruptionall of which created a toxic, dangerous work environment for generations of vulnerable dancers. Thank you Dance Magazine for the opportunity to speak in my own voice! Opinion / Columnist "Botswana Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Pelenomi Vincent Moitoi has delivered a special message to President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his counterpart President Ian Khama congratulating him on his recent appointment and also indicating areas of further cooperation between the two countries," reported Bulawayo 24."Dr Moitoi said the relationship between the two countries is bound to grow from strength to strength following the smooth transition of power in Zimbabwe."Given Zimbabwe turbulent political history under this Zanu PF dictatorship, forcing Mugabe to resign at gun point was always on the cards the fact that the thug, on this occasion, did not pull the trigger has to be seen as a bonus and thus constitute a "smooth transition of power".It is a great pity that President Ian Khama was the only SADC leader who refused to endorse Zanu PF's 2013 rigged election as a free and fair. If the other leaders had followed his lead Zimbabwe would have been forced to implement the democratic reforms and last month's coup would have been avoided.Next year's election will not be free, fair and credible because none of the democratic reforms agreed in 2008 have been implemented. The regime will not produce a verified voters' roll because the voter registration exercise which should have started three years ago only got underway three months ago. There is no free press. The regime continues to spend billions of dollars from looted diamonds to bankroll its various vote rigging schemes, etc.If SADC rubber stamp another rigged Zimbabwe election then we should not be surprised if the next transition of power is not as smooth. After waiting for over four decades for free, fair and credible elections, who can guarantee that not even one of the next coup thugs will have a twitchy trigger-finger.SADC leaders have another chance next year to end Zimbabwe's political crisis before these Zanu PF thugs drag the nation and the region into the abyss, "kwamvura yacheka makumbo," as one would say in Shona. Opinion / Columnist President Emmerson Mnangagwa please could you attend to our plight as urgently as you can? In Bindura, there is a State University of Science Education which is headed by a gentleman who has well documented cases of corruption and nepotism. This gentleman was said to have been under investigation for corruption according to the Financial Gazette sometime in June 2017. The outcome of that investigation was either suppressed or blatantly ignored.The levels of corruption and nepotism at the institution has reached alarming levels. The man brought in his wife to the institution without the latter being interviewed as is expected of all employees. As if that was not enough he is now forcing the Department to which the lady was imposed to promote her to the position of Senior Lecturer despite the fact that the lady has a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Administration, an MBA and a PhD in Church leadership which qualifications are not suitable for teaching in the Masters' degree in Business Leadership (MBL) where the lady in question is stationed. The MBL programme is a part-time programme yet this lady together with two other gentlemen are full time members of staff. Is it fair that one brings their wife to come and sit while earning a full time salary when she does not hold relevant qualifications and is supposedly doing part-time work? Is the government aware that money is being abused through paying people who will be doing absolutely nothing like this? Does this not go against the new trajectory promulgated by the President and the Minister of Finance's quest for streamlining costs?The same Vice Chancellor not so long ago was championing the misplaced glorification of the former first lady and was even the one who came up with the idea of printing T-shirts for the function which was then fortunately never held. To score points with the lady, he had even attempted to compel lecturers to attend that interface rally. The lecturers refused to participate in that. It came as a shocker to many people to see the same Vice Chancellor all of a sudden pretending to be in support of the new President who is against corruption. Your Excellency, please be wary of these chameleonic individuals who would want to charm their way into your trust especially those who have been engaging in graft for a very long period of time.Perchance this Vice Chancellor was not being brought to book on account of his political leanings then, that is, the G40 cabal. One wonders why the then Minister of Higher Education was not curtailing the vice of this Vice Chancellor! He, with impunity, engages in unnecessary legal battles with staff, students and other stakeholders. Just yesterday, a University bus as well as two trucks were about to be attached by the Messenger of Courts for refusal to pay an architect who designed some structures at the University. While all that was happening, the Vice Chancellor was busy abusing the meagre University funds by buying a bogus award for Education Leadership where 21 of those gullibly hungry for recognition individuals were said to have "won" the award which he "won" previously in 2015 in Mauritius. Strange enough the said award's keynote address was delivered by the erstwhile Minister of Tourism and the former Minister of Higher Education also "won" an award from the same institution in 2015. This G40 cabal's scheme of pretending to be winning awards when they were or are using the country's scarce resources should not be allowed to continue unabated. The former Minister of Higher Education was so busy protecting his young "brother" in crime to the extent that he even stuffed the University with Councillors who are either unqualified or too timid to be useful. The former Minister even went to the extent of imposing a Council Chairman who is his daughter's boss and is clueless on how institutions of this nature are governed who holds a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Economics from Nigeria, not that Nigeria is material to this discussion, but simply put this Chairman is incompetent. It seems the appointment of this Chairman was part of a well-orchestrated grand scheme to ensure that this corrupt Vice Chancellor will be forever protected despite his depravity. Could you please force the Ministry of Higher Education to publicize the Report on the Corruption of the Vice Chancellor? Funny enough the G40 appointed University Council also has as its Vice Chairperson some wife of a former short-lived G40 Minister!The University is being run down by this immature person who thinks that he can fool those in power by pretending to be in support of them thereby entrenching his stay at the helm of the Unversity. Students and staff are so demoralized and demotivated especially so after being chucked out of a bus that was ferrying them to an examinations as the bus was about to be attached by the Sheriff's Department. This man is obnoxious to say the least as he unrestrainedly abuses power while pretending to be so powerful whenever he feels he has acquired power. He has sent out eviction notices on those of us in University accommodation citing that the reason for our eviction is that we do not hold PhD degrees yet there are University houses that have gone for years without occupants since the last round evictions that this greenhorn effected on staff. The situation has been made worse by the useless University Council that was appointed by the former Minister of Highers Education. I do not think the Council members, apart from the Chair and his Deputy even hold degrees at all. If that is so, would it be proper for those who do not holder at least a degree to be the ones providing strategic oversight of a University?Your Excellency, please could you attend to the issues that are bedevilling the University as a matter of urgency? You are the Chancellor of this University and do not be fooled by this Vice Chancellor who has always been a part of Grace Mugabe's protectorate. I would implore you to go after facts and nothing but facts! This immature man is a liar and even has no shame as he calls himself a Reverend in spite of his many unthinkable acts that make him dishonourable. Unitech alleged that takeover of management of company by Centre would make it difficult for them to deposit Rs 750 cr. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the December 8 order of the company law tribunal NCLT allowing the Centre to take over the management of embattled realty firm Unitech Limited. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the statement of Attorney General K K Venugopal that the government should not have moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) when the apex court was seized of the matter. The apex court, which had on Tuesday expressed unhappiness over the Centre's move to approach the NCLT, said the stay on the company law tribunal's order would meet the ends of the justice. The top court had on Tuesday asked the Centre why it had not taken the apex court's permission to move the NCLT for suspension of Unitech's directors and their substitution by government nominees. Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the real estate firm and its promoters, had said that the apex court had given time to Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra to negotiate from jail to sell assets to generate Rs 750 crore for refunding money to home buyers but, in the meantime, the Centre has approached the NCLT. Rohatgi had claimed that the NCLT did not issue notice to the firm and its directors and passed the interim order, which was virtually a final order, and allowed the Centre to take over the firm. Earlier, the apex court had agreed to hear on Wednesday the appeal of Unitech Limited challenging the NCLT order allowing the Centre to take over its management. The NCLT, on December 8, had suspended all the eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mismanagement and siphoning of funds and had authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nominees on the board. The NCLT order had come after the Centre moved the panel with a view to protect the interests of nearly 20,000 home buyers. Unitech alleged that the takeover of the management of the company by the Centre would make it difficult for them to deposit Rs 750 crore as directed by the apex court to safeguard the interests of homebuyers. Sanjay Chandra, head of the embattled real estate group, was asked on October 30 by the apex court to deposit Rs 750 crore with it by December end for the sake of the homebuyers. The apex court had on October 30 said Chandra will be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December end. Chandra's lawyer had told the apex court that he has been required to be produced in various courts, consumer forum and commissions on a regular basis which hampered his endeavour to arrange money and hence, the production warrants issued against him by various judicial bodies be stayed for 15 days. He had also said that the accused be allowed to appear in courts through his lawyers.The plea was declined. The apex court had also clarified that its earlier order directing all courts below not to take any coercive action against the accused for the time being would also be made applicable on all forums including state and national consumer commissions. The top court had earlier directed jail authorities to facilitate Chandra's meeting with his company officials and lawyers so that he could arrange money to refund homebuyers as well as for completing the ongoing housing projects. It had said if any proceedings were pending against Chandra and the company, those may continue and the final order be passed but no coercive steps be taken to execute those orders. Chandra is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home buyers of Unitech projects' -- 'Wild Flower Country' and 'Anthea Project' -- in Gurugram. Before Saif Ali Khan, Fawad Khan, who faced trouble during 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' for being a Pakistani, could have played the role. Mumbai: Director Akshat Verma says Saif Ali Khan was the first choice for his directorial venture 'Kaalakaandi', but at one point, the makers did approach Fawad Khan to play the same part. Akshat has revealed that when the film was with UTV, they were in talks with Fawad to play the role, which is now being played by Saif. "Fawad was supposed to be one of the actors we talked to when the project was with UTV. It was around 2013... He was going to play the role Saif plays. But ultimately everything happens for a reason and for the best. No one could have done the role better than Saif," Akshat says in an interview with PTI. 'Kaalakaandi' chronicles the story of six characters from different worlds of Mumbai in a span of 12 hours and how the lives of complete strangers intersect. Interestingly, Akshat says his "instinct for Saif was right" as he had written the film initially keeping him in mind. "When I first messaged Saif, I didn't get a reply from him. When I finally met him, it was almost two years to the date I had texted him, and I still have the message saved. "This time, he had read the script because Ashi (Dua, one of the producers) had sent it to him. He said 'ok we are on' in five minutes. So the time period was, on one hand, two years and on the other, just five minutes to get Saif," he adds. Akshat dived into the world of 'Kaalakaandi' right after his big hit 'Delhi Belly', which he had written. He took nearly a year to write the script of 'Kaalakaandi' but, the project went through "a mad roller coaster ride." "It is common knowledge that the film was earlier with UTV; we were about to shoot, but four days before, that the project was shut down. After that things fell apart, we had to put it together again. Everything takes time," he said. Both 'Delhi Belly' and 'Kaalakaandi' fall in the genre of dark comedy, which is rarely explored in Bollywood. When asked is it because his scripts are so unconventional that people don't really understand his language and vision, Akshat says, "Often people say they enjoy the script, love it, but (it is) not enough to make it as a film. It is like breaking up with someone by saying 'I love you but not enough to marry you.'" But can the waiting period be frustrating and the director says, "it is the most disappointing part". "You feel that the time seems to move in six months chunk. Suddenly you look up, and the year has gone by, it seems you haven't done anything. You have been trying, waiting, they (makers) read your script, get back to you, six months have gone by, and then they say 'no,'" he said. In this scenario, where a project is being delayed and people are not willing to back your vision, Akshat says the only way to keep himself motivated was by being "stubborn." Produced by Cinestaan Film Company and Ashi Dua Sara of Flying Unicorn, the film stars Saif along with Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala, Akshay Oberoi, Isha Talwar, Shenaz Treasury, Shivam Patil, Amyra Dastur and Neil Bhoopalam. 'Kaalakaandi' is scheduled to release on January 12 next year. While actress Shruti Haasan continues to maintain stoic silence and has not confirmed her relationship with rumoured actor boyfriend Michael Corsale, the photos of the couple hanging out together are creating a splash all over. Shrutis British beau was seen by her side at the Cannes Film Festival 2017. And now, the two have been spending quality time together at several hotspots in Mumbai. Setting the tongues wagging further, the two even graced a close friends wedding recently, much to her fans surprise and even posed for the shutterbugs. It looks like family approves too! Kamal Haasan met the alleged love birds earlier this year and even Sarika was snapped with the couple in Mumbai recently. Not surprisingly then, Shrutis latest photograph with Michael only makes everyone wonder whether a wedding is on the cards! With the couple making all the right moves, will Shruti take her relationship to the next level, just like her industry colleagues Samantha and Anushka Sharma? Only time will tell. She fell in love with Kannada movies thanks to her film Govindaya Namah and its most popular tune Pyarge Agbittaite. Such was the popularity of her role in it, that she is still referred to as the Pyarge Aagbittaite girl. Later, she followed it with back-to-back commercial successes including Bachchan, Vaastu Prakara, Uppi 2, Aatagara, Killing Veerappan and the latest blockbuster Jessie. The lovely actress from Mumbai, Parul Yadav is flying high with a colourful quadrilingual remake of the Bollywood blockbuster Queen. While she portrays the role of Kangana Ranaut in the Kannada remake Butterfly, she has also ventured into production. She speaks exclusively with Bengaluru Chronicle about her dual role as actress and as one of the co-producers of the Queen remake in four languages, and more. When I first saw Queen, my first thought was that it was simply outstanding in every term and Kangana Ranaut undoubtedly gave a top notch performance. She is impeccable in it. But can such a film be remade? That was another thought that crossed my mind. Initially, it did seem difficult and when the remake venture came to me, I was thrilled and nervous too. When I decided to co-produce it along with a few others for a mega quadrilingual remake project, the excitement just got multipled four times over, says Parul Yadav. Multilingual versatile actor-turned-director Ramesh Aravind is directing the remake in all four languages Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Parul Yadav plays the role of the protagonist in the Kannada version titled Butterfly while Kajal Aggarwal plays the female lead in Tamil. Tammannah in Telugu, and Manjima Mohan in Malayalam. The actress-turned-producer says that it is her first ever remake venture. In fact, during the initial days of the shoot, I faced some difficulties portraying the role, as it is completely opposite to what I am in real life a modern girl who is born and brought up in Mumbai. Whereas portraying a girl from a small town like Gokarna, who has never been to a city and never flown abroad was quite a challenge to me. Eventually, workshops followed, and I started living in the character, and enjoying it. Hope, I have pulled it off, Parul shares. Being part of the production team along with being the lead actress, she had a great experience shooting in foreign locations, especially France, with temperatures dipping as low as 5 degree Celsius. The best past was shooting simultaneously in two different remote locations in France. We actresses would bump into each other often, and it was fun. Insofar as the remake is concerned, Ramesh Aravind Sir is impressive as ever with some changes owing to the nativity. The core subject remains the same. The director has retained flavour, and though it is a remake, its made with a new freshness, she says, adding that though all four actresses are portraying the lead role of Rani from Queen, each one has given her best, and now there will be five different Ranis including Kanganas adding their own charm and elegance to the role. The shoot of this mega quadrilingual remake is almost done, about 80 per cent, and the team is planning a mid-2018 release. While the recently released look of Ram Charans character, Chitti Babu from Rangasthalam did generate a great deal of buzz, many leaked pictures of Samanthas new avatar in the film have also been doing the rounds. Seen in a total de-glam appearance, many got an insight into her role in the film, but it hasnt gone down well with the makers for sure. And so, Laxman Rao, the manager of the films production house, Mythri Movie Makers, lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Unit on Monday, sharing that four pictures from the sets of the film, that featured Samantha, were leaked unofficially. In his complaint, he has stated that the leak will affect the promotional activities of the film and has requested stringent action to be taken about the same. Although this is not the first time something of this sort has happened, in most cases filmmakers do not resort to filing complaints. But it looks like the team of Rangasthalam decided to put their foot down and not take such untoward incidents lightly. When composer A.R. Rahman was recently asked about his interest to work in Telugu films, he cited the example of Rajamouli-Keeravani to explain how some directors and composers work in tandem. He went on to add that he doesnt want to break their harmonious marriage. Rahmans statement turns the spotlight on some of the prominent winning combinations in Tollywood and the key to their success and sustenance. I feel pleased that such filmmakers trust me and it is indeed a pleasure to work with him (Rajamouli). It only helps us grow better. Rajamouli does extensive pre-production work like having multiple workshops, reading and script sessions, etc. All these help the composer. Keeravani Setting new benchmarks S.S. Rajamouli and M.M. Keeravani have worked on 10 films together, all of which have been super hits. The director-composer duo has been setting new benchmarks in filmmaking and composing since their first outing in 2001. Says Keeravani, I feel pleased that such filmmakers trust me and it is indeed a pleasure to work with him (Rajamouli). It only helps us grow better. He adds, The key to success is to understand and visualise the script. Rajamouli does extensive pre-production work like having multiple workshops, reading and script sessions, etc. All these help the composer. Chiranjeevi and Kodandarami Reddy On the same page One of the most noteworthy combinations in Tollywood has been that of Chiranjeevi and Kodandarami Reddy. The celebrated actor-director pair of Telugu cinema in the 80s and 90s worked together on more than 25 films, most of which were super hits. Commenting on their winning streak, Kodandarami Reddy says, I used to ask my writers to stay on the sets so that things will be easy for me. Since people accepted our combination, there was always an impetus to make another film. He adds, Chiranjeevi and I were able to do several films in various genres because there was a good understanding between us and both of us were always on the same page. Also, the technicians and writers support has been invaluable. Paruchuri Brothers The Write Brothers Dialogue-writing duo Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao and Gopalakrishna hold a unique record for penning the story and dialogues for more than 350 films over a period of 40 years (the latest being Chiranjeevi-starrer Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy). Gopala-krishna says that allocation of work and transparency is the key to their award-winning combination. Gopalakrishna says, We had clarity of thought on how to go about the work. My brother Venkateswara Rao used to first write the story and then I would pen the dialogues. While my brothers strength lies in writing natural sounding dialogues, I am good at composed dialogues. Both of us can act, write and direct, but we love being called as one. My brother is my inspiration and I always follow his footsteps. Venkateswara Rao adds, Money and women cause contrasting perceptions, but luckily they did not affect our lives. Also, we understand each others strengths and know each other well. We have similar ideologies, and never do anything that the other one doesnt like. Bapu and Ramana The Millennium Friend Filmmaker Bapu aka Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana and writer Mullapudi Venkata Ramana were called Millennium Friends. While Bapus films reflected Telugu culture, Mullapudi Venkata Ramana was known for his candy floss humour writing. Their formidable combination enthralled the Telugu audiences for over 50 years. Raj Koti In tune with each othe Thotakura Somaraju and Saluri Koteswara Rao were another lethal combination that rocked Tollywood in the late 80s and 90s. Popularly known as Raj-Koti, the duo composed more than 2500 songs and won several awards for their compositions. Filmmakers used to make a beeline to bring them on board. Talking about their strong camaraderie, Koti says, Both of us were good friends even before we became composers. We used to discuss music a lot and knew each other well. After forming a team, Raj used to conduct the notation for the orchestra while I used to deal with filmmakers and other aspects. We were thus able to compose tunes and complement each other. The idea for the initiative came to their mind when their self publishing arm The Write Place started getting a lot of talented young authors who would approach them to publish their books. (Photo: Pixabay) In a first of its kind initiative, Crossword Bookstores has conceptualised a program I Want to Be an Author. where students from across Mumbai's schools will be encouraged to submit their short stories in the hopes of getting published. According to Anup Jerajani, Head (The Write Place Publishing, An Initiative of Crossword bookstores Ltd) the maximum possible number of stories, written by the children, will then be shortlisted and published in a book format by The Write Place. He further adds, The process also involves mentoring and felicitation of the young authors by some of the most reputed and renowned authors of India. As per the initiative, budding authors from the classes 5 to 10, across Mumbais schools can write to them till December 31, following which they process of collating the works will begin. According to Jerajani, the idea for the initiative came to their mind when their self publishing arm The Write Place started getting a lot of talented young authors who would approach them to publish their books. He adds, There is a plethora of writing talent all over the country. And teen authors are on the rise. We believed that it was natural for us to offer this opportunity, to school-going children and hear their stories. Fortunately, while we were conceptualising this program, Raghav Podar, Chairman Podar World Schools came forward and agreed to launch the program in his premises. The initiative has seen almost 100 schools and about 50,000 children showing active interest in it. Speaking about the ultimate goal of the initiative and the process of selection Jerajani says that their larger goal is community-building, by stimulating young minds to chronicle their experiences and encourage reading and writing amongst kids, while the process of selection involves the editorial team of The Write Place who will evaluate the short stories based on the content. Jerajani further adds that the endeavour is just in the seeding process, and they have begun the initiative in Mumbai only for the first year. He adds, We are hoping that it will grow leaps and bounds in the coming years and we hope to make this a pan-India initiative. Once the authors are selected, they will be promoted vigorously by the endeavour. Jerajani puts this down to tie-ups with influencers and the goodwill of the media to take the value -added opportunity to the masses. We would also promote it through our 96 Crossword stores and our own social media, he says, adding, The process envisaged by the initiative, also involves mentoring and felicitation of the young authors by some of the well-respected authors of India. The initiative not only allows youngsters to showcase their skills while interacting with iconic authors of India but also helps them become by having their story published by The Write Place the publishing arm of Crossword. There are wide gaps in the availability of services in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia (Photo: AFP) London: At least half the worlds population is unable to access essential health services and many others are forced into extreme poverty by having to pay for healthcare they cannot afford, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. Some 800 million people worldwide spend at least 10 percent of their household income on healthcare for themselves or a sick child, and as many as 100 million of those are left with less than $1.90 a day to live on as a result, the WHO said. In a joint report with the World Bank, the United Nations health agency said it was completely unacceptable that more than half the worlds people still dont get the most basic healthcare. If we are serious - not just about better health outcomes but also about ending poverty - we must urgently scale up our efforts on universal health coverage, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement with the report. The report had some good news: This century has seen a rise in the number of people getting services such as vaccinations, HIV/AIDS drugs, and mosquito-repelling bednets and contraception, it said. But there are wide gaps in the availability of services in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, the report found. In other regions, basic services such as family planning and child immunization are more available, but families are suffering financially to pay for them. Yong Kim said this was a sign that the system is broken. We need a fundamental shift in the way we mobilize resources for health and human capital, especially at the country level, he said. Washington: Cheetahs, one of the planet'smost iconic big cats, should be listed as "endangered", according to scientists who have found evidence of low cheetah population estimates in southern Africa. A comprehensive assessment of cheetah populations prompted the researchers to support the call for uplisting of cheetahs from "vulnerable" to "endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The study revealed that only 3,577 adult cheetahs remain in southern Africa. This estimate is 11 percent lower than the IUCN's current assessment. With partial support from the National Geographic Society, researchers analysed more than two million collared cheetah observations. Their findings showed that free-ranging cheetahs were present across about 789,700 square kilometres in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2016. "This is the area with the largest population of free-ranging cheetahs left on Earth. Knowing how many cheetahs there are and where they occur is crucial for developing suitable conservation management plans for the species," said Varsha Vijay, from the Duke University in the US. According to the study published in the journal Peer J, 49.7 per cent farmers consider cheetahs a source of conflict, while only a minority of farmers (26.5 percent) actively persecute (eg, kill or trap) the species. "The future of the cheetah relies heavily on working with farmers who host these big cats on their lands, bearing the heaviest cost of coexistence," said Florian Weise of the Claws Conservancy. The study not only estimated the number of cheetahs in areas with confirmed sightings, but also identified places where it is possible for cheetahs to live but where they have not been recently observed. "To better understand this rare and elusive species, we need to complement the monitoring of confirmed populations with the investigation of possible cheetah habitat," said Vijay. While Donald Trump dominated US headlines in 2017, here are some other bizarre headlines that went viral.(Photo: Pixabay) President Donald Trumps Oval Office style dominated US headlines in 2017, but readers were particularly perplexed by his use of the word covfefe, in what turned out to be one of the oddest news stories of the year. A tweet by Trump in May read simply: Despite the constant negative press covfefe. that was the moment Trump became prsiduvhirw pic.twitter.com/fKVPPNVFH0 Anthony Smith (@AnthonyBLSmith) May 31, 2017 White House officials batted away questions about what the word meant and even the dictionary company Merriam-Webster drew a blank. Trump left it up to the reader to divine his meaning, with a follow-up: Who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe ??? Enjoy! Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017 But he was not alone in leaving readers scratching their heads. Even outside Washington, the year produced a spate of weird news, including odd pranks and poorly considered crimes. Los Angeles residents awoke on New Years Day to find the four-story white letters of the world-famous Hollywood sign had been altered to read: Hollyweed. The prank came just two months after California voters approved the recreational use of marijuana despite a federal ban. Austin, Texas, police were tipped off to an illegal brothel when hundreds of condoms clogged a city sewer pipe in March. The blockage at Jade Massage Therapy was the smoking gun that led to the arrest of two people for prostitution and money laundering. US Customs and Border Protection agents were spared a spine-chilling surprise when a California man was arrested in July for trying to smuggle three highly poisonous king cobra snakes hidden in potato chip canisters. Crooks had planned the latest haul of snakes in a can after all 20 king cobras in a previous shipment died in transit, authorities said. Back in the political arena, an octogenarian ex-con New Jersey politician revived her burlesque act at a May fundraiser - although she kept her clothes on. Former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, who is in her early 80s and danced as Hope Diamond, performed in a gown and feather boa to raise cash for a non-profit dance company, three years after being released from prison following a bribery conviction. Animal stories also captured the publics attention. Millions watched via webcam as April, a giraffe, gave birth to a 6-foot-tall (1.83-meter) male calf. From around the globe, her fans watched her endure the conclusion of a 16-month pregnancy at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York - in April, of course. Months earlier, a small moth with a yellowish-white coif of scales was named for then-President-elect Trump, who wears a similar hairstyle, researchers told the scientific journal ZooKeys. This recently discovered moth was named Neopalpa donaldtrumpi for its resemblance to the US president. (Photo by Vazrick Nazari.) pic.twitter.com/tVGaECRAMW Quite Interesting (@qikipedia) January 30, 2017 The new species of insect, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, is native to Southern California and Mexicos Baja California, and is likely capable of flying over the proposed border wall with Mexico that was a central promise of Trumps presidential campaign. the police went to Chikkabommasandra circle where the children were getting into a Chikkamagaluru bound Tempo Traveller to work at a function there. (Representational image) BENGALURU: Three people were arrested by the Yelahanka police for supplying destitute and mentally retarded children to do menial jobs at various functions and ceremonies, under the pretext of providing free education. The accused have been identified as Lokesh Nayak, 30, the in-charge officer of Bright Seva Foundation, Revanna Sideshwara alias Raghu, owner of LNR Enterprises and Siddagangamma, 30, a teacher at Vidyaranya Education and Development Society. Based on credible information, the police went to Chikkabommasandra circle where the children were getting into a Chikkamagaluru bound Tempo Traveller to work at a function there. The police rescued the children and arrested the three. The Bright Seva Foundation began a year ago and is located in Yelahanka. Lokesh used to pick up poor children from government schools and assured them that he would give them free education and rented them out for Rs 1,500. Revanna Sideshwara alias Raghu, owner of LNR Enterprises, with the pretext of supplying workers to the housekeeping department joined Lokesh to make fast buck. Siddagangamma, a teacher at Vidyaranya Education and Development Society, used to look after mentally retarded children and joined the duo to supply children from the school. The Yelahanka police have registered a case and rescued 15 children, including three girls, and the rest of the 12 being mentally retarded from the age group of 8- 16. These children were sent to government child care centres. Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday announced that the Telangana state government will present a separate Budget for the agriculture sector from the next year and increase allocations significantly. He said the government will set up 2,500 clusters of 5,000 acres each across the state to guide farmers on which crops to sow and to what extent, to make agriculture profitable. Mr Rao said the government will build meeting points for farmers in each cluster to enable them to hold meetings to take collective decisions on farming. The CM was speaking at a review meeting on Farmers welfare-Agriculture development with officials at Pragathi Bhavan. He said the government will initiate the process to organise farmers from village-level to state-level to take collective decisions on farming so that farmers do not fall prey to brokers while selling their produce. Mr Rao said the government will organise training programmes to all farmers on modern agriculture practices to achieve higher productivity. After formation of Telangana, the state government has laid more emphasis on agriculture and irrigation sectors. We have taken up construction of several mega irrigation projects. We have waived off Rs 17,000 crore crop loan arrears of 35 lakh farmers. We are supplying seeds and fertilisers on time. These measures have yielded results with bumper production achieved this year, the Chief Minister said. He said the government has recently brought an ordinance to check sale of spurious seeds and fertilisers incorporating stringent provisions against the guilty and invoking of the PD Act. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's test flight of the amphibian aircraft took off at Krishna River's Punnami Ghat in Vijayawada. (Photo: ANI/Twitter) Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday took a test flight of seaplane in river Krishna. This comes a day after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled from Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam via single-engine seaplane. This test flight of the amphibian aircraft took off at Krishna River's Punnami Ghat in Vijayawada. While addressing a crowd there, Naidu said, "Seaplane is a new concept to India. I congratulate SpiceJet for bringing it to India. I just flew on this seaplane and its takeoff and landing is smooth. SpiceJet co-founder Ajit Singh told they are ready to buy and operate 100 seaplanes." "I appeal to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to formulate guidelines for seaplanes quickly. As this is cost effective, less maintenance and needs small runway. That is why these seaplanes should be encouraged. Seaplanes are to be encouraged with tourism point of view also," he said. Further lauding the seaplane initiative, Naidu stated, "the state has great tourist spots. It should be developed and promoted as well which can also generate employment. I invite SpiceJet to make Amaravati its hub. This is the future, and as an entrepreneur, I believe the city will flourish." SpiceJet conducted seaplane trials in association with Japan's Setouchi Holdings. This is the second phase of trials followed trials at Mumbai Girgaum Chowpatty on December 9. Under first phase, trials of the land plane were conducted in Nagpur and Guwahati. Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on the occasion said "India has the longest sea coast, and Andhra Pradesh has more than 1,000 km of sea coast. Hundreds of rivers, thousands of tanks are great chance for development of seaplanes in India." "The amphibian aircrafts can be an innovative approach to take aviation services to small cities. Anny Divya, the world's youngest woman commander will fly a Boeing 777 from Vijayawada. This is a matter of pride for our city," he said. Raju further added that, Andhra Pradesh has shown immediate interest to catch up amphibian aircraft in river Krishna and Spice jet quickly arranged it. Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had also asked to formulate guidelines for seaplanes within three months. Along with Naidu, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, State Finance Minister Yanamala Rama Krishnudu, Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, Water Resources Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao graced the occasion. The problem has become rampant across the city and residents have complained that there is no proper police patrolling in residential areas. BENGALURU: Is the city growing to be a safe haven for drug peddlers? There is a rise in cases against youths peddling or consuming drugs. During the recent BBMP council meeting, corporators from various wards pointed out that in many residential areas youngsters are smoking ganja and many police complaints have also been filed in this regard. A senior police officer said they have ordered the jurisdictional police to intensify their patrolling in the areas. The problem has become rampant across the city and residents have complained that there is no proper police patrolling in residential areas. It is found that these youths staying in various parts of the city visit various residential areas to smoke ganja, as these areas are fairly deserted with little traffic and pedestrians. He added, The residents have also mentioned that whenever they confront these youths, they threaten them and the residents are worried about safety of women and children in the area. Even WhatsApp messenger service is used to buy and sell drugs." In 2016, 138 cases were registered and 305 people were arrested while in 2017, till November, around 318 cases were registered and 576 people arrested. There is an increase in cases and arrests made, which shows that the police are intensifying their search, a top police officer pointed out. The officer mentioned that they will go in full force to combat this drug and ganja menace. Whenever people are found indulging in smoking ganja or consuming drugs, the public should come forward and inform the police, their identity will be kept confidential. Special CBI Court held former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and one other as guilty in the coal scam case. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi: A special court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary HC Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. The court will hear argument on quantum of punishment on Thursday. It, however, acquitted four persons - VISUL's Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan - of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged. The accused have refuted the allegations levelled against them. Junior doctors and MBBS students take out a march in protest against the decision to hike retirement age in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. (Photo: A.V. MUZAFAR) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Medical Joint Action Council has threatened to launch work-to-rule agitation if the state government failed to roll back its decision to increase retirement age from 60 to 62. KMJAC president U.R Rahul said the representatives of doctors met health minister K.K. Shylaja and conveyed their strong resentment. The doctors have sought an appointment with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to demand the withdrawal of the decision. The junior doctors on Tuesday organised demonstrations across government medical colleges to protest the government decision. In Thiruvananthapuram, undergraduate students, PG students and house surgeons took out a procession from medical college principals office to the directorate of medical education. Similar protest marches were held in other government medical colleges also. The JAC threatened to intensify the agitation in support of their demands: withdrawal of the decision on retirement age , creation of posts commensurate with increase in patient load, appointment of doctors on regular basis in both medical education and health service departments and abolition of the bond system. The council said about 2000 doctors were awaiting appointment to the post of assistant surgeon in the state health department and more than 200 doctors under the directorate of medical education. Around 3500 doctors pass out of medical colleges in the state annually and an equal number of medicos come in from outside the states. The JAC said the increase in retirement age would severely hamper their job prospects. The representatives of doctors have met leaders of various political parties to seek support for their demands. The JAC had recently launched an intensive campaign on medical college campuses to create awareness about the adverse impact of the retirement age increase decision on the job prospects especially at the entry grade level and promotion chances of the junior faculty. Congress ally in Gujarat Alpesh Thakor said, 'Someone told me that you can't eat what Modiji eats, because it's not a food for the poor.' (Photo: Twitter | ANI) Banaskanth (Gujarat): Latest in the line of peculiar allegations hurled this election season is Congress ally in Gujarat Alpesh Thakor's claim that the complexion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned fair because he eats mushrooms imported from Taiwan that cost Rs 80,000 per piece. "Someone told me that you can't eat what Modiji eats, because it's not a food for the poor," Thakor said addressing a gathering in Gujarat's Vadgaon, and continued the anecdote, saying he was told that the Prime Minister eats mushrooms that come from Taiwan. "One mushroom costs Rs 80,000, and he eats five mushrooms a day. That is why I wonder how he turned so fair. He was as dark as me," Thakor added. Thakor also alleged that the same person told him that Prime Minister Modi has been eating those mushrooms since he became the chief minister of Gujarat, in 2001. "The Prime Minister who eats mushrooms worth Rs 1.20 crore in a month, you can imagine how many crores of money his workers must be eating up," Thakor added. Amidst the Gujarat elections, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress Party are leaving no stone unturned to claim victory. The controversial statements range from Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's "Neech" remark at the Prime Minister to the allegations of treason against Aiyar and other senior Congress leaders by Prime Minister Modi. Manmohan said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show 'maturity and gravitas', as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring 'erroneously conceived brownie points'. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday hit out at his successor Narendra Modi again on the eve of the second and final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and seeking an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". Upping the ante two days after his sharp outburst, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narender (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. He said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomatics and public servants present at the dinner," he said. I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points- Former PM Dr.#ManmohanSingh pic.twitter.com/IWzYSasP62 Dr. Manmohan Singh (@_ManmohanSingh) December 11, 2017 The former premier also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. The Congress Party needs no sermons on "nationalism" from a party and prime minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added. "Let me remind Narender (sic) Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan," he said. He also said that his track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone and no one including Modi, can "lamely" question it to gain lost political ground. Nagpur: Coming down heavily on the Prime Minister for alleging that his predecessor Manmohan Singh was conspiring with Pakistan for the BJP's defeat in Gujarat, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that Narendra Modi should be ashamed of making such "wild allegations" against Singh, whom "no one in the world could point fingers at". Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also alleged that Modi has stooped to a low level and levelling allegations against the people of his own country. Pawar, who turned 77 on Tuesday, addressed 'Jana Akrosh-Halla Bol', a public rally organised by the Congress and the NCP at Nagapur on the issues of agrarian crisis. He appealed to the farmers in Maharashtra not to repay any loan or pay dues such as electricity bills to the state government unless it deposits the "much-touted" loan waiver amount into their bank accounts. Azad was also present at the rally. Pawar criticised Modi for "deliberately" misconstruing a meeting at the residence of suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on December 6 and presenting it as a conspiracy by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "Shame on you, Prime Minister, for making such allegations! You have made the allegations against this country's former prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and former defence officials," Pawar, a former defence minister himself, said. Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing Assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP. "Modi is invoking Pakistan and making wild allegations against renowned people to divert the people's attention from his government's failures and trying to get political mileage out of it," Pawar said. "A different kind of picture is being witnessed in the country today in terms of the attitude of the nation's leadership, which is diverting the attention of the people from important issues," he added. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi just two days back in his speech had raised the suspicion against former PM Manmohan Singh, former Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar and others, alleging that Pakistan was trying to influence the Assembly elections in Gujarat. The PM making such kind of wild allegations against former PM Manmohan Singh, at whom no one in the world could point fingers, is very shameful and not in the interest of the country. It is very sad that an attempt is being made by the PM himself on destroying the tradition of the country," the former Union minister said. "This attempt to invoke Pakistan was made to divert the people's attention towards the government's failures in addressing the farmers' issues, lack of jobs and other people's issues," Pawar alleged. "The Modi government has not solved the issues of farmers and other issues the country is facing, but he is bringing the Pakistan angle as a diversionary tactic during the Gujarat elections," Pawar said. Modi has destroyed the country and belittled the office of the Prime Minister, Pawar alleged. In his address, Azad said that since the BJP is losing in Gujarat, the Prime Minister is blaming his predecessor, former vice-president and former diplomats for conspiring with Pakistan to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. "The Prime Minister has stooped so low that he is levelling allegations against the people of his own country," he said. On the farmers' issues, Pawar said, "Unless the amount of loan waiver is deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers (in Maharashtra), I appeal to the farming community not to repay any dues (to state or cooperative department) or even (pay) electricity bills to the state government." The Maharashtra government announced a mega agriculture loan waiver of Rs 34,022 crore on June 24 after a state-wide agitation by farmers. On July 9, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said around 36 lakh farmers in the state would have their entire debt waived. Pawar also asked Fadnavis to "stay away" from "politics of blackmail". The NCP chief said, "Maharashtra CM uses the language of blackmail against the Opposition. We respect the mandate of people who chose you to govern. But, if he thinks blackmailing a part of the people's mandate to his government, he should remember that people can oust him from power." If the government is of no use to its people, they should not cooperate with it, he said. Speaking to reporters in Nagpur ahead of the winter session of the state legislature, which began on Monday, Fadnavis had said, "I have enough evidence against the leaders of the Opposition and I will disclose these at the right time." On the Centre's promises to farmers, Pawar said that Modi had promised loan waiver to the farmers, but there was no sign of relief to the farmers even after three-and-a-half years. "The situation is such that people are committing suicide, yet the government's heart is not melting," he said. "I remember that five years back, during the agrarian crisis, the then PM Manmohan Singh and I had immediately visited Yavatmal and Wardha to understand the problems faced by the farmers. Subsequently, in the next 15 days, Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver was announced by the then government. We had announced the loan waiver and had told by what time it would be given to them. Today, the chief minister is telling that they are going to give loan waiver, but they are not giving it," Pawar said. Azad questioned Modi over the promises he had made to the farmers that the minimum support price (MSP) would include a profit of 50 per cent above the cost of production. "How can a PM of any country make such false promises to its people? How can a PM give false promises to its farmers and not fulfil it? The PM and the BJP, by insulting the farmers, have insulted the nation, which cannot be forgiven," Azad said. "On the one hand, the farmers in the country are facing an agrarian crisis and committing suicides and on the other hand this government imposes GST and demonetisation, forcing several crore people to stand in queues outside ATMs. The PM had promised 10 crore jobs to the youth, but provided just 3 lakh jobs. This was the second lie from you...first giving it to farmers then to the youth. Modi is giving false promises to the farmers and the youth," the Congress veteran said. Azad also said that Modi hardly remains in office and is only busy in election campaigns and foreign tours. Hyderabad: The Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) has agreed to consider the TS governments objections to AP diverting Godavari water to the Krishna basin through the Pattiseema scheme. TS officials raised the issue of settlement of Pattiseema water diversion to Krishna basin without any share for Telangana state. AP officials initially objected, stating that the GRMB was not the authority to decide on water allocation between riparian states. TS irrigation special chief secretary S.K. Joshi then asked the board meeting at the Jala-soudha complex what was the purpose of the GRMB, constituted by a law of Parliament, if not to adjudicate on water disputes and allocations. He asked that when more than 100 tmc ft of water from the Godavari was being diverted to the Krishna basin, how could a riparian state like TS not seek its share. GRMB chairman H.K. Sahu intervened and asked the TS official to furnish details of the issue that it wanted to get resolved and the board would take it up. It was also decided that the two states would exchange information on existing and completed projects on the Godavari river. Board member-secretary Sameer Chatterjee said that like on the Krishna river, in the Godavari too telemetry stations would be set up at agreed locations to estimate water flows. AP pins it all on Krishna panel TS senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan on Tuesday tried to establish that AP had been diverting assu-red water from the Srisailam dam to a number of projects in Rayalaseema. Replying to the cross-examination at a meeting of the Krishna River Management Board here, AP irrigation witness K.V. Subba Rao denied the charge but admitted that the government had constructed additional reservoirs and canals, widened the structures and drawal capacity. This was done as per the Krisha Disputes Tri-bunal-1 verdict which gave liberty to AP to use surplus waters in whatever manner it deemed appropriate. Mr Subba Rao said that it was the decision of the designer to place the Pothireddy-padu regulator sill level at 841 ft instead of 880 ft to allow surplus waters and not assured waters as queried by Mr Vaidyanathan. Mr Subba Rao said the Chennai drinking water supplies and supplies to Srisailam right branch canal formed part of the assured water quota, and putting the regulators sill level at 841 ft was justified. Mr Vaidyanathan posed a series of questions as to how the drawal capacity of Krishna waters from Nagarjunasagar dam through the Left Bank Canal was lowered as well as reducing the total command area in Telangana. Mr Subba Rao replied that it was done as per the decisions of the Estimates Committee which had gone through the issue and approved the explanation given by engineers. He said that due to a breach of the Krishna river bank during the 2009 floods at the Srisailam dam, more than one lakh cusecs of water had gushed into the regulator and Srisailam right bank main canal but that was not due to incre-ased discharge provided at the regulator. Mr Vaidyanathan pointed out that the technical advisory committee on inter-state rivers had proposed 30 tmc ft allocation to Srisailam left branch canal from the proposed 45 tmc ft of Godavari water diversion to the Krishna basin upon completion of Polavaram dam. Mr Subba Rao denied this. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Mario Kelbia ARAZOLAGALEA, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent. No. 16-73574 Decided: December 12, 2017 Before: Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Jay S. Bybee, Circuit Judges, and William E. Smith,** Chief District Judge. Tara K. Hoveland, South Lake Tahoe, California, for Petitioner. Karla Hotis Delord, Assistant United States Attorney; Krissa M. Lanham, Deputy Appellate Chief; Elizabeth A. Strange, Acting United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, Phoenix, Arizona; for Respondent. OPINION Mario ArazolaGalea is a native and citizen of Honduras who has been living in the United States since at least 2000. In 2013, ArazolaGalea was arrested by border patrol agents in Arizona and ordered detained on a felony complaint. ArazolaGalea pled guilty to an Information charging him with re-entry of a previously removed alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326. ArazolaGalea also admitted a violation of his supervised release from a prior conviction. Investigation revealed that ArazolaGalea had previously been deported after a felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance in violation of Colorado Revised Statute (C.R.S.) 18-18-405(1). The district court determined that the Colorado conviction was for a drug trafficking offense as defined under U.S.S.G. 2L1.2(b)(1)(A), and sentenced ArazolaGalea to 70 months' imprisonment. ArazolaGalea timely filed a direct appeal, which this Court dismissed based on the valid appellate waiver in ArazolaGalea's plea agreement. ArazolaGalea then filed a motion to vacate the sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated and that the district court lacked jurisdiction to enhance his sentence without conducting a jury trial. The district court dismissed the motion with prejudice based upon the plea waiver. ArazolaGalea filed a subsequent motion for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition, arguing that Johnson v. United States, U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015) entitled him to retroactive relief from his sentence. We denied the motion, determining that the holding in Johnson was not implicated. Months later, ArazolaGalea filed the present motion for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition. ArazolaGalea argues that, in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Mathis v. United States, U.S. , 136 S.Ct. 2243, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 (2016), the sentencing enhancement applied to his Colorado conviction for possession of a controlled substance was improper because his conviction was for an offense broader than the generic offense described in the federal definition of a drug trafficking offense in U.S.S.G. 2L1.2(a) and (b). We deny ArazolaGalea's application. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), a petitioner may file a second or successive petition for a writ of habeas corpus if we certify that the claim is based upon [1] a new rule, [2] of constitutional law, [3] made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, [4] that was previously unavailable. 28 U.S.C. 2255(h)(2); 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2)(A). The sole issue we must decide is whether ArazolaGalea's application to file a second or successive habeas petition can survive the stringent standard set forth in AEDPA that generally prohibits such filings. See Goodrum v. Busby, 824 F.3d 1188, 1193 (9th Cir. 2016). ArazolaGalea argues that his application satisfies this stringent standard because Mathis articulated a new constitutional rule that retroactively invalidates the sentencing enhancement applied on the basis of his Colorado conviction. We disagree. Mathis does not establish a new rule of constitutional law; rather, it clarifies application of the categorical analysis to the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). See Mathis, 136 S.Ct. at 2251 (resolving the case on the basis of the Court's longstanding principles, and explaining that Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990) set out the essential rule governing ACCA cases more than a quarter century ago). Our subsequent decisions have confirmed the notion that Mathis is a clarification of existing rules rather than a new rule itself. See, e.g., United States v. MartinezLopez, 864 F.3d 1034, 1039 (9th Cir. 2017) (Mathis did not change the rule stated in Descamps [v. United States, 570 U.S. 254, 133 S.Ct. 2276, 186 L.Ed.2d 438 (2013) ]; it only reiterated that the Supreme Court meant what it said when it instructed courts to compare elements.); United States v. Robinson, 869 F.3d 933, 936 (9th Cir. 2017) (To determine whether a defendant's prior conviction is a crime of violence under the Guidelines, we apply the categorical approach first outlined in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990), and later clarified in [Descamps] and [Mathis]. ). We now join our sister circuits in definitively holding that Mathis did not establish a new rule of constitutional law. See Washington v. United States, 868 F.3d 64, 66 (2d Cir. 2017) ([A]lthough the Mathis Court noted that its ACCA [Armed Career Criminal Act] interpretation had been based in part on constitutional concerns, those concerns did not reflect a new rule, for Taylor set out the essential rule governing ACCA cases more than a quarter century ago.) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); In re Lott, 838 F.3d 522, 523 (5th Cir. 2016) (recognizing that Mathis did not set forth new rules of constitutional law that have been made retroactive to cases on collateral review) (citations omitted); In re Conzelmann, 872 F.3d 375, 37677 (6th Cir. 2017) (same); Dawkins v. United States, 829 F.3d 549, 551 (7th Cir. 2016) (explaining that Mathis did not announce a rule of constitutional law; it is a case of statutory interpretation); In re Hernandez, 857 F.3d 1162, 1164 (11th Cir. 2017) (same). ArazolaGalea's application for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition is DENIED. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge: Visakhapatnam: A two-year-old orphan girl child from Visakhapatnam has found a new home in Spain. A single woman from Spain adopted a two-year-old girl child from Visakhapatnam here on Tuesday. After the rules and regulation as per the guidelines of the Central Adoption Resource Authority followed, district collector Pravin Kumar handed over the girl child to Vennisa Christina Sathur, a Spain citizen. District Child Protection Officer A. Satyanarayana was also present. The girl childs name is Sarayu. He said the woman had applied seeking adoption through online platform of the CARA. In 2016-17, Americans, Italians and Spanish nationals adopted most Indian children. According to Child Protection officials, the changes made two years ago has made little easier for foreign nationals to adopt special needs and older children, who are now moved sooner to the list of prospective adoptive children for foreign nationals if they are not picked for adoption by Indian nationals after a specified period of time. Moreover, the Foreign Ministry is no longer insisting on a separate birth certificate to issue a passport to an adopted child. The court order which is necessary for adoption will suffice as proof of birth date. Instead of running from pillar to post to obtain a birth certificate, especially for orphans and abandoned children, foreigners can get an Indian passport for their adopted children based only on the court order. Hyderabad: NITI Aayog has selected three districts in the state Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Kumaram Bheem-Asifabad and Khammam for a special initiative to develop backward areas. The Centre has appointed IAS officers Rajeev Ranjan Misra for Khammam district, Ms Vasudha Misra for Kumaram Bheem-Asifabad and Mr Sanjay Kumar for Jayashankar Bhupalpally district as coordinators. The Centre proposes to launch special initiatives to rapidly transform a total of 115 backward districts in the country, including the three from TS, by addressing their specific developmental needs. NITI Aayog has identified 30 most backward districts; in addition to this different ministries have identified of 50 districts where they would be converging their efforts. The Centre has asked the government to appoint nodal officers who would act as a bridge between the Centre and the districts and work with the coordinators. The state government has appointed IAS officers G. Ashok Kumar for Khammam, Navin Mittal for Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Nadeem Ahamad for Kumaram Bheem district. Hyderabad: The Centre has not exempted voluntary organisations from the Goods and Services Tax. The Indian Red Cross Society, which does voluntary work in the health and welfare sector, is worried about the 20 per cent GST that it has to pay. The AP branch of the Indian Red Cross Society has requested the Centre to exempt it from the payment of GST on the purchase of equipment, furniture, reagents and medical kits for 18 blood banks in the state. The organisation has taken up several welfare activities for the benefit of the poor and needy across the state. It has identified Srikakulam district for the implementation of the Services Empowering Rights of Victims (SERV) programme to create a cadre of volunteers trained to act during emergencies. As part of the programme, it has proposed to train 27,000 volunteers in phases. The volunteers will act as first responders in emergency situations, sensitise the community to make it more resilient to disasters, facilitate linkage between the community and the government, and bring about an improvement in the communitys socio-economic status through the creation of awareness on social welfare schemes. The volunteers will also provide immediate relief to disaster-affected communities before additional support from the government and other agencies arrives.The SERV programme was launched in Srikakulam in the month of October. The collector wants to involve the volunteers in the tacking of problems such as kidney disease in Uddanam, drug addiction, child marriage, road accidents, and migration deaths, apart from natural and man-made disasters. The collector has agreed to release Rs 12.3 lakh for the training of volunteers. However, the Red Cross Society has to worry about the GST that it has to pay for serving the needy. BENGALURU: With the BJP playing politics over the death of Honnavar youth Paresh Mesta (21) and accusing the state government of covering up the issue, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday said that the case will be handed over to the CBI. Lashing out at the BJP for propagating false information about the death and giving it a communal colour, Mr Reddy said that BJP leaders were behaving like doctors and commenting on the things which would be known only after the postmortem report. "The BJP wants unrest and is trying hard to keep the issue alive till the Assembly elections. Though the deceased was not attached to any political party as claimed by his father, the BJP is projecting him as its member to get political mileage. The mystery surrounding Paresh's death will only be known once the autopsy report comes," he told reporters at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. Mr Reddy criticised the BJP for using the same tactics during IAS officer D.K. Ravi's death. He even accused then Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar of changing the postmortem report to shield the culprits in connection with the death of 14-year-old Nandita. "The BJP is used to such tactics and its leaders don't value their words," he said. Paresh's putrefied body was found in a lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district on December 8. Soon after, rumours started doing the rounds that he was killed by people of another community as the tension between the communities had already gripped Honnavar. Rumours had it that Paresh was tortured to death, his body was mutilated and hot oil was poured on his face before he was thrown into the river. Later, these allegations were found to be untrue, when Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Hemanth Nimbalkar released a detailed questionnaire answered by the doctor in charge of conducting the postmortem. Action against website Taking cognisance of a "false report" published by a Kannada news portal PostcardKannada.com on Honnavar unrest, Mr. Reddy said that he has asked the cyber crime police to look into both Honnavar issue and the derogatory comments made against two celebrated women fighters in the history of Karnataka, Kittur Rani Chennamma and Onake Obavva, on its Facebook pages. Chandrababu Naidu took the plane to reach Gannavaram airport on his way to Delhi. The flight was arranged on the request of Union minister Ashok Gajapati Raju in collaboration with Spicejet. (Photo: DC) Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to place the two design models for the Assembly complex in the public domain to elicit public opinion. The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) held a meeting at the Secretariat on Wednesday to discuss the finalisation of designs for the High Court and the Assembly. The Chief Minister reviewed the two design options presented by Foster + Partners for the Assembly building and finalized the designs after consulting with the officials present at the meeting. Film director S.S. Rajamouli and Minister P. Narayana proposed a few changes to the designs. Mr Rajamouli has contributed to the design process by creating a cultural context for the British architectural firm in the form of visual cues representing the history of the Telugu state. According to the final designs, the Assembly complex will include a viewing tower and a museum. What was once supposed to occupy 8.5 lakh square feet will now occupy nearly twice that area. The Amaravati Deep Dive Workshop, which will be held on December 14 and 15, will contain detailed presentations and status reports of the projects underway in Amaravati, as well as future plans related to infrastructure. This annual event will include about 15 panel discussions on various aspects of the citys development. Each panel will include renowned personalities of that particular field from around the world. The discussions will culminate in an action plan that will be implemented by the concerned authorities. Hyderabad: Some 20 parents from Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) met Deputy CM and minister for education Kadiam Srihari on Wednesday at the Secretariat over the delay in submission of the Prof. Tirupathi Raos report. The minister called up Prof. Tirupathi Rao and enquired with him about the delay, to which Mr Rao said that the report was ready and only a few minor modifications and formalities remained to be incorporated. The minister asked Mr Rao to submit the report before Decem-ber-end and allayed the concerns of the parents organisation. The Deputy CM will hold another meeting with the members of the HSPA in January when he will give HSPA members a copy of the Prof. Tirupathi Rao committee report. Speaking to members of the parents organisation, Mr Srihari said criminal action would be initiated against schools for defying government rules on admi-ssions. He said that the government would do everything it can to keep a check on the powerful private school lobby. Seema Agarwal, member of Hyderabad Scho-ol Parents Association (HSPA) said, HSPA is happy to be given assurances by the education minister both on the submission of the Prof. Tirupathi Rao committee report and, that parents of students can expect some good news by Sankranti. Basavakalyan: While pooh-poohing State BJP Chief B.S. Yeddyurappa's allegations that he had taken the state's economy to the brink of bankruptcy and had done little for its development during the last four and a half years he has been in office, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted that no other government in the state had performed as well as the one headed by him. He sought the blessings of the people for building a "New Karnataka". Addressing a public meeting after laying foundation stones and inaugurating various projects amounting to Rs 265 crore here, Mr Siddaramaiah asserted that he had not only fulfilled all 165 promises made in the 2013 election manifesto, he had also launched new schemes which were not listed in the manifesto. Mr Siddaramaiah, who was in a combative mood, devoted a major part of his speech to attacking Yeddyurappa for questioning his contributions. Alleging that the BJP leader had become desperate to grab power as his Mission-150 seats would flop, Mr Siddaramaiah said although he had invited the BJP to a public debate, the latter was not ready for it. "Mr Yeddyurappa is addressing me in the singular as he lacks in political culture. What contribution has he made to the state other than distributing cyles and sarees? Is there is a state ruled by any BJP government which is providing seven kg free rice to 1.80 crore BPL families? Do you have the guts to tell people why you had to quit the CM's post? Is there is a CM who has taken kickbacks through cheques? There is no such precedent in the history of independent India. What moral right do you have to declare that my government is corrupt? I'm proud to declare that I have provided a scandal-free government. How many Ministers in your governments went to jail? You should be ashamed to lead the Parivartana rally tom-toming that you will build a new state after having gone to jail", Mr Siddaramaih asserted. Recalling the contradictory stands taken by Mr Yeddyurappa on Tipu Sultan Jayanti and on the issue of waiver of farmer loans, Mr Siddaramaiah pointedly asked the people present, "How many tongues does he have?" and replied, "he has two tongues". Expressing his displeasure over the violent protests at Kumta and Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district over the death of a youth Paresh Mesta, Mr Siddaramaiah took both Mr Yeddyurappa and the Union Minister of state for skill development Ananthkumar Hegde to task for the "politicization" of the death (of Mesta). "Mr Ananthkumar Hegde called me a demon. But he himself is a big demon as he has no faith in humanity", he remarked. BS Yeddyurappa takes Basavas name but does little: Siddaramaiah Describing himself as an ardent follower of social reformer and Lingayat icon basavanna, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had earlier announced measures like the mandatory display of Basavanna's portraits in all government offices, on Wednesday tried to further woo them by proposing to built an Anubhav Manatap here. Mr Siddaramaiah, who kickstarted his month-long state-wide tour in Basavakalyan, recalled the measures he had taken since his days as finance minister in the J.H. Patel government to make Basavanna's name immortal. He also took a dig at BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa, without taking his name, remarking that he was "only uttering Basavanna's name and doing little for making his name last long". "After taking oath as CM on Basava Jayanthi on December 13 in 2013, I took a vow to work sincerely to build a society envisioned by Basavanna and other Shivasharanas. During 1994-99 as Finance Minister I had released Rs 50 crore for development of Kudalasangama, a step nobody had taken in the past. And in 2004 when I became Deputy CM, I set up Basavakalyana Development Board and released Rs 5 crore in the 2004-05 budget. As CM I have taken measures for developing Kudalasangama on the lines of Aksharadham in Delhi by granting Rs 250 crore". The call of the shipping industry is even greater now as the favoured size of merchant ships is over 60,000 DWT and much closer to 1,00,000 DWT. Chennai: Vast numbers of Hindus celebrated on Wednesday the affirmation in an American science channel that Ram Setu, an undersea bridge between the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, is indeed man-made. The promo of the show called 'Ancient Land Bridge' received huge positive response from across the globe, more so in India, much before the actual show itself got aired Wednesday evening (India time), with Union Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani retweeting the video with the caption, 'Jai Shri Ram'. The US channel supports the theory that the bridge, also known as Adam's Bridge, is man-made based on the studies on the limestone shoals formation and also the findings from the study made by the scientists of the Indiana University Northwest, University of Colorado Boulder, and Southern Oregon University. The sand bar (sea bed) may be natural but what is sitting on top of it is not, said the narrator in the promo, while referring to the scientific findings that the rocks on top of the sand bar are 7,000 years old whereas the sand bar is only 4,000 years old. And that means that the rocks had been brought by someone and placed on the sand bar for making the bridge - the Ram Setu of Ramayana. Also, the US science channel affirmed what the protagonists of the Ram Setu in India have been claiming for centuries - that the limestone rocks did not belong to that sea area but were brought from elsewhere; in other words, their firm faith that the Hanuman Sena of Vanaras had lifted those rocks across from long distances for building the Setu to Lanka for Rama to rescue Sita from Ravana. Ram Setu was threatened by an ambitious Rs 2,427-crore project, called the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) launched by the BJP government of Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2002 and carried forward with ample budgetary allocations by the successor UPA-I regime led by the Congress party to satisfy a prime demand from its key ally, the DMK, whose nominee T. R. Baalu was made the Shipping Minister and consecutively the man in charge of the mega project of mega bucks. The DMK said the 150-year dream of the Tamils should be implemented. The UPA Government had then sought to contest the petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Rameswaram Ram Setu protection committee by arguing that there was no evidence to show that Ram Setu was a place of worship - the DMK chief Karunanidhi had then remarked that Rama was just a mythological figure. That UPA affidavit was hastily withdrawn after a storm of protests from Hindus across the country. The project aimed at cutting short the distance navigated by the ships sailing between the ports in the west and the east coasts of the country, and vice versa. It was first conceived by Commander AD Taylor in 1860 during the British era but given up as unfeasible - though the ships those days were much smaller and there were no Ram Setu pressures then. Several committees were appointed by the Union Government post-independence to go into the feasibility of the project and all decided against it. Simply stated, it was unthinkable that an undersea dredging would be feasible as sea currents would constantly shift the sand and it would need millions of dollars to maintain the depth of 12 metres and width of 300 metres across the 152-km Sethusamudram shipping channel to allow the passage of ships of 32,000 DWT and below. The call of the shipping industry is even greater now as the favoured size of merchant ships is over 60,000 DWT and much closer to 1,00,000 DWT. Jaipur: The BJP government in Rajasthan has begun collecting personal data on Muslim employees in the states health department. The state government claimed that the data was sought by the Central government. In a letter dated November 30, the state directorate of medical, health and family welfare services had sought information on all Muslim employees posted across the state, at all sub-centres, public health centres and community health centres. The information has been sought about Muslim para medical staff including radiographers, lab technicians, dental technicians, nursing staff and other non-gazetted staff. However, doctors have been kept out. Joint director (administration) of the state health department, Dr B.L. Saini who subsequently issued the order to CMHOs on December 9, said, The Government of India had recently asked every state to collect details of employees from the minority community so that welfare schemes, as per the Sachar Committees recommendations, can be implemented. However, the matter has not gone well with employees belonging to the minority community. State president of Alpsankhyak Adhikari and Karmchari Mahasangh, Haroon Khan has shot off a letter to the state government asking for an explanation on the motive behind the exercise. There is apprehension and fear among Muslim employees because of this data collection. The government must come clear on reasons behind conducting this exercise and what does it want to do with the information, Haroon Khan said. On being asking about the move, health minister Kalicharan Saraf said the data of Muslims is being collected on the Centres instruction. He said it was wrong to ascribe ulterior motives and giving political colour to every matter. The data is being sought with good intentions. Our government wants every section of the society to progress. The government wants Muslim community to progress as mentioned by the Sachar committee, the minister said. Assured water supply coupled with efficient water use, not only supports farmers to move towards higher value crops. BENGALURU: The state government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with seven private sector companies for procuring high-value agricultural and horticultural produce, and building farmer capacity at Ramthal in Bagalkot district. The first phase of the project was approved from the State government in August 2012, for an estimated cost of Rs 786.11 crore. The interaction with farmers started only after six MoUs were signed with the private sector in July 2017. All the 24,000 hectares is being utilized. We are waiting for the time slot of Chief Minister to inaugurate it officially, said Rochi Khemka, Co-lead, Global partnerships & India Program. This engagement is a part of the Drip-to-Market Agro Corridor (DMAC), a large-scale initiative on connecting drip irrigated areas with market linkages, conceptualized by the State Government in partnership with 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG). The state government is committed to improve agro-economics of farmers in Ramthal and other drip irrigation projects. Assured water supply coupled with efficient water use, not only supports farmers to move towards higher value crops, it also mitigates supply chain risks for agribusiness companies, said Anjum Parwez, Managing Director, Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd, Water Resources Department. The Ramthal drip irrigation project is one of the worlds largest fully automated, first of its kind, micro irrigation projects covering 24,000 hectaresof command area to reach 15,000 beneficiaries. Chennai: With just eight days to go for the high stake RK Nagar bypoll, Chennai Corporation on Tuesday kick-started the distributing of booth slips to the voters of RK Nagar. The city corporation also allotted the electronic voting machines through randomisation and allotted ballot units and control panels for all the 258 polling booths in RK Nagar. About 15 percent of EVMs are also kept ready and the poll staff members have been briefed about the logistics that has to be completed within next five days. The distribution of booth slips will be completed by December 17. Before December 19, all the polling booths will be ready with the basic infrastructure and the poll materials such as EVMs, ink and voters roll will reach the polling stations on December 20, a city corporation official said. Meanwhile, city police additional commissioner H. M. Jayaram also launched a two-wheeler surveillance patrol for RK Nagar. Twenty-one teams on bikes will comb the constituency round the clock. The surveillance will be more during the night hours and the squads will operate on a shift basis till the day of counting. Of the five paramilitary companies, three have already taken a position in RK Nagar and two more companies will arrive by the end of this week, sources said. According to poll officials, so far, more than Rs 5.21 lakh cash and 500 pressure cookers have been seized, besides which 74 vehicles have been impounded for frequenting RK Nagar without valid permission. More than 300 CCTV cameras installed to nab those distributing cash for votes and freebies. New Delhi: After a bitter and a high voltage campaign, the stage is set for the final phase of polling in Gujarat on Thursday. The second and final phase of elections will see 93 Assembly seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to polls. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote. If the election is a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its a litmus test for Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi. The campaign was not merely vituperative but eyebrows were raised even in the saffron camp, when the PM accused former prime minister Manmohan Singh of conspiring with Pakistan to defeat BJP. While the Opposition described the remarks as a desperate attempt to communalise the vote bank, BJP fielded finance minister Arun Jaitley to defend the PM. Read Also: BJP top guns Modi, LK Advani, Jaitley to vote in final phase of Guj polls today This election is going to be the toughest fight for the BJP in the last two decades. Besides facing the wrath of traders over demonetisation and GST, a dent in its traditional Patidar vote bank has also rattled the BJP. What came as a surprise for the saffron party was Rahul Gandhi in his new avatar. A changed man, Gandhi upped the ante and his rallies seemed to have evoked a major response from the electorate. He also strategised the rainbow coalition of Patidar and OBC leaders, which could possibly dent the BJP. The first phase recorded heavy polling, particularly in Patidar dominated Saurashtra region. While a section claimed this does not bode well for the ruling BJP, others maintained that people might be angry with Modi but they are not traitors. Besides Gandhi, the other thorn in the BJPs foot was 24-year-old Patidar community leader Hardik Patel. The BJP tried every possible trick to contain and woo this young man but eventually failed. A sex CD allegedly on Hardik also went viral and was aired by a TV channel. Patel had then remarked: If I do not have any problem with the sex CDs, why should those watching it have any? Have fun. In the run-up to the polls a tug of war on the issue of Hindutva raged between the Congress and the BJP. Gandhis janeu and his temple run forced BJP to come out openly and claim that it was the original Hindu party, while others are fake. Despite the apparent advantages, the rejuvenated Congress faces the mighty Modi. By now, most people in this country, and many beyond its shores, have read and heard about Afrazul Khan, a migrant labourer from West Bengals Malda district who was working as a mason in Rajasthan. Khan was hacked and burnt alive by one Shambhulal Regar at Rajasamand in Rajasthan. The brutal murder was captured on camera by Shambhulals teenaged nephew. Like many Indians, I woke up last week to chilling news reports about the savagery in Rajasamand, and ghoulish video clips, with the killer shouting into the camera about Hindu girls in danger, revenge and so on. Shambhulal has been arrested but the clip, filmed by his 14-year-old nephew and uploaded on the social media, has gone viral. There have been condemnations galore. Worryingly, there are also reports about a torrent of online support and WhatsApp group posts hailing the killer. This is no country for Afrazuls wife Gulbahar, for his daughters Joshanara, Rejina and Habiba. Indeed, this is no country for the 200- plus migrant labourers from Malda who work here, wrote Syeda Hameed, womens rights activist, educationist, writer and a former Planning Commission member, in a moving newspaper article. The murder of Afrazul Khan is the fourth such barbaric hate crime reported from Rajasthan in recent times. One still remembers the killing of Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, by self-styled gau rakshaks earlier this year. Those taken into custody by the police for the dastardly crime are now free on bail. As a citizen of India, miles away from the site of crime, how should one react to a brutal murder where the killer not only commits a heinous act but is keen on filming it and sharing his triumphal reactions? How should one deal with what is perhaps Indias first execution video where technology and terror come together? Should one deal with the immediate set of issues that the Rajasamand killing raises, or should one instantly go into the cataloguing mode, listing similar incidents elsewhere in the country, where the victim may or may not have been a Muslim? I wrestled with these questions for the better part of last week. It is not easy to watch a video clip of a man being hacked and burnt alive, hear his screams for plea. It is also not easy to ignore it. So I watched a part of the video clip of the murder, because I believe one should not run away from the truth, no matter how harsh it may be, and because facing the magnitude of the horror could be the first step towards a collective realisation of what we are up against and what we need to do. Remember the photograph of the Napalm Girl? Photographer Nick Ut was barely 21 when he captured what would go down as one of historys most iconic images a naked Vietnamese girl screaming and running down a road, after South Vietnamese planes hunting for Viet Cong insurgents attacked with napalm from the air. Uts 1972 image of Kim Phuc, now known as the Napalm Girl, jolted the world. The image was horrific, but one needed to see it. It contributed towards a pathway to peace. Clearly, we are living in extraordinary times when the theme of revenge resonates with so many. But in my view, just focusing on the killer is not enough. What is far more important is to focus on the climate that is nurturing such killers and strengthening vigilante groups organised around a whole range of issues from caste, cow protection, community pride, perceptions of historical injustices, and so on. Many of these gruesome acts are not just the handiwork of deranged individuals or psychopaths, but of those who have been brainwashed and those who believe that nothing much will happen to them eventually, no matter how heinous their crime is. Where does that kind of confidence come from? And what is the States role in dealing with this phenomenon? Can a chief minister get away by merely condemning a brutality? Who is in charge of ensuring that an environment, in which hate crimes are seen increasingly as legitimate, does not develop? As a firm believer in a liberal, pluralist India, I also believe that we must not give the advocates of whataboutery a chance. It is vital to come out strongly against mob violence and ghoulish murders fuelled by sectarian passions no matter where it happens and no matter which political party is in power. It is vital to demand that state governments uphold the rule of law no matter what shade its ideology is. One brutal murder doesnt cancel out another. But the savagery in a village in Karnataka the burning alive of a 21-year-old pregnant Muslim woman by her family members for marrying a dalit man is as reprehensible as what happened in Rajasamand in Rajasthan. The principle applies to every such incident, no matter which communities are involved. The latest in the tale of horrors the brutal murder of Afrazul Khan in Rajasamand and the graphic execution video that followed is a dangerous marker in these polarised times. The aim of such videos is clearly to horrify a segment of the population and simultaneously radicalise other segments. This cant be allowed to happen. If this trend continues, it will mean a deathblow to the idea of India as a modern nation. Hate crimes are serious; they are getting more serious when they are aided and abetted by technology. Ad hoc measures after a hate crime is committed simply wont do. A government has to act to prevent fomenting and spreading of such hate. So heres my fervent end-of-the-year plea: can all those who love this country come together and commit to end hate crimes once and for all? The Rajasamand horror could be our Napalm Girl moment. Hopefully, it will pave the pathway to peace and a less polarised India. BRITISH-Muslims do not have it easy. They live in an increasingly xenophobic Britain, where groups like Britain First openly ask for their expulsion and cultivate the political belief that they are usurpers in the country. In schools, teachers and other officials are told to watch out for even little girls who wear headscarves, and report suspicious behaviour in children as young as nine or 10. In employment and in policing, they are subject to surveillance and harassment, the presumption that they are all terrorists. The fact that they live in distinct geographic areas allows them to be further ghettoised, their neighbourhoods transformed into enclaves where it is hard to believe that one is very far from the village back home. Within this isolation imposed both by discrimination and self-segregation, a host of problems breed. One, recently given statistical clarity by a documentary that aired on BBCs Channel 4, is the issue of the legality of marriages contracted within the community. According to the films researchers, who spoke to 923 women in 14 British cities, nearly six in 10 British women who have had a Muslim marriage ceremony are not, in fact, married as far as the law of the state is concerned. This means that their relationships with their husbands, recognised by religion as wedlock, arent recognised as such by the British state. Women in these situations would not be recognised as the legal heirs of their husbands in the event of death. Nor would they be, in the case of divorce, entitled to an equitable share of the assets acquired during the marriage, as UK law stipulates. In sum, they are not married at all in the eyes of the state and would also have no recourse if they found out that their husband was either already married or was interested in marrying again. The reason is unsurprising. The UK does not recognise a religious marriage ceremony on its own a separate civil ceremony is required. Sixty-one per cent of British-Muslim women do not have the civil ceremony. Either the elders involved paint participation in such a ceremony as some kind of rejection of the importance of the Muslim marriage ceremony, or one or both of the parties are unaware that their marriage will not be considered valid in the event of divorce or death. The laws of the homeland do not apply because they are no longer in Pakistan or Bangladesh, and they are also somehow not in Britain. In this way, they are denied the legal protections that they may have been able to access in either of the two places. The impact of the legal limbo where both Islamic and British law have limited effect has also led to an increase in marital crimes, with high rates of domestic violence and in some cases, even homicide. In one such case, a woman named Zaitoon Bibi, the second wife of a man named Tanweer Iqbal, conspired to murder him, succeeding in her plan. As happens in many of these cases, Iqbal had married Zaitoon without telling his first wife. The situation went on for years until finally, Zaitoon Bibi got jealous and upset and told her. In response, Iqbal told Zaitoon Bibi that he wanted nothing to do with her, even though they were married according to Islamic law. Zaitoon Bibi (who had erroneously thought that the first wife would kick Iqbal out once she found out) then lured him to her house one day and, with the assistance of some others, killed him. This sad case is but one example of how things can go horribly wrong when isolated communities suspicious of their current homeland and disconnected from their former homeland suffer a tragic form of moral devolution. In a situation such as this, it is crucial for religious leaders within the British-Muslim community and Pakistanis who have connections to that community to underscore the importance of both a civil marriage and an Islamic marriage. Women caught in the middle should not have to pay the price, and be left without rights or recourse. By arrangement with Dawn Cong-mukt India now an easy task: Harish Khurana, The writer is Delhis BJP spokesperson Rahul Gandhi, scion of Indias most enduring political dynasty, will now preside over the 132-year-old Indian National Congress. The crown of president poses several challenges for Rahul. Only time will tell whether hell sink or lead the party. It brings down the curtain on Sonia Gandhis era. She led the party and its campaigns successfully from the front and ensured 10 uninterrupted years in power at the Centre. The elevation of Rahul comes at a time when its fortunes have touched an all-time low. The party is ruling only in five states (might be four by next week) Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Rahul, a three-time member of Parliament, is a descendant of the makers of modern India. His great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was Indias first PM. His grandmother Indira Gandhi was the countrys longest-serving PM, while his father Rajiv Gandhi was PM. His mother Sonia Gandhi remote-controlled the UPA governments headed by Manmohan Singh and has now passed on the baton to him. Far from matching up to those names, Rahul has been an unequivocal failure. He took upon himself the task of reviving the partys youth organisations and failed. He said he wanted to rebuild the party organisation in its home turf of Uttar Pradesh, but has only seen it worsen. After his elevation as vice-president, the Congress slid down to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha in the 2014 general election. It was the first time in history that the Congress went below 100 seats. When Sonia Gandhi came out to speak on the result, Rahul merely stood by her side smiling. The party has even lost its ability to stitch together clever coalitions. Despite having emerged as the single-largest party in Goa and Manipur Assembly elections earlier this year, the Congress was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in stitching alliances and forming governments. Diffident over secularism, its credibility in tatters over corruption allegations, unwilling to fight elections with a killer instinct, and unable to set the agenda against the Narendra Modi government, the Congress today faces an identity crisis. Voters dont know what it stands for, what it is offering. Rahul has been unable to change that. Far from being the solution, Rahul is seen as the problem. By his own admission, he is no match for Mr Modi in mass communication. Politics, specially in the Modi era, is all about political communication. He uses English words when addressing Hindi-speaking rural masses, often disappears for days from public discourse and has been a rich source of political humour. Seen as a part-time politician, Rahul never misses his holidays. Whether India is undergoing upheaval with demonetisation or a fresh round of Assembly elections are nigh, he has to take his December-end flight out and soon starts planning his birthday trip in June. Each holiday lasts around two weeks. By contrast, Mr Modi projects the image of a 247 leader. In fact, the BJP is happy of Rahul becoming president, that it would make the task easier of making India Congress-mukt. The question is, whether Rahul can strategise to win elections against the winning machine of Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah two of the master strategists? Congress fortunes will turn: Arjun Puri, The writer is a Youth Congress leader With Rahul Gandhi taking over the presidency of the Congress, power has passed to a fourth generation of Indias most influential political family. First of all, let me clarify that the topic of the debate is not correct as no political party in India or elsewhere in the world elects its president to politically support its rival. The unopposed election of Rahul for the office of Congress president shows the faith of party workers, leaders and delegates in him. With his vision and youthful energy, Rahul will give a new shape, motivation and direction to the party. Motivated Congressmen under Rahuls leadership will give a befitting reply to its opponent, specially the BJP, in the 2019 general election. Each and every Congressman is confident that under Rahuls able and visionary leadership, the party will touch new heights in future, including the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In the past 13 years, since he made his electoral debut, Rahul has led the party from the front and closely seen its highs and lows. He has led the party to a good performance in Uttar Pradesh, winning almost twice the number of seats as the BJP, in the 2009 general election. He has enough experience since January 2013 he was the partys vice-president, the longest by anyone in the party. People regularly questioned his leadership qualities as the Congress lost a few Assembly elections, but they forget that under his leadership the party won Punjab with a huge mandate, emerged as the single largest party in Manipur and Goa, but failed to form the government as he doesnt believe and support dirty tricks to form the government. The BJP has formed the government in Manipur and Goa by killing all democratic values and by indulging in horse-trading, which is known to everyone. Rahuls elevation has sent positive vibes among Congress workers and youth across the country as it is not only seen as a generational change or change of power, but emergence of youth power. The excitement is visible among every worker, irrespective of the state or region s/he belongs to. Rahuls popularity among the youth and his ability to connect with them will benefit the party and help in reaching out to a new section of voters. His young approach will infuse new and fresh blood among the cadre, which can be visible in the coming state polls and ultimately in the next general election. Only in Rahuls vision and approach leaders of all the Congress frontal organisations are elected through a democratic process in which youth leaders from different backgrounds are holding key positions in the organisation. Only due to his efforts the democratic process was adopted in internal elections of these organisations, in which professionals, students and youth from non-political families joined the Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress Party will reach new heights by reaching out to all sections of society and youth are likely to participate more during his tenure. All Congressmen believe that the partys fortunes will turn after Rahuls ascension as party president, and it will not benefit any other political party or parties. A chatbot should ideally be assigned to provide answers to such questions and once a customer is satisfied with the responses and wishes to proceed, an agent can be brought forth to answer specific queries and solve more complex concerns. Numerous Bollywood songs have been dedicated to that new girl in college whom we all wanted to walk up to and talk to but were always unsure as to how to go about it. Numerous bets plans with friends and failed attempts later, she still remained an enigma. The hopeful songs describing budding love were then replaced by sad songs of the 1960s, describing heartbreak and unrequited love, Guru Dutt style. Cut to 2017. Most of us are well settled in our jobs, and the college days serve only as a pool of memories to dive into during occasional gatherings. But, the problem of not being able to understand how to approach a new situation still persists. As is the case with Artificial intelligence and chatbots, for instance. Aakrit Vaish- CEO, Co-founder, Haptik, feels that the latest buzzword in the commercial space, AI is being considered as the ultimate elixir to all business problems, thanks to a romanticized image created in Hollywood flicks such as I, Robot, Her and several others. But the fundamental problem lies in the fact that without having a proper understanding of what these chatbots are all about, entrepreneurs are just rushing into adopting the technology, without actually analyzing it, and till what extent, their business requires its incorporation. What is AI? Essentially, AI refers to the development of cognitive intelligence in a machine that allows it to perceive its environment and choose actions to attain particular goals. However, unlike the image that popular culture might project of an AI developing conscious knowledge, it is in principle a programmed machine that has a highly adaptive programming which enhances its learning capacity, thereby updating its responses on a real-time basis as and when exposed to different stimuli. Where do chatbots fit in? Chatbots represent one application of AI. There are various applications of AI such as robotics, deep learning, neural networks, etc. Chatbots is just one of them. Unlike an average entrepreneurs expectations of chatbots being able to take care of everything their customers ask for, the average customer has a confusing experience talking to bots which have not been well calibrated to the frequently asked questions regarding the particular product or service in question. The complex chatbot myth One of the greatest myths regarding chatbots is that they are very adept at solving complex problems and dealing with open-ended situations. AIs cannot generate solutions by running logic functions and loops faster than the speed of sound. In fact, they are best only for solving simple, structured problems for which it would be an overkill to create dedicated apps or websites. Examples of such simple scenarios can be:- 1. Updating an insurance claim status 2. Setting a reminder 3. Location of a center/shop/ATM 4. Medical report status 5. Status of order 6. Credit card lead generation It has been noted that 80 per cent customer queries for any business pertaining to a particular industry are from the same 20 per cent core group of questions, which are in effect the introductory ones. For instance, for a travel organization, the oft-repeated queries would be around the destinations covered, the duration, price per individual, itinerary etc. A chatbot should ideally be assigned to provide answers to such questions and once a customer is satisfied with the responses and wishes to proceed, an agent can be brought forth to answer specific queries and solve more complex concerns. This helps to reduce labour costs, reduce the amount of time taken, builds professionalism and improves quality of customer engagement, as agents are not burdened with rudimentary tasks. Lead generation is another such instance where chatbots can be of great help. It has been noted that the typical form filling conversion on a website is 1 per cent. While on chatbots, the rate can go as high as 20 per cent as people find it easier to reveal information in a conversational format, giving one piece of information at a time. It is much easier than to go through a long and drab list filling mundane details. It is important for industry leaders and entrepreneurs to realise the present scope of AI and chatbots and not harbour any unrealistic expectations. While AI is making giant strides every day, and into every core human function such as HR, it is still a programming-oriented, learning process that is yet to develop the ability to make on-the-spot choices, account for the emotional quotient or provide reassurance while tackling a particular situation. The current crop of commercialised chatbots has not been optimally designed keeping in mind the functions they are to perform. If they are designed keeping the specific tasks in consideration, chatbots can really perform a given task with high efficiency and accuracy, given their ability to rectify and update themselves on the process. This makes them a highly valued tool for customer engagement in the future, and unlike the new college girl in the example above, not entirely unpredictable. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Transgender recruits will be allowed to enlist in the military beginning January 1, the Pentagon said, as President Donald Trumps ordered ban suffered more legal setbacks. Washington: Transgender recruits will be allowed to enlist in the military beginning January 1, the Pentagon said, as President Donald Trumps ordered ban suffered more legal setbacks. The new policy divulged on Tuesday reflects difficult hurdles the federal government would have to cross to enforce Mr Trumps demand earlier this year to bar transgender individuals from the military. Three federal courts have ruled against the ban, including one on Tuesday in Washington state. In October, US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barred the Trump administration from proceeding with its plan to exclude transgender people from military service. The incident, which took place on December 1, came into notice after a student took a picture of the message and shared it with school officials. (Photo: Pixabay/Representational) Commerce City: A school teacher in Colorado, the United States, had to resign after he wrote "I want to kill children" in the classroom, The Washington Post has reported. Kris Burghart, an eighth grade teacher at Otho E Stuart Middle School in Commerce City, resigned after an internal investigation looked into the matter. The incident, which took place on December 1, came into notice after a student took a picture of the message and shared it with school officials, according to Denver Post. "Silent reading . . . I want to kill children but I am a loving Christian man who never would hurt a flee [sic] so please sit down and read," the teacher wrote in a message. School officials said his message, which he displayed on a projector screen, was inappropriate and it "frightened" some of the students in his class. Principal Fabricio Velez, in a letter addressing parents, assured that the students were not in any danger, Fox31 reported. "Please know that we take any allegations concerning the safety and security of our Raptors very seriously," Velez said in the note, which was posted on the school's Facebook page. "Please also understand that in cases such as this, I'm not always able to communicate with you in a timely manner. But, I can assure you that no student was in danger at any time." Burghart went on an administrative leave on Tuesday and resigned on Friday, according to a School District 27J spokesman. "It is my firm belief that at no time, under any circumstance is it acceptable to threaten harm to our students not as a teaching tool, not as venting frustration, not as a joke," School District 27J Superintendent Chris Fiedler wrote to parents late last week in a letter about the matter. "I want to inform you that Mr. Burghart has resigned from his duties as a 27J teacher effective immediately." "He is a very well-liked teacher, so it is unfortunate, but we don't stand for anyone making threatening remarks," district spokeswoman Tracy Rudnick told the Denver Post. Fox News affiliate KDVR posted a picture of the message on Twitter and quoted one parent lambasting Burghart. "We all have bad days, but as a person in a position of trust with our students, it doesn't matter how bad your day is," one parent said, according to the news station. "You don't speak that way. You don't write that way." However, many others came out in his support. "This is truly unfortunate. Stuart lost a great teacher," one woman wrote on the school's Facebook page. Hes the greatest teacher at this school in my opinion, another parent said. Burghart, who accepted the allegation, has not commented further. The US is ready to talk to North Korea over its nuclear disarmament without preconditions, secretary of state Rex Tillerson has said amid North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns assertion to make his country the worlds strongest nuclear power. The offer comes amid crippling sanctions on the country and just two weeks after another intercontinental ballistic missile test by the reclusive nation. It also marks a shift from Tillersons own comments that the US would not negotiate with North and that it would only talk once the regime was ready to address its denuclearisation. Kim personally awarded medals to those in the field of defence science who most faithfully and perfectly carried out the Party's plan for building strategic nuclear force, successfully test-fired ICBM Hwasong-15. (Photo: File) Seoul: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons on Tuesday while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15. Hwasong-15, which was test-launched on November 29, has been largely perceived by analysts and government officials to have a range that can reach all of the mainland United States. However, experts believe North Korea still has some technical points it needs to improve before fully completing its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the entirety of the United States. Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing "more latest weapons and equipment" to "bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity", the North's central news agency reported on Wednesday. The North Korean leader was speaking at the close of a rare two-day munitions conference to celebrate the Hwasong-15. Kim also said North Korea should develop and manufacture more diverse weapons. Kim personally awarded medals to "those in the field of defence science who most faithfully and perfectly carried out the Party's plan for building strategic nuclear force, successfully test-fired ICBM Hwasong-15 and thus demonstrated the dignity and might of our powerful state all over the world once again," KCNA said without naming the recipients. They were given several medals, including the Order of Kim II Sung and Order of Kim Jong Il, the highest orders of the DPRK, an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In addition to the medals, KCNA said the scientists and officials were given watches engraved with the names of Kim II Sung and Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader's grandfather and father. "He solemnly declared that the development of new strategic weapon systems including A-bomb, H-bomb and ICBM Hwasong-15 with indigenous efforts and technology and the realisation of the great cause of completing the state nuclear force serve as a great historic victory of our Party and people of the country," North Korea's state media added citing Kim. The isolated state has previously said it has succeeded in developing atom bombs and hydrogen bombs as it carried out six nuclear tests from 2006, with the latest in September 2017, although no outside entity has been able to confirm the North's announcements. British officials say a baby born with an extremely rare condition has survived three surgeries to place her heart inside her chest. Glenfield Hospital in Leicester said on Wednesday that baby Vanellope Hope was born in late November with her heart growing on the outside of her body. The unusual condition is called ectopia cordis. Dr. Nick Moore said the baby is in the hospitals pediatric intensive care unit. He says she has a long way to go but so far at least she now has a chance at a future. Most babies born with this condition do not survive although there have been some cases in which surgery has been successful. Infection poses a severe risk to babies with this condition. Vanellope, who was delivered three weeks ago in Leicester, was born with the extremely rare condition ectopia cordis, the BBC reports. Ectopia cordis is a congenital malformation in which the heart is abnormally located either partially or totally outside of the thorax. Vanellopes parents, Naomi Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, from Nottingham, told the BBC that they were advised to terminate the pregnancy when ultrasounds showed the baby had no breastplate and her heart was outside her chest. The chances of survival were next to none no-one believed she was going to make it except us, Wilkins said. Vanellope is believed to be the first baby with the condition in the U.K. to survive, according to staff at the Glenfield Hospital where she is being treated, time.com reported. Babies born with ectopia cordis have just a 10% chance of survival. In the U.S., in recent years, there have been a few cases where babies have survived following surgery, including Audrina Cardenas who was born in Texas in 2012, and Kieran Veitz who was born in 2015, time.com added. He slammed the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a gift to the Zionist movement. (Photo: File) Istanbul: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas Wednesday warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. "Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state... There will be no peace, no stability without that," Abbas told an emergency meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. He slammed the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded passageway during the morning rush hour, injuring himself and three others. (Photo: AP) Dhaka: The wife and in-laws of a Bangladeshi-origin man, who triggered a blast at a metro station in New York City, were detained for questioning by the Bangladesh police on Tuesday, according to a media report. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded passageway during the morning rush hour, injuring himself and three others. The device prematurely exploded between two subway platforms near Port Authority, America's largest bus terminal, injuring four persons and causing chaos in one of the busiest commuter hubs in the metropolis, officials said. The Bangladesh police detained the wife and in-laws of Ullah for questioning. The counterterrorism unit detained the trio this afternoon, bdnews reported. "The three have been brought in for questioning," Counterterrorism Unit Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam was quoted as saying by the report. Ullah's wife Jannatul Ferdous and their six-month-old baby live with her parents in Dhaka. Ullah, who hails from Chittagong, has lived in the US for seven years. US police officials said he worked as a cab driver initially and then worked as an electrician at a real estate company. He had pledged allegiance to the ISIS terror group and told investigators that his planned terrorist attack in New York was mainly because of the recent Israeli actions in Gaza, officials said as per multiple media reports. Bangladesh police began searching for Ullah's family after his identity was confirmed. An official from the counter-terrorism unit said they found the address of his in-laws on Tuesday afternoon. Akayed's father-in-law Zulfikar Haider, mother-in-law Mahfuza Akhtar and their children rented the house. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. (Photo: Videograb/File) Islamabad/The Hague: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the charge-sheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. (Photo: PTI/File) Islamabad: Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri on Wednesday dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. Read: Pak interfering in Guj polls, its army ex-DG wants Ahmed Patel as CM: Modi "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. A delegation of state BJP leaders on Wednesday met Governor Vajubhai Vala in Bengaluru seeking that he direct the state government to order National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the deaths of Paresh Mestha and other Hindu/RSS activists in the state. The BJP has blamed "jihadi" forces behind the "killings" and for perpetrating the violence in Sirsi and Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district. A delegation of the leaders led by K S Eshwarappa, R Ashoka and Shobha Karandlaje met Vala in the Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum stating that more than 20 Hindu/RSS activists have been killed during the past four years. The latest being that of Paresh Mestha, who was found dead in Honnavar. The memorandum states that Honnavar was tense following vandalisation of a temple on December 7. However, no protection was given and the entire police force was deputed to a programme attended by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. It states that Mestha's body was dumped into a pond when ban order under Section 144 of CrPC was clamped in the town. "The crime could not have been committed without the help of the police," the memorandum states. Shobha said the police have been trying to cover-up the crime and hide the fact that Mestha had been tortured before being killed. "We have requested the Governor to initiate action against the police who are involved in the cover-up," she said. "The brutal killing of Meshta is the latest among the series of cold-blooded murders that has been taking place in coastal Karnataka. In all the killings, the involvement of Popular Front of India and Socialist Democratic Party of India is clearly visible," the memorandum states. Ashoka said the Congress government is deliberately maintaining a silence over the killings, which is in accordance with its "policy of minority appeasement and contempt to Hindu activists." The leaders also staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue between Vidhana Soudha and the Vikasa Soudha in support of their demand. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's (AIIB) Board of Directors has approved a $335 million (Rs 2,159 crore) loan for a 100% electric metro project that will reduce traffic and pollution and increase employment and mobility in India. The investment in the Bangalore Metro Rail Project-Reach 6 (R6) is AIIB's first metro project and its first joint financing partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB). EIB is the project's lead financier with Euro 500 million in funding. In May 2016, AIIB and EIB signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a framework of cooperation to conduct regular dialogues and explore joint infrastructure project financing. The Bangalore Metro Rail Project-R6 is the first project resulting from that framework. By expanding the city's metro system, the project will provide high-capacity north-south connectivity through the centre of Bengaluru, India's third most populated city with a population of 9.6 million. Primary beneficiaries will be the commuters who travel along the corridor, with residents and commercial establishments along the line as secondary beneficiaries. Travel times for some journeys impacted by the lack of a metro system are expected to drop from two hours today to 15 minutes when the R6 line is completed. "We are investing in this metro project because of its potential to greatly improve the mobility of commuters and further economic growth through better connectivity," said AIIB Vice President and Chief Investment Officer D.J. Pandian. "The project's impact on the reduction of fuel consumption and traffic congestion will also help reduce local air pollution and noise and make Bengaluru a more liveable city. We look forward to continuing to review metro projects in India, and across Asia, that will support connectivity and introduce greener methods of transportation," he said. R6 is a key part of Phase-II of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project and a key component of the future rail link to the international airport. Operations will be entirely electric, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping mitigate climate change effects. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited is the entity implementing the project. After a whole day of indiscriminate violence in Sirsi town (Uttara Kannada district) on Tuesday, situation returned to normal on Wednesday. Schools and colleges opened and buses are plying as usual. Shops remained open for business since morning. Police are seen keeping vigil in every nook and corner of the town. Violence broke out on Tuesday when BJP, Hindu Jagaran Vedike and Bajrang Dal activists took out protests demanding a thorough investigation into the suspicious death of Hindu activist Paresh Mesta whose body was found in Honnavar recently. The protests were staged despite prohibitory orders clamped in the town. The protest march turned violent when police tried to prevent the march from proceeding. The unruly mob pelted stones at the police and set police vehicles on fire. The police had resorted to lathi charge, tear gas shells and even firing in the air to quell the mob. The Supreme Court's constitution bench would on Thursday consider a plea for passing interim orders on the government's direction to link Aadhaar to bank accounts, mobile phones and to other welfare schemes. A five-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Dipak Misra would take up the matter on long-pending plea by a batch of petitioners led by former Karnataka High Court judge Justice K S Puttaswamy, to restrain the government from making it mandatory for the citizens. On mentioning made by senior advocate Shyam Divan and Attorney General K K Venugopal, the bench said, we will consider the issue on Thursday. The court's causelist showed as many as 28 separate PILs listed for hearing before the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. The Union government has stoutly defended the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, by which the Aadhar card is now issued to ensure that various beneficial schemes filter down to persons for whom such schemes are intended. The apex court's nine bench decision on August 24 declaring the right to privacy as a fundamental right has fortified the contention by Aadhaar challengers, who claimed that the citizens were being forced to part with their finger prints and iris details. The Centre, for its part, has said it was ready to extend deadline for linking of Aadhaar to avail welfare schemes till March 31. He also asked whether Singh had consulted the Ministry of External Affairs on the same. The Union law minister also wanted to know the Congress' stand on the proposed triple talaq law, and asked Gandhi whether a Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya. "When we have a national line that India will not talk to Pakistan until the latter abandons terrorism, why did former prime minister Manmohan Singh go to meet a Pakistani delegation?" Prasad told reporters here. He said in 2007, in Havana, when Singh was the prime minister, a joint statement had said that Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism when everyone knew that Pakistan was "not a victim but a sponsor of terrorism". He recalled that in Sharm El Sheikh joint declaration in 2010, Balochistan was referred to and it said India had a hand in the disturbance there. "In this light, if a question is asked why Singh met Pakistani delegation when the country's line on talks with the neighbouring country is clear, what is wrong with it (in questioning the meeting)," Prasad said. "The BJP would like to know if Manmohan Singh went to meet the Pakistani delegation, with the presence of high commissioner of that country, with due consultation with the External Affairs Ministry and with due information to Rahul Gandhi," he said. Gandhi has, till today, not answered this question, the BJP leader said. Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's insinuations about the meeting with Pakistani delegation that Singh attended were "unacceptable". While Modi had suggested that Singh and some other Congress leaders colluded with Pakistan which, he claimed, was trying to influence the Gujarat polls, the former PM responded by saying that Modi was setting a "dangerous precedent", and should apologise to the nation. Modi had said at an election rally that some Pakistani officials and Singh met at now suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. On Gandhi's visits to various temples in Gujarat, Prasad asked why he didn't go to the Ram Janambhoomi (in Ayodhya) or the Krishna Janambhoomi during the Uttar Pradesh election campaign. "You are a Shiv Bhakt, that's good, but what about Ram Bhakti? You should make clear your stand on Ram Mandir, whether a Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya or not," Prasad said. He also wanted to know Congress's stand on triple talaq. "We are in the process of framing a law on triple talaq. Does the Congress support the proposed law on triple talaq?" he asked. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad today said Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi should disclose if former prime minister Manmohan Singh met a Pakistani delegation earlier this month after informing him. "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "It's part of the global order, the international system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administration's relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administration's engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trump's recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was these need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixon's historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did it has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue we're having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and we're in a different place," he said. On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and that they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed others lay claim to and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia region." "In our view, China has gone too far in this area. So can can we achieve some kind of halt? Can we freeze it where it is so we can sort out how we're going to work through this?" he asked. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. Periyapandi was part of the special eight-member team to nab the suspects associated with the gold robbery in Rajamangalam, Chennai took place on November 16. The robbers had drilled a hole on the rooftop of a jewellery shop and escaped with around 3.5 kilograms gold and cash. The CCTV footage showed two persons carrying bags containing the loot. "The police got information that the suspects were hiding in a deserted brick kiln. He along with his team were in a search operation to nab the suspects. They attacked police with the rods. Suspects snatched the revolver from his hand and shot him at the spot," a Circle Officer at Pali confirmed. Two days ago, Periyapandi's team had nabbed four persons from a village in Pali district of Rajasthan, who allegedly helped their relative in the robbery. The suspects were identified as Chennaram, (28), Ellaram, Shankar Lal and Dauram, natives of Pali district. A police inspector from Chennai was shot dead by robbers early morning on Wednesday in Jaitaran of Pali district in Rajasthan. The deceased has been identified as Periyapandi of Maduravoyal police station, Chennai. Whereas another inspector, Muni Sekar, who accompanied him suffered serious injuries and has been admitted to a hospital in Rajasthan. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) carried out raids on six different government officers' homes and offices across Karnataka on Wednesday. Kalburgi ACB sleuths raided the house of Minor Irrigation Department Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) H B Malappa at about 2 pm. It is learnt that he was earlier posted at Shivamogga and later transferred to Kalburgi four months ago. ACB police said that he owns houses in Shivamogga and Bengaluru, but lives in a rented house in Kalburgi. Investigations are on. Bantwal ACB police raided the office, Thokur (Bantwal) and Kinnigoli (Mangaluru) houses belonging to agriculture department Assistant Director P F Miranda. Investigations are on. Chikkaballapur Minor Irrigation Department Assistant Executive Engineer Hemanth's office in Chikkaballapur, farm house and his Bengaluru house were raided by the ACB team 11 officers on Wednesday morning. Investigations are on. Tumakuru The house of PWD Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Jagadish in Koratagere in Tumakaru district was raided by ACB. ACB police said that Jagadish has been serving in the public works department (PWD) at Koratagere for the last four and half years, and owns a house there. The Lokayukta police had gathered information against the AEE two years ago and the ACB has raided his house now. ACB officers have also inspected documents found in the AEE's Saraswathipuram house in Tumakuru. Dharwad In a separate incident, ACB sleuths raided the house of Ankola Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Panduranga Pai and searched his Hubbali, Dharwad and Ankola houses on Wednesday. Belagavi Another PWD AEE Suresh Bhimanayaka's house was raided by an ACB team and documents were inspected. He is posted at Kittur taluk in Belagavi district. Microsoft on Wednesday announced the launch of Azure Stack for the Indian market. Azure Stack is an extension of Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, and it brings the agility and fast-paced innovation of cloud computing to on-premises environments. The company has partnered with HP, Dell, EMC, Lenovo and Cisco for hardware supply of the product, and it has started shipping the product to customers in India. A large Azure Stack-ready partner ecosystem has been created with partners such as Netmagic, Embee and G7CR. Meant for the corporate clients, the products are available through these three companies in India. In the financial services sector, 10 of the 12 largest banks in India use Microsoft Cloud solutions (State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, YES Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank). BankChain, a blockchain consortium of 30 banks, runs exclusively on Microsoft Azure blockchain platform. According to the company, the partner ecosystem is critical in driving digital transformation through the cloud in India. As of date, Microsoft India has more than 9,000 cloud partners. Globally, Microsoft has 64,000 partners - more than any other cloud services provider. Microsoft works with over 2,00,000 large, medium and small enterprises, 29 State governments and over 5,000 startups in the country, with increased thrust in the past 12 months. Microsoft on Wednesday said that 70 of the top 100 Bombay Stock Exchange-listed companies are now using Microsoft cloud to drive their digital transformation. Microsoft entities in India have over 8,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 cities Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centres to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organisations. In 2016, Microsoft opened one of its eight Cybersecurity Engagement Centres in the country, to address security needs of both public and private sectors. IndiGo, Jet Airways and SpiceJet have submitted bids under the regional connectivity scheme's second round of bidding wherein the government has received 141 initial proposals, a senior official said today. The financial bids in the second round of the scheme -- Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) -- would be opened tomorrow while the technical bids were opened on December 5. IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Zoom Air are among the applicants that have put in their bids for the second round of UDAN, according to the civil aviation ministry official. UDAN seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable. The participating airlines are provided Viability Gap Funding (VGF) -- which is contributed by the ministry and respective state governments. The official said IndiGo and SpiceJet have not sought any VGF for their proposed flights under the scheme. While SpiceJet is already operating UDAN flights after winning bids in the first round, this is the first time IndiGo and Jet Airways have officially expressed interest to participate in the scheme. In the first round too, SpiceJet did not seek VGF. For the second round of bidding, as many as 25 proposals with zero VGF requirement have been received, including from IndiGo and SpiceJet, the official said. A total of 141 initial and 55 counter proposals have been received. There are altogether 18 applicants, including 17 who have put in their initial proposals, the official added. Routes would be awarded in a phased manner in the second round wherein consideration would be given to zero VGF proposals as well as those for operating fixed wing planes and helicopters to priority areas under the scheme. The initial proposals involve 502 routes that seek to connect a total of 126 airports and helipads. These include 49 unserved and 15 under-served airports as well as 24 helipads, the ministry said last month. Out of them, 108 are for flying fixed wing aircraft and 33 for operating helicopters. In the first round of bidding under the scheme, 128 routes that would connect 70 airports were awarded to five airlines. Some of the routes are already operational. The official said that Air Deccan would start operations from December 23 while Air Odisha is expected to get its aircraft by end of this month. Both airlines won routes in the first round of bidding. Under UDAN, fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights. Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri today dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. Kannada actor 'Kichcha' Sudeep said on Wednesday that he had no plans to join politics, spiking rumours of his meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on December 11. He was launching the logo of 'We Respect Farmers Trust' in the city. Sudeep said he would sell one of his luxury cars and donate money to the farmers' Trust. Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde felicitated 15 progressive farmers from various districts of Karnataka during the logo launch. Sudeep handed over a cheque for Rs 10,000 towards education of farmers' children. Speaking on the occasion, Justice Hegde said, "Farmers should be respected by the society. The government should give farmers crop insurance so that they will not suffer losses due to natural calamities or crop diseases." Justice Hegde advised farmers not to take loans unnecessarily from banks to spend on a lavish lifestyle. "Use the loan amount only for agriculture purposes,'' he said. Former High Court judge Justice A J Sadashiva, former MLC and poet Doddarange Gowda and K Narayana Gowda, retired vice chancellor of University of Agriculture, Bangalore, were present. Rejecting the ruling Congress party's charge that it was fomenting communal trouble, the BJP today demanded an investigation by the CBI or the NIA into the mysterious death of a young fisherman last week, which has sparked tension in the coastal Uttara Kannada district. Paresh Kamalakar Mesta (19) had gone missing on December 6. His body was found near a lake in Honnavar in the district on the night of December 8 under mysterious circumstances. Sirsi and Kumata towns in the district have been hit by violence since then. Mesta's family and local residents have alleged he was abducted and killed amid reports the body bore marks of attack by sharp objects. Police, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination. The BJP has blamed "jihadi elements" for Mesta's death, while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the saffron party of using the incident for "political gains". The party has been saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu organisations have been killed in coastal Karnataka and elsewhere in the past a few months. Speaking to reporters today, senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Shobha Karandlaje accused the Congress party of "shying" away from a National Investigation Agency probe. Rubbishing state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy's claim that Mesta's death was not mysterious, she said he was ignoring eyewitnesses account that the victim's face was blackened. "There were injuries on his face. 'Jai Sri Ram' tattooed on his hand was burnt and his private parts were mutilated. How can the death of a 19-year-old breadwinner of a family be treated as an ordinary case? Why is the government shying away from an NIA probe? Let CBI or NIA investigate it," she said. The BJP leader claimed the involvement of Muslim outfit Popular Front of India in the death of Mesta. "Investigations have shown the involvement of PFI behind the murder of RSS worker Rudresh (early this year) and other leaders in Karnataka and Kerala. Why is the government soft on PFI and not banning it," she asked. The PFI had earlier rejected the BJP's charge pinning the blame on it for the killings of Hindu activists. Karandlaje dismissed Reddy's charges that she and other BJP leaders were responsible for the riot-like situation in the coastal belt. "We are not giving any inflammatory speeches. All that we want is an NIA probe into the matter," she said. After an acrimonious face-off on the Gujarat campaign trail, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh came face-to-face at a ceremony to honour martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack. As he got down from his vehicle, Modi greeted Singh with folded hands and extended it towards the former prime minister. Modi held Singh's folded hands for a brief while at the sombre ceremony on Wednesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was standing a little away from Singh also greeted the prime minister with folded hands. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, senior BJP leader L K Advani, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ananth Kumar, Smriti Irani, Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rajiv Shukla were also present on the occasion. On the Gujarat campaign trail, Modi claimed that a "secret meeting" between Congress leaders and Pakistani representatives had taken place at the residence of suspended party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. In an unusually strong statement, Singh had termed Modi's claims "falsehoods and innuendoes" and demanded an apology. Continuing the crackdown on terror-funding in Kashmir, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Geelani in a money-laundering case. Sources said the ED's regional office in Srinagar on Wednesday delivered a notice to the octogenarian leader at his uptown Hyderpora residence. The ailing separatist has been asked to appear at ED's Delhi zonal office. Officials said Geelani is required to be questioned by ED sleuths in connection with a 2002 case when Income Tax department recovered $10,000 from his home. Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, was unable to declare the source of the money then. He was summoned by the Income Tax department in 2003. However, he failed to appear and the case has been pending with the I-T department and the ED since then. Earlier in March, the ED summoned Geelani and pro-independence JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connection with its probe against them in two separate Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) cases. On July 25, another senior separatist leader Shabir Shah was arrested by the ED in connection with over a decade-old terror-financing case. In September, the ED filed the final report before the court in which it also named alleged hawala dealer Mohammed Alsam Wani, who is in judicial custody along with Shah. The case dates back to August 2005 in which the Delhi Police's Special Cell had earlier arrested Wani who had then claimed that he gave Rs 2.25 crore to Shah. Besides, ED, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also probing alleged terror-funding cases against Kashmiri separatists. The NIA has arrested 10 people, including seven second rung separatists leaders, a renowned businessman and a photo-journalist for terror-funding and subversive activities to fuel unrest. Pakistan today rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter-memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the charge-sheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. The CBI is set to probe irregularities in the grant of approval to some deemed-to-be universities correspondence courses in engineering. The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has approved handing over the case to the investigation agency following a Supreme Court's verdict in this connection last month. The apex court, in its verdict on November 3, suspended all B Tech degrees awarded by four deemed-to-be-universities, including Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Tamil Nadu, to their students through distance education programmes in engineering between 2001 and 2005. It also ordered a thorough investigation into the matter, holding that the grant of ex-post-facto approval to these four institutions correspondence course in engineering by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the recommendation of the erstwhile distance education council of the Indira Gandhi National Open University was "incorrect and illegal". The court observed that JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan; Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan; Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Uttar Pradesh; and Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation had not taken prior approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for offering technical courses. An affidavit filed by Ved Prakash (former UGC chairman) during the hearing of the case disclosed how permissions were granted to introduce courses in the present cases without any authority, the court noted. "On one hand, the authorities were proclaiming their policy statements and on the other, despite there being complaints, they went about granting permissions. We are, prima facie of the view that the conduct of the concerned officials needs to be looked into and investigated whether the exercise of power by them was completely genuine or colourable," the apex court said. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh today hit out at his successor Narendra Modi again on the eve of the second and final phase of the Gujarat polls, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and seeking an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". Upping the ante two days after his sharp outburst, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narender (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, the desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. He said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants present at the dinner," he said. The former premier also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. The Congress Party needs no sermons on "nationalism" from a party and prime minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known, he added. "Let me remind Narender (sic) Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan," he said. He also said that his track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone and no one including Modi, can "lamely" question it to gain lost political ground. China today denied plans to construct a tunnel to divert Brahmaputra river waters amid reports of highly polluted waters from its tributary Siang flowing into India. "I would like to point out that China's position on the eastern part of the China-India border is consistent and clear," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to questions about the reports on blackened, muddy waters with cement and sledge of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh. He refuted reports that it may due to a tunnel being constructed on Chinese side. "I have never heard of the project mentioned by the Indian side. It is hoped that the Indian side will not conduct unfounded speculation and reports," he said in a written response to a question in this regard. In October, China had denied reports of plans to build 1000-km long tunnel to divert Brahmaputra waters to the arid regions of Xinjiang, saying the report is untrue and false. There is, however, no explanation for the highly-polluted waters in Siang river. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. In 2016, China had declared that it would be building a dam on a tributary of the river, sparking concerns of its potential downstream impact in India. Arunachal Pradesh State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL) in a recent report said the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had drawn the attention of the Centre on the river's contamination, which he said might have been caused due to activities on the Chinese side and asked the Government of India to take up the matter with Beijing. BJP chief Amit Shah today hit back at former prime minister Manmohan Singh over his criticism of Narendra Modi and asked the "angry" Congress veteran why he was silent when a "monumental loot" took place during his tenure at the Centre. "We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry and anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar'. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called neech," Shah said in series of tweets. The BJP president's reference was to remarks made against Prime Minister Modi by Congress leaders. "When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh jis honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance!," Shah tweeted. He said the nation missed Singh's anger when the "monumental loot and plunder" were taking place during his tenure as the prime minister. "Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking PM," he said. Shah was responding to Singh's remarks earlier this week when he accused Modi of "spreading falsehood and canards" to score political points and sought an apology for his "ill- thought transgression". On the eve of the second and final phase of Gujarat's Assembly elections, Shah also accused Singh of taking a U-turn in declaring that he had attended a meeting with Pakistani diplomats after denying it. "Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," Shah said, asking him why he had not apprised the government of the meeting. Shah also took Singh on over party leader Rahul Gandhi publicly tearing up an ordinance during the UPA rule. "Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office," Shah asked. Describing the attacks and allegations by both Singh and Gandhi as the "desperation" of the Congress party a day before polling, Shah said both leaders had "maliciously" attack the Prime Minister. A BJP Lok Sabha member was caught on camera threatening an IAS officer over an 'anti-encroachment' drive in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district. ''Jeena mushkil kar doongi...ye Barabanki hai,'' (I will make life difficult for you...this is Barabanki), Priyanka Singh Rawat, who represents Barabanki in the Lok Sabha, was heard telling Ajai Kumar Dwivedi, a trainee IAS officer currently posted as sub-divisional magistrate in the district. According to the sources Dwivedi along with a team of the revenue department had gone to Chaila village following complaints that some people had grabbed government land there and had also sowed crops. Sources said that a local BJP leader had encroached upon the government land, which actually belonged to a government school. The local villagers protested the SDM's attempts to remove encroachment from the land and raised anti-government slogans. Rawat, who happened to be passing by, on recieving information reached the spot. She confronted the SDM and sought explanation from him. Sources said that the MP lost her cool and threatened the officer with dire consequences if he did not ''change'' his ''attitude'', when the latter walked toward his vehicle apparently to leave the spot. ''Dimag kharab hai tumhara...tameez naam ki cheez nahin hai....abhi training kar rahe ho....apna attitude change kar lo,'' (Have you gone mad.....do you have courtesy....you are undergoing training...change your attitude,'' she was heard telling the SDM on camera. Rawat was also heard telling the official that she would make life difficult for her in the district. All attempts by the SDM to put forth his side of the story to the MP proved futile as she was not ready to listen. Earlier, BJP leaders have publicly threatened government officials. A few months back senior BJP leader and party MLA from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home town of Gorakhpur Radhamohan Das Agarwal had publicly rebuked a lady IPS officer bringing her to tears. India, Japan and Australia reassured Asean that the quad they recently launched with the US to contain China would not undermine the Southeast Asian bloc's centrality in the Indo-Pacific area. Top diplomats of India, Japan and Australia met in New Delhi on Wednesday. They underscored the three nations' "support for Asean centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release issued after the trilateral talks. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar hosted his Australian and Japanese counterparts, Frances Adamson and Shinsuke J Sugiyama, for the fourth trilateral talks in New Delhi. They highlighted the "growing convergence" of the interests of the three nations in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region". India, Japan and Australia held the trilateral meeting just a month after they joined the US to relaunch a quadrilateral dialogue on Indo-Pacific. The quad was first launched in 2007, but it lost momentum soon. It was re-launched on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila on November 12. The move was apparently aimed at creating a bulwark against China and countering the hegemonic aspirations of the Communist country in Indo-Pacific. It, however, also triggered apprehensions within Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) over the possibility of a four-nation initiative undermining the centrality of the 10-nation bloc in the political and security architecture of the region. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to host the leaders of all the 10 Asean nations next month, New Delhi is keen to allay the concerns of the Southeast Asian nations. India on Wednesday got Japan and Australia to join it to reassure Asean that the three nations would continue to support the Southeast Asian bloc's centrality in the region notwithstanding their move to re-launch the quad with the US. The top diplomats of India, Japan and Australia also stressed on "the need for greater collaboration on maritime security and domain awareness and disaster response capabilities". They renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism. The community Transition Team "put together to research how to move Hamilton County Schools forward to become the fastest improving school system in Tennessee needs your help to complete their work," county school officials said. The group of business leaders, parents, and educators have developed a short community survey to provide them with the thoughts and opinions of Hamilton County and Chattanooga citizens regarding the schools that serve the community. Superintendent Dr. Officials said, "Information provided by parents, students, teachers, principals, central office staff, and the community will be vital in providing opportunities essential for the successful future of Hamilton County's children. "The survey is very short and will only take a few minutes to complete. Please click on the survey link below now to let them know what you think. Your responses will help the group to develop plans to provide the best possible schools for our children. "There is also a Spanish version of the survey available to help all community members participate. System personnel working in the Latino community have also produced a letter for parents to encourage involvement in the process by all communities in Hamilton County." Survey Links: English: bit.ly/transitionteamsurvey Spanish: bit.ly/ transitionteamsurveyspanish It was stated, "Please take a moment to take the survey and help the Transition Team with their work. Also, you can help by sharing the survey. Together, we can move our community forward to become the fastest improving school system in Tennessee. The survey should take around 10-15 minutes to complete and your responses will remain confidential." The survey will close at 5 p.m. EST on Dec. 19. The Election Commission has issued a notice to Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him for giving interviews to television channels. This prompted the Congress to accuse the poll panel of adopting "double standards" as it had not taken similar action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders. The Congress was also upset that the EC had directed the Gujarat chief electoral officer to take action against channels, which telecast Rahul's interview in poll-bound districts. The EC wanted the CEO to file an FIR against the channel for violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which mandates 48-hour silence before voting. Voters in 93 Assembly seats will exercise their franchise in the second phase of polling on Thursday. The first phase of polling was held on December 9. The results will be announced on December 18. Congress leaders led by Ahmed Patel and Ashok Gehlot made a dash to the poll authority to register their protest against the EC turning a blind eye to media interview by BJP leaders including party chief Amit Shah and Union Minister Piyush Goyal. The party also termed the prime minister's address to Ficci annual general meeting on Wednesday a violation of the model code of conduct as it was critical of the Congress-led UPA government. The prime minister had termed the bank loans as a "scam" that was bigger than the Commonwealth Games, 2G telecom spectrum allocation and coal block allocation scams. Earlier, the BJP took objection to Rahul granting interviews to Gujarat-based television channels contending that it violated the Model Code of Conduct. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the Election Commission should act following these interviews. Acting on a complaint filed by the BJP, the poll panel held that the interview telecast by the channels "violated" the Model Code of Conduct on the day before the last phase of the elections on Thursday. In a three-page notice to Gandhi sent by its permanent secretary Varinder Kumar, the poll panel said the Congress leader had "prima facie" violated the provisions of the code, section 126(1) (b) of the Act and the EC's "lawful instructions" in this regard. The panel asked Gandhi to send his reply by 5 pm December 18, failing which it would decide the matter without any further notice to him. Congress leaders made a late night dash to the Election Commission demanding "fair and equal treatment" in the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct. In a memorandum to the EC, the Congress listed interviews given by BJP president Amit Shah, the two press conferences conducted by Goyal, the BJP releasing the election manifesto after the end of the campaign for the first phase of elections as violation of the poll code. "The Election Commission is duty-bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state that the aforesaid apparent discrimination and apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion," it said. The simple and stylish weeding machine at Ulsoor lake has left many onlookers awestruck. The machine is more so unique as it uses the engine of the outdated, yet popular Maruti- 800 car. The scientists from National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), civilian aerospace R&D laboratory have designed this weed cutting machine called airboat over the past three months. They are now testing it at the MEG side of Ulsoor Lake. S Selvarajan, chief scientist from NAL said that the defence officials cooperated and gave a testing space. The machine landed at the lake in September and since then the weeds have been regularly cleared. The operations were not hampered during rainy days also. The team states that the machine can be used to clear weeds in other lakes also, including Bellandur and Varthur, but the safety of the machines is important. At the MEG centre, the guards take care of the machine. Apart from clearing weeds, the machine can also clear floating waste. The machine can also be used as weed cutter and to transport people in marshy terrain. The scientists assert that it is a unique invention and are ready to even modify it to suit other demands. Fares of Namma Metro and city buses in Bengaluru, including Volvo buses, are likely to be reduced on second Sundays starting from February when the government will initiate its Traffic-less Day programme to check pollution. Transport Minister H M Revanna said the decision was taken to encourage public transport and regulate private vehicles. "Fares of tickets and daily passes of the BMTC buses as well as Namma Metro fares will be cut on second Sundays. Encouraging the public transport is the best way to check pollution in the city," he said. The minister, who spoke about the plan for the third time in two weeks, said discussions were going on with officials on the reduction in fares. "We are also talking with metro officials on cutting fares," he said. Noting that about 72 lakh vehicles have been registered in the city, Revanna said if 62 lakh vehicles stay off the road for a day fuel consumption, as well as pollution, will come down. "Autorickshaws, taxis and maxicabs will not be affected by the measure," he added. 'Not a rule' Stressing that the government will not 'ban' private vehicles, Revanna said the Traffic-less Day will be more of an awareness campaign. "A law banning private vehicles will not stand in the court. Our aim is to make people shun their vehicles on one day in a month," he said. The minister said the BBMP will hold a special council meeting in this regard. The civic agencies will be involved to spread awareness in all the wards. The people will be requested to participate in meetings and seminars to help them understand the necessity for such measures. Authorities will rope in youths from the corporate sector to join hands for the success of the programme. "We have decided not to try odd-even rule, which failed in Delhi. Bengaluru is 6th in the list of polluted cities in the country. We have to take some measures before it is too late," he said. Irregularities to be investigated Transport Minister H M Revanna said allegations of irregularities in the purchase of Marcopolo buses during the previous government's reign will be investigated. "I will ask for a complete report on the purchase of those buses. Action will be initiated against officials and leaders involved in the scam," he said. Previous Next Morning Pointe Senior Living presented the annual Exceeding Expectations Awards to four associates exemplifying exceptional customer service and dedication to senior living and Alzheimers memory care residents and their families. Every year, the company acknowledges top performing team members in its 30 communities in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Candidates are selected from three regions and the corporate headquarters based in Ooltewah. Each associate received a certificate, a $500 cash prize, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chattanooga to be recognized by executive leadership during the companys annual Christmas awards ceremony. Our 1,500 dedicated, hardworking associates and professionals are the reason why Morning Pointe is the regions choice for senior living in the communities we serve, said Greg A. Vital, president and CEO of Morning Pointe. These outstanding associates have truly demonstrated exceptional service in their roles. Their commitment to our seniors and families is inspiring and worthy of great recognition. The 2017 Exceeding Expectations Awards were presented to: Two groups of residents who live near the planned freeway connectors from Interstate 5 to State Route 56 have filed lawsuits against Caltrans, the state transportation agency, alleging environmental studies for the project were flawed and should be redone. Both groups believe the analysis of the project doesnt meet the requirements under CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) to move forward, said Brian Farmer, of Citizens for Sensible Traffic Planning, one of the groups that filed a lawsuit in early November. Dennis Ridz, with the second group, Citizens for a Responsible Caltrans Decision, said he believes it is likely the two legal actions will be combined into one as the case moves forward. Among the concerns about the $294 million project - which, when completed, will connect southbound I-5 to eastbound 56, and westbound 56 to northbound I-5 - are noise, air pollution, traffic and the sheer size of the flyovers, the ramps that will connect the two freeways, as well as the proximity of the flyovers to homes and schools. This summer, a final environmental impact report for the project, as well as Caltrans preferred configuration of the project, were released after some 15 years of study, including the release of a draft EIR (environmental impact report) in 2012, which was the subject of numerous public comments. Although Caltrans has designated its preferred alternative, funding for design and construction of the freeway connectors isnt available, and may not be until 2035, according to the agency. But Farmer said he and other residents want the state to conduct a proper analysis of the potential impacts and mitigation measures, to come up with best decision possible on which option to select, whether Caltrans preferred alternative or another option. I think the first step is do the work, Farmer said. Although Caltrans wont need to relocate anyone off its property to construct the connectors, according to the EIR, there will be 27 partial residential land acquisitions and 12 partial business acquisitions. Ridz and Farmer are also concerned how close the connector ramps will be to homes and schools. Ridz said the connector will come within six feet of some homes. There are sections that are really close, Ridz said, particularly Portofino Circle, which is north of Carmel Valley Road and west of I-5. However, Arturo Jacobo, project manager for Caltrans I-5 North Coast Corridor projects, wrote in an email that the freeway connectors do not come within six feet of any homes. The opponents are also concerned at what they say will be the 120-foot height of the flyover connecting I-5 south to 56 east. Its just so big, said Farmer. The size makes it difficult to mitigate noise and pollution. While the project opponents are measuring the height of the flyovers above sea level, Caltrans measures the height from the existing I-5 freeway, and said at its highest point, the connector from I-5 south stands at 45 feet. A Caltrans chart shows the I-5 freeway is 63 to 72 feet above sea level. In any event, opponents said more work must be done to identify and analyze the projects environmental impacts. From my perspective, the EIR was clearly inadequate. There was a failure to evaluate noise pollution and greenhouse gases, requirements under CEQA that they simply didnt do, said Farmer. In his email, Jacobo wrote, Caltrans has complied with all requirements, regarding environmental analysis. He also noted that during work on the project, state legislation put it under the purview of the California Coastal Act rather than CEQA. But he noted that since the environmental review began under CEQA, Caltrans decided to complete the EIR. We put the same level of effort, analysis and public disclosure into the decision-making process as we would for any major project, Jacobo wrote. For his part, Farmer said he is unsure of the value of the I-5 southbound connector, since it will bring traffic to eastbound 56, which is very congested during the afternoon rush hour. This 12-story thing is going to be a parking lot with cars having nowhere to go, Farmer said. Its not clear what we gain by dumping traffic onto jam-packed freeways. The project will include additional traffic lanes on SR-56 between Carmel Country Road and El Camino Real, as well as replacement of the Del Mar Heights overcrossing at I-5, according to a project description at KeepSanDiegoMoving.com/NCC. Jacobo wrote that among the key reasons for selecting the so-called Phased Connectors Alternative was a superior traffic benefit, especially in the afternoon, and it was the only alternative that allowed the off-ramp from eastbound 56 to Carmel Creek Road to remain open as requested by the public. San Diego City Council did not to take any action on short-term vacation rental regulations at a hearing that stretched for most of the day on Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to past 8 p.m. Council members heard over 200 public comments for and against the two proposed regulations on the table and saw three motions fail on an issue that they have spent three years trying to tackle Council member Chris Cate had even counted the 1,098 days since he issued his first proposal to attempt to regulate short-term rentals. Todays inaction has proved that as a City Council we cannot govern, Cate said in statement. Time and time again the council has heavily relied on special interest and ballot initiatives to pass major public policy. Much has been said about dysfunctional D.C.-style politics, however, its happening in our own backyard. Currently, San Diegos municipal code does not allow short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods the change would add a new use for short-term residential occupancy, which is defined as an occupancy of an entire dwelling unit for less than 30 consecutive days. It would also add a home share use, which is defined as guest accommodation that provides a guest room for less than 30 consecutive days when the homeowner also resides on the premises, and establish a fee for full recovery of permitting and enforcement costs. City Council was working with two options for regulating those short- term uses, one proposed by District 1 Council member Barbara Bry and another from Council members Chris Ward, Mark Kersey, Scott Sherman and David Alvarez. My ordinance is the only proposal that prohibits investors from converting homes in our residential neighborhoods into permanent mini-hotels, Bry said. Today we can embrace the sharing economy and true home sharing. We have an opportunity and obligation to take proactive steps to preserve the housing stock and demonstrate our priority is housing San Diegans who live and work here. Bry said San Diego is facing a 68,000-unit housing shortage and as many as 10,000 units may be lost to short-term rentals. Rents in the city have increased 7.9 percent this year and, according to the San Diego Housing Commission, 50 percent of San Diegans cant find an affordable rental and 60 percent cannot afford home ownership, she said. There is a nexus between short-term vacation rentals and the increased cost of the housing market, Bry said. She said short-term rentals are only exacerbating a housing emergency that Council has declared every month since 2002 When the city housing solution includes tents, I care about each San Diego family. Bry said her proposal already represented a compromise, but she was willing to concede her proposed 90-days-a-year cap and incorporated her fellow council members provision for a minimum three-day stay in coastal zones. But Bry would not budge on the primary residence issue her proposal stated that only a resident of San Diego County would be entitled for two short-term occupancy permits, for their primary residence plus one. She said she believed it to be the only way to prevent outside investors coming in and snapping up housing stock. While Brys proposal was supported by Council members Georgette Gomez, Laurie Zapf, Council President Myrtle Cole, the primary residence language was the sticking point and deal killer for Council members Kersey, Ward, Cate and Sherman. Kersey said per the proposed ordinance if a person lived out of state and had a vacation home in San Diego, they would then not be allowed to rent it out as a short-term rental he argued that the property would never be returned to the housing stock, it would just sit vacant. Its blatantly unconstitutional, Sherman said. Ward said his alternative proposal provided for proactive enforcement and reasonable restrictions. My proposal preserves residential character and alleviates the concerns caused by short-term rentals, Ward said. Unlike Brys proposal, the second proposal addresses occupancy standards, included a requirement that property is owned for one year before serving as a short-term occupancy rental unless it is a primary residence and provides discretionary review for homes with more than five bedrooms. The option also did not require a permit for home sharing for one to four rooms, which Bry and Alvarez could not agree to in Brys proposal, everyone is required to register and pay the appropriate amount of transient occupancy taxes. While the proposal initially allowed for three short-term rental permits, Ward agreed to drop it to two. Even if we drop the three permits to two it will be open season for investors, Bry said. They will come into residential neighborhoods and turn homes into mini hotels. Kersey disagreed, Right now there are no regulations and were not seeing a free-for-all. Bry said those that spoke during public comment experiencing issues in their neighborhoods right now would disagree. Council member David Alvarez voted against both proposals, including the option he helped draft. He said the wouldnt support any option that did not address what the housing impact fee would be. He also wanted assurance that internet platforms would provide the city with the data to allow them to collect registration and permits. City staff had committed to doing a fee study by April and the city attorney advised that the platform agreement could be reached in a separate ordinance. For the hearing, San Diegos Golden Hall was filled with the red shirts of Save San Diego Neighborhoods and the green shirts of Share San Diego, a coalition of hosts, property owners and professional management companies advocating for common-sense regulations for vacation rentals. Both sides agree on a lot, said resident Mary Mills, who has a short-term rental. We love San Diego, we appreciate good neighbor policies, we appreciate homeowner rights and we recognize a need for a strong ordinance to protect neighborhoods. Several responsible operators spoke about how they use short-term rentals to supplement their income or to keep a family home; many also spoke of how much they enjoy the experience of welcoming guests from all over the world to the city. Residents impacted by short-term rentals asked that the city enforce its existing laws, arguing that short- term rentals destroy their neighborhoods with excessive noise and parties, trash and also noted their negative impact on local school enrollment. Residents in the beach communities said they have asked for help on this issue since 2007 as they have watched the trend move toward short-term rentals. One La Jolla resident said in his neighborhood of 52 homes, 11 have been converted to short-term rentals over the last 10 years. Many people echoed Brys concerns of short-term rentals negatively impacting the housing supply. Jonah Mechanic, president of Share San Diego, argued that short-term rentals have zero effect on short-term housing stock or rates. Mechanic said approximately 54 percent of short-term rentals are second homes owned by out-of-town residents who use the property for vacations and family visits. Long-term leases are not an option for these owners because they would no longer have access to their homes, Mechanic said. If short-term rentals are restricted, vacation homes would remain vacant for much of the year and unlike short-term rentals, vacant homes do not contribute to the economy or support local businesses. Mechanic also argued that a very low percentage of short-term properties are owned by outside investors and he said it is unlikely that investors will enter the market at an increased rate because it doesnt make financial sense. Early on in the meeting, Bry said, Politics is the art of the possible and I am confident we can come to a reasonable conclusionwe cannot punt. The only way to get enforcement is if we take action. However, even with some compromises and concessions and multiple breaks for staff wordsmithing, all motions failed to gain a majority vote and after 10 hours the meeting was simply adjourned without any action. This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power. Madhu Koda: 'Should've stayed a farmer or steel worker' The son of a farmer, Madhu Koda was born in Gua village of Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. His father Rasika Koda and others in the family were never happy about him getting into joining politics. ''I had tried to convince him not to join politics, but he said he wanted to serve the country and society ... he had been sleepless since he joined politics and his thoughts were in chaos. It landed him in controversy,'' Rasika told IANS in 2009. Koda dropped out of Tata College of Chaibasa in 1988. Then an independent MP from Singhbhum, he was arrested in Chaibasa in 2009 for allegedly amassing Rs400 billion through dubious deals. ''A farmer's son should have remained a farmer. He was good at farming and was a welder. He could have got a job at the Steel Authority of India and lived a normal life. But he dreamt big and failed to live it up,'' his sister Sumitra Birua told IANS in 2009. Koda started his political career with the All Jharkhand Students Union. He later won in the 2000 Bihar Assembly elections from Jaganathpur as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. After the separation of Bihar and Jharkhand on 15 November 2000, Koda became a member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and served as Minister of State, Rural Engineering Organisation (Independent Charge) in the then Babulal Marandi government. Following a revolt in the ruling party, Marandi had to resign and Arjun Munda became the new CM on 18 March 2003. Koda served in Munda government as minister of Panchayati Raj. Koda was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2005 Assembly Elections in Jharkhand. He contested as an independent candidate and won from Jaganathpur once again. Koda extended his support to the BJP-led NDA. Arjun Munda formed an NDA government in the state and Koda became the minister of mining, geology and cooperatives. Koda and three other independent candidates triggered the fall of Munda government in September 2006 by withdrawing support. Later, the UPA chose Koda as a consensus candidate to become CM. Koda took oath on 14 September 2006. However, in August 2008, JMM withdrew support from the Koda government as Shibu Soren staked his claim for CM. Koda resigned on 23 August 2008 and became the UPA in-charge of Jharkhand state. There followed several ups and downs in state politics, till in the 2009 general elections, Koda became an MP from Singhbhum as an independent candidate. In the subsequent 2014 Jharkhand Assembly Election, Koda lost from Majhgao constituency Mining scam It was alleged by investigating agencies that Koda had taken huge bribes for illegally allotting iron ore and coal mining contracts in Jharkhand when he was chief minister. Koda and his associates are alleged to have collected over Rs4,000 crore by allotting mines to business houses (See: Jharkhand ex-CM Madhu Koda ruled guilty in 'coalgate' case). The Jharkhand High Court had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe into the scam. Koda was arrested by Jhakhand police's vigilance wing on 30 November 2009, and eventually convicted today. A comprehensive assessment of cheetah populations in southern Africa supported by the National Geographic Society reveals the dire state of one of the planet's most iconic big cats. Photo by Stephanie Periquet In a study published today in the open-access journal PeerJ, researchers present evidence that low cheetah population estimates in southern Africa and population decline support a call to list the cheetah as "Endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. With partial support from the National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative, an international team of 17 researchers, led by Florian Weise of the Claws Conservancy and Varsha Vijay of Duke University, analysed more than two million collared cheetah observations from a long-term study by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and another 20,000 cheetah observations from the research community and the general public. Their findings show that free-ranging cheetahs were present across approximately 789,700 square kilometers in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2016. "This collaborative, multi-year effort sounds the alarm about the state of cheetah populations in southern Africa, shining a light on the imperative need to protect these majestic predators," says Gary E Knell, president and CEO, National Geographic Society. "The National Geographic Society is proud to support such a comprehensive assessment and similar efforts aimed at safeguarding our most precious species, their habitats and the planet we call home." The study estimates only 3,577 adult cheetahs exist in this extensive area, which is larger than France, and a majority (55 per cent) of individuals are found within only two habitats. This estimate is 19 per cent lower than the IUCN's current assessment, supporting the call for the uplisting of cheetahs from "Vulnerable" to "Endangered." A novel aspect of the research was the use of observations from the general public. "For a highly photogenic species like the cheetah, using crowd-sourced photographs and videos taken by tourists is an innovative and cost-effective approach, especially in well-visited protected areas," said Weise. "This is the area with the largest population of free-ranging cheetahs left on Earth. Knowing how many cheetahs there are and where they occur is crucial for developing suitable conservation management plans for the species," adds Vijay. The study not only estimated the number of cheetahs in areas with confirmed sightings, but also identified places where it is possible for cheetahs to live but where they have not been recently observed. The authors used information about cheetah habitat and human and livestock densities to identify an area of possible cheetah presence almost as large as the confirmed cheetah range. "To better understand this rare and elusive species, we need to complement the monitoring of confirmed populations with the investigation of possible cheetah habitat," says Vijay. This study also confirmed that the status of cheetahs on privately owned land is a pressing conservation issue. The researchers found that only 18.4 per cent of cheetah range is within internationally recognised protected areas. Namibia exemplifies this, with much of cheetah distribution overlapping with areas of livestock and game production. Interviews with some farmers who share their land with cheetahs showed that nearly half of those surveyed consider cheetahs a source of conflict (49.7 per cent), while only a minority of farmers (26.5 per cent) actively persecute (e.g., kill or trap) the species. Using population models informed by persecution data, the study found that even a few farmers persecuting animals can cause population declines, especially when reproductive conditions are not optimal. "The future of the cheetah relies heavily on working with farmers who host these big cats on their lands, bearing the heaviest cost of coexistence," said Weise. The authors conclude that the results of this study strongly support the recent call, led by the Range Wide Conservation Program for Cheetah and African Wild Dogs' team at the Zoological Society of London, for the IUCN to uplist the cheetah from Vulnerable status to Endangered. This step would create awareness about the cheetah's precarious situation and open more avenues to fund conservation and population monitoring efforts. Besides giving direction to further research, the authors provided an example of effective collaboration and transparent information sharing. "By working together and reaching out to the public for assistance, conservationists can chart the way forward to help secure the future of the cheetah," says Dr. Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at Duke University and senior author of the study. Hyperlens crystal capable of viewing living cells in unprecedented detail Just imagine: an optical lens so powerful that it lets you view features the size of a small virus on the surface of a living cell in its natural environment. Construction of instruments with this capability is now possible because of a fundamental advance in the quality of an optical material used in hyperlensing, a method of creating lenses that can resolve objects much smaller than the wavelength of light. The achievement was reported by a team of researchers led by Joshua Caldwell, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University, in a paper published 11 December in the journal Nature Materials. The optical material involved is hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a natural crystal with hyperlensing properties. The best previously reported resolution using hBN was an object about 36 times smaller than the infrared wavelength used: about the size of the smallest bacteria. The new paper describes improvements in the quality of the crystal that enhance its potential imaging capability by about a factor of ten. The researchers achieved this enhancement by making hBN crystals using isotopically purified boron. Natural boron contains two isotopes that differ in weight by about 10 per cent, a combination that significantly degrades the crystal's optical properties in the infrared. "We have demonstrated that the inherent efficiency limitations of hyperlenses can be overcome through isotopic engineering," says team member Alexander Giles, research physicist at the the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. "Controlling and manipulating light at nanoscale dimensions is notoriously difficult and inefficient. Our work provides a new path forward for the next generation of materials and devices." Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, Kansas State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Columbia University also contributed to the study. The researchers calculate that a lens made from their purified crystal can in principle capture images of objects as small as 30 nanometers in size. To put this in perspective, there are 25 million nanometers in an inch and human hair ranges from 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers in diameter. A human red blood cell is about 9,000 nanometers and viruses range from 20 to 400 nanometers. Over the years, scientists have developed many instruments capable of producing images with nanoscale resolution, such as electron-based and atomic-force microscopes. However, they are incompatible with living organisms: either they operate under a high vacuum, expose samples to harmful levels of radiation, require lethal sample preparation techniques like freeze drying or remove samples from their natural, solution-based environment. The primary reason for developing hyperlenses is the prospect that they can provide such highly detailed images of living cells in their natural environments using low-energy light that does not harm them. In addition, using infrared light to perform the imaging can also provide spectroscopic information about the objects it images, providing a means to 'fingerprint' the material. These capabilities could have a significant impact on biological and medical science. The technology also has potential applications in communications and nanoscale optical components. The physics of hyperlenses is quite complex. The level of detail that optical microscopes can image is limited by the wavelength of light and the index of refraction of the lens material. When combined with the factors of lens aperture, distance from the object to the lens and the refractive index of the object under observation, this translates to a typical optical limit of about one half the wavelength used for imaging. At the infrared wavelengths used in this experiment, this "diffraction limit" is about 3,250 nanometers. This limit can be surpassed by using hBN due to its ability to support surface phonon polaritons, hybrid particles made up of photons of light coupling with vibrating, charged atoms in a crystal that have wavelengths much shorter than the incident light. In the past, the problem with using polaritons in this fashion has been the rapidity with which they dissipate. By using hBN crystals made from 99 per cent isotopically pure boron, the researchers have measured a dramatic reduction in optical losses compared to natural crystals, increasing the polariton's lifetime three-fold, which allows them to travel triple the distance. This improvement translates into a significant improvement in imaging resolution. The researchers' theoretical analysis suggests that another factor of ten improvement is possible. "Currently, we have been testing very small flakes of purified hBN," said Caldwell. "We think that we will see even further improvements with larger crystals." In 1654 Anton van Leeuwenhoek used one of the first handcrafted microscopes to discover the previously unknown world of microscopic life. This latest advance in hyperlens development is a significant step toward taking van Leeuwenhoek's discovery to a whole new level, one which will allow biologists to directly observe cellular processes in action, like viruses invading cells or immune cells attacking foreign invaders. Chinese and Japanese people should greatly appreciate the hard-won peace, top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said Wednesday. Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua] Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks while addressing the national memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Chinese President Xi Jinping and some other senior officials attended the memorial. Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13, 1937 and embarked on more than 40 days of slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women raped. Yu described the crimes committed by Japanese invaders in the massacre as "inhumane," "appalling" and a "dark page in the history of humanity." "War is a mirror, which makes people better understand peace," Yu said. "To avoid any repeat of this historical tragedy, we must make unremitting efforts for the lasting and even eternal peace of mankind." Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows pigeons flying during the state memorial ceremony for China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. [Photo: Xinhua] China and Japan should take into consideration the fundamental interests of their people and make contributions to human peace, Yu said. "The world should work together to maintain international order with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter at the core," Yu said. "No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, nor will the country impose the plight it once suffered on other nations." He said China wanted to work with the world in building of "a community with a shared future for mankind," and continue to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development and uphold international order. Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2017 shows the scene of state memorial ceremony for China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. [Photo: Xinhua] Yu said China was holding the memorial ceremony to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre victims, compatriots killed by the Japanese invaders, national heroes who sacrificed their lives for victory, as well as international soldiers and friends who joined the Chinese in fighting. "The commemoration is meant to proclaim the Chinese people's firm stance in maintaining peace and their sublime aspiration for peaceful development," he said. Yu said the Chinese people would always remember the humanitarian help from foreign friends, such as German businessman John Rabe, Bernhard Arp Sindberg from Denmark and American priest John Magee, who defied the Japanese invaders' brutal killings, protected Chinese civilians and took records of the atrocities. In February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, designated December 13 as the "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims." JACK Wayne Farms announced Tuesday that it will undergo an expansion at its Coffee County plant that will have a capital investment of $105 million and create about 400 jobs. Billed as the largest single economic development project in the countys history, the project will add about 200,000 square feet to the facility. Construction is to begin immediately, with completion planned for the first quarter of 2019. Production at the plant will increase from 268,000 chickens per day to 399,000. Gov. Kay Ivey helped make the announcement Tuesday at the plant in rural Coffee County, alongside officials from Wayne Farms, Coffee County, the City of Enterprise and the Wiregrass Development Corporation. This is truly an exciting day for this great company, and in this great area of our state, and for our state as a whole, this is an exciting, good day, Ivey said. The governor announced that the new jobs will have an average salary of $13 per hour plus benefits. Wayne Farms Operations Manager Eddie Fortner said interviews for the new, long-term positions are expected to start in the next few months, with the jobs to begin in January 2019. This is a great day for Coffee County, and these jobs means so much to this community, County Commission Chair Dean Smith said. According to the program for Tuesdays event, the expansion will house processing, live poultry holding and receiving facilities, a maintenance ship for vehicles, meeting space and new breakrooms. Also, the expansion will have state-of-the-art technology for the industry, such as water-jet portioning; controlled vacuum packaging; automated packaging; sizing and weighing tech; and an upgraded marination system. Humane-treatment enhancements for animal welfare will include density reductions for the poultry house, controlled-atmosphere stunning, improved and natural lighting cycles, and environmental enrichments and will allow for audits of practices and documentation by independent third parties. Currently, Wayne Farms has about 1,200 employees in Coffee County and about 3,000 employees among its three plants in the Wiregrass region, according to a news release from the company. Wayne Farms is the countrys sixth-largest vertically integrated poultry company with six plants in Alabama and 10 production complexes overall in the United States. - Brent Zell writes for the Enterprise Ledger As expected, the Wiregrass voted strongly for Republican Roy Moore Tuesday. Unofficial results show Moore carried Houston County with 61.2 percent of the vote, with just more than 24,000 votes tallied. Margins for Moore were even higher in other Wiregrass counties. Almost four of every five votes cast in Geneva County were cast for Moore, who received 5,431 of the 6,1813 votes cast. Coffee County went heavily for Moore, with more than two of three votes cast for Moore. The Republican received 8,052 votes of the 11,969 cast. In Henry County, Moore received 61 percent (3,104) of the 4,948 cast. In Dale County, Moore received 63.7 percent (6,988) of the 10,966 cast. Could a robot do your job? Its a question that a lot of us are asking ourselves at the moment and, in many cases, the answer is probably yes. Well, maybe not right now, but as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more advanced, the higher the chances of us finding ourselves redundant in our current roles. But who is most at risk? finder.com.au decided to crunch the numbers and find out which jobs in Australia are most at risk. Now, bear in mind that the jobs we say are under threat are really just the jobs that have a high likelihood of being automated by 2030. So, if your job does come up on the list, while it might be time for some future planning, you wont be losing your job tomorrow. To get an idea of the industries that are under threat as well as the number of jobs threatened per industry, we combined data from Oxfords Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation? report with the number of employees in each industry. The top five industries most at risk of being automated by 2030 are: Property operators and real estate services (88%) Food retailing (81%) Food product manufacturing (79%) Administrative services (64%) Food and beverage services (62%) While these industries may be the most at risk, it doesnt mean that the automation of these industries will have the biggest impact on the Australian job market. The top 5 industries at risk by job losses The industry that will have the most impact is food and beverage services, which has a 62% chance of automation and stands to lose 525,520 jobs in Australia. The next industry that threatens the most job losses is store-based retailing, which has a 60% chance of automation and could see 421,200 Aussies out of work. The next three industries are administrative services (385,280 job losses), food retailing (355,590 job losses) and property and real estate services (307,050 job losses). Should you be scared of job automation? Yes and no. Roughly 25% of Australians are worried that Artificial Intelligence and automation will mean that theyll be made redundant, according to research conducted by Telsyte in 2017. But the industrial revolution came and went, and people who worked the fields lost their jobs but found work in the factories. Automation will create new jobs, we just dont know what those jobs are yet. While there are definitely people who do run the risk of becoming unemployed, there are also many benefits associated with automation. Between 2015 and 2030, automation could lead to a $2.2 billion boost to Australias national income, according to AlphaBetas The Automation Advantage report. Automation is a two-sided coin. On one side you have job losses, but on the other you have a boosted economy, new jobs to be had and boundless opportunities in soon-to-be-known new industries. And if you think things may go south, theres always income protection. About the author Richard Laycock is an Insurance Expert at financial comparison website finder.com.au. The Chinese mainland resolutely opposes "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities in any form, including the so-called referendum, a spokesperson said Wednesday. An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference in response to a question about "referendum law amendment" passed by Taiwan's legislative body. An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council [File photo: Chinanews.com] "We strongly oppose de-sinicization under any name or by any means. Compatriots on both sides should be vigilant against 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces," An said. An also took a question about Chinese language textbooks jointly compiled by educational institutions from both sides of the Strait, which senior high schools in Taiwan have used from October this year. An said that the mainland and Taiwan shared the same cultural tradition and the textbooks would be conducive for carrying forward traditional national culture. Chinese and Russian forces concluded their joint counter-terror exercises Wednesday at a training base near Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China. A soldier smashes the windows of a bus during the Sino-Russia joint counter-terror exercises near Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Photo: 81.cn] Troops from the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and the Russian National Guard conducted exercises on jointly cleaning up terrorist groups in simulated situations, such as a bus hijacking. Wang Ning, commander of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force, said the participating officers and soldiers cooperated with each other closely and carried out exchanges on counter-terror expertise and combat and command. "This is the latest achievement in promoting exchanges and cooperation in security between the two forces, and a concrete action in improving their counter-terror capabilities," Wang said. The exercises were a move to implement the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination that is endorsed by leaders of both countries. File photo of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. [Photo: Xinhua] US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is suggesting Washington was prepared to talk to Pyongyang whenever it takes the right steps to create the conditions for talks. In making the suggestion, Tillerson says Pyongyang must me be ready to make a choice to change course on its nuclear and missile programs. "So we need the DPRK to come to the table for talks. We are ready to talk any time they are ready to talk. But they have to come to the table, an and they have to come to the table with a view that they do want to make a different choice," Tillerson says. In a speech to a Washington think tank, Tillerson also says U.S. military preparedness to respond to any North Korean threat is strong. He says the US armed forces have been ordered to have a "full range of contingencies available." Tillerson has previously expressed a desire to use channels of communication with Pyongyang. However, his boss, US President Donald Trump, has told him he would be wasting his time. Its hard to avoid the darkness at this time of year as the days grow shorter. Its dark when leaving for work and dark when arriving home. When I was young, a one-hour commute like mine across the same farmland would have been different in at least one way. The many barns along the roads would have had lights on as farm families worked on the morning or evening milking which on our farm was at about 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. The glow from the windows was a comforting sight in the early morning. There was hope in the darkness because there were others out of warm beds to face the day. Those days are gone, along with the smaller dairy herds that once dotted the state. In 1965 the average dairy herd in Wisconsin was about 25 cows. There were about 85,000 dairy farms. Today the average-size dairy herd in Wisconsin is 144 cows. There are 8,877 dairy farms. The big exodus in the dairy business was from 1995 to 2004, when the state lost an average of 1,355 dairy farms per year. When I was young, you could drive up and down country roads and almost everyone was milking cows. Now you can drive for miles between dairy farms. Its not just dairy. In the most recent Census of Agriculture done in 2012, there were 69,754 farms in Wisconsin, a decrease from 78,463 in 2007. I wonder what the 2017 Census, which is coming our way starting in December, will show when results are released in 2019. Farming hasnt disappeared. Its just changing. Some farms are growing larger. More land is leased. Our vision of the family farm 94 percent of Wisconsin farm acreage is still connected to family-owned operations is just different. The debate whether thats good or bad is ongoing, but there is one indisputable fact: Farmers are growing older. In 1982 the year I left the family farm to go to college the typical Wisconsin farmer was 48 years old. The last ag census in 2012 showed the average Wisconsin farmer was 56. Nationwide the average age is closer to 60. Farmers really dont retire, unless they sell their operations. Ive known farmers who have milked cows well into their 70s. Sometimes the farm goes to the next generation, which can help offset the high initial capital costs. But what about a young person who has no family connection and wants to start farming from scratch? The land, equipment and building costs depending on the type of farm can easily run into the millions of dollars. A federal bill called the Young and Beginning Farmers Act was recently introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill would attempt to expand access to affordable farmland, improve delivery of federal programs to new farmers, and increase investments in training, business development and local markets. The Congressional Budget Office has not provided a cost estimate of the bill, but it has drawn support from several farm organizations, including the National Farmers Union and the National Young Farmers Coalition. Young people are stepping up and starting careers in agriculture despite significant odds, said Lindsey Lusher Shute, executive director and co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition. But they cant do it alone. The future of farming and our rural communities depends on their success. We urge Congress to make young farmers a priority and include the Young and Beginning Farmers Act in the next farm bill. Earlier this year Minnesota approved a law supported by the young-farmers coalition that provides state income-tax credits to beginning farmers to help offset the costs of buying or leasing land, farm equipment and livestock. The farmers must take a farm-management class, which is also covered by the tax credit. Perhaps its time for similar legislation in Wisconsin. A recent effort was a bill introduced in 2015 called the New Farmer Student Loan Assistance Program, which would have reimbursed up to $30,000 of student loan debt over five years for new farmers. While that bill stalled, we need other efforts to encourage the next generation of farmers. Even though there are some who want to change our license plates, we are still Americas Dairyland. This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! Cargill opens first premix plant in the Philippines To meet increasing demand from medium and large livestock farms and feed millers in the Philippines and Southeast Asian countries, Cargill recently opened its first premix plant in the Philippines. Cargill invested US$12 million to open the plant, where 50 local employees will produce premix solutions under the Provimi brand. The plant is located in First Bulacan Industrial Park in Malolos, Bulacan. "The Philippines and Southeast Asian countries are seeing increased consumer demand for meat products, especially pork and chicken. This is great news for the growth potential of local livestock farms and feed millers," said Noel Kim, general manager of Cargill Provimi, Philippines. "At our premix plant, Cargill can now manufacture the animal nutrition products these producers need to sustainably deliver high quality, safe, affordable meat to consumers." Malolos City Mayor Christian Natividad praised Cargill's presence in the area as a boon for the local community. "The City of Malolos is appreciative of Cargill's presence, a big boost to our cities' economic and employment opportunities. We hope to reciprocate by providing all the needed assistance and better business ambience to make Cargill's project a success," Mayor Natividad said. Chuck Warta, president, Cargill Premix and Nutrition said, "Cargill is committed to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. With the population and income growth driving demand for animal protein in the region, Cargill knows how important it is to invest here, supporting local farmers and creating additional job opportunities as a result of our growth." For his part, Ralph Bean, Agricultural Counselor at USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, commended the investment. He said, "This plant is one of Cargill's, and one of US Agriculture's many investments in Philippine Agriculture, and it heralds a strong partnership and a bright future for all going forward. The plant will provide products that will enable Philippine farmers to ensure greater productivity, reliability, and quality in the end products that go onto Philippine dinner tables." Norway's seafood export volume up 25% in November and 6% in first 11 months Norway's seafood exports in November increased 25% to 286,000 from a year before, with value on par with November last year, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC). In the 11 months through November, Norway exported 2.4 million tonnes of seafood valued at NOK86.5 billion (US$10.38 billion). This is a volume increase of 6% and a value increase of 4%, or NOK3.3 billion from the same period last year. NSC Director Asbjrn W. Rrtveit said they expect total export value for Norwegian seafood this year to exceed last year's "by a comfortable margin" despite the salmon's continuing price decline. "The explanation for this is the increased volume of salmon combined with a relatively high price level", Rrtveit said. The average price for whole fresh salmon in November was NOK50.68 (US$6) per kilogramme against NOK61.71 ($7.40)/kg in November 2016. Salmon exports November exports of salmon, Norway's top seafood product, reached 103,000 tonnes, an increase of 11% or 10,200 tonnes from the same month last year. Export value amounted to NOK5.7 billion ($683.8 million), a decline of 5% or NOK291 million from the same period last year. From January to November, exports of salmon totaled 909,000 tonnes, an increase of 2% from the same period last year. Value hit NOK59 billion ($7.08 billion), an increase of 7% or NOK4 billion compared with the same period last year. Poland and France were the largest salmon markets in November. Exports to China is now at the highest level in two years after five weeks of sustained increase in exports of Norwegian salmon, the NSC said. "Currently, Norwegian salmon goes to the main destinations Beijing and Shanghai, and importers report that import processes have become simpler-a significant and positive step towards the normalization of salmon exports to China", said Sigmund Bjrgo, who is with the Norwegian Seafood Councils Fisheries Mission in China. Trout, prawn, crab exports Norway exported 5,600 tonnes of trout in November, up 36% or 1,400 tonnes from last year. Value amounted to NOK328 million ($39.34 million), up 13% compared with November 2016. From January to September, Norway exported 35,200 tonnes of trout worth NOK2.6 billion ($311.87 million). This is a volume decline of 45% or 29,100 tonnes, while value fell 28% or NOK1 billion compared with the same period last year. Belarus and Japan imported the most trout from Norway in November. Norway exported 937 tonnes of prawns worth some NOK74 million ($8.88 million) in November. This is an increase of 129 tonnes or 16%, while export value increased by NOK15 million or 16%. Sweden and the UK were the biggest prawn markets in November. Norway exported 139 tonnes of king crabs worth NOK40 million ($4.8 million) in November. This is a volume decrease of 13% or 21 tonnes, while export value fell 5% or NOK2 million compared with the same month last year. The Netherlands and South Korea were the largest export markets for king crab in November. Recognise Jerusalem as capital of Palestine: Erdogan President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sharply criticized Israel at the opening of a summit of Islamic nations in Istanbul. President Erdogan calls world to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Palestine. Turkey is hosting the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday in the wake of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as its capital. The summit is expected to forge a unified position of Arab and Muslim countries. The latest on the gathering of Islamic nations seeking a united stance against the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "I AM INVITING THE COUNTRIES TO RECOGNISE JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF PALESTINE" Erdogan said in his speech to the gathering that Jerusalem is a "red line" for Muslims. He said East Jerusalem is the capital of a future Palestinian state and called on states that have not recognized a Palestinian state to do so. "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, he told leaders from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered for an emergency meeting in Istanbul. "ONLY ISRAEL SUPPORTED US' UNLAWFUL DESICION" Erdogan said "Only Israel, which holds Jerusalem under occupation, supported the US' unlawful decision. We thank all the countries who did not accept this illegitimate decision." President also added he believed all 196 member states of the United Nations would stand against the US move. "EAST JERUSALEM IS THE OCCUPIED CAPITAL OF PALESTINE" OIC member states recognised East Jerusalem as occupied capital of Palestine with the final declaration. Its been a while since fans heard the latest on the drama between Kirk Frost of VH1s Love and Hip Hop Atlanta and the woman, Jasmine Washington. Washington previously claimed she had a child with him despite his marriage to Rasheeda Frost. However, good news for the Frost family as the case against Kirk has been dismissed. A Win On A Technicality Reports have circulated that a Georgia Family Court Judge Debra Turner tossed out Washingtons paternity case against Kirk. Fans might remember that Washington claimed she had been messing around with Kirk and that she got pregnant. She made claims that Kirk made large payments (including a monthly allowance and a car) to her to keep quiet about the child. That entire season of the show was filled with Rasheeda and her mother Shirley, pushing Kirk to get a paternity test. Washington took legal action when he refused in hopes of proving that Kirk was the father after he stopped making the payments. Interestingly enough, the case was only tossed out because Judge Turner told Washington she had two weeks to inform him about the paternity case. Washington and her attorney, Tony Mathis, said that Kirk had been dodging them, so they tried to get a warrant to order him to receive the documents. it was two months later when she finally got a hold of Kirk. Considering this, Judge Turner dismissed the case altogether, but this doesnt mean the drama between the Frosts and Washington is over by a longshot. Washington and Kirk have decided to settle the issue of paternity out of court. Word is Kirk is willing to pay child support if he is indeed the father. Still Trouble For Kirk And Rasheeda? Meanwhile, Rasheeda has confirmed that she and Kirk are separated. Its been said that shes waiting to find out if Kirk is actually the childs father before she pulls the plug on the long-term marriage for good. Rasheeda is still making moves despite her union and drama with Kirk. She recently just revealed via Instagram that she has opened a second location of her popular Pressed boutique. Kirk helped her with the first one that is in a prestigious mall in Atlanta. The second, based in Houston, was one that Rasheeda did all on her own. See her Instagram post below. A New Year is coming time for new things!!!! @pressedhouston713 A post shared by Rasheeda (@rasheedadabosschick) on Dec 6, 2017 at 3:13pm PST On the show, Kirk filed for separation from Rasheeda so that she could protect her assets if it turned out that Kirk fathered the child. Be sure to keep up with Enstars for the latest. Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is problematic for several reasons. He believes laws come directly from God and his extreme belief in this makes him defy the progressive laws the United States justice system has implemented. Moore's History For example, he believes homosexuality is illegal and refused to issue marriage certificates to gay couples. He was fired from his chief justice role because he did not remove the Ten Commandments he installed in Alabama's Supreme Court building. Within the final months of his Senate campaign, Moore was accused of pursuing and molesting pre-teens when he was in his 30s. The Republican candidate was accused of bigotry, too. Despite these alarming allegations, several news outlets have interviewed women of all ages, claiming they will be voting for Moore. Cosmopolitan investigated why millennial women, in particular, are drawn to support Moore despite his sullied past. Female Supporters Speak Out Kierstyn Steed, a college freshman, told Cosmo she doesn't believe the molestation allegations against Moore because of the lack of evidence and timing of when the victims decided to step forward. In her interview, she also claimed it was important to have him as senator because he supports President Trump and believes in tighter immigration sanctions. "He supports stricter immigration and lower taxes on the middle class. From the very beginning I never and I know this sounds crazy but I never believed [the women accusing him]. And I still don't. Because it's just the lack of hard evidence," she told the publication. 30-year-old Amanda Martiniere who is a stay-at-home mom says Moore's stance on abortion made her connected to his political campaign. "It's refreshing to me to see a politician actually come out and say "I am very pro-life." I think that the quote-unquote [sic] "a woman's right to choose" is being overly glorified," Martiniere relayed to the women's magazine. She also made it clear that she believes marriage should be between a man and woman. Therefore making Moore the candidate who is aligned with her core values. Amy Jo Underwood who is a college junior and Moore campaign intern shared why she decided to work for the Senator candidate. She also justified why women should vote for him. "He's not coming from a more political angle, like a lot of politicians are, where they see it as a game and a power play. He is a judge. He went to law school. He just applies the law as he sees it. So I really appreciate that. As a poli sci major, I have a lot of respect for that," she claimed. It's Voting Time The Senate vote for Alabama is taking place Tuesday, December 12, 2017. The New York Times reports Moore's opponent, Democratic nominee Doug Jones looked "exuberant" when he placed his vote. In order for Jones to win he will need a strong turnout from Black, millennial and white-suburban voters who usually cast their ballots for Republicans. Moore was seen traveling on a horse to cast his vote. On Monday, December 11, 2017, Akayed Ullah set off a homemade pipe bomb that was strapped to his body in New York City's Port Authority station. Ullah's Plan As previously reported, "the bomb went off at 7:30 a.m. during rush hours on Monday, December 11, Eyewitness News reports the suspects name is Akayed Ullah and is currently in custody. New York Citys Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Ullahs strike against the city was an attempted terrorist attack. " During a live report, neighbors of Ullah told Eyewitness News that he was arrogant. The 27-year-old came to the United States six years ago on the family-based F4 visa and lived in Brooklyn. After arriving in New York City, Ullah became a yellow cab driver after obtaining a license from the Taxi Limousine Commision. In 2015, his license lapsed and he began working as an electrician. Investigators learned Ullah is married; his wife and son live in his native land of Bangladesh. Relatives revealed that he visited the country last year to see his wife and child but left them both behind when he traveled back to New York. Family In Questioning When the attack occurred, Ullah's wife, her parents, and uncle were taken in for questioning by Bangladesh's counterterrorism police. Since then, only her uncle has been released. Other family members of Ullah claim that "heavy-handed tactics" were used on them by investigators. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement on behalf of Ullah's family. The family slammed police for interrogating other members of their family. "We are heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today, and by the allegations being made against a member of our family," the statement read. "But we are also outraged by the behavior of law enforcement officials who have held children as small as four years old out in the cold and who held a teenager out of high school classes to interrogate him without a lawyer, without his parents," the statement continued, remarking on how law officers questioned the children in their family. "These are not the sorts of actions that we expect from our justice system, and we have every confidence that our justice system will find the truth behind this attack and that we will, in the end, be able to learn what occurred today. Thank you for your time." Victims Of The Terrorist Attack Ullah lived with his parents and brother in a Brooklyn community that had a large Bangladeshi population. He researched on the internet how to build a pipe bomb and told authorities that he was influenced by ISIS online propaganda to plan the attack. The number of those who were injured during the explosion has risen. It was initially reported that three people suffered injuries but five people were hurt during the explosion. Victims have been treated and released. Ullah is currently being treated at Bellevue Hospital for burns to his hands and abdomen. The Los Angeles Police Department has started investigations on a new sexual assault claim against Roman Polanski. On Oct. 14, Marianne Barnard, an artist from California, accused the iconic director of molesting her when she was 10 years old. The story, which was published on her social media account, claims that Polanski had her pose naked, with only a fur coat during a photo shoot in Malibu back in 1975. #RomanPolanski took photos of me naked & in fur coat on beach in Malibu, I was 10 yrs old. He went on from there. This ends now #ROSEARMY https://t.co/CXoABPSn6H Marianne Barnard (M) (@Marianne_M_B) October 13, 2017 Unfortunately, the statue of limitation has already expired. However, the authorities claimed that they may be able to use any evidence to prosecute other cases. A police spokesman stated that they have opened an investigation because the Los Angeles detectives "will always take a report from any victim and then determine if the case is within the statute of limitations." Polanski's History Of Sexual Misconduct This is not the first time that Polanski has been involved in a sexual assault case. In 1978, the French-Polish director became a fugitive when he fled to Paris hours before he was to be sentenced. The director was tried and convicted of having an unlawful sex with a minor. However, prosecutors dropped the charges that claimed he drugged, raped, and sodomized the girl. In 2010, another woman accused Polanski of sexual abuse. The director allegedly forced himself on her when she was auditioning for a role in 1983. She was 16 years old at the time of the incident. A few months later, a German actress told the authorities that the Academy Award winner raped her at his mountain chalet in Switzerland when she was 15. She said he went there with him because he was interested in casting her for a role. Polanski Retaliates The director, however, claims that Barnard's story did not happen. Harland Braun, his lawyer, said he has hired an investigator to look into the case and interview the accuser's relatives. He has also instructed the investigator to divulge the information and documents to the police. "I believe that a competent LAPD investigation will prove the whole story to be bogus," Braud said. On Twitter, Barnard reacted. "Serial child rapist Roman Polanski has hired a private detective to harass me and my relatives," she tweeted. "Polanski and his attorneys next move is to try their best to discredit me by making up false stories." Polanski won an Academy Award for Best Director for his 2002 movie, The Pianist. His lawyers and supporters, including Harvey Weinstein, have been rallying to lift the international warrant against the 84-year-old, saying that he has served his time. Netflix's little marketing stunt on Twitter has backfired. On Sunday night, Dec. 10, the streaming service called out the 53 users who watched its holiday movie, A Christmas Prince, every day for the past 18 days. To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you? Netflix US (@netflix) December 11, 2017 'A Christmas Prince' The movie that some people apparently cannot stop watching, A Christmas Prince, is a holiday romance that honestly should air on Lifetime rather than the same streaming service that gifted the world Stranger Things and The Crown. It stars Rose McIver of iZombie as Amber, a reporter who goes undercover to expose a royal scandal. Unsurprisingly, Amber and the future king, played by Ben Lamb, fall in love. Users complained that the movie was full of old rom-com tropes (Elle listed down every tired plot points used in the movie). Some say that the movie is so bad, that it is actually good. A Christmas Prince on Netflix is like a shit Princess Diaries 2 version of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Therefore I loved it and am gonna need a sequel Meg (@megsaystweet) December 5, 2017 Watched A Christmas Prince on Netflix. The acting was terrible, the plot line was cheesy and predictable, and I absolutely LOVED IT OMG YES THE CHRISTMAS SEASON IS UPON US WE MUST APPRECIATE IT AND LOVE IT AS CHRIST LOVES US Darg (@Emma_Dargy) December 1, 2017 Takeaways from #AChristmasPrince: - I hated it so much - I can't wait for the sequel - You bet your ass I'm watching it again before Christmas Brendan Leonard (@shutupbrendance) November 30, 2017 Netflix Is Watching Most of the responses are positive and playful. It made a lot of users rather curious about why a number of people have streamed the holiday movie repeatedly. However, the move also raised concerns about user data and how the company monitors users habits. That is why the streaming service immediately sent out a statement to its millions of subscribers across the globe. "The privacy of our members' viewing is important to us," Netflix stated. "This information represents overall viewing trends, not the personal viewing information of specific, identified individuals." Netflix also outed a subscriber from the U.K. who watched the 2007 animated movie, Bee Movie, a staggering 357 times in the past year. Another user watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pear 365 times in a row. There was even a subscriber that binged Shameless somewhere in Antarctica. This month, the streaming service published A Year in Bingeing, a report on users' viewing habits in 2017 based on their own data and the result of some 60,000 surveys. The company shared that its 100 million subscribers across the globe watched 140 million hours worth of content collectively every day. Mexico set the record for most number of viewers streaming at the same time. It also named its most popular programs and divided them into four categories based on how people chose to watch them. Here are the top programs per category: The Shows We Devoured: American Vandal The Shows We Savored: The Crown The Shows That Got Us Cheating: Narcos The Shows That Brought Us Together: Stranger Things It's rewarding to be friends with George Clooney, literally! The actor paid some of his friends $1 million each plus incurred taxes in 2013. Friends With Benefits When it comes to showing appreciation to close friends, nobody can beat George Clooney. In 2013, the Hollywood A-lister gifted 14 of his close mates one million dollars each and also paid the taxes on the money for the year, as revealed by his BFF Rande Gerber. Gerber, also known as Cindy Crawford's husband, made the shocking revelation about the actor's generous gesture during a recent interview on MSNBC's Headliners. He explained that he and Clooney are part of a group of friends they refer to as "The Boys" and the Suburbicon director invited all of them to his house for a dinner party on Sept. 27, 2013. The restaurateur recalled that when all 14 friends arrived at Clooney's house they noticed black suitcases placed near each one of them around the dining table. The Ocean's Eleven actor then had something to say to the "The Boys," who supported him in the early days of his career. Repaying 'The Boys' For Their Help And Support "George begins to say, 'Listen, I want you guys to know how much you've meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life,'" Gerber recounted. "I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. I'm so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldn't be where I am today without all of you," Clooney continued. The actor added that while they were all gathered together, it was important for him to return the favor and asked the men to open their respective suitcases. Clooney's friends, including Gerber, were left shocked when they opened the bags and found that each and every single one of them was filled with a million dollars in $20 bills. Some Friends Were Trying To Make Ends Meet Gerber pointed out that some of their friends were really struggling to make ends meet. While one was providing for his family by working at an airport bar in Texas, another would commute to work on a cycle every day. He also noted that these people had taken care of Clooney during his hard times and he's repaying them for all their help, with a million dollars as well as the taxes that will be incurred on the funds for the year. Clooney told them that they have all been through some tough times together and some of them are still going through a rough patch but they need not to worry about things such as kids, school, or paying mortgages anymore. Gerber's Refusal To Accept The Money Gerber, who was a partner in Clooney's Casamigos Tequila company, said he refused to accept the actor's generous gift at first. He pulled Clooney aside and informed him of his decision to not accept the million dollars but was forced to take it when the actor left him with no choice. The Oscar winner told him that he has to make an announcement and said that if Gerber did not accept the money, nobody would get it. Gerber said he later donated all the money to charity. Netflix and DreamWorks are teaming up to add new content to the streaming platform in 2018, the companies said in a statement on Dec. 12. The result of this new partnership will be six new original animated shows that will be available on Netflix next year, including a Boss Baby adaptation and a She-Ra reboot. Here are the details on each series: Trolls: The Beat Goes On This Netflix original will be the first to arrive on the streaming service next year and will follow the events of the 2016 animated musical film, Trolls. Matthew Beans will serve as executive producer on the series, which is slated to premiere on Jan. 19, 2018. Pitch Perfect actor Skylar Astin and voice actress Amanda Leighton, whose credits include The Powerpuff Girls, will lend their voices for the show's main characters of Branch and Poppy respectively. She-Ra Netflix and DreamWorks also announced a modern-day reboot of the animated classic, She-Ra, with Eisner Award-winning writer and artist Noelle Stevenson running the show. The original show based on the titular warrior princess and He-Man's twin sister, debuted in the 1980s as a spinoff of He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe. The Boss Baby: Back In Business The small screen adaptation of the 2017 hit Boss Baby will follow the suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying Boss Baby as he continues to maintain a balance between work and being a baby with the help of his 7-year-old brother, Tim. Brandon Sawyer, who won an Emmy for the animated comedy, Penguins of Madagascar in 2008, will executive produce the series. Harvey Street Kids Harvey Street Kids is an all-new original series from executive producer Brendan Hay and supervising producer Aliki Theofilopoulos. The show revolves around three best friends; Audrey, Lotta, and Dot, who are the street's self-proclaimed guardians in charge of a magical street where the fun never ends. The Epic Tales Of Captain Underpants Adapted from the books authored by Dav Pilkey, the show follows the misadventures of two best friends; George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who bonded over "their love of pranking, comic books and being the thorns in Principal Krupp's side." They often find themselves involved in adventures "crazier than their outrageous comic books" as a result of their antics, which is when they call on their greatest creation, Captain Underpants. Peabody Award and Emmy-winning executive producer Peter Hastings will be in charge of the upcoming series, which will debut on Netflix in 2018. Trollhunters (Part 3) And 3 Below Guillermo del Toro's third and final outing of the Emmy-winning Trollhunters series will also arrive on Netflix next year along with the second installment of the three-part Tales of Arcadia trilogy, 3 Below. 3 Below follows two royal alien teenagers and their bodyguard who find themselves in Arcadia after fleeing their native planet during an unexpected takeover by an evil mastermind. The trio tries to come to terms with life in Arcadia while being hunted by interstellar bounty hunters as they try to fix their damaged spaceship and return to their planet to defend it from the bad guys. The final chapter of the trilogy, Wizards, is slated to premiere in 2019. The Trump White House will lose another high-profile staff member this January. Celebrity Apprentice alum Omarosa Manigault Newman has resigned from her role. Omarosa In The White House Manigault Newman was a staunch supporter of President Trump when he was the Republican Presidential nominee. Trump repaid her loyalty and invited her to serve as a part of his transitional team. Eventually, Manigault Newman was appointed to the White House Office of Public Liaison where she served as the department's director of communications. "Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities," said Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary. "Her departure will not be effective until January 20, 2018. We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service." Manigault Newman's departure coincidentally marks the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. President Trump's Loyal Staffer Manigault Newman appeared on television shows throughout her brief tenure in the White House. One of Manigault Newman's notable appearances happened when she visited ABC talk show The View on Friday, Jan. 20. The soon-to-be former director of communications of the White House Office of Public Liaison stayed very loyal to President Trump and often praised him as a leader. "You all know him as the president, I know him as a friend," said Manigault Newman. "I know his heart, I know the things he's seen that've never been reported on, and probably folks will never talk about." The conversation in the show intensified particularly when co-host Sunny Hostin questioned if President Trump used the outspoken pundit. Manigault Newman stated, however, that no one is using her. Months later, Manigault Newman faced off against an angry crowd when she made an appearance at the 2017 National Association of Black Journalists in New Orleans. Many attendees turned their backs on her and the White House staffer refused to answer questions about how President Trump is handling affairs in the black community. Her 'Apprentice' Background It is safe to say that without President Donald Trump, Manigault Newman would not be in the position that she is in right now. Manigault Newman made her first appearance in the public eye in the first season of The Apprentice. She became the contestant that viewers loved to hate because of her attitude and antics. Years later, President Trump invited her to join the cast of the inaugural season of Celebrity Apprentice and returned for the show's all-star season. Throughout her time in the series, she butted heads with numerous contestants such as original show winner Piers Morgan, LaToya Jackson, and Claudia Jordan. Manigault Newman has not yet revealed her plans after leaving the White House next month. Last year, several celebrities decided to boycott the 2016 Academy Awards due to the lack of diversity among the nominees. Jada Pinkett Smith was one of the first celebs to announce that she would not be attending the awards ceremony. When asked why she wouldn't be in attendance, Pinkett said, "We are dignified people, and we are powerful. Let's let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let's do us, differently." Well, it looks like Pinkett already has plans to ditch the 2018 Golden Globes. Tuesday morning, Pinkett took to Twitter to shade the 75th Annual Golden Globes in a series of tweets. This time she accuses Golden Globes voters of not taking the time to watch her latest film, "Girls Trip." The actress claims that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press failed to show up for both private screenings of the film and press conferences in support of the movie. "How could a nom happen and how much more critical acclaim must a movie have to simply get a screening?" Pinkett Tweeted. "Girls Trip," is a comedy film about four best friends who decide to rekindle their sisterhood and rediscover their wild side as they travel to New Orleans for the Essence Festival. Tiffany Haddish, Queen Latifah, Regina Hall starred alongside Pinkett in the film. Pinkett continued her series of tweets by defending the film's breakout star, Tiffany Haddish. "Tiff was hands down the funniest person on screen in 2017 and we couldn't get eyes on the film or a press conference," Pinkett said. TIFFANY TAKES OVER 2017 Tiffany Haddish, is best known for her breakthrough role as Dina in "Girls Trip." Haddish has also guest starred in several television series, such as, OWN'S If Loving You Is Wrong and NBC's The Carmichael Show. In November 2017, Haddish became the first black female stand-up comedian to host Saturday Night Live. The breakout comedian is also set to star alongside, Kevin Hart in a comedy film, "Night School." Haddish responded to the snubs in a tweet, "I don't know or care much about snubs because, I'm not nasty like that!" Although, Haddish might not be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2018 Golden Globes. She has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Detroit Film Critics Society. "But I love my girl Jada and I love all of you! #SHEREADY" Haddish continued. Everyone will just have to wait and see what celebs will attend this year's Golden Globes. It's pretty obvious that Jada Pinkett Smith probably won't attend. , or mail your donation to us. To support ETAN's political advocacy work, write a check made out to ETAN. For ETAN's educational efforts, U.S. tax-deductible donations of over $50 can be made out to A.J. Muste Memorial Institute/ETAN. Please mail contributions to: JOHN M. MILLER East Timor and Indonesia Action Network PO Box 1663, New York, NY 10035-1663 USA December 2017 Dear friend of ETAN, Im writing to ask you to support our work at the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network for the coming year. As you may know, ETAN has worked since 1991 to advance self-determination, democracy, and human rights for the peoples of Timor-Leste (East Timor), Indonesia and West Papua. Although Timor-Leste has been free of Indonesian military occupation since 1999, its people still struggle to achieve economic, social, and political justice within their sovereign nation and to overcome pressure from outside, especially from their large neighbors Indonesia and Australia. "ETANs work remains essential, but it can only do its work with the active and generous support of people like you, who believe in human rights and in the right to self-determination, justice and accountability, and in social and economic justice for the people of East Timor and Indonesia." - Noam Chomsky Every day, ETAN compiles and distributes information about developments in Timor to a growing list of more than 5,700 people across the globe. We continue to work in solidarity with Timor-Leste civil society groups, and to help people in the United States and elsewhere strengthen their awareness and activism. Will you be one of 120 donors we need to contribute a total of $12,000 to help ETAN begin 2018 on a strong financial footing? Will you join others in investing in ETAN's pursuit of justice and in the defense of democracy and human rights? Say yes -- please donate today! People in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, West Papua, and elsewhere tell us that ETAN's work remains as important as ever. Recently, ETAN's board began a long-term planning process. We are discussing how to make our strategies and tactics more effective and appropriate. We have received valuable suggestions from many people and welcome your input and words of support. With your help, we can intensify our pursuit of justice for the victims of crimes committed by Indonesia's police and military: from the bloody coup in 1965 that initiated decades of Suharto dictatorship, through the illegal invasion and occupation of Timor-Leste, to the ongoing human rights violations against West Papuans, LGBTQ Indonesians and Timorese, and too many others. With your help, ETAN will pressure the U.S. government and the international community to E TAN's actions and campaigns have always been based on the interests of the people, developed after consulting our civil society. Although ETANs annual budget is smaller than virtually every other international organization involved with our country, the work that they do is invaluable." - Jose Ramos-Horta Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste acknowledge their role in arming and training the perpetrators of many of these crimes. Your help is crucial to ETAN's support for the rights of the people of West Papua, including their struggle for self-determination. We will focus on public education in the U.S. and support West Papuan lobbying at the United Nations. With your support, ETAN continues to inform, educate, advocate. and organize in support of the Timorese peoples rights to democratic governance, permanent maritime boundaries, adequate nutrition, effective education and decent health care. We amplify their concerns and voices for a worldwide audience, while respecting their national sovereignty. Last month, to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of Timor-Lestes declaration of independence (which coincided with Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.), we wrote: ETAN gives thanks for the sovereignty, democracy, and peace that currently prevails in Timor-Leste, but we do not forget the shameful colonization and occupation which foreign invaders, some supported by the United States government, inflicted on your people. We recommit ourselves to improve democratic practices in the United States and to work for policies that secure human rights, end impunity, and achieve social and economic justice for both our peoples. Timor-Leste has made more progress in 42 years than the United States has in 241, but both nations have a long way to go, and ETAN looks forward to the continuing journey. We that hope you will join us on that journey. A luta continua, John M. Miller National Coordinator, ETAN New York, NY Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. is selling off nearly 25,000 acres for $245 million in cash, representing nearly a quarter of the land it holds in South Texas Eagle Ford Shale field. The 24,500 acres being sold had a daily production of 3,400 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. Nearly two-thirds of that production was oil, the company said in a news release. Carrizo Oil & Gas Eagle Ford Shale acreage, which was approximately 103,000 acres before the sale, produced 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the third quarter. The exploration and production company is not naming the buyer, and Carrizo Oil & Gas will have approximately 78,500 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale after the sale is completed. Our activity in the Eagle Ford Shale is expected to be focused on the updip volatile oil window of the play, said Carrizo President and CEO S.P. Chip Johnson IV. Given this, we believe it made sense to bring the value of these assets forward and use the proceeds to further strengthen our balance sheet by retiring additional debt. The company announced in November it had closed the sales of assets in the Utica and Marcellus shale fields. It also announced the sale of its Denver-Julesburg Basin assets. Johnson said that combined with previous divestitures Carrizo Oil & Gas has raised approximately $530 million. Other Eagle Ford Shale deals this year include Penn Virginia Corp. purchase of nearly 20,000 acres from Devon Energy in a deal worth $205 million. The sale included 19,600 acres next to land Penn Virginia already held in Lavaca County. In January, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced it would exit the Eagle Ford and sell its acreage to Houstons Sanchez Energy Corp. and Blackstone Group LP in a $2.3 billion deal. That sale covered 318,000 total acres in Dimmit, Webb, La Salle and Maverick counties, which Sanchez nicknamed Comanche. 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 WASHINGTON Texas politicians are increasing pressure on President Donald Trump to pull back a federal ethanol mandate created to reduce the nations thirst for oil. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other Republican senators met with President Donald Trump last week to discuss changes, after the Environmental Protection Agency said earlier this year that it would slightly increase the amount biofuel that must be blending into gasoline for 2018 and would not make changes to the program long sought by Republicans from oil-rich states. In a letter in late October, Cruz and eight other Republican senators, including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., asked Trump to meet, so they could discuss a pathway forward toward a mutually agreeable solution on the biofuel mandate, known as the renewable fuel standard. If your administration does not make adjustments or reforms on matters related to the renewable fuel standard, the senators said in the letter, it will result in a loss of jobs around the country, particularly in our states. At last weeks meeting were Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly, EPA chief Scott Pruitt, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn, as well as 11 senators, including Cruz and Cornyn. Trump is aware that workers in the refining sector believe the program isnt working as intended, a White House spokesman said. He will listen to the concerns of senators who represent these workers, with the hope of finding common ground. During the meeting, Trump encouraged senators to find a solution that was win-win for refineries, biofuels producers and consumers, a lobbyist briefed on the meeting said. We had a productive meeting today with the president to discuss how to fix the compliance problem in a way that protects both refinery workers and corn farmers, Cruz and other senators said in a statement. An aide to Cornyn said the senator was working hard to unify all stakeholders in a consensus effort to reform the biofuel program. For Cruz, the debate over ethanol comes as he gears up for next years election, in which he is being challenged by Rep. Beto ORourke, D-El Paso. Cruz is considered a strong frontrunner in that race, but as he gears up his campaign he has been a more regular presence in Texas, with frequent public events and meetings in recent weeks with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Texas Farm Bureau. The meeting at the White House came after Cruz and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., blocked a confirmation vote in the Senate on Bill Northey, Trumps nominee to be a undersecretary of agriculture. But the White House faces opposing pressure from politicians in the Midwest, a region for which mandate, enacted more than a decade ago, has created an economic boom through increased demand for corn, the principal source of ethanol in this country. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, downplayed the White House meeting with Cruz, telling the Des Moines Register, the president keeps doing what hes told the voters of Iowa, me and Sen. Ernst so many times that he supports ethanol. (Sen. Joni Ernst is Iowas junior U.S. senator). Ethanol represents about 10 percent of the nations motor fuel supply, and Texas refiners have long complained not only about the loss of demand for gasoline, but the cost of buying the Renewable Identification Numbers or RINs that are required by Washington. The EPA assigns RINs to individual batches of biofuels, to ensure they are being added to the fuel supply. For those refineries that dont blend ethanol themselves, they must buy RINs, which are traded in financial markets. Joe Gorder, CEO of San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp., has said Valeros cost of Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, the credits used for compliance, is between $800 million and $1 billion a year. According to Valeros 2016 annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the degree that we are unable to blend biofuels at the required percentage, we must purchase biofuel credits to meet our obligation. The cost of RINs has fluctuated dramatically in recent years. Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote to Pruitt, asking for a waiver from the mandate for Texas. The escalating and unjustified RINs prices are creating a severe economic hardship for refiners, small retailers, consumers, skilled labor and others, Abbott wrote. The strength and resiliency of the industry and by extension, Texas economy is threatened by a restrictive federal mandate. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate State Sen. Carlos Uresti has added some more notable politicians and lawyers to an already powerful list of potential witnesses who could be called to testify in his criminal fraud trial, set to start in about three weeks. Uresti updated the list this week to include U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, a Republican. Former state Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, one of the last Democrats to win election statewide in Texas in 1994 and Hillary Clintons point person in Texas for last years presidential election, also has been added to the list of witnesses who may be called. Uresti filed a list of 38 individuals expected to be called as witnesses days before the trials originally scheduled start date of Oct. 23. The trial was later rescheduled for Jan. 4. Included on that list are Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia and Democratic state Sen. Jose Menendez. The updated listed includes three new potential witnesses, while one has been removed. The original filing also included a list of 133 people who may be called to testify. They include Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, former San Antonio mayors Julian Castro and Henry Cisneros, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, Bexar County District judges Solomon Casseb III and Peter Sakai, Bexar County Probate Judge Tom Rickhoff and Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood. That list now stands at 166 potential witnesses, and includes Cuellar, Hegar and Mauro. Uresti, a San Antonio Democrat, is facing 11 felony charges, including wire and securities fraud, conspiracy and acting as an unregistered securities broker in connection with his involvement in FourWinds Logistics, a now-defunct oil field services company. A federal grand jury in May indicted Uresti, along with former FourWinds CEO Stan Bates and consultant Gary Cain. All three have denied the charges. FourWinds collapsed in bankruptcy in 2015 amid allegations by some investors that they were defrauded. Prosecutors have called FourWinds a Ponzi scheme, an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to earlier investors from money contributed by new investors. Not all those identified as potential witnesses in the case were aware they may be called to testify. Both Castro and Sakai told the San Antonio Express-News in October that they didnt know they were on the list. Cuellar also was surprised to learn he could be called as a witness. I have no idea why I, along with other local and state public officials, appear on the list of witnesses that may be called to testify, Cuellar said in an emailed statement Tuesday. I have no knowledge of any facts or other people associated with this case. Lauren Willis, a spokeswoman for Hegar, said he was not aware he could be called as a witness by Uresti. Mauro didnt respond to a request for comment. Urestis legal team has not contacted individuals to inform them they might witnesses, said Tab Turner, one of his lawyers. The rules of the court require that you list anybody that is potentially a witness, Turner said. If you dont list somebody, you cannot call them. In essence, Urestis defense team has listed more than 200 witnesses to cover various scenarios that could arise during the trial, Turner said. The prosecutions star witness is Denise Cantu, a Harlingen woman who was represented by Uresti in a wrongful-death involving two of her children. Cantu later invested $900,000, the bulk of the settlement of the case, with FourWinds on Urestis recommendation. He collected a $27,000 commission. Cantu ultimately lost $800,000 and is suing Uresti for fraud in Hidalgo County. Separately, Cantu was arrested last month by Harlingen police on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies. Cantu, 38, and another woman, later identified as Monica Isabel Escobedo, 26, allegedly assaulted a woman and stole her cellphone, police say. It was the second time that Cantu has been charged with aggravated assault. Uresti has added Escobedo as a potential witness. The list also includes Nivia Featherstone, who Turner said is a victim in one of Cantus criminal cases. Urestis wife, Lleana, was on the original list of individuals that may be called. Her name doesnt appear on the latest version, however. Turner said that may well have been an oversight. On Tuesday, Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra said in a written ruling that it appears the government has complied with its obligations to turn over information to Urestis legal team. Uresti had alleged in a court filing last week that prosecutors had failed to turn over steamy texts between Cantu and ex-FourWinds CEO Bates. pdanner@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate From a Facebook chatbot to a demonstration of the power of blockchain, USAAs employees are working on all kinds of ideas. Tuesday they showcased their works in progress and recent launches during the companys Innovation Day a sort of internal trade show at the financial services giants San Antonio headquarters. Some, not all, of the ideas will see the light of day and become a tool customers or employees get to use. Others are part of early stage experiments around technologies such as blockchain, which is best known for underpinning the digital currency bitcoin. To date, 1,238 employee-submitted ideas have been implemented, according to the companys own statistics. The spirit of innovation runs deep, said Zack Gipson, the companys chief innovation officer. When I think about USAA, back to our founding in 1922 through today, weve always done things a little bit differently than everybody else, Gipson said. And its been that innovative spirit that has really enabled us to do so. USAA is known for developing various technologies to solve its members problems, such as the remote deposit capture capabilities it developed in 2005. At the time, active-duty military customers needed to be able to deposit checks from anywhere. Officials at USAA have said their company developed the technology used by banks across the world to allow customers to deposit checks electronically. The company is seeking licensing fees around the patented technology, the Express-News reported earlier this year. USAA has also developed a skill for Amazons Alexa, an attempt to make it easier for customers to interact with the financial services giant. That idea is not unlike one of the solutions USAA showcased at Innovation Day: a USAA chatbot for Facebook Messenger. Chatbots are software that can conduct a conversation. Typically programmed to respond to certain cues, a chatbot program on Messenger would allow members to interact with USAA on a platform they likely use more frequently than USAAs mobile app. Both solutions, Gipson said, are about being where the companys members are spending the most time and helping them interact on their terms. The main concern with offering a chatbot on Facebook Messenger, Gipson said, was being able to guarantee the same level of security for financial information that the company has on its own, internal app. As we think about where our members are, theyre increasingly places where were not present, Gipson said. If theyre on Facebook, how do we create a secure way for them to interact with USAA through Facebook? The technology is still in the pilot phase but will roll out soon, Gipson said. Most of USAAs more than 32,000 employees 92 percent participate in innovation activities in some way. Employees have submitted 8,896 ideas so far. But not every one of those employees comes up with an idea, spokesman Matt Hartwig said. Some, for example, may vote on the different ideas their colleagues are suggesting. When determining a return on investment when it comes to innovation, Gipson said his team runs business case assessments. We can look at our portfolio and look at how much we invest, and then we track that through into production and track the value we create, Gipson said. Sometimes innovation teams in companies can get enamored with cool technology or inventions that never go anywhere, Gipson said. The only way innovation creates value is if you put something in the hands of your customer, whether its our members or employees, Gipson said. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Christmas beer trends. Here, I continue my recommendations for the holidays. I would be remiss if I did not delve into the strong Belgian Christmas beers. Belgian breweries typically do not change their recipes as much from year to year as the average American brewery, but due to the vagaries of shipping beer intercontinentally, the end result once they get to us is not the same from year to year. Gouden Carolus Noel is quite full of cheer this year. The brewery says its made with six spices, but the recipe integrates the ingredients well, so I cant claim to be able to identify each of them. It comes out to be medium sweet and quite malty with a nice fruity and spicy flavor blend on top. I can reasonably confidently identify cinnamon, star anise and nutmeg, with mace, ginger, and brewers licorice also a possibility. St. Bernardus Christmas is also an effective purveyor of cheer, though its less fruity and spicy than the Gouden Carolus. The use of special ingredients differentiate it from a textbook Belgian quad, but more of that malty character comes out behind the apple, pear and plumlike fruitiness. Delirium Noel, another Belgian strong Christmas ale, has a similar character to the St. Bernardus. While it lacks any kind of Claus on the can, Southern Star Winter Warmer fits right in with this category. I had my first taste of this beer last January, and I am just as impressed this brewing season. Theres nothing flashy about it; its just a warming, chewy winter ale that will keep you comfortable through any brief flashes of real winter that we may encounter. Not all San Antonio breweries give a nod to Christmas in liquid form, but the oldest of the group has resurrected its holiday charmer after a hiatus last year. Blue Stars Jingle Ale is the small beer made from the second runnings of the King William barleywine. Second runnings refers to the practice of making a lower-strength beer from the same mash as a strong beer. When brewers wash the sugars out of the malt at the end of the mash, a process known as sparging, the concentration of sugars slowly decreases. The brewer can divide the runnings into a strong part and a weaker part and thus obtain two beers from one mash. The Jingle Ale is served on nitrogen, so it has a very smooth mouthfeel, with a slight bite of roasted malt in the aftertaste. Its spiced with organic Cholaca chocolate and bitter and sweet orange peel. The orange is restrained and comes out most strongly right after the pour when the bubbles are settling. The chocolate blends well with the hint of roasted malt. Weighing in at a bit less than 5 percent alcohol by volume, this beer is not an audacious display of flavors. Think of it as the little 2-foot tall tree with one strand of lights in the corner. It adds ambience, but it wont knock your socks off. On a cautionary note, last week I highly praised Ridgeways Reindeers Revolt based on the bottle I drank. This week, I tasted a bottle purchased at the same store only a few hours earlier that was stale and skunked. I hope that bottle was a one-off manufacturing flaw, but it serves as a reminder that beer is a perishable product. Keep your receipt until youve drunk it, and if its bad, dont hesitate to return it. Some stores are wary of exchanging empty bottles, so if you can, leave some of the bad beer in the bottle, but be sure to keep it in the trunk of your car since it is an open container. Hopefully, you will not be bedeviled by such disappointments in your Christmas beer selections. Instead, may their festive flavors add joy to your holiday gatherings. Markus Haas is the San Antonio Express-News beer columnist. Read more of his stories here. | mhaas@express-news.net | @saen_beerguy The Young Mens Leadership Academy will expand to high school grades starting next academic year, the San Antonio Independent School District announced Tuesday. YMLA, the only all-boys public school in Bexar County, opened two years ago and enrolls students in the fourth through eighth grades. SAISD administrators initially had not decided whether to continue enrolling students through the 12th grade or expand to younger grades instead. The school moved last year to the former campus of Wheatley Middle School. It is accepting applications through Jan. 31 for students entering grades 4, 5, 6 and 9. Students throughout Bexar County are eligible to apply. Parents are invited to an information session Dec. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the school, 415 Gabriel St. Many parents and students have expressed a desire to continue on at YMLA through high school, Principal Derrick Brown said in a prepared statement. Because we offer such a unique 21st-century learning experience which has yielded very positive outcomes, we recognized the need to extend this opportunity. We look forward to building a strong collegiate preparatory program with memorable traditions. More information is available at 210-554-2660 or www.saisd.net/enroll. amalik@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio on Tuesday distributed nearly $7 million in grants to almost 100 area nonprofits, with dollar amounts ranging from $5,000 to $600,000. CentroMed received the $600,000 grant, the second largest gift in the foundations history. It will be used to help build a new clinic in a medically undeserved side of the city, on a six-acre site at Ray Ellison Boulevard and Old Pearsall Road. The complex will include a 16,000-square-foot primary care clinic and a 19,000-square-foot fitness center. ChildSafe, a child-advocacy center that assesses and treats victims of child abuse and neglect, received the third largest grant ever, almost $480,000 to help build its $30 million Salado Creek campus on the citys East Side. It has outgrown its existing center because demand for its services increases each year, according to a news release announcing the annual grant distributions. Included in the grants was more than $1 million in scholarships for students who are pursuing health-care careers. Cody Knowlton, CEO of the foundation, said the nonprofits receiving the grants have a proven track record for meeting the needs of the community. And by investing in these organizations with these grants, we are investing in the well-being of San Antonians for years to come. The 2017 Spirit of Health award was given to the 10-member San Antonio Police Departments Mental Health Detail and Crisis Intervention Training Program, which has helped divert thousands of people struggling with mental health disorders from jail and emergency rooms. The training program, now seen as a national model, has reduced the need for police to use force in calls involving those with mental illness and has helped to connect people with the mental health services. What were trying to do is recognize individuals and groups that really exemplify compassion, dedication and the spirit in which we as a foundation help those in greatest need, said Eusebio Diaz, the foundations vice president. The foundation, established in 2004, seeks to improve the health of the community by fostering and funding clinical, educational, spiritual and scientific endeavors. To learn more, visit www.bhfsa.org. mstoeltje@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN In her first week in office, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen took a firm stance against sanctuary cities, saying communities that do not cooperate with immigration authorities are less safe and they shouldnt receive federal funding. Politicians continue to herald these lawless cities as sanctuaries. What they don't say is that they are sanctuaries for criminals, Nielsen said in a news conference here Tuesday. They are not sanctuaries for law-abiding citizens or immigrants, and they are not sanctuaries for law and order. Nielsen was sworn into office last week, replacing John F. Kelly, who left office in July to become the White House chief of staff. Nielsen is tasked with enforcing President Donald Trump's plan to crack down on illegal immigration and increase border security. Nielsen praised Texas for taking action against sanctuary cities by passing Senate Bill 4, a law that gives police officers greater freedom to ask people about their immigration status and mandates cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The law took effect Sept. 1, but parts of it remain tied up in the courts. Texas is one of those states where we can count on our partners to support us and adopt policies that make our jobs more effective and our jobs more secure, she said. I hope other states follow this lead. Cities that do not enforce immigration laws should not receive federal funding, Nielsen suggested. If these sanctuary states and cities do not want to protect their citizens by upholding federal law, then they are not entitled to the federal governments money, she said. Police chiefs in the state's largest cities, including the San Antonio Police Department's William McManus, have said the law strips power from local officials to direct police resources and hurts public safety by hampering the ability of police to secure community cooperation. Nielsen spoke at the U.S. attorney's office in Austin, a city where local and county leaders have openly criticized SB4. Nielsen acknowledged that resistance, saying her agency would like to find a way to work with you. Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials also met with Nielsen on Tuesday to discuss Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. In a statement, Abbott said Nielsen's visit has reaffirmed the government's commitment to helping Texas with border security and hurricane recovery. After todays productive meeting, I am confident that we have a dedicated partner in Secretary Nielsen and this administration, Abbott said. I look forward to working closely with them on issues important to Texas and the United States. alejandra.matos@chron.com. On its way to the government gallows, a funny thing has happened to Obamacare. Despite an effort by the Trump Administration to hobble the Affordable Care Act removing 90 percent of its advertising budget and gutting its customer service even as Republicans in Congress failed in their attempts to repeal it more than 600,000 people signed up last month in the first four days of open enrollment, far exceeding the same period last year. The entire sign-up period was reduced by half, from 90 days to 45, but as the Friday midnight deadline looms for getting ACA coverage, enrollment is still about 22 percent up over this time last year, and Texas health insurance experts expect a last-minute surge, especially among low-income persons who might be unsure about the laws rules and benefits. In many markets, theyll find a higher initial price tag but larger federal subsidies. If theyre not low-income, though, their choices will come with higher premiums or less coverage. A Trump Administration decision not to reimburse insurance companies for providing the required discounts to poorer customers is increasing the pricing pressure on others, or forcing insurers out of the marketplace altogether, experts said. Generally, people are eligible for subsidized insurance coverage under Obamacare if they arent already covered by an employers insurance and (for single persons) they make at least $12,600 and not more than $48,240 per year. A family of four has to make more than $24,600, but less than $98,400. Complete details can be found at HealthCare.gov. Those hardest hit when shopping at the ACA marketplace will be the estimated eight million single Americans who make more than $48,000 annually and dont qualify for federal subsidies, said Kristie Loescher, a 30-year veteran of the health care industry and lecturer at the University of Texas at Austins McCombs School of Business. Those are the entrepreneurial, stay-at-home, small business people, who will face large monthly premium increases on the private insurance market, Loescher said. She said various surveys have found deep confusion about the ACA, even on the question of whether its the same as Obamacare. (It is.) People consistently say they like the ACAs benefits, such as keeping a child on the policy until age 26 and not being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, Loescher said. But ask them if they like Obamacare, and they say, Oh, its horrible. For those with low enough incomes, the ACA requires that insurers offer discounts, or subsidies, even if the companies dont get reimbursed. The administrations decision not to reimburse them means many insurance companies could lose money, and they might sue the government to get it back or just quit offering Obamacare policies the hope of Republican strategists. Republican leaders have called the law a failure for years. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott cited skyrocketing premiums during congressional debate on a Senate version of a repeal bill this year. It is irrefutable that Obamacare is broken, and must be repealed. The question is whether our health care system evolves into a Bernie Sanders-style government-run single-payer health care system, or we empower states with the flexibility to craft patient-driven health care plans that meet the unique needs of their citizens, Abbott said. I trust Texans know better how to address their health care needs than bureaucrats in Washington. Loescher believes the active discouragement of ACA enrollment by reducing the sign-up period, coupled with the stopping of cost-sharing payments owed to insurers, could backfire politically. Lets call a spade a spade, she said. Republicans have tried to sabotage Obamacare because its a popular Democratic policy, but as more people realize Republicans have controlled the House, the Senate and the presidency for a full year, they will hold Republicans responsible for their not having affordable health insurance. And this hits Texas especially hard, Loescher said. We have the highest number of uninsured people in the nation. Even Mississippi and Louisiana do better (on a percentage basis) than we do. Political friends and foes alike agree that Obamacare can be confusing for the computer-averse, hence the role of thousands of government-trained navigators who assist people with signing up. So many people I deal with in the country dont have computers, and theyre afraid to give me the information to set up a personal (ACA) account, said Graciela Cruz, an independent San Antonio insurance agent for 17 years who often works as an ACA navigator with low-income people in Atascosa County. But they cant do all that username-and-password routine by themselves. Its different from the city. Cruz said she had 15 clients on Obamacare HMO policies through Blue Cross three years ago, but when the federal government ended its cost-sharing role, the insurer raised its monthly premiums by as much as $300. Some of Cruzs clients cancelled their policies. Others signed up for ACA policies that had enticingly low monthly premiums, she said, but which offered little more than catastrophic coverage, with deductibles as high as $6,500. I saw one policy that had a monthly premium as low as $6, said Austin navigator Pete Ugoh, 21, a neuroscience major at UT Austin. I think it had a deductible of two or three thousand dollars, so it really wasnt wise for most people to select. But were trained to give them total autonomy, no matter our personal beliefs. bselcraig@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A St. Louis consulting firm will lead a statewide outreach and design phase for an Alamo master plan, gathering input to address cares and concerns about the future of the Spanish mission and Texas war of independence landmark. PGAV Destinations was chosen from a pool of respondents who submitted proposals through the states procurement process, the Texas General Land Office said in a release Tuesday. It will serve as a contractor under direction from the Land Office, Alamo staff and a master plan committee with representation from the Land Office, city of San Antonio and nonprofit Alamo Endowment. As we move towards drafting designs of how the key concepts could take shape, the team will travel the state gathering input from those interested in contributing, Land Commissioner George P. Bush said in the release. While the expertise and experience of skilled contractors will be valuable, the people of Texas will continue to be the guiding force behind restoring dignity to the 1836 Battlefield, preserving the Alamo Church and Long Barrack, and building a large museum worthy of telling the story of the Battle of the Alamo. Key concepts in the plan include restoration of the church and the adjoining stone building known as the Long Barrack, a design to return the 1836 battlefield to a sense of reverence and respect, and conversion of three state-owned buildings to a museum and a theater for screening a film on the Alamo story. On its website, PGAV describes itself as a design team specializing in storytelling sculptors, designers, architects, artists, and strategists devoted to something bigger than experiences alone. Its clients have included National Geographic and the Gettysburg Foundation. The Land Office release notes the firms work at Fort Ticonderoga, the National Armor and Cavalry Heritage Museum in Georgia, the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina and the General George Patton Museum in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Public meetings in the spring in San Antonio on the Alamo plan generated concerns about proposals to close part of Alamo Street to traffic, and to repair and relocate the 1930s Cenotaph. Officials with the city and Land Office vowed to keep as many trees in the plaza as possible, while adding more than 100 new ones, and scrapped an unpopular design to erect glass walls to replicate the 1836 Alamos north and south walls. PGAV officials met Tuesday with the Alamo Citizen Advisory Committee and will hold similar meetings across Texas, according to the release. Speaking last week to the Texas Senate Finance Committee, Bush said conceptual designs should be in place by fall of 2018. Along with $75 million appropriated for the project this year by the Legislature, the city has committed $38 million. The endowment hopes to raise another $200 million. A comprehensive needs assessment of the Alamos two mission-era structures revealed a need for immediate intervention to save the limestone walls of the church and Long Barrack. The Land Office requested $31 million for reconstruction of the two iconic buildings in the appropriation. Referencing concerns about the churchs structural stability, Bush told the Senate finance panel the agency wants to ensure that the sick building is around for another 300 years. The committee directed Bush to simplify and increase transparency of the endowment, whose subsidiary, the Alamo Trust, oversees daily operations at the site. Endowment board minutes and other documents are posted at savethealamo.com. Bush faces a March 6 Republican primary challenge to his first re-election bid from former land commissioner Jerry Patterson, retired schoolteacher Rick Range and land surveyor Davey Edwards. Energy lawyer Miguel Suazo has filed to run as a Democrat. Alamo CEO Douglass McDonald, who began working in August under a one-year contract, said last week that the plan could be the best thing to ever happen for the site. For the first time, were doing the right thing for the Alamo, he said. shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN House Speaker Joe Straus, R- San Antonio, was censured by his hometown Republican party late Monday, dealing a symbolic blow to the five-term speaker on his way out of office. Bexar County GOP precinct chairs voted 77 to 21 to rebuke Straus leadership, claiming he abused his power to block anti-abortion bills and obstruct Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts agenda, among other things, according to members present. The move ramps up ongoing rifts among moderate and conservative factions of the states Republican party just as the March 6 primary races take shape. In a statement, Straus spokesman Jason Embry said the speaker will keep supporting Republican legislators who care most about whats good for Texas. Speaker Straus knew that he would upset some people when he decided to stand on principle and oppose the bathroom bills, but he's very confident that he did the right thing for Texas and his Bexar County constituents, Embry said, referring to measures that would have restricted the public restrooms transgender people can use. Like most Republicans, Joe Straus does not support each of the 266 planks in the Republican Party platform. For example, he believes that Texans should be able to directly elect their U.S. senators. He also supports kindergarten. If the state Republican Party adopts the resolution, Straus would be the first sitting House member to get censured. A censure would let the state GOP withhold financial support from Straus or back someone else in the primary. But Straus isnt running for re-election next year and already has a formidable $10 million in campaign cash, which he has indicated he will use to support responsible Republicans in the primary. Jeff Judson, a Bexar GOP precinct chair who unsuccessfully challenged Straus in the 2016 primary, said the group pursued the censure because of Straus pledge to be active in upcoming elections. Even though Straus has announced his retirement from the Texas House, he still has at least $10 million in his campaign account, has announced his intentions to continue promoting his liberal views, and could run for office again, Judson said in a written statement. Hopefully those who are tempted to take his money or listen to his voice will understand that he does not represent mainstream Republican views. But the move provoked frustration from some, including precinct chair Vivian Brown, who called the censure disgusting and afterward resigned as communications director for the Bexar County GOP. Brown warned the party stands to lose major donors for the action. You had 77 people out of the county of nearly 2 million that voted to censure the speaker, it's hardly a repudiation of him, she said. They are so proud of themselves and all they did was tear down a fellow Republican. Efforts to publicly rebuff Straus ramped up after a contentious session this year, which pitted Straus against tea party-aligned Republicans advocating policies to restrict transgender bathroom use and let parents use public dollars to finance private education, among others. Straus, a pro-business Republican who has long championed reforming the states struggling system for funding public schools, often clashed with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Abbott. The pair heaped blame on Straus when the summers special session ended with roughly half of Abbotts agenda left incomplete, including the bathroom bill and a measure curbing local officials authority over property tax increases. Over the summer more than 50 Republican Party organizations across Texas took votes of no confidence or passed other rebuffs of Straus leadership, according to news reports. Only a censure vote taken by an elected officials hometown GOP can be advanced to the state party. An earlier attempt to censure Straus by members of the Bexar County GOP failed, after former chairman Robert Stovall denied the vote over procedural issues. Stovall recently stepped down to run for U.S. Congress and Mark Dorazio, a backer of efforts to censure Straus, was elected his replacement. The soonest the State Republican Executive Committee could take up a Straus censure is at its next meeting in late January. The state partys first-ever attempt to censure a sitting House member Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana failed because the vote didnt clear the needed two-thirds margin. Straus, whose current term lasts through 2018, has said critics cant claim credit for his surprise decision not to run for re-election, which he said was driven by a desire to leave office on a high note. They tried to defeat me before I was elected the first time. They didnt even know my name, Straus, who has been speaker since 2009, told the Express-News several weeks ago. I win, they lose They will say what they say, but the records will show they were 0 for 5. amorris@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON A massive military authorization bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on Tuesday provides a 2.4 percent military pay raise and enables additional spending and hiring, including 4,100 new Air Force personnel. If the Air Force expansion goes through in a separate military spending bill which Congress has yet to approve most of the new airmen would be expected to begin their service at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, home of Air Force basic training. The nearly $700 billion legislation also strengthens congressional oversight of the military, including provisions requiring the administration to report details of civilian casualties in operations around the world. Trump said the bill represents a momentous step toward rebuilding our military, making good on a promise he made during his campaign for office. We will fight and win. But hopefully, with this, we wont have to fight because people will not be wanting to fight with us, the president said at a White House signing ceremony The bill authorizes a base Pentagon budget of $626 billion and another $66 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations, or war fund, for the fiscal year that ends next Oct. 1. It authorizes 20,000 new personnel, new aircraft, ships and ground combat vehicles. The new law also prescribes more spending for missile defense, part of what Trump referred to as a campaign to pressure the vile dictatorship in North Korea. The Pentagon is precluded from spending new money until Congress passes the spending legislation, which is wrapped into negotiations aimed at raising the debt ceiling to keep the government running. The Republican-run Congress has until Dec. 22 to complete those negotiations while at the same time trying to finish an overhaul of the income tax system before leaving for the holidays. The legislation far exceeds the $549 billion cap on military spending for the 2018 fiscal year that was set by the Budget Control Act. In their negotiations, Senate and House leaders must strike a deal that raises the caps if the Pentagon is to receive the new money. The authorization levels signed into law likely will be reduced despite the urging House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon. Congress must follow this authorization with a matching appropriation bill if we are to really rebuild our military, Thornberry said in a statement. There is more work to do. As it stands, the 2.4 percent pay hike would be the biggest in eight years. It would mean an annual boost of about $680 for younger enlisted ranks, nearly $1,100 for more senior enlisted and junior officers and close to $2,000 for mid-career officers. In addition to some 4,100 new Air Force airmen, the Army would grow by 7,500, the Navy by 4,000 and the Marine Corps by 1,000. Reserve forces would increase by about 3,400. Besides setting levels for spending, the legislation includes many new policy provisions. Among them, so-called revenge porn posting or sharing of an intimate visual image of a private area of another person would be the basis for court-martial punishment. After Trumps references in the campaign about torture and other aggressive and possibly secret tactics to fight terrorists, advocacy groups worked with Congress to secure additional transparency in the legislation. Under the bill, If President Trump wants to change any of the rules governing the use of military force, detention, detainee treatment and interrogation, drone strikes, and the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, he must notify Congress within 30 days and provide the legal, factual, and policy justification for the new changes, noted Heather Brandon, a lawyer for the Human Rights First advocacy group. Trumps and future administrations also would be required to report annually to Congress on civilian casualties that are reasonably expected to have resulted from U.S. operations. Wording in the bill would require the Pentagon to take into account reports by journalists and advocacy groups of casualties. The legislation also includes a significant new program sponsored by San Antonio Republican Rep. Will Hurd, which aims to reduce over time the governments annual $80 billion in spending on information technology. Hurds legislation, added to the military bill in the Senate, authorizes $500 million over two years to support a fund from which federal agencies could draw to update their networks. The bill also enables agencies to reserve leftover money each year rather than abide by the governments use it or lose it rule for annual appropriations. The military in San Antonio is responsible for over 280,000 jobs and has an economic impact of roughly $50 billion each year. Doubling the funding authorization for construction projects at Joint Base San Antonio will be a boon to our local economy and national security at large, Hurd said in a statement. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the legislation includes nearly $500 million for military construction in Texas. By providing for the defense of this nation, Congress has fulfilled its most important responsibility. Over the past eight years from the Middle East to the Pacific, our world has become an increasingly unstable and dangerous place, Cruz said in a statement. Cruz sponsored several amendments that became part of the legislation, among them removal of a preference for alternative energy that the Obama administration initiated. Cruz said that communities across Texas have expressed concerns regarding the potential encroachment of wind farms upon their highly vital military installations. Cruz co-sponsored another amendment that encourages the Defense Department to improve its Forward Operating Base efficiencies by deploying capabilities such as the Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training at Lackland. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said the bill rebuilds and maintains our military and he noted that the pay boost will benefit service members in San Antonio Military City U.S.A. After signing the bill, the president shook hands with Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary James Mattis. We need our military. Its got to be perfecto, Trump said. blambrecht@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An insurance brokerage firm that landed lucrative contracts greased the wheels by providing school board members with trips, lavish meals or campaign contributions, a witness testifed Tuesday at the bribery trial of Olga Hernandez, a former San Antonio Independent School District trustee. William Haff, a former insurance consultant to area school districts, said he forged an alliance with the Mullen Group in 2007 that helped its clients secure the multimillion-dollar contracts to provide district employees with medical, dental, disability or other kinds of insurance. Haff said he got paid for his part in schemes that depended on the political connections of then-Mullen employee Joshua Cerna and though Hernandez is the only former or current SAISD trustee to be charged, Haff testified there were other trustees who were close to Cerna, received favors from the company and helped the firm with their votes. At the time, Cerna was a former a trustee on the Harlandale ISDs board. Hes awaiting sentencing for his role in the bribery scheme and might testify at Hernandezs trial. Haff testified that he often met with Cerna and the firms owner, Sam Mullen, to strategize. Between 2007 and 2014, Haff said, their methods included picking up the tab for meals or trips, fees to educational groups or even holding barbecue fundraisers. Hernandez resigned from the SAISD board in February after she was indicted on bribery-related charges. Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg what Mullen and Cerna expected in return, Haff responded: They expected a positive vote and help anytime their products came up for vote. Mullen and Cerna already had connections that included then-trustee Tom Lopez and Hernandez, Haff said. He said he provided insight the Mullen Group could not get on its own and helped Mullen and Cerna rig insurance bids in some cases by illegally disclosing competitors bids. Mullen, Cerna and Haff sometimes met with Lopez and Hernandez for dinner, where Mullen and Cerna would provide questions the trustees might ask during board meetings to help boost support for the Mullen Groups clients, Haff said. Mullen picked up the dinner tab, Haff said. They wanted to make sure they were properly prepared and that they asked the right questions, Haff said. Reached by phone, Lopez denied accepting any gifts from Mullen or Cerna. Haff described a dinner meeting in 2008 at a restaurant on the River Walk he said he attended with Mullen, Cerna, Lopez and Hernandez. During dinner, Hernandez agreed to help the Mullen Group land or keep SAISD contracts for insurance company clients it represented. But she also wanted to make sure she received some kind of benefit, Haff said. She made it clear they were allies and friends, and she wanted to make sure they were taken care of in whatever the process is, he testified. With more than 70,000 employees at SAISD, a contract for medical coverage alone was worth $30 million or more, and a broker like the Mullen Group stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions if a client landed the contracts, Haff said. If there was talk within the SAISD administration of getting rid of brokers, also referred to during the trial as insurance agents, or to minimize their involvement, the Mullen Group worked its connections on the board to stop those efforts, Haff said. He testified he received more than $80,000 in kickbacks from Sam Mullen. Payments continued even as Haff became an FBI informant in 2010. The term used was, Im part of the team, Haff said. Im doing my role and Im getting rewarded for that. Mullen, Haff and Cerna also worked together to steer insurance contracts in the Edgewood and South San Antonio school districts and the now-defunct Bexar Metropolitan Water District, according to the FBI. The school districts and Bexar Met hired Haff as an independent consultant to provide advice, and he was prohibited from receiving payments by those competing to do business with those entities. After the FBI confronted him in 2010, Haff began wearing a wire and recorded conversations with Mullen, Cerna and others, including Hernandez and Lopez, testimony indicated. Haff spent much of his testimony Tuesday explaining recordings of Mullen or Cerna speaking. Cerna had the most sway at SAISD, had the relationships, and he had the board in his pocket, so to speak, Haff said. In one case in 2009, SAISD was looking for disability coverage for its employees. At a meeting at the restaurant J. Alexanders, Cerna asked Lopez to check on an SAISD insurance committee that was pushing for a competitor. He wanted the committee member to stay in line and go with the recommendation, Haff said. The recommended insurer was the Standard, and its agent was the Mullen Group, Haff said. The Standard got the contract by a 7-0 board vote, Haff said. When asked who the Mullen Groups allies were in general, Haff said Hernandez and Lopez were the main ones. Ill say Ed Garza, Haff added, referring to the former San Antonio mayor who is now an SAISD trustee. I know Josh (Cerna) and Mr. Garza were close. Haff also said Olga would go in lockstep with Lopez and that then-SAISD trustee Adela Segovia and Garza would follow in line. At one point, Cerna is heard on a recording complaining about other brokers. They were taking people on trips and wining and dining them, and the other brokers were not paying their part but benefitting by being part of an overall contract, Haff explained. Prosecutor Roomberg asked who was taken on trips. They were taking Olga Hernandez, Tom Lopez, Adelle Segovia and Carlos Villarreal, Haff testified, naming former SAISD board members. Roomberg had no comment when asked if any other trustee besides Hernandez would face charges. Segovia said by phone she accepted no gifts from Cerna or Mullen. Attempts to reach Villarreal were unsuccessful. In his testimony, Haff didnt mention any favors, payments or trips given to Garza. In opening arguments Monday, prosecutor Roomberg said that during public meetings, Hernandez voted in favor of contracts with three Mullen clients: Colonial Life, Humana and Standard Insurance. The corporations have no criminal liability, he said. Roomberg said Hernandez traveled to Las Vegas in 2012 and 2013 and accepted meals on those trips, valued at $1,200 and $2,000 respectively, in exchange for her support. The feds also say Hernandez and her husband went with the Mullens on casino trips to Shreveport, Louisiana and Reno, Nevada, with expenses paid that included transportation, lodging and concerts. Mullen also paid $670 toward Hernandezs birthday party in 2012, and Cerna gave her a $500 James Avery gift card and $500 in cash three years later, prosecutors have said. Haff pleaded guilty last year to participating in the conspiracy, which lasted from 2007 to 2014, records show. Cerna and Mullen have pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy. Lopez served on the SAISD board almost 30 years before he decided not to run for re-election in 2011. He said by phone that he went to a couple of meals with Mullen and Cerna, not particularly for anything, just we were invited. Lopez also said he occasionally went to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekends. Although Hernandez also would make the trip, Lopez said they did not go together. I can honestly say that I was never in anyones pocket, Lopez said. I dont think that Josh Cerna had any influence on me in any way whatsoever. Segovia served a single four-year term on SAISDs board, from 2009 to 2013. She said she considered Cerna a friend and colleague whom she encountered at conferences that Cerna attended as a Harlandale ISD trustee. Segovia said she and Cerna were both members of a National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials committee that visited Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, but that she never took any gifts from Cerna. Segovia said she went to functions Mullen and his wife hosted at Texas Association of School Boards conferences, but didnt accept gifts from them, either. Im not going to say I was buddy-buddy with them, Segovia said of the Mullens. gcontreras@express-news.net Staff Writer Alia Malik and News Researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One of the few bright spots in the disorganized lead-up to this citys Tricentennial celebration came last week. Organizers of the downtown New Years Eve bash inexplicably set it up as a showcase for journeyman rockers REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar, two acts at least three decades past their commercial shelf lives and with no discernible cultural relevance to San Antonio. But last week delivered a late, much-needed course correction in the form of Little Joe y La Familia, who were added to the lineup at the request of Mayor Ron Nirenberg. I dont remember the last time I played San Antonio on New Years Eve, Little Joe Hernandez said Tuesday morning. But people tell me I had a lot of fun. Hernandez, 77, was born in the small town of Temple a pit stop for motorists driving between Austin and Waco and except for a 10-month mid-1970s stay in Los Angeles (I found out I was really a country boy and I needed to get back to open spaces) has spent his entire life there. He never resided in San Antonio, but nonetheless became an integral part of the fabric of this city. He cut tracks on the West Side at Zaz Recording Studios. He has played countless gigs here, including a memorable Christmas benefit 40 years ago this month at Market Square that provided toys for needy children. (Hernandez remembers it as one of his favorite shows.) Above all, however, Hernandez has provided a soundtrack for South Texas life, with a hybrid groove that encompasses the cultural complexities of a region where polkas blended with rancheras, where Mexican-American kids of Hernandezs generation absorbed classic soul and country and brought those influences to a conjunto tradition passed down from their parents. Former Los Angeles Times music writer Robert Hilburn once referred to Hernandez as the Chicano Willie Nelson, and the comparison makes a lot sense, for reasons that go beyond the fact that these two Texas legends are longtime friends who have jammed onstage together. There are no obvious similarities in their vocal timbres or their musical approaches, but both of them have an ability to glide across genre boundaries and bring together audiences that never would converge otherwise. For Nelson, that meant bringing hippies and rednecks together under one roof in the early 1970s at the Armadillo World Headquarters. For Hernandez, the King of the Brown Sound, it meant bringing an R&B horn section and a country two-step to Tejano music. It meant being the first Tejano artist to get a deal with a major record label (Columbia/Sony). It meant being the first Tejano act signed to the William Morris Agency. It meant breaking through to Austin City Limits in the late 70s and the Nelson-organized Farm Aid concerts of the mid-80s. Like Nelson, Hernandez is an effortless populist, an artist who grew up dirt-poor in rural Texas and never lost the common touch, even when he was hanging with dignitaries or accepting Grammy awards. Hernandez also shows no sign of slowing down. Consider his schedule for New Years weekend: A Saturday night gig in Pharr, an early evening Sunday show at San Antonios Tricentennial, followed by a private event that same night in Austin. This is kind of a drive-thru show for me, Hernandez said of the San Antonio Tricentennial performance. His double-booked New Years Eve is no big deal for a guy who, in 1980, found a way to play a San Antonio benefit for then-President Jimmy Carter, a Fort Worth show for then-House Majority Leader Jim Wright and a Denver gig for then-Sen. Gary Hart all in the same day. Early this year, Hernandez lent his support to Nirenbergs insurgent campaign against mayoral incumbent Ivy Taylor. Hernandez said the connection came about when a member of Nirenbergs campaign team reached out to Hernandezs local booking agent. I met with him, the Tejano legend said, and I thought he was a young, bright, energetic, go-getter type guy. During one of their meetings, Hernandez asked Nirenberg what he anticipated would be his most daunting challenge as San Antonio mayor. He said, Getting people to trust government again, Hernandez recalled. I thought, Wow. Thats different. Usually, politicians talk about all the projects they want to do. But I thought it was an interesting answer because were at that point where you really cant trust the people in politics. Hernandez credits his musical shortcomings, not his skills for the distinctive synthesis that he brought to enduring classics such as Las Nubes and Prieta Linda. Im overrated as a talent, he said. Im not good enough to copy anyone. Theres some really great talent that can copy an artist to a T. Im not that good, so I have to do things my way. And it works for me. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Under Spanish and then Mexican rule, Catholicism was the official religion of Texas but just two years into the independent Lone Star Republic, a Jewish community had begun to take root in San Antonio, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Jewish people have been here, certainly, from the time when it was a small town, said Mara Nathan, senior rabbi at Temple Beth-El. Originally established near Travis Park in 1874, the congregation is San Antonios oldest. The earliest Jewish settlers arrived in San Antonio from Germany and other parts of central and Eastern Europe, Nathan said. Like other European immigrants, they came in search of new opportunities or adventures, she said. Jewish immigrants in Texas and all over the country were known for retail commerce, Nathan said. In San Antonio, the budding Jewish community also played an important role in developing the agricultural, education and arts sectors. Its most prominent merchants became civic leaders and philanthropists. If you trace back to the beginnings of a lot of infrastructure in the city, there were generally Jewish people who were involved in that, Nathan said. One such family moved to San Antonio in 1864. Mayer and Solomon Halff opened M. Halff & Bros., a large dry goods operation, according to the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. The Halffs took up ranching when customers offered to pay in cattle. At their peak, the Halff brothers owned more than a million acres in West Texas. Combined, their ranches made up the third-largest producer of cattle in the country, according to ISJL. Solomon Halff helped to organize the Alamo National Bank and became its first vice president, while Mayer Halff helped found City National Bank and became its president. Another pair of brothers, Daniel and Anton Oppenheimer, immigrated from Bavaria and ended up in San Antonio after fighting for the Confederacy, according to the ISJL. They opened a well-known dry goods store, according to an 1880 article in the San Antonio Express. Many of their customers asked to keep their money in the stores safe because Texas banned state banks in the late 19th century. At the turn of the century, the brothers closed their store to focus on operating a private bank. A grandson, Herbert Oppenheimer, liquidated the bank in 1988. In the late 1800s, Julius Joske opened the largest department store in the region, and his son, Alexander, greatly expanded it after buying out a brother in 1903, according to the ISJL. Alexander Joskes daughter, Lucille, married Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer, a physician and one of Daniel Oppenheimers seven children. After Alexander Joske died in 1925, Frederic Oppenheimer left his practice to manage the department store, selling it in 1929, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Joskes eventually expanded into a statewide chain of stores; its San Antonio location, with an iconic art deco facade, became part of the Shops at Rivercenter mall. Some in the Oppenheimer and Halff families were among the 44 charter members of Temple Beth-El, a Reform congregation founded May 31, 1874. A flare-up of anti-Semitism in Russia contributed to more rapid Jewish immigration and a doubling of the Jewish population in Texas between 1900 and 1920, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Nathan Kallison immigrated from Russia at age 17 and came to San Antonio via Chicago, according to the Northside Independent School District. He opened a saddle shop in 1899 and his family later owned Kallisons Western Wear and Kallisons Farm and Ranch Store, according to the ISJL. He owned a ranch in West Bexar County, land on which Northside ISD this year opened Kallison Elementary School. The son of German immigrants, Nathaniel Washer moved to San Antonio from Fort Worth in 1899 to open a branch of his familys clothing store, according to the Texas State Historical Association. He was an active Mason, became president of the local chamber of commerce and served on what was then the citys only school board, leading the charge for a $2 million bond in 1922 that built six schools. He was appointed to the State Board of Education in 1927 and served as its president until his death in 1935. A group of Russian immigrants who wished to practice Orthodox Judaism established a congregation in 1889 called Agudas Achim, or Society of Brothers, according to the ISJL. A group broke away in 1914 to form a stricter congregation, eventually named Rodfei Sholom, or Seekers of Peace. Agudas Achim affiliated as Conservative by 1948 and moved in 1992 to Huebner Road on the North Side. Rodfei Sholom remained Orthodox and moved to the North Side as well, off Northwest Military Highway. A subdivision, Shalom Place, was built to surround the synagogue, where members can walk from their homes on Shabbat. Temple Beth-El moved in 1927 to its current location north of downtown. A strong Zionist movement also formed in San Antonio, led mostly by Eastern European immigrants whose native language was Yiddish. The citys first Zionist organization was founded in 1897, according to the ISJL. Another one, Hadassah, raised money and sewed clothes for Jewish settlers in Palestine. Until the late 1930s, San Antonio was the only city in Texas where socialist Labor Zionist groups could be found, according to the ISJL. The Jewish community in San Antonio played an important role in social justice and civil rights changes of the 1960s. Rabbi David Jacobson of Beth-El worked with Catholic and Protestant leaders to integrate the city peacefully, receiving the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Achievement Award for his efforts. Bill Sinkin, a Jewish businessman, sat at a Kress department store lunch counter until his friend, a black minister, was served, according to the ISJL. Today, Nathan said, between 9,000 and 12,000 Jewish people reside in San Antonio. Some families have been members of Temple Beth-El for six generations, descending from initial congregants who were instrumental to San Antonios growth, she said. The fact that we played a role in helping to build the city up is something that people feel very good about, Nathan said. amalik@express-news.net COMING THURSDAY: Bongo Joe was a popular downtown street performer. This year, as Texas became the epicenter of the national fight for transgender rights, trans Texans streamed into Austin, eager to share their stories. In hearings that stretched into the early morning hours , they tried to convince legislators to not pass a so-called bathroom bill limiting restroom access for transgender people. The legislative effort ultimately failed , but the testimony made clear what at times was lost in the larger debate. The lives of real people students, doctors, activists, parents, even public officials hung in the balance. Nationally, a broader battle was playing out. Soon after taking office, President Donald Trumps administration rescinded protections for transgender students in public schools. Later on, the president announced his intention to ban transgender individuals from military service, a policy now being fought in the courts. Against this backdrop, four transgender teenagers in the San Antonio area were simply trying to live their lives and figure out who they were. For more than a year, the Express-News followed the young men through their transitions after they started attending Fiesta Youth, a San Antonio peer support group for LGBTQ youth. Their experiences were unique, but each wanted the same thing: to be respected, accepted, understood. To be themselves. Several times a week, they drove past rolling green fields and peacefully grazing cows, oil pumps and roadside restaurants. As miles of farmland and ranches stretched ahead of them, they listened to music and played trivia games and answered questions about their schoolwork. Jaime Merkert lost track of the number of times he and his family had driven between San Antonio and his home in Karnes City, a rural town in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale. On almost a daily basis, the 14-year-old climbed into the familys car with his mother and his younger brother for the 60-mile trip. Jaime missed living closer to the city. He had spent much of his childhood in the Schertz and Converse areas, towns he greatly preferred to the empty expanses of Karnes City. But he had to settle for long car rides to access the treatment and resources he needed, including mental health care and weekly visits to Fiesta Youth. The last several years had been turbulent for Jaime, who began questioning his gender and sexuality when he was in middle school. Back then, he was still attending the public schools in Schertz, an experience he described as nothing short of awful. He had always hated his overtly feminine birth name, so he cycled through a series of nicknames his classmates rarely used. At school, he never understood why girls had to dress a certain way. Once, while competing in a school spelling bee, he noticed all the girls wore dresses, while he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Uncomfortable, he thought, Why do you want to dress like that? He felt like he wasnt accepted, and believed he was completely alone in his desire to be a boy. The overwhelming anxiety Jaime felt morphed into depression, followed by self-harm, almost a dozen suicide attempts and a range of diagnoses, including bipolar, borderline personality and dissociative identity disorders. Jaime didnt choose to be this way. If it were up to him, he never would have wanted this. Being trans is not fun. Everybodys like, Oh trans pride, but its not all flower filters and Pride parades, Jaime said. Thats not what it is. It sucks and its hard and its taxing and it makes you suicidal and it hurts physically, mentally. Jaime made it through three weeks of seventh grade before it all became too much. By then living in Karnes City, it had become impossible for him to focus on work in between bouts of anxiety and panic attacks. His brother, who has ADHD, struggled in the classroom, too. Charity Coddington, an Air Force veteran turned night-shift hotel auditor, decided homeschooling would better suit her children and pulled them out. After that, when the family wasnt at the local library, Jaime often studied in his small room, sparsely furnished with a bed and a rickety bookcase laden with teen fiction, in his familys three-bedroom apartment. Above the bed hung a star cut from yellow construction paper, a gift from an organization that sends artwork to people with chronic mental illnesses. It was a reminder of where he had been and how far he had come. Jaime entered therapy as a preteen. When he was 12, he told one therapist he was transgender. She recommended what amounted to conversion therapy, a debunked practice that tries to alter a persons sexual orientation or gender identity. Jaime told his mother. They never saw her again. Later, Jaime was in and out of treatment for attempting suicide and hurting himself. His discomfort with his body manifested in bulimia and cutting himself with anything sharp he could find in the house. Theres better ways of coping, Jaime said. I know that now. I just heard everybody talking, all the pro-self-harm accounts on the internet talking about it, and theyre like, Oh, it makes me feel so good. Its going to help you. So I did it. When Charity saw cuts on Jaimes arm, she brought him to the hospital. He began receiving outpatient psychiatric care and was soon admitted to a psychiatric ward. Another round of outpatient services followed later in the year. He was prescribed an array of antidepressants and mood stabilizers. Jaimes discomfort with his body was closely tied to his desire to hurt himself. He disliked his chest, his stomach, his thighs. His suicide attempts often coincided with his menstrual cycles. At one point, he gathered childhood pictures of himself in which he sported bangs and wore frilly blue skirts and pink nightgowns. With the familys BB gun, he methodically shot holes through the photographs. It felt therapeutic, as if he was destroying the feminine side of himself that shouldnt have existed in the first place. By late 2016, Jaime was seeing a therapist every two weeks in Castle Hills and was Skyping monthly with a New York psychiatrist whom he called his doc in a box. He was also socializing nearly every week at Fiesta Youth, at the recommendation of a caseworker. Between those appointments and Charitys job at a Marriott hotel near the airport, the family was in San Antonio almost every day. His first time at Fiesta Youth, Jaime immediately bonded with a kid who was wearing a 21 Pilots shirt. It felt good to make friends in person, rather than just online. It felt good to be around kids like him. I came to the right place, Jaime said to himself. For a while, Jaime looked forward to the prospect that his family would move closer to San Antonio again. He longed for the neighborhoods he grew up in, to be closer to his friends, to feel accepted rather than judged by those around him. He felt none of those things in Karnes City, where children his age frowned at his close-cropped blonde hair that was dyed purple one month, silver the next. After a few months, the plan fizzled. His stepfather had plans to run for county sheriff. They stayed put. Over time, Jaime worked on his mental health through exercises prescribed by his therapist. On a sheet of paper, he wrote down unhealthy boundaries in the left column. I allow myself to get scared over things I have no control over. On the right, he listed healthy boundaries. If I start getting scared, Ill use grounding techniques and positive self-talk. By early summer, Jaime had progressed significantly in therapy. Having worked through the major issues associated with his gender identity, he and his therapist had moved on to other things. Around the same time, he was pleasantly surprised when his doctors gave him the green light to start taking testosterone. Previously, theyd had reservations that the hormone could interfere with his other medications or negatively affect his mental health. But since hed been in therapy for eight months, they agreed to start him out on a low dose and monitor him closely. Fortunately, the familys insurance covered the prescription. Initially, it had been unclear if Jaime would have to drive all the way to San Antonio to get his shots. When they checked with the nearby clinic, the family was told the practice had never treated a transgender male before. They eventually agreed to take him on anyway. On the morning he was scheduled to get his third shot, Jaime was alert and excited, while Charity sat slumped on the couch, exhausted. She had gotten home from work shortly before they planned to head to the clinic. Did you take your meds? she asked as they got ready to leave. Yeah, I did, Jaime said. In the car, Charity adjusted the radio and Kacey Musgraves began crooning. Kiss lots of boys or kiss lots of girls, if thats something youre into, she sang. Just follow your arrow wherever it points. Minutes later, Charity pulled up to the Karnes Community Health Center, a small building with tan and orange siding. Inside, she walked up to the check-in window and gave Jaimes legal name. Its lab work, shes just here for a shot, Charity said. Charity and Jaime sat in chairs against a wall. He leaned his head on his mothers shoulder. A nurse in maroon scrubs opened a door and called out Jaimes old name. He cringed. In an exam room, Jaime sat with his legs dangling off the table, chugging water in preparation for a urine sample. The clinic required that he be tested for pregnancy before each shot, even though Jaime said he was still a virgin. While he waited, Jaime video-called a friend from Fiesta Youth. You got to watch me do my shot, Jaime said, holding the phone aloft. Its not that interesting, actually. Just a needle. Not fun. Clockwise from top: Jaime Merkert pets Sox, his emotional support cat, in his room. The cat helps Jaime when he feels overwhelmed. (Carolyn Van Houten, San Antonio Express-News | Express News) ; Jaime Merkert waits to take a pregnancy test before his testosterone shot at the Karnes Community Health Center. The clinic requires him to take the test before each shot. (Carolyn Van Houten, San Antonio Express-News | Express News) ; Jaime Merkert, second from the left in the lower left picture, is pictured in a family photo as a child, before his transition. (Carolyn Van Houten, San Antonio Express-News | Express News) ; Jaime Merkert talks with his mom Charity Coddington in an exam room while waiting to get a testosterone shot at the Karnes Community Health Center. (Carolyn Van Houten, San Antonio Express-News | Express News) They chattered about their plans to go to the mall the next day. Charity urged Jaime to drink more water. She was tired and wanted to go home. A nurse poked her head in. You want to try? Jaime left briefly, only to return with another water bottle. We could reschedule for tomorrow, Charity said. She yawned. No. Not happening. Twenty minutes later, the nurse returned with a doctor, who joked about the crumpled water bottles littering the exam table. Jaime left again, returning quickly. A nurse bustled in after him. We did it on the right last time, so well do it on the left today, she said. Jaime adjusted the white binder he usually wore when he left the house to flatten his chest. It was speckled with bleach and pink and blue spots from dying his hair. He lay on his stomach while the nurse swabbed the skin below his waistband. Of course its thick, so it takes a little bit, the nurse said, inserting the needle. It actually doesnt hurt, aside from that first little poke, Jaime said. Alright, thats it, the nurse said. There we go. Finally, Jaime said. Over the next few months, Jaime and the clinic got used to the situation. Staff began calling him Jaime and writing that name on his appointment cards. Soon, his mother no longer sat with him for the shots. Shortly after his third shot, before he felt the hormones effects, Jaime relapsed. He was admitted to the hospital yet again, for suicidal thoughts. This time, he had stopped short of hurting himself. For six days, he stayed at a different facility, one designed for children. The facilitys staff called him Jaime and housed him in the male ward. They took him off several medications that were exacerbating some of his symptoms and taught him new skills to cope with his feelings. When Jaime went home, he felt for the first time like he could get better someday. On T, Jaime took note of the changes with himself. His voice deepened, and he was hungry all the time. His gender dysphoria, the discomfort he felt about his body, almost completely subsided. He was also happier, less depressed. When he looked in the mirror, he saw the person he had always wanted to be. Charity knew some people might dismiss Jaimes gender identity as just another mental illness her child suffered from. But if that were the case, she said, surely the wide range of medicines and treatments they had tried would have addressed the issue. It hadnt. She came to view his shots as just another medical necessity for her child. As Jaime figured out who he was, Charity often thought of what expecting parents frequently said: I dont care if theyre a boy or a girl, as long as theyre happy and healthy. They just need to keep that in mind, Charity said. And if they truly believe that they dont care either way, then they really shouldnt care either way. COTTON: This months 2017/18 U.S. cotton forecasts include higher exports, slightly higher production, and lower ending stocks. Production is raised 63,000 bales as increases in the Southwest are largely offset by decreases in other regions. Domestic mill use is unchanged, but exports are raised 300,000 bales due to reduced production in other countries. Ending stocks are now projected at 5.8 million bales, 200,000 lower than forecast in November, but more than double their 2016/17 level. The forecast range for the marketing year average price received by producers is raised 3 cents at each end, to a midpoint of 66 cents. The global 2017/18 cotton forecasts include lower beginning stocks, production, and ending stocks. Global production is reduced 1.5 million bales as reductions for Pakistan, India, Burkina Faso, Argentina, and Australia are only partly offset by increases in Turkey and Central Asia. A 1.0-million-bale decline in Indias estimated beginning stocks results in a similar decline in global 2017/18 beginning stocks. The revision in Indias beginning stocks reflects higher estimated consumption since 2015/16, and both Indias and world 2017/18 consumption is forecast higher this montha 335,000-bale increase in the global forecast. World consumption is forecast to grow at a 4.2 percent annual rate in 2017/18, more than double its long-run level. Projected world ending stocks are 2.9 million bales lower this month than in November, and at 87.9 million bales are now forecast marginally higher than the year before. For years I have sworn by Bicester Village in England as my not-so-secret designer go-to for insane deals and, quite frankly, just a lovely day out of London town. Ive heard that other such pockets of luxury exist around the world, but have never had the chance, or time, to visit. Well, that is until now. Last month I had the great pleasure in visiting Fidenza Village, just outside Milan, for the opening of The Creative Spot a pop up fashion boutique, open until the end of December, that celebrates the incredible talents of 18 international fashion designers. On the big day, over 250 guests, including ethical fashion godmother Livia Firth, filled the village to celebrate the arrival of the innovative fashion platform. The Creative Spot displayed the new and upcoming talents that are circling the globe and offered up a very realistic glance at our fashion future. It also had me hiding my Amex for fear of bankrupting myself before Christmas. This is truly the place to visit if you are searching for a one of a kind gift for your fashionista (or fashionista self) this Christmas. While the shopping at The Creative Spot is only open for a few more weeks, Fidenza Village itself is a mainstay. And you can bet your Celine bag I went around searching for more bargains to be had throughout the village. What lies below is a photo diary of my day at Fidenza Village. For the most part you will find photos of the pieces I fell in love with in The Creative Spot. I was truly blown away by the designers and the items that were showcasing their vision of style, as youll see. I was also pleasantly surprised with the layout of the village itself. Fidenza is a reflection of its environment. You do feel as if you are walking through a village in Italy, complete with all the delicious food youd expect to find in any Italian village. And let me just wax lyrical about the food. Shopping can build up quite the appetite. But that, in Fidenza Village, is a good thing. Finish your moves through Marni and go straight in for a spaghetti carbonara. Do not leave the village without that specific dish, and maybe a gelato or two. At the moment, its a holiday treat to stroll the streets of the shopping centre. There are festive trimmings to be found everywhere, Prosecco trucks artfully placed here and there and even reindeer dressed in the finest puff jackets! One last thing before I go. If you are headed to Madrid, by any chance, theres also a shopping village, owned by the same group, called Las Rozas. This village launched their own Creative Spot on the 16th of November, highlighting 17 artisans that represent the spirit of Spains new luxury goods. Its worth a look in, if youre in the area! For more information on visiting Fidenza Village visit: https://www.fidenzavillage.com/en/shopping/brands/ Now for the photo diary of shopping dreams. This post was written in collaboration with Value Retail. Hard on the heels of the publication of the Paradise Papers and its predecessor the Panama Papers, comes the European Unions unveiling of its list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. The member states have joined forces to compile a list of states that they consider to be rogue when it comes to the issue of taxation. The EUs initiative has some merit. There is little doubt that a combined list highlighting the perceived scallywag states that afford individuals, businesses and corporations the opportunity to evade taxes, should enable a more robust response. However, if this was its intention then there are associated frailties with the initiative. From the outset I need to stress that I am no tax-evasion apologist. There is an irrefutable ethical argument suggesting that each individual and corporation pays taxes commensurate to what the law requires. What I am commenting upon is the need to differentiate between ethical and legal arguments, and in doing so make for a more robust system that captures more of the taxes currently being avoided. I have an issue with the inclusion of the word avoidance in the EUs commentary. The fact remains that tax avoidance is legal. Tax evasion is not. The best way for onshore governments to rectify the perceived wrong is to amend their tax laws. By doing so, the issue becomes black and white, in contrast to a greyed-out-area that can be likened to a smart tax-lawyers playground. But to ensure that this structure is not only fair but also enforceable, the onshore nations need to address the litigation confines that presently govern the means for entities to avoid paying tax. If an individual or corporation steps outside of these new rules (i.e. they evade tax), then they can be punished accordingly. Instead, the EU has effectively fudged the issue of litigation and thereby enforcement, by compiling a list of what it perceives to be tax avoidance-facilitating states. By identifying these allegedly tax-disruptive jurisdictions, they have not told their member states anything that they already didnt know. Which means that the list is as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to enforcing tax law. The EUs own online Q+A that seeks to explain its rationale fails, in my humble opinion, in the first sentences. Q- Why has the EU produced a list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions? A- The new list is part of the EUs work to clamp down on tax evasion and avoidance. (emphasis added) As a lawyer who specializes in international fraud and cross-border asset recovery, it is hardly surprising that my focus is drawn not only towards the ethical question, but on the legality of what the EU is seeking to achieve. After many years of investigating corruption and righting the resultant wrongs, I am also able to dissect the EU proposals. For a start, if the EU is serious about its intentions, then it needs to be savvier with the way it words its communiques. You cannot prevent something that is perfectly legal simply by throwing it into the melting pot with the illegal issue of tax evasion. The only way that avoidance can be addressed is by changing the law, not simply compiling a list of perceived neer-do-wells as a reputational bat with which to beat smaller jurisdictions. But this brings us to a major issue where the EU is concerned. Each member state has its own taxation rules and protocols, albeit with an over-arching vision led by the EU. By simply compiling this list, the EU is seeking to appease the angry voices given fervor by the Paradise Papers and their predecessor, the Panama Papers. In fact, they have done nothing of real moment to address the problem. The EU contends that its list of naughty jurisdictions will prompt change: but how? Why would one of the offshore facilitators change their rules and position unilaterally, thus disadvantaging themselves in the skirmish for offshore business? Just because they appear on this bad boy list wont prevent them offering their services. By inserting sound bites such as: It creates a positive incentive for international partners to improve their tax systems where there are weaknesses in their transparency and fair tax standards, wont cut any mustard with many of the jurisdictions concerned. The EU makes mention of mixed messages arising out of the various triggers operated by the numerous EU member states, asserting that a single, joint list will be easier for international partners to understand and engage with. As Ebenezer Scrooge would say..bah-humbug. The only thing that will control these jurisdictions links to tax avoidance facilitation is a change in the tax laws within the EU. This may prevent the law-abiding from enjoying lawful tax breaks, but it will see them pay their fair share. What it wont do is prevent the dishonest from exploiting every means at their disposal to evade their liabilities, and thereby engage in tax crimes and money laundering. This means that the punishments must be severe (to include civil and criminal confiscation of assets) to deter those so-minded. The EU list fails in this objective. The Q+A webpage asks the question: why werent EU states assessed for the same list? It goes onto explain that there are existing rules in place to ensure internal EU tax transparency: in effect we are already squeaky clean. Try telling that to Scotland which, until quite recently, was an offshore service provider up there with the very worst, providing fully integrated money laundering facilities to corrupt figures from eastern Europe. It is right that the EU should aspire to lead by example, but I have made the point repeatedly that naming and shaming offshore jurisdictions who dont play by your rules achieves little. Their response is simple: who put you in charge of me? The policing of taxes falls to the onshore countries themselves. They make their own rules designed to prevent their national and embedded corporations from manipulating the system to their own ends. If you make it unlawful to invest your assets offshore to avoid tax, then you regain control. Making up lists of those who assist your nationals in their avoidance endeavors has little meaning. As a sleight of hand designed to deflect internal criticism of the EU, it is merely smoke and mirrors. The EU trumpets that it is now .the lead when it comes to tax standards. If that is true, why is it bleeding-out when it comes to collecting taxes? The point I am seeking to make is that company directors and their accountants have a duty to their shareholders to maximize profitability. One avenue that they can lawfully pursue is tax avoidance. But they can only do so within the rules laid out before them. There is no point in whinging that sophisticated businesses are not operating within the Spirit of the Act. They are not bothered unless they are considered to be acting unlawfully. To prevent their actions the law makers must change the current legislation. But, again, this comes with risk. If the EUs member states raise taxes, then there is the potential for corporations to take their business and jobs elsewhere. Is this why onshore legislators appear to be reticent in changing laws in favor of shouting out sound bites, clearly designed to appease the baying commentariat? As Apple and Ireland have found to their cost, there is a set of rules that must be abided by within the EU. Ireland has been told to collect billions of additional dollars in taxes from Apple and it doesnt want to. It attracted Apple and its jobs to Ireland by offering it tax incentives, allegedly outside EU rules. This scenario continues to play out. But you do not require a crystal ball to predict the likely and unhappy conclusion. This may be one of the reasons the EU fears Brexit so much: a concern that once the UK is outside of its control, it will set itself up as the place to locate in Europe to enjoy lower corporation taxes: lower than the EU inwardly allows. It could enable the UK to gain the upper hand in any bidding processes for new factories, commerce and jobs. The EU suggests that it can effectively incentivize alleged rogue states into cooperating, by withholding EU investment/payments/subsidies from various EU development funds. Whether it can or cant, I reaffirm my belief that the only way to properly police these issues is by legislative changes onshore. Remember also that one persons incentivization is anothers blackmail: does the EU really want to put itself in a position where it causes real hardship to the ordinary people of the jurisdictions concerned, who have no say in the matter? As the UN is finding out to its cost, rogue states such as North Korea have no sympathy for their own people, no matter how devastatingly affected they are by UN sanctions. From the outside, the EU proposals reek of arrogance. Like the United States, the EU is seeking to flex its significant muscle on the world stage, bullying other nations into complying with its wishes, when in fact the answer to its problems lies with its own (member state) legislators. The EU should ask itself what its attitude would be to outsiders trying to assert control over its internal policy. Plus, may I ask why there is no mention of the U.S. offshore service providers in Delaware and Nevada, for example? I would contend that this is because nobody wants to rattle Mr. Trumps cage, as his economic retaliation is likely to be both swift and severe. The inclusion of the U.S. island of Guam is noted. The absence of the more obvious and important mainland offshore providers like Nevada and Delaware smacks of cowardice. Prodding the United States with a little stick, knowing that to do so with a big stick would see the U.S. rain down reprisals, paints the EU in a poor light. This is no oversight: this is simply the EU picking its targets with care. If you are a global behemoth you are safe to operate some of the weakest-regulated offshore services on the planet; but woe betide if you are a little collection of islands in the Caribbean. Nobody likes bullies. The EU should apply the same rationale to all, or not at all. To many we appear to be entering a period where the word taxation is interchangeable with corruption. This is the effect that the Panama and Paradise Papers have had on many. There will be some out there who welcome the EU initiative; however, I would suggest that the EUs Santas Naughty List will have minimal impact unless supported by new, meaningful and effective onshore tax law. Happy Holidays to all. ______ Martin Kenney, pictured above, is Managing Partner of Martin Kenney & Co., Solicitors, a specialist investigative and asset recovery practice based in the BVI and focused on multi-jurisdictional fraud and grand corruption cases www.martinkenney.com |@MKSolicitors. He was selected as one of the Top 40 Thought Leaders of the Legal Profession in 2017 by Whos Who Legal International and as the number one offshore lawyer for asset recovery. Since the FCPA became law in December 1977, the DOJ has brought about 300 enforcement actions. Which one is the most important? Telia. The biggest by our measure was this years action against Telia Company AB of Sweden, with global penalties amounting to $965 million. By size alone, Telia could top lots of lists. Siemens. In 2008 it paid the DOJ and SEC $800 million to resolve FCPA offenses. The case was nearly 20 times bigger than any FCPA enforcement action that came before it. It was a stunner that shocked the market. And it became the model for all the mega-resolutions and multi-jurisdictional enforcement actions that would follow. U.S. v. Telia is a direct descendant of Siemens. TSKJ. Four companies paid $182 million in bribes to win engineering and construction work in Nigeria. Then they collectively paid about $1.65 billion to resolve their FCPA offenses. It looked like an industry sweep. KBR and its one-time parent Halliburton paid $579 million in 2009 to resolve criminal and civil FCPA charges. In 2010, Italys Snamprogetti paid $365 million to U.S. enforcement agencies, and Frances Technip paid $338 million. Then in 2011, JGC paid $218.8 million for a settlement with the DOJ. The London lawyer who helped deliver the TSKJ partners bribes, Jeffrey Tesler, forfeited $149 million, still the biggest FCPA forfeiture by an individual. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. Jack Stanley, KBRs former CEO, was sentenced to 30-months in prison and paid restitution of nearly $11 million. Weve called TSKJ the FCPAs whale. But it isnt one FCPA enforcement action. Its more than a half dozen actions, related to the same underlying facts but brought separately against the defendants. The Africa Sting. It deserves consideration because of the extreme tactics the feds used, and because of the scope of the indictment. Twenty-two individuals were arrested, the biggest group to ever face FCPA charges. There was a sting and a big takedown in Las Vegas. More than a hundred fifty FBI agents executed fourteen search warrants in locations across the United States, the DOJ said. The FBIs release in January 2010 said the defendants tried to sell body armor and bullet-proof vests . . . carbine rifles, tear gas grenades, and armored vehicles by bribing overseas officials. But there were no foreign officials. Only undercover agents posing as them. The FBI stoked the drama. It said: [T]he ruse played out with all the intrigue of a spy novel. According to the indictment, the subjects in the case met with our undercover agent in luxury hotels and fancy restaurants in the nations capital and elsewhere. They e-mailed inflated price quotes to our agent and wired bribe money to his bank account. They drafted and mailed corrupt purchase agreements. They even sent their products for shipment to the African nation. The governments evidence included more than 5,000 taped phone calls, more than 800 hours of video and audio recordings, and 231 recordings of meetings between undercover agents and the defendants. Despite all that, the DOJ secured no convictions after two separate jury trials of ten defendants. It was finally forced to dismiss all 22 indictments, even for three defendants who had pleaded guilty. The DOJ had said the defendants were all part of a huge conspiracy to violate the FCPA. But Judge Richard Leon in DC said there couldnt have been a conspiracy. Most of the defendants didnt know each other and hadnt talked about the phony Gabon deal. That ruling gutted the DOJs case. The Africa Sting showed how far the feds would go to make a splashy FCPA case. But the final lesson was that using a big sting to concoct a supposed industry-wide conspiracy was a bad idea. The judge didnt buy it, and neither did a couple of juries. U.S. v. Kay. Its impact on FCPA enforcement is still profound. And the case stands as a warning to FCPA hairsplitters. In 2005, two former executives of American Rice, Inc. were convicted of bribing Haitian officials to reduce their companys taxes. David Kay and Douglas Murphy said the FCPA didnt apply to bribes to reduce taxes because thats not obtaining or retaining business. Even if the FCPA did apply to those bribes, they argued, the obtaining or retaining language in the FCPA (the business nexus element) is so ambiguous that enforcement would be unfair. Kay and Murphy lost that argument at their trial, then in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, and finally in the U.S. Supreme Court, sort of. The Supremes rejected their petition for review in 2008 and let the lower court decisions stand. Kay had to serve his 37-month prison sentence, and Murphy his 63-month sentence. The case judicially expanded the business nexus element way beyond the typical bribes-for-business scenario. The Fifth Circuit said any payments to foreign officials that might assist in obtaining or retaining business by lowering the costs of operations can fall within the FCPA. Enforcing the statute against Kay and Murphy wouldnt be unfair, the court said, even if the business nexus element is a bit ambiguous: A man of common intelligence, would have understood that . . . in bribing foreign officials, [Kay and Murphy were] treading close to a reasonably-defined line of illegality. . . . Defendants took this risk, and splitting hairs . . . does not allow them to argue successfully that the FCPAs standards were vague. (emphasis added) Finally, the court said the government can satisfy the knowing element of an FCPA offense by showing merely that the defendants understood that their actions were illegal. No specific knowledge about the FCPA and its prohibitions is required. * * * Any of those cases could be deemed the most important FCPA enforcement action ever, all for different but valid reasons. If there are other cases you thnk should be on this list, let us know. _______ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Meghan Markle was the top search term on Google in the UK in 2017. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle The former 'Suits' actress is poised to marry Prince Harry in May, having dated the British royal since mid-2016, and Google's list of search terms has underlined the public's interest in the American star. Meghan topped the Google UK top trending searches of last year ahead of iPhone 8 and Hurricane Irma. And Meghan was listed at number five in Google's global top trending searches of 2017, one place behind American TV journalist Matt Lauer, who has been accused of sexual harassment by a number of women. Other celebrities to have made the top ten of Google's global top trending searches include Tom Petty and Chester Bennington, both of whom died earlier this year. Meanwhile, Meghan recently revealed her life was changed after she was told she was not thin enough. The brunette beauty battled self-confidence issues when she was younger and credits a casting director called April Webster for helping her cope with her low self-esteem. She shared: "I was in my early 20s, still figuring so much out, and trying to find my value in an industry that judges you on everything that you're not versus everything that you are. Not thin enough, not pretty enough, not ethnic enough, while also being too thin, too ethnic, too pretty the very next day. "It felt unapologetically impossible, and I spent my evenings eating my feelings with grilled cheese sandwiches and cheap wine. There was a casting director named April Webster who has basically casted everything of note from TV to film for close to two decades (think 'Lost' and 'Mission Impossible'). I had never met her before, and at my very first audition for her, she stopped me mid-scene and said so simply, 'You need to know that you're enough.'" Princes William and Harry attended the London premiere of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' on Tuesday night (12.12.17). Prince William and Prince Harry The duo both make cameo appearances in the much-anticipated new sci-fi movie and showed their support for its release by walking alongside Stormtroopers at the bash. John Boyega, who plays the part of Finn in the money-spinning film series, has previously discussed the cameo appearances of the princes in the new movie. But his co-star Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, remained tight-lipped when he was asked about their role at the premiere. He told Sky News: "That's exciting right? Let's see if it's true." Elsewhere, Domhnall Gleeson, who returns as General Hux in the new movie, revealed he couldn't give away all of the details before 'The Last Jedi' had been released. He shared: "I'm still not allowed to talk about the ending - I don't know what I'm allowed to talk about. "This is worse than before, much worse because we can only say a little bit, that's so much harder than saying nothing." By contrast, John previously confessed that sharing a scene with the royal brothers "wrapped in Stormtroopers costumes" made for a "strange contrast of a weird family". He explained: "It was a great experience." Prior to that, John said he decided to reveal the details of their appearance in the film because he couldn't remain tight-lipped any longer. John admitted: "I've had enough with those secrets. They came on set. They were there. I'm sick of hiding it. It think it was leaked, anyway." Ever wondered how one can whistle his or her way to communicate with others, without uttering a single word? A university in northern Turkey offers its students the first-ever elective course on bird language, a whistled form of communication peculiar to Kuskoy (literally Bird Village) in Giresun. What started as a primitive way of communication between a group of villagers in this Black Sea regions Canakc district now will be studied at Giresun Universitys Faculty of Tourism. Kus dili bird language of Black Sea The small town of Kuskoy, which is tucked into an isolated valley on the rainy, mountainous Black Sea coast of Turkey, looks much like the other villages in the region. Houses balance on steep hillsides beside tea fields and hazelnut orchards. A narrow white minaret and a small domed mosque stand beside a noisy creek. Kus dili (bird language) But Kuskoy, in the province of Giresun, is remarkable not for how it looks but for how it sounds: here, the roar of the water and the daily calls to prayer are often accompanied by loud, lilting whistlesthe distinctive tones of the local language. Kuskoys locals call it kus dili, a form of whistled language that helps them communicate across the regions deep valleys. UNESCO Nomination The whistle language, also known as the bird language, of the northern village of Kuskoy was inscribed in 2017 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding The whistled language is currently used by around 10,000 people in northeastern Turkey, and it can carry messages as far as 5 kilometres. It translates the Turkish language into whistles, not a distinct language. The spread of cellphones has reduced the need for the 500-year tradition of whistled Turkish, but villagers stage a festival each summer to try to keep it alive. Scientific studies The whistled language of Kuskoy has been the subject of many scientific studies, as well. A study conducted by Onur Gunturkun of Ruhr University in Germany revealed that, Whistled Turkish uses the full lexical and syntactic information of vocal Turkish and transforms them into whistles to transport complex conversations with constrained whistled articulations over long distances. In Turkey, this whistled language is used in the Black Sea region only. However, variations of the same technique are common practice in certain regions of France, Spain, China and Mexico. What distinguishes the bird language in Turkey from other whistled languages is its very high frequency. The maximum frequency of whistled Turkish is 4,000 Hz. Hence, the form used in Giresun can travel a greater distance than any others in the world. https://www.facebook.com/TurkeyHomeOf/videos/1770896126314791/ Sources: Daily Sabah/The New Yorker/National Public Radio/UNESCO Worldon Vietnam Co. Ltd under the Chinese Shenzhou Group is likely to expand investment in Vietnam as it has established a garment-textile production chain there. The knitwear-manufacturing company operationalised the chains last project worth $310 million at Dong Nam (South East) industrial park in Cu Chi district, Ho Chi Minh City, last week.This is the biggest invested garment-textile project at an industrial park in the city, according to a report by a Vietnamese news agency. Gain Lucky garment-textile factory at Phuoc Dong industrial park in Tay Ninh province of Shenzhou Group will provide raw materials for Worldon Vietnams factories. The city discourages labour-intensive projects, including garment-textile ones, but this project was licensed because the investor committed to using advanced technology. Shenzhou manufactures knitwear products from the initial stages to the creation of final products for popular brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma and Uniqlo. (DS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Credit: Andreas NeumannQueens of the Stone Age, along with Beck and Incubus, will headline the 2018 In Bloom festival, held March 24-25 in Houston, Texas. The lineup also includes Highly Suspect, Wolf Alice, Moon Taxi, Sylvan Esso, Broken Social Scene and Explosions in the Sky. Visit InBloomFestival.com for the full lineup and ticket info. Seeing Queens of the Stone Age on the lineup might come as a bit of a surprise in light of frontman Josh Homme kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren during a show in Los Angeles over the weekend. The fallout from the incident continues, with the BBC children's channel CBeebies scrapping two upcoming episodes of the program Bedtime Stories featuring Homme, according to the U.K.'s The Telegraph. Homme had recorded three Bedtime Stories segments, the first of which premiered in October. A spokesperson for CBeebies tells The Telegraph that the other two episodes will not air "until the matter is resolved." "We won't broadcast any new material or re-broadcast [Homme's] previous story," the spokesperson said. Lauren suffered neck and head injuries after Homme kicked her camera during Saturday's L.A. show. Homme has since offered a written and video apology. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Cotton production in Australia is forecast to rise by 4 per cent to 968,000 tonnes in 2017-18 season. This is expected to be largely driven by an increase in yields in irrigated plantings following the poor yields achieved in the previous season, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). In the ongoing cotton season, total area planted to cotton is forecast to decline by 10 per cent to 500,000 hectares due to a decrease in the availability of irrigation water and dry seasonal conditions at the opening of the planting window. This forecast is a smaller decline than forecast in Agricultural commodities: September quarter 2017. However, favourable returns from growing cotton compared with alternative crops (grain sorghum, maize and rice) combined with above average rains in October 2017 have provided the incentive and opportunity for Australian producers to increase dryland plantings by more than previously expected. This was further facilitated by an extended planting window following the introduction of Bollgard 3 cotton varieties which increased the planting window to four months (August to December), ABARES said in its latest report Agricultural commodities: December quarter 2017. Cotton production in Australia is forecast to rise by 4 per cent to 968,000 tonnes in 2017-18 season. This is expected to be largely driven by an increase in yields in irrigated plantings following the poor yields achieved in the previous season, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).# The decline in area under cotton is due to less stored irrigation water and lower soil moisture at the time of planting. As on November 23, 2017, the average storage level of public irrigation dams serving cotton-growing regions was around 59 per cent of capacity, compared with 73 per cent at the same date in 2016, the report said. In 2017-18, Australian cotton exports are forecast to increase by 24 per cent to 944,000 tonnes. This forecast is supported by production growth in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and strong import demand for quality cotton from Bangladesh, China, India and Vietnam. As a result, the value of Australian cotton exports is expected to increase by 18 per cent to around $2.1 billion, reflecting an increase in export volumes. Average returns to Australian cotton growers in 2017-18 are forecast to be Au$600 per bale (of 227 kg each) of lint (including the value of cottonseed and net of ginning costs), down from Au$609 per bale in 2016-17, mainly due to lower world cotton prices. (RKS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India There is an upturn in the global economy, and it is now growing by about 3 per cent, paving the way to reorient policy towards longer-term issues such as addressing climate change, tackling existing inequalities and removing institutional obstacles to development, according to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2018. In 2017, world economic growth has reached 3 per centthe highest growth since 2011as crisis-related fragilities and the adverse effects of other recent shocks subside, according to the report. The improvement is widespread, with roughly two-thirds of countries worldwide experiencing stronger growth in 2017 than in the previous year. Global growth is expected to remain steady at 3.0 per cent in 2018 and 2019. The recent pickup in global growth, the report states, stems predominantly from firmer growth in several developed economies, although East and South Asia remain the worlds most dynamic regions. In 2017, East and South Asia accounted for nearly half of global growth, with China alone contributing about one-third. The end of recessions in Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and the Russian Federation also contributed to the rise in the rate of global growth between 2016 and 2017. The upturn has been supported by a rebound in world trade and an improvement in investment conditions. The challenge is to channel this into a sustained acceleration in productive investment to support medium-term prospects. There is an upturn in the global economy, and it is now growing by about 3 per cent, paving the way to reorient policy towards longer-term issues such as addressing climate change, tackling existing inequalities and removing institutional obstacles to development, according to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2018.# Despite the improved short-term outlook, the global economy continues to face risksincluding changes in trade policy, a sudden deterioration in global financial conditions and rising geopolitical tensions. The world economy also faces longer-term challenges. The report highlights four areas where the improved macroeconomic situation opens the way for policy to address these challenges: increasing economic diversification, reducing inequality, supporting long-term investment and tackling institutional deficiencies. The report notes that reorienting policy to address these challenges can generate stronger investment and productivity, higher job creation and more sustainable medium-term economic growth. (RKS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Lectra, a leader in integrated solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles, and composite materials, has hired Nathalie Brunel as the vice-president sales, fashion, and apparel. Based at Lectras headquarters in Paris, Nathalie reports to Edouard Macquin, chief sales officer, Lectra and a member of the executive committee.Nathalie Brunels role is to support Lectras subsidiaries as they conduct the Groups strategic roadmap through the deployment of an offerintegrating the PLM and the cutting room of the futurewhich is rooted in customer experience. She will notably work with six countries that include United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Italy. Lectra, a leader in integrated solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles, and composite materials, has hired Nathalie Brunel as the vice-president sales, fashion, and apparel. Based at Lectra's headquarter's in Paris, Nathalie reports to Edouard Macquin, chief sales officer, Lectra and a member of the executive committee.# Edouard Macquin said, The fashion and apparel industry, a historic market for Lectra, is the pillar of our international presence. Our customers expect a high level of expertise and advice to meet the challenges they face due to the digitalisation of their professions. Nathalie Brunels experience in transforming organisations and developing business for complex solutions within large groups is a valuable asset for both Lectra and our customers.Nathalie Brunel said, The fashion and apparel ecosystem is clearly entering the digital era. I aim to bring Lectras value proposition to our customers, facilitating their adoption of Industry 4.0 principles. I am proud to contribute to the integration of new technologies in their processes, from design to the finished product. It is crucial to meet the needs of companies facing a complex and fragmented market that is generating both local, and global, pressures.Nathalie Brunel has over 20 years of experience in managing large accounts and management responsibility. Prior to joining Lectra, Nathalie Brunel held the position of CEO and shareholder of Okavango Energy, a consulting and industrial energy performance company. Nathalie has a diploma from the Institut superieur de commerce de Paris. (GK) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India HON PM BAINIMARAMA AT THE OPENING OF THE ONE PLANET SUMMIT IN PARIS, FRANCE Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,Bula vinaka, bonjour and a very good morning to you all.Im delighted to be here in Paris for this landmark One Planet Summit, marking the second anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement, and just three weeks after the conclusion of COP23.Excellencies, I want to briefly convey my assessment as COP President of the challenge we face to rapidly scale up global finance to confront the crisis of climate change. While the challenge is great, we must do everything in our power to meet it. We know it is the difference between life and death for millions of vulnerable people around the world. It will impact every country, rich or poor. So this is an important milestone in our fight to preserve, and also improve, the quality of human life as we know it on our One Planet.At COP23, I was encouraged by the focus, commitment and energy the world displayed to meet this challenge. I was especially struck - and at times moved - by the enthusiasm in the "Bonn Zone", where national governments were joined by local and regional governments, civil society and the private sector - stakeholders from all over the world. This is where our concept of a Grand Coalition for decisive climate action really came to life.And we must do everything we can here in Paris on this important anniversary to build on the momentum we saw in Bonn. To harness that spirit of determination and sense of opportunity to make our planet more sustainable and more prosperous.Excellencies, if there is one thing we all know, it is that global financial markets respond to opportunity. And it is our job to seize this moment to accelerate the profound shift that is already taking place in global investment, away from the dirty economies of the past towards the new, better, smarter, cleaner economies of the future.As COP23 President, Fiji is working hard to promote our Grand Coalition and deliver on the promise of Paris. As I keep stressing, we are all in the same canoe. We are all vulnerable and we all need to act. And as President Macron has said, there is no planet B. We have only One Planet to call home and now is the time to move forward together to save it.So friends, in the short time I have today, I would like to make four key points:1. First - we need better access to the public finance that is being mobilised through the formal mechanisms of the UNFCCC, including the Green Climate Fund. The financial pledges made need to flow faster through a less bureaucratic and more streamlined system and make a real difference on the ground.2. Second - we must recognize the essential role of private finance and bring together both public and private climate finance. There are trillions of dollars sitting with private investment institutions, pension funds, investment banks and insurance companies. And they are all looking for opportunities to earn a return on these funds. We must unlock that finance for our common cause. We must encourage them to accelerate the trend towards investments that contribute to solving the climate crisis.While there has been encouraging progress to date, the private finance that has supported climate solutions has been largely at the project level, and not broader institutional investment. We need to think about how to build the new asset classes that institutional investors can invest in at scale.3. Third - public and private finance is moving away from fossil fuels towards climate-smart investment opportunities. This is an important trend and it is evolving very rapidly. We saw at COP23 the work of the Global Alliance to Power Past Coal. But we need to ensure that as the global financial community moves away from dirty investments, it has viable and scalable clean alternatives into which the money can flow. And these alternatives need to be robust and reflect the level of risk and expectation on future returns that the system demands.After all, when we talk about tapping into the vast amounts of institutional capital for climate solutions, we are largely talking about the retirement savings of ordinary, hard working citizens. And we need to honour their expectation of being good stewards with their money.4. Fourth - governments and the private sector must work together like never before with a sense of urgency and caution to unlock the trillions of dollars of private sector capital that can be mobilised to solve this challenge. The major financial markets of the world -- New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Zurich, Tokyo, and others, have the capacity and all the players needed to direct more than enough capital towards this problem. The governments of the major economies of the world must act in concert with these markets to make it happen. For their part, these governments can create the regulatory environment and financial incentives for public and private capital to flow towards implementing climate solutions -- and specifically towards implementing more ambitious country NDCs under the Paris Agreement. The major economy governments and large public institutions can also play a critical role in scaling up private sector climate finance by helping to reduce the risk of such investments.Excellencies, we need to ensure that all nations and especially developing countries have in place the necessary laws, governance and investment policies to encourage private investment to flow in a way that finances NDC implementation and adaptation.For a start, we need to complete the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement on time. And I am encouraged by - and thankful for - the progress made at COP23 towards that end, and look forward to working with our Polish friends for a successful COP24.We also need 21st century policies to reflect the 21st century economy. We need to rethink current subsidies, tax policies and how we price risk in the markets, and this must all be updated and upgraded.We need to use public finance to remove the barriers to entry for the private sector and reduce the private cost of financing climate investments. Governments can co-fund activities with a willingness to take a lower "concessional" rate of return. And, as I mentioned earlier, governments and public institutions can help to de-risk investments by providing financial guarantees, first loss facilities, or credit rating support.Excellencies, I am sure there are other good ideas that will be discussed at this Summit, and are being tested in boardrooms and classrooms around the world. We need to listen as much as we talk.I want to close by stressing that money and capital is not the challenge we face. We have sufficient financial resources in the world to transform our economies, reduce global emissions, enhance resource productivity, build more resilient infrastructure, protect forests and regenerate degraded land. What we lack is the right incentives, policies and investment environments for investors to redeploy their private capital.Excellencies, this is our challenge. And we must put our global financial system on the correct course to meet it. So let us all embrace with purpose the transformation we must make so that climate finance is available to reduce harm and increase the prosperity and security of those who need it most. One Planet. One future.Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you. SCHIPHOL-RIJK (dpa-AFX) - Airbus (EADSF.PK, EADSY.PK) faces the prospect of having to find a new leader after Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders decided not to stand for a third term, French newspaper Le Figaro reported Enders won't renew his mandate when it expires in May 2019. The company board will endorse his decision at a meeting on December 14 and formalize his move early next year, the newspaper said. Rainer Ohler, a spokesman for Airbus, called the report 'pure media speculation' and said no decision had been made. Enders said his future in the post would ideally be determined in joint consultations with the board. 'The decision about my future as CEO of Airbus is not taken by the French press or the French government or any government,' he said. 'My current mandate runs until April 2019 and this is the timeframe I work against.' The nationality of the CEO and the head of the commercial-plane units typically alternate between a Frenchman and a German, which would make Fabrice Bregier the next logical choice to take over from Enders. Bregier, too, may leave the company if he doesn't get the top job, Figaro said. He may depart next year and be replaced by a German, Les Echos reported separately, citing unidentified people familiar with the deliberations. The board will discuss the matter at its meeting on Thursday, Les Echos said. Airbus dismissed the reports on Bregier's future as 'pure speculation.' 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. TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp. (TOSYY.PK, TOSBF.PK) and Western Digital Corp. (WDC) agreed to settle a dispute over Toshiba's planned sale of its memory-chip unit, the companies said, clearing a major hurdle to about $18 billion deal. The announcement is a big step forward for Toshiba, which is looking to the chip unit sale to make up for losses at its U.S. nuclear affiliate, Westinghouse Electric Co., after Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy protection in March. Western Digital, which last year acquired Toshiba's longtime chip-unit partner SanDisk, had maintained that the sale couldn't go through without its approval. As part of the global settlement agreement, Toshiba, Western Digital have agreed to withdraw all pending litigation and arbitration actions. Yasuo Naruke, Senior Executive Vice President of Toshiba Corporation and President and CEO of TMC said,'.... With the concerns about litigation and arbitration removed, we look forward to renewing our collaboration with Western Digital, and accelerating TMC's growth to meet growing global demand for flash memory. Toshiba also remains on track to complete our transaction with the consortium led by Bain Capital by the end of March 2018.' As part of this agreement, Toshiba Memory Corporation or TMC and Western Digital will participate jointly in future rounds of investment in Fab 6, the state-of-the-art memory fabrication facility now under construction at Yokkaichi, including the upcoming investment round announced by Toshiba in October 2017. Fab 6 will be entirely devoted to the mass production of BiCS FLASHT, the next-generation of 3D flash memory, starting next year. TMC and Western Digital similarly intend to enter into definitive agreements in due course under which Western Digital will participate in the new flash wafer fabrication facility which will be constructed in Iwate, Japan. The parties will strengthen their flash memory collaboration by extending the terms of their joint ventures. Flash Alliance will be extended to December 31, 2029 and Flash Forward to December 31, 2027. Flash Partners was previously extended to December 31, 2029. The parties' agreement to resolve all outstanding disputes ensures that all parties are aligned on Toshiba's sale of TMC to K.K. Pangea, a special purpose acquisition company formed and controlled by a consortium led by Bain Capital Private Equity, LP. The parties have agreed on mutual protections for their assets and confidential information in connection with the sale of TMC, and on collaborating to ensure the future success of TMC as a public company following an eventual IPO. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de NEC Seiichiro Toda s-toda@cj.jp.nec.com +81-3-3798-6511 TOKYO, Dec 13, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) announced it has supplied Toyo Engineering Corporation (TOYO) with an IoT solution based on the industry platform Predix from General Electric Company (GE) in order to optimize fertilizer plant operations and maintenance.This system will gather data on fertilizer plant operations and maintenance via Predix, and share data between all concerned parties in real-time, enabling the plant to be operated and maintained more efficiently.Having entered into a comprehensive partnership with GE in the field of IoT in October 2016, with an eye to accelerating Digital Transformation, NEC has established a framework to provide companies with total support for the development, installation and maintenance of IoT solutions(1).In line with this process, more than 100 NEC engineers are already certified in Predix, and the company plans to increase that number to approximately 500 by fiscal 2020. Moreover, NEC also uses Predix to manage large-scale projects as part of improving its global supply chain."This order for TOYO is part of NEC's commitment to promoting IoT solutions based on Predix while capitalizing on our track record and expertise," said Masaaki Saito, executive specialist, IoT Platform Development Division, NEC Corporation.(1) GE Digital and NEC Collaborate to Drive the Digital Industrial Era Forward in Japan:http://www.nec.com/en/press/201610/global_20161026_01.htmlAbout NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. BEIJING, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On 10 December 2017, Air China held a launch ceremony for the inaugural flight on its new route between Beijing and Brisbane. The ceremony was attended by a number of distinguished guests, including Andrew Hogg, Regional General Manger at North Asia at Tourism Australia; Nick Elliott, executive of Government Affairs Department at Tourism and Events Queensland; Charley Shen, director for Greater China Region at Tourism and Events Queensland; and Xulun Hou, vice president of Air China. At the launch ceremony, Air China's vice president Xulun Hou remarked: "This new route between Beijing and Brisbane is Air China's sixth non-stop route between China and Australia. Brisbane is also Air China's third Australian destination, after Sydney and Melbourne. The establishment of this new route is part of Air China's global expansion of its route network and improvement of links between China and Australia. The launch of the route will provide a convenient transport link that should spur trade, business cooperation and tourism between Beijing and Queensland." Leanne Coddington, CEO of Tourism and Events Queensland, stated: "This is the first ever air corridor between China's capital, Beijing, and Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state. This represents a major milestone for the state of Queensland. It is expected that the new route will carry almost 170,000 new visitors to Queensland over the next four years. The route makes it easier for Chinese tourists to reach Brisbane, which is a gateway to the Gold Coast, the Whitsunday Islands and other well-known travel destinations. Chinese visitors are now only half a day away from Queensland's mild climate, pristine beaches and jaw-dropping Great Barrier Reef." Moreover, the recent conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement and the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Australia point to growing bilateral cooperation and exchanges. In recent years, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia has seen double-digit growth; two-way tourist flows between the two countries recorded an impressive two million trips in 2016. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Australia as well as "Chinese-Australian Tourism Year". It is expected that the launch of the new Beijing - Brisbane route will help to promote bilateral trade relations, business cooperation and tourism. It will also provide a convenient travel link for business people, overseas students and tourists travelling between both hemispheres. In recent years, Air China has been expanding its global route network, and now operates flights out of four major hubs in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. It has also increased its route offering between China and Australia. At present, Air China operates non-stop routes from Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu to Sydney and Melbourne, handling over 40 weekly passenger flights between China and Australia. As a Star Alliance carrier, Air China can also offer routes to 1,330 destinations in 190 countries. As always, Air China remains committed to delivering reliable, comfortable, and enjoyable flight services to passengers, while offering a personal touch. Flight information: The new route between Beijing and Brisbane will be operated under flight numbers CA795/796 four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday).Outbound flights will depart from Beijing at 02:30 and arrive in Brisbane at 15:10. Inbound flights will depart from Brisbane at 19:30 and arrive in Beijing at 04:45 the next day. All times are given in local time. All flights are operated by Airbus 330-200 aircraft. 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. Capgemini involved in "FinTech CyberSecurity" program of Startupbootcamp in Amsterdam Capgemini will join forces with Startupbootcamp in innovation and technology for Startupbootcamp's "FinTech CyberSecurity" program based in Amsterdam. This relationship will provide consulting, mentoring and certification processes to startups and scaleups focusing on the financial services industry. Startupbootcamp is the leading European-born global network of industry-focused startup accelerators. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006418/en/ "Being aligned with Startupbootcamp, one of the premier accelerator networks, gives us a seat at the table with innovative FinTech and CyberSecurity companies that are changing the technology landscape in Financial Services. Through this alliance, we will be able to contribute to the ongoing dialogue in the industry, and also help to counsel and consult with the burgeoning FinTech community," said Elias Ghanem, Capgemini's Head of FinTech. The relationship with Startupbootcamp will include Capgemini establishing a certification for 'scale-up' companies those that have passed their first round of funding and have viable and progressive business models. This will put FinTech and CyberSecurity 'scale-up' firms through a rigorous and systematic set of measurements and criteria. The engagement will also include having a member of the Capgemini staff embedded with startups. Further, Capgemini will be a "partner in residence," where members of Capgemini senior staff will work at the local Startupbootcamp location. Finally, Capgemini innovation experts will mentor and consult with the startups on business processes, technology considerations, and go-to-market strategies. According to Jorge Sobrino, General Manager Financial Services Continental Europe, Capgemini's involvement with the program will connect Capgemini to the strongest and most innovative companies in the FinTech and CyberSecurity sectors in Continental Europe, a hotbed of financial services innovation: "Through Startupbootcamp we will have a ring-side seat to startups and scaleups, giving us insights and education that we will bring to our innovation and transformation conversations with our clients. Since we will be part of the selection process, we will help to strengthen the new business models that will form the foundation of the next generation of technology in financial services. We will have daily interaction with these pioneers of innovation and become a critical part of the ecosystem," Sobrino said. Michael Dooijes, Managing Director of the Startupbootcamp FinTech CyberSecurity program commented,"Corporate startup collaboration lies at the heart of what we do at Startupbootcamp and we are excited to have Capgemini onboard as our Innovation and Technology partner. At Startupbootcamp we really like the approach that Capgemini takes to looking at startups in terms of their technology, people, and financing to rate how easy they are for corporates to work with. We believe that this type of due diligence is exactly what our partners are looking for. The teams participating in the program are on the cutting edge of the most exciting areas of FinTech, InsurTech, and CyberSecurity, enabling technologies such as Machine Learning/AI, Blockchain, (Behavioral) Biometrics and APIs, which we hope will greatly benefit Capgemini's integrated approach to innovation." About Startupbootcamp Founded in 2010, Startupbootcamp is an award-winning global network of industry-focused accelerator programs. With 20+ programs in Europe, Asia, North South America, MENA Africa, selected startups gain the access to the most relevant mentors, partners, and investors in their industry. For more information visit: http://www.startupbootcamp.org. About Startupbootcamp FinTech CyberSecurity Launched in 2016 in Amsterdam, Startupbootcamp FinTech CyberSecurity is a leading global accelerator focused on the innovation in the FinTech and CyberSecurity industry. Supported by a strong network of major banks, leading financial services and insurtech partners, as well as an extensive mentor and alumni group from all over the world, Startupbootcamp FinTech CyberSecurity is a part of the global award-winning Startupbootcamp, a network of industry-focused startup accelerators. For more information visit here. Twitter: @sbcFinTechCyber LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/10848400/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbcAMS/ About Capgemini A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients' opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business value of technology comes from and through people. It is a multicultural company of 200,000 team members in over 40 countries. The Group reported 2016 global revenues of EUR 12.5 billion. Visit us at www.capgemini.com. People matter, results count. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006418/en/ Contacts: Capgemini press contact: North America Mary-Ellen Harn, +1-704-490-4146 mary-ellen.harn@capgemini.com or Startupbootcamp press contact: Eva Bandelj, +31 6 135 88 508 eva.bandelj@startupbootcamp.org TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Japan's automotive giant Toyota Motor Corp. (TYT.L, TM) and electronics maker Panasonic Corp. (PCRFY.PK, PCRFF.PK) announced Wednesday an agreement to begin studying the feasibility of a joint automotive prismatic battery business. With the move, the companies aim to advance prismatic battery technology for automotive use. The companies said the agreement would help find solutions to pressing societal issues such as global warming, air pollution, the depletion of natural resources and energy security. The deal is intended to address growing demand and expectations for electrified vehicles. In order to realize these objectives, Toyota and Panasonic target further advancements in automotive batteries, which are crucial technologies in electrified vehicles. Toyota, which has launched the Prius, the world's first mass production hybrid vehicle or HV in 1997, and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle or FCV in 2014, is working on the development of a full range of environmentally friendly vehicles. These include HVs, plug-in hybrid vehicles or PHVs, FCVs, and electric vehicles or EVs. Meanwhile, Panasonic has positioned automotive lithium-ion batteries as one of its key businesses, and its automotive batteries are used by many automakers worldwide. The company is making efforts to further enhance the safety and capacity of its automotive prismatic batteries, making use of its accumulated technological knowledge in the battery business. Both companies will consider details of the collaboration with the aim of achieving the best automotive prismatic battery in the industry and, ultimately, contributing to the popularization of Toyota's and other automakers' electrified vehicles. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Kay Bayliss CASBAA Member Relations & Marketing Tel: +852 3929 1724 kay@casbaa.com New Delhi, Dec 13, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Speaking at the India Satcom 2017 forum in New Delhi today, Joe Welch, Chairman of regional Pay-TV industry association CASBAA, applauded the Indian government's emphasis on improving the ease of doing business in the country. A great deal of attention has been paid to the power and infrastructure sectors, Welch noted, but "the key to... realisation of the Prime Minister's vision of taking India up to a Top-50 ranking (in ease of doing business) lies in improving business conditions in other sectors of the economy", specifically satellite communications and broadcasting.Welch observed that the broadcasting sector is heavily dependent on satellite links, and that "the single most crucial measure the government could take... would be to create conducive conditions for both the satellite operators and the broadcasters to be able to enter into long-term service agreements". (Currently, contracts for satellite capacity for DTH broadcasters are limited to a 3-year term by Indian government regulation.) "Striking long-term commercial deals in a marketplace that is less government-constrained would help increase business certainty for all the stakeholders", he said.Satellite services are also important to achieving the 'Digital India' dream - championed by Prime Minister Modi - as satellite services can help bring broadband and other related services to the hinterland of India, digitally connecting thousands of villages where cable or other modes of broadband delivery may pose logistic and financial challenges.Welch also called for other reforms, including development of a private-sector Indian space industry, opening of the teleport industry to foreign direct investment, and establishment of clear timelines and benchmarks for licensing actions by government agencies.India Satcom 2017 is organised by the Broadband India Forum; CASBAA is a supporting organisation.About CASBAAEstablished in 1991, CASBAA is the association for digital multichannel TV, content, platforms, advertising and video delivery across a variety of geographic markets throughout the Asia Pacific. CASBAA's members reach over 500 million connections within a regional footprint ranging from China to Australasia, Japan to Pakistan. For more information, visit www.casbaa.com.Source: CASBAAContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4.30 am ET Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics releases UK unemployment data. The ILO jobless rate is seen falling to 4.2 percent in three months to October from 4.3 percent in three months to September. Ahead of the data, the pound advanced against its major rivals. The pound was worth 1.3347 against the greenback, 151.26 against the yen, 1.3238 against the franc and 0.8800 against the euro as of 4:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. MGX to Disrupt the Energy Storage Sector with Acquisition of ZincNyx Technology ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / December 13, 2017 / Today, MGX Minerals Inc. (CSE: XMG; OTCQB: MGXMF; Frankfurt: 1MG) announced to have signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of ZincNyx Energy Solutions Inc., a Canadian company that was founded in 2012 to develop a modular energy storage system (ESS). The company's primary funding partner is mining giant Teck Resources Ltd., a $13 billion USD market cap company that trades on the NYSE. One the one hand, Teck's divestment of ZyncNyx reflects a move to focus on its core mining assets and not technology - and on the other hand this deal is a windfall for MGX after almost $15 million of investments into the ZyncNyx technology which is nearing commercial deployment and includes 20 awarded patents with 3 additional patents pending filed this year alone. It's mainly an acquisition against equity (3.7 million restricted shares of MGX plus $250,000 CAD), with most of the restricted shares to be vested over 24 months as part of compensation and incentive plan for key employees. This gives me strong confidence that others, like ZincNyx/Teck, also believe in MGX's vision and capability to create vast shareholder value, respectively that MGX's current share price offers great appreciation potential. Teck sees broad implications in this technology for how society generates and uses energy. The full report can be accessed with the following links: English: http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/en/research-reports/3945-Driving-into-the-realms-of-Tesla-&-Co:-MGX-Acquires-Mass-Storage-Battery-Technology-from-Teck-Resources German: http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/de/research-reports/3946-Einfahrt-in-das-Koenigreich-von-Tesla-&-Co Disclaimer: Please read the full disclaimer within the full research report as fundamental risks and conflicts of interest exist. SOURCE: Rockstone Research Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - EMX Royalty Corporation (TSXV: EMX) (NYSE American: EMX) (the "Company" or "EMX") is pleased to congratulate Boreal Metals Corp. ("Boreal" or "BMX") on obtaining an initial public listing and the commencement of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange as a Tier 2 issuer. EMX holds 9,205,882 common shares of BMX representing ~18.1% on an issued and outstanding basis, in addition to NSR royalty interests over Boreal's four exploration projects in Scandinavia (the "Projects"). Boreal's TSX Venture listing came after successfully raising over CAD $5,000,000 of capital via equity and private placement financings (see BMX news releases dated November 21, 2017). Boreal is advancing the Projects acquired from EMX for an initial 19.9% equity ownership in BMX, uncapped 3% NSR royalty interests on each of the Projects1, annual advance royalty ("AAR") payments, and other considerations (see EMX news release dated November 22, 2016 for the agreement details). The Projects acquired from EMX include the Gumsberg and Adak Projects in Sweden, and the Tynset and Burfjord Projects in Norway. The Gumsberg, Adak, and Tynset Projects host Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide ("VMS") styles of polymetallic mineralization, whereas Burfjord is characterized by Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold ("IOCG") mineralization. Boreal has been advancing the Projects with geologic mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical surveys, and recently announced the commencement of a 2,500 meter drill program at Gumsberg (see BMX news release dated December 1, 2017). EMX commends Boreal on its TSX Venture listing and the successful raising of capital to advance the Projects. The Company looks forward to Boreal's further growth of shareholder value through the advancement of EMX's royalty properties. The Boreal agreement is an excellent example of EMX's execution of the royalty generation aspect of the Company's business model. EMX leveraged in-country geologic and business development expertise to acquire prospective properties on open ground, build value through low cost work programs and targeting, and partner the Projects for retained royalty interests, AAR payments, and an equity interest in BMX. This business strategy has provided EMX with substantial share equity in Boreal, exposure to exploration upside at no additional cost, and the potential for future royalty payments upon the commencement of production. After the sale of assets to Boreal, EMX has continued to build a new portfolio of precious metals, base metals, and cobalt properties in Scandinavia. These properties are available for partnership. Please see www.emxroyalty.com for more information. Dr. Eric P. Jensen, CPG, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and employee of the Company, has reviewed, verified and approved the disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. ____________________ 1 Boreal retains a right to purchase 1% of the NSR royalty on individual Projects by paying EMX CAD $2,500,000 in cash and shares of BMX by February 14, 2022. About EMX. EMX leverages asset ownership and exploration insight into partnerships that advance our mineral properties, with EMX receiving pre-production payments and retaining royalty interests. EMX complements its royalty generation initiatives with royalty acquisitions and strategic investments. -30- For further information contact: David M. Cole President and Chief Executive Officer Phone: (303) 979-6666 Email: Dave@EMXroyalty.com Scott Close Director of Investor Relations Phone: (303) 973-8585 Email: SClose@EMXroyalty.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain "forward looking statements" that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merits of properties, exploration results and budgets, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, timelines, strategic plans, market prices for precious and base metal, or other statements that are not statements of fact. When used in this news release, words such as "estimate," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "will", "believe", "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which, by their very nature, are not guarantees of the Company's future operational or financial performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors may include, but are not limited to: unavailability of financing, failure to identify commercially viable mineral reserves, fluctuations in the market valuation for commodities, difficulties in obtaining required approvals for the development of a mineral project, increased regulatory compliance costs, expectations of project funding by joint venture partners and other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date otherwise specifically indicated herein. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified in this news release, and other risk factors and forward-looking statements listed in the Company's MD&A for the nine month period that ended on September 30, 2017 (the "MD&A"), and the most recently filed Form 20-F for the year that ended on December 31, 2016, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. More information about the Company, including the MD&A, the 20-F and financial statements of the Company, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the SEC's EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. New digital service will connect Chinese communities in the UK, China and Europe, fostering economic and social integration China Mobile International Ltd (CMI) today announced the launch of CMLink, its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business in the UK. CMLink will provide mobile voice and data services designed for Chinese immigrants, students and professionals living in and traveling to the UK. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005494/en/ China Mobile International Launches CMLink MVNO Business in UK (Photo: Business Wire) There is a significant Chinese community living and working in the UK with over 433,0001 British-Chinese living in the UK today. Furthermore, over 82,000 Chinese nationals were studying in the UK on student visas2, up 17 percent year-on-year, while visits to the UK from China reached 115,0003 in the first half of 2017, 47 percent higher than last year. This growing trend of travel between China and the UK has created demand for services that enable consumers to stay connected. "China Mobile's 'Big Connectivity' strategy affirms its vision of becoming a leading global operator with innovative digital services." said Dr. Li Feng, Chairman and CEO at CMI. "While China Mobile serves 880 million domestic mobile subscribers, CMI its operating subsidiary responsible for international business is breaking new ground in overseas markets. With the growing business and cultural exchanges between China and the UK, the launch of CMI's CMLink MVNO, enables Chinese communities to stay connected with family, friends and business partners anytime, anywhere. We expect the UK launch to be a new chapter in CMI delivering compelling digital services that break down barriers of communication for global consumers while fostering open exchange between Belt and Road companies." The CMLink MVNO comes with three main features: CMLink is currently the only MVNO service with no extra fees on data, minutes and texts across the UK, selected destinations in the EU, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR. CMLink subscribers can conveniently make free calls to 880 million China Mobile users in China. To meet the increasing data demands of the Internet Age, CMLink MVNO also offers a Data Growth Pack which rewards subscribers with an extra 5 percent data allowance each month, up to a total of 200 percent more data. Thanks to a partnership with BT to use its leading EE mobile network, CMLink customers will be able to benefit from the biggest 4G network in the UK, which extends to 86 percent of the UK's landmass, rising to 95 percent by 2020. Gerry McQuade, CEO BT Wholesale Ventures said: "I'm delighted BT has been chosen by China Mobile International to help them as they enter the UK mobile market using our EE network. Our MVNO offering is best in class thanks to the strength and coverage of our EE mobile network, which is the largest 4G network in the UK and continues to expand. "Our partnership will allow Chinese people and communities to stay connected, whether they are UK residents, students, here on business or visiting as tourists." From today, customers can apply for a free CMLink SIM card with free worldwide shipping, by visiting www.cmlink.com/uk or calling +44 (0)79 7300 0186. About China Mobile International Established in December of 2010, China Mobile International Limited ("CMI") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile Limited, mainly responsible for the operation of China Mobile's international business. In response to China's Belt and Road Initiative and the mother group's "Big Connectivity" strategies, CMI leverages China Mobile's global network and its experience of serving over 880 million domestic mobile subscribers to expand its global market and international business to help the Belt and Road companies go out. Furthermore, CMI is committed to delivering a complete international telecommunication service to the global community, including International Calls, Mobile Roaming, International Network Data, Multinational Corporation Service and Top Up service etc. Headquartered in Hong Kong, CMI has 19 overseas offices aimed at expanding its business globally. Additional Press Materials: http://bit.ly/2kqqnj2 1 Office for National Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census 2 The Home Office: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/summary-of-latest-statistics 3 Visit Britain https://www.visitbritain.org/best-britain-show-buyers-across-china-visitbritain-hosts-travel-trade-event View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005494/en/ Contacts: Media Inquiries Racepoint Global For China Mobile International Limited Mark Fowler Email:mark.fowler@racepointglobal.com or China Mobile International Limited Yan Cheng Email: yancheng@cmi.chinamobile.com Tel.:+852 3975 6751 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - Intercontinental Gold and Metals Ltd. (TSXV: ICAU) ("ICAU" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of up to 3,750 units (the "Units") at a price of C$1,000 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$3,750,000. Each Unit is comprised of: (i) one promissory note in the principal amount of C$1,000 bearing a coupon of 10.0%, payable semi-annually (the "Note"); (ii) 750 common shares; and (iii) 750 common share purchase warrants (each a "Warrant"), with each Warrant being exercisable for one common share of the Company at a price of $0.20 per share for a period of five years after the closing date of the Offering. The Notes have a 5-year term. Proceeds of the Offering will be used for gold trading activities and project development capital for the Company's current operations in Bolivia, expansion of gold trading activities into Peru and Brazil, and for general working capital purposes. About Intercontinental Gold and Metals Ltd. Intercontinental Gold and Metals Ltd. has successfully transformed itself to become a Next Generation Metals and Mining Company providing leverage to commodity prices, exploration and development success and significant growth potential for our stakeholders. We believe our active involvement in the physical commodities market will provide insights in global primary supply and demand trends that in turn create a strategic and competitive advantage on new mine development and expansion opportunities on a global basis. The Company generates revenues from the purchases and sales of gold (accounted for as revenue). Cost of sales is measured at the fair value of the precious metals purchased and inventory sold, which is purchased at a competitive discount from licensed artisanal and small miners (ASGM). ASGM supply supports a sustainable revenue generation model. We are unique being the only publicly listed company servicing the LATAM ASGM market. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS INTERCONTINENTAL GOLD AND METALS LTD. Gorden Glenn President & Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact; Investor Relations at 647-985-2785 or Barry Mire, Renmark Financial at 514-939-3989 Forward Looking Statements This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expect, are forward-looking statements. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ROTENBURG AN DER WUMME, Germany, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The new year hasn't yet arrived, but it's already stacking up to be a consequential one for the hospitality industry, with a number of large hotel companies dedicating resources to the launch of new lifestyle brands and other initiatives. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619111/Tophotel_Dubai.jpg ) One such example of this is Jumeirah Group, which is launching a new brand that it hopes can stand out to consumers as a lifestyle option that appeals to the "millennial minded," the companies interim CEO Marc Dardenne has said. This new brand is slated to launch in early 2018, and when it does it will have smaller rooms but locations in key desirable areas, while also retaining a strong focus on food and beverage services. Dardenne has also said that the new brand, which has not yet been named or fully revealed, currently has three to five new projects that have already signed on to be a part of it. The second brand of Jumeirah Jumeirah Hotels has been around for two decades, and this recent decision to launch what will become just its second brand was inspired in part by a desire to access markets where the company already has existing properties that are under the Jumeirah name. This is far and away one of the most common motivations that large hotel companies have cited for launching additional brands, with recent examples of companies that have done this including Trump Hotels and its new Scion brand, Langham with its Langham Place brand, and Capella Hotels with Solis. The lifestyle segment: A crowded division Although the lifestyle segment is becoming somewhat crowded within the global hospitality space, Jumeirah is confident that its new creation will stand out a bit from the pack, which contains many lifestyle brands that have been in this arena for 15 to 20 years old now, making them seem a bit dated to guests. Jumeirah leadership has painted its late arrival to the lifestyle segment as a great opportunity to ensure that it is able to provide some of the most modern and up to date offerings of any hotel in the space. No star rating or category has yet been assigned to the brand, but Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts are likely above its price range, and the new brand will not be associated with Jumeirah's loyalty program, Sirius. Leadership does, however, hope to have a little bit of association between it and the Jumeirah brand so that savvy travelers will draw a connection between the two. Related projects Let's take a look at a few other projects currently underway by the Jumeirah Group: Jumeirah Living Marina Gate This hotel at the northern entrance of Dubai Marina, consists three residential towers [READ MORE] Jumeirah Emirates Tower Business Park The Emirates Towers Business Park project will contain new hotels, including a Jumeirah Group property [READ MORE] Jumeirah Saadiyat Island The property will be set in a prime location on the north eastern coast of Sa'adiyat Island [READ MORE] Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - Stina Resources Ltd. (CSE: SQA) (OTCQB: STNUF) (FSE: 01X) ("Stina" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from the first phase of testing of samples from the Company's Bisoni McKay vanadium project located in Nevada, USA. Test results indicate vanadium extraction levels exceeding 90%. In June 2017, the Company retained Hazen Research Inc. of Golden Colorado to conduct testing of carbonaceous shale drill cuttings, taken from the Company's Bisoni McKay mineral deposit, to determine the best method of recovery of vanadium from the primary material. Testing involved roasting-leaching and pressure oxidation processes. Preliminary mineralogical testing also showed low levels of carbonate minerals, viewed as a positive as these are notorious acid-consuming minerals. Both methods were successful in destruction of the organic matter to liberate the vanadium for subsequent leaching. The roast-leaching experiments resulted in vanadium extraction in the range of 60%. More work needs to be done to determine the vanadium compounds present to better formulate the leaching reagents. The pressure oxidation experiments produced the best results with extraction levels exceeding 90%. The carbon content in the feed for the autoclave experiments was 6% and the pyrite 0.6%. These levels are considered advantageous in self-combustion in the autoclave process. Further experiments involving lower temperatures and coarser grind may show processes that could lead to lower operating and capital costs. "These preliminary results are very encouraging and show that we are on-track in our goal to develop our Bisoni McKay and Bisoni Rio mineral properties in Nevada," says Stina President, Brian Stecyk. The Vanadium Belt of Central Nevada is host to an important concentration of single-product vanadium deposits in North America. Stina's Bisoni McKay property is a high-grade, pure play vanadium project located in the Vanadium Belt of Central Nevada. Past exploration drilling reveals the occurrence of high grade V 2 O 5 in the primary (carbonaceous shale) mineralized material which contains the largest vanadium resource on the property. Several drill holes completed in primary mineralization suggests the deposit is open at depth in some areas. A supergene enrichment zone of up to 35 feet in width has been identified immediately below the Redox zone. Pure play vanadium deposits of economic value are rare. Vanadium most commonly occurs in association with other metals forming complex mineral deposits such as titaniferous magnetite and uranium-vanadium deposits where vanadium is mined as a co-product. This results in vanadium extraction being dependent on the economic value of other commodities. In June of this year, 164 new claims covering 3,361 acres (Bisoni-Rio) were registered. This consolidates ownership of the land along the Vanadium Belt between the north end of the Bisoni McKay Project and the southern boundary of the Gibellini property (Prophecy Development Corp.). The combined area under claim in Bisoni McKay and Bisoni-Rio is now 4,115 acres. The disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Tony Hammond, P. Eng. who is a geologic consultant for the company, and a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101. Mr. Hammond holds a BS Mining Engineering and Engineer of Mines - Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru; an MS Mining Engineering - South Dakota School of Mines. About Hazen Research Inc. Hazen Research, Inc. provides process research and development services to the extractive metallurgy and chemical industries. Hazen facilities include an extensive inventory of laboratory and pilot-plant equipment. They serve clients from all over the world on projects ranging from bench-scale experiments and analyses to multimillion-dollar continuous pilot plants. Their strength is the ability to understand and provide services in the entire spectrum of activity from the starting material-whether an ore, coal, or waste stream-to the finished product. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Brian Stecyk" President & CEO For further information please contact: Brian Stecyk, Director, President & CEO Telephone: 1-800-882-3213 Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release and the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis filed at www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. PUNE, India, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Construction Additives Market by Type (Chemical (Plasticizers, Air-entraining, Waterproofing, Retarding agent), Mineral, Fiber), End-use Sector (Residential, Commercial, Infrastructure), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets', the market size is estimated to grow from USD 20.70 Billion in 2017 to USD 28.95 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.94%. The market is projected to witness significant growth in the next few years with increasing demand for new constructions due to rapid urbanization and industrialization with large-scale investments in commercial and infrastructure sectors. The rising number of construction activities in emerging economies and the increasing inclination toward sustainable construction methods are increasing the reliance on modern construction techniques, thus creating growth opportunities for the construction additives market. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 131 market data Tables and 32 Figures spread through 154 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Construction Additives Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/construction-additive-market-17455672.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report Commercial construction additives to gain maximum traction during the forecast period The commercial sector dominated the market in 2016 and is projected to be the fastest-growing end-user sector in the next five years. As a result of rapid urbanization and industrialization, this market is mostly driven by the upward surge in the demand for new constructions across the world. The increasing public and private investment in the infrastructure sector of the emerging economies of Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and South America are drivers of this growth. The chemical segment, by type, to account for the largest market share in 2016 The utilization of chemical concrete additives such as plasticizers, accelerating agents, retarding agents, air entraining agents, and waterproofing additives provide flexibility to the designers to modify and enhance the physical as well as chemical properties of concrete. The market for chemical additives is growing at the highest rate due to various factors that include compressive strength, durability, surface finish, and resistance to withstand adverse climatic and working conditions as per design specifications/requirements without compromising the quality of the concrete structure. Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=17455672 The Asia Pacific region accounted for the largest share of the Construction Additives Market Asia Pacific contributes a major market share in the global Construction Additives Market. Due to the increasing industrialization as well as the population in China, Japan, and India, these countries are experiencing high demand for residential and commercial constructions. The rapid urbanization in these countries demands faster and cheaper construction of buildings and facilities without compromising on quality. Additionally, the increasing government investments in infrastructural constructions provide potential for the growth of the Construction Additives Market in these countries. Make an Inquiry @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=17455672 To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the Construction Additives Market. These include The BASF (Germany), Sika (Switzerland), Dow (US), W.R. Grace (US), RPM International (US), CHRYSO (France), Evonik Industries (Germany), Mapei (Italy), Fosroc International (UK), and CICO Group (India). Browse Related Reports: Concrete Admixtures Market by Type (Aluminum, Steel, Plastic, and Glass), Product Type (Superplasticizers, Normal Plasticizers, Accelerating Agents, Air-Entraining Agents, Retarding Agents, Waterproofing Agents, & Others), & by Application (Residential, Non-Residential, & Infrastructure) - Global Forecasts to 2020 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/concrete-admixtures-additives-market-768.html Construction Chemicals Market by Type (Concrete Admixture, Construction Adhesive, Construction Sealant, and Flame Retardant) - Global Forecast to 2020 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/construction-chemicals-market-491.html Subscribe Reports from Building and Construction @ 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 Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Continuing our annual tradition, todays column is an update on the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce's work in talent recruitment and retention. For several years, that work has been done through the Drive for Five initiative, currently led by Kara Asmus. As such, Ive asked Kara to share her annual report with you: Drive for Five has now been active for a decade, connecting talented individuals with the many job opportunities available in Columbus. Weve shared information about available jobs, quality of life in Columbus and the many amenities that are available here in our community. Twenty-one recruiting trips were taken this year to career fairs in Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. We continued in our effort to attract our nations veterans, helping them find employment after their years of service to our country. Our online reach is growing through the Drive for Five website, workincolumbus.com, as well as through our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. Over 390 job seekers shared their resume with us in 2017. Those resumes were distributed to our Drive for Five partners and employers who might have an interest in their skill sets. Drive for Five has been able to have a direct, face-to-face connection with over 1,300 legitimately interested job seekers through these methods of engagement and we have told the story of opportunity to thousands of others who may one day decide to call Columbus their home. Connecting with individuals who have moved away from the community was another area of attention. Communication pieces are sent to alumni of our local school systems sharing the word of job opportunities, community information and success stories from the alumni who have returned. Local summer interns were able to get a better look at Columbus during our Summer Intern Networking Series. Three events were held during their stay in our community. These events served to help them meet other individuals in a similar situation as themselves and acquainted them with all our community has to offer if they choose to locate here permanently. Targeted marketing and community tours are two of the methods weve used to connect with job seekers outside our area and weve been successful in attracting skilled workers by sharing the great news about our careers, cost of living and the quality of life that can only be found in a progressive community such as ours. Partnerships between our schools and businesses have been a critical component and major focus for Drive for Five. Career awareness and readiness programs were hosted for Columbus Public Schools, Lakeview Community Schools and Scotus Central Catholic students. Various school/business partnership programs included College Week, Bank in Schools, Vehicle Day, Reality 101, Industry in Education, Education in Industry, Future Problem Solvers and visits to schools from the Dream It Do It Dream Team. These programs expose students to careers in Columbus and prepare our students with the skills and information they will need to be career-ready. Finally, training events were offered to employers to improve their skills as supervisors, which will create an environment they and their employees will want to stay in. Drive for Five efforts at recruitment, retention and readiness have had a positive impact in growing our regions pool of talent. Thanks to these partners, the Drive for Five can seek solutions and implement strategies to facilitate growth in our communitys labor force: ADM; ARL Credit Services; Associated Staffing; BD Medical Systems and BD Pharmaceutical Systems; Behlen Mfg. Co.; Black Hills Energy; CAMACO; Cargill Meat Solutions and Cargill Protein; Central Confinement Systems; City of Columbus; Columbus Community Hospital; Columbus Hydraulics; Columbus Public Schools; Columbus United Federal Credit Union; Cornhusker Public Power District; Duo-Lift Manufacturing Company; FLEXcon Company; HOME Real Estate; John Crane-Orion; Lakeview Community Schools; Loup Power District; Pillen Family Farms; Pinnacle Bank; Platte County; Preferred Sands of Genoa; Samson LLC and Ramada; and Valmont Industries. As you can see, there is a broad base of businesses and schools working together to grow the talent pool in Columbus. Thats really the only way to have success. However, it also takes a lot of organization and communication, so thanks to Kara for her dynamic leadership of this initiative. CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / December 13, 2017 / Blue Sphere Corporation (OTCQB: BLSP) (the "Company" or "Blue Sphere"), a clean-tech independent power producer that develops, owns and manages waste-to-energy facilities and other clean energy technologies globally, provided an update today on activities for its projects in Udine, Italy and Sterksel, Netherlands. Udine, Italy Previously, the Company reported that when it completed the acquisition of the Udine cogeneration plant in September 2017, the plant was operating at approximately 20% of capacity. The Company subsequently reported that it had improved the output of the facility to 90% of capacity in October 2017 and expected to be operating at approximately 95% of capacity by the end of November. Blue Sphere has now achieved this goal and the facility is operating at 95% of capacity as of November 5, 2017. Sterksel, Netherlands Advancements Blue Sphere further announced that it has met key milestones in the development of its landmark project in Holland. On December 4th, 2017, Blue Sphere entered into a definitive EPC agreement with Anergia B.V. This agreement includes a Turnkey Agreement for the Design, Construction and Delivery of a Biogas Plant, a Service, Maintenance and Operation Agreement and a Performance Guarantee. Anaergia entered, into a turnkey agreement with Blue Sphere to design, construct and deliver a biogas plant with a capacity of 2,923 Nm3/h or respectively 24,000,000 Nm3/year of upgraded bio-methane including all machinery, processes and equipment necessary for the plant's complete functionality and full operation. Anaergia and Blue Sphere also have entered into a Service, Maintenance and Operation Agreement relating to Anaergia's obligations to provide certain operation, service and maintenance functions on the plant once constructed. More information about these agreements can be found in the Blue Sphere 8K that was filed on December 11, 2017. Anaergia Inc. is a global leader in offering sustainable solutions for the generation of renewable energy and the conversion of waste to resources. Through a proven portfolio of proprietary technological solutions, Anaergia maximizes the generation of renewable energy, diversion of waste from landfill and reduction of greenhouse gases for customers across the municipal, industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors. Through its subsidiaries, including Anaergia, B.V., Anaergia Services and UTS Biogastechnick GmbH. Anaergia is trusted at more than 1,600 operational renewable energy projects around the world. The signing of these agreements is an important milestone in the development process, as it was a requirement of the Company's grant award to sell renewable gas on a per MWh basis to Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland ("RVO") under the Renewable Energy Production Incentive Scheme, or "SDE". As previously reported, the grant provides for the sale of up to 234,466.589 MWh per year, for a maximum total value of the grant equal to 151,934,350 (approximately USD $178,781,149) paid over twelve (12) years, from the date the facility begins production. Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere, commented, "We are very excited to be achieving these important milestones in the development and operations of our facilities. I am very proud of the advancements that the Blue Sphere team has achieved for these key projects." About Blue Sphere Corporation Blue Sphere Corporation, is a diversified independent power producer that develops, owns, and operates clean-tech, waste-to-energy facilities in the United States and abroad. The company primarily converts organic waste into electricity, but also has the ability to generate heat, natural gas and organic byproducts through various technologies. Blue Sphere facilities; eliminate waste that would normally be disposed in landfills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect water quality, helping to solve important global environmental issues. Blue Sphere is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and has operations in the United States and Europe. For further information about Blue Sphere, please visit the Company's website: www.bluespherecorporate.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), which are subject to risks and uncertainties and may change at any time. Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including, without limitation, (i) uncertainties regarding general economic and market conditions, (ii) uncertainties regarding changes in the Clean tech sector, (iii) uncertainties regarding implementation of the Company's business strategy, and (iv) other risk factors as outlined in the Company's periodic reports, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As such, there is no assurance that the initiatives described in this press release will be successfully implemented or meet expectations. Forward-looking statements in this document speak only as of the date on which such statements were made, and we undertake no obligation to update any such statements that may become untrue because of subsequent events. SOURCE: Blue Sphere Corporation WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Democratic Party's Doug Jones has pulled off a stunning political upset by narrowly defeating Republican Roy Moore in Alabama Senate Special election. With all votes counted, the Alabama Secretary of State said Jones received 49.92 per cent of the vote, and Moore got 48.38 per cent. County-wise vote share shows a shift towards the Democratic party from the 2016 presidential election. Although Jones has a lead of more than 21,000 votes, Moore has refused to concede, and called for a recount. Jones' victory was a milestone for Democrats in Alabama, a deeply conservative state, where no Democrat has won a Senate seat in the last 25 years. Jones' unexpected victory in the Republican stronghold deals a huge political setback to both the party and President Donald Trump. The result narrows the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49. Even as most of the GOP heavyweights distanced themselves from the Republican candidate, who is accused of preying on teenagers, Trump endorsed Moore despite sexual misconduct allegations raised against him during the campaign. In an early morning tweet on the polling day, Trump derided Jones as 'Pro-Abortion; weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration; Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans; and against the Wall'. But hours later, he congratulated Jones for 'a hard fought victory'. The write-in votes played a very big factor, according to the President. Jones, 63, thanked all Alabamans 'for fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve in the U.S Senate'. His message to Washington: 'Take this election from the great state of Alabama. Take this opportunity and find common ground, go ahead and fund that CHIP program!' 'At the end of the day this entire race has been about dignity and respect,' the former attorney told ebullient supporters in a Birmingham hotel ballroom at the victory night. 'This campaign was about the rule of law, common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state gets a fair share.' Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that 'if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must -- compete everywhere'. 'Congratulations to the people of Alabama for doing what few thought they would do. This is a victory not just for Jones and Democrats. It is a victory for justice and decency,' said Bernie Sanders. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSXV: RG) (OTC Pink: RMIOF) (FSE: D4R) ("Romios" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Biczok, P.Geo., as Vice-President, Exploration effective December 13, 2017, subject to the approval of the TSXV. Mr. Biczok is an exploration geologist with 38 years of experience in a wide range of ore deposit types including many that are relevant to Romios' various mineral properties such as copper-gold skarns, massive sulphides, shear-hosted gold, iron formation-hosted gold and various exhalative type deposits (Pb-Zn, barite). Mr. Biczok began work with Romios in August 2016 as a consultant in charge of the Lundmark-Akow Lake drill program in northwestern Ontario and his interpretation of the geology in those drill holes led to a new genetic model for the copper-gold mineralization and the subsequent 2017 discovery of the first base metal massive sulphide deposit in the area. Before starting work with Romios, he worked at Goldcorp's Musselwhite gold mine (18 km south of the Lundmark-Akow Lake property) for 12 years, most recently as senior exploration geologist and senior research geologist. Prior to this, he headed up Phelps Dodge Exploration's copper, gold and lead-zinc exploration efforts in India from 1999-2002 and worked for a number of mining companies in western Canada including Mattagami Lake Exploration, Noranda Exploration, and Manitoba Mineral Resources managing exploration programs for base metals, gold and nickel. This work included a number of projects with similarities to Romios' extensive holdings and numerous prospects in the Golden Triangle area of British Columbia, including a copper-gold skarn in Yukon and granite-hosted base metal mineralization in northern BC. Among his achievements with these companies was the discovery of a new ore zone at Musselwhite, initiation of the work that led to the discovery of the past-producing Brewery Creek gold deposit in Yukon and leading the team that discovered the Monument Bay gold deposit in northern Manitoba. Mr. Biczok is a graduate of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay (Honours B.Sc. in Geology) and a registered Professional Geoscientist in Ontario. He is also a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Biczok has been granted 500,000 share purchase options exercisable at $0.10 per share for a period of five years. Mr. Biczok succeeds Thomas Skimming, who has been a Director of Romios as well as the Vice-President, Exploration for over twenty years, successfully building up the highly prospective land claims in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. The Board of Directors thanks Mr. Skimming for his years of service as the Vice-President, Exploration and is very grateful that Mr. Skimming has agreed to continue as a Director of the Company. About Romios Gold Resources Inc. Romios Gold Resources Inc., a progressive Canadian mineral exploration company established in 1995, is engaged in precious and base metal exploration primarily focused on gold, silver and copper in its properties in the Golden Triangle area, northwestern BC. In addition to the Lundmark-Akow Lake and Hislop properties in Ontario, Romios has other property interests in Quebec and Nevada. This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such 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: Tom Drivas, President and Director, (tel) 416-221-4124, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) romios@romios.com. Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-221-4124 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/13/17 -- Finning International Inc. (TSX: FTT) ("Finning") announced today that its South American operation has been awarded a multi-year mining contract by Lundin Mining Corporation to deliver new equipment and product support to the Candelaria copper mines in northern Chile. Finning will supply nearly 70 pieces of new Caterpillar large mining equipment valued at approximately US$185 million to the Candelaria open pit and underground mines, as well as support the entire fleet under a maintenance contract. The fleet will include hydraulic shovels, off-highway trucks, and auxiliary equipment, and will be delivered over the next three years. "We are pleased to build on our strong partnership with Lundin Mining at Candelaria. Our focus is to support Lundin in its efforts to operate efficiently and cost effectively, while improving productivity," said Marcello Marchese, president, Finning South America. "We remain constructive on the long-term outlook for copper. This is the first significant order for mining equipment that Finning has secured in Chile since the industry's decline in 2014. As activity in the mining sector begins to improve, we are well positioned to capture equipment and product support opportunities," concluded Mr. Marchese. About Finning Finning International Inc. is the world's largest Caterpillar equipment dealer delivering unrivalled service to customers for nearly 85 years. Finning sells, rents, and provides parts and service for equipment and engines to help customers maximize productivity. Headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., the Company operates in Western Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. About Lundin Mining Lundin Mining Corporation is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the USA, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. Forward-Looking Disclaimer This report contains statements about the Company's business outlook, objectives, plans, strategic priorities and other statements that are not historical facts. A statement Finning makes is forward-looking when it uses what the Company knows and expects today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements may include words such as aim, anticipate, assumption, believe, could, expect, goal, guidance, intend, may, objective, outlook, plan, project, seek, should, strategy, strive, target, and will. Forward-looking statements in this report include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the new equipment fleet to be delivered to the customer, the timing of delivery, and the expectation of improving outlook for copper and activity in the mining sector. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated by us, forward-looking statements in this report reflect Finning's expectations as at the date of this report. Except as may be required by Canadian securities laws, Finning does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions which give rise to the possibility that actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements and that Finning's business outlook, objectives, plans, strategic priorities and other statements that are not historical facts may not be achieved. As a result, Finning cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements include: general economic and market conditions; foreign exchange rates; commodity prices; the level of customer confidence and spending, and the demand for, and prices of, Finning's products and services; Finning's ability to maintain its relationship with Caterpillar Inc.; Finning's dependence on the continued market acceptance of its products, including Caterpillar products, and the timely supply of parts and equipment; Finning's ability to continue to improve productivity and operational efficiencies while continuing to maintain customer service; Finning's ability to manage cost pressures as growth in revenue occurs; Finning's ability to reduce costs in response to slowing activity levels; Finning's ability to attract sufficient skilled labour resources as market conditions, business strategy or technologies change; Finning's ability to negotiate and renew collective bargaining agreements with satisfactory terms for Finning's employees and the Company; the intensity of competitive activity; Finning's ability to raise the capital needed to implement its business plan; regulatory initiatives or proceedings, litigation and changes in laws or regulations; stock market volatility; changes in political and economic environments for operations; the integrity, reliability and availability of, and benefits from information technology and the data processed by that technology; and Finning's ability to protect itself from cybersecurity threats or incidents. Forward-looking statements are provided in this report for the purpose of giving information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of Finning's operating environment. However, readers are cautioned that it may not be appropriate to use such forward-looking statements for any other purpose. Forward-looking statements made in this report are based on a number of assumptions that Finning believed were reasonable on the day the Company made the forward-looking statements. Refer in particular to the Outlook section of the Company's MD&A for forward-looking statements. Some of the assumptions, risks, and other factors which could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained in this report are discussed in Section 4 of the Company's current AIF and in the annual MD&A for the financial risks. Finning cautions readers that the risks described in this report, the MD&A and the AIF are not the only ones that could impact the Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to the Company or that are currently deemed to be immaterial may also have a material adverse effect on Finning's business, financial condition, or results of operations. Except as otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or other unusual items or of any dispositions, mergers, acquisitions, other business combinations or other transactions that may be announced or that may occur after the date of this report. The financial impact of these transactions and non-recurring and other unusual items can be complex and depends on the facts particular to each of them. Finning therefore cannot describe the expected impact in a meaningful way or in the same way Finning presents known risks affecting its business. Contacts: Finning Investor Relations Contact Mauk Breukels Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs (604) 331-4934 mauk.breukels@finning.com www.finning.com PRAGUE, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Software Magazine Ranks IBA Group as one of the World's Largest Software Companies in 2017 IBA Group http://www.ibagroupit.com announces its inclusion in Software Magazine's Software 500 ranking of the world's largest software and service providers, now in its 35th year. IBA Group was ranked #304, with a total software and services revenue of US$100.6 million. IBA Group has been selected for Software 500 since 2008 when the company applied for inclusion for the first time. Now in its 35th year, the Software 500 provides a detailed look at changes in the software industry from a revenue, employee, and research and development (R&D) perspective. The ranking is based on total worldwide software and services revenue from the 2016 fiscal year. Suppliers are not ranked on total corporate revenue, since many, like IBA Group have other lines of business, such as hardware. According to Software Magazine, the total software and service revenue for the 2017 Software 500 reached $834 billion, a 3.59 percent increase from $804 billion reported in the 2016 Software 500. As for the number of employees, companies reported a 10.3 percent decline, compared to the 2016 published Software 500. The primary business sectors were Middleware/App and Server/Web service, followed by Enterprise IT management and Operating Systems. The top trending topics included analytics, cloud-based applications, artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning technologies, and the Internet of Things (IoT). See the 2017 Software 500 ranking at http://www.rcpbuyersguide.com/top-companies.php?page=31&ipp=10 (registration needed). About IBA Group IBA Group is one of the largest IT service providers in Eastern Europe. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, IBA Group has offices and development centers in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Belarus, South Africa, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia. IBA Group focuses on mainframe systems, enterprise applications, web solutions, SAP, business analytics, and cloud and mobile applications. IBA Group is recognized by IAOP as one of The Global Outsourcing 100in the Leaders Category and ranks as one of the world's largest software companies in theSoftware Magazine's Software 500. The company is a winner of the Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in the 2016 GSA Awards and of the CEE Shared Services and Outsourcing Awards in the category Top CSR initiative of the Year. In 2017, 2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011, IBA Group won IT Europa's European IT & Software Excellence Awards. For more information, visithttp://ibagroupit.com Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article discussing Micron Waste Technologies Inc. (CSE: MWM) (CNSX: MWM) and its plans to offer solid and liquid waste management solutions to the industry, which helps solve major environmental issues in a way that benefits all parties. Environmental Costs of Cannabis The cannabis industry's rapid growth has spawned many different legal issues, but the environmental costs of cultivation have been largely ignored. According to Evan Mills, a senior scientist at the University of California, indoor cannabis cultivation represented about 1% of total electricity usage across the U.S. in 2011. A more recent New Frontier study conducted last year backed up these figures and suggests that these costs will only continue to grow. In addition to electricity costs, solid waste from plant material also poses environmental concerns. Solid plant material - like trim, flower, stalks, roots, or soil - may not meet quality assurance standards or be contaminated in some way. Liquids and water could also contaminate groundwater due to pesticide use. Many states have rules surrounding the disposal of these byproducts of cultivation, especially when they contain high levels of THC. The same factors that cause these environmental issues have made cultivation an expensive process. For example, cannabis cultivators would gladly use more efficient lights to reduce their energy costs, but there is a trade off with the yield produced by the lights. Regulators have also introduced environmental standards for waste disposal that can be costly from a compliance standpoint, but new technologies could make the process even more efficient. Micron's Organic Solutions Micron Waste Technologies Inc. (CSE: MWM) is a leading developer of waste technologies designed to manage food and other organic waste on-site by converting it into clean water. In particular, it has developed an aerobic digester with micro-oxygen cubicle technology to enhance the digestion efficiency of microorganisms by up to 95% with the remaining 5% of undigested particles undergoing further treatment. While the company has conventionally focused on food waste, the technology is uniquely applicable to the cannabis industry. The company is testing a new type of nanocrystal that would be used in its proprietary four-cycle filtration process to further break down medical cannabis organic waste so that it can be turned into "gray water" and then later into clean water. This water can then be recycled in the cannabis cultivation process. "This is a valuable opportunity to bring together research and development efforts from both Micron Waste and our development partners to deliver an urgently needed organic waste treatment system for the medical cannabis cultivation industry that meets Health Canada Cannabis Waste disposal requirements," said Micron Waste Chief Technology Officer Dr. Bharat Bhushan in a recent press release announcing the move into the cannabis industry. Please follow the link to read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/micron-waste-aims-mitigate-cannabis-environmental-issues/ For more information, visit the company's website at www.micronwaste.com. 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/become-featured-company/ 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/ Contact CFN Media Frank Lane 206-369-7050 flane@cannabisfn.com NEW YORK, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new report published by Persistence Market Research titled "Timber Harvesting Equipment Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Forecast (2017-2025)," the global timber harvesting equipment market is expected to expand at a value CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period (2017-2025). It is expected that the market will reach a value of US$ 26,785.9 Mn by 2025 end. In terms of volume, the market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.3% over the forecast period and account for the sales of 4,888,581 units by 2025 end. The rise in demand for wood as fuel as well as construction material is the main driver influencing the growth of the timber harvesting equipment market. It has been observed that the sales of timber harvesting equipment is highly correlated with the demand for wood and products derived from wood. In the current scenario, forest products such as fuel wood, round wood, saw wood among others trigger the demand for timber harvesting equipment. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161114/438683LOGO ) View Report Preview at https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/timber-harvesting-equipment-market.asp Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market: Drivers Conversion of forest areas to agricultural lands- Rapid conversion calls for mechanized operation to process felling thereby improving the demand for timber harvesting equipment Rise in urbanization from rural to metro areas- The growth in population and demand for more residential areas will also support the demand for timber harvesting equipment over the forecast period Increasing requirement for mechanization and automation- There is a growing demand for equipment such as harvesters that in a single movement can cut the tree from the base, debark it and cut into required lengths in less than a minute Growth in the expatriate population and tourism- Modern timber harvesting equipment are efficient and decrease the amount of wastage produced, which is expected to be a major factor driving the growth of the timber harvesting equipment market over the forecast period Request to View Sample Report - https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11284 Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market- Forecast by Product Type On the basis of product type, the global timber harvesting equipment market is segmented into chainsaws, harvesters, feller bunchers, forwarders and skidders. Harvesters and feller bunchers are sub-segmented into wheeled type and tracked type. The most preferred timber harvesting equipment in the market today is the chainsaw segment representing a myriad of advantages in relation to costs, availability, low maintenance and versatility. Mechanized timber harvesting equipment such as harvesters and feller bunchers among others are preferred in the northern countries of Europe in order to increase productivity though they pose high initial investments. Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market- Forecast by Harvesting Mode This segment includes full tree, cut-to-length and tree length segments. Full tree harvesting is forecasted to dominate the global market in 2017. Companies are striving to develop better technological products owing to rising consumer demands. The segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 11,264.2 Mn by the end of 2017 and is likely to reach US$ 17,957.0 Mn by the end of 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.0% throughout the projected period. To view TOC of this report is available upon request @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/11284 Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market- Forecast by Region The global market is segmented into the key geographies of North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and MEA. As a market driven by the demand for wood including round wood, pulpwood among others, Asia Pacific, North America and Europe will draw in a large market share in the current and upcoming years. The potential of the market in the Middle East and Africa region will be relatively slow owing to the lack of harvestable areas in the region. Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market- Key Players Deere & Company, Komatsu Ltd., Ponsse Oyj, Caterpillar Inc., Tigercat International Inc., ogset Oy, Eco Log Sweden AB, Rottne Industri AB, Husqvarna AB, Andreas Stihl AG & Company KG, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., Hitachi Ltd., Kesla Oyj, Barko Hydraulics L.L.C., Bell Equipment Ltd., Volvo AB, Sampo-Rosenlew Oy and Echo Inc. are some of the key leaders operating in the global timber harvesting equipment market. Global Timber Harvesting Equipment Market Report is available @ US$ 4900 About Us Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes. Contact Persistence Market Research 305 Broadway 7th Floor, New York City, NY 10007, United States, USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353 Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Web: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/ Infiniti Research, a global market intelligence solutions provider, has announced the completion of their recent list blog on the four quick steps to improve staffing in the healthcare industry. The insights offered by this blog will help healthcare industry players to provide timely care and treatment to the patients. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005577/en/ 4 Quick Tips to Staffing Just Right in the Healthcare Industry (Graphic: Business Wire) "Recruitment and retention of employees is always a challenge in the healthcare industry. Therefore, to offer proper care and treatment to patients, healthcare industry players must have the right staff available all the time," says a healthcare industry expert from Infiniti. View the complete list of tips to effective staffing in the healthcare industry from Infiniti Infiniti Research is a global market intelligence company offering strategic insights to help companies see beyond market disruptions, analyze competitive activity, and develop intelligent business strategies. Listed below are the top four tips to effective staffing in the healthcare industry. Tips to effective staffing in the healthcare industry Budgeting Patient Care: Optimum healthcare staffing ensures that the staff-to-patient ratio is at a level where the patients are given adequate care and the best treatment. Optimum healthcare staffing ensures that the staff-to-patient ratio is at a level where the patients are given adequate care and the best treatment. Effective Communication: Clear and effective communication is highly essential in maintaining proper patient care standards. Clear and effective communication is highly essential in maintaining proper patient care standards. Workload Management: Companies in the healthcare industry can be better prepared to ensure accurate distribution of staff and resources. Companies in the healthcare industry can be better prepared to ensure accurate distribution of staff and resources. Visit our page, to view more tips Request a free brochure to see how Infiniti Research's solutions can help you. About Infiniti Research Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. With 14+ years of experience and offices across three continents, Infiniti Research has been instrumental in providing a complete range of competitive intelligence, strategy, and research services for over 550 companies across the globe. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005577/en/ Contacts: Infiniti Research Anirban Choudhury Marketing Consultant US: +1 844 778 0600 UK: +44 203 893 3400 hello@infinitiresearch.com https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-us NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - American Express Co. (AXP) said that beginning in April 2018, card members will not be required to sign receipts for their credit card purchases. The company thus joins other major card companies such as Mastercard Inc. (MA) and Discover Financial Services Inc. (DFS), who have previously announced similar changes. American Express said it is eliminating the requirement for merchants to collect card members' signatures for all purchase transactions at the point of sale beginning in April 2018. The move applies globally to all American Express-accepting merchants. 'The payments landscape has evolved to the point where we can now eliminate this pain point for our merchants. Our fraud capabilities have advanced so that signatures are no longer necessary to fight fraud,' said Jaromir Divilek, Executive Vice President of Global Network Business, American Express. The company noted that the need for signatures has declined around the world due to several advancements in the payments industry. These include the growth of contactless payment options, including card-based and mobile tap-and-pay methods, the global adoption of EMV chip technology, and the continued expansion of online shopping. American Express added that it has also deployed 'advanced machine learning algorithms' that allow for more precise detection of fraud while minimizing disruption of card members' genuine spending. Just a week earlier, Discover Financial Services said it will no longer require customers' signatures at the point of sale for credit and debit transactions on the Discover Global Network in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The change is effective from April 2018. In October, Mastercard said that after April 2018, customers will no longer be required to sign for any purchases they made on the card at retail. The company noted that the change, which will apply to both credit and debit card purchases in Canada and the U.S, will not have any negative impact on safety. Visa Inc. (V) is now the only major U.S. card company that has not yet announced a similar change. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de COLUMBUS A Schuyler man has been charged with first-degree sexual assault for an alleged incident involving a 19-year-old Columbus woman at Lake North. Platte County Court Judge Frank Skorupa scheduled Jonathan Trevalan-Mejia, who required a Spanish interpreter in court, for arraignment Jan. 12 on the charge in district court. The 23-year-old, who waived his right to a preliminary hearing, is being held in the county jail on a $250,000 bond, 10 percent allowed for release. The sexual assault charge is a Class II felony, punishable by a maximum of 50 years imprisonment and a mandatory minimum of one year in prison. According to court documents, a Platte County Sheriffs Office investigation began about 2:15 a.m. Nov. 20 with the local woman reporting she was assaulted by a man she met when he contacted her through Facebook Messenger, according to Investigator Dane Jensens probable cause arrest statement. Trevalan-Mejia and the woman began communicating and agreed to meet in person the evening of Nov. 19, with the defendant picking her up at a Columbus strip mall, according to the investigator. The Schuyler man and local woman then picked up two of the womans friends, the investigator stated. Hours later, at about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 20, the woman said she, Trevalan-Mejia and one of her friends parked at Lake North, Jensen wrote in his statement. When her friend got out of the vehicle to get some air, the woman said she rebuffed the defendants sexual advances multiple times before he forcibly assaulted her, the investigator wrote in his statement. The woman reported the assault didnt stop until her friend opened the vehicle door and told Trevalan-Mejia to get off her friend, Jensen wrote. The defendant was arrested about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in Colfax County on unrelated warrants. DUBLIN, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Solar Street Lighting Market Analysis and Forecast to 2023" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering. As per the findings of the research, standalone type held larger share of solar street lighting market as compared to the on-grid type. The designers of these lights have been searching for more efficient and heat resistant design solutions for these lights. Rapid transformations taking place in the solar street lighting market have made these lights more user-friendly. Several design modifications have led to improvement in the working of standalone models, consequently making them more popular among buyers. Among the various application areas of solar street lighting market, commercial application has been the largest contributor. whereas among the lighting types, LED lighting witnessed a significant growth rate of 40.6% during 2013 - 2016. In terms of volume sales, the global solar street lighting market will witness fastest growth in residential applications. Asia-Pacific has been the largest solar street lighting market, whereas MEA is expected to witness the fastest growth among all the regions. The fastest growth in MEA market can be attributed to increasing government support, constantly increasing energy costs, rise in demand of electricity, surging demand for renewable lighting sources, and increasing awareness amongst citizens about benefits associated with the use of solar street lighting over traditional lighting sources. Due to the presence of harsh climatic conditions in MEA, the standalone lightings were more preferred and formed larger market as compared to on-grid. The World Bank and International Finance Corporation are collectively making efforts for upliftment of several countries in MEA by providing funds for developing the lighting and power industries and setting up solar street lights in these countries. The surging urbanization in developing countries has been leading to the rise in demand for energy, and governments of various countries are supporting eco-friendly methods of producing energy. This is consequently driving the demand for solar street lights globally. The technology in solar street lights are continuously improving over the years, and are expected to make further advancements with supportive government regulations and product innovation. Some of the other major companies operating in this market includes Koninklijke Philips N.V., Sunna Design, Omega Solar, Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd., Urja Global Ltd and Sokoyo Solar Group. Market Dynamics Trends Launch of smart cities projects Growing demand of cellular-connected solar street lights Decline in price of solar lighting units Drivers Stringent government regulation and support Constantly increasing energy costs Decreasing solar component cost Impact analysis of drivers on market forecast Restraints Absence of global LED standardization Competition due to counterfeit products High initial capital and installation costs Impact analysis of restraints on market forecast Opportunities Increasing urbanization in developing regions Technical innovation increasing the penetration of solar street lighting market Key Topics Covered: 1. Research Background 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Introduction 5. Market Size and Forecast by Lighting Type 6. Market Size and Forecast by Product Type 7. Market Size and Forecast by Application 8. Market Size and Forecast by Geography 9. Competitive Landscape 10. Company Profiles Carmanah Technologies Corp. Dragons Breath Solar Koninklijke Philips N.V. Omega Solar Sokoyo Solar Group Solar Street Lights USA Solektra International Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. Sunna Design Urja Global Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/wrjphw/global_solar?w=5 Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Ethereum, the world's second most popular cryptocurrency, scaled new heights Wednesday. It surged by more than 20 percent in a day, and at 10.18 ET Wednesday morning it was trading at $729.77. The highest number of transactions - 872340 - were recorded on Tuesday, which might have encouraged traders to quote higher price, reports say. Asian investors, especially, the South Koreans, have played a critical role in boosting currency price. South Korea has emerged as the world's second-largest market for the cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that an emergency meeting of the South Korean government on Wednesday has discussed new rules to curtail the widespread speculation on cryptocurrencies. Launched in 2015, the value of Ether has increased by around 7000 percent since the start of the year, according to The Telegraph. Its market capitalization has jumped to $60.3 billion from $722 million in January 2017. Ethereum, unlike Bitcoin, has generally been seen in a more positive way and has become the second largest digital currency in two years. 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. FRISCO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / December 13, 2017 / Le-Vel THRIVE, a leading nutritional innovation direct sales company, commits itself to not only improving health and wellness but also giving back to the community. The billion-dollar company has a large list of charity initiatives and has donated over $700,000 in 2017 alone. Le-Vel THRIVE has ongoing partnerships with foundations such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), Toys for Tots, the Hoyt Foundation, and Americares. Following the wake of destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey, nearly 40,000 homes in Houston were destroyed. Approximately 30,000 people were left homeless and 85,000 were left without electricity. Le-Vel THRIVE immediately jumped into the mix to help the survivors by collaborating with Americares, a non-profit health-focused disaster relief organization. In just 9 days, between August 30 and September 7, Le-Vel THRIVE challenged employees, brand promoters, customers, and the public to raise money for the cause. Le-Vel THRIVE then tripled the amount raised, resulting in over $430,000 in donations to Americares. The partnership with Americares resulted in medicine and supplies being provided to local organizations helping survivors in Texas, including shelters and free clinics. Americares has also implemented a long-term recovery plan for health services in Texas, which Le-Vel's generosity helped accomplish. "Le-Vel's brand has always promoted a strong sense of community - the encouragement, togetherness, and success among our customers and promoters is proof of that fact. Being a helping hand during a crisis like Harvey is what our brand is all about," said Co-CEOS and Co-founders, Paul Gravette and Jason Camper. The partnership with Americares continued as Puerto Rico was battered by hurricane after hurricane, leaving less than 10% of the island with access to drinking water and power. Le-Vel THRIVE donated over $40,000 to Puerto Rico relief efforts even while preparing for their annual breast cancer awareness initiative during the month of October and Toys for Tots plans for December. Le-Vel THRIVE and NBCF have an ongoing partnership, working together to bring greater awareness to combating breast cancer and providing education and supply services to all women, including those that are low-income or uninsured. Through the sale of the breast-cancer awareness limited release DFT, Le-Vel THRIVE has raised over $730,000 for NBCF during the past 3 Octobers. Le-Vel THRIVE also works with Toys for Tots. Le-Vel THRIVE is dedicated to raising money through the limited release holiday DFT patch in the month of December. Thrive for Tots helps raise funds to provide children in need with the toys for the holidays. Donations go to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and their Toys for Tots program. In the past, Le-Vel THRIVE has also given back to the Hoyt Foundation. Dick Hoyt was the 2016 headline speaker at the Le-Vel THRIVE annual conference and inspired a large audience with his speech on his son's, Rick Hoyt's, perseverance to live an active and healthy lifestyle despite the difficult challenges he faces every day. Le-Vel THRIVE released a limited release Team Hoyt DFT patch in 2016. The company was able to raise $240,000 for the Hoyt Foundation, which aspires to "build individual character, confidence and self-esteem of America's disabled and physically challenged young people through inclusion in all facets of daily life." In a time of reflection, giving back, and giving thanks, Le-Vel THRIVE is proud to make a difference in the lives of their customers, promoters and those in need. The limited edition DFTs, the hashtags, and the partnerships are more than charitable initiatives, they are a reminder that THRIVERs are people of heart and purpose. Le-Vel THRIVE continues their efforts to give back with grand plans for the future. The entire Le-Vel THRIVE community is committed to inspiring others and giving aid where they can. About Le-Vel THRIVE: Le-Vel THRIVE was founded in 2012 by Jason Camper and Paul Gravette. Le-Vel THRIVE is a direct sales multi-level marketing business, operating in the health and wellness industry. The company is the first health and wellness company exclusively using cloud-based technology for its operations. Camper and Gravette founded Le-Vel THRIVE in hopes of providing nutrition and overall wellness to all people and to create a supportive community of independent brand promoters and THRIVERS who not only survive their day to day, but THRIVE. Le-Vel is a billion-dollar company and has over 7 million brand promoters and customers. Le-Vel THRIVE received the Bravo Growth Award in 2016 for the largest growth in direct sales in the world. The company is a dedicated to raising money for multiple charities and have contributed to NBCF, Americares, Toys for Tots, the Hoyt Foundation, and more. About Americares: Americares is a health-focused relief organization that responds to those in need as a result of poverty or disaster. The organization supplies medicine, medical supplies, and developmental health programs. About NBCF: NBCF was founded in 1992 by Janelle Hail, who personally battled breast cancer. The Foundation is recognized as one of the leading breast cancer organizations globally and dedicates itself to providing early detection services, breast health education, and support to those diagnosed. NBCF has received Charity Navigations highest 4-star rating for over twelve years. About Toys for Tots: Toys for Tots, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve program, collects new, unwrapped toys during October, November, and December each year to provide less fortunate children in the community with the toys they deserve for Christmas. About The Hoyt Foundation: The Hoyt Foundation began in 1989 to build character, confidence, and self-esteem in America's disabled and physically challenged youth through inclusion in all aspects of daily life. To learn more about Le-Vel please visit: https://le-vel.com/ Le-Vel Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/LevelBrands/ Le-Vel Twitter- https://twitter.com/thelvlife/ Le-Vel LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/3277978/ Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/3574657ixzz519J3Hjy0 SOURCE: Scenic Figure Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - Far Resources (CSE: FAT) (FSE: F0R) (OTC Pink: FRRSF) updates shareholders on the upcoming spinoff of the company's Winston gold property, which will allow the company to focus on its Zoro Lithium Project in Manitoba. InvestmentPitch.com has produced a "video" which discusses this news. If this link is not enabled, please visit www.InvestmentPitch.com and enter "Far Resources" in the search box. Cannot view this video? Visit: http://www.investmentpitch.com/video/0_2szzwra5/Far-Resources-CSEFAT-Shareholder-update-on-the-upcoming-spinoff-of-the-Winston-gold-property Keith Anderson, President and CEO, stated: "We are moving forward with our plans to spin out the Winston Property into a separate company and the visit by our team will help us determine an appropriate plan of action and next steps for the newly formed company. These are busy times, and we are keen to realize the full potential in both our projects, Zoro Lithium and Winston. The spin out will provide tremendous upside potential for our shareholders as they gain a stake in two companies with meaningful projects." Far Resources is currently preparing documentation for a shareholder's meeting to be held early in the new year to approve the plan of arrangement for the distribution of shares of the gold property. Following the spinoff, Far Resources will apply to list the new company. The company has assembled the team that will be visiting the Winston Property in the middle of December, to review alternatives for an initial exploration program, and for the preparation of a NI 43-101 Technical Report. The Winston project, located in the Chloride Mining District of Sierra County, New Mexico, consists of a group of 16 unpatented claims known as the LG Claims; a group of 4 unpatented claims known as the Little Granite Gold claims and 2 patented claims, namely the Ivanhoe Lode and the Emporia Lode claims. Little Granite is a past-producing, high grade silver-gold mine. The main vein has been traced for 700 feet and remains open to north, south, and at depth. The Ivanhoe-Emporia mines are also past producers of gold and silver, with a decline of 370 feet. They have potential for a large tonnage of lower grade, stockwork veins surrounding high grade veins mined in the past. The company is actively exploring its Zoro Lithium Property, located near Snow Lake, Manitoba, which covers a number of known lithium pegmatite occurrences. As part of a planned drill program the company intends to test the newly identified Dyke 1 extension, which is approximately 75 metres long and extends from the north end of Dyke 1 in a northeast direction. It also plans to test historic high-grade lithium drill intersections and recent assay results from trench and outcrop sampling at Dykes 5 and 7. The shares are trading at $0.69, and with 96.6 million shares currently outstanding, the company is capitalized at $66.7 million. For more information, please visit www.FarResources.com, call 604-805-5035 or email CorpCom@FarResources.com. About InvestmentPitch Media Investmentpitch Media leverages the power of video, which together with its extensive distribution, positions a company's story ahead of the 1,000's of companies seeking awareness and funding from the financial community. The company specializes in producing short videos based on significant news releases, research reports and other content of interest to investors. CONTACT: InvestmentPitch Media Barry Morgan, CFO bmorgan@investmentpitch.com Kenyatta University of Nairobi, has launched a Sh59 million (US$571,700) "Centre of Excellence" focused on the generation of solar energy in Kenya.The center, which is supported by the French government, has installed a 100kWp pilot solar PV plant with the technical help of Urbasolar, a French industrial group that designs, finances, builds and operates PV plants. Giver Nicolas Hulot, the French minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transitions, said his government would continuously support efforts aimed at promotion of renewable energy generation, which is the core of the Paris ... 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. DGAP-Ad-hoc: Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated / Key word(s): Change of Personnel/Forecast Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated: Diebold Nixdorf CEO steps down; Company reaffirms 2017 guidance 13-Dec-2017 / 13:00 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. *Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated North Canton, Ohio, United States of America* *Public Disclosure of Inside Information pursuant to Article 17 MAR* *December 13, 2017 - North Canton, Ohio, United States of America -* Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (the "*Company*") today announced that Andreas "Andy" W. Mattes is stepping down from his position as president and chief executive officer of the Company effective immediately. The Office of the Chief Executive will be led by Christopher A. Chapman, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and Juergen Wunram, senior vice president and chief operating officer, until a permanent successor has been named. Chapman and Wunram will serve as Interim Co-Presidents and Co-CEOs of the Company in the Office of the Chief Executive. The Board of Directors also announced that it has created a search committee and retained an executive search firm to immediately begin the process to find a highly qualified CEO. Also today, Diebold Nixdorf, Inc. reaffirmed its full-year 2017 guidance of approximately $4.6 billion in revenue, adjusted EBITDA of $370 million to $380 million and a non-GAAP EPS range of $1.05 to $1.15. *Full-year 2017 outlook(1)* *Guidance* *Total Revenue* *$4.6B* *Net Income (Loss) attributable *$ (140 million) - $ (130 to Diebold Nixdorf, Inc.* million)* *Adjusted EBITDA* *$370 million - $380 million* *2017 EPS (GAAP)* *$(1.80) - $(1.70)* Restructuring 0.70 Non-routine (income)/expense: Integration expense 0.90 Legal, Acquisition and Divestiture expense 0.25 Impairment & Other Non-routine 0.05 Wincor Nixdorf purchase price accounting 2.10 Total non-routine (income)/expense 3.30 Tax impact of restructuring and non-routine (income)/expense items (1.15) *Total Adjusted EPS (non-GAAP measure)* *$1.05 - $1.15* *(1)*- The Company expects a non-GAAP effective tax rate to be around 20% for the full year. With respect to the company's non-GAAP tax rate outlook for 2017, the Company is not providing the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and, with respect to the Company's non-GAAP tax rate and adjusted EBITDA outlook for 2017, the Company is not providing corresponding reconciliations because it is unable to predict with reasonable certainty those items that may affect such measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP without unreasonable effort. These measures exclude the future impact of restructuring actions, net non-routine items, acquisition, divestiture and integration related expenses and purchase accounting fair value adjustments. These reconciling items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, our future period tax rate calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. *Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Information* To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP, the Company considers certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, including non-GAAP results, adjusted diluted earnings per share, free cash flow/(use), net investment/(debt), EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP effective tax rate and constant currency results. The Company calculates constant currency by translating the prior year results at the current year exchange rate. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures, in addition to GAAP financial measures, to evaluate our operating and financial performance and to compare such performance to that of prior periods and to the performance of our competitors. Also, the Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures in making operational and financial decisions and in establishing operational goals. The Company also believes providing these non-GAAP financial measures to investors, as a supplement to GAAP financial measures, helps investors evaluate our operating and financial performance and trends in our business, consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. The Company also believes these non-GAAP financial measures may be useful to investors in comparing its performance to the performance of other companies, although its non-GAAP financial measures are specific to the Company and the non-GAAP financial measures of other companies may not be calculated in the same manner. We provide EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA because we believe that investors and securities analysts will find EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA to be useful measures for evaluating our operating performance and comparing our operating performance with that of similar companies that have different capital structures and for evaluating our ability to meet our future debt service, capital expenditures, and working capital requirements. We are also providing EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA in light of issuance of our credit agreement and 8.5% senior notes due 2024. For more information, please refer to the section, "Notes for Non-GAAP Measures". North Canton, December 13, 2017 *Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated* Notifying Person: Stephen A. Virostek Vice President, Investor Relations Telephone +1 (330) 490-6319 Facsimile +1 (330) 490-3794 stephen.virostek@dieboldnixdorf.com *Forward-Looking Statements* This ad hoc release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding anticipated adjusted revenue growth, adjusted internal revenue growth, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and adjusted earnings per share growth. Statements can generally be identified as forward-looking because they include words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "could", "should" or words of similar meaning. Statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. The factors that may affect the Company's results include, among others: the financial performance of the Company through the end of the fiscal year ending December 30, 2017 and the preparation of its financial statements for fiscal year 2017; the ultimate impact of the domination and profit and loss transfer agreement with Diebold Nixdorf AG ("DPLTA") and the outcome of the appraisal proceedings initiated in connection with the implementation of the DPLTA; the ultimate outcome and results of integrating the operations of the Company and Diebold Nixdorf AG; the ultimate outcome of the Company's pricing, operating and tax strategies applied to Diebold Nixdorf AG and the ultimate ability to realize synergies; the Company's ability to successfully launch and operate its joint ventures in China with the Inspur Group and Aisino Corp.; the impact of market and economic conditions on the financial services industry; the capacity of the Company's technology to keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace; pricing and other actions by competitors; the effect of legislative and regulatory actions in the United States and internationally; the Company's ability to comply with government regulations; the impact of a security breach or operational failure on the Company's business; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions into its operations; the impact of the Company's strategic initiatives; and other factors included in the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in other documents that the Company files with the SEC. You should consider these factors carefully in evaluating forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this ad hoc release. ### 13-Dec-2017 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de Language: English Company: Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated 5995 Mayfair Road 44720 North Canton, OH United States Phone: +1 330 490 6855 Fax: +1 330 490 4450 E-mail: mary.swann@diebold.com Internet: www.dieboldnixdorf.com ISIN: US2536511031 WKN: 856244 Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt; Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; NYSE End of Announcement DGAP News Service 638625 13-Dec-2017 CET/CEST (END) Dow Jones Newswires December 13, 2017 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT) Regulatory News: Biom'Up (Paris:BUP), specialist in surgical hemostasis, announces today that, as of Monday December 18, 2017, it will be included in three new CAC-family indexes: CAC Small, CAC Mid Small and CAC All-Tradable The inclusion of Biom'Up shares in these indexes follows an analysis of the share by Euronext based on its free float market cap, and illustrates investor interest in Biom'Up, which recently reached a crucial milestone in its FDA approval process with the positive outcome of the inspection of the production facilities on Biom'up's Saint Priest site by of the American Food Drug Administration (FDA). The Euronext Paris Indexes' Scientific Committee took this decision during its quarterly review of these indexes on December 7, 2017. Etienne Binant, Chief Executive Officer of Biom'Up, says: "Biom'Up's inclusion in these CAC indexes, only two months after our IPO on the Euronext market in Paris, is an excellent event within the framework of our stock market listing. This inclusion marks a new stage in Biom'Up's stock market development, providing it with increased visibility among both French and international investors. About Biom'Up Founded in 2005 and based in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest (France), Biom'Up designs hemostatic products based on patented biopolymers that aim to simplify surgical procedures in numerous specialties (spine, cardiothoracic, general, orthopedic, plastic) and give patients a better quality of life. Its flagship product, HEMOBLAST Bellows, is a unique hemostatic solution, ready to use (no preparation time needed, no need to mix, no heat required), usable once or several times during the surgery. Developed by a world-renowned scientific team, HEMOBLAST Bellows has obtained positive results for all the primary and secondary endpoints of Phase III of its pivotal study involving 412 patients in the United States. HEMOBLAST Bellows obtained its CE Mark in December 2016, and its PMA (Pre-Market Approval) application was submitted to the FDA (Food Drug Administration) in July 2017 with a view to obtaining marketing approval in the United States in mid-2018. Since its creation, Biom'Up has benefited from the support of prominent European investors such as Bpifrance, Innobio, GIMV, Lundbeckfond, Merieux Participation, SHAM and ACG, as well as all the Company's managers, who have invested 2 million in equity. Biom'Up successfully completed its IPO on Euronext Paris, raising 38.1 million euros in October 2017. Biom'Up is listed on Euronext, Compartment C ISIN: FR0013284080 Ticker: BUP View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005690/en/ Contacts: Biom'Up Chief Financial Officer Jean-Paul Alves, +33 (0)4 86 57 36 10 investisseurs@biomup.com or NewCap Investor Relations Tristan Roquet Montegon, +33 (0)1 44 71 00 16 biomup@newcap.eu or NewCap Media Relations Nicolas Merigeau, +33 (0)1 44 71 94 98 biomup@newcap.eu DUBLIN, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global 1,3-Butylene Glycol (1,3-BG) Market Analysis and Forecast to 2023" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering. The global 1,3-butylene glycol (1,3-BG) market is likely to grow from 29,300.0 MT in 2016 to 38,939.5 MT by 2023. Growing cosmetic products market and the growing demand of 1,3 butylene glycol in the pharmaceutical industry are the key factors driving the growth of the global market. 1,3-BG is used as raw material for polyester plasticizers and unsaturated polyester resins humectant in cosmetics. The chemical is a viscosity decreasing component and prevents the dying out of cosmetics. The best characteristic of 1,3-BG is its ability to stabilize volatile compounds such as fragrances and flavors fixing them in cosmetic formulations and to reduce the loss of aroma. It also helps in the preservation of cosmetics against spoilage by micro-organisms. Firstly, it has a very good distribution coefficient, which leads to a better efficacy of preservatives mixed into formulation, thus making it possible to lower the dose of the applied preservative. Secondly, it has an antimicrobial effect, which helps arrest the growth of microorganisms in products. Compared with glycerol, sorbitol, and propylene glycol, 1,3-BG is the most efficient polyol as antimicrobial agent. As per the findings of research, pharmaceutical grade occupied the larger share of the market, its usage in major industries, such as cosmetic, personal care, and food industries. Growing demand for skin care and hair care products and entry of large number of players in the food and beverages industry worldwide, is driving the demand for pharmaceutical grade 1,3-butylene glycol. The research states that this industry is consolidated, where OXEA GmbH, Daicel Corporation, and KH Neochem Co., Ltd. are the market leaders. Some of the other key players in the 1,3-butylene glycol market are Godavari Biorefineries Ltd., Hangzhou Dayangchem Co. Ltd., Haihang Industry Co., Ltd., and Genomatica, Inc. Market Dynamics Trends Quest to develop cost effective fermentation process to produce 1,3-butylene glycol Drivers Growing cosmetic products market Growing demand of 1,3 butylene glycol in pharmaceutical industry Impact analysis of drivers on market forecast Restraints Uncertain global economic conditions Impact analysis of restraints on market forecast Opportunity Increasing consciousness and awareness towards haircare and skincare Key Topics Covered: 1. Research Background 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Introduction 5. Market Size and Forecast by Product 6. Market Size and Forecast by Application 7. Market Size and Forecast by Geography 8. Global Strategic Developments of Key Players 9. Company Profiles Daicel Corporation Genomatica, Inc. Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. Haihang Industry, Co. Ltd. Hangzhou Dayangchem, Co. Ltd. KH Neochem Co., Ltd. OXEA GmbH For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/sm779f/global?w=5 Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - While, the majority of the European markets ended Wednesday's session in the red, the Swiss stock market finished with a small increase. After a brief dip into negative territory this morning, the market oscillated around yesterday's closing level for much of the day, before breaking out higher in the late afternoon. Traders were in a cautious mood ahead of today's announcement from the Federal Reserve. Investors are also looking forward to policy decisions from the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank on Thursday. The Swiss Market Index increased by 0.35 percent Wednesday and finished at 9,394.55. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.41 percent and the Swiss Performance Index added 0.30 percent. Among the index heavyweights, Novartis climbed 0.4 percent and Nestle added 0.3 percent. Shares of Roche ended the day unchanged. Sonova weakened by 0.9 percent. Swatch and ABB both fell 0.4 percent and Swisscom lost 0.2 percent. UBS advanced 1.1 percent and Credit Suisse gained 1.0 percent. Julius Baer dipped 0.1 percent. Dufry's increased 1.5 percent, recovering some of the ground it lost over the last few days. Sika finished higher by 0.5 percent. The company announced that it would acquire parts of Grupo Industrial Alce. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/13/17 -- The politicians on York Regional Council are playing Grinch this Christmas! They have voted to take away every public holiday (except Christmas Day) from retail workers in EVERY CITY & TOWN in the Region. By-Law 2017-55 was voted on November 16, 2017. Council did this without asking residents or retail workers what they think about the issue. People who work in stores large and small will have to be available 364 days a year. On Thursday December 14th, retail workers will be going to York Region Council meeting to ask: Why was there NO PUBLIC CONSULTATION? Don't retail workers and their families matter? They will be bringing petitions signed by thousands of retail workers demanding a public consultation before the By-Law is implemented. The Toronto & York Region Labour Council, in collaboration with UNIFOR 414 and United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 1006a and 175/633 has launched a campaign yorkregionspeaksout.ca which has generated hundreds of emails being sent directly to all the Regional Council members from workers and residents in York Region. The YorkRegionSpeaksOut campaign is asking everyone to come out on Thursday December 14th at 9:00 am at York Regional Council, 17250 Yonge Street, just north of Eagle Street in Newmarket, to protest the Holiday Shopping By-Law, asking the Regional Council to reopen debate, undertake a region wide public consultation with staff reporting back with findings prior to a new vote. Contacts: Toronto & York Region Labour Council Media Contact: Kiruthiha Kulendiren, Communications Coordinator, 416.575.8603 / @kirukulendiren kkulendiren@labourcouncil.ca Labourcouncil.ca YorkRegionSpeaksOut.ca MONTREAL, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --SIG.NUM Preemptive Healthcare Inc. (SIG.NUM), a medical device company that has developed an automatic contactless ECG acquisition system (or SIG.ECG), presented as a finalist at the Innovation Awards Competition at the International Conference for Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions (ICI) held December 3-5, 2017 in Tel Aviv, Israel. SIG.ECG is able to acquire a multi-lead ECG without direct skin contact and can be used in both the consumer and medical markets. "We are honored that the ICI committee recognized the uniqueness and disruptive nature of the SIG.ECG, an automatic contactless ECG acquisition system", said David Nadezhdin, co-founder and CEO of SIG.NUM "This recognition and our very first public appearance after 3 years of development, from one of the most respected internationally organized innovation conferences, further validates our team's momentum towards our regulatory filing with Health Canada and the CE Mark in early 2018." "The progress and accomplishment realized by the engineering team of SIG.NUM are remarkable," said Dr. Philippe Genereux, Co-Director of the Structural Heart Program at the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute of Morristown Medical Center (Morristown, NJ), a practicing Interventional Cardiologist at Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal (Montreal, Canada), and the Chief Medical Officer of SIG.NUM." The quality and accuracy of the contactless SIG.ECG are impressive, especially when performed through clothes. SIG.NUM's disruptive technology has the potential to become the new standard of care, and improve the accessibility and efficiency of ECG acquisition, within and outside the medical world." About SIG.NUM Preemptive Healthcare Inc. SIG.NUM manufactures an automatic contactless ECG acquisition system that can be used in both the consumer and medical markets. Its upcoming cloud-based platform is designed to recognize and diagnose early-stage cardiovascular diseases. Since healthcare expenditures are among the world's fastest growing costs and cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide, the immediate addressable market that SIG.NUM technology may be able to address is in the billions of dollars. The company was founded in July 2014 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. http://www.sig-num.com/ For further information, Media Contacts: David Nadezhdin, Chief Executive Officer, (514) 839-9728, dnadezhdin@sig-num.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2017) - East Asia Minerals Corporation (TSXV: EAS) (the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on current exploration activities relating to the ongoing Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS), AMDAL Environmental report status, geotechnical and metallurgical work being conducted at its Sangihe gold property in Indonesia. The Company's focus is on completing Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS) and AMDAL Environmental reports as once they are submitted and accepted by the Indonesian Mining Department (MEMR), construction of the mining facilities and infrastructure can begin at the Sangihe project. The company anticipates making a decision for gold processing and production to begin by mid 2018. The Indonesian Feasibility Study is not a Feasibility Study as defined by CIM as required by NI 43-101 but is required under Indonesian law in order to obtain a licence to construct a production facility. The Company cautions readers that the any production decision made by the Company will not be based on a NI 43-101 feasibility study of mineral reserves that demonstrates economic and technical viability and as such, there may be involved increased uncertainty and various technological and economic risks outlined in the "forward looking statement" below. The IFS, which is being conducted by Resindo Resources and Energy, an Indonesian consulting firm, is well underway and comprised of several elements: Metallurgical drilling of three twin holes has been completed during the month of October. These holes identify the most suitable heap-leaching locations. Samples obtained are currently undergoing Metallurgy Bottle Roll Test work at Geoservices Laboratory. Cyanide Soluble assay results received for the metallurgy samples submitted showed gold recoveries of 85% and silver recoveries of 96%. Drilling of six geotechnical holes, has commenced with hole number three in progress. This drilling is a required component for Indonesian Feasibility Study (IFS) in order to provide the most up to date and accurate core samples for pit wall design. Hydro-geological surveying is complete and is designed to help locate and identify the water table level in the pit design and best water sources needed for upcoming drilling, heap-leaching and ultimately gold production. The Company is very pleased with the drilling progress considering the weather conditions have been less than favorable. The monsoon season started earlier than normal this year making the drilling process difficult which could ultimately delay the final AMDAL and IFS reports by a few weeks. Overall Site Layout including the location of heap leach pads, processing plant and waste dump areas has been completed. The Overall Site Layout was designed to be very concise and therefore has a total footprint area of 42 hectares which is 0.1% of the 42,000 hectares Sangihe gold property total area. Frank Rocca, BAppSc. (Geology), MAusIMM, Chief Geologist of East Asia Minerals Corp. is the Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approves the content of this release. Sangihe Project The Sangihe gold-copper project is located on the island of Sangihe off the northern coast of Sulawesi and has an existing National Instrument 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 114,700 indicated and 105,000 inferred ounces of Gold. The Company's 70-percent interest in the Sangihe-mineral-tenement contract of work ("CoW") is held through PT Tambang Mas Sangihe (PTTMS). The remaining 30-percent interest in PTTMS is held by three unaffiliated Indonesian corporations. The term of the Sangihe CoW agreement is for 30 years upon commencement of the production phase of the project. EAST ASIA MINERALS CORPORATION Per:"Terry Filbert" Terry Filbert, Chairman & CEO For further information, contact Mark Sommer at 1-604-684-2183, info@eastasiaminerals.com or visit the Company's website at www.eastasiaminerals.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements in this News Release, which are not historical in nature, constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning future work programs, results and timing of any work programs, the Company's performance or events as of the date hereof. These statements reflect management's current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Those risks include the interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; commodity and currency price fluctuation; failure to obtain adequate financing; regulatory, recovery rates, refinery costs, and other relevant conversion factors, permitting and licensing risks; general market and mining exploration risks and production and economic risks related to design and engineering, manufacturing, technological processes and test procedures and the risk that the project's output will not be salable at a price that will cover the project's operating and maintenance costs. Forward-looking statements should not be construed as investment advice. Readers should perform a detailed, independent investigation and analysis of the Company and are encouraged to seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events or changes in circumstances that occur after the date hereof. # # # Former U.S. ambassador to South Africa to lead global philanthropic work NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --The Open Society Foundations today announced the appointment of Patrick Gaspard as president, effective January 1, 2018. He has managed day-to-day operations of the Foundations since September. Gaspard will oversee a 2018 budget of more than one billion dollars at the Open Society Foundations, which support human rights, justice, and access to public health and education in more than 140 countries. "I am delighted to have Patrick as leader of the Foundations," said George Soros, chairman and founder of the Open Society Foundations. "He has demonstrated enormous energy and commitment in responding to the challenges we face. He brings a strong vision of where we are going, drawing on a broad range of experience that convinced both me and the members of the Global Board that he is ideally suited to this role." Gaspard joined Open Society in January 2017 as vice president, working with outgoing president Chris Stone to oversee program work and advocacy. He took over the role of president on an acting basis when Stone announced his intention to step down at the end of this year. Previously, Gaspard was the U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 2013 to 2016. Prior to that, he was the executive director of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2013, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs from 2009 to 2011, and the national political director for Obama for America in 2008. Gaspard also was the executive vice president and political director for the Service Employees International Union. "This is a mission unlike any other," said Gaspard. "And I am deeply honored to be confirmed in this role by George Soros and the Global Board. This year has given me a deep introduction to the challenges we face. But it has also reaffirmed my faith in the people-our staff and grantees-who are working tirelessly to build a better, more just, more open world." The Open Society Foundations help to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people. Working with local communities in more than 140 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education. A.M. Best has assigned a Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of "a+" to Ameriprise Captive Insurance Company (ACIC) (Burlington, Vermont). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect ACIC's balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorizes as strongest, its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM), in addition to a rating enhancement from its parent, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (Ameriprise). ACIC's balance sheet assessment is supported by risk-adjusted capitalization being at the strongest level and a clean balance sheet with no debt. The quality of the company's assets is strong, with significant investment in investment grade bonds. The captive has generated strong operating performance as demonstrated by its operating ratios in all but two of the past 10 years. The captive benefits from a very low expense ratio. Net premiums written are fairly consistent year-over-year with 2016 being the outlier in the latest five-year period. The decrease in premiums in 2016 is a result of implementing a Blended CAT Liability program instead of separate stand-alone Blended Liability and Fidelity Bond Programs. ACIC's operating performance is expected to remain strong in the near term. ACIC's business profile is assessed as limited, due to its narrow market focus as a single parent captive, serving just one customer (its parent) for a limited amount of exposure. ACIC provides various coverages to its parent in the form of errors omissions policies, a workers' compensation deductible reimbursement policy, fidelity bonds and a claims-made all risk excess Securities Investor Protection Corporation policy. ACIC's ERM is assessed as appropriate as the company has adopted the risk management strategies employed by Ameriprise. ACIC benefits from rating enhancement due to its strategic importance as a single parent captive insurance provider. A.M. Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the United States and throughout the world. For current Best's Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best Rating Action Press Releases A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2017 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213006084/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Jonathan Harris, CFA, FRM, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5771 Senior Financial Analyst jonathan.harris@ambest.com or Jacqalene Lentz, CPA, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5762 Director jacqalene.lentz@ambest.com or Christopher Sharkey, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5159 Manager, Public Relations christopher.sharkey@ambest.com or Jim Peavy, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5644 Director, Public Relations james.peavy@ambest.com NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 13, 2017 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against RYB Education, Inc. ('RYB' or the 'Company') (NYSE: RYB) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 17-cv-09261, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired RYB's American Depositary Receipts ('ADRs'): (1) pursuant and/or traceable to RYB's false and misleading Registration Statement and Prospectus, issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering on or about September 27, 2017 (the 'IPO' or the 'Offering'); and/or (2) on the open market between September 27, 2017 and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive (the 'Class Period'), seeking to recover damages caused by defendants' violations of the Securities Act of 1933 (the 'Securities Act') and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 'Exchange Act'). If you are a shareholder who purchased RYB securities between September 27, 2017, and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until January 26, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and amount of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] RYB Education, Inc. offers educational services. The Company operates kindergarten and pre-schools. RYB Education provides training in a variety of subjects and languages, teacher recruitment, guidance, innovative learning, development of children, rating systems, parents consulting, and other services. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) RYB failed to establish safety policies to prevent sexual abuse from occurring at its schools; (ii) RYB's failure to remedy problems within its system exposed children to harm and unreasonable risk of harm while in the Company's care; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, RYB securities traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, and class members suffered significant losses and damages. On November 24, 2017, various news outlets reported that police have opened an investigation into RYB after numerous parents accused a RYB nursery of drugging and molesting their children. Beijing's education authority confirmed the police investigation in a statement. According to China's leading newspaper Xinhua News Agency, RYB has suspended multiple teachers at RYB Education New World after kindergarten students were 'reportedly sexually molested, pierced by needles, given unidentified pills,' and forced to undress and locked in a dark room. Parents reported that at least eight children have been abused at the school and that the children had given similar accounts with respect to their abuse. On this news, RYB's ADR price fell $10.28 per share, or over 38% from its previous closing price, to close at $16.45 per share on November 24, 2017. On the following day, several news outlets reported that Chinese police had detained teachers in connection with its RYB's child abuse inquiry. According to police reports, one of the teachers was arrested after needle wounds were found on at least eight children aged 2 to 6 years at the kindergarten. In a statement issued later that day, RYB announced it had fired the detained teachers, as well as the head of one of its kindergartens. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP 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. Digital House, a Buenos Aires, Argentina-based group of schools providing digital skills to Latin Americas next generation, raised $20m in funding. Backers included The Rise Fund, Kaszek Ventures, Marcos Galperin, Martin Migoya, Endeavor Catalyst and Omidyar Network. The company intends to use the funds to scale internationally, growing campuses in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Co-founded by two experienced entrepreneurs, Eduardo Bruchou and Nelson Duboscq, who previously founded HSM (now WOBI), which was sold to Laureate in 2012, Digital House offers comprehensive education programs that offers technical coding and a variety of other courses to equip students at all levels to build careers in software development, data science, artificial intelligence and analytics, and digital marketing. The company offers intensive courses and executive programs in Full Stack Web Development, Mobile Development, Artificial Intelligence, UX Design, Data Science, Data Analytics, Digital Product Management and Digital Marketing, taught by recognized experts who share their knowledge and experiences in every class. FinSMEs 13/12/2017 FreightHub, a Berlin, Germany-based digital freight forwarder, raised US$20m in Series A funding. The round was led by Northzone, with participation from current investors Global Founders Capital (GFC), Cherry Ventures, Cavalry Ventures, and La Famiglia and the family office of the Indian entrepreneurial family Mittal. The company intends to use the funds to open new hubs in Asia and the USA. Founded in Berlin in 2016 by Ferry Heilemann (CEO), Erik Muttersbach (CTO), Michael Wax (CCO) and Dr Fabian Heilemann (Chairman of the Advisory Board). FreightHub is a digital freight forwarding company which brings together real-time processes, options and online shipment management in a unique platform. It provides booking and tracking services for global container (FCL) and pallet (LCL) transport via sea, air and rail in real time. The company, which has dual bases in Berlin and Hamburg where 80 people are employed, has served over 650 customers, including brand names such as Franke, Viessmann, and Home24. FinSMEs 13/12/2017 Join, a Haarlem, The Netherlands-based provider of an influencer marketing platform, raised a funding round of undisclosed amount. Airbridge Equity Partners made the investment. The company will use the funds to recruit talents, to expand across the European market and continue to develop Artificial Intelligence as the foundation of the software. Led by Paolo Martorino, co-founder and CEO, and Edwin Knip, CTO, Join provides brands and marketers with a platform to find, activate and monitor influencers. The solution leverages AI to analyze content to automatically match brands and influencers. The company matches brands to over 15.000 influencers with a combined reach of over half a billion in such markets as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. It is planning to expand across markets. FinSMEs 13/12/2017 Virtual Incision Corporation, a Lincoln, Neb. and Pleasanton, Calif.-based medical device company, raised $18m in Series B funding. The round was co-led by new investor Sinopharm Capital, the private equity fund initiated by Sinopharm Group, and existing investor Bluestem Capital, with participation from PrairieGold Venture Partners and others. The company intends to use the funds to support its 510(k) premarket notification submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its miniaturized robotically assisted surgical device (RASD). Led by John Murphy, president and CEO, Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., co-founder and chief medical officer, and Shane Farritor, co-founder and chief technology officer, Virtual Incision is advancing the Virtual Incision RASD, which features a small, strong, dexterous and self-contained surgical robot that can be inserted through an umbilical incision in the patients abdomen to enable physicians to perform less-invasive general surgery abdominal procedures. The companys robotic platform leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to track and guide instrument usage, and incorporates innovtive tools such as a robotic flex tip laparoscope, which is controlled by the surgeon. With foundational intellectual property consisting of over 140 patents/applications, Virtual Incision focus on both academic and community hospitals in the U.S. and 3A hospitals in China. The companys robotically assisted surgical devices are investigational devices and are not commercially available. FinSMEs 13/12/2017 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. Safety is a word that holds little meaning for Indians in general and politicians in particular. India already holds the dubious distinction of being the worlds road-death capital with little to show for efforts to instill safety as a habit among road users. We lost 17 promising lives every single hour on our killer roads last year. A recent survey showed that just one in four drivers bother to strap on a seat belt and that speeding is a leading cause for death on our roads. This contempt for safety norms visible on our roads then gets extended to the skies. Tuesdays heroic dash that our very own Prime Minister Narendra Modi made in the skies, flying on a single engine seaplane over the Sabarmati which then landed with no ground-based navigational aids, was meant to dazzle. Dazzle it did, and citizens eyes were blinded to such an extent by this Modi mega show that they clean forgot about the safety of it all. Apparently the PM waived off any safety concerns as did his vast security paraphernalia, which allowed him to fly this seaplane despite probably knowing the imminent danger it posed. VIPs, including chief ministers and obviously heads of state, are not supposed to ever board a single engine plane since basic aviation wisdom dictates that they fly at least a twin-engine aircraft. In the event one engine fails, at least the aircraft can be landed safely. Arunachal Chief Minister Dorji Khandu perished in a single engine copper crash in 2011. What PM Modi did on Tuesday is not just a safety no-no for himself, but also puts a big question mark over the message to his followers. The BJP and government machinery never tire of reminding us about the PMs humongous fan following on social media at last count, he had 37.9 million twitter followers. By throwing all safety norms to the wind in a last dash at the Gujarat campaign, is the prime minister not encouraging similar, thoughtless behavior among his countless followers? Instead of rooting for safety, he has shown utter contempt for this virtue already lacking in the Indian psyche. This piece quotes unnamed sources to say that the security concerns were raised with the PM but he overrode them. It goes on to quote sources in the security establishment to say that the SPG, which oversees PM's security, came around after considering it was a controlled flight and the seaplane was flying at a low altitude, with a pilot who had more than 30 years of flying experience. Poor substitute for safety, one would say. Anyway, even our safety regulator DGCA has no iron clad safety norms for VVIP flights. There is a safety circular issued way back in 1981 which talks of twin-engine aircraft with good operational capability, reliability and easy maintainability characteristics and says these should be used for VVIP flights. But, typical in the Indian way of doing things, these are mere recommendations with no laid down penalties in case of a default. Which government official would want to be on the wrong side of a powerful politician? There is a subsequent directive too the Air Safety Circular of 2014 - which mercifully talks of penalties but only to the aircraft operator in case of violations. Why did the Prime Minister overlook safety? Politics, stupid. To make (an incorrect) claim that this would be the first seaplane ride in India after he was denied permission for a rally by road, to challenge the Opposition and to ensure that the campaign ends on a high note in the all- important Gujarat polls. The politics went beyond the seaplanes safety considerations though. This article quotes a Congress leader saying a number of BJP candidates in Gujarat polls face disqualification since Modis seaplane ride is not exempted under the Representation of the People Act from the travel expenditure of these candidates. Barbs were also traded about the Congress C-Plan on alleged corruption charges against this party and on how the Opposition was against development in Gujarat. This article quotes a Congress leader saying a number of BJP candidates in Gujarat polls face disqualification since Modis seaplane ride is not exempted under the Representation of the People Act from the travel expenditure of these candidates. Barbs were also traded about the Congress C-Plan on alleged corruption charges against this party and on how the Opposition was against development in Gujarat. So should seaplanes not be allowed at all? Seaplanes by themselves are not unsafe, though as this piece says, Indias safety regulator is still framing norms for the operations of such aircraft. There is a provision for allowing seaplane services under the governments ambitious regional connectivity scheme UDAN, which would enable remote locations to come on to the aviation map. The safety norms will come up in respect of such regional operations. Budget airline SpiceJet already has plans to purchase more than 100 amphibian (which can land on both, water and land versus seaplanes which only land on sea) planes, estimated to cost $400 million, as it seeks to boost regional operations. And the government is keen to use seaplanes to boost tourism etc. All this is fine, as long as safety considerations dont come second. 17:48 (ist) Highlights For the first time prime minister Narendra Modi talked at an event organised by industry body Ficci which had earlier tried to bring Modi on board on several occasions but failed. This time Modi chose to speak. His address at Ficci coincided with the ongoing Gujarat assembly elections. The state has 182 MLAs and one of the few provinces in country that do not have an upper house of the legislature. Modi spoke at the event just one day after campaigning for the second phase of polling ended on Tuesday. Modi used the event organised by Ficci to take on the Congress. He said UPA was responsible for NPAs. According to some estimates, India's banking sector is reeling under the burden of huge amount of bad loans. Some industry watchers put the figure at more than Rs 10 lakh crore. The Modi government has unveiled a banks' recapitalisation plan which will cost the government Rs 2.11 lakh crore. Modi also spoke in favour of maintaining health of banks as well as safeguarding interests of depositors. The campaign for Gujarat assembly elections has seen verbal assaults from both the Cogress and the BJP at each other. Narendrta Modi at his first Ficci speech listed out his government's pro-poor and pro-common man policies. He went on to say that people in country were now fed up of corruption, black money and systemic hurldes in the way of the citizens. He said even after 70 years of India achieving independence, the poor still has to run hear and there to avail even small government beneft. He said Jan Dhan Yojna bridged the gap between the poor and the banks substantially. He praised his gvernment's direct benefit transfer scheme for cooking gas (LPG). New Delhi: The Supreme Court today stayed the 8 December order of the company law tribunal NCLT allowing the Centre to take over the management of embattled realty firm Unitech Limited. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the statement of Attorney General K K Venugopal that the government should not have moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) when the apex court was seized of the matter. The apex court, which had yesterday expressed unhappiness over the Centre's move to approach the NCLT, said the stay on the company law tribunal's order would meet the ends of the justice. The top court had yesterday asked the Centre why it had not taken the apex court's permission to move the NCLT for suspension of Unitech's directors and their substitution by government nominees. Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the real estate firm and its promoters, had said that the apex court had given time to Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra to negotiate from jail to sell assets to generate Rs 750 crore for refunding money to home buyers but, in the meantime, the Centre has approached the NCLT. Rohatgi had claimed that the NCLT did not issue notice to the firm and its directors and passed the interim order, which was virtually a final order, and allowed the Centre to take over the firm. Earlier, the apex court had agreed to hear today the appeal of Unitech Limited challenging the NCLT order allowing the Centre to take over its management. The NCLT, on 8 December had suspended all the eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mismanagement and siphoning of funds and had authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nominees on the board. The NCLT order had come after the Centre moved the panel with a view to protect the interests of nearly 20,000 home buyers. Unitech alleged that the takeover of the management of the company by the Centre would make it difficult for them to deposit Rs 750 crore as directed by the apex court to safeguard the interests of homebuyers. Sanjay Chandra, head of the embattled real estate group, was asked on October 30 by the apex court to deposit Rs 750 crore with it by December end for the sake of the homebuyers. The apex court had on 30 October said Chandra will be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December end. Chandra's lawyer had told the apex court that he has been required to be produced in various courts, consumer forum and commissions on a regular basis which hampered his endeavour to arrange money and hence, the production warrants issued against him by various judicial bodies be stayed for 15 days. He had also said that the accused be allowed to appear in courts through his lawyers. The plea was declined. The apex court had also clarified that its earlier order directing all courts below not to take any coercive action against the accused for the time being would also be made applicable on all forums including state and national consumer commissions. The top court had earlier directed jail authorities to facilitate Chandra's meeting with his company officials and lawyers so that he could arrange money to refund homebuyers as well as for completing the ongoing housing projects. It had said if any proceedings were pending against Chandra and the company, those may continue and the final order be passed but no coercive steps be taken to execute those orders. Chandra is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home buyers of Unitech projects' -- 'Wild Flower Country' and 'Anthea Project' -- in Gurugram. London: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Tuesday tore into the evidence provided by a political expert deposed by Vijay Mallya's defence, claiming that he had relied on flawed material to discredit Indian investigation agencies like the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). Mallya's extradition trial opened on day five at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London with Lawrence Saez, a professor in the Department of Politics at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) in London, taking the stand. Saez gave his expert opinion on the Indian political system as part of which he called into question the impartiality of the CBI and the appointment of its special director, Rakesh Asthana, in particular. Mallya's counsel Clare Montgomery took Saez through his written statement, which relied on a past Supreme Court of India ruling to describe the CBI as a "caged parrot speaking in its masters voice" and also memoirs of past CBI directors which detailed ways in which their investigation could be "interfered with". CPS barrister Mark Summers, arguing on behalf of Indian government, took him to task on this aspect, stressing that the 1997 Supreme Court judgement he had quoted from had resulted in the creation of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which has "independent oversight over the CBI". "The commission does not feature anywhere in your report evaluating CBIs independence," Summers rebuked, also pointing to the annual report of the Indian Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, which describes the CBI as a trustworthy "premier investigation agency" of the country. He sought to discredit Saez's views in their entirety for not taking into account such sources and instead relying heavily on Indian press reports, including those claiming the appointment of Asthana as CBI special director was politically motivated. "You make a broad attack on the CBI and raise serious allegations about the character and professional integrity of its director, Asthana. People take experts like you seriously and would assume that you would not regurgitate press reports while evaluating your information," Summers said. Summers referred to a Supreme Court order dated November 28 which had ruled that Asthana's appointment as CBI special director "suffers from no illegality" and that the news reports in the Indian media which had raised doubts about its legality were "factually incorrect". Saez insisted that though the court had "exonerated" Asthana, he stood by his view that there remain "serious issues regarding the independence of the CBI as a whole" and that he had only relied on news reports from highly regarded newspapers in India. As part of his witness statement, he claimed that 61-year-old Mallya is being "unfairly persecuted on account of his high profile corporate persona" and being "unfairly targeted" by political parties trying to lobby for political gains against each other. "He is a prominent businessman and my contention is that both the BJP and Congress used this case for their own political gains to blame each other," Saez said. His witness statement was followed by the second-half of the cross-examination of Paul Rex, the banking expert deposed by Mallyas defence team last week. Summers sought to establish that Mallya had misused the loan he acquired from IDBI for purposes other than those specified, but Rex's assessment was that most of the transactions fell under general corporate purposes of Kingfisher Airlines. If the Government of India is right about the corporate jet being Mallyas own plaything, payment for it was not contemplated in the communications with the bank, Summers stated in his cross-examination of the banking expert. However, Rex maintained that "corporate jets are not unusual in very large companies". He also indicated that he had seen no sign of "dishonesty" among the banks that lent the money and that the specific IDBI loan under scrutiny "fell in with same financing approach that the rest of the consortium had adopted". The trial, which opened on 4 December, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya, who has been based in the UK since March 2016. It will also seek to prove that there are no "bars to extradition" and that Mallya is assured a fair trial in India over his erstwhile airline's alleged default of over Rs 9,000 crore in loans from a consortium of Indian banks. The defence is going through a series of expert witness statements to establish that there are no grounds to force the UK-based tycoon to return to India to face allegations of fraud involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Judge Emma Arbuthnot had on Monday directed the CPS to clearly lay out its case in its closing submissions because she feels "very uncertain" about how the Indian banks are involved in the wider case of "conspiracy" involving Mallya. With Wednesday marked as a non-sitting day, the defence will depose its final expert witness Dr Alan Mitchell on Indian prison conditions and both sides are expected to present their summary statements on the case by Thursday. Mallya's barrister, Montgomery, has requested the judge for a short hearing after both sides hand in their written closing submissions to present brief oral submissions. CPS barrister Summers has indicated that he does not require time for oral as well as written submissions. The judge will determine the course of the closing arguments and a date for her ruling by 20 December, which is now marked as the last day of the trial when arguments around "admissibility" of some of the evidence presented by the Indian authorities will be taken up. While the CPS stand is that Mallya did not intend to repay the loans he sought because his airlines demise was inevitable, Montgomery is trying to establish that Kingfisher Airlines was suffering from consequences of a wider global financial crisis. Mallya's legal team has also claimed that the case against him is "politically motivated". Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant in April this year and has been out on bail on a bond worth 650,000 pounds. Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot will present her ruling within a timeframe she sets out at the end of the trial. If she rules in favour of the Indian government, the UK home secretary will have to sign Mallyas extradition order within two months. Both sides are expected to have the chance to appeal in higher courts in the UK against the Chief Magistrate's verdict. Buenos Aires: Talks at the 11th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is on the brink of collapse, with the US refusing to engage in the effort to find a permanent solution to the public stock holding issue, official sources said. On the third-day of the conference here, Assistant US trade representative Sharon Bomer Lauritsen in a small group meeting said that to the food stock-holding issue was not acceptable to America, the sources said. With the US not participating in the negotiation on the crucial issue, which the 11th ministerial is mandated to deliver, talks will collapse, said an official. India has all through been maintaining that a permanent solution to food stockpile issue was a "must have" at the ongoing ministerial and failure to do so would impact the credibility of the strong multilateral trade institution. The Indian team led by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, in cooperation with the G33 grouping, is pitching hard for permanent solution to food security issue as it is crucial for livelihood of 800 million people across the globe. The four-day ministerial conference which began on Sunday ends on Wednesday with very little time for any substantial retrieval of positions by the WTO members. With talks on crucial food stockpile issue reaching a deadlock, the other issues like services, fisheries and e-commerce too will not make any headway. In his plenary address, Prabhu had emphasised that WTO members must find a permanent solution to the public food-stockpile issue. Under the global trade norms, a WTO member country's food subsidy bill should not breach the limit of 10 percent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88. Apprehending that full implementation of food security programme may result in breach of the WTO cap, India has been seeking amendments in the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap. As an interim measure, the WTO members at the Bali ministerial meeting in December 2013 had agreed to put in place a mechanism popularly called the Peace Clause and committed to a permanent solution to negotiate an agreement at the 11th ministerial meeting at Buenos Aires. Under the Peace Clause, WTO members agreed to refrain from challenging any breach in prescribed ceiling by a developing nation at the dispute settlement forum of the WTO. This clause will be there till a permanent solution is found to the food stockpiling issue. India has also rejected the US criticism on seeking differential treatment at the WTO saying the country was the 'right candidate' and a legitimate demand for special dispensation as it has to take care of 600 million poor people. Prabhu said the special and differential treatment was an integral part of the WTO and was meant for nations with low per capital income. Eminent farm scientist M S Swaminathan on Tuesday said ending hunger and ensuring food security should be the basis for negotiations on agriculture at the WTO and appreciated India's strong stand on food security. In a series of tweets, Swaminathan -- credited for India's Green Revolution -- said Prabhu, "deserves gratitude" for indicating at the ongoing WTO Ministerial Meeting that there will be no compromise on food security. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recently announced that Indian ad men and brother-duo Piyush Pandey and Prasoon Pandey will be awarded the coveted Lion of St Mark for their significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in the industry. According to the official website of Cannes Lions, the Managing Director of Cannes Lions, Jose Papa said, "Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous, and rightly so, in their homeland, Im thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage. ANI, in one of its reports, adds to this development and says the Pandey brothers will be the first Asians (hence, the first Indians) to be awarded with the Lion of St Mark. Piyush Pandey, is the Executive Chairman and Creative Director of Ogilvy South Asia while his younger brother Prasoon Pandey is a highly respected ad-film maker whose name has repeatedly featured in global rankings of top film directors. The Cannes Lions' official website also quotes the Pandey brothers' reactions after the announcement was made. Piyush Pandey paid a tribute to India, his colleagues and friends by saying, This is a huge, huge honour. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the people of India. It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and to create good work. I am also indebted to my clients, my colleagues and Ogilvy who gave me the support and the freedom to fly. Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they. Prasoon Pandey added, The Lion of St Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15 year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing Emperors and Thugs, Dragons and Demons, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends. We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesnt make the kids inside us conscious. While Aamir Khan has reportedly walked out of Mahesh Mathai's space biopic Salute, the reason may not be creative differences alone. DNA reports that the actual reason behind the actors decision to back out from the Rakesh Sharma biopic is that Aamir already has a mega production plan of his own for next year. The celebrated actor wants to start working on the project as soon as he finishes his schedule of Thugs of Hindostan, which he is shooting alongside Amitabh Bachchan for Yash Raj Films. It is the only movie Aamir currently has following Secret Superstars record-breaking success. The same report states that his mega project of Aamir will be a sci-fi one which he wants to produce, direct and act in. He wants to make about five sequels of it over a period of 10 years. Meanwhile, in the planning stage, Salute was expected to release on the Independence Day, 2018. Aamir would have started working on the film in January. Now, the makers have reportedly approached Shah Rukh Khan to portray the lead role, but there is no official confirmation on it yet. The Rakesh Sharma biopic may is not the only space movie that Bollywood is working on. Sushant Singh Rajput, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and R Madhavan are also expected to star in Chanda Mama Door Ke for which Sushant reportedly had to take vigorous training at NASA. Imagine the Catwoman exploring the streets of Mumbai, having fun with the locals in Kerala and even posting pictures wearing bindis. Yes, this actually happened. Oscar winning actress Halle Berry visited India recently and met Dia Mirza and Ananya Birla to discuss serious environmental issues. As the Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein actress Dia Mirza, who also became the UN Goodwill Environment Ambassador for India recently, recently told the media that they spoke about how actors and other prominent personalities from the society can bring about a change for good. We talked about a lot of things... how, as actors, we have powerful voices that can lead to social change, and how we are blessed with the opportunity to make a positive social impact. We also spoke about how, as actors, we are capable of doing so much more than just acting. We discussed the ridiculousness of certain political leaders who refuse to believe that climate change is real," Dia said, as quoted by Hindustan Times. Dia also praised Halle a lot and added, It was remarkable to have a conversation like that with someone (from) across the globe who has such an extraordinary body of work. We both agreed that our profession has given us the chance to pursue a life of diversity, which gives us access to different growth aspects. Halle's visit to India was kept under wraps and it was only revealed to the fans after she posted her pictures on Instagram. Page Content At their summit in Abidjan , capital of the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire, EU and African leaders identified economic opportunities for young people, peace and security, mobility and migration, and cooperation on governance as priorities for the next four years, stating in their joint declaration that there is a "need to strengthen [the] capacity [of local and regional governments] and develop tools that can help them in this regard". The European Committee of the Regions, the EU's assembly for local and regional politicians, has consistently argued that the African cities and regions are critical to the success of the EU's partnership with Africa and of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).This was the first EU-Africa summit to be accompanied by a forum for local and regional governments. The European Committee of the Regions was represented at the forum, held on 27 November and co-organised by United Cities and Local Governments-Africa , by(NL/EPP), mayor of Oisterwijk and rapporteur on migration through the Sahara, the protection of refugees and the role of local authorities in international development aid Mr Janssen also spoke at a conference organised by the Conseil des Collectivites Territoriales de l'Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest Africaine (CCT-UEMOA). The conference resulted in a declaration by the CCT-UEMOA , supported by the European Committee of the Regions, that contains recommendations on financial decentralisation, regional development, cross-border cooperation, sustainable development, migration and youth employment.Mr Janssen said: "This was a truly inspiring gathering of local governments, in which many local and regional leaders showed very clearly that cities and regions are determined to work to reduce the impact of climate change, manage migration, and promote sustainable development. We want to make our villages, towns, cities and regions inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable which is precisely one of the 17 major goals for 2030 agreed by the United Nations in 2015. Local and regional governments are partners in meeting challenges facing Europe, Africa and the globe. National leaders have not fully grasped that yet, but this forum is a sign of progress."Mr Janssen spoke at two panels, discussing the role of local and regional governments in fostering EU-AU political dialogue and leadership and at a second panel the role of direct cooperation between cities and regions in Europe and Africa to address the challenges of sustainable development, migration and youth unemployment. He also participated at a roundtable on migration.Mr Janssen said that the CoR is pushing the EU to provide more support for local governments in Africa, to help them adapt to climate change and to develop their economies. Strengthening municipalities through empowering them to fulfil important functions was, he said, good for people, good for the places they live, and good for politics. Development can be adapted more closely to the needs of local communities, the legitimacy of local and national governance is strengthened, administrative capacity is developed, and factors that drive young people to migrate can be reduced. The UN's sustainable-development goals need to be on the public and political agenda, which can be achieved more readily if local governments are given the authority to adapt policies to local needs and circumstances, he argued.The European Committee of the Regions, which has a consultative role in the EU's policymaking, promotes the involvement of local and regional authorities in international cooperation through policy recommendations to the EU's decision-making institutions, through structured political contacts with local and regional politicians in neighbouring countries, and through promotion of region-to-region and city-to-city cooperation. In Africa, it works with the CCT-UEMOA, one of whose commissioners, addressed a plenary session of the CoR in July 2017. Commissioner Koffi Koffi also attended the Assises de la cooperation decentralisee / Regions and Cities for Development , through which the co-organisers the CoR and the European Commission brought together local authorities interested in working directly together on sustainable development.In Abidjan, Mr Janssen underlined that decentralised cooperation city-to-city or region-to-region cooperation is an increasingly important feature of international development efforts. In a separate specific initiative, the CoR has since 2015 been helping Libyan cities to find partners in Europe Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first woman director (Wadjda, 2012), got a warm reception to Mary Shelley, the new film she has directed, here at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). The lavish British period drama, starring Elle Fanning and Douglas Booth, earlier played at the Toronto and BFI London Film Festivals. We met al-Mansour, who is stockily built, with a commanding presence, and long loose hair. She grew up in Saudi Arabia, the eighth of 12 children, and later studied literature and film studies at universities in Cairo and Sydney. Married to US diplomat Bradley Neimann, she has been living in Los Angeles, and speaks with a strong American accent. Mary Shelley is about Mary Godwin, the 19th century English writer, who had a tempestuous marriage to the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. A holiday at Lord Byron's in Geneva eventually resulted in her writing the story "Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus," creating an enduring Gothic classic, at the age of just 18. Mary Shelley's mother had died at childbirth; three of Mary's own four children died, while Percy abandoned her for other women. Her grief and feelings of abandonment led her to creating Frankenstein, with a hideous-looking but intelligent 'Creature,' who craves for love and companionship, in a story combining Gothic horror with science fiction. Frankenstein was published without giving Mary Shelley credit, but Percy Bysshe Shelley acknowledged her as the author. Haifaa al-Mansour's debut feature Wadjda was a finely observed film about a small girl in Saudi Arabia who is keen to buy a bicycle and beat her friend, a boy, in a bicycle race, but her society does not permit girls to ride bicycles. (In fact, the actual Saudi ban on women driving vehicles was lifted only this month.) Eventually Wadjda's mother helps her get a bicycle. The film chronicles women struggling to find a voice in a conservative, patriarchal society. "When I was in school, my mother would visit me, wearing not the full veil, but a thin little veil, and I was, like, I don't know you, you are not my mother, because I wanted to fit in. Later, I appreciated how she questioned tradition, and I think of her with pride," said al-Mansour. Indeed, as men and women are segregated in Saudi society, al-Mansour directed the outdoor scenes of Wadjda from inside a van, watching the shoot from monitors, and giving instructions on a walkie-talkie. Mary Shelley is so different from Wadjda, yet both are about women wanting to carve their own spaces in misogynist societies. Explaining how she came to make Mary Shelley, she said, "When I received the script, it was a romantic love story. But I wanted to make a feminist film, where I could relate to her journey as a modern woman," said al-Mansour, adding, "Unlike her contemporary Jane Austen, Mary Shelley did not write about love, marriage and jealousy, but philosophical works on life beyond death not seen as a genre for a woman writer. The loss of her mother and her child at a very young age provoked her questioning of death. Frankenstein and other predators are considered a masculine genre till today. So we should celebrate women who did what they believed in, and not what people expected of them. I'd like women to create a legacy, to celebrate history, so we can move forward." As a woman director, did she find herself having to assert herself, where a man would not need to? "I come from a very segregated society. For most of my life in Saudi Arabia, it was an all-girl's school, or a woman's world," she said. "As the leader of a crew, it is not easy as a woman, and I don't fit the image. Once I wanted something put on a bare table, and was questioned about it. But I think we should go past getting angry, when we can't be productive. We should not let our frustration stop us from achieving what we want...Women in film miss many opportunities reserved for "established directors", ie middle-aged white men. Hollywood has pushed for diversity in recent years, and now here (Dubai) as well. There is a window now, and women filmmakers should seize the moment before it disappears." About the casting, al-Mansour said, "Elle Fanning had been a child actress, and her performance was effortless. It was more difficult to find Percy, who was boyish, yet had an intellectual flair, but Douglas Booth stood out." Other foreigners have tried to recreate the English atmosphere, including Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and Merchant-Ivory's The Remains of the Day. Was al-Mansour anxious about recreating the British period setting? "I didn't try to be period accurate; I was more interested in creating a dark mood. I didn't have the luxury of making it the England in my mind," said al-Mansour. "It was very challenging, as it was a UK-Ireland-Luxembourg co-production. London was too expensive to shoot in. Ireland was wonderful, but we had a limited budget there. But we got a chunk of the budget from Luxembourg. So, we did exteriors in Ireland and interiors in Luxembourg. Elle Fanning would open a door in Ireland and enter a room in Luxembourg! It was challenging to bring the pieces together," she added. Next, she's wrapping up Nappily Ever After, a film for Netflix, shot in the African-American community in Atlanta. At DIFF, al-Mansour also won the IWC Filmmaker Award worth $100,000, for her new feature project Miss Camel. The film is about a Saudi teenage girl named Hayla, who escapes an arranged marriage and discovers she's a 'camel whisperer,' eventually challenging restrictive traditions to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant. "It's not important where you come from. It's important that you connect with the character," al-Mansour concluded. Its Glastonbury without the mud, chuckled Miti Adhikari (the noted music producer who started his career at the iconic Maida Vale studios recording bands like Coldplay and Radiohead) as it started to rain in earnest on day two of the Kolkata Jazz Fest 2017. What started off as a light drizzle soon became a steady, relentless shower that showed no signs of letting up. Wondering if the music festival would get washed out, I carefully watched the audiences reaction. Though it did manage to scatter some people who grudgingly got up and headed to the food stalls for shelter, it didnt succeed in doing much more than that. A handful opened out their umbrellas to shield themselves, a few others pulled up jacket hoods or covered up with shawls. Curiously, very few people left. The abundance of reasonably priced alcohol no doubt played its part in keeping people warm and in high spirits. By the time Eric Truffaz took the stage with Riatsu to bring the evening to a close, the rain was completely forgotten. Fans surged back towards the stage from all directions, trading their dry corners for a closer glimpse of the trumpeter who was back in Kolkata after 10 years. He did not disappoint, performing this time with the young ambient electronic artist from Mumbai Riatsu (Shadab Kadri), vocalist Neil Gomes and percussionist Anand Bhagat. As Neil rapped and sang I was fascinated to recognise a few lines from Kabirs well known doha (couplet) 'Kal Kare So Aaj Kar'. Anand brought the beat to this ensemble through a variety of different instruments, including the Middle Eastern doumbek, the djembe (Africa), the bongo (Afro-Cuban) and the didgeridoo, an indigenous Australian instrument. The result was hypnotic. Even though the venue was large, it felt like an intimate gig. Truffaz seemed to be enjoying himself as much as the crowd. Referring to the day as rainy but dreamy, he danced and clapped, coming to the front of the stage and drawing the audience in as they delightedly responded, swaying and holding up their drinks, completely mesmerised by the performance. The elements of the unexpected that characterised this set reminded me of the conversation I had had with Amyt Datta right after he got off stage. He opened the festival this year along with the citys favourite young drummer Jivraj Singh, and Reinhard Kleist, the German graphic artist. I asked him what he was trying to achieve with his performance and he said he was trying to reach out to listeners with tunes they havent heard before. People like listening to whats familiar to them. I want to move away from the standards. Jazz is broad enough to take anything under its umbrella. Interestingly, this seemed to emerge as a major feature of this years festival. As Munir Mohanty, a live music enthusiast and long-term patron of the Jazzfest pointed out, the line up was getting more experimental every year. He remarked on the aspects that were borrowed from other genres such as rap or electronic. This year in fact seems to be almost all new as opposed to at least one or two acts that are completely straight up jazz. Historically jazz originated in African American communities in New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has its roots in blues and ragtime. As it spread around the globe, it was impacted by various local music cultures and the definition broadened to include many different influences. What characterises jazz is its fluidity. As a genre it is marked by improvisation and collaboration. In keeping with the evolution of jazz the festival this year was notable for its cross-genre collaborations. The EYM trio was joined by Mirande Shah who sang folksy tunes in Bengali and Hindi. C.A.R from Cologne played a blend of EDM and jazz with doses of Krautrock. My personal favourite, Kefaya had a unique and eclectic sound, drawing from traditional folk music across the globe. One could detect different influences in each song; for example one tune would have a strong Middle Eastern vibe while the next was rooted in Indian Classical. What intrigued me most was how they arrived at that sound with only western instruments. Speaking to band member Domenico Angarano I learnt that what had sounded so much like sarod was in fact Giuliano Modarelli on guitar. He uses different techniques to get different resonances; its like a language, you pronounce it differently even if the letters are the same and it sounds like it belongs to another culture. What set the festival apart was its atmosphere. I always enjoy it, acknowledged Jivraj Singh, adding Its a relaxing festival! Unlike huge, impersonal festivals this was informal and intimate, allowing you to get up close and personal with the music and interact with the musicians. Jazz Fest 2017 was a unique treat for music lovers. Turns out MCA (Middle Class Abbayi) starring Nani, Sai Pallavi and Bhumika is not just a love story, but also an action drama. While the teaser gave us a glimpse of the goofy love story between Nani and Sai Pallavi, the latest trailer introduces us to actual crux of this upcoming Telugu drama. The pleasant surprise of the trailer is definitely Bhumika Chawla, who is back in Tollywood after a while. Last seen in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, the actress plays Nani's strict sister-in-law in MCA. Directed by Sriram venu, MCA essentially kick starts with a series of comic events that occur due to the rocky relationship Nani shares with his sister-in-law Bhumika. Parallely, we are also introduced to the lead pair's love story, a really cute one at that. For a change, Sai Pallavi is seen pulling off all the antics possible, to be with Nani and the lead pair showcase interesting chemistry in just a two minute glimpse. MCA happens to be the story of a middle class family with a love angle and a twist. Nani's character is shown as someone who can go any length to save his family. He sways in style with relatable punch lines and guesses are, the actor battles to save his sister-in-law from the evil powers-that-be. While the trailer pretty much reveals a lot, fans are now eager to watch how and why the various characters in the movie cross paths, and how well Nani pulls of a middle class abbayi. This will be Sai Pallavi's second Telugu film after her debut Fidaa, which hit screens earlier this year. And Nani's much anticipated release after his latest hit, Ninnu Kori. Slated for a 21 December release, MCA's jukebox has already become the buzz of the town, for Devi Sri Prasad's quirky compositions. Watch the trailer here: Prepare to be blown away (just by the sheer genius of the creator of the website and nothing else). A website called Rotten Apples is here and it lets you check whether anyone from the cast or crew of a Hollywood film has been accused of sexual misconduct. A seemingly simple website, Rotten Apples, has a search bar, in which one can type in the name of a film and the names of the accused will show up. If no one from a film is involved in a sexual misconduct case, the result will be 'Fresh Apples'. However, it looks like the site is still in an initial stage and only shows names of prominent personalities. According to a report by Scroll, the site functions as a search engine and provides a slew of links attached to the name of an accused. It was launched after multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse ripped through Hollywood, taking several bigwigs down from positions of power, including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, among others. The art versus the artist debate has been rampant for years. There are some people who believe that the art is separate from the artist while there are some, who haven't seen a Polanski film in years, and will scoff at the name of a Woody Allen film. And so, for people who belong to latter lot Rotten Apples is live and it's working. Research away. Princes William and Harry attended the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on 12 December, joining the all-star cast in London for the latest installment of the sci-fi saga. The British royals walked the red carpet dressed in tuxedos for the screening at London's Royal Albert Hall, where they were greeted by the rolling droid character BB-8 who dutifully bowed to the princes. The two reportedly have cameo roles as stormtroopers in the film, after visiting the set in April 2016 when they were rumoured to have shot the scene. William and Harry who recently announced his engagement to US actress Meghan Markle also met the cast of The Last Jedi and were presented with stormtrooper helmets. Filmed at Pinewood Studios near London and on the west coast of Ireland, The Last Jedi is the eighth film in the space series and runs to a lengthy 153 minutes. Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the films, said the longevity of Star Wars had seen his character make way for new stars. Some 14 billion years ago, the Big Bang marked the origin of our universe the beginning of an expansion from its pebble-size origin to one of intergalactic scope. But 25 May 1977 saw a Big Bang of another sort. As Star Wars exploded into theatres, a single space odyssey led to a rapid cosmic expansion of our shared pop culture universe. George Lucas' epic sci-fi saga is so deeply embedded in our popular culture that 40 years later, kids and adults alike are still living out their dreams of fighting the Empire wielding makeshift lightsabers. We still like to think we are embracing our dark side by putting on a cape and helmet while walking to The Imperial March. Cosplayers still like to dress like a certain "scruffy-looking nerf-herder" and do their hair into two perfect cinnamon buns. "Luke, I'm your father," is still a popularly uttered plot twist trope and now, also makes for a pretty funny meme. And Yrsssss, to speak like our little green friend, Yoda, we still try. The ripple effect of Star Wars has left a legacy unlike any other. With the imminent arrival of The Last Jedi, kicking off on Friday, let's take a look at how Star Wars changed our world. How sci-fi went mainstream Until the mid-1970s, science fiction films were mostly intellectual interrogations and socially conscious warnings of how not to build a future society. Films like Chris Marker's La Jetee, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and even Lucas' THX 1138 made for cerebral cinematic experiences but were hardly escapist blockbusters. By adding explosions, spaceships, robots, aliens, a princess and a space cowboy to a simplistic tale of good versus evil, Lucas revolutionised sci-fi films with both spectacle and substance in Star Wars. A genre derogatorily deemed to be for geeks was soon being embraced by mainstream audiences. Harrison Ford's iconic intergalactic cowboy Han Solo went on to influence many protagonists in other space operas on film (Peter Quill aka Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy) and television (Mal Reynolds in Firefly). Princess Leia subverted the usual "damsel in distress" trope by portraying a badass sci-fi heroine traces of whom can be seen in Alien's Ellen Ripley, The Fifth Element's Leeloo and Firefly's River Tam. The influence extends to the non-human monosyllabic sidekicks (Chewbacca and Groot) or the adorable, beeping and bopping robots (R2D2 and Wall E). What was essential to the success of the original trilogy was not just the characters, special effects and the story but also the music accompanying them. Yes, John Williams has created some of the most instantly recognisable scores in film history from the simple two-note yet terrifying theme of Jaws to the rousing, heroic theme of Indiana Jones. But, surely, his most iconic compositions were written for Star Wars. The sweeping brass and strings of the Main Title Theme and the ominous, militaristic rhythm of The Imperial March will continue to be hummed and cherished for ages. Geeks now, we all are! References to Star Wars lingo have become the lingua franca of our pop culture. The force and the dark side have gained a whole new meaning while padawan, jedis and their mind tricks are constantly referenced by even politicians and the media. Also read: The politics of Star Wars: How civic ignorance can make a democracy slide into dictatorship Talk about star wars without speaking of Yoda, we cannot. A curious semantic challenge Yoda's sentence structure offers. Hrmmm. Know him and love him we all do. Yeesssssss. Dimunitive figure, Yoda may be. But be underestimated, he should not. Herh herh herh. For 800 years with unwavering focus as a jedi, he trained. The Grand Master of the Jedi Order, he was. Yet, speak English, he cannot. For an interesting linguistics experiment, he makes. But other things to write about, there are. So, move on for now, we shall. Expectedly, the franchise has also inspired several parodies in a variety of mediums Lego Star Wars, Family Guy, Sesame Street, That '70s Show and Community to name a few. There have been plenty of comics and jokes spoofing Star Wars. We heard a couple of pretty good ones recently. The Star Wars text crawl walks into a bar. Get outta my pub! the bartender yells. We dont serve your type here." What do you call a Jedi in denial? Obi-Wan Cannot Be. Of magic, miracles and merchandising Star Wars was the original blockbuster media franchise and it started Hollywood's fascination with trilogies. In its aftermath, there was an influx of big-budget special effects spectacles in the 80s such as Alien, Indiana Jones and The Terminator. When he began production of Star Wars, Lucas founded his own special effects company named Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), which has since been ground zero for several significant milestones in modern cinema from the "Genesis sequence" in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to Terminator 2's T-1000 to Casper. It ushered in a new era of visual effects and paved the way for the ground-breaking technology used in films like Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Interstellar and Avatar, which have since set new benchmarks for computer generated images. Meet some most impressive cosplayers from the red carpet of #TheLastJedi. https://t.co/VGfFU2lMJ4 pic.twitter.com/Lq61exHY5x Star Wars (@starwars) 12 December 2017 In the wake of the original film's success, Lucas also deferred part of his salary in return for the merchandising rights to the entire series. It was a shrewd move and one that turned him into a billionaire as Star Wars fever turned into a worldwide epidemic. Today, the toy industry is built upon major film franchises. As we are deluged with cross-promotions for food, smartphone, video games, Legos, action figures, t-shirts, boxers and other things you didn't realise you needed, you know just who to thank. Hell, there is even an actual religion a charter as a religious institution in Texas that follows Jediism called the The Temple of the Jedi Order. According to their website, "The Jedi here are real people that live or lived their lives according to the principles of Jediism, the real Jedi religion or philosophy. Jedi followers, ministers and leaders embrace Jediism as a real living, breathing religion and sincerely believe in its teachings. Jediism does not base its focus on myth and fiction but on the real life issues and philosophies that are at the source of myth. Whether you want to become a Jedi, are a real Jedi looking for additional training or just interested in learning about and discussing The Force, we're here for you." Hmmm, that's comforting to know. Thanks! The Force of nostalgia awakens Despite the myriad video games, comics, spin-offs, toys and the fancy boxers, it was when Disney announced in 2012 that it planned to release a new Star Wars film each year that gave scores of fans of the franchise multiple geekgasms. While we all enjoyed the film, The Force Awakens was a wonderful nostalgia trip for many who grew up in the 70s and 80s, including director JJ Abrams. He must have been 11 years old when the original movie came out and perhaps grown up playing with Han Solo action figures as a kid like many others. And here he was, directing Harrison Ford in its reboot, living his childhood fantasy. Even Kylo Ren was practically fanboying over his grandpa, Darth Vader, in the movie. But a little part of them must have died when he performs a patricidal surprise-attack on Han Solo. Anyway, here we are eagerly awaiting the next instalment of the new trilogy The Last Jedi. This Friday will see those who grew up watching the original films, those who probably only saw the prequels and the many whose introduction to the universe started with The Force Awakens; three generations all in line on opening day hoping to see a new Star Wars adventure in a galaxy far, far away. Watch the trailer below: Dangal and Secret Superstar actress Zaira Wasim recently made headlines when she accused a co-passenger of molesting her in a flight enroute to Mumbai from Delhi. Since then, there have been primarily two narratives of the incident one where Zaira claims the accused molested her; the other where the accused's wife says he was fast asleep and the "touch" was just an accident. Recently, a co-passenger has revealed that the accused, identified as Vikas Sachdeva, is not guilty and he was indeed sleeping during the whole journey, reports Deccan Chronicle. I was seated in the same class in which the actor and the suspect (Sachdeva) flew from Delhi. The suspect did not seem to have done anything apart from his act of keeping his legs on the armrest of the seat where the actor was seated. I saw Sachdeva doze off immediately after he settled in his seat after boarding the flight at Delhi," the co-passenger narrated the incident in an official statement to the Sahar police station, reports The Times of India. He continues, "His fault was he kept his legs on the armrest, which was wrong. I did not see him misbehaving. He also apologized when the actor shouted at him when the flight landed at Mumbai airport and the matter was settled then." Wasim had alleged that Sachdeva, whose foot was kept at the arm rest, continuously touched her back throughout the journey. She later flagged the incident when the flight landed in Mumbai. Sachdeva's wife, on the other hand, claimed it was just an accident as Sachdeva was returning after attending a family emergency and was very tired, hence he dozed off. (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) has told suppliers it plans to shift production of midsize Fusion and Mondeo sedans out of Mexico and Spain in 2020 and move it to China, three sources said on Wednesday. The Ford Motor Company logo is pictured at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Mike BlakeThe automaker said it will not ship those cars from China to the United States and Europe. Ford did not address the future of the plants in Hermosillo, Mexico and Valencia, Spain that currently build midsize sedans for the North American and European markets, respectively. Ford said last month it would invest more than 750 million euros ($887 million) in Valencia to produce a new generation of its Kuga sport utility vehicle. Recent Ford documents shared with suppliers show the automaker plans to shift some Focus and Mondeo production to China, and no longer list Hermosillo and Valencia as production sites, according to sources familiar with the companys plans. Ford said in a statement we have no plans to export the next-generation Fusion/Mondeo from China to North America and Europe. Fusion/Mondeo are an important part of the Ford car lineup. We will have more information to share about the next Fusion/Mondeo at a later date. Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett has taken a series of steps to cut the automakers production costs, and shift the companys product lineup away from sedans toward sport utility and crossover vehicles, especially in North America. Fusion sales in the United States are down 22 percent this year, while Mondeo sales in Europe are down 21 percent. Ford in June said it would shift some production of its Focus small car from Mexico to China and import the vehicles to the United States. Fords latest moves come as U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to significantly revamp or possibly exit the North American Free Trade Agreement that allows tariff-free shipments of vehicles to the United States from Mexico. Last week, Ford said it plans to relocate production of a future battery electric vehicle to Cuatitlan, Mexico in 2020 to free up capacity at its Flat Rock, Michigan, plant to build self-driving vehicles in 2021. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The United States, European Union and Japan vowed on Tuesday to work together to fight market-distorting trade practices and policies that have fueled excess production capacity, naming several key features of Chinas economic system. European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom speaks next to China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen (2nd L), Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie (L) and Japan's Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Tadao Yanase during the Business Forum at the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciIn a joint statement that did not single out China or any other country, the three economic powers said they would work within the World Trade Organization and other multilateral groups to eliminate unfair competitive conditions caused by subsidies, state-owned enterprises, forced technology transfer and local content requirements. The move was a rare show of solidarity with the United States at a World Trade Organization meeting dominated by differences over U.S. President Donald Trumps America First trade agenda and U.S. efforts to stall the appointment of WTO judges. It reflected growing frustration among industrial countries over Chinas trade practices, along with concerns that other developing countries will follow Beijings lead. The statement said protectionist practices are serious concerns for the proper functioning of international trade, the creation of innovative technologies and the sustainable growth of the global economy. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Chinas industry subsidies, including for aluminum and steel, were flooding global markets and hurting European workers in a very, very dramatic way. Theres no secret that we think that China is a big sinner here, but there are other countries that are as well, Malmstrom told reporters on the sidelines of a business forum. In the opening session of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Buenos Aires on Monday, the United States and Japan criticized a lack of transparency in some WTO members trade practices, a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing. China, meanwhile, appealed for members to join hands and uphold WTO rules to protect globalization in the face of rising protectionism. The joint statement came after Japan approached the European Union and the United States about overcapacity, according to an EU source, with both Tokyo and Brussels concerned about the possibility the Trump administration could act unilaterally. China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen speaks next to Argentina's Secretary of Trade Miguel Braun (L), Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie (2nd L), European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom (3rd R), Japan's Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Tadao Yanase (2nd R), and Morocco's Secretary of State in charge of Foreign Trade Rakiya Eddarhem during the Business Forum at the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciThere is a thought that if we bring them into the fold, and can work jointly with them, then it reduces the risk of them going alone, the source said. PLAY BY THE RULES Washington, Brussels and Tokyo have previously raised complaints about Chinas excess production capacity in a number of industrial sectors that has pushed down world prices and caused layoffs elsewhere. China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen speaks next to European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom and Japan's Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry while Morocco's Secretary of State in charge of Foreign Trade Rakiya Eddarhem arrives during the Business Forum at the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciThe United States recently sided with the EU in arguing that such distortions mean the WTO should not grant China market economy status, a move that would severely weaken their trade defenses. We have been...reaching out to China to tell them they really must start playing by the rules, Malmstrom told reporters. The EUs and Japans willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration comes despite disagreements over the role of the WTO and the future of multilateral trade deals. Trump has expressed his preference for bilateral negotiations, and his trade rhetoric has cast a cloud over the WTO meeting. Efforts on Tuesday to make progress on a ministerial statement from all 164 WTO members were unsuccessful since one country could not agree on the language, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters, declining to name that country. U.S. officials last month blocked WTO efforts to draft a statement of unity over the centrality of the global trading system and the need to aid development.. A USTR spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment. The Trump administration is considering several unilateral tariff actions on steel, aluminum and Chinas intellectual property practices likely to draw disputes from WTO members. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Trade ministers looked set to wrap up their biennial World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on Wednesday without any new agreements after criticism of the agency by the United States, once the WTOs driving force. China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen speaks next to Argentina's Secretary of Trade Miguel Braun (L), Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie (2nd L), European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom (3rd R), Japan's Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Tadao Yanase (2nd R), and Morocco's Secretary of State in charge of Foreign Trade Rakiya Eddarhem during the Business Forum at the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciMinisters gathered in Buenos Aires were never expected to agree on major trade reforms, but even relatively minor proposals on e-commerce and fishing subsidy curbs ran aground. Members cannot even agree to stop subsidizing illegal fishing. Horrendous, European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Destructive behaviour by several large countries made results impossible, Malmstrom added without naming them. Instead, ministers were focusing on the WTOs post-conference work programs, such as efforts to improve market efficiency and curb excess industrial capacity, WTO spokesman Ken Rockwell told reporters. While there is disappointment that we couldnt get a little further in terms of concrete outcomes, being able to nail down an effective work programme is very important, Rockwell told reporters. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer set an acrimonious tone at the start of the conference with sharp criticisms of the WTO. The 23-year-old trade body requires unanimity among all 164 WTO member countries to reach any agreement. Lighthizer told WTO ministers on Monday that it was impossible to negotiate new rules while many of the current rules were not being followed, and that the WTO was losing its focus and becoming too litigation-focused. Even the perfunctory joint ministerial statement looked in doubt at the conference, known as MC11. China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen speaks next to European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom and Japan's Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry while Morocco's Secretary of State in charge of Foreign Trade Rakiya Eddarhem arrives during the Business Forum at the 11th World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marcos BrindicciAMERICA FIRST Driven by President Donald Trumps America First strategy and a preference for bilateral deals, the United States had already blocked ambassadors from drafting a ministerial text in Geneva that included references to the centrality of the global trading system and to trade as a driver of development. USTR spokeswoman Emily Davis denied that the United States was the problem in the lack of negotiated outcomes, saying the Obama administration had raised similar WTO grievances. The United States has remained engaged throughout MC11 to achieve progress where possible, Davis said in an emailed statement. Under these circumstances, its nonsense for anyone to think that MC11 could be adrift over Ambassador Lighthizers honest remarks on issues the United States has been raising for years. Lighthizer left Buenos Aires for Washington on Tuesday night, missing the final day of the conference. The failure to reach any major deals meant that negotiations on the same topics will continue into 2018, with no deadline and no heavyweight ministerial momentum to get agreement. Many trade experts disagree with the U.S. view towards the WTO and are dismayed that the United States is vetoing new judicial appointments at the WTO, which is threatening to halt the settlement of trade disputes. Ministers who followed Lighthizer onto the podium offered widespread support for the global trading system, with the WTO at its heart. But on Tuesday, the European Union and Japan joined the United States in vowing to combat market-distorting policies, such as those pervasive in China that have fuelled excess industrial capacity, including subsidies for state-owned enterprises and technology transfer requirements. An EU source familiar with negotiations over the statement said it was instigated by Japan, partly as a means to coax Washington into working multilaterally to solve such problems rather than resorting to unilateral trade restrictions. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Political leaders cutting across party lines paid tributes to those who died in the 2001 Jaish-e-Mohammad attack on Parliament on Wednesday, the 16th anniversary of the event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi paid their tributes inside the Parliament complex on Wednesday. Eight security personnel and a civilian lost their lives in the terror attack. Modi, Naidu and President Ram Nath Kovind also took to Twitter to pay their tributes. Gratefully remember those martyred while defending Parliament from terrorists on this day 16 years ago. Forces of hate and terror targeted what we cherish most India's democracy and democratic values. They did not succeed. And we will never let them succeed #PresidentKovind President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) December 13, 2017 We pay homage to those who laid down their lives protecting the temple of our democracy on 13th December 2001. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. pic.twitter.com/Fn4RYDvqxL Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 13, 2017 The nation is ever grateful to the martyrs who laid down their lives to protect the Parliament, the temple of Democracy. #Parliamentattack pic.twitter.com/XKTUqcl34y VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) December 13, 2017 Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the nation "salutes" the "exemplary valour" shown by the security personnel who were guarding Parliament at the time of the attack. The nation salutes the exemplary valour and courage of those martyrs who sacrificed their lives protecting the Temple of Indias Democracy on December 13, 2001. Their supreme sacrifice will always be remembered by us. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 13, 2017 Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her predecessor Arun Jaitley also paid their respects. On this day in 2001, our brave soldiers and Parliament staff repulsed the attack on our Parliament House. Respects to our martyrs. The nation shall remember with pride their sacrifice. @DefenceMinIndia Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) December 13, 2017 On 13/12/2001 our brave soldiers dispelled a terror attack on the Parliament house and displayed exemplary courage. We remember and salute the valour and national service of our security forces and pay respectful tribute to the martyrs. Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 13, 2017 Remembering martyrs who laid their lives while defending Parliament from terrorist attack on 13 December 2001 pic.twitter.com/wneHQ1xS7i LOK SABHA (@LokSabhaSectt) December 13, 2017 People of India will remain indebted to our security personnel who laid down their lives, protecting the temple of our democracy from deadly terrorist attack on this day in 2001. #ParliamentAttack I salute to their supreme sacrifice in the service of our nation. Jai hind! pic.twitter.com/0DJvTSBQNF Dr. Mahesh Sharma (@dr_maheshsharma) December 13, 2017 Homage to martyrs whose supreme sacrifice to protect our temple of democracy will never be forgotten by a grateful Nation. #ParliamentAttack pic.twitter.com/zqNo0Aoina Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) December 13, 2017 The Congress party said "political resolve" of India will always stand united against terror. We will never forget the #ParliamentAttack of 2001 that shook the nucleus of our democracy. The political resolve of this nation will always stand united against terror. #ThisDayThatYear pic.twitter.com/NPXvvfWIBa Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a plea by death row convict Mukesh Singh seeking review of the top court judgment upholding his death sentence in the 16 December, 2012, New Delhi gangrape case. The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan reserved the verdict as advocate Manohar Lal Sharma cited procedural lapses committed by police in the course of the investigation and raised doubts about the DNA report. Sharma said his client was tortured even when the trial was on. The bench rejected Sharma's submission that even the top court had doubted the DNA report in the course of the hearing of the appeals against Delhi High Court verdict upholding the death sentence. "We never said (that). We maintained a strict silence (in the course of the hearing of the appeals). You are not correct in saying that any one of us on the bench doubted the veracity of the DNA report," Chief Justice Misra said, brushing aside his submission. Senior counsel Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that all the submissions made before the court do not call for a review of the 5 May verdict as all these submissions have already been considered and rejected by the trial court, the high court and the Supreme Court. Rebutting the submission that Mukesh was tortured even when the trial was on, Luthra told the court that during the period of trial, he was in judicial custody and the investigating officer had no access to him. "If you have a right and you consciously did not choose to exercise it, then you can't later use it to castigate the trial court, high court and other forums," he said. The top court by its 5 May verdict had upheld the death sentence of Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur. The four were convicted for raping and assaulting the 23-year-old paramedical student inside a moving bus on 16 December, 2012, which led to her death due to internal injuries 13 days later in a Singapore hospital. After committing the crime, the accused, six in all, dumped the girl and her boyfriend on the side of a road. Some onlookers alerted the police. The sheer brutality of the crime led to nationwide revulsion and street protests. A fifth accused, Ram Singh, committed suicide in the Tihar Central Jail. The sixth, a juvenile, who was accused of ripping apart the woman's intestines, was sent to a correction home and has been released after serving his probation period. The court permitted the lawyer for other three death row convicts Gupta, Sharma and Thakur to file their plea for the review as it it directed the next hearing on 29 January. Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir BJP spokesperson Virender Gupta has accused the state government of "looting the money" provided by the Centre for the religious and linguistic minorities of the state. Countering the Jammu and Kashmir government's stand in the Supreme Court on setting up a minorities commission in the state, he also alleged the policy followed by the Mehbooba Mufti-led government amounted to "cheating the nation". The BJP is a coalition partner of the PDP in the Jammu and Kashmir government. The Jammu and Kashmir government, in an affidavit submitted in the apex court, had claimed that as per the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, it was not bound to constitute a state-level minorities commission. "The policy followed by the state government amounts to cheating the nation and looting money from the government of India, meant for the religious and linguistic minorities of the state," Gupta said. He added that Muslims accounted for about 68 percent of Jammu and Kashmir's population and thus, they could not avail of the benefits meant for the minority community. The Centre needed to issue clear-cut instructions to the state as regards providing the benefits to the "actual" minorities under its schemes and also, the prime minister's 12-point programme, Gupta said. He said the government's plea that it would consider the need and feasibility of setting up a state minority commission after a study of the social and educational backwardness of the minorities across various regions of Jammu and Kashmir was an "attempt to sidetrack" the issue. New Delhi: The deadline to link the Aadhaar number with bank accounts has been extended by three months till 31 March, the government announced on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court is set to commence hearing from Thursday on its mandatory linking to various schemes. The deadline was earlier 31 December for linking the 12-digit unique identification number with both Permanent Account Number (PAN) and bank accounts. However, the government extended the deadline last week for linking it with PAN until 31 March. A notification to link it with bank accounts was later issued on Tuesday by the Department of Revenue under the Finance Ministry. The notification, however, did not mention the new deadline, leaving it open-ended. The government later issued a press release which contained the deadline of 31 March. According to the 12 December notification, the words "submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by 31 December, 2017" have been substituted by "submit the Aadhaar number, PAN or Form No 60 by such date as may be notified by the central government". The release said under the provisions of Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, it was provided that if a client already having a bank account or any other account-based relationship with reporting entities prior to the date of this notification fails to submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by 31 December, "the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar number and PAN is submitted by the client". Has been decided by Government to notify 31st March, 2018 or 6 months from date of commencement of bank account based relationship by the client, whichever is later, as date of submission of Aadhaar number& PAN or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity: Finance Ministry ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 In case of a person opening a new account, the deadline for submitting Aadhaar number and PAN was "six months from the date of the commencement of the account based relationship". "After considering various representations received in this regard and inputs received from banks, it has been decided to notify 31 March, 2018 or six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the client, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity," the statement said. Beijing: China on Wednesday denied plans to construct a tunnel to divert Brahmaputra river waters amid reports of highly polluted waters from its tributary Siang flowing into India. "I would like to point out that China's position on the eastern part of the China-India border is consistent and clear," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to questions about the reports on blackened, muddy waters with cement and sledge of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh. He refuted reports that it may due to a tunnel being constructed on the Chinese side. "I have never heard of the project mentioned by the Indian side. It is hoped that the Indian side will not conduct unfounded speculation and reports," he said in a written response to a question in this regard. In October, China had denied reports of plans to build 1000-kilometre long tunnel to divert Brahmaputra waters to the arid regions of Xinjiang, saying the report is untrue and false. There is, however, no explanation for the highly-polluted waters in Siang river. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called the Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. In 2016, China had declared that it would be building a dam on a tributary of the river, sparking concerns of its potential downstream impact in India. Arunachal Pradesh State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL) in a recent report said the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu had drawn the attention of the Centre on the river's contamination, which he said might have been caused due to activities on the Chinese side and asked the Indian government to take up the matter with Beijing. New Delhi: The Delhi government will bear the cost of treatment of victims of road accidents and acid attacks at government and private hospitals under a new scheme approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday. At a press conference in New Delhi, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the scheme would also cover the victims of fire- related incidents on streets. The scheme was approved in a Cabinet meeting which was chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. It will now be sent to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for approval. "The move is aimed at saving lives of such people during the golden hour after a road accident," Jain said. Most people attempt to take road accident victims to a government hospital even if a private hospital in nearby, thereby denying treatment within the 'Golden Hour', he said. "The Cabinet has approved the scheme for road accident victims. The Delhi government will bear the treatment cost of such people in both its own and private hospitals," Jain said. If an acid attack happens on streets, such victims would also be covered, he said. Jain claimed that 8,000 accidents occur on Delhi roads every year, affecting 15,000-20,000 people, and about 1,600 people die per year due to road accidents. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No negotiations can be held with North Korea until it improves its behaviour, a White House official said on Wednesday, raising questions about U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersons offer to begin talks with Pyongyang any time and without pre-conditions. FILE PHOTO - A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoGiven North Koreas most recent missile test, clearly right now is not the time, a White House official told Reuters. Tillerson said on Tuesday the United States was ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk, appearing to back away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be about giving up its nuclear arsenal. The White House has declined to say whether President Donald Trump, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line against North Korea than Tillerson, gave approval for the overture. A day after Tillersons comments at Washingtons Atlantic Council think tank, the White House official, who declined to be named, laid out a more restrictive formula for any diplomatic engagement with North Korea. The administration is united in insisting that any negotiations with North Korea must wait until the regime fundamentally improves its behaviour, the official said. As the secretary of state himself has said, this must include, but is not limited to, no further nuclear or missile tests. In his speech, however, Tillerson did not explicitly set a testing freeze as a requirement before talks can begin. He said it would be tough to talk if Pyongyang decided to test another device in the middle of discussions and that a period of quiet would be needed for productive discussions. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Wednesday appeared to walk back part of Tillersons proposal, saying there would have to be a suspension of North Korean nuclear and missile tests for an undefined length of time before any talks could take place. And we certainly havent seen that right now, she told reporters, insisting Tillerson had not unveiled a new policy and was on the same page as the White House. Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over North Koreas weapons advances have grown this year and recent exchanges of bellicose rhetoric have fuelled fears over the risk of military conflict. Tillersons relationship with Trump has been strained by differences over North Korea and other issues, and he has seen his influence diminished within the administration. Senior administration officials said late last month that Trump was considering a plan to oust Tillerson, though the secretary of state has dismissed that. Tillerson said in his speech that Trump has encouraged our diplomatic efforts. Trump, however, tweeted in October that Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with North Korea. CHINA, RUSSIA WELCOME TILLERSON OFFER Tillersons overture came nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range. North Korea has made clear it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said following Tillersons speech that China welcomed efforts to ease tension and promote dialogue to resolve the North Korea standoff. Russia also welcomed Tillersons statement, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying. Ahead of Tillersons speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyangs most advanced ICBM, state media said on Wednesday. Despite that, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tillersons remarks followed speculation North Korea might be willing to talk having announced it had completed a major milestone with last months missile test and suggested he was trying to take advantage of a potential opening. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta was trolled on social media on Tuesday after she attended a Christmas-themed charity event in Mumbai. At an event organised by a radio station, Amruta launched a 'Be Santa' campaign which encouraged people to give gifts for poor children. launched-Be Santa-campaign, as Ambassador for @927BIGFM - to collect gifts from people -for poor children ,to bring smiles to their faces during this Christmas.Drop ur gifts at nearest @927BIGFM & Feel the joy -as best way to multiply your happiness is by sharing it with others pic.twitter.com/r5UTAi3nDY AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Twitterati took it upon itself to remind Amruta of her duties and the magnitude of what she represents. One user noted that Santa is a fictional character promoted by foreign brands and had no cultural significance in India. What is the meaning of Be-Santa campaign ? it is a fictional character promoted by FOREIGN brands .. has no cultural significance to INDIA .. No Conversion (@noconversion) December 12, 2017 Another user reminded Amruta that she was no more an individual, but is the First Lady of Maharashtra and could not represent an "anti-Hindu conversion movement". He also made sure that Subramanian Swamy was made aware of this important news. Now u r not individual, as a 1st lady of Great #Maharashtra u have to represent state culture, not anti hindu #conversion movement. Plz left be Santa campaign n support #noconversion movement @RSSorg @BJP4India @BJP4Maharashtra @Swamy39 @ShivSena Suresh Chavhanke STV (@SureshChavhanke) December 13, 2017 In fact, the event was a line in the sand for some people. One user said he would not vote for BJP, questioning whether the Fadnavis couple were secretly Christian. @narendramodi @AmitShah are Fadnavis secretly Christian? we wont vote BJP after this Natural Brilliance (@PidisBiscuit) December 12, 2017 Finally one user pointed to the logical conclusion to it all. Be Santa and call for #HinduHolocaust this Christmas. All Hindus who don't convert will be tortured in hell for eternity by Santa's God eh? Empirical Dharma (@EmpiricalDharma) December 12, 2017 Alt News carried a list of Twitter handles followed by Narendra Modi on Twitter which were involved in the trolling. One of them even tagged the Pope and asked the Holy See to confer sainthood on Fadnavis and Amruta. i already said i repeat https://t.co/OPdPmb2g5E i request @pontifex to confer sainthood to this couple for helping spread '' love '' (?) in maharashtra and call them #SaintFadnavis and #SaintAmruta https://t.co/IVbU3kvUQC S.Ranganathan (@rangats) December 12, 2017 Amruta had to assert her proud Hindu identity after Swarajya columnist Shefali Vaidya told her to respect the will of the people. Im a proud Hindu & like many, I celebrate every festival in my country & that is an individual choice.... We represent the true spirit of our country ... and that doesnt dilute our love towards our country, religion & humanity .... AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Amruta also posted another tweet which seemed to address the issue: Love , sharing & empathy have no religion - lets accept all positivity around us & stay away from negative thoughts & demotivating energies ! AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Amruta also spoke to The Indian Express about the trolling and said, I genuinely thought that was a good cause to associate with. What mattered to me was the smiles on the faces of these poor children but the whole thing was showcased in absolutely negative light. Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was convicted in the coal scam case on Wednesday, news reports said. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary AK Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. It, however, acquitted four persons VISUL's Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The sentencing in the case will take place on Thursday. The case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in VISUL. During arguments, the CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on 8 January, 2007. It had said that although the Jharkhand government and the steel ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI had said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the coal ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had added. In September this year, the Election Commission had disqualified Koda from contesting elections for three years for failing to file details of expenses related to the 2009 Lok Sabha polls he fought. He had won the polls from the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand. An order issued by the Commission had said that Koda "stands disqualified for three years" for "failing to lodge his account of election expenses in the manner required by the law and for having no good reason or justification for such failure". Koda had moved the Delhi High Court questioning EC's jurisdiction, but the poll panel was given a go ahead by the court to proceed against the politician. With inputs from PTI Gurgaon: The Haryana government has recommended cancellation of a recognition to Fortis Memorial and Research Institute (FMRI) hospital following the death of a seven-year-old dengue patient due to alleged medical negligence and allegations by her family that they were overcharged. The charges against the hospital were investigated by a government panel following which a letter in this regard was sent to the chairman of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABHHP). The panel in its report accused hospital authorities of removing Adya Singh from ventilators without alternative arrangements and sending her in an ordinary ambulance even though her condition was "very critical" at that stage. The letter was sent to the accreditation body's chairman by the Haryana director general of health services (DGHS) on 9 December, state government reports said. Besides, it was also been found by the panel that the hospital had overcharged by using expensive medicines. "The hospital could have used generic medicines for Adya's treatment instead of expensive allopathic medicines," the letter read. Besides, the DGHS in a letter to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has also sought that the hospital's land lease be cancelled as it had violated the terms and conditions of allotment. However, HUDA Administrator, Yashpal Yadav, said he had not received a official copy of the letter from the Haryana Health Department for cancellation of the hospital's land lease. "If we receive any order from the state government in this regard, we will act accordingly," he said. Join us on Saturday, February 10, 2018, in Tucson, Arizona, for the annual Astronomy Magazine Public Star Party. The event will be held at the East Campus of Pima Community College, 8181 East Irvington Road, Tucson, AZ 85709. Everyone is invited, and the event will crank up by noontime, with solar observing, provided with a few telescopes from a partner organization, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, one of the largest and most active clubs in the desert southwest. The real attraction, however, will begin in early evening, with nighttime observing. Observing will begin around 7 p.m. and last for several hours. The evening sky will feature views of numerous deep-sky objects in the winter Milky Way, with such showcase objects as the Orion Nebula, the Crab Nebula, the Pleiades, numerous bright star clusters, planetary nebulae, and a smattering of galaxies. Astronomy Magazine Editor David Eicher will be on hand to discuss astronomy with participants. The event is being hosted by Pima Community College, Astronomy Magazine, and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association. The star party will take place in and around the observatory buildings, easily visible by their white domes. For more information, see Astronomy.com, and for directions to the event, see https://www.pima.edu/maps-directions/ See you in Tucson!! After a heady day in court, Kausalya was surrounded by mikes and questions in her Udumalaipet home. Wearing a black polo T-shirt, she stepped out buoyantly, with strength in her voice and a swagger. "Today," she began, "today, my faith in the justice system has been restored." 12 December, 2017, will be a monumental day in the history of every honour killing judgment ever heard in the country. On 13 March 2016, a grainy CCTV footage emerged from a shop in Udumalaipet, a small town in Tirupur district near Coimbatore. Twenty-one-year-old Shankar and 19-year-old Kausalya, a couple who eloped after her parents had opposed to their inter-caste marriage, were out to buy clothes when men on motorbikes sped in front of them and hacked Shankar to death. On arrival at the Coimbatore Government Hospital, Shankar was pronounced dead. Shankar was a Dalit from Kumaralingam village in Udumalaipet. Kausalya is a Thevar, an OBC caste which is considered an "upper" caste in Tamil Nadu. Centuries of violent hatred between the two castes played out once again, ruining a woman's life. The two studied in the same college, and fell in love. After multiple instances of opposition (even leading to kidnapping by her family), Kausalya and Shankar got married at a temple in the town of Palani in July 2015. She began to live with Shankar and his father at their home in Udumalaipet. Life seemed to be getting better. But there was impending danger to even step out of their home because of two previous kidnapping attempts by Kausalyas family. It was not an easy life, but Kausalya and Shankar were willing to risk theirs. What happened in the court At the Tirupur district court, Judge Alamelu Natarajan presided at 10:30 am and called for accused, all eleven of them, to be produced in court. Kausalyas father Chinnasamy stepped forward and was asked if he knew the gravity of the charges against him. "I didnt do anything," Chinnasamy said. Not pleased by the response, the judge said, "How can you say you didnt do anything?" The focus shifted to Manikandan, another accused. I dont know anything, he said. All of you have made a big mistake, and all of you deserve the strictest punishment the law can give, the judge said. Kausalyas mother Annalakshmi broke down, and Chinnasamy consoled her. After the order of events and specifics of the case were narrated, the judge made a decision. Kausalya's father Chinnasamy, Selvakumar, Kalai Tamilvaanan, Manikandan, Madan alias Michael, Jegadeesan and another accused Manikandan were found guilty. The judge observed since there was no strong evidence against Kausalyas mother Annalakshmi, Kausalyas maternal uncle Pandithurai and another relative, who was a juvenile at the time of crime, the three were acquitted. At 12:50 pm came the sentencing. It was almost an hour later when the sentencing finally commenced. Special Prosecutor Shankar Narayanan and Tirupur Public Prosecutor Senthil Kumar took the floor. What do you have to say? the judge asked the accused. The accused uttered nothing. Ten minutes passed. The judge quietly handed in the judgment. A1 Kausalya's father Chinnasamy is sentenced to death. A4 Jegadeesan is sentenced to death. A5 Manikandan is sentenced to death. A6 Selvakumar is sentenced to death. A7 Kalai Tamilvaanan is sentenced to death. A8 Madan alias Michael is sentenced to death. A9 Stephen Dhanraj will serve a double life sentence. A11 Manikandan will serve 5 years rigorous imprisonment. The accused did not react. An uncomfortable silence filled and taunted the room. Many were baffled by the abnormal reaction of the accused steely eyes and zipped mouths to a judgment that would change everything. No tears were shed. The judge announced that a compensation of Rs 11.95 lakh would be evenly divided between Shankars father and Kausalya. Why is the judgment monumental? It is probably the second case in India where 6 death sentences were handed out in one stroke. The first case was that of Rajiv Gandhi assassination, which saw 28 death sentences. In the Jyoti Singh rape case, four were sentenced to death. The court's verdict could be first such conviction in a case of murder perpetrated due to caste-based discrimination. In 2011, Supreme Court for the first time lambasted the culture of honour killing. Two-member bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra pronounced this verdict on honour killings and said, "There is nothing honourable in honour killings, and they are nothing but barbaric and brutal murders by bigoted persons with feudal minds. It is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices, which are a slur on our nation." All trial courts and high courts were directed by the Supreme Court to treat such killings as the rarest of rare cases and award the death sentence to its perpetrators. The court felt this would act as a "deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour. Those who are planning to perpetuate honour killings should know that the gallows await them, it said. But this is not the first high profile instance of honour killing in the state of Tamil Nadu. The murder of engineer V Gokulraj in Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu hit the headlines in late June 2015. His death was preceded in an almost eerie symmetry by another alleged honour killing that of 19-year-old Ilavarasan in Dharmapuri in 2013. Gokulraj, a Dalit, was allegedly abducted and killed by casteist fanatics of the Kongu Vellala Gounder community, a backward caste (OBC) dominant in the western belt of Tamil Nadu. His body was found with a suicide note on the railway tracks stating that he had taken the extreme step due to a failed love affair. Gokulraj's family has insisted that there was no love affair with the girl in question and that they were merely friends. The accused, one Yuvaraj of Sankagiri, is currently in jail, pending completion of the trial which is being heard by a Namakkal court. Ilavarasan in 2013 had eloped with Divya. He was a Dalit and she an upper caste Vanniyar. Their marriage caused violent clashes in their village Natham Colony in Dharmapuri district. Ilavarasan, too, was found dead on the railway tracks at Dharmapuri. A suicide letter was recovered days later and the Madras High Court ordered that it was not a murder but a suicide. Activists though doubt this theory. In the wake of such brutal incidents, verdict in the Shankar case becomes crucial. Not only is it monumental for the precedent it has set, but it is also important to note that this is probably the first case in which a woman has testified against her own parents. After the verdict was pronounced, Kausalya went a step further. Addressing the media, she boldly stated that she would appeal against the acquittal of her mother, her uncle and her other relative. The deafening silence in Tamil Nadus political sphere It did not come as a surprise to political analysts that no political party issued a statement on this judgment. A possible reason could be the fear of antagonising the thevars, the dominant caste which Kausalya belongs to. Stalin Rajangam, a Dalit scholar, feels this is understandable. "Tamil Nadu has normally never taken a position in terms of any social issue that strongly involves caste. If they do say anything, they have to say it for the sake of it. But even there, they tread carefully," he said, adding, A few Dalit parties who can comment do not work on the ground well enough to do so. D Ravikumar of the Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi spoke to Firstpost and said, "It is a welcome judgment. I hope the prosecution will be just as strong when the appeal goes to the higher court." Professor C Lakshmanan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies says it is commendable of the judiciary not to allow a collusion of police and political parties to come in the way of the judgment. The political parties have not prevented the law from taking its own course, and they may also just not wish to share anything. It may not have anything to do with the Thevar community, he said. Lakshmanan also says that political parties must tread with maturity. In terms of the silence of Dalit parties, it is good in a way. The silence is an acceptance, because valourisation and celebration of the judgment will cause unnecessary disturbance to the dominant caste. The major concern here is not about antagonising the Thevar community, but antagonising the judicial system, he said. New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has ordered an Assamese television channel to go off air for three days and a Gujarati channel for a day for violating the cable television network rules. The Assamese channel had aired a news report on a ritual, wherein a man was seen tossing a newborn up and down in the air without a "shred of care and concern". The video, aired in June last year, was reportedly meant to expose a superstition prevalent in some parts of Assam, as per which it is believed that the dangerous practice of tossing a child up and down in the air would keep it safe. The ministry said the visuals were "extremely disturbing and not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition". However, the channel had claimed that by airing the "informational" video, it had tried to "educate the masses against such evil practices". "The Central government...orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of the...channel for three days on any platform throughout India with effect from 0001 hrs on 15.12.2017 till 0001 hrs on 18.12.2017," the order of the ministry read. In another order, the ministry asked a Gujarati channel to go off air for a day on 16 December. The Gujarati channel had telecast a news programme in March, in which a man was seen brutally beating up children. The order said the video of the incident, which the channel claimed took place in a Gujarat school, had started trending on the social media. However, following a subsequent investigation carried out by the channel, it had come to light that the video was of an incident that had taken place in an orphanage in Egypt. The order said it appeared that the channel had tried to "sensationalise the issue" in order to grab the attention of the viewers. Moreover, such visuals were not only in good taste, but also denigrated children by showing them being brutally tortured, it added. Both the channels were asked to go off air for violating the provisions of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, according to the orders. Buenos Aires: Ending hunger and ensuring food security should be the basis for negotiations on agriculture at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), eminent farm scientist MS Swaminathan said on Tuesday, as he appreciated India's strong stand on food security. As 164 member countries of the WTO brainstorm various issues, India has adopted a tough stand on agriculture, saying the absence of a permanent solution to the public stockholding of food would impact the credibility of the multilateral trading institution. In a series of tweets, Swaminathan said Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu "deserves gratitude" for indicating at the ongoing WTO ministerial meeting that there will be no compromise on food security. He said that in 1992, he had suggested there should be a livelihood and food security box which recognises that agriculture in many developing countries including India is not a commercial enterprise but the backbone of livelihood security of a large population. "This difference between commercial and livelihood should be kept in mind. WTO should recognise support to achieve SDG2: 'End hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture'. This should be the basis of negotiation in agriculture," he said. The renowned scientist, who is credited with bringing in green revolution in India, said WTO exists to promote free an fair trade. Prabhu, in his plenary address, had emphasised that WTO members must find a permanent solution to the public food stockpile issue as it was linked to survival of 800 million hungry people across the globe. Besides public stockholding, India is also engaged in several other areas like services, fisheries and e-commerce to ensure that outcomes are in tandem with India's stated position. Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir BJP spokesperson Virender Gupta on Tuesday accused the state government of "looting the money" provided by the Centre for the religious and linguistic minorities of the state. Countering the Jammu and Kashmir government's stand in the Supreme Court on setting up a minorities commission in the state, he also alleged the policy followed by the Mehbooba Mufti-led government amounted to "cheating the nation". The BJP is a coalition partner of the PDP in the Jammu and Kashmir government. The Jammu and Kashmir government, in an affidavit submitted in the apex court, had claimed that as per the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, it was not bound to constitute a state-level minorities commission. "The policy followed by the state government amounts to cheating the nation and looting money from Government of India, meant for the religious and linguistic minorities of the state," Gupta said. He added that Muslims accounted for about 68 percent of Jammu and Kashmir's population and thus, they could not avail of the benefits meant for the minority community. The Centre needed to issue clear-cut instructions to the state as regards providing the benefits to the "actual" minorities under its schemes and also, the prime minister's 12-point programme, Gupta said. He said the government's plea that it would consider the need and feasibility of setting up a state minority commission after a study of the social and educational backwardness of the minorities across various regions of Jammu and Kashmir was an "attempt to sidetrack" the issue. By Sharanya Gopinathan Russian writer, anarcha-feminist, wannabe-political assassin, teacher, jailbird and all-round rockstar Emma Goldman once said, If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution. I wish Goldman had been alive to see Monday mornings headlines about Muslim women dancing in Kerala, because I know shed have done a jig. It all began on 1 December, on the noble occasion of World AIDS Day. Three hijab-clad girls from Malappuram, Kerala began to be trolled for posting a video of themselves dancing to the comical Malayalam song, Jimikki Kammal, on a street as part of an AIDS awareness drive. It was hailed by trolls as the end of the world and likened to a tsunami (some of the responses were feigned shock that such a thing had even happened in conservative Malappuram), and several other folks chimed in to announce that the girls were an insult to Islam. One Doha-based gent, RJ Sooraj, bit off way more than he could chew when he jumped into the fray. On 2 December, he posted a video of himself confidently expressing his support for the girls and mocking the comments they received in a silly voice. He also called out the hypocrisy of those who would speak in favour of freedom for Hadiya while simultaneously denouncing this video of women dancing. Soon after, RJ Sooraj began to receive death threats and violent warnings that his radio station would be shut down, so he resurfaced on social media the next day to state that he had no communal agenda. And the day after that, 4 December, he quietly apologised to all his Muslim friends for his comments. In his apology, he added, A lot of young men from Kerala work in my radio station. If they were to lose their jobs because of the video I put up, that would hurt me. Good to know where the chips finally fall. Meanwhile, over the weekend, we saw women in Kerala supporting the Malappuram girls in the most exciting way. Social media saw a flurry of videos of Muslim girls dancing in public places, to the same song and others, in synchronised protest against the puerile reaction that the original video had spawned. And what a picture they painted. You see women dancing in different public spots in Kerala, holding back laughter as they dance to a ridiculous song about a runaway father and alcoholic mum with the grim determination of political zealots. Theyre surrounded by huge crowds, with some people holding up posters and chanting slogans. They seem quite aware, naturally, of how high the stakes are (one video is even shot in the exact same spot as the controversial original in Malappuram), and how many people are watching and recording them, but theyre still unable to ignore the absurdity and sheer fun of it all. You can also tell, by their precise movements and visible co-ordination, that theyve been practising this for a while. Isnt it kind of wonderful to think that so many women channeled their reactive anger at the chain of events last week into this purposeful dance? That all of last week, as we went about our lives, women all over Kerala were furiously practicing dancing to Jimikki Kammal, with all the fanaticism of college kids, as fierce protest against religious extremists? At first, I was so purely excited upon hearing about this, because really, what could be better than Malayali women taking to the streets in spontaneous political dance-protest? Except a little further digging revealed that it wasn't so spontaneous after all. The protests were organised by members of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)s youth wing. The same SFI thats been known to be involved in several instances of violence against rival party workers, and which frequently clashes with female heads of institutions over their various violent acts on campus. The party is by no means under-funded or apolitical. Does this complicate the idea of the protest itself? Definitely. Particularly with political protest, it becomes extremely important to follow the money, and to know what fronts political parties maintain through their more covert actions. Theres a huge difference between the significance of a spontaneous, organic protest, and one organised by an established political party, especially the youth wing of the party currently in power. But does it make you wish it never happened? Definitely not. Sure, the protest may not have been shorn of political overtones, but it was what it was. At those points of time, there were women dancing in defiance and sending a political message on the streets of Kerala. Thousands of people got to see the message that Malayali women wanted to send to those who told them not to dance. The videos will exist for posterity. Maybe someday, some child in the future will ask her grandmother why these women were dancing so seriously to such a silly song. Where was there a cheering crowd of protesters around them? And she will tell her the story all over again, of how women came together to dance in support of other woman, and the child will smile, and be inspired by and, possibly, a little alarmed at the passion of her ancestors. And that will be enough. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online women's magazine Islamabad: Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri on Wednesday dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, former vice-president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on 6 December. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed may have a clout that's even bigger than what he is accused of. It appears that leaders of disaffected groups abroad find it useful to appeal to the terrorist leader for help with their own issues at home. Media reports have indicated that Firdous Sheikh, president of the Rohingya Federation of Arakan (RFA), had attended a seminar organised by the Al-Khidmat Foundation of Pakistan with the Hazara University in Manshera in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. This seminar, and another later in Islamabad, were held in support of the Rohingya cause. This cannot be faulted in itself. Given their terrible plight, the Rohingya have every right to ask for help from whoever is offering any. However, asking declared terrorist leaders for assistance is something else and is unlikely to benefit the Rohingya cause worldwide. The RFA chief is reported to have met members of the LeT including Naveed Qamar, head of the banned group in Karachi, and Nurul Hussain, head of the Pakistan-based Rohingya Solidarity Organisation. Qamar is designated as a terrorist by the US state department, while the RSO has long been involved in liaising with extremist groups including the Hizbul Mujahideen and the religious Right, among them the Jamaat-e-Islami. However, ever since the LeT began supporting the Rohingya in 2010, these groups have tended to gravitate towards them as a source for funding and support. The picture gets even more complex. The Al Khidmat Foundation, which invited Sheikh to its seminar, is part of a network that includes the Jamaat-e-Islami as well as several educational fronts, including the Rural Education Foundation of Pakistan that manages 374 schools in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and counts the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) as among its sources of funding. The ICNA is a resource rich body made up largely of South Asians and is often at odds with the government. The head of Al Khidmat was earlier part of the ICNA. Wikileaks had quoted a US embassy telegram identifying Al Khidmat as one of the organisations involved in recruitment of Jihadi terrorists. The cable mentioned in sickening detail the ways in which such groups recruited and indoctrinated children from the poorest of the poor. The annual estimate of funds collected at the time was around a hundred million dollars. Now it appears that Al Khidmat is planning to form a coalition of groups to support the Rohingya, and its website is emblazoned with an appeal for donations. Again, this in itself is hardly a crime, since the desperate people of the Arakan need all the help they can get. The trouble is the organisation and its associates are part of a network that Jihadi groups command, and that the donations that they will get will undoubtedly be siphoned off for other activities. Furthermore, with an office in Cox's Bazar, there's also trouble ahead for Myanmar soon. Cox's Bazar is the jump off point for the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), which was designated as an alias of the LeT by the US state department. But that hasn't limited the activities of the organisation, which announced that its caravan reached Rakhine state with aid. It advertised the activities it undertook in Myanmar, and for obvious reasons. After all, its funds come from within the state and also from charitable organisations abroad. Though it has since been careful to edit its web content, the perorations of FIF's leaders reveal its highly extremist mindset, particularly against the US and India. Trouble for India If reports are to be believed, there's trouble ahead for India too. The Al Khidmat's proposed coalition to be called the Rohingya Task Force will concern itself with Rohingya everywhere, and that will certainly include India. There are reportedly around 40,000 Rohingya in India, according to a count which appears to have been done some years ago. As the conflict rages, more are coming in every day, brought in by human traffickers. They are also provided with fake identity cards by touts and agents, primarily in Guwahati and Kolkata. Needless to add, political organisations take advantage of the influx to ensure additional votes. West Bengal stands out in this regard, both due to its long and porous border, and for other, less savoury reasons. Fleeing Rohingya have also settled in some of the northeastern states like Mizoram, where they are being cared for by the local administration. No one really knows how many are present in other parts of the country. At one time, several hundreds had arrived in Delhi through the aegis of an unscrupulous building contractor. They were hustled out when the matter came to public notice. The decision to deport Rohingya by the Union government is being opposed by various sections of society, particularly given the fact that India has traditionally never turned away those in need. From a practical point of view, the sheer impossibility of tracing exactly where the Rohingya are is also likely to be a Herculean task, particularly if they have documentation that shows them as Indian nationals. But the trouble is not the Rohingya themselves. Those who have settled in India over the decades have shown themselves to be peaceable citizens with no tendency towards militancy. The problem arises from those who would like to change this mindset, with the LeT leading the charge. With their fronts already in conflict areas, there is no time to lose. India has to be seen to provide generous assistance to the Rohingya, even while making every move to ensure that they are able to return to their homelands safely and securely. This will be no diplomatic cake walk. But the alternative could be a Jihadi soup in the making in the wasted lands of the Arakan. A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and three others guilty in the coal scam case. The sentencing in the case is likely to take place on Thursday. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and one other guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had added. Who is Madhu Koda? Koda served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from 2006 to 2008. He was the third chief minister to hold the charge as an independent candidate. Koda started his political career with the All Jharkhand Students Union. In 2000, the Bharatiya Janata Party gave him the election ticket to contest Assembly elections from Jaganathpur. He won that election and soon after that he became the Panchayati Raj Minister under the then chief minister Babulal Marandi. In the year 2005, the party denied him a ticket to the state Assembly election, forcing him to contest as an independent candidate. He, however, won from Jaganathpur and extended support to the BJP-led government and got the post of minister of mines and geology. Koda and three other independent legislators withdrew support to the Munda government in 2006, and he became the chief minister with the help of UPA. It was under his reign that the alleged discrepancies in allocating coal mines took place. Koda was the head of the UPA government, which was supported by Congress, RJD and JMM, between 2006 and 2008 when according to the ED/CBI/IT the alleged scams surfaced. Koda resigned from the post of chief minister on on 23 August, 2008. He joined the Congress on 30 December, 2013, after he was released on bail. Among other things, he had been accused of involvement in money laundering, illegal investments, rural electrification and other scams. Koda is the son of a farmer. 'He should have remained a farmer but Koda dreamt big', says his bitter and distraught family . According to News18 , his father, Rasika Koda, who lives in Patahatu (Koda's birthplace) in West Singhbhum, feels that his "son's decision to join politics was a mistake". What is the coal mining scam? Investigative agencies had accused Koda of taking large sums of money as bribes for illegally allotting iron ore and coal mining contracts in Jharkhand during his tenure as chief minister of the state. Some estimates put Koda and his associates collection at over Rs 4,000 crore, garnered by allotting mines to business houses. On orders of Jharkhand High Court CBI is investigating the scam. According to a The Times of India report, some officials in the mines department of Jharkhand government claimed that Koda and his associates took bribes at the rate of Rs two lakh per hectare of land that had the potential for high-grade iron ore extraction. Koda was arrested by state police's vigilance wing on 30 November, 2009. On 31 July, 2013, he was released on bail from Birsa Munda Prison in Ranchi. According to Hindustan Times, a special money-laundering court in Delhi had attached Koda's properties worth Rs 144 crores in a disproportionate assets case against his alleged associates. It found that the properties were involved in the offence of laundering under the provisions of The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED). Other discrepancies According to a report in The Quint, the CBI has said that Koda had also favoured firms other than VISUL, like Rungta mines, Sunflag Iron and Steel Ltd and Electrosteel Castings. Koda was also allegedly involved in allocation irregularities of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to the Jindal group of firms. The CBI, in its chargesheet, has alleged that Jindal had leveraged support to the then "unstable" Koda government in Jharkhand in return for a recommendation for allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to his group firms, the report said. In September this year, the Election Commission had disqualified Koda from contesting elections for three years for failing to file details of expenses related to the 2009 Lok Sabha polls he fought. He had won the polls from the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand. An order issued by the Commission had said that Koda "stands disqualified for three years" for "failing to lodge his account of election expenses in the manner required by the law and for having no good reason or justification for such failure". Koda had moved the Delhi High Court questioning EC's jurisdiction, but the poll panel was given a go-ahead by the court to proceed against the politician. All the accused in the coal scam case were summoned early after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The sentencing in the case will take place on Thursday. During arguments, the CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on 8 January, 2007. It had said that although the Jharkhand government and the steel ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI had said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the coal ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had added. With inputs from PTI Around twenty-eight students of Balvikas Vidya Mandir School in Jogeshwari were hospitalised on Wednesday morning as they complained of stomach ache after consuming the midday meals served at the school, reported ANI. 28 students of Balvikas Vidya Mandir school in #Mumbai's Jogeshwari fall ill after consuming 'Khichdi' served at the school; All students admitted to Konkan hospital, all students out of danger. ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 As per the media reports, the students were served Khichdi under the midday meal scheme. However, after several students complained of severe stomach ache followed by vomiting, the school authorities had to rush the students to the hospital. According to a Mumbai Mirror report, the children were immediately admitted to the Kokan Hospital and were kept under observation for a few hours. They are expected to be discharged by late evening. The police too reached the spot to investigate the matter, the report added. Reacting to the news, school's trustee Sahadev Sawant said that a self-help group appointed by the (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) BMC had been providing midday meals to the school for the past two years. Sawant was quoted by The Times of India as saying, "We served the Khichdi to about 450 students but around 5 of them vomited. The others complained of uneasiness. So we rushed them to the hospital. The students have been kept under observation.The teachers taste the meal before serving it to students. We haven't had any complaints in the past," he added. When the then Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala attended the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, there was hope for a rejuvenation in bilateral ties. Such an optimism was also backed by Modi's aim to help India forge stronger ties with its neighbours. The debut of the "neighbourhood first" policy was spectacular by all measures. No other leader in the past had invited leaders of the SAARC nation to his/her swearing-in ceremony. The symbolic gesture helped Modi to hit the job running as far as foreign policy was concerned. However, three and a half years later, the "neighbourhood first" policy is now under scrutiny. Courtesy: Nepal. Communists rise to power As per latest news reports, the Left alliance CPN-UML and CPN Maoist have won an outright majority to form the next government after the democratically-struggling Nepal voted for a new parliament. According to the latest Election Commission of Nepal report, the Left alliance has won 116 out of the 165 directly-elected seats in the parliament. For the first time since the republic came into existence in 2008, the Communists command a clear majority. Given the historic antipathy of the Communists towards India, the election may end up being a watershed event in India-Nepal ties. And the reasons for it are not difficult to find. India's big brother attitude: 1950 to present Both Nepali Congress often considered pro-India and the Communists have decried the alleged "big brother" attitude of India. In geopolitics, "big brother" attitude is an oft-repeated allegation against regional powers. But Nepali politicians are not totally wrong too. Since the 1950s, India has treated Nepal as an extension of its own geographic reality, so much as those allegations of New Delhi's "intervention" in Kathmandu's domestic affairs have been raised at regular intervals. It was this anti-India sentiment which helped in the rise of the Maoists in Nepal, who waged a civil war between 1996 and 2006. The Nepali antipathy seemed to have hit the nadir in the last decade or so. During the popular uprising against the Shah monarchy, India remained a confused observer of the happenings. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran stated in his latest book How India sees the World that India first backed the Royal Nepal Army against the Maoists. However, sensing the change in the wind, India later backed a reconciliation between the mainstream parties and Maoist. But historical baggage attached to India as well as its own confused policy between 2001 and 2008 did not help matters for India. Downturn in ties under Modi Not that India under Modi did not start on a good note with Nepal. In August 2014, Modi was the first prime minister to visit Nepal in 17 years. The prime minister had also announced a $1 billion Line of Credit for the former Hindu kingdom. India's prompt response in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake was appreciated. However, the way Indian media presented the whole rescue effort as some kind of a "favour" bolstered the local antipathy towards Nepal. A democratic Nepal felicitated the rise of China in Nepal. For a country long under the intimidating shadows of India, China came as a saviour. As per a Hindustan Times report, China has invested about $8 billion in 2017. In the last 11 years, China's bilateral trade with Nepal has grown 17 times faster than India's. In 2014, the year Modi took power, China surpassed India as the biggest foreign investor in Nepal. If economic ties are any mark of diplomatic trajectory, then India seems to have already lost the plot. To make matters worse, India enforced a blockade on the India-Nepal border, unhappy over the new constitution which it believed did not do justice to the people of the Terai plains. In this case too, India played into the hands of anti-India forces in Nepal and reinforced the "big brother" argument in the hill state. Moreover, the Nepalis were reminded of the 1987 blockade, which was a result of India's strategic insecurity vis-a-vis China. Such was the impact of the long-drawn blockade that even KP Sharma Oli, reported by the media to be India-friendly, turned towards China. "It is unthinkable that a sovereign nation faces such an inhumane and severe pain, misery and blockade in the 21st century for having a Constitution with progressive, pro-people and democratic contents through an elected Constituent Assembly with people's overwhelming participation and democratic franchise," Oli said in a televised address in November 2015. With such an acrimonious downturn in the last two years, the recent results come as no surprise. A China-backed Oli is all set to bolster China's footprint in Nepal, all at the cost of India. Can we hope for a better future? Of all the countries that India shares a border, it is perhaps Nepal, with whom it shares a very close relationship. Given such "brotherly" ties, the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship came as no surprise. Much to the credit of both the countries, the treaty has stood the test of times despite occasional upheavals. But that novelty that India has been enjoying may soon end if India does not do the necessary course correction. In his latest book, Saran, a former ambassador to Nepal, stressed upon the need for India to give open access to its ports and transportation network to Nepal. According to him, this may help create "positive inter-dependency" between each other. In the post-blockade era, Saran's idea seems to be a repentance for what India did in 2015. But will that help resurrect the relationship is yet to be seen. One thing about Charles Cella and his most accomplished racehorse, Northern Spur: They both loved running on wet tracks. Northern Spur won the 1995 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) for Cella and trainer Ron McAnally over a boggy grass course in New York. Cella, who died Dec. 6 at 81, never met a party he didn't like, and he himself threw some corkers, replete with orchestras and free-flowing refreshments. The racing world celebrates Cella for his stewardship of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., which he took over in 1968 upon the death of his father and built up to a premier winter destination for equines and humans alike. After trying and failing to bring casino gambling to the facility, Cella's embrace of Instant Racing became a touchstone of Oaklawn's success and a model for other jurisdictions, none more important than Kentucky. His friends celebrate Cella for all the good times he provided and shared with them. McAnally and Keeneland chairman emeritus Ted Bassett were two of his closest running mates. "I called him on Thanksgiving, which I did every year," said McAnally, "and we went down memory lane reliving all the good times we've had." Added Bassett, "We pulled a lot of charades on other people, but he was susceptible to the gags, too." After McAnally purchased Argentine classic winner Fanatic Boy for Cella, the horse was in the midst of being imported to the United States. Bassett, employing a Spanish accent, called Cella on the phone. "I told him I was a customs officer and that the peso had changed in valuation," Bassett said, laughing. "And Charlie was like, Who the hell is this? So what?' I told him he hadn't paid the correct export fee and No peso, no horse.' Charlie proceeded to call Ron and chew his ass out." McAnally recalled that Marylou Whitney used to stay at Cella's home in Hot Springs when she came to the races there. One day Bassett called Alonzo, who had worked in Cella's home for decades, and told him he was a locksmith in Hot Springs, and that Cella had called him to come change the locks in his house because Marylou had been sleepwalking and coming into Cella's bedroom. When Cella returned from the races that night, he couldn't get into his home. "I have that Breeders' Cup trophy from Northern Spur right in front of a picture of four cowboys on the loose and shooting up the town," McAnally said. "It's called Cowboys Coming Through the Rye,' and I thought it was fitting to put it next to the trophy won by Charlie Cella's horse." One Fourth of July, McAnally remembered having dinner with Cella and a handful of friends whom Cella had flown to New York for the occasion. They were in Peter Luger's steakhouse in the city. "Charlie says, C'mon boys, everybody hold hands and stand up and we'll sing God Bless America.' So we stood up and started singing, and everyone in the place-and it was packed-got up and started singing along, too. "So when we won that Breeders' Cup Turf, Bassett, who was president of the organization, was supposed to present the trophy for the following race, but he decided on the spur of the moment he'd present the one to Charlie instead. And the two of them started singing God Bless America' again in the winner's circle. So many good times we had together." Bassett described his friend as "undaunted, unbridled, and unwavering in his quest to act in the best interests and proven traditions of racing." Added McAnally, "He was one of the finest people I've ever known." New Delhi: A Delhi High Court judge on Wednesday recused herself from hearing a plea by Vishal Yadav, serving life-term in the Nitish Katara murder case, seeking three-month parole to sell his property to arrange funds for his daughter's education. When the matter came up before Justice Mukta Gupta, she said the case be listed before another bench on 15 December. The judge did not give any reason for her recusal. The matter was listed before this bench after the transfer of the previous judge who had asked the Delhi Police to file a status report after full verification of the facts. The court had also sought response of Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish, on the plea and said that the notice be also served to witness Ajay Katara to present his case. Yadav, in his plea, has said he was in custody and could not challenge the December 2014 order of the high court by which his appeal was dismissed in the murder case and sought a three-month parole to engage a lawyer and make other arrangements to exercise his legal and constitutional rights. He has claimed there was no one else to look after his daughter, studying in Class X, for her education and that he has to dispose of his property in Ghaziabad's Vaishali to arrange for funds for her studies and his litigation. He also wished to meet his grandmother who was in an advanced stage of life, the plea said. On 29 August, the Supreme Court had dismissed his plea seeking review of its verdict sending him to prison for 25 years. Besides Vishal Yadav, the apex court had awarded a 25-year jail term to his cousin Vikas Yadav and 20 years in prison for third convict Sukhdev Pehalwan in the case. The top court had earlier dismissed the appeals against their conviction in the case for the kidnapping of Katara from a marriage party on the intervening night of 16-17 February, 2002 before killing him for his alleged affair with Bharti Yadav, the sister of Vikas Yadav. Bharti is the daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav who is in jail in connection with a murder case. Katara was murdered as Vishal and Vikas Yadav did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the lower court had said. Over two months after 23 people were killed in a stampede at Mumbai's Elphinstone Road station on 29 September, railway officials are yet to receive the technical designs for the three planned foot-over bridges (FOBs) at suburban stations. According to The Indian Express, while the army has been tasked with making the FOBs, it has not yet submitted the corrected technical designs for the same. Railway officials have said that the army could miss its deadline of constructing the FOBs by 31 January. However, senior officials from the army said the designs will be submitted soon. In November, the army had sent the designs to the railways, according to The Times of India. But The Indian Express report said that railway officials had pointed out technical errors in the designs and sent them back to the army. The army engineers had begun piling and foundation work for FOBs at Elphinstone Road on the Western Railway, and Currey Road and Ambivli on the Central Railway after obtaining necessary approvals from the transport PSU. After the stampede on 29 September, railway officials posted police personnel to manage the crowd on busy platforms, evicted hawkers from suburban train stations and started speeding up infrastructure projects on the suburban network. Five teams of the Western Railway, which conducted an audit of facilities at suburban stations in and around Mumbai, had also suggested construction of a number of FOBs. The multidisciplinary teams, set up in the wake of the Elphinstone Road station stampede, had also suggested a slew of steps to improve rail infrastructure and provide better amenities to suburban passengers, including setting up more CCTV cameras. With inputs from PTI Islamabad/The Hague: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India's plea for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter-memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the chargesheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on 3 March last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on 25 December. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. Mansa: Veerpal Kaur, 33, a resident of Tamkot village in Punjab's Mansa district, doesn't want her children to discuss her husband's death. "I normally avoid using words like 'debt' and 'suicide' in front of my two kids," she says. In 2015, her husband Jeet Singh, then 35, committed suicide after consuming celphose, a common weedicide. He had inherited a debt of more than Rs four lakh from his father, who had taken his life in 2000. And now, in a continuation of this grim legacy, his children have inherited the debt. The family now owns about 1.75 acre of land and leases it out for farming every year. "The only thing I know is that my dad was found dead in the field," says Jashanpreet Singh, 16. His sister Pushpinder Kaur, 17, is partly paralysed. In Mansa, hundreds of families have minors who have inherited the debt of their deceased fathers. Though the state government's compensation policy promises Rs three lakh to the families of farmers who commit suicide, Veerpal is yet to receive any financial assistance. Farmers in the Malwa belt of Punjab, where Mansa lies, have borne the brunt of debt-induced stress for the past two decades. Punjab has been the success story of Indian agriculture since the Green Revolution of the 1960s, but it has come at a price. As noted economist Gursharan Singh Kainth writes: "The newly introduced farming system has increased costs of production, which in turn, has led to the indebtedness and the disturbance of the harmony within farmers themselves. We can draw a lesson from these suicides as these acts are showing us that the agricultural system that had been introduced as part of a development project has failed, especially for the weaker parts of Indian society, ie agricultural labourers, marginal and small farmers." Kaur, 17, from Kot Dharmu village in Mansa, has an identical story to share. Struggling with an inherited loan of Rs 35,000, her father ended his life in 2013. "I never knew the reason behind my father's tragic death," she says. Now, her family, including her mother, grandmother and younger brother Jagseer Singh, who has special needs, are in constant fear of the recovery notices from the banks. "We have burnt several copies of the bank notice out of sheer frustration and helplessness," says her grandmother, Surjit Kaur. In many cases, farmers have ended their lives days before their court appearance in a debt-recovery case. Sikandar Singh, 12, from Bahadarpur village in Mansa, has also inherited his family's debt. The class eight student dropped out of school after losing both parents in 2015, when his father committed suicide and mother died in an accident. But he was able to resume studies after other villagers extended financial support. "When I see children of my age visiting fields or fairs with their parents, I miss mine the most," says Sikandar, who now lives with his uncle and aunt. In March 2017, banks in Punjab had outstanding crop loans of Rs 59,621 crore. The government estimates that its compensation policy, which has been revised thrice in the last three years, is sufficient to provide relief to about 10.25 lakh farmers. Yet, most of the suicide-hit families complain that their claims have been rejected by a district-level review committee consisting of the deputy commissioner, senior superintendent of police, chief medical officer and sarpanch of the village. The committee scrutinises suicide claims based on documentary evidence such as the FIR, postmortem report, evidence of loan and other supporting documents. Out of 500 cases of suicide received by the Mansa district committee between July 2015 and November 2017, 101 cases have been approved and 70 families have received compensation. In most of the cases that were rejected, the family failed to provide loan documents or a copy of the FIR. "Most rejections happened because the families could not establish the fact that the victim was a debt-ridden farmer. The committee even found that some families were calling natural deaths suicides for the sake of compensation," said a committee member, seeking anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media. The departments of agriculture and revenue require officials to work with such distressed families for at least a year in order to bring them out of misery. However, suicide-hit families have often complained about not being attended to by any government officials. "We were clueless after my father committed suicide. Nobody from either the district administration or any political party ever came to help or guide us," said Kirandeep Kaur, who received some monetary assistance from non-resident Punjabis. But she was, in fact, one of the lucky ones because such external help is rare. Inspired by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar's initiative to help families of martyrs from the armed forces, IAS officer Sanyam Aggarwal, now commissioner of the Bathinda municipal corporation, had planned to seek help for families of farmers who had committed suicide due to the debt crisis. Earlier this year, while he was posted to Mansa as assistant district collector, Aggarwal had created a Facebook page titled 'Debt-free Mansa, Debt-free Punjab', to raise financial help for the tragedy-hit families. But hours after he shared his plans with the media, he was transferred to Bathinda and the project collapsed. The Facebook page no longer exists. The trauma that comes from losing a parent to indebtedness, coupled with the tortuous process of securing compensation, leaves surviving family members deeply scarred, more so when the young inherit the debt. Jiwan Singh, a farmer who also reports for a Punjabi daily in Mansa and is a member of the Bharat Kisan Union Krantikari, said children who inherit debt should be given proper psychiatric counselling to ensure that they don't become averse to farming. "We have observed a trend that several well-to-do individuals settled outside Punjab have returned to their hometowns to take up farming as a profession. Meanwhile, our kids are inheriting debt and stress," Singh observes. The author is a Rohtak-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. An American science channel on Tuesday restarted the debate on the Ram Setu, saying that there exists evidence suggesting that the bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka was man-made not natural. Science Channel, as part of a promo for an upcoming show titled What on Earth, has interviewed an archaeologist who says, "The rocks on top of the sand actually pre-date the sand. So there is more to the story." This adds credence to the Hindu mythological text in the Ramayana which claims that the Ram Setu bridge was constructed under the guidance of Lord Rama. The bridge currently connects Pamban island in India's Tamil Nadu state with Sri Lanka's Mannar island (which was man-made). Are the ancient Hindu myths of a land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka true? Scientific analysis suggests they are. #WhatonEarth pic.twitter.com/EKcoGzlEET Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 11, 2017 All of this hints that while the sand formation was natural, the rocks (that are said to be 7,000 years old) have been placed there. The Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is wrapped in mystery and mythology. As mentioned in a Hindustan Times report, it's a series of limestone shoals bridging the 30-kilometre gap between India and Sri Lanka across the Gulf of Munnar. Raging debate over Ram Setu There are different views on the history and legacy of the Ram Setu. One version says that there was a legitimate land connection between India and Sri Lanka during the Ice Age, while another has said that Sri Lanka was part of the mainland Indian sub-continent, and broke away about 1,25,000 years ago. Hindu mythology has it that followers of Lord Rama built the bridge to felicitate the rescue of his kidnapped wife Sita. A report by News18 said that the depth of the sea in this stretch varies between three feet and 30 feet. In 2008, the then Congress-led central government told the Supreme Court that there exists no bridge between India and Sri Lanka, and that if Lord Ram built one, he must have also destroyed it later. As reported by The Times of India in July 2008, the Centre acquiesced with ally DMK's position in the Sethusamudram case. "There is no bridge. It was not a man-made structure. It may be a superman-made structure, but the same superman had destroyed it. That is why for centuries nobody mentioned anything about it. It (Ram Setu) has become an object of worship only recently," the government had said, as per the report. Sethusamudram shipping canal project It acquired political prominence when the Indian government planned the Sethusamudram shipping canal project, meant to create a shipping route through the Gulf of Munnar. Ships that currently sail from the West coast of India bound for the eastern hemisphere currently have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka because the Gulf of Munnar is shallow and cannot be used by ships. The Sethusamudram project aims to reduce the distance the ships have to travel. The News18 report said that this would reduce the distance between India's west and east coasts by about 350 nautical miles, saving about 10-30 hours of sailing time. A bridge would also add to India's exchequer through shipping fees, it was felt. However, doing so would damage the Adam's Bridge section of the maritime border between India and Sri Lanka. The matter reached the Supreme Court, with several petitions challenging the government's plan of dredging the Ram Setu to construct its shipping channel. To resolve this dispute, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) was tasked with researching if the chain of islands were man-made or historic, said a report on The Telegraph. The BJP, which was in the Opposition at the time the project was first conceived, had been opposing it citing people's beliefs that Lord Ram created the path to reach Lanka to rescue Sita and that the islets should be protected. In March this year, ICHR chairman Y Sudershan Rao said their research could influence the government's plans for the future of the Sethusamudram project. "We will look for material confirmation on whether it was a natural phenomenon or some human efforts were there," Rao was quoted as saying in the report. The problem, however, Rao said, is that there was a "dark period" in history between 4th Millennium BC and the 1st Millennium BC, and that they were trying to analyse this period in greater depth. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre for "not even bothering about" its orders on extradition matters and questioned the government's will in getting persons evading law back from foreign countries. The remarks were made by the top court in the matter relating to extradition of a businesswoman, who is facing criminal trial in India but was allowed to travel to London on apex court's direction in January, 2016. The apex court had earlier forfeited Rs 86 lakh deposited by her as security and directed for revoking of her passport as well as initiated contempt proceedings against her. "What is this attitude? You don't even bother about the orders of the Supreme Court. We have been virtually extending threats to the officers in the Ministry of External Affairs but you still don't act," a bench of justices Arun Mishra and MM Shantanagoudar said. The top court said that "somebody has ran away from the country but the government isn't doing anything about it". It asked Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh and senior advocate V Mohana: "We have been issuing orders in this case for last eight months but you have done nothing. You should tell us what is going on and why are you (Centre) not acting?" The bench even expressed its annoyance over different government lawyers on different dates in the matter and said "We think we will now call the secretaries in the MEA. They will be called to court to explain. That seems to be the only way forward now." The bench posted the matter for further hearing after the ASG assured it of taking instructions on the issue. The court directed the ASG that all formalities relating to the extradition of the woman be completed by then. Ritika Awasty, a promoter of Bush Foods Overseas Pvt Ltd, is facing criminal trial in Uttar Pradesh on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust. She had challenged the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash FIR lodged against her but was granted bail and allowed to travel abroad by the apex court on an undertaking for looking after her husband and daughter in London. She had given an undertaking to return to India by 31 March, but she did not. The court further extended her stay in London on her request till 31 May, but she again did not return. This compelled the top court to initiate contempt proceedings against her and revoking of her passport. On 12 September, the Centre and Uttar Pradesh had said that they have agreed that State shall initiate procedure relating to extradition and they are in agreement that Uttar Pradesh will take effect steps within three weeks. The court directed the Centre to take appropriate steps within two weeks thereafter, for extradition with the Crown Prosecution Services and sought details of her properties in India. Earlier, the top court had asked Awasty to furnish her current address in the UK by the next date of hearing and the state had assured the court appropriate steps for extradition of the woman will be taken. The apex court had also asked the Centre to file the income tax returns of Awasty and of her husband. On 29 August, 2016, the apex court had said that it is "prima facie satisfied" that Awasty has "committed contempt of this court by breaching the directions issued by the court, as also, violating the undertaking given to this court". It had issued notice to Awasty to show cause why contempt proceedings be not initiated against her. The top court said that "in order to ensure, that the petitioner does not flee from justice, we consider it just and appropriate, to direct the passport authority concerned to revoke the passport issued to the petitioner forthwith". It had said that the Indian High Commissioner at London, shall initiate action for the return of Awasty to India, so as to face the judicial process, which is pending consideration before the apex court. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to convene a meeting of directors general or inspectors general of prisons of all states and union territories to discuss the feasibility of establishing open jails across the country. Semi-open prison or open prison allows convicts to work outside the premises of the jail and earn a livelihood and return in the evening. The concept was brought in to assimilate the convicts with the society and reduce their psychological pressure as they face lack of confidence in leading normal lives outside. The apex court asked the MHA to send a communication to all the states and UTs for their response on whether they were willing to set up open jails and how they would manage them. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said the concerned authorities of states and UTs would give their response to the MHA within four weeks after which a meeting be held in the first week of February to discuss the issue. During the hearing, an advocate, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, said there were 63 open prisons in the country as of now housing around 6,000 inmates. The bench also observed that the concept of open prison could reduce the problem of overcrowding in the jails. "We would like the MHA to study this," it said. Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that it was primarily for the states to look into this aspect and the Centre could lay down a guideline for it. When the bench was informed about the open jail system in Rajasthan, Venugopal said it could be helpful for other states also. At the outset, the Attorney General told the court about the meeting by the MHA with the inspector generals of prisons and said several issues were discussed with an objective to improve the situation in jails. "So far as MHA is concerned, it has carried out what the Supreme Court wanted it to do. Now, it is for the states to implement it," Venugopal said. During the hearing, the bench asked the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to put on its website the standard operating procedure, aimed at making the functioning of undertrial review committees (UTRCs) more efficient to elicit public comments to improve it. A UTRC, set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrial prisoners and convicts who have undergone their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail due to bail or remission granted to them. The bench would hear on 21 February the matter relating to inhuman conditions prevailing in 1,382 prisons across the country. It had earlier expressed shock at the large number of people languishing in jails in "complete violation" of their rights despite recommendations for their release by the legal services authority and termed the situation as unacceptable. On 15 September, the court had also passed an order on the issue of custodial deaths and said this was a crime and such incidents indicated the "apparent disdain" of the State to the life and liberty of prisoners. It had also passed a slew of directions over unnatural deaths and on prison reforms across India. Patna: Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday called upon political parties and progressive Muslims to come out in support of the draft bill banning triple talaq and containing provisions for providing assistance to women affected by the practice. "Governments, whether at the Centre or in the states, ought not to interfere in religious matters as far as beliefs and rituals are concerned. But intervention becomes necessary when it comes to social evils like untouchability, dowry, child marriage, and triple talaq", Modi said at a meeting of the BJP's minorities front. "There are some people who oppose any type of social reform. Even the ban on the brutal practice of Sati was met with Opposition. Triple talaq has nothing to do with religion. It is a gross injustice meted out to women", he said. "The Supreme Court had declared triple talaq as unconstitutional in its judgment dated 22 August. A draft bill proposing a ban on the practice and rehabilitation of women affected by it is likely to be brought in the upcoming session of the Parliament. All political parties, besides progressive Muslims, should support it", he added. In a veiled attack on the Congress, the BJP leader said "the Supreme Court had given a historic ruling in the Shah Bano case 31 years ago. But the same was overturned by the Rajiv Gandhi government, much to the detriment of divorced Muslim women". The deputy chief minister also highlighted measures taken by the Bihar government for the welfare of Muslims like raising financial assistance for divorced women from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, scholarships to meritorious madrasa students, equipping madrasas with computers, toilets, libraries etc. and removing encroachments from Wakf land. Hyderabad: A Telangana BJP leader said he foresees the Lok Sabha polls, due in 2019, being advanced to August-September next year as his party pursues its agenda to have simultaneous elections to Parliament and Assemblies. Krishna Saagar Rao, the spokesperson of the Telangana BJP, said he expects a bill on simultaneous elections to be passed in Parliament in the next session or the one coming thereafter. "I foresee general elections being advanced to August-September 2018. I am not stating it as a spokesperson. It's not an official (party) stand, but as an analyst I am foreseeing simultaneous elections bill to be passed either in this session or next session," he said. "The Act will ensure there will be two rounds (of simultaneous elections initially)," he said. He said he expects Assembly elections, due next year and in 2019, to be clubbed together and held along with the general elections in August-September 2018. The polls to remaining states would be held simultaneously two years later. "Then, when general elections come, the entire country will go to polls (both Lok Sabha and Assembly) at one go," Rao claimed. "I do see (Prime Minister) Narendra Modiji's prime agenda after this (Gujarat) elections will be simultaneous polls Act. He has made no secret of simultaneous elections being on the agenda," the BJP leader told PTI. Rao said BJP's focus is going to shift to the South Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu saying these four states are "critical" for his party electorally. "Focus on south is essential. North is completely in our control as we see it as a party in terms of going for general elections at any given point of time, but we need to get a grip on these southern states," he added. Agartala: The Tripura High Court has issued separate notices to the state government, the Centre and the CBI seeking a reply as to why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the killing of TV journalist Shantanu Bhowmik. The journalist was hacked to death on 20 September last when he went to Mandai in West Tripura district to cover a protest by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT). The writ petition filed by the journalist's father Sadhan Bhowmik, seeking a CBI probe, came up for hearing on Tuesday. A division bench comprising Chief Justice T Vaiphei and Justice S Talapatra served the notices after studying the submission of advocate Samrat Kar Bhowmik, who represented the petitioner. Tripura Advocate General Bijan Chandra Das said the court had issued notice to all the three parties. The petition will be again heard on 20 December, he said. The journalists father had filed the case on 7 December last. Earlier he had expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the state government. Changes to the states gaming law have local officials working to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to decide whether they should opt out of allowing casinos in their municipalities. Signed by Gov. Tom Wolf on Oct. 30, Act 42 gives officials until the end of the year to pass a resolution informing the gaming control board that the municipality wishes to prohibit the siting of a Category 4, or mini, casino in its municipality. These casinos would have a minimum of 300 to a maximum of 750 slot machines, and could include up to 40 table games. Act 42 states that the auction for up to 10 licenses for such casinos will start no later than Jan. 15, and finish by July 31. Carlisle Borough Council will take up the question at its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the borough hall, 53 W. South St. At its workshop meeting last week, the council asked borough staff to draft a resolution prohibiting minicasinos. It also asked for potential zoning options for casinos that the council could use as a reference tool in making a decision on the resolution. If you dont take action, then these minicasinos would be technically permitted in our jurisdiction, Borough Manager Matt Candland said. Casino impact Assistant Borough Manager Susan Armstrong suggested the council approve the resolution to meet the Dec. 31 deadline, noting that municipalities have the option to rescind the resolution after that date. This would give the borough more time to analyze potential economic and social impacts of allowing minicasinos. The risk to that plan is that the borough could be out of the loop for the auctions before the council would have a chance to rescind the resolution, Councilman Sean Crampsie said. Submitting a resolution would send the message to the casinos that they are not wanted, even if that resolution were later rescinded. He suggested that the council look at the question as a zoning issue in which there would be a process before the public to decide where a casino should be located if an operator is interested in Carlisle. Our location, to be honest, is a pretty good location for any casino looking at it, Crampsie said. One reason is that the borough sits near a cut-off zone included in the legislation. Competitors of the operators of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course may not open a minicasino within 25 linear miles. Within that 25-mile zone, only Hollywood Casino could open a location. The dividing line creates an arc roughly from just west of the intersection of Bernheisel Bridge Road and Sunnyside Drive to the north to the York County line between Williams Grove and Dillsburg to the south. To the east of that line, Hollywood Casino is the only potential operator. To the west, its any operators game. Opposition Deb Fulham-Winston voiced her opposition to the casinos, calling them a form of regressive taxation and questioning how much income a casino could generate given the close proximity of Hollywood Casino. Slot machines at such casinos are subject to a 50 percent tax, of which 2 percent goes to the municipality in which it is located. Councilman Sean Shultz said the borough also needs to consider the organizations in town, such as fire companies and nonprofits, that use games of chance for fundraising and the effect a nearby casino might have. Councilwoman Robin Guido called for more information about the casinos and zoning options before making a decision, but suggested a minicasino may not be as detrimental as another warehouse. Without further research and more information, I almost think Id rather have a casino or minicasino than a warehouse at this point, she said. In addition to Carlisle, other local municipalities plan to discuss the issue at meetings this week. Wormleysburg considered a resolution at its Tuesday meeting. Silver Spring Township supervisors will discuss the resolution at its Wednesday meeting. Monroe Township and South Middleton Township officials will tackle the issue on Thursday. Whos out As of the Dec. 11 posting by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the following Cumberland County municipalities had opted out of allowing such casinos: Cooke Township, Dickinson Township, Hampden Township, Mechanicsburg, Newburg, Newville, North Newton Township and Penn Township. The Mount Holly Springs council voted against allowing a minicasino on Monday night. According to their respective websites, New Cumberland and Upper Allen Township were slated to discuss the resolution on Dec. 6, and Shippensburg did the same on Dec. 5. Further information was not available. The remaining municipalities in the county do not have information on the issue posted on their websites. Washington: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the US embassy in Israel was unlikely to move to Jerusalem before 2020. "It's not going to be anything that happens right away," Tillerson said in a speech at the State Department on Tuesday. "Probably no earlier than three years out, and that's pretty ambitious." US President Donald Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the Israeli capital last week but he nevertheless signed a national security waiver which will allow him to delay the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv for an additional six months. Administration officials said there were functional and logistical reasons the US cannot open a new embassy any time in the near future, The New York Times reported. Speaking of the moving of the US embassy, Trump had said the State Department will immediately begin to hire architects and engineers so as to make the new embassy "a magnificent tribute to peace" when completed. Trump's decision, which was seen as undermining the West Asia peace process and further destabilizing the region, has drawn condemnation and opposition globally. Tillerson also spoke about North Korea at a policy forum in Washington. He said the US was ready to open nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea without preconditions, CNN reported. "We've said from the diplomatic side, we're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk," Tillerson said, in what amounted to a direct public invitation for Pyongyang to put aside an escalating cycle of tests and taunts and engage in diplomacy. "Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want and talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about. "Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," the US Secretary of State said. But he insisted that there needed to be a "period of quiet" first, without any nuclear or missile tests. He added that economic and diplomatic sanctions would continue until "the first bomb drops", and Trump still wanted China Pyongyang's main economic ally to cut off oil supplies to North Korea. Tillerson said China had made contingency plans to accommodate North Korean refugees in the event of a conflict. Meanwhile, North Korean state media on Wednesday said Kim Jong-un had vowed his country would become "the strongest nuclear and military power in the world". Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crimes in the state. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Winter Session of the state legislature, which commences in Lucknow on Thursday. The Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was approved at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow, the state government spokesperson and Power minister Shrikant Sharma told mediapersons after the meeting. "The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia, goonda activities and disturbing peace insociety are identified and a special drive is launched against them...the bill is being brought with this purpose in mind," Sharma said. The draft of the proposed legislation has been prepared in consultation with the law department for effective check on organised crime, mafia and white collared crimes, he said. New Delhi: At least 12 special courts would be set up to decide cases involving politicians as accused, the Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court. It also sought more time to collect and collate data of pending cases against lawmakers across the country. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in an affidavit filed in pursuance of an order asking it to come up with a scheme to set up special courts to deal with cases involving lawmakers, said it has allotted Rs 7.8 crore for the purpose. Seeking time to file details of cases pending against the lawmakers in trial courts and high courts across the country, the Centre said information has been sought from various high courts, but their responses were still awaited. The document, filed through Reeta Vasishta, additional secretary of ministry of law and justice, said that as per the scheme, "Twelve special courts for a period of one year" shall be set up to dispose of cases against politicians. It said this scheme was given in-principle approval by the Ministry of Finance on 8 December. The apex court had on 1 November directed the Centre to place before it details regarding 1,581 cases involving MPs and MLAs, as declared by the politicians at the time of filing their nominations during the 2014 general elections. It had asked the government to apprise it of how many among these 1,581 cases have been disposed of within one year and how many have ended either in conviction or acquittal. The government's affidavit has said that the figure of 1,581 cases has been obtained from an NGO but the data as to in which courts these cases are pending is not available. "It is difficult to gather the facts and figures required for the purpose of answering the queries mentioned in the order of the court. "Since the states in which these cases are pending is available, the ministry has initiated action by seeking to collect the requisite details from the respective state governments," the affidavit said. The Centre had earlier told the top court that decriminalisation of politics has to be done and it was not averse to the setting up of special courts to deal with cases involving politicians and speedy disposal of these matters. It had informed the bench that the recommendations of the Election Commission and the Law Commission favouring life-time disqualification of politicians convicted in criminal cases was under the active consideration of the government. The EC had supported the plea seeking life ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases and said they have already made recommendations on this to the Centre. The top court was hearing petitions seeking to declare the provisions of the Representation of People (RP) Act, which bar convicted politician from contesting elections for six years after serving jail term, as ultra vires of the Constitution. While Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay filed a PIL in the matter, several others have come to the apex court as intervenors. The apex court had on 12 July pulled up the ECI for not taking a clear stand on a plea seeking barring of convicted politicians for life. The Centre, in its affidavit, had said the prayer sought by the petitioner seeking life-time bar on convicted lawmakers was not maintainable and the plea should be dismissed. The petition had also sought a direction to the Centre and the EC to fix minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for persons contesting polls. Lahore/Islamabad: Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on Wednesday expressed anguish for being unnecessarily dragged into Indian politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that even the word 'Gujarat' was not mentioned by anyone at a private dinner in New Delhi. Kasuri, who was last week hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar in New Delhi, suddenly found himself at the center of controversy after Prime Minister Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence Gujarat elections. Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi claimed some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met at Aiyar's house over dinner on 6 December. In an exclusive interview with PTI, Kasuri expressed anguish for being unnecessarily "dragged" into Indian politics, when none of the India-Pakistan domestic issues came up for discussion at the dinner. "Let me tell you that no discussion whatsoever took place about the internal politics of India or Pakistan. Even the word 'Gujarat' was not mentioned by any participant of the meeting during the discussion," Kasuri asserted. "I am surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics - surprised because of the nature of the allegations and apparently anti-Pakistani sloganeering can perhaps still garner votes in India." To a question as to why Modi alleged Pakistani interference in Gujarat elections, Kasuri said: "...this is most unfortunate as India is a mature democracy. In Pakistan on the other hand, during our election campaigns, Indian is never mentioned." Sharing the guest list at the dinner, Kasuri said former premier Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, former minister K Natwar Singh, Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood, some former Indian higher commissioner to Islamabad, defence analysts and well-known journalists were also present. "Sohail Mahmood was invited since the dinner was organised for a former foreign minister of Pakistan," he said but feigned ignorance about the presence of any Pakistani former intelligence official in the meeting. "I am not aware of it (presence of Pakistani intelligence official)." Kasuri said that he has also links with politicians from Modi's BJP and was instrumental for the visit of LK Advani to Pakistan. "On my invitation, Advani visited Katas Raj (Hindu holy place) in Pakistan. The impression is given in media that I have only links with Congressmen is wrong," Kasuri said. He remembered Aiyar as old "friend from Cambridge days" and said the presence of "dignitaries" at the dinner was due to his "involvement with the peace process." He also took credit for making progress towards resolution of all issues when he was foreign minister of the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. "When I was the foreign minister we made a lot of progress on all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir," said Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's foreign minister between November 2002 and November 2007. Kasuri said that he has long been involved in the Track II diplomacy and expressed his desire that Pakistan and India must resolve all their disputes through bilateral negotiations. "This (peaceful resolution of disputes) is essential to fight poverty in both the countries," he said. In his speech, Modi had also mentioned Sardar Arshad Rafiq, whom he identified as "Pakistan's former army director general" for alleged interference in Gujarat elections. Rafiq has apparently deleted a Facebook post that "our leader and mentor Ahmed Patel (Rajya Sabha member and Sonia Gandhis political secretary) must be made Gujarat chief minister". Little is known about Rafiq except that he belongs to Palandri area of Pakistani Kashmir and served in the army. He currently lives in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, according to his Facebook account. Earlier, Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal urged rival Indian leaders to stop dragging Pakistan in its domestic politics. India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible. Dr Mohammad Faisal (@ForeignOfficePk) December 11, 2017 Click here for detailed coverage of Gujarat Assembly Election 2017 Nagpur: Under normal circumstances, 10, 20 or at the most 50 MLAs raise questions on the same issue in the Assembly. However, this is the first time in the history of the Maharashtra legislature that more than 100 MLAs are sent to raise questions on the same issue: The unsolved problem with the implementation of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojna (CSMSSY) or farmer loan waivers. Over 100 legislators across party lines want to know the current status of the loan waiver scheme in the state. Usually, it's only around 50-or-so legislators who ask questions on issues of common interest like the outbreak of a disease or a problem in the field of education. Interestingly, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal in jail for the past 18 months over a money-laundering case also submitted written questions to the government. While responding in a written answer, Minister for Cooperation Subhash Deshmukh, said that the government has deposited around Rs 5,142 crore in 9.43 lakh farmers' bank (loan) accounts as of 5 December and that the remaining farmers will receive their loan waiver soon. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' pet project, the loan waiver scheme, is far from completion six months since its announcement. Most legislators are in the dark about the status of the loan waiver scheme. On Wednesday, members of the Shiv Sena which incidentally is also in power in the state also sat on the staircases of the Vidhan Bhavan demanding a complete loan waiver. Questions were asked by 103 MLA, cutting across party lines includes those belonging to ruling BJP, Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP), NCP, Congress, Peasant and Workers Party, MNS, AIMIM and independent MLA also raised the voice through question. Ths is the question whiceh were raised in Assembly from Mumbai to Gadchiroli MLA of the 288 legislature's house. Anant Kalse-Patil, principal secretary of the state legislature told Firstpost that this is the question asked by the largest number of MLAs. In the past, questions on such issues as dengue, farmer suicides were raised by MLAs, but their total number did not exceed 100. Senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar put the BJP government in a spot on the third day during the adjournment motion of the Winter Session by asking, "Instead of asking what the Congress-NCP government did in 15 years, the Fadnavis government should give an account of its three-year rule." "The names of beneficiaries farmers have been announced, but no money has been deposited in their bank accounts to date," he claimed, "The question of loan waivers is the most important in the state. But the government is resorting to 'taareekh pe taareekh' (date after date). No money has been deposited in the bank accounts of farmers until now." "There is unrest among farmers about how the state government handled the issue," he added, "Farmers feel the government is not doing justice with them. That's why all the Opposition parties had come together for the Jan Aakrosh Halla Bol march in Nagpur on Tuesday. I know nationalised banks aren't cooperating with the government on the loan waiver scheme, so what sort of action is the government taking against them?" The former deputy chief minister pointed out that the government had on 31 October, put out advertisements about how it had disbursed Rs 34,022 crore worth of loan waivers to 70 lakh farmers. "Every single day, the loan waiver amount and the number of beneficiaries announced by Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, Deshmukh and Fadnavis keep changing. If the government deposited the loan amount in farmers' accounts, why is it hiding the names of the farmers and the banks?" he asked. Pawar also demanded that district- and Assembly constituency-wise list of farmers whose loans have been waived. "Without this list, Im not going to believe that this government has implemented the scheme. What about MSP price, the damage to cotton? The loan waiver issue is a major concern with the government, so we want a discussion about an adjournment motion." However, Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde rejected the motion on Wednesday. New Delhi: Pitching the Gujarat Assembly polls as a battle between "dynastic rule and rule of development", BJP chief Amit Shah asked people to vote in large numbers to help the rule of development win. In a statement on the eve of the second and last phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls, he claimed that the state suffered a lot of discrimination and injustice under the UPA government but is now developing fast, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm in the Centre. Gujarat has become a model state in the 22 years of the BJP rule, he said. "Vote in large numbers tomorrow and choose rule of development in its battle against rule of dynasty," he said. The BJP has used the dynasty plank to attack the Congress. Less than 24 hours before Gujarat votes in the second and final phase of election for its new Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came perilously close to violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) while taking on the UPA even as BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of violating the same. While speaking at the inauguration of 90th FICCI Annual General Meeting in New Delhi, Modi stopped short of naming Congress and also Gujarat thus keeping it within the permissible limits of the Model Code of Conduct but taking to task his political opponents nonetheless. The Model Code of Conduct states: "Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work" and "All parties and candidates shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are "corrupt practices" and offences under the election law, such as bribing of voters, intimidation of voters, impersonation of voters, canvassing within 100 meters of polling stations, holding public meetings during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of the poll, and the transport and conveyance of voters to and from polling station." While carefully avoiding words that might lead to a violation of the poll conduct, and more importantly, offer the Congress fodder to launch an attack, the prime minister tore into the policies and the alleged scams that took place during the UPA regime. Moreover, he spoke as a chief guest at an event and not at a political rally. "These Non Performing Assets of the national banks was a much bigger scam than the Commonwealth games, coal gate, 2G scams. This was, in a way, an open loot of the public money, by those sitting in the government through the help of industrialists and businessmen. Did any agency attempt to wake up those who were watching this scam silently?" Modi asked. Although the prime minister's speech was to an industry body, he smartly packaged it with the achievements of his government, faults of the previous government at the Centre while delivering an underlying message to those who are eligible to use the electronic voting machines (EVMs) on Thursday in Gujarat. Remaining within the ambit of the neat conduct mandate, Modi sought to showcase how his government made life easier for the underprivileged class. "We had a system where the poor always to fight for their rights. They had to fight for little things. When the poor wanted to open a bank account or wanted a gas connection, the system became an obstacle. They had to pay commission to get their own pensions and scholarships," the prime minister said. Although the comments made by Modi were intended for FICCI, in reality, it was actually addressed to 2.22 crore voters in Gujarat who would exercise their right to franchise on Thursday. "When some people sitting in the government put pressure on banks to sanction loans for selected industrialists, what was a body like FICCI doing? People associated with the previous government, banks, the corporate world and bodies linked with the markets knew that something wrong was happening," the prime minister said. No points for guessing the industrialist here is Vijay Mallya and the government referred to is the UPA. From mentioning about his flagship programme Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to youth-centric policies of his government, the prime minister converted his speech to near campaign literally walking on the edge so far as the Model Code of Conduct is concerned. "We are working towards meeting every single requirement of the poor, moving towards resolving every single problem one by one. We have made over five crore toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan so that poor women are no longer embarrassed, their health and security are not affected," he said. Taking on the UPA regime on the programmes meant for youth, Modi said, "You will see that this government is taking decisions, making schemes keeping in mind the need of the youth. You would see the exact contrast in the previous government. During that period, industrialists were given loans in lakhs and crores by putting pressure on banks." While the prime minister cleverly laced his speech with all ingredients of a poll campaign, but keeping it inches away from the violation of the poll conduct, the Congress president-elect was quite direct with his comments, prompting the BJP to knock the poll panel's door. "We will do very well. We will surprise you," Rahul told Network18 in an exclusive interview when asked about the Congress prospects in Gujarat. Rahul, who takes over the helm of the Congress party from his mother Sonia Gandhi on 16 December, was also quite direct in his attack on Modi. "The prime minister has lost credibility," he added, "As he doesn't talk about development anymore but about himself and the Congress party." In his first interview as Congress president-elect to GSTV, Rahul, in fact, chose to take on BJP. "In the last three months, I have just raised the voice of Gujarat. They are not scared of me. They are scared of the voice of Gujarat," he said in an interview to GSTV. "In the past 22 years, the main focus in Gujarat has been on just 10 people. Our focus will be on small and middle-sized businesses," Rahul said. "Our government will listen to your mann ki baat and will not take any decision without asking the people." Despite being aired on a day when campaigning is officially over, the Congress president-elect threw caution to winds and launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP in the interview on GSTV. "Am I not allowed to visit temples? People from the BJP keep talking about this issue. BJP is scared. That's why they are desperately searching for issues," he said, adding the "truth about Rahul Gandhi had been distorted by money and power used by BJP". Reacting to the interview, Union minister Piyush Goyal took on the Congress president-elect at a press conference later. "As per MCC, such interviews are not permitted. We've learnt from EC too that 48 hours in run-up to polls, interviews can't be given. Is Congress so insecure? Only Rahul Gandhi can answer," Goyal said referring to the GSTV interview. Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a hurriedly convened press conference: "The BJP is blatantly using Election Commission of India as a tool for its political gains, which demeans the independent institution." Gujarat chief electoral officer BB Swain confirmed that they have received the complaint and the same will be examined. Click here for detailed coverage of Gujarat Assembly Election 2017. Acting on a complaint by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Election Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by giving an interview to TV channels even after the campaign for Gujarat polls had formally ended. The Election Commission said, "Explain why action should not be taken against you for violating provisions of MCC, failing which the commission will decide the matter without any further reference to you." Rahul is supposed to file his reply before 5 pm on 18 December. The poll panel has also filed an FIR against Gujarati channels for airing the interview after the end of election campaign. The poll panel has also banned media channels from airing any videos of the interview. Congress spokesperson said a Congress delegation led by Ashok Gehlot will be at ECI at 9.15 to discuss the issue. Earlier in the day, the Gujarat BJP unit's legal cell wrote to Election Commission alleging that Rahul's interview given to a few regional channels was in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Election Commission norms place a bar on calling for votes after the end of the campaigning phase. The saffron party, which complained against the Congress for the second time, also pointed out that the MCC was already in place at the time the interview was aired, News 18 reported. The poll body in its two-page order on Wednesday night also said it will decide the matter without any reference to him if he fails to respond to the notice. In a press statement earlier, the EC said it has asked TV channels to "forthwith stop" airing interviews of Rahul Gandhi as they violated the election law and directed the Gujarat poll authorities to lodge FIRs against anyone for infringement of legal provisions. It said Rahul Gandhi talked about the Gujarat Assembly elections in which the polling for the second phase will be held on Thursday. The notice said display of his interview by channels falls within the definition of election matter under Section 126 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll, amounts to violation of the prohibition contained in Section 126 (1) (b) of the Act, 1951. Earlier on Wednesday, BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal addressed a press conference slamming Rahul for the alleged violation of the MCC. Goyal said that the Congress party was insecure about its performance in the election and hence are resorting to such measures. He said that after watching Rahul's interview he realised that the Congress is not even sure about how they are going to implement reservation to Patidars, which is one of their election promises. "We've learnt from EC too that 48 hours in the run-up to polls, interviews can't be given. Is Congress so insecure? Only Rahul Gandhi can answer," Goyal said. The Union minister also launched a fresh offensive against the Congress, raking up the coal scam. Referring to former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda's conviction in coal scam, Goyal said Congress leaders laundered money to fill up their own coffers. He said the Congress opposed demonetisation because the corrupt people of the party were in trouble. "The Opposition party should criticise itself before criticising others," Goyal said. It was not permitted to give an interview in the last 48 hours of campaigning in Gujarat. I am sure the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and take an action: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Rahul Gandhi's interview to a local TV channel in Gujarat pic.twitter.com/iiHjpS7yi2 ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 Meanwhile, the Congress party rebuffed the allegations of MCC violation and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "panicked attempts" to "threaten people in the name of Election Commission." "The BJP is blatantly using Election Commission of India as a tool for its political gains, which demeans the independent institution," Surjewala said at a hurriedly convened press conference. The party also said that the BJP was making an issue out of non-issues as a distraction tactic. Surjewala also accused BJP of "threatening journalist" out of its "Rahul Gandhi phobia." Surjewala said that Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was trying to suppress local media for reporting on the Congress party. He said that the news channels which aired the Rahul interview were "receiving angry phone calls" fro the Prime Minister's Office. "When Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi gave interviews to a few Gujarati news channels, BJP in the name of Election Commission, threatened to jail the journalists of those channels for broadcasting it. We condemn this arrogant behaviour of BJP," Surjewala said. However, as the poll season is at its pinnacle, these are not the only accusations of MCC violation floating around. To counter BJP's claims, the Congress also said that the BJP manifesto, which was released just a day before the first phase election on 8 December, was also a blatant violation of the MCC. Surjewala also said that Modi too gave an interview ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and if Rahul's interview is being touted as MCC violation then Election Commission should slap a notice on the prime minister as well. The Congress party, on its official website had likewise accused Modi of violating the MCC. "Exhibiting scant regard for an institution like the Election Commission of India (EC) and its well-established rules and regulations, Modi violated the Model Code of Conduct on Friday. The violation took place in Gujarat, where Modi did a direct vote appeal even though the deadline for campaigning for the first phase was over," an article on the Congress website read. The poll panel has also issued notice to a BJP MLA after a viral video showed him boasting about his disregard for the MCC. A video of Bhushan Bhatt, the son of late BJP leader and Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt, showed him exhorting a group of BJP workers to not hold themselves back because of the MCC. He also boasts that he himself does not give a "damn" about the poll code. The video in question could not be verified by Firstpost independently. Ahmedabad: Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi should disclose if former prime minister Manmohan Singh met a Pakistani delegation earlier this month after informing him. He also asked whether Singh had consulted the Ministry of External Affairs on the same. The Union law minister also wanted to know the Congress' stand on the proposed triple talaq law, and asked Gandhi whether a Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya. "When we have a national line that India will not talk to Pakistan until the latter abandons terrorism, why did former prime minister Manmohan Singh go to meet a Pakistani delegation?" Prasad told reporters in Ahmedabad. He said in 2007, in Havana, when Singh was the prime minister, a joint statement had said that Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism when everyone knew that Pakistan was "not a victim but a sponsor of terrorism". He recalled that in Sharm El Sheikh joint declaration in 2010, Balochistan was referred to and it said India had a hand in the disturbance there. "In this light, if a question is asked why Singh met Pakistani delegation when the country's line on talks with the neighbouring country is clear, what is wrong with it (in questioning the meeting)," Prasad said. "The BJP would like to know if Manmohan Singh went to meet the Pakistani delegation, with the presence of high commissioner of that country, with due consultation with the external affairs ministry and with due information to Rahul Gandhi," he said. Gandhi has, till today, not answered this question, the BJP leader said. Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's insinuations about the meeting with Pakistani delegation that Singh attended were "unacceptable". While Modi had suggested that Singh and some other Congress leaders colluded with Pakistan which, he claimed, was trying to influence the Gujarat polls, the former prime minister responded by saying that Modi was setting a "dangerous precedent", and should apologise to the nation. Modi had said at an election rally that some Pakistani officials and Singh met at now suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on 6 December. On Gandhi's visits to various temples in Gujarat, Prasad asked why he didn't go to the Ram Janambhoomi (in Ayodhya) or the Krishna Janambhoomi during the Uttar Pradesh election campaign. "You are a Shiv Bhakt, that's good, but what about Ram Bhakti? You should make clear your stand on Ram Mandir, whether a Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya or not," Prasad said. He also wanted to know Congress's stand on triple talaq. "We are in the process of framing a law on triple talaq. Does the Congress support the proposed law on triple talaq?" he asked. We all have our moments when someone sees fit to invite us to dinner. Whether we say yes or no, it is utterly crass to imagine asking for the guest list before giving an answer. Also, if you do find someone at the party you would rather avoid you do just that you nod politely and you avoid that person. We've all done it. People we dislike, people who were once friends, people who have let us down, people to whom we owe money, a litany of reasons. We can question the host for not exercising discretion in bringing disparate people under one roof. We can leave if we're uncomfortable. We've all done it (with leaving being the last resort and a cowards way out). So why should a former Indian prime minister be intimidated on his own turf if the Pakistani ambassador is present? They are not equals, so why skedaddle off and make an issue. It was only dinner. And it was in Delhi, not Islamabad. Modi and his team picked up on this dinner with great outrage and expect us to believe that Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh conspired over the first course with Pakistanis to sabotage the BJP's chances at the hustings in Gujarat. So much for unjust desserts. For one, is the BJP that fragile a party that it worries over a dinner? As for fraternising with the enemy, if it is such an indictment, then lets break off diplomatic relations with Islamabad and be honest about it. You cannot have one prime minister saying surprrrrrise, look whos here when he spontaneously arrives at the home of Nawaz Sharif for tea and the wedding of Sharif's grand-daughter and finding virtue in it and a former prime minister being accused of anti-national activities over a lousy dinner. It is a very serious accusation to make and I think it has woken up the lion in Singh. There is one last roar in the man and his strident and almost emotional demand for an apology from Modi is more likely to hurt Modi than anything that Rahul can do. Singh must really have been cut to the quick. Look what he says: I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehoods and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.... Sadly and regrettably, Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister. It is a relevant question and one which demands an answer. Is the office of prime minister being dishonoured not just by such rash and wild statements but also by the use of intemperate language which has now become the hallmark of Modis public declamations? Arun Jaitley then picks up the ball and kicks it further by asking if permission was taken from the foreign office before meeting or entertaining Pakistanis. Last I heard, India was still a democracy. And if they are on our soil and given the rights granted to diplomats under the Vienna Convention of 1961, then so be it. When credibility is stretched to the point of absurdity and one is asked to accept absurd scenarios just because something can be made out of nothing, you have to ask: What exactly is going on in the corridors of power? What a disservice to India to give Pakistan the impression that they can intrigue to this high-level in a house of non-entity to topple state governments. They must be loving it. Just to see an angry Singh indicates how far down the road our political entities have gone and are now swimming in the muck they rake. A simple question: Would Singh and Rahul need a retired Pakistani diplomat or two to plot some devious and Machiavellian scheme against the incumbent? Tread lightly prime minister. Singh may just be more of a nemesis than the young lad you all find so fascinating. Click here for detailed coverage of Gujarat Assembly Election 2017 "I was shocked to tell you the truth," Sandy Morrison said of her reaction to receiving the wheelchair. "It was just a shock, thats all, to see it and actually touch it and know it was mine." Ranchi: The BJP on Wednesday raised in the Jharkhand Assembly the issue of some JMM legislators organising a "kissing competition" at a village fair, claiming that hosting such an event was an "insult" to women. But the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) launched a counter-attack by raising land acquisition and domicile policy of the state government, forcing adjournment of the House twice, and subsequently for the day. Chief Minister Raghubar Das was present in the House. Two JMM MLAs Simon Marandi and Stephen Marandi have courted controversy by organising a "kissing competition" for tribal couples during a traditional village fair in Pakur district in Santhal pargana of Jharkhand on Sunday. "It is an insult to women. Half of the population is women. JMM MLA says it is a tradition. Let there be a debate over it," BJP's chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore said after BJP MLAs Ram Kumar Pahan, Biranchi Narayan, Raj Sinha and other ruling party MLAs waved newspapers reporting the event soon after the House convened. They resumed in their seats on the request of Speaker Dinesh Oraon. However, slogan-shouting JMM MLAs trooped into the well of the House, protesting land acquisition and domicile policy of the Raghubar Das government, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House twice during the morning session. With the chaos refusing to die, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. The "kissing competition" event has hogged the limelight for the past few days. JMM president Shibu Soren on Tuesday served a showcause notice to its MLA Simon Marandi following newspaper reports about the event at Jhumaria in his Littipara constituency in Pakur district on 10 December. Shibu Soren, a former chief minister of Jharkhand and JMM patriarch who hails from Santhal pargana region, directed the party MLA to reply in writing within seven days. Today was the second day of the Winter Session of the Jharkhand Assembly. The BJP has made a scathing attack on its rivals over the event, demanding that the two MLAs be suspended from the assembly as they had "insulted" the local culture. Simon Marandi, the organiser, has argued that the "kissing competition" was held to stop the increasing number of divorce in the tribal society. Party MLA Stephen Marandi was also present at the fair. A video of the "kissing competition" had gone viral on social media on Monday. In the video, tribal couples could be seen locked in a kiss while the crowd cheered. Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with indulging in "cheap politics" after the civic body elections in Uttar Pradesh by hosting an "exclusive party" for victorious BJP mayors at his official residence. The former chief minister said BSP candidates had been supported by the people in the polls and had won the Meerut and Aligarh mayoral posts. "It would have been fine had the BJP mayors been invited to the BJP headquarters but Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to cheap politics by hosting an exclusive party for his party mayors at the official residence," Mayawati said in a statement issued in Lucknow. She also referred to BSP mayor Sunita Verma of Meerut who was accused by the BJP of not showing respect to the national song and not standing up when it was played at her oath-taking ceremony on Tuesday. "If the prime minister's residence will also be used like the Raj Bhavan for the activities of the BJP and the RSS, then why would BJP workers not make the national song and the national anthem (political) issues... as was witnessed during the oath-taking functions of the winners of the civic body elections," she asked. At Verma's swearing-in ceremony, Mayawati said the BJP and its supporters hijacked the programme and also raised anti-BSP slogans. "Officials should have been left to manage the programme but, instead, the BJP workers made it a political battleground and raised slogans. It was a melee and the mayor-elect was not told that the national song was being played," she said, adding that by creating disorder, an effort was made to malign her party. Alleging that there was a blatant misuse of official machinery in the just concluded civic elections, Mayawati said that despite this, almost 45 percent of the BJP candidates could not save their deposits. "The BSP candidates got the massive support of the people and besides winning the Meerut and Aligarh mayoral posts, it lost Saharanpur, Jhansi and Agra mayoral election because of the misuse of the official machinery," she said, asking her party men not to fall prey to the "designs of the BJP" and continue to work for the people, saying that this was real patriotism. Congress has reacted sharply to Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to issue notice against Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi over violating moral code of conduct for giving interview to TV channels. Congress delegation reaches Election Commission office in Delhi, says 'PM Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, FM Arun Jaitley & RM Piyush Goyal have violated Model Code of Conduct again & again. PM misused the FICCI platform to attack Cong, EC should stay unbiased'. pic.twitter.com/I5REneD7ZF ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 A Congress delegation led by Ashok Gehlot will seek audience with the poll body at 09:15 pm on Tuesday, party communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said. Earlier in the evening, BJP had raised objections over Congress president-elect giving an interview to TV channels even after the campaign for Gujarat polls had formally ended. Following which, the poll body issued a notice to Rahul seeking his explanation. "Explain why action should not be taken against you for violating provisions of MCC, failing which the commission will decide the matter without any further reference to you", EC said. Rahul is supposed to file his reply before 5 pm on 18 December. Surjewala also questioned Election Commission's biasedness towards Rahul, asking why no FIR was not lodged against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah on the same grounds. In 2014 elections, Modi Ji even showed BJP symbol on voting day but EC didn't act.BJP held a PC just before 1st phase of Gujarat election. These double standards won't work & 1st FIR should be filed against PM Modi & other BJP leaders instead of Press: Randeep Surjewala, Congress pic.twitter.com/xyhLMLP1Jp ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 Congress delegation reached ECI to submit a memorandum against FIR lodged against Gujarati news channel for airing interview of Sh #RahulGandhi. The Delegation includes Sr leaders Sh Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Randeep Surjewala,RPN Singh, Sushmita Dev, Pawan Khera,Arjun Modhwadia pic.twitter.com/QGk1Uh5E6P Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) December 13, 2017 A Congress delegation led by Sh. Ashok Gehlot will be at ECI at 9.15. If FIR against news channels for showing interview of Congress President,why no FIR against PM, FM, Union Minister & BJP President on this ground? Are these not double standards? Let there be accountability. Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 13, 2017 "Are these not double standards?", Surjewala tweeted. "On Thursday, Modi will be in Mumbai where he will attending a commissioning ceremony of Submarine Kalvari, Will that not be a violation of the MCC?" Anand Sharma asked. Apparently, Modi had addressed the 90th AGM of industry association Ficci on Wednesday afternoon where he launched a blistering attack on the previous Congress-led UPA regime, saying that banks were pressured to give loans worth thousands of crores of rupees to select industrialists in a scam bigger than 2G, coal and Commonwealth Games scams. BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal had earlier addressed a press conference slamming Rahul for the alleged violation of the MCC. Goyal said that the Congress party was insecure about its performance in the election and hence are resorting to such measures. "We've learnt from EC too that 48 hours in the run-up to polls, interviews can't be given. Is Congress so insecure? Only Rahul Gandhi can answer," Goyal had said. According to the Model Code of Conduct all parties and candidates shall avoid holding public meetings during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of the poll. Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi said in an interview that he is confident of Congress victory in the Gujarat Assembly election and added that the people of Gujarat will throw up a 'surprise' on 18 December. Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Rahul also attacked the election campaign of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he has lost credibility in his home state. "The BJP campaign started with Modi speaking about Narmada project through his Vikas Yatra. But, in the course of time, his speeches had only two things: Congress and Narendra Modi". "The BJP campaign turned bankrupt. It will be now difficult for him to retain his credibility", Rahul added. "I hear leaders from BJP saying that Congress had campaigned effectively this time, will BJP's campaign was 'weak'. They are scared of the outcome on 18 December", he added. Election campaigning for the second phase of Gujarat ended on Tuesday morning. The second and final phase of elections will see 93 Assembly seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat going to polls on Thursday. The results, along with those of Himachal Pradesh, will be declared on 18 December. Earlier, Narendra Modi on his last day of elections, said he personally reached out to the people he is 'devoting his life to the betterment of the people of Gujarat and India' and urged the people 'to vote for the BJP in record numbers'. The prime minister also said that the victory of BJP in Gujarat is a guarantee for a bright future. Rahul also defended his social media campaign, saying that he will continue to question the BJP every day over their 22 years of rule in Gujarat. "These aren't my questions, these are the questions of people of Gujarat. I only act as a bridge between the people and the government. It is my duty to raise questions, and I will continue to do so", he added. Rahul also defended his temple visits during the Gujarat campaign "Do I have to take permission from BJP to visit a temple? Is there any rule that forbids me from visiting temples?" he asked. He also said that his visits to temples are not limited to elections. "I had also visited Kedarnath Temple earlier, is Kedarnath in Gujarat?" He also hit out at the BJP for personal attacks, saying this 'politics of hate' needs to change. "I dont think personal attacks are good. Neither statements from Mani Shankar Aiyar and BJP leaders were acceptable. I want this politics to change", he added. Rahul also termed Modi's comment about Singh as 'unacceptable' and demanded an apology from Modi. "What Modi ji said about Singh is unacceptable. It set a dangerous precedent", he added. Click here for detailed coverage of Gujarat Assembly Election 2017. Forget Vande Mataram. The new political pop song of the Congress is: I am a Hindu Ha ha ha Me too, me too Ho ho ho This is called soft Hindutva, if you didn't already know it. And Congressmen are clutching at soft Hindutva with the desperation of a thirsty man in a desert reaching for a soft drink. For a Congress leader, at least for now, soft Hindutva means hopping from temple to temple with the speed of Mark Twains Notorious Jumping Frog of the Calaveras County and shouting he is a Hindu with a tilak on his forehead. The I-am-a-Hindu chorus is sure to get louder across India soon, and you can already hear it in Karnataka, which will have its Assembly elections in five months. First, of course, it was Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president-elect, who was forced to announce in Gujarat last week that he was a Hindu after the BJP questioned his faith. Some even circulated a foreign newspaper profile that claimed he had been brought up as a Catholic Christian. "I am a Shiv bhakt," he hurriedly announced, drawing more amused smirks than understanding nods. Then came the confirmation from Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, for the second time in five months, that he was indeed a Hindu. "Even my name has Bhagwan Ram's name," Siddaramaiah said. An impending election can even make you remember the spelling of your name, apparently. From the very same dais where Siddaramaiah declared his devotion to Lord Ram, his public works minister HC Mahadevappa too came clean and confirmed he is a Hindu. Then followed industries minister RV Deshpande, who said, "By birth, I am a Hindu. All other people are my bandhu (relatives)." A backward Kuruba, Siddaramaiah had first realised the need to proclaim his Hindu faith in July this year. But his earlier declaration sounded somewhat tentative and provisional, while this time around, it was bold and categorical, coming as it did after Rahul's switch to soft Hindutva. Spot-the-real Hindu contest? As if the I-am-a-Hindu burlesque wasnt funny enough, Siddaramaiah went a step ahead this time and turned the upcoming state Assembly election into a spot-the-real-Hindu contest. "The real Hindu is one who loves all religions," he said, "You judge who the real Hindus are. Us or BJP leaders." As in the case of Rahul, Siddaramaiahs announcements were followed by a rant by BJP leaders in Karnataka that he was anti-Hindu. The BJP, of course, doesnt see just Rahul and Siddaramaiah as anti-Hindu; it paints the whole Congress as an enemy of Hinduism. The Congress can only blame itself for this. The vote bank politics of the Congress, intended to please minorities without in effect improving their lot, worked well for the party before Narendra Modi stormed onto the scene in 2014. After losing 15 elections in the past three years, the Congress has at last found that being perceived to be anti-Hindu and pro-minorities makes no sense in the election algebra of a Hindu-majority nation where the BJP thrives on Hindutva, sometimes soft, sometimes hard and depraved. The Congress finds that the soft version is the best way out, and it's natural that its soon-to-be president should lead the way. In the past, Siddaramaiah had also led many to wonder whether he knew who he was. He seemed confused whether he was a rationalist or an atheist or an agnostic he randomly dropped all these words. But before declaring his Hindu credentials, he set to rest all speculation on this score too, by announcing that he was not an atheist. But, he said, he believed god didnt live just in temples. For the sycophancy-ridden Congress, Rahul is one such god who doesnt live in a temple even if he foxtrots from one shrine to another and if not a god, at least a godsent king to vanquish the BJP. And when a pearl of divine wisdom drops from the king's wondrous lips, the minions must genuflect and repeat it after him. Siddaramaiah is not just any minion. He is no longer the same chief minister who was about to lose power a year ago after a Cabinet reshuffle that left partymen demanding his sacking. He is among the most important regional satraps of the Congress today. In the flotsam and jetsam of the wrecked Congress ship, he shines like a lifejacket, a source of hope for the party at a time when the BJP is working towards a Congress-mukt Bharat, and the Congress itself is accused of helping that process. Karnataka's own Captain Amarinder Singh So it's not surprising that Siddaramaiah is called the "Amarinder Singh of Karnataka" who can buck the national anti-Modi trend and win the state for the party. Unlike Amarinder, who won Punjab for the Congress in March this year despite Rahul's allergy to him, Siddaramaiah has his full backing. But one of Siddaramaiah's first tasks now is to rid himself of the anti-Hindu image, and he knows it. What he may not know is that it isn't as easy as it looks. Thats because it isn't an image that the BJP thrust on him. It's something he seems to have diligently cultivated for himself with what could only be seen as frequent barbs against Hinduism in general and upper castes in particular. His move to empower the government to take over Hindu mutts and his enthusiasm for idolising Tipu Sultan, seen by many rightly or wrongly as an anti-Hindu king, didnt help him. What also didnt help was his attempt to fashion himself as an 'Ahinda' leader. Ahinda is the Kannada acronym for Alpa sankhyatara, Hindulida, Dalit (minorities, backward castes and Dalits). While cosying up to minorities, he also openly supported the demand from upper caste Lingayats for a separate religion status, seen as a conspiracy to divide Hindus. Its almost as if Siddaramaiah thought it was a great honour to be considered anti-Hindu. Or like most of Indias Left-leaning intellectuals he would like us to believe he is one, he mistook attacking the majority for true secularism. But all this may have changed now. Rahul's tap dance of soft Hindutva shows the way. The author tweets author tweets @sprasadindia IANS Facebook on Wednesday announced a virtual reality (VR) programme in partnership with Bengaluru-based Startup Village Collective (SV.CO) to help students in the country build their ideas into globally marketable products and services. The new VR programme under SV.CO's School of Innovation will provide a platform for nearly four million engineering students across 3,300 colleges to learn how to build innovative products while they are in college and get polished under the guidance of the industry experts. "India is host to one of the largest community of developers and is also one of the fastest growing regions for start-ups. The School of Innovation programme is our investment into skill for tomorrow. We want to make sure, that we have invested in not only helping the communities in building products today, but also in building a world for tomorrow," Satyajeet Singh, Head of Platform Partnerships, Facebook India and South Asia, told reporters here. "The new programme is a step forward, in realising our vision of building an ecosystem that inspires innovation and empowers young talent to build products using emerging technologies such as VR that will shape the future of businesses," Singh added. As part of the new VR-based programme, top 10 student teams from across 3,300 engineering colleges in India will be selected to build a next generation VR product idea they have. The selected teams will be on-board the SV.CO Online Learning Platform for a six-month programme that includes online and in-person learning to progress their idea, build a low and high-fidelity prototype and finally launch to customers. The successful teams will be selected and given an opportunity to represent their product in front of a leadership panel on demo day, to be organised at Facebook India office in January 2019. "Startup ecosystem in India is plagued by the notion that they are copycats of the US models. We need to change this perception that our startups only hop into the bandwagon while others blaze the trail," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman at SV.CO, India's first digital incubator for students. "The VR platform, in throwing open uncharted areas, provides us just that opportunity. And we are a happy partner with Facebook which recognises the potential of bright 18-22 year olds in Indian colleges in working wonders with the new technology," Vijayakumar said. Aditya Madanapalle A number of reports have emerged that paint a comprehensive picture of the condition of mobile internet connectivity across India. The reports include The State of LTE and State of Mobile Networks: India by OpenSignal, the Ookla Speedtest Global Index and TRAI's Myspeed app. TRAI updates its site with the average speeds of the last three months, as well as the speeds of the previous month on the first of every month. OpenSignal, Ookla, and TRAI all crowdsource the network performance metrics from applications installed on smartphones. Together, the data shows how India stands compared to the rest of the world when it comes to coverage, the coverage of each individual operator, the speeds in India and around the world and the speeds by the operator. OpenSignal also tracks latency, with a granular detail for each telecom service provider. The TRAI Myspeed app does not track global data but makes available upload and download speeds over 3G and 4G LTE networks in the different telecom circles across India. Among the 77 countries in the study by OpenSignal, India comes in eleventh in the world when it comes to coverage, with 84 percent of the country having access to 4G LTE connectivity. However, when it comes to speeds, India is right at the bottom of the list, with just about the lowest speeds in the world, among the countries considered for the report. The granular breakdown of the coverage shows that Reliance Jio has a much greater coverage than the national average when all telecom operators are considered, with more than 95 percent of the country covered by a Jio 4G LTE signal. Jio has clearly helped give a boost to coverage across the nation. Andrea Toth from OpenSignal says, "LTE availability in India is remarkable. The users were able to connect to an LTE signal over 84 percent of the time a rise of over 10 percentage points from a year earlier. This places India ahead of more established countries in the 4G landscape such as Sweden, Taiwan, Switzerland or the UK. Jio's widespread 4G access, along with its at-first free and later heavily discounted data and voice plans, quickly won the hearts and wallets of more than 100 million mobile users across the country." When it comes to mobile internet speeds, where 3G and 4G LTE are considered together, India comes in the 109th place in the world according to data collected by Ookla. Doug Suttles, co-founder and general manager at Ookla said, "Both mobile and fixed broadband internet in India are getting faster, that's good news for all Indian consumers no matter which operator or plan they use to access the internet. India still has a long way to go to catch up with countries that have top speeds around the world, however, we at Ookla are highly optimistic about the capacity for growth that is available in the Indian market and looks forward to watching how the market grows in this coming new year." The OpenSignal reports demonstrates that 4G LTE speeds have not breached the 50 Mbps barrier in any country in the world, and the improvements in speeds have slowed down in the top performing countries. The average worldwide download speed is 16.6 Mbps. While India has a high coverage but low speeds, there are other outliers as well. South Korea and Singapore both enjoy high speeds and wide coverage, with South Korea on top when it comes to availability, and Singapore on top when it comes to speeds. Algeria enjoys a relatively high average 4G LTE speed of 11.05 Mbps, but the coverage is abysmal at 41.5 percent. Jio is ahead of all other operators by 32 percentage points when it comes to the availability metric. The data also shows that the reach of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea all increased over the period of the study, but the speeds of all three operators declined. According to OpenSignal, "This is likely a result of the intense competition for 4G customers since Jio's emergence." Airtel had the highest speeds when it came to 3G and 4G LTE. Vodafone demonstrated the lowest latency in both 3G and 4G LTE networks. Latency is a measure of how responsive the network is, including how fast web pages load, or how little lag is experienced during real-time applications such as video chat or multiplayer gaming. As Jio is a 4G LTE only network, the fields in the data for the 3G metrics for Jio are empty. The data also showed that no operator from India, on average, exceeded the global average 3G speeds of 4.4 Mbps or 4G LTE speeds of 16.2 Mbps. The monthly data by Ookla shows that there is a slowdown in the increase of mobile internet speeds. There were sharp jumps between December and February 2017, a drop from February to April 2017, another sharp rise from April to May 2017, after which the increase in speeds levelled off. The upload speeds have stayed more or less steady over the course of the previous year. The highest average mobile internet speeds seen over the past year was in the month of October, with speeds of 8.83 Mbps. In November last year, the average speed was 6.18 Mbps. The data made available by Ookla is not split into 3G or 4G LTE networks. TRAI's Myspeed data shows users will have to opt for a particular operator in a particular circle to get the best experience. Jio customers in Mumbai enjoyed the highest 4G LTE download speeds at 40.4 Mbps, which is significantly more than the global average. The highest 3G download speeds were offered by Vodafone in Orissa, at 6.1 Mbps. Upload speeds across India on 3G networks rarely crossed 2 Mbps, but Vodafone consumers in Orissa were able to enjoy 3G upload speeds of 2.8 Mbps, which was the highest in the country. The best upload speeds on 4G LTE was offered by Idea in Gujarat, at 10.2 Mbps. Across the operators, West Bengal has the best 4G LTE networks while Haryana enjoys the best 3G networks. Idea offered the slowest 3G upload speeds in Jammu and Kashmir, at 0.8 Mbps, while the UP East circle had the lowest 3G download speeds at 1.6 Mbps from the same operator. Idea in Andhra Pradesh and Vodafone in the North East both offered the lowest download speeds of 5.3 Mbps over a 4G LTE network. Airtel in Kolkata, as well as Jio in Kerala and Assam offered the lowest 4G LTE upload speeds at 3.1 Mbps. There are some circles and operators missing in the TRAI data, which is an indication that a statistically significant amount of data was not collected from the combination of those circles and operators. Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee President Donald Trump signed into law on Tuesday legislation that bans the use of Kaspersky Lab within the US government, capping a months-long effort to purge the Moscow-based antivirus firm from federal agencies amid concerns it was vulnerable to Kremlin influence. The ban, included as part of a broader defense policy spending bill that Trump signed, reinforces a directive issued by the Trump administration in September that civilian agencies remove Kaspersky Lab software within 90 days. The law applies to both civilian and military networks. The case against Kaspersky is well-documented and deeply concerning. This law is long overdue, said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who led calls in Congress to scrub the software from government computers. She added that the companys software represented a grave risk to US national security. Kaspersky Lab has repeatedly denied that it has ties to any government and said it would not help a government with cyber espionage. In an attempt to address suspicions, the company said in October it would submit the source code of its software and future updates for inspection by independent parties. US officials have said that step, while welcomed, would not be sufficient. In a statement on Tuesday, Kaspersky Lab said it continued to have serious concerns about the law due to its geographic-specific approach to cybersecurity. It added that the company was assessing its options and would continue to protect its customers from cyber threats (while) collaborating globally with the IT security community to fight cybercrime. On Tuesday, Christopher Krebs, a senior cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters that nearly all government agencies had fully removed Kaspersky products from their networks in compliance with the September order. Kaspersky official response to the ban did not appear to contain any information that would change the administrations assessment of Kaspersky Lab, Krebs said. Reuters Net neutrality advocates said they are gearing up for a legal fight after abandoning attempts to convince the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to keep 2015 rules aimed at maintaining an open internet. The FCC is expected to vote on 14 December to scrap the landmark so-called net neutrality rules championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama, given FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and two Republican commissioners support the repeal. Advocates for the rules doubt the U.S. Congress will help prevent a repeal, leaving litigation as a last resort. Industry and public interest groups are considering several strategies to protect the rules banning internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or throttling to slow service for certain content, including arguing that the decision is arbitrary and pushing back on the FCCs classification of ISPs. Under the proposal by Pai, a Republican appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the bulk of the job of protecting the web will be turned over to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Pai has said lifting the net neutrality rules removes heavy-handed regulation. Big ISPs say the rules have restricted investment and innovation and could mean eventual regulations on internet pricing. Critics of a repeal say they have a number of reasons to sue. Legal strategies could include arguing the reversal is arbitrary because it comes just two years after the Obama-era rules were put in place. Opponents also say ISPs should continue to be treated as pipes that carry movies, videos and Facebook updates, and that the FCC is wrong to categorize them as content providers, which are more lightly regulated. At least three public interest groups Public Knowledge, Common Cause and Free Press have said they are preparing to turn to litigation as a last resort. The trade group Internet Association, whose members include content providers Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Pandora Media Inc, said it was reviewing Pais order and weighing our legal options. Arbitrary and Capricious The opponents say one potential legal argument is that the change is arbitrary and capricious since the FCC is reversing a rule it enacted just two years ago. The FCC under Obama battled with the broadband industry in court after they objected to the 2015 rules. Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, said the FCC under Trump is doing an about-face by asking a court to ignore the 2015 rules. As an FCC lawyer, I would be kind of red-faced going to court and saying, You know what? We want to overturn that (the 2015 rules we just defended),' said Copps. He is now a special advisor to Common Cause. Matthew Brill, counsel for broadband providers in the NCTA the Internet and Television Association, said the groups would be unable to show that the change was arbitrary. Courts have long made clear that their job isnt to second guess the agency but to make sure that the agency takes a hard look at the issue, said Brill. Definitions and Delays Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, argues that Pais plan to re-categorize ISPs from common carriers, essentially a public utility, to more lightly regulated information services will fail in court because the main role of ISPs is delivering content from Google, Netflix or other websites, not offering email or online storage. Their (FCCs) description of how the internet service provider works is .... not true, said Feld. If the FCC says the companies provide a telecommunications service, it can stop them from blocking access to or discriminating against certain websites, according to a court ruling over earlier FCC rules. In fact, many of the issues in the 2017 rules were legally reviewed previously, or at least a mirror image of them. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2016 rejected arguments made by the broadband industry that the FCCs 2015 decision to redefine broadband as a telecommunications service was arbitrary and capricious. But the court also noted that it deferred to the agencys judgment on whether to define broadband as an information service or a telecommunications service. Public Knowledge and others argue that the FCC is incorrectly portraying its handoff of internet oversight to the FTC as a return to how things were done previously. While it is true that the FTC has in the past acted to stop abuse by telecommunications providers, such as when it accused AT&T Mobility of slowing delivery of content to customers with unlimited data plans, net neutrality advocates argue the FCC has been considerably more active. They (the FCC) not only have the authority to do it (enforce internet rules) but they have the responsibility, said Matt Wood, policy director of Free Press. One concern that Evan Engstrom, executive director of the startup advocacy group Engine, has is that Pais proposal relies on punishing wrongdoers after the fact instead of preventing bad behavior. That could put startups at a disadvantage, because they do not have the resources to fight ISPs which decide to favor other content. Engine, which put together two net neutrality letters signed by hundreds of internet firms ranging in size from Twitter Inc to unknowns, plans to support litigation opposed to Pais changes. tech2 News Staff Nintendo, on 12 December announced, that it has sold over 10 million units of its Switch console worldwide since it was launched nine months ago. When translated into sales, the 10 million Switch units have generated more than $3 billion of revenue as each console is priced at $300. However, the mantle of the most successful console from the Japanese company is held firmly by the Nintendo Wii, which has sold more than 100 million units since it's release back in 2006. But, according to a report by Variety, if the Switch sales continue strong in the holiday season, then it might topple the first-year sales of the Wii. Nintendo has claimed, according to the report, that the projected sales for the first year could be to the tune of 16.7 million which would be more than 3 million units sold in the first year of Nintendo Wii. The report claims that US sales have not yet been disclosed by the company, but it is claimed that at least more than 2.6 million units were sold in the US. The report also claims that three-game titles which are The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Odyssey, were purchased by at least 50 percent of the Switch users and another game Splatoon 2 was purchased by 25 percent of switch users. Also, it seems that Nintendo has received good support from game publishers like EA and Ubisoft said the report. Early on it was reported that Nintendo's Switch console had a massive year in sales in Japan after 2.5 million units were sold in the country since it was released back in March. This made it the most sold console system of the year in Japan while overtaking the PS4. Work is ongoing to construct a PPL Electric Utilities substation in Upper Allen Township. The new 230/69-kilovolt Williams Grove Substation located off Fisher Road will be part of a larger project that will include two new 69-kV transmission lines running north from the substation to meet existing lines just north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Customers in Cumberland County currently receive the bulk of their electric power supply from multiple 230-kV lines that provide power to two regional transmission substations, the Cumberland and Rossmoyne substations. This project is designed to help provide backup and redirect support for those substations. PPL Regional Affairs Director Jess Long Baker said the goal is to complete the Williams Grove Substation by fall 2018, with landscaping completed by 2019. PPL plans to start work on the two transmission lines in the spring, though Baker said PPL is still negotiating with two landowners in the township for the path of that line. With the line, we still have two landowners we need to work out a deal with, Baker said. We dont have a signed easement agreement with them yet. We will negotiate until the point where we feel there cant be any deal. As public utility, we do have the power of eminent domain, which basically means it goes to a judge for a ruling and a price is determined. Some township residents raised concerns in May about the proposed transmission lines running out of the substation. Barry Strock, a farmer in Upper Allen Township, told ABC27 then that the original proposal for the line extensions crossed straight through his property. Baker said PPL and the Strocks worked out a deal to solve that issue. Originally PPL wanted to go directly through the center of this farm, Strock told ABC27 in May. And we were very against that. Baker said PPL canceled in summer 2016 a proposed transmission line project for Cumberland County that would have connected the Williams Grove substation with a station in Silver Spring Township. Crews began digging in early fall at the Williams Grove Substation site located off Fisher Road in the township. Baker said the estimated cost for both the substation and the two new Williams Grove-Mechanicsburg power lines is $51 million. That land used be what we refer to as the Eberly Farm, Upper Allen Township Manager Lou Fazekas said. There had been plans to develop it sometime down road, but I think that backed off some. PPL bought a 40-acre track of land there. Baker said the facility will feature a lot of transformers and the power lines coming in to the substation. The substation will take existing 203kV power lines and step them down to 69 kV lines for the local transmission system. There is a line running above the turnpike feeding a lot customers off one line, Baker said. Anything happen on that line and it would cause an outage for a lot of people. These two lines will go up there, break that line in half. Asheeta Regidi This article is Part 12 of a multi-part series explaining the recently issued white paper on data protection in India. The responses to the white paper will help in the formulation of Indias future data protection laws. You can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11. The last part of the White Paper discusses the establishment of a robust, independent and technically sound data protection authority, along the lines of the Information Commissioners or Privacy Commissioners found in other jurisdictions. The ever-expanding range of privacy concerns and the technical expertise required to deal with them make this a very important aspect for the implementation and efficacy of the new law. A data protection authority (DPA) will be granted the powers and discretion to take a number of crucial decisions regarding all data related activities in India. Establishing its independence and transparency are key considerations, along with ensuring access to the people for remedies. The White Paper also raises certain interesting questions such as whether class action suits should be permitted for data protection, and whether judicial impact assessments are required. Models of DPAs The White Paper looks at different models for the set up of a DPA, such as the EU, which permits the Member states to set up multiple supervisory authorities; the UK, which has set up a single, independent Information Commissioners Office (ICO) or Singapore, which designates an existing body, the Info-Communications Media Authority, as the Personal Data Protection Authority. At present in India, there is no such data protection authority (DPA) under the Information Technology Act or other laws. Role of the DPA in the digital age A DPA will have numerous functions, duties and powers under the law. Provisionally, the White Paper has recommended its functions to be along the lines of those assigned internationally. These include allowing monitoring, enforcement and investigations, setting standards, conducting Data Protection Impact Assessments and audits, advisory powers and generating awareness. The DPAs, in the exercise of these powers, play a huge role in protecting, controlling and allowing the use of data in the digital age. For example, Googles Street View was allowed to remain only after the UKs ICO ruled that the blurring of faces and number plates led to it being within data protection laws. At the same time, the accidental collection of Wi-Fi data by the Street View mapping cars was ruled to be a major privacy violation by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. DPAs thus decide on data processing that is permissible. Internationally, they also act as a register for data controllers, where only those registered can process data. The extent of permission granted to process the data will depend on the DPAs categorisation of the data controller. Even in the case of cross-border transfers, the DPA will have the authority to decide which nations grant an adequate level of security to allow the transfer and processing of data. For example, concerns with the surveillance practices of the US have led to national DPAs in the EU threatening to file legal challenges against the EU-US Privacy Shield, if their concerns are not addressed. The DPAs have demanded further evidence or legally binding commitments that the US would not, for instance, exercise its authority under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to collect communications from foreign-based suspects. Role of the DPA in adjudication In order to ensure that data processing activities are within the law, DPAs are granted powers to investigate suspected violations, review complaints and activities, and adjudicate and award penalties. These powers allow the questioning of any practices which the DPA feels violates privacy laws. Due to the power to take suo moto notice, ie, to act even without receiving a formal complaint, the DPA does not need to wait for an actual violation of privacy and can take action to prevent a privacy violation before it occurs. For example, UKs ICO, much like other Commissioners elsewhere, did not approve of WhatsApps sharing of data with Facebook, finding that the people had not been adequately informed of the data sharing practices and that their consent for the new practices had not been taken properly. This forced WhatsApp to cease the sharing of the data until it met the requirements of the ICO. Questions were also raised against new technologies like Google Glass by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and against Apples FaceID, though these concerns were raised by a senator. Single, centralised DPA considered in the White Paper Indias specific circumstances need to be taken into consideration while deciding on a suitable model for a DPA. For example, it has been argued that a single data protection authority will not be appropriate in the Indian landscape, leading to too much centralisation of power in the hands of a single body. Even with the framing of the Sri Krishna Committee to frame the law, concerns were raised with the composition of the Committee, asking for wider representation from various stakeholders. At present, the White Paper is leaning towards the framing of a single, centralised body as a DPA. A separate, independent body has been suggested, though comments have been called for on other models as well. Views have also been sought on the need for separate state-level DPAs. Whether centralised or in the form of a multi-agency authority, some factors must be ensured to address the concerns raised. One is to establish transparency in the functioning of the DPA. At the same time, the DPA must be kept independent from the influence of various actors to enable its impartial functioning. A system of checks and balances must, therefore, be established. Adjudication process should not go the CyAT way The White Paper also looks at the set up of an adjudication process in India. One concern is that it recommends a system similar to that under the IT Act. It suggests the appointment of adjudicatory officers by the DPA to hear complaints, and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal (CyAT) be appointed to hear appeals. An individuals complaint would, therefore, go first to the data controllers grievance redressal officer, then to the adjudicatory officer of the DPA and last the CyAT. While setting up the DPA, the failure of the CyAT must be kept in mind. The Tribunal was non-functional for several years, without even a chairperson, which led to the transfer of its powers to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. The failure of the CyAT needs to be looked at, and steps need to be taken to avoid a repeat of those mistakes with the DPAs system. Class action suits in India An interesting issue raised in the White Paper is on whether class action suits should be permitted under the new law. Class action suits are more common in western countries, and in India have taken the occasional form of public interest litigations. The new Company law in India allowed class action suits, after Indian investors in the Satyam scam, were left high and dry while foreign investors could get compensation. Class action suits for privacy violations are seen very commonly, such as the recent class action suit against Google for tracking iPhone Safari users, suits against Facebook for tracking users on other websites, or the potential suit against Uber for its data breach. Given the huge number of people likely to be affected by a privacy violation, the ability to file a class action suit in India is very welcome. Key questions raised in the White Paper In view of these issues, the White Paper has presently sought comments on the following key questions with respect to the setting up of a DPA in India: Is a separate, independent DPA required to ensure compliance in India? Is there a possibility to confer the powers of a DPA on an existing body like the Central Information Commission? For the DPA, what should the composition, qualifications, tenure and appointment procedures of the members be? Should there be additional state-level DPAs given the volume of complaints that are likely to arise? How should the independence of a DPA be ensured? What should its functions, duties and powers be? Should the DPA retain a portion of the fines? How will standards be set by the DPA through consultation, or should there be different sets of standards by different entities? Should the DPA have the power to adjudicate and hear complaints? What should the qualifications and expertise of the adjudicatory officer appointed for this purpose be? Should appeals lie with the TDSAT? If not, what should the constitution of the appellate tribunal be? When should the appellate authority be conferred with original jurisdiction, such as in case of disputes between two data controllers? How can digital mechanisms of adjudication and redressal be incorporated? Should the DPA have the power to grant compensation? Can an appeal from such order lie with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission? Can a large claim for Compensation lie directly with the NCDRC? Should class action suits be permitted? How should judicial capacity be assessed? Would judicial impact assessments be useful? Any other views? Seize the chance to participate The Data Protection White Paper, on the whole, contains a very comprehensive, though preliminary look at the privacy laws around the world, and possible form of the privacy regulation in India. It must be kept in mind that the White Paper has not taken the form of TRAIs Consultation Papers, which involve a complete discussion of the issue before asking for comments. The discussion in the White Paper gives a brief overview of international practices with privacy laws, and the provisional views expressed are extremely basic. It is the peoples responses to the paper that will pay a definitive role in the next stage, ie, preparing the first draft of the law. The White Paper gives the people a rarely seen before chance of participating in the framing of this significant law. Given the widespread ramifications of this law, participation by the people is crucial. It is chance to actually participate in the framing of the law, and any concern, be it as an individual who feels data analytics are too invasive, a rights advocate supporting fines as a percentage of the global turnovers or a start-up wanting their needs to be kept in mind, need to seize this opportunity to draw the attention of the Committee to their issues. The last date for responses to the Paper is 31 December, 2017. Part I of the series explores the definitions of personal data and sensitive personal data Part II of the series examines the jurisdiction and territorial scope of data protection laws Part III of the series explores cross-border data flows and data localisation Part IV deals with exemptions to data protection law Part V deals with notice and consent Part VI deals with the big data challenge to privacy principles Part VII deals with processing of sensitive personal data Part VIII deals with ensuring data quality Part IX deals with new rights against discriminatory AI decisions, marketing, etc. Part X deals with adopting a co-regulatory approach Part XI deals with establishing deterrent consequences. The author is a lawyer and author specialising in technology laws. She is also a certified information privacy professional. NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bangladeshi man accused of attempting a suicide bombing in one of New York Citys busiest commuter hubs is expected to be formally charged as early as Wednesday with supporting a foreign terrorist organization and other crimes. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi man who attempted to detonate a homemade bomb strapped to his body at a New York commuter hub during morning rush hour is seen in this handout photo received December 11, 2017. New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission/Handout via REUTERSAkayed Ullah, a 27-year-old supporter of the radical group Islamic State, will appear from Bellevue Hospital before a judge via video conference as soon as Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office. He is recovering from injuries he suffered when his homemade bomb ignited but failed to detonate. Three people suffered minor injuries when Ullah attempted to detonate a pipe bomb secured to his midsection in a pedestrian tunnel under the sprawling Port Authority transportation complex, where many commuters from New Yorks suburbs arrive on buses and transfer to local subways. Officials have declined to describe Ullahs condition. I did it for the Islamic State, Ullah told police who interviewed him after the blast, according to papers filed by federal prosecutors on Tuesday. A member of the FBI enters the crime scene beneath the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal following an attempted detonation during the morning rush hour, in New York. REUTERS/Andrew KellyUllah, who has lived in the United States since 2011, began his self-radicalization in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online, prosecutors said. He carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, they said. Inside Ullahs passport, which was recovered from his home, were handwritten notes, including one that read, O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. Slideshow (4 Images)Bangladeshs counter-terrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday that his country had found no evidence linking the suspect to militants in his home country. We have collected evidence and information from his family members: his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh polices counter-terrorism unit, said in an interview. In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups. His attack was the latest inspired by militants to hit the largest U.S. city. In October an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by racing a rental truck down a bike bath. In October, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen was convicted of planting two bombs in New Yorks Chelsea neighborhood in 2016, one of which exploded and wounded 30 people. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed calls to end immigration based on family ties in view of the two recent terrorist attacks that rocked New York. Blaming a "lax" immigration system for the bomb attack by a Bangladeshi immigrant, Trump said he will end the diversity visa and chain migration system "fast", both of which gives green cards to foreign nationals. Trump issued a statement on Tuesday after the morning's terrorist attack, carried out by Bangladeshi-native Brooklyn resident Akayed Ullah. He detonated a pipe bomb in the 42nd Street passageway tunnel in midtown Manhattan, injuring himself and three others. Calling the bombing at a New York transportation hub by Ullah "attempted mass murder", Trump said: "Today's terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security". Ullah's attack was the second terrorist attack in New York in less than two months. On 31 October, an immigrant from Uzbekistan drove a small truck into pedestrians near the World Trade Centre killing eight people. "There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards. The first attacker came through the visa lottery and the second through chain migration," Trump told reporters after he signed the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018. "We're going to end both of them: The lottery system and chain migration. We're going to end them. Fast. Congress must get involved immediately, and they are involved immediately and I can tell you we have tremendous support. They will be ended," said the US president. In his remarks, Trump praised first responders, "local police and federal law enforcement for their quick action." Trump announced immigration reform proposals in August that would end chain immigration and a green card lottery system that allows people from some countries like Uzbekistan and Bangladesh to immigrate without sponsorship or professional qualification. Washington: The United States has elevated its engagement with India as part of its effort of free and open Indo-Pacific, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said. "As part of the free and open Indo-Pacific, we have elevated our engagement with India," Tillerson said. "We've long had a trilateral relationship in the Indo-Pacific between Japan, Australia, and the US, and we're now working towards whether this will become a quad relationship to include India because of the importance of India's rising economy as well and I think shared national security concerns that we have with India," he said. On America's relationship with China, he said the administration now have a very active mechanism in which it can put complex issues on the table. "And we have differences, such as the South China Sea and China's building of structures, militarisation of these structures, and how that affects our allies in the region as well in terms of free and open trade," he said. "As we've said to the Chinese, we hope we can find a way to freeze this particular activity. Whether we can reverse, it remains to seen. But it is not acceptable to us that these islands continue to be developed, and certainly not for military purposes," he said. "In Southeast Asia, we put forth a policy here not too long ago of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and this was built on the back of some of our views about China's One Belt, One Road policy. China's One Belt, One Road, we understand, is a policy they have to continue their economic development, and our policies do not seek to contain China's economic development," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "But China's economic development, in our view, should take place in the system of international rules and norms, and One Belt, One Road seems to want to define its own rules and norms," he added. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road. Tillerson said that a free and open Indo-Pacific means all countries have access to continue their economic development and free access for trade through the region. MOSCOW (Reuters) - From Damascus to Doha, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has been showing up in unexpected places, a sign of the militarys growing influence under Vladimir Putin. FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attend the Victory Day parade, marking the 71st anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, at Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2016. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File PhotoIn the past few months, at times wearing his desert military uniform, Shoigu has held talks with Syrias president in Damascus, met Israels prime minister in Jerusalem and been received by the Emir of Qatar in Doha. The defence ministrys forays into areas long regarded as the preserve of the foreign ministry are raising eyebrows in Russia, where strict protocol means ministers usually hold talks only with their direct foreign counterparts. The military is reaping political dividends from what the Kremlin saw as its big successes in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine after Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms seized control of the peninsula in 2014, and Syria, where Russian forces helped turn the tide of war in President Bashar al-Assads favour. That has translated into more top-table influence, said a long-serving Russian official who interacts with the defence ministry but declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. The Kremlin and the defence and foreign ministries did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this article, but three sources who know both ministries well confirmed the trend. The growth of the militarys influence has caused discontent among some Russian diplomats and unease among Western officials about the harder edge it is giving Russias foreign policy. Foreign policy-making has become more bellicose and more opaque, and this makes new Russian military adventures more likely, some Western officials say. If you allow the defence ministry a bigger say in foreign policy its going to be looking for trouble, said one, who declined to be named because of the subjects sensitivity. Shoigus high profile has also revived talk of the long-time Putin loyalist as a possible presidential stand-in if Putin, who is seeking a fourth term in an election in March, had to step down suddenly and was unable to serve out a full six-year term. Shoigu, 62, is not involved in party politics but opinion polls often put him among the top five most popular presidential possibles. His trust rating is also often second only to Putin, with whom he was pictured on a fishing trip this summer. SYRIA ROLE The militarys influence has ebbed and flowed in Russia and, before that, the Soviet Union. It had huge clout at the end of World War Two and in the 1950s after the death of Soviet leader Josef Stalin when Georgy Zhukov, a commander credited with a crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany, was defence minister. But the ignominious Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, completed in 1989, two wars Russia fought in Chechnya after the Soviet Unions collapse, and the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine with the loss of all 118 people on board in 2000 left the militarys prestige in tatters. Under Putin, a former KGB agent who as president is the armed forces commander-in-chief, its stock has risen. Defence spending has soared, the military has been deployed in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria and its actions are used to foster patriotism. The militarys growing political and foreign policy muscle is most noticeable when it comes to Syria. After going to Damascus twice earlier this year for talks with Assad, Shoigu was at Putins side this week when the president flew in to meet the Syrian leader. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has not visited Syria at all in 2017. FILE PHOTO: Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) greets veterans next to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu after the Victory Day parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File PhotoUnusually for a defence minister, Shoigu has been involved in diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria. In this role he has spoken about the importance of a new draft constitution for the country, met the U.N. special envoy on Syria and had talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. A Western official who has direct contact with the foreign and defence ministries said the Russian military had real heft in Damascus of a kind the foreign ministry did not. There was strong mutual trust between the Russian military and senior people in Damascus, the official said, because the Russians saved their asses and the Syrians respect that. The foreign ministry retains strong Middle East experts and continues to play an important Syria role, helping run peace talks taking place in Kazakhstan. But Lavrovs own efforts to secure a U.S.-Russia deal on cooperating in Syria have shown how differently the foreign and defence ministries sometimes think. Lavrov is still seen as a formidable diplomat whom Putin trusts and respects. But Western officials say he is not summoned to all important meetings and is not informed about major military operations in Syria. POLICY INTERVENTIONS Slideshow (4 Images)The militarys other foreign policy interventions include a role in Russias alleged interference in last years U.S. presidential election, U.S. intelligence agencies say. They say the GRU, Russias military foreign intelligence agency, hacked email accounts belonging to Democratic Party officials and politicians, and organised their leaking to the media to try to sway public opinion against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trumps main rival. The Kremlin denies the allegations. Other policy interventions included a news briefing in December 2015 at which the defence ministry said it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq. Erdogan said the allegations, made at a briefing held a week after a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border, amounted to slander. The defence ministrys response to the incident was much sharper than that of Russian diplomats, part of a wide-ranging communications policy that has included frequent criticism of the U.S. State Department and Washingtons foreign policy. Other areas of interest for the defence ministry have included Egypt, Sudan and Libya. Shoigu was involved in talks between Putin and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Moscow last month and the ministry hosted Khalifa Haftar, Eastern Libyas dominant military figure, aboard its sole aircraft carrier in January. During the visit, Haftar spoke to Shoigu via video link about fighting terrorism in the Middle East. One Western official told Reuters such incidents were fuelling fears that Russia plans to expand its footprint beyond Syria, where it has an air base and a naval facility, to centres such as Yemen, Sudan or Afghanistan. The militarys influence in domestic policy-making has expanded too, Russian analysts and Western officials say, with Putin seeking its views on everything from the digital economy to food security. That is in part because Putin, since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, has altered the way he takes decisions and widened the scope of what the Security Council, which he chairs, discusses to include many domestic policy questions. At a time when theres a feeling that Russia is increasingly surrounded by enemies, Putin is consulting the intelligence services and the military more when he takes all decisions. Hes meeting them all the time, said Tatyana Stanovaya, head of the analytical department at the Center for Political Technologies think tank. Stanovaya said that did not mean the military was initiating ideas, but that its opinions were taken into account far more by Putin now than in the past and that it now had an important voice on domestic policy areas. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Paris: Major banks and companies vowed on Tuesday to move away from Earth-warming fossil fuels as world leaders met in Paris seeking to unlock new cash to save humanity from climate "doom". Two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement to avert worst-case-scenario climate change, investors announced billions of dollars of intended divestment from coal, oil, and gas at a finance-themed climate summit. But conference host France, as well as the UN and the World Bank, warned that efforts to shift the global economy into a green energy future were too little, too slow. "We are losing the battle," French President Emmanuel Macron told delegates. "We are not moving fast enough." For his part, UN chief Antonio Guterres cautioned that many countries continued to subsidise fossil fuels to bring down prices for consumers, which he likened to humanity "investing in its own doom". "We are in a war for the very existence of life on our planet as we know it," he told more than 50 heads of state including Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, Britain's Theresa May and Spain's Mariano Rajoy, at the summit called by Macron in response to US President Donald Trump's rejection of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The pact, which took more than two decades to negotiate, seeks to limit average global warming to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. Under it, countries have pledged non-binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of oil, coal, and natural gas blamed for global warming. America, a champion of the pact under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, is the only country to reject it. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced to loud applause Tuesday that the lender would "no longer finance upstream oil and gas after 2019". "We're determined to work with all of you to put the right policies in place, get market forces moving in the right direction, put the money on the table, and accelerate action," he said. Greenpeace hailed the move. "The World Bank as one of the world's most powerful financial institutions has sent a damning vote of no confidence to the future of the fossil fuel industry," said campaigner Gyorgy Dallos. French insurer Axa said it would speed up carbon sector divestment, pulling 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) from companies which derive more than 30 percent of their revenues from coal. Dutch bank ING said it would have "close to zero exposure" to coal power generation by 2025, and a group of more than 200 global investors, including banking giant HSBC, launched a campaign to pressure the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters including BP, Airbus, Volkswagen and Glencore to go greener. According to the International Energy Agency, green energy investments of about $3.5 trillion per year will be needed for the world to stay under the 2 C limit double current spending. "While the challenge is great, we must do everything in our power to meet it. We know it is the difference between life and death for millions of vulnerable people around the world," said Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji who presided over UN climate talks in Bonn last month. On current emissions trends, the world is on course for warming of 3 C, experts warn, with life- and asset-threatening superstorms, sea-level rise, floods and droughts the result. Trump, who has described climate change as a "hoax", came under fire from all quarters on Tuesday. His rejection of the Paris pact was "politically short-sighted and misguided, economically irresponsible, and scientifically wrong," said former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. But in the absence of a senior administration official, American businesses, regions and local government leaders have taken up the cudgels, represented in Paris by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, ex-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Paris: Three days after declaring victory over the Islamic State group, Iraq's prime minister warns that the group's extremists might "erupt again somewhere else" without international cooperation in combating the militants. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told reporters on Saturday that "we have managed to break them" in Iraq, but added that it's a worry for everyone that Islamic State has "this unfortunate ability to recruit young people very quickly." He said there must be an effort to "remove their grassroots in the region." Al-Abadi made the comments at a news conference on the sidelines of a climate summit outside Paris, He called for continued international cooperation in training Iraqi forces and providing logistical and intelligence support. Al-Abadi declared victory in the more than three-year fight against Islamic State in a national address on Saturday. Washington: President Donald Trump signed a $692 billion defence budget on Tuesday, which among other things gives funding to provide legislative authority to implement his South Asia strategy and authorises critical missile capabilities to confront threats posed by North Korea. The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) authorises $626 billion of the base budget resources for the Department of Defence and the national security programmes of the Department of Energy, providing an additional $66 billion for 'overseas contingency operations'. It approves $26.2 billion for shipbuilding, including multi-year procurements of Virginia class submarines, $10.1 billion to procure 90 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and $2.2 billion for army ground combat vehicles. The budget would give legislative authority to implement his South Asia strategy and authorises critical missile capabilities to confront threats posed by North Korea. Trump had sought a major role for India in bringing peace in Afghanistan and ruled out a hasty withdrawal of troops from the war-torn nation while announcing his new Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August. At the signing ceremony at the White House, Trump said NDAA 2018 could not come at a more opportune or important time. "This legislation represents a momentous step toward rebuilding our military and securing the future for our children," he said. He rued in recent years, military has undergone a series of deep budget cuts that have severely impacted its readiness, shrunk capabilities, and placed substantial burdens on warfighters. "Today, with the signing of this defence bill, we accelerate the process of fully restoring America's military might," he said, adding that this legislation will enhance readiness, expand and modernise forces and help provide service members with the tools that they need to fight and to win. "We will fight and win. But hopefully, with this, we won't have to fight because people will not be wanting to fight with us. It authorises funding for our continued campaign to obliterate the Islamic State. As you know, we've won in Syria, we've won in Iraq. But they spread to other areas and we're getting them as fast as they spread," Trump said. "We've had more success with the Islamic State in the last eight months than the entire previous administration has had during its entire term," Trump said. NDAA-2018 approves missile defence capabilities to create maximum pressure on the vile dictatorship in North Korea. "It upgrades our Ground Combat Vehicles, allows for the purchase of new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, and paves the way for beautiful new Virginia-class submarines the finest in the world," Trump said. Birmingham, Alabama: Doug Jones, a Democrat who once prosecuted two Ku Klux Klansmen in a deadly church bombing and has now broken the Republican lock grip on Alabama, is the state's new US senator. Here are some facts about Jones: Close to home Jones, 63, grew up in the working-class city of Fairfield, just west of Birmingham, an area where steel mills once belched smoke that left a rust-coloured haze hanging over the metro area. His father was a steelworker and so was one of his grandfathers; the other worked in a coal mine. Jones spent time working in a mill when not in school. Now an attorney in private practice, Jones lives just a few miles from his hometown in the hilly suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama's richest locale with an average family income estimated by the US Census Bureau at $225,000 annually. Democratic roots Jones got his start in government as an aide to the last Democrat elected to the US Senate from Alabama, the late Howell Heflin. After graduating from Samford University's law school in 1979, Jones worked as staff counsel to the Judiciary Committee for Heflin, and Jones still considers Heflin a role model. Heflin cited his health in retiring from the Senate, and Republican Jeff Sessions was elected to replace him in 1996. Jones will now assume the seat vacated by Sessions when he was nominated as US attorney general by President Donald Trump. Republican appointee Luther Strange has held the seat in the interim. Church bombing Years before running for Senate, Jones made a name for himself prosecuting two KKK members for the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, a brutal crime that killed four black girls in 1963. One Klansman was convicted in the blast in 1977, and a renewed investigation was underway by the time President Bill Clinton appointed Jones as US attorney in Birmingham in 1997. Jones led a team of federal and state attorneys during trials that resulted in the convictions of Thomas Blanton Jr in 2001 and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002. In 2016, Jones was among the speakers who urged Alabama's parole board to refuse an early release for Blanton. The board agreed, and Blanton remains in prison serving life for murder. Party guy Alabama's Democratic Party has been on life support since Republicans gained ascendancy years ago, holding no statewide offices and a minority in each legislative chamber, but Jones supported an effort to revive the organisation in 2013. A former party chairman formed the Alabama Democratic Majority to raise money and recruit candidates, and Jones was among those publicly supportive of the effort. The foundation was dormant by 2014, but Trump's victory has helped breathe new life into local organizations, including the Democratic Party in Republican-heavy Shelby County, where officials say membership has jumped from around a dozen to more than 200 people since the 2016 election. Jones' victory can only help re-energise the party even more. Washington: New Jersey governor-elect Phil Murphy named Gurbir S Grewal as his nominee to serve as the next attorney general of the state. With this nomination, Grewal will become the first Sikh-American state attorney general in the country. The move has been welcomed by the South Asian Bar Association (SABA). Grewal, who has spent most of his legal career in public service, is currently the Bergen County prosecutor. Working for the most populous county in New Jersey, Grewal serves a community of almost a million people with his staff of 265. He had previously served as an assistant US attorney in both New York (2004-2007) and New Jersey (2010-2016). He ended his tenure there as chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, where he was lead prosecutor for the largest known data breach prosecution. Grewal obtained his law degree from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1999. "The decision to appoint a visible minority as the chief law enforcement officer for New Jersey reflects the diversity of the state and of the US, and is especially important in a time where minorities and immigrants have often felt targeted by law enforcement," said SABA president Rishi Bagga. "We really applaud his accomplishments and are extremely proud to see him be chosen for this honor," said SABA New Jersey president Bhaveen Jani. Grewal is a past president of SABA New York and a member of the New Jersey Asian Pacific American lawyers Association. LONDON (Reuters) - At least half the worlds population is unable to access essential health services and many others are forced into extreme poverty by having to pay for healthcare they cannot afford, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. A South Sudanese refugee boy receives a vaccination at the Imvepi refugee settlement camp in Arua District, northern Uganda August 13, 2017. Picture taken August 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Patinkin/FilesSome 800 million people worldwide spend at least 10 percent of their household income on healthcare for themselves or a sick child, and as many as 100 million of those are left with less than $1.90 a day to live on as a result, the WHO said. In a joint report with the World Bank, the United Nations health agency said it was unacceptable that more than half the worlds people still dont get the most basic healthcare. If we are serious - not just about better health outcomes but also about ending poverty - we must urgently scale up our efforts on universal health coverage, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement with the report. Anna Marriott, health policy advisor for the international aid agency Oxfam, said the report was a damning indictment of governments efforts on health. Healthcare, a basic human right, has become a luxury only the wealthy can afford, she said in a statement. Behind each of these appalling statistics are people facing unimaginable suffering - parents reduced to watching their children die; children pulled out of school so they can help pay off their families health care debts; and women working themselves into the ground caring for sick family members. The WHO and World Bank report did have some positive news: This century has seen a rise in the number of people getting services such as vaccinations, HIV/AIDS drugs, and mosquito-repelling bednets and contraception, it said. But there are wide gaps in the availability of services in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, the report found. In other regions, basic services such as family planning and child immunisation are more available, but families are suffering financially to pay for them. Yong Kim said this was a sign that the system is broken. We need a fundamental shift in the way we mobilise resources for health and human capital, especially at the country level, he said. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians following Donald Trumps decision last week to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks as he meets with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other officials following an earthquake that hit Kermansheh province, in Tehran, Iran November 15, 2017. Leader.ir/Handout via REUTERS Rouhani, attending an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, said the U.S. presidents move showed the United States lacked any respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation. Iran is ready to cooperate with all Muslim countries without any precondition to defend the legitimate rights of Palestinians, Rouhani told the gathering in the Turkish city Istanbul. Unity among Muslim countries is very important and Quds (Jerusalem) should become our top priority. Opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause have been central to Irans foreign policy since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Iran, the leading Shiite Muslim power, and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia are competing for influence in the Middle East, where they support rival groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Tehran and Riyadh see each other as the paramount threat to regional peace and stability. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and the city of Mashhad following Riyadhs execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Rouhani said Muslim countries should resolve their disputes through dialogue and he also accused Israel of planting seeds of tension across the Middle East. On his Twitter account, Rouhani said Trumps move to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital showed that Washington was not an honest mediator and never will be, adding that it only wanted to secure the interests of the Zionists. Iran does not recognise Israel and regards Palestine as comprising all of the holy land, including Israeli territory. Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. Tehran backs several militant Islamist groups in their fight against Israel. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Jerusalem: Israel Air Force hit the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers on Wednesday after Palestinians fired at southern Israel on Monday, the army said. Late on Tuesday night, the military said that an undefined "projectile" was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was "very probably" a rocket but that it was not clear where it fell. Palestinians in the coastal territory have recently fired both rockets and mortar rounds into the Jewish State. On Tuesday, an army statement gave Israel's reply to the latest fire. "In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel Air Force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip," it said, without elaborating. There were no reports of casualties on either side. A wave of rocket fire follows US President Donald Trump's statement on Wednesday recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. ROME (Reuters) - Italys parliament will be dissolved between Christmas and the New Year, a parliamentary source said on Wednesday, opening the way for national elections in early March that look unlikely to produce a clear winner. The source said the most likely date for the vote was March 4 but added that March 11 remained a possibility, with a final decision due shortly. A national election must be held by May, but most political parties are keen to hold elections as soon as possible, with the last major piece of legislation, the 2018 budget, scheduled to be approved before the end of the year. A vote on March 4? That would be excellent. The sooner we go to the polls the better, said Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right Northern League party. Italys 10-year bond yield rose to a two-week high on the election reports, with investors concerned about political uncertainty in the euro zones third biggest economy. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconis centre-right alliance is seen winning the most seats at the forthcoming ballot, opinion polls say. But he looks unlikely to secure enough votes to hold an absolute majority. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement is predicted to emerge as the largest single party in the next parliament, but it has repeatedly ruled out joining any coalition. Berlusconi said at a book presentation on Wednesday that Italy should return to the polls if the vote produces no clear majority, with current Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni carrying on for at least three months during a new election campaign. The often fractious alliance between Berlusconi and Salvini creaked on Wednesday when Salvini threatened to break off talks after Berlusconis Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party declined to back a League proposal to toughen sanctions for violent crime. The two parties have no common platform and have not settled on a commonly agreed candidate for prime minister. ITALY AT A CROSSROADS Support for the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), headed by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, has fallen steadily in recent months, with the group heavily penalised by deep schisms and personality clashes. The parliamentary source, who was in contact with President Sergio Mattarella, said the head of state would almost certainly dissolve both houses after Gentiloni had held a traditional end-of-year news conference, set for Dec. 28. Gentiloni will remain as a caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, helping to guarantee political stability in the interim. Italys economy is finally pulling clear of years of recession and is expected to post growth of 1.5 percent this year and next -- still lagging most of its euro zone peers. Employers association Confindustria warned on Wednesday that the recovery could be jeopardised by political uncertainty. The next elections will be very important, placing the country at a crossroads, with one path leading to a continuation of reforms and the other leading nowhere, it said in a report, warning parties against pursuing demagogic measures. Political leaders have already made a rash of promises that economists warn could damage the countrys fragile finances, including pledges of generous handouts for pensioners and large tax cuts. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to "win victory in the showdown" against the US with his rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, State media said on Wednesday, after the country's latest missile test heightened global tensions. Nuclear-armed North Korea has rattled the international community with a flurry of nuclear blasts and missile launches, most recently on 29 November, when it test-fired its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching all major US cities. Kim told workers behind the latest test that his country would "victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world" at a conference on Tuesday, according to State news agency KCNA. "National defence industry will continue to develop and we will win victory in the showdown with the imperialists and the US," he was indirectly quoted as saying. The country's nuclear force had been completed in a "death-defying struggle" and despite a high cost, he added. Kim's comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim's regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US president Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with Trump dubbing his rival 'Little Rocket Man'. Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the 29 November launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which North Korea has claimed, could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the earth's atmosphere. Last month's launch was the first test of any kind since 15 September, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said for the first time that Washington was willing to talk to Pyongyang "without preconditions". The US has long insisted that the North should take concrete steps towards disarming before any negotiations, which should lead to complete, irreversible and verifiable denuclearisation. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your programme," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum. "They have too much invested in it." But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. The latest military standoff prompted concerns of another full-scale conflict in the region after the 1950-53 Korean War that left much of the peninsula in ruins. Even if a second war remained conventional, tens of thousands of South Koreans as well as many of the 28,500 US troops stationed in the country are expected to be killed just in the first days of fighting, analysts say. Seoul: Kim Jong-Un has vowed to make North Korea the "world's strongest nuclear power," state media reported on Wednesday, as the reclusive nation shows little sign of reining in a weapons programme fuelling global alarm. The North has rattled the international community with a flurry of missile launches and its largest ever nuclear test in recent months in its bid to develop a warhead capable of striking the United States. Kim told workers behind the recent test of a new missile Pyongyang said was capable of that feat, that his country "will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world," in a ceremony on Tuesday, according to state news agency KCNA. His comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim's regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US president Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with the US president pejoratively dubbing his rival "Little Rocket Man." Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the 29 November launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. November's launch was the first test of any kind since September 15, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was confident that Washington is doing all it can to force North Korea to discuss nuclear disarmament. "As I've told people many times, I will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops," he said in a speech to the Atlantic Council policy forum. But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. Washington has ramped up the pressure on the North and last week the United States and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise. Pyongyang slammed those manoeuvres as a provocation, accusing the drills of "revealing its intention to mount a surprise nuclear pre-emptive strike." ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Muslim leaders condemned U.S. President Donald Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday and called on the world to respond by recognising East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit of more than 50 Muslim countries in Istanbul, said the U.S. move meant Washington had forfeited its role as broker in efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From now on, it is out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine, that period is over, Erdogan said at the end of the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states. We need to discuss who will be a mediator from now on. This needs to be tackled in the UN too, Erdogan said. A communique posted on the Turkish Foreign Ministry website said the emirs, presidents and ministers gathered in Istanbul regarded Trumps move as an announcement of the U.S. Administrations withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace. It described the decision as a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus (for) extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security. Leaders including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Irans President Hassan Rouhani and Jordans King Abdullah, a close U.S. ally, all criticised Washingtons move. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine, Abbas said, adding Trumps decision was the greatest crime and a violation of international law. The Trump administration says it remains committed to reaching peace between Israel and the Palestinians and its decision does not affect Jerusalems future borders or status. It says any credible future peace deal will place the Israeli capital in Jerusalem, and ditching old policies is needed to revive a peace process frozen since 2014. But Abbas told the leaders in Istanbul that Washington had shown it could no longer be an honest broker. It will be unacceptable for it to have a role in the political process any longer since it is biased in favour of Israel, he said. This is our position and we hope you support us in this. PALESTINIAN CAPITAL Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu makes a speech during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers Council in Istanbul, Turkey, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Emrah Yorulmaz/PoolJerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islams third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognised internationally. The communique on the Turkish ministry website and a separate Istanbul Declaration distributed to journalists after the meeting said the leaders called on all countries to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. We invite the Trump Administration to reconsider its unlawful decision that might trigger...chaos in the region, and to rescind its mistaken step, the declaration said. Iran, locked in a regional rivalry with Saudi Arabia, said the Muslim world should overcome internal problems through dialogue so it could unite against Israel. Tehran has repeatedly called for the destruction of the Israeli state and backs several militant groups in their fight against it. America is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of the Zionists and it has no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians, Rouhani told the summit. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul, Turkey, December 12, 2017. Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERSKing Abdullah, whose country signed a peace treaty with Israel more than 20 years ago, said he rejected any attempt to alter the status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites. Abdullahs Hashemite dynasty is custodian of Jerusalems Muslim sites, making Amman sensitive to any changes in the city. Not all countries were represented by heads of government. Some sent ministers and Saudi Arabia, another close ally of Washingtons, sent a junior foreign minister. Summit host Turkey has warned that Trumps decision would plunge the world into a fire with no end in sight. Erdogan described it as reward for Israeli actions including occupation, settlement construction, land seizure and disproportionate violence and murder. Israel is an occupying state (and) Israel is a terror state, he told the summit. I invite all countries supporting international law to recognise Jerusalem as the occupied capital of Palestine. We cannot be late any more, Erdogan told leaders and ministers from more than 50 Muslim countries. Trumps declaration has been applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Washington had an irreplaceable part to play in the region. There is no substitute to the role that the United States plays in leading the peace process, he said at a Hanukkah holiday candle lighting ceremony on Tuesday. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: The abortive bombing by an Islamic State-inspired Bangladeshi in New York has raised fresh fears of a possible surge in attacks during the year-end holiday season on both sides of the Atlantic. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old immigrant who mainly injured himself when he tried to detonate a pipe bomb in a New York subway Monday, reportedly told investigators that he targeted the station based on the Christmas posters on the walls. The explosion, which saw three others lightly injured, came two weeks before Christmas, a period which terror experts says offers potential terrorists a large choice of "soft targets" where many people are gathered, shopping and celebrating, with limited ability to protect them. IS-inspired militants carried out two devastating attacks in Europe during the holiday season last year. In one, a Tunisian refugee drove a large truck into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. A week later, a jihadist militant shot dead 39 people at a New Year's Eve party at an Istanbul nightclub. In November 2016, French police broke up an Islamic extremist ring that was weighing an attack on a Christmas market as well as Paris Disneyland in the weeks before 25 December holiday. In 2017, such markets around the continent have a heavier police presence and more concrete blocks to prevent possible vehicle attacks. The US State Department has issued an alert for travellers to Europe during the holiday season, reminding them of both the Berlin and Istanbul attacks. "US citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals and events," the State Department warned. "Extremists continue to focus on tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls and local government facilities as viable targets." US authorities have also put out a general domestic warning over possible season-based attacks, according to Christopher Krebs, a senior Department of Homeland Security official. "We're focused on general awareness with the general public, like 'see something, say something,'" he said. Extremists urge Christmas attacks Analysts say there have not been any public directives from any of the authoritative media channels of Islamic State, Al-Qaeda or related groups. But for weeks, supporters have disseminated propaganda encouraging holiday-period attacks. SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, has shown posters made to encourage Christmas attacks. In one, a Santa stands next to a box of explosives looking over New York's Times Square, with the text: "We meet at Christmas in New York... soon." Another depicts a European city with a warning in three languages: "Soon on your holidays." Such propaganda underscores the move of Islamic State to an online "virtual caliphate" after the successful campaign to break up its territory in Syria and Iraq over the past year. Rather than plot attacks from a central command, the group now seeks to guide lone attackers online. "It is adapting its model, looking to inspire individuals operating overseas, rather than trying to direct and command and control them," Nick Rasmussen, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, said on PBS television Monday. "That's a different model of terrorism. It's harder to prevent." The Christmas-New Year threat is a perennial one, said Jeff Ringle, a former FBI counter-terror official who now heads the Soufan Group security consultancy. "Holidays have always raised the threat alarm," he told AFP, saying the expanded ability of soft targets public places where many people gather, like concerts and markets would give an attacker "a lot of visibility in the news." Preventing them is particularly difficult. "In order to allow people to enjoy the holidays, law enforcement has to be on their toes. It can never be completely effective," Ringle said. New York: US prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Mondays attempted suicide bombing in one of New York Citys busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of the radical group Islamic State, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in US district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to murder as many human beings as he could ... in support of a vicious terrorist cause, acting US attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. New York Police have said that Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast, I did it for the Islamic State, according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalisation in 2014 when he started viewing pro-Islamic State materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over US policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York City Police Department said. The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Officials declined to disclose Ullahs condition at Bellevue Hospital late on Tuesday. His first court appearance in the case could come as soon as Wednesday and may be conducted by video conference with a judge, a spokesman for the US Attorneys office said. On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, Trump you failed to protect your nation. Ullahs passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. Homemade bomb Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullahs pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators that he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximise damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullahs wife, according to two officials who declined to be identified as they were not permitted to publicly discuss the matter. They said the couple have a six-month-old boy. A police official who took part in that interview, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak publicly, said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the United States. New York City police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators were poring through data on Ullahs electronic devices, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said there was so far no indication that Ullah had previously attracted the attention of FBI. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. US President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasised the need for US immigration reforms. Mondays incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards, Trump said. The first attacker came through the visa lottery, the second came through chain migration. Were going to end both of them. The US Supreme Court last week allowed Trumps latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban was needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. John Miller, the New York City Police Departments deputy commissioner for intelligence and counter-terrorism, said on Tuesday that police would review the attempted suicide bombing and adjust security plans for the upcoming New Years Eve celebrations in Times Square. This is the first time I believe that we have seen an individual with a suicide bomb in mass transit and actually have that bomb function. So were going to take a hard look at it, Miller said in an interview. Lahore: A Pakistani court on Wednesday summoned a police officer investigating the case of a missing peace activist who is believed to have been kidnapped by unidentified men this month. Four activists critical of the army and its attitude towards militant groups went missing this year but reappeared after about a month. Two later said Pakistani military intelligence agents abducted and tortured them. The military denied the accusations. The latest activist to go missing is Raza Mehmood Khan, 40, a member of Aghaz-i-Dosti (Start of Friendship) group that works to build peace between arch-rivals Pakistan and India. He has not been heard from since 2 December and his family filed a writ of habeas corpus in a court in the eastern city of Lahore in the belief he has been unlawfully detained, a lawyer acting for his family said. The Lahore High Court took up the case on Wednesday and the presiding judge, Anwar ul Haq, asked for the officer in charge of the police station handling the case to appear at the next hearing on 19 December. The lawyer, Usama Malik, told Reuters a neighbour had called police on the night of 2 December to report that Khan was being kidnapped by unknown men. Khans brother and police arrived to find Khan gone, along with his mobile telephones and computer, the lawyer said. Police were not available for comment on the court summons on Wednesday. Police said earlier they had no suspect in the case and they were investigating. On the day of his disappearance, Khan had spoken at a forum on militancy. Everyone discussed their views and, of course, Raza was very critical, said a friend, Rahim-ul-Haq. Khan had also posted comments on Facebook critical of the military and its suspected link to some Islamist hardliners who at the time were protesting against the civilian government. Liberals in Pakistan have long criticised what they see as the militarys use of some militant factions to further its political and security objectives. The army denies sponsoring militant factions. It regards security policy, especially towards neighbours India and Afghanistan, as its responsibility. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Muslim leaders on Wednesday that a U.S. decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital was a crime which showed that Washington should no longer play a role in Middle East peace talks. Addressing an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey, Abbas said President Donald Trump was giving Jerusalem away as if it were an American city. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine, he said, adding Trumps decision was the greatest crime and a violation of international law. Wednesdays summit was hosted by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who has bitterly criticized the United States, a NATO ally, for its stance on Jerusalem. I invite all countries supporting international law to recognise Jerusalem as the occupied capital of Palestine. We cannot be late any more, Erdogan told leaders and ministers from more than 50 Muslim countries. He described Trumps decision last week as a reward for Israeli actions including occupation, settlement construction, land seizure and disproportionate violence and murder. Israel is an occupying state (and) Israel is a terror state, he said. Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islams third holiest site and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognised internationally. Ahead of the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Muslim nations should urge the world to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state within its pre-1967 borders. He said this week Turkey was not seeking sanctions in response to the U.S. move, but wanted the summit to issue a strong rejection of the U.S. decision. U.S. BIAS Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu makes a speech during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers Council in Istanbul, Turkey, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Emrah Yorulmaz/PoolThe Trump administration says it remains committed to reaching peace between Israel and the Palestinians and its decision does not affect Jerusalems future borders or status. It says any credible future peace deal will place the Israeli capital in Jerusalem, and ditching old policies is needed to revive a peace process frozen since 2014. Abbas told the leaders in Istanbul that Washington could no longer be an honest broker. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul, Turkey, December 12, 2017. Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERSIt will be unacceptable for it to have a role in the political process any longer since it is biased in favour of Israel, he said. This is our position and we hope you support us in this. Trumps declaration has been applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Washington had an irreplaceable part to play in the region. There is no substitute to the role that the United States plays in leading the peace process, he said at a Hanukkah holiday candle lighting ceremony on Tuesday. King Abdullah of Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel more than 20 years ago, told the Istanbul summit that he rejected any attempt to change the status quo of Jerusalem and its holy sites. Abdullahs Hashemite dynasty is custodian of Jerusalems Muslim sites, making Amman sensitive to any changes in the city. Iran, locked in a regional rivalry with Saudi Arabia, said the Muslim world should overcome internal problems through dialogue so it could unite against Israel. Tehran has repeatedly called for the destruction of the Israeli state and backs several militant groups in their fight against it. America is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of the Zionists and it has no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians, President Hassan Rouhani told the summit. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Riyadh: Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi King Salman said on Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away. "The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital," the king said. Salman's address to the kingdom's Consultative Council came as the world's main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to last week's US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The king renewed his condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision, saying it "represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions". At Wednesday's summit, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the world to recognise east Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", while Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a Saudi arch foe used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at Washington's Arab allies. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine," he said. Jordanian king Abdullah II, Lebanese president Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit. But Saudi Arabia, which hosts the pan-Islamic bloc's secretariat, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won martial law powers across the southern third of the country for one more year on Wednesday to combat Islamic militants and leftist rebels, as Congress brushed aside fears of a looming dictatorship. Duterte's request to extend martial law in the Mindanao region until 31 December next year and detain rebellion suspects there without charge was approved by 240 votes to 27 at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. Asked by reporters later on Wednesday if he would extend martial law to the whole country, Duterte said "all options are on the table". In May Duterte imposed military rule and suspended a constitutional guarantee against warrantless arrests across the region of 20 million people, hours after armed Islamic militants seized the southern city of Marawi. The initial period of martial law was limited by the constitution to 60 days. However, in July Congress authorised Duterte to extend martial law until the last day of 2017 as he moved to retake the city from hundreds of gunmen he accused of plotting to turn Marawi into a regional base for the Islamic State group. Duterte declared Marawi "liberated" in October after a five-month US-backed bombing campaign that claimed more than 1,100 lives and left large areas of the city in ruins. On Tuesday, Duterte compared the communists who operate in rural areas all over the country to the Islamic militants who are based in Mindanao. "They are the same," he said. Opposition legislators said that martial law was illegal because Duterte had declared the liberation of Marawi and described the communists as a "spent force". "Is this now a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide?" said senate minority leader Franklin Drilon. Duterte has repeatedly said he may impose martial law across the entire nation to save the Philippines from narcotics, crime and terrorism-induced anarchy. By Taruni Kumar The hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have been fleeing from the country of Myanmar because of atrocities and discrimination have been in the media spotlight since late August. The UN has called it the worlds fastest growing refugee crisis, and, the most persecuted minority on earth. But The Associated Press highlighted another facet of the violence when it spoke to 21 Rohingya women who told the stories of their rape at the hands of the countrys armed forces. AP called the rape of these women by Myanmars military sweeping and methodical. But despite the media attention around the ongoing crisis, and the concerns of the United Nations, Myanmars government denies wrongdoing, with one minister even saying that the Rohingya women were too ugly to be raped. In light of the horrific stories of rape and violence coming out of Myanmar, heres why Indias women need to sit up and pay attention to the sufferings of their Rohingya counterparts. What is the Rohingya crisis? The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim group that resides in Rakhine State in Myanmar. They make up about one-third of the population there and are different from the rest of Myanmars predominantly Buddhist population in ethnicity, language and, of course, religion. Despite being able to trace their origins in the region back to the 15th Century, the Myanmar government refutes the groups claims and denies them citizenship. This deems them stateless, leaving them without basic rights such as freedom of movement or education. In August, a militant Rohingya group attacked security forces and army posts, leading to a vicious backlash that led to the deaths of over 500 people in clashes. The military cracked down on the Rohingya, destroying villages and forcing over 6,00,000 members of the community to flee the country. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the situation a humanitarian and human rights nightmare. So, the military is attacking women specifically? AP spoke to 29 women and girls, ranging from the age of 13 to 35, from various villages in Rakhine State who spoke of assaults that took place between October 2016 and mid-September 2017. Their stories are all chilling and similar. They all spoke of attacks by men and uniform or, in one case, men in plain clothes who were identified by her neighbours as belonging to the local military outpost. The stories speak of extreme, brutal violence that sometimes involved killing the womans friends and family members. Most stories involved the military men breaking into the womens houses and some involved them surrounding an entire village, separating the men from the women and then taking the women away to another location to gangrape them. The report claims that Myanmars military is actively using sexual assault and violence against women as a weapon in their arsenal aimed at exterminating the Rohingya people. Are these verified reports? AP clarified that the womens accounts cannot be independently verified because foreign journalists are barred from entering the Rakhine region. But the stories seem to follow a pattern that are shockingly similar and seem systematic in their execution. Medical professionals from Doctors Without Borders have treated 113 survivors of sexual assault since August 2017 and doctors and aid workers in the country believe that only a fraction of the victims have come forward. What is the Myanmar government doing? Well, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto head of state, has denied the ongoing ethnic cleansing. Shes also shrugged off international criticism and said, in September, that the government had already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible. In December 2016, the government issued a press release disputing the reports of sexual assault and when questions were asked by journalists in September about the rape allegations, Phone Tint, Rakhines border affairs minister said, These women were claiming they were raped, but look at their appearances. Do you think they are that attractive to be raped? Isnt Kyi a human rights activist? Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and has been praised for her non-violent stance during her 15-year house arrest, which was imposed on her by the military after she won a presidential election. In a 2011 video statement to the Nobel Womens Initiative, Kyi acknowledged that the military was carrying out wide scale abuses and condemned sexual violence by the forces. She said, Rape is rife. It is used as a weapon by armed forces to intimidate the ethnic nationalities and to divide our country. The same Kyi is now oblivious to her fellow Nobel Prize winners and the worlds pleas to defend and protect the Rohingya. This sounds awful. It is. India has about 40,000 Rohingya refugees but the Indian government has termed them illegal immigrants. It believes these people are a drain on the countrys resources and a security threat and wants to deport them to Myanmar. Indian intelligence agencies say that because there are some Rohingya terrorist organisations, all the Rohingya are a threat. In September 2017, Union minister Kiren Rijiju was reported to have said, I want to tell the international organisations whether the Rohingya are registered under the United Nations Human Rights Commission or not, they are illegal immigrants in India. He added that they stand to be deported as per law. The head of the United Nations Human Rights Council Zeid Raad al-Hussein responded to this statement, saying he deplored Indias measures to deport the Rohingya and that by virtue of customary law, its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the obligations of due process and the universal principle of non-refoulement [not forcing asylum seekers to return to a country where they are likely to be persecuted], India cannot carry out collective expulsions, or return people to a place where they risk torture or other serious violations. It is increasingly clear that we cant turn a blind eye to the girls and women of Myanmar. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online women's magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans have reached a deal on final tax legislation, the top Senate Republican tax writer said on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump saying minutes later he would back a corporate tax rate of 21 percent. U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during his visit at the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. December 9, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque That would be slightly above a proposed 20-percent rate that Trump supported earlier, but still far below the present headline rate of 35 percent, a deep tax cut that U.S. corporations have been seeking for years. Although the president said a final number on the corporate rate had not been set, the Senate and House of Representatives were hurtling toward an agreement on that aspect of their legislation, and many other aspects, that would clear the way for final votes in both chambers next week. I think weve got a pretty good deal, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch told reporters as he prepared to join other Republicans for lunch with Trump. Asked at the lunch by reporters if he would sign a bill with a 21-percent corporate rate, Trump said: I would ... We havent set that final figure yet, but certainly 21 is ... a very great difference, he said. Its very important for the country to get a vote next week. The emerging congressional agreement includes a 21-percent corporate rate, a top individual income tax rate of 37 percent, down from the current 39.6 percent level, and a $10,000 cap on deducting state and local property or income tax payments, said sources familiar with the negotiations. With their defeat on Tuesday in an Alabama special Senate election, Republicans were under increased pressure to complete their tax overhaul before Christmas and before a new Democratic Alabama senator is seated. Hatchs remarks appeared to reinforce expectations that a final vote could begin in the Senate as early as Monday. Democrat Doug Jones capture of the Alabama Senate seat came hours ahead of a planned Senate-House conference meeting capping days of closed-door discussions on final legislation. U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) speaks to reporters after leaving the Senate floor during debate over the Republican tax reform plan in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2017. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan When Jones, who upset Republican Roy Moore in the deeply conservative Southern state, arrives in Washington, the Republicans already slim Senate majority will narrow to 51-49, further complicating Trumps legislative agenda. Fast action by Republicans on taxes would prevent Jones from upsetting the expected vote tallies on this bill since he will not likely be seated until late December or early January. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to delay a vote on overhauling the tax code for the first time in 30 years until Jones can be seated, but that was unlikely. Before Hatch spoke, Republicans were trying to finalize details without increasing the legislations deficit impact. It is expected to add as much as $1.5 trillion to the $20-trillion national debt over the next decade. President Donald Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos BarriaA one-percentage-point change in the corporate rate would give tax writers about $100 billion of revenues over a decade that could be used in many ways. One could be to repeal a federal tax on inheritances paid by wealthy Americans. Another might be to end the corporate alternative minimum tax. Some Republicans also wanted a slightly higher corporate rate to pay for a higher child tax credit. Lawmakers had also debated capping a popular individual deduction for mortgage interest at $750,000 in home loan value, instead of $1 million. Trump is seeking to sign a tax bill by the end of the year to achieve Republicans first major legislative victory since they took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House in January. After his lunch with Republican lawmakers, Trump will speak on tax legislation alongside five middle class families who would benefit, senior administration officials said. He wants to try to counter claims that the Republican tax plan would largely benefit corporations and the wealthy by saying it would also cut rates for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, who could see additional benefits, such as higher wages, the officials said. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and Congressional Budget Office have both concluded that wealthier taxpayers would disproportionately benefit from the Republican proposals. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Senior FBI officials who helped probe Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign told a colleague that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had to win the race to the White House, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent, said Clinton just has to win in a text sent to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, the Times reported. The messages showed concern from Strzok and Page that a Trump presidency could politicize the FBI, the report said, citing texts turned over to Congress and obtained by the newspaper. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is investigating the texts in a probe into FBIs handling of its investigation into Clintons use of a private email server for official correspondence when she was Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama, the report added. Strzok was removed from working on the Russia probe after media reports earlier this month suggested he had exchanged text messages that disparaged Trump and supported Clinton. Strzok was involved in both the Clinton email and Russia investigations. Republicans, including Trump, have in recent weeks ramped up their attacks on the FBI and questioned its integrity. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees are investigating possible links between Donald Trumps campaign and Russia. Russia denies meddling in the 2016 US elections. The FBI, the Democratic National Committee and the White House did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. Reuters was unable to contact Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for comment. Los Angeles: A cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a wildfire last week that destroyed six homes in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles, authorities said Tuesday, while the fifth-largest wildfire in California history burning northwest of the city kept expanding and kept thousands out of their homes. They are among a half-dozen fires that flared in Southern California last week and were driven by fiercely gusting Santa Ana winds. Arson investigators determined that the Bel Air fire near the world-famous Getty museum was started by an illegal fire at a camp near a freeway underpass, city fire Captain Erik Scott said. The camp was empty when firefighters found it but people apparently had been sleeping and cooking there for at least several days, he said. Northwest of Los Angeles, firefighters protected foothill homes while the fire grew mostly into forest land, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said. Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended into the week, with a possible increase in gusts Thursday into Friday. Tens of thousands of people remain evacuated, including many from the seaside enclaves of Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria and the inland agricultural town of Fillmore. Still among evacuees due to smoke Tuesday were Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Eric Burdon and his wife, Marianna, of Ojai. Last week, Burdon wrote on Facebook about having to flee and returning temporarily to find their home still standing with ashes all around. "A week like this gives you the perspective that life is what truly matters," he wrote. A photo accompanying the post showed his handprint and signature written in ashes. Residents near a Carpinteria avocado orchard said the trees could end up saving their homes. "You have a thick layer of leaves underneath the bottom and they are watered regularly, so it's like a sponge," Jeff Dreyer, who lives nearby, told KEYT-TV. "So the fire gets to the sponge full of water and it slows it down." Officials handed out masks to those who stayed behind in Montecito, an exclusive community about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Los Angeles that's home to stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges and Drew Barrymore. Actor Rob Lowe was among residents who evacuated over the weekend. The blaze known as the Thomas Fire has destroyed more than 680 homes, officials said. It was just partially contained after burning more than 360 square miles (930 square kilometers) of dry brush and timber. The fire has been burning for more than a week. To the north, San Francisco Bay Area firefighters quickly contained blazes Tuesday that destroyed at least two homes in hills east of Oakland the site of a 1991 firestorm that killed 25 people. Washington: Pakistan's political leadership would lose control over the country if it does not begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and other terror groups having safe havens, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned. Tillerson's remarks came amid Donald Trump administration's repeated calls to Pakistan to do more against terrorist outfits. "We want to work with Pakistan to stamp out terrorism within their boundaries as well, but Pakistan has to begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and with others," Tillerson told a Washington audience. In his remarks on 'Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond' organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum, Tillerson said that Pakistan's relationship with the Haqqani Network needs to be altered. "I understand that this is a relationship that has emerged probably for, in their view, good reasons a decade ago, but now that relationship has to be altered because if they're not careful, Pakistan is going to lose control of their own country," he warned. He said the United States was willing to share information with them to be successful. "But we cannot continue with the status quo, where terrorist organisations are allowed to find safe haven inside of Pakistan," the top American diplomat warned. Notably despite repeated warning from the Trump Administration there is not much impact on Pakistans attitude towards terrorist groups. It has been more than two weeks now that the White House issued a stern warning to Pakistan and asked Islamabad to re-arrest Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind. Tillerson made no reference to this in his speech. The United States and Pakistan have had a long history of good relations, but that relationship has really deteriorated over the past decade, he conceded. "So now were engaged with Pakistan in a conversation to ensure our expectations of them are clear, that our concern is really about Pakistan's stability," he said. "Pakistan has allowed so many terrorist organisations to find safe haven within its territories, and these organisations are growing in size and influence, that at some point I have said to the leadership of Pakistan, you may be the target, and they turn their attention from Kabul and decide they like Islamabad as a target better," Tillerson said. The global effort to defeat the Islamic State (IS) and the global effort to defeat terrorism is one of President Donald Trump's top priorities, he said. "The president made a decision and announced the policy that we would remain in Afghanistan, we would remain engaged in the fight to defeat the Taliban, and that the time and effort would be conditions-based. He said its not a blank check," Tillerson said. Separately during a townhall, Tillerson said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan. "Dealing with Pakistan I don't enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during the town hall with the State Department employees. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today (Wednesday) that's just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top United States diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. Beijing: Taiwan will fail in its efforts to get foreign support for its cause, the Chinese government said on Wednesday after a senior Chinese diplomat threatened Taiwan would be attacked the instant any US warship visits the self-ruled island. China considers Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is its main source of arms. Beijing regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States. In September, the US Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2018 fiscal year, which authorises mutual visits by navy vessels between Taiwan and the United States. That prompted a senior US-based Chinese diplomat to say last week that China would attack Taiwan the instant any US navy vessel visited Taiwan. Asked about the remarks at a regular news briefing, An Fengshan, spokesman for Chinas policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan was an internal matter for China and that China opposed any form of military contacts between Taipei and Washington. What I want to stress and point out is that any relying on foreigners to build onself up or plots to harm national sovereignty and territorial integrity will be opposed by the entire Chinese nation, and cannot succeed, An said. China suspects Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, who leads the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, wants to declare the islands formal independence. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwans security. The Chinese air force has this year carried out a series of drills near to Taiwan, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets to shadow them. WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillersons new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. Lets just meet, Tillerson said in a speech to Washingtons Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday. The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether President Donald Trump - who has said Tillerson was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea - had given his approval for the speech. The presidents views on North Korea have not changed, the White House said. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way ... North Koreas actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China welcomed all efforts to ease tension and promote dialogue to resolve the problem. China hopes the United States and North Korea can meet each other halfway and take meaningful steps on dialogue and contact, he told reporters. Ahead of Tillersons speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyangs most advanced ICBM, state media said on Wednesday. Kim said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing more latest weapons and equipment to bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity, the KCNA news agency said. PERIOD OF QUIET While reiterating Washingtons long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was ready to talk any time theyre ready to talk, but there would first have to be a period of quiet without nuclear and missile tests. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, who visited Pyongyang last week, said senior North Korean officials did not offer any type of commitment to talks, but he believed he left the door ajar. Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions, but I think we have left the door ajar and I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide, Feltman told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. Not everyone is ready for talks. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson concludes his remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYJapan has advocated a strategy of pressuring North Korea through sanctions to give up its nuclear weapons. Tokyo and Washington are in 100 percent agreement on that stance, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday, when asked about Tillersons comments. A former Japanese diplomat said that, while a diplomatic solution was the only acceptable solution, now was not the time for talks. We have to see the effects of sanctions on life in North Korea, the former diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. I heard that they are having a serious impact on everyday life. Lets wait and see. If we were to hint anything for dialogue, wed be losing clout. South Korea continued military exercises with the United States to check military readiness, exercises the North describes as preparation for war. The Souths army said separately on Wednesday it conducted a successful air-to-air missile firing drill from Apache helicopters. Slideshow (2 Images)U.S. TALKS TO CHINA Tillerson also disclosed the United States had been talking to China about how to secure North Koreas nuclear weapons in the event of a collapse of the government in Pyongyang. He said Beijing had been given assurances that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would pull back across the border into the South. Chinese spokesman Lu would not directly answer a question about those comments, but said China had always clearly told all its interlocutors on the issue that There can be neither war nor chaos on the Korean peninsula. Tillerson made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy and, in terms far more tempered than Trumps recent threats against Pyongyang, offered to hold exploratory talks. We can talk about the weather if you want, he said. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards. Tillerson - whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration - said Trump has encouraged our diplomatic efforts. Trump said on Twitter in October that Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man, using his derisive nickname for Kim. North Korea, for its part, has made clear it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. Tillerson also said the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response was needed. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the non-partisan Arms Control Association, said Tillersons proposal was overdue but added, In order to get to such talks going, the U.S. side as well as North Korea must demonstrate more restraint. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Erdogan opened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking to marshal Muslim leaders towards a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Abbas warned that the United States has lost its role as the mediator in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians as a result of the move by US President Donald Trump. Erdogan who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause described Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror". "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," he said. Erdogan added: "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand. Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. He slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, will be hoping to unite often feuding Muslim leaders into a tough final statement on the move by Trump. His top diplomat early Wednesday indicated that Ankara would be pushing for OIC states to, in a counter move, recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. "This step taken by the US legitimises the occupation," of the Palestinian territories, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavsuoglu told a meeting of OIC foreign ministers. But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran will be a far from easy task, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti-Washington OIC statement. Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures. Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. District Court judge ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday to turn over any potential evidence that could be material for when he sentences President Donald Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn reacts at a campaign event for then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Herndon, Virginia, U.S., October 3, 2016. Picture taken October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Mike SegarFlynn pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during his interview in Muellers probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russia. Flynn has agreed to cooperate with Muellers investigation. Moscow has denied interfering in the election and Trump has denied any collusion. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told the government in a filing to turn over any exculpatory evidence, known as Brady material, that could potentially help Flynns defence or information that is material either to the defendants guilt or punishment. The order by the judge is considered routine, and the government by law is required to turn over such information to the defence if it exists. A sentencing date has not been set, but a status report ahead of sentencing is due by Feb 1. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered on Tuesday to begin talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, appearing to back away from U.S. demands that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be based on North Korean nuclear disarmament. Lets just meet, Tillerson said in a speech to Washington think tank the Atlantic Council, presenting a new diplomatic overture amid heightened tensions over North Koreas nuclear and missile advances and harsh rhetoric between the two sides. Tensions have flared anew since North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile last month in what it called a breakthrough that put the U.S. mainland within range. While reiterating Washingtons long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was ready to talk any time theyre ready to talk, but that Pyongyang must come to the table willing to make choices to change its course. We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table, he said. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards, Tillerson said, suggesting that any initial contacts would be about setting the ground rules for formal negotiations. It was not immediately clear whether Tillerson, whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration, had President Donald Trumps full support to seek such a diplomatic opening. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstTillerson has previously expressed a desire to use diplomatic channels with Pyongyang, but Trump tweeted in October that such engagement would be a waste of time. North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not achieved. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWere ready to have the first meeting without pre-conditions, Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council. Its not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program, he said. They have too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well. Tillerson also said that the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response is needed. He said the United States has had conversations with China about how North Korean nuclear weapons might be secured in a crisis and has assured Beijing that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would return to South Korea. But he made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered on Tuesday to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from U.S. demands that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be about giving up its nuclear arsenal. Lets just meet, Tillerson said in a speech to Washingtons Atlantic Council think tank, presenting a new diplomatic overture amid heightened tensions over North Koreas nuclear and missile advances and harsh rhetoric between the two sides. Tensions have flared anew since North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile last month in what it called a breakthrough that put the U.S. mainland within range. While reiterating Washingtons long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was ready to talk any time theyre ready to talk, but that there would first have to be a period of quiet without nuclear and missile tests. Tillerson also disclosed that the United States had been talking to China about how to secure North Koreas nuclear weapons in the event of a collapse of the government in Pyongyang, and that Beijing had been given assurances that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would pull back across the border into the South. But he made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy and, in terms far more tempered than President Donald Trumps recent threats against Pyongyang, offered to hold exploratory talks. We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table, he said. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards, Tillerson said, suggesting that any initial contacts would be about setting the ground rules for formal negotiations. DOES TILLERSON HAVE TRUMPS BACKING? It was not immediately clear whether Tillerson, whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration, had Trumps full support to seek such a diplomatic opening. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstTillerson has previously expressed a desire to use diplomatic channels with Pyongyang, but Trump tweeted in October that such engagement would be a waste of time. North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not achieved. Were ready to have the first meeting without pre-conditions, Tillerson said. Its not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program, he said. They have too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the U.S.-Korea relationship during a forum at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstTillersons comments appeared to mark a shift from previous statements by senior U.S. officials that North Korea would have to show it is serious about discussing nuclear disarmament before formal talks could begin. Tillerson also said that the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response is needed. It is important that the diplomatic effort be backed up with a very credible military alternative, he said, adding that Trump intends to make sure that they do not have a deliverable nuclear weapon to the shores of the United States. He called on North Korea to show restraint. Its going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decided to test another device, Tillerson said. So we continue to indicate to them that we need a period of quiet. You need to tell us you want to talk. The United Nations political affairs chief told senior North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang this week that there was an urgent need to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce the risks of conflict, the world body said. Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level U.N. official to visit North Korea since 2011, met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Minister Pak Myong Guk, the United Nations said in a statement on Saturday after Feltman arrived back in Beijing. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "It's part of the global order, the international system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administration's relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administration's engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trump's recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was these need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixon's historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did it has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue we're having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and we're in a different place," he said. On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and that they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed others lay claim to and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia region." "In our view, China has gone too far in this area. So can can we achieve some kind of halt? Can we freeze it where it is so we can sort out how we're going to work through this?" he asked. Washington: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan as America's relationship with the South Asian country has "drifted over the years", noting that the two countries need to restore the ties to "one of common interest". "Dealing with Pakistan I don't enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during a town hall with the State Department employees in Washington. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today, that's just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. Earlier in his remarks, Tillerson referred to the new South Asia Policy as one of the key foreign policy highlights in the first year of the Trump administration. Tillerson said that President Donald Trump took a very bold decision by asserting that the US will be in Afghanistan with its military presence and continue to fight terrorism and the Taliban on a conditions-based effort. He, however, refused to give any time limit for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. "We're there until this thing is brought to a conclusion. It's not a blank cheque. It's not forever. But we're going to stay on the ground and support the Afghan Government," he said. "The Afghan government has to continue to deliver on the needed reforms and create the conditions to have an inclusive government that allows for participation of all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. "When the Taliban are ready to come to that negotiating table, there will be a place for them to participate in a future Afghan government," Tillerson said. According to him, Trump's South Asia policy aims to deny any safe haven to terrorist organisations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. "Our policy is to deny them the ability to have a safe haven where they can organise, recruit fighters, raise money; plan and carry out attacks against our allies, our own homeland, as they did in the past. So the entire policy in South Asia is to achieve that," Tillerson said. The top American diplomat asserted that the policy could be achieved by "eliminating the safe havens"; bringing on board the groups fighting with each other, to get them involved in dialogues and creating the conditions for a reconciliation process within Afghanistan for peace. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelas opposition received a European Union prize for human rights on Wednesday and urged the world to keep a close eye on an upcoming presidential election where it aspires to end two decades of socialist rule in the OPEC nation. Foes of President Nicolas Maduro failed to dislodge him during months of street protests this year that turned violent killing more than 125 people, and have been dismayed to see him consolidate his power in recent months. But they hope a presidential vote due in 2018 will galvanize exhausted and despondent supporters, and want foreign pressure for reforms to an election system they say is at the service of Maduros dictatorship. In the next few months, there should be a presidential election and we ask Europe and the free world to pay full attention, Julio Borges, head of the opposition-led National Assembly, said, receiving the Sakharov Prize. The regime has kidnapped democracy, and installed hunger and misery, he added during the ceremony at the EU parliament in Strasbourg. The prize, named after Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was awarded this year to Venezuelas National Assembly and all political prisoners, according to the citation. Venezuelas opposition won National Assembly elections in 2015, but the legislature has been sidelined by verdicts from the pro-government Supreme Court and the controversial election this year of a pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly superbody. Another opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, who recently escaped house arrest in Venezuela and fled to Spain, said the EU prize ceremony was a painful moment because of the scores of opposition activists still jailed. I cannot be happy receiving this prize knowing that in the dungeons of Venezuela there remain, unjustly deprived of liberty, more than 300 political prisoners, he said. Maduro, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, denies the existence of political prisoners, saying all activists in detention are there for legitimate charges such as coup-plotting and violence. Favorite to be the Socialist Partys candidate for the presidential vote, Maduro says he has faced down a U.S.-backed coup attempt by opponents this year. He frequently mocks both Borges and Ledezma in public speeches. The opposition has a dilemma in choosing its candidate for the 2018 race, given that its most popular figures cannot run: Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest, while Henrique Capriles is prohibited from holding office. The European Union last month imposed an arms embargo on Venezuela, adding it to a list that includes North Korea and Syria. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No negotiations can be held with North Korea until it improves its behavior, a White House official said on Wednesday, raising questions about U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersons offer to begin talks with Pyongyang anytime and without pre-conditions. A North Korean flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoGiven North Koreas most recent missile test, clearly right now is not the time (for negotiations), the White House National Security Council spokesman told Reuters. Tillerson said on Tuesday the United States was ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be about giving up its nuclear arsenal. The White House has declined to say whether President Donald Trump, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line with North Korea than his chief diplomat, gave approval for the diplomatic overture. A day after Tillersons appearance before Washingtons Atlantic Council think tank, the White House official, who declined to be named, laid out a different formula for any engagement with North Korea. The administration is united in insisting that any negotiations with North Korea must wait until the regime fundamentally improves its behavior, the official said. As the secretary of state himself has said, this must include, but is not limited to, no further nuclear or missile tests. In his speech, however, Tillerson did not explicitly set a testing freeze as a requirement before talks can begin. He said it would be tough to talk if Pyongyang decided to test another device in the middle of discussions and that a period of quiet would be needed for productive discussions. The apparent shift in Tillersons thinking came nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range. North Korea has made clear it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The North County School Board of Education will meet in regular session today at 6:30 a.m. in the Administration Building, located at 300 Berry Road in Bonne Terre. Listed under action items is summer school 2018. Items on the agenda under communications are districtwide assessment and cards and letters. They will also hear a report on the tentative calendar for the 2018-19 school year. This meeting is open to the public. China is ramping up its strategic release of pork reserves, as prices for the meat appear to have hit a peak after a momentous price run that has led the commodity to... Read More Airbnb says it is in communication with local law enforcement after a South Carolina man was arrested this month for placing a hidden camera in his apartment before a female guest rented it through the online hospitality service. Multiple media outlets reported that Greenville police arrested 35-year-old Cesar Adan Mendez Fuentes late last week and charged him with voyeurism. A 26-year-old woman from Calhoun, Georgia, reported finding a hidden camera in an alarm clock in the bedroom. Police Sgt. Johnathan Bragg said the woman was trying to work on the alarm and realized there was not an on-off switch. "Airbnb takes privacy extremely seriously and there is absolutely no place in our community for this kind of illegal and outrageous behavior. The individual involved has been permanently banned from our community and our guest has received our full support,a the company said in a statement. aWe have reached out to law enforcement to offer our assistance with their investigation. We hope justice will be served quickly. Cameras are never allowed in bathrooms or bedrooms and any other camera must be disclosed ahead of time.a No attorney was listed for Fuentes in Greenville County records. Airbnb requires its host to disclose any active surveillance devices in their homes. In addition, the company bans surveillance devices in aprivate spacesa such as bathrooms or bedrooms. Airbnb earned roughly $1 billion in revenue in its third fiscal quarter of the year, multiple outlets reported last month. The San Francisco-based company is expected to go public in 2018. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Bonne Terre area man has announced he will be running for the position of St. Francois County Clerk next year. Long-time county clerk, Mark Hedrick, recently announced that he intends to retire from the job hes held for 16 years at the end of this term on Dec. 31, 2018. Andrew Young, a Democrat, 24, will be running against Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, who will be retiring from the Missouri House due to term limits just in time to run for county clerk next November. I mainly grew up in Desloge, but my family and I moved to Bonne Terre in 2010, Young said. My parents built a house in Big River Hills. Its really nice in Bonne Terre and I love the history of the town. On May 21, 2010 at the age of 16 and just five days before the end of his sophomore year Youngs life was unexpectedly changed forever. Driving to school, he crossed U.S. 67 and was T-boned by a semi. Miraculously, not only did Young live, but he surprised his doctors when they discovered he was still able to walk. Physically disabled and walking with a cane, Young went on to graduate from North County High School in 2012. He continued his studies at Mineral Area College and then transferred to Webster University where he intends to graduate in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. During my final semester coming up I will be interning at the capitol in Jeff City. Ill be working with politicians, drafting bills and doing legislative research and a whole bunch of other things. Asked why hes decided to run for county clerk, Young said, I thought about it for several years and Ive known that Mark Hedrick was in there. Hes a really nice guy and I never wanted to run against him because he was doing a great job. Whenever I learned that he wasnt going to be running, I thought this was the time for me to be able to get out there and push for what I wanted to do. Ive always thought if somebody in that position were of a younger age, that could be a greater outreach to the younger generation and possibly improve voter turnout. If I were to be elected, that would be my number one goal. I received a lot of help and support during my recovery. I believe this would be a great way for me to pay back to the community because I will be able to serve everyone and not just a select few. As far as qualifications for the job, Young said, I restarted student government at MAC after it had kind of dropped off. I pestered the dean of students every week for several months until they were like, OK, well get it going. Ive also worked a lot with student government at Webster University and served as an advocate for the L.I.F.E. Center for Independent Living in Farmington dealing with disability issues and disability rights. Despite a host of economic uncertainties and a tax battle heating up on Capitol Hill, niche start-up companies are being led by a new band of disrupters offering trendy, cheaper alternatives in the world of eyewear and sparking a fresh dose of healthy industry competition. One particular start-up, Prive Revaux, is aiming to disrupt the industry, with hopes of putting eyewear competitor Warby Parker out of business by selling shades for $29.95. According to David Schottenstein, founder of Prive Revaux, paying even $100 for a pair of eyeglasses is far too expensive. Companies like ours are coming out with a product that millennials and young people are going to appreciate, he told FOX Business. Though it has yet to be seen if cheaper alternatives are the magic touch that drives millennials to new brands, Prive Revaux has had success in attracting celebrities, including Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx, who became the companys brand partner. You dont have to spend a billion dollars to look great, Foxx told FOX Business. I thought what if we do an affordable eyewear under $30? Even though its inexpensive, well make sure we dont spare any cost when it comes to making the product. FOX Business was granted special access to a star-studded evening for the sunglass brand's brick-and-mortar debut in New York City. The eyewear start-up debut featured appearances by actress Katie Holmes and hip-hop superstar Nicki Minaj, as well as the New York Giants Odell Beckham Jr., who all joined brand visionary Jamie Foxx, along with celebrity partners Ashley Benson and Hailee Steinfeld, in promoting the eyewear disruptor. Rival Warby Parker is also rolling out a host of new shops with recent openings in New York Citys Rockefeller Center, San Francisco and St. Louis. To learn more about the companys tactics in the age of disruption, tune in to FOX Business Countdown to the Closing Bell for Liz Clamans exclusive sit-down with Prive Revaux founder, David Schottenstein, on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. ET. Non-alcoholic beverage companies have rebounded this year against a flat showing in 2016. But to the consternation of shareholders of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS), its stock has lagged its peer group year to date. You'd expect high-flying National Beverage Corp. and Monster Beverage Corp. to greatly outpace more conservatively positioned Dr Pepper Snapple. But larger competitors The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) have also enjoyed better gains on a total-return basis: Why the relative malaise? Skepticism over the company's $1.7 billion acquisition of Bai Brands LLC, which closed on Jan. 31 of this year, is the primary factor compressing share trajectory. At the time of acquisition, management provided guidance that Bai Brands would add two percentage points to the company's targeted 2017 revenue growth of 4.5%. While Dr Pepper Snapple is standing by the revenue growth rate, as of the third quarter of 2017, it now projects Bai will contribute just one percentage point to that total. There are a few reasons behind a slower projected growth rate for Bai. For one, under founder and former CEO Ben Weiss, the company's expansion leaned on volume from purchasing clubs like Costco Wholesale and Wal-Mart Stores' Sam's Club. Packaging for clubs in bulk doesn't promote the healthiest growth, as a beverage becomes perceived -- and sold -- as a commodity. The current team managing Bai products is pushing for retail grocery shelf space, where more individualized sales (as opposed to by the case) will lead to greater sampling and trial purchases of the drinks. Pulling back a bit from club revenue hits near-term expansion, but it's a more sustainable strategy. Overoptimism from management regarding the initial impact of Bai also played a role in revised expectations. Investors can quibble with an inaccurate forecast, but in truth this was an atypically large acquisition for Dr Pepper Snapple. In retrospect, management probably wishes it had issued a slightly more circumspect projection this spring. It wasn't just revenue that the company misgauged. Originally, the transaction was projected to dilute earnings per share by just $0.02, but during the year, management decided to invest more heavily in Bai sampling and promotion. An additional $20 million in marketing spend is one of the factors now pushing Bai to a projected 2017 dilution to EPS of $0.11. Nonetheless, the brand still has more than credible long-term potential. As Dr Pepper Snapple CEO Larry Young pointed out on the most recent earnings conference call, Bai has quickly become a leader in the enhanced-water category, and as measured by third-party research company IRI, its growth last quarter in retail channels exceeded 50%. Setting expectations As I argued when the Bai deal was announced, aside from the obvious benefit of diversifying away from carbonated-soda volume, the purchase of a company like Bai turns contracted distribution into more profitable "in-house revenue," and eases the vulnerability Dr Pepper Snapple has to its "allied brands." These are brands for which Dr Pepper Snapple merely functions as a distributor, and they're prone to being snared by competing distribution systems at the end of contractual periods, or even being acquired by the company's competitors. All factors considered, the farther out you gaze, the better Bai's potential looks. But to restore shareholder confidence in the near term, management needs to more accurately project both the top- and bottom-line impacts of Bai on the overall business when the company issues full-year 2018 guidance in February. It's not necessary for Dr Pepper Snapple to show a tremendous profit from Bai next year. But a logical roadmap for investment, sales growth, and bottom-line contribution, accompanied by tidier numbers, could restore waning enthusiasm. Like it or not, this acquisition has become a focal point for shareholders. The good news for those contemplating picking up Dr Pepper Snapple stock is the market's current discount on shares. In August I highlighted the company's undervaluation relative to competitors, using its ratios of forward price to earnings, and enterprise value to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). That's still true today, and in fact, the company looks cheaper than its rivals on additional fronts. To the initial two metrics, we can add the price-to-sales ratio: ...and even price-to-book value: Clarity on the 2018 plan for Bai Brands could restore some premium cachet to a formerly popular stock in the non-alcoholic beverage space. And further acquisitions using the Bai model, if on a more modest scale, may reward those buying the stock at a discount today. 10 stocks we like better than Dr. Pepper Snapple GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of December 4, 2017 Asit Sharma has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Monster Beverage. The Motley Fool recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Johns Hopkins University will stop buying stocks and bonds of companies that produce coal for electric power as a major part of their business. The university's board of trustees voted last week to divest the university from separately managed investments in thermal coal. The board voted for the divestment due to concerns related to the environmental and public health effects of climate change. The university in Baltimore says it's only the third time in Johns Hopkins' history that the board has barred a particular type of investment because of broad social concerns. In the 1980s, Johns Hopkins divested from companies that did business in the then-apartheid state of South Africa. In 1991, the board ended all direct investment in tobacco company stocks and bonds. Matt who? NBC's "Today" show was the most-watched morning program for the first full week after long-time host Matt Lauer was fired because of sexual misconduct charges. The Nielsen company said it was the first time in a year that "Today" had beaten its rival "Good Morning America" at ABC for two consecutive weeks. The show's victory the previous week wasn't very surprising. With all of the attention given to Lauer's firing, it was to be expected that more viewers than usual would tune in to see how people on the show would react to the news. Maintaining that lead for the week after Lauer's exit was more interesting. "Good Morning America" generally gets the most viewers in the morning, although NBC's advantage among younger viewers makes it the more lucrative show. NBC hasn't said anything about Lauer's replacement, but the ratings have to be considered good news for Hoda Kotb, who has filled in as Savannah Guthrie's co-host since the morning Lauer's firing was announced. NBC currently has no one else scheduled for a fill-in week. "Today" averaged 4.58 million viewers last week to 4.38 million at "Good Morning America." ''CBS This Morning" was third at 3.57 million. The CBS ratings illustrate virtually no change since that show's co-host, Charlie Rose, was also fired for sexual misconduct on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. For the four last weeks when Rose was on the show, "CBS This Morning" averaged 3.61 million viewers, Nielsen said. During that same period, "Good Morning America" had 4.34 million viewers and "Today" had 4.22 million. Behind two football games, NBC won the week in prime time, averaging 8.1 million viewers. CBS had 6.8 million viewers, Fox had 4.6 million, ABC had 4.1 million, Univision had 1.7 million, the CW had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.27 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million. Fox News Channel was the week's most popular cable network, averaging 2.53 million viewers to nose out Hallmark, which had 2.52 million. ESPN had 2.34 million, MSNBC had 1.87 million and Freeform had 1.55 million. ABC's "World News Tonight" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.5 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 8.9 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.1 million for new anchor Jeff Glor's first week. For the week of Dec. 4-10, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NFL Football: Baltimore at Pittsburgh, NBC, 17.2 million; NFL Football: New Orleans at Atlanta, NBC, 14.61 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.41 million; "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 12.62 million; "Young Sheldon," CBS, 12.49 million; NFL Football: Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, ESPN, 10.91 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 10 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.996 million; "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 9.87 million; "Blue Bloods," CBS, 9.4 million. ___ ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. ___ Online: http://www.nielsen.com The company that operates 300 Value Village, Savers and other thrift stores in the U.S., Canada and Australia is suing Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, saying his office has violated the company's rights by demanding $3.2 million to settle a three-year investigation. TVI Inc., of Bellevue, said in the lawsuit filed in federal court Monday that it's trying to head off an anticipated complaint from the attorney general's office. The for-profit company, which is represented by the prominent Seattle law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, said Ferguson's demand for payment does not appear to be connected to any alleged legal violations. TVI also said the attorney general's office insisted that its disclose to customers how much of the sale price of items in its stores goes to charities, something the company said would violate its free-speech rights and is precluded by Supreme Court precedent. Brionna Aho, a spokeswoman at the attorney general's office, noted the company paid $1.8 million to six Minnesota charities and agreed to overhaul its donation and disclosure practices in a 2015 settlement with that state's attorney general. "Value Village's lawsuit is riddled with omissions and inaccuracies. There's a reason they agreed to pay $1.8 million as a result of the Minnesota Attorney General's investigation," Ferguson said in a statement Tuesday evening. "No target is ever happy to be investigated by our office. However, my office will continue vigorously protecting consumers from deception." Ferguson, a Democrat, has garnered national attention for challenging the Trump administration on several fronts, including the travel ban and ban on transgender people joining the military. But he has also made consumer issues a priority, suing to hold opioid makers accountable for the national addiction crisis and agrochemical giant Monsanto liable over pervasive pollution from PCBs. TVI said it operates 20 stores in Washington state. It pays charities such as Northwest Center, which supports developmentally disabled people, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound to collect items clothes, furniture, electronics, other household items which it then sells for a profit at the stores. The money the charities make providing the goods is a key part of their revenue stream. In its complaint, the company said the attorney general's office launched its investigation three years ago. TVI answered all of the investigators' questions, provided 15,000 pages of documents, and sought to meet with them to address any concerns, the company said. Ferguson's office refused to meet with the company for a year and a half, the complaint said. When the sides did confer in summer 2016, the attorney general's office issued a set of demands the vast majority of which the company said it already complied with. TVI refused demands that it post signs telling people who donate goods what it pays the charities for those goods, and what bulk rates it pays charities for donations. The attorney general also sought a $5.1 million penalty, which the company declined to pay. After that, the lawsuit said, TVI heard nothing for 11 months until a meeting last August, when the attorney general's office "reduced its monetary demand to $3.2 million, but admitted this amount was 'untethered' to any actual, specific alleged violations of law.'" Again, the company refused to pay, and further attempts to negotiate failed. In an effort to avoid being sued, the company said it brought the chief executives of Northwest Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound to a hastily arranged meeting with the attorney general's office on Dec. 8, but the office's representatives made no promises that they would continue negotiating. "The AGO's imminent threat to prosecute suit against TVI is apparent, necessitating this action to protect the First Amendment rights of TVI and its charity partners," the complaint said. Sara Gaugl, a company spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement the company is confident the issue will be resolved soon. "While those conversations are ongoing, we remain fully compliant with all relevant Washington state laws," she said. This past year has largely been a disappointment for investors in master limited partnerships (MLPs). The Alerian MLP Index, which tracks energy infrastructure MLPs, has delivered a negative total return of 7.4%. That said, Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: HEP) wasn't one of the companies weighing down the index this year since it delivered a peer-group-crushing total return of 14%. Here's a look at how the pipeline and storage MLP crushed it this year and whether it has enough fuel left in the tank to continue outpacing the returns of rivals. A timely deal drives 2017's results One of the fuels of Holly Energy Partners' outperformance this year was the addition of several refinery processing units that it acquired from its parent company HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) late last year. Holly Energy Partners paid $275 million for the newly constructed units, which HollyFrontier backed with 15-year contracts. Those new additions boosted the revenue Holly Energy Partners earns from refinery processing units to $57.5 million through the third quarter, which is a $44.6 million year-over-year increase. That more than made up for the fact that revenue across its three pipeline segments declined $13 million versus last year. Also offsetting the weaker pipeline revenue was the company's terminal-business revenue, which increased $4.3 million to $105.9 million through the third quarter. Higher volumes at Holly Energy's Tulsa refinery crude tanks drove that growth. Those dual fueled helped boosts Holly Energy Partners' distributable cash flow by 10.7% through the third quarter. Because of that, the company was able to increase its distribution to investors by 8.4% this year, which exceeded its target for an 8% increase. Further, the company has now raised its payout in 52 straight quarters. Setting itself up for future success This past year has also been an important one for Holly Energy Partners on the strategic front. In October, HollyFrontier agreed to eliminate the incentive distribution rights (IDRs) it held in exchange for additional units in Holly Energy Partners. This transaction wipes out an increasingly costly fee that entitled the parent company to a significant portion of the MLP's distributable cash flow. Furthermore, eliminating these IDRs will reduce Holly Energy Partners' cost of capital, making it cheaper for the company to finance future acquisitions. Speaking of deals, Holly Energy Partners is in the process of acquiring the remaining interests in two pipelines from Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA) for $250 million. Plains All American Pipeline has agreed to sell its 50% interest in the Frontier Aspen Pipeline and its 75% stake in the Salt Lake City Pipeline to Holly Energy Partners, which would boost its stake in both lines up to 100%. These pipelines should supply the company with $23 million incremental EBITDA next year, which represents an 8% increase from the $287 million it has pulled in over the past year. Those earnings should provide the company with the fuel needed to keep boosting its payout. Meanwhile, the deal will provide Plains All American Pipeline with some of the cash it needs to meet its debt-reduction target. Even with these transactions, Holly Energy Partners has maintained a solid balance sheet. At the end of June, its leverage ratio was 4.33, which is a fairly comfortable level for an MLP and well below Plains' 4.8 leverage ratio, for perspective. So the company has the financial flexibility to continue making acquisitions that will further expand cash flow and likely push its distribution even higher. Gassed up and ready to grow An acquisition toward the end of 2016 provided Holly Energy Partners with the fuel needed to keep growing this year, enabling it to crush the returns of rival MLPs. That outperformance could continue in 2018 since the company has already secured another needle-moving deal, which should allow it to maintain its momentum. Meanwhile, with a solid balance sheet and lower capital costs going forward, the company has plenty of fuel to keep growing, making it a solid income growth stock to consider. 10 stocks we like better than Holly Energy PartnersWhen 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 Holly Energy Partners 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 December 4, 2017 Matthew DiLallo 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. The ever-quotable Warren Buffett once said that investors would do well to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Cigarette maker Altria (NYSE: MO) has had a rocky year, with shares hitting record highs, then sharply crashing when the Food and Drug Administration said it wanted to lower nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels. Now its shares have rebounded 20% from that fall, but have yet to reach their prior high. So as the year comes to a close, it's a good time to assess whether investors should consider getting greedy with its stock or if there is good reason to be fearful. Be afraid. Be very afraid. The bearish case for Altria is one that applies equally to all tobacco companies. Cigarette volumes continue to fall, and for Altria, they were down 4% over the first nine months of the year, with even its top-selling Marlboro brand down 3.9%. Back in August, Reynolds American noted industry volumes for premium cigarettes like Marlboro were down only 2.8%, so the brand was losing share. That was borne out by Altria's third-quarter earnings report, which showed Marlboro shipments were down 6% in the third quarter and it lost a half-percent of market share in the period, although it still owns a 43.2% swath. The FDA proposal could also cause cigarette sales to go into a tailspin. While existing law prevents the regulatory agency from mandating a 0% nicotine level, it can certainly butt right up against it, and according to at least one study, that's what the regulation would do if it wanted to reduce the chemical to nonaddictive levels. The National Institutes of Health says the typical cigarette contains 10 to 15 milligrams of nicotine, and the average smoker ingests between 1 mg to 2 mg per cigarette, meaning nicotine levels would need to be reduced to as little as 0.5 mg, maybe less, if they take into account children who smoke but who haven't built up a tolerance yet. Since the attraction of smoking is in the effects nicotine delivers, a virtually nicotine-free cigarette would hold little value for smokers. It could be a crushing blow to the industry as sales dry up and the tobacco companies have nothing to keep their hold on smokers. Also gone would be the companies' ability to raise prices virtually at will. All the foregoing suggests investors would be wise to be fearful for what is to come. Time to back up the Brinks truck On the other hand, there exists the possibility that the regulations that are ultimately approved, if any, won't be nearly so draconian and that a middle ground is sought that won't destroy the 13,000 jobs the industry employs. First, banning cigarettes without any meaningful level of nicotine in them comes very close to banning cigarettes altogether, even if that's not their stated purpose and Congress would undoubtedly get involved in the fight. Moreover, while some were surprised at the proposal, considering President Trump's stated commitment to reducing regulation, the FDA's announcement did come with a carrot to go with the stick. It was delaying regulations covering electronic cigarettes by five years because the FDA now also wants to see reduced-risk products enter the market. Or, as FDA Commissioner Gottlieb put it, nicotine was both the "problem" and "ultimately, the solution." And therein lies the biggest hope. Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has said the future of cigarettes is going to be "smoke-free," and it, along with others in the industry, has invested billions of dollars to develop cigarette alternatives. Philip Morris and British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) are battling in many markets around the world for supremacy in next-generation e-cig products like heat-not-burn technology. Rather than causing tobacco to combust and create smoke, the leaves are heated to the point of creating a vapor, which is much less harmful. Philip Morris has applications in before the FDA to both market its heat-not-burn iQOS device as well as have it earn a reduced-risk classification. Achieving that goal will give it a competitive advantage over other products on the market that can't claim that. The benefit for Altria is that the tobacco giant has entered into joint venture agreements with Philip Morris to market the iQOS device under the Marlboro brand both here and globally. As this is where the market is heading -- whether it's heat-not-burn technology, or something else -- Altria being able to piggyback on the growth of Philip Morris' leading e-cig suggests now is the time to be greedy. The verdict Maybe one should never be truly too greedy, since another investing maxim says bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Yet investors should still consider Altria to very much be a buy since it's likely the main moneymaker for the company, combustible cigarettes, won't be going away anytime soon, while it is firmly aligned with where the industry is heading. This would be a good time to have a very bullish position on Altria. 10 stocks we like better than Altria GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Altria Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of December 4, 2017 Rich Duprey 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. The Latest on the Brexit talks (all times local): 8:20 p.m. British lawmakers have delivered a defeat to Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans by giving Parliament the final say on any exit agreement with the European Union. The House of Commons voted 309-305 on Wednesday to inserting Parliament in the Brexit process and deal another blow to May's already fragile authority. Several lawmakers from May's governing Conservative Party sided with the opposition to insist that any a deal with the EU require an Act of Parliament before it can take effect - essentially giving lawmakers a veto on Brexit. May had promised lawmakers a "meaningful vote" on Britain's withdrawal agreement, but opponents said that was not enough of a guarantee. The vote came as an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill. The government's flagship piece of Brexit legislation, it converts some 12,000 EU laws into British statute on the day the U.K. leaves the bloc in March 2019. ___ 11:50 a.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May's government is scrambling to stave off defeat on its key Brexit bill from lawmakers demanding a greater say over the country's exit from the European Union. The House of Commons is due to vote Wednesday on a motion insisting a deal with the EU require an Act of Parliament before it can take effect. May's Conservative government lacks an overall majority, so it would only take a few Conservative rebels to join the opposition to deliver defeat. Brexit Secretary David Davis has written to Conservative lawmakers, promising the government will not implement a Brexit deal without Parliament's approval. Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019. It's unclear whether the government has done enough to avoid a defeat that would damage May's already precarious authority. ___ 10:00 a.m. European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says there will be "no turning back" for Britain on commitments made during an initial divorce deal between the two, after his U.K. counterpart insisted it was merely a "statement of intent." Barnier told legislators at the European Parliament Wednesday that the negotiations so far have been "extremely complex and extraordinary" but insisted that he had made no concessions to the British side. U.K. negotiator David Davis insisted the deal was less than cast in stone. But Barnier said "progress has been noted and recorded and is going to have to be translated into a legally binding withdrawal agreement" on the EU bill Britain faces, the maintenance of a transparent border between EU Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland, and citizens' rights. Blue Origin's 'Mannequin Skywalker' has rocketed almost all the way to space, just in time for the new Star Wars movie. The aerospace company led by Amazon's Jeff Bezos launched its New Shepard rocket Tuesday from West Texas for the seventh time. It marked the first flight, though, of the latest version of Blue Origin's crew capsule, featuring big windows for future space tourists. An instrumented test dummy was aboard, named Mannequin Skywalker and dressed in a blue naturally flight suit. "He had a great ride," Bezos said via Twitter. The New Shepard rocket, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard, landed back on the ground following the 10-minute suborbital flight. The capsule reached a peak altitude of 99.39 kilometers above sea level or 61.7 miles, just shy of the 100-kilometer or 62.1-mile mark that's considered the start of true space. Besides Mannequin Skywalker, the capsule carried a dozen experiments, including an Arduino Nano electronic computer board, designed and programmed by Colorado schoolchildren, and student artwork. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" opens in theaters Friday. ___ Online: Blue Origin: https://www.blueorigin.com/ While fateful decisions made by the captain of the doomed freighter El Faro were instrumental in the ship's sinking, federal investigators spread plenty of blame around and highlighted multiple safety issues in the maritime industry that contributed to its demise. It was a confluence of factors that contributed to the sinking of the El Faro in the fury of Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1, 2015, which killed all 33 people on board, the National Transportation Safety Board announced. The report concluded a 2-year investigation into the worst U.S. maritime disaster in modern history. Among its findings the NTSB cited Tuesday the El Faro captain's unwillingness to listen to his crew's suggestions to change course from the path of a raging hurricane; a weak corporate safety culture that left crewmembers ill-prepared to deal with heavy weather. It also blamed an old ship with outdated lifeboats, open to the elements and a vessel inspection system that allowed older ships in poor condition to continue operating. The board issued 53 safety recommendations, which investigators hope will be adopted by the industry, maritime safety inspectors and weather forecasters to make the seas safer for future generations. The El Faro, which means "lighthouse" in Spanish, sank between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, after losing engine power in the Category 3 storm. The NTSB retrieved the ship's voyage data recorder, or "black box," from the sea floor near the Bahamas, 15,000-feet (4,570 meters) under the surface. The device held 26 hours of data, including audio of conversations on the ship's bridge as the frantic crew struggled to save the ship and themselves. Larry Brennan, a maritime law professor at Fordham Law School and retired U.S. Navy captain, said the NTSB's meeting highlighted major safety problems in the entire shipping industry, including the Coast Guard and so-called "classification societies" like the American Bureau of Shipping, or ABS, that are in charge of inspecting vessels for safety. "El Faro was a worn, aged ship which succumbed to heavy weather in large part because of multiple unseaworthy conditions, poor leadership and bad decisions by the captain, ABS, the owners as well as inadequate surveys and inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard," Brennan said. While the board found no fault with El Faro Capt. Michael Davidson's decision to leave port in Jacksonville, they did blame his reliance on an emailed weather forecasting system that contained hours-old data, rather than online updates from the National Hurricane Center. Investigators believe, based on his decisions and recorded comments, that he wasn't aware of the delay in the data and that instead of skirting the storm, he sent the El Faro on a collision course with the hurricane. "Although up-to-date weather information was available on the ship, the El Faro captain did not use the most current weather information for decision-making," NTSB investigator Mike Kucharski said at the meeting, held in Washington, D.C. The board also criticized the "weak safety culture" of ship owner TOTE Maritime, Inc., including the lack of employee training for dealing with heavy weather situations and flooding. A hatch had been left open, allowing water from the roiling sea to flood an interior hold; this led to the ship tilting, disrupting the flow of oil to the engines. Once the freighter lost engine power, it was at the mercy of battering swells. In a statement, TOTE said it will study the NTSB and Coast Guard investigative reports thoroughly. "We as a company intend to learn everything possible from this accident and the resulting investigations to prevent anything similar from occurring in the future," Darrell Wilson, a company spokesman, said. El Faro's wind gauge, called an anemometer, was broken and the 40-year-old freighter's open-top lifeboats would not have protected the crew, even if they had been able to launch them. The El Faro was legally allowed to carry lifeboats that expose people to the elements just like the lifeboats on the Titanic and the Lusitania due to safety-rule exemptions for older ships. Whether the crew could have survived Joaquin's punishing winds and high seas had the El Faro been equipped with the closed-top lifeboats used by newer ships is unknown, but NTSB safety investigator Jon Furukawa said it could have helped crewmembers fighting for their lives. "We believe that would've been the best method of departing the vessel under these conditions. It is still challenging, and we don't know if they would've survived," Furukawa said. The board is not only recommending closed-top boats for all merchant ships, but also that the entire industry require crewmembers to carry personal locator beacons to better locate them during marine emergencies. The El Faro had an older emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, which did not transmit global position system coordinates, and that made locating the ship more difficult for search-and-rescue crews. Given the heavy weather, rescuers probably couldn't have reached the ship any sooner, but the board believes the new requirement would help in future sea accidents. "I hope that this tragedy at sea can serve as a lighthouse to guide the safety of marine transportation," said Robert Sumwalt, the board's chairman. ___ Follow Jason Dearen on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen Is there a life on Wall Street after working for President Trump? Thats the question facing Dina Powell, who resigned last week as President Trumps deputy national security adviser and almost immediately began reaching out to her old friends and former colleagues at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), the big Wall Street firm where she worked before joining the Trump administration in 2017. Its unclear exactly what was communicated by Powell during these interactions, other than touching base with her old firm that she was leaving the administration, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Its also a question looming for another Goldman Sachs alum, Gary Cohn, the former No. 2 of the big Wall Street firm who is currently director of the White Houses National Economic Council, one of the presidents top economic advisers. Cohn has recently indicated to his Wall Street contacts that he too will be leaving the administration sometime in 2018, after he finishes his work spearheading the presidents tax-cut plan, according to people with direct knowledge of those conversations. The Trump tax plan includes something that will endear Cohn to the Wall Street crowd: A massive corporate tax cut, taking the federal rate to around 20% from its current level of 35% one of the highest in the world. Either way, Powell and Cohn have signaled they want to come back to Wall Street, even though working in the volatile Trump White House might pose more difficulties than what other former executives faced after spending some time in government, these people add. Some people on Wall Street say both will have a difficult time, in particular, returning to Goldman, the powerful investment bank that Trump railed against during the 2016 presidential campaign even as he began poaching some of its former executives for his administration. People close to Cohn say he is unlikely to return to a major investment bank, while those close to Powell say she still has enough support inside Goldman possibly to return if she wants to, though it might not be easy given the internal politics at the big bank. I dont think they will have a problem getting a job somewhere on Wall Street, said Chris Whalen, an independent bank analyst. But for a lot of reasons, they may not return to Goldman or a firm like Goldman. Still, they will get jobs because theyre talented people. Powell, a smart and genial former government affairs official at Goldman for nine years, is said to be admired by many executives on the Goldman board as well as the firms powerful chief of staff and executive vice president, John Rogers. But its unclear if the firms CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, will support her return, say people close to the company. Blankfein had been a longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton, who Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election. For 27 years and until he joined the administration in early 2017, Cohn was a hyper-aggressive former commodities trader at Goldman before he became Blankfeins second-in-command during some of Goldmans most lucrative years of big trading profits and dark times amid losses during the 2008 financial crisis that nearly tanked the firm. People at Goldman say he has an even slimmer chance to returning to the firm than Powell primarily because Blankfein, who may soon announce a retirement date, has already signaled his successor from inside the companys management ranks, the firms co-presidents, Harvey Schwartz and David Solomon. A White House spokesman declined to comment about Powells contacts with Goldman and referred all questions about Cohns future to several interviews where he said he would stay long enough to help the presidents economic agenda without citing any particular timeframe for a possible departure. FOX Business was also referred to recent comments by Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah, who called Cohns pending exit pure speculation. A Goldman Sachs press official wouldnt comment on the contacts with Powell, but would not deny they occurred last Friday when she announced her departure that will take place sometime early next year. Experience in government has traditionally been a precursor to bigger paychecks for Wall Street executives given the power and control exerted by the federal government over various business issues. Goldman was often referred to as "Government Sachs" since many of its executives went on to prominent jobs in Washington and the firm hired prominent government officials for key posts. But this same experience working in the Trump White House may not translate into big bucks given the unique nature of the current administration, some of its economic policies, and the president himself. At the end of the presidents first year in office, his economic agenda contains an odd mix of both pro-business edicts on regulations and taxes, and a strident form of anti-big business populism (such as the presidents often stated goal of ditching the North American Free Trade Agreement) and other policies that are embarrassing to business leaders. The presidents volatile nature and his frequent use of Twitter to harangue political opponents and even reporters are also points of embarrassment for prominent Wall Street executives. Case in point: During the summer, Trump seemed to equate neo-Nazis and peaceful demonstrators during a protest over Confederate war memorials in Charlottesville, Virginia, in what was seen as a clumsy move to appease certain members of his ultra-right-wing base. Trumps statement that there were very fine people on both sides of a rally prompted a number of top CEOs, including people like JPMorgans (NYSE:JPM) chief Jamie Dimon and Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of private equity giant Blackstone (NYSE:BX), to quit and ultimately disband major business advisory boards. CEOs privately stated that they were uncomfortable seeming to remain close to Trump over fears of backlash from the general public if they appeared to be endorsing his remarks. Reflecting the views of these businesses executives, both Cohn and Powell immediately stated privately they were unhappy with the presidents remarks. Cohn then went further in an interview with the Financial Times, stating emphatically that the peaceful protesters should never be equated with neo-Nazis, a rebuke to the president that appeared to incense Trump so much that it cost Cohn possible presidential appointment to replace Janet Yellen as Fed chair, which instead went to Jerome Powell (no relation to Dina Powell). Its unclear how Dina Powells remarks, which like Cohns were leaked to the press, were viewed by the president or even her colleagues on Wall Street. But with this and other types of controversies swirling around the administration, working for Team Trump will not carry the same cache as working for past administrations, according to Wall Street executives. Business people inside the administration know working for Trump has hurt them somewhat, said one high level Wall Street executive. I guess we will soon find out just how much it has hurt them when they start leaving and looking for job. Prosecutors on Tuesday filed federal terrorism charges against 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, the man who police allege detonated a pipe bomb inside a pedestrian tunnel near the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Monday. Ullah, an immigrant from Bangladesh, entered the U.S. in 2011 on a F43 family immigrant visa, also known as chain migration. The program allows U.S. citizens to sponsor family members into the United States. Steve Hilton, former strategy director to British Prime Minister David Cameron, explained why immigration programs such as the diversity visa lottery and chain migration programs need to be terminated. It absolutely is time to end it, there is no popular support for it. There is political support for it from the Democrats who have been for the last few years pushing this argument that any kind of restriction on immigration is somehow racist. Thats of course ridiculous, he told FOX Business Liz MacDonald on Risk & Reward. Before the attack, Ullah posted on Facebook, writing, Trump you failed to protect your nation, according to CNN. President Donald Trump responded to the terror attack -- the second in New York City since a man driving a U-Haul truck plowed into a popular bike path in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people -- by announcing that he would end the visa lottery and chain migration programs. Hilton said that Americans can still be pro-immigration while demanding stronger regulations. [You can] understand the benefit of people coming here, who have got something to offer, who can contribute to our economy and our society, but to still have very tight controls. We dont have tight controls, all of these systems are completely broken. This should be the next priority the minute they are done with the tax bill, he said. Hilton also discussed why the country of Saudi Arabia is to blame for the spread of terrorism ideology and what they can do to help stop the spread of Islamist hatred. [Saudi Arabia has] funded all these radicalized preachers and the mosques where they do their dirty work. And now they say they are reforming their country? Well I think what we can also expect from them is a lot of money put into communities to build up an alternative network of mosques and Islamic centers that will provide a positive alternative to this disgusting ideology, he said. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., took to Twitter on Wednesday saying the GOP must dump Steve Bannon, President Donald Trumps former chief strategist, following the Alabama election. After Alabama disaster GOP must do right thing and DUMP Steve Bannon. His act is tired, inane and morally vacuous. If we are to Make America Great Again for all Americans, Bannon must go! And go NOW!! Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing) December 13, 2017 During an interview on FOX Business, King applauded the president for ousting Bannon from the White House. It was not really a political statement I was really making as much as the governmental philosophical one. I think with Steve Bannon that the president did the right thing removing him from the White House last summer, King told Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria. I dont consider him a conservative. I know he graced himself as some Irish-Catholic working guy. To me he just looks like some drunk who wandered in off the street and Im not trying to be sarcastic. Bannon campaigned for Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who lost to Democrat Doug Jones, several times in the state. King blamed the loss on Bannon. He has brought an element of hate into politics, racial division and I think it backfired in Alabama ... It backfired in the White House. It made a very difficult situation for people who worked in the White House and I just dont see what Steve Bannon brings to the political scene or the governmental scene, King said. As reports surface that North Korea could be developing new biological weapons capabilities, the United States is set to increase the multi-billion dollar budget for one agency tasked with combating biothreats. The presidents fiscal year 2018 budget request for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is $3.17 billion, compared with $2.97 billion in fiscal year 2017. DARPA houses a Biological Technologies Office (BTO), created in 2014, charged with staying ahead of the shifting technology curve by making critical, early investments in areas that cut across fields of research and enable revolutionary new capabilities for U.S. national security. The office has also emphasized its program to outpace infectious disease. The National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR), a consortium of eight agencies including the Department of Defense and Health and Human Services is another domestic biotechnology and biodefense organization. U.S. analysts have voiced concerns about the potential for Kim Jong-uns regime to develop a biological program capable of the wide scale production of pathogens, as first reported by The Washington Post. The cost of maintaining an active biological weapons program is high, according to Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, associate professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She said the Soviet Union spent several billion dollars on its program, while terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo spent about $10 million, though the latter failed at every step. The United States spent about $700 million on its program, which was active over the course of roughly 27 years. Still, Ben Ouagrham-Gormley said the cost of a biological weapons program falls short of a nuclear weapons program, which North Korea has publicly admitted to pursuing. But, bioweapons are much harder to maintain, even if the materials are easier to acquire. The challenge is in acquiring the expertise to handle and manipulate living organisms that are fragile and unpredictable: that requires time and a work organization that ensure continuity and stability of work, Ben Ouagrham-Gormley said. These are conditions that are difficult to maintain in a covert program. Thats why most covert bioweapons programs have failed thus far. For similar reasons, there are more uncertainties associated with carrying out a biological attack, which depend on a variety of factors including environmental conditions, airflow, strain virulence, etc. If you happen to be on the button, you could start an epidemic, you could start large-scale mass casualties, but everything has to go [just right], Dr. Eric Cole, an expert on bioterrorism and adjunct professor of political science at Rutgers University, told FOX Business. North Korea is widely believed to have as many as 13 biological agents, according to the U.S. and the Republic of Korea, including smallpox, anthrax and the plague. After a joint investigation in 2015, the pair of countries concluded that Pyongyang could use them in bioterrorism or in an all-out war, according to a report by the Belfer Center. The United States and the Republic of Korea have held joint biothreat response exercises since 2011. Under the Biological Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1975, more than 170 signatories are prevented from developing, producing and stockpiling biological agents. Many countries, including the U.S., Russia and North Korea, have signed onto the treaty. The treaty does not, however, prevent research and development into defense capabilities. When it comes to defending against a potential attack, vaccinations, antiviral medicines, and antibiotics are often the first lines of protection, Dr. Cole said. Not only is the military trained to handle such situations, but there are stores of countermeasures stashed at various locations around the country, he added. Still, Dr. Cole said that it is important to conduct ongoing research in order to prevent future pathogen threats that could result from genetic engineering. There are good friends, there are great friends, and, apparently, there is George Clooney. Rande Gerber, a businessman and longtime friend of the actor, told MSNBCs Headliners that Clooney once gave 14 friends $1 million each and paid their taxes for a year. "There's a group of guys that we call The Boys.' George had called me and The Boys' and said, Hey, mark September 27, 2013 on your calendar. Everyone's going to come to my house for dinner, Gerber recalled. Gerber said he and The Boys arrived at Clooneys home to find black designer luggage bags at each place setting on the table. When they opened the bags, they found a million dollars in 20 dollar bills, E! News reported. GEORGE CLOONEY EXPLAINS WHY HE'S TAKING A BREAK FROM ACTING: 'I DON'T NEED MONEY' George begins to say, Listen, I want you guys to know how much youve meant to me and how much you mean to me in my life, the 55-year-old said. I came to L.A., I slept on your couch. Im so fortunate in my life to have all of you and I couldnt be where I am today without all of you. So, it was really important to me that while were still all here together, that I give back. So I want you all to open your suitcases. Gerber added, Every one of us 14 of us got a million dollars. Every single one of us. Were in shock. He goes, I know weve all been through some hard times, some of you are still going through it. You dont have to worry about your kids, you dont have to worry about, you know, school, you dont have to worry about paying your mortgage,' he added. WANDA JACKSON DETAILS HER RELATIONSHIP WITH ELVIS PRESLEY, BECOMING A COUNTRY MUSIC SEX SYMBOL Gerber said some of their friends were going through a difficult time, including one who was working at a Texas airport's bar trying to make ends meet for his family. Gerber recalled pulling Clooney aside and refusing to take the generous gift, but the 56-year-old actor then replied: Im just going to make one announcement. If Rande doesnt take the million dollars, nobody gets it. Gerber, who is married to Cindy Crawford and a part-owner of Casamigos Tequila Company with Clooney, took the money and donated it to charity. This is who George is. That was September 27th, 2013. Now September 27th, 2014, he marries Amal. Now thats good karma right there, Gerber said. Clooney has two 6-month-old twins with Amal Clooney. They also recently showed their generosity by handing out noise canceling headphones on a flight to England, apologizing for their twins for crying, Page Six reported. Three-time Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who is an outspoken critic of President Trump, said she has no interest in being a political leader during his presidency. Streep told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that being critical of Trump has affected her life and she was not interested in being a political leader. MERYL STREEP AND TOM HANKS TAKE ON THE WHITE HOUSE "It's affected my life because I don't really I don't want to be that. I don't want to be that," Streep, who dressed as Trump in June, old BuzzFeed. "I'm a really private person, and like a lot of people in show business, I'm actually shy so it's hard for me to do all this stuff." Streep was likely referring to her speech she made during the Golden Globes earlier this year when she accepted the Cecil B. Demille Award and used the platform to criticize Trump for imitating a disabled reporter. Streep said Trumps behavior sank its hooks in my heart and called on the press to hold the president accountable for every outrage. "Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose," Streep said. MERYL STREEP HAS CHOICE REMARKS FOR HARVEY WEINSTEIN AT WOMENS CONFERENCE Trump responded to Streeps speech shortly after, calling her one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood. At the Womens March a few weeks later, protesters carried signs calling for the Florence Foster Jenkins star to run for president. "Ive lived through all these eras and it doesnt feel like an alien landscape," Streep said regarding todays political climate, "but it does feel like stepping back in time and how quickly we forget what the world was like 40 years ago." Streep, who was talking to BuzzFeed to promote her new movie The Post with co-star Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg, announced Hanks should run for president. "Tom (Hanks), on the other hand, should be president," Streep said. "I mean really, this guy, there really is no one who knows more about history, statesmanship. No, seriously, it's true!" Salma Hayek described in an op-ed Wednesday how her refusals of Harvey Weinstein's advances turned the making of 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida" into a nightmare experience. In the shocking essay published in the New York Times, Hayek said for years she called the disgraced producer "my monster" and revealed that Weinstein would turn up at her door "at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location." "No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location, where he would show up unexpectedly, including one location where I was doing a movie he wasnt even involved with. No to me taking a shower with him. No to letting him watch me take a shower," Hayek wrote of refusing his advances. "No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman." He would let me finish the film if I agreed to do a sex scene with another woman Salma Hayek on Harvey Weinstein HARVEY WEINSTEIN SCANDAL: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Hayek lists the many ways she denied Weinstein saying that Weinstein then made outrageous demands on the production of "Frida," which Hayek was producing, including insisting she film a sex scene with full frontal nudity. However, the actress revealed she reluctantly agreed to one of his demands while filming "Frida." "He would let me finish the film if I agreed to do a sex scene with another woman. It was not because I would be naked with another woman. It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein. But I could not tell them then," she wrote. The Mexican-born star recalled how she became physically and emotionally distraught shooting the "senseless" sex scene. "My mind understood that I had to do it, but my body wouldnt stop crying and convulsing. At that point, I started throwing up while a set frozen still waited to shoot. I had to take a tranquilizer, which eventually stopped the crying but made the vomiting worse. As you can imagine, this was not sexy, but it was the only way I could get through the scene," she said. In a statement to Buzzfeed News, a Weinstein spokesperson said the movie mogul "does not recall" pressuring the actress into doing the sex scene, nor was he there for filming. "All of the sexual allegations as portrayed by Salma are not accurate and others who witnessed the events have a different account of what transpired," the spokesperson said. Hayek claimed that Weinstein even threatened her life. "The range of his persuasion tactics went from sweet-talking me to that one time when, in an attack of fury, he said the terrifying words, 'I will kill you, dont think I cant,'" she wrote. The A-lister shared her reasoning for not coming out sooner against the alleged sexual predator. "When I saw him socially, Id smile and try to remember the good things about him, telling myself that I went to war and I won." Hayek's motivation for sharing her heartbreaking tale is to inspire change within society. "I hope that adding my voice to the chorus of those who are finally speaking out will shed light on why it is so difficult, and why so many of us have waited so long. Men sexually harassed because they could. Women are talking today because, in this new era, we finally can." Hayek joins a list of more than 60 women including Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow, accusing Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Since the scandal broke in October, Weinstein was dropped by Miramax and said he entered rehab to address his behavior. Weinstein has vehemently denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. His rep did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Daisy Ridley went from obscurity to international stardom when J.J. Abrams picked her to play the central character of the new "Star Wars" trilogy, Rey, who quickly became a fan favorite and an inspiration to young girls around the world. The 25-year-old British actress returns to the "Star Wars" fold in "The Last Jedi," out Friday. The film, the second in a planned trilogy, picks up just as Rey finds Luke Skywalker on that lush cliff. Ridley spoke to The Associated Press recently about playing Rey and getting on board with director Rian Johnson's vision for the newest installment. AP: Did you feel like you had more of a handle on this, having done it once before? RIDLEY: It's hard, you would think going into the second one you'd be like, 'Oh yeah I've got this.' No. No. it was very much like new scene partner, new story, new. ... It was just a new feeling. New director. New writer. It was a lot of wrap my head around. And then things settle down as they always do, and you're like, 'This is OK.'" AP: Rian Johnson not only wrote but directed "The Last Jedi." How did that change things for you? RIDLEY: John (Boyega) and I had had a lunch meeting with him in August or September when he was close to at least finishing the story and then we were able to question him. That's the beauty of working with a writer/director. You can question things directly and things can happen very immediately. But also hilarious because Rian I don't think changed a thing. I was going, "Uh, I'm not sure about this." But he didn't change a thing because he didn't need to. It just took us all a second to be like, "OK, this is where the story is heading." ADAM DRIVER SAYS 'STAR WARS' CHARACTER KYLO REN ISN'T EVIL -- HE'S JUST SURE HE'S RIGHT AP: At the end of "The Force Awakens," Rey has lost her mentor/father figure Han Solo, been separated from her friend Finn and is on this new journey to find Luke. What is going through her head? RIDLEY: I think she doesn't quite know what is going through her mind. She's been sent to do this thing and it goes beyond anything she's known. Everything has been her trying to do the right thing and her trying to help other people and she's not really stopped for a second. Even doing it, I didn't quite know. I was trying to play hope and searching for an answer. But hilariously, the first time around, I didn't know where that was going to go. Anything that Rey is trying to catch up on, the audience is trying to catch up on with her. Why is she there? What's the Force? What's this thing? And the greater sort of questions of the universe of good and evil and why people do the things they do. AP: There were some funny photos of you and Mark Hamill on set and him riding on your back, like Yoda once did to him. What was it like working with him? 'LAST JEDI' TO BE SCREENED FOR SPACE STATION CREW, NASA SAYS RIDLEY: He is goofy. It was comforting working with John because we were great friends and it was comforting working with Harrison (Ford) because he reminds me of my dad. And with Mark, his daughter is my age, so there is again, and I don't know, maybe it's an older actor thing of just a comfort. He makes everyone on set feel really happy and included. I think what Mark and Harrison and Carrie (Fisher) do very well is make everyone feel like they're part of it. AP: Has anything surprised you about the reception to Rey? RIDLEY: What I actually do think is funny is a lot of people are going, "Rey's Snoke," or, "Rey's something else." Just let her be her! No, she's not anyone else, she's just her. No she doesn't have to be like Luke, she doesn't have to be like Leia, she's just doing her own thing. I don't think that would have been said about any of the male characters. AP: What do you think of J.J. Abrams coming back to direct Episode IX? RIDLEY: I literally burst into tears. I was like, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" I emailed him and go, "I'm literally crying." And he goes, "Me too!" NBCs Today show has seen a surprise spike in ratings since Matt Lauer was fired on Nov. 28, and while many assume that viewers are just tuning in temporarily to watch the train wreck, a growing number of industry insiders are wondering if for years, the $25 million star was actually turning viewers away. Women never forgave Matt for what he did to Ann [Curry] five years ago. Were now realizing that he was dragging down "Todays" ratings ever since. He wasnt key to their ratings. He was actually actively hurting their ratings, a TV executive at a rival network told Fox News. Embattled NBC News chairman Andy Lack has been under fire for refusing to launch an independent investigation into who knew about Lauers inappropriate behavior, and there is growing speculation that he and his deputy, Noah Oppenheim, could soon be out of jobs themselves over the Lauer fiasco. But it seems Lack may have actually fallen forward when he was forced to show his biggest star (and close friend) the exit. Industry observers are comparing this moment to the exit of Bryan Gumbel from Today in 1997. Gumbel had been mired in public controversies -- including a famously leaked internal memo in which he cruelly critiqued fellow staffers -- and the feuding and sniping had become a drag on the hosts chemistry. Gumbels exit didnt hurt the shows ratings one bit and the new regime continued a winning streak that started in 1995 and wasnt broken until 2012. Ironically, it was Lauer who replaced Gumbel in the chair. But then came whats now known as the Ann Curry debacle with Lauer as alleged culprit. The Today show was passed in the ratings by ABCs Good Morning America in 2012 after NBC fired Curry, whose tearful on-air departure was a disastrous moment for the iconic program. Currys exit had been preceded by months of Lauer sulking and exhibiting body language on camera that indicated he disliked Curry, who was enormously popular with a number of core Today fans -- and during her on-camera goodbye, Lauer attempted to kiss Curry on the cheek. She flinched, cringing away. The public widely blamed Lauer for bullying Curry out of her job. The Today show ratings cratered right after Currys departure, and never fully recovered. Matt did enormous damage to the show from how he treated Ann, and from how they let him totally control the show after he got her fired. It became all about him and people sucking up to him, a Today staffer told Fox News. TheWrap Senior TV Reporter Tony Maglio recently examined Lauers Q Score and the results show that the now-disgraced host wasnt particularly liked. Lauer had a Positive Q Score of 11, according to Maglio. Thats a full six points below the average for a host, and is generally not great, Maglio wrote. Lauers rating means of the large percentage of people who recognized him on the Q Score Companys survey, just 11 percent said he was among their favorite public personalities. Lauers bad influence on the program extended beyond his unpopularity with viewers, according to NBC insiders. They told Fox News that ever since he engineered Currys ouster and signed a new contract in 2012, NBC management, including NBC Universal boss Steve Burke, had given Lauer absolute control over Today, including control over programming decisions, down to the minutiae of what stories would be covered every morning on the program. The absolute power that Burke gave Lauer at NBC also may have created the atmosphere that strongly discouraged NBC staffers from reporting Lauers alleged sexual improprieties. Burke's installation in 2015 of Lack, a detached executive who was such close friends with Lauer that they reportedly vacationed together, only made the situation worse, industry insiders said. Since Lauer was fired for inappropriate sexual behavior, Today has been the most-watched morning show for back-to-back weeks, marking the first time in nearly a year that it beat GMA in both viewers and the key demo in consecutive weeks, according to TVNewser. Lauer was believed to be the highest paid personality in TV news, reportedly earning $25 million per year. NBC even paid for him at least for a time to be helicoptered back and forth every weekend to Manhattan from his estate in New Yorks exclusive Hamptons area on Long Island. At the time of his fall, Lauer exercised absolute power over the Today show and, through his close friend Lack, over the rest of NBC News. With Lauers fall and the similarly disgraceful fall of Brian Williams in 2015, NBC News now has no major stars on air, and its producers now have full control of programming and personnel decisions. CBS News, similarly, now has no major stars in positions of power with the firing of Scott Pelley from the Evening News reportedly for demanding too much money and of Charlie Rose from This Morning -- for alleged sexual harassment. Beleaguered ABC News remains the outlier, with two hosts, George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, still making eight-figure incomes. It will be interesting to see what happens to Lack if Today continues to thrive without Lauer, as the network would be on the hook for wasting roughly $100 million since the Curry debacle on an anchor that was driving away viewers. Lack, who denies any knowledge of Lauers laundry list of alleged misconduct, signed the now-disgraced Lauer to an extension in 2016. He also was behind the hiring of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly for a reported $23 million a year. A family-owned bakery in Ohio has filed a lawsuit against Oberlin College for slandering the shop as a racist establishment. According to the Boston Herald, the dispute began in November 2016 when three underage black students were arrested for punching and kicking the white shopkeeper, Allyn Gibson. The students claim their only crime was trying to buy alcohol with fake identification, but Gibson says he was attacked after he caught them trying to steal bottles of wine. The incident occurred the day after Donald Trump became president elect, and some believe the arrests triggered a simmering frustration among the colleges famously liberal community. (Oberlin students were widely pilloried in 2015 for protesting cultural appropriation in the sushi offered at their own dining halls.) There has long been speculation regarding racial profiling at Gibsons, and students quickly began to boycott and protest outside of the cafe. "I can understand why people were looking for some outlet for their frustration, but it's just counterproductive to bend that anger towards a small family business that to my knowledge is not guilty of the sort of racial profiling that people accuse it of," retired Oberlin professor Roger Copeland told the Boston Herald. Ive never seen evidence. Its always hearsay. But in August, the students pleaded guilty to attempted theft and aggravated trespassing. In statements, they said their actions were wrong and the store wasnt racist. Nonetheless, students continue to boycott the small business over alleged racial profiling. So on November 7, the Gibsons sued Oberlin and dean of students Meredith Raimondo for slander. The lawsuit accuses college staffers of encouraging protests against the bakery by cancelling classes, distributing flyers, and supplying demonstrators with free food and drink. It claims that in a protest, Raimondo used a bullhorn and distributed flyers that said the bakery is a RACIST establishment with a LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION. The school has denied all claims. The bakerys owner, Dave Gibson, says the suit is about standing up for his right to crack down on shoplifting without being branded as racist, according to the Boston Herald. The lawsuit claims that although Gibsons loses thousands of dollars to theft, police figures from the past five years show only six out of 40 adults arrested for shoplifting at the bakery were black. Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe One day after Mario Batali was outed by Eater NY on Dec. 11 for reportedly groping and harassing four women, Italian marketplace Eataly announced the chain will no longer carry any products affiliated with the celebrity chef, Eater reports. "This move is consistent with Mario Batali not being actively involved with Eataly," a company spokesperson confirmed to the outlet, as Batali's books, sauces, pastas, olive oils and vinegars were quickly removed from store shelves. The restaurateur co-owns Eataly with Joe Bastianich, who told Eater the chain has replaced Batalis products with those of his mother Lidia as they continue to review whats best for the company moving forward. 'COLLEGEHUMOR' ACTRESS SAYS MARIO BATALI TOUCHED HER BREASTS WHEN SHE WAS A HOSTESS Operating five locations across the U.S., the chain looks to distance itself from Batali just weeks after FICO Eataly World opened its doors in Bologna, Italy, which was billed as the worlds largest agri-food park. In addition, Eataly recently announced plans to file for an IPO on the Italian Stock Exchange. Batalis $250 million empire is reported to be in jeopardy as the allegations are investigated. Batali, the author of 11 cookbooks and owner of 23 restaurants, was largely a public face for Eataly, attending and promoting the openings of all new locations. CHEF MARIO BATALI ALLEGEDLY TOLD SPECIAL EVENTS DIRECTOR, 'I WANT TO SEE YOU NAKED' Further, other New York City eateries co-owned by Batali, such as Lupa, Otto and Babbo have also stripped his products from their shelves in the wake of the claims, as his upcoming Food Network series has been put 'on hold' and ABCs The Chew has severed ties with the chef for the time being. I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted," Batali said in a statement to Eater on Monday, noting that he would step down from the daily operations of his many businesses for an undisclosed amount of time. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Just one day after the news broke, the Hollywood Reporter reported that the Eataly location in Manhattans Flatiron District was as busy as ever, and that shoppers polled anonymously seemed relatively unbothered by the allegations. Female kitchen workers who were employed at McCormick & Schmicks allege they were subjected to lewd comments from male supervisors and co-workers, and claim their complaints to the company were ignored, a lawsuit states. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by five women who worked at the chain restaurant's location in downtown Boston, highlights the abuse and harassment women in low-wage hospitality positions routinely face, said Sophia Hall, an attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, which represented the women. "These are positions that society often overlooks," she said. "These women are particularly vulnerable, with limited English and no access to an effective reporting procedure. They suffered daily and in humiliating ways." MARIO BATALI ONCE SAID A RECKONING WAS COMING FOR SEXUAL HARASSERS IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY Fabiana Santos, who was employed as a prep cook at the seafood restaurant, said she experienced unwanted touching from a male dishwasher. I remember a male employee coming up behind me while I worked, pinning me against a table and rubbing his penis against my rear, Santos said. "The disgusting things that happened to me made me feel dirty," she said at a news conference Tuesday in Portuguese, speaking through a translator. "And when I got home, I didn't even want my kids to touch me." Marta Romero, a dishwasher, said a sous chef frequently groped and harassed her during work. She said she felt powerless to do anything because the sous chef was her supervisor. "I want other women to know that whatever type of work they do or who they are, they're not powerless," she said in Spanish through an interpreter. "They are powerful and have legal rights." A spokeswoman for Landry's Inc., the Houston-based restaurant, casino and hotel operator that owns McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants, Inc., said in a statement that the company strives to maintain a "harassment-free environment." CELEB-FRIENDLY RESTAURATEUR KEN FRIEDMAN ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY FORMER EMPLOYEES Most of the women have since left the restaurant chain. The women said they brought their complaints to the companys human resources department, which took some disciplinary actions against male employees but denied the conduct amounted to sexual harassment, according to the lawsuit. The Boston Globe reported a dishwasher was terminated and a sous chef was suspended for a week without pay. The women then took their case to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which in 2015 ruled there was reasonable cause to believe the company discriminated against the women on the basis of their gender, according to the lawsuit. The women were seeking unspecified damages, attorney Rachel Smith said. Sexual harassment in the restaurant industry has made headlines this week. Earlier this week, celebrity chef Mario Batali was accused of sexual misconduct by former employees. Ken Friendman, a celebrity restaurateur, was also accused of sexual harassment by his former employees. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A group in Saudi Arabia has started a social media campaign to boycott American restaurants as punishment for President Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The hashtag #BoycottAmericanRestaurants was trending on Twitter Tuesday, encouraging people to boycott chains like McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King and Pizza Hut among others, Newsweek reports. "Participate in the boycott of American goods, you could have a direct effect on the American economy. The role of the people is greater [than that of governments]," one tweet read, according to a translation from The New Arab. GIBSON'S BAKERY SUES OBERLIN COLLEGE OVER RACISM PROTESTS This campaign comes less than week after President Trump announced he would officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered the State Department to move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. Trumps controversial decision was met with criticism by many who believe the move could derail any hope of reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian territories. While some people support the boycott, others argue it is ineffective, noting the fact that people are using Twitter, an American website, as well as other American products to spread the word about the campaign. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Shopping and eating out are two of the main leisure activities for Saudis, many of whom have disposable income, according to a report by EuroMonitor International. McDonalds was the leading fast-food brand in Saudi Arabia in 2016, earning 8 percent of the overall market share. Tyler Woodward was a Star Wars fan long before his cancer diagnosis. His whole life, really. The 17-year-old says he was born "right when all the prequels were coming out" and grew up having lightsaber fights with his two older brothers. So after chemo took his hair last year, he knew what he wanted from the Make-A-Wish Foundation: A trip to "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" premiere. A week ago, he learned his wish had been granted. And on Saturday, after flying out from Ohio, Tyler put on a blazer and his BB-8 tie for the film's world premiere in Los Angeles. He was one of seven teens with life-threatening illnesses to attend the star-studded premiere and elaborate after-party with Make-A-Wish. While the organization couldn't promise personal interactions with celebrities, the kids and their parents had a special spot on the red carpet where they could see the stars arrive. TEEN CANCER SURVIVOR SEEKS TO CHANGE SCHOOL HAT POLICY AFTER ALLEGED PUNISHMENT "I've been telling people that like 50 percent of the reason I wished for this is just so I could meet Daisy Ridley," Tyler said before the premiere from beneath his floppy blond curls. But no matter what happened that night, he said, "I don't really see myself being disappointed." Fourteen-year-old Olivia Sava, who, like Tyler, suffers from a form of leukemia, made a wish about "The Last Jedi" just after "The Force Awakens" came out in 2015. She said her dad got her into Star Wars when she was little. "I'm most excited to see Daisy Ridley," said soft-spoken Olivia of Woodmere, New York, who wore a purse to the premiere that looked like the Death Star. "She's an amazing actress and I really want to meet her." Established in 1980, the nonprofit Make-A-Wish Foundation aims to grant a wish to every child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition. Disney, now the parent company of the Star Wars franchise, granted that very first wish: A trip to Disneyland. The company is now involved with almost half the wishes submitted each year, and is supporting the organization this month with a $5 donation for every photo of Mickey Mouse ears shared on social media with the hashtag #ShareYourEars. DAD OF 4 BATTLING ALS GETS $10G FROM 'SECRET SANTA' The Make-A-Wish group posed at "The Last Jedi" premiere wearing Star Wars-themed Mickey ears. The kids also bonded during their red carpet experience. When one boy sat down during all the excitement, one of the girls checked to see if he was feeling OK. When another boy was trembling too much to take a photo, the boy next to him helped steady his hands. And when the group spotted Ridley arriving on the red carpet, a buzz of collective excitement overcame them. "Daisy, I had cancer!" Tyler playfully shouted to the actress from too far away. "I've had brain surgery!" added Chris Alegria, a gregarious 18-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Florida, whose head is scarred from having tumors removed. He wore his prom tuxedo to the premiere. Both Tyler and Chris brought their moms along for the wish experience, which included a weekend in Hollywood and a trip to Universal Studios. "My mom led me through this whole cancer fight," Chris said before the premiere. "Cancer sucks, to say the least, and I could always count on her... She would always comfort me. She's my best friend." Tyler's mother, Karen Woodward, said she was just grateful to see her son so happy. "He's been through a lot the last year-and-a-half, with the chemo and losing all his hair and missing school and all that, so this has really been a great event... just to be able to give him something that's exciting to look forward to and that he's going to remember forever," she said. "It's so much fun to watch the excitement in your child. I get a lot out of that." The red carpet outside the Shrine Auditorium, where a giant Imperial Walker towered over guests, was crowded with stars. One by one writer-director Rian Johnson, Andy Serkis, Laura Dern, Gwendoline Christie, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, John Boyega and Adam Driver came over to meet the Make-A-Wish group. And Ridley, too. "Hi. You're Daisy Ridley," Tyler said, mostly to himself, when the actress approached. As she posed for a photo with Chris, Tyler fished a card from his mom's purse that had Ridley, or Rey's, face on it. "Can you sign this?" he asked her. "Sure," Ridley said. "How are you guys doing?" "Great now," Tyler said. It took him a second to snap a selfie because he was shaking, which he acknowledged aloud. HOLIDAY HEALTH GIFT GUIDE "Is it weird if I ask for a hug?" he said. Ridley happily obliged. Then Chris wanted a hug, too. Olivia was content with a handshake and a selfie. Tyler was breathless and shaking as the actress walked away. "I just hugged Daisy Ridley," he said. "That was Daisy Ridley." "We just hugged her. I can't believe it," Chris said. "Daisy Ridley," Tyler said. After watching "The Last Jedi" alongside the cast, the group went to the after-party, which was modeled after a casino-like city in the Star Wars galaxy. Guests could play table games to win souvenir Star Wars pins and pose for photos with characters from the new film. And the Make-A-Wish kids could celebrate being among the first fans in the world to see the anticipated eighth chapter in the core Star Wars saga. "I'm going to see it like hundreds of times before I'm dead, but it's up there in terms of being not only the best Star Wars movie, but the best movie I've ever seen," Tyler said. "Obviously, my experience is better than most, seeing the world premiere and getting to meet all the actors first, but it was amazing." A Texas mother is in jail after hospital staff sounded alarm over a boy who had been seen 323 times at various medical centers and undergone 13 major surgeries in his eight years of life. Kaylene Bowen, who has allegedly previously claimed her son was dying of a genetic disease, fighting cancer and suffering from several other ailments over his lifetime, was arrested on a warrant accusing her of injury to a child with serious bodily injury, The Star-Telegram reported. Bowen, 34, remains in Dallas County Jail while the boy, whose name is Christopher, and his two half-siblings have been placed in foster care. The boys father, Ryan Crawford, said hes tried alerting authorities to Bowens actions previously, but was shut down by courts who sided with her. WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME BY PROXY? It was always the same story: Christopher is dying, Crawford told The Star-Telegram. The father doesnt need to be around because he doesnt know how to take care of him. Every time I went to court, they made me feel like I was the worst human ever. According to a Child Protective Services petition, Christopher was seen 323 times at hospitals and pediatric centers in Dallas and Houston between 2009 and 2016, The Star-Telegram reported. At various points, he was placed on oxygen fulltime, used a wheelchair, and was outfitted with a feeding tube that lead to life-threatening blood infections. Court documents revealed that Bowen placed Christopher in hospice care, and tried to have him placed on a lung transplant list. Its horrible for my son, or any kid because obviously my son is not the only one that has had to go through this type of torture, Crawford told The Star-Telegram. The system has to be exposed all the weaknesses that are in the system because the kids dont deserve that. FORMER NFLER LARRY JOHNSON BELIEVES HE'S LIVING WITH CTE Hospital staff sounded alarm with CPS after discovering that Christopher did not have cancer, or any of the alleged symptoms Bowen had listed. She had claimed that Christopher suffered a seven-minute seizure, but an ECG showed no such activity, The Star-Telegram reported. Staff reached out to another hospital that had treated Christopher and found there were similar suspicions about Bowen. A complaint was filed, marking the second such since 2015. I am very concerned that mother has moved from exaggerating symptoms to inducing symptoms, Dr. Suzanne Dakil wrote, as part of a CPS petition for removal, according to the news outlet. If mother has given Chris something to induce a seizure, this is potentially fatal. At this point I am very concerned for his welfare. While not formally diagnosed, Bowens actions are similar to those of others who suffer from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The condition occurs when a person attempts to produce psychological or physical symptoms in another person, usually someone who is dependent on them. Several factors, including who is describing the patients symptoms, can make it difficult for doctors to spot the disorder. Over the years, Bowen was soliciting money from supporters through a YouCaring page and other fundraising efforts. One page claimed the boy had been diagnosed with Arteriovenous malformation at age 2, and had raised more than $8,000. Crawford is currently seeking to obtain custody of Christopher, who has since been taken off the feeding tube and is eating regularly. A British surgeon admitted to using a laser beam to carve his initials into two patients livers during transplant operations. The surgeon, Simon Bramhall, 53, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of assault in Birmingham Crown Court, central England, after he left SB etched on the internal organs of a man and a woman during procedures in 2013. Bramhall used an argon beam coagulator, which seals bleeding blood vessels with an electric beam, to make his mark. According to The Telegraph of London, the beams are used not just for bleeding, but to beam to sketch out the area of an operation. Such brandings are usually not harmful and would normally disappear, but when the female patients liver did not heal properly, the initials were reportedly found in a followup operation. BABY'S HEART PLACED BACK INSIDE HER CHEST IN RARE SURGERIES Prosecutor Tony Badenoch said the brandings were "an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient whilst anesthetized," and an abuse of Bramhall's position. "It was an abuse of the trust placed in him by the patients." Tony Badenoch, prosecution Bramhall was a liver, spleen and pancreatic surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for 12 years, The Telegraph reported. He resigned in 2014 after another doctor's discovery of what he'd done resulted in disciplinary proceedings. "Those assaults were wrong not just ethically, but also criminally. It was an abuse of the trust placed in him by the patients," Badenoch told the court. After his suspension, Bramhall admitted to the BBC that he made a mistake. Bramhall is free on bail. He is to be sentenced Jan. 12 at Birmingham Crown Court. It was not immediately known what sentence he might face. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Florida teen who was complaining of headaches and vomiting was found dead in her dorm room by her mother and sister on Tuesday. Alyssa Michelle Lewis, 19, was in her fourth semester at University of Central Florida and was planning on visiting a doctor for her symptoms, News4Jax.com reported. Her father, Bill Lewis, said her mother couldnt reach their daughter on the phone, and had to find someone from the housing department to let them in. Lewis roommates had already left for winter break over the weekend. Shes banging on the door and shes trying to call, he told the news outlet. Alyssas not answering. My other daughter shows up with her and they have to go get someone to let them in the dorm room from housing. They go in and find Alyssa passed away. MOM ACCUSED OF SUBJECTING SON TO 323 HOSPITAL VISITS, 13 SURGERIES A 911 call was placed to paramedics at around 10:35 a.m., and authorities do not believe her death was suspicious. Bill said his daughter had recently been accepted into the schools Resident Adviser program, and that he wanted to dispel any rumors about her death, News4Jax.com reported. I mean, she was on top of the world, he said. The school has made counselors available to students and expressed their condolences to the family. Shmaltz beer: Its the only beer on the market that celebrates and embraces the Jewish heritage. Oh, and its kosher too! Every other group in the United States has a beer [that] celebrates their culture and traditions," says Jeremy Cowan, the founder of Shmaltz Beer, to Fox News. "It is focused on high-end craft with a unique shtick." KRISPY KREME BEER IS COMING SOON Brewed in Clifton Park, N.Y., just ten minutes from Albany, Shmaltz Beer is currently celebrating 21 years in business. Cowan started brewing in 1996, and hand-delivered 100 cases of beer out of his grandmothers Volvo on Hanukkah that year. Here we are 21 years later, [we'll] probably do about 75,000 cases of beer over the course of 2017. In fact, Shmaltz ships its He Brew to 35 states and over 5,000 retailers. So what makes Shmaltz and He'brew beer so special? Cowan says it's all about embracing the Jewish culture, poking fun at stereotypes, and mingling his heritage with all of his brews. Take, for example, their special Chanukah Hanukkah Pass the Beer brew: Its a golden strong ale brewed with cacao nibs, chocolate and a hint of vanilla. Much like those gold coins that are coming out this week. Gold on the outside, chocolate on the inside, says Cowan. BEYONCE SERVES BREWERY CEASE-AND-DESIST LETTER AFTER THEY BREW 'BIERYONCE' BEER "We try to tie in the beer, the community and the shtick that goes along with it, he added. The craft beer industry has seen a boom in recent years, brewing up revenue of $23.6 billion in 2016 alone, according to the Brewers Association, an organization which represents over 5,500 breweries in the U.S. As craft beers move in to the mainstream, we are seeing a lot of market share being gained by small and independent brewers, Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, told Fox News in August. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS You dont have to be Irish to drink Guinness and you dont have to be Swedish to drink Absolut and you dont have to be Jewish to drink He'brew. You just have to love great beer and appreciate a good sense of humor, says Cowan. Be sure to watch Cowans full interview above to get a taste of what Shmaltz Brewing Company is all about. The beauty world was full of surprises in 2017. From extra-long ponytails and buzz cuts to the no-makeup movement and glittery lipstick, a lot of fads were favorably embraced, and many welcomed their arrival into the mainstream. While the good has been good, the bad has been plain terrible, and some of the strangest beauty trends that bubbled up seemed a bit hard to believe. Nevertheless, the wildest crazes deserve a proper send-off before we ring in the New Year one hopefully filled with calmer cosmetic news. WARNING: Some of the following images might be a bit graphic for squeamish readers. Tattooed freckles While makeup professionals have long championed the character that a sprinkling of freckles adds to ones face, the beauty marks are perhaps best achieved au natural. Tattooing them on is just as painful as it is permanent, after all. THE ONE THING MEGHAN MARKLE NEVER TRAVELS WITHOUT Nose-hair extensions While it's not clear if this look was intended to be humorous or serious, donning false eyelashes in and around the nasal area sparked a serious frenzy on Instagram this year. Squiggle brows Though the look went viral, this wacky eyebrow art seems more fitting for Halloween than it does a big night out. Candy cane fingers Arguably the creepiest beauty trend of 2017, this stomach-churning look was created by a special effects makeup artist. Needless to say, we certainly wont be requesting at this at the nail salon anytime soon. Vampire breast lifts With the demand for nonsurgical plastic surgery rising in popularity, it's no wonder the "vampire" breast-plumping procedure made headlines in 2017. It basically works like this: Blood from the arm is inserted into the breast to give cleavage a fuller look. It's not an entirely new fad, either, as Kim Kardashian West made headlines for a similar "vampire" facial back in 2014. TEENAGE 'CORPSE BRIDE' ADMITS TO FAKING INSTAGRAM PHOTOS ALL ALONG Leech facials Former Victorias Secret model and KORA Organics founder Miranda Kerr fittingly discussed the benefits of "leech therapy" with her pal, Gwyneth Paltrow, at a Goop summit in 2017. Kerr must have enjoyed the experience, as she revealed that she used the blood-sucking worms on her tailbone as well. Eyebrow injections Because gels and tints just werent making the cut in the quest to achieve full, thick brows, platelet-rich plasma injections emerged as a route to stimulate collagen production, spurring hair follicles to grow longer, darker hair. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Eggs as beauty blenders Eschewing a traditional sponge or brush to blend ones makeup look, this viral trend offered help achieving a dewy look. And yes, they were using real eggs, and not just egg-shaped blenders. Black highlighter No matter ones complexion, this odd fad just looks like someone smudged coal in your face. Glitter butts Really? The less said about this one, the better. From the smallest mom and pop shop to the largest international corporation, businesses across America are constantly looking for good employees. We want committed, engaging and creative individuals who can grow our organizations. We scour applications and resumes, trying to discern whether a potential employee will fulfill our needs and become an asset to our teams. In the past, many employers would often not consider hiring people who had even minor criminal records. But as the former CEO of a 10,000-employee organization, I have one message for America: we can no longer exclude this vital component of our workforce. An estimated one in three American adults has a criminal record of some kind. And about 600,000 people leave our nations prisons every year, looking to rejoin the workforce. While individuals in this group of workers wont be right for every job, the right job is out there for everyone. The benefits of boosting employment for those with criminal records are significant. First, opening up opportunities to this population will make our country safer. Right now, almost 60 percent of individuals remain unemployed a year after being released from incarceration. Its in our collective self-interest for them to get jobs, because steady employment is one of the best ways to ensure that individuals lead productive, crime-free lives. In one study of 6,000 returning citizens, employment cut the rate of those who committed a new crime in half. Second, employers all across the country are suffering from a dearth of skilled labor. Every year, one major national bank surveys small businesses across this country. This year the survey found incredible optimism: 80 percent of employers said their business is stronger than ever; 40 percent said they plan to make a capital expenditure to grow their companies; and a quarter of those surveyed said they plan to hire more workers. In West Michigan, most of the business leaders I know plan to expand their workforces. The downside? The businesses cant find enough workers. In fact, 61 percent of business owners reported extreme or moderate difficulty finding qualified employees. Adding to the challenge is the number of baby boomers retiring and a shortage of entry-level workers to fill all the vacancies that currently exist. Ive experienced this firsthand in West Michigan, where weve built one of the hottest job markets in the country. Weve become one of the top places for growth and one of the best places to live. But our success has made it very difficult to find employees. Our region is almost at full employment, so we must look for alternatives. We have a very strong manufacturing base, and these businesses are looking for people who will show up on time and test negative for drugs thats it. This opens the door for people who were formerly incarcerated and who are serious about turning their lives around. It is not unheard of for employers to send vans to pick up workers who are in residential community corrections programs because the employers are so desperate for workers. Some of our countrys largest employers are making second-chance hiring their official policy. Target and Home Depot have banned the box in their employment practices. Ban the box delays inquiry into an applicants criminal history until late in the hiring process, ensuring that those with criminal records arent tossed aside before having an opportunity to detail their skills, training and qualifications. This policy also allows these individuals to explain the circumstances of their offense, and show potential employers how they have turned their lives around. Government jobs provide valuable training for private sector employment, so many private companies are asking their lawmakers to shift hiring processes for public sector jobs as well. The West Michigan Policy Forum, made up of some of the states most influential business leaders, has ranked criminal justice reform as one of the five top pro-business policy priorities. This type of leadership from the business community has yielded incredible results across the country. A whopping 29 states have banned the box for public-sector jobs. And the bipartisan Fair Chance Act, sponsored by Senators Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., would replicate this policy at the federal level. Reforms to seal or erase records of criminal convictions are also a priority for job creators. These policies seal minor criminal records after a certain crime-free period. Research shows that low-level offenders who have remained crime-free for three to five years are no more likely to commit a crime than anyone else. And in many states, when minor criminal records are sealed, law enforcement and judicial officers still have access to these records, ensuring that public safety continues to be a priority. Almost all states have some mechanism through which certain criminal records can be erased or sealed, but erasing records at the federal level is virtually impossible. Fortunately, the issue is gaining traction in Congress. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is spearheading the REDEEM Act, with bipartisan support. And Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., introduced the Renew Act with Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. Occupational licensing reform is another issue important to the business community. Today one in four occupations requires a government license but a criminal history often bars an individual from the licensing process. Ironically, such restrictions make us less safe. One study showed that states with more burdensome licensing laws saw an average 9 percent increase in recidivism, while those with the lowest burdens had a recidivism reduction of 2.5 percent. States as diverse as Illinois, Arizona, and Louisiana have already begun peeling back the layers of government-issued permission slips to work. At the federal level, the New HOPE Act, introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and similar legislation sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would allow states to use federal funding to identify and reduce unnecessary licensing barriers within their regulations and statutes. Elected officials should look to job creators for sound public policy. I urge my fellow employers to beat the drum even louder and make their voices heard at the local, state and federal level. We can improve public safety, strengthen the economy and broaden our pool of skilled labor through commonsense criminal justice reforms and offering second chances for those who have earned them. I dont know a good businessperson who would turn down that deal. The text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that resulted in Strzoks dismissal from Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russias role in the 2016 presidential election reveal the extreme hostility Strzok and Page felt toward Donald Trump. Strzok called Trump a douche during the campaign, while he was leading the probe of Hillary Clintons misuse of classified information. Strzok also called Trump a f------ idiot and worried what would become of the United States if Trump became president. I worry about the state of the American judicial system if the rampant bias, possible collusion and stacking of the deck that infected the Justice Department and FBI in its Russia probe is ignored. We had a warning flare about what happens when the bureaucracy is allowed to run amok back in 2013. At that time, we learned that the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups for discriminatory treatment, denying them their nonprofit status long enough so that they were sidelined during President Obamas 2012 re-election campaign. That scandal was largely ignored or minimized by the mainstream media, which questioned whether the discrimination had been real and if it had was merely the work of a couple of rogue officials. Lois Lerner and Holly Paz, the two IRS officials at the center of the scandal, were allowed to retire from the IRS with full pension benefits. No one has been prosecuted and the Obama administration refused to enforce a contempt of Congress resolution that was passed after Lerner refused to testify. Indeed, the Obama Justice Department cleared Lerner and other officials of any wrongdoing and even praised her. The Trump Justice Department has taken a different view. It recently reached settlements totaling $3.5 million with tea party groups victimized by Lerner and Paz. In the settlement documents, the Justice Department admitted that under President Obama the department had committed illegal behavior. The Trump Justice Department also singled out Lerner for criticism for failing to stop the targeting and hiding it from her superiors. That makes it all the more outrageous that Lerner and Paz, her former deputy, went to federal court last week to try to keep the transcripts of their depositions on the case secret. Lerner said there is no legitimate reason for the documents to be released and said they should be permanently sealed. She and Paz even claimed public interest in the documents was exceedingly low. Both Lerner and Paz said that disclosure would involve undermining substantial privacy and physical safety interests. Both women have claimed they have received threats since they left the IRS, but have been vague on specifics. A former Justice Department official told me its important that the Lerner transcripts be publicly released. The failure to effectively punish or expose those who were behind the IRS abuses was direct encouragement to people in the FBI and other agencies to go off the rails into politics during the 2016 campaign, the official told me. The failure to properly police the IRS and other abusive federal agencies during the Obama administration must be addressed by the Trump administration. Prior to his running the original FBI investigation of Russias actions during the 2016 election, Strzok was responsible for changing the wording of the official FBI report on the Clinton email affair. He was instrumental in changing the original finding of grossly negligent, which is legalese that under the statute constitutes a crime, and replacing it with the words extremely careless, which allowed the Justice Department avoid charging Hillary Clinton. Strzok wasnt the only Mueller deputy who engaged in compromising behavior. Andrew Weissmann, a veteran prosecutor assigned to Muellers legal team, praised Sally Yates, an Obama-administration holdover at the Trump Justice Department, for refusing to carry out President Trumps immigration order. Its now been learned that Weissmann attended Hillary Clintons election night party in New York a clear sign of his political leanings. Theres more. Another Mueller deputy is Jeannie Rhee, the former personal attorney of Ben Rhodes, the Obama deputy national security adviser. She also provided legal counsel to the Clinton Foundation and was also a generous donor to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. In yet another disturbing case, another person on Muellers legal team, Aaron Zebley, turns out to have been until 2015 the lawyer for Justin Cooper. Who is Cooper? Oh, just the IT staffer who set up Hillary Clintons unauthorized server at her home. After Hillary Clintons email scandal broke out, Zebley was identified as the person who smashed Clintons BlackBerries with a hammer in fear they would be subpoenaed. Zebley, who was Muellers chief of staff when both served in the FBI, is now on Muellers team probing the Trump administration and campaign. But the most disturbing case yet is that of Bruce Ohr, who was until recently the fourth-ranking Justice Department official. Ohr has been demoted, now thats its been learned he had unauthorized contacts with Fusion GPS, the dirt-digging outfit responsible for the Clinton-funded, anti-Trump dossier. The dossier could have been one source of the decision to launch the original FBI investigation of possible Trump collusion with Russia. And it might be part of the evidence a federal court considered in granting power to wiretap Trump associates during the 2016 campaign. Ohr was not a disinterested party in his unauthorized contacts with Fusion GPS. His wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 campaign, when portions of the firms discredited anti-Trump dossier was leaked just before Election Day. President Trump shouldnt fire Robert Mueller, nor should he refuse to cooperate with the Mueller probe. There are legitimate questions about Trump and Russian interference with the 2016 election that deserve answers. However, the Trump administration must send a signal that the leaks and other irregularities in the Mueller investigation be publicized and discouraged. For starters, Bruce Ohr should be fired for his misbehavior, not merely demoted. The leak investigations being conducted by the Justice Department should be accelerated and if the leakers are identified they should be prosecuted. In addition, President Trump should initiate the release of the FBI material that was put before a federal court to justify its surveillance of political players in 2016 even if the release of that material includes embarrassing material on the president. The rule of law was badly bent during the Obama administration and it is still under siege during the Trump administration. The media, which have obsessed over the Russia probe while ignoring the conflicts of interest of some members of the Mueller team, should prove they can walk and cover both scandals at the same time. The way to dispel public concern about whether our laws are being faithfully executed is for a robust debate and full transparency on ALL aspects of the Russian investigation. After a grueling and contentious special election campaign for Senate that gained unprecedented national attention, Democrat Doug Jones has emerged as the winner in Alabama by less than two points. In a state where President Trump won by about 28 points last year, Jones captured 49.9 percent of the vote, while Republican Roy Moore received 48.4 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. Another 1.7 percent of votes were cast for write-in candidates. The lions share of Jones momentum came from the accusations in recent months that Moore sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and made sexual advances to three others, including one who accused him of sexual assault. The alleged incidents took place when Moore, now 70, was in his 30s. Given this, the election must be seen much more as a rejection of Roy Moore personally than President Trump. We should anticipate that in the coming days and weeks, the Democrats will try to nationalize the result and use it to put both the Republican majorities in the House and potentially Senate in play. Moores loss puts into question a fundamental component of President Trumps platform and base. Surely, Jones emboldens Democrats to compete in states like Nevada, where Republicans are potentially now vulnerable. To succeed, the Democrats will need more than a message of resistance or opposition. They will need a centrist, pro-growth agenda of their own. While Jones victory is significant for the Democratic Party because it narrows the Republicans leadership margin in the Senate entering 2018, the more pernicious consequences from the election are those facing the Republican Party. In the final months of the campaign, Moore received his strongest support from the alt-right populist wing of the Republican Party led by Bannon, while much of the Republican establishment stood on the sidelines This alt-right wing was of course fundamental to shaping President Trumps rhetoric throughout 2016 and helped deliver him the presidency. It remains strong in deep red Southern states like Alabama, where the voters are increasingly anti-establishment. In particular, regardless of Moores failure to win, early indications from exit polling indicate deeply negative favorability and approval ratings for both major parties. As the Republicans prepare for 2018, Moores loss worsens fractures within the party, creating an even more contentious relationship between those in the Republican establishment many of whom called on Moore to step out of the race in light of the sexual misconduct allegations and the far-right faction of the Republican Party led by President Trump and Bannon. To be sure, this was a bad night for President Trump, Steve Bannon, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Ultimately, Moores loss puts into question a fundamental component of President Trumps platform and base. The alt-right movements continued presence despite the Moore defeat will continue to divide the party in 2018 and hurt Republican candidates chances in even less reliably conservative states than Alabama. In terms of Democratic strategy entering 2018, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state, the new chairman of the Democratic Governors' Association, argues that President Trump will be so toxic come midterm elections that Democrats will not even need to mention him by name in order to benefit from the backlash he is creating. In Inslees words, Democrats are going to lead with an economic message in 2018 and will not be distracted by his divisiveness. Under this strategy, Democrats will succeed by not making the 2018 midterms elections ideological, but a distinct rejection of chaos. It is my view that both major parties deep unpopularity provides an opportunity for Democrats to build on Doug Jones victory and succeed in 2018 if they implement an alternative governing strategy that is fundamentally different from what the most progressive voices in Washington are advocating. Democrat Doug Jones has pulled off a major upset in Alabama by defeating Republican Roy Moore in Tuesdays special election, becoming the first Democrat to win election to the Senate from the deeply conservative state in 25 years. "We have come so far and the people of Alabama have spoken," Jones said during a victory speech in Birmingham late Tuesday. But in a late-night speech to supporters, Moore refused to concede. Moore told the crowd that when the vote is this closeits not over. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Jones had 49.9 percent to Moore's 48.4 percent. Moore said the campaign was looking into the state's "recount provision." Under Alabama law, a mandatory recount takes place if a candidate wins by a half percentage point or less. We also know that God is always in control, he said. Bill Armistead, his campaign chairman, floated a possible recount late Tuesday. Other Republicans, though, already accepted the outcome. In a tweet, President Trump congratulated Jones on his hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win, Trump said. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! A Democrat winning the special election for the seat to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions was seen as just a remote possibility several months ago. But Jones, a Birmingham attorney famous for prosecuting the KKK, caught a break after Moore was overwhelmed in recent weeks with multiple allegations of past sexual misconduct. Moore denied the accusations throughout the race. Moore, the former chief justice of Alabamas Supreme Court, has faced multiple allegations he pursued romantic relationships with teenage girls while he was in his thirties -- accusations that have dramatically shaken up the race. He has denied the claims. The Fox News Voter Analysis, a new polling technique Fox News is testing to improve coverage, indicated 51 percent of voters on Tuesday believed the accusations against Moore. The analysis also showed that 59 percent of voters thought Jones has strong moral character, while 57 percent said Moore doesnt. The dramatic Democratic win cuts the GOPs Senate majority from 52 to 51, further dimming Republican hopes of enacting major legislation backed by President Trump. Jones likely won't be seated in Congress until January. Because he is filling the rest of Sessions' term, Jones will not serve a full six year Senate term. The seat will be up for re-election again in 2020. Earlier in the day, Trump, who endorsed Moore even as other top Republicans in Washington called on the nominee to drop out of the race, on Tuesday reiterated his support by arguing Moore would vote for his agenda in Congress. The people of Alabama will do the right thing... Roy Moore will always vote with us, the president tweeted. Trump painted Jones as a liberal puppet of Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL, Trump tweeted. Trump won 62 percent of Alabamas vote in the 2016 presidential race. Most of the attention in the race, though, centered on Moore. A favorite of religious conservative voters, he has a colorful political history that has both fueled and complicated his rise in Alabama. He first got national attention in the 1990s as a county judge when he hung a wooden Ten Commandments plaque on the wall of his courtroom. Benefiting from his popularity after the episode, Moore then ran and won a race for chief justice of the states Supreme Court in 2000. But he was ousted after refusing to remove a 5,280-pound granite Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. He resurrected his political career in 2012, getting elected chief justice again. But his tenure was short-lived once more: In 2016, Moore was suspended as chief justice after he directed probate judges not to issue marriage certificates to gay couples. After Sessions resignation, Luther Strange, the states former attorney general, was temporarily appointed to the seat in April before a special election could take place. Strange was appointed by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, who later resigned in the cloud of a scandal. Despite being endorsed by Trump and enjoying the support of a well-funded super PAC connected to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Strange went on to lose a runoff to Moore in September. Last month, though, Moore was hit with multiple allegations that he initiated sexual encounters with teenagers when he was a young attorney in the 1970s. McConnell called on Moore to drop out of the race and explored options for either removing Moore from the ballot or backing a write-in alternative. He also suggested Moore would face a Senate Ethics Committee investigation had he won. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, had said the Senate could take the extraordinary step of voting to remove Moore if he had won. Alabamas senior Republican senator, Richard Shelby, said he didnt vote for Moore and instead wrote in the name of another Republican. Moore, though, never backed down amid the accusations, holding multiple rallies with Trumps former adviser, Steve Bannon, in recent weeks. Im not talking about the accusers today, Moore said after arriving at his polling location in Gallant, Alabama, on Tuesday. Im talking about this race... the people will answer the allegations this evening with the vote. Fox News Peter Doocy, Willie Inman, Dan Gallo and Fox Business Hillary Vaughn contributed to this report Text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in 2016 that were obtained by Fox News on Tuesday refer to then-candidate Donald Trump as a "loathsome human" and "an idiot." More than 10,000 texts between Strzok and Page were being reviewed by the Justice Department after Strzok was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe after it was revealed that some of them contained anti-Trump content. The messages were sent during the 2016 campaign and contain discussions about various candidates. On March 2, Strzok texted Page that someone "asked me who Id vote for, guessed [Ohio Gov. John] Kasich." "Seriously?! Would you not [vote] D[emocrat]?" Page responded. "I dont know," Strzok answered. "I suppose Hillary [Clinton]." "I would [vote] D," Page affirmed. Two days later, Page texted Strzok, "God, Trump is a loathsome human." "Yet he many[sic] win," Strzok responded. "Good for Hillary." Later the same day, Strzok texted Page, "Omg [Trump's] an idiot." "He's awful," Page answered. "America will get what the voting public deserves," said Strzok, to which Page responded. "Thats what Im afraid of." Later that same day, Strzok texted Page, "Ok I may vote for Trump." "What?" answered Page. "Poor Kasich. Hes the only sensible man up there." "He was pretty much calling for death for [NSA leaker] Edward Snowden," Strzok said. "Im a single-issue voter. ;) Espionage Machine Party." Strzok later told Page, "Exacty [sic] re Kasich. And he has ZERO appeal." Twelve days later, after Trump took a commanding lead in the Republican delegate race with victories in key "Super Tuesday" primaries, Page texted Strzok, "I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president." Four months later, Strzok and Page exchanged messages mocking Trump and his family at the Republican National Convention. "Oooh, TURN IT ON, TURN IT ON!!! THE DO*CHEBAGS ARE ABOUT TO COME OUT," Strzok texted Page on July 19. "You can tell by the excitable clapping." Later, Strzok reached out to Page again, saying, "Omg. You listening to npr? Apparently Melanias speech had passages lifted from Michelle ObamasUnbelievable." "NO WAY!" Page answered, adding "God, it's just a two-bit organization. I do so hope his disorganization comes to bite him hard in November." On Aug. 6, Page texted Strzok a New York Times article about Muslim lawyer Khzir Khan, who became embroiled in a war of words with Trump after Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention. "Jesus. You should read this. And Trump should go f himself," Page wrote in a message attached to the article. "God thats a great article," Strzok answered. "Thanks for sharing. And F TRUMP." Strzok, who was an FBI counterintelligence agent, was reassigned to the FBIs human resources division after the discovery of the exchanges with Page, with whom he was having an affair. Page was briefly on Muellers team, but has since returned to the FBI. House Intelligence Committee investigators have long regarded Strzok as a key figure in the chain of events that began when the bureau, in 2016, received the infamous anti-Trump "dossier" and launched a counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the election that ultimately came to encompass FISA surveillance of a Trump campaign associate. Strzok briefed the committee on Dec. 5, 2016, sources said. But within months of that session House Intelligence Committee investigators were contacted by an informant suggesting that there was documentary evidence that Strzok was purportedly obstructing the House probe into the dossier. Strzok also oversaw the bureaus interviews with ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators in the Russia probe. He also was present during the FBIs July 2016 interview with Hillary Clinton at the close of the email investigation, shortly before then-FBI director James Comey called her actions "extremely careless" without recommending criminal charges. Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this report. Amid speculation over why Sen. Al Franken has not yet set his resignation date, Minnesotas governor is planning to announce Wednesday his pick to replace the Democratic senator and the governor is expected to choose Lt. Gov. Tina Smith. Smith not only would be an immediate placeholder for Franken, but also would run in the November 2018 special election to serve out Frankens term. Minnesota will conduct another election for the same seat in November 2020 for a full, six-year term. Gov. Mark Dayton will make the announcement of the appointment at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the State Capitol. Smith is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has lived in Minnesota since the mid-1980s. She managed the abbreviated Senate campaign of former Vice President Walter Mondale in 2002 after the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-MN, just days before the mid-term election. The announcement could well put to rest the simmering speculation that Franken might be keeping the door open to remain in the Senate, if Roy Moore is elected in Tuesdays Alabama Senate race. The latest such call came from Zephyr Teachout, an associate law professor at Fordham University who has run unsuccessfully as a Democrat for Congress and New York governor. Writing in The New York Times on Tuesday, she said due process was missing from the hasty call for Frankens resignation over allegations of groping and other sexual misconduct. She said a Senate ethics panel probe into the Minnesota Democrats conduct should be allowed to run its course. Then well know whether his planned resignation was warranted, she wrote, adding: New facts may put Senator Franken in a better light, or a far worse one, and we should be open to both. In the Alabama race, Republican Roy Moore has faced numerous allegations that he pursued teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Moore denies them. But if he wins, some have said it gives Franken an opening to stay. I think at that point, Franken will renege on his promise, using Moores election as his excuse Franken can then play the role of hero, conservative talk radio host Lars Larson wrote last week. Thats the only sensible explanation I can find for Franken to delay his departure from the Senate. In his floor speech last week, Franken said only that he would resign in the coming weeks. He also used the address to call out Republicans accused of sexual misconduct and did not admit wrongdoing. There could be other explanations for Franken delaying his exit for instance, giving his staff more time to find a new job, as noted by the Cook Political Report. Frankens office has not responded to questions from Fox News about why the senator opted to resign in the coming weeks. Fox News Judson Berger and Chad Pergram contributed to this report. Democrat Doug Jones' apparent victory over Roy Moore in Alabama's special election Tuesday will soon narrow the GOP's lead in the Senate to a slim 51-49 majority. It also poses a range of potential complications for President Trump's agenda. Trump warned as much in tweets earlier this month. "Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama," Trump tweeted. "We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!" Tax reform Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that Republicans will be able to get a tax reform bill on Trump's desk by Christmas. If that happens, Jones' victory probably will not affect the GOP's plan for a comprehensive tax overhaul. That's because, pursuant to standing Senate parliamentary rules, Jones cannot be seated in the Senate until Alabama's secretary of state certifies the election results. The process requires all of the state's 67 counties to report their confirmed vote counts. State officials have said the process is expected to be completed at the earliest by Dec. 26, four days after the Senate's current session is slated to end. Until Jones is actually sworn in and takes office -- which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said likely will occur in January -- Republican Luther Strange will remain in the seat, and the GOP will retain its 52-48 lead in the Senate. Because of Vice President Mike Pence's tie-breaking vote, Republicans can afford to lose two votes with that lead and still pass their tax reform plan under the Senate's budget reconciliation rules. (When Jones takes office, that margin will shrink to just one vote.) Republican Sen. Bob Corker has already announced that he opposes the GOP tax plan, and was the only Republican senator to vote against the bill when it came to a vote in early December. Republican Sen. Susan Collins has withheld support for the final conference committee version of the reform proposal unless it satisfies certain conditions. But even without her support or Corker's, the tax bill would still pass as long as it did not lose any additional GOP support. However, the House and Senate have not yet agreed on a finalized tax bill, leaving some uncertainty as to the final vote as Christmas nears. If Jones takes office before Republicans can put a final tax bill on Trump's desk, and if Collins or another Republican senator ultimately joins Corker in voting against the reform, the tax bill would fail. There is also still the possibility that Jones will take office before the new year, because the federal government is only funded through Dec. 22. If Republicans are unable to reach a new short-term funding measure, Congress might need to convene over the holidays. If that happened, Jones could be sworn in when Congress reconvenes, assuming Alabama officials have certified the results of the election by that point. In all likelihood, though, the effect of Jones' victory will likely be felt more strongly in other areas of Trump's agenda. Judicial nominations White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in November that the impact of Trumps nominations to the federal judiciary would be felt for decades and decades. But Jones' arrival in the Senate, which has the constitutional power to accept or reject the president's judicial nominees, might help Democrats blunt the president's judicial legacy. On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Leonard Steven Grasz of Nebraska to serve on the powerful 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a narrow 50-48 vote. Democrats had roundly criticized Grasz as unqualified, and with Jones in office, they might have been able to prevent him from taking the seat. (Luther Strange voted in favor of Grasz.) Still, even with Jones in the Senate, Trump and Senate Republicans have the votes, and the vacancies, to shape the federal bench for generations. As of Dec. 12, there are 17 more vacancies on federal courts of appeal and 120 on federal district courts, with seven nominees pending at the appellate level and 34 at the trial court level, according to a tally on the U.S. Courts government website. The high number of remaining vacancies affords the GOP a chance to nominate judges who could meaningfully change federal law on issues as diverse as taxes, gun rights, religious freedom, abortion, and campaign finance. Republicans, helped by an Obama-era decision by Democratic senators to permit the confirmation of judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level with a simple majority vote, have confirmed Trump's nominees to powerful federal circuit and district courts at an unusually rapid pace. "Thanks to @SenateMajLdr McConnell and the @SenateGOP we are appointing high-quality Federal District and Appeals Court Judges at a record clip! Our courts are rapidly changing for the better!" Trump tweeted in November. Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who focuses on judicial nominations, told Business Insider that the speed of the confirmations under Trump has been "very rare." Most of these nominees have been confirmed by healthy margins. For example, U.S. Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by a 54-45 vote in April, and the Senate voted 53-43 to confirm Stephanos Bibas to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in November. Amy Coney Barrett also won Senate approval in October to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 55-43 vote. But Jones' arrival to the Senate may impact the upcoming votes on some of Trump's embattled judicial nominees. On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Trump to reconsider the nominations of Jeff Mateer and Brett Talley to the federal bench, according to several reports. The full Senate has not yet voted on either nominee. Mateer reportedly referred to transgender children as evidence of "Satan's plan," and Talley has been an outspoken supporter of gun rights. The American Bar Association has said that Talley is unqualified for a judgeship. Immigration and border security The short-term temporary funding measure keeping the federal government open until Dec. 22 does not resolve numerous points of budgetary contention, including debates over immigration reform. Armed with a new senator, Democrats now have even more incentive to insist on a legislative solution to provide legal status to Dreamers, or illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, as a condition for averting a shutdown. Republican leaders have said that immigration should be a separate process and not used to hold hostage funding for our men and women in uniform, the Washington Post reported, while Democrats have sought to use their leverage to push various domestic agendas, including immigration reform. Trump's planned border wall also faces a setback with Moore's loss. While the House approved $1.57 billion in border infrastructure funding this summer, the cash -- part of a $790 billion spending package -- always faced long odds of winning approval in the Senate. With Jones' victory and a potential government shutdown looming, those odds get even longer. Democrats are set to gain even more leverage to insist that no money goes towards a border wall when Jones takes office. In general, thats a nonstarter, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told the New York Times in July, referring to the U.S. government paying for a border wall. Trump has indicated, however, that he believes Democrats can be cowed into approving the funds. Build that wall, Trump said at an August rally. Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall. Democrats signaled that Trump and congressional Republicans would face significant consequences in the upcoming midterms if they pursued a shutdown. With the White House, House and Senate under one-party control, the American people expect and deserve a plan from Republicans to avert a catastrophic default and ensure the full faith and credit of the United States, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in an August statement. With so much at risk for hard-working families, Republicans need to stop the chaos and sort themselves out in a hurry. Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report. The ugly allegations, the searing national spotlight and a divided GOP all took their toll on Roy Moore last night as he lost in Alabama, an outcome that once bordered on unthinkable. Moore, who fairly or unfairly came to personify a suspected predator in a #MeToo climate, seemed poised to overcome a negative wave with last-minute presidential backing. Few pundits were willing to place their chips on Democrat Doug Jones, given the emotional connection between Moore and his conservative base. The degree to which the Alabama contest became a referendum on sexual misconduct, religious values, the media, the Republican Party, Donald Trump and the state itself was truly remarkable. Even Moores controversial pasttwice getting kicked off the state Supreme Court for not following the law, saying homosexuality should be illegalwas largely overshadowed. As Jones surged to 500 votes behind after 10 p.m. EST, and then suddenly a 11,000-vote lead, the cable pundits, with their color-coded maps, were suddenly grappling with a cliffhanger. By 10:30, Fox and CNN had called the race a narrow win for Jones. I dont believe there has been a state election that touched such a deep national chord since David Duke lost his bid for Louisiana governor in 1991. But while the Jones squeaker will give a huge psychological boost to the Democrats, its hard to imagine that most Republican candidates without Moores considerable baggage would fare so poorly in Trump strongholds. The reddest of red states, which the president carried by 28 points, was being asked to vote for a deep-blue Democrat. Even veteran Republican senator Richard Shelby urged his state not to vote for Moore. The former judge responded to the harassment allegations by nine womenmost of whom said he pursued or accosted them as teenagersby flatly denying their accounts and largely staying off the campaign trail. He attacked the Washington Post, which published on-the-record interviews with the first four accusers, for its terrible and disgusting article. Moore campaign spokeswoman Janet Porter denounced the lynch-mob media. According to early exit polls, almost six in 10 Moore voters say Trumps support was a factor in their decision. And there was an uber-partisan split about the harassment allegations, with 89 percent of Jones voters calling them true and 86 percent of Moore voters branding them false (with 8 percent believing the accounts but supporting Moore anyway). At first it seemed that the GOP would turn its collective back on Moore after he emerged victorious, with Steve Bannons help, in the primary. Trump said in a statement that if the allegations were true, Moore should step aside, and the RNC pulled its funding. Mitch McConnell spoke of leading an effort to expel Moore if he won. But the president gradually came around to endorsing Moore, the RNC got back on board and Senate Republicans softened their expulsion talk. Moore looked like he was on track to win, and much of his party made the cold political calculation to get on the train. Trumps endorsement unleashed a wave of bad press for him as journalists demanded to know how he could dismiss the allegations by the nine women. And this in turn allowed the press to revive the allegations of the women who accused candidate Trump of harassment, which he has denied. Several of them appeared on Megyn Kellys NBC show. And so the Moore race became a referendum on everyone involved, including evangelical voters in Alabama who stuck by him. Virtually the entire mainstream media, including the Wall Street Journals conservative editorial page, was highly critical of Moore. The chatter on the tube before the returns were in was that the Democrats would win either way, defeating Moore or having a Republican poster child to run against through 2018. But now theyll have to settle for an extra Senate seat. A lawyer for Donald Trump Jr. asked the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday to open an investigation into leaks of Trump Jr.'s testimony last week. Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, appeared before the committee in a closed session Dec. 6 as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. In a letter to Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who has been leading the panel's Russia probe, attorney Alan Futerfas accused "members of the Committee and/or their staff" of "selectively leaking information provided during the interview to various press outlets, most notably CNN" while Trump Jr. was still speaking to the committee. Furterfast cited two tweets from CNN reporter Manu Raju, as well as a CNN online story published shortly after the interview, as part of his evidence for the leaks. TRUMP JR. WON'T DISCUSS TALKS WITH DAD ABOUT RUSSIA MEETING, LAWMAKER SAYS Futerfas further alleged that Democrats on the committee, most notably ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., continued to disclose "confidential, non-public information" to the media after Trump Jr.'s appearance. "In an attempt to discredit my client, they did not accurately portray the breadth, scope and substance of the Interview," Futerfas wrote, adding that a Republican staff member emailed him the day after the testimony to release him from any confidentiality obligation "since others clearly violated that condition before the interview even concluded." Futerfas also accused committee members or staffers of being the source of a CNN report published Friday that initially claimed the Trump campaign had been tipped off early about WikiLeaks documents damaging to Hillary Clinton. The report was later corrected after it was revealed that the alert was already about publicly available information. The initial CNN report said that an email was sent to Trump and campaign officials on Sept. 4, 2016, with a link to documents from the Democratic National Committee hacked by WikiLeaks. The report, which quoted several sources familiar with the exchange, said Trump Jr. was asked about the WikiLeaks email during his testimony. CNN BOTCHES DATES, INACCURATELY REPORTS TRUMP CAMPAIGN HAD WIKILEAKS SNEAK PEEK Five hours later, the Washington Post reported that the message had actually been sent on Sept. 14 and it wasn't a tip to secret documents, since WikiLeaks had released them a day earlier. "The individuals responsible for disseminating that inaccurate information to the press stood by and did nothing," Futerfas wrote, "all the while knowing that the story they had leaked was inaccurate and the implications thereby suggested were grossly misleading." Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Roy Moores Senate campaign is still actively pushing against The Washington Post, the newspaper which broke the story about the candidates alleged relationships with teenage women. Reporters from the newspaper were denied entry to Moores election night watch party in Montgomery, Ala., the news outlet confirmed to Fox News. Both reporters tried to cover the event anyway, tweeting photos through windows and behind closed doors. We were denied credentials and when our reporters asked to enter they were told no, a statement from the Posts public relations team read. Political reporter Jenna Johnson and Snapchat reporter Kayla Epstein were denied entry to the event, a Washington Post source told Fox News. Separately, Post reporters also were asked to leave a rally the campaign held in Midland City on Monday night, according to Moore campaign spokesperson Hannah Ford. The newspaper last month published a story in which several women detailed their alleged relationships with Moore when he was in his early 30s and they were in their teens. Moore called the piece which he believes is part of a political agenda a terrible, disgusting article and questioned why these women had not come forward for 40 years but they came forward 30 days before the election. The report triggered other women to allege similar accusations of misconduct against the Senate candidate, all of which Moore has denied. Moore is running against Democrat Doug Jones in the race. President Donald Trump, after initial hesitance, has been pushing for voters to elect Moore in the days leading up to the special election. Fox News' Jenny Buchholz and David Lewkowict contributed to this report. "There's a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better, former senior White House adviser Steve Bannon said on the eve of Alabama's U.S. Senate election, as he went all-in for embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore. The next day, voting results showed Democrat Doug Jones to be the victor in the deep-red state, making him the first non-Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat there in more than two decades -- although Moore has not conceded. If Jones' victory stands, it would tarnish the supposed kingmaker status Bannon enjoyed since Moore triumphed in the Republican primary over an establishment-backed candidate. Lesson for the GOP: if there is a bridge too far in Alabama, there is a bridge too far in every other state where Steve Bannon wants to run a fringy candidate, National Review magazine editor Rich Lowry wrote on Twitter. At least for now, the upset loss casts doubts over Bannons alleged influence and plan to recruit his own candidates in upcoming elections to help enact President Donald Trumps agenda, as the Alabama loss weakens a sensitive Republican majority in the Senate, despite Trump winning the state by 30 points in the 2016 presidential election. Bannon said in October that he would recruit people to challenge every Republican incumbent except U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas -- who are not faithful to the Trump cause. Steve Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., slammed the former White House official right after Fox News called the election for Jones, calling it his fiasco. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the president of the United States into his fiasco," Law said in the statement. This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running." Many in Washington have warned from the onset about Bannons plan to remake the GOP, saying his planned civil war would at best not increase the Republican majorities in Congress and at worst might even hand the majorities to the Democrats. Tuesdays election results were likely to only embolden Bannon's chief critics. But Bannon and his influence among committed Republican voters are unlikely to go away, with his supporters insisting that although Moore was a flawed candidate, there is a grassroots insurgency among Republican voters to reject moderate Republicans who, in their view, do not have the American peoples interests at heart. Some will also blame Moores loss on moderate Republicans who dropped their support for Moore following the allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, the youngest being a 14-year-old. House and Senate Republican leaders forged ahead Wednesday on a tax reform deal including tax cuts for American families and corporations, though not without high-profile opposition from Democrats who used a public session to repeatedly decry the plan as a farce and a scam while trying to delay a final vote. Congressional Democrats threw up rhetorical roadblocks during a meeting of the House-Senate Conference Committee, which is tasked with completing a final version of tax legislation. Nobody should mistake this conference for a serious debate -- not when Republicans and special-interest lobbyists have already wrapped up the real talks in secret, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said. Whats happening today is a sham. He was preceded by Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who like other Democrats on Wednesday demanded leaders of the GOP-controlled Congress delay a final Senate vote on the projected $1.5 trillion tax plan until Alabama Democrat Doug Jones joins the chamber in January, after his upset election win cut Republicans majority to one seat. This is a farce, barked Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. South Dakota GOP John Thune disputed claims that Republicans worked in secret, saying theyve held more than 70 hearings on the matter in recent years. A lot of these are Democrats ideas and Republicans ideas, Thune, a member of GOP Senate leadership, said at the hearing. So anyone who suggests this hasn't been regular order process is just missing the facts. Still, House and Senate Republicans brimmed with bridled optimism about passing the most comprehensive tax reform plan in roughly three decades that would also give them and President Trump a major legislative win ahead of next years congressional elections. We will pass this legislation, Texas GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said. Well continue to consider the best ideas of the House and Senate. We rejected simply tweaking a few provisions of Americas monstrous tax code. Instead we put it all on the table. The conference committee is working to reconcile differences in House- and Senate-passed bills, with the aim of getting a final version to the floors of each chamber by next week. Thomas Barthold, the Joint Committee on Taxations chief of staff, described the proposed changes as substantial. He noted at the meeting that both chambers double the so-called standard deduction on annual tax filings, and that the House bill has four tax brackets while the Senate has seven. Legislative aides told Fox News that House and Senate negotiators, or conferees, are still working on a final product and that the chamber will hold final votes by early next week. Still, several key elements of the bill on which they have agreed in principle emerged Wednesday. House and Senate negotiators agreed to expand a deduction for state and local taxes to allow individuals to deduct income taxes as well as property taxes. The deduction is valuable to residents in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California. Negotiators also agreed to set the corporate income tax rate at 21 percent, said two congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private negotiations. Both the House bill and the Senate bill would have lowered the corporate rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. Business and conservative groups lobbied hard for the 20 percent corporate rate. Negotiators agreed to bump it up to 21 percent to help offset revenue losses from other tax breaks, the aides said. Other aspects of the bill include cutting the top tax rate for individuals from 39.6 percent to 37 percent in a windfall for the richest Americans. The reduction is certain to provide ammunition for Democrats who complain that the tax package is a massive giveaway to corporations and the rich. The top tax rate currently applies to income above $470,000 for married couples, though lawmakers are completely reworking the tax brackets. They also agreed to let homeowners deduct interest on the first $750,000 of a new mortgage, down from the current limit of $1 million. Both the House and Senate bills would scale back the deduction for state and local taxes, limiting it to $10,000 in property taxes. California Republicans pushed to amend the bill to enable individuals to deduct state and local income taxes as well as property taxes. President Trump spoke before TV cameras twice Wednesday, prodding Congress to act in a matter of days. We are very close to a legislative victory, he said at the White House, after meeting with the Republican conferees. We are very, very close. For me this is very simple: This is about middle-class tax cuts and jobs. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A co-founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS acknowledged in a new court document that his company hired the wife of a senior Justice Department official to help investigate then-candidate Donald Trump last year. The confirmation from Glenn Simpson came in a signed declaration filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and provided a fuller picture of the nature of Nellie Ohrs work after Fox News first reported on her connection to Fusion GPS. Her husband, Bruce Ohr, was demoted at the DOJ last week for concealing his meetings with the same company, which commissioned the anti-Trump dossier containing salacious allegations about the now-president. Together, the Fusion connections for Mr. and Mrs. Ohr have raised Republican concerns about objectivity at the Justice Department, and even spurred a call from Trumps outside counsel for a separate special prosecutor. Simpsons statement shows Mrs. Ohr was indeed involved in the Trump research. He said bank records reflect Fusion GPS contracted with her to help our company with its research and analysis of Mr. Trump. WIFE OF DEMOTED DOJ OFFICIAL WORKED FOR TRUMP DOSSIER FIRM Further, Simpson said he disclosed to the House intelligence committee that he met personally with Bruce Ohr, at his request, after the November 2016 election to discuss our findings regarding Russia and the election. Fox News first reported last week that Bruce Ohr had been demoted at the DOJ amid an ongoing investigation into his contacts with Fusion GPS. Evidence collected by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., indicates that Ohr met during the 2016 campaign with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the dossier. Additionally, as acknowledged in the court filing, he met with Simpson after the election. Fusion GPS has attracted scrutiny because Republican lawmakers have spent the better part of this year investigating whether the dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, served as the basis for the Justice Department and the FBI to obtain FISA surveillance last year on a Trump campaign adviser named Carter Page. On Tuesday, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow called for the appointment of a separate special prosecutor to look into potential conflicts of interest involving Justice Department and FBI officials. A group of House Republicans for months has called for the appointment of a second special counsel to probe certain Obama and Clinton-related controversies, something Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing. When asked Tuesday about the Sekulow call, Sessions noted hes already ordered that review following the prior call from members of Congress. Ive put a senior attorney, with the resources he may need, to review cases in our office and make a recommendation to me ... if things arent being pursued that need to be pursued, if cases may need more resources to complete in a proper manner, and to recommend to me if the standards for a special counsel are met, he said, calling that the appropriate course. Fox News James Rosen and John Roberts contributed to this report. Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared Wednesday on ABC's "The View," where he offered words of encouragement to panelist Meghan McCain after she began crying while discussing her father's battle with brain cancer. Meghan McCain told Biden she hadn't been able to get through his new memoir, "Promise Me, Dad," which centers on the 2015 death of Biden's son, Beau, from an aggressive tumor called glioblastoma. Doctors diagnosed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with the same type of tumor this past summer. "I think about Beau almost every day and I was told that this doesn't get easier but that you cultivate the tools to work with this and live with this," Meghan McCain said, her voice breaking. "I know you and your family have been through tragedy I couldn't conceive of." Biden, who served with John McCain in the Senate, stood up and moved from his seat on the set to sit next to her and hold her hand. He told Meghan McCain not to lose hope and that a medical breakthrough is possible. "And it can happen tomorrow," said Biden, who added, "there is hope, and if anybody can make it, your dad her dad is one of my best friends ... The thing that I found, and Beau insisted on and your dads going to insist on, is youve got to maintain hope. You have to have hope." A statement issued late Wednesday by the senator's office said he's at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland receiving treatment for the "normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy." He looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible, the statement added McCain, 81, underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a two-inch blood clot in his brain after being diagnosed with glioblastoma. He rebounded quickly, however, returning to Washington and entering the Senate on July 25 to a standing ovation from his colleagues. But McCain's condition has appeared to worsen in recent weeks. He suffered a minor tear in his right Achilles tendon, forcing him to wear a walking brace. McCain eventually began using a wheelchair with members of his staff pushing him where he needed to go. As a Navy pilot, McCain lived through a July 1967 fire that killed 134 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. The following October, his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi. He spent more than five years as a prisoner of war. McCain also has survived several bouts with melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer. Biden, 74, considered a run for the Oval Office in 2016, but decided against it, later citing the trauma of his son death keeping him from the race. During his "The View" appearance, Biden recounted his long friendship with John McCain and how McCain had befriended Beau many years earlier when he served as a Navy liaison officer to the Senate. Biden also laughed while remembering their political clashes, with the two Senate heavyweights going toe to toe. "Her dad goes after me hammer and tong," Biden told the audience. But he also said that, even now, if he called John McCain and asked for help, he'd be there for him. Meghan McCain thanked Biden later, tweeting she had no words to convey her "immense gratitude." "Your strength, hope and fortitude are an inspiration to me and so many others daily," she wrote. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A former state senator from Massachusetts was charged last week with collecting about $1 million in bribes and kickbacks that he allegedly laundered through his company. Brian A. Joyce, 55, a Democrat who served from 1998 until January of this year, also accepted hundreds of pounds of free coffee from a Dunkin Donuts store owner in exchange for his influence, the Boston Globe reported. Joyce was escorted from his home in handcuffs Friday, the paper reported. He faces federal charges including corruption, embezzlement, mail fraud and money laundering. Brian Joyce represented over 100,000 Massachusetts citizens in the state Legislature, acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said at a news conference announcing the indictment. He had a duty to serve them honestly. And he violated that duty by accepting bribes and kickbacks in exchange for his official action. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker called the allegations against Joyce disturbing. People in public life need to respect the offices they hold and that means not using them for personal gain, and if the feds believe theres enough there to justify an indictment then the investigation needs to be thorough and move forward accordingly, Baker said. "People in public life need to respect the offices they hold and that means not using them for personal gain." Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker In one case, prosecutors alleged Joyce used his position to exert influence on behalf of a New York-based energy brokerage business and formed a shell company to collect secret kickbacks from the firm. In another scheme, prosecutors say Joyce pressured a local planning board to approve a waiver sought by a developer, who gave Joyce a Jeep from one of the developers car dealerships. The indictment also accuses Joyce of taking legislative action to aid a coffee franchise whose owner was paying him tens of thousands of dollars for purported legal fees and providing him with hundreds of pounds of free coffee. Weinreb would not say whether charges would be brought against any of the companies accused to be involved in the schemes but said the investigation remains ongoing. Joyce pleaded not guilty Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy, and was released on a $250,000 bond. He will return to court Feb. 23, the Globe reported. Joyces arrest was the second blow to the state Senate last week. Senate President Stan Rosenberg, also a Democrat, announced Monday that he was stepping aside during a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into the circumstances surrounding reported sexual misconduct allegations by several men against his husband, Bryon Hefner. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith was appointed Wednesday to temporarily fill the Senate seat of Democratic Sen. Al Franken, who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct and pressure within his party to leave office. It will be my great honor to serve Minnesota as United States senator, Smith said in accepting the appointment. I am resolved to do everything I can to move Minnesota forward. This is a difficult moment for us. But even now, I am filled with optimism for Minnesota. Smith, a Democrat, was appointed by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and will serve until a special election next year to complete Frankens term, ending in 2020. I want to appoint the person whom I believe will best represent the people of Minnesota in the Senate, Dayton said in making the announcement. She has impeccable integrity and the highest personal and professional standards. She will be a senator of whom all Minnesotans will be proud. Dayton was under pressure from Washington Democrats to appoint a replacement who would run in 2018. And Smith said Tuesday that she indeed would run next year to keep the seat. The 59-year-old Smith is a former General Mills executive who in the 1990s started her own marketing and political consulting firm. She eventually managed Walter Mondale's unsuccessful 2002 Senate run and the failed 1998 bid for governor of Mondale's son, Ted. She also served in the early 2000s as a vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Smith later served as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak before taking the same job with Dayton. The special election for Franken's seat is expected to be an expensive race and a hotly contested race for a swing seat. Republicans have already floated the possibility that former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty will run, giving them a widely known candidate who can raise plenty of money. In a sign of Pawlenty's potential political strength, a top Democratic-allied interest group, Alliance for a Better Minnesota, last month paid for a poll attacking him at a time when he was said to be considering a run for governor. Franken has not said exactly when he will leave the Senate; he announced last week he will resign after another allegation and calls from several female Democratic senators for him to step down. Some Democrats questioned why he was forced out without a full investigation. Zephyr Teachout, a Democrat who ran for governor of New York, said in an op-ed in the New York Times that she was left with a sense of that "something went wrong" when Franken announced he was stepping down. "Zero tolerance (of sexual misconduct) should go hand in hand with two other things: due process and proportionality," Teachout wrote. "Both were missing in the hasty call for Senator Franken's resignation." Numerous women accused Franken of groping and kissing them without their consent, before he eventually announced his resignation. Franken, in his resignation speech, said he was "aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving" while President Trump remains in office amid past sexual misconduct allegations being brought up against him. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Although specifics werent provided, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his counterpart to the south in promising to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. The vow to create a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization came during the Koreas historic summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April, and just before a much-anticipated meeting between Kim and U.S. President Trump. I feel like Im firing a flare at the starting line in the moment of (the two Koreas) writing a new history in North-South relations, peace and prosperity, Kim told Moon. Kim is the first known member of his familys dynasty to set foot on South Korean soil since 1953. There, at least in front of cameras, his rhetoric drastically changed since he engaged in a war of words with Trump throughout the first year of the U.S. presidents time in the White House. (Kim called Trump a dotard; Trump called the North Korean leader short and fat.) Since Kim took over North Korea in 2011, the regime rapidly expanded and tested its missile arsenal with weapons capable of striking the U.S. mainland. His end goal, he once said, was to "establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military options for the North. Read on for a brief look at how North Koreas nuclear weapons program has grown throughout the regimes in the past century. Kim Il Sung, leader from 1948-1994 Kim Il Sung can be credited with founding North Korea and propelling the nations nuclear program forward but he did not live to see his country conduct its first nuclear test. It was under the first Kim that North Korea began to build up its nuclear reactors. And it was under his leadership that the nation began the Korean War surely a catalyst that led the leader to believe his nation needed nuclear weapons, Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee, the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, told Fox News in an interview. TRUMPS COMMENTS ON NORTH KOREA, FROM FIRE AND FURY TO BLAMING CHINA The seeds of nuclear aspirations were sown in the Korean War, Lee said. The Korean War pitted North Korea and its ally China two nations that did not have nuclear capabilities at the time against a nuclear-armed U.S., making it clear to the first Kim that nuclear weapons are very powerful, a powerful deterrent, Lee said. Kim Jong Il, leader from 1994-2011 When the second leader of the Kim dynasty died in 2011, Kim Jong Il was remembered as the dictator who turned North Korea into a nuclear state, in his New York Times obituary. And its Kim Jong Il that really gets the credit of taking the country down the nuclear path," Lee said. In the beginning of his reign he was North Koreas supreme leader from 1994 to 2011 North Korea denied that it had a nuclear weapons program. TIMELINE OF NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCHES IN 2017 However, in 2003, Pyongyang announced that North Korea was withdrawing from the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which barred the nation from making nuclear weapons. By 2005, North Korea confirmed that it had its own nuclear weapons. It tested its first nuclear device in 2006. Kim Jong Un, leader from 2011-present Kim Jong Un is credited with accelerating North Koreas push for nuclear weapons, and under the Obama administration, many of the worlds attitudes toward the East Asian nations nuclear capabilities became less blase than in the past, Lee said. Kim Jong Un also crossed a major threshold for his country in the summer of 2017 the ability to credibly threaten the U.S. with an intercontinental ballistic missile. In 2017, North Korea successfully tested its longest-ever flight of a ballistic missile. The intermediate-range weapon traveled 3,700 miles and passed over Japan before it landed in the Pacific. The country also tested its most powerful nuclear test to date this year. After the missile test, Kim Jong Un said North Korea is nearing equilibrium with the U.S. in terms of its military force. The increasingly frequent and aggressive tests added to outside fears that North Korea is closer than ever to building a military arsenal that could viably target the mainland of the U.S. or its allies in Asia. Calling Kim Jong Un Rocket Man, Trump said in 2017 the dictator is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States has great strength and patience, Trump said. But if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. But 2018 brought a dramatic turn of events after he declared in a stark New Years address that a nuclear launch button is always on my table. Kim Jong Un offered to meet with Trump and became the first known member of his familys dynasty to set foot in South Korea since 1953. At the historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, both leaders pushed for peace and would work toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. However, neither leader provided any specific measures or seemed to forge a potential breakthrough on the issue that has captivated and terrified many, especially since last year. Before Trump canceled a much-anticipated meeting with Kim Jong Un, North Korea said it demolished what it claimed to be its nuclear test site, setting off several explosions over the course of a few hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The planned closing of the Punggye-ri site was previously announced, but it's unclear if another facility could be used to continue the country's nuclear weapons program. Yongbyon nuclear complex, located about 64 miles north of Pyongyang, has a new reactor that could produce weapons-grade plutonium. Pyongyang insists is being used to produce electricity for its citizens. Trump ultimately rejected Kim Jong Un's invitation to a June meeting in Singapore, citing North Korea's "open hostility." Fox News Edmund DeMarche, Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stood by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe Wednesday, despite a newly unearthed trove of damning text messages and other details that Republicans said show an insider bias on the investigative team. Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and has overseen the Russia probe since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, testified before the House Judiciary Committee -- and faced a grilling from GOP lawmakers. They zeroed in on anti-Trump text messages exchanged between two FBI agents who once worked on the Mueller team. This is unbelievable, said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, voicing concern that the "public trust" in the probe is gone. Republicans for weeks have raised concerns that some investigators may be biased, citing everything from their political donations to past work representing top Democratic figures and allied groups including the Clinton Foundation. MORE CLINTON TIES ON MUELLER TEAM: ONE DEPUTY ATTENDED CLINTON PARTY, ANOTHER REP'D TOP AIDE But when committee Ranking Member Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., pressed Rosenstein over whether he had seen good cause to remove Mueller from his post, Rosenstein pushed back. No, Rosenstein said. Nadler asked whether Rosenstein would fire Mueller if he were ordered to do so. I would follow regulation. If there were good cause, I would act. If there was no good cause, I would not, Rosenstein replied, doubling down that he has seen no good cause to do so. He suggested the probe -- of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Trump associates -- is being conducted appropriately at this stage. But just hours prior to Rosensteins testimony, the Justice Department released hundreds of texts messages between two FBI officialsPeter Strzok and Lisa Pagewho worked on Muellers team and were romantically involved. Many were anti-Trump and pro-Clinton. In one exchange from August 2016, Page forwarded a Donald Trump-related article to Strzok, writing: And maybe youre meant to stay where you are because youre meant to protect the country from that menace. TEXTS SHOW FBI AGENTS FUMING OVER TRUMP: 'PROTECT THE COUNTRY FROM THAT MENACE' He responded: Thanks. Its absolutely true that were both very fortunate. And of course Ill try and approach it that way. I just know it will be tough at times. I can protect our country at many levels, not sure if that helps. In March 2016, Page texted Strzok, "God, Trump is a loathsome human." "Yet he many[sic] win," Strzok responded. "Good for Hillary." Later the same day, Strzok texted Page, "Omg [Trump's] an idiot." "He's awful," Page answered. The messages were given to the House Judiciary Committee. The officials no longer work on the Mueller probe. Rep. Jordan said of Strzok, "This guy thought he was super agent James Bond at the FBI." We are now beginning to understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Muellers team, Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in his opening statement on Wednesday. He cited the extreme bias shown in the text messages between Strzok and Page; Mueller investigator Andrew Weissmanns awe of former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for defying President Trump; and Mueller investigator Jeannie Rhees representation of the Clinton Foundation. He also cited the case of another DOJ official demoted amid scrutiny of his contacts with the firm behind the anti-Trump dossier. Arent DOJ attorneys advised to avoid even the appearance of impropriety? Goodlatte asked, calling the potential bias of certain career Justice Department officials and lawyers on Muellers team deeply troubling. DOJ investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices. Rosenstein told lawmakers that he has discussed this with Robert Mueller. Its our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions, Rosenstein said. I believe Director Mueller understands that, and recognizes people have political views but that they dont let it [affect their work.] Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, pushed back, calling the appearance sad. Rather than wearing stripes like a referee, the Mueller team overwhelmingly ought to be attired with Democratic donkeys or Hillary t-shirts, not shirts that say Make America Great Again, because I think the American people deserve more than the very biased team they have under Mueller, Chabot said. Its really sad. But Rosenstein defended Muellers investigation, stressing he has oversight authority over Mueller. I know what hes doing, Rosenstein said of Muellers investigative actions. He consults with me about their investigation, within and without the scope. FUSION GPS ADMITS DOJ OFFICIAL'S WIFE NELLIE OHR HIRED TO PROBE TRUMP When pressed over whether Mueller has attempted to expand the original scope of his investigation, Rosenstein said that he had given his permission to Mueller to investigate what he requests if necessary, noting that the special counsel team does have authority to investigate obstruction. If I thought he was doing something inappropriate, I would take action, Rosenstein said. In terms of any potential impropriety in Muellers office, cited by multiple committee Republicans, Rosenstein said he was not aware. I am not aware of any impropriety. Special Counsel is subject to oversight by the Department of Justice and Im not aware of any violations of those rules, Rosenstein said. Appearance is, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder. We apply the departments rules and regulations, and career ethics attorneys provide us counsel on that. Rosenstein underscored that he, Mueller and FBI Director Chris Wray are "accountable" and will ensure "no bias" in the special counsel's findings. One of the first things Katherine Roy did after moving to Corvallis last year was go to the library. My husband said, Lets see if they have your shark book. If they have your shark book we can live here, she said last week. A librarian helped her find the book, sealing the deal. You might recognize Roy if youve seen her at the library or somewhere else in town. Or perhaps youve seen a Windows 10 commercial that debuted this fall and features Roy using Paint 3D in her work. Roy is an author and illustrator. Her first book, "Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of Californias Farallon Islands," was released in 2014 and is featured in the commercial. The picture book is about the sharks that hunt in the islands off the coast of San Francisco. I want to draw kids in and get them excited about a topic but then share authentically and accurately as much as I can the science behind that creature and the natural world, Roy said. The 35-year-old has released two of her own books and has illustrated several more. Roy and her husband, Tim, and their 2-year-old son, Jackson, moved to Corvallis from New York City to be closer to family in California. Roy grew up in the Bay Area. After high school she studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 2004 with a degree in English and illustration. Ive been wanting to do picture books since I was very young, Roy said. She then attended the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, graduating with a masters degree in cartooning. During undergrad, Roy met David Macaulay, author and illustrator of "The Way Things Work." Macaulay later put Roy in contact with an editor, who asked if she wanted to do a book about great white sharks. Thus began months of researching, some of it hands on. In 2012, a group of scientists who tag and study the sharks in the Farallon Islands invited Roy to join them on a skiff during the animals hunting season. I like to say if you are going to write a book about Paris I think you need to go to Paris, and if you want to write a book about great white sharks, I think you need to go see great white sharks, Roy said. She spent several days with the scientists, who used a piece of a dead marine mammal to attract the sharks and a carpet cutout in the shape of a seal to lure them in and put tags on them. On the last day, Roy saw a 14-foot shark come up next to the boat. Youre so full of wonder and awe, she said. Its this incredibly huge creature. Its like a submarine going by. Roy said there are so many misconceptions about sharks, which is unfair. She wanted to engage kids with an intense subject like hunting while sharing true information. She said she acts as a translator between the scientists and kids by sharing their work in a medium children have access to. The scientists were endlessly gracious with answering my questions and trying to help me learn, she said. They feel proud of (the book), too. They feel like it tells their story and is accurate to their work. In 2014, Roy traveled to Kenya to do research for her second book, "How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild." Roy accompanied two separate research teams to the savanna to see elephants in their natural habitat. She learned about the family structure of elephants and how to identify the approximate age of an elephant using the cuts in their ears and the condition of their tusks. I got to have these really close encounter experiences thanks to the scientists, Roy said. The book is about a baby elephant and what it needs to learn to grow up and survive in the wild. On one page, Roy explains why young elephants eat poop, a favorite among children. She said the book illustrates how elephants are social learners like humans. The shark book is about the physical proximity of humans to sharks, and this is supposed to be about the social proximity of humans to elephants, Roy said. Were very much like them but were in direct competition for space. The elephant book was released in September. Many schools have invited Roy to speak with students about her books and the research behind them. She also shows kids how she creates her books. This begins by sketching images, sometimes using photos and videos shes taken during her field research. She then scans the sketches into a computer in different layers to build spreads. After perfecting the images, shell print them out and paint them with watercolors. One tool that has proven effective in both her work and her presentations is Paint 3D, Roy said. Earlier this year, Roy heard about a casting agency that was searching for 2-D artists interested in 3-D art. She interviewed with the agency and was selected to learn how to use the technology and then appear in a commercial showing how she uses it in her work. Any tool that helps me engage kids in a school presentation is a good tool, she said. Roy hopes the commercial will lead to more educator opportunities, whether being considered for book ideas or being invited to schools. She recently finished illustrating a book about the bathysphere and is now working on illustrations for a book about the Mars Curiosity rover. The next book shes planning to write and illustrate will be about reproductive biology in the natural world, Roy said. Before Roy Moores sexual assault allegations came to light, the Republican senate candidate was already a polarizing figure. Moore has argued that Muslims shouldnt be able to serve in Congress; he promoted the conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama wasnt born in the U.S.; and he said in a 2005 interview that homosexual conduct should be illegal. Then, slightly a month before the special election, the Washington Post released a bombshell report of allegations that Moore had inappropriate sexual conduct with teenage girls while he was in his 30s. One woman alleged that Moore had her touch him in private areas when she was just 14. After the initial report, additional women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Moore staunchly denied the accusations, but even still, many leading Republicans called on him to step aside from the campaign. However, others including President Trump and Steve Bannon stood by Moore. The former judge lost the Alabama Senate election earlier this month to Democrat Doug Jones, but he thus far has refused to concede. After a judge rejected a last-minute complaint from Moore that alleged voter fraud had given Jones his victory, the Democrat was officially certified as the winner of the states Senate race on Dec. 28. Read on for a look at the special Senate election held earlier in December to replace Jeff Sessions. Doug Jones, Democrat A former U.S. attorney during the Clinton administration, Jones beat out seven other Democrats to secure the partys nomination. And he eventually became the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in Alabama since 1992. Jones, 63, is perhaps best known for successfully prosecuting two members of the Ku Klux Klan accused of bombing a Birmingham church in 1963 that killed four young girls. I may have the honor of serving Alabama as your senator, but the most important thing I have done is prosecuting those klansmen who killed 4 little girls at 16th St Baptist Church, Jones said in a November tweet. Because of his resume, Steven Taylor, a political science professor at Alabamas Troy University, said Jones is considered to be a quality candidate in the political science world. He's someone who is credible and, therefore, competitive, Taylor told Fox News. HERE ARE ALL OF THE REPUBLICANS WHO HAVE COME OUT AGAINST ROY MOORE Weve not seen a lot of quality Democratic candidates for Senate because Sen. [Richard] Shelby and Sen. Sessions, they were so strongly ensconced in their positions that the Democratic nominee was most often a more fringe candidate and not taken very seriously, Taylor said. Jones doesnt fall in that category he has a background as a prosecutor, he has linkage to Civil Rights prosecution for the bombers in Birmingham. This makes him a more serious and significant candidate. Openly critical of Trump, Jones promised to fight for pro-abortion policies, tackling student loan debt and raising the minimum wage. Even prior to the allegations of Moore groping a teenage girl, Democrats reportedly felt optimistic about Jones chances of winning in a historically red state. And after the allegations, some polls such as a Fox News poll conducted days before the election had Jones in the lead. While Jones initially stayed away from the accusations against Moore, the Democratic candidate came out swinging during a speech the week before the election. I damn sure believe that I have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail and not the United States Senate, Jones said. Jones was endorsed by prominent Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. In addition, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., campaigned for Jones, as did former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Jones also received a surprising financial backing from a Senate Republican Jeff Flake. The Arizona senator tweeted a photo of a check made out to Jones with the subject line saying, Country over Party. And Trump, although he endorsed Moore, tweeted his congratulations to Jones. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win, Trump said. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Prior to the election, Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D, encouraged Jones to stay the course and not get bogged down with the allegations against Moore. Getting involved in the allegations, that doesnt bring jobs to Alabama. That doesnt bring opportunity or economic prosperity to our state. That doesnt help education or health care. It doesnt help our infrastructure, Daniels told Fox News. Why would he focus on that? Daniels also praised Jones for being a fighter for his entire career. He said Jones would bring unity and civility to the Senate and would work with lawmakers across the aisle to better Alabama. Roy Moore, Republican Called the Ayatollah of Alabama by critics who believe he too closely marries his political and judicial responsibilities with his religious beliefs, Judge Roy Moore emerged as the leader of the Republicans vying for the open Senate seat. In a special primary election earlier this year, Moore defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange who was tapped to fill the position when then-Sen. Jeff Sessions became the U.S. attorney general. In the primary, Moore, 70, garnered the support of conservative darlings, such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson. Trump initially backed Strange but would eventually throw his weight behind Moore. Trumps former adviser, Steve Bannon, also campaigned for Moore. Moores political past is mired in controversy, which he used to his advantage during the primary election. He was twice removed from Alabamas Supreme Court. The first time, he was dismissed when he refused to move a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument from the statehouse; he was permanently suspended in 2016 after he instructed probate judges to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court incidents worked in his favor given that Alabamians are generally very conservative and religious, Taylor said. And his refusal to bend to the federal government is in line with a tradition set in the state by the former longtime pro-segregationist Gov. George Wallace, he said. Hes very outspoken in a variety of ways, Taylor said of Moore. Hes a little more reflective of those more populist candidates weve seen of late, including the president. Prior to the election, Taylor thought it possible that voters in the deep red state of Alabama could look the other way. In some ways, that Roy Moore has a very strong religious element to his politics is not substantially out of the mainstream for the state, Taylor said. "He's very outspoken in a variety of ways." Dr. Steven Taylor, Troy University political science professor After Moores primary victory, Trump called him a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. Many Trump supporters turned out to campaign for Moore during the primary, despite the presidents backing of a different candidate. Moores judicial past took a backseat, however, when the Washington Post reported that four women accused Moore of engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Leigh Corfman, now 58, alleged that Moore first approached her in a courtroom in 1979 when she was 14 years old. Eventually, Moore took her to his house, took off her shirt and pants, touched her private parts and guided her hand to his underwear, she said. The two did not have sexual intercourse, and he took her home when she asked, Corfman said. After the Washington Post's initial report, several more women accused Moore of being sexually inappropriate. Moore vehemently denied the accusations, calling them baseless and the very definition of fake news. It seems that in the political arena, to say that something is not true is simply not good enough. So let me be clear. I have never provided alcohol to minors, and I have never engaged in sexual misconduct, Moore said in a statement provided to Fox News. He also told Fox News Sean Hannity that he generally didnt date women who were teenagers when he was in his 30s and would not date someone without her mothers permission. Moore admitted its possible that he did go on dates with one of the accusers in the Washington Post report who said she was 17 when Moore kissed her. That line of defense was not as strident or strong as one might expect, Taylor said. Despite numerous Republican leaders backing away from Moore, Trump tweeted on Dec. 12 Election Day that Moore will always vote for us. The people of Alabama will do the right thing, Trump tweeted while encouraging his followers to vote for Moore. But following Moores loss, the president noted that he originally endorsed Strange because he knew that Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him, Trump said. And on Dec. 23, Trump again said on Twitter that he said [Moore] would lose in Alabama and touted his initial support of Strange. A week before the election, the Republican National Committee began to support Moore again, just three weeks after it pulled its financial support for the beleaguered candidate. But despite his loss, Moore didnt give up. He filed an election complaint on Dec. 27, that said alleged voter fraud was so prevalent, it improperly altered the outcome of this election. The complaint calls for a thorough investigation and is meant to block the certification of Jones until a probe is completed, Moores campaign said. A judge rejected Moores attempt to challenge the election. According to the election results from earlier in December, Moore lost to Jones by a margin of 21,000 votes. If Moore had won, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would immediately have an issue with the Ethics Committee. Fox News Lukas Mikelionis and the Associated Press contributed to this report. If Democrat Doug Jones' victory in Tuesday's U.S. Senate election in Alabama stands, the litany of sexual misconduct allegations against Roy Moore will have proven to be too much for the Republican to overcome. Prior to the allegations, almost any Republican would have been a lock to claim the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. A Democrat's chances of winning would have been slim to none in the dark red state of Alabama. But although Moore did not concede defeat Tuesday, Jones was credited with a shocking victory -- as the wave of allegations against Moore took their toll. "We have come so far and the people of Alabama have spoken," Jones said during a victory speech in Birmingham late Tuesday. Nearly two-thirds of voters (64 percent) said the allegations were important to their vote and those voters went overwhelmingly for Jones, according to a Fox News voter analysis. Despite Moore winning among white women by 22 points (60 percent to 38 percent), his competitor was +12 points among all women. Moore's results were a far cry from 2012, when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won 83 percent of the state's white women vote, the analysis showed. Moore's downfall began with a Washington Post article on Nov. 9 that alleged he pursued a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. In the Posts article, a total of four women accused Moore of sexual misconduct in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and several more women came forward since. Although Moore repeatedly denied the claims, 51 percent of voters believed the accusations were true, according to the analysis. But Moore also didnt help himself when pressed on the issue during an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity. Not generally, no, Moore said when asked if he remembered dating girls that young at the time. If [I] did, you know, I'm not going to dispute anything but I don't remember anything like that. Moore, who refused to step down from the race, lost the support of key Republican allies, including Alabamas long-serving U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby who said he couldnt vote for Moore just several days before the election. U.S. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., posted on Twitter a photo of a $100 check he wrote to the Jones campaign, saying Country over party. President Donald Trump didnt endorse Moore until just last week, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said if Moore were to win the election, he would face the Senate Ethics Committee. But it appears Trumps support made little difference, despite his winning Alabama by 28 points in the 2016 presidential election. According to Fox News voter analysis, two-thirds of voters (66 percent) said Trump had no impact on their vote. The Republican National Committee, which suspended funding for Moores campaign following the allegations, also decided at the last minute to once again support Moore and restore financial support. Another factor in Moore's struggles: While the Republican Party was having an internal battle over morals and whether to support Moore, Democrats were calling upon some of their biggest names -- including U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota and U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan -- to resign following sexual harassment allegations. Conyers announced his resignation from Congress earlier this month, and Franken said he would step down in the coming weeks. The Democrats sought to show voters that they took sexual misconduct allegations more seriously than the GOP did -- and Jones' apparent victory suggests they may have succeeded. Prior to the Washington Post report, Moore was a controversial figure who previously argued Muslims shouldnt be able to serve in Congress and backed the conspiracy theory over former President Barack Obamas birth certificate. In a 2005 interview, Moore said homosexual conduct should be illegal. But despite Republican leaders, including President Donald Trump, acknowledging Jones victory Tuesday night, Moore refused to concede and said he was looking into the states recount provision. Fox News Alex Pappas, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Madeline Farber and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Nearly a month after he announced plans to leave Congress due to sexual misconduct allegations that began in November, Sen. Al Franken officially resigned on Jan. 2. Aides to the senator told Fox News that Franken has provided his letter of resignation to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. Franken will be replaced by Lt. Gov Tina Smith, who is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday morning. Franken, who has been in office since 2009, was plagued by multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and faced a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. The allegations began after Los Angeles radio anchor Leeann Tweeden accused him of forcibly kissing her during a 2006 USO tour. Dozens of his Democratic colleagues called for him to step aside after the allegations came to light. Below is a timeline of key moments in the senators political career. Prior to 2008 Before running for Senate, Franken was a comedy writer, actor, author and radio talk show host for 37 years, according to his Senate website. Frankens comedy career included time as a writer and performer for NBCs Saturday Night Live. 2008 After being tapped by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in June of 2008, Franken was elected to represent Minnesota in the Senate later that year. After a protracted recount, his opponent, Republican Norm Coleman, finally conceded to Franken -- officially ending one of the longest Senate races in U.S. history, Politico reported at the time. AL FRANKEN DRAGS OUT SENATE DEPARTURE, ONLY MENTIONS 'TRANSITION' AFTER REPLACEMENT NAMED 2013 Franken was the primary sponsor behind a bill that allows the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in the State of Minnesota to lease or transfer certain land. The bill was enacted later that year. 2014 Franken was re-elected to his Senate seat in 2014, easily defeating his Republican challenger, Mike McFadden. Later that year, Franken endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president during an interview on MSNBC. 2015 Franken sponsored the Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act of 2015, which was enacted that same year. The law increases public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, veterans treatment services, mental health treatment, and substance abuse system, according to the bill. 2016 Franken visited nine different states in 2016 as part of an effort to help Clinton get elected to the White House. He traveled to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and California, where he campaigned and raised money for the Democratic presidential candidate. Franken first met the Clintons in 1993. Hillary Clinton supported Franken in his 2008 run for Senate. Also in 2016, Franken was the sponsor behind a bill called the Adding Zika Virus to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act. The bill, which was later enacted into law, added the Zika virus to the list of tropical diseases under the priority review voucher program. Jan. 2017 Franken questioned Betsy DeVos, President Trumps pick for secretary of education, on several issues during her confirmation hearing. Franken later said that DeVos failed to adequately answer even the most basic questions about education policy. Oct. 2017 Franken and Attorney General Jeff Sessions got into a heated exchange during Sessions Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Franken pressed Sessions about his meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. AL FRANKEN ACCUSED OF KISSING, GROPING LA TV HOST WITHOUT CONSENT Nov. 16, 2017 Radio personality Leeann Tweeden alleged in a post on the KABC website that Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a USO tour in 2006. Tweeden said that Franken insisted on practicing a kiss for a skit. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth, she said, adding that she pushed him away. Tweeden said that in another incident, she fell asleep during a flight and later looked at a CD of photographs. Her post included an image of Franken with his hands over her chest. I couldnt believe it, she wrote. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep. "I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann," Franken said in an initial statement. "As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasnt. I shouldnt have done it. Franken apologized to Tweeden again in a longer, second statement. In it, he said that the photo was completely inappropriate and called for an ethics investigation. Nov. 23, 2017 Franken apologized again, this time saying that he crossed the line. Im a warm person; I hug people, Franken said in a statement at the time. Ive learned from recent stories that in some of these encounters, I crossed a line for some women -- and I know that any number is too many. I feel terribly that I've made some women feel badly, he added, and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again. The statement came after he had been accused of groping by a total of four women. Ultimately, eight women in all would accuse Franken of sexual misconduct. Nov. 30, 2017 The Senate Ethics Committee said in a statement that it had "opened a preliminary inquiry into Senator Frankens alleged misconduct." Dec. 6, 2017 Multiple Democratic senators call for Franken to step down. Dec. 7, 2017 Franken said he would step down "in the coming weeks." Dec. 13, 2017 Minnesota's Lt. Gov. Tina Smith was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton to replace Franken. Tina Smith will make an excellent United States Senator, the outgoing senator said in a statement. Franken also said that he is looking foward to working with her on ensuring a speedy and seamless transition. Dec. 20, 2017 Fox News confirmed that Franken is going to resign Jan. 2. Jan. 2, 2018 Franken formally hands in his letter of resignation to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tina Smith was officially sworn into the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon by Vice President Mike Pence. The former Minnesota lieutenant governor was selected to take over Al Frankens Senate seat in December after the lawmaker resigned over various allegations of sexual harassment. When he appointed Smith, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, said she is "extremely intelligent, quick to learn and always open to hearing other views." Smith was escorted by former Vice President Walter Mondale, also a former Minnesota senator, on Wednesday. What is Smiths political background? Like Dayton and Franken, Smith, 59, is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Smith has been a longtime adviser to Dayton, serving as his chief of staff before becoming lieutenant governor. She has also worked on multiple campaigns, including managing Walter Mondales unsuccessful 2002 Senate run as well as his son Ted Mondales 1998 gubernatorial campaign which was also unsuccessful. She was the chief of staff for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak before joining Dayton. It was thought that she may have run for governor earlier this year to replace Dayton in 2018 but ultimately passed on the gubernatorial bid. Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said that Smith doesnt come across like other kind of major politicians, citing such examples as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Shes soft-spoken. She would prefer to be in a room negotiating or talking with people than giving a political speech. Thats not really her style, Jacobs said. She can do it, but its something that shes had to learn. During the presidential election, Smith campaigned for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Clinton won Minnesota by a little more than 1 percent. What else has Smith done? Originally from Albuquerque, N.M., Smith moved to Minnesota in 1984 for a marketing job with General Mills. She grew more politically active in the 1990s, founding her own marketing and consulting firm. Smith served as the vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota from 2003 to 2006. She has excellent relationships in the business community, Jacobs said, adding that Minnesota business leaders speak fondly of Smith as someone who understands their issues and is pragmatic. Smith received her bachelors degree from Stanford University and has an MBA from Dartmouth College. She is married with two children. What will she bring to Washington? Prior to Daytons announcement, Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin told Minnesota Public Radio that Smith would be a brilliant choice in a lot of ways. Shes been a great lieutenant governor. I would argue probably the best lieutenant governor our state has ever seen, he said. Shes a true public servant whos served this state in many roles. Jacobs described Smith as an almost throwback to another time, someone who is thoughtful, built strong personal relationships and is fact-based. As for her voting record, Jacobs said Minnesotans can expect her to vote similarly to Minnesotas other Democratic senator, Amy Klobuchar: pragmatic and along party lines while still looking for ways to partner with Republicans. Franken praised the appointment of Smith, who he called a "dedicated public servant." "Her record of accomplishment as Lieutenant Governor demonstrates that she'll be an effective senator who knows how to work across party lines to get things done for Minnesota," he said in a statement. But National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Michael McAdams slammed Smith as "another DFL insider handpicked by Mark Dayton." "The last thing Minnesotans want is a political operative committed to raising taxes while representing them in the U.S. Senate," he said. Due to Minnesota election laws, Smith would serve in Frankens seat until 2018 when a special election would be held, and the winner would serve for the remainder of Frankens term until January 2021. Smith would not be obligated to run in the 2018 special election, but she is expected to do so, Fox News has learned. Fox News Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Trump on Wednesday made his closing argument for passing a sweeping tax reform package, dangling the prospect of Americans seeing tax cuts by February if Congress can pass a bill by Christmas. We're so close right now, so close, the president said during a speech at the White House. The president spoke as House and Senate negotiators were holding a meeting on a compromise plan that still must pass both chambers. Trump declared they have reached an agreement that will deliver more jobs, higher wages and massive tax relief for American families and for American companies. Then he lit a fire under Congress to get a bill to his desk next week. Im excited to announce if Congress sends me a bill before Christmas, the IRS -- this is just out, this is breaking news -- has just confirmed that Americans will see lower taxes beginning in February, Trump said. Just two short months from now. GOP leaders in Congress have been hammering out deal for a projected, $1.5 trillion compromise plan. Both chambers have passed tax bills, but they now have to blend them into a final piece of legislation. We're so close right now, so close" President Trump, on tax reform efforts We want to give you, the American people, a giant tax cut for Christmas, the president said. When I say giant, I mean giant. Trump said during his speech that a family of four earning $75,000 a year would see an income tax cut of more than $2,000, slashing their tax bill in half, if enacted. Our current tax code is burdensome and unfair, Trump said. It's exported our jobs, closed our factories and left millions of parents worried that their kids will have less opportunity than the last. Our factories have left. Trump talked up the bills expansion of the child tax credit for working families, saying you'll hear the numbers very soon. They're even larger than anticipated, he said. Once the legislative process of merging the tax bills is complete, it will be sent back to the House and Senate for final passage. A final vote is expected next week. During his speech, the president invited several families to come up to the podium and say how tax reform would affect them. With the tax savings that we'll see, we are going to put that money into home renovations, one man said. In a flurry of last-minute changes that could profoundly affect the finances of millions of Americans, House and Senate negotiators agreed to expand a deduction for state and local taxes to allow individuals to deduct income taxes as well as property taxes. The deduction is valuable to residents in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California. Negotiators also agreed to set the corporate income tax rate at 21 percent, said two congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private negotiations. Both the House bill and the Senate bill would have lowered the corporate rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. Negotiators also agreed to cut the top tax rate for individuals from 39.6 percent to 37 percent in a windfall for the richest Americans. The reduction is certain to provide ammunition for Democrats who complain that the tax package is a massive giveaway to corporations and the rich. Final passage of the bill in the House and Senate would give Trump his first major legislative win. But Democrats are already putting up another roadblock, arguing the final Senate vote should be delayed until January, when newly elected Alabama Democrat Doug Jones joins the Senate and narrows the GOPs majority to 51-49. Fox News Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A New York appeals court Tuesday tossed out a Republican consultants attempt to revive her $4 million defamation case against President Donald Trump, accusing him of hurting her career after he said she begged for a job with his campaign. Cheryl Jacobus filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Trump after her appearance on CNN last year in February where she criticized the campaign for lack of transparency. The appearance prompted Trump to attack Jacobus on social media, calling her a real dummy who begged for a job with his campaign. In another tweet, Trump said Jacobus went hostile after not getting a job with his campaign, adding Major lose, zero credibility! The consultant claims then-candidate Trumps comments cost her TV appearances and inspired a bullying campaign from his supporters. Her chief contention was that Trump's team had approached her about a job -- not the other way around -- and that Trump had lied. A lower court in Manhattan dismissed the suit in January, saying that although Trumps intemperate tweets are clearly intended to belittle and demean plaintiff, they would not prevent her from continuing her job as a political consultant. The court also found that Trumps statements were opinion, not fact. Jacobus continued to pursue the defamation case and tried to appeal the dismissal. But on Tuesday, a five-judge appeals court panel in New York upheld the January decision, saying her lawsuit was correctly dismissed in the absence of actionable factual allegations that tended to disparage her in the way of her profession, trade or business, the New York Post reported. The appeals panel found that the alleged defamatory statements are too vague, subjective, and lacking in precise meaning (i.e. unable to be proven true or false) to be actionable. Jay Butterman, who represents Jacobus, said they are exploring the possibility of taking the case to the states highest authority, the Court of Appeals. Its not a happy day for democracy in my opinion, the lawyer said, according to the Post. He added that Its a sense that an entire class of people in this county have no protection, no remedy who are subjected to being destroyed by the whim of the powerful. Trumps attorney, Lawrence S. Rosen, said the president was pleased with the decision. Here Ms. Jacobus was very critical of the president during the campaign, on air, then candidate Trump was certainly within his rights to rebut her attacks and offer his opinion as to what her motivations were, Rosen added. The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Donald Trump along with other politicians from both sides of the aisle reacted late Tuesday after Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in a special election. Trump congratulated Jones in a tweet on his hard fought victory and said Republicans will "have another shot at the seat in a very short period of time. Hillary Clinton also took to Twitter to congratulate citizens of Alabama for electing a senator wholl make them proud. Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud, Clinton tweeted. And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must -- compete everywhere. Onward! Clinton was joined in her enthusiasm by former Vice President Joe Biden, who thanked Alabama in a tweet. Democrats were surely emboldened after winning one of the state's Senate seats. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in the state and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but sure in the age of Trump. The Republican loss was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nations already divided GOP. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted that Jones is going to be an outstanding senator and lambasted Moores candidacy. Roy Moore was an awful candidate and never should have gotten to the senate. But make no mistake about it, just like Virginia, Democrats are energized, focused on the middle class and those struggling to get there, and things are looking better and better for 2018, Schumer wrote. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, tweeted two words: Decency wins. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., congratulated Jones on being a great candidate and said that was the reason why he won over Moore. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said that Jones win is a victory for showing up, fighting to the end. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Fox News projected that Jones received 49.5 percent of the vote, while Moore received 48.8 percent of the vote. Fox News' Kevin Kirby and the Associated Press contributed to this report A new study by Australian researchers says that data on how sea levels are rising, relied upon by the United Nations, was adjusted upward in arbitrary ways. The researchers examined sea level measurements in three locations around the Indian Ocean dating back to the 1800s and found that the raw sea level measurements showed no clear rise in sea levels. Their study was published in the journal Earth Systems and Environment, and it calls into question adjusted official data showing steadily rising sea levels which most scientists say is caused by manmade global warming. The adjustments are done by the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), which is funded by the United Kingdom government. The top graph in the following image shows the unadjusted sea level data in Mumbai, India, where each color represents a different set of measurements at the same location. The bottom graph shows the adjusted data: The studys authors say this is evidence that the adjustments are biased. The adjustments are always in the direction of increasing the alarm, one of the study authors, Clifford Ollier, told Fox News. Ollier is a geologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Western Australia. If the raw data show no alarming rise, and you want to create an alarm, you have to alter the raw data, he said. The PSMSL did not immediately respond for a request for comment, but other scientists were critical of the study for citing too few locations and for being published in a low-tier journal. I have some major concerns about the credibility of this study, Kristina Dahl, a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Fox News. It is very unusually written. ... This paper also appears to have been published just one month after being received by the journal, which is an astoundingly short time that calls into question the quality of the peer-review process. The adjustments are always in the direction of increasing the alarm. Clifford Ollier, honorary research fellow at the University of Western Australia The journal that published it is based in Saudi Arabia and is associated with King Abdulaziz University. It just started operating this year. This specific journal is new but well above average, said Albert Parker, one of the co-authors a retired scientist and former automotive engineer who has written many papers on sea levels and also goes by the name Alberto Boretti. The authors say critics should evaluate the strength of their arguments rather than credentials or the publishers prestige. If anybody wants to argue, they must argue with the facts; the place of publication is irrelevant, Ollier said. Regarding the facts, Dahl says that the major data adjustments done by British researchers are understandable, given that the locations examined by the study had spotty measurement records spanning different measurement gauges. There is a complete lack of measurements [in Aden, Yemen] between 1970 and 2010. ... In cases such as this, researchers have to try to fit the different data chunks together like pieces of a puzzle. You can imagine how difficult it is to infer long-term trends over the past 100 years when 40 years of data are missing. She says other studies agree with the PSMSL adjustments: At least one study using [approximately] 20 gauges in the northern Indian Ocean, for example, found that regional sea level rise rates were on par with the global average. Sea level change varies a lot around the world. The U.N., relying in part on data from PSMSL, reports that worldwide sea levels rose over the last two decades by about a foot per century. However, the U.N. notes that some parts of the world, such as the coast of California, saw sea levels fall. Ollier and Parker say their study calls into question the accuracy of the established estimates on sea level rise, because the PSMSL and the U.N. say sea levels are rising in the Indian Ocean despite raw data like that in the image pictured above. Ollier agrees with the U.N. that world sea levels are rising on average, but thinks it is rising only half as fast (about half a foot per century), and says it might not be due to manmade climate change. Maxim Lott can be reached on Twitter at @maximlott A tick discovered encased in amber likely feasted on the blood of feathered dinosaurs as many as 99 million years ago, a new report says. A study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, helped scientists determine what ticks feasted on before mammals evolved. Ticks, which were already known to be ancient critters, are commonly associated with biting mammals and humans. The scientists based their studies on amber specimens discovered in Burma. In one of the pieces, a tick was located next to a feather that belonged to a dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, NPR reported. The Cretaceous Period began about 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago, according to the Enclyclopedia Brittanica. THIS 5,000-POUND BEHEMOTH IS THE WORLDS HEAVIEST BONY FISH This study provides the most compelling evidence to date for ticks feeding on feathered animals in the Cretaceous, Ryan C. McKellar, a paleontologist who was not part of the study, told The New York Times. "Amber is fossilized resin, so it's able to capture small bits of the ecosystem almost instantly, Ricardo Perez-de la Fuente, the author of the study wrote. "Amber can actually preserve interactions between organisms. This is the case with the feather and the grasping tick." The discovery helped Perez-de la Fuente further his investigation into the link between ticks and dinosaurs. "We had this indirect evidence about the relationship between ticks and feathered dinosaurs," Perez-de la Fuente said, adding that there was not sufficient evidence until the amber specimens. David Grimaldi, an entomologist and one of the authors of the study, said the tick was a regular nymph, close in size to a deer tick nymph. ASTRONAUTS FAITH: TINY APOLLO 13 BIBLE UP FOR AUCTION Perez-de la Fuente said more research needs to be conducted on ticks and what they feasted on. In another specimen, another tick was discovered but was encased in blood. Scientists were unable to study the blood because the tiny creature was not fully covered in amber. Perez-de la Fuente said the amber specimens were bought online and one of the pieces was donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. "We actually broke the wall between private collectors and scientists which is very uncommon, especially in paleontology," Perez-de la Fuente said. "That by itself is a success." President Donald Trumped signed a new space policy directive Monday (Dec. 11) ordering NASA to work toward sending humans to the moon and, eventually, Mars. As he signed the new directive at the White House, surrounded by several astronauts and other dignitaries, the president said that the order would "restore American leadership in space." Experts across the space industry showed overwhelming support for the new directive, formally known as Space Policy Directive 1 (SPD-1). Here's how they reacted. [From Ike to Trump: Presidential Visions for Space Exploration] Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot "NASA looks forward to supporting the president's directive strategically aligning our work to return humans to the moon, travel to Mars and opening the deeper solar system beyond," acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement. "This work represents a national effort on many fronts, with America leading the way. We will engage the best and brightest across government and private industry and our partners across the world to reach new milestones in human achievement. Our workforce is committed to this effort, and even now, we are developing a flexible deep-space infrastructure to support a steady cadence of increasingly complex missions that strengthens American leadership in the boundless frontier of space. The next generation will dream even bigger and reach higher as we launch challenging new missions, and make new discoveries and technological breakthroughs on this dynamic path." Lockheed Martin "We support the president and vice president's vision and commitment to return America to the moon," Lockheed Martin officials said in a statement. The aerospace engineering company is a contractor for NASA and is currently working on the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle that will carry astronauts beyond Earth orbit. "A lunar mission with today's technology would further our understanding of the moon's history and resources. And it will build a strong foundation that will not only accelerate the U.S. to Mars and beyond. It will foster a thriving new space economy that will create jobs and drive innovation here on Earth. With the Orion deep-space vehicle and our prototype orbital lunar habitat making outstanding progress, we are ready to help the nation achieve this bold new vision." [In Photos: President Donald Trump and NASA] Eric Stallmer, President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) "applauds President Trump for signing Space Policy Directive 1, which directs NASA to partner with the U.S. commercial space industry to return Americans to the moon," Eric Stallmer, president of CSF, said in a statement. "The U.S. commercial space industry has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in private capital to develop innovative capabilities for lunar transport, operations and resource utilization. CSF recommends that the administration challenge NASA to leverage these commercial capabilities to generate greater efficiency, and to partner with industry through flexible, innovative contracting approaches to achieve the goals set out in Space Policy Directive 1 as quickly as possible." Coalition for Deep Space Exploration "The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration (Coalition) welcomes Space Policy Directive-1 (SPD-1) signed today by President Trump, formalizing the commitment made by the administration during the first meeting of the National Space Council to reinvigorate America's deep-space exploration program," officials with the coalition said in a statement. "After 45 years, it is time to return humans to the region of the moon even as we look toward Mars," CEO Mary Lynne Dittmar said in the statement. "The Coalition is proud to support NASA and to help bring about this exciting future. We congratulate the Trump administration on its bold vision and commitment to American leadership in space. NASA's flagship programs for human space exploration the Orion crew vehicle and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket supported by ongoing research on human health and performance conducted on the International Space Station will take a major step to fulfilling this vision beginning with Exploration Mission 1 targeted for late 2019." Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman "By signing this directive, President Trump has again shown that, under his administration, America will be a leader in space exploration," U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said in a statement. "Going back to the moon as the precursor to further exploration will enable NASA to test new systems and equipment critical for future missions, like the human exploration of Mars. Going back to the moon achieves more than just the practical benefits; it will teach our children and grandchildren to dream big and strive to achieve what others think impossible. The innovations, inventions and ideas that they come up with, inspired by exploring the moon and Mars, will fuel future aspirations to explore worlds beyond Mars. This administration's dedication to space is a refreshing change from the past eight years." Brian Babin, (R-Texas) House Space Subcommittee Chairman "By signing this space policy directive and refocusing America's space program on human spaceflight exploration, the president has ensured America's leadership in space and prioritized our return to the moon and future manned missions to Mars," House Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin said in a statement. "Under the president's leadership, we are now on the verge of a new generation of American greatness and leadership in space leading us to once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil." Original article on Space.com. Albany school administrators are convening a task force on bullying in response to parents who asked for an investigation into the district's current policies and practices. Superintendent Jim Golden announced the formation of the task force at Monday's meeting of the Albany School Board, saying he wants members to "investigate and research ways for us to prevent and be proactive in dealing with this issue." Golden said he has directed several administrators to lead the process and wants community groups and governmental agencies such as the fire and police department to join it. The team is to start working in January and deliver a recommendation to the board by March 2. Among other things, the group will identify and define bullying so everyone will have a common understanding of the word, and also define when bullying becomes a crime. The group also has been asked to research current district policies on bullying, identify "best practices" for the prevention of bullying and violence in schools, visit districts where those tactics are being used and estimate costs for possible training and purchase of materials. In addition, the task force is to conduct at least one community meeting to gather information and listen to concerns, and identify possible partnerships with other public and private agencies or groups to help. Golden said the effort is necessary "given the recent spate of serious behaviors we are seeing in our schools this year," and said he believes the use of social media sites is compounding the problem. "Finally and sadly, we are seeing these issues arise in our younger populations with a large number of incidents occurring at the elementary school level," he said. In a separate statement, Golden addressed concerns expressed by Nancy Greenman and Sharon Gisler about the safety of students who might be harassed because of perceptions about their legal residency or ethnic backgrounds. Oregon law does not allow schools to ask questions about a student's residency except to verify any attendance boundaries that apply to them, Golden said. "Secondly, the state of Oregon has been very clear from the law and from our governor, that schools are not to be the places where federal immigration activities take place," Golden said. School personnel know to direct any questions from federal agents to Golden himself and that warrants are required before access to any student is granted. "We are in the business of educating students and we know that students must feel safe and secure for them to effectively learn," Golden said. "This means first and foremost that we must create a climate of trust and nurture in all of our schools." Gisler was not present at Monday's meeting, but Greenman said she was grateful for the superintendent's response. "I see a connection between this issue and that of bullying and violence, and look forward to the task force including both members and an understanding of primary prevention theory and practice that reflect our Hispanic/Latino community and other students and families of color," she said. The task force was a request from a coalition of parents that created a Facebook site last month, Albany United Against Bullying. Katie Leventhal, who is one of three administrators of the website, and others who spoke Monday said they are glad the board is moving forward with the task force but still have concerns. For instance, Leventhal said, she wants the district to look outside Oregon for answers, given that some states have made measurable anti-bullying campaigns a priority. Rick Leventhal, who also spoke Monday, said he wants parents on the task force and seeks assurance its recommendations will carry the weight of enforcement, not just platitudes. Liz Hanamoto, who said her son has had problems with a bully in middle school, echoed the request for parent representation. "It is a nice step in the right direction, but that's the one thing I get out of that, too where's the parent involvement?" she said. In a rather unusual move, Facebook has fired back at Chamath Palihapitiya after the former Facebook exec said social media is "destroying how society works." In a statement on Tuesday, the social networking giant said: Chamath has not been at Facebook for over six years. Facebook was a very different company back then and as we have grown we have realized how our responsibilities have grown too. Facebook added it has worked with experts to understand the effects its service has on its users. FORMER FACEBOOK EXEC WON'T LET HIS OWN KIDS USE SOCIAL MEDIA, SAYS IT'S 'DESTROYING HOW SOCIETY WORKS' We are also making significant investments more in people, technology and processes, and as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made, Facebook concluded. The statement comes after Palihapitiya, who now runs the venture capital firm Social Capital and is a co-owner of the Golden State Warriors, said social media is damaging the fabric of society. "I think we all knew in the back of our minds, even though we feigned this whole line of 'unintended consequences,' I think in the back recesses of our minds, something bad could happen," Palihapitiya said in a November interview that has recently surfaced. "It literally is at a point now we've created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is literally where we are. I would encourage all of you how to internalize this is - if you feed the beast, the beast will destroy you." Palihapitiya added that our use of social media is becoming dangerous for society: "The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse. No cooperation. Misinformation. Mistruth. And it's not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem. So we are in a really bad state of affairs right now, in my opinion. It is eroding the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other." He said that he rarely, if ever, uses Facebook, having posted maybe twice in seven years, something that has caused "huge problems" in his own social circles. He also added he would not let his own children use it. FACEBOOK BOASTS OF REMOVING FAKE NEWS IN GERMANY, BUT JOURNALISTS AREN'T SO SURE Not the first time Facebook's statement is unusual as Palihapitiya is not the first former Facebook employee to make comments about the negative implications of social networking. Last month, former Facebook president Sean Parker, who also co-founded the music streaming service Napster, said he was concerned about what social media is doing to children's brains. "I don't know if I really understood the consequences of what I was saying, because [of] the unintended consequences of a network when it grows to a billion or 2 billion people and ... it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other ... It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways," Parker said in an interview with Axios' Mike Allen. "God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains." Another former Facebook employee and the creator of the "like" button, engineer Justin Rosenstein, said he thinks his invention is a contributor to time poorly spent." Snap the company that owns Snapchat also recently criticized social media, with its CEO Evan Spiegel recently saying social media has fueled the rise of "fake news." Facebook has yet to respond to a request for comment asking why it issued a statement after Palihapitiya's comments, but not those from Parker or Rosenstein. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia Google revealed Tuesday the list of its most searched topics of 2017, which included Hurricane Irma and disgraced Today show host Matt Lauer. The search engine released its figures from the year, which showed Hurricane Irma was the most searched category and Lauer came close in second place, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lauer topped the most searched person of the year. The hurricane slammed the Caribbean and Florida in September and caused catastrophic damage in Barbuda, the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy. The storm killed dozens of people. CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND VIRAL VIDEO OF STARVING POLAR BEAR Lauer was fired on Nov. 29 from NBC News following a secret meeting where his alleged victim and her lawyer told NBC brass her story of inappropriate sexual behavior from the Today show host. Following close behind Lauer were rock star Tom Petty, who died in October, the Super Bowl and the Las Vegas massacre. The solar eclipse and fidget spinners also made the list. The websites most searched people included Lauer, Meghan Markle and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Markle recently announced her engagement to Prince Harry. She was also the most searched actor of the year. Exposes by The New York Times and The New Yorker detailed the accounts of women who spoke out about Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct. The disgraced producer was fired from the company he founded and the NYPD confirmed it was investigating a rape claim made against him. TRAGIC SKYSCRAPER PLUNGE: DAREDEVIL CLIMBER WAS PLANNING TO PROPOSE TO HIS GIRLFRIEND THE NEXT DAY The most searched movies were It, Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman. The most searched television shows included 13 Reasons Why, Game of Thrones and This Is Us. In the tech category, the iPhone 8, iPhone X and Nintendo Switch were at the top of the category. Last years most searched terms included Prince, Powerball and Hillary Clinton, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In future battles, U.S. soldiers will have a new sidearm for personal protection. The Armys new pistol may see more action than the last thanks to a design that has great potential for offensive purposes like close quarter combat. The Army has begun fielding the first Sig Sauer XM17 Modular Handgun System (MHS) sidearms. The Sig Sauer 9mm XM17, and the more compact version XM18, are replacing the M9 as the Armys service pistol. This is the first change in about three decades since Berettas M9 was first introduced as the Armys sidearm in the Cold War era back in 1986. Over the next 10 years, the Army will distribute the new handguns to all Army units. COOL TECH CONVERTS DIRT BIKES FOR JASON BOURNE-LIKE SNOW SUPREMACY Cutting to the chasewhat is better about this new weapon? Fans of the new weapon are citing factors like better accuracy and tighter dispersion that will enhance soldiers lethality. It is also hailed for being easy to use, as well as more comfortable and efficient. Read on for more details So what is this new weapon? The XM17 and XM18 are variants of Sig Sauers publicly available P320 pistol. The compact XM18 can be carried in a concealed holster. First unveiled back in 2014, the P320 is a polymer striker-fired pistol that was developed as a service pistol. It is modular, with interchangeable grip modules. The user can adjust the caliber and frame size. The P320 has a number of features handy for law enforcement and military purposes. The trigger has a short pull and reset. It can also be disassembled without having to manipulate the trigger and also without tools. And it was designed to fit a wide range of hands. 6 TOP JAMES BOND-INSPIRED TACTICAL GIFTS The military variants have a different paintjob. The Army also has different magazine requirements. Soldiers will be able to utilize both standard, and extended capacity, magazines. Both pistols can be outfitted with suppressors. To attach lasers and lights, theres an integrated MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail. Theres also self-illuminating night sights for optimum combat effectiveness in challenging light conditions. PODCAST: REVEALED THE DEADLIEST HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT AND HOW TO SURVIVE THEM LIKE SPECIAL OPERATIONS Whats the XM17 advantage? One of the primary goals in the shift has been to provide soldiers with enhanced performance, together with better durability and adaptability. Feedback throughout the process has been that it performed very well and reliably on the range. MAKING MUNITIONS SAFE: HOW CAN WE STOP AMERICAN BULLETS, BOMBS AND MISSILES FROM KILLING US TROOPS? The XM17 is an easy to shoot, simple handgun with virtually no resistance on the trigger. In battle conditions, it is expected to give Soldiers more options. Once fired, the new sidearm makes it easy to quickly aim again accurately and shoot. And the XM17 and XM18 have excellent potential for close-quarter combat. More soldiers to receive weapons Another key development is that younger soldiers will be able to get their hands on this new pistol. The Army will be issuing this new sidearm down to squad leaders and team leaders as well. Previously, junior leaders were excluded from carrying the M9s. This new policy is expected to apply to all Army units receiving the XM17. WHAT IS THE NUCLEAR ARSENAL AVAILABLE TO PRESIDENT TRUMP? As a result, new training will most likely be developed focusing on skills like shifting from the M4 to the pistol and vice versa. PODCAST: NYC ATTACK - LEARN HOW TO SAVE YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS Are they already in soldiers hands? The Army has started rolling them out. The lucky first to receive them? The historic 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. About 2,000 XM17 and XM18 handguns reached them last month. The military plans to issue the XM17s to three units by the end of the year with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, next. And the rest of the Army? Over the next decade, the Army plans to buy 195,000 pistols and will distribute them to all units. Testing Nothing should be more important than the opinion of the soldiers who will relying onthe new weapons. REMARKABLE SELF-HEALING TECH COULD TACKLE INVISIBLE WAR WOUNDS The Armys testing was extensive before the new sidearm was selected. Committed to the goal of ensuring the best pistol was selected for soldiers in the future Army, a team traveled to different testing sites throughout the country. Fort Braggs excellent ranges were used to test the pistol in realistic conditions. Different scenarios were used such as testing the new Sig while in cold weather gear. In addition to the Army, testing was conducted through the military as well with sailors, airmen and Marines participating. Different specializations were also involved pilots, crew chiefs and infantry putting the new weapons through their paces and providing feedback. Intense competition for selection The Army launched the competition to replace the M9 back in 2015. It was a hotly contested battle between some of the worlds finest gun makers with Beretta USA, Glock Inc. and FN America all competing alongside Sig Sauer. FUTURISTIC BIONIC ARMS NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE NATION'S BRAVEST In the end it was Sig Sauer that won the deal for the New Modular Handgun System (MHS), which is worth about $580 million. In January of this year, the Army announced that the XM17 was chosen as the new service pistol. Other services also have embraced the XM17 and XM18 as well. The Air Force is scheduled to buy 130,000, the Navy plans to buy 61,000 and the Marine Corps plans to buy 35,000. On shelves now Looking for a new primary carry pistol? Or to gift one this holiday season? In terms of civilians, the Armys variant is not publicly available but the base model, the P320, is available in 9mm, .357 SIG, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. It retails for approximately $713. This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," December 12, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) ROY MOORE, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: We are Alabama. We are Republicans. MOORE: I'm not talking to accusers today. I'm talking to the people of Alabama. UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER: I voted for conservative judges, traditional family values, Second Amendment, and against abortion. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: How are you feeling? DOUG JONES, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: Exuberant. We feel so good. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOTE: I think it's a very clear choice for our new senator. UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER: This is about decency and integrity. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOTER: We will make a difference if we come out. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY.: And we await the outcome of the Alabama Senate race. (END VIDEO CLIPS) BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Well, it could be a barn burner down there in Alabama. It is election night in Alabama for that Senate special election, Roy Moore, Doug Jones. Where are we? Let's bring in our panel: Lisa Boothe, columnist with The Washington Examiner; Chris Stirewalt, politics editor here at Fox News, and Caitlin Huey-Burns, national political reporter for Real Clear Politics. Before we go further, you've been in the deep, dark room we call the decision desk. Looking at this time voter analysis -- CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS: Fox News voter analysis. BAIER: Which is FNVA. STIREWALT: Know it, learn it, love it. (LAUGHTER) BAIER: Love it. What do you got for us? STIREWALT: I can tell you that turnout looks pretty robust. There was speculation from election officials in Alabama that we were going to see rock bottom turnout, 20 percent, 25 percent turnout. We're looking at turnout that is approaching the kind of numbers you would see in a midterm, real engagement, voters are coming out. And that may not be great news for Roy Moore. BAIER: So that is the question is whether new voters are somehow energized by all of this controversy to come out, Caitlin. CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Certainly. And this has become a nationalized special election certainly. You have Democrats talking about this as a way to really send a message. You have Republicans really concerned about the election. I think this would be the first congressional election that we've seen in which national Republicans might be rooting against their own candidate in this race in Roy Moore, concerned about how to deal with him if he is in fact elected tonight. BAIER: So to that point, Roy Moore did a radio interview today in which he was asked about a Senate ethics investigation possibly if he wins the election. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOORE: It does not concern me because it would be unconstitutional. And under article one, section five part one and two, it's not a qualification for office and, two, it's not, disorderly behavior, if it were true, it's not true, but it's not only not true, they don't have that jurisdiction to overcome the vote of the people. (END VIDEO CLIP) BAIER: That's not the smoothest closing argument, I guess. LISA BOOTHE, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: And that's what Republicans are grappling with. If Moore wins, what do you do? It would be unprecedented to try to vote to expel a duly elected member of the Senate when voters had knowledge of the allegations before they head to the polls. But Caitlin is right. This election is a national election that Democrats are making it. There is a reason Conyers and Senator Franken were forced to step aside and to resign. Democrats are looking at 2018 and they're looking at 2020. There's a reason Democrats held a press conference today calling on President Trump to resign, making this about President Trump. But I think there's flaws with that, looking opportunistic. Also considering the fact that Nancy Pelosi not too long ago was saying Franken was an icon. Gillibrand has embraced people like Bill Clinton until it was no longer politically expedient for her to do so. We also don't know what other shoes are going to drop with the actual allegations things. And two -- BAIER: With other lawmakers, you mean. BOOTHE: Right. And do they make 2020 another referendum on identity politics which didn't serve them well in not focusing on the issues like the economy that so many Americans care about. BAIER: Clearly the Democrats are it looks like clearing the plate to try to use this as an election issue in 2018. To that point that press conference got the president fired up. He went to Twitter saying "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago and would do anything for them is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill and crooked-used!" Here's the senator responding and the Senate minority leader: (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, D-N.Y.: It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue. Neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday. SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHARLES SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: That tweet was nasty, unbecoming of a president. Senator Gillibrand is an outstanding member of the Senate. The president needs to cut it out with the tweeting. (END VIDEO CLIPS) BAIER: The White House said that he has used that terminology before talking about men who asked him for donations on both sides of the aisle. HUEY-BURNS: They made that argument, although I think given the backdrop of what we're seeing in terms of the cultural change in this country, it could be taken as very insensitive and open-ended. I do think that Democrats do carry some risks in politicizing this, but for now they think that this is an energizing moment for them, being able to say we cleared our decks here, putting the spotlight back on the president ahead of these midterms, especially given how much the ground has shifted just in the past few weeks in Congress with these allegations. BAIER: Ten seconds here, what are we looking for tonight? STIREWALT: What we're looking for, just pay attention to Birmingham. I'm sorry, the rest of Alabama. We're going to be paying very close attention to Birmingham and suburbs, that's the place where Jones has got to run up the score. That's the whole thing right there. A little bit down on the gulf coast but Birmingham and suburbs, that's where it's at, that's where he's got to do it if he has a chance to be the first Democrat to be elected statewide in this state since 2006. 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 hotel manager in Montana is impressed and probably a little bit peeved by a resourceful thief who managed to drag an entire ATM from the building without arousing suspicion. He was able to physically, once he got it free from the bolt, just drag it out the door, said Gail Linnel, the general manager of the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Billings, Mont., reports KULR-TV. "It's kind of amazing, those things are heavy, she added. INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT ABOUT HOTEL CARPETS AMASSES MORE THAN HALF A MILLION FOLLOWERS According to surveillance footage, the thief entered the La Quinta Inn at approximately 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon before taking a roundabout route to the ATM on the other side of the building. Then, with no special tools to speak of, he worked to free the bolted-down machine from the floor over the next four hours. The thief was finally able to abscond with the ATM a little before 7:30 p.m., but Linnel says she wasnt notified until at least a half-hour later. We didn't hear any power tools obviously, or we would've been alerted to it, she told KULR. The owner of the ATM also noted that the stolen machine weighed somewhere between 200 and 300 pounds. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX TRAVEL NEWS Police have yet to make any arrests, although they say they were able to identify the suspect from surveillance footage. A spokesman for the Billings police department has declined to release the amount of money inside the hotels ATM, the Associated Press reports. A police officer in Arizona died of a seizure Tuesday while pursuing a suspect, the police chief told ABC 15. Officer Paul Lazinsky, 58, of the El Mirage Police Department, was reportedly chasing a wanted juvenile suspect on foot when he was struck with the fatal seizure. He was initially treated on the scene before being taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, AZ Central reported. Police Chief Terry McDonald confirmed Lazinskys death, calling it absolutely tragic, the outlet said. The suspect, who officials said was caught, could potentially face charges in the officers death but McDonald said that was not yet determined, according to AZ Central. FLORIDA MAN DRAGGED, KICKED AND PUNCHED DEPUTY BEFORE HE WAS SHOT BY POLICE, VIDEO SHOWS Lazinsky was a 17-year veteran of the El Mirage Police Department and was expected to retire in ten months, ABC 15 reported. Before becoming a police officer, he served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, the outlet said. According to Fox 10, police officials did not provide additional details into the incident because of an open investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Lazinsky, a father of three, is survived by his wife, children and two siblings, ABC 15 said. An Indiana State Police officer was expected to survive after being shot in the head Tuesday night while trying to apprehend a suspect, officials said. Indiana State Police said the incident happened just after 7 p.m. in Jeffersonville, located across the river from Louisville, when Trooper Morgenn Evans stopped a gray 1999 Chevrolet Silverado driven by 79-year-old Oscar Kays. Kays became combative during the traffic stop, police said, eventually pulling a gun on Evans and then shooting him. Evans was "struck in the head," but managed to return fire, according to ISP. Kays fled the scene, but the injured officer was able to pursue him for a short time before Kays was able to escape. ARIZONA POLICE OFFICER DIES UNEXPECTEDLY DURING SUSPECT CHASE, REPORT SAYS Authorities were able to arrest Kays at his home a short time later. Evans was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, state police said. "Our ISP family appreciates all the prayers overnight concerning Trooper Evans," Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Sgt. Todd Ringle wrote on Twitter. "He was shot last night in Jeffersonville. He is expected to make a full recovery." Kays was also transported to the University of Louisville Hospital with unknown injuries, and was charged with attempted murder of police officer. "At this time it is unknown if Trooper Morgenn Evans shots wounded Oscar Kays or if he was wounded by his own gun or debris from the shots fired," state police said. The 79-year-old was later discharged and taken to the Clark County Jail, according to FOX59. A New York City man accused of trying to join ISIS has been spending his time behind bars watching videos of terror group beheadings and has received more terrorist propaganda from Chelsea bomber Ahmad Rahimi, according to court records. Sajmir Alimehmeti, 24, of the Bronx, has participated in the receipt and dissemination of terrorist propaganda materials while he was locked up in federal prison, the Manhattan U.S. Attorneys office said, according to the New York Daily News. Some of the propaganda was sent to him from Rahimi, who was convicted of detonating a bomb in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood in October 2016, injuring 30 people. Rahimi was found guilty of the terror attack on Oct. 16, including on charges of using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place. Federal officials discovered the ISIS propaganda in a hard drive in Alimehmetis locker at the law library, where inmates can obtain evidence prosecutors have against them, according to the New York Daily News. Alimehmeti has been awaiting trial since his May 2016 arrest for allegedly trying to join ISIS and attempting to help another supporter travel overseas to join the terrorist group, providing travel documents and support materials, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release. The 24-year-old also allegedly played multiple ISIS-related videos, including ones that showed the terrorist group decapitating prisoners. An illegal cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a wildfire in Bel-Air last week, authorities said Tuesday. The Skirball fire erupted last Wednesday, burning more than 400 acres, destroying six structures and damaging 12 others. It is now 85 percent contained, with nearly 70 firefighters still working for full containment, officials told the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, the Thomas fire, which has become the fifth-largest wildfire in California history, was still burning. The blaze has destroyed more than 800 structures, damaged over 180 others, while burning 236,000 acres, as of Tuesday, according to the Times. A total of six fires flared in Southern California last week, driven by fierce winds. The encampment was in a canyon several hundred feet from Interstate 405 and hidden from passing cars, the Times reported. The fire was not deliberately set, investigators told the newspaper. They have not found any of the people who lived there, as the camp was largely destroyed, leaving officials with little evidence. The Los Angeles Fire Department found no suspects, and the size of the encampment before the fire was unclear, the report said. The remnants of the site included a burned portable stove, pot, cheese grater, and fuel canisters, according to the newspaper. The camp was one of many makeshift communities that have developed along freeways, rivers and open spaces throughout Los Angeles. Paul Koretz, a Los Angeles City Council member whose district includes Bel-Air, told the Times that this makes a tragedy even more tragic." The saddest thing is that we have so many homeless people, he said. And they are everywhere in the city. And that sometimes causes serious problems. Humans are usually the cause of fires in Southern California, through sources such as car crashes, faulty farm equipment, cigarette butts or camping fires, officials told the Times. Ninety percent of wildfires nationwide are human-caused, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, citing the National Park Service. Causes were still undetermined for the Creek, Rye and Lilac fires, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Erika Crooks remembers the day well. On Memorial Day weekend four years ago, she, her husband and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter went to a local Target near their home in Elk Grove, Calif., to purchase barbecuing supplies. When they returned, their home was engulfed in flames. It was like an out-of-body experience, Crooks, 33, told Fox News. You see fires on TV and are desensitized to them. But you never know when it's going to be your home. It was a last-minute decision that saved Crooks and her family from the flames; she and her husband decided to make the trip to Target a family outing, opposed to one of them staying home with their young daughter, she said. It was like an out-of-body experience." Erika Crooks Crooks family, who had only been living in the house for five months, watched their home burn for roughly seven hours before the fire was contained. The fire marshal on duty that day told Crooks that it was an exterior fire, most likely sparked by something flammable thrown into a trashcan near their home. I was shocked, frightened and saddened, she said. I wanted to run in and grab pictures and my daughters favorite blanket -- material things that you take for granted. Crooks family lost a lot that day. But thanks to a $100 gift card from the California Fire Foundations SAVE program, they were able to buy food and pajamas for their daughter that night. The foundation works with local fire agencies to provide immediate, on-site assistance to families that have suffered a residential loss of at least 25 percent, according to its website. It also provided assistance to those who were impacted by the wildfires in Southern California, which scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, destroyed more than 1,000 structures and forced more than 200,000 people to evacuate at the height of the fires. The foundation gave roughly 500 gift cards to Southern Californians who were affected by the wildfires, Lou Paulson, chairman of the California Fire Foundation, told Fox News. Here's how the wildfire victims have been helped so far. President Trump approves California's disaster declaration On Jan. 2, President Trump declared that a "major disaster exists in the state of California." He also ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires, mainly in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties where the Thomas Fire has hit the hardest. Certain non-profit organizations were also eligible to receive funds, according to a statement from the White House. Trump previously declared a state of emergency in California on Dec. 8, which allowed federal assistance to supplement the state and local response to the fires. His declaration was in response to a letter from California Gov. Jerry Brown. Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Riverside counties will receive federal assistance. More specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency, the emergency management agency said in a statement. Emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, was also provided at 75 percent federal funding. United Way of Ventura County In a partnership with the American Red Cross of Ventura County and the Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services, the United Way of Ventura County started the Thomas Fire Fund to assist community relief efforts in the county, which was primarily been impacted by the Thomas Fire. This wildfire -- which is now the largest in the state's history -- has scorched more than 281,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 structures. Salvation Army The Salvation Army Ventura Corps accepted food, water and money donations to help those who were impacted by the wildfires, especially those who were evacuated to the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Up until Dec. 9, the organization served a combined total of 4,619 meals to evacuees at the fairgrounds and at Nordhoff High School in Ojai, Calif., which also served as a temporary evacuation center. The Red Cross Roughly 615 people who were forced to leave their homes due to the wildfires sought refuge at the 13 Red Cross community shelters in Southern California. Go Fund Me Many individuals started fundraising campaigns on Go Fund Me in light of the wildfires. California Community Foundations Wildfire Relief Fund The California Community Foundation's Wildfire Relief Fund provides immediate and long-term wildfire recovery efforts. Since 2003, the fund has raised $3.5 million to support relief and recovery efforts. More specifically, the fund supports those who have suffered long-term mental or health issues as a result of wildfires, helps to rebuild homes and provides financial assistance to victims, among other things. L.A. Kitchen L.A. Kitchen provided meals to firefighters and displaced wildfire victims. Humane Society of Ventura County The Humane Society of Ventura County housed more than 100 animals due to the wildfires. At the time, they were in need of basic animal supplies such as: cat food, alfalfa, hay, water troughs, hoses, flashlights and rabbit food. The family of a Connecticut man who fell to his death from a fourth-floor window in 2013 after a fight over beer pong was awarded $15.6 million on Monday. A judge ruled in favor of the family of Salomon Martinez, a married father from Stratford, who died in January 2016 after plunging to his death. He was a wonderful son, husband and father who worked hard to support his family, Martinezs lawyer, Jeremy Virgil told the Connecticut Post. MAN INTERVENES IN COUPLES ARGUMENT, IS THROWN FROM BRIDGE On Jan. 16, 2013, Martinez went to an apartment in Naugatuck that belonged to Stephanie Dwyer to play beer pong, a game where participants throw a ping pong ball into cups of alcohol. A fight embroiled after two men lost a $10 bet and accused Martinez of cheating. During the fight, bottles were hurled and a fish tank was broken, WCVB reported. Kyle Gonzalez and Matthew Chandler chased Martinez up the stairs and he locked himself in a childs bedroom, Virgil said. Gonzalez reportedly broke down the door and Martinez was later found dead on the cement sidewalk. Its unclear how Martinez fell to his death. Police were called to the scene and talked to people at the party but did not discover Martinezs body on the sidewalk. An hour later, police returned and found him dead. CONNECTICUT GIRL, 16, SHOT DEAD BY BOYFRIEND, 27, BEFORE CAR CRASH, OFFICIALS SAY Gonzalez admitted he broke down the door but claimed Martinez was not in the room at the time. Chandler and Gonzalez pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Gonzalez is serving a 15-year prison term while Chandler was sentenced 10 years, the Connecticut Post reported. Dwyer reportedly moved to Florida after the death. The judge ordered Gonzalez, Chandler and Dwyer to pay the $15.6 million award. We are happy with the result and glad the jury was able to make these people accountable for their actions, Virgil said. It was not immediately clear when the Martinez family would receive the award. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A former Dallas county jailer pleaded guilty Tuesday to posing as a film director in order to entice young boys into making pornographic films, The Dallas Morning News reported. Kevin Scott Morris, 44, used a camera as a pretext to molest young boys and create child pornography, the report said, citing court records. The report said Morris would travel with the victims back in 2009 for film and modeling sessions, and would act like he wanted to advance their careers to build trust. An investigation into Morris began in 2016 when authorities from Orange County, Calif. contacted the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office in Texas about a boy's complaint that Morris had touched him all over" at a hotel and at Morris' home in 2012, the Dallas Morning News reported. The boy was reportedly 13 at the time. Morris, who worked at Dallas County jails from May 2013 to October 2016, was eventually indicted in January 2017 on enticement and child pornography charges. Morris pleaded guilty Tuesday to enticement of a minor, which covers all of the sexual abuse allegations. His plea agreement mentions 10 other victims, some of whom are still unknown to law enforcement. At the time of Morris arrest, federal authorities asked the public to help identify other children whom Morris may have sexually abused. He faces up to life in prison at sentencing. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here. Developing now, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017: "It's not over." Republican Roy Moore refuses to concede despite Democrat Doug Jones being declared winner of Alabama Senate election. Mueller's team faces credibility questions after Fox News obtains texts of ex-team members calling President Trump an "idiot" and more Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to testify today in Mueller's Russia investigation The U.S. is ready to talk to North Korea, even if Pyongyang is unwilling to give up its nuclear program, Secretary of State Tillerson says THE LEAD STORY: In a late-night speech to supporters, Alabama Republican Roy Moore refused to concede, telling the crowd when the "vote is this closeits not over." Earlier, Democrat Doug Jones pulled off a major upset in Tuesdays special election, becoming the first Democrat since 1992 to be voted into the Senate from the deeply conservative state. ... With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Jones had 49.9 percent to Moore's 48.4 percent. Moore said the campaign was looking into the state's "recount provision." However, other Republicans already accepted the outcome. In a tweet, President Trump congratulated Jones on his hard fought victory. Still, Jones' apparent victory over Moore will soon narrow the GOP's lead in the Senate to a slim 51-49 majority and pose potential complications for Trump's agenda. TELLTALE TEXTS: Text messages referring to then-candidate Donald Trump as an "idiot" and "loathsome human being" raised questions about two FBI officials who were assigned to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election ... The Justice Department is reviewing more than 10,000 text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page sent during the 2016 campaign. The text messages were obtained by Fox News on Tuesday. Strzok was removed from Mueller's Russia probe over the summer after his anti-Trump texts were discovered. The messages contain discussions about various candidates, but they have renewed scrutiny over the objectivity of Mueller's Russia investigation. DEPUTY AG ON HOT SEAT: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is scheduled to testify today before the House Judiciary Committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation ... Rosenstein's testimony comes amid questions about alleged political bias in Mueller's team. In addition, President Trump's outside legal team has called for the appointment of a separate special prosecutor to look into potential conflicts of interest involving Justice Department and FBI officials. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow made the demand following a Fox News report that revealed the wife of a demoted DOJ official worked for Fusion GPS, the firm behind the anti-Trump dossier." Trump Jr. asks for investigation into leaks of House panel interview TIME TO TALK: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. would be willing to hold talks with North Korea even if the rogue nation does not do away with its nuclear weapons program ... Although Tillerson said the goal of U.S. policy remained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he added it was "not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They've too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well." Tillerson's remarks came two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS ALABAMA ELECTION FALLOUT: "He really did go all in for Roy Moore ... It remains to be seen how this will affect the standing of Steve Bannon." Brit Hume, on "The Ingraham Angle," reflecting on possible ramifications of Democrat Doug Jones' Senate victory on the political standing of Breitbart executive and former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. WATCH OPEN TO INTERPRETATION?: "Only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way." - White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, in response to a question asking whether President Trump's controversial tweet blasting Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was sexist and suggestive. WATCH ACROSS THE NATION California wildfire fire in Bel-Air traced to illegal cooking at homeless camp, officials say. Trump's Gillibrand tweet quickly labeled sexist by mainstream media. Kaepernick's visit to meet New York prison inmates irks correction officers. MINDING YOUR BUSINESS Dow, S&P add to record highs on eve of Fed decision | Yellen's checklist Amazon could be first $2 trillion company: Former Apple CEO John Sculley. Twitter to make 'tweetstorms' easier to post. NEW IN FOX NEWS OPINION Keaton Jones and the question we refuse to confront -- 'Why do they bully?' John Stossel: Free the food trucks! Why hiring people with criminal records benefits all of us. HOLLYWOOD SQUARED LAPD probe claim Roman Polanski molested girl in 1975. Sylvester Stallone steps down from directing 'Creed 2.' Mike Love talks new music, Beach Boys tour. DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS? Merriam-Webster's word of the year for 2017 ... Get set for the Geminid meteor shower. 'Man flu' is real? Researcher says men take longer to recover from viruses, colds. STAY TUNED On Fox News: Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: The latest fallout and analysis of Doug Jones' victory over Roy Moore with Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie; Michelle Malkin takes on the revelations from the anti-Trump tweets sent by former members of Robert Mueller's team; Brett Velicovich on why experts are worried about a drone terror attack; and a celebration of the 381st anniversary of U.S. National Guard. Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4 p.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., will discuss the fallout from Doug Jones' victory over Roy Moore in Tuesday's special election in an exclusive interview! Fox News @ Night, 11 p.m. ET: Highlights from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. On Fox Business: Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley on the NYC attempted suicide bombing, tax reform and why he is calling on President Trump pull back two judicial nominations; Bob Nardelli, former Home Depot CEO, on Trump's economy; Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs, on the state of tax reform talks. Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski talks Alabama special election fallout. Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7 p.m. ET: House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black talks tax reform. On Fox News Radio: The Fox News Rundown podcast: Fox News' Jon Decker and Democratic strategist Jehmu Greene weigh in on President Trump's controversial tweet about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, on the debate over chain migration and the visa lottery sparked by the latest terror attacks in NYC; and commentary from "The Five" co-host Juan Williams. Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. #OnThisDay 2003: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn, by U.S. forces. 2000: Vice President Al Gore reluctantly concedes defeat to Texas Gov. George W. Bush in his bid for the presidency, following weeks of legal battles. 1636: The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard. Thank you for joining us on Fox News First! Enjoy your day, and we'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning. Newly revealed search warrant records show the massive scale of the investigation that authorities undertook following the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre that left 58 people dead and more than 500 injured. The information, obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, details the requests authorities made in the first hours and days after the massacre perpetrated by gunman Stephen Paddock. The first warrant came five hours after Paddock opened fire on the audience of an outdoor country music festival from his 32nd floor hotel room nearby. In the warrant, a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant asked to be given access to multiple items inside Paddocks Mandalay Bay hotel room and his car, if the items were found. Among the requested items were the gunmans identification papers, rent receipts, proof of insurance and vehicle registration records, according to the paper. The warrant also asked for any writings about the shooters plans, visual records, mobile phones or other electronics, Paddocks phone records that include his call history, his clothes, and any firearms including handguns, shotguns and rifles. The final request on the warrant asks for access to Paddocks remains. The authorities submitted a number of further search warrants days after the shooting, asking for access to the shooters email account, and his search and download history. The investigation expanded as police asked for the phone records of Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley. Click here for more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A woman alleges police in southern Michigan slammed her onto the ground and knocked her unconscious while handcuffed at a jail in an incident captured on video. Tiffany McNeil filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court alleging Coldwater police used excessive force in the encounter in a secure entrance at the Branch County Jail, where she was taken after a domestic dispute. Police reports say that McNeil was resisting arrest and moved toward an officer, who then took her down. But the lawsuit says surveillance video shows police lied. The video shows an officer holding McNeil with her face pressed against a wall. At one point, the officer appears to pull her from the wall and throw her, face-first, on the ground as other officers stand nearby. When the officer lifts up McNeil's head, blood can be seen on her head and on the ground. McNeil then lays motionless as officers attend to her wound. Police reports say McNeil refused to remain standing and "used her weight to push herself off the wall with her chest and turned toward" an officer, forcing him to take her down, according to the lawsuit, which alleges that police lied about what happened. McNeil received 17 stitches and suffered a concussion, according to her attorney, Solomon Radner. "It was absolutely egregious, disgusting, thug-like conduct," Radner said. "You don't expect that from police officers, and it shouldn't be tolerated." Coldwater City Manager Keith Baker said he was familiar with McNeil's encounter with police and believes the officers acted appropriately. He said officials are reviewing the lawsuit. McNeil had been drinking on July 24 when her husband called police during an argument, leading to her arrest, according to the lawsuit. She had a blood alcohol level of .21, according to police. McNeil was charged with domestic violence and a felony charge for resisting a police officer. She pleaded no contest to the domestic violence charge and officials dropped the felony charge, Radner said. McNeil said she can't remember what happened at the jail. "I had no clue and nobody could tell me or would tell me," McNeil said. Colleges nationwide are teaching students about tacos, hooking up and country musics "homophobic and racist" message -- but those are just a few examples, as classes such as Queer Religion and Racial Capitalism become the new norm. The classes are listed and explained in Young Americas Foundation's annual report of bizarre courses with a leftist slant that are offered at top-tier colleges and universities throughout the country. Many courses fall under intersectionality -- the hottest trend in identity politics on college campuses, offering students classes combining forms of discrimination (i.e. racism, sexism and classism) in relation to marginalized individuals or groups. Ivy Leagues lead the list. Brown Universitys American Studies Department offers a course that uses specific objects including sugar, milk, vibrators, and Spanx as case studies to critically consider how material culture informs and signals identity. Trying Socrates in the Age of Trump, a course offered by Harvard Universitys Philosophy Department allows students to determine why the Athenians killed Socrates and ask what should be done with people who spread dangerous ideas? Harvard also offers Tacos, Tamales, and Tequila: Eating and Drinking in Ancient Mexico, Body Burdens: Toxic Tales and Politics of Environmental Racism and Leaning In, Hooking Up. Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvanias Gender, Sexuality and Womens Studies Department offers a course called More Human Than Human that explores how ecofeminists and post-humanists are dismantling constructs of personhood and giving equal rights to animals -- or speciesism. Princeton Universitys American Studies Department asks Is science gendered, racialized, ableist or classist? in a course titled Science After Feminism. They also offer Black to the Future: Science, Fiction, and Society, FAT: The F-Word and the Public Body and Media Spectacles, Scandalous Citizens and Democratic Possibilities. That course examines The Womens March, Trigger Warnings, Black Lives Matter, and Travel Bans. Indiana Universitys Gender Studies program offers Were All A Little Crazy: Gender, Madness, & Popular Culture, promising discussions on resting b***h face and hails of Yaaas, Queen! The University of Michigans American Culture Department offers Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, which looks into how homophobic and racist music serves as a medium for multicultural social and erotic exchange among queer country fans. Washington & Lee University has a course on Campus Sex in the Digital Age and Queering Colonialism, while the University of Illinois offers Hip Hop Feminism and Queer Lives, Queer Politics. Swarthmore Colleges Religious Studies Department lets students take Queering God: Feminist and Queer Theology and Queering the Bible, and Carleton College has Queer Religion while Middlebury offers Queering Food. Northwestern University has classes in Beyond the Binary: Transgender and Race and Medieval Sexuality. The latter looks into the fluidity of sex and gender roles in an age before sexual orientation; impact of and resistance to Christian theologys negatives assessment of sexuality; the cult of chastity. Rutgers University, which recently fired a professor amid accusations of anti-Semitism, offers a course called Race, Gender, and Islam in the United States, which looks at pre- and post-9/11 racializing practices. Williams College has a course on Radical Theories of Political Struggle: Anti-Black Racism and the Obama Administration as well as Racial Capitalism, which looks at the ways in which capitalist economies have always and everywhere relied upon forms of racist domination and exclusion. SNOWFLAKES AT CHRISTMAS? SOME UNIVERSITIES OFFER NO SAFE SPACE FOR SANTA OR JESUS Davidson College offers a class on Race, Religion, and Donald Trump, described as helping students gain appreciation for sociological analysis at the intersection of race-ethnicity and religion through the life experience of Barack Obama. Perhaps the most bizarre examples come from the University of Kentucky, where students can study Vampires: Evolution of a Sexy Monster answering such questions as What is a vampire? Where do they come from?" At DePaul University students can continue the undead trend with Zombies: Modern Myths, Race, and Capitalism, examining the development of the zombie myth as a reflection of US societal concerns while using the lenses of Post-Colonial and Post-Marxist theory. The immigrant from Bangladesh charged in a recent failed suicide bombing in New York City was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face charges related to the attempted attack. Akayed Ullah, 27, was arrested soon after the bomb attached to his body exploded Monday morning in a subway passageway near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Ullah, who was living in Brooklyn, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three other bomb-related counts. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. With a pipe bomb strapped to his body and ready to maximize casualities, Ullah allegedly targeted a morning rush hour crowd in attempt to punish the United States for attacking the Islamic State group, acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said. He had apparently "hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself," Kim said. An investigation found that Ullah had been researching how to build a bomb over a year ago and had planned his attack for several weeks, Kim said. Ullah came to the U.S. in 2011 on a "chain migration" visa and lived in a Bangladeshi community in Brooklyn with his parents and brother. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A heartless gunman shot an 80-year-old Brooklyn bodega owner in the chest Tuesday night killing him over a mere 50 cents, police sources told The Post. The gunman, who was still at large Wednesday, had taken a bottle of Corona from the fridge and thrown down $1.50 in payment. Hey, thats $2! shouted one of the four workers in the bodega the 797 Deli on Stanley Avenue and Ashford Street in East New York a law enforcement source told The Post. Im going to come back, the man threatened as he left with his beer. And shoot you all. Sure enough, a short while later the man returned and opened fire, letting loose 12 bullets. Only one struck its target, piercing the chest of bodega worker Abdulla Yafaee, 80. The callous gunman fled, but was caught on video and recognized by surviving workers as someone who had been at the store before. Read more from the New York Post. Two people were killed in what police believe was a murder-suicide during a shootout on the Beaver campus of Penn State University on Wednesday, local reports said. According to CBS Pittsburgh, citing Beaver County emergency services, both victims in the incident were killed. Pennsylvania State Police told the outlet that the shooting involved a school employee and is being considered a murder-suicide. Authorities told WTAE that they have reason to believe the shooter was the employee's estranged husband. The coroner reportedly was on the way to the scene. Police said the woman and her husband were both found dead beside her car near a Penn State Beaver dining hall. The campus official Twitter account confirmed that the shooting occurred and the campus was closed but would reopen on Thursday. It also confirmed that police responded to an incident on campus and said there was no current threat but people should stay away from the Student Union Building and Food Services area. CBS Pittsburgh said several ambulances arrived on scene after some 15 shots were fired. In a letter to students obtained by WTAE, the school confirmed the "tragic act of violence" on campus "which did not involve students." "Our thoughts are with all who have been affected," the email read. "Please know that the threat has ended, and that your safety and security remain our number one priority." The Associated Press contributed to this report. A teachers aide at a middle school in Tampa, Fla., was arrested Monday on charges that he solicited nude photos and requested sex from two underage students. Authorities said Quinton Bradford, 24, of Tampa, contacted the two 13-year-old girls via social media, through which he requested and received the photos, the Bradenton Herald reported. He also requested a sexual encounter that did not happen, the paper reported. The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office said Bradford faces four counts of obscene communication using computer/devices to solicit and lure children, the paper reported. Bradford had been working in the school district since 2014, WTSP-TV reported. School officials said they were in the process of terminating Bradford. A teacher in Texas was arrested Tuesday following an alleged sexual relationship with a minor she reportedly met while volunteering at a church. According to KXAN, Nicole Marie-Faires Andrews, a former middle school teacher, was accused by the Williamson County Sheriffs Office of engaging in an illicit sexual relationship with a minor she met at the Church at Canyon Creek. Authorities reportedly began investigating the alleged tryst in October while Andrews, 31, was a volunteer youth administrator. A spokesman for the church could not be immediately reached for comment but KXAN reported that the group is sending an email to church members to brief them on the incident. SANTA HAT THIEF BURGLARIZING HOMES NEAR HOLLYWOOD HILLS Andrews reportedly worked at Cedar Park Middle School until she resigned on Nov. 6. Authorities with the sheriffs office said the minor was not a student at the school, Fox 7 reported. The school could not be immediately reached for comment. Williamson County Sheriffs Office records showed that Andrews, of Cedar Park, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and an improper relationship between an educator and student. The United States has announced new assistance to the Lebanese military including helicopters and other advanced military equipment. The new assistance package was disclosed during a visit by the head of U.S. Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel to Lebanon on Wednesday during which he met with the army chief and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Speaking after the meeting in Beirut, American Ambassador Elizabeth Richard said the package, valued at more than $120 million, includes six new light attack helicopters, six unmanned aerial vehicles and communication and night vision devices. She said the equipment will help the army "build on its steady strong capability to conduct border security and counterterrorism operations." Washington has been a major supporter of Lebanon's army, and has provided more than $1 billion in military assistance to Lebanon since 2006. Authorities in Bangladesh have said the man suspected of attempting to detonate a pipe bomb at New York Citys Port Authority Bus Terminal Monday was not on the countrys terror watch list. Akayed Ullah, 27, who lived in Brooklyn and entered the U.S. in 2011 through chain migration, was not found to have a criminal background in his home country of Bangladesh, Agence France-Press (AFP) reported Tuesday. He was allegedly not on any terror watch lists of extremists, either. So far, his name is not on our wide-range list of radicalized persons or members of terror groups, both from Bangladesh and outside, Sanwar Hossain, a senior counter terrorism police officer, told AFP. We are trying to gather more details. Ullah also wasnt on the radar of law enforcement officials prior to Monday mornings commuter rush hour attack, according to John Miller, NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism. Police reportedly were unable to provide much information about Ullahs life in Bangladesh a country, according to AFP, that has been waging a war against homegrown extremism in recent years. Ullah told authorities after his botched terror attack that he planned the bombing for the Islamic State and was angry about the U.S. policies in the Middle East, according to the criminal complaint released on Tuesday. The suspect came to the U.S. from Bangladesh nearly seven years ago, and began radicalizing as early as 2014, the complaint read. He had allegedly researched how to carry out an attack on the U.S. by looking at ISIS propaganda online. He reportedly learned how to make the bomb online about a year ago and spent the last several weeks planning the attack. Ullahs pipe bomb which was packed with explosive powder detonated on Monday in the subway area underneath the bus terminal. Ullah was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, use of a weapon of mass destruction and three bomb-related counts. He remains in the hospital and is expected to be arraigned later Tuesday or Wednesday. Fox News Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinians won't accept any role for the United States in a peace process with Israel "from now on" after President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. Abbas says Trump's decision was a "crime" that threatens world peace. He says there will be no peace in the region if the world doesn't recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The Palestinian leader spoke Wednesday at a summit of Islamic nations hosted by Turkey. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation gathered Wednesday in the wake of Trump's Jerusalem decision -- a move widely criticized across the world but hailed by Israel. The summit is expected to forge a unified position of Arab and Muslim countries. Abbas said the international community has nearly unanimously opposed Trump's decision, calling it a "provocation" to Muslim and Christian sentiments and saying measures were needed to protect the identity of the divided city. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told "Fox News Sunday" that Trump's decision will speed up the Middle East peace process. Trump ordered the State Department to begin moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. The move inflamed tensions across the Middle East. "We think this is actually going to help us fastball the peace process going forward," Haley said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criticized Israel at the opening of a summit, calling it a "terror state." Erdogan said in his speech to the gathering that Jerusalem was a "red line" for Muslims who will not accept any aggression on its Islamic sanctuaries. He said East Jerusalem is the capital of a future Palestinian state and called on states that have not recognized a Palestinian state to do so. Erdogan says the "process to include Palestine in international agreements and institutions should be sped up." The Associated Press contributed to this report Chinese officials are calling for deeper ties with Japan on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre. Chinese President Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence Wednesday but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of China's parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future. China's government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops entering China's then capital in December 1937 following bitter street fighting in Shanghai. Some right-wing Japanese politicians have downplayed the death poll or denied outright that the atrocity happened. A Japanese hotel chain attracted condemnation in January when it distributed a book questioning Japan's use of forced sex workers and calling the Nanking Massacre a fake. A military court in eastern Congo has sentenced a dozen militia members, including a lawmaker, to life in prison for the rapes of more than 46 children as young as 11 months old. Human rights organizations have called the trial groundbreaking in a country where sexual violence is rampant and perpetrators often go unpunished. Dozens of armed groups are active in the mineral-rich nation. The court in Bukavu on Wednesday also convicted provincial deputy Frederic Batumike for organizing the militia violence and for crimes against humanity that took place for years in Kavumu starting in 2013. The village is 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Bukavu. The court awarded $5,000 to each victim of sexual violence and $15,000 to the families of those killed. A manhunt is underway for Indias so-called happiness minister, who vanished after his arrest was ordered in the 2009 death of an opposition politician, according to local reports. Lal Singh Arya, who was named the countrys first happiness minister in January, is wanted in connection with the 2009 death of Makhanlal Jatay. The dragnet for Arya was drawn after a court in Bhind district issued a non-bailable warrant for his arrest, the Times of India reported. Police reportedly searched three locations, including Aryas residence in Bhopal, but he has so far eluded authorities. A search at a residence in Gwalior town, as well as one in Arya's native Goha, left investigators similarly empty-handed. Sources told AFP officials were hoping to find Arya before his scheduled court appearance on Dec. 19. Police teams are still looking for him, Supt. Prashant Khare said, according to the Guardian. We are positive that we will track him down by then. The happiness ministry in the state of Madhya Pradesh is modeled on the gross national happiness index used in Bhutan. In India, the ministry hopes to create its own happiness index, promising social programs such as yoga, meditation and free religious pilgrimages. It is a high-tech high-security fortress in London. At $1 billion, the new U.S. embassy in the UK is the most expensive ever. The walls are blast-resistant. The glass is shatter-proof. It is diplomacy in the age of terror. The world has changed and so this building meets all those challenges, Woody Johnson, U.S. Ambassador to the UK, told Fox News. One important security feature, and an appropriate one for an embassy in the land of castles: A 100-foot-wide moat, at least one that protects one side of the building. Staffers like to call it a pond. It was the exposed nature of the old U.S. embassy that helped push this move. Five often deadly terror strikes in the UK this year underscored it. An urban environment like weve seen in London with attacks, embassy architect James Timberlake told Fox News, are unknown and can happen any time. The new embassy, just south of the Thames River, is more remote. But its not without risk. Suspicious vehicles near the site triggered controlled detonations earlier this year. You have to take the rough with the smooth, said Ravi Govindia, leader of London borough of Wandsworth. Of course, there will be concerns and disruptions. 1,000 embassy staffers will be housed in a safe and open environment. The sale of the old embassy and another property paid for the new one. The new embassy opens to the public January 16. According to Ambassador Johnson, the embassy will be dedicated by President Trump during a visit scheduled for early next year. As cases continue to pile up showing U.S. citizens suffering injury, sexual assault or even death after drinking potentially tainted booze at Mexican resorts, the U.S. Office of Inspector General is taking another look at how the State Department is handling the ongoing deluge of vacation horror stories. In a letter sent to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Tuesday, Inspector General Steve Linick said his office would determine whether additional work is warranted after reviewing the policies. Thats wonderful, thats great, said Ginny McGowan, the mother of 20-year-old Abbey Conner, who mysteriously drowned in Mexico during a family vacation in January. McGowan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Its better than what weve been hearing and getting in terms of denial and nobody taking responsibility. Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, called for the inquiry in October following a Journal Sentinel investigation in which dozens of Americans came forward to say they were robbed, sexually assaulted or otherwise injured after drinking possibly tainted alcohol at resorts across Mexico. In Conners case, the 20-year-old from Pewaukee, Wis., drowned after drinking tequila for less than two hours with her brother at a swim-up bar at the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar pool. She was found unconscious and brain dead in one of the resorts pools and was flown to Florida before being taken off life support days later. In addition to suffering a broken collar bone, the resort remains tight-lipped about the incident and would not provide surveillance video, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Her death was labeled by Mexican police as an accidental drowning and the State Department -- which has no investigative authority in Mexico -- said it could do little to help. The agency currently does not offer legal advice to Americans in Mexico, cant translate the Spanish language for those abroad and has not been tracking injuries of American citizens there, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel added. A travel warning for Mexico posted on the State Departments website in August made no mention of problems stemming from potentially tainted alcohol. But a section on the country's specific information page says there have been "allegations that consumption of unregulated alcohol has resulted in illness or blacking out." The U.S. Mission in Mexico continues to press the Government of Mexico and Mexican state authorities to make the safety and protection of U.S. tourists a priority," a State Department official told Fox News. "Any U.S. citizen who falls ill should seek immediate medical attention. U.S. citizens should also contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Mexico. The Embassy and Consulates stand ready to provide appropriate consular services to U.S. citizens in need. The tainted alcohol issue also was addressed in at least three State Department press briefings. "State Department officials in Washington, D.C. and Mexico have had numerous meetings with Mexican officials regarding our concerns," the official added. The Journal Sentinel, citing a 2017 report by Mexico government officials and industry representatives, said as much as 36 percent of the booze consumed in Mexico is bootleg. We have got to start somewhere, Abbeys father, Bill Conner, said after learning about the new inquiry. I have the feeling somebody wants to make a difference, but Ill wait and see what they come back with. If its all the same stuff we already know, Ill be disappointed at minimum. Democratic senators Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, and Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, also have said the State Department is downplaying the risk to tourists visiting Mexico. Linicks announcement comes on the heels of the Federal Trade Commission saying that it would investigate the business practices of TripAdvisor, a travel ratings website accused of covering up reports of rape and tainted alcohol at all-inclusive Mexico resorts. An American man who's spent the last 18 months in a Venezuelan prison must stand trial on weapons charges, a judge ruled Tuesday, dashing hopes Joshua Holt would be released and reunited with his family for Christmas. Holt, 25, traveled to the South American country in 2016 to marry a fellow Mormon he met online. Shortly after the ceremony, however, the couple was arrested at a Caracas apartment occupied by Holt's wife's family on allegations Holt was stockpiling weapons. Judge Ana Maria Gamuza formally charged Holt and his wife, Thamara Candelo, on Tuesday. The ruling at the preliminary hearing, to which the U.S. Embassys top diplomat was denied access, came two months after Gamuza heard arguments about whether Holt should remain imprisoned. CONDITIONAL RELEASE FOR JAILED UTAH MAN SOUGHT BY VENEZUELAN PROSECUTOR Washington has cited Holts case and subsequent procedural delays as evidence the case is being politicized by President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government in an effort to retaliate against U.S. economic sanctions. Further stoking those concerns, Lee McClenny, the head of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, was forced Tuesday to wait outside the courtroom for hours after the judge refused to grant him access to the proceedings in apparent violation of the Vienna convention on consular rights. Gamuzas ruling also came a day after Holts mother released an audio recording of her son complaining about suffering without medical care. "I'm totally devastated. I don't even know what to think," Holt's mother, Laurie Holt, told The Associated Press by telephone from her home near Salt Lake City. "I can't understand how they can send a young kid who's completely innocent to trial and feel good about that." On Monday, Laurie shared an audio recording she said was sent by cellphone in which Joshua Holt talks about throwing up all night, feeling dizzy and struggling to think. "I'm very dizzy and I can't think and my stomach hurts," he says. "It hurts bad, and I don't know what to do. I've never felt like this before." Alarmed by the recording, the State Department on Tuesday reiterated its call for Holt's release. "He's in extremely poor health. We want him to be brought home," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a press briefing during which she also said she expected U.S. Embassy officials would be present at the hearing. Laurie Holt said she hasn't heard from her son since he made the distress call Monday morning and she fears his cellphone was taken away in retaliation for her decision to release the recording. Holt and Candelo are being held in the Helicoide, a spiral shaped Caracas prison where Maduro's most-prominent political opponents are jailed. In an odd twist in the case, his legal defense is being paid for by a wealthy Venezuelan shipping magnate with close ties to Maduro's government. The same businessman, Wilmer Ruperti, is funding the defense of first lady Cilia Flores' two nephews in a separate, politically charged narcotics trial in the United States. The nephews, Efrain Campos and Francisco Flores, were arrested by police in Haiti in 2015 and convicted a year ago of conspiring to smuggle more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. They are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Chapel Down raises 18.5m, marking a new chapter of growth Chapel Down has completed 18.5 million fundraising by issuing new shares, and it hopes to raise around 1.4 million more with the help of existing shareholders. The English wine, beer and spirits producer said it has raised 18.5 million through the issue of 37,060,000 new shares at 50p each. The funds raised will be used to enable the company to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for its award-winning products, and more specifically it said the proceeds would be used: * Firstly to grow the wine business by securing new vineyard land of around 500 acres, and managing that land to fruition, as well as building new stock. * Secondly, it aims to invest in the sales and marketing of Chapel Down and Curious brands and further strengthen the companys world class team, to support future growth ambitions. * Thirdly, it hopes to accelerate the growth of its beer business including the fit out of the shop, bar and visitor experience at its Ashford brewery. * For its fourth point it said it wishes to build a strong position in the spirits market through the recently launched gin and vodka brands. * And finally it hopes to enable the company to be best places to take advantage of acquisition and consolidation opportunities that may arise. Chapel Down said it also intends to launch an Open Offer for existing shareholders to continue their journey with Chapel Down and take part in the next stage of the companys development. The Open Offer, which will launch on 19 December, will also be at 50p per share. The proceeds from this will be used for general working capital purposes and corporate M&A activity. As a result of the fundraising the company provided a trading update which shows it delivered consistent growth over the last six years with a 25% annual growth rate in sales. Turnover is expected to be at or above 11.6 million for the current financial year, in line with expectations. The company expanded its senior team this year by hiring Gareth Bath from Brewdog and Mark Harvey from LVMH to drive the beer, wines and spirits businesses. Frazer Thompson, ceo of Chapel Down, said: This is a transformational moment for Chapel Down. The fundraising enables us to significantly invest in the business for further growth and to meet the increasing demand for our products. We welcome the new investors in our company and hope that many of our existing shareholders will take part in the open offer and continue their journey with Chapel Down. "This marks the opening of a new chapter of growth for Chapel Down. With an outstanding team and world class products, we will look to fully capitalise on our position as the UKs most exciting drinks company. Related articles: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a triumphant visit to the newly liberated city of Kherson. He hailed the Russian withdrawal from the southern city as the beginning of the end of the war but also acknowledged the heavy price Ukrainian soldiers are paying in their grinding effort to push back the invaders. Retaking Kherson was one of Ukraines biggest successes in the nearly 9-month-old war and delivered another stinging blow to the Kremlin. But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine are still under Russian control, and the city of Kherson itself is without water, power and heat, and remains within reach of Moscows shells and missiles. Heavy fighting continued elsewhere in Ukraine. A woman who was prominently accused during a recent trial of being the catalyst for the December 2015 slaying of Spotsylvania County resident Heather Ciccone was arrested Wednesday morning in New Jersey, authorities confirmed. Danielle Sheree Long, 24, is charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder and conspiring to commit perjury. The two charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Spotsylvania Sheriffs Lt. Charles Carey said he wasnt sure where in New Jersey Long was arrested or how long it will take for her to be brought to Virginia. He said the U.S. Marshals Office was involved in Longs arrest. The father of Longs two children, 29-year-old Joshua Christopher Williams, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the Ciccone slaying. A jury recommended that he serve 38 years in prison. Ciccone was shot in the back of the head late Dec. 6, 2015, in a driveway on Piney Branch Road in Spotsylvania. The evidence showed Ciccone had left her house that night to broker a large marijuana deal and had spoken with Williams just before she left. During the six-day trial, prosecutors put on evidence showing that Long had become incensed a couple of months earlier after learning that Williams and Ciccone were in a physical relationship. She called Ciccone numerous times, including 137 times in one day, and went to her home to confront her on Oct. 10, 2015, according to testimony. Long was also accused during the trial of creating fake Instagram pages to disparage Ciccone, claiming among other things that Ciccone was passing a sexually transmitted disease. There was no evidence that Ciccone actually had such a disease. She also sent videos to friends of Ciccone in which she threatened her and said she deserved to be popped, according to the evidence. Prosecutor Ryan Mehaffey said during the trial that Long was murderously jealous of Ciccone and influenced Williams to arrange her killing in part by convincing him that Ciccone was working for the police against Williams, who was a drug dealer. Jonathan Vejarano is the person authorities believe actually shot Ciccone. During Williams trial, inmates testified that Vejarano told them he carried out the slaying to work off a marijuana debt, get more marijuana and to gain admittance into Williams gang, the G-Shyne Bloods. Vejarano is also charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. His trial date has not yet been scheduled. Long is facing the same charges as Williams brother, Clinton Edward Williams, 27, who was arrested over the weekend. At least one witness testified during Joshua Williams trial that Clinton Williams and Long were with Joshua Williams and Vejarano when the slaying occurred. The conspiracy to commit perjury charges stem from phone calls Joshua Williams made last week to his brother and Long. During the recorded calls from the Rappahannock Regional Jail, Williams appeared to be concocting an alibi for his brother to testify about. In the call to Long, Williams recited a script and said he wanted Long to make sure Clinton Williams learned it verbatim. The rehearsed story would have placed Joshua Williams away from the murder scene and implicated another man in the murder. Williams several times asked Long to read back what she wrote down, but Long would not, saying only, I got it. Virginias Medicaid program is mailing letters to more than 68,000 families, warning them that their childrens health insurance might end on Jan. 31, as Congress has continuously failed to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, since September. The state uses CHIP funds to pay for FAMIS, or Family Access to Medical Insurance Security. That program covers not only thousands of low-income children, according to the most recently available figures, but more than 1,100 pregnant women as well. For 20 years CHIP has had the strong support of Congress and has been renewed many times, the letters being sent to families today reads. We are hopeful that Congress will once again provide the funding to continue this program. However, because Congress has not acted yet, we need to let you know that there is a chance the FAMIS programs may have to shut down. The Department of Medical Assistance Services, or DMAS, has done its best to avoid sending letters. Originally meant to be sent on the first of the month to give families at least 60 days notice, it was delayed in hopes that Congress would re-fund CHIP through the continuing resolution it passed to keep the government open on Dec. 8. That did not happen. The initial deadline to reauthorize CHIP was Sept. 30, at the end of the fiscal year, and states have been running on leftover funds since then. It is truly shameful that gridlock and dysfunction in Congress have left nearly 70,000 Virginians who depend on the FAMIS program hanging in limbo, Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a news release. While families must be notified with plenty of time to find another insurance option, if one is available to them, the Department of Medical Assistance Serivces deputy director, Linda Nablo, has expressed concerns that sending the letter would cause confusion for families, especially if Congress does end up re-funding CHIP before Jan. 31, as she hopes. The letter expresses the same hope. We are hopeful that Congress will act soon and the FAMIS programs will continue to help thousands of families like yours, it states. However, if Congress does not renew federal funds for CHIP in time, you will get another letter in January telling you when FAMIS benefits will end. It also states that a follow-up letter will be sent if Congress does indeed reauthorize CHIP. Moments after the Westmoreland Board of Supervisors passed amendments Monday night to strictly limit gas and oil drilling, board members asked the county attorney to start researching a possible moratorium on the activity. Supervisors said they wanted to have protections in place through their zoning ordinance before they looked into an all-out ban. Thats the reason we went in that sequence, said Board Chairman Darryl Fisher. Westmoreland officials worried what would happen if they banned the activityas nearby Richmond County did in Novemberand then the state decided it wasnt legal for localities to take such an action. Westmorelands county attorney is Richard Stuart, a Montross lawyer who also serves in the Virginia Senate. He advised them to put regulations in place first, then decide if they want to prohibit hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water deep into the ground to loosen trapped gas and oil. Stuart referred to a May 2015 opinion by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, which declared counties have the authority to restrictor even banfracking through zoning and land-use ordinances. I dont know that I would entirely hang my hat on that opinion, Stuart said. Two years earlier, then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said the opposite. He advised that counties could place reasonable restrictions on where gas wells are drilled, but could not ban the activity altogether. Attorneys general provide guidance on legal matters, but those opinions do not carry the same force of law as judges rulings. Officials in Westmoreland, a county bordered by the Rappahannock and Potomac riverswith many tributaries running throughout its rural localityfollowed their attorneys advice. They changed both their Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinances to protect the quality and quantity of their water, agricultural and forest land, historic and scenic resources and rural character, according to the new amendment. The ordinance creates a new resource extraction, planned development district where fracking would be allowed by special exception. And thats only after would-be drillers complete an extensive application that addresses impacts on traffic and noise, water and county infrastructure and includes maps, narratives and an extensive site plan. The minimum size of a drilling district would be 40 acres. That could include smaller contiguous lots of 10 to 20 acres, according to the amendment. The space between the drilling operations and resource protection areas, such as wetlands, houses, school and public and private wells could range from 500 feet to more than half a mile. Westmoreland planners, its Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors have been grappling with how to deal with fracking for three years. The new zoning ordinance covers 18 pages and includes an extensive number of requirements. The Planning Commission went into a lot of detail in order to make it as hard as possible to get a permit to drill, said Supervisor Russ Culver. Supervisor W.W. Woody Hynson did not vote on the fracking measures. Both he and his parents before him rented land to an oil company for possible drilling, and he decided to refrain from voting so it wouldnt appear he was influenced by the money. Hynson also said his lease with Shore Exploration Corp. expired last year. About 14,000 acres in Westmoreland had leases for possible drilling with Shore, a company with headquarters in Dallas. Westmoreland is one of five localities in the Taylorsville basin, an area east and south of Fredericksburg where Shore had leased about 84,000 acres for possible drilling. No one from the gas and oil industry attended Monday nights meeting in Montross. But a year ago, Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, submitted a written response to Westmorelands proposal to put strict regulations in place. As hes done with other localities debating drilling amendments, Morin stressed that Virginia already has plenty of comprehensive regulations governing oil and gas drilling. He also said Virginia has a 99.9 percent or 100 percent environmental record over the past five years. Morin also offered some insight into the industrys view of the Taylorsville basin, and the company that proposed drilling there. If the oil and gas industry thought the Taylorsville basin had immense potential, it would have been permitted and drilled years ago during the boom, when prices were double or more what they are today, Morin wrote. The leases that exist in this area were one companys speculative play, he continued. If one of our members really wanted to drill here, you would probably have heard from them already. Tax-reform plans wont help most small businesses As a small business owner, Im extremely disappointed by the House and Senates plans to drastically alter the tax code. Despite promises to provide a boost to small businesses and the middle class, their proposals will instead benefit large corporations and the wealthy. Legislation from both chambers claims to benefit small businesses by changing the way that pass-through rates are applied, but only a sliver of small businesses actually pay the top rates. These changes will primarily benefit wealthy individuals like hedge fund managers. Whats more, cutting the corporate rate to 20 percent will help only a few small businesses because only 5 percent of small firms pay the corporate rate. Even worse, these tax cuts are not offset by closing costly corporate loopholes that put us at a disadvantage and hurt the economy. Most small business owners I know dont want tax cuts in a vacuum. We want changes that level the playing field for our businesses. Its time for Congress to stop pretending these tax plans will help small businesses. Before sending a final bill to the presidents desk, Congress should listen to small business owners and pursue tax reform that makes it easier for us to compete. Bonnie Vermillion Culpeper 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. Several years ago in this space, we commented on the various legal shakedowns conducted by various environmental groups. One of the more egregious examples noted was the practice known as sue and settle. In this scam, an environmental group like the Natural Resource Defense Council, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, etc., would file a friendly lawsuit against a federal agency, usually the Environmental Protection Agency. The lawsuit was friendly in the sense that the greens wanted the federal administrators to do what the administrators wanted to do but legally couldnt or at least not without serious political blowback. In the sue and settle scam, the federal administrators would settle the suit, caving in to the green groups demands, and claim they did it to save the public money. (How often do you see federal administrators worry about taxpayers money?) Then the EPA would pay the plaintiffs legal costs, subsidizing the lawsuits against it. (Saving taxpayers money?) Twelve states attorneys generals filed suit against the EPA over a practice they claimed violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The lead attorney general in the suit was Oklahomas Scott Pruitt, who now just happens to be administrator of the EPA. So it should be no surprise that, in mid-October, Pruitt announced an end to sue and settle. The Sierra Clubs response was unsurprising: This week, Scott Pruitt and his polluter cronies are aggressively perpetrating the lie they call sue and settle as a way of refusing to enforce our nations critical environmental laws. On Monday, Pruitt announced that the Environmental Protection Agency would avoid settling lawsuits with public interest groups and instead would lean toward fighting cases in court. But dont be fooled: This is a phony remedy in search of a problem to solve. The Sierra Clubs piece goes on to make some valid points. In most cases the lawsuits were procedural, forcing the EPA to make decisions after a deadline had been missed. OK, but that begs the question of why taxpayers are paying the Sierra Clubs legal fees. It also ignores the issue of collusion between green groups and a federal agency important to natural resource industries like mining. Another case in point that has been recently revealed concerns the Pebble Mine in southwestern Alaska. Most press coverage of the mine has described it as a threat to the salmon in Bristol Bay. However, the mine is not on Bristol Bay its over 100 miles away. That puts it close enough to do potential harm because it is in the bays watershed, but before the mines developer, Northern Dynasty, submitted permit applications, an EPA employee was allegedly collaborating with local Native American groups to generate public opposition to it. The status of the project, a large copper, gold and molybdenum deposit, is still uncertain. We have seen similar incidents in Nevada and elsewhere but with a twist that does not need to involve the EPA. Native American groups are eligible for legal assistance through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for various matters from normal civil and criminal matters to tribal law and organization. No problem, except that a cottage industry has developed around these free legal services that actually makes them quite expensive. Lawyers specializing in all sorts of fields actively solicit Native American plaintiffs to represent them in lawsuits against defendants of all kinds, including mining companies just like what happened several years ago with Barricks Cortez mine. For the native groups, there is no risk, and for the lawyers, everything to gain. RENO (AP) A Nevada doctor has become the first in the state to face criminal drug distribution and health care fraud charges under a federal push to stem so-called pill mill physicians dispensing large amounts of powerful opioid medications with no legitimate medical purpose, prosecutors said Tuesday. Devendra Patel, 58, was arrested in Elko and was being transported in custody to Reno, where he was due for a detention hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court, said Trisha Young, spokeswoman for Steven Myhre, the acting U.S. attorney in Las Vegas. It wasnt immediately clear if Patel had a lawyer. Attorneys who represent him as plaintiff in an unrelated civil lawsuit against the corporate owner of Northeast Nevada Regional Hospital didnt immediately respond to messages about the criminal pill mill charges. Patel is a cardiologist who also uses the name Devendrakumar Patel. He was the first person charged in Nevada under a U.S. Justice Department effort announced in August that made the state one of 12 with a federal prosecutor focused specifically on opioid fraud and abuse, Myhre said. Federal officials say more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, mostly due to opioids including fentanyl. Patel is accused from May 2014 to September 2017 of routinely overprescribing fentanyl, hydrocodone and oxycodone for patients and of fraudulently billing Medicare and Medicaid for medical tests that he did not perform. His 39-count indictment includes 36 charges of distribution of controlled substances and three charges of health care fraud. Each count carries a maximum possible penalty of 10 years in prison, Myhre said. The indictment also alleges that Patel performed EKGs on his patients so he could then order nuclear stress tests which he did not administer. A release from the Justice Department said he allegedly used a poorly calibrated machine and presented his patients with fraudulent X-rays, in order to deceive his patients into thinking they had coronary issues that needed to be treated by him. Patel received his medical degree from Baroda Medical College in Vadodara, India. He has been in practice for more than 20 years. Officials including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions released statements along with the announcement of Patels arrest. Today we are facing the worst drug crisis in American history, with one American dying of a drug overdose every nine minutes, Sessions said. This summer, I ordered the creation of the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit, which brings together data analysts and Assistant United States Attorneys from throughout the country to prosecute doctors engaged in opioid-related health care fraud. Additionally, I assigned a dozen of our top federal prosecutors to focus solely on this problem where the epidemic is at its worst. Prosecuting these cases help cut off the supply of drugs and stop addiction from spreading. These prosecutors are already delivering results, filing charges against doctors in Western Pennsylvania and Nevada. We will file many more charges in the months to come because the Department of Justice will be relentless in hunting down drug dealers and turning the tide of this epidemic. Dr. Patel is the first person to be charged in Nevada since the formation of the Justice Departments Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit, said Acting U.S. Attorney Steven. W. Myhre. The U.S. Attorneys Office is committed to turning the tide of the prescription opioid epidemic that is plaguing our communities. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute individuals who contribute to this scourge. Despite his physicians oath to do no harm, Dr. Patel recklessly prescribed opioids, for no legitimate medical purpose, stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse. The FBI is confident that todays arrest will send a message to other physicians that are prescribing opioids outside the scope of legitimate medical care. We are committed to using every tool in our arsenal to battle the opioid crisis in the state of Nevada. Our Country is in the midst of a devastating opioid crisis and DEA is using every resource available to identify the traffickers and facilitators fueling addiction in our communities, said DEA Special Agent in Charge David J. Downing. Healthcare professionals who abuse the publics trust and prescribe or dispense drugs purely for profit are drug dealers, and theyre going to be held accountable. To combat this opioid epidemic, OIG will never hesitate to investigate health professionals more concerned with profits than patients, said Special Agent in Charge Christian Schrank for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office, Los Angeles Region. Inappropriately diagnosing patients and then prescribing medications is only compounded by the greed of sticking taxpayers with the bill. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Secret Service, Elko Combined Narcotics Unit, Nevada Department of Public Safety, and the Elko County Sheriffs Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kilby Macfadden and Sue Fahami are prosecuting the case. According to the Department of Justice release, more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016 and the majority of these deaths can be attributed to opioids, including illicit fentanyl. For information about the harmful effects of illicit drug use, visit www.JustThinkTwice.com for teens, and www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com for parents, educators and caregivers. We will file many more charges in the months to come because the Department of Justice will be relentless in hunting down drug dealers and turning the tide of this epidemic. Attorney General Jeff Sessions Some sheep farmers can cope with lamb prices below 55 a head, while others estimate they need more than 80 to stay in business, a Farmers Weekly poll has found. Huge variation in farm cost of production has been revealed by the 200-farmer survey undertaken online last month. See also: Lambs fed multispecies grass match creep-fed gains The poll ran alongside a bleak Trade Talk opinion piece, written by livestock auctioneer Chris Clapham of Stags, South Molton Livestock Market, in which he voiced concern for the future viability of prime lamb production. He discussed a worst-case scenario in which lamb prices could slump below 50 a head. I am frequently told by my vendors that 70 is the break-even point to produce a prime lamb, wrote Mr Clapham. Get a handle on fixed costs Commenting on the results, NFU livestock adviser Tom Dracup said the values in the poll were higher than the latest AHDB Stocktake cost of production of 58. However, he stressed that many factors can influence or mask production costs, such as land rental values, machinery depreciation and accounting for unpaid labour. What can muddy the waters are the difficulties of attributing fixed costs, Mr Dracup told Farmers Weekly. It is difficult to attribute fixed costs to certain enterprises on a mixed farm. Many flocks run alongside other enterprises such as a beef or dairy herd or an arable enterprise, which can often take the fixed costs of machinery and depreciation. He said the sheep farming businesses are often complex, structured around local weather and land type. There are constant messages in the industry about streamlining businesses, cutting unnecessary costs and continually reviewing performance and benchmarking using tools such as AHDBs Farmbench. It is important farms identify areas they can improve, but its not easy, as many factors affect cost of production. Cost of production models Mr Dracup said cost of production models, already widely used in the dairy sector, could benefit some producers in sheep industry. He said the NFU welcomed new methods to market lamb for its members, adding: The more options on the table, the better. What is important is that farmers receive a fair price and transparent price. Deadweight sales, livestock marts, forward contracts and cost of production models all play a useful role in the UK sheep industry moving forwards. Lamb prices holding up A weaker sterling since the Brexit announcement has underpinned lamb prices, but a huge amount of uncertainty lies ahead, Mr Clapham told Farmers Weekly. In the meanwhile, lamb prices have seasonal, local and regional trends, he said. We are seeing the traditional rise in prices going into December for the Christmas trade and I would expect that prices strengthen in Devon this week, with snow interrupting trading in Wales and the Midlands. What is reassuring is that a lot of farming people are working hard to let MPs know what agriculture needs in the future. Massive ranch owned by Mars candy heir sold BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) One of the largest Montana ranches owned by the late Mars Inc. co-president has been sold. The Billings Gazette reports Heal Holdings LLC purchased the 187-square mile Diamond Cross Ranch on Dec. 1. The asking price for ranch located in Birney in southeastern Montana was $64.8 million. According to Floridas secretary of states office, Heal Holdings is a limited liability company. The Diamond Cross Ranch was assembled by Mars candy heir Forrest Mars Jr. who died in July 2016 in Sheridan, Wyoming at age 84. The ranch went on sale in March. Century 21 BJH Real Estate Agent Bruce Garber says the ranch was likely bought quickly because of its large size. LDS Church donates $5M for refugee resettlement SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a second straight year has donated $5 million worth of aid to the nine voluntary refugee resettlement agencies in the United States. The Deseret News reported Sunday that the money will be used during 2018 by the nine agencies that have agreements with the State Department to provide reception and placement services for refugees who arrive in the United States. The donation comes from the churchs LDS Humanitarian Fund. Church members were encouraged to donate to the fund in October 2015, which prompted the funds balance to skyrocket. The fund has provided money, items and services for refugees in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Man falling from 2nd-story rail caught by Nevada jail guard Falling man caught by deputies at Pahrump jail PAHRUMP (AP) Two sheriffs deputies were credited Tuesday with preventing a man from suffering serious injuries when he let himself fall backward from a second-story rail in what officials called an apparent suicide attempt last week inside a Nevada county jail. Neither the inmate nor the deputy who caught him, Joshua Armendariz, were seriously hurt in the Dec. 5 incident inside the Nye County Detention Center in Pahrump, sheriffs Lt. David Boruchowitz said. Boruchowitz said another jail deputy, Ann Horak, tried to prevent the man from falling. The inmate was identified as a Las Vegas resident in his mid-20s who Boruchowitz said was arrested Sept. 24 and threatened suicide while serving a 90-day sentence for convictions on speeding, driving without a valid license and failure to provide proof of insurance charges. The man and Armendariz were checked for minor injuries and released at Desert Valley Hospital in Pahrump before Boruchowitz said the man was assigned to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. His name was not made public. Armendariz has been a guard for three years, and Horak for two years at the jail, Boruchowitz said. The facility usually houses about 175 detainees and inmates in Pahrump, 60 miles 97 (kilometers) west of Las Vegas. As a parent, you may be concerned about how to pay for your childs future higher education expenses. You want whats best for your child and to help them fulfill their dream of becoming whatever they want to be. However, as we all know, the cost of college is getting more expensive each year. By the time your children are ready for college, it may be even more expensive than you thought. In recent years, college costs have been rising. The average tuition rate for a public college has increased by 9 percent over the past five years. It is estimated that costs will continue to rise by 5 percent per year. Of course you may feel concerned when considering these staggering figures. Thats where The State of Nevada is here to help. The Nevada State Treasurers offers college savings programs that can help you prepare for the rising cost of higher education. The Nevada Prepaid Tuition Program lets you lock in tomorrows in-state tuition at todays prices. And, you can use the tuition benefits at any institution that accepts the Free Application for Student Aid nationwide. This includes any eligible public or private university, college, or vocational school that is qualified to participate in federal financial aid. Act now! Nevada Prepaid Tuition is now open for enrollment and newborns through ninth graders are eligible. This program can be used with other 529 college savings plans or scholarships to cover remaining higher education expenses, such as room and board, books, fees, and even a computer! Payments are affordable, and start as low as $38 a month and the payments will not change regardless of future increases in tuition. Thats the benefit of locking in todays in-state rates! Education is important. Dont let the rising cost of college discourage you from supporting your childs dream of a college education. The Nevada State Treasurers Office has many programs to help you financially prepare for your childs college education without dipping into your retirement accounts or taking out crippling student loans. To learn more about Nevada College Savings Plans, visit our website www.NV529.org, or call us at 702-486-6980 or 888-477-2667. A biotech firm that supplies the U.S. government with anti-smallpox medication is seeking federal approval to sell the drug on the open market. Siga Technologies announced on Monday that it has filed a new drug application with the Food & Drug Administration for Tpoxx, a first-of-its-kind treatment for smallpox. The company, which is headquartered in New York and employs more than two dozen people at its research labs in Corvallis, has already supplied 2 million oral courses of the drug to the Strategic National Stockpile under a $433 million contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Although smallpox has been eradicated in nature, counterterrorism experts believe the deadly virus could still be synthesized or cloned from samples kept in government laboratories and weaponized for use in biological attacks. Tpoxx was developed under the FDAs animal rule, which was created to address terrorist threats after the 9/11 attacks and allows efficacy testing on animals in cases where testing on humans is impractical or unethical. Now, because there is still no approved treatment for smallpox, Siga is seeking expedited FDA review of its new drug application. Phil Gomez, Sigas chief executive officer, said the company anticipates FDA approval of its application sometime next year and is working to develop new markets for Tpoxx. Our next target market is (foreign) governments, Gomez said. Were currently talking to governments in Europe and in Asia and across the globe. Gomez believes other potential buyers for an FDA-approved smallpox drug could include large hospitals and major corporations concerned about bioterrorism, although he acknowledged thats largely uncharted territory for pharmaceutical sales. Thats a market well be making ourselves, he said. The company also will be talking to the FDA about using Tpoxx to treat people infected with monkeypox, caused by a close relative of the smallpox virus, and to treat people who have an adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine, Gomez said. Additional sales could come from Sigas original customer, BARDA, which will likely need to replace the smallpox medication in the national stockpile when the current courses reach their expiration date, Gomez added. The company also hopes to supply the agency with an intravenous formulation of the drug. The company has another drug in preclinical development to treat dengue fever, a potentially fatal tropical disease. WASHINGTON The phrase self-radicalization seems to be emerging as a regular part of the national discourse. Every vicious nobody who wants to blaze his name into eternity by planting a bomb somewhere to kill Americans is now described as self-radicalized and that is supposed to make immediate sense of it. The miscreant doesnt do it, we are told, because hes a classic killer who just likes to see people blown up. And he certainly doesnt do it because when he came here, he carried with him in that hidden satchel of his soul a cultural basis different from the American. No, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, who was almost blown up by his own bomb in Manhattan Monday morning, had been self-radicalized! The New York police again immediately announced this. But in fact, the entire concept would be just silly, were it not so deadly serious. To self-radicalize would actually mean to realize the truth of your inner self and find you are at one with the heinous teachings of a group called ISIS half a world away. If you are taught hatred or bomb-making by TV or social media, that simply amounts to radical teachings by outside forces. But then, what actually WAS the problem? Akayed Ullah was from Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most miserable countries on Earth. Formed in 1971, it was originally part of Pakistan. The destitute land, criminally overpopulated and constantly flooded by rising seas, has no hope for genuine development or much of anything else, except for hatred of the non-Muslim world. As of this writing, we know that this unlikely young immigrant received the most wondrous gifts that any highly developed, rich society could offer. The boy from Bangladesh was the winner of not one, but two of the greatest blessings of our unhinged immigration policies. First, a member of his family had won the infamous American immigration lottery, which puts citizenship up for win or lose as though we were one big bingo game. Second, Ullah was able to come to America six years ago because of the policy of chain migration or family reunification, in which immigrants already here legally can bring numerous relatives to America. Most of these policies came out of the immigration reform of 1965 based essentially on the idea that human beings are interchangeable. Dont bother about culture; just change the scenery. Centuries of family or religious tradition? Unimportant! Men and women from anywhere will come here and automatically be American. IF we kept the numbers of immigrants to a reasonable percentage of the population, IF we had civic education programs in the schools for immigrants and citizens alike, and IF we were truly serious about assimilating newcomers well, then there might be a chance that none of them would radicalize. But we dont have any of those things. In fact, chain migration today accounts for a massive 70 percent of legal immigrants to America, so there is simply no space or time in our immigration policies for admitting others on merit. Meanwhile, the immigration debate takes two extreme left-right positions: the Trumpian position, which tends toward Keep them all out! and the sentimentalist liberal position that says, in effect, that a boy cultivated by the perfervid Islam of Bangladesh is exactly the same as a boy from Copenhagen or Prague and will respond to America in the same manner. There is one predominant problem in the world today, and it is the massive movement of either deeply dissatisfied or downright desperate peoples. From Berlin to Ohio and from Hungary to West Virginia, the Western world is struggling to define and defend its identity against outsiders. That is Brexit, and that is Angela Merkels problem in Germany, and that is Donald J. Trumps election. Now, you may not like President Trump. But the immigration/identity question is so crucial to stability in todays world that Democrats and liberals would be smart to co-opt this issue instead of criticizing Trump over it, because it will not go away. Any intelligent policy would start by abolishing chain immigration and our self-imposed humiliation of visa lotteries. An unemotional, intelligent analysis of the world would acknowledge that this country was formed based on the Judeo-Christian heritage, mostly Protestantism. And while we have utmost respect for those great periods of Islam like Al-Andalus and the Ottoman and Seljuq empires, we can afford to absorb, and we should only take, an appropriate number of Muslim immigrants, given the extreme differences in modern-day beliefs between them and us. Maybe Ive become self-radicalized myself on this issue; or maybe Im just pushing for a reasonable, moderate and workable immigration policy in America so we dont have any more bombs going off in our streets. And maybe Im just wondering: Hey, why dont we all get to work? European wide pre-Christmas action : Ryanair pilots threaten strike Frankfurt/Main Low cost airlines Ryanair has never been on strike until now but this could change if several European pilot unions call for work disruptions. Passengers in Germany also have to be prepared for cancellations and delays. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken It could come to European-wide strikes for Ryanair the first time in the history of the Irish no-frills airline. Passengers in Germany might be affected with flight delays and cancellations. The pilot union Association Cockpit (VC) announced there would be strikes for the ten German Ryanair locations without mentioning exact dates because it wanted to make countermeasures on the part of the airline more difficult. Passengers would be informed in advance, however and strikes would not occur during the Christmas period from December 23 to 26. Unions in Portugal and Italy have already called for strikes. A four-hour strike has been called for in Italy this Friday. At the home base of Dublin, Irish pilots voted on Monday evening in favor of a strike. The unions accuse Ryanair, founded in 1985, of poor working conditions for the current 4,000 pilots. VC president Ilja Schulz criticized a lack of compensation for sick days or a pension plan and a system where those starting out their careers are not hired directly by Ryanair, but are encouraged to set up their own mini-companies under British or Irish law and then offer their work as self-employed. The airline has categorically rejected negotiations with the union despite the threat of strikes. Ryanair has received no notification of strikes by German pilots," read a statement from the airline. The German pilot union said it wants to force collective bargaining in order to achieve fair work and pay conditions for the approximate 400 pilots based in Germany. Using Tuifly as a benchmark, working conditions there are clearly defined and compensation is about 30 percent more than at Ryanair, explained Schulz. In cooperation with other European pilot unions, the German union wants to take advantage of the current personnel problems at the Irish-based airline, which had to cancel about 20,000 flights in the winter timetable due to lack of pilots. According to the VC, pilots leave Ryanair in large numbers to get hired at other companies under better terms. Ryanair denies that it has staffing problems. The German pilots union coordinates very closely with the other unions in Europe, according to Ryanair captain and spokeswoman for the union tariff commission, Tina Hausmann. Besides national collective agreements, they are striving for a European-wide payment system for all Ryanair pilots. Security partnership plan : Truckers and taxi drivers to help police Dusseldorf More eyes and ears could help police in hunting down burglar gangs in the future. An initiative was announced which would give police some support from the private sector. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Truckers and taxi drivers and employees at rest stops will support police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in their hunt for burglar gangs. Five logistics and taxi associations and a firm which operates service and rest stop locations will work together with law enforcement in a security partnership plan. State Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said it was about re-thinking how support from the private sector could help police. He announced the initiative on Tuesday in Dusseldorf. Through the cooperation, streets, gas stations and service areas could be observed much more closely - "and around the clock", said Reul in explaining the reasoning behind his initiative. The partnership would sensitize truck and taxi drivers so that they would pick up the phone and alert police if they observe something suspicious. The NRW Interior Minister received criticism for his initiative from the police union GdP. NRW state chairman Arnold Plickert told this newspaper on Tuesday, he considers the "security partnership" to be aktionismus, a German word which can imply doing something without a real concept just to avoid an appearance of inaction. "In NRW we do not need deputies, but more real policemen on the street," said the police union chair. The Federation of Criminal Police (BDK) called the cooperation a show. The problem is not that we have too little information, instead we dont have the people to work on the cases, said BDK state chair Sebastian Fielder to the Neuen Westfalischen newspaper in Bielefeld. An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand. Christmas is coming and youre still scratching your head over just what to get for that special Nevada friend or family member. How about a gift that will keep giving for years to come a book, specifically a book about Nevada and/or the West? A couple of the newest additions to this narrow genre are David Philipps Wild Horse Country and Range magazines The Good, the Bad and the Bovine. Philipps explores the history of the wild horse in the West with a number of stops along the way in Nevada. He also addresses the issue of feral horse overpopulation and delves into the various options for solving the problem. It is thought provoking and informative. In November, Range published a collection of articles and photos from its archive of thorough coverage of the people, places and issues touching on ranching and farming on the rangeland of the West. Titles include: Dont Fence Em In, The Ultimate Recycler, Its in the Breeding, Cow Pie and A Rangers Reflection dispatches from the empty quarter. Range boasts of the book, The hardcover coffee-table edition is a not only a photographic tribute featuring works by some of the best ranch and wildlife photographers in the country, but there are some meaty stories penned by prize-winning writers. The magazine also has available on its website other books from recent years. Two of my favorites are Brushstrokes & Balladeers and Reflections of the West. Both are coffee-table quality books packed with insightful poetry about life on the range and eye-popping paintings that stand up to favorable comparison to Remington and Russell. The wink-and-a-smirk doggerel of Elkos Waddie Mitchell is worth the cover price alone. Then there are the books from the dawn of the states history that should be on every Nevadans bookshelf. These includes Mark Twains Roughing It, of course, about his sojourn in Nevada during the Civil War and his misadventures in newspapering as a reporter and briefly as an editor. He claimed his editorials prompted no less than six invitations to duel. From the same era comes Twains editors reminiscences about The Big Bonanza Dan de Quilles foray into the goings-on during the days of the Comstock Lode. To learn more about the truth stretching Twain, one could pick up a copy of Andrew Hoffmans biography, Inventing Mark Twain. My personal favorite insight is Hoffmans busting the myth that Sam Clemens took his pseudonym from his steamboat days. People who knew Sam in Nevada said that he arrived at the pseudonym by entering a saloon and calling out in the leadsmans singsong intonation Mark twain! meaning the bartender should pour two drinks and mark them down on the debit ledger, writes Hoffman. For insight into the people who invented modern day Nevada, there are books such as Dallas Morning News reporter Doug Swansons Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker. The book takes the reader from Benions humble beginnings in Pilot Grove, Texas, to dangerous Deep Ellum in Dallas, until he drifted and grifted and reportedly killed into downtown Las Vegas. Former Las Vegas newspaper columnist John L. Smith writes about a number of Nevada notables in Sharks in the Desert, covers the rise of casino owner Steve Wynn in Running Scared and tells of the mob lawyer-turned-Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman in Of Rats and Men. Sally Denton reveals the company and the men who built Hoover Dam in her thoroughly researched book The Profiteers about the Bechtel Corporation. Denton and Roger Morris also penned a book titled The Money and the Power about the making of Las Vegas since World War II, offering insightful peeks into the likes of gangsters Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, politician Pat McCarran and newspaper publisher Hank Greenspun. For those who would like to climb out of the armchair and go visit on foot some of the gorgeous landscapes in Nevada and neighboring states, there is travel writer Deborah Walls Base Camp Las Vegas, which details how to get to and how to explore 101 hiking trails from Arches to Zion National Parks, from Death Valley to the Ruby Mountains. Many of these are available in local bookstores. All can be found online with the aid of a search engine. And finally a blatant plug. If youd like to keep your Nevada friends and family informed in the future, you can always give a subscription to this newspaper. Four brilliant and cute Nigerian ladies celebrate after bagging first class degrees. Congratulations are in order for these Nigerian ladies and good friends; Kristine Ekanem, Mobolaji Olorisade, Louisa Michael and one other who bagged First Class degrees from a University in Ghana. One of the excited ladies took to her social media page to share the good news.She wrote: Quote About last weekend. Friends who study together, all bag first class together. God is great ! #blackexcellence #meetthelatestfirstclassgraduates #Firstclasshonours Human rights organizations' statement on Andrias Ghukasyan's case Human rights organizations' statement on Andrias Ghukasyan's case: The signing of a cooperation agreement with the European Union raised a wave of acceptance and enthusiasm among the public, which is a rare and remarkable phenomenon for the Republic of Armenia. Civil society expectations from this document first of all reflect the aspirations of the citizens of the country to enjoy free civilian freedoms, equality of rights, transparent and accountable governance in Europe, and we cannot limit the purely economic or geopolitical issues of cooperation. The opposite arrangement of the priorities would deeply disappoint our society, especially its most active part, which would be a mistake with historical implications. We think that the European values are incompatible with the wave of persecution of people with political motives, prejudiced judgments, state-level slander and repression, which, unfortunately, has become a norm in Armenia, a daily expression of power. The existence of political prisoners, including Andrias Ghukasyan, and the authorities for masking political motives appeal to the darkest pages of the history of the past. It is very evident in Andrias Ghukasyan's case. From the initial stage, the facts have been clearly falsified, materials that deny the accusatory hypothesis have been ruled out, all procedural legal requirements have been denied, persons with documented mental disorders and convictions have been involved as the main witnesses, police officers have given inadequate testimony. This is a popular means of pursuing political persecution and at the same time concealing its nature, discrediting European cooperation with Armenia, the attractiveness of European values. This is one of those cases when a citizen of Armenia should feel positive effect of the treaty with the EU, as compared to the dictatorships or the so-called "hybrid" regimes. These facts and circumstances make it necessary to carry out practical steps, so we demand to immediately stop Andrias Ghukasyan's criminal persecution and appeal to you to make an impact on this issue concerning Human Rights. This will surely be a positive and encouraging impetus for Armenian citizens in the understanding of European cooperation. Levon Barseghyan, "ASPAREZ" Journalists Social Organization Avetik Ishkhanyan, Helsinki Committee of Armenia Stepan Danielyan, Collaboration for Democracy Center Haykuhi Harutyunyan, "Rights Protection Without Borders" Artur Sakunts, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly-Vanadzor Hovsep Khurshudyan, "Free Citizens" Civic Initiatives Support Center Vardan Harutyunyan, Right and Freedom Center Surrey, BC, Canada, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Dec 12, 2017) In a time when House and Senate dont always agree it is refreshing that both groups voted yes to federal legislation to develop a framework for providing proper palliative services to all Canadians who require them. Dr. David Henderson, President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians (CSPCP), said: Passage of Bill C-277, An Act providing for the Development of a Framework on Palliative Care in Canada, signals recognition of the urgent need to ensure that all Canadians have access to high quality palliative care. The bill received Royal Assent today after being passed by the House of Commons this spring and by the Senate of Canada last week. The legislation was the result of a private members bill brought forward by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Sarnia-Lambton Marilyn Gladu. It is highly unusual for private members bills to become law, especially when proposed by an Opposition MP. This is how Parliament ought to be, addressing needs of Canadians and doing it in a way whereby we work together and come up with a better solution, said Ms. Gladu during third reading of the bill this spring. Canadians need palliative care, she said. It is hard to know how much palliative care is really available because the data is not that good. At least 70% of Canadians have no access to palliative care. We do not have enough palliative care physicians. Certainly from a cost perspective, palliative care done in different ways, by home care, by paramedics, can reduce the cost from $1,100 a day in a hospital down to $200 for hospice or $100 a day or less a day by paramedics. There is an opportunity to get more with our health dollars. With the legislation now in place, Dr. Henderson said the CSPCP will be recommending the development of a small team to bring key national organizations together to make recommendations on implementation. We will need to partner with the provinces to make real national changes that can improve palliative care for all Canadians, he said. The provinces and territories are responsible for health care delivery and I believe this issue can show our country how our provincial, territorial and federal governments can come together for the sake of all Canadians to put in place a robust palliative care system. We are talking about a health issue we all face, dying and death. Every Canadian has a right to a good death. Under the terms of the legislation, the federal government now has six months to begin the process of working with provincial and territorial governments and with palliative care providers to develop the framework to give Canadians access to palliative care, through hospitals, home care, long-term care facilities and residential hospices. The federal Minister of Health must prepare a report setting out the framework on palliative care and present it to Parliament within one year. Under the terms of the legislation, the framework must: define palliative care; identify the palliative care training and education needs of palliative health care providers; identify measures to support palliative caregivers; collect research and data on palliative care; identify measures to facilitate a consistent access to palliative care across Canada; and evaluate the advisability of amending the Canada Health Act to include palliative care services. While recognizing the importance of having the legislation in place, Dr. Henderson pointed out work has already been completed on the type of framework envisaged by the legislation. The national framework, entitled The Way Forward, was developed through an extensive multi-year, federally-funded project conducted by the Quality End of Life Care Coalition of Canada (QELCCC). The principles in the framework have not changed and they have been repeatedly endorsed by many organizations including our own, Dr. Henderson said. What we need now is a nimble, effective structure to implement what experts have already agreed to nationally. The CSPCP provided concrete steps for implementing The Way Forward in a November 2016 report: How to Improve Palliative Care in Canada: Call to Action for Federal, Provincial, Territorial, Regional, and Local Decision Makers. The Palliative Care Matters national consensus report from December 2016 outlined similar recommendations. The CSPCP had supported Gladus private members bill since its introduction through presentations before committees of both the House of Commons and Senate. BOARD MEMBERS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS Dr. David Henderson, President, CSPCP (Truro, NS) drjdavidhenderson@gmail.com Dr. Stephanie Connidis (Halifax, NS) stephanieconnidis@yahoo.ca Dr. Anne Boyle (Hamilton, ON) aboyle@stjosham.on.ca Dr. Leonie Herx (Calgary, AB) lmherx@ucalgary.ca Dr. Pippa Hawley (Vancouver, BC) phawley@bccancer.bc.ca About the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians The Vision of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians is to promote access to palliative care for all Canadians, through advocacy, partnerships, research, and physician education. Our membership consists of approximately 500 palliative care physicians and physicians with a special interest in palliative care -- including regional and local program leaders, educators, residency directors, clinicians, and palliative care residents. www.cspcp.ca Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93dc7259-2afe-4be2-a8bf-5ee17b142c96 A federal judge needs some time to decide whether to grant a new trial to a former defense contractor found guilty of defrauding the United States government. U.S. District Court Judge Jackson L. Kiser on Tuesday listened to nearly an hour of legal debate over the case of William Whyte and his now-defunct, Danville-based Armet Armored Vehicles. We have grave doubts about what happened here, defense attorney Justin Lugar said of the original trial. At a bare minimum, Mr. Whyte is entitled to a new trial in the name of justice. Kiser soon adjourned court to analyze the information and will write an opinion on the matter. There is no definitive timeline for when that opinion will be published. A unanimous jury found Whyte and his company guilty in early October on three counts of major fraud against the government, four counts of wire fraud and three counts of false or fraudulent claims, with each of those counts concerning armored vehicles destined for Iraq more than a decade ago. The guilty verdict came after a two-week trial. He will be sentenced Feb. 20. The largest points of contention Tuesday between Roanoke-based defense attorney Lugar and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Carlton centered around a man who did not testify at all during the trial former Armet president Frank Skinner. It turns out that Skinner sent an email to Carlton on Oct. 27 saying he was happy the case was over. The email also contained Skinners recollections of previous discussions with Carlton, which Lugar said do not line up with what the defense had been told before the trial about the discussions. Skinner wrote in the email: Your opening statement to me, Had I been the prosecutor, I would have charged you, rocked me down to the ground and set the stage for my concerns. That was the last thing I expected to hear. For eleven years I felt like I was doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons. Now I feel like the criminal. That statement, that he was treated as a criminal by the government prosecutors, was something the jury should have heard, Lugar argued. Coupled with the evidence that was withheld, we cant let it go unchallenged, Lugar told Kiser. Carlton disagreed. There is nothing in that letter that creates extraordinary circumstances, she said. Carlton went on to say that the defense attorneys had a good look at all of the prosecutions notes before the trial began. Lugar said that nothing in their records ever mentioned Skinner being treated as a suspect, which changes the evidence. Carlton again disagreed. The defense interpreted the evidence differently than the jury did, and thats not the standard here, she said. Whyte, in the meantime, remains in the custody of U.S Marshalls. Theres no gainsaying the fact that the specter of Frank Skinner hangs down on this case, Kiser said before adjourning the case. Danville has relaxed its nepotism policy to allow relatives to work within the same department. The loosened restriction took effect last week after Danville City Council informally agreed during its work session to get rid of the rule forbidding relatives from working together in a department. During the work session, councilman Sherman Saunders spoke in support of the change and said the Virginia State Police was easing rules to recruit more officers from localities like Danville. We dont have anyone to lose, Saunders said. The old policy forbade relatives from being employed in the same city department. The change scraps that policy but disallows an employee from supervising an immediate relative, which includes a spouse, sibling, parent, in-law, step-parent, step-child or step-sibling. The rule also applies to any other relative or non-relative living in the same household with the employee. It gives the relatives in violation of the policy three months to get back in compliance, such as through a resignation. City Manager Ken Larking said Wednesday the loosened policy took effect after councilmen informally agreed to relax it Dec. 5. City Council will formally vote on the change in May or June, Larking said, when it votes on yearly policy changes. During interviews and discussions last month, City Council members referred to challenges filling positions especially at the Danville Police Department as a reason for the change. Also, supporters of the change said relatives working together in public safety brothers with the police department or a father and son with the fire department is part of a tradition in some families. Its almost a rite of passage, Councilman Lee Vogler said last month. The city is desperately short of police officers and firefighters, and the change could help the city keep its young people in town, Councilman Gary Miller said last month. The city has about 1,100 full and part-time employees. Councilmen James Buckner and Fred Shanks also expressed support for loosening the rule at the Dec. 5 work session. Human Resources Director Sara Weller researched policies in other localities and found that a majority had less stringent nepotism rules than the citys forbidding relatives from working within a department. Michelle Gowdy, acting executive director of the Virginia Municipal League, told the Register & Bee last month that nepotism policies vary by locality, with most having some sort of rule. The one that was proposed by the city is not out of the ordinary, she said. Its not unusual to see a policy allowing them [relatives] to work in the same department, Gowdy said. But one is not allowed to supervise the other. The league represents cities and towns as well as a few counties to provide advocacy, research and education on state-level issues for localities. There are 38 cities in Virginia, Gowdy said. Under the new policy, the hiring of a new employee who has a relative within that new persons department will require special approval from the city manager, Larking said. Ghukas Sirunyan: The Armenia,the image of which is going to be virtuous (video) ... He was the most honest person, honesty was his God On December 13, it is a journalist, prose writer Mushegh Galshoyan's birthday. Mushegh Hove Manukyan was born in 1933, in Mehrab village (today Katnaghbyur, Aragatsotn region). Later he took his family name (Galshoyan) as a literary name. His parents were Sasun refugees, who settled down in Talin, reaching Eastern Armenia. He studied at the Yerevan Agricultural Institute, worked by his profession and then became a journalist. During the years of working in "Avangard" and "Spring" newspapers, in parallel with reports, he wrote his first novel, "Miro from Dzor", which brought him much recognition. In 1981 he posthumously became a laureate of the State Prize of the Armenian SSR for the collection "Maruta Mountain Clouds." Mushegh Galshoyan died in 1981, in Katnaghbyur village, by a casual gunshot. The gunshot was very much like the one from which a hero shepherd Arakel died. Poet Ghukas Sirunyan wrote: "he was a very honest person. Honesty was his God. This characteristic of human nature also became the attribute of his works. In other words, he and his novels were tween brothers. Mushegh Galshoyan explained to us that the war of those who lost is not over. They recreate Armenia with their actions. But they recreate another Armenia. Not the one that was called Soviet Armenia, but the one that is going to fight and win. The Armenia,the image of which is going to be virtuous." Today, there is a museum after Mushegh Galshoyan in his birthplace. The documentary below is a unique approach to the prose writer of Mushegh Galshoyan. In this film, the writer comes mostly from his own hints, hints that are still up-to-date. The screenwriters of the documentary are the prose writer's daughter Siranush Galshoyan, who is also the director of the film, and Taron Ghaplanyan, Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN), the Canadian and London listed lithium company, is pleased to announce that the results of the Feasibility Study ("FS") for the Sonora Lithium Project[1] in Mexico ("Sonora" or "the Project") confirm the positive economics and favourable operating costs of a 35,000 tonnes per annum ("tpa") battery grade Li 2 CO 3 operation. The FS estimates a pre-tax project Net Present Value ("NPV") of US$1.253 billion at an 8% discount rate and an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 26.1%, and Life of Mine ("LOM") operating costs of US$3,910/t of lithium carbonate ("Li 2 CO 3 "). Highlights Strong economic potential of two stage open-pit operation at Sonora: Stage 1 - 17,500 tpa for 4 years; Stage 2 - 35,000 tpa Estimated Project pre-tax IRR of 26.1%; NPV of US$1.253 billion (at 8% discount rate) with a simple Stage 1 project payback of four years. Revenues are based on a flat US$11,000/t for battery grade Li 2 CO 3 over LOM, significantly below the current Li 2 CO 3 price range of US$12,000 20,000/t [2] [3] Low estimated LOM operating costs of US$3,910/t of Li 2 CO 3 - lower than the new lithium brine operations being reported in Argentina3 Average LOM annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ("EBITDA") estimated at US$229 million per annum Sonora: a large lithium deposit Measured plus Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of over 5 million tonnes ("Mt") (comprising 1.9 Mt of Measured Resources and 3.1Mt of Indicated Resources) of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE")[4] and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.7 Mt of LCE Low stripping ratio: open-pit mine design indicates a total of 37.1 Mt of ore to be mined over the planned 19-year mine life with an average stripping ratio of approximately 3.4:1 over LOM Conventional flow sheet: uses established sulphate route processing technology Integrated plant designed to initially process 1.1Mt of ore per year during Stage 1, subsequently increasing to 2.2 Mt per year for Stage 2 Stage 1 capital cost estimate of US$420 million includes mining, processing plant, infrastructure, construction of Tailings Management Facility ("TMF"), general administration costs as well as the requisite contingencies Potential to sell up to 30,000 tpa of potassium sulphate ("SOP", "K 2 SO 4 ") for sale to the Mexican fertiliser industry Next Steps: advance Sonora towards production to satisfy expected continuing growth in demand for lithium driven by growing sectors such as electric vehicles and energy storage Subject to Board approvals and other key milestone events, project detailed design is expected to commence in late Q1, 2018. Peter Secker, CEO of Bacanora, commented, "The FS confirms the Company's long held view that Sonora has the potential to become a significant supplier of battery grade lithium to growing industries, such as electric vehicles and energy storage, and at the same time to generate positive value for shareholders. The numbers speak for themselves: a US$1.25 billion Pre-Tax NPV, a 26% IRR and, at a US$3,910/t operating cost, a favourable position on the global industry cost curve, which puts Sonora on a par with the lower cost brine operations." "Thanks to the work we carried out in parallel with the FS, notably the securing of a long term off-take agreement and strategic partnership with leading Japanese trading house Hanwa, the issuance of an environmental permit, and the acquisition of surface rights, we are in a position to commence the development phase of Sonora. Our objective is to transform Bacanora into the next significant producer of lithium carbonate and in Sonora we have the asset that we expect to enable us to do so. Bacanora is entering a new and exciting stage in its development and I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in due course." Key Elements of the Feasibility Study Project Introduction The Sonora Lithium Project is located in northern Sonora State, Mexico, approximately three hours drive north east of the state capital of Hermosillo, a city of over one million people. Access to the site is by road from either Hermosillo or the US border town of Agua Prieta. The Project has access to significant support infrastructure including paved roads, process water and local labour. The FS demonstrates the attractive economics of Sonora and key findings are shown in table below: Table 1: Feasibility Study Key Indicators Value Pre-tax Net Present Value ($ 000) 1,253,027 Pre-tax IRR (%) 26.1% Simple Payback Stage 1 (years) 4 Initial Construction Capital Cost Stage 1 ($ 000) 419,616 Construction Capital Cost Stage 2 ($ 000) 380,262 Av. LOM operating costs ($/t Li 2 CO 3 ) 3,910 Av. operating costs ($/t Li 2 CO 3 net of K 2 SO 4 credits) 3,418 Post-tax NPV (at 8% discount) ($ 000) 802,464 Post-tax IRR (%) 21.2% Av. annual EBITDA with co-products ($ 000) 229,362 Annual Li 2 CO 3 production capacity Stage 1 17,500 t Annual Li 2 CO 3 production capacity Stage 2 35,000 t Annual K 2 SO 4 production capacity Stage 2 30,000 t (* All costs are in US dollars) The Sonora lithium property hosts a large lithium deposit. The polylithionite mineralisation is hosted within shallow dipping sequences, outcropping on surface. As part of the FS, a Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited ("SRK") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The following tables present the summary of current lithium resources for the Project, these Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Table 2: Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources Category Cutoff (Li ppm) Tonnes (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Measured 1,000 103,000 3,480 1.5 1,910 1,776 Indicated 1,000 188,000 3,120 1.3 3,130 2,345 Total 1,000 291,000 3,250 1.4 5,038 4,119 Table 3: Inferred Mineral Resources Category Cutoff (Li ppm) Tonnes (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Inferred 1,000 268,000 2,650 1.2 3,779 3,220 Notes: (i) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (ii) Tonnes rounded to the nearest thousand. (iii) LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li 2 CO 3 . 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.323 ppm LCE / Li 2 CO 3 . Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses. (iv) Reported from a block model above 1000 ppm Li and above a simple open pit shell generated using the technical and economic parameters established during the FS, with the exception of the LCE selling price of US$ 14,300 (which represents a 30% premium on top of the US$11,000 used for the Mineral Reserve estimate). Mining Operations The mining operation for the Project is planned as an open-pit development using a combination of continuous miners to mine the ore zones and a truck/shovel fleet to remove the waste material. Mining operations will be augmented with an ancillary fleet of dozers, graders and water trucks. The Mineral Reserve estimate was prepared by Independent Mining Consultants Inc. ("IMC") in Tucson, Arizona. The Mineral Reserve estimate includes an ore recovery factor of 100% and mining dilution of 100 mm at the top and bottom of the mineralized beds, with the grades of the elements in the adjacent lithologies. Table 4: Mineral Reserves: (Cut-off grade of 1,500 ppm Li) Category Tonnes Ore (000t) Li (ppm) K (%) LCE (000t) LCE attributable to Bacanora (000t) Proven 80,146 3,905 1.64 1,666 1,550 Probable 163,662 3,271 1.36 2,849 2,126 Total 243,808 3,480 1.45 4,515 3,676 Notes: (i) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (ii) Tonnes rounded to the nearest thousand. (iii) LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li 2 CO 3 . 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.323 ppm LCE / Li 2 CO 3 . Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses During the initial 19-year mine life, 37,058,000 tonnes of ore with a Li grade of 4,151 ppm will be mined and processed with a stripping ratio of 3.4:1. Processing Metallurgical testwork for the FS was carried out at SGS Laboratories ("SGS") in Perth, WA, and ANSTO Laboratories ("ANSTO") in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The process engineering and design for the process plants and infrastructure was completed by Ausenco Pty Ltd ("Ausenco"). The process plant design comprises a pre-concentration stage to produce an initial concentrate prior to roasting. The concentrate is subsequently heated in a kiln, at approximately 950 degrees Celsius, in combination with re-cycled sodium sulphate ("Na 2 SO 4 "), which is a by-product produced from the Sonora lithium plant, to produce an intermediate lithium sulphate ("Li 2 SO 4 ") product. This sulphate material then undergoes hydrometallurgical treatment, filtration, cleaning, precipitation and packaging, to produce a >99.5% Li 2 CO 3 final battery grade product. The integrated plant has been designed to initially process 1.1 Mt of ore per year, during Stage 1 of the Project, subsequently increasing to some 2.2 Mt per year at Stage 2, producing 17,500 tpa and 35,000 tpa of lithium carbonate, respectively. The plant design also includes a circuit to produce up to 30,000 tpa of K 2 SO 4 /SOP product through a series of evaporation and precipitation stages. Capital Costs The initial mining fleet, comprises a continuous miner to excavate the ore zones and a front end loader and a 90 tonne haul truck fleet to remove the non-mineralised waste material. In addition, there is an ancillary mobile fleet including dozers, graders and front end loaders, which will also be purchased. The initial capital cost for the mining operation is estimated to be US$17.6 million. The metallurgical processing facility capital cost estimate is based on an on-site processing plant comprising all new equipment, to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate. The capital cost estimates for the process plant, infrastructure, Tailings Management Facility ("TMF") construction, Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management ("EPCM") fees, and general and administration costs were compiled by Ausenco. Table 5: Construction Capital Costs Category Estimate Stage 1 (US$000) Estimate Stage 2 (US$000) Mining 17,611 17,614 Beneficiation plant 18,483 18,483 Lithium processing plant 158,288 158,285 Plant Services 55,334 55,334 Infrastructure 58,841 23,581 EPCM/Owner cost/Indirect 72,912 72,393 Contingency 38,147 34,569 Total 419,616 380,262 The LOM sustaining mining and processing capital requirement is approximately US$140.6 million. Energy Energy has been a significant focus of the FS and the Company has received a number of proposals for the supply of both natural gas (via pipeline) and LNG to the Project. There is a significant operating cost saving in using natural gas rather than LNG and the Company is currently working with a shortlist of potential pipeline and natural gas suppliers to ensure that natural gas supplies from Agua Prieta to the project site are available in time for the commissioning Stage 1 of the Project. In addition to supplying natural gas for the kiln circuit, the energy supply package would include the installation of a gas turbine combined cycle plant on site to produce high voltage electricity for the processing plants. Operating Cost Estimate The mining and processing operating costs are for an operation achieving average annual production of approximately 17,500 rising to 35,000 tonnes of battery-grade, 99.5% Li 2 CO 3 . The estimated average operating cost for the mine, primary and secondary processing facilities are as follows: Table 6: Project Operating Costs Category Stage 1 (US$/t Li 2 CO 3 ) Stage 2 (US$/t Li 2 CO 3 ) Average LOM (US$/t Li 2 CO 3 ) Mining 295 499 490 Processing 3,093 3,266 3,198 G&A 263 209 222 Total 3,651 3,974 3,910 Cash Flow Analysis The Project is currently estimated to have a payback period of four years. Cash flows are based on a 100% equity funding basis and the economic analysis indicates a pre-tax Net Present Value, discounted at 8%, of approximately US$1.25 billion as shown below, and IRR of approximately 26.1%. Post tax the NPV is approximately US$803 million and the IRR 21.2%. Table 7: Sensitivity Analysis (Discount Rate) Discount Rate Base Case Pre Tax NPV (US$ million) Base Case Post Tax NPV (US$ million) 0% 3,425.1 2,371.4 2% 2,644.3 1,808.0 4% 2,054.0 1,381.7 6% 1,602.4 1,055.2 8% 1,253.0 802.5 Table 8: Sensitivity Analysis (Li 2 CO 3 Selling Price) Selling Price Pre Tax NPV (US$ million) Pre Tax IRR -20% 638.6 18.1% -10% 945.8 22.2% Base Case (US$11,000/t) 1,253.0 26.1% +10% 1,560.2 29.8% +20% 1,876.5 33.2% Base case LOM total revenue is estimated at US$6.9 billion, with an EBITDA of approximately US$4.4 billion. Market Review and Lithium Pricing SignumBox (Chile) has provided the Company with their detailed 20 year analysis of the global lithium market, summarised as follows: By 2037, SignumBox anticipate global demand for lithium chemicals to reach about 1,700,000 tonnes of LCE in their base scenario, compared to the current 190,000 tonnes in 2017, equating to an average annual growth rate of about 11.5% over the next 20 years. SignumBox estimates that the battery segment of the market will continue to grow strongly and by 2037 it would represent 84% of total lithium demand, compared to the current 35% in 2017. When considering various pricing scenarios, SignumBox estimates that the lithium carbonate (battery grade) long term price (2030) would range between US$13,700/t to US$20,600/t. For the FS cashflow analysis, the Company has taken a more conservative approach to pricing and is using a flat price of US$11,000/t for battery grade lithium carbonate over the 20 year LOM. The cashflow analysis was prepared by the Company's financial consultants. Lithium Off-take The Company's lithium pilot plant in Hermosillo continues to produce high quality battery grade lithium carbonate samples for distribution to potential customers in Asia. In April 2017, the Company signed a long term lithium off-take with the Hanwa Co., Ltd. of Japan up to 100% of the Stage 1 lithium carbonate production from Sonora. In addition, Hanwa became a cornerstone 10% shareholder in Bacanora via a private placement at the then current share price of 82.5 pence per share on 2 May 2017. Community and Environment As part of the Company's Environmental Management Programs ("EMP"), the Manifestacion de Impacto Ambiental ("MIA"), was lodged with the government authorities in May, 2017. Approval for the MIA was received in October, 2017. Land access agreements were signed in October 2017 securing access and surface rights mainly relating to the land area covering mineral resources contained within the La Ventana, Fleur and El Sauz areas. Bacanora has entered into binding agreements to acquire the freehold to two parcels of land which will provide the Company with unrestricted access to develop the Project and operate it for the initial life of mine. In addition, the Company has commenced an active programme to engage with the local communities within the Project area. Project Timetable Subject to Bacanora's Board of Directors ("Board") approvals, project financing and general lithium market conditions, the Company will continue to progress the Sonora Lithium Project through the project development stages over the next 24 months. Subsequent to a Board approval in Q1, 2018 to develop the project, the detailed design engineering phase of the project is currently scheduled for late Q1, 2018. During this stage a definitive schedule for the project development will be completed and presented to the Board for final approval. Regular updates on the project progress will be provided throughout the Project schedule. Report Filing A technical report on this Feasibility Study, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and at www.bacanoraminerals.com within forty-five (45) days of the date of this news release. Qualified Persons Each of the qualified persons below has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this press release and are independent of the Company. The qualified persons are: Greg Lane, FAusIMM., of Ausenco, is the qualified person responsible for the process engineering, infrastructure, capital cost and operating cost estimates, and the overall preparation of the report. The Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by Mr. Martin Pittuck of SRK, who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Ore Reserve estimate and mine plan was prepared by Mr. Herb Welhener of Independent Mining Consultants Inc. who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates in this press release were prepared in accordance with the CIM "Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014, and the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines," adopted by CIM Council on Nov. 23, 2003, in compliance with NI 43-101 guidelines. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to: the estimation of resources and reserves and the filing of a technical report in connection therewith; estimated operating and capital costs, estimated IRR and NPV (in addition to other financial analysis and estimates), potential future production rates, estimated commodity prices, commencement of detailed design engineering and overall going forward project development. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: commodity price volatility; general economic conditions in Canada, the United States, Mexico and globally; industry conditions, governmental regulation, including environmental regulation; unanticipated operating events or performance; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, capital, skilled personnel and supplies; changes in tax laws; and the other risk factors disclosed under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. 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. *ENDS** For further information, please contact: Bacanora Minerals Ltd. Peter Secker, CEO info@bacanoraminerals.com Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, Nomad Sandy Jamieson / Liam Murray +44 (0) 20 7213 0880 Canaccord Genuity, Broker Martin Davison / James Asensio +44 (0) 20 7523 8000 St Brides Partners, Financial PR Adviser Hugo de Salis / Frank Buhagiar +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 ABOUT BACANORA: Bacanora is a Canadian and London listed lithium exploration and development company (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN). The Company is exploring for, and developing a pipeline of international lithium projects, with a primary focus on the Sonora Lithium Project. The Company's operations are based in Hermosillo in northern Mexico. The Company is led by a team with lithium expertise and proven mine development, construction and operations experience. The Sonora Lithium Project, which consists of ten mining concession areas covering approximately 100 thousand hectares in the northeast of Sonora State. The Company, through drilling and exploration work to date, has established a Measured plus Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of over 5 Mt (comprising 1.9Mt of Measured Resources and 3.1Mt of Indicated Resources) of LCE and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.7 Mt of LCE. The Feasibility Study discussed herein has established Proven Mineral Reserves (in accordance with NI 43-101) of 1.67 MT and Probable Mineral Reserves of 2.85 Mt LCE and confirmed the economics associated with becoming a 35,000 tpa lithium carbonate and 50,000 tpa SOP producer in Mexico.In addition to the Sonora Lithium Project, the Company also has a 50% interest in the Zinnwald Lithium Project in southern Saxony, Germany. The Zinnwald Lithium Project is located in a granite hosted Sn/W/Li belt that has been mined historically for tin, tungsten and lithium at different times over the past 300 years. The strategic location of the Zinnwald Lithium Project allows immediate access to the German automotive and downstream lithium chemical industries. [1] The Sonora Lithium Project is comprised of the following lithium properties: La Ventana lithium concession, which is 100 percent owned by Bacanora and El Sauz and Fleur concessions, which are held by Mexilit S.A. de C.V. ("Mexilit") which is owned 70 percent by Bacanora and 30 percent by Cadence Minerals plc [2] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4109856-lithium-miners-news-month-september-2017 [3] http://www.orocobre.com/investor-centre/quarterly-reports/ [4] LCE = lithium carbonate (Li 2 CO 3 ) equivalent; determined by multiplying Li value in percent by 5.324 to get an equivalent Li 2 CO 3 value in per cent. Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses. To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/Bacanora12122017.pdfSource: Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (TSX Venture:BCN, AIM:BCN) To follow Bacanora Minerals Ltd. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below. Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 FSCwire The Company Engages Goldfine & Company To Audit Its Financial Statements RENO, NV--(Marketwired - December 13, 2017) - Pershing Resources Company Inc., (OTC PINK: PSGR) announced that it has engaged New York based Goldfine & Company CPA's, http://www.goldfinecpa.com/ to perform annual audits of its 2016 and 2017 financial statements. Goldfine & Company is a PCAOB registered accounting firm. The audit is expected to be completed before December 31st. The audit of the 2017 financial statement is expected to be completed by March 31st of 2018. In lieu of the audit process being completed, the Company now anticipates filing a Regulation A, Form 1-A, Tier Two Offering Statement for SEC review in the first quarter of 2018. The Company will continue to use New York based KBL, LLP, http://www.kbl.com/, for fiscal planning, preparation of its financial statements and, maintain the Company's accounting for taxes and regulatory filings. Pershing Resources' CEO Steve Plumb stated, "Initiating our audit now will position us as well for our offering statement filing. We anticipate a beneficial effect from the increased transparency. Having audited financials will enable us to file our offering statement as a Regulation A Tier Two category filing which will enhance the marketability of our company's stock offering to investors. We look forward to the completion of the audit of our 2016 financial statements and moving ahead with our offering statement filing." To receive information on Pershing Resources, sign up for email news alerts at: http://ir.pershingpm.com/ Forward-Looking Statements The information contained in this press release as well as the information on the Company's website is provided solely for the reader's general knowledge. Such information is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all matters pertaining to the Company. Certain statements included herein and on the Company's website, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current knowledge, assumptions, judgment and expectations regarding future performance or events. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to the Company's management. When used in this press release and on the Company's website, the words "estimate," "project," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance and/or achievements of the Company or of the gold mining industry in general to be materially different from future results, performance and/or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include uncertainties related to fluctuations in gold, silver and other commodity prices, uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology of the Company's properties, uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, the need for cooperation of government agencies in the development of the Company's mineral projects, the need to obtain additional financing to develop the Company's mineral projects, the possibility of delay in development programs or in construction projects, and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones for the Company's mineral projects. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company has no obligation, and expressly disclaims any obligation, to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Pershing Resources Pershing Resources is a development stage precious metals producer, focused on projects located in North America. The Company is based in Reno, Nevada and owns a development facility near Kingman, Arizona. The Company's current assets are comprised of mining properties located in the Western United States. The Company is presently in various stages of development on each of these properties. As opportunities arise, the Company will seek to strengthen its balance sheet through acquisition of additional mineral rights and mining properties. Pershing Resources is committed to responsible mining practices and, we believe, is positioned to deliver sustained growth and performance for years to come. TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 /CNW/ - Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. (TSX:WM, FWB: WC7) ("Wallbridge") is pleased to release final 2017 exploration results for its 100% owned Fenelon Gold Property ("Fenelon") in Quebec. Assay results for a final six drill holes and final screen metallic check assays continue to identify high-grade gold mineralization. Results from this initial year's exploration drilling program have exceeded expectations and resulted in an expanded exploration target for the area near existing infrastructure and above 150 metres depth. Additional surface and underground exploration drilling as well as a 35,000 tonne underground bulk sample are planned for 2018. Mobilization for the underground program will be initiated upon receipt of final permits, which are expected this month. In 2017 and since acquisition, Wallbridge has completed 33 drill holes totalling 6,348 metres in three surface exploration drilling campaigns at Fenelon. Drilling significantly extended existing zones and discovered several new parallel zones. Previously announced highlights (see Wallbridge press releases dated April 18, July 12, September 5, and November 9, 2017) include: FA-17-07 intersected three zones including 141.16 g/t gold over 7.06 metres in the Viper Zone; FA-17-17 intersecting four zones including 311.08 g/t gold over 3.06 metres, also in the Viper Zone; FA-17-26 intersecting two zones including 260.44 g/t gold over 7.02 metres, also in the Viper Zone; and FA-17-27 intersecting 80.42 g/t gold over 4.73 metres in the Habanero Zone. Highlights from the additional six drill holes include: Mineralization extended up to 120 metres outwards from the existing deposit; Two new gold bearing structures were identified; Four holes each intersected multiple mineralized intervals with three of the intervals containing visible gold; Drill hole FA-17-30 intersected 18.95 g/t gold over 1.02 metres from 45.60 metres down hole; Drill hole FA-17-32 intersected 11.30 g/t gold over 0.66 metres from 105.55 metres down hole. The results of the 2017 drilling, along with geological and structural modelling and reinterpretation of the deposit, have led to an expanded exploration target of an additional 70,000-120,000 ounces gold within 150,000 to 375,000 tonnes grading between 10-15 g/t gold immediately adjacent to the existing infrastructure and in the top 150 metres from surface. Very little drilling has been carried out below this depth and the mineralization remains open to depth and along strike. In addition, drill intersections along the four kilometer strike length of the mineralized structure demonstrate potential for new discoveries on the broader property. This exploration target is in addition to the 2016 resource estimate which included Measured and Indicated resources of 38,000 ounces gold contained within 91,100 tonnes grading 12.97 g/t gold and Inferred resources of 1,900 ounces gold contained within 6,500 tonnes grading 9.15 g/t gold (see Wallbridge press release dated February 2, 2017). The exploration target is conceptual in nature and based on drilling results, geological and structural modelling, and the size of untested target areas. The exploration target is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the property and significant additional drilling is required to determine whether a deposit of this size exists. "We are very excited with the exploration drilling results from this past year at Fenelon. We have significantly expanded the extent of high-grade gold mineralization at shallow depths near infrastructure, we have discovered several new zones with much higher grades, our understanding of the nature of the gold mineralization has increased significantly, we are seeing greater exploration upside and expansion potential of the deposit than we initially understood, and we remain very optimistic about the discovery potential on the broader property," stated Marz Kord, President and CEO of Wallbridge, "We look forward to further expanding and de-risking the project in the new year with additional exploration drilling and the underground bulk sample." Wallbridge acquired Fenelon in October 2016 and released positive results from a pre-feasibility study earlier this year (see Wallbridge press release dated March 6, 2017). In addition to exploration to expand the resource, Wallbridge received a declaration of exemption from the Government of Quebec for the dewatering of the pit and ramp and a 35,000 tonne bulk sample and has submitted an application for a certificate of authorization ("C of A") from the regional authority responsible for issuing permits. The underground bulk sample at Fenelon is expected to commence this month and be completed in 2018 along with additional exploration drilling. A summary of the final results from the 2017 surface exploration drilling are reported in Table 1 and shown on Figures 1 and 2, below. Additional information is available on Wallbridge's website at http://www.wallbridgemining.com/s/fenelon.asp. Figure 1. Fenelon plan map showing 2017 drill holes. http://www.wallbridgemining.com/i/pdf/20171213_Fig1.pdf Figure 2. Fenelon composite long section highlighting 2017 drill intersections outside of the previously defined deposit. http://www.wallbridgemining.com/i/pdf/20171213_Fig2.pdf Table 1. Summary of full year Fenelon exploration drilling assay results (new and previously released). Drill Hole From To From To Length1 Au2 Au3 VG4 Zone Program m m m m m g/t (AA/ GRA) g/t (SCR) FA-17-01 No assays >1 g/t Spring 5 FA-17-02 91.66 92.00 0.34 1.04 New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-02 113.38 114.23 0.85 1.28 Habanero Spring 5 FA-17-02 133.42 138.00 4.58 3.04 Viper Spring 5 FA-17-02 Including... 134.43 135.00 0.57 8.86 Viper Spring 5 FA-17-03 No assays >1 g/t Spring 5 FA-17-04 No assays >1 g/t Spring 5 FA-17-05 No assays >1 g/t Spring 5 FA-17-06 16.23 17.43 1.20 1.00 Cayenne Spring 5 FA-17-06 27.00 28.01 1.01 1.35 New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-07 29.42 30.17 0.75 3.86 Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-07 67.10 67.82 0.72 10.25 10.95 New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-07 87.68 91.13 3.45 4.28 4.70 VG Habanero Spring 5 FA-17-07 Including... 89.77 90.31 0.54 15.85 18.55 VG Habanero Spring 5 FA-17-07 122.10 129.16 7.06 149.08 141.16 VG Viper Spring 5 FA-17-07 Including... 125.44 129.16 3.72 281.30 266.27 VG Viper Spring 5 FA-17-08 86.90 87.52 0.62 13.20 4.80 New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-08 125.09 127.77 2.68 5.16 5.37 VG Tabasco Spring 5 FA-17-08 Including... 125.09 125.48 0.39 32.30 33.80 VG Tabasco Spring 5 FA-17-08 129.74 130.73 0.99 2.24 Tabasco? Spring 5 FA-17-09 30.90 32.00 1.10 4.99 New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-09 62.56 63.30 0.74 12.00 8.41 VG New Zone Spring 5 FA-17-09 146.11 147.28 1.17 9.72 Tabasco Spring 5 FA-17-10 No assays >1 g/t Summer FA-17-11 No assays >1 g/t Summer6 FA-17-12 240.15 245.76 5.61 1.21 1.15 VG Scorpion Summer6 FA-17-12 Including... 244.34 245.76 1.42 3.84 3.57 VG Scorpion Summer6 FA-17-13 265.30 266.77 1.47 0.28 1.79 VG Chipotle Summer6 FA-17-14 No assays >1 g/t Summer6 FA-17-15 No assays >1 g/t Summer6 FA-17-16 26.50 27.12 0.62 8.25 6.50 VG Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-16 76.64 77.49 0.85 6.93 Habanero Summer6 FA-17-16 117.92 118.36 0.44 5.77 Paprika Summer6 FA-17-16 125.65 131.85 6.20 1.76 2.25 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-16 Including... 128.72 129.77 1.05 9.60 12.40 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-17 33.36 33.97 0.61 2.81 Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-17 110.92 115.37 4.45 21.95 22.28 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-17 Including... 111.89 113.32 1.43 65.34 66.06 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-17 126.97 132.19 5.22 6.13 6.15 VG Paprika Summer6 FA-17-17 Including... 128.08 129.81 1.73 14.50 14.56 VG Paprika Summer6 FA-17-17 134.86 137.92 3.06 346.55 311.08 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-17 Including... 135.21 136.77 1.56 678.71 609.15 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-18 121.36 126.00 4.64 10.28 7.83 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-18 Including... 125.11 126.00 0.89 47 34.60 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-18 132.00 134.45 2.45 5.93 4.25 Chipotle Summer6 FA-17-18 Including... 132.00 133.05 1.05 13.55 9.63 Chipotle Summer6 FA-17-19 116.72 123.59 6.87 12.19 12.29 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-19 Including... 120.78 122.56 1.78 44.34 44.71 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-20 28.42 28.83 0.41 13.90 18.45 VG Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-20 76.80 80.75 3.95 1.35 Habanero Summer6 FA-17-20 114.40 117.10 2.70 4.09 3.81 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-20 Including... 116.47 117.10 0.63 17.10 15.90 VG Viper Summer6 FA-17-21 No assays >1 g/t Summer6 FA-17-22 36.00 36.76 0.76 86.80 67.00 VG Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-22 123.19 125.44 2.25 3.93 Paprika Summer6 FA-17-23 44.12 45.00 0.88 2.93 Cayenne Summer6 FA-17-23 132.00 140.76 8.76 3.22 3.31 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-23 Including... 132.00 134.99 2.99 9.12 9.37 VG Habanero Summer6 FA-17-24 No assays >1 g/t Summer6 FA-17-25 32.06 32.65 0.59 6.64 8.10 VG Cayenne Fall7 FA-17-25 118.04 127.33 9.29 4.24 4.20 VG Habanero Fall7 FA-17-25 Including... 122.75 127.33 4.58 7.90 7.83 VG Habanero Fall7 FA-17-25 151.26 154.57 3.31 0.41 Viper Fall7 FA-17-26 16.10 22.12 2.47 1.23 New Zone Fall7 FA-17-26 Including... 16.10 16.57 0.47 4.87 New Zone Fall7 FA-17-26 139.83 146.85 7.02 237.81 260.44 VG Viper Fall7 FA-17-27 130.12 134.85 4.73 122.25 80.42 VG Habanero Fall7 FA-17-27 Including... 130.56 132.10 1.54 362.83 238.71 VG Habanero Fall7 NEW ASSAYS THIS PRESS RELEASE FA-17-28 51.00 51.41 0.41 1.16 Cayenne Fall8 FA-17-28 107.07 109.97 2.90 2.25 Habanero Fall8 FA-17-28 118.50 119.96 1.46 1.46 2.14 VG Paprika Fall8 FA-17-29 No assays >1 g/t Fall8 FA-17-30 26.16 27.60 1.44 1.37 New Zone Fall8 FA-17-30 56.77 57.39 0.62 2.34 3.00 VG Cayenne Fall8 FA-17-31 45.60 46.62 1.02 10.25 18.95 Cayenne Fall8 FA-17-31 58.16 58.68 0.52 1.10 New Zone Fall8 FA-17-32 16.10 16.64 0.54 1.09 New Zone Fall8 FA-17-32 104.97 107.36 2.39 3.56 3.26 VG Habanero Fall8 FA-17-32 Including... 105.55 106.21 0.66 12.40 11.30 VG Habanero Fall8 FA-17-33 No assays >1 g/t Fall8 1Drill core length. The true width is 66-78 % of the drill core length. 2Au concentrations obtained by fire assay and atomic absorption ("AA"). For samples >100g/t Au, 50g is also analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric ("GRA") finish. 3Au concentrations obtained by screen metallic ("SCR") analysis for samples >10g/t Au or containing visible gold. 4Intervals containing visible gold ("VG"). 5Previously disclosed, see Wallbridge press release dated April 19, 2017. 6Previously disclosed, see Wallbridge press release dated September 5, 2017. 7Previously disclosed, see Wallbridge press release dated November 9, 2017. 8Previously unreleased assays, hole locations and header information are provided in Wallbridge press release dated November 9, 2017. Drill core samples from the recent drill programs at Fenelon were cut and bagged on site and transported to ALS Chemex. Samples, along with standards, blanks, and duplicates included for quality assurance and quality control, were prepared and analyzed at ALS Chemex Ltd. laboratories. Samples are crushed to 90% less than 2mm. A 1kg riffle split is pulverized to >95% passing 106 microns. 50g samples are analyzed by fire assay and AAS. For samples >100g/t Au, 50g is automatically analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish which are reported as final assays. To test for coarse free gold and for additional quality assurance and quality control, Wallbridge requests screen metallic analysis for samples >10g/t Au or containing visible gold. These and future assay results may vary from time to time due to re-analysis for quality assurance and quality control. The Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release is Attila Pentek, P.Geo., Ph.D., Senior Geologist for Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd.. Mr. Pentek has prepared, supervised and approved the scientific and technical disclosures in this press release. About Wallbridge Mining Wallbridge is establishing a pipeline of projects that will support sustainable production and revenue as well as organic growth through exploration and scalability. Wallbridge is currently preparing to develop its 100%-owned high-grade Fenelon Gold Property in Quebec with ongoing exploration and a bulk sample targeted to start in 2017. Wallbridge is also in discussions regarding several other advanced stage projects which could become the Company's next mines. These discussions benefit from the operating capabilities Wallbridge demonstrated by safely and efficiently mining the Broken Hammer deposit in Sudbury, which was completed in October 2015. Wallbridge is also continuing partner-funded exploration on its large portfolio of nickel, copper, and PGM projects in Sudbury, Ontario, with a focus on its high-grade Parkin project. Wallbridge also has exposure to active exploration for copper and gold in Jamaica and British Columbia through its 12.7% ownership of Carube Copper Corp. (CUC:TSX-V, formerly Miocene Resources Limited). This press release may contain forward-looking statements (including "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) relating to, among other things, the operations of Wallbridge and the environment in which it operates. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Wallbridge has relied on a number of assumptions and estimates in making such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the costs associated with the development and operation of its properties. Such assumptions and estimates are made in light of the trends and conditions that are considered to be relevant and reasonable based on information available and the circumstances existing at this time. A number of risk factors may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or outcomes of such exploration and/or mine development to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, without limitation, whether such discoveries will result in commercially viable quantities of such mineralized materials, the possibility of changes to project parameters as plans continue to be refined, the ability to execute planned exploration and future drilling programs, the need for additional funding to continue exploration and development efforts, changes in general economic, market and business conditions, and those other risks set forth in Wallbridge's most recent annual information form under the heading "Risk Factors" and in its other public filings. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and such information is inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and may be beyond the control of Wallbridge. Although Wallbridge has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements in this press release are given as of the date hereof. Wallbridge disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this disclaimer. SOURCE Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. Very Clean and Clear Data - The initial refraction analysis is in process and should not take much longer because the data is very clean. There are over 2,000,000 traces or readings that were taken that all have to be filtered and scrubbed, but the clarity and consistency of the data has been a blessing in the early stages of the processing. The processing team stated that they have not seen a land-based seismic shoot this positive in a long time. Preliminary Review Shows Bright Spots and Faulting - Dr. Coffin was able to review some of the initial stacking that has been completed and can see clear bright spots (indicative of hydrocarbon deposits) but more importantly he can see the "faulting" in the formations which is the most important part of Salt Dome development. Data Down to 17,000 Feet - The next phase of the project should begin in the first week of January and will take about a month. This time, depth analysis is critical to the 3D aspect of showing the entire structure. They have 3.5 seconds of data and in some areas more, which tells them that they will have clear geological data all the way down to 17,000 feet, which is excellent for the long-term prospect of some of the deeper formations. PHOENIX, Dec. 13, 2017 (- Lithium Exploration Group (USOTC:LEXG) met with the White Top geophysical team and representatives from the processing company in Houston, TX yesterday. The company also brought its outside seismic consultant, Richard Coffin, to assist in the oversight and update meeting. Below are some of the initial findings from the meeting: Dr. Coffin is updating his report on the shoot and processing information he gathered yesterday, which the company will post to its website early next week. "It was great to finally have the data and have tangible results that show progress. The clarity of the faulting that we were able to see gives us high confidence that we will be able to drill the most efficient wells possible as development commences next year," commented CEO Alex Walsh. "This initial data gives my team the assurance that White Top will be able to complete the option and that our royalty will become a substantial cash generator in the years to come." About Lithium Exploration Group Lithium Exploration Group is a US-based exploration and development company focused on the acquisition and development potential of lithium brines and other precious metals that demonstrate high probability for near-term production. Currently the company is focused testing the Sonic Cavitation Ltd. technology and the acquisition of oil and gas related assets in the US and Canada. Lithium Exploration Group is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol LEXG. Website: www.lithiumexplorationgroup.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future testing of the ultrasonic technology. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. We are not in control of lithium prices and these could vary to make development uneconomic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our most recent annual report for our last fiscal year, our quarterly reports, and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact Info Shanon Chilson 480-641-4790 info@lithiumexplorationgroup.com Levon Shirimyan: Turkey plays very well (video) Political scientist Levon Shirimyan does not believe that the USA's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital is not a result of the Jewish lobby. " This was a step against the victory of the Russian weapon in Syria which was agreed in advance and was waiting for a moment." He thinks that Iran can be the force against the USA-Israel alliance. And Turkey plays very well. The gossips on Trump being an inexperienced president sound funny for Levon Shirinyan. "He is a unique political figure, he likes abrupt steps. I would like him to take such a step in terms of recognition of the Genocide." "Armenians have many worthy things in Jerusalem, which are not material but concern civilization. It is the crown and pride of Christianity and it should be taken care of," said the political scientist. In this case it is important to keep position instead of confrontation. "Church is reasonable, for centuries, it had a good diplomacy, cannot hurry, and it will be able to cope," he said. Speaking of the conditions in Ukraine, the political scientist said that Mikheil Sahakashvili is one sent from Russia. Thirteen states have filed suit against Massachusetts in response to a law mandating certain humane practices in food production.Known informally as the Massachusetts egg law and set to go into full effect in 2022, the law requires that anyone selling produce in the state to have provided their production animals space to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turning around freely.In the 2016 Election, nearly 80 percent of state voters -- more than 2.5 million people total -- supported the proposal, drafted as a citizen's referendum the group Citizens for Farm Animal Protection.The lawsuit deems Massachusetts referendum unlawful because it attempts to "dictate how other states choose to regulate business operations and manufacturing processes within their own borders," according to Indiana Attorney General Curtis T. Hill Jr.The lawsuit accuses Massachusetts of "economic protectionism and extraterritorial regulation that violates the Commerce Clause" of the U.S. Constitution, saying residents of different states will be made to "submit to Massachusetts' laws."According to The Humane Society, most laying hens now spend their lives confined to a cages providing no more space than an 8" by 11" sheet of printer paper -- not even enough room to spread their wings.California passed a similar law in 2015 and has also faced joint lawsuits filed by other states which have so far failed to reverse it.The new attempt to reverse the law in Massachusetts, like the so far failed attempts to rollback California's, have rested crucially on saying these laws increase costs to consumers.California's production of eggs fell from 5 billion in 2012 to 3.5 billion last year in connection with the state's egg law.The plaintiff states in the Massachusetts lawsuit, in addition to Indiana, include the Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. There's a certain set of issues that every candidate running for governor knows he or she will have to address -- creating jobs, improving schools, paying for health care. In 2018, there's one more thing they'll have to take a position on: President Donald Trump.Many Republicans are trying to outdo one another in their levels of rhetorical support for the president, while most Democrats are doing their best to excoriate him."President Trump is now our nation's political touchstone," says Thad Kousser, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego. "The clearest way to communicate your values to the voters and to energize them is to declare yourself either a staunch ally or a steadfast opponent of the president."Last week, when the U.S. House held an impeachment vote, even most Democrats opposed the idea. But some supported it, including Reps. Jared Polis and Tim Walz who are running for governor of Colorado and Minnesota, respectively.Following a GOP forum last month in Loveland, Ohio, theran a story headlined, "Ohio's Republican governor candidates: I'm most like Donald Trump. No, I am."The fact that candidates are taking a stance on Trump underscores a shift toward partisanship that has been happening in state races for a while but has intensified in recent election cycles."When the 2012 and 2014 elections made red states redder and blue states blue, that made it a safer electoral strategy for gubernatorial candidates to tie themselves closely to the dominant party in their state," says Kousser.Where governors used to routinely cooperate and collaborate across party lines, they're now more likely to act and think of themselves as belonging to separate camps."They used to be governors first and Democrats or Republicans second," says Ray Scheppach, a former executive director of the National Governors Association. "Now, they're Democrats or Republicans first and governors second."That strategy might help some candidates get elected, but Scheppach says it can make it harder to get things done when it comes to addressing prosaic state-level concerns."The division in Washington has influenced not just how they campaign in the states but actually how they govern," says Scheppach, now a public policy professor at the University of Virginia. "You get those divisions and it's just harder to do the practical things on a bipartisan basis."Such concerns aren't stopping any gubernatorial candidates from making their positions known. Georgia state GOP Sen. Michael Williams describes himself as a "fierce supporter of Donald Trump," while California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has made standing up to the president part of his platform."The world, literally the world, is counting on all of you, counting on California to reject Trump's deception and destructiveness," he declared at the state Democratic Party convention this spring.This phenomenon is compounded by news coverage. Reporters are often more interested in collecting reactions to Trump than in a gubernatorial candidate's own platform."The media's not always so interested in talking about state issues," says Seth Weathers, the campaign strategist for Williams. "The media tends to be more interested in talking about Donald Trump."As the year progresses -- and depending on the state -- Republicans may have to finesse how tightly they embrace Trump. The president continues to enjoy approval from roughly 85 percent of Republican voters, making the strategy of linking to him in primaries almost a no-brainer. But assuming his overall approval ratings remain at a historic low, Republicans in blue or purple states might seek to pivot away from Trump in the general election in the fall.In an interview this week, Ed Gillespie, the GOP nominee for governor in Virginia this year, called Trump "a big factor" in his defeat. After nearly losing the primary to an opponent who more ardently embraced Trump, Gillespie then took up the Trump mantle, emphasizing immigration and support for Confederate monuments.Regardless of how Republicans ultimately position themselves -- or Democrats, for that matter -- it's clear that Trump will be an issue in races for governor across the country. Perhaps the dominant issue."What we're seeing across the country in the age of President Trump is the nationalization of state politics," says Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. "The future of any state depends on things that have little to do with Washington, such as schools and economic development, but those issues don't get nearly the attention they should from the candidates or the media, because Donald Trump has been such an extraordinary media figure." Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has threatened former Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood with legal action over statements about voter impersonation that she made earlier this year.In a letter dated Friday, an attorney representing Reed wrote that Norwood's accusation of voter manipulation in the 2009 election had damaged Reed's reputation.The attorney, L. Lin Wood, demands in the letter that Norwood retract her statements.Wood also tells Norwood to preserve any records related to her comments, which were secretly recorded at a meeting of young Republicans in June.Norwood said in a statement that the threatened lawsuit was "just another attempt to harass and intimidate me.""In his final days in office, Mr. Reed apparently is having a difficult time relinquishing his job as Mayor," the statement said.Norwood lost the 2009 election to Reed by 714 votes. And last week, she suffered another defeat in her second to bid to become mayor when she lost to fellow City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms by a similar margin. Reed had endorsed Bottoms.The election was certified by the Fulton and DeKalb county election authorities on Monday. Norwood is seeking a recount.Some have partly blamed Norwood's loss on the recording. In it, Norwood says that the Reed campaign obtained confidential list of former Atlanta Housing Authority residents that had since moved outside the city, but remained registered to vote in Altanta.She accuses Reed's campaign of seeking out those former residents and convincing them to cast ballots for Reed.The comments were reminiscent of statements made by President Donald Trump who claimed that voter manipulation was the reason he failed to win the popular vote in the 2016 election.In a statement on Monday, Bottoms referenced other comments by Norwood in the recording, in which Norwood talks about getting herself appointed to the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration in 2013."Mary Norwood is now questioning the very same board she was supposed to clean up," Bottoms said. "Be that as it may, I look forward to naming my transition co-chairs tomorrow." Maryland will track allegations of sexual harassment made against state lawmakers, and politicians who violate the state's code of conduct can be expelled from the legislature.Leaders of the General Assembly voted unanimously Tuesday to update the guidelines for reporting and tracking complaints against state lawmakers -- though the identity of the accused wrongdoer will remain confidential.The new policies come amid a national conversation about holding accountable people accused of sexual misconduct, and they follow a tide of allegations of impropriety by high-profile men in Hollywood, the media and politics."This is a watershed moment in time, and we want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, that there's a place that they can go, and that there's a remedy," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said at the start of the Legislative Policy Committee meeting in Annapolis, where the new policy was approved.This centralized tracking system will be used to generate an annual report of the number and type of allegations, as well as how they were resolved. But it will not identify the lawmakers or other legislative staffers involved because the reports will be considered a personnel matter.The changes also include the possible referral of sexual harassment reports to ethics officials, who can recommend lawmakers be kicked out of office or otherwise reprimanded for their conduct.Not all verified complaints will be referred to ethics officials.Currently, complaints about lawmakers go either to the legislature's human resources department or either of the presiding officers of the General Assembly -- currently Miller or House Speaker Michael E. Busch.Last year, the legislature updated its sexual harassment policy to allow witnesses of misconduct -- not just victims -- to report the incident.Each of Maryland's 188 delegates and senators, all their staffs and workers for the Department of Legislative Services, receives a copy of the state's Workplace Harassment Policy and must sign a document saying they read it. Lawmakers must also attend an anti-harassment training seminar once during a four-year legislative term.The existing policy also laid out other potential punishments for offending lawmakers, including training, counseling, reprimand, committee reassignment or "disciplinary action as determined to be appropriate under the circumstances."The potential punishments for non-legislators include withholding of promotions or raises, temporary unpaid suspensions or firing.Busch praised the policy as among the best in the country. Miller said in an interview he was not aware of any current members of the Senate who have been subject to allegations of sexual impropriety. The synthetic painkiller fentanyl has been the driving force behind the nations opioid epidemic, killing tens of thousands of Americans last year in overdoses. Now two states want to use the drugs powerful properties for a new purpose: to execute prisoners on death row.As Nevada and Nebraska push for the countrys first fentanyl-assisted executions, doctors and death penalty opponents are fighting those plans. They have warned that such an untested use of fentanyl could lead to painful, botched executions, comparing the use of it and other new drugs proposed for lethal injection to human experimentation.States are increasingly pressed for ways to carry out the death penalty because of problems obtaining the drugs they long have used, primarily because pharmaceutical companies are refusing to supply their drugs for executions.The situation has led states such as Florida, Ohio and Oklahoma to turn to novel drug combinations for executions. Mississippi legalized nitrogen gas this spring as a backup method something no state or country has tried. Officials have yet to say whether it would be delivered in a gas chamber or through a gas mask. On Tuesday, in the morning, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey welcomed the Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk MP, the Premier of Queensland, who presented to the Governor and Mrs de Jersey the proposed members of her Ministry. The Governor then officiated at a formal ceremony for the swearing-in of 18 Ministers of the State and members of the Executive Council of Queensland; presided at a special meeting of the Executive Council; officiated at a formal ceremony for the appointment of five Assistant Ministers; and, with Mrs de Jersey, hosted a reception in honour of the Palaszczuk Ministry. In the evening, at Government House, the Governor welcomed members of the public visiting the estate to view the 2017 Christmas Lights display. Description GIS - 13 December, 2017: No one can deny the reality of climate change and its impacts. We are all vulnerable and the urgency of the situation calls for concrete and immediate measures to ensure the survival of our planet and the well-being of future generations. No one can deny the reality of climate change and its impacts. We are all vulnerable and the urgency of the situation calls for concrete and immediate measures to ensure the survival of our planet and the well-being of future generations. This statement was made by the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, yesterday at the One Planet Summit in Paris, France to promote green investments to fight global climate change. He was addressing the panel on the resilience of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) regarding climate commitments at the Seine Musicale Ile Seguin, Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris. In his intervention, Mr Jugnauth dwelt on the numerous challenges that SIDS such as Mauritius are facing and the vulnerability of those countries to the effects of climate change. The effects are already being witnessed with the rising water levels, changing rainfall patterns, flash floods, erosion of beaches and prolonged drought, in addition to the risk of intense cyclones, he added. On this score, the Prime Minister called for immediate and concerted global action to achieve a common goal for SIDS that is to strengthen resilience in the wake of natural calamities emanating from climate change effects. He enumerated some of the measures put in place by Mauritius as means to deal with the issue. They are, namely adoption of a framework for the management and reduction of risks related to natural disasters and review of adaptation strategies and action plans in key sectors such as agriculture, water, fisheries and ecosystems, tourism and the coastal zone. Moreover, Mr Jugnauth stressed that the objectives to tackle climate change do not solely rest on SIDS but a strong collaboration and commitment is required on behalf of the industrialised countries in terms of access to finance, capacity development and technology transfer and other such assistance. He further emphasised that it is essential that industrialised countries increase the commitment to developing countries in the process of implementing their commitments. 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 Boulder already had a university, a lot of business accelerators and an ecosystem of tech startups. Now, the citys chief innovation and analytics officer hopes to bring those things in line so they can help the municipal government.The city is one of 12 that will participate in the 2018 Startup in Residence (STiR) cohort as part of the programs first national expansion Julia Richman was hired by Boulder in early 2017 after nearly a decade with Deloitte Consulting, coming aboard in part to help the local government there leverage the skills of the entrepreneurial community in order to improve the services it provides citizens. At that time, STiR was still limited to Northern California, as it had been since it began in San Francisco in 2014. However, when Richman became aware of national expansion plans soon after going to work for Boulder, she found STiR immediately enticing. It was directly in line with her new positions goals and objectives, she said. We had been endeavoring into this concept out of the STiR program in anticipation that it was going to be made available to external participants this fall, Richman said. This kind of work is really a core part of our innovation architecture. STiRs goal is outwardly simple: Facilitate mutually beneficial relationships between tech startups and local governments, thereby helping the companies to get a foothold in a relatively undertapped gov tech market while at the same time giving government access to new tools it needs to overcome old challenges. To accomplish that, STiR plays matchmaker and embeds tech startups within public agencies. Its not as simple as it sounds. Many American cities seek to do a better job helping startups break into gov tech by overcoming near-universal obstacles such as a lengthy and complex procurement process, legacy systems and shrinking budgets. Some cities, like Boulder, have a wealth of homegrown startup talent, and all they need is a bridge to get them into government work. One of Richmans chief hopes for participating is that STiR will be this bridge for Boulder, which has a thriving startup ecosystem , complete with academic resources from the University of Colorado Boulder, as well as a whopping 18 accelerators and incubators. While San Antonio shied away from STiR out of concern that its startup culture was not yet robust enough to truly benefit, Boulder does not have this hang-up. Richman also said she expects Boulders size, economy and geography to be enticing for entrepreneurs. We have a ton of different assets, Richman said. We have a lot of people and we have data, buses, roads, you name it. For a startup looking for a data test site or to get a plug into bigger infrastructure than the little test environment theyve built in someones garage, we can enable that and help them understand the use of their own tool. In addition to Boulder, this new class of national participants includes Houston, Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C. It also includes six jurisdictions in California San Francisco, Santa Cruz County, Santa Monica, Vallejo, Walnut Creek and West Sacramento and one public agency, the San Francisco regions Municipal Transportation Commission. Companies can apply to the program until Jan. 1. Aside from the tangible tech results, Richman also hopes that infusing the local government with startup ethos will enable experimentation and a culture shift toward flexibility that its okay if a project doesnt turn out exactly as planned. The notion that governments are ever going to be leading edge is just kind of a false narrative, Richman said. But the concept that governments can be prepared to be adapters of technology and keep pace with technology is where I think startups can help. (TNS) WASHINGTON Hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable lay on the ocean floors, a crucial part of the global internets backbone, and only rarely do ship anchors, undersea landslides or saboteurs disrupt them.Still, a few voices now call for stronger global mechanisms and even military action to protect the cables against future malicious activity by states, saboteurs or extremists.The infrastructure that underpins the internet these undersea cables are clearly vulnerable, said Rishi Sunak, a British member of Parliament and champion of more vigorous action to protect submarine networks. They underpin pretty much everything that we do.Undersea cables conduct nearly 97 percent of all global communications, and every day an estimated $10 trillion in financial transfers and vast amounts of data pass through the seabed routes. Satellites, once crucial but now limited in speed and bandwidth, handle only a tiny percentage of global communications.As reliance on the underwater cables soars, a growing list of countries and even companies have the expertise to deploy unmanned vehicles to ocean depths to access them.Nowadays, there are a lot of countries and companies that have the ability to send vehicles down to the sea floor and have them manipulate, install or take away undersea cables, said Bryan Clark, a retired naval submariner and former Navy strategist who is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank.The optical strands inside the cables have extraordinary capacity to transmit data, millions of phone calls per fiber. The cables that house bundled fiber optics are no thicker than a human wrist.Failures along cable routes are rare, numbering on average barely 200 a year along the estimated 650,000 miles of active international commercial cables laid along sea beds.Its still vanishingly small when the amount of cable around the globe is considered, said Keith Schofield, general manager of the International Cable Protection Committee, which has its headquarters in Lymington, England.There are 428 known commercial fiber-optic cable routes worldwide. Many cables are laid parallel along heavily trafficked routes, like the U.S. to Britain, or through the Mediterranean and Red Sea toward India and the rest of Asia, and come ashore together. Florida has about 10 landing points for the two dozen or so cables that come ashore there.Most problems occur close to landfall, not in the open ocean, and the majority involve nets from trawlers or damage by anchors, Schofield said.But in recent years, a few incidents have drawn attention to sabotage and espionage.In October 2015, U.S. authorities scrambled to monitor Russian submarine patrols and a high-tech Russian surface ship, the Yantar, in a corridor of the North Atlantic that hosts a cluster of undersea cables. The Yantar carried deep-sea submersibles and cable-cutting gear.In an earlier incident, Egypt said in March 2013 that it had arrested three scuba divers who had tried to cut an undersea fiber optic cable in the Mediterranean off Alexandria that was a vital communications link between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Egypt never explained who the three saboteurs worked for.At one time, only the United States and the Soviet Union, now Russia, deployed submarines able to reach deep depths to manipulate fiber-optic cables. But deep-sea remotely powered vehicles are now widely available, putting the technology in more hands.All you need to do is give them a claw and sharp jaws and tell them to go down and clip the cable, said Jim Hayes, president of the Fiber Optic Association, a nonprofit professional society based in Santa Monica, California.Hayes said far simpler means can be found for those intent on damaging the cables, especially near the congested points where they make landfall.If you drag an anchor and start pulling with enough force, you can bend and kink the cable and snap the fiber, Hayes said.Since the first submarine telegraphic cable was laid across the Atlantic in 1858, undersea cables have mostly been in private hands, left alone by governments and global bodies.Because cables arent owned by governments, governments have ignored them, Schofield said.Perhaps not entirely. The U.S. government in the 1970s is known to have tapped a cable off the Kuril Islands in eastern Russia. And in 2013, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that U.S. and British spy agencies were stealing data from undersea cables.A handful of other nations are believed to have the same capabilities.Sunak, the British parliamentarian, laid out a number of steps to protect the undersea cables in a 46-page study published Dec. 1 by Britains Policy Exchange think tank.He called for enhanced global legal protections, establishing of cable protection zones above corridors used by multiple undersea cables and more robust protections at landfall sites.They are not secured to the level, for example, of a nuclear power station or a military base is secured at, Sunak said in a telephone interview. You can find them, sometimes they are just a wire fence and maybe a night-time security guy from the local town. Its not exactly crack security against a terrorist operation.Sunaks study Undersea cables: Indispensable, insecure calls for undersea sensors for cables, creation of backup or dark cables that would not be publicly identified, and recognition that an attack on cables would pose an existential threat to the world economy.We have allowed this vital infrastructure to grow increasingly vulnerable and this should worry us all, former Navy Adm. James Stavridis, former U.S. Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, wrote in a preface to the study.Others involved in senior U.S. cybersecurity positions concur.What it means is that concerned nations need to have robust capabilities to monitor those cables and to repair them or to separate any illegal intrusions, Rand Beers, a former undersecretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said in an interview. (TNS) Facebook is growing again in Prineville, Ore.The social networking company said Tuesday it will build two more massive data centers on its Prineville campus, where it has already spent more than $1 billion building three huge structures and a smaller, "cold storage" facility.Prineville said Facebook signed a new agreement for property tax exemptions for the facilities. Prior deals have already saved the company more than $70 million.Tuesday's news means there will be a continued influx of hundreds of temporary construction workers into the small, central Oregon community that is still recovering from the loss of timber mills and Les Schwab's corporate headquarters."We're celebrating here at the city," said Steve Forrester, Prineville's city manager. He said the city spent years improving infrastructure to make the community attractive to large industry, and it's paid off with Facebook and large data centers Apple has built nearby.Former mill workers, Les Schwab employees and recent high school graduates have all found jobs in the data centers, Forrester said, helping bring Crook County's jobless rate down from a peak near 20 percent during the Great Recession to 6.5 percent currently."That's what this is about," Forrester said.Along with the surge of economic activity, the data centers have also brought strains in the small, high-desert town of 9,200. At times, as many as 500 construction workers have squeezed into Prineville to work on projects for Facebook and Apple, which has its own campus just up the road.That has swamped the local housing supply . A study by LendingTree found average rents in Prineville increased at an annual rate of 7.8 percent from 2011 to 2016 , the second-fastest in the nation after Bend.Rents across Central Oregon have been rising rapidly in the years since the Great Recession. Home construction nearly ground to a halt during the downturn, and hasn't been able to catch up amid the subsequent economic boom in Bend and surrounding communities.After adding fewer than 14 single-family homes in each year from 2011 to 2014, Forrester said Prineville added 48 homes in 2016 and expects another 62 this year. He said the city has expanded local RV parking, dorm housing for construction workers and approved sites for additional developments."The city's been very proactive," Forrester said. "We've learned some lessons with the construction folks."Crook County said Facebook paid $5.4 million for 240 acres to make room for the new data centers, and Prineville annexed the land. The company already owned 140 adjacent acres, home to its existing facilities.It's been almost eight years since Facebook began construction of its first corporate data center on the spare bluffs above Prineville, drawn by property tax exemptions that saved the company $17 million last year alone on its buildings and high-end computers.Apple, which has a large complex of data centers up the road from Facebook, has saved $30.3 million since 2013, including $16.4 million this past year.The value of the exemptions will grow as more data centers open, stocked with thousands of computers that would otherwise be subject to the local property taxes other businesses pay.A new enterprise zone agreement extends the property tax breaks to the new buildings, offset by a new, $250,000 annual fee. Altogether, Facebook will pay local governments $550,000 to offset its tax breaks.Prineville receives additional revenue from franchise fees generated by the Facebook and Apple's electricity use. Those fees were worth $600,000 a year in 2015, boosting public coffers by 12 percent.It's "unfortunate," Forrester said, that local communities find themselves competing against one another to win large industrial operations with tax breaks."We have to play this tax incentive game, and the reason we do is everyone else is doing it," Forrester said. "I think these businesses should stand on their own and I know they could."When the Prineville facility opened in 2012, Facebook came under fire from environmentalists because its electricity came from PacifiCorp, which generates much of its energy from coal. Facebook said Tuesday it "is actively working to find a renewable energy solution" for the new facilities under Oregon's direct access electricity program.Meanwhile, Google is expanding its complex of data centers in The Dalles and Amazon is building more facilities in eastern Oregon. All benefit from the same kinds of tax breaks that attracted Facebook.Despite their mammoth size -- Facebook said the two new data centers will take up 900,000 square feet altogether -- the existing facilities employ just about 200 combined, many of them security contractors. In a small city, though, those jobs have an outsized impact.Facebook said the new data centers will cost "hundreds of millions of dollars," most of which will go to the powerful, high-end computers that run the social network and store social media updates, photos and videos.Construction on the fourth full-size data center begins this month, and Facebook said it will be up and running in 2020. Work begins on the fifth facility next year.This article has been updated with comment from Prineville and more information about the value of Facebook's tax breaks. Lewis Hamilton says he does not want to emulate Fernando Alonso in targeting motor racing's unique 'triple crown'. As Alonso tackled the Indy 500 last year, the Spaniard revealed that as a former Monaco GP winner, he would like to win Le Mans as well and one day join Graham Hill in completing the super-rare feat. Quadruple world champion Hamilton, however, says he only has eyes for F1. "It's very difficult to do something unique and different today," he told Brazil's UOL. "In the past there were drivers who raced in several different categories, but I don't have the desire to do that. "I admire what Alonso wants to do, but for me formula one is the maximum experience a driver can have," the Mercedes driver added. In fact, Hamilton has said that although a new deal with Mercedes could mean he may target Michael Schumacher's tally of seven titles, he doesn't set that goal. "I have other qualities and projects that I am interested in and good at," said the Briton. "In the coming years you will see what they are but it's more than racing. One day I'll hang up my gloves and that's what I'll do. I hope people accept that appreciate it in the same way that they do with my driving," Hamilton said. (GMM) Renovo , a technology company that builds automated mobility operating systems, announced its collaboration with Samsung Electronics on the development of highly-automated vehicle technology. The collaboration, which has been underway since the beginning of the year, will enable the Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center (SSIC) Smart Machines Group to use Renovos AWare operating system in its first fleet of test vehicles in California. Samsung is also an investor in Renovo. Renovos AWare OS is built specifically for automated mobility on demand (AMoD), and brings together heterogeneous systems safely and securely. AWare is already powering vehicles being tested on private and public roads today, and will continue to support additional AMoD pilot deployments in 2018. We are delighted to have Samsung as a partner and investor, and to work with them to develop the highly automated vehicles that will reshape mobility in the coming years. Samsung is a global technology leader that helped disrupt the entire communications industry as traditional flip phones became the smartphones we use today. With a similar transformation coming to the mobility sector, Samsung was the first and obvious choice for Renovo to partner with as a technology collaborator and investor. Samsungs recent announcements about their activities in the mobility sector underscore their commitment to it. We look forward to continuing to work together to develop and bring to market highly automated vehicle technology and solutions. Chris Heiser, Co-Founder and CEO of Renovo Samsung has already, through its other funds, partnered with and invested in a number of innovative automotive companies that will help create smarter, safer, connected vehicles. 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 President Donald Trump surprised me. And then he didn't. First, giving credit where it's due. Trump tweeted last night: "Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!" I didn't expect this, especially after Trump tweets as recently as yesterday made Jones sound like a threat to the very fiber of American society ("Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet.") But the president was back to form this morning, tweeting: "The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" Oh, yes. Trump is a two-time loser in Alabama's special election. He backed appointed senator Strange in the GOP primary, then Moore in the general election. As he usually does when he loses, he says something was rigged or the deck was stacked. But did he really know all along that Moore could not win? Come on! Again, in a tweet just yesterday, Trump said, "The people of Alabama will do the right thing." Presumably, that was a prediction of a Moore victory, not defeat. But in fact, the people of Alabama did do the right thing. They rejected Moore and chose Jones, even in a heavily Republican state. Many Republicans chose decency over party. Trump should have stuck with his congratulations of Jones and moved on. There will be more elections, and in Alabama, Republicans certainly will win most of them as long as they run mainstream candidates. The president should have known better than to back Moore. He was advised to keep his distance by people much wiser than Steve Bannon. Simply Thai has opened at 122 E. Main St. in Jamestown. It opened in a former office space across from Southern Roots restaurant. Its a great location. Its a great town, said Matt Jit Lothakoun. Lothakoun opened the restaurant with his sister Vonne Keobouala. It is their second location. The two opened Simply Thai at 2041 Timberline Station Drive in Elon eight years ago. Its been a long road for the two Laotian Americans since they came from Laos with their parents, three siblings and their grandmother in the early 1980s when thousands fled the war-ravaged countries of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Lothakoun and Keoboualas family ended up in California, where they operated a noodle shop. The family eventually moved to North Carolina and opened a Thai takeout restaurant in Fayetteville. After about a year of operating the Fayetteville restaurant, they opened a finer-dining restaurant in Elon serving Thai and Laotian food. The Jamestown menu echoes the Elon restaurant with sushi and such dishes as Thai basil with bell peppers and green beans; Sweet and Sour with vegetables and sweet and sour sauces; and pad prik with bell peppers, garlic and chili paste. Choose a protein for each dish, such as chicken or pork ($15); steak, duck, shrimp or seafood ($18); or tofu ($14). Noodle dishes, such as pad thai and drunken noodles, and rice dishes, such as Thai fried rice and pineapple fried rice, are offered with a choice of protein. Simply Thai offers five curry dishes with a choice of protein. Some chef specialties include pineapple chicken ($16), Thai pepper steak ($19), and half a roast duck ($26) with Thai herbs. A seafood menu, with a choice of salmon ($21), grouper or tilapia ($18), or battered pompano ($24), includes such dishes as spicy pla lad prik or pan-roasted fish filet with bell peppers and ginger. Some Laotian specialties include spicy pork Simply Lao Sausage ($16); Moak Pa ($19), a seasoned catfish filet steamed in banana leaves; and the traditional larb ($17), which is chicken, steak or fish minced with vegetables and cilantro and tossed in lime zest. Laotian food is more herbal, with lemon grass, cilantro and basil, Keobouala said. It has a spiciness, but with an herbal kick. Many Thai dishes are of Laotian descent. The two countries share a border and cultures. A Lao food movement, led by chef Seng Luangrath of Washington seeks to highlight the traditional dishes and flavors of Laos. Keobouala and Lothakoun are friends of Sengs. They plan to have her as a guest for a grand opening of the restaurant early in the new year. The date is yet to be announced. You can find Laos dishes on many Thai menus, Keobouala said. I want to be able to be a part of a Lao food movement. Lunch is $8.95, with a choice of chicken or tofu, or $10.95 with a choice of shrimp or steak. Lunch dishes change daily from drunken noodle or panang curry on Tuesday to mixed vegetables or massaman curry on Friday. Beef or chicken pho is served every day. A full bar with signature cocktails, extensive wine list and imported and locally produced beer is offered. The Jamestown restaurant, with its relaxed and rustic-modern atmosphere, is about half the size of the Elon restaurant. It seats about 50. The restaurant seats an additional 20 outside during good weather. Most of the work at both restaurants was done by Lothakoun, a trained engineer who is also a contractor. Plans are to expand the Jamestown restaurant by adding an event center in a former fitness club next door. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Dinner is served from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The restaurants phone number is 336-875-5555. Follow Simply Thai Restaurant on Facebook or visit http://mysimplythai.com. Tex & Shirleys moving Dec. 24 will be a bittersweet day for a lot of people. Thats the day that Tex & Shirleys at 708 Pembroke Road at Friendly Center in Greensboro will serve its last meal at a location it has occupied for more than 40 years. My lease is up, owner Bart Ortiz Jr. said. The shopping center has been really good to work with me. They granted me an extension. But Ortiz plans to reopen the restaurant in a new location as quickly as possible. He is working out the details to lease a space at 1720 Battleground Ave. that was once Lo Spiedo di Noble at Irving Park Shopping Center and most recently The Underground. Ortiz said he is always amazed at the people who ate their first restaurant meal at Tex & Shirleys and then return with their kids or grandchildren. These are the kinds of stories that are extraordinary, Ortiz said. I feel honored and humbled to be able to provide a restaurant that is an important part of peoples lives. Spartan Village II eateries open at UNCG Although UNC-Greensboro students leave town for winter break, a group of restaurants in the schools newest residence hall complex, Spartan Village II, will be open. The perception that these restaurants are not open to the public couldnt be farther from the truth. We are a local business looking to provide fresh and delicious food with great customer service to our community, said Nayef Dergham, who operates Pita Delite at Spartan Village II and two other locations. And that is why the intersection of West Gate City Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue may be one of the citys least known culinary destinations. This area was not only intended to benefit the students, faculty and staff, but for the Glenwood neighborhood and the greater community as well, said Scott Milman, the assistant vice chancellor for campus enterprise and real estate, who oversaw the development of the mixed-use student facility. The restaurants at Spartan Village II include Home Slice Pizza and Subs, Pita Delite, Taco Bao Asian Grill, The Den by Dennys and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Where else can you get pizza balls, a falafel platter, kimchi fried rice, a smoothie and breakfast all day? Its like a food court without the mall. Three of the restaurants are in the Lexington Building at 1101 W. Gate City Blvd. The other two are in the McCormick Building at 1201 W. Gate City Blvd. The Lexington Building restaurants are clustered around a landscaped patio. The school will be providing outdoor tables and seating for about 84 diners. The whole idea is that the patio will be a town center where people can come and interact with our students, faculty and staff, Milman said. Its going to be something really special, said Bob Haberer, who owns Home Slice Pizza and Subs, which is a sister location of the flagship restaurant at 5803 Hunt Club Road. Heres a breakdown of the eateries in Spartan Village IIs Lexington Building: Home Slice Pizza and Subs offers pizza, stromboli, wings and deep-fried pizza balls stuffed with pizza toppings and served with marinara sauce or ranch dressing for dipping. Home Slice also offers subs and salads. Specials are offered daily, such as 75-cent wings on Monday and $1.25 pizza balls on Thursday with the purchase of a drink. Cupcakes and other goodies from Amorosos Bakery of Greensboro are offered. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Home Slice delivers; call 336-897-0909 to order. Pita Delite is part of a family-owned local chain of Middle Eastern sandwich shops that specialize in pitas stuffed with a variety of toppings and spreads. The shop also offers gyros and other sandwiches and platters with a variety of items such as falafel, hummus, chicken or steak fajitas. Holiday specials, such as any pita for $5 or any platter for $6.99, are offered. Hours for the month of December are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Pita Delite delivers; call 336-663-8886 or visit http://pitadelite.com. Taco Bao Asian Grill is a Chinese-inspired mashup of sandwiches and sides. You choose a carbohydrate base: flour or corn tortilla, rice or a bao, which is a Chinese steamed bun. Then you choose a protein, with the choices including bulgogi beef, Thai chicken, braised pork or tempura fish. Then choose three toppings from an extensive list of items including corn, black beans, kimchi, edamame or fajita vegetables. Other items include kimchi fried rice or noodle bowl, and wings in six flavors. Lots of sides, including Mexican or brown rice and gyoza, are available. Check the board for daily specials like Crispy Crazy Chicken with rice ($10), kimchi pork and rice ($10) and ban noodle bowl ($5). December hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1-7 p.m. Sunday. The shop delivers; call 336-365-8888 or visit http://tacobaouncg.com. The second building at Spartan Village II, the McCormick Building at 1201 W. Gate City Blvd., has two eateries: The Den by Dennys is a fast casual spinoff of the Dennys brand and is aimed at college campuses. The Den serves breakfast all day with items such as the Original Grand Slam platter, pancakes, breakfast burrito and brioche breakfast melts. A selection of burgers, including the breakfast scramble burger and the chipotle bacon cheeseburger, are offered. Sandwiches, such as Italian panini, turkey BLT and veggie mashup burrito, are offered. Salads and spun shakes are also on the menu. The phone is 336-558-7328 or visit http://theden bydennys.com. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday through Dec. 22. It will reopen Jan. 3. Tropical Smoothie Cafe is another national chain to set up shop at Spartan Village II. It is at the west end of the McCormick Building and faces McCormick Street. It offers nearly 30 smoothies, with such combinations as blueberries and bananas, chocolate and coffee, and superfoods, including mango and ginger, or chia and banana. Supplements and add-ins are available. The shop also offers toasted flatbreads, sandwiches, wraps and bowls. Breakfast items, such as an egg and breakfast meat wrap and a peanut butter and banana flatbread, are offered all day. Phone is 336-808-5916 or visit www.tropicalsmoothie cafe.com. There is parking for patrons of the restaurants. UNCG Lot No. 47 North behind the McCormick Building offers complimentary parking through the end of the December. Starting in January, the lot will be metered, using a central kiosk. If restaurant patrons present their parking stubs when ordering, the restaurants will deduct the cost of the parking from the tab. We always envisioned it to be a place where people could get in and out of, which is different than how we operate on our north campus with everything being geared for students, Milman said. Spartan Village II also has some other retailers, such as Millennium Salon and Nail, The Art Loft and Allegacy Federal Credit Union. Bestway Market Place, a sister market to Bestway grocery on Walker Avenue, is planned for the McCormick Building. Coffee shop moving The Mad Bean at 100 S. Market St. in Madison is moving to 103 E. S. Murphy St. Chelsea Joyce, who manages the shop, said the target opening date for the new shop is Jan. 17. Were excited about it, Joyce said. Her brother Daniel Joyce opened The Mad Bean in January 2015. The shop offers coffee and coffee drinks, soups, salads and sandwiches. Joyce said the new location has two floors. Its about the same amount of space, but we are still trying to decide how to utilize it, she said. Joyce said food preparation will take a hiatus starting the week of Christmas so that equipment can be moved to the new site. The menu will not be served at the new location until opening day. Joyce said coffee service will continue at the old location during the transition and then move to the new location on the day of opening. Coffee will not skip a beat, said Joyce. Bottled beer and wine will not be offered at the new location until February. The Mad Bean offers live music Friday and Saturday nights. Restaurant will feed those in need Benders Tavern at 4517-A W. Market St. in Greensboro will again feed those people who are less fortunate on Christmas Day. (Information has been fixed to corrected to fix an error. See Correction at end of story. 9:15 a.m./Dec. 21, 2017) The restaurant will serve a free meal from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 25. The meal is offered for dine-in, pickup or delivery. Anna Freiberg, the owner of the restaurant, continues the annual tradition her parents started in the early 1980s at the restaurant they owned the original Hams on Friendly Avenue. Volunteers are needed to prepare and deliver the food. Call 336-698-6882 to place an order or to volunteer. Correction: Bender's Tavern is at 4517-A W. Market St. in Greensboro. The address was wrong when the story first published at 11:55 p.m. Dec. 12, 2017. Guilford Technical Community College trustees covered a lot of ground at their day-long retreat Dec. 1. They talked about workforce training programs, Completion by Design (its graduation rate initiative) and upcoming construction projects (The Medlin Building renovation will be a bear.). After the meeting, I wrote a story about what GTCC plans to do to reverse its recent enrollment decline. Dont get me wrong: GTCC is still plenty big. This fall, it has nearly 10,000 curriculum students that is, students who are pursuing associates degrees or certificates. In 2016-17, it had about 34,000 students between its curriculum and continuing ed tracks. Problem is, GTCCs enrollment has dropped 25 percent in the past five years. The normal community college enrollment cycle accounts for part of that (When people are working, theyre not in school.). But the enrollment decline doesnt show much sign of slowing down, so the college spent $50,000 on a report to improve its student recruitment and enrollment processes. The report, prepared by a Nebraska company called Clarus that specializes in community college marketing, covers a lot of ground. Ill highlight two areas. High school recruiting GTCCs market share of local high school students the percentage of Guilford County teens who go straight from high school to the college has stayed pretty constant over the past five years. But high school enrollment has been dropping, which means GTCC is getting fewer local high school students each year. In 2016, it was 751 down about a 100 students from five years earlier. In 2016, the colleges market share of new high school graduates was 23 percent. The Clarus report notes that most community colleges have market shares of 25 to 30 percent. GTCC plans to base three new recruiters in local high schools. GTCC President Randy Parker said theyll do thing: Recruit new high school graduates, and raise the colleges brand awareness. As Parker told me, GTCC gets a good number of its students two or three years after they leave high school, so it makes sense to let them know about the college well before that. Applicant conversion Nationally, according to the Clarus report, community colleges enroll about 60 percent of people who apply. (In technical terms, they convert 60 percent of applicants to students.) GTCC, however, is converting only about a third. Had the college enrolled, say, 50 percent of its applicants in 2016, overall enrollment would have been 1,600 students higher. So why didnt students come? Their reasons are all over the map. Here are a few of them, according to Clarus: They didnt get the class or program they wanted. They found a job. They couldnt find a job to pay for classes. They got called up by the military. They moved away. And so on. Some of those issues are on the college (and the Clarus report goes on for pages about all the things it thinks GTCC can do to improve its application and enrollment processes). And some of those issues are on the students. People change their minds, after all, and their circumstances change. This is where community colleges have it rough compared to their counterparts at four-year universities. Recruitment efforts for four-year schools are relatively straightforward. High schools have counselors who steer students to college. Most colleges have multiple recruiters and large admission offices. An enormous industry of standardized testing, test prep, college counseling, college guidebooks and college websites has grown up around higher ed. Its all designed to do one thing, and thats to funnel 18-year-olds from high school to a four-year college or university. Community colleges recruit from a smaller area Guilford County and surrounding counties in the case of GTCC but their prospective students can be harder to locate. A little more than half of GTCCs curriculum students are 22 and older, which means theyre not in high school and dont attend college fairs. Not only does GTCC have to find these students, the college has to convince them that (A) college is a possibility and (B) GTCC is the place to make that possibility a reality. Then these students have to rearrange their lives work schedules, childcare and other adult responsibilities and find the money to go to school. Its not always an easy task. The good news for GTCC is that Guilford Countys population is growing and more than half of county residents 25 and older dont have a college degree. Thats a market of maybe about 150,000 potential community college students, according to my back-of-the-envelope math. Thats a big market. Well see if GTCC can find better ways to tap into it. If theres going to be one new appliance on cooks Christmas lists this year, its probably going to be the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot is a multicooker, often doing the work of five or more other appliances. It can replace a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, warmer and deep fryer, and it also can steam and saute foods. And its programmable, so you can adjust the heat levels, cooking times, even the start times. Fans call it a game-changer in the kitchen because it is so fast, so easy to use and so energy efficient. And this cooker is so consistent that a lot of cooks find their favorite dishes turning out better than they ever did before. Instant Pot, based in Ontario, Canada, is one of the first North American brands of electric pressure cooker, and the company only started selling the cookers in late 2010. Robert Wang, Instant Pots CEO, has been quoted as saying that only 300,000 electric pressure cookers sold in 2010, but more than 3 million sold in 2015. Expect that number to jump even higher this year. Instant Pot is the top-selling brand on Amazon period. Amazon sold more than 200,000 of them on Prime Day last year. Other companies make multicookers, too. They include such well-known brands as Breville, Philips, and T-fal. And other modern electric pressure cookers are much the same as an Instant Pot. Theres a bit of a learning curve involved with these multicookers. But theres also a lot of help available. One womans YouTube video about her top five Instant Pot tips has more than 220,000 views. On Facebook, fans communicate through such pages as Instant Pot Community, which has more than 700,000 likes. There are even Instant Pot pages for just about any specialized interest; Instant Pot for Indian Food has about 34,000 likes, and Instant Pot Vegan Recipes has about 53,000. And, of course, theres a free app, too. And at least 20 cookbooks are devoted to the Instant Pot five of which just came out this fall. The most common sizes for Instant Pot are 6- and 8-quart. The 6-quart is fine for most families. It is big enough to cook a pound of dried beans, braise 4 pounds of meat or slow-cook a gallon of soup. The 8-quart may be best for large families and people who entertain a lot. These are not only programmable, but some also have such advanced features as Bluetooth for remote operations. Expect to pay $80 to $120 for a typical multicooker. Basic or smaller models run a little less, and larger cookers from upscale brands or with advanced features may run up to $250. When checking prices, be sure to check all of the features. Though all Instant Pots have pressure cookers, not all other multi-cookers do, and the types of cooking functions can vary from brand to brand. For the purposes of this article, I tested the Instant Pot DUO60, a 7-in-1 cooker that recently was selling for $80 on Amazon. All of the Instant Pot models pressure-cook, slow-cook, steam, saute and cook rice. Some also make yogurt, cook eggs and even sterilize items. Programming buttons streamline operations and take the guesswork out of many preparations. My Instant Pot has pre-programmed buttons for cooking beans/chili, porridge (such as oatmeal), rice, multigrains, soup/broth, meat/stew, poultry and yogurt. But you can manually program heat seatings and times for any function. Pressure Cooking Though its the products versatility and ease of use that sells it, its probably the electric pressure cooker that keeps cooks using it again and again. Explosions from pressure cookers are a thing of the past. Safety features include sensors that monitor the pressure and temperature, as well as the proper seal of the lid. Yes, it is still possible to scald yourself with escaping steam if you dont follow directions. But it is virtually impossible to have a lid fly off and throw scalding food all over the kitchen. The pressure cooker is best when a soft texture is desired whether its beans, pulled pork or custard. For these kinds of foods, the pressure cooker is hard to beat. (If only it could impart the smokiness of a grill, then it could even make barbecue!) The pressure cooker is great for braising. It is not only quicker, but in many cases better because the cooking and resulting tenderness is very even. Its also much easier, because you dont have to check the dishs progress, turn the meat or adjust the liquid. A surprise to many cooks is the desserts you can make with this type of cooker. An 8-inch pan will fit inside most of these appliances, so cheesecakes, pies, cobblers and bread puddings and more can be baked in an Instant Pot. A nice aspect of the Instant Pot is it will let you release the pressure three ways: 1) naturally, as the dish cools, which can be 30 minutes or more; 2) quick release, by turning the release valve to the venting position; or 3) a hybrid method of waiting 10 to 15 minutes before turning the release valve. A float valve that rises and falls with the pressure provides a visual clue of the presence or lack of pressure. Also, a safety feature in the design prevents the opening of the lid when there is still pressure in the pot. One downside of the pressure cooker is that it takes a few minutes sometimes about 10 to get up to pressure. So, a recipe that calls pressure cooking beans for 30 minutes, for example, may take 40 minutes. Slow Cooking Like the popular Crock Pot, the Instant Pot is great for throwing a bunch of soup ingredients in a pot before work in the morning and then coming home to a dinner thats ready to eat and whose aroma fills the house. But you may find yourself not using the slow-cooker function as much, simply because the pressure cooker can pretty much prepare any slow-cooker recipe faster. Yogurt This isnt included on all models. When it is, it involves two functions. First, it will bring milk to a boil for pasteurization the first step in yogurt making. Then you must manually cool the milk to warm (about 115 degrees) before adding a starter and returning it to the Instant Pot for the second function a low-heat fermentation. The time can be adjusted on the latter. I found that 8 hours or overnight worked well. Sauteing A big advantage over a slow cooker is the Instant Pots saute function. If you just want to saute, a stovetop skillet is the way to go. But if youve ever encountered a slow-cooker stew or other recipe that calls for first browning meat on the stove, youll realize how nice it is to have a slow cooker and saute pot all in one. The saute function also is handy for simmering liquids to thicken at the end of cooking. A good example might be adding a flour or cornstarch slurry to a cooked stew. The Instant Pot is not perfect, though. It cant adequately roast meats. And unless you are deep frying, you wont get crispy or crunchy food. Pressure cooking, steaming, slow-cooking and these other functions are really designed for wet foods. For example, you can cook a whole chicken in an Instant Pot, but you cant get one with crispy skin. The good old oven or the grill are still the best methods for that. You probably wont use this for sauteing or steaming vegetables much, either. Yes, you can steam collards, but the pressure cooker is almost too powerful for most green vegetables. Sturdy artichokes, beets and potatoes are exceptions. But for any application in which (relatively) long and slow cooking is traditionally required, and which a soft texture is desired, these cookers excel. Dec. 13, 1994 An American Eagle commuter flight from Greensboro crashed short of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15 of the 20 people on board. In the next days News & Record, Taft Wireback and Jay Eubank wrote: Air-safety investigators said Wednesday that the flight recorder picked up discussion between pilot Michael Hillis, 29, and first officer Matthew Sailor, 25. The two talked about an engine flameout that could have stalled one of the planes two engines, about which engine wasnt operating properly and about aborting their landing attempt. Then the aircraft sounded an intermittent warning tone. There was little conversation after that, said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates transportation accidents. ... The five survivors included Greensboro insurance broker Richard Mann, 47, and Elon freshman Lauren Anderson, 18. SWANSBORO Authorities have accused a North Carolina high school teacher of having a sexual relationship with one of his students. The Onslow County Sheriff's Office said in a news release on Tuesday that 28-year-old Zachary Daugherty is charged with six counts of sex act with a student and three counts of indecent liberties with a student. Daugherty was arrested on Tuesday, and a spokesman for Onslow County Schools said Daugherty has been suspended. According to a news release, the sheriff's office on Dec. 6 learned that a student had been in a sexual relationship with a teacher at Swansboro High School. An investigation showed that the relationship had covered the past four months. Daugherty is in jail on a $45,000 secured bond. It's not known if he has an attorney. HIGH POINT Police arrested a second juvenile Tuesday in connection to a gang-related shooting incident at High Point Central on Monday. The 15-year-old, a student at the school, was arrested at his residence at 1:30 p.m., according to police. The juvenile is currently suspended from school and has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Police said the student was a willing participant in events that led up to the shot being fired. Another 15-year-old was arrested Monday for allegedly firing a gun. That juvenile is not a student in the Guilford County Schools system, according to police. Police do not anticipate further arrests. High Point Central High School and Ferndale Middle School were locked down Monday afternoon after a window at High Point Central was shot out, police said. GREENSBORO U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles has refused a request to hold a crucial hearing in North Carolinas racial gerrymandering case two weeks sooner than scheduled. Ruling on behalf of the 3-judge panel overseeing the lawsuit, Eagles said the Republican legislators were seeking to impose their own expedited schedule on the court, the special master and other parties at virtually the last moment. The court anticipates that the January 5 hearing will begin with a short presentation by the special master as to his recommendations, Eagle said in the order. Thereafter, each side will have one hour to present oral argument in support of their position. Representing current and former Republican leaders in the General Assembly, Raleigh lawyer Phillip Strach filed a petition earlier this week to advance the Jan. 5 hearing by at least two weeks. Strach asked that Eagles and the two other federal judges presiding over the lawsuit brought by 31 protesting voters reschedule the hearing on or before Dec. 22, citing the time pressure of the approaching 2018 election cycle. Strach said the Republican-led legislature needed time for a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or to take action on its own to fix any problems with state House and Senate districts. Strach represents state Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden), state House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain), state Rep. David Lewis (R-Dunn) and former state Sen. Robert Rucho (R-Matthews) in the lawsuit. The 3-judge panel agreed with the voters that 28 state House and Senate districts had been racially gerrymandered to favor GOP candidates when election lines were redrawn in 2011. The decision was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court and legislators apparently fixed 24 of the flawed districts in another round of redistricting this summer, leaving four two of them in Guilford County that still concerned the judges. They selected Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily as special master to suggest ways to resolve problems with the remaining districts. His proposed plan would be the subject of the Jan. 5 hearing. In his petition to move up that hearing by at least two weeks, Strach also requested that the trio of judges enter their final ruling in the case by Jan. 10, when the General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene in Raleigh. Issuing a final ruling on or before January 10, 2018 will protect the states ability to seek meaningful Supreme Court review and take additional legislative action if necessary, Strach said in the petition. Eagles did not address that request in her order. The North Carolina State Board of Elections received one incident report involving a party-appointed poll observer on Election Day, and seven more during one-stop early voting. Election officials were on high alert for unruly observers after the board received reports of more than a dozen conduct violations during the May primary. Overall, the board received reports of 21 conduct violations during the general election, involving both observers and campaigners. They included 12 instances of alleged voter intimidation, one instance of possible voter interference and eight instances of potential election official intimidation. Campaigners were the most common perpetrators. Board spokesperson Patrick Gannon said there may be additional incidents that have not yet been reported. GREENWICH State lawmakers from Greenwich gathered at Town Hall Tuesday afternoon to say the Legislature made a terrible mistake in its recent budget deal by drastically decreasing eligibility for low-income health benefits leaving thousands of Connecticut residents terrified for the future. The special meeting, organized by the Commission on Aging, came in response to the approximately 113,000 seniors statewide who received notices that they could lose their Medicaid coverage and the 13,000 parents who could lose HUSKY A coverage. The lawmakers said they would work to get the cuts reversed. This was a mistake, said state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36th. An honest mistake. These budgets come out at the last minute; its impossible to go through every page. When I first saw this page, I cringed. Im sure we all did. Lets get this done before the end of the year. Things move very slowly up there (in Hartford) but ... I consider this an emergency situation. We were really proud we asked them to phase out tax on Social Security and pensions, said state Rep. Fred Camillo, R-151st. Something like this this negates all that. This is no joke people in Legislature are horrified about it. Also there were state Reps. Livvy Floren, R-149th, and Mike Bocchino, R-150th. Sharon Gesek, program director of the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging, discussed changes to eligibility requirements Tuesday and what they could mean for residents come March 1. The state Department of Social Services began notifying seniors last month that their Medicare Savings Program (Medicaid) benefits could drastically change at all three tiers at which the program is offered. Single people currently are eligible for Qualified Medicare Beneficiary coverage if their income is less than $2,129 per month. Couples are eligible if their combined income is less than $2,854 per month. Changes in the budget would decrease that cap to $1,025 for single people and $1,374 for couples. The current monthly caps for Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary coverage are $2,321 for singles $3,125 for couples. Those would drop to $1,225 and $1,644, respectively. And Additional Low-Income Beneficiary coverage caps would drop from $2,473 and $3,328 to $1,377 and $1,847. Other residents were notified that changes in the budget put their HUSKY A coverage at risk. This adversely affects a great deal of our clients and we are very concerned, said Cynthia Bowser, a Greenwich Department of Human Services case worker. The current guidelines, before they were reduced, were insufficient. They are penalizing people, Bowser said, and its not their fault there has been financial turmoil beyond their control. They shouldnt have to pay the price. We need to provide services to allow people to pay their own way with dignity. Taking advantage of people has to stop. Gesek said the cuts could have possibly worked elsewhere, but not in Greenwich or the rest of Connecticut. They didnt just pick a number out of a hat, Gesek said to the crowd of concerned seniors at the meeting. They went with the federal guidelines, with many other states. But we know the town of Greenwich and state of Connecticut has a higher cost of living. We are not in the same level as maybe in South Carolina where my mom is from, or Alabama where the cost of living is lower. Victoria Sybelnik, a Greenwich nurse, spoke from her own experience, saying her parents pay $300 per month for Medicare coverage. When they say this is an entitlement program, it makes me angry, she said. Weve been paying into Medicare our whole lives; it is not entitlement. ... Thats a word they use to make us feel like they are giving us something. Gesek urged concerned residents to voice their opposition and attend a Rally to Reverse the Cuts, from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Legislative Office Building, Room 2C in Hartford this Thursday. She said people should tell legislators to repeal the cuts, not take funding for a repeal from other service areas that support low-income individuals and seniors, and support increased revenue from those able to afford it. Commission on Aging Director Lori Contadino said a bus leaving for the rally from the Stamford Senior Center has been arranged. She urged Greenwich residents interested in going to reach out to the commission, 203-862-6710, to see if a bus from Greenwich can be coordinated. We were privileged to have the entire delegation here, said Contadino. It will be a great Christmas gift if we can reverse these cuts. Email Jennifer Turiano at jturiano@greenwichtime.com and follow her on Twitter: @jturianoGT and Instagram: @greenwichgreen. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH A dispute is brewing between Stanwich Congregational Church and neighbors over counseling operations being offered at the churchs former location at 237 Taconic Road. The Greenwich Center for Hope and Renewal has been providing faith-based counseling services at the address since 2007. The church, which has since moved nearby to 202 Taconic Road, leases the property from Aquarion Water Co. After neighbors brought concerns about the operation to the town zoning enforcement office earlier this year, the church has requested that the Planning and Zoning Commission allow the use. Safety and property values At a recent Planning and Zoning meeting, neighbors said the center should be moved downtown to areas that are zoned for it. They do not want it operating on Taconic Road, with many believing its presence will increase the population of mentally ill people and addicts in the area, presenting threats to safety. The nonprofit center focuses on issues including trauma, alcohol and substance abuse and marriage counseling. Why should we be so close to people having such problems in such proximity? said one neighbor, Susan Hudd. They should be in a place in the center of town, not where people are close by. I think thats a real stress. You dont know whos coming. Keith Raskin, a hand surgeon who lives up the road from the center, said he was worried, given tragic events that have occurred across the United States. Whether its Las Vegas or Texas or New York,we would all agree the key problem is the loss of predictability or being in an unpredictable environment, Raskin said. When it comes to a center in a community of residents, that ... I think, puts a little bit of fear in the community. Others said the churchs application should not be approved because it will affect property values in the backcountry, and because the zone doesnt allow it. I am extremely financially impacted by this, said neighbor Albert Fitzgibbons. Charging fees for services is one of the core issues. Its what we all know as a business ... It is populated with 10 independent psychologists. The psychologists bring in patients for a fee, with no relation to the church or the neighborhood. ... (And) the commission knows full well that inserting a care operation on someones property line (impacts) a residential community. Fear-based opposition But one of the centers therapists said that what the Center for Hope and Renewal is doing is not entirely unique to the area and that there are similar services provided in all sorts of locations in town. I do believe there are psychiatrists who live in Greenwich who have their practices in their home, said Carol MacGyver. They may or may not be prescribing medications. They may or may not be seeing very predictable situations. And they may or may not be having group sessions, 15 to 20 at a time in a backcountry neighborhood. I know that for a fact, she said. Ive been invited to them. I live in a backcountry neighborhood. Center for Hope and Renewal Director Heather Wright, a Greenwich native, said the center was birthed out of Stanwich Congregational Church. You might serve a community through a food pantry or soup kitchen, she said. But this is ... one of the missions. We talk about ourselves as a resource center, to help families grow stronger. We would love for our neighbors to be happy we are here. The center has self-imposed restrictions that it has incorporated as of Sept. 1 this year, Wright said. Night groups meet until 6 p.m. instead of about 9 p.m. and other appointments stop by 8:30 p.m. No outside groups use the space anymore Trinity Church and Presbyterian Church of Old Greenwich used to meet at the center and weekend hours have been limited. The center is closed Sundays and open until 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Wright said she has extended invitations to concerned residents to come tour the location and see how it operates, but the offers were turned down. There are many people at the church that come to the center for a tune up or an issue, said center President Susan Allen. We are not having huge psychological problems where we need to be in a psychological institution. The Rev. Nathan Hart of Stanwich Congregational Church said he sees the center as an asset for the community. Although he and other clergy offer pastoral counseling, after meeting three times it is standard practice to refer people to professional therapists, he said. While its true there are a whole spectrum of issues people are dealing with when they come in for counseling, its also true that people of all need levels come and speak to pastors, he said. Just to make the assumption that its potentially gun-wielding crazies is definitely fear-based. Regulations in the residential zone Similar cases have been presented to the Zoning Commission in the past. In July 2016, an application for Backcountry Wellness, an eating disorder therapy center that was located on North Porchuck Road in a residential zone, was denied. The therapy center had been operating out of founder Joanna Bronfmans home for at least two years before the application went to the commission. The business was later moved to downtown Greenwich. Center for Hope and Renewals case differs from Backcountry Wellnesss in that it is a nonprofit working out of a church property, not a business working out of a residential home, but one neighbor said Planning and Zoning commissioners should be consistent in their decision making. Is the Center for Hope doing good? Helping people? Absolutely, said Cora Thomas. But are they doing the right thing by having a business in a residential neighborhood? The right thing to do is turn down this application and have the center move to an appropriately zoned area as other practices of its type have had to do. Residents opposing the center at its current location were represented by attorney John Tesei. Tesei brought materials to the recent meeting referencing earlier agreements made between the town, Aquarion and the church. Tesei argued that the only use the church was ever approved for was to offer religious services and that services were not allowed to occur at both Stanwichs old location and its new one at the same time. He said the centers operations violate these terms. Zoning Chairman Richard Maitland countered that the centers use is not like a church service, wedding or funeral. The bottom line doesnt change, said Tesei. The application remains pending before the Planning and Zoning Commission. Email Jennifer Turiano at jturiano@greenwichtime.com and follow her on Twitter: @jturianoGT and Instagram: @greenwichgreen. Hanukkah falls on December 22-30, 2019. Here in southern Connecticut, local Chabad centers host annual menorah lightnings, festivals, community dinners and family-friendly events to celebrate the winter holiday. Click through to see some ways to get into the spirit in southwestern Connecticut. Virtually every entrepreneur has experienced that eureka! moment or reached for the proverbial napkin to jot down a million dollar idea. But what if you cant wait around for inspiration to strike? What if youre not as fortunate as Isaac Newton was with his apple (or Steve Jobs with his)? Thats where brainstorming comes in. Related: The New Rules of Brainstorming This activity can be defined as the simultaneous oral generation of ideas. Typically, a brainstorming session in the business world involves a small team -- six people or fewer -- who are encouraged to freely share their ideas, regardless of their position in the company. In theory, this spontaneous, rapid-fire sharing of ideas by workers opens the doors to creative problem-solving. However, the unfettered sharing of opinion can quickly devolve into chaos if theres no structure in place. Here, I examine five tried-and-true brainstorming techniques for spurring creativity when you're looking for a solution to an entrenched problem in your startup -- or starting a new business altogether. Idea 1: Map your mind. The mind map is a visual brainstorming tool conceived by Tony Buzan. Mind maps are useful for both groups and individuals organizing thoughts or strategy behind an idea or question. When Buzan debuted his concept of the mind map in the late 1960s, he suggested using a blank sheet of paper and colored pencils. Today, there are many online, mobile-friendly alternatives, including MindMeister, MindManager, and Mindly. Of these, I took MindManagers desktop software for a spin, using the hypothetical question: Should I relocate my business to New York City? My company produced the following image: Image Credit: FEInternational A mind map like this is best suited to solo brainstorming: It's a valuable technique for breaking down a problem or idea into its constituent parts. It encourages you to find the relationships among individual tasks -- and is especially well worth a look if you're visually inclined. Idea 2: "Brainwriting" Typically, brainstorming is thought of as a group spoken activity. But what if weve got it wrong? Current research shows that group interactions, like brainstorming, can actually inhibit idea generation. That makes sense when you think about it. While waiting for a fellow team member to make a point, you might miss the chance to express your own flash of inspiration. Group brainstorming sessions are also inherently restrictive, given that only one person at a time has the floor. Related: 4 Ways to Access Your Creative Genius In any group dynamic, there tend to be individuals who dominate the conversation, but that doesnt necessarily make any of them the person with the best ideas. This imbalance in communication can prevent the best ideas from being considered or even heard. In this context, a Hofstra University study suggested a possible solution: brainwriting. Rather than speaking, individual team members write down their ideas before sharing them with the group. The intention is to engender the simultaneous written generation of ideas. Depending on the size of your team and what you are trying to achieve, there are many different methods of brainwriting. One of my favorites is the 6-3-5 method. This involves teams of six individuals writing down three ideas each to help solve a specific problem in a five-minute span. Spontaneity is still encouraged, but each team member is given equal opportunity to share his or her ideas. After each session is complete, the 6-3-5 form is passed in turn to adjacent team members, who either elaborate on each of the three ideas or add new ideas of their own. This has proven to be an effective, structured method of generating useful ideas quickly. A video tutorial for 6-3-5 is available here. Idea 3: "SWOT" Invented at the Stanford Research Institute, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) is typically used in analysis and decision-making, but it can be a great brainstorming tool as well. Visually categorizing points into the appropriate categories will help flesh out any business concept. SWOT works equally well for individual or group brainstorming sessions. For the following example using the SWOT method, imagine I am a craftsman starting a luxury leather goods ecommerce business. Im using SWOT to decide whether to build a Shopify store or utilize Fulfilment by Amazon: Image Credit: FEInternational Want to give SWOT a shot using your own problem? Try it out with a blank SWOT form, which can be downloaded here. Idea 4: "Role-storming" As you might guess from the name, role-storming is a group-oriented role-playing technique. Role-storming was developed by Rick Griggs in the 1980s. He found that employees, especially lower-level ones, often felt intimidated by the notion of sharing ideas in traditional brainstorming sessions. For example, a customer-service representative might not feel comfortable sharing ideas in front of a vice president. Customer-facing employees -- those on the front line dealing with customers day in and day out -- often have extremely valuable insights. Role-storming can help turn intimidation into inspiration. Having team members act out roles different from their actual position frees them to share ideas more freely. This typically leads to rapid idea generation. Plus, its fun. Idea 5: "Starbursting" Generally, brainstorming is about finding the answers to a question. With starbursting, you work in reverse. The goal is to find the right questions. Image Credit: FEInternational Asking the right questions often gives you more insightful answers. In yet another scenario, imagine you have come up with a brilliant idea for an Amazon Associate affiliate marketing site. Before jumping in, feet first, setting up a blog and writing content, you recognize that it's important to answer all of above graphic's questions fully and accurately. Starbursting is great for taking a step back and seeing your business model clearly and objectively. It also can be done on either a solo or team basis. So, try it: And dont stop brainstorming questions until you run out of steam. Once you do -- guess what? Its time to answer those questions. You can find a blank starburst template here. Final words Brainstorming -- either alone or in a group -- is a great way to jumpstart the creative process. Would-be entrepreneurs dream of hitting upon a flash of genius in the middle of the night. Experienced entrepreneurs, however, know theres no time to be wasted waiting around for inspiration to strike. After all, even if that flash of genius does strike, the real work has only just begun. Related: Great Ideas Can Come From Inspiration -- or Brute Force So, get started on your brainstorming: Consider putting one of the above five techniques to work for you and your team. Pick the one that suits the dynamic of your group -- keeping in mind that role-casting can be great for breaking the ice. If youre looking for some solo inspiration, try a SWOT or mind-map. Whichever technique it is, you can use it to put the power of brainstorming to work for you -- next time you encounter a daunting problem. Related: 5 Ways to Transform Your Next Work Brainstorming Session Into Something Really Great Writing Your First Book Is the First Big Step to Build Your Personal Brand 4 Ways Creativity Is Killing Your Viable Business Ideas Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW HAVEN When it was time to make the doughnuts Sunday at Congregation Beth ElKeser Israel, a Muslim refugee from Syria took the kitchen lead. Aminah Mohammad Alsaleh, who arrived here from a refugee camp in Jordan a year ago with her husband and three young children, is trying to learn English, get a drivers license and start a catering business. She recently received a food safety license and is searching for a commercial kitchen to use, but on Sunday, thanks in part to the efforts of the Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, she had a gig at the synagogue teaching a group to make tasty round jelly doughnuts, also known in Hebrew as sufganiyot. Alsaleh, who doesnt yet speak much English, made the dough the day before using orange soda as a special ingredient, and on Sunday had her students roll it out and cut it in circles, before deep-frying and injecting jelly. Jelly doughnuts are a traditional Hanukkah food, as are latkes, because they are deep-fried in oil. This has special meaning during the eight-day holiday, because when the Jews re-dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem, a single vial of oil, enough for one day, burned miraculously for eight days. Hanukkah begins this year on Dec. 12 and ends the evening of Dec. 20. For many Jewish people, the holiday symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Also known as the festival of lights, Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C.E. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom, which had tried to impose its culture on Jews and adorn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem with statues of Greek gods. Sherin Stahl, a synagogue member, brought her two children because theyve never made jelly doughnuts for Hanukkah, and it was a great way to learn a new tradition. Synagogue member Eva Shragis has been making jelly doughnuts for years on Hanukkah, but said they dont taste that great unless theyre right out of the fryer. She was there to learn a new twist. Beth-El Keser Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen said the event was wonderful, because it was a fun way of getting people to interact, including children, to learn to make jelly doughnuts. His daughter, Gilah Benson-Tilsen, there on behalf of JCARR as an organizer, said Alsaleh and her family a husband and three children left Syria because of danger and wound up here because her husband has serious back problems and needs surgery. Despite the pain, hes got a job to support the family, she said. Benson-Tilsen said that in Syria, families are multigenerational, with extended family living all together. The women do the cooking and baking, so Alsaleh has a lot of experience cooking for big groups, which is why she wants to cater to help support the family. Each family Sunday paid $18 to join the JCARR jelly doughnuts event and make a batch of them from Alsalehs dough, bringing home about 12 doughnuts. Alsaleh, whom Benson-Tilsen called a talented cook, makes Syrian food as well as a range of dishes she has discovered since arriving in America a year ago. She has done catering jobs at various Yale University departments and other local events. The following excerpt is from Perry Marshall, Mike Rhodes and Bryan Todds book Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | IndieBoun Today, I want to tell you a dirty little secret. A few years ago, Google started slashing and burning Google accounts by the tens of thousands. I myself had almost 10,000 customers who lost their businesses overnight because Google banned thousands of keywords and even entire Google accounts. That was only the first of a long series of purges, which mostly targeted affiliates and people in "edgy" businesses like alternative health and business opportunities. Another customer of mine sold equipment that enabled you to add water injection to your car engine, which can increase fuel efficiency by 15 to 20 percent. Google banned his account because of all the problems they had with unscrupulous vendors selling mostly ebooks on the same topic. What is this all about? Related: Set up Your Google AdWords Campaign in 9 Steps Certainly some of it is Google responding to customer complaints and seeking a quality search experience. But, there's another ingredient: the long arm of the law. In 2011, Google was fined $500 million by the U.S. Justice Department for selling ads to Canadian pharmacies that were illegally advertising cheap drugs to U.S. customers. In the government's opinion, Google was culpable and responsible for the actions of its advertisers. That, combined with other government crackdowns, has tallied up to more than a billion dollars in fines. In the U.S. government's mind, why go after tens of thousands of rogue operators when you can put one bullet in the head of a behemoth? Uncle Sam punishes Google for the sins of its AdWords customers. This is why Google seems passive-aggressive and bureaucratic. This is why you sometimes can't seem to get a straight answer from Google about editorial guidelines -- Google itself doesn't know what's going to get it in hot water. So all it can do is try to avoid taking business that's going to get it in trouble. Related: SEO Tutorial: 12 Immutable Laws For Dominating Google's Search If you're in business opportunities, weight loss, alternative health, medicine, financial distress, alternative energy -- any "edgy" category where : Customers are in a lot of pain or have extremely pressing problems, Unscrupulous operators tend to play and/or Markets are regulated or frequently subject to crackdowns by Attorney Generals and complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, advertising on Google is going to be a dicey proposition. But, there are ways to stay in Google's good graces. Let's talk about one of the most important. Related: 7 Tips to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck When Buying Ads Follow the Editorial Guidelines and Keep Google Happy Over the years, Google has refined its policy on what is and isn't acceptable in an ad. Although most of it is common sense, it's still resulted in a lengthy list of dos and don'ts, which can be found on Google's AdWords Policy Center page. Advertiser Claims If you're going to advertise with Google, you have to be smart about what you're claiming. It comes down to three words: truthful, accurate and up to date. Sure, there's some subjectivity here, but as long as you do your level best to stay within the spirit of these particular rules, you shouldn't run into problems. This is good common sense and good marketing sense: a clear connection between the text of your ads and the content on your website. If, for example, your ad offers a discount, it should be easy to find on your website. If your ad mentions special pricing, it should be no more than two clicks from your landing page. Any call to action in your ad should be immediately evident on the landing page. If you claim to be the "world's greatest" or fastest or smallest or cheapest or most expensive or whatever, you must back up your claim with proof. This isn't just a good way to stay in Google's good graces -- it's good marketing. How will people know that you're the fastest, smallest or cheapest? Have you proven it, right there on the web page? Or provided a link or reference verifying that it's so? This is extremely important and more so for your prospective customers than Google's staff! Relevance, Clarity and Accuracy "Relevance" and "accuracy" refer to how well your ad copy matches what's on your landing page. "Clarity" covers a wider variety of sins you'll need to avoid, including: Missing lines of text Excessive spacing "Commonly accepted grammar" (This is Google's exact wording, implying that they'll allow a modicum of imperfect grammar.) Generic call-to-action phrases (such as "Click here" or "+1"). Using characters for anything other than their intended or usual meaning. For example, the greater-than ">" symbol is fine if you're using it to indicate that something actually is greater than something else, but you can't use it as an arrow. Words in all capitals Bad spelling Repetition. For example, "Buy! Buy! Buy!" would be flagged as unacceptable Follow the above guidelines when you build your ads, and you'll be fine 99 percent of the time. Still, be sure and visit the AdWords Policy Center page and review their directions. Related: The Google Guidelines You Must Follow or Risk Losing Your AdWords Account Google abrira su primer centro de inteligencia artificial de Asia 5 Insider Tips on Selling Your Startup to Google Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com WILTON Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, comic books, and recent Hollywood films featuring Chris Hemsworth in the starring role. If Thor relinquished the clouds for an earth-bound address perhaps he would choose Thunder Lake Road in northern Wilton, not just for its name but for its scenic beauty. At 42 Thunder Lake Road there is a white Garrison colonial house with black shutters on the market. It has 3,178 square feet of living space, a bit modest for a god but a perfectly good size for a modern day family. The renovated 10-room house was built in 1983 on a two-acre lot that is within walking distance of Weir Farm National Historic Site and the Wilton Town Forest. Its proximity to recreational areas is not the homes only distinction. It is also convenient to amenities in several nearby communities including Wilton, New Canaan, Norwalk, and Ridgefield. Its location gives residents of this house easy access to Branchville, Cannondale, Wilton, and Norwalk train stations and to restaurants and shopping in Wilton, Georgetown, Branchville and Ridgefield. Another of its many attractions is that this house is located on a quiet cul-de-sac in a neighborhood, where the neighbors really know each other and actually engage with activities together, according to the listing agent. This is a real walkable neighborhood because it is a country setting and, therefore, has little traffic. The wooded region and the fact that the house is set back from the road add to the privacy of this setting. From the driveway a flagstone path leads to the front door, which is framed on top by dentil molding. Inside, the functionality of the floor plan makes this a warm and welcoming house that is great for living and entertaining. The spacious formal living room has French doors to a large, raised wood deck, and the formal dining room has chair railing. In the family room there is a cathedral ceiling with beams, and a fireplace. The sun room has three walls of windows, skylights in its cathedral ceiling, and a ceiling fan. From the sunroom step down into the kitchen. Its features include a ceramic tile floor, pantry closet, stainless steel appliances, and a two-tiered center island with a breakfast bar. It is topped with black granite. The perimeter counters are also granite but a different color stone. The eat-in area has a dry bar with counter space and glass-front cabinetry, and sliding doors to the deck and backyard. More Information ABOUT THIS HOUSE STYLE: Garrison Colonial ADDRESS: 42 Thunder Lake Road PRICE: $769,000 ROOMS: 10 FEATURES: two-acre level and sloping property, located on a cul-de-sac, generator, storm doors, Thermopane windows, wood deck, exterior lighting, walking distance to the historical Weir Farm historic site and the Wilton Town Forest, convenient to Georgetown shopping district, easy access to three train stations, skylights, one fireplace, hardwood floors, two-car attached garage, full partially finished walk-out basement, attic, attic fan, lots of storage, private well, four bedrooms, two full and two half baths SCHOOLS: Miller-Driscoll Elementary, Cider Mill Intermediate, Middlebrook Middle, Wilton High ASSESSMENT: $515,130 MILL RATE: 27.768504 mills TAXES: $14,305 See More Collapse On the second floor there are four bedrooms and a laundry room. The master suite has a large walk-in closet, ceiling fan, and an updated bath with granite counters. Three other bedrooms share a hall bath. On the full, partially finished walk-out basement there is flexible space for use as a media room, playroom, recreation or game room. It has a half bath, a mudroom, and access to the attached two-car garage. This level also boasts lots of storage. For more information or to make an appointment to see the house contact Judy Robinson of Realty Seven at 203-451-0480 or robinson@realtyseven.com. More women spoke about sexual harassment by the chef. Photo: Heidi Gutman/ABC via Getty Images One day after Eater reported four womens allegations of sexual harassment by Mario Batali, more have come forward with accusations against the celebrity chef. Batali also appeared in a detailed, explosive report by the New York Times about sexual harassment and abuse by restaurateur Ken Friedman, and was the subject of a Washington Post story about his abusive behavior. And earlier today, actress Siobhan Thompson became the first on-the-record accuser of Batalis, saying that he groped her while she was a hostess at Del Posto. The chef is an investor in Friedman and April Bloomfields Spotted Pig, and employees tell the Times that they frequently witnessed or experienced aggressive sexual behavior by Batali. According to the employees that the Times spoke with, Friedman was aware. Both he and Batali have stepped away from the day-to-day operations of their restaurants, and both remain owners. One former manager, Jamie Seet, says in 2008 she intervened when she saw Batali grope and kiss what appeared to be an unconscious woman on a security-camera feed. A former server, Trish Nelson, tells the paper that they referred to him as the Red Menace, and that he tried to touch her breasts, commented on them, and wanted to wrestle, and once told her to sit on his friends face. Batali apologized in the Post, but did not refute the details. The Post documented another incident that occurred at the Spotted Pig in 2004. A server says that Batali requested cigarettes, and when she brought them to him, he smiled at her and appeared to deliberately drop them. The server bent over to pick them up and alleges to the Post that Batali grabbed my underwear and pulled straight up. When she told Friedman that Marios sexually harassing me, she says that he responded with get in fucking line. The Post also documented a March 2010 incident that occurred at Batali and Nancy Silvertons Los Angeles restaurant Osteria Mozza. Batali was attending a Magic, Martinis, and Mario party hosted by Vanity Fair publisher Edward Menicheschi. During that party, Mozzas special-events director Holly Gunderson says Batali showed up visibly intoxicated, and that he looked me up and down and he said, you know, with a twinkle in his eye, I want to see you naked in my hot tub back in the hotel. Others, she says, witnessed this. When he found her leaning over a high-top table later that night, she alleges that he assaulted her by grabbing her crotch. She tells the Post that he put his hand between her legs, so his hand touched the part of her clothes where her vagina is. He then continued walking, and she says it appeared no one else noticed. Gunderson says she was not aware of an HR department, and left the job a few weeks later for a better one. A spokesperson for Batalis restaurant group, B&B, tells the Post that there was an HR director, and that they had a strong sexual harassment policy in place then. Vanity Fairs associated director of integrated marketing, Melanie Altarescu, was also harassed by Batali when she was asked to escort him to a car. She tells the Post that, at one point, Batali told her, Youre gonna get in the car, and were gonna make out. She refused, and he grabbed her sleeve and told her, Youre making a big mistake. You should get in the car and we should make out. Altarescu broke away her story was confirmed by a supervisor and described his behavior as super leery, and that it was not like a joke. Haiti - Security : False DG of the PNH ! Michel-Ange Gedeon, the Director General (DG) of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) informs that individuals pretending to be the DG of the PNH. "To cut short to persistent rumors of individuals pretending to be the DG of the PNH, claiming here and there money, giving account numbers for depositing money or ransoming citizens on the social networks (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter), the Director General of the PNH informs the general public and the commerce in particular that he has given no mandate to anyone, both in Haiti and abroad, to make requests on his behalf or in the name of the PNH to individuals residing in Haiti or abroad. An investigation is opened to the DCPJ. Some thugs are already identified. The victims of these scams are invited to file a complaint to the justice and the DCPJ for the legal consequences," informs Michel-Ange Gedeon, Director General of the PNH. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - France : Jovenel Moses visited OIEau Yesterday Tuesday the President of the Republic ion tour in Europe, in France had the pleasure, accompanied by the First Lady, Martine Moise, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Pierre Dumeny, and a large Government delegation, to visit the International Office for Water (OIEau) in Paris. "By sharing experiences and knowledge, interstate institutions can help each other find solutions to many of the challenges they face," said the President. This visit was an opportunity for the Head of State to underline the political will of his administration to join an active partnership and set up a network of exchanges of international cooperation, to develop the organization and the capacity of water management in Haiti and to implement measures for the protection of this natural resource, also President Moise wished to promote a technical partnership and a reciprocal collaboration in order to make full use of all available expertise. Mr. Eric Tardieu, Director General of OIEau, made the history of the 10 years of support of the association in Haiti which is translated in particular by the management of watersheds in the city of Saint Marc, the establishment of the school of water and sanitation trade, the audit of the water and sanitation observatory... Also the Director of the International Office for Water of Paris awarded the OIEau medal o President Jovenel Moise, and at the same time invited the Minister of Trade and Industry to sign the Paris Pact. "I thank Mr. Eric Tardieu, Director of OIEau Paris for the quality of his presentation on the various projects led by France in Haiti in the field of water management. I will proudly wear the medal of OIEau that he has awarded me." The International Office for Water (OIEau) is an association of French law non-profit declared of public utility by Decree of 13 September 1991. OIEau intervenes mainly in the development of skills for better water management in France, in Europe and in the world. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - OnePlanet Summit : Jovenel Moise pleads for Haiti and the Caribbean President Jovenel Moise participated yesterday Tuesday in the OnePlanet Summit initiated by President Emmanuel Macron. Co-organized with the United Nations and the World Bank, this Summit is an extension of the Paris Agreement and focuses particularly on climate finance issues in order to achieve its objectives. At One Planet Summit President Jovenel Moise about reforestation said "Haiti has inaugurated the first germplasm center.The goal is to create 10 nurseries of 4.5 million trees in each region," also he talked about his plan to make reforestation compulsory in schools. "Tree planting will be compulsory for students in the school curriculum !" On the subject of climate hazards, he denounced that last year "we lost US $ 2.7 billion (damage), insurance companies have repaid US $ 23 million. Insurance is a major challenge. We need a new insurance approach to cover the Caribbean." Every year Caribbean countries face a long and costly hurricane season from June to November 30. "Yet, the region does not have the resources to deal with this environmental threat, and is losing ground economically every year. International bureaucracy should move faster to meet needs after each disaster before the next hurricane season. Speaking of energy in Haiti he said that the energy master plan of the Haitian government is green and focuses on renewable energy. Jovenel Moise suggested that "international resources should focus on supporting the development of solutions by the Haitian government and support their implementation." Bringing together more than 130 countries, the OnePlanet Summit aims to bring together all the key players in the world of finance and climate to co-build the tools, alliances and initiatives essential to the greening of finance and accelerate the implementation implementation of climate projects on the ground. PI/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... The First Lady at the Louvre On Tuesday, the First Lady of the Republic, Madame Martine Moise, took a guided tour of the famous Louvre Museum in Paris (France) in the company of Mrs. Brigitte Macron, First Lady of the French Republic. A former minister auditioned The former Minister of Justice and Public Security, Me Camille Edouard Junior has been auditioned on Tuesday at the prosecutor's office of Port-au-Prince, for acts of misappropriation of public property, threats of deaths with order and conditions and money laundering. Me Clame Ocnam Dameus informs that the warrant issued against the latter no longer stands but the departure ban is still in place. A new audition is scheduled on January 10th. 5th Edition of the International Book Fair of Haiti The deconcentrated organization of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the National Directorate of the Book - DNL, organizes the 5th Edition of the International Book Fair of Haiti (Filha) from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 December 2017. This year, the writer and professor of literature, Lyonel Trouillot is the guest of honor of the Filha which takes place around the theme : "Objektif zot : a literature of solidarity". The fight against corruption is not a propaganda "On the occasion of the International Day Against Corruption, I invite my compatriots to join my fight against this destructive plague - The fight against corruption is not propaganda, it's not a posture. Nor is it an instrument of political persecution. Corruption is a crime against development. Corruption is an absolute evil. Let's join together to fight this plague !" Jovenel Moise. Tourism : Meeting around the PAST The Minister of Culture and Communication Limond Toussaint held a working meeting on Tuesday, December 12, with, among others, the Special Representative of UNESCO in Haiti, Paul Gomis; the Director General of the Institute of Safeguarding National Heritage (ISPAN), Patrick Durandis and the Senator of the North, Dieudonne Luma Etienne around the revival of the Heritage Preservation Project and Support to the Tourism Sector (PAST). HL/ HaitiLibre Harpers poll on MUP reveals a trade divided By Andrew Catchpole Following the recent Supreme Court ruling on minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland, giving the go ahead for its introduction on May 1 after a five-year battle with the Scotch Whisky Association, there can be no doubt that proponents in Northern Ireland, Wales and England will redouble calls for its introduction throughout the UK. Backers of minimum unit pricing the health lobby and many politicians most prominent among them have long argued that its introduction will reduce some of the worst problem drinking by penalising the cheapest, strongest alcoholic drinks, and thus discourage those same problem drinkers by removing access to alcohol that can be cheaper than bottled water. In Scotland, where alcohol abuse is a pressing health issue, Vino Wine Shop responded to the news by tweeting: the Scottish industry who oppose this should hang their heads and skulk off to a corner to be quiet, capturing some of the mood of replies from indies in our UK-wide poll. Many indies, and their quality-driven, higher priced on-trade counterparts, understandably believe that MUP will possibly be a benefit to their businesses, helping level the playing field with multiples and convenience stores that currently devalue the market by selling very cheap, high-strength alcohol. Minimum pricing helps get rid of the dangerous fallacy that alcohol is an almost costless everyday social lubricant, was a typical comment made by a pro-MUP respondent. MUPs detractors vehemently disagree, however, arguing that not only does this represent an additional tax on less well-off drinkers who consume at moderate levels, but that it will have little effect on problem drinkers, who will find the money to support their habit regardless of further strains this will put on personal and family finances. The majority of customers do not have a problem with their drinking and they will be paying a penalty for something they enjoy. The minority that do have a problem will just cut back on other essentials and still get their drink, said one of those polled. Many opponents also argue that a 50p minimum per unit could open the floodgates for future MUP increases now that the principle has been established in Scotland. Addressing the real issue MUP does not address the issue of problem drinking and disproportionately affects moderate drinkers. At a time when the industry is facing unprecedented pressures from all sides, an unnecessary price increase is hugely unwelcome, was a typical response from MUP opponents. Doubtless the arguments will run and run, but the reality is that MUP is now here and, unless it proves ineffective in Scotland and is reversed in five years time, those pushing for its introduction across the UK will likely win the day. As Berry Bros & Rudds chief executive Dan Jago has pointed out, this is a complex issue and the trade will perhaps best be served by working with government on any such legislation south of the border. Having become established, the danger of MUP rising unreasonably in the future is real and this is an understandable concern of many in the trade. However, the ongoing sale of the lowest priced alcohol also does nothing to help the commonly voiced trade-wide wish to add value back into the category, which is perhaps why MUP has been greeted with fewer howls of dismay than expected. Keeping an open mind I am open-minded on the legislation at the moment until I get a better understanding of how it works, says Ian Cumming, commercial director at Scotland-based Inverarity Morton. Any measures to combat issues of irresponsible alcohol consumption are obviously welcomed but there is no one single silver bullet to address the issue. In theory it should only be the low-price, high-strength products that will be adversely affected, which may be not be a bad thing, but we still need to see how this will work, he added. Cummings measured response concurs with the mood of many suppliers on both sides of the border and especially those that are focused on more premium sales. These are companies that typically espouse a responsible approach to the promotion and selling of alcohol, but are continually being undercut in their efforts by purveyors of low-rent booze designed to deliver the greatest hit possible at the cheapest price. Those that respond with portents of the demise of the trade are arguably doing the collective drinks business few favours. Creating a damaging us and them division risks keeping the drinks industry on the back foot, ultimately playing into the hands of opponents, armed as they are with the criticism that certain alcohol suppliers are selling a drug far too cheaply to some of the most vulnerable in society. As our survey suggests, MUP may not be the ideal solution or something the trade wished for but neither is it a disaster for those that value premium alcohol sales and wish to work in a responsible fashion, while raising the quality bar. HARPERS MUP POLL RESULTS Our poll of Harpers UK-wide readership revealed that a majority of independent merchants back the principle of MUP and believe that it will have a positive effect on their businesses, with the second largest number of indie respondents falling into the not sure category for both. Similarly, on-trade operators were also largely of the opinion that MUP can only have a positive effect (if any) on spend in on-trade premises, with the only likely discernable effect being that pre-loading before heading out to a pub, bar or restaurant might decrease. Multiple and convenience operators, along with those supplying drinks likely to be hit by MUP, were far less vocal, but also far less likely to be positive about the outcome when they did speak out. Such businesses raised a range of issues, from the penalty imposed on poorer members of society, to the bunching of differing quality level drinks at the new entry level, plus the danger of an upward creep of MUP, to a denouncement of the nanny state. Majestic predicts unusual year for wine in 2018 By Michelle Perrett Majestic Wine has predicted an unusual year for wine in 2018 as part of its eight trends report. 1. Bigger = Better According to Majestic Magnums are big news. The retailer said that in 2017 already, it has seen a 378% increase in year-on-year sales of super-sized bottles under 20, with Roses and house reds in 1.5 litre measures proving particularly popular for weddings and parties, where a big celebration warranted big bottles. Its is all about socialising around a bottle, said buying director, Richard Weaver. Magnums create brilliant centrepieces for dinner parties and events - particularly if youre cutting back on your eating-out spend. 2. El Nino hits South American wines Abnormal weather in South America has resulted in low yields that have dismayed winemakers on both sides of the Andes, so Chile and Argentina may no longer be safe bets for wines at the 6 or under price point. In the immediate future, the emphasis for these regions is likely to shift from quantity to quality, warned the retailer. 3. Eastern Europe makes a brilliant bet Eastern European wines have been steady ships on the choppy waters of dismal European harvests and Brexit-related supply blues, said Majestic. Its own sales were up +1365% year-on-year in the 5 to 10 price band in 2017. Majestic said that initial reports suggest Hungarys harvest is down only 3% (compared to an EU-wide average drop of 14%), whilst Romania is looking at a 60% harvest increase. 4. Beyond the pale It may well be time for pale ale to leave the limelight. A recent survey of buying habits across all of Majestics 210 stores suggests customers are increasingly interested in local red ales or stouts, with only 8% choosing pale as their beer of choice. 5. Prosecco Sales of this light sparkling style are still booming. However, Majestic warned of another difficult harvest in Northern Italy (where some yields are down as much as 30%). It predicted sparkling wines from Sicily or Central Italy will become good value alternatives to stave off potential price increases. 6. Brits are favouring a new tipple Majestic has recorded a 25% increase year-on-year in sales of sherry in 2017. It said that no longer is sherry considered to be Grannys favourite, but is instead becoming acceptable for those in their 20s and 30s. Other fortified products making a comeback includes port, with sales seeing an 18% volume increase in 2017 and the unsung Madeira currently up 224%, versus the same period in 2016, it said. 7. The craft whisky scene is about to discover brandy Brandy looks set to be the next spirit to receive the craft treatment, following in the footsteps of whisk(e)y. A focus on provenance and increasing appearances in the ingredients lists of top cocktail experts has led to a new experimental take on the spirit. Majestic pointed to Armagnac as heir-apparent to flashy whisky brands. 8. Honey gin Experimenting with different botanicals and flavours has made gin the success story of 2017, with sales up 110% vs last year at Majestic with over 120 new lines added throughout the year. Expect more flavours in 2018, like the newly launched honey gin, which is set to hit the shelves in the New Year. Major alleged fake Bordeaux investigation causes stir in Bordeaux By Barnaby Eales French customs authorities have opened a major investigation into the alleged sale of more than half a million bottles of fake Bordeaux to key international wine distributors. The inquiry is said to involve the alleged transformation of 4,200 hl of bulk wine from Languedoc into bottles of Bordeaux orchestrated by a Bordeaux negociant, and arranged through the falsification of electronic documents to make the wine untraceable. The inquiry is causing more than a stir in the Bordeaux wine industry, with more than a third of the 4,200 hl believed to have been transformed into Bordeaux AOC, with 700 hl said to have been turned into Bordeaux Superieur According to French publication Vitisphere, however, 700 hl of Languedoc wine was transformed into Pomerol; 600 hl into Margaux; 350 hl into Pauillac and a further 100 hl into Saint-Julien wine, between 2012 and 2014. It reported the wine was sold by a negociant to major global distributors including the Castel Group, Grand Chais de France and Grands Vins de Gironde for as much as 10 times the amount of the price of generic Languedoc wine. Bordeaux wine board CIVB has so far declined to comment on the investigation. Gasoline Ban: Weasel Words Allow Continued use of Fossil Fuels IM: We remain open to any renewable fuelelectric, hydrogen, renewable gas, renewable diesel, or others that best performs in each application. Life of the Land noted that the list was strange. Two of the four items listed had modifiers (renewable gas, renewable diesel), and two did not have modifiers (electric, hydrogen). Most hydrogen in the U.S. is made from fossil fuel. The state law mandating 100% renewable electricity by 2045 can be achieved while still using fossil fuel to generate renewable energy.... read Four Hawai`i Mayors Focus on Renewable Transportation Future IM: Post-Truth World of Hawai`i Public Relations and Headline Grabbing Spin * * * * * Will Gasoline Ban Hype Morph into a Tax Credit for EV Purchasers? SA: government cannot control what vehicles consumers buy. A scheme of this sort could be forthcoming when Hawaiian Electric Industries presents its electrification of transportation plan in the spring, as scheduled, before the Public Utilities Commission. Hawaii is one of the few states that does not fund tax credits for EV purchases, he added, to pair with the federal subsidy. That is not necessarily a failing: Hawaii comes with its own incentives to persuade buyers to make the EV purchase. Fuel costs are high, and generally short commutes make the cars a practical choice. There are subsidies in the form of free EV parking and other perks that are an easier sell, politically. Someday even these will need to go, but Hawaii has not reached that tipping point quite yet. read Tithe to the Eco-Priests * * * * * Hawaiis mayors commit to shared goal of 100 percent renewable ground transportation by 2045 News Release from Mayors of Counties of Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai, Maui, December 12, 2017 Waianae Leaders from the City and County of Honolulu, Maui County, Hawaii County and Kauai County came together today on the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea in committing to transform Hawaiis public and private ground transportation to 100 percent renewable fuel sources by 2045. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa, Kauai County Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. and Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe, representing Mayor Harry Kim, set the new target by signing their respective proclamations. The mayors were joined by Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson in Pokai Bay on Oahus Leeward Coast to sign the proclamations on the captains box of the Hokulea, which promoted sustainability and resilience during its recent Malama Honua voyage. The stakes are too high for Oahu, as well as the rest of our state. We have to change our path, said Mayor Caldwell. With this announcement we want to send a message that we welcome the next phase of Hawaiis clean energy transformation, which will not only reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel imports, but will also ensure a more resilient future. The four mayors recognize that this pledge is a critical next step to energy sustainability since ground transportation accounts for over one-quarter of Hawaiis imported fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It also represents a significant financial gain for our residents as operating and maintaining an electric vehicle costs about one-third less than a comparable vehicle powered by fossil-fuel. In their specific proclamations the City and County of Honolulu, the County of Maui, and the County of Kauai pledged to lead the way by transitioning all of their fleet vehicles to 100 percent renewable power by 2035, and the County of Hawaii plans to establish a goal toward the same end. It is vitally important that we chart a new course that steers us away from fossil fuel use and carbon emissions in our ground transportation, said Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa. The goals we are setting today are not only desirable, but attainable, and help send a message that Maui County and Hawaii are open for innovation to help ensure the greater health of our communities and the planet as a whole. The signed proclamations solidify Hawaiis role as a global renewable energy leader, with the state and all four counties becoming the first in the nation to commit to a 100 percent renewable transportation future. Hawai'i County is committed to the goals of this initiative, and we will do everything we can to see it fulfilled, said Hawai'i County Mayor Harry Kim. The proclamations also continue Hawaiis progress in transitioning away from fossil fuels and builds off a 2015 state law that requires 100 percent of Hawaiis electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2045. Hawaiis 2045 goal was the nations first such benchmark. It is our shared kuleana to reduce our emissions, no matter how big or small our communities may be, stated Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. It is an ambitious goal, but by bringing everyone to the table to work together, we can achieve 100 percent affordable, safe, renewable transportation by 2045. The four Hawaii mayors join leaders in France, Great Britain, India, China, Dublin, Madrid, Oslo, Milan, Paris, and Brussels who have also committed to transition their transportation systems away from fossil fuels. Hokuleas voyage around the world was dangerous, but the risk of inaction outweighed the risk of the voyage, said Nainoa Thompson. The call of Malama Honua is being answered today by these four mayors who are continuing the legacy of the voyage and showing the world what local climate leadership looks like. Local businesses and clean energy organizations applauded the historic action by the four mayors. This initiative will spark innovation and entrepreneurship in our state, said Sherry Menor-McNamara, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. Weve seen how the renewable energy revolution in electricity has grown jobs and helped keep over $300 million every year in the local economy. We commend the vision of these leaders in setting the course for Hawaiis sustainable transportation future, said Jeff Mikulina, Executive Director of Blue Planet Foundation. This goal has been one of the missing pieces in our clean energy puzzle. Background While imported petroleum use for electricity generation has been decreasing over the past decade, due to the success of the public-private partnership to achieve a 100 percent renewable electrical grid by 2045, gasoline and diesel use in vehicles has grown in recent years. The proclamations signed today by the chief executives of the four counties are in alignment with the state of Hawaiis recent commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. All four mayors previously joined Governor David Ige on June 5, 2017 to commit to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement just days after President Donald J. Trump announced he would withdraw the United States from the international accord to address global warming. More recently, Mayor Caldwell returned from the North American Climate Summit last week where he signed the Chicago Climate Charter and met with former President Barack Obama, who encouraged U.S. mayors and local governments to lead the country in meeting the Paris Climate Agreement goals. The City and County of Honolulu was recently selected by 100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, to be part of an international cohort of cities addressing the increased stresses and shocks of the 21st century. The city will be developing a Resilience Strategy in 2018 that will include how best to address climate change challenges on Oahu. Nainoa Thompson serves as a member of the Mayors Resilience Strategy Steering Committee. -END- 2016: Laughable: HB2085 Would Have Banned Gasoline-and Diesel-Powered Vehicles 2016: HB2085: Ban Sale of Gasoline, Diesel Vehicles in Hawaii Parents and the High Cost of Child Care--Child Care Aware of America 2017 Report Child Care Aware of America's 11th Annual Cost of Care Report Shows Child Care Outpaces Nearly All Other Family Expenses Nationwide Cost of Care Report Shows No State Has Affordable Care Massachusetts, Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and Hawaii Top Nation's Unaffordability List for Infants and Toddlers. News Release from Child Care Aware of America WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2017 -- Child Care Aware of America today released its annual Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2017 report, which found that child care is unaffordable in all 50 states. Child Care Aware of America, the nation's leading advocate for quality, affordable child care, found that child care fees for two children in 2016 exceeded mortgage payments in 35 states and the District of Columbia; while average annual cost for an infant in center-based care was higher than a year at a four-year public college in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Massachusetts was the least affordable state this year for center-based care for both infants and toddlers. Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and Hawaii round out the nation's most unaffordable states for infant and toddler child care. New in this year's report are county-level costs for seven states (Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Hampshire) through our interactive map . We have also included expanded reporting on the average cost of summer child care for school-aged children. A more detailed supplement will be released in 2018. Highlights of Child Care Aware of America 11th annual cost of care report include: In every state, the average cost of center-based infant care is more than 27 percent of median income for single parents, an increase of three percentage points from 2016. Even for families of three earning double the federal poverty threshold (or $40,320), child care is a significant burden. Center-based infant care ranges from almost 13 percent of income for a low-income family in Mississippi to nearly 50 percent in Massachusetts. In our first analysis of a national average cost of child care, we found that couples across the country pay more than 10% of their household income, for a year of child care for one child -- that's nearly $9,000 a year, no matter how you calculate it. "Making quality child care affordable and available to every family is vital to our economy," said Lynette Fraga, executive director of Child Care Aware of America. "Since 60 percent of children under age six have both parents in the workforce and working mothers make up 40% of the workforce, the lack of quality, affordable care hurts most children. Congress has a real opportunity, as it weighs tax reform, to provide relief to working families struggling with child care costs." Child Care Aware of America works with state Child Care Resource and Referral organizations to track the cost of care for children by age and setting, then compares each state's costs to its median income, ranking the states by affordability for each category of care. Child Care Aware of America's interactive map shows the relationship between costs and median income by state. The organization has also partnered with the Economic Policy Institute to add this year's data to an online interactive calculator of child care expenses by area. For 30 years, CCAoA has been the leading voice for quality, affordable child care in the United States. While CCAoA continues to pursue our vision of the future in which every family in the United States has access to a high quality and affordable child care system, the sharing of accurate and updated information remains critical. More than 11 million children under the age of five are in some form of child care in the United States; roughly 35 percent of children in care under age five are in child care centers. As the nation's leading voice for child care, CCAoA is comprised of 125,000 online advocates from across the country and more than 32,000 members. More than 250 parents have shared their stories with lawmakers through their Family Advocacy Summit and Day on The Hill. For child care providers, they offer trainings on emergency preparedness as well as technical assistance that emphasize health, nutrition and obesity prevention and more. Today at 2:30 p.m. ET CCAoA experts will join Sen. Patty Murray for a webinar to discuss national unaffordability of child care. Register for the webinar here. To learn more about Child Care Aware of America's advocacy efforts visit childcareworks.org, and visit usa.childcareaware.org/costofcare to view the full Parents and the High Cost of Child Care report. And you can follow the movement for child care on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using @ChildCareWorks. About Child Care Aware of America Child Care Aware of America is our nation's leading voice for child care. CCAoA works with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow them on Twitter @USAChildCare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare . Related: Hawaii Child Care Most Expensive in USA YLE on Tuesday published the results of a survey it distributed to a total of 223 employees and personal assistants working at the Finnish Parliament. Thirteen of the of the 95 employees who responded to the survey revealed that they have experienced sexual harassment. Over a tenth of parliamentary assistants have experienced sexual harassment during course of the current electoral term, according to YLE. The number sounds high, even though larger numbers have been measured, Tanja Auvinen, the director of the gender equality unit at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, commented to YLE. More than a tenth, thats a lot. The public broadcasting company pointed out that different surveys have yielded different estimates of the prevalence of sexual harassment. The Finnish Institute for Occupational Health (TTL), for example, has estimated that six to seven per cent of employees have experienced sexual harassment. Eurobarometers on equality and the working life, on the other hand, indicate that sexual harassment is more prevalent at workplaces in Finland. All of the studies have shown that women are subjected to much more sexual harassment than men. All but one of the parliamentary assistants who told the public broadcaster that they have been sexually harassed were women. Auvinen also estimated that sexual harassment is more common at workplaces with strong positions of power and where women have traditionally been employed in subordinate capacities. The results of the survey seem to corroborate this, as the accounts of the assistants indicate that the harasser was in a position of power in relation to them. A large study conducted a few years ago in the service sector also found that the victims of sexual harassment are typically fixed-term employees as the means at their disposal to report harassment are limited compared to full-time employees, added Auvinen. Parliamentary assistants are employed on a fixed-term basis. Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) assured in an interview with the public broadcasting company over a week ago that the government will take action to combat sexual harassment but estimated that the legislative means to do so are limited. At least two professors have since replied to him saying that a lot could be done to tackle the issue. Johanna Niemi, a professor of procedural law at the University of Turku, urged the premier and his fellow lawmakers to amend the criminal code. I propose that the offence of sexual harassment be revised so that also repeated, gender-based defamatory remarks fall within its scope, she wrote in her blog last Friday. Sexual harassment was not recognised as a punishable offence under the criminal code until 2014. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Timo Jaakonaho Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi The division unanimously decided to recommend to the city board that the grand mosque project should be abandoned. This is a good decision in light of the numerous problems and ambiguities related to the project in question, Atte Kaleva, a member of the Urban Environment Division, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. The Urban Environment Division of the City of Helsinki has unanimously decided reject a proposal to build a grand mosque in Helsinki. The Urban Environment Division thus decided contrary to the proposal of the rapporteur to recommend that the city board should not reserve a land plot for conducting a further assessment of the proposal to build a grand mosque and activity centre in Hanasaari, Helsinki. The scope of the project under consideration and the open questions and uncertainties surrounding it namely, the origin of the funding and the possible effects of the sources of funding do not form a sustainable basis for carrying out the proposal. The division has therefore determined that the preconditions for proceeding with the project are non-existent, it explained. Bahraini royals have reportedly offered to fund the construction project. The proposal to deny the project the land-use permit was tabled by Deputy Mayor Anni Sinnemaki (Greens), the chairperson of the Urban Environment Division. Pia Jardi, the project manager of Helsinki Grand Mosque at the Oasis Foundation, says she was not surprised by the decision. You could expect no other outcome based on the political discussion. Ive yet to have a single rational discussion with a policy maker, she retorted to Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday. Jardi said, however, she is not planning on giving up on the project but will analyse the statement of grounds for the decision before proceeding possibly in another city in Finland. If Helsinki doesnt have the willingness, why should we help [it] with this kind of a project, she explained. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Roni Rekomaa Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Alma Media on Wednesday reported that 53 per cent of respondents to its survey agreed with the statement that the candidates should be explicitly either for or against the membership. A quarter of respondents disagreed with the statement, while a fifth were unable or unwilling to comment on the statement. Most Finns would prefer if the candidates in the upcoming presidential elections had a clear-cut stance on whether or not Finland should apply for membership in Nato. Markku Jokisipila, the director of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies at the University of Turku, says the survey results are not particularly surprising in light of the degree of ambiguity associated with the debate on the defence alliance in Finland. The differences between the stances in the debate are sometimes so nuanced and subtle that if a citizen doesnt have a particular preoccupation with foreign and security policy, it may be difficult to follow the debate, he explains. Matti Pesu, a visiting research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, believes the candidates have relatively clear-cut stances on Nato. Maybe the campaigns and debates have yet to receive enough publicity, he analyses. Pesu also suggests that voters have a right to demand more definitive answers from the candidates as the president leads foreign policy making in co-operation with the government. Finlands possible membership in the defence alliance came to the fore in the run-up to the elections after Nils Torvalds, the candidate of the Swedish Peoples Party, declared that he is supportive of the idea of joining Nato. He is the only candidate who has openly voiced his support for the membership: Merja Kyllonen (Left Alliance) and Laura Huhtasaari (PS) have expressed their unequivocal opposition to the membership, while Matti Vanhanen (Centre), Tuula Haatainen (SDP) and Pekka Haavisto (Greens) have all voiced their reservations about it. The most ambiguous stance is perhaps that of President Sauli Niinisto, who has repeatedly underlined that a decision on whether to join the defence alliance will depend on the circumstances. The current government has opened the possibility for applying for the membership, and the possibility as such is an instrument of security policy making, he phrased in his reply on the voter guidance pages of Helsingin Sanomat. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Vesa Moilanen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi ABINGDON, Va. The Washington County Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted the audit that was presented at Tuesday nights meeting, which gave the county an overall healthy financial score. Vice Chairman Saul Hernandez made the motion to approve the audit conducted by Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates. Supervisor Vernon Smith seconded the motion, and the board approved it 7-0. Gordon Jones an auditor with Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates presented the financial statements for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 to the board, as he does each year. According to Jones, this years county audit showed good results. The financial statements are strong, and the numbers are strong, Jones said. The yearly audit provides an overview of the countys basic financial statements for the public to view. Tuesdays presentation also helps make the process transparent to the citizens of Washington County, according to Chairman Randy Pennington. The citizens can see what the county spends and what it collects in terms of finances, Pennington said. Its good practice by any [local] government to have the audit reports available to the public, Pennington said. During the presentation, Jones discussed the countys equity analysis, net position, debt equity ratio and more. Washington County has the best debt equity ratio of 1.82, compared to specific localities in the Southwest Virginia region, Jones said. Jones compared Washington County to Smyth County, Grayson County, Russell County and Scott County. Anything below two for a local government is a healthy number, Jones said. All supervisors were able to ask questions to Jones regarding the years financial statements. Smith asked where Jones, in his professional opinion, sees the county on a scale of an A plus to an F minus. Compared to my other localities I would give [the county] an A plus, Jones said. The county received over $750,000 in federal funds, very little of which goes directly to the county, said Jones. Instead, most of the funds are disbursed between the school board and social services. The accounting firm also provided management comments, meant to alert the board to any internal control or compliance issues found during the audit that might need to be corrected but arent significant enough to affect the overall assessment. These issues have since been addressed by the various departments, Jones said. The Virginia Highlands Airport Authority was also included in the report, but their audit was conducted through another firm. There are three reports included in the financial statement: the independent auditors report, In other matters, there was a special presentation regarding the upcoming Washington County Small Business Challenge. It was presented by Eva Beaule, a challenge committee member. The challenge begins on Jan. 23, 2018, and runs for six weeks, ending on Feb. 27. Applications are due by Jan. 8, 2018. The business challenge is a really good exercise and allows for participants to develop confidence and resources, Beaule said. The final 2017 meeting of the current Board of Supervisors will take place on Dec. 20 as a recess meeting. In January, Mike Rush will begin representing District E, the Taylor District, on the board, replacing current Supervisor James Baker, and Dwayne Ball will replace Smith to represent District G, the Wilson District. One mans terrorist is another mans budget negotiator In 2013, furloughed federal employees attended an event with the Democratic Progressive Caucus to blast Republicans for shutting down the federal government. White House compares GOP to terrorists as government shutdown nears, ran a headline back in 2013. The Obama White House wasnt the only one drawing such analogies. Al Gore Accuses Republicans of Political Terrorism With Shutdown Threat, reportedU.S. News. Obama Accuses House GOP of Holding US Hostage, reported The Boston Globe. Republicans Arent Hostage Takers, Theyre Political Terrorists, insisted Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast. Countless others made similar comparisons. And the media went to great lengths to show how much a government shutdown costs. But that was all of four years ago, when Republicans were trying to win concessions on spending and the national debt. Times change. Now Democrats have been threatening a government shutdown unless they win concessions on immigration. Oddly, we havent seen anyone comparing congressional Democrats to suicide bombers. It seems one mans terrorist is just another mans budget negotiator. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Learn more here Grand Prize Winner: Donna Rickey Blog Winners: A Song for her Enemies by Sherri Stewart: Mary Ann Hake Spies & Sweethearts by Linda Shenton Matchett: Connie Ruggles Sword of Trust by DebbieLynn Costello: Brenda Walters Justice for Julia by Donna Schlachter: Natalya Lakhno Party Prize winners: Sherri Stewarts Winners A Song for her Enemies: Angie Pool Bottle of Dutch Syrup: Carol Koch Alscheff Corrie ten Boom book: Deb Gramie Burgess Linda Shenton Matchetts winners: $5.00 gift card to online retailer or choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Karen Hadley A Bride for Seamus: Carol Osterhouse Wotring DebbieLynn Costellos winners: Sword of the Matchmaker: Melissa Planas Sword of Forgiveness: Paty Hinojosa Gomez Shattered Memories: Charlene Zall Capodice Sword of the Perfect Bride: Licha Haney Donna Schlachters winner: Leather Journal: Lisa Turley GIVEAWAY RULES Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winners name will be announced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. In a sinister plot straight out of a crime thriller, a woman murdered her husband and nearly succeeded in passing off her paramour as her spouse but was foiled by a bowl of mutton soup. Telangana police on Sunday arrested M Swati, a 27-year-old nurse at a private hospital, in Nagarkurnool town after she confessed to murdering her husband Sudhakar Reddy with the help of Rajesh, her paramour. Swati and Sudhakar were married three years and have a child. But she became close to Rajesh, a physiotherapist, with whom she hatched the murder plan. The couple knocked Sudhakar unconscious with anaesthesia early on November 27, and then killed him by bludgeoning his head. They later dumped and burned Sudhakars body in a forest. This was not all. To cover up Sudhakars disappearance, Rajeshs face was disfigured with acid and brought to the hospital for a plastic surgery. Swati told her husbands family that some unknown people had attacked him, passing off Rajesh as Sudhakar. However, relatives became suspicious when Sudhakar refused to have the mutton soup being served to patients. They got even more suspicious when he told hospital staff that he is a vegetarian; the real Sudhakar was a non-vegetarian. According to a police officer involved in the investigations, the Reddy family noticed the difference in behaviour. When they started asking him questions about relatives, Rajesh, who they thought was Sudhakar, stopped speaking and communicated in signs. Suspecting something amiss, the family alerted police. Upon being grilled, Swati confessed and told police she got the idea for the identity swap from the 2014 Telugu movie Yevadu, in which a plastic surgeon gives an injured youth the face of her deceased son. Police said Rajesh will be taken into custody after being discharged from the hospital. Pakistans former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri expressed anguish on Wednesday over being dragged into Indian politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the word Gujarat was not mentioned by anyone at a private dinner in New Delhi. Kasuri, who was last week hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar in New Delhi, found himself at the centre of a controversy after Prime Minister Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the Gujarat polls. Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi said some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met at Aiyars house over dinner on December 6. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Kasuri expressed anguish for being unnecessarily dragged into Indian politics, when none of the India-Pakistan issues came up for discussion at the dinner. Let me tell you that no discussion whatsoever took place about the internal politics of India or Pakistan. Even the word Gujarat was not mentioned by any participant of the meeting during the discussion, Kasuri asserted. I am surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics - surprised because of the nature of the allegations and apparently anti-Pakistani sloganeering can perhaps can still garner votes in India. To a question as why Modi alleged Pakistani interference in Gujarat polls, Kasuri said: ...this is most unfortunate as India is a mature democracy. In Pakistan on the other hand, during our election campaigns, Indian is never mentioned. Sharing the guest list at the dinner, Kasuri said former premier Singh, former vice president Hamid Ansari, former minister K Natwar Singh, Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood, some former Indian higher commissioner to Islamabad, defence analysts and well-known journalists were also present. Sohail Mahmood was invited since the dinner was organised for a former foreign minister of Pakistan, he said but feigned ignorance about the presence of any Pakistani former intelligence official in the meeting. I am not aware of it (presence of Pakistani intelligence official). Kasuri said that he has also links with politicians from Modis BJP and was instrumental for the visit of LK Advani to Pakistan. On my invitation, Advani visited to Katas Raj (Hindu holy place) in Pakistan. The impression given in media that I have only links with Congress men is wrong, Kasuri said. He remembered Aiyar as old friend from Cambridge days and said the presence of dignitaries at the dinner was due to his involvement with the peace process. He also took credit for making progress towards resolution of all issues when he was foreign minister of the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. When I was the Foreign Minister we made a lot of progress on all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir, said Kasuri, who served as Pakistans Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007. Kasuri said that he has long been involved on the Track II diplomacy and expressed his desire that Pakistan and India must resolve all their disputes through bilateral negotiations. This (peaceful resolution of disputes) is essential to fight poverty in both the countries, he said. In his speech, Modi had also mentioned Sardar Arshad Rafiq, whom he identified as Pakistans former Army director general for alleged interference in Gujarat polls. Rafiq has apparently deleted a Facebook post that our leader and mentor Ahmed Patel (Rajya Sabha member and Sonia Gandhis political secretary) must be made Gujarat Chief Minister. Little is known about Rafiq except that he belongs to Palandri area of Pakistani Kashmir and served in the army. He currently lives in garrison city of Rawalpindi, according to his Facebook account. Earlier, foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal urged rival Indian leaders to stop dragging Pakistan in its domestic politics. India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible, Faisal tweeted on Monday. The Congress bid to bring opposing communities of Patidars and the Other Backward Caste (OBC) under its umbrella will be put to the test when north Gujarat goes to the polls on Thursday. This attempt at social engineering has been the defining mark of the 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, and its success or failure will be best gauged in the six districts and 32 assembly constituencies that form this belt. The Patidar agitation and the counter-OBC movement spearheaded by Alpesh Thakore both have their roots in north Gujarat, and the two communities enjoy a strong presence here. Besides them, Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani is also contesting from this region with Congress backing. If all goes as planned, the alignment should further boost the Congress prospects in a region that it usually does well in. In the 2012 polls, the Congress won 17 of the 32 seats here while the BJP bagged 15. It, however, remains to be seen how the caste combination of Patidars and OBCs who have largely voted at cross purposes and have opposing agendas on reservation works on the ground. In Mehsana district, a stronghold of Patidars (especially Kadwa Patels), there is visible anger against the ruling party. Many voters, especially youngsters, are willing to accommodate Thakore as long as it serves their larger agenda. He (Alpesh Thakore) is fighting for his community while we are fighting for ours. We are okay with him because our immediate objective is to ensure that the BJP stays out of power. While the Congress has at least promised to consider a special quota for Patidars, the BJP refuses to even do that, says 26-year-old Amit Patel from Panchot village. He is one of the many ardent supporters of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti head Hardik Patel in the region. Amits view is echoed by several youngsters in the villages around Mehsana town, including Balol, Karsanpura, Lakhwa and Kadwashan. However, the older folk are not as opposed to the BJP. Many youngsters, including my son, are angry but we know that the BJP will come to power at the end of the day. We are not sure if we can trust the Congress. We have seen their government after all, while our sons havent, says Jayeshbhai Patel, a farmer from Balol. He and his son may not vote for the same party in the coming polls. In OBC-dominated villages, which are Congress strongholds too, one sees willingness to accommodate the Patidar agitation for a larger cause. We have been unhappy with the ruling party so far, and now they (Patidars) are also disenchanted. They are better off than us financially as well as socially, but we are okay with their quota demand as long as whats ours is not given to them. Their votes will only help overthrow the BJP government, says Bhagwati Desai, an ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker and Congress supporter from Harij in Patan district. However, while the OBCs constitute 40% of the population, they are an unwieldy group of 147 different castes who do not speak in one voice. That rules out voting en bloc for any party. Meanwhile, the saffron party is also trying to minimise its losses in the region. The BJP strategically consolidated the non-Thakore OBCs, mainly Chaudhary and Anjana Patels, and the Rabari community ahead of the elections. This is a big segment and, together, can neutralise any Patidar or Thakore challenge, says Hari Desai, a political analyst from Ahmedabad. Desai claims there is a political divide in the Patidar and Thakore communities. The BJP has tried to minimise its losses by giving seats to several Patidar leaders and picking its representatives from the Thakore community, he adds. Besides the generational divide, the split in the Patidar community runs along regional and sub-sectarian lines. Nevertheless, it would be amiss to ignore the fact that while 80% of the community earlier voted for the BJP, roughly half of them seem to be cozying up to the Congress now. While Kadwa Patels support Hardik, Anjana Patels who fall in the OBC category side with the BJP. Leuva Patels may or may not support Hardik. Similarly, Patidars from central Gujarat who werent impacted by rural distress or alleged police excesses may not support the Congress, but those from north Gujarat are likely to, says Ghanshyam Shah, another political analyst. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The campaign for the Gujarat elections started on the vikas plank but as the poll fever peaked both the Congress and the BJP shifted their focus to other issues --- from the Ram temple in Ayodhya to Pakistans interference in the state polls. The second phase of polling for 93 seats will take place on Thursday. Allegations galore A day after the first phase of voting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 10 attacked the Congress over a secret meeting with former Pakistani minister at the residence of the now suspended party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. In his response, Aiyar resorted to calling the PM a neech person, which resulted in his suspension from the Congress. Veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is the political secretary of outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi, announced that he will not be the CM after Modi alluded to a few media reports and stated that Pakistani Armys former Director-General Arshad Rafique wanted Patel as Gujarats CM if the Congress was voted to power. Amid the mud-slinging, Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi maintained that he would not indulge in personal attacks on the Prime Minister but added that the PMs speeches highlighted his self-obsession. Sixty percent of the times, Modiji speaks only about Narendra Modi in his rallies, Gandhi had said in one of his rallies. New campaign tone The campaigning for the 2012 assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls revolved around development in the state. This time, however, the campaign took a different tone. Communal rhetoric was missing from Gujarat elections after 2007. Modi, who was at the time aiming for the countrys top most post, had shifted his narrative to development. But the BJP raked up the issue again this time after Gandhi visited temples during the campaign, political analyst Hari Desai said. In the run-up to the polls, both the BJP and the Congress stalwarts took part in campaigning, a trend rarely seen before state elections. It was perhaps for the first time that a PM addressed over 39 rallies in a poll-bound state. Even the Congress witnessed an unprecedented trend of its top central leadership spending almost three months in Gujarat for canvassing. Irrespective of the election results, the campaigning process has evolved Gandhi into a mature and dignified leader. We saw a new Gandhi from the beginning of his campaign in September. By the time it ended, Gandhi sent out a clear message that he was ready for the responsibility to lead the party, Desai added. Gandhis apparent transformation seemed to have reached the BJP too as it refrained from mocking him like it had done in the past. This time around, the saffron party responded to Gandhis narratives, indicating that it did not want to take the Congress president-elect lightly. Rallying forward the points made by their top leaders, both the camps intensified the attack through press statements. The role of local leaders, from both the camps, largely remained confined to their constituencies. In a nutshell, the battle for Gujarat was fought between Modi and Rahul. It erupted on social media with vikas gando thayo (development has gone crazy) and reached its finale with Modi showcasing his development model by taking off in a seaplane from the Sabarmati river. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When a Congress strategist went to Gujarat in March to assess election prospects, his interlocutors told him that the party had little chance. As the Gujarat campaign ends, the Congress camp cautiously feels it has given the BJP a tough challenge, could even sneak past the majority mark and cause a huge upset. The BJP, however, continues to be confident. At its media centre in Ahmedabad, a senior leader remarked, All of you are making Rahul Gandhi a leader. Wait till December 18 and he will be back to square one. Click here for full coverage on Gujarat elections Irrespective of the outcome, how did Gujarat 2017 move from being an election that was just for the BJP to sweep to becoming an election where it had to work extraordinarily hard to retain its dominance? The answer lies in the campaign strategies adopted by both parties. The challenge The Congress relied on the BJPs vulnerabilities. For one, BJPs social coalition had fractured with Patidars disenchanted. Hardik Patel was able to draw huge crowds. By allying with him, Congress hoped to ensure anti-BJP votes would not get fractured. Two, BJPs economic narrative was stressed. Traders had been hit hard by GST. Many young people who had invested in expensive private education could not find jobs. And farmers were not happy with the prices they were getting. Rahul focused on these three messages. Rahul Gandhi waves at the crows during a campaign rally at Patan. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo) Three, Congress capitalised on the post-Modi deficit. Since 2014, BJP had two chief ministers Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani, both not a patch on the political or administrative skills of the PM. And four, it ran a different campaign. To ensure it was not seen as pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu, Rahul visited temples. At the same time, the party kept up private channels with Muslims and by giving six tickets to Muslims, the same as last time, sent a signal. Overcoming the test The BJP had its own set of responses. To deal with the cracks in its social coalition, BJP adopted three key strategies. One, it worked on Patidar organisations, deployed its Patidar leaders, and gave around 50 tickets to Patidar candidates. Two, it worked on consolidating other castes, particularly the upper castes and OBCs. And three, it sought to wean away a section of its tribal and OBC supporters of Congress. Two, on the economic question, BJP did a course correction on the GST front. The BJP also highlighted its role in providing industrial peace and compared it to lawlessness under the Congress. It continued to own the achievements of the Gujarat model and focused on roads, electricity and water. A life-size digital cutout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up at Sabarmati river front in Ahmedabad. (Kunal Patil/HT File Photo) Three, it made the election about Modi to deflect attention from the post Modi deficit. With the PM himself campaigning relentlessly, Gujaratis were basically being asked to make a choice: Do you trust Modi or not? Will you let him down, when he is protecting your interests in Delhi? Doesnt he represent Gujarats honour? Mani Shankar Aiyars comment helped the party personalise the campaign around the PM even more starkly. Four, the BJP relied on making this a a Hindu-Muslim election. It made fun of Rahuls temple visits. It picked on the controversy around his name in the non-Hindu register at Somnath temple to cast aspersions on his faith. It used Kapil Sibals intervention in the Ayodhya case to cast Congress as a party against the construction of the temple. And the PM suggested a joint Pakistan-Congress plot to defeat BJP in Gujarat. All of this was meant to energise the base, and construct a majority Hindu vote. And finally, recognising that many seats had witnessed close contests last time, BJP focused on minute booth-level mobilisation; and put up independent candidates to cut off votes of the rival. It has been a tough battle. Which campaign will prevail will be known on December 18. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Priyanka Chopra, who has taken up the cause of fighting for the rights of refugees and displaced people as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, has been feted with the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice. Priyanka was invited by the Harmony Foundation to get the award for lending her support and contribution towards social causes. Her mother Madhu Chopra collected the honour here on her behalf. I humbly accept the award on her behalf. As a mother, I am immensely proud to have a child who is so compassionate and has so much kindness in her. She exemplifies the fact the more you give, the more you get. Priyanka Chopra, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, with a Syrian woman and her baby at UNICEF's Makani Centre in Amman, Jordan in September 2017. (AP) Even as a child, she was influenced by Mother Teresa and has been supporting Prem Niwas in Bareilly, Madhu said in a statement. Madhu, who co-owns the production banner Purple Pebbles Production with Priyanka, added: Im sure Priyanka is humbled that her efforts have been recognised by the Foundation that believes in helping the needy and supporting the deprived and raising funds for the impoverished. Priyanka is currently in the US and will be flying to Mumbai soon. Follow @htshowbiz for more Air Deccan, Indias first domestic low cost airline, is set to relaunch operations this month with what it is remembered for the most Rs 1 tickets. Air Deccan, founded by GR Gopinath in 2003, merged with Vijay Mallyas Kingfisher Airlines in 2008 but was grounded in 2012 under financial duress. In its second innings, the airline will begin with four bases at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong, connecting them with smaller cities around them. It is rare for airlines, that often go belly up in a cost-heavy industry, to revive. The first Air Deccan flight will take-off on December 22 and fly to Mumbai from Nashik, Gopinath told Mint, speaking from his home in Bangalore. This will be my last Udan and then I will hang up my boots, said Gopinath, who has been waiting for a re-entry for few years now. The governments Udan scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), which loosely translates as let the common man fly and proposes to connect small towns on fares of about Rs2,500 for a one-hour flight, has provided that entry for the entrepreneur. Air Deccan, which has the tagline Simplifly, will brand its entry with a the common man takes to the skies logo designed by cartoonist the late R.K. Laxman. Some of the initial lucky people will be able to get Rs 1 fares also, Gopinath said, even though most tickets will start at about Rs 1,400 for a 40-minute Nashik-Mumbai flight, a distance that would take four hours to cover by road. Air Deccan will also operate daily return flights between Nashik and Pune and Mumbai and Jalgaon. By January the airline plans to station a second aircraft in Delhi to connect the city with Agra, Shimla, Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Dehradun and Kullu. Air Deccan will also station two planes in Kolkata, flying them to Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bagdogra, Burnpur, Cooch Behar, Agartala, and from Shillong to Imphal, Dimapur, Aizawl and Agartala. The airline Deccan will use 19-seater Beech 1900 D planes that are used worldwide. Three of these planes have already joined its fleet and two more will be added over the next few weeks, according to Gopinath. By January, four planes will be used for services and one will be kept on standby. Gopinath said he would like to expand faster but is not getting slots and parking at the congested Mumbai and Delhi airports and flying to airports on the outskirts would ruin the small airline before it has taken its first baby steps. Initially the airline was not granted even one slot at these airports and it took several requests made to the aviation ministry before a few slots were given, said Gopinath. Smaller planes are exempt from paying any fee and therefore dont bring revenue to the airport. The private sector airport monopolies are not aligned to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the steps being taken by aviation ministry in making Udan a success, Gopinath said, adding, They say we can give three slots per week for Kolhapur-Bombay. Do you think someone who goes by plane will like to come by train the next day? An email seeking comment from Mumbai airport remained unanswered till the time of going to press. A Delhi airport spokesman said to support Udan the airport has offered 26 flights slots to four airlines. Air Deccan had requested for a total of 10 slots, out of which six slots have already been offered to the airline. In addition, four post-midnight slots have also been offered. However, Air Deccan is yet to finalise their schedule, it added. India presents such a big market with so many different levels of airports that you need a turboprop to address a good part of the regional market, former Jet Airways chief executive Steve Forte said, adding, The government should have some guidelines for airports to provide for regional connectivity. Tata Steel said on Wednesday its board will meet next week to consider raising of funds by issuing securities. A meeting of the companys board will be held on December 18-19 to consider a proposal to raise funds by issue shares or securities, Tata Steel said in a regulatory filing. The board will consider raising of funds via qualified institutions placement, rights issue, preferential issue or through any other permissible mode, it added. The proposal for the issue will be considered by the board on December 19, it said. The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday questioned the Haryana government why it has booked only one doctor in a case in which a Gurgaon hospital charged Rs 18 lakh from a family for dengue treatment. The high court division bench of justice AK Mittal and justice Amit Rawal asked the Haryana government to submit a probe report by January 18 . The state govt was asked to provide details about the hospitalisation and treatment of the victim, Adya Singh, daughter of an IT professional from Gurgaon. The HC also observed that the matter should have been probed by a special investigation team (SIT) and not by an individual. The HC bench asked why only one doctor has been booked in this case and no action has been proposed against others involved in the treatment. The family of seven-year-old, who died of dengue , was asked to foot a bill of Rs 18 lakh for her 15-day stay in the hospital. She was referred to Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, after she was diagnosed with dengue and her condition deteriorated on August 31. As per reports, the family decided to shift Adya to another hospital on September 14, but she died at Fortis before she could be discharged. The court was hearing a suo motu petition initiated by the high court. The matter was brought before the court by the amicus curiae, senior advocate Anupam Gupta, following which the high court had sought a report. The government apprised the court that an FIR has been registered in the matter, but did not share the report. Gupta, while praising the government for swift action, demanded that it be asked to submit the probe report in court. The Gurgaon police registered a case of culpable homicide against a doctor following a complaint by the Haryana health department on December 10. Notwithstanding the demand of prohibition by four activists, excise minister Prakash Pant ruled it out saying any such decision would give a fillip to bootlegging and to consumption of spurious liquor. The four statehood activists, who are on a fast-unto-death, are admitted to a hospital after they were forcibly shifted from Gairsain to Dehradun. Earlier in the day, the four tried to reach to the chief ministers residence for putting across their demands. But the police intercepted them near the gate of the Doon Hospital leading to an altercation. Adesh Chauhan , associated with the four activists, said the police took them to the police lines. Praveen Singh from Delhi, Ram Krishna Tiwari from Rishikesh, Mahesh Chandra Pandey from Bageshwar and Vinod Juglan from Rishikesh had undertaken a padyatra from Nainital to Gairsain. They have threatened to continue their fast at the Doon hospital. One of the demands of setting up a department for prohibition is not new. Many activists have led the Nasha nahin, rozgar doh agitation in the 1980s. Singh said it was not impossible to set up a department for prohibition and the government would have to let go of the revenue concerns for betterment of the people. Pant said the government has set a revenue target of Rs 2,300 crore from liquor sale in this ongoing fiscal. But he asserted that the main factor behind not imposing liquor ban was revenue. Revenue is secondary for us. What matter is the well-being of the people. Prohibition was not possible as it resulted in ill effects in other states as sale of spurious liquor and bootlegging went up, he said . Prohibition was imposed in the country in 1977. It failed as the people started buying spurious liquor and many smugglers started operating in the cities. The government is trying to regulate the sale of liquor by bringing down the number of liquor shops, Pant said. From 526 liquor shops last year, we granted licence to 509. We intend to bring down the numbers in the future. Around 150 first year Delhi University law students, including the university students union secretary, face uncertain future after they were stopped from giving the first semester exams due to short attendance. DUs law faculty has detained around 250 students on account of having lower than 70 per cent attendance but first year students say they are the worst hit as they will now have to give entrance exam again to take fresh admission in the course. The development comes days after a CPU was allegedly stolen from the faculty hours after officials had compiled the attendence of students. The semester exams started on Tuesday but the first year students were not allowed to sit for the exam. The first year students were scheduled to sit for their first semester exams on Tuesday. I dont know what my exact attendance is but my admit card was not given to me as my name was in the list of students with lower than 70% attendance. I will no longer be a student and will have to give entrance again to study law at DU. This is a major problem only for first year students, a first year student, who did not wish to be named, said. Mahamedha Nagar, secretary DUSU and member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is among the 150 first year LLB students who have been detained. Last year also special provision was given to students to give exam. We will be holding a protest today at the faculty against this decision as it has put future of so many students at stake. Some students have also filed a writ petition on this issue, she said. Ved Kumari, dean law faculty, said the decision was taken due to attendance norm set by the Bar Council of India (BCI). These are BCI rules that a student needs to have at least 70% attendance otherwise the student cannot be allowed to sit for the exam, she said. Kumari said that around 250 students out of the total 7,000 students have been detained due to short attendance. The first year students, who have been detained due to short attendance, will have to sit for the entrance exam again as their admission will be cancelled. This is as per the BCI legal education rules, she said. While some students said they should be given another chance, Kumari insisted the faculty is following BCI rules. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) have seen a 35% dip in ridership in a span of over four years, a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has revealed. The report, that gauged the state of bus service in Delhi, also found that as many as 700 buses remain unused daily, largely because of breakdowns. In cities like Jaipur, the grounding of 700 buses would mean halting the citys entire bus fleet. The report also stated that the DTC bought new buses way back in 2011-12, and that if procurement is not expedited then the corporation would be left with almost no buses by 2025. Hindustan Times, on July 19, had reported how based on the current trend, DTC could become history by 2025 as 99% of its buses would be phased out. The study found very discouraging statistics on the frequency of buses. There is a shockingly low percentage of routes on which average headway of buses during peak hours is less than five minutes, regardless of the definition of peak hours. Further, only between 8:30am and 10am, around 25% of routes in case of DTC and 41% in case of cluster buses have a service headway of less than 15 minutes, which implies longer waiting time for buses, the report stated. Service headway is the time interval between different buses starting from the depot, which determines the frequency of buses. Further, in the absence of any passenger information system, such high headway times bring in a high degree of unreliability to the system from a users perspective. The data collected from state government-run corporation revealed that the daily average ridership of DTC went down from 47 lakh in 2012-13 to 30 lakh by the end of 2016. The report claimed that even the ridership figure of 30 lakh was an overestimation. As per the latest available DTC statistics, about 30 lakh passengers are carried daily, of which only 14 lakh (45 per cent) are ticketed passengers. The rest 16 lakh (55 per cent) use passes, it stated. The NGO further observed that it is officially assumed that each pass holder makes an absurdly high nine trips per day. Thus, a pass holder is counted as travelling nine times during the course of a single day and that inflates the daily trip number. It is possible, therefore, that the DTCs daily ridership is expected to be much less than the currently stated 30 lakh figure, the report read. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of CSE said that the Delhi government needs to speed up the process of procuring 1,000 buses each for the DTC and cluster bus scheme. The city has only 5,425 buses against the need of 15,000 as stated in Master Plan Delhi, 2021. Bus procurement needs to be undertaken on a war footing to meet the target of 10,000-11,000 buses. A fiscal strategy needs to be developed for the DTC, aiming at reduction of costs, augmentation of fare and non-fare revenue and phasing of interest payments, she said. The report also found fault with fleet utilisation by the DTC. DTCs fleet utilisation has also been going down over the past few years, having come down to 83.63% in 2015-16, from 85.51% in 2013-14, the report read. This is significantly lower compared to other cities such as Bengaluru (91%) and Hyderabad (99%). For a city with an already depleted fleet size, low fleet utilisation makes matters worse in terms of service provision ability of the operator. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A computers hard disk along with its CPU was stolen from Law Faculty in Delhi University on December 3 the day officials started compiling the attendance of faculty members and that of over 7,000 law students. The law facultys dean, Ved Kumari, in her complaint alleged that the stolen CPU contained records of attendance of both students and teachers. Delhi police have registered an FIR and launched a probe in the case. The dean told Hindustan Times on Wednesday that the thieves had allegedly stolen the wrong Central Processing Unit (CPU). At the time of the alleged theft, our officials were compiling the attendance. There were two CPUs in the office of the section officer. It appears they took the wrong one. We have a back up anyway. We have not lost the data, said Ved Kumari, dean, Faculty of Law, who had initially claimed data theft. The incident came to light on December 3, a day after the law faculty started checking the attendance of students. Out of over 7,000 students, the attendance of around 200 students were reportedly below the minimum required attendance mark. It is mandatory for every student to have at least 70% attendance to be eligible to sit for an examination. The law faculty has its semester exam this month. According to the deans complaint, at the end of the semester on December 2, faculty officials were checking the attendance of over 7,000 students at the section officers office. The officials had worked on the missing computers CPU till 9.30pm that day. When they returned the following morning, the CPU of the computer on which they were working was missing. The deans complaint also reads that there was no forced entry or signs of a break-in. The officials then alerted Delhi university security officer after which the local police was informed. A senior police officer said investigators so far have collected finger prints from the spot. Police also checked the CCTV footage but could not find any concrete evidence. Police suspect the role of an insider, who may have stolen the CPU for tampering with the attendance data. No other item was stolen from the officers room. A LCD screen is the most common item usually stolen, but these thieves did not even touch it. The lockers were also left untouched. We are probing the case, said an investigating officer. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With the nursery admissions to the nearly 1.25 lakh seats in 1,700 private unaided schools expected to begin from January 1, parents of twins are in a dilemma about which one of their children will be eligible for the points that some schools allot to the first child. Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com, which helps parents seeking nursery admission for their children, said queries are pouring in from parents of twin children as they are confused whether both the children will get first child point or not. It is school specific and some schools give first-child points to both the children, but not all. Many schools give admission to both the twins in case either of them was selected in draw of lots, while a handful of school keep points specifically for twins. The Directorate of Education (DoE) should come out with clear guidelines on this, Vohra said. Soumya Gupta, the director of education, however, said that the DoE was not at liberty to interfere with admission criteria as schools were free to fix their own measures. We can only monitor to ensure that these are fair, reasonable and transparent, she said. Admissions to nursery classes are based on a point-based system. As things stand, the distance criterion carries maximum points in most schools. The radius of the distance differs from school to school. Other criteria include girl child, sibling in the same school, children of alumni and students with a single parent. A hundred points are divided among these criteria. Last year, schools such as the DPS Mathura Road, had also assigned 15 points if the applicant was the first child of the family. For parents like Deepak Kumar, an Indraprastha extension resident, this question is of utmost importance as his twin girls are seeking admission this year. I know that there will be points assigned to them for being girls, but which one will be eligible for the first child points? They were born seconds apart. As seats are limited, especially in the good schools, this may make a difference, he said. The principal of a leading private school in Delhi said that this has not featured at a policy level yet. Technically both kids should be eligible for the points, but it is up to the schools discretion right now. I dont think the DoE has ever delved into this, the principle said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Arvind Kejriwal Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Accident Victim Scheme under which the Delhi government will pay for the emergency treatment of road traffic accident, fire and acid-attack victims at private hospitals equipped to handle trauma cases. The move is aimed at encouraging private hospitals to treat all trauma emergencies and not refer accident victims who cant pay to government hospitals . Currently, bystanders, police and our own ambulances take accident victims to government hospitals, even if there is a private hospital nearby. This scheme will ensure that accident victims reach a hospital government or private within the golden hour, the first-hour after an accident when the chances of survival are the highest, said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain. Hindustan Times broke the Accident Victim Scheme story in March this year when the health department had first formulated the plan. The scheme will be implemented soon, after an approval from the L-G, the minister said at a press conference. A person need not be a resident of Delhi to avail the benefits. If the accident has happened on a road in Delhi, that is, it falls under the jurisdiction of Delhi Police, we will pay for the treatment; even if the person is from another state or country, said Jain. The government had selected about 230 private hospitals in the city with more than 20 beds and intensive care units as the ones that are equipped to deal with such emergency cases. Under the plan, the state government will foot the bill for emergency aid, surgeries and two-week hospital stay in economy or similar budget-category beds and wards. If the patient needs to stay in hospital for a longer period, the regional director of health services can extend the benefit, the health minister had earlier said. Private hospitals must provide details of all road accident, burns and acid attack victims under their care within 12 hours of admitting them. The patients papers, including medico-legal documents, should be submitted to the government to get the free treatment. Nearly 8,000 road traffic accidents involving 15,00020,000 people take place every year in Delhi. More than 1,600 people die and several others are permanently disabled in these accidents, the minister said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi woke up to a colder morning on Wednesday with the minimum temperature dropping to 12 degree Celsius and visibility going down due to fog. The Capitals air quality also fell from Tuesdays improved levels and is expected to decline further till Friday. Officials from the Indian metrological department (IMD) said visibility in the city was below 300 metres on Wednesday morning. Visibility below 1000 metres qualifies as fog. The IMD has predicted dense foggy conditions for Wednesday. Levels of particulate matter PM10 and PM 2.5 spiked marginally on Wednesday morning due to low wind speed and high moisture levels. Officials from the Indian metrological department (IMD) said visibility in the city was below 300 metres on Wednesday. (HT Photo) The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 253, which was some points above Tuesdays average AQI of 219. When AQI is between 201-300 is considered to be in poor category while it is considered to be in very poor category when in the range of 301-400. The average AQI was 361 on Monday when the city received rains in some parts. The average AQI was 377 on Sunday. Officials from the Indian metrological department (IMD) said, Wednesdays minimum temperature was 12 degree Celsius, which is 1.8 points lower than yesterdays 13.8 degree Celsius. Todays maximum temperature is predicted to be around 21 degree Celsius. Officials have predicted that the pollution levels could spike marginally once again from Wednesday and continue to deteriorate till Friday because of low winds and high moisture levels. For hundreds of residents of Ravidas Camp, their address has become a stigma which is affecting their daily lives and relationships. Now notorious as the colony of the convicts of December 16 gang rape, the residents of the slum in RK Puram Sector 16 want the authorities to change its name. Ashish, a DU student and a local resident, said he received a a long, disgusted stare on a visit to a bank when the staff checked his address. His neighbour, Prince Kumars colleagues were shocked when they saw him alight the cab outside his neighbourhood. The girlfriend of another youth, who would not identify himself, broke up with him when she got to know his address. Most other youths of this slum avoid bringing their friends or girlfriends to their neighbourhood. The gang rape case is a part of this camps history now. Our neighbourhood is notorious across the world. But why should the innocent residents face the consequences of this notoriety? We have decided to demand a new name for the camp, Bihari Lal, the camps Resident Welfare Association president told Hindustan Times. Lal said that he, and other representatives of the camp, had approached the district administration earlier this year with a request for a name change, but they were unable to go far. We were told that the process was too complicated. We have also raised the demand with local politicians, but they dont want to take up this cause because no one wants to be associated with our slum, which has 600 voters, says Lal. A 23-year-old physiotherapist was raped and murdered by a group of five men and a juvenile on board a moving bus on December 16, 2012. The families of four of the five rapists still live in Ravidas Camp. One of the rapists, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail in March, 2013. Unlike many other city slums, which are named after the Gandhi family, the Ravidas Camp stands out because of its distinct name. We had proposed that the name be changed to Kalyan Samiti Camp. But we are ready for any other name, said Anil Kumar, an elderly resident. Dwellers, particularly the youth, said they have to face embarrassment in their daily lives, and even their future is at stake because of their address. Prince Kumar had tried hard to conceal his address when his employers asked him about it around two months ago. The 22-year-old youth had only mentioned RK Puram Sector-3. He had avoided naming the exact location even to the office cab driver. But the moment he alighted the cab after his first day in office, his secret was out. You live in Ravidas Camp? His shocked co-passengers and colleagues had asked in unison. The huge tomb of Bijri Khan, located right next to the Ravidas Camp, has become a milestone for the notorious slum. He tried to lie to them, but they soon found out. Ashish said he was agitated when the bank staff asked him where he lived, despite reading the form. I asked (the bank staff) if my face resembles with those of the rapists, Ashish said. Ashish fears he may lose job offers. Our camp attracts more shame than GB Road (notorious for its brothels), and deservedly so. I will soon get my native village address updated on my Aadhar card, said Ashish, reflecting the anguish of other youths in his locality. In the immediate aftermath of the gang rape, the residents had contemplated relocating. Some people had been attacking their homes, some even visiting with firecrackers. Even now, when a police vehicle passes by this camp, it sounds the siren, Ram Phool, an elderly resident, said. For the first six months, we lived in fear. Those who landed decent jobs and could afford another house, left the camp. But most of us have decided to stay back and undo the damage. Changing the camps name is the first step in that direction, AK Mishra, a painter, said. Lucknow UP Governor Ram Naik on Tuesday lauded the officials of the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) at Lucknow for integrating technology in the examination system. This has not only helped the institute save money, but has also curbed cheating through copying in the exams. Presiding over the 15th convocation of AKTU here on Tuesday, Naik said by introducing the practice of sending question papers to 600 of its associated colleges online the varsity has not only saved over Rs1.5 crore but has also controlled copying and question paper leaks. Students wait for their degrees at AKTUs convocation (HT Photo) I am happy to note that exams are taking place on time at AKTU. Copying is like cancer and AKTU has succeeded in putting an end to it, governor said, lauding the work of the examination cell of the university. AKTU will dispatch all the 59,211 degrees to its graduating students by speed post, saving them the hassle of collecting it from the varsity. In the past my office used to get complaints in large numbers from students running from pillar to post to get their degrees after graduating from universities. All this will now come to an end, he said. Capturing the moment: Students at the convocation. (HT Photo) A special guest at the event, technical education minister Ashutosh Tandon, said the state government was determined to help technical institutes excel. AKTU vice chancellor Vinay Kumar Pathak said the university had started a quality improvement programme with an outlay of Rs200 crore that would include improving infrastructure, enhancing research activities and employment opportunities of students. In this 60% amount will be used for infrastructure development and remaining for digitalisation and enhancing research and employment programmes, he said. Mumbai Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday stressed on the importance of energy in the development of the country, and assured the students of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) that the government was committed to extend all kinds of cooperation to the institutions and researchers. Speaking at the 6th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research at IIT Bombay, Pradhan said that scientific innovations could only be beneficial to the countrys economy if the general public was able to reap the benefits of such innovations. There is no alternative to affordable, accessible, clean, sustainable energy, and our government is committed to extend all kinds of cooperation to our institutions and researchers, he added. Pradhan also enumerated the governments initiatives for moving towards cleaner sources of energy, adding that India had become one of the first economies to make solar energy available to public in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Government also provided clean fuel to households across the nation. The government has provided clean fuel to 21 crore 50 lakh households out of a total of 25 crore homes in the country so far. Before, only 13 crore households had LPG, Pradhan said. With the efforts of our government, every village in India will get electricity by December 31 this year. This is our commitment and it is near completion, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched another project of electrification of four crore houses by December 21, 2018, he added. Laying emphasis on clean energy, the minister urged the students to contribute to the development through their research and innovations. Without energy, one cannot imagine a modern economy. That is why I put it lightly that if IIT Bombays energy school wants, our country can progress, he added. There is no dearth of scientific innovation, research, papers, and products but there must be a synergy of policy, industry and institution. The three-day conference at IIT Bombay, started on Tuesday. The Juvenile justice board, Gurgaon, on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take the fingerprints of the 16-year-old juvenile accused in the Ryan murder case. The board directed the accused to give his fingerprints to the investigating officer, in the presence of his lawyer and parents, at the Faridabad observation home on December 19. The agency had apprehended the juvenile on November 7 in connection with the murder of eight-year-old Pradhyumn Thakur, a student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8. He has been lodged at the observation home since November 11. The order also stated that if juveniles lawyer or parents fail to show up at the observation home within the stipulated time, then the CBI should, as per law, go ahead with the process of taking his fingerprints. With regard to the bail plea of the juvenile accused, the board directed the CBI to file a reply on Friday. The board also dismissed the application filed by the juveniles counsel seeking permission to tender his original birth certificate and a copy of his date of birth on his class 10 mark sheet. The board also dismissed a plea seeking to defer arguments for deciding whether the juvenile can be tried as an adult. However, the investigating officer was directed to comply with the provisions of rule 10(5) of the juvenile justice (care and protection of children) Model rules 2016 and not disclose the juveniles name in the official proceedings. For preliminary assessment of the juvenile, the board said that his parents and the counsel will be allowed to read the social investigation report and the psychologists report in the board premises once before the hearing on December 15. The juveniles counsel Sandeep Aneja said that he will challenge the boards decision of permitting the CBI to take his fingerprints. The board has not considered the fact that there is no provision under JJ Act to ask for fingerprints. We will file an appeal against the said order, Aneja said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hollywood actor Jessica Chastain has revealed that she was surprised to see her name in the Best Actress category in this years Golden Globe nominations after speaking out against Harvey Weinstein. According to Page Six, the 40-year-old actor felt that speaking out against sexual harassment in Hollywood would impact her professional life and also feared that her views might damage her career. Chastain said, To be honest, Im mainly surprised about my nomination. As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry? The Miss Sloane star, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama) for her role in Mollys Game, admits her friends helped her to eliminate fear that she might be wrecking her career by airing her views about the producer. When the article came out about Weinstein, I immediately started tweeting. Ive got a good group of girlfriends on WhatsApp, and I said, Im really terrified Im destroying my career right now. I wonder if people will still see me as an actress, and want to work with knowing I have these opinions, noted Chastain. She added, In the way that only good girlfriends can do, they helped me eliminate fear and understand that the only way to change something thats wrong is to change it, not ignore it. And rather than saying its an industry-wide issue, its more than that. Its a society-wide issue. We cant ignore farm workers or women who have been invisible. Actors Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain at premiere of the film Molly's Game in London. (Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) Chastain has long been outspoken about her feminist beliefs, from blasting CBS for lacking series with female leads to speaking out about the portrayal of women in movies at the Cannes Film Festival and demanding pay equality for women in film and elsewhere. In October, Jessica claimed she was warned about 65-year-old Weinstein from the beginning of her career, and urged men to speak up. She wrote, I was warned from the beginning. The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again. Yes, Im sick of the media demanding only women speak up. What about the men? Perhaps many are afraid to look at their own behaviour. Weinstein has denied the allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him. Follow @htshowbiz for more Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat elections, releasing a video message where the former premier accused him of spreading falsehood and canards to score political points. The sharply-worded message, which was virtually a repeat of his written statement released on Monday, provoked an equally strong backlash from the BJP, which questioned Singhs silence when monumental loot was taking place under his watch. The usually reticent Singhs video was in response to Modis remarks insinuating that the former prime minister had colluded with Pakistan to influence the elections in Gujarat where the BJP and Congeress are locked in a contest, many say, is too close to call. Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh issues a statement on the baseless allegations made towards him by PM Modi. pic.twitter.com/Vlqfjcgr5q Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable, Singh said in the message released to TV stations. Singhs second salvo in three days was apparently aimed at ensuring there was no let up in the heat on the BJP ahead of tomorrows polling in 93 constituencies of Gujarat. The remaining 89 seats voted in the first phase on December 9. Results will be known on December 18. Not ready to cede any ground to the political rival, the BJP mounted a spirited counteroffensive, with its president Amit Shah questioning why he was angry now after being silent when monumental loot was taking place during his stint as prime minister. When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh jis honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance! Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed his anger then! Shah tweeted. Shah asked why Singh was not angry and anguished when Modi was called Maut Ka Saudagar (merchant of death) or neech. The raucous campaign, marked by feisty and often acrimonious speeches where Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi locked horns repeatedly, ended on Tuesday. I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said and demanded an apology. Singh and Modi ran into each other earlier today at an event to pay homage to the victims of the 2001 Parliament attack, and greeted each other briefly. Singh urged the prime minister to show maturity and gravitas, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring erroneously conceived brownie points. I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies, he said. Strongly rejecting the innuendos and falsehoods made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, as alleged by Modi, and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants present at the dinner, he said. Singh also asserted that Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief, and described it as sad and regrettable. Pointing out that Modi had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur, Singh said, Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan. Shah took on Singh over Rahul Gandhi publicly tearing a copy of an ordinance cleared by his Cabinet. Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office when a Congress MP tore the ordinance in public, Shah asked. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh shook hands in a brief meeting on Wednesday, two days after the former PM sought an apology from Modi for insinuating that he, and other members of the Congress, may have colluded with Pakistan. Modi and Singh -- gathered with others to pay homage to the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack greeted each other at the sombre ceremony held at the Parliament House complex. When Singh greeted Modi with a namaste just before the ceremony, the Prime Minister shook hands with his predecessor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets former PM Manmohan Singh, as home minister Rajnath Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other dignitaries look on during a ceremony for the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament attack at Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI) The back and forth over Pakistan started as a sideshow of the ongoing campaign ahead of the second phase of the elections to the Gujarat assembly on December 14, but soon grabbed centre stage. On Sunday, Modi referred to a Facebook post by a former director general of the Pakistani army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq, saying Congress leader Ahmed Patel should be the next chief minister of the state, and to a meeting in Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyars residence attended by Singh, the former vice president of India, Pakistans former foreign minister, and the countrys high commissioner to India. The prime minister said the meeting happened last week, a day before Aiyar called him neech (lowly). Aiyar has since apologised and also been suspended from the primary membership of the Congress. On Monday, Singh, 85, said Modis claim was an ill-thought transgression and rejected his charge as innuendos and falsehoods . Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma accused the prime minister of dragging political discourse to an unacceptable low by making statements that harmed the dignity of the prime ministers post. In his statement, Singh added that the meeting on December 6 at Aiyars house was restricted to discussions about Indias relations with Pakistan and that the Gujarat polls didnt figure in the conversation. My track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone. No one, including Modi, can lamely question it to gain lost political ground, Singh said. A local court in Andhra Pradeshs Chittoor district has directed the police to conduct a sexual potency test of a 29-year-old man after he allegedly attacked his wife with a knife and beat her up on the first day of their marriage for disclosing his impotency to her parents. Police said the incident happened at Motharanganapalle village of Gangadhara Nellore block on the night of December 1. The Gangadhara Nellore police arrested the womans husband Rajesh, a school teacher, the same day and a court sent him to judicial remand a day later. He was booked for voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon and criminal intimidation. The court directed the police on Tuesday to conduct the potency test for Rajesh at a forensic lab in Hyderabad in the presence of experienced doctors. Instead of resolving the issue amicably, Rajesh resorted to physical assault on his wife ... Based on the complaint given by the woman and her parents, we booked the case and brought to the notice of the court about his impotency. The court has ordered to conduct a potency test for him, Gangadhara Nellore sub-inspector Rajasekhar told Hindustan Times on Wednesday. The 24-year old woman, a second-year MBA student, said in her complaint Rajesh told her that he was not fit for a marital life on the first night after their wedding. She claimed he also suggested she could establish a sexual relationship with another man and that he would continue to treat her as his wife. She told her parents about Rajeshs impotency but they asked her not to worry, saying he must have been nervous. He assaulted her when she went back into the room with a knife, bit her all over her body and punched her face and sensitive parts, she complained. The woman was admitted with serious wounds to Chittoor government hospital and later shifted to Sri Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences in Tirupati, where she is recovering. We have not yet decided the date of conducting the tests. We will take him to Hyderabad in a day or two after consulting the lawyers and Rajeshs family members, Rajasekhar said. Pakistan on Wednesday rejected Indias plea for consular access to Kulbushan Jadhav, claiming provisions for the same only applied to legitimate visitors, not spies. Jadhav, an Indian national who was arrested by Pakistan in the restive Balochistan province last year, has been sentenced to death for alleged involvement in espionage and terrorism. India moved the International Court of Justice in May, appealing the sentence and calling for his release. In its counter-response at The Hague-based court, Pakistan claimed Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered, the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan said, according to The Express Tribune. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask India and Pakistan to submit more documents. The recently elected ICJ judges are scheduled to take oath on February 6. Former Pakistan chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani will also serve as an ad-hoc judge in the bench. Geo News, quoting Pakistan attorney general Ashtar Ausaf Ali, reported the case would be taken up for hearing in April or May 2018. Pakistans reply was submitted by the Foreign Offices Director India, Fariha Bugti. Local media reported the reply was jointly prepared by Ali, Pakistans legal team in the case, and officials of the ministry of foreign affairs. The document includes details of Jadhavs involvement in alleged subversive activities in Pakistan, his trial and his sentencing. Earlier, a senior official told The Nation newspaper that Pakistan would challenge the jurisdiction of the ICJ to hear Jadhavs case. He has been convicted in terrorism cases and there is no room to be soft on him, he said. We will provide evidence to the ICJ to prove his role in the killings of so many Pakistanis. His case at the ICJ should be dismissed. Another official said Pakistans response was based on the Vienna Convention. He said Pakistans response included concrete evidence of Jadhavs confession of involvement in terror-related activities. Pakistans argument is that the ICJ has no jurisdiction to hear the case of a terrorist who has orchestrated bloodshed in Pakistan . We are hopeful we will win our case, he said. Pakistan has rejected more than 30 Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav. Jadhav has filed a mercy petition with army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, calling on him to spare his life on compassionate grounds. If rejected, Jadhav can file another appeal to President Mamnoon Hussain. Last week, Pakistan agreed to allow Jadhavs mother and wife to meet him later this month. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said they will be provided with complete security and a diplomat from the Indian high commission will be allowed to accompany them. (With inputs from Agencies) After a month of heavy exchange of fire with Pakistan, it was finally the BSFs Operation Arjun that brought the Pakistani border guards to commit themselves to a peaceful resolution of issues, say defence officials. Operation Arjun, targeting farms and residences of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers and retired Pakistan Army officers, was unleashed after heavy Pakistani firing and shelling killed Border Security Force constable KK Appa Rao on August 25. Rao, deployed with the BSFs 192 Battalion in Jammu sectors Budhwar border outpost, fell victim to snipers of the Pakistan Rangers. An official document accessed by IANS revealed that Operation Arjun continued till September 24, with the BSF using small and medium arms as well as aerial weapons, causing heavy casualties and damage on the Pakistani side. This led to more heavy firing and intermittent shelling by the Pakistanis in Akhnoor, Jammu and Samba sectors, mostly targeting BSF posts and civilian-inhabited areas in Jammu and Kashmir. In the month-long cross-border firing between August 25 and September 24, seven Pakistan Rangers personnel and militant infiltrators as well as 11 Pakistani civilians were killed. As many as 35 Pakistan Rangers were also injured in BSFs retaliatory firing. Firing by Pakistan Rangers also claimed the lives of a BSF trooper and a civilian, the document showed, adding that six BSF personnel and 16 civilians were also injured in the ceasefire violations by the Rangers. But Operation Arjun dramatically changed the situation, leading to the Pakistan Rangers initiating a request at the level of Director General for bi-annual border talks in a bid to end the spiralling clashes. Operation Arjun followed 2016s equally successful Operation Rustam by the BSF. The BSF forced the Pakistan Rangers to silence their guns gradually and then talk, the document noted. As a result, the Rangers Director General told BSF chief KK Sharma they were ready for DG-level bi-annual border talks in New Delhi, the document said. Three days of talks between the two sides took place from November 8 -- after a gap of over one year. At the conference, the BSF chief said the dialogue was a limited success. My feeling is these conferences are held in a very friendly atmosphere and both sides are eager to make things better. Unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is such that not much headway takes place on the actual ground, I am sorry to say, Sharma told IANS. The limited takeaway was that a dialogue started after a long gap, Sharma added. According to Sharma, the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 1,020 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces in the last one year, followed by numerous attempts by militants to sneak into India. The government on Wednesday extended till March 31, 2018 the deadline for linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, ahead of the Supreme Court hearing a batch of petitions challenging the proposed mandatory linking of the biometric identity with various schemes and services. The government announcement came a day after it amended the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 to put off the earlier deadline, December 31, till a new date was fixed. An official statement said the new date was fixed after considering various representations received and inputs received from banks. The government is pushing for wide use of the 12-digit Aadhaar which it says is necessary to plug leakages and corruption in various welfare schemes and for national security. Critics and activists question Aadhaar linking on the ground that it infringed upon their privacy, which they contended was a right guaranteed by the Constitution. On August 24, a nine-judge bench declared privacy was a fundamental right. Besides other schemes, the government has also mandated a February 6, 2018 deadline for linking mobile numbers with Aadhaar (see chart). The Supreme Court said on Wednesday a five-judge constitution bench will hear pleas on Thursday seeking an interim stay on mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various government schemes and welfare measures. The same day, the top court will also take up an interim application challenging the move to link Aadhaar to insurance policies. The government also clarified in a notification issued on Tuesday that those opening new banks accounts will have to submit their Aadhaar details to banks within six months. The new rule replaces the requirement of submitting the Aadhaar number and Permanent Account Number by December 31, 2017 with a provision saying submit the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form No. 60, by such date as may be notified by the Central Government. While the 12-digit Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), PAN is allotted by the Income Tax Department. Form 60 is a declaration filed by an individual who does not have a PAN and who enters into any specified transaction. Apart from linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts, there are 45 other government welfare schemes such as the midday meal scheme, targeted public distribution system (PDS) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) on which there is no clarity. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) forms the core of the legal framework put in place by India to combat money laundering and generation of black money. The PMLA and its rules impose an obligation on reporting entities like banks, financial institutions and intermediaries to verify the identity of clients, maintain records and furnish information to the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND). (With agency inputs) A Chennai police inspector was shot dead in the wee hours of Wednesday in Rajasthan purportedly by a suspected robber whom he went to arrest in the northern state with a special team. Pali superintendent of police Deepak Bhargav said inspector Perry Pandayan was probably shot with his own service pistol in the districts Jaitaran town around 2am when the six-member team raided house of accused Nathu Ram (35). Ram is an accused in a robbery case lodged with the Chennais Rajmangal police station. We were aware that Chennai police was here but not about the raid conducted by them, the SP said. Bhargav said after the team raided the house a scuffle ensued with eight to nine people present there, probably relatives of the accused, forcing the police team to retreat jumping the compound wall. But Pandayan was somehow left behind. Soon the constables heard a gunshot. When they rushed back, they found the officer fatally injured. He was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead. We suspect that the officer was shot with his service weapon during the scuffle as we have found an empty shell of 9mm pistol used by the police, the SP said. Some of the people involved in the incident were arrested, while some others were on the run, the SP said without elaborating further. He did not disclose whether Ram was among those arrested. Mortal remains of the police officer will be sent to Chennai after a post mortem is done in Jodhpur later in the day. Bhargav said there were two more accused Deepa Ram and Dinesh Choudhary-- wanted in the case lodged at Chennai but the raid was conducted to nab Nathu Ram. A police official on condition of anonymity told HT that around six cases are registered against Nathu Ram in Jaitaran. China denied on Wednesday plans to construct a tunnel to divert River Brahmaputra amid reports of highly polluted waters from its tributary Siang flowing into India. I would like to point out that Chinas position on the eastern part of the China-India border is consistent and clear, foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in response to questions about the reports on blackened, muddy waters with cement and sledge of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh. He refuted reports that it may due to a tunnel being constructed on Chinese side. I have never heard of the project mentioned by the Indian side. It is hoped that the Indian side will not conduct unfounded speculation and reports, he said in a written response to a question in this regard. In October, China had denied reports of plans to build 1000km long tunnel to divert Brahmaputra waters to the arid regions of Xinjiang, saying the report is untrue and false. There is, however, no explanation for the highly polluted waters in Siang river. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. In 2016, China had declared that it would be building a dam on a tributary of the river, sparking concerns of its potential downstream impact in India. Arunachal Pradesh State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL) in a recent report said the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had drawn the attention of the Centre on the rivers contamination, which he said might have been caused due to activities on the Chinese side and asked the Government of India to take up the matter with Beijing. The Congress on Wednesday questioned the government over its approach to fighting terrorism and corruption, and sought response to allegations that National Security Advisor Ajit Dovals son had a business partner based in Pakistan. Reacting strongly to BJP president Amit Shahs charges that Manmohan Singh had quietly watched monumental loot and plunder when he was the Prime Minister during the UPA rule, the Congress said the ruling party was frustrated staring at an impending defeat in the Gujarat election. We had hopes that Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will answer Congress questions on development in Gujarat, throw some light on the business exploits of his son Jay Shah..., Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement. On one hand, Amit Shah claims that crackers will be burst in Pakistan (if the BJP loses) while on the other NSA Ajit Dovals son Shaurya Dovals business partner Syed Ali Abbas is a Pakistani. His another business partner is from Saudi Arabia. Amit Shah has no objections on that. He said Modi and Shah need not to teach Manmohan Singh lessons on language and decency because the entire country was convinced of his humility and politeness. Everybody knows the kind of humiliating language Modi and Shah used against Manmohan Singh during Gujarat election campaign, he said, adding people of Gujarat will reply to them on the election result day on December 18. Neither did Shah speak about the rise in the income of his businessman son Jay Shah neither did he answer about the Rafale deal... The BJPs past about fighting terrorism is so bleak that no one believes them now. Surjewala posted 12 questions for the BJP to answer: - How did international terrorist Dawood Ibrahims wife travel to Mumbai from Pakistan in 2016 and no action was taken by the state or the central government to arrest her? - Is it not true that Eknath Khadse had to resign as state BJP chief and minister because he was alleged to have spoken to Dawood Ibrahim? - How did senior BJP leader and Minister Girish Mahajan and MLAs Devyani Farande, Balasaheb Sanap, Seema Heere and other BJP leaders attend the wedding of Dawood Ibrahims niece on May 19 this year in Nasik? - How did the government let officers of Pakistans ISI which is known to be sheltering terrorists access to strategic Air Force base in Pathankot? - Why did Modi travel to Pakistan as an uninvited guest at the wedding of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs kin after the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur? - Isnt it true that 11 people who were caught spying for Pakistans ISI were led by Dhruv Saxena who was also from the BJPs IT cell? - Didnt the previous BJP government set free Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Kashmiri terrorist Mushtaq Zargar and their accomplice Umar Syed Sheikh and took them in a flight to Kandhahar in Afghanistan. - Didnt Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief Minister Nirmal Singh say that Hizb militant Burhan Wani was killed in an accidental encounter and security forces would have taken precaution had they known he was there? - Isnt it true that the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir offered job and ex gratia to Wanis family? - Isnt it true that Kashmiri woman separatist Asiya Andrabi had figured as a brand ambassador of a government scheme, featuring in a poster campaign? - Isnt it true that a special NIA court in May this year convicted 15 people, including Niranjan Hojai, who happens to be a BJP leader and was a member of a hill council? Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi made a strong pitch for the empowerment of women by passing a bill in Parliament providing a 33-per cent reservation to them and told the Centre that his party would not leave it with any choice in the matter. Addressing a day-long workshop organised by the Congress womens wing in New Delhi, Gandhi underscored the important role women had to play in transforming the Grand Old Party of India. You (government) will have to give the women reservation. The Congress party will not leave you with any choice, he said. The Congress has been pushing for the passage of the Womens Reservation Bill, which has been languishing in the Lok Sabha. The bill envisages a 33-per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and all the state legislative assemblies. Gandhis mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, reminding him that the bill had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power. As the debate on nationalism and patriotism continues to dominate public discourse, an initiative by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to promote communal harmony and national integration appears to have taken a back seat. In 1998, the Vajpayee government had introduced a scheme under which essay competitions on themes of secularism, communal harmony, and national integration were to be organised every year in educational institutions across the country. After a panel of judges selects the best three essays in their schools or colleges/universities, the internal security division of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) releases funds to be distributed among students for their prize-winning essays. However, 2017 became the third year in a row when the Centre did not release any funds due to poor response from states. HT had filed a Right to Information (RTI) query for details of prize-winning essays from recent years. Officials said states did not seem to be too enthusiastic to hold the competition. It has received a poor response for quite some years. On our part, we havent discussed the reasons but maybe next year will be better, a senior ministry official told HT. While the first, second and third prize for school children (Classes 9 to 12) attract sums of Rs 1,000, Rs 600 and Rs 400, respectively, its Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 for university/college students. Each year, around 40-50 essays were awarded since the scheme started in 1998. In fact, 2011 saw the highest number as 90 students were awarded. However, the competition since has not seen a good performance, another ministry official told HT. On why the home ministry had not released funds, the official said states have not been sending proposals through proper channels, refusing to elaborate on what these channels constitute. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON District election authorities have issued a show-cause notice to Bhushan Bhatt, a BJP MLA from the city, for allegedly saying that he does not care about the Election Commission while offering money to those attending Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally. Bhatt, whom the BJP has fielded from Jamalpur-Khadia seat this time too, was caught up in the controversy after a video, purportedly showing him making the statement, went viral on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally at the Sabarmati Riverfront. Jamalpur-Khadia is among the 93 seats where the second phase of polling for Gujarat Assembly elections will be held on Thursday. We came across that video yesterday and ordered an inquiry. The Ahmedabad district election authorities have also served him a show-cause notice, said the states chief electoral officer BB Swain. Asad Khan, a city-based lawyer, lodged a complaint with the Gujarat CEO against Bhatt for bribing voters and supporters as well as insulting the EC and its poll code yesterday. Our PMs rally is at Sabarmati Riverfront. Before that, arrange a rally of 4,000 to 5,000 two-wheelers here (Khadia) and then come to that venue. I am telling you again, just dont worry about the EC. I dont care about the EC. Let them do whatever they want to, Bhushan is purportedly heard telling his supporters in the video. He can also be heard offering petrol expenses to his supporters, and more than Rs 200 to each person they bring for the PMs rally, held on the night of December 11. Dont be under the impression that people will get just Rs 200. I know that people of this area are not rich. Just ensure a large crowd, Bhatt purportedly said. In his complaint, Khan requested the EC and the Gujarat CEO to lodge an FIR against Bhatt, and defer the election in Jamalpur-Khadia constituency. PTI PJT PD KRK A raucous campaign has come to a close in Gujarat. Life-size images on hoardings will now get blurred, the smaller ones emerging in stark relief in whats the zoom dimension of electoral politics. Once the generals retreat, foot-soldiers advance to convince, cajole or entice the electorate. Their power to persuade, to convert and translate emotion, so to speak, into the wedlock of vote is influenced by factors that are immediate to peoples daily lives. Thats advantage, the incumbent, unless people are in a retributive mood. There have been unmissable signs of popular anger over economic distress caused by the Centre and the state governments much-debated policies. Yet local issues come to the fore as social groups are marshalled, patronage flaunted and pressure mounted through area satraps. Party organisations take over after the partying time which is the campaign period. The outcome will, in good measure, be decided by the pace at which party wheels move in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. Rallies and meetings enthuse cadres and committed voters. But the gap between attraction and action is filled by spokes serving the hub. Organisationally, the saffron charge bolstered by RSS cadres is manifold stronger. Its evident particularly in central Gujarats Vadodara and Ahmedabad cities the combination swept in the 2012 elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi won Vadodara besides Varanasi by a huge margin in 2014. The Maninagar seat he held as the chief minister is in Ahmedabad. His is the personal connect with these cities, especially Vadodara where he worked as a swayamsewak. Religious binaries the BJP stoked in the campaign find subliminal and at times perceptible traction in these urban hubs with a history of communal tensions. Not surprising then that the Congress sought to smother its rivals invocation of the bitter past through studied soft Hindutva. Proof of it was Rahul Gandhis rounds of temples, diffidence in reaching out to Muslim voters and exclusion of that original secularist, Pandit Nehru, from hoardings, banners and leaflets. Besides Mahatma Gandhi, the party laid claim on legacies of other titans of the freedom movement who move social identities: Sardar Patel, the Patidaar and Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Dalit icon. Sonia Gandhis face was retained in the expediently innovative campaign. But the outgoing party chief whose 2007 maut ka saudagar dart was a constant in the BJPs and the Prime Ministers poll rhetoric did not show up in Gujarat this time. The strategy obviously was to have Rahul bat and score on the wicket the BJP curated over two decades to suit its political idiom. The other element in the self-proclaimed Shiv-bhakts scheme to contain religious polarisation was the caste trident of Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani. Going by crowd turnouts, there was evidence of its success in large parts of Saurashtra and North Gujarat. Hardik knows Ahmedabad better. He was cautious therefore about his roadshow here despite large participation: Theyve come, lets see whether theyd vote. Like puddings proof is in the eating, in elections, its more about those who vote than about those standing by and listening! That is where the BJP is perceived better endowed, what with the resources and cadres at its command to get people to vote. Or to polarise or make them come together through last minute, constituency level ententes. Of particular concern at a seat in Kheda were the activities of some frontal Hindu outfits. Not that the Congress is totally unprepared. The comparison is in relative terms. For instance, at Rahuls well-attended meeting in Vadodaras SavIi, I met Rajesh Griglani, a Facebook friend camping there for more than two months. His task was to put booth-level management in place with an assigned team of party workers. The model is replicated elsewhere. If not as much in Central Gujarat where Hardiks pull isnt strong, in the North, large sections of self-galvanised Patidaars are an enabling factor. The Congress preparedness looks good if one adds to that Alpesh and Jigneshs OBC-Dalit networks bound by the commonality of socio-economic concerns. The BJP has set up micro-level challenges by funding Congress renegades and Independents in closely contested seats. These faces with niche sectarian appeals sum up the zoom aspect of poll lineups. For they can be bigger vote movers than the top guns who campaigned. The final battle consequently is about mobilising voters and containing vote splits on December 14. The party with better ground presence will gain. Unless bread and body issues defy poll-eve machinationsand mollycoddling. Author tweets @VinodSharmaView Hopes of finding alive the five soldiers who were missing after heavy snowfall along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, are fast receding as blizzard-like conditions hamper search and rescue operations. Two soldiers slipped down a mountain slope in Naugam sector of Kupwara district while three others went missing from a forward post in Kanzalwan sub-sector of Gurez in Bandipora district during heavy snowfall on Tuesday. An army porter is missing since Monday after he came under an avalanche at Tulail in Gurez sector. The search and rescue operations have been going on intermittently since yesterday both in Naugam and Gurez areas but so far we have not been able to locate the missing soldiers, an army official said on Wednesday. He said blizzard-like weather conditions caused by heavy snowfall were hampering rescue operations. Pramila Pendor, 30, a tribal from Nimni village in Maharashtras Yavatmal district, is yet to come to terms with her husbands sudden death. Kailash was perfectly fine on the morning of August 16, when he went to spray pesticides in the fields. By late afternoon, he developed chest pain followed by nausea and vomiting. He came home at 5pm that day, but never recovered. He died at a government civil hospital on September 6, recalls a tearful Pramila, who now has to manage the family, which includes two young boys and her husbands parents. A landless labourer, Kailash was among the fifty people who died after accidentally inhaling toxic pesticides while treating cotton fields in Maharashtras Vidarbha region. The cause of his death was a lethal dose of Profex Super he had sprayed in a BT cotton plantation belonging to Babanrao Vaidya. Vaidya said he had purchased a two-litre pouch of Profex Super, a pesticide for Bt cotton, from a local Shiv-Kripa Agro Agency at Ghonsa in Yavatmal district on August 12, which was sprayed by Kailash on August 16. The district hospital in Yavatmal registered Kailashs death as a case of pesticide poisoning. Kailash was not wearing protective gear. Nobody in these parts deemed it necessary until now. The string of pesticide-related casualties began with the untimely demise of Devidas Ramji Madavi, a worker at a BT cotton field in Kalamb taluka this August. The death of Madavi, who also handled Profex Super, was the first of 24 cases of pesticides poisoning to be reported from Yavatmal. Unlike Kailash and Madavi, over a 1,000 farm hands across districts of Yavatmal, Buldhana, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara, this year faced ill effects of spraying pesticides but survived after being hospitalised. Profex Super a combination of Profenofos and Cypermethrin was responsible for six out of the 11 deaths in Yavatmal district, according to a preliminary survey report of the state agriculture department, undertaken after the pesticide poisoning cases came to light. The other insecticides in question are Phoskill, Monocil, Rubby, Polo and Police. Kashinath Milmile of Pandharkawda, a big trader of agro-input products, who received notices from the district administration for selling some of these pesticides admitted that the pesticide, Profex Super, can cause suffocation during spraying. There is a need to wear prescribed protection kit, like eye glasses, gloves and masks while spraying these pesticides on the fields, which is often not followed, he added. Mahesh Swami, the area manager of Nagarjuna Agrichem that sells Profex Super pesticide told HT that the pesticide can cause suffocation if anyone sprays it without wearing the prescribed protection kit. Farmers across the country are using our pesticides. But there was no complaint, he defended, and said such cases may have occurred because of not using the kit. While none of the pesticides under the scanner are considered lethal enough to be banned, the current crisis arose after farmers mixed the insecticides or used them in higher quantities to increase their potency, said Kavitha Kuruganti, an agriculture activist, who carried out a fact-finding survey in Yavatmal soon after the tragedy. A senior bureaucrat with the agriculture department also told HT that the tragedy unfolded as pesticides that were not recommended or those not to be used on cotton crop were sold to unsuspecting farmers as effective, besides mixing of insecticides done at the level of individual farmers or dealers. Making sense of a tragedy Two months after the pesticide deaths, a rattled Maharashtra government is still trying to figure out what went wrong. Apart from blaming the local administration for such incidents, it has announced a slew of probes including one by a special investigation team. The state has temporarily banned the sale of five pesticides in the state -- Phoskill, Monocil, Rubby, Polo and Police -- and registered case against Gharda Chemicals Ltd, a pesticide-manufacturing company besides five agro-input centres. The government also decided to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation after a Central Institute of Cotton Research report said the BT cotton seeds contained herbicide-tolerant genes not permissible in the country. The row has also brought into the spotlight a network of unlicensed dealers who palm off toxic chemicals and pesticides to farmers outside of government control. The local administration says there are a variety of reasons for the deaths, ranging from unsupervised mixing of pesticides to Chinese products, excessive spraying, climactic conditions and lack of basic protective gear. Corrective action Bijay Kumar, principal secretary in the Maharashtra governments agriculture department, blamed the tragedy on unauthorised dealers selling pesticides in rural areas. It is mandatory for dealers to possess a so-called principal certificate to sell pesticides in villages. As the document is not distributed freely, theres a parallel (and illegal) market involving licence holders, the sellers, and villagers. We are now putting pressure on legitimate dealers to prevent them from selling the pesticides in their possession to third parties (who then sell them onwards), said Kumar. His department has also decided to give district-level authorities the right to issue dealer licences, instead of zila parishad officials. Kumar also said that many pesticide brands sell remarketed products. We are putting an end to such co-marketing licenses. With this order, over 60% of these brands will have to shut shop, he added. The probe so far An initial probe spearheaded by additional chief secretary (home) SK Srivastava found that standard operating procedures were not followed by local administration officials. Consequently, the Yavatmal district agriculture officer was suspended from service. Acting on another recommendation by Srivastava, the government decided to make farmers accountable for labourers who spray pesticides in their fields by providing safety kits and primary health care. It also registered a negligence case (under section 304A of the Indian Penal Code) against Gharda Chemicals Ltd for selling pesticides not certified for use in the area. We have registered a case against the company for causing death by negligence and for selling products to dealers who do not have licence. We have completed our investigation and have written to the District Magistrate for permission to file the chargesheet,saidMRajkumar,superintendent of police, Yavatmal. Gharda Chemicals Ltd. manufactures a pesticide with trade name Police. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of Gharda Chemicals Ltd blamed the Chinese sprays and the failure of By cotton seeds. What is disturbing all of us is that these products are sold all over the country so why these deaths in Yavatmal alone. There is a problem with the seeds they used, because of which the crop height was unusually tall. If they spray the pesticide on a 6-7 feet tall crop creates mist of the pesticide and they walk through it increasing the exposure. Secondly, the sprays they use do not have any force regulation, said the spokesperson from Gharda. Kavitha Kuruganti, national convenor of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, believes the manner in which the Maharashtra government allegedly blamed the victims betrays its desperation. They caught hold of the dealers but failed to nab the big players, she said. Kuruganti toured Yavatmal with a fact-finding committee for two days after the tragedy. She said farmers use lethal concoctions of these pesticides to save time, money and crops in the absence of government intervention. Vijay Jawandhia, an agricultural activist, said there was a lot the government could do to prevent pesticide deaths. The government neither educates farmers on how to use this hazardous technology nor provides basic healthcare facilities in each village. Primary health centres should be equipped with antidotes and saline, besides doctors and nurses who are trained in tackling cases of the kind, he said. Jawandhia also pointed out that labourers spray 15 to 18 tanks of pesticides, when six to 10 would be enough, just because they are paid in accordance with the number of containers used up. A farmer, who took part in Prime Minister Narendra Modis chai pe charcha programme during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, committed suicide in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra allegedly over mounting debts and failed crop. Kailash Kisan Mankar, 28, killed himself by swallowing pesticide around 6pm on Monday in Dabhadi village of Arni tehsil. Mankar, the eldest of three siblings, owned three acres of farmland and after his father Kisan Mankars death in 2012 he became the sole breadwinner in his family. His younger brother Dnyaneshwar said Mankar was depressed because their cotton crop was destroyed after the sudden attack of the pink bollworm. Kailash had taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from the district cooperative bank and around Rs 1 lakh from a private money lender at an exorbitant rate. Apart from the repayment of these loans, he was also worried about the arrangement of our sister Sonus wedding which is scheduled this summer, Dnyaneshwar said. Modi, who interacted with the farmers in Dabhadi on March 20, 2014, had promised that his government would function as kisan mitra or farmers friend and it would cover all farmers under crop credit and free them from the clutches of money lenders. He had said his government would ensure that farmers get quality seeds, fertilisers, crop credits, and crop insurance and formulate a progressive agriculture policy for the overall development of farmers. The district administration, however, blamed his suicide on a fight Mankar had with Namdeo Pawar, who owns the farm adjacent to his. We got a report from the village patwari about the death of Kailash that he committed suicide after the altercation with Namdeo, Kishore Tiwari, chairperson of the state agriculture mission, said. The district administration is verifying the real cause of his death, Tiwari said He added that farmers, particularly the cotton growers in the region, are facing hardship and now devastated after pink bollworm attack. Dnyaneshwar, however, dismissed the administrations theory behind his brothers death. There was a fight between Kailash and Namdeo on a trivial issue on Monday morning but this is not the reason for him to take the extreme step, Dnyaneshwar said. Mankar is the second farmer to commit suicide after the chai pe charcha programme was held. Till date, 17 farmer suicides have been reported from Dabhadi. Thousands of farmers have killed themselves after their crops were damaged because of scarce or heavy rain or hailstorm and because of indebtedness or other farm-related issues. According to official figures, 2,414 farmers have ended their lives until October 31 in Maharashtra. Around 240 farmers commit suicide every month on an average in the state and at least eight suicides are reported every day. Last year, an average of 250 suicides were reported in a month. The state had witnessed the highest number of suicides in 2015 at 3,228, although the number slightly dipped to 3,063 the next year. Top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy, who is facing trial in several cases of murder and sabotage, was released on bail from Visakhapatnam central prison on Tuesday night. According to official sources, 66-year-old ideologue of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) secured bail in the multiple cases pending against him in various cities, including Visakhapatnam. He immediately left for his native place Mumbai after coming out of the jail, sources said. Ghandy, who used several alias like Aravind, Saleem, Kamal and Azad, was arrested by Andhra Pradesh police from New Delhi in 2009. He was earlier lodged in Cherlapalli central jail on the outskirt of Hyderabad for three months in connection with the assassination of former Congress MLA Chittem Narsi Reddy in August 2005. Prior to that he spent seven years in Tihar jail in Delhi. He had been in Visakhapatnam jail since April 4 this year. The former central committee member of the CPI(Maoist) is also an accused in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker D Sripada Rao at Manthani in Karimnagar district in 1999. He was named in a conspiracy case pertaining to attack on a team of elite anti-Maoist commando unit Greyhounds at Gunurkayi village in Visakhapatnam in 2008. He was booked under the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case. The Maoist leader has been suffering from multiple ailments, including cancer of prostrate, over the past few years, sources said. Ghandy, who studied in prestigious Doon School in Dehradun and Elphinstone College, Mumbai, joined Naxalite politics in late 1960s. During the 1980s, he became one of the leading organisers of the newly formed CPI(ML)(Peoples War) group in Maharashtra. He has been part of the central committee and politburo of the CPI(Maoist) since its inception in 2004. (With inputs from Snigdhendu Bhattacharya in Kolkata) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 15-year-old boy committed suicide two hours after he was forced to marry his widowed sister-in-law, 10 years older than him, in south Bihars Gaya district. The wedding was solemnised on Monday at Vinoba Nagar village under Paraiya police station, about 15km west of Gaya, defying a campaign by the Nitish Kumar government to end the practices of child marriage and dowry in the state. Police said Mahadev Das, a Class 9 student of the government high school in Paraiya, married 25-year-old Ruby Devi, the widow of his elder brother Santosh Das, under mounting pressure from his relatives and villagers. She is the mother of two children. A large number of villagers and relatives were present during the wedding rituals at a village temple and 10 people, four from the bridegrooms side and six from the brides, signed on a draft prepared to validate the marriage. Mahadev left for his home immediately after the rituals that concluded at 5pm and hanged himself with a towel at 7pm, the police added. He was apparently unhappy with the marriage to a woman who used to take care of him like her own children, Mahadevs father Chandreshwar Das said. Chandreshwar, a physically challenged man, said the Rs 80,000 he received as compensation after his eldest sons death cost him the life of his another child. My eldest son was working as an electrician with a private firm at Gaya. When he died from electrocution in 2013, the company he worked for had given Rs 80,000 as compensation and the entire amount was deposited in my account, a sobbing Chandreshwar said. My daughter-in-law and her parents were mounting pressure on me to transfer the amount to the account of Ruby. I had already deposited Rs 27,000 in her account and assured her parents to transfer the remaining amount later. But they kept on exerting pressure on me to either give the money or marry my son with Ruby, he added. Tekari subdivisional police officer (SDPO) Manish Kumar reached Vinoba Nagar Wednesday morning and admonished the Paraiya police over the child marriage. Subsequently, the Paraiya Police that had registered a case of unnatural death on Tuesday, lodged a fresh FIR on Wednesday. Nine people, who attended the wedding ceremony, have been made named as accused in the case. Kumar told the Hindustan Times that he was looking into the case. An FIR has now been lodged under various sections of the child marriage act and also for inciting the boy into committing suicide, he added. Chief minister Kumar on Tuesday called for an end to child marriage and dowry during his 11th tour of the state since coming to power in 2005. He appealed to the people of the state to join a human chain on January 21, 2018, in support of the drive to end child marriage and dowry. According to a study conducted by Gender Alliance, Bihar continues to have a comparatively higher percentage of the marriage of minor girls with 50% cases of under-age marriages in 340 blocks of the state. This is above the National Family Health Survey-4 study that put the incidence of child marriage at 39.1% in the state. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Campaigning for the Gujarat elections marked a new low for politicians: words like neech (lowly) and Aurangzeb raj were used, and no less than the prime minister was criticised for his comments. Here is who said what to attack their political rivals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar Modi alleged that Aiyar had visited Pakistan and in a meeting with Pakistanis discussed removing him. You had gone to Pakistan to give my supari, you wanted to give Modis supari (contract killing), said Modi in Bhabar, Gujarat. Modi was also criticised for describing Rahul Gandhis election as Congress president Aurangzeb raaj and asking the party to choose between Ram Mandir and Babri masjid in Ayodhya. The two remarks are controversial because many analysts believe they are polarising and communal. Rahul Gandhi on GST, chowkidar The Congress leader called the governments Goods and Services Tax reform as Gabbar Singh Tax, a play on the Sholay movie villain. Modi hit back by saying that a recently emerged economist was propagating a grand stupid thought by suggesting that the GST rate should be capped at 18%. GST currently has four tax slabs. Gandhi accused Modi of being silent on a news report claiming that BJP president Amit Shahs son Jay Shahs companys profit rose after the party came to power in 2014.Modi ji, Jay Shah-jada kha gaya. Aap chowkidaar the ya bhagidaar? Kuch toh boliye, Rahul said on Twitter, referring to Modis shahazada barb against him during the last Lok Sabha elections. Aiyars neech aadmi comment This what Aiyar said at a press conference about Modi: Ye aadmi bahut neech kisam ka aadmi hai, ismein koi sabhyata nahi hai, aur aise mauke par is kisam ki gandi rajneeti karne ki kya avashyakta hai? (This man is a low-life person, he isnt cultured... on this occasion, why does he need to do dirty politics?). The Congress first asked to him apologise and then suspended him. Congress leader Alpesh Thakor Thakor, an OBC leader who joined the Congress recently, said Modi eats imported mushroom to have fair skin. Somebody told me that Modi ji has imported mushrooms from Taiwan. Each mushroom costs Rs 80,000 and PM Modi has five every day. I was told he has been eating them since he was the chief minister. Congress magazine ridicules Modi Yuva Desh, the Indian Youth Congresss magazine, tweeted a picture of Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The tweet ridiculed Modis English language skills and said he was better off selling tea. The Congress apologised and had to delete the tweet after criticism. A controversial decision by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to ban chanting of religious hymns and slogans at the Amarnath cave shrine has evoked sharp reactions from netizens and Hindu groups alike. The move purportedly intends to curb noise pollution in the area. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was especially vocal against the directive issued to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, dubbed it as a weird and direct attack by the NGT on the religious sentiments of Hindus. News agency ANI first posted about the development on its Twitter handle, stating: NGT directs shrine board that there should be no chanting of mantras or jaykaras in Amarnath. NGT also directs that there should be single line of people walking towards the cave from the last check post. It later followed up with another tweet. #NGT to Amarnath Shrine Board: There should be no ringing of bells. No mobiles or belongings to be carried beyond last check post. Shrine board must consider making a store room where people can keep their belongings. Advocate Leela Karan Sharma, state VHP president and face of the 2008 Amarnath land agitation, said: This is totally wrong. It is a direct attack on our religion. We wont tolerate this autocratic directive. Sharma went on to question whether chanting of religious hymns and slogans could actually cause noise pollution. Has the NGT banned Azaan (the call to prayer raised by Muslims)? We take strong exception to this, he said. The directive was greeted by equally acerbic responses on Twitter. Then stop everything... Azaan... church bells... gurdwara bhajans & Buddhist prayers... If you cannot stop them, we will continue with our practices & rituals, a netizen posted. Television journalist Rohit Sardana had a sarcastic take on the matter. Even terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, who keep on threatening Amarnath pilgrims, could not get such a ban (sic), he said. Shilpi Tewari, another netizen, wanted to know why the NGT was being deliberately insensitive and provocative. Surely they know they are hurting the believers, but they wont protest beyond a point. Not good. Need intervention, she said. Why (does) the green in #NGT always look like red? quipped one Mohan Subramaniam. Top officials, including principal secretary to governor Umang Narula (also the CEO of the Amarnath and Vaishno Devi shrine boards), could not be contacted for comment. Over 2.6 lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine in South Kashmir from June 29 to August 7 as part of their annual pilgrimage. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The government has convened an all-party meeting on Thursday ahead of the winter session of Parliament where the opposition is likely to raise the issue of a delay in calling the session. The parliamentary affairs ministry has sent out invites to the leaders of major political parties that have representatives in both Houses of Parliament for the meet. The winter session will be held from December 15 to January 5. There would be a total of 14 working days. Last year, the session began on 16 November and ended on 16 December, with 22 sittings. New Delhi: Winter Session of Parliament. pti graphics(PTI12_13_2017_000129B) (PTI) The opposition has claimed that the ruling BJP delayed the session fearing that it would raise various issues ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls government. The government has, however, maintained that there were precedents of session dates being changed in view of elections. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will also host a dinner for the leaders of all parties. Two ordinances on insolvency code and amendment to the Forest Act have to be approved by Parliament in the winter session. India on Wednesday responded to Chinese foreign minister Wang Yis remarks that the Doklam standoff put severe pressure on bilateral relations by saying that the two sides should consider each others concerns while dealing with differences. According to a statement issued by the Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday, Wang had told his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in unusually blunt remarks that lessons should be learnt from the standoff so that such incidents are not repeated. Wang was also quoted as saying that bilateral ties during 2017 were not very satisfactory. A statement issued by the external affairs ministry on Wednesday acknowledged the Doklam issue had figured in talks between Swaraj and Wang on Monday and both leaders had noted the challenge it had posed to the relationship and expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with the disengagement of troops at the face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications. The statement said Swaraj EAM had underlined the need to approach differences between the two sides with due consideration to each others sensitivities and concerns. She recalled the consensus between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping when they met on the margins of the SCO summit in Astana earlier this year on the need to work together to ensure that our differences do not become disputes. ...The external affairs minister reiterated that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. The statement quoted Wang as saying that the peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflected the political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this, Swaraj reiterated that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is an essential prerequisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations. Wang also said India and China share the same objectives of national development and should be natural partners. The two foreign ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, including between them, through the established dialogue mechanisms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi avoided interaction with Opposition leaders at the Parliament, where politicians from across party lines had gathered on Wednesday to pay homage to the security personnel who had died in the 2001 terrorist attack on the House. Eyewitnesses said the PM did not interact with Opposition leaders and walked away towards his designated spot to wait for the vice-presidents arrival. The PM, however, did shake hands with his predecessor Manmohan Singh, who had earlier this week sought an apology from the BJP leader for accusing the Congress of conspiring with Pakistan for a win in Gujarat elections. Singh greeted Modi with a namaste just before the ceremony, to which the PM responded by shaking his hand. Read | Caption this: Modi, Manmohan have awkward meeting after Gujarat war of words Many Opposition leaders attributed the PMs cold body language to the ongoing Gujarat polls, in the run-up to which both the sides had launched scathing attacks on each other. Government sources, however, pointed out that the PM always goes to Opposition leaders on the first day of the Parliament session to greet them irrespective of their political differences. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, partys president-elect Rahul Gandhi, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Trinamool Congress Derek OBrien were among the Opposition leaders present at the memorial ceremony. While Modi maintained distance from his political rivals, other BJP leaders congratulated Rahul for getting elected as the Congress chief. Senior ministers like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad congratulated him for getting elected as the Congress President, an Opposition leader said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi will commission India-built INS Kalvari into the navy at Mumbai on Thursday, the first conventional submarine to join the fleet in 17 years, the government announced on Wednesday. The navy commissioned INS Sindhushastra in July 2000 but the Kilo class submarine was imported from Russia. The Kalvari will join the Indian fleet after a five-year delay. It is the first of the six Scorpene class submarines being built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai, with French help under a ~23,562-crore programme called Project-75. The remaining five submarines will be inducted by 2020. The second Scorpene class submarine, Khanderi, is under trials and will be commissioned soon. Read: All you need to know about navys first Scorpene submarine The Kalvari will be commissioned barely a week after the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the navys underwater arm. The new Kalvari, a diesel-electric attack boat, is named after the first of the eight Foxtrot class submarines commissioned into the navy on December 8, 1967. A navy spokesperson confirmed that the commanding officer of the old Kalvari, Commodore KS Subra-maniam (retd), will attend the commissioning ceremony. Theres a tradition in the navy to name new ships after their well-known predecessors. The old Kalvari, named after the Tiger Shark, served the navy for almost three decades before it was retired in 1996. Project-75 represents a significant success for the Make in India initiative, a government spokesperson said. He added the PM would undertake a visit of the Kalvari after dedicating the submarine to the country at the Naval Dockyard. The navy was planning to equip the Scorpene class boats with Black Shark torpedoes from Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS), a subsidiary of Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica (now Leonardo). The plan did not materialise as India banned Finmeccanica from taking part in future military tenders in 2014 after its UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland faced bribery allegations in the Rs 3,727-crore VVIP chopper deal. The Kalvari is now equipped with German SUT torpedoes. Building a modern conventional submarine is a complex job that can take up to five years. Navy data shows it takes more than 2.5 million man hours to assemble a submarine, involves half a million assembly parts, more than 1,600 suppliers and 108 systems. Documents running into 22,400 pages reportedly detailing the combat capabilities of the Scorpene class submarines were leaked last year. The leak could prove an intelligence bonanza for Indias rivals such as Pakistan or China, The Australian newspaper in August 2016. However, after conducting a detailed probe, the navy concluded that the data leak did not compromise the Indian programme. The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to extend the deadline for depositing the penalty it had imposed on mining lease holders for operating without the necessary clearances in Odisha. Rejecting the lease holders plea seeking a six-month extension , a bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said the December 31, 2017 deadline fixed by the top court in an August 2 judgement would remain in place. Advocate ADN Rao, who is assisting the bench in the case, told Hindustan Times that there are 135 companies who need to follow the order. Overall these companies have to deposit around 23,000 to 24,000 crore. If they dont pay then they will have to stop mining operations, Rao said. In a major blow to the companies involved in illegal operations in Odisha, the Supreme Court had in August imposed 100% penalty on them for operating without obtaining necessary clearances. While the state government imposed about 60,000 crore as penalty on the firms for illegal mining between 2000 and 2010, the Central Empowered Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, had recommended that at least 30% notional value may be realised from the mining companies. The amounts determined as due from all the mining lease holders should be deposited by them on or before December 31, 2017. Subject to and only after compliance with statutory requirements and full payment of compensation and other dues, the mining lease holders can re-start their mining operations, the court had said. The courts direction came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by organisation Common Cause, which demanded action against the lessees. remove online ads on sex determination Expressing concern over the fall in the female sex ratio in the country, the SC asked a nodal agency set up by the Centre to initiate effective steps to remove the advertisements that promoted sex determination test from the internet. The expert committee under the nodal agency will take appropriate steps so that the mandate of the PNDT Act (Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994) is not violated and the female sex ratio which has fallen in the country shall not further fall down, a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said. The order came while the top court disposed a PIL filed by activist Sabu Mathew George. The bench directed the Nodal agency to convene a meeting of the representatives of the search engines and the petitioner in six weeks to derive a mechanism and arrive at a solution. Georges advocate Sanjay Paikh submitted that despite various court orders, search engines were not taking any action to stop the ads. The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted a government takeover of embattled real estate company Unitech after the Centre apologised to the apex court for moving the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). A day after Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the government for approaching the NCLT despite the top court hearing petitions related to Unitech, Attorney General KK Venugopal said the government should not have approached the tribunal. Extremely sorry for what has happened. It should have not happened like this, the AG told the bench, which then stayed the NCLTs December 8 order suspending the companys board. With this, the deadline for government to nominate directors also gets suspended. We appreciate the stand taken by the AG. The stay of NCLT order would meet the ends of justice, the bench said. Unitechs counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, too praised Venugopal for the fair stand he took. Its only because of him that this matter has got sorted, the counsel said. Unitech, through its directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra had moved the top court against NCLT according permission to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to nominate directors, saying it went against the apex courts direction to the company to refund buyers of flats in its housing projects. The Supreme Court had allowed Sanjay Chandra to negotiate with suitable buyers from jail and sell assets and generate funds. Its disturbing. We are hearing the matter and the NCLT passes an order. Shouldnt you (Centre) have come to us and taken leave of this court before filing an application there (NCLT), SC had asked additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), on Tuesday. We were never given any time to respond. The tribunal could have not exercised its power in such a way where no hearing was given to us, Rohatgi had told the court. Seeking suspension of the NCLT order, he said: I am aggrieved by the manner in which the order was passed. If a copy was given to us, we wouldve responded. Based on the order of the Honorable Supreme Court we will now work on getting the various accounts and receivables active again which were affected as consequence of the order dated December 8th, 2017. We strongly believe that the current management is better equipped to handle the completion of the 74 projects that are in various stages of construction, Unitech said in a statement. On December 8, the ministry had filed a petition in NCLT under section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013, which allows the government to apply to the tribunal if it feels that a company is operating in a manner prejudicial to public interestin this case, homebuyers, shareholders and depositors. NCLT dismissed the board of Unitech while hearing the Centres plea and directed the MCA to nominate 10 directors to the board. It observed the affairs of the company were not being carried out honestly and there were a number of irregularities in the companys operations. NCLT also restrained the Chandra brothers from engaging in transactions related to their personal wealth till an investigation into alleged siphoning and diversion of money is concluded. Unitech shares fell 13.07% to Rs6.65 on Wednesday. (With inputs from Mint) Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi led the partys election campaign from the front in Gujarat, criss-crossing the western state for more than two months during which he visited 26 temples. This is the third such time during his political career since 2004, when he got elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Amethi, that Gandhi has campaigned extensively in any state. The previous occasions were during the 2012 and 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi campaigned for 22 days from September 25 in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah. During the campaign trail, he addressed around 150 rallies and corner meetings, covering 2,600km by road. He also used helicopter during in his last days of canvassing. On an average, Gandhi addressed three rallies and five corner meetings a day. Take, for example, November 13, when he started the day with a visit to the Vir Meghmaya Temple at Patan at 9.45am. He also addressed corner meetings at Patan, Kungher, Adia, Bortwada, Harij, Sami Char Rasta, Moti Chandur, Padla, Dhanora (all in Patan district), and Mera, Balol, Mitha Chokdi, Kachh Kadwa Patidar Samajwadi, Modhera Chokdi, Radhanpur Circle and Biladi Bag Vistar in Mehsana district. Gandhi also paid obeisance at the Shankeshwar Jain Temple, Bahucharaji Temple and another at Varana. His day ended with a public meeting at Visnagar in Mehsana district at 7pm. Similarly, on December 8, he started the day at 12pm and held three public meetings at Pavi Jetpur in Chhota Udaipur, Ranesa in Ahmedabad and Loteshwar Bhagol in Anand district. The Congress leader also addressed corner meetings at Khambhat-Tarapur road in Anand, Limbasi in Kheda, Magrol and Sojitra Chokadi in Anand. That day, he also went to the Mogal Dham temple in Ranesar. The number of public meetings or rallies increased to four from December 9 to 11, the last few days of campaigning for the second phase of polling on December 14 for 93 seats. The first phase of elections on 89 seats was held on December 9. The counting of all 182 seats is on December 18. In this years Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Gandhi held 54 rallies and covered 46 assembly constituencies in the countrys most populous state. Prior to that, he undertook a kisan (farmers) yatra from Deoria in Gorakhpur division to Delhi. The month-long yatra started from September 6 to October 6 last year and he travelled 3,438km covering 48 districts and 141 assembly constituencies. Gandhi also held 26 khat sabhas (interaction with farmers on cots), 26 road shows and collected around two crore application forms from farmers seeking loan waiver. It was the first time the 47-year-old leader undertook such an extensive campaign that lasted 26 days. He had never led such a no-break exercise lasting for almost four weeks. The maximum time he had spent in a poll-bound state till then was during the 2012 assembly electionsagain, in the politically-vital Uttar Pradesh. On that occasion, he addressed back-to-back rallies in Gorakhpur, Deoria, Ballia, Mau and Azamgarh districts in five days at a stretch. The entire campaign from November 2011 to February 2012 saw Gandhi addressing 211 public meetings across the northern state through the course of 48 days. It was a record of sorts at the time, but the party failed to cash in and ended up winning just 28 seats in the 403-member state assembly. In 2017, the Congress tally decreased substantially and it did not cross the double-digit mark. The party bagged seven of the 105 seats it contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. The Congress wants to unseat the BJP in Gujarat, where it has governed for 22 years, by tapping the angst over the agrarian crisis and the implementation of the goods and services tax, and on the strength of a coalition it has built with Patidars, some other backward classes, and Dalits. The BJP hopes to retain power on the basis of the popularity of Prime Minister Modi, who was chief minister of the state for 13 years, and its record of development and governance. Analysts expect it to be a close fight, although the BJP has maintained that it is confident of bettering its tally of 119 seats in the 182-member assembly in 2012. Opinion polls give the Congress anything between 37 and 85 seats, and the BJP 92-141. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At an election rally in Gujarat on Tuesday, OBC leader and Congress candidate Alpesh Thakore alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi became fair after eating mushrooms from Taiwan, that cost a whopping 80,000 per mushroom. This statement became basis for many jokes and soon social media was raided by funny tweets and #ModiHateMushrooms took over Twitter. While the PM did not react, most showed their disappointment towards Thakors ridiculous claim and others simply took it as a way to beat Tuesday blues. Here are some of the gems: Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs: #AlpeshThakore Imported Mushroom version pic.twitter.com/rRwwMzOZqr Why So Silly (@silly_why) 12 December 2017 Modi ji is basically Mario (@Bodhisatvaa) 12 December 2017 Kaale aadmi se imported mushrooms ka suitcase cheen kar bhagte huye. pic.twitter.com/2J341f2vXA Deputy (@JhoothaChal) 12 December 2017 that imported mushroom thing seems legit.....threw a few pieces of mushroom at the crows outside my window and this happened # pic.twitter.com/ijbUixdR4d Jurno (@jurnoleast) 12 December 2017 Bhai @tweetfromRaghu before and after eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/hbBGaRuPGe AMIT (@AMIT_GUJJU) 12 December 2017 All this time Modi knew the secret to fairness. How could he be such a white boy?! And probably this was the #fair&lovely scheme Raga was talking about.#GujaratElection2017 #CongressAaveChe #ModiHateMushrooms #mushrooms pic.twitter.com/c901s6abyo SoulWolf (@soulwolf87) 12 December 2017 All this time Modi knew the secret to fairness. How could he be such a white boy?! And probably this was the #fair&lovely scheme Raga was talking about.#GujaratElection2017 #CongressAaveChe #ModiHateMushrooms #mushrooms pic.twitter.com/c901s6abyo SoulWolf (@soulwolf87) 12 December 2017 #ModiHateMushrooms Looks like Alpesh is on a magic mushroom diet. No doubt he is making delusional comments. (@archisb) 12 December 2017 Manmohan Singh, before and after eating #importedmushrooms worth Rs 80,000 each pic.twitter.com/7DK7QRg1eQ Fribeee (@fribeee) 12 December 2017 When you can't afford Gore hone wale Mushroom pic.twitter.com/2fM4ITr6Z5 (@metho_mehaniyo) 12 December 2017 SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Uttar Pradesh government approved on Wednesday a draft bill for a stringent law against organised crimes such as kidnapping for ransom, land mafia and illegal mining in the state where deteriorating law and order had been an election issue. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over a Cabinet meeting that cleared the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Bill (UPCOCB), which has borrowed several features from the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Organised crime has been defined in the bill. Kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, manufacturing illicit liquor and its sale, acquiring contracts on the basis of muscle power, organised exploitation of forest produce, trade in wildlife, fake medicines, grabbing of government and private properties, and rangdari (extortion) will come under the ambit of the new law, said government spokesperson and power minister Srikant Sharma. The bill proposes that the government can take over properties amassed through organised crime, with the courts permission during investigation, Sharma said. If the suspect is convicted, the government will confiscate the property. The government is pushing to pass the bill in the assemblys winter session, beginning Thursday. It will be then sent to the Union government for the Presidents approval. The bill reflects the BJP governments promise to bring down the states crime rate. Before it came to power this March with a three-fourths majority, the BJP said during its poll campaign the states law and order has collapsed in five years of Samajwadi Party (SP) rule and pledged to turn around the situation. The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia and goonda activities, and disturbing peace in society, are identified and a special drive is launched against them ... The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind, minister Sharma said. The UPCOCB was pending for 10 years. In 2007, when the BSP came to power with Mayawati as chief minister, a strict law was proposed to control contract killers, kidnappers, gun-toting contractors, hawala traders, manufacturers of spurious drugs and liquor, the mafia and hardened criminals operating as organised syndicate. The assembly passed the bill and it was sent for the presidential assent, but the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre opposed the law fearing its misuse. The Adityanath government tried to allay such fears. The new draft of the proposed legislation, prepared in consultation with the law department to check organised and white-collar crime, says no case can be registered without the prior approval of a two-member committee. The panel comprises the divisional commissioner and DIG of police. Besides, prior approval of the zonal inspector general of police will be required to file a charge sheet after investigation. Special courts will be constituted for hearing cases lodged under the proposed law and a state-level organised crime control authority has been planned to monitor gangs involved in organised crime. There is also a provision to form district-level authorities, which will recommend cases to the state-level authority after investigation, Sharma said. Security cover will be provided to those appearing as witness against criminals. People getting government protection will forfeit their security if they are found involved in organised crime. Opposition parties criticised the governments decision. Leader of the Opposition, Ram Govind Chaudhary, said: We will oppose the bill. It can be misused politically. There are a number of other laws to check crime. Such measures will not be of any help. Minister Sharma clarified that there are 28 provisions in the bill that arent present in the gangsters act. Former DGP Prakash Singh welcomed the bill, saying it is necessary as there is no law in the state to deal with organised crime. Since MCOCA was enacted in 1999 many states such Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and New Delhi have brought similar laws. Uttar Pradesh registered 282,171 crimes under the Indian Penal Code in 2016, the highest in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). There are no separate data for organised crime. The BJP government had announced a crackdown on criminal gangs. Police have killed around 30 criminals in encounters in various districts. The UPCOCB will assist the state government in breaking the criminal-politician-contractor-bureaucrat nexus, said a senior police officer, who didnt wish to be identified. (with inputs from Rajesh Singh) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the ministries of external affairs and water resources to find out why the water of Brahmaputra turned black and take remedial measures for it. This was conveyed at a high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal besides others last evening, a statement issued by the Assam government said. Read | Brahmaputra blackened by China? Assam sends water samples to Hyderabad lab Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre had already taken up the issue of Brahmaputra turning black seriously and even engaged the Central Water Commission to look into it and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, the prime minister also asked the external affairs ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Swaraj maintained that her ministry had already contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study was being undertaken to find the real cause, the statement said. Read | Brahmaputra water could be turning black due to recent quake in Tibet: Minister The prime minister also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of Brahmaputra water are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. Sonowal informed the prime minister that the state government had directed the director general of Assam Emergency and Fire Services to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri along the Brahmaputra and sent them to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. The water became muddy and cement-like apparently due to construction of a 1000-km tunnel by China to divert waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in Tibet. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba, attorney general KK Venugopal, director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. Indias stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front, notching up his careers third ODI double century and helping his team win against Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Mohali. (INDIA vs SRI LANKA 2nd ODI HIGHLIGHTS) Rohit, under fire for having scored just two in the Dharamshala ODI and then having watched his side skittle to lowly 112, was watchful at the start. With Shikhar Dhawan taking up scoring mantle, Rohit was happy to play second fiddle and wait for his chance to score. The duo did well in negotiating Sri Lankan pacers Angelo Mathews and Suranga Lakmal stitching together 115 runs for the first wicket in 21.1 overs. (INDIA vs SRI LANKA 2nd ODI SCORES) While Dhawan was happy slamming boundaries at will, Sharma played a waiting game. With the ball coming on to the bat, the Indian opening duo ensured that their side had a platform to bat Lanka out of the match. Dhawan perished trying to force the pace for 68 off 67 balls but by then, Rohit, having set his eye in, took over the scoring mantle. Rohit build his innings watchfully, hitting five fours, which included three hits to the fence through covers for his fifty. He then opened up in 20th over hammering spinner for two boundaries off Sachith Pathirana. Mentoring Shreyas Iyer, Rohit then showed full range of shots he posses. He lofted Nuwan Pradeep for a six and followed it up with couple off punches for four of Sachith Pathirana and Lakmal. With Iyer going great guns at the other end, Rohit once again bid is time waiting for bowlers to commit mistakes. His 100 (115 balls) came off a single of Pathirana and was inclusive off nine fours and one six. He accelerated at the end and completed the next 100 runs in just 36 runs. He remained unbeaten at 208. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON State Congress senior vice president Vishvendra Singh on Wednesday accused the centre and state governments of trying to create communal divide in the country for political mileage. Centre and state government are trying to make Hindu versus Muslim issue again before Lok Sabha election in 2019 and state assembly election in 2018 to come in power again, alleged Singh, while addressing a press conference in Bharatpur. Singh was referring to the government order seeking details of Muslim employees in health department of Rajasthan. Following a centre governments direction issued on November 20, the state health department had on November 30 had released an order to the chief medical and health officer (CMHO) in districts to count all Muslim employees under their jurisdiction. While government needs to launch a survey and counting of well-qualified unemployed youths to offer them jobs, it is counting employees of a particular community in government department, he said, adding that the Congress opposed the move. State health minister Kali Charan Saraf should disclose the reasons behind the move, as Muslims also belongs to the country, Singh said. He said the BJP-led state government celebrating four-year rule Rajasthan should reveal how many jobs were offered to youths in the state, as the government committed to offer 15 lakh jobs during the election campaign. Meanwhile, Bharatpur CMHO Gopal Ram said that Dr BL Saini, the joint director (administration) of medical and health services, has issued us a written order to count all Muslim employees working at community health centres, primary health centres and district hospital. We have forwarded the order to all block chief medical and health officers in the district. The counting details will be sent to the authority within a week, the officer added. Calling the Vasundhara Raje governments four years of rule as black chapter, leader of opposition in the state assembly Rameshwar Dudi on Wednesday unveiled a Black Box carrying 52 questions on misgovernance by the BJP. Dudi alleged that misgovernance in Rajasthan was a big political accident. When an aircraft crashes, the black box installed has the reason behind it. Similarly, this box carries the failure of the government. We have raised 52 questions, which the chief minister should reply. We will send this black box to the CM, cabinet and MLAs, he said. Addressing newsperson on completion of the BJP governments four years in Rajasthan on Wednesday, he held the state government responsible for fear, hunger, corruption and misguide. They made 611 promises in the Suraj Sankalp but not even 40% were fulfilled in four years. The election year is starting from today and CM is left with few months, now whatever announcements it will be looking to elections, he alleged. He questioned what has happened to complete farmer loan waiver? Why government silent on farmers suicide? Why interstate water agreement was not executed? CM promised 10,000 crore project of running ships in Indira Gandhi Canal but till date the canal is struggling to get renovated, why? Why the farmers have to hold agitations? Why eastern Rajasthan canal project was stalled in papers? What happened to the promise of providing 15 lakh government jobs? Dudi also alleged that around 70,000 newborn died in the past one year and the government remained silent spectator. Atrocities against women and Dalit are on rise, he said, adding that the state is stunned with communal incidents. The government has failed on all fronts. Big project such as refinery, Parwan Irrigation project, Banswara rail project and metro phase-II were stopped with ill intentions, he said. Besides, Dudi said Dravyavati project in Jaipur was the CMs dream project but was directionless. The leader of opposition questioned the governments target of 84 lakh toilets under ODF. He said water supply through pipeline was just 3% and rest dependent on other sources. The government should supply water to villages. This government is number one in corruption 45,000 crore mine scam and then water department scam were reported from the state. The government tried suppressing Lalitgate incident, he alleged. Dudi demanded that the government should bring white paper on issues such as failure of Resurgent Rajasthan and in debt power companies. Thousands of schools were closed in four years, higher education system has collapsed and law and order is deteriorating, he said. The BJP in the name of cow and Ram asks for vote but in reality thousands of cows died at cow shelters. Over 200 temples were demolished in Jaipur, he alleged. As she settles down after a cabinet meeting, which, among other things, decided to amend the Bovine Act to allow exporting calves aged two years or older to states where slaughter is banned, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje takes out time to talk to Rakesh Goswami on four years of her government and the dent that the image of the state has taken because of the cow-related crimes in recent past. Excerpts: Q: The image of Rajasthan has taken a beating in the recent past because of certain crimes. Are you concerned about it? A: I am saddened. More because Rajasthan is not the state that some outsiders have made it out to be. People who wrote about such cases never bothered to come down to Rajasthan to find out the truth. A certain section of the Delhi media paints the state in bad light. I know the reason but its not worth mentioning. Q: But there have been Pehlu Khans and Ummar Mohammads in the state. Isnt it? A: Yes, there have been crimes and there has been police reaction. Tell me in which case the police did not react swiftly and with sensitivity. Rajsamand was a deplorable act. I sent the DGP to visit the spot and meet the people on ground. We announced a compensation for the family of Afrazul which is more than what his own state announced. In Pehlu Khan case, we began arresting the culprits the same day. The crimes will happen everywhere; what matters is the states reaction. Q: Why is there so much unrest in the state? The doctors are on strike, employees also not working and the farmers recently organized a massive protest. A: We have done for them what no other state has done. But theres politics involved. You know this is going to be the election year and politics will play out in everything. The farmers have got more than they could get through farm loan waivers. They need to understand that what they are getting it many more times more than a waiver. At the end of the day, everyones entitled to their right to protest but I can tell you that theres no unrest in the state. Q: The employees dont seem happy with the implementation of the 7th pay commission. A: I have always believed that the employees are any governments backbone. Whenever they have been in problem, I have tried my best to help them. You would reckon that our government implemented the 6th pay commission. Some states have not even implemented the 7th pay commission; we have implemented it and have also announced arrears. But employees should also keep in mind the states financial resources. They are part of my family. Q: Is Gujjar reservation an issue you havent been able to tackle? The courts have struck down your bills. A: We are committed to giving Gujjars benefit of reservation within the Constitution limits. Q: You wrote to the censor board over protests on Padmavati. You even banned the release in the state. A: My priority is to maintain law and order and peace in my state. If something is hurting a communitys sensibilities and banning a film will restore peace in the state, isnt banning a better decision. Why should I allow one community to cause inconvenience for others in the name of protest? As a state, we must be sensitive to issues that have the potential of disturbing states peace. Q: There have been reports that you may be called to Centre and replaced here with someone else. Any truth in this? A: Such reports circulated in my previous regime, too. This time also I have been hearing them from friends like you. Rajasthan is my karm bhoomi (workplace). I will never back off from maintaining the releationship that I have with Rajasthan. Jeena yahan, marna yahan, iske siwa jana kahan (I will live here, die here, where else to go?) . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to hand over the probe into the death of a teenager, whose body was found in Shetty Lake at Honnavar five days ago, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in keeping with his fathers wishes. Nineteen-year-old Paresh Mestas death sparked tensions in the Uttara Kannada district after the BJP termed it as an incident of communal violence. Hindutva activists even set the official car of inspector general (western range) Hemant Nimbalkar afire in Kumta town on Monday. The BJP has been at the forefront of agitations demanding a fair probe into the incident. Union minister Anantkumar Hegde participated in a protest march on December 8, the day Pareshs body was recovered. Party MP Shobha Karandlaje also claimed that the teenager was mutilated and burnt because he was a member of a Hindutva group. Pareshs father, Kamalakar, told reporters on Wednesday that he strongly suspected the role of some Muslim youngsters from the locality in the murder. He, however, denied that his son was part of any Hindutva organisation. Paresh only volunteered at a temple here, Kamalakar said, adding that he nevertheless has no faith in the polices ability or inclination to find the killers. State home minister Ramalinga Reddy said the government decided to hand over the probe to the CBI not only to honour the fathers wishes but also to show that it has nothing to hide. The BJP is playing politics over the tragic death of a youngster. If the state police investigate it, they will say we have hushed it up. So, we want the CBI to probe the case, he said. Reddy said it was part of the BJPs strategy to politicise deaths and then go silent when investigations reveal no blame on the governments part. Look at the case of (IAS officer) DK Ravi. The BJP blamed the government but, eventually, even the CBI concluded that he had ended his own life, the minister said. The BJP, meanwhile, continued to accuse the government of attempting to scuttle the investigation. It raised objections to a police report that quoted forensic experts as saying that the youngsters body was not mutilated and burnt (as claimed by the BJP). Addressing a press conference, Karandlaje claimed that the doctor who answered police queries after conducting the autopsy could not be contacted. I have been trying to contact him, but his phone is switched off. This shows that the government is trying to hush up the case, she said. The parliamentarian said she feared that the government may be trying to destroy evidence on the pretext of conducting post-mortem examinations. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The West Bengal government has proposed lifting building and land conversion restrictions in a section of the 12,500 hectares of East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), angering environmentalists who say the move will kill the worlds largest organic sewage management system and choke Kolkata. A document prepared by the East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA) under the department of environment wants to divide EKW into four zones, the last of which is proposed to have no special regulation. Currently, conversion of wetland is banned and people who live on the EKW a patchwork of sewage canals, shallow fishery ponds, and agriculture land must seek government permission even for building culverts or new farms. The management plan should identify areas for creation of different management zones within the wetlands such as a) no development zone, where no changes/development shall be permitted, b) regulated development zone, c) limited change zone/wise use zone, d) No importance to wetlands zone, where normal regulations and not special wetland regulations may be applicable, reads a paragraph under the sub-head scope of work of the document titled Tender for selection of agencies for preparation of management plan. HT has a copy of the document. The draft tender document seeking expression of interest will have to be approved by a six-member steering committee comprising four state government officials and two environmentalists. The draft document is not yet final. Views of experts from different disciplines will be considered before finalising the document, said Sandipan Mukherjee, chief technical officer of EKWMA and member-secretary of the steering committee. He said that the management plan was envisaged to reduce problems faced by the 130,000 residents of EKW who cannot even expand their existing houses. But environmental experts say the decision will harm the wetland already facing threats from encroachment and illegal construction. There cannot be any area of no importance to wetlands in EKW. It sounds like the government aims at sacrificing them for urbanisation, said Bonani Kakkar of NGO People United for Better Living In Calcutta. It was their petition in the Calcutta high court in 1992 that resulted in the ban on land conversion and special regulations. Dhruba Dasgupta of Society for Creative Opportunities and Participatory Ecosystems (SCOPE), an NGO, pointed out that Kolkata, which houses a population of 14 million, had run out of space to expand on its northern and southern fringes, and with the west blocked by the river Hoogly, the east was the only direction to grow. The government denied the allegations and pointed out that the document was still not final. The government is committed to protecting the wetlands, said Mukherjee. Two months ago, state environment minister Sovan Chatterjee, also the housing minister and Kolkata mayor, proposed a flyover over the wetlands. The government approached Asian Development Bank for the project but was turned down. Repeated calls to Chatterjee over three days went unanswered. KOLKATAS LIVER Kolkata generates more than 750 million litres of waste water and sewage daily but the citys core area has no sewage treatment plant. Instead, an intricate network of wetlands managed by farmers and fisher folk receives the sewage, and with help from sunshine and oxygen, breaks it down to produce food for fish, which is then sold back to the city. This unique ecosystem also produces a third of the citys fish requirements. EKW is Kolkatas biggest ecological asset, said environmentalist Dhrubajyoti Ghosh. In 1992, the HC banned conversion of water bodies and agricultural land across the EKW. In 2002, a Geneva-based international convention, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, declared the EKW a wetland of global importance and cited it as a model for reuse of water. But problems began soon after. No management plan was put in place, and in the next decade, significant chunks of the area were lost to illegal construction and encroachment, said Asesh Sengupta of Kolkata Commons Centre for Inter-disciplinary Research and Analytics (CIRA). In the absence of official surveys, gauging the extent of encroachment is difficult. A 2016 survey conducted by SCOPE at Bhagwanpur, one of the 32 mouzas, the local word for settlement, revealed water cover reduced from 88% in 2002 to 19% in 2016, while an Indian Council for Social Science Research in 2014 revealed number of fishery ponds decreased from 264 in 2002 to 202 in 2014. PEOPLE TROUBLE Another unique feature of EKW is the sheer number of people who live on it, estimated by activists to be around 500,000. The last official survey in 2002 put the number at 130,000. There is no official figure on the construction activity but residents admit that hutments and hovels have mushroomed in recent years anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 units. There are innumerable instances of police rushing in to stop expansion or modification of existing houses, said Pulak Biswas, a resident of Diyara village. Records show EKWMA served four notices in June 2017, asking the recipients to restore the land within a month. None of those sites were restored till December 12. Mukherjee said the agency has no infrastructure of its own to restore land to its original state. The restrictions imposed on the wetlands in 1992 did not consider the realistic needs of the original inhabitantsthe rules need to be relaxed for them, as these local residents are an integral part of the ecosystem, said Dhrubajyoti Ghosh. Instead of measuring the encroachment and compensating it, if these areas are dropped from the map altogether, this will not only legitimise illegal construction and encroachments but also set a bad precedent. It will encourage the real estate lobby to be more reckless, said Sengupta. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A group of student leaders of Allahabad University, led by Neeraj Pratap Singh, staged a protest at varsitys main gates on Tuesday. They were protesting against various anomalies, including in recent recruitments of teachers at constituent colleges, besides Neeraj being prevented from appearing in his exams. The agitated student leaders stood in front of the vice-chancellors car refusing to let it pass. University security personnel somehow managed to take the VC inside the campus. As per the officiating proctor of AU, Prof RS Singh, as the VCs car was about to enter the main campus of AU in the morning, a group of student leaders came in front of the car. The proctor also claimed that the protesting student leaders attacked the VC and tried to manhandle the VC besides using abusive language. Neeraj is already rusticated by the varsity administration and his entry inside the campus has been banned for the period of five years by the university administration. Taking strong cognizance of the incident, the officiating proctor has submitted a complaint to the Colonelganj police in this regard and urged registering of an FIR against the student leader and his associates. We have received the application and have registered an FIR under relevant section of the IPC, said inspector Colonelganj Awadhesh Singh. Teachers of Allahabad University under the banner of Allahabad University Teachers Association (AUTA) and Allahabad University Constituent Colleges Teachers Association (AUCCTA) have condemned the alleged misconduct of student leaders. Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday said that affidavits would be taken from those joining his agitation in Delhi in March 2018, seeking a promise that they would neither join any political party nor form any so that no more Arvind Kejriwals are created as an outcome of such stirs. I no longer have any relationship with Arvind Kejriwal, asserted Hazare who was known to be Kejriwals mentor. He added that he was not aware what the AAP leader had in mind while being part of the anti-corruption agitation in 2011. Hazare was in Agra to address a public gathering at Shaheed Smarak to gather support for his forthcoming agitation at Ramlila ground in Delhi from March 23 to press for election reforms and appointment of Lokpal. He addressed a packed audience and highlighted farmer suicides all over the nation. Reminding about Gandhian principles not to exploit nature, he complained that no leader was serious towards plight of farmers. In his address, Hazare said at the age of 25 he dedicated his life to the service of the nation and decided not to marry while leaving his family. The 80-year-old activist distanced himself from the Congress and the BJP, saying that there is no difference between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi as they both favour industrialists and are not committed to weeding out corruption. According to him, demonetisation failed to weed out corruption as no black money was exposed and complaints of corrupt practices continued. Hazare stated that there was no difference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as they both stood for industrialists and both weakened the Lokpal Bill promised after 2011 anti-corruption agitation. Demonetisation was aimed at exposing black money, but no results were attained and complaints of corruption continue to surface, he stated. Disgruntled by the political system, Anna Hazare said politics could not ensure bright future for the youths. I am not against democratic procedure, but elections should be conducted in the true spirit of the Constitution and leaders should come from common public. We have attained independence and got rid of the British, but people of the nation are still awaiting democracy in true sense, said Anna. While Anna Hazare addressed the gathering, NSUI leaders stood outside the venue holding placards raising questions for the social activist to answer. Former national secretary of NSUI, Amit Singh questioned the timing of Hazare calling for the agitation with parliamentary election ahead. Anna Hazare chose to remain silent on various issues of corruption involving BJP leaders in recent time. He had been silent on issues like GST and demonetisation since long and appears hand in glove with the BJP, alleged Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In an exemplary show of communal harmony and brotherhood, a Muslim performed the last rites of a Hindu septuagenarian in village Mohammadpur Barwala in Bulandshahr on Monday. Former village pradhan Mohammad Anad Khans son Malahat Khan performed the ritual of mukhagni of Thakur Jitendra Singh while members of Hindu and Muslim communities attended the last rites. Anad Khan said Thakur Jitendra Singh was a resident of district Budaun who came to stay in the village in 1967 and thereafter became like a family member. He has been living with his family and he was sick since last eight months and died after a prolonged illness on Monday. The family took his mortal remains on the bank of the Ganga where Malahat Khan performed the last rites. Another ritual of terhavi would be organised after consulting the Brahmins to decide the date as per Hindu tradition. Village pradhan Shyamlal and former pradhan Veerpal also attended the last rites and said that the Muslim family has shown an example of communal harmony for others to emulate. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has chosen Meerut for the biggest- ever gathering of swayamsevaks at one place during a programme on February 25. Top RSS leaders, including Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, are expected to attend the event. The RSS has set a target of 2.51 lakh swayamsevaks at Meeruts Rashtrodaya programme, nearly 2 lakh more than the 51,000 swayamsevaks it had managed in Meerut in 1998 when the BJP government headed by Kalyan Singh was in power in Uttar Pradesh. Now, with the Yogi government in power, the RSS is attempting to hold the biggest ever gathering of its volunteers. As per invites and registrations for the Rashtrodaya programme we expect nearly three lakh volunteers. But, assuming a few dropouts we are aiming at the presence of 2.51 lakh of our cadres, an RSS volunteer told HT. If the RSS does get the numbers it claims for the event, it would be 158,000 more than the 92,000 volunteers who had gathered for an event in Kerala in 2010. Bhaiyaji Joshi, the RSS number two who was in Meerut to review arrangements for the February event, said Hindutva held the cure for all the problems of the society. The RSS leaders claim that such events, a regular feature on the Sanghs itinerary, are planned to make people aware of the need to unite against problems like untouchability, an issue that is linked to Hindu unity that the RSS holds dear. Political experts feel the BJP had gained considerably through Hindu unity efforts both in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2017 UP polls. Ahead of these elections, which BJP went on to win, the Sangh and its affiliated bodies like the Vishva Hindu Parishad had taken up a massive campaign to reach out to the Dalits and the OBCs, the two influential groups that had been associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as well as the Samajwadi Party (SP). Political experts see the Sangh event as a move to ensure that the gains the saffron brigade has made politically since 2014 remain intact, a point that RSS veterans dismiss. The RSS has always spoken of Hindu unity and national interest. By Hindu unity we dont mean we are against any other religion, a RSS leader said. Meerut city, the venue of the RSS programme has seen heavyweights like former UP BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai, a four-time MLA, lose the election to Samajwadi Partys Rafiq Ansari. More recently, the BJP lost the Meerut mayoral seat to Bahujan Samaj Partys Sunita Verma, a Dalit who defeated BJPs state vice president Kanta Kardam, also a Dalit. There are an estimated 3.6 lakh Muslims and nearly 2 lakh Dalit voters in Meerut city. During his recent visit, Bhaiyyaji Joshi had said that Muslims shouldnt confuse RSS thrust on cow protection as communal. Our focus on cow protection isnt anti-Islamic. For cow protection is an issue integral to our pride, the RSS veteran had said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik on Tuesday unveiled a new logo for the Kumbh Mela that is scheduled to be held in Allahabad in January 2019. The new Kumbh logo comprises temples, saints, rivers, kalash (pitcher) and the swastik among other things. The 2013 Kumbh logo featured kalash. The governor also launched the events tagline chalo Kumbh chalo-chalo Kumbh chalo and the UP tourism slogan UP nahin dekha to India nahin dekha, besides inaugurating a one-stop travel solution portal. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath was present as the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, the governor said sometimes outsiders realised the importance of things sooner than the locals. The UNESCO has declared the Kumbh as a world heritage, realising the importance of the event, he said. He said he was sure the government would be able to hold the Kumbh successfully. Earlier, Adityanath said it was a matter of pride that UNESCO had recognised the Kumbh as a world heritage. He said the government would celebrate the Kumbh in 2019 with all the grandeur and divinity. He said till now Ardh Kumbh was held every six years and Kumbh every 12 years. But henceforth, the Ardh Kumbh will be known as Kumbh and Kumbh will be called Maha Kumbh, he said. There is nothing half in the Sanatan Hindu culture, he said, reciting a Sanskrit shloka to support the claim. I dont know if you are on Instagram or have any interest in wine. But if you do know your way around Instagram and a wine cellar, then you should check out two accounts I follow. The first is Heminadwalia. Last week, the posts included a photo of two bottles of Chateau Margaux. The text read Comparison of Chateau Margaux 1982 vs 1983 vintage side by side. The 82 Margaux beats the 83 Margaux by a whisker.... Another account I follow is called My_wineadventures and last week, it posted a photo of eight empty bottles of wine. The copy read Rare Bordeaux: Lesser known 1982 wines..... some great wines and hidden gems ..... I looked at the bottles. They included Leoville Lascases, possibly one of the best wines of Bordeaux. And the other lesser known wines were actually household names: Calon Segur, La Lagune, etc. So why were they described as lesser known? Well, because the guys who run these accounts drink wine that is even better than these excellent bottles most of the time. Their other posts include such wines as Haut Brion 1999 or magnums of Penfolds Grange 2010 or Domaine De La Romanee Conti Corton etc. I have met the two guys who run these accounts (I dont have their permission so I wont name them) and both live in Mumbai and are extraordinarily knowledgeable about wine. They drink many of the worlds best wines on a regular basis. Each time I have spoken to them, I have discovered something new about wine. Old school nebbiolo 1986 vintage. Love the oxidised style of barbaresco by francesco rinaldi. #barbaresco #francescorinaldi #vintage #alba #italianwines #wine #piedmont A post shared by Chintamani Kaigaonkar (@my_wineadventures) on Nov 13, 2016 at 8:26am PST A decade ago, when the worlds great wine producers made their rounds of India, they hoped that we would, one day, become major consumers of fine wine. It hasnt happened yet but as a new generation comes of age, I get the feeling that the market for great wines is finally developing. All Indian lovers of fine wine I know are rich (they would have to be to afford the wines they drink) but they are not Birla-Ambani rich. Rather, they are well-off guys who spend money on good wine not to show off but because they actually like the stuff. The growth of the fine wine sector is usually accompanied by a similar growth at the middle-end of the market. So far, this has not been apparent. What we have seen is some growth at the bottom end, with young people drinking cheaper Indian wines as well as some generic plonk from abroad. But I now get the feeling that perhaps the market for good (but not great) wines is finally picking up. Some of this has to do with the multiplicity of importers who are now bringing a greater variety of wines into the Indian market than even before. And some of it --- I hope ---is because our palates are improving and we are beginning to be able to tell the difference between good wine and plonk. Certainly, the questions I am asked about wine are significantly different now than they were three years ago when I last did a column on FAQs about wine. So here is my list of tips for negotiating restaurant wine lists in India. Dont waste time chatting to the sommelier. When I travel to countries with a wine-drinking culture, I hardly ever order the wine myself. I tell the sommelier what I am eating and what my budget is and ask him or her to recommend something surprising and appropriate. I have learnt more about wine that way than I have from reading scores of books on the subject. In India the opposite is true. I imagine Indian sommeliers have dartboards with my face on them hung up in their rooms because I am forever dissing them. But honestly, nothing has changed over the last few years. There are some good ones of course but the vast majority are completely useless. Even those who claim to have passed various wine exams can never recommend a good bottle. And dont be too impressed if the sommelier is white. The right question to ask is not Can I ask this French person to suggest a good wine? It is if this French sommelier is any good, then why is he pushing Chilean wine in Gurgaon? Why isnt he working in Europe? Do not order cheap wine Hotels often put the highest mark-ups on the cheapest bottles. The more expensive bottles have the lowest mark-ups. So a relatively expensive bottle of wine will more accurately reflect the real cost of the wine. A cheap wine will sell at three times the price the hotel bought it at. Or even more. Be careful of wines with generic names There are parts of the world where wines are branded by grape variety (Australia, New Zealand, America etc.) But in the old world (France, Italy etc.) only the cheapest plonk meant for the export market is identified by grape. If say, a wine from Burgundy says Pinot Noir or Chardonnay on the label, then it is the kind of plonk no Frenchman would drink. When it comes to the New World, there are big companies that export to India and sell their basic wines under generic names: Say Villa Maria or Saint Clair from New Zealand or Kendall Jackson from California. These wines will rarely disappoint because they are made to uniform standards of blandness. But they will never be special or memorable either. So, if you want to spend a little money to drink something special, look for a label (in California, for instance) with some prestige attached to it. With the old world look for a wine that does not bother too much with advertising its grapes. Look for regions, vineyards or even, in some cases (Italy, for example) brands. You will get no help from Indian sommeliers who seem to have been taught only about grape varieties and not allowed by their (often very fancy) hotels to drink good wine themselves or given the opportunity to eat their way through the menu so they can think of wine and food pairings. I am always annoyed, for instance, by sommeliers who serve a well-known Italian wine like Tignanello with a knowing smirk while saying here is your Sangiovese, sir. First of all, the wine has three grapes (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) not just Sangiovese and secondly, the point of Tignanello is that it is about more than just its grapes. But so many sommeliers do this that I imagine that some dimwit has trained them to focus only on grape varieties. Steer clear of South America Wine-writers will tell you that some of the greatest bargains are to be had in Argentina, where the wines can be very good. Chile is, of course, well-established as a source of good, well-priced wines. But heres my problem. The South American wines that get imported into India tend to be supermarket-quality garbage. The good stuff simply does not usually make it here --- or, if it does, I have not seen it on wine lists. Think German! Nobody drinks German wines outside of Germany because a) the Germans ruined their own reputation by mass-marketing Blue Nun, Black Tower-type rubbish around the world; b) nobody can pronounce the names of the better wines and c) everyone thinks of German wine as too sweet. In fact, the Germans make very good, complex wines with a wonderful balance between sweetness and acidity that not only go well with Indian food but also work surprisingly well with Chinese and Japanese dishes. Sadly, not that many people import good German wine and if they do, hotels dont always agree to put it on their lists. If you want to drink expensive wine, drink champagne Thankyou JJ for this treat.. Dom is always good.. the 06 is fresh, floral and sublime.. went very well with the fabulous Chinese meal at sanqi... #champagne #domperignon #goodchampagne A post shared by Chintamani Kaigaonkar (@my_wineadventures) on Dec 8, 2017 at 5:47am PST Not all of us can afford to drink two different vintages of Chateau Margaux and compare them on Instagram. But there is one high quality wine that is readily available in India and is not priced at Chateau Margaux levels. Vintage champagne is one of the worlds great bargains. Most hotels will carry stocks of Dom Perignon, Cristal or even Krug on their lists. None of these wines will be cheap. But they will cost less than classic Bordeaux or even cult California wines. Whats more, champagne is a food wine. It goes with nearly everything, and it works especially well with Indian food. So stop treating champagne as a celebratory bubbly and enjoy it for what it is: a truly great wine that (mainly because the Chinese still havent discovered it and pushed up the price) is still not ridiculously overpriced. Buy your wine abroad It really doesnt make sense to buy duty-free Black Label or Chivas Regal any longer. Yes, you save a little money. But these whiskies are easily available in India now. Instead, buy some good wine the next time you travel. Customs will let you bring in two bottles so if you are a couple, you can import four bottles duty free. Thats what many of these fine-wine Instagram guys do. Good wine is never cheap but it always costs much less abroad than it does it an Indian hotel or restaurant. That way youll develop a taste for one of the finer things in life without having to cope with the vagaries of Indian wine importers, the greed of fancy hotels that mark up their wines to ridiculous levels and the foolishness of sommeliers. You wont get to the stage where youll be able to dismiss Leoville Lascases as a lesser known wine. But at least, your palate will be your true guide. When it comes to learning to appreciate wine, nothing beats a corkscrew. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON For more than a decade straight, Mike Bergeron and his wife Laura, from the US, have taken their annual holiday cards to a whole new level, posing in hilariously wacky, yet somehow still awesome outfits. The trend continued with the couple, and their children Gigi and Laura, trying to look like different people each year. Now, the California family that is known for their silly Christmas cards has released its 2017 edition - poking fun at smug people enjoying festive vacations. Captioned Gingers in Paradise, the family described its photo as, We went in a slightly different direction this year, which required stepping out of the JCP Portrait Studio and using a photographer (big thanks to Marco Montenegro) at the local beach. This our nod to the ever-so-popular holiday card theme that says Look at us soaking up the suns rays in a beautiful tropical paradise while youre freezing your nuts offdont you wish you were us? Merry Xmas everyone :) On the Internet you see there will be posts of Christmas cards gone wrong, where its just a bunch of unintentionally funny Christmas cards, Mike Bergeron told ABC News of the inspiration for their first funny card in 2003. And you know when you see those, you think to yourself, boy I wish I had one of those to hang on my fridge so when friends come over theyll get a kick out of it. So we got the idea to intentionally make funny Christmas cards to give to all our friends and family, and after a while, it turns out people who didnt even know us started loving the cards, he said. Enjoy more festive photos from their most awkward holiday cards from past years, here. In the 2008 card, the couple donned the traditional ensembles worn by the Hare Krishna monks - and even paid homage to the religious sect in their Christmas greeting. This card is their first effort, which was taken during the holidays in 2003. While in 2013 they went for a dance-inspired theme... Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Seventeen-year-old St Xaviers College student Mast Daga, was found dead in a valley below Garbett Point at Matheran on Tuesday night a day after he went missing. The post-mortem report revealed that he suffered a heart attack. The report indicated multiple fractures, leading police to suspect he collapsed and fell in the valley. The body has been handed over to his family. He was seen travelling alone in the train, and a Matheran resident spotted him sitting alone, close to where his body was found, said a police official, who did not wish to be identified. The Matheran police have registered a case of accidental death. They will transfer the case to the Wagle Estate police station in Thane, where the missing persons complaint was filed. Daga was a second-year junior college science student. He left home on Monday morning and withdrew Rs500 from nearby ATM at Wagle Estate in Thane. After he failed to show up to his tuition class in Mulund, his parents began looking for him. They later approached the police, saying his phone had been switched off. We circulated a message detailing how to identify Daga. On Tuesday, we got a call from the Matheran police. Our officer accompanied Dagas parents there. They identified their sons body, said Ravindra Malekar, senior inspector from Wagle Estate police station. Police said Daga had been depressed for the past few days. His parents, however, said he had neither fought with them nor had seemed tense, Malekar said. Dagas friends told police that he stopped attending college a week ago, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In what could be yet another case of food poisoning due to mid-day meals, 37 children from a Jogeshwari civic school fell ill on Wednesday immediately after consuming khichdi. Doctors from the hospital said till late evening, 21 children from Balvikas Vidya Mandir school, Jogeshwari, were discharged, while the rest were still being treated at Konkan Hospital for vomiting, stomach ache and burning sensation in the stomach. Around 10.30am, a few of the children began complaining about a burning sensation in stomach and said they felt nauseous after eating the mid-day meal. More students began complaining as time went on, after which they were all immediately rushed to a hospital. I was at work and got a call from my wife that my son had been admitted in a hospital. The school has been serving the khichdi, consisting of rice, pulses and soya beans, for the past five years. This is the first time the children have complained, said Pandurang Lad, father of Rudra, who studies in Class 5. Mahesh Palkar, education officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said a committee has been constituted to investigate the matter. We dont know if the incident took place owing to the khichdi because more than 450 children consumed it and only 37 reported ailments. We are checking if the children ate something else as well and accordingly decide if we should take action against the organisation that cooks and provides the mid-day meal, said Palkar. Milind Khetle, assistant police commissioner of Meghwadi Division, along with food and safety officials from the Food and Drugs Administration, Maharashtra, visited the spot and collected the food samples for further analysis. Action will be taken on the basis of the food analysis reports. Six police constables, including one from Kurla police station and five others attached with local arms of Worli headquarters, were suspended on Tuesday. The move came after a constable of Kurla police station stole 50 cartridges and two Rikamya charger clips from the artillery section. The suspended police personnel have been identified as Vijay Hirlekar, Sanket Mali, Mahesh Dudhwade, Rahu Pawar, Rahul Kadam and Mahendra Patil. The incident occurred on Saturday night, when Mali was on duty at the artillery section where ammunition and other items are stored. Head constable, Hirlekar was in charge of the artillery section and also monitored the other four constables deployed for security, a police officer said. All six constables were suspended soon after the incident. An inquiry is being conducted, said deputy commissioner of police Sunita Salunkhe of Worli Local Arms unit. As per preliminary investigation, Patil, posted at Kurla police station, went to Worli local arms unit on Saturday night and stole 50 cartridges and two Rikamya charger clips , when Mali, who was on duty was asleep, said Salunkhe. When Mali woke up and found the cartridges missing, he reported the matter to a senior official and inquiry was ordered, she added. Patil went to the Dadar police station on Sunday and handed over the cartridges and charger clips which he had stolen. All six constables were suspended due to security lapse, said another officer. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amit Thackerays fiancee, Mumbai-based fashion designer Mitali Borude, is determined to have the perfect wedding, even if it means it will take more than the usual time to plan and organise it. Amit, son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, and his long-time girlfriend Mitali, daughter of bariatric surgeon Dr Sanjay Borude, got engaged in a low-key ceremony on Monday. I planned our engagement theme and designed the clothes myself, and I want to do the same for our wedding. If it has to be done, I am determined to do it myself. Even though Amit is eager to get married, said the Mumbai-based fashion designer after their engagement ceremony on Monday. Perfect, however, does not mean an all-out big bash for the couple. Through the nine years that they have known each other, the couple has shied away from the limelight, and their engagement, too, was an intimate ceremony. They plan to have an equally private wedding. Amit, 25, admits that he would be perfectly happy with a wedding ceremony at his home in Shivaji Park. I wanted the engagement ceremony to be a very personal affair at home in Krishna Kunj; Mitali planned a bigger outdoor ceremony. Maybe we will be able to do that for the wedding, Amit told Hindustan Times. Sources close to the family said the Thackerays are very fond of Mitali, and that she has been a part of the family ever since the duo started dating. She is seen frequently at Krishna Kunj, and even campaigned for the MNS during the 2014 Assembly elections, along with Amit. Over the years, the Borudes and the Thackerays have become close friends. They have vacationed together on several occasions, said a source who did not wish to be named. Mitali started her own clothesline brand called The Rack two years ago, and has an outlet in Bandra, in partnership with Amits sister Urvashi. Mitali studied fashion designing at Sophia college, and worked with designer and BJP leader Shaina NC briefly before launching her own brand. Urvashi is now pursuing a career in filmmaking, and recently assisted director David Dhawan in the film Judwaa 2. The sisters-in-law are said to be close friends. Amit , 25, who has studied business management at Welingkar Institute, is a caricaturist. Though the couple has infrequently campaigned for the MNS in its pre-election rallies, it is unclear whether they will become the face of the party in the future. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered five cases against customs officials and others for allegedly evading duty of Rs17.39 lakh in import of mobile accessories. CBI officials said those booked include five examiners of customs department, air cargo, Mumbai, a Customs house clearing agent, three importers among others. In April, the officials allegedly conspired with the customs house clearing agent and importers. The accused allegedly gave false report in the articles imported which exceeded the quantity mentioned in the packing lists, resulting in revenue loss of the customs department. The CBI has filed cases under section 420 of the IPC apart from 120 (B) which is for conspiracy, apart from sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. After the cases were filed, teams of CBIs anti-corruption bureau searched six premises of the accused which led to the recovery of incriminating documents on the alleged imports, said CBI officials. A senior Shiv Sena leader is planning to make a biopic on Shiv Sena founder, late Bal Thackeray. Sanjay Raut, Sena MP and executive editor of the partys mouthpiece Saamana, on Wednesday said that he would be producing the movie, which will be made in Hindi and Marathi. It is my dream project. It wont be a documentary, but a feature film like the biopics on Mahatma Gandhi and [Nelson] Mandela, Raut said. The film will be announced on December 21 in Mumbai, at an event attended by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Raut, who worked closely with senior Thackeray for more than two decades, has written the story and the script for the movie. The shooting is expected to start in January, and I am planning to release the film early 2019, he said. The shoot will take at least three to four months. We plan to shoot several scenes at actual locations where those incidents took place. Most of these locations are in Mumbai. The Sena MP, however, did not want to reveal the names of the movies director and its lead actors. It will be announced on December 21. Several movies have been made where the protagonist was inspired by Thackeray, such as Ram Gopal Vermas Sarkar and its sequels. A Marathi movie titled Zenda (flag) is said to have been based on the power tussle between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. However, this will be the first biopic on the late Sena chief. Will the film touch upon controversies such as Rajs revolt? You will have to wait and watch the movie, Raut said. The Centre has given a go-ahead for a special township project, spread across 260 acres in Raigad, which is being promoted by arms dealer and former naval officer Suresh Nandas family. The Centres expert appraisal committee on infrastructure and Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) projects approved the township to be built by Claridges Sez Developers Private Limited, in its meeting held on October 30. According to documents registered with the ministry of corporate affairs, the companys directors include Paul Nanda, Suresh Nandas brother and Peter Punj, his son-in-law. Suresh Nanda is no longer involved in this project. He has no stakes or interest in it. His family members continue to be directors. Our project has now got all clearances and we are looking for a joint venture partner before finalising the plans, said a spokesperson associated with the township, who refused to be named. The township project is estimated to cost nearly Rs 7,500 crore according to the minutes of the meeting. The project had got a clearance under the state governments special township policy under the former Congress-NCP government, said a senior urban development department official. It got the locational clearance in 2015 under the BJP government. The township being built in Khalapur tehsil of Raigad will have 148 buildings with approximately 13,520 flats to be built over the next six phases, including homes for the economically weaker section, as mandated under the states policy. The township will have several amenities to make it self-sustainable, including a school, hospital, IT park, hotels, resort, commercial buildings convention centre, market, among others. The location of the township is close to the upcoming new international airport, which will witness the next realty spurt in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The project falls in the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (Naina), an area that is bigger than Mumbai. A majority of the land in this region has been purchased by developers and is expected to now see a construction boom. The City and Industrial Development Corporation is also constructing a smart city within Naina. Claridges Sez Developers Private Limited had initially purchased land to promote a multi-services Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2003. The formal approval for a multi-services SEZ was withdrawn in 2013. The spokesperson, whose details have been registered by the company with the ministry of corporate affairs, said, The decision to withdraw approval as a SEZ was due to market conditions. Suresh Nanda had run into trouble with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Barak missile kickbacks deal in 2008, but the case against him has since been closed. The state government is promoting special townships to be built over 100 acres of land near cities and its metropolitan areas. The policy was revised for a third time in 2016 with the Fadnavis-led government tweaking some of the earlier norms to make it more viable. Nanda family also owns Claridges hotel in Delhi and erstwhile Sea Rock hotel in Mumbai SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jain monk Mahar Pranlal Desai alias Manohar Muni was on Tuesday sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 for molesting a woman, who was 19 at the time, in 2012. This is perhaps the first conviction of a Jain monk. A few hours after the magistrate courts verdict, Desai secured bail. The woman was molested in a Jain temple at Sevalal Wani Road in Mulund (West). Desai was arrested on April 6, 2012 under sections 354 (molestation), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (2) (issuing threats) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Only section 354 could stand the courts scrutiny. Three days after the arrest, Desai was released on bail. Speaking to HT, one of the lawyers representing Desai said, We havent received a copy of the order yet. I need to have a look at the judges observation and decide future action. But, yes we are going to file an appeal, as it is our right. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the convict can appeal for suspension of sentence in the sessions court within 30 days of the verdict. The court ruled out the defences claim that the woman was unstable. Usha Andewar, the lawyer representing the woman, said, The judgment is a victory for the family, who stood against all odds and fought for the right of their daughter with a positive spirit, despite the pressure from the society and community. Andewar said that the family was forced by the Jain community for an out-of-court settlement. The family of the woman welcomed the judgment. At least, the court has delivered justice to us, said an uncle of the woman The state government on Wednesday gave clean chit to politically influential directors of the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank (MDCCB), also known as Mumbai bank, in the alleged misappropriation of funds, fixing responsibility on two bank officers by suspending them. The states reply in the legislative Assembly led to uproar in the house, as lawmakers alleged the government was shielding the directors. This compelled the government to concede a fresh inquiry, if any substance was found in ongoing internal inquiry by the bank. Mumbai legislators Prakash Surve, Amin Patel, Naseem Khan raised the question in the lower house on Wednesday, seeking information on the action into the alleged misappropriation in Kandivli and Ashokvan branches of the bank over the past few years. The bank was facing charges of distributing loans to relatives of bank chairman and BJP legislator Praveen Darekar with the help of fake documents. According to the sources in the cooperation department, the Kandivli Branch had distributed a loan of Rs2.35 crore, with the help of fake documents and in the name of ineligible loanees, to 55 loan accounts. Five directors of the bank had demanded a thorough inquiry into the irregularities, while an account-holder had moved National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)which handles finance to coop banks---requesting inquiry. Cooperation minister Subhash Deshmukh told the house the vigilance committee of the bank found irregularities. Deshmukh said while the bank suspended two officials, contrary to the allegations, no director or his relative was found to be involved in the fraud. The minister said the MDCCB is one of the best banks in the state with no non-performing assets and improvement in its revenue over few years. Prakash Surve (Shiv Sena) alleged the government was shielding its legislator. Loans were disbursed to five relatives of Darekar. NABARD has passed strictures about frauds. There are many other cases of the financial fraud in the allotment of loans by the bank, he said. The Government has brought the facts about the allegations of corruptions on records in the Assembly today. There was no iota of substance in the allegations against me. We had given rights of sanctioning of loans below Rs5 lakh to the branch managers. When found guilty of administrative lapses while disbursing loans, we have initiated action against two of our branch managers. It is absolutely untrue that I compelled the authorities to give loans to my relatives. State cooperation department has given us the grading of A and NABARD has given us B-plus in auditing. How could have they been able to give us such a fantastic grading, Darekar told HT. Oppn attacks government over failed policies for milk coops Alleging the government policies related to milk producers were ruining the cooperatives, the Opposition demanded government intervention for the welfare of milk producers. NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the government should not look at cooperative bodies with political vendetta, as it has been a major source of strength for farmers during drought. He said although the government was making it mandatory for the unions to pay Rs27 a litre as procurement price to farmers, the unions do not afford such a high price and are compelled to sustain losses. The state faced embarrassment when speaker of the house Haribhau Bagde, who heads a district cooperative in his constituency, admitted even his milk federation does not give procurement price of more than Rs22 a litre. Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Vijay Wadettiwar, Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse Patil said the government should give adequate prices to milk producers. Vikhe-Patil told the lower house the state was producing about 2.87-crore litres milk daily -- 80 lakh litres are sold in the open urban market, while milk powder is produced from 40 lakh litres. The milk powder business was in crisis as it is worth Rs150 a kg, while it is being sold at Rs116 a kg in the international market. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government was aware of the crisis and a meeting with stakeholders concerned will be convened soon in the chamber of Speaker to which all agitating members agreed. Pradip Kumar Maitra SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Recognising a womans right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, the Bombay high court allowed a mentally challenged rape survivor from Nandurbar district to abort her 22-week-old foetus on Tuesday. The pregnancy was the result of physical abuse. She has a choice either to continue the pregnancy or to get the foetus medically terminated, said a bench of justices RM Borde and Vibha Kankanwadi. The freedom of making choices is an integral part of a womans personal liberty and cannot be taken away, it added. The bench relied on a 2009 decision of the Supreme Court, which held that a womans right to make reproductive choices was a dimension of her personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The bench also held that the legal guardian of a mentally challenged rape survivor can make a decision on her behalf. In this case, the survivor is deaf, dumb and mentally challenged. She is thus unable to make a choice on her own. She has no such intellectual capacity, and thus, her guardian should be given that right to make choice, the bench said. The girls mother said an unidentified person took advantage of the girls condition and raped her. On November 2, doctors refused to terminate her daughters 18-week-long pregnancy despite it being permitted under provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The woman had approached the high court, saying the doctors refusal was because the girl was mentally challenged and thus incapable of consenting. On the basis of the womans complaint, the local police registered a case of rape against an unknown person. It would be hazardous to ask her to bear the pregnancy. It is not only dangerous to her, but also to the unborn child also, said the high court. A special CBI magistrate court sentenced a 55-year-old businessman to five years rigorous imprisonment for cheating Dena Bank of Rs9 crore between 2002 and 2005 . Hanumantrao Kharat, director of Shree Venkateshwara Foods & Agrotech Pvt. Ltd (SVFAPL), entered into a $6-million contract with a foreign company for cashew supply on June 30, 2002. He received advance payment guarantee (APG) and foreign bills negotiation (FBN). On August 8, 2002, Kharat approached Dena Bank for $2 million in APG and Rs2.5 crore in FBN on the basis of the contract between SVFAPL and the foreign buyer Paragon Global Trade (PGT). PGT had agreed to advance a payment of $ 2 million on condition that the bank for SVFAPL guarantees this amount. After Dena Bank sanctioned the request, PGT deposited $2 million (9.63 crore as per the then exchange rate) favouring SVFAPL in the bank. The amount was received by SVFAPL on November 5, 2002. Soon after receipt of the amount Kharat approached the bank to release Rs4.29 crores to procure export material. The bank released Rs4.29 crore soon. He again asked the bank Rs1.6 crore for the same reason. It was later revealed of the total amount released, only Rs1.29 crore was used for procure cashew and the and the rest was diverted to his personal accounts. Meanwhile, PGT was not in a position to utilise imported cashew and asked SVFAPL to export iron ore instead under the Exim policy. Kharat failed to export iron ore too. Till 2005, Kharat had already sought extension for ADG several times. But on expiry of last extension in March 2005, the bank for PGT sought repayment of up to $1.87 million. Dena Bank had to repay the amount. As Kharat failed to repay Rs9 crore, the bank lodged a complaint with the CBI in 2005. The investigation revealed that Kharat had made false records showing his transaction with the other companies to get the payment released from the bank. It was said that the funds were diverted and was used for his personal use. However, the prosecution failed to prove the charges of forgery against Kharat. Kharat in his defense had told the court that it was a civil dispute and he is booked for political agenda. Kharat said that all the transactions were legal and he is still making payment to Dena Bank. The court discarded his defence and convicted him for cheating. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The amount of plastic bags seized by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has drastically reduced in the past 10 years. Ten years ago, the BMC confiscated 31,229kg of plastic bags after raiding shops and establishments. This year, it has seized only 269kg plastic bags. With the state government considering banning the use of plastic water bottles in government offices and hotels, the BMC figures show that the city is striving to be plastic-free. Although the BMC figures show a 30,000kg reduction in plastic bag seizures, activists say that the BMC is not doing enough. In the weekly cleaning drive, around 400kg of plastic is generated from Aarey alone. I have made several complaints to shops and establishment department of the BMC on the usage of plastic but no action has been initiated, said activist Subhash Rane, a resident of Goregaon. Civic officials have been raiding shops since 2008. In the past 10 years, the BMC has seized 84,361kg of plastic, most of which are plastic bags, and the number of cases has decreased. Rane refuted the BMC claim, saying, Shops give plastic bags for free which has increased its usage. Every day, Mumbai generates more than 9, 000 metric tonnes of garbage, which includes a huge amount of plastic. Plastic had clogged drains in the city, leading to a deluge in 2005. According to the BMC records, the number of cases has decreased from 24,320 seizures and fines in 2008 to 497 cases in 2017. The fines collected by the shop and establishment department in 10 years is Rs5.66 crore. The administrations seized 269 kgs of plastic in 407 raids till August this year and collected Rs20.35 lakh fines. A senior civic official from shops and establishment department claimed that the awareness among shop owners has increased because of which the number of cases have decreased. He said, Citizens are aware about the disadvantages of using plastic and this has led to reduction in the usage. Maximum cases at 74,425 were registered in 2009 which has drastically reduced this year. Nearly a year after a set of conjoined twins were born to a 26-year old mother at Parel-based Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital on September 19, 2016, doctors separated them on December 12, with a series of complex surgeries. In what doctors call an extremely rare birth one in over five lakh the twins, Love and Prince also had a common liver, urinary bladder, intestines and fused pelvic bones. They had to be operated very carefully as we feared that they may suffer heavy bleeding or their blood pressure may dropp, said Dr Pradnya Bendre, head of paediatric surgery, Wadia Hospital, who led the team of 30 doctors monitoring the children in the hospitals intensive care unit. The surgery lasted for 12 hours. Giving anesthesia to children is always challenging, as one has to be very accurate with the dose, she added. Doctors said the children are now in a stable condition, however, they have inadequate skin to cover the internal organs because of which they have used prosthetic mesh and collagen, to prevent infections. Their mother, Sheetal Zalte, who hails from Vadodara, Gujarat, and lives with her husband in Ghatkopar, said she learnt about the their condition during the fifth month of her pregnancy, when she was visiting her parents. The doctor that I visited in Vikhroli with the anomaly scan reports and sonography test told me nothing about my childrens condition, she said. I learnt about their conjoint condition from a gynaecologist in Vadodara, she added. Once the twins were delivered, doctors told them that they could be separated surgically, after a few months. Riddhi and Siddhi, conjoined twins underwent a separation surgery at the citys BJ Wadia Hospital in June 2014. They were also joined at the abdomen and shared a common bladder. While in Riddhi and Siddhis case they were conjoined in such a way, that their heads were in the opposite direction, so they faced away from each other, however, in the case of Love and Prince, their heads were aligned such that they face each other, Dr Bendre said. Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals, said At tender age of 1 year and 3 months, Love and Prince underwent this complicated surgery and are currently stable in paediatric Intensive Care Unit. They will be under observation for few days, which will be followed by multiple surgeries to ensure they are healthy and fit to survive. The most challenging part of the surgery was to provide skin to cover both the children. Shops and stalls are causing irreparable damage to the arched corridors of prominent heritage structures in Colaba, Fort and other parts of south Mumbai. According to heritage conservationists, most heritage buildings in south Mumbais A ward are defaced by hawkers who occupy the archways. Most of the hawkers drill holes in the walls either to hang their goods or to tie up a canopy. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has no mechanism in place to check such defacement of heritage structures. According to Nidhi Choudhari, deputy municipal commissioner (encroachments), This is not allowed, as it amounts to defacement of public property and damage to heritage structures. But there is no policy at present to protect heritage structures at such a micro level. Choudhari said hawkers are allowed to sit in the archways of such buildings if the spot is allotted to them officially, but they cannot touch heritage buildings. Vikas Dilawari, a heritage conservationist, said, Heritage structures have degraded in Mumbai, because there isnt an integrated authority to protect and regulate heritage. While the BMC owns the arcade of a heritage building, the building itself is owned by one or many private persons, so the BMC shies away from taking action. The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) is an advisory body, so its recommendations are powerless. However, according to Dilawari, it is not just hawkers who treat heritage structures badly. Several old buildings are now leased out for cafes, restaurants, banks and outlets of popular brands; and this goes unregulated as well. He said, I can show you graver damage to Mumbais heritage. Banks put up signage covering important and beautiful architectural features of buildings. According to Umesh Nagarkar, deputy municipal architect, signage and advertisements on buildings are the need an upgrade. There is a provision in the development control regulations to keep tab on alterations to heritage structures. Nagarkar said, That does not include such minor alterations, which can be monitored at the ward level. The MHCC drafted regulations to standardise signage in heritage buildings, but the rules were not implemented by the BMC. It is BMCs responsibility to protect heritage structures, said V Ranganathan, former municipal commissioner. Stall owners dont want to be treated like hawkers Stall owners have asked the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to not treat them as hawkers. In a memorandum submitted to the additional municipal commissioner (city) on Wednesday, they demanded they be allowed to retain their licences under the stall category. Stall owners requested that they should be permitted to function under Section 313 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. They are miffed as the BMC has been allotting stall permits under Section 313 (A), which applies to hawkers, since January 2017. The BMC introduced online permits in 2011. From January 2017, it made it mandatory for stall owners to seek licenses online. According to sources, the online approval shows that stall owners have been granted permits under section 313 (A) of the Act. If we are considered hawkers, the new hawker policy would apply to us. But, we arent hawkers. We have our stalls since 1978, said Faisal Qureshi, chairperson of Linking Road Stall Owner Welfare Association. Of the 15,000 stalls in the city, 4,120 have been in the business since the British rule, said Qureshi. We are willing to relocate if the government provides us with a place in its market. But if we are termed hawkers, we will lose our livelihood, Qureshi feared. According to the Hawker Policy passed by the state government in 2009, followed by a Supreme Court order in 2007, phone booths, cobblers, milk stalls and other permanent stalls are not included in the category of hawkers. Similarly, the civic body in the policy passed in 2010, also excluded the stall owners from the category of hawkers. Residents from western suburbs are rallying behind these stall owners. You cannot take away the livelihood of someone who has been running a business from a particular place for more than five decades. It is a matter of justice, said Aftab Siddique, a Bandra resident Officers of the Mumbai crime branchs property cell on Tuesday rescued a red sand boa snake a protected species from a gang that had smuggled it to Mumbai to be sold for Rs 20 lakh, and arrested the three accused. This is the fourth such case reported in the past two months. Officers cracked down after they got a tip-off that three men had bought the reptile from Akkalkua in Maharashtras Nandurbar district, and were getting it to the city. The officers said the red sand boa looks like it has two heads because its tail is shaped like a head to help it defend itself. The snake fetches high value in the black market as it is supposed to bring good luck, prosperity and is used during rituals to invoke rain or pray for money. It is also believed that the heavier the snake, the more riches it will bring. So black market dealers force the snake to swallow heavy objects such as ball bearings and other things. These reptiles die a very painful death, said an officer, requesting anonymity. The police caught the three men when they were waiting for buyers near Dadar, and are now trying to find out who was planning to buy the sand boa. The police said one of the accused told them that he was selling the snake as he needs money for his daughters wedding. The accused bought the snake from a farm in Akkalkua for Rs 3 lakh and paid another Rs 2 lakh to an agent who introduced the accused to the buyers, the officer added. The police will hand over the reptile to the forest department. More than six months after the exam was conducted, University of Mumbai (MU) officials recently found a misplaced answer sheet . Although the varsity has sent it for re-evaluation, the student to whom the answer sheet belongs said it was too late because she has missed the deadline to seek admission for Bachelor of Education (BEd) course. I had scored just 17 marks in my Advanced Economic Theory. Hence, I opted for re-evaluation and sought a photocopy of the answer sheet on August 31. Four months have passed and Im still waiting for re-evaluation result, said Minakshi Patil, a third-year BA student. Patil received a photocopy of her answer sheets last week, but was taken aback upon discovering that the main booklet was missing. I was given a copy of the supplements I had attached to the main answer sheet. I knew something was wrong, she said. It took a visit to the examination and evaluation department to find out that the main answer booklet was missing. This can be the reason for delay in getting re-evaluation result, Patil said, who wanted to apply for BEd course for which she cleared the Common Entrance Test (CET) earlier this year. Since my graduation certificate shows I have failed in one subject, Im ineligible for admissions. Even if I manage to clear the subject post re-evaluation, its too late because admission process ended in October, she added. Patil will now have to appear for the CET next year so that she becomes eligible for admissions in 2018. She also sought help from Yuva Sena. On Wednesday, party members met MU officials and managed to secure a copy of the main answer booklet. The university plans to send this answer booklet for re-evlauation now, but the student has already been forced to waste an academic year, said Sainath Durge from Yuva Sena. MU officials told HT that re-evaluation of answer booklets will take less time as compared to regular assessment. In this particular case, the students answer booklet has been found and evaluated too. But we will re-evaluate it avoid discrepancies and release her final mark sheet soon, said an MU official. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Sahar police told the sessions court that they had contacted the private airline on which a 17-year-old National Award-winning actor was allegedly molested by a 39-year-old man. They said they have spoken to all five crew members, who were on duty at the time of the incident. The court remanded the accused, Vikas Sachdev, in judicial custody on Wednesday. The court will hear his bail plea on December 15, before which he will have to stay in jail. The actor was on a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Saturday. Sachdev, a Chandivli resident was seated behind her. Around 11 pm, he put his leg on her armrest and rubbed his foot against her shoulder and neck repeatedly. The actor said she shifted on the seat, but the accused continued his actions. After the plane landed, the girl posted a video describing her ordeal on a social media site. The post went viral, following which the Sahar police approached the girl at a private hotel and registered an FIR under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code and section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on Sunday. Sachdev was held that day. On Monday, a sessions court remanded him in police custody for two days. Police told the court that they want to record the girls statement before a magistrate court under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure so it strengthens their case. The Sahar police said they want to record the statements of the actors co-passengers. They asked the court for permission to interrogate the accused further, which the court denied. Wednesday morning saw severe traffic congestion on Sion-Panvel highway, the arterial road that connects Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune, after an LPG tanker toppled near Nerul and blocked two lanes. The police said that the tanker, which was heading towards Panvel, toppled while it was crossing the bridge at Uran naka. The LPG tanker toppled near Nerul and blocked two lanes. (Bachchan Kumar/HT Photo) The traffic police, police as well as fire brigade officials reached the spot soon after the accident and have cordoned off the area, said an official from Nerul police station, requesting anonymity. There has been no fire because of the LPG. Officials are now getting the tanker cleared from the road. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The construction of the Mumbai coastal road is likely to start in April 2018. Civic officials said Mumbai civic chief Ajoy Mehta has asked the administration to select contractors by March. To be built along the western coast of Mumbai, the eight-lane road aims to provide a new link between the island city and the western suburbs. The project is proposed to be completed within four years. The civic body had earlier expected to assess the financial bids by December 4 and begin the project work in January 2018. Now, the deadline to finalise the bids has been pushed to March 2018 and start of construction work of 29.2-km coastal road is April 2018. The process of awarding contracts for the project, which has been undertaken simultaneously in three sections (a tunnel and two bridges), has entered the final stage, said the civic officials. On Saturday, Mehta ordered the civic officials to finalise the request for proposal (RFP) tender by March 15, 2018. The proposals of the 17 bidders that have qualified will be analysed by a consultant appointed by the civic body. After the analysis, the financial bids will be opened and the contract will be given to the lowest bidder, said an official who is not authorized to speak on the issue. In November last year, the BMC had submitted a revised plan to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for environmental clearances for the project. The civic body proposed the work be divided into two parts. The south phase of the bridge will run from Princess Street flyover till the south end of the Bandra-Worli sea link and the north phase will cover the stretch from the north-end of the sea Link to Kandivli. Sanjay Mukherjee, additional municipal commissioner (projects), had earlier said the tendering process for the three sections will be carried out simultaneously and the work is likely to begin around the same time. The coastal road will have eight lanes with two dedicated bus lanes. The project will require 186 hectares of land to be reclaimed, of which 91 hectares will be developed as green spaces. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The state human rights commission (SHRC) has issued notice to Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police and sought his response by December 25 on the petition filed by the parents of Arman Sehgal, a class 4 student of GD Goenka School in Ghaziabad, who died at the school on August 1. The Sehgals had filed an FIR against the school in which probe is still pending. The authorities had moved high the court in a bid to quash the FIR. The hearing in the case is pending. In the petition before SHRC, the parents alleged laxity in investigation. We highlighted that the reason for Armans death is still not known. It is a violation of human rights. There has been laxity on the part of police. There were lapses in securing the crime scene and evidence, said Gurmeet Singh, Sehgals lawyer. The petition also states about provision of security to the parents who were allegedly threatened by unidentified persons after the incident. The Ghaziabad district magistrate had also ordered a magisterial inquiry which is likely to be over within a week. A report regarding the CCTV footage is also awaited from forensic science laboratory, Lucknow. Our investigation is pending in the case and the it is being monitored by the high court. We cannot comment further, said HN singh, SSP Ghaziabad. The inquiry officer had also sought expert opinion from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a report by a panel was submitted thereafter. The AIIMS report was also filed along with an affidavit filed before the Allahabad high court on November 28. During a hearing on November 28, the high court took a serious note of the investigation progress. This court takes a very serious view of the manner in which the investigation is being conducted and complacent attitude of informing the court that the report of forensic science laboratory, Lucknow, is still awaited (sic), the court said in its order. The investigating officer had told court that the inquiry is pending and he recorded statements of some witnesses. However, investigating officer has admitted of being totally unaware of the contents of the medical report, which he had filed along with an affidavit in the court today, thus it appears that the investigation has been conducted in the most mechanical manner, the court said. . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON His own son allegedly killed his wife and daughter. But the father of the 16-year-old is now willing to leave everything behind to bring his son back on track. The father of the boy, who allegedly admitted to having killed his mother and sister in a fit of rage in Greater Noida last week, says he is ready to fight every battle to educate his son and ensure that he is stable. I have lost my wife and daughter, and the murderer is my own son. I have lost everything and there is no one to console me. What gives me strength now is my son and that is the sole reason why I am living now. As a father I want to ensure he is stable, said the father. The boy is lodged in an observation home in Noida since Saturday. The businessman said that his son will face many challenges in life. He will have to fight with his own emotions and later the bitter words from the society. He said his son committed a crime but he devastated his own life as well. I havent spoken to him anything about the incident. The meeting becomes very emotional as he starts crying. He committed the murders in a fit of rage and now his behaviour needs to mend, said the father, as he sobbed inconsolably. He said he is now in the process of taking legal help from his lawyer to provide books to his son so that he can write his class 10 board examinations. The 47-year-old man is still introspecting what went wrong with the juvenile. My son wasnt a meritorious student, but was good at studies. My wife would scold in order to discipline him. Even he never complained to me or showed any signs of anger. He had a very strong bonding with mother, said the businessman. The boy was addicted to video games because of which his father had taken away the phone from him. He said he thought it would help him concentrate on his studies and later returned it to him. Talking to Hindustan Times, the father said he had never received any complaint from school about his son. Whenever the school administration notices any problem with a student related to performance or behaviour, they report it to the parents. So far as merit is concerned, we knew he needed to work hard on academics, but his behaviour was always sorted, said the father, whose son studied in a reputed public school since nursery. On Thursday, around 10.30am, the boy was counselled by a child psychologist for 40 minutes at the observation home. Sources said he made some statements about the family, which the psychologist will confirm from his father. The boy by large did not reveal much about the incident. His behaviour was found to be stable, but narrating the incident takes a toll on him emotionally, said a source, adding that one more counselling session is required. The sources said the boy does not seem to be suffering from any mental or psychiatric problem. Every Thursday, five members can meet a juvenile at the observation home, and the boy has expressed desire to meet his grandfather, said an official. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Indian Army chief recently said that women would be inducted for combat roles. However, the manner in which the Military Nursing Service (MNS) officers have been discriminated against shows that the army has yet to learn constitutional functioning. The Indian Military Nursing Service was formed in 1888 and nurses fought in World War I and II. Many nurses died when SS Kuala was sunk by the Japanese Bombers in 1942. About 350 Indian Army nurses either died or were taken prisoner of war or declared missing in action during these wars. The period after Independence was one of fair treatment with the Army Act, 1950, the military nurses were granted regular commissions and ranked from lieutenant (formerly sister) to colonel (formerly chief principal matron). They were to be treated as officers of the regular army. They were administered an oath of allegiance to serve in the regular army. The regulations of 1962 specified that the MNS officers would rank equally with male officers of the same rank in the regular army. They were required to be saluted. They wore the same uniform, had the same privileges, entitlements, retirement benefits, same accommodation and they were in every respect on a par with the regular army. The discrimination against the military nurses began from 1996. The army discontinued their weapons and arms training though military nurses are required to go to the battle fronts if the situation demands. They are required to proceed to field service at any station in or out of India. They have served in the war and conflict zones in Sudan, Congo, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In India, they have been posted in Jammu & Kashmir. At Kargil, they were posted 2 km from the Line of Control and at Tangdhar, 1.5 km away. In Assam and the North-East, they have been posted in counter-insurgency and disturbed areas under Afspa. There, they are required to accompany the patients in ambulances when they are transferred from the conflict zones. In legal proceedings, they have been held to be combatants. In 2000, their uniforms were changed as the first step towards downgrading their status. In 2003, the senior officers of the army gave orders to other ranks and junior officers not to salute the MNS officers. Today, a jawan will refuse to salute a general of the MNS. In 2004, the army stripped the MNS officers of the rank of general from use of flags and stars on their cars. An MNS general on tour of INS Ashwini was discourteously told by the commanding officer to remove the flag and stars although it was a well-established practice for decades. Membership to institutes and clubs for officers of the armed forces were denied. Accommodation was refused in the command mess and the officers mess. Concessional travel in the railways was discontinued. Official communication refused to accept that they were officers. This went even further to suggest that they were not from the regular army. From the 6th Pay Commission onwards, discrimination began in pay, entitlements and promotions. Today, moves are afoot to take away the commissioned rank, to remove them from the regular army and to reduce them in status and dignity to a situation worse than that under the English Army. Army leadership is oblivious of the trend in modern armies worldwide. In Britain, there is no discrimination and nursing officers form part of the Royal Army, wearing the same uniforms and bearing the same insignias and ranks. They are saluted like every other officer. This is the situation in the United States. Recently, the head of the nursing service was made the commander of the Army Medical Command and retired as major general. This is also true of Nepal where nursing officers are on a par in every respect with the officers of the regular army. As are nursing officers in the whole of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. It is not good enough in this modern world to be a fighting force. The Indian Army must be a moral and ethical force operating under the Constitution, not oblivious of it. Colin Gonslaves is founder, Human Rights Law Network. Major General (Retd) Usha Sikdar served as additional director general, Military Nursing Service from 2003 to 2006 The views expressed are personal In 2005, as Indias ambassador to Israel, I presented my credentials, like my predecessors and successors, to the President of Israel in Jerusalem, where the bulk of Israels government, parliament and judiciary is located. For most official meetings, I had to travel from Tel Aviv, where our embassy is located, to Jerusalem and back. Visiting Indian officials would often, for convenience, stay in Jerusalem, as did Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit in July. All other countries, which have diplomatic relations with Israel, follow the same practice. Many avoid having meetings with Israeli officials in East Jerusalem. Many, similarly, resist or avoid mentioning Jerusalem in joint statements with Israel. United States President Donald Trump proclaimed on December 6 that it is time for the United States to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, while projecting it as a long overdue recognition of reality. This, however, is a significant step, from Israels point of view, in its quest to seek international legitimacy for its claims to the city. The original UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, inter alia creating the Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, had voted to establish a special UN administered international regime for the city of Jerusalem. This came to naught as Arab countries did not accept the division of Palestine, and in the resulting conflict West Jerusalem came under Israels control, as acknowledged in the armistice agreement between Israel and Jordan signed in 1949. Some international legitimacy to Israels presence in West Jerusalem was accorded by the May 1950 Tripartite Declaration of the US, UK and France that they would take action, both within and outside the UN, to prevent violation of the armistice lines of 1949. Further, the UN Security Council resolutions 242 of November 22, 1967, and 338 of October 22, 1973, called for withdrawal only to the 1949 lines, after the conflicts in those years. Those advocating for Israel since the late 19th century, have sought to advance their cause by also gaining support for their aspirations from the dominant global power of the day, recognising the wide differences of opinion between countries on the issue. British foreign secretary, Lord Balfour, in a letter dated November 2, 1917, conveyed that His Majestys Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. This eventually led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. In a letter dated April 14, 2004, to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, US President George Bush stated, inter alia, in light of new realities on the round including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. Since then proposals for West Asia peace often talk of land swaps to deal with post-1949 facts on the ground. Trumps proclamation would no doubt be seen as an endorsement of facts on the ground in support of Israeli aspirations. However, he did not go as far as US Congress or Israeli position. The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 of US Congress had spoken of Jerusalem as an undivided city, and capital of Israel. Trump said that he was not taking a position on final status issues including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders, and that these were for the parties to work out. He also did not say that the US embassy would start functioning there immediately. This was possible by renting of some symbolic premise, or converting their present consulate in Jerusalem into an embassy. While many in Israel would no doubt be gratified by this partial development, it has also placed the US in an isolated position internationally. In the UNSC debate on December 8, all the other 14 council members, including its European allies, the UK and France, opposed the US decision. However, it will play well with Trumps base and strengthen evangelical Christian and Jewish support for him domestically in the US. This would be important as his presidency struggles with continued innuendos of collaboration with Russia during the presidential election in 2016, and lack of any major foreign policy or domestic achievement. On December 7, the external affairs ministry spokesman, in response to a query, said that Indias position on Palestine is independent and consistent. It is shaped by our views and interests, and not determined by any third country. Keeping our embassy in Tel Aviv has not inhibited us from developing a strong bilateral relationship with Israel. We also established full diplomatic relations only in 1992, when many countries took similar steps after the dissolution of Soviet Union and in the wake of the Oslo Middle East Peace Process. Even as we should unhesitatingly consolidate bilateral relations with Israel, it is useful to remain in sync with the broader international consensus on Israel-Palestine issues. Arun K Singh is a former Indian ambassador to Israel The views expressed are personal Thirty-three years after the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, the victims and the adversely affected ecosystems await relief and remediation. Lessons from such industrial disasters create a compelling logic for an internationally binding treaty for transnational corporations (TNCs) and human rights. To this end, a UN resolution of 2014 created the UN open-ended intergovernmental working group and tasked it to prepare the text of such a treaty. Given the fact that corporations are admittedly not meant to be democratic public interest institutions, such negotiations on an enforceable treaty is of great significance. Prior to the current efforts initiated by Ecuador and supported by India, China, South Africa and others, to provide a legal remedy to wrongs committed by business enterprises, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights had approved the UN norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights. These norms emerged as a step towards ensuring corporate accountability in August 2003. But the report of the special representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights undermined these proposed mandatory norms under the influence of International Chamber of Commerce and the International Organization of Employers. It chose to promote the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in July 2011 as part of advocacy for the status quo of voluntary regulation by the companies while admitting that while corporations may be considered organs of society, they are specialised economic organs, not democratic public interest institutions. The tremendous influence of US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) became visible when I posed a question to the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in October this year. I asked him about the disposal of the 336 tonnes of hazardous waste lying in the UCC factory, its liability and the disclosure of the report of the judicial inquiry commission on the 1984 Bhopal disaster. The Chief Minister chose to maintain a studied silence about all these questions. Significantly, although the Justice SL Kochar led commission submitted its report to the state government in February 2015; it has not been made public as yet. In such a backdrop, it is remarkable that the foreign ministry under Sushma Swaraj changed Indias position with regard to a mandatory UN treaty. In its essence, the proposed treaty is an outcome of some 45 years of effort underlining that self-regulation by TNCs is not enough at all. In order to inspire confidence, the new efforts for an enforceable treaty must ensure that business enterprises are subservient to both peoples will and legislative will. It should ensure the primacy of human rights and public interest over private economic interests. It should reaffirm the hierarchical superiority of human rights norms over trade and investment treaties and develop specific state obligations in this regard. Gopal Krishna is a public policy and law researcher and editor of www.toxicswatch.org The views expressed are personal The Union health ministry has given its clearance to the Punjab government to shift 249 MBBS students who had enrolled at the Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot, to other medical colleges in the state. Following the clearance, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot will conduct a counselling for these students (of 2014 and 2016 batch) on December 18 (Monday) at the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot. College took 1st admission in 2011; ran without MCI approval The college started admissions in 2011, in spite of the fact that the regulator for medical education, the Medical Council of Indian (MCI), never granted it the mandatory approvals. The college failed to get due recognition for 2012-13 and 2013-14 sessions due to deficiencies in facilities. The college was granted permission to enrol second batch in 2014-15 after intervention by Supreme Court. The 2011 batch of students had earlier moved the Punjab and Haryana high court and have since long been shifted to other colleges. Students of 2014 and 2016 batches, however, faced a bleak future. These students moved the high court on April 26, 2016, seeking to shift to other colleges in the state claiming that their institute is short of infrastructure. However, the HC order of September 8, 2017, where it directed the state government to shift all students of 2014 batch of the college to other medical colleges across the state within two months came as relief for them. The students of 2014 MBBS batch will be shifted to government medical colleges at Patiala, Faridkot and Amritsar. The 2016 batch students will be shifted to any of the medical colleges across the state, including private institutes, as was done in the case of Gian Sagar College. College shut since November The college, owned by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swaran Salaria, was shut since November 4 when the Punjab government withdrew its essentiality certificate. The ministrys decision brings immense relief to students and parents who had been protesting in Delhi since Monday, seeking the clearance. On September 8, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the state government to shift all students of 2014 batch of the college to other medical colleges across the state within two months, as the college had failed to meet the standards set by the Medical Council of India. The ministry has granted approval for shifting and the matter has been communicated to the state government, DVK Rao, undersecretary, health ministry told HT. MCI secretary Reena Nayyar also confirmed the development to HT. Dr Sushil Garg, president, Chintpurni Medical College Parents Association, confirmed the development, and said, It has been a victory for students and is the result of collective efforts of all stakeholders. A student Rohan (name changed) said, We are happy at the approval and request the state government to shift us soon. We will make a fresh start in our careers. Before decision, 30 students detained, released after four hours The Delhi Police, on Wednesday, detained 30 protesting students, including 12 girls, at the Mandir Marg police station in the capital after picking them up from near Nirman Bhawan. They were released after four hours. Around 250 students had been protesting in New Delhi since Monday, seeking clearance of the Union health ministry to be shifted to other medical colleges in Punjab. A Pakistani jail superintendent on Tuesday recorded his statement before an additional district and sessions judge, Lahore, in the murder case of Indian national Sarabjit Singh who was killed by fellow prisoners in 2013. Two Pakistani death row prisoners Amir Sarfraz, alias Tamba, and Mudassar in May 2013 had attacked Sarabjit, 49, in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and killed him. Additional district and sessions judge Amin Haider on Tuesday recorded the statement of the Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent in the murder case of Sarabjit Singh. Two more witnesses have been summoned for the next hearing next week, an official at the jail told PTI. He said the court proceedings in this case have been resumed after several months. The judicial commission led by justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore high court had investigated the Sarabjit murder case before the trial began at the Lahore sessions court. Naqvi had recorded the statements of some 40 witnesses in the case and submitted his report to the government, which is yet to make public its findings. The one-man commission had also issued notices to Sarabjits relatives through the foreign ministry to record their statements and to produce any evidence they have regarding his death. Sarabjits family had not recorded their statements. In their statements to the commission, Tamba and Mudassar confessed to the crime and said they killed Sarabjit as they wanted to avenge the death of people in Lahore and Faisalabad blasts allegedly carried out by him. Both suspects have been indicted in the murder case. Sarabjit, a native of Bhikhiwind village in Tarn Taran district, was awarded death sentence for spying charges and killing at least 14 Pakistani citizens in bomb blasts in Punjab province in 1990. His family, however, said: He was the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border. The new Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Basria, said that he would prepare a ground at the diplomatic level to normalise ties between the two countries. Before leaving for the neighbouring country via the Attari-Wagah checkpoint, he paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and hoped that relations between both countries would improve. Bisaria, a senior Indian diplomat and the 25th high commissioner to Pakistan, also visited the Partition Museum in Amritsar. Museum chief executive officer (CEO) Malika Ahluwalia was present. The Border Security Force gave him a ceremonial guard of honour at Attari border. Basria is taking over from outgoing high commissioner Gautam Bambawale. Earlier, he was Indias envoy to Poland. She was well on her way to personifying Ruskin Bonds iconic tale, Susannas Seven Husbands, which was made popular by the Priyanka Chopra movie Saat Khoon Maaf. Closer home, the Punjabi film RSVP: Ronde Sare Vyah Picho on a con woman who married men to rob them of their wealth, could well have been based on her, if the allegations are true. Meet Paramjit Kaur of Gharachon village in Sangrur who had four husbands, starting with Major Singh, then Gurdev Singh, Jagir Singh and Kartar Singh, and had gotten engaged to the fifth, Pushpinder Dass, a resident of Loheakhera. Luck ran out and she was arrested on Tuesday morning on a complaint by Dass, who alleged that she had defrauded him of money and gold after promising to take him abroad post the wedding. This was not the first time, as per the FIR. Kaur, in her early 50s now, got the men interested via matrimonial advertisements in vernacular newspapers describing herself as a 40-year-old with NRI connections. She targeted men who were widowed and wanted to remarry. After marriage, she took the money from her husband(s) on different pretexts, and left the house, never to return, said William Jejji, deputy superintendent of police, Sunam, under whose jurisdiction the area falls. With Dass, her engagement took place on August 7, and the next day she allegedly took Rs 50,000 from him, saying that her mother needed medical care. Later, she took 8 tola gold (80gm, worth Rs 2.4 lakh) and Rs 10 lakh from him, promising to take him abroad, police said. At the time of her arrest, Rs 7 lakh and 7 tola gold were seized from her. In July 2012, she married Jagir Singh, a resident of Amritsar. She fled with Rs 25 lakh from his house. She was also booked for cheating at Maqboolpura police station on July 30, 2012, the DSP said. Kartar Singh belonged to Kharar, and Gurdev Singh to Sangrur. Her first husband, who died, was Major Singh from her village. Kaur has been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (conspiracy) at the Longowal police station. A man named Harwinder Singh alias Rimpy, from Sanghreri village of the district, was arrested too. He used to play an NRI from Canada in the con jobs, police said. Jagsir Singh played her nephew, Jagtar Singh alias Laddi turned her cousin, and Joti Kaur was shown as her sister. They are yet to be arrested. Essais 2 couv livre bijoux [Photo provided to China Daily] Since creating her first piece of "jewellery as art" for her mother in the 1980s at the age of 16, Dominique Favey Blackmore has made thousands of pieces. Today, her limited run of baroque-style rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets are worn by celebrities and royalty around the world. Following in the footsteps of her father, Blackmore studied sculpture at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, with surrealist sculptor Isabelle Waldberg as her mentor. She was still a student when designer Paco Rabanne asked her to contribute to his new haute couture collection and this proved to be her baptism by fire. "His sculptor was ill and I stepped in to take his place," she recalls. "I didn't know how to weld, but I worked night and day with my friends from Beaux-Arts and the wager was won. We turned out some incredible pieces." The collaboration ended up lasting more than 10 years; technically and creatively, each collection represented a new and extreme challenge: "I made Mary Queen of Scots collars, draped pieces and bustiers in metal lace." During this period, Blackmore also worked with Emanuel Ungaro and Christian Lacroix. The jewellery and adornments she conceived for their fashion shows as well as for her own creations combined the subtlety of lost-wax casting with the rough effect of welded metal. We know Bond, James Bond! But who is the Bond of this Venkat Prabhu directorial starring Jai, Siva, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Naasar, Shaam, Sampath and Nivetha Pethuraj? We will have to wait for the film to know that. Meanwhile, the teaser of Party, which was released on Wednesday, asks one important question to be answered. Where is Bond? Set in an island in Bangkok, this movie could be a heist parody. The teaser is high on all the elements that make for a fun party. The music for this film is composed by Venkat Prabhus brother Premgi Amaren, who has been a permanent fixture in Venkat Prabhu films. The background score of the teaser elevates the mood and by the end of the 90-second video we are left in splits over Baahubali Sathyarajs avatar. Venkat Prabhu is also well-known for infusing humour inspired from everyday life. In Party, he has made use of the governments demonetisation move, complete with Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech when he announced the move. Is the film about currency that is no longer useful after a heist? Come to think of it, Venkat Prabhu has done it again. He has caught the attention of audience with a peek into the Party Prabhu is ready to host soon. Is the film looking for a New Years release? Or is the Happy New Year in the teaser a mere coincidence? Siva answers, They are planning to release the film soon. Party is Venkat Prabhus eighth directorial after Chennai 28 II innings and is produced by Amma Creations. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Looks like the fight against patriarchy is a long and protracted one. Whats worse is the consistent bullying by trolls in the age of internet. National award winning Malayalam actor Parvathy was the latest to get severely trolled for her views on misogyny. Speaking at a meet of the Women in Cinema Collective at the ongoing International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), the Qarib Qarib Singlle actor spoke out against the deep-rooted misogyny in Malayalam cinema, according to a Times of India report. Although she did not take any names, the report said she was referring to Malayalam heavyweight Mammoottys 2016 film Kasaba to illustrate her point. I had watched a film recently, to my bad luck. With all respect to the makers, the film disappointed me, as it featured a great actor spitting totally misogynistic dialogues. A lot of people feel cinema reflects life and society, so when a superstar mouths such a dialogue, people might think its sexy and cool, Parvathy was quoted as saying by the daily. Soon enough trolls got into action, attacking Parvathy incessantly, with one saying: Who are you to talk about Mammootty? We are intelligent enough to differentiate life and cinema and The films character demanded the dialogues, the report said. However, there were many who supported her as well. Can Mammooty be blamed for mouthing his scriptwriters macho dialogues? Yes, if they glorify and normalise misogyny. Thats what he has done in Kasaba. Should have kept away as P. Gopichand has done with cola ads. I think Parvathy nuanced it well. Need more of this. N.S. Madhavan (@NSMlive) December 12, 2017 At IFFK, Parvathy also said that the narrative of cinema needed to change in favour of women and stressed on the need for women to be financially independent. Women in Cinema, the subject at the open forum where she was speaking, brought new perspectives on the role of women in the 90-year-long history of Malayalam Cinema. Sharing a traumatic personal experience, Parvathy said she was engaged in an abusive relationship in her younger days and endured it because of the wrong perception of relationships that she had learnt from Malayalam films of that time. We grew up watching the hero who receives applause in theatres when he slaps a woman on screen. There arent many movies which explore the sexuality of women in Malayalam Cinema till now. It is through books that I gained the right perspective, she said. The actor, who won the Golden Peacock award at the IFFI 2017 for her performance in Malayalam film Take Off based on the struggles of Kerala nurses in war-torn Iraq, also said that our film industry was a failure in depicting characters without emphasising their gender. The forum also discussed the recent sexual attack on a prominent Malayalam actress and the formation of Mollywoods first womens collective. The panelists included actors Parvathi and Rima Kallingal, cinematographers Fowzia Fatima and Maheen, directors Vidhu Vincent, Geethu Mohandas, and Suma Jose and film critic Deedi Damodaran. Director Vidhu said the film festival was changing the undercurrents of Malayalam cinema, especially for women. She said some producers were unwilling to make movies with the actor who was attacked, suggesting that a part of the industry had erased her from the cinema sphere. Actor Rima said challenges and boundaries of women in cinema were widening every day. How many women are economically able or have an open space to go to the theatres alone? she asked. What we want is equal representation for all in Malayalam Cinema let it be men, women, and transgender, gay or lesbian. We frown when we watch two men or two women making out on the screen because we are not used to it. We have to see more of that every day in our movies to change it, Rima added. Cinematographer Maheen felt the grammar of current cinema was extremely misogynistic, but its language was slowly changing. Parvathy receives the Silver Peacock award for her Malayalam drama Take Off at the recently concluded IFFI from tourism minister of Uttar Pradesh, Prof Rita Bahuguna Joshi. (IANS) Director-actor Geethu said she had the privilege of working with some male directors who consider everyone as equal. The formation of Womens Collective in Cinema (WCC) happened at a time of extreme need. A few of us came together the next day after we heard about the tragic experience one of us had to go through. Thats where this core team was formed, she said. Cinematographer Fowziya shared her bitter experiences in shooting item numbers for movies. She said showing nudity on screen is OK if it is aesthetically needed, but women shouldnt be just flesh-oriented performers. With PTI inputs Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Australia stands willing to join the Malabar naval exercises whenever the three participants invite it, the countrys foreign secretary Frances Adamson said on Wednesday. Adamson was in New Delhi for the first 2 + 2 talks between the foreign and defence secretaries of India and Australia. The talks had focussed on the Indian Ocean and issues like maritime domain awareness, she said. The fourth round of the trilateral India-Japan-Australia talks were held on Wednesday. These talks, she said, had looked at cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole with an emphasis on North Korea, counterterrorism and cybersecurity. With the 2 + 2, trilateral and quadrilateral talks, which bring the United States into the fold, as well as another trilateral with Indonesia, New Delhi and Canberra interact on four small group geometric strategic platforms. Adamson said: The quadrilateral and the trilateral will exist alongside each other. The quadrilateral simply merged two existing trilateral arrangements into one, she pointed out. The recently released Australia foreign policy white paper, sister to last years defence white paper, placed India among the front rank of Australias international partnerships. The paper called for an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and for support to US global leadership. In Australia, the white paper was seen to take a strong position against Chinese assertiveness in the region, with a call for all countries to seek to settle the South China Sea dispute through international law and not, as Adamson said, by coercive economic power. India has had questions about Australias willingness to stand up to China, given the latter is Australias largest trading partner. Canberra had walked out of the original Quad set up during the George W Bush administration when a Labour government had come to power for fear of offending Beijing. This week saw a Labour senator, Sam Dastyari, resign over charges he had become a mouthpiece for Beijing. Adamson said the white papers principles have been broadly embraced by the opposition, and that there was bipartisan support of our management of relations with China. She said there were no more governmental barriers to uranium exports to India and it was now up to commercial players to take it forward. Canberra had appointed a former foreign secretary, Peter Varghese, to work out on an Indian economic strategy. China on Wednesday marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops, an enduring source of bad blood as present-day rivalry between the two countries keeps a spotlight on historical animosities. President Xi Jinping oversaw a memorial service with columns of black-clad mourners wearing a white flower on their jackets, braving freezing temperatures at a monument featuring statues of victims in the eastern city. Sirens blared at the start of the ceremony, while a giant peace bell tolled as doves were released into the air. According to China some 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after the invading Japanese military entered Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937. It remains one of the most fraught anniversaries for the two powerful neighbours due to stubborn disputes over the toll and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that the episode even took place. Many in China say this symbolises Japans unwillingness to completely atone for its wartime aggression. Officially, Japan concedes that the killing of a large number of non-combatants, looting and other acts occurred but says it is difficult to determine precise figures. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a memorial ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing. (AFP Photo) The issue receded during the Cold War but has re-emerged as China strikes an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder under conservative leader Shinzo Abe. China in 2014 formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising its profile. Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University, said Beijing wants to keep such memories alive as leverage against Japan in modern-day disputes such as maritime territorial squabbles. There are current conflicts between the two countries, so historical issues are re-emerging. All history is contemporary, Liang said. Japan thinks these historical issues should have ended but China keeps hammering them as it becomes more powerful. Commemorations centred on the sombre and poignant memorial hall and museum in Nanjing, with soldiers carrying a large wreath at the site as Xi stood sombrely. Beijing has said little about the anniversary, but a Chinese group this week reiterated its annual demand for Japan to compensate relatives of victims. Deep remorse Fewer than 100 people designated as massacre survivors remain alive, however, and both sides have repeatedly expressed a desire to look forward and avoiding rocking their huge trade relationship. But the spectre of Japanese aggression refuses to completely fade away. Abe, the grandson of a wartime minister, has been accused of trying to gloss over history. In 2015, he expressed deep remorse for Japans actions in Asia, but also said future Japanese generations need not continually apologise, drawing criticism in China and South Korea, another wartime victim. Japanese politicians have also repeatedly angered Asian neighbours by visiting Tokyos Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japans military dead including convicted war criminals. Chinas Nanjing toll is disputed even by some western academics who put it as low as the tens of thousands, but no respected historians dispute that a massacre occurred. In 2014, Xi marked the first National Remembrance Day with a speech in Nanjing saying the slaughter and its 300,000 deceased victims could not be denied. Japan invaded China in the 1930s and they fought a full-scale war between 1937 and 1945, until Japans defeat in World War II. China suffered immense loss of life, reserving special anger over a sense that Japan, unlike Germany, has never properly atoned. Relations plunged in 2005 as China was swept by rare anti-Japan protests denouncing its war conduct. But analysts say Chinas stability-obsessed leaders are deeply fearful of letting such passions re-emerge and potentially spiral out of control Authorities across the restive Xinjiang region in Chinas far west are collecting biometric data and DNA samples from millions of citizens aged between 12 and 65, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report on Wednesday. The ongoing campaign has made it mandatory to collect such data from all focus personnel, or citizens considered a threat to regional stability, regardless of age, the report said. It added that officials were collecting biodata in different ways. The Chinese government has dismissed the report. This organisation has a habit of issuing irresponsible remarks, foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular news briefing when he was asked about the report. You dont need to take the remarks very seriously, he added. The HRW report said: DNA and blood types are being collected through a free annual physical exams program called Physicals for All. It is unclear if the participants of the physicals are informed of the authorities intention to collect, store, or use sensitive DNA data. It quoted a report by the official Xinhua news agency dated November 1, 2017 that said 18.8 million people participated in the Physicals for All program in 2017. The mandatory data banking of a whole populations biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms, and its even more disturbing if it is done surreptitiously, under the guise of a free health care program, HRW director Sophie Richardson said. But the foreign ministry contended that the governments program is only aimed at improving the lives of the residents of Xinjiang. Xinjiangs stability and peoples happy and harmonious lives is a fact on the ground. Some people outside refuse to acknowledge this. The Chinese government is committed to enhancing the life of the people of Xinjiang, spokesperson Lu said. The report, however, said this new campaign was part of pervasive restrictions on Xijiangs population comprising nearly 11 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities. The Chinese government has imposed pervasive restrictions on their fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion. Since the appointment of Party Secretary Chen Quanguo in August 2016, the Xinjiang regional government has enacted further repressive policies, including restricting foreign travel and forcing those studying abroad to return, detaining thousands in political education facilities and, and hiring thousands more as security personnel to monitor the population, the report said. The report quoted a document posted on a Xinjiang government website that said the main goal of the new scheme is to fully and accurately verify the real number of Xinjiang's population, to collect the images, fingerprints, iris scans, blood types, and DNA biometrics of those between the age of 12 and 65. The HRW report said a US-based company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, supplied the Xinjiang police with some of these DNA sequencers. The campaigns stated goal is to improve the delivery of health services and the HRW report said testimonies include where people received treatment for previously undiagnosed illnesses, and in some cases saving their lives. In a major setback to Donald Trump, a Republican endorsed by the US president despite the many allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour against the candidate, was projected to lose the Senate race in Alabama, a deeply conservative state that last elected a Democrat 25 years ago. Roy Moore, who had been abandoned by most of his own party leaders, was projected by US media on Tuesday to lose to Democrat Doug Jones in a battle that wasnt a battle until the allegations of sexual misconduct began surfacing, including by a woman who was underage at the time. But Moore, who was running to fill a seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions who is Trumps attorney general, refused to concede the race and said in brief remarks that the votes were still being counted write-in votes, absentee ballots and that he would wait on God and let this process play out. Trump was not going to wait though. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory, he tweeted. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 But he did seek personal vindication in the poll outcome, adding in another tweet on Wednesday morning that he had supported Moores Republican rival in the primaries because I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him! White House watchers said Moores defeat could test the presidents relations with his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who had advised him to back the Republican candidate, which he did despite stiff opposition from some in his own family, such as daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump. After initially holding back his endorsement, Trump had come to fully embrace Moore, arguing that if the allegations were proven, the Republican candidate should step aside. Until then he had the presidents support because he needed every vote in the Senate to push his legislative agenda, which has had an iffy run thus far. Trump broke with most members of his party including the senior Republican senator from Alabama Richard Shelby who had announced they would not vote for Moore. Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, publicly announced he had donated to Doug Jones campaign. Jones, a former US attorney who had prosecuted two members of the Ku Klux Klan for a 1963 bombing of a church in which four African Americans girls had been killed, will be the first Democrat Alabama has sent to the US senate since 1992, once state officials certify the election. His upset victory, if it happens as projected, would owe as much to Moores deeply flawed candidacy as to the Democrats cranking up their party machine to pouring money and resources sensing a chance, howsoever small at the time, of victory. The turnout of African Americans proved critical in the end. The stunning victory in Alabama was being seen as another sign of a resurgent Democratic party buoyed by the sweep in Virginia, a swing state, and New Jersey, a state the party snatched back from Republicans in November. Moore, a former judge known for extreme right views on African Americans, Muslims and Jewish people and LGBTQ, was hit by slew of allegations of sexual misconduct by women from the time he was a prosecutor. One of his accusers was only 14 at the time she said she was assaulted. He has denied the allegations. A senior FBI agent removed from special counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe this year referred to US President Donald Trump before his election as an idiot, in emails turned over to the Senate, US media reported. Peter Strzok, a senior counterintelligence investigator, also suggested that the Republican Party needs to pull their head out of their ass, USA Today reported. Strzok was removed from Muellers staff earlier this year after Justice Department investigators began reviewing whether investigators had shown bias against Trump. Strzoks reference to Trump as an idiot came in an email exchange with another agent, Lisa Page, in August, 2015. I just saw my first Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. Made me want to key the car, Page wrote. Hes an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out, Strzok replied. In a March 2016 message, Page exclaimed: God trump is a loathsome human....omg hes an idiot. Hes awful, Strzok replied. Special counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from his Russia election meddling probe this summer after becoming aware of the emails. Page by that time had already ended her assignment in Muellers office, according to Politico, one of several US news organizations that obtained copies of the email. The messages turned up as part of a Justice Department inspector general investigation into potential political influence on investigative decisions during the campaign. Some Republicans have urged that a second special counsel be named to investigate Muellers operation. At least 375 texts were turned over by the Justice Department. Mueller is looking into whether Trump campaign aides or associates colluded with Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election in the Republican real estate moguls favor. Former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy advisor who maintained Russian contacts, have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Former Trump campaign Paul Manafort and his partner Rick Gates have pleaded not guilty to money-laundering charges related to their previous political work in Ukraine. Senior FBI officials who helped probe Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign told a colleague that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had to win the race to the White House, the New York Times has reported. Peter Strzok, a senior FBI agent, said Clinton just has to win in a text sent to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, the Times reported on Tuesday. The messages showed concern from Strzok and Page that a Trump presidency could politicise the FBI, the report said, citing texts turned over to Congress and obtained by the newspaper. Justice department inspector general Michael Horowitz is investigating the texts in a probe into the FBIs handling of its investigation into Clintons use of a private email server for official correspondence when she was Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama, the report added. Strzok was removed from working on the Russia probe after media reports earlier this month suggested he had exchanged text messages that disparaged Trump and supported Clinton. Strzok was involved in both the Clinton email and Russia investigations. Republicans, including Trump, have in recent weeks ramped up their attacks on the FBI and questioned its integrity. Special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees are investigating possible links between Donald Trumps campaign and Russia. Russia denies meddling in the 2016 US elections. The FBI, the Democratic National Committee and the White House did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. Reuters was unable to contact Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for comment. The AUD6.5 million program will support the nation to achieve its targets for improving the business environment and move Vietnam towards a more market-based economy. Aus4Reform will assist the development and implementation of economic policies, laws and institutions critical to helping Vietnams economy meet its potential. Besides, the 4-year long initiative will also build linkages between Australian and Vietnamese institutions to share expertise and experience. Photo: Binh Chau Vietnam has a long history of pursuing economic reform and Australia is proud to have offered our support throughout this process. Economic reform is tough, but Australia will continue to support Vietnam on this journey, said Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Craig Chittick, at the launching ceremony held in Hanoi. The support will help Vietnam register one million new formal private enterprises by 2020, increase the percentage of women-led enterprises and accelerate the growth in private sector employment. Aus4Reform brings together Vietnams leading think-tanks and Government agencies responsible for economic policy making and implementation, including the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), Vietnam Competition and Consumer Agency (VCCA), Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Party Central Committee's Economic Commission and National Assembly Economic Committee. It builds on the reform momentum achieved through previous Australias support including Beyond WTO and Restructuring for a more competitive Vietnam./. Former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri, at the centre of a controversy after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was involved in a conspiracy with Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar to influence the Gujarat election, has described the accusation as perplexing and saddening. Kasuri acknowledged he had attended a dinner at Aiyars home in New Delhi on December 6 at which former premier Manmohan Singh, former vice president Hamid Ansari, former army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, several retired diplomats and the Pakistani high commissioner were present. But he said even the name of Gujarat was not uttered at the gathering by any of the persons present. The gathering had focused only on India-Pakistan relations and ways to improve them. And even if there was any conspiracy, please keep in mind that these were not just people from the Congress party. There were several journalists such as Prem Shankar Jha. What is their connection to the Congress party? What is Gen Deepak Kapoors link with the Congress? Khurshid Kasuri This is very perplexing and saddening, Kasuri said during an appearance on the talk show Apas ki baat on Geo News on Tuesday night. Where top former foreign ministry officials are present, what will they discuss about the Gujarat elections with me? I cant understand this, even the name of Gujarat was not taken there, he said. And even if there was any conspiracy, please keep in mind that these were not just people from the Congress party. There were several journalists such as Prem Shankar Jha. What is their connection to the Congress party? What is Gen Deepak Kapoors link with the Congress? he asked. Kasuri, an old India hand who served as foreign minister in military ruler Pervez Musharrafs regime, said he had gone to New Delhi at the invitation of the local branch of the Aspen Foundation of the US to talk on India-Pakistan relations. Aiyar, with whom he had studied in Cambridge University, had organised the dinner in his honour. A total of 18 to 19 people were there and the theme was Pakistan-India dialogue and ties, and how they could be improvedExcept for Manmohan Singh, who said he did not think it was fit for him to talk and remained silent and just listened, the others spoke and after that I was asked to answer their questions, he said. I gave my answers and I said what I have always said that Pakistan and India have no option but to hold a dialogue and to find a solution to the Kashmir issue through bilateral talks. This was what was discussed and even the name of Gujarat was not taken. Kasuri noted that India was no longer an issue in Pakistans elections and said it was unfortunate that Pakistan constantly crept up as an issue in Indian polls, including the recent elections in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. This makes it clear that may be through polarisation, the BJP thinks it will get more votes. It is very unfortunate that there is such thinking in such a big country that is the worlds second most populous and described as the biggest democracy. He added, A private gathering is being used in such a way in the hope that polarisation and hatred towards Pakistan will increase and votes will be gained. After Modi contended that the Congress was colluding with Pakistan, former premier Manmohan Singh demanded he should apologise for spreading falsehood and canards to score political points. Pakistans Foreign Office too has responded to Modis allegations, describing them as utterly baseless and irresponsible. India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted on Sunday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An Indian-origin student was sentenced to 10 months in jail in Singapore for taking the services of an underage prostitute and not paying her in May last year, a media report said. Hari Kumar Anpalagan, 25, was found guilty of having sex with the girl, who admitted she was 14 years old and was providing services in exchange for cash, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday. You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl... You added salt to the wound by not paying her, district judge Kenneth Yap chided Hari on Tuesday. Following a three-day trial, Hari was convicted on one count of hiring a sex worker who was below 18 years old. The court heard that Hari responded to the girls post on the Tagged social network app in which she requested help to buy a new mobile phone. He offered to assist and asked what he would receive in return. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive SGD 70. The pair met at around 9pm in May last year at the void deck of her apartment block. She told him then that she was 16, but this did not deter Hari from engaging her services. Later, the girl told Hari that she would wait for him downstairs before running off. He left without paying her. The offences came to light when the girls school found out about her activities. The police were notified, and officers arrested Hari after they found text messages between him and the girl when they searched her mobile phone. Hari, who was unrepresented, had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed in his defence that he met the girl out of the goodness of his heart to give her SGD70 to help her buy a phone. Hari asked the court to defer his sentence to a later date, saying that he had to complete an internship. He will be back in court on January 5. According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for investigations for having sex with the girl. For engaging the services of an underage prostitute, Hari could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined. The Israeli air force hit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday lightly wounding three people, after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military and Gaza security officials said. Israel also arrested a number of senior Hamas members in the occupied West Bank overnight, including one of its leaders in the territory. Late on Tuesday, the military said that an undefined projectile was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was very probably a rocket but that it was not clear where it hit. Palestinians in the coastal territory have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel air force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said on Wednesday. Gaza security officials said that aircraft hit a Hamas naval base west of the city of Khan Yunis and open land nearby. Three Palestinians were lightly wounded in the strikes, the health ministry in Gaza said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side. Those arrested overnight included Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist movement. He was arrested in Ramallah, a Hamas statement said. Yousef is a member of the largely defunct Palestinian parliament elected in 2006 and was jailed between 2012 and 2014. A spokeswoman for Israels Shin Beth domestic security agency told AFP: He was arrested because of his involvement in encouraging and directing Hamas activity in the West Bank. Yousefs son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, gained prominence in recent years after a film was released detailing his spying for Israel, called The Green Prince. Yousef disowned his son after he admitted to spying on Hamas for Israel. Trumps announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or retaliatory Israeli air strikes so far. Connecticut police say a man threw another man 45 feet off a bridge because he intervened in an argument between the suspect and his girlfriend. Shelton police charged Gregory Rottjer with attempted murder in connection with the Thanksgiving morning encounter that left the victim seriously injured. He faces arraignment. Rottjers friend Matthew Dorso was charged with assault while Rottjers girlfriend, Jennifer Hannum, was charged with lying to police. Police say Rottjer and Hannum were arguing as they walked across the bridge over the Housatonic river between Derby and Shelton. The victim and his brother asked Hannum if she was OK, which prompted Rottjer and Dorso to start a fight that ended with the victim in the water. It was unclear if the suspects had lawyers. Bangladesh has found no evidence linking a Bangladeshi man charged with an attempted suicide bombing in New York with militants in Bangladesh, its counter-terrorism chief told Reuters on Wednesday. US prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of Islamic State, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation. Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground pedestrian corridor between New Yorks Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. We have collected evidence and information from his family members: his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Monirul Islam, head of the Bangladesh polices counter-terrorism unit, said in an interview. In Bangladesh we have not found any connection or have not been able to identify any of his associates who were or are involved with any terrorist groups. A US enforcement official familiar with the investigation of the attack said officers had found evidence that Ullah had watched Islamic State propaganda on the internet. Islam and his team interviewed Ullahs wife and other relatives for several hours, after picking them up at their rented apartment in central Dhaka. Ullah, a US resident since 2011, had come back to Bangladesh to see his family in September, spending most of the time at home with their six-month-old son, Islam said. Usually, he did not mix with any of his friends or relatives here. Most of the time he spent time in the house, Islam said. Were looking for his associates who he used to go to college or school with. Were looking for them, weve not identified anyone yet. Isolated incident Members of the family declined to talk to Reuters when approached at the apartment on Wednesday. Islam said Bangladesh had passed on information on Ullah to US security agencies, although there was no joint investigation. Im not sure whether they will send any formal request for an investigation or inquiry. If they do, well comply with the request because weve given highest priority on this issue because we have a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. Ullahs relatives were under surveillance and would not be allowed to leave Dhaka without police permission. None has a passport. Both Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed several attacks in Bangladesh over the past few years, the most notable being the murder of 22 people, most of them foreigners, in an upmarket restaurant in Dhaka last year. Analysts have said Islamic State could try to radicalise young men in Muslim-majority Bangladesh as the organisation faces reversals in places such as Syria and Iraq. But Islam said Ullahs was an isolated incident and Bangladesh would act decisively against any such activity, wherever it occurred. If any Bangladeshi national is involved in any such activity were ready to deal with it with utmost strictness, he said. A high court in Pakistan barred the government on Wednesday from releasing a former top Taliban militant who had surrendered in April this year. Ehsanullah Ehsan, who was associated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and later its splinter group Jamaat-ul Ahrar (JuA), had voluntarily surrendered to security forces. A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi passed the order on a petition filed by the father of a student who was killed in the December 16 attack on an army public school in Peshawar. The petitioner had said that the government was planning to give clemency to Ehsan. The government had said that it was still investigating the former TTP spokesperson. The court asked the government to continue its probe against Ehsan and barred it from releasing him on any ground and keep the court updated about the proceedings. JuA was behind the horrific attack on Lahores Mall Road earlier this year in which 13 people were killed and over 100 others injured. Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a local cement factory to fill water in the pond of Katas Raj temple in Chakwal within a week, taking cognisance of reports that such factories had caused the drying of the water body. The Bestway Cement factory, which was asked to fill the pond of the Hindu shrine, is one of the four major cement production units in the area. A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar is hearing a suo motu case based on media reports that the pond is drying out due to water consumption by these factories. The factories are reportedly draining the pond through a number of wells which have reduced the subsoil water level the created shortages for domestic users as well. On Wednesday, the bench expressed anger over the continued absence of Bestway Cement's counsel. It told the Punjab government to provide details of the conditions under which the authorities had allowed the construction of cement factories in the area. The court also sought reports on the environmental pollution caused by factories there. The prosecution claims that the cement factories have worsened the risks of breast cancer and respiratory diseases among people living nearby. We will not allow cement factories to operate at the cost of people's health, the chief justice said on Wednesday. The SC had also expressed dismay over the absence of representations of Hindu deities in the historic Sri Ram and Hanuman temples in the complex and sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in this regard. The ETPB, which oversees the temple's affairs, had informed the SC that idols of Hindu deities had been removed from the temples on fears of reprisal attacks following the demolition of the Babri Mosque in India in 1992. The temples were then locked up to prevent desecration that might be caused by wild jackals and bats in the area. The court was perturbed to learn that Hindu pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals. The authorities had later requested an Indian political leadership to donate some idols, but it was not granted, the ETPB chairman said in a written response. The chairman also claimed that no religious services are held in Shri Ram and Hanuman temples since they are archaeological sites. The Shiv Ling was present in all temples where people come to worship, he said. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan had earlier asked the ETBP counsel whether the statues are with the institution or had been sold off. The board is charged with looking after places of worship of those religious communities whose numbers are now so low that they cannot afford the upkeep of these places. The chief justice had lamented the governments inability to safeguard one of the Hindu communitys most revered places of worship, where the main pond is drying up as nearby cement factories are drawing away the sub-soil water through boring. He said that Katas Raj was a national heritage site and must be protected. He ordered a committee be set up to probe the issue. Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi King Salman said Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away. The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian peoples legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital, the king said. Salmans address to the kingdoms Consultative Council came as the worlds main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to last weeks US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. The king renewed his condemnation of President Donald Trumps decision, saying it represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions. At Wednesdays summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the world to recognise east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani -- a Saudi arch foe -- used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at Washingtons Arab allies. Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine, he said. Jordanian King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit. But Saudi Arabia, which hosts the pan-Islamic blocs secretariat, sent only a senior foreign ministry official. US senator Kirsten Gillibrand fired back at President Donald Trump on Tuesday and said she would not be silenced after he attacked her on Twitter for calling for an investigation into accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct against him. Six US senators, including Gillibrand, have said Trump should resign. Trump lambasted Gillibrand on Twitter on Tuesday writing, Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Schumer is the Senate Democratic leader. Gillibrand, whose name has been floated as a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, said she would not back down. It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue, she told reporters at a news conference. Trump did not answer a reporters question at a White House event later on Tuesday when asked what he meant by the tweet. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, told that some people thought Trumps tweet contained sexual innuendo, said, Only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way ... its obviously talking about political partisan games that people often play and the broken system. Sanders told a regular White House briefing that Trump had used similar language previously to refer to men of both major parties. Other Democratic lawmakers rallied behind Gillibrand, including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, another possible 2020 presidential candidate. In a tweet directed at Trump, Warren wrote on Tuesday, Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who youre picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted. US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Trumps attack on Gillibrand was nasty, unbecoming of a president, but he did not join her call for Trump to resign the presidency over sexual misconduct accusations. More than a dozen women have accused Trump, a New York-based real estate developer and former reality television star, of making unwanted sexual advances against them years before he entered politics. Trump, a Republican, has denied the allegations. Reuters has not independently verified the accusations against Trump. Interest in accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct came to the fore again on Monday when three women who had previously accused Trump of misconduct called on the US Congress to investigate his behaviour. On Tuesday, a fourth woman who had also previously made similar accusations backed their call for an investigation during an interview with NBC. Nearly 60 female Democratic US lawmakers called for an investigation in a letter on Monday. By Tuesday, the group said many male colleagues had also joined on, bringing the number to more than 100 lawmakers in the US House of Representatives. Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, responded to the group in a letter on Tuesday that said, The specific allegations set forth in your letter constitute crimes, both federal and state. Gowdy noted that congressional panels cannot prosecute crimes so he was forwarding the groups letter to the Justice Department. He added that any charges not alleging crimes should go to the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over allegations related to fitness for office and non-criminal matters. Trump has called the accusations fabricated stories and he has said he did not know his accusers. On Monday, Gillibrand called the allegations credible and called on Trump to resign over them. The attention to sexual harassment accusations against Trump comes amid a wave of similar accusations against prominent men in Hollywood, the media and politics in recent months. Federal Election Commission records showed Trump gave $4,800 to Gillibrands Senate campaign in 2010, and that he donated $2,100 to her in 2007 while she was a member of the House of Representatives. Concerns over sexual impropriety have become a political issue the United States, leading to the resignations of two Democratic and one Republican lawmaker. Reuters has not independently verified accusations against them. The issue of sexual harassment has also become central to Tuesdays US Senate election in Alabama after accusations of misconduct were made against Republican candidate Roy Moore. The White House said on Monday that the womens accusations against Trump were false and totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts and later promised to provide a list of those accounts to reporters. On Tuesday, the White house sent a list of three 2016 media reports, including a New York Post interview with a British man who disputed one of the accusers accounts of alleged groping and said he never saw it happen. It also included New York Daily News and CNN reports with two other former pageant participants supporting Trump. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine in response to the recognition of the city by President Donald Trump as Israels capital. I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, he told leaders from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered for an emergency meeting in Istanbul, saying Islamic countries would never give up on this demand. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said the Trump administrations decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was the greatest crime and a flagrant violation of international law. Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine, he told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey. He said the United States was giving away Jerusalem as if it were an American city. It crosses all the red lines, he said. Abbas said it was unacceptable for the United States to have a role in the Middle East peace process because it was biased in favour of Israel. This support, delivered through Aus4Skills - an Aus4Vietnam investment, aims to assist the School to become a leading institution in human rights education in Vietnam. Fourteen postgraduate scholarships were presented at the event. Through a grant agreement and technical assistance from Australian human rights experts, Aus4Skills will strengthen the postgraduate program on Human Rights Law by updating and teaching selected subjects of the Master degree program in Human Rights Law and supporting seminars as well as research workshops on human rights at the School of Law. Photo: PV/CPV As a pioneer in providing tertiary and postgraduate education on human rights in Vietnam, the School of Law has been working with international donors, including Australia, to improve the quality of this important field of education in Vietnam. Support from the Australian Government will help the School provide world-class postgraduate education on human rights law to Vietnamese students and experts, said Associate Prof. Dr Nguyen Thi Que Anh, Vice Dean, in charge of School of Law. The collaboration activities between the lecturers and professors at the School of Law and Australian academics and experts will help strengthen the linkages and mutual understanding on human rights. One of the five pillars of our engagement on human rights issues during Australias term on the United Nations Human Rights Council for the period 2018-2020 is human rights capacity building. Support to the School of Law, Vietnam National University-VNU Hanoi for the postgraduate program in Human Rights Law is an example of how Australia is trying to advance human rights across the region and the world in a practical and sensible way, stressed Mr Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam./. This might not go down well in Pakistan. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says dealing with North Korea and Pakistan in the same breath is part of his job that he doesnt enjoy. And not just in a manner of speaking. Asked if he enjoys his job, as the countrys top diplomat, Tillerson, said, The actual task at hand of dealing with North Korea? I dont enjoy that. I mean but I enjoy working with Susan Thornton (the senior state department official dealing with North Korea) on it. Dealing with Pakistan I dont enjoy that. But I enjoy dealing with Alice Wells (top state department official for South Asia) and Ambassador Hale (US ambassador to Pakistan David Hale) on it. Tillerson was doing a Town-Hall style meeting a mix of speech and question-answer sessions at the State Department, during which he did a review of the state of Americas diplomacy, engagements and ties around the world. His lack of joy in working on North Korea and Pakistan even if he said so to make a point that he likes his colleagues more than their millstone was a reflection of the frustration felt in this town, irrespective of the party in power, with two of Americas most intractable diplomatic challenges. The Trump administration has struggled to deal with an aggressive North Korea with the back and forth between their leaders frequently degenerating into name-calling and a Pakistan that remains cynically reluctant to give up its terrorists despite threats of repercussions and financial aid cuts. But North Korea is one of the three countries the United States has declared rogue states (along with Syria and Iran), but Pakistan is a non-NATO ally and a recipient of tangible and intangible American largesse. The Trump administration has put Pakistan on notice, personally by President Donald Trump through multiple speeches, and it has been delivered certain asks directly during visits by Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Tillerson did discuss Pakistan at some length at the Town Hall. It was still an important and valued partner, but he said, over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and weve got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest. Today thats just not the case. So the United States is engaged in very, very frank discussions with Pakistan (frank discussions in diplomacy are usually not very pleasant) over the concerns we have about their own stability and their own future and the threat theyre under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory. The United States believes there has been no perceptible change in Pakistans counter-terrorism efforts despite the tough message it was sent in President Trumps new South Asia strategy. There has been no change, a top American general told reporters recently. And that is a mounting concern. As Tillerson put it at the Town Hall: A lot of work left to do. French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stark warning on climate change at a summit in Paris on Tuesday, telling world leaders we are losing the battle against global warming. Were not moving fast enough, thats the problem, Macron told the One Planet Summit called to boost the 2015 Paris climate accord, which US President Donald Trump has renounced. We must all act because we will all be held to account, Macron told the gathering on an island in the River Seine, adding: We cannot say we did not know. Dozens of world leaders and hundreds of ministers, company bosses, and environmentalists attended the meeting held two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement on curbing emissions. The absence of the US was keenly felt at the talks, which focused on boosting investment in green energy and divesting from fossil fuels. Speaking ahead of the summit Macron said he was hopeful Trump would reconsider his decision to take the US out of the climate pact. Im not ready to renegotiate but Im ready to welcome him if he decides to come back, he told US broadcaster CBS, adding: Im pretty sure that my friend President Trump will change his mind in the coming months or years. Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin TD, has expressed reservations about the vacillation by UK Cabinet members in recent days over the UK-EU agreement and said that the Irish Government must now seek stronger assurances at the EU Council meeting on Thursday. This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading For Folk's Sake - An Evening of Music for Homelessness will take place Thursday 14th December. Hosted upstairs in the cosy confines of Anseo, the event will feature the best and brightest that Irish music has to offer with Paddy Hanna, Dowry, Ena Brennan, Fontaines D.C. Maija Sofia, Joey Gavin, Christofer Wilson, Ellie O'Neill and Brian Barron Music. While the evening is free, donations are strongly encouraged as all money raised will be going to the Peter McVerry Trust. Speaking with Hot Press, organiser Joey Gavin explained how this event has been a long time coming, "I wanted put on something like this for years, a big long gig, people coming in from the cold fussing about in winter coats with red noses and big smiles, this year we finally got it together. It's an attempt to hold up the values of this season and to locate what seems like a lost child in a supermarket on Black Friday.We're donating to Peter McVerry trust and I hope that our efforts will aid in a small way, the devastating homelessness crisis in Ireland.These musicians are my friends and I have a lot of admiration for what they do. There was no convincing needed, we all feel the burden of others and I'm super grateful that this has come together so well." Advertisement Grab yourself a hot whiskey and get on down to Anseo for 6pm Thursday 14th. The Port of Galveston is tapping an executive from the world's second-busiest cruise port as the island seeks to attract more vacationers and boost cargo operations. Rodger Rees, deputy executive director and chief financial officer at Port Canaveral in Florida, will take over as Galveston's port director in mid-January. His top priorities include increasing revenue and improving bond ratings needed to finance future projects. Attracting larger cruise ships can help toward the goal. Rees said Canaveral took in roughly $80 million when he started there five years ago but is expecting more than $100 million in fiscal 2018. Some 80 percent of this port revenue comes from cruise liners, and Rees said much of the expected increase can be attributed to these floating behemoths. "Galveston, with its proximity to Houston as well as the depth of the channel ... we should be able to draw larger ships into that area," Rees told the Chronicle on Tuesday. The Galveston Wharves board, which oversees the port, voted unanimously on Monday to hire Rees. It approved a salary of $240,000 and up to $20,000 for moving expenses. Rees replaces Michael Mierzwa, who retired at the end of 2016, and interim port director Peter Simons, who did not apply for the position. MORE: Galveston is the fastest-growing U.S. cruise terminal "Rodger brings a unique set of financial skills that I think will help the port as we kind of fine-tune," Simons said, "as we develop a financial plan for implementing our capital investment plan." That capital investment plan includes building a third cruise terminal. Galveston is the country's fourth-busiest cruise port. Canaveral, by comparison, ranks second in the U.S. and the world behind PortMiami. Canaveral had 2.1 million passenger embarkations in 2016 compared with 869,000 from Galveston, according to the Cruise Lines International Association. "His familiarity with the projects in Canaveral will bring some fresh insights in how we can grow the business," Simons said. Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray likewise described Rees' cruise experience as an asset for Galveston. Murray praised Rees for his leadership skills and for managing Port Canaveral's finances as it redeveloped terminals and, more recently, prepared to build a new terminal. Construction should start in 2018. "He did a great job for us, but I recognize the opportunity this presents for him," Murray said. Galveston originally forecast 946,000 passengers would embark on its cruises this year, but Hurricane Harvey forced some cancellations and reduced passenger loads on other ships. Embarkations will ultimately be closer to 900,000 people. Also on the Port of Galveston's capital investment plan is filling in slips that don't work especially well for vessels but could, instead, increase cargo throughput. The port also has land on Pelican Island that could be developed, Simons said. Rees cited the potential at Pelican Island as one of the draws for him. "At Port Canaveral, we're basically out of land," he said. Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough, who is also on the Wharves Board, highlighted the port's opportunity to create more well-paying jobs. "We need to make sure we're diversified," he said. "We think the cargo operations and some of the other things we can do with our port is really the best long-term economic development tool we have." He said the port has a wide variety of tenants and services, but he'd like to narrow that focus and become really good at a few things. One of the port's tenants, for instance, is Del Monte Foods. Maybe Galveston could work to attract other companies carrying refrigerated cargo. Wharves Board chairman Ted O'Rourke agreed that there are "a lot of opportunities for (Rees) on the cargo side." "He just comes with a good assortment of things that I think will be beneficial to the port," O'Rourke said. Rees will move here with his two sons, 8 and 10 years old, and his wife. His first work-related task will be getting to know the employees and trustees. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Braeswood homeowner Valerie Caraway had a contractor and a $25,000 insurance check to start fixing up her flooded house. But because the check was made out to her and her mortgage company, she wasn't able to immediately cash it. Two weeks passed before she got the money. "In my mind I was thinking, 'If I don't get these guys paid they're going to be gone and working on somebody else's house,'" said Caraway, who's living with a neighbor and still waiting for the mortgage company to release additional funds. More than three months after Hurricane Harvey, flooded Houstonians eager to return home are stuck navigating an unfamiliar world of flood insurance policies, mortgage company procedures and contractor bills. Many face precarious financial futures as grace periods and forbearance programs come to an end, leaving borrowers with bills three times their monthly mortgage payments. As the pressure mounts, experts warn of a looming wave of foreclosures. "I'm seeing people cutting bait, saying, 'I'm done,'" said Kevin Riles, a longtime Houston real estate broker. "They're just trying to sell for what they owe or look at short sales." MORE: Houston foreclosure postings soared pre-Harvey OUR STORIES, YOUR INBOX: Get the Morning Report, our free email newsletter sent every weekday with top news from Houston, Texas and beyond. Check it out. Foreclosure Information & Listing Service, a local reporting firm founded in 1963, predicts the number of properties posted for foreclosure each month will reach as high as 2,000 by the end of 2018. That's more than double what they were running earlier this year. Homeowners struggling to recover from Harvey are walking away from their mortgages, said the listing service's Amanda LeCureux. Those properties are likely to show up in foreclosure postings this spring and summer. When mortgages are in default and properties posted for foreclosure, homeowners often find ways to avoid losing their homes. Typically, just two-thirds of postings are actually foreclosed on, LeCureux said, as homeowners borrow money from friends or family or work out payment plans with their lenders. Others file for bankruptcy or sell their home to an investor. After the financial crisis of 2008, foreclosure postings in Harris County got close to 4,000 per month. Yet many homes never hit the auction block. Things are different this time around. "It's not economic related," LeCureux said earlier this month at Harris County's foreclosure auction. "It's the home itself. It's not livable. They're not in it. They're not going to save them. So we may be looking, for the first time, at seeing an increase possibly in the number of new homes coming to auction purchased by investors or go back to the bank." After the storm, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration all announced temporary moratoriums on evictions and foreclosure sales in disaster areas. But as the moratoriums end, financially stressed homeowners will have few options. MORE: Should Texas loosen lending laws that shield state from foreclosures? "We're going to see a bubble of foreclosures and economic stress, but I think it'll be short-lived," real estate investor Brian Spitz said. He noted how the financial crisis of a decade ago gave banks more experience in how to handle large volumes of distressed properties. "The banks have gotten more proficient in working through delinquent loans," said Spitz, president of Big State Home Buyers. "Banks will negotiate with buyers or hire an agent that negotiates short sales." A short sale is when a bank agrees to sell a property for less than what's owed on the mortgage. Eric Hart, a Chase executive who leads customer assistance efforts for the bank's mortgage business, said the bank is working with customers in federally declared disaster areas by offering grace periods through December, ensuring they are not charged late fees, sent collection letters or faced with foreclosure action during that time. The bank, with more than 100,000 customers in the disaster zones, said those who need additional assistance can request a disaster forbearance, which provides similar protection for a longer period. Other customers who can no longer afford to resume payments can apply for a loan modification. "When you keep people in their homes you generally end up with best financial outcomes," Hart said. MORE: Home sales register post-Harvey rally A recent study from Jacksonville, Fla.-based Black Knight Inc. found that as many as 300,000 homeowners with mortgages in Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated Harvey disaster areas could become past due. After Hurricane Katrina, nearly 55 percent of mortgage properties had a delinquency. "Still, there are 1.18 million mortgaged properties in Harvey-related disaster areas, more than twice as many as were hit by Hurricane Katrina, with nearly four times the unpaid principal balance," Ben Graboske of Black Knight's Data & Analytics division said in the report. John Campbell was already behind on his mortgage when Harvey hit. His house wasn't damaged by the storm, but his job was affected. Campbell is a mental health counselor and his wife also works in health care. Both are independent contractors and, like many, were unable to work the week of the storm. Afterward, fewer people sought counseling because of their own storm-related financial woes, he said. Campbell said his mortgage company told him he could defer three months worth of mortgage payments. He figured he and his wife could get caught up on the two months that were past due and then resume normal payments. At the end of November, they called to make their past-due payment and were told they owed a whole lot more. "They told my wife, 'No, you owe us five months,'" Campbell said. MORE: Harvey takes an uncounted toll on Houston's middle class A supervisor reviewed his phone conversation from when he called after Harvey, and determined the employee Campbell spoke to used the wrong word when explaining what he was eligible for. "It was never, 'At the end of November you'll owe for September, October and November all at once.' That was never said to us," he said. If the couple doesn't make two mortgage payments each month through February their lender will foreclose. "I'm scared and I'm angry because we've got three kids and a 2-month-old baby," Campbell said. Shannon Van Zandt, a professor of urban planning at Texas A&M University, recently testified before state lawmakers about post-disaster inequities of housing recovery. She said, according to an account of her remarks provided by the university, that homeowners in more affluent neighborhoods like Kingwood, Meyerland and Bellaire will be "mostly OK." Same for those flooded by the Addicks and Barker releases and vacation homeowners along the coast. "But for everyone else low- and moderate-income homeowners and renters, it will not be OK," Van Zandt told the Texas Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations last month. In Braeswood, Caraway has had to dip into her limited savings and borrow money from her brother to keep repair work going. She's still waiting for the bulk of her insurance money. "Its ludicrous," she said. "They seem to feel maybe I was going to take the money and go to Mexico." MORE: Labor shortage could hamper Harvey reconstruction Jose Albarran, whose two-story house near Spring took on 7 feet of water, initially planned to repair his home with flood-insurance proceeds. His first check, for $20,000, was made out to him and his mortgage company. "They told me to sign it, send it to them and they'd monitor the progress of the repairs. They gave me a list of requirements and they were going to release a certain amount at a time depending on the progress," he said. "I found that very complicated." Seeking to avoid back-and-forth negotiations, he began asking if he could just pay off his mortgage with the insurance money. Several people at the company said no before someone finally agreed. His damages amounted to $167,000 and his mortgage balance was $117,000. He received the difference and is managing the repairs himself, hoping to move out of the FEMA hotel where he, his wife and their four kids have been living. "We're ready to come back to the house," Albarran said. "In the worst case, we've got the house cleaned up and are ready to move in on the second floor, which water didn't get to. We're still working on the first floor." *** DEVELOPING STORM: Hurricane Harvey was the most destructive storm in Houston's history. The late-August storm dumped up to 60 inches of rain on southeast Texas, but the resulting damage was multiplied by actions taken and not taken during the past 50 years. Our seven-part series explains why the storm's damage was both a natural and man-made disaster. Part 1: Nature ruled, man reacted. Hurricane Harvey was Houston's reckoning Part 2: Build, flood, rebuild: flood insurance's expensive cycle Part 3: What's in Houston's worst flood zones? Development worth $13.5 billion Click here to read all of our Harvey coverage. GET ENGAGED: Where do we go from here? Seven Houston-area leaders discussed flooding causes and solutions at a Greater Houston After Harvey forum hosted by the Houston Chronicle in early December. Watch Wednesday night's keynote address by Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice University's Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center. Read his thoughts on living around water. Sign up for our Facebook community to share your Harvey story, engage with other community members and ask our reporters questions. Join the discussion on Twitter: #HoustonAfterHarvey. SUBSCRIBE: The Houston Chronicle is dedicated to serving the public interest with fact-based journalism. That mission has never been more important. Show your support for our journalism at HoustonChronicle.com/subscribe. 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 Charming Charlie's suppliers held up millions of dollars' worth of inventory before the critical holiday season, forcing the cash-strapped retailer into bankruptcy court following years of declining sales and merchandising mistakes, court records show. Houston-based Charming Charlie, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, explained in the filings that many of its vendors refused to ship merchandise unless it paid upon delivery. As much as $45 million in inventory is now stranded in distribution centers and ports, and the company has reported it has only $700,000 in cash. "Usually retailers have always tried to file after the holiday because they could get the Christmas sales," said Reshmi Basu, reporter with Debtwire, a debt market intelligence service. "In this case, the vendor issues were so big that they couldn't wait." Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday slapped a junk-bond rating on an outstanding $150 million loan to the company and said it would no longer monitor it. The Chapter 11 filing could mark a turning point for Charming Charlie, which grew with abandon even as other retailers closed stores to account for online shopping and other changes in consumer preferences. Court filings show how the chain of about 390 jewelry and accessories boutiques, founded in 2004 by Houston entrepreneur Charlie Chanaratsopon, has for years been collapsing under its own weight during an especially challenging time for the entire industry. Now, the company is seeking court approval of $20 million in new financing, as well as a $35 million asset-backed loan. It said the additional funding will let it meet its financial obligations during the bankruptcy process as it restructures its debt and operations. Trouble ahead? Mattress Firm's fate tied to parent company's woe As part of the overhaul, the company plans to close roughly 100 store locations, primarily in Texas, Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, Maine and Rhode Island. It also intends to invest more heavily in its website to boost e-commerce sales and rethink its merchandise. Company executives could not be reached for comment. Charming Charlie stores, glitzy and inexpensive, mimic the rainbow with clusters of merchandise grouped into 26 colors. That strategy, the company said, became a problem when customers rejected accessories in certain shades, forcing the company to resort to markdowns that ate into profit margins. In 2014, it attempted to "refine the brand" by eliminating some product categories. The company said the move resulted in a dramatic decline in foot traffic, eroding the profitability of what had become a "disproportionately large" store base. At the same time, the specialty retail sector became even more competitive as e-commerce giants such as Amazon, as well as direct-to-consumer upstarts and other players, jockeyed for market share. Adam Melvin, an analyst at S&P Global, said that dynamic compounded the company's missteps in merchandising and marketing. "Those did occur at the wrong time," he said. "As a result, its challenges were accelerated." Late last year, Moody's downgraded its rating on the Charming Charlie's debt, warning the company would likely have to amend its payment terms as its performance deteriorated. It noted that the company, a relatively small player despite its fast growth, struggled to compete against companies with larger operations, wider selections and deeper pockets. This summer, Charming Charlie devolved into crisis mode as cash flow slowed to a trickle. The company said in court filings that lenders, questioning its creditworthiness, had already begun to cut off shipments or refuse to release them. At the end of October, CEO Chanaratsopon and Steve Lovell, then-president, both stepped down as the company negotiated with lenders to obtain $4.5 million cash needed to obtain some of the holiday inventory that suppliers had been withholding. Chanaratsopon, who now serves as non-executive chairman of the board, still control about 70 percent of the company along with other members of his family. Private equity firm Hancock Park Capital holds most remaining shares. Basu said the company has focused on shoring up its finances and targeting struggling stores for closure. It hasn't released details of its new strategy. "It's too soon to tell what they're doing to do," Basu said. Protests to preserve net neutrality, or rules that ensure equal access to the internet, migrated online Tuesday, with numerous online companies posting calls on their sites for action to stop a vote on Thursday. Reddit, Etsy and Kickstarter were among the sites warning that the proposal at the Federal Communications Commission to roll back net neutrality rules would fundamentally change the way the internet is experienced. Crowdfunding site Kickstarter cleared its entire home screen for a sparse white screen reading "Defend Net Neutrality" in large letters. Reddit, the popular online message board, pushed in multiple ways on its site for keeping the rules, including a pop-up box on its home screen. But the online protests also highlighted how the biggest tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, have taken a back seat in the debate about protecting net neutrality, rules that prohibit internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast from blocking or slowing sites or for charging people or companies for faster speeds of particular sites. For the most part, the large tech companies did not engage in the protest Tuesday. In the past, the companies have played a leading role in supporting the rules. Harold Feld, a senior vice president at Public Knowledge, a nonprofit group that supports net neutrality, said the biggest tech companies were less vocal because they were facing more regulatory battles than in past years. Social media sites have been criticized for allowing foreign actors to interfere in the presidential election of 2016. The biggest tech companies also face complaints from some lawmakers that they have become too large and powerful. "First, the major tech companies are very aware that Washington has turned hostile," Feld said. "In this environment, the big tech companies try to keep a low profile and play defense rather than take positions that draw attention." There also does not appear to be much chance of them winning the debate right now. The three Republican members of the FCC, who make up a majority of commissioners at the agency, have committed to roll back the broadband rules created during the Obama administration. But consumers and the startups that participated in protests Tuesday say they are gearing up for a long fight. They expect lawsuits to challenge the change and plan to push Congress to pass a law ensuring an open internet. WASHINGTON - Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced the addition of 25 films to the library's National Film Registry, selections deemed worthy of preservation for their "cultural, historic and/or aesthetic" significance. This year's collection brings the number of registry films to 725 and includes such beloved mainstream movies as the historical romance "Titanic" (1997) and "Die Hard" (1988). Other popular works include "Dumbo" (1941), "Superman" (1978), "The Goonies" (1985), "Field of Dreams" (1989) and "Memento" (2000). Among this year's more esoteric fare is "The Sinking of the Lusitania," a 1918 short by cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay about the German submarine attack that contributed to the United States' entry into World War I, and an archive of amateur home movies from the 1920s and '30s about life in the Mexican-American community of Corpus Christi, Texas. Hayden selected the films with input from members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists at the library. The public also was invited to weigh in. As timely as it may be to see this honor bestowed on "Titanic" - now celebrating its 20th anniversary - or "Die Hard" - a holiday staple - there could be no more opportune selection than "4 Little Girls." Nominated for a best documentary feature Oscar, Spike Lee's 1997 film about the Birmingham church bombing of Sept. 15, 1963, was met by a reopening of the long-dormant criminal case by the FBI - a case that just so happens to have been subsequently prosecuted - successfully - by an Alabama lawyer named Doug Jones. On Tuesday - Election Day in Alabama - Lee phoned from New York to say that he always cherishes the National Film Registry honor. (Two of his narrative features were previously selected: "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X.") Lee also said he wanted to dedicate the film's selection to the murdered girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. But mostly, the filmmaker took the opportunity to unleash a torrent of unfiltered invective about Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who was defeated by Jones. After making a few circumspect comments about the power of storytelling to "hold a mirror up to the ugliness that we have become," Lee acknowledged that he was troubled by what's happening in America today, epitomized by the Alabama election, before acknowledging that the word "troubled" was probably too mild. But Lee said current affairs had not caused him to lose hope, as a human or as a filmmaker. "Like my man Jesse (Jackson) says, you've got to keep hope alive," he said. Never modest, the cinematic bombthrower said he thinks that this latest honor may not be the last time one of his films enters the registry and that his 2006 Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" could be the next. Then there's Lee's drama "Black Klansman," a fact-based biopic, due out next year, about a black Colorado police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. "Just wait until you see that one," Lee said. "It's set in the early 1970s, but you can't watch it without thinking of today." --- Films selected for the 2017 National Film Registry: Ace in the Hole (a.k.a. "Big Carnival") (1951) Boulevard Nights (1979) Die Hard (1988) Dumbo (1941) Field of Dreams (1989) 4 Little Girls (1997) Fuentes Family Home Movies Collection (1920s and 1930s) Gentleman's Agreement (1947) The Goonies (1985) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) He Who Gets Slapped (1924) Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street(1905) La Bamba (1987) Lives of Performers (1972) Memento (2000) Only Angels Have Wings (1939) The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) Spartacus (1960) Superman (1978) Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988) Time and Dreams (1976) Titanic (1997) To Sleep With Anger (1990) Wanda (1971) With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain (1937-1938) An appearance by Wolfgang Voigt at Day for Night won't ignite the same sort of mass fervor fire as the set by Aphex Twin last year. But as GAS, Voigt is an almost equally elusive presence as Aphex Twin in a live-music setting. Admittedly, the German electronic musician's work isn't quite as agreeable to kids who want to dance and wriggle. That said, this GAS appearance in Houston is as personally anticipated a music-related event as I can recall. He's a crucial figure in the world of ambient music, and his Day for Night set will be his first U.S. show in nearly a decade. Voigt isn't really on the album-tour-album-tour cycle. In fact, this year's mesmerizing "Narkopop" is his first GAS album in 17 years. I can't speak to all experience of music enthusiasts hitting middle age early in the 21st century. Just my own. And as I've gotten older, I find lyricists increasingly fail to translate our world into some relatable, sensible sound to my ears. Whereas ambient music has become my refuge. My personal portal was Houston native William Basinski's "Disintegration Loop 1.1," which was built on a subtly changing pattern that stretched across an hour. While Nashville musicians were banging the drums of war in 2002 and leftist musicians were writing songs about George W. Bush that have been long forgotten, Basinksi's piece captured the ashen feeling that consumed me as a New Yorker on Sept. 12, 2001. And the day after that. And the day after that. So, one of the great hooks at Day for Night, for me, is an embrace of music that falls under the ambient umbrella, which is about as meaningless a term as any other in contemporary music. It speaks to a lyric-less quality, and some ethereal quality, usually without guitars-bass-drums. But the variety of music classified as ambient is vast. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of Brian Eno's coining of the phrase. His definition of "ambient music," sought to differentiate it from Muzak. But only by a degree. "An ambience is defined as an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence: a tint. My intention is to produce original pieces ostensibly (but not exclusively) for particular times and situations with a view to building up a small but versatile catalogue of environmental music suited to a wide variety of moods and atmospheres," he wrote. He closed with the following: "Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." Here are a few of the Day for Night acts who are ambient or ambient-adjacent that have me excited. Though I find their work anything but ignorable. GAS I recommend the new "Narkopop," which is a dark journey, as well as "Pop" from 2000. Lest anyone think "Pop" is pop, it is not. Voigt has only released six GAS albums in 21 years. They're meticulously constructed and all-consuming. Jlin Jerrilynn Patton hails from Gary, Ind., hometown of Michael Jackson, who more than any single figure has defined pop's direction over the past four decades. Jlin follows no previous template for making music. She's only released two albums, the most recent being this year's "Black Origami," which has a rhythmic complexity throughout, from minimal touches to pronounced propulsion. She dresses it with snippets of recorded sound, some vocals, electronics and other whirs and whizzes. It's an endlessly compelling piece of music. Tim Hecker A Vancouver native, Hecker often takes familiar sounds - frequently keys and vocals - and scrapes, scuffs and slurs them into something entirely new. While some ambient music avoids song form altogether, Hecker's compositions often have a dramatic arc, even if they don't have anything so traditional as a verse/chorus/verse structure. Last year's "Love Streams" is a fine introduction, though many prefer "Ravedeath, 1972." Andy Stott English producer Stott makes music that is far from airy and atmospheric, which makes him a weird fit in an ambient column. But amid the unnerving clatter of sound is music that doesn't necessarily move from point A to point Z, so he's hardly making electro-pop. And after two frenzied recordings with "Luxury Problems" and "Faith in Strangers," his new "Too Many Voices" finds him in more subtle textural territory. Godspeed, You Black Emperor! This is a bit of a cheat because Godspeed is fairly traditional, instrumentally. That said, the Canadian band doesn't do much traditional with those instruments, having for 20 years consistently changed their approach to making fairly epic instrumental rock. But that said, the new "Luciferian Towers" is the band's most subtle and haunting recording to date, with the most spaciousness amid the sound. It's the end of the beginning. Or, perhaps, the beginning of the end. This weekend, we're leaving for a short trip to Mexico, to Guadalajara, to look at two assisted living places, both of which specialize in cases of dementia. I have no idea what to expect when we get there. This week will be spent getting ready. Or, more precisely, getting him ready. Dates and days and such are increasingly problematic for him, so despite having written it down, I find myself answering his daily (or twice daily) questions: What day are we leaving? How long are we going to be there? I'll pack for him, of course. And make sure he has all his meds. And carry his passport and the money and make sure he has his walker. My friend Pam, whom I've known since college, has volunteered to come with us. She'll fly in Saturday night, and then meet us at the airport Sunday morning to help with David. Sunday night we'll be in Guadalajara; Monday and Tuesday we'll be near Lake Chapala, around 30 minutes outside the city, where a good number of Americans have settled for their retirement. This, of course, explains the number of high-quality assisted-living facilities where English is spoken. WATCHING DAVID DISAPPEAR: My husband's dementia. His rage. And now, violence. The plan is for David to visit two facilities and hopefully spend the night in at least one of them. This will, I hope, give him an opportunity to see what they are really like and to get a sense of whether or not it's going to be a good fit for him. It will also, truth be told, give me at least one night off to go out drinking tequila with Pam. I need one night off from having to feel responsible. BUT THE question is what happens when we get home. If he likes one of the places, how soon should he go? Should he go while he's still cognizant enough to enjoy it? Should he go while he's able to make the decision himself to go? Should we wait until we've reached the point where I'm absolutely incapable of taking care of him myself? Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle And then there are all the other thoughts and questions that all too often keep me awake at night. If he doesn't like the place, where do we go from there? And if he does like it, will I want him to go to Mexico because it's the best thing for him and because he'll be getting the kind of professional, 24/7 care I'm not able to provide? Or will I want him to go because I'm stressed out and exhausted all the time, and I know I can't handle things (or him) much longer, and I just want my life back? Sometimes I'm afraid it's more the latter. And if he does go, is it wrong for me to send him off to live alone, in a country where he doesn't know anybody and visitors will be rare? Should I move down with him? But am I capable of doing that, or do I even want to do that? Is it time for me to start thinking about myself, about my own life and what's to come before it's too late? And if not now, when? And at what point is that fair to him? Guilt, it seems, is the emotion of the day. AND SINCE I'm mining that vein, so to speak, there are, I must admit, times when I ask myself why I'm writing this column. Is it to educate? Is it to share what's going on with our world? Is it for my own self-aggrandizement and to make myself look good? Am I asking that question just so that people feel sorry for me? I have no answers. Just questions on top of questions. WATCHING DAVID DISAPPEAR: His dementia is getting worse. For both of us. But today is today. And as Beckett wrote, "I can't go on, I'll go on." And except for a couple of meltdowns (on one occasion, feeling trapped, he matter-of-factly threatened to break out all the windows in the house; when I asked him why he said, simply, "Because I can."), things over the last week have been relatively calm. I know it won't last, though. I know that at any moment something I say, or don't say, will trigger something in his no-longer-well-functioning brain and send him down a rabbit hole of rage and fear and despair. And I know that I'm powerless to stop that. But there's Mexico to come, and the hope that it will provide some kind of answers or solutions. For both of us. Dennis Abrams writes restaurant reviews, journalism and children's books. Bookmark Gray Matters. Today is today. Dear Speaker Ryan, You sat down with Steve Inskeep from NPR in early December to discuss the tax bill and other things, and you came to the topic of sexual harassment. You said you have a 15-year old daughter. I have two daughters. You said, "I want my daughter to grow up in a country ... where she is empowered and respected, wherever she goes and wherever she works and whatever she does." And I agree that our girls should feel safe wherever they go! Anywhere but the White House. Your daughter, Elizabeth, "Liza" for short, will be 18 in three short years. Should the political science bug run in the family, Liza might very well choose to apply to be a staffer or an intern of some sort in the U.S. government. If she is influenced by her father to serve her country, she might join you in Washington, with her cardigan and her pearls and her little black flats. And Liza could work anywhere in D.C., except the White House. You qualified your statements to Mr. Inskeep: "And I think nowhere should that be more obvious and apparent than working here in Capitol Hill. So I think here, in Congress, we should set ourselves the standards we expect from other people and we should set high standards for ourselves." You said that we continue to find out about more and more harassment, and you called it "disturbing." I am also disturbed. Mr. Inskeep asked you directly why you called for the Republican Roy Moore to drop out of the Alabama Senate race early on. You did not hesitate: "It's because I believe those allegations were credible." I share in your trust of the victims, of the women. Then, Inskeep asked you what we've all been thinking: What was the difference between the nine sexual assault accusations against Mr. Moore and the 16 against President Trump? "I'm focused on Congress. Roy Moore is trying to come to Congress. My job here as Speaker of the House is to make sure Congress is an institution we should be proud of ... . I think the allegations made against him are very, very credible." Inskeep pressed you again. "Is there a difference between those two cases?" You replied, "I don't know the answer to that. I haven't spent my time reviewing the differences between the two cases." SEXUAL ASSAULT: #MeToo: Women tell their stories Congressman Ryan for your Liza's sake make the time. Make the time to understand the allegations made against the highest office in our land. During your interview, you justified that it's no secret that you and Trump have had differences of opinions, that you've shared your "opinion on his tweets and the rest." I think it's important to review "the rest." We haven't asked Trump's accusers to testify yet, because there's been no trial, so "the rest" can be judged only by the accounts of the 16 women and the president's own words, when he boasted to Billy Bush that "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the p---y." The infamous tape was enough for Republican Rob Portman to publicly pledge to vote for Mike Pence instead. He was joined by Senators Rubio and Cruz and McCain. Reince Priebus stated, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever." And it was enough for you to come out with a statement of your own. You said, "I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified." I had the same visceral reaction to candidate Trump's words. "No way," I thought, "could a man who boasts about attacking women be elected in this country." I was wrong. Weeks after the election, I sought solace and understanding from a close friend from your side of the aisle. This friend has worked with Republicans. This friend has a sister and niece and mother and aunts and friends who are girls. I wanted to know how he felt, how he thought it was possible for a sexual deviant who affirmed his own misdeeds to have been elected? "You know, Gaby, I asked the mother of a close friend the same question you ask me. I asked her how she felt about Trump's words as a woman. She responded, 'What does that have to do with the price of milk?'" Now, my friend did not vote for Trump. But that rationale has been stuck in my throat like a pill that won't budge. I was, of course, deeply discouraged to hear a woman disregard the words of a sexual predator. And I thought it callous and misguided. A fellow woman, a fellow mother, found her perceived economic stability more important than the safety of women and the dignity of the presidency. A fellow American had admitted that if there's financial gain, any moral delinquency from a politician is tolerable. And she's not the only one. Kellyanne Conway admitted that Alabama voters should continue to support a pedophile, misogynist and predator in Roy Moore because, "I'm telling you we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through." So there it is again: the economic justification to look away, look aside, or just don't look at all. You join these women in defending unfathomable behavior because you "haven't spent my time reviewing the differences between the two cases," and you see a "President who is fighting for the things I'm fighting for." This was your final justification to Mr. Inskeep for continuing to work with a man who feels he could grab your Liza and my daughters whenever he wants because he's a celebrity. You justified this man because you "see a president who is fighting for an agenda that will make a positive impact on people's lives. Is this President unconventional? No two ways about it. He's very unconventional. But if we make good by the American people by actually improving their lives and fixing problems and finding solutions that are bothering them, that's a good thing, that's what we're working toward. Is he unconventional? Yes. ... But he's himself and I'm myself and he got elected, and, you know what, my duty as a constitutional officer, as a representative of Congress is to make government work and ... to fix people's problems, and that's where I'm focusing." If you make good on keeping the price of milk low, then that will make the harassment of women worth it? Is that your argument? You labeled sexual harassment as "unconventional." You called what millions of women experienced through the recent #MeToo movement as "unconventional." The Guardian recently published a complete list of the president's "unconventional" behavior. Cathy Heller and Temple Taggart and Jennifer Murphy and Rachel Crooks and Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Drake and Summer Zervos allege they were forcibly kissed. I hope you'll believe them, since the president has admitted to these habits ("I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. 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"). TERRIFYING EMOTIONS: Me, too. My story of sexual assault. If the President were to force your Liza to kiss him, or if he grabbed her breast or butt, if he ignored requests from her for modesty, would your tax bill or the price of milk matter to you at all? You say you're focused on fixing people's problems. Half the people in this country have loudly proclaimed that sexual harassment and assault are a pervasive problem. Three of our last five presidents have been accused of sexual misconduct. It was easier to count the women who didn't post #MeToo on my newsfeed than it was to count up the hundreds who did. Every day we hear about new indiscretions, new Weinsteins, new Trumps. You said that nowhere should this matter more than with our elected officials. That they should be held to high standards. You described Congress's recent actions to update 1995 policies and laws about education and training regarding sexual harassment. You're looking into government harassment cases which utilized tax payer money as payouts. All good and right things. But the words and actions of the president have an impact on everyday Americans. When the president demeans immigrants and Muslims, hate crimes go up. When he refuses to denounce Nazis marching in the streets, more Nazis find comfort to march for fascism and racism and anti-Semitism. When he refuses to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand, men and boys are watching. Ukas Michael / Getty Images Mr. Speaker, with your inability to denounce the president's moral offenses, to decry with the same confidence that Mr. Moore and Mr. Trump's actions are the same evil, you have not worked to make American girls like Liza and my students and my daughters safer. You have let them down. You have let me down. You called this a watershed moment in this country, and it is. Victims have finally gained the confidence to bring their attackers into the light, to shame the shameless. This watershed moment will wash victims into voting booths in 2018. No more should daughters and mothers and sisters and CEOs and teachers and nurses and Americans stand for this hypocrisy. After years of hearing the Republican Party rightfully call for President Bill Clinton's resignation, of standing up for "family values," no more can we stomach your duplicity and inaction during this watershed moment. Do the work, spend the time reviewing the two cases, and be an upstander, not a bystander. Show our daughters that you care more for their dignity and safety than you do for the price of milk. Sincerely, A woman, a mother and an American Gaby Diaz is an English teacher in Houston. A slightly different version of this article originally appeared on Medium. Bookmark Gray Matters. Make the time. Do the work. Doug Jones's odds-defying victory in Alabama - handing Democrats a vanishingly rare Senate win in the Deep South - scrambles President Donald Trump's legislative agenda for the coming year, threatens to heighten Republican infighting and sounds a klaxon for the GOP's prospects in November's midterm elections. Any dent in the two-seat advantage Republicans hold in the Senate would carry major governing consequences, but the loss of what had been considered one of the party's safest seats carries a special sting for the GOP. One consequence is Democrats' much more plausible path to the Senate majority next year. The 2018 map was widely seen to favor Republicans, with 10 Democrats seeking reelection in states President Trump won last year and only two Republican seats clearly at risk. Now, if Democratic incumbents can survive in Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, West Virginia and elsewhere in what is shaping up to be a favorable environment, GOP losses in Arizona and Nevada could allow Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to unseat Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., as Senate majority leader. Some Republicans view the Alabama seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first casualty in an internecine GOP battle that has pitted establishment Republicans personified by McConnell against populist insurgents led by former White House strategist Stephen Bannon. "It should be a hurricane siren for every Republican," said Josh Holmes, a former top aide to McConnell. "This is what the death of a party looks like, and without an immediate course correction and rejection of the Steve Bannon view of the world, you can lose races in states like Alabama." Jones's victory over Roy Moore, who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, comes after an improbable series of decisions and revelations that together put the GOP's grasp on the seat at risk - starting with Trump's decision to tap Sessions, one of his most loyal campaign supporters, for a key Cabinet position. Scandal-tarred Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, filled the vacancy in the interim with Luther Strange, the state attorney general who was investigating Bentley. That appearance of an unseemly bargain gave an opening to Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court whose defiant antics had twice resulted in his removal from office but won him a fervent following among Alabama conservatives. With Bannon's backing, Moore overcame not only Strange's establishment support but also Trump's intervention to emerge from the Republican primary and face Jones on Tuesday. But in November, the race was upended when The Washington Post published the account of a woman who accused Moore of having propositioned and groped her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. More accusations of misconduct followed, and the former state judge faced the desertion of national Republican support and a pressure campaign led by McConnell to force him to end his campaign. But Moore instead turned the tables, casting the attacks as an effort by Washington elites and out-of-town media outlets to drive him from the race. Jones, meanwhile, spent November and much of early December watching as Republicans - including the state's GOP senior senator, Richard Shelby - abandoned Moore while national Democrats and grass-roots donors rallied on his own behalf, giving him a massive spending advantage in the race's final weeks. If there is any solace for Republicans, it is in the path not taken: Had Moore won, he would have joined the Senate under an unprecedented cloud that would itself have distracted from the GOP's legislative agenda. Moore faced the prospect of an immediate investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee into the allegations that he sexually harassed and in some cases abused teenage girls three decades ago. Even a swift-moving probe, by Senate standards, would have lasted months, and Moore's dealings with his colleagues would have been fraught, to say the least. Many of his potential fellow Republican senators, led by McConnell, called on Moore to drop out of the race. One, Jeff Flake of Arizona, went so far as to donate to Jones. In the days before the election, many Republican senators refused to even speculate about a Moore victory. "My hope is that the people of Alabama don't send him here," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said before polls closed Tuesday. But neither a lack of collegiality nor an ethics probe would have prevented Moore from casting votes on the Senate floor for Republican bills. While there was some question about how reliable Moore's support might have been for GOP priorities, there is no expectation that Jones will be in the habit of taking cues from Republican leaders. While Congress remains on track to clear a sweeping tax bill before Jones arrives, any hiccup could suddenly throw the GOP plan to deliver $1.5 trillion in tax cuts into question. And other big potential Republican priorities for 2018 - including potential bills to boost infrastructure spending and cut back on entitlement programs - are now in limbo as every last vote comes under the election-year spotlight. Barring a new effort at bipartisan dealmaking that has been largely absent so far under the Trump administration, the GOP appears on track to head into the November midterms with only one major accomplishment to tout: a tax-cut bill that has polled poorly and delivers most of its direct benefit to corporations and the wealthy. Democratic congressional leaders are under tremendous pressure from their party's left flank to resist Trump at every juncture. And ahead of Tuesday's results, moderate Democrats said they were not especially hopeful that a surprise Jones victory would spur a new atmosphere of bipartisanship. "I'm not holding my breath," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who added that a Jones victory on the heels of a strong Democratic showing in Virginia's state races last month "would be a message that people are rejecting the kind of venom-filled rhetoric that comes out of this White House." The few Senate Republicans who would even contemplate serving alongside an Alabama Democrat before the returns came in were not eager to discuss what that outcome might portend. "If Mr. Jones wins, that's going to mean Mr. Jones has gotten more votes than Mr. Moore," said Sen. John Neely Kennedy, R-La. Other GOP sages, meanwhile, are left to wonder how this ever happened in the first place - and whether a reprise can be avoided. Other primary battles await: Bannon and Trump-aligned political organs are backing populist candidates in the Arizona and Nevada primaries that party honchos in Washington fear cannot win a general election. And the shade of politics in Arizona and Nevada, they warn, is nowhere near as Republican red as Alabama crimson. "If I had the top five Republican minds in politics and we spent three months attempting to conceive of a way to lose an Alabama Senate race, I'm not sure that we could come up with it," Holmes said. "You could literally take any name out of a phone book except Roy Moore's and win by double digits. And we managed to get the only guy in Alabama that could lose to a Democrat." - - - The WSashngton Post's Paul Kane, Michael Scherer, David Weigel and Erica Werner contributed to this report. Experts on flooding agree that it's a terrible idea to build in or along these channels of cascading floodwater. But Harris County and Houston have allowed 20,000 parcels worth $13.5 billion to be developed in or along them, a Houston Chronicle investigation reveals. Read the first, second and third part of our Developing Storm series here. A year ago, Tulsa city officials stood not far from the banks of the Arkansas River to commemorate the city's worst flood, remind residents how far they'd come in the decades since, and remind them how easy it could be to slip into complacency. They dedicated a road sign showing the high-water mark about a foot over their heads. While Hurricane Harvey marked the third flood in as many years for some Houston homeowners, four decades ago some Tulsa residents, 500 miles to the north, had it worse. After major rains in April, May, June and September of 1974, homes flooded three times in a span of just months. The ordeal set in motion years of reforms that catapulted Tulsa to the forefront of flood prevention in the United States and showed just how painful getting there can be. Today, it has one of the top seven scores in the Community Rating System, out of about 1,400 cities and counties that participate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency program. The rating system rewards communities for enacting strict flood plain regulations. At level 2, Tulsa policyholders in the flood plain get a 40 percent discount on federal flood insurance. At level 5, Houstonians in the flood plain get 25 percent off. Tulsa didn't get there overnight. It had been ravaged by floods since its founding in the early 1800s. Square in tornado alley, Tulsa sits at the convergence of warm Gulf air and cool northern fronts in the summer. During the sudden storms, it can get nearly half of its annual 40 inches of rain in one hour. In 1974, it had "the year of the floods." People assailed City Hall, contending it wasn't enforcing federal flood insurance requirements. They called for a halt to development, but builders pushed back, claiming unconstitutional takings of property. The decade of conflict that ensued became known locally as the Great Flood Wars. After a 1976 storm, newly elected city commissioners enacted a flood plain building moratorium, hired the city's first hydrologist, developed comprehensive flood plain management rules and instituted warning systems. Bill Robison The leaders led The worst flood in Tulsa history occurred on Memorial Day in 1984. It did about $180 million in damage ($423 million in today's dollars) and killed 14 people in a metro area of about 700,000 people. Today it has about 987,000. By daylight, city elected officials had formed the first flood hazard mitigation team to create a new long-term strategy. They began relocating homes and centralized flood plain management into a single government office. And in 1986, they enshrined a stormwater fee as a long-term funding mechanism and barred it from being siphoned off for other purposes. (Houston enacted a dedicated drainage fund in 2011.) It was the beginning of the end of the flood wars. "At the time, we had Mayor Terry Young, who was all for protecting people," said Bill Robison, who, as the city's recently retired chief hydrologist, has been managing stormwater in the city for 20 years. "That's what it takes. You've got to have some key elected official behind it to get something through. I'd think in Houston it would be a good time to do that because right on the heels of a flood people still feel the pain." Robison said that since 1974, Tulsa has built nothing in a floodway, the corridors where floodwaters flow after major storms. In the wider flood plain, no structure built to standards enacted in 1991 has ever flooded. In parts of Harris County outside of Houston, about 1,500 homes that met 100-year flood plain standards were inundated after Harvey, said John Blount, the county engineer. City damage assessments are ongoing, but it's likely that thousands more such homes in Houston flooded, based on FEMA models. More than 148,000 homes in the city, in and out of the flood plain, took on water, the city estimates. A lesson lost? But even in Tulsa, the lessons get lost. In 1986, Hurricane Paine tracked out of the Pacific, northeast across Mexico and stalled over Tulsa, creating a storm the city could expect once in 350 years. It filled Tulsa's Keystone Reservoir to capacity, forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water at 310,000 cubic feet per second about four times the rate at which the San Jacinto River Authority released water from the Lake Conroe Dam during Harvey, and roughly four times the rate of Niagara Falls. In the city, a levee failed. Flooding inflicted $142 million in damage to Tulsa County, in 2017 dollars. Along the river in southeast Tulsa, empty prairie sat under 7 feet of water. Recently, developers went to work in that area. Hundreds of homes upward of $1 million each are filling the prairie, unprotected by levees and outside the mapped 100-year flood plain, which means sellers don't disclose that the homes aren't elevated above the 1986 flood level. It is a blissful ignorance: Because Tulsa has such a high community rating from FEMA, residents in that area get 10 percent off their insurance, to boot. When the Corps built the Keystone Dam upstream of Tulsa in 1964, it predicted a release like the 1986 one would happen every 25 years. It's been 31 since the last one. The tony new subdivisions downstream of town are Robison's biggest "pet peeves" these days; he knows the city's flood control strategy has been largely untested since 1986. So on the flood's 30th anniversary last year, he teamed up with the Corps and the National Weather Service and had the street sign put in at the entrance to the neighborhoods, with the glaring words "HIGH WATER MARK" showing that, 1,000 feet from the riverbank, the water was over a person's head. A local TV station did a flood anniversary story, showing aerial video of the neighborhoods' then-vacant land submerged 30 years ago, and interviewing homeowners who had no clue about the dangers. The phones in the stormwater management office rang off the hook. "What do you mean it was inundated?" residents asked Robison. "Look at this map," he'd say. "It was 4 feet deep at your house." A developer stormed into the city's traffic engineering office, yelling about the sign and arguing that the area would never flood again. He said he'd never be able to sell houses and lots with that sign out there. He went off on that district's council representative, Phil Lakin. Lakin fired off a lengthy email to then-Mayor Dewey Bartlett, who just hours earlier at the signpost ceremony had spoken about the importance of flood risk awareness and preparing for the next one. The mayor called traffic engineering. The sign had gone up at 9 a.m. on a Monday. By Tuesday at 3 p.m., it was back in Robison's office. It was still there Nov. 22, the day he retired. Mark Collette finds the information the government and corporations don't want you to see. Contact him at mark.collette@chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ChronMC. Get engaged Where do we go from here? Seven Houston-area leaders discussed flooding causes and solutions at a Greater Houston After Harvey forum hosted by the Houston Chronicle in early December. Watch Wednesday night's keynote address by Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice University's Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center. Read his thoughts on living around water. Sign up for our Facebook community to share your Harvey story, engage with other community members and ask our reporters questions. Join the discussion on Twitter: #HoustonAfterHarvey. Subscribe The Houston Chronicle is dedicated to serving the public interest with fact-based journalism. That mission has never been more important. Show your support for our journalism at HoustonChronicle.com/subscribe. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Peter Brown, an eager and persistent advocate for a more walkable, more organized and more beautified Houston who advanced his urbanist ideas on City Council, as a mayoral candidate and through civic activism into his 80s, died Tuesday, his family said. The Houston-born architect and urban planner, who long had been undergoing cancer treatment, was 81. "A loving father, committed public servant, and fearless advocate, former Council Member Brown passed on to the next life the same way he lived in this one - surrounded by his family in the city he loved most," his son, City Controller Chris Brown, said in a statement. "The Brown family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, and asks for privacy during this very difficult time." Brown served as an at-large councilman from 2006 through the end of 2009, the same year he invested $3 million of his own funds into a serious but ultimately unsuccessful bid to succeed term-limited Bill White as mayor. In recent years, Brown channeled the civic advocacy of his Better Houston nonprofit into the alter ego of Pedestrian Pete, posting numerous online videos earnestly pushing the city to embrace policies that would make Houston a more walkable and beautiful place. "I think down deep, he was an architect and as an architect he seemed to look at things from the inside out to see what made them work and make them work better," said developer Ed Wulfe, who worked with Brown as part of the Main Street Coalition that coordinated redevelopment and planning along what is now Metro's Red Line light rail from south of NRG Park to the central business district. Brown also was instrumental in funding studies related to more walkable neighborhoods inside and outside Loop 610, worked with the Metropolitan Transit Authority in its choice of sleek light rail trains and proselytized for recent urban-focused street designs in Midtown. Brown's intellect made him a respected voice, but his approachability made him an everyman who could connect with residents in all neighborhoods. "He just touched people and ferreted out their needs and their desires and their wishes," Wulfe said. It was hard for civically engaged Houstonians in recent years not to come across an image of Brown, sporting a fedora and scarf, sweeping his arms wide and railing with hoarse urgency against "litter on a stick" - utility poles planted in the middle of sidewalks, with no regard for those in wheelchairs or parents pushing strollers. He called for narrower lanes to slow traffic, clearly marked crosswalks, wider sidewalks and signals better timed for safe walking speeds. He spoke of designing streets for cyclists and transit users, even streetcar districts. Council colleagues teased Brown for his insistence, calling him "Peter Plan," but he embraced the moniker, repeatedly saying that, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Brown also stayed dogged after elected life by acting as a catalyst for what he viewed as good ideas. At Better Houston, he spent much of his time developing plans and supporting studies of adding sidewalks and bike trails to local streets, and encouraging new developments that embraced Houston's growing urbanity. "He would send books to city leaders of great examples of urbanism or something he thought sounded like a good idea," said Kevin McNally, an urban planner who worked with Brown at Better Houston. "He'd send them the book with a little note, about how this could work." Brown realized his audience, McNally said, and knew the way to support urban style in Houston was to extol its virtues. "I think his personality and his persona came across as 'Sure there are problems in Houston, but nothing we can't fix,'" McNally said. City's 'premier urbanist' Some skeptics viewed him as a utopian intellectual - in addition to his bachelor's degree from the University of Houston, he earned three master's degrees, in French from the University of California at Berkeley and in architecture and urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania - who had a limited sense of how to implement his many ideas. Others - often, developers - viewed him as a threat, particularly when he spoke of "sterile, cookie-cutter homogenous subdivisions" at the "sprawled margins of our cities" as anathema to healthy community life. Wulfe, a titan of local development circles, disagreed. Brown wanted, as his nonprofit was named, a better Houston. "He really was concerned about quality of place and the lifestyle of a city and how it is important to experience that for everyone," Wulfe said. Others, regardless of whether they backed every policy proposal, admired his commitment to the Houston he envisioned. Public officials took to social media Tuesday to praise Brown as the city's "premier urbanist" and a "faithful servant of the people." Mayor Sylvester Turner called Brown "a tireless advocate" for Houston's livability, and said Brown had been an influence on his policy ideas beginning with his first mayoral bid in 1991. "He helped shape my views on how to design and build an urban city, the importance of density, how to construct an effective transit-mobility system," Turner said. "It was Peter who recently gave the money to the city to change the street signs from Dowling to Emancipation Avenue. In the last month when I visited with him, he was still talking about what steps needed to be taken to improve this urban city which he deeply loved. Our city owes him much." Legacy in the details Former city councilman and city controller Ron Green, who served with Peter Brown and employed Chris Brown for many years, praised the elder Brown as "a good friend and a good man" who had a great sense of humor and an attention to detail. "Peter always had a diagram (even on a gum wrapper) and a plan for every issue," Green posted on social media. "Even when I visited him recently, he illustrated and diagrammed all the future plans he had, once he recovered." Councilman David Robinson, himself an architect, lauded Brown as "an inspiring architect, a dedicated public servant, a community volunteer," while Councilwoman Ellen Cohen said, "His advocacy for urban planning improved the quality of life of all Houstonians." In his professional practice, Brown redesigned the fountain promenade section of Hermann Park, worked on the restoration of the Sabine Street Bridge and nearby trails along Buffalo Bayou, and designed the Hillcroft Transit Center and Dowling Middle School, among others. Those details, ultimately, are the legacy Brown wanted to leave by making Houston a more livable place, McNally said. "I think he always knew the things he was fighting for were a big challenge to accomplish but it was worth it for the generations to come," he said. In addition to Chris Brown, he is survived by four children, a brother, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff It didn't take long for the Democrat who wants to unseat U.S. Ted Cruz to seize on Alabama's Senate results. Minutes after Democrat Doug Jones was declared the winner Tuesday night in Alabama, El Paso Democrat Beto O'Rourke had a fundraising email out to his supporters explaining why Cruz, the freshman Republican from Houston, is going to be the next to lose a once-safe Senate seat. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MONTGOMERY, Ala. - In his sternest rebuke yet, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said repeatedly Sunday his state can "do better" than electing fellow Republican Roy Moore to the U.S. Senate, making clear that a write-in candidate was far preferable to a man accused of sexual misconduct. Days before the pivotal race, Shelby, who is Alabama's senior senator, said he had already cast an absentee ballot for another, unspecified Republican, even as other prominent state Republicans fell in line behind Moore. Moore faces Democrat Doug Jones in the special election Tuesday to replace Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. attorney general. "I couldn't vote for Roy Moore. I didn't vote for Roy Moore. But I wrote in a distinguished Republican name. And I think a lot of people could do that," Shelby told CNN's "State of the Union." "The state of Alabama deserves better," he said. "There's a lot of smoke," Shelby said of Moore and his accusers. "Got to be some fire somewhere." Exception rather than rule The accusations against Moore have left many GOP voters and leaders in a quandary. Voters face the decision of whether to vote for Moore, accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers decades ago when he was a county prosecutor, or sending Jones to Washington, which would narrow the GOP's precarious majority in the Senate. They also could write in a name on their ballots or simply stay home. Shelby said allegations that Moore had molested a 14-year-girl in particular were a "tipping point" in disqualifying him. His latest comments cast fresh doubt on a former judge that President Donald Trump and most Republican leaders in Alabama are backing to help maintain the party's narrow 52-48 majority in the Senate. Shelby's outspokenness was the exception rather than the rule. "I have stated both publicly and privately over the last month that unless these allegations were proven to be true I would continue to plan to vote for the Republican nominee, Judge Roy Moore," Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said. "I have already cast my absentee ballot, and I voted for Judge Moore." Heeding party rules The AP tried to find out how Republican leaders from Alabama plan to vote. Most officeholders or their staffs responded, while others have publicly stated their plans during public appearances or to other media outlets. However, several officeholders did not respond to calls, emails or texts from the AP. They include U.S. Reps. Martha Roby, Mike Rogers and Gary Palmer, as well as state Treasurer Young Boozer and state House Speaker Mac McCutcheon. State officeholders who said they intended to vote for Moore often cited the need to keep the seat in Republican hands. In addition to Merrill, others who plan to vote for Moore include Gov. Kay Ivey; Attorney General Steve Marshall; state Auditor Jim Zeigler; Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan; state Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh; and Public Service Commissioner Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who previously led the state GOP. Also voting for Moore are current state party head Terry Lathan and U.S. Reps. Mo Brooks of Huntsville and Robert Aderholt of Haleyville. State party loyalty rules could prohibit a GOP politician from publicly backing Moore's opponent. The rule says anyone who openly supports another party's nominee over a Republican could be barred from running as a Republican in the future. Texas detention centers are where kids get sent for committing sexual misconduct and assault - not be subjected to it. Yet reports of criminal conduct by correctional personnel in the Gainesville State School keep rolling in. Complaints filed by youth against correctional officers read like a twisted pornographic novel. A correctional officer was convicted in July for improper sexual activity with youth in custody. Three others have been arrested recently for sexual assault. Two personnel have been accused of physical violence against youth in custody, as reported by Chronicle Austin Bureau Chief Mike Ward. Offending youth have made some bad choices, but taking a child away from his family and locking him up in a remote detention center in a rural area with other troubled kids only risks compounding the problems. Now, add into the mix a lack of sufficiently trained and experienced adults to keep a tight lid on juvenile behavior, and this becomes a recipe for lots of things: danger, harm and life-changing trauma. It's certainly not a formula for successful rehabilitation. An internal report by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department shows that the re-arrest rate among youths released from the state-run juvenile lockups was nearly 74 percent three years after their release. It's past time for the Legislature to heed the call of criminal justice reform advocates by closing its few remaining lock-ups and replacing them with community-based treatment and rehabilitation centers. This is the same recommendation that youth justice reform groups made a decade ago after a sex scandal in which at least 13 boys were abused. Rehab is difficult, and the Legislature has not been willing to provide the resources necessary to support the caring, skilled and experienced staff essential to help youth turn their lives around. This year staff turnover at Gainesville is nearly 51 percent, as reported by Ward. There are certain activities that the state can perform badly without the potential for creating lasting harm, but rehab is not one of these. Youth held in these large rehab centers in remote counties are 21 percent more likely to be rearrested than those who are placed under supervision closer to home. And they are three times more likely to commit a felony when they do re-offend, according to a 2015 report by the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Agency officials have blamed growing problems on an increasing number of violent-crime offenders, thanks in part to the reforms that kept most non-violent and lower-level offenders in county-run rehabilitation and treatment programs. But who's in charge here? Sexual misconduct by staff can't be blamed on youth. "It's a bad culture," Debbie Unruh, an independent watchdog charged with ensuring the safety of youths in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department's custody told the Dallas Morning News. She went on to add an assessment that should keep every lawmaker up at night. "It's a dangerous culture." If doctors have a cheaper, more effective treatment for a childhood cancer, they prescribe it, as lives are on the line. Lives are on the line in criminal justice. The state should shutter these detention centers and stop prescribing its most expensive, least effective remedy. Otto von Bismarck is famously quoted as saying (although he probably didn't) that "Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made." That's certainly the case with the tax bills passed by the U.S. House and Senate and now set for conference. Sausages and laws do end up containing things that on their own might be fairly unappetizing, but that doesn't mean they should include things that are inedible or rotten. For higher education, there is virtually nothing good in this tax legislation, but that doesn't mean that everything that adversely affects us is wrong or an inappropriate part of a larger bill. But there are at least two distasteful provisions that our representatives and senators should remove before the sausage becomes law. Both the House and Senate bills contain an "excise" tax on certain university endowments, although the threshold for applying the tax differs: $500,000 of assets per student in the Senate bill and $250,000 in the House version. The House bill originally applied to any college or university with more than $100,000 per student, but that was ultimately raised to $250,000. The Senate worked with that number until an amendment that would have exempted only Hillsdale College, which identifies itself as a conservative Christian college, failed, and then the threshold was raised to $500,000 to exempt Hillsdale (and incidentally others) instead. The discriminatory nature of the provision reflects its unprincipled quality and may make it legally vulnerable. It doesn't apply to nonprofit institutions other than educational ones even if they are sometimes engaged in the same work. Thus an endowment gift to a university to support medical research would be subject to the tax, but a gift to a hospital would not be. A gift to support music and art at a university would be subject to the tax, but not to a museum or city orchestra. Even though public university endowments have in most cases been accumulated by gifts subject to the same favorable provisions on charitable giving, a public university is exempted, regardless of how it spends its endowment income. And a university that falls just below the $500,000-per-student threshold is completely exempted from tax, whereas a university like Rice must in effect pay tax on earnings from the entire endowment. Up until this bill, discussions about applying taxes to university endowments have focused on how those endowments were being used. Was the university spending enough? Was it spending a sufficient portion on scholarship assistance or other student support? A leading congressman I consulted about those proposals once told me that Rice is the "positive poster child" for endowment use. Our endowment supports 40 percent of operating costs and we regularly spend more than 5 percent of its recent average value. Nearly half of our endowment expenditures go to direct student support. The rest of our endowment income primarily supports faculty and research. Our endowment also helps keep our annual tuition and costs about $6,000 below most of our peers. All of this got chucked out the window in the frantic search for revenue, and by the time the Senate had accommodated the desire to protect Hillsdale, the bill was limited to fewer than 30 colleges. It is doubtful that the bill would raise much more than $180 million per year toward closing the projected $1.5 trillion budget deficit increase. Our Texas legislators should be outraged that three of the 30 or so institutions affected are located here, where they contribute to the best in education and research. Equally odious is a provision in the House bill, but not the Senate's, that would tax graduate students on tuition waivers, which are essentially scholarships to support their advanced education. At a private university like Rice, this would mean taxing them on an income of about $70,000 even though their actual income is less than $30,000, multiplying perhaps by five times the taxes they currently pay on their stipend, and requiring them to pay over a quarter of their low income in taxes. The result will be simply to discourage the very kind of advanced education our country needs to remain competitive and innovative. Many of the greatest ideas that are now fueling our economy or saving lives through medicine came out of universities. The global competition for discovery and innovation is intense, and, as we know, that it leads to new industries and jobs. Taxing higher education, and in particular taxing those extraordinary students who are receiving advanced education thanks to tuition waivers, will put our nation at a competitive disadvantage and is surely the opposite of making America great. The conference on the tax bill occurring this week and next is a last opportunity to remove these two dubious elements from the sausage. Leebron is president of Rice University. The FCC's net neutrality rules will be repealed after a vote on Thursday. Numerous polls show over 75% public support for net neutrality, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai does not care about popularity. Or transparency. Or consumer choice. The net neutrality repeal is about giving control of the internet to a telecom industry that spends millions lobbying Congress. Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers should not be able to slow down content, should not be able to block legal content, and should not be able to force internet companies to pay extra for better services, or "fast lanes." Obama's FCC formalized these three rules in 2015 by reclassifying ISPs as public utility providers. Consumer advocacy and civil liberties groups worked hand-in-hand with tech companies for years to get net neutrality passed. The rules stand to keep tech innovative and competitive, to keep service prices down, and to prevent censorship. Net neutrality is that rare case where the interests of Big Tech converge with the interests of the public. Make no mistake, though. Big Tech had its own aims in passing net neutrality. In the past, AT&T blocked Google Wallet, Verizon blocked Apple's Facetime, and Comcast slowed down Netflix's streams until the video company coughed up hundreds of millions. Silicon Valley aggressively lobbied Democrats to protect their interests, and that's a bigger reason for the FCC passing net neutrality than any interest in consumer advocacy. It was the first real victory of Big Tech over Big Telco. These days, Big Tech is resigned to losing net neutrality and hedging their bets on being able to pay off the telecoms for fast lanes. This "pay-for-play" model is going to cost you money. Services like Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify are going to pass extra costs on to consumers. Since the tech behemoths will be the only companies able to pay to play, their competitors will drown. Smaller companies like Vimeo, Etsy, and others may not be able to keep up, and we'll see less and less competition in the tech sector. In that case, the tech sector may start to look more like the telecom sector. The FCC's own data cites that 51% of people have only one option for broadband, and another 39% have only two. The lack of competition makes the argument that net neutrality is a heavy-handed government invasion into the free market somewhat ridiculous. Another favorite argument of Chairman Pai and telco representatives is that net neutrality hurts investment. Yet telecom investments are up across the board, and competition in online video is at all-time highs. There is no good case for eliminating net neutrality. The December 14 vote is happening because of partisan politics. You'll be paying more for fewer services in a less competitive landscape. You'll see less in the way of independent filmmakers and independent media outlets online. That means even fewer spaces for alternative voices and politics from both the right and left. In that sense, net neutrality is very much a free speech and civil rights issue. Years from now when Democrats regain control of the FCC, it will likely be too late to reinstate net neutrality. Pay-for-play will be entrenched, and the surviving tech companies will be less enthusiastic about neutral networks. The future of the internet must include a recognition that the internet is a public utility. People need the internet to work, to socialize, to play, and to engage politically. It will be a rough battle. Obvious solutions like more municipal broadband to compete with cable companies are already functionally banned in states including Texas. Public and cooperative alternatives to the privatized internet face huge hurdles. The only solutions are long-term and hard-fought. It's time to remember that the internet was paid for with huge sums of public money before being rapidly privatized in the 1990s. It's time to recognize that our data finances the internet's largest companies. Any efforts to overcome the net neutrality repeal or to pass laws protecting it should be supported. But in the likelihood that Chairman Pai's FCC eliminates net neutrality, it's time to think bigger. The internet should be viewed as a public right and not the property of monopolistic telecoms and tech companies. Logan is an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Houston-Downtown. A Houston man faces a pair of felony charges after a Houston Police Department investigation of an early December burglary. Cody Bowman, 22, of 713 W. Chestnut St. in Houston, is charged with second-degree burglary and stealing $750 or more (both class D felonies) According to a written report, an officer was dispatched at about 6 p.m. Dec. 3 in reference to a theft at a 704 W. Chestnut St. residence. The officer made contact with a man and woman who live there, and the man said he and the woman were going to make a trip to a store and found that a Pioneer CD player had been swiped from his 2006 Jeep Wrangler and the vehicles glove box had been damaged. The man stated he wasnt sure if anything else had been stolen, but he called the next day to indicate that about $2,000 worth of tools had been removed from a shed on the property, along with a GPS unit and a radar detector. On Dec. 7, the officer received a tip from an informant that two men had been involved in the burglary, and that the majority of the stolen goods were at the third mans Ozark Street residence. The officer went to the house and the man told him the tools given to him by Bowman were in his truck and that he would turn them over to the officer. After further investigation, more of the tools were recovered and Bowman was identified as the primary perpetrator. He is in the Texas County Jail on $150,000 bond. Healthy Schools Healthy Communities (HSHC) is spearheading Livable Streets initiative to increase awareness of the importance of promoting a healthy, vibrant community that provides safe, accessible places for people to bike, walk and exercise. A meeting to discuss the Missouri Livable Streets policy is set for 5:30-6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Texas County Health Department. Local leaders and residents are invited and a light meal will be provided. Many rural communities across the state have seen a rise in diabetes and obesity rates, leading some to explore ways to support healthier lifestyles. Thats why Livable Streets is gaining popularity in many rural areas, said HSHC community coordinator Earlene Stoops. Simple projects like improving sidewalks or adding crosswalks not only provide a safer way for people to exercise, but also look attractive to funders when planning larger community improvement projects. Texas Countys prevalence rate for diabetes is 10.7 percent and 32.6 percent for obesity higher than the state average. Exercise plays a large role in preventing and managing chronic diseases like these, Stoops said. Additionally, improved infrastructure provides safer alternatives for people who are in wheelchairs or have other impairments. The meeting will present an opportunity for community members, groups and leaders to ask questions and learn more about creating safe, livable streets in Houston. For more information, call Stoops at 417-967-4131 or email stoops@texasmo.org. Homeowners living near a gun range in southwest Missouri are concerned about stray bullets that have been hitting homes. But local officials say theres little they can do. Outdoor Addicts Gun Range opened in January in Oronogo. Since then, reports filed with the Jasper County Sheriffs Office indicate that seven bullets have struck five houses within less than a mile of the range, the Joplin Globe reported. Every time you hear a shot and there are a lot of them now you wonder if its the one,' said Billy Butler, whose daughter was on a swing set when the wooden frame was hit by a bullet earlier this year. The ranges owner, John T. Block, insisted the bullets arent from his range. Local homeowners arent convinced, but their appeals to courts and government officials have so far been unsuccessful. Weve been living here 10 years, said Marti Hamby, whose home was struck by a bullet in July. Nobody had bullets in their houses (before the gun range was built). County Commissioner John Bartosh noted that the lack of local zoning rules prevents the county from requiring certain safety regulations, such as protective berms built to a certain height. Zoning codes have repeatedly failed to gain political support from voters because most people who live out in the country dont want government telling them where they can build, Bartosh said. Republican Rep. Cody Smith said the only state law discussing gun ranges was written to make it more difficult to sue the businesses. When you get into legislative prescriptions such as berm height or proximity, that inevitably is going to infringe on the rights of someone who does it in a safe way and has done it in a safe way for hundreds of years under Second Amendment protections, he said. The homeowners, many of whom self-identify as gun supporters, said they think local officials are reluctant to fix the issue because it could be perceived as regulating firearms. Because of the trend in gun rights, they think this is all a political issue, said Shannon Rainey, a homeowner. But for us, there aint nothing political about this. This is our lives. SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN An online exclusive is an article or story that does not run in the print edition of the Houston Herald. Typically 2-3 are posted online every Wednesday morning. Its another feature designed for users who purchase full web access from the Herald. Click here to subscribe for print, digital or both. Rep. T.J. Berry has pre-filed legislation that would cap average electric rate increases in the range of 3 percent annually. The rate cap idea has been proposed by consumers groups as a way of bending the cost curve downward for electricity. Rep. T.J. Berry According to federal data, Missouri electric rates have risen faster than all but four other states over the past decade. The Missouri Retailers Association, Missouri Grocers Association and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry have all indicated that the status quo on energy policy is hurting customers and the Missouri economy. Berrys legislation (HB 1575), which is similar to SB 564 filed by Sen. Emery, would also help unlock more than $1 billion in grid modernization work. Historically, low-energy costs have been a tremendous advantage to the Missouri economy and workers, said Berry, R-Kearney. But every year policymakers fail to act, rates rise and we lose more of that economic benefit. Forty-six other states have reformed their energy regulations, and are therefore able to provide better services, more efficiently. This is the year Missouri must cap electric rates, while encouraging efforts to make our energy grid smarter and more secure. Recently the Missouri Chamber of Commerce released its 2018 legislative agenda which was unanimously approved by its Board of Directors, including support for energy reform. The Missouri Chamber appreciates this movement towards compromise in solving Missouris energy challenges, said Dan Mehan, Missouri Chamber of Commerce CEO. The Chamber recognizes the advantage of affordable and reliable energy in retaining and attracting businesses to our state. The Missouri Chamber will support efforts and work with business leaders, utility providers, and community leaders to drive a collaborative long-term solution to address Missouris aging infrastructure while ensuring continued reliable energy at predictable and competitive rates for customers. Under the proposed legislation, the Missouri Public Service Commission would enforce average annual rate caps in the range of 3 percent. Any regulated utility that was approved for a rate increase above the threshold would pay a significant penalty and potentially lose new regulatory tools per the legislation. The PSC would retain the same authority it has today to regulate utilities, including keeping the burden of proof on utilities unchanged. According to federal data, Missouris electricity rates have gone up approximately four times faster than the national average over the past decade. A rate cap in the range of 3 percent represents roughly half of what Missouri consumers have paid in increases annually over the past 10 years. An online exclusive is an article or story that does not run in the print edition of the Houston Herald. Typically 2-3 are posted online every Wednesday morning. Its another feature designed for users who purchase full web access from the Herald. Click here to subscribe for print, digital or both. 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. me Minister Jacinda Ardern affirmed the governments ambition to increase employment for young people and for those in the regions, amid questioning by an opposition leader.MP Bill English asked if she could confirm that there had been 245,000 jobs created in the past two years and what specific type of quality jobs she envisioned New Zealanders to have.Ardern however mentioned that the unemployment rate in Gisborne had increased to 8.8% and the number of neets young people who are not in employment, education or training had risen by 4,000 in the past two years.We can do better than that, she said.Opportunities in Gisborne, she said, were in the wood processing and forestry industries among others, belying Englishs claim that planting trees on Tuesdays and Fridays at the minimum wage is the kind of quality job she wants to create.English also asked whether full-time jobs on a living wage are still on the table, as the public has been led to believe, and hinted the PM is happy with the current policy to create part time jobs on the minimum wage."There are full-time job opportunities in the forestry industry, she said. The Member well knows that."According to Ardern, the Minister for Regional Economic Development has a clear ambition for job creation, focusing on rangatahi and young people, particularly in Northland, in the Bay of Plenty, and in the East Coast.There will also be investments in education and training with a fees-free policy.It's about investing in young people so that they're able to take up those jobsnot diminishing their motivation or their ability to do a job, she said. Special Response Team Called To Lanesborough Home Two Special Response Team vehicles responded to the scene. Police were responding to the scene in snowy conditions. Two Special Response Team vehicles responded to the scene. PreviousNext Bailey Road was closed from Route 7 to Noppet Road nearly all day. LANESBOROUGH, Mass. Bailey Road was closed for close to eight hours Tuesday after a man barricaded himself inside a home. Police said a Bailey Road resident called at about 11 a.m. to report that another household member was "shooting in the house and out the window." The reporting party then fled to a neighbor's house. Lanesborough Police, state police, and the Berkshire County sheriff's department set up a perimeter around the house and police, with the help of Lanesborough's Highway Department, shut down Bailey Road from Route 7 to Noppet Road. Traffic was diverted throughout the day around Brodie Mountain Road. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was called and relieved the initial responders. Police then made multiple attempts to reach the individual through crisis negotiators with the Special Response Team and the State Police Crisis Negotiators Unit but were unsuccessful. For hours, police could be heard through a megaphone calling on a man to exit the home. After nearly six hours without contact with the individual, the Special Response Team entered the residence. The scene was then turned over to detectives with the state police assigned to the Berkshire County district attorney's office, and the State Police Crime Scene Services Unit. Bailey Road was re-opened to traffic at about 7 p.m. Officers from Lanesborough, Pittsfield, Lee, Lenox, North Adams, Adams, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Berkshire County Sheriff's Department assisted on the scene. A rally last week at the Verizon store in Pittsfield called for the protection of net neutrality. Berkshire County Groups Call for Action to Protect Net Neutrality PITTSFIELD, Mass. More than 40 bundled-up Berkshire citizens gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Pittsfield Verizon store last Thursday evening, holding home-made placards and signs, to join tens of thousands of others for a day of peaceful protests at more than 600 Verizon store locations across the country. The issue at hand one they insist affects everyone is an upcoming congressional vote on the Federal Communications Commission's plan to repeal the rules that currently restrict how large broadband companies can control their users' access. Eileen Raab, who organized the Pittsfield rally, said she was "very pleased with the turnout. Members of Pittsfield United and Greylock Together made this event a success. We all need to stand up for net neutrality and protect freedom of speech on the Internet." Thursday's rally was part of Net Neutrality Call for Action held across the country and the internet to raise awareness of the impending vote that could change how Americans use and access the World Wide Web. Local Greylock Together member Jessica Dils, in thanking the Indivisible Pittsfield members for their solidarity, stressed that net neutrality "is critical to our democracy and the open access to the information we often take for granted." The internet, originally founded on an idea called net neutrality, has until now been governed by a set of legal protections referred to as "Title Two," preventing companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from blocking or censoring websites (or levying extra fees), restricting app use and online services, or otherwise interfering with online traffic through the "throttling back" of connection speeds. The new chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai (previously a top lawyer at Verizon) has scheduled a Dec. 14 vote to kill net neutrality what has been called "the First Amendment of the internet" through protecting free speech in the digital age, giving more people a voice than ever before and being used as a critical platform for organizing. Barbara van Schewick, a Stanford Law School professor and director of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, writes that Pai's plan "discards decades of careful work by FCC chairs of both political parties, who recognized and acted against the danger internet service providers posed to the free markets that rose out of and depend on the Internet. If his plan takes effect, ISPs would be free to disrupt how the Internet has worked for 30 years." Verizon has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, campaign contributions and think tanks to spread misinformation against net neutrality and create a corporate-managed internet, Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future, said the goal of the store protests was to "shine light on this corruption, and to urge local communities to do something about it." And though little publicized, once the FCC intentions were clear the public outcry "has been deafening" said Free Press Action Fund Field Director Mary Alice Crim. "The phones are ringing off the hook on Capitol Hill, as people urge Congress to put the public need for an open internet first. It's changing many minds in Washington," she said. Congress has the power to force Pai to cancel the vote and nine out of Massachusetts' 11 House legislators have already come out firmly against Pai's move (see battleforthenet.com/#scoreboard ). Dozens of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have now taken stands against the FCC plan. "The past week has shown that people across the country reject the ongoing love affair between these ISPs and DC policymakers," Demand Progress Director of Communications Mark Stanley said. "Democrats and Republicans alike are willing to take actions to protect their online rights." Anyone can let their representatives in Washington know what they think. iBerkshires.com accepts community submissions related to events and issues of interest to our readers. Public Services Commissioner Timothy Lescarbeau, left, and Mayor Richard Alcombright lead a tour of the new City Yard. The garage they are in can hold all of the DPW's vehicles. The new reception area holds renovated offices and bathrooms. The conference room can be used for education and safety lessons and also holds a drafting table from the original city hall. The newly refurbished break room looks into the garage. The mechanic's area is fitted with lifts that allow the mechanics to actually work indoors. The waste oil burner allows the DPW to get energy out of materials it normally would pay to dispose of. The cold storage room came with cranes valued at $500,000. Parks and Recreation will have a space in the new facility and can move out of the Noel Field location. PreviousNext North Adams City Council Tours New DPW Facility The new animal shelter is under construction in the building and will serve Adams and Williamstown along with the city. It isbeing funded by a grant. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The City Council took the full tour on Tuesday of the new Department of Public Works facility that is nearing completion and is already being utilized by city workers. Mayor Richard Alcombright told the councilors, councilors-elect and Mayor-elect Thomas Bernard during the walk-through of the overhauled former anodizing plant that the space has been "transformed" "This is a remarkable transformation of this space," he said. "For those of you who have been in this building before you are going to see a remarkable transformation ... I think the majority of what we wanted to accomplish has been accomplished." The city is spending nearly $500,000 to renovate the 85,000 square-foot building that will house several public works departments that are now operating out of deteriorating structures spread throughout the city. Public Services Commissioner Timothy Lescarbeau said having all of the public services departments under one roof makes his job easier. "In the past, all of my departments were spread out all over the city. In the morning I would have to run all around. ... It has worked out well and now I don't have to chase people," he said. "I don't have to run to the City Yard and back and run back and forth. I have actually got more paperwork done in the last few weeks here than I have in the past year in a half." The entrance to the new facility houses a reception area with offices. Moving into the actual facility, there is a renovated conference room that Lescarbeau said can be used for employee education and safety training. Continuing down the hallway is a renovated employee break room that Lescarbeau said is a huge upgrade. "The break room at the old yard was the break room, the restroom, locker room, and parts storage all in one room," he said. "It was also the washroom and it was nasty even when it was clean so now they have a new room." Both the reception area, conference room and break room were fitted with a new paint job, floors, ceilings and efficient LED lights. Alcombright said the city worked with National Grid to install efficient lighting throughout the facility. National Grid paid for a portion of the lighting and the city will be make up what was invested in 1.5 years just through the efficiency of the new lighting. Alcombright said efficiency was a huge part of the project and pointed out as the group moved out into the actual garage that the entire area was insulated. "You could hear a bicycle go by on Route 8 when you first came in here," he said. "Now this palace is so tight." Along with this, Alcombright said the DPW was creative with heating and installed a waste oil furnace in the garage that can burn cooking oil and other oil waste that may accumulate. "In the morning, we turn it on and pretty much takes the chill out of the whole building," Lescarbeau said. "To get rid of waste oil is expensive so we can burn it and save money." Lescarbeau said the entire building is actually heated with two super-efficient boilers that are much smaller than what was there before. "The old boilers would fill the room we are in and we ran them for two months when we first took ownership and it cost nearly $5000 a month," he said. "The new ones are two natural gas boilers and they are about the size of a file cabinet." Lescarbeau said he wants to install a biomass boiler to burn brush received at the transfer station. Normally the city has to pay to remove this. Alcombright pointed out the dispatch center that sits above the garage that he said will allow the DPW to answer calls on a full-time capacity instead of part time. "The idea of bringing the office people done here is the dispatch will continue throughout the day now, so people can call DPW or public services and someone will answer," he said. "We will have more continuity in the service." Alcombright brought the group toward the back of the garage, where the DPW has set up the mechanic area that he said is already a huge improvement. "We had three trucks down at a time and we were able to fix them right here," he said. "Before there would be two in the building working on them and one outside in this weather underneath the truck. We don't have to do that anymore. These guys are in a dry safe space." Lescarbeau walked the group through an area just off the back of the mechanic's space that will be used for cold storage. He said the building actually came with a few cranes that the DPW has repurposed to lift sanders. "It's not outside anymore, and we aren't picking it up with a loader with guys hanging under it," he said. He estimated that the cranes are valued at $500,000. Lescarbeau brought the councilors through the new Parks and Recreation room and Water Department room that have offices and work areas. He said the departments had similar sized spaces before but they also had to park their vehicles in the same room. He said public safety will also store equipment in the facility and the SWAT truck, command vehicle, bucket truck and generators will be kept warm. "All of this stuff used to sit outside," he said. "Now it is warm. Before when it was below zero you had to fight this stuff to get it to turn on." At the far end of the garage, Lescarbeau showed the councilors the incomplete animal shelter that will serve North Adams, Adams and Williamstown. Administrative Officer Michael Canales said this portion of the building is being funded through a $200,000 grant the city received. The area will be able to house 12 large dogs; however, these kennels can be subdivided. He added that there will be a cat area and an isolation room for sick animals. The kennel will need a special HVAC system that will be covered in the grant funding and Lescarbeau said the walls will be thick enough, so the potentially barking dogs won't bother the city workers. Lescarbeau said the entire project is on budget and the only thing the borrowed $500,000 won't pay for is the salt shed, which is slated to cost near $30,000. The city needed to use the funds that would have paid for the salt shed for the design of an air handling system. Alcombright added that the roof is in good shape and has over 20 years left in its lifespan. He said a third of the garage roof is older and will need to be replaced in the next five years, but the city is aware of it. The mayor said the city will continue to put the finishing touches on the building through the winter and in the spring will focus on landscaping and making improvements to the outside of the building. Most importantly, the new facility got the DPW's stamp of approval "I can't tell you how happy we are, believe me," Lescarbeau said. "Right now, I wouldn't take anybody through the old facility without a hazmat suit on." iciHaiti - Education : The Minister of Education meets Odette Roy Fombrun Tuesday, Josue Agenor Cadet, the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) met the centenary, author of many educational books, a collection on civics and several novels, sacred "national treasure alive" in 2009, the well-known and respected former Haitian teacher and feminist activist, Odette Roy Fombrun, with whom he had a rich and full of promising meeting. The question of education and corollary projects were at the center of the exchanges between the holder of MENFP and Odette Roy Fombrun. Mrs. Fombrun took the opportunity to acknowledge the work done by the Minister in the education sector and his latest book on some historical facts about Haiti. S/ iciHaiti iciHaiti - Social : The Red Cross honors its volunteers The National Society of the Haitian Red Cross (CRH) marked with a note of recognition the International Day of Volunteers through several commemorative activities during the week, including an evening in honor of volunteers and the delivery of plaques and certificates, on Friday, December 8 at the Best Western in Petion-ville. All 14 regions were represented at this tribute ceremony with two volunteers per region. They were honored by the National Society for their unconditional commitment to the movement. The commemorative activities took place from December 5th to 8th. This week of activities started on the day of the international celebration on December 5, is an opportunity to recognize the solidarity of volunteers who "answer to teh appeal in difficult times, taking risks to save lives." Speaking at the evening of 8 December, the President of the National Society, Dr Guiteau Jean-Pierre recalled the importance of the volunteers who for him represent the backbone of the movement both in Haiti and around the world. One of these wishes is to see, finally, in Haiti, a law of the "Good Samaritan" to protect volunteers and medical personnel as part of their humanitarian work. Faithful to tradition, volunteers mobilized through several local committees to mark the day. The theme chosen throughout the world for this year was : "Volunteers act first. Here. Everywhere." IH/ iciHaiti Israel Foils Hamas Kidnapping Plot Planned for Hanukkah The Fellowship | December 13, 2017 Israel Foils Hamas Kidnapping Plot Planned for Hanukkah As the Jewish people prepared to celebrate Hanukkah, the terror group Hamas prepared for something much more sinister. The Times of Israels Judah Ari Gross reports that Israeli security has foiled a Hamas plot to kidnap an Israeli soldier or settler during the eight-day Festival of Lights: Israeli security services arrested three members of an alleged Hamas terrorist cell in the northern West Bank suspected of planning to kidnap an Israeli citizen during the Hanukkah festival, the Shin Bet security service announced Wednesday According to the Shin Bet, the three men planned to kidnap a soldier or settler from one of the bus stations at a central junction in Samaria the biblical term for the northern West Bank. The plan was for them to dress up as local settlers and to get the abductee to get into their car, the security service said. The Shin Bet said the kidnapping was planned to take place during the eight-day Hanukkah holiday, which began on Tuesday evening 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 }} A literary fan has conducted a damning experiment. Writer Serge Volle sent 50 pages of French author Claude Simon's 1962 novel The Palace, set during the Spanish civil war, to 19 French publishers under the guise of being fresh material. 12 outright rejected the book, while seven never replied, despite the fact that Simon won the Nobel prize for literature in 1985, Volle told French public radio on Monday (via The Guardian). One editor claimed in a rejection letter that the book's "endlessly long sentences completely lose the reader", and that it failed to have a "real plot with well-drawn characters". He declined to state which publishers he had sent the extract to. Simon is often identified with the nouveau roman movement, which explicitly experimented with literary styles and saw Simon particularly noted for his wandering prose, with sentences that went on for several pages a noted feature of his most acclaimed work, 1981's The Georgics. Volle, 70, claimed the rejections exemplified degrading standards in publishing, "abandoning literary works that are not easy to read or that will not set sales records". Paraphrasing Marcel Proust, he added that you must already be "famous to be published. We are living in the era of the throwaway book". It's worth noting, however, that a number of major French publishers originally rejected The Georgics, and The Palace stands as one of Simon's most controversial works, with many critics interpreting it as a thinly-veiled attack on British author George Orwell. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more. 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 }} Back in 2016, Woody Harrelson admitted he'd been dying to join the Marvel universe. At the time, he was talking to Now You See Me 2 co-star Mark Ruffalo and, though he won't be standing side-to-side with Hulk, Harrelson basically got his wish. He won't be joining the MCU, but he is climbing aboard Sony's run of Marvel films. Variety reports the actor has joined Tom Hardy in Venom, the Spider-Man spin-off revolving around Eddie Brock, the host of an alien symbiote that gives him exceptional powers. Sources state Harrelson will play a henchman of sorts and will also join the likes of Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, and Jenny Slate. Venom already made his big screen debut in 2007's Spider-Man 3, portrayed by Topher Grace, though this film will mark Sony's new attempts to build a universe outside Tom Holland's Spider-Man and divorced entirely from the studio's connections to the MCU. Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji) and Jeff Pinkner (The Dark Tower) will pen the film's script, with Ruben Fleischer directing, having already worked with Harrelson on 2009's Zombieland. Sony had no comment on the casting. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Though climate change didn't cause Hurricane Harvey, two independent studies have concluded it dramatically increased the probability of a storm of its magnitude occurring ahead of its appearance, and increased the severity of its impact when it arrived. "Did climate change make this event more likely than in the past? Yes, said Dr Karin van der Wiel of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who co-authored one of the studies, published in Environmental Research Letters. The researchers looked at Hurricane Harvey's rainfall in the context of historical records, concluding that such an extreme weather event should only be expected once every 9000 years. They then used climate models to run simulations showing different levels of climate change. Comparing historical weather records with the simulation results allowed the scientists to assess the impact climate change had on the probability of the hurricane's rainfall. The other study, carried out by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, used computer simulations to analyse Harveys downpours over a week and calculated that global warming increased its rainfall by nearly 20 per cent. The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Show all 19 1 /19 The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A tattered U.S. flag damaged in Hurricane Harvey, flies in Conroe, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Lisa Rehr holds her four-year old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated with their belongings from Rockport, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People line up for food as others rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center AP Photo/LM Otero The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Volunteers with The American Red Cross register evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard help the residents of Cyprus Creek Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents wade through floodwater Reuters/Nick Oxford The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents walk along the flooded roadway of Texas 249 as they evacuate their adjacent neighborhoods EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A man floats past a truck submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued by airboat as they evacuate from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey James Archiable carries his bike through the flooded intersection at Taylor and Usenet near downtown Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey A massive sinkhole opened up on a motorway in Rosenburg, a city 25 miles southwest of Houston, Texas Rosenberg Police The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey in an armored police mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People are rescued from flood waters from Hurricane Harvey on a boat in Dickinson, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees are airlifted in a US Coast Guard helicopter after flooding due to Hurricane Harvey inundated neighborhoods in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Evacuees leave a US Coast Guard helicopter after being rescued from flooding due to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas Reuters The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Residents look on at a submerged motorway during a break in the rain in Houston, Texas EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey People photograph the submerged motorway interchange EPA The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Debris lies on the ground after a building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas AP The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Dominic Dominguez searches for his boat in a boat storage facility that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Rockport, Texas EPA The findings were presented on Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans. As Harvey was ongoing, researchers feared the storm had been made worse by global warming. However, they didn't have the data to confirm their suspicions until now. The increase in rainfall during the hurricane may be linked to increases in the oceans heat content. Most heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere gets absorbed by oceans, and this trapped energy is what fuels hurricanes. Lower ocean heat prior to Hurricane Harvey would have resulted in less rainfall, according to the researchers. [One of the studies] suggests that the extreme rainfall component of Hurricane Harvey was made 15 per cent more intense due to climate change, which is broadly in agreement with the atmospheric theory that has been developed in this area, said Dr Dann Mitchell, a climate physicist at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the study. The research adds to a growing body of evidence that extreme weather events are made worse by climate change. Understanding the role that global warming plays in natural disasters is a developing area of science, and one that plays a vital role in shaping public narratives about climate change. Earlier this week, the UKs Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit issued a report that found extensive links between climate change and extreme weather events. Two years worth of studies shows that climate change is affecting heatwaves, droughts and rainfall right now, Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, told The Independent. Recommended Natural disasters increasingly linked to climate change Nevertheless, while events like heatwaves and droughts are relatively easy to link with increases in global temperatures, hurricanes are far more complicated. Attribution of hurricane characteristics to climate change is extremely challenging, and the authors have focused only on the precipitation response, which is perhaps the most well understood, and is particularly important given the nature of the flooding in Texas due to Harvey, said Dr Mitchell. Though Dr Mitchell noted that this research had accomplished its goal of investigating the effects of climate change on rainfall, further investigation of hurricane dynamics will be vital going forward. Such research is needed for understanding future changes in cyclones and avoiding impacts if we follow the Paris Agreement on climate change, rather than current, high greenhouse gas emission pathways, he said. Additional reporting by AP. 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 }} Children have been told they have to choose between wearing a coat approved by their school or none at all. Temperatures have been steadily dropping this winter, with the Met Office even issuing a yellow weather alert warning people in the UK to be wary of icy surfaces over the next few days. However, for Patcham High School in Brighton, their students choice of attire appears to be of greater importance than their ability to fight the frost. Recommended Ofsted finds 130 schools showing no signs of improvement in ten years More than a thousand aged between 11 and 16 have been told that they must dish out 32 on a coat adorned with the school emblem or face heading outdoors without one, as reported by The Argus. However, for many pupils and their families, they simply cant afford it. With Primark offering a variety of coats for as little as a third of the price, many believe its grossly unjust that the school has enforced this new rule. A 40-year-old mother with two children at the school has spoken to The Argus about her disapproval of Patcham High Schools actions. Im a complete supporter of school uniform policy, and I could understand if they were banning branded trousers, handbags or earrings, but the coat ban is ridiculous, she said. If you go to the school at 2.50pm when they leave school, 90 per cent of the kids are not wearing a coat and it is freezing. While people have responded in outrage to the news on Twitter, headteacher John McKee has apparently defended his ruling. They are allowed to wear their coats to school, it is only when they are on the school grounds that they need to put their school coat on, he explained to The Argus. He said the school was trying to make the uniform "equitable" so that disadvantaged children didn't feel left out because they weren't wearing a designer label. He added that Ofsted was happy with the move. McKee has tried to make the point that the students can wear their own coat on their way to school and then change before passing the school gates. However, this doesnt negate the fact that they would still need to purchase the approved coat in order to avoid being penalised. The Independent has contacted Patcham High School for further comment. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases 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 IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Have you ever found yourself craving a pint, but in dire need of a coffee to boost your energy levels? Well, now you don't have to choose between the two, thanks to the latest coffee-infused innovation. Coffee-infused produce is all the rage at the moment. In December, Soho restaurant The Diner put forward the ultimate hangover cure with a coffee-infused bacon roll, aptly named the "Ba-coffee Roll". Now, a company has combined coffee and beer to create the perfect perk-me-up brew. Pairing Yorkshire brewery Black Sheep Brewery with Costa's Mocha Italia beans, hospitality company Whitbread is celebrating its 275th anniversary with the launch of this coffee-based tipple. Only 5,000 bottles of the limited edition craft brew are going to be sold in selected Premier Inns across the UK, so youll have to get your hands on one quick. Alison Brittain, Whitbread chief executive, commented on the companys landmark anniversary. 275 years is a huge milestone for Whitbread, its an occasion to celebrate our heritage, history of innovation and most importantly, the people - our 50,000 employees - who make it what it is today, she said. Whitbread isn't the first company to think of blending the delectable flavours of coffees and beer. On September 13, eight craft breweries teamed up with coffee roasters from the UK and Ireland to display a variety of coffee-infused beers at Brew by Numbers Brewery in London for the first ever UK Uppers & Downers festival. Paul Jones, managing director of Cloudwater Brew Co. believes that collaborations between breweries and coffee companies work because both have a similar mindset. We are all working with the same set of principles and beliefs, so I think there is a really strong relationship between the coffee and beer crowds, he said. Recommended Scientists discover way to make sustainable petrol using beer While people may often think of coffee and beer as guilty pleasures, both surprisingly have their fair amount of benefits. Recent research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine states that having three cups of coffee every day could reduce your risk of developing certain health conditions, such as heart disease. Beer, on the other hand, also has its perks. Last year, the Pennsylvania State University conducted a study of 80,000 adults that found that a pint or two a day could reduce your likelihood of suffering from a stroke. So, all in all, coffee-infused beer could be the pairing that we never knew we needed. 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 }} Apple is going to release its hugely powerful iMac Pro this week, it has confirmed. The new computer will come out on Thursday, 14 December, according to the company's website. It is the first confirmation or new information about the new desktop since it was unveiled in June. The company still didn't announce how much the iMac Pro which looks like a normal iMac but comes in a dark grey will cost, though it said in June that prices start at $4,999. But it did unveil a whole range of market-leading technologies that can be found inside, including an 18-core processor and a powerful Vega graphics chip. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty Together it is intended to be far and away the most powerful computer that Apple has ever released. It hopes that by doing so it can overcome professionals' fears about the Mac Pro which was praised on its release in 2013 but hasn't been updated since, and left them worrying that Apple would not longer make a computer suitable for work like video editing. It's thought that iMac Pro was once intended to entirely replace the bin-shaped Mac Pro. But it held an event in April that recognised people still wanted the modular, separate design and said it would bring out a new version of the computer next year. Recommended Apple Mac Pro will be resurrected after years of silence and stress The new details appeared on a special part of the Apple site that details the various tech specs and features of the brand new computer. It also confirmed the release date, though gave little information on availability. At the same time, a number of early reviews from YouTubers who had access to the computer went live. Apple has been giving vloggers early access to its recent products, including allowing them to be among the first to review the iPhone X. Popular vlogger Marques Brownlee, who said he has had the computer for about a week, said he was impressed by the new computer. "It feels like the ideal high end YouTuber, Final Cut Pro machine," he said, though noted that the important question will be whether it is worth spending so much more on the powerful computer. The video also revealed some unexpected details about the new computer, including the fact that it ships with a black Lightning charging cable. That product isn't going to be available elsewhere for now, and marks the first time that Apple has sold a cable in a colour other than white. Previously, Apple had only said that the new computer would be released in December. (It said the same of its HomePod, but announced a couple of weeks ago that the smart speaker would be delayed into the new year at which time it didn't mention any change of release date for the iMac Pro.) 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 }} Its been scientifically proven that people are more likely to find smokers less attractive. In a study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol, over 500 participants were presented with the faces of 23 sets of identical twins, plus a male and female prototype. The two main aims of the study were to determine whether its possible to tell if someones a smoker based on their facial features, and whether smoking can impact ones attractiveness. There are many factors that can affect a persons appearance, including age, sex and environment. Therefore, utilising the faces of identical twins in the study provided the researchers with the degree of control they needed to achieve accurate results. Because identical twins share nearly all their genetic material, and some aspects of their environment (e.g. parenting, cultural background, education), differences between them can be attributed to non-shared environmental effects, including differences in lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, the study stated. Male and female prototypes of the twins faces were also used in the experiment, created by averaging the faces of the other twins. This is because the slightest difference in expression, pose or lighting had the potential to hinder the outcome of the investigation. The results of the study were overwhelmingly one-sided, with the male and female participants able to correctly identify which of the male and female prototype faces was the smoker 70 per cent of the time. Both men and women also predominantly chose the non-smoker prototype faces as the more attractive of the two. The researchers believe that their findings could be instrumental in promoting changes in smoking behaviour, especially among young people. They wrote: Young people are particularly sensitive to the potential negative effects smoking has on their attractiveness as they age. The findings, particularly those for the prototypes that represent the characteristic facial features of smokers and non-smokers, have the potential to be of utility in developing and improving smoking behaviour change interventions. A study published in June this year discovered that the number of people smoking is on the decline. Only 15.5 per cent of adults aged over 18 in the UK currently smoke, in comparison to 19.9 per cent recorded in 2010. Earlier this year, Cancer Research UK teamed up with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO to launch a campaign called the Breath Test. Passersby at a bus stop were invited to Take a deep breath and blow here, to aim their breath on a circle on the interactive ad. As people blew on the circle, writing appeared explaining that smokers were less likely to read past the first line. It then went on to encourage smokers to seek help from a Stop Smoking adviser so that they could try to stop for good. 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 }} Women are more sexually attracted to the strongest-looking men, a new Australian study has confirmed. Researchers at Griffith University in Queensland examined what factors most influenced female attraction to males and found that physical strength reigned supreme. After surveying 150 women, they concluded that they could almost predict how attractive a man was based on three things: how physically strong he looks, how tall he is and how lean he is. The scientists conducted two separate experiments, during which full-length photographs of men were shown to each of the female participants who subsequently assessed the mens physical strength levels and rated their attractiveness. While some women favoured feminised faces when assessing the photos of the men, almost all of them preferred those who they perceived to be physically strong as opposed to weak-looking. The results showed that the strongest men included in the image samples were also deemed the most attractive. Further analysis also showed that height and leanness were favoured by the female participants, which, along with physical strength, accounted for 80 per cent of mens overall bodily attractiveness. Recommended This is the hairstyle women find most attractive on men The studys authors concluded that women choose men based on ancestral cues of a mans fighting ability, crediting their preferences to ancient mating rituals in which women chose partners they perceived as being able to provide for them. The new research follows a series of recent studies examining male attractiveness. When it came to height, a recent study conducted by Match.com conversely found that women were most attracted to short men. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania revealed that bald men were deemed more attractive than those with hair. So, if youre short, bald and muscly, the ladies are probably already lining up around the corner for you... Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A 24-year-old model from Sudan has revealed that she was cruelly bullied as a teen and was told by classmates that her complexion was too black. Nyakim Gatwech, who now resides in Minnesota, explained in an interview that she lived in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before moving to the US at the age of 14. She had hoped that coming to America would allow her to start a new life; however, she was frequently subjected to ruthless bullying and faced racist comments on a daily basis. Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Gatwech recalled that classmates would accuse her of not taking showers, comparing her skin to dirt. Some would even claim that they couldnt see her when she was asked questions in the classroom. At the time, Gatwech was still learning to speak English and often stayed quiet while her classmates cruelly teased her. She was also subject to racist comments outside of the classroom, explaining how she once went into a supermarket and could overhear nearby strangers saying: Oh my God, shes so black. Is that even normal? At one point, Gatwech considered bleaching her skin in a bid to detract the bullies, however, her sister eventually convinced her not to take such extreme measures. In March, she revealed in an Instagram post that an Uber driver asked if she would consider bleaching her skin for $10,000 (7,489). Her story resonated with her hundreds of thousands of followers and generated a flurry of supportive comments. Gatwech suspected it was the first time the driver had ever seen a Sudanese person. Today, Gatwech is a successful model and has worked with a range of leading brands including Calvin Klein and Jigsaw. Her primary goal with her career is to keep promoting self-love and helping others who might suffer from discrimination due to their skin colour. I want to keep doing that. Thats important, she concluded. 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 }} York has followed London by refusing to grant ride-hailing app Uber a licence to operate in the city. Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew Uber's licence on the grounds of public safety and security implications in September. A committee at the City of York Council cited the number of complaints it had received about the service and a recent well-publicised data protection breach as reasons for the decision. The 7-3 vote of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee was greeted by applause and cries of thank you from the public gallery on Tuesday night. Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, told the meeting Uber was systematically abusing the local laws and looking for loopholes by using out-of-town vehicles. He said: The trade does not object to fair competition, but Uber are not a fair player in the public transport world in the UK. Uber's licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate - most recently on 21 December 2016. The company also received some good news on Wednesday as Sheffield lifted its own suspension on Uber's operating licence after it provided satisfactory answers to questions about the taxi app's management. Earlier this month, local officials in Sheffield said Uber's licence had been suspended after it failed to respond to queries. Uber said it had not received the correspondence the council referred to as it had been sent to the wrong address. Sheffield officials said they had now had productive discussions with Uber and are looking into a new licence application submitted by the Silicon Valley firm. The new application, made by Uber in October, to operate private hire cars in Sheffield is being considered and a decision will be made in early 2018, the council said in a statement. Uber also faces a licence renewal decision in Cambridge next week. The taxi app's licences are due to expire in Britain's second-biggest city Birmingham and Scottish capital Edinburgh in early 2018. Last month it was revealed that Uber had been the subject of a massive data breach which affected 2.7 million UK users of its app. Hackers obtained personal details of 57 million customers and drivers worldwide, including people's names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Neil McGonigle, head of cities for the north of England for Uber, told councillors there were 28,000 people who regularly use the app in the city. He said: Over the course of the last 12 months we have seen a steady increase in the number of people looking to use the service we provide. From our experience, the passengers love the ability to have the convenience of pressing a button to request a car, to take a trip without having to use cash at all and, from a safety point of view, being able to track every element of that journey. I believe that increased choice and competition is a good thing for both passengers and drivers in terms of increasing standards across the board. He added the company had been open and cooperative with the council in tackling issues, including where drivers have applied for hire illegally. A report provided to the meeting at the City of York council offices said that in the previous 12 months, the authority had received 296 complaints about hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, of which more than half related to Uber drivers. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. Details of the specific complaints were not made public. The company has 21 days to make a decision on whether to appeal the committee's decision and can continue to operate in York until its licence expires or the appeal is heard. Uber's appeal against TfL's decision not to renew its licence will be heard in the spring. PA 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 }} More than 1,400 people with dementia who are well enough to go home will be stranded in hospital on Christmas Day, a charity has warned. The Alzheimers Society said the lack of social care funding was turning wards into waiting rooms as an investigation they carried out revealed dementia patients were delayed up to 10 times longer than patients without the condition. There is no cure for dementia and no drugs to slow its progression, meaning hundreds of thousands of sufferers in the UK rely on social care rather than the NHS. But the Alzheimers Society said a 2bn shortfall in social care funding meant there was not enough support for people with dementia. An analysis of hospital audits by the charity found people with dementia stayed an extra 500,000 days in hospital despite being well enough to leave costing the NHS more than 170m. The society said this was a conservative estimate as only two out of three people with dementia have been diagnosed. Longer than necessary stays in hospital can have negative consequences for patients, causing some to become too frail to be discharged home. Hospitals can also be upsetting and confusing environments for those with dementia, according to the charity Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of the Alzheimers Society, warned that scarce social care funding meant wards were being turned into waiting rooms and safety was being jeopardised. He added: From the woman who spent two months on a bed in a corridor because there were no available care home places, to the man who died after months of waiting left him debilitated by hospital-acquired infections, people with dementia are repeatedly falling victim to a system that cannot meet their needs. Mr Hughes demanded more money for social care to reduce the pressure on hospitals, adding: One million people will have dementia by 2021, yet local authorities social care budgets are woefully inadequate, and no new money has been promised in the budget to cope with increasing demand. Karen Moores dementia-suffering father and was stranded in hospital for six months, during which time her mother also died of cancer, so I was grieving while also trying to sort out her fathers care. It was a nightmare. The hospital was great, but it wasnt the right environment for Dad and we were under pressure to free-up a bed. But because his needs fluctuated so much it was impossible to get him sorted with social care, so he was stuck in hospital for six months, she said. Dad got infection after infection; it was like he was being taken down by a pack of wolves. Eventually, he died on the ward. Responding to analysis by the Alzheimers Society, Margaret Willcox, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said: As part of a caring society, people with dementia need and deserve specialist care and support. A busy acute hospital can add to their confusion and disorientation as they thrive better when in familiar surroundings, especially their own home, with people they know. She added that the report served as evidence of the urgent need to plug an estimated 2.5 billion funding gap facing adult social care up to 2020, which she said was impacting now on thousands of people in need of reliable, personal care including those with dementia. Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGAs Community Wellbeing Board, meanwhile said: These tragic stories of people fit to leave but stuck in hospital over Christmas reinforces our urgent call for genuinely new funding for adult social care in the Local Government Finance Settlement. We estimate adult social care faces an annual funding gap of 2.3 billion by 2020. It was hugely disappointing that the Chancellor found money for the NHS but nothing for adult social care in the Autumn Budget. Spending plans for the new NHS funding should be agreed with local government to ensure its most effective use locally. Cllr Seccombe urged that councils were doing all they can to get people out of hospital safely and quickly, urging that delays attributable to social care are down 7.2 cent from July to September. She added: Councils are also playing a leading role in improving the lives of people with dementia and their families through all of the services they provide, including housing, transport, leisure services, social care, public health and community safety. Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty However, fundamental changes to the way we fund adult social care are needed if we are to deliver a long-term sustainable system that works for everyone in society and meets their needs with safe and high-quality services. A Department of Health spokesperson said: This is a very small survey based on statistics from September and isnt representative of the actual situation. No one should be stuck in hospital when their treatment has finished, thats why weve given an extra 2 billion funding for social care over the next three years and next summer we will publish plans to reform social care to ensure it is sustainable for the future. 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 }} More than 75,000 people have signed a petition calling for Richard Bransons private healthcare company to return cash it was given by the NHS. Anger has been growing at the payment after it was revealed just one local health service group reached a reported 328,000 settlement with Virgin Care. Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded. Virgin Care filed proceedings in the UK High Court naming the six local NHS commissioning groups (CCGs) in Surrey, as well as Surrey Council and NHS England. One CCG - NHS Surrey Downs - accidentally disclosed in its October public finance papers that its liability over the case was 328,000, the Health Service Journal reported. But there is speculation the total settlement could be as high as 2m when the other five commissioning groups are taken into account. Virgin Care and NHS Guildford and Waverley CCG, which was the lead group, both told The Independent the details of the settlement were confidential. NHS England boss demands 350m-a-week promised by Leave voters The petition reads: Virgin Care, Richard Bransons healthcare company, has sued the National Health Service, after failing to win a contract. Surrey NHS commissioners felt the services would be better provided by a partnership of NHS organisations, but in the face of Virgins threats, to avoid having to fight a court case, they paid Virgin an amount which some reports suggest is as high as 2m. When the NHS is under severe financial pressure, it cannot afford to lose this money. Richard Branson, however, with an estimated personal wealth of over 3.5bn, can manage perfectly comfortably without it. This petition asks that Virgin Care returns the money to the National Health Service, and asks Richard Branson to apologise and make a personal commitment that Virgin Care will never again sue the NHS after losing out on a contract. John Ashworth, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: Its scandalous that NHS money is being wasted on fighting off legal bids from private companies. Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves The elderly We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population, Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called very serious problems at some hospitals by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunts plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that key members of Ms Mays team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky Newss Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been ducked by government over the years. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a humanitarian crisis and said health funding was at record levels. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need, said the Prime Minister. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in. But doctors accused Ms May of being in denial about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise introduced by Tony Blairs government in 2000 should only be for those who actually need it. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had less stringent rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of hiding from the public eye following news of the Red Crosss comments and didnt make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying the public will want to know, Mr Hunt. Sorry Beth, Ive answered questions about this already, replied Mr Hunt. But you didnt answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didnt want to water it down. Is that what youre saying? said Ms Rigby. Its very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then wont answer the question, Mr Hunt. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty Ministers need to make clear how much public money has been used in this case at the least it seems to be hundreds of thousands of pounds. That is money that could be being used for NHS patients who are waiting longer than ever for routine services. Virgin Care has won several major contracts for community health and care services in recent years, including a controversial 700m adult social services contract in Bath and North Somerset, despite protests from residents. It is the first time a for-profit organisation will deliver a councils social care programme for adults. 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 }} Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is prepared to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions. We are ready to have the first meeting without precondition, Mr Tillerson said in a speech in Washington, DC. Let's just meet. We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table. The statement from Americas top diplomatic official underscores the urgency of efforts to blunt the threat of an increasingly belligerent North Korea. Mr Tillerson said any talks would have to occur amid a period of quiet, noting that it would be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decide to test another device. Rejecting diplomatic entreaties and forging ahead with its weapons programmes despite multiple rounds of United Nations sanctions, Pyongyang has flexed its military muscle by testing intercontinental ballistic missiles and detonating what was likely a hydrogen bomb. While Donald Trump and his leading officials have consistently held out the possibility of a military confrontation, Mr Tillerson said last month in response to North Koreas latest test that diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now, floating the possibility of additional financial sanctions. By contrast, Mr Tillersons counterpart at the UN, American ambassador Nikki Haley, reacted to the late-November test in which a missile soared higher than any prior launch before crashing into the sea near Japan by warning the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed if its actions continued to force the world toward war. She had earlier said diplomatic tools were effectively exhausted. North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Show all 13 1 /13 North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents react after the news of the successful launch of the new intercontinental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un signing an order to test-fire the newly developed inter-continental ballistic missile KRT via AP Video North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch A news broadcast displays Kim Jong Un's signed document AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch People cheer as they watch the news broadcast announcing Kim Jong Un's order to test-fire the new inter-continental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Residents react after the document signing AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents celebrate Kim Jong Un's announcement AFP/Getty North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Cheering Pyongyang residents react AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch To counter North Korea's missile test, South Korea fired missiles into the East Sea The Defence Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The Hyunmu-2 missiles firing during the drill South Korean Defense Ministry vi North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The exercise was carried out in an attempt to counter Kim Jong Un's order South Korea Defense Ministry via AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The South Korean army continue to carry out military exercises AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Where K-9 self-propelled howitzers were taking part in a drill Rex Features North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch US soldiers are also present in the border city of Paju AFP/Getty Images Earlier this month, UN diplomat Jeffrey Feltman paid a rare visit to North Korea in an effort to quell tensions. Contrasting with that diplomatic foray, the United States held joint military drills with South Korea that Pyongyang characteristically blasted as an act of aggression. The countrys foreign ministry called it confrontational warmongering. China, which has chastised both the US and Korea for escalating tensions, has urged America to abandon such drills as a prelude to negotiations. 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 Isis-supporting couple who plotted to commit a terror attack in the UK have been jailed for 26 years. Ummar Mirza, 21, planned to carry out a stabbing attack with the support of his wife Madihah Taheer, who said she fantasised about beheading columnist Katie Hopkins. The married couple, from Birmingham, discussed their violent aspirations in messages exchanged before their marriage and bought a knife and life-like human dummy to practice for the atrocity. Recommended Terror conviction for woman who fantasised about Hopkins beheading Mirza, 21, admitted one count of preparing terrorist acts between January and March this year, while Taheer denied any involvement before being convicted of the same charge in October. Sentencing Mirza to 16 years in jail with an extended licence period of five years, Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: You had moved a long way down the road of preparation of a terrorist act of the lone wolf type. He said Mirza had moved from speculative ideas to sourcing equipment, targets and training, adding: The harm which might have been caused is undoubtedly high. I am satisfied that you pose a significant risk of serious harm being caused to members of the public. Taheer, 22, was jailed for 10 years with an extended period of one year. The judge said her imprisonment presented a "personal tragedy", with her first child just five months old. A training dummy used by a couple in Birmingham to prepare for a terror attack (CPS) Mirza's sister, Zainub Mirza, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for sharing Isis propaganda on social media. The 24-year-old, of Eastfield Road, Birmingham, earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of disseminating terrorist publications in January this year. Prosecutors told Woolwich Crown Court Taheer had bought her husband a martial arts dummy so he could practice stabbing techniques. The nursery worker, who was pregnant at the time, squabbled with Mirza on WhatsApp about the cost of the knife he wanted to buy, telling him: They all do the same thing. Using her debit card, she purchased a combat knife for 121, the dummy for 275 and a plastic training knife for 9.60. The dummy, depicting a white mans torso, was found in their home in St Agatha's Road, Birmingham, with slash marks on the forehead, across the throat and abdomen. Mirza was arrested by armed police just days after the Westminster attack in March, but weeks before he also bought a cord to make a concealed harness for his knife and had researched potential targets. A knife used by a couple in Birmingham to prepare for a terror attack (CPS) The jury heard that the couple viewed and shared Isis propaganda and discussed extremist views before their marriage. Can we get married already ffs. I want u to kill ppl for me. I have a list, Taheer wrote in September 2015. Mirza replied: The day of nikkah [marriage] Ill kill em all. Give me the list. The only thing that stops me is we are not married. I will defo Im not joking. On that list was Hopkins, a commentator known for her controversial columns on Islam, terror and migration. I fantasise about Katie Hopkin's head, Taheer told her husband. Shes the biggest kuthi [bitch] of them all. Mirza, a former accountant, had named Paul Golding, the co-leader of far-right group Britain First, as one of his targets. In messages to his wife, Mirza said he wanted to stab someone 27 times, to which Taheer replied that sounds so satisfying. The Crown Prosecution Service said the conversations showed Taheer was a willing accomplice who knew what her husband wanted to use the knife for. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA 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 Prosecutor John McGuinness QC said: The evidence shows that these two defendants held a shared belief in violent pro-jihad, Isis extremism. They show evidence of supporting Isis, its methods, beliefs and aims. A stockpile of air guns and replica firearms were also found at Mirza and Taheers home, with his phone containing images of him posing with them. Recommended UK security services preparing to launch new crackdown on terrorism Counter-terrorism police swooped after an MI5 operation tracking Mirza, who had expressed a desire to travel to Isis territory in Syria alongside his wife. Prosecutors said Taheer and Mirza were inspired by Isis but there was no indication of formal contact with the group in the case. They join several convicted terrorists who have plotted action at home after being unable to join the physical caliphate a phenomenon experts warn is driving an increased terror risk as Isis intensifies calls for attacks. Security services had braced for the potential return Isis fighters from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq, the vast majority of current terror cases involve homegrown extremists. Isis issued its first formal call for women to carry out terror attacks and join fighting earlier this year, having previously restricted female followers to supporting its fighters and indoctrinating children. Additional reporting by PA 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 brother of an Isis suicide bomber has been convicted of preparing for a terrorist attack, after claiming he bought bomb-making materials and weapons for hunting and fishing. Mohammed Awan, 24, told police he intended to hunt rabbits and other game with a slingshot and 500 ball bearings purchased online. But investigators uncovered a bomb-making manual advising jihadis to use the bearings as shrapnel among a prolific quantity of terrorist propaganda. Prosecutors told Sheffield Crown Court that the day before the slingshot was delivered, Awan searched online for information about the injuries ball bearings fired from a slingshot could cause. The dentistry student, from Huddersfield, had downloaded a manual advising would-be terrorists to practice with slingshots and other primitive weapons before moving onto firearms. Chapter headings in the document included: Survival Techniques, Modern Weapons, Bomb Making, The Jihad Begins and Escaping for Safety. The manual, which surfaced in 2015 and has been linked to both al-Qaeda and Isis, targets Muslims living in the West and remained easily available online at the time of writing. Rizwan Awan, known as Abu Musa al-Britani, killed himself in an Isis suicide bombing in Iraq in March 2016 It was among a significant amount of terrorism-related material found on 11 mobile phones, 16 USB sticks and seven computers examined by specialist police officers. One memory stick found in Awans bedroom contained a 36-minute video featuring a senior terrorist leader who was killed in a 2016 US drone-strike. It showed the extremist calling for young Muslims to wage jihad and featured graphic footage of how to kill and kidnap victims, while teaching tactics for terrorists using assault rifles and small firearms. Awans older brother, Rizwan, blew himself up in a suicide bombing while fighting for Isis in Iraq in March 2016. Rizwan, a former British Gas employee, was the nephew of a local councillor and had travelled to Isis territories with his wife in 2015. The brothers were in contact with each other before Isis issued a propaganda report announcing Rizwans martyrdom under his nom de guerre, Abu Musa al-Britani. Awan was arrested by counter-terrorism police in June following an intelligence-led investigation, with police raiding his student accommodation in Sheffield and family home in Huddersfield. Awan denied preparing of an act of terrorism and two counts of possessing a record likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, but was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday. Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson, the head of investigations at Counter Terrorism Policing North East said: Awan was influenced by the material he had researched online which included numerous Daesh [Isis] propaganda sites. He purchased ball bearings online and information about the use of these in attacks was contained in the material he had downloaded. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA 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 Whilst we do not know the full details of Awans intentions, officers intervened swiftly before Awan could put any plans into practice. Public safety is, and always will be, our priority. Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) counter-terror division, said Awan had acted on the propaganda he was consuming by buying a simple but potentially dangerous weapon which he intended to use to harm innocent people. The prosecutions evidence against him undermined Awans attempt to portray his actions as harmless and he will now need to serve a sentence for his behaviour, she added. Recommended Timeline of MI5 investigations into UK terror attackers revealed Awan will be sentenced on 20 December. His conviction came on the same day as an unrelated case that saw a London man convicted of encouraging terror attacks and disseminating extremist material. Mijanul Haque, 23, had been stopped at Heathrow Airport as he returned to the UK on a flight from Ghana in August 2016. Officers found Isis propaganda on his phone, laptop and other devices, showing videos had been shared with contacts over WhatsApp alongside links to material calling for terror attacks. Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Polices counter-terrorism command, said: Weve seen from the devastating attacks suffered here in the UK and abroad the terrible impact of this toxic ideology. It was clear from the array of material we found on Haques devices that he was sharing their material to promote Daesh and encourage others to commit terrorist acts. He is due to be sentenced on 18 December. The UK terror threat-level remains at severe, with nine plots being foiled by security services so far this year. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government is under pressure over the astronomical rise in the cost of British citizenship for children, which is now 22 times more expensive than in Germany. Costs to register a childs citizenship application have soared by 153 per cent in the last seven years, from 386 in 2010 to 973 today. Scores of youngsters descended on Westminster on Wednesday morning with Citizens UK in protest against the fee, which sees many children unable to become British citizens despite having a legal right. The fee is considerably higher than in other European countries, with the figure standing at 80 euros in Belgium, 55 euros in France and just 51 euros in Germany. Each application costs the Home Office 386, meaning the department makes a 586 profit per child registered. With 40,537 applications made in the year to September 2017, the Home Office is expected to make almost 24m this year from children registering for citizenship. The soaring costs mean a family with three children who have come from abroad and settled in the UK for 10 years, accessing citizenship for all members, including those born here, would have paid out more than 15,000 to be naturalised as British citizens, taking into account all migration fees. Many of these families suffer in-work poverty due to their low wages, so are unable to afford the cost of citizenship, which can prevent children from fully participating in the life of their community, experts warn. There are an estimated 120,000 undocumented children across the UK, more than half of whom are legally entitled to a UK passport. Many are unaware of their status until they apply to university, try to open a bank account or need a passport for foreign travel, according to Citizens UK. Anne-Marie Canning, director of social mobility and student success at King's College London, said this can lead to problems when youngsters wish to go into higher education, with many facing difficulties due to not having the correct documents to access student loans. "There are a large number of students in Greater London who are unable to access university because they are locked out of the student loans system due to paperwork, she said. Revd Mother Ellen Eames and school children singing carols outside the Home Office. Hundreds delivered Christmas cards to Secretary of State Amber Rudd asking her to cut the cost of British Citizenship (James Asfa @ Citizens UK) "Weve heard stories of parents having to pick which of their childrens paperwork they process so they can access student finance, as they cannot afford to do it for all of their children. We and other universities in London and across the UK are concerned about this issue and have made scholarships available for these learners. "If the Home Office reduced their fees it would enable more children and talented young people to secure their papers and access higher education like other students. Citizens UK leader Fiona Carrick Davis said: Over the past few years Citizenship fees have risen astronomically and far exceed those of other European countries. "Many of these children were born in the UK or have spent much of their lives in the UK and have a legal right to citizenship. This is their home, they are British in all respects except they dont have Citizenship. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA 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 In many cases this is simply because their parents cannot afford the fees. We are asking the Home Secretary to cut the profits from the cost of Citizenship so these young people can make a meaningful contribution to the country they call home. A Home Office spokesperson said: We are reducing the burden on taxpayers by making sure that the Border Immigration and Citizenship System is fully funded by those who use it. When setting the fees we consider the cost of processing the application, and also the wider cost of running the system. There have been no changes to the fees since 6 April this year. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A key expert on the panel of the Grenfell Tower inquiry should stand down or his alleged support of deregulation and cuts to emergency services, the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) has said. Steven McGuirk was inevitably conflicted in giving advice on the tragedy, Martin Seaward, a barrister representing the union, told an inquiry into the tragedy which killed 71 people in June,. The former Greater Manchester Chief Fire Officer had been at the forefront of deregulation in the fire service from 1999 to 2015, Mr Seaward alleged. Recommended Grenfell police investigating manslaughter charges He has been a champion of the change and transformation thats taken place in the fire service and that has led to cuts and closures," Mr Seaward told the inquiry which is led by former Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick. The fire brigade union has opposed those changes all the way along and Mr McGuirk has consistently been at the opposite end of the table. The union is asking the inquiry to consider the effect of deregulation, closures and cuts on the response to the fire. Thats part of the big question of how this happened in London. We are concerned that Mr McGuirk is conflicted in advising the team on that issue, Mr Seaward said, adding that he had been the principal adviser to local authorities. The FBU fears that instinctively he will strive to show that deregulation, cuts and closures were irrelevant to what happened at Grenfell Tower." He should replaced by a senior officer from Scotland, he suggested. In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire The emergency services were also victims of the fire, Mr Seaward told the inquiry: Those who attended and those who took the harrowing calls are victims who were exposed to trauma. His comments came as bereaved families delivered a 16,000-name petition to Downing Street, calling on Mrs May to act to "build public trust" in the inquiry, amid concern that the retired Court of Appeal judge lacks first-hand experience of the complex cultural factors underpinning the tragedy. It also emerged that Kensington and Chelsea council has made more than 1.5 million documents available to police as part of the criminal investigation into the blaze. James Maxwell-Scott QC, representing the local authority, said it was committed to its duty to be "open, transparent and fully co-operative" and not attempt to "defend the indefensible". The council ensured that all its stored data was "duplicated to create a stable copy, meaning the data could not be changed or modified" after being asked to retain files by the Metropolitan Police less than a week after the fire, he said. Some 1,516,427 documents were uploaded to an online review platform by November 8, all of which were made available to the police. He said none of these documents had been "redacted, altered or tampered with in any way". 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 }} Petrol prices could rise by 3p per litre before Christmas, the RAC has warned, as wholesale gas prices hit their highest level for six years. Filling up a 55-litre family car could therefore be 1.65 more expensive than currently, the motoring organisation said. The price of Brent crude surged by more than 1.5 per cent to 65.72 hitting its highest level since the middle of 2015 in response to the supply being turned off at the Forties pipeline after a crack was found in it. Operator Ineos said the pipeline, which carries 40 per cent of the North Sea oil and gas, could be offline for up to three weeks as it is repaired. This closure will inevitably lead to an unwelcome increase in the price with the knock-on effect of raising the wholesale cost of both fuels," said RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams. This really isnt what drivers need at Christmas when many are travelling longer distances to spend time with family and friends. This will only serve to make the most expensive time of year even more costly. He added: It is also a stark contrast to two years ago when the price of both petrol and diesel fell drastically as the price of oil crashed to below $40 (30) a barrel in December giving rise to both fuels being sold for 99p a litre at the cheapest retailers. The extra pressure on global supply came as markets continued to react to the Opec-led decision to extend production cuts at the beginning of the month. 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 Separately, UK natural gas prices churned out double-digit growth to reach 73.7p a therm on ICE Futures Europe following an explosion at a natural gas plant in Austria. One person died in the blast and 21 were injured at the plant in Baumgarten an der March, east of Vienna, which transports a significant amount of European gas. It is feared that householders may face higher prices for heating as a result. Ian Liddell-Grainger, an MP who sits on Parliaments energy select committee, told the Daily Telegraph: Passing on price rises to the consumer would be totally unfair because its not their fault and this is nothing to do with them. The big energy companies buy their gas and oil about six months in advance, so there should be no need to increase bills. The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria, near Slovakia, is a major regional transfer node taking natural gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbours including Germany and Italy, Baumgarten's biggest recipient. Italy declared a state of emergency as the flow dwindled earlier this week. But operators said at least some level of supply would be restored by the end of the day. New petrol and diesel vehicles to be banned from 2040 in bid to tackle pollution David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: Brent crude oil hit its highest level since early June 2015 as the closure of Forties North Sea pipeline curbed supply. The energy market was already strong as Opec and Russia agreed to extend the co-ordinated production cut until the end of 2018, and now this maintenance move by Forties has added to the upward pressure. Crude oil surged by 7.6 per cent between October and November, reaching its highest level since December 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As a result, motorists faced higher prices at the pumps in November, with petrol up by 1.8p per litre month-on-month to 119.1p, while diesel rose by 2.3p a litre to 122.8p. Additional reporting by PA 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 }} More than 36,000 pre-paid dinners have been donated to feed homeless people in Scotland on Christmas Eve Christmas Day. The fourth annual fundraiser for Social Bite, which supports the homeless through cafes in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, asked people to donate 5 to pay for a Christmas meal and somewhere to stay. So far, 36,886 vouchers have been donated through Itison. The campaign is hoping to beat last year's record of 75,755 donations. Thousands sleep out to raise cash for homelessness in Edinburgh Last week, more than 8,000 people slept rough in freezing conditions to raise money to help the charity tackle homelessness. Participants in the Sleep in the Park event, which took place in Edinburgh on Saturday, pledged to raise at least 100 each. More than 3.6m of the 4m target has been raised so far. The event, which was hosted by Rob Brydon, featured performances from Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, Amy Macdonald and Frightened Rabbit. John Cleese also read a bedtime story. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} David Davis has written a last-gasp letter to MPs to try to prevent a damaging defeat on the Brexit Bill tonight, as another Cabinet minister promised concessions. The Brexit Secretary also tabled a Commons statement to try to win over Conservative rebels in a crucial vote that could give MPs the power to delay Brexit. However, those Tory backbenchers have indicated they will not back down and have insisted they have the numbers to inflict a first defeat on the EU Withdrawal Bill. Recommended Tory MPs defy party line over single market amendment The consequences would be grave for Theresa May, a day before the EU summit to confirm sufficient progress for the withdrawal talks to move onto future trade, stoking fears among EU leaders that she is too weak to deliver on Brexit. Early today, Labour confirmed it would vote with the rebels, to give Parliament a proper say on the Brexit deal. Keir Starmer, the partys Brexit spokesman, tweeted: The terms of our future are not for the Government alone to determine. The Prime Minister has already conceded to MPs a vote on the final Brexit deal and a Bill to implement the withdrawal agreement to follow, which could be amended. Theresa May asked about Brexit scrutiny in light of Telegraph 'mutineer' front page However, she has insisted it will be a take it or leave it offer meaning the UK would crash out of the EU without a deal in March 2019, if hers is rejected. Tonights showdown is designed to ensure it is a truly meaningful vote by giving MPs a veto over the terms and timing of withdrawal to delay it potentially, if no satisfactory deal is reached. Dominic Grieve said on Tuesday: It could be possible for Parliament to say to the Government Im sorry I dont think you have negotiated a good enough deal. If our European partners are prepared to continue negotiating, that might also be possible. We just dont know. Today, he again insisted he would stand firm even after Mr Davis rushed statement accusing the Government of a dialogue of the deaf. They need to listen to the point that is being made and they need to respond to it, he told Sky News. Justine Greening, the Education Secretary, hinted at further moves to avert defeat later today, when she twice referred to concessions in a radio interview. What we have done is genuinely listen to the debate that has happened in Parliament, she told the BBCs Today programme. And she added: We are going to make sure that, through the concessions today, we continue to command the support of Parliament. Mr Davis is understood to have penned his letter to MPs around 5.30am today, setting the scene for a vote expected around 7pm. In his statement, he promised MPs a vote on the final deal in parliament as soon as possible after the negotiations have concluded. He wrote: This vote will take the form of a resolution in both houses of parliament and will cover both the withdrawal agreement and the terms for our future relationship. Eloise Todd, the chief executive of the pro-EU Best for Britain organisation, criticised the statement as not worth the paper it is written on. The announcements in it have been reheated more times than an old microwave meal, she said. Today is a day that Conservative MPs must stand up for the national interest and support Dominic Grieve's amendment. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Brexit deal struck between Theresa May and the European Union will be turned into a legally binding treaty before trade framework talks are allowed to begin, The Independent understands. The move by the EU to tighten up conditions comes after David Davis said the deal was a mere statement of intent rather than binding, prompting an outcry from the Brussels officials and the Irish government and a prompt climb-down by the Brexit Secretary. Speaking in the European Parliament, Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said the episode had convinced him that the deal should be written into a binding treaty in the coming weeks when we start the next phase of negotiations rather than later. A European Commission source also confirmed to The Independent that the deal would be written into a legally binding treaty as early as January. Senior EU officials have said that full talks on the trade framework will not begin till March, with the transition period occupying negating teams until then. Full trade negotiations going beyond a framework are only set to begin after Britain has left the EU in March 2019. I spoke to [David Davis] yesterday on the phone and he assured me its absolutely not his intention nor that of the British government to backtrack on their commitments, Mr Verhofstadt said. I take note of that and I think the best way to secure this is that in the coming weeks we transpose all these commitments into the legal text. Thats the best way to do it, and to do it not in the coming months, but in the coming weeks, when we start the next phase of the negotiations. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who could seen nodding from the sidelines of the European Parliament chamber as Mr Verhofstadt spoke, is understood to be in full agreement with his counterpart on the issue. Mr Verhofstadt's comments came as the European Parliament backed a move to the next round of Brexit talks with a vote. After speaking to Mr Verhofstadt on Tuesday, Mr Davis said he agreed on the importance of the joint report. He added Lets work together to get it converted into legal text as soon as possible. Group leader after group leader stood up in the Strasbourg European Parliament debate on Wednesday to criticise Mr Daviss comments. Until some days ago I was quite optimistic about this Council, that there might actually be some steps ahead but then that didnt last so long. On Brexit even though we had an agreement, then it was put into question in London and that of course raises a lot of questions for any sort of agreement that were making with our counterparts, Ska Keller, Green group leader said. The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt (Getty) And I would say especially about our future relationship because if we cant trust one another, if youre not sure that whatever you agree is actually going to hold, then this is going to put a major strain on any future relations. I would also add that not just to the European Union because if the UK wants to be a global player and find their new friends elsewhere, then thats going to be just as tricky, or even more tricky because were used to it, we have a long relationship, but others might find it even more bewildering if theres this untrustworthiness on the other side. 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 Mr Davis had told the BBC at the weekend: This was a statement of intent more than anything else. Much more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing. But he later told LBC: What I actually said yesterday, in terms, was we want to protect the peace process, we want to protect Ireland from the impact of Brexit for them. And I said this was a statement of intent which was much more than just legally enforceable. David Davis has written to MPs in a last-ditch attempt to avert a Tory revolt and potential Commons defeat for the Government's Brexit legislation. Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned she faces a rebellion unless MPs are guaranteed a meaningful vote on the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. Rebel ringleader and former attorney general Dominic Grieve believes he has enough support to defeat the Government on Wednesday evening unless ministers give in. Labour is set to back Mr Grieve and urged would-be rebels not to be bought off by warm words and woolly concessions. Mr Davis promised MPs there would be a number of votes on the final deal struck between the UK and EU. The Prime Minister's lack of a majority leaves her vulnerable to any Commons revolt and with up to 20 Tory MPs set to side with Mr Grieve in the division lobbies she could face a damaging blow to her authority. I think there are quite a few who may support me - I think enough, if this comes to a vote, to defeat the Government, Mr Grieve told the BBC. Brexiteers reacted angrily to the threatened revolt, accusing the rebels of trying to derail the whole bill, which is needed to transpose EU legislation on to the UK statute book when Britain leaves in March 2019. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain should retain as a close as possible a relationship with the European civil nuclear regulator after Brexit, a Commons committee has demanded ahead of a crucial vote on the issue. MPs on the committee warn that the impacts of leaving Euratom will be profound, putting the UK in a much weaker position to drive regulatory standards at a European level. We conclude that the Government should seek to retain as close as possible a relationship with Euratom, and that this should include accepting its delivery of existing safeguards requirements in the UK, the report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee states. Euratom set up in 1957 is responsible for regulating the nuclear industry across the continent, disposing of waste, safeguarding the transport of nuclear materials, the mobility of workers in the sector, and carrying out nuclear research and development. Following the general election the Government published a policy paper, insisting that when Theresa May invoked Article 50 of the Libson Treaty triggering the Brexit process the intention to leave the nuclear regulator was also provided. This reflects the fact that the treaties of the EU and Euratom are uniquely legally joined, the paper added. The committees report comes as more than 100 MPs signed an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, dealing with the Governments intention to leave Euratom after Brexit. They want the Prime Minister to guarantee protections for the nuclear industry. Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who chairs the BEIS committee in Westminster said: Throughout our inquiry, no-one has advocated to us leaving Euratom. As a leading member of Euratom, the UK has driven standards and ensured our national interests are front and centre of the development of the industry in Europe. But we now face the prospect of setting-up our own nuclear safeguarding regime in its place which falls short of the Euratom standards. This requires us to set up our own bureaucracy, which comes at a cost of millions, with very real doubts that it will actually be ready in time. The Government should, as a matter of urgency, be seeking to retain as close as possible an association with Euratom and secure its ongoing delivery of safeguards requirements in the UK. Any delay will increase investment in contingency arrangements which may ultimately not be required. Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Reuters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU President Jean-Claude Juncker greeting Theresa May at the EU Commission in Brussels PA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May poses for a picture with European Council President Donald Tusk REUTERS Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker walks behind British Prime Minister Theresa May EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a press conference at the European Commission in Brussels AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at a press conference with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis (L) and Michel Barnier (2-L), the European Chief Negotiator of the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 enter the room by the emergency exit to attend British Prime Minister Theresa May press briefing on Brexit Negotiations in Brussels. EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (L), Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (2-L), European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (2-R) and European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (R) in a meeting on Friday morning AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a media conference at the Europa building in Brussels AP The committee said it was highly doubtful that the UK could deliver safeguards to Euratom standards by the date of the UK's departure from the EU in March 2019. The MPs called for an extended transitional period for civil nuclear, or the continuation of Euratom support, to ensure standards are maintained and the risks to trade and transport of materials are reduced. Sue Ferns, the deputy general secretary of Prospect, which represents workers in the nuclear sectors, said: The nuclear industry is a significant employer of highly skilled good jobs in many parts of the country. The risks of leaving Euratom without a deal are too great and could make it much more difficult to trade and maintain our competitive edge. Prospect is calling for calling guarantees on nuclear safety, research and collaboration and funding. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Eleven Conservative rebels helped to defeat Theresa May in a critical vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU Withdrawal Bill against Theresa May's will, so guaranteeing Parliament a "meaningful" vote on any deal she agrees with Brussels. In the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305, a margin of just four votes. The 11 Conservative rebels were: Dominic Grieve Heidi Allen Ken Clarke Nicky Morgan Anna Soubry Sarah Wollaston Bob Neill Stephen Hammond Oliver Heald Jonathan Djanogly Antoinette Sandbach A 12th Tory in the aye lobby was John Stevenson who voted both ways - an active abstention 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 Parliament has narrowly voted against an EU-wide ban on a chemical ingredient widely used in doner kebabs across the continent. MEPs needed an absolute majority of 376 to ban phosphates from food, but just 373 voted in favour, against 272, with 30 abstentions. The industrial meat industry uses phosphates as a preservative in frozen meats, but critics say there is evidence that the chemical causes increased rates of cardiovascular disease. Recommended Kebab shop supplier jailed for making chicken doner in cement mixer Had the chemical been banned, the meat industry would have likely been able to use another additive in kebabs though some MEPs have tried to portray the showdown as being about the future of the popular dish. The Green and Socialist groups had argued in favour of the ban on the basis of health concerns over the additive. This is a sad day for consumer rights, which have been trampled on, Belgian Green MEP Bart Staes said following the vote. The centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP) which did not back the objection motion, however tweeted: We saved your kebab. You're welcome. (Getty Images/iStockphoto (Getty Images/iStockphoto) German EPP MEP Dr Renate Sommer previously claimed that the ban would lead to the cessation of kebab production in the EU. Two studies, published in German in 2012 and the United States in 2013, appear to demonstrate potential links between phosphate additives and cardiovascular complications. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty As well as kebabs, processed meats and sausages typically contain a large amount of added phosphates. In 2015 the World Health Organisation for the first time also declared that processed meats increased the risk of cancer. The European Food Safety agency will launch its own investigation into phosphates next year, a move which could reignite the debate into the additives. 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 }} Foreign nationals should be barred from buying more than 50 per cent of houses or flats in new developments of more than 20 properties, a Conservative MP has proposed. The 50 per cent limit is one of a series of changes put forward in a report by Croydon South MP Chris Philp to boost housebuilding towards the Governments target of 300,000 homes a year and ensure that more new homes end up with first-time buyers. In his report, published by the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, Mr Philp highlighted a development in Baltimore Wharf, in Londons Docklands, where 87 per cent of 2,999 apartments were sold abroad, as well as another in Manchester where 94 per cent of 230 flats went to non-UK residents, more than half of them to a company based in the British Virgin Islands. Recommended UK house price growth slows in October Mr Philp said overseas buyers were taking up around 50 per cent of all new-build stock in London, including cheap flats in the suburbs. But he warned it was a much larger issue than people imagine, and was no longer confined to prime areas of the capital. Non-UK resident purchasers of flats tend to be predominantly from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Malaysia and some Gulf states, buying off-plan two or three years before the properties are even built and often before potential British purchasers have had a chance to look at the scheme, he said. By snapping up new-build stock off-plan including cheaper flats that are ideal for first time buyers non-UK buyers are preventing young Britons from getting onto the housing ladder, wrote Mr Philp. Arguments that the Government should not intervene in the free market for property do not hold water, said the MP. First, housing is far from a free market, he said. The mere existence of the planning system means that the state plays a significant role in shaping its outcomes. Second, land is not like other goods. You can always make more iPhones. You cannot create more land especially not urban land in London and the South East that is suitable for development. Third, home ownership is so economically and socially advantageous and so overwhelmingly popular there is an imperative for Government to do all it can to support it. Mr Philp called on the Government to follow countries like Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark and New Zealand which have introduced measures to limit or ban non-resident foreign buyers from purchasing property. His report, entitled Homes For Everyone, also proposed: The removal of the affordable housing requirement for developments under 20 units; The creation of Pink Zones where development will be automatically approved within certain parameters; The promotion of staircasing agreements by which renters can gradually buy their homes over a period of years at the initial price. Some 217,350 new homes were added to the housing stock in 2016-17, the highest total since 2007-08. But the report found that the gap between the number of homes needed and the number being built remains at 76,000 a year. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA 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 Over a 25-year period, a home owner will end up between 100,000 and 300,000 richer than a renter, the report stated. Mr Philp said: We need to place home ownership at the front of the policy agenda and make sure that first-time buyers get all the support possible to get onto the housing ladder. PA Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two Conservative MPs have defied their party line while Labour abstained on an amendment to the Governments Brexit legislation which the Liberal Democrats claimed would have kept the door open to the single market. While the amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill was easily defeated by 315 to 93 it exposed divisions within Labour over its Brexit policy and the willingness of pro-EU Tories to vote against Theresa Mays instructions. If the Lib Dem-led motion had passed, it would have prevented ministers from using regulation powers in the Withdrawal Bill to create barriers to the UKs continued membership of the single market. Division lists showed that two prominent Conservative MPs the former Chancellor Ken Clarke and former minister Anna Soubry voted for the motion, against the wishes of their party whip. On Labours side, 44 MPs voted for the amendment despite the frontbench abstaining. The party would not confirm whether it ordered its MPs to abstain, simply adding they do not comment on whipping arrangements. Shortly after the vote Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused the Labour party of letting down British workers. This ends any pretence that Jeremy Corbyn is fighting for us to stay in the single market, he said. He whipped his MPs to support the Conservatives, sitting on his hands rather than voting against their extreme Brexit plans. The Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who put forward the amendment, said: Labour whips telling Labour MPs to abstain on vote to stay in the single market. Sad. Their young supporters in particular will be disappointed. Pleased to see some Labour MPs disregarded their whip. Anna Soubry and Ken Clarke and the SNP also joined our ranks. The vote was just one of several during a late-night debate in the Commons on the Governments Brexit legislation. A separate vote on an amendment to the legislation, requiring the Government to establish new domestic governance arrangements for environmental standards after Brexit, was also defeated by 315 votes to 293. On another amendment, put forward by the Labour MP Yvette Cooper, aiming to place a general provision on the face of the Bill so that the delegated powers granted by the Bill should be used only so far as necessary. While this motion was also defeated, division lists showed that three Tory MPs rebelled, including Mr Clarke, Ms Soubry and former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan. Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Reuters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU President Jean-Claude Juncker greeting Theresa May at the EU Commission in Brussels PA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May poses for a picture with European Council President Donald Tusk REUTERS Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker walks behind British Prime Minister Theresa May EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a press conference at the European Commission in Brussels AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at a press conference with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis (L) and Michel Barnier (2-L), the European Chief Negotiator of the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 enter the room by the emergency exit to attend British Prime Minister Theresa May press briefing on Brexit Negotiations in Brussels. EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (L), Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (2-L), European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (2-R) and European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (R) in a meeting on Friday morning AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a media conference at the Europa building in Brussels AP During the debate Ms Soubry, a pro-EU Conservative MP, also said ministers must give a little bit more to build a consensus with those who backed Remain during last years referendum. She said that if the Government is genuine in healing the great divide it should reach out and do the right thing. Her comments came ahead of the seventh day of late-night debates and votes on the Governments EU (Withdrawal) Bill the legislation that aims to transpose EU law onto the UK statue book after Brexit. Ms Soubry also criticised some of her colleagues for suggesting those who have tabled amendments to the legislation were seeking to thwart Brexit, adding it is gravely offensive and said it must stop. Speculation is rife that Downing Street could suffer its first defeat through an amendment on Wednesday over giving MPs a meaningful vote on any final Brexit deal. The amendment, put forward by the former attorney general and Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, would require a final deal to be approved by a separate act of Parliament. Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Grieve said he had enough votes to defeat the Government and would push it to a vote on Wednesday unless the Government offers a compromise. 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 }} Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has admitted for the first time that she would consider standing as an MP at Westminster if she fails to win the next Holyrood election. Ms Davidson who has been touted as a possible successor to Theresa May has always maintained that her sights were set on ousting Nicola Sturgeon to become Scotlands First Minister, rather than leading the Westminster party. But in her strongest signal yet, the Edinburgh Central MSP said she would be open to other conversations after the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. Ms Davidson has become an increasingly influential figure in the Conservative Party after reviving its fortunes north of the border, where the Tories have replaced Labour as the main party of opposition in Holyrood. Under her leadership, the number of Scottish Tory MPs swelled from one to 13, which has given her huge clout with the weakened Prime Minister after the Tories lost their parliamentary majority in the June election. In an interview with The Spectator, where she was asked what could happen her party came third in the next Scottish election, she said: Ive been leader of the party now for six years. My two predecessors lasted six and a half years each. By 2021, she would have been in charge of the party for significantly longer than them, and said: Then we can start other conversations. Asked if those would include conversations about her coming to Westminster, she said: I havent ruled it out. If devolution is going to work, then actually there has to be the ability to move between chambers and parliaments. Ms Davidson said she would only stand for a Scottish seat, following speculation that Tory grandee Sir Nicholas Soames was considering stepping aside to offer her the safe Mid Sussex constituency. Last month, Ms Davidson was a guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Sir Nicholas, who is the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. She also said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would be eminently beatable in the 2022 general election, and compared the veteran MPs personal popularity with the support for SNP leader Ms Sturgeon. Ms Davidson said: We saw Nicola Sturgeon doing political rallies to 10,500 people at the Glasgow Hydro, release a signature clothing range, sell foam fingers with her name on. 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 We had seen this kind of momentum build behind a seemingly unstoppable force before then two years later, she went and lost 40 per cent because we dug in. You dont run, you just keep restating your case. And I dont believe that Jeremy Corbyn is unstoppable. I think hes eminently beatable in 2022. She described Ms May as warm and self-deprecating, adding: When shes comfortable with somebody, she can be good company. A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: Ruths only focus is on winning the 2021 Scottish elections. Scotland needs a change after 10 years of the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives intend to provide it. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has refused to back down ahead of a possible defeat on the Brexit Bill tonight, insisting it would put a smooth and orderly withdrawal in jeopardy. Giving way to Tory rebels - in a crucial vote that could give MPs the power to delay Brexit could leave confirmation of withdrawal until a very late stage, the Prime Minister said. That could mean we cannot have the orderly and smooth exit from the European Union that we wish to have, she told MPs. Anna Soubry, a leading rebel, had urged Ms May to give way and grant MPs a truly meaningful vote, in a clash on the EU Withdrawal Bill on Wednesday evening. Amendment 7 is designed to give MPs a binding decision on the terms of Brexit with the potential to delay withdrawal, if no satisfactory deal has been reached. The Prime Minister has already conceded to MPs a vote on the final Brexit deal and a Bill to follow, which could be amended. However, she has insisted it will be a take it or leave it offer meaning the UK would crash out of the EU without a deal in March 2019, if hers is rejected. Ms Soubry urged Ms May to recognise that Dominic Grieve, who has tabled the amendment, is a loyal Conservative and a reluctant rebel, urging her to accept it in a spirit of unity. But the Prime Minister insisted a meaningful vote is what we will have, insisting it would take place well before March 2019 withdrawal date. Around 20 Conservative MPs, including former Cabinet ministers Ken Clarke and Nicky Morgan, are expected to back Mr Grieves amendment 7. That is more than enough to defeat the Conservatives working majority of just 13 unless the rebels fold under heavy arm-twisting from Tory whips not to give Ms May a bloody nose. The amendment would prevent the Government using statutory instruments to enact withdrawal, which would bypass MPs even if they reject the deal the secured. It would stop that enactment until Parliament has voted in favour of a separate Bill, which could be amended, perhaps to keep the UK in the EU single market and customs union. In her answer, Ms May stuck to the Governments stance that the vote would take place on a motion before that Bill is put forward which is unlikely to weaken the rebels resolve. She told MPs: What the amendment says, is that we shouldnt put any of those arrangements, any of those statutory instruments, into place until the withdrawal agreement and implementation bill has reached the statue book. That could be at a very late stage in the proceedings, which could mean that we are not able to have the orderly and smooth exit from the European Union that we wish to have. But defeat tonight would inflict huge damage on the Prime Minister, raising fresh fears in EU capitals that she is too weak to deliver on her Brexit promises. For that reason, Ms May could choose to accept the amendment at the death tonight, rather than lose the vote. 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 cooking fire at a homeless camp ignited the wildfire that threatened the affluent Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel Air, officials have said. Investigators have determined the fire was caused by an illegal cooking fire at an encampment in a brush area adjacent, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement, adding that no arrests had yet been made in connection with the fire. While not as large as the two other blazes that scorched thousands of acres in Los Angeles County, the Skirball Fire attracted attention as it imperilled upscale homes and the Getty Center, feeding on dry brush in the hills. After roaring to life on Wednesday morning, the blaze consumed hundreds of acres, incinerated six structures and damaged a dozen others. Los Angeles residents shared apocalyptic images of hills cupping the city engulfed in flames. Firefighters had the fire 85 percent contained as of Monday evening, and residents who earlier faced mandatory evacuations had begun returning to their homes days earlier. Two fires that had collectively burned across thousands of acres in northern Los Angeles County were also largely under control, as was a conflagration that had roasted some 4,100 acres in San Diego County. The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Show all 11 1 /11 The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA A member of a fire team hand crew monitors embers to prevent fire from jumping to the west side of the 405 freeway, at the Skirball Fire near the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA A house is threatened by wildfire along Linda Flora Drive during the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. The "Skirball" fire ignited before 5 a.m. (1300 GMT) and quickly engulfed some 50 acres, with forecasters predicting the 25-mile-per-hour winds could cause further spreading, threatening multi-million dollar homes and the acclaimed Getty Center museum. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Firefighters work to save burning houses along Linda Flora Drive during the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Flames from the Skirball Fire spread on a hillside in a wealthy neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 6, 2017 REUTERS The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Brent Thomas of Cassiano Road waits for a police escort to take him back to his evacuated home on Cassiano Road in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles, CA in order to pick up medication. Brent has no idea when he can return home after being evacuated due to wild fires this morning. Ruth Iorio The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Firefighters stop for a quick bathroom break on Moraga Drive and Sepulveda, close to the Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA, at around 4pm on Wednesday December 6 2017, after fighting the wild fires in Sylmar and Bel Air for over thirty hours. Ruth Iorio The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Smoke from the Skirball Fire rises above the 405 freeway near the Bel Aire area of Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA LAFD Firefighter Allen Janzen puts down smoldering embers in the Bel-Air section of west Los Angeles, California to protect home against the Skirball Fire, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA Firefighters work to save burning houses along Linda Flora Drive during the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA A firefighter works to save burning houses along Linda Flora Drive during the Skirball Fire in Los Angeles, California, December 6, 2017. AFP/Getty Images The 'Skirball Fire' takes hold in LA A home burns as a wildfire dubbed the Skirball Fire moves through a wealthy neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 6, 2017. REUTERS But the massive Thomas Fire continued to burn across a wide swathe of Ventura County and Santa Barbara County, where thousands of people have been forced from their homes and nearly 800 structures have crumbled in the flames. Flames have consumed some 234,000 acres. In its latest update, Cal Fire warned that severe fire weather conditions of gusty Santa Ana winds, low humidity and parched vegetation would continue to feed the inferno and create obstacles for firefighters struggling to curb it. Extreme fire behaviour will continue to hamper control efforts, the alert warned. 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 family of a five-year-old boy who was injured last month in a bloody Texas church shooting is appealing to the public to help them bring a bit of holiday cheer to the boy this Christmas. Ryland Ward, who was shot five times in the First Baptist Church last month, is still in the hospital after the shooting. As he faces his first holiday season without his mother and two siblings who all died in the shooting his grandmother is hoping to make things just a little brighter this month. You got so many nice people that are sending a card and a dollar to Ryland, Sandy Ward, his grandmother, told local news. He does really enjoy that a lot. Recommended Texas church painted white in memorial to Sutherland Springs shooting Ms Ward said that her grandson hasnt been told that his mother and sisters were killed by the gunman, who entered the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, last month and left virtually no-one unscathed. He has been in the hospital for six weeks, and has seen his release delayed after doctors noticed complications in his femur during recovery. So, theyre hoping that the Christmas cards can add some brightness to his holidays, and that theyll be able to surprise him with a go-cart when hes healthy enough to use it. Ms Ward said her grandson really likes pictures of other kids with their pets. At the same time, a GoFundMe campaign has also been activated to help the family pay for the medical costs for Ryland. Theyve raised $132,000 of the $200,000 goal so far. Texas church shooting Show all 9 1 /9 Texas church shooting Texas church shooting The site of the mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas Reuters Texas church shooting First responders are at the scene of shooting at the First Baptist Church Reuters Texas church shooting Enrique and Gabby Garcia watch investigators at the scene of the mass shooting AP Texas church shooting Law enforcement officials investigate the scene at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas Reuters Texas church shooting Carrie Matula embraces a woman after a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs Associated Press Texas church shooting Law enforcement officials gather near the First Baptist Church Getty Images Texas church shooting Community members come together for a candlelight vigil for the victims of the deadly church shooting in Sutherland Springs Laura Skelding/AP Texas church shooting Mourners participate in the candlelight vigil held for the victims Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP Texas church shooting A vehicle is hauled onto a flatbed truck where the suspect in a deadly church shooting was found dead in Guadalupe County William Luther/Austin American-Statesman via AP Anyone interested in sending a Christmas card to Ryland can address it as follows: Ryland Ward, P.O. Box 174, Sutherland Springs, Texas 78161. 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 }} Doug Jones, a Democrat who once prosecuted two Ku Klux Klansmen in a deadly church bombing and has now broken the Republican lock grip on Alabama, is the state's new US senator. Here we take a look at Mr Jones' life in Alabama before becoming the first state's first Democratic senator in 25 years. Close to home Mr Jones, 63, grew up in the working-class city of Fairfield, just west of Birmingham, Alabama, an area where steel mills once belched smoke that left a rust-coloured haze hanging over the city. His father was a steelworker and so was one of his grandfathers; the other worked in a coal mine. Mr Jones spent time working in a mill when not in school. Now an attorney in private practice, Mr Jones lives just a few miles from his hometown in the hilly suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama's richest locale. Pro-integration Born in 1954, the Alabama Mr Jones grew up in was one that separated white and black people. Everything was segregated, our churches, our schools, and our neighbourhoods, he told Newsweek. We lived in our own bubble in Fairfield. I remember discussions about the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing but it didnt feel real to me. Schools began to integrate pupils while Mr Jones was at high school, which he took a role in promoting at his majority-white institution. Darnell Gardner, an African American classmate of Mr Jones in Fairfield, told the publication: We had some guys who didnt like integration, they called me names Id rather not repeat. Democratic roots Mr Jones got his start in government as an aide to the last Democrat elected to the US Senate from Alabama, the late Howell Heflin. After graduating from Samford University's law school in 1979, Mr Jones worked as staff counsel to the Judiciary Committee for Mr Heflin, and Mr Jones still considers Mr Heflin a role model. Mr Heflin cited his health in retiring from the Senate, and Republican Jeff Sessions was elected to replace him in 1996. Mr Jones will now assume the seat vacated by Mr Sessions when he was nominated as US attorney general by President Donald Trump. Republican appointee Luther Strange has held the seat in the interim. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters Church bombing Years before running for Senate, Mr Jones made a name for himself prosecuting two KKK members for the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, a brutal crime that killed four black girls in 1963. One Klansman was convicted in the blast in 1977, and a renewed investigation was underway by the time President Bill Clinton appointed Jones as US attorney in Birmingham in 1997. Mr Jones led a team of federal and state attorneys during trials that resulted in the convictions of Thomas Blanton Jr in 2001 and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002. Last year, Mr Jones was among the speakers who urged Alabama's parole board to refuse an early release for Mr Blanton. The board agreed, and Mr Blanton remains in prison serving life for murder. On abortion Alabama has restrictive abortion laws and women reportedly have limited access to clinics. Mr Jones has said he supports the current law that generally restricts late-term procedures outside of medical emergencies, but supports womens right to choose. To be clear, I fully support a womens freedom to choose what happens to her own body. That is an intensely, intensely personal decision that only she, in consultation with her god, her doctor, her partner or family, thats her choice, he told AL.com. Party guy Alabama's Democratic Party has been on life support since Republicans gained ascendancy years ago, holding no statewide offices and a minority in each legislative chamber, but Mr Jones supported an effort to revive the organisation in 2013. A former party chairman formed the Alabama Democratic Majority to raise money and recruit candidates, and Mr Jones was among those publicly supportive of the effort. The foundation was dormant by 2014, but Mr Trump's victory has helped breathe new life into local organisations, including the Democratic Party in Republican-heavy Shelby County, where officials say membership has jumped from around a dozen to more than 200 people since the 2016 election. Mr Jones' victory can only help re-energise the party even more. Additional reporting by PA 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 }} Exit polls suggest that black voters, particularly women, were decisive in the defeat of Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore. The Republican, whose campaign has been mired in scandal following allegations he sexually assaulted teenage girls in his 30s, lost by 1.5 per cent of the vote to Democratic challenger Doug Moore. Although black voters had not been expected to turnout at the special election, caused by the appointment of former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, polls indicate they may have made up between 28 and 30 per cent of the vote. The African American community makes up 27 per cent of the Alabama population, according to the 2016 census. Media coverage prior to the election suggested overall black participation would be lower than exit polls suggest it was. According to a preliminary breakdown by the Washington Post, black women in particular made up a decisive component of the vote. African American women made up 18 per cent of the vote and approximately 97 per cent of their vote went to Mr Jones compared with 65 per cent of white women (who made up 30 per cent of voters) opting for Mr Moore. In contrast, the vote among black men made up just 12 per cent of the vote even though 92 per cent voted for Mr Jones. Mr Moore, a former conservative judge, is best known for defying a Alabama Supreme Court ruling ordering him to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments outside a judicial building in the state capital Montgomery. He was also a prominent member of the birther movement which claimed Barack Obama was not born in the US, and has courted controversy for his comments about gay people and Muslims. But his campaign was thrown into chaos by several women saying they had been sexually assaulted by him in the past two of his alleged victims said they had been 14 and 16 respectively at the time. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters It is also alleged he had ties to pro-Confederate groups who celebrate the anniversary of Alabamas secession from the United States over slavery during the US Civil War, CNN reported. Mr Moores defeat is an embarrassment for Mr Trump who campaigned hard for the former judge despite allegations about his private life. The President was quick to congratulate Mr Jones on Twitter even though he attacked him during the campaign as a Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Democrat who would always vote against what we must do for our Country and is bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military [sic]. Mr Jones' victory is seen as a breakthrough for the Democrats as it is the first time they have won a Senate race in the deeply conservative state since 1992. The Democrats have been on the backfoot since the Republicans swept into power in the House of Representatives as well as many statehouses and governors mansions in 2010. Mr Jones' senate seat will have to defend his seat when it comes up for re-election in 2020, when Mr Sessions' original term was supposed to end. 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 }} President Donald Trump has attacked a Democratic senator for calling him to resign over allegations of sexual assault. "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!" Mr Trump wrote on Twitter. Both Mr Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, and Ms Gillibrand represent the President's home state of New York. Ms Gillibrand quickly fired back at Mr Trump, tweeting: "You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office." Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York told CNN"s Christiane Amanpour on Monday that the President "should be fully investigated and he should resign" over the accusations. "President Trump has committed assault, according to these women, and those are very credible allegations of misconduct and criminal activity," she said. "These allegations are credible; they are numerous, " said Ms Gillibrand, who is co-sponsoring a bill aimed at overhauling how sexual harassment is treated on Capitol Hill. "I've heard these women's testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking," she added. Mr Trump has denied the allegations. 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 At least 15 women have come forward with a wide range of allegations against Mr Trump, ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault to lewd behaviour around women. All the alleged incidents took place prior to Mr Trump being sworn into office. On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the President "thinks it's a good thing that women are coming forward". "But he also feels strongly that a mere allegation shouldn't determine the course," she added. "And, in this case, the President has denied any of these allegations, as have eyewitnesses. And several reports have shown those eyewitnesses also back up the President's claim in this process. And again, the American people knew this and voted for the President, and we feel like we're ready to move forward in that process." Democratic Senator Al Franken announced last week that he would resign from office, after a slew of senators - led by Ms Gillibrand - demanded that he do so following several sexual misconduct allegations against him. "Some of the allegations against me are simply not true," Mr Franken said during a speech on the Senate floor. "Others, I remember very differently." "I of all people am aware there is some irony in the fact I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party," Mr Franken declared, referring to Mr Trump and Roy Moore, the Republican candidate in the special election for a US Senate Seat in Alabama. Mr Moore is also dogged by sexual misconduct allegations, which he has vehemently denied. The President once admitted it was his voice on a Access Hollywood tape in which he could be heard bragging about sexual assault. But according to the New York Times, he has since suggested that it wasn't him. 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 }} President Donald Trump has insisted that hasn't even met the women accusing him of sexual assault or harassment, even though pictures and videos have emerged showing him interacting with some of those women. Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! Mr Trump tweeted Tuesday. Mr Trump has previously categorically denied any accusations of wrong doing in general. The White House said Tuesday that Mr Trump was only referring in his tweet to three women who held a Monday press conference where they reiterated their accusations, and called on Congress to investigate the matter. Soon after Mr Trump's tweet, People magazine published a photo of Mr Trump standing with Natasha Stoynoff, a former correspondent for the magazine who has claimed that Mr Trump forcibly kissed her while she was visiting his Mar-a-Lago estate on assignment in 2005 to write a profile of the former businessman. The magazine said that the photo was taken on the same day as the alleged forced kissing. Ms Stoynoff and the other two women mentioned in this article with photos or video with Mr Trump were not among those at the Monday press conference. Soon after People published their record, a photo of another Trump accuser surfaced, this one showing Mr Trump with Jill Harth. Ms Hart, who did business with Mr Trump and dated him for a time, has accused Mr Trump of groping her in the early 1990s. Ms Harth reportedly filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr Trump in 1997, but later settled. 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 In addition to those two photos, video of Mr Trump and another accuser, Summer Zervos, has been getting some attention. Ms Zervos was once a contestant on NBC The Apprentice, where Mr Trump was a host for many seasons. A video shows the two together sitting across a boardroom table from each other. Im being truthful, and Ill always be truthful, Ms Zervos says in the video when asked by Mr Trump why she was interrupting him just as he was about to rip into another contestant. How stupid is that? Mr Trump shoots back sarcastically. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during her afternoon briefing that Mr Trumps tweet was only directed at three women who held a press conference the previous day detailing their accusations against the President. Those women were Rachel Crooks, Samantha Holvey, and Jessica Leeds. Those women urged Congress to investigate claims made by them and others. A group of at least 59 women on the Democratic Womens Working Group have signed a letter asking that an investigation be opened by Congress into the allegations. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A prominent black support of President Donald Trump is planning on leaving her post in the White House next month after a year of service, the administration says. Omarosa Manigault Newman, who is a senior aide at the Office of the Public Liason, has tendered her resignation, and plans on leaving the West Wing January 20 one year after Mr Trumps inauguration. Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities, Ms Sanders said in a statement. Her departure will not be effective until January 20, 2018. We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service. Donald Trump reportedly spends up to eight hours a day in front of the television The resignation comes after reports of tumult in the White House Tuesday evening, and after what has been reported as a contentious tenure for Ms Manigault Newman working for Mr Trump. It was not immediately clear what that tumult was, or if it played a decisive role in her departure. Ms Manigault Newman, who previously competed on Mr Trumps reality show The Apprentice, originally took over the top communication post in the office she works for, but reportedly began to feel as though her role was ill-defined once Chief of Staff John Kelly took over as Mr Trumps second in command, sources told CNN. While the Trump White House has seemed particularly shaky in its first year, and has experienced several high-profile resignations or firings, it is not unusual for a series of departures to occur after the first year of a presidency. Still, the brutal nature of the first year for personnel has some in the administration preparing for more people to leave than normal. 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 In addition to Ms Manigault Newman, the White House announced last week that Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell will also step down from her position next year. That announcement came last week. Ms Manigault Newman was perhaps best known for her appearances on Mr Trump's reality television show "The Apprentice", where she debuted on the first season. Her tenure on that show made her something of a household name for fans of reality television, and was often simply known by her first name. While in the White House, Ms Manigault Newman served as the chief adviser on African American issues, and had attacked the Congressional Black Caucus in June for "showboating" after that group refused to meet with the President. 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 }} Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said "diplomacy is not that simple" as the State Department begins to close out 2017 with no victories. The department doesn't have any "wins to put on the board" after the first year of the Trump administration, Mr Tillerson admitted to the US diplomatic corps at a town hall meeting. Employee morale has been low over the past year amid widespread concerns about his planned overhaul of the State Department. Several top department posts and ambassadorships also continue to remain vacant. Dozens of countries do not currently have a Senate-confirmed US ambassador in place, including key allies such as South Korea, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Recommended Donald Trump insists he is not firing Rex Tillerson Mr Tillerson said that when he started as America's top diplomat, he didn't know anyone at the State Department or how it gets its work done. He had to spend time learning about the agency, he said, and focused on increasing productivity and empowering employees. Mr Tillerson said workers offered suggestions for overhauling the department, its structure and technology. The next step is implementing those changes, he added. The State Department is never short on foreign policy challenges, with conflicts regarding Russia, North Korea and the Middle East tending to dominate newspaper headlines. But since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has indicated a preference for solving issues with military might rather than diplomacy. Earlier this year, the President proposed an increase in defence spending while also suggesting a slash in the State Department's funds. Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP Tensions between the US and North Korea in particular dramatically intensified after Mr Trump assumed the presidency, with Kim Jong-un continuing to develop his regime's nuclear weapons programme in defiance of United Nations sanctions. But rather than stressing that the US should try to solve the issue using diplomacy - like his other administration officials have done - Mr Trump instead has made belligerent threats. The President has said Mr Tillerson is wasting his time by trying to fix the crisis through diplomatic talks. Mr Trump and Mr Tillerson are also reported to have been at odds over a slew of other major issues, including the Iran nuclear deal and a regional crisis in Qatar. Most recently, the pair is said to have diverged on the decision to designate Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy to the holy city - an announcement that sparked violence and protests in the Middle East. Mr Tillerson is said to have opposed Mr Trump's twin move out of national security concerns, and the State Department issued safety notices for its staff in several countries around the region. There is also still question over how long Mr Tillerson will last as the US's top diplomat. The New York Times reported last month that Mr Trump was set to replace the former Exxon executive with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Earlier this year, it was said that Vice President Mike Pence had to persuade the top diplomat to stay with the administration after Mr Tillerson was reportedly unhappy with comments Mr Trump made in a speech to the Boy Scouts of America. But in October, the State Department organised an impromptu press briefing in which the Secretary of State denied reports that he wanted to resign. Mr Tillerson said he would stay in the Trump administration as long as he is useful. Meanwhile, critics have condemned the way he has led the State Department amid reports that Mr Trump has also been unsatisfied with Mr Tillerson's leadership. Meanwhile, the top diplomat is said to have called Mr Trump a moron a report that Mr Tillerson sought to play down. A department spokesperson later said that the the Secretary does not use that type of language. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The news that Republicans had lost a Senate race in deep-red Alabama had barely hit before the recriminations started, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon quickly emerged as a target. Staunch conservative Roy Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones, conceding a seat in a state where Democrats face nearly insurmountable odds. Part of Mr Moores loss could likely be attributed to swirling allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers (Mr Moore rejected those claims as false, saying I have never engaged in sexual misconduct). But Republicans aligned with the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the party establishment quickly turned their ire on Mr Bannon, a nationalist who broke with much of the party and Mr Trump by backing Mr Moore in the Republican primary in lieu of the more moderate Republican, Luther Strange. Taking aim at Republicans who had repudiated Mr Moore, Mr Bannon said on the eve of the election that there was a special place in hell for Republicans opposed to his candidacy. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco, Senate Leadership Fund CEO Steven Law whose organisation is aligned with Mr McConnell and is dedicated to electing Republicans said in a statement. A former aide to Mr McConnell, Josh Holmes, also blasted Mr Bannon. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters I'd just like to thank Steve Bannon for showing us how to lose the reddest state in the union, Mr Holmes said on Twitter. Some Republicans reacted to Mr Moore's loss not with anger but with relief among them Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who publicly announced he was donating money to Mr Jones and said, simply, decency wins. Even before sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Moore emerged, he was a controversial figure. He was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for defying the law, once for refusing to take down a monument to the Ten Commandments and once for ordering state judges to enforce Alabamas ban on same-sex marriage despite the United States Supreme Court overruling state law in declaring same-sex marriage legal. He has also argued a Muslim elected official should not be allowed serve in Congress, embraced a discredited conspiracy theory by questioning whether Barack Obama was born in the United States and called homosexual conduct abhorrent and a crime against nature that should be illegal. After helping to mastermind Mr Trumps presidential campaign and serving as a senior White House adviser, Mr Bannon exited the administration and returned to a leadership role at the far-right website Breitbart. He has described his role as ensuring Mr Trump stays faithful to the populist promises that helped him win the presidency. For its part, Breitbart reacted to Mr Jones upset victory with a tweet that simply read Dude. A followup tweet linked to a page for buying flasks. 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 }} Doug Jones, the man who made his name prosecuting two former Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church, has won a stunning victory in the Senate race in Alabama - the first Democrat to win such a seat in the state for 25 years. In doing so, the 63-year prosecutor, who just weeks ago was trailing Republican Roy Moore by double digits in the polls, also delivered a humiliating blow to Donald Trump, who had mocked Mr Jones and endorsed his opponent. It also reduces the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, complicating Mr Trump's efforts to push forward his legislative agenda. Mr Joness fortunes increased sharply after Mr Moores campaign was rocked by allegations that he abused teenage girls and women when he was in his thirties and working as a local prosecutor. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters Mr Moore denied the allegations and dismissed them as an attempt to undermine his campaign, but they appeared sufficient to either lead some Republicans to vote for Mr Jones or else to enable the Democrat to persuade a sufficient number of his potential supporters to actually go out and cast their ballots for him. However, Mr Moore's campaign made clear in the wake of the result that they were not conceding yet. It didn't stop Mr Jones and his supporters celebrating the result. He told the victory - indeed the "entire race" - had been "about dignity and respect". Mr Jones said he now wanted to find common ground with other politicians in Washington. Appearing visibly emotional on stage at a campaign victory rally in the city of Birmingham, he said: I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us. We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way - that we can be unified. Celebrating the victory on the same day he marked his 25th wedding anniversary, Mr Jones said he felt overwhelmed by the result. Take this election from the great state of Alabama. Take this opportunity, he said. On a very personal level, I want to thank each of you for fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve in the US Senate. While raucous celebrations went on long into the night in Birmingham, at Mr Moore's headquarters in Montgomery there was silence after the result became clear. One of the former judges longtime supporters, Rich Hobson, took to the stage to say the Republican was not conceding the race. Some people are calling this. Were not calling it yet, he said. In the meantime, I'd ask you to pray." Mr Moore also came out on stage and said that he would not be conceding, telling campaign supporters it's not over. It's going to take some time, the candidate said during a brief appearance before supporters. Campaign chairman Bill Armistead said that because the vote is close and approaching the state's recount requirement, we do not have a final decision on the outcome. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5 per cent. With all precincts reporting, Mr Jones leads by 1.5 percentage points three times the threshold. If the secretary of state determines there were more write-in votes than the difference between Mr Jones and Mr Moore, the state's counties would be required to tally those votes. It's not clear how that would help Mr Moore, who ended the night trailing Mr Jones by more than 20,000 votes. Senate race sees Roy Moore up against Doug Jones in Alabama in tight race Once again, it means President Trump has thrown his weight behind a candidate in Alabama - and lost. On Tuesday morning, hours after ballots opened, Mr Trump had repeated his support for Mr Moore on Twitter, where he has 45 million followers. The people of Alabama will do the right thing, he said. Doug Jones is pro-abortion, weak on crime, military and illegal immigration, bad for gun owners and veterans and against the wall. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. On Tuesday night, as news of Mr Jones' stunning upset sank in, not just among the political class but across the country, Mr Trump offered measured congratulations. "Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends," he said. If the result was a huge embarrassment for the President it was a similar blow for his former strategist, Steve Bannon, who had become one of Mr Moores most outspoken supporters and who was hoping to use what he believed would be a victory in Alabama, to drive the momentum for similar so-called insurgent campaigns in 2018. Mr Bannon had been scornful of Mitch McConnell and other senior Republicans in Washington, who he claimed were working against Mr Trump. It was Mr Bannon those senior Republicans blamed for the result in one of the countrys most conservative states. Steven Law, CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a political fundraising group closely linked to Mr McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, issues a damning statement: This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running. Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco. Hillary Clinton, who was beaten 62-34 in Alabama by Mr Trump in the 2016 presidential election, was among the first to congratulate Mr Jones. Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud, she tweeted. And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can and must compete everywhere. Onward! Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The leader of the Alabama Republican party has declared the states Senate race over, contradicting the claims of his party's own candidate. While we are deeply disappointed in the extremely close US Senate election results, with our candidate Judge Roy Moore, we respect the voting process given to us by our Founding Fathers, Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan said in a statement. The Republican candidate, Mr Moore, lost to his Democratic opponent in a shocking special election for the states US Senate seat. With 100 per cent of the votes counted on Tuesday night, Mr Moore trailed his opponent, Doug Jones, by more than 20,000 votes. But the former state judge refused to concede, saying he would seek a recount. Recommended Roy Moore says Alabama election result could be recounted When the vote is this close, it is not over, Mr Moore told his supporters. The devout Christian added he would wait on God and let this process play out. His party chairman disagreed, concluding his statement by saying "this race has ended". Now that this race has ended, may this holiday season of peace, love and hope resonate with everyone, regardless of ones political affiliation, Mr Lathan said. Doug Jones has won Alabama senate election Even President Donald Trump appeared to accept the election results, tweeting his congratulations to Mr Jones while warning him not to get too comfortable in his seat. Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas and a fellow staunch Christian, urged Mr Moore to bow out. Roy Moore wont concede; says will wait on God to speak, Mr Huckabee tweeted. God wasnt registered to vote in AL but the ppl who voted did speak and it wasnt close enough for recount." He added: "In elections everyone does NOT get a trophy. I know first hand but its best to exit with class. 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 Mr Joness shocking upset in the traditionally conservative state was likely aided by the sexual misconduct allegations that followed Mr Moore in the last months of his campaign. In early November, four women told the Washington Post that Mr Moore had pursued them romantically, and even sexually, when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. Several more women came forward in the weeks following to accuse Mr Moore of inappropriate advances, and even sexual assault. Mr Moore denied these allegations, and Mr Trump endorsed him in spite of them. But the allegations appear to have changed the minds of many voters including one of the states current, Republican Senators, Richard Shelby. I couldn't vote for Roy Moore. I didn't vote for Roy Moore," Mr Shelby told CNN, adding: [T]he state of Alabama deserves better." Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A leading conservative Republican has attacked Steve Bannon over the stunning defeat of his candidate in Alabama, saying he looks like some dishevelled drunk who wandered on to the political stage. As Republicans reeled from Democrat Doug Jones victory over former judge Roy Moore, the party was quick to blame Mr Bannon, Donald Trumps former strategist, who had forced a primary to make Mr Moore the candidate. Mr Bannon believed Mr Moore, 70, would win and provide the momentum for him to launch other so-called insurgent candidates in the 2018 midterm elections. After Mr Jones pulled off his win, New York Congressman Peter King was quick to attack Mr Bannon and blame him for the defeat in the solidly conservative state, which has reduced the Republican majority in the senate to just 51-49. This guy does not belong on the national stage. He looks like some dishevelled drunk who wandered on to the political stage, he said on CNN. Roy Moore spokesman rendered speechless when asked if he knew people can be sworn in with a text other than the Christian bible I consider myself a conservative Republican. I consider myself an Irish Catholic. And he sort of parades himself out there with his weird alt-right views that he has and to me it's demeaning the whole governmental, political process. Mr King said he had called on Mr Trump go get rid of Mr Bannon in the summer and that the result in Alabama was really just a revulsion by people over Bannons style and divisive views. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters Asked if Mr King was calling Mr Bannon a dishevelled drunk, he replied: No, it was very precise. I said he looks like one. He said he was also not concerned if his comments resulted in a response from Mr Bannon. I have no problem. Listen, you have to fight for whats right, he said. He attacked the President's daughter the other night when he took a shot at Ivanka Trump, mocking her expression special place in hell. This person to me, Bannon, does not belong on the American political scene. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The former Obama administration official and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro has issued a warning to Senator Ted Cruz in the wake of a shock Democrat win in Alabama. Democrat Doug Jones claimed victory over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama on Tuesday, meaning the traditionally conservative stronghold has its first Democratic senator since 1992. The result dealt a political blow to Donald Trump since it narrowed the slim Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49. After the win, Mr Castro who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Barack Obama took to Twitter. "Be afraid, Ted Cruz. Be very afraid," he said in a post. Mr Cruz who ran against Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination is facing a challenge to his Senate seat in Texas in 2018 from Beto O'Rourke. Mr O'Rourke, who has served in Congress since 2013, is expected to struggle against Mr Cruz, since no Democrat has won a Senate election in Texas since 1988. But Mr Jones's upset win against Mr Moore, a former state judge who found himself at the centre of a sexual harassment scandal, has energised the Democratic Party. 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 An attorney and former prosecutor, Mr Jones rallied voters on a message of moving past Mr Moore's controversies. He was buoyed by an influx of national Democratic cash and endorsements. The party looks to build on anti-Trump sentiment to mount a challenge next year to Republican control of Congress. 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 }} Alabama has found itself the focus of intense political drama after Doug Jones pulled off a stunning victory, humiliating Donald Trump, enraging Republicans and finally delivering hope and energy to the Democratic Party. With Mr Joness opponent still refusing to concede victory, Republicans quickly plunged their knives into Steve Bannon, Donald Trumps former strategist and the conservative impresario, who believed former judge Roy Moore would kick-start his anti-establishment operation for the 2018 mid-term elections. Mr Trump, who had eventually endorsed Mr Moore, despite the allegations of sexual abuse levelled at him accusations Mr Moore denies was forced to offer congratulations of sorts to the 63-year-old Democrat. But he followed his grudging words with a subsequent tweet in which he sought to distance himself from Mr Moores calamity. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election, he said. I was right. Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him. Speaking from the White House later, Mr Trump said: "Wish we would have gotten the seat. A lot of Republicans feel differently, theyre happy very with the way it turned out, but I would have as the leader of the party, I would have liked to have had the seat". One of those Republicans was Bob Corker, a frequent critic of Mr Trump who is retiring next year. "I know we're supposed to cheer for our side of the aisle ... but I'm really, really happy with what happened for all of us in our nation, for people serving in the Senate, to not have to deal with what we were likely going to have to deal with should the outcome have been the other way," Mr Corker said. As for Mr Bannon, critics were quick to offer harsh judgement. "This guy does not belong on the national stage," Republican Representative Peter King said on CNN. "He's not representing what I stand for. I consider myself a conservative Republican... And, to me, it's demeaning the whole governmental and political process." The race between Mr Moore and Mr Jones, a prosecutor who had made his name as the man who prosecuted two former Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church in 1963 and killed four little girls, was closer than any had expected. Before the flurry of accusations from a number of women alleged that Mr Moore had assaulted them when they were young girls while he was in his thirties and working as a local prosecutor, Mr Moore was leading the Democrat by a double-digit lead in the polls. After the claims were published, his numbers started to slip as senior Republicans moved to distance themselves from him. The other sitting Republican senator for Alabama, Richard Shelby, said he could not vote for Mr Moore and would instead write in the name of another Republican on his ballot paper. Alabama senate race: Charles Barkley tells Alabama to vote for Doug Jones and 'stop looking like idiots to the nation' It also energised Mr Joness campaign, who worked to reach out to African American voters, younger people and women. He told them they are on the right side of history and on the eve of the election, he told The Independent he believed he could pull it off on Tuesday. He did just that. Shortly before 9.30pm local time on Tuesday evening, first Fox News, quickly followed by the Associated Press and The Washington Post called the race for Mr Jones. A final tally of votes showed Mr Jones had won 671,151 votes to Mr Moores 650,436, giving the Democrat a 49.9-48.4 victory. The reporter from The Washington Post, whose newspaper had broken the allegations of sexual assault against Mr Moore, was refused press credentials for the election night rally even though journalists were being allowed in without their passes being checked. Speaking in Birmingham, Mr Jones thanked his supporters and reminded them he was also celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary. At the same time, supporters of Mr Moore were praying and singing religious songs in the hall they had hired in Montgomery, expecting to be celebrating a win. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters A key part of Mr Joness victory appears to have been the turnout of African American women. Exit poll data suggests they made up 18 per cent of the vote and approximately 97 per cent of their support went to Mr Jones. This compared to 65 per cent of white women who made up 30 per cent of voters opting for Mr Moore. I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us, Mr Jones told supporters. We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified. He added: This entire race has been about dignity and respect. Mr Joness win will undoubtedly give heart to Democrats and critics of Mr Trump. Earlier this year, they were hoping another special election, in Georgias 6th district, would provide them with a win and some much-needed momentum. Mr Moore asked people to pray to God and come back in the morning (Getty) As it was, despite a media frenzy, Jon Ossoff failed to beat Republican Karen Handel. The Democrat was a victim, perhaps, of too much expectation. Hillary Clinton was quick to congratulate Mr Jones and said his victory showed Democrats could win anywhere. But it may not be that simple; not every candidate the Democrats will be facing in 2018 will be confronting accusations of sexual assault. Most observers believed that had it not been for those revelations, Mr Moore, a staunch religious conservative whose base of supporters is among the 49 per cent of adults in Alabama who identify as evangelical Christians, would have won. As it was, Mr Joness supporters had the opportunity to dance and sing and take in the pleasures of a most unexpected victory. I honestly did not know that this was even an option. I didnt think that we could elect a Democrat, 26-year-old campaign volunteer Jess Eddington, her eyes red, told Reuters. I am so proud we did. Elsewhere Democrats were quick to seize on the win. The people of Alabama sent a loud and clear message to Donald Trump and the Republican Party, said Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez. You cant call yourself the party of family values as long as youre willing to accept vile men like Roy Moore as members. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump put the wrong birthdate on his New York absentee voter application form, leading Board of Elections officials to question whether his vote counted in the citys most recent election. Both Mr Trump and his wife, Melania, applied for absentee ballots to vote in the 7 November mayoral election in New York City, where they lived before moving to Washington DC. Ms Trumps application went off without a hitch, but Mr Trump listed his birthday incorrectly by an entire month. The President was born on 14 June, 1946, but his application, obtained by the New York Daily News, lists him as being born in July. The Board of Elections did not notice the error until a Daily News reporter pointed it out. It was not immediately clear if the error would affect Mr Trumps vote. If Mr Trumps ballot turns out to be ineligible, hell be in good company: An elections board official told the Daily News that ballots from his wife, daughter, and son-in-law also were not counted. Ms Trump filled out her application correctly, but stumbled when submitting the ballot itself. According to the elections official, the First Lady did not sign the envelope in which she put her ballot, rendering it unusable. Instructions included with the ballot direct voters to sign the encasing envelope. 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 Ivanka Trump, meanwhile, mailed her ballot in on Election Day one day too late to be counted. Instructions on the Board of Elections website state that ballots must be postmarked by the day before Election Day. Her husband, Jared Kushner, failed to mail his ballot back at all. Mr Kushners voting habits made headlines earlier this year, when Wired discovered that he had been registered to vote in New York as a woman for years. The Board of Elections later said the false listing was an error on their part, and changed the registration to recognise Mr Kushner as male. Donald Trump's aides 'terrified' over President's mental health, says Art of the Deal co-author White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders previously confirmed to Business Insider that Mr and Ms Trump had cast their ballots in the most recent election, but declined to say how they had voted. It seems unlikely that Mr Trump voted for incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, as the President previously called him the worst mayor in the United States. During a speech in Long Island earlier this year, Mr Trump took shots at a "pathetic mayor," who many people assumed to be Mr De Blasio. Ive met great police who arent allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor who doesnt know whats going on, Mr Trump told a crowd of police officers. The Mayor won this years election by more than 66 per cent. USDA reviews upwards forecast for wheat exports from Ukraine in 2017/18 agri-year by 500,000 tonnes The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December reviewed downwards its forecast for exports of wheat from Ukraine in the 2017/18 agricultural year (July-June) by 500,000 tonnes compared with the November forecast, to 17 million tonnes. According to a report of the USDA, the forecast for exports of corn was left at 20.5 million tonnes. USDA projects that grain harvest in Ukraine in 2017 would be 61.49 million tonnes, including 26.5 million tonnes of wheat and 25 million tonnes of corn. Exports of grain in the 2017/18 agri-year would be 42.41 million tonnes. 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 }} In the immediate days following President Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital, his administration has seemingly done little to mitigate the negative fallout from the announcement, with protests continuing to flare across the Middle East six days after the announcement. Experts told The Independent that Mr Trump botched the rollout of the decision - which includes plans to move the US embassy to the holy city - as there appears to have been little effort made to consult with European allies or to fully prepare Arab leaders for what was to come. Jordan said Mr Trump's action was legally null because it consolidated Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as part of any future state. For decades, the US has maintained that the status of Jerusalem should be decided by negotiations between the two sides - a policy Mr Trump turned his back on with his announcement last week. Dov Waxman, a professor of political science, Israel studies and international affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, noted that the Trump administration has yet to nominate ambassadors in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt - all countries vehemently opposed to the US leaders decision. This was another sign of poor planning, as having people in those positions could have helped ease the negative effects of the announcement, Mr Waxman suggested. The President seems to have a disregard for the importance of diplomacy, he said. Following the Presidents decision, someone from the White House or the administration could now try to calm the fears of the Palestinians that the US has given Jerusalem to Israel on a platter, Mr Waxman said. But there doesnt seem to be any follow-up so far. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson admitted that the Trump administration had scored no diplomatic wins in its first year. But thats not the way this works, Mr Tillerson told the US diplomatic corps at a town hall meeting. Diplomacy is not that simple. The meeting came amid drooping employee morale in the department, where many are concerned about budget cuts and Mr Tillerson's sluggishness in filling several top positions. Last week, Mr Trump appeared to try to soften the blow to Palestine by insisting that he was not taking a position on any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders. But given the global response to his words, it was not enough. Mr Waxman noted that Mr Trumps failure in his speech to mention the Palestinian claim to East Jerusalem showed bias in favour of Israel, making the Presidents promise that he wasnt taking a position seem empty and hollow. Already, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the US is no longer qualified to sponsor the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians following Mr Trumps decision. Perception is what really matters here, Mr Waxman said. Trump has seemingly done very little to manage that perception. From the outset, for example, not enough was done to allow the US to control the narrative of the decision. Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP On the day preceding his announcement, Mr Trump made calls to several Arab leaders, including Mr Abbas, to inform them of his plans regarding Jerusalem. Unhappy with the President's decision, those leaders immediately put out statements declaring their opposition to Mr Trumps intended move to designate the holy city as the capital - before the White House had issued its own statement and provided reporters with sufficient information. The narrative was set by opponents to the move while the White House was silent when it mattered most - and when it could have mitigated some of the worst reactions, wrote Ilan Goldenberg, the director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, in an op-ed for Slate. The president called for calm in the region - but that did nothing to stop protests beginning in Palestinian refugee camps in the Jordanian capital of Amman, as well as in Gaza and outside the US embassy in Istanbul. The US State Department also issued safety notices for its staff in a number of countries around the region. There will of course be disagreement and dissent regarding this announcement but we are confident that ultimately, as we work through these disagreements, we will arrive at a place of greater understanding and cooperation, Mr Trump said. It later emerged, in a memo leaked to Reuters, that the US had privately asked Israel to temper its response to the announcement. The State Department document, dated 6 December, stated in talking points for diplomats at the US embassy in Tel Aviv to convey to Israeli officials: While I recognise that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response. It continued: We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on US facilities and personnel overseas. You know that this is a unique administration. It makes bold moves. But it is bold moves that are going to be needed if peace efforts are finally going to be successful. Elie Jacobs, a political partner with the Truman National Security Project, said the administrations acknowledgement that there could be strong resistance in the Middle East suggested insensitivity to the situation. If you knew it was going to happen, then maybe you should have planned better, he said, also suggesting that more could have been done to get European leaders on board with the decision. After a United Nations meeting on Friday, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Italy said in a joint statement that the decision by Washington, which includes plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, was unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace. We stand ready to contribute to all credible efforts to restart the peace process, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, leading to a two-State solution, they said. We encourage the US Administration to now bring forward detailed proposals for an Israel-Palestinian settlement. Mr Trump also appears to not even have heeded the advice of his own officials, with Mr Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis reportedly opposing both the designation of Jerusalem as the capital and the US embassy relocation out of security concerns. There was a way to do this, Mr Jacobs said, referring to rollout of the decision. They botched this. 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 }} Idiot is the first word that springs to peoples minds when they think about Donald Trump, a new poll has revealed. The Quinnipiac University Poll, a survey centre based at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, surveyed adults across the US and found 53 voters first thought of the word idiot when describing the President. Meanwhile 44 voters described Mr Trump as a liar and 36 said he was incompetent. Among those more sympathetic to the former reality star, 35 said they thought of the word leader and another 35 said strong. Other words suggested by 19 or more people included a***hole, great and moron. But 30 out of the 48 words used five or more times were negative, the pollsters said. The survey, which was conducted between 6 and 11 December among 1,211 voters, also found 57 per cent voters disapprove of Mr Trumps performance in the Oval Office compared with 37 per cent of voters who approved. The margin of error for the poll was 3.5 per cent. According to Quinnipiac, Mr Trump has only managed to hit more than 40 per cent approval four times during his first year in office with his highest approval rating 42 per cent coming in February. 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 Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said: President Donald Trump is known for hurling insults and he's getting slammed right back. 'Idiot' is just one of a string of insults thrown his way by American voters. Meanwhile, voters were also polled on whether they thought Russia had tried to influence the 2016 presidential election, with 73 per cent of voters overall and 50 per cent of Republicans saying it did. Forty-three per cent of those who agreed said it had influenced the outcome of the election. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has responded to Roy Moore's defeat in the Alabama Senate election race. In a tweet the US President congratulated the Democrat Doug Jones, and suggested that write-in votes worked against the Republican candidate, who was accused of child sex abuse during his campaign. "Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win," the President wrote. "The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!" Mr Moore has adamantly denied all the allegations against him, made by a number of women. The claims included Mr Moore allegedly making unwanted advances towards a 14-year-old when he was in his 30s. He has said: I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and decrying what he called a partisan effort to derail his campaign. Recommended Roy Moore loses to Doug Jones in historic Alambama result Mr Trump's mention of the write-in votes relates to the fact that the number of such votes is almost equal to Mr Jones margin of victory. Mr Moore and his campaign have said they are not yet conceding the result, with some votes still outstanding. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percentage point. With all precincts reporting, Mr Jones leads by 1.5 percentage points three times what's required to trigger a recount. If the Alabama secretary of state determines there were more write-in votes than the difference between Mr Jones and Mr Moore, the state's counties would be required to tally those votes. It's not clear how that would help Mr Moore, who ended the night trailing Mr Jones by more than 20,000 votes. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters Mr Jones' victory is set to narrow the slim Republican majority over Democrats in the Senate to 51-49. Meanwhile his victory in the Republican stronghold energises the Democratic Party as it looks to build on anti-Trump sentiment to mount a challenge next year to Republican control of Congress. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The newspaper USA Today has launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump after he attacked a female Democratic Senator on Twitter. In an editorial that has been widely shared, the publication said the President "is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library". The paper was responding to Trump's tweet early on Tuesday, which it criticised for being sexually demeaning towards the Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. In the tweet (below), Mr Trump said she would come "begging" to his office for campaign contributions and "would do anything for them". In a searing response, the editorial board of USA Today expresses disgust at the President's language. "With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favours for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office," it says. "Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low." The editorial continues with a comparison of Mr Trump and his presidential predecessors. "A president who would all but call Sen Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W Bush," it says. Hours after Mr Trump attacked Ms Gillibrand, the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was challenged over his language and whether he meant to use such innuendo. I think only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way, Ms Sanders said. 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 Theres no way that this is sexist at all. This is simply talking about a system that we have that is broken in which special interests control our government, she continued. And I don't think that theres probably many people that are more controlled by political contributions than the senator that the president referenced. In their editorial, USA Today wasn't swayed by Ms Sanders' spin however. "As is the case with all of Trump's digital provocations, the president's words were deliberate," it wrote. "He pours the gasoline of sexist language and lights the match gleefully knowing how it will burst into flame in a country reeling from the #MeToo moment". 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 woman has pleaded guilty to killing her pregnant neighbour so she could raise the baby with her boyfriend. Brooke Crews, 38, faces life in prison after changing her not-guilty plea at Cass County Court, North Dakota, to charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and murder, and lying to police officers. Crews and her boyfriend, William Hoehn, 32, had both been charged over the death of 22-year-old Savanna Greywind, who lived in Fargo and disappeared on 19 August, reports local TV station KVRR. Greywinds body was found by kayakers wrapped in plastic and duct tape in the Red River. Though investigators have not said how she was killed, Fargos police chief called it a cruel and vicious act of depravity. The baby girl, who survived, was found in Crews and Mr Hoehns apartment. Greywinds boyfriend, Ashton Matheny, said DNA tests confirmed that he and Greywind are the girls parents. He now has custody, prosecutor Leah Viste said. Crews and Mr Hoehn gave investigators differing accounts of what happened, according to the criminal complaint. Crews told police she arranged to have Greywind come to her apartment on 19 August and told her how to induce labour, and that Greywind returned two days later to give her the newborn baby. The discovery of Ms Greywinds remains near a farmhouse ended an eight-day search for the nursing assistant (Savanna Greywind/Facebook) Mr Hoehn told investigators he came home 19 August to find Crews cleaning up blood in their bathroom. He said Ms Crews presented him with the infant girl and said: This is our baby. This is our family, the complaint states. Mr Hoehn told police he took garbage bags containing bloody shoes and his bloody towels and disposed of them away from the apartment complex, according to the documents. 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 Crews lawyer, Steven Mottinger, told local newspaper The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead that she now accepted responsibility for her actions and the guilty plea goes a long way in terms of us being able to argue for something less than life without parole. Mr Hoehn has pleaded not guilty to the same charges. His trial is scheduled for March. 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 }} Medics operating to remove a "tumour" from a baby were astonished to discover it was actually the child's twin inside his tummy. The three-month-old baby was admitted to hospital for treatment for a kidney mass after his parents noticed his stomach was swelling up. But when they operated they found a two pound parasite twin - complete with eyes and skin - which was feeding off the baby. The condition is known as "foetus in fetu" is caused by the incomplete separation of twins, which fails to grow and instead becomes an internal part of the healthy twin. It is believed there are only 200 reported cases of the rare condition worldwide. Dr SP Sharma, who cared for the baby, said: The baby was wrongly diagnosed with a tumour. We were surprised and shocked to see a malformed foetus inside his stomach. We have successfully operated to remove the parasite twin out of his body. The baby is recovering well after the operation. He has been shifted to ICU. We hope to discharge him some time by the end of this week. Parents Ranjubala and Satyendra Yadav from Bhabhua district in Bihar, India, noticed their baby - who they have not named - had a painful swollen stomach. The couple consulted local doctors who said it was a urine problem and others who said it was a tumour. Baffled, they visited Banaras Hindu University Medical College and Hospital in Uttar Pradesh, where medics found the twin and successfully operated. 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 Dad Satyendra, a farmer said: We were blessed with a baby four years after our marriage but we were always living in fear that the baby might not live long as his condition started worsening within days after birth. I see these doctors here as the living incarnation of God. They have not only cured our baby and rid us of all our pains too. SWNS For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other officials should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity committed in the authoritarian nation's camps for political prisoners, three renowned international jurists have said. Citing evidence of systematic murder, including infanticide, and torture, the team from the international rights organisation members said persecution of Christians, rape, forced abortions, starvation and overwork leading to "countless deaths". Their report is based on testimony from defectors and experts on the camps, believed to hold between 80,000 and 130,000 inmates. Written with the International Bar Association's support, it is billed as an unofficial follow-up to a United Nations (UN) investigation in 2014 finding reasonable grounds to conclude crimes against humanity had been committed in North Korea. The three judges have served on past international tribunals: Navi Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights; Mark Harmon who served on a tribunal trying Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia; and Thomas Buergenthal, who survived Auschwitz as a child and was a judge on the International Court of Justice. North Korea "continues to deny the very existence of these political prisons," the report says. "Yet, detailed satellite imagery, as well as the corroborated testimony of scores of former prisoners and state actors with firsthand knowledge of the prisons, established the existence of this prison system, and the horrific practices that occur therein, beyond any doubt." US soldier Charles Jenkins who defected to North Korea stars in 1970s film The jurists conclude that 10 of the 11 internationally recognised crimes against humanity have been committed. They say many of the prisoners are family members of individuals accused of political wrongdoing a form of collective punishment against "class enemies" that dates back to the 1950s. Such victims are subject to arbitrary detention, torture, summary execution or life sentences. Hundreds of thousands of inmates are estimated to have died in camps over the years, the report says. Among the abuses reported: starving prisoners are regularly executed when caught scavenging for food; abortions being performed by injecting motor oil into the wombs of pregnant women, according to a former North Korean army nurse; and firing squad executions of prisoners who attempt to escape. Crimes continue to be committed in the camps, and the judges conclude Kim, members of the State Security Department and prison guards are culpable. They call on the world community to initiate proceedings at International Criminal Court (ICC), or a special tribunal, to hold them accountable. Made in North Korea - In pictures Show all 6 1 /6 Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Although international pressure on North Korea over its dire human rights record has escalated since the issuance of the UN report in 2014, there remains little chance of a referral to the ICC. China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council with veto powers, oppose it. UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told the council this week that North Korea's leadership has cracked down further on human rights as tensions have escalated over its nuclear and missile tests, and "horrific" prison conditions have become more severe. He said the reported five secret political prison camps serve as "a powerful instrument of control." North Korea's UN Mission strongly condemned Monday's meeting, calling it "a desperate act of the hostile forces which lost the political and military confrontation with the DPRK that has openly risen to the position of nuclear weapon state." It called the human rights issue in the country "non-existent." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un is personally able to control the weather if he wishes, the countrys KCNA news agency has indicated. The dictators new superpower was reported after Mr Kim was photographed in fine clear weather at the top of a 9,000ft active volcano near North Koreas border with China. Pictures showed Mr Kim walking around at the snow-covered summit of Mount Paektuthe, wearing a smart black coat and formal dress shoes. KCNA claimed the dictator had completed the 2 mile trek to the top, apparently in this outfit, and said that the good weather was due to Mr Kims presence. The news agency said conditions in December were usually inhospitable, but when Mr Kim arrived, it was a marvellous scene with glee at the reappearance at its great master. The organisation added that the mountain showed fine weather unprecedented. KCNA then paid homage to Mr Kim describing him as the man who controls the nature. The North Korean news agency has a grand history of making outlandish claims about Mr Kims ingenuity and achievements. He has previously been said to have found a unicorns lair, and learnt to drive at the age of three. Last year the dictator was celebrated by KCNA for helping to create a wonder drug that cures Aids, Ebola and cancer. It has previously claimed Mr Kims father Kim Jong Il invented the hamburger and had magical powers which meant he did not ever need to use the lavatory. 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 site of Mr Kims latest meteorological feat also has an important place in North Korean history: Kim Jong Il was said to have been born in a secret military base on Mount Paektuthe, prompting the creation of a double rainbow. Unfortunately for the regime, records show he was born in Siberia. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Korea's political prisons are just as bad as - and perhaps even worse than - the Nazi concentration camps of the Holocaust, a renowned judge and Auschwitz survivor has concluded after hearing from former North Korean prisoners and guards. Thomas Buergenthal, who served on the International Court of Justice, is one of three jurists who have concluded that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should be tried for crimes against humanity for the way his regime uses brutal political prisons to control the population. I believe that the conditions in the [North] Korean prison camps are as terrible, or even worse, than those I saw and experienced in my youth in these Nazi camps and in my long professional career in the human rights field, said Buergenthal, who was in Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen as a child, as well as the ghetto of Kielce, Poland. He was part of a panel that also included Navi Pillay, a South African judge who presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and then became the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, and Mark Harmon, an American judge who worked on the Yugoslavia and Cambodia war crimes cases. The three heard evidence from former prisoners, prison guards and experts as part of an inquiry initiated by the International Bar Association. The resulting report, which will be published on Tuesday, found that there was ample evidence to charge the Kim regime with 10 of the 11 internationally recognised war crimes - including murder, enslavement, torture and sexual violence - because of its use of political prison camps. There is not a comparable situation anywhere in the world, past or present, Pillay said. This is really an atrocity at the maximum level, where the whole population is subject to intimidation. Three generations of Kims have ruled North Korea as a totalitarian state defined by an all-encompassing personality cult that treats the leaders as demi-gods. Anyone who questions the leaders or the system is liable to be thrown in a penal labor colony - often for life, and often together with three generations of their families to eliminate the seed of enemies of the state. Experts estimate there are as many as 130,000 North Koreans held in four huge camps, where they are forced to do hard labour, often in mines, and receive very little in the way of food, clothing or heating. The regime also operates reeducation camps for lesser offences. They are just as brutal, but prisoners there generally serve fixed terms. North Korea's extensive human rights abuses were documented in a landmark UN Commission of Inquiry report in 2014. Following on from that, the International Bar Association decided to conduct an inquiry specifically into the political prison camps. The three judges heard testimony and read affidavits from former prisoners and prison guards in North Korea, covering a period from 1970 to 2006. The panel heard about starving prisoners who were executed after being caught scavenging for food and about the deaths of countless prisoners from malnutrition and overwork, sometimes a result of 20-hour days in the mines. The judges also heard about rapes and the forced abortions of resulting pregnancies, sometimes leading to the women's deaths. One prison camp survivor, a doctor who had been caught trying to escape to China, said he was stripped and hung upside down, beaten, tortured with fire or water, and had water mixed with spicy pepper poured into his nose and mouth. Although the most recent first-hand testimony the judges heard was from 2006, the panel received an affidavit from Thae Yong-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat who escaped from his nation's embassy in London last year. Mr Thae said he personally knew several senior officials who were sent to political prison camps in 2013 during the purges that followed Kim Jong-un's execution of his uncle, Jang Song Thaek. The bar association's war crimes committee - which includes veterans of the Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic trials - together with the Washington office of the law firm Hogan Lovells, put together the case for charging the North Korean regime. Of the 11 crimes against humanity listed in the International Criminal Court's statute, there was evidence that the North Korean regime had committed all of them except apartheid, they found. There is ample reason to believe that the political prison camps are still in operation, they said, with the four main camps clearly visible in satellite images of North Korea. As the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim is ultimately responsible for allowing these crimes against humanity to be perpetuated in the prison camps, the report concluded. But it also said officials in the ruling Workers' Party and in the State Security Department were liable. Given North Korea's tightly controlled leadership structure, Kim Jong-un and his inner circle warrant prosecution under the principle of command responsibility, the report found. North Korea has resolutely denied running any forced-labour camps for political criminals, with a senior diplomat in North Korea's mission to the United Nations saying in 2014, after the UN Commission of Inquiry report, that they were normal prisons. Pyongyang would take countermeasures against any effort to refer Kim to the International Criminal Court, as the commission recommended, a North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Jang Il Hun, said at the time. His successor, Pak Song Il, sharply criticised the findings. I totally reject and deny this report as it is fabricated and baseless, he said. By writing about the report, The Washington Post showed that it had become the blind followers of the hostile policy of the US administration against the DPRK, he said, using the official abbreviation for North Korea. North Korea Prison Camps Show all 7 1 /7 North Korea Prison Camps North Korea Prison Camps An overview of Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The administration area of Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A water treatment system in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps Crop fields and, inset, prisoners in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps The reported crematorium in Camp 25 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A possible mine Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe North Korea Prison Camps A walled compound in Camp 15 Amnesty International/DigitalGlobe Such reports do not help resolve the current tense situation, Pak said. Previous efforts to hold North Korea's leaders to account have not gone anywhere, in no small part because referral to the ICC requires the approval of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. China and Russia have made clear they would veto any such move. Pillay said that should not stop the international community from trying to hold the North Korean regime accountable. This is especially horrendous. It's been sustained for so long, with no help to the people of North Korea from the world, she said. 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 }} Hawaii isn't the only series of islands formed from underwater volcanic eruptions. In 2014, a massive eruption formed the new island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai. But there's something about this island that has scientists stumped. Following is a transcript of the video. Watch a brand new island form. You're watching the evolution of a brand new island. Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai formed in 2014 after an underwater volcanic eruption breached the surface. Nearby tourists filmed the huge explosion. Flights had to be diverted around it. When the smoke cleared, a small island was visible. It's located about 400 miles southeast of Fiji in the Pacific. It's only about a mile long. It was expected to wash away after a few months. Now, three years later, it's still here. These images show how it's been holding up over the years. This is the first time satellites could see an island forming. Scientists still don't know how the island has lasted this long. One theory is that warm seawater interacted with the ash to form a hardier rock surface. Scientists soon hope to run chemical analysis on rock samples. To unlock the secrets of this young, mysterious island. Seven unavoidable questions to ask your partner before it's too late New York City's secret subway trains Seoul's subway system beats NYC Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. Ukraine has submitted an application to receive new macrofinancial assistance from the European Union (EU) to the European Commission, Head of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has said. He said at a press release at Oschadbank in Kyiv on Wednesday that the European Commission would assess the country's need in external financial and then it would be decided if the macrofinancial assistance is provided. Mingarelli said that the issue will be discussed in the next several months. If the positive decision is made, the European Commission would submit the relevant proposal to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, he said. Mingarelli also recalled that in the past three years the EU provided EUR 3.4 billion of the macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine. By the end of this year a decision to issue the last tranche of EUR 600 million under the current macrofinancial assistance program for Ukraine was to be made. However, the funds would not be provided, as Ukraine met only 17 out of 21 requirements of the program. 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 17 August 2017, The Independent published an article under the headline Red Bull familys tax haven secrets revealed after fugitive son allegedly kills police officer in Ferrari hit-and-run. Referring to the offshore investments of the Yoovidhya family, the article suggested that the familys financial arrangements were outlined in the Panama Papers and that auditors had raised concerns that documents verifying the ownership of their companies had been missing in 2010 and 2013. Representatives of the Yoovidhya family have contacted The Independent to say that the Panama Papers do not give a complete or accurate view of the familys financial arrangements and that neither Mossack Fonseca not its auditors raised any concerns with their companies about missing documents. Furthermore, they say that Mossack Fonseca never did anything for the Yoovidhya family beyond providing a registered office address for two of their companies. The Yoovidhya family believe that the article implied that they had engaged in money laundering activities. The Independent wishes to make clear that it did not intend to imply anything of the sort and it is happy to correct any such impression to the contrary. 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 }} Germanys Social Democrats said on Wednesday they would share power with Angela Merkels conservatives only if ordinary voters get a fairer deal, seeking to reassure party sceptics hours before highly-sensitive talks between the two camps. Merkel, weakened by heavy losses to the far-right in a September election and then by the collapse last month of talks on a three-way alliance, is pinning her hopes on the SPD for a fourth term as chancellor and to avoid new elections. But the mood between the two parties is sour and Merkel herself has been a frequent target of criticism by the Social Democrats. The SPD, stung by its worst election result since 1933 and riven by divisions on whether to work with Merkel after voters punished the party for sharing power with her over the last four years, warned a deal would not be made at any price. Ms Merkel arrives back in Germany at the Reichstag building in Berlin on Wednesday evening, for planned coalition talks (EPA) A decisive point for the SPD is that the social agenda has more prominence in Germany, leading Social Democrat Carsten Schneider told German television. We are quite clear: There must be a greater degree of fairness for ordinary heroes, he said. Merkel and the leader of her Bavarian conservative allies were due to meet SPD leader Martin Schulz later on Wednesday. The secrecy surrounding the talks underlined their sensitivity. With both sides having a lot to lose, the parties have not disclosed the time or venue for the meeting and do not plan to make public statements when it ends. But in a further sign of their seriousness, Merkel excused herself from a Europe-Africa summit in Paris on Wednesday, saying she was needed at home. Working on a new government for Germany also has priority, she told French President Emmanuel Macron at a news conference. I dont want to neglect my duties at home. Schulz has made a pitch for EU integration leading to a United States of Europe by 2025, and the SPD wants a big spending boost on education, more nursery spots and a big healthcare reform to help ordinary people. Merkel wants to maintain Germanys solid finances, cut some taxes and expand the digital infrastructure. The SPD had vowed to go into opposition after its dismal election result and only softened its approach, agreeing to meet Merkel, due to pressure from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who wants to avoid new elections. The SPD pulled no punches in attacking Merkel during the election campaign. Schulz has described Merkel, known for pragmatism rather than vision, as a vacuum cleaner of ideas and has also accused her of silencing debate on issues. A row last month over a conservative minister breaking protocol to back an extension for an EU licence for a weed-killer despite SPD opposition hurt ties at a crucial time. One of the SPDs deputies, Ralf Stegner, adopted a combative tone on Wednesday, saying nobody could dictate the terms to the SPD as the conservative bloc needed the party to rule. Some in the SPD are prepared to contemplate another grand coalition, albeit with a clear SPD signature, but others prefer the idea of tolerating a minority government under Merkel. One other option is a KoKo (cooperation coalition) agreement under which the SPD would agree to work with Merkel in some areas, such as a budget and European and foreign affairs, but force her to seek ad hoc majorities for other policies. This idea is unpopular with conservatives who want a grand coalition. We have to try it but please, seriously, Carsten Linnemann, head of a group representing small and medium-sized businesses in the conservative bloc, told ARD television. 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 }} Less than an hour after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital, Palestinians protested by turning off the lights on the Christmas tree outside Bethlehems Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. It was a timely reminder that while headlines focused on Islamist calls for uprisings and Trumps references to Jewish historical ties, the presidents words also stirred deep feelings among the Palestinians small Christian community. Coming out of the Sunday service in his Assyrian Catholic church in Jerusalem, Fredrick Hazo accused Trump of dragging all the world into trouble, and called on the US leader to reverse his decision. We are united - Christians, Muslims, we are one, said the 59-year-old Palestinian musician, standing in an alley in the heart of the Old City, surrounded by shops selling religious trinkets. He was frustrated by the politics, but confident the delicate balance the three faiths kept in the holy city would prevail. In this sacred place, God is protecting us all. We are guarded by his angels in Jerusalem, Hazo added. Christians make up around just one per cent of the Palestinian population in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - though they punch above their weight in local and national politics. Back in July, Hazo protested alongside Muslims against Israels installation of security scanners at the nearby al-Aqsa mosque - Islams third holiest site - after two Arab-Israeli gunmen shot dead two Israeli police officers at the site. It removed the metal detectors after days of bloody clashes, scenes that have not been repeated in the city since Trumps declaration. The appeals to religious unity inside Jerusalems walls stand in contrast to the more divided voices outside. In the hours running up to Trumps statement, Pope Francis called for the status quo in the city to be respected. The Episcopal Church of the United States said Trumps announcement could have profound ramifications on the peace process and the future of a two-state solution. But Trumps decision found strong backing from another corner of the Christian community - many among his own countrys politically powerful evangelicals who see Gods hand in the modern-day return of Jews to a biblical homeland. Trump convened a circle of evangelical advisers during his presidential bid, and he was the overwhelming favourite of white evangelical voters in last years US election. We are all bible-believers and we believe that this is the bible-land and that Jerusalem is the ancient capital of Israel back to the days of King David, said Dallas-based Mike Evans, part of an evangelical group that met Trump on Monday. In the hours running up to Trumps statement, Pope Francis called for the status quo in the city to be respected. The Episcopal Church of the United States said Trumps announcement could have profound ramifications on the peace process and the future of a two-state solution. But Trumps decision found strong backing from another corner of the Christian community - many among his own countrys politically powerful evangelicals who see Gods hand in the modern-day return of Jews to a biblical homeland. Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Show all 18 1 /18 Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli forces scuffle with Palestinians at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester hurls stones as tear gas is fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester runs during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli forces scuffle with Palestinians at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters run during clashes REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and a Palestinian protesters clash REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters react to tear gas REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen hold on to a Palestinian protester REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and Palestinians scuffle after Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Old City REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Worshippers chant as they hold Palestinian flags after Friday prayers Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester hurls back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A wounded Palestinian protester is evacuated during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and a Palestinian youth scuffle REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester uses a sling to hurl stones towards Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Journalists react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops REUTERS Trump convened a circle of evangelical advisers during his presidential bid, and he was the overwhelming favourite of white evangelical voters in last years US election. We are all bible-believers and we believe that this is the bible-land and that Jerusalem is the ancient capital of Israel back to the days of King David, said Dallas-based Mike Evans, part of an evangelical group that met Trump on Monday. 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 }} East Jerusalem must be recognised by the world as the capital of an independent Palestinian state, more than 50 Muslim nations have said, in a move designed to counter Donald Trump's decision to recognise the contested city as Israeli. A draft declaration from an extraordinary Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting was distributed to reporters on Wednesday. The Trump administration's move is "null and void" and means that the US can no longer act as an "unbiased" sponsor in Middle East peace talks, it read. The 57-member strong body is meeting in Istanbul to hammer out a unified response from the Muslim world to last week's unprecedented move from the US. Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP The US president shocked even some of his county's closest allies on 6 December by following though with a campaign trail promise to formally recognise the holy city as Israels undivided capital. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 in a move that has never been recognised internationally. Both sides claim it as their capital and the city's status remains a major stumbling block in peace talks. While welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, many other world leaders - including the US Middle Eastern allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia - have expressed concern that the controversial move could spark renewed violence in the region and wider Muslim world. Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Jerusalem decision not a sign that US is pulling out of peace process Four Palestinians have died in clashes in Gaza and the West Bank and protests have smouldered across the globe for six consecutive days. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas told the OIC conference that Mr Trump's announcement was a "crime" that threatens world peace, calling on the UN to lead negotiations in the intractable conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan added that the US' role is now "over" in brokering peace in the region. 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 }} More than 50 Muslim nations have come together to "reject and condemn" US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, calling the US "unfit" to lead future peace talks in the region. An extraordinary Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting was held in Istanbul on Wednesday in order to coordinate and counter the Muslim world's response to the Trump administration's decision. The resulting Istanbul Declaration on Freedom for al Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, calls the move "null and void", and calls on the whole world to recognise an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its occupied capital. The US' new stance means it can no longer act as an "unbiased" sponsor in Middle East peace process, a toned down final version of the communique read. Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Jerusalem decision not a sign that US is pulling out of peace process Addressing the 57-member strong conference, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Palestinians will no longer accept any American role in the Middle East peace process at all. While Palestinians remain committed to peace, Washington can no longer be accepted as a "fair negotiator", he said, having provoked Muslim and Christian sentiments over the future of the holy city. His comments were echoed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that the US' role is now "over" in brokering peace in the region. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day war, an action that was never internationally recognised. Control of it remains one of the core stumbling blocks to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP Like many presidential hopefuls before him, on the campaign trail Mr Trump promised to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Over the last year, the new administration has delayed a decision on the issue. Mr Trump's announcement last week, however, upends decades of US policy: the previous US position had been to clarify the status of Jerusalem in a final peace agreement as per the terms of the 1993 Oslo accords. While welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, many other world leaders - including the US' Middle Eastern allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia - have expressed concern that the controversial move could spark renewed violence in the region and wider Muslim world. The move was met with international outrage: in the West Bank and Gaza four Palestinians were killed in ensuing clashes and protests have smouldered worldwide for days. Stephen Colbert ridicules Trump's Jerusalem announcement The president, who has proved unpredictable on foreign policy matters, has repeatedly conveyed a desire to broker peace in the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, a goal he has described as "the ultimate deal". The US has been seeking to resurrect talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Mr Trump took office, with the help of ally Saudi Arabia. An impasse in talks thanks to the Palestinian rejection of the US would complicate Washington's efforts to get Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to unite with the US and Israel against Iran. Many states were already reluctant to get to close to the Israelis without progress on the Palestinian issue, and will need far more convincing now. The issue has earned the US a rare rebuke from King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who also said from Riyadh on Wednesday that the Palestinians have a right to East Jerusalem as their capital. In recent months there has been mounting pressure on the Palestinian leadership from both Riyadh and Washington to accept the terms of a less than favourable peace deal. The blueprint is understood to contain steps leading to a two state solution, but without the right to return for Palestinian refugees or full sovereignty. The US has reiterated it is committed to the peace process despite the decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israeli. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week it is still up to the Israelis and Palestinians to hammer out all other issues surrounding the city in future talks. 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 }} Who said flying is a drag? One bold and inspired pilot brought seasonal joy to the world by drawing a giant Christmas tree in the sky on a flight path over Germany while doing a test flight of an Airbus A380 aircraft for Emirates. Recommended US Navy fighter crew grounded after pilot drew penis in sky The plane set off from Hamburg's Finkenwerder airport at 12.47pm local time and is estimated to arrived back into the same airport at 4.35pm, according to Flightradar. However, instead of simply doing a few laps, the pilot took the decision to use the flight path to introduce a little more festive cheer. The tree even features baubles by means of regular loops in the flying pattern in between each branch. The plane cruised at an average 41,000ft while completing the masterpiece, which went south as far as Stuttgart for the tree's trunk before turning northwards towards Hamburg again. The test flight is for an Airbus A380 (Flightradar) It's a more family-friendly piece of aircraft art than the recent flight path that landed a US navy fighter crew in hot water. The crew was grounded after they used their advanced fighter jet to draw a penis in the sky. The Navy E/A-18 Growler warplane flew in an unusual air pattern in the skies over Okanogan County in Washington state in November, using the condensed air trail from its exhaust to draw the giant image. Pictures of the phallus suspended in the sky immediately went viral on social media. Sophomoric and immature antics of a sexual nature have no place in naval aviation today, Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker, the commander of naval air forces, said in a statement. Click here to compare flight options with Skyscanner Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The year will end with an unprecedented number of rail strikes across the UK as members of the RMT union take industrial action over a range of grievances. The union has announced industrial action on on 27 December and South Western Railway (SWR) on New Years Eve. Greater Anglia runs trains to London Liverpool Street from Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. SWR began its franchise from London Waterloo to Surrey, Sussex Hampshire and Dorset in August. Both disputes are about the principle of driver-only operation and the future role of guards which has sparked many strikes on Southern, GWR, Northern and Merseyrail over the past two years. Recommended UK travel disruption intensifies as Christmas approaches The RMT says the disputes are solely about safety, and accuses the Department for Transport of seeking to force through cost-cutting to the detriment of travellers, particularly disabled passengers. In a bid to reach agreement on the key issues, the union met the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, and rail minister, Paul Maynard, on Tuesday. But there is a dispute about what was agreed, with the union accusing the employers side of chaos and confusion", which it says "makes it almost impossible to negotiate. The RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: Its the continuing failure of the train companies and their political puppet masters in Government to make any attempt whatsoever to resolve these disputes over rail safety that has led us to call action. For Greater Anglia, the train service delivery director, Richard Dean, said: Prior to todays announcement, we had arranged talks with the RMT for tomorrow. We will be going ahead with those talks as planned. There is already a revised Christmas service in place on Wednesday 27 December, along with alterations due to engineering works. We will be aiming to run that revised service, but will confirm full details nearer the time. We value our conductors highly. We have guaranteed their jobs until the end of the franchise in October 2025. In fact, we will be recruiting additional conductors, as we are replacing all of our trains with brand new trains from 2019, which will enable us to run more services. While the last week in January is relatively quiet on the rail network, SWR normally carries large numbers of shoppers to the London sales, and revellers to the capital for New Year's Eve. In addition, its plans to run a range of trains from London in the early hours of New Year's Day may be jeopardised. A South Western Railway spokesperson said: "We are extremely disappointed that the RMT executive has decided to inflict more disruption on our passengers by calling more unnecessary industrial action, especially when so many people need to travel to be with friends and family for the New Year celebrations. Recommended Christmas flight chaos as engine failures risk grounding thousands "We have repeatedly assured the RMT that we plan to keep guards on our trains. We will put in place contingency plans to keep passengers moving should this strike go ahead." Driver-only operation has been used on parts of the British railway network for three decades. The Office of Rail and Road says driver-only operation is safe so long as the correct procedures and staff are in place. The Government insists that guards will be freed up to have an expanded role in customer care. Two unrelated strikes on other train operators will cause problems for long-distance passengers on. On Virgin Trains, a strike by train managers, catering workers and station staff has been called by the RMT union for Friday, with action on some subsequent days. CrossCountry Trains staff belonging the RMT plan to strike on 23, 24, 27 and 31 December in a dispute about rostering. Mr Cash accused the train operator of dishing out cash bungs to a dangerous scab army of under-cooked management recruits to try and break the action. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Pantheon in Rome, which is currently free to the public, will start charging for entrance in May 2018. Italys culture ministry announced the move on 11 December, confirming that visitors will have to pay 2 to see the Ancient Roman temple-turned-church, reports The Local. The money raised will be used for development and protection of the monument, maintenance and guaranteeing increased security during visits, according to the ministry. The idea was first proposed in September 2016, with the argument being that charging would help cover the running costs of the monument. The Pantheon is one of the only Ancient Roman sites in the Italian capital to still be free of charge. Seven million people visit the Pantheon each year, a number that has put an increasing amount of stress on the structure. It was originally a Pagan temple built between 118 and 125 AD but was converted to a Catholic church in 608 AD. The Pantheon is the best preserved of all the Ancient Roman monuments. Its 142ft dome is still the biggest unreinforced concrete dome ever constructed and the original marble floor remains intact. It contains the tombs of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of united Italy, his successor, Umberto I, and the Renaissance artist and architect, Raphael. Preserving historic sites while welcoming visitors has been a pressing issue for Italy in recent years, with Florence and Venice both taking steps to look after their famous monuments. The country has seen a boom in tourism and visitor numbers are at a record high of 56 million a year, up 55 per cent from 2001. Click here to find hotels in Rome 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 holidaymakers are moving east to extract more value for their pounds, according to Europes biggest travel firm. TUI Group reported an operating result, before accounting for interest and tax, up 12 per cent to 1.121bn (989m). Turnover rose at a similar rate to 18.5bn in the year that ended 30 September 2017. Chief executive Fritz Joussen told The Independent that the average spend of British holidaymakers on a summer holiday is stable at around 1,000 per person, but UK travellers are moving to cheaper locations: If a vacation to some of the destinations is too expensive because costs have increased, the destination will change. We have started huge developments and movements into Croatia and Bulgaria. Last month its nearest rival, Thomas Cook, reported prices for hotels in Spain had risen sharply, exacerbated by the devaluation of sterling after the EU referendum. Cruise prices have risen, with British passengers paying an extra 10 a night year-on-year. On Marella, the rebranded Thomson Cruises, the average rate per passenger per day is now 131. The TUI Group as a whole said that it had enjoyed another very good year, as investments in high-margin hotels and ships pay off. For the third consecutive year, we have delivered double-digit growth in our operating result, said Mr Joussen. With our strong cash generation, we have the freedom to invest in growth, he said. Over the past five years, the company has moved from a traditional tour operator business model, with an airline and retail stores, to an operator of hotel and cruise businesses. Tour operators generate profits only in the summer quarter, said Mr Joussen. While TUI still has a large airline and many travel shops, hotels and cruises now deliver 56 per cent of its profits, and the business is becoming less seasonal. Turkey is rebounding sharply, with bookings for TUIs own hotels for summer 2018 up 70 per cent. The chief executive predicted: In a couple of years, high-quality hotel stock will be scarce. While North Africa as a whole is seeing growth, Mr Joussen would not say when British customers might return to Tunisia. After the massacre of 30 TUI holidaymakers at a hotel in Sousse in 2015, the Foreign Office put Tunisia on the no-go list. That advice was lifted in the summer, and Thomas Cook is re-launching holidays from the UK to Tunisia in February 2018. Mr Joussen said any move back to Tunisia would be left to TUIs UK management. That is a local decision, he said. Click here to find hotels with Booking.com Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa Mays defeat on an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill is like a flash of lightning that reveals a landscape hitherto obscured. There is a majority in the House of Commons for the softest possible Brexit, and so far the Prime Minister has managed to fend it off. There have been about 20 votes on amendments to the Bill so far and each time the Government whips have managed to keep their troops in order. Until tonight, Kenneth Clarke, Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan have been the only Conservative MPs to defy the party line. Until now, the whips have been able to persuade potential rebels that defeating the Government would look bad: that it would look as if they were defying the will of the people in the referendum. If that argument didnt work, the whips pleaded with Tory Remainers not to weaken the Prime Minister for fear that she might be replaced by Boris Johnson or another harder Brexiter. This time, both those arguments failed. Dominic Grieves amendment, to give Parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the Brexit deal, could be presented as a democratic check on the Governments negotiations. It is true that some of its supporters want to stop Brexit altogether Andrew Adonis, the Labour former minister, hailed tonights vote as the first step towards the defeat of Brexit but most can say they simply want to hold Theresa May to account. Then there was the paradox of the Prime Ministers triumph last week in securing a breakthrough to the next stage of the Brexit talks in Brussels. By reaching a deal with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, she strengthened her position in Britain. The Tory rebels calculated, consciously or unconsciously, that they could afford to defeat her on an important detail of the Brexit process without bringing her down. In the end, the Government couldnt make a strong enough case against Grieves amendment to scare the rebels off. Theresa May said at Prime Ministers Questions this afternoon, to Anna Soubry, that the problem with it was that it would restrict her room for manoeuvre if the Brexit talks ran down towards the deadline of March 2019. She implied that having to hold a vote of Parliament in those circumstances might mean the talks would run out of time and Britain would leave the EU without agreement, the fabled chaotic Brexit used to frighten young children and Tory waverers. But it would seem that this scare story is losing its power, because the soft Brexiters are coalescing around the view that, in that scenario, the best thing to do would be to delay the Brexit date. That was the significance of Jeremy Corbyns grandmothers footstep last week towards a flexible Brexit date. And that will be the next test of the EU Withdrawal Bill. On its final day in the Commons next Wednesday, MPs will vote on whether the Brexit date, 29 March 2019, ought to be written into the Bill. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA 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 Tonights flash of lightning reminds us that most of the House of Commons voted in the referendum to remain in the EU. Although MPs accept the decision of the referendum, that means there is a majority in the Commons for the softest possible Brexit that is, for leaving, but not necessarily in March 2019, and for staying in as close a relationship with the EU as possible. The big question is whether that means accepting free movement of people or not. So far, I think there is a majority in the Commons for excluding Britain from EU free movement. But the landscape is shifting all the time. The next flash of lightning may reveal that the Labour Party has shifted towards accepting free movement and staying in the single market. And all of this is before the EU Withdrawal Bill has even got to the House of Lords. And this Bill is the first and supposedly easiest of at least eight more Brexit bills to follow. Gas transit across Ukraine fell by 23%, to 200 million cubic meters (mcm) a day due to an explosion in Baumgarten (Austria), Advisor to the Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Maskym Beliavsky has told Interfax-Ukraine. "After yesterday's emergency in Baumgarten, the daily transit of gas through the territory of Ukraine decreased by 23%, up to 200 mcm," he said. Beliavsky said that Ukraine fulfills the applications of European importing countries on time and the country is ready to increase the volumes of pumping after receiving the relevant applications. "We plan to restore the volumes of gas transit to European consumers to 260 mcm per day during this day," Beliavsky said. The adviser to the minister recalled that in January-November 2017, Ukraine transited 85.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, which is 3.3 bcm exceeds the figure for the entire last year. Beliavsky also said that there is no problems with gas supply to Ukrainian consumers - imports from the EU remain at the level of 32.2 mcm per day, own production provides 58.1 mcm per day, and another 48.1 mcm of gas comes from underground storage. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The question of whether the deal that broke the deadlock in Brexit talks is legally binding has been the subject of much discussion since the agreement was announced on 8 December. Technically, the answer depends on whether you look at the question from the point of view of law or politics. But more broadly, this is a classic example of a case where law and politics are closely linked. The withdrawal agreement to set out the terms of Brexit will be an international treaty between the UK and the EU, according to the wording of Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union, which refers to an agreement. Treaties are legally binding, according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Reuters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU President Jean-Claude Juncker greeting Theresa May at the EU Commission in Brussels PA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May poses for a picture with European Council President Donald Tusk REUTERS Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker walks behind British Prime Minister Theresa May EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a press conference at the European Commission in Brussels AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at a press conference with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis (L) and Michel Barnier (2-L), the European Chief Negotiator of the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 enter the room by the emergency exit to attend British Prime Minister Theresa May press briefing on Brexit Negotiations in Brussels. EPA Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (L), Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (2-L), European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (2-R) and European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (R) in a meeting on Friday morning AFP/Getty Images Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters Brexit bonhomie as May finally seals agreement with EU leaders European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a media conference at the Europa building in Brussels AP So is the agreement published on 8 December a treaty? It takes the form of a joint report of the negotiating parties the UK and the remaining 27 members of the EU (EU27) and does not have the usual elements of an international treaty, such as a date of entry into force or signatures of the parties. However, from a legal point of view, there are no formal requirements to meet before defining something as a treaty. Instead, the Vienna Convention states that the crucial issue is the consent to be bound by a treaty. The fine print Applying this test, its obvious there is no consent to be bound by the recent deal. So it is not a treaty and therefore not legally binding. The first paragraph states that it records the progress made in the first phase of negotiations. There was agreement in principle on some issues such as EU citizens rights, and progress on agreeing on some others, including the Irish border. The negotiations are not complete, but have come a significant way. The crucial points from both a legal and political perspective are set out in the fifth paragraph of the text: Under the caveat that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, the joint commitments set out below in this joint report shall be reflected in the Withdrawal Agreement in full detail. This does not prejudge any adaptations that might be appropriate in case transitional agreements were to be agreed in the second phase of the negotiations, and is without prejudice to discussions on the framework of the future relationship. David Davis on Brexit: 'You don't have to be very clever to do my job' Taken together, it is clear that the joint report is a summary of the negotiations toward the legally binding withdrawal agreement, rather than any sort of legally binding text of its own. But, this brings us to the question of whether the text is in some sense politically binding. The political perspective The purpose of having a review of negotiations at this point is for the EU27 to judge whether there has been sufficient progress on three key issues the financial details of Brexit, the legal status of UK and EU27 citizens who have moved, and the Irish border to move to a second phase of talks. This means talks about the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU after Brexit can begin. Since the Joint Report is not itself a treaty, there will be no legally binding obligations until and unless that second phase of talks is concluded successfully. Put another way, the report is not a default that will somehow be transformed into a legally binding text if the next phase of talks fails. Thats what the phrase nothing is agreed until everything is agreed means. However, the Joint Report refers to joint commitments which shall be reflected in the Withdrawal Agreement in full detail. A commitment is a promise and even when a promise is not legally enforceable, breaking it usually has consequences. In this case, if the UK is unwilling to stick to the commitments it made in the Joint Report, the EU27 side will likely refuse to discuss the future trade relationship, and it is likely there will be no full Brexit deal. Some Leave supporters may believe that the EU27 is bluffing on this, or that it would at least agree to sign a series of smaller deals what I like to call the deal and no deal scenario. But Brexit supporters predictions of what the EU27 would do have been wrong before: German carmakers have not forced the whole EU27 to cave into everything the UK wanted within a matter of days, as some suggested. The side that holds all the cards in negotiations does not usually end up agreeing to pay the weaker side tens of billions of pounds. So while it is technically accurate to say the new deal is not legally binding, that would be misleading regarding its political importance. The UK can quite reasonably argue about the finer details of what it signed up to in the next stage of negotiations. But suggesting that the agreement has no significance whatsoever frankly signals a lack of good faith. Steve Peers is a Professor of Law at the University of Essex. This piece originally appeared on The Conversation Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyn is on a journey when it comes to Brexit. The reluctant Remainer of the referendum campaign has moved a long way since the June election, when Labours ambiguous position won votes from Remainers and Leavers alike. Three weeks later, Corbyn sacked three frontbenchers for backing a Commons amendment saying the UK should remain in the single market and customs union. Last weekend, Labours dance of the seven veils towards adopting such a policy continued. Sir Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, said Labour wanted full participation in the single market and the full benefits of the customs union. It would consider paying for market access and the easy movement of people, although I thought that sounded a bit like an advert for easyJet. Starmer has already steered Labour to urging membership of both structures during a transitional phase lasting up to four years. It appears to be edging closer towards making that permanent. Labours differences on Brexit have narrowed. Even John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor and, like Corbyn, a long-standing Eurosceptic, now suggests Labour could stay in a reformed single market and a customs union. Jeremy Corbyn grills Theresa May on Brexit The unmistakable direction of travel has cheered pro-European Labour MPs. It would certainly be clearer and more coherent than Labours inconsistent nods and winks, which allow Theresa May to claim that the opposition has had 12 different Brexit policies. That is a bit rich when her own position on the UKs long-term relationship with the EU is so opaque. True, Labour is not in power, and the luxury of opposition gives it some wriggle room. Yet the partys pro-EU wing believes that a commitment to permanent single market and customs union membership would win over more Remain voters. It could also prevent a Liberal Democrat revival if the public mood turns against Brexit. For now, Vince Cable can accuse Labour of conniving in Mays extreme Brexit. Team Corbyn is not so sure, and not convinced he should complete his journey. It suspects Labours Remain vote peaked in June, and that such a pledge could alienate older working class Leave voters who stuck with the party this year after hearing that Corbyn would honour the referendum decision and end free movement. Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Show all 12 1 /12 Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn's reshuffle Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn and the Syria bombing vote Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn asks questions from the public at PMQs, meanwhile backbenchers plot to oust him Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn is unavailable to attend the Privy Council Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Conference rejects Corbyns call to debate Trident Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn At Labour conference Corbyn and McDonnell press for a Robin Hood tax Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyns hopes for a new politics look optimistic in the face of a media barrage Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn enters Labour leadership race Corbyn allies also worry that an unequivocal commitment to the single market would limit a Labour governments room for manoeuvre. State aid for companies is one concern. Another is free movement of capital, one of the EUs four freedoms, which gets less attention than the free movement of labour. Capital controls are one option for a Labour government to prevent a run on the pound (which McDonnell admits his team has war-gamed). Labours Europhiles regard such ideas with horror. As one put it: Are we really saying we wont stay in the single market to avoid wrecking the economy so that we can wreck the economy with capital controls? To his credit, Corbyn is being pragmatic rather than dogmatic on Brexit. He is right to argue that Parliament should not write into law the exit date of 29 March 2019, which the Government will urge MPs to back next week. It would be crazy to close off the chance of securing a withdrawal agreement by extending the negotiations by a few weeks or months. Corbyn should now go further, and for the full monty on the single market and customs union. As its policy stands, Labour wills the ends of protecting jobs and investment but not the means. It wants the benefits of the EU structures without being in them the exact same have cake and eat it strategy May pursues. She will have to make some choices soon. So why doesnt Labour steal a march by adopting a clear, coherent policy first? Constructive ambiguity and sending different messages to different groups of voters will have its limits as a picture of what Brexit really does mean emerges in 2018. The Tory unity over the deal May struck in Brussels last Friday is fragile but should serve as a warning to Labour. Corbyns best chance of the early general election he once hoped to see before Christmas remains a Tory implosion over Brexit. But he cannot bank on it; the Tories are desperate to delay the election until the last moment in 2022. The same survival instinct they show following Mays Brexit breakthrough means they may well succeed, which would be bad news for Corbyn. Labour could enhance its economic credibility for a post-Brexit election by declaring now the UK should remain permanently in the single market and a customs union. It should do so. Labour would then be the party which puts the national economic interest before narrow party interests, while the Tories do the opposite. The voters would notice. 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 }} Alabama is a place with an awful lot of history. Its known as a state that was at the centre of the slave trade, which fought a bloody civil war to try and keep hold of it, and even when it was gone, it long pushed for a system of segregation between the races and discrimination against black people. At the State Capitol in Montgomery, just yards from where Roy Moores supporters gathered, Governor George Wallace notoriously declared at his 1963 inauguration: I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. But it is also a place of hard-won political change. Down the hill from is a memorial for Rosa Parks, who in December 1955 refused to give up her seat for a white passenger and sit in the so-called coloured section of a bus. It was to Montgomery that Martin Luther King led the marchers from Selma, a bloody and lethal endeavour that helped persuade President Lyndon Johnson to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It would be offensive and wrong to equate the struggles of the civil rights era with Doug Jones' stunning victory on Tuesday night in the Alabama Senate race. But Jones win over Moore carried with it no small burden of unlikeliness and effort. I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us, Jones told his supporters in Birmingham, while Moore sulked and refused to concede defeat. We have shown, not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way - that we can be unified. Senate race sees Roy Moore up against Doug Jones in Alabama in tight race The night before, at his final rally, Jones was joined on stage by Randall Woodfin, the recently elected mayor of Birmingham, who had overcome the odds to beat the long-term incumbent, William Bell. I know what it's like to climb an uphill battle against people telling you, You cant win, he said. Let me be the first to tell you: It can be done. And so it was. While Moore was still claiming he could seek a recount if the result was within less than half-a-per-cent, a tally collated by the New York Times showed Jones had won 671,151 votes to Moores 650,436, giving the Democrat a 49.9-48.4 victory. Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Show all 12 1 /12 Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones speaks to reporters after voting Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore (L) and his wife Kayla ride their horses to the polling station to vote AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones David Watson waves in a Santa suit as he holds a Doug Jones sign AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore speaks to the media as his wife Kayla (R) looks on AFP/Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones casts his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Roy Moore speaks to the media after he rode in on a horse to vote AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic candidate Doug Jones greets supporters after casting his ballot AP Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore departs on horseback after he cast his ballot in Gallant REUTERS Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling station setup in the St Thomas Episcopal Church Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Senatorial candidate Doug Jones (L) greets voters outside of a polling station at the Bessemer Civic Center Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Voters exit after casting their ballots at a polling station setup in the Fire Department Getty Images Alabama Senate race: Roy Moore vs Doug Jones Democratic Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones speaks with the media after casting his vote at Brookwood Baptist Church Reuters There are several takeaways from this weeks result. It was a humiliation for Donald Trump, who had endorsed Moore and mocked Jones. It also raises questions about the viability of Steve Bannons push for so-called insurgent candidates in the 2018 elections. He had hoped a win here would give momentum to that plan, in which he intended to target the Republican leadership of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. With Republicans already blaming Bannon for losing one of the safest seats in the country, that may now come to little. Democrats ought not to read too much into the victory. Not every candidate they encounter in 2018 will be facing multiple allegations of child sexual assault and abuse (accusations Moore strongly denies). And they would be wise not to start making too many assumptions about 2020. Despite what Hillary Clinton claimed, just because Jones won in Alabama, it does not mean Democrats are going to win everywhere. There are an awful lot of red conservative states, and, as a result of Moores defeat, there are likely to be fewer hardcore candidates than Bannon would have wished to see. Yet for progressives and Democrats, for those still licking their wounds from Trumps defeat over Clinton, the drama in this southern state, where Trump trounced Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, has given them something finally to cheer, a really staggering and surprising win. For many, it has provided hope. Sweet hope Alabama. Federal prosecutors filed terrorism charges Tuesday against the suspected New York City subway bomber, Akayed Ullah, saying he posted a taunt aimed at President Donald Trump before the attack in a tunnel beneath Times Square and then proclaimed "I did it for the Islamic State.'' A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charges Ullah, 27, with providing material support to a terrorist group, using a weapon of mass destruction, bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of fire or explosive, and use of a destructive device during a crime of violence. Police say he detonated a pipe bomb affixed to his clothes while walking down a crowded commuter tunnel in Times Square during the Monday morning rush hour. "The location and timing of his planned attack was no accident, and his motivation was no mystery," Joon H. Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference discussing the charges Tuesday. The 10-page criminal complaint also reveals some of what Ullah told investigators after the attack. While he was in Bellevue Hospital receiving treatment for his injuries, Ullah declared he acted on behalf of the Islamic State, and investigators found a passport in his name with handwritten notations, including: "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE,'' according to the complaint. Those statements are just a fraction of the incriminating comments Ullah has made to investigators, according to law enforcement officials. Ullah, who remains hospitalized, told police he was angry about decades of U.S. policies toward Muslim countries, officials said. Investigators believe Ullah built the bomb at his home and used Christmas lights and a battery to detonate the device, according to the complaint. On Monday morning, Ullah was on his way to carry out the attack when he opened Facebook and posted a message for the president, federal authorities alleged. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," Ullah wrote, according to the complaint. Kim declined to elaborate on whether there was anything specific the president had said or done that Ullah found objectionable. Ullah also posted a statement on Facebook aimed at telling other Islamic State supporters that he was carrying out the attack in the group's name, the complaint continued. Shortly before the federal charges were announced, New York City police officials said they had filed state terrorism charges against him, though those are expected to be dropped once the federal prosecution gets underway, according to officials. Ullah is an immigrant from Bangladesh who came to the United States in 2011. According to the complaint filed Tuesday, Ullah's radicalization began in at least 2014, as he viewed Islamic State propaganda online. Among the materials was a video urging followers to carry out attacks close to home if they were unable to travel overseas, the complaint stated. When his homemade bomb exploded Monday, it did far more damage to the would-be suicide bomber than anyone else in the station, according to officials. Three commuters suffered minor injuries, police said. Security video from the subway tunnel shows a man walking down the passageway who is suddenly knocked to the ground by a blast emanating from his lower torso. The video shows other commuters running from the scene. Ullah's family issued a statement saying they are "heartbroken by this attack on our city today," but also criticizing law enforcement's treatment of the family. "Today we have seen our children, as young as 4 years old, held out in the cold, detained as their parents were questioned," the family said in its statement, which was released through the Council on American-Islamic Relations of New York. "One teenage relative was pulled out of high school classes and interrogated without a lawyer, without his parents. These are not the actions that we expect from our judicial system." Officials said Ullah came to the United States on a type of visa for relatives of people already living legally in the country. Trump said the incident was another example of why the United States needs to curb immigration. "Today's attempted mass murder attack in New York City - the second terrorist attack in New York in the last two months - once again highlights the urgent need for Congress to enact legislative reforms to protect the American people," the president said in a statement released Monday. " . . . America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country. Today's terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security." He also said that people convicted of terrorism charges "deserve the strongest penalty allowed by law, including the death penalty in appropriate cases." Speaking Tuesday at an event in Baltimore, Attorney General Jeff Sessions blamed Monday's incident on "failed immigration policies" such as the Diversity Visa Lottery. "An immigrant in Bangladesh won the lottery," he said. "He brought his sister. She brought her son, who was 20 years old. He attempted to blow up the subway." Sessions also said more than 100,000 refugees entered the United States under the Obama administration and that many of them were from the "same region" as the attacker. "This overwhelms the ability of the FBI to monitor them," he said. "It's a myth that we have the power and the unlimited resources to surveil hundreds of thousands of people." "It's physically impossible to stop all attacks," Sessions added. "So we need to make sure we're reducing stress on [the FBI] by vetting people carefully." New York officials said the city was lucky that the suspect was not a better bomb-maker. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, D, called the attacker's weapon a "low-tech device," saying: "Anyone can go on the Internet and download garbage and vileness and how to put together an amateur-level explosive device, and that is the reality that we live with. The counter-reality is that this is New York and we all pitch together and we are a savvy people." John Miller, who leads the New York Police Department's counterterrorism work, said terrorism threats are "a fact of life, whether you're in New York or London or Paris. The question is can it happen here, and the answer is it can happen anywhere." Miller said investigators have collected remnants of the bomb to better understand its construction. He said the suspect used Velcro and zip ties to attach the device to his clothing. The NYPD and the FBI appealed for any witnesses to the explosion to come forward and said commuters should expect to see additional security around the city's transportation network. Officials also said that the attack could have had a much greater impact if the bomb went off with the intended force. "What we saw yesterday was something that could've been far, far worse," Miller said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." A Marion man robbed of over $20,000 worth of NASCAR items was given a Christmas gift from a state trooper in Newland. Clifford Harris, a 70-year-old Marion resident, reported last month that someone had broken into his storage building at Economy Mini Storage on U.S. 70 West and stole an estimated $21,810 worth of NASCAR memorabilia over Thanksgiving weekend. Among the items stolen include: 1,500 small NASCAR Hot Wheels cars; 500 NASCAR diecast race cars (200 Dale Earnhardt cars, 30 Davey Allison, 30 Richard Petty, 15 Bill Elliott and various others); a Davey Allison NASCAR telephone; and 50 figurines, all in their original packaging and many of which range from 1989 onward. I was hurt when they stole it from me, said Harris. 49 years ago, I was in Vietnam. If the Sheriffs Office wasnt gonna do something, I was gonna find them myself. On Dec. 4, Harris found a package waiting for him, addressed from Trooper Matthew Bunn of the NCHP in Newland. Inside were several diecast cars in their original packaging, ranging from Bill Elliot to Jeff Gordon, as well as a letter from the trooper that read, While they will not replace the items you had and held so dear, maybe they can help you to start rebuilding your collection. (See the full letter at the bottom.) Harris was moved. It surprised me, and made me break down into tears, said Harris. It makes you believe that theres good and bad people out there. The missing NASCAR memorabilia case is still under investigation by the McDowell County Sheriffs Office. The theft occurred sometime between 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 24 and 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27. The suspects vehicle, a light-colored Ford truck, was caught on camera at Economy Mini Storage. Anyone with information concerning the theft, suspect or whereabouts of the memorabilia is asked to call Detective Paul Alkire at 652-2237 or McDowell County Crime Stoppers at 65-CRIME (652-7463). Now, you can also text your tips to Crime Stoppers. Text MCDOWELLTIPS and your information to 274637 (CRIMES). With Crime Stoppers, your identity remains anonymous, and you could receive a cash reward. Trooper Matthew Bunns letter: Mr. Harris, First and foremost, thank you for your great service to this country. I recently saw the story about your NASCAR collection being stolen. What happened to you is completely unacceptable, and I sincerely hope that the violators are caught and brought to justice. I realize no one can know or understand the true value of your collection. Collections are personal and each item has some sort of emotional value that cannot be financially replaced. I know your love was Dale Earnhardt but I did hear you mention Bill Elliot in the interview. Several years ago, I collected Bill Elliot memorabilia. I wanted to send the few items I had to you. While they will not replace the items you had and held so dear, maybe they can help you to start rebuilding your collection. Best regards, Matthew Bunn Trooper, N.C. Highway Patrol What could we North Carolinians learn about ourselves when we sort out the results of the December 12 Alabama special U. S. Senate election? Nothing, you say. We are not like Alabama. They are Deep South. We are mid-South. They are mired in their George Wallace Stuck in the mud tradition while we North Carolinians have thrived in our Terry Sanford New South progressive tradition. Not so fast. Remember when those traditions clashed in 1972? Wallace and Sanford faced each other in the Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina. Wallace beat Sanford by more than 100,000 votes, effectively ending Sanfords presidential bid. But you say that was a long time ago. It was, but if given the same choice even today, many of todays North Carolinians would choose Wallace over Sanford. And, today, if they had the opportunity, they would join their brothers and sisters in Alabama and vote for the Wallace clone, Republican Roy Moore, rather than Democrat Doug Jones, the Sanford stand-in. Almost certainly, Alabama has a greater percentage of people in the Moore-Wallace camp than North Carolina has. But the significant presence of such voters presents a formidable challenge to Democratic candidates in both states. In recent years, meeting that challenge has been virtually impossible in Alabama and almost as difficult in North Carolina. To give Democrats a chance to beat a Moore-Wallace candidate in Alabama or in North Carolina, Democrats must take on some tough tasks. First, inspire, mobilize, and get to the polls hard-core Democrats, including liberals, African Americans, pro-choice advocates, those concerned for the poor and downtrodden, and the poor and downtrodden themselves. If they go to the polls, they would be reliable Democratic voters, all. But to get them there requires well-organized registration and election-day efforts. Be prepared to cut off or minimize diversions from this core support group. In 1972, third party candidate U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm, an African American from Brooklyn, garnered about 60,000 votes. Almost all of them would have gone to Sanford if Chisholm had not been in the race. In Alabama, people disgusted with Moore need a message that makes them angry enough to believe they have a public duty to vote against him. Being angry might not be enough to motivate some of these people. In addition to the anger with a Moore-Wallace type of candidate, some will demand a positive message to show how the alternative is really going to make a difference. Secondly, find ways to discourage people who would vote for a Wallace-Moore candidate from going to the polls. Dampen their enthusiasm with constant reminders of the Republican candidates sins and inconsistencies. Roy Moores alleged misconduct seemed to present a God-given opportunity to discourage more voters from voting for him. But Alabama Democrats difficulty in exploiting Moores weaknesses shows that this task is not always easy. Thirdly, find an appeal to conservative and moderate voters who generally vote Republican, but are concerned about what the election of a candidate like Roy Moore would do to their state. These potential supporters need assurances that their vote for a Democrat will not elect someone who is going to push a far-left agenda. The trick is to accomplish this objective without pulling the rug out from under the core Democrats whose enthusiasm, election-day work, and votes are critical. If the Doug Jones campaign finds a way to win by mobilizing the Democratic base, discouraging Moore supporters from voting, and finding ways to appeal to moderates and conservatives who usually vote Republican, North Carolina Democrats will have a model to follow in the 2018 and 2020 elections. D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. Preview the upcoming program on Preview the upcoming program on UNC-TVs North Carolina digital channel (Spectrum #1276) on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. This Thursdays (December 7) guest is Tim Tyson, author of The Blood of Emmett Till, which was just named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2017. Next weeks (December 10, 14) guest is Elizabeth Cox, author of A Question of Mercy. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Democrat Doug Jones has won the special election to fill a Senate seat in Alabama, according to exit polls and returns - a shocking upset in a solidly Republican state, in which massive turnout among African-American voters helped defeat a candidate enthusiastically backed by President Donad Trump. The Associated Press called the race at 10:23 p.m. Eastern time. With about 98 percent of precincts reporting, Jones was leading by about 10,000 votes, with 49.5 percent of the vote as compared to Republican Roy Moore's 48.8 percent. It appeared that write-in candidates played a key role in the race: combined, they got 22,000 votes, more than the gap between the winner and the loser. Richard Shelby, R, Alabama's other senator, had appeared to encourage the state's Republicans to choose that option: Shelby said he wrote the name of an undisclosed "distinguished Republican" rather than vote for Moore. Just after 11 p.m. Eastern time, Trump congratulated Jones in a Twitter message, saying "The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time." Moore, however, refused to concede the race. Speaking to supporters at about 11:34 p.m. Eastern time, Moore said he thought the race might go to a recount, which state law requires when a race is within 0.5 percentage points. "When the vote is this close . . . it's not over," Moore said. Jones' lead, at that point, however, still exceeded 0.5 percent. Then, Moore - who had spent much of his campaign railing against the news media - asked that the press visit the Alabama secretary of state and ask how the recount provision might be triggered in this case - that "the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is." "What we've got to do is wait on God," Moore said. Jones would become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama since 1992. The Senate seat came open when Trump chose Jeff Sessions to become attorney general earlier this year. Jones' victory followed a pattern set earlier this year in Virginia's gubernatorial election: a wave of enthusiasm among the Democratic Party's traditional base, which was aided by a swing from Republicans to Democrats among well-educated suburban voters. In all, 10 of Alabama's 67 counties flipped from red to blue: they had supported Trump in 2016, but not voted for Jones. Among them: vote-rich Madison County, home to Huntsville - a highly educated city with huge defense and aerospace industries. Jones, 63, is a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham Baptist church, which killed four girls. The bombers were not tried until the 1990s. He has never held elective office. In Alabama, the night's early returns showed Moore ahead, as mainly rural votes came in. But Jones surged ahead after 10 p.m. Eastern, as large cities like Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham reported huge increases in turnout and large margins for the Democrat. Overall, news reports indicated that statewide turnout had smashed expectations, roughly doubling what officials had predicted. At Jones' election-night party in Birmingham, the crowd buzzed with nervous energy as the victory took shape. His supporters watched CNN on a big screen, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" revved up over the loudspeakers, when the race was called for Jones. The crowd erupted. Supporters clapped, hugged each another and looked at the results on their phone, some in disbelief, some with a sense of validation and triumph. "I just had a feeling!" one man exclaimed. Paulette Roby, 67, said she had been worried that Moore would drag the state's race relations back toward Alabama's troubled past. "We've got to have somebody that's going to represent the state of Alabama with good faith," said Roby, an African-American who said she was active in the civil rights movement. "We can't go back. Why would we go back?" Jones' victory will reshape the calculus of the Senate, where Republicans will see their thin majority shrink from two votes to one. With Jones' win, Senate leaders will face pressure from Democrats to seat him before final votes on the GOP tax bill. The Alabama secretary of state's office said the election result could be certified with the Senate as early as Dec. 27 to 29. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, before the Alabama polls closed, that Strange will remain in the Senate through the end of the current session. "Once the state certifies and sends us the paperwork, the new Senator is sworn in. But since the state said they don't expect to certify until the end of the month, and we expect to finish before the end of the month..." McConnell spokesman Don Stewart wrote in an email. While Republicans are still likely to pass a huge tax-reform push before Jones is officially seated, the rest of the GOP's agenda may now plunge into jeopardy. The coalition that backed Jones was sketched out in early exit polls. They indicated that black turnout might be slightly higher than the levels in 2012 and 2008, when Barack Obama was on the ballot. African-Americans made up 28 percent of the electorate in 2008, and 29 percent in 2012. In this election, they make up about 3 in 10 Alabama voters so far on Election Day according to preliminary exit polls. "They're coming out," said Kim Payton, a city councilwoman in the town of Hayneville, Alabama - meaning black voters. Hayneville is located in the state's "black belt" - rural area named for its dark soils, which also has a strong contingent of African-American voters. By contrast, white evangelical voters seemed to make up a smaller percentage of the electorate this year than they had in past elections. That group made up just over 4 in 10 voters this year, compared with 47 percent of the state's electorate in both 2012 and 2008 presidential elections, according to Alabama exit polls. Moore, a former state chief justice who has taken strong stands on Christian morality and has said "God's law" trumps the U.S. Constitution, was counting on the evangelical vote. Other exit polls seemed to indicate that this electorate would be different than the one that came to the polls in November 2016. Trump, for instance, won Alabama with 62 percent of the vote in 2016. But preliminary exit polls Tuesday found that just under half of Alabamians approve of Trump's performance, while about an identical share disapprove. About 4 in 10 voters say they "strongly disapprove" of Trump, compared with just over 3 in 10 who "strongly approve." Part of the reason was a scandal that hobbled Moore - the judge, who'd built his career as an outspoken voice for Christian morals, had reportedly pursued romantic relationships with teenagers while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied any wrongdoing. One voter in Hayneville, 49 year-old masonry instructor, Robert Holcombe, said the allegations against Moore particularly bothered him. "We took Roy Moore to be a church man, an upright man," Holcombe said. "I have an 18-year-old daughter. I know I wouldn't want him messing with her at age 14." During the campaign, Jones sold himself as a centrist who would work with Republicans - and as a politician who would not embarrass Alabama or drive away business. He took advantage of a scandal that began with a report in The Washington Post: several women said that Moore had pursued romantic relationships with them decades before, when he was in his 30s and they were in their teens. Moore has denied wrongdoing. "This election is going to be one of the most significant in our state's history in a long time," Jones said during an election-eve rally in Birmingham. "And we've got to make sure that at this crossroads in Alabama's history, we take the right road." Jones also encouraged voters to put "decency" ahead of party loyalty and urged them to consider how Alabama will be viewed by business leaders as a result of the election. In the short term, Jones' victory will further narrow the GOP's thin margin of control in the Senate, leaving Republicans with a 51-49 majority. Already, Republicans have struggled to pass legislation on health care and taxes, since only a few GOP defectors can sink any measure. In the longer term, Jones win may signal the limits of President Trump's political pull - and the drawbacks of remaking the GOP in his image. Trump has now seen two of his candidates lose in Alabama, a state that had been at the heart of his support in last year's election. First, Trump supported Sen. Luther Strange, the Republican state attorney general who was appointed to fill Session's seat. But Strange lost to Moore in the GOP primary runoff. Then, in the general election, Trump backed Moore. After the allegations arose against him, Moore - who was advised by Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon - used the playbook that Trump used after the "Access Hollywood" videotape was revealed last year. In Moore's case, the candidate attacked his accusers as liars, and cast their stories as part of a conspiracy by the news media and the political establishment. After that, Senate GOP leaders had called on Moore to quit. He didn't. Instead, Moore relied on the help of Bannon. Moore criticized his accusers, denied all the reports of improper behavior, and blamed a conspiracy of the news media and establishment politicians. After at first being cautious with his support, Trump backed Moore enthusiastically as the election drew near. He become one of Moore's most fervent defender in recent days, tweeting about him repeatedly and recording a robo-call to drive out the vote. "Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!" Trump tweeted on Election Day. The National Republican Senate Committee, which normally supports GOP candidates, never got back into the race on Moore's behalf. After his defeat, NRSC chairman Cory Gardner, R-Colo., issued an unusually dismissive statement, saying "Tonight's results are clear - the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate" In interviews with voters on Tuesday, Trump's influence seemed to be slight. For many voters, it was Moore that defined the race - both for those who supported him, and those who supported Jones. "This is the first time I've voted for a Democrat," said Henry Waller, 24, who works in logistics for a granite company, said at a polling place in Mountain Brook, Alabama. "I'm a Christian, and I think Moore represents the absolute worst way to put Christianity into politics." Sessions, whose departure from the Senate prompted Tuesday's election, said Tuesday that he voted but did not say it was for Moore. "I voted absentee," Sessions said in Baltimore, responding to a question from a reporter. "I value the sanctity of the ballot. The people of Alabama are good and decent. They'll make right decision." --- Fahrenthold reported from Washington. Sullivan and Weigel reported from Alabama. Elise Viebeck, Michael Scherer, Philip Rucker and Scott Clement in Washington and Larry Bleiberg and Jenna Johnson in Alabama contributed to this report. --- --- The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has introduced Volodymyr Kudrytsky as a representative of the state to the supervisory board of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, the press service of the government has reported. The decision was made at a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday. Kudrytsky is director for investment and strategy at national energy company Ukrenergo. "The government's resolution passed on November 22, 2017 says that representatives of the state in the supervisory board of Naftogaz Ukrainy are Advisor to the Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Popik, former energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn and Ukreximbank Board Chairman Oleksandr Hrytsenko. However, Hrytsenko did not submit an application that he agrees to present the interests of the state in the supervisory board. Eventually, Popik, Demchyshyn and Kudrytsky are selected representatives of the state in the Naftogaz's supervisory board," the press service said. The supervisory board also includes foreigners Clare Spottiswoode (UK), Bruno Lescoeur (France), Amos Hochstein (the United States) and Steve Haysom (Canada). The government also permitted all members of the supervisory board to run posts in supervisory boards of over five enterprises. In addition, the limitation for members of the Naftogaz's supervisory board regarding their participation in supervisory boards and executive bodies of over three other companies was lifted. 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. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving 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. Ukraine has resumed the volume of gas transit to Europe after the liquidation of the accident in Baumgarten (Austria), Adviser to the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Maksym Beliavsky has told Interfax-Ukraine. "Ukraine has resumed the regime of gas transit of the previous days. As of today, the flow of blue fuel through the national gas transportation system to European consumers stands at the level of 260 million cubic meters per day," he said. As reported, earlier gas transit through Ukraine decreased by 23%, to 200 million cubic meters per day due to an accident in Baumgarten (Austria). A medical consultant with the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Abubakar Danladi, disclosed that about 100 women were confirmed dead in Zamfara State in 2016 due to pregnancy complications. Mr. Danladi disclosed this on Tuesday in his presentation at a one-day meeting of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, and the media on maternal mortality in the state, organised by the Advocacy Nigeria Network, an NGO. He said while Nigeria only contributed to about three per cent of the world population of seven billion people, it had remained responsible for most of the health care related burden on the globe. He also noted that this position was largely attained through the northern part of the country. He said pregnancy related death cases among Nigerian women had been discovered to be caused by eclampsia and loss of blood. According to him, there is poor political will on the side of the government to provide standard health care facilities with qualified personnel, drugs and equipment. He said most of the women, especially at the rural areas, did not get to access services where such issues were being addressed in appreciable level. He, therefore, urged the CSOs and the media to be more proactive in their activities, to ginger the government to do more in ensuring good health care delivery in the state. Responding, the chairman of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in the state, Maiharaji Sala, assured that the media was always ready to carry out its responsibility. He pointed out that we cannot, however, create news reports; so all stakeholders should be forthcoming with information whenever the need arises so that we can give the required publicity. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reported that the meeting was attended by 130 persons drawn from the media and the CSOs. Source : (NAN) The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) has allowed BC Region LLC (Kyiv), controlled by Dragon Capital, to acquire the assets of RM Logistic LLC (Bucha, Kyiv region) in the form of an integrated property complex. According to the data of the single state register, RM Logistic was registered at 5 Zhelezniaka Street in Bucha, while the Terminal Bucha logistics complex with an area of 32,000 square meters operates at the same address. According to the state register, the owner of 100% in the charter capital of BC Region is Dragon Capital Consulting (Kyiv), the ultimate beneficiary of which is a Czech citizen, the owner of one of the largest investment companies of Ukraine, Dragon Capital, Tomas Fiala. At the same time, according to the State Court Rulings Register, Bucha City Council in February 2017 applied to the Kyiv Economic Court with a lawsuit against RM Logistics with the demand to sign an agreement on share participation in the city's infrastructure. The Kyiv Economic Court by its decision of June 7, 2017 satisfied the claim of Bucha City Council and obliged RM Logistic to pay UAH 4.2 million of share participation to the city. RM Logistic LLC was established in 2008. It is engaged in leasing and operation of real estate. Punch The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said he left the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015 due to the gross mismanagement of the countrys resources by the former ruling party Vanguard The home of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu was invaded by gunmen on Tuesday night and a policeman was reportedly killed. The Sun French cement group Lafarge destroyed computer hard drives and tried to hide elements from an investigation into the firms suspected payments to armed groups in Syria, human rights lawyers said on Tuesday. Thisday President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Paris, France, said some fundamental restructuring of Nigerian economy was required in the drive to address climate change in the country. Daily Trust Thirty Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of the Accountability in the Extractive Sector (AES) Cluster of the Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE project) have raise alarm over the slow progress and the N730m budgeted for oil and gas reform in the country. Tribune Recently, the administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State rolled out the drums in celebration of a successful one year tenure. But that occasion also presented the opportunity for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to highlight the failures of the administration. Banji Aluko writes on the unending feud between the two parties Leadership The Global Amnesty Watch has exonerated Nigerian troops from the various allegation of complicity in the abuse of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in the North Eastern part of the country. Guardian El-Rufai signs N216bn, 2018 budget into law Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has signed the N216.55 billion, 2018 budget passed by the State House of Assembly into law. The Northern senators on Tuesday started a three-day retreat on Tuesday to discuss the 2018 Federal Governments budget proposal; insecurity in the region and the current clamour for the nations restructuring. The Chairman, Northern Senators Forum, Abdullahi Adamu, in his opening address said aside lawmaking; the senators must accept other responsibilities placed on their shoulders by virtue of being their peoples representatives. He said, As distinguished members of the upper legislature of the National Assembly, we would be making a mistake if we ignore what is happening and limit ourselves to our constitutional brief of law making. More importantly, the three zones represented by us are the most deprived zones in the country. If we wake up, our people too will wake up. It is now my privilege to present before you the three issues that require our attention at this retreat. They are the 2018 budget of the Federal Government; the current agitation for restructuring and thirdly, insecurity, particularly in the northern part of the country. Poverty sits rather pretty in the North. This is unacceptable. It is within our power as legislators and political leaders to make every federal budget have the right impact on efforts to lift the North out of the morass of poverty, educational backwardness and infrastructural deficit. I advocate extending our oversight functions to the implementation of all federal budgets as it affects our three zones beginning from the 2018 budget. The former governor of Nasarawa State would also want the senators to consider according traditional institution constitutional roles. Other speakers at the opening session including the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulazeez Yari, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, Governor Abubaka Bagudu of Kebbi State, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, did not deviate much from Adamus address in their various speeches. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A regional commissioner in Tanzania, John Mongella has announced that pregnant teenagers will be arrested and charged to court, The Citizen reports. Mongella, speaking on Monday, said pregnant teenagers have a tendency to not divulge who it was that got them pregnant. They should be taken to court, he said, and should be forced to testify and name the persons who impregnated them. He said: There have been a tendency of pregnant schoolgirls not to mention the name of a person who impregnated them. This is a challenge when one is required to testify in court. Directors and district commissioners in the Mwanza region have been ordered to locate all pregnant schoolgirls and take them to court. History of ban on pregnant school girls In Tanzania In June 2017, President John Magufuli upheld a 2002 law that banned pregnant schoolgirls from returning to school after giving birth. He also added that men who impregnated schoolgirls should be imprisoned for 30 years. Tanzanias ban on pregnant girls attending state primary and secondary schools dates back to 1961, when the country secured its independence from Britain, though it does not extend to private schools. More than 55,000 Tanzanian schoolgirls have been expelled from school over the last decade for being pregnant, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) said in a report in 2013. Some wealthier families are able to send their daughters to private schools but the majority end up looking for casual work. Hypocrisy against pregnant schoolgirls The president was under criticism for granting pardon to prisoners on Saturday to two child rapists who were sentenced to life in prison. Congolese musician, Nguza Viking alias Babu Seya and his son Johnson Nguza alias Papii Kocha were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 after they were found guilty of raping and defiling ten primary school pupils between the ages of six and eight in 2003. There were cheers after the announcement of their release while child rights advocates questioned the decision which did not take the victims into consideration. -Zeakleak Traditional rulers in Afaraukwu, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, have demanded a panel of enquiry to investigate the role of the Nigerian Army in the invasion of the home of the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu autonomous community, HRH Eze Israel Kanu. Eze Kanu is the father of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. The communities -Okwulaga Enyiukwu and Isiama autonomous communities had petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, claiming they had yet to see HRH Kanu; his wife , Lolo Sally; and some of his subjects after his palace was raided by the army on September 14. The petition was signed by the President-Generals of the three autonomous communities in Afara clan Levi Ogbonna, Cletus Uwaechi and Chief Ikechukwu Ndubueze. The monarchs alleged in the petition, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Umuahia on Tuesday, that some members of the community were still missing since the military raid, heightening fears that they might have been killed and their bodies taken away by the invaders along with the IPOB members. The communities demanded that the army should be compelled to produce their traditional ruler, who they have not seen since his house was raided. They also demanded full compensation for the desecration of the palace and the return of household items allegedly carted away from the palace by the soldiers. The petition partly read, That since September 14, 2017 the whereabouts of one of our traditional ruler, HRH Eze I. O. Kanu, and members of his family, including some members of Isiama Afaraukwu community, are still unknown. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A widow, Tawakalitu Owolabi, has accused a gas company of refusing to compensate the family since the death of her husband, Lateef Owolabi. Tawakalitu explained that her 52-year-old husband had been asked to take some gas cylinders to Ilorin, Kwara State, sometime in November 2016, and was involved in an accident on the way, which claimed his life. She said more than a year after the accident, the company had been silent on the familys welfare. Tawakalitu, who claimed to have been married to Lateef for about 20 years, said, We live on Sotunde Street, Abule-Egba, which is a stones throw to the companys office. My husband was introduced to the company by a friend and the management promised to employ him after buying a new truck. He worked for them at different times and they paid him per task. Although the payments were not encouraging, he decided to endure until his employment would be formalised. On the day of the incident, he had told me that he was going to Ilorin to deliver gas cylinders to some customers of the company. Around 12noon on Tuesday when I expected him to have reached his destination, I called his line, but I could not reach him. She said after several failed attempts, she became worried and called the companys manager, who allayed her fear by blaming the network provider. The 41-year-old mother of four said the following day, her husbands younger brother called and said her attention was needed in the village over the death of a relative. I told him that my husband had travelled and had not been reachable on his telephone line. He said it was my husband that asked me to come to the village. On Thursday, I decided to go to the village. On the way, I got another call that my husband was involved in an accident, but his condition was stable and he wanted to see me. When I got to Oyo, the family broke the news to me that he was dead, she added. She said the companys manager promised to get back to her after she returned to Lagos, adding that two months later, she held a meeting with a representative of Just Gas, who also promised to get back to her. Tawakalitu noted that she was disappointed that the companys Managing Director, Ajayi Mayowa, was not present at the meeting and did not call to commiserate with her on the death of her husband. The widow said since then, she had yet to hear from the gas company. I have four children. One of them gained admission to a tertiary institution and I cant afford the fees. There is no family member that is ready to bear the burden. I have been calling the MD and he has refused to pick my calls, she added. However, Mayowa said Lateef was not an employee of the company, adding that the firm was wreaked by the accident. The companys MD added that he sold his property to settle a loan he took from a bank to buy the truck that was lost to the accident. He said, We have the capacity to take only two drivers. When the deceased kept coming to our office, we felt we should engage him whenever there was job overflow. We engaged him once in a while to supply goods around Lagos. He was not an employee. Whenever we gave him a job, we paid him instantly. On November 29, our driver fell ill and we needed to do a quick delivery in Ilorin. The manager called him and asked if he could go to Ilorin for supply. He said he could do it. He demanded N15,000 for the job. We agreed to pay him N12,000 in addition to money for feeding. Mayowa said the deceased never got to his destination, although a company worker that accompanied him on the trip escaped unscathed. He explained that the companys truck, which cost N15m; and the goods, valued at N2.8m, were lost to the accident, adding that the firm spent N1.2m for the clearance of the wreckage and Lateefs burial. From the time of the accident on November 29 to late December 2016, when we cleared the wreckage, we lost N19m. The accident brought us to our knees. We used a bank loan to buy the truck. To save my business, I sold property in Mowe, Ogun State. We are saddened by the accident and in retrospect, we discovered it was avoidable. It was the first time that we would experience such a disaster in our company. The company driver had been driving that truck since 2014, six times in a week, without any crash, he added. He said the company, on compassionate grounds, had started taking steps to pay the family compensation when it discovered that the deceased had two wives. He added that there were also relatives seeking to make money from the tragedy. Mayowa promised that by mid January 2018, the company would compensate the family. Source: (Punch Newspaper) Etched pillars define the positions of quantum dots (red puddles) arranged in an hexagonal lattice. When the spacing between the quantum dots is sufficiently small, electrons can move between them. Credit: Diego Scarabelli/Columbia Engineering Researchers at Columbia Engineering, experts at manipulating matter at the nanoscale, have made an important breakthrough in physics and materials science, recently reported in Nature Nanotechnology. Working with colleagues from Princeton and Purdue Universities and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, the team has engineered artificial graphene by recreating, for the first time, the electronic structure of graphene in a semiconductor device. This milestone defines a new state-of-the-art in condensed matter science and nanofabrication, says Aron Pinczuk, professor of applied physics and physics at Columbia Engineering and senior author of the study. While artificial graphene has been demonstrated in other systems such as optical, molecular, and photonic lattices, these platforms lack the versatility and potential offered by semiconductor processing technologies. Semiconductor artificial graphene devices could be platforms to explore new types of electronic switches, transistors with superior properties, and even, perhaps, new ways of storing information based on exotic quantum mechanical states. The discovery of graphene in the early 2000s generated tremendous excitement in the physics community not only because it was the first real-world realization of a true two-dimensional material but also because the unique atomic arrangement of the carbon atoms in graphene provided a platform for testing new quantum phenomena that are difficult to observe in conventional materials systems. With its unusual electronic properties?its electrons can travel great distances before they are scattered graphene is an outstanding conductor. These properties also display other unique characteristics that make electrons behave as if they are relativistic particles that move close to the speed of light, conferring upon them exotic properties that regular, non-relativistic electrons do not have. But graphene, a natural substance, comes in only one atomic arrangement: the positions of the atoms in the graphene lattice are fixed, and thus all experiments on graphene must adapt to those constraints. On the other hand, in artificial graphene the lattice can be engineered over a wide range of spacings and configurations, making it a holy grail of sorts for condensed matter researchers because it will have more versatile properties than the natural material. This is a rapidly expanding area of research, and we are uncovering new phenomena that couldn't be accessed before, says Shalom Wind, faculty member of the department of applied physics and applied mathematics and co-author of the study. As we explore novel device concepts based on electrical control of artificial graphene, we can unlock the potential to expand frontiers in advanced optoelectronics and data processing. This work is really a major advance in artificial graphene. Since the first theoretical prediction that system with graphene-like electronic properties may be artificially created and tuned with patterned 2D electron gas, no one had succeeded, until the Columbia work, in directly observing these characteristics in engineered semiconductor nanostructures, says Steven G. Louie, professor of physics, University of California, Berkeley. Previous work with molecules, atoms and photonic structures represent far less versatile and stable systems. The nanofabricated semiconductor structures open up tremendous opportunities for exploring exciting new science and practical applications. The researchers used the tools of conventional chip technology to develop the artificial graphene in a standard semiconductor material, gallium arsenide. They designed a layered structure so that the electrons could move only within a very narrow layer, effectively creating a 2D sheet. They used nanolithography and etching to pattern the gallium arsenide: the patterning created a hexagonal lattice of sites in which the electrons were confined in the lateral direction. By placing these sites, which could be thought of as artificial atoms, sufficiently close to one another (~ 50 nanometers apart), these artificial atoms could interact quantum mechanically, similar to the way atoms share their electrons in solids. The team probed the electronic states of the artificial lattices by shining laser light on them and measuring the light that was scattered. The scattered light showed a loss of energy that corresponded to transitions in the electron energy from one state to another. When they mapped these transitions, the team found that they were approaching zero in a linear fashion around what is called the Dirac point where the electron density vanishes, a hallmark of graphene. This artificial graphene has several advantages over natural graphene: for instance, researchers can design variations into the honeycomb lattice to modulate electronic behavior. And because the spacing between the quantum dots is much larger than the inter-atomic spacing in natural graphene, researchers can observe even more exotic quantum phenomena with the application of a magnetic field. The discovery of new low-dimensional materials, such as graphene and other ultrathin, layered van der Waals films that exhibit exciting new physical phenomena that were previously inaccessible, laid the groundwork for this study. What was really critical to our work was the impressive advancements in nanofabrication, Pinczuk notes. These offer us an ever-increasing toolbox for creating a myriad of high-quality patterns at nanoscale dimensions. This is an exciting time to be a physicist working in our field. ### About the Study The study is titled Observation of Dirac Bands in Artificial Graphene in Small Period Nano-patterned GaAs Quantum Wells. Nature Nanotechnology, doi: 10.1038/s41565-017-0006-x Authors include: Sheng Wang, Diego Scarabelli, Lingjie Du, Shalom J. Wind, and Aron Pinczuk (Columbia Engineering's Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics); Yuliya Y. Kuznetsova (Department of Physics, Columbia University); Loren N. Pfeiffer and Ken West (Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University); Geoff C. Gardner and Michael J. Manfra (Department of Physics and Astronomy, and School of Materials Engineering, and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University); and Vittorio Pellegrini (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Genova, Italy). The study was supported by Columbia University, US Department of Energy Office of Science, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (grant DE-SC0010695), and the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, (award DMR-1306976). The growth of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs at Purdue University was supported by US Department of Energy Office of Science, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (grant DE-SC0006671). The growth of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs at Princeton University was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award GMBF-2719) and the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, (award DMR-0819860). V.P. acknowledges the European Graphene Flagship (contract no. CNECT-ICT-604391) for financial support and the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR) through the program Progetti Premiali 2012Project ABNANOTECH. The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest. LINKS: Paper: https:/ / www. nature. com/ articles/ s41565-017-0006-x http://engineering. columbia. edu/ http://apam. columbia. edu/ aron-pinczuk 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. When Storage Vault set out to build its second Scottish self-storage property, the company first examined the needs of its customer base. Already in tune with its commercial tenants, the operator looked for ways to serve them even better. What it discovered would take the growing company down a new path: mixed-use development. We found that business customers normally need to compromise with regular storage and their office, wasting valuable time traveling between the two every day, says Fraser Sutherland, property and marketing manager. By creating a multi-use site, were able to attract businesses of all sizes to not only store with us, but to make ourselves their basein turn, driving more traffic our way. Location An outdated industrial building in Cambuslang, which is just minutes from the center of Glasgow, Scotland, proved to be the ideal location for the project, which would combine storage with office and studio space. The property is next to the M74 highway, the second busiest road in West Scotland. It clocks some 20 million passing vehicles annually, resulting in great exposure for the storage business. The site offered a great opportunity to regenerate an old industrial area. The close connection to the city center also gives our customers brilliant access across Glasgow, says Anthony McAteer, managing director. Challenges Although the location was ideal, the site needed a ton of work to make it operable. Large-scale groundwork was undertaken to prepare the property for drive-up self-storage and studio space. Next up was a redesign of the propertys power, heat and broadband capabilities. We moved to a system that runs entirely off of biomass, heating our storage and our offices, and brought the fastest broadband available on site, which was unheard of in this area, says Brian Gifford, finance and property director. We also found that new builds have their own difficulties compared with conversions, and that each require a different planning strategy and it truly varies from project to project. Opening The first phase opened in October 2016, with 20,000 square feet of drive-up self-storage and 10,000 square feet each of studio and office space. A second phase is under development and will add 40,000 square feet of rentable space. The drive-up accessibility is attractive to domestic customers, as they only need to unload once, from their car to their unit. The studio space allows industrial businesses to locate themselves on site, right next to their storage, saving them travel expenses and time, Sutherland says. The office spaces begin at 150 square feet and are fully furnished. Conference facilities, meeting rooms, a communal kitchen and lounge are also included in the month-to-month lease. We strived for quality offices at our site and found that businesses are jumping at getting their own space as the area is well-connected but previously didnt have many offices of this quality, Gifford says. Future Growth So whats ahead for Storage Vault? The operator has seven developments in the pipeline, including projects in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. One of the ventures will combine self-storage with a drive-through Starbucks, a first of its kind in the city. The businesses would be built near the M74 highway on a property at Polmadie Road. Project approval is expected shortly, Sutherland says. Using the Cambuslang facility as a guide, the company is open to meeting the needs of the customers in each individual market, no matter what they might be. We can only improve on site to site from what we have learned at Cambuslang, McAteer says. Founded in 2015, Storage Vault opened its first storage facility in Paisley, Scotland. It draws on 15 years of experience in commercial property to deliver a safe, secure and easy self-storage service. For more information, e-mail [email protected], visit www.storagevault.com. ATB wants to invest up to UAH 200 mln in reconstruction of logistic center in Lviv The ATB Group, developing the eponymous retail chain in Ukraine, plans to invest around UAH 200 million in reconstruction of a warehouse complex with a gross area of 20,600 square meters located in Lviv and acquired in October 2017. "The corporation intends to invest up to UAH 200 million in the acquired multifunctional logistics complex in Lviv. These funds will be needed for its reconstruction and bringing it to category A standards," General Director of ATB Corporation Boris Markov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. In addition, he said a possibility of building a new logistics center in Odesa region is being studied. "Today, we see a shortage of warehouses, which meet our requirements, in Odesa region, so we are considering a more complex, but more qualitative way - building our own facility," he said. According to him, in April 2017, in Odesa a leased warehouse complex of class A with an area of about 18,000 square meters started operating. Its turnover is more than 310 tonnes per day. "It provides the current needs of the ATB retail network in the region. The company plans to purchase a warehouse complex in Odesa region with an area of about 35,000 square meters and a capacity of more than 1,500 tonnes of average daily shipment in Odesa. The warehouse complex is needed to provide both a network development strategy and a comprehensive processing of products entering the network through the Odesa seaport," Markov said. ATB-Market retail chain was founded in 1993. SpareFoot, an online marketplace for self-storage consumers, is partnering with PODS Enterprises LLC, a national provider of portable-storage containers, to provide its users with more storage options. The addition to the SpareFoot website will allow consumers to compare units based on price, features and more. Online-only deals will also be offered, according to the SpareFoot Storage Beat. PODS is the third portable-storage company to join the site, after UPack and Zippy Shell. The addition of PODS has inspired us to create a portable-storage-specific search option for U.S. self-storage and moving consumers, said SpareFoot CEO Chuck Gordon. We continue to see growing demand across the board for products and services related to moving and storage, and were pleased to continually broaden our offerings in those areas. With PODS, a portable-storage unit is delivered to a home or business. Once packed, the unit is picked up and stored until delivery is requested. The company also offers labor referrals. Were pleased to work closely with our partners at SpareFoot to give consumers more options when it comes to moving and storage, said Matt Tillotson, director of partnerships for PODS. SpareFoot.com helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 12,000 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com and Penske Truck Rental. Founded in 1998, PODS provides residential and commercial services in 46 U.S. states, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. To date, the network has completed more than 700,000 long-distance moves, exceeded 3 million deliveries, and has more than 190,000 containers in service. ARE YOU A TOP COMPANY? What it Really Means to be a Top Company! To be a Top Company in Irish Construction Industry Magazines Top Companies listing means far more than just a rank and position in an ordered catalogue of names. To us, it means that your efforts to be the best you can be and to excel in your industry and sector have been effective and have paid dividends. To us, it means that your determination and commitment to develop and instil a positive work culture and environment have brought your business due success plus satisfaction. We see it as you being a supportive and inclusive place in which to work that strives to bring the best out of everyone across every level of the organisation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE Aircraft maker Boeing has become a scapegoat for Bombardier job cuts in Belfast, the firm said. Criticism of the aerospace giant over its trade dispute is a "smokescreen" to disguise its Canadian rivals problems, senior management claimed. The number employed by Bombardier at manufacturing plants in Northern Ireland has fallen considerably over recent years, Boeing told a committee of MPs. Thousands of Belfast posts could be threatened if a proposed 300% duty on exports to the US is imposed on Bombardiers new C-Series jet following a complaint by their competitor.The wings are made in Northern Ireland. Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe and former British ambassador to Germany and high commissioner to India, said: "The reason those jobs are at risk is because of the management of Bombardier taking certain decisions that put those jobs at risk. "Boeing is being used as a scapegoat for that reduction in Northern Ireland jobs which we all regret but which in a way pre-dates the issues." The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs at Westminster is investigating steps taken to protect jobs in Northern Ireland. Atlanta-based Delta Airlines has placed a major order for C-Series planes and many Belfast positions at Bombardier and throughout the supply chain hinge on that order being fulfilled. Mr Arthur reiterated Boeings assertion that its legal action was about creating a level playing field between competitors bidding for sales. Boeing has claimed Bombardier used state subsidies to "dump" their planes on the US market at below cost price, giving them an unfair advantage. A Back Bombarier protest in October Critics of Boeings legal action claimed the firm also received subsidies from the US administration in the form of defence spending and said its aircraft were not in direct competition with a version of the C-Series at the heart of the current dispute. Mr Arthur said: "This was a pure commercial challenge for a sale that we felt was unfair." DUP MP Ian Paisley retorted: "It is spiteful, not commercial." Committee chairman Andrew Murrison said Boeing could not satisfy demand for its planes. Its order book from airlines would take years to clear even though it was ramping up production to "historic" high levels. Mr Arthur said: "We were the victim of a dump sale which we had to challenge in the interests of a level playing field. "We like competition, it makes us better, but we want it to be fair competition. "We believe in the rule of law and trade law and compliance with that. "It is very much a legal not a political process which is running forth in the US." Another senior Boeing official said Bombardiers problems were "deep-rooted" and pre-dated the current dispute. He told the committee: "It is effectively a smokescreen to blame Boeing for their problems." Mr Paisley claimed the firms reputation had been tarnished. "This has been a public relations disaster," he said. "The impact of this is reputational damage to your company from crushing the wee guy." The North Antrim MP said it had turned into a very toxic political dispute, with issues being raised on Capitol Hill, the British Prime Minister ringing US President Trump and former British defence secretary Michael Fallon threatening jobs and potential sales in the UK in retaliation. Mr Arthur responded: "When we see illegal action would you expect us to ignore it?" Earlier this year, in response to Boeings complaint, the US Department of Commerce announced it would impose an interim tariff of nearly 220% on the jets. A second preliminary levy of 80% had been loaded on sales of the Bombardier aircraft. Assembly of the C-Series will be carried out at the Airbus factory in the US state of Alabama under a partnership which Airbus and Bombardier believe will mean it avoids import tariffs. Workers abroad are increasingly turning to Ireland for new jobs as interest in the UK dwindles following Brexit, research from a job search site has found. Searches for roles in Ireland have risen 33% between 2015 and 2017, while searches for jobs in the UK dropped almost 15% in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2015. U.S. sanctions against Russia will be preserved until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. "And that is the basis for the very stringent sanctions regime that the U.S. and Europe imposed on Russia as a result of that invasion, and that regime will not change until Russia's invasion of Ukraine is resolved and Ukraine's territorial integrity is returned," Rex Tillerson said speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington. Tillerson noted that "when you invade another country and take their territory, we cannot that cannot be left to stand." This was the reason for imposing sanctions against Russia, and it also became an obstacle to the improvement of relations between the two countries. According to him, the priority issue is the "cessation of violence" in Donbas, the level of which, according to his information, increased by 60% in comparison with 2016. The U.S. Secretary of State said that Washington and Moscow are working to resolve the issue of introducing UN peacekeepers into Eastern Ukraine. Tillerson also said that Kyiv should also "do a lot" for the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the settlement of the situation in the east of the country. The Irish tourism industry is continuing to thrive as it records it best year to date. Tourism Ireland says over 10.6 million people will have visited the island by the end of 2017. A new survey has found that highly-skilled tech professionals from all over the world are moving to Cork for a better quality of life, career opportunities, shorter commutes and lower living costs. The Cork Tech Talent Relocation Survey, released today was carried out by National Recruitment & HR Services Group Collins McNicholas in conjunction with Cork Chamber, IDA Ireland and Cork City Council. The report included responses from workers of 27 different nationalities with two thirds having relocated to Cork during the last two years. Respondents relocated from countries such as China, the US, South Africa, France, Egypt and the Netherlands. Fast becoming an international high-tech hub, Cork is attracting a large number of foreign and indigenous tech start-ups 84% of respondents to the survey currently work in the citys buoyant IT sector. More than 85% of those surveyed said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their relocation. And 80% say they now have a better balance between their work and home lives. Some 85% now have a commute to work of less than 40 minutes and 78% said they did not consider it difficult to find a job in Cork. Interestingly, while 27% of those who moved back were originally from Ireland, some 73% relocated from outside of Ireland. When asked about the factors which influenced their move to Cork, 73% cited a better quality of life while 72% referenced a reduced cost of living. The other main reasons given were: lower property prices, less traffic, career opportunities, beautiful scenery and a safer environment. Rory Walsh, Collins McNicholas, Cork Regional Manager, said: The Cork region is experiencing a surge in the number of international professionals who are moving to the region for the work life balance that both the culture and economic environment can facilitate. Many expanding global organisations and indigenous companies are offering competitive salaries and interesting projects while the region also provides an unrivalled local charm and thriving social scene. Conor Healy, CEO, Cork Chamber of Commerce, said: This is the most exciting time in recent Cork history in terms of growth, opportunities and potential. Cork currently has the highest level of job creation in the country. There are significant opportunities where people can build a career and move across various companies within strong clusters such as ICT, life sciences, energy, marine, agri-food, tourism and financial services. Main points: That would decriminalise abortion, which would allow women to get abortion pills online or have one carried out by a certified medical practitioner. They recommended to legislate to allow abortion on request up to 12 weeks of the pregnancy. The committee has also voted in favour of allowing abortion in the case of a risk to the womans health, either physical or mental. That would legalise terminations in cases of risk by suicide. They also support terminations in cases of rape and in relation to fatal foetal abnormalities. Two of the Citizens Assemblys 12 recommendations were not supported: terminations for socio-economic reasons and significant but non-fatal foetal abnormalities. Update 8.08pm: Amnesty International has welcomed the Joint Oireachtas Committees vote in favour of the full repeal of the Eighth Amendment and expanded access to abortion. They added that any partial repeal or retention of the Eighth Amendment could cast serious doubt over future legislations compliance with Irelands international legal obligations. Todays vote is an important step forward for the human rights of women and girls in Ireland. It is also a victory of expert evidence and reason over disinformation and ideology, said Colm OGorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland. Colm OGorman It should finally put to bed the portrayal of abortion reform as too complicated or controversial. The Committees acceptance of abortion as a health and human rights issue is not only of immense domestic significance. It is an important outcome in the global fight for womens and girls sexual and reproductive rights. The Committee heard from a wide range of international medical and legal experts, the vast majority of whom underlined the importance of expanding access to abortion. Having considered this evidence, the Committee not only supported the broadly human rights compliant recommendations of the Citizens Assembly, but went a step further in strengthening them. These recommendations would bring Irelands abortion laws broadly into line with the approach adopted by most other countries. Todays vote once again underlines the broad political consensus that exists to expand access to abortion in Ireland. It shows that there is real political will to put womens and girls health and human rights firmly at the centre of abortion law reform. Todays vote, along with the recommendations of the Citizens Assembly and repeated opinion polls, has highlighted the wide-ranging support that exists to reform Irelands abortion laws. We welcome the Taoiseachs statement that he intends to schedule a referendum next May, allowing people in Ireland to finally have a say on this important issue. Update 7.25pm: 'Committee demonstrates frightening disregard for right to life', says Sherlock The Pro Life Campaign has said todays vote for abortion by the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment is a total betrayal of women and their unborn babies and represents a tragic drift backwards for society rather than a step forward." Speaking on behalf of the campaign, Cora Sherlock suggested anyone who tries to suggest that todays vote is not for abortion on demand is telling a lie. Cora Sherlock The decision to opt for a time limit of 12 weeks on request was plucked from thin air. It reveals a frightening disregard for the right to life of the most innocent and defenceless members of society, namely unborn babies. Also, the vote in favour of abortion on physical and mental health grounds is even more radical than abortion laws in other countries like England, where 1 in 5 pregnancies now ends in abortion." Commenting on what she called the extreme nature of todays vote, Ms Sherlock said: When any group is handed the power to decide whos in and whos out, it follows that they feel they have permission to conclude that no unborn babies are deserving of any protections under the law. And thats effectively what the committee decided today. But thankfully they wont have the final say on the Eighth Amendment. The electorate will have that responsibility and I am confident they will vote to keep it. For anyone who doubts what todays vote represents, I would encourage them to look at the evidence of abortionist Dr Peter Thompson to the committee where he let the mask slip and described in graphic detail how the baby is first paralysed by the abortionist, who then injects poison into the babys heart to stop it beating. This is what some of our politicians view as progress. It is shocking to think that they sat through Dr Thompsons evidence and then voted today to have what he described introduced in this country. Ms Sherlock said: This entire process has made a mockery of democracy. The committee chairperson has been at pains to stress that they invited no advocacy groups to address them when in truth several pro-repeal advocacy groups were invited as witnesses at taxpayers expense. One of them, Bpas, is the largest abortion provider in England and has already registered the domain name abortion.ie in Ireland. The committee had no difficulty inviting them to present while disgracefully they refused to extend an invitation to groups representing families who say they owe the life of their child to the Eighth Amendment. Commenting on the next phase of the campaign, Ms Sherlock said: No vote of an Oireachtas committee will distract us or knock us off course in defending the Eighth Amendment. The pro-life movement will give it our all to defeat any referendum proposal taking away protections from unborn babies. The clamour for repeal of the Eighth Amendment is clearly political and media driven. It is most definitely not coming from the grassroots up. As pro-life campaigners, we have a single focus in the coming months to defend and safeguard the Eighth Amendment. We will stay united truly united - and get the job done. Update 7.03pm: Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomes Committees decisions The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has welcomed the decision of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution to recommend a referendum on a full repeal. They also support the Committees recommendation that legislation should provide for unrestricted access to abortion services in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The recommendations of the Committee on repeal and unrestricted access up to 12 weeks have shown that, like with the example of the Citizens Assembly, when reasonable people sit down with all the facts about abortion, notwithstanding their personal convictions about abortion, they have concluded that the law should be based on medical provision of abortion and the agency and autonomy of women, said Liam Herrick, Executive Director of the ICCL. Update 6.54pm: Sinn Fein and Workers Party welcome outcome Sinn Fein Health spokesperson Louise OReilly TD has said that the recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth amendment represent a massive step forward for the repeal of the Eighth amendment and the finalising of the Committees work represents a welcome day for the women of Ireland. Teachta OReilly said: Today is a welcome day for the women of Ireland, who have been let down by the political system for decades in providing for their medical needs. The recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth amendment represent a historic step forward in correcting that injustice and are a step forward for the campaign to repeal the Eighth amendment. The challenge now is to have that referendum as soon as possible and to win that referendum. Sinn Fein has been unambiguous and consistent in our opposition to the Eighth amendment. The Constitution is not the place to deal with any issues relating to womens health and we are glad that there has been support for that proposition at todays Committee deliberations. We are satisfied that the Committees report reflects our party policy insofar as possible and for that reason we will be supporting the final report of the Committee. There are aspects with which we dont agree. We have made that clear, but that is the nature of Committee reports, and we must look ahead to the next step in process in righting the historic wrong of denying women adequate healthcare. Louise O'Reilly Meanwhile, the Workers Party have given a cautious welcome to the final report of the Oireachtas Committee on the 8th Amendment. Their Meath representative Seamus McDonagh welcomed the recommendation to allow a termination until 12 weeks after conception, but said the committee had left excessive limitations which would continue to force women to travel abroad. There must now be no further delays in bringing forward the bill for a referendum to repeal the amendment, he said. Update 6.19pm: Repeal recommendation a breakthrough for womens health The National Women's Council of Ireland said repeal of the Eighth Amendment and a proposal to allow abortion without restriction for up to 12 weeks of a pregnancy was a breakthrough for women's health. Orla O'Connor, director of the organisation, said: "This will be a crucial step to ensuring that doctors in Ireland will be able to care for all of women's and girls' healthcare needs. "It is a clear recognition of the complexity of decisions in pregnancy and that these decisions are private and personal, never political. The person who can best protect a developing life is the pregnant woman, in consultation with her doctor, and not the Constitution." Orla O'Connor Original story (5.55pm): Pro-choice groups call for vote on full repeal; Pro-life campaign say its a sad day A pro-choice group has called on the government to follow through on and hold a referendum on a full repeal. However, Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign has said its a sad day for the country and a very big move backwards. Live video feed may not work across all mobile devices. One birth group campaigning for repeal, AIMS Ireland, disagreed, as chairperson Dr Krysia Lynch said: Todays outcome marks another important step towards the standard of maternity care that women want and need. Chair of Midwives for Choice Philomena Canning added: We now hope that the government will step up to its responsibility to ensure the human rights of all pregnant women are protected by calling on the people of Ireland to repeal the 8th Amendment. Pro-life campaigner Cora Sherlock criticised the one-sided committee which made the recommendations. This committee will be remembered as one of the most one-sided in the history of the state but that doesnt take away from the real sadness of whats happening, said Sherlock. Once you propose to remove legal protection from the most vulnerable in our society, unborn babies, thats not a step forward; its a very big move backwards. Gardai have issued a renewed appeal for the publics help in locating Ned Cash Connors. The 15-year-old is missing from Sandyford, Dublin 18. Ned was last seen on November 29, 2017 in the Kilmacud area. He is described as being 5 3 with blue eyes, sandy hair and slim build. When last seen, he was wearing a grey tracksuit and runners. Gardai believe that Ned may be in the Athlone/Mullingar area of Westmeath. Anyone who has seen Ned or who can assist in locating him is asked to contact Dundrum Garda Station on 01-666 5600, The Garda Confidential Phone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. By Alison ORiordan A Mulhuddart man who admitted stabbing a father-of-one three times has been sentenced to eight years with one suspended at the Central Criminal Court for his manslaughter. In a letter read to the court by his barrister, the 25-year-old man said he will always remember the night with deep regret and shame. I cannot say enough how sorry I am for this mans death. I would give anything for that night not to have happened," he added. Andrew Gibney, with an address at Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Gerard Burnett (28) by a jury last month. They had deliberated for seven hours and six minutes over three days. He had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Burnett at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 on August 21, 2012. Sentencing Gibney today, Mr Justice Paul Butler said he accepted the jurys verdict in the case and the finding that Gibney did not intend to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Burnett. Gibney told gardai that he stabbed Gerard Burnett in the side three times with a knife. He went to a garda station of his own free will a week after the killing and told officers: I was involved in the incident, the chap is dead now and I need to give him peace. Chief State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, said that the deceased suffered 30 knife injuries, the majority being stab wounds. She testified that the fatal injuries were six stab wounds on the right side of Mr Burnetts chest, all of which had penetrated deeply, causing internal injuries to his right lung, heart and liver. The prosecutions case was that Gibney was part of a joint enterprise to murder Mr Burnett and that he was one of five men who went to the deceaseds house on the night and attacked him with knives. The defence argued that if the evidence pointed to a reasonable possibility that Gibney intended to cause some harm to Mr Burnett short of serious harm, the appropriate verdict was manslaughter. Outlining the facts of the case today, Mr Justice Butler said this was a very tragic case for the deceased and his family. The judge said Mr Burnett was subjected to an entirely unprovoked attack by a group of people who were probably armed with three knives. One of that group was Gibney who admitted stabbing Mr Burnett three times, he said. He said he respected the jurys verdict in the case which was manslaughter. I accept the finding that he did not intend to kill or cause serious injury, he added. The judge said the technical evidence established that the three stab wounds inflicted by Gibney were not fatal, were shallower than the other stab wounds and they were to Mr Burnetts side. He said while Gibneys remorse does not help to bring Mr Burnett back, it is a very important factor. The judge said the defendants remorse was entirely credible because of his attitude in going to gardai, admitting all of the facts and not seeking bail. Mr Justice Butler said that although a verdict of not guilty was open to the jury, counsel made it clear to them that he was not pushing that aspect of the case and this was on his clients instructions. He said the court considered the offence to be at the higher end of manslaughter because of the viciousness of the case and the joint enterprise. The court heard that Gibney has been in custody since August 2012. Mr Justice Butler said he was aware of the practical implications of this but remission was not a matter for the court. He said he wanted to praise Mr Gibneys father who was clearly instrumental in helping his son go to gardai. Passing sentence today, Mr Justice Butler said he believed the appropriate sentence to be eight years but it was a suitable case in which to suspend part of the sentence based on the progress Gibney has made while in custody and the fact he has no previous convictions. Mr Justice Butler then sentenced Gibney to eight years in prison with one year suspended and backdated it to when he went in to custody on August 28, 2012. He asked that Gibney enter a bond of 100 before the prison Governor to be of good behaviour. The five-day trial heard that Gibney told gardai in interviews that Mr Burnett had stabbed him in the shoulder with a screwdriver four years previously but the two had made amends. The judge said in his charge to the jury that the principle of joint enterprise was central to the case. He said where two or more persons embark on a joint enterprise, all parties to that agreement are criminally liable. But where one party goes beyond what has been tacitly agreed, then the other is not liable for the consequences of this act. This was the second time Gibney went on trial for Mr Burnetts murder. He was originally convicted of the 28-year olds murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2014. That conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal in November last year and a retrial was ordered which took place in November. At todays sentence hearing, Mr Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC said his client had prepared a letter of apology to be read to the court. In the letter, Gibney said he will always remember the night with deep regret and shame. He said he was very afraid after the event and told his father that he wanted to tell gardai what had happened. This was a very emotional time for him and I as we knew we were part of something that we never thought would ever come near our door. We were all scared that I was part of this terrible thing, he said. Gibney said that he fully accepts his actions on that dreadful night. I will always have to live with the fact that Mr Burnett shall not see his girlfriend or family again, he said. He said he has thrown himself into education while in prison and he has been highly involved with the Irish Red Cross and the Samaritans Listeners Programme in peer support to help prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide. I have matured into a young man now and once released I shall become a valued member of society to give back as much as I possibly can. I live with regret, regret, regret, the what ifs and the should have dones. However, I know I will never be able to change my past but I can change my future, he said. Gibney said there was never a day that he does not think about Mr Burnett and the pain felt by his family as well as the shame he has brought to his own family. I cannot say enough how sorry I am for this mans death. I would give anything for that night not to have happened," he said. A letter from Mr Gibneys father, Andrew Gibney Senior, was also read to the court by Mr Lideadha in which he said they were a normal working class family. He said his son Andrew was one of five children and none of his siblings were ever in trouble. In the lead up to that devastating night our estate was awash with tablets and drugs. Andrew was in with the wrong crowd and unfortunately we were away and had no control over the events on that night, he said. The court heard that Gibney told his father about his involvement on the night and said: No way Da was that supposed to happen. Gibneys father said his son was devastated to find out Mr Burnett had died. Since Andrew has been in prison for five and a half years he has strived to make himself a better person immersing himself in various courses, studies and exams. We know Andrew will come out a better person, he said. The court heard that the Gibney family offered their deepest condolences to Mr Burnetts family saying: We know that is not much but it all that we have. Earlier, the court heard there would be no victim impact statement. At todays sentence hearing, Detective Superintendent Colm OMalley of Blanchardstown garda station outlined the facts of the case. He told prosecuting counsel Vincent Heneghan SC that Mr Burnett, his partner Denise Farrell and their young son had been living at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 in August 2012. Mr Burnett and his partner were in the sitting room when the doorbell rang at 11.30pm on August 21. Ms Farrell asked him not to answer the door but he said he would. She was behind her partner when he opened the door and she heard someone shout Are you Ger Burnett? Her partner replied: Yeah why?. She saw two or three people wearing hoodies. Det Spt OMalley agreed that Mr Burnett was dragged out of the house. Ms Farrell closed the door, ran upstairs to get her child and made her way out the back of the house. The witness agreed that gardai were able to ascertain from witnesses that five people were involved in the incident but there was no definite description of who anyone was. An ambulance arrived and attempted to resuscitate Mr Burnett but he was pronounced dead in the early hours of the following morning. An investigation was commenced from which up to six suspects were generated. A search warrant was obtained to search Gibneys house on August 27 which the court heard is approximately 400 metres away from where Mr Burnett lived. A number of knives were seized from Gibneys kitchen and three of those knives were involved in the investigation, said Det Spt OMalley. Gibney and his father presented themselves at Blanchardstown Garda station on August 28, 2012. Gibney wanted to give an account of his involvement on the night and made a number of admissions. He was subsequently arrested. During the course of the interviews, Gibney outlined his involvement in the case saying that he stabbed the deceased three times in the right side. He answered a lot of the questions put to him which assisted gardai but he did not refer to anyone elses involvement on the night, the court heard. The witness agreed that Gibney had showed genuine remorse for his actions. Under cross-examination, Det Spt OMalley agreed with Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, for the defendant, that his client admitted stabbing Mr Burnett three times before running away. He repeatedly said in his garda interviews that he had no intention to kill or murder Mr Burnett, the court heard. The witness agreed that his client had offered a plea to manslaughter a number of months before the first trial, again when a retrial was ordered as well as on two occasions during the most recent trial. These were not accepted. Det Spt OMalley said there was evidence indicating there was more than one attacker and gardai interviewed a number of suspects. He agreed with counsel that it was put to two individuals that they had inflicted the fatal wounds on Mr Burnett. The court heard that Gibney is a model prisoner and is working hard to make a positive contribution to other people in his life. No one else has been charged with the offence so far, the court heard. Outlining the mitigating factors in the case Mr O Lideadha said his client had no previous convictions, has never sought bail and is remorseful for his actions. The defence counsel told Mr Justice Butler that his client is a normal young man who got involved in a terrible event and has done everything since then to try and make amends for what he did. Counsel then handed in a number of reports and certificates on behalf of his client for completing various courses in custody. The barrister said a crucial factor in the case was admissions made by Gibney to gardai and it should weigh heavily as a significant distinguishing factor in his favour. In conclusion, Mr O Lideadha said the jury had accepted the reasonable possibility in this case that Gibney did not intent to kill or cause serious harm to Mr Burnett. By Tom Tuite An app developer has been fined 500 for assaulting a neighbour who told a court he was grabbed by the neck during a row about noise from his apartments wooden floors. Father-of-one Mark Somers, 52, who lives at the Metropolitan Apartments, in Kilmainham, Dublin 8, was found guilty of assaulting former neighbour David Glynn in an underground car park at his building on the morning of August 28, 2015. Somers denied the charge claiming he held him by his lapels to prevent an attack, however, he was found guilty by Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court. A victim impact statement was furnished to the court and the judge noted that Mr Glynn was not amenable to accepting money from Somers. Counsel for the defence pleaded with the court not to record a conviction which could hamper Somerss future. In pleas for leniency, Judge Smyth heard that the accused has had a long work history and had been employed in the UK and the United States over a 25-year period. He was on social welfare but had plans to go abroad again to work at developing apps. Counsel asked the court to note that there had been a history between his client and the victim whose injuries had been on the lower end of the scale and had not been permanent. Emailed testimonials from other people in the same building were furnished to the judge by the defence. During the trial, Mr Glynn said Somers used slurs about Irish people during the attack which left him with red marks on his neck. The trial heard Somers had been complaining about noise which he claimed reverberated through the wooden floors of Mr Glynns upstairs apartment. David Glynn told the court he moved into the building in September 2014 and the defendants apartment was directly underneath. He said it was a good place to live. David Glynn He said at first Somers made small-talk about the management company and had asked him about getting carpet on his wooden floor because he could hear noise coming through. Subsequently, he said, Somers reported that the noise was bad and he wanted details of his landlord to discuss the problem. He said later he received an abusive phone call. Mr Glynn said Somerss complaint was that he could hear noise coming through the floor, footsteps or a glass breaking on the floor but no-one else had made complaints. Mr Glynn said every time Somers raised the issue about the floor noise, he contacted his landlord. He said that at about 9am on Aug. 28, 2015, he had been in the car park in the building and Somers was exiting and stopped at the gates and called him. Mr Glynn said he left his own car and went over to the drivers side window of Mr Somerss vehicle. He alleged Somers asked him if there was any news from the landlord about getting carpets. He said that by this time Somers had begun banging on his ceiling with a stick when something fell on his floor. I said I dont think it is appropriate behaviour, banging on the ceiling, I said it would not achieve anything, Mr Glynn alleged, adding that Somers became abusive. Mr Glynn said he told Somers to back off and he did not want to talk to him. He said there was some more abuse and he told Somers he was an ignorant expletive. He alleged that Somers got out of his car and came towards him aggressively. He said Somers grabbed me by the throat for a few seconds. He said it lasted about three seconds and he was a little bit shocked. His partner took photos of red marks on his neck. In cross-examination he also denied calling him Somers, who has an English accent, an English c**t and said that claim was a lie. He rejected suggestions he had stuck his face in Somerss car window while holding the drivers door shut. He denied that he was angry or wished to hit Somers or that the defendant had grabbed him by the lapels to protect himself. The court heard that Mr Glynn said in his statement to gardai that he remained calm and stared down Somers. He also rejected the defendants claim that there had been a lot of anti-social behaviour and noise and continuous loud music coming from his apartment. He said if there it would have been reported to gardai and buildings management company. Mr Glynn also said that he had never had complaints from other residents. In evidence Somers accused Mr Glynn of not listening to requests from others. He also claimed that on later dates the victim had started playing the saxophone and rolled steel balls on the floor. He said the noise on the wooden floors was horrendous and reverberated into his apartment underneath. Wooden floors were not allowed in the building he claimed. He said he had been thinking about moving out and had left notes on Mr Glynns door and tried amicably. He claimed it was Mr Glynn who was aggressive and had called him a bit of an f*****g ignorant English p***k. He claimed he had to climb out the passenger side of his car and had grabbed Mr Glynn by the lapels and restrained him. He thought he was going to be assaulted by him, he claimed. Somers alleged Mr Glynn was shaking and froth was coming out of his mouth and he did not know what the hell he was going to do. He said he thought the photo of the red marks on Mr Glynns neck seemed bizarre. Judge Smyth rejected the defence argument that Somers, who had no prior criminal convictions, had protected himself from injury, and he was found guilty. The lapels were below the area where Mr Glynn had red marks, the judge said. Cork Fire Brigade are attending a fire at a location on MacCurtain Street this morning. Fire services were called this morning as thick smoke was seen coming from a building at 36/37 MacCurtain Street. Wedding dress shop Love Story is located at the ground floor with residential apartments above. It is believed that the fire started in a storeroom located at the back of Love Story. All residents and staff members were evacuated from the building and there has been no reports of any injuries. One lane on Mac Curtain Street has been closed as fire services deal with the fire and locals are being asked to avoid the area as a forensic investigation is being carried out. Dyminsky to be put on international wanted list if he does not return to Ukraine Businessman Petro Dyminsky, who is suspected of committing a fatal road accident in Lviv region on August 18, 2017, will be placed on the international wanted list if he does not return to Ukraine for testimony, People's Front MP Anton Gerashchenko, who serves as an adviser to the interior minister, has said. "This is not a political case. There should be no issues here," he said live on the 112 Ukraine television channel late on Tuesday, December 13. "Interpol should currently search for Dyminsky after receiving information from Ukraine. This is criminal prosecution under Article 286, Paragraph 2 a road accident that caused the death of a person," he said. Gerashchenko also said that the prosecutor's office established that Dyminsky was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. He recommended that the businessman return to Ukraine and come to interrogation as a suspect. "If he did it as decent people do in this situation, the decision would be as soft as possible," he notes. He also said that if Dyminsky does not return to Ukraine, he will be put on the international wanted list. "And then, when he wants to fly to some airport or cross a certain border, he will be in Interpol's database," Gerashchenko said. As reported, on August 18, a car from a motorcade of a businessman and owner of FC Karpaty Lviv, Dyminsky, crashed into an Opel, which was driven by 31-year-old Natalia Trila. The woman died in the accident. Her relatives said that it was businessman Dyminsky who was driving the Mercedes. Update 5.57pm: Loyalist paramilitary commander-turned-supergrass Gary Haggarty wanted to hound and expose a well-known fellow informer and terror chief, a court has been told. Mark Haddock was shot and badly injured during an attack in north Belfast in 2006 but survived. Haggarty has admitted that he was part of a conspiracy to kill the former leading Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member. It was one of a series of feuds between rival loyalists outlined in court which also saw Haggarty vow to empty a machine gun into a car containing Ulster Defence Association (UDA) kingpin Johnny Adair. Prosecuting barrister Ciaran Murphy QC said: "He suspected Haddock was an informer, the defendant said he wanted him hounded so he had nowhere to go. "He said he wanted him exposed as a tout, which would make him vulnerable on his release from custody." Haggarty was feeding information to police handlers, the court was told. Yet he visited a forest grave dug in preparation for another alleged "tout", the prosecutor told the court, as part of the ruthless pursuit of suspected informers. Haggarty has admitted assisting offenders involved in a murder bid on Haddock. The former Police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O'Loan's report focused on Haddock as the main informer at the centre of her investigation into police collusion with killers. Haddock was named in the Irish parliament as a UVF killer. Haggarty intimidated Haddock into withdrawing a statement to police during other legal proceedings, Belfast Crown Court was told on Wednesday. Mr Murphy said: "He sent others to intimidate the entire family." The litany of charges read out in court included involvement in violent disputes with the loyalist splinter group the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and the UDA. The barrister said former UDA figures Adair and John White were seen in White's car outside Haggarty's Mount Vernon home in north Belfast. Haggarty armed himself with a Sten gun and another man brought an AK 47 machine gun, the court was told. Mr Murphy said: "The defendant stated that he intended to empty the full clip into the car if they returned. "They never did return." timg]UVFMural2005PA_large.jpg[/timg] Earlier (4.02pm): Court hears graphic details of ex-UVF commander-turned-supergrasss confessions The confessions of a loyalist paramilitary commander-turned-supergrass witness have been outlined in graphic detail during a sentence hearing. Gary Haggarty's admission to shooting defenceless grandfather Sean McParland in the neck at close range was read to Belfast Crown Court, as was his description of the kidnap and brutal beating of father-of-four John Harbinson by his Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. Haggarty, 45, a long-time police informer, has pleaded guilty to 202 terror offences, including five murders, as his part of a controversial state deal that offered a significantly reduced prison term in return for giving evidence against other terrorist suspects. The opening day of the sentence hearing was told Haggarty and another UVF member were due to toss a coin to determine who would be the man to pull the trigger ahead of Mr McParland's murder, before the loyalist chief dismissed the idea and demanded that he would be the killer. Crown lawyer Ciaran Murphy QC told judge Mr Justice Colton that Haggarty said he was handed a promotion within the UVF for shooting Mr McParland after forcing entry to a house on Skegoneill Avenue in Belfast as the 55-year-old, who spoke with the aid of a voice box, was babysitting his young grandchildren. Mr McParland was not the intended target of the UVF attack in 1994. Mr Murphy told the court that Haggarty, once leader of the UVF's notorious Mount Vernon gang in north Belfast, expressed regret in his admission to detectives. "He said he is sorry, it was the wrong person killed - he is sorry for the kids that were there," the barrister said. Ciaran Fox, son of Eamon Fox who was shot dead by the UVF, speaking outside Laganside courts, Belfast during the sentence hearing of loyalist supergrass Gary Haggarty. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA The sentence hearing was also told that Haggarty has acknowledged that two more of his victims - Eamon Fox and Gary Convie - were innocent men, not republican paramilitaries as loyalists claimed at the time of their shooting in 1994. Catholic workmen Mr Fox, 44, and Mr Convie, 24, were gunned down while they ate lunch in their car at a building site on North Queen Street in Belfast. Haggarty claims he was not the gunman on that occasion, but that he escorted the killer to the location, shaking hands with him just prior to him opening fire on the men through a fence. Mr Murphy told the court: "He said he did not believe the victims were republicans, just soft, easy targets." Haggarty, dressed in a grey suit, sat impassively in the dock as his litany of crimes were detailed. Mr Fox's son Ciaran was one of a number of victims' relatives in court as the details of Haggarty's reign of terror were recounted. Outside court, Mr Fox said: "I knew the truth all along that my father was an innocent man but to hear that Haggarty has admitted before they actually carried out the shooting that my dad and Gary were both innocent, that they were not republicans as they claimed at the time - it was nice to hear that part." Haggarty also admitted being in the gang that abducted unemployed taxi driver Mr Harbinson in Belfast in 1997 prior to the brutal beating that ended his life. The loyalist commander claimed he later went to retrieve a gun to deliver a "punishment" shooting on the 39-year-old, but that colleagues had already administered the fatal beating in an alleyway while he was gone. Due to the need to outline details of all 200-plus offences on Haggarty's charge sheet, the sentence hearing is expected to take at least two days. Mr Justice Colton will then deliberate before determining the extent of sentence reduction the loyalist will be handed. He has already spent a number of years in custody on remand, so could potentially serve no further time in prison. Prosecutors have already announced that he is to be used as a witness in the prosecution of an individual for the murders of Mr Fox and Mr Convie. However, the vast majority of individuals named by Haggarty in his police interviews will not face prosecution, amid state concerns about a lack of supporting evidence. Prosecutors have said Haggarty's evidence is insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction against 11 suspected UVF members and two former police intelligence officers, allegedly his then handlers. As well as the five murders, Haggarty, who is in protective custody, has also admitted five attempted murders, including against police officers; 23 counts of conspiracy to murder; directing terrorism; and membership of a proscribed organisation. He was interviewed more than 1,000 times by detectives in one of the biggest and most complex cases undertaken in Northern Ireland. The catalogue of offences stretch over a 16-year period from 1991 to 2007 and include the loyalist murders of Mr Harbinson, Mr McParland, Mr Convie, Mr Fox and Sean McDermott. Mr McDermott, a 37-year-old Catholic, was abducted and murdered by the UVF in Antrim in 1994. The divide is between those who want a wrongdoing addressed once highlighted and those who want it to remain buried, says Special Correspondent Michael Clifford. BLOWING the whistle is not what it used to be. Since the enactment of the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) in 2014, those who wish to report wrongdoing appear to have been somewhat emboldened. According to Transparency International calls to its helpline from whistleblowers increased from 15% of all calls in 2014, when the law was passed, to 27% by 2016. The helpline, which was set up in 2011, has fielded more than 900 calls from employees, inquiring about how to report wrongdoing, asking for advice and from whistleblowers themselves. This [the increase] suggests that the enactment of the PDA, which came into effect in July 2014, has had an impact on the number of whistleblowers calling the helpline, the Speak Up report stated. Since 2014, there has been a number of high-profile cases of whistleblowing. Some of these illustrate that there is no template for a whistleblower and that the reporting of wrongdoing is not confined to any particular stereotype of individual. The story of Sgt Maurice McCabe is the obvious one. His complaints of malpractice in An Garda Siochana has resulted in a commission of investigation examining his claims of malpractice, and now a public tribunal examining allegations that he was the subject of a smear campaign. Sgt McCabes odyssey began before the PDA came into law, and is notable for his persistence and guile in defending himself at a time when legal protections were relatively threadbare. There have been others which are also unique. Earlier this year, the chief executive of Independent News and Media Robert Pitt made a protected disclosure about what he considered to be wrongdoing in the company he ran. He had been involved in a dispute with the chairman of INM, Leslie Buckley, about whether a potential purchase of Newstalk FM was in the best interests of the company. Once he made the disclosure and irrespective of whether it is ultimately found to have substance he was protected from any possible repercussions. During the year this newspaper highlighted the case of two whistleblowers in the Defence Forces who reported on the lack of safety in the use of hazardous chemicals. The Grace case, also first reported in the Irish Examiner, came to light when two whistleblowers alleged there was sexual abuse in a foster home, but that the HSE ignored the reports and left the girl known as Grace in the home for 17 years. Both claimed that they suffered threats as a result of the disclosure with one claiming there was misinformation spread about her to discredit her. Just as the INM case shows the positive protections that are afforded in the PDA, the treatment of the whistleblower in the Grace case illustrates the shortcomings in the law. The Grace case is referenced in the Speak Up report in the context of the culture within the HSE towards whistleblowers. Public perception and the number of calls to the helpline associates whistleblowing primarily with the gardai. Yet it is in the HSE that the greater number of cases arise and where there is a more pronounced culture of retaliation against whistleblowers. The Public Concern at Work helpline in the UK has had a similar experience with calls about the National Health Service. It is not clear why whistleblowers appear to be more likely to suffer reprisal in the health service than in any other profession or sector, the report states. It is clear, however, that where they do, patient safety is placed as risk. Whistleblowers are the most likely to encounter and draw attention to harmful practices in health services. The protection of whistleblowers and promotion of whistleblowing can therefore be a matter of life and death. One shortcoming in HSE policy highlighted in the Speak Up report is the use of a provision for good faith reporting of wrongdoing under health legislation, in which the motives for reporting are considered. This, of course, is a cop-out. The main issue is whether or not there is wrongdoing and questioning the motives merely distracts from the main issue, which, as pointed out in the Transparency International report, could be a matter of life and death. Questioning the whistleblowers motives is not confined to the health service. In January, the Disclosures Tribunal will examine whether elements in the gardai engaged in an attempt to question Sgt McCabes motives for reporting wrongdoing in order to discredit his allegations. There is some good news in the report. The Integrity At Work survey contained therein questioned 1,150 employees and employers about attitudes to whistleblowing. It found that around one in 10 employees had, during their career, reported wrongdoing. The majority of these felt they didnt suffer any repercussions as a result. However, 21% of employees did feel that they had been subjected to some form of retaliation. Invariably, it is this cohort that end up in the public domain. Reporting on the plight of whistleblowers can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the exposure of retaliation brings the matter out in the open, increasing the likelihood that it might be addressed, and acts as a warning to those disposed towards affecting retaliation. It also, however, highlights what can befall whistleblowers in certain areas. For instance, knowledge of the experience of Sgt McCabe for one, would be unlikely to act as a catalyst to others in An Garda Siochana to report wrongdoing. In this regard, the law does, as Transparency International points out, require further protections. Every company, agency and sector is susceptible to wrongdoing. The divide is between those who want it addressed once highlighted and those who want it to remain buried. The latter option inevitably leads to further problems, not least the deception involved in covering up. Weve seen plenty of that in recent years. Only heightened vigilance will ensure that those who wish to report wrongdoing can feel confident enough that their complaints will be addressed and no retaliation will ensue. The concerns of whistleblowers need to be listened to rather than buried. Two votes were required to approve the development earmarked for the former Hormann Electronics site in the Mahon Industrial Estate in Blackrock. The first vote, taken during Mondays meeting of Cork City Council, was later deemed invalid over a technicality. The housing scheme received the required support following the second vote. The 1.02-hectare site on Besborro Rd, off Skehard Rd and close to Mahon Point Shopping Centre, is zoned for business and technology. Murphy Transport Ltd applied for outline planning permission for a residential development on the site. The company proposes building 11 houses three four-bed detached units and eight three-bed semi-detached units 12 three-bed duplex units, and 12 two-bed apartments, along with the provision of 66 parking spaces and the relocation of an ESB substation on the site. Zoning on the site does not facilitate residential development. In a report to councillors, the citys head of planning, Pat Ledwidge, said he agreed with a senior executive planners assessment that the site is, however, considered suitable for residential development. A council vote was required to materially contravene the development plan to allow the housing scheme proceed. Councillors were told that 23 would have to vote in favour of the contravention, which would effectively grant planning permission for the housing project. Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy was the only councillor to speak ahead of the vote. He said he had a problem supporting a vote to allow the construction of a housing estate in the middle of an industrial estate. I really worry about the macro picture though this will add to the traffic problems in the area, he said. A vote was called and councillors voted 21 for the material contravention, Mr McCarthy against, with Workers Party councillor Ted Tynan abstaining. Councillors understood that because the vote had not reached the required 23 in favour of a material contravention, it had not been approved and the housing scheme could not progress. Following extensive consultation between officials and some councillors, the meeting was told, almost an hour later, that the first vote had been deemed invalid. Officials said an abstention cannot be classed as a vote, and therefore only 21 valid votes were cast below the required 23. A second vote was called at which point more councillors had arrived in the council chamber. This time, 25 councillors voted for the material contravention, with two against Mr McCarthy and Mr Tynan. The vote effectively granted planning permission for the housing scheme. A number of routine conditions are attached to the granting of permission. The 21-person committee is expected to vote in favour of the measures before drawing up a short and concise recommendations report for the Dail and Seanad on Friday, which will likely form the basis of next years referendum question. Despite opposition from within the committee and two of Fianna Fails five committee members telling todays Irish Examiner they are not in favour of the extent of the potential changes, the group is expected to vote for the reforms. After four months of public hearings, the committee will at 2pm today begin voting by deciding on whether to support Labour TD Jan OSullivans formal motion to repeal the Eighth Amendment entirely or Independent TD Mattie McGraths counter-motion to retain it. With committee chair and Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone unlikely to vote unless a tie occurs, the fact 12 of the committees members are already in favour of the repeal motion means it will pass, meaning the committee will formally agree to recommend removing the Eighth from the Constitution. A further 46 motions will then be voted on to decide on what legislation drawn up by the Oireachtas should govern the abortion laws if next years referendum passes. These motions will include sections on whether a gestational limit should be included; if rape or incest should be allowed as a reason for an abortion; and if fatal foetal abormalities should also be a reason to allow an abortion. In addition, further votes will also be held on whether socio-economic reasons should be allowed as a reason for an abortion; if no restrictions should be placed on having an abortion; and votes on whether to allow an abortion based on the risk of a pregnancy to a womans physical or mental health. The committee will also vote on whether to decriminalise abortion and on ancilliary issues such as sex education, access to contraception and other matters. As the Irish Examiner reported last week, it is widely expected the committee will vote to repeal the Eighth, decriminalise abortion, and to allow terminations up to 12 weeks pregnancy. However, in addition to high-profile pro-life committee members Independent senator Ronan Mullen, Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick, other members have also raised concerns. They include Fianna Fail TDs Anne Rabbitte and James Browne, who last night said they do not favour repeal, but if this happens they want it limited to fatal foetal abnormalities and rape cases. The position contradicts that of Fianna Fail TDs Billy Kelleher and Lisa Chambers and Senator Ned OSullivan, who believe these limits should not be placed on any new laws. Cork County Council is to write to the department seeking permission to design at least 15% of new council homes to cater for such needs. Councillors unanimously backed a motion by Independent councillor John Paul OShea who, quoting the CSO figures, said around 7% of the population had some disability or frailty, yet local authorities were not being allowed to design new homes which would facilitate them. He described the departments laid-down housing designs as archaic and said retrofitting houses after cost anything between 70,000 and 80,000 each. Mr OShea said he got an architect to look at this who informed him that the additional cost of planning for downstairs facilities in new homes was minimal compared to the cost of retrofitting. Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson said that the county council has an age-friendly policy and this was an obvious way to implement it, while Sinn Fein councillor Michael Frick Murphy said doing what Mr OShea was suggesting would save the taxpayers a significant amount of money in the long run. Fianna Fail councillor Pat Murphy, who has to use a wheelchair, also supported of the motion and said every effort had to be made to make local authority houses more disabled-friendly. It makes absolute sense because everybody is going to grow old and will need such facilities. It makes sense to the taxpayer as well, said Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy. Mr OShea had initially asked for 10% of new council houses to include disability-friendly ground floors, but Mr Murphy suggested that 15% would be a better idea as, with improved medicine, people will live longer. Sinn Fein councillor Melissa Mullane backed him. Mr OShea agreed to his amendment. Fianna Fail councillor Seamus McGrath also welcomed the move, saying a huge number of people each year sought housing adaptation grants because they were disabled or infirm. The Government said a barrister has been chosen to look into why the department failed to forward emails concerning Sgt Maurice McCabe to a tribunal. The fiasco, which showed the department and officials knew about a Garda strategy to discredit Sgt McCabe, resulted recently in the resignation of then tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald. A snap general election was nearly triggered as a result of the scandal. The Government has agreed that senior counsel Michael Collins will conduct an independent review of the practices and procedures employed by the Department of Justice and Equality in response to requests for documents from the Disclosures Tribunal. However, Mr Varadkar also confirmed yesterday that this review will not be completed before Christmas despite an initial commitment that this would happen. However, Mr Varadkar has asked that it be completed by January 19. Terms announced for the review include an assessment of the departments explanations, by December 21, on how it responded to the tribunals requests for documents. Crucially, the review will look at why three emails central to Ms Fitzgeralds resignation, were not passed on to the tribunal. The emails are dated May 15, 25 and July 4, 2015. The terms also state that the reviewer shall be given all necessary co-operation by the department, including access to documents, records and other relevant materials. The terms say Mr Collins may advise on what further measures, if any, might be taken to address concerns after his work is done. Elsewhere, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has warned that homelessness numbers are at emergency levels, with more than 8,000 people without a home. He said the freezing temperatures are a reminder of the plight of the homeless and that eight people have died on the streets since August. Mr Varadkar said he has in recent days met rough sleepers on the streets and visited hubs for the homeless. He said 200 extra emergency beds are being made available over the coming weeks during the cold weather. There have been a number of vacant beds on Sunday for services, which shows there is adequate capacity to cope with demands, he said. We need to do everything we can to reduce it, and eliminate it if possible, in the months and years ahead. In the past week or two I visited a family hub to meet some of the homeless families who live there and I met some rough sleepers to try to understand a bit better their experience and what they face, he told the Dail. Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar also said he does not want to a see an RTE orchestra lost or two merged. The national broadcaster is reviewing the future of the national symphony orchestra and its concert orchestra. Fianna Fails Micheal Martin said money should be ringfenced so that both are retained. It has taken almost three years to get to this position a position that will allow Cork to have a more appropriate local government structure which is essential to help it reach its full potential and serve the people of both the city and county as effectively as possible, said Mr Murphy The Government now call upon the elected members and executive of both councils to embrace the boundary alteration process as a matter of urgency and to provide full and active support for the significant programme of associated implementation actions that lie ahead. I am open to using the statutory procedures in Part V of the Local Government Act 1991 if the local authorities can confirm, as a matter of priority, agreement using this approach. Alternatively I will bring forward primary legislation to implement the boundary alteration, and have received Government approval for this course of action, as necessary. As first reported by the Irish Examiner last week, the proposed boundary accepted by Cabinet yesterday includes Ballincollig, Cork Airport, Glanmire, Tower and Blarney but excludes the Monard strategic development zone. Little Island and Carrigtwohill will remain in the county, as will settlements including Glounthane, Killumney, Ovens, Ballinora and Waterfall. It will see the citys population almost double from 100,000 to just under 210,000, to include almost 70% of the population of the Metropolitan Cork region. The compromise emerged last week following weeks of negotiation between Cork City and County Councils overseen by the IOG, which was set up to implement the Mackinnon findings. In his final report to Mr Murphy, IOG chairman John OConnor, described the transfer of population, territory, revenues and staff as unprecedented in terms of local boundary extensions in Ireland. His report recommended the urgent need for primary legislation if the extension is to be enacted ahead of the 2019 local elections. It further recommends that legislation creating the Office of the Planning Regulator should ensure the regulators full oversight powers would apply to the Cork Metropolitan Area Plan; that the extended boundary be reviewed within 10 to 12 years; and the city pay compensation annually to the county, index-linked for 10 years, to be reviewed after three years, with a more detailed review in 10 years. The Mayor of Cork County, Declan Hurley, noted that Cabinet had approved the IOG report and said the council would give it and its findings due consideration at the earliest possible opportunity and will comment further in due course. What is certain is that this report is hugely significant for Cork. Its recommendations will have profound implications for the future of Cork both city and county and will shape how the region will develop and grow in the years ahead, he said. Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgerald, welcomed the finality that the Cabinet decision brings tothe boundary issue. We must now focus on working with the IOG and our colleagues in Cork County Council to ensure a smooth transition. We look forward to engaging with all stakeholders, he said. The defense budget for 2018, signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, provides $350 million to promote security in Ukraine and authorizes the country to provide lethal weapons, the Ukrainian embassy in the United States has said. "President of the United States Donald Trump has signed the law on the U.S. budget for 2018 for national defense, which provides permission to allocate $350 million to provide assistance in the security sphere of Ukraine. The law authorizes the provision of defensive weapons to our state and significantly expands the parameters of Ukraine's support with the United States in the field of security and defense," the embassy said on its Facebook page. Thus, the document contains provisions allowing the use of U.S. defense budget funds for the rehabilitation of wounded Ukrainian military personnel in medical institutions of the United States, education and training of Ukrainian medical specialists in this field, as well as strengthening the capabilities of the Air and Naval Forces of Ukraine. The diplomatic mission noted that for the first time at the legislative level it is proposed to provide Ukraine with such defensive means: radar air defense and surveillance over the surface situation; naval anti-mine means; ships of coastal action and coast guard. Marion Kelly, 52, died in University Hospital Limerick, on December 1, lasting just six weeks after a long-running trial of a CSL Behring manufactured drug, Respreeza, ended. She had been on the drug for 11 years and it was credited with turning her life around. The Nenagh woman, a former hairdresser, had a genetic condition, Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, that can cause severe lung and liver problems. The drug supply ceased after the HSE on the advice of National Centre of Pharmacoeconomics that it was not value for money declined to reimburse the drug company the 80,000 per annum for the drug. However, the company had left six months free supply of the drug in storage for the HSE to administer at a cost of 6,000. The HSE declined to step in, leading to the drugs availability being cut off for the 21 patients on the trial eight weeks ago. Ms Kelly is the second of the 21 to die since the drug was removed and other patients health deteriorated significantly. The HSE intervened the day after Ms Kellys death to confirm it would now administer the drug for the next six months. Her family now want to meet the health minister to secure reassurances that not only will the HSE honour the commitment but find a solution for beyond the six months so no other patient will die needlessly. Ms Kellys daughter Aideen said: The minister spoke openly in the Dail when questioned about my mams death by Deputy Alan Kelly but we want him to translate that into a commitment that he will do whatever is necessary to ensure no patient again has to die unnecessarily because of the drug being taken away from them. The drug company is unquestionably charging exorbitant amounts for this drug but there was a six- month free supply available and the HSE failed to act, said Aideen. My mothers fate was sealed because of that. What we want now is for the HSE to honour the commitment to administer the drug for the six months, a commitment that is somewhat hollow for us as its too late for mam. But not just that, we want to minister to direct the HSE to get into meaningful talks with the drug company and find a solution so that this drug, which is licensed across Europe, is available beyond the six months. On her mothers fight, Aideen, 32, said: Marion was a grandmother, daughter, sister, and friend to many but, to me, she was a very precious mother. She worked so hard to provide for me, opening her own hair salon and working day and night to make it a success until she fell ill in her mid-30s. Mam was invited to take part in a clinical trial 11 years ago for the drug Respreeza and her hospital stays reduced from up to eight times a year to only once every two years. Her quality of life improved immensely. In April 2016, mam made it her mission to walk me up the aisle for my wedding. This is something that she would not have been able to do in years previous. It meant the world to me that she could do this and its a memory I will treasure forever. How can they explain my mothers sudden death following being taken off the drug. How can they explain away that this was the second of two deaths of Alpha 1 patients since the trial was ended? How can they ignore that is has been licensed by the European Medicines Agency. How can they ignore that not one of the 21 died while on the drug? The drug, we have been told, wasnt value for money. That clearly put a price on my mother and other patients head, a price of 80,000 per year. Marions father Ned said: Words cannot describe our sense of loss. Marion could and should have had more time with her family. Respreeza was her lifeline and she would say that on Mondays before her infusion on Tuesdays. Her body would know that she needed it. The move was announced last night alongside a separate 10m funding boost for carer respite services amid fresh calls for drastic reforms in supports for those affected. Speaking to reporters hours before an opposition Dail motion calling for changes in home care support packages and days after a RTE Prime Time expose on the difficulties faced by families in need, Health Minister Simon Harris said the Government has found extra money for the sector. Mr Harris, flanked by Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty, junior minister for disabilities Finian McGrath, and junior minister for older people Jim Daly, said the two plans would be fast-tracked in a bid to ensure carers are properly protected by the State. Every carer in receipt of the carers allowance will be given an automatic free GP card from this summer, he said. It will require primary legislation, but it will benefit tens of thousands of carers who currently dont have a free GP card. Its a demand-led scheme, but were estimating it will cost 11m in 2018. Were also announcing an additional 10m for respite care which will benefit people up and down the length and breadth of the country. Weve been hearing the voices of carers about when they need particular attention, when they get sick, so these are very significant announcements. The free GP card service, which is likely to cost 11m a year, is expected to be provided to tens of thousands of carers from summer 2018 once legislation is passed. The separate 10m respite funding increase is likely to be introduced early next year, with 8m ringfenced for new respite houses across the country and 2m for house-sharing and other services, providing an extra 19,000 respite nights a year for families. The funding decision was made hours before a Dail motion by the Rural Independents technical group seeking drastic reforms to the home care package system. It also came after an RTE Prime Time expose last week on the realities of life as a carer in Ireland, which saw young carers share their experience of looking after older relatives and parents of children with severe health conditions outlining the difficulties they face. Responding to the programme, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said carers need services, not politicians praise and respect and told the Government the gaps in services are partially because tax cuts are being prioritised. Carers are believed to save the State in the region of 70m every week due to the fact their relatives do not have to rely on hospital or nursing home help. The near 40,000 carers in this country saw their carers allowance payments slashed during the recession, before being returned in recent years. Edward Cash, aged 47, of 4 Abbey Hall, New Ross, Co Wexford, denied being drunk and a danger at the Clarion Hotel, Lapps Quay, Cork, on August 8, 2015. He claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. Garda Michael Bohane said he had no doubt the man he arrested was the man before Cork District Court yesterday, Edward Cash. Cross-examining the guard, solicitor Diane Hallahan, said on Cashs behalf: You are confusing him with a different person. He was not here on the day. He cannot recall being arrested on the day. Gda Bohane replied: That would not be a big surprise. Cash went up to the witness box on crutches to give evidence in his defence. He said he was in the UK at the time of the alleged incident. I dont know what is going on, he said. My name is getting given around the country. It was not me he arrested. Surely be to God theyd have CCTV. I am not going to plead guilty to something I did not do, your honour. The Cash family look alike and have an awful habit of using other peoples names. Even though the case dated back more than three years, the defendant said that yesterday was the first he had heard of it. Inspector Finbarr OSullivan said to the 47-year-old: The guard recognised you. You were very intoxicated. He has no doubt you were the person he arrested. The guard is certain. You are mistaken in what you say. Cash replied: Like I said, I couldnt be in two places at the one time, could I? Judge Olann Kelleher said the defendant was simply stating that he was in the UK on the relevant date but he was not presenting any documentation in support of that claim. The judge convicted him of the public order offence. At that point, the judge asked if Cash had any previous convictions. The inspector said he had 91 convictions. Even after the judge convicted him, Cash continued to assert his innocence. There are 10 Edward Cashs living in New Ross, he said. The judge said he was satisfied on the evidence to convict him of being drunk and a danger at the Clarion Hotel three years ago. Cash said to the judge: You saw me there? You were there yourself? I missed that. Judge Kelleher fined him 300 or five days in prison in default of payment. The national coalition on mental health is disappointed the report did not include a budget commitment. Mental Health Reform director Shari McDaid said the report made some strong recommendations in areas they had campaigned for. Dr McDaid, one of the task force members, said the recommendation to establish an independent national youth mental health advocacy and information service is particularly welcome. The coalition is also glad that the report recommends reforming consent provisions under the Mental Health Act 2001. Changing the consent provisions will give young people the same rights to make decisions about their mental health treatment as someone being treated for a physical health difficulty. However, overall, it must be said that the lack of additional funding attached to the recommendations in the report represents a failed opportunity to make a bigger impact on young peoples mental health in Ireland, said Dr McDaid. It was reported earlier this month that 2,500 children are waiting for their first mental health appointment. Also, child and Adolescent Mental Health Services continue to operate at just 50% of recommended staffing levels. Dr McDaid said a recent report on mental health supports in higher education reveals a 41% rise in students seeking counselling over the past three years. In many of the institutions, there is now a six-month waiting list for counselling services. Mental Health Reform is also disappointed that the timeframe for updating the Mental Health Act is the latter half of next year. More than two and a half years have passed since the publication of the Expert Group review of the act, said Dr McDaid. More urgency is needed to improve the protection of young peoples human rights in mental health care in Ireland. Mental Health Reform is the national coalition promoting improved mental health services and the social inclusion of people with mental health difficulties. It currently has 62 member organisations. Launching the report in Dublin yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris said every recommendation has a timeline for delivery. He said it was a crisp report with clear accountability and insisted that the necessary funding would be provided. It is now being offered directly, and more discretely, to a network of high net worth individuals, financiers and investors around the globe. The planned sale of the 18th century North Cork Georgian mansion, which had been the private home of Irelands first president Douglas Hyde, filled acres of international newsprint and glossy magazines after being put up for sale in October 2015, and even notched up more than 33,000 hits on daft.ie alone. However, at the lofty price tag of 20m, or $23.5m, its safe to presume that most who viewed Castlehyde online rather than along the River Blackwater, admiring its Georgian grace and its chandeliers, 24ct gold gilded ceilings, whiskey room, gym, 20-seat-cinema, and pool were not actually in a position to buy the 35,000 sq ft, 12-bed home on 150 acres. Corks Castlehyde was bought by Flatley in 1999 for a reported 3.8m, in very poor condition and after flooding: he boasted that he had invested up to 30m in its renovation, conservation and luxurious upgrades. The largest country estate sale of 2017 was Co Meaths Ballymacoll Stud, making 8.15m at auction on 300 acres, after a lengthy period on the market. And, the sale of the 600-acre Lyons Demesne only happened after seven years on the market: it had a price drop from 65m, to sell for c30m, after previous owner Tony Ryan had invested up to 80m in it. Castlehyde has been marketed internationally by joint agents based in Ireland, Goffs, and Knight Frank. Sources told the Irish Examiner: Castlehyde is still very much available targeting an international audience specifically via a direct marketing campaign to include listing in Knight Franks Private View publication which was issued globally in Sept/Oct. This publication promotes Knight Franks most luxurious properties and is circulated to a network of high net worth individuals, financiers and investors around the globe. Michael Flatley reportedly invested 30m in renovation Castlehyde. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision Among the guests to visit Castlehyde have been Cliff Richard, the late Maureen OHara, and the Chieftains, while Michael Jackson once reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring the Munster mansion, asking Flatley to name his price. Michael and Niamh Flatley held their wedding here in 2006, and their 10-year-old son, Michael Jr, is being educated in Britain. The Times last year estimated Michael Flatleys wealth at about 200m, with shows still touring the world. Lord of the Dance performed at Donald Trumps presidential inauguration in January. The Flatleys bought a Belgravia London home three years ago for a reported 28m, making a move from Knightsbridge, and also have homes in Barbados and Monaco, and have been reported to own one or two other, lower-profile Irish properties than the all-singing, all-dancing, but not-yet selling Castlehyde. It is understood around 600,000 is being paid by UCC as part of the deal that will see large Toyota signs on the Cork Opera House roof replaced after around 30 years. It is understood both the venue name and university branding will feature in the new signs, and the agreement will help fund improved disability access at the venue. Cork Opera House has already described the planned collaboration as a first in Ireland. In documents submitted to Cork City Council on the proposed signage changes, it said the deal would enable new possibilities for both culture and education, although UCC was not directly named. In response to Irish Examiner inquiries, a joint statement said both sides are exploring entering an academic and cultural partnership which will enrich the two institutions and the city. While contracts have yet to be agreed and planning permission is pending, they said details would be announced at a formal launch in the near future. The council granted permission for the sign changes last Monday, although there is a chance of appeals delaying or preventing final approval. A submission to planners last month on behalf of Cork Opera House described the proposal as a creative partnership. Cork Opera House will become a place where arts industry professionals will work alongside students and academics to share skills and research new models of creativity, sustainability, and learning, states the submission. As a UCC music graduate, Cork Opera House chief executive Eibhlin Gleeson has been building strong ties with her alma mater since taking the helm just over two years ago. She has addressed conferring ceremonies and was invited to speak at the launch of UCCs latest strategic plan in September. Cork Opera House was the venue last March when UCCs Cork University Business School hosted a large conference, while UCC president Patrick OShea has strongly promoted humanities and creative arts since taking on the job last February. UCC is a year into a three-year main sponsorship deal with Cork City FC that also provides player access to its Mardyke Arena complex. Cork Opera House applied in August for planning permission to change signage over its fly tower that is visible from northern approaches to the city centre and along the quays of the River Lees north channel. Planners asked if corporate logos or advertising was proposed, or simply display of the building name, as planning policies ban illuminated advertising structures above eaves level of city buildings. The Opera House has, separately, applied to take down and replace temporary signage on its large north wall that faces the river. It has acknowledged negative views about the blank concrete wall and wants to continue promoting its own events with large banners until budgets allow recladding. While it is expected that a successor to replace Noirin OSullivan will not be appointed until next summer, the Government has already signed off on increasing the pay on offer to up to 250,000. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said the the overriding concern must be to ensure that the best candidate is selected to lead An Garda Siochana and so candidates from the widest possible field from a broad range of backgrounds should be considered. It is for this reason that the Government has agreed that there should be no bar imposed in terms of nationality, or indeed, previous experience of policing, he said. Mr Flanagan added that the decision to open up the position to those with no policing background marked a very significant change in the manner in which this important office will be filled and demonstrates the Governments commitment to reform the entire justice sector. A government representative will sit on the interview panel along with the Policing Authority. However, the appointment of a commissioner is expected to take around six months. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe, who agreed the package with Mr Flanagan said a salary span had been signed off on. Mr Donohoe said: What that salary level will be will depend on the candidate and would also depend on considerations that I had in relation to wider public pay policy. He added that the public sector pay agreement due to come into force from January could not be undermined by any appointment of salary boost. We are seeing changes taking place in remuneration within the private sector here in Ireland and in other employment markets against which we have to compare ourselves. Those changes are happening but my intention is to maintain the integrity of our public service pay policy over all and to make sure that if we identify the right candidate, that person is paid competitively, said Mr Donohoe. Myself and the minister for justice in the coming days and in the coming weeks will engage further on what the salary level will be but we have identified a span and where the final salary will be will depend on who the candidate is going to be. We have a process under way in relation to that. Separately Transport Minister Shane Ross brought forward a memo around the sharing of vehicle registrations with EU policing authorities to combat criminal activity. The measure comes under the Prum framework which lays down provisions under which EU states allow each other searches in the DNA analysis files, fingerprint identification systems and vehicle registration data bases. Mr Ross also brought forward a report looking into the efficiency and effectiveness of the learner driver testing system. The minister is due to publish this report in the coming days. Health Minister Simon Harris brought forward a memo on coming up with new policy around protecting vulnerable adults who depend on care and who may be at risk of abuse. There will now be a consultation phase early in the new year. A millionaire, former Facebook executive said social media is ripping society apart and admits to feeling tremendous guilt for his part in the companys development. I feel tremendous guilt, said Chamath Palihapitiya, who is a former vice president for user growth at Facebook. I think we all knew in the back of our minds, even though we feigned this whole line of like, there probably arent any really bad unintended consequences. I think in the back, deep, deep recesses of our minds we kind of knew something bad could happen. Mr Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist whose family emigrated from Sri Lanka to Canada when he was six years old, was speaking at a Stanford Graduate School of Business event. It literally is a point now where we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works, he said. That is truly where we are. He is urging people to take a hard break from social media and said the short-term dopamine hits which gives people are destroying society. It is a point in time where people need to [take a] hard break from some of these tools and the things that you rely on. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops weve created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And its not an American problem this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem. We are in a really bad state of affairs right now. Mr Palihapitiya said his only solution is to not use social media and said he has posted on Facebook less than 10 times in the last seven years. The venture capitalist said he instinctively does not want to get programmed. He added that social media is eroding the core foundations of how people behave. Mr Palihapitiya referred to an incident in an Indian village where a rumour online turned into vigilante behaviour in real life. There was a hoax in Whatsapp, where in some village in India, people were afraid their kids were going to get kidnapped and then there were these lynchings that happened as a result, he said. People were like vigilante running out, they think theyve found the person. I mean seriously? Thats what were dealing with. Mr Palihapitiya also described how people curate their lives with images of perfection in order to get social approval and validation, but noted that it is short-lived and fake. We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection because we get rewarded in these short-term signals likes, thumbs-up and we conflate that with value and we conflate it with truth, he said. Instead what it is, is fake, brittle popularity and that leaves you even more vacant and empty. Mr Palihapitiya is not the first former Facebook employee to speak out about the state of the world. Antonio Garcia Martinez, who worked as a product manager at Facebook, predicts a revolution brought on by technology. Within 30 years, half of humanity wont have a job. It could get ugly. There could be a revolution, he said in a BBC2 documentary earlier this year. A court has authorized the detention of businessman Petro Dyminsky, who is suspected of committing a high-profile traffic accident in Lviv region in August 2017, the press secretary for Ukraine's prosecutor general, Larysa Sarhan, has said. "The court has granted a petition from the Prosecutor General's Office and provided permission to detain Dyminsky and bring him to court to select a measure of restraint custody," she wrote on her Facebook page late on Tuesday, December 12. As reported, on August 18, a car from a motorcade of a businessman and owner of FC Karpaty Lviv, Dyminsky, crashed into an Opel, which was driven by 31-year-old Natalia Trila. The woman died in the accident. Her relatives said that it was businessman Dyminsky who was driving the Mercedes. At the same time, one of his security guards, Andriy Borsch, told the police that he was driving a car during the accident. He was taken into custody by a court ruling. On August 22, Dyminsky flew out to Switzerland. On August 23, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said, referring to the expertise, that there was another man behind the wheel, not the detained security guard. In early September, Lviv Regional Court of Appeal changed the measure of restraint for Borsch from custody to round-the-clock house arrest. On December 9, Trila's mother, Maria, said that the damage caused by the road accident had been fully compensated and also withdrew the powers of attorney given out to third parties for representation of her interests in courts and other bodies with respect to the road accident. "I have no financial claims in connection with this road accident, which I testify with my signature," Maria Trila said in a statement addressed to the investigator and the prosecutor. According to Borsch's lawyer, thus "they finally managed to apologize to the mother of the woman who died in the accident on August 18." It was reported on December 12 that Dyminsky had been notified of suspicion in committing a crime under Part 2, Article 286 (violating road traffic rules or the driving of vehicles by persons that caused the death of a victim) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. A petition to court was also prepared to authorize his detention and choose a measure of restraint in the form of custody. At the same time, criminal proceedings against Borsch were closed due to the absence of a criminal offense in his actions. Russia's hybrid military forces have attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 24 times in the past 24 hours, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) headquarters has reported. "The Russian-occupation forces continue to flagrantly violate the Minsk agreements and use prohibited weapons, in particular mortars, tanks and heavy artillery," the ATO HQ's press centre said on Facebook on Wednesday morning. In the Luhansk sector, the militants fired 152mm artillery systems near the village of Vrubivka in the evening. They also used 82mm mortars against the defenders of the village of Novo-Oleksandrivka and the town of Popasna. In the Donetsk sector, the enemy launched a dozen 122mm artillery shells on the Ukrainian fortified positions among the villages of Vodiane and Talakivka in the afternoon. In the evening, the defenders of the villages of Pavlopil, Vodiane and Opytne came under fire from 120mm mortars. Furthermore, the illegal armed groups used 82mm mortars near the town of Avdiyivka, as well as tank shells near Butovka coal mine. Moreover, the Russian occupation forces violated the ceasefire, using grenade launchers and small arms near the villages of Kamianka and Novotroyitske. Fortunately, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in action over the past day, the ATO HQ said. Raoul Contreras is a firm believer that a true democracy is born from social movements, not elections. Active participation by citizens, not decisions made by politicians, are how positive change happens, says the Indiana University Northwest associate professor of minority studies. Inspiring students to get actively involved in their democracy is a primary goal of Contreras course, Participatory Democracy, Social Movements and Social Justice (CHRI-C490), offered each spring at IU Northwest. When Barack Obama was running for president, Contreras said, people were excited about the possibilities for change. I wanted to keep that momentum going and talk about the economic problems of 2008 and other issues of the time. I wanted students to debate the issues, discuss the meaning of democracy, and collaboratively create and implement policies to address those issues in a truly democratic way. This was how the Participatory Democracy Conference was born. Every year since 2009, the course now culminates with a two-day conference in April. Organized by the Social Justice Club, the conference brings in activists from various community organizations and gets students actively involved in discussing the issues, proposing solutions and working together. The next Participatory Democracy Conference will be planned by the IU Northwest Social Justice Club beginning in January with help from some of the students in Contreras course. For the students enrolled in the course, the conference is their final exam. According to Contreras, climate change is expected to be the hot topic on the agenda. Its a contentious issue that will demand a social movement if progress is to be made. Its hopeless individually, Contreras said. Contreras said this years conference will serve to help attendees examine democracy outside of a presidential election year and highlight its role in the issues. He hopes the topic of climate change, for instance, will shine a spotlight on the dangers of inaction within our democracy. Helping Northwest Indiana thrive Contreras said that many community activists and groups participate in the conference as well, making it a meaningful gathering of civic-minded folks throughout the entire region who want to mobilize and inspire change. Such groups as Veterans for Peace and the Interfaith Federation of Gary are active return participants. Contreras expects to also see a number of community activists who regularly get involved in various causes throughout the region, such as recent efforts surrounding immigration and the lead crisis in East Chicago. He notes that another benefit of the conference is the networking that takes place amongst students and community activists, which serves to spread awareness and influence public opinion on the issues. Critical thinkers at the helm of our future Victoria Morales, a 2017 graduate who attended the conference last year, said the exercise helped her realize that her generation has a responsibility to be critical-thinkers and problem-solvers, and to do so with courageous empathy. We have to let our beliefs be challenged, and we cannot meet change with denial or opposition, she said. Throughout this conference, I enjoyed that everyone respected one another's opinions; it is not very often that we get to speak our minds and challenge our belief system in a safe environment. Morales added that a successful democracy depends on a citizenry that listens before it speaks and recognizes that it is permissible to be ambivalent about issues. Participating in the conversation is the key. Especially for students, we have to be involved more on campus and within the community during social justice events, Morales said. We are the new generation, and we have to be willing to fight for each other's rights and consider the struggles of the person sitting next to us. I think that's the underlying message that I took away from the Participatory Democracy Conference. A brighter future for all Taking an active role in the community is a core value of IU Northwest shared by faculty and students alike. Matthew Paskash is an economics major who shares Contreras philosophy. The 30-year-old Portage resident participates in many causes and feels strongly about the necessity for individuals to unify and advocate for what a society needs. Some of the activism Paskash has been involved with include fighting the deportation of immigrants through a group known as the NWI Resistance; bringing together undocumented residents and Syrian refugees with allies in the community through Unite the Region for Justice; and fighting for resolution in the lead and arsenic crisis in East Chicago. Every one of us as humans share some commonality in our desired ends and it is far easier for us to secure these goods through cooperation, solidarity, and shared struggle than it is through purely personal pursuits, he said. Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State, calls on the Ukrainian government to fulfill its early promises regarding the creation of an anti-corruption court and to continue other reforms, officials of the State Department for International Relations said at the hearings in the Senate Committee. Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell said that this is a huge priority for U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which he repeatedly spoke about when he was asked whether the State Department raised the question of blocking energy and anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine, in particular, the persecution of NABU and the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. We couldnt even dream of such progress that they will be achieved in such a short time. The Secretary of State Tillerson made it his priority to encourage Ukrainians to keep the way of reforms, he said. It is important to carry out reforms not only in the lighter industries, but to implement more difficult structural reforms. And this applies particularly to the creation of the anti-corruption court and carrying out energy reform, particularly in the issue of gas tariffs. Both steps are critical to continue the delivery of assistance from the IMF. I have repeatedly raised these issues with Mr. Poroshenko, Groysman, Minister Klimkin, Mr. Parubiy and others. We are also coordinating our cooperation with the IMF to agree upon our positions, said Assistant Secretary of State. Borodiansky District Court in Kyiv region has found former Rector of the National University of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Petro Melnyk not guilty of seizing property through abuse of office. The respective court ruling, dated December 5, 2017, has been included in the single register of judicial decisions. The ruling recognizes Melnyk "as innocent in the charges brought for committing a crime under Part 5, Article 191 [misappropriation, embezzlement or acquisition of property by abuse of office in a particularly large amount] of the Criminal Code of Ukraine" and acquits him "under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine due to the failure of evidence of a crime in his actions." In addition, the court refused to consider a civil claim lodged by the National University of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine against Melnyk to compensate UAH 33.444 million for property damage. The court also lifted the arrest, which was imposed in 2015 by the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv, from Melnyk's stake in the statutory fund of a scientific and educational center. "The verdict comes into legal force after the deadline for filing an appeal if such an appeal is not filed. If the appeal is filed, the verdict, if not cancelled, comes into legal force after a decision is made by the court of appeal," reads the ruling. Melnyk was found innocent in the illegal transfer in favor of his relatives of four real estate objects of the educational institution with a total area of 4,000 square meters, causing over UAH 33 million worth of damage to the state. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said that the prosecution will appeal against a ruling of the Borodiansky District Court in Kyiv region, which found former Rector of the National University of the State Fiscal Service Petro Melnyk not guilty of seizing property through abuse of office. "I do not agree with the case of Rector Melnyk. We won [litigation] at the High Economic Court and returned all this property that was recognized by the court as illegally privatized... Nevertheless, the court released him. We will lodge an appeal, and I am sure that we have arguments for the court of appeal to determine his punishment," he said live on ICTV late on Monday, December 11. Lutsenko also noted that the Prosecutor General's Office has evidence that the ex-rector personally gave instructions to witnesses so as to privatize 4,000 square meters in favor of his family. The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Gerashchenko, has raised security, humanitarian and environmental issues in Donbas and Crimea during her visit to the U.S., and her colleagues and Lithuanian partners talked about the 'Marshall Plan' for Ukraine. "At meetings in the Congress, the Senate, the State Department, the think tanks, I focused on the security, humanitarian and environmental situation in the occupied Donbas and Crimea, on the violation of human rights there. I called on the United States to pay more attention and support not only the security sphere, but also the humanitarian situation, more actively and loudly demand from the Russian Federation the release of hostages (in Russian prisons and in the occupied territories). In general, the security issues, the Minsk groups are of great interest and attention in Washington," she wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday. In turn, according to Gerashchenko, her colleagues - parliamentarians Hanna Hopko and Ostap Yednak - together with friends from Lithuania, in particular, with ex-Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, "promoted the programs of economic and investment support of Ukraine, the so-called Marshall Plan." I still have meetings in the Pentagon, the State Department, with congressmen and senators. She also positively assessed the signing by U.S. President Donald Trump of the defense budget, in which Ukraine is allocated $350 million. A new book from the folks at Tupelo Honey Cafe can help people get people get into the spirit or spirits of Christmas. Tupelo Honey Cafe, a small restaurant chain based in Asheville, has released its third cookbook, Tupelo Honey: Southern Spirits & Small Plates (Andrews McMeel, $24.99), written by freelance writer Elizabeth Sims with cocktails by Tyler Alford and recipes by chef Eric Gabrynowicz. Those cocktails include such holiday inspirations as Jacob Marley Punch and White Poinsettia, perfect for Christmas and New Years. Alford, 33, is a Winston-Salem native who has risen to vice president of operations for Tupelo Honey in just three years. Much of his time there so far has been spent expanding the Tupelos beverage program in craft beer, select wines and craft cocktails. Tupelo Honey: Southern Spirits & Small Plates very much reflects Alfords contributions: 75 of the 100 recipes are for his cocktails. We describe ourselves as contemporary, upscale Southern, with mountain roots, Alford said. But weve very much grown in the beverage arena. Much of Alfords expansion of Tupelos beverage program has focused on sustainability and local ingredients. The cocktail recipes in the book are strewn with references to North Carolinas burgeoning distillery industry. The JCB Martini calls for Covington sweet-potato vodka made in Snow Hill. The Tar Heel Gin Fizz uses TOPO gin from Chapel Hill. The Friendly Waters Hurricane calls for coconut rum made by Muddy River Distillery in Belmont. Alford said he fell in love with bartending as a young man. I got my first real bartending job at Mellow Mushroom in Durham, he said. We opened the day I turned 21. Winston-Salem cocktail fans may have had one of Alfords concoctions when he bartended at 6th and Vine, Sweet Potatoes or the former Christophers. And Ive had very many a drink at Recreation Billiards, he said. Alford then knocked around quite a bit, gaining bartending experience out of state, most notably at the legendary Commanders Palace in New Orleans. In fact, Alford said that the Blood Orange Old-Fashioned in the Tupelo book is similar to the nightcap favored by Commanders owner Ella Brennan. After getting married, Alford decided he wanted to be closer to family. His mother, Mary Lea Bradford, and brother, David Alford, live in Winston-Salem. And his father, Peter Alford, lives in Huntersville. Thats how Alford ended up working for Tupelo Honey. Founded in 2000 by Steve Frabitore, the company now has 15 locations in seven states. Four of those are in North Carolina: two in Asheville and one each in Charlotte and Raleigh. Much of that expansion has come in the last few years. Back in 2011, when Tupelo released its first cookbook, it had only the two Asheville locations. Now people can enjoy Tupelos take on Southern fare as far away as Denver. Alford has grown with the company, but he said hes happy that he still has his hand in the beverage program. I say I have the easiest job in the company, he said with a laugh. We have such a great chef that I just have to follow the menu and compliment it. Some of chef Gabrynowiczs recipes in the book include lamb meatballs, pulled pork and corn-jalapeno slaw on johnnycakes, St. Louis-style ribs with maple bourbon glaze, mac n cheese souffle and pecan-crusted goat cheese with fig mostarda. Cocktails in the book include Watermelon and Basil Caipirinha, Muscadine Cosmopolitan, Pineapple Upside Down Cake Flip, Candied Pecans Milk Punch, Briar Patch Whiskey Smash and the Tupelo Honey Margarita. Of the latter, Alford said, I really like this one because we make everything in it from scratch except the tequila. Tupelos margarita has become so popular that its on tap in some of the restaurants. For the holidays, the books Jacob Marley may conjure either a Christmas or bah humbug spirit, depending on your mood. The drink is a mixture of citrus vodka, simple syrup, mint, lemon and spiced bitters, garnished with pomegranate seeds. For toasting New Years, people may want to try the White Poinsettia, sparkling wine with currant vodka, white cranberry juice and cranberry bitters. Alfords favorite is not a holiday drink for most people, but it is in his household. Its good for the holidays because it has that foam that looks like snow, Alford said. For Christmas, I definitely will be making that gin fizz recipe. RALEIGH A grand jury has indicted four people in connection with the disappearance of more than $2 million from a North Carolina register of deeds office. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that among the four indicted is Laura Riddick, the former register of deeds in Wake County. Riddick is accused of six counts of embezzlement over $100,000. Riddick held the office from 1996 until her resignation earlier this year at the start of an investigation. She was elected to six terms in all. In March, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and county manager Jim Hartmann called on the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the register of deeds office. Hartmann said workers in the register of deeds office found "irregularities" in January as they were trying to improve cash-handling systems. After county auditors went over the books, their findings went to Freeman, who said she wanted the SBI's Financial Crimes Division to take a look. By the end of the probe, investigators determined that at least $2.3 million could not be accounted for in an office that takes in about $14 million a year, a large portion of which is cash. Jessica Holmes, chairwoman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, declined to comment on the specific charges but said she's encouraged that the investigation is progressing. The Salvation Army of Greater Winston-Salem now has a large building for its Christmas toy-distribution program, which will begin today and run through Friday. The Salvation Army is using the former E.G. Forrest Food Service warehouse at the intersection of Trade and Ninth streets, said Bob Campbell, a spokesman for the organization. The agency had been searching for another location for its program for several weeks. Once the word got out that we had a need, we had multiple options, Campbell said. This building best suited our needs. The Salvation Army had used a former car dealership site on Peters Creek Parkway for years to sort donations and as its hub for its Christmas giveaway to children. However, the Salvation Army officials learned in January that the building had been sold, and the organization needed to find a new site. The Salvation Army hosts the Angel Tree and Stuff a Stocking each year, soliciting toy donations for children through age 12, as well as asking area churches and businesses for toy donations. The toy-distribution program will serve about 20,000 families and 5,000 children in four counties including Forsyth County, Campbell said. The warehouse at 901 Trade St. has about 19,000 square feet, and the Salvation Army is using about half of that space. For three days, families will drive up to the warehouse, and the toys will be loaded into their vehicles, he said. Displaying the Christmas spirit, the warehouses owners provided the building to the Salvation Army free of charge, Campbell said. The owners wish to remain anonymous, he said. They wanted to do a good deed, Campbell said. We are extraordinarily grateful to them. We were caught in a bind, and they were helpful. The organization had collected more than 4,000 toys as of late last week, said Cali Colbert, the Christmas coordinator for the Salvation Army. A group of about 20 volunteers is preparing the toys for the distribution. Last Thursday, Dollar General employees participated in the volunteer program. We are elves, Santas and as well as donors, Colbert said. The majority of children we serve would not receive a gift for Christmas. Brian Hayes of Sherrills Ford said he happily volunteered for the effort. Its part of our service to others, said Hayes, a Dollar General employee. For some of these children, it will be their entire Christmas. Im sure they are looking forward to it. Laura Owens Bailey of Lexington said that the volunteers work is part of the joy and excitement of Christmas. We cant see it, but we know it will be put a smile of their (the childrens) faces on Christmas Day, said Bailey, another Dollar General employee. Dennis Long of Montgomery, Ala., Dollar Generals director of loss prevention for the Southeast, said that helping the Salvation Army enriches the lives of the volunteers by giving back to the local community and children. Kim Rominger of northern Davidson County said the volunteers have captured the spirit of Christmas. I want to see children being happy, waking up and seeing something from Santa Claus, she said. Everyone deserves something. WWAY-TV in Wilmington reports the Bradley Creek Health Center at Carolina Bay circulated a community calendar Dec. 1 with a Christmas greeting card from the 1920s. The calendar featured the image of a black woman portrayed as a "mammy," a slave who took care of white children. Dictionary.com notes the term is "disparaging and offensive." Officials of the community said they weren't aware of the image, adding there was no approval process for the calendar. They said the calendars were immediately removed, adding, "the thoughtless choice by one employee to use this image is not in any way a reflection of this organization's values or culture." WASHINGTON The great Simeon Booker, one of the bravest journalists of our time, faced dangers far worse than a petulant presidents social media feed. Booker refused to be cowed and ultimately helped change the nation. His lifes work should be a lesson to us all about the power of truth to vanquish evil. Booker died Sunday at 99. At the height of his career, few could have imagined he would live so long. As Washington bureau chief for the Chicago-based Johnson Publications, publisher of the newsweekly Jet and the monthly magazine Ebony, Booker went to the Deep South to cover the most tumultuous events of the civil rights movement life-threatening work for an African-American journalist. In 1961, he accompanied the Freedom Riders on a bus journey from Washington to New Orleans, testing whether Southern states would comply with a federal mandate against segregated interstate travel. In Alabama, the protesters were firebombed once and beaten twice by white mobs before federal officials, acting on orders from attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, flew them to safety. Booker covered the seminal 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. He was there when Alabama state troopers savagely attacked demonstrators with billy clubs and police dogs images that shocked the nation and helped shift public opinion outside of the South from indifference to outrage. As The Washington Post reported in its obituary, Booker returned many times to the South to report on the struggle: For his safety, he sometimes posed as a minister, carrying a Bible under his arm. Other times, he discarded his usual suit and bow tie for overalls to look the part of a sharecropper. Once, in an incident retold when Mr. Booker was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2013, he escaped a mob by riding in the back of a hearse. Booker was the Posts first full-time black reporter, hired by publisher Philip Graham, who gave him an admonition similar to the one Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey had given to Jackie Robinson: If you can take it, Im willing to gamble. Washington was a segregated city in 1952 Booker recalled that when he went out to cover a robbery, they thought I was one of the damn holdup men and ultimately he found the work unsatisfying. In 1954, Johnson Publications offered him the bureau chief job, and he took it. He kept it for five decades. Booker is best known for the story he wrote for Jet about Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager brutally slain in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. In Chicago at the time, Booker tracked down Tills mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and was with her when Tills mutilated body arrived. Booker wrote: Her face wet with tears, she leaned over the body, just removed from a rubber bag in a Chicago funeral home, and cried out, Darling, you have not died in vain. Your life has been sacrificed for something. Jet photographer David Jackson took photographs of Tills brutalized body that remain among the most searing and indelible images of the century. Bookers death comes at a moment when journalism and the civic necessity it seeks to provide truth are under assault. President Trump and his amen chorus are cynically trying to delegitimize news organizations whose work they find inconvenient. They seek to deny the existence of objective, ascertainable fact. Trump goes so far as to use his Twitter feed, with its millions of followers, to attack individual reporters and demand they be fired. Journalisms response must be to tell the president politely, with all due respect to the office to stuff it. There are facts. There is truth. We try our best to get everything right, but of course we sometimes make errors. When we do, we must correct them promptly and fully and move on. The only fake news is the self-serving rubbish Trump tries to peddle through insistent repetition. No matter how often he lies, it is our job to call him on his lying. Every single time. One of the medias most important roles in our democracy is to hold public officials accountable, and if they dont like it, too bad. When they lash out at us viciously and unfairly, as Trump so often does, we should remember all the brave journalists who have faced much worse. More than once, Simeon Booker had to escape from Southern towns where white vigilante mobs were on the prowl to get that man from Jet. We should be able to withstand a few nasty tweets. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov is in NATO headquarters, where he will hold talks with the Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg, the press service of the National Security and Defense Council said. The program of the visit envisages the participation of the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and the NATO Secretary General in the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, where Turchynov will deliver a comprehensive report on the security situation in Eastern Europe and counteracting Russian aggression. The NSDC Secretary's meeting with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Chief of Staff General Markus Kneip is also scheduled. It is also planned that Turchynov will visit the Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Center and the NATO Headquarters Situation Center. The phones of House and Senate leaders are ringing off the hook right now, as CEOs and wealthy donors lobby them furiously to lower the top income-tax rate and insert costly carve-outs into the GOP tax bill to protect their business tax preferences. Too bad regular taxpayers dont have a direct line to the conferees hammering out the final bill to plead their cases. Because it seems as though they have been forgotten. Case in point: At the last minute, Senate Republicans changed their version of the tax bill to keep the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) a pernicious parallel tax code that they had promised to scrap that requires corporations and millions of individuals to calculate their taxes twice and pay whichever rate is higher. On hearing the news, corporate lobbyists swung into action, pressing GOP leaders to get rid of the corporate AMT in the final bill. And their efforts seem to be paying off. The corporate AMT has to be eliminated, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Monday. But what about individuals? Who is championing AMT repeal for them? Enter Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is fighting to get the individual AMT removed from the final tax reform bill as well. Repeal of the individual AMT has been a fundamental element of Republican tax reform campaign promises for years, he told me. By leaving the individual AMT in place, we would be punishing hardworking Americans and doing virtually nothing to simplify the tax code. Burr is right. Congress created the AMT in 1969 after the Treasury Department reported that 155 high-income filers were using tax breaks to avoid paying any income taxes. In 1970, it affected only 20,000 very high-income taxpayers. But today, the number of people impacted has ballooned to 5.2 million. Most of those who currently pay the AMT are not from the highest-income households for which the tax was intended, but the middle and upper-middle class folks who have enough money to be a ripe target of revenue raisers, but not enough to have influence on Capitol Hill. They are mostly two-earner households with mortgages to pay, who give to charity and have children. The AMT also hits the families of our fallen warriors. According to Burr, children who receive an annuity from the Uniformed Services Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) can see the AMT eat up as much as 26 percent of their benefit. No Republican tax bill should punish individuals like these especially not to pay for tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest among us. Members of the Trump administration know that the AMT is a horrible tax. In 2006, Kevin Hassett now chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers called the AMT an economic abomination and urged Congress to erase it from the tax code completely. Yet instead of erasing it, Republicans are retaining it. Keeping the individual AMT means many Americans will see no tax cut under the GOP bill, Burr says. It defeats the entire purpose of tax reform. GOP leaders promised to make the tax code simpler and fairer. But the AMT increases tax complexity and raises compliance costs for 10 million American taxpayers, who must calculate their taxes using two separate systems every year and then pay whichever rate is the highest. That is not simple or fair. It is obscene. GOP leaders are focused on passing corporate tax cuts to fuel economic growth, which is a good thing. But they seem to have lost sight of the fact that reducing taxes for individuals is important, too. According to the Tax Policy Center, even before the AMT retention, 1 in 4 Americans will not get any tax cut under the Senate bill, and 14 percent of middle-class Americans will get a tax increase of $1,170. That is a problem for the GOP. If Americans see the GOP borrowing $1.5 trillion to pay for tax cuts, and they end up getting either no tax cut or paying more next year, they will punish Republicans at the polls. Instead of more carve-outs for corporations and fat-cat donors, Republicans should give tax relief to more individuals, especially the middle class. Will Burr vote no on final passage if the individual AMT is not repealed? He hopes it wont come to that. I am confident the House and Senate conferees will fix the individual AMT in the final tax reform bill, he says. Lets hope hes right. If Republicans get rid of the AMT for corporations, but not for individuals, that will send a clear message to American voters about where the GOPs interests lie. With unemployment at a 17-year low and the stock market at an all-time high, 2.2 million new jobs created in 11 months, pro-U.S. Constitution judges packing the justice system, and Planned Parenthood under investigation, it's fair to say Christmas came early this year. We have so many blessings for which to be thankful, most of which weren't even on our wish lists: The Clinton Dynasty is dead. Santa delivered this gift early with a Clark Griswold-sized red bow after 40 years of lies, scandals and corruption. The former philanderer-in-chief and his crooked, no-good, lying, scandalous sidekick are finally banished from politics. Hallelujah! Amen! Praise the Lord and pass the green bean casserole! Every time Democrats accuse Republicans of something, it boomerangs back. Democrats' Russia collusion accusations backfired, now their sticky fingerprints are everywhere, from the Obama administration gifting Russia with 20 percent of America's uranium to the fake and felonious Fusion GPS Trump dossier. For more than a year, Democrats barked about Trump and Russia collusion while they were secretly sleeping with the dogs by cuddling with the Kremlin. Democrats' efforts to sink a sitting president has sunk them. If Clinton had won, it would be status quo in leftist world and the sexual harassment scandals now exposed would've remained under the covers, literally. Democrats would have continued sexually assaulting one another like it was normal. Harvey Weinstein would still be their best bud and Matt Lauer would have stayed at his job with his finger poised on the "secret" door-lock button. It's the hap-hap-happiest Christmas, ever, because the light of truth finally shined on the Democratic Party to expose that it isn't the party of women after all. President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Christmas song "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" takes on special significance this year, thanks to Trump's acknowledgement. Trump said doing so is "nothing more or less than a recognition of reality," but Democrats have turned it into a "full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency," as Clark Griswold might say. They are running around bah-humbugging Trump while the rest of us break out in the Hallelujah chorus because we finally have a president who has intestinal fortitude, something that has been absent for decades. The left is upset that their made-up version of "history" was all but run over by a reindeer. Rejoice, for the light of truth has exposed the mainstream media. Most of the mainstream media's coverage of Trump during and after the election was as unfair, unbalanced and hypocritical as The Washington Post's new slogan: "Democracy Dies in Darkness." Their dishonest antics exposed them as leftist tools whose news "reporting" is about as intelligent as Griswold's cousin Eddie who admitted he had "nothing between the ground and [his] brains but a piece of government plastic." Here's a better motto for the mainstream media: Truth Lives in Light -- Report It. Much of what we could possibly want for Christmas has been delivered to us by an unexpected and unlikely "Santa" who is really no Santa at all. Deck those halls, ya'll, it's no coincidence that Trump's presidency is being divinely used to shake up and wake up America by exposing deep-seated perversion, darkness and corruption. God once spoke through a jackass, so he can surely use an elephant to get his point across. Have yourselves a Merry Christmas, folks, because that flawed guy with funny tweets is being used by God to bring about good. A boat in Germany is the first in the world to run on a new type of electric engine, The Associated Press reported recently. Its powered by a fuel cell that operates in part by drawing carbon out of the air and turning it into methanol. Its an innovative development with promising implications for the environment. It could also lead to large profits. Scientific research often leads to innovations that produce financial rewards as well as job prospects and health improvements for the populace at large. It also gives countries bragging rights. Other countries are now investing in the kind of cutting-edge technological research that America has done best in the past. Germany and Denmark are making advances in clean-energy technology. Switzerland hosts the worlds largest particle collider. But the new big dog may be China, which is investing heavily in scientific research, including renewable energy and biotechnology. It has announced that it plans to be a science powerhouse by 2020, the BBC reported last year. The U.S. Congress, on the other hand, has for several years threatened to limit investment in research funding for agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. At odds with the climate science consensus that the rest of the world recognizes, Republicans in Congress are working to limit even the mere collection of data by organizations like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We wont remain at the forefront if we dont even have the data. Scientific research does continue in the U.S., and innovations continue to emerge. But while other countries innovators are supported by their governments, ours seems to want to step back and leave it to the private sector. That puts us at a disadvantage. Scientific research results in world leadership across many areas: defense, energy production and the promotion of national values. Our ability to lead the world in scientific discoveries tells them that the American way with an emphasis on democracy, opportunity and equal rights is superior to other forms of government. If America wants to lead the world, it must invest in science. Amnesty International on Monday accused [report, PDF] EU member states of being complicit in the abuse and torture of refugees and migrants that have journeyed across Africa and are now being detained in Libya. The Libyan coastguard, detention authorities and smugglers are allegedly colluding with each other to keep hundreds of thousands of migrants trapped in the country for financial gain. Amnesty claims support from the EU is a part of their plan to curb the scale of a political problem high arrivals cause to EU governments through the reduction of African immigrants crossing the Mediterranean. Italy, which has not received help with relocating the influx of asylum seekers [JURIST report] who have settled within their borders, is allegedly spearheading the plan. They, along with other European nations, are accused of using their funds to provide ships and training to the Libyan coastguard so that they are better equipped to intercept and arrest anyone who attempts to leave the country by sea. The EU claims that their work to help migrants has done more good than harm, but, according to the report, not only have the funds been used to benefit the militias and smugglers connected with the Libyan coastguard, they have been used to endanger the lives of migrants. Footage and documents reviewed [Amnesty press release] by Amnesty indicates that the Libyan coastguards reckless use of one of the boats Italy donated last April resulted in the death of 50 migrants. This is part of the reason why John Dalhuisen, the director of Europe and Central Asias Amnesty International chapters, believes the EU is complicit in the grave human rights violation being committed by Libyan officials. In the report he wrote: Refugees and migrants are routinely exposed to human rights violations committed by Libyan officials and security forces and abuses at the hands of armed groups and criminal gangs [] EU and Italian officials cannot plausibly claim to be unaware of the grave violations being committed by some of the detention officials and LCG agents with whom they are so assiduously co-operating. Nor can they credibly claim to have insisted on key rights protection mechanisms and guarantees from their Libyan counterparts, as, in reality, they have not done so. They are, as a result, complicit in these abuses and in breach of their own human rights obligations. Dalhuisen says that it is imperative for European governments to rethink their relationship with Libyan officials and enable legal pathways for people to migrate to Europe. The release of this report follows the joint statement the European Union made with the African Union condemning [JURIST report] the footage of human traffickers selling migrants as slaves. The Trump administration on Monday appealed the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] order that denied [text, PDF] a request to delay the preliminary injunction blocking President Donald Trumps transgender military ban, originally set to take effect January 1. The appeal [text, PDF] follows US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotellys Monday ruling [JURIST report], which rejected [order, PDF] the governments claims finding it had not met its burden in seeking a stay of the preliminary injunction. The government argued that the moving party will likely succeed on appeal, that it will suffer irreparable harm, that the other parties will not be substantially harmed, and that the public interest favors the stay. The court also rejected the governments claim that the case presented an emergency situation. On appeal, the government raises many of the same claims it did in the first motion. In resolving this issue, the government offers two options for the court: First, it could rule that there is no basis for preventing Secretary Mattis from exercising his own discretion to defer adopting the Carter policy for a limited time while the military completes its study or implements the change, as he did in June 2017. Second, it could hold that the nationwide scope of the district courts injunction is inappropriate when only two of the plaintiffs claim that the accession directive will affect them (eventually). In total, the transgender military ban is being heard in three federal courts, all of which have granted preliminary injunctions and rejected the governments push-back. The Department of Defense and Department of Justice have said [NPR report] the government will comply with the preliminary injunctions. Gambias truth commission bill, to be debated on December 13, 2017, is an important opportunity to shed light on human rights violations committed during the rule of former President Yahya Jammeh, Human Rights Watch said today. The National Assembly should amend the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission bill to prohibit amnesties for those responsible for extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, rape, or torture, in accordance with international law and practice. Gambia will greatly benefit from a truth-telling process that shines light on Jammehs abuses, said Jim Wormington, West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. Gambian victims deserve a truth commission that gives them a platform to tell their stories and lays the groundwork for those most responsible for grave crimes to face justice. The proposed 11-person truth commission will document human rights abuses during Jammehs two-decade rule, which ended when he left for exile in January after losing a December 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow. The bill permits the commission to grant amnesties to perpetrators who testify truthfully about their role in abuses. While it precludes amnesties for acts that form part of a crime against humanity, it does not rule them out for other serious crimes under international law. Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou put forward the truth commission legislation after conducting a countrywide consultation process in August. The government also consulted widely with domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch. In appointing commissioners, the bill requires Barrow to consult with a range of civil society groups, including victims organizations, as well as to consider Gambias geographical, regional, and gender diversity. Identifying the right commissioners will be essential for the truth commission to be viewed as independent, impartial, and competent, Human Rights Watch said. Tambadou told Human Rights Watch that the government will offer individuals the opportunity of an amnesty to encourage them to come forward to disclose their role in past abuses. The bills preamble states, It is important to have an accurate and impartial historical record of the violations, [and] document them for posterity to ensure that never again do we encounter a reoccurrence of such abuses. The commission plans to hold public hearings and publish a final report, with the government required to issue a white paper within six months describing how it will implement the reports recommendations. The bill itself acknowledges that responding to Gambias legacy of human rights violations also means addressing the countrys culture of impunity. It empowers the commission to identify and recommend for prosecution the persons who bear the greatest responsibility for human rights violations and other abuses. However, by permitting amnesties for serious crimes that do not amount to crimes against humanity, the law could prevent many Gambian victims from seeking justice, Human Rights Watch said. As the truth commission advances, the government should also consider whether and how the commission should share evidence with Gambian police and prosecutors investigating grave crimes, Human Rights Watch said. The justice ministry should consider negotiating a formal memorandum of understanding between the truth commission and public prosecutors that sets out how the commission will provide guidance to investigators while preserving the confidentiality of victims and witnesses. Gambias truth commission is the first step in efforts to bring justice to victims and hold those responsible for serious crimes accountable, Wormington said. Gambias international partners should assist the government to ensure that the commission achieves its important aims. In October, Human Rights Watch and Gambian and international groups launched the Campaign to Bring Yahya Jammeh and his Accomplices to Justice (#Jammeh2Justice) to press for Jammeh, as well as those who bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes of his government, to be brought to trial with all due process guarantees. Jammeh now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Authorities in Burundi have been holding a human rights activist since November 21, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately release the activist, Nestor Nibitanga, or charge him with a credible offense. The police accused Nibitanga, via twitter, of threatening state security. Nibitanga was arrested at his home in Gitega province and taken to the headquarters of the national intelligence service (Service national de renseignement, SNR), in Bujumbura, the capital. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented numerous cases of torture of detainees there. He was held incommunicado, without charge and without access to his family or a lawyer until December 4. He was then transferred to an official jail in Rumonge, south of Bujumbura, where he remains. Nibitangas arrest is just the latest in a broader crackdown on independent human rights activists and journalists in Burundi, said Ida Sawyer, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. While many independent activists and journalists in Burundi have been forced into exile, the arrest of Nibitanga sends a chilling message to the few who have remained behind that they stay at their own peril. Former detainees at the intelligence headquarters have told Human Rights Watch about being unlawfully detained and tortured there in recent years. They said SNR agents beat alleged opposition sympathizers with hammers and steel construction bars, drove sharpened steel rods into their legs, dripped melting plastic on them, tied cords around mens genitals, and used electric shocks. Nibitanga was the regional observer for the central and eastern parts of the country for the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (Association pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes detenues, APRODH), the leading Burundian human rights organization, before the government shut it down in October 2016. His job included coordinating staff and collecting information on human rights violations in four provinces: Gitega, Cankuzo, Ruyigi, and Karuzi. He also made routine visits to detention centers. Nibitangas arrest follows that of Germain Rukuki, a former member of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Burundi (ACAT-Burundi) in July 2017. ACAT-Burundi was also closed in October 2016. Rukuki was also first held by the SNR before being transferred to Ngozi prison. He was later accused of undermining state security and rebellion. Rukuki was denied bail and remains in Ngozi prison, awaiting trial. a pattern of government crackdowns against opponents These recent arrests follow a pattern of government crackdowns against opponents, critics, journalists, and human rights defenders since early 2015, after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a controversial third term. Since then, many leading Burundian human rights defenders and independent journalists fled the country for their security. In August 2015, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, the president of APRODH, was shot in the face and neck by an unidentified assailant while driving home from the organizations office. Mbonimpa had been arrested in May 2014 and charged with endangering state security, in connection with remarks he had made on the radio. After he became seriously ill, he was provisionally released on medical grounds, but the charges against him were not dropped. Journalists have also been punished simply for broadcasting information on controversial or sensitive issues. Since 2015, authorities have arrested numerous journalists and ransacked media offices. Jean Bigirimana, a journalist for the Iwacu newspaper, has been missing since July 2016. He was rumored to have been arrested by intelligence agents. Hundreds of people have been abducted, disappeared, reported missing, or found dead in mysterious circumstances in Burundi since 2015. The government very rarely investigates these cases. In this tense climate, Burundis cabinet in November backed changes to the constitution that would allow Nkurunziza to run for additional terms. In September, a UN-mandated commission of inquiry indicated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in Burundi, including murder, torture, rape, imprisonment, and persecution, against a backdrop of almost total impunity. In November, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into crimes committed there. The authorities targeting of activists and journalists shows how far they are willing to go to silence those who might dare to speak out, Sawyer said. Burundis international partners should press the government to allow journalists and activists to do their work freely, and to stop illegal detention and torture by the intelligence agency. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the plan of measures for 2017-2029 on the implementation of the concept of implementing the state policy in the field of reforming the general secondary education "New Ukrainian School." The corresponding decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. "This plan of measures clearly defines all necessary measures, in particular, the adoption of new state standards, the printing of new modern textbooks, the introduction of new conceptual bases for the new system of training and professional growth of teachers," Minister of Education and Science Lilia Hrynevych said at a government meeting. It is also planned to create a new school structure. UN prosecutors will Wednesday seek to overturn the surprise acquittal of Serbia's Vojislav Seselj, with the firebrand politician set to snub the court, dubbed this week "a theatre of the absurd." The appeal hearing in the Seselj case comes after several blows for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its hopes for justice for the victims. Those setbacks included the dramatic live suicide of former Bosnian Croat military commander Slobodan Praljak. In late November he swallowed cyanide in the courtroom in scenes beamed around the world just after judges upheld his 20-year jail term for war crimes -- their last sentence before the ICTY closes this month. The building, which houses the tribunal's successor, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), is now part of a crime scene for Dutch investigators. Just a week earlier, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic had to be dragged from the court during an angry outburst as he was jailed for life for genocide, among other charges. The man, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", has announced his intention to appeal. Set up in 1993, the ICTY has successfully prosecuted dozens of those responsible for the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. But hopes of bringing reconciliation to the bitterly divided region are far from having materialised. In a fresh sign of the bitter tensions, about 2,000 people packed a public memorial in Zagreb on Monday to honour Praljak hailing him as a hero. "No one can compare to a great man like Slobodan," said Miroslav Tudjman, an MP of Croatia's conservative HDZ party and son of late Croatian nationalist Franjo Tudjman. He slammed the UN judges as "incompetent and irresponsible" and said the court is "a parody, a theatre of the absurd". - Contempt - Seselj has done nothing to hide his own contempt for the tribunal. "I have nothing to do with the court in The Hague," he told AFP in Belgrade, adding he had spent 12 years in the city "waiting for the court to prove the charges against me". "Since I was acquitted in the first instance, I do not see what is left for this mechanism, what it can do with my verdict," added Seselj, now a member of the Serbian parliament with his Serbian Radical Party. He plans to be absent Wednesday when from 1200 GMT judges at the MICT hear oral arguments by prosecutors, who insist Seselj was behind the murders of many Croats, Muslims and other non-Serb civilians in an unrelenting quest to create a "Greater Serbia". Prosecutors are appealing after the first judges last year found Seselj, 63, not guilty on nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In their majority ruling, the judges said the prosecution had failed to prove "there was a widespread systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina." Prosecutors also failed to prove any "causal link" between Seselj's fiery speeches and the wave of atrocities, they ruled. When he told his troops during the deadly three-month siege of the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991 "to spare no one", he was merely "participating in the war effort by galvanising Serb forces," the judges concluded. - No reasoning - Seselj hailed his acquittal as "honourable and fair", but the verdict left prosecutors baffled. Experts said the judgement overturned international law and rewrote the history of the Balkans conflicts, triggered as Yugoslavia broke apart in 1991 following the fall of communism. In an unusually strong dissenting opinion, Italian judge Flavia Lattanzi said her two fellow judges used "insufficient reasoning, or no reasoning at all" in their findings. Prosecutors have appealed the acquittal on two grounds: namely that the trial judges "failed to give a reasoned judgement" and that they "erred in fact by acquitting the accused." A ruling is due in early 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a step was made. Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In an angry address, Abbas warned that the United States has lost its role as the mediator in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, denouncing Washington as biased in favour of the Jewish state. Erdogan -- who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause -- denounced Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror", in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership. "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," he said. Erdogan added: "I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand. - 'No more role for US' - Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. "Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state... There will be no peace, no stability without that," Abbas said. He slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, will be hoping to unite often feuding Muslim leaders into a tough final statement on the move by Trump. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu early Wednesday indicated that Ankara would be pushing for OIC states to, in a counter move, recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. "We will never be silent," he said, urging countries to recognise Palestine on the basis of its 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital. - Saudi snub? - But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran is far from easy, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti-Washington OIC statement. Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures. Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, told AFP he believed Muslim leaders would merely "issue a boiler-plate condemnation". Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. The level of Saudi representation -- critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility -- was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine," seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel and has dire relations with Saudi Arabia. But as the summit was being held, Saudi King Salman in Riyadh echoed the calls over Jerusalem, saying it was the "right" of the Palestinians to establish "their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy. Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel as the capital of their future state. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide and war crimes, attended Wednesday an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic group in Istanbul. Bashir was among leaders who responded to a call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the meeting after US President Donald Trump outraged the Islamic world with his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Images showed Bashir warmly greeted by Erdogan and then attending the family photo and summit plenary session in traditional dress. Sudan's deadly conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN says at least 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced as a result of the conflict. Top Sudanese officials including Bashir now claim that the conflict has ended, but the region continues to see regular fighting between numerous ethnic and tribal groups. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict, charges he denies. Erdogan had while serving as prime minister in November 2009 defended Bashir against the charges, saying "a Muslim could not commit genocide, he is not capable of it". However Bashir scrapped a plan that month to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey after the EU pressured Ankara over his attendance. Turkey at the time pointed out it is not a signatory to the treaty, which set up the Hague-based ICC. Wednesday's meeting is the first time that Bashir has visited Turkey since that controversy, and there have been no reports of such pressure concerning his current appearance. Bashir most recently visited Russia on November 23 where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the emergency summit in Istanbul, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population, but is a bitter critic of US policy. Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States. But their final statement declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital." They declared Trump's decision "null and void legally" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts" that would give impetus to "extremism and terrorism." Jerusalem's status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel as the capital of their future state. Erdogan -- who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause -- denounced Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror", in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership. "With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even," said Erdogan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC. He said all countries who "value international law and fairness" should recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine," saying Islamic countries would "never give up" on this demand. - 'No more role for US' - Using unusually strong language, Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. Moreover, he said that with Trump's move the United States had withdrawn itself from a traditional role as the mediator in the search for Mideast peace. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. The final statement from the OIC echoed this sentiment, saying Trump's move was "an announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace" in the Middle East. Abbas slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a "gift" to the "Zionist movement" as if he "were giving away an American city," adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. - Saudi snub? - But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran was always a tall order, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti-Washington OIC statement. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. The level of Saudi representation -- critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility -- was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine," seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel and has dire relations with Saudi Arabia. But as the summit was being held, Saudi King Salman in Riyadh echoed the calls over Jerusalem, saying it was the "right" of the Palestinians to establish "their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded UN prosecutors Wednesday sought to overturn the surprise acquittal on war crimes charges of an ultranationalist Serbian politician, arguing last year's ruling had been deeply flawed. "Your Honours, justice has not been done in the case against Vojislav Seselj," said prosecutor Mathias Marcussen, adding his office had "identified numerous errors" in the 2016 ruling which found Seselj not guilty on nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seselj himself snubbed the appeal hearing, which comes after several recent blows for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its work to prosecute those behind the atrocities of the 1990s Balkans wars. The setbacks included the dramatic suicide of former Bosnian Croat military commander Slobodan Praljak, who swallowed cyanide in the courtroom in late November just after judges upheld his 20-year jail term for war crimes. A week earlier, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic had to be dragged from the courtroom during an angry outburst as he was jailed for life for genocide, among other charges. The "stunning" judgement against Seselj was not up to the tribunal's standards and "must be quashed. Letting it stand will undermine the credibility both of the ICTY" and its successor, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Marcussen told the five appeals judges on Wednesday. Set up in 1993, the ICTY has successfully prosecuted dozens of those responsible for the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. But hopes of bringing reconciliation to the bitterly divided region remain distant. - 'Theatre of the absurd' - In a sign of lasting tensions, about 2,000 people packed a public memorial in Zagreb on Monday to honour Praljak as a hero. Addressing the event, Miroslav Tudjman, a lawmaker of Croatia's conservative HDZ party and son of the late Croatian nationalist Franjo Tudjman, slammed the UN judges as "incompetent and irresponsible" and said the court is "a parody, a theatre of the absurd". Seselj, 63, now a member of the Serbian parliament with his Serbian Radical Party, has done little to hide his contempt for the tribunal, and refused to travel back from Belgrade for the hearing. "Since I was acquitted in the first instance, I do not see what is left for this mechanism, what it can do with my verdict," Seselj told AFP. But prosecutors insist Seselj was behind the murders of many Croats, Muslims and other non-Serb civilians in an unrelenting quest to create a "Greater Serbia" in the 1990s. In their majority ruling in March 2016, trial judges said the prosecution failed to prove "there was a widespread systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina." - 'Vast crimes' - But on Wednesday, the prosecution hit back that this was a "stunning finding" which was "at odds with dozens of other judgements rendered at the ICTY." "The majority failed to consider the vast body of evidence" of crimes committed in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, Marcussen said. He also disputed findings that the prosecution failed to prove any "causal link" between Seselj's fiery speeches and the wave of atrocities. "It is clear from the totality of the evidence that there was an increase in the acts of violence" following Seselj's speeches, he told Wednesday's hearing, which lasted barely just over an hour. Experts said last year's judgement had overturned international law and rewritten the history of the Balkan conflicts, triggered as Yugoslavia broke apart in 1991 following the fall of communism. The court's chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz has insisted that "in large measure, the ICTY has achieved what it set out to do" by investigating crimes and prosecuting top officials. But he agreed at a Washington think-tank talk on Tuesday that reconciliation remained elusive, saying the tribunal's legacy would not be measured by its own work but by "whether the countries of the former Yugoslavia build the rule of law". A ruling in the Seselj appeal is due in early 2018. A dozen militiamen in eastern DR Congo were jailed for life Wednesday for raping about 40 children, including a baby, in what was judged a crime against humanity. The defendants were said to belong to a militia group called "Djeshi ya Yesu" -- meaning "Army of Jesus" in Swahili -- led by South Kivu provincial lawmaker Frederic Batumike. The children, ranging from babies aged just eight months to a 12-year-old girl, were kidnapped and raped between 2013 and 2016. A large crowd gathered in the area before Batumike and the 11 others were convicted by the military tribunal and "sentenced to life in prison for the crime against humanity by rape and murder". The verdict was delivered in a packed courtroom, concluding a trial that began on November 9 in Kavumu, South Kivu. The sentences are considered a victory for campaigners fighting a culture of impunity often said to exist against the pursuit of justice for victims of sexual crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "For too long those who commit rape in the Congo have thought they were invincible," said Physicians Against Human Rights, an NGO. "Slowly, there are signs that impunity is not inevitable." Many of the assaults happened at night, according to Congolese surgeon Denis Mukwege, who had sounded the alarm. 'Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged world powers to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the "State of Palestine", as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned that the United States no longer had a role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened an emergency summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Istanbul, seeking a tough response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing any concrete sanction against Israel or the United States. But their final statement declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital." - 'Null and void - They declared Trump's decision "null and void legally" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts" that would give impetus to "extremism and terrorism". The status of Jerusalem, a city considered holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims, is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel, as the capital of their future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response that he was "not impressed" by the OIC statements. "The Palestinians would do better by recognising reality and acting in favour of peace and not extremism," Netanyahu said. Erdogan, who sees himself a champion of the Palestinian cause, sought to underline his point with a powerpoint map presentation, flashing a laser pointer at how Palestinian territory had shrunk since the 1948 creation of Israel. "The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine," he said. "Mr Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality," said Erdogan, the current OIC chairman. - 'No more role for US' - Using unusually strong language and bitterly anti-American rhetoric, Abbas warned that there could be "no peace or stability" in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. He added that Trump's move had withdrawn the United States from its traditional role as Mideast peace mediator. "We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel," he said. The final OIC statement echoed his words, saying Trump's move was "an announcement of the US administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace". Successive US administrations have sought unsuccessfully to broker a final peace deal since the 1990s Oslo accords. Trump, too, is working on such an offer through his son-in-law Jared Kushner. - Saudi snub? - But bridging the gaps between 57 OIC member states -- which include archrivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran -- was always a tall order. Key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington by putting their name to anti-American measures. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun were among the heads of state present, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. But there was no sign of Saudi King Salman or his powerful crown prince and son Mohammed bin Salman, who has reportedly been in close contact with Trump over the Middle East. Instead, Riyadh sent a senior foreign ministry official. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine," seethed Rouhani, whose country does not recognise Israel. But as the summit was being held, King Salman echoed the calls over Jerusalem in an address in Riyadh, saying it was the "right" of the Palestinians to establish "their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital". Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance and warmly greeted by Erdogan. A surprise guest was Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose country has no significant Muslim population but is a bitter critic of US policy. Trump's announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce Israel and show solidarity with Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded. Flint Hills Children's Choir "O Holy Night: Christmas Around the World" 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17 Buy tickets The Flint Hills Children's Choir,or FHCC, a youth organization formed in 2015, serves girls and boys in grades 3-10 who live in the Greater Manhattan area. It offers an outstanding program of vocal training and music education. FHCC was developed by two local music educators: Janet Armstead, a retired music educator from St. George Elementary, and Janie Brokenicky, who is currently in vocal instruction at Kansas State University and a former music educator at the middle and secondary level. Their vision is to provide children in the Greater Manhattan area an avenue for musical growth and artistic expression as part of a team. Musically talented and motivated young people come together to produce high-quality, beautiful music from a wide variety of genres and styles. Students learn the value of leadership, self-discipline and teamwork as they join their voices in the pure, angelic tones that only talented children can achieve. Join us for an evening of holiday music experienced through dance, strings and song. This special holiday concert will feature over 100 local talented students, with guest appearances by the Gold Orchestra and Washington Dance Studio. Mark Wilson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- City officials in Charlottesville, Virginia are closing downtown streets Thursday in anticipation of scheduled court hearings for four people charged in relation to the violent "Unite the Right" rally that took place in August. James Alex Fields Jr., the driver accused of barreling a car into a crowd protesting the white nationalist rally, killing a woman and injuring several others, is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on charges relating to the rally, The Daily Progress, a local Charlottesville newspaper, reported. City officials are closing streets near Court Square in downtown Charlottesville in anticipation of crowds of people looking to attend the hearings at the Charlottesville Circuit Courthouse, the city said in a press release. Attendees will be barred from bringing any bags, backpacks, purses, electronic devices, cell phones or anything other items deemed by Charlottesville deputies as disruptive or dangerous into the courthouse, officials said. The other three men expected to appear in court Thursday are charged with discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, malicious wounding and felony assault on the day of the rally, according to court records. On Aug. 12, a group of white nationalists, which included neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members, descended onto Charlottesville for a rally spurred by the city's plans to remove a Confederate statue from a downtown park. Violence broke out as counter protesters clashed with white nationalists, prompting Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency. Amid the chaos, Fields allegedly drove a silver Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counter protesters and Charlottesville residents, tossing people into the air and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. He is charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, three counts of aggravated malicious wounding, two charges of felonious assault and failure to stop that led to death, court records show. After the deadly crash, Derek Weimer, Fields' high school history teacher, told ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO-TV that his former student was "very infatuated with the Nazis" and Adolf Hitler. Fields is currently being housed in a Virginia jail after he was denied bail in August. It is unclear if he entered a plea in the charges against him. Fields' attorney, Denise Lunsford, did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Former Georgian president, former Odesa regional governor and leader of the Movement of New Forces party, Mikheil Saakashvili, has said he does not have presidential ambitions in Ukraine, but is ready to take charge of the Cabinet of Ministers. "I am ready to assume responsibility in a normal Ukrainian government. I will never run for president of Ukraine under any sauce," Saakashvili said live on the ZIK television channel late on Tuesday, December 12. Explaining his position, the politician said that, in his opinion, only a Ukrainian who was born and grew up in Ukraine should be the head of the Ukrainian state. "I have lived for more than 13 years in Ukraine, but Ukrainians with experience should be presidents, and different people can work in the government, depending on the needs of Ukraine," he said. At the same time, he said that he had earlier received proposals from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to head the Ukrainian government, but he refused categorically. "He always hinted, probably, to [People's Front leader and former Prime Minister Arseniy] Yatseniuk all the time that I will be the next prime minister, but when I found out that he hinted, I said: 'Petro Oleksiyovych, do you really say this?' He says: 'Why not?' I said: 'No!'" Saakashvili said. In addition, when asked whether he will go to the Prosecutor General's Office on Monday, December 18, for questioning, Saakashvili said: "Yes, I will." Kyiv's Holosiyivsky District Court, at the request of the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office, has extended the arrest of two persons involved in the killing of former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov. "Under a petition from the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office, the capital's Holosiyivsky District Court extended the preventive measure in the form of detention for two men suspected of killing former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov in Kyiv on March 23, 2017. According to the court ruling, the detention of the suspects was extended until February 13 2018 inclusive," the press service of the prosecutor's office reported on Wednesday. The prosecutor's office recalled that a 36-year-old resident of Pavlograd in Dnipropetrovsk region (an accomplice in the murder who acted as a driver), as well as his 39-year-old accomplice, a native of Kherson region who participated in organizing the crime and directly tracked Voronenkov, had been informed about suspicion under paragraph 12, Part 2, Article 115 (premeditated murder committed by preliminary collusion by a group of individuals) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings continues and is at the final stage. The names of two persons involved are not mentioned in the report. According to earlier reports, Voronenkov was killed in central Kyiv on March 23. The assassin, Pavlo Parshov, was wounded by the former deputy's security guard and later died at a hospital. Voronenkov's assassin had an accomplice, Yaroslav Levenets, who has been wanted for economic crimes since 2012. Yaroslav Tarasenko is also a suspect in the crime. He was detained on July 16. In October 2017, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that two persons involved in the case Oleksandr Los and Yaroslav Tarasenko had been arrested and are in jail; and two more are on the wanted list, particularly Yaroslav Levenets and Yuriy Vasylenko, the leader of a criminal group. He also said that Voronenkov's murder had been ordered by a criminal boss controlled by the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), Vladimir Tyurin, who is also the former common-law partner of Voronkov's widow Maria Maksakova. Representatives of the Georgian opposition are demanding that the country's administration stop "political persecution" of the republic's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. "A trial of the case involving abuse of office by President Saakashvili, who pardoned four police officers in 2009, is now taking place in the Tbilisi City Court. A president has a constitutional right to pardon a prisoner and this right can only be contested in North Korea. We demand that the political persecution of Saakashvili in Georgia stop," Roman Gotsiridze, a member of an opposition faction of the parliament, said at the parliament session on Wednesday. The Tbilisi City Court is currently trying two cases against Mikheil Saakashvili: abuse of office by the president in 2009, when he pardoned four police officers convicted of killing bank employee Sandro Girgvliani, and an assault on parliamentarian Valery Gelashvili in 2005. Saakashvili is also involved in another two cases: a case involving the dispersal of an opposition rally and the takeover of the television company Imedi in 2007 and a case involving embezzlement of state funds. The Wednesday court hearing is being held amid protests by Saakashvili supporters, who demand that all criminal charges against their leader be dropped. U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has said the territorial integrity of Ukraine needs to be restored in order to improve the Russian-American relations. "You don't need to ask the American ambassador to get a clear answer on this one, because it's a pretty simple function of international law: Crimea is Ukraine. As part of finding a new normal for the U.S.-Russia relationship, Ukraine and restoring territorial integrity of Ukraine will be absolutely critical in terms of getting us there," the ambassador said in a video posted on the Twitter account of the U.S. Embassy in Russia, when answering a question "Whose is Crimea?" Various European crises have demonstrated that the political asymmetry between centre and periphery must be reframed. We need new political cartographies. At the moment, Serbia is facing challenges of both local and global political turbulences. Economically, politically and geographically positioned between core countries of the developed West and East and the underdeveloped periphery countries, Serbia is nowadays both affecting and being affected by the critical political context of the European Union (refugee crisis, growing EU scepticism, rising nationalism and cultural separatism, rightist tendencies, etc.). Aspiring to leave the periphery and aiming to the core, our country experiences a very precarious position in Europe. Migration requires a shift in political debates from the differences between cultures to differences within the same culture. One of the most significant effects of postmodernity is the phenomenon of trans-culturality and hybridization beyond nation-centred entities. The migration from periphery to centre have challenged the cultural homogeneity of European nation states. This new historical context requires a shift in political debates from the differences between cultures to differences within the same culture. The idea of centre no longer holds: it is being dispersed as to defy dualistic or oppositional ways of thinking and to require more subtle and dynamic articulation. This provides an insightful perspective upon the role of civil society organizations and independent cultural scene in Serbia in creating active citizens agenda for rethinking modern European democracy. New political cartographies seek new political strategies, where democratic political agency is associated with an active citizenship instead of Governments and institutional representatives. Citizens defined by what they can do Citizen should no longer be defined simply as a resident whose participatory action is limited to elections. Her/his role becomes a fuel of recreating the above mentioned cartographies. And in cities, we are facing a wave of civil movements that acquire the urban agenda made by citizens themselves. Citizenship and citizenship education have been traditionally bounded to either a geographically bound nation state or a historically shared culture. It is no longer enough. We need to explore the complex role of citizenship, e.g. in the ongoing process of occupying and liberating urban spaces. That is crucial not only for advancing knowledge of how cities work, but also for allowing us to envisage new forms of urban life in a more sustainable future. The question is thus not what a citizen is, but what a citizen can do. We need to move from definitions to actions. Sharing responsibility, taking initiatives and trans-national solidarity might be a new way of re-thinking citizenship in the context of the shifting balance between the centre and periphery in Europe. Culture and art as the focus of alternative political agency A bottom-up renewal of cities and repositioning the concept of citizenship from definition to action offers alternative political agency and empowerment. Culture and art can thus serve as the main focus of that agency. In a turbulent climate culture is no longer produced by elites for the elites, but becomes a dynamic field of experimentations. Serbia is currently undergoing an integration of citizen into cultural activism. Culture itself becomes an inclusive field in which citizens do not spectate, but participate. Never before have Serbian citizens reacted this urgently and promptly to the governmental cultural politics. Since the beginning of Serbian democratic system, independent cultural sector has never gathered this large critical mass of citizens willing to protest and participate in creating their own cultural identity. In both Belgrade and smaller cities we witness an unprecedented networking amongst citizens in order to intervene with public urban space and local cultural policies. They show how urbanism, urban planning, culture and art create an active citizenship which is able to produce precise political agenda with the concrete results. Emphasizing that cities, citizens and culture are key pillars of modern democracy, Serbian local initiatives show the sense for required urban agenda by the cities and citizens themselves. Not only does the Serbian civil society fight for culture and art in order to foster the democratic foundations of society, it also uses them as subversive tools in their actions. The Serbian civil society has realized that culture is a necessary instrument and method when it comes to developing democracy and active citizenship. Not only do they fight for culture and art in order to foster the democratic foundations of society, they also use culture and art as subversive tools in their actions. Think globally , act locally Democracy was born at local levels and that is where we can win it back. Once again starting from cities, we can improve our own environments while nevertheless keeping in mind the global picture. In the era of advanced global capitalism, thinking alternatives is necessary. Postmodernism has denounced meta-narratives of Nations, Histories and Revolutions, and we need to engage ourselves in micro-activisms, rhizomatic networking amongst cities, create alternatives out of positive practices and reinvent political methodologies that can account for our current situation. Culture and art can certainly represent one of those creative methodologies. Humour, satire, parody, artistic flash mobs and interventions in public space, small guerilla actions addressed to citizens those are just some of the strategies that todays Serbian independent cultural scene uses in order to counteract the dominant political discourses and the passivity of governmental institutions. This new concept of culture implies that political task of the cultural sector should start from the bottom. On the larger scale, this implies a bold proposal of restarting Europe from the basis of culture, where culture will no longer belong to elites and the institutional establishment but be a tool in the hands of culturally and politically engaged citizens. This article is republished here in an edited version as part of an editorial cooperation with A Soul for Europe and with the permission of the author. The Ukrainian-Polish relations should not be influenced by historical events, the future should be built without mutual enmity and hatred, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "We have reached a common ground that history should not influence the strategic nature of the Ukrainian-Polish relations," Poroshenko told journalists in Kharkiv on Wednesday after the talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "We must remember heroes of the past, honor the memory of innocent victims, but we should firmly move forward. We cannot change history, but we can and we must change the present day and create better conditions for the future so that no one could plant the seed of hatred and hostility in the hearts of Ukrainians or Poles," the Ukrainian president said. Klimkin to visit New York to meet with UN secretary-general on Dec 14 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will visit New York (U.S.) on December 14 to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "Tomorrow I will go to New York, where I will have a meeting with the UN secretary-general. However, so far Russia refuses to concede to the mission that should bring peace to Donbas," Klimkin told journalists in Kharkiv on Wednesday. The Ukrainian diplomacy chief also added that Kyiv together with its partners will continue to put pressure on Russia, including through additional sanctions. Farmers clean up their equipment after harvest each year. This year, some are also polishing their resumes. The situation facing corn and soybean growers has southeast Nebraska farmer Steve Sugden looking for an off-farm job to help support his family. That includes his wife, a schoolteacher; his daughter, a University of Nebraska junior; and twin sons, freshmen in high school. The low prices farmers are fetching for their crops dont cover business costs at many operations. Average monthly prices for corn have been below $3.50 a bushel for over a year now; farmers received over $7 and in some cases over $8 in 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, Sugden said, family living expenses havent come down; just consider the cost of car insurance for those three young drivers, he said. The numbers dont lie, Sugden said. Sugden said he has farming in his blood, and hes not planning a farm sale, choosing to keep the land his family owns free and clear instead of using it as collateral on a loan to pay for next years farm operations. Sugden said hes at a crossroads. He has company. Eastern Nebraska farm auctioneers said they arent seeing an uptick in farm sales driven by financial stress, but farm finance experts said Corn Belt farmers and their bankers do face another winter of tough decisions if they want to renew operating loans and keep farming next year. Farm income plunged for three straight years from 2014, and only a slight uptick is expected this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in November. Crop revenue continues to fall, however. Livestock sales are growing. The picture can be dramatically different from one farm to the next, depending on the size of the farm, the type of crops or livestock raised, the climate and soil, marketing decisions and financial fundamentals. As many as half of farmers and ranchers are profitable this year, Nebraska Farm Bureau economist Jay Rempe said. About a third are breaking even, he said, and the rest are really struggling. Across the nation, the median farm income will drop to a loss of nearly $1,100 in 2017. In other words, most farms will lose money. And next year, belt-tightening is likely to continue, as economists forecasts call for no meaningful increases in crop prices. One of the reasons for stagnant low prices: There is a glut of grain on the market. And U.S. farmers this coming spring are expected to plant still more acres than they did this year of corn and soybeans. Competition also is growing globally. So theres no reason to expect prices to rise, economists say. Tina Barrett, executive director of Nebraska Farm Business, which consults with farmers on accounting, agreed with the Farm Bureau that theres a lot of variance from farm to farm. Some producers are doing well and merely have to focus on careful cost control, while neighbors are struggling, with loans maxed out. Those people might not be able to secure operating money for 2018, she said. Adding to the trouble were high winds that hit Nebraska cornfields in October, knocking ears of corn to the ground before they could be harvested, and putting a big dent in the amount of corn many had to show for their seasons labor, Barrett said. One northeast Nebraska banker said the wind claimed as much as 50 percent of yields in some fields. Many farmers will have to make changes to their businesses and get creative to survive, Barrett said. That might include selling equipment needed for certain farm work, and paying a contractor to do that work instead of continuing to make payments on the equipment. Or it might mean not renewing leases on some rented acres, as Sugden has chosen to do. Agribusiness analysts at lender Rabobank offered other strategies in a report this month. Those include farming on contract for a specific buyer, such as a food processor; converting to more profitable organic crops; adding acres to spread out costs; or adopting new cost-saving technologies and business management tools. Now is the time for farmers to evolve their businesses, Rabobank said, with growers expected to face low returns for the next five years. A last option is to sell, close down the farm or temporarily exit farming, the report said. That could drive further farm consolidation. Thinking through those decisions is uncomfortable but necessary, Barrett said. Sugdens situation has gotten tighter because his available land shrank. He chose not to keep leasing most of the 1,200 acres hed been farming after the owners asked more for it, citing high property taxes. But it wont pay the bills to farm just the remaining 450 acres, he said. With less land, he loses economies of scale, so costs are more per acre, and even if each acre is profitable, the total income is less. Sugden said he isnt willing to bet the farm on the chance of higher prices to cover his costs. So now hes looking for work in Lincoln or Omaha, pitching his military experience and agribusiness education. If he ends up with a short commute, he might keep farming his remaining land himself on the side. If not, he could rent it out. In any case, he listed his combine for sale, no longer able to justify the expense, which he said rose from $19 an acre to $50 an acre, given his smaller acreage. Other Iowa and Nebraska farmers are taking similarly hard looks at their businesses and at the larger economic issues that are pressuring profits. High property taxes are a target for the Nebraska Farm Bureau. In Custer County, Casey Cooksley and his family farm land that goes back five generations, a source of pride and also pressure during a downturn. Thats always in the back of your mind: How do we get through the troubled times like they did? he said. Cooksley, who also works as an agronomist for a seed company, said his family planted soybeans for the first time in decades this year, looking for a more profitable crop, part of a larger trend of U.S. farmers planting more soybean acres. (Soybeans fetch less than $9.50 a bushel today, down from more than $15 in mid-2013.) For next year, theyre considering raising beef without added hormones, so it will qualify for new markets. Others in his area are planting field peas, a newer crop for Nebraska thats been gaining in acres. And the Cooksleys are holding the line on equipment purchases, deciding this year not to buy a newer planter after all. Its not just weak prices that farmers are wrestling with. Theres plenty of uncertainty to keep them up at night, said Brad Lubben, an agriculture policy and economics professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Theres President Donald Trumps threat to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Farm groups say that would squelch demand and drive prices lower yet. Congress is due to debate the next installment of the every-five-years farm bill, which funds commodity payments and crop insurance programs. Some regulatory issues regarding farm pollution are still up in the air, as are questions about how the tax bills in Congress will be resolved. Farmers can feel theyre fighting an uphill battle, with little they can control, said Kelly Nieuwenhuis, who farms near Primghar in northwest Iowa and is active in Iowa corn and ethanol promotion groups. He tries to control what he can on the farm. He and his brothers have bought no new equipment in the past three years. They continue to invest in quality seeds and fertilizer, trying to produce the best possible crop. Owning their own farmland provides equity they can leverage for an operating loan. Two MidAmerican Energy wind turbines installed on their land in 2016 brought $22,500 this year, a help but not much compared with his total operating budget. Farmers have to be looking for new sources of income, he said. Without an improvement in markets, he sees thinning the herd ahead, with more farmers looking for new jobs and younger farmers challenged to gain a foothold. Theres a point in time where somethings going to have to give, he said. HOLDREGE Farmers in two areas of Kearney and Phelps counties with lingering high nitrate levels in groundwater must meet additional fertilizer management requirements in 2018. The Tri-Basin Natural Resources District directors approved a recommendation Tuesday in Holdrege that Blaine Township north of Axtell be moved into phase two of the districts groundwater quality management plan and an additional part of Industry Township southwest of Holdrege be moved from phase two to phase three. Tri-Basin General Manager John Thorburn told the Hub the trigger for phase two is nitrates above 9 parts per million for at least a year. Blaine Township has had such readings for three years. Areas are moved into phase three if they have been in phase two for at least 15 years and still have nitrates above 9 ppm. The Environmental Protection Agency has set 10 ppm as the maximum level for safe drinking water. Thorburn said phase two rules restrict fertilizer applications until Nov. 1. In phase three, fertilizer cant be applied until March 1. Irrigators must collect well water samples for nitrate testing in the summer and do fall soil nitrate readings for NRD reports. They also must attend a nitrogen management class or approved alternative education event annually. The boards Planning Committee had considered placing Liberty Township northeast of Minden into phase two, but Thorburn said groundwater from only two wells had been sampled. He wants to test water from more wells before a decision is made. In other business, Thorburn said he will meet Thursday with an engineer from EA Engineering of Lincoln to further review possible sites for up to three check structures in eastern Kearney Countys Sand Creek to benefit groundwater recharge. The next steps are to select site priorities so that contacts can be made with landowners. A $37,000 bid from EA Engineering to oversee design, site selection, permitting and project construction was approved at the Nov. 14 board meeting. Thorburn told the Hub the plan still is to have a water right application turned in to the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources by the end of the year for the Platte-Republican Diversion Project being developed by Tri-Basin and the Lower Republican NRD based at Alma. That project would divert excess Platte water, when available, from Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Districts E65 Canal, under Highway 23 west of Smithfield and into the east branch of Turkey Creek for transport to the Republican River. The goal is to provide water to help ensure Nebraskas compliance with the Republican River Compact. The project was approved last week by the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission for $897,300 from the Water Sustainability Fund. Thorburn said the money wont be made available until the state permit is approved. Before Tuesdays Tri-Basin board meeting, the directors discussed a possible water bank program that initially would be for areas with water quantity issues. Thorburn said he will refine the ideas discussed and bring them back to the board. He added that there would be public information meetings and a public hearing before the board could act on any water bank proposal. In other business, the board: Was told by CNPPID Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford that excess Platte flows have been pumped into Elwood Reservoir since Nov. 28 and put into the first 13 miles of the Phelps Canal since Dec. 1 to provide groundwater recharge-Platte River credits for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program. Was told by Ford that a pipeline to allow such water to flow from the Phelps Canal into the Funk Waterfowl Production Area is done. Work must be finished on inlet and outlet structures to allow the system to be used during spring migration season. Was reminded of stakeholders meetings for work on two basin integrated water management plans, with the Republican Basin meeting today in Arapahoe and the Platte Basin meeting Jan. 17 in North Platte. KEARNEY Buffalo Countys public defender position will go full time beginning in 2019, but savings to the county hasnt been determined. The Buffalo County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to make the elected position full time and said the move could reduce county expenses. Board members said that the change has been a long time coming. They discussed the possibility six years ago. Chairman of the Board Bill McMullen of Kearney said that at that time the board researched what other counties were doing. I think most counties our size have gone the way of full-time public defenders, McMullen said. I feel like weve grown to the point as a county where we need a full-time defender, commissioner Sherry Morrow of Kearney said. We built a bigger jail because we needed more space for things like that, and weve seen more court-appointed counsel for issues. Neither McMullen nor Morrow could cite how much the public defenders case load has grown. The current public defender, Jeff Wirth, said that in the last 10 years the case load has grown considerably. The deputies nowadays are much busier than when I was a deputy, said Wirth, who has been with the public defenders office since 1990. McMullen said the changes in the public defender office will save the county about $130,000 annually because the public defender and the deputy defenders will all move their office spaces to one building at 215 W. 18th St. The public defender and deputy defenders currently receive $1,000-per-month stipends to pay rent and secretaries and get additional reimbursement for office supplies, according to McMullen. He also hopes that savings will come in the form of less need for the county to contract with outside counsel. The board has yet to discuss the new salary for the position, McMullen said. Wirths earnings are set at about $54,691 in 2018, according to county records. Deputy Defender Aaron Bishop voiced his concerns at the meeting. He said the attorneys cover all of their overhead, except for postage and copies. I dont know how that youre gonna make up for all the staff and all the overhead that would need to be covered by housing the office completely within the Buffalo County government administration providing the office, providing the computers, providing the copy machines, providing all the staff, he said. Bishop said his biggest concern is about all Buffalo County defenders being housed in one building. Being in the same office, actually I think will cause more conflict cases, he said. There would be more cases where co-defendants couldnt be represented by somebody whos sharing the same office. McMullen said the board would not talk Tuesday about the specifics of how the public defender office would be run. He said after the meeting that it will be up to the appointed public defender to decide how many deputies will be needed. Wirth, who has been recovering from a 2016 car accident, said he has been working remotely from home, and he plans to run for re-election. Thats my plan at this point is to run again, you know, at least for the first term, kind of oversee the transition over to the full-time status, he said. In other matters, the county board approved 3 percent salary increases for county elected officials for each year beginning in 2019. Before determining the salary increase, McMullen said, the board spent countless hours reviewing other counties salaries. Id just like to make the comment that the leadership that we have in all of these offices and the personnel we have, I think everybody should be approved for this increase, Commissioner Joe Brayton of Kearney said. Morrow said the rapport between the board and the elected officials has been good over the years. Theyve supported us as a board over the years doing a lot of things that weve asked that are not in their job descriptions, she said. The board will vote on a resolution with the exact salaries at the Dec. 26 meeting, according to Buffalo County Administrator Lynn Martin. In other news: The board approved a special-use permit for Apex Retrievers near Elm Creek and for Daniel McKeon to run a seed corn business near Elm Creek. The board approved a community-based juvenile services grant application for $159,123. The board approved road-top maintenance for Auburn Oaks in Kearney. The board went into executive session for about 10 minutes to discuss property disposition. @erikadpritchard HOLDREGE South Platte United Chambers of Commerce leaders decided Tuesday to work on membership development and continue the organizations primary role as an advocate for regional interests. The meeting was at the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District office in Holdrege. SPUCC has been a group voice for south-central and southwest Nebraska for 83 years. An important individual voice for more than 40 of those years was silenced on Oct. 12 when SPUCC President Tim Anderson died. I think Tim did a helluva job in trying to get (SPUCC) things on track again the past couple of years, Past President Tom Hastings said. He also is the Hastings Chamber of Commerce president. Phelps County Development Executive Director Ron Tillery was elected as SPUCCs 2018 president. Re-elected officers were Kevin Poppe of Grant, vice president; Jay Hall of Red Cloud, secretary; and Jean Issler of Holdrege, treasurer and administrative assistant. A fund drive has been launched to install a bench and landscaping along the Johnson Lake Hike and Bike Trail in memory of Anderson. If the goal of $750 is surpassed, additional landscaping will be done. In other business Tuesday, a membership committee was named to review and simplify membership categories and to work on a membership development plan. A history compiled for SPUCCs 50th anniversary says the first gathering was April 4, 1934, at Holdreges Hotel Dale, with invitations sent to groups in communities south of the Platte River from the Colorado state line east to Nuckolls and Clay counties. It was attended by 140 people from 24 towns. The first official SPUCC meeting on May 3, 1934, in Oxford drew 167 members from 22 towns. In a 2015 Hub interview, Anderson said 150-200 people used to attend the second-Tuesday monthly meetings that were in area towns and featured interesting speakers and/or timely topics. Average attendance had dropped to 35-40 people, including a dozen who attend every meeting. As SPUCC leaders discussed having a 2018 reception for state senators in Lincoln, Tillery said, I think the thing that really binds our organization together is to advocate for legislation that impacts us ... and for agriculture. As legislative chairman, he had identified a date and venue for a 2018 event. Tillery said he believes sponsorships and charging a nominal fee for SPUCC members and others to attend would cover the estimated $3,500-$5,000 costs. He was instructed to check on possibility of co-sponsoring a legislative event with other regional groups the Tri-Cities or northeast Nebraska before proceeding with SPUCC reception planning. When a question was asked about bringing state senators to the South Platte region instead, Hall said there has been success with that in election years. We will not get Lincoln and Omaha senators at all, Tillery said about an event in the region. We need to go to them. A lot of legislators today dont know what SPUCC is, so thats why we need to show up (in Lincoln), Hastings added. Some SPUCC leaders recalled that legislators listened when SPUCC spoke as a regional organization years ago, but some of that standing as an advocate has been lost. I think the idea of being a voice for our region is still very important, said SPUCC Tourism Committee Chairwoman Kelly Gewecke of Kearney, a business development consultant with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. The organizations quarterly meetings will continue in 2018: the legislative event, a December planning and reorganization meeting, and spring and fall meetings focused on key topics such as community development and tourism. Other board meetings will be done with conference calls. KEARNEY With the exception of squeezing someones hand or getting up and walking around, the mannequins on board the Simulation in Motion-Nebraska lab can do just about anything a human being can do. As part of a push for career readiness, Kearney High School students experienced firsthand Tuesday afternoon the high-tech capabilities medical professionals have aboard the SIM-NE trucks to train for just about any emergency situation. We were invited out to let the high school students see how real-life medical things interact and get them interested in medical careers, said Tim Mason, site coordinator for SIM-NE. We can simulate all sorts of medical scenarios like cardiac issues, seizures, anaphylaxis, traumas, all that kind of stuff. And, hopefully, when they come out here and they actually put their hands on these mannequins that they see, Hey, the guys got a pulse and hear the heart tones and lung sounds to get them stirred up because kids these days are always interested in technology. Well this technology is out now. ... So the technology is there to maybe stir the interest and get these millennials interested in doing health care. The University of Nebraska Medical Centers 44-foot, high-tech lab is split into an emergency room and ambulance module with training mannequins on each side. The mannequins, a male and a female, are capable of simulating any medical emergency from strokes to collapsed lungs. The female is even able to give birth to a life-like mannequin infant that weighs 6 pounds. The beautiful things about these guys (mannequins) is that theyre all computer controlled, Mason told one of the groups of students over the male mannequin. Theres three different computers controlling him. Plus, we have a Macbook that we can actually control him with so we can change all sorts of things. The program is funded with a $5.5 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The mobile labs are overseen by UNMC to provide free training to rural access critical hospitals, EMTs and paramedic squads in rural areas across the state. Mason hopes that the firsthand exposure to some of the medical technology will help get students to think about their careers. Sometimes, you dont really know where you want to go or what direction you want to go, Mason said. I think some exposure and that excitement gets people there, and I think sometimes people just dont have any kind of direction. ... I think any kinds of opportunities in medical or any kind of exposure to technical trades is a great thing at an early age. I think its good exposure for anybody, said Elizabeth Roetman, vice president of the Economic Development Council of Buffalo County. Lots of kids dont know what they want to do. The Economic Development Council partnered with the high school to bring the SIM-NE truck to the KHS parking lot. I was talking to this group (of students) and I asked them, Whos interested in trauma health science and three of them raise their hand, said Angie Fransk, Kearney Public Schools career education coordinator. This will be the first thing theyve ever done other than like what they see in a textbook or they see on TV. ... Its a really good enrichment thing that we cant offer in a classroom or a textbook. @AmandaPush Canada's Standing Committee on National Defense has published a report entitled "Canada's Support to Ukraine in Crisis and Armed Conflict," which recommends that the government provide lethal weapons to Ukraine if it demonstrates active work on fighting corruption in the country. "The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada provide lethal weapons to Ukraine to protect its sovereignty from Russian aggression, provided that Ukraine demonstrate it is actively working to eliminate corruption at all levels of government," reads one of the 17 recommendations in the report. Other recommendations to the Canadian government are to engage in the exchange of intelligence sharing capabilities with Ukraine, encourage cooperation with Ukraine in the defense industry, commit to supporting Ukraine in countering hybrid aggression, in particular, against cyber attacks on government systems and critical infrastructure, and in resisting to the dissemination of foreign propaganda and disinformation through the media. The committee also recommends that the government increase Canada's contribution to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, call for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to Ukraine, and continue to provide strong military training to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and look for opportunities to expand the type of training and support provided by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) through Operation UNIFIER. One more recommendation says: "The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada announce a plan to grant visa-free travel to Canada for Ukrainians." The government is also recommended to reinstate the Youth Mobility Agreement with Ukraine to allow for qualified Ukrainians to apply for travel and work within Canada for up to one year as a means "to further enhance Canadian and Ukrainian economic and cultural cooperation." The document also contains the recommendation to Canada consider furthering Ukrainian interests at the G7 and promote relations with the Ukrainian government and the public, especially in the fight against corruption. The offices of SNC Lavalin are seen in Montreal on Monday, March 26, 2012. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco regarding the Canadian company's commitment to creating and accelerating opportunities for jobs in Saudi Arabia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Rabbi Schmuly Hecht, left, says a prayer for Neil Linder as Linder prepares to light one of the candles of the menorah at Stuart Park for the beginning of Hanukkah on Tuesday. Linder was lighting the candle in memory of his sister Carol Cohen, who died last Friday. Jayne Zhu lays out ingredients along side an instruction card before preparing a Hello Fresh cajun fish tacos meal kit, at her home in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday December 6, 2017. Home-delivered meal kits have quickly grown into a $120-million industry in Canada, according to analysts. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Lawyer Maria Mitousis, who was injured in an office bombing on July 3, hesitates while speaking about her co-workers to media during a press conference in Winnipeg, Wednesday, September 30, 2015. A man accused of sending letter bombs to his ex-wife and two Winnipeg law offices says he did not send the packages and has no experience with explosives.Guido Amsel is testifying at his trial where he faces five counts of attempted murder and several explosives-related charges.THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form This is what the end of cannabis prohibition will look like in New Brunswick: An upscale showroom with black ceilings, grey walls and a once-illicit drug displayed in brightly lit glass cases as shown in this artist rendering. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO Former Ukrop Party leader and businessman Hennadiy Korban has returned to Ukraine, Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov has said. He posted a photo on his Facebook page on which he hugs Korban. The report says that they stay in Dnipro. "He has come back, my best friend I always knew that this would happen," Filatov wrote. As reported, Korban was arrested on October 31, 2015. On November 4, he was notified on suspicion of committing crimes under Part 1, Article 255 (setting up and participation in a criminal organization), Part 3, Article 157 (obstruction of election commissions' activities), Part 5, Article 191 (embezzlement of money of the National Defense Fund charity organization in a large scale), Part 2, Article 289 and Article 349 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (the seizure of hostages). Korban was placed under house arrest. On December 28, 2015, Kyiv's Dniprovsky District Court decided to change the measure of restraint for Korban from house arrest to detention for a period of 60 days. On February 22, 2016, the court extended Korban's detention until April 15. However, on March 15, the court changed the measure of restraint for Korban from custody to house arrest. Later, Kyiv's Pechersky District Court allowed Korban to go to Israel for medical treatment. In September 2017, Korban said that he intended to return to Ukraine soon. In this June 2017 photo provided by Stephen Cwiok, Nick Roberts poses for a photo in Nahant, Mass. Roberts surprised his pregnant girlfriend with the photos at their gender reveal party in June before their son Logan was born. Roberts says he and his friend, who is a photographer, grabbed some fast food before the shoot to "try to look a little pregnant." (Stephen Cwiok via AP) FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2015 file photo, Minnesota Democratic Lt. Gov. Tina Smith speaks to attendees at the North Star Ball in St. Paul, Minn. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is set to name his choice to replace Al Franken in the U.S. Senate, with the top contender seen as Lt. Gov. Smith. Dayton was expected to make the appointment Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, nearly a week after Franken announced his plan to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File) FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2015 file photo, Cheech Marin attends the premiere of the HBO documentary, "The Latin Explosion: A New America", in New York. Comedian and legendary stoner Marin performs in a new public service announcement publicizing a California Secretary of State website for budding marijuana entrepreneurs. California on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, began accepting applications from businesses that want to operate in the state's legal recreational marijuana industry next year. (Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP, File) Neighborhoods, towns collaboration works best The development of the Willow Ridge/ Parkview draft action plan shows how active neighborhoods and municipalities, in this case, the towns of Amherst and Tonawanda,... Spindle Items .. UNCERTAINTY As we are approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, we prepare ourselves to give thanks for the many things we have. But how many... Out of the Past 25 Years AgoNov. 19, 1997 Maybe I have Downs syndrome and maybe I have disabilities but I have the ability to be your friend. Wearing... Erie County offering assistance with high heating costs The Erie County Department of Senior Services is working hard on behalf of senior citizens throughout Erie County by providing advice and guidance to address... Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will visit Ukraine in the next few days, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. "Chrystia Freeland will visit Kyiv in a few days. We will talk to her about how to use additionally the opportunities of the G7," he told journalists in Kharkiv on Wednesday. Klimkin also said that Canada would preside over the G7 countries from 2018. As reported, Canada's Standing Committee on National Defense published a report entitled "Canada's Support to Ukraine in Crisis and Armed Conflict," which, inter alia, calls on the Government of Canada to consider furthering Ukrainian interests at the G7 and promote relations with the Ukrainian government and the public, especially in the fight against corruption. A court has permitted former Head of the State Agency for Investments and National Projects of Ukraine Vladyslav Kaskiv, who is suspected of large-scale misappropriation and embezzlement of property, to travel abroad, the Ukrayinska Pravda e-zine reported on Wednesday. According to the report, a respective court decision was made on December 7 by Investigative Judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv Volodymyr Karaban. "The defense lawyer and the defendant asked [the court] to return Kaskiv's passports for traveling abroad, other documents that give the right to leave and enter Ukraine, motivating the need to travel abroad by taking care of a young child. Having heard the motivation of the parties, the court ruled to return Kaskiv's passports," the report says. At the same time, Kaskiv will continue to be obliged to arrive at the first request to the investigator, the prosecutor and/or to court, as well as inform the investigator, the prosecutor or the court about changing his place of residence. As reported, Kaskiv was declared internationally wanted under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on charges of "large-scale misappropriation of property by an official through abuse of office and through collusion with a group of persons" and under Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on "forgery by an official." He is suspected of entering into a criminal conspiracy in 2012 with other persons to embezzle the means of the state budget of Ukraine in the amount of about UAH 7.5 million. On November 1, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that Kaskiv had been extradited from Panama to Ukraine and taken to the Main Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office. On the same day the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv decided to remand Kaskiv into pretrial custody for two months and set bail at UAH 160,000. The court also ordered Kaskiv to turn in all passports and to be available to investigators, as well as to inform them of his whereabouts. NBU asking NABU to check legality of judges' actions when making decisions in case of PrivatBank and Surkis family The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has appealed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) with the request to check the legality of actions of the judges of the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeals, who considered the suits of the Surkis family against PrivatBank (Kyiv), the central bank's website says. According to the NBU statement, the judges, when considering the case, ignored the evidence provided by the National Bank and PrivatBank and confirmed the decision of the first instance court to recover funds from the bank in favor of Rakhmil Surkis, which, when the bank was nationalized, were not exchanged for additionally issued shares and are now recorded on his deposit accounts. At the same time, the court did not decide on the termination of Surkis' deposit agreements. "Thus, the aforementioned judgments undoubtedly doubled the bank's obligations to Surkis," the report said. The National Bank is concerned that these actions could cause damage to the bank with a 100% state stake in an especially large amount. The appeal also contains the request to include information on the facts set out in the application submitted to the NABU in the unified register of pre-trial investigations. It asks to provide the document confirming the receipt and registration of the NBU application. The position of Poland on the issue of introducing a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission to Donbas is important for Ukraine and this mission should encompass the whole occupied territory in eastern Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko has said. "Poland's help, it's absolutely clear position on this issue is for us extremely important," Poroshenko said in Kharkiv on Wednesday after talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Poroshenko said the peacekeeping format should be in the form of a mission, "not bodyguards." He said the "zone of responsibility should be the entire occupied territory in eastern Ukraine, not just the line of demarcation." In turn, Duda said Poland supports sending "blue berets" on a peacekeeping mission encompassing all occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. "Poland supports a peacekeeping mission in line with all standards for such operations, so that this mission is not tasked only with defending observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, so it will be a real peace mission that will operate throughout this territory," the Polish president said. Ukraine and Poland have agreed on the mutual reduction of the numbers of people banned from entering the two countries in order to facilitate the work of a commission on historical issues, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "We should, as the president said, find the historical truth, launch the exhumation process, give the green light, and initiate the process of the commission," Poroshenko said at a joint conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Kharkiv on Wednesday. Both parties understand that only Russia benefits from historical conflicts between the counties, he said. "We must find an absolutely clear way out of this situation; therefore, we decided to raise the level and reset the commission, we decided that the commission should meet as soon as possible to elaborate on and give the green light to the exhumation process. Thus, we agreed to shorten the list of persons banned from entering our countries," Poroshenko said. The Kilkenny Lions club keep on giving. The altrustic group handed out another 30,000 on Wednesday night. Brian OCallaghan, President of Kilkenny Lions Club, distributed the proceeds raised from the Christmas Hamper Appeal and other recent fund-raising events to local organisations at St. Canices Cathedral. Among those local organisations that benefitted were: St. Vincent De Paul; The Good Shepherd Centre; the Amber Refuge; The Church of Ireland and Kilkenny Social Services. This years appeal was a tremendous success and he thanked the Kilkenny People and KCLR for giving so much of their time and resources in supporting the various Lions events. He thanked the depth and spirit of the people of Kilkenny, both business and community, who contributed so generously and participated in this year's appeal. He also thanked Maura Kenealy for use of her shop in Upper Patrick Street as a collection point for auction items. He commended the members of Kilkenny Lions Club for their hard work and commitment over the year. Finally he thanked all of this year sponsors and in particular, State Street International Ireland Ltd, Country Style Foods Ltd, PWC and Davy Private Clients. Other successful fund raising events were The Wine Fair, Schools Concert, and Carol Singing at the Rivercourt Hotel and Brian thanked everybody for their participation and support. This Christmas will again be extremely difficult for so many in our community and Kilkenny Lions hope that the money raised will assist in reducing the hardship some families are facing across Kilkenny City and County. He concluded by saying it was truly a great team effort and wished everybody a Happy Xmas and New Year. On behalf of the recipients, Ber Cahill, Area President, of the St. Vincent de Paul in Kilkenny thanked the President and his colleagues in the Lions Club in Kilkenny for their support again this year. The Lions Club Hamper Appeal each year has been a great source of income giving us vouchers that we distribute to needy people and enable us to help meet the many demands placed on us at Christmas. They expect over 500 families to seek its help over Christmas and an additional 500 families to seek help over the winter months. In the past 10 months the SVP has received almost 1,800 requests from families in need in Kilkenny. While their immediate concern is to help families avoid an empty Christmas, their longer term focus is on helping families to break the cycle of poverty. In the run up to Christmas the SVP annual appeal message this year is Christmas is not the same for everyone She concluded by expressing her sincere gratitude to the Kilkenny Lions Club, who are continued supporters of the St. Vincent de Paul and the other local organisations who provide donations and support in helping families in need with food vouchers in the run up to Christmas. Biofilm on the anode (bottom) of the fuel cell: KIT researchers use optical coherence tomography to visualize the microbial biofilms that generate electric energy. (Graphics: Michael Wagner, KIT) Sewage treatment plants have been among the biggest municipal energy consumers so far. With a new technology that turns the sewage treatment plant from an electricity consumer into a small power plant, a German team of researchers now wants to reverse the trend. The key component of the plant is a bio-electrochemical fuel cell that can directly produce electric power and hydrogen without the digestion process used so far. For the innovative concept, in the development of which researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are involved, and that is coordinated by TU Clausthal, the group has now received the German Sustainability Award in the category of research. [...] More information about the bio-electrochemical fuel cell BioBZ: http://www.bio-bz.de/ (in German only) More information on the German Sustainability Award: https://www.nachhaltigkeitspreis.de/en/ Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence. By Swati Pandey SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar on Wednesday rose further above a recent six-month trough, driven in part by talk of future flows related to multi-billion dollar M&A deals, while its New Zealand cousin made a new one-month top. The Australian dollar climbed as far as $0.7580 overnight, a level not seen since Dec. 6. It was last up 0.2 percent at $0.7573. The Aussie hit a six-month trough of $0.7501 last week but has since crept up steadily. The latest lurch higher came after Europe's biggest property firm Unibail-Rodamco said it will buy mall operator Westfield for $16 billion in what would be the biggest takeover on record of an Australian company. In a separate deal, Zurich Insurance agreed to buy Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's life insurance arm for A$2.85 billion, its biggest foray into Australia and its third in the last two years. "M&A activity has been the big driver for the Australian dollar," said Rodrigo Catril, senior forex strategist, National Australia Bank. "While the (Westfield) deal won't likely be closed until mid-2018, the FX market has moved to anticipate the associated hedging of the cash proceeds back to AUD." Against the euro, the Aussie rose to a one-week high at A$1.5515 per euro . The U.S. currency was also weighed down by signs Democrat Doug Jones might win in Senate race in Alabama and perhaps complicate passage of the Republicans' tax bill. Investors next await a rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as its policy outlook for 2018. The Fed is considered certain to raise rates on Wednesday, but there is doubt on whether it will stick to a projection of three more hikes next year or perhaps forecast four instead. If there's a hike on Wednesday, just one more increase would take U.S. rates above those in Australia for the first time since 2000. The New Zealand dollar added 0.2 percent to $0.6946, the highest since early November. The kiwi has been on an uptrend since the appointment of Adrian Orr as the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Orr, a former central banker, is seen as a safe pair of hands who can likely avoid a radical shake-up of monetary policy when changes to the RBNZ's mandate come into force next year. Technical analysts see key chart resistance at $0.6950, while support lies around $0.6815. New Zealand government bonds rose, sending yields about 1 basis point lower. Australian government bond futures eased, with the three-year bond contract down 3.5 ticks at 97.975. The 10-year contract slipped 1.75 ticks to 97.4425. (Editing by Richard Borsuk) SEOUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - South Korea's government has called an emergency meeting to discuss the trading of cryptocurrencies, and measures on the market will be announced on Friday, a central bank official said on Wednesday. The official declined to give further details. Bitcoin's more than 15-fold this year has drawn warnings from the government as ordinary South Koreans rushed to virtual currency trading to make a fast buck. South Korea currently bans all financial institutions from dealing with virtual currencies. But the country is among the world's biggest bitcoin markets and is home to the world's most active virtual currency exchange, Bithumb. (Reporting by Dahee Kim, Cynthia Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill) HANOI, Dec 13 (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 0405 GMT. December 13 USD/VND mid-point 22,450 USD/VND interbank 22,710/22,714 USD/VND unofficial 22,800/22,820 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.30/36.52 Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.8-1.0 1 week 0.9-1.2 1 month 2.2-2.5 3 months 4.5-5.0 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; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) SEOUL (Reuters) - South Koreas government has called an emergency meeting to discuss the trading of cryptocurrencies, and measures on the market will be announced on Friday, a central bank official said on Wednesday. The official declined to give further details. Bitcoins more than 15-fold this year has drawn warnings from the government as ordinary South Koreans rushed to virtual currency trading to make a fast buck. South Korea currently bans all financial institutions from dealing with virtual currencies. But the country is among the worlds biggest bitcoin markets and is home to the worlds most active virtual currency exchange, Bithumb. Reporting by Dahee Kim, Cynthia Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered on Tuesday to begin talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, appearing to back away from U.S. demands that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would have to be based on North Korean nuclear disarmament. Lets just meet, Tillerson said in a speech to Washington think tank the Atlantic Council, presenting a new diplomatic overture amid heightened tensions over North Koreas nuclear and missile advances and harsh rhetoric between the two sides. Tensions have flared anew since North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile last month in what it called a breakthrough that put the U.S. mainland within range. While reiterating Washingtons long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was ready to talk any time theyre ready to talk, but that Pyongyang must come to the table willing to make choices to change its course. We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether its going to be a square table or a round table, he said. Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work toward, Tillerson said, suggesting that any initial contacts would be about setting the ground rules for formal negotiations. It was not immediately clear whether Tillerson, whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration, had President Donald Trumps full support to seek such a diplomatic opening. Tillerson has previously expressed a desire to use diplomatic channels with Pyongyang, but Trump tweeted in October that such engagement would be a waste of time. North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not achieved. Were ready to have the first meeting without pre-conditions, Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council. Its not realistic to say were only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program, he said. They have too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well. Tillerson also said that the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response is needed. He said the United States has had conversations with China about how North Korean nuclear weapons might be secured in a crisis and has assured Beijing that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would return to South Korea. But he made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy. Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom in Washington; editing by Clive McKeef KYIV. Dec 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) - A number of non-governmental organizations and people's deputies of Ukraine have asked the Ukrainian diaspora in the EU, the U.S., Canada and other countries to help create a High Anti-Corruption Court in the country. "Now there is no reason to believe that the president will fulfill his obligations - to submit a draft law on the High Anti-Corruption Court in the near future. That is why, we, representatives of public organizations and people's deputies, publicly address Ukrainians living in the EU, the U.S., Canada, Australia and other countries around the world to support the fight against corruption in Ukraine, which is now under increasing pressure from the Ukrainian authorities," Chairman of the Center for Political and Legal Studies Mykhailo Lev said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday. Executive Director of the Center for Political and Legal Studies Taras Boiko noted that activists were urging the diaspora to hold rallies outside Ukrainian embassies in other countries. A member of the Initiative for Real Action, MP Mustafa Nayyem, believes that it is necessary to make every effort to create an anti-corruption court. "Now there is a race game: either they are the first to destroy the NABU, or we create an anti-corruption court and will get real results of consideration of the cases that the NABU is now beginning to consider. We have no other way, we cannot move backward," he said. Ukrainian MP Yehor Sobolev, the leader of the Vyzvolennia (Liberation) movement, asked Ukrainians from all over the world to help peacefully establish "good governance of the state." "This is the first time that society has come out for the sake of establishing rules, rather than kicking someone out or taking revenge on someone," he said. The co-founder of NGO Razom for Ukraine (New York), Lyuba Shipovich, said via Skype that corrupt officials are not very patriotic and often do not use the national currency for operations and payments, so sooner or later corruption-related cases become accountable to other countries. "Therefore, Ukrainians in different countries should unite and exert pressure with the help of these countries," she said. An expert of the Reanimation Package of Reforms group, Oleksandr Lemenov, said that of the nearly a hundred cases that have been investigated by the NABU and now transferred to the Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv, most of them are being slowed down, especially when it concerns top corrupt officials. "And if the Nasirov case is heard at the same pace, then we will get a court decision tentatively in 2022, so the creation of an anti-corruption court is very important," he said. At the same time, Lemenov noted that the competition commission for the selection of judges to this body should not include representatives of political parties and there should be representatives of the international community who will have a "blocking package" in making decisions. The address to the Ukrainian community abroad about joint actions in the creation of the High Anti-Corruption Court was supported by the Center for Political and Legal Studies, the Initiative for Real Action, Anti-Corruption Headquarters, Transparency International Ukraine, the Chesno (Honestly) movement, the Reanimation Package of Reforms, and a number of MPs. COPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Primestone Capital has asked U.S. cleaning equipment company Tennant and Danish peer Nilfisk to consider merging after building up a holding of 5 percent in both firms. "Primestone Capital owns more than 5 percent of both Tennant and Nilfisk and believes a combination of the two will generate extraordinary returns for shareholders," said the London-based activist firm in a presentation filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Nilfisk and Tennant were not immediately available to comment. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, additional reporting by Maiya Keidan, editing by Louise Heavens) LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - BlackRock, one of the London Stock Exchange's largest shareholders, will vote against a motion next week to ditch the exchange's chairman Donald Brydon, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The motion has been brought by activist hedge fund TCI Fund Management, which is unhappy with Brydon's handling of the succession of Xavier Rolet, the LSE's former chief executive. BlackRock, LSE and TCI declined to comment. The Qatar Investment Authority, another big LSE shareholder, is also due to support Brydon at the shareholder meeting next Tuesday. TCI, the hedge fund firm run by Christopher Hohn, is not expecting to pass the resolution to oust Brydon, a source close to the firm has told Reuters. Shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have previously recommended shareholders vote against removing Brydon. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain, Maiya Keidan and Huw Jones. Editing by John O'Donnell and Jane Merriman) WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Kim Taylor, CME Group veteran and post-trade head, will retire from the world's largest exchange group at the end of the year, she said in an email to Reuters. Taylor, who serves as president, clearing and post-trade services, is one of the CME Group's longest-serving executives and a member of the management team. She first joined the CME Group in 1989 and has held various roles in post-trade risk management. She leaves the CME just as the exchange group is set to launch trading in bitcoin futures, a move that has attracted criticism from some industry participants due to fears over the cryptocurrency's volatility. (Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Susan Thomas) (Corrects number of restaurants TFI TAB operates in Turkey to 1,056, not more than 1,820, in 13th paragraph) By Tatiana Bautzer and Ana Mano SAO PAULO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The operator of the Burger King fast-food chain in Brazil, BK Brasil Operacao e Assessoria a Restaurantes SA, is expected to price its initial public offering near the top of the suggested price range, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. One of the sources said the offer is three times oversubscribed at the top of the 14.50 to 18 reais range. Shareholders and banks underwriting the IPO will set pricing early on Thursday, said the sources, who asked for anonymity because they are not allowed to discuss the matter publicly. Due to strong investor demand, the deadline for investor orders was made earlier to Wednesday evening from Thursday afternoon, two of the sources said. BK Brasil did not immediately comment on the matter. If priced at the top of the suggested range, BK Brasils IPO would raise 2.26 billion reais ($681 million), not considering the sale of additional and supplementary allotments of shares. BK Brasil would raise around 886 million reais in the so-called primary portion of the IPO to fund the expansion of its chain of 623 restaurants in Brazil. The rest would be received by shareholders selling part of their stakes in the secondary portion of the offering. Burger King Corp , owner of the chain in the United States and controlled by buyout fund 3G Capital Inc, has a 13 percent stake in BK Brasil and is not selling shares in the IPO. The IPO is being managed by the investment banking units of Itau Unibanco Holding SA , Bank of America Corp , Banco Bradesco SA , Grupo BTG Pactual SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co and by Brazilian broker XP Investimentos CCTVM SA. The transaction in Brazil is being closely watched by shareholders of other companies operating Burger King restaurants outside the United States. Peter Wu, managing partner of private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group LLC, expects the price to be a "relevant comparable" to the IPO of the company operating Burger King restaurants in China. Cartesian is a shareholder in BK China, which operates 750 restaurants in mainland China. Burger King's largest franchisee outside the United States, TFI TAB Gida Yatirimlari AS, filed for an IPO in New York in November. TFI TAB, which operated 1,056 Burger King restaurants in Turkey in September, is also a shareholder in BK China. ($1 = 3.3169 reais) (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Ana Mano; Additional reporting by Bruno Federowski in Brasilia; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Shumaker) By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - European Union leaders are likely to decide on Friday to give priority in euro zone integration to completing its banking union and expanding the tasks of the euro zone bailout fund, leaving politically more difficult issues for later. Leaders of the EU's 27 countries that will remain in the bloc after Britain leaves in March 2019 will discuss ways to deepen euro zone integration on Friday, starting six months of detailed talks by finance ministers. Euro zone leaders generally agree one aim of deeper integration is to better protect the 19 countries using the euro from financial crises. Another is to help rally the EU around the single currency. But French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have widely differing view on what form greater integration should take. In a letter to the leaders, summit chairman Donald Tusk suggests they focus on three areas of "broad convergence". The first two are the development of the euro zone bailout fund ESM and making it a backstop for the euro zone's bank- resolution fund in an emergency -- an idea that has been on the cards since 2013. With no near-term prospect of a crisis, the issue is no longer controversial. Turning the bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund also has backing, Tusk said. The new fund would handle future bailouts together with the European Commission, eliminating the ECB and the International Monetary Fund, which has clashed with euro zone governments over debt relief for Greece over its latest bailout. Tusk said leaders also broadly agreed to set out when and under what conditions the euro zone could gradually introduce a European Deposit Insurance Scheme that would increase confidence in euro zone banks. MORE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS But at the heart of the debate are more difficult issues, like creating a euro zone budget and a finance minister and simplifying EU budget rules. Paris wants a euro zone budget of several hundred billion euros, while Berlin wants no budget at all. The Commission is proposing a euro zone line in the existing EU budget. Officials also talk of a rainy day fund, an unemployment insurance scheme and a fund to support investment in crisis. Macron would also like to see a euro zone finance minister in charge of the euro budget and the bailout fund. Germany is sceptical, unsure what powers such a position would carry. The Commission is proposing a third option - a European Minister of Economy and Finance who would be a senior Commission official in charge of all EU money, bailout fund included, and accountable to the European Parliament. This is anathema to euro zone governments, which see it as a power grab by EU institutions. Euro zone ministers say the 500 billion-euro lending capacity of the bailout fund is ultimately backed by their national budgets, so it cannot be EU money. Euro zone ministers also want EU budget rules, which set limits on government borrowing, to be simplified and the political discretion that the Commission now has in policing them to be more limited for greater predictability. Germany, Slovakia and others are pushing to introduce a sovereign insolvency mechanism, which would put market pressure on governments to conduct prudent fiscal policy. Countries with huge public debts, like Italy, are against. Tusk's letter to leaders said there was no broad convergence on neither of the more difficult issues. "Leaders are encouraged to indicate whether they agree ... to mandate the (EU finance ministers) ... to take forward work on the above issues, giving priority to those where there is the largest degree of convergence," Tusk said. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, editing by Larry King) FRANKFURT, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Europe's top court rejected on Wednesday an appeal by French bank Credit Mutuel Arkea's to avoid being supervised by the European Central Bank. "The General Court dismisses the actions brought by the Credit mutuel Arkea and upholds the two decisions of the ECB," the General Court of the European Union said. Arkea had objected to the ECB supervising it and other banks in the Credit Mutuel network through their central body Confederation nationale du Credit mutuel (CNCM). (Reporting By Francesco Canepa) 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. PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The French government will keep a close eye over the impact on jobs and technology from French tech consulting firm Atos' proposed takeover of Gemalto, the finance minister said on Wednesday. Atos offered to buy Gemalto for 4.3 billion euros ($5.06 billion) on Monday to boost its cyber security business and tap into soaring demand for such services in the face of a growing number of attacks on the Internet worldwide. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that while it was up to Gemalto's board to decide on the offer, the government had concerns. "The first thing is that jobs in the sector are kept in France ... the second thing we must watch is investment and innovation," Le Maire said during a questions and answer session in the lower house of parliament. "The third thing that the state will be particularly vigilant about is that French sovereignty is kept over advanced technology," he added. Atos, headquartered in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, has 100,000 employees in 72 countries, including at least 12,000 in France. Amsterdam-headquartered Gemalto has 15,000 employees. The French government is one of Gemalto's biggest shareholder through public investment bank Bpifrance, which holds an 8.4 percent stake and has said that it is in favour of the deal. ($1 = 0.8499 euros) (Reporting by Jean-Michel Belot and Myriam Rivet; Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Maya Nikolaeva) BRASILIA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Giving up on structural reforms, such as a bill streamlining the social security system, would leave Brazil vulnerable to potential shocks from abroad, Brazilian Central Bank Governor Ilan Goldfajn said on Wednesday. In a news conference, Goldfajn said the pension reform plan is crucial to maintaining "economic balance." The unpopular plan has faced strong opposition from lower house lawmakers, stoking expectations that it could be voted in 2018, an election year. (Reporting by Bruno Federowski and Marcela Ayres 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. ATHENS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Greece sold 1.3 billion euros of three-month treasury bills to refinance a maturing issue, the country's debt agency PDMA said on Wednesday. It sold the new paper at a yield of 1.60 percent, down from 1.75 percent in a previous sale this month. The amount raised included 300 million euros in non-competitive bids. In a rollover, T-bill holders renew their positions instead of getting paid on the maturing paper they hold. The sale's bid-to-cover ratio was 1.87, up from 1.72 in the previous auction. Settlement date is Dec. 15. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris) By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on Tanzania to speed up reforms and spend more to prevent a slowdown in one of the world's fastest growing economies. President John Magufuli pledged to reform an economy hobbled by red tape and corruption and begin a programme to develop public infrastructure after he was elected in 2015. But the IMF said in its latest review that progress has been slow, while a lack of public spending - coupled with private sector concerns over policy uncertainty - was curtailing growth in East Africa's third-biggest economy. "Improvements in the business environment - policy predictability based on a strong dialogue with the private sector, regulatory reforms, timely payment of value-added tax (VAT) and other tax refunds, and eliminating domestic arrears - must be pursued with urgency," the IMF said late on Tuesday. Tanzania's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the first half of this year from a 7.7 percent expansion in the same year-ago period. The economy has been growing at around 7 percent annually for the past decade, but the World Bank said in November that growth will likely slow to 6.6 percent in 2017. The IMF said while Tanzania's first half GDP growth in 2017 was "still strong", a sharp fall in lending to the private sector - prompted by high non-performing loans - pointed to a continued slowdown in growth. In June, the IMF said Tanzania may have to delay implementing some of its infrastructure projects because its revenue expectations for 2017/18 may not be achieved. In a bid to profit from its long coastline, Tanzania wants to spend $14.2 billion over the next five years to build a 2,561 km-railway network - part of plans that also include upgrading ports and roads to serve growing economies in the region. The IMF said subdued government revenue collection and delays in securing financing for projects have held back development spending and hurt economic growth. (Editing by Aaron Maasho and Alexander Smith) KYIV. Dec 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Hyundai Corporation, Ukrsotsbank and some other Ukrainian banks have suffered from a fraud committed by Company Rona LLC (Ivano-Frankivsk). The total loss is estimated at near $30 million, according to a joint press release of Ukrsotsbank and Hyundai Corporation. "In particular, Hyundai Corporation saw a loss of $6.6 million and EUR 1.2 million, and Ukrsotsbank - $6 million. State-owned and commercial banks suffered with a loss of $11 million and UAH 110 million," the victims of the fraud said in their press release. According to the press release, co-founders of Company Rona LLC - Roman Semotiuk, Roman Lytvynets and others - using fraudulent documents received loans in financial institutions in the significant amounts. The essence of the fraudulent scheme was that Rona issued loans and signed international contracts for the supply of goods, and the guarantors for loans were companies that provided as collateral real estate facilities that exist only "on paper" and were registered in the public real estate register using counterfeit documents. When the employees of the bank went to inspect the collateral, the scammers placed a sign with the proper address of the collateral. Nexia DC Appraisal Services in the person of Director Yevhen Lupaka appraised the facilities and provided false information to the customers. According to the report, the Ivano-Frankivsk region prosecutor's office initiated about 20 criminal cases on fabrication of documents, as well as damage in especially large amounts against the co-founder of Rona company Semotiuk, as well as executives of guarantor companies who provided non-existing facilities as collateral. In October 2017, Semotiuk was notified of suspicion and house arrest was chosen for him by court. According to the press release, fraudulent activities of Rona directed against the international company Hyundai Corporation and banks, as well as the lack of timely and adequate response from law enforcement agencies significantly worsen the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. "Today it is extremely important to show real steps to protect investors and the progress in the implementation of law enforcement sector reform for an unbiased and prompt investigation of this situation, including search and seizure of the assets of officials and beneficiaries of Rona LLC and other companies involved in the fraudulent scheme. It is also important to investigate not only actions committed by officials, beneficiaries of Rona LLC and related enterprises, but also the actions of employees of the State Registration Service of Ukraine and judges of the Ivano-Frankivsk city court, participating in the implementation of this fraudulent scheme," the victims said. Acting Board Chairman of Ukrsotsbank Rostyslav Matiash said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday, along with Hyundai Corporation, four banks suffered from this fraudulent scheme, including Ukrsotsbank, which issued a loan of $6 million to Rona in 2014 with a real estate facility used as collateral. After the bank began working with this loan as a non-performing loan, it turned out that the real estate facility does not exist. The bank filed an application with the law enforcement agencies and expects an early and unbiased investigation of the case, the banker said. Vice President, Head of the legal department of Hyundai Corporation Yeo Young-Chan said at a press conference that Hyundai Corporation began to supply with polymer raw materials to Rona in 2013. In 2015, Rona, having debt to Hyundai Corporation about $5 million, received a commodity loan for about $3 million. The funds were not returned, and in March this year Hyundai Corporation appealed to law enforcement agencies in Ivano-Frankivsk, but the investigation was not conducted - scammers walked quietly around the city. In August, Hyundai Corporation, with the support of the Korean Ambassador to Ukraine, initiated a meeting with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, requesting that the case be investigated in an unbiased manner, in particular, by handing it over to the Main Investigation Department of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, which happened few weeks ago. "This large-scale fraud could not be organized by one company, Rona ... A fair investigation is very important factor for the return of Hyundai Corporation investments in Ukraine," Young-Chan said. By Claire Ruckin LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Banks are lining up around 5.2bn-equivalent of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds to back a potential acquisition of Unilever's margarine and spreads business after final bids went in this week, banking sources said. Final bids for the business, which is worth around 6bn, were due on December 11 in a sale process run by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The successful bidder is expected to be able to tap into debt financings comprising as much as 3.5bn-equivalent of senior secured term loans, 1bn-equivalent of subordinated high yield bonds and 700m-equivalent of revolving credit facility, the sources said. The financing is likely to be denominated in euros and dollars to tap liquidity on both sides of the Atlantic, the sources said. The financings equate to 6.0-7.0 times the business's approximate 700m-750m Ebitda, the sources said. If a successful bidder is announced before the year end, as expected, the financing could be one of the first out of the blocks for syndication in January, the sources said. Unilever was not immediately available to comment. The debt financings being worked on are significantly higher than the staple financing of 4bn-equivalent, or 5.0 times debt to Ebitda, being offered by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Mizuho. "The staple financing is now deemed to be conservative and the views on cost cutting and synergies will be driving some of these more aggressive terms," a head of capital markets said. A number of bankers have a better understanding of Unilever's margarine and spreads business since the launch of the sales process and its growth prospects under private equity ownership, the sources said. "Many banks have moved on from the staple. People understand the business better and there is a better appreciation of what private equity can bring to the party in terms of managing the brands and the products within it. There is great potential so bankers feel more comfortable piling on more debt," a syndicate head said. The majority of banks are backing private equity bidders Apollo, KKR and CVC Capital Partners, in some instances backing two out of the three in an attempt to secure a spot on the large and lucrative underwritten financing, the sources said. However, given the amount of competition to win a place on the financing, there is no guarantee a bank will secure a mandate even if they have backed the right horse, the sources said. "Competition between the banks will be rife," a banker said. The expectation is that the financing will comprise a large number of banks, in varying degrees of seniority, as there is a lot of RCF to sell, the sources said. "There could be around three banks at the top, followed by a second tier of bookrunners and even a third tier of arrangers," the banker said. Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said in June that the company was hoping to get a deal done by the end of the year and was open to evaluating offers for all or parts of its shrinking business. Los Angeles-based Platinum was considering putting in a bid for a portion of Unilever's spreads business that covers developed markets such as Europe and the US where demand has been falling but profit margins remain high, rather than the whole unit which includes emerging market. Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch giant behind Dove soap, Knorr soup and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, put the spreads unit up for sale this autumn after a surprise US$143bn takeover approach from Kraft-Heinz in February forced it to review its operations. (Editing by Christopher Mangham) By Kristen Haunss NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo is predicting record US Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) fund issuance of US$125bn in 2018 with little in sight to derail 2017's strong momentum. JP Morgan sees a smaller increase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank expect issuance to match 2017's robust volume. With volume of US$110bn through December 8, 2017 has been the second largest year for CLO issuance behind just 2014 when US$123.6bn of funds were created, according to Thomson Reuters LPC Collateral data. "We don't see a lot of catalysts that might tip this over. The capital markets remain open, the Federal Reserve has been hiking rates and people have been getting used to the idea it will be hiking but at a pace that is not too aggressive," said Collin Chan, a CLO strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. CLOs are the largest buyers of US leveraged loans and a strong market can help US companies to refinance their debt and cut their borrowing costs. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is forecasting US$110bn of US CLO issuance in 2018 as it expects conditions will mirror 2017, according to a November 10 report. After years of regulatory uncertainty, 2018 does not present any new looming rules that could impact volume. JP Morgan is forecasting US$115bn of new US CLOs next year and US$70bn of US CLO refinancings and resets. Deutsche Bank is forecasting US$110bn of US CLO issuance in 2018. Barclays is offering the most pessimistic view among its peers, suggesting US$90bn to US$100bn in 2018, down from 2017, and Morgan Stanley sees a slight decrease to US$100bn. RISK RETENTION Concerns that risk-retention regulations that force CLO managers to hold five percent of their fund would dampen volume in the US$491bn US market were shrugged off as new structures were raised to comply with the rule, bringing in additional investors and buttressing issuance, which has tempered the need for consolidation. "This market has been able to raise capital to solve for risk-retention compliance so that didn't end up consolidating managers the way we thought it might," Chan said. Bullish 2018 forecasts are a far cry from the end of last year when banks were predicting just US$50bn to US$70bn of volume in 2017, similar to the US$72.4bn of issuance in 2016. If realized, that US$50bn estimate would have put volume at the lowest level since 2011 when just US$13.2bn of deals was arranged, according to LPC Collateral data. But after a strong start to the year - the US$52.4bn of CLOs issued in the first six months of 2017 was 100% higher than at the same point a year earlier - banks increased their forecasts, with some analysts suggesting as much as US$95bn in volume. The market surpassed the US$95bn mark on November 1. (Reporting by Kristen Haunss; Editing by Tessa Walsh) MEXICO CITY, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Mexico's finance ministry and central bank warned on Wednesday of the risks associated with cryptocurrencies and investment schemes known as initial coin offerings. Amid the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the authorities, together with banking and securities regulator CNBV, said in a statement that the currency is not officially recognized in Mexico as a legal form of payment. Some initial coin offerings that originate in Mexico could violate the nation's law of markets and securities, constituting a financial crime, the authorities said. (Reporting by Julia Love and Anthony Esposito Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) LAGOS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Nigeria's one-year treasury bill yield rose to 10 percent on Wednesday, having dropped to 7 percent in the previous session after the government said it would repay some outstanding maturities this month. The government plans to resume auctions in January after paying some 198 billion naira worth of maturities in December, which helped bills recover some ground. Traders said some foreign investors were booking profits and bidding to repatriate their funds, creating a liquidity squeeze on the currency market. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; editing by John Stonestreet) 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. WARSAW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Poland will offer to sell treasury bonds maturing in July 2020, November 2022, January 2023, July 2027, May 2028 and April 2029 at a switch tender on Friday, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. In exchange for the papers the ministry said it would buy back debt due in January 2018, April 2018, July 2018 and October 2018. Switch tenders are non-cash operations at which the ministry exchanges papers nearing maturity for longer-term debt. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Lidia Kelly) 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. Dec 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - A career Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr was recently transferred from the deputy attorney general's office to another division because he failed to inform officials of a September 2016 meeting with the author of a controversial dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump. - U.S. law-enforcement officials are investigating allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Brazil. - Facebook Inc plans to book more revenue in the countries where it sells ads, becoming the latest U.S. tech giant to bow to pressure from foreign governments to simplify its tax structure and potentially pay more income tax overseas. - General Electric Co recently conducted an internal review into the flying of a spare business jet to accompany former Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, as it seeks to understand an unusual practice that went on for years and surprised investors when they learned of it in October. - A lawyer for President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., asked the House Intelligence Committee to open a "formal inquiry" into what he said were leaks by committee members or staff following the younger Mr. Trump's interview with the panel earlier this month. (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom) The following Spanish stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy: INDITEX Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer, on Wednesday reported net profit to September of 2.3 billion euros up 6 percent from a year earlier. ABERTIS Italy's largest motorway operator Atlantia is examining legal action to stay in the $20 billion bidding war for Spanish rival Abertis amid concerns it will be frozen out of the contest, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. For today's European market outlook double click on . For real-time moves on the Spanish blue-chip index IBEX please double click on For IBEX constituent stocks highlight .IBEX in the command box and press the F3 button on your keyboard For latest news on Spanish stock moves double click For Spanish language market report double click on For latest Eurostocks report please double click on ISTANBUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Turkey's tourism revenues will amount to around $23 billion this year, exceeding the government's expectation of $20 billion, Development Minister Lutfi Elvan told broadcaster NTV on Wednesday. He also said the Turkish central bank had taken measures concerning lira volatility and would continue to take necessary steps, forecasting that the currency would definitely "come to a balance". (Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. (Adds details of restructuring deal, market reaction, context) By Gram Slattery and Leonardo Goy RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian telecommunications firm Oi SA has reached a deal with two major creditor groups on a plan to recover the company from bankruptcy protection, in a major breakthrough for Latin America's largest ever in-court debt restructuring. The company said in a filing on Wednesday that the Ad Hoc Group of Oi Creditors and International Bondholder Committee had agreed in principle on a new restructuring plan that would effectively let creditors take over the company. Common shares of Oi plunged as much 21 percent in Wednesday trading on the proposed dilution in a debt-for-equity swap that would give bondholders up to 75 percent of the company's shares. It was the stock's biggest daily drop since June 2016, when Brazil's biggest telecom by network size filed for protection from creditors on 65 billion reais ($20 billion) of bonds, bank debt and other obligations. The price of Oi's 5.75 percent bonds due in 2022 jumped 11 percent to $45.10 on Wednesday. The two major private bondholder groups, which hold about 22 billion reais of debt, declined to comment. Bondholders who stand to win big from the deal include distressed debt titan Aurelius Capital Management and Goldentree Asset Management. The bondholders' support could open the door to formal approval of the new restructuring plan at a Dec. 19 creditor meeting, lifting a cloud from a company that employs more than 100,000 Brazilians and serves 40 million wireless subscribers. A government official, who was involved in negotiations but asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the talks, said the new restructuring plan was the best proposal yet in terms of improving Oi's cash flow. Oi owes billions of dollars in fines to the government, payment of which will be restructured over the next 20 years under the latest proposal. Telecoms regulator Anatel has threatened to intervene in the company if shareholders and creditors could not come to terms. Another government source who has followed the negotiations said the federal solicitor general's office had brokered the deal reached late on Tuesday. A prior plan submitted by Oi with approval of its board limited a debt-for-equity swap to 25 percent of the carrier's capital, generating stiff resistance from bondholders and leaving insiders pessimistic about reaching a deal this year. ($1 = 3.30 reais) (Reporting by Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro and Leonardo Goy in Brasilia; Editing by Brad Haynes, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio) (Adds detail) MOSCOW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Russian energy group Rosneft told the Luxembourg-based European General Court on Wednesday that European Union sanctions on Russia aimed to undermine its position on global energy markets and favoured its competitors. State-controlled Rosneft is challenging the EU sanctions, imposed in 2014 and 2015 for Moscow's role in Ukraine's crisis. The sanctions include restrictions on the supply of goods and services for use in the Arctic, deepwater and shale projects and in oil production in Russia. Rosneft is challenging the sanctions in the European General Court and in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. In March, European Court of Justice, upheld the sanctions. "Sanctions are a method of a competitive battle," Rosneft said in court documents seen by Reuters. Rosneft said in the documents that the sanctions aspired to "increase risks of business operations for Russia and make conditions to force Russian companies out of the Asia-Pacific region, where the level of energy consumption is constantly growing." (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Edmund Blair and Jane Merriman) (Adds details, shares) JOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 (Reuters) - South African state pension fund, PIC, the second-largest investor in Steinhoff said on Wednesday it would ask for a seat on the board committee investigating accounting irregularities at the South African multinational retail group. Steinhoff's share price has plunged since announcing last week that its chief executive had quit and that it had found problems with its accounts which has delayed the reporting of its financial results. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the second largest shareholder in Steinhoff with about 10 percent, behind retail tycoon and Chairman Christo Wiese who took the helm last week following the departure of Chief Executive Markus Jooste. "The PIC will insist on representation on the board Committee tasked with investigating the Steinhoff situation, so as to ensure that the process is transparent, the fund manager said in a statement. The PIC, which manages nearly 2 trillion rand worth of civil servants' pensions savings, said the 80 percent drop in Steinhoff's share price would result in a 0.6 percent loss for its investment portfolio. By 1628 GMT shares in Steinhoff were down about 18 percent in Johannesburg and Frankfurt, where it has a primary listing. The stock has dropped around 80 percent since last Wednesday, wiping around $12 billion off its market value. The fund manager also said there was the risk of a possible conflict of interest in having Wiese serve as the interim CEO and wanted the appointment of at least two independent non-executive directors to the board. Steinhoff, which moved its primary share listing from Johannesburg to Frankfurt two years ago, has been under investigation for suspected accounting irregularities by the state prosecutor in Oldenburg, Germany since 2015. Four current and former managers are under suspicion of having overstated revenues at subsidiaries, prosecutors said. It has previously said this related to whether revenues were booked properly, and whether taxable profits were correctly declared. ($1 = 13.5829 rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Louise Heavens, Greg Mahlich) LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Angolan crude prices were well-supported by eastern demand on Wednesday, while some Nigerian grades were also trading well due to good winter demand for middle distillates. The continued closure of the North Sea Forties pipeline boosted some prices, but backwardation made West African grades relatively less attractive for long-haul buyers. ANGOLA * Fewer than 10 cargoes were left from the January loading plan, and demand from China and the Far East helped clear the other cargoes. * State oil firm Sonangol still had its Pazflor cargo, offered at dated Brent minus 50 cents barrel, but all its other cargoes had traded. * The February loading plan was expected early next week. NIGERIA * Phillips 66 has sold a cargo of Forcados, while a cargo of Usan also traded. * Forcados was offered at around $1.60 per barrel above dated Brent, Bonny Light at plus $1.70 and Qua Iboe offered at plus $1.95 a barrel. * While some Nigerian grades are a good replacement for Forties crude oil, the relatively short two-week outage, paired with steeper backwardation that means oil cargoes are losing value in transit, are expected to limit Nigerian sales. * Fewer than 30 cargoes were left from the January programme, and traders said demand was relatively brisk. TENDERS * Indian refiner IOC had awarded its tender to buy crude oil with 4 million barrels, a trader said, but further details were unclear. * India's BPCL bought a cargo of U.S. WTI crude oil and 2 million barrels of Oman crude rather than West African grades, traders said. * Two other Indian refiners, MRPL and HPCL, were also running tenders to buy oil with awards expected tomorrow and next week, respectively. RELATED NEWS * U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell for a fourth straight week with the biggest slump in supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub in eight years, even as crude output hit another weekly record, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. * Nigeria is seeking to amend a law on deep offshore oil exploration and drilling, aiming to increase government revenues from crude sales when prices exceed $20 a barrel, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday. * Ineos has begun shutting units at its Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland due to the closure of the Forties pipeline, which threatens to choke off the plant's feedstock, industry sources said on Wednesday. * The refinery takes a large amount of its imported oil from West Africa. (Reporting By Libby George; Editing by Greg Mahlich) By Yoon Ja-young Couples are tending to have stronger ties with the wife's parents while ties to the husband's seem to be getting weaker. This is because the wife's parents tend to be more helpful with childcare and house chores, statistics showed Tuesday. According to Korea's Social Trends 2017 released by Statistics Korea, couples who contact the husband's parents at least once a week dropped to 71.5 percent in 2016 from 79.4 percent a decade ago. Those who contact the wife's family, meanwhile, stood higher at 73.4 percent. Sons were still giving more financial support to their parents than daughters but the gap is narrowing. While those who gave economic support to the husband's parents stood at 30.6 percent, nearly 6 percentage points higher than those who support the wife's parents at 24.9 percent, the gap has dropped significantly from a decade ago when there was a gap of 14 percentage points. Again, this is because the wife's parents tend to help more with childcare and house chores when both the husband and wife work. "With more females engaged in economic activities, more couples are getting help from the wife's family," Statistics Korea explained in the report. Among the double-income couples, 19 percent said the wife's parents helped them while only 7.9 percent got help from the husband's parents. The trend report also showed Korea becoming a multiracial society The number of foreigners residing in Korea surpassed 2 million in 2016, coming for diverse purposes such as marriage, work and study. The number of foreigners who immigrated to Korea through marriage surpassed 150,000 in 2016, growing six fold from 2001. Among the foreign spouses, the ratio of Chinese fell to 37.4 percent in 2016 from 60 percent in 2006, while Vietnamese increased to 27.4 percent from below 20 percent. There were 542,000 foreign workers as of 2016, most of them working in manufacturing. The increase of foreign students is also notable. The figure surpassed 100,000 in 2016. While foreigners were only 1.7 percent of undergraduate students, they made up 6.7 percent among those pursuing master's degrees, and 9.3 percent among Ph.D. candidates. This compares with 2005 when foreigners took 0.4 percent of undergraduate students, 1.7 percent of master's course students and 4 percent of Ph.D. students. Foreign students were concentrated in the metropolitan area, with 45.8 percent studying in Seoul. The data showed that Korean teenagers are taller than ever, but it does not mean they are healthier. The ratio of obesity among teenage males was 26.4 percent, higher than the 24.3 percent average for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. Among Korean teenage girls, only 14.1 percent were obese, though. Female teenagers, however, are suffering from lack of sleep and depression. In the case of high school sophomore girls, one third said they suffered from depression. Only 13.7 percent of them said they enjoyed a sufficient amount of sleep. The ratio of smoking among teenagers, meanwhile, fell continuously to 6.3 percent in 2016 from 11.8 percent in 2005. By Kang Seung-woo The Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency (SDIA) has delivered the "Saemangeum Investment Incentives" booklet to provide easy guidelines for foreign investors, the agency said Wednesday. The SDIA has distributed the incentive guidebook to Saemangeum-related organizations both online and offline since Dec. 4. It covers various relevant laws and ordinances as well as applicable support systems. Saemangeum is a 400-square-kilometer reclaimed area located in North Jeolla Province and is home to the world's longest seawall at 33.9 kilometers. The government is committed to developing it into a global business and free trade hub of Northeast Asia. Under the Special Act on Promotion and Support for the Saemangeum Project, the whole area can enjoy a variety of benefits, while some parts designated as a free economic zone (FEZ) can consider the Special Act on FEZ at the same time. Moreover, benefits from local government ordinances are another option. "Due to such a multi-layered incentive structure, investors may have difficulty understanding the incentive system," an SDIA official said. The SDIA said the booklet organizes and simplifies the applicable incentives into three sections -- tax support, state support and local support -- in order to lay out the outlines for Saemangeum investors. The tax support is comprised of corporate taxes, local taxes and customs duties, while state support is in cash grants and site support. Local support offers subsidies for investment, employment, education and training. "With this booklet, investors interested in the project will be able to consider applicable benefits based on their investment size and area beforehand," the official said. For example, Toray, a Japanese advanced materials company currently operating at the Saemangeum Industrial Complex, which is designated as a FEZ, could receive 50 years of rent exemption as it was also designated as a foreign investment zone thanks to the company's massive amount of investment. The booklet is now available on the English website of on the Downloads page in the Resources menu. The agency plans to use it for various investment promotional activities to attract foreign investors. The SDIA is a state-run agency established in 2013 to take care of administrative services and support, from master planning and coordination to investment promotion and attraction. By Yoon Ja-young The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will examine the chief appointment processes at major financial holding companies, amid criticism that current chairmen were extending their rule to second and third terms by using procedural loopholes. "We found that the candidate recommendation committees are formed in very irrational and unfair ways," FSS Governor Choe Heung-sik said in a meeting with financial editors of the country's media, Wednesday. To select a CEO, financial holding companies usually set up a committee composed of outside directors, which is in charge of recommending the best candidate. As the sole candidate, they usually get approval at a shareholders' meeting. While examining the governance structure of major financial holding companies, however, the FSS found that there was a major problem in the CEO selection process. "The current management of the financial holding companies was exercising too much influence on the committee when it selected candidates," the governor said. For instance, some CEOs join the candidate recommendation committee meetings. Choe pointed out that this was virtually equal to the current CEO recommending himself. "The CEOs should not be on the recommendation committee and should let outside directors do their job," he added. The issue has risen as CEOs of major financial holding companies are being reelected for second and third terms. KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, for instance, was recently appointed as chairman for his second term despite a conflict with the firm's union, and Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tae also has his eyes on a third term in the top post. Choe especially pointed out that many of these companies lack objective criteria to choose the right candidate; and also lacked programs to nurture future CEOs. "To become a chairman of a financial holding company, one should have experience in sectors other than banking such as securities and insurance since the group has many non-banking subsidiaries. However, many potential candidates are not given the chance to build up experience, which makes the current CEO the sole candidate," Choe said. "We decided that the process should be reviewed to make it transparent and fair." The remarks go along with Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Choi Jong-ku, who recently pointed out that CEOs of financial holding companies fill candidate recommendation committees with those who are close to them. When asked whether it will target certain companies such as KB or Hana, however, the FSS governor strongly denied this. "We have no intention at all to hurt the autonomy of financial holding companies. The measure is not targeting specific individuals either," he stressed. While the measure may lead to criticism that the regulator is intervening in the CEO selection at private companies, the governor said that their governance structure is linked with risks in the financial industry. He also mentioned that CEOs of financial companies are being paid too much and given to excessive incentives compared with their ordinary employees. "What is acceptable in the United States may not be accepted in Korea," he said, pointing to the criticism from ordinary citizens here about CEOs getting huge bonuses. The number of Chinese tourists to South Korea is expected to halve in 2017 from last year due to China's economic retaliation over South Korea's deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, government data showed Wednesday. China has retaliated economically against South Korea since early this year after Seoul deployed the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system, which Beijing sees as a security threat. Seoul and Beijing agreed in November to bring the frayed ties back on the normal track. The number of Chinese tourists is predicted to fall by 4 million this year from 8,068,000 last year, according to the estimation by the Bank of Korea. The reduction will lead to 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in lost revenues, the central bank said. The number of Chinese visitors declined to 2.38 million between March and October this year from 5.94 million a year earlier. The Bank of Korea has said the Chinese economic retaliation will likely reduce South Korea's economic growth rate by 0.4 percentage point this year. (Yonhap) U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. / AP-Yonhap U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Washington is willing to begin talks with North Korea without preconditions. The remark came as tensions have increased over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, including its latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Nov. 29. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition," he told a forum co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Atlantic Council think tank. "Let's just meet. We can talk about the weather if you want." It was a markedly different tone from Washington's earlier insistence that Pyongyang first halt its missile and nuclear testing, and demonstrate its sincerity about denuclearization. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program," Tillerson continued. "They have too much invested in it. And the president is very realistic about that as well." While Trump seeks to defend the U.S. and its allies from the North's threats, he has also encouraged diplomatic efforts to resolve the impasse, the secretary claimed. The U.S. leader has publicly taken an aggressive stance toward Pyongyang by threatening to "totally destroy" the regime if necessary and trading personal insults with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In October, he appeared to undercut his top diplomat, saying Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump's derogatory nickname for Kim. "We're dealing with a new leader in North Korea that no one's ever engaged with," Tillerson said. "I have to know who my counterpart is. I have to know something about them. I have to understand how do they process, how do they think." Earlier in the forum, Tillerson made clear, however, that North Korea has to come to the table "with a view that they do want to make a different choice" on its weapons programs. Pyongyang has said at every opportunity that its weapons of mass destruction are nonnegotiable. It claims they are a deterrent against U.S. hostility toward the regime. "We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table if that's what you're excited about," the diplomat said. "But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face? And then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map of what we might be willing to work towards." North Korea has claimed its new missile is capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to anywhere on the U.S. mainland. The launch ended a 75-day pause in the regime's weapons testing, which had raised hopes of an opening for talks between Washington and Pyongyang. "It's going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks, you decide to test another device," Tillerson said. "If we're going to talk, we have to have a period of quiet ... or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions." Tillerson also warned that the U.S. military remains prepared if necessary. He said he will continue diplomatic efforts with North Korea "until the first bomb drops" and is confident he will be successful. But U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will also be successful if it becomes "his turn." "We simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea," Tillerson stressed, noting that Trump has been putting more pressure on China to cut off its oil supply to the North even as Beijing has backed and implemented recent U.N. sanctions against its wayward ally. "We have had conversations (with the Chinese) that if something happened, and we had to go across a line, we have given the Chinese assurances we would go back and retreat back to the south of the 38th parallel when whatever the conditions that caused that to happen," Tillerson said. "That is our commitment we made to them." The U.S.' only objective is to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, he added, "And out of that and out of these discussions, perhaps we can create a different future for the North Korean people because the one they have right now is pretty dismal." The White House was terse in its response. "The president's views on North Korea have not changed," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan, China, and South Korea but the entire world. North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea." (Yonhap) By Jung Min-ho In the wake of doctors' protest against President Moon Jae-in's scheme to expand national health insurance coverage, Oriental medicine doctors called the action "extremely selfish." "They are opposed to anything and everything that may hurt their interest," the Association of Korean Medicine (AKM) said in a statement Tuesday. "Doctors are supposed to value the people's health more than anything, but they don't." Under so-called "Mooncare," the administration will invest 30.6 trillion won ($27.9 billion) over the next five years to expand national health insurance coverage for more diseases. It aims to reduce individual medical costs by 18 percent. Doctors protested the policy in Seoul, Sunday, because it will leave them with few options to make additional money through services not covered by the insurance, such as MRI scans. The AKM said it supports the policy, saying more patients should be able to receive medical treatment for lower prices. Perhaps a more important reason for the AKM's support is the fact that it needs the government and the ruling Democratic Party, which controls the National Assembly, to pass a bill that would allow Oriental medicine doctors to use medical devices the subject of a long-pending conflict between the two doctors' groups. The AKM said the Korean Medical Association (KMA) has ignored the National Assembly's recommendation of talks to resolve the issue by refusing to attend meetings. The KMA has been opposed to the idea, saying Oriental medicine doctors, who were trained to treat people with traditional methods such as by using herbs, are not qualified to handle modern medical equipment such as X-ray machines. It insists that unprofessional use of such devices could risk the people's health. The KMA also claimed that the recent protest helped many people learn about the problems of Mooncare, which they say will worsen the financial situation of many hospitals. It vowed to continue to fight the government's policy. During their rally, doctors said the government keeps medical charges too low and forces them to sacrifice in the name of the people's health. They said Mooncare is expected to hit small hospitals hardest. Previously, President Moon dismissed financial concerns and said the policy would benefit everyone, especially those in the bottom 30 percent of the low-income bracket. South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in Beijing Wednesday for a four-day state visit that will include talks with President Xi Jinping on North Korea and bilateral ties. Moon will begin his first trip to China as president with a meeting with South Korean residents here, his office Cheong Wa Dae said. He will also attend a business round table, involving top business and economic leaders from both countries, followed by a joint business forum where he will deliver a special speech, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Top executives from dozens of leading South Korean firms are accompanying the president on his first trip to China. The firms include Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG, SK and Hanwha groups. The Moon-Xi meeting will be held on the second day of his trip. It will mark the third bilateral summit between the two leaders, following earlier meetings on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany in July and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Danang, Vietnam, last month. Coming in the wake of the North's latest missile test, staged Nov. 29, the talks are widely expected to focus on ways to rein in North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile technologies. Pyongyang has conducted 11 missile tests since Moon took office in May. Its most recent missile test also marked a resumption of military provocations after a 75-day hiatus. "The two leaders are scheduled to hold in-depth discussions on ways to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula," Nam Gwan-pyo, a deputy director of the presidential National Security Office, told reporters earlier. The leaders will also discuss ways to normalize their countries' bilateral ties, soured by a Chinese protest against the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system in South Korea earlier in the year. The countries agreed to put their relations back on the right track in a joint statement issued Oct. 31, but many believe the relationship has yet to thaw completely, since many Chinese retaliatory measures are still in place. In an apparent reflection of the difficulties in mending ties, the countries have agreed not to issue a joint statement on the outcome of their leaders' upcoming talks. The South Korean president will meet with other Chinese leaders -- including Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Zhang Dejiang, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- on Friday to discuss ways to repair the countries' bilateral ties. Also on Friday, Moon will deliver a special speech to students at Peking University before heading to the southwestern city of Chongqing, according to Cheong Wa Dae. In Chongqing, Moon will visit the former office of his country's provisional government in exile, which operated in China during Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910-45. He will also visit a local plant of Hyundai Motor Co. in Chongqing before returning home Saturday. (Yonhap) President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook toast with South Korean actress Choo Ja-hyun and her husband, Chinese actor Yu Xiaoguang, during a reception at the Sofitel Wanda hotel in Beijing, Wednesday, the first day of Moon's four-day state visit to China. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon By Kim Rahn BEIJIING South Korea and China will soon begin a new round of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) regarding the services and investment sectors, President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday. The move will help the two nations set a stronger ground for stable economic cooperation, beyond just restoring cooperation that was marred by the row over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system. In the South Korea-China Business Forum at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on the first day of his state visit to China, Moon said the two-year-old FTA is the basis of the two nations' economic cooperation and its needs to be expanded to more sectors. "In the bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow, we'll sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to start the new round of negotiations," Moon said. "I expect new deals to help companies of the two countries advance into each other's markets and to vitalize investment to a larger extent." Seoul and Beijing signed an FTA in December 2015 mainly on tariff barrier elimination for goods, and agreed to negotiate terms for the services and investment sectors within two years. President Moon also called for a qualitative improvement in trading by expanding areas from the current manufacturing-focused trade to the consumer goods and service sectors, and allowing online shopping platforms to operate in each other's country. Moon said South Korea and China can also gain synergy through cooperation in new industries such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence, and urged joint efforts to develop new and renewable energy, and fight fine dust. According to Moon, the two nations have the common idea of developing a continent-wide economic network Xi's "One Belt, One Road" initiative and the President's "New Northern Policy" and "New Southern Policy." "I suggest joint overseas business expansion by combining the advantages of companies in South Korea and China," Moon said, adding there have already been successful cases, such as a joint venture to construct the Palm Gateway apartment complex in Dubai. Moon also met Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who came to the forum. Some 600 business leaders from 246 Korean companies and economy-related organizations and from 200 Chinese companies participated in the forum. Before the forum, Moon had a business roundtable with about 30 CEOs and chairpersons. The attendees from China included China Council for the Promotion of international Trade Chairman Jiang Zengwei, BAIC Group Chairman Xu Heyi, Baidu Chairman Robin Li, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) Chairman Robin Zeng, China State Construction Engineering Corp. Vice President Zheng Xuexuan, Sinopec Group Vice President Liu Zhongyun, Huawei's China region President Peng Zhongyang, and Xiaomi Vice President Huang Jiangji. Korean participants included Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Yoon Boo-keun, Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, LG Group Vice Chairman Koo Bon-joon, CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-sik and AmorePacific Chairman Suh Kyung-bae. Alongside the forum, companies and state organizations of the two countries signed 19 MOUs for business partnerships. School to nurture compassionate, creative, inquisitive students By You Soo-sun St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju (SJA Jeju) School Head Peter M. Toscano, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times, Dec. 7. / Courtesy of SJA Jeju The St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju (SJA Jeju), the newest international school on Jeju Island, was built on the idea that students should take the lead in their education. The school, instead, should merely serve to create an environment in which students can question, explore, and collaborate in their learning. Its head Peter M. Toscano believes this is already happening at the school, now only eight weeks old. It is already becoming a place where students feel free to express their creativity something that was missing when he came to Korea 21 years ago to work for public schools here. What especially struck him back then was that all the classrooms were equipped with lecterns an implication that students are expected to listen in order to learn. "You don't learn just by listening, but more so by doing," Toscano said in an interview with The Korea Times, Dec. 7. And it is through active engagement, students can fully express themselves and achieve their potential. Its curricula, spanning preschool through high school, emphasize student-led growth. And with this approach, the school seeks to nurture students to become inquisitive and compassionate people with global mindsets. SJA Jeju is unique in that many of its programs are adopted from its main school in Vermont, U.S., which has a history of over 170 years, Toscano explained. As the only U.S.-grounded international school, it has been rapidly gaining attention here with 443 students already enrolled and staffed with 70 teachers, 80 percent of whom have at least a master's degree. Learning by doing One of the main programs at SJA Jeju is the "senior capstone project," in which students make a presentation of a topic of their interest at the end of the school year. Inspired by a program from the Vermont school, the program was extended at SJA Jeju so that students present their projects at the end of their elementary, middle school and high school years. "It requires them to read deeply, write concisely and present engagingly," Toscano said. "The idea is that it should be about their passions. They have to pick their topic as they progress throughout their school years. Once they do, teachers merely provide guidance and help them with the materials they need to develop and implement their ideas." The project-based learning approach is meant to stimulate innovative thinking and student-centered inquiry. It is a way of fully engaging the students in their learning, Toscano said. Academically, the school rigorously prepares the students for college. The school runs on a block scheduling system with two separate semesters, allowing students to take eight classes a year. This is meant to provide students with the opportunity to explore different electives or build on a particular area of interest. As part of its high school curriculum, it offers a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses which many U.S. universities accept for credit based on the students' AP exam scores. It will offer up to six AP subjects next school year and will increase this up to 12 by the following year. It offers middle school students the AP Spring Board curriculum to prepare them for AP level studies the first school in East Asia to do so. Besides its academic curriculum, the school offers a student exchange program with the main school through which high school students at SJA Jeju may go to the main school in Vermont for a semester. Likewise, students from Vermont can apply to come to Jeju. Its afterschool activities are diverse, including computer programming, yoga, film production, fashion design, and arts and music. It also has a hiking course, allowing students to explore the different parts of Jeju Island. School culture The school has adopted three distinct features from the home school: assembly, advisory and conference period. First, the assembly is held three days a week during which everyone gathers together to share a moment of silence, listen to the principal's speech, and take the time to contemplate on the day. "The main school has been doing this for over 170 years. It's a way of developing community," Toscano explained. It is also a time for students to share their ideas. Recently, 15 students volunteered to give speeches during the assembly. This was when their personalities shined, according to Toscano a moment in which they were able to freely express themselves. "Everybody is creative. But only some have the opportunity to express their creativity while others do not," he said. "At SJA Jeju, we encourage the students to express their ideas and know that nobody is going to be disparaging about it." The advisory was another program Toscano emphasized. Teachers are each assigned to a group of about six students whom they help guide throughout the students' school years. This is already proving successful, with teachers forming a strong bond with their "advisory students." And because of this system, many teachers are considering to extend their two-year contracts. Lastly, the school holds conference period every day for 20 minutes at the end of school. All of the teachers are required to hold these, giving the students a chance to talk to them privately and approach them easily. These features are there to promote an environment in which students can express their creativity, develop their interests, and participate in collaborative learning. And these are already producing beneficial effects. When the school first opened, there were not many things to share and most of the things were just up to the teachers, he explained. But in a matter of few days, things began to pick up, as illustrated by the various works of art hanging on the walls, teachers asking for more bulletin boards, and every classroom displaying what they have made in the hallways. These are all the ways of celebrating student achievement, Toscano said. "And student celebrations should be happening all the time." he said. By Sarah Se-Jung Oh Sarah Se-jung Oh With the end of Seoul Model United Nations (SEOMUN) a few weeks ago, Korea International School (KIS) had the opportunity to talk with the 81st governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin. Inspiring students to continue pursuing such daring acts as discussing and solving today's issues, Governor Shumlin came to KIS to share his perspective on politics and empower the young. Shumlin served as the governor of Vermont for three terms and helped make many improvements there, including healthcare reforms and lowering the unemployment rates. In fact, Vermont became the first state to not only shift to a single-payer health care system but also lower its unemployment rate. Sharing his accomplishments in improving Vermont and answering some insightful questions from the students, Governor Shumlin shed light on the workings of politics. With the rise of misconduct and corruption in politics today, Shumlin first explained how the core of the problem in America is that "politics is becoming a career, a way to make a living." Rather than viewing it as a means to give back to the society, some politicians and leaders look at elective office as a way to make money. This in turn contributes to the widespread issues today in politics. Furthermore, he outlined some of the misguided views and actions leaders have taken. "What I found so disturbing from the presidential leadership which really matters is that this is the first time I can remember when leaders chose groups over other groups for political gain. Picking people against each other based on sexual orientation, race, gender, religion this is un-American," he explained. Another profound and controversial subject that he touched upon was refugees, a topic that KIS students are widely interested in. Shumlin expressed great concern and fear at how we are dealing with the crisis at hand. "I was horrified at how we were equating people who were escaping war, rape and terror with terrorists." He beseeched the students to shift their perspectives on the issues as he expressed how the refugees are the ones who become the leaders of the country who work hard to serve back. At the crux of his talk, Governor Shumlin inspired the students with what true leadership is and what it means for the young. In policy-decision making, as Shumlin asserted, we need to realize that you "shouldn't compromise what you believe in. Rather, we should tell people why you believe it, and why it will make a difference for them." Compromising, on the other hand, is necessary for us if we want to get work done, especially as one has a greater responsibility. In a competitive society with academic pressures, Governor Shumlin left us with a lasting note that urged us to reflect upon what truly is important. As he explained, we often believe that studying hard, getting top scores, and attending prestigious universities are the only ways for us to achieve happiness. Consequently, we tend to focus on working hard for our grades and college. However, Governor Shumlin urged the students to shift their perspective and recognize that we as the young have the responsibility to make an impact. " You actually are born into a generation where you can do all of those things and you're still out of luck because if you don't have air to breathe, and water you can drink, and forest fires that don't gobble you up, and floods that don't take you out it's tough," he maintained. Such powerful words of Governor Shumlin aided us in understanding why it is imperative for us to discuss global issues and propose our ideas and solutions: we will and are the trailblazers of this society. The young delegates who fiercely represent their own countries, the debaters who argue on public policy, and the speakers who express their thoughts on current issues all help us hone and cultivate the necessary skills and experience for leadership. Governor Shumlin's potent message to KIS delegates, debaters, speakers and students will continue to pave the way for the future. As one student remarked, "Governor Shumlin's talk from last week was less of a motivational lecture but more of an alerting reminder. A reminder of what lies ahead for our generation: chaos...It's safe to say that every single individual in that room felt the same urgency I felt that day. Thanks to Governor Shumlin, we are now informed of what we have done, what we must do and what we will have to do." The writer is an 11th grade student at KIS. ssjoh19@student.kis.or.kr By Jun Ji-hye The Army successfully launched two Stinger air-to-air guided missiles from its AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters in an exercise, Wednesday. Four Apache choppers belonging to the Army's Aviation Operations Command took part in the drill held on a firing range at Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province. Stinger missiles are capable of striking airborne drones or enemy aircraft. It marked the first time for the Army to have carried out a live-fire exercise with missiles from attack helicopters. "This live-fire exercise was meaningful in that the Army has finally verified its ability of operating air-to-air missiles, completing the Army's aviation combat capability," the Army said in a release. The Army introduced the AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in May of last year and created Apache battalions later that year in September and December. Since then, the Army has been working to enhance its aviation combat capability. On Nov. 13, the Army also successfully launched eight Hellfire air-to-surface missiles at targets in the sea in its first live-fire exercise, during which 12 Apache helicopters were mobilized. Two Saudi Arabian students have been arrested for sexually assaulting a woman, Seoul police said Wednesday. The two brothers, 25 and 23, are suspected of assaulting a Korean office worker in her 20s at their home Saturday. They were detained Monday. The students, studying here in a university exchange program, met the victim through a chat app and drank together in their room, according to the Seoul Seongbuk Police Station. The woman made an emergency call to police, and investigators found evidence from CCTV footage taken nearby their residence. The men told police they do not remember what happened because they were intoxicated. (Yonhap) By Park Si-soo A professor at South Korea's elite Seoul National University (SNU) was convicted of pocketing part of state subsidies for his projects over the past decade. Seoul Northern District Court sentenced the professor from the university's chemical and biological engineering department, surnamed Han, to three years' prison. The court suspended the term for five years after the school pleaded for mercy. The professor siphoned off 1.26 billion won ($1.15 million) of state funds paid to him since 2008, which was supposed to be paid to his research fellows. He used fake bills and other illegal means to exploit the money. Some was used to buy software programs developed by his company. "He not just repeated illegal practices that had been used to extort state funds, but also actively developed fresh ways, for which he deserves a heavy punishment," the court wrote in a ruling statement. "But he expressed deep regret and remorse. And the school begged for mercy and didn't want him to be punished." An SNU official said the professor had fully compensated the school for the loss. Cannonball Statman tours Asia Cannonball Statman, a musician from New York who is currently touring Asia, will play at Strange Fruit tonight at 9 p.m. at an event hosted by Loose Union. Grey Watson, an American musician and a permanent fixture of Seoul's expat music scene, will join him. Visit facebook.com/LooseUnion for more information. Seoul GSC Enternship' Fair Seoul Global Startup Center will host an "Enternship" Fair and networking event on Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at its building in Yongsan. The event is geared towards those who want to work for a startup or become founders themselves. The Enternship Fair is a place where startups and individuals can connect and share ideas. Visit for more information. AustCham Year-End Sundowner AustCham Korea will be holding its annual Year-End Sundowner on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Australian Embassy's Australia Centre. The event is free for members and guests. They will serve finger food and beer but guests are encouraged to bring wine. There will also be a charity raffle on the night. Visit facebook.com/AustChamKorea for more information. Korea Leadership Society networking party The Korea Leadership Society will host its second annual holiday party on Friday from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the World of Beer in Gangnam. The party will include cocktails and networking opportunities for people passionate about local politics and public service. Visit facebook.com/KoreaLeadershipSociety for more information. Market, Mingle, Jingle flea market For your Christmas shopping needs, Market, Mingle & Jingle, a flea market hosted by Vineworks and The Soul of Seoul blog, will bring together food, wine, live music and "artsy and artisanal" stalls at Vineworks on Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Preregistration gets you two glasses of mulled wine. Paying at the door costs 5,000 won and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Korean Unwed Mothers' Families Association (KUMFA). Visit facebook.com/vineworkskorea/ for more information or to register as a vendor. Artists open studio Seoul-based artists Da-iN and Gunhee will have an open studio on Saturday at Willoughby in Hannam-dong. They've also invited Annie Hong to exhibit her work as a guest artist. The open studio is an opportunity for visitors to see the artists' processes and inspirations. Popular DJs Akimbo and Closet will provide some eclectic sounds to match the art from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, search for Open Studio [Da-in, Gunhee, HootnAnnie] on Facebook. North Korea's Unification Drive' lecture The Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch will host a lecture by B.R. Myers titled "North Korea's Unification Drive" on Tuesday from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Myers is an international studies professor at Dongseo University in Busan and a renowned expert on North Korea. The lecture is open to the public and will take place in the second-floor Residents' Lounge of Somerset Palace in downtown Seoul. Admission is 10,000 won for non-members and 5,000 won for students. Visit for more information. The fast track for the disabled and the elderly at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport / Yonhap Transport ministry opposes move, citing negative public sentiment By Jung Min-ho Getting stuck in a long line at the security check point is a huge stress for any traveler. But wealthy travelers may soon be able to avoid this inconvenience at Incheon International Airport. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Monday, it is contemplating whether to allow first- and business-class passengers to use an exclusive track for faster and more convenient security screening at the airport. At a recent meeting, the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) and local airline companies urged ministry officials to introduce the system. "Incheon International Airport is one of the very few major airports that does not have such a system," an IIAC spokesman said. "Even airports in China have it. If you look at the world's top 20 airports, Incheon is probably the only one that doesn't." The issue came into the spotlight following news about fast-tracking at Incheon's new terminal, which is set to open next month. The five-story Terminal 2 has up-to-date facilities, including a fast track. But it is not for first- and business-class passengers it is for those with special needs such as the disabled. Airline companies believe a fast track service for business travelers can make the airport more competitive as it will offer different levels of services for different customers. "This is one of the important factors in evaluating airport services," a Korean Air spokesman said. "The airport can appeal more to wealthy customers by adopting the system." The IIC and airline companies say the system is also beneficial for economy-class passengers because 5 percent of all passengers will take advantage of the fast track service. "It will save time for everyone," the IIAC official said. He also said the IIAC will use additional revenue from its fast track service to improve facilities for all airport users, if the ministry approves. Since 2007, the IIAC and airline companies have been pushing the issue, but the ministry has been cautious in accepting the idea. The airport is a public property the government used taxpayer money to build it and helps the IIC run it. This is different from airlines that are operated commercially by private firms. The ministry is mulling over whether it is proper to prioritize certain groups of people over others in providing services. "We understand the need for change, but we need a social consensus to resolve this issue," a ministry official said. "It is too risky to adopt the system right away." Moving from its previous negative stance, the ministry said it will collect more opinions from customers and industry people before making a decision. SHENZHEN, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two Boeing 747 freighters successfully auctioned on Taobao's judicial sales platform last month were handed over to its buyer Tuesday. A hand-over ceremony was conducted at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court Tuesday. Altogether three Boeing 747 planes went up for auction on Nov. 21. SF Airlines purchased two of the aircraft, registered with the identification numbers B2422 and B2423, for more than 320 million yuan (around 48 million U.S. dollars). The third plane failed to find a buyer. According to Yue Yanni with the Shenzhen court, this is the first time aircraft have been offered in a Taobao judicial auction in China. 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 they failed to find buyers. Online judicial sales have gained popularity in China. More than 103 Chinese courts have put up items for auction on Taobao this year, with over 600 deals totaling 6 billion yuan, said Chen Huiming, vice general manager of Alibaba's auction business. Chen said the third Boeing 747 plane would be put up for auction again in late December. By Jun Ji-hye Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) is likely to face arrest by the prosecution after the ongoing provisional session of the National Assembly ends on Dec. 23. The Assembly said Wednesday that it has decided not to hold a vote on an arrest motion for the four-term lawmaker as the provisional session will end soon. It added that the prosecution will be able to make a decision on its own from Dec. 24. The decision was made after the meeting between Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun and floor leaders from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the LKP and the minor opposition People's Party. "There will be no vote on the motion at the Assembly," said DPK lawmaker Park Hong-geun. On Tuesday, the justice ministry submitted a motion seeking parliamentary consent to arrest Choi, one of the closest aides to ousted President Park Geun-hye, on suspicions that he received 100 million won ($91,570) from the National Intelligence Service's (NIS) special activities fund in 2014. At the time, he was serving as deputy prime minister and finance minister for the Park government. The ministry submitted such a motion as Choi, as an incumbent lawmaker, is immune from arrest while the National Assembly is in session unless the parliament passes a motion giving its consent to the move. By law, the arrest motion should be put to a vote within 72 hours after it is reported to the Assembly meeting. If the vote does not take place, the motion is automatically discarded. Immunity from arrest is valid only while the Assembly is in session, which means that prosecutors can still push for Choi's arrest on its own after the session ends. During its ongoing investigation into the NIS's bribery allegations, prosecutors have secured the testimony from former NIS director Lee Byung-kee that the agency offered Choi 100 million won. Lee had already been arrested for allegedly handing over bribes to those working for the presidential office during the Park administration. During 20 hours of questioning on Dec. 6 and 7, Choi strongly denied the bribery allegation. The LKP criticized the prosecution's investigation, calling it the Moon Jae-in government's political revenge against the former conservative government. Four-term DPK lawmaker Lee Sang-min shot back, saying even an incumbent lawmaker cannot be an exception in taking responsibility for wrongdoing. "Everything should be handled in accordance with laws and procedures," he said during a radio appearance. By Kim Hyo-jin President Moon Jae-in offered words of condolences to victims in the Nanjing massacre during his visit to Beijing, Wednesday. The move is interpreted as his call on Japan to reflect on the past wrongdoing on the day marking 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. "Koreans are deeply empathetic for this painful incident Chinese went through," Moon said during his meeting with Korean residents in China. "I and Koreans offer condolences to its victims with sympathy and give words of consolation to those with painful memories." Moon stressed the similarity in histories of Korea and China where they experienced the Japanese colonial rule. "Korea and China stepped through a long history together. When China flourished, Korea flourished, and when China declines, Korea declined too," he said. "The both countries went through hardships caused by imperialism, and waded through the difficult times, fighting against the Japanese colonial rule." The remark came as Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting Nanjing for a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the massacre. Moon's gesture could be sensitive to the Japanese government having denied the responsibility of the war crime in Nanjing. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in Nanjing between December 1937 and January 1938. But Japan has downplayed the atrocities by claiming that the number of those killed was not as many and that it was an inevitable act in the wartime. On the arrival of Moon's flight at a Beijing airport, Korean Ambassador to China, Noh Young-min did not show up. Cheong Wa Dae said that Moon sent Roh to the ceremony for the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. Newly elected floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party, Rep. Kim Sung-tae, right, poses hand in hand with National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, second from right, ruling party floor leader Rep. Woo Won-shik, second from left, and People's Party floor leader Kim Dong-cheol, Wednesday. / Yonhap By Choi Ha-young The newly elected floor leader of the largest opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), Rep. Kim Sung-tae, said Wednesday that he will become a "fighter" against the Moon Jae-in administration. "I will become a fighter who stands in the front line of the anti-ruling party struggle," Kim said in a radio interview. "This means, I will counter the Moon government's dogmatism and populist drives." The three-term lawmaker launched a political offensive in consecutive meetings with floor leaders of rival parties on the same day "The rival parties should be able to have fruitful negotiations through their struggles," Kim said in a meeting with Rep. Woo Won-shik, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). "So far, the ruling party has never dealt with a real opposition party. The LKP under my leadership will become a strong force to counter the Moon administration." Kim openly took issue with the ruling camp's move for the "eradication of accumulated evils." The liberal government opened investigations into allegations of corruption that took place under its conservative predecessors the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations which has led the prosecution to probe conservative lawmakers and the associates of the former presidents. "Don't waste time on wide-ranging political revenge," Kim said regarding the ongoing legal moves. Kim also criticized the latest budget negotiations, which were primarily led by the DPK and the minor liberal People's Party. In an effort to pass the 2018 budget, the DPK allocated 1.3 trillion won to a railroad infrastructure project in the Jeolla region the People's Party's home turf. Kim labeled the process a "closed-door deal." "If the two parties intentionally isolate the largest opposition party, LKP lawmakers cannot agree with the outcome of the negotiations. The LKP must sever its ties with the DPK if the party keeps choosing the People's Party as a core partner," he stressed. In a meeting with the People's Party floor leader Rep. Kim Dong-cheol, he reiterated the message. "In the future, please ignore the DPK's call to push ahead with negotiations without the LKP," he jokingly told Kim. National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun organized a welcoming meeting for the new LKP floor leader on the same day. There, Chung requested he help create a cooperative culture among parties for a fruitful extraordinary session of the National Assembly. Over 800 bills are stuck in parliament, with 20 percent of them up in the air in the legislation and judiciary committee chaired by LKP lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong. The LKP's support is needed for the ruling camp to pass bills which are vital to achieve the government's policy goals. "Kim Sung-tae calls himself a professional fighter, but I know that he is a capable negotiator as well," said Chung. "Please join hands actively, when cooperation is needed, even though floor leaders fight for their different views." For the ruling camp's reformist drive, Rep. Woo highlighted common ground with Kim Sung-tae their concern over labor issues. "Kim is experienced in the labor movement, with a pro-labor philosophy. I am looking forward to his joint move in pushing bills dedicated to back up workers and ordinary people," Woo said. Despite their requests, the LKP floor leader again revealed his will to fight. "We will become a clear-cut opposition party. An opposition party without the power to fight doesn't have a reason for being," Kim said. SPECIAL REPORT'I was falsely accused of theft': foreign entertainer recalls painful memories of bullying by Korean agency By Ramesh Ponnuru "There's nothing wrong with supply-side economics that division by ten wouldn't cure." The quip came from Charles Schultze, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in Democrat Jimmy Carter's White House. It meant that improving incentives to work and invest would promote economic growth but not nearly as much as tax-cutting enthusiasts believed. The point applies to the politics of tax cuts, too. Both parties are exaggerating the impact the tax bill making its way through Congress is likely to have in the next elections. A lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill think passing a tax cut is vital to their re-election chances. They believe it will show that they can accomplish something, reassuring their core supporters. "Doing nothing, you're running as the gang that couldn't shoot straight," former Republican congressman Tom Davis tells me. They also think that voters will appreciate the higher take-home pay they will get as withholding tables are adjusted for the new tax code. Finally, many Republicans believe that the bill will boost their candidates by ramping up economic growth. It's a theory that conservatives have often invoked when arguing among themselves about how to design the bill. FreedomWorks, a conservative group, warned Senate Republicans, "If we don't make the corporate tax rate reduction immediate, Americans won't see the impact of economic growth and job creation by November 2018." All of these effects are likely to be small. Not everyone who gets a tax cut is going to realize it. President George W. Bush cut taxes twice during his first term, in a less complicated way than the current tax bill does. Yet when he ran for re-election, only a fifth of voters believed he had cut their taxes. It's true that one detailed analysis of the Senate tax bill shows it significantly boosting growth in 2018. Contrary to the FreedomWorks forecast, it's the delay in the reduction of the corporate tax rate that generates the extra growth. The bill lets companies write off the full cost of their investments in 2018 creating a more powerful incentive to invest when the tax rate is higher. Strong growth usually helps the party in power. But we may be living through a time that is an exception to that rule. The economy has been doing pretty well already, while President Donald Trump is unpopular and getting more so. Democrats, meanwhile, may be overestimating how much the unpopularity of the tax bill will matter in the next election. For example, Chris Cillizza of CNN looks at survey data and concludes that "the Republican tax bill is a major motivator for Democratic base voters" and will "drive Democrats to the polls to show their anger and disapproval." Such data can be misleading, though, because a lot of those angry Democrats would be angry about something else in the absence of that tax bill. Or about someone else: Trump as president may be motivation enough for Democrats to vote. What may help the Democrats is not the bill's overall unpopularity but its unpopularity with a specific group: relatively affluent voters in high-tax states. Both the House and the Senate versions of tax reform scale back the deduction for state and local taxes, resulting in a net tax increase for many of these voters who have already been turning away from the Trump-era Republican Party. What may help the Republicans, on the other hand, is that passing the tax bill will give them something to say for themselves. Next fall they may be able to say that the economy is booming and that they helped it get that way. Whether they will be right or wrong about it, it's the best argument they are likely to have at their disposal. Republicans in competitive races are probably not going to want to talk about the president's Twitter feed instead. Passing a tax bill looks likely to be the major legislative accomplishment of this Congress. That doesn't mean it's going to be a dominant issue in the election. My guess is that passing it will be a modest net plus for Republicans. But whatever you think the political effect will be, divide it by 10. Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is a senior editor at National Review, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and contributor to CBS News. The above article appeared in Bloomberg News and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The health insurance system of the Republic of Korea is the envy of even advanced countries such as the United States, among others. It covers all the people, who can see their doctors any time they want, and the average insurance fee per person is as low as 57 percent of that of the OECD countries. However, most doctors, either at hospitals or individual clinics, are still in the high-income brackets, enjoying public respect as well. But doctors took to the streets in cold weather to protest against so-called "Moon Jae-in Care," a reform program of the current insurance system. The reform plan, an election pledge of President Moon, features health insurance coverage for all treatments and medications _ except for cosmetic surgery _ including charges for MRIs, ultrasound, hospital room and nursing care, which are not covered by the current formula. Protesting this reform plan, some 30,000 doctors staged a street rally in central Seoul because their earnings will be sharply reduced as patients will pay less for treatments that up to now have not been supported by health insurance. Basically, Moon Jae-in Care is necessary for the improvement of medical services and the guarantee of the people's rights to full health care. Even though insurance fees are lower than the OECD average, the medical expenses not covered by the insurance are almost double the OECD cost. The question is how the government will pay for the extended coverage that is expected to cost an extra 30 trillion won (about $27 billion) and most of that must be covered by the public health insurance fund of 21 trillion won. What about the rest? It must be covered by taxpayer money. The government should also consider a possible explosive increase in the number of patients as a result of the expanded medical coverage following the certain rise in MRI and ultrasound examinations. The nation is also one of the fastest-aging societies in the world which must deal with a sharp increase in the financial burden for elderly citizens' medical care. The government should come up with more concrete plans to finance the expanded coverage, while making sincere efforts to persuade both the people and the doctors to be patient in the course of implementing Moon Jae-in Care. A bitcoin market board is seen on a trading floor of Coinone, the nation's second largest cryptocurrency exchange, in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. One bitcoin was traded at as high as 25 million won ($22,800) here as of Friday morning, but its value plundged to 17.39 million won on Sunday amid concerns over the government's planned regulations on the cryptocurrency market. / Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung The government's move to regulate cryptocurrencies still needs more consideration, because specific downsides of the emerging currencies have yet to be reported here and the backbone technology comes with huge growth potential, according to industry officials Sunday. This view comes as the nation's financial watchdog plans to unveil restrictive measures on Bitcoin, whose price soared to 25 million won ($22,800) at one point Friday. But those who ask for immediate regulation of the volatile market have also raised their voices, complicating the matter. Amid the surging valuation, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) recently indicated it planned to push ahead with regulations to stop the market from becoming overheated. The FSC also formed a special taskforce dedicated to resolving the Bitcoin-led market confusion. It plans to unveil its first regulatory steps as early as next week. The authority, teaming up with the Ministry of Justice, is also reported to be considering banning Bitcoin transactions here if regulatory policies fail to stabilize the overheated market. But market insiders said the government should remain more than careful before rashly intervening, because it might slow development of the digital currency and its backbone blockchain technology. Blockchain is a decentralized electronic ledger technology that underpins Bitcoin. "To be honest, there are no experts on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies because the market is still in its infancy here," said a blockchain industry source. "Blockchain technology is used in areas such as finance and banking, and its use is expected to widen even more due to its technological advantages over conventional security platforms. "But no one can say for sure whether the government should regulate Bitcoin, as it is a new phenomenon. No exemplary cases have so far been reported to determine the financial soundness of the cryptocurrency." He said that against this backdrop, it would be better for the government to take a wait-and-see approach and push for regulations in a way to develop blockchain technology, rather than suffocate it. According to Bithumb, the largest digital token exchange in Korea, the local Bitcoin market is showing signs of strong fluctuations in the wake of last week's reports about it being regulated. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, one bitcoin was trading at 15.41 million won here, dropping 30 percent from the same time Friday. By Lee Min-hyung The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) called for the need to establish social consensus to stop discrimination on local internet companies with regard to their overseas counterparts. "We are going to establish and run a public organization by inviting experts from civic groups and research bodies, in a bid to resolve the ongoing dispute," KCC Chairman Lee Hyo-seong said in a meeting with leaders of portal and internet companies here, Wednesday. They include Google Korea CEO John Lee, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook and Kakao CEO Lim Ji-hoon The remarks are aimed at the years-long dispute between Korean portal firms - such as Naver - and their overseas counterparts including Google and Facebook. The former has for years stepped up its criticism of the overseas portal giants operating businesses here, claiming that they are taking advantage of legal loopholes in particular tax issues. But every time the issue surfaces, the U.S.-based tech giants have countered the argument by saying they are fully abiding by the Korean legal system and the issue should be directed to the legal authorities here. In a bid to stop the controversy, the KCC chief held the event to hear opinions from the top portal companies here. He pointed out that the controversy is preventing the local internet industry from enhancing its global competitiveness. "We are aware that internet companies are making all-out efforts to push for mutual growth with their small- and medium-sized partners," Lee said. He did not elaborate on any legal or hard-line regulatory stance during the meeting, and instead, called for the internet giants to actively team up with the new organization to reach a social consensus which he said will help put an end to the ongoing discrimination-related controversies. "To build a healthy internet ecosystem here, internet companies need to do their utmost to protect their users' information and fairly compete with their rivals," he said. This is the first time that the KCC chief has held a meeting with the chiefs of the leading internet companies since taking office this August. But he fell short of commenting on details over when the new organization will be established. By Jhoo Dong-chan Hyundai Motor agreed to establish a joint venture with an Indonesian company, aiming to enter the Southeast Asian commercial vehicle market. According to Korea's largest carmaker, Tuesday, it signed a joint venture agreement with Artha Graha (AG) Group to enter the region's rapidly growing commercial vehicle market. Established in 1973, AG Group is one of Indonesia's top 10 conglomerates and has been in charge of sales networks for Hyundai's commercial vehicles. Under the deal, Hyundai Motor will establish not only a manufacturing base but also a robust sales and service network in Indonesia to rapidly counter the Southeast Asian country's booming demand for commercial vehicles. "The joint venture between Hyundai Motor and AG Group will be a bridgehead in the two country's economic cooperation," Hyundai Motor commercial vehicle sales executive Lee In-cheol said during a joint venture agreement ceremony at the Embassy of Indonesia in Seoul, Tuesday. Indonesia is considered to be one of the fastest-growing commercial vehicle markets, generating 76,000 sales there this year, up 6,000 cars from a year ago. Sales are expected to reach 100,000 by 2020. Hyundai Motor and AG Group agreed to establish a commercial vehicle-selling joint venture in Jakarta, Indonesia, by May. The main automotive parts, such as powertrains and chassis, will be produced here while the joint venture will be in charge of manufacturing minor parts. Production and sales operations will start later next year, and it is expected to produce 2,000 commercial vehicles every year. In September, Hyundai Motor sold 500 Xcient trucks to the country, the company's largest commercial vehicle deal ever. Hyundai Motor executives pose with the company's next-generation fuel cell electric vehicle during an unveiling event at the 63 Convention Center on Yeouido, Seoul, August. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor (Xinhua) 08:02, December 13, 2017 KUNMING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's demand for natural gas will continue to soar toward 2040, outstripping domestic output by around 43 percent, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Tuesday. "China's annual gas production will more than double to 340 billion cubic meters in 2040, with shale gas a major contributor, but consumption is foreseen to grow even faster, reaching 600 billion cubic meters," said the China Special Report of the World Energy Outlook 2017. The report, launched in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, Yunnan Province, said that by 2040 China would be involved in about one-quarter of the global long-distance natural gas trade. The rise of natural gas use is the result of the government promoting natural gas as a cleaner alternative to coal. Overall energy demand is growing much slower than that during the early 2000s, the report noted In the first eight months of this year, China used 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 37.9 percent of which was imported, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. From January to August, gas output rose by 10.8 percent year on year, though consumption grew 17.8 percent, fueled by the coal-to-gas switch campaign that encourages residents to use clean energy for household heating, the commission said. The IEA report forecast that the share of natural gas in the energy mix would double to 12 percent by 2040. That of coal will drop to 45 percent. The share of coal in power generation will also decline from about two-thirds in 2016 to less than 40 percent by 2040, according to the report. (Xinhua) 08:05, December 13, 2017 NANJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 447 overseas Chinese groups plan to hold memorial ceremonies for Nanjing Massacre victims Wednesday. More than 10,000 overseas Chinese people in countries, including the Unites States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Argentina, are expected to attend the ceremonies. China will hold an annual memorial in the eastern city of Nanjing Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre. "The memorials are held worldwide to remind us of history, and the value of world peace," said Zhang Jianjun, curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. On Dec. 13, 1937, Nanjing fell to Japanese invaders who went on a more than one-month-long slaughter of civilians and soldiers who had put down their arms. About 300,000 Chinese were killed, and 20,000 women raped. In February 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as a national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. (Xinhua) 08:06, December 13, 2017 BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The sound development of relations between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) conforms to the historical trend and the common aspirations of both peoples, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday. China's state broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), Monday broadcast an interview with ROK President Moon Jae-in, who will pay a state visit to China from Dec. 13 to 16. During the interview, Moon said that the China-ROK relations have developed rapidly since the two countries established diplomatic ties 25 years ago. However, the mutual trust between the two sides was damaged in recent years, Moon said, adding that his trip to China is aimed at restoring that trust. In reference to this, spokesperson Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that China and the ROK are neighbors and important cooperation partners, with friendly exchanges and win-win cooperation being the main theme of bilateral ties during the past 25 years. He said China and the ROK have a common interest in promoting each other's economic and social development, as well as achieving regional peace, stability, and prosperity. However, the mutual trust and the cooperation basis have been affected by some well-known factors, Lu said. President Moon has attached great importance to relations with China since taking office, Lu said, adding that China and ROK have reached some consensus on handling the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system issue. "We hope the THAAD missile defense system issue continues to be settled properly, and both sides can push bilateral ties back onto the normal track of healthy and stable development on the basis of respecting each other's core interests and major concerns," Lu said. PLA Air Force aircraft conduct a patrol exercise on Monday near Taiwan. The military says such drills are strategically important. [China Daily] Chinese Air Force bombers and fighters conducted a regular patrol exercise over two strategic channels near Taiwan on Monday in an effort to further strengthen maneuverability and combat capability during far sea missions. The formation consisted of H-6K bombers, Su-30 and J-11 fighter jets and reconnaissance, early warning and tanker aircraft, Senior Colonel Shen Jinke, spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, said at a meeting of senior Air Force officers. The meeting's key points were released on Tuesday. The planes flew through the Bashi Channel between southern tip of Taiwan and the norther islands of the Philippines and the Miyako Strait between northern Taiwan and Japan, Shen said. "Multiple bombers and reconnaissance planes have flown routes that circled the island of Taiwan, further improving their ability to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. The exercise on Monday marked the ninth routine drill of Chinese military aircraft around Taiwan since August, according to Air Force records. The PLA Air Force first circled the island last December. All exercises by the Air Force are in line with international laws and practices, and they have been conducted reasonably according to the regional situation, Shen said. The flight range of the PLA Air Force will expand farther over the sea, and a wider variety of planes will train together systematically in formation, he said. The Air Force also will improve its aerial assault, defense, surveillance and logistic capabilities. "The Air Force is an important force in maintaining situations, managing crises and preventing and winning wars," Shen said. "The Chinese Air Force is modernizing to become a strategic combat force capable of fighting in all of China's domain," he said. "We must expand our strategic outlook in systematic far-sea exercises, keep a sober mind, improve emergency awareness and safeguard strategic interests." Lieutenant General Huang Guoxian, Air Force commander of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said the Air Force must improve its combat capability through routine far sea exercises and uphold China's air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, according to Tuesday's news release. "So when there is an emergency, we can react quickly and adamantly protect our national sovereignty, security and development interest," he said. Lieutenant General Xu Anxiang, Air Force commander of the PLA Southern Theater Command, said the Chinese Air Force has been training more routinely and systematically in distant oceans and in the South China Sea during the past three years. "Far sea training is a common practice among other air forces, and a necessary prerequisite for building a strong Chinese military," he said. "Senior Air Force officers must shoulder the load of preparing and fighting wars." By Wang Han in Nanjing and Yang Sheng (Global Times) 08:17, December 13, 2017 Students from Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province take part in a memorial event that commemorates the Nanjing Massacre on Tuesday. Photo: VCG China will hold an annual memorial for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre on Wednesday as the tragedy is becoming a shared memory for Chinese around the world. On Wednesday, leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the central government will attend the ceremony in Nanjing at a square in front of the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, the Xinhua News Agency reported. On December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell to Japanese invaders who went on a more than month-long slaughter of civilians. About 300,000 Chinese were killed, and 20,000 women raped. In February 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as a national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Due to preparations for the annual memorial, the memorial hall has been closed to the public from November 20 to December 13, but many locals and tourists still came to the memorial hall, most of them young people. Li Gaozhuo, 17, a university student in Nanjing who came to the memorial hall on Tuesday, said that "the memorial day provided a chance for the youth like me to learn the history of that dark period. Now, China is a great power, and not too many teenagers know about the details when our country was invaded." Liu Wei, 56, a photographer from Henan Province, told the Global Times that "I came here every day, and 80-90 percent people who came here are teenagers. The people my age have experienced the time when China was a weak country, and it is time for the youth to learn about the past they have never experienced," Liu said. Louis Lee, 42, a Singaporean who works in Shanghai, brought his wife and son to the memorial hall on Tuesday. He told the Global Times that "this is my first time to come to this place, and the main purpose is to help my son learn this history." "I also came here because Singapore is also a victim of the Japanese invasion in World War II, and as a Singaporean Chinese, we have a shared memory," Lee said. ALPHA Education [Association for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia] is also holding a series of events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre in Toronto, Canada. ALPHA is an educational non-profit NGO and registered charity in Canada that promotes the critical-historical investigation of the events of World War II in Asia. Dr. Joseph Wong, 69, chair and founder of the NGO who was born in Hong Kong, told the Global Times that the Holocaust encouraged him to establish the NGO, because the Holocaust is a shared memory for many people in the West, but outside Asia, not too many people know about Japanese war crimes. Preserving the memory "When we talk about Japan during World War II, many Westerners only know about the attack on Pearl Harbor and two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but what the Japanese Empire had done to Asian people has been forgotten," and the Nanjing Massacre is a forgotten massacre compared to the Holocaust, Wong said. I also established the NGO because many Japanese politicians and right-wingers are trying to deny the pains that the Japanese Empire inflicted on Asian people, Wong stressed. "Those Japanese politicians and right-wingers are lying and increasing the pain on the victims," said Guo Yiwei, a 25-year-old soldier who served in the People's Liberation Army, who came to the memorial hall on Tuesday. "For us Chinese, this humiliated history should never be forgotten. This memory encourages us to make our country stronger to prevent the tragedy from happening again," Guo said. Wu Yun contributed to this story (Global Times) 08:22, December 13, 2017 S.Korean presidents visit to put spat over THAAD behind: expert South Korean President Moon Jae-inis scheduled to visit China from Wednesday with an entourage of more than 200 business representatives in a latest move to put its spat with China over THAADbehind them. Moon will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit, the Yonhap News Agency reported. "The two leaders will discuss the US deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system and South Korea has shown sincerity in taking China's position into consideration, which has helped restore some mutual trust," Zheng Jiyong, director of the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily briefing on Tuesday that "we hope the THAAD issue can be dealt with properly. China and South Korea could get ties back on a normal track by respecting each other's core interests which will benefit the two countries and promote regional peace and prosperity." Lu said that China and South Korea share common interests in promoting economic and social development and maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity. "The strained bilateral ties have been eased after China and South Korea reached an understanding over the deployment of THAAD as Seoul agreed to maintain the so-called "three no's," Zheng said, referring to Seoul's promise not to add additional THAAD missiles, not to join the US-led missile defense system, nor enter any trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan." In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Seoul on Monday, Moon said that China and South Korea need to better understand each other's position and hopes "the two countries can get over the injuries caused by the THAAD issue and jointly step into a new era." Moon's visit will enhance mutual trust but South Korea should know that China's stance on the withdrawal of THAAD will not change as it greatly affects the regional strategic balance, Lu Chao, a research fellow on North Koreaat the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. Sino-South Korean ties will never fundamentally change until the THAAD issue is resolved, he said. Zheng said that instead of pinning its hopes on THAAD to solve North Korea's nuclear threat, South Korea should cooperate more with China as the two sides share a common interest in preventing a war on the Korean Peninsula. Han Xiandong, an expert on Korean Peninsula issues at China University of Political Science and Law, believes China and South Korea may put forward some new and constructive ideas on solving the North Korea nuclear issue, adding that the joint military drills between South Korea and the US have only served to aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Boosting trade Aside from political issues, Moon's visit will also focus on boosting trade and people-to-people ties. Improvements in these areas could cool sensitive political issues and alter Chinese people's image of South Korea, experts said. Moon will be accompanied by a large delegation composed of high-ranking officials from 35 corporations, 29 mid-sized companies, some 160 small and medium-sized enterprises and 40 associations, Yonhap reported. On Friday, Moon will embark on a two-day visit to Chongqing, which is at the center of China's Belt and Roadinitiative and home to many prominent business operations of South Korean companies, including Hyundai Motor, according to Yonhap. South Korea tourism has been impacted by recent icy issues with far fewer Chinese traveling to the country. Chinese travelers to South Korea in July dropped 69.3 percent year-on-year, marking the fifth straight month the number of Chinese visitors plummeted, according to data from the Korea Tourism Organization. Some Chinese travel agents contacted by the Global Times on Tuesday said that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to South Korea has recently increased but remains low. "The situation may improve as bilateral ties improve but it's unknown if the market will be as prosperous as before," said a travel agent surnamed Ma from an online travel platform. (Global Times) 09:21, December 13, 2017 Photo taken on December 8, 2017 shows the world's first semi-submersible intelligent marine fishing ground in the Norwegian Sea. The main body structure and system assembly of the fishing ground were completed in China, which demonstrated China's capability in high-end equipment development for deep-sea aquaculture. Regarded as the world's largest aquaculture support vessel, the fishing ground was delivered by China to Norwegian clients in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province on June 3, 2017. (Photo/Xinhua) The system of the intelligent marine fishing ground has achieved intelligence and automation in terms of frying, feeding, real-time monitoring and fishing net cleaning. Its main body was constructed by the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co. Ltd. of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. (Photo/Xinhua) Staff work in the salmon processing factory of Salmar ASA company on December 8, 2017. The modern aquaculture facility is equipped with more than 20,000 sensors and 100 monitoring devices. (Photo/Xinhua) A divided City Council failed Tuesday, Dec. 12 to reach agreement on the long-debated question of how to regulate short-term rentals in San Diego, leaving in limbo an issue that has dogged elected leaders for nearly three years. Multiple proposals, some more permissive than others, were floated on the dais in Golden Hall in hopes of reaching a consensus, but after more than four hours of debate and hours more of public testimony, the nine-member Council could not secure five affirmative votes. La Jolla resident and City Council member Barbara Bry authored one of the proposals, which aimed to define short-term rentals as anything less than 30 days, limit the number of days in a year in which someone could rent their primary residence short term to 90 days, requires renters to apply for a permit and pay a fee, and inform their neighbors that their property is available for short-term rentals. Of the outcome, Bry said, Although the City Council came to an impasse on short-term rental regulations last night, I was inspired by everyone who came down to testify and share their stories. The message that we need to put housing for San Diegans first came across loud and clear. I thank my colleagues City Council member Lorie Zapf, Council President Myrtle Cole, and Council member Georgette Gomez for standing with me. My attempts at compromise were not made in vain, and I am hopeful for what we can accomplish in tackling this issue in the new year. I remain steadfast in my commitment to protecting housing for San Diego families. Alternatively, a memo was authored by City Council members Christopher Ward (District 3) and co-authored by City Council members David Alvarez (District 8), Scott Sherman (District 7) and Council president pro tem Mark Kersey (District 5). It lists a series of strategies and suggested changes to City zoning regulations: define short term rentals as any stays of 29 days or fewer; require a three-night minimum stay within the coastal and historical districts; provide occupancy standards for STRs consistent with Californias two-by-two standard of two adult occupants per bedroom, plus two in the home; require renters provide each tenant with a good neighborhood code of conduct that defines the parameters of the stay, and subsequent fines and penalties for non-compliance. The inability to act seemed to frustrate the Council members as much as the community. Im very disappointed today. Were like a dysfunctional family, said Council member Scott Sherman, who had favored Council member Wards proposal. Were back to where it always has been, the wild, wild West. Council member Chris Cate was even more blunt. After nearly three years since my office provided its initial proposal on home-sharing and short-term rentals, todays inaction by my Council colleagues proved that we cannot govern, he said in a statement. Time and time again, the Council has heavily relied on special interest and ballot initiatives to pass major public policy. Much has been said about dysfunctional D.C.-style politics, however its happening in our own backyard. La Jolla Town Council president Ann Kerr Bache, who spoke earlier in the day during public testimony, later told La Jolla Light, We still strongly support Barbara Bry and hope that the legal issues can get resolved. But I dont think anyone expected that it would be a slam-dunk. I think its more important that they deliberate over these ordinances than jump past the deliberations. ... If the Ward proposal (an alternative proposal that was also discussed) is passed, we will challenge it because it violates CEQA and causes us to be out of compliance with state law for the housing element. Were not giving up and we will continue to fight that. Following the decision, Council member Lorie Zapf issued the following statement: I am deeply disappointed that the Council was unable to come to an agreement to protect San Diegos neighborhoods. Along, with my colleagues that are equally as concerned about our quality of life and housing shortage in our city, I will redouble my efforts to develop a workable solution that protects residential neighborhoods. We havent failed we just havent succeeded. The fight isnt over! In failing to take action, the Council also did not set a date to revisit the issue. Earlier this year, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott issued a memo concluding that short-term rentals are prohibited because they are not defined anywhere in the Municipal Code, but she pointed out last week that without a clear definition of what a vacation rental is, enforcement of the current law is not possible. While it had appeared at the outset of the 10-hour session that action would likely be taken, Alvarez later backed away from a compromise proposal he and three of his colleagues had crafted in September that would have allowed up to three vacation rentals per owner, but would have imposed a minimum three-night stay in coastal communities. Bry, who had originally sought to limit rentals popularized by the online platform Airbnb to just an individuals primary home and for no more than 90 days a year, compromised and agreed to unlimited use throughout the year, but wanted tough limits on the number of whole-home rentals. Where she would not budge was on slightly more permissive proposals suggested by other Council members Tuesday that she said would open up the door to more investors converting long-term housing into vacation rentals. Without limits on no more than two homes, including ones primary residence, investors would continue to buy homes and turn them into mini hotels, she said. And while it appeared Alvarez supported the limits Bry was seeking, he and the rest of the Council could not agree on how to define who could and could not rent out homes on a short-term basis. The Council was in agreement that whatever proposal was adopted, stepped-up enforcement of short-term rentals is needed via a fee to raise revenues to pay for added code enforcement officers. But without adopted regulations, there was no vote on that issue. Belinda Smith, a Mission Hills resident and a member of the Short Term Rental Alliance of San Diego, said she was flabbergasted by the Councils inaction, adding: Im deeply disappointed that our elected leaders could not provide any further clarity on short-term rentals. Equally frustrated was Tom Coat, a Pacific Beach resident and long-time critic of the growth of short-term rentals. They did not provide a curb on out of-town-investors, he said. While figures vary wildly on the number of entire homes, condos and apartments that are being rented out on a short-term basis in San Diego, the best estimate to date is nearly 9,000. Thats according to a report released last week by Host Compliance, a San Francisco-based data analytics and consulting firm that works with dozens of cities across the country. There are also about 2,500 more homes, the company reports, where hosts remain on site and rent out their spare bedrooms. There is no disagreement among Council members on that category of home sharing, which they support. While short-term rentals have popped up throughout San Diego, the Host Compliance analysis shows the heaviest concentration is in 10 neighborhoods, with about half of the rentals in just five communities Mission and Pacific Beach, downtown, La Jolla and Uptown. WILLIAMS BAY Bill Roehrick is tackling a big job with a company that is a big player in the Lake Geneva area. And he has some big ideas about it, too. Roehrick is the new president of Gage Marine Corp., the Williams Bay-based company that operates the Lake Geneva Cruise Line sightseeing boats in downtown Lake Geneva. He was hand-picked by CEO Bill Gage to assume top management responsibilities within the company, while Gage himself focuses on long-term strategy and business development. We need to have someone there on a day-to-day basis, Gage said. I think Ive found a good comrade. Roehrick, who joined the company effective Oct. 1, is new to the core businesses of Gage Marine, although he has a long track record in business management. For the past five years, he was president of San Jamar Inc., an Elkhorn company that manufactures household fixtures and equipment for kitchen and bath. Before that, he spent 18 years in management at Ecolab Inc., a St. Paul, Minnesota, provider of kitchen sanitation services. The Chicago native said that while he needs to get acclimated to Gage Marines unique products and services, he is confident about instilling the company with sound business principles and skills. Its a lot easier to learn a business than it is to learn how to become a business leader, he said. Among the changes already being planned or implemented at Gage Marine are a retooling of the companys Pier 290 Restaurant in Williams Bay, and a new marketing campaign aimed at broadening the cruise lines appeal to summer tourists in the Chicago area. The restaurant, in a process that began before Roehricks arrival, has gotten a menu overhaul to replace pricey exotic dishes with affordable and traditional Midwestern fare. The tourism effort, still in early planning stages, is intended to reach new and bigger audiences of summer visitors, enticing them to visit Lake Geneva for the cruise line and other all-day tourist attractions. Although tourism already is big in the Lake Geneva area, Roehrick believes the best is yet to come. We still have a lot of new growth there, he said. Ed Svitak, president of the VISIT Lake Geneva chamber of commerce, said he is impressed with Roehrick, whom he regards as a strong addition to the local business community. Although talks regarding the new marketing campaign have been limited so far, Svitak said, he agrees with Gage Marines new president about doubling down on the Chicago market. He shows great insight, Svitak said. His track record in business is very impressive. It was about three years ago that Roehricks career led him into a chance meeting with Bill Gage. The two men found themselves together in a regional group of business owners and executives who met regularly to discuss management issues. As they got acquainted, they developed a friendship and began sharing ideas about business. We clicked fairly well, Roehrick said. Gage said he was impressed by Roehricks business experience as well as his life experiences as a Midwestern guy who was committed to the region and who turned down offers to go elsewhere. Gage soon realized that he was looking at an ideal candidate to assume a new leadership role at Gage Marine: taking charge of management while Gage himself focused on bigger, long-range growth planning. I saw his nice, steady hand, and common-sense approach, Gage said. As president of the company, Roehrick reports directly to Gage and has oversight responsibility for all three major facets of the business: the cruise line, the restaurant, and boat sales and service. He is the first outsider to assume the title of company president, while Gage will remain CEO and chairman. The company employs about 180 people. Roehrick, who already lives in Williams Bay, said he is excited about the opportunity. While he plans no major operational changes, he is enthused about introducing new management training ideas, and looking for ways to elevate Gage Marines community profile. Gage said he was pleased to hear Roehrick show excitement about living and working in the Lake Geneva area. The company CEO said he has no plans to assume a lesser role in Gage Marine, but he is comfortable sharing management duties with his new president. As companies change, you realize you need different mixes and different people, Gage said. This is a logical evolutionary step. 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... Tigers tame Legends in AA Final, 36-10 With seven straight appearances at Highmark Stadium, it has become somewhat of an expectation for the Legends to appear in... Five Lancers sign national letters of intent Last Wednesday marked another big day for the St. Marys of Lancaster athletic department as five students signed national letters... First Teamers were vital to their squads success All-Bee Boys Soccer While there is no I in team, there certainly are individuals whose skill at their respective sports help improve the... A four-day dialogue between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and representatives from some 300 foreign political parties and organizations kicked off in Beijing on Nov. 30, with the aim of deepening cooperation and communication among different party entities, as well as tackling challenges that hinder the development of human society together. The CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, which is the Partys first ever high-level meeting with various parties across the world, has attracted a large number of attendees. Over 600 representatives from nearly 300 political parties and organizations of 120 countries attended the meeting. (Xinhua) 09:34, December 13, 2017 (Xinhua file photo) WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a nearly 700-billion-dollar annual defense policy bill in the White House, which authorizes the U.S. military to add troops, ships, planes and other equipment. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed by the Congress last month, authorizes 626.4 billion U.S. dollars for the base defense budget and 65.7 billion dollars for a war fund known as Overseas Contingency Operations. The money would go toward adding 7,500 active-duty soldiers to the Army, 4,000 active-duty sailors to the Navy, 1,000 active-duty Marines and 4,100 active-duty airmen to the Air Force. It would also allow for a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops, higher than the 2.1 percent requested by the administration. Under the bill, the Pentagon will be allowed to buy 90 F-35s, 20 more than requested; 24 F/A-18s, 10 more than requested; and three littoral combat ships, two more than requested, among other equipment purchases. Moreover, the bill folds in the administration's November request for four billion dollars more for missile defense and 1.2 billion dollars to support sending another 3,500 troops to Afghanistan. The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force would also see increases in the reserves and National Guard, according to a report by the Washington-based political news website The Hill. However, the total money exceeds budget caps by more than 80 billion dollars and the Congress has yet to pass a defense spending bill to make the buildup a reality. PRESS RELEASE Deutsche Bank Investigated for Destabilizing Italy in 2011 Dec. 12, 2017 (EIRNS)According to a leak in the weekly LEspresso, prosecutors in Milan have some evidence that Deutsche Bank was part of a political destabilization of Italy in 2011. The screws on Italy were tightened after an agreement between German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy in 2010, and led to a removal of the democratically legitimate government in Rome and its replacement with Mario Monti. At their meeting in Deauville in October 2010, Merkel and Sarkozy decided that "in case of default by a EU member country, no bailout would be implemented if creditors do not agree first to lose a large part of their investments." As a consequence, Italian and Spanish sovereign bonds went into free fall. Eventually, Deutsche Bank sold almost its entire stock of Italian bonds, over 7 billion. However, the bank made it known only on July 26, with the publication of its Q2 report. But investigators have discovered that between the end of the second quarter, June 30, and the publication of the report on July 26, Deutsche Bank had secretly (over the counter) re-purchased a large chunk of Italian bonds at low prices. Deutsche Bank had speculated through transactions on bonds and on credit default swaps. The July 26 announcement that Deutsche Bank had dumped Italian bonds came a few days, after Merkel had made known that she had called the Italian Prime Minister and demanded an urgent budget cut and debt reduction. The political effect was destabilizing. The Financial Times announced "the dramatic signal of a run by international investors on the third Eurozone economy" (retranslated from LEspresso. The coup de grace against the Italian government came from the famous Draghi-Trichet letter to the Italian government, demanding measures such as a constitutional reform, labor reforms, etc. It will be difficult to get a court verdict, LEspresso acknowledges, but regardless of the result of the Milan trial, "Deutsche Bank operations as reconstructed by prosecutors could re-open political polemics on large banks and European rules." Indeed, on a television interview on Sunday Dec. 10, former Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, showing the LEspresso article, was particularly aggressive in exposing the 2011 "coup deatat" and calling the European Central Bank's letter "politically criminal." The removal of the Italian government in 2011 was a coup run "by Brussels, Frankfurt, and the Italian State Presidency," Tremonti said. PRESS RELEASE Russian Forces Begin Drawdown from Syria Dec. 12, 2017 (EIRNS)The military withdrawal from Syria that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered yesterday, has begun. The the Russian Defense Ministry reported that a military police battalion returned to its home base in the Southern Military District, this morning, onboard two cargo aircraft. "Since May 2017, the battalions personnel had fulfilled tasks on controlling the ceasefire implementation in the de-escalation zones, ensuring security of civilians during humanitarian efforts and escorting humanitarian convoys," the ministry said. The ministry also reported that Tu-22M3 supersonic bombers that had been flying missions against ISIS in Syria from North Ossetia returned to their home base in the Kaluga region and that an A-50 airborne surveillance aircraft returned to Ivanovo from Syria. The U.S. military, which is maintaining about 2,000 troops in northeastern Syria without any invitation to be there from the government in Damascus, has dismissed Putins withdrawal announcement as essentially meaningless. An unnamed U.S. official told AFP, yesterday, that it would be a "token withdrawal" of some aircraft which would then be followup by demands that the U.S. pull its forces out of Syria. PRESS RELEASE UNDP, China Development Bank Issue Report on Belt and Road Economic Development Dec. 12, 2017 (EIRNS)A 230-page report on "Economic Development Along the Belt and Road 2017" was released yesterday at the China Development Bank (CDB) headquarters in Beijing, as "an overview of the economic situations along the Belt and Road and the initiatives growth prospects, opportunities and challenges." Research for the report was a joint project of the CDB, the UN Development Program (UNDP), and Peking Universitys School of Economics, growing out of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between China and the UNDP in September 2016 to work together on the Belt and Road Initiative. EIR has not reviewed the report yet, but it sets as its task to investigate "the economic structures of the countries and regions along the Belt and Road and the potential for their cooperation in areas such as production capacity, financing, and human capital development ... inspired by a vision of creating prosperous regions where physical, economic and financial integrations go beyond borders and facilitate the movement of people, goods, services, capital, knowledge and ideas," the Foreword to the report explains. From the Foreword, it is notable that although the term "sustainable development" shapes the report, it is not used to signify the no-growth, anti-human economic policy for which it stands in the West, but the concept of full poverty reduction, industrialization and development of productivity which has shaped the Chinese economic miracle. The press release announcing the report puts it this way: A customs officer holds part of a cache of 'blood ivory' before it was destroyed in Colombo in March 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Consumers widely support the national ivory ban that will take effect at the end of this year in China, but public awareness is still low, according to a report released on Tuesday by two NGOs. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed by the NGOs said they would support the ban. More than half of past ivory buyers have stopped buying, according to the report, which was produced by TRAFFIC and the World Wildlife Fund. The State Forestry Administration, which manages the ivory trade, announced in January that all commercial ivory processing and trading will be banned at year's end. The ban has been widely hailed by the international community as a policy that, if rigorously enforced, could help stop the poaching and reverse the decline of the African wild elephant population. "China has shown great leadership on this urgent issue within a region plagued by illegal wildlife trade activity, which is exacerbated by legal markets. It is a huge step forward and a clear commitment to securing a future for Africa's elephants," said Margaret Kinnaird, WWF's wildlife practice leader. "The next few months will be absolutely critical for the ban to be effectively enforced and communicated. We remain confident that as the doors to the largest legal ivory trade close, we start 2018 a step closer to securing a world where demand for ivory is significantly reduced," she said. China had closed 12 processors and 55 retailers as of March this year. There are 105 ivory producers and stores in the list, mostly in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. But among the 2,000 total survey respondents in 15 cities, only 19 percent can recall the regulation on ivory trade on their own, while just 46 percent can recall the ban when prompted. Moreover, the survey also found that 1 in 5 consumers of ivory are persistent buyers, implying that they still intend to buy after the ban is implemented. But 62 percent of the persistent consumers are willing to reconsider future purchases, suggesting the potential to make them change their mind through effective messaging. Experts suggest that improving understanding and knowledge of the ivory trade ban is essential and will provide a foundation for follow-up consumer messaging aimed at changing attitudes and behavior. "Raising awareness about the law and the consequences of violating it could foster an environment that allows China to have a greater influence on consumer behavior," said Zhou Fei, head of the TRAFFIC China Programme and the WWF China Wildlife Trade Programme. In 1981, China signed the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. In 1989, the sale of ivory was prohibited worldwide after the African elephant population fell to 600,000 from 1.2 million in a decade. The government banned all imports and exports of ivory tusks and related products in 1991. Penalties, ranging from heavy fines to imprisonment, and even capital punishment, are imposed for violators. The report said that ivory purchases have dropped in the past three years in cities where regulations may be stricter and where there is more public awareness about the upcoming ivory trade banas in Beijing and Chengdu. As NGOs have called for the closure of all legal domestic markets for ivorybelieved to contribute to poaching and illegal tradethe ivory carving skill that was included in the First National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2006 may face extinction. To protect ivory carving as an intangible cultural heritage, the forestry administration is encouraging carvers to use their skills on other materials, and has invited some to keep their craft alive via written, audio and video records. State regulators want Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to replace three natural gas plants with energy storage, a move that represents another significant step toward a clean energy future. The California Public Utilities Commission will vote Jan. 11 on the proposal that would require PG&E to seek clean alternatives to replace the three fossil-fuel plants. Houston-based Calpine, which owns the plants, and the California Independent System Operator, which runs the states electric grid, argue that the gas-fueled plants are needed to ensure reliability in the local areas they serve. Advertisement The three Northern California plants in Feather River, Yuba and Metcalf dont have long-term contracts with utilities, but have been identified by Cal-ISO as facilities that should remain in operation to support the electric grid when needed. Regulators said in a press release Wednesday that any potential needs the natural gas plants provide can be met with clean energy, particularly battery storage. Energy storage is a clean energy resource that can be fast-responding, reliable and constructed in a short time frame, the commission said in its statement. In January, Tesla Inc. and Southern California Edison unveiled one of the worlds largest energy storage facilities, which was ordered up and installed in three months. The Rosemead-based utility uses the collection of lithium-ion batteries, which look like big white refrigerators, to gather electricity at night and other off-peak hours so that the electrons can be injected back into the grid when power use jumps. The facility at Edisons Mira Loma substation in Ontario contains nearly 400 Tesla PowerPack units on a 1.5-acre site, which can store enough energy to power 2,500 homes for a day or 15,000 homes for four hours. The push to replace the PG&E power plants with storage follows investigations by the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that showed the state approved numerous power plants and overbuilt the the electricity system, primarily with natural gas facilities. And California has so much clean energy that it has to shut down some plants while paying other states to take the power California cant use. The overbuilding and related costs have added $6.8 billion more to utility customers bills than they paid in 2008, even though consumers are using less electricity than they were nine years ago. ivan.penn@latimes.com For more energy news, follow Ivan Penn on Twitter: @ivanlpenn The Venice Beach home of French filmmaker Francis Veber has come up for lease at $18,000 a month. Set along the boardwalk, the modern town home has unobstructed ocean views, two beach-facing patios and a rooftop deck. Walls of windows and oversized glass doors bring the scenery inside. Features of the home include high ceilings, warm hardwood floors and a media room. The chefs kitchen and breakfast area open to the step-down living room, which has a fireplace. Three bedrooms and four bathrooms lie within 3,029 square feet of white-walled living space. Advertisement Theres also an attached two-car garage. Lindsay Guttman and Alexandria Brunkhorst of the Agency hold the listing. Veber, 80, is a director, screenwriter and producer. He has scores of film credits that include The ComDads (1983), The Birdcage (1996) and The Dinner Game (1998). His 1980 film comedy La Cage aux Folles received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. He bought the property nine years ago for $2.975 million, records show. neal.leitereg@latimes.com Twitter: @LATHotProperty MORE FROM HOT PROPERTY: Kristen Wiig lands Pasadenas Case Study House No. 10 for about $3 million Singer Ester Dean lists her creative space in Silicon Beach for $1.35 million Brentwood home of late Eagles rocker Glenn Frey fetches $14 million Green Days Mike Dirnt ditches his surf-inspired shack in Montecito Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, has long asserted its independence of the Russian government. But a court document posted on the Facebook page of a Russian criminal suspect this year shows what appears to be an unusual degree of closeness to the FSB, Russias powerful security service. The suspect, Konstantin Kozlovskiy, was arrested in summer 2016 in connection with a series of cyber heists of Russian banks, and he is in a Moscow jail awaiting trial. From his cell, he posted documents related to his case. One of them shows that in April 2015, an FSB agent inside the office of Kaspersky Lab in Moscow gave a company technician a password for a suspected Russian cyber criminals computer. The technician gained access to the computer and obtained decrypted documents for the agent. Advertisement The agent, A.V. Kutasevich, worked side by side with the Kaspersky technician, Ruslan Sabitov, in the information retrieval operation, according to the document, dated April 28, 2015. Although American cybersecurity firms sometimes provide technical assistance to the FBI in criminal investigations, the close cooperation between Kaspersky Lab and the FSB raises eyebrows at a time when the Russian firms software products have been banned by the U.S. government out of concern they can be exploited as a platform for Russian spying. The FSB used the information Kaspersky obtained to help make its case against Kozlovskiy, who is a member of the criminal group Lurk. Kaspersky previously had publicized its help in bringing down Lurk, which allegedly stole up to $45 million from Russian companies and banks. But it was not known that Kaspersky allowed an FSB agent to be inside its Moscow office to supervise the operation. The most interesting thing is that Kasperskys experts were not asked to provide expertise, said Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russian surveillance and co-author of The Red Web. The Kaspersky experts actively and secretly participated in an ongoing FSB operation, which makes them look like assets rather than experts, Soldatov said. Although authorized by a Moscow court, he said, this kind of joint operation raises a question whether the company went too far in its cooperation with the Russian secret services. Kaspersky said in a statement that as part of its technical assistance in taking down Lurk, it served as a third-party expert source for a specified task, as granted by the court. The work completed by a Kaspersky Lab expert was requested by law to ensure that no modifications of any information received from the server were made, and also to assist in the translation of technical data obtained during the procedure into language that could be understood in a legal setting. In addition, this investigation procedure was completed in the presence of an FSB agent and two civil witnesses, and it is important to note that Kaspersky Lab products or services were not used. A former FBI special agent who worked a number of high-profile cyber cases said such an arrangement in the United States would be unusual and outside the realm of something the bureau would approve. The optics are poor, said Milan Patel, co-head of managed services at BlueVoyant, a cybersecurity company. Its one thing to ask a firm to provide intelligence on a particular hacker it has researched, he said. Its another to ask that firm to help the FBI get live access to a computer that might have that information. With a court order, the FBI would conduct the surveillance on its own. And a senior executive at a major cyber firm who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as criticizing another security firm said: For any commercial security vendor to be overtly involved in work like that is extremely unusual. Youre basically doing an offensive cyber operation, targeting an individual systems people on behalf of intelligence organization. The companys founder, Eugene Kaspersky, graduated from a KGB-supported cryptography school and had worked in Russian military intelligence. He insists the firm has never helped espionage agencies. It doesnt matter if theyre Russians or from any other nation, he said recently in London. He added that If the Russian government comes to me and asks me to do anything wrong or my employees I will move the business out of Russia. The company said it has also provided technical assistance for national and international law enforcement agencies, including Interpol, Europol and the London police. In addition, its common for law enforcement agencies to work together with cybersecurity companies to effectively fight cybercrime, the company said. Kozlovskiy has placed other documents on his Facebook page that have raised eyebrows. In August, he posted a letter in which he states he hacked the U.S. Democratic National Committees computers on orders from the FSB. The assertion is dubious, senior intelligence officials said; it was two other Russian spy agencies that penetrated the DNC system. Nakashima writes for the Washington Post. Here are the 2018 SAG Awards nominees reactions to their nods The on-camera talent recognized during the 24th Screen Actors Guild Award nominations on Wednesday shared their excitement and gratitude for the special honor bestowed upon them by the acting community. The SAG Awards serve up laurels for actors and ensemble casts working in television and film as voted by their peers. The awards show, hosted by The Good Place star Kristen Bell, will take place on Jan. 21. LIST: The 2018 SAG Award nominees In statements to the Los Angeles Times, several nominees repeatedly thanked their drama families, particularly the casts and crews of their respective projects. Heres what some of them had to say about the recognition: Alison Brie. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Alison Brie, GLOW It is such a great honor to be recognized by my fellow actors with this nomination. I am so proud to be part of a show that celebrates the craft of acting, with all its pitfalls and glories, and to be able to work with such a diverse group of insanely talented women. GLOW has meant the world to me and Im deeply thankful for this recognition for me and the cast. Thank you SAG-AFTRA!! Millie Bobby Brown. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things Screen Actors Guild! Thank you SO much for recognizing me and our cast for the second year in a row! This means the world coming from you, our peers. I am so lucky and honored to have the privilege of playing Eleven a strong, powerful, badass, strange, wonderful character! Cant wait to celebrate with my Stranger Things family! Timothee Chalamet. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name What an incredible morning! This nomination is very close to my heart because its from the actor. When we made Call Me By Your Name, we had no idea what it would turn into. The experience in making the film with Armie [Hammer] was so special, and yet, we just didnt know. Simply put, Ive been blown away by the response this film has received. And, to be included in ensemble along with my Lady Bird family (congrats, Saoirse [Ronan]!) makes this recognition that much more special. David Harbour. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) David Harbour, Stranger Things If it isnt wildly apparent by now, Ill say it directly I love actors! To be recognized by my peers in such distinguished company gives me a special joy. And Millie [Bobby Brown] and the show! Beyond. When I act, when I create, I feel alive, full to bursting, and I feel of service to the mysterious goodness that firmly exists in this world. I have been rewarded with a life that indulges in the primacy of self, but at its core and at its purest and its best, it is a life of service. A service to audiences. To prod and poke when necessary, to comfort and entertain when times seem dark, to ever expand the human experience, to offer a reason to live, to celebrate to the gods the great gift and scourge that is consciousness. Sometimes it means expressing iron intellect and rigorous truth that bonds us all in the achingly profound wisdom of no escape. Sometimes it means revealing the intimate moments of endurance, of unexpected kindness, unasked for love. And sometimes it simply means making a fierce and joyful noise, to spin, to twirl, to throw your hands up with the relentless dips and climb aboard this roller coaster of life. Ya know, to dance. *insert Hopper dancing gif* Thank you for recognizing me, as it might mean itll be easier to get more jobs doing it. Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water I am beyond thrilled to have received the honor of this nomination. And to receive it from fellow colleagues is huge to me. Guillermo [del Toro], this film and the entire cast and crew hold a very special place in my heart and always will. Each and every one of them made me better. I am truly delighted more than I can really express in words but my heart is fit to burst with pride for us all. Thank you dearest SAG members. Thank you for your embrace. Sean Hayes. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Sean Hayes, Will & Grace I am so honored to be recognized in this category with these extraordinary actors. I love acting because I love actors. I also like to bake sometimes. Richard Jenkins. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water I am thrilled and humbled to be nominated by my peers for a SAG Award. This union is very close to my heart. Well, the SAG card is in my wallet, so its a little further south. Zoe Kazan. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Zoe Kazan, The Big Sick Thank you to SAG for honoring The Big Sick ensemble with a nomination. It means so much to us, especially from our acting peers. I am deeply proud to be a part of this film and to have brought Kumail [Nanjiani] and Emily [V. Gordon]s story into the world, especially at this time. We are particularly moved to have been recognized as an ensemble, as this was such an extraordinary collaborative experience Im excited to be reunited once more with my movie family, and to share this with Kumail, Holly [Hunter], Ray [Romano], Zenobia [Shroff], Anupam [Kher], and Adeel [Akhtar] and everyone else who helped bring The Big Sick to life. Nicole Kidman. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies What an amazing morning! Thank you to SAG-AFTRA for recognizing Big Little Lies in such a significant way. Ive been acting since I was 14 and have dedicated an enormous amount of my life to my craft so to be acknowledged by my acting family is the most incredible honor. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Laura Linney, Ozark I am so proud to be included in a list of such wonderful actresses who have raised the bar so high. What an amazing year for women in television. And I am especially proud to be representing Ozark with my TV spouse, the ever deserving Jason Bateman! Thank you SAG-AFTRA! Marc Maron. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times) Marc Maron, GLOW I am stunned and excited to be recognized by other actors in this way. I really never thought this was possible in my life. It helps to be surrounded by amazing actors and to have such a defined and well written character as Sam Sylvia and to be on a show as unique as GLOW. I am just a small part. So, thanks SAG for recognizing me and the mind-blowing ensemble that is GLOW. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, The Big Sick We are so lucky to have been graced with the enormous talents of every single member of our cast. They each put a piece of themselves into our story and we are thrilled at being recognized. Thank you. And a special shout out to Holly Hunters individual nomination! Now we have to go tell our real parents that they arent actually nominated. Bob Odenkirk. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul I am thrilled to get this nomination from my fellow actors! At Better Call Saul I am surrounded by an ensemble of excellence Michael McKean, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, everybody raises my game. Thank you to SAG-AFTRA. Gary Oldman. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Gary Oldman, The Darkest Hour No actor could ever deny the special satisfaction that comes from being recognized by your fellow artists we all share the same challenges, insecurities, and uncertainties, chief among them, the question am I any good? this nomination, and in the wonderful company of the other nominees, is so very satisfying. Margot Robbie. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Margot Robbie, I, Tonya Im so incredibly moved and excited to be nominated by my fellow actors. I feel very fortunate to be able to have had the opportunity to bring Tonyas story to the big screen. Thank you to Steven [Rogers] for his brilliant and unique script, to Allison [Janney] and Sebastian [Stan] for being such incredible screen partners and to Craig [Gillespie] for his amazing direction and perfectly capturing the tone and essence of the film. Im so honored to be recognized among the truly powerful and wonderful women in the category. I cant wait to celebrate with everyone. Sam Rockwell. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri It is such an honor to be nominated by your fellow actors, I have been a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild for as long as I can remember. To share it with this wonderful ensemble whom I have had the pleasure to work with over the years and others I got to collaborate with for the first time is truly special. I want to thank Martin McDonagh, our director and writer, for crafting these characters, as well as Woody [Harrelson], Fran [McDormand] and the rest of the cast who brought the town of Ebbing to life on screen. I am thrilled. Ray Romano. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Ray Romano, The Big Sick This is awesome but I wont believe it till the recount. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi in theaters on Friday, fans of the franchise once again have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Star Wars world. And, thanks to the various licensing deals struck with fashion designers, shoe designers, watch brands, cosmetic companies and blanket makers, theyll also be able to pay homage to the galaxy far, far away when theyre far, far away from the movie theater. Heres a look at some of the limited-edition Jedi-worthy wearables that could well make you a fashion force to be reckoned with thats if youre lucky enough to find any of this merchandise that appears to be moving faster than the Millennium Falcon on the Kessel Run. Rag & Bone A crinkled lambskin pouch in Vader Black (at left, $275) and Ellis Force boot in Imperial White (at right, $695) from Rag & Bones limited-edition Star Wars collection. (Rag & Bone) The Force may be with you if you got your hands on any of the apparel from Rag & Bones surprisingly stylish limited-edition collaboration with Disney, which ranged from $95 to $1,295 and riffed on the good-vs-evil theme by way of everything from black T-shirts screen-printed with the white silhouette of an X-wing starfighter to chunky pullover sweatshirts with Jedi-appropriate hoods and white pants with adjustable lacing cords inspired by Princess Leia and the rebel base on Hoth (first seen in 1980s The Empire Strikes Back). The collection hit Rag & Bones website and select bricks-and-mortar stores on Dec. 1 and, as of this writing, all but a very few items are listed as sold out. www.rag-bone.com/star-wars-the-collection Columbia Sportswear Co. Columbia Sportswear Co.'s limited-edition Echo Base collection includes jackets inspired by and named after Luke Skywalker, from left, Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa. (Disney Consumer Products) Another apparel brand that looked back to The Empire Strikes Back for a current-day collaboration was outdoor outfitter Columbia Sportswear Co., which created an Echo Base Collection of jackets inspired by the cold-weather costumes worn by Leia, Luke and Han Solo in that film. The Luke and Leia looks on offer were jacket-and-vest combinations and Solos was a heavy duty parka with a faux-fur-trimmed hood. Only 1,980 of the $400 jackets were made available on Dec. 8 and sold out online within 72 hours. According to a Columbia representative, there are a few archive edition Han Solo parkas (in dark brown instead of blue) signed by Harrison Ford ($1,980 each, with all proceeds going to the nonprofit group Conservation International) still available. www.columbia.com/starwars Christian Louboutin Christian Louboutin heels inspired by The Last Jedi heroines Vice Adm. Amilyn Holdo, from left, Rose Tico, Capt. Phasma and Rey, which will be up for bid at www.charitybuzz.com/starwars through Dec. 20. (Guillaume Fandel) The good news is that Christian Louboutins The Last Jedi-inspired one-of-a-kind shoes are still available. The bad news is theyre only available via an online charity auction where bids are currently as out-of-this-galaxy as the shoes (current bids range as high as $9,500). Bidding continues through Dec. 20, and each lot includes two pairs of shoes one pair autographed by the designer and a second pair to be made in the size of the winning bidders choice as well as the opportunity to attend a special Jan. 16 screening of the film at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco. The beneficiary of the online auction is Starlight Childrens Foundation, which will receive 80% of net proceeds on behalf of Lucasfilm and Disneys charitable initiative, Star Wars: Force for Change. www.charitybuzz.com/starwars Cargo Cosmetics The four colors have names inspired by The Last Jedi, including Restore the Republic, Praetorian Guard, The Force and Rule the Galaxy. (Disney Consumer Products) Cargo Cosmetics merchandise tie-in includes a $22 four-pack of nail lacquers with shade names inspired by the film: Restore the Republic (Silver Shimmer), Praetorian Guard (True Red), the Force (Cobalt Blue), and Rule the Galaxy (Metallic Gold). Other offerings include eye shadow (available in two color palettes one for the dark side and one for the light side), mascara and compact mirrors featuring one of four characters General Leia Organa, Captain Phasma, Rey or BB-8. www.cargocosmetics.com Stance The sidekicks you cant live without (left) and the droids you roll with (right) are some of the new Star Wars sock designs from Stance ($60 for a three-pack). (Disney Consumer Products) San Clemente sock maker Stance has added to its already robust assortment of Star Wars hosiery in the run-up to the new film with new characters and themed multi-packs. This is very good news for fans of the red-armored Praetorian Guard or someone whose sock game could benefit from Chewbacca pictured with a porg on his shoulder ($20 a pair). The latter sock also appears in the sidekick-themed three-packs (along with pairs depicting R2-D2 and C-3PO, $60). www.stance.com Pendleton Woolen Mills Pendleton has incorporated Star Wars imagery into two new wool blankets that are being offered in editions of just 1,977 each (a reference to the year the first Star Wars film hit theaters). The Last Jedi ($249) is a 64-inch by 72-inch Jacquard-woven blanket filled with images and emblems certain to warm a fans heart including AT-ATs marching along the top and bottom edges, not one but two silhouettes of the Millennium Falcon and the Rebel Alliances Starbird insignia in the center. At 32 inches by 44 inches, A New Alliance ($89.50) is a Padawan-appropriate blanket that bears the likeness of everyones favorite wookiee, Chewbacca, chatting up a passel of porgs, the faintly penguin-like critters that appear in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. www.pendleton-usa.com Nixon Watches A Nixon Sentry SS SW 42mm watch ($275) in Praetorian Guard Red pays homage to the glossy armored guards. (Nixon) Longtime Star Wars licensee Nixon is back with a Last Jedi capsule collection of watches and accessories that finds inspiration in unexpected characters such as the red-armored Praetorian Guards and the First Order Stormtrooper Executioner as well as the expected ones (including Luke and Rey). The brands 42 mm Sentry stainless steel timepiece in Praetorian Guard Red ($275) is the focus-puller of the range with details that include red armor-inspired indices on a black watch face and a custom secondhand shaped like the guards polestaff weapon. Other offerings include backpacks ranging from $80 to $120 in colors such as Jedi brown and Phasma silver and a canvas crossbody bag with a leather strap named after Rey ($80). www.nixon.com adam.tschorn@latimes.com For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me at @ARTschorn. Have you ever plowed through a plate of hot uchepos? Not unless youve spent time in Michoacan, Im guessing, or at least visited Birrieria Apatzingan up in Pacoima. Uchepos are like tamales caressed by an angel, clouds of sweet, fresh corn steamed in corn husks, tasting like nothing but themselves. Diana Kennedys recipe calls for nothing but fresh corn and its green husks. Other versions may be tricked out with baking powder, condensed milk and maybe a little rice flour, but the effect is basically the same what all sweet tamales aspire to be. Birrieria Apatzingans uchepos are lovely, striped with gobbets of thick Mexican cream. If you have followed the essays about tamales I tend to write at this time of year, you know the basic drill. I wander through Boyle Heights, following a well-worn trail between Lilianas and La Mascota. I seriously contemplate the virtues of each, and discuss the merits of including unconventional (for Los Angeles) tamale-like objects from Peru, El Salvador or Guatemala; banana-leaf-wrapped tamales from Oaxaca and the Yucatan; even such outliers such as Taiwanese zongzi or Hong Kong lo mai gai, Vietnamese banh la or the Nicaraguan nacatamal. I decide that anything that isnt a traditional tamale stuffed with red chile and pork is beside the point, at least on Christmas Eve. So I go on to crush out on the scene at Los 5 Puntos, whose line seems to encapsulate the Eastside like the crowd outside Titos Tacos does the Westside. I stop by Lilianas, where the combination of really great tamales and really bad coffee is one I crave at least a few times a year. (Their tamales stuffed with cheese and chiles are great too.) I wait in line at La Mascota, where they always offer you a roll with your tamale in case you happen to be a fan of starch-on-starch. I pick up a few soft, stingingly spicy tamales from La Indiana. And I wonder, as always, why the supple masa at Uruapan translates into stodgy tamales. Most years, I end up back at Juanitos, whose thin-shelled tamales steamed in broth I have been picking up since the last time the Dodgers won the World Series. I dream about those tamales sometimes: their heft, their musky smell, the way the chile poured out when you breached the crust. But Juanitos seems to have closed this year. There is a gaping, tamal-shaped hole in the heart of the citys tamale scene. Advertisement Might tamale splendor be found at La Moderna in Whittier? It could be. The compact tamales were well-made, with a thin, extra layer of masa smeared on each leaf of the husk, and a rich, slightly gelatinous red chile filling a little different from the others in Los Angeles. The pickup schedule for Christmas tamales is punishing, blocked out for weeks these tamales are not a secret. And they sell whole roasted lambs heads on weekends, which if nothing else indicates a seriousness of purpose. Its one for the list. Do uchepos count as tamales? They could an informal online poll had 23 for and only 6 against but also kind of not, at least for our purposes. I drove to Birrieria Apatzangan in Pacoima anyway, and fortified myself with a plate before moving on to Rosys Tamales, whose dense, slightly rubbery tamales were in the style of Nayarit the one stuffed with chicken and red chiles was unusually spicy. I continued on to Lenchitas, a bustling family restaurant famous for the quality of its hand-patted tortillas, where the tamales were fine, but perhaps overshadowed by the thin, unusually smoky chile verde and the delicious albondigas soup. The Me Gusta Gourmet Tamale stand, at night in Pacoima. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times ) I ended up, as one does in Pacoima, at Me Gusta, a small, worn shack that shares a parking lot with its looming tamale factory, like a neon-lighted tollbooth at the entrance to a bridge. You may have tasted these at one of the many farmers markets where Me Gusta sets up booths, touting its gourmet lard-free tamales. You may have become fond of the rajas tamales, stuffed with roasted green chiles and an extravagant quantity of melted cheese; with the sweet tamales made with strawberries or pineapple; or with the cheerful vegetable-stuffed tamales. Are Me Gusta tamales from the stand better, fluffier, meatier than the Me Gusta tamales you nabbed last week from the Larchmont or Baldwin Hills markets? Probably not they come from the same factory. But they at least seem fresher, bought one by one or by the dozen, washed down with a cup of warm champurrado at one of the picnic tables out back or taken home and resteamed: basic, solid and delicious. Birrieria Apatzingan, 10040 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 890-6265. Carniceria Uruapan, 2100 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 265-2474. La Indiana, 1142 S Indiana St., Los Angeles, (323) 262-4682. La Mascota, 2715 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 263-5513. La Moderna Bakery, 8035 Norwalk Blvd., Whittier, (562) 695-9414. Los Cinco Puntos, 3300 East Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 261-4084, los5puntos.com. Lenchitas, 13612 Van Nuys Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 899-2623. Me Gusta Gourmet Tamales: 13754 Van Nuys Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 896-8789, megustagourmettamales.com. Rosys Tamales, 10981 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima, (818) 834-6948. Tamales Lilianas, 4629 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 780-0989; 3448 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, (323) 780-0839, www.tamaleslilianas.co. jonathan.gold@latimes.com @thejgold ALSO Review: How Thomas Ortega is redefining what Mexican food looks like at Playa Amor and Amor y Tacos This new food truck serves nothing but queso. Lots and lots of queso One-pot goodness: Pot roast recipes For the last 14 years, the Emerald Cup has been a raucous two-day celebration of a longstanding California outlaw culture. Over time, it has evolved from a festival in a muddy Mendocino field to a highly choreographed event, but its spirit remains intact. Each December after the harvest, cannabis growers come down from the mountains of the Emerald Triangle to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds for a county fair-style judging of their wares. Instead of cherry pies and blueberry jams, judges pick the best cannabis flowers, extracts, tinctures and edibles. A win at the Emerald Cup is an imprimatur of quality that can boost a business from anonymity to success. But growers do more than compete here; they come to see old friends and party, compare notes, learn about the latest in growing techniques and strains, and to buy equipment and seeds, the finest of which can cost $70 a piece. The general public arrives by the thousands and spends two very mellow days sampling and buying various cannabis products flowers, waxes, dabs, shatters, rosins, hash, marshmallows, fruit jellies, chocolates and brownies. They come for the food, the music, the camaraderie and, of course, to get high or, in some cases, to get higher. Over the course of the fair, millions of dollars in cash changes hands. The fairgrounds are sprinkled with ATMs; use is so heavy that the machines occasionally break or go empty. With legalization less than a month away, unimaginable changes are afoot in the industry. Many of the old timers who fought for cannabis during the years of prohibition, who were driven out of the cities into the mountains of the Emerald Triangle, who risked their safety and freedom to bring pot to consumers and patients, are going to get left behind as cannabis comes out of the shadows into a tightly regulated, legal market. Some people are going to get rich, and some people are going to get crushed. Already, new growing techniques have led to a supply glut. Big growers are making big plays. In the last year or so, the per-pound price of cannabis has plunged from $1,500 a pound to as low as $500. The old-school guys up in the mountains, growing their 250 pounds, a lot of them are not going to make the transition very well, said cannabis entrepreneur Tim Blake, who founded the Emerald Cup in a field near his home in the hills of Mendocino County. They dont grow enough, the prices arent high enough, they dont want to go through the permit process. Its really a tragedy in the sense that a lot of the people that built the industry and pushed for legalization are going to get left behind. :: If you came of age in the 1960s or 70s, when pot was the symbol of the burgeoning counterculture, and President Nixon launched the war on drugs as a cynical political tool aimed at vilifying the anti-war movement, its a little bit hard to wrap your brain around the idea that we are entering the era of full-on legalization. (Yes, the feds still list it as an illegal Schedule 1 narcotic, but they will eventually catch up with reality.) On Sunday afternoon, I sat through most of a panel discussion called What to Expect on Jan. 2, 2018 in which state officials discussed their new bureaucracies, categories of licenses and permitting processes. Lori Ajax, the states first cannabis czar, heads the California Bureau of Cannabis Control; the Public Health Department has a Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch to oversee extractions, infusions, packaging and labeling; the Department of Food and Agriculture will oversee cultivation licensing; and the Department of Tax and Administration will implement the collection of sales, excise and cultivation taxes. It gave me a headache. (Especially compared to a lively Saturday lecture in which, among other things, I learned about a new anti-pot scare called scromiting, in which heavy users are said to experience a malady that causes them to scream and vomit at the same time. ) But growers and other cannabis entrepreneurs who filled the hall sat rapt. To stay on the right side of the law, they will have to master the intricacies of a complicated and costly new system. In time, many people believe that sales in California cannabis industry will rival those in the states wine industry. On Sunday afternoon, I bumped into Mendocino grower Swami Chaitanya, a Laytonville-area grower who is passionate about the benefits of cannabis and equally skeptical about legalization, which he supported, but it imposes all kinds of rules on cannabis growers that dont apply to any other sort of farmer. (Cannabis growers, for example, are not allowed to own guns, which explained the presence here of a Garberville company called Top Shelf K9 Protection, which sells sleek, highly trained Belgian malinois guard dogs for $20,000 to $45,000 each.) Cannabis is more illegal now than when it was illegal! Chaitanya said. They can get you on a million different things. :: Two months ago, the Sonoma County Fairgrounds was headquarters of a massive firefighting operation. The wine country fires that ravaged parts of Santa Rosa destroyed thousands of structures and killed more than 40 people. The area reeked of smoke and destruction, very much like what Southern Californians have experienced in the last two weeks. I cant tell you what a pleasure it was to walk into the fairgrounds this time and be hit with the acrid, skunky smell of burning weed, to see clouds of cannabis smoke floating into the sunny sky instead of columns of black wildfire smoke, and to see thousands of people meandering happily through the halls of vendors, grins on almost all their faces. Southern Humboldt County growers wore bandoliers with joints instead of bullets: Rio Anderson of Lady Sativa Farms, from left, Craig Johnson of Alpenglow Farms, Johnny Casali of Huckleberry Hill Farms, Tina Gordon of Moon Made Farms and Roberto DSteffano of Villa Paradiso. (Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times) robin.abcarian@latimes.com Twitter: @AbcarianLAT ALSO Mesmerized by the terrible beauty of the flames, waiting for the Santa Anas to do their worst A veteran pot farmer mourns the passing of a more paranoid, more profitable way of life A new law in California allows women to pick up birth control pills from pharmacies without a doctors prescription. But more than a year after the law took effect, women say theyre still struggling to get the medicines, in part because they cant find pharmacies offering them. A study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that only 11% of pharmacies in the state are dispensing hormonal birth control to women without prescriptions. Pharmacists dont have to make use of the law, and some are reluctant to because theyre concerned about liability, adequate staffing and a lack of reimbursement for the service, the study found. Advertisement Also at play is a supply-demand problem, experts say: Pharmacists dont want to invest in providing the service if women dont want it, but women arent aware its an option and arent asking for it because pharmacies arent offering it. Its hard to have demand for a service that doesnt exist, said UC Berkeley professor and study author Anu Manchikanti Gomez. Typically, women have to make an annual appointment to see a gynecologist to get a prescription for birth control. But health advocates argue that the doctor visit requirement creates an unnecessary barrier to contraception. Californias law doesnt make birth control over the counter. Instead, a pharmacist can provide hormonal birth control to a woman after administering a questionnaire about health issues that could raise red flags. Ariel Genovese, 32, recently called several pharmacies near her home in Oakland about the law. Some pharmacists told her there wasnt protocol from management to implement the law, and others said they hadnt heard of it at all. I honestly gave up on it, said Genovese, who works as an executive assistant. Between February and April, interviewers posing as patients called 1,008 of the 5,291 community-based retail pharmacies in California and asked about obtaining birth control, according to the study. About 1 in 10 pharmacies said it was offering the service, Gomez said, and there was no difference between rural and urban areas or chain and independent pharmacies. Virginia Herold, executive officer of the California Board of Pharmacy, said she expected a slow rollout of the law but was a little surprised by the results. I think everyone kind of thought it would probably be higher than 10%, Herold said. The law is part of a broader trend in healthcare in which pharmacies are transforming into places for people to seek medical care, such as flu shots and checkups, as opposed to just pick up medicine, experts say. Herold said more pharmacists may complete the one-hour training to participate in the law and begin dispensing birth control in the coming months. A third of pharmacies that werent offering the service said they planned to in the future, Gomez said. In California, all Albertsons, Vons, Safeway and Pavilions pharmacists were trained to dispense birth control as of late last year. Most Ralphs pharmacists are trained in the law, CVS is rolling out the service at 120 locations statewide, most of which are in Los Angeles, and Walgreens is testing it at a small number of locations in the state, according to company officials. One big hurdle is payment, experts say. The birth control itself is covered by insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, but pharmacists can charge for counseling patients and furnishing the medication. Vons charges $45 for the service. Personally, thats a bit steep for me right now, said Genovese, who has insurance through Covered California. If I need subsidized insurance and help paying for [birth control], I probably dont want to pay an extra fee on top of it. California lawmakers approved a law last year requiring that Medi-Cal, the states low-income health program, cover the pharmacist fee, but the details are still being resolved and it probably wont go into effect until next year, said Anthony Cava, spokesman for the state Department of Health Care Services. Once Medi-Cal begins covering the fee, insurance companies may start following suit, which would make obtaining birth control from a pharmacist more widespread and accessible to women, experts say. I really do think the landscape may change a little bit if it becomes easier to get reimbursed, Herold said. soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com Twitter: @skarlamangla ALSO Families of patients fear GOP tax plan will scuttle drug development for rare diseases Drug manufacturers ask federal court to block Californias new prescription medicine transparency law We must talk about the health aspects of climate change, Schwarzenegger says in Paris Los Angeles school board members often divide along ideological lines, but one of their most spirited debates Tuesday was over nuts and bolts: when the next three school years should begin and end. Many parents of younger students favor a later start to leave more time for summer programs and family vacations. High school students often prefer to start early to finish the semester before winter break. In the end, the board voted 4 to 3 for a mid-August start and a first semester that will end before a three-week winter break. Advertisement There was no debate over another major board decision: to authorize the spending of about $1.4 billion, the next major chunk of voter-approved school construction and modernization funds. District officials already are talking of the need to ask voters for more. Board members agreed to increase lobbying efforts for more state and federal money. They also heard grim projections in a budget report and expressed their concerns about L.A. Unifieds long-term solvency. The disagreement over the calendar failed to break along familiar lines because it had nothing to do with charter schools. A 4-3 charter-friendly majority took over in July after this years elections, but charters, which enroll about 19% of district students, set their own calendars. Charters are publicly funded but privately managed, and more of them are located within L.A. Unified than in any other school system. Board members George McKenna and Richard Vladovic argued for the later school start and ending the first semester after winter break. They noted that the staff-recommended alternative would produce unequal semesters of 79 days in the fall and 101 in the spring. People leave the district because we dont meet their needs, Vladovic said. Parents want more time in the summer with their children. Board member Nick Melvoin said district staff members had evaluated the pros and cons and he relied on their judgment. Other board members concurred and said the early start could give high school students more time to prepare their college applications. Melvoin, Kelly Gonez and board President Monica Garcia of the bodys charter-friendly bloc joined with retired principal Scott Schmerelson to form a majority. The fourth member of the charter bloc, Ref Rodriguez, opposed approval of a calendar for the next three years, arguing that the parent surveys and other data it was based on werent good enough. The next school year will start Aug. 14 and pause less than three weeks later for a four-day Labor Day weekend. Students will be off again for Thanksgiving week, from Nov. 19 to Nov. 23. The last day of school before winter break will be Dec. 14, with school back in session Jan. 7. A weeklong spring break will begin April 15. School will be out on June 7. The usual divisions along charter lines appeared on one decision, when the board voted 4 to 3 to withdraw support for state legislation that would allow only local school districts to authorize charter schools. Currently, charters rejected by their local school boards can ask for authorization from county and state boards of education. Board members also passed a resolution calling for a review of sexual harassment policies and internal data on complaints and for the creation of a sexual harassment hotline. They postponed voting on a measure that would have revised the rules for their own meetings. howard.blume@latimes.com @howardblume The Thomas fire, which has burned through Ventura County for more than a week and entered Santa Barbara County over the weekend, has now scorched 237,500 acres and is 25% contained, fire officials said Wednesday. The fire, which ignited Dec. 4, grew by 1,500 acres overnight, a Ventura County Fire Department public information officer tweeted Wednesday. Firefighters made good progress overnight, the public information officer account tweeted. Thomas is moving North and West toward the Santa Ynez mountain range away [from] populated areas. Advertisement On Tuesday evening, authorities said they had turned a corner in fighting the blaze along its eastern flank in Ventura County. Winds were relatively calm and evacuations were lifted in the Lake Casitas area. However, officials warned stronger winds could return Thursday or Friday. On the Santa Barbara County side, the fire continues to threaten the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito and surrounding areas. The tedious, but vital, work of clearing brush down to the dirt as a fire barrier in the hills above Santa Barbara Countys wealthy beach enclave will continue Wednesday. More than five miles of additional containment line needs to be created by hand above Montecito and its neighboring communities as the Thomas fire continues its slow march west toward the Santa Ynez range, officials said. About 600 fire engines are jammed into the narrow, winding roads in the Santa Barbara County foothills. Trucks are spraying retardant on grassy hillsides and firefighters are wrapping indefensible, small buildings in protective metallic sheeting that looks like tinfoil to reduce the chances they ignite. 1 / 73 John Bain and Brandon Baker try to stop a fire from burning a strangers home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 73 A brush fire moving with the wind sends embers all over residential neighborhoods north of Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 73 A family packs up and evacuates as a brush fire gets closer to their home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 73 John Bain and his friends, all from Camarillo, came to help as brush fires move quickly through residential neighborhoods in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 73 Strangers band together to help put out a palm tree on fire and stop it from burning homes. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 73 The Hawaiian Gardens apartments burn in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 7 / 73 Residents help with the fire attack on Buena Vista Street in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 8 / 73 Residents watch the Thomas fire on Prospect Street in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 9 / 73 Firefighters are deployed to battle the fire in a Ventura neighborhood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 73 A chimney is all that stands of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 73 Remnants of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 73 A home burns on a hillside overlooking Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 73 Palms are consumed in the Thomas fire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 14 / 73 Emma Jacobson, 19, center, gets a hug from a neighbor after her family home was destroyed by fire in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 73 Olivia Jacobson, 16, wipes tears as she looks at her familys home, destroyed by the brush fire on Island View Drive in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 73 Aerial view of the Thomas fire in Ventura County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 73 Noah Alarcon carries a cage with the family cat while evacuating from Casitas Springs. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 18 / 73 Smoke from the Thomas fire crosses over Lake Casitas near Ojai. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 19 / 73 A Ventura County firefighter battles a blaze on Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 73 Ventura County Firefighter Aaron Cohen catches his breath after fighting to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 73 Aerial view of homes burned to the ground in the Thomas fire in Ventura County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 22 / 73 A home between Via Baja and Foothill Road burns in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 73 Amanda Leon and husband Johnny Leon watch as firefighters fight to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 73 Chino Valley firefighters fight to save a home along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 73 Embers continue to burn at sunset Tuesday in a home on Ridgecrest Court at Scenic Way in the Clearpoint neighborhood of Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles TImes) 26 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 73 Firefighters try to protect homes from the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 73 Edward Aguilar runs through the flames of the Thomas Fire to save his cats at his mobile home along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs in Ventura County. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 73 Jeff Lipscomb, left, Gabriel Lipscomb, 17, center, and Rachel Lipscomb, 11, look for items to recover from their burned home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 73 A traffic collision temporarily clogged lanes on the northbound 101 Freeway between Solimar and Faria Beaches as the Thomas fire burned in the hills. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 73 The Thomas fire burns towards the 101 Freeway and homes between Solimar and Faria Beaches. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 73 Fire personnel keep an eye on the Thomas fire on Toland Road near Santa Paula. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 34 / 73 A train on the Rincon coast passes a burning hillside from the Thomas fire. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 35 / 73 The Thomas fire burns along the 101 Freeway north of Ventura on Wednesday evening. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire in the town of La Conchita early Thursday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 73 A resident cries as the Thomas fire approaches the town of La Conchita early Thursday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 73 Burned palm trees are left standing between the 101 Freeway and Faria Beach as the Thomas fire reaches the Pacific Ocean. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 73 Firefighters battle Thursday to protect the resort city of Ojai from encroaching flames. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 73 Casey Rodriquez helps a friend move belongings after the Thomas Fire destroyed most of an apartment building on North Kalarama in Ventura. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 73 A burnt-out bus near Maripoca Highway. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 73 The Thomas fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 73 A huge plume of smoke rises north of Ventura as seen Sunday afternoon from the Ventura pier, as the Thomas fire threatens parts of Carpenteria and Montecito. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 73 The Thomas Fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai, Calif. on Friday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 73 Residents react as they watch the Thomas Fire burn in the hills above La Conchita at 5 am Thursday moning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 73 Mary McEwen and husband Dan Bellaart prepare to evacuate their home on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito as the Thomas fire burns. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 73 Carpenteria resident Chris Gayner, right, photographs a plane in the hills of Carpenteria. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 73 From left, residents Michael Desjardins, his neighbor Patty Rodriguez, daughter Mikayla, wife Veronica, mother in law Amanda Buzin, and son Mikey keep an eye on the Thomas fire in Carpenteria. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 73 Mary McEwen cheers as she sees fire crews make their way up a hill past her home on Toro Canyon Rd. in Montecito. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 73 Dan Bellaart and wife Mary McEwen comfort each other in the backyard of their home that includes an avocado ranch on 9 acres of land on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito, as the Thomas fire burns in the background. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 73 Carpinteria resident Jay Molnar, 55, mouth and nose protected against the smoke, views flames glowing in the hills above the city on Dec. 11, 2017. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 73 Sacramento firefighters battle a blaze in Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 73 Josh Acosta, superintendent with Fulton Hotshots looks for ways to fight fire consuming a structure threatening two homes high up Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 73 A motorcade passes on tHighway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson, who died Thursday morning while battling the Thomas Fire. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 73 Santa Paula City officials, Police and Firefighters salute from a bridge as a motorcade passes on the Santa Paula Freeway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 73 Forest Service crews cut and clear dense brush for contingency lines off of East Camino Cielo in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Montecito and Santa Barbara to help stop the Thomas fire from advancing. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 73 A hotshot crew from Ojai marches towards their assignment to protect structures on East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 73 Firefighters monitor the flames Saturday from a staging area near Parma Park in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 73 Flames slowly make their way down a valley behind a home in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 73 Flames whip around power lines as they move through Sycamore Canyon on Saturday, threatening structures in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 73 Smoke billows over Santa Barbara as the Thomas Fire continues to threaten the area on Saturday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 73 Bill Shubin, deputy fire chief of the Santa Rosa Fire Department checks on flames burning near homes north of East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 73 A fire truck pulls responds to fires burning near homes on East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 64 / 73 Brian Good, from US Forest Service, leans forward against the wind, and holds up a Kestrel to measure wind speeds up to 50 mph on Gibraltar Road in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 73 A plume of smoke moves south as winds as high as 50 mph blow down Gibraltar Road on the west fork of Cold Spring Trail in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 73 Flames and a big plume of smoke threaten homes on Gibraltar Road near Gibraltar Rock, outside Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 73 The sun rises as fire crews prepare for another day of fighting the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 73 An aircraft makes a water drop over a hot spot up in the mountain range at Gibraltar Rock near Montecito, Calif. on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 73 Humboldt County firefighters Bobby Gray, left, hoses down smoldering flames inside a destroyed home, as Kellee Stoehr, right looks on, after the Thomas Fire burned in Montecito, Calif. on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 73 A home on Park Hill Lane was destroyed by the Thomas fire in Montecito, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 71 / 73 Humboldt County firefighters Lonnie Risling, left, and Jimmy McHaffie, right, spray down smoldering fire underneath the rubble of a home that was destroyed by the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 73 Fire crews help the Behrman family retrieve their familys personal belongings out of their burned home, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 73 In the foreground of the ridges that were burned by the Thomas Fire, Rusty Smith stands outside his home that survived the flames that were kicked up by Saturdays wind event and threatened his home in Flores Flats on Gibraltar Road, near Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Firefighters used a similar strategy to protect historic sequoias from the Rough fire in 2015. Deeper in the forest above Santa Barbara near Gibraltar Dam, crews have worked day and night building a defense to stop it from reaching the Santa Ynez mountains. We want to stop it in its tracks, said Charles Esseling, a public information officer from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in Riverside County. The fires spread northwest has also been slowed because its reached the burn scar from the massive Zaca fire of 2007. Firefighters are attacking the flames directly by air and ground south of Highway 33 while containment lines are constructed, Esseling said. With containment lines safely protecting Ventura and Santa Paula to the east, firefighters there will be on a seek and destroy mission for any lingering hot spots that could threaten precious avocado groves, fire officials said at a morning briefing at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. This fire is a beast and youre gonna kill it, Martin Johnson, Santa Barbara County fire division chief, told fire crews. I have no doubt. As firefighters continue to gain a handle on the fire which is the fifth-largest in state history California fire officials offered a hint as to what may have ignited the Thomas and other destructive blazes that tore across Southern California last week. It likely will take months for fire officials to determine the cause of the fires, but state officials have notified Southern California Edison that the utilitys equipment is under investigation. Power lines downed by high winds have been the cause of major brush fires in the past. The far smaller Skirball fire in Los Angeles was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment, officials said this week. But investigations into other fires are expanding, according to SCE. The investigations now include locations beyond those identified last week as the apparent origin of these fires, the power company said in a statement. SCE believes the investigations now include the possible role of its facilities. As a precaution last week, the utility shut off power temporarily to parts of Riverside County during high winds. As of Tuesday, Edison said it was finishing restoring equipment damaged in the Liberty, Rye and Creek fires replacing more than 300 poles with 200 more waiting. Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this story. joseph.serna@latimes.com Twitter: @JosephSerna ALSO Track the key details on Southern Californias fires Wealthy Bel-Air wrestles with homeless crisis after encampment fire burns homes Fierce fight along Santa Barbara coast as fire threat eases in Ventura The inferno that wont die: How the Thomas fire became a monster Photo: UN New York (Peoples Daily) On Monday, a special Security Council meeting was held on human rights violations in North Korea at United Nations Headquarters in New York. UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein addressed the Council, stressing how humanitarian aid for North Korea has not been fully realized as a result of the current sanctions. China opposes the UN Security Council's deliberation on the human rights situation in North Korea, Wu Haitao, China Ambassador to the UN. Wu reminded the Council that China opposes UN Security Council involvement on human rights issues. He referenced the UN Charter that clearly outlines department responsibilities. Photo: UN UN Security Councils primary responsibility is to safeguard international peace and security. It is not a place to deliberate human rights issues, nor should it be allowed it politicize such issues, said Wu. China persists in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, upholds the principle of maintaining peace and stability, resolves issues through dialogue and consultation, and opposes war and unrest on the Korean peninsula, Wu emphasized. At present, the Korean Peninsula situation is still complex and sensitive. The members of the UN Security Council and all parties concerned should do more to help ease the situation and avoid excitement and action that could escalate the situation. The Council's discussions on the issue of human rights in North Korea run counter to the abovementioned objectives, and are of no avail, said Wu. Wu urged all concerned parties to exercise restraint and take into account the bigger picture. Wu explained that China wants its "double suspension" initiative to be taken seriously. Through such efforts, UN Security Council resolutions would be carried out and conditions necessary to resume dialogue and negotiations would emerge. As Wu concluded, he stressed how China wants all parties involved to fulfil their commitments and have a constructive role in safeguarding the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, realizing peace and stability in the region. For Arnulfo Basave, life on a Carpinteria ranch filled with avocado and fruit trees has been sweet. The former avocado picker was hired years ago at the ranch off Stanley Park Road, where he manages the property, prunes the trees and hires laborers to pick the fruit. For more than 20 years, he and his family have lived on their bosss property. Basave and his wife took photos there on their wedding day. They raised children there. They hosted Basaves parents from Mexico. Advertisement But this week, Basave feared the Thomas fire would claim the place that has meant so much to him. He did everything he could to save it. I asked God, Please, save as much of the ranch as you can, Basave said. I know every tree on that ranch. I know which ones give the most fruit and which ones struggle. I know every single one. I took care of that ranch as if it was my own. Arnulfo Basave The Thomas fire, which has burned through Ventura County for more than a week and entered Santa Barbara County over the weekend, had scorched 237,000 acres and was 25% contained on Wednesday. The mammoth blaze continued to threaten Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito and surrounding areas. On Monday afternoon, Basave, 54, was anxious as he made his way along Highway 150 toward the ranch, with its 14 acres of avocado trees, 12 acres of cherimoya trees and other fruit trees. Basave evacuated the ranch on Dec. 6 but kept returning to take care of the property. He spent most of the last week watering trees, and spraying his trailer home and the home of the ranch owners, who were vacationing in Hawaii. He spoke with the owners by phone. They stressed one thing: Save the ranch. I took care of the ranch as if it was my own, Basave said. Arnulfo Basave wept after discovering that his trailer home on a Carpinteria ranch was still standing. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) I have lived such a wonderful life at that ranch. All the memories have been happy, he added, nearly crying. As he got closer to the ranch Monday afternoon, he was overwhelmed by the unknown. Was his trailer still standing? The trees? How bad was the devastation? As he pulled onto the ranch, Basave saw his trailer home still standing. His bosss house was safe too. Basave wept. He sent photos to the relieved property owners. About 15% of the trees were damaged from the fires heat. It will be years before those recover enough to produce fruit again, he said. Basave was grateful, but saddened by the loss of neighbors homes in the neighborhood. At the ranch, Basaves gaze lingered over a tire swing that hung from a tree. His children used to play there. He thought of his life on the ranch, of his parents, who died years ago. He broke down and began to pray. I was just thanking God, Basave said. I was telling him: Thank you for saving our home. Thank you for the firemen who kept the fire away. In that moment, all those memories came flashing back. I was sad and happy. ruben.vives@latimes.com Twitter: @LATvives Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts contributed to this report. ALSO As Thomas blaze grows, firefighters continue the battle: This fire is a beast and youre gonna kill it Bel-Air wrestles with homeless crisis after encampment fire destroys multimillion-dollar homes Fierce fight along Santa Barbara coast as fire threat eases in Ventura The outcome of the U.S. Senate race in Alabama is a source of both encouragement and dismay. The good news, of course, is that Democrat Doug Jones, an out-of-nowhere former prosecutor, beat former Republican state Chief Justice Roy Moore in an election that hung on issues of character. Moores character, to be specific, following credible allegations that he had, while in his 30s, sought relationships with much younger women, many of whom he met while trolling a local shopping mall. Two women alleged he had forced sexual contact with them, one when she was only 14. Apparently that was too much, even for many of Alabamas deeply conservative Republican voters. The bad news is that Moore still won 48.4% of the vote. Yes, nearly half of Alabama voters including the vast majority of Republicans who voted decided that they preferred a scandal-scarred, race-baiting, Bible-thumping moralist who was twice kicked off the state bench for defying federal court orders to a pro-gun Democrat who, as a U.S. attorney, convicted two of the surviving Klansmen responsible for the infamous 1963 16th Street Baptist church firebombing that killed four young African American girls. Ignorance, self-dealing, distrust of democratic institutions, know-nothingism and racism remain dangerously potent forces in American politics. Advertisement Hopeful Americans will accept the result as a possible turning point in this ugly moment in American politics, (including, perhaps, as a sign of the possible political demise of economic nationalist and Trump whisperer Steve Bannon, who campaigned for Moore). Dare we hope this also means the nation has seen peak Trumpism? That the reduction of the Republican majority in the Senate will make it more difficult for the president and his allies to push their dangerous agenda through Congress? That there might even be a path for Democrats to recapture the Senate from a Trump-obeisant GOP in 2018? This is the third election in which President Trump endorsed a candidate, and it is his third loss. He backed Ed Gillespie in last months Virginia governors race (won by Democrat Ralph Northam), and he supported Luther Strange, the man Jones will replace in the Senate, in the GOP primary before supporting Moore. (The seat became open after Trump made Jeff Sessions his attorney general). That Trump, himself the target of a number of sexual abuse allegations, backed Moore added a sleazy birds of a feather undercurrent to the race waged against the backdrop of a burgeoning #MeToo movement. How much of a role the backlash against sexual misconduct played in the result is unclear (54% of voters said it was not a factor in their vote; those for whom it was a factor generally backed Jones). Exit polls found that Jones won 30% of the white vote, more than previous Democrats have won in statewide races, and that he was propelled by college-educated white women with children at home, just the kind of voters who might be extra sensitive to the idea of a creepy man hitting on their daughters at the food court. Jones also won 96% of the African American vote, on par with past support for Barack Obama, and driven by an intensive local get-out-the-vote effort by African American organizations. And Jones won by nine percentage points among independents (21% of the vote), a bloc that overwhelmingly backed Republicans in 2008 and 2012. Combined, that was sufficient to overcome Moores base. Moore received 68% of the vote among white conservatives, evangelicals, those with no college education, men, and older voters a coalition that had been a sure bet for Alabama Republican candidates for more than a quarter-century. Yet the overall turnout was less 40%, high for a one-off special election, but still a disturbing measure of our national political disconnect. That more than half of Alabama voters couldnt be stirred to take part in such a pivotal election at such a critical moment in our history spotlights the disaffection so many Americans continue to feel for the electoral system. As Trumps win and Moores near-win show, a large portion of the country either doesnt care about how our government is run or by whom (signaled by not voting), or are willing and eager to send to Washington people who want demolish to the institutions that already exist. But credit is due to those who voted, and especially to the Republicans and conservatives who broke the tribal bonds Tuesday and either voted for the Democrat, or wrote in someone elses name in their ballots (an unusually high 1.7% of the vote went to write-ins) rather than support Moore and the president who backed him. Ignorance, self-dealing, distrust of democratic institutions, know-nothingism and racism remain dangerously potent forces in American politics. More reasoned voices need to make themselves heard over the next two election cycles to wrest control of Congress from the current batch of cynical Trump enablers. Todays Republican Party has proved itself to be too craven, irresponsible and self-serving to be trusted with the reins of power. Lets hope the spurning of Moore begins that change. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook. UPDATES: 4 p.m.: This editorial was updated with more complete figures on voter turnout in Alabama. This editorial was originally published at 9:20 a.m. The Environmental Protection Agency was supposed to announce by Oct. 1 which parts of the country had fallen short of new, more stringent limits on the amount of ozone in the air, thus clearing the way for local action to reduce emissions. But the EPA failed to issue the designations, sparking a lawsuit last week by California and more than a dozen other states asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to force the government to, in essence, do its job. This is no mere kerfuffle over obscure regulatory matters; the ozone level designation is the foundation upon which the California Air Resources Board and other agencies reduce smog in Los Angeles, the Central Valley and elsewhere, potentially saving the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people, reducing hospital emergency room visits for asthma and other smog-related illnesses and generally improving the quality of life for Californians. Unfortunately, blowing by its own deadline was not an unavoidable, one-off mistake on the part of Scott Pruitts EPA. A recent report by the New York Times suggests that under Pruitt, who as Oklahoma attorney general filed more than a dozen suits to undermine the very agency he now runs, the EPA seems to be distancing itself from the protection part of its name. In Pruitts first nine months, the agency initiated about 1,900 cases against suspected polluters, a third less than the number brought in the same time frame under the Obama administration, and 25% less than were brought by George W. Bushs EPA. It also has levied much lower fines than the previous two administrations, and it took the unusual step of ordering regional offices to get permission from Washington before seeking water and air pollution tests from factories and other polluters, a key first step in deciding whether to begin an enforcement action. Advertisement The EPAs retrenchment is a scandal, a disaster waiting to happen. At the same time, more than 700 employees have left the agency, many bought out as part of an initiative to reduce the EPAs payroll (the EPA denies unconvincingly that it has let up on enforcement). And Pruitt has moved to end an agreement under which the EPA reimburses the Justice Department for investigations into Superfund sites which critics say will reduce enforcement efforts there as well. More broadly, the Trump administration has moved to undo more than 50 environmental regulations under the EPA, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies. The agencys retrenchment is a scandal, a disaster waiting to happen. Environmental protection is not a Democratic or Republican project, but a bipartisan promise that has been made to all Americans. It must not be sacrificed for short-term gain or to benefit particular special interest groups. And who is expected to pick up the slack if the U.S. government backs off? Pruitt, who has a cozy history with the industries hes supposed to regulate, has begun turning over more enforcement responsibility to state environmental regulators, a unilateral action that does not bode well for the future. Even large pro-environment states like California rely on the EPA for muscle, and large portions of state regulators budgets come from the EPA, funding that President Trump also wants to slash. And state regulation has other limitations: Air and water pollution generally do not stay where they were created, and one of the EPAs key roles is to ensure that one states lax approach to environmental protection does not endanger people in other states downwind or downstream. Letting state regulators make more decisions about who is and isnt polluting makes it less likely that bad actors will be held accountable, especially in polluter-friendly states such as Texas, which brags about its low-regulation approach as a selling point to entice economic development. In fact, it was the ineffectiveness of state environmental laws that led to the creation of the EPA in 1970. It has the responsibility to enforce the revamped Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972, two fundamental laws regulating air and water pollution. Its true that not all regulations are smart regulations, and some can lead to unintended consequences. Sometimes they need revamping; sometimes they need to be withdrawn. But administrative processes exist to do that in ways that ensure changes are in the public interest. Pruitts gutting of the EPA and his retreat from enforcing existing rules undercuts the regulatory process, and endangers the environment and public health. No wonder environmentalists keep suing and winning over these inane moves. There can be a balance between environmental protection and business interests, but its foolish to risk long-term harm to the ecosystems that sustain us for the sake of often short-term jobs. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook If a lawmaker is accused of sexual harassment, why should the taxpayers be the ones who end up paying to settle the case? Wouldnt it make more sense for the official himself the individual accused of the wrongdoing to pay? Wouldnt that be more likely to discourage harassment by public officials and be fairer to taxpayers as well? Some people clearly think so. Sexual harassment legislation proposed by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) the ME TOO Congress Act contains a provision that would require members of the U.S. House and Senate to reimburse the U.S. Treasury if they settle a complaint of any workplace violation, including sexual harassment or racial discrimination. California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) said he is considering introducing similar legislation to cover members of the state Legislature. Taxpayers would be off the hook. But while that may sound like a good idea, its actually problematic, and could make it harder to curb sexual harassment in the political workplace. Advertisement Of course its galling that the public sometimes has to pay if a congressman or state legislator cant keep his hands to himself, but theres actually sound reason for it: Its how we build accountability. Obviously a public official who gropes or assaults an employee is to blame for his own actions but the failure goes further than that. The system is at fault as well. In the private sector, employers are held accountable if their employees violate workplace laws designed to protect against harassment, discrimination and other abuses. Why? Because it is employers who are supposed to police those behaviors. Were the proper rules made clear to employees? Were the rules enforced? Were complaints taken seriously? Was swift corrective action taken? That goes for government as well. And we, the voters and taxpayers, are the ultimate employers of government officials. Think about it. If the owners and shareholders of a company dont have some financial exposure for sexual harassment, why bother to root it out? The same is true for public agencies such as the Los Angeles Police Department. When someone files a complaint against an LAPD officer alleging misconduct, the city pays out any settlement or judgment, not the officer. Employment law experts make the point that sexual harassment laws and cases are more about a workplace culture than about a single incident or a single perpetrator. As attorney Jean Hyams recently put it during an Assembly subcommittee hearing, the central question in sexual harassment cases isnt how the harassment happened, but why it was allowed to happen. How did it come to pass that the employer didnt stop the abuse before it became a pattern? In the case of Congress or the California Legislature, the entire body as well as its leaders and the voters that employ them should have an incentive to fight the culture of harassment. What else can be done to encourage government officials not to engage in sexual misconduct? Well, for the elected ones at least, the one thing they value as much as, or even more than, money is their ability to get elected. Thats why greater transparency about sexual harassment complaints and settlements might have as much of a deterrent effect on politicians as having to write big check (especially since theres some question about whether the law might allow legislators to use donations to cover the payouts). Clear rules and consequences regarding misconduct are also essential. Speier and Gillibrands payout proposal is misguided. But their bill is right to require that settlements of sexual harassment, discrimination and other workplace cases be publicly reported, and that the name of the legislator in whose office the violation occurred be identified. The state Legislature should consider similar measures. Both bodies should also track complaints and put this information online as well. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook A pattern is emerging in President Trumps foreign policy: Time after time, hes doing what he promised to do. Last week, Trump announced that the United States is formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving its embassy there, even though some of his aides warned that the move could derail peace negotiations. I fulfilled my campaign promise, the president boasted on Twitter. Others didnt. Advertisement Before that, Trump refused to certify that Iran is complying with its nuclear deal and renewed his threat to scrap the agreement, despite protests from Britain, France and Germany. Before that, he pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, despite Secretary of State Rex Tillersons recommendation to stay in. And last weekend, at a campaign-style rally in Florida, Trump renewed his complaint that NATO members arent paying their fair share for defense. He questioned whether the United States should defend them in a war with Russia. It helps them a hell of a lot more than it helps us, OK? he said. So well have a nation that doesnt pay. Then their nation gets frisky with whoeverRussia. So we end up in World War III for somebody that doesnt even pay? If Trump sticks to the unalloyed positions he brought to the White House, were in for a series of crises. In Washington, Trumps aides have tried to polish his rough edges. They have implored him to stick to official texts when he talks about foreign policy. They have assured allies that his positions arent as disruptive as they sound. Their message often boils down to: Watch what we do, not what he says. From time to time, theyve even succeeded in restraining the president from acting on his initial impulses. Trump wanted to scrap the Iran deal immediately; instead, hes agreed to give Congress a chance to impose new sanctions first. (Congress has not complied.) They persuaded him, after several tries, to reaffirm the U.S. defense commitment to NATOeven though he keeps backsliding. They persuaded him to give sanctions a chance to nudge North Korea toward halting its nuclear weapons program, even though he says diplomacy is a waste of time. They convinced him to sign a bill from Congress imposing sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 electioneven though he still refuses to admit it happened. But once the president is freed from the constraints of the White House, the old Trump returns: combative, blustery and resentful of the idea that the United States has a special obligation to lead the world. My job is not to be president of the world, he said in Florida. My job is to be president of the United States of America. Its that America First impulse that worries the foreign policy establishment most. They believe Trump is eroding the alliances the United States built after World War II, with a corresponding erosion of American influence. Im scared, Madeleine Albright, who served as secretary of State under President Clinton, said at an Aspen Strategy Group conference this week. I often called the United States the indispensable nation. We are becoming the dispensable nation. Others are deciding they can do without us. There is a risk, said Stephen Hadley, a Republican who served as national security advisor under George W. Bush. The risk is that China, Russia and others will form an alternative international order based on international principles. Thats not the only reason Trumps stubborn fidelity to his campaign promises is chilling. If he sticks to the unalloyed positions he brought to the White House, were in for a series of crises: a military showdown with North Korea, if Kim Jong-un continues his nuclear missile program; a break with allies over Iran, if Trump acts on his promise to scrap the nuclear deal; a series of trade wars, beginning with Canada and Mexico if they continue to resist new concessions in NAFTA. Trump can claim some successes in his first year. The war against Islamic State is coming to a close (although theres plenty of postwar work to do). Hes pushed NATO countries to increase their defense spending (just not enough to make him happy). Hes on a first-name basis with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Angela Merkel. But at the age of 71, he hasnt changed muchand, judging from his speech in Florida, he hasnt learned much, either. When he ran for president, he promised, in effect, to destabilize the international order. And hes delivering. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Twitter: @DoyleMcManus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or 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 Democrats who opened the year clashing among themselves and lamenting President Trumps election have closed 2017 with victories that demonstrated their ability to weaponize party enthusiasm and draw a template for success in a sharply competitive battle for Congress in 2018. For Republicans, Tuesday nights stunning loss by Roy Moore in Alabamas Senate race the first GOP loss in a Senate race there in a generation underscored a bleak passage of time: A year that began in unified control of Washington has ended with the party bitterly split and redefined in the worst of ways, saddled with an unpopular president and a Senate candidate accused of child molestation. Certainly, Doug Jones victory in Alabama was to some extent a fluke an outcome made possible by Republicans nominating a deeply flawed candidate, Moore, who many of the partys voters could not stomach. Turnout was tepid in key Republican areas, reflecting conservative voters who chose to sit this one out. Advertisement But that fluke was possible only because of problems within the GOP that will carry over into the new year, in which control of the House and Senate will be at stake. The problems begin with Trump, for whom Moores defeat represented a third straight repudiation. The first came in September in Alabama, where Trump ambivalently backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, who lost to Moore in the Republican primary. Then Trump endorsed Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginias gubernatorial race, only to have him lose by nearly double digits last month to Democrat Ralph Northam. Finally, Trump transferred his Alabama endorsement to Moore and watched him lose in a state that has been ruby red for decades. Even in Alabama, a state he won by 28 percentage points, Trump was unable to ease his candidate over the finish line. Exit polls Tuesday indicated one reason: Voters even in this heavily Republican state were closely split between approval and disapproval of Trump. Thats an ominous sign for Republicans heading into the midterm election. The key races next year will take place in states that are far less favorable to Trump than Alabama. Related to Trumps broad unpopularity is the fact that his party is fractured. Those divisions began with the primary battle, which the presidents former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who strongly backed Moore, helped turn into a referendum on the partys Senate leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The splits only deepened after the Washington Post published accusations that Moore had fondled and kissed girls as young as 14 when he was a local prosecutor in his 30s. The Republican National Committee and the partys Senate campaign committee pulled its backing from Moore after the Post story. When Trump, urged on by Bannon, decided to endorse Moore, the national committee returned to support him. The Senate committee declined to follow suit. On election night, Moores chief strategist, Dean Young, took off not against Jones or even the typical targets, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, but against McConnell. I tell Sen. McConnell this: The people of Alabama are having an election tonight, and he should not overturn the people of Alabama, Young said, anticipating that a victory by Moore might be followed by a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. On Tuesday night, it was clear that the bitter feelings among Republicans are likely to carry over to 2018 and beyond. The polls have been closed for 90 minutes & GOP could actually lose Senate seat. In ALABAMA, Alex Conant, a former spokesman for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, tweeted Tuesday night. No matter what happens next, hard to overstate what a huge political disaster this is for Moore-apologists like Trump, let alone Moore-champions like Bannon. Moreover, in Alabama, and earlier in Virginia, Republicans found that arguments they have counted on to dispatch Democrats that they are soft on crime, the military, immigration, guns and religion no longer guarantee success. Democrats have suffered from their own internal divisions, but in Virginia and Alabama, they benefited from an unrelenting tsunami of volunteers and money that have flowed from opposition to Trump. Indeed, outside groups have gotten more organized over time, a particular benefit in Alabama, where the party apparatus is weak. As happened in Virginia last month, the Republican in Alabama fared more poorly than normal in suburban areas with large numbers of college-educated voters a trend that could imperil a couple of dozen Republican House members next year. And black voters turned out in large numbers, a heartening sign for Democrats worried about motivating that central part of their partys base. Those factors suggest a path for Democrats in the Republican-held House districts they will need to flip in order to take control next year, and perhaps even to contest the GOPs now-narrower hold on the Senate. Rounding the corner into a midterm year, I think the energy in Alabama underscores the importance of running competitive Democrats everywhere with well-resourced campaigns, said Emma Brown, a campaign manager who ran a successful 2017 Virginia House of Delegates race by a first-time candidate against a seemingly strong Republican incumbent. Brown is now managing a campaign by Democrat Lindsey Davis Stover against Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock in Washingtons northern Virginia suburbs, expected to be one of the marquee House races in 2018. Although Moore lost the race, Democrats are likely to continue to try to tie him around the necks of Republican candidates nationwide, a strategy they have been rehearsing over the last several weeks. Yesterday, my likely opponent, Josh Hawley, was asked point blank: If you were an Alabamian, would you vote for Roy Moore? He could have been clear and said no. Instead, he refused to take a stand, putting his party politics ahead of fundamental decency, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said in a fundraising letter Tuesday. Whether you support a man like this is not a hard question to give a straight answer to. Missourians deserve better than someone like that. The territory is familiar for McCaskill: She won her Senate seat in 2012 by defeating Todd Akin, a Republican who created a huge backlash when he said that abortion rights were unnecessary for rape victims because in legitimate attacks, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. Trump, of course, won his election despite regular outbreaks of scandal, including accusations by more than a dozen women that he had made unwanted advances. But the very different treatment of Moore, in a very Republican state, was yet another sign that the nations political environment has changed. Last year, it was Democrats who sat stunned on election night. Their party has yet to bind all of its wounds, and its divisions are sure to resurface ahead. But Tuesday night delivered something necessary for a newly energized Democratic opposition: the path forward. For more on politics from Cathleen Decker cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO Democrat Doug Jones wins Alabama Senate race in stunning victory Omarosa Manigault Newman leaving White House The latest from Washington Updates on California politics Ahead of a pivotal meeting Wednesday, House and Senate negotiators swapped new offers on the GOP tax bill as they hurry to resolve differences and regain momentum for passage of President Trumps top priority. The focal point of the $1.5-trillion tax plan the steep reduction in corporate rates from 35% to 20% is expected to be relaxed slightly in the final deal, perhaps to 21%, as negotiators scramble to generate revenue that can be used to offset tax breaks elsewhere. Trump indicated he would be open to higher corporate rates than Republicans first agreed to under a GOP framework, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said Tuesday that lawmakers also were willing to shift. But others said the reported 21% corporate rate was not yet set. Advertisement Were still talking, said the majority whip in the Senate, John Cornyn of Texas, late Tuesday. Were in the process of sending over a, hopefully, final proposal. Republicans were struggling to make progress before Wednesdays planned open meeting of a conference committee, which is working out the differences between the House- and Senate-passed measures before final votes expected next week. At issue are individual rates, brackets and changes to the treatment of so-called pass-through businesses, as well as the repeal of many popular write-offs and deductions. One idea reportedly under consideration to make additional cuts in the rates paid by the richest Americans could become a political liability for Republicans as polling shows most Americans already view the tax bill as tilted toward the wealthy. It remained in flux, lawmakers said. The House proposal retained the current 39.6% rate but raised the income levels, while the Senate version cut the top rate to 38.5% The cap on the mortgage interest deduction, lowered from $1 million under current rules to $500,000 in the House bill, was expected to settle in a middle range. New limits on state and local tax deductions which are now expected to be capped at $10,000 for property or income taxes continue to be opposed by some Republicans from California and other high-tax states, whose residents could wind up with higher tax bills. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who voted against the House bill in part because it repealed the state and local tax deduction except for $10,000 in property taxes, said Tuesday he was likely to oppose the final deal because the $10,000 deduction on combined taxes would be minuscule for upper-income families in his district earning around $200,000. Very fluid, said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican, as talks continued. Republicans, who have the majority in both houses of Congress, are negotiating among themselves, leaving Democrats on the sidelines. They intend to use special budget rules for passage with a simple majority vote that avoids the threat of a filibuster in the Senate. Democrats, and even some Republican lawmakers, have balked at the accelerated process, without the typical hearings and debate of a measure of this magnitude. Work slowed slightly in recent days as lawmakers paused to take a second look. The package is expected to add $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, but Republicans say the tax cuts will more than pay for themselves by generating new economic growth. Economists dispute that assertion, and the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that even with growth, the package would add $1 trillion to the deficit. On Tuesday, though, Brady scoffed at these people who say, Lets have more studies, arguing that the economy will benefit from the jolt that Republicans believe the tax cuts will provide. We got to act now, he said on Fox News. Trump is expected to address the nation Wednesday, making closing arguments for the package, which Republicans are eager to vote on next week. Theyre not going fast enough for me, said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). I dont want to see their analysis turn into paralysis, and the longer we wait, the more it worries me. lisa.mascaro@latimes.com @LisaMascaro ALSO Bannons ouster could boost the powerful Koch network, which has surprising sway in Trumps White House Amid the rush to finish GOP tax bill, a sudden slowdown for second thoughts Is this small-town congressman from New Mexico tough enough to win Democrats the House majority? More coverage of Congress More coverage of politics and the White House Ever since Edward Snowden revealed the extent to which the U.S. government searches and reads the email of millions of people and the complicity of telecom and tech companies in the effort demands that the massive surveillance program be reined in have been intense across party lines. Yet with the imminent expiration of the legal authority that allows law enforcement to monitor the email of foreigners and many Americans, lawmakers are no closer to overhauling the surveillance process than they were when Snowden, the now-fugitive former National Security Agency contractor, sought asylum in Russia four years ago. Congress is paralyzed on the contentious national security challenge. Lawmakers appear most likely to throw their hands up and leave in place, for now, the machinery of online surveillance by extending the Dec. 31 expiration date of the existing authority, potentially for years. Advertisement Lawmakers have burned endless hours trying to find a fix aimed at easing public concerns that the program has grown evermore Orwellian. The tech industry worries that American government snooping will motivate clients to move their business abroad. Yet they cant agree on a solution. Civil libertarians on the right and left who demand searches be limited and accompanied by warrants clash with national security hawks who say any such modifications would endanger Americans. The pressure from law enforcement to keep the program unchanged has been strong. We need every tool and every authority weve got to keep people safe, FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week. I would implore the committee and the Congress not to begin rebuilding the wall that existed prior to 9/11. The Trump administration has signaled that even if Congress fails to act, an obscure legal ruling could allow it to keep the program in place for at least several months. Those negotiating the issue on Capitol Hill now anticipate Congress will just grant a two-year extension of the status quo. It would be tacked on to the budget bill Congress must pass this month to keep government open. Lawmakers would have little choice but to approve it. A broad coalition of civil rights, internet freedom and free market advocacy groups is warning lawmakers that punting will have consequences. This is an issue that concerns people across party lines, and they want Congress to have this debate, said Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the ACLU. They dont want something snuck through at the last minute without vetting. Even as action to change the program is stalling in Congress, hand-wringing over it isnt. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), whose steadfast advocacy for the surveillance program had long put her at odds with Democratic activists back home, is among those shifting course. As a high-ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, the issue is prominent on Feinsteins plate as she faces a primary battle. She is now calling for warrants to be required before law enforcement can access the emails found through one of the most controversial and legally precarious types of searches, in which the NSA scrapes databases for messages of Americans who may have had incidental contact with or merely mentioned foreigners on watch lists. Some experts read the legal authority to search and read emails of Americans, known as Section 702, to go even further. For example, if an American participates in or promotes an event abroad as benign as a climate change protest or an academic conference on international affairs, they could get swept into the surveillance, according to the interpretations. The government doesnt always limit its probes to issues of national security. The FBI might use backdoor searches in pursuit of a tax-evasion case, for example. The information may not be usable as evidence in a criminal complaint, but it can be used to help the FBI find other information that is. This improperly obtained information has been used in court against Americans charged with crimes that have nothing to do with national security, said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) at a congressional hearing last week. The FBI wont say how often that happens, only that it is infrequent. It told the federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in 2014 that it is extremely unlikely that an agent pursuing a case unrelated to national security would find their targets email in the Section 702 database. The assurance did not impress privacy advocates, who note that law enforcement searches of the 702 databases targeted at Americans have surged. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence revealed in April that more than 30,000 such searches were conducted last year. This is not just an abstract legal concern, said a recent letter to Congress from the advocacy groups coalition, which warned the intelligence report revealed a strikingly high number of searches of Americans. The groups recently found themselves in an unexpected place: praising their longtime nemesis Feinstein, after she joined the push for warrant requirements in a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Feinstein argued that Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their communications and that the 4th Amendment requires the government to show probable cause before reading private email messages, according to a committee report made public. But most of the committee was not persuaded, and Feinstein ultimately joined her colleagues in voting to advance a plan that reauthorizes the surveillance authority without the new warrant requirement. Other Democrats, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, voted against the bill. The political odd couple of Sens. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, have found common ground in their distaste for warrantless searches. In the House, tea party activists have joined liberals in crusading to limit the opaque online intelligence gathering. The full House has twice voted in recent years to restrict the type of data collection that concerns Feinstein. The House Judiciary Committee included such a restriction in the reauthorization measure it recently advanced. But the House Intelligence Committee left it out. There are so many competing visions for how to reshape the program that none of them right now appear to have enough support to reach the desk of President Trump, who has signaled little interest in restricting the monitoring. Trumps own disputes with intelligence agencies have further complicated the debate. Politically compromising and possibly illegal communications between Trump associates and Russian nationals intercepted by intelligence officials before Trump took office have moved the presidents allies to demand their own tweaks to Section 702. They would prohibit intelligence agencies from revealing to other government officials or unmasking the identities of Americans whose communications with foreigners are monitored through the surveillance program. After the provision was tucked into what had been a bipartisan House Intelligence Committee plan to make some reforms to Section 702, Democrats abandoned the bill. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, lamented that the provision has imperiled the measure, as Republicans dont have enough support to pass it through the House on their own. But they may ultimately have saved Schiff a lot of grief. The bill he was poised to vote for is not popular among activists influential in his district. They complain it does not go far enough in restricting warrantless surveillance. Schiff is unmoved. If we put a warrant requirement on the front end for everything, there are a number of circumstances where we would want law enforcement and intelligence agencies to do searches, but they would lack probable cause, Schiff said. Some groups will not be satisfied with anything short of a blanket warrant requirement. I fear that could lead to a reluctance to conduct searches in national security cases, and a stove-piping of information. evan.halper@latimes.com Twitter: @evanhalper The odds of any Democrat capturing a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama are steep at best, but Doug Jones was uniquely suited to pull off an upset Tuesday over Republican Roy Moore. Accusations that Moore sexually abused teenage girls played a big part, no doubt, in Jones improbable victory over the renowned religious right crusader. Jones, 63, is a former U.S. attorney who cast himself as a law-and-order man. He is skilled at muting his liberal stands on such issues as abortion and gay rights a necessity in one of the Souths most conservative states. Advertisement Jones also carries not a whiff of scandal, a major asset in Alabama after a spate of corruption scandals. It didnt hurt that Jones also supports gun rights. He turkey-hunts, he deer-hunts, and he believes strongly in the 2nd Amendment, said Lowell Barron, a former Democratic leader in the state Senate. Overwhelming support from African Americans was crucial for Jones, who is best known for prosecuting and convicting two Ku Klux Klansmen for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, an attack that left four girls dead. He also prosecuted Eric Rudolph for the 1998 bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic, which killed an off-duty police officer and blinded a nurse. Jones won the seat vacated by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the first Republican senator to break with his partys establishment last year to endorse Donald Trump for president. In 2020, when Jones will be up for reelection, he will probably be challenged by a Republican more viable than the politically wounded Moore, so he will face pressure in the Senate to resist his partys most liberal impulses. Doug Jones campaigns Monday in Montgomery, Ala. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images ) Jones has promised to seek common ground with Republicans. I would expect him to be a very conservative Democrat, said Joseph Smith, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Analysts expect Jones to fit the mold of Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, another Democrat who was elected to the Senate in a deep-red state and votes accordingly. Jones roots are blue-collar; his father worked at U.S. Steel in Birmingham. Jones, a lifelong resident of Alabama, is married and has three children. He worked a union job in a steel mill before earning his law degree at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. His political experience is relatively thin. In the early 1980s, he worked in Washington as staff counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama, a role model for Jones. President Clinton named Jones U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in 1997. He left the job when President George W. Bush took office in January 2001 and returned to private practice. As he ran for Senate, Jones avoided talking about abortion and other cultural issues that animated Moores campaign, focusing instead on jobs, healthcare and education. He calls for more spending on schools, job training and renewable energy, and less on prisons. Jones supports an overhaul of criminal sentencing laws to reduce incarceration of nonviolent felons. Though he supports Obamacare, he does not back single-payer healthcare, which many liberals advocate. Democratic pollster Zac McCrary of Montgomery, Ala., said he expects Jones to stay focused in Washington on practical measures to improve voters day-to-day lives. I think that is where his energy will be focused, he said. That would be his wheelhouse. michael.finnegan@latimes.com Twitter: @finneganLAT ALSO Democrat Doug Jones wins Alabama Senate seat, but Roy Moore wont concede Trumps troubles with Congress just got worse: Five takeaways from Democrats upset in Alabama Omarosa Manigault Newman leaving White House Ghost of Justice Scalia looms as Supreme Court debates religion and civil rights law Peter Harmsen's English works. (File photo) Peter Harmsen, a Danish journalist, worked as a foreign correspondent in East Asia for international media organizations, including Bloomberg and AFP, and sojourned in mainland China from 1998 to 2009. His English works Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze and Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City were published in 2013 and 2015, respectively. The Chinese translation of the latter was released in November 2017, a month before the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. Speaking of the notorious crimes the Nazis committed against millions of Jews and Polish people in WWII, everyone in Western countries can tell a story or two, while few of them have ever heard of the battles in China then, not to mention the infamous Nanjing Massacre. Chinas opening up and reform policy has been going on for 30 years and the country has been playing an increasingly important role in the world, but the narration on the battles in China barely exists in the Western world. It is a paradox to Harmsen that on one hand, China enjoys enormous attention as a major power; on the other hand, WWII has always been at the center of modern history-related topics, while to most of Westerners, war in China in WWII is a blank. Under the background of the turbulence in Chinese territory in the 1930s, conflict between the US and Japan exacerbated, leading up to the Pearl Harbor incident and resulting in war between the two countries. It is impossible to understand the ins and outs of the Pacific War in 1941 if China is not taken into consideration. Likewise, without Chinas holding of a sizeable number of Japanese troops, the US triumph in the Pacific Ocean would not go so smooth. Peter Harmsen interviews in China. (File photo) The Shanghai Battle broke out on August 13, 1937 following a series of defeats of Chinas resistance to the invasion of Japanese troops, ending in failure after a three-month struggle. The Japanese were not content with their gains in Shanghai and advanced swiftly westward to Nanjing, Chinas capital city then, embarking on the heinous Nanjing Massacre after fierce fighting against the resistance from the people of Nanjing. The Shanghai Battle figures prominently in Harmsens books because Shanghai is an iconic international metropolis known to everyone in the world no matter in the 1930s or in contemporary times. But among the Western faces living and working in Shanghai, a tiny minority is aware of the fact that the city was a battlefield in WWII. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Western historians have been attending relevant events in China, which helps China return to studies on WWII from a global background, granting China its due position in the Anti-fascist alliance. However, most Western academies still study Chinas Anti-Japanese War from a Western perspective. For instance, stories of the American volunteer group, nickname Flying Tigers, are told mostly by Western historians in narrating the Chinese battlefield. Perhaps it is high time for Westerners to alter their attitude toward China in history. Book: Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City. (File photo) (Compiled by Li Lei) Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation into whether President Trumps team assisted Russian meddling in last years campaign, pushed back strongly Wednesday against Republican accusations that the probe is infected with partisan bias and steadfastly defended special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. The special counsels investigation is not a witch hunt, Rosenstein told a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing, specifically rejecting the phrase that President Trump has used to denounce the case. He said Mueller has managed the case appropriately. Rosenstein also said he would not fire Mueller unless the former FBI director had violated Justice Department guidelines or the law. If there were good cause, I would act, he said. If there were no good cause, I would not. Advertisement Rosensteins testimony served as a sharp rebuke to Republicans who have questioned the political independence and probity of Muellers team of prosecutors. His message bolstered Democrats who fear the president will try to fire Mueller to short-circuit a probe that already has resulted in criminal charges against four former Trump campaign aides. As the second-ranking official in the Justice Department, Rosenstein oversees the Russia investigation because Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recused himself in March after his undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador were revealed. Rosenstein chose Mueller as special counsel in May after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey, who was heading the case. Mueller could not be fired without Rosensteins cooperation. Rosensteins staunch defense of Mueller comes as the high-profile investigation appears to have reached a critical point. Mueller recently secured a guilty plea from Michael Flynn, a senior Trump campaign aide who later served 24 days as White House national security advisor. Flynn promised to cooperate with prosecutors, a sign that Mueller could ensnare other prominent Trump aides or associates. The plea deal added to the drumbeat of criminal charges that have rattled the White House. Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his deputy, Richard Gates, were indicted in October, while a former low-level foreign policy campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. At the same time, Republicans have ramped up their efforts to discredit Muellers investigation, assembling what they describe as a mountain of evidence to question his credibility. I think the public trust in this whole thing is gone, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Wednesday. Follow live coverage of the Trump administration on Essential Washington Republicans repeatedly pressed Rosenstein about private text messages that two FBI employees, agent Peter Strzok and lawyer Lisa Page, exchanged in 2015 and 2016. Both worked for the special counsel this year, although neither recently. The messages, which the Justice Department released Tuesday night, included references to Trump as an idiot and said, This man can not be president. The pair also disparaged Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was seeking the Democratic nomination, and other politicians. Page already had left Muellers team when the text messages were uncovered in July. Mueller removed Strzok at that point, but Republicans on the committee suggested that Strzoks former role undermined the integrity of the entire probe. How much of this whole investigation has been infected with his bias? Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) asked. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), left, talks with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.) during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press ) Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the committee, downplayed the GOP complaints about the private text messages. Peter Strzok did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans werent also thinking at the same time, he said. Nadler said Muellers decision to remove Strzok from his team was a testament to his integrity and situational awareness. The House committee has been a focal point for Republican efforts to suggest Muellers team of prosecutors has Democratic leanings and thus is biased against the president. Investigations must not be tainted by individuals imposing their own political prejudices, said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), who chairs the committee. We are now beginning to better understand the magnitude of this insider bias on Mr. Muellers team. Republicans cited praise from Andrew Weissmann, a top prosecutor in the special counsels office, for Sally Yates, who as acting attorney general refused to defend Trumps order to restrict travel from Muslim-majority countries. And they pointed to donations to Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clintons campaign, from several members of Muellers team. How with a straight face can you say this group of Democratic partisans is unbiased and will give President Trump a fair shake? asked Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio). Its not against Justice Department rules for employees to express political opinions or contribute to candidates. Democrats said theyre concerned that Republican criticism of Mueller could be used as a pretext for Trump to remove him, and they urged Rosenstein to maintain the independence of his department. The very future of our democracy is at stake if you fail to do that, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said. White House lawyer Ty Cobb denied Tuesday that the president plans to get rid of Mueller. There are no plans, as weve said for months on end, to fire Mr. Mueller, he said. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO Whatever President Trump has done, it cant be obstruction of justice, his lawyer argues FBI Director Christopher Wray defends bureau after Trump calls it in tatters UPDATES: 12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from the hearing. 8:10 a.m.: This article was updated with details from the House Judiciary Committee hearing. This article was originally posted at 3 a.m. For the first time, one of President Trumps proposed judges is in danger of defeat, as a key Republican said the Senate should not confirm Brett Talley, a 36-year old lawyer and blogger from Alabama who has never tried a case and was unanimously rated not qualified by the American Bar Assn.s screening panel. Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Talley on a party-line vote to be a federal district judge in Alabama. But the committees chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), now believes Talley should not receive the lifetime appointment. He said Tuesday he advised the White House that the Senate should not proceed to confirm Talley. Advertisement Grassley also said he did not want to move forward with the nomination of Jeff Mateer, a Texas state attorney who was shown on videos making highly controversial comments about gays and transgender people. In one talk, Mateer said he had heard about an elementary school child who was transgender and commented: It just really shows you how Satans plan is working, and the destruction thats going on. Shortly after the setback for the two district nominees, however, Senate Republicans narrowly confirmed a Trump nominee to a federal appeals court even though he, too, received an unanimous not qualified rating rating from the American Bar Assn. panel, suggesting that Grassleys opposition to the two district court nominees does not represent any wholesale shift by the Republican leadership. Until now, Senate Republicans have voted in unison to approve dozens of Trump nominees, many of them young conservatives, to lifetime seats on federal district and appellate courts. Last month, Talley appeared headed for confirmation despite his thin qualifications. He had graduated from the University of Alabama and Harvard Law School, wrote several horror novels and worked as a deputy to then-Alabama Atty. Gen. Luther Strange, currently the appointed U.S. senator from Alabama. Earlier this year, Talley went to work in the Justice Department office that screens nominees for federal judgeships. His wife, Ann Donaldson, serves as the chief of staff to White House Counsel Donald McGahn. The Bar Assn. report noted that Talley had spent little time practicing law and had never argued a motion in court. He was, however, an active blogger. During last years campaign, he tweeted his opposition to Hillary Rotten Clinton. After the committee approved his nomination, senators took a closer look at his blogging and past writings. Grassley decided at that point that he no longer favored confirming Talley or holding a hearing for Mateer. Chairman Grassley has been concerned about statements made by nominees Mateer and Talley, and hes conveyed those concerns to the White House, Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said Tuesday. Liberal groups who have opposed many of Trumps nominees were cheered by the announcement. This is welcome news. Brett Talley and Jeff Mateer are wholly unfit for the federal bench, said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice. We believe this is an opportunity for a real turning point, if the White House uses this moment to reassess its criteria for judicial nominations. Those same groups, however, were dismayed by the approval of appeals court nominee L. Steven Grasz, a Nebraska state lawyer and former counsel for the Nebraska Republican Party. Unlike Talley, Grasz has solid legal credentials, but the American Bar Assn. panel said its members spoke in confidence to dozens of Nebraska lawyers who questioned whether Grasz could serve as an unbiased judge in light of his strongly held social and political views. Senate Democrats noted Grasz was the first appellate nominee since 2006 to receive a not qualified rating from the Bar Assn. In the past, nominees who received a poor rating usually withdrew. But Grasz had the strong support of Nebraskas two senators. And on Tuesday evening, the Senate voted 50 to 48 to confirm him. He will join the 8th Circuit Court based in St. Louis. Sharon McGowan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, said it was exasperating, and yet unsurprising that Grasz would gain support of Senate Republicans. Grasz will wreak lasting damage on civil rights for generations to come, she said. For their part, several Senate Republicans denounced the American Bar Assn. as a left-leaning interest group that was biased against conservative nominees. Major questions before the Supreme Court this fall david.savage@latimes.com On Twitter: DavidGSavage ALSO Trumps lawyers want second special counsel as Republicans turn up the heat on Mueller investigation Supreme Court puts off hearing a case on job protections for LGBT employees Sessions and new Homeland Security chief describe efforts to crackdown on gang violence, illegal immigration Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isnt going to have to answer those questions, after all. At least, not today. Had the Alabama Senate race gone a different way, the hubbub in Washington was going to be about one thing: Would Roy Moore be embraced by Senate Republicans, or sidelined? Asked about the difficult position his party would be in should Moore win, McConnell told reporters Tuesday they were good questions for tomorrow. Doug Jones toppled Moore by more than 21,000 votes, sparing McConnell the awkward position of dealing with Moore, who had been accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers as a younger man. It also cost McConnells Republican Party one of its seats. Advertisement Moore did not concede Tuesday. In fact, Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead told supporters there was not a final decision on the outcome, citing outstanding military ballots and referencing Alabama law that would require an automatic recount should the vote margin be within 0.5%. Its not over, Moore said. As the spread showed 1.6% between Jones and Moore, CNN interviewed Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who said any different outcome was highly unlikely. The people of Alabama have spoken tonight, they have made their voice heard loud and clear, he said. Assuming Tuesdays vote is certified, Jones would be sworn in next month too late for the anticipated vote on the GOP tax plan. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency, Jones told his supporters after he was declared the winner. (Watch the video.) Its a race, not unlike the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts in 2010, that was never expected to go this way given the partisan makeup of the state. Just as that was seen as a rebuke of President Obama, the result was framed as a blow to President Trump. (That, and the nights other takeaways.) For his part, the president issued Jones congratulations. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win, Trump tweeted. There were more than 22,000 write-ins. On Wednesday, Trump circled back on his original endorsement of Sen. Luther Strange, who lost the GOP primary to Moore in September. Trump tweeted that he endorsed Strange because he didnt think Moore could win the general. I was right, he said. The race concluded with plenty of drama, as Jones kept quiet about his backing from Obama on the campaign trail, as Moore dismissed the allegations against him as ritual defamation and Moores wife made an off-color remark. As for what it means next year, Cathleen Decker sees a bigger problem for Republicans: Even in Alabama, a state he won by 28 percentage points, Trump was unable to ease his candidate over the finish line. Exit polls Tuesday indicated one reason: Voters even in this heavily Republican state were closely split between approval and disapproval of Trump. Thats an ominous sign for Republicans heading into the midterm election. Meanwhile, get to know Sen.-elect Jones. TAX NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE Trump will have lunch Wednesday at the White House with the appointed conferees negotiating substantial differences between the House and Senate tax cut bills. One of the discussion points surely will be the state and local tax deduction. Rep. Darrell Issa joined California cities in urging Congress to keep the deduction. Meantime, the rush to finish the GOP tax overhaul hit a snag as Republicans grappled with the two plans, and paused to consider unintended consequences of the most massive rewrite of the tax code in a generation. IS THERE AN END IN SIGHT FOR THE RUSSIA PROBE? White House lawyer Ty Cobb has been saying for months that he expects a speedy conclusion to the special counsels investigation into the Trump administration. Now he tells Chris Megerian that Robert S. Mueller IIIs team has finished interviews with White House officials. All the White House interviews are over, Cobb said on Tuesday. At the same time, Republicans have ramped up their efforts to undermine the investigation, raising concerns about conflicts of interests and other allegations of misconduct. Trumps personal lawyers joined the effort as well. While they didnt criticize Mueller himself, they said there needs to be another special counsel to examine problems at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND -- Trump cited the suspect in the New York subway bombing as an argument for his crackdown on legal as well as illegal immigration. -- The president attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Twitter. -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson faced his staff Tuesday, talking to a group of people who have been demoralized by months of resignations and the Trump administrations tumultuous foreign policy. -- Former Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner and Trump fundraiser Jamie McCourt was sworn in as the U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco. -- Vladimir Putin is briefed on Trumps tweets. Get the latest about whats happening in the nations capital on Essential Washington. DOUBLE STANDARD ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT Over the past decade, California lawmakers have worked to ensure sexual harassment and assault victims in other fields know their rights and that processes to investigate claims are transparent, independent and clear to all those who might need them. But victims and lawyers say the California Legislature has not held its own members to the same standards, Jazmine Ulloa reports. WHEN WILL BROWN SCHEDULE THE NEWMAN RECALL ELECTION? 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 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. A reminder you can keep up with the latest via our Essential Politics news feed on California politics. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- Californias cap-and-trade program may have been designed to combat climate change, but a new analysis predicts it also could provide significant cash as much as $8 billion in a decades time for state and regional programs. -- Female members of Congress are calling for an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Trump. -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has yet another Democratic challenger. Rachel Payne, a tech executive and Google alum from Aliso Viejo, announced her campaign Monday. -- A challenger to Rep. Duncan Hunter says hes dropping his campaign and endorsing a fellow Democrat in the race. -- The special election to replace recently resigned Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) will be in spring 2018. -- Vice President Mike Pence met with California lawmakers about the massive Southern California fires. -- Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said leaders must talk about the health effects of climate change. -- Assemblymen Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Frank Bigelow (R-ONeals) have agreed to pay fines to the states political watchdog agency for violating campaign finance rules. -- Cheech Marin is teaching Californians how to register marijuana businesses with the state. LOGISTICS Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Miss Mondays newsletter? Here you go. Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox. 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. Advertisement In Sacramento, Washington and statehouses across the country, the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo social media movement have set off a growing conversation about sexual harassment in the political world. Last month, Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) became the first California lawmaker to resign following sexual assault allegations made against him. Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills) said Friday he will step down at the end of the year, after being accused of forcing a lobbyist into a Las Vegas bathroom, where he allegedly masturbated in front of her. Another legislator, Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), has been stripped of key leadership posts after allegations of inappropriate contact with women who worked in his Capitol office. Now leaders have started to review how the two chambers track and investigate complaints. The state Assembly and Senate are subject to state and federal laws that require employers to establish procedures to prevent sexual harassment, and that hold them liable when failing to do so. Senate ethics policies were updated in 2014 following political corruption scandals, with changes including the designation of an ombudsman and a telephone hotline for public complaints. In the Assembly, policies state an employee can report sexual misconduct verbally or in writing to his or her supervisor, and administrative officers then decide whether to escalate the complaint to an investigation by referring it to internal human resources staff or outside counsel. But testimony at a hearing last month revealed the chamber did not keep track of sexual harassment complaints. Witnesses told lawmakers that they often did not know where or how to report misconduct each house has its own investigative officers and processes, and some in the Capitol are excluded from training, such as interns or fellows. Lawmakers raised concerns that investigative procedures were not independent enough. Activists and lawyers said that though each legislative house might have policies on paper, they are unevenly applied and can spare elected officials and senior staffers of consequences. Both chambers have disclosed little data on their investigations. Genie Harrison, an employment and victims rights attorney, said at the hearing that such systematic failures are what lead to systematic victimization. The state Assembly last revised its sexual harassment policies in 2007. In the time since then, California lawmakers have spent the past decade calling for college campuses, military bases and other institutions to train victims on their rights and ensure investigative processes are transparent, independent and clear to all who might need them. According to a Los Angeles Times review of legislation introduced since 2007, state lawmakers have passed at least 52 bills to extend protections for sexual harassment and assault victims, to toughen punishment for sexual assault and to improve sexual misconduct policies, training and investigation in other industries. All but 11 have been signed into law. Nearly all moved through both chambers with full or overwhelming bipartisan support many with yes votes from the three lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct. Bocanegra and Mendoza voted in favor of at least 20 of the bills while in office, Dababneh supported more than 30. The three lawmakers did not vote against any of those proposals. On the floor and in committee hearings, state lawmakers often took strong stances to protect workers and students, many of them women. Just last year, debate in Sacramento centered on the need to end a national culture that they said trivializes sexual assault and shames victims, as women shared their stories of abuse at the hands of comedian Bill Cosby, and the emotional words of a young rape victim in a letter to her attacker, Brock Turner, resonated across the country. In response, state lawmakers eliminated the 40-year time limits to bring forth rape cases and toughened punishment for sexual assault. This year, state Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) urged lawmakers to approve a bill that requires farm contractors to provide sexual harassment training as part of the licensing process, calling California fields one of the last bastions of inadequate protection. Change in law, making stronger enforcement will not eradicate the problem, Monning said at a July hearing. But it will move us a step closer to hopefully empowering particularly women in the workplace to know what their rights are, to have a phone number that they can contact. He says lawmakers now need to work on helping victims at the Capitol, too. We need to fight for zero tolerance in every workplace including the Legislature, he said. Other legislation has resulted from the national discourse in recent years over sexual assault on college campuses. At a Senate education committee hearing in April, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) urged lawmakers to preserve federal guidelines, which have since been rolled back by the Trump administration, for how universities investigate sexual assault what Jackson described as an epidemic that state lawmakers have long worked to address. At least two laws require post-secondary schools and community colleges to post their sexual harassment policies in a prominent location on their websites. There are no similar standards for the Legislature, and neither houses website offers public information on sexual harassment. In 2014, De Leon carried the yes means yes law, mandating California universities to enact sexual assault policies requiring students to receive affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity, in order to receive public funding for student financial aid. As he runs for the U.S. Senate, De Leon faces questions over the Senates handling of sexual harassment claims and the shelving of a whistleblower protection bill for employees of the Legislature. In a statement in November, he said the Senate endorsed the reform objectives of the Legislative Womens Caucus. I believe we must create a two-house process and that we should immediately pass reforms when the Legislature is next in session, including a bill to protect legislative employees from retaliation, he said. For four years in a row, Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) has authored a bill to enshrine whistleblower protections into law for staffers who come forward with allegations of sexual assault and harassment. The bills were killed in Senate fiscal committee. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP ) Assemblywomen Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) and Marie Waldron (R-Escondido), who are leading a discussion on the issue in the the Assembly, plan to introduce another bill next month that would give both public and private employees more time to come forward with a sexual harassment claim. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) said she has been shocked by the stories surfacing against her own colleagues and would no longer leave her 21-year-old daughter unsupervised at the Capitol until the problems are fixed. The fact is that these are issues the Legislature has not fully addressed, Gonzalez Fletcher said. We havent done enough outside, and we havent done enough inside. Jean Hyams, president of the California Employment Lawyers Assn., said holding employers and bosses accountable moving forward will be key if the current cultural moment is to have a lasting impact. Sexual harassment is not about sex, its about power, she said. Only the exercise of power will stop it. California Assembly hearing on sexual harassment policies leaves unanswered questions jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com @jazmineulloa ALSO: California Assembly hearing on sexual harassment policies leaves unanswered questions Victims denounce a failing system for reporting sexual harassment at the California Capitol Sexual harassment hearings come as California Capitol is roiled by accusations and a resignation California assemblyman accused of forcing lobbyist into bathroom and masturbating Updates on California politics 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 After combing through a decades worth of Pennsylvania birth records, researchers have found that pregnant women living within two-thirds of a mile of a hydraulic fracturing well were 25% more likely to give birth to a worryingly small infant than were women who lived at least 10 miles outside that zone during pregnancy. Over these babies lifetimes, their low birth weights raise the likelihood they will suffer poorer health and lower achievement, including reduced earnings and educational attainment. The authors of the new research estimated that, in 2012, about 29,000 of the close to 4 million annual births in the United States roughly 0.7% of babies born each year were to women who lived within about two-thirds of a mile of a hydraulic fracturing operation during their pregnancies. Advertisement The study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Nationally, the advent and expansion of hydraulic fracturing operations have reduced gasoline prices, decreased some air pollution emissions and driven down U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But in areas surrounding the nations roughly 1.2 million fracking wells, the extraction technique has increased pollution of air, soil, groundwater and surface water. Many of the toxic chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process are known carcinogens. Toxic gases, including benzene, are released from the rock by fracking. And the high-pressure pumping of a slurry of chemicals into the ground is widely thought to release toxins and irritants into nearby air and water. The noise and pollution emitted by trucks and heavy machinery also may affect the health of people living nearby. Research by some of the new studys authors all economists has detailed the powerful impact of fracking on local communities, where it boosted employment, household incomes and housing values. It also has made the extraction techniques local effects on human health a subject of heated debate and growing research. Based on an analysis of more than 1.1 million births in Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2013, the new research found that babies born to mothers who lived within 1 kilometer (0.64 miles) of a fracking well weighed, on average, 1.38 ounces less than babies whose gestation occurred 3 kilometers or more from a fracking site. The researchers compared the birth weights of babies born to mothers living within 1, 2 or 3 kilometers of fracking wells, both before and after the wells were active. In a bid to capture health influences specifically related to well proximity, the authors compared the birth weights of siblings born at different distances to wells both close enough to be exposed to fracking in utero, and too far away. The largest health impacts were found in infants born to mothers living the closest to active wells. Compared to those whose pregnant mothers lived about 10 miles or more away, these infants were 25% more likely to weigh less than 5 1/2 pounds and be classified as low birth weight, the authors found. For babies whose mothers lived between 1 and 3 kilometers from a well, researchers found birth-weight effects, but they were greatly diminished less than half those found among babies born to women living within 1 kilometer of a well. The findings suggest that frackings impacts on newborns health are highly local, the authors wrote. This study provides the strongest large-scale evidence of a link between the pollution that stems from hydraulic fracturing activities and our health, specifically the health of babies, said coauthor Michael Greenstone, an economist and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. A representative of the oil and gas industry criticized the study for failing to take account of a wide range of factors that can contribute to low birth weight, as well as for measuring womens proximity to fracking wells instead of their exposure to actual pollutants. Its just one of many examples of research that has similar limitations, said Nicole Jacobs, Pennsylvania director for Energy in Depth, a research, education and lobbying arm of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America. Jacobs also cited Pennsylvania Health Department statistics showing that in the most heavily drilled counties in Pennsylvanias Marcellus Shale region, infant mortality rates not only have declined, but actually have improved more than overall state levels. To the extent that low birth weight drives infant mortality, such data would appear to contradict the findings reported Wednesday, Jacobs said. Notwithstanding such limitations, the results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that fracking exacts a toll on the health of populations living in close proximity to wells. A study of Pennsylvania published in August 2016 found higher rates of migraine headaches, fatigue, and nasal and sinus symptoms in people who were at greater proximity to fracking operations. Another study, conducted in southwest Pennsylvania, where fracking wells are heavily concentrated, found an increase in cases of bladder cancer, but not of thyroid cancer or leukemia, that was steeper in counties where well density was highest. In research that examined a Colorado registry of cancer cases, another study found that people aged 5 to 24 who were diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia were more likely to live in areas with a high concentration of oil and gas activity. Other studies have focused on pregnancy outcomes and infant health. In one conducted in North Texas where fracking wells abut diverse populations of urbanites researchers found an increased risk of preterm birth, and a slight increase in fetal death, among pregnant women living close to greater concentrations of fracking wells. But it failed to find an association between a pregnant womans proximity to fracking wells and her likelihood of giving birth to a child who was either small for its gestational age or who was born at term at less than 5 pounds. Many of these studies have been faulted for methodological weaknesses, and their findings have been assailed by oil and gas industry groups. Weill Cornell public health researcher Madelon L. Finkel, who has conducted some of the early research, acknowledges that the findings are preliminary. Cancer and many other outcomes can take decades to become evident, while the widespread practice of hydraulic fracturing is not quite a decade old, Finkel said. Firming up conclusions on frackings health effects, she added, will take years of further research. But were beginning to see a pattern: that living near these sites does elevate risk compared to living further away, said Finkel, who was not involved in the Science Advances study. University of Pennsylvania neonatologist Dr. Rebecca Simmons praised the new studys design and the researchers focus on low birth weight as a factor potentially affected by proximity to fracking wells. Birth weight is a proxy: it gives us an insight into whats going on in gestation, and we worry a lot when we see changes like this, said Simmons, who is deputy director of the Penns Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. We know that babies born at low birth weight have a much, much higher risk of diseases such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Simmons, who was not involved in the Science Advances study, acknowledged that many factors contribute to low birth weight, including poverty and poor nutrition. Increasingly, however, environmental factors are gaining their share of attention and research. Coauthor Katherine Meckel, an assistant professor at UCLA, acknowledged that the study could not pinpoint the source of the environmental hazards that affect human health and birth weight. Until we can determine the source of this pollution and contain it, local lawmakers will be forced to continue to make the difficult decision of whether to allow fracking in order to boost their local economies despite the health implications or ban it altogether, missing out on the jobs and revenue it would bring, she said. melissa.healy@latimes.com @LATMelissaHealy MORE IN SCIENCE Giant penguins, as tall as people, lived in New Zealand millions of years ago Is man flu real? Medical science delivers comfort to helpless male snufflers Cassini may be dead, but a new era of Saturn science has just begun UPDATES: 12:55 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from a representative of the oil and gas industry. This article was originally published at 11 a.m. Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong quoted President Xi Jinping as saying Tuesday that the Confucius Institute is a window and bridge of language and culture exchanges between China and the world during the 12th Global Confucius Institute Conference in Xian. Liu said the 13th anniversary of the Confucius Institute witnessed joint development, sharing, cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and other countries. Over nine million students are enrolled at 525 Confucius Institutes in 146 countries and regions. Nearly 2,500 delegates, including university presidents from over 140 countries and regions, attended the conference with the theme, "Cooperation, innovation and building a community with a shared future for mankind." Some of the delegates People's Daily spoke to praised Xi's concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind" and the Belt and Road initiative, saying that they will actively participate in and strengthen cooperation and give full play to the Confucius Institute's role in humanistic exchanges both at home and abroad. Liu also attended the seminar on the work of Confucius Institutes across the country. In and around Burbank, say the name Korb, and most people immediately think of the buying and selling of real estate. That is because the Brad Korb Real Estate Group has been a well-known player in the local real estate market since the late 1970s. As of this past week, the name Korb will also be associated with presidential leadership for members of the Burbank Assn. of Realtors who gathered to witness Courtney Korb installed as the organizations 2018 president during a festive holiday gala at Glendales Vertigo Banquet Hall this past Saturday. Korb, a third-generation Realtor who is the daughter of Brad and Nancy Korb, is the youngest person and first millennial to serve as the 96-year-old groups president. Adopting a presidential theme of BAOR Cares!, Courtney Korb told last weekends assemblage the focus of her term will be to further enhance the organizations already well-established commitment and care to the community, local nonprofits, their members, and working with local and state government officials on legislation that pertains to real estate and property owners. If the passing of the presidential gavel, from outgoing President Harry Timuryan to Courtney Korb wasnt exciting enough for her, the following day certainly was impossible to top as she accepted a proposal of marriage and an engagement ring from Adam Vee. Along with Korb, the executive committee who will lead the association through 2018 will be composed of Karol Kochova, Daniel Sanchez, outgoing President Timuryan and the groups executive director, Cherrita Smith. Rounding out the incoming leadership in their roles on the board of directors will be Leah Archer, Diana Burness, Robert Clark, Marty Del Cid, Stefan Doomanis, Courtney Lea Hall, Cameron Hunter, Emil Kirakosyan, Steven Marx and Bryann Ochse. The presidential installation, which doubles as the groups holiday party, also saw the bestowal of recognitions for those who have played a significant role with the association. David Fogg was awarded the groups Lifetime Achievement Award, Leah Archer was named Rising Star, Burbank Mayor Will Rogers received Citizen of the Year honors, Caleb Gonzalez received the Mary L. Vaughn Leadership Award, Lisa Matzner was named Affiliate of the Year and Christopher Rizzotti was given the Cunningham Community Service Award. Among the dignitaries at the event, that was emceed by former association President Barry Burnett, were state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) and City Council members Bob Frutos and Sharon Springer. The Burbank Assn. of Realtors is a professional trade organization representing Realtors and affiliate members engaged in real estate that has been serving Burbank since 1922. The organization established a community service foundation in 1986 that operates as the groups charitable arm. Among those who have benefited from the groups philanthropy over the past quarter century are local high school seniors who have received scholarships, Habitat for Humanity, the Burbank YMCA, Burbank Temporary Aid Center, the Kids Community Dental Clinic and Family Promise of the Verdugos. DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007. Anyone who has ever wanted to try curling, the sport where players slide stones at a target and use brooms to guide them, will get three chances to do so in Burbank during the holiday season. Downtown Burbank is hosting its annual outdoor ice rink, located behind Burbank City Hall at the corner of Third Street and Orange Grove Avenue, and it will be open to the public starting Thursday through Jan. 7. People will get a chance to rent some ice skates and skate laps around the rink. In addition, the Hollywood Curling Club, a nonprofit that promotes the winter sport, will host pop-up workshops at the Burbank rink on Dec. 24 and 31 as well as Jan. 7, during which club members will teach those who are interested in learning how to play the sport. Each workshop will be an hour and cost $15 per person. The workshops will be held from 9 to 9:50 a.m. on those days. Liza Beres, president of the Hollywood Curling Club, said the organization hosted a curling workshop at the downtown Burbank ice rink last year, and it was a hit with those who participated. Last years workshop went so well that club members decided to come back and offer more days. It was a sellout [event] last year, and its looking to be a sellout this year, Beres said. Its just a really great opportunity for people to try a sport that they might not otherwise ever have an excuse to try. Beres, who is originally from Calgary, Canada, said many people think that curling is an easy sport to play, but those who try it for the first time learn it is more difficult than they thought. Beres said she would have beginners sweep the length of the curling sheet, which is typically about 150 feet long. At the end of the sweeping, she said many people end up getting winded. Youre trying to put a lot of downward pressure on the ice along with a really quick back-and-forth movement while trying to match the pace of the rock, Beres said. It is significantly harder than it looks. People are amazed with how much stamina it takes. Though she did not start curling until she moved to California, Beres said she has fallen in love with the sport. She appreciates the teamwork and communication required to get the rock where it needs to go and the strategy needed to defeat opponents. It has a lot of similarities to shuffleboard and bocce ball, but theres also an element of chess to it, too, Beres said. Curling is a strategy game, and you really have to think not just about your move, but about your opponents next move and your move after that. The rinks hours will be from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio Two townhome projects near City Hall that will include units priced for moderate-income buyers won unanimous approval from the Huntington Beach Planning Commission on Tuesday night. One of the developments, at 19100 Gothard St., will contain 21 units, two of which will be priced for buyers of moderate income defined as earning 120% or less of the Orange County median income. For the record: An earlier version of this post stated that Commissioner Dan Kalmick bought a condominium in a similar type of development. Kalmicks girlfriend bought the condominium. The second project, at 19200 Holly Lane, was approved for 32 units. Four of them will be priced for moderate incomes. The units in both developments are planned to be two or three stories, ranging from about 1,700 square feet to 2,150 square feet and containing three or four bedrooms. Prices have not been announced. On both projects, developer MLC Holdings of Newport Beach, a subsidiary of Arizona-based Meritage Homes Corp., a nationwide homebuilder, took advantage of a state law that allows various exemptions including the ability to build more houses and have fewer parking spaces than city code usually requires if some of the units are priced more affordably. Commissioner John Scandura expressed concern about a parking deficiency on the Gothard project 53 spots instead of the city-required 63. Most of the parking would be in the units two-car garages. Scandura suggested taking out some of the projects planned green space to make room for additional parking, though city staff said it didnt feel comfortable making such a change during the hearing. Commissioner Dan Kalmick, whose girlfriend bought a condominium in a similar type of development, said prospective buyers will know before purchasing that they cant fit in too many cars. If you have four cars, youre not gonna buy there, he said. Commission Chairwoman Connie Mandic said she wanted buyers of the Gothard property to receive disclosures that the development is near industrial and commercial sites that may generate noise and odors. The disclosures were approved as part of the overall site conditions. The Holly Lane project was approved with 76 parking spots, fewer than the 96 that city code requires. MLC, however, will create some new street parking during construction to increase the neighborhood supply, officials said. Some residents of existing condos in the Holly Lane area told the commission the new development would make the street parking situation even worse. Its not gonna work, Stephen Ernst said. Theres just not enough space. Ernst said the streets got more full as the neighborhoods empty lots were developed over the years and owners started renting to tenants. Lester Tucker, a vice president with MLC, said he understood how the various exemptions his company was seeking for the projects such as fewer parking spaces and smaller setbacks would give pause. In the end, he said, the exemptions are truly innocuous and will be indiscernible in the final products. Of the Gothard development, Tucker said, This is the right project in the right location with the right design for the right reasons. He later echoed that for the Holly Lane project. The Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California gave their support to the projects, saying they will provide much-needed housing for the region. Both properties are owned by Costa Mesa resident Linda Stadel and are currently used for boat and recreational vehicle storage. They also contain oil wells. Mixed-use project In other action Tuesday, the Planning Commission reviewed a mixed-use project for 20 condominiums and commercial space at 414-424 Main St. The development would be four stories tall, with three commercial tenants on the ground floor. The condos would contain one or two bedrooms. The proposal is scheduled to return to the commission Jan. 23. Before that, the developer, Peter Zehnder, will hold a public event about the project from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint Marshall Duffy Duffield is the new mayor of Newport Beach. His City Council colleagues easily confirmed Duffield, who was mayor pro tem the past year, for the post. He will serve through 2018. Councilman Will ONeill was named mayor pro tem. Newport Beach council members choose the mayor and mayor pro tem from among themselves for the one-year, largely ceremonial posts. The mayor pro tem performs mayoral duties in the mayors absence and is the presumptive next mayor after the pro tem term. Duffield was elected to the council in 2014, ONeill in 2016. Will ONeill, left, the new mayor pro tem of Newport Beach, and new Mayor Marshall Duffy Duffield shake hands as they take their seats on the City Council dais Tuesday night. (Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer ) Duffield, a lifelong Newport Beach resident and founder of Duffy Electric Boat Co., praised outgoing Mayor Kevin Muldoon with a self-deprecating nod to his own folksy manner. For someone his age [38], hes so sage and wise and very professional a lot of integrity. And he got a lot of good things done, said Duffield, 66. Im not sure thats gonna be the case with me. Im not going to be as professional. Im not going to be as sage. Im going to be Duffy. In a swipe at detractors who think Duffield and his colleagues are controlled by local political power brokers, Duffield went prop comic for a few minutes by setting a vintage red desktop telephone by his dais microphone as my direct line to my puppet master and Newport team boss, Bob McCaffrey. To titters from the audience, he also hauled out phones for political consultant Dave Ellis, environmental activists and development watchdogs Susan Skinner and her parents, Nancy and Jack, and the California Fair Political Practices Commission. After a brief call from McCaffrey via a cellphone on speaker and assuring everyone it was a gag Duffield struck a more conventional tone. He said the city is in good shape, with strong commissions and committees and healthy finances. He promised a continued focus on Newport Harbor by continuing to enforce city codes, promoting it through the citys recently hired on-water ambassadors, cleaning up the water and dredging sediment, and even replacing the lifeguards propeller-driven ocean rescue boat with a waterjet-driven craft. He also pitched a report card system to help review all development projects, along the water and inland, and evaluate their intended objectives. Had we done this on the harbor, our harbor would be in a lot better shape in terms of public access, he said. We have sadly lost a lot of our waterfront i.e., the Rhine channel to condos, and hopefully we can do something to stop that. hillary.davis@latimes.com Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD Ironwood, a fabrication shop in Glendale, is responsible for a number of museum exhibits across Southern California, including at the California Science Center and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The shop has even crafted elaborate scenery at Universal Studios and Six Flags theme parks. But perhaps the shops finest fabrication is the body of a custom Suzuki motorcycle by owner Ralph Hudson, who in August used the vehicle to break the land-speed record for fastest partially streamlined, sit-on motorcycle clocking in an average speed of 284 mph across three runs over a full mile. At 66, Hudson already holds a few land-speed records for time trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, all set during the past decade. Hudson had raced motorcycles at Bonneville from 1971 to 1976 but stopped racing for almost three decades to focus on supporting his family. Right around the time his son graduated college in 2006, Hudson hopped back on a bike for some vintage road racing. In 2009, Hudson spent months fabricating body work on a stock Suzuki GSX-R1000 purchased on Craigslist and used it to break records at Bonnevilles annual Speed Week in August. I was talking to another racer and, just from the look he was giving me, I started thinking, Am I going to be the guy who always talked about it, but never actually did it? So I decided, I gotta try it, he said. While other competitors relied heavily on expensive engine modifications to their motorcycles, Hudson said he depended on his fabrication skills to craft an aerodynamic marvel. A few years back, he began to hear rumors that the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme, or FIM the sanctioning body behind events such as Grand Prix motorcycle racing was inviting racers to attempt to break the 400mph mark on the worlds largest salt flat in Bolivia. A few phone calls later, Hudson and his small team were invited to compete with three others for time trials at 12,000 feet in elevation during a cold and dry winter in Bolivia. Reaching an average speed of 284 mph was difficult enough, but it also seemed the world was conspiring against Hudson with a series of logistical and mechanical setbacks. The racers were given six days to set a record based on the average speed of attempts. Hudsons equipment arrived two days late and the night it arrived, an opening celebration for the event led by the Bolivian president and other dignitaries halted all attempts. Hudson burned out his clutch in the first run and, over the next few days of attempts, clogged his oil filter, overheated his engine, replaced electronic sensors and fixed an errant hose. On the last day, another competitor from Texas had already reached 285 and Hudson said he felt he would not hit a record average despite all the money and time spent. Hudson said he cant usually tell how fast hes going on his bike because hes too focused on the instrument panel and adjusting his body in the breakneck wind in order to avoid any turbulence. He said he had to rely on the reaction of the onsite FIM team to see how well he did. Hudson recalls no initial reaction but within 100 feet, he saw them waving and signaling with thumbs up. He asked a FIM representative for his speed. A voice over a walkie talkie said, 289. I heard that and I was like yahoo. We did it against all odds, Hudson said. Boy, that was a happy moment. Despite his success in a high-risk sport (Hudson has crashed only once) and Hollywood ending at Bolivia, Hudson said he still wants to break 300 mph. Im not smart enough to be afraid. If you really understood what could happen, youd be afraid, he said. But no, I dont really think about it. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda On Sunday, the Crescenta Valley Youth Town Council held its fourth annual Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow event at the Montrose Farmers Market, continuing a program that builds self-confidence in young people through business and competition. About a dozen participants, ranging in age from 7 to 12 years old, and their parents were each given vendor space at the Farmers Market on Honolulu Avenue and Wickham Way to sell their products throughout the morning. The program was created by Crescenta Valley Town Council president Harry Leon several years ago, with help from council member Miriam Barnes, as a way to help kids present their ideas to customers. It has a very positive effect on the kids. It shows them how to be self-confident by getting involved in the hustle and bustle of competition and running a small business, Leon said. Some of the items for sale included bird houses built from recycled coke bottles, homemade bath soap, Christmas cards and candles. Leon said the mother of a young person who sold hair bows told him the event gave her daughter a sense of how to respect the value of a dollar. All young people from the Crescenta Valley and Glendale can apply as vendors. The young entrepreneurs bring their own tables and products, while Leon and Barnes supervise. Only a deposit is required to make sure they leave the market area clean and adhere to a code of conduct. Leon said he encourages customers at the market to engage with the young people during the sale and he allows vendors to sell similar products as a way to stimulate healthy competition. I want people to know how creative [these] kids ... are. Every year, they come with different ideas, Leon said. We have talented kids, and we must give them a chance to show it and show what kind of community we are. jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda Dec. 1 Identity theft: 2100 block of La Canada Crest Drive. A woman reported receiving in the mail a Disney Visa card she hadnt requested. The card listed her married name on it, though shed recently changed her surname back to her maiden name. She contacted the credit card company to cancel the fraudulent account. Dec. 4 Assault with a deadly weapon, vehicle: 4700 block of Lasheart Drive. A man told deputies that around 12:33 p.m. that day, he was nearly run over by a white Toyota Tundra pickup truck driven by a man hed hired to do stucco work at his residence in March and was trying to sue. The man explained hed paid the suspect lump sums of money for the work and had agreed to pay the remainder upon its completion. But he became dissatisfied with the stucco when it began to peel and demanded the suspect repair it. The suspect said hed fix the damage, but never came back, so the victim pursued legal action. The victim had been trying to serve papers to the suspect since August, but was unsuccessful. On Dec. 4 the victim was doing yardwork when a young blond female approached him and served him court documents. He followed her out into the street and saw her get into the Toyota Tundra. He went out into the street and took out his phone to photograph the trucks license plate. The truck began to head toward him, traveling south on Lasheart. With the truck about 10 feet away and approaching, the man jumped out of the street. The victim called the suspect, whod been driving the truck, and asked him why he almost ran him over. The suspect allegedly told him hed driven toward him so the man could get a better picture of his license plate. Dec. 6 Burglary, residence: 4200 block of Beulah Drive. A man was conducting a fire insurance inspection of a residence on Beulah Drive at around 11:24 a.m. when he heard noises coming from the rear yard of a nearby home. As he approached, he heard a security alarm going off inside the residence. Positioning himself in an opening of some hedges separating the two homes, he saw two Latino males wearing dark hooded sweatshirts run from the home toward Beulah. The witness approached the driveway and saw the suspects enter a white Mazda sedan with paper plates. He did not see the men inside the home, nor did he see them carrying any items. The homeowner, whod returned by the time deputies arrived, said shed left the property at around 9 a.m. that day. When she returned at 11:26 a.m., she received notification from her alarm company that an interior motion detector was activated. Inside, the office and space bedroom had been ransacked, their closets and drawers opened. The point of entry and exit was determined to be a broken sliding glass door off of the living room. The victim said no items appeared to be missing and that the suspect seemed to have rooted through the Christmas presents shed been keeping in the closets. Dec. 10 Grand theft: 4500 block of Palm Drive. A woman told deputies shed visited the Craigslist website at around 7:35 a.m. that day to find tickets to the show Hamilton available in Los Angeles. She texted a man whod posted tickets at a good price, requesting two. He sent a photo to her of two tickets, and she called him and asked if he had a Bank of America account into which she could transfer the money. The young man said his girlfriend had an account and provided the victim with her email address. At around 12:53 p.m., the woman transferred the amount (redacted from the report). She later texted the man and called him several times but received no response. She called her bank and learned the total amount went through two times. The tickets were never transferred to her through ticket provider Live Nation. Petty thefts, unlocked vehicles: Three incidents occurred in the same vicinity between 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 and 8:15 a.m. Dec. 10, according to the sheriffs reports. A 2015 Toyota Prius parked on the 900 block of Big Briar Way was discovered with its rear hatch and rear passenger side door open. A Porter Cable vacuum had been taken from the rear compartment, while the vehicles registration, proof of insurance and an unspecified amount of emergency money were missing from the glove compartment. A woman living on the 1000 block of White Deer Drive reported leaving her unlocked 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis across the street from her home at 3:30 p.m. the day before. The cars locking mechanism was not working at the time. When she returned at around 8:15 a.m. that day, she noticed a pair of gold Ray-Ban sunglasses, a Garmin GPS device and the vehicles back-up camera were missing from inside. In the third incident, a man told deputies hed parked his 1987 BMW 325e in front of his residence at around 6 p.m. the day before. When he returned at around 8:15 a.m., he noticed the cars hood had been popped open. A blue tackle box containing two cordless power drills was taken from the back seat. Numerous other small items, such as drill bits, were also taken. The victim said he believes the suspect(s) had attempted to remove the battery from underneath the hood but may have been unaware of how it was mounted. Sheriffs reports indicate at least one other vehicle in the area was similarly entered illegally, but no additional reports were made available at press time. Compiled by Sara Cardine sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland resolutely opposes "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities in any form, including the so-called referendum, a spokesperson said Wednesday. An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference in response to a question about "referendum law amendment" passed by Taiwan's legislative body. "We strongly oppose de-sinicization under any name or by any means. Compatriots on both sides should be vigilant against 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces," An said. An also took a question about Chinese language textbooks jointly compiled by educational institutions from both sides of the Strait, which senior high schools in Taiwan have used from October this year. An said that the mainland and Taiwan shared the same cultural tradition and the textbooks would be conducive for carrying forward traditional national culture. Virgin Atlantics little plane-shaped salt and pepper shakers with feet were introduced 15 years ago. Now the airline tells passengers to feel free to steal (or as they put it pinch) the red limited-edition holiday versions from their flights. Why? Well, apparently the shakers named Wilbur and Orville are the most stolen items aboard the airline. Even the words pinched from Virgin Atlantic stamped on the bottom didnt dissuade light-fingered passengers. (Mugs rank as the second most-taken item, followed by blankets, hand wash and hand cream, cutlery, safety cards and even sick bags, a Virgin Atlantic news release said.) Advertisement So Virgin Atlantic decided to just make it an open secret and make the shakers even cuter in red. They are available for swiping only in first class (called upper class on the British carrier), and only from Dec. 21 to 26. The airline is encouraging customers to pinch them and take them home to sit pride of place on the Christmas dinner table or gifted to that aviation enthusiast relative, the release said. The regular shakers come in black and silver. Info: Virgin Atlantic ALSO Disneyland and New York City are 2017s most Instagrammed places in the world Copenhagen in winter, spring and late summer for $421 round-trip from LAX on Finnair In Las Vegas, its out with the Monte Carlo, in with Park MGM. Heres a sneak peek inside You can see airplanes outside and inside this LAX hotel where art reflects an aviation vibe travel@latimes.com @latimestravel By the way, they like you to dress fancy (and leave children home, unless youre headed to a weekend brunch). Coat and tie are required for men. In theory, to attend you must be invited or accompanied by a member of the Academy of Magical Arts. In practice, there are at least two pretty easy ways in. Its not so hard (though the admission charge and dinner and drinks usually add up to a pricey night). If you spend a night at the adjacent Magic Castle Hotel & Suites , youre entitled to go to the club. Or you can email one of the magicians soon to appear and ask for an invite. (More ideas here .) What: The castle, clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts, was built as a private home in 1908. But by the time it opened as a magic haven in 1963, it had undergone a thorough transformation to make it fit for tricks and performances. Since then, it has survived waxing and waning popularity, not to mention a fire in 2011. (The flames flare on the night of Halloween.) Roam room to room and you encounter all manner of deceptions and marvels. Card tricks. Seances. Sleight of hand. Secret passages. And a fancy dinner. Why: The Magic Castle is the worst kept secret in Hollywood -- a private club in a tricked-out house thats devoted to magic. And if you really want to get in, its not that hard. See the light at James Turrells Skyspace in Claremont By Elisa Parhad Why: This awe-inspiring public art installation brings new beauty to the light of dawn and dusk. What: Dividing the Light (2007), one of several dozen Skyspaces worldwide by artist James Turrell, is an elevated metal frame perched above an outdoor courtyard. A mesmerizing light show begins at dawn and dusk when the frame is illuminated with colored light, enhancing the skys own changing hues. The Skyspace is a part of the Pomona College Museum of Art. For Turrell, an L.A. native and alumnus of Pomona College (65) and Claremont Graduate University (73), this campus installation is a homecoming of sorts, and the only public Skyspace in Southern California. Turrell is an avid pilot and considers the sky his studio, material and canvas, and his Pomona College training in perceptual psychology informs his play of light, space, and human perception. Skyspace programs begin one hour before sunrise and 10 minutes before sunset. The evening program lasts about 40 minutes. Check a listing of current exhibitions and Art After Hours days that may make a Skyspace and museum twofer possible. Where: The Draper Courtyard (between the Lincoln and Edmunds buildings) at 600 N. College Way on the Pomona College campus in Claremont, 34 miles northeast of downtown L.A. How much: Free Info: James Turrell Skyspace Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pedal L.A.'s Echo Park Lake, munch a fancy snack and daydream of Sister Aimee and the spiritualists By Christopher Reynolds The swan boats of Echo Park Lake. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Why: The hotter it gets, the more sense these pedal vessels make. What: The artificial lake in Echo Park goes back to at least 1870. The boathouse and pedal boat operation go back decades. And the place has been dramatically upgraded in the last few years, beginning with a draining and cleaning in 2011-2013. The paddle boats operated by Wheel Fun Rentals are now shaped like swans and the larger ones hold up to five people or 1,400 pounds. (These boats look a lot like the historic swan boats in Boston Common, which also go back to the 1870s.) Head out for an hour of pedaling and drifting, not necessarily in that order, and imagine the early 20th century days when Aimee Semple McPherson was preaching in the Angelus Temple next door and these hills were crawling with communists, socialists and spiritualists. The boat rentals are open daily all year from 9 a.m. until sunset. On the hottest days, try edging right up to the edge of the fountain in the middle of the lake youll be coated with mist or (if theres a breeze) pelted by diagonal rain. The last rentals go out an hour before sunset. (One night in July, a young man broke in and took a paddle boat for a forbidden ride. It did not end well.) The eatery, Beacon, opened in January 2017 with a menu thats longer, more intriguing and a little pricier than the average public park snack shack. The communists dont live here anymore. Bonus option: Fishing is allowed, with a license. Where: 751 Echo Park Ave., 2 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: The swan boats rent for hourly rates of $11 per adult, $6 per minor. Everybody gets a life jacket. A sampling from the Beacon menu: kale and avocado burritos ($7), a crab and gouda sandwich ($13), salmon toast ($10), Beacon Burger ($15), lemonade ($3). Beacon is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Info: Wheel Fun Rentals, Beacon A pedalers view of Echo Park Lake. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print See the Giants, glimpse the bay and duck the gulls at San Franciscos AT&T Park By Christopher Reynolds The Giants have played in AT&T Park since 2000. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Whether youre for the Giants or against them, you can root for a home run into the bay here something you wont see at any other major league baseball stadium. In fact, you can see bits of San Francisco Bay distant wharves, cargo ships, maybe a few kayaks in McCovey Cove from many of the 41,915 seats in AT&T Park. And in a city thats not always easy for families, this park is full of kid-friendly features. What: The Giants have been based in San Francisco since 1958, but they only started winning championships here after this ballpark opened in 2000. (Beyond center field youll see banners celebrating the teams World Series victories in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and a few more from the earlier New York years.) Builders worked hard to reduce the winds that made the old Candlestick Park a nightmare for anyone fielding a fly ball and largely succeeded. In fact, experts often rank this park first or second among the most pleasant in the major leagues. But theres no banishing the gulls. At the end of every game, thousands of the scavenging creatures come swooping in to feast on leavings in the bleachers. Ushers try to fend them off, but the situation is basically Field of Dreams meets Alfred Hitchcock. Hang around for a few minutes to catch the spectacle. Gulls after a day game, AT&T Park, San Francisco. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Where: 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, 382 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: Most tickets $9-$282. Single-game tickets here. Info: San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Travel Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Fly, roll, float and romp in a Disneys ever-evolving California Adventure By Christopher Reynolds Hollywood Land, Disney California Adventure (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: If somebody asked you to compress the best of California into 72 acres, make it abundantly kid-friendly and persuade thousands of people to spend long hours and big money there, you might crack under the pressure. (Admit it, youre already uncomfortable.) That was Disneys mission with this park. And Disney failed at first. But since that awkward debut in 2001, when attendance fell far short of expectations, the park people have been steadily changing and fixing this place. Even if youre skeptical about all things Disney (as some people are), youll probably get a kick out of this cartoon version of our state. What: Most of the parks rides, restaurants and photo ops are all about idealizing California, including Hollywood Land (whos ever seen such clean streets and tidy storefronts in the real Hollywood?); Pacific Wharf (a mix of Cannery Row in Monterey and Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco); and Grizzly Peak (a nod to Yosemite and the tall trees of Northern California). But other features these days reach far beyond state lines. When I dropped in a few days ago, the parks marching bands and mariachis were joined by drummers, dancers and musicians from around Asia, gathered to celebrate Lunar New Year. Rides in A Bugs Land and Car Land were full of grinning guests, as was the Soarin Around the World ride which replaced Soaring (over California) in 2016 and the Guardians of the Galaxy-Mission: Breakout! ride which replaced the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in 2017. This summer, Paradise Pier is scheduled to become Pixar Pier. Meanwhile, California Screamin, Mickeys Fun Wheel and Grizzly River Run were closed for refurbishment. Check before visiting to see whats open and whats not. Where: Right next to Disneyland and Downtown Disney, California Adventure, 1313 Disneyland Drive in Anaheim, is 26 miles southeast of downtown L.A. How much: Passes start at $97 (ages 10 and above; before taxes) for a one-day Value Ticket. Standard parking $20. Info: Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Drive the narrow, winding, spectacular back-door route to Big Sur: Nacimiento-Fergusson Road By Christopher Reynolds On the western slopes (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: Itll quicken your pulse, drop your jaw and demand your full attention. Theres no more dramatic passage from Central Californias blond hills to the Big Sur coast than this 24-mile route. What: Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, a winding, two-lane highway, begins in the Salinas Valley countryside north of Paso Robles, next to the often-overlooked Mission San Antonio de Padua and the Armys Ft. Hunter-Liggett. From there it creeps through forest and chaparral to the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, about 2,800 feet above sea level. Then for 7 miles, via dozens of switchback turns, it wends its way down the western slopes to Big Sur. It meets Highway 1 at Kirk Creek, about 4 miles south of Lucia. Mission San Antonio de Padua (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Motorcyclists have loved Nacimiento-Fergusson Road for years. When a mudslide and reconstruction closed Highway 1 at Mud Creek for more than a year in 2017-2018, many more cars found their way to this alternative, as well. In normal times, with Highway 1 open, you can usually count on thin traffic on Nacimiento-Fergusson. The roads westernmost 7 miles, descending via multiple sharp turns to the coast road, are as spectacular as can be and might start a three-alarm panic attack if youre afraid of heights. (When a route is featured on www.dangerousroads.org, you know its special.) Given the absence of lights or guard rails or cellphone reception, Id never try it after dark. On my midday drive in December, I took care to ignore the views until Id safely pulled into one of the many turnouts along the way. (For a tamer ride with similar scenery, take Highway 46 west from Paso Robles to Cambria.) Where: To reach the eastern end of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, exit Highway 101 at Jolon Road, about 23 miles north of Paso Robles. Follow Jolon Road west, then turn left onto Mission Road, continue 4 miles, then turn left onto Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. Because the road passes through the Army base, drivers may need to show license, registration and proof of insurance. Give the drive at least two hours from the 101 to the 1. You dont want to be in a hurry here. How much: Free. Info: www.dangerousroads.org Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Recline, rebel or revel in Grand Park, where downtown L.A. celebrates By Christopher Reynolds Grand Park, Dec. 31, 2015. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Why: Every real downtown has a park to serve as urban backyard, and Grand Park is more proof that L.A.'s downtown is getting realer by the day. What: The 12-acre park connects the Music Center at the top of Bunker Hill with City Hall at the bottom. (Yes, you can go to City Halls 27th floor observation deck and its free). The park isnt really new -- theres been open space for decades on these blocks between government buildings. But a dramatic redesign in 2012 put a far better spin on the area, and it doesnt hurt that neighboring Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels arrived in 2002, Disney Hall in 2003 and the Broad Museum in 2015. Besides its welcome green expanses and flanking playground and dog-run areas, Grand Park includes a fountain (with splash pad for kids), an adjacent Starbucks, plenty of places to sit and a busy schedule of holiday events and live shows. Picnicking is encouraged. Protesting is permitted. Food trucks come for lunch most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Theres midday yoga on many Wednesdays and Fridays. In October and November, the park hosts Dia de los Muertos altars and art; in November and December, holiday lights. And on New Years Eve -- well, the 2016-17 party (free and alcohol-free) included three stages, DJs, live music, dancing, inflatable art, and light projections. Expect more of the same this time. Where: between 200 N. Grand Ave. and 227 N. Spring St., at the core of downtown L.A. How much: Free. Its easiest to arrive via Metro. But theres parking nearby in Lot 10 (entrances on Broadway and Hill Street between 1st and Temple streets), priced at $3.50 per 15 minutes up to a $20 maximum per weekday, $10 per day on weekends, evenings and special events. Info: Grand Park Womens March, Grand Park, January 2017. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gawk as the waters of McWay Falls plunge from Big Sur to the sea By Christopher Reynolds ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: McWay Falls, the splashiest attraction in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, roars down 80 feet from granite and redwoods to a creamy Big Sur beach and implausibly turquoise cove. Its the cascade that other waterfalls want to be. Its also a perfectly impossible California destination, because you cant stand under these falls. Theres no safe way to the beach. What: The hike is more of a stroll, really. Its about half a mile, mostly flat. (And the rest of the park remains mostly closed because of mudslides and other damage done by the Soberanes Fire of 2016.) Once youve passed through a short tunnel under Highway 1 and made a right turn, youll soon be standing on a rocky perch where a house once stood, looking south to the beach and falls. This is an invitation to chill. For one thing, the trail has ended. Also, like Yosemite Falls which led off our California Bucket List project on Jan. 1 McWay Falls is a sort of perpetuity made plain. The water keeps coming, even if its in short supply elsewhere. And the cell reception is so rotten that youll probably never get an Instagram photo posted from here. So have a seat. Notice that theres a great view to the north also. Think about all the writers and composers (beginning with James Joyce, Richard Wagner, Al Green and Teeny Hodges) who have chosen to start and end their works with running water. Or think about nothing. Where: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, mile marker 35.8 in Big Sur, 37 miles south of Carmel, 286 miles northwest of downtown L.A. Highway 1 is expected to remained closed at Mud Creek (27 miles south of McWay Falls) through September 2018. That means travelers from the south have two options. One is to detour from Highway 101 north of Paso Robles via Jolon Road and the 24-mile, narrow, winding Nacimiento-Fergusson Road (a star on dangerousroads.org). The other choice is driving up to Salinas on the 101, cutting over to Carmel, then coming back south on Highway 1. How much: $10. Info: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Looking north from the McWay Falls Trail. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Marvel over this San Francisco church inspired by the ideals of the Scandinavian Da Vinci By Catharine Hamm (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Simplicity and complexity meet in the Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco, and the marriage is a harmonious celebration of architecture and intellect. What: The 1895 Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco, a national historic landmark in Pacific Heights, is an Arts and Crafts building designed by several architects, including Bernard Maybeck, who created the Palace of Fine Arts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 in San Francisco. Inside the walls are rustic redwood, found often in Arts and Crafts buildings and consistent with the Swedenborgian appreciation of natural objects, according to the 1969 book Here Today: San Franciscos Architectural Heritage. The chairs are maple, made by hand, without the use of nails, and their seats were woven of tule rushes from the Sacramento River Delta, the book says. In the fireplace in the back, the andirons become small crosses, and the crackling fire (and recently installed radiant heat) make the church a warm and welcoming spot for quiet contemplation, especially on chilly San Francisco days (which is most of them). (Catharine Hamm / Los Angeles Times) Its also a reminder of the man whose desire to understand Scripture caught fire when he was in his 50s. Emanuel Swedenborg was born Jesper Svedborg in 1688 in Stockholm. In Swedenborg: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas, author Gary Lachman describes Swedenborg as the Scandinavian Da Vinci. He was a scientist, poet, writer, mystic, statesman, inventor and biblical scholar. After Swedenborgs death in 1772 in London, societies took root that were devoted to contemplating his thoughts and works; the Bible is the center of these. These organizations made their way across the pond by the late 1780s, and the New Church (sometimes called New Jerusalem) began to spread in the United States. (Catharine Hamm / Los Angeles Times) Notable Swedenborgian churches include the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes, designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The younger Wright was said to have taken his architectural inspiration for the chapel, dedicated in 1951, from Northern Californias redwoods. Where: The Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco, 2107 Lyon St , is about 385 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Cost: Free. Services are at 11 a.m. Sundays. Office hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; knock to gain entry to the church. Info: Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Soak away your stress and join Club Mud at a Corona hot springs that embraces everyone By Catharine Hamm Why: If youre intimidated by the word spa, Glen Ivy is the place for you. It feels accessible, not exclusive, meaning you can sit back and relax. What: Which is what you want to do. There are 19 pools to try, including the mineral pools, the star attraction in the early days of the late 1800s when you could soak in them for 25 cents. Today, you start by getting a locker for your street clothes and putting on your swim suit in a well-appointed area that includes changing rooms, showers and big, lighted mirrors where youll find hairdryers youll want later in the day. Glen Ivys 12 acres include a float pool and a large pool if you want to exercise. But my new favorite features are the hot and cold plunge pools. (Try switching three times between them and stay in each pool for a minimum of 30 seconds. It doesnt sound like long until youre in the cold pool.) The former Cafe Sole has been replaced by the new Ivy Kitchen, offering light but satisfying meals. (No starvation tactics here.) And, of course, you can find the usual spa treatments (extra charge but no pressure; appointments advisable) including the underground Grotto, where skin hydration is the goal ($25 upcharge). Save Club Mud for last. You paint yourself (and your hair) with mud, which is California red clay, then go bake in the sun. Before you turn into tandoori chicken, you brush it off and rinse or wash it off in the outdoor showers if youve used a tad too much. One note: Beware of bees, which are attracted to the mud. Make sure you youre wearing your sandals. The landscaping makes it all very pretty and it feels all very real, which is refreshing if youre weary of L.A. artifice. Where: 25000 Glen Ivy Road, Corona; (888) 453-6489, about 60 miles southeast of downtown L.A. (Set aside at least 90 minutes to get there.) How much: Go on a weekday when its less expensive ($49 for the day Mondays-Fridays, averaging 300 guests). Saturdays, Sundays and holidays its $68 and about 700 people will be there. Through Feb. 28, hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Its open an hour later from March through May. Check on summer hours. Info: Glen Ivy Hot Springs Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print See the small world within this Carlsbad museum of miniature engineering By Irene Lechowitzky Why: The Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum in Carlsbad is novel and quirky and proof that good things come in small packages. What: The collection includes painstakingly crafted, remarkable miniatures, many with moving parts. There are cars, planes, engines of all sorts, ships, thumb-sized guns and knives, and much more. These are not the plastic model car kits from your childhood; for example, theres an eye-popping version of a 1932 Duesenberg SJ that has more than 6,000 custom-made parts and is said to have taken more than 10 years to finish. The folks who built these tiny wonders spent decades perfecting their craft. There are hundreds of works from around the world on display, and docents to describe the intricacies and makers of each. Try to time your visit to coincide with a tour of the machine shop/engine room for a little extra oomph. Although its not geared for the toddler crowd, the museum, a few miles east of Legoland, can be an inspiring second stop for families with kids who like to build things. And while youre in the neighborhood, you could make it a triple play with a bonus stop at the nearby Museum of Making Music, where visitors have the chance to play musical instruments. Where: Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum, 3190 Lionshead Ave., Carlsbad; 95 miles south of downtown L.A. How much: Free. Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Machine shop/engine room demos are at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Info: Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Start the New Year right with a visit to Pasadenas Rose Parade By Chris Erskine Why: Like the Grand Canyon or the northern lights, the majestic Rose Parade needs to be seen in person to be really appreciated. On a bright SoCal morning, the colors, detail and craftsmanship come alive. And throughout December, there are some intriguing pre-parade opportunities for volunteers. What: One of L.A.s finest freebies, the Rose Parade steps off at 8 a.m. every New Years morning (unless the holiday falls on a Sunday, in which case it is bumped to Monday). We wont even bother describing it, since like the Wizard of Oz or a Super Bowl, everyone has probably seen it on TV. In person, though, the parades splendor, precision and pageantry make an early wake-up call worth it. Its almost a rite of passage for Southern Californians, some of whom spend the night along the parade route. The parade has more rules than the Vatican. Do not pass the blue Honor Line painted on the street. No tents, sofas or boxes. Unoccupied chairs are not allowed. No roping off public areas. And thats pretty much just the main stuff. Heres a full list. But dont let them ruin your fun. The parade, after all, is one the best family-friendly events in the area, and theyre just protecting that. To be a part of it all, join in on the float building in the days and weeks before the parade, when the flowers are being supplied and volunteer help is needed. On parade day, get there before sunup to be sure of a place along the route. Tickets in the grandstands are another option. Be sure to dress in layers, because the temperatures will range from frosty to blistering as the day progresses. Heres a little insiders trick that you wont believe until you see it. If you wait till the 8 a.m. start time, the crowd will be in place on the route and there is virtually no traffic. Pay the $20 parking fee at a random gas station along Walnut and join the fun. You wont be in the first row, or maybe even the first 10. But the floats are so high, youll be able to see them well. About an hour into the two-hour parade, the crowds will begin to relax and spots open up for even better viewing. Its a wonderful experience, hassle-free, and a great way to kick off a New Year. Where: Pasadena, about 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. How much: Free Info: Rose Parade Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Meander among 5 million lights at Riversides Mission Inn By Christopher Reynolds ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: The Mission Inn, which dates to the 1870s, stands in the middle of Riverside the way Bruce Springsteen stands in the middle of the E Street band. It fills a city block. And since the early 1990s, the hotel has been putting together an ever-more-lavish Festival of Lights. At last count, about 5 million lights. What: For six weeks at Christmastime, the landmark hotel switches on all those lights and invites visitors to stroll through the property, including a tunnel where faux snow falls. (This years festival runs Nov. 24 through Jan. 6.) The line to walk the property can get very long and the traffic and parking situation in the blocks around the hotel can seem downright devilish. But most folks are in a good mood, and the festival includes live music, horse-drawn carriages, funnel cakes, Santa Claus photo ops and more. To see more lights and skip the line, book a dinner reservation at the Mission Inn Restaurant (one of several on the property) and you may land at a courtyard table, surrounded by Spanish Revival architecture thats more ornate (and with more Tuscan influence) than youll see at any of Californias 21 actual missions. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) And yes, theres a reason the decorations seem to be in motion: Besides lights, the halls and walls have also been festooned with about 200 angels, gnomes, polar bears, many of which move, in the same halting, semi-spooky way that Honest Abe moves in Disneylands Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Its a scene. And speaking of presidents, be sure to peek at the hotels Presidential Lounge and its portrait of Richard Nixon, who was a 27-year-old attorney when he married Pat Ryan at the hotel in 1940. (Theres also a tower, a rotunda, spa, all sorts of artworks and artifacts and a museum next door that traces the inns history through expansion, bankruptcy, renovations and resurgence.) Where: 3649 Mission Ave., Riverside, 55 miles east of downtown L.A. How much: Its free to walk the hotel property during the Festival of Lights. Dinner main dishes at the Mission Inn Restaurant run $15-$42. (I can recommend the Italian sausage pasta and the pan-seared salmon.) Rooms for two start as low as $199 in slow months (like January), $329 or more in December. Info: Mission Inn The inns Presidential Lounge. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Theres a gingerbread hotel in the inns lobby. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Peer into a writers head and a valleys soul in Salinas By Catharine Hamm Why: John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, Calif., a farming community that lacks the cachet of neighboring Carmel and Monterey. But, then, neither of those towns produced a man who went on to win a Pulitzer, a Nobel and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. To be in in Steinbecks hometown is to be reminded that, as fellow author F. Scott Fitzgerald said, genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind. What: Steinbecks birthplace home and the National Steinbeck Center tell the tale of the man whose Grapes of Wrath is often thought to be the Great American Novel. The community of his youth he was born here in 1902 was this rich, rural farming area in the Salinas Valley, and his labors alongside migrant workers in the sugar beet fields of nearby Spreckels informed many of his works, including Of Mice and Men. He attended Stanford but never graduated, and he struggled to establish himself, but in 1935, his book Tortilla Flat finally put him in the public eye. His subsequent books included Cannery Row, Sea of Cortez and East of Eden and, of course, Grapes of Wrath, about which he wrote, It isnt the great book I hoped it would be. The story of the Joads, fleeing the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma and arriving in not-quite-as-billed California, won the Pulitzer in 1940. You can have lunch at the Steinbeck House, the Queen Anne style home where he grew up, then stroll the two blocks to the National Steinbeck Center, which somehow captures and conveys the challenges of his writing life. One of the central pieces of the center is Rocinante, the 1960 GMC camper pickup he drove on a 10,000-mile road trip as he scoured the country seeking its essence. The resulting book, Travels With Charley (Charley was his poodle), chronicles what Steinbeck saw as a country in sometimes uncomfortable motion. The center, which turns 20 in 2018, also does not shy away from the controversy that arose from the authors portrayal of farm workers lot in life in Grapes of Wrath. His books infuriated growers some places banned them and he turned his back on his hometown. But as if to prove you can go home again, Steinbeck, who died in 1968 in New York City at age 66, is buried in Salinas. Where: The Steinbeck House is at 132 Central Ave.; lunch is served 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; reservations at (831) 757-5806. The National Steinbeck Center is at 1 Main St., about 305 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day. How much: $12.95 for adults; $9.95 for seniors, students, military, teachers and Monterey County residents; $6.95 for children 6-17; children 5 and younger admitted free. Info: National Steinbeck Center Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Treat yourself to Spago in Beverly Hills, and a possible tableside visit from the boss By Chris Erskine Why: Because Wolfgang Puck, who likes to work the dining room, might stop by and personally sprinkle lemon juice on your perfectly grilled fish. There, better? he asks. Of course it is. What: A meal at Spago is as L.A. as the Hollywood sign and a tad tastier. The landmark restaurant is where Puck made great food fun again. Originally on Sunset and now in Beverly Hills, Spago is synonymous with creative, attentive and amazing dining. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times) (Mariah Tauger / For The Times) At the original Spago on the Sunset Strip, [Puck] created what later became known as casual fine dining, a movement that 35 years later still dominates the restaurant world, wrote Times restaurant reviewer Jonathan Gold. And thus, a nationwide food craze was born. For food lovers, the menu itself is an adventure. Portions are generous, and the service is perfectly timed. And though the dining room is packed and buzzy, you can have a conversation here, unlike so many restaurants these days. At lunch, the go-to standard is the house-cured smoked salmon pizza topped with dollops of caviar. Also pay attention to the veal wienerschnitzel, so tender you could cut it with your thumb. Grilled fish comes off the grill in that 10-second window when it is neither too swimmy nor too dry. Just dont forget the lemon. Where: 176 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, about 13 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. How much: How much you got? For most of us, this is a special occasion restaurant. Lunches for two start at around $100 and quickly reach $200. Dinners for two will run $150 and up, before wine or cocktails. Info: Spago (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Frolic amid mai tais, Spam and tiki culture at the Bali Hai on San Diego Bay By Irene Lechowitzky Why: Because two Bali Hais are better than one. Brush up on your Rodgers and Hammerstein (Bali Hai may call you / Any night, any day), then come away to this San Diego tiki icon, the Bali Hai restaurant. What: Tiki bars have been a Southern California phenomenon for generations, and San Diego with its sunny days, palm trees, ocean views and strong Navy heritage is a perfect fit for the kitschy fad, tiny umbrellas and all. Starting in the 1930s, faux-Polynesian themed bars and restaurants sprang up in the cross-border region from Tijuana to San Diego. The tiki scene started to dwindle in the 1960s, and despite a resurgence of sorts, most of the old cheeky palaces have faded away. But not Bali Hai. At age 63, its still proudly shaking its hula skirt, aided by a waterfront location, fun ambiance and, yes, seriously powerful mai tais. Ambiance first: As you approach the restaurant/bar, the first thing youll notice is The Goof on the roof, a playful tiki that stands guard over the domain below. At the front door, Mr. Bali Hai, a large wood sculpture, greets guests. Inside, there are about a hundred Polynesian artifacts on display, including masks, weapons and tools. The large bar and dining room have dark wood columns, a wood-beam ceiling and large windows with great bay and city views. The Pacific Rim-inspired menu features such items as Hawaiian tuna poke, chicken adobo steam buns, Spam carbonara, pork belly katsu and Chinese garlic noodles, and holdovers such as Huli Huli chicken and coconut shrimp. But for my money, the experience isnt complete without a rum-based cocktail. There are plenty to choose from, but my favorite is the World Famous Bali Hai Mai Tai, a potent drink that proudly has No Juice Added and mixes aged light and dark rums, Trader Vics orgeat syrup, a dash of Triple Sec and a splash of sweet and sour. Where: 2230 Shelter Island Dr., on Shelter Island, about 5 miles west of downtown San Diego, 120 miles southeast of downtown L.A. How much: Dinner main dishes from $19 to $30; Sunday brunch, $40. Classic cocktails are under $10. Info: Bali Hai restaurant San Diego Bay, from Shelter Island (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Celebrate at Lawrys in Beverly Hills, where thick slabs of prime rib are sliced right at your table By Jenn Harris (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times) Why: Since 1938, Lawrys the Prime Rib has been the place for indulgence and celebration. Its where people spend their birthdays, anniversaries, congrats-on-your-promotion dinners and holiday parties. And where football players competing in the Rose Bowl go for the Beef Bowl. What: Walking through the heavy gold doors is like walking into a time machine. Through the other side is a magical place where people still dress up, spotless glasses sparkle on crisp white tablecloths and the plush booths make you feel like the most important person in the world. The idea was to create a version of the English restaurant Simpsons in the Strand, where cuts of meat fit for a giant are served from trolleys. But Lawrys founders Lawrence Frank and brother-in-law Walter Van de Kamp (of the Van de Kamp bakery empire and Tam OShanter Inn) had grander plans for their restaurant, starting with the meat carts. (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times) Lawrence designed the stainless steel carving carts the restaurant is known for the ones that glide through the dining room carrying Flintstones-sized cuts of meat to be, well, impressive. And they are. As are the meat carvers, who don medals showing they are part of the Royal Order of Carvers (a title that requires six months of training). Each prime rib dinner comes with its own show of sorts: Servers wear the same style of brown gown uniforms they wore when the restaurant opened, and they pour dressing from up high into spinning metal bowls of salad tableside. When you order your prime rib, you do it directly from one of the shiny carts, and its sliced to order. There are smaller cuts of meat, but treat yourself to the Diamond Jim Brady (16 ounces), named for millionaire Jim Brady, who was known for eating massive amounts of food. All of the prime rib dinners come with the spinning salad, a scoop of mashed potatoes, a ladleful of gravy and a wedge of Yorkshire pudding. If you dont finish it all you probably wont finish it all ask for a doggie bag. The restaurant claims to have initiated the idea, along with valet parking. There are Lawrys the Prime Rib locations in Las Vegas, Chicago and Asia. The original in Beverly Hills is home to a comfortable lounge and excellent bar snacks. This is where you can order a martini kissed with prime rib-stuffed olives and find complimentary snacks that could easily replace your dinner appetizers. Arrive a little early for your reservation, grab a seat in one of the cushy lounge chairs, order a martini, then take turns filling your plate with cocktail meatballs and salty potato chips the size of drink coasters. Go for it. Indulging to your hearts content is encouraged. Where: 100 La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, located on Restaurant Row, about half a mile south of the Beverly Center, about 10 miles west of downtown L.A. How much: Prime rib dinners start at $41, and you can add a lobster tail for $15. Dessert and starters are extra. Drinks in the bar/lounge area are $13 to $17. The restaurant is busier on the weekends, and reservations are recommended. Info: Lawrys Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Read forbidden words and savor daring artists in Big Surs Henry Miller Library By Thomas Curwen (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times) Why: If Big Sur is a temple to the beauty of the California coast, then the Henry Miller Memorial Library is one of its most endearing altars, a respite from the rigors of navigating the twists and turns of Highway 1 and rubber-necking the vertiginous coastline. Beneath stately redwoods is a quiet repository of wisdom, irreverence and charm. Its proprietors say that it is the place where nothing happens, and yet it is where everything seems to converge. What: Henry Valentine Miller came to Big Sur in the 1940s after nearly a decade in Paris. He was, by then, author of Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, which were banned as obscene in America until 1961. Naturally they sold well, and Miller soon became a hero of renegade literature, a model for William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. After Millers death in Pacific Palisades in 1980, a friend, Emil White, opened a memorial library that bore Millers name. With the help of the Big Sur Land Trust, the library has become a nonprofit cultural space, art gallery, performance space, bookshop and destination for artists, writers, musicians and students. Bust of Henry Miller. (Thomas Curwen/Los Angeles Times) The Henry Miller Memorial Library is a reminder of the pleasures afforded by a curated bookstore. It is a place to celebrate the macho and feminist, the consensual and the iconoclastic through the pages of its eclectic collection of books. Psychedelic cumbias from Peru or the twanging guitar of the Del Tones might be your accompaniment as you browse the tables set with Edward Abbey, Joseph Heller, William Faulkner, John Fante, David Foster Wallace, Jon Stewart, Robert Pirsig and William Least Heat Moon. Strings of paper money from around the world offerings from international visitors dangle from the ceiling. Posters celebrate the notable musical performances that have taken place outdoors, including Philip Glass and Patti Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Arcade Fire. Outside, an upright piano falls to ruin off the path from the highway. A typewriter gathers rust on a tree stump, and an effigy made of extension cords is crucified on a cross of computer monitors. In other words, where nothing is sacred, everything is sacred. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times) Where: 48603 Highway 1 in Big Sur, which is 10 minutes south of Nepenthe, 10 minutes north of Deetjens Big Sur Inn. Also 290 miles northwest of downtown L.A., 152 miles south of downtown San Francisco. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays, closed Tuesdays. How much: Its free to browse. Donations eagerly accepted. Books for sale. Tickets prices vary for performances and programs. Info: Henry Miller Memorial Library Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Roam the San Luis Obispo canyon full of architectural daydreams and wandering horses By Christopher Reynolds Poly Canyon, San Luis Obispo. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Why: Architects usually keep their daydreams to themselves. But among these hills on the back side of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, some students have allowed their boldest notions to romp free. And horses romp with them. What: Cal Poly is routinely ranked among the nations top schools of architecture, and its students and professors started testing ideas in this canyon as early as the 1960s. Lately, theres a spring Design Village event (April 20-22 in 2018) that brings students out to test temporary structures and sometimes sleep in them. Luckily for the rest of us, those nine acres and the rest of the canyon are generally open to the public, including dogs and mountain bikes (on the dirt road). Its a hike of about 2.5 miles from campus to the farthest structure, but your mileage (and elevation gain) will depend on how tempted your are to probe the structures and stalk the horses. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) I wandered around on a December day when the hills were the color of straw, and at first I wasnt so happy about all the horse turds. But once the horses themselves showed up, that changed everything. They sidled up to a water tower, then struck heroic poses on the ridge line while I prowled around assorted unconventional houses and bridges, including a geodesic dome. Yes, there was some graffiti and vandalism, but many structures have been reconditioned in more recent years. (The university calls it an experimental construction laboratory.) Id call it a great spot for photo experimentation as well. There are about 20 projects, and plenty of tree shade in the lowlands along Brizzolara Creek. After a rain, Ill bet those grassy slopes light up neon green. Where: The Cal Poly campus is 195 miles northwest of downtown L.A. Enter the campus via Grand Avenue (and beware of dorm construction near the entrance). Follow the campus map to the corner of Village Drive and Poly Canyon Road, then walk northeast on Poly Canyon Road, which is a gate dirt rout that follows Brizzolara Creek. After about 3/4 of a mile, youll see a stone arch. Step through and the canyon will open before you. How much: On weekends, parking is free at lot H4 at Village Drive and Perimeter Road. On weekdays, its $5 for a parking pass at the checkpoint at the campus entrance. (I showed up on a weekday and parked at lot K-1.) Info: Cal Poly College of Architecture & Design, Hikespeaks trail description. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Step into the vast, strange spectacle of Kenny Irwins Robolights in Palm Springs By Christopher Reynolds ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: Youll never see another holiday display quite like it. And it sits on 4 acres in the middle of an upscale Palm Springs neighborhood. What: The Coachella Valley, with its 80-degree December days, is a quirky place to celebrate winter holidays to begin with. And the quirks multiply once you enter Palm Springs Movie Colony neighborhood and approach the Irwin house, about two blocks from the old Frank Sinatra Estate. Since at least 32 years ago, when he was 12, Kenny Irwin has been driven to create epic displays from cast-off items dreamscapes that suggest robots, space aliens and more obscure spectacles that defy description. With his fathers support (and a corps of seasonal workers to handle logistics and crowd control), Irwins compulsion has grown into Robolights, a seasonal landmark that combines Santa Clauses, reindeer, sleighs and gingerbread houses with little green men, skulls, dolls, hybrid creatures, reclaimed consumer electronics, half-melted toys and at least one coffin. At Robolights there are no clear lines between Halloween, Christmas and science fiction. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) From Nov. 22 through Jan. 8, the scene is lighted by thousands of bulbs and visitors are ushered along a path that leads from the front yard through a forest of fantasy in the back, then out again. A thousand visitors in a night is not uncommon. On my visit in early December, Irwin was out and about, a soft-spoken man with a skullcap, caftan, long beard and gentle smile. (Did I mention that the artist converted to Islam many years ago?) Ill bet the hardware store totally loves him, I heard one visitor say. This is insane, said another. Many families pose for pictures amid the luminous chaos. Where: 1077 E. Granvia Valmonte, Palm Springs, 107 miles east of downtown L.A. But while the Robolights are lighted, the city bans nonresident parking on many streets nearby, so youll need to park a few blocks away. Try Ruth Hardy Park. And be careful as you walk there isnt a lot of streetlight illumination in the neighborhood. How much: Free. But theres a receptacle for donations at the entrance. From 4 to 9:30 p.m. daily. Info: Robolights The Robolights yard includes a pond. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Worker Alex Sanchez checks bulbs at Robolights. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Get down, dawg, with a $15 beach yoga class in Santa Monica By Chris Erskine Why: Beach yoga is good for the bod, and the spirit, in ways that no cramped, sweaty studio can match. What: All sorts of beach yoga classes are held up and down the California coast, but few are as affordable and easy as Beach Yoga With Brad and Friends in Santa Monica. No reservations required. Just drop in with $15 and a beach towel (or a yoga mat if you prefer). Instructor/owner Brad Keimach is a Juilliard-trained classical music conductor who moonlights or sunlights with these yoga classes every Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 till noon. He also holds Wednesday sunset classes starting at 3:45 p.m. and lasting an hour. When the days are longer and the clocks change, he adds more weekday sunset classes. (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) For almost 10 years, his beach-based classes have appealed to first-timers as well as advanced yoga buffs. They are held on the water side of Guard Tower 29, roughly on the border between Venice and Santa Monica. Paid parking is plentiful at the public lots at the end of Ocean Park or on Main Street. Like many yoga instructors, Keimach emphasizes breathing as well as the moves and poses. He also incorporates the setting, sending students to get their toes wet at one point for a bit of spiritual spritzing. The classes pass quickly, without pain, and without Keimach putting his hands all over the students (a too-common yoga studio experience). Looking out over the sparkly Pacific, his classes combine ocean breezes, a relaxing pace and Keimachs soothing instructions, at a venue where space is never an issue. Where: Lifeguard Tower 29, Santa Monica, 16 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. How much: $15 Info: Beach Yoga With Brad and Friends Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Shop with Victorians on San Franciscos Union Street By Christopher Reynolds Boulangerie de San Francisco, 1909 Union St. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: Sometimes you just want to shop in a strange city. Not in the middle of a grand scene like Union Square or the Ferry Building, but along a street that feels like a neighborhood just a bit beyond your means. With Victorian mansions here and there. Hello, Union Street. What: Union Street has had its great-shopping reputation since the 1950s. The eight-block stretch between Van Ness Avenue and Steiner Street, surrounded by the Marina and Cow Hollow residential neighborhoods, is the prime retail portion. Many of the shops (which tilt toward apparel and beauty products) and restaurants are housed in Victorian mansions that survived the quake of 1906. One even older mansion, the pale blue Octagon House at Gough and Union, went up in 1861 and has been preserved in its residential state by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (so it would be wrong to knock on the door and ask if this is the weed dispensary youve heard so much about). The society opens the house a few days a month for tours. Among the restaurants, I can vouch for the Belgian food and beer at Belga (on Union near Buchanon Street). But there are more than two dozen. And theres plenty to peruse at Chronicle Books (on Union between Octavia and Laguna streets). Where: The corner of Van Ness and Union is a good place to start. Its 1.5 miles northwest of Union Square, 383 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: Free to browse, of course. Oysters at Belga, $3 each. Median home price in Cow Hollow and the Marina: about $1.8 million. Info: Union Street Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Find yourself in a yogis seaside Encinitas gardens By Irene Lechowitzky Why: Where else can you spend an hour and feel like youve been on a soul-replenishing spiritual retreat? At the Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens in Encinitas, you can be fully present in the moment and get in touch with your inner yogi and do it surrounded by gorgeous gardens on a bluff overlooking the ocean. What: The goal of the Meditation Gardens, part of a large complex at the southern end of downtown Encinitas dedicated to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, is to inspire you to a greater realization of the Divine Presence that lies within. Walking up the stone steps into the lush, eclectic gardens imparts an instant feeling of serenity. There are koi ponds and many quiet nooks with benches where you can sit. At the top of the ocean bluff is a plaque that marks the location of the Golden Lotus Temple. The temple, built in 1937 to take advantage of the incredible views, only stood for five years before the ground gave way and it had to be dismantled. Wander past the old, empty swimming pool up the tree-shrouded path to the dry area featuring native plants and succulents overlooking the famed surf spot Swamis. (The beachs name was a nod to Yogananda.) Some visitors pray, others meditate. I like to watch the surfers below and imagine them praying for good waves. And dont miss the Hermitage at the opposite end of the gardens, where Yogananda spent many years writing and teaching. The Hermitage, preserved as a shrine, draws followers from around the world; it is open on the first and third Sundays of the month. It was moving to see the study where he wrote his most famous work, Autobiography of a Yogi, which has been translated into dozens of languages. Where: 215 W. K St., Encinitas, 100 miles southeast of downtown L.A. (Look for the three large golden lotus towers as you come down South Coast Highway 101.) How much: Free. Info: Self-Realization Fellowship Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Hoot and holler in UCLAs Pauley Pavilion, the hoop heaven that honors John Wooden By Chris Erskine (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) Why: John Wooden was the Elvis of college basketball, a mythic, once-in-three-lifetimes figure. Pauley Pavilion was his Graceland. Along with Lambeau Field and Fenway Park, it belongs on any sports fans must-see list. What: Updated and comfortable, Pauley sits on the sweeping and shady UCLA campus in Westwood. It is one of the easiest L.A. sports venues to park near ($12) and navigate. Reopened in 2012 after a two-year renovation, the stadium now offers modern concessions, more room to roam and 1,000 more seats. Most significantly, it added a concourse, improving comfort and flow. Be ready for a lot of blue. After Dodger Stadium, this is L.A.s second blue heaven. (Photos by Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) But youre here for the lore, in a place that has produced 38 All-Americans. Wooden started it all, taking over as head basketball coach at UCLA in 1948 and leading the Bruins to a record 10 national championships. Renowned for his disciplined, values-driven approach, he created a basketball dynasty that won seven straight championships in the late 60s and early 70s, including 98 successive victories at Pauley. Wooden, who died in 2010, is the first person to be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and a coach. Though he resembled a gentleman banker more than a rock star, Woodens legacy lives on in the stadium he made famous. The corridors are lined with photos, timelines and a version of Woodens Pyramid of Success, a set of principles formed to help students and teams reach their potential. Where: Pauley Pavilion, on the UCLA campus, 15 miles west of downtown L.A. How much: Prices vary. Seats generally start at $8 for less-attractive games and $25 for popular ones. Info: UCLA Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Drive through In-N-Out Burgers flagship restaurant in Baldwin Park for a double-double, animal-style By Christopher Reynolds (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Why: For certain carnivorous Californians, a visit to this burger chain is like church, but with more calories. At the flagship In-N-Out location just south of the 10 Freeway in the eastern L.A. County suburb of Baldwin Park, of course you can drive through, as most customers do. But you could eat inside, then browse a company store, then (on the north side of the freeway) admire a non-functioning replica of chains first burger shack. What: Harry and Esther Snyder founded the first In-N-Out burger shack in 1948, which puts them among the first to try a drive-through restaurant. Now their granddaughter runs the company. To taste what the fuss is all about, order a double-double, animal-style two beef patties cooked with mustard, two slices of cheese and a choice of hand-leafed lettuce and tomato, plus pickles, extra spread and grilled onions. Its the appeal of these burgers and fries (no heat lamps, freezers or microwaves) that has fueled the companys growth to more than 300 outlets. (But unlike its Southern California cousins McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell and Wienerschnitzel, In-N-Out has never expanded beyond the American West.) (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Though the companys first home at San Francisquito and Garvey avenues has been leveled, the current restaurant is joined by not only a store (open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays) but a regional distribution center, the two-story campus of In-N-Out University and the replica shack, which went up in 2014. (The online store does have wider inventory than the brick-and-mortar one, including socks and surfboards.) Where: 13850 Francisquito Ave., Baldwin Park. The company store is at 13800 Francisquito. The replica shack (free and open for selfies Thursdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is at 13752 Francisquito. The restaurant is 16 miles east of downtown L.A. How much: Double-double, animal-style, $4.27. Info: In-N-Out (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Light up your life at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale By Catharine Hamm The Museum of Neon Art in Glendale showcases the once wildly popular light form. (Catharine Hamm / Los Angeles Times) Why: Decorative and delightful, the works that light up our lives at Glendales Museum of Neon Art are part art and part science and all fascinating. What: In 2015, the museum moved from downtown Los Angeles, where it had lived since 1981, to Glendale and has been lighting up lives ever since. Pep Boys grace the entry. (Catharine Hamm / Los Angeles Times) For this you can credit the founder of the feast, Georges Claude, a Parisian who invented the neon light in about 1910. L.A. became a hotbed of neon-ness, thanks to its desire to be the capital of the next big thing and its desire to look the part, beginning in the Roaring 20s. The neon at this museum, where exhibits change often enough to encourage repeat visits, is more amusing than unsavory. And as a reminder that nothing lasts forever, Manny, Moe & Jack (the Pep Boys) are not on permanent display, although the museum doesnt have any plans to move the fellows. Eve de Haans pink neon Love Dont Pay the Bills is part of the She Bends exhibit, featuring works by women neon artists. (Catharine Hamm/Los Angeles Times) Through Feb. 11, an exhibit called She Bends: Women in Neon, takes you inside a creative funhouse of the art form, some works based on words (Eve de Haans pink neon Love Dont Pay the Bills), some on objects (Michie Hongos faces on skateboard remnants). Where: 216 S. Brand Ave, Glendale, about eight miles north of downtown L.A. How much: Museum entrance is $10 for adults ($5 if you live in Glendale), $8 for those 65 and older, and free for those 12 and younger if accompanied by an adult. Info: Museum of Neon Art Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Forage with top chefs at the Santa Monica Farmers Market By Christopher Reynolds Wednesday morning, pluots and persimmons. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: Some of the states most accomplished farmers rise before dawn on Wednesday mornings and drive as much as 200 miles, just so they can set up and sell at this market. One reason: The Santa Monica Farmers Market draws some of Southern Californias most decorated (and discriminating) chefs. And the market venue happens to be a tomato toss away from the beach, a cucumber roll from the scores of shops and restaurants along the Third Street Promenade. What: About 75 farmers set up stalls along a few blocks of Arizona Avenue, which is closed to vehicles on market mornings. If youre coming by car, youll have to cope with nasty traffic and parking, even at 8:30 a.m., but once youre afoot, life is good. In late fall, youll likely find dates from Mecca, apples from Cuyama, persimmons from Fallbrook, pluots from Kingsbug, oranges from Ojai, mushrooms from La Habra Heights. Consider this a reminder that for all its glitz, California remains an agricultural powerhouse. And even if youre not going to bite into that persimmon, youll feel the sea breeze and hear the banjo player at Arizona and 2nd, or maybe the guitarist a block to the east. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) The market was born in 1981, and the stampede of kitchen professionals began soon after. Noting that close relationship between growers and chefs, Saveur magazine in 2016 labeled this L.A.s best farmers market. Still, its good to remember that other markets operate on Santa Monicas Main Street (Sundays) and in the citys Virginia Avenue Park (Saturdays). If youre farther east, or youd like more street musicians and more nonproduce merchants, theres the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ivar and Selma avenues. Where: The market happens on Wednesdays along Arizona Avenue, Santa Monica, between Ocean Avenue and 4th Street from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. On Saturdays, a smaller version occupies Arizona Avenue between between 2nd and 4th streets from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The corner of Arizona Avenue and 4th Street is 17 miles west of downtown L.A. -- which could take an hour to drive, depending on the hour and day. How much: In late November, organic pitted Medjool dates from Mecca were $9.50 per pound. Granny Smith apples from Cuyama were $3 a pound. Fuyu persimmons from Fallbrook were $3.50 per pound. Valencia oranges from Ojai were $1 per pound. Info: Santa Monica Farmers Markets ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Drift in a balloon over northern San Diego County By Christopher Reynolds Aloft near Fairbanks Ranch. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Heres your chance to climb into a wicker basket and rise 3,000 feet above Fairbanks Ranch, to stand just below a fire-belching burner (which makes your balloon rise), to see sunset from high up, and maybe even to throw shade onto one of Bill Gatess houses. What: A balloon ride is a 19th century sort of thrill, and as Californias open spaces get filled in, ballooning options are decreasing. The Napa and Temecula vineyard areas still feature plenty of balloons (which usually launch in early morning, when winds are calmer and temperatures are lower). The Palm Springs and Santa Barbara wine country areas have some too. But balloons are a rare sight along the California coast, so I grabbed a chance to soar above northern San Diego County. Though balloon pilots strive to keep their aircraft above land, the views from on high include miles of ocean and the red tile roofs of countless Mediterranean-style mansions. Rides typically last 45 to 60 minutes (depending on which way the wind blows), pilots are permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration, and its traditional to celebrate afterward with a glass of Champagne. In northern San Diego, its often a sunset operation flown by a team that started their day with a flight in Temecula. My ride in late November, operated by Compass Balloons, featured seven passengers and a pilot. (Minimum age: 5.) We launched near the Vegetable Shop at Chino Farm, (which sells produce to some of the regions most admired restaurants). We inflated, climbed aboard, drifted over the Morgan Run golf course, and gazed down on Fairbanks Ranch, Rancho Santa Fe, Black Mountain and Carmel Valley. As our round shadow crept across fields, hills and exclusive neighborhoods, pilot Matt Downing pointed out one of Bill Gates houses and another that once belonged to philanthropist Joan Kroc. We touched down smoothly about 3 1/2 miles east of where we took off. Im glad I did it when I did. Compass Balloons owner Evan Munnelly warns that flights in this area may cease within a year because take-off and landing spaces in the area are vanishing so rapidly. Where: Though several companies, including Compass, Skys the Limit and California Dreamin, mention Del Mar in promoting their balloon flights, the vessels usually take off and land farther inland. For my Compass Balloons flight, we met in an Encinitas park-and-ride lot (1969 Villa Cardiff Drive, Encinitas), then the crew drove us to the launch spot. Our meeting spot was 97 miles southeast of downtown L.A., 24 miles north of downtown San Diego. How much: A shared ride (with other passengers in a basket that typically holds eight to 10 people) typically costs $150 to $300 per person. Info: Besides the San Diego companies above, many balloon companies operate in Napa Valley, Temecula and around Palm Springs. . Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Drink dessert over an ocean view at La Jollas La Valencia Hotel By Christopher Reynolds Terrace, the Med, La Valencia. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Why: Life can be seriously sweet at this hotel, which was built in 1926 with a big La Jolla Cove view and anchors a neighborhood of ultra-spendy shops and glitzy galleries. Since the days when Gregory Peck hosted other La Jolla Playhouse luminaries in the hotels Whaling Bar, La V (as many locals know the place) has offered a frothy concoction known as a Whaler. Picture a milkshake, enlivened by Kahlua, brandy, coffee, whipped cream and various mystery ingredients. What: The 114-room hotel has long been known for its pink paint job and Spanish Mediterranean style. In the course of ownership changes, expansions and renovations, the Whaling Bar has slipped away. But its frothy legacy remains. Grab one of the 15 or so tables on the terrace of the hotels signature restaurant, The Med, order a Whaler for dessert, and dont plan on operating any heavy machinery for some hours. (If you think you see a Kardashian, it may not be a hallucination; members of the family have been dropping by for years.) Where: 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla, 112 miles southeast of downtown L.A., 14 miles northwest of downtown San Diego. How much: A Whaler costs $14. Main dishes in The Med are priced at $15 to $24. (I can vouch for the snapper ceviche.) Rooms for two typically rent for $289 and up. Info: La Valencia Hotel The Whaler (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Find deep-fried pleasure at a roadside farm stand near Palmdale By Jenn Harris (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times) Why: Maybe youve finished a hike through the Devils Punchbowl and youre hungry. Or youre looking for unexpected holiday gifts. Or youve been hit by a craving for deep-fried fair food and its not fair season. For all these reasons and more, seekers like you end up at Charlie Brown Farms near Palmdale, where all your snack/drunk food fantasies, and your dreams of owning life-size replicas of the Blues Brothers, collide and come true. What: What started as a fruit stand in 1929 is now a six-acre hodgepodge of stores, a restaurant and a snack shop. The main building is a hokey cabin with advertisements for the various tchotchkes and snacks inside. From the road, its impossible to miss with signs that scream collectibles, funnel cake, smoothies, jerky, Dole whip. And just off the side of the building, an enclosed area with dinosaur statues. You may get whiplash trying to take it all in. (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times) Once through the front door you experience sensory overload. Directly in front of you is a rack of jerky (the store boasts more than 60 kinds, including elk and ostrich). To the right is a counter where you can order milkshakes, fried candy bars, Texas-style barbecue, funnel cakes, ice cream and a host of other foods any decent doctor would advise you stay away from. To the left, packaged nuts, candy, a room where you can fill your own honey jar, a room devoted to pickles, a room devoted to soda, a fudge counter, and all that food is mixed in with things like raccoon figurines and coffee mugs. This is also where you can find raw frog legs for that stew recipe youve been dying to try. And alligator meat too. But past the fudge counter is where things really start to get weird. There are rooms completely lined with dolls from all over the world. A little creepy, but if youre in need of a doll (seriously, any doll), this is the place to find it. The life-size Blues Brothers statues I mentioned earlier? Theyre on the way to the doll rooms. Out back is a patio with tables and chairs, where you can break open that package of elk jerky or come down from that sugar rush of deep-fried Oreos. You could wander around this place for hours and not see everything. But its sure fun to try. Where: 8317 Pearblossom Highway, Littlerock, a 17-minute drive from downtown Palmdale and about 65 miles northeast of downtown L.A. How much: Depends on what youre in the mood for. Barbecue plates start around $11.50, the deep fried Oreos and Snickers are around $4 for each order, the jerky is around $8 a bag depending on the size, and the knick-knacks will range in price. If youre not a fan of lots of people in tight spaces, plan accordingly. Info: Charlie Brown Farms Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Soak in the view of Californias Grand Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park By Elisa Parhad Why: Perched at the end of the rising desert floor, Fonts Point gives onlookers a majestic view of Californias badlands, several hundred feet below. Though far flung, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is an expansive feast of nature well worth the time it takes to get there. What: Fonts Point is part of a remote and sculptural landscape that was millions of years in the making. The vistas ridge yields to a maze of sinuous channels, razorback ridges and sandy, sun-baked hills. Bring a chair, a picnic and perhaps some friends. The scene is best at sunrise and sunset when the rock formations glow with honey-dipped hues. Even better is a visit during a full moon. The accumulation of photographers at these times is a testament to the spectacle. The brackish waters of the Colorado River and the Gulf of California converged here long ago, making the area a dumping ground for sediment. Today, the windswept and eroded rock is flush with the fossils of animals and marine life that inhabited this once verdant terrain. Four miles of soft dirt road leads up to Fonts Point, so check the road conditions before your departure. Depending on the roads status, a high clearance or 4WD vehicle may be necessary. Closer to the park visitor center, the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail is a popular 3-mile round trip that begins with a trailhead at the end of the main campground road. Where: In the heart of the Borrego Badlands, outside of Borrego Springs, 168 miles southeast of downtown L.A. How much: Free until recently. On Nov. 3, the state parks system started collecting a day-use fee of $10 per vehicle on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays at the Anza-Borrego visitor center. Info: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Rent a Duffy for a glittery tour of Newport Harbor By Chris Erskine (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) Why: Newport Bay seems made of glitter. Rental boats are plentiful and the harbor is easy to navigate and full of nautical eye candy. Board an electric boat and take a breezy tour. What: Newport Beach is the Beverly Hills of Orange County. The setting for multiple TV shows, it represents much of the California dream giant homes and sensational yachts. The harbor, home to 9,000 vessels, is a recreational wonderland. The Duffy, a popular brand of rental boats, is an excellent way to see it all. Available at a half dozen rental places around the harbor, the slow-moving vessels are as easy to operate as a golf cart. (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) A popular route is around Lido Island, the thumb-shaped isle on the western side of the harbor, where the bridge leaves plenty of space. Note that many of the bridges surrounding neighboring Balboa Island are too low to accommodate the surrey-topped electric boats. A lap around Lido takes about an hour, a typical rental period. Or, head east past the Fun Zone on Balboa Peninsula, past Balboa Island and toward the mouth of the harbor. Youll be warned not to go near the outlet, since the electric boats arent built to handle bigger waves. Pontoons, kayaks, paddle boards and powerboats are also available at rental locations around the harbor. Boat Rentals of America, on the peninsula near the Fun Zone, offers walk-up rentals, but recommends reservations for weekends, no matter the time of year. Where: Newport Beach is in Orange County, 46 miles, or 90 minutes, from downtown L.A. How much: Duffy electric boats that accommodate up to eight passengers rent for about $85 an hour. Info: Boat Rentals of America or Newport Beach Boat Rentals Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Connect with artisans (and beer) at Crafted, a makers market in a San Pedro port warehouse By Christopher Reynolds (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Why: Its a vintage warehouse down by the port, full of artists, designers and makers, neighbored by a craft brewery. And youre not done with your holiday shopping yet. What: Crafted was born five years ago, as the maker movement began to bloom nationwide. Its open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and the first Thursday night of every month in the L.A. Ports Warehouse 10, built in the 1940s. When I stopped by in mid-September, there were about 50 vendors in place, hawking iPhone photo prints, snacks, sculptures, succulents, textiles, vintage reconditioned furniture, soap, you name it. Outside, the San Pedro Festival of the Artists was in full swing-- one of many special events that use picnic tables and patio space between the old warehouses. Pop Kustom Shoppe, Crafted. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Since 2016, the artisans have been joined by Brouwerij West, a craft beer operation and tasting room that fills about half of Warehouse 9. On weekends, theres usually a food truck (or two or three) on hand, and often live music. Coming eventually: a food hall in the other half of Warehouse 9. Where: Warehouse No.10, 112 E. 22nd St., San Pedro, 26 miles south of downtown L.A. How much: Parking and admission are free. Info: Crafted Brouwerij West. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Salute General Grant (the tree) in Kings Canyon National Park By Mary Forgione Why: Any way you look at it, General Grant stands tall. First of all, its a massive sequoia, one of the largest living things in California. Moreover, the White House has named this the nations Christmas tree. What: General Grant is 268 feet high, the base of its trunk is 107 feet around. In 1925, Central Valley resident Charles E. Lee (an officer of the Sanger Chamber of Commerce) asked President Coolidge to have this giant sequoia in the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon designated the national Christmas tree. In 1926 the president complied. Ever since, the Sanger Chamber has staged an annual Trek to the Tree, drawing hundreds of people each year for a winter program that typically includes songs and prayers. No tinsel, no lights. Just the tree as it has stood for about 2,000 years, and a wreath contributed by park rangers. This years event will be Sunday, Dec. 10, at the base of the tree. and its a free admission day in the park. For reservations or information on shuttle buses to the site, contact the Sanger Chamber of Commerce by phone at (559) 875-4575 or by e-mail at sangerchamber@gmail.com. Whether you reach General Grant in holiday season or not, you can impress the other tree-lovers by pointing out that in 1956, Congress gave General Grant another distinction, naming it the nations only living national shrine in honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces. And if you really love the idea of big trees with high ranks, make a bonus stop at the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park. Its bigger, about 275 feet high. In fact, it might be the worlds largest living thing, depending on how you quantify coral reefs, fungus networks and redwoods. Where: General Grant stands along a 0.8-mile paved loop trail from the General Grant Grove parking lot in Kings Canyon National Park. The grove is 245 miles north of downtown L.A. And its more than 6,000 feet above sea level, so snow is common in winter. Be sure to check weather and road conditions before driving into the area. How much: Admission to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks (which operator jointly, as if they were single unit) is $30 per car for up to seven days. Info: Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ski in the morning in the San Bernardino Mountains, surf in the evening, using these slopes as your launch point By Chris Erskine Snow Summit (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Why: SoCal offers the chance to ski and surf on the same day. This would be the snowy part of such a mountains-to-the-beaches day. What: Bear Mountain and Snow Summit are two slices of the same cake. Two miles apart, the sister resorts are the crown jewels of the town of Big Bear, a couple of hours from the bustle of the big city. Big Bear is three hours away from downtown Los Angeles, and a world apart from the strip malls and gas stations that muck up much of Southern California. Spring, summer or fall, this alpine lake resort town offers plenty of activities, including boating, hiking and zip-lining. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) But in winter, its twin ski resorts really come alive. If you think of Southern California as all palm trees and bikinis, visit Big Bear after a winter storm, when the place is buried in several feet of snow and looks like a Christmas card. In what they offer, the two resorts are very similar, though Summit has the better terrain park. Lift tickets are good for both resorts, and buses run between the two resorts all day. Combined, the resorts offer 27 lifts and four high-speed chairs serving almost 60 runs. The resorts are just a few minutes from the village, where restaurants, shops and a movie theater await visitors. The resorts have begun making snow and opened Dec. 8. As with all mountain visits, note that conditions can change quickly, and chains are usually required on the twisty roads during any significant snow fall. Where: Big Bear Lake is in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County. It is 97 miles east of Los Angeles. How much: Advance purchase lift tickets start around $75. Info: Big Bear Mountain Resorts Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement See the Klamath River flow into the Pacific from this dramatic overlook in Redwood National Park By Christopher Reynolds (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Rugged coast. Big sand spit. Half-forgotten road. Blufftop perch. Despite all these assets, this dramatic corner of Northern California doesnt get that many visitors. So youll probably have it to yourself. What: Your gateway to the Klamath River Overlook is Requa, a hamlet -- the memory of a town, really -- along the Highway 101 south of Crescent City in Del Norte County. Its main landmark is the Historic Requa Inn, a rustic riverside lodging and restaurant that dates to 1914. If you can work out a way to eat dinner and spend a night there, do it. But dont stop there. Continue west 1.5 miles (no RVs!) on ramshackle Requa Road (which becomes Patrick J. Murphy Memorial Road on some maps) until theres no more road, and no more land. That will put you at the Klamath River Overlook. Drink it in. And if its May or June, scan the ocean for gray whales. Rangers say they often linger to feed in the waters spilling from river to sea This bluff is part of Redwood National and State Parks and it includes a modest picnic area. Theres a steep Lower Overlook Trail that will take you about a quarter-mile down the slope, exposing further views. Theres also a Coastal Trail to the north -- follow it for 2.7 miles and youll reach Hidden Beach. But the wide view from the picnic tables may well be plenty for you. Theres something mesmerizing about it -- maybe its the moving water. Theres also a good chance of a stiff, cold breeze or fog, just about any time. Bring layers. Where: Klamath River Overlook, 61 miles north of Arcata, 339 miles north of San Francisco, 713 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: No entry fee. Info: Redwood National and State Parks (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pile the kids in the car, head to Riverside and catch a drive-in movie while you still can By Chris Erskine The entrance at the Van Buren Drive-In. (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) Why: What could be more of a California experience than a Hollywood double-feature viewed from the comfort of your car? What: In the 1950s, drive-in movies were a staple of American pop culture. These days, they are a novelty. One of the last remaining hot spots lives on at the Van Buren Drive-In in Riverside. Put the kids in their PJs and pack up the lawn chairs for a fine family getaway at the Van Buren. Opened in 1964 on the site of former orange groves, the three-screen drive-in remains a vibrant local hangout at half the price of your local multiplex. You can even bring your own food. On weekends, arrive 45 minutes before show time to ensure a decent spot, especially if youre going to sit outside in your lawn chairs. By showtime, the three lots serving the three screens resemble tailgate parties, with families wrapped in blankets and settled in for a double feature. (Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times) SUVs or pickups often pull in with the tail hatch facing the screen, so kids with blankets or sleeping bags can turn the experience into a slumber party. Theres the traditional snack bar, and prices are fair, at least by movie theater standards. But waits can be 20 to 30 minutes on weekends. Check here for express pickup. Keep in mind that youre experiencing a rare phenomenon these days. Once numbering 4,000 across the country, drive-ins are now down to 400 or so. Catch one while you can not just for the sense of nostalgia, but for a memorable evening at a very fair price. Where: 3035 Van Buren Blvd., Riverside, 55 miles southeast of downtown L.A. Plan on a drive of 90 minutes to two hours in evening traffic. How much: Admission is $9 per person; children ages 5 to 9, $1. Major credit cards and debit cards accepted. Open seven days a week. No pets. Info: Van Buren Drive-In Theatre Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Taste-test the Thomas Keller restaurant empire in Yountville, Napa Valley By Christopher Reynolds Chocolate tart, Ad Hoc, Yountville (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Yountville is a sleepy, genteel little town in the heart of Napa Valley, population about 3,000. And Thomas Keller, one of this nations most admired chefs, has three restaurants in Yountville, on the same street. Or four. Or five, depending on how you count. What: Keller, raised and trained in Florida and New York and renowned for his high standards, has also cooked in acclaimed kitchens in France and Los Angeles, and he has operations in New York and Las Vegas as well. (His Bouchon in Beverly Hills is scheduled to close Dec. 31.) But since he opened the French Laundry in 1994, Yountville has been the seat of his California empire. With three Michelin stars and a nine-course chefs menu, The French Laundry may be the most celebrated restaurant in the state, and its surely one of the priciest. Ad Hoc, Yountville (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) But the chef has give us options. Bouchon opened in 1998, offering French bistro fare. The Bouchon Bakery followed in 2003. In 2006 came Ad Hoc, devoted to American comfort food in a casual setting. (Its humble-brag slogan: for temporary relief from hunger.) Ad Hocs menu changes daily to take advantage of fresh ingredients, but its all built around the chefs choice for a four-course family-style meal, which includes favorites like pot roast and barbecue. I came before 6 p.m. on buttermilk fried chicken night (a Monday), and found myself in a happily clamorous dining room, surrounded by families, confronting more food than I could eat. (I enjoyed the casual feeling, and I liked the chicken well enough. But I actually enjoyed the salad and cheese courses more livelier flavors.) Bouchon Bakery, Yountville ( Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Either before or after eating in Yountville, stroll Washington Street. At 6640 youll find the French Laundry, fronted by an unassuming, two-story, stone-walled building with minimalist kitchen addition and its gardens across the street. You can even peek through the kitchen window, a long slit that reveals the team laboring fiercely over that evenings dishes. Next, at 6534 Washington, you pause by Bouchon (French bistro fare) and the yellow awning of Bouchon Bakery (6528 Washington), whose snacks are the most affordable way to sample Kellers empire. A few blocks farther south at 6476 Washington, you reach Ad Hoc, which has nine seats at the bar in addition to its many tables (open Thursday through Monday). And behind Ad Hoc, neighbored by picnic tables, is Addendum, an auxiliary space that serves box lunches to go on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Where: Ad Hoc, 6476 Washington St., Yountville, Ca., 55 miles north of San Franciscos Ferry Building, 411 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: The nine-course dinner at the French Laundry: $310-$325 each. The four-course dinner at Ad Hoc: $55.A box lunch from Ad Hoc Addendum: $16.50. Info: Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, Yountville Chamber of Commerce The French Laundrys kitchen window ( Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Storm a Tuscan castle in Napa Valley By Christopher Reynolds ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Why: Napa Valley has close to 500 wineries. Castello di Amorosa is the only one housed in a 107-room castle that was built in accordance with 13th century Tuscan aspirations. What: Owner/designer Dario Sattui completed this spectacle, a 15-year project, in 2007. Besides its five towers and the barrel-vaulted retail and tasting area (which never seems to end), its got a great hall and chapel, each with evocative murals. Theres said to be a torture chamber below. Depending on your mood, you might expect a Da Vinci Code villain to round a corner at any moment, or Orson Welles in mid-soliloquy. Or one of the Monty Python guys, clopping coconuts together. Not surprisingly -- given the Tuscan blueprint of the place -- the Castello di Amorosa wines are made in the Italian style. The winery suffered no damage in the wine country fires of October. Where: 4045 St. Helena Hwy., Calistoga, Calif., 70 miles north of San Franciscos Ferry Buidling, 425 miles northwest of L.A. City Hall. How much: Adult admission (which includes wine-tasting) begins at $25. For children the rate is $15-$20 (and theres grape juice to taste). Tours (which include rooms you cant reach just wandering around) cost $40-$95. Info: Castello di Amorosa ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Soak in Calistoga spring water By Christopher Reynolds Fountain, Indian Springs, Calistoga (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Why: Calistoga is the answer to the question of what to do in the Napa Valley when youve had enough wine. Its a little, old resort town full of hot springs, so between wine-tasting excursions (and maybe the occasional bike ride) you can float listlessly in a steaming pool, untroubled by the faint scent of sulfur because you can feel the stress evaporating from your body. What: Samuel Brannan, a brash, controversial figure who became one of Californias first millionaires in the Gold Rush, founded Calistoga in the 1860s, counting on the areas springs to draw tourists from San Fancisco. (In fact, he built a rail route from Vallejo to Calistoga, and the current Napa Valley Wine Train rolls on the Napa-St. Helena portion of that old route.) It was a clever impulse. The town (population: about 5,300) lives on as a resort escape, with hideaways like Calistoga Ranch, Dr. Wilkinsons and Indian Springs (perhaps the oldest continuously operating pool and spa facility in the state) all relying heavily on their hot springs. Though the Napa/Sonoma wildfires of October drew near, they never reached the town of Calistoga, and it remains handsome as ever. In early November, I spent a night and stepped from the chilly morning air into the Olympic-sized, 102-degree, steam-cloaked pool at the 17-acre Indian Springs resort. It was pleasant. In 2015, the resort added a restaurant (Sams Social Club, which has fascinating, colorful mural over the counter) and grew from about 40 rooms to 115. Many of the interiors still have that just-upgraded, ready-for-the-magazine-photographer look. Where: Indian Springs, 1712 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga, 73 miles north of San Franciscos Ferry Building, 427 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: In winter, Indian Springs rooms for two usually start at about $239 per night. Info: Visit Calistoga, Indian Springs The main pool, Indian Springs, Calistoga (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Board the Napa Valley Wine Train, recall discord and disaster, then roll in splendor past miles of vineyards By Christopher Reynolds (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Why: If youre going to fully appreciate this valley and its globally admired vineyards, its better that youre not driving. And on the Napa Valley Wine Train, you have the chance to dine in style while the miles and wineries roll past. What: The train covers about 18 miles, running north alongside Highway 29 from the city of Napa through Yountville and Oakville to St. Helena. Along the way, depending on what you sign up for, you may stop to taste at one to three wineries, eat a three-course meal on board, and be back where you started in three to six hours. Its expensive but so very comfortable. And its got complicated history. The rail route, first laid in the 1860s, had fallen idle by the 1980s. To get the new wine train rolling in 1989, its owners had to outmaneuver many Napa locals who feared a tourist invasion would ruin the affluent communitys character. Skip forward now to 2015, when the trains management drew a storm of criticism for ejecting a group of guests, mostly African American, who were accused of being too loud. The view from the train, near Yountville, in early November. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) In late 2015, new owners took over the train. Then wildfires flared in October. They missed the train track, Highway 29 and the wineries along the route, but killed at least 41 people and destroyed thousands of homes and scores of businesses in Napa and Sonoma counties. By the time I showed up in early November, almost none of the damage was visible from the train. Napa was still in the early stages of recovery and the train was about half-full unusual for the time of year. As for my journey, it was a sunny day, the countryside was gorgeous, the meal pleasant. The distant, fire-blackened hills to the east were barely discernible beyond the green and red vineyard rows, the shade trees and the nearby slopes. Where: McKinstry Street Station, 1275 McKinstry St., Napa, 46 miles north of San Francisco, 402 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: Most day trips run $206-$329 per person, which includes lunch and wine-tasting. Info: Napa Valley Wine Train (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Taste China (Live) in San Francisco By Christopher Reynolds Dim sum counter, Market Restaurant, China Live. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times) Why: Nobody likes to say so, but a lot of San Franciscos Chinatown looks tired these days. And many of the areas best Chinese restaurants are scattered among the outer suburbs where so many affluent Chinese American families live. So its a happy surprise to see China Live bring new energy and higher style to the neighborhood with a combination of design-intensive eating and shopping options. Its mission: to demystify Chinese ingredients and recipes while educating guests on the rich history and influence. What: China Live opened in March 2017, near the frontier between Chinatown and North Beach. The main downstairs space, the Market Restaurant and Bar, is full of long wood tables under a semi-raw concrete ceiling. Picture an Apple Store with steaming, edible merchandise, neighbored by open cooking areas, beckoning counters, a bar and adjacent retail rooms stocked with artisan teas, kitchen tools, condiments, shapely candles, jewelry and such. The restaurants menu is mostly based on sharing small dishes, so you might wind up with a medley dinner of fire-roasted sweet white corn, Dungenes crab spring rolls and Sheng Jian Bao (SJB) pan-fried pork dumplings. Market Restaurant, China Live. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Near the entrance is the casual Oolong Cafe. Upstairs waits a more exclusive restaurant offering private, pricey dining in elegant rooms befitting a royal in hiding. Its called Eight Tables by George Chen (dinner only; tasting menu: $225). There are also a pair of bars upstairs, including the Gold Mountain Lounge and one called Cold Drinks -- one of those hip hideaways that seeks to be popular by maintaining quasi-secrecy. Where: 644 Broadway, San Francisco, 380 miles northwest of downtown L.A.. How much: Together, the three dishes above cost about $40. Most cocktails $13-$15. Info: China Live ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print See, sniff and taste Napa Valleys bounty at the Oxbow Public Market By Christopher Reynolds A 1,033-pound pumpkin on display at Oxbow Public Market in Napa. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Why: This market and food hall, set above a fetching bend in the Napa River, is a short stroll from downtown Napa, a block from the headquarters of the popular Napa Valley Wine Train, a block from the COPIA center for wine and food education. Much smaller than San Franciscos food-centric Ferry Building but placed near the starting point of many popular Napa adventures, this foodie acre (about two-thirds the size of a football field) is a point of convergence for locals and tourists and a one-stop reminder that this wine country does more than make wine. What: The Oxbow Public Market opened in 2007, just in time to suffer from a national recession, the closure of COPIA (since rethought and reopened by the Culinary Institute of America) and construction-related disruptions of local traffic. Now those troubles are in the rear-view mirror, and a stroll around the marketplace introduces you to plenty of wine products but also duck tacos (at C Casa); American comfort food (Gotts Roadside); local seafood (Hog Island Oyster Co.); and assorted local fruits and vegetables (Hudson Greens & Goods). On my early November visit, Hudson was showing off a 1,033-pound pumpkin. There were also plenty of signs thanking the first-responders for their work fighting that regions wildfires in October. (Though many homes and about two dozen wineries were lost or damaged in those fires, the vast majority of the areas 500 wineries had reopened by Nov. 8.) Besides browsing at the market, you can also rent a bike at the automatic Spinway stand just outside and pedal seven miles along the Napa River to Kennedy Park and back; or just toodle down 1st Street in downtown Napa, where the new, 183-room Archer Hotel is expected to open in December. Where: 610-644 1st St., Napa, 46 miles north of the San Francisco Ferry building, 401 miles northwest of downtown L.A. How much: C Casa tacos run $4.75-$9. Spinway bike rentals start at $9 per hour. Info: Oxbow Public Market Oxbow Public Market, Napa. ( Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times ) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Read the walls on Angel Island, the West Coast Ellis Island where Asian immigrants waited and waited from 1910 to 1940 By Christopher Reynolds State parks interpreter Casey Dexter-Lee in the Immigration Station museum on Angel Island. ( Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times ) Why: Its a handsome, green island in San Francisco Bay, popular with sailors, cyclists and hikers, just south of high-toned Tiburon. And from 1910 through 1940, it was something like a western Ellis Island, processing about half a million immigrants, including most of the 175,000 Chinese immigrants who arrived during those years. But those were not happy years. Hunger often keeps Valopee awake at night, as do the men talking and laughing outside the door of her bare wooden hut in this southern Madagascar village. They wait until late, hoping for sex. She lies on her hard floor with no mattress, wishing they would go away. Under local custom, single girls and women in some ethnic groups here are expected to offer sex to village men and passing strangers. They can brush off some, but it is shameful to refuse a visiting outsider, and difficult for girls to resist determined older men. Advertisement Many girls are moved out of cramped family houses by their mid-teens and given their own small huts near the family home, a rite of passage in preparation for marriage. Parents want to show the community that, My girl is ready, because the parents think she has become an adult, said Meta Paubert, a Seattle-based Tandroy woman who runs Nofy i Androy, a nongovernmental organization working in southern Madagascar to help girls stay in school. The tradition, preserved by several ethnic groups, leaves these single girls prey to men who surround their huts at night and suitors who lose interest as soon as girls get pregnant. They just want them because theyre little girls, fresh, said Paubert, who was a single teenage mother in southern Madagascar, but became one of the few to return to school and go to university. They come to you at the age of 11, 12, 13 saying, I like you, Ill talk to your daddy. Will you be my wife? Then when you have a baby they disappear. They can get a younger one. And the whole village looks down at you. Youre on your own. The long-term result: startling numbers of single mothers with many children conceived with different men who do not help raise them. The women and their children are the poorest and hungriest people here in Madagascars most impoverished region. Although the single women and girls, known as ampelatovo, a Malagasy word meaning little girl, may take payment from the men they allow into their huts, villagers do not consider this prostitution. Valopee, bone-thin from years of drought, poverty and hunger, has no second name, does not know her age and is raising six children on her own. She agreed recently to have sex with a very old man from another village, but only after some bargaining. He offered less than a dollar but ended up paying her $1.25, enough to buy 5 pounds of rice. Paubert remembers the pain of being a teenage single mother, and no man wants you anymore because you are done, you have a baby. You walk and everyone, whether adult or child, they yell at you about how bad you are, how ugly you are.... The country has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy, according to the United Nations, and one of the highest rates of child marriage, with 41% of girls married by 18. UNICEF and humanitarian agencies have long struggled to end child marriage, but cultural customs are often difficult to change in rural communities. For decades, the U.N. has urged countries to modify traditions that hurt women and children, but practices such as female genital mutilation, forcing widows to marry brothers-in-law, child marriage, virginity testing and witch-killing endure in some parts of the world, including Africa. From the traditional Malagasy perspective, it makes sense for parents to move girls out into their own houses to become sexual beings, according to anthropologist Jeffrey Kaufmann, an expert on southern Madagascar. He said it is seen as preparing them for life, marriage and their own children. The girls houses are placed to the east of the main house, as a sign of respect to the ancestors who are believed to influence the luck or misfortune of the living. It is not a sign of moral decay or the plight of a victim, he said. A virgin is a lost cause in this society we are discussing. Such a being is not equipped to take on the world she is entering. She needs to learn about sex, how to bond a man or men to her and how to make decisions on her own that will prepare her for life. Valopee, who was about 13 when she was moved out of her mothers house, said she would like to see her community abandon the tradition. She had one love. In 2006, she met a man who stayed for seven years and fathered several of her children. But he abandoned her to marry someone else. I dont feel anything for him now, she said, shaking her head. When Jocelyn Rasoanakambana moved into her own house at age 18, she felt uncomfortable with the expectation that she would sleep with different men. I disliked it because there were many and they would fight with each other, she said. I only feel happy with one man. Sometimes I accept it just to buy food and water, said Rasoanakambana, 30, a single woman who lives in Ikopoky village with six children from three fathers. I have to accept my cousins or if theres a newcomer to the area I should accept him, otherwise its a shame for our family. One of her cousins husbands comes for sex once a week and gives her a small amount, anything from 60 cents to $1.50. With so many children, she says it is unlikely she will find a husband now. In most cases, men dislike feeding children who are not their own. I dont know what will happen to me in the future, she said. Im living in the poorest situation now, the worst situation. Some men who benefit from the tradition fret when it harms their daughters. Its very good for the men because if [a girl] is ampelatovo, I have no problems to go with her, said one elderly farmer, Veza, who goes to one of his young relatives for sex. The tradition is very bad for the single woman, but she has no choice because she is waiting for someone to marry her. In our tradition, if shes single, shes not respected. If shes married, she is respected, so to be a single woman is not good. Like most, he is fatalistic. His own daughter remains unmarried. She is still my daughter even though shes not married and even though she has this name, ampelatovo, he said sadly. The only thing I know is that she is human like all of us. She has her right to exist. In Madagascar there are other harmful traditions. Teenage girls attend markets where they are paid to be temporary wives for a few nights. Some communities abandon twins after birth believing them to be unlucky. There are taboo days when people cannot work, which means less to feed their children. In some communities it is forbidden to build latrines, leading to high rates of open defecation that spreads disease. Then there is the funeral tradition of the Tandroy tribe, which leaves communities impoverished. A man holds all his worldly wealth in his cattle, but when he dies they must all be slaughtered and his house burned down to prevent its inhabitation by spirits. Families often work for months to pay for the funeral feast and build a huge tomb with the horns of his slaughtered bulls arrayed on top. In southern Madagascar, all a mans wealth - held in cattle - are killed when he dies and his house is burned down leaving his family impoverished. Bull horns adorn the tomb, a display of worldly wealth, but a mans children and grandchildren must struggle to survive. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times ) By doing so, families believe the dead ancestors will bless them and not bring ill fortune. The practice burdens families with large costs and no inheritance. Kaufmann said it made sense to Malagasy people to do everything possible to keep ancestors happy, including blood sacrifice of cattle a mans most prized possession at funerals. But fear of angering ancestors complicates efforts to modify harmful cultural practices. The Ifotaka mayor, Tompotany Remanintsy, said the funeral tradition has left many too poor to feed their children or send them to school. Its high time to change it because its really a barrier to development. Zafesoa, mother of eight and one of the poorest ampelatovo in Kobokara village, was born 55 years ago to a wealthy man. She was 12 when her grandfather died and the family cut a great tree to form a casket. Many people came to the enormous funeral. Zafesoa, 55, is a single woman struggling to support eight children earning 30 cents a day as a farmworker. (Robyn Dixon / Los Angeles Times ) My father had many cattle but when his father died he used all the cattle for the funeral and he was left with nothing. A month later both parents moved away looking for work, taking only their youngest child and leaving seven behind. I was crying. I was heartbroken. I never saw them again. The children had little to eat, and after a year the girls moved into their own small huts, becoming ampelatovo. Her one-room wooden hut is bare except for a jacket hanging on one wall. She makes less than 30 cents a day as a laborer clearing fields of prickly pear cactus. Now Im poor. Its really hard for me to support my children. I dont blame my father for his decision but the thing I know is that it ruined my life by lavishing all the wealth on that funeral. She would like to see cultural traditions change, including ending the ampelatovo custom. Men benefit, she says, but not women. If the men would ever join us to change this way of life, she said, I think it could change. To read the article in Spanish, click here This story was reported with a grant from the United Nations Foundation. robyn.dixon@latimes.com Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT ALSO A Senegal-based humanitarian group helps African communities reject harmful practices against women When a Kenyan woman took up a mans job, people said shed be cursed. She persevered In Mexico, they made a new American dream minus their kids One of Mexicos most controversial and resilient political figures formalized his bid for the presidency Tuesday, vowing if elected to wean Mexico off U.S. agricultural imports, increase aid for students and the elderly and consider amnesty for drug war criminals. The announcement by leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was a surprise to no one. AMLO, as he is known to his hordes of supporters and detractors, has been running for president for well over a decade. For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Felipe Calderon as having been a businessman before winning the presidency in 2006. He was in fact a politician most of his working life. The mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, he narrowly lost to Felipe Calderon in the 2006 presidential race. Six years later, Lopez Obrador was defeated by Enrique Pena Nieto, who leaves office next year. Mexican presidents serve a single six-year term. Advertisement This time around, Lopez Obrador is leading in the polls, with a recent one showing him 12 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival. With Pena Nietos dismal approval ratings dragging down his ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and voters anxious about rising homicide rates, high-profile corruption scandals and tense relations with the United States, Lopez Obrador and his supporters think the moment is right for his populist message. Third times the charm, he recently tweeted. But as the lineup of his likely opponents has come into focus, its become clear that the 64-year-old with silvery hair has a long battle ahead of him. How he fares in the July 1 election will depend in no small part on his own ability to stay focused on his message and avoid gaffes. Lopez Obradors recent off-the-cuff declaration that he would consider offering amnesty to those involved in the drug trade who agreed to rehabilitation was a reminder to many of his tendency to sometimes speak too freely. A recent poll found two-thirds of Mexicans disapproved of the proposal, which was publicly rebuked by several of Mexicos top defense officials. Hes a master of self-sabotage, said Mexican political writer Alejandro Hope. Hes not disciplined enough. Lopez Obrador floated the amnesty idea again during a speech to supporters Tuesday after he officially filed as a presidential pre-candidate, this time saying he would first consult with victims of the drug war. With Mexico on track to record the highest number of killings in nearly two decades, Lopez Obrador said he would explore all the possibilities to stop the violence. What he sometimes lacks in discipline he makes up for in name recognition. Lopez Obrador became the face of the Mexican left thanks to his two previous campaigns and the months-long protest he led in the main square of Mexico City after his 2006 loss, which he blamed on vote fraud. Jose Antonio Meade, a Yale-educated former finance minister and the likely PRI candidate, has an impressive background in energy and the economy but is unknown to much of the Mexican public. His party, which has held power for all but 12 of the last 88 years, has been damaged by recent corruption scandals involving the presidents family and several prominent governors. Ricardo Anaya is the likely candidate for an unusual coalition formed by his conservative National Action Party, or PAN, and the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, which Lopez Obrador broke from in 2014 to lead his own party, the National Regeneration Movement. It has run candidates in elections across the country. Also in the mix is Margarita Zavala, a longtime PAN member and the wife of former President Calderon who left the party this fall to run as an independent. The outcome of the race could have big consequences for the U.S., which cooperates with Mexico on matters of security, immigration and trade. The two countries, along with Canada, are locked in tense renegotiations over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. That pact, which abolished tariffs on goods moving between the countries and helped transform Mexico from a smaller, inward-looking economy to one of the worlds leading manufacturers, was for years a top target of Lopez Obrador, who blamed it for emptying Mexicos countryside of farmers and fueling migration to the U.S. He now says keeping the agreement is important to Mexicos stability but his opponents have sought to paint him as a radical leftist akin to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. On Tuesday, Lopez Obrador told his supporters that while maintaining a relationship of friendship and cooperation with the U.S. is important, we will not accept the mistreatment of migrants, or racist, hegemonic or arrogant attitudes. He also pledged to help Mexican farmers and ranchers compete with cheap imports from the U.S., promising subsidies, low-cost fertilizers and set prices for some crops. In short, we are going to produce the food we consume in Mexico, he said. His nationalist platform has drawn comparisons to President Trump. So has his frequent name-calling of rivals. This week, he made headlines when he tweeted a photo of himself stuffing meat into a taco and a dig at Anaya and Meade. Besides not visiting villages and hearing from the people, the spoiled rich kids of the power mafia miss out on succulent barbacoa, he wrote. But while Lopez Obrador has gone to lengths to portray himself as a man of the people who will stamp out the corruption of Mexicos ruling elites, some complain that he has given few examples of how hell fix the problems. He projects an image of austerity that contrasts with the offensive ostentation of the rest of the political class, academic Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez recently wrote in Reforma newspaper. What is striking is the absence of concrete proposals to combat such a complex problem. The faith that Lopez Obrador has in Lopez Obrador explains his tenacity, his resistance, his secrecy, his coherence, his sectarianism, Silva-Herzog said. He has suffered a thousand injustices but has not been wrong once. kate.linthicum@latimes.com Twitter: @katelinthicum Cecilia Sanchez in The Times Mexico City bureau contributed to this report. The Palestinian Authority, responding angrily to President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital, said Wednesday that it would reject efforts by the United States to act as a peacemaker in the region. The United States has chosen to lose its qualifications as a mediator. We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said. Abbas spoke in Istanbul, Turkey, at a special session of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, gathered to address the crisis over Jerusalems status. He proposed that the United Nations take over as a neutral mediator. Advertisement The announcement came three days before Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to land here for a visit aimed at advancing Trumps peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The State Department said the U.S. would continue to work to put together ideas for a peace plan to be presented to the parties next year. We hope to continue to work with both sides, department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in Washington. The president is committed to this peace process, as committed as he ever has been. Abbas announced last week he would not meet with Pence, who, it now appears, will be meeting only with Israeli officials. The Joint List, Israels third-largest political party, representing much of the Arab sector of Israeli society, said it too would boycott Pences visit. Christian leaders in the Middle East also denounced Trumps decision on Jerusalem, and it was unclear whether Pence will meet with any of the local Christian leadership during his visit. Last week, the patriarchs and heads of Jerusalem churches published a rare joint letter addressed to Trump, beseeching him to reconsider. Our solemn advice and plea is for the United States to continue recognizing the present international status of Jerusalem, they wrote. Pope Tawadros II, the head of Egypts Coptic Church, which is the largest Christian community in the Arab world, also announced he would be boycotting Pence. Such snubs are rare, if not unprecedented, for a senior American official visiting Israel. The international community has considered Jerusalem a disputed territory since the end of the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israeli forces gained control of the eastern part of the city that had been held by Jordan since 1948. West Jerusalem is widely recognized as legitimately Israeli, though embassies have remained in Israels economic capital, Tel Aviv. On the other side of the divide, the Israeli government has staunchly supported Trumps announcement. Speaking at a ceremony honoring outstanding members of the Israeli intelligence services, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinians to recognize reality and to work for peace, not for radicalization, and to recognize another fact about Jerusalem: Not only is it Israels capital, but we also maintain freedom of religion in Jerusalem for all faiths and we are the ones who keep this promise in the Middle East like none others do, and they often fail disgracefully. Of the widespread dismay over Trumps action, Netanyahu said, All these statements do not impress us. Trumps decision on Jerusalem has been widely condemned across the globe by nations and international organizations, such as the European Union and the Arab League. On Wednesday, a Saudi Arabian Cabinet session headed by King Salman called on Trump to rescind his proclamation and emphasized the long-held Saudi position that Palestinians have the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The statement, by focusing on East Jerusalem, implied recognition of Israeli sovereignty over West Jerusalem, where all Israeli government ministries, the Supreme Court and the parliament are located. Abbas, in an impassioned speech in Istanbul lasting more than an hour, called on nations to reconsider their recognition of Israel over its conduct toward Palestinians and its dismissal of decisions by the international community with the backing of the United States. Abbas also announced that the Palestinian Authority, which has political autonomy and some shared security responsibility with Israel but no fixed borders, would ask the Security Council of the United Nations for full membership as a state. A joint communique issued at the end of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit branded Trumps decision as irresponsible, illegal and unilateral and null and void legally. Even Iran and Saudi Arabia, antagonists that oppose each other on almost every Middle Eastern conflict, both endorsed the communique. Trump has long talked of brokering a Middle East peace plan, which he has referred to as the ultimate deal. But details of the plan remain a mystery. European diplomats who attended a Monday meeting in Paris between Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron said that neither leader has seen any plan. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem may take three years, but former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said in an interview that he believes a time frame of five to 10 years is more realistic. Ending his remarks on Wednesday, Netanyahu predicted that the truth will win in the end, and many countries will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will transfer their embassies. Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent. Staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report. ALSO In southern Madagascar, local custom presses girls into sex at a young age Hes been running for president in Mexico for more than a decade. Hes floated amnesty for drug criminals. Could he win? How the humble KitKat conquered Japan with ever-changing flavors. Anyone for sushi KitKat? UPDATES: 2:09 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from the U.S. State Department. This article was originally published at 1:30 p.m. ADS ADS Favre-Leuba is the second-oldest Swiss watch brand and traces its origins to the workshop of Abraham Favre in Le Locle, which was first officially mentioned in 1737. The brand is a family story, with several generations of Favre at its head, the association with Auguste Leuba, and a marriage in 1855 that united the two names Favre-Leuba. In 1865, Favre-Leuba is the first Swiss watch manufacturer to be launched in India, a country that soon became one of the brands most important markets. After difficult post-war years, Favre-Leuba suffered from the quartz crisis and the eighth generation of the family was forced to sell the company in the 1980s. It subsequently changed hands several times and was eventually acquired by Indias Tata Group in November 2011. Favre-Leuba is now managed by experienced industry professional Thomas Morf. "Conquering Frontiers", following new paths and challenging the status quo is Favre-Leubas philosophy. The society puts it into practice through its utilitarian tool watches that add value to peoples lives, even in the harshest conditions, on land and also under water. Consider for example the Raider collection, and its flagship model Bivouac 9000, the only wristwatch capable of measuring altitudes up to 9,000 metres by purely mechanical means using an aneroid barometer, or the Harpoon diving watch with its ingenious display. Favre-Leuba also addresses women, with its Sea Bird model, among others, and those who appreciate more classic watches, with its Chief collection. A delegation from Russia's lower house of parliament the Duma arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for meetings with the Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Ali Abdel-Al and MPs aimed at enhancing bilateral relations, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The Russian delegation, which will be in Egypt for several days, consists of six members of parliament led by Vladimir Shamanov, chairman of the Duma's defence committee. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a one-day visit to Cairo on Monday, meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and witnessing the signing of an agreement to start work on Egypt's first-ever nuclear power plant at Dabaa on the north coast. In what was his second official visit to Cairo since 2015, Putin said that the two nations were experiencing "new dynamics in trade and economic exchange." The two leaders agreed to continue negotiations on establishing a free-trade zone between Egypt and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in the Suez Canal area. Search Keywords: Short link: A business consultant indicted on corruption charges alongside the mayor of Allentown and the former mayor of Reading has pleaded guilty to fraud in each city. James Hickey entered the plea Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia as part of a deal with prosecutors. They will drop other charges and recommend he be sentenced to 18 months in prison. Hickey was named in indictments against Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer, who were accused of shaking down businesses and individuals for campaign contributions in alleged pay-to-play schemes. Hickey owns the lobbying business Sovereign Enterprise and previously served as administration director under former Northampton County Executive Glenn Reibman. Investigators allege Pawlowski used Hickey and Mike Fleck to arrange for thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, as well as tickets to a Philadelphia Eagles playoff game, in exchange for city business and contracts. Pawlowski and Spencer, both Democrats, have denied the accusations. Pawlowski, who won re-election last month, is scheduled for trial in January. Hickey's attorneys declined to comment on the plea, citing a gag order. The First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem will remain in the hands of its liberal parent, the Presbyterian Church USA, after a ruling Tuesday by a Northampton County judge. A majority of members of the Bethlehem church wanted to break with that parent organization and affiliate with the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. That decision came following an internal church vote in June 2016. Their disagreement wound up before Judge Stephen Baratta, who had to decide whether the majority group had the right to wrest the church from the others. Baratta determined the church property was placed in an irrevocable trust to benefit the Presbyterian Church USA, and the judge refused to break the trust. "To do otherwise, we would ignore the express intention of those who built this congregation with the expectation that those founding principles should forever direct its mission," the judge said. The legal battle follows a relatively recent decision by the Presbyterian Church USA to recognize of same-sex marriages and the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals as pastors. The national organization amended its Book of Order over the last six years to permit both practices. The Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians opposes those practices. The church members who support the Presbyterian Church USA issued a statement thanking the judge. "It is our ardent prayer and hope that our church community can now find a measure of reconciliation around our shared love of our Lord Jesus Christ and for one another," the statement says. "We continue to affirm that we are a congregation in which 'all are welcome.'" Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. A man accused of a 2015 jewelry store robbery in Downtown Bethlehem saw half of his charges dismissed on Wednesday. John Wroten, of Philadelphia, was arraigned in November in the case, after DNA found on a watch left behind by the robbery trio matched his, according to city police. Following a preliminary hearing, District Judge Roy Manwaring dismissed robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges against Wroten. Wroten still faces trial on theft and receiving stolen property charges in the case. The 53-year-old remains in Northampton County Prison in lieu of posting $200,000 bail. Police said Wroten and two other men walked into Musselman Jewelers, 550 Main St. in Bethlehem, on Nov. 19, 2015, and claimed they needed links removed from a designer watch. A female employee went into a back room to work on the watch, and one of the men distracted owner Lou Wrabel with a different watch, police said. One of the men was caught on surveillance video entering a display window and taking $40,000 worth of engagement rings and other pieces from a display case, according to police. The female employee working on the watch tried to walk out a back door, but she was blocked by one of the men, police said. The trio fled the store, but one left behind the watch used to distract the owner, police said. Investigators sent the watch to the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab to be tested for DNA. The DNA on the watch matched to Wroten, police said. Police also matched Wroten to one of the three males depicted on the store's surveillance camera footage. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. UPDATE: Easton moves ahead on marijuana, with lots of questions Easton City Council is set tonight to consider a first step toward reducing penalties for possessing a small amount of marijuana or related paraphernalia. Councilman Peter Melan wants council to vote on having the city solicitor draft a law to create a summary offense for violators, who now face a misdemeanor carrying a possible fine and prison time. "It would be the equivalent of a traffic ticket," Melan said Tuesday. "You pay a fine." Melan said he proposed the change after news on a similar vote in Erie made its way into his Facebook feed. He admits the idea may die Wednesday, if he can't get a second on the resolution. "I just want to get the ball rolling with this from the city's perspective," Melan said. "I haven't spoken to my colleagues. They may say, 'Peter you're out of your mind.'" Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said decriminalization needs to be taken up at the state level, despite a series of municipal votes on the matter across Pennsylvania. "I obviously think that decriminalization would be a good idea, but the decriminalization has to come from the state level," Panto said. "We do not have the right to do that under state law, and I don't think we have the right to direct our police what to enforce and what not to enforce." State Rep. Robert Freeman, a Democrat whose district includes Easton, said he doesn't see decriminalization gaining traction during the 2017-18 legislative session in Harrisburg. "It's been talked about and I think there's growing support for the idea of reducing the penalty for possessing a small amount," he said Tuesday. "A small amount of marijuana is not a serious offense and yet it's filling up our prison with people who are obviously going to cause the prison costs to rise as a result of it, and the feeling is a small amount does not pose a threat to public safety." Beyond state law, marijuana remains as bad as heroin and LSD in the federal view. Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program set to begin in spring 2018 should provide "sort of a testing time" for the issue, said Freeman, who noted broad support for legalizing cannabis products as medicine. Gov. Tom Wolf has said he supports decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana in Pennsylvania, phillymag.com reported. Philadelphia in 2014 decriminalized possession of a small amount of marijuana, cutting it from a misdemeanor to a civil offense payable by a fine. York did the same thing in July, according to the York Daily Record. Similar measures have been approved in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and State College, according to the marijuana advocacy site mpp.org. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, in a discussion last month on the "Easton, PA" Facebook group, said local laws "cannot supplant the state law," even though they provide "a lesser offense that their police officers could charge in lieu of the crimes code." Morganelli called decriminalization a better alternative to legalization, in that it would save taxpayers money without resulting "in more people using drugs, which is not in the interest of society." Last month's Erie vote that caught Melan's attention was the same as what is being considered in Easton: a request to the solicitor's office to draw up an ordinance. It passed unanimously, goerie.com reports, unlike the acrimony attached to an October vote on marijuana in Reading. There, Mayor Wally Scott and Managing Director Glenn Steckman abruptly left a meeting after city council approved urging a state vote on local discretion in enforcing marijuana laws, WFMZ-TV69 reports. Marijuana "is destroying America, and this is something you shouldn't even be encouraging," Scott told council, according to the report. Steckman was Easton's city administrator for seven years until January 2016. Melan called decriminalization an issue that needs to be discussed across Pennsylvania, particularly following legalization in eight states plus the District of Columbia. New Jersey is set to consider joining them next year, under new Gov.-elect Phil Murphy, nj.com reports. Melan said he's looking to ease penalties on recreational users only, not anyone involved in selling marijuana, he said. Nevertheless, he's prepared to face resistance. "This is something that I think is going to be a long and arduous process," Melan said. Council meets at 6 p.m. at city hall, 123 S. Third St. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A pizza delivery driver lured to a robbery and then shot in the face in East Stroudsburg has died. Richard LaBar (Photo courtesy of LaBar's family) Richard LaBar, 58, a driver for Domino's Pizza, was shot early Monday morning in the 400 block of Normal Street on the east side of East Stroudsburg University's campus, authorities said. The Monroe County District Attorney's Office said LaBar's delivery was a set up for a robbery. The address is used by the university to house Army recruits, but it was empty at the time. After a brief struggle with 17-year-old Israel Berrios, LaBar was knocked to the ground and shot with a .410 gauge shotgun, prosecutors said. LaBar was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono, then transferred to the hospital's Cedar Crest location and put on life support. After multiple tests determined there was no brain activity, LaBar's family decided to turn off the life support, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at 9:05 p.m. Tuesday at the hospital, the Lehigh County coroner's office said. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday; the manner of death is homicide, the coroner's office said. The shooting is being investigated by the coroner's office and Pennsylvania State Police. In addition to Berrios, also charged are his 30-year-old girlfriend Carolina Carmona and her brother Salvador Roberts Jr., 21, all of East Stroudsburg. Berrios and Carmona live at the same address in the 400 block of Hill Street, according to court records. Prosecutors said a Stroud Area Regional police officer proved crucial to the quick arrest of the suspects. While at the shooting scene, officer Terry Eilber spotted a taxi driving toward the Hill Street address where Berrios lives. Berrios was a suspect in several incidents, police said, including the Nov. 12th attempted robbery of pizza delivery person, police said. Eilber called the taxi company and confirmed it was dispatched to Berrios' address, and that it picked up a male and a female, police said. The riders asked the driver about the shooting, police said. The driver reported taking the pair to South Courtland Street, and that the male got out with a bag in his hand, was gone for several minutes, then got back into the cab with the bag, troopers said. The driver said he brought the pair back to Berrios and Carmona's address at about 3:11 a.m. In interviews with state police, Berrios and Carmona reportedly admitted to planning the robbery and using Roberts as a getaway driver. Berrios, who was interviewed with his grandmother present, initially claimed being home all night, but was confronted with the cab information and surveillance video showing him and two others leaving the address right before the shooting, troopers said. Carmona called Domino's using a cellphone app, and arranged for the delivery at the empty address, state police said. Roberts drove the pair to the address and parked down the block, troopers said. When LaBar arrived, Carmona was standing outside, and Berrios was nearby hiding in the bushes, state police said. Berrios said he came out from the bushes with the sawed-off shotgun pointed at the driver, and demanded money, according to state police. Berrios claimed the victim denied having money and tried to grab the shotgun, and that they struggled before Berrios shot LaBar, knocking him to the ground. Carmona reportedly told police the two struggled, but that LaBar was knocked to the ground first, and then Berrios shot him. Berrios assumed LaBar was dead, and took a bag with $100 cash from LaBar, state police said. The pair fled to Roberts' car, and he drove away. Berrios allegedly dumped the shotgun in the woods near a CVS near South Courtland Street, unknowingly dropping the stolen cash, and the trio went back to get the cash, then to an Exxon station. State police said they bought gas, cigarettes and a cigar for a blunt, and Berrios and Carmona were dropped off at their house. Carmona told troopers she and Berrios smoked pot, had sex, took a shower together and then took a cab to get the shotgun, state police said. Prosecutors said investigators found the shotgun in the master bedroom at Berrios and Carmona's address, as well as ammunition, a pair of sneakers with treads that matched footprints in the snow at the crime scene, and a pair of women's sneakers with what appeared to be pizza residue on them. A fundraising website has been set up for LaBar's family. Lambda Iota, an East Stroudsburg sorority, also set up a website to raise money for LaBar's medical bills and holiday-related expenses for his family. Tony Rhodin and Rudy Miller contributed to this report. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Two people escaped serious injury when their car went off the road Monday into a patch of Warren County woods, New Jersey State Police said. It occurred about 1 p.m. on Hope Great Meadows Road (County Route 611) in Hope Township, Trooper Gene Hong said. Responders from the Hope Volunteer Fire Department and Blairstown Ambulance Corps, along with Saint Clare's Health System paramedics, found the sedan down an embankment and overturned in a creek, with two occupants trapped inside, according to reports from the scene. Crews climbed down and waded into the water to free the male driver through the sunroof, then climbed inside the car to help the female passenger out through her door, the reports indicated. Both occupants wore their seat belts and declined to be taken to an area hospital for treatment, reports from the scene indicated. Hong confirmed there were no serious injuries. The police spokesman identified the driver as 78-year-old Lawrence Trumpore and his passenger as Loretta Trumpore. Records show they live in Hope Township. The police investigation into the crash was continuing, and no citations were immediately filed. The Warren County Hazardous Materials Response Team responded for a small gasoline and oil spill into the creek, according to reports from the scene. No road closures were necessary during the response, and police cleared the call at 2:52 p.m., Hong said. Freelance photographer Robert Halberstadt contributed to this report. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. It might not be much, but paired with continuing cold air, snow forecast overnight Wednesday into Thursday is expected to impact the morning commute. Light snow is forecast to begin falling after 10 p.m. at Lehigh Valley International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. "Most of it'll be done by sunrise tomorrow, but it will probably all fall as snow," weather service meteorologist Patrick O'Hara said Wednesday. Totals are forecast at an inch or 2. "Certainly temperatures are cold, so roads will be slick and people need to take a little extra time in the morning," O'Hara said. The overnight low is forecast at 20 at the airport, with a high Thursday near 32. Winds are forecast to shift from the west at 14 to 21 mph to out of the northwest at 5 to 13 mph, between Wednesday and Thursday. An inch or 2 of snow was forecast for the Lehigh Valley region overnight Wednesday into Thursday, Dec. 13-14, 2017, according to the National Weather Service. (Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com) The weather service issued a winter weather advisory for 8 p.m. Wednesday through 10 a.m. Thursday for an area including Lehigh, Northampton, Warren and Hunterdon counties. "The snow should enter the region late in the evening and be on the decrease by daybreak," the weather service says in a forecast discussion from its Philadelphia region office in Mount Holly, New Jersey. "Despite the light amounts, the timing (and the subfreezing temperatures) suggests that there will be impacts with the morning commute on Thursday. ... Some slick roads and treacherous travel can be expected should the snow materialize as currently forecast." More chances for snow are possible Friday, but O'Hara said: "I don't think that's going to be very much at all." The weather service forecasts little to no accumulation from snow showers possible after 1 p.m. Friday at the airport. Sunday afternoon into nighttime could bring another fast-moving snowfall with light accumulation at the airport, the weather service says. One more note on the forecast Wednesday night: It does not look good for Lehigh Valley viewing of the Geminid meteor shower forecast to peak after 9 p.m. Wednesday. It could be clear earlier in the evening, O'Hara said, offering a chance to glimpse some early arrivals of the glowing space particles. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. So we've had a bit of snow over the past week but what are the actual odds we'll have a White Christmas this year? Well Boylesports has recently shortened the odds from 5/1 to 3/1 and booking has been suspended on bets because of fears of a massive Christmas payout. Paddy Power has also reduced the odds of a White Christmas (snowfall at Dublin airport) to 3/1. Of course, just because people are betting on snow this December 25 doesn't mean there will actually be any. According to the latest long-term forecasts we won't be seeing any festive flurries this Christmas. Accuweather.com says that Christmas Day in Dublin will be cloudy but completely snow free with a high of 8C and an overnight low of 2C. Snow fell on Christmas day on 12 days (1950, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1970, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, and 2004) since records began here in 1941. In Ireland snow occurs most frequently in the months from December to March. If you're going to have a flutter here's an article that might help you beat the bookies. WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IRISH SNOW 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. An Egyptian appeals court upheld on Wednesday a three-month prison sentence against prominent actor Amr Waked for damaging a car parked outside his Cairo home. The actor, who was not present at court when the verdict was issued, has the right to file one more objection to the sentence if he appears in person in court. Waked, 45, was handed the original sentence in October and was released on EGP 1,000 (approximately $60) bail pending appeal. The actor has denied the charges against him, maintaining that they were trumped up by a doorman with whom he is on bad terms. Waked, a celebrated movie and TV star in Egypt, has also played roles in a number of international hits including Steven Spielberg's film Munich, Syriana with George Clooney, and more recently the Hollywood thriller Lucy alongside Scarlet Johansson and Morgan Freeman and as well as the sci-fi thriller Geostorm. Search Keywords: Short link: The Minister for Health has declined to rule out the closure of the Emergency Department at Portlaoise hospital by December 2018 but does intend to 'provide clarity' on the future by the end of 2017. Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, Minister Simon Harris was asked by presenter Gavin Jennings if "the emergency department at Portlaoise hospital will be open this year?" "I have already said I am going to bring clarity to Portlaoise by the end of the year. That's still my intention. Even under the report submitted by the HSE, which has been leaked on many occasions, even under that report it envisages services to continuing for many years. "I think there is a lot of serious issues. We haven't done reconfiguration well in this country. I want to consider the issue very carefully. I have been considering the issue very carefully and I will outline my position by the end of the year. Asked again if the A&E would be open this time next year, the Minister replied: "You're asking me my intentions today. I am still engaging with my department in relation to the issue. "I think there is very serious questions about capacity in the health service. We now have Sainte Care (cross party plan for the health service). I'm not sure the withdrawal of services pending that make sense, but what I will do for the people of Portlaoise is provide clarity in the coming weeks by the end of the year on my intentions for their hospital." he said. Minister Harris was interviewed on Wednesday, December 13 on the same day he was due to meet Laois TDs Minister Charlie Flanagan, Sean Fleming and Brian Stanley on the issue. Listen back to the interview here The Minister was given a downgrade plan for Portlaoise at the end of 2016 by the HSE's Dublin Midland's Hospital Group. It recommended the withdrawal of A&E, ICU, maternity, paediatrics and most surgery from the hospital. The HSE wanted to begin implementation of the the plan in January 2017 and be ready to withdraw services by 2022. A&E would be scaled back before then. A 100 million plan was envisaged to allow reconfiguration of services in Tullamore, Tallaght, The Coombe, Naas hospitals to facilitate downgrade. The plan is the result of the HIQA investigation into Portlaoise hospital. It called for a plan and questioned the susatainability of services in Portlaoise. This week it was reported that HIQA could get the power to close hospitals by withdrawing licences. PORTLAOISE HOSPITAL ACTION COMMITTEE WANTS TO MEET LEO VARADKAR, SIMON HARRIS & MICHEAL MARTIN Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has agreed to meet the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee on the future of hospital services in Laois. The Fianna Fail press office told the Leinster Express that Mr Martin had agreed in principle to meet the campaign committee after receiving a request from its secretary John Hanniffy. FF also confirmed that Laois TD Sean Fleming had briefed Mr Martin on situation. It said its party spokesperson on health, Billy Kelleher would also attend. A date has yet to be fixed for when the meeting would take place. The committee has also asked for meetings with the Minister for Health Simon Harris and the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Minister Harris is due to meet Laois TDs, Minister Charlie Flanagan, Dep Fleming and Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley on Friday, November 15 at 9.30 am. Minster Harris told Morning Ireland on RTE that he would provide clarity on the hospital's future by the end of 2017. Sinn Fein's spokesperson on Health, Louse O'Reilly spoke at a public meeting in Portlaoise in November. A meeting on the future of the Laois hospital between the Minister for Health Simon Harris and the three Laois TDs has been postponed to the end of the week. Laois TD and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan had said the meeting would take place today Wednesday, December 13. However, he confirmed to the Leinster Express on Wednesday morning that the meeting had been rescheduled to Friday, December 15. Minister Flanagan, who opposes downgrade, has met with the Minister a number of times on the issue. Laois opposition TDs, Sean Fleming and Brian Stanley have also made written and verbal requests to the Minister for meetings since the Light for Lives protest march which was attended by several thousand people in Portlaoise. Both spoke with Minister Harris in person in Leinster House. It is not clear if the meeting will take before or after a promised announcement by Minister Harris on what he intends to do with the third draft of downgrade plan for the hospital. He has told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1 that he intends to provide clarity by the end of 2017. It is likely the the hospital would have to be discussed at Government with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar before a decision is reached. Minister Harris was given the first draft of the downgrade plan in December 2016. RTE's PrimeTime broadcast a feature on the hospital on Thursday, November 7. WATCH REPORT HERE The HSE's Dublin Midland's hospital Group plan for Portlaoise envisages the removal of A&E, ICU, maternity, paediatrics and most surgery. The hospital would get a 24 hour Medical Assessment Unit and Local Injuries unit instead of A&E. The rest of the hospital's activity would be refocused on outpatients and elective work. The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group wanted to begin implementation in January 2017. It aimed to be ready to move most services by 2022 except A&E which would be scaled back before then. The cost would be over 100 million with money spent in Portlaoise, Tallaght, Tullamore, Naas and the Coombe hospitals to facilitate downgrade. No money has been committed to the project by the Government or the Minister for Health has the power to reject this plan. A Congolese family that has been separated since 2012 will spend their first Christmas together in over five years in their new home in Laois. Serge Kanyamuhanga and his brother were separated from their family due to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012 when they were kidnapped and being forced to join a rebel army. They managed to flee to Uganda where a priest helped them to get to Ireland and they were granted refugee status here. Speaking to the Leinster Express, Serge said that when they arrived here they were placed into care in Portlaoise. "When I arrived in Ireland I was placed into a foster family in Portlaoise together with my young brother. "When my family moved to Ireland in May 2017 we wanted to stay in Portlaoise because we had lived there since 2013 and then my brother and myself went to Portlaoise College. "We had a strong connection here and we had already met friends, even though I am going to Trinity College I still like to be here. We wanted to find a house in Mountmellick," he said. "Apart from school, we also attended church in Portlaoise. We have met good friends and people from our home country in church, we are part of the community there, there are around fifty in the African community, we get together every Sunday from around half ten for a worship service. We meet people from our home country in that church. "We feel at home here also the fact that we have been in school here and made friends, there is a very good community here," he said. Serge's mother and siblings ended up in South Africa, their father, Willy, was not seen again and feared dead. Yesterday, their father arrived in Ireland and there was emotional scenes at Dublin Airport. The entire family of ten were reunited when Willy flew into Dublin from Mozambique, via Ethiopia. Willy was able to make the journey under a travel assistance programme, operated by UNHCR, the Irish Red Cross, and IOM. For the first time since they were kidnapped in 2012, the family is now reunited and living together in Mountmellick. "The Red Cross were the ones who arranged the travel for my Dad, they said it was difficult to make it for Christmas but we asked if they could and now it is lovely that he is here, we will celebrate together," he said. Serge Kanyamuhanga is a past pupil of Portlaoise college, currently studying in Trinity College Dublin. The picture above shows Serge receiving his Leaving Certificate results at Portlaoise College alongside Principal Noel Daly and Deputy Principal Patricia Cullen. Serge made a return visit to the school in 2016 when the school was awarded the title of 21st Century School of Distinction for 2016 by Trinity College Dublin in honour of our work with the College For Every Student (CFES) programme. Watch the emotional RTE News report by Philip Bromwell by clicking here and going to 23:00 minutes. A new group has been set up in Kilcullen to help build affordable houses for people who have been priced out of the property market. Kilcullen Co Housing Group is working on a very exciting project in conjunction with OCualann Housing Alliance and Kildare County Council that will bring an initial 10 affordable houses, with a view to providing a lot more in the future through this model. The group is holding its second meeting in Fallons on Thursday January 18. Founder James Brennan set up the group after he and his partner experienced problems getting on the property ladder. Not content to sit back and wait for things to happen, James drove forward this new initiative. We are halfway there. We now have five people who are mortgage approved, ready to go and on board. We just need five more people, he said. READ MORE: Slight rise in November Kildare house prices James explained the council did not have a site in Kilcullen but the local authority identified a site seven minutes away in Athgarvan. He said once they get the 10 people they need, OChualann Housing Alliance will come up with a proposal for Kildare County Council, similar to The Poppintree Community in Dublin. O Cualann is a voluntary housing co-operative, with Approved Housing Body status. O Cualann can deliver three bed homes at between 160,000 and 185,000 30% below current market value. Check out Kilcullen Co Housing Group on Facebook for more info. MUNSTER rugby hooker Duncan Casey has said that the current homeless crisis in Limerick is quite worrying. Duncan, who took part in the Macra Sleep-out last year and which will take place again this year, said: As reported in the Leader, it shows that Limerick now has the highest number of homeless people in the country outside of Dublin, so we have more than any other major urban centre, which is quite disappointing. The Macra 24 hour sleep-out which takes place on Saturday, December 16 will raise awareness of the homeless situation. Its not an easy thing to undertake and there is a great crew of people from the Macra who participate, it seems to be growing in size every year. Its obviously very cold being outdoors for the whole night but people tend to be warmly received and it raises a huge amount of funds for an important cause and worthwhile organisation, he said. The event will kick off at 8am on December 16 outside AIB on O'Connell Street, with all proceeds going to Mid-West Simon Community. Macra are looking for bucket collectors on Saturday December 16 between 9am to 1pm on OConnell Street, Patrick Street and the Milk Market. A LIMERICK mother has issued an urgent public appeal on social media after a memory bracelet dedicated to her late son went missing this week. Miriam Gallagher, of Grange, lost the very sentimental bracelet while travelling between the Grange school and Castletroy, earlier this week. The bracelet, she told the Limerick Leader, was given to her as a gift, after her 11-year-old son Andy died in a sporting incident in 2004. The bracelet is made up of crystals, four cubes with the letters A-N-D-Y, green birthstone and a silver heart, intertwined with a bar, she said. [Andy] was a great son, full of life. [He] loved old people and calling to them for tea, and had a massive sense of humour. He was well loved and had a beautiful soul. She said that Andy had a pet dog named Benji, pictured above. She said that for weeks after Andy's death, Benji "ran to the gate at 3.20pm when the school passed and waited, then walked slowly back up the drive and went and laid on Andy's bed. He was a great dog and they went everywhere together. He was never the same after Andy." The 51-year-old said that she had been attending the Santa gathering at the Grange primary school on Sunday, and then travelled to McDonalds in Castletroy. She posted on Facebook: Hopefully, with a Christmas miracle, someone may have found it or come across it. A CRIMINAL figure who was jailed for four years after he was convicted of threatening to kill a Limerick-based detective has failed to have his conviction overturned. Darren OHalloran, aged 32, who has an address Aurea Cottage at Dublin Road, was convicted in September 2016 following a three-day trial at Limerick Circuit Court. He had denied threatening to kill Detective Garda Pat Whelan in a phone call to Henry Street garda station on April 2, 2015. He also denied threatening to cause damage to the detectives home, which is outside of Limerick. Detective Garda Whelan told the trial he was on duty at around 2pm when a phone call was received in the crime office at Henry Street garda station. He said the caller identified himself as Darren Joey and that he immediately recognised the person on the phone as the accused man. He said that during the subsequent conversation Mr OHalloran suggested that he and his brother, Aaron, would do no more crime if gardai backed off. The detective said when he indicated to the caller that gardai would not be backing down, the defendant became aggressive and threatened to finish him saying: Go get your V6 Mondeo, Ill ram you off the road at 160 miles an hour. The jury was told the caller then described seeing the detective on a white horse at a named location outside Limerick some time earlier and that he also made reference to the location and colour of his home which he threatened to burn to the ground. At the Court of Appeal, lawyers representing OHalloran submitted Judge Tom ODonnell had erred by allowing the evidence of voice identification and recognition to be admitted. They also submitted he had erred in his warning to the jury concerning voice identification/recognition. Rejecting OHallorans appeal, Mr Justice Alan Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice Michael Peart and Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court was satisfied, in all the circumstances, that the jury was adequately charged in relation to the subject of voice identification evidence and that the appellant received a fair trial. A LIMERICK man who stole his elderly mothers debit card and lost close to 3,000 gambling at a casino in the city will have to complete community service to avoid prison. Eugene Nevin, aged 36, who has an address at Oliver Plunkett Street, St Marys Park has pleaded guilty to more than a dozen theft charges relating to offences which occurred on dates in June 2016. Limerick District Court was told the defendant, who has more than 60 previous convictions, surreptitiously obtained his mothers pin which enabled him to use the stolen card to obtain cash. Sergeant Donal Cronin, prosecuting, said the card was used to obtain a total of 2,700 at Roma Casino on June 29, 2016 while it was also used at a Paddy Power William Street. He said no compensation has been paid to date and that the injured party remains at a loss of more than 2,800. Solicitor Michael ODonnell said his client, who fell out with his mother as a result of the incident, intends repaying the money and was willing to put aside 100 per month. Mr ODonnell said his client accepts his actions were very lousy but added that Mrs Nevin is a forgiving mother up to a point. Judge Mary Larkin was told the defendant, who no longer lives with his mother, did not make any personal gain as a result of his actions. He has had addiction difficulties in the past and is currently on a methadone programme. Having canvassed the views of the injured party, Sgt Cronin said she was not anxious for the matter to be finalised in a way that would result in her son being imprisoned. Judge Mary Larkin described the actions of Mr Nevin as particularly deispicable and she questioned why he cannot get a job and put yourself to work. She commented that his guilty plea had been entered at the 99th hour after he had forced his mother to attend court. Adjourning the matter to the new year, she indicated she is considering a penalty of 220 hours of community service in lieu of an 11 month prison sentence.She fined Mr Nevin 200 in relation to a separate theft matter at Aldi, Childers Road. Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said before an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Wednesday that Egypt will be at the forefront in confronting any attempts to circumvent the realisation of historic and legal Palestinians rights. Shoukry said that the stability of the region and the world will be affected by any ill-conceived moves on Jerusalem, reaffirming Cairos rejection of last week's decision by US President Donald Trump to recognise the city as the capital of Israel. Shoukry, who attended the OIC meeting representing Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, said that the any change to the status of Jerusalem means rewarding the occupation and killing a historic and legal right of Palestinians; it would render any talk of peace devoid of any meaning. The minister said that Jerusalem is an indivisible part of Palestinian land occupied since 1967, which is a historical and legal fact supported by the decisions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, adding that this fact cannot change except with the end of the occupation. Shoukry said that the Palestinians have been subject to a tragedy for seven decades, and that Jerusalem is part of the tragedy the Palestinian people have lived since the occupation started in 1967. Egypt has been committed to defending the rights of the Palestinians since 1948, and has sacrificed all that is dear to do so, and will continue to defend Palestinian rights, Shoukry said. The FM said that the Palestinians and Arabs have accepted a resolution to the conflict based on the two-state solution, at the heart of which is the recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their state on the land occupied in 1967. A final statement by the OIC on Wednesday declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital." The member countries declared Trump's decision "null and void legally" and "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts" that would give impetus to "extremism and terrorism." Egypt decries the US decision, which violates international legitimacy and considers it inconsequential in terms of affecting any new legal or political new reality, Shoukry said. Search Keywords: Short link: CAROLINE Keane and Tom Delany are to launch new album Never Say Goodbye, Say Good Luck at Dolans in Limerick. Limerick concertina player Caroline is originally from Raheen and now lives in Dingle, but still teaches from her home when not on tour. The duo have been performing together for a number of years and are both founding members of the powerful quartet FourWinds. Both attended the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at UL and Toms music is heavily influenced by the travelling style of piping and his dynamic playing echoes the music of North Clare and Ennis where he moved after completing his studies. Caroline said that having spent the last number of years living in communities where traditional music is at the heart of daily life, the new recording reflects the beautiful richness of Clare, Limerick and West Kerry music. The new album - Never Say Goodbye, Say Good Luck - is a new recording of traditional Irish music that presents Irish cultural heritage in a fresh and creative context while remaining steadfastly loyal to the music, song and dance traditions of past, the duo say. We wanted to illustrate the last four years of music together; our friends, our travels and our homes are all intrinsic to this recording project," says Caroline, who says she has a very fond affinity with the music of her own home county. We both studied at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, at the University of Limerick. We started playing music there and we were both very attracted to those different styles, its great to blend and interweave our influences. Having performed worldwide with FourWinds, the duo have focus on melodies and tunes that relate to home on the new album. We picked tunes which we learned from our friends and from our musical heroes," says Caroline. The release features an incredible cast of guest musicians such as Donogh Hennessy, Cyril ODonoghue, Robbie Walsh, Elaine Hogan, Brian OLoughlin and Laura Kerr. It was important to us to have some of our friends on this recording, they are all true masters of their instruments as well as incredibly nice people," laughs Caroline. Never Say Goodbye, Say Good Luck by Caroline Keane and Tom Delany will be launched with a show Upstairs in Dolan's tonight, Wednesday. See www.dolans.ie for more. 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. Over 80,500 feddans (33,600 hectares) of Egyptian farmland have seen various violations over the past seven years, agriculture ministry spokesman Hamid Abdel-Dayem told Ahram Online on Wednesday. Egyptian farmers have continued to build houses without permits on their lands or sell them. Over 1.8 million violations, which include construction, dredging or neglect, have been documented since the 2011 revolution, spokesman Abdel-Dayem said. In 2016, President Abdel-Fattah Sisi formed a national committee to reclaim agricultural state land in accordance with Egyptian law, with the president later instructing governors, the interior ministry, and the Armed Forces to put an end to such transgressions. Since then, over 919,000 feddans have been reclaimed by the state, while 771,000 feddans are being used for agriculture with their occupants filing formal requests to purchase the land, according to statistics provided by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail last June. Although construction without permits on agricultural land is punishable by jail terms or fines, the practice has continued in Egypt over the years. Only 30 percent of the violations on almost 25,000 feddans have been removed, Abdel-Dayem said, citing a report issued by the ministry earlier this week. The agriculture ministry can only take action against violations during early stages of digging or preparation for construction. Provincial governors, in coordination with the military and police, are responsible for handling the violations if residential building blocks have already been constructed. Abdel-Dayem says the ministry launches periodic campaigns to clamp down on illegal building on farmland. Egypt is estimated to have around 10 million feddans of agricultural land, which has provided a lifeline for millions of Egyptians. However, urban expansion has eaten up large swathes of farmland to make way for a growing population that is concentrated along the fertile banks of the Nile. Agricultural production made up 11.7 percent of the country's gross domestic product from March 2016 until September 2017, recording EGP 219.7 billion, according to a cabinet report in November. Search Keywords: Short link: The Israeli air force hit the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers early on Wednesday after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military said. Late on Tuesday, the military said that an undefined "projectile" was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was "very probably" a rocket but that it was not clear where it hit. Palestinians in the coastal territory have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. "In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel air force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip," the army said on Wednesday. There were no reports of casualties on either side. Gaza security officials said that aircraft hit a Hamas naval base west of the city of Khan Yunis and open land nearby. Trump's announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or Israeli air strikes so far. Search Keywords: Short link: The United States will provide the Lebanese army with its first attack helicopters in a bid to bolster border security and fight Islamist militants groups, US officials said Wednesday in Beirut. The landmark announcement came during a visit to Lebanon by General Joseph Votel, the top commander for US military forces in the Middle East. The US Department of Defense will give Lebanon six MD530G light attack helicopters as part of its security assistance programme, according to US Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard. It will also provide six new Scan Eagle drones, night vision devices, other equipment and training, she added. Richard said the assistance, worth more than $120 million, "will help the army build on its steady strong capability to conduct border security and counterterrorism operations". Votel, who met on Wednesday with Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Defence Minister Yaacoub al-Sarraf, and army chief General Joseph Aoun, said the US was "proud" to partner with the army. Aram Nerguizian, a senior associate at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Wednesday's announcement marked the first time the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would receive attack helicopters. He said the LAF had needed aircraft for close air support, precision targeting, and intelligence gathering and surveillance. "It was also looking for a system that could operate at altitude -- such as Lebanon's frontier with Syria, which is well above sea level -- and that is reasonably easy to maintain and sustain," Nerguizian told AFP. Search Keywords: Short link: Russia welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's statement that Washington is ready to begin direct talks with North Korea, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday. Tillerson said direct talks with Pyongyang might start without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that North Korea must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Search Keywords: Short link: The symposium is paired with residency periods for artists to produce and collaborate amid Luxor's rich and historic environs The 10th Luxor International Painting Symposium opened this week featuring 25 Egyptian and international artists. The symposium runs until 24 December and is organised by the Culture Development Fund (CDF) under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, with assistance from the City of Luxors Supreme Council. Selected artists will be producing their projects as they spend two weeks at multi-purpose studios situated in Luxors temples and historic cemeteries area, previously El-Gorna village before its people were relocated to a new village. The aim of the symposium is to foster an exchange between Egyptian and international artists as they produce their artworks in the serenity of Luxor's environs. The CDF will collect the completed works by the artists to be displayed in a museum still in the making, and at other establishments and public locations. The artists participation is in four different categories: 12-15 recipients of the Studio Grant for artists under 30, one Resident Artist over 30 years of age that is invited, the Luxor International Symposium for Creative Arts, which includes 25 artists, and an Artistic Skills Development Programme for Amateurs, in which artists can enroll for a three-month study term. This year there are four Arabs, 11 expatriates and 10 Egyptian artists. The participating expatriates are from Sudan, Russia, Italy, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Serbia, Lithuania, Ethiopia and Romania. Artists from the Arab world come from Lebanon, Jordan, and two from Iraq. Egyptian artists at the Symposium are Weaam El-Masry, Noha Nagui, Nihal Wahby, Mahmoud Soliman, Mohamed Khedr, Mohamed El-Moslemany, Fatma Abdel-Rahman, Shereen El-Baroudy, Sahar El-Amir and Hanafy Mahmoud. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: The pleasures of art, music, food, natural beauty and sexual awakening are evoked and celebrated in "Call Me by Your Name," an almost sinfully enjoyable movie that both observes and obeys the languid rhythms of a torrid Italian summer. Set in the early 1980s, Luca Guadanigno's adaptation of Andre Aciman's 2007 novel barely counts as a period piece, although the short shorts and tube socks Armie Hammer wears to play his smart-jock protagonist put the story squarely in the past. Still, the themes of longing, desire and self-definition are nothing if not timeless. Here, a young man's coming-of-age is given such tactile, emotionally resonant immediacy that it would be recognizable in any country, of any era. The young man in question is Elio (Timothee Chalamet), the 17-year-old son of an archaeology professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) who has hired an American student named Oliver (Hammer) to be his assistant for the summer. As a typically self-absorbed teenager, Elio at first seems barely aware of Oliver's presence, being far more interested in his on-and-off girlfriend, reading and pursuing compositional musings on the guitar and piano. For his part, Oliver embodies a purely American brand of unbridled appetite and unselfconscious confidence that strikes an immediate awkward note within Elio's casually cosmopolitan family. Soon, though, the household reaches its own pleasant rhythm, with the two young men - about seven years apart in age - gravitating toward one another as friends and, eventually, more. Before readers look up the Italian word for "problematic," let it be noted that it is Elio, not Oliver, who is the pursuer in "Call Me By Your Name," which was written for the screen by James Ivory. Balancing the objectification of its leading men with discretion and delicacy, this is a film that acknowledges the purity and sculptural beauty of youth - Greek aesthetics, philosophy and ideals of male friendship are invoked early and often - but never at the expense of a character who, on the cusp of manhood, possesses his own agency and desires, despite their sometimes shaky parameters. Portrayed with a note-perfect combination of cocky self-assurance and wary naivete by Chalamet, Elio is something of an extension of the actor's hilariously pretentious character in the recent film "Lady Bird" - another teenager with pedantic ideas about his own depth and seriousness. But while Ivory and Guadanigno aren't afraid to wink at Elio's youthful lack of self-awareness, they never stoop to ridiculing it: Like Oliver, whose own seeming shallowness masks a surprisingly observant, compassionate nature, they're patient and indulgent with a stage of life that can seem laughable, enviable and excruciatingly painful all at the same time. The plot of "Call Me By Your Name" isn't particularly novel. Its contours are familiar to anyone who can remember their own sentimental education, or that of their favorite literary hero. What sets his movie apart are the flavors, feelings and fleeting glimpses of attraction that find as much erotic tension in a volleyball game or alfresco lunch as in sparring over a Bach cantata. The villa where much of "Call Me by Your Name" transpires, with its lush fruit orchards and burnished, offhanded refinement, feels less like a stage set than a summer home seen through a particularly revealing (but circumspect) keyhole. Anyone who has seen Guadanigno's previous films, including "I Am Love" and "A Bigger Splash," understands his gift for creating environments, often drenched in extravagant colors and textures; his staging and pacing are just as sensuously seductive, drawing viewers into a world that seems simultaneously realistic and dreamlike in its detail and pictorial richness. "Call Me By Your Name" finds the director marshaling those gifts in service to a spellbinding, almost ecstatically beautiful movie that gains even more heft and meaning in its final transcendent moments. What had been a two-hander featuring sensitive, flawlessly judged performances by Chalamet and Hammer expands into something more, and the audience realizes that the entire film could be interpreted as an elegant exercise in misdirection. "Call Me By Your Name" may exemplify well-tempered cinema at its most balanced and attractive, but it's far more than just a pretty face. --- Four stars. Rated R. Contains sexuality, nudity and some coarse language. 132 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Any picture book that a parent can read to kids in a few short minutes, no matter how delightful, requires fattening up to become a film. Sometimes Hollywood's crassness kills the charm. Happily, that is not the case with "Ferdinand," an animated film inspired by Munro Leaf's 1936 children's classic that brims with bumptious fun, droll characters and poignant emotions. Honoring Leaf's gentle "The Story of Ferdinand," about a Spanish bull who would rather smell the flowers than fight in the ring, the film incorporates the book's story arc, with stylistic nods to Robert Lawson's drawings of Spanish scenes and people. But it also adds new incidents, characters and depth, with a contemporary wit that doesn't coarsen the story - or not much, anyway. The movie widens Ferdinand's world, allowing him to bring others along with him on his quest to be who he wants to be, and to let others do the same. That theme and the anti-bullfighting message, so subtle in the book, are made bolder in the film, but never preachy. An overlong chase sequence on the streets of Madrid in the third act feels like padding. Yet even then, the characters' personalities enrich it. Director Carlos Saldanha, who worked on the "Rio" and "Ice Age" films, has chosen the voice cast well. In the title role, wrestler-turned-actor John Cena gives Ferdinand just the right balance of sweetness and strength. He becomes the wholly convincing center of the parable. As in the book, we first meet Ferdinand when he's a wee calf on a farm, where he discovers early on that smelling flowers in the pasture beats butting heads with the other young young'uns, who mock him and long to prove themselves in the bullring. Still, he never wavers. After his father fails to return from a bullfight, a grieving Ferdinand runs away from the farm. Nina (Lily Day), a little girl, finds him and takes him home to her father's farm as a pet. There, Ferdinand grows into an enormous, happy fellow. One day, he follows Nina into town for a festival, gets stung by a bee and reacts wildly. Terrified, the townsfolk lasso him and send him back to the farm where he was born. His owners hope that the famed toreador El Primero (Miguel Angel Silvestre) will choose Ferdinand for the ring. Lupe (Kate McKinnon, in fine eccentric form as a whacked-out "calming goat") is assigned to get Ferdinand in the right frame of mind. Determined to escape again, Ferdinand enlists Lupe and three conniving hedgehogs to help. At first, the other bulls will have none of his conscientious objections, but he eventually wins them over. Ferdinand still ends up in the bullring, where, in the film's touching finale, his peaceful nature triumphs over all. The movie ends up right where the book does, but after a longer trip. In a riotous interlude that does little to further the plot, three Lipizzaner-like horses - all tossing manes and Austrian accents - mock the clumsy bulls and challenge them to a dance-off. It's a random digression into utter silliness, but "Ferdinand" has the moral heft to carry it off and move on. --- Three and one-half stars. Rated PG. Contains rude humor, action and some thematic material related to a slaughterhouse. 106 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Sony Pictures Classics/TNS Aidas Secrets: This Israeli documentary follows the journey of Izak, who was born in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during World War II and was adopted in Israel. As an adult, he learns from his birth mother, Aida, that he has a brother in Canada and discovers the identity of his birth father. Along for the Ride: A documentary about the life and career of Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Blue Velvet). This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Celebrity chef John Besh has been edited out of an episode of "Top Chef" set to air in January because of sexual harassment allegations against him, a Bravo network spokeswoman told The Washington Post late Tuesday. Besh had served as guest judge on the program for years. In late October, he stepped down from the New Orleans-based restaurant group he founded and co-owned after more than two dozen women alleged his company fostered a culture of sexual harassment. Some 25 women told the Times-Picayune they were victims of sexual harassment while working for the Besh Restaurant Group, which included 12 restaurants across two states and employed about 1,200 people. Besh opened the critically acclaimed New Orleans inspired Luke on the River Walk in 2010. The restaurant closed in February 2017 after a scathing review documented it's downfall. Besh admitted in a statement to having a consensual relationship with an employee but denied allegations and knowledge of misconduct. Days after the allegations, American Public Television pulled Besh's two cooking programs from its rotation, the Times-Picayune reported. Tom Colicchio, lead judge on "Top Chef," told Eater that the network "worked really hard" to edit Besh out of the episode. "Bravo to Bravo for making this decision," Colicchio said. "... It's great that they spent the time and did the right thing." Colicchio has been particularly outspoken about sexual harassment in the restaurant industry since the allegations. Soon after allegations about Besh became public, Colicchio wrote an essay on Medium titled "An Open Letter to (Male) Chefs," which decried the "rampant harassment in the restaurant industry." "This isn't just a matter of a few bad eggs and we all know it. For every John Besh splashed across Page Six, we can assume hundreds, if not thousands, more with kitchens just like the ones his female employees described," wrote Colicchio, who co-founded New York City's famed Gramercy Tavern and other restaurants. When Eater and The Post reported this week that four women accused celebrity chef Mario Batali of sexual harassment, Colicchio turned to Twitter. "And no one should be surprised," he said. He later clarified the tweet in an interview with Food & Wine, saying, "It's not like it was discussed, or we all knew. But the assumption is: It's going on everywhere. It's pretty clear that this isn't an issue for just the restaurant industry. It's a problem with our culture." Padma Lakshmi, another regular "Top Chef" judge, has also been outspoken about sexual harassment. Recently, she has repeatedly praised women who have come forward with allegations. For example, she posted a note on Instagram after hosting a cooking segment on the "Today" show on Nov. 29, the day former host Matt Lauer was fired for what NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack called "inappropriate sexual behavior." In the post, she said the news saddened her but, "while this is a painful period in our cultural history, it is a good and necessary purging of one of the most harmful aspects of the 'old boys club.' There is always pain when the thorn gets pulled out of the flesh." And in a recent essay for the Hollywood Reporter, she wrote, "It's been a sickening fall season with hardly anyone worth rooting for, except those women who were brave enough to open their mouths about sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood and beyond." Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Algeria are the African countries to be present in the next edition of International Surrealism Now, to be held later this month in Portugal Represented by Olesya Novik (Ukraine/Egypt), Egypt will be one of four African countries to take part in the International Surrealism Now art exhibition that will open 23 December and continue until 5 January 2018 in POROS Museum (Museu Portugal Romano em Sico) in Condeixa village in Portugal. The other African countries are Morocco, Nigeria and Algeria. The biggest exhibition of the 21st century dedicated to surrealist art will showcase works of more than 100 artists from 48 countries. The event will include paintings, drawings, digital art, photographs and sculpture with some monuments to be displayed in public spaces throughout Portugal. Among the exhibition organisers is Portugese renowned artist Santiago Ribeiro, who expressed his delight to have artists from the African continent featured at the event. "Africa has strong cultural influences and a role to play on the international scene due to the large African presence in Portugal, especially from the five Afro-Portuguese countries. It is only natural that African art is included and showcased in this international art exhibit, he commented in a press release. Ribeiro is the mastermind behind the International Surrealism Now initiative, which he brought forward in 2010 in Coimbra with a major exhibit organised by Bissaya Barreto. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Call Me by Your Name is an emphatic celebration of the mystery and power of sexuality, and all its attendant danger, exaltation and tenderness. Here in a small Italian town, close to the sea where Hellenic statues have a way of washing up onshore the sun, the water and the surrounding beauty reinforce lust and longing; and everything is suffused with a charged, pagan innocence. Its the least Puritan of movies, pre-Christian in its sensibility, and will perhaps seem jarring, arriving at this curious time in our cultural life. Based on the novel of the same name by Andre Aciman, Call Me by Your Name is the story of a 17-year-old boy named Elio, who becomes attracted to a graduate student, a visiting American scholar staying at the villa owned by the boys parents. Luca Guadagnino directs the film with a sense of languor, as though the heat or the beauty of the surroundings were persuading him to slow down and take it all in. He propels the action, not through quick cutting, but through Timothee Chalamets remarkably sure-footed performance in the central role. Elio is a gifted young composer and musician, and the movie suggests that his ability to be crazy in love and in pursuit of this somewhat older guy is an offshoot of his talent, of the frequency of his vibration toward life itself. Its a performance of unexpected authority, the spectacle of someone ready to pounce on these new sensations and experiences. He prowls the villa, almost jumping out of his own skin with an awareness that this is his prime moment in life. We sense that, despite his being little more than a kid, he may never be this powerful, whether creatively, emotionally or sexually. And we sense that he knows it, too, and that he is, in this way, superior to every adult he encounters. This authority of drive makes him very much the equal of the older man, Oliver (Armie Hammer). Elio may have the vulnerability of being young and defenseless against his own desire, but Oliver has the vulnerability of knowing he has already moved out of that golden aura of Eros that Elio inhabits. And so they approach each other, warily, neither admitting whats going on, while beneath the surface, everything is happening. Call Me by Your Name is transcendent in its first hour, communicating much through the cameras evocation of nature and the screenplays clear yet subtle dialogue. Likewise, Hammers performance is a brilliant exercise in subtlety, suggesting a genial yet inappropriate space-taking, the carelessness of the beautiful. He lets you feel Olivers awareness of Elio even as hes playing his concealment of it. Oliver is so deft and so unapologetic in his signaling that, only when its acknowledged later, we think, yes, of course, thats exactly what we saw. The movie reaches a climax of sorts in its scene of the two men circling a World War I memorial, one of the many such monuments commemorating the young men from a particular town who were killed. That is civilization the death and mutilation of young men while Call Me by Your Name is about something outside of that, something elemental. Even once all the cards are on the table, the movie maintains most of its velocity, exploring Elios pansexual impulses toward the girls his own age. Where the movie falters is in the portrayal of Elios bathetic and tiresome parents played by Amira Casar and Michael Stuhlbarg who cosset him and flatter him in a way that feels not only untrue to life but a means of stifling the movies anarchy. Stuhlbarg is a particular offender, in that he approaches every scene as if playing one action, which is to beg for love, both from the other characters and the audience. This problem doesnt go away but blossoms to destructive effect in one of the most cloying screen moments since Anne Hathaway sobbed through I Dreamed a Dream in Les Miserables. With a tear and a smile, the father reveals his own youthful longings. But no, the intimate history of some cuddly, neutered, pajama-bear dad simply has no business in the world this movie evokes. The effect of Dads speech is to take the outlaw, the unapologetically dangerous and glorious and make it palatable as if we wouldnt find it palatable without the sanction of the father and, in a larger sense, the patriarchy. Its to take something huge and vital between two specific people and domesticate it as one more thing in a cycle of endless and common recurrence. The life, the true life and vitality of Call Me by Your Name, is a lust-ridden boy putting a mans underwear over his head and breathing it in. Its a 17-year-old kid, crazed by hormones, masturbating into a peach. Its shocking and honest transgression, and to bring in some wistful old dad giving his blessing brings us back to middle-class, happy-liberal safety. It to take a beautiful Greek statue and sink it right back into the sea. And yet ... Call Me by Your Name is so brave for so long that despite this glaring flaw, it must be counted among the years important movies. Venus de Milo has her arms missing we take what we can get. Mick LaSalle is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle Call Me By Your Name Drama. Starring Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer. Directed by Luca Guadagnino. (R. 132 minutes.) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 76-year-old woman who suffers from mild Alzheimer's symptoms has gone missing and Houston police are turning to the public to help find her, according to a press release. Delores Robinson was last seen Tuesday in the 4600 block of Southwest Freeway around 3 p.m. She was driving a tan 2007 Toyota Camry with Texas plate DKM9520. HOLIDAY SPIRIT: Texas man steals from Walmart, police let him go because he was hungry Robinson is five feet six inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. Police did not have a description of the clothes she was wearing when she was last seen. Anyone who has seen Robinson or comes in contact with her is urged call the Houston Police Department's missing person unit at 832-394-1840. Scroll through the gallery above to see Houston-area children who have been reported missing this year. Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter. Police say a northwest Houston man went door to door identifying himself as a police officer using his passport. Harris County Precinct 4 authorities arrested Lance McClendon, 22, on Sunday and charged him with impersonation of a public servant, a third-degree felony. President Donald Trump is frustrated. He sees the 2016 election as having vindicated him on any number of things: his often-acidic politics, his disparagement of traditional campaign tactics, his rejection of the media's correctives, his decision not to release his tax returns. In the same vein as that last item, he sees it as having rendered unimportant the allegations that arose about his misconduct with women. He denied the stories outright and without nuance, and only he and the women know what actually happened. But he clearly believes that, now that he's president, the subject should be tabled indefinitely. The White House said as much in a statement on Monday. The accusations were "addressed at length" during the campaign, and "the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory." The decisiveness of that victory aside, that's the argument, one that press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated during the afternoon press briefing. The statement also included a dramatic bit of exculpation. The claims of Trump's accusers were "false" and "totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts." The falsity had been asserted by the White House before, but this claim that the accusations had been disputed by eyewitness accounts was new. Sanders was asked about that claim, too. "In terms of the specific eyewitness accounts," she said on Monday afternoon, "there have been multiple reports, and I'd be happy to provide them to you after the briefing has completed." In the interests of ensuring that the president is exonerated in the face of debunked accusations, we below have listed the women who've accused Trump of inappropriate conduct (as compiled by The Post's Meg Kelly) and all of the eyewitnesses who've been presented by the White House to prove their stories wrong. Kristin Anderson. Claims Trump touched her clothed genitals at a nightclub. Two people corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Rachel Crooks. Claims Trump kissed her on the mouth against her will. Two people corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Jessica Drake. Claims Trump kissed her against her will. Eyewitness rebuttal:None presented by the White House. Jill Harth. Claims Trump aggressively groped her. One person corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Cathy Heller. Claims Trump kissed her on the mouth against her will. Two people corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Ninni Laaksonen. Claims Trump groped her. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Jessica Leeds. Claims Trump groped her on an airplane. One person corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: When the story came out - one of the first that did - a man who claimed to have been on the flight alleged that Leeds was the aggressor. The man making that claim, Anthony Gilberthorpe, has a history of making unproven claims, including that he had once regularly provided underage boys to members of Britain's Parliament for sex parties. Mindy McGillivray. Claims Trump groped her. One person corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Jennifer Murphy. Claims Trump kissed her against her will. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Natasha Stoynoff. Claims Trump forcibly kissed her at Mar-a-Lago. Five people corroborated hearing about the story at the time. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House, but a longtime family butler who came into the room after the incident said that nothing seemed unusual. Temple Taggart McDowell. Claims Trump kissed her against her will. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Karena Virginia. Claims Trump groped her. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. Summer Zervos. Claims Trump aggressively kissed and groped her. One person corroborated having heard the story. Eyewitness rebuttal: None presented by the White House. The White House sent a list of eyewitness rebuttals to ThinkProgress. It included: The rebuttal to Leeds that had already been made public, as above. Two former contestants denying that Trump used to walk backstage at the Miss Teen USA pageant as contestants were changing. Since it didn't involve physical contact, that allegation was not included above. That's the extent of what was provided. Trump complained about the reemergence of the stories on Twitter Tuesday morning, suggesting that it had happened because the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller had failed to take him down. he tweeted "Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!" That tweet came less than an hour after PolitiFact announced its "Lie of the Year": Trump's repeated claim that the focus of Mueller's investigation - Russian meddling in the 2016 election - was a "made-up story." trump-accusers-comment Each year, Egypt commemorates World AIDS Day on 1 December with a nationwide advocacy campaign aimed at spreading awareness about HIV and combating misconceptions When I was learning more about this cause, I saw two scenarios on how the community can address HIV. It is time to address the issue in a more positive way. HIV is not a death sentence, it is a chronic disease, and lets just tackle it for what it really is. These were the sincere words of renowned Egyptian film and TV star Nelly Karim, who addressed attendees at an event organised by the UN Joint Team on HIV/AIDS under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Population, in collaboration with the National AIDS Programme. The event, which was held at the Egyptian Diplomatic Club on 10 December, comes as part of the National AIDS Advocacy campaign recently launched to increase public awareness about HIV. Ambassador Mahmoud Amer, deputy assistant minister of foreign affairs for political and regional organisations, said that the aim of the event was to highlight Egypt's political commitment to ending AIDS by 2030 in line with UN goals. Egypt recognises the importance of working together with UNAIDS to achieve our national and global targets of ending AIDS by 2030, Amer said. The event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health and Population, the foreign ministers assistant ambassador, Ihab Fawzy, the heads of UN agencies and the UN Joint Team on HIV/AIDS, and foreign ambassadors. Also in attendance were Egyptian celebrities, most notably Nelly Karim, who was recently named as an ambassador for UNAIDS in Egypt, as well as representatives of youth organisations and the media. Each year, Egypt commemorates World AIDS Day on 1 December through a nationwide advocacy campaign aimed at spreading awareness about HIV and combating misconceptions about the disease. According to statistics from the World Health Organisation, the number of people currently living with HIV globally is 36.7 million. The latest statistics from UNAIDS Egypt, issued in 2014, state that the number of confirmed cases of HIV in Egypt stands at nearly 8,800, though other estimates put the number at 11,000 overall. Though the disease affects less than one percent of the population, making Egypt a low-prevalence country, challenges remain surrounding health education and social stigma about HIV/AIDS. Nelly Karim joins forces with HIV campaign, photo: UNAIDS Search Keywords: Short link: BERLIN - Roy Moore's defeat in the Tuesday special election may have come as a relief to liberal Americans, but in Europe it was taken as a sign that the United States has not totally lost its moral compass. The 2016 election victory of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular across Western Europe, appears to have severely damaged the United States' status as a role model in Europe. Democrat Doug Jones' victory over Moore, a Republican - who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades ago - in Alabama's special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat was interpreted by many in Europe as a reversal for Trump and a sign that all is not lost across the Atlantic. In Europe, the Alabama election result was widely seen as a "notable setback for President Donald Trump," in the words of France's liberal Liberation newspaper. Its center-left competitor Le Monde declared the result a "referendum about Trump's political agenda," and Britain's Financial Times agreed that it was "a big blow for Mr Trump." That sentiment was perhaps most pronounced in Germany, where confidence in Trump has been even lower than in France and Britain. The center-left German weekly Die Zeit framed the defeat as "the miracle of Alabama." But the relief was not limited to liberal media outlets. Writing in the conservative German newspaper Die Welt, Clemens Wergin said that the "victory of Jones shows that America has changed since Trump's election." Whereas many voters did not take the sexual assault allegations against Trump seriously ahead of his victory last year, there appeared to be a growing awareness this time around that defied partisan lines, Wergin wrote. "Many people in Alabama want to send a message to the world: America is still able to show a tolerant and cosmopolitan face," wrote Jan Philipp Burgard, a U.S. correspondent with the German public TV station ARD. Germany and Britain have long considered themselves close allies of the United States, but leaders here are finding it increasingly difficult to work with a U.S. president who has repeatedly lashed out at them and is deeply unpopular among European voters. Trump's low approval ratings in Europe have defied partisan lines. Not only liberals but also many conservatives here have viewed his remarks about banning Muslims, building a wall and pulling out of climate and trade deals as populist and divisive. Europe is also struggling with a populist, right-wing resurgence of its own that has made electoral inroads in recent years in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Austria, not to mention a second-place showing in France's presidential election. While the populist right remains restricted mostly to the political sidelines, it was encouraged by Trump's victory. Moore's defeat was also interpreted as a sign of a revival of "decency" in the United States. Alabama's voters "have proved that politics is not just about party interests, but decency and morality as well," commented Alexandra von Nahmen, head of the German broadcaster DW's Washington bureau. (DW is funded by the German Foreign Ministry but operates independently.) To von Nahmen, the refusal of the majority of voters in Alabama to support Moore is not only an electoral but also a moral defeat for Trump. "The Republicans' loss lies squarely with Donald Trump. He believed his support for a candidate like Moore would ensure victory. But Alabama voters did not allow the President to get away with this amoral behavior. That too is a good thing," von Nahmen wrote. That sentiment was widely echoed Wednesday by other major European news outlets, which called the defeat a "black day for Trump" and proclaimed a "red line for Trump-style politics." "Donald Trump chose to waste what little remains of his political capital on a man accused of being a sexual predator of teenage girls," wrote Guardian U.S. columnist Richard Wolffe. "Due to the fact that the president was so involved in the [Alabama] election campaign - which he did not necessarily have to be - the result is also an indication of his declining popularity," political scientist Philipp May told German public radio on Wednesday. Whereas most reactions here focused on the possible repercussions of Moore's defeat on a national level, one sentence from Jones stood out: "I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us," he said. Jones' words almost exactly matched those of slain British member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was killed last year by a man with links to a U.S. Nazi group. Bruce Brown, a filmmaker whose scrappy 1966 documentary "The Endless Summer" became an international phenomenon, introducing surfing to the world not as a frivolous fad but as a sacred search for the perfect wave, died Dec. 10 at a hospital in Santa Barbara, California. He was 80. He had heart ailments and complications from a broken hip, said his son Dana Brown, also a documentarian. Hailed as "the Bergman of the boards" and "the Fellini of the foam," Brown brought next to no professional training but an abundance of passion to his art form, which he used to popularize surfing far beyond the coastlines of California. He had learned the sport growing up in Southern California before he hit his teens. At the time, surfing did not enjoy the reputation that it would acquire in later years - in large part thanks to "The Endless Summer" - as a refuge for pure seekers of the purest thrill. Surfers had long been perceived as "silly and mindless," Matt Warshaw, creator of the Encyclopedia of Surfing, said in an interview. Contributing to that impression was Hollywood fare such as the "Gidget" films of the late 1950s and 1960s, featuring a parade of actresses as the quintessential beach bunny. Neither did "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965), with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, do much to help. Brown began experiment with film during his Navy service in Hawaii - a felicitous posting for a surfer - working with rudimentary equipment and improvised techniques. His first production, "Slippery When Wet" (1958), was for surfboard manufacturer Dale Velzy. On its heels came five more surfing documentaries, including "Surf Crazy" (1959), "Surfin' Shorts" and "Barefoot Adventure" (both 1960), "Surfing Hollow Days" (1961) and "Water-Logged" (1962). They were low-budget affairs, featuring no soundtracks, and presented in theaters with Brown delivering live narration. Sometimes an as-yet unknown musical group, the Beach Boys, would play at intermission. Brown burst to the fore with "The Endless Summer." The film featured two young surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, who embark in 1963 on a sojourn around the globe, hopscotching across the equator and back several times over, to follow the sun and chase the waves. "It's kind of like a pipe dream," Brown said, according to the Orange County Register. "If you traveled around the world just right, you'd be in the middle of summer everywhere you went." The trip took the surfers to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, among other locales, with Brown filming on a handheld 16mm camera and providing narration. The final product, film reviewer Stephen Holden later wrote in the New York Times, had the "perky ingenuousness of an early Beach Boys anthem." Brown presented "The Endless Summer" in California before renting a theater during the winter in Wichita, where the movie was a blockbuster. "We thought that would prove the film to the distributors in New York, and of course it didn't," he told the Times in 2002. "So we rented a theater in New York ourselves, hoping that the distributors would drive by the theater and see the crowd, which they did. It was the surfer guys against the New York establishment." "The Endless Summer," whose budget had been $50,000, became a sensation. It grossed $30 million, making it one of the most commercially successful documentaries in film history. "What it did was show the world the idyllic lifestyle that still resonates with people to this day, even though surfing as a sport has progressed," said Barry Haun, curator and creative director of the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, California. "You don't have to be a surfer to watch this and enjoy it. I think anybody who watches it wishes they surfed, if they don't already." Bruce Alan Brown was born in San Francisco on Dec. 1, 1937. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father owned a small toy store chain. He grew up in Long Beach, where, according to surfing writer Drew Kampion, he said he "majored in not going to school." After his Navy discharge, he was working as a lifeguard when Velzy offered him $5,000 to make "Slippery When Wet." He made few films after "The Endless Summer," in part because he found it difficult to tear himself away from surfing. "I didn't want to go to Hollywood," Brown told the Los Angeles Times. "I'd rather live in a [trailer] on a perfect surf break than live in Beverly Hills in a mansion with 50 servants and Rolls-Royces." The most notable of his subsequent films was "On Any Sunday" (1971), a documentary about motorcycle racing that featured movie star and motorbike enthusiast Steve McQueen and that was nominated for an Academy Award. Brown also made a sequel to his seminal film, "The Endless Summer II" (1994), with his son. Brown's wife of 46 years, the former Patricia Hunter, died in 2006. In addition to Dana Brown, of Los Angeles, survivors include two other children, Wade Brown and Nancie Brown, both of Gaviota, California; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. For all the drama and beauty that his surfing documentaries captured, there was something that Brown said he could not catch on film. "The thing you can't show is the fantastic speed and that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach," he said in "The Endless Summer," filming a wave at Cape St. Francis in South Africa. "I couldn't help but think of the hundreds of years these waves must have been breaking here. . . . Think of the thousands of waves that went to waste, and the waves that are going to waste right now." WASHINGTON - Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former reality TV star who joined President Donald Trump's White House as one of his most prominent African American supporters, resigned under pressure after a confrontation with Chief of Staff John Kelly that ended when she was escorted from the premises, White House officials said Wednesday. Kelly pushed her out as director of communications for the Office of the Public Liaison late Tuesday after growing frustrated with her abrasive and attention-seeking style, which included a personal wedding photo shoot in the West Wing last spring, according to one official. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, has sought to impose more discipline among Trump's staff and limit their communications with the president. She did not "go quietly," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Though her resignation is effective Jan. 20, the Secret Service said it had deactivated her security badge granting access to the White House grounds. The agency said it was not involved in escorting her off the property. Her rivals cast the move as an overdue housecleaning, but her departure, on the same day that black voters helped catapult Democrat Doug Jones to an upset victory in the Senate race in Alabama, highlighted perhaps a more worrisome issue for the White House and the Republican Party heading into a midterm election year - the stark lack of diversity in Trump's administration and the GOP's diminishing appeal to minority communities. Manigault Newman, who earned the top-level staff annual salary of $179,700, was, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, one of two black officials among Trump's more than three dozen cabinet members and senior staff. Her presence hardly immunized Trump, who sparked outrage with his handling of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the NFL players' protests during the national anthem, from criticism over his stance on race and diversity. Acting in an ill-defined capacity, Manigault Newman struggled to make a connection with African-American constituencies to support Trump's agenda and chafed at criticism that she had sold out her integrity for a White House job. Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman, pointed to Trump's endorsement of Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Senate race in Alabama despite his history of racially insensitive remarks and allegations of sexual improprieties with underage girls. Ninety-six percent of black voters supported Jones. "It was a resounding rejection of our party among African-Americans who see it as racially charged and not within their interests," Steele said. "All that occurred during Omarosa's tenure and relationship with the president. Either she did not have the cachet to move the president or she is complicit in it. I don't know which it is." In the end, Manigault Newman's bond with Trump appeared to be one of kindred spirits instead of policy adviser. It was a union forged during their appearance on the first season of "The Apprentice" in 2004, where she gained fame playing the role of a backbiting villain who would kneecap other contestants in her quest to win. She did not take the top prize, but she became a favorite of Trump, who invited her to participate in subsequent iterations of the show. She brought that confrontational persona to the political arena, fiercely defending Trump against accusations that he was racist and sexist. She and Carson often joined Trump at events with African-American groups, and she was on hand last Saturday as the president spoke at the opening of a civil rights museum in Mississippi. Friends said that despite her relationship with Trump, Manigault Newman did not agree with his handling of some issues involving race, such as last summer's rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville in which a counterprotester was killed. The president was slow to condemn the hate groups and suggested "both sides" were to blame for the violence. "As recently as last week she told me about her concerns about the president endorsing Roy Moore. It bothered her, being a woman," said Armstrong Williams, a businessman and a longtime friend. He did not know if she raised her objections with the president. In a brief statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Manigault Newman had resigned "to pursue other opportunities . . . We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service." Longtime black Republicans chafed at Manigault Newman's White House post, arguing that she was not a true member of the party. Before Trump entered the presidential race, she had backed Democrat Hillary Clinton. Manigault Newman also worked briefly as a low-level aide in the White House during former President Bill Clinton's tenure. She was asked to leave, a former official said, because she was "so disruptive." Manigault Newman was a polarizing figure inside the Trump White House, known for interrupting meetings, subverting chains of command and erupting on other aides who she didn't like. And in recent months, whatever outsize cachet she once enjoyed had waned considerably as her job duties grew increasingly ill-defined, according to White House officials. In recent months, Manigault Newman engaged in public spats with African American groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, grass-roots activists and black journalists. She also was criticized for promising that Trump would provide additional funding to struggling historically black colleges and universities - which didn't materialize. The presidents of those institutions gained little other than a highly publicized meeting with administration officials in February, which included a photo op with Trump in the Oval Office. Jamil Smith, a contributing opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times who writes frequently about race, said Manigault Newman had lost any significant standing within the black community. "She has long ago been disinvited from the cookout, so to speak," Smith said. Her shortcomings were "not necessarily because of any lack of black authenticity on her part. She was just completely unqualified and inexperienced. That matters." Leah Wright Rigueur, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said African American political appointees often struggle to effectively work within Republican administrations whose policies are often antithetical to the demands of black communities. "Even though she had access and was touting herself as this powerful figure," she said, "that power really meant nothing because she didn't have the power to influence Donald Trump, at least publicly, on issues she professed to care about and on issues that black people said they cared about." In April, Manigault Newman, who is also an ordained minister, married John Allen Newman, at the time pastor of a church in Jacksonville, Florida, at Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington. Trump did not attend the wedding. Williams, the businessman, said Manigault Newman had planned all along to stay only a year in the job, but he acknowledged that she clashed with Kelly. "You have to remember, there was a time when Omarosa was one of the few people who could walk right into the president's office," Williams said. For Kelly to try to limit her access to Trump "is a big deal. She's in-your-face. She's the female Donald Trump. There's a price you pay when you have a Trump personality and don't have the power to go along with it." --- The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: The White House announced Omarosa Manigault Newman's resignation on Dec. 13. (Video: Monica Akhtar, Victoria Walker/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Embed: --- Video Embed Code Video: The White House announced Omarosa Manigault Newman's resignation on Dec. 13.(Monica Akhtar,Victoria Walker/The Washington Post) Embed code: In the days leading up to the Alabama Senate election, President Donald Trump called Roy Moore to endorse him, touted his candidacy at a rally just across the state line and recorded a robo-call in which he described Moore as "the guy we need." On the day after Moore lost the election, Trump said he saw it coming. In a morning tweet, the president relayed that he had originally endorsed another Republican for the seat because "I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election." "I was right!" the president exclaimed. Trump, it turns out, is rarely, if ever, wrong - at least as he tells it. Since his emergence as a presidential candidate, he has repeatedly refused to accept blame for setbacks or admit he's made a mistake. Instead, the president is quick to try to shift responsibility, deny he ever did something in the first place or otherwise dissemble. After the loss of Luther Strange, the Alabama candidate Trump endorsed in the GOP primary, he literally tried to erase history: Trump deleted several tweets in which he had urged Alabamians to vote for "Big Luther," whom Trump had claimed "will never let you down." "Anybody who works in politics knows it's part of the job to deflect blame as much as possible," said Doug Heye, a Republican consultant and former communications director for the Republican National Committee. "But Trump has taken that to levels previously unheard of. He often tries to rewrite history and minimize his involvement." In many instances, Trump has continued to stick by discredited assertions rather than acknowledge he misspoke or relayed faulty information. During the campaign, Trump doubled down on a claim that he saw "thousands" of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - even after police and others said the claim was unfounded. Trump later disavowed his role in promoting a theory that former president Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, was born outside the United States - instead falsely blaming the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton for starting the controversy. And as president, Trump asserted and reasserted that Obama ordered surveillance on Trump Tower during the campaign, insisting that forthcoming evidence - which never materialized - would prove him right. When the Republican health care bill failed in September, there was plenty of finger pointing, including some in Trump's direction for not having done more to sell the legislation to a skeptical public and lobby wavering senators. Trump offered an alternative explanation: that he would have had the votes except for the hospitalization of a senator. It turned out that the senator in question - Republican Thad Cochran of Mississippi - wasn't in the hospital but was recovering from what an aide described as a urological issue. But even if Cochran had been present, the GOP leadership would have been short of the votes needed to pass a bill that no Democrats were supporting. Three Republicans had announced they were firm "no" votes, and others had expressed skepticism about the bill. In October, the Trump administration came under sharp criticism for its response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, including from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who pleaded on television for more help from a federal government that she said "was killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy." Rather than acknowledge shortcomings, Trump attacked Cruz on Twitter as "nasty" and later gave his administration a grade of 10 out of 10 when a reporter asked him to rate the federal response. "I would say it's a 10," Trump said, arguing that the destruction wrought by Hurricane Maria "was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen." "It went right through the middle of the island, right through the middle of Puerto Rico," Trump said. Trump's assessment was at odds with public polling - at the time fewer than half of Americans approved of how he was handling the succession of hurricanes this year. Trump's proclivity to move on - whatever the circumstances - has long been recognized. During a 2015 appearance on "The Tonight Show," he told host Jimmy Fallon: "I fully think apologizing is a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize sometime in the distant future if I'm wrong." In the case of Moore, there was some truth to what Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. The day before Alabama's GOP primary runoff in September, Trump called into the "Rick & Bubba Show," a syndicated radio program based in Alabama that airs across the South. Trump was asked to explain why he was backing Strange, who was struggling in the polls against Moore, a candidate more in sync with much of Trump's political base. "He will absolutely win against the Democrat," Trump said of Strange, "whereas Ray's going to have a hard time, you know that." When one of the hosts pointed out that Moore's first name was actually Roy, Trump brushed off his mistake, saying it was more illuminating about Moore than him. "I don't know Roy Moore at all," Trump said. "And I think it's perhaps indicative when somebody doesn't even know his name. You know, that's not a good sign - for him." Trump was also slippery when he was fact-checked in real time earlier in his presidency, when he asserted at a news conference that his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton was "the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan." NBC's Peter Alexander challenged Trump, listing electoral college victories bigger than that of Trump, which included both of Barack Obama's elections, both of Bill Clinton's elections and George H.W. Bush's 1988 victory - all since Reagan. "Well, I was talking about Republicans," Trump said, before Alexander pointed out that Bush was a Republican. "Well I don't know, I was given that information," Trump then said. "Actually I've seen that information around. But it was a very substantial victory, do you agree with that?" The marijuana industry has taken a couple of hits in Washington this month. First, an amendment that would have stripped a part of the tax code that places extra financial burden on cannabis businesses was pulled at the last minute from the GOP tax plan approved by the U.S. Senate. Also, Attorney General Jeff Sessions again made remarks that seemed to threaten a potential federal crackdown on the legal marijuana business any day now, maybe even by the time you read this. The events underscore the fact that even as the marijuana industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, it still faces challenges. No tax relief, yet. Marijuana industry entrepreneurs had hoped the sweeping tax changes voted on by Congress would provide the perfect opportunity to end the dreaded provision 280E in the federal tax code. The provision blocks marijuana businesses from deducting normal business expenses on tax returns. Such deductions are used in every industry. Costs deducted including buying materials and supplies, paying employees and purchasing and maintaining equipment. Related: 3 Must-Dos to Prepare for When Cannabis Is Federally Legal But thats not the case with legal cannabis. The amendment initially was created to keep those engaged in the illegal drug trade from deducting expenses. Now it punishes legal marijuana companies. The National Cannabis Industry Association argues that some legal cannabis businesses effectively pay a 70 percent tax rate because they cannot deduct business expenses. Things came close to changing. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, had a repeal of the amendment as part of the GOP tax plan passed by the Senate. However, at the last minute he pulled the proposal out of the legislation. Gardner said he was unsure he had the votes. He especially became worried after the Joint Committee on Taxation reported that the amendment would cost the government $5 billion in tax revenue. The House version of tax reform also did not repeal 280E. While a committee now must hammer out a compromise bill to send to President Donald Trump, it seems unlikely the provision will be put back in. War of words escalates. Meanwhile, Sessions seemed to contradict an earlier statement that he would not crack down on states where marijuana is legal. Marijuana, while legal in more than half the states for either medical or recreational use, remains illegal at the federal level. In mid-November, Sessions testified before a Congressional committee. He was asked if the Justice Department would continue to act in accordance with the Cole Memo and the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment. Related: Canada Is Creating a Multi-Billion Dollar Legal Marijuana Industry The former essentially keeps the federal government from interfering in states where marijuana is legal if states meet certain standards (such as keeping marijuana out of the hands of minors). The latter prohibits the use of federal funds for any such efforts. I believe we are bound by that, Sessions said in his testimony. Fast forward two weeks, however, and Sessions said something different. In a press conference last week, a reporter asked Sessions about the Cole Memo. He responded: Its my view that the use of marijuana is detrimental and we should not give encouragement in any way to it. It represents a federal violation which is in the law and is subject to being enforced, and our priorities will have to be focused on all the things and challenges we faceSo well be working our way through to a rational policy. But I dont want to suggest in any way that this department believes that marijuana is harmless and people should not avoid it. Make of that what you will. Its lead to rampant speculation that Sessions is about to declare war on legal marijuana, as well as calling the federal government the worst threat to legal marijuana businesses. Follow dispensaries.com on Instagram to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: Legal Marijuana Just Can't Catch a Break From Washington Canada Is Creating a Multi-Billion Dollar Legal Marijuana Industry Will New York or Illinois be Next to Legalize Recreational Marijuana? Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Democrat Doug Jones has won the special election to fill a Senate seat in Alabama, according to exit polls and returns - a shocking upset in a solidly Republican state, in which massive turnout among African-American voters helped defeat a candidate enthusiastically backed by President Donad Trump. The Associated Press called the race at 10:23 p.m. Eastern time. With about 98 percent of precincts reporting, Jones was leading by about 10,000 votes, with 49.5 percent of the vote as compared to Republican Roy Moore's 48.8 percent. It appeared that write-in candidates played a key role in the race: combined, they got 22,000 votes, more than the gap between the winner and the loser. Richard Shelby, R, Alabama's other senator, had appeared to encourage the state's Republicans to choose that option: Shelby said he wrote the name of an undisclosed "distinguished Republican" rather than vote for Moore. Just after 11 p.m. Eastern time, Trump congratulated Jones in a Twitter message, saying "The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time." Moore, however, refused to concede the race. Speaking to supporters at about 11:34 p.m. Eastern time, Moore said he thought the race might go to a recount, which state law requires when a race is within 0.5 percentage points. "When the vote is this close . . . it's not over," Moore said. Jones' lead, at that point, however, still exceeded 0.5 percent. Then, Moore - who had spent much of his campaign railing against the news media - asked that the press visit the Alabama secretary of state and ask how the recount provision might be triggered in this case - that "the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is." "What we've got to do is wait on God," Moore said. Jones would become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama since 1992. The Senate seat came open when Trump chose Jeff Sessions to become attorney general earlier this year. Jones' victory followed a pattern set earlier this year in Virginia's gubernatorial election: a wave of enthusiasm among the Democratic Party's traditional base, which was aided by a swing from Republicans to Democrats among well-educated suburban voters. In all, 10 of Alabama's 67 counties flipped from red to blue: they had supported Trump in 2016, but not voted for Jones. Among them: vote-rich Madison County, home to Huntsville - a highly educated city with huge defense and aerospace industries. Jones, 63, is a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham Baptist church, which killed four girls. The bombers were not tried until the 1990s. He has never held elective office. In Alabama, the night's early returns showed Moore ahead, as mainly rural votes came in. But Jones surged ahead after 10 p.m. Eastern, as large cities like Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham reported huge increases in turnout and large margins for the Democrat. Overall, news reports indicated that statewide turnout had smashed expectations, roughly doubling what officials had predicted. At Jones' election-night party in Birmingham, the crowd buzzed with nervous energy as the victory took shape. His supporters watched CNN on a big screen, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" revved up over the loudspeakers, when the race was called for Jones. The crowd erupted. Supporters clapped, hugged each another and looked at the results on their phone, some in disbelief, some with a sense of validation and triumph. "I just had a feeling!" one man exclaimed. Paulette Roby, 67, said she had been worried that Moore would drag the state's race relations back toward Alabama's troubled past. "We've got to have somebody that's going to represent the state of Alabama with good faith," said Roby, an African-American who said she was active in the civil rights movement. "We can't go back. Why would we go back?" Jones' victory will reshape the calculus of the Senate, where Republicans will see their thin majority shrink from two votes to one. With Jones' win, Senate leaders will face pressure from Democrats to seat him before final votes on the GOP tax bill. The Alabama secretary of state's office said the election result could be certified with the Senate as early as Dec. 27 to 29. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, before the Alabama polls closed, that Strange will remain in the Senate through the end of the current session. "Once the state certifies and sends us the paperwork, the new Senator is sworn in. But since the state said they don't expect to certify until the end of the month, and we expect to finish before the end of the month..." McConnell spokesman Don Stewart wrote in an email. While Republicans are still likely to pass a huge tax-reform push before Jones is officially seated, the rest of the GOP's agenda may now plunge into jeopardy. The coalition that backed Jones was sketched out in early exit polls. They indicated that black turnout might be slightly higher than the levels in 2012 and 2008, when Barack Obama was on the ballot. African-Americans made up 28 percent of the electorate in 2008, and 29 percent in 2012. In this election, they make up about 3 in 10 Alabama voters so far on Election Day according to preliminary exit polls. "They're coming out," said Kim Payton, a city councilwoman in the town of Hayneville, Alabama - meaning black voters. Hayneville is located in the state's "black belt" - rural area named for its dark soils, which also has a strong contingent of African-American voters. By contrast, white evangelical voters seemed to make up a smaller percentage of the electorate this year than they had in past elections. That group made up just over 4 in 10 voters this year, compared with 47 percent of the state's electorate in both 2012 and 2008 presidential elections, according to Alabama exit polls. Moore, a former state chief justice who has taken strong stands on Christian morality and has said "God's law" trumps the U.S. Constitution, was counting on the evangelical vote. Other exit polls seemed to indicate that this electorate would be different than the one that came to the polls in November 2016. Trump, for instance, won Alabama with 62 percent of the vote in 2016. But preliminary exit polls Tuesday found that just under half of Alabamians approve of Trump's performance, while about an identical share disapprove. About 4 in 10 voters say they "strongly disapprove" of Trump, compared with just over 3 in 10 who "strongly approve." Part of the reason was a scandal that hobbled Moore - the judge, who'd built his career as an outspoken voice for Christian morals, had reportedly pursued romantic relationships with teenagers while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied any wrongdoing. One voter in Hayneville, 49 year-old masonry instructor, Robert Holcombe, said the allegations against Moore particularly bothered him. "We took Roy Moore to be a church man, an upright man," Holcombe said. "I have an 18-year-old daughter. I know I wouldn't want him messing with her at age 14." During the campaign, Jones sold himself as a centrist who would work with Republicans - and as a politician who would not embarrass Alabama or drive away business. He took advantage of a scandal that began with a report in The Washington Post: several women said that Moore had pursued romantic relationships with them decades before, when he was in his 30s and they were in their teens. Moore has denied wrongdoing. "This election is going to be one of the most significant in our state's history in a long time," Jones said during an election-eve rally in Birmingham. "And we've got to make sure that at this crossroads in Alabama's history, we take the right road." Jones also encouraged voters to put "decency" ahead of party loyalty and urged them to consider how Alabama will be viewed by business leaders as a result of the election. In the short term, Jones' victory will further narrow the GOP's thin margin of control in the Senate, leaving Republicans with a 51-49 majority. Already, Republicans have struggled to pass legislation on health care and taxes, since only a few GOP defectors can sink any measure. In the longer term, Jones win may signal the limits of President Trump's political pull - and the drawbacks of remaking the GOP in his image. Trump has now seen two of his candidates lose in Alabama, a state that had been at the heart of his support in last year's election. First, Trump supported Sen. Luther Strange, the Republican state attorney general who was appointed to fill Session's seat. But Strange lost to Moore in the GOP primary runoff. Then, in the general election, Trump backed Moore. After the allegations arose against him, Moore - who was advised by Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon - used the playbook that Trump used after the "Access Hollywood" videotape was revealed last year. In Moore's case, the candidate attacked his accusers as liars, and cast their stories as part of a conspiracy by the news media and the political establishment. After that, Senate GOP leaders had called on Moore to quit. He didn't. Instead, Moore relied on the help of Bannon. Moore criticized his accusers, denied all the reports of improper behavior, and blamed a conspiracy of the news media and establishment politicians. After at first being cautious with his support, Trump backed Moore enthusiastically as the election drew near. He become one of Moore's most fervent defender in recent days, tweeting about him repeatedly and recording a robo-call to drive out the vote. "Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!" Trump tweeted on Election Day. The National Republican Senate Committee, which normally supports GOP candidates, never got back into the race on Moore's behalf. After his defeat, NRSC chairman Cory Gardner, R-Colo., issued an unusually dismissive statement, saying "Tonight's results are clear - the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate" In interviews with voters on Tuesday, Trump's influence seemed to be slight. For many voters, it was Moore that defined the race - both for those who supported him, and those who supported Jones. "This is the first time I've voted for a Democrat," said Henry Waller, 24, who works in logistics for a granite company, said at a polling place in Mountain Brook, Alabama. "I'm a Christian, and I think Moore represents the absolute worst way to put Christianity into politics." Sessions, whose departure from the Senate prompted Tuesday's election, said Tuesday that he voted but did not say it was for Moore. "I voted absentee," Sessions said in Baltimore, responding to a question from a reporter. "I value the sanctity of the ballot. The people of Alabama are good and decent. They'll make right decision." --- Fahrenthold reported from Washington. Sullivan and Weigel reported from Alabama. Elise Viebeck, Michael Scherer, Philip Rucker and Scott Clement in Washington and Larry Bleiberg and Jenna Johnson in Alabama contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore did not concede and raised the possibility of a recount after Democrat Doug Jones appeared to win the election. (The Washington Post) Embed: --- Video Embed Code Video: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore did not concede and raised the possibility of a recount after Democrat Doug Jones appeared to win the election.(The Washington Post) Embed code: Ladies, raise a gloved hand if your hands feel as frozen as Elsas, especially in the winter. Womens hands generally are colder than mens, and the old saying cold hands, warm heart may go a long way to explaining why. Using thermal images, University of Utah researchers compared the hands of men and women, and found that womens hands typically run 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit colder than mens. Exposure to cold -- whether it comes from taking a cold shower or a wintry walk outside -- causes blood vessels in the hands and feet to contract, reducing blood flow there as the body seeks to protect the heart and other vital organs. While this happens in men and women, the cold response is much quicker for women. Its still a bit of a mystery why, but scientists suggest that differences in body size, composition and hormones are the culprits. Women have more body fat and less muscle than men. The fat protects the vital organs, including the uterus, but it also restricts blood flow to the extremities. Women also tend to lose heat faster from their skin because theyre generally smaller than men. That explains why so many women are shivering in office cubicles next to their male co-workers wearing short sleeves. For most women, having cold hands, though uncomfortable, isnt cause for concern -- unless it is a symptom of a medical condition known as Raynauds. Raynauds disease causes fingers and toes to feel numb and cold in response to low temperatures or stress, according to the Mayo Clinic. The condition causes small blood vessels that carry blood to the extremities to spasm and severely constrict, affecting blood flow. This can lead to tissue damage. Women are five times more likely than men to have Raynauds. Symptoms include: icy fingers or toes, skin color turning white or blue with exposure to cold or stress, and red with stinging pain after warming up. There are two types of Raynauds -- primary and secondary. The secondary type is caused by an underlying condition and is less common. The primary type is linked to family history. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency AUSTIN -- How do you get noticed in a field of 10 mostly unknown candidates for governor with just two months before voting begins? That's a question the record-sized Democratic Party field was asking Tuesday as the longshot race to unseat Republican Gov. Greg Abbott officially launched. The Democrats may have little name ID and campaign cash, but they have big aspirations to turn the Texas Governor's Mansion blue next year for the fist time since 1995. As one Austin campaign consultant described it: "It's like being in a family with 10 kids who are all seeking their parents' attention at the same time. The ones with the loudest voices will get noticed." But for someone like Mike Collier, a retired accountant and Democrat from Kingwood who is challenging well-known and well-funded Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the path to victory in the November 2018 general election -- and just surviving the March primaries -- will require more than just being loud. "Texas is a big old state and, as a practical matter, there's only so much you can do with shoe leather to win. You have to raise money," he said. noting that he began fundraising soon after he launched his campaign last May, as he started campaigning across Texas. "There is no substitute for money. I have a Rolodex and I have been talking to donors for months." To be sure: Getting elected governor in Texas is no cheap proposition, with estimates of how much it takes to win a contested primary starting at $10 million and a contested general election at well over$40 million, based on recent campaigns. Abbott spent $49 million to win his 2014 campaign against well-known Democrat Wendy Davis, who he walloped by more than 20 points. Lesser known candidates generally raise less money, and provide less of a challenge for a better-known rival, but in primaries generally the candidates with the most campaign bucks get the most votes statewide -- unless they have built name ID with voters by campaigning for a long time. Dallas businessman Jeffrey Payne, who announced last summer and has been touring Texas ever since speaking to mostly Democratic and younger-voter groups, said he planned to put up to $2.5 million of his own money into his race -- but so far has not had to ante up on his own. Hardy Haberman, his campaign spokesman, said that rather than raise big money to mount a traditional TV ad campaign, Payne will rely mostly on outdoor and social media to reach "non-traditional voter groups" that will carry him to a hoped-for primary victory. Other Democratic challengers have said they have similar strategies to get their message out across Texas, with relatively little campaign money in the bank so far and essentially just two months left before primary voting begins. 'Get out and hustle' Andrew White, a Houston entrepreneur and son of the late former Gov. Mark White, said he expects to raise $3-4 million to win the primary, and may need several times that much to beat Abbott in the general election. "I'm looking at this campaign like it's a start-up" said White, who has started several successful ventures in his career. "I've got to get out and hustle ... I think the money will come." Republican political consultant Jordan Berry, who advised U.S. Rep. Brian Babin in his successful 2014 victory from a field of 12 GOP primary candidates, said money will be the key. Babin, a Woodville dentist and former mayor who had some name ID, focused his early campaign efforts on raising money, while others knocked on doors and did less fundraising. Babin then used his campaign funds to get his message out through ads -- and then won the primary and a runoff, the latter by nearly 58 percent. "In these races with a lot of candidates, people are fighting for everyone' attention and trying to get name ID," Berry said. "Sitting by a phone and raising money is a better way to go, because if you have money you can get your name out there." Austin consultants on both sides of the political aisle predict that the path to the Governor's Mansion for a Democrat could be even more difficult this year, because the popular Abbott has well over $40 million in his campaign war chest and national Democrats will be looking to raise money in Texas to help them recapture Congress. And then, Texas is still overwhelmingly Republican and will likely say so in the November election, the consultants insist, even though Democratic Party officials predict the state will be surprised by a blue wave in the general election. Ready to listen Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who jumped into the race a week ago, might have the best understanding of how to get noticed in a field of 10 candidates, as the youngest of eight children growing up in San Antonio. She did not return a call on Tuesday. "Over the coming months, she looks forward to listening to everyday Texans and talking about the issues that keep them up at night," her campaign spokesman Keifer Odell said in an e-mail. "Through modern campaign tools, old-school retail politics, and grassroots organizing, we plan to earn the Democratic nomination for governor. We are reaching out to voters in every single corner of our state." As for what Abbott thinks about the 10 Democrats challenging him, he quipped to a reporter Tuesday: "I think you intimidate me more." His campaign said he has nothing to say about any of them. As Austin Bureau Chief, Mike Ward covers the Executive Branch, criminal justice and ethics issues, and does the weekly Texas Take Podcast with Quorum Report Editor Scott Braddock. Send Mike comments and story tips at mike.ward@chron.com. And get his updates on Twitter @ChronicleMike. AUSTIN In her first week in office, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen took a firm stance against sanctuary cities, saying communities that do not cooperate with immigration authorities are less safe and they should not receive federal funding. "Politicians continue to herald these lawless cities as 'sanctuaries.' What they don't say is that they are sanctuaries for criminals," Nielsen said in a press conference Tuesday. "They are not sanctuaries for law abiding citizens or immigrants, and they are not sanctuaries for law and order." Nielsen was sworn into office last week, replacing John F. Kelly, who left office in July to become the White House chief of staff. Nielsen is tasked with enforcing President Trump's plan to crack down on illegal immigration and increase border security. Nielsen praised Texas for taking action against sanctuary cities by passing Senate Bill 4, a law that gives police officers greater freedom to ask people about their immigration status, and mandates cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The law went into effect Sept. 1, but parts of it are remain tied up in the courts. "Texas is one of those states where we can count on our partners to support us and adopt policies that make our jobs more effective and our jobs more secure," she said. "I hope other states follow this lead." Cities that do not enforce immigration laws, should not receive federal funding, Nielsen suggested. If these sanctuary states and cities do not want to protect their citizens by upholding federal law, then they are not entitled to the federal governments money, she said. Police chiefs in the state's largest cities, including Houston Police Department's Art Acevedo, have said the law strips power from local officials to run their departments. Acevedo has said the law would redirect limited police resources from crime fighting to an initiative that does not improve public safety. Nielsen spoke at the U.S. Attorney's office in Austin, a city where local and county leaders have openly criticized SB4. Nielsen acknowledged that resistance, saying the department "would like to find a way to work with you." Governor Greg Abbott and other state officials also met with Nielsen Tuesday to discuss Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. In a statement, Abbott said Nielsen's visit has "reaffirmed" the federal government's commitment to helping Texas with border security and hurricane recovery. After todays productive meeting, I am confident that we have a dedicated partner in Secretary Nielsen and this administration," Abbott said. "I look forward to working closely with them on issues important to Texas and the United States." Alejandra Matos covers politics, immigration and education policy. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to alejandra.matos@chron.com. 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. 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. Funding of 160,000 has been approved for a 2.5km extension of the Longford Royal Canal Greenway to be completed by the end of the year. Longford County Council, in conjunction with Waterways Ireland, were earlier this year awarded funding of 350,000 towards the completion of a 6.1 km section of a greenway along the Royal Canal under Measure 3 of the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme. The County Council indicated that the works on this stretch of the canal are practically complete and there is an opportunity, before the works crews are demobilised, to complete another 2.5km of greenway on this section of the Royal Canal before the end of 2017. Construction is ready to commence immediately. The estimated cost of completing the additional section is 200,000. The County Council sought funding of 175,000 for these works. However, the Rural Recreation scheme provides a maximum of 80% of the total cost of a project; hence the 160,000 in funding. Both Deputy Peter Burke and Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, have welcomed the announcement of the additional 160,000. Deputy Burke said he 'received confirmation of the news by phone this evening' from his Fine Gael colleague and Minister for Rural & Community Development, Michael Ring. Meanwhile, in a statement, Chairman of County Longford Tourism and Director of Longford Clondra Canal Ltd, Cllr Micheal Carrigy also welcomed the further funding received from Minister Michael Ring in the Dept of Rural Development to complete the section of the Royal Canal towards Killashee. Cllr Carrigy added, "This will mean that we will be able to complete the entire canal within our county boundaries. This is a fantastic achievement and will allow walkers and cyclists travel safely along the 42 km route. Work has also started on a dedicated website to promote the canal from Dublin to Clondra." You may also be interested in reading: Government approve 400k cash investment for Longford Innovation and Digital Hub plan A file is to be sent to the Dire ctor of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the wake of a planned search of a premises in Edgeworthstown which involved the Gardai Armed Support Unit. The operation also involved members from the Roscommon/Longford Divisional Drug Unit, Longford Detective Unit and uniformed officers. Gardai have confirmed some items were retrieved as a result of the search. However for operational reasons the contents of those articles have not been disclosed. The reaons behind the operation have also been kept under wraps with a spokesperson saying it formed part of an ongoing investigation. Gardai carried out a planned search ofa premises in Edgeworthstown recently in relation to a number of incidents in the Longford area, said the spokesperson. That raid resulted in three people, a father and two sons being arrested and brought before Athlone District Court the following day. All three were remanded on continuing bail with a file to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). They are aged 45, 25 and 19. Separately, gardai have launched investigations into two unconnected break-ins at business premises in Longford town over the past seven days. The first took place outside an establishment on the Main Athlone Road last Monday week (December 4). The incident, all of which was caught on CCTV, resulted in a number of items being taken from two parked vehicles. A chainsaw and hedgecutter were taken from the first vehicle with a Hilti drill, three cordless Bosch drills and various drill bits being snatched from the second. No arrests have yet been made though the Leader understands investigators are examining whether a midlands based Traveller gang are behind the incident. Gardai are also probing a break-in at another business premises on the Athlone Road last Saturday (December 9). Gardai believe thieves broke into a unit located at the Mastertech Business Park sometime between 12 midnight and 8am. The front window of the building was damaged in the incident and the office ransacked. Anyone with information in relation to any of these incidents is asked to contact Longford Garda Station at (043) 3350570. ALSO READ: Longford Gardai seize documents and weapons in series of raids Cllr Luie McEntire is one of those few politicians who is admired and respected across all corners of this county's democratic spectrum. Much of that propensity comes largely from his near 40 year career as a local representative in Longford. It's a milestone which makes the proud Dromard father of six Longford's longest serving local representative by some distance. Further evidence of Cllr McEntire's eminence among his many peers was illustrated recently when his elevation to the vice presidency of the AILG was confirmed. The AILG, or to give it its full title, The Association of Irish Local Government, is a statutory representative body tasked with upholding the interests of over 900 democratically elected councillors nationwide. Cllr McEntire has been a mainstay on the AILG ever since his election as a county councillor in 1979. His appointment as the organisation's second in command was, for many, due recognition of the standing he enjoys within the workings of Ireland's local democratic system. For Cllr McEntire, it was an honour he took particular personal satisfaction in. It was a great vote of confidence, he said, when reflecting on his new role this week. It was a great vote of confidence after being on the council for so many years. A further acknowledgement of that confidence is borne out by the fact Cllr McEntire is the first AILG vice president to hail from Longford. If that wasn't enough , there was further reason for the north Longford councillor to smile recently as he celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary to wife Margaret. The occasion was also celebrated by a heavily attended function of family, friends and close neighbours at Loch Gowna's Piker's Lodge Hotel. When asked by the Leader if he was entertaining any thoughts of 'retirement', Cllr McEntire offered up a typically impish reply. The local elections are 18 months away, he said. A week is a long time in politics, so I wouldn't be looking that far ahead just yet. ALSO READ: Longford councillors make fresh calls for slurry spreading extension Oliver Keegan is the new President of St Mels Conference St Vincent de Paul in Longford town. He takes over the reigns from Cyril Hussey who was in the role for a number of years. The former agri-science and biology teacher for 40 years at Moyne Community School knows he has big shoes to fill, but the support that SVP provides to those in need and in turn the support that is provided by the community in Longford town to SVP is a phenomenon that he and many others find very rewarding. Meanwhile, it has been a busy year for the local SVP branch and as Oliver remarked, it seems to get more and more busy as the years go by; more and more people are looking for help and at Christmas time it becomes exceptionally busy. The organisation has a new helpline number and when people ring , they are required to leave a message and their call will be returned by a committee member. We have a helpline, people ring that; we make home visits so we can better understand peoples needs and everybody is assessed so that we can spend our money wisely, said Oliver, before pointing out that demands change depending on the time of year. Peoples needs vary depending on the time of year, he continued, before pointing to the fact that during the summer months people need food vouchers, while in winter time they need food vouchers and fuel vouchers as well. Others then have educational needs that would include help with books, uniforms, fees and transport costs, and while we do have limited means we help as many people as we can and in the best way we can. St Mels Conference SVP has spent close to 170,000 on meeting the demands of the people of Longford town this year. That money is thanks to the generosity of the numerous voluntary groups, business people and others who support the local SVPs cause with every passing year. The organisation also holds a church gate collection every Sunday at St Mels Cathedral. We collect several hundred Euro every Sunday and that is very significant to our funds, added Oliver. Then of course coming up to Christmas a lot of companies and organisations are very generous to us - that is mainly where our money comes from. Every year the national SVP office runs its pre Christmas campaign in the run up to the festive season. It asks everyone to make a donation to the cause, no matter how big or small it may be. Locally, and around this time of year, clubs and societies like the Lions Club hold food appeals where they encourage shoppers to place some perishable goods in the collection box. This is turn is handed over to organisations like SVP where the good will be used in its many Christmas food hampers. Hundreds of these hampers are distributed every Christmas to those in need in and around Longford town. Only last week the Lions Club collected 1,400 and food from one of their appeals and they handed everything over to SVP; we were delighted and it is a very generous thing to do for us, said Oliver, before adding that Supervalu in Longford town was also running a food appeal for SVP. All of this is a huge help to us as is the Abbott shoebox appeal, which is organised every year in conjunction with St Mels Conference SVP. It has become a very successful and valuable initiative and is a huge effort on the part of Abbotts. It is very much appreciated. The new SVP president also says that there are people in Longford town whose resources are limited and in many cases they have become isolated. It is these people that the organisation keeps a close eye on. SVP meetings take place every Tuesday night at 7pm in the Family Centre in Longford town. New members are always welcome. ALSO READ: SVP concerned at anticipated increases in electricity and waste charges coming in the autumn The electric vehicle (EV) market is expanding more than expected, and battery manufacturers and component manufacturers are accelerating investments in lithium ion battery equipment across the globe. Under this circumstance, a lawsuit was filed against infringement of a patent for a lithium ion battery. Summary of the case Mitsui Mining & Smelting (MMS) is the owner of the patent titled "Process for Preparing Lithium Manganese Oxide in Spinel Structure" (JP4274630). JGC Catalysts and Chemicals (JGC) manufactured and sold a total of 3,722 tons of lithium manganese oxide in spinel structure for the period commencing on January 1, 2010 and ending on October 31, 2013. MMS filed a lawsuit against JGC alleging that JGC's process for preparing lithium manganese oxide in spinel structure infringes their patent. Judgment of July 10 2014, Tokyo District Court The Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Hasegawa) granted MMS's claim against JGC to the extent of seeking (1) an injunction against the use of JGC Process 1, (2) an injunction against the use etc. of JGC Product 1 and the disposal thereof, and (3) payment of Y111,660,000 as damages equivalent to a royalty. The Tokyo District Court judged that the invention has an inventive step as follows: D12 presents the observation that it is preferable to minimise the amount of sodium contained in electrolytic manganese dioxide in view of improving the battery characteristics. In addition, D15 mentions that the material that should be preferably used as a lithium-manganese composite oxide is LixMnOy, not a material in spinel structure. What is more, the burning temperature of the mixture of manganese dioxide and lithium (380C) in the example cited in D15 is significantly different from that of the invention (750C or higher). Besides, the sodium compounds etc. contained in the lithium manganese oxide in spinel structure referred to in D18 are used as additives and are not used as neutralising agents. Thus, there is no ground for the allegation of lack of inventive step as explained in D11 as the main prior art. JGC appealed to the IP High Court. Judgment of March 30 2016, IP High Court The IP High Court (Presiding Judge Shimizu) rescinded the original judgment in terms of the part unfavourable to JGC and dismissed MMS's claim, stating that the patent is invalid due to lack of inventive step and that JGC is not found to be using a manufacturing process that falls under the technical scope of the corrected invention. 1) Lack of inventive step The IP High Court judged that the invention lacks inventive step as follows: In relation to the well-known problem to achieve an improvement in high temperature storage stability and cycle characteristic by restraining the elution of manganese, there is a known means that can restrain the elution of manganese through the incorporation of sodium into the crystal structure of lithium manganese oxide in spinel structure (D18). It was also widely known that in the case of using electrolytic manganese dioxide neutralised by sodium hydroxide as a raw material for a lithium-manganese composite oxide (D15), contained sodium is incorporated into the crystal structure of the lithium-manganese composite oxide. Consequently, a person ordinarily skilled in the art can easily conceive of the idea of using the widely known means of incorporating sodium to resolve the well-known problem of improving the high temperature storage stability and the cycle characteristic and, in this step, incorporating sodium into the crystal structure of LiMn 1.85 Li 0.1 Al 0.05 O 4 through the use of electrolytic manganese dioxide, which is widely known to contain sodium when neutralised by sodium hydroxide, as a raw material (D15) and thereby restraining the elution of manganese. 2) Whether JGC is using a manufacturing process that falls under the technical scope of the corrected invention The IP High Court found that JGC is not using a manufacturing process that falls under the technical scope of the corrected invention as follows: MMS has submitted a report prepared by its employees, an experimental result certificate, and other documents in an attempt to prove that GS Yuasa manufactured and sold Max batteries using the lithium manganese oxide of JGC. However, it is uncertain whether GS Yuasa purchased lithium manganese oxide only from JGC, and there is no evidence that directly corroborates that the lithium ion batteries obtained by MMS as Max batteries and used for the analysis referred to in the experimental result certificate were those manufactured and sold by GS Yuasa. Thus, it is impossible to find from the aforementioned evidence that the process of JGC for manufacturing lithium manganese oxide in spinel structure falls under the technical scope of the corrected invention. Practical tips The Tokyo District Court and the IP High Court made diametrical findings regarding inventive step. The Tokyo District Court put emphasis on the fact that sodium compound etc. contained in D18 was used as additive, and not used as a neutralising agents for adjusting pH of electrolytic manganese dioxide. On the other hand, the IP High Court did not emphasise this point. This can be understood that this is because the IP High Court put emphasis on the fact that there is no evidence supporting that there are some common technical knowledge showing the reaction behavior of sodium at burning differs between when sodium is used as additive and when it is used as a neutraliser of electrolytic manganese dioxide. MMS adopted a strategy of proving the lithium manganese oxide used for Max batteries to be those manufactured by JGC with many pieces of indirect evidence when direct evidence was lacking. However, the IP High Court found that MMS failed to prove it indisputably. The finding of the IP High Court shows that it is extremely difficult for MMS to prove the lithium manganese oxide to be a product of JGC with indirect evidence, and MMS has no choice but to prove it with the cooperation of GS Yuasa and Max. It is advisable, for any enterprise, to have some predetermined measures in anticipation of the possibility that you might be requested by customers or any third party to provide cooperation to disclose information about your products. Takanori Abe ABE & Partners Matsushita IMP Building 1-3-7, Shiromi, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 540-0001, Japan Tel: +81 6 6949 1496 Fax: +81 6 6949 1487 abe@abe-law.com www.abe-law.com Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on last day appealed to all sections of society to donate towards Ockhi Cyclone relief fund for the rehabilitation of the affected families. In a Face Book post, the CM requested the people from all corners to lend a hand to help the Ockhi victims. The contribution through cheques should be sent to the address Principal Secretary, Treasurer, Chief Minister's relief fund, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram -1. For transferring money online the following account number can be used: Account number 67319948232, State Bank of India , City Branch Thiruvananthapuram. IFSC code : SBIN0070028. Kochi : Three members of a family were killed after the car in which they were travelling crashed into a Metro pillar in Muttam near Aluva in the wee hours of toMday, police said. The deceased were identified as Rajendraprasad, his son Arun Prasad and relative Chandran Nair from Kumaranallore in Kottayam district, they added. The incident occurred at 2.30 a.m when the three were returning home from Nedumbassery International Airport after seeing off Chandran Nair's son working in Dubai, police said. PTI Ads by Google Thiruvananthapuram: The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court will pronounce the sentence in the sensational Jisha murder case on Thursday. The court also denied Ameerul's request for a further probe in the case. Though Ameerul denied the accusation in the court, the prosecution demanded death penalty for him for the heinous crime. Judge Anil Kumar on Tuesday found Ameerul hailing from Assam guilty under Sections 376 (rape), 302 ( murder), 449 ( trespassing into house) and 342 (wrongful confinement). Jisha, a 30-year-old Dalit law student hailing from Perumbavoor was brutally raped and murdered at her House at Kurupumpad on April 28. The crime triggered massive public outrage and started a heated debate on the women's safety in Kerala. These arent a perfect metaphor for initial coin offerings, but they have a few things in common. Photo by Elisabeth Dellinger. Once upon a time, young companies raised cash by issuing something called a token. Prospective customers could buy these tokens, which they could then use to purchase goods and services from the company. Customers were free to buy and sell these tokens from and to each other, presumably at prices above or below face value as the market dictated. These companies were called video arcades. Im not aware of anyone who ever made a fortune on them. All analogies are terrible, and I am not about to argue arcade tokens are perfect cryptocurrency analogs. There are plenty of differences, not least the fact that arcade token supply is basically infinite. But functionally, there are plenty of similarities between them and most of todays Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), where an unproven startup raises money by issuing a cryptocurrencyaka a tokenwhich early backers can eventually use to buy goods and services from the company. Think Kickstarter, only you get snazzy e-money while you wait for the company to start producing anything. People are going nuts for these ICOs, eager to get in on the ground floor of the next bitcoin or ether. But at least those two have slightly broader uses. To me, these other rinky-dink ICOs seem mostly like an end-run around securities regulations, and the SEC increasingly seems to agree. Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you like, but I cant help wondering whether ICO backers will eventually feel the same way about these tokens as I feel about the useless pile of Malibu Grand Prix tokens in the back of my dresser drawer.[i] Let us now turn the microphone over to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. A key question for all ICO market participants: Is the coin or token a security? As securities law practitioners know well, the answer depends on the facts. For example, a token that represents a participation interest in a book-of-the-month club may not implicate our securities laws, and may well be an efficient way for the clubs operators to fund the future acquisition of books and facilitate the distribution of those books to token holders. In contrast, many token offerings appear to have gone beyond this construct and are more analogous to interests in a yet-to-be-built publishing house with the authors, books and distribution networks all to come. It is especially troubling when the promoters of these offerings emphasize the secondary market trading potential of these tokens. Prospective purchasers are being sold on the potential for tokens to increase in value with the ability to lock in those increases by reselling the tokens on a secondary market or to otherwise profit from the tokens based on the efforts of others. These are key hallmarks of a security and a securities offering. This is an excerpt from his official Statement on Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings, published Monday, which explores the legality of ICOs and some of the fishy ways companies market them. One striking example of fishiness earned some headlines the same day, courtesy of the SECs cease-and-desist order against an ICO by Munchee, Inc., which as near as I can tell has nothing to do with a late-night food delivery service aiming to capitalize on cannabis legalization. Rather, it had to do with online restaurant reviews and envisioned its token as a medium of exchange for services it planned to provide. It also envisioned its token as a magic return-generator. Hat tip to Bloombergs Matt Levine for highlighting the fun part: On or about October 25, 2017, Munchee created a public posting on Facebook, linked to a third-party YouTube video, and wrote 199% GAINS on MUN token at ICO price! Sign up for PRE-SALE NOW! The linked video featured a person who said Today we are going to talk about Munchee. Munchee is a crazy ICO. If you dont know what an ICO is, it is called an initial coin offering. Pretty much, if you get into it early enough, youll probably most likely get a return on it. This person went on to use his ICO investing sheet to compare the MUN token offering to what he called the Top 15 ICOs of all time and speculate[d] that a $1,000 investment could create a $94,000 return. Now, this is not a column about whether or not Munchees token was a security. Nor is it a statement about whether Munchee is a scam, making one wonder if you will pretty much probably most likely get a return of your money. It also isnt a forecast of future ICO returns. Yes, they look bubbly, but as we often preach on MarketMinder, bubble chatter is self-deflating, and everyone trading these things (as well as bitcoin and ether) has heard all of said bubble chatter. One could rationally argue markets have priced it all and we could be far away from the crashjust as one could rationally argue the cryptocrash will start tomorrow since these bits of code have zero fundamental support. Bubbles are funny and unpredictable like that, and Im no Jesse Livermore. But the SECs findings can help you understand why investing in ICOs with visions of sky-high returns is speculation. In most cases, you are not buying an equity stake in the business (even if you were, the percentage of venture capital investments that eventually pay off is tiny). Instead, you are pre-paying for their product. Ask yourself: Would you invest in an ETF with nothing but arcade tokens? Starbucks gift cards? Free car wash vouchers? Handwritten IOUs? Coupons for free hugs? Of course not. One, these things have no prospects to appreciate in value. Two, they are worthless as soon as the issuing company goes out of business, nothing but relics of a bygone consumer era. Sort of like that old Loehmanns brass-plate gift certificate that is also languishing in my dresser drawer or your old Gimbels or Bullocks credit card.[ii] Yes, it can be fun to throw some money at a fluke with huge potential returns. But this is speculating. It is not investing. When you invest in a stock, you buy a piece of it and its future profits. It is easy to describe what you own: a sliver of a company that is out there selling products and/or services and (hopefully) making money. That sliver has the potential to grow in value as the company grows, thrives and makes more money. It is a sliver of a business you can analyze and assess. It probably wont bring quick riches, but youre (theoretically) in it for the long haul, and it is reasonable to expect someone to buy it from you at a higher price down the line. With most ICOs, there is no good reason to expect this. But people are paying a lot for them now! is not a good reason. That is like saying, because there is a mania now, there will be a mania in the future. Sir Isaac Newton and others who lost a fortune in the South Sea Bubble called to say, huh? [i] Ok so they wont sit around thinking if only I had played more videogames or taken a few more swings in the batting cage. [ii] Full story: My mom received this as a thank you gift for volunteering at my elementary schools walkathon in the mid-80s. She never used it and gave it to me seven years ago, by which time Loehmanns had switched to gift cards like a normal store and didnt have the infrastructure to process the brass plate thing. I spent an hour on the phone with corporate one day trying to get them to agree to send me a gift card in exchange for it but gave up when I became convinced theyd never send me anything. This was four years before they went out of business. So, I tried. As always, do what you want. If you dig the not-so-cheap thrills of speculation, that is your prerogative. But know the difference between investing and speculating, and always understand what youre buying. And remember that if youre taking a flyer on a glorified gift card, there is no rational reason for someone ever to buy it from you at a higher price. MARTINSVILLE Four girls from Martinsville and Henry County area recently attended a conference in which they had to earn a seat. The road to the Women in Technology Experience held last month started in October when girls from all over the Commonwealth gathered together for the Capitol One Coders Experience. Divided up in to five rooms, teams of three girls each collaborated together whether they knew each other before the challenge or not to create a mobile app, which they then presented to a panel of judges. The winning team from each classroom advanced to make a formal presentation to another team of judges. From the five teams, judges selected the top three ideas. The finalists won an opportunity to attend the Women in Technology Experience the following month. Girls from the Verizon Innovative Learning Program for Girls at Patrick Henry Community College attended the Capitol One Coders Experience in Danville. Four girls from the group of 50 earned a spot at the Women in Tech summit in Richmond Olivia Hankins, Grayson Russell, Chloe Taylor and Ariana Gravely. The four young ladies attended presentations about coding and learned about women in technological careers. At the summit, the girls learned information about women that inspired them. What inspired me the most was that the Secretary of Technology is a woman and Debbie Sterling, the creator of Goldie Blox, created that basically alone. To me, that was amazing, Taylor said. Russell also enjoyed the lecture given by Sterling. The most inspiring thing was seeing Debbie Sterling talk about her journey and her love of engineering through the years, Russell said. Even though the entire group of middle school girls in the PHCC program werent able to attend the Women in Technology Experience, Tiffani Underwood, PHCCs coordinator of community development programs, sets aside one Saturday every month for all of the girls to continue learning. The first weekend of December, Underwood arranged for the Verizon Innovative Mobile Learning Lab to make a special stop at the community college. Girls experienced virtual reality missions on the surface of Mars where they drove a rover around the red planet in search of evidence suggesting life. I thought it was cool that we got to see what Mars looked like, Zykayla Martin said. The experience on the mobile unit impressed Amaya Martin, Hailey Staples and Savannah Brown. I liked it because I really felt like I was in space, Amaya said. When we were in the lab, it felt like I was on Mars, Staples said. I have never seen a simulation like that before, Brown said. Tracking down evidence was Mallori Lowes favorite part. I really enjoyed the part in the mobile unit when we had to collect clues, Lowe said. It was very fun. While on the mission, Helaina Wright faced an obstacle, but that didnt stop her progress. I liked when we had to fix the frequencies so we could fix the connection, Wright said. Finding clues wasnt an easy task, but Paige Taylor took on the mission with tenacity. It was hard, but when we did it, it felt amazing to know we completed the challenge, Paige said. Like the 1969 moon landing, Brianna Board felt a sense of national pride to have completed the virtual mission to Mars. It was super fun to be [one of] the first Americans to experience that, Board said. Layla Spencer also enjoyed completing the mission on the mobile unit. She noted that while each girl exhibited individuality, the task took a true team effort. The concept of taking a trip to Mars is a wonderful idea, Spencer said. We all worked individually, but also had to work together. That was fun. A first look In middle school, many children take their first real look at what they might like to do as a career. The Verizon Innovative Learning Program for Girls at PHCC allows area children an opportunity to see if STEM-related fields are more of a hobby or could develop into a lifelong interest. We need to continue to encourage women and girls to take an interest in technology and STEM-related fields, Underwood said. The sooner we can get them excited about STEM learning and technology, the better chance we have to keep them involved. Hopefully they will build on these middle school experiences and decide to continue to study STEM and choose career paths related to STEM. For Saige Adams, Bethany Barbour, Camille Underwood and Cierra Hagwood, the program inspired expansion. It helped me learn to think for myself, Adams said. It helped me be more confident, Barbour said. This camp has really helped me to realize that its okay to come out of your comfort zone and you need to live a little, Underwood said. Its also taught me that everybody needs a little kindness in their life. It helped me to know how to be an entrepreneur, Hagwood said. Kamari Waller reflected on her skills when she first started the program in the summer to the usefulness of her talents to date. Ive grown from learning to code to helping people through anything, Waller said. Some girls noted the camaraderie and socialization the group offered. I know a lot [more] people now than I did, Monica Watkins said. I know how to work with people more than I did. It helped me grow because I learned how to open up and make new friends, Kamiya Martin said. I get along with more girls, Jamaya Eggleston said. I met new people and got better at knowing about STEM, Breanna Jones said. Aubrey Price said that the program helped her learn how to STEM like a girl. Several middle school students expressed their feelings on women in technological careers. Coding, 3-D printing, virtual reality and entrepreneurship is something girls should consider because learning about this can get you a good job, Symphanie Collins said. We need more women in fields containing these skills. I think we need more girls because I think it will be more fun and better, Saniya Martin said. It can help you with your future, Cedejah Myers said. By shining a light on women in technology, Madison Reid hoped it would get more girls into STEM. Continuing the Verizon Innovative Learning Program for Girls at PHCC next year, Tiffani soon plans to work with area schools to recruit girls who have an interest in STEM. The application process will likely begin in March. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. We may update this Policy from time to time without notice to you, so please check it regularly. The provision of your personal data to us is voluntary. However, without providing us with your personal data, you will be unable to (as appropriate): contact us; subscribe to our mailing list; subscribe to any of our publications; or receive information about In Defence of Marxism. We collect information about you: (1) When you give it to us DIRECTLY You may give us your personal data in order to subscribe to a newsletter or publication, when you contact us by phone, email or post, when you sign a petition / statement, and/or when you donate money to us. (2) When you give it to us INDIRECTLY Your information will also be provided to us when you follow us or otherwise interact with on or via Twitter, when you like and/or join our page on Facebook or interact with us in other ways on or via Facebook. (3) When you give permission to OTHER ORGANISATIONS to share it or it is AVAILABLE PUBLICLY We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external publicly available sources. Depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may also access information from those accounts or services. We use this information to gain a better understanding of you and to improve our communications and fundraising activities. (4) When you visit our WEBSITE We use cookies to identify you when you visit our website. Please refer to our Cookies Policy for details on the way our use of cookies affects your personal data. What information do we collect? We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data: (1) We will typically hold your name and contact details, including telephone number, location, and e-mail address. However, we may request other information where it is appropriate and relevant, for example: Your bank details or debit/credit card details (if making a donation). (2) any communication preferences you give; (3) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views; and/or (4) any other information shared with us as per clause 1. Do we process sensitive personal information? Applicable law recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection, including political opinions and trade union membership. In limited cases, we may collect sensitive personal data about you. We would only collect sensitive personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so; and will only do so with your explicit consent. How and why will we use your personal data? Personal data, however provided to us, will be used for the purposes specified in this Policy or in relevant parts of the website. We may use your personal information to: (1) Enable you to subscribe to our hard copy publications; (2) Send you information about our work, campaigns, organisations and any other information, products or services that we provide (this will not be done without your consent); (3) Provide you with the services, products or information you have requested; (4) If you request, put you in touch with other supporters in your area (who have also provided such consent); (5) Handle the administration of any donation or other payment you make via credit/debit card, cheque, standing order or BACS transfer; (6) Collect payments from you and send statements and/or receipts to you; (7) Conduct research into the impact of our activity / campaigns; (8) Deal with enquiries and complaints made by you relating to the website or us in general; (9) Make petition submissions to third parties, where you have signed a petition and the third party is a target of the campaign to which the petition relates; and/or (10) Audit and/or administer our accounts. Supporter Analysis Google Analytics We may use some of your personal information to analyse our digital performance, for example to see how our website can be improved to help us achieve the purposes set out in section 9 below, to record how you are using our website or to assess the popularity of different articles / campaigns. For more information on how we use your personal information in relation to Google Analytics, please view our cookie policy by clicking this link cookies policy You can opt-out of the collection of information for such purposes here: http://www.aboutads.info/choices Communications, updates, fundraising Where you have provided appropriate consent, we will contact you by telephone and e-mail, with targeted communications to let you know about our events and/or activities that we consider may be of particular interest; about the work of In Defence of Marxism; and to ask for donations or other support. Donations and other payments All financial transactions carried out on our website are handled through either: PayPal (Europe) S.a r.l. (PayPal), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read PayPals privacy policy (available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full?locale.x=en_GB ) prior to effecting any transactions with us through PayPal; or GoCardless Ltd (GoCardless), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read GoCardlesss privacy policy (available at https://www.gocardless.com/legal/privacy) prior to effecting any transactions with us through GoCardless. We will provide your personal data to PayPal / GoCardless only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments for transactions you enter into with us. We do not store your financial details. Childrens data We do not knowingly process data of any person under the age of 16. If we come to discover, or have reason to believe, that you are 15 and under and we are holding your personal information, we will delete that information within a reasonable period and withhold our services accordingly. Security of and access to your personal data We endeavour to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss, destruction, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or of access to your personal information. Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and volunteers. We may also use agencies and/or suppliers to process data on our behalf. We may also merge or partner with other organisations and in so doing transfer and/or acquire personal data. Please note that some countries outside of the EEA have a lower standard of protection for personal data, including lower security requirements and fewer rights for individuals. We may transfer and/or store personal data collected from you to and/or at a destination outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such personal data may be processed by agencies and/or suppliers operating outside the EEA. If we transfer and/or store your personal data outside the EEA we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate measures to protect your personal data. Otherwise than as set out in this Privacy Policy, we will only ever share your data with your informed consent. Your rights Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes or to be unsubscribed from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights: (1) Right to be informed you have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This Policy and any other policies and statements used on our website and in our communications are intended to provide you with a clear and transparent description of how your personal information may be used. (2) Right of access you can write to us to ask for confirmation of what information we hold on you and to request a copy of that information. Provided we are satisfied that you are entitled to see the information requested and we have successfully confirmed your identity, we have 30 days to comply. (3) Right of erasure as from 25 May 2018, you can ask us for your personal information to be deleted from our records. (4) Right of rectification if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated. (5) Right to restrict processing you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage. (6) Right to data portability to the extent required by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) where we are processing your personal information (i) under your consent, (ii) because such processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contact or (iii) by automated means, you may ask us to provide it to you or another service provider in a machine-readable format. To exercise these rights, please send a description of the personal information in question using the contact details in section 15 below. You can also unsubscribe from our email list by sending a blank email to news-unsubscribe@marxist.com Where we consider that the information with which you have provided us does not enable us to identify the personal information in question, we reserve the right to ask for (i) personal identification and/or (ii) further information. Lawful processing We are required to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. Only 4 of these are relevant to us: Personal information is processed on the basis of a persons consent Personal information is processed on the basis of a contractual relationship Personal information is processed on the basis of legal obligations Personal information is processed on the basis of legitimate interests (1) Consent We will ask for your consent to use your information to send you electronic communications such as newsletters and and fundraising emails, and if you ever share sensitive personal information with us. (2) Contractual relationships Most of our interactions with supporters are voluntary and not contractual. However, sometimes it will be necessary to process personal information so that we can enter contractual relationships with people. For example, if you subscribe to one of our publications, or purchase merchandise online. (3) Legal obligations Sometimes we will be obliged to process your personal information due to legal obligations which are binding on us. We will only ever do so when strictly necessary. (4) Legitimate interests Applicable law allows personal information to be collected and used if it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate activities (as long as its use is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact individuals rights). We will rely on this ground to process your personal data when it is not practical or appropriate to ask for consent. Achieving our purposes These include (but are not limited to) promoting socialist policies Governance Internal and external audit for financial or regulatory compliance purposes Statutory reporting Publicity and income generation Conventional direct marketing and other forms of marketing, publicity or advertisement Unsolicited messages, including campaigns, newsletters, and fundraising appeals Analysis, targeting and segmentation to develop and promote or strategy and improve communication efficiency Personalisation used to tailor and enhance your experience of our communications Operational Management Maintenance of suppression files Processing for historical, scientific or statistical purpose Purely administrative purposes Responding to enquiries Delivery of requested products or information Communications designed to administer existing services including subscriptions, administration of petitions and financial transactions Thank you communications and receipts Maintaining a supporter database and suppression lists Financial Management and control Processing financial transactions and maintaining financial controls Prevention of fraud, misuse of services, or money laundering Enforcement of legal claims Reporting criminal acts and compliance with law enforcement agencies When we use your personal information, we will consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and if it is within your reasonable expectations. We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways. Data retention The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes. In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again. Policy amendments We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. Third party websites We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website. Updating information You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com Contact We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer however we have a Data Protection Manager. Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com SPRINGFIELD -- Potential passengers or those who are simply curious can learn more about CTrail, the commuter passenger train service the Connecticut Department of Transportation will launch next year, at a talk on Wednesday evening. The rail advocacy organization Trains In The Valley is sponsoring the talk by Hartford Line project manager John E. Bernick on Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Springfield Central Library. Trains In the Valley is asking people to register at trainsinthevalley.eventbrite.com. CTrail will work with Amtrak to provide 17 round-trips from Hartford to New Haven. Of those, 12 will continue on to Springfield, including six Amtrak trains that already run on the north-south line, five shuttles and the Vermonter train that goes from St. Albans, Vermont, to Washington. At New Haven, CTrail connects with Metro-North service into New York's Grand Central Terminal. An anonymous gift of roughly $4,000 was given to the Toys R Us store in Leominster on Saturday, Dec. 9. According to the Sentinel & Enterprise, the generous donation paid off 35 layaway orders at the popular toy store. There have been a few reported instances of "Secret Santa's" paying off Toys R US layaways so far this holiday season. According to Toys R US spokesperson Meghan Sowa, a New Jersey store received almost $11,000 which paid off 62 layaway orders and a couple in Maine paid off $10,000 in bills, which cleared nearly 100 layaway orders. The Springfield Symphony Orchestra celebrates its first 75 years next season, but its new executive director has her eyes fixed on the future. Susan Beaudry, who had served as SSO development director since 2015, was recently selected to helm the orchestra. Reaching out to the next generation of SSO concertgoers is one of Beaudry's priorities. "We have to reach kids now and introduce them to the idea of classical music being something fun, relevant, exciting, and beautiful," Beaudry said. "To go to a classical concert is really a rewarding and rich experience. Music is supposed to add to our quality of life." She was instrumental in launching "Meet the Musicians: High School Edition," which allowed teenagers to watch Maestro Kevin Rhodes and the SSO in rehearsal last year. It's not surprising that introducing young people to classical music is close to Beaudry's heart. The Middlefield resident was listening to classical music at an early age and enjoyed outings at Tanglewood in Lenox with her parents. "My parents had classical music playing in the house," she recalled. "I listened to it as a child. It's a very familiar love." A graduate of the University Massachusetts at Amherst Isenberg School of Management, Beaudry began her career as a national and international product marketing manager for Simplex of Gardner. Prior joining the SSO, Beaudry was the director of development for Berkshire United Way and fundraising chief of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Like many orchestra executives, Beaudry worries about a shrinking audience, but also she sees opportunities for growth given the current climate in Springfield. "We have our work cut out for us, but I am really glad to have MGM Springfield raising the city's profile up as a place to come and enjoy," Beaudry said. "When you have the arts thriving in a community, the community thrives -- shops do better and restaurants are fuller." The SSO has also had to battle common misconceptions about the city's downtown, where it performs at Symphony Hall. "It's an easy trip, it's free to park and it's safe," Beaudry said. "We have people coming to downtown Springfield who are in their 80s. They are driving down here, parking and walking at night and they have no problems." Beaudry is looking forward to audiences enjoying the second half of the SSO's current 2017-2018 season, which includes Mozart's Piano Concerto, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Verdi's Requiem. "The Verdi Requiem is a favorite and features our Chorus," Beaudry said. "It's a full and transcending performance." She is also busy planning the 75th anniversary season, though she was tight-lipped about specific details. "It's going to be a very celebratory season," Beaudry said. "We are looking at very recognizable names to host events. I don't think I can leak any names at this point. I am hoping Kevin takes on a lecture series and we will be doing chamber events." She said that the orchestra will remain an "arts anchor' in Springfield. "We make a big contribution to the arts and I feel very privileged to work for the SSO," Beaudry said. This week's selection of clips, headlines and comics from the past 100 years. This week we feature December clips from 1917, 1927, and 1937. We have Italian heavyweight wrestler Giavonni Raicevich coming into Springfield after a successful bout in New York City. Raicevich was to meet Canadian champion Jack Taylor in a finish match at the Auditorium. The Christmas shopping season was in full swing with advertisements from various downtown Springfield merchants and a photo of the opening of Christmas Seal Booths in 1937. From the December 15, 1937 edition of The Springfield Daily News The pages of The Republican and its predecessors can be found online through the Newsbank Historic Archive. The Historic Archive includes covers editions from 1824 to 1989. Pages and clips can be printed or downloaded in pdf format. The Boston Herald, which filed for bankruptcy last week and announced it would sell to newspaper giant GateHouse Media, is suffering from a common problem facing the country's biggest publishers: its print readership is rapidly declining. And GateHouse will be absorbing that problem head-on -- along with significant debt. The Herald's average Sunday print circulation three years ago was 60,960, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, which tracks newspaper circulation figures. For the three months ending this past September, that figure dropped to 45,833 -- a loss of nearly 25 percent, or 15,000 readers. And while the number of readers on its website and app has steadily risen, it's not enough to offset the loss of print subscribers. The Herald also has another issue. Unlike the Boston Globe, where an increasing number of digital subscribers, has helped offset its print circulation decline, the Herald offers all of its content for free. Whether that business plan changes after GateHouse buys the Herald remains to be seen. To stanch the bleeding at its publications, GateHouse has deployed a paywall on the websites of its daily newspapers. The Cape Cod Times, for instance, offers readers unlimited access to digital versions of its stories for $12 per month. GateHouse CEO Kirk Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the future of the Herald. Herald publisher Pat Purcell, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment. Dan Kennedy, associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University, said the Herald's print circulation loss is part of a larger pattern newspapers are dealing with across the country, namely weak print circulation numbers and declining print advertising revenue. And, Kennedy said, the paper's primary distribution method -- via newsstand or retail store -- isn't exactly thriving these days. "There just aren't as many places to buy a newspaper anymore," he told the Business Journal in an interview. "I think that the Herald's primary method of selling the paper is dying because there's no such thing as newsstands anymore... and a lot of stores don't carry newspapers." That certainly hasn't helped the paper's bottom line. The Herald has debt and other obligations of just over $31 million, primarily in pension and severance obligations to employees, the company said in a court filing last Friday. GateHouse is getting a good deal for the publication, paying $5 million to buy the Herald -- $4.5 million in cash plus $500,000 in earned time. If a court approves GateHouse acquisition of the Herald, the city's second largest newspaper will become part of a company that owns 130 daily newspapers, 311 weekly newspapers and 540 local news websites. And what comes next is anyone's guess. CHICOPEE - Members of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Task Force arrested a West Springfield man Wednesday on charges pertaining to an armed robbery that occurred on Pendexter Avenue late last month. The armed robbery occurred on Nov. 29, at about 10:15 p.m., Michael Wilk, public information officer for Chicopee police, said. The victim told police the suspect, whom he knows, went to see him for repayment of food stamps. The victim got into the suspect's vehicle, and immediately was grabbed by the neck, and had a handgun put against his neck, Wilk said. The victim's money and iPhone were then stolen. He was ultimately let out of the vehicle at State and Meadow streets. Tabian Crews, of 27 Colony Road, West Springfield, was charged with armed robbery with a firearm. kidnapping and intimidation of a witness Task Force members arrested Crews at his home. He is slated to be arraigned Wednesday in district court. Wilk posted an account of the arrest on the department's Facebook page. SPRINGFIELD -- The 2013 version of the "Springfield Crew" was not fond of pushback from its extortion targets. According to testimony in an ongoing trial in U.S. District Court, tow company operator Craig J. Morel wavered between compliance and resistance under the direction of Massachusetts State Police in the autumn of that year, while also squirming under the thumb of a "new crew" of mobsters. Standing trial for conspiracy and extortion is Richard Valentini, one of four men charged in an alleged shakedown of Morel, owner of CJ's Towing Unlimited. Three co-defendants in the case -- Ralph Santaniello, the onetime leader of the local faction of the New York-based Genovese crime family; Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese; and Francesco "Frank" Depergola -- have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Valentini is featured in one video Morel made for police on Oct. 4, 2014 at his land in Hampden -- a remote plot where he was rebuilding a home that burned down months earlier. Jurors on Wednesday heard four more in a series of recordings Morel made for state police on Oct. 9, 2013, when Santaniello arrived at Morel's land in a rage. "I told you I'm not going to be alone up here no more, obviously. Told (Calabrese) I wasn't going to be up here alone," Morell said to a visibly agitated Santaniello, as Calabrese stood by. "I don't care if you're here with ninety f---ing people, it ain't gonna make a difference for me pal. Come on let's take a walk. You got your phone on ya?" Santaniello responded. "Yeah. What you want me to leave it here?" Morel asked. "Yeah. Leave your phone here," Santaniello ordered, before marching Morel toward the woods until Morel balked. Santaniello and Calabrese were unaware there were undercover troopers perched in a construction camper and shed on the property -- or that they were surrounded by cameras and microphones. The source of Santaniello's ire was that Morel failed to come through with a promised $5,000 payment, offering $500 instead -- and questioning the crew's true stature. "I'm asking around and everybody seems to say there's nobody inside, there's nothing going on anymore," Morel said, in an effort to compare the new guard to old mob regimes. "I'm not even Italian. You know what I mean? I'm going to deal with the Italians on this? I'm not an Italian shop owner you know," Morel added. Testifying on Tuesday and Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Brendan O'Toole told jurors he orchestrated several meetings among Morel and the defendants, often advising him to bring less money than Morel had promised at the last meeting. "For investigative reasons I wanted to prolong this interaction," O'Toole testified, later adding that he instructed Morel at times to duck incessant phone calls from members of the Springfield Crew or their proxies. Valentini and his co-defendants were collectively accused of strong-arming Morel for $20,000 for what the defendants argued were "arrears" of a "street tax." According to testimony, Morel stopped paying mob tribute after Springfield capo Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno was murdered in 2003. But, a lawyer for Valentini told jurors during opening arguments his client was not involved in the squeeze and appeared at just one of 16 meetings between Morel and the defendants police recorded on video and audio in the fall of 2013. Calabrese and Valentini were shown on that recording apparently trying to soothe Morel's frazzled nerves after the $20,000 demand. "You'll get Cristal," Valentini joked, referring to the pricey champagne. "You're gonna love us," Calabrese added. The trial is expected to last about a week. Morel likely will take the witness stand on Friday. This story will be updated after further reporting. The Republican will provide daily updates from the courtroom. SPRINGFIELD -- After a bumpy start, the first day of what prosecutors are calling a Mafia-related extortion trial got off the ground in U.S. District Court Tuesday. Attorneys offered the jury opening arguments this morning, with the prosecution portraying Richard Valentini as a mobbed-up menace who was part of a "new crew" intent on strong-arming tow company operator Craig J. Morel for $20,000 in 2013. Valentini was arrested on Aug. 4, 2016 and charged with conspiracy and extortion along with Ralph Santaniello, Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese and Francesco "Frank" Depergola. All cut plea deals except Valentini. "Sometimes they'd entice the victim. Sometimes they threatened him, but the underlying message was always the same: The victim needed to pay ... or they would kill him and destroy his business," lead prosecutor Marianne Shelvey told jurors on Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court. Morel recorded on audio and video 16 meetings for Massachusetts State Police that year. He sought their help after Santaniello and Calabrese showed up unannounced at his land in Hampden and demanded thousands of dollars in "arrears" they claimed he owed when he stopped "kicking up" to the mob a decade earlier. They threatened to cut off his head and bury him in his own yard if he didn't comply, Shelvey told jurors. Valentini is featured on one recorded meeting staged at Morel's property on Oct. 4, 2013. Defense attorney Jared Olanoff argued his client was a mere bystander who shuttled Calabrese to Hampden, and was cordial to Morel. Among Olanoff's central arguments was that jurors should not judge Valentini for his hulking size. "They want to make him scary to you, just for how he looks. Not for anything he said or did," Olanoff argued. "You can take a good look at him right now. That's how God made him. That's how he looks." Any suggestion that Valentini's very large stature makes him a bad person would be improper, Olanoff added. Attorneys worked past a kerfuffle during jury selection on Monday that almost resulted in a mistrial. A "friend" of Valentini, David "Fat Chicky" Cecchetelli, a convicted bookie, attempted to sit in on the proceedings but was ousted by court security because the gallery was jam-packed with jury prospects. U.S. District Judge Timothy Hillman this morning told lawyers the incident was a potential constitutional violation and gave Valentini the option to ask for a mistrial. Valentini declined. Testimony continued from Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Brendan O'Toole, following that of state police Capt. Thomas Murphy. Murphy schooled jurors on city mobsters' long ties to the Genovese crime family in New York, plus some of the more violent local highlights including the 2003 murders of late capo Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and police informant Gary Westerman. Westerman's body was recovered from an eight-foot ditch in a wooded lot in Agawam in 2010, making the threat to Morel seem all the more real, Shelvey argued to jurors. O'Toole, the lead investigator in the 2013 case, told jurors that Morel approached him with a split lip and bruised face the day after Santaniello and Calabrese paid their first visit. Morel told troopers he paid Bruno a $5-per-tow kickback for three years before Bruno's murder. Some years, Morel's company, C.J's Towing Unlimited, performed more than 10,000 tows. Morel held and regained the exclusive towing contract for the city. He has also had other agreements with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and AAA, he said on the recordings. Jurors saw photos of Morel sporting a large diamond earring and a shiner. Through O'Toole, prosecutors also admitted into evidence a recording Morel made of Valentini and Calabrese when they came to collect $5,000. They assured him it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. "The thing is I wanted to be out on a date and not have to worry about looking over my shoulder and getting lumped on the way back to my car," Morel says to the pair on the recording. "Listen, listen ... not going to happen," Calabrese assures him. Later Calabrese adds: "That good? We're your friends. You're going to appreciate us. Trust me ... You're gonna love us. That all I'm going to say." The Republican will continue to provide daily trial coverage from the courtroom. In addition to their pensions, the former top officials of the Massachusetts State Police received a six-figure payout for unused sick and vacation time. Massachusetts State Police Colonel Richard McKeon and Deputy Superintendent Francis Hughes announced they would step down last month, amid an ongoing investigation into the department. A pair of state troopers are suing the agency, saying their supervisors forced them to cut portions of an arrest report. Bibaud, the daughter of Judge Timothy Bibaud, allegedly told troopers she traded sexual favors for drugs, and those remarks were removed. Shortly after McKeon stepped down, Kerry Gilpin, the new head of the Massachusetts State Police, announced she was opening an investigation into the incident. McKeon is a 35-year veteran of the department. Hughes served with the state police for 31 years. When the two left their position, they had thousands of hours of accused sick and vacation time, CBS Boston reports. McKeon left the Massachusetts State Police with 3,871 hours of unused sick time and 560 hours of vacation time. Hughes had 3,123 hours of unused sick time, 534 hours of vacation time. State employees can earn up to three weeks of sick time annually, with no cap on accruals. Upon leaving their positions, they are eligible to receive 20 percent of the cash value of unused time. McKeon is eligible to receive a check for $161,688.26, CBS Boston reports. Hughes' unused paid time off adds up to $130,368.84. These amounts are on top of pensions from the state. McKeon is in line to collect a pension of roughly $188,000, Hughes about $175,000 annually. After serving more than 30 years with the state, both are entitled to up to 75 percent of their current pay. Prior to his retirement, McKeon made $251,000. Hughes had an annual salary of $234,000. AMHERST -- Hampshire College students are raising money to help a student who was barred from campus after allegedly making a threat last week. Iris Allen, who this week was suspended for the spring semester, claims the college has not addressed his autism that triggered an outburst. Hampshire has increased security on campus, but spokesman John Courtmanche said the college cannot comment on the alleged threat. In a campus-wide message sent Monday, a college official wrote, "We take these threats and the safety of everyone at Hampshire very seriously. We expect all members of our campus to contribute to ensuring an environment that is safe from threats or harm to each other." In a video, Allen said that he has "developed social habits that aren't acceptable, however, I have autism, and the school never looked in [to it]." According to a YouCaring fundraising page, Allen was "forced into homelessness in the near subzero weather the night before a massive snowstorm in western MA." Allen, who uses the pronoun "he," according to the post, "was escorted off campus, by police and taken to an unknown location as they would not tell Iris or his supporters where they were taking him." He said he will be homeless for the third time in his life. The video below contains language that some viewers might find objectionable: According to the YouCaring post, Allen's outburst was triggered "by his autism which has been greatly underwhelmed, neglected and condescended to by our schools (sic) administration." Allen was reportedly homeless before coming to the college and has no family return to, according to the post. Gloria Lopez, dean of students, wrote in the college's statement: "Individuals who represent a threat to the safety of the campus are not allowed on campus except under limited circumstances as detailed in our student handbook. "We understand that some students are upset about actions taken by the college in recent days, but the College makes all appropriate efforts to support and otherwise provide resources to students who need assistance. "The College has a process for handling these matters, which involves giving due consideration to all parties concerned. No decisions are made without providing hearings and other protections built into the College's policies and procedures. "Hampshire College has an obligation under federal law to protect the privacy of our students, which bars us from providing any additional details about student cases involving complaints, conduct hearings or resulting discipline. "At the same time, the College has a larger obligation to ensure the safety of our community and is acting on that obligation through this communication to campus and the precautions we're taking across campus." Allen's friends are asking people to contact college community members who supported the suspension "to voice concerns about Iris' safety." "We have started this fundraiser in the hopes that Iris can afford to hire a professional advocate (one specializing in autism rights in higher education) to attend and support him in his forthcoming conduct hearing and aid Iris in any further persecution from the school." More than $4,000 has been pledged. Courtmanche said that Hampshire provides services to students with documented disabilities through its Office of Accessibility Resource and Services. "We provide services to students with documented physical, learning, sensory, psychological, developmental and other disabilities, and also support students who cannot or do not want formally to disclose," he said. The University of Massachusetts this year brought charges against an Honors College student with autism who had threatened to commit a shooting on campus. Those charges were dismissed twice, and the student has been allowed to return to the campus. A daylong standoff with a distraught, armed man in a Lanesborough home has ended, but police are referring all questions about the condition of the man to the Berkshie County district attorney's office. Massachusetts State Police Trooper Paul Sullivan said law enforcement officers entered into the 105 Bailey Road home at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday after surrounding the house for nearly five hours. Sullivan said the state police Ballistics Unit and Crime Scene Services were called to the scene after police entered the home. The Berkshire Eagle reported that state police were called at about 11:30 a.m. to assist local police with a reported distraught armed man in a house on Bailey Road. Troopers responded, as did members of the Berkshire County Sheriff's Office. A state police spokesman said that the house was cleared of other occupants within minutes, and negotiators began trying to talk the man into surrendering. Bailey Road from Greylock Estates to Noppet Road and the north end of Silver Street were closed to traffic as officers established a perimeter around the home from afternoon into early evening. At 6:22 p.m., Lanesborough Police posted a notice on Facebook saying that roadways in the area were open. "Roads have been reopened," the post read. "Thank you for your patience and understanding (in) this matter." A Lanesborough police dispatcher said no information was available. SPRINGFIELD -- Marcos Figueroa had just started his third year as a criminology major when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September. Figueroa was displaced due to the hurricane and he is now living in Holyoke. In the spring, he will begin taking courses at Holyoke Community College paying in-state tuition through a vote taken Dec. 12 by the Board of Higher Education. "I'm not sure what credits will transfer, so I am considering starting a different major," he said. "I'm glad I will get the opportunity to study though." Figueroa and hundreds of other college students who have evacuated from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are looking to continue their education in Massachusetts and the Board of Higher Education has partnered with public community colleges as well as state colleges and universities to offer these students a reduced cost for courses. Massachusetts is the latest in a series of states to offer hurricane evacuees in-state tuition including New York, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana and several others. Commissioner of Higher Education Carlos Santiago visited Springfield Technical Community College on Wednesday to explain the vote taken by the board. In-state versus out-of-state course costs are dramatically different with students paying an in-state tuition of $72 per 3-credit course at Holyoke Community College versus $690 per 3-credit course for out-of-state tuition. A semester at Westfield State University costs $485 for in-state students versus $3,525 for out of state students costs. Santiago said the presence of new arrivals is seen "throughout the education pipeline." "We are seeing it in K through 12, we are seeing it in our daycare centers and in our institutions of higher education as well," he said. "Our public institutions have the capacity to receive these students and serve them well." Santiago, who is Puerto Rican, said the decision is also personal. His brother arrived to Massachusetts from Puerto Rico on Dec. 1 after more than a month without electricity. Santiago has also has co-authored a book on the Puerto Rican experience in the United States and said Massachusetts will see more evacuees than some other states because of their long history here. "In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as of 2014, we had over 285,000 Puerto Ricans residing in the state, We think by now that number is closer to 300,000," he said. "Puerto Ricans have been here for many, many years as citizens of this country and have contributed in many ways to the excellence we see around us in Massachusetts." Springfield Technical Community College President John B. Cook and Holyoke Community College President Christina Royal said they have already met with evacuee students looking to continue their education. Both colleges are designated Hispanic Serving Institutions, which means that nearly 30 percent of their student population identify as Latino. Royal said 50 recent evacuees have already met with staff at HCC about enrolling in courses, particularly English Language Learners classes. "The devastation that was left by the hurricane that struck Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands has had a powerful impact on the city of Holyoke and on Holyoke Community College," Royal said. "In order to serve these students HCC has designated staff that will work individually with students and their families to connect them with the resources they need." Cook said STCC is ready to make students feel welcome. "We want newcomers from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to know that we welcome them and our door is wide open with unique career ready programs," he said. Lidya Rivera-Early, community engagement director for STCC, said there have been many evacuees seeking English Language Learners courses. "People are coming here with a bachelor's degrees or they are already cops, nurses and teachers, but they need to get a better command of the English language," she said. "We are seeing a lot of need for English Language Learners courses." Such is the case for Alexandra Fuentes, who made the move from Puerto Rico on Nov. 2. She has tested into the Level 4 English Language Learners level at STCC and is hoping to perfect her English so that she can get certified as a dental hygienist. "The in-state tuition cost is great for me because the economy was already struggling in Puerto Rico even before Hurricane Maria," she said. State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield and state Rep. Jose Tosado, D-Springfield, both attended the announcement and congratulated the board as well as the college presidents for the decision. "Massachusetts gets it," said Tosado. "We have some of the best institutions of higher education in this country. Something like this can make a difference between someone moving up in their lives or falling down in their lives." Gonzalez said this is not the first time the state has stepped up to help sister states in need. "A similar program was put in place when Hurricane Katrina hit as well as post 9-11," he said. "So this is just another example of how Massachusetts is helping to make new residents feel welcome." The in-state tuition will take effect for the spring semester, but Santiago said the board will meet with college presidents to evaluate the needs at the end of the semester. "The board vote makes it possible for the commissioner to extend the in-state tuition rate as circumstances warrant," he said. "It is something we will certainly consider once we see how many students are actually enrolling." SPRINGFIELD -- Threat of global catastrophe from nuclear war is once again real, and the American public should organize to demand their political elites lead the world toward the total elimination of those weapons of mass destruction. That's the view of a medical doctor with a practice in Springfield who belongs to an international organization that just earned this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Ira Helfand, 68, is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, which was awarded the prize over the weekend. Helfand was in Oslo for the ceremony. He is also co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. That group, which founded ICAN in 2007, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Helfand said in an interview with The Republican that there is historical precedent to be optimistic nuclear weapons can be eliminated, citing events during the Reagan administration involving detente with Russia. He said U.S. leaders must engage Russia to make that happen again. Helfand said a social movement is needed to create "the environment" that would force American politicians to make it a "priority ... to seek the elimination of all nuclear weapons." Helfand said he and his cohorts did not believe President Ronald Reagan when, during his State of the Union Address in 1984, he told Americans there was no rational reason to possess nuclear weapons. "Tonight, I want to speak to the people of the Soviet Union," Reagan said during the address. "To tell them it's true, that our governments have had serious differences, but our sons and daughters have never fought each other in war." "And if we Americans have our way, they never will," he said. "People of the Soviet Union, there is only one sane policy, for your country and mine to preserve our civilization in this modern age: A nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought," Reagan said. "The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then, would it not be better to do away with them entirely?" "We dismissed this as rhetoric for the 1984 (presidential) election cycle," Helfand said. But after being re-elected, Reagan began nuclear disarmament negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian leader whose title at the time was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, during a meeting in Iceland in 1986. Those negotiations resulted in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty the leaders signed at a summit the following year. Helfland said representatives from International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War met with the Russian and American leaders at the time. Asked if he would meet with current President Donald Trump, Helfand said that was "an interesting question." "We met with Reagan and Gorbachev," he said. "When it comes to meeting with Trump, I don't know if ... the next day he would have the same opinion." "Reagan was very misinformed about nuclear weapons" but "he was a man of reason, of good will," Helfand said. In contradistinction to the 1980s, when Russia took the initiative and Reagan came on board with ideas and agreements to limit, if not eliminate, nuclear weapons, Helfand said he does not see the Russian Federation taking the lead today. "I don't think Russia will," he said. "It is up to the United States to lead this process now." With respect to the Korean crisis, he said, "we need to have a diplomatic solution." Helfand said a "double freeze" of both the U.S. and North Korean words and deeds would de-escalate the problem. He said American military involvement with the destruction of Libya and Iraq leaves the U.S. little political capital, and consequently it is not trusted by the North Korean government. He said that government's position has hardened, believing its best protection from U.S. attack is the nuclear deterrent. Helfand worked at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton from 1985-2006, when he was chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine and president of the medical staff. Since then he has been on staff at the Family Care Medical Center in Springfield. Police in one Massachusetts community spent Wednesday playing Santa after officers recovered a pile of stolen packages. Norwood police officers traveled across town returning the stolen items recovered Tuesday after a witness called police and reported seeing someone stealing a package from a home that day. The department detailed the arrest in a Facebook post titled, "How the Grinch Almost Stole Christmas." The witness was able to give police a description of the suspect and a license plate number. Officers then began searching for the vehicle and found it in town. WCVB News identified the suspect as Nakia Juwan Gunter, 43, of Norwood. He faces larceny and receiving stolen property charges in court, according to the television station. Police said they found several packages in his car that were not his. "Officers then got consent to search his residence, and uncovered yet again, more stolen packages," police said. "A few of our Officers are currently traveling around town in their black and white sleighs, playing Santa, and returning some of the stolen property to the good people of Norwood." SPRINGFIELD - City and state officials are considering a plan to replace two deteriorated elementary schools in the North End at a new campus where they would share a gymnasium and cafeteria. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno praised the proposal to consolidate Brightwood Elementary and Lincoln Elementary schools at one site, saying he believes the Massachusetts School Building Authority will use the plan as a model for the state. Christopher Collins, chairman of the School Committee's Buildings & Maintenance Subcommittee, said both schools "are old and tired and need replacement." Both schools lack gymnasiums and cafeterias, he said. "It's a home run concept getting two new schools instead of one," Collins said. "It's just going to be a such a nice facility for all the students." The schools would be on a single campus and share a gymnasium and cafeteria, according to the plan. Each school would have its own building except for the shared common space, Collins said. In February, the City Council authorized the city to begin the application process to pursue state funds for various school projects including Lincoln Elementary at 732 Chestnut St. The city previously applied for funding for the Brightwood school project at 471 Plainfield St., eligible for up to 80 percent state reimbursement. The specific details and potential location of the consolidated schools will be discussed at a series of meetings scheduled this week. It will not be at either existing site as both are too small for the campus, but would be in the North End, officials said. The project will need final approval and funding assistance from the School Building Authority, said Peter Garvey, the city's director of capital asset construction. The School Committee's Buildings and Maintenance Committee has a meeting scheduled Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at the School Department headquarters, 1550 Main St., to consider recommending the project to the full School Committee. The School Committee is slated to discuss the consolidation project at its regular meeting on Thursday, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the School Department headquarters. The city's School Building Commission is scheduled to discuss the project at its meeting Friday at 11:30 a.m., also at the School Department headquarters. Sarno said the city has had a great partnership with the state School Building Authority in supporting school construction and renovation projects. The agency has generally provided 80 to 90 percent funding assistance for the school projects, with the city funding the balance, which needs mayoral and City Council approval. SPRINGFIELD -- A defense lawyer said Tuesday his client's disappearance from a November probation violation hearing was because of his anxiety issues and his fear of missing a surgery date, but that didn't convince the judge not to set bail. Tyrone Hill, 34, of Springfield, was arrested Monday on a warrant issued after he left the courthouse on Nov. 9 when a Hampden Superior Court probation violation hearing was ready to start. Judge David Ricciardone on Tuesday set bail for Hill at $5,000 cash on the probation violation matter. Hill was on probation in a case where he pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest. He was sentenced in February 2016 to 195 days on the assault charge and a year's probation on resisting arrest. Hill was not incarcerated at the time of the probation violation hearing. Bernard T. O'Connor, Hill's lawyer, said when Hill learned the prosecution wanted him to be sentenced to a year on the violation, his anxiety got the better of him and he just left. O'Connor said Hill is being treated for mental illnesses, which he named as depression and anxiety. Hill had stopped taking his medicines in October because he didn't like the way they made him feel, the lawyer said. He said Hill is slated for surgery soon for a stomach problem, which he defined as a hole somewhere that needs to be repaired. After saying all that, O'Connor said, "There's no good reason, your honor, why he left the courtroom." Assistant District Attorney Nina Vivenzio asked Ricciardone to set bail at $10,000. She said Hill was outside the courtroom waiting for family members to show up to the probation violation hearing and he fled the building. O'Connor said Hill's family has posted $500 bail in a newer Springfield District Court case and he would like to be released on his own recognizance with GPS monitoring on the probation violation matter. Ricciardone said Hill "defaulted in one of the most egregious situations," leaving court while he was in a court proceeding. He said Hill has a history of "not showing up for court." WESTFIELD - The city will celebrate Hanukkah Wednesday with the lighting of the menorah on Park Square Green. The city's Grand Menorah will be lit at 6:30 p.m. Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said the public is encouraged to attend the community event. The celebration includes music and hot chocolate provided by Mount Moriah Lodge. Following the ceremony, the community is invited to enjoy homemade latkes at the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club provided by Ahavas Achim, a small congregation serving members from the Westfield area, as well as Springfield, Longmeadow and neighboring communities in Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. "We are an unaffiliated synagogue with a Reconstructionist rabbi, a friendly, informal atmosphere, and a strong sense of community," said Nathan Rosenthal of Ahavas Achim. "Our members come from a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds and include many interfaith families." Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Hanukkah, called the Festival of Lights, is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which this year is Dec. 12. A candle is lit each night to symbolize the miracle of a small flask of oil keeping the Second Temple's menorah alight for eight days. Foods fried or baked in oil, such as potato pancakes (latkes) and doughnuts are traditionally eaten as well. Rosenthal said individual Jewish residents of Westfield have been identified as early as the 1850s, but an organized Jewish community with a temple was not formed until 1917. "The most prominent of the earlier group were the Solomon brothers -- Phineas, Henry, and John -- who came to Westfield from England in the late 1850s," said Rosenthal. "All three were involved in the cigar industry, served in the Civil War, and eventually emigrated to Australia." By the late 19th century nearly half of Westfield's population was made up of immigrants, many from eastern Europe, and among them were a small number of Jews. In 1917 they purchased a small building on Summer Street to use as a temple. For the next 50 years, Rosenthal said, the general poverty and small size of the community meant they were often without a rabbi and, when one was hired, he stayed for less than a year. During the last 10 years of its existence, the community did not have a minyan or hold regular services. The larger and more prosperous Jewish communities of Springfield and Holyoke proved more attractive to the Westfield citizens. Finally, in 1967, the temple building was sold and the Torah scrolls were transferred to Springfield. Then, in 1975, there was a rebirth. Ahavas Achim's services are held at the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center on the campus of Westfield State University and are open to the congregation, university students, faculty and staff, and the public. The biweekly services, led by Rabbi Efraim Eisen, alternate between Friday evenings and Saturday mornings and incorporate both English and Hebrew prayers as well as songs, poetry, teachings and Torah discussion. The annual menorah lighting event on the green is free and open to the public. President Donald Trump is on a serious losing streak. He went all in with his support of firebrand Republican Roy Moore, the twice-removed Alabama Supreme Court judge and accused child-molester who lost Tuesday's special election to fill an open Senate seat in a state in which Trump had racked up 62 percent of the vote last November. Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones - and then, not surprisingly, refused to concede. In the GOP primary, though, Trump had endorsed Sen. Luther Strange, who'd been appointed to fill the seat left vacant when Trump tapped longtime Alabama Sen. Jefferson Sessions to be his attorney general. That makes Trump, who cherishes winning above all else, 0-2 in ruby red Alabama alone. And just last month, Trump's candidate in Virginia's gubernatorial election, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, was defeated by Democrat Ralph Northam, even as Democrats made great strides in winning seats in the state legislature. That makes Trump 0-3 of late, if you're scoring at home. But the president wasn't the only big loser on Tuesday. Steve Bannon, Trump's onetime chief strategist and continued confidante, also went fully in with Moore. Bannon has vowed to fight establishment Republicans by backing insurgent candidates who pledge not to support Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. The one obvious question for those who'd consider following Bannon going forward: How'd things work out in Alabama? Here was former top McConnell aide Josh Holmes after Tuesday's results: "It should be a hurricane siren for every Republican. This is what the death of a party looks like, and without an immediate course correction and rejection of the Steve Bannon view of the world, you can lose races in states like Alabama." After Jones is seated, Republicans will have only a 51-49 seat advantage in the Senate, making it all that much more difficult for them to notch legislative wins in the upper chamber. It's entirely possible that the GOP's lone real accomplishment in the current year will be the broadly unpopular tax-cut package, which they may manage to push through before Jones takes his seat. This would leave the once-Grand Old Party entering 2018, a midterm election year, being able to boast that they cut taxes for the richest of the rich, as well as for corporations. And that's it. Bannon, of course, has a pair of preferred anti-establishment candidates he'll be seeking to boost in Republican primaries in Senate races in Arizona and Nevada next year. Should either or both prevail, or should he get another candidate nominated in another state, he may help Democrats in their once-inconceivable bid to win back the Senate next year. All of this, obviously, is still a very long way off. But it's now on every political observer's radar. Alabama's special election was a political earthquake. The repercussions and aftershocks will be felt for a very long time to come. There were lots of losers on Tuesday. Moore. Trump. Bannon. But not, despite what some contended, McConnell. To be sure, the Senate majority leader will soon enough have one fewer vote to play with, and that's not exactly a recipe for a long string of legislative successes. But he won't need to deal with having an accused child-molester as a member of his caucus. In some very clear ways, he's better off having another Democrat across the aisle. When the news first broke of Moore's reported sexual malfeasance with teenage girls - when he was in his 30s - McConnell called on the twice-disgraced judge to drop out of the race. Trump and Bannon doubled down. There are obvious lessons from what happened in Alabama on Tuesday. The question going forward: Will Republicans learn them? On the surface, suggesting humane treatment of animals is unconstitutional sounds ridiculous. But that's the case being made by 13 states in a lawsuit against Massachusetts, and don't be so sure of the outcome. It stems from the so-called "egg law," a 2016 ballot referendum requiring that anyone selling produce in Massachusetts must have provided their production animals space to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely. It won by a 4-for-1 landslide. Now comes a lawsuit claiming the referendum unlawful by attempting to "dictate how other states choose to regulate business operations and manufacturing processes within their own borders," according to Curtis Hill, attorney general of Indiana, which is among the plaintiffs. At issue is a charge of "economic protectionism and extraterritorial regulation that violates the Commerce Clause" of the U.S. Constitution. The suit says residents of different states will be made to "submit to Massachusetts' laws," by forcing other states to follow an edict not approved in those states. The U.S. Constitution gave the federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause was designed to keep states from engaging with economic wars against each other while the federal government stood helplessly by. Whether that disallows a state's right to establish its own laws of doing business has been a source of debate for more than 200 years. A victory for the Massachusetts referendum seems likely based on a challenge to a similar law in California that has so far failed. The challenge to the Massachusetts law is based partly on the assertion the law increases costs to consumers. Even if that's true, whether this makes it illegal - or unconstitutional - is very debatable. Everything seems political these days. Maybe it's coincidence that all 13 states named as plaintiffs, which span the Midwest, South and West, voted Republican in the 2016 presidential election. Or maybe not. Regardless, there's a lot at stake with this suit, beyond the obvious issue of humane treatment of animals. It challenges a referendum overwhelmingly supported by Massachusetts voters, and it tests the rights of a state to make its own rules on business involving interstate commerce. The California precedent bodes well for upholding the referendum vote. But court rulings can change, depending on the court, the judge and, although it's not supposed to matter, society's current mood. Overturning the referendum would almost certainly be followed by an appeal from Massachusetts. Will a binding referendum be reversed, and how would Massachusetts voters react to that? For reasons of the business practice, humane treatment of animals and the interpretation of interstate commerce in a democratic republic, this is a case worth watching. Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations. Montana State University has announced that Ann Jackson and her husband, Ken Wilson, have committed to donating $570,000 to support programs and initiatives that will expand writing support for students and faculty. "We are grateful for Ken and Anns generosity and insight in supporting MSU students and faculty to improve student writing from several strategic angles," said Chris Murray, president and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation. http://www.montana.edu/news/17344 Idaho has committed more than $100 million since 2013 to turn high school graduates into college students. Now, thousands of high school students can earn free college credits. High schools can hire college and career counselors to work with students and parents. And more students receive scholarships to attend Idaho colleges. But the money isnt doing the one thing it was supposed to do. Kevin Richert n this opinion piece, Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett writes about critical advice he has received from other leaders including former Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, former Chancellor of UCLA Albert Carnesale and Vanguard CEO William McNabb. "The five lessons I have sketched here have had a massive impact on how I try to lead every day," he writes. "I hope they will do the same for you." After several private companies tried and failed to deliver on-demand group transit, some cities are now building those services themselves. by Daniel C. Vock http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-transit-agencies-extend-service-with-microtransit.html Located in the states northwest corner, the Bull River harbors some of Montanas most productive forests. Timber reaches up to the highest points. This is also Montanas wet country: 50 to 100 inches of annual rainfall nourishes an old-growth rain forest, producing lush vegetation and an enormous variety of native plants. Yet it is also a land of contrast: Big fir trees and western red cedars, products of high precipitation areas, grow just a short way from Douglas firs and the western larch of dryer climatic zones. It is best described as an area where the more arid landscape of the Northern Rocky Mountains begins a transition to the moist environs of the Pacific Northwest. RICK AND SUSIE GRAETZ UM Dept. of Geography http://ravallirepublic.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_4fef719c-c39b-5327-9671-6ffbc43a68ec.html#tracking-source=home-latest-3 Le Dr Renganaden Payayachy a repondu a une question parlementaire du depute du MMM de la 19e circonscription. destinee au ministre de la Sante, lors de la seance parlementaire du 29 mars 2022. B/23 The Honourable Second Member for Stanley and Rose Hill (Mr Nagalingum) To ask Dr the Honourable Minister of Health and Wellness Whether, in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, he will state the quantum of funds received from the levy of Rs2 per litre on MOGAS and Gasoil for the purchase of vaccines and since the application of the said levy to date, indicating the quantum thereof disbursed as at to date? Monsieur le President, Jai ete informe par la State Trading Corporation que le prelevement de 2,00 roupies par litre sur lessence et le diesel est en application depuis le 1er juillet 2021 afin de permettre a tous les citoyens de ce pays davoir acces gratuitement aux vaccins contre la Covid-19. Le National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Fund a recu un montant de 372 937 550 roupies de la STC. Le montant total a ete transfere au Ministere de la Sante et du Bien-etre pour lachat des vaccins contre la COVID-19. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires "Il a ete demande a la CEB de boucler la zone touchee durgence et de restreindre lacces au site." Tertiary education has long been positively associated with economic development. While definitions and contexts can vary, tertiary education generally refers to any formal skills development beyond high school or secondary school. This can range from bachelors degrees and diploma programs to bootcamps and short term certificate courses. In Sub-Saharan Africa, its no surprise that the demand for tertiary education continues to grow, as countries in this region realize they must prepare their young workforce to exhibit skills that can catalyze economic growth as a means of remaining competitive in todays globalized world. While this growth in demand is good news for the continent, it outstrips the current supply of quality tertiary education. This imbalance has been fueled by the increase in access to education at the primary and junior secondary school level. Although the gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education grew at an average annual rate of 1.5 percent higher than the global annual average between 1970 and 2013, the region continues to demonstrate the lowest participation rate in tertiary education in the world. Currently, only 9% of African youth have access to tertiary education, and 54% of African employers state that job seekers lack the skills that match industry needs. By 2050, nearly 50% of jobs will be replaced by technology and new jobs will demand different and higher-level skill sets. There is therefore an urgent need to align outcomes between skills development and the labor market, and to ensure that all youth have a pathway to meaningful participation in socio-economic development. One of the key factors affecting access to tertiary education programs is financing. Traditional student loans, scholarships and grants, while helpful, have not been entirely effective or efficient at tackling the issue of limited access to a critical mass that can make a real difference to a countrys economic growth prospects. Although scholarships and government student loans dont require collateral, budgets are often insufficient to meet more than 30% of demand. Bank loans require collateral and interest payments during the period of education, which makes them inaccessible to most, especially women Income Share Agreements (ISAs) are a refreshing approach to funding for tertiary education on the continent. ISAs center on the concept of equity investments in an individual which allows investors to buy shares in their future earnings while contributing to social value through sustainable empowerment. Students receive interest-free funds to cover their tuition fees on condition that they agree to pay the lender a specified fraction of their future earnings. By grouping these investments in individuals, lenders are able to offset risks as returns from higher earners hedge the potential losses from lower earners. A unique selling point of ISAs is that they can be very student centric in three major ways. At its core, an ISA is an unsecured loan, so youth from marginalised communities dont need to provide collateral when accessing it. The model assesses an individuals future potential income instead of their current financial standing and assets. Secondly, students only make repayments when they are earning above a minimum income threshold, so there is no risk to students becoming over-indebted. Payments are always a fixed percentage of the students relevant income. Lastly, they are flexible and allow for pauses for example if someone is between periods of employment, pursuing a higher degree or on unpaid maternity leave. The original concept of an ISA was developed by Milton Friedman in his 1955 essay titled, The Role of Government in Education. It has since been adopted by numerous institutions across the world, one being Chancen International. Chancens ISA model underwrites risk at the institutional level only partnering with education institutions and programs that are consistently delivering high quality and market relevant skills as evidenced by strong track records of employment for graduates. Following a successful three-year pilot of ISAs in Rwanda, Chancen International launched the $21M Future of Work Fund (FWF) to give 10,000 marginalized students access to high-quality tertiary education that leads to employment. The expected outcomes of the fund will support Rwandas goal of providing universal access to high-quality education for all citizens and help actualize the countrys 2050 vision of creating 250,000 new jobs every year. In 2021, Chancen launched operations in South Africa through a partnership with WaFunda and will look to extend the FWF model to Kenya in 2023. There is an urgent need for greater investment into sustainable student finance solutions as the individual and intergenerational impact of high-quality tertiary education has been well documented. These solutions should also be regulated in accordance with ethical best practices to ensure fundamental consumer protections. Through its work, Chancen hopes to reaffirm educations status as an economic imperative. The model is fair and innovative and seeks to establish a sustainable cycle of investment and growth in the regions young people. As noted in a conversation with one investor, when the Chancen students do well, the fund does well. In the future, Chancen hopes to see more student finance models that align incentives between investors, education providers and students. by Batya Blankers, Co-Founder & CEO at Chancen International Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires In the tradition of Christmas, many folks flock to the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville to see the artistic, edible work of gingerbread houses from people all over the country. This year, Cathy Christiansen, of Nebo, made the top 10 in the adult category for her creation called Santas Hideaway, in the National Gingerbread House Competition at the resort. The caliber of the competition has increased 100-fold, Christiansen said by phone. Santas Hideway was inspired by a Christmas music box she found at a thrift store showing Santa and his elves hiding away in a house disguised as a giant stocking. To make it interesting, she added some animals hiding away with Santa. Christiansen said it took about 100 hours of work to create the edible work of art. And , she is already percolating on what to submit next year. The main challenge I faced in making this piece was with the construction scale, she said on her entry form. I drew everything to scale on graph paper, then constructed a foam board model for the building. The figures and furnishings were also drawn to scale. She used riced krispy treats, fondant, pasta, baked gingerbread and ginger-clay. The roof shingles and the rocks used for the sides of the house are all individually baked pieces of gingerbread. The elf poses were made with moveable joints using thin pasta inserted through fondant bodies. There are 24 hidden animals through the piece, both inside and out, and nine elves. Christiansen said you will need a flashlight to see them all. For the national contest, 170 entries were received from folks all over North America vying to win their share of more than $25,000 in cash and prizes. A panel of judges evaluated each creation based on overall appearance, originality/creativity, difficulty, precision and consistency of them, with each entry required to be made of at least 75 percent gingerbread. This years grand prize winner was Ann Bailey, of Cary. The gingerbread houses will be on display through Thursday, Jan. 4 to visitors on a complimentary basis. A $20 per car fee is charged for all drive-in guests, with have of the parking proceeds going toward nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit omnihotels.com. 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.... Advertisement Samba O. Sow, Milagritos D. et al. Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Phase 2 Trial Comparing the Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of a Single Standard Dose to Those of a High Dose of CVD 103-HgR Live Attenuated Oral Cholera Vaccine, with Shanchol Inactivated Oral Vaccine as an Open-Label Immunologic Comparator, Clinical and Vaccine Immunology http:dx.doi.org/10.1128/CVI.00265-17 "Immunization with a single-dose cholera vaccine that could rapidly protect people in low-income countries who have not previously been exposed to cholera would be a significant asset in helping control outbreaks and lower mortality rates," said Myron M. Levine, M.D., D.T.P.H., the Simon and Bessie Grollman Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Global Health, Vaccinology and Infectious Disease at UMSOM and senior author in the study. "Given the highly encouraging results, we envision that as a matter of priority high-dose CVD 103-HgR will now be evaluated more completely in low income countries menaced by cholera."Researchers will now study whether the single high-dose live vaccine is suitable for initiating vaccination campaigns early during outbreaks to nip them in the bud, as well as for preemptive vaccination to diminish the burden of expected seasonal increases of endemic cholera in countries where this disease persists as a public health problem. Finally, since young children less than five years of age suffer the highest incidence of cholera but are less well protected than adults by the current two-dose oral killed vaccines, it will also be important to assess the effectiveness of a single high-dose of CVD 103-HgR live vaccine in protecting young children."The research is a first step in demonstrating the potential utility of a new formulation of Vaxchora (CVD 103-HgR) at a higher dose in endemic settings," according to Nima Farzan, Chief Executive Officer and President of PaxVax."Vaccine development is a critical part of our research here at the University of Maryland School of Medicine," said UMSOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs, University of Maryland and the John and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "For two centuries the school of medicine has been at the forefront of treating diseases among the most underserved areas."Source: Eurekalert Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, also called BPH, is a condition where a mans prostate enlarges. It is also called benign prostatic hypertrophy or benign prostatic obstruction. It is not cancer neither does it increase the risk of cancer. This condition happens with age, primarily in men above 50 years of age. Prostate is a small gland in the pelvis region, found only in males. It is located under the bladder and is about the size of a walnut. It makes prostate fluid which is part of the semen and is essential for a mans fertility. As the prostate enlarges, it squeezes the urethra. As the urethra becomes narrow, it has to work hard to empty out. This causes the bladder walls to become thick, which causes the bladder to contract even when it contains a small amount of urine leading to loss of bladder control. The hormone related to testosterone, known as dihydroxy testosterone or DHT, plays an important role in causing BPH. BPH is not a serious or life-threatening disease. However, if left untreated, it can lead to complications like: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) Blood in the urine Bladder damage Bladder stones and Kidney damage The symptoms of BPH can be similar to symptoms of prostate cancer. Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are the most common symptoms associated with BPH. These include: weak direction of urine dribbling after urination strain or discomfort while passing urine need to pass urine multiple times during the night an urgent feeling to urinate urinary incontinence urine which has unusual smell or color Urinary retention caused due to blocked urethra can also be caused because of taking cold and allergy medications which contain decongestants such as pseudoephedrine. These medications prevent the bladder neck from relaxing and thus hinder in releasing urine. Advertisement If one observes severe symptoms like pain in back, side or abdomen, pain or discomfort when passing urine or cloudy or bloody urine, the physician must be contacted as these may require immediate attention. The treatment options for BPH would depend on the severity of the symptoms. The options include: Lifestyle changes: As soon as one starts getting urinary problems, one must first try to make lifestyle changes to get relief from the symptoms. These include: reducing or eliminating the intake of alcohol, caffeine, antihistamines (e.g. diphenhydramine), artificial sweeteners and decongestants (e.g. pseudoephedrine) going to the bathroom immediately with the first urge reducing fluid intake before going to sleep control blood sugar, as it helps reduce frequent urination Medications: If the symptoms persist or worsen, one must consider treatment with drugs, after consulting a health provider. Catheters: These are recommended when there is chronic urine retention. Surgery: Generally, surgery is not required for men suffering from BPH. If none of the treatment options work, then surgery may be performed, to remove part or the full prostate gland. There are four broad classes of drugs used to treat enlarged prostate: Alpha-blockers (also called as alpha-1-receptor blockers): These are generally the first line of treatment as they act immediately, providing relief from urinary problems in days or a few weeks time. They relax the muscles around the bottom of the bladder making it easy for passage of urine. Some of the approved drugs include: Alfuzosin Doxazosin Tamsulosin Terazosin Silodosin Tamsulosin is the most commonly used drug for BPH. Alpha blockers reach their maximum effect within a months time. 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitors (5ARIs): These are also known as androgen reducing compounds or enzyme inhibitors. These drugs block the production of hormone dihydrotestosterone that causes the prostate to enlarge. They help in slowing the growth of prostate or shrink the prostate. When the prostate becomes smaller again, it no longer pushes against the bladder and urethra as much. These can take several months to provide relief with the maximum effect usually reached after about six months. The two main drugs under this category include: Finasteride the most commonly used drug Dutasteride this is also prescribed in combination with Tamsulosin Advertisement Anti-cholinergics: These medications help relax the muscles in the bladder and urinary tract. These are less commonly used for treating BPH and are less effective too. At times, these are used to treat overactive bladder syndrome or incontinence. Hence, they might be more suitable for men who have any of these conditions along with an enlarged prostate. Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors: Tadalafil is the most commonly prescribed drug under this category. It is approved for erectile dysfunction. The US FDA has now included BPH in the approved indications of Tadalafil. It relaxes the muscles in prostate and around the opening of bladder, making it easy to urinate. Some medications used to treat BPH may have side effects which could be serious. Hence, one must contact the healthcare provider immediately on observing any of the following symptoms. Shortness of breath Rash Itching Chest pain Swelling of eyes, face, arms or lower legs Sudden decrease or loss of hearing The common side effects of different categories of drugs are: Alpha-blockers: The most common side effects of alpha-blockers are reduced semen during ejaculation (dry orgasm), erectile dysfunction, upset stomach, headache, stuffy or runny nose and low blood pressure. Alpha-blockers are also given to reduce high blood pressure. Hence caution must be used when given along with other hypertension medications or impotence drugs, as both these medications have blood pressure lowering effect. Also, blood pressure should also be monitored in patients who are on alpha blockers but who do not have hypertension. Tamsulosin and Terazosin may cause dizziness or fainting due to low blood pressure. These drugs can also affect the pupils; hence, the eye surgeon must be informed before cataract surgery. 5-alpha reductase inhibitors: These drugs may increase the risk of high-grade prostate cancer. The most common side effect of ARIs are decreased sex drive, ejaculation problems, decreased ability to get an erection and enlarged mammary glands. These medications also reduce the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood. Hence, patients who take these inhibitors for BPH, must inform their health care providers, before doing any PSA test. Anti-cholinergics: Side effects of these drugs include blurred vision, constipation, dry eyes, indigestion and urinary tract infections. If men suffering from weak urine flow take these drugs, the problems can worsen. Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor: Side effects of Tadalafil include headaches, indigestion, back pain and itching or swelling in nose (rhinitis). The men suffering from BPH must follow these recommendations to manage BPH. he Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, will be meeting at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, 14 December at 11:30 with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, who is carrying out a visit to Greece. The two Ministers will focus on the strengthening of bilateral cooperation on issues of mutual interest, such as educational and cultural relations and economic cooperation. Particular emphasis will be given on the political consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs. KINDE When most people hear the words "discussion meet," they immediately think of a heated debate. That's what usually happens when people get together to solve a big problem. But that wasn't the case for some North Huron students. They actually had a productive discussion that led to results as part of the Michigan Farm Bureau Youth Discussion Meet. Held each year in the fall, the contest is a chance for students to develop their public speaking skills while analyzing and discussing current problems affecting the agriculture industry. Though students bring many different ideas into the discussion, their goal is not to prove that their own solution is the best. Rather, students collectively examine possible solutions and further their understanding of the subject. Students follow a semi-structured set of steps during the meet. They give a 30-second opening statement, then have 20 minutes to freely discuss any facet of the topic. After the body of the discussion comes the closing statement, which students are given one minute to prepare for. The closing statement outlines the main points of the body of the discussion and gives students the opportunity to make any final remarks. The participants are graded on six categories: Opening statement, closing statement, delivery, problem solving skills, analysis of the topic, and cooperative attitude. After students are judged on these criteria at the regional contests, the top three students from each region have the opportunity to compete at the State Youth Discussion Meet. Casey Baranski, Kelsie Goretski, Ty Knoblock, Hannah Mills, Lindsey Ritter, and Ben Zaleski all competed in the regional division of the contest, held at Delta College. After three rounds of the regional contest, Goretski and Zaleski moved on to the state semifinals in Grand Rapids. After the state semifinals, Zaleski had the opportunity to advance into the state finals. The discussion meet taught these young adults valuable communication skills that will be necessary as they leave high school and enter adult life. The success of these students shows that when many people work to solve a common goal, amazing things can happen. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Democrat Doug Jones debuted Wednesday as the next senator from Alabama by sidestepping highly charged topics, steering clear of criticism - and leaving wide open the question of what kind of lawmaker he will be. Jones, who will narrow the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49 when he is sworn in, will arrive in Washington sometime in the next few weeks with unusual influence for a freshman member of the party out of power. Democrats are looking strengthen their influence to block Republican legislation they oppose. Republicans are hoping for a moderate partner across the aisle to keep their agenda on track. And Jones will face his own considerations: whether to support the liberal policies of the party that helped elect him in Tuesday's dramatic upset over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama, or to tack to the center or even to the right to prepare for what is likely to be a difficult reelection in three years in one of the most conservative states in the country. In a wide-ranging, 42-minute news conference here Wednesday, Jones was vague about what his strategy would be. "The people of Alabama expect me to do the right thing and vote for the people of Alabama," he said. One specific priority Jones identified was reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program, which expired Sept. 30. "I'd like to be a part of that," said Jones. He did not join calls by some Democratic senators for President Donald Trump to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment, which the president has denied. "I'm not going to go there," he said. Instead, Jones went out of his way to avoid hostilities with Trump, who had criticized him sharply while campaigning for Moore in the closing days of the campaign. Jones also recounted that Trump extended an olive branch too, inviting him to the White House in a phone call that Jones described as "gracious." Jones is a former federal prosecutor best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church in Birmingham in 1963, killing four girls. In some key respects, he sounds more like a standard Democrat than an Alabama centrist. On abortion, Jones's views are in line with many Democratic leaders. He has voiced support for current laws and not for a change that some conservatives have embraced, to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Jones is also open to more gun control regulations and has voiced concerns about the GOP tax plan. Jones said he had not yet spoken to Moore, who so far has refused to concede a race with a victory margin of less than 2 percentage points. Allegations of sexual misconduct surrounded over Moore in the closing weeks of the campaign. "Do the right thing, Roy," Jones said, when asked what he would say to Moore if he was watching. "It's time to heal." A Moore spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In Washington, Senate Democrats urged Republican leaders to pump the brakes on their tax bill until Jones is seated - a demand that neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., nor Trump heeded. "I think it's very important for the country to get a vote next week," Trump said. Jones offered an inconclusive appraisal of the Democratic strategy, noting there are a "lot of moving pieces" when it comes to certifying the election and seating him. Jones said he spoke to both McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday. Jones also spoke to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., whom he called a "longtime friend." The Democrat was boosted to victory Tuesday by a supercharged Democratic voter base activated in large measure by an army of out-of-state supporters. He will need to retain the support of the state's many liberal-leaning and African Americans who appear increasingly repulsed by the GOP agenda, and the national activists who assisted him. Yet Jones could become a pivotal swing vote who would stand to gain politically by sometimes siding with Republicans. He faces reelection in 2020, a presidential year, when turnout among the state's many conservative voters is typically high. Inevitably, Jones will have to make difficult decisions in the coming years that risk angering one side or the other. "If anything, he got elected as an Alabama Democrat, not as a Washington Democrat. They've got to understand there is a difference," said Sen. Joe Manchin III, W.Va., a fellow red-state Democrat."If he comes, he has to be true to Alabama and understand they want common sense. Democrats held up Jones as a model for success in the midterm elections. And Jones said he wanted to change Alabama's laws to make it easier to vote, a move long championed by Democrats in the face of restrictive measures Republicans have pushed. Even as Jones cozied up to Republican figures, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, said the way Jones won "is exactly the way Democrats can win everywhere." Perez said the DNC spent about $1 million to help Jones below the radar. The money went toward turning out African-Americans and millennials, he said. Exit poll data showed that strong turnout from black voters was a major factor in Jones's victory. He said at his news conference Wednesday that he would like to see Alabama ease its voter laws, which are among the strictest in the nation and which critics argue disproportionately hurt African-Americans. "I'd like to make it easier for people to exercise their right to vote. And I think we can do that over the course of time," said Jones. After Jones' win Tuesday night, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner, R-Colo., issued a statement saying he hoped Jones would "do the right thing" for Alabama and vote with Senate Republicans. Jones laughed off Gardner's comment, saying, "I would expect a Republican to say that" and for Democrats to do the same thing. A senior White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, expressed cautious optimism being up for reelection in 2020 will make him a moderate figure the West Wing can work with. Running for the Senate was always something Jones, 63, always had in the back of his mind. He got a taste of it years ago working as staff counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for the late Howell Heflin, Alabama's last Democratic senator. "It just all seemed like the right time and the right place and the right moment in my life to do it," he explained in a late-October interview with The Washington Post. On Tuesday, Jones' long-shot bet to snatch away a Republican-held seat in the heart of the conservative Deep South paid off. As it turned out, he was in the right place at the right time - a candidate who was lifted to victory in large measure by a series of twists and turns on the GOP side. A September primary win by Moore, a polarizing former state judge, ruined plans by Senate GOP leaders to boost to victory Republican Sen. Luther Strange, who had been appointed to the seat after Trump named Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general. Then Moore came up against accusations first reported by The Washington Post in November that he made unwanted sexual advances toward teenage girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. The controversy catapulted Jones into serious contention. On Wednesday, Jones said he didn't know if he would have won had the women not come forward. Shelby, who waged a vocal campaign against Moore and urged Republicans to write in someone else, as he did, said he spoke with Jones on Wednesday morning. Jones aggressively spotlighted Shelby's opposition to Moore toward the end of his campaign, as he tried to persuade Republicans not to vote for their nominee. Now, Shelby is hoping Jones doesn't veer to far to the left. "I'm hoping he'll be a common-sense Democrat," he said. - - - Weigel reported from Washington. Elise Viebeck, Robert Costa and Ashley Parker in Washington contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: Democrat Doug Jones on Dec. 12 defeated Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's U.S. Senate special election. Moore refused to concede defeat. (Alice Li, Jordan Frasier, Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Embed: Video Embed Code Video: Supporters of Republican Roy Moore on Dec. 12 reacted to his defeat in Alabama's U.S. Senate special election against Democrat Doug Jones. (Video: Jordan Frasier/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Embed: --- Video Embed Code Video: Democrat Doug Jones on Dec. 12 defeated Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's U.S. Senate special election. Moore refused to concede defeat.(Alice Li,Jordan Frasier,Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Embed code: Video: Supporters of Republican Roy Moore on Dec. 12 reacted to his defeat in Alabama's U.S. Senate special election against Democrat Doug Jones.(Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post) Embed code: CLINTON On Dec. 1, Kidz Konnection Shoreline Theater Academy kicked off its grand opening to its new building, The Academy building located at 61 East Main Street in Clinton with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony generously sponsored by the Clinton Insurance Center and the Clinton Chamber of Commerce. Kidz Konnection had been housed in the basement of the Clinton Parkade where Chips Pub is for over 7 years but due to exponential growth and success, the space became too small for the kids to continue its performance work and leadership training productively. Thankfully, the First Church of Christ who had just acquired the abandoned Academy Building from the town of Clinton was looking to lease the building to an appropriate and complimentary business. Our mission at Kidz Konnection seemed an almost perfect fit for what the First Church of Christ was hoping to support, said Laura Attanasio, Director and Owner of the Kidz Konnection theater group. We provide youth with education in the performing arts for the purpose of cultivating self-empowerment and leadership skills that will develop strong community-serving leaders of the future. The iconic, historic building situated in the historic district of Main St, Clinton, on the green of the First Church of Christ and directly next to the Adam Stanton home and general store was initially built as a college preparatory school and continued for 200 years as other non-profit, community serving organizations including a Grange, a youth center and dance company so opening its doors after being dark for years to a non-profit serving affordable programming in the arts to youth along the shoreline of Ct was a natural choice. David Rainey, the church moderator explained, Kidz Konnection is a wonderful and exciting organization and is a perfect fit for the size and location of the building. As Moderator of the church, I couldnt be more pleased to see The Academy brought back to life again. Kidz Konnection has received recognition from numerous state and local arenas recently, including being named the #1 Best Community Theater Company in the New Haven Readers Poll of 2017, as well as nominations currently underway for Broadway Worlds best of regional theater in several categories including Best Director, Best Community Theater Company, and others. Last year, Attanasio was honored to receive the Woman of Excellence Award for Clinton in the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce. Tastefully remodeled and updated, the new Academy building is cozy and welcoming for visitors young and old. Classes in dance, voice, and acting as well as rehearsals for all productions will take place in the new space as well as intimate theater events, cutting edge dramas, and community outreach projects that make up 30 perrcent of Kidz Konnections programming. Kidz Konnection also hopes to collaborate with the members of the First Church of Christ offering programming that centers on the Christian principles and teachings of the church. To offset the costs of the move and upgrade, Kidz Konnection is hosting a Super Slammin Pajama Rama Party on Jan. 6 in the new building. Open to the public, the party will offer two times, 3 6 p.m. for youth in grades K-4, and 7-10 p.m for grades 5 and up. Magician Bob Hale will entertain party goers with his magic tricks and DJ Sam Reed will keep the party hopping all day long with dancing and karaoke. A photo booth and drama games will round out the day. For tickets to this event go to https://kidzkonnection.regfox.com/super-slammin-pajama-rama-party-celebration. For more information on the Great Move and all other activities at Kidz Konnection go to kidzkonnectionct.org or email kidzkonnectionct@gmail.com. GRANDVILLE, MI - Two years ago, the future was uncertain for Tony-Kelly Lubanzadio in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. The 50-year-old entertainer was a member of Le Zu, a popular gospel quartet whose freedom-oriented music had worn out their welcome with the nation's ruling party. They were in danger in their own country. The future is brighter and safer today for Lubanzadio, who was granted political asylum in the United States in late December of 2015. Lubanzadio has found a new home and employment in West Michigan, where a community of Congolese refugees is forming. Instead of singing for a living, Lubanzadio now finds himself sweeping floors and organizing the break rooms and locker rooms at Kerkstra Precast Inc. while he improves his English and construction skills. Lubanzadio is a graduate of a skilled trades training program sponsored by the Literacy Center of West Michigan and the Associated Builders and Contractors / West Michigan Chapter (ABC/WMC) through a $228,447 grant from the Michigan Office of New Americans (MONA). "I say, "God is good,'" says Lubanzadio with a broad smile. Lubanzadio is one of two Congolese refugees who have been welcomed at Kerkstra, a fast-growing Grandville company that makes structural concrete panels used to build bridges, parking structures and commercial buildings. Mukalay Banza, 42, works three days a week as a mechanic in Kerkstra's truck garage, repairing semi-trailers that get beat up under the wear and tear of hauling around big slabs of concrete that weigh thousands. The 3-day-a-weekl schedule also gives Banza time to attend to the needs of the growing 200-member Congolese congregation he shepherds at Cornerstone Church in Grandville. Banza, who arrived in the U.S. five years ago with his family after spending 15 years in a refugee camp after a bloody civil war in his country, said he's grateful for the opportunities he has at Kerkstra and the training he is getting. Lisa England, human resources manager at Kerkstra Precast, said Lubanzadio and Banza have become valuable additions to their 330-person workforce, which has more than doubled in the past five years. Jen Schottke, Vice President of Workforce Development for ABC/WMC, says the MONA grant created last year meets the needs of the construction industry and the refugee community. "West Michigan has a large population of new Americans seeking work and we thought this partnership would provide promising opportunities for both these individuals and our local construction employers," Schottke said. "The MONA grant has opened the door for 20 refugees to pursue a career and offered multiple employers new avenues for hiring skilled entry-level candidates," Schottke said. Kerkstra was among three ABC/WMC members to hire the program's graduates. Electrical contractors Feyen-Zylstra of Grand Rapids and Wayland-based Windemuller also hired the program's graduates. To join the program, the refugees were required to have some basic conversational skills to understand the curriculum. Students began their two days per week at Grand Rapids Community College in March. Classes were taught by a National Center for Construction Education and Research-certified instructor and a Literacy Center English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher. The students also received an OSHA 10-hour safety training card. "It is important to come together as a community and provide the tools and resources necessary for refugees to succeed in West Michigan," said Chad Patton, Director of Customized Workplace English for the Literacy Center. "We are thankful for the chance to align these trainees with meaningful work and equip them to be successful as they launch a new career." ADRIAN, MI - An Adrian city commissioner resigned Wednesday, Dec. 13 after being charged with possessing child sexually abusive material. Devin Stevens, who was elected one month ago, was arraigned Wednesday on the charge, according to Lenawee County court records. Police were called Oct. 6 by administrators at Madison High School, in Lenawee County's Madison Township, for a report of an incident involving a student, Madison Township Police Chief Michael Shadbolt said. Investigation into the incident eventually led to the charges against Stevens. Shadbolt declined to comment further on the incident, and said he did not wish to jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Stevens, however, addressed the allegations when he announced his resignation on Facebook and Twitter about 9:45 a.m. Wednesday. In the post on Facebook, he said earlier this year that he had exchanges with someone "believed to be of legal age" initially on social media and continued in text messages. He said the individual falsified information and was 17 years old. The age of consent in Michigan is 16, but under Michigan law it is illegal to possess explicit images of individuals under 18. "During the course of our exchange, this individual sent me a series of graphic videos showing male individuals using a urinal," Stevens said in the post. "While I could tell that these videos were clearly taken without consent, I never imagined that the individual behind them would then reveal to me that one of the individuals shown was a minor. After learning this fact, my communication with the individual behind the videos ended." Stevens said in his Facebook post he deleted the videos, but should have contacted authorities. "To those who were exploited by a clearly troubled individual, I am sorry for not standing up for you at the time when you needed it most," he wrote. "I apologize from the bottom of my heart. To the entire Madison family, which I have been proud to be a part of for nearly fifteen years, I am sorry that I have let you down and that I failed to protect members of our family when given the opportunity." Stevens could not immediately be reached for further comment. Madison High School Principal Kristin Thomas and Superintendent Ryan Rowe acknowledged the school alerted police to an incident. Rowe directed further questions to the police department. Shadbolt said no one else has been charged in the incident, but it remains under investigation. Stevens was the youngest person to serve on the commission and a 2013 graduate of Madison High School, according to a biography on the Adrian city website. Adrian Mayor Chuck Jacobson confirmed in an email Stevens' resignation and said the commission will move forward on replacing him. He declined to comment further, citing the ongoing legal proceedings. Stevens is scheduled for a court appearance on Dec. 21 and a preliminary examination on Dec. 26. He is free on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond. Under Michigan law, a person who knowingly possesses child sexually abusive material is guilty of a felony punishable by four years in prison, a fine of $10,000, or both. YPSILANTI, MI - Eastern Michigan University has canceled its evening classes for Wednesday, Dec. 13, due to extreme weather conditions. The university announced it was canceling classes that begin at 5 p.m. or later, including all planned campus activities, lectures and events. EMU is expected to be open as scheduled on Thursday, Dec. 14, for regular business and classes. Final exams scheduled for Wednesday evening are being rescheduled to Friday evening, Dec. 15, however some instructors may have alternate plans and students should contact their instructor directly. Ann Arbor could get another 7 inches of snow Wednesday Residence halls and apartments will remain open. Campus dining/food service will be available at The Commons, Eastern Eateries and CrossRoads MarketPlace. Due to the 24/7 nature of some campus operations, certain designated personnel such as heating plant, physical plant, food service, public safety, WEMU and other employees within specific areas of the University may be required to work. Employees who are required to work will be notified by their supervisors. Students, faculty and staff should monitor their emich.edu email and www.emich.edu for further updates. Washtenaw Community College is also cancelling its afternoon classes. The college announced it has cancelled all classes and activities after 5 p.m. The Brighton and Hartland centers are also closed due to poor weather conditions. ANN ARBOR, MI - Tickets to Joe Biden's scheduled appearance in Ann Arbor on Wednesday haven't sold out. The Michigan Theater still has some tickets available to see the former vice president during his American Promise Tour, described as a "series of conversations that will go beyond the 24-hour news cycle and 140-character arguments to connect friends and neighbors around the topics that matter most." Biden is scheduled to speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Michigan Theater, 603 Liberty St. Tickets are available through the Ticketmaster website for $75 to $125 each, ranging from seats in the front row of the main floor and further back near the balcony area. Each ticket includes a copy of Biden's memoir, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose," and the opportunity to hear Biden speak candidly about a wide range of topics, including his biggest political moments and the loss of his son, Beau, to cancer. "During his 45 years of public service, one of Biden's greatest strengths has been his ability to bring people together, even in crisis, even across difficult divides, all the while, respecting everybody at the table," the event description said. Tickets went on sale in July for Biden's stop in Ann Arbor, one of the last stops in his 19-city nationwide book tour that began in November. Biden was in Michigan earlier this year for the North American International Auto Show, where he talked with Ford CEO Mark Fields and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell while checking out the latest autonomous vehicle models. This story has been updated to include a statement from Regent Shauna Ryder Diggs ANN ARBOR, MI - Six of the eight members of the University of Michigan's Board of Regents shared a "united against hate" statement as the university decides if it will allow white supremacist Richard Spencer to speak on campus. The statement, issued Wednesday, Dec. 13, was signed by regents Michael Behm, Mark Bernstein, Denise Ilitch, Andrea Fischer Newman, Andrew Richner and Ron Weiser. Regents Shauna Ryder Diggs and Kathy White did not sign the joint statement. While White could not be reached for comment, Diggs explained that while she agreed with the spirit of the statement, she believed that deliberations and responses to a resolution should take place in an open meeting. "I strongly feel that we as board members should act on these important issues of racism and anti-Semitism and act on resolutions in a transparent fashion at an open public meeting," Diggs wrote in an email. "Our board actions on issues such as racist comments written on student dorm doors, anti-latinX graffiti written on the rock, anti-Semitic events and other reprehensible acts should be done in an open meeting. Our individual statements and actions as publicly elected officials are the most powerful and impactful when done in our open public meetings." The statement says "no outsider can change our values or divide us" while adding that "We condemn Spencer's abhorrent and vile views." The university has entered talks with Spencer's attorney regarding whether or not UM can host him, but no decision or date for the speech has been made. One potential date discussed for the speech is during students' spring break. The regents' statement is provided below: Our Michigan community stands united against hate; no outsider can change our values or divide us. We are a university community that does not always agree with each other. But we do have shared values that we strive to live up to each day, including respect, inclusion and care for each other. We value diversity and equity, and embrace our differences. Richard Spencer wants to rent space on our campus. The university has begun discussions to determine whether that can be done safely. We don't know yet the outcome of those discussions, but it is essential, if we move forward, to have as much control as possible about the time, place and manner of such an event. Our first concern is the physical safety of our community. We condemn Spencer's abhorrent and vile views. We do so together as Regents: Whatever our differences of party, religion, gender, race, or national origin, we stand united in our condemnation of the evil of what Spencer and his ilk espouse. It's important to provide forums for faculty, staff and students who wish to peacefully protest or ignore the content of Spencer's indefensible views. And it's critical that we stand united in our support for each other and our shared and common values against hate. Kyle Bristow, who represents Cameron Padgett, an organizer for Spencer's speeches, told The Ann Arbor News on Dec. 7 that he asked UM Vice President and General Counsel Timothy Lynch if the event could be hosted sometime during the university's break between Feb. 24 and March 4. Lynch addressed his communication with Bristow during the litigation report of the UM Board of Regents meeting. "The university has been in communications with the attorney for supporters of Richard Spencer about time, place and manner requirements under which the university might permit them to rent space," he said. "Our process has been, and will continue to be focused on ensuring the safety of our community. We won't have anything further to share on such discussions until the next year." Padgett requested a venue for Spencer to speak on the UM campus on Oct. 27, he claims, while UM confirmed the request on Oct. 31. Padgett indicated there was flexibility with the date, UM Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald noted after receiving the request. Bristow had originally imposed a Nov. 24 deadline for the university to respond to Padgett's request for a venue, threatening a lawsuit, but moved that deadline back to Friday, Dec. 8 after UM announced it would work with him to see if a date could be secured. Bristow, of Clinton Township, set a "final ultimatum" at the conclusion of the Board of Regents meeting of 5 p.m. on Jan. 15 to reach a date with Spencer's group or he would pursue litigation. "Due to the University of Michigan having offered multiple dates for the event to occur so far, Padgett has agreed to wait until Martin Luther King Jr. Day to see if the University of Michigan will voluntarily permit the planned event to occur on a convenient date and time and at a reasonable location on campus without litigation being required," Bristow said in a news release. UM President Mark Schlissel noted during the special meeting on Nov. 21 that if the university can't assure safety of the public, it won't let the speech go forward. Schlissel said the law and the university's commitment to free speech forbid the university from declining a speaker based on the presumed content of speech. Schlissel added that denying the request would provide even more attention to the speaker and his cause and allow him to claim a court victory. The NPI had requested Michigan State University host Spencer at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in mid-September. MSU President Lou Anna Simon denied the request, made in July, after consulting with MSU's police department, "which had concluded, in the light of the incidents in Charlottesville, it was highly likely there would be violence if Mr. Spencer were permitted to appear on campus on September 15," the university said in a court filing. "MSU's decision, therefore, was not content based." The university has since been sued in federal court by Padgett, a 23-year-old student at Georgia State University. The Detroit News reported that a mediator will try to settle a dispute between Michigan State and Spencer. MSU's denial was made following a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which protesters rallied against plans by the city to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Spencer spoke at the rally, which later turned violent, with clashes between the white nationalists and counter protesters. One woman died and 19 were injured when a man with views sympathetic to Nazis plowed his car into a group of counter protesters. VASSAR TWP, MI -- A 29-year-old Millington man is facing criminal charges after reportedly breaking an infant's leg. On Friday, Dec. 8, Tuscola County Sheriff's detectives investigated a child abuse complaint that had occurred at a home on Westwood Drive in Vassar Township. The complaint had been initially received by the Michigan Department of Human Services. Earlier in the week, a mother took her 7-month-old daughter to an area hospital for treatment of a broken leg. The injury occurred three to four days before medical treatment was sought, Tuscola County Undersheriff Robert E. Baxter said. The mother was working when the baby's leg was broken, Baxter added. The mother's boyfriend, Johnathan A. Show, told detectives he had accidentally stepped on the baby's leg, causing a fracture, Baxter said. Detectives ended up arresting Show, who has since been charged with single counts of second-, third-, and fourth-degree child abuse and possession of marijuana. Second-degree child abuse is a 10-year felony, while third-degree is a two-year felony and fourth-degree is a one-year misdemeanor. Show is free on a $80,000 cash-surety bond. His next court date is pending. The child remains in the mother's care, Baxter said. A series of crashes has led to the closure of eastbound and westbound Interstate 69 in Genesee and Shiawassee counties. The Michigan Department of Transportation confirms eastbound I-69 is closed at M-71 (Lansing Road) by Exit 118 in Shiawassee County, as well at M-13 (Sheridan Avenue) by Exit 123 in Genesee County. Westbound I-69 is also closed at M-13 due to multiple accidents in the area, according to Genesee County 911. Traffic is being diverted off the interstate and onto M-13. Upward of 8 inches of snow is expected to fall near Flint by the time the winter storm finally pushes through the area late Wednesday night. A winter storm warning by the National Weather Service is in effect for multiple counties, including Genesee, Shiawassee, Lapeer, Saginaw, Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw, Macomb, and Wayne. Snowfall is expected to intensify between 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Dec. 13, with more than one inch of snow each hour and some bands dropping up to two inches each hour that will reduce visibility to less than one-quarter of a mile at times. FLINT, MI -- Former mayor Dayne Walling told a Genesee County District Court judge Wednesday, Dec. 13, that he doesn't recall getting any warnings from state health officials about outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area during the city's water crisis. Walling, who served as Flint mayor from 2009 until 2015, testified that he was told of a surge in Legionnaires' at McLaren-Flint hospital by Howard Croft, who at the time was the city's Department of Public Works director, in October 2014. But Walling said he didn't appreciate the scope of the outbreak until much later and doesn't recall any dire warnings from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Walling's testimony came during the seventh day of a preliminary examination in the criminal case prosecutors have brought against Dr. Eden Wells, the state's chief medical executive. The charges against Wells allege she obstructed justice and lied to a peace officer in connection to the water crisis in an attempt to keep information about Legionnaires' outbreaks from the public. Public health officials now say at least a dozen victims died as a result of Legionnaires' in parts of 2014 and 2015 in Genesee County. Prosecutors have also said they will ask Judge William Crawford to add charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office against Wells at the conclusion of her preliminary examination -- charges that are also tied to her handling of the Legionnaries' outbreaks. As mayor in those years, Walling's authority was severely limited because state law gave emergency managers appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder the authority to run the city in place of the mayor and city council. Walling said he wasn't told the details of suspicions that the Flint River, the city's water source from April 2014 until October 2015, might be the source of bacteria that led to the Legionnaires' outbreak. Problems with water consumed Walling's time during his final two years as mayor and water issues were the most discussed issues in the campaign that cost him his job. Walling said he recalled seeing Wells at a meeting about Flint water as early as March 2015 but was questioned about that his recollection by attorneys for Wells. "I remember being happy or pleased there was additional support at the table (other than those state officials) who had been working routinely with the city," Walling said. The former mayor said problems with the city water system caused a "community crisis" in Flint. The preliminary examination for Wells is scheduled to continue on Monday, GENESEE COUNTY, MI - The Genesee County Health Department has established a hotline as the number of recent Hepatitis A cases associated with an outbreak in southeast Michigan continue to grow. A Tuesday, Dec. 12, statement from the health department notes eight cases of Hepatitis A have been confirmed in Genesee County since the beginning of 2017, with seven of those having occurred since Oct. 1. Dating back to Aug. 1, 2016, more than 580 cases have been associated with the outbreak in 17 counties and one in the Jackson Department of Corrections. The outbreak has included 20 deaths. Danielle Steplowski, an epidemiologist with the Genesee County Health Department, said there has been no common source found between the cases in the county thus far. "We have had some cases spread between person to person," she commented. Genesee County typically experiences zero to six Hepatitis A cases a year, with Steplowski calling the recent figures "unusual." Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver caused by the Hepatitis A virus and most commonly spread person to person. The disease is often passed along by the fecal to oral route, meaning someone ingesting something - such as food or water - contaminated with the feces of an infected person, as well as during sex or living with an infected person. Symptoms including dark urine, abdominal pain, diarrhea, yellowing of the skin or eyes, fever, nausea, headache, loss of appetite and typically appear one month after exposure. Those most at risk of contracting the infection include those living with, having sex with, or sharing illegal drugs with someone who has Hepatitis A. Of the 583 cases reported statewide by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, including four in Lapeer County, 482 cases have resulted in hospitalization. Steplowski noted the disease has a 15- to 50-day incubation period which can make it difficult to track. "That's why it's so important people get vaccinated," she said The vaccination is 95 percent effective if given before or within two weeks of exposure, according to the health department. Other preventative measures include washing hands before preparing or eating meals, after using the bathroom or changing diapers; using your own towels, utensils, toothbrush and not sharing food, drinks, cigarettes; and, not having sex with someone who has contracted the virus. Residents are urged to contact their personal care physician or the county health department's immunization center if they believe they may have contracted the disease. The state set up an emergency center in November to coordinate services and track the disease. A Hepatitis A hotline has been set up at 810-257-3048 to provide information on the outbreak and immunizations. Suspected and confirmed Hepatitis A cases should be reported to the Genesee Health Department at 810-257-1017. Additional information on Hepatitis A is available on the county health department's website here. Weekly updates on the outbreak are available on the MDHHS website here. FLINT, MI - Motorists are urged to be cautious on slippery roads and amid reduced visibility because of snow on Wednesday morning. There will be moderate snow that will impact southeastern Michigan during the morning commute through the morning, the National Weather Service said in a Special Weather Statement at 8:11 a.m. on Dec. 13. Areas impacted include Midland, Bay, Huron, Saginaw, Tuscola, Sanilac, Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Wayne, Lenawee and Monroe counties. Snow accumulations of about an one inch are expected through the morning commute, although there could be more snow west of M-24, the statement said. "The combination of moderate snow and cold temperatures will result in localized slippery conditions and variable traffic rates throughout the county," the National Weather Service said. "Motorists are urged to use caution and account for the variable driving conditions by allowing extra time." FLINT, MI -- Special Flint water prosecutor Todd Flood clashed several times with attorneys for Dr. Eden Wells, the state's chief medical executive, during a hearing Tuesday, Dec. 12. Flood accused Wells of "starring me down as I am attempting to go through this" while he questioned a witness during the sixth day of Well's preliminary examination in Genesee District Court. "It's a bit disturbing," he said of Wells, who faces charges of criminal wrongdoing related to the Flint water crisis. Flood and Steve Tramontin, an attorney for Wells, tangled verbally during the exam, and Wells wrote notes that she pushed toward her lawyers several times during the day. When Flood asked for clarification of the question and answer of one witness, Tramontin asked the prosecutor, "Were you paying attention to the testimony?" The back-and-forth between the two sides came as a McLaren-Flint hospital executive testified that the hospital received limited help from Wells and other employees at the state Department of Health and Human Services as they attempted to deal with Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in 2014 and 2015. "We saw sick people, more than we had ever seen before (and) nobody else was doing anything," said Julie Borowski, director of regulatory compliance and risk management for McLaren-Flint. Responsibilty for the surge in Legionnaires' cases and deaths while the city of Flint used the Flint River for drinking water has been the central issue in a bitter war of words between McLaren and DHHS. At issue is whether the hospital or Flint's water was the real driver behind outbreaks of Legionnaires' in 2014 and 2015. Both the hospital and the state are among the private and public agencies, businesses and individuals that have been sued because of deaths and illnesses related to the outbreak. Despite years of investigation, neither the Genesee County Health Department nor DHHS have been able to prove what caused the surge in cases of Legionnaires'. At least a dozen deaths have been attributed to the disease from April 2014 until October 2015 while the city of Flint used the Flint River as its source of drinking water. Courtesy photo | Grand Rapids Police Department GRAND RAPIDS, MI Five attempted gun-shop larcenies over the course of seven weeks this fall resulted in 122 stolen guns being dumped onto the streets of Kent County. Thats five shy of the total illegally used or possessed guns taken into evidence by the Grand Rapids Police Department in the entirety of 2013. Related: 'Firearm epidemic?' Grand Rapids sees sharp rise in illegal-gun seizures Though 24 stolen firearms have since been recovered, and at least 13 arrests made, the rash of break-ins has sparked concern, frustration and added workload for local police. This goes well beyond stolen guns, said Grand Rapids Police Lt. Kristen Rogers. This goes into future homicides and robberies and future people getting injured. This isnt just guns getting stolen, people are going to use them. In a year with an increase in the number of illegal guns recovered by police, the gun-shop robberies seemed to replace those previously taken off the streets. Grand Rapids police took more than twice as many illegally used or possessed guns off the streets in 2017 as compared to the annual total from four years ago. Rogers and Det. Erika Fannon said the string of robberies was unprecedented in their 20-plus-year careers in Grand Rapids. Their relationships with other area agencies were crucial in the initial hours of the investigations as police shared information and combined efforts to track down suspects. As of early December, 98 stolen guns remain unaccounted for. One suspect admitted to selling some of the stolen firearms in Muskegon, according to court records. None of the stolen guns have been linked to a shooting yet, but Rogers said its only a matter of time before they turn up in other incidents. Here's a look at the five attempted break-ins, ensuing investigations and aftermath as Kent County gun retailers attempt to prevent future large-scale larcenies: Don't Edit MLive File Photo Grandville Cabela's When: Sept. 16 Where: Cabela's, 3000 44th Street SW in Grandville Guns: 13 stolen, six recovered to date. Grandville police were dispatched to a report of a break-in at Cabela's. Soon after, the department notified surrounding agencies, including the Grand Rapids Police Department, of the robbery. Grand Rapids Lt. Kristen Rogers said its common for local agencies to regularly communicate with each other in an effort to combat crime that flows over jurisdictional lines. In this case, Grand Rapids police were responsible for arresting seven of the eight individuals taken into custody for their suspected involvement in the break-in and subsequent possession of stolen guns. The first four arrests were of juveniles ages 13, 14, 15 and 16 who fled police in the area of 28th Street and Englewood Avenue SE in Grand Rapids. One escaped into a home on Shangrai La Drive, but was arrested hours later following a standoff. Within three days, Grand Rapids police arrested 20-year-old Marquan Wilson, as well as a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, who police said were each in possession of guns stolen from Cabelas. Wilson's case is awaiting a settlement conference in circuit court. A seventh juvenile believed to be involved in the break-in was also arrested in Grandville. The Kent County Prosecutor's Office is considering charging some of the juveniles as adults based on prior records, but has not yet. Per policy, the office does not release juveniles' names unless they're officially charged as adults. Don't Edit Neil Blake | MLive Rylee's Ace Hardware and Bachelder Master Gunmakers When: Sept. 23 Where: Rylee's Ace Hardware, 1234 Michigan St. NE, and Bachelder Master Gunmakers, 700 Plymouth Ave. NE, in Grand Rapids Guns: 0 stolen Grand Rapids police were dispatched to evening break-in attempts at Rylees Ace Hardware and Bachelder Master Gunmakers. Suspects smashed windows and doors to gain entry, but were unable to obtain weapons from either retailer. Aspects of the string of break-in attempts quickly linked them together, though Rogers declined to disclose them, citing the open investigations. Don't Edit Neil Blake | MLive Barracks 616 When: Sept. 24 Where: Barracks 616, 5740 Foremost Drive SE in Cascade Township Guns: 20 stolen. None recovered to date. Shortly after break-in attempts at two other gun retailers, Kent County sheriffs deputies were dispatched to a report of a break-in at Barracks 616. The incident occurred around 12:30 a.m., and resulted in 20 handguns being stolen. Immediately we start working in connection with Grandville and the ATF on the night of Sept. 16, which led into Sept. 24 when we added in Kent County and other jurisdictions, Lt. Rogers said. All of us were communicating around the clock. Within two days, investigators used videos from the mobile app Snapchat to identify three teens involved in the break-in at Barracks 616, as well as the attempted break-ins in Grand Rapids. Those individuals include Desiree Taggart, 17, and Cameron Ellis-Ayres, 18, who have since been charged. An unnamed 16-year-old was also charged in relation to the break-in. Police said Ellis-Ayres admitted to being in a vehicle driven by Taggart during the burglaries, and selling the guns for money in Muskegon, court records show. Investigators believe Ellis-Ayres and Taggart were also involved in the Sept. 16 break-in at Cabelas. Don't Edit MLive file photo Cedar Springs Family Farm & Home When: Nov. 4 Where: Family Farm & Home, 4175 17 Mile Road NE in Cedar Springs Guns: 89 stolen; 18 recovered. Deputies were dispatched around 7:30 a.m. to a report of a break-in at Family Farm and Home. Management from the store told police that 89 guns were unaccounted for following the break-in. Fourteen of those guns were recovered by police within 24 hours in Grand Rapids, and another four have since been recovered. If something is hot, you dont necessarily expect it to stick around for long, Rogers said. The first 24 hours, Id say its huge. Within a day of the break-in, Grand Rapids police arrested 42-year-old Derrek Banks and recovered guns and ammunition believed to be stolen from the Cedar Springs retailer. He was charged with five felonies, including receiving and concealing stolen firearms, and is out on bond awaiting his next court date. Since then, the Kent County Prosecutors Office has brought charges against 23-year-old Rashad Lee, including receiving and concealing firearms, altering ID marks on a firearm and felony firearm. Lee is out on bond awaiting his next court date. Don't Edit Don't Edit Courtesy photo | Grand Rapids Police Department The aftermath Every firearm retailer in Kent County has been in contact with representatives from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since the break-ins to address possible holes in their security systems. You can see for sure the ones who werent successful (break-ins) had better security layers, Rogers said. Wed like to see everybody invest their time and money into the security of the weapons because it will benefit society as a whole in the future, but the ATF can only recommend all of these improvements. Investigations into each break-in attempt remain ongoing as officers work to collect the remaining stolen guns. Police ask anyone with information regarding any of the break-ins or stolen firearms to contact their local police department. Anonymous tips can be made to Silent Observer at 616-774-2345. ATF and the National Shooting Sports Foundation are offering a combined $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of guns stolen from Family Farm & Home. ATF also offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to recovery of guns stolen from Cabela's. We always want to prevent crime, but theres only so much we can do, Det. Fannon said. People know stuff. I know some people dont want to be a snitch but its important to get these guns off the street. To save somebodys life in the future, you dont know what kind of impact taking that gun off the street could have. Don't Edit Nic Antaya | MLive.com Related coverage MLive took a closer look at the increase of illegal guns being taken off the streets in Grand Rapids and what police and community leaders are saying about guns in the city. 'Firearm epidemic?' Grand Rapids sees sharp rise in illegal-gun seizures CHARLEVOIX COUNTY, MI -- Ryan Bentley, 17, of Boyne City, has been charged with five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving three different victims, according to Charlevoix County Prosecuting Attorney Allen Telgenhof. The maximum penalty for each of the crimes is 15 years in prison. Bentley is charged with using force or coercion to sexually penetrate a 17-year-old victim and engaging in sexual penetration with a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old victim, according to police affidavits. The legal age of consent in Michigan is 16 years old. Bentley's next court date in all three cases is Jan. 9, 2018, when he will face probable cause conferences. Preliminary examinations are set to follow on Jan. 16, according to Telgenhof. Bentley has pleaded not guilty in each case, he said. Bentley's bond was initially set at $100,000 but was lowered to a $5,000, 10 percent bond by 90th District Judge James N. Erhart, Telgenhof said. Bentley is currently free on bond. He is subject to a GPS tether and is under house arrest while he awaits trial. MECOSTA COUNTY, MI - Chronic wasting disease has been confirmed in a one-year-old Mecosta County farmed deer, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. This is the first case of a Mecosta County CWD positive farmed deer since January 2017, when a different farmer submitted two positive samples, DNR wildlife biologist Ryan Soulard said. It is currently unknown how the deer became infected. The farmer who submitted the positive sample has "gone above and beyond any state requirements to protect their deer from disease," according to a statement from Michigan State Veterinarian James Averill. "What we know about CWD is always evolving," said DNR state wildlife veterinarian Kelly Straka. "As new positives are found, we learn more about how it's transmitted to determine the best way to protect both free-ranging and farmed deer." The positive Mecosta County farm has been quarantined and, based on a CWD response and surveillance plan, the DNR and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will take the following steps: Conduct trace investigations to find possible areas of spread. Identify deer farms within the 15-mile radius and implement individual herd plans that explain the CWD testing requirements and movement restrictions for each herd. These herds will also undergo a records audit and fence inspection. Partner with the United States Department of Agriculture on the management of the herd. Since 2015, when the first CWD-positive deer was found, the DNR has tested about 23,000 deer. As of Dec. 6, 30 cases of CWD have been suspected or confirmed in deer from Clinton, Ingham, Kent and Montcalm counties. That was a significant increase from the 11 confirmed cases of CWD tracked by the state as of mid-November. Michigan State University is working on testing several thousand additional samples, so numbers for this deer season could still change, according to the DNR. To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans and there is no evidence chronic wasting disease presents any risk to humans, either through contact with an infected animal or from handling venison. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend infected animals not be consumed as food by either humans or domestic animals. Chronic wasting disease is a contagious and deadly neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose. It causes a spongy degeneration of the brain, resulting in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and, ultimately, the animal's death. High rates of CWD in a deer population could significantly affect the number of deer and could decrease the potential for older deer, especially more mature bucks. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Rev. Jerry Bishop tries not to keep track of the number of gunshot victims he has buried in 20 years as a Grand Rapids pastor. His church on the city's southeast side has hosted its fair share over the years. Three days after presiding over the funeral of a 46-year-old tow truck driver who was gunned down on Nov. 13, Bishop called the city's gun violence and illegal gun ownership an epidemic that has only escalated in recent years. "I've buried three people through very heinous incidents this year, and I'm burying about the same or more every year," he said. "The vast majority of young men I've buried are victims of gunshot wounds. And I have not seen this problem getting any better in 20 years." It's impossible to know how many guns are on the streets of Grand Rapids at any one time and the city's homicide rate, although up this year, is nowhere near the rates of some U.S. cities really struggling with violence. However, police took more than twice as many illegally used or possessed guns off the streets in 2017 as compared to the annual total from four years ago. A string of gun-shop robberies this fall put more than 100 guns back onto the streets in West Michigan. While acknowledging they're encountering guns on a more regular basis, Grand Rapids police say improved training and proactive enforcement led to more gun recoveries in 2017. The recent rash of gun retailer break-ins only intensifies the problem and makes it more of a police priority. The Grand Rapids Police Department instituted its One More Gun Off the Street program late in 2016, which aims to publicly highlight the recovery of illegally owned or used guns. "Every time we take an illegal gun off the street, it's a tragedy avoided," Police Chief David Rahinsky said. "I see a potential mother that doesn't have to be notified of their child's involvement in a shooting. It's a situation that could have turned out much worse." Bishop, who contends shootings in the city are under-reported due to a mistrust in police and fear of repercussions for snitching on others, said carrying a gun has become part of the culture among young adults in his church's neighborhood. "Now it's vogue to carry," Bishop said. "It's now as fashionable to have a gun as it is to have an earring and Jordans." As of early last month, police had already processed more than 265 illegal guns into evidence in 2017. That's more than double the 127 illegal guns recovered in 2013, and continues a trend of increases from 192 guns in 2014, 199 in 2015 and 254 in 2016. Rahinsky said his officers prioritize recovering illegal guns, which pays dividends when it comes to lowering violent crime rates. The department has reported overall crime decreases in each of the last three years, with 2017 numbers trending toward another decline. Grand Rapids police have reported declines in gun-related incidents in each of the last three years as well. While they don't have a way to easily track the number of shootings annually, data from local hospitals suggests the number of patients treated for gunshot wounds hasn't drastically changed over the last five years in West Michigan. "Personally, I don't feel any less safe in Grand Rapids, but I am more aware," Bishop said. "Safety is relative to relationship. I walk the streets where I pastor, I patronize the businesses, I know my neighbors' names. "I'm constantly having the conversation with my congregation. I'm advocating 'Be aware.' We need to be advocates for change." More effective policing Officer Ryan Ricketson works a weekday shift in the south service area of Grand Rapids, which sits roughly between Market Avenue to the west, Fulton Street to the north, Plymouth Avenue to the East and Burton Street to the south. Much of the 10-year police veteran's work is in community policing: meeting with community members in businesses, schools and throughout his assigned neighborhoods. When it comes to illegal gun recovery, he has seen an increase from a year ago. But, he added, it's a difficult trend to measure because that aspect of policing can come in stretches of several at a time and then not many. "Yes, that stuff is out here," Ricketson said. "Yes, we are doing proactive police work, and yes, we're doing our best to get those guns out of the hands of people who are going to use them illegally." Ricketson pointed to proactive policing, improved training and situational recognition as possible explanations for the statistical increases. Video captured by newer police-worn body cameras has allowed officers to see the body language of people potentially carrying a concealed weapon even before taking to the streets. "All of that stuff through the last few years has been advanced as far as bringing that to officers on the street and showing them, 'This is what you need to look out for; this is consistent,'" Ricketson said. Between 2009 and 2013, the Grand Rapids Police Department experienced a hiring freeze because of the economic recession nationwide. Sgt. Cathy Williams said the approximately 90 officers hired since the hiring freeze of 2009-13 have brought with them a fresh push to recover illegal firearms. "That has to play a role when we started hiring again and bringing in new, excited officers full of energy," she said. "Having fresh energy has allowed us to do more proactive work." Police faced a new gun-recovery mission ater 122 firearms were stolen during a rash of gun-store robberies between Sept. 16 and Nov. 4. Of five attempted break-ins in Grand Rapids, Grandville and Cedar Springs, three were successful. Police have since recovered 24 of the stolen guns -- leaving 98 still unaccounted for -- and made at least 13 arrests. One break-in suspect admitted to selling stolen guns for money in Muskegon, according to court records. The whereabouts of the rest remain a focus of the mulit-jurisdictional investigations. "You know these guns are out there and in the back of your mind you're hoping nothing is going to happen to anyone, but you know there is a purpose to these people getting these guns," Ricketson said. "Are they planning something major? Are they selling these to make some money?" 'Why would you bring a gun to a gym?' The world Bishop lives in doesn't always line up with the perspective of local police. That is especially true when it comes to crime statistics and the issue of illegal gun ownership. "There is a firearm epidemic in poverty-ridden areas of this community," he said. "There are more guns on the streets than the police can count." Bishop's read on the city's illegal gun problem comes from conversing with members of the community surrounding his church. He is the founder and pastor of LifeQuest Ministries, a church created in 1998 with the goal of targeting urban young men who are "outside the grasp of the traditional church." Inside the LifeQuest Ministries building at 1050 Fisk Road SE hangs a pair of signs that read "no firearms." Both are located near the entrance to the gym and weight room. "Why would you bring a gun to a gym?" he said. "I've recovered a number of weapons dropped out of bags, clips being dropped. So now I have a metal detector and I'll check your bag. Because for us, it's not fashionable. We don't give you the option to comply for the loss of life." Since moving to Grand Rapids in 1983, Bishop said he's seen the "gun epidemic" escalate. Particularly, it's become a more serious problem with younger teens - a trend that police have witnessed as well. Most illegal guns fall into the wrong hands through larcenies of homes, vehicles and businesses. They are often recovered by police during traffic stops or through witness reports of armed individuals in their community. Some of the gun recoveries involve relatively young males. On April 21, police recovered a loaded 9mm Luger handgun from a 14-year-old male and a pair of BB guns from a 12-year-old male and a 16-year-old male who were walking near the intersection of Cottage Grove Street and Blaine Avenue SE. Four months later, officers recovered a loaded revolver from a 13-year-old after responding to a report of a large group of males fighting. Most of the suspects arrested in connection to the three large-scale gun robberies this fall were teens as young as 13. "Juveniles are becoming a little more brazen in their criminal activity," said Lt. Kristen Rogers. "They want something, and they want it now. With TV and videos and shows and music, I think times have changed." Keeping GR safe Grand Rapids police's public awareness campaign called One More Gun Off The Street was later rebranded as Keeping GR Safe. The program is designed to illustrate the frequency at which officers recover illegal guns. By sharing occasional summaries of gun recoveries on the police department's social media pages, the department hopes to give the community a better understanding of why officers approach seemingly routine situations with such caution. "Often times I'll talk to people in the community and I think there's a sense that the officers' job here in Grand Rapids isn't necessarily as dangerous as it is in other places," Rahinsky said. "People will say the way an officer approached their vehicle made them uncomfortable during a traffic stop. By publicizing when we do take a gun off the street, I wanted to reinforce the idea that officers don't know what they're dealing with." Each gun highlighted in the campaign is illegally possessed. Recovered guns are tracked back to their original owners and returned, if possible. In instances where the serial number is scratched off, police send the firearm to an outside company to be melted down. Matthew Gillis, 34, of Wyoming, said he reads reports of gun recoveries in Grand Rapids about once a week. Though he'd like to know more specifics about each case, he commends local police for working to reduce shootings. "I'm not alarmed at the number of guns," Gillis said. "I just think the police are doing a really good job at removing the criminals holding firearms illegally before they get a chance to use them. For most areas of Grand Rapids, I find it to be decently safe." Furthering the conversation Police, city leaders and community members are pushing the conversation in an effort to reduce the city's gun violence. On Dec. 5, a city task force known as Safe Alliances For Everyone held a community meeting to discuss possible solutions for curbing neighborhood violence. The group provided financial prizes to individuals and nonprofit organizations with the best pitches. Some of the top pitches included providing mentorship opportunities for young men to teach them how to be peace keepers and learn conflict management skills. That's an area Bishop said is lacking today. "The community at large does not engage the audience that's most prone to carry weapons," Bishop said. "We don't engage them enough to equip them with relationship-building and conflict-resolution skills. "You can't blame any one source. It comes from community apathy, significantly from home life, poverty, abuse, a systemic disconnect. I'm not blaming the public schools for guns on the streets. I'm not blaming police for guns on the street. I'm blaming the fact that we have not developed enough relationship building to have positive change in the audience that needs it the most." For Rahinsky, the fight against gun violence is a multi-pronged approach that includes a willingness from the public to inform the police when they witness illegal activity. Residents can be proactive by offering tips - even anonymously - through a call to the police department at 616-456-3400 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345. "Not a week goes by where we don't seize a gun," Rahinsky said. "At the end of the day, our mission is safe communities in which everyone feels safe. When you talk about taking guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't possess them, it's pretty basic." GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids city officials are pitching a new proposed ban on panhandling at intersections in the city as a matter of public safety - but residents aren't buying it. "For some reason the city commission insists on trying to criminalize poverty," said Joe Marogil of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan during a public hearing Tuesday night before the city commission. "This ordinance is morally corrupt and intellectually bankrupt. ...We'd like you to oppose this ordinance; we think it is just truly pathetic." About 15 people spoke at a public hearing on the proposed ordinance, and all but one were against it. Many criticized the city's data analysis that it is using to justify the need for restrictions on panhandlers. The city contracted with Hubbell, Roth & Clark to study pedestrian crashes in the city throughout the past 10 years. While the data did show where and when the crashes occurred, it did not detail whether the crashes involved panhandlers. "It is conspicuous by what's absent in that study: one mention of the word 'panhandler.' It ain't in there. You can look; I've looked three times," said Pete Walsh, an attorney who works with the ACLU. Panhandling in Grand Rapids used to be banned outright -- but the city lost a lawsuit in 2012 after a judge ruled panhandling is protected by the First Amendment. Controversial attempts to resurrect a portion of the ban in 2014 failed in a split commission vote. "This ordinance infringes on First Amendment rights," Walsh said. "You're going to have to defend it, more than likely in court...you're going to get killed in court again." The proposed ordinance, introduced by outgoing First Ward Commission Dave Shaffer, would ban panhandling within 30 feet of an intersection from 5 to 7 p.m. Additionally, panhandling would be banned at all times around eight intersections that the study identified has having at least five crashes in the past five years. "The study offers nothing about why those intersections are so dangerous," said Josh DeGraaf, a school psychologist with Grand Rapids Public Schools. DeGraaf said the proposed ordinance does nothing to help prevent pedestrian crashes. Instead, DeGraaf viewed the ordinance as a way for the city to justify cracking down on the city's most vulnerable residents. "It's a tool to punish and remove the homeless of Grand Rapids, a population you're increasing through our housing crisis," DeGraaf said. Commissioners did not comment on the proposed ordinance after the hearing. It will go back to the city manager for review. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Statewide there were 36,811 homeless students reported by public schools for 2016-17, according to data recently released by Michigan's Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). More than 3,300 of those students attended school in Kent and Ottawa counties. Homeless school liaisons say for financial reasons most of these families have been forced to double up with friends or family. Those unable to secure limited shelter beds are couch surfing, in hotels and motels, or surviving the streets, including living in storage units, cars and abandoned buildings. "If we know about a homeless student, at least we can ensure they are getting to school, getting breakfast and lunch and if needed, additional tutoring and counseling,'' said Casey Gordon, manager of academic partnerships for Kent ISD and McKinney-Vento grant coordinator. "We know that students who are stable and having their basic needs met are more successful academically. Right now, our students who are identified as homeless are not doing well on state assessments and they are not doing well in terms of graduation rates.'' Census data released this week show residents throughout the state are still struggling, despite the unemployment rate dropping. Poverty rate estimates in about half of Michigan's communities, including Grand Rapids, increased between two five-year periods - 2008-12 and 2012-16 - the new data shows. Under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, every public school in the country is required to appoint a liaison to find and ensure their homeless students are educated, including providing transportation if necessary. Students eligible for support are those who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and may include: Those living on the street, in a car, in an abandon building, etc. Those living in shelters and transitional housing programs. Those living in campgrounds, motels and hotels. Those who are doubled up with family or friends due to loss of housing. Those who have runaway or otherwise are not accompanied by a parent or guardian. Those who work with the homeless student population say many families go unidentified, so the reported numbers don't reflect the actual number of people struggling. Rural, suburban and urban districts are all seeing the impact. The statewide reported number is down 2,281 students from the 39,092 schools reported for 2015-16, which was 769 fewer kids than in 2014-15. Kent County's approximately 2,320 homeless students is up 85 kids from the 2,245 reported in 2015-16, according to CEPI. Ottawa is at approximately 1,034 students, down more than two dozen students from the previous year. The lack of affordable housing is identified as one of the huge factors contributing to homelessness by advocates and those working with student families in Kent and Ottawa counties. "More and more people are being priced out of their homes or apartments,'' said Gordon, who said many families can only afford around $450 per month, when rents can be more than than double that in today's market. "Owners are raising the rent and people simply cannot afford to stay. The closer to downtown Grand Rapids the bigger the problem.'' Gordon said there is a growing waiting list for the 24 shelter beds available for families through Family Promise and Mel Trotter Ministries. More than half the homeless students in Kent and Ottawa reside in five districts: Grand Rapids, the largest district in the region has 797 students, up 165 from 632; Holland has 277, down 26 from 303; Kentwood has 225, down 38 from 263; Grand Haven is at 214, up six from 208; and Kenowa Hills has 189, down 45 from 234. Eleven of the 20 Kent ISD districts saw increases and five of 11 in the Ottawa Area ISD, ranging from slight to significant. To protect the privacy of individual students, CEPI does use data suppression rules. Whenever report settings would yield fewer than 10 students, less than 5 percent, or over 95 percent in any grouping, the data will not be displayed. Edna Stewart, student services supervisor for Grand Rapids schools, said a lot of their families are struggling and need assistance with housing. She said some families are moving every week and the district is arranging transportation to school to maintain the continuity of their education. Sarah Weir, Kentwood's homeless liaison, said securing the first month's rent plus a security deposit is a tall order for many families living check to check. She said those who can scrape together the funds sometimes are denied because they fall a few points short of the eligible credit score or have been evicted in the past. "This community needs to be educated about the face of homelessness because there is a disconnect,'' she said. "It is not just the tattered person on the street but could be anybody. Treating these families with dignity and respect should be at the forefront of our minds.'' In addition to school supplies, students can get hygiene kits, sleeping bags, air mattresses and other resources. She said Kentwood is fortunate to have numerous partners, including the city. For example, she said they receive around $300 month from the city through its blue jean Friday programs, in which employees donate $5 to wear the casual wear and help their students. A total of 66,483 people were estimated to homeless in Michigan in 2016, but that's down 9 percent from 2014, according to a Michigan State Housing Development Authority report. Kentwood Assistant Superintendent Shirley Johnson said Weir and other staff aggressively work to identify homeless students and approach the family discreetly about the resources available through the district. She said there is still a stigma associated with homelessness and people fear being ridiculed, seen as irresponsible and bad parents. "No parent wants to say my life is in shambles, and we don't have a place to lay our heads from night to night,'' she said. "I think we do a good job of trying to heighten the sensitivity of working with this population. These are parents who often are in this situation because they have loss a job, had an illness or some other financial crisis.'' Gordon said there have been cases of working parents, who had to address a child's medical emergency, being overwhelmed because they don't qualify for Medicaid and lack private insurance. Pam Kies-Lowe, state coordinator for homeless education, said being homeless is not a character flaw but a financial issue. In addition to the stigma preventing people from coming forward, she said some parents are worried their kids will be taken away and often that keeps them from identifying themselves. She said student families are dealing all the traumatic stress that accompanies homelessness. "If we can make school consistently positive for students, we will be doing something that is awesome,'' she said. Kenowa Hills Assistant Superintendent Michael Burde said their team works diligently to remove barriers and offer support to get students to a place where they can experience deeper learning and be successful. Kies-Lowe said the state needs more resources to support children and youth experiencing homelessness. However, she said except for two years, Michigan has received the same $1.2 million federal grant its gotten since the act's 2001 authorization. Jenison Superintendent Tom TenBrink said lobbying should continue for more federal resources, but in the meantime, districts must invest and form partnerships to address the needs for families. This year, in addition to their homeless liaison, the district added a full and part-time parent liaison to advocate for parents by connecting them with needed resources. Jenison has 75 homeless students, up slightly from 71. TenBrink said many of their homeless families don't have transportation to travel to the Lakeshore for help. In Kent, the schools with notable populations get support removing barriers through the Kent School Services Network as well as from various other partners. United Ways 2-1-1 connects people to more than 2,900 services in Kent County, including food, shelter, utility assistance, disaster recovery, childcare, and transportation. The Salvation Army's Housing Assessment Program also offers support, including flexible funding to keep people in a safe place through a new Diversion Program. Last year, the 36,811 homeless students statewide broke down into several categories including: (MLive File Photo) By Monica Scott | mscott2@mlive.com There were 36,811 homeless students enrolled in public schools across Michigan during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the state Center for Educational Performance and Information. More than 3,300 attended the traditional districts in the Kent and Ottawa county ISDs or charter schools approximately 2,320 in Kent and 1,034 in Ottawa. Kents homeless population is up around 85 students from 2015-16, while Ottawa saw a reduction more than two dozen students. Related: Kent, Ottawa schools identifying, supporting homeless students Federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, requires every public school district in the country to appoint a liaison to find and ensure their homeless students are educated, including providing transportation if necessary. Students eligible for support are those who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence and may include: those living on the street, in a car, in an abandoned building, etc. those living in shelters and transitional housing programs those living in campgrounds, motels and hotels those who are doubled up with family or friends due to loss of housing those who have run away or otherwise are not accompanied by a parent or guardian See the homeless population for your district and how it compares to last year: Don't Edit (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Allendale There were 58 homeless students enrolled in Allendale Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the state Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a reduction of 15 students from the 73 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Byron Center There were 15 homeless students enrolled in Byron Center Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was down two students from the 17 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Photo provided to MLive by Caledonia EnrichED) Caledonia There were 21 homeless students enrolled in Caledonia Community Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a reduction of 17 students from the 38 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Karen Waite | Mlive.com) Cedar Springs There were 88 homeless students enrolled in Caledonia Community Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of 43 students from the 45 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Comstock Park There were 30 homeless students enrolled in Comstock Park Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 33 students from the 63 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Yfat Yossifor | MLive.com) Coopersville There were 31 homeless students enrolled in Coopersville Area Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of nine students from the 40 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com) East Grand Rapids There were fewer than 10 homeless students enrolled in East Grand Rapids Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). In 2015-16, the district had no students designated as homeless. Whenever report settings would yield fewer than 10 students, less than 5 percent, or over 95 percent in any grouping, the data will not display, according to CEPI. Don't Edit (Karen Waite | MLive.com) Forest Hills There were 43 homeless students enrolled in Forest Hills Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of nine students from the 34 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Godfrey-Lee There were 110 homeless students enrolled in Godfrey-Lee Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of 34 students from the 76 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit Brian Forde| MLive.com Godwin Heights There were 31 homeless students enrolled in Godwin Heights Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 34 students from the 65 enrolled in 2015-16. (Brian Forde| MLive.com) Don't Edit Cory Morse | MLive.com Grand Haven There were 214 homeless students enrolled in Grand Haven Area Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a slight increase of six students from the 208 enrolled in 2015-16. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Don't Edit Neil Blake | MLive Grand Rapids There were 797 homeless students enrolled in Grand Rapids Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a 165-student increase from the 632 students enrolled in 2015-16. (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Don't Edit MLive File Photo Grandville There were 25 homeless students enrolled in Grandville Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of six students from the 31 students enrolled in 2015-16. (MLive File Photo) Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Hamilton There were 75 homeless students enrolled in Hamilton Community Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was and increase 18 students from the 57 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Holland There were 277 homeless students enrolled in Hamilton Community Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 26 students from the 303 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Margaret Clifford Bandstra | Photo provided to MLive.com by Hudsonville Public Schools) Hudsonville There were 95 homeless students enrolled in Hudsonville Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 15 students from the 110 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Brian Forde| MLive.com) Jenison There were 75 homeless students enrolled in Jenison Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a slight increase 4 students from the 71 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Kevin Sielaff | MLive.com) Kelloggsville There were 50 homeless students enrolled in Kelloggsville Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was same number enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Neil Blake | MLive.com) Kenowa Hills There were 189 homeless students enrolled in Kenowa Hills Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a 45-student decrease from the 234 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Kent City There were 51 homeless students enrolled in Kent City Community Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of five students from the 46 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Kentwood There were 225 homeless students enrolled in Kentwood Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 38 students from the 263 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) Lowell There were 49 homeless students enrolled in Lowell Area Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 20 students from the 69 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Mike Clark | MLive.com) Northview There were 40 homeless students enrolled in Northview Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of eight students from the 32 students enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Courtesy | Barry Klukas) Rockford There were 19 homeless students enrolled in Rockford Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of one student from the 19 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Saugatuck There were 13 homeless students enrolled in Saugatuck Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). In 2015-16, there were fewer than 10 students enrolled. Whenever report settings would yield fewer than 10 students, less than 5 percent, or over 95 percent in any grouping, the data will not display, according to CEPI. Don't Edit (Brian Forde | MLive.com) Sparta There were 62 homeless students enrolled in Sparta Area Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of 11 students from the 62 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Cory Morse| MLive.com) Spring Lake There were 24 homeless students enrolled in Spring Lake Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of 18 students from the 42 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Neil Blake| MLive.com) Thornapple Kellogg There were 22 homeless students enrolled in Thornapple Kellogg Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of three students from the 25 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Cory Morse| MLive.com) West Ottawa There were 85 homeless students enrolled in West Ottawa Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a slight decrease of one student from the 86 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Wyoming There were 129 homeless students enrolled in Wyoming Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of 44 students from the 85 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) Zeeland There were 53 homeless students enrolled in Zeeland Public Schools during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was an increase of 14 students from the 39 enrolled in 2015-16. Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Kent, Ottawa ISDs There were 29 homeless students enrolled in the Kent ISD and 10 in the Ottawa Area ISD during the 2016-17 school year, according to data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. This was a decrease of two students for Kent and five students for Ottawa from 2015-16. Don't Edit (MLive File Photo) Charter Schools Only seven of the active charter schools in Kent and Ottawa counties had a specific number of homeless students displayed in the 2016-17 school year data recently released by the Center for Educational Performance and Information. To protect the privacy of individual students, CEPI uses data suppression rules. Whenever report settings would yield fewer than 10 students, less than 5 percent, or over 95 percent in any grouping, the data will not display. Here are the six schools with data displayed: Covenant House Academy Grand Rapids, a high school for at-risk and homeless students, enrolled 94 homeless students, down from 141 in 2015-16. Black River Public Schools in Holland enrolled 11 students. In 2015-16, the school had fewer than 10 students. Grand River Preparatory High School enrolled 10 students. In 2015-16, there were fewer than 10. West Michigan Academy of Arts and Academics enrolled12 students, down from 10 in 2015-16. Michigan Virtual Charter Academy enrolled 79 students, down from 84 in 2015-16. Ridge Park Charter Academy enrolled 13 students. In 2015-16, there were fewer than 10. William C. Abney Academy in Grand Rapids had 56 students, up from 33 in 2015-16. The other charters in the area had zero homeless students or fewer than 10. SAND LAKE, MI - The high school student's threat that closed Tri County Area Schools Wednesday, Dec. 13, has been investigated and classes will resume Thursday, according to Superintendent Allen Cumings. In a letter Wednesday morning, Cumings notified parents and the community that the district had been notified that a student made a threat that "could compromise the safety of the school environment.'' According to Michigan State Police, the threat was made overnight and was "student to student.'' Cumings said the high school student that made the threat over Facebook to a classmate will not be allowed back on campus. He said a disciplinary hearing would be scheduled, per board policy. "Based on the current state of the investigation, the potential threat has been effectively addressed by law enforcement and the administration, which will allow us to resume a normal school schedule tomorrow," said Cumings, in a follow up letter Wednesday afternoon. He is not sharing the specifics of the threat, just that the potential harm to students and staff that triggered the closure of the more than 2,000-student district. While closings are an inconvenience, he told parents that the safety of each child and their staff is the foremost important reason for the decision. "I am glad we were cautious and went this route,'' said Cumings, who said he had very limited information about the threat when initially contacted before 5 a.m. "We needed time to do an investigation.'' "Students need to be aware that their inappropriate actions on social media have consequences.'' In October, Greenville High School was closed because of an active shooter threat that was later proven to be unsubstantiated. Students were discussing a potential shooting at an assembly over social media. However, police said language had escalated to something inaccurate from what was initially posted. The Greenville Department of Public Safety was notified about the threat by OK2SAY - a state run confidential student hotline to prevent violence - about the potential threat. In November, a disgruntled Lowell teen received a six-month sentence for calling in a false bomb threat against Lowell High School in August. Students, parents, teachers, or any concerned individual can contact OK2SAY in multiple ways to report potential violence: GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- West Michigan is expected to be under a winter storm warning until late Wednesday evening as forecasts are calling for as much as 8 inches of snow in some areas. The advisory will remain in effect until 11 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, as continued snowfall and low temperatures are expected throughout the day. The heaviest snow will fall this afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service. Snowfall rates could reach an inch per hour at times, which would result in poor visibility. Kent and Muskegon counties are among those expected to be hit hardest in West Michigan with forecasts calling for 5-to-8 inches Wednesday. Other counties expecting similar snowfalls include Ionia, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Newaygo and Oceana. Kalamazoo, Barry and Calhoun counties are calling for 4-to-6 inches of snow, while Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren counties could see 2-to-5 inches. Local and state police spent much of Wednesday morning responding to reports of vehicle crashes, rollovers and spin-offs on area highways. Drivers are reminded to travel with caution and allow for more time during their commutes. Authorities suggest keeping an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle if you must travel during periods of severe winter weather. More from MLive GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- An Ada woman convicted of threatening to blow up a Kentwood mosque in January has been sentenced to three years of probation. On Jan. 2, Kari Moss, 34, arrived at At-Tawheed Islamic Center, at 3357 E. Paris Ave. SE wearing a bulky coat. "Moss threatened that she had a gun and that if her demands were not met that she would blow up the mosque," Kentwood Police Officer Darrin Cline wrote in a probable-cause affidavit. Kentwood Police called in a state police bomb squad but found no explosives. Police also did not find a gun. Originally charged with a 20-year felony charge of making a false threat of terrorism, Moss entered a no-contest plea on Oct. 30 to a lesser charge of making a false threat of a bomb. That charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison. District Judge Paul Sullivan asked Moss if she had weapons at the time of the incident, to which she responded she did not. "This was a serious matter of course," Sullivan said. "But the court will recognize that it appears that the defendant at the time of the incident was suffering from significant mental health issues." Moss' mother, Charlotte Steigenga, said after a previous hearing on Oct. 30 that it should be obvious to everyone that her daughter needs mental-health treatment. Steigenga said in a previous MLive interview that a mental-health worker recently believed her daughter was on the "brink of psychosis" and should be hospitalized. But Moss thought she was OK after going to an emergency room and being sent home with sedatives, Steigenga said. One of the terms of Moss' probation is she must take her medication as prescribed by a doctor. Sullivan said Moss will receive credit for the 345 days she has already served in Kent County Jail. Some of Moss' other probation conditions include: She cannot leave Michigan without the court's consent. She is not to engage in any assault or threatening or intimidating or abusive behavior. She cannot change residence without written permission from probation officer. She cannot use or possess weapons or be around anyone who possesses or uses weapons. She will be subject to search without a warrant when the probation officer checks up on her. Sullivan said the mental health issues were the strongest factor in why the offense was committed, which was taken into account in sentencing KINGSLEY, MI -- TheraCann USA Benchmark has abandoned plans to build a $20 million medical marijuana plant in Kingsley. Richard Goodman, president of TheraCann USA, confirmed the decision on Wednesday, Dec. 13. He cited a variety of reasons for the decision, most notably the time it was taking to finalize plans and concerns over investment and management costs. A notice issued last month by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs that clarified that a single person or company may stack Class C licenses also influenced the decision, Goodman said. Class C licences allow a single holder to possess up to 1,500 plants. LARA issued the following statement in regard to the clarification: "Nearly three months ago - on September 28, 2017 - LARA issued an advisory bulletin which clarified our intention to allow a potential licensee to be granted multiple ("stacked") class C grow licenses in a single location. This was not a change in policy but rather a clarification of current state law." The Kingsley plant proposal was created before the LARA clarification and even though that didn't change Michigan's laws on marijuana licensing, it convinced the company that a change in direction was needed. TheraCann had been considering whether it may have made sense for it to manage individual growers housed in a central location, even though they would essentially be their competitors. The company ultimately decided against that. "That just doesn't make sense," Goodman said. "In other states, that situation has gotten nasty. For our own standards, a wholly-owned facility where we can maintain quality is ideal." Michigan's marijuana policies would allow something like that to take place, a LARA spokesman confirmed. LARA will begin accepting applications for medical marijuana facility licenses on Friday, Dec. 15. Village officials and representatives of the company have been discussing the topic for more than a year. TheraCann had been proposing the construction of a 100,000-square-foot growing facility that would be located on the east end of town in the village's industrial park near M-113 and U.S. Highway 131. The proposal would have brought 100-plus jobs to Kingsley, as well as significant tax values to the village and its school district. Officials previously said the taxable value of the village's downtown district would have doubled. The entire district has a taxable value of $6.2 million. TheraCann's proposal would have had taxable value of $9.5 million, 35 percent more than the village's entire DDA district. However, TheraCann is now actively looking elsewhere in Michigan, Goodman said. He didn't provide specifics, but said one is "up north," another is "around Kingsley" and one is in Metro Detroit. Dan Hawkins, the manager of the village in Northern Michigan, was surprised by the decision. "I was told that there were other communities that were more attractive to them and that they are pursuing them," Hawkins said. "It's stunning because there was a lot of work and energy put in by our councils and community and TheraCann, for the most part, said they were on their way." Goodman called the decison to move on "painful" considering all the work that has been put in by both sides, but felt it was the best thing for the company. The decision ends a months-long saga in the village that saw supporters and detractors of the proposal make their voices heard. Hawkins called the proposal "controversial," but said it was mostly supported in the community due to the job creation and economic impact. "Personally, I'm convinced there is a need for personal medical marijuana," Hawkins said. So, where does Kingsley go from here? Hawkins said village officials will take a "one door closes, another opens" approach and will continue to make the necessary efforts to ready the industrial park for any potential development. Through marketing and word of mouth, officials will make sure information about the space is available to any interested parties, he said. He added that the backtrack may have bigger things to say about medical marijuana in Michigan and items covered under the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act. "News like this goes as a positive and negative," he said. "We were possibly going to be the roadster for Michigan as in a medical marijuana interest this large. That's why we were making every effort to cross the Ts and dot the Is." "We knew the eyes of Michigan, and maybe even the nation, would be on us," he continued. "With this announcement and reverse of direction, it speaks volumes. Maybe it speaks to the fact that people aren't quite ready to take the necessary steps to actually make something happen?" Hawkins didn't feel that adversity in the community affected TheraCann's decision to back out of the development. "That's been there since the beginning," he said. "I can't believe on this day, after all that's been done, that community resistance makes them walk away." Goodman's statements appear to confirm that opinion. LANSING, MI - Eight years after agreeing to it, Michigan's egg producers are seeking to push back a deadline by which they must provide cage-free housing for egg-laying hens. Senate Bill 660, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, would push back the deadline by which Michigan egg producers would have to provide cage-free chicken housing from 2020 to 2025. The original 2020 deadline was created under a 2009 law that created and phased in new standards for chicken housing. It was voted out of the Senate Agriculture committee on Tuesday. Cage free housing for egg-laying hens doesn't necessarily mean they get to run around outside. The 2009 law prohibits "covered animals" like egg-laying hens, gestating sows and calves being raised for veal from being confined for the majority of a day in a way that prevents them from lying down, standing up, fully extending their limbs, or turning around freely. A phase-in in that legislation meant the changes would take effect in 2020. Although they agreed to that deadline at the time, egg producers are now hoping to push it back to align with what private industry is doing. Companies including Meijer, Kroger, Nestle and McDonald's have committed to shifting exclusively to cage-free eggs by 2025. That's when egg producers want to comply with the cage-free law. Tim Vande Bunte, from Vande Bunte eggs in Martin, Mich., is part of a third-generation family egg business. They have more than 3 million chickens and produce many types of eggs, including cage-free. "SB 660 aligns the timing of Michigan's animal housing requirements with the timeline that has been widely embraced by major food industry egg buyers," Vande Bunte said, testifying in support of the bill. He supported the bill, with its 2020 deadline, in 2009. "You didn't see a timeline issue back then?" asked Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg. Vande Bunte said at the time the thinking was that a federal law would set the standard nationally, but it didn't end up happening. The bill is opposed by the Michigan Farm Bureau, but supported by the Michigan Allied Poultry Industry and Michigan Agri-Business Association. Jim Byrum, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association, said the industry deadline was important, because the demand wouldn't be there until 2025. "We anticipated that they would move faster than they did, and we can't have all our producers producing cage-free that would flood the market and not have demand," Byrum said. "They would have a higher cost of production and no market demand that would reflect those higher prices needed to justify that production." The committee approved the bill Tuesday, sending it to the Senate floor. The only person to vote against it was Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart. The bill would also insert a new language stating, "The legislature finds that eggs derived from egg-laying hens that are exposed to significant stress may result in deleterious effects on the health, safety, and welfare of consumers such as increased exposure to disease pathogens, including salmonella, and have negative fiscal impacts on this state." That was part of what led Booher to vote against it. "What did the legislature find? We didn't find anything. There's no science behind this. So I don't like that statement in there," Booher said. He voted against the bill in 2009 too, he said. The bill is pending before the full Senate. It would need to pass the full Senate and full House before earning a signature from Gov. Rick Snyder to become law. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is getting its own stamp in 2018. The United States Postal Service unveiled a portion of its 2018 stamp collection on Tuesday, Dec. 12 and Michigan's sprawling Lake Michigan park is among the images that will be featured. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is getting its own stamp in 2018. "With this Priority Mail Express stamp, the Postal Service celebrates the Sleeping Bear Dunes, a national park in Michigan that takes its name from a Native American legend," a USPS news release reads. Once named "The Most Beautiful Place in America" by "Good Morning America," Sleeping Bear is one of four national lakeshores recognized by the U.S. Park Service. The park covers 35 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and North and South Manitou Islands. The lakeshore attracts thousands of visitors each year thanks to its outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and glacial formations. The stamp featuring Sleeping Bear is just one of a handful of designs revealed on Tuesday. Other highlights include stamps depicting John Lennon, "Mister Rogers" Fred Rogers and Sally Ride - the first American woman in space. Themed stamps include images of bio-luminescent life, STEM education, frozen treats and the "O Beautiful" series, which depicts the beauty and majesty of the United States through images that correspond with one of the nation's most beloved songs, "America the Beautiful." LANSING, MI - Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday signed legislation officially outlawing police having sex with prostitutes on duty by removing an exemption that previously blocked their prosecution. "Every day the brave men and women in Michigan's law enforcement community work tirelessly to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of all Michiganders," Snyder said. "These bills help ensure the ongoing integrity and accountability of our law enforcement system by clarifying what actions officers are exempt from while performing their official duties." The governor signed two bills - House Bill 4355 and Senate Bill 275, sponsored by Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, and Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, to stop it. The bills undo a provision that until now has prevented police officers from being prosecuted for prostitution offenses committed while on duty. Police agencies have said they do not use the law allowing undercover officers to have sex during an investigation, and do not train officers in it. It appears such a situation has come up at least once in Michigan, when a Kalamazoo officer engaged in oral sex with a suspected prostitute in 2003 during the course of an investigation. Glenn said in a press release last month it would help protect victims of human trafficking. "Michigan will no longer have the stigma of being the last state in the country that unintentionally exempts police officers who have sex with prostitutes during an investigation from prosecution," Glenn said. "This common sense legislation has received significant bipartisan support because it protects our law enforcement and victims of sex-based crimes." The bills are now Public Acts 194-195 of 2017. JACKSON, MI - A Jackson man who was unable to explain why he had so much blood on him when he went to the hospital Sunday morning has been charged for torturing and killing his girlfriend. Larry Maddin Jr., was arraigned before District Judge R. Darryl Mazur on Wednesday, Dec. 13, on one felony count each of open murder and torture and one misdemeanor count of domestic violence second offense. Maddin, 41, is accused of killing his girlfriend, Bobbie Jo Thomas, stabbing her several times on Sunday, Dec. 10, in her Orange Street apartment. Maddin stood silent, answering the judge's questions with single words as the charges filed against him were read. He arrived at Henry Ford Allegiance Health before 8 a.m. on Dec. 10, with an amount of blood on him that did not match his slight injury, Jackson Director of Police and Fire Services Elmer Hitt said. He was detained for a parole violation while police worked to figure out what had happened, Hitt said. Maddin was later arrested after police found Thomas, 43, dead in her apartment. A preliminary examination is scheduled for 9 a.m., Dec. 28. He was denied bond and is currently being held in the Jackson County Jail. Open murder allows a jury to determine the degree of murder if convicted. Torture is punishable by up to life in prison. Thomas's neighbors have said the pair had been together for about three months and fought frequently. In February of 2017, Maddin pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge involving a different woman. According to court records, Maddin was arrested in September 2015 in connection with a string of thefts from parked vehicles in Columbia Township. The prosecutor's office dismissed all the charges in June 2016. Maddin had pleaded guilty to a 2005 armed robbery and was sentenced to serve nine to 18 years in prison, according to court records. During that robbery, Maddin used a handgun to rob a gas station, forcing a clerk into a back room, where he bound the employee's hands and feet with duct tape, according to previous reports. Maddin stole a box with $350 in it, according to the report. He was paroled in 2014 for the armed robbery conviction, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records. JACKSON, MI - Tara Albert believes if her brother had been on his medication, he would not be charged with murder. "He is simply out of touch with reality," Albert said of Larry Maddin Jr. Maddin was diagnosed about a year ago with paranoid schizophrenia, she said, and had been off the prescribed drugs that kept him sane, she contends. "I feel like this tragedy could have been prevented if he was on his meds," she said. The 41-year-old problem parolee - who was supposed to be at a drug treatment facility in Oakland County - was arraigned Wednesday, Dec. 13, on charges of open murder, torture and domestic violence for allegedly stabbing to death his girlfriend Bobbie-Jo Thomas, 43. She was found dead with multiple wounds Sunday inside the apartment the two were sharing on Orange Street in Jackson and he arrived at the hospital allegedly wearing her blood. "He don't comprehend that she is dead," said Albert, who talked to her brother on Sunday when he called from the Jackson County Jail. Maddin and Thomas had a volatile relationship, Albert said. They previously dated in the 1990s and recently got back together. Both drank and used drugs, she said. A friend of Thomas and Maddin's estranged wife said Maddin had issues with methamphetamine. "They were just like fire and gasoline; they were not good for each other at all," said Albert, who did not condone the violence. She noted Maddin was hurt. He had an injury to his hand, possibly indicative of a struggle, when he arrived Sunday at Henry Ford Allegiance Health, sparking the homicide investigation. "And he loved her. He loved Bobbie-Jo." Three days before the stabbing, Maddin, who spent nine years in prison for armed robbery, walked away from the Waterford-based Community Programs Inc., an in-patient substance abuse rehabilitation facility. The Michigan Department of Corrections contracts with the program, his attendance was required and he was evading authorities at the time of Thomas' death, department spokesman Chris Gautz said Parole agents talked to a family member, unsuccessfully tried to contact Thomas and made visits to all his known locations, Gautz said. Thomas' friend Amanda Swank, another resident in the apartment house on Orange Street, said Maddin and Thomas were staying in Swank's room because he was "on the run." It was unclear how he got to Jackson. Swank said he came back late at night and woke her. "He wanted to be home for Christmas," Albert said. "Because he hadn't been home since 2005." Maddin, in repeated trouble since his release from prison three years ago, violated his parole in November for "substance abuse," Gautz said. Before he was taken to Waterford, he spent 24 days in the corrections department's Intensive Detention Reentry Program in the Clinton County jail. The program works to address "chronic non-compliance parole cases." Albert contends Maddin was not taking the necessary medicine while there. He did not believe he needed it, she said. Gautz could not discuss specifics but said Maddin was given generic or "some version" of the prescriptions he had when he came into the jail. Secure facilities have various policies about medications. Some with a higher propensity to be abused or sold are substituted or inmates are weaned off them, Gautz said. Maddin was first paroled in July 2014. He spent nearly a decade in prison for holding up a clerk March 26, 2005 at the Admiral Petroleum station on Page Avenue in Leoni Township. With a handgun, he forced the employee into a back room and bound the clerk's hands and feet with duct tape, according to past reports. Gautz said he was initially to be discharged from supervision in July 2016, but the period was extended several times because Maddin repeatedly failed to meet the terms. He was accused - and never convicted - of stealing credit cards and other items in 2015 from unlocked vehicles in Columbia Township. The prosecutor's office dismissed the charges in June 2016, nine months after he was arrested and jailed, according to court records. His lawyer had argued there was insufficient evidence. He spent 23 days in jail and pleaded guilty in February to domestic violence against his wife, Lisa Weiler. "He may be crazy; he has mental problems," Weiler said. "He knew exactly what he was doing when he did that to me." She said he broke her facial bones and nose and twisted her neck in what she described as an unprovoked attack in December 2016. Maddin "snapped," she said. He was on top of her. Weiler said she got along "great" with Maddin, who she married in January. He had called her from Henry Ford Allegiance Health's Charles Anderson Building, the behavioral health ward. "I forgave him because he said he had a psychotic break." Weiler stopped speaking to Maddin in July because he was "acting crazy." She is now clean, working full-time and seeking an annulment. Weiler loved him. "He was my everything," she said. "Craziness on my part." Maddin is intelligent and capable, Albert said. He went to Grass Lake High School and could build a house "from the ground up," wiring and all. He had been working until he went off his medication, Albert said. "He's just had one bad break after another after another," she said. His mental illness, though undiagnosed at the time, had been festering since he was a teenager, she believes. It was a factor at the time of the robbery, she says. "He doesn't deal with crisis very well at all." He is not some "punk thug who murdered this poor innocent girl because he is a menace," she said. "That is just not the truth." People look at a screen displaying India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presenting the budget, on a facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, February 29, 2016. The government unveiled a budget for the poor on Monday, announcing new rural aid schemes and skimping on a bank bailout, in a strategy shift that seeks to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party in coming state elections. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui - RTS8IIY As we inch closer to the date of Union Budget 2018 -- likely to be presented in Parliament on February 1 -- here's a quick explainer on terms used by the Finance Minister in his speech. Union Budget The Union Budget is the annual report of India as a country. It contains the government of India's revenue and expenditure for the end of a particular fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31. The Union Budget is the most extensive account of the government's finances, in which revenues from all sources and expenses of all activities undertaken are aggregated. It comprises the revenue budget and the capital budget. It also contains estimates for the next fiscal year. Fiscal Deficit The fiscal deficit is the gap between the government's total spending and the sum of its revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts. It represents the total amount of borrowed funds required by the government to completely meet its expenditure. It is the most important factor watched by global investors throughout the year. The government always tries very hard to maintain the yearly fiscal deficit target (as a percentage of total country's GDP) set in every Budget. Disinvestment It means the raising of funds through stake sale in public sector undertakings or private entity where the government owns stake. The government raises funds through strategic sale, initial public offer, offer for sale or sale through transfer from one PSU to other PSU. Every year the government tries to achieve the divestment target and uses these funds to maintain fiscal deficit target. Finance Bill The government's proposals for the levy of new taxes, alterations in the present tax structure or continuance of the current tax structure beyond the period approved by Parliament, are laid down before Parliament in this bill. The Parliament approves the Finance Bill for a period of one year at a time, which becomes the Finance Act. Revenue Budget The revenue budget consists of revenue receipts of the government (revenues from tax and other sources), and its expenditure. Revenue receipts are divided into tax and non-tax revenue. Tax revenues are made up of taxes such as income tax, corporate tax, excise, customs and other duties that the government levies. In non-tax revenue, the government's sources are interest on loans and dividend on investments like PSUs, fees, and other receipts for services that it renders. Revenue expenditure is the payment incurred for the normal day-to-day running of government departments and various services that it offers to its citizens. The government also has other expenditure like servicing interest on its borrowings, subsidies, etc. Usually, expenditure that does not result in the creation of assets, and grants given to state governments and other parties are revenue expenditures. If the difference between revenue receipts and revenue expenditure is negative, it means the government spends more than it earns. The difference is called the revenue deficit. Capital Budget The capital budget is different from the revenue budget as its components are of a long-term nature. The capital budget consists of capital receipts and payments. Capital receipts are government loans raised from the public, government borrowings from the Reserve Bank and treasury bills, loans received from foreign bodies and governments, divestment of equity holding in public sector enterprises, securities against small savings, state provident funds, and special deposits. Capital payments are capital expenditure on acquisition of assets like land, buildings, machinery, and equipment. Investments in shares, loans and advances granted by the central government to state and union territory governments, government companies, corporations and other parties. Direct Taxes Direct taxes are levied on the income of individuals or organisations. Income tax, corporate tax, inheritance tax are some instances of direct taxation. Income tax is the tax levied on individual income from various sources like salaries, investments, interest etc. Corporate tax is the tax paid by companies or firms on the incomes they earn. Fiscal Policy Fiscal policy is a change in government spending or taxing designed to influence economic activity. These changes are designed to control the level of aggregate demand in the economy. Governments usually bring about changes in taxation, volume of spending, and size of the budget deficit or surplus to affect public expenditure. Revenue Deficit Revenue Deficit refers to the excess of revenue expenditure over revenue receipts. Effective revenue deficit is the difference between revenue deficit and grants for creation of capital assets. Primary deficit is measured by fiscal deficit less interest payments. Capital Gain Tax This tax is charged in the year in which profits or gains are made from sale or transfer of a capital asset but there is no capital gains tax if the asset is inherited. Income from capital gains is divided into two parts - short term capital gains and long term capital gains. Short-term capital asset is a capital asset that is held for not more than 24 months before sale/transfer. However, for certain capital assets, such as shares (equity or preference), equity mutual funds, listed securities (debentures, government bonds), the period of holding is 12 months. Long-term capital asset is a capital asset that is held for a period of over 24 months before sale or transfer. However, shares, equity mutual funds, debentures, government bonds and zero coupon bonds are considered long term capital assets if they are held for over 12 months. Crude prices have been on the rise this year with a 40 percent gain for Brent since June. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, MK Surana, CMD of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) assessed the impact on their business. I believe that USD 65 per barrel is a good resistance level for the crude in the near-term, he said. Crude should be in the range of USD 60-65 per barrel, he added. If crude prices remain at current levels, we should expect to see good gross refining margins (GRMs), said Surana. In order to help smaller companies the government is reviewing the insolvency provisions, including recent amendments barring defaulting promoters from bidding for their own assets undergoing insolvency. The committee, formed in November and chaired by the secretary, ministry of corporate affairs, and includes members involved in the drafting of the IBC, has already met to discuss the issue, sources told Moneycontrol. Lawyers, corporates, bankers and other experts have pointed out that the new clause does not distinguish between ordinary and wilful defaulters. The prohibition of promoters will reduce the bids coming in especially for the smaller and medium sector enterprises (SMEs). We have been told that a committee is looking at the concerns in the ordinance which have been highlighted by the industry, one of the banking sources said. The problem will not be so much for the large accounts i.e. the first list but for the accounts in the second list, which are smaller assets," another banker said. Industry experts have also expressed concerns that the ordinance may shut out even clean bidders, possibly those promoters who have blood relations with tainted promoters along with private equity players who typically acquire stressed assets. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD & Group CFO, JSW Steel, which is one of the serious bidders in buying the distressed assets undergoing insolvency process said, "If a legitimate promoter whose company went into financial distress due to external reasons, they are also getting debarred from the participation process. However, in my view it will only debar the existing promoters of the NPA accounts at the NCLT. So, there are still others (to participate)." Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and Managing Director of JSW group had previously pointed out that the ordinance must differentiate between legitimate promoters and willful defaulters while allowing to bid for the assets. Taking to micro-blogging website Twitter yet again on Tuesday, Jindal, said, Existing promoters are allowed to be in management in non-NCLT cases with deep debt restructuring involving large haircuts if they are not wilful & non-cooperative borrowers. If so,why to differentiate in #NCLT cases to debar legitimate promoters in bidding process? @arunjaitley." Rao said they have also pointed there are implementation concerns where once a resolution is accepted, there are many laws which apply and they need to be looked at. The ordinance bars not only wilful defaulters, but also several other categories of investors such as guarantors to the debtor, those with loans classified as non-performing assets for at least a year, those convicted for any offence with a prison term of more than two years, directors in companies that have been disqualified, entities barred by the capital markets regulator, those who have been found to have struck fraudulent transactions with the firm, and connected entities. Speaking to Moneycontrol last month, Jyoti Singh, Insolvency and Disputes Partner at Phoenix Legal, who was a part of three IBC matters, said, "I think it's a very good move to bar fraudulent promoters from bidding and regaining control at a lower value. But, I believe Section 29 A (h) would be challenged since it practically implies that almost 98 percent of the promoters would not be able to submit resolution plan even if they don't fall under other restrictions under newly inserted section 29 A because almost all promoters would have given personal guarantee for securing the corporate lending." On RBI's directions on June 13, banks have referred 12 large borrowers for insolvency proceedings at various NCLTs in India. The central bank has set a December 13 deadline for the second list of about 28-30 accounts, for which lenders must finalize a resolution plan, failing which they have to take these borrowers to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by December end. Pawan Hans helicopter carrying police patrols over violence-hit area of Lalgarh The employee union of Pawan Hans is also likely to bid for the governments 51 percent stake in the helicopter services operator, a senior official with the Ministry of Civil Aviation said today. The Finance Ministrys department of investment promotion and asset management has called for submission of bids for the state-owned company by December 15. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation owns 49 percent stake in the company and has so far not expressed its intent on selling or retaining the stake. As per the guidelines applied to all cases of divestment by the department, eligibility norms are slightly diluted for bids by employees. According to divestment norms, if the bid is submitted through a consortium, the employees must contribute at least 10 percent of the financial bid. The employee bid will have the right to match the highest offer provided it is within 10 percent of it. According to the information available on the department of investment promotion and asset management, the companys heliport at Rohini in Delhi will be hived off into a separate company. The MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) facilities at Rohini, post the hive-off, will be available for use on commercial terms as decided by the heliport operating company, the document on the departments website said. In the next 15 years, about 37 percent of Indian workforce will be employed in new job roles. According to a joint survey by FICCI and NASSCOM onFuture of Jobs in India with EY, employment in the organized manufacturing and services sector is expected to increase from the current 38 million to 46-48 million by 2022. The report provides insights into the future of jobs and vision of change for the job market in India by 2022. The report highlights the impact that various primary forces such as globalization, demographics, and industry 4.0/exponential technologies, are expected to have on the key sectors of the economy. It also provides an overview of the job creation rates across various sectors and the new jobs that will emerge in the next few years. It said that the future of jobs in 2022 would be determined by the countrys response to 12 mega-trends captured by the EY framework, which includes, under globalization the level of exports of India-based companies, rapid adoption of exponential technologies in the advanced markets and its impact on offshoring, FDI inflow levels and increasing/shrinking overseas job market for Indian workforce. Other factors include increasing urbanization, rising middle-class, new work arrangements and launch of smart connected products/services among others. R Chandrasekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, The report attempts to present a 2022 picture a time when no one can afford to rest on ones laurels but needs a continuous learning culture." He added that another important fact being seen is that non-tech firms are increasingly emerging as the source of information technology roles; for eg. automotive, aerospace, BFSI, telecom, retail, healthcare, etc. Anurag Malik, Partner - People & Organization, Advisory Services, EY, said, The adoption of exponential technologies is disrupting industries by creating new markets and India is at the cusp of this change." Malik said that the rapid embracing of these exponential technologies by Indian companies has the potential to transform highly unorganized sectors, such as transportation, maintenance, food catering, and software development services, into organised ones. The changed job landscape in 2022 All the new forms of employment are expected to add a further 20-25 percent to the workforce of the current defined 'organized' sector in 2022. This would increase the share of the organized sector in the overall economy to 10 percent from current level of 8 percent, i.e. approximately 60 million in a workforce of 600 million. The new forms of employment would include contract employees in infrastructure sector, micro entrepreneurs supported by MUDRA schemes, employerentrepreneurs in technology enabled employment models, freelance workers on online platform models, among others. Further, 'Uber' workers, SME and artisan entrepreneurs on ecommerce platforms, delivery workers and service providers in the ecommerce ecosystem, employees in tech start-ups would be new areas. Opposition leaders, taking the Gujarat election campaign a notch higher, have accused the Modi government of making savings in bank accounts unsafe by allowing banks to use the deposits for recapitalization in case of a financial setback. While the national bank employee unions' threat to go on strike only added to the panic, PM Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley quickly came forward to reassure the people that they will never put their hard-earned money at risk. It was during the Parliaments Monsoon Session that the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill was introduced and has gone through rigorous public debates since then. A joint Parliamentary committee is currently studying the draft Bill and is expected to come out with a report, following which it is likely to be taken up for legislative approval in the Parliament. The Income Tax Department today conducted survey operations at major Bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspicion of alleged tax evasion, official sources said. They said various teams of the sleuths of the department, under the command of the Bengaluru investigation wing, today visited the premises of nine such exchanges in the country including in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Gurugram, since early morning. The survey, under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, is being conducted for "gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and traders, transaction undertaken by them, identity of counterparties, related bank accounts used, among others," they said. The survey teams, sources said, are armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big action against them in the country. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause of concern among central bankers the world over for quite a while now. The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins. In March, the Union finance ministry had constituted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of VCs both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies. India has rejected the US criticism on seeking differential treatment at the WTO saying the country was the 'right candidate' and a legitimate demandeur for special dispensation as it has to take care of 600 million poor people. Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu told a press conference that the special and differential treatment was an integral part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and was meant for nations with low per capital income. The minister was responding to issues raised by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in his address at the plenary of the 11th ministerial conference of the WTO. Without naming India, China or other emerging economies, Lighthizer had said that five of the six richest countries in the world were seeking concessions on the basis of self- proclaimed development status. "We need to clarify our understanding of development within the WTO. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to the few, and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status. There is something wrong, in our view, when five of the six richest countries in the world presently claim developing country status," Lighthizer had said. Prabhu retorted by emphasising that special and differential treatment "is an important component of the WTO...You cannot ignore realities that certain societies have been left behind in the process of development." Developing nations including India, he said, "are legitimate demandeurs for special and differential treatment... It is also noteworthy that many developed countries of today have benefitted from long periods of derogation from GATT rules in the area of agriculture and textiles". Under the WTO rules, nations enjoying special and differential treatment are not required to follow norms generally applicable to the member states. These concessions are applicable to mostly to least developed and developing nations. In his address at the plenary, Prabhu also expressed concerns over the way the discourse at the WTO was being deflected by arguments based on the GDP of countries. The discourse should be on development at the WTO and not to be deflected based on aggregate GDP figures, the Minister said, adding "while in India we are proud of our GDP and growth rates of recent years, propelled by innovative economic policies of my government, we cannot ignore that India is home to more than 600 million poor people. "Therefore, we are legitimate demandeurs for special and differential treatment for developing countries." He further said that many developed countries of today have benefitted from long periods of derogation from GATT rules in the area of agriculture and textiles. The minister underlined the need for protecting WTO as platform for promoting trade in transparent and democratic manner, stressing the commerce ought to promote development and eliminate social problems like poverty. Talking about the food security issues, the minister said that he was only reminding the WTO members about the commitments made at the Bali conference that they would come out with a permanent solution to the problem by December 2017 at the 11th Ministerial. He further said that the asymmetry regarding provision of agriculture subsidies between developed and developing countries under the WTO norms ought to be addressed. Answering questions on e-commerce, the minister said the while taking up new issues for negotiations the due process established by the members should be followed. On the possible impact of the proposed tax reforms in the US on global economy which many feel could violate the WTO rules, the minister said the aggrieved member nations would have the option to move the dispute settlement panel of the multilateral trade body. A Jet Airways passenger plane takes off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad The woes of all stakeholders -- be it airline companies or the passengers or the operator of the Mumbai airport itself -- are all too well known. The city whose only airport boasts of a record that of highest number of landings and take-offs on a single runway -- is crying for a new airport and another one at Navi Mumbai is still some years away. But before that, a non-functional airport at Kalyan, a city in Thane district near Mumbai, could be revived. The airport at Kalyan belongs to the state government. A Ministry of Civil Aviation said the government had received four to five proposals from airline operators to fly to and from Kalyan under its regional connectivity scheme. The airport is not even functional and we have received four to five proposals under the UDAN scheme to connect Kalyan with regional routes, the official said, saying that flights to and from the airport were a possibility in the future since the airlines themselves had expressed their interest in operating flights to and from there. The ministry will on Thursday open financial bids by airline companies under the governments regional connectivity scheme that seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports with partly subsidized flights, according to the official. The scheme is also known as UDAN which stands for Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik -- roughly translating to the countrys common man flies. It is worth noting that while the government is seeking to connect unserved and underserved airports with served airports, the airport at Mumbai has no additional slots to offer, UDAN or no UDAN. The official said the ministry had told the airlines that they could use their existing slots at the Mumbai airport to fly to and from Mumbai in order to connect the city to unserved and under-served airports. But no additional slots could be granted at Mumbai, the official said. This is the second phase of UDAN scheme, routes under the first having been awarded earlier this year. The scheme is laid out in such a way that airlines bid for the routes between two airports through an online auction where the name of the bidder isnt known. The first financial bids are then made available to invite counter bids. The routes are finally awarded based on who asks for the lowest support from the government termed as viability gap funding. Thursday is when the counter bids will be opened and the names of the successful bidders made public. The official said 17 companies had originally submitted bids with 141 proposals. Against this, 55 counter proposals have been received from 10 applicants. All proposals including those received in counter will be opened Thursday. The airlines bidding in this phase include IndiGo parent Interglobe Aviation, Jet Airways and SpiceJet. The first two had not participated in the first round of the scheme. The contract to build and operate the proposed airport at Navi Mumbai has been awarded to GVK, which also operates the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Facing flak from various quarters, especially card-acquiring banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday clarified that it lowered merchant discount rates (MDRs) after detailed talks with all stakeholders to achieve the twin objectives of promoting less-cash economy and ensure all stakeholders do a profitable business. The Reserve Bank also clarified that no merchant will at any level will charge MDRs to consumers and the new rates are applicable only on debit card transactions and not credit cards. The Central bank, on December 6, rationalised MDRs for debit card transactions at merchant terminals. Accordingly, it set differentiated MDRs, prescribing separate caps for small and large traders. MDR is the rate charged to a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card services wherein three key parties - the card issuing bank, the card acquiring bank (which sets up points of sale terminals or swipe machines) and merchants - who share the charges at a mutually agreed rates. The acquiring banks though get the lions share since all the investment is borne by them. "We've rationalised MDRs after extensive consultations with all stakeholders - issuing and acquiring banks, and merchants. The new rates are aimed at achieving the twin objectives of promoting card payments especially in small towns, and also to ensure that all stakeholders, especially the acquiring banks, do not lose too much," deputy governor BP Kanungo told reporters at the RBI headquarters this evening. He further said they also learnt that card transactions were happening mostly at large stores. "So to push digitisation, especially in small towns, we had to ensure that small merchants are encouraged to accept card payments, and at the same time, ensure that banks which provide this service should not be making losses," he explained. He also clarified that new rates are lower than the pre-note ban rates, and are only marginally higher than the post-note ban rates which anyway was only a temporary measure as the RBI had put out the discussion paper on MDR in March 2017. Ruing the flurry of incorrect/incomplete information doing the rounds, he said all the top five banks HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda - which together control almost 75 per cent of the cards business, are losing money and if this continued, they will have no incentive to pump money into technologies like this. Stating that no market is perfect, Kanungo said even in some developed markets, the regulator caps the MDR while in some it is left to the market forces. When asked whether RBI will cap the interchange charges, he said, "Probably over a period of time as this is the most critical component in the entire process. "As in some markets, we can also look at controlling the interchange charge, which is the most important element in the whole process. But as of now there is nothing is on our table in this regard," Kanungo said. Justifying the move, he further said, "This (capping MDRs as per merchant volumes) is a case of positive intervention. Because no market is perfect. Also, most banks charge much less than the permitted rates thanks to the spike in volumes." He also said the new rate structure is beneficial to all concerned as it is simple and a single rate. Also there were recurring complaints from small merchants that the banks were charging a flat 1 per cent from them for all transactions, he said. On why the lower cap of Rs 20 lakh business volume was set for merchants, he said this is just a reflection of the lowest volume for mandatory GST registration. It can be noted that the RBI had on June 28, 2012 capped MDR at 0.75 per cent of the transaction value for under Rs 2,000 transactions and at 1 per cent for above this amount. Following the note-ban last November, this was abolished between November 9 and December 31, 2016. But from January 1, 2017 the same was restored but at a lower rate of 0.25 per cent for up to Rs 1,000 transaction value, 0.50 per cent for under Rs 2,000 and 1 per cent for those above this amount, he said. As per the latest notification, MDR charges for small merchants with an annual turnover of up to Rs 20 lakh is fixed at 0.40 per cent with a cap of Rs 200 per transaction. For accepting payments via QR code based transactions, the charge will be 0.30 per cent subject to a cap of Rs 200 per transaction. In case the annual turnover of a merchant is over Rs 20 lakh, MDR will be 0.90 per cent with a cap of Rs 1,000 per transaction. For QR code transaction, it will be 0.80 per cent with a similar cap, the RBI had said, adding the new charges will be effective January 1. Private life insurance company Tata AIA Life is looking to enter real estate investments as a category. The insurance company which was absent from this space may enter this segment soon. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Harshad Patil, Chief Investment Officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance said, In terms of the new areas of investments, we are looking at real estate investments and are at the final stages of closure and will have it by end of this year. Large life insurance companies including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) are already big players in the real estate investment space. The insurance regulator had earlier allowed insurance companies to also invest in real-estate investment trusts (REITS). In terms of the rate cut scenario in the country, Patil said that overall, we dont see much room for rate cuts anymore and there could be a prolonged pause except probably one 25 bps cut in this fiscal. Being a life insurer, we have a conservative portfolio and stick to high-rated papers and government securities. While investments are long-term in the traditional book, in Ulips there is some flexibility," he added. The insurance players in the life insurance space have seen some tweaks in their duration. Patil said that it has been cut to around 4.5 years from 6-7 years earlier. On the equity side, there have been a slew of initial public offerings (IPOs) from the insurance side. Patil said that when it comes to the equity market, any correction will be taken as an opportunity by the retail sector. Though there have also been a flurry of insurance IPOs, we havent directly participated though we have some secondary market investments in them, he added. The income-tax department's initiative of felicitating high net-worth individuals or HNIs paying hefty taxes is making a few of them anxious. According to an Economic Times report, while these individuals appreciate the intention of the government, they are wary of the public nature of this felicitation, and feel confidentiality on tax information might be breached. As per the report income tax offices across the country are set to invite up to 100 top tax payers in their regions for felicitation. After multiple red-flags over data privacy concerns, the revenue department might consider either canceling such programmes or at least not announcing names. Rakesh Nangia, Managing Partner of Nangia and Company LLP, believes such felicitation should not become public information, since the taxpayers would want to keep their personal information confidential. The government had first started felicitation of taxpayers in 2016 by sending out emails with different certificates of appreciation. Last year, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum certificates were distributed based on different income brackets. Chartered Accountant Amit Maheshwari, Partner, Ashok Maheshwary and Associates LLP believes some of these individuals do not want to be highlighted by the tax department, fearing harassment. Such HNIs have also gone to their tax advisors for consultation. Government officials however, state peoples data was not being breached, as the department is not sharing data with anyone. The exercise was just to encourage more people to pay their taxes. According to government data, close to 60 million PAN-card holders out of a total of 290 million file income-tax returns. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More IndiGo, Jet Airways and SpiceJet have submitted bids under the regional connectivity scheme's second round of bidding wherein the government has received 141 initial proposals, a senior official said today. The financial bids in the second round of the scheme -- Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) -- would be opened tomorrow while the technical bids were opened on December 5. IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Zoom Air are among the applicants that have put in their bids for the second round of UDAN, according to the civil aviation ministry official. UDAN seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable. The participating airlines are provided Viability Gap Funding (VGF) -- which is contributed by the ministry and respective state governments. The official said IndiGo and SpiceJet have not sought any VGF for their proposed flights under the scheme. While SpiceJet is already operating UDAN flights after winning bids in the first round, this is the first time IndiGo and Jet Airways have officially expressed interest to participate in the scheme. In the first round too, SpiceJet did not seek VGF. For the second round of bidding, as many as 25 proposals with zero VGF requirement have been received, including from IndiGo and SpiceJet, the official said. A total of 141 initial and 55 counter proposals have been received. There are altogether 18 applicants, including 17 who have put in their initial proposals, the official added. Routes would be awarded in a phased manner in the second round wherein consideration would be given to zero VGF proposals as well as those for operating fixed wing planes and helicopters to priority areas under the scheme. The initial proposals involve 502 routes that seek to connect a total of 126 airports and helipads. These include 49 unserved and 15 under-served airports as well as 24 helipads, the ministry said last month. Out of them, 108 are for flying fixed wing aircraft and 33 for operating helicopters. In the first round of bidding under the scheme, 128 routes that would connect 70 airports were awarded to five airlines. Some of the routes are already operational. The official said that Air Deccan would start operations from December 23 while Air Odisha is expected to get its aircraft by end of this month. Both airlines won routes in the first round of bidding. Under UDAN, fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights. The benchmark indices recovered a bit after seeing a gap down opening on the back of tepid domestic economic cues. The Sensex is down 7.53 points at 33220.46, and the Nifty down 1.20 points at 10239. About 1102 shares have advanced, 668 shares declined, and 79 shares are unchanged. Among sectoral indices, Bank Nifty and Nifty PSU Banks are trading lower. Bharti Airtel has emerged the top gainer on indices after the company decided to sell its 20% stake in its DTH arm to a US private equity firm. Bharti Airtel has decided to sell 20 percent stake in its DTH arm to US private equity firm. Under the deal, Bharti Airtel will sell 15 percent stake in Bharti Telemedia and the remaining 5 percent will be sold by another Bharti entity, it added. Kalpataru Power Transmission has secured new orders / notification of award of Rs 875 crore, which includes 2 orders totalling Rs 278 crore for design, supply and construction of transmission lines in India. It also includes, 3 orders totalling Rs 597 crore for design, supply and construction of transmission lines in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and Bangladesh. According to Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com, Bank of India is a short sell. I have never been enamelled of PSU banks and that theme continues. PSU Bank probably have given up all the gains that they notched up when they had a big gap up few weeks ago. They are going to go lower it seems." "BEML is a short sell. Cummins India is already in a bear market, when the whole market was going up, Cummins was coming down. That is a short sell also." "Infosys is a buy. It had a new high yesterday, apparently the correction is now behind it," he added. Even as hapless citizens watch state governments shift blame for the national capitals poor air quality, NTPC is moving ahead with its plans to play its role of a good corporate citizen in salvaging the situation. The company Tuesday floated a tender to buy plant and machinery to convert farm waste into pellets that will ultimately be blended with coal to produce power. The floating of the tender by the start-owned power generator hasnt come a day soon, coming as it does when the air quality in Delhi has worsened over the years, with the level of cancer-causing pollutants reaching alarming levels last month. Burning of stubble in Punjab and Haryana is mostly blamed for the air pollution in Delhi in winters. Doctors and environmental experts have repeatedly warned that breathing the Delhi air on such days is extremely harmful to health and could result in lung cancer and other diseases. While the states have taken half-hearted steps to prevent farmers from burning the stubble, the farmers have mostly ignored those diktats, seeking financial incentives to stop the activity. NTPC is working on a solution to this problem by utilising the farm residue for power generation in its coal-fired power plants which would add value to farm residue and create a market for it. Farmers may then start to sell the waste against the current practice of burning it right in the field. The company seeks to identify vendors for supply and installation of plant and machinery for torrifaction of farm residue and manufacturing of pellets. Torrifaction is a process in which biomass is subjected to high temperature in absence of oxygen to convert it into a coal-like material. Torrifaction increases calorific value, reduces moisture content and makes biomass brittle and grindable in normal coal mills. It also leads to reduction in transport component of torrified biomass due to increase in calorific value of biomass after torrifaction. While the state-owned power generator has already demonstrated the co-firing of raw biomass pellets blended with coal for up to 7 per cent quantity, it is further looking at possibility of cost effective utilization of farm residue to make torrified pellets for use as a fuel in its power plants. NTPC aims to replace coal with secondary fuel such as paddy straw and other farm waste-based briquettes and pellets to the extent of 5 per cent to 10 per cent of daily consumption at plants wherever this machinery can be installed. The raw farm residue cannot be directly utilized in power plants and needs to be processed first in form of pellets or torrified biomass. Another advantage of torrifaction is reduction in transport component of torrified biomass due to increase in calorific value of biomass after torrifaction. Through another tender floated by Indias largest power generation utility, it intends to procure 850-1000 tons per day of paddy straw and other farm waste. The recent Bombay High Court order, upholding the constitutional validity of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and its applicability to all unfinished projects prior to the implementation date, is seen as a confidence booster from the consumers perspective, says ICRA. The inclusion of earlier excluded projects, under the definition of ongoing projects, would mean a time-bound completion, which would only strengthen consumers faith in the regulatory framework as well as the real estate sector. Also, standardisation of rules across states will also contribute towards ease of doing business for other associated stakeholders, it said. ICRA also stated that there are some signs of a pick-up in demand with 11.67 million sq. ft. sold by developers in the first half of 2018, thus, registering a 23.9 per cent growth in first half of 2017. Nevertheless, the sales velocity continues to remain lower than the average half-yearly sales of 14-15 million sq ft witnessed in the financial year 2015. Thus, the improvement is partly due to the lower base. Going forward, sustained improvement in volumes coupled with a reduction in quarter-to-sell (QTS) for the sample set will indicate stabilisation of a demand-supply scenario. ICRA believes that the recent order passed by the Bombay High Court could have a far-reaching impact. Stakeholders in other states are expected to ensure that the applicability of ongoing projects in their respective states is in line with the definition clarified in the Central RERA Act. The central government has been advising states to align their respective state Acts with the central one in its true spirit. However, there have been deviations as several states notified their respective state RERA after tweaking the definition of ongoing projects, resulting in many unfinished projects being left outside the purview of the RERA Act, leading to a negative impact on the consumers. States like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh exempted projects from registration where either all the slabs have been laid or common area and maintenance has been handed over to the association of buyers. The Bombay High Court ruling is a positive from the consumers perspective. The real estate sector has been facing demand headwinds on account of various factors like affordability, low consumer trust in the developers because of delays in project delivery and an uncertain business environment. Any measure that rebuilds the confidence of the buyer community in the sector is a long-term positive and should underpin demand growth, said Shubham Jain, Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA. The court order has also provided relief for developers where the projects may have got delayed on account of exceptional circumstances. Extension for date of completion may be granted without any penalty being levied on the developer. Nonetheless, some of the penal provisions including imprisonment of promoters/employees in case of failure to comply with the regulations may create an excessive fear in the developer community. In addition, provision related to 5-year warranty against any structural flaw will also require developers to further strengthen their due-diligence mechanism towards their vendors, which may further increase their costs. Furthermore, delay in formation of RERA Authority, under staffing and streamlining of operations of RERA authority, absence of draft sale agreement formats continue to impact the operational performance of the developers to an extent. LocalBitcoins | This peer-to-peer exchange allows people from different countries to exchange their local currencies to bitcoins. Users post advertisements on the exchange stating their exchange rate and preferred payment method for buying or selling bitcoins. By replying to these advertisements, a trade is opened and escrow protection is automatically activated. Escrow protects both buyer and seller, by keeping the bitcoins safe until the payment is done and the seller releases bitcoins to the buyer. Bitcoins are placed in LocalBitcoins web wallet from where one can pay for their bitcoin purchases directly. However, investors need to be aware of scams as they are dealing directly with other people unlike other stock-like exchanges or centralized bitcoin trading sites. Mumbai based Koinex, a multi-cryptocurrency exchange, and the trading platform has received an undisclosed amount of funding from US-based Pantera Capital and Singapore-based Beenext. Koinex was founded in 2017 by IIT graduates (class of 2016) Rahul Raj and Rakesh Yadav along with BITS Pilani graduate Aditya Naik (class of 2014). The pre-Series A funding has been led by Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner of Beenext and Daniel Morehead, founder, and CEO of Pantera Capital. Beenext has earlier invested in Indian companies such as Droom, Citrus Pay, Voonik, and KartRocket. Koinex plans to channel the fresh capital infusion towards scaling its technology infrastructure, further enhancing the product, and expanding the team. With funding and mentorship from names as prestigious as Pantera Capital and Beenext, we are excited to scale our secure and compliant technology, and build an advanced financial ecosystem for investors to work with, while making buying, storing, and trading of digital assets as seamless as possible, said Rahul Raj, Co-founder and CEO, Koinex. Koinex was founded in August 2017, it facilitates the real-time trading of multiple crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on a single web platform. Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner, Beenext said, Since India is a tremendous market because of its size and large remittance corridor, we believe Koinex is extremely well positioned to be a pioneering force in the cryptocurrency space in the country. Pantera Capital is staunchly committed to investing in local cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe because any regional market thrives on local leadership," said Daniel Morehead, founder, and CEO of Pantera Capital. Koinex offers a highly competitive tiered trade fee schedule for high-frequency trading, while its digital infrastructure enables transactions, allowing instant deposits and withdrawals. The company plans to launch its mobile app, and consequently bring one million new users on to the platform over the next few months. By Aadil Bandukwala With no dearth of choices, the best candidates today are no different from your best customers. They discover new opportunities through personal and social networks, expect personalized experiences and respond to brands whose values resonate with them. Thats why leading HR and business leaders have recently looked to their marketing team to understand how to scale and deliver experiences that delight candidates. From employer branding to the power of personalization, to using social media and email as channels to engage with their audience, some of the most powerful recruitment tactics have been borrowed from marketing. Thats why it makes sense that recruitment should also look at creating candidate journeys on the same lines as customer journeys. But first...what is a Customer Journey Map? In order to help customers make a purchase, marketing teams put themselves in their customers shoes, curate the ideal experience they want customers to go through, and then align all sales and marketing efforts to create a communication strategy that ensures customers have a delightful, and singular experience. When creating this strategy, it is critical to first understand their potential customer - Why would they buy the product or service? What would stop them from making the purchase? How long does it take them to make a decision, and what questions would they have? Thats exactly what a customer journey map does. According to Salesforce, a customer journey map is a visual representation of all the touchpoints a customer has with your company. The map helps you understand how your customer interacts with your brand at every stage of the sales funnel and how you can improve those interactions and make them more efficient. Why Should Talent Leaders Create Candidate Journeys? Marketing Research from the Aberdeen Group reveals that organizations that use a mapping program to manage buyer and customer journeys average a 79% increase in cross-selling and upsell revenue. With candidate drop-off rates increasing at an alarming rate, it makes sense to look to marketing once again to address this challenge. A candidate journey map is a visual representation of the different stages your candidate goes through as part of your recruiting funnel and is designed to help recruiters understand the emotional journey that the candidate is going through. Mapping an employees journey becomes even more critical for startups who wish to hire and retain a key employee in early stages. Candidate journey maps can help with: Building an Emotional Connection with your Candidates In his book Descartes Error, Antonio Damasio, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, argues that emotion is a necessary ingredient to almost all decisions. When we are confronted with a decision, emotions from previous, related experiences affix values to the options we are considering. These emotions create preferences which lead to our decision. Similarly, in recruiting, candidates go through a range of emotions from excited to being anxious to feeling curious to feeling skeptical or satisfied. The way a recruiter engages with candidates during the different stages of the hiring funnel can often make or break an offer. Creating an Empathetic Candidate Experience Candidate Journeys help recruiters understand what a candidate is going through at each stage of the hiring process. On the other hand, candidate experience designs what recruiters want candidates to feel. Candidate experience is essentially the solution to all the potential challenges in a candidate journey. For example, if your employer brand does not incite excitement, you need to create a candidate experience that will encourage more candidates to consider your company. Optimizing Processes at Every Stage Candidate journeys also give you the ability to anticipate how candidates may react under different circumstances, identify operational inefficiencies and make quick changes to improve the candidate experience. I have found that when hiring managers engage with candidates in the post-offer stage, the drop-off ratios reduce and candidate conversion ratios increase. Predicting Recruiting Success By creating a scalable and repeatable process, candidate journeys offer a dynamic feedback loop. As mentioned above, insights like - knowing that a Hiring Managers involvement decreases candidate drop-off, or that a long application process increases candidate drop-off at the top of the funnel, give recruiters a holistic perspective into the different stages of the pipeline and therefore enable predictability in hiring cycles. (The author is Social Talent Evangelist at Belong. Views are personal. This article has been edited for Moneycontrol.) 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, Sumeet Jain, Ashish Kyal and Ruchit Jain battle it out for top honours. Below their top stock picks and analysis: Sumeet Jain of Destimoney Securities Buy Century Ply with a stoploss at Rs 325 and target of Rs 352 Buy Gruh Finance with a stoploss at Rs 507 and target of Rs 542 Buy Hindustan Oil Exploration (HOEC) with a stoploss at Rs 133 and target of Rs 154 Buy Aban Offshore with a stoploss at Rs 201 and target of Rs 224 Ashish Kyal of Waves Strategy Advisors Buy BPL with a stoploss at Rs 99.90 and target of Rs 112 Buy PC Jeweller with a stoploss at Rs 432 and target of Rs 465 Buy ICICI Lombard with a stoploss at Rs 764 and target of Rs 814 Buy Puravankara with a stoploss at Rs 161.50 and target of Rs 178 Ruchit Jain of Angel Broking Buy Hindustan Oil Exploration (HOEC) with a stoploss at Rs 131 and target of Rs 147 Buy Jubilant Lifescience with a stoploss at Rs 668 and target of Rs 724 Sell Hindustan Zinc with a stoploss at Rs 296 and target of Rs 282 Sell Container Corporation of India (Concor) with a stoploss at Rs 1320 and target of Rs 1244 Ambareesh Baliga, Independent Market Expert told CNBC-TV18, "In Fortis Healthcare there have been rumours of hands changing. Basically, new promoters coming in. I really do not know as to how far that is true, but then the real value of Fortis will come out only when a new promoter comes in because if you lose sum of parts, that works out to about Rs 225 plus and the stock is quoting at Rs 130. So in case there is a change of hands, we can see the stock moving up to possibly Rs 175-180 levels easily." "The bottom for the stock would be about Rs 120-123; Rs 123 was the low it saw recently. So closer to those levels, Rs 125-126, I think it is a good buy if one has patience to possibly hold on for the next nine months to a year," he added. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More InterGlobe Aviation shares fell 3 percent on equity dilution by promoter entities through offer for sale that opened for subscription today. Two promoter entities of the IndiGo owner planned to offload shares worth at least Rs 1,245 crore through the offer for sale route on Wednesday and Thursday. The share sale will help the company meet the minimum public shareholding norms. As per Sebi norms, listed companies should have at least 25 percent public shareholding. As per statement available with exchanges, Acquire Services Private Limited and IGE (Mauritius) Private Limited will be selling up to 79,52,807 shares (representing 2.07 percent of paid-up equity) and 32.4 lakh shares (0.84 percent), respectively. The company has fixed floor price at Rs 1,130 per share. Together, as many as 1,11,92,807 shares or 2.91 percent stake in the company, which would be sold through OFS, is valued at Rs 1,265 crore. The offer for sale (OFS) window will close on December 14. At the end of September quarter 2017, promoter holding in InterGlobe Aviation stood at 77.91 percent, as per data available with stock exchanges. Post the offer for sale, the promoter's shareholding will come down to 75 percent. For the quarter ended September 2017, InterGlobe recorded a profit of Rs 551.5 crore (up 294.4 percent YoY), primarily boosted by a one-time payment towards engine issues and delayed aircraft deliveries and higher margins. At 10:09 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 1,150.75, up 2.59 percent on the BSE. Prakash Gaba of prakashgaba.com told CNBC-TV18, "Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) certainly is looking good, Rs 495 seems to be a strong support zones here." "There is a good chance it can climb to Rs 525. It may take a couple of days for that. As far as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is concerned, that is also showing some kind of sideways trend with some kind of an upward bias. But if I have a choice between the two, I will go for BPCL," he added. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Punj Lloyd shares surged nearly 14 percent in morning Wednesday on receiving orders from GAIL India for construction of pipeline and NHAI for road project. "Laying & construction of steel pipeline along with associated facilities for Dhamra-Angul Section of Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline Project (JHSDPL) PH-II worth Rs 276.11 crore awarded by Gail (India)," the engineering and construction company said in its filing. In statement the company further said it has bagged order from National Highway Authority of India for upgradation of Yargi-Kalewa Road section in Myanmar to two lane with Earth shoulders on EPC mode, worth Rs 1,177 crore. The road project in Myanmar is in joint venture with Varaha Infra. At 9:52 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 22.70, up 10.46 percent on the BSE. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Rico Auto Industries shares rallied more than 3 percent intraday Wednesday on signing joint venture agreement with Singapore-based company. The company informed exchanges that it has signed the joint venture agreement with Ultra Fairwood PTE Limited, Singapore. The joint venture will manufacture PODs (autonomous electric vehicles to be run on dedicated track) for PRT (personal rapid transport), GRT (group rapid transport) or any variant thereof. The shareholding in the joint venture company will be in the ratio of 50:50, with three directors nomination by each partner. Rico is an engineering company supplying a wide range of high precision fully machined aluminum and ferrous components and assemblies to automotive OEMs across the globe. At 14:59 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 95.65, up 0.90 percent on the BSE. Assam will host its first global investors summit in February to showcase its manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. Industrialists Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani will be amongst those participating in the February 3-4 'Advantage Assam: Global Investors Summit 2018', which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The event will showcase the manufacturing prowess and the opportunities offered by Assam in terms of export-oriented manufacturing and services to growing economies like ASEAN and South East Asian countries," Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI. The summit aims at highlighting Assam's geostrategic advantages and core competencies in different sectors and policy initiatives taken by the state government. Sonowal said the prime minister's special focus for the development of the Northeast and his multiple initiatives for the region will be the basis for the success of the summit. The state has identified a number of focus sectors, including agriculture and food processing, organic cultivation and bamboo, handloom, textile and handicrafts, inland water transport, port township and river front development and logistics. Other focus areas include information technology and information technology enabled services, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, plastics and petrochemicals, power, tourism, hospitality and wellness, petroleum and natural gas and civil aviation. As a precursor to the main event, roadshows are being organised at various domestic and international locations to invite investors to the summit and also showcase the business potential and investment opportunities in the state. "Roadshows held in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Toronto, Sanfrancisco, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore have already generated very positive response from the investors," said Hrishikesh Goswami, media advisor to the chief minister. "Very aptly, 'India's Expressway to ASEAN' has been chosen as the tagline of the summit," he added. The government is planning a roadshow in Bangalore on December 19. This will be preceded by a diplomats' meet in New Delhi on December 15. The summit is expected to attract a number of international business delegations apart from domestic investors. Around 2,000 industry leaders and representatives from India and abroad are expected to participate. The chief minister has had one-to-one meetings with top industrialists, including Tata, Ambani, Adi Godrej, Kishore Biyani, Gautam Singhania, Harsh Mariwala and Subhash Chandra. He has invited them to invest in Assam, Goswami said. The Delhi government on Wednesday set up a nine-member expert committee to recommend it the norms to be followed by private hospitals in the city, including on capping the margin of profit from the sale of medicines, in medical investigation and for behavioural protocols. Making the announcement at a press conference here, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the committee will be headed by Director-General Of Health Services Kirti Bhushan. The minister, in response to a question on the Centre's Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, said the city government is working on its own Delhi health act, which should come into being soon. On what prompted the setting up of the panel, Jain said his department had received several complaints related to alleged overcharging, refusal or delay in providing immediate medical care to victims of crime or road accidents, or hospitals compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy, rude behaviour by healthcare workers and delay in initiating medico-legal cases. "So, we have formed this committee, which would also include Indian Medical Association president Dr K K Aggarwal, Delhi Medical Council president Dr Arun Gupta, former president of Delhi Medical Association, Dr R K Gupta, and experts from our government," he told reporters. The panel has been requested to submit its recommendations by December 31. "They will not be mere recommendations. The Delhi government will use them to come up with protocols related to medical services," Jain said. Asked if the step was prompted by the recent alleged incidents of overcharging and medical negligence by two upscale private hospitals, he said: "No. We have been pro- actively working on it for months." Registered private hospitals and nursing homes will come under its purview. "We have been saying that open loot and criminal negligence by any private hospital will not be tolerated. And, the panel will, among other recommendations, also suggest the capping limit on the margin of profit availed from the sale of medicine. So, it will tell what percentage of profit margin can they go for," the health minister said. They will also recommend measures for norms to be followed in medical investigation and suggest behavioural protocols, he said. The government, later in a statement, said the panel will suggest mechanism so that all private hospitals and nursing homes should, as far as possible, only prescribe drugs mentioned in the National List of Essential Medicines (NELM). Price to be charged by them for medicines and consumables and not compelling patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy and price charged for various diagnostic investigations would also be deliberated by the panel. They will also offer suggestions that will seek to "develop a mechanism for eradicating cuts and commissions in medical practice", the statement said. Delhi High Court The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought to know the Centre's stand on a plea seeking to strike down the amendments made in the rape law after December 16 gangrape incident in the national capital. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar gave six weeks time to the Ministry of Law and Justice to file an affidavit. It fixed the public interest litigation (PIL) for further hearing on April 23 next year. A plea by academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar and two of the accused facing trial has alleged that the amendments to the law relating to sexual offences is being abused in practice. They have challenged the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, in which a penal provision minimum of seven years of jail term for a rape convict was included and the court's discretion to award less than that was taken away. It cited data of rape cases given by the Delhi Commission for Women after the amendment in 2013 and alleged that the law has been misused widely. The petitioners said the law had not been judiciously crafted and was misused widely and in most cases, complaints were lodged to take revenge. The PIL sought striking down of some of the provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 which provides amendments to the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedure on laws related to sexual offences. The plea urged the court to summon the records from the National Crimes Records Bureau, Tihar Jail and the Centre to assess the profiling features of rape prosecution post the 2013 amendments. It sought a direction to the authorities to reconsider the case in which a sentence of imprisonment has been passed post the amendments. The gangrape of a 23-year-old woman on December 16, 2012 had led to a countrywide agitation. Following the protests, a committee under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge was constituted to suggest amendments to the criminal law to sternly deal with sexual assault cases. BJP A senior Karnataka BJP leader has been captured on video urging party workers to make up lies about the central government's achievements in the campaign run-up to state elections next year. In the video footage, aired by a Tv9 channel, former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa on December 4 told party workers present in a meeting to lie to voters to win their confidence. We need to tell the people about all the accomplishments of the BJP the government at the Centre and what we will do in Karnataka In case you do not know, tell some lies or something, the Indian Express translated him as saying in the video. Eshwarappas open call for lying, and the subsequent discovery of proof, has given Congress, which is said to be facing a wave of anti-incumbency in the state, fresh hope. The state remains one of the last major ones still under the Congress' grip. Taking a dig at the saffron party at this chance, Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao told IE that Eshwarappas speech was a reflection of BJP's political strategy and culture. Eshwarappa, in the speech, went on to say that the campaigners should use Prime Minister Narendra Modis macho image to exaggerate about the BJPs accomplishments whenever needed and that the party would handle it later on. You must say that Pakistan never dared attack India when Vajpayee was Prime Minister, but when Manmohan Singh became the PM Indian soldiers were attacked and killed by Pakistans army. You must say that when Modi became the PM he finished 10 soldiers in Pakistan. You must spin it like that," Eshwarappa said, as per the IE translation. He advised the cadres to also spew such fraudulent claims to counter voters when they come up with praises for things done by former PM Manmohan Singh or present chief minister Siddaramaiah. Gujarat Elections 2017: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally for state assembly election in Jamnagar. (PTI) Over the past several weeks, Gujarat has been a cesspool of cheesy political campaigns and increasingly heated exchanges between parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been in power in the state for more than two decades, is finding its task cut out with both Patidar leader Hardik Patel and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi seemingly posing the toughest challenge the saffron party has seen since it first took power in 1995. True to the age-old practice of bringing out the big guns in the face of a challenge, BJP took no chances with their campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections. Needless to say, it was almost entirely dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, with other leaders within the party including chief minister Vijay Rupani making only minor appearances here and there. After all, an election on the Prime Ministers home turf is bound to be a matter of prestige and will certainly lay the groundwork for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. We will fight the elections on the popularity of Modi and strategy of party president Amit Shah (also from Gujarat), a senior state BJP leader had told PTI in April. PM Modi is our national face. He will be the face on whom the party will be banking for the 2017 Gujarat elections, he said. The leader added that the party will likely target a seat count of 150 out of 182 going into the election. There is little doubt that Modi, who has won assembly elections in Gujarat on three occasions before moving to the Centre, has been one of the most popular leaders from Gujarat over the years. So much so that despite his repeated assurances that nothing would change when he became prime minister, the fact remains that Gujarat has had two chief ministers Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani since then and neither of them have come even remotely close to the levels of popularity Modi enjoyed during his time. Unofficially kick-starting the campaign by paying a visit to the iconic Somnath Temple in March, Modi went on to visit his home state at least 10 times between July and November. During these visits, the Prime Minister attended at least three rallies a day, concentrating on key districts. The narrative was always development, with more than a few jibes at Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party complementing the overall effort. Modis visits to his home state also played a significant role in reminding the people of Gujarat of the development seen in the state since Modi first became CM in 2002. On one of his visits, he inaugurated the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam, while another visit was used to lay the foundation of the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. Another major development project that saw the light of day on one of these visits was the ro-ro (roll on, roll off) ferry service between Ghogha and Dahej in Gujarat. This was launched with an aim to please the Patels in the area who have relatives working in the diamond and textile industries of Surat. Travellers from the area earlier had to take a nine-hour bus ride, which went around the sea, to get to South Gujarat and the ferry made this journey possible in one hour. Gujarats incumbent chief minister Vijay Rupani is still BJPs chief ministerial candidate but over the last couple of months, Modis visits and extensive campaigning have made sure that no comparison between the two leaders political presence will ever be made. Even the Congress, which is making fresh inroads in the state with its extensive campaign on the ground and on social media, is treating Modi as its chief opponent, not Rupani or even the BJP as a whole. Another highlight of BJPs campaign this year has been the invisible metre-long stick between them and the Patidars. A report by Scroll pointed out that despite trying to woo the Patidars over on repeated occasions, BJP chief Amit Shah has visibly steered clear of the community over the last couple of months. An event organised three months ago by the party, the first of the Gujarat Gaurav Yatras, in an effort to bring the Patidars over on its side was met with protests from members of the community. The Patidar community has been at loggerheads with the BJP ever since the ruling party cracked down on the communitys protests for reservation back in 2014. With young Patidar leader Hardik Patel gaining in prominence with every passing day, it is fairly certain that BJP will not get through this election without a dent in its voter base, if not more. With Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and OBC leader Alpesh Thakor also making a name for themselves, the BJPs focus turned to the tribal voter base in Gujarat. Tribals account for 15 percent of the states population and will play a major role in determining the outcome for 35 of the 182 seats in the state assembly. On its part, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which acts as the ideological head of the party, has been doing its bit in canvassing for the BJP among the Patidars, Dalits, and even the disgruntled textile traders from Surat who were up in arms against the implementation of GST. The issues on the ground include access to clean drinking water and public healthcare. Lack of access to clean water in the Gajadi village of Morbi district resulted in its residents boycotting the elections. By October, it was clear that the BJP had to step up its efforts if it wanted to both win and maintain the standing it currently has in the state. This resulted in the party bringing out other big names like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to campaign for it in Gujarat. The campaign heated up even more when senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar called the Prime Minister a neech aadmi days before the first phase of the polls. This resulted in Aiyar getting a lot of flak from BJP leaders, within his own party, and from Modi himself. "Yes, they called me 'neech' but our value systems are strong. We have nothing to say to such elements. Our answer will come through the ballot box. We have seen enough insults from them. They insulted me when I was CM. They called me 'Maut Ka Saudagar' and wanted to jail me," Modi said in his response to the comment. Congress nipped the issue in the bud by suspending Aiyar from the party but that did not stop BJP from terming it an orchestrated stunt. However, it would be wrong to say that Congress was the only party courting controversy with its comments, considering Modi himself alleged Pakistani meddling in the elections. He claimed that the former director general of the Pakistan Army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq, was giving tacit support to senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel for the chief ministers post. The Prime Minister went on to say that a meeting was held at Mani Shankar Aiyars house and was attended by Pakistans former foreign minister, Pakistan High Commissioner, Indias former vice president and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Modi's predecessor said he was 'deeply pained' by these allegations. Another major highlight of BJPs campaign this year was the absence of a manifesto right up until a day before the first phase of voting began. BJP, at least in the recent past, has been quick to provide manifestos in each of its election campaigns in the country but experts suspected that with most campaign promises from the past having been fulfilled, it would have been difficult for the party to come out with a new narrative. When released, the manifesto revealed that BJP has promised to double the income of farmers in the state and ensure that the 10 percent growth clocked by the earlier BJP governments in Gujarat is maintained. The generic nature of the manifesto was in sharp contrast to the 2012 one, which promised to construct 50 lakh houses in the next five years. All in all, the BJP has had a whirlwind campaign. Be it memorable slogans or forgettable incidents, populist promises or wild rhetoric, this campaign has had something for everyone. Given that the party is still by far the most popular in Gujarat, most people expect it to win the elections comfortably. But whether or not the BJP will be able to hold on to its political standing and whether or not its campaign was enough to ensure that is still left to be seen. Versova-Bandra sea link | The VBSL is an important part of the coastal road project, which plans to connect south Mumbai to the western suburbs through a series of tunnels, sea links and reclaimed roads. The project is expected to be completed by 2020. Mumbais ambitious Coastal Road projectconnecting South Bombay to the suburbsis finally going to start in April, 2018 and be ready for use to the financial capital four years later. While the work is likely to start in April next year as per officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has asked the administration to pick contractors by March next year, the Hindustan Times reported. The project was earlier scheduled to start from January, 2018. The 29.2-km long road, which will run from Princess Street near Marine Lines to Kandivali, is expected to add to the development of the western corridor of Mumbai and increase the capacity for daily vehicular traffic which is continuously growing. The number of vehicles registered in Greater Mumbai itself is growing at 4-5 percent per annum. Here are the key takeaways about the Coastal Road project: - The Coastal Road will be 29.2-km long road and have as many as eight lanes. It will also have two dedicated bus lanes. - The 15,000-crore road project will also build a tunnel in between Girgaum Chowpatty and Priyadarshini Park, through Malabar Hill. From the Park it will run along the coast and connect to Bandra-Worli sea-link. - An underpass will be built for Haji Ali. Traffic coming from Tardeo will be directed towards BWSL. - The first and south phase of the project will establish a link between Princess Street flyover and south end of Bandra-Worli Sea link. Following the completion of this some trouble may arise as Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has asked BMC to buy the sea-link flyover at a high price for incorporating it into the project. - The final and north phase of the project will run from the north-end of the Bandra-Worli sea-link to Kandivali. Its construction will start after the first phase is over. - Civic officials have earlier said they wanted the Coastal Road to be a freeway from beginning to end. But the state government has proposed the Bandra to Versova stretch to be built as a sea link giving rise to the possibility of a toll tax and delay due to the tussle between BMC and MSRDC. - The project will need reclamation of 186-hectare land from which 91 hectares will have to be created as green spaces. There will also be elevated roads and flyovers. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday called upon political parties and progressive Muslims to come out in support of the draft bill banning triple talaq and containing provisions for providing assistance to women affected by the practice. "Governments, whether at the Centre or in the states, ought not to interfere in religious matters as far as beliefs and rituals are concerned. But intervention becomes necessary when it comes to social evils like untouchability, dowry, child marriage and triple talaq", Modi said at a meeting of the BJP's minorities front here. "There are some people who oppose any type of social reform. Even the ban on the brutal practice of sati was met with opposition. Triple talaq has nothing to do with religion. It is a gross injustice meted out to women", he said. "The Supreme Court had declared triple talaq as unconstitutional in its judgement dated August 22. A draft bill proposing a ban on the practice and rehabilitation of women affected by it is likely to be brought in the upcoming session of the Parliament. All political parties, besides progressive Muslims, should support it", he added. In a veiled attack on the Congress, the BJP leader said "the Supreme Court had given a historic ruling in the Shah Bano case 31 years ago. But the same was overturned by the Rajiv Gandhi government, much to the detriment of divorced Muslim women". The Deputy CM also highlighted measures taken by the Bihar government for welfare of Muslims like raising financial assistance for divorced women from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, scholarships to meritorious madarsa students, equipping madarsas with computers, toilets, libraries etc. and removing encroachments from Wakf land. A day after the Supreme Court expressed serious apprehension about the manner in which the Centre moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take control of embattled real estate firm Unitech Ltds board without seeking its permission, the apex court on Wednesday decided to stay the NCLT order. Attorney General KK Venugopal conceded that this should not have happened. The government should not have approached NCLT when Supreme Court was seized of the matter relating to Unitechs failure to refund homebuyers, said a lawyer present at the hearing on Wednesday. The stay of NCLTs order Friday means that Unitechs promoter Sanjay Chandra, who is currently in jail, can now resume negotiations from prison for sale of assets to generate Rs 750 crore that he has been asked to deposit in court by end of this month. According to Insolvency expert Sumant Batra, the Central government would be best advised to withdraw the petition filed in NCLT and seek leave of the Supreme Court to initiate the take over process. Some legal experts say that it would have been best had the government taken over the company and turned it around by getting a new promoter, just as what it did in the case of Satyam, said Abhishek Dubey, a Delhi-based lawyer. "The government for once made a move to protect the interest of stuck home buyers but committed a huge procedural error by not approaching the top court first. A court or tribunal does not have a carte blanche to pass an order of its liking when a case is brought before it. The rules of procedure must be followed while administering justice. NCLT did not help the home buyers cause by deviating from the procedure and allowing governments application without directing the government to take leave of the Supreme Court first. Procedural justice is a means to achieve substantive justice and the Supreme Court today punished the government for not adhering to procedure. However, I am hopeful that the government will get another opportunity soon," he said. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had expressed its unhappiness over the Friday order and had said that NCLT should have taken its leave before allowing the government to take control over the management of the company. The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Tuesday why it did not seek its permission to move NCLT for suspension of the companys directors. It is disturbing to see that the NCLT passed an order when the top court was hearing the Unitech case. It should have taken leave of the apex court before allowing the Centre to take over Unitech Ltd, said the apex court. A bench comprising chief justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the request of additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Tuesday that one more day be given to him to seek instruction from the concerned authorities on the appeal of Unitech Ltd against the order of NCLT. Unitech, on its part, argued through its lawyer that NCLT passed a hurried order without hearing it. It said that the Supreme Court had allowed its promoter Sanjay Chandra to negotiate from jail to sell assets to generate funds to pay back buyers and yet the Centre had breached discipline and moved NCLT. On Monday, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AM Khanwilkar had agreed to hear on Tuesday the plea on behalf of the embattled civil construction and housing development company Unitech Ltd challenging the recent order of the company law tribunal allowing the Centre to take over its management. Chief Justice Dipak Misra had observed on Monday that We are more concerned with home buyers (rather than) with the company and fixed deposit holders/investors. Home buyers are not investors. Unitech in its appeal had said on Monday that, Despite clear directions issued by the SC, the tribunal in complete disregard to the said orders proceeded to pass an order which makes the entire process and monitoring being implemented by the apex court a nullity and renders it impossible for the petitioners (Unitech and its directors) to comply with the SC orders. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Unitech Ltd and its jailed promoters, referred to the recent NCLT order and said the takeover of the management of the company by the Centre would make it difficult for them to deposit Rs 750 crore as directed by the apex court to safeguard the interests of homebuyers. "How do I comply with the Supreme Court order? My bank accounts have been frozen on November 21," the companys lawyer had said. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), on December 8, had suspended all the eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mismanagement and siphoning of funds and had authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nominees on the board. In its petition filed under section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013, the government had requested the tribunal to remove the eight directors and said that the company has over Rs 6,000 crore debt and over 16,000 undelivered units from a total of nearly 70 projects. The NCLT, in its order, had also said the government must give names of its nominees by December 20 and restrained Unitech's eight suspended directors from selling their personal and company properties. The apex court had on October 30 said jailed businessman Chandra will be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December end. The top court had earlier directed the jail authorities to facilitate Chandra's meeting with his company officials and lawyers so that he could arrange money to refund the home buyers as well as for completing the ongoing housing projects. I Chandra is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home buyers of Unitech projects Wild Flower Country and Anthea Project located in Gurgaon. The US has elevated its engagement with India as part of its effort of a free and open Indo-Pacific, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said amid China's increasing assertiveness in the region. The US for long has been favouring a larger role for India in the Indo-Pacific region to pursue common interests in the strategically key area. "As part of the free and open Indo-Pacific, we have elevated our engagement with India," Tillerson said. "We've long had a trilateral relationship in the Indo- Pacific between Japan, Australia, and the US, and we're now working towards whether this will become a quad relationship to include India because of the importance of India's rising economy as well and I think shared national security concerns that we have with India," he said. On America's relationship with China, he said the administration now have a very active mechanism in which it can put complex issues on the table. "And we have differences, such as the South China Sea and China's building of structures, militarisation of these structures, and how that affects our allies in the region as well in terms of free and open trade," he said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea but Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the waterway. The Indo-Pacific includes South Asia and the Indian Ocean. "As we've said to the Chinese, we hope we can find a way to freeze this particular activity. Whether we can reverse, it remains to seen. But it is not acceptable to us that these islands continue to be developed, and certainly not for military purposes," Tillerson said. "In Southeast Asia, we put forth a policy here not too long ago of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and this was built on the back of some of our views about China's One Belt, One Road policy. China's One Belt, One Road, we understand, is a policy they have to continue their economic development, and our policies do not seek to contain China's economic development," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "But China's economic development, in our view, should take place in the system of international rules and norms, and One Belt, One Road seems to want to define its own rules and norms," he added. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road. Tillerson said that a free and open Indo-Pacific means all countries have access to continue their economic development and free access for trade through the region. Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, addresses the audience after inaugurating power projects in Allahabad As the political slugfest between Congress and BJP got more intense a day before the second phase of Gujarat elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a broadside against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Targeting two birds with one stone Adityanath told ANI, Gujarat ki janta ne do kaam iss chunaav mein achhe se kara diye. Dr Manmohan Singh ji ka mooh khulwa diya, aur doosra Rahul Gandhi ko mandir jaana sikha diya (People of Gujarat have done two things quite well in this election. They have taught Dr Manmohan Singh to open his mouth and Rahul Gandhi to visit temples). The BJP strongman and UP CM passed the jibe on the back of the saffron partys old criticism of Singhs silence on various issues when he was the prime minister prior to 2014. The comment came in the backdrop of Singh replying to PM Narendra Modis allegations regarding Congress conspiring with Pakistan in the Gujarat Assembly elections, which will go to the second phase of polls on December 14. Singh issued a statement on Monday accusing Modi, among other things, of dispersing falsehoods for political gain. Adityanath is definitely not the first BJP man to taunt Singh with an underlying reference to his conduct as a PM. Senior BJP leader and the partys present national president Amit Shah had referred to Singh as Mauni baba (silent monk) several times in the past. A year before becoming the prime minister, then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had called then PM Manmohan Singh a night manager and a 'puppet'. He said in a scathing attack, They (Congress) appointed a night watchman by naming Manmohan Singh as prime minister...the prime minister is nothing but a puppet of the Gandhi family. Back in 2004, the BJP leader Yashwant Sinha called Singh a Shikhandi who is a transgender character in the Mahabharata. Singh was the prime minister then as well. The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to contest the 2019 elections together after the debacle in the 2014 polls. Both parties held a protest rally in Nagpur on Tuesday against the state government on delay in clearing farm loans and failed promises. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that the parties will fight the 2019 polls as an alliance and will form the next government in the state, The Economic Times reported. NCP leader Praful Patel also conveyed similar sentiments saying that the two parties should remain united and was optimistic about the party's chances in 2019 polls. The growing closeness between the parties was apparent when NCP chief Sharad Pawar criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for questioning former PM Manmohan Singh's interaction with Pakistani officials during an election campaign in Gujarat. The parties parted way in 2014 ahead of the state assembly election and contested separately after they failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement due to differences that resulted in ending their decade-old alliance. This led to BJP forming the government in the state for first time and relegating them to just over 80 seats. A Telangana BJP leader today said he foresees the Lok Sabha polls, due in 2019, being advanced to August-September next year as his party pursues its agenda to have simultaneous elections to parliament and assemblies. Krishna Saagar Rao, the spokesperson of the Telangana BJP, said he expects a bill on simultaneous elections to be passed in parliament in the next session or the one coming thereafter. "I foresee general elections being advanced to August- September 2018. I am not stating it as a spokesperson. It's not an official (party) stand, but as an analyst I am foreseeing simultaneous elections bill to be passed either in this session or next session," he said. According to him, "the Act will ensure there will be two rounds (of simultaneous elections initially)". He said he expects assembly elections, due next year and in 2019, to be clubbed together and held along with the general elections in August-September 2018. The polls to remaining states would be held simultaneously two years later. "Then, when general elections come, all the country together will go to polls (both Lok Sabha and Assembly) at one go," Rao claimed. "I do see (Prime Minister) Narendra Modiji's prime agenda after this (Gujarat) elections will be simultaneous polls Act. He has made no secret of simultaneous elections being on the agenda," the BJP leader told PTI. Rao said BJP's focus is going to shift to the south - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, saying these four states are "critical" for his party electorally. "Focus on south is essential. North is completely in our control as we see it as a party in terms of going for general elections at any given point of time, but we need to get a grip on these southern states," he added. Samsung is rumoured to come with new A-series smartphones by this January. The company uploaded a user manual on its website which provides certain details on what to expect from the phones. A sketch included in the manual shows dual front cameras which will be a big highlight feature for these phones. Though there is no information about the resolution of the cameras. The manual indicates that the display will be in 18:9 aspect ratio with slim bezels, following the trend set by a flurry of phones released this year. The fingerprint sensor is also positioned below the rear camera unlike the Galaxy Note 8. This will possibly come as a relief to users who complained that the fingerprint scanner is not easy to reach if positioned above the rear camera. It is also rumoured that the company is going to alter the naming of the existing phone of the series. This years A5 and A7 will be becoming A8 and A8 Plus of the next year. Both phones will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat and have support for Samsung Pay and Bixby, according to the manual. Other aspects of the phones like USB-C charger and the headphone jack is going to stay the way it is now. Examination of leaked documents from two corporate security firms C2i International and Inkerman Group by The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that companies are hiring spies to monitor and infiltrate political groups which protest against their activities. The two firms represent companies like British Airways, Royal Bank of Scotland, Caterpillar, RWE Power and Porsche. According to a report in The Guardian, companies hire covert operators to provide us with intelligence on potential threats or issues in the form of weekly reports and ad hoc updates. The thousands of pages of the leaked document include, among other things, a confidential memo delivered by C2i to its client detailing what happened at the Hands Off Iraqi Oil demonstration in London in 2008. The security firm had sent a spy dressed in pirate costume to march with the protestors. The spy, Toby Kendall, joined the march when it was sneaking through the streets of London. Two days after the protest, the memo was delivered alerting its clients, which read: Members of Hands Off Iraqi Oil, War on Want, London Rising Tide and Art Not Oil along with friends and sympathisers dressed up in pirate paraphernalia [went] to visit sites of companies that they consider to be exploiting the war in Iraq and especially their fossil fuel reserves. An amalgamation of members of the samba bands Rhythms of Resistance and Barking Samba played during the procession Passersby were amused by the costumes and theatre and engaged as the group passed them. The leaks suggest that these kinds of espionage operations are not one-off cases. They are run pretty frequently by the corporate security firms. Even the UK police seem to be aware of them and call the deployment of corporate spies completely uncontrolled and unrestrained. The senior officers claimed that even though the Police sends undercover officers to these protests, they find more corporate spies tottering around. Democracy as we know it is one of the newest forms of governance in the world. In fact, before World War II, only a small minority of the countries in the world were fully democratic. But as with any other form of governance, democracy is not fool proof and certainly comes with its fair share of flaws and shortcomings. This has made many a skeptic wonder what lies in the future of democracy. But dashing these concerns of the future of democracy in the world, a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center suggests that around 6 in 10 countries are now democratic. The survey, which was conducted earlier this year in 38 countries, revealed that the number of democratic nations in the world right now is at a post-World War II high. At the end of 2016, 97 out of 167 countries (58 percent) with a population of at least five lakh each were democracies. Around 21 of these 167 countries (13 percent) were autocracies, while the rest were either not rated or were a mix of democracies and autocracies (around 26 percent). India continues to have a 'democratic' government according to the survey. How the trend reversed The Pew Research Center survey revealed that the number of democracies in the world has been broadly on an upward trend since the mid-1970s. In 1976, as many as 62 percent of the countries were considered authoritarian, while the percentage of democracies was a mere 24 percent. The aftermath of World War II saw numerous authoritarian governments come up across the world and this trend had continued till the mid-1970s. The survey also stated that the number of democratic governments rose particularly steeply after the Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991. Between 1976 and 2016, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) has moved from being 'authoritarian' to having a 'mixed' government. On the other hand, Turkey, which was 'democratic' in 1976, has been marked as having a 'mixed' government in 2016. However, one should also bear in mind that the term 'democracy' has become lately become ambiguous in various parts of the world. In November, Robert Mugabe, who served as Zimbabwe's President for three decades, was ousted following a coup. While Mugabe was elected democratically over multiple terms, international observers have called the elections rigged and his reign autocratic. Despite having a 'democratically' elected government, the country has been marked as having a 'mixed' government in both 1976 and 2016. Similarly, in Venezuela, the incumbent President Nicolas Maduro has been elected through an established process. However, opposition parties and international observers have often spoken about the opposition being suppressed in the country. On Sunday, Maduro announced that the chief opposition parties will be barred from contesting next year's presidential elections. As a result, Venezuela was marked as having a 'mixed' government in 2016, as compared to the 'democratic' tag it got in 1976. A country's internal tensions are also reflected on the country's overall rating in the survey. Following the 2007 parliamentary election in Belgium, the European nation dropped two points as a result of the deepened divisions between the countrys French- and Flemish-speaking communities. The United States influence Following the Second World War, the United States played a key role in widening democracy in Western Europe and elsewhere in the world. During the Cold War, the United States followed the Truman Doctrine introduced by President Harry Truman. The doctrine implied American support for countries that that were being threatened by Soviet communism and authoritarian regimes. The US pushed for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which proved to be a defensive wall for Italy, West Germany, Portugal and Spain, which in turn helped them become democracies. The US also played an instrumental role in the unification of Germany. America also facilitated land reforms in El Salvador, which were unpopular among the ruling elite, and uprooted General Augusto Pinochet as Chiles leader. Some of America's other successes include pushing Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines towards becoming stable democracies. South Korea turned from being an authoritarian state under dictator Park Chung-hee, to being fully democratic. The Truman doctrine also had its failures in places such as Vietnam, a country that remains 'authoritarian' to this day, according to the survey. On the other hand, there have been numerous cases around the world where the United States seems to have played a part in getting a dictator to power, although any hardcore proof of this has never really surfaced. Nonetheless, the US openly supports as many as 30 autocratic nations across the world. Formerly rated '+10' for its democratic government, US dropped two points this year after last year's "polarized political competition", according to the survey. Charting the trend The Pew Research Center survey is based on the Center for Systemic Peaces Polity IV dataset or simply, the 'Polity Score', to analyse and code how political authority is gained and used in fully independent nations with a population of five lakh or more. The ratings have been marked on the basis of six key factors, from openness of political participation to constraints on the chief executive. Each country is marked on a 21-point scale ranging from +10 ('consolidated democracy') to 10 ('hereditary monarchy'). A view of Jerusalem's old city. US officials have said that President Donald Trump may recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital this week as a way to offset his likely decision to delay his campaign promise of moving the US Embassy there. Trump's point-man on the Middle East, son-in-law Jared Kushner, later said the president hasn't decided yet what steps to take. (PTI) Palestinians have the right to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, Saudi Arabia's King Salman said on Wednesday, echoing calls at an Islamic summit in Istanbul from which he had stayed away. "The kingdom has called for a political solution to resolve regional crises, foremost of which is the Palestinian issue and the restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital," the king said. Salman's address to the kingdom's Consultative Council came as the world's main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to last week's US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. South Korea today banned its financial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency soars in a bubble fuelled by retail speculators, many of them from the country. The hyper-wired country has emerged as a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20 per cent of global Bitcoin transactions -- about 10 times its share of the world economy. About one million South Koreans, many of them small-time investors, are estimated to own Bitcoins, and demand is so high that prices for the unit are around 20 percent higher than in the US, its biggest market. World Bitcoin prices have surged globally this year, soaring from less than $1,000 in January to $17,000 this week. And at the weekend futures trading in the digital currency started on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the first time it has appeared on a traditional platform. It is also expected to list on the rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week. The Prime Minister's Office said Seoul would ban financial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies -- including buying, possessing, or holding them as collateral. Prices on Bithumb, South Korea's biggest Bitcoin exchange, fell nearly five percent after the announcement. But the measures fell short of speculation that authorities might ban Bitcoin trading in South Korea altogether, or tax profits from it. Nonetheless initial coin offerings (ICOs) -- where companies sell newly invented cryptocurrencies to investors for real money -- will be outlawed, the Prime Minister's Office said in a press statement. The government will also strengthen investor protection rules, in an effort to curb speculation and potential fraud. South Korea's Financial Services Commission in September ordered a ban on ICOs, declaring "cryptocurrencies are neither money nor currency nor financial products". The United States has elevated its engagement with India as part of its effort of free and open Indo-Pacific, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said. "As part of the free and open Indo-Pacific, we have elevated our engagement with India," Tillerson said. "We've long had a trilateral relationship in the Indo- Pacific between Japan, Australia, and the US, and we're now working towards whether this will become a quad relationship to include India because of the importance of India's rising economy as well and I think shared national security concerns that we have with India," he said. On America's relationship with China, he said the administration now have a very active mechanism in which it can put complex issues on the table. "And we have differences, such as the South China Sea and China's building of structures, militarisation of these structures, and how that affects our allies in the region as well in terms of free and open trade," he said. "As we've said to the Chinese, we hope we can find a way to freeze this particular activity. Whether we can reverse, it remains to seen. But it is not acceptable to us that these islands continue to be developed, and certainly not for military purposes," he said. "In Southeast Asia, we put forth a policy here not too long ago of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and this was built on the back of some of our views about China's One Belt, One Road policy. China's One Belt, One Road, we understand, is a policy they have to continue their economic development, and our policies do not seek to contain China's economic development," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "But China's economic development, in our view, should take place in the system of international rules and norms, and One Belt, One Road seems to want to define its own rules and norms," he added. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road. Tillerson said that a free and open Indo-Pacific means all countries have access to continue their economic development and free access for trade through the region. State officials announce $2.85M for new police station in Upper Moreland Thanks to Nigel the Nutcracker from The Warehouse, we are granting wishes across the country! There's nothing wrong with Congress's goals for its tax-reform proposal, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bill seeks to end corporate America's incentive to stash assets overseas; to simplify the tax code; and to reduce the effect that tax policy plays on personal decisions, such as buying a home. My concerns lie not with which taxpayers Congress rewards, but instead with the bill's details. These concerns do not seem to be shared by the lawmakers, who are racing to complete the bill before the holidays. To that end, Congress has bypassed the Treasury department, which customarily runs proposed legislation through a battery of financial tests and pushes back with pointed questions. Because this bill is complex, the number-crunching that normally amends the kinks hasn't been conducted. The problems outlined below are not insurmountable, given the right approach by policy experts. The Effect on Stock Market Investing The Senate proposes to eliminate investors' ability to choose which stocks to sell to minimise their current taxes. Investors would no longer be permitted to identify specific lots; for tax purposes, the first shares in would be the first shares out. In some cases, the rule might stipulate the average price. The first in, first out rule means that stocks purchased first, even if an investor is nursing losses on them, will have to be sold instead of more recent ones where big profits have been made. To avoid such problems, the savvy investor will game the system by opening separate stock broker accounts, so that he can pick and choose among those accounts when making security sales the Senate's rule would only apply to shares held with a given broker, not across several firms. This is a law that encourages investors to deconsolidate their accounts, and to own more stocks rather than fewer. Providing Pensions Become Less Attractive The Senate seeks to reward small-business owners by reducing their taxes, so that those who own these companies will pay a lower federal income-tax rate than their employees. However, cutting a business owner's tax bill decreases her incentive to sponsor a US pension plan. As the American Retirement Association has noted, under the Senate's proposal, a business owner may end up paying up to 35% tax on retirement savings in a company pension plan, or 401k personal pension scheme. If so, she is less likely to offer such a plan to her employees. Business owners sponsor company retirement plans for many reasons, many of which are unrelated to their personal finances, but their own investments certainly affect the decision. As Morningstar's Aron Szapiro says: "Unlike most other countries, the US uses tax policy to motivate companies to offer their workers retirement plans. It is fine to change the mechanism; many observers argue, with good reason, that prompting actions through tax policies creates side effects, and is not the best path to take. But if tax policy is taken away, there needs to be a replacement." A Sharp Drop in US House Prices is Possible The bill might also depress housing prices enough to affect the stock market. There is no doubt that the tax-reform proposal will reduce home values. Both the House and Senate versions limit property-tax deductions, and they each also chip away at mortgage deductions. As the bills only take from property and do not give back, there is only one direction that home prices can take. The question is, how large will be the decline? That we can only guess. The National Association of Realtors says the blow will be severe, at 10% to 30%. One should take the estimates of lobbying organisations with extreme caution. But, worryingly, Morningstar's Szapiro has arrived at a similar estimate. So, a sharp drop in housing prices is possible. If that were to occur, I would expect the sort of knock-on effects that the US suffered in 2007-08, when slumping home values weakened consumer demand, thus slowing the overall economy, injuring corporate profits and taking down stock prices. Others have argued the opposite, that stocks would rise because they would appear the better investment alternative to property. They could be correct. Suffice it to say that declining home prices would be disruptive. John Rekenthaler has been researching the fund industry since 1988. He is now a columnist for Morningstar.com and a member of Morningstar's investment research department. While Morningstar typically agrees with the views of the Rekenthaler Report, his views are his own. The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on Monday named a possible military conflict with North Korea a "top-tier" risk facing the U.S. and the world in 2018. A photo of the North's latest ballistic missile launch also made the front page of the annual report, illustrating a survey of about 7,000 U.S. government officials and foreign policy experts that ranks potential global conflicts for the next year. Risks were classified into three priority tiers based on probability and potential impact on the U.S. and the world. North Korea is on the list of "Tier 1 Conflicts to Watch" due to the possibility of "military conflict involving the United States, North Korea, and its neighboring countries." It has been on the list since 2014 but ranked fifth in 2014, fourth in 2015 and 2016 and only jumped to first in 2017. Options for budget-conscious home buyers in British Columbia are getting scarcer, as the benchmark price for a single-family detached home in Fraser Valley long considered an affordable alternative to the Vancouver market increased to $972,700 in November.The data from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board also indicated that the number of new listings for single-family homes declined considerably on a month-over-month basis (-9.2%). In addition, active listings for all property types in the region fell (-6.5%) from October to November.Read more: B.C. residential sales to plunge further in 2018 Urban Development Institute president and CEO Anne McMullin noted that this cooling in the single-family segment shouldnt come as a surprise, especially since buyers in Fraser Valley might have finally reached the limit of how much they are willing to pay for properties in the region.When you start to get over a million dollars [for a home] in the Fraser Valley, theres very few people that can afford that, McMullin said, as quoted by Business in Vancouver. You might say that on the North Shore [of Vancouver], that threshold is about $2 [million] or $2.5 million. And on the west side its about $3.5 million, and sure youll get a $16 million home sold every once in a while, but they dont go much more than that. North Korea's missile scientists gathered at a conference in Pyongyang on Monday where the North announced it will bolster its nuclear force. The official [North] Korean Central News Agency said the 8th Conference of Munitions Industry opened in Pyongyang on Monday to review the achievements of the industry and to discuss "measures for ushering in a heyday" of the defense industry. A Unification Ministry official here said, "The conference may be billed as the eighth, but this is actually the first time North Korea has officially convened such an event." Multiple wildfires continue to burn throughout Southern California, the largest of which had burned nearly 800 structures and charred 230,500 acres as of Monday. The Thomas Fire started in Ventura County a week ago and is now the fifth largest blaze in modern California history. It was only 15 percent contained on Monday as it charged north towards Santa Barbara County. Texas primary economic engine the oil and gas industry is creating both a revenue stream and heightened demand for state funds, primarily for infrastructure. Members of the State House Energy Resources Committee convened Tuesday at the Petroleum Museum to hear from those in the heart of the dominant oil-producing basin in the state and the nation, and perhaps the world. This is an important meeting for the committee, to listen to the folks responsible for a significant part of the Texas economy, said Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo. Rep Tom Craddick of Midland said hes proud to have the chance to show off whats happening here, our needs. This is the No. 1 spot, and we need additional dollars for things like roads. A lot of funding for Texas comes from us, and I dont feel ashamed to ask for additional funding. Rep. Leighton Schubert of Caldwell said that five of the counties in his district are in the Eagle Ford Shale play. The fundamental issue is to deal with the safety aspect of transportation, he said. Too many people are dying on our roads. It adds up to an economic loss as well as a loss of life. We need to make the roads safe, and we need to work with the counties to get them funding for roads impacted by oil and gas activity. James Beauchamp, president of the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, said the committee members are either from this area or represent districts impacted by the industry. Combined, he said they see half of the states traffic fatalities even though their districts hold only a third of the states population. He estimates there have been more than 1,200 traffic fatalities in the Texas Department of Transportations Odessa district since 2012. Over the last few years weve moved away from a focus on safety to focusing on congestion, he said. Even with additional funding, it would reduce congestion by a fraction of a second off the projected additional travel time. But if you dont make it home, congestion is not important at all. Funding was still a topic of his testimony. Beauchamp told the committee that funding is based on vehicle miles and truck miles, and the Permian Basin is not capturing over a half-billion truck miles annually. When that happens, he said, Were getting shorted. Thats why he focused on the mileage, he said. Its not a new funding stream but we should get our fair share of the existing revenue stream. Asked how those miles could be more accurately counted, he acknowledged it takes work. But if I can punch a button and get the numbers, surely the multi-million dollar team of consultants can come up with those numbers, too. With $15 million in grants from the Midland and Odessa development corporations, plus a $100 million road bond just passed by Midland, Beauchamp said some needs can be met. But Midland alone has an estimated $375 million in roads deemed beyond repair, an amount that will only grow, he said. Its tip of the iceberg. It will never be enough, but if we can maximize state funding and get where we need to be, it will make a big difference. We owe it to the taxpayers to get every dollar out of the state we can. Preparing the states future workforce was also a topic for the committee, which heard from the presidents of Midland College, Odessa College and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. MC President Steve Thomas said adequate state funding is obviously the biggest challenge, noting that the portion of the colleges budget that comes from the state has fallen from 30 percent to 16 percent. Another challenge is human resources finding instructors. Thomas said the school cant compete with the private sector for staff. He and the others detailed for the committee how they work to offer career and technology education to students who may not want a four-year degree. Thomas said the college also works with area companies to customize workforce development programs. Our curricula is easy to adapt. We need a long-range on-ramp for our students, Thomas said. Students can exit if they need to work or re-enter if they want to improve their credentials. Or a four-year degree may be a goal and we work to support them. Thomas said one takeaway from the testimony was that the schools should be more collaborative. We have a good opportunity to start some collaborations, he said. These are real issues we have to find real solutions for, Darby said. People are coming with hazardous driving, a lack of workforce, education needs. Its critical the state listen and respond with solutions. The issue is that there are a number of important priorities that need state funding, said Darby. Two of these priorities are school funding and rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Harvey. We have limited resources and we need to be good stewards of state funds, he said. The Museum of the Southwest announced Wednesday that it will host Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chiefs Tribute to Americas Warriors beginning next month. The Midland museum is the first of four venues to display the paintings by former President George W. Bush, according to a press release from the museum. Portraits of Courage will open Jan. 20 and be on display through March 25. It is sponsored by Concho Resources Inc. and Robert E. and Donna Landreth Family Fund at Permian Basin Area Foundation. The EU has told the Korean government that it could remove it from a blacklist of offshore tax havens next month if Seoul scraps tax breaks for foreign businesses. EU finance ministers upset Korea by putting it on a blacklist of 17 tax havens where it keeps company with Bahrain, Mongolia, Namibia, Tobago and Trinidad. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Tuesday said a Korean delegation is visiting EU headquarters in Brussels and met with Fabrizia Lapecorella, who oversees the EU's code of conduct on business taxation. The Midland Development Corp. is wrapping another year of its partnership with Midland Memorial Hospital that aims to recruit and retain doctors in Midland. Looks as if the program is working. Cory Edmondson, senior vice president of strategic development for MMH, gave the MDC board of directors an update at economic development groups meeting Tuesday. So far, the MDC has funded $2 million over the past three years. This year, the hospital was able to recruit 14 doctors. Nine specialize in internal medicine or are hospitalists. Other specialties brought to Midland include pediatrics, cardiology, vascular surgery, inpatient psychiatry and family medicine. Furthermore, three physicians are slated to start practice in 2018. Two will focus on internal medicine/hospitalist, and the other will specialize in maternal fetal medicine, which will help grow MMHs neonatal intensive care unit. The doctors recruited to the Tall City are also staying. The retention rate from October 2007 through September 2010 was 51 percent. With the help of the MDC, that jumped to 86 percent, Edmondson said. There are challenges, however. According to the presentation, 60 percent of doctors receive 50 or more job offers while in residency. Of those, 46 percent receive more than 100 job offers. Also, physicians tend to focus on metropolitan areas where they dont have to be on-call with the hospital, which makes hospitalist recruitment so important, Edmondson said. The financial impact of physicians on a community is significant, Edmondson said. Using information from Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruiting firm, he presented the following: -- Physicians control 87 percent of all spending on personal health in the U.S. through patient admission, tests, prescriptions, procedures, etc. -- On average, each physician supports 14 jobs, which means the 14 new physicians in Midland support 196 jobs here. -- Each physician on average supports $1.1 million in wages and benefits. The recruited doctors in 2017, then, will bring an additional $15.4 million to the economy. -- Each physician on average supports $90,449 in local state and tax revenues; thus, the 14 new physicians in midland are supporting $1,266,286 in these tax revenues. Total recruiting expenses for fiscal year 2017 were $640,527.28. The hospital was reimbursed $450,000 by the MDC, putting MMHs recruitment expenditures at $190,527.38. The board on Tuesday voted to disburse $88,339.42 for the program. Chairman Brent Hilliard, Wesley Bownds and Stephen Lowery voted to approve the measure. Vice Chairman Keith Stretcher abstained. Board member Gary Douglas was not yet present during voting. The agreement between the MDC and the hospital district originally was set to last five years; however, the board approved a sixth year yet to be funded at a previous meeting. The 2017 Saving True Pairs Annual Clay Shoot, which was Oct. 13 at Jakes Clays, raised $180,000 for Pink the Basin to provide mammograms for anyone who qualifies for assistance. Area hospitals that currently receive funding from Pink the Basin are Midland Memorial Hospital, Odessa Regional Medical Center, Medical Center Health System, Reeves County Hospital District and Permian Regional Medical Center, according to a press release from Pink the Basin. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate UPDATE: Shortly before 9:30 p.m., The Associated Press and other media declared Democrat Doug Jones the winner in the election to the U.S. Senate from Alabama, dealing a political blow to President Donald Trump. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) After all the charges, denials, claims and promises, Alabama voters have had their say. Polls closed across the state Tuesday night after a scandal-stained Senate election campaign that tested the limits of party loyalty in the age of President Donald Trump and win or lose promised significant political consequences for Republicans everywhere. At the center of the special election was fiery Christian conservative Roy Moore "Judge Moore" to his supporters. The 70-year-old Republican was twice ousted as state Supreme Court chief justice after flouting federal law. This year he attempted a political resurrection against party officials horrified by accusations that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, he briefly greeted an optimistic crowd at his election night party in Montgomery. Moore shook hands with supporters after they chanted, "Judge Roy Moore." He then left to watch returns in another room. With about half the vote counted, the Alabama Senate race between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones is too close to call. Jones, 63, a former U.S. attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen who killed four black girls in Birmingham's infamous 1963 church bombing. He was trying to become the first Democrat in a quarter century to win an Alabama Senate seat. The stakes are high for Alabama and perhaps higher for the national Republican Party, which faces two painful outcomes: The GOP could lose a Senate seat in a deep-red state that would energize Democrats everywhere; or the party could win Tuesday's election and welcome a man accused of sordid conduct to the U.S. Senate just as Republicans prepare to defend their congressional majorities in 2018. The election has also renewed lingering tension between Trump, who backed Moore in the campaign's final days, and the Republicans who control Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chief among them, who called for Moore to abandon the campaign promise an ethics investigation if he's elected. On the ground in Alabama on Tuesday, those who stood in line to cast their ballots were far more focused on the candidates than the broader political fallout. "He's not a truthful man," 69-year-old Mary Multrie said of Moore. Multrie, who works in a children's hospital, was not influenced by accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore, she said, because she already did not like him. "He talks about God, but you don't see God in his actions." She was among more than two dozen people queued up in the chilly morning air at Legion Field, a predominantly black precinct in Birmingham, to cast their ballots. Al Bright, 63, who does refrigeration repair, said he voted for Moore. "Regardless of the allegations against him, I believe he is an honorable man," Bright said. Teresa Brown, a 53-year-old administrative assistant, said she preferred Jones, in part, because he would be better positioned to work across party lines. "We don't need a pedophile in there," Brown added. Tuesday's winner will take over the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions through 2020. One seat alone will not change the balance of power in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 52-48 majority, but a loss would make it harder for Trump to push legislation through a bitterly divided Congress. A GOP loss would also give Democrats a clearer path to a Senate majority in 2018 albeit a narrow one in an election cycle where Democrats are far more optimistic about seizing control of the House of Representatives. Ultimately, Tuesday's contest came down to which side better motivated its supporters to vote. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said turnout likely would not exceed 25 percent of registered voters. Jones fought to cobble together an unlikely coalition of African-Americans, liberal whites and moderate Republicans. "This is an important time in Alabama's history, and we feel very confident where we are and how this is going to turn out," the Democrat said after casting his ballot Tuesday. Moore, who largely avoided public events in the final weeks of the race and spent far less money on advertising than his opponent, was counting on the state's traditional Republican leanings and the strength of his passionate evangelical Christian supporters. Moore sidestepped questions about sexual misconduct as he arrived at his polling place on horseback. Democrats were not supposed to have a chance in Alabama, one of the most Republican-leaning states in the nation. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton here by nearly 28 points just 13 months ago. Yet Moore had political baggage that repelled some moderate Republicans even before allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Virtually the entire Republican establishment, Trump included, supported Moore's primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange in September. Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was one of the only early high-profile Moore backers. Moore was removed from his position as state Supreme Court chief justice the first time after he refused to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument at the state court building. The second time, he was permanently suspended for urging state probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In his final pitch before polls opened across the state, Jones called the choice a "crossroads" and asked that "decency" prevail. "We've had this history in the past, going down the road that ... has not been productive," Jones said. "We've lagged behind in industry. We've lagged behind in education. We've lagged behind in health care. It's time we take the road that's going to get us on the path to progress." ___ Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow and Emily Wagster Pettus in Birmingham contributed to this report. At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, near Ponson Island in Philippines, rests a notable piece of American history. It was there that the U.S. destroyer USS Ward finally sank on Dec. 7, 1944 after coming under kamikaze attack, an attack that came exactly three years after the ship had fired the first American shot in World War II. And now the crew of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's research ship, R/V Petrel, last month explored and documented the ship in its final resting place, capturing still and video images of the sunken Wickes-class destroyer as part of a mission to document the Imperial Japanese Warships that were lost during the Battle of Surigao Strait in the Philippines, according to a news release. The Ward had fired the first American shot just outside Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 on a Japanese midget submarine, one of five top-secret vessels that were on a mission to penetrate the harbor before daylight. The Ward sunk the submarine about an hour before the air attack on Pearl Harbor began, according to the research crew's release. Last week marked 76 years since the Japanese attack that forced America into World War II, and the Ward is no small part of that history. "The USS Ward found herself in the crucible of American history at the intersection of a peacetime Navy and war footing," said Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in the release. "She took decisive, effective and unflinching action despite the uncertain waters. Now 76 years on, her example informs our naval posture," Allen bought the 250-foot research and exploration vessel R/V Petrel in 2016 that was retrofitted in 2017 with state-of-the-art underwater technology for deep-sea exploration expeditions, according to the release. The Petrel is one of a handful of ships globally that are capable of exploring to 6,000 meters (more than 3.5 miles) deep. During the November mission to document the Japanese warships, the Petrel's crew explored five other ships in the area. The Oct. 25, 1944 battle involving the Japanese ships is considered the largest naval battle in history. Prior to this, Allen's crew made news when in August they discovered the USS Indianapolis, and earlier this year uncovered the Italian destroyer Artigliere. Previously, the crew also retrieved and restored the ship's bell from the HMS Hood. Airlines around the world have abandoned routes passing through North Korea's flight information region (FIR), the shortest distance from the U.S. to South Korea, due to the North's constant missile launches. Flight times have increased by 30 to 40 minutes, requiring more fuel and costing carriers billions. North Korea informed the International Civil Aviation Organization of impending missile launches until February last year but then stopped. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Tuesday, 34 airlines from 17 countries used Pyongyang's FIR when flying to South Korea in 2015, but as of last month only seven Russian carriers are still using it. The number had already fallen to 25 last year. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Local Dreamers continue to push for lawmakers to pass a Dream Act before they go on break in two weeks. Central Florida Dreamers continue to rally for Dream Act Senator Nelson expressed support of passing the act RELATED: Orlando-area Dreamers join movement to push for clean Dream Act from Congress A group of Dreamers, local teachers and activists met with Senator Bill Nelsons representatives in his Orlando office Tuesday morning. They want to make sure Congress adds a Dream Act to the discussion of the end of the year funding bill. About 800,000 Dreamers are uncertain about their future after President Donald Trump announced the end of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). It was 6 years of just waiting, and hoping that one day I would go back get an education because an education is whats going to open the door, said Dreamer Kevin Ortiz. Education is whats giving me the opportunity to network and develop skills that I wouldve not developed on my own. Senator Bill Nelson is currently in Washington D.C. but has expressed his support of passing a Dream Act. He says he will push to do it before the holidays. "They're some of the most productive of our young people, some of the most educated, and we simply have to find a solution, said Senator Nelson last week during a press conference. Its a solution that allows Dreamers like Ortiz to in fact fulfill their dreams. "I want every highschool student that is DACA or who's a dreamer to know that they can go to college, Ortiz expressed. Democrat Doug Jones has won election to the U.S. Senate from Alabama, dealing a political blow to President Donald Trump. Doug Jones wins U.S. Senate seat in Alabama Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore Jones has defeated Republican Roy Moore, a one-time GOP pariah who was embraced by the Republican Party and the president even after facing allegations of sexual impropriety. An attorney and former prosecutor, Jones rallied voters on a message of moving past the Moore controversies. He was buoyed by an influx of national Democratic cash and endorsements. Jones' victory is set to narrow the slim Republican majority over Democrats in the Senate to 51-49. His win in the Republican stronghold energizes the Democratic Party as it looks to build on anti-Trump sentiment to mount a challenge next year to Republican control of Congress. A University of Central Florida student was found dead inside her dorm Tuesday, according to authorities. Student found dead in UCF apartment Death is not believed to be suspicious Police have not yet determined cause of death Law enforcement was called around 10:30 a.m. when a family member from Jacksonville discovered 19-year-old Alyssa Michelle Lewis unresponsive in her living room at the Lake Claire apartments. "We got a 911 call from some family members who had found a student and they called police," said UCF Police Department spokesperson Courtney Gilmartin. "We arrived within one minute, but there was very little we were able to do." UCF Police and Orange County deputies do not believe the death is suspicious. There were no obvious signs of self-inflicted wounds or foul play. According to investigators, Lewis's dorm-mates moved out Sunday for Winter Break. Lewis, a resident assistant, stayed behind to continue work. When her family didn't hear from her, they traveled from Jacksonville to check on her. "It's been relatively quiet here on campus, that's why our focus has been on the resident assistant, who she's worked with and to those who are still here, reminding them that counseling services are still available," Gilmartin said. While UCF police and the Orange County Sheriff's Office look for answers as to what happened to Lewis, the medical examiners office is preparing to conduct an autopsy. We offer our most sincere sympathies to Michelles family and loved ones, and we will make all of our resources available to support them, said Adrienne Frame, UCFs associate vice president and dean of students, in a statement. UCF says counselors and victim advocates are available for students and family members. Counseling services can be reached at 407-823-2811. Investigators are working to piece together how a student died after she was found in her dorm room near University of Central Florida. Alyssa Lewis, 19, found dead in apartment Officials don't suspect criminal activity in death RELATED: Student found dead on UCF campus The University of Central Florida Police Department has identified the student as 19-year-old Alyssa Michelle Lewis, who was found dead in the living room at the Lake Claire apartments. Police say most of the people living in the dorms have already cleared out because move out date for Winter Break was on Sunday. However, Lewis was a resident assistant and could stay. Her family became concerned when they did not hear from her. "We got a 911 call from some family members who had found a student and they called police. We arrived within one minute but there was very little we were able to do," said Courtney Gilmartin, a UCF Police Department spokeswoman. Officials do not suspect any criminal activity in Lewis's death. UCF Police and Orange County Sheriff's Office deputies do not believe the death is suspicious. There were no obvious signs of self-inflicted wounds or foul play. UCF is also offering counseling to anyone who needs it and can be reached at: 407-823-2811. Disney has shared new details about the one of the latest eateries coming to Disney Springs. Terralina Crafted Italian to open early 2018 Menu to include signature pasta dishes, pizza, vegetable dishes Theme inspired by the Lake District of Northern Italy Terralina Crafted Italian, slated to open in 2018, takes over the space once occupied by Portobello Country Italian Trattoria. The new restaurant is inspired by the Lake District of Northern Italy. The story, according to a post on the Disney Parks Blog, is as follows: A first-generation Italian family, from the Lake District, built a home in Disney Springs, expanding it over the years to welcome more friends and neighbors to enjoy their hospitality, and, of course, food! The redesigned restaurant will feature authentic Italian cuisine from James Beard award-winning chef Tony Mantuano and executive chef Justin Plank. Menu items include signature pasta dishes, hand-tossed pizzas and vegetable dishes. Inside, guests will be welcomed by an open rotunda that features a rustic stone fireplace. Outside, guests can enjoy the new outdoor patio with veranda bar, and a two-story glass conservatory that showcases views of Lake Buena Vista. An official opening date has not yet been released. Levy Restaurants, the group that operates Disney Springs Paddlefish, is behind Terralina Crafted Italian. Disney Springs is set to welcome several new restaurants next year, including The Edison, Maria & Enzos, Enzos Hideaway and Pizza Pointe. CHECK OUT ATTRACTIONS INSIDER: Your all-in-one source for news, pictures and video from Floridas theme parks. Just go to our Attractions Insider page. Sign up to get breaking theme park news alerts and subscribe to our newsletter, Theme Park Roundup, delivered to your inbox or mobile phone. A shake-up in global coal trading has delivered some oxygen to the struggling American mining industry, driving up exports to energy-hungry countries. But the relief may not last. U.S. coal sales abroad over the first three quarters of the year surpassed exports for all of 2016, according to government figures. Energy experts project an increase of 46 percent for the full year, adding more than $1 billion to coal companies revenues. Those are crucial dollars for an industry trying to stabilize itself after nearly a decade of declining prices, expanding competition from natural gas and wind and solar energy, and bankruptcies. Domestic coal-fired power plants continue to close despite promises of regulatory relief by the Trump administration, making the exports all the more critical. The upturn in exports has been particularly helpful to Appalachia, where production is up 11 percent this year. Coal executives attribute the increase mostly to exports, especially of coal for making steel, known as coking coal. Alpha Natural Resources, which came out of bankruptcy in 2016 and exports half of its coking coal production, opened a new mine this year in economically depressed West Virginia, employing 35 workers. In Virginia, several privately held coal companies are adding shifts and drilling new mine sections for the first time in five years to export more coking coal. Exports are certainly an opportunity for growth, said John Stranak, the treasurer at Cloud Peak Energy, a major producer in Wyoming and Montana. Pricing for exports is outpacing sales domestically. The growth in that arena is certainly where we would like to focus. With global prices for coal depressed through most of 2016, Cloud Peak Energy dropped exporting entirely until the final months of the year. In 2017, the company expects to export 4.5 million tons of thermal coal the variety used for power and heat to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, and 5.5 million tons in 2018. Coal mining jobs, declining for years, have increased slightly this year, to 51,200 in November from 50,000 in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down from 80,000 coal workers only nine years ago. The export surge has also bolstered the revenues of coal-carrying railroads such as BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern and increased business in ports around the country. Roughly 10 percent of the nations coal production goes toward exports, although the country also imports some coal. National coal production has increased 8 percent this year above the same period of 2016, with much of that increase attributable to exports. Industrialists and utilities in India have especially taken a liking to heat-intensive coal produced in West Virginia and surrounding states. But countries importing considerably more American coal also include China, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. President Donald Trump has been happy to take credit for the improving export markets. If you look at whats happened in West Virginia and so many different places, were sending clean coal, Trump said at the White House this month. Were sending it out to different places, China. A lot of coal ordered in China right now. So a lot of things are changing. The relief, however, is only partial. Exports this year will still be roughly 37 million tons below what they were in 2012, when they peaked at 126 million tons. The benefit may also be temporary, since this years increase has been driven at least in part by events overseas. A cyclone knocked out mines and railroad lines and interrupted coal deliveries for months after hitting Australia in March, forcing China and other Asian countries to turn to the United States to replace lost coking coal. Australian production and exports are slowly returning to normal. Producers in Indonesia, another major Asian exporter, had idled several important mines in response to falling prices but are reversing course as prices rise. The most lasting change at least potentially has come in China, which in 2016 decided to cut mine production capacity and rely more on natural gas. The government feared that many inefficient coal companies would go bankrupt, resulting in mass layoffs and financial stress for state-owned banks that lent them money. A 15 percent production cut this year increased local coal prices by 40 percent, according to the International Energy Agency, leading to surging imports and higher global prices. But how much China will continue to import remains an open question, with some officials pushing for import controls. A surge in coal imports in India is also in some doubt, as the country builds more railroads between its mines and power plants, and as the government pushes forward with plans for greater use of solar energy. Nearly every country pledged at the 2015 Paris climate conference to cut carbon emissions, which means replacing coal with cleaner fuels. Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal have committed to phasing out coal burning by 2030. The export strength will continue through 2018, but after that all bets are off, said Jim Thompson, director for U.S. coal at IHS Markit, an analysis and consulting firm. In the United States, coal has been helped by a recent rise in natural gas prices. But older coal plants continue to close as utilities switch to gas and renewable energy. Vistra Energy announced in recent months that it would soon close three coal-fired plants in Texas, as that state relies more on natural gas and wind and solar energy. Together, the plants supply enough electricity for roughly 4 million homes. Its going to be tough to bring the industry back to where it was, said Harry Childress, president of the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance, an industry association. Even with the increase of exports, he said, I dont see that. The Energy Department is projecting a slight decline in the nations coal production and exports next year. Nevertheless, Trump hopes a reversal of President Barack Obamas Clean Power Plan, capping greenhouse emissions of power plants, can revive domestic demand for coal. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has proposed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oblige utilities to reward power plants that keep 90-day fuel supplies in storage with higher payments. Ostensibly designed to improve the reliability of the grid, the policy would in effect be a subsidy for coal burning. The Trump administration has proposed an alliance of countries both rich in coal and dependent on the fossil fuel to promote coal burning. At the same time, the administration says it will work to lift restrictions on lending for coal-burning plants in the developing world through the World Bank and other agencies. Bob Owen/Staff Houston-based Hilcorp Energy and international energy trader Vitol are teaming up to potentially build a new crude export terminal in Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi and Houston are leading the way as the nation rapidly increases its exports of crude oil since Congress lifted the decades-old ban two years ago. Magellan Midstream Partners Houston's Plains All American Pipeline said it's seeking customers to build its planned Cactus II Pipeline connecting West Texas' booming Permian Basin with the emerging crude oil export market out of Corpus Christi. Plains' project would add two pipelines to its existing Cactus network, expanding the system's crude capacity from 390,000 barrels a day to up to 575,000 barrels daily. The project could be completed by the fall of 2019. A former Facebook executive is making waves after he spoke out about his "tremendous guilt" over growing the social network, which he feels has eroded "the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other." Chamath Palihapitiya began working for Facebook in 2007 and left in 2011 as its vice president for user growth. When he started, he said, there was not much thought given to the long-term negative consequences of developing such a platform. "I think in the back, deep, deep recesses of our minds, we kind of knew something bad could happen," said Palihapitiya, 41. "But I think the way we defined it was not like this." That changed as Facebook's popularity exploded, he said. To date, the social network has more than 2 billion monthly users around the world and continues to grow. Now Playing: Akayed Ullah, the New York City bombing suspect, mocked President Trump in a Facebook post according to a criminal complaint, reports the Daily Beast. Video: GeoBeats 'No civil discourse' But the ability to connect and share information so quickly - as well as the instant gratification people give and receive over their posts - has resulted in some negative consequences, according to Palihapitiya. "It literally is a point now where I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are," he said. "The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works: no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth. And it's not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem." Facebook has pushed back on the former executive's comments, saying in a statement Tuesday that Palihapitiya has not worked there for more than six years and that it was "a very different company back then." Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and part owner of the Golden State Warriors, made his remarks at a talk for Stanford Graduate School of Business students in November. Video of the talk was widely shared again this week after the Verge reported on his comments this week. Though he didn't have answers on how to permanently correct the problem, Palihapitiya encouraged students to take a "hard break from some of these tools and the things that you rely on." He added that he has posted on Facebook only a handful of times over the past several years and didn't allow his children to use social media platforms, referring to them with an expletive. "Everybody else has to soul-search a little bit more about what you're willing to do," he said. "Because your behaviors, you don't realize it, but you are being programmed. It was unintentional, but now you gotta decide how much you're willing to give up, how much of your intellectual independence." The problem is not isolated to Facebook, he said, citing other social-media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Palihapitiya pointed to a hoax in India that had spread through WhatsApp and led to the lynching of several men who were falsely accused of being child traffickers. 'Bad actors' "Bad actors can now manipulate large swaths of people to do anything you want," he told the audience. "And we compound the problem. We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection, because we get rewarded in these short-term signals - hearts, likes, thumbs up - and we conflate that with value and we conflate it with truth. And instead, what it is is fake, brittle popularity that's short-term and leaves you even more, admit it, vacant and empty before you did it. Think about that, compounded by 2 billion people." After leaving Facebook, Palihapitiya went on to found Social Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in education and health care businesses often neglected by Silicon Valley. As the Verge reported, Palihapitiya joined a chorus of former Facebook investors and employees expressing regret over their contributions to the company: In November, early investor Sean Parker said he has become a "conscientious objector" to social media, and that Facebook and others had succeeded by "exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology." A former product manager, Antonio Garcia-Martinez, has said Facebook lies about its ability to influence individuals based on the data it collects on them, and wrote a book, "Chaos Monkeys," about his work at the company. Facebook has also been criticized heavily for how it regulates - or doesn't regulate - the content and origin of ads on its platform, especially when it came to thousands of Russian ads that were created to influence voters in the 2016 U.S. election. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had mostly downplayed the company's responsibility to monitor and curate its content. But at the end of Yom Kippur this year, he posted an apology on his Facebook account "for the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together" and vowed to do better. Marlene LaMar took the witness stand for the last time Tuesday. She didnt need to. She specifically asked to bypass a podium toward the back of the San Jose courtroom so she could have a better view of the man who killed her 15-year-old daughter, Sierra, before a judge sentenced him to life in prison. I find it incomprehensible that you can make a choice to commit such a heinous, violent crime, LaMar told Antolin Garcia-Torres in Santa Clara County Superior Court Tuesday. You have robbed Sierra of what God had planned for her. She urged the 26-year-old Garcia-Torres to repent and make it right with God by revealing the location of her daughters body. End the torment by telling us where Sierra is, she told him. The truth will set you free. He didnt tell them where her body was. So, when Judge Vanessa Zecher sentenced Garcia-Torres to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Sierras father said afterward the moment was bittersweet. Youre lucky for the sentence you received. You still get to see your daughters, Steve LaMar told Garcia-Torres in court. The sentence you gave us because of your actions is much worse. I can never see Sierra again. I hope the fact that you not admitting where Sierra is will eat away at your brain like cancer, he told Garcia-Torres. Garcia-Torres received his punishment after Zecher rejected the latest attempt by defense attorneys to get the conviction tossed. The sentencing included an order to register as a sex offender and to pay a yet to be determined amount in restitution. A Santa Clara County Superior Court jury convicted him in May of kidnapping and killing the Morgan Hill girl as she went to catch a bus for school on March 16, 2012. The jury in the high-profile capital murder case voted in June to give Garcia-Torres life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. He was also found guilty of three additional counts of attempted kidnapping stemming from separate 2009 carjacking incidents at Safeway stores in Morgan Hill. The sentencing came more than four years after Sierra vanished before a typical school day. A day after she disappeared, her phone was found in a field less than a mile from her home. The day after that discovery, her purse and the clothes she was wearing when she left home for the last time turned up a short distance from where her phone was found. The prosecutions key piece of evidence in the conviction of Garcia-Torres was a strand of Sierras hair found on rope in Garcia-Torres Volkswagen Jetta. In a last effort for a new trial on Tuesday, defense attorney Alfonso Lopez sought to cast doubt on the evidence by questioning the credibility of the prosecutions lead investigator, Sgt. Herman Leon of the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office. Leons inaccurate testimony in a prior, unrelated murder case resulted in a new trial, and defense attorneys used that as grounds in their attempt to get the conviction in the LaMar case overturned. But Zecher denied the motion before proceeding with the sentencing of Garcia-Torres. Defense attorneys said they will appeal the court decision. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said outside the courtroom that he is confident the appeal will be rejected. The prosecution, family and friends celebrated the sentencing as a victory. But one thing was still missing. Its deeply unsatisfying that we still dont know where Sierra is, Rosen said. I hope and pray that one day we will find her, and we will be able to lay her to rest. And we will be able to tell her good-bye. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An unidentified woman sitting at the foot of the rickety staircase of the Ghost Ship warehouse instructed party guests to stay upstairs as fire consumed the building, a former resident of the artist collective testified Tuesday. This is the will of the spirits of the forest, she chanted, according to Michael Russell, 28, who lived in the Oakland warehouse for 10 months before it burned a year ago, killing 36 people. Many of those who died were trapped by thick smoke on the second floor of the building, according to the fire investigation completed in March. The woman was sitting in a wicker chair just outside Russells Airstream trailer, which was parked inside the ground level of the warehouse, not far from the buildings entrance, Russell said during a preliminary hearing in Alameda County Superior Court. She was screaming that everyone should remain upstairs, where they would be safe, he said. It was honestly like a horror movie, Russell said. She was saying, Theres a fire! Dont come down here! Now Playing: Two witnesses at the preliminary hearing for Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena and creative director Max Harris described the structure in Oakland's Fruitvale district where 36 people perished in a fire last year as a death trap. Video: KTVU Russell said he didnt recognize the woman, whose face was partially obscured by smoke, but he remembered she wore a red beanie and green dress. Outside court, Russell told The Chronicle he wasnt sure whether the mystery woman survived the inferno. He didnt see her outside after he escaped. The startling revelation Russell said he hadnt shared the information with anyone other than investigators followed other new disclosures made Tuesday from the witness stand during the preliminary hearing against defendants Derick Almena, 47, and Max Harris, 27, each facing 36 counts of manslaughter. Almena was the primary lease holder and founder of the artist collective, and Harris was considered the creative director. The warehouse had no permits to be used for an event space or residential use. Russell testified that a fight apparently broke out around the time and place the fire sparked. And a pathway through the middle of the first floor was blocked off before the party began by a piano bench and tied-shut saloon-style doors. Russell said he didnt know who put the obstruction in place, but it was common practice during parties to keep out riffraff. Russell, a graphic designer and computer technician, lived in a small trailer at the base of the warehouses front staircase, which he said had uneven spacing between steps, made of reclaimed wood. The night of Dec. 2, 2016, Russell testified, he invited a date to the electronic music party at the warehouse. When she arrived, he gave her a tour of the collective, first going up the makeshift front staircase by his trailer, through the dance area of the second floor, then back down a different staircase at the rear of the warehouse. They made their way through the hallway that cut through the ground floor and had to duck under the saloon doors, which were roped closed, and maneuvered around an adjacent piano bench. As the pair headed toward his trailer to watch a movie, Russell said, he heard what sounded like a scuffle breaking out toward the back of the warehouse. The fire started in that vicinity the northwest area of the first floor according to the incidents cause-and-origin report. Someones going to handle this, Russell said he remembered thinking. But as he and his date made their way through the hallway, the sounds from the fight grew more and more intense. It sounded vicious, he added. It almost sounded like a straight-up fist fight. Back in his trailer, Russell said he heard a voice he didnt recognize yell, Fire! He thought at first it might have been a prank. He grabbed a few belongings, then peeked back outside his trailer, where a living room area with leather couches and wicker chairs was located. The woman sitting in one kept saying, This is the will of the spirits of the forest, Russell said. But it wasnt clear whether her chanting or directions to remain upstairs had an effect on people trying to escape the smoke. Russell said he did not remember seeing anyone trying to descend the staircase during the bizarre encounter, but acknowleged he couldnt see the top portion. Some survivors previously told The Chronicle that several party guests had tried to go down the narrow staircase but climbed back up when they felt the heat and smoke emanating from the ground floor. As Russell and his date ran to the entrance, Russell said he heard Harris yelling, This is the exit! This is the exit! Harris had been working as a bouncer and doorman through the event. Almena was in a hotel with his family. Russell said Almena asked him to sign a quasi-legal contract a few months after moving in, promising to be awesome, be clean and make art. Tyler Smith, an attorney representing Harris, said Russells testimony was huge for his clients defense. The woman who instructed guests to remain upstairs could act as an intervening cause of negligence, he said. What was stopping them from coming down? The government is trying to point to the rickety stairs, Smith said outside court. But the womans words may have dissuaded partygoers from descending and thus provide a different explanation, he said. At the end of the preliminary hearing this week or next, Judge Jeffrey Horner will decide whether the prosecution has enough evidence against Almena and Harris to go to trial. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov The North Star mall will soon be home to a new outpost of #getfried Fry Cafe. The Buffalo, New York-based business rolled into San Antonio as a food truck under franchisees Diana Popescu and Alex Miralda last year, and the couple is slated to open a kiosk at the North Star Mall in early January. The restaurant offers six types of french fries topped with a wide selection of proteins, sauces and other ingredients. They also serve waffle fry sliders and chicken fingers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After years of renovations and sweat, a home in Houston's Third Ward has opened up for business as an overnight rental. The house at 2309 Wichita has undergone a metamorphosis since being purchased by developer Nick Ugarov in 2014. RELATED: 2309 Wichita, one of Houston's favorite quirky homes nears end of its renovation (MARCH 2017) Chron.com has diligently followed the renovation and restoration of the historic home, which previous owner Charles Fondow began fortifying with elaborate additions before his death in 2011. Ugarov has opened his doors to Chron.com every step of the way. Now the rest of Houston and others can finally stay in the home, which Ugarov has launched as a bed and breakfast. There are now eight bedrooms in the house, plus a cozy, second-floor apartment in the back. There is even a pool for when Houston's warm weather rears its muggy head. Rooms in the home can now be rented nightly via Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, and even Airbnb. Dubbed Houston Towers, in part for its four kooky add-ons, it's available for visitors who wish to spend the night. RELATED: Catching up with Houston's favorite spooky home renovation project (JUNE 2016) Before Ugarov's painstaking project began, it was known to locals as spooky, weird, and sometimes sinister-looking. These days, it's rather quaint and charming, a far cry from the "Addams Family"-ready appearance it had just a few years ago. Ugarov has always maintained that his goal was to complete the vision of Fondow, who died too soon to realize the property's full potential and beauty. Now Playing: The renovation of one of Houston's favorite quirky homes has reached its completion in the Riverside Terrace area. The four-story, eight bedroom home (with a separate apartment) has become a cult hit over the past few years since its previous owner passed away. Video: Houston Chronicle The home was originally built in 1935 and served stints as an orphanage, a duplex, and even a daycare, before being purchased by Fondow in the '80s. Fondow originally purchased the two-story brick home with $350,000. He was a dedicated DIY handyman that watched Hurricane Alicia hit Houston in 1983, after which he began fortifying his home beyond what most contractors would recommend. "This house is the love of my life," Fondow told the Houston Press in 2001. "I don't know how to live in a house that's finished." RELATED: Spooky looking Houston mansion has found a buyer (MAY 2014) Fondow himself told an outlet in 2001 that he invested some $300,000 in it along the way. After he died in 2011 at the age of 64, the house went into real estate limbo. Houston real estate blog Swamplot posted photos of what the house looked like when Fondow still lived there and hosted parties for his friends. According to the HAR site's sale report available online, the 4,900-square-foot property sold for $251,000 in April 2014 to Ugarov. Since 2015, Ugarov has added five new air conditioning units, an elevator, a commercial-grade water heater, paved the front yard for extra parking, and added 18 cameras inside and out for extra security. Ugarov has tried to stay as close as possible to Fondow's strange vision of what the home should look like. 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 BRIDGEPORT The former head of the Bridgeport Police Departments minority officers organization, demoted last year in connection with a fake racist letter, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Sgt. Lonnie Blackwell claims he is the victim of racial discrimination by the city. My client was placed on administrative leave for a year and then demoted, and by any measure or standard that was excessive, said Blackwells lawyer, Thomas Bucci. We are seeking to reverse the demotion and recover monetary damages for excessive discipline by the chief of police. Bucci said he would leave it to a jury to decide what those monetary damages should be. Blackwell, the former president of The Guardians, was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant by Police Chief Armando Perez in November 2016, based on investigations by state police and the citys Office of Internal Affairs into whether Blackwell conspired with former officer Clive Higgins to disseminate a racist hate letter in the Bridgeport Police Department in February 2015. While Higgins later pleaded guilty to criminal charges for the letter, Blackwell was not charged. More for you City pays $65,000 to settle cops discrimination suit On Feb. 9, 2015, Higgins reported finding a racist letter in his mailbox at the police department. The letter, which was circulated around the department, was typed on city letterhead and made negative comments about African-American officers and complained that Higgins, who is black, didnt belong on the police force. The discovery sparked calls for an investigation by the NAACP and national organizations of African-American police officers. The city called in the state police to investigate. State police said Higgins admitted he wrote the letter after they presented him with surveillance video that showed him typing it at the police department. State police said Higgins told them he was ordered to write the letter by Blackwell to bring attention to the department with respect to ongoing racial complaints. Blackwell, then supervisor of the departments police academy, denied Higgins claims but was placed on administrative duty by Police Chief Joseph Gaudett on Dec. 2, 2015. Perez, in a memorandum accompanying his decision to demote Blackwell, said there is no credible evidence that Blackwell directed the writing of the phony letter, but that he violated department rules for the way the letter was reported to authorities. The lawsuit states that as a result of the discipline, Blackwell lost his eligibility to be promoted to captain. The defendant, without just cause, imposed discipline on the plaintiff that was demonstrably harsher than the discipline it imposed on non-black police officers similarly situated to the plaintiff, the lawsuit states. In May the city agreed to pay Blackwell $65,000 to settle an earlier federal discrimination suit he had filed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH Preliminary construction work is under way on a new New Lebanon School. This week, crews are beginning tree and stump removal at the building site located behind the existing school and adjacent to the William Street Ball Field, according to Gilbane Building Company, the firm contracted to oversee construction of the $37.3 million new school. Crews will also remove a stone wall and set up the trailers that will be their on-site construction headquarters for the coming year. Throughout the rest of December, construction workers will finish tree removal and strip top soil from the site, exposing the ledge rock below. They will survey the site to verify existing contours. In the first week of January, crews will begin blasting ledge rock to make way for the new building. Some blasting may occur during daytime school hours. New Lebanon School, Byram Shubert Library and neighbors of the property will be given notice of blasting times, said members of the New Lebanon School Building Committee. Its not that disruptive, said Jake Allen, a building committee member and founder of Allen Construction and Consulting. Its a thud. Workers will develop the footprint of the new school and create a level grade on which to lay the foundation, said Dan Phillips, the new schools project manager. A foundation will be poured in January or February. Beginning in January, the building committee will produce monthly communications updating the public on construction, members said Wednesday. The newsletters will be distributed electronically through the school district and displayed in the Byram Shubert Library. Members of the public will be able to ask questions and share feedback through an online portal on the Greenwich Public Schools website. New Lebanon Building Committee meetings will move to a trailer next to the building site in January. These meetings are open to the public. A groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 7 launched the long-awaited construction phase of the building project. State, town and school officials marked the occasion with speeches before an audience of more than 200 hardhatted New Lebanon students. This is a project for all of Greenwich, said Peter Bernstein, Board of Education chair and New Lebanon Building Committee liaison. This is a project for student achievement and growth. This is a project that shows what the efforts of people can do even in the face of adversity. New Lebanon fifth-grader John Kilgallen said, Ive been hearing about a new school for years and I am so excited. ... It will be wonderful to have space to roam and places to quietly work. We will have rooms that dont need to be shared and hallways where no one will have to learn to read. The staff will not have to work in closets and cramped quarters. The earliest date students could move into the new building is February 2019, building committee Chair Stephen Walko said in November. He confirmed that timeline with Gilbane Wednesday. Construction, including demolition of the old building, site work and landscaping, will not be substantially completed until August 2019. emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson BRIDGEPORT -The city has hired a high-powered Hartford law firm to help convince the states highest court to overturn a judges order for a new primary for the North End City Council seat. The state Supreme Court will hear arguments on Dec. 21 in an expedited appeal of Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruling that fraud and abuse by city election officials and the head of the citys Democratic Party tainted the results of the Nov. 14 primary for the 133rd council seat. The Nov. 14 primary was held after Bellis found fraud in the first primary. On Wednesday city officials hired attorney James J. Healy of the Hartford law firm Cowdery and Murphy to assist in arguments before the Supreme Court. He will be paid $275 an hour. James Healy is an appellate specialist and we brought him in as a consultant, said Deputy City Attorney John Bohannon, the citys lead lawyer in the case. He said Healy may also be asked to argue before the Supreme Court. We think its an important enough case that we handle it as thoroughly as possible, added City Attorney R. Christopher Meyer. Principals of Cowdery and Murphy have included a federal judge, current Supreme Court Justice Richard Palmer, who signed the order for the appeal to be heard, a federal prosecutor and a Superior Court judge. Attorney General George Jepsen was also associated with the firm. Healy formerly served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Christopher Droney. Taking on this Goliath is Peter Finch, a local lawyer and the son of former Mayor Bill Finch. He said he is preparing his legal argument in the case. I will argue that Judge Bellis decision should be upheld, he said. Robert Keeley, who lost the primary on Nov. 14 by 18 votes for the seat in the 133rd district against Democratic Party-endorsed candidate Jeannette Herron, had asked the judge to overturn the election results contending fraud by election officials. The court action has held up the seating of a new councilman for the seat. Michael DeFilippo, the top vote getter in both primaries cannot be sworn in because a general election for the seat has not been held. The two top vote getters in the primary become the Democratic candidates for the seat. The fact that the defendants in this case defending (democratic chair) Mario Testas personal use of a police officer, with Chief of Police (Armando) Perez complicit, to run absentee ballots at the direction of the candidate is why the people of the city are now faced with a third election for the 133rd district with the attendant costs and with the potential appeal of this decision with the costs that are attendant to that as well, Bellis ruled. The fact that this all occurred in a court-ordered special election with a court-appointed moderator speaks to the level of dishonesty and corruption when it comes to absentee ballots in the city of Bridgeport. Police officer Paul Nikola testified during the hearing he was ordered by Police Chief Perez to report to Testa at Testas pizza restaurant the day before the primary. Nikola said Testa introduced him to DeFilippo, who worked for Testa as a bartender, who provided Nikola with addresses to go to pick up absentee ballots. Nikola said he then drove around the citys North End in his police car picking up absentee ballots from those addresses, including from a mailbox. Local lawyer Maximino Medina Jr., who had been appointed to monitor the primary by the judge, testified at the hearing that on the morning of Nov. 14, he went to the mail room at city hall where some absentee ballots had been delivered. He said the supervisor of the mail room, Jack McDowell, told him he had brought the bundle of 15 ballots over from the post officer but 12 did not have post marks. Medina also testified at the hearing that he went to Northbridge Health Care on Main Street where a mandated supervised absentee balloting was to take place and did not see any signs specifically about the primary vote. He said two members of the registrars office were in a community room at the center but were not approached by any residents. Democratic Registrar of Voters Santa Ayala testified that voters at Northbridge refused to cast ballots. Bellis stated that she did not believe the 12 ballots without postmarks came through the post office and she found that the registrar failed to take reasonable steps to deliver absentee ballot applications to the health care residents. Stealth supervised balloting is not supervised balloting, she said. Keeley had lost the first primary to Herron by one absentee ballot vote that mysteriously showed up during a recount. NORWALK The convoy of wreaths en route to Arlington National Cemetery made a stop for dinner Tuesday night in Norwalk. Every December, Wreaths Across America coordinates a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and 1,200 other locations in all 50 states, at sea and abroad. This year, the convoy will reach Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 16. Norwalk police met the convoy as it entered the town around 6 p.m. Tuesday. They were settled in to eat at St. Anns Club shortly after arriving. As the convoy prepares to make its exit from the city, itll make its way onto Interstate 95. The trucks left Columbia Falls, Maine, on Dec. 10 where the wreaths were made. The caravan will travel through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C., before it arrives in Arlington, Virginia, for the ceremony. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This story originally appeared on Sunday, Feb. 11, 1968. Fayez Sarofim runs what he calls a think-factory at his First City National Bank Building offices. All he provides to the 230 clients who pay for his advice on what to do with some $750 million in investments is "judgment and knowledge," Sarofim says. Sarofim's firm is little known outside investment circles despite a clientele that extends across the United States and into other countries. Trusts, pension plans, profit sharing plans, endowment funds, charitable foundations, insurance companies and trust departments of banks make up the clientele which accounts for about 70 percent of those $750 million he advises. The balance is comprised of individuals. An investment counseling service such as Sarofim runs traditionally has had an Eastern location. But "no one geographical area has the monopoly on brain power," Sarofim says. By being separated from Wall Street, Sarofim feels he is not influenced by day-to-day rumors and isn't as apt to get involved with each peak and valley of the stock market. And being overly concerned about a particular stock market occurrence does not follow Sarofim's investment philosophy. This philosophy is, in part, a confidence in the outlook for the United States economy and a belief that its diversity and capacity for growth are often underestimated. "Frequently overlooked are tremendous advances that have been made in technology, research and education, resources not reflected in the Gross National Product," he says. Sarofim emphasizes stocks and convertible securities, for his clients rather than fixed-income securities such as bonds. "In our opinion, the difference in degree of risk and marketability between a high quality common stock and high quality bond may be more academic than real," he says. "As a result, with no ceiling on a stock's appreciation potential and with a historic average annual growth rate of 6 percent or better in dividend income, we place our investment emphasis on equity ownership." Shouldn't Be Nervous If a client is nervous about where his funds are placed, it's the wrong investment for him even though it might be doing the job otherwise, Sarofim says. In line with that feeling, Sarofim says he does not take on clients who don't agree with his emphasis on securities which grow in value rather than on investments bought solely for their present yield. About 90 percent of Sarofim's investment portfolios are made up of 100 different securities. He says a stock good for one client is good for all. What might vary is the percent of a particular issue in a portfolio depending on the client's individual circumstances. Sarofim says he has a close and confidential relationship with his clients. All Participate Sarofim's organizational concept is to have all principals participate in all functions, be familiar with all accounts and be involved in both research and portfolio management. This approach is a little broader than the one used by many investment counseling firms where members will frequently specialize in a particular industry or group of securities, Sarofim says his approach permits the staff member to be completely flexible. Besides, Sarofim says breakdown of stocks by industry groups is a misnomer. Because of changes within the companies which supposedly make up industry groups, he is considering eliminating industry grouping when listing stocks in a portfolio. Sarofim says he tries to keep his staff as small as possible. The entire firm including Sarofim, his associates and secretarial help, numbers about 18. Sarofim, who received a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, readily admits he prefers employees who are alumni of that school. But he likes for employees to have worked in industry between college and joining his firm. "Everyone who leaves school is disappointed with his first job," Sarofim says, expecting too much from it. He would rather have a person get their disappointment somewhere else. Born in Cairo Sarofim was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1928. In 1946, he came to the United States to attend the University of California. He graduated with a degree in food technology. After Harvard, Sarofim came to Houston and joined Anderson, Clayton & Co., remaining there until 1958 when he formed his own firm. He is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts. He has served on the boards of St. Joseph Hospital, University of St. Thomas, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Symphony Society, the Alley Theatre and as a Rice University Associate. Sarofim became a naturalized citizen in 1961. He and his wife have one young son, Christopher. Postscript: Fayez Sarofim is chairman and co-chief investment officer of Fayez Sarofim & Co., an investment firm that has prospered over the past five decades by buying and holding long-term, blue-chip investments. Forbes estimates Sarofim's net worth at $1.5 billion. Officials with the Shenandoah Police Department are asking the Shenandoah City Council to approve spending an additional $47,000 on new Motorola radios, one of several topics the Shenandoah City Council plans to discuss Wednesday night. Officials with the police department are asking the council to approve a request to purchase six Motorola in-car radios at $3,325 each and nine Motorola handheld radios at $3,075 each for a total of $47,625. The request comes after officials with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office announced last year that law enforcement agencies would be required to upgrade their radios before the end of 2018 to maintain compatibility with the sheriff's office, which would be upgrading its system within a year. Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Scott Spencer said the upgrade and update was needed for security reasons and to keep up with the "demands and growth" of Montgomery County. Interim Shenandoah City Administrator Kathie Reyer said that money for the radios will come from the equipment replacement budget-$67,425-and the capital projects budget-$48,475. This is the second radio purchase at the same cost the department has made in recent months for a total of $95,250, she said. The remaining $20,650 will go to the purchase of five additional handheld radios for the administration staff and one mobile unit for the Conroe Police Department, which takes the city's after hours or weekend calls, she said. Also scheduled for the 7 p.m. meeting is a closed session during which city officials are expected to discuss the city administrator job opening, which was has been temporarily filled by Reyer, who was previously the city secretary. Reyer took the role after former city administrator Greg Smith stepped down in August. In September, following Smith's resignation, Shenandoah Mayor Ritch Wheeler said the city was looking for potential candidates but that Reyer was definitely a "frontrunner" for the job due to her experience in the city. Wheeler hasn't reviewed any resumes, Reyer added, noting that someone had sent him an unsolicited resume but it hasn't been considered because the council is still reviewing the city administrator job description and salary. No resumes are being solicited at this time, she said. Reyer also said city officials are reviewing city administrator job description samples from other nearby cities and also from the Texas Municipal League. "The (job description) we had on hand was about 11 years old," she said. "The city's needs have changed." Other topics up for discussion include possible appointments to the Municipal Development District board of directors, a contract renewal with Republic Services, a renewal of a memorandum of understanding between the city and The Woodlands Township; and whether to allow Entergy to provide electrical power to a water treatment plant facility on David Memorial Drive. The council is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Shenandoah City Hall. If Roy Moore wins a Senate seat Tuesday in Alabama, he could be the first sitting senator in more than a century to be kicked out by his colleagues. Or not. Although the Constitution gives Congress the authority to punish its members however it sees fit, the Senate has never done that to a newly elected lawmaker for anything other than election fraud. The will of the voters has traditionally weighed heavily on senators when deciding whether to police them. And Moore may soon win an election after allegations he initiated sexual or romantic contact with at least half a dozen teenagers when he was in his 30s became public. "If the allegations are known prior to the election ... then we have a very tough decision to make about whether it's our role as senators to overturn the will of the people," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on CBS over the weekend about Moore. Here are 10 other tough questions senators will have to answer if they want to investigate or even expel Moore: 1. Will Moore get sworn in? Actually, this one's easy. The Supreme Court has saidthe Senate can't refuse a fairly elected lawmaker his or her seat. Alabama's results are expected to be certified by the new year, which means the winner of the seat could officially be a senator by early January. 2. Will Moore get seated on committees? Maybe not. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to answer that question when CNN asked him Monday. Leaving Moore off committees, where legislation is drafted and debated, would leave him unable to do much of his job. 3. Will Moore face an official Senate Ethics Committee investigation? Almost certainly. Ethics investigations only happen by request, but there are no restrictions on who in the Senate can file a complaint against him. One of the 99 other senators will likely ask the committee to look into allegations of past sexual misconduct against him. It might even be the majority leader: "If he were to be elected I think he would immediately have an issue with the Ethics Committee," McConnell told reporters last week. 4. How public should the investigation be? The Ethics Committee tends to do its work quietly, ostensibly to protect any innocent lawmaker's reputation. But Republicans are already queasy about being tied to Moore, so they might decide to open the investigation to the public. Plus, the committee also has been more open than usual regarding sexual misconduct allegations. They made a rare announcement this month, confirming they were investigating Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., for groping allegations. Franken announced his resignation days later. 5. Is the Ethics Committee able to deliberate Moore's future fairly? It was set up to be as fair as possible. The committee is made up of six senators, three Republicans and three Democrats. But the committee hasn't changed much since senators set it up in the 1960s. Ethics experts and some lawmakers have criticized the secretive, peer-to-peer review as unequipped to fairly investigate something as resonant and politically momentous as sexual misconduct. When Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called on Franken to resign over groping allegations, she suggested the ethics process was too slow and outdated to fully investigate the allegations. "We're in uncharted territory here," said congressional ethics expert Norm Ornstein. "... The way they handled the Franken case was an example of where they should have said: 'We need a different ethics process, an open one and transparent one and some independent actors involved.' " Also noteworthy: The committee that would be investigating Moore is made up of five men and just one woman, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. 6. Can the Senate even investigate conduct that happened 40 years ago? Technically, the committee can investigate any senator who engages in "improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate." But the committee also has declined to investigate a senator's misconduct if it happened before that senator won a fair election to the Senate. In 2008, the same committee decided not to punish then-senator David Vitter for a prostitution scandal that happened when he was in the House. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., one of the veterans of the committee, told reporters he's not sure the committee can or should look into conduct that happened before Moore was a senator for that very reason. 7. Will Moore's accusers be willing to testify?: If the committee does decide it wants to look into Moore's past, then the real work begins. They'll hold hearings, which will likely include talking to Moore and as many of his accusers as possible, all under oath. Only one accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, has said she'd be willing to testify. Others, like Leigh Corfman, have shared their story on national TV and in open letters. But would all the women who accused Moore of misconduct be willing to put themselves through such public scrutiny? Especially if the hearings are publicized? 8. How long would an investigation take? It depends on what senators find - and how easily they find it. It could take months. Meanwhile, Moore is free to go about his job. 9. How should they punish Moore if they think he initiated sexual contact with teenagers? The committee could choose to do any number of things. It could suggest the full Senate reprimand him with a formal statement of disapproval (called a censure). That wouldn't directly affect his job, but it could tangentially affect it, said the Senate historian's office: "It . . . can have a powerful psychological effect on a member and his/her relationships in the Senate." Only nine senators have been censured in the history of the Senate. It could recommend the Republican Party find a way to discipline him. Or it could mete out the most serious punishment and suggest the full Senate vote to expel him. That hasn't happened since the Civil War, when the Senate voted to expel more than two dozen members on the grounds of supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War. 10. Would the Senate expel Moore? If the Ethics Committee finds grounds to expel Moore, two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to expel him. That means all 48 Democratic senators, plus 19 Senate Republicans, would need to agree that Moore should go. Lately, a number of senators who have been extremely critical of Moore aren't sure the Senate should overturn his election. Barring any other allegations coming out, it's a realistic possibility that Moore might be able to keep his job. "Ultimately, this is a question of representation," said former Senate historian Donald Ritchie. "Senators would prefer that the voters make the decision of who will represent them, and not have to do it themselves." Contributed Photo WESTPORT A Bridgeport man arrested for embezzling $23,000 from a Westport business last year turned himself in to Westport police after allegedly failing to appear for his September court date. Michael McCrorken, 28, turned himself in Dec. 5 and was charged with first degree failure to appear. McCrorken, unable to post his $25,000 bond, was transported to Norwalk Court for arraignment later that morning. Within the Trump administration, the Pentagon is arguably and, perhaps to some, surprisingly one of the most progressive departments when it comes to contemplating the effects of a changing climate. Well before President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a Chinese hoax, took office, top brass talked about global warming as a "threat multiplier" making drought, famine and other factors leading to war worse. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress he believes "a changing climate - such as increased maritime access to the Arctic, rising sea levels, desertification, among others - impact our security situation." Even so, a government watchdog says saying so without taking action is not enough. On Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office released a report on the climate preparedness of the Pentagon, concluding that while the department frequently voices concern about how rising sea levels and atmospheric temperatures could affect military activity abroad, it is not doing enough to turn those words into action at foreign facilities. Beginning in 2014, the Defense Department began surveying those running military installations in order to identify how climate change may affect the bases they oversee. But GAO found only a third of the plans it reviewed -- for such things as construction or renovation of piers, hangars and other infrastructure -- properly addressed flooding, drought, winds, wildfires and other climate-linked effects commanders identified in that survey. "While the military services have begun to integrate climate change adaptation into installations' plans and project designs," the report said, "this integration has been limited." The watchdog also found the military's review was "incomplete and not comprehensive" because dozens of overseas sites were exempt from completing the vulnerability assessment - and because the Pentagon doesn't consistently track the estimated cost of climate impact. Some ways of adapting to a warming planet are apparent. For Navy bases, for example, piers need to built higher to avoid being inundated by future flooding. But in other cases - like a desert base potentially facing more intense drought - how does a commander adapt? The Pentagon isn't giving its far-flung military leaders at overseas bases enough guidance on how to do that, GAO concluded. "We believe that there are opportunities to improve that," said Brian Lepore, director of defense capabilities and management at GAO, who led the team that wrote the report. Lepore and his colleagues visited 14 military facilities, and interviewed leaders of 31 more. John Conger, a senior policy advisor with the Center for Climate and Security and former deputy comptroller at the Pentagon, said the Defense Department would "lose the forest for the trees" if it focused too closely on tracking estimated costs. "It can only benefit DoD to become more resilient to climate impacts, but it isn't clear that applying their effort to accounting for climate costs would help that," Congers said. But Conger thought the report was correct to say more guidance is need. "GAO's most important conclusion is that DoD needs to update lower-level guidance to show installations officials how to implement the overarching direction that they incorporate climate impacts into their plans," he said. GAO, an agency that audits federal programs for lawmakers, undertook this report at the request of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and five Senate Democrats. Among Cabinet members in the Trump administration, Mattis holds views on climate change that are most closely in line with the scientific community, which sees global warming as a real and dire threat. "Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today," Mattis told senators earlier this year. "It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning." Even Congress, controlled in both chambers by a Republican Party deeply skeptical of mainstream climate science, has shown a willingness to give the Defense Department wide berth on the issue. In July, a climate-change provision in a defense reauthorization bill, requiring the Pentagon to assess the vulnerabilities of the 10 bases most threatened by climate change in each service, survived a 185-to-234 vote in the House to strip it out. On Tuesday, Trump signed the authorization bill into law. Over the past year, tensions between North Korea and the United States have increased dramatically because of Pyongyang's frequent weapons tests. With fears of a nuclear conflict growing, outside experts have called for direct talks between the two nations to defuse the situation. There was a major stumbling block, however: a long-standing U.S. insistence on North Korea meeting certain preconditions before any talks could begin. But Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to back away from that position. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk," Tillerson said at an Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation forum in Washington. "We're ready to have the first meeting without precondition. Let's just meet and see - we can talk about the weather if you want." The comments appear to indicate a new push for dialogue from Washington; notably, they come just as Joseph Yun, the State Department's envoy on North Korea policy, traveled to Tokyo and Bangkok for talks about North Korea. But whether this constitutes a change in policy and whether it stands a chance of success will rest on three big questions. - What does Tillerson consider preconditions? Former officials and others have long said that the United States needed to get back to the negotiating table with North Korea to avert catastrophe - even if it's just informal "talks about talks" to get the ball rolling. However, Americans outside of government who have recently met with North Korean officials in what are known as "Track 1.5" talks have said that Pyongyang has made clear that it is not interested in any talks about denuclearization. Choe Son Hui, director general of the North America department of North Korea's Foreign Ministry, hammered this home at a nonproliferation conference in Moscow in October. "This is a matter of life and death for us," Choe said. On Tuesday, Tillerson acknowledged that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remained the United States' long-term aim. But crucially, he also explicitly stated that the United States would not make discussion of North Korea's nuclear weapons a precondition for talks. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program," he said. "They have too much invested in it." One precondition Tillerson appeared to put forward: The United States requires a pause in North Korean weapons testing before talks could begin. "It's going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decide to test another device," he said. "If we're going to talk, we have to have a period of quiet." Left unclear was whether the United States would consider offering concessions to North Korea in return for this freeze, such as halting or delaying joint military exercises with South Korea - a "freeze for freeze" plan favored by China and Russia but so far rejected by the United States. - Is the rest of the Trump administration on the same page? In any other U.S. administration, a foreign policy position articulated by America's top diplomat might constitute the official White House line. In the Trump administration, it does not. Denuclearization has frequently (and recently) been cited as a precondition for talks by the Trump administration. Worse still, President Donald Trump himself openly undermined Tillerson's calls for dialogue just weeks ago: On Oct. 1, the president tweeted that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," using a nickname to refer to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Tillerson seemed to acknowledge these concerns on Tuesday with a vague reference to Trump. "The president is very realistic about that, as well," he said after arguing that North Korea would not be willing to give up its nuclear weapons program. But just hours later, the White House seemed to contradict Tillerson. "The President's views on North Korea have not changed," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Tuesday evening. The Trump administration's seemingly contradictory messaging on North Korea diplomacy may well be tactical and part of the "maximum pressure and engagement" strategy outlined by U.S. officials. But some diplomacy experts worry that the mixed messages - or an unpredictable response from Trump himself - would end up undermining the prospect of talks. Suzanne DiMaggio, a fellow at the New America think tank who has been involved in unofficial talks with North Korea, said that while she viewed Tillerson's comments about talks as positive, she is worried that Trump might "undercut this overture" with a "careless tweet." - What would North Korea think of this? What Pyongyang makes of Tillerson's proposals is not publicly known, though Americans who have met with North Korean officials recently have said that the North Koreans are open to talks and keen to avoid war. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman recently visited Pyongyang to meet with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho; regarding further talks, Feltman said he left "the door ajar." Crucially, the advancements in North Korea's weapons program this year might prove to be an opening. North Korea's most recent missile launch, on Nov. 29, was heralded in state media as a victory, and it is certainly possible that Pyongyang, now more confident that its weapons might serve as a deterrent, would see this as a moment to enter into talks with the United States. However, the North Koreans may also be less likely to talk about denuclearization under these circumstances. It is also unclear whether they would seek concessions from the United States in exchange for talks or whether they would prove to be a trustworthy partner if negotiations went forward. Tillerson said Tuesday that the Trump administration's push for sanctions and diplomatic isolation was an attempt to force North Korea to be honest, but he acknowledged that many felt North Koreans had cheated on deals in the past. "We've looked at what others tried and failed, and the North Koreans have been masters at always gaming those talks," Tillerson said. "They have never proven to be a reliable counterparty." WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson isn't acting like a man who's planning to leave his job anytime soon. Speaking to State Department employees Tuesday in a town hall televised throughout the building and to U.S. missions around the world, Tillerson said he plans to travel to Canada next week and to Africa and Latin America early next year. He acknowledged widespread concern about a planned reorganization that has contributed to flagging morale and staff defections. But he rebutted rumors that embassies would be closed, and he roused applause by saying he would lift a widely disliked hiring freeze for family members at overseas posts - although a broader freeze will remain in place. Over the next week, between attending internal holiday parties, he will meet with Capitol Hill committees dealing with foreign policy to explain his reorganization plans, about which lawmakers have complained that they are being kept in the dark. Tillerson's outreach efforts mark an attempt to reverse criticism that the former ExxonMobil chief executive is aloof from his employees and is presiding over the decline of U.S. diplomacy. Rumors have circulated for months that he is on the verge of resigning or being fired, which he has consistently denied. The speculation about his future even spawned a name, "Rexit." Tillerson has seemed particularly vexed over reports last month that the White House intended to replace him. Now, the State Department is making a change in strategy aimed at turning the narrative around. It is a tacit acknowledgment that Tillerson's previous approach of limited engagement with employees, Congress and the news media is not working and has only hurt him. "We have to do a better job of communicating broadly to our external audiences and our internal audiences," said Steve Goldstein, a former communications and marketing executive who is the department's new undersecretary for public diplomacy. "You're going to see more of this," he said. Tillerson's town hall is only his second since he arrived in February. During the event, he answered unscreened questions from employees. Reporters were not allowed inside the hall where Tillerson addressed roughly 300 diplomats and State Department staffers, but it was possible to observe his remarks on closed-circuit television.Wearing a gray suit with a pale-blue tie, Tillerson spoke extemporaneously, using no teleprompter as he shunned the lectern to roam the stage, gesturing with animation for an hour and 40 minutes. The first half of the session was dedicated to what Tillerson called a "trip around the world" highlighting what he considers the State Department's accomplishments this year. In Asia, he said it remains a goal for the Korean Peninsula to be denuclearized, and he lauded U.S. efforts to persuade other countries to downgrade their diplomatic presence in North Korea and support sanctions designed to starve Pyongyang of the currency needed to develop missiles and nuclear arms. The pace of North Korea's missile tests has accelerated dramatically this year. On Iran, he said the Obama administration had focused all its attention on securing the 2015 nuclear deal, while the Trump administration was getting allies to talk about ways to counter Iran's missile testing and its support for groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The task, however, is not a victory for U.S. policy, since many allies have publicly urged the United States to stay in the nuclear deal and insist that other issues must be determined separately from the agreement. "For the time being, we are in the agreement," Tillerson said, not mentioning President Donald Trump's threat to withdraw. Cameras that occasionally panned across the audience during the diplomacy part of Tillerson's remarks showed expressionless faces. That changed when Tillerson began to address the overhaul that he calls a redesign. Standing before a screen with the logo "Our Journey: Redesign Update," Tillerson said 35,000 employee questionnaires and 300 interviews had produced plans for some "quick wins." Employees smiled and applauded when he announced an end to the hiring freeze he imposed for "eligible family members," mostly spouses who are given preference for jobs that become vacant in embassies and other missions. They also clapped when Tillerson vowed to streamline security clearances and issue interim security clearances to interns so that workers can do their jobs sooner. He also announced technological updates such as merging email lists and putting communications in the cloud, allowing more teleworking and streamlining the processes for transfers, travel and bidding for jobs. "We want to work more closely, and we want to work as a team together," he said. Tillerson is still an unfamiliar presence to many employees, and he offered small glimpses of his personality. He said that when he came to the State Department, despite being an international businessman who negotiated deals around the world, he did not know a single U.S. diplomat. He described himself as "beginning" to enjoy the job, although he said he wakes every morning asking himself how to keep people from being killed somewhere in the world. "This is a hard job," he said. He acknowledged that while he seeks "win-win" scenarios, it has not worked out that way yet, phrasing his remarks in a way that suggested he is embracing the potential and limitations of traditional diplomacy. "Do we have any wins to put on the board?" he said. "No. That's not the way this works. Diplomacy is not that simple." Tillerson reinforced that view later Tuesday during remarks at the Atlantic Council, when he offered to start negotiations with North Korea with no preconditions. He suggested that the two sides could start with small talk, paving the way for a road map. All he demanded was a period when no missiles are fired. "We need a period of quiet," he said. "You've gotta tell us you're ready to talk. The door's open, but we'll show up when you tell us you're willing to talk." R Bindu also said the quality of education in Kerala had not dipped contrary to the opposition's claims. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Firefighters on Wednesday responded to a fire at the Grand Hyatt hotel in downtown San Antonio. The fire was first reported around 9 a.m. to the 600 block of East Market Street. Police at the scene said the fire has been extinguished and firefighters are now working to clean up the scene. RELATED: Victim calls 911 while fleeing scene of shooting in South Bexar County Woody Woodward, a spokesman for the San Antonio Fire Department, said the fire was started by some construction workers welding in the hotel's stairwell. Some sparks went into the stairwell's vent and flames shot up from about the third floor to the fifth. Now Playing: Firefighters on Wednesday, Dec. 13, responded to a fire at the Grand Hyatt hotel in downtown San Antonio. Video: San Antonio Express-News Firefighters extinguished the blaze quickly, he said. The hotel's sprinkler system turned on on the affected floors during the fire. "That's probably going to be the biggest damage they had," Woodward said. There were no evacuations at the hotel, though some residents went to the lobby when alarms sounded. No injuries were reported. 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 A 25-year veteran employee of Northside ISD resigned after she was accused of flicking the ears of special education students with her fingers, district officials said. Northside ISD police opened an investigation after a teacher reported the alleged incident involving a Boone Elementary special education instructional assistant last week, said Barry Perez, the district's executive director of communications. Jurors will resume deliberating Wednesday whether a contractor and his former employee defrauded the city out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for janitorial services at the Alamodome. The contractor, Geoffery Comstock, and the ex-worker, Anna Becerra, were indicted in October 2016 on a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of aiding and abetting each other to commit wire fraud. The indictment came a few months after the city ended the longtime contract it had with Comstocks Frio Nevado Corporation, which does business as Go Professional Environmental Management (Go Pro). Go Pro had done work at the Alamodome since March 2002 until discrepancies in its billings led the city to first suspend its contract in October 2015 and terminate it in March 2016, a city spokesman has said. In closing arguments Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Surovic said the case is about ghost billing claiming ghost (non-existent) employees or overcounting the number of hours of the employees that you really have. Surovic said Comstock himself inflated, or instructed employees to inflate, the number of man-hours of janitorial work performed at the Alamodome to help make more money because the contract he negotiated with the city resulted in very little profit for him. And, Surovic said, Becerra helped create fake documentation to send to the city once discrepancies were discovered in Go Pros invoices. Surovic told jurors that it was Becerra herself who came up with the term ghost billing and recordings showed she knew what they were doing was wrong. They were making up these backup documents, Surovic told the jury. In other words, there were no backup documents. Comstocks lead lawyer, Mike McCrum, however, argued that the jury must look at Go Pros 13-year history with the city to understand that Comstocks wasnt knowingly committing fraud, but merely adjusting to the citys change in practices. The city first awarded Go Pro the cleaning contract in 2002, and it required the vendors billings to be detailed and to be based on hourly rates, McCrum said. He said Go Pros billings were detailed, until the citys Alamodome facility manager a few months later told Comstock that the city didnt need the detailed billings anymore. And by the time Go Pro had its contract renewed in 2007 for another five years, the contract changed to include language that the Alamodome facility manager and Go Pro will establish a service request before events at which Go Pro would provide janitorial services. But that was never done, McCrum said. McCrum said the Alamodome facility manager would prepare the service request form before an event, insert a budgeted amount instead of asking Go Pro for the number of man hours actually worked, and then submit that form to the citys finance department. The finance department would bill the promoter without asking Go Pro how many people actually worked, McCrum said. He added that Go Pro was not provided a copy of the form until up to 30 days after the event and after the event promoter was already billed. Im not faulting the city, McCrum told jurors. Im just saying dont fault him if thats the way the city wants to do business. By the time Go Pro was on its latest contract extension in 2014, the city conducted an internal review, and then demanded supporting documentation when it had not done so for 13 years and more than 2,000 invoices, McCrum told the jury. Becerras lawyer, Angela Saad Lindsey, described her client as being too low in the chain to have any role in the contract. And, Lindsey said, her co-workers who turned government informants made Becerra the fall guy. Lindsey argued that Becerra, who was caught on recordings making statements that appeared to implicate her, was simply speaking her mind and trying to help hang on to a job she really needed, despite working for Comstock, a greedy boss. It was the former co-workers turned government informants who prepared the fake documents, but Becerra was blamed for them, Lindsey argued. gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland A man was hospitalized Monday morning after being shot in the leg in South Bexar County. The victim, a man in his 20s, called authorities around midnight to report he had been shot in the leg near New Mathis Road and Waterwheel Drive. He called them as he fled the scene in his pickup truck. A man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly stabbed his father at a home in South Bexar County. Sgt. John Mahon said the son, who has not been identified, attacked his father around 10:45 a.m. in the 1700 block of Comal Cove. WASHINGTON - Republicans lawmakers in the Senate and House said Tuesday they are coalescing around a unified tax plan and are aiming to pass a final bill as early as next week. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said House and Senate negotiators were making progress in their effort to agree on a final tax bill, and he said a deal could be reached as soon as later Tuesday. "We don't have it right this minute, but we're getting closer," Cornyn said shortly before lunchtime. "We've ping ponged a number of offers and counter offers back and forth." The movement toward a final agreement comes as the bipartisan conference committee is scheduled to hold its one public meeting, Wednesday afternoon. While the public hearing will give Republicans and Democrats a final chance to publicly debate the merits of a $1.5 trillion tax cut, it is not expected to alter the trajectory of the bill or its details. "We look forward to scheduling this bill, after they are done with their work, posting it, giving it appropriate time so everyone can read it, and pass it, sending it to the president's desk," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House majority leader. Republicans are speeding ahead with the legislation despite criticism from Democrats that the bill hurts the middle class, benefits the rich and creates a raft of new loopholes that corporations and wealthy Americans can exploit. A special election for Senate in Alabama has added to the pressure, as polls show that Doug Jones, a Democrat, has a chance to beat Roy Moore, a Republican judge who has been accused of child molestation. If Democrats are able to flip the seat, the narrow Republican majority in the Senate would fall to 51-49. House and Senate Republicans have been working behind closed doors to hash out the final details of the tax plan, and they hope to hold a vote next week. Republican leaders want to finalize a consensus bill within the next few days and release its text Friday. If all goes according to plan, the Senate would take up the bill Monday, and the House would follow Tuesday or Wednesday. The exceptionally high tides this time of the year off British Columbia can turn the rocky western coast of Vancouver Island into a graveyard. Bones from gray whales, sea lions and killer whales wash ashore, piling on the beach along fallen evergreens. But on Thursday morning, Taz, a 6-year-old Rottweiler, sensed something different about a bone tangled in a bed of kelp. Taz darted away from her owner, Mike Johns, to inspect it, sniffing a piece that jutted out on a beach in the hamlet of Jordan River. Her instincts were right. Johns followed behind her and pushed away the kelp, revealing his dog's find: a tibia and fibula attached to a left human foot with a white ankle sock in a black running shoe. In any other part of the world, a sneaker with a human foot washing ashore might be a terrifying discovery, enough to frighten residents and stir fears of a gruesome murder or a serial killer on the loose. But not in British Columbia, where these discoveries have become so common that they are tracked. It was the 13th foot to wash ashore since 2007. "It's just a freak thing that it happened to be here," said Johns, 56, who lives in Jordan River, a surfer's village about 70 miles southwest of Vancouver, Canada. Johns said he called the police and then used a stick to pick up what remained of the leg, carried it back to his property and locked it in his greenhouse. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police retrieved the remains on Friday, the authorities said, and they are being inspected by the Coroners Service of British Columbia. Since the first severed foot was discovered in August 2007, the cases have caught the attention and imagination of Canadians across the country. By July 2008, five feet had been retrieved in the Strait of Georgia, part of the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver and Washington state. The 12th foot was discovered in February 2016, a right foot in a black and blue New Balance sneaker that was found about 20 miles west of last Thursday's discovery. (One foot discovered in 2008 turned out to be a hoax.) At first, people's theories for how the feet came to their final resting spot ran from the logical to the hysterical. Maybe they died in a plane crash or fell overboard, some surmised, or they were dumped in the ocean by a serial killer or human traffickers. But in reality, the explanations were far less sinister. The authorities have identified eight of the 12 feet as belonging to six people, and none died by foul play. Growing up in a large family, Chester Spillar Johnson, who died Dec. 3 at 90, knew what it was like to do without. One of five children, Johnson thought that his father might have been able to provide better for fewer children, said his son, Chester S. Chip Johnson Jr. While participating in track and field in junior high school at Mark Twain, Johnson asked his father to get him track shoes, but he wouldnt buy him track shoes, his son said. So he ran barefoot. Johnson later decided, along with his wife, to have only one child because he figured that way he could afford to give me what he wanted to give me, his son said. In addition to working as a mail carrier, Johnson also worked at a fast-food restaurant and served with the Texas National Guard. Hed get up at five in the morning, go to work at the post office at 6 a.m., got home at 3:30 p.m., change clothes and go to his second job, Chip Johnson said. Then once a month, he went to Guard duty; he wanted to make sure I could go to college. Johnsons work ethic started early on. From the time he could find odd jobs, he worked, his son said. After building his first bicycle from salvaged parts, Johnson began repairing bicycles for the other kids in the neighborhood. More Information Chester Spillar Johnson Born: March 19, 1927, San Antonio Died: Dec. 3, 2017, San Antonio Preceded by: Wife Bettie McGlasson Johnson; second wife Jerinelle Maddox Johnson; a stepson; parents Leona Spillar and Milton Johnson. Survived by: Son Chester S. "Chip" Johnson Jr. and daughter-in-law Jennifer; two grandchildren; three stepchildren; nine great-grandchildren. Services: Memorial service is pending. See More Collapse Joining the Navy just before graduating from Jefferson High School in 1945, Johnson was unable cross the stage to receive his diploma because he was called to duty. Before he left, he approached the girl who would later become his wife. She was one of the popular girls at Jefferson; he was considered a poor boy so she didnt have anything to do with him, his son said. But before he left, he worked up the courage to ask for her permission to write to her and she said yes. It was through their correspondence that they fell in love. Serving in Guam at the end of World War II, Johnson worked in the Navy postal service until he was discharged. Marrying in 1947, Johnson worked a variety of jobs until being hired by the U.S. Postal Service in 1950, retiring after 44 years, in 1994. He also retired as a major from the Texas National Guard after 30 years of service. Nursing his wife through breast cancer before her death in 1982, Johnson took up needlepoint to relax. He was really good at designing, said his daughter-in-law, Jennifer Johnson. He would sit there and select colors for needlepoint pillows. Marrying a second time in 1984, Johnson and his wife took road trips in their travel trailer and attended church at Trinity Baptist until she began suffering from Alzheimers disease in the early 2000s. mheidbrink@express-news.net WILTON In a break from town tradition, the Board of Selectmen selected Dave Clune to replace Michael Kaelin as second selectman during their first meeting with newly elected board members. The decision upends a town tradition of appointing to second selectman the board member who received the most votes from the townspeople in his or her most recent election. Kaelin, who received 2,779 votes in his 2015 election, had 485 more votes than the next highest vote grabber, Democrat Deborah McFadden. Republican Lori Bufano received the third most votes with 2,084, followed by Clune, an unaffiliated candidate, with 2,077 votes. Under the charter, the board must vote on a second selectman at their first regular meeting held with the newly elected selectmen. In the event of a vacancy in the first selectmans office, the second selectman temporarily assumes the offices duties until a special election can be held to fill the role. When Kaelin was first appointed as second selectmen in 2015, newly elected first selectman Lynne Vanderslice justified it by saying that Kaelin was the highest vote-getter in the election, Vanderslice said. Thats the tradition, said Vanderslice at the time. On Monday, Vanderslice reversed that position when she endorsed Clune a decision that did not sit well with Kaelin. Thats not just tradition and tribute, because its not just an honorary position. Its really the only objective evidence we have of who people in town have confidence about. I dont understand why we would deviate from that practice now, said Kaelin. During the 20-minute debate at the Dec. 4 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Vanderslice argued that Clune would be a better fit for the position based on a review of past government experience, attendance at board meetings and underlying relationships with other commission and department heads. My first responsibility is to the town, not politics. Dave Clune is unaffiliated. I am a registered Republican. I made my choice based on what I thought was best for the town, said Vanderslice, regarding her decision. Though Vanderslice acknowledged that she wasnt sure how far back that practice of awarding the position to the leading vote-getter stretched, she argued for a change regardless, contending that the appointment required much more consideration than conceding the role to the person with the most votes. Vanderslice argued that her decision was based on Clunes body of work over the past year including chairing an extensive, months-long process of selecting a new town counsel, his formation of a nonprofit organization to fund the new turf for Tom Fujitani Field and his work to create an advertising program at the Wilton High School stadium. Having performed the job for two years, I have a good sense of the best qualifications for the position ... In my mind the best candidate for second selectman is the member with existing working relationships with town department heads and who is the most knowledgeable about the current happenings within the first selectmans office and the other areas of town government, Vanderslice said. However, Kaelin argued that Clune, who holds a full-time position in New York City, did not fit that description. Were voting for the person that is best able to walk into your office, if youre not there, and communicate to all the people that work for the town and all the people that live in the town that everything is OK, Kaelin said. Despite his protests, his fellow board members ultimately voted in favor of Clune. McFadden was not in attendance due to a family emergency. Just based upon the criteria, I feel that a second selectman would need to step in and fill Lynnes role, and I think Dave exhibits those qualities, said Bufano. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) -- Alabama's senatorial runoff day not only marked the first time a Democrat has won a Senate seat in Alabama in 25 years. It also marked a major introduction for Doug Jones. Jones' campaign for senator was often overshadowed by the bluster of, and litany of accusations against, his opponent, Roy Moore. He stepped out on the national stage on Tuesday evening with a hard-fought victory, looking to leave an impression, and left the stage -- yes, honestly -- to the tune of "Teach Me How to Dougie." Here's what you need to know about the Alabama senator-elect: Legal background Prior to stepping into the national spotlight in this special-election Senate race, Jones spent most of his career working on the state level. He has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, and was appointed to the role as a U.S. attorney by then-President Bill Clinton in 1997. On his campaign website, Jones notes that while he was appointed by a Democratic president, he was confirmed by a majority-Republican Senate. Jones left the U.S. attorney's office in 2001 and worked in a private practice. He entered himself into the Senate special-election race in May, vying for the seat left open when Jeff Sessions was appointed as attorney general in President Trump's cabinet. High-profile cases During the campaign, Jones pointed to some of the biggest legal cases that he was involved with through the years. One was a 1963 church bombing that left four black teenage girls dead and two Ku Klux Klan members free for more than two decades after the crime. One suspect in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was put on trial and convicted in 1977, but it wasn't until 20 years later that the case against two other suspects -- Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry -- was reopened shortly after Jones was appointed as U.S. attorney. Blanton was convicted in 2001, and Cherry was found guilty a year later. Jones was also involved in the prosecution of Eric Rudolph, whose 1998 attack on a Birmingham abortion clinic killed an off-duty police officer. Rudolph was convicted in 2005, after Jones left office. Historic win Alabama has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Sen. Richard Shelby was re-elected in 1992. He switched his affiliation to the GOP in 1994 and still holds that seat. After Moores victory over former Republican primary nominee Luther Strange, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and other Democratic groups sent out statements in support of Jones, signaling more national support heading his way. Doug Jones is a man of character and integrity who is unafraid to stand up for whats right and has a proven record of independence that will serve Alabama families in the U.S. Senate, DSCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen wrote in a statement Tuesday night. Doug subscribes to the founders immortal declaration that all men and women are created equal and, as such, he has always put people over party, the DNC statement read. And hell bring that same integrity and tenacity to Washington when Alabamians elect him to serve as their next senator in Decembers special election. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The defense attorney for Zimbabwes former finance minister and a top youth leader alleges they were tortured under military detention, and held illegally. A court granted both men bail last week. The military detained Zimbabwes former finance minister, Ignatius Chombo, and a former youth leader of the ruling Zanu PF party, Kudzanai Chipanga during last months military intervention in this southern African country. Chombo is charged with fraud, corruption and abuse of office during former President Robert Mugabes administration. Chipanga is accused of causing disaffection among the countrys defense forces. Their arrest was carried out during an army blitz that targeted what it calls criminals who allegedly surrounded the countrys now deposed leader. High Court judge Edith Mushore ordered the duo to be released on bail. Chombo was ordered to post $5,000 in bail money, to report to the police three times a day, and to surrender title deeds of his house as well as travel documents. He also is barred from the central bank and government offices where the offenses were allegedly committed. Chipanga was ordered to post $500 as bail and to report to the police twice daily. Their defense attorney, Lovemore Madhuku, says his clients should not have been arraigned in the first place because their detention was unconstitutional. The High Court criticized the magistrates court and said they were wrong to have denied these persons bail because they were very fit candidates for bail but the High Court did not just end there, it went further to say that those persons that had arrested them before they were taken by the police, that is the military, they had acted in an unlawful manner because they had gone beyond the 48 hour rule. Madhuku claims the army tortured his clients while they were in detention. Very clearly so; they were actually tortured, torture is any form of pain that you inflict on a person with a view to want them to either do something in an unlawful manner so even blindfolding, keeping a person blindfolded for a minute, two minutes, three minutes when you are doing that against their will thats torture, assaulting them when in custody thats torture and as they were doing that they were trying to extract certain information from them. Madhuku says his clients will seek compensation from the new government of Mugabes former deputy, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. What next lawfully is that we first expect that the government will come and tell us that, look, we were sorry we did this and here we are offering compensation. They must apologize to our clients and then offer to pay them compensation for the period of unlawful detention. But if they do not do that we will take them up on that issue at the same time we will take it into account when this matter is going to be taken up Chombo and Chipanga are among the highest-profile former officials detained by the military since it acted last month. Both are linked to the Generation 40 faction of the ruling ZANU-PF party, which was close to both President Mugabe and his wife, Grace Mugabe. Since he resigned on November 21st, Mugabe has not been seen in public. Some of his allies reportedly have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Breaking News via Email THE military must return to the barracks while Emmerson Mnangagwas government has a window of opportunity to demonstrate commitment to a democratic, just, healthy and prosperous Zimbabwe, a strategic US government official has said. Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Stephanie Sullivan was presenting his paper titled The Future of Zimbabwe to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs Tuesday. Sullivan said the U.S. engagement with the newly-inaugurated Mnangagwa and his administration must be based on demonstrated behavior, not rhetorical intentions. Our policy of re-engagement will focus on constitutional democracy, free and fair elections, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and an improved trade and investment climate, among other issues. The country has a strong civil society and experienced political opposition, and their voices must count in charting a path forward, added Sullivan. She went on, We must judge the new administration on its current and future actions. Along the way, there will be many actions that we will need to assess, as we look to reengage. We will need to see free and fair elections. The military needs to return to its barracks and state institutions should be demilitarized. Sullivan further said perpetrators of abuses against civilians should be held accountable regardless of party affiliation. In a hard hitting statement, Sullivan added that government must engage in hard economic reforms, including addressing budget deficits, reforming the Indigenization Act, and reducing corruption. We will want to see improved protection of fundamental freedoms, a freer media, and a truth and reconciliation process. The people of Zimbabwe deserve these reforms, and many more. We welcome President Mnangagwas statement of intent to carry out economic reforms during his inauguration speech, and we are assessing the budget that was released last week. We believe critical political reforms deserve equal attention and cannot wait. In particular, elections must be free, fair, credible, and inclusive allowing Zimbabweans to choose their own leaders. Everyone in Zimbabwe should enjoy the rights to peaceful assembly without undue interference and to voice their opinionsand their votewithout fear. If President Mnangagwa wants improved diplomatic relations and access to international assistance and cooperation, particularly from the United States, it is our position that his government must first implement reforms, said Sullivan. This comes as many Zimbabweans feel the army should quit the streets following a spate of incidents which saw many civilans assaulted by the soldiers. Breaking News via Email ZIMBABWE is not ready to have its own currency until productivity levels recover to allow for the creation of reserves that will improve the liquidity situation, economic experts have said. Speaking during the 2018 National Budget review meeting organised by The Chronicle in Bulawayo yesterday, economists said dealing with the prevailing cash shortages should be supported by sound economic fundamentals. They hoped the budget statement presented by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa last Thursday would tame the cost drivers in the economy and give industry breathing space to grow. The country has been facing a challenge of cash shortages since early last year, forcing depositors to embrace plastic money as scores fail to withdraw their money from the banks. The situation has hit the productive sectors hard as businesses struggle to access foreign exchange to procure critical raw materials. Some of the participants who attended the budget dialogue meeting suggested that the country should bring back its own currency or else adopt the South African rand, which demands that it joins the Rand Union. Those in support of this view blamed cash shortages for repelling investors and weakening business confidence in the economy. However, in his contribution, one of the panelists, Dr Nyasha Kaseke, an economist and University of Zimbabwe lecturer, warned that introducing a local currency at this point in time would be disastrous. I understand that were using a currency that we cant influence but first of all we have to improve our productivity. Once were sustainable in terms of production we can begin to think of our own currency, he said. As it is, the environment is not yet conducive for us to have our own currency. I also understand that some investors are being scared away because of issues to do with the type of currency were using but right now we have ourselves to blame because we allowed our own currency to move out of circulation. Dr Kaseke said the country has no adequate reserves to support a new currency and challenged productive sectors to increase output with a bias towards exports. He also said adopting the rand would not be a quick win solution. The problem of using the rand is that other players in the Rand Union have to accept us first and we have to meet their terms and conditions to be part of the union. Its not a matter of just using the rand as our main currency without adhering to some rules. This also applies to the pula, he said. Thats why Zimbabwe decided not to have a specific currency but a multi-currency system to avoid these terms and conditions. If we adopt the rand it means that well not have a monetary policy. Everything will have to come from South Africa. These are some of the problems that were facing in the country. Earlier, participants had questioned if it was possible for the countrys economy to be resuscitated without its own currency. They suggested that it was important for Zimbabwe to have its own currency if it is serious about having investors coming into the country. Some bemoaned the loss of value of the US$ in Zimbabwe saying this makes investors reluctant to come to the country. Breaking News via Email Botswana Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Pelenomi Vincent Moitoi has delivered a special message to President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his counterpart President Ian Khama congratulating him on his recent appointment and also indicating areas of further cooperation between the two countries. Dr Moitoi said the relationship between the two countries is bound to grow from strength to strength following the smooth transition of power in Zimbabwe. He further highlighted that Botswana stood ready to give Zimbabwe all the support in her new journey of transformation and would however wait for Zimbabwe to indicate which fields they would require assistance on. Botswana ambassador to Zimbabwe Lieutenant General Louis Fisher accompanied the minister to the meeting which was also attended by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Major General Sibusiso Moyo. Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa is currently chairing a Zanu PF politburo meeting whose agenda is to discuss final preparations of the extraordinary congress set to be held this Friday. Finance Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa will also brief the politburo on the progress of ZIM ASSET while the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Air Marshal Perrance Shiri will brief the meeting on the progress of command agriculture and preparations for the summer cropping season. Breaking News via Email Home Affairs minister Obert Mpofu has challenged the police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to end smuggling at the countrys border posts and contribute towards revival of the economy. He said the two organisations were failing in their duties of creating sustainable employment across the country by promoting illegal activities. The norm is that various employees of government are deployed at the border posts. These include the police, immigration, Zimra officials, among many. How then do cases of smuggling that rob the fiscus of the much-needed revenue become common place at such places? Is there anything wrong with our policies? How best can we plug off revenue leakages in order to grow our economy? he queried. Mpofu challenged all departments to meaningfully and collectively contribute to the realisation of a professionally, properly and profitably run economy. Working together we can improve the lives of our fellow citizens and reduce the incidence of poverty, he said. This comes as the Zimbabwe Republic Police has come under fire from various stakeholders for fuelling corruption and hampering tourism growth by their numerous roadblocks in the past few months before the coming in of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. However, Zimra has been working around the clock to collect revenue and has for the last nine months surpassed its targets. In the nine months to September, Zimra collected $2,789 billion against a target of $2.5 billion. Zimra chairperson Willia Bonyongwe said her organisation believes that current collections are still a tip of the iceberg and is determined to stir up management to re-double the current measures to ensure increased compliance. The authority will continue with its anti-corruption initiatives including effective utilisation of the anti-corruption hot line, lifestyle audits, whistle blower facility and of late, engaging our political leadership in Parliament to assist in education for the taxpayers in their various constituencies. Zimra is also lobbying government to make the penalties for tax evasion more deterrent including disgorgement and even time in jail. Most developed and developing countries treat tax evasion as a very serious crime, she added. Breaking News via Email The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Retired Major General Dr Sibusiso Moyo says it is shocking to watch fellow Zimbabweans led by Tendai Biti, Dewa Mavhinga and Peter Godwin take turns before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to tarnish and further soil the image of their country, Zimbabwe. In a statement to the ZBC News, Dr Moyo said it is ironic that fellow Zimbabweans were performing their macabre charade only hours after he had met the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Harry Thomas Junior in his office in Harare, amicably to outline how the two nations could re-engage and pursue measures which will benefit people from both countries. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Zimbabwe in Washington DC Zimbabwes new government has been in office for shorter than two weeks [and] it is staggering that these gentlemen should have expected the deeds of 37 years to be corrected and livelihoods improved in such a short time, he said. As if that myopia was not enough, the trio and others requested their American hosts for more of the same policies which have inflicted suffering on our people. How could any serious putative future leader of our country ask that ZIDERA remains in place? the Minister added. He also said Zimbabweans from all walks of life know that the damaging US sanctions against Zimbabwe cause little discomfort to the political elite and the well-off, as represented by the trio on their junkate in Washington DC. Instead, he said, All of us should be working to revive our economy, till our fertile soil and trade more competitively so that we all realise better health delivery, education and improved welfare in general. Retired Major General Moyo also said any internal disagreements should be resolved by Zimbabweans engaging with one another. There is no need to invite outside referees whose own fate has no relationship to ours. Let us advance our political goals without inviting punitive measures by strangers on our fellow citizens, he said. On next years elections, Retired Major General Moyo as President Emmerson Mnangagwa said upon taking office, Zimbabwe shall hold peaceful elections in 2018 guided by SADC principles and African Union recommendations. Any leadership changes can therefore be gotten at the ballot box. There is no need to go abroad and seek assistance to further harm ones own country. All Zimbabweans are free to canvas for political fortunes of their choice. Let us do this without reversing the promise of our new dawn. All nations of goodwill are invited to assist us to regain our position in the family of nations, not as beggars but, as a prospering and vibrant democracy, he said. He also said it is therefore incumbent upon every Zimbabwean to contribute towards the elimination of any threats to the peace and stability of the country. Breaking News via Email 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. Rich Schultz/Getty Images @nfl @espn lets see what yall do about this....... @bear_6060 whats good wit you? #dirtyplayer #cantblock A post shared by Jordan Phillips (@bigj9797) on Dec 12, 2017 at 11:19am PST How's this for irony? Jordan Phillips, defensive lineman for the dirty Miami Dolphins, is accusing Patriots center David Andrews of being a dirty player.He bitched about it on his Instagram.Definitely not a great look for Andrews, but I don't wanna hear a damn thing about dirty hits from anyone who plays for the Dolphins.Follow me on Twitter - @JesseGaunce For more of my articles, click here By Online Desk Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi today visited some places hit by the Cyclone Ochki in southern Kerala that has claimed 63 lives in the state, most of them fishermen, and pitched for a better warning system to prevent recurrence of such tragedies. Thousands of fishermen and their families in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are continuously holding mass protests, demanding for search operations to continue and for relief to be provided faster. Search and rescue operations to trace the fishermen missing in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi continued for the 12th day today. As many as 433 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and 186 from Kerala are yet to be traced. The cyclone, earlier this week, had finally dissipated over the Arabian Sea, sparing Gujarat from destruction. ALSO READ | No tsunami says IMD as false WhatsApp alerts create panic Here are all the latest updates: The Union Home Ministry is constituting an inter ministerial central committee for the spot assessment of damage and admissibility of claims of the states hit by Cyclone Ockhi. House-to-house verification process is going on and a final figure of the missing fishermen would be known once the process was over, say officials. [READ FULL REPORT] "The farmers have a ministry that looks after their interests and I think it is time that we create a ministry for the fishermen to look after their interests and make sure they are protected," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after visiting fishermen families in affected areas in Kerala. [READ FULL REPORT] TN government hikes compensation for non-fisherman families from Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs. ( READ ) The death toll in the Ockhi cyclone that hit the Kerala coast mounted to 65 with more bodies being recovered. DMK petitions TN governor Banwarilal Purohit to expedite rescue work post-Ockhi. Efforts are on to identify the recovered bodies through DNA test. In a bid to set up a mechanism to ensure the safety of fishermen, Kerala CM Vijayan said a system was being planned in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation. Kerala State control room officials said three bodies were found off the coast of Kozhikode and three from Kochi. [READ FULL REPORT] The financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for families of Kerala fishermen killed in the cyclone would be given in one go. An amount of Rs five lakh would be given to those who are seriously injured and are not able to go to work in future as an "alternative livelihood" initiative. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Centre has agreed to continue search operations for the missing fishermen in Cyclone Ockhi that hit the state's coast on November 29 and 30. The death toll due to Ockhi cyclone, which hit the Kerala coast, rose to 52 on Tuesday as more bodies were recovered and the search for the missing fishermen in the high seas continued. The Tamil Nadu CM Palaniswami on Tuesday announced Rs 20 lakh compensation for the kin of fishermen who died in the cyclone that devastated the coastal areas of the state recently. Pope Francis has enquired about the hardships and sufferings caused to Kerala's fishermen community in the Ockhi cyclone that ravaged the coastal belt on November 30. The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced 'livelihood assistance' ranging from Rs 48,500 to Rs 63,500 per hectare for horticulture farmers of cyclone Ockhi-battered Kanyakumari district. Kerala fishermen protestors took to the street by waving black flags and photos of the dead and missing fishermen walked about two km from Palayam to Raj Bhavan raising slogans, bringing the traffic to a standstill on the busy stretch. The death toll in the Ockhi cyclone in Kerala rose to 40 on Monday with the recovery of two more bodies even as the search operations to trace the missing fishermen entered the 10th day. Search and rescue operations to trace the fishermen missing in the aftermath of Ockhi cyclone continued for 10th day today even as 67 persons caught in the storm, returned to Kochi coast. The Goa government would provide compensation to shacks having legal validity, for the damages suffered during the Cyclone Ockhi last week. [FULL REPORT] The Indian naval ships engaged in search and rescue mission in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi today continued their operations in the high seas, searching area till the Maldives. No stranded boats , fishermen or floating bodies have been found in the sea by the naval search team during the last 72 hours, the official said. Kerala Governor P Sathasivam will contribute a month's salary to the special fund being raised for the victims of cyclone Ockhi. The Kerala government has asked the Indian Armed Forces and the Coast Guard to continue search operations for fishermen missing in high seas post-Cyclone Ockhi for 10 more days. #HADR #CycloneOckhi #OpSahayam #SAR Based on reports by IN Boeing P8 i aircraft, INS Kalpeni was sent to Off Sesostris Bank/Bassas de Pedro (a traditional fishing area off Lakshadweep island).About 17 boats with 180 plus fishermen have been located.@DefenceMinIndia @nsitharaman SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 8, 2017 Fishing vessel as seen from the aircraft. This video captures the essence of what Navy Boeing P-8i is doing - systematic search of every inch of possible/ probable area & providing hope to the stranded till they are rescued by our ships @nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/1sY0VXul42 SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 6, 2017 People receive essential commodities at a relief camp following cyclone Ockhi in the Kanyakumari district on Saturday. (PTI) Given orders to Maharashtra Maritime Board and Collector, Sindhudurg Dist. to make all arrangements for the stranded fishermen. Local authorities are already with them and taking care of all arrangements, tweets Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. In all 68 fishing boats have reached, out of which 66 are from Kerala and 2 from Tamil Nadu with total 952 fisherman on board. All are safe. Maharashtra will completely look after everyone till weather permits them to go back. @nsitharaman @BJP4Keralam Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 2, 2017 A fresh spell of heavy rain is in store in some areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry with a low pressure area forming over south Andaman sea, which is "very likely" to become a depression over Bay of Bengal . It is very likely to become a depression over southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 36 hours. It is also very likely to intensify further and move towards north Tamil Nadu south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 3-4 days. (IMD) Though many fishermen from Kerala were brought ashore safely and admitted to hospitals, many are yet to recover from the shock of wrestling the lashing waves and seeing death face-to-face. Stephan, a fisherman hailing from nearby Poonthura, said: "It was the first time we were experiencing such huge waves and a rough sea. Luckily, the rescue boat came back and saved us." Most of the rescued fishermen had bruises all over their bodies and were seen shivering and begging for hot water and food when brought ashore. (PTI) Stranded fisherman being brought to Kerala coast by Indain Navy personnel in Kochi on Saturday. (PTI) Tamil Nadu CM K Palaniswami today requested the Centre to deploy the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for the search and rescue of fishermen who have not returned so far, and that helicopters of Coast Guard and Navy should be deployed for this purpose. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the AIADMK leader that the Centre would provide the assistance required to rescue the fishermen. (PTI) Several roads that connect Kanyakumari with many interior parts have got cut or were fully damaged due to heavy rainfall following the impact of cyclone Ockhi in the district on Saturday. (PTI) A Coast Guard advisory here said the status of weather and sea conditions should be checked on television, radio, newspapers and smartphone applications before venturing out into the sea. The merchant ships should also be alert and avoid the path of Cyclone Ockhi, it said. Fishing boats should remain in groups and during distress all the crew should remain together, it said. DMK working president M K Stalin urged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in his letter to direct the Coast Guard to search and rescue "thousands of fishermen fighting for their lives in the mid sea, so as to prevent further loss of lives due to the Ockhi cyclone". Steps have been taken to prevent any possible outbreak of epidemic in rain-hit areas of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu Health minister C Vijayabhaskar said today. A relief worker places sand bags on the banks of a beach in Kochi in wake of cyclone Ockhi on Saturday. (PTI) Leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare cyclone Ockhi as a national disaster. He also urged the Kerala government to increase the financial aid for the injured at least up to Rs 50,000 from the present Rs 15,000. Lack of coordination had affected the government's relief and rescue operations, launched post Ockhi, he alleged. (PTI) The Southern Railway announced partial and full cancellation of some trains in the Kaniyakumari-Nagercoil section. One train service was also rescheduled. (PTI Meanwhile, relatives of missing fishermen from Kaniyakumari staged a road blockade demanding the fishermen be rescued at the earliest. Scores of women also staged protest at Chinnathurai in that district. There has been a huge demand for generator sets following the devastation caused by cyclone Ockhi in the Kanyakumari region on Saturday. (PTI) In Kanyakumari, power supply had been restored even as efforts are on to resume power supply in neighbouring areas like Nagercoil and Kuzhithurai. Officials expressed confidence that the power supply would be restored in the entire district by tomorrow. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced Rs 25 crore for expediting relief and restoration work in the district . ( PTI) 261 persons rescued by @IndiaCoastGuard @adgpi and @IAF_MCC in #CycloneOckhi @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/ywhzBQLJnP Kiran_TNIE (@tniekiran1) December 2, 2017 The Coast Guard informed in a press release that on November 30, the Coast Guard District Headquarters in Kerala was informed that around 70-80 fishermen were stranded at sea due to the storm. The Coast Guard immediately sailed as many as nine ships towards Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts. Further, ships based at New Mangalore were also sailed towards Kerala coast to undertake the rescue of stranded fishermen. As the cyclone intensified, coordinated search by Coast Guard ships and aircraft continued in extremely rough weather with wind speed gusting up to 150 kmph. Ships at Mumbai and Goa were also placed on maximum alert to augment efforts as required, the press release read. (PTI) As per the last report, a total of 79 stranded fishermen have been saved by the Coast Guard in coordination with other agencies. Also, the fisheries department has intimated that about 25 boats with 250 personnel are still in distress at sea. A man watches a road that has been cut off due to floods following the heavy rainfall caused by the cyclone Ockhi which left heavy damage in the Kanyakumari district on Saturday. (PTI) 138 fishermen have been rescued from the Lakshadweep islands. (PTI) So far 393 people from Kerala have been rescued, Kerala CM Vijayan said, as the state government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of those who died in the storm, in addition to the financial assistance of Rs four lakh being given by the fisheries department.Of the rescued, 132 fishermen were from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, 66 from Kozhikode, 55 from Kollam, 40 from Thrissur, and 100 from Kanyakumari. (PTI) In Lakshadweep, 31 relief camps have been opened in the10 inhabited islands. So far, 1,047 people have been evacuated to the relief camps, official sources said. No casualties have been reported, with the worst-affected islands being Minicoy and Kalpeni. Seven people have lost their lives in Kerala in rain-related incidents over the past two days, official sources said. (PTI) Cyclone Ockhi has so far claimed 13 lives in Sri Lanka . Power supply, essential services and air traffic was disrupted in the stormy weather that left several buildings damaged and trees uprooted in its wake. READ FULL REPORT HERE #CycloneOckhi update @IndiaCoastGuard ship rescued 15 fishermen at sea off Vizhinjam/Quilon (Kerala) Coast and heading towards shore for safe disembarkation of fisher-folks @DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/39gJrfI20Z Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) December 2, 2017 Authorities including the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Coast Guard and Navy have rescued about 223 fishermen and evacuated thousands of people from cyclone hit areas, officials said, as they continued their operations on Saturday. While INS Nireekshak, INS Jamuna and INS Sagardhwani are continuing search and rescue operations in their designated areas along the coast off Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, two ships INS Shardul and INS Sharda are heading towards Lakshadweep, a defence spokesman said. (PTI) The naval ships, which left from the Southern Naval Command here yesterday, are likely to reach Lakshadweep this evening. The Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Lanba briefed me on the on-going rescue operations #CycloneOchki . More fishermen rescued this morning. Rescue work to continue.Some rescued fishermen waiting in Lakshadweep Isle to get back. Details @indiannavy @DefenceMinIndia @IndiaCoastGuard Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) December 2, 2017 The Kerala state government has announced a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of the deceased. #Kerala Locals have blocked National Highway for last five hours in Trivandrum's Thumba, demand better relief measures & rescue of 6 fishermen missing from the area #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/rcTY0gyDty ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2017 Six boats and 73 fishermen that went missing in the sea have been brought back, the Fisheries Minister of Tamil Nadu, D Jayakumar, informed on Saturday. (ANI) Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slammed rumour mongers on Saturday after it came to light that Friday's reports of a Japanese merchant ship rescuing 60 Kerala fishermen caught in the deep seas, was "fake". It was Thiruvananthapuram district Collector S.Vasuki who told the media, on Friday evening, that she wished to thank the Japanese government as one of their ships had rescued 60 fishermen and said they would arrive at the Vizhinjam coast. (IANS.) [READ FULL REPORT] Locals in Thiruvananthapuram's Poonthura came out in protest alleging rescue operations have been inadequate. (ANI) According to Thiruvananthapuram district Collector S Vasuki, 102 fishermen from the city who had gone into the sea have not been able to contact their relatives. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Kerala: Locals evacuated to rehabilitation centre in Kochi's Chellanam. #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/iAwj7Q7g94 Several houses suffered damage, trees got uprooted and communication lines were disrupted as rains accompanied by strong winds lashed the Lakshadweep Islands under the influence of Cyclone Ockhi. [ READ FULL REPORT] INS Nireekshak rescued two fishermen off Alappuzha coast. INS Sagardhwani fished out one cadaver, 30 km off Thiruvananthapuram coast. The ship had earlier found another cadaver. (PTI) PM Modi dialled Tamil Nadu CM K Palaniswami and enquired about the damage caused by the cyclone, which also battered parts of Kerala. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] The Tamil Nadu government has said it will soon seek central funds for the damage caused by Cyclone Ockhi in the southern parts of the state, with Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts being the worst hit. As many as 218 fishermen from various parts of southern Kerala who were missing at sea since Thursday have been rescued and brought back so far, even as Cyclone Ockhi continued its menacing north-westward path along the Arabian Sea. [READ REPORT HERE] A rescued fisherman rushed to the ambulance from the technical area of the Thiruvananthpuram airport on Friday afternoon. Express Photo | Kaviyoor Santhosh According to a CWC advisory, the west-flowing rivers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam in Kerala are likely to rise over the next 24 hours and then, slowly fall as the rains reduced. Three deaths were reported in Kerala and one in the worst-hit Kannyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, taking the toll to 12, reports UNI. A report from Lakshadweep said a red alert had been sounded as high waves posed a major threat to most of the islands in the region. (UNI) WATCH: Navy rescue fishermen off Thiruvananthapuram coast About 150 fishermen, who put out to sea from various southern districts, were rescued, Thiruvananthapuram District Commissioner K Vasuki said, adding that efforts were on to bring the rest of the stranded fishermen to the shore. The rescued fishermen included those who were saved by a Japanese cargo vessel. Kerala: Rescued fishermen brought to Trivandrim Air Force Station, later admitted to hospital for treatment #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/lB10HNPqsE ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 Heavy to extremely heavy rains are likely over Lakshadweep Islands, while light to moderate rains with a few heavy spells are expected over Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to Skymetweather's latest weather update. Two fishing boats Arokia Mary and Hermen Mary from Kanyakumari reported missing due #CycloneOckhi since 30 Nov 2017 with 08 crew each rescued by Coast Guard Ship C-427 off Vizhinjam #Kerala pic.twitter.com/nyLuxkoonk ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 Search and rescue effort progressing off Vizhinjam where approximately 40 people were stranded at sea. Indian Navy ships Sharda and Shardul sailed out to augment search effort, in final stages of embarking humanitarian assistance and disaster relief items for assistance at Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands , reports ANI. 130 families from Chellanam, 17 families from Kumbalangi and 18 families from Edavanakad rehabilitated from the coastal areas, reports ANI. [Read Report] Cyclone Ockhi is moving to the Arabian Sea. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says steps are initiated to rescue fishermen stranded in the rough sea, reports PTI. #WATCH: High tides seen at Lakshadweep coast #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/sxUBC4geku ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 24 people stranded at sea sighted by IN assets. Efforts underway to rescue all 24:- 07 picked up by MV ENERGY ORPHEUS,04 being rescued by INS JAMUNA ,03 rescued by trawler in area,02 rescued by ALH (progressing further rescue of 06 more),02 under Rescue by MV KUN LUN SHAN SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 1, 2017 READ FULL STORY: Navy, Coast Guard save 39 Kerala fishermen ALSO READ | Cyclone Ockhi tales #Kerala: Relatives of missing fishermen mourn in Thiruvananthapuram, say they received no warnings of #CycloneOckhi from the government pic.twitter.com/gewQlJZvPI ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 - One person was killed when a tree fell on his autorickshaw at Kulathupuzha in Kollam - A couple at Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram was electrocuted when power cables fell over them - Trees and hoardings collapsed in the strong wind, which also blew away thatched roofs and roofing sheets of houses - The State Disaster Management Authority has issued alert to Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Kottayam districts Satellite image of Cyclone Ockhi across South India. (Image Courtesy: skymetweather.com) Southern Naval Command deployed 3 ships & 2 aircraft following request by District Collector, Trivandrum for assistance in search of 6 fishing boats with fisherman & 1 Marine Engineering vessel missing near Vizhinjam, due to cyclonic storm developed in Indian Ocean off Kerala. pic.twitter.com/2fShFmu1NS ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2017 SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017 With a speed of 38 kmph at 8:30 Thursday morning, the cyclone lay centred about 340 km west-northwest of Galle in Sri Lanka, 60 Km south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and 120 km southwest of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and 480 km eastsoutheast of Minicoy in Lakshadweep. It has moved west-northwestwards towards Lakshadweep Islands in the southeast Arabian Sea. Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks lying 200 to 400 km to the West of the South-West coast (Kerala) of India. Cyclone Ockhi is approaching the Lakshadweep archipelago, a top official at the Ministry of Earth Sciences said in Delhi today. Madhavan Rajeevan, secretary in the ministry, said the archipelago in the southern part of the Arabian Sea will start experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds from tomorrow. "It will hit the islands on December 2," Rajeevan said. (PTI) Earlier today, the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) had put out an alert saying that the system could intensify further to become a severe cyclonic storm. It further said the storm could re-curve towards the Mumbai-Gujarat region on the West Coast, after being influenced by an incoming western disturbance from the opposite direction. Heavy rainfall and storms in Tamil Nadu in the first week of November this year killed at least 12 people and thousands took shelter in relief camps, triggering fears of the 2015 floods repeat. It had killed more than 400 people, displaced lakhs and damaged property worth thousands of crores. What is a tropical depression The India Meteorological Department (IMD) classifies the low pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal and in the Arabian Sea into seven categories. Low pressure areas with maximum sustained surface wind speeds between 31 and 61 kmph are called tropical depressions. Once the winds around the low pressure area reach at least 62 kmph, it is called a tropical cyclone and is assigned a name. The current system is intensifying rapidly. As per the IMD wind warning, squally winds would reach 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph along and off south Tamil Nadu during the next 48 hours. Another depression kicking-in The trough of low pressure over the Malay Peninsula and neighbourhood is persisting and is likely to develop into a low-pressure area over Malay Peninsula and adjoining south Andaman Sea during the next 24 hours. This system is likely to trigger a wet spell for the north coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, around December 4. (With inputs from Express News Service and agencies) Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi today visited some places hit by the Cyclone Ochki in southern Kerala that has claimed 63 lives in the state, most of them fishermen, and pitched for a better warning system to prevent recurrence of such tragedies. Thousands of fishermen and their families in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are continuously holding mass protests, demanding for search operations to continue and for relief to be provided faster. Search and rescue operations to trace the fishermen missing in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi continued for the 12th day today. As many as 433 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and 186 from Kerala are yet to be traced. The cyclone, earlier this week, had finally dissipated over the Arabian Sea, sparing Gujarat from destruction. ALSO READ | No tsunami says IMD as false WhatsApp alerts create panic Here are all the latest updates: The Union Home Ministry is constituting an inter ministerial central committee for the spot assessment of damage and admissibility of claims of the states hit by Cyclone Ockhi. Today's #OpSahayam #CycloneOckhi Deployment of IN & ICG assets for #SAR of missing fishermen off Kerala & Tamil Nadu coast. @CMOKerala @CMOTamilNadu @OfficeOfOPS @ShashiTharoor @PonnaarrBJP @pibchennai @PIB_India @PIBTvpm @BJP4TamilNadu @BJP4Keralam pic.twitter.com/oTeP5QI2XP Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) December 14, 2017 House-to-house verification process is going on and a final figure of the missing fishermen would be known once the process was over, say officials. [READ FULL REPORT] "The farmers have a ministry that looks after their interests and I think it is time that we create a ministry for the fishermen to look after their interests and make sure they are protected," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after visiting fishermen families in affected areas in Kerala. [READ FULL REPORT] TN government hikes compensation for non-fisherman families from Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs. (READ) The death toll in the Ockhi cyclone that hit the Kerala coast mounted to 65 with more bodies being recovered. DMK petitions TN governor Banwarilal Purohit to expedite rescue work post-Ockhi. Efforts are on to identify the recovered bodies through DNA test. In a bid to set up a mechanism to ensure the safety of fishermen, Kerala CM Vijayan said a system was being planned in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation. Kerala State control room officials said three bodies were found off the coast of Kozhikode and three from Kochi. [READ FULL REPORT] The financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for families of Kerala fishermen killed in the cyclone would be given in one go. An amount of Rs five lakh would be given to those who are seriously injured and are not able to go to work in future as an "alternative livelihood" initiative. Today's deployment on #SAR #CycloneOckhi .@CMOTamilNadu @CMOKerala @OfficeOfOPS @PonnaarrBJP @ShashiTharoor @PIB_India @pibchennai @PIBTvpm @BJP4Keralam @BJP4TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/LQedhf51eA Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) December 13, 2017 Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Centre has agreed to continue search operations for the missing fishermen in Cyclone Ockhi that hit the state's coast on November 29 and 30. The death toll due to Ockhi cyclone, which hit the Kerala coast, rose to 52 on Tuesday as more bodies were recovered and the search for the missing fishermen in the high seas continued. The Tamil Nadu CM Palaniswami on Tuesday announced Rs 20 lakh compensation for the kin of fishermen who died in the cyclone that devastated the coastal areas of the state recently. Pope Francis has enquired about the hardships and sufferings caused to Kerala's fishermen community in the Ockhi cyclone that ravaged the coastal belt on November 30. The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced 'livelihood assistance' ranging from Rs 48,500 to Rs 63,500 per hectare for horticulture farmers of cyclone Ockhi-battered Kanyakumari district. Kerala fishermen protestors took to the street by waving black flags and photos of the dead and missing fishermen walked about two km from Palayam to Raj Bhavan raising slogans, bringing the traffic to a standstill on the busy stretch. The death toll in the Ockhi cyclone in Kerala rose to 40 on Monday with the recovery of two more bodies even as the search operations to trace the missing fishermen entered the 10th day. Search and rescue operations to trace the fishermen missing in the aftermath of Ockhi cyclone continued for 10th day today even as 67 persons caught in the storm, returned to Kochi coast. The Goa government would provide compensation to shacks having legal validity, for the damages suffered during the Cyclone Ockhi last week. [FULL REPORT] The Indian naval ships engaged in search and rescue mission in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi today continued their operations in the high seas, searching area till the Maldives. No stranded boats, fishermen or floating bodies have been found in the sea by the naval search team during the last 72 hours, the official said. Kerala Governor P Sathasivam will contribute a month's salary to the special fund being raised for the victims of cyclone Ockhi. The Kerala government has asked the Indian Armed Forces and the Coast Guard to continue search operations for fishermen missing in high seas post-Cyclone Ockhi for 10 more days. #HADR #CycloneOckhi #OpSahayam #SAR Based on reports by IN Boeing P8 i aircraft, INS Kalpeni was sent to Off Sesostris Bank/Bassas de Pedro (a traditional fishing area off Lakshadweep island).About 17 boats with 180 plus fishermen have been located.@DefenceMinIndia @nsitharaman SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 8, 2017 A decision in this regard was taken at an all-party meeting in Kerala on Friday to discuss the steps taken by the state for rescue of fishermen stranded at sea and situation in the aftermath of the cyclone that hit the coast on November 29 and 30. READ | Cyclone Ockhi: 200 people from Kerala's fisher community to be recruited to coastal police Sixty-six boats from this district were yet to be traced, while 713 fishermen were still to be rescued, in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi, a top district official said. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan on Friday said all steps were being taken to trace and rescue missing fishermen in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi. A "false image" is being created against the central and state governments though they were taking up rescue, relief and rehabilitation works, Radhakrishnan told reporters in Kanyakumari. READ FULL STORY HERE | Tension at Adimalathura as Finance Minister meets protesting fishermen Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday announced a solatium of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of fishermen who died in Cyclone Ockhi. Palaniswami also announced setting up of a high-level committee to go into the matter of missing fishermen and submit a report. He also announced Rs five lakh solatium to those fishermen who were affected by the cyclone and unable to pursue their profession. ALSO READ | Fishermen meet CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, seek intensive search operations The Tamil Nadu government said on Thursday (08-12-2017) that nearly 2,000 fishermen who had ventured into deep sea before Cyclone Ockhi crossed the coast of Kanyakumari were rescued and safely accommodated in coastal districts of various states. Principal Secretary (Information Technology) T K Ramachandran said that 1,969 fishermen on 284 boats ventured into the sea just a day before Cyclone Ockhi crossed the coast last week. READ | After Cyclone Ockhi, now its a sea of protest for 2000 fishermen families in Nagercoil Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit today assured the families of missing fishermen in the district that steps would be taken to trace all those missing after cyclone 'Ockhi' hit the state coast. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said prime minister Narendra Modi had called the Tamil Nadu chief minister and enquired about the situation, but did not call the Kerala CM. Three bodies were recovered today off the Kerala coast, taking the death toll due to Cyclone Ockhi to 36, even as defence sources said search and rescue operations will be extended to International waters around Maldives. Family members of 19 fishermen from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, reported missing in the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi, today met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and sought help to trace them. "It was an unprecedented calamity, which claimed several lives and caused a widespread damage to properties. The Centre should declare Cyclone Ockhi a national disaster and announce a special package for the rehabilitation of the victims," Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Tamil Nadu government today said a total of 4,501 houses in cyclone Ockhi-hit Kanyakumari have suffered partial and full damage and relief to the tune of Rs 41 lakh has been provided in this regard so far. [READ REPORT] Nuns take out a candlelight procession for the victims of Cyclone Ockhi at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Ransom at Vallarpadam in Kochi on Wednesday night. (Albin Mathew | EPS) The Kerala state cabinet on Wednesday cleared a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the victims of Cyclone Ockhi, which includes Rs 20 lakh compensation for the kin of the deceased fishermen and Rs 5 lakh each for fishermen who were grievously injured. [READ FULL REPORT] Boeing P8i of Indian Navy detected a fishing vessel near Kavaratti, close to Mangalore, yesterday evening. While INS Chennai has diverted for rescue, search areas are being expanded due to drift and currents in the area, said Navy spokesperson. Fishing vessel as seen from the aircraft. This video captures the essence of what Navy Boeing P-8i is doing - systematic search of every inch of possible/ probable area & providing hope to the stranded till they are rescued by our ships @nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/1sY0VXul42 SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 6, 2017 The government on Tuesday issued an advisory in view of Cyclone 'Ockhi', warning of a "rapid" rise in the water level of rivers in parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Union Health Minister J P Nadda today spoke to health ministers of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, assuring them of all help from the Centre for dealing with the possible damage caused by Cyclone Ockhi. A Coast Guard ship today located 15 boats off Lakshadweep and provided assistance to 184 fishermen on board, as part of its Cyclone Ockhi relief operations. Local fishermen will join Naval teams with INS Kabra, presently involved in search and rescue operations off Kollam port and their inputs will be taken to carry out the mission. The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide adequate basic amenities to those affected by cyclone Ockhi in Kanyakumari district. The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday said that Cyclone Ockhi was not expected to have high impact in Gujarat which is geared for the worst situation. As many as 39 people have perished and 167 fishermen were still missing after cyclone Ockhi hit Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts while 809 others were swept away to Maharashtra, the Union Home Ministry said today. Narendra Modi today said he is constantly monitoring the situation in various states arising out of cyclone Ockhi battering parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep islands and now heading towards Gujarat. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE] Light rains were expected at one or two places in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry over the next two days. Rahul Gandhi's rallies in Gujarat's Morbi, Dhrangadhra and Surendranagar cancelled due to bad weather, reports ANI. The Kerala government today said intensified search and rescue operations are on to trace the 92 fishermen missing in high seas after Cyclone Ockhi hit the state's coast on November 29. The National Disaster Management Authority today asked fishermen in both eastern and western coasts not to venture out in the sea for the next three days as heavy rainfall is expected in many areas due to Cyclone Ockhi. The North Goa district has done a preliminary assessment of the damage caused due to Cyclone Ockhi in the coastal state. Cyclone Ockhi today moved closer to the southern coast near Surat in Gujarat and is expected to make a landfall in the state around midnight, said officials. PM Modi and Amit Shah have directed party workers to stop campaigning and instead help people in coastal regions of Gujarat move to safer places. Amit Shahs cancelled rallies were to be held in Rajula, Mahua and Shihor. (TV reports) It's likely to rain today, there will be strong winds. People have been advised not to go out at night. Those living in kachha houses will be given shelter. NDRF is on alert. Municipality & local bodies are working on their level.: Mahendra Patel, Surat DM #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/lUuIpOiauW ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2017 Kerala fishermen demand stringent action against erring disaster management officers. [READ FULL STORY HERE] UP CM Yogi Adityanath hands over a cheque worth Rs. 5 Cr to PM Modi from CM Distress Relief Fund towards PM's National Relief Fund, for the cyclone affected people in Lakshadweep and other States #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/vPxxQaE43A ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2017 The recent cyclone has brought to the fore the lack of proper mechanism to urgently communicate with fishermen at sea about an impending natural disaster. The situation is set to change once a mechanism to improve the communication with fishermen at sea is put in place by the state government in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). [Kerala government to better offshore communication of fishermen | READ HERE] Rs 600 per hour to use a motor generator to fill water tank? Impossible, you might think. But the power-less Nagercoil is seeing this and more, as desperate residents look at help from all quarters to bring life back to normal. They shell out the extra charges to get drinking water and to charge their already-dead mobile phone batteries. [READ FULL ARTICLE HERE] With #CycloneOckhi expected to make a landfall in Gujarat, I appeal to @BJP4Gujarat Karyakartas to focus on helping people across the state. Our Karyakartas should devote themselves to providing all possible assistance and stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow citizens. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 5, 2017 In Mumbai, the Western Railways has deployed extra personnel for crowd management in case of any emergency due to the cyclone. [FULL REPORT] According to the IMD, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held an urgent meeting with senior officials to take stock of the preparedness in the state ahead of the expected landfall of the cyclone today. THE STORM OCKHI OVER ARABIAN SEA MOVED FURTHER NNE WARDS & IS NOW 480 KM SSW OF SURAT LIKELY TO CONTINUE TO MOVE NNE WARDS, WEAKEN GRADUALLY & CROSS S GUJ & N MAHA AS A DEEP DEPRESSION BY TONIGHT. HEAVY RAINS AND STRONG WINDS ALREADY STARTED. BE CAREFUL & TAKE PRECAUTIONS. pic.twitter.com/M5YymjDD7W Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) December 5, 2017 Some parts of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway experienced a hailstorm early today, police said. The traffic on Eastern and Western Express Highways in Mumbai has slowed down. There are traffic curbs in some places in view of the rush of followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his death anniversary tomorrow. Five days after #CycloneOchki made landfall @IndiaCoastGuard continues to be at sea off #TamilNadu #Kerala & #Lakshadweep Island for Search & Rescue . Coast Guard Ship rescued 19 fishermen on board 02 stranded vessels 96 Nautical Miles off Bitra (L&M ) Islands @DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/PKFBHiUkjh Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) December 5, 2017 All exams for Mumbai University taking place as scheduled, announced the administration. (TV reports) Mumbai police have been putting up barricades near Dadar chowpatty and Juhu chowpatty to stop people from going near the beaches, say TV reports. Cyclone Ockhi is expected to make landfall in Mumbai and coastal Gujarat on Tuesday midnight with squally winds, which may cause heavy rains in several parts of the state during the next two days. The Maharashtra government has declared a holiday for schools and colleges in Mumbai and adjoining districts. An official at the Mumbai office of India Meteorological Department said on account of the cyclone, the megapolis has started receiving rainfall due to spread of clouds. The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said a total of 2,604 fishermen out of the 2,864 caught in the cyclone Ockhi have been rescued. Women with all hopes of the return of their dear ones at the St Mary'schurch at Vizhinjam (EPS | Kaviyoor Santhosh) Several dozen shacks have reportedly been affected by Sunday night's swelling of waters along the coastline. The Central government has assured all help to cyclone-battered Lakshadweep, where there was no loss of lives, but extensive property damage in some islands: Lakshadweep Administrator Farooq Khan. Shibi, whose husband went missing Cyclone Ockhi, in all tears inside the St Mary's church at Vizhinjam. ( EPS | Kaviyoor Santhosh) The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday rescued another 19 fishermen from the Arabian Sea, top officials said. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today donated Rs two crore from the CM's relief fund to the PMNRF to provide relief to the victims of Cyclone Ockhi. A well-marked low pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to become a depression and move towards Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh by December 6, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said today. The National Crisis Management Committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, has reviewed rescue and relief operations being carried out in high seas and coastal areas hit by cyclone Ockhi. Women members of the fisher folk community on Monday held a protest in Kanyakumari district demanding that authorities intensify rescue operations to trace fishermen caught in the deep sea in the wake of Cyclone Ockhi. Hundreds of women held protest on the roads in Neerodi village demanding the authorities trace their loved ones who are still missing. [READ FULL STORY] In a thatched house on Poonthura beach in Kerala, 21-year-old Bobby, his 42-year-old mother Jacintha and his 17-year-old sister Nimmy are hopeless about the future. Their sole breadwinner Christy, 51, a fisherman, died in the Ockhi cyclone in high seas when he ventured out into the sea last Wednesday. [READ THE FULL STORY HERE] Four days after Ockhi hit Chellanam in Kerala, Annamma Pouly, 67, is yet to recover from the troubles she went through to shift her 74-year-old immobile husband from their house as sea water gushed in during the middle of the night. [READ HER ACCOUNT HERE] Cyclone Ockhi and the frantic scramble for organising rescue efforts down south have yet again underscored the need for permanently stationing Naval and Coast Guard ships in Thiruvananthapuram. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday sent two crore rupees from the Chief Minister Fund to the Prime Minister Fund for the relief of victims. (ANI) Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with the families of fishermen affected by the cyclone at Vizhinam in Thiruvananthapuram. She pointed out that the boats that had gone out well before the cyclone warning was issued had been found 15 days after their departure with the fishermen alive. ''If boats which went 15 days ago can come back with fishermen alive, we will make every attempt to get everybody back,'' she said. (Express News Service) [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Previously, Cyclone Ockhi had moved north-northwestwards during the past six hours and lay centered over southeast and east-central Arabian Sea , about 390 km west-northwest of Amini Divi island of Lakshadweep. Lakshadweep islands, which was hit by Cyclone Ochki, has suffered a loss of over Rs 500 crore, Lakshadweep MP Mohammad Faizal said today. Nirmala Sitharaman taking stock of Cyclone Ochki affected Kanyakumari and interacting with the locals. Very severe Cyclone Ockhi to recurve towards Gujarat, weaken gradually: Skymet Weather Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said 28 more boats, carrying 321 fishermen, which were caught in rough seas due to Cyclone Ockhi, have safely reached Maharashtra's Ratnagiri coast today. [READ FULL REPORT] A total of 357 fishermen, including 71 from Tamil Nadu, stranded in sea due to Cyclone Ockhi , were rescued this morning, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. What looked like an aftermath of cyclone Ockhi, three houses were damaged while the compound wall of a private resort collapsed as surging waves lashed the coast of Ullal in Dakshina Kannada in the last two days. According to official sources, damage to the property by huge waves has occurred in most of the coastal areas. KJ Alphons on Sunday also said that Cyclone Ockhi will not be termed a national disaster. [READ HERE] Even as the blame game over the lack of warning before cyclone Ockhi continues, Union Minister of State for Tourism and IT Alphons Kannanthanam said that the state had not received any warning until November 30. However, he later clarified that a warning had been issued on November 28 and 29 about a deep depression in the sea. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Four men three from Thiruvananthapuram and one from Tamil Nadu were rescued by the IAF and admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. They were identified as Zacharias (55), Seva Kurishu (35), and Kristudas (48) of Adimalathura, Thiruvananthapuram; and Anthony Adima (30) of Kollencode, Tamil Nadu. Another fisherman was brought dead to the hospital. A Coastguard vessel carrying 19 rescued fishermen was expected to arrive in Kochi. Moderate rain is expected at a few places in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry during the next 24 hours, according to IMD. [READ FULL REPORT] Indian Coast Guard ship Sarthi rescued a fisherman in rough seas during Cyclone Ockhi off Kerala coast. [WATCH VIDEO] Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari today. She will arrive at the technical area of the IAF at Shangumugham by 3 pm and leave for Kanyakumari. Fishermen community in Thiruvananthapuram have decided to launch their own rescue operations on Sunday as 55 boats ventured into the sea to search for the missing fishermen. (IANS) TN SDMA has also warned that strong winds from North-easterly direction with speeds reaching 40-55 Kmph is likely along and off Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast. The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority (TN SDMA) has issued a 24-hour warning to fishermen not to go for fishing to the Arabian sea. 68 fishing boats, out of which 66 are from Kerala and two from Tamil Nadu, have reached Maharashtra's Sindhudurg coast with total 952 fishermen on board. All are safe: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. (READ FULL REPORT HERE) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has decided to ask the Centre to declare the Ockhi cyclone as a national calamity. (ANI) Claims of thousand fishermen stranded are false. Correct figures- 97 are yet to be rescued, 71 from Tamil Nadu have been rescued till now. The Coast Guard is at it, with all its strength to rescue the rest. Hoping for good news soon: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (ANI) People receive essential commodities at a relief camp following cyclone Ockhi in the Kanyakumari district on Saturday. (PTI) Given orders to Maharashtra Maritime Board and Collector, Sindhudurg Dist. to make all arrangements for the stranded fishermen. Local authorities are already with them and taking care of all arrangements, tweets Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. In all 68 fishing boats have reached, out of which 66 are from Kerala and 2 from Tamil Nadu with total 952 fisherman on board. All are safe. Maharashtra will completely look after everyone till weather permits them to go back. @nsitharaman @BJP4Keralam Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 2, 2017 A fresh spell of heavy rain is in store in some areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry with a low pressure area forming over south Andaman sea, which is "very likely" to become a depression over Bay of Bengal. It is very likely to become a depression over southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 36 hours. It is also very likely to intensify further and move towards north Tamil Nadu south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 3-4 days. (IMD) Though many fishermen from Kerala were brought ashore safely and admitted to hospitals, many are yet to recover from the shock of wrestling the lashing waves and seeing death face-to-face. Stephan, a fisherman hailing from nearby Poonthura, said: "It was the first time we were experiencing such huge waves and a rough sea. Luckily, the rescue boat came back and saved us." Most of the rescued fishermen had bruises all over their bodies and were seen shivering and begging for hot water and food when brought ashore. (PTI) Stranded fisherman being brought to Kerala coast by Indain Navy personnel in Kochi on Saturday. (PTI) Tamil Nadu CM K Palaniswami today requested the Centre to deploy the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for the search and rescue of fishermen who have not returned so far, and that helicopters of Coast Guard and Navy should be deployed for this purpose. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the AIADMK leader that the Centre would provide the assistance required to rescue the fishermen. (PTI) Several roads that connect Kanyakumari with many interior parts have got cut or were fully damaged due to heavy rainfall following the impact of cyclone Ockhi in the district on Saturday. (PTI) A Coast Guard advisory here said the status of weather and sea conditions should be checked on television, radio, newspapers and smartphone applications before venturing out into the sea. The merchant ships should also be alert and avoid the path of Cyclone Ockhi, it said. Fishing boats should remain in groups and during distress all the crew should remain together, it said. DMK working president M K Stalin urged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in his letter to direct the Coast Guard to search and rescue "thousands of fishermen fighting for their lives in the mid sea, so as to prevent further loss of lives due to the Ockhi cyclone". Steps have been taken to prevent any possible outbreak of epidemic in rain-hit areas of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu Health minister C Vijayabhaskar said today. A relief worker places sand bags on the banks of a beach in Kochi in wake of cyclone Ockhi on Saturday. (PTI) Leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare cyclone Ockhi as a national disaster. He also urged the Kerala government to increase the financial aid for the injured at least up to Rs 50,000 from the present Rs 15,000. Lack of coordination had affected the government's relief and rescue operations, launched post Ockhi, he alleged. (PTI) The Southern Railway announced partial and full cancellation of some trains in the Kaniyakumari-Nagercoil section. One train service was also rescheduled. (PTI Meanwhile, relatives of missing fishermen from Kaniyakumari staged a road blockade demanding the fishermen be rescued at the earliest. Scores of women also staged protest at Chinnathurai in that district. There has been a huge demand for generator sets following the devastation caused by cyclone Ockhi in the Kanyakumari region on Saturday. (PTI) In Kanyakumari, power supply had been restored even as efforts are on to resume power supply in neighbouring areas like Nagercoil and Kuzhithurai. Officials expressed confidence that the power supply would be restored in the entire district by tomorrow. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced Rs 25 crore for expediting relief and restoration work in the district. (PTI) 261 persons rescued by @IndiaCoastGuard @adgpi and @IAF_MCC in #CycloneOckhi @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/ywhzBQLJnP Kiran_TNIE (@tniekiran1) December 2, 2017 The Coast Guard informed in a press release that on November 30, the Coast Guard District Headquarters in Kerala was informed that around 70-80 fishermen were stranded at sea due to the storm. The Coast Guard immediately sailed as many as nine ships towards Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts. Further, ships based at New Mangalore were also sailed towards Kerala coast to undertake the rescue of stranded fishermen. As the cyclone intensified, coordinated search by Coast Guard ships and aircraft continued in extremely rough weather with wind speed gusting up to 150 kmph. Ships at Mumbai and Goa were also placed on maximum alert to augment efforts as required, the press release read. (PTI) As per the last report, a total of 79 stranded fishermen have been saved by the Coast Guard in coordination with other agencies. Also, the fisheries department has intimated that about 25 boats with 250 personnel are still in distress at sea. A man watches a road that has been cut off due to floods following the heavy rainfall caused by the cyclone Ockhi which left heavy damage in the Kanyakumari district on Saturday. (PTI) 138 fishermen have been rescued from the Lakshadweep islands. (PTI) So far 393 people from Kerala have been rescued, Kerala CM Vijayan said, as the state government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of those who died in the storm, in addition to the financial assistance of Rs four lakh being given by the fisheries department.Of the rescued, 132 fishermen were from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, 66 from Kozhikode, 55 from Kollam, 40 from Thrissur, and 100 from Kanyakumari. (PTI) In Lakshadweep, 31 relief camps have been opened in the10 inhabited islands. So far, 1,047 people have been evacuated to the relief camps, official sources said. No casualties have been reported, with the worst-affected islands being Minicoy and Kalpeni. Seven people have lost their lives in Kerala in rain-related incidents over the past two days, official sources said. (PTI) Cyclone Ockhi has so far claimed 13 lives in Sri Lanka. Power supply, essential services and air traffic was disrupted in the stormy weather that left several buildings damaged and trees uprooted in its wake. READ FULL REPORT HERE #CycloneOckhi update @IndiaCoastGuard ship rescued 15 fishermen at sea off Vizhinjam/Quilon (Kerala) Coast and heading towards shore for safe disembarkation of fisher-folks @DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/39gJrfI20Z Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) December 2, 2017 Authorities including the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Coast Guard and Navy have rescued about 223 fishermen and evacuated thousands of people from cyclone hit areas, officials said, as they continued their operations on Saturday. While INS Nireekshak, INS Jamuna and INS Sagardhwani are continuing search and rescue operations in their designated areas along the coast off Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, two ships INS Shardul and INS Sharda are heading towards Lakshadweep, a defence spokesman said. (PTI) The naval ships, which left from the Southern Naval Command here yesterday, are likely to reach Lakshadweep this evening. The Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Lanba briefed me on the on-going rescue operations #CycloneOchki . More fishermen rescued this morning. Rescue work to continue.Some rescued fishermen waiting in Lakshadweep Isle to get back. Details @indiannavy @DefenceMinIndia @IndiaCoastGuard Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) December 2, 2017 The Kerala state government has announced a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of the deceased. #Kerala Locals have blocked National Highway for last five hours in Trivandrum's Thumba, demand better relief measures & rescue of 6 fishermen missing from the area #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/rcTY0gyDty ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2017 Six boats and 73 fishermen that went missing in the sea have been brought back, the Fisheries Minister of Tamil Nadu, D Jayakumar, informed on Saturday. (ANI) Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slammed rumour mongers on Saturday after it came to light that Friday's reports of a Japanese merchant ship rescuing 60 Kerala fishermen caught in the deep seas, was "fake". It was Thiruvananthapuram district Collector S.Vasuki who told the media, on Friday evening, that she wished to thank the Japanese government as one of their ships had rescued 60 fishermen and said they would arrive at the Vizhinjam coast. (IANS.) [READ FULL REPORT] Locals in Thiruvananthapuram's Poonthura came out in protest alleging rescue operations have been inadequate. (ANI) According to Thiruvananthapuram district Collector S Vasuki, 102 fishermen from the city who had gone into the sea have not been able to contact their relatives. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Kerala: Locals evacuated to rehabilitation centre in Kochi's Chellanam. #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/iAwj7Q7g94 ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2017 Several houses suffered damage, trees got uprooted and communication lines were disrupted as rains accompanied by strong winds lashed the Lakshadweep Islands under the influence of Cyclone Ockhi. [READ FULL REPORT] INS Nireekshak rescued two fishermen off Alappuzha coast. INS Sagardhwani fished out one cadaver, 30 km off Thiruvananthapuram coast. The ship had earlier found another cadaver. (PTI) PM Modi dialled Tamil Nadu CM K Palaniswami and enquired about the damage caused by the cyclone, which also battered parts of Kerala. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] The Tamil Nadu government has said it will soon seek central funds for the damage caused by Cyclone Ockhi in the southern parts of the state, with Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts being the worst hit. As many as 218 fishermen from various parts of southern Kerala who were missing at sea since Thursday have been rescued and brought back so far, even as Cyclone Ockhi continued its menacing north-westward path along the Arabian Sea. [READ REPORT HERE] A rescued fisherman rushed to the ambulance from the technical area of the Thiruvananthpuram airport on Friday afternoon. Express Photo | Kaviyoor Santhosh According to a CWC advisory, the west-flowing rivers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam in Kerala are likely to rise over the next 24 hours and then, slowly fall as the rains reduced. Three deaths were reported in Kerala and one in the worst-hit Kannyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, taking the toll to 12, reports UNI. A report from Lakshadweep said a red alert had been sounded as high waves posed a major threat to most of the islands in the region. (UNI) WATCH: Navy rescue fishermen off Thiruvananthapuram coast About 150 fishermen, who put out to sea from various southern districts, were rescued, Thiruvananthapuram District Commissioner K Vasuki said, adding that efforts were on to bring the rest of the stranded fishermen to the shore. The rescued fishermen included those who were saved by a Japanese cargo vessel. Kerala: Rescued fishermen brought to Trivandrim Air Force Station, later admitted to hospital for treatment #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/lB10HNPqsE ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 Heavy to extremely heavy rains are likely over Lakshadweep Islands, while light to moderate rains with a few heavy spells are expected over Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to Skymetweather's latest weather update. Two fishing boats Arokia Mary and Hermen Mary from Kanyakumari reported missing due #CycloneOckhi since 30 Nov 2017 with 08 crew each rescued by Coast Guard Ship C-427 off Vizhinjam #Kerala pic.twitter.com/nyLuxkoonk ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 Search and rescue effort progressing off Vizhinjam where approximately 40 people were stranded at sea. Indian Navy ships Sharda and Shardul sailed out to augment search effort, in final stages of embarking humanitarian assistance and disaster relief items for assistance at Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands , reports ANI. 130 families from Chellanam, 17 families from Kumbalangi and 18 families from Edavanakad rehabilitated from the coastal areas, reports ANI. [Read Report] Cyclone Ockhi is moving to the Arabian Sea. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says steps are initiated to rescue fishermen stranded in the rough sea, reports PTI. #WATCH: High tides seen at Lakshadweep coast #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/sxUBC4geku ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 24 people stranded at sea sighted by IN assets. Efforts underway to rescue all 24:- 07 picked up by MV ENERGY ORPHEUS,04 being rescued by INS JAMUNA ,03 rescued by trawler in area,02 rescued by ALH (progressing further rescue of 06 more),02 under Rescue by MV KUN LUN SHAN SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 1, 2017 READ FULL STORY: Navy, Coast Guard save 39 Kerala fishermen ALSO READ | Cyclone Ockhi tales #Kerala: Relatives of missing fishermen mourn in Thiruvananthapuram, say they received no warnings of #CycloneOckhi from the government pic.twitter.com/gewQlJZvPI ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 - One person was killed when a tree fell on his autorickshaw at Kulathupuzha in Kollam - A couple at Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram was electrocuted when power cables fell over them - Trees and hoardings collapsed in the strong wind, which also blew away thatched roofs and roofing sheets of houses - The State Disaster Management Authority has issued alert to Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Kottayam districts Satellite image of Cyclone Ockhi across South India. (Image Courtesy: skymetweather.com) Southern Naval Command deployed 3 ships & 2 aircraft following request by District Collector, Trivandrum for assistance in search of 6 fishing boats with fisherman & 1 Marine Engineering vessel missing near Vizhinjam, due to cyclonic storm developed in Indian Ocean off Kerala. pic.twitter.com/2fShFmu1NS ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2017 SkymetWeather (@SkymetWeather) November 30, 2017 Five people dead, 22 fishermen missing, 62 houses fully damaged, 240 houses partly damaged due to heavy rains, in Kanyakumari district. 16 rehabilitation centres established by government in which 1044 people are being given shelter. (ANI) Ockhi can lead to cloudy weather coupled with light rain for some parts along Maharashtra coast and Mumbai next week, reports said. The IMD has issued warning to all ports. Skymet predicted that there will be light rains in Saurashtra and Kutch region of Gujarat as well. Thiruvananthapuram saw a respite from incessant rains Friday morning. Several trains to and from Thiruvananthapuram were either delayed, cancelled or re-scheduled, say TV reports. #WATCH: Water logging in Sthanumalayan Temple in Kanyakumari's Suchindram #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/nDSjmpfXoz ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 Tamil Nadu CM K Palaniswami announces Rs 5 lakh compensation to kin of the five deceased in Kanyakumari district due to rain-related incidents. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said there were serious lapses from the side of state disaster management department. The alert from Hyderabad was not sent to the Government on time, reports ANI. [READ FULL REPORT] Indian Navys Advanced Light Helicopter has dropped a life a liferaft for 8 survivors at sea 20nm off Trivandrum and is picking up two critically injured survivors from MV Energy Orpheus. Naval Seaking helicopter being launched shortly to recover 8 survivors & additional SAR. Boeing P8I Aircraft deployed at first light from INS Rajali this morning sights 7 survivors hanging on to a capsized boat ~25 miles West of Tivandrum. A/c drops life raft in the vicinity and reported the exact position. Ships in area are being diverted to render assistance: Indian Navy Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has spoken to the DG of NDRF and reviewed the situation in areas affected by Cyclone Ockhi. NDRF teams have already been moved to the affected areas. More teams are on standby to respond to any further emergencies. The Home Affairs ministry is closely monitoring the situation, according to a the HMO, reports ANI. #Kerala: 59 people stranded due to heavy rains rescued by Navy and coastal guards in Trivandrum #CycloneOckhi pic.twitter.com/8YziNQeaeH ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2017 A cyclone alert has been issued across the coastal regions in north Kerala as MET has predicted cyclone Ockhi will reach this part of the state also. Nearly 200 fishing boats, which left Kochi coast in the last couple of days, are yet to return. Joseph Xavier, general secretary, All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association, said, Usually, we used to receive advance warnings on the weather. But this time, there was no such notification." This is a matter of concern, given there were reports about the arrival of the cyclone at least two days ago, he said. Since most of the boats are co-owned by people belonging to Tamil Nadu and most of the workers are also from that state, it is also possible that the fishermen might have taken the boats to Colachel, Muttom and Thengapattanam, said Xavier. Kerala: Fishermen in Trivandrum go missing. Relatives say they received no warnings of Cyclone Ockhi from the government. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held an emergency meeting of top officials to take stock of the situation and has asked police and revenue officials to be on high alert, reports IANS. Balakrishnan Nair, scientist at INCOIS, said that the storm surge of about one metre above astronomical tides are very likely to inundate low-lying areas of Lakshadweep Islands from Thursday night and 0.5 metre surge will inundate low-lying areas of coastal districts of south Kerala (Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts), and adjoining districts of south Tamil Nadu (Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts). Four people were killed in Kerala on Thursday as heavy rains and strong winds lashed southern part of the state after cyclonic storm Ockhi hit the Kerala coast. (READ MORE) Four people died today in Kanyakumari as heavy rains and strong winds uprooted trees, snapped power lines and damaged settlements close to the sea in Kanyakumari-Nagercoil-Thoothukudi region in south Tamil Nadu. Schools in seven districts of the state including Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Virudhunagar were closed today. [READ MORE] Two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams with 60 personnel have been sent to Kanyakumari. Another team of 47 will be on standby in Kochi in Kerala to help out in Lakshadweep if the need arises. [READ: TN CM Palaniswami: Taking precautionary steps for Cyclone Ockhi] Heavy rains have caused chaos and destruction in districts of Kerala since Wednesday. Thiruvananthapuram woke up this morning to a sustained heavy drizzle and heavily overcast skies, which hit rush hour traffic in the state's capital city. One death has been reported in the state so far. An autorickshaw driver on the outskirts of Kollam was killed today after a tree fell on his vehicle. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] Severe rainstorm &winds in Thiruvananthapuram. Here I'm struggling with my umbrella at Shankumukham Beach where #Padayorukkam is scheduled to conclude tomorrow w/ mass rally by Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/qxXvugMqHV The Southern Naval Command is also gearing up for any Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief that may be required due to the effects of the storm in the southern part of Kerala. [READ FULL REPORT HERE] S Balachandran, Director, Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai, said southern districts in Tamil Nadu such as Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar will get heavy to very heavy rainfall till December 1. Cyclone Ockhi is not expected to make a landfall in Tamil Nadu. ALSO READ | High wave warning sounded for south Tamil Nadu For north coastal Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, the skies would be generally cloudy and light to moderate spells of rain can be expected. Chennai received up to 6 cm of rain between 8:30 last night and 8:30 this morning. As far as fishermen are concerned, those in Kanyakumari, Tuticorin, Rameswaram, have been asked not to venture out into sea till December 1, Thursday as the wind speed will be 65-70 kmph, meaning the sea will be rough along and off south Tamil Nadu, south Kerala coasts and Lakshadweep Islands. #cyclonealert: Check out the progress of the #CycloneOckhi #Cyclone #Ockhi #Weather #cyclone1 #Chennai #Chennairains #Kerala #TamilNadu @tnsdma @kerala_kaumudi @archvivekh @karthickselvaa pic.twitter.com/A0RNw8wJ90 The weather office has also predicted dense fog in places in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Cyclone 'Ockhi' (meaning: eye) was a name contributed by Bangladesh. With a speed of 38 kmph at 8:30 Thursday morning, the cyclone lay centred about 340 km west-northwest of Galle in Sri Lanka, 60 Km south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and 120 km southwest of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and 480 km eastsoutheast of Minicoy in Lakshadweep. It has moved west-northwestwards towards Lakshadweep Islands in the southeast Arabian Sea. Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks lying 200 to 400 km to the West of the South-West coast (Kerala) of India. Cyclone Ockhi is approaching the Lakshadweep archipelago, a top official at the Ministry of Earth Sciences said in Delhi today. Madhavan Rajeevan, secretary in the ministry, said the archipelago in the southern part of the Arabian Sea will start experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds from tomorrow. "It will hit the islands on December 2," Rajeevan said. (PTI) Earlier today, the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) had put out an alert saying that the system could intensify further to become a severe cyclonic storm. It further said the storm could re-curve towards the Mumbai-Gujarat region on the West Coast, after being influenced by an incoming western disturbance from the opposite direction. Heavy rainfall and storms in Tamil Nadu in the first week of November this year killed at least 12 people and thousands took shelter in relief camps, triggering fears of the 2015 floods repeat. It had killed more than 400 people, displaced lakhs and damaged property worth thousands of crores. What is a tropical depression The India Meteorological Department (IMD) classifies the low pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal and in the Arabian Sea into seven categories. Low pressure areas with maximum sustained surface wind speeds between 31 and 61 kmph are called tropical depressions. Once the winds around the low pressure area reach at least 62 kmph, it is called a tropical cyclone and is assigned a name. The current system is intensifying rapidly. As per the IMD wind warning, squally winds would reach 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph along and off south Tamil Nadu during the next 48 hours. Another depression kicking-in The trough of low pressure over the Malay Peninsula and neighbourhood is persisting and is likely to develop into a low-pressure area over Malay Peninsula and adjoining south Andaman Sea during the next 24 hours. This system is likely to trigger a wet spell for the north coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, around December 4. (With inputs from Express News Service and agencies) Haven't bought your Thanksgiving turkey yet? A look at local prices. While farms like Helgers in Tiverton have already sold out of turkeys, there are still frozen and fresh birds for sale at local markets. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 In November, the Czech car manufacturer, Skoda Auto delivered 114,600 vehicles more than ever before in a single month. Skoda surpassed last Novembers result by 17.5%. Skoda Auto posted double-digit growth rates in Europe (+12.2%), India (+43.0%) and its largest sales market China (+23.4%). Delivering 37,000 vehicles in November, the brand set a new record in China. Delivering 114,600 vehicles, we have achieved the strongest sales month in the history of Skoda, says Alain Favey, Skoda Auto Board Member for Sales and Marketing. The Skoda Kodiaq has become an established name in our statistics. We are also delighted with the successful launch of the Skoda Karoq. Both models are an integral part of our global SUV campaign. Between January and November 2017, we delivered around 50% more SUVs than in the same period last year. In Western Europe, Skoda achieved a year-on-year increase of 7.9% in November with 40,100 deliveries. With 16,100 vehicles sold, Germany continues to be the strongest single European market. Skoda recorded double-digit growth in Austria, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Greece. In Central Europe, deliveries increased by 18.6% to 19,100 vehicles. Deliveries on the domestic market of the Czech Republic increased by 3.9% to 8,300 vehicles. Skoda Auto achieved double-digit growth rates in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. In Eastern Europe excluding Russia, Skoda Auto achieved an increase of 18.9% in November compared to the same period last year, delivering 3,800 vehicles. The carmaker recorded significant growth rates in Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. In Russia, deliveries increased by 19.4% to 5,700 vehicles. In Turkey, Skoda Auto recorded strong growth up 49.4% year-on-year to 3,300 vehicles. In Israel, deliveries increased by 47.8% to 1,700 vehicles. In November, the manufacturer achieved 37,000 deliveries in its largest single market China with an increase of 23.4%. Never before in the companys history has Skoda Auto delivered more cars in China in one month as last month. Deliveries in India increased by 43.0% to 1,400 vehicles. With the introduction of the Skoda Kodiaq in October this year, the SUV campaign is also showing its effect here. Amruta Fadnavis was trolled after she attended a Christmas-themed charitable event in Mumbai. This weekend, if you chance upon a woman sleeping under a tree, dont be surprised. Across the world, women are lining up to occupy public parks just so that they can take a nap. This is their way of telling the world that they dont need to carry a pepper spray all the time, they are allowed to be safe despite being defenseless. The initiative, Meet To Sleep, is the brainchild of Jasmeen Patheja, the founder of Blank Noise. For too long we have been told to be careful. We are now changing the narrative, Patheja told News18. A volunteer-based project against street harassment of women, Blank Noise, have been organizing events where women meet in parks and simply sleep for a couple of hours on a bench or on the lawn. This year is going to a little more special. This is the year of the #MeToo movement, this is the year when Merriam-Webster dictionary chose "feminism" as the word of 2017. This is the year when TIME magazine chose the Silence Breakers as its Person Of The Year. This is the year when Raya Sarkars list came out. This is the year when women finally decided to speak up. And, this year marks the fifth anniversary of the brutal gang rape and murder in Delhia tragic reminder that women are not safe in apparent safe spaces. Patheja says that every time a woman is harassed she is told to be more careful, she is asked to be strong. The justifications just dont end, she said. This is an invitation to reject all those warnings, she added. The Blank Noise founder said that women deserve to build a trust in the public. And, this is their way of helping women get rid of their fears. Patheja, an artist, and activist had started Blank Noise in 2003 as part of her graduation project at the Bangalore-based Srishti School of Art Design and Technology. The idea was to mobilize citizen "action heroes" through its projects, events, and campaigns in shaping the discourse on street harassment in India. In 2007, Patheja started an online project, asking women to send a wish list. Several people responded, some of them said, I wish I could dance slowly, some said, I wish I could hum in the public. Patheja listed napping in a public place on her wish list. So she, along with a bunch of other action heroes went to a public park. While she tried napping, others did want they wished to do in public placeseat alone, read a book were a few of those dreams. I would wake up at the slightest noise, Patheja said recalling the first time she tried it. We have been trained to reciprocate to threats like that, she added. We always carry a fear, why should we do that? We need to feel safe in public places, she said. In 2014, the project almost became a movement. More women started joining in. Last year, 150 women across the world participated in the event. This year, women have already registered from Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Goa and even San Francisco. Those who want to participate can land at the venue with a mat, cushion, blanket, water, and snacks. For more, check out the event page on Facebook. New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Wednesday formed a nine-member expert panel to examine the functioning of private hospitals in the Capital city. The step comes after the Delhi government cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, for wrongly declaring dead a newborn baby who was later found to be alive and for not giving EWS patients mandated number of beds. The panel has been formed two days after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) brought out a series of recommendations to check unethical practices in healthcare sector. Jain said the Delhi government has been talking to the IMA, the Delhi Medical Association and the Delhi Medical Council among others, in a "series of meetings" to form this panel. He noted that several complaints against hospitals/nursing homes, regarding overcharging, refusal to or delay in providing medical care to victims of crimes or road accidents, rude behaviour on the part of the staff and compelling patients to buy drugs from in house pharmacies, have been brought to his notice. The panel has been charged with creating a set of protocols, by December 31, to curb these illegal practices. It comprises Delhi's Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Kirti Bhushan, IMA president Dr. KK Aggarwal, former DMA president Dr. RK Gupta and current DMC president Dr. Arun Gupta among others. "Some of the mechanisms this panel has been asked to prepare are based on the IMA's recommendations that it brought out on December 11. For example, all private hospitals/nursing homes should prescribe drugs mentioned in National List of Essential Medicines (NELM)," said Jain. The panel will have to figure out how private nursing homes and hospitals should only charge prices for medicines and consumables and not compel patients to buy drugs from in-house pharmacy, and to regulate the prices for various types of diagnostics. Additionally, they've been asked to develop a mechanism to eradicate cuts and commissions in medical practice. Beijing: China has played down the significance of India's entry into the export control regime Wassenaar Arrangement, saying it need not necessarily pave the way for New Delhi's admission into the NSG as the elite nuclear group may have a different criteria. India was admitted to Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) on December 8, a development expected to raise New Delhi's stature in the field of non-proliferation besides helping it acquire critical technologies, according to the reports. China, which is not a member of the WA, stalled India's entry into the 48-member nuclear club on the ground it was not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). "We have noted the report," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to queries about India's admission into the WA and its impact on New Delhi's NSG bid. "I understand that different multilateral mechanisms have different roles and different criteria for accepting new members," Lu said, hinting that China viewed about its impact on Indias admission into the NSG differently. India's entry into the export control regime was believed to enhance its credentials in the field of non-proliferation despite not being a signatory to the NPT, the reports said. The WA membership is expected to build up a strong case for India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). A day before India's admission into WA, China asserted its opposition to India's bid into the NSG even after Russia said it has taken up the issue with China at various levels. "China's position on this remains unchanged," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media last week, reacting to reported comments by Russias deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov that Russia is speaking to China on India's NSG membership bid. China has been stonewalling India's application to NSG, which regulates the international nuclear commerce, on the ground that India is not a signatory to the NPT. After India's application, Pakistan, which is also not a signatory to NPT, too, has applied for the membership of grouping despite serious allegation of proliferation of nuclear technology by its top nuclear scientist AQ Khan. New Delhi: Opposition leaders, taking the Gujarat election campaign a notch higher, have accused the Modi government of making savings in bank accounts unsafe by allowing banks to use the deposits for recapitalization in case of a financial setback. While the national bank employee unions' threat to go on strike only added to the panic, PM Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley quickly came forward to reassure the people that they will never put their hard-earned money at risk. It was during the Parliaments Monsoon Session that the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill was introduced and has gone through rigorous public debates since then. A joint Parliamentary committee is currently studying the draft Bill and is expected to come out with a report, following which it is likely to be taken up for legislative approval in the Parliament. However, the concerns of consumers and bank employees have raised some pertinent questions. Banks have been forever known to be cornerstones of financial security. But with the current Bill in contention, several bank employees on condition of anonymity said that the very foundation of financial security is being questioned. The bill provides for a bail-in option, which means depositors could lose control of their money which would be converted into securities such as shares in the bank in case the banks financial situation deteriorates. Simply put, banks will be using depositors money to recoup. The bill has it that banks in case of a financial breakdown can use depositors money to re-strengthen themselves and the cash will be converted into securities that can later be monetized. However, what if the bank never recovers? said D.K.Srivastava, chief policy advisor at EY, a consultancy firm. Banking unions have also opposed this bill for a variety of reasons. The unions said in a joint statement in November that the proposed law will open up public sector banks for liquidation or amalgamation, which could put the deposits of customers under severe risk. Worse, provisions dealing with deposit insurance are ambiguous in the draft law, with no explanation on the amount to be insured by the banks. Under the current law, deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh, including interest, are protected by the insurance cover that the bank provides. This means that payment of deposits upto Rs 1 lakh is guaranteed even if the bank sinks. Anything over and above Rs 1 lakh does not have this protection, which means there is a possibility that a bank account holder with a large deposit might lose a lot of money if a bank cripples. However, this has never happened since 1961. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in last budget speech said, The government is keen on setting up a framework that would instil better financial discipline among banking institutions and make stronger provisions to protect public money. Following the announcement, a committee under Ajay Tyagi, additional secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, was set up in March last year. The committee released the draft law in September 2016. The Union Cabinet cleared the Bill in June this year, which was later tabled in the Parliament in August. Political parties, including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress have gone whole hog in refuting the Bill citing public money risks involved in operationalising it. Arun Jaitley faced with resistance, said in a press conference on Tuesday that public money will be protected and depositors need not worry. The Bail-in Clause The bail-in clause included in the proposed law is one provision that directly and immediately affects depositors. According to the bail-in clause, creditors of the bank would have to bear a part of the loss in case the financial institution sinks. All depositors are considered creditors in banking terms. Abhishek Poddar, Partner A T Kearney feels this is perhaps an improvement from the existing scenario, where amounts over Rs 1 lakh would be lost completely. Your money will be converted into a security instead of being lost, said Poddar. Those opposing the new law argue that its fundamental idea is to transfer the burden of non-performing assets created by corporate defaulters to the common people. It is fairly deducible that the corporate defaulters will be eased off only to pass on the burden to the depositors, added Srivastava. The banking sector is under stress due to bad loans and according to the RBI's Financial Stability Report released in June 2017, the gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) ratio of all banks stood at 9.6% as of March 2017. The RBI had recommended that banks initiate insolvency proceedings for 12 large defaulters, constituting 25% of the systems NPAs. While the provisions of the Bill ensure stability in the financial sector and resolution of issues in a time-bound manner, interests of bank depositors sure need a revisit. New Delhi: On April 28, 2016, 30-year-old law student Jisha was found murdered at her home near a canal in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. Her body was mutilated with over 30 stab wounds. The immediate suspicion was on migrant labourers around that area. A few days later, Jyothy Behra, a migrant worker from Assam, was beaten to death in Kottayam. The lynching was considered to be a result of the anger over the possibility of a migrant workers involvement in the gruesome murder of Jisha. Cut to 2017, the sole accused in Jisha's murder has been found guilty. While the quantum of sentence is yet to be announced, the fact that the court has decided that Ameerul Islam, a migrant labourer, raped and killed the law student might worsen the already tense relationship that Keralites have with the migrants. Jishas hometown, Perumbavoor, is known as mini north India owing to its huge population of migrants. When Jisha was found dead, police initially probed the migrant worker angle. In 2015, a worker from Assam was arrested for murdering a toddy shop worker in Kuttanad. Another worker was arrested for burglary in a jewellery store. In May last year, an elderly couple and their son were killed by a worker they had hired in their dry cleaning shop in Kottayam. As per government records, at least 49 such workers were accused in murder cases in the state, 240 were booked for theft and 173 were booked for selling banned substances. "There is a popular notion that migrant labourers are possible criminals," said T Radhamani, secretary at Devaki Warrier Memorial Women Studies & Empowerment Centre. There are scores of Malayalis who think that migrant workers come to Kerala to escape punishment in their homeland. With the Jisha verdict, this bias will worsen. People were already suspicious when the murder came to light. Now that it has been substantiated by the court, there is no way that Malayalis will not look at people from outside with more suspicion, she explained. Interestingly, despite the bias, Keralas economy depends on the migrant labourers. Migrants are employed across all sectorshospitality, carpentry, infrastructure, farming, etc. As per a 2013 study by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation for the Kerala labour department, there are over 25 lakh domestic migrant workers in the state and as of 2016, the figure stood at around 40 lakh people about 10% of states population. The number of people coming to Kerala from other states is almost same as those leaving the state. Keralites are getting richer and they dont want to do the menial jobs that migrants do in the state. They are filling the gap in the local labour force, said KC Zachariah from the Centre for Development Studies. Radhamani agreed with Zachariah. Everyone knows that migrant labourers are the backbone of the service sector in the state. People will raise questions and demand more surveillance by the police but they will still let migrants work. This dependence on migrant labourers, Zachariah said, is enough for the state to spend more on them in terms of healthcare and education. And indeed, after the rumoured exodus of around 400 labourers from Kerala earlier this year, the state police department conducted adalats in all districts where migrant workers were asked to discuss the issues they faced. Kerala is one of the few states with functional policies and schemes for migrant workers including insurance, education among others. A 2016 paper, Social Integration of Migrant Workers in Kerala: Problems and Prospects, which was sponsored by the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment, stated Kerala, for one, has set the ball rolling by beginning work on a piece of legislation specifically 11 focused on migrant workers. Tentatively titled the Kerala Migrant Workers (Conditions of Service and Compulsory Registration) Social Security Bill, the proposed law could turn out to be yet another model from the State for the rest of the country if handled sensitively and imaginatively. New Delhi: Police said on Wednesday that they had launched a manhunt for India's only "happiness minister" after the Madhya Pradesh politician vanished when a court order for his arrest was issued over an alleged murder. Lal Singh Arya, whose only mandate is to put a smile on the face of his 70 million constituents, is wanted in connection with an alleged murder of a rival politician in 2009. Madhya Pradesh in January became the first state in India to create a happiness ministry, making headlines with the appointment of Arya to head this rosy department. But the 53-year-old from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disappeared without a trace after a court in Bhind district issued a non-bailable warrant for his arrest over an alleged connection to the murder. Local police told AFP they were "hopeful" of catching Arya before he is scheduled to appear in court on December 19. "Police teams are still looking for him. We are positive that we will track him down by then," Prashant Khare, police superintendent in Bhind, told AFP by phone. Police launched the hunt on Tuesday for the minister when he was not found at his residence, the Press Trust of India reported. Arya was tasked by the state in January with responsibility for "the happiness and tolerance of its citizens". The happiness ministry is modelled on the "gross national happiness" index used by India's northerly neighbour Bhutan as a measure of its success. Madhya Pradesh hopes for its own such "happiness index", and has promised social programs, including yoga, meditation and free religious pilgrimages for senior citizens. The state's chief minister said in January the ministry would even "rope in psychologists to counsel people on how to be always happy". (With agency inputs) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the leaders of Indian Industry at the Annual General Meeting of FICCI, his first address to an AGM of a national business association after becoming the PM. He has called on industry and political parties to meet the aspiration of people who want India to get rid of corruption and black money. Stay tuned for live updates Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. Here's a general rule of thumb for booking air travel in 2018: To score the best international economy fares, clear out your Sunday, and book your departure flight for Friday. And whatever you do, avoid making any kind of reservations on Friday. That's the latest advice from a major report released jointly by Expedia and the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which combed through flight data spanning September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017 to identify patterns on the best times to book air travel, and best times to fly next year. With a few exceptions, the numbers show that Sunday is the best day of the week to sit down at your laptop or scroll through your smartphone to find the best flight deals. This is true of most countries around the world with the exception of travelers departing from Australia, Iceland, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Peru, Singapore, Thailand and Tunisia. Overall, the same is true for booking domestic flights. The finding, once again, debunks the widely circulated claim that Tuesday is the best day of the week to book. - Best time to fly - Meanwhile, for added savings, the second part of the booking formula dictates that for international economy flights, the best day to start your journey is a Thursday or Friday, with the exception of flights departing from Fiji or Saudi Arabia. By contrast, Friday is the worst day in general to book your flight, as the average ticket prices are most expensive. The report also offers advice on the cheapest months to fly for international travel. For example, travelers who are planning a trip to Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore in 2018 will see the biggest savings if they travel in the month of March, while November is the cheapest month to travel to Thailand and South Korea. Travel to Japan is forecast to be cheapest in January, while travel to China is predicted to be cheapest in December. The cheapest month to embark on an international flight for travelers in Canada and the US, meanwhile, is February. For Europe, the cheapest months for international travel in general are March, May and September. And the magic month for international travel to Australia and New Zealand? March. Mumbai: Superstar Salman Khan will be seen battling a pack of wolves in Tiger Zinda Hai. Director Ali Abbas Zafar says that it is a very dramatic sequence in the forthcoming film. "Tiger's encounter with a pack of wolves marks one of the most important chapters in the film. The idea was to do something, which has never been seen on the Indian screen, and give Tiger's character an edge. This is a very dramatic chase and an action sequence that Tiger has with a pack of real wolves," Zafar said in a statement. The scene with the wolves has been shot in the snow-capped forests of Austria. The international action crew took all precautionary measures to ensure that the wolves were well taken care of and that security measures were on point. The crew spent months planning this with specialised wolf trainers. The action crew led by Hollywood stunt choreographer Tom Struthers has pulled off this sequence. Tiger Zinda Hai, which also features actress Katrina Kaif, will release on December 22. Mumbai: Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan is all praise for her sister-in-law Soha Ali Khan, saying she is the family's torchbearer and someone they all turn to for advice. Lauding Soha's knowledge, Kareena said she is always nervous while listening to the conversations between husband Saif Ali Khan and Soha as she struggles to understand what they are talking. Kareena said she finds herself in a similar position as that of Soha's husband Kunal Kemmu, who said he can't get some of the English words Soha uses while they are talking. "I have rarely been intimidated by anyone and media knows. But if there's one person in the family I am completely in awe of, it is Soha. I'm always a little nervous when I am having dinner with Saif and Soha, I'm like 'Oh my God, I am never going to understand this conversation'," Kareena said. "If Kunal can't, there's no way I can! Soha has always been so polite, like 'Hi, what's up, did you buy anything, so what's the gossip?' I'm like, 'Oh God, I feel so small and lame! But it's okay. I think we have found our way," she added. Kareena was speaking at the launch of Soha's book, "The Perils of Being Moderately Famous", last night. In her book, Soha talks about finding herself in different capacities - as legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and veteran Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore's daughter, and actors Saif Ali Khan's sister and Kareena Kapoor Khan's sister-in-law. "If there's anyone in the family who we all can turn to, when Amma (Sharmila) is all worked up, if there's one person that can control the situation, that's Soha. I truly believe that she is the torch-bearer of the family and this title doesn't do justice (to her) because famous or no famous, she is the grounding on which all of us stand," she said. The "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" actor also recalled how Soha took care of her father in the last days with compassion and a "breaking heart". "I've never seen any other daughter, I am a daughter myself, I don't know if I could've done the way she looked after him. And that to me, is a solid woman. So here's to you Soha. I'm sure Abba is listening to all of this," Kareena added as Soha became teary-eyed. Also present at the launch were Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Kemmu and Saba Ali Khan India has always been a huge presence at the Dubai International Film Festival, and this year, there were three movies three very different kinds of movies there. But curiously all of them spoke about the darker side of the human being making me pause and ponder whether the world is slipping into something unmistakably depressing. I hope not. But while Anup Singh's The Song of Scorpions and Dipesh Jain's Manoj Bajpayee-Ranvir Shorey starrer In The Shadows did not end on a note of high, Shabana Azmi's 5 Rupees veered into a patch of light. However, Singh's Song was the most memorable for it played with simple subtlety, and was pushed into the realm of the riveting by able direction and superb performances. Set in the sands of India's Rajasthan, The Song of Scorpions is the story of a woman, Nooran (portrayed by the hauntingly beautiful Iranian actress, Golshifteh Farahani) who has this magical power to to pull the poison out of a man or woman stung by a scorpion. Irrfan Khan's Adam, a camel dealer, walks into her life to turn it upside down in a film that explores the darkest aspects of human behaviour jealousy and revenge. In the Shadows treads the same path. Set in the bewildering maze of old Delhi's lanes and bylanes, Jain presents a psychological thriller of a man, Khuddoos (Bajpayee), who plays peeping Tom, a habit he had picked up very early on in life. As a boy, he had let his curiosity get the better of him, scaling walls to watch the goings-on in a house. Later, the grown-up Khuddoos cannot let go his obsession, although this is revealed to us at the very end. Image: A still from In The Shadows Bajpayee fascinates us with his ability to look the part of a man with a battered and bruised boyhood who grows up all twisted, a loner whose only link with the outside world is through the CCT monitors he has in his dilapidated home. And he watches the world through them nay watches what men and women do within their four walls. In the Shadows did not quite appeal to me. For, it came across as something that was clever by half. Though the protagonist himself displays considerable restraint, the script does not help him, running into unbelievable alleys. Now how can a little lad smother a huge, grown-up man with a pillow! Seemed like some kind of Boy Superman! This is also my quarrel with 5 Rupees by Piyush Chandrakant Panjuani. Set in an idyllic hamlet in the foothills of the picturesque Himalayas, the movie traces the last day of Ramadan when seven-year-old Hamid's grandmother (Azmi) promises to give him five rupees as an Eid gift. But when the money goes missing, the grandmother, who dotes on the boy, begins to harbour doubts. Has Hamid stolen the money to spend it at the village fair? The villagers do not help either, pushing the poor, old woman into a state of angst. However, when Hamid returns and after he is spanked by the grandmother, he displays the gift he has got her. A pair of tongs which will prevent her from burning her hands while making roti. Image: A still from 5 Rupees This is an emotional high in the film, but the sequence leading up to it is so exaggerated that 5 Rupees loses some of its sheen. Come on, I did not expect the whole village to gang up against Hamid and accuse him of being a thief. No way. Lazy scripting often pulls a work down, and Panjuani appears to be no exception to this folly. (Author, commentator and movie critic is now covering the 14 Dubai International Film Festival) Bengaluru: The Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to hand over the case of 'unnatural death' of a 19-year-old boy in Honnavar to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the incident led to riots in the coastal region of the state. On Monday and Tuesday, Kumta and Sirsi taluks of the state witnessed large-scale violence after the bloated and dis-coloured body of Paresh Mesta, who had been missing following communal clashes, was found in a lake on December 8, 2017. Things went out of control after the state BJP right-wing organisations held demonstrations and gave bandh calls as a mark of protest against Meshta's death. Incidents of stone-pelting, buses being stopped, shops closed and even burning of a police car were reported in the state. Karnataka's Honnavar witnessed violence on Wednesday night. (Photo: CNN-News18) "We decided to hand over the case to the CBI as we felt the BJP was only trying to use this death for political benefit. Assuming it is murder, we do not want to shield anyone nor do we want to be blamed for such a thing," Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told News18. He said the BJP is not sharing in the grief of the family and merely wants to make it a communal issue ahead of elections next year. However, demanding a NIA probe, the state BJP blamed the Popular Front of India (PFI) for Mesta's death. On December 9, local BJP leaders, including Karandlaje, participated in the last rites of Meshta and claimed that he was a party worker. "PFI is directly responsible for the violence. It is like ISIS. Why is BJP being blamed for the riots?" Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje asked at a press conference while reiterating that Meshta was a fisherman who could swim in oceans and there was no chance of drowning in the lake. Demanding a NIA probe, Karnataka BJP blamed the Popular Front of India (PFI) for Mesta's death. (Photo: CNN-News18) Mesta's father Kamalakar on Wednesday clarified that his son was not a member of any organisation. Speaking to the media he said, "We are Hindus, yes, but my son was not a member of any Sangha or organisation." All of this, however, was debunked by the doctor in-charge of the post-mortem. According to the doctor, there were no injury marks, no pin or nail-pricks on the boy's body as was alleged. The doctor's report only said Meshta had two tattoos on his wrist a photo of Shivaji and the word 'Maratha' inscribed on his wrist both of which were intact. Post-mortem report of Paresh Mesta (Photo: CNN-News18) In fact, the blackening or discolouring was attributed only to putrefaction as the body was in water for many hours which raises the question of whether it was murder or accident or suicide. A final post-mortem report could take 15 days. The Karnataka Police, which believe the violence was fanned by rumours on social media, will soon launch a formal probe into the incident. WhatsApp forwards and Twitter feeds have details of gruesome mutilation and murder of this 'RSS worker' which spread rage among many. Messages claimed that Meshta was mutilated, castrated, hot oil poured over him and tattoo marks of Shivaji and Maratha on his wrist were destroyed before he was thrown into the lake. Following the violence, only one person has been arrested for spreading rumours. "Forty-three-year-old Thimmappa Parameshvar Nayak, who works as a physical education teacher of a local school, was arrested for spreading fake news through WhatsApp," the police said. New Delhi: The Election Commission issued a showcause notice on Wednesday to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi after TV channels in poll-bound Gujarat aired his interview in alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). "Explain why action should not be taken against you for violating provisions of MCC, failing which Commission will decide matter without any further reference to you," said the notice issued to the Congress scion on the eve of the second and final phase of voting in Gujarat. The poll panel also directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to file an FIR against TV channels in the state that aired the interview. Such display falls within the definition of election matter under Section 126 (3) of Representation of the People Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll in the poll going areas, amounts to violation of Section 126 (1)(b) of Representation of the People Act, 1951, a press release by the EC said. As per the Election Commission guideline for the media, TV channels can't broadcast anything related to the elections after 5 pm on December 12. The interview became the latest flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress, with the latter accusing Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Union Minister Piyush Goyal of threatening journalists in the name of poll code. The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) even filed a police complaint against FICCI chief Pankaj Patel for delivering a speech in praise of PM Narendra Modi at the industry body's 90th AGM in the national capital on Wednesday evening. The GPCC complaint against FICCI chief Pankaj Patel. Congress in-charge of communications department Randeep Surjewala, who led a party delegation to the EC office, said the same rule should apply to the PM, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah as well. "Why didn't the EC do anything when the FICCI chairman made a pro-Modi speech today? Action should also be taken against the PM for holding the Mann ki Baat radio programme during elections." "If Arun Jaitley can release the BJP vision document a day before Phase 1 voting, should he not be booked for model code of violation? If Amit Shah can make poll-related statements in Ahmedabad, should be not be booked? We appealed to the EC to not show double-standard in applying rules," Surjewala told reporters outside the EC office. Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to ECI demanding immediate registration of FIR against BJP leaders in the context of them violating the model code of conduct.If FIR can be registered against news channels for telecasting Rahul ji's interview then why not against BJP? pic.twitter.com/AbOzlUU1R2 Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 13, 2017 Earlier in the day, Surjewala had also demanded FIRs against Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and Union Minister Piyush Goyal for "threatening" journalists. "We strongly condemn the BJP and its leaders for their arrogant behaviour, for their unconstitutional attitude. We warn the BJP that they cannot impose such restrictions on the media as there is still rule of democracy in the country. We urge the Election Commission to take note of these threats and initiate action against BJP leaders," he told reporters. Alleging that the BJP leaders were now acting as "chief electoral officers", he said that the party demand that the EC register cases against them for "conspiring to tarnish the poll body's name". Surjewala said it was for the Election Commission to decide whether someone has violated the model code of conduct or not and BJP leaders cannot threaten anyone over it. He also said that during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an interview to a channel a day prior to voting. The Congress leader also referred to the BJP releasing its manifesto a day ahead of the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9. The BJP has complained to the EC about the airing of the interview after which Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer BB Swain said a report will be submitted to the Election Commission. While the BJP claimed that airing of interviews was a "clear violation" of the poll code, Swain said the rules and guidelines prohibit campaigning in the 48-hour period before the end of polling do not amount to a "gag order". "There are rules and guidelines which ban broadcasting of certain election-related content on TV during 48 hours... But we cannot call it a gag order," Swain told reporters. "Yes, we have received a complaint. We will acquire the CD of interview(s) and watch it to decide whether it has violated various provisions of section 126 of the Representation of the People Act. After that we will convey our opinion to the Election Commission," he said. Section 126 is about 'prohibition of public meetings during period of 48 prior to end of polling. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday used emails purportedly exchanged between the then Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Rahul Gandhi, then Congress general secretary, to allege that "non-state players" ran the government and held a right to "overrule" the then prime minister Manmohan Singh. At a press conference, Union minister Piyush Goyal released the emails and accused the Congress of obstructing development in Gujarat, on eve of the last phase of the state elections. The emails show Natarajan, the then environment minister, informing Rahul Gandhi, now Congress' president-elect, about a slew of projects and seeking his and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's guidance, he claimed. Goyal alleged that "Jayanthi tax", a phrase coined by the BJP to refer to alleged corruption in her ministry, was actually "Rahul tax". Reading from the emails, Goyal alleged that Natarajan was seeking instructions from the Gandhis and Rahul Gandhi had asked her to take certain position on different projects. He alleged that in one email, she wrote to him about Singh's direction to her to ensure that the ministry takes a stand in favour of field trials of GM crops and notes that she was opposed to it. "These emails highlight a very worrisome nexus. How the work of the government was run by non-state players," Goyal claimed. In one email, Rahul Gandhi asked her to follow guidelines given to her by the party president about a project. The prime minister had no role, Goyal claimed. He cited Rahul Gandhi's mail, allegedly asking to ensure no dilution of environmental rules for clearance of a project in Gujarat and claimed it showed how the Congress obstructed developmental work in the state when Narendra Modi was its chief minister. The emails also carried messages exchanged between her and Rahul Gandhi's then private secretary. Goyal claimed that not only the leader even his personal secretary was so powerful that the minister was seeking his convenience to meet him. "The right to overrule the prime minister's decision lay elsewhere. I'm sure even Manmohan Singh would want to know what was the decision-making process then," he said. Natarajan quit the Congress in 2015 after the BJP swept to power a year ago and had flayed Rahul Gandhi over a host issues. New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh hit out at successor Narendra Modi again on Wednesday, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and seeking an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". On the eve of second phase voting in Gujarat, Singh put out a video message to attack Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the polls, and said it was unfair to question the nationalism of public servants. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra (sic) Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh issues a statement on the baseless allegations made towards him by PM Modi. pic.twitter.com/Vlqfjcgr5q Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 He said he sincerely hoped that the prime minister will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Modi and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. The former premier also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. "Let me remind Narendra Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan," he said. Hitting back at the former PM an hour later, BJP chief Amit Shah questioned why he wasnt this angry when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi made the maut ka saudagar remark against Modi. Modiji was the CM of Gujarat at the time, which is also a constitutional post. Why didnt Manmohan Singhji display this much anger then? Where was this anger when Rahul Gandhi tore up a government ordinance (in 2013)?, Shah said in Gujarat's Gir Somnath. In a series of tweets, Shah also questioned the loot and plunder under his watch. We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot & plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed this anger then! Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Bengaluru: Giving more ammunition to the ruling Congress party, a senior Karnataka BJP leader was caught in a video, asking party workers not to refrain from lying if you have to. The video footage shows KS Eshwarappa, who is also the opposition leader in Karnataka Legislative Council saying the BJP workers must never admit that you dont know but lie if required. The senior leader was speaking at a party meet in Koppal in north Karnataka. Not just that, Eshwarappa went with his instructive talk to fellow party workers: "Did you know that Pakistanis hacked Indian soldiers to death during the reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But have you seen it? Faced with such questions, you can say that Pakistan never dared raise its head during the Vajpayee period. Coming back to Manmohan Singh and how he dealt with Pakistan in his time, which has become a hot topic in the recent times, he said, During Manmohan Singh's regime, Pakistani soldiers attacked and butchered Indian soldiers. When it comes to Narendra Modi, tell that the Pakistanis are never spared. Ten people were killed and that Narendra Modi is a strong man. What's wrong in saying that? The former deputy chief minister added, There may not be much that you know, just use Narendra Modi's name. The entire world accedes to the fact that Modi is a strong man, so what's the harm in hyping it?" New Delhi: After a bitter war of words during a keenly contested Gujarat election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Dr. Manmohan Singh met at a function at the Parliament House on Wednesday and shook hands. The chance meeting happened at the fore-court of the Parliament House where the top political leadership of the country, including senior ministers and opposition leaders, including Rahul and Sonia Gandhi had gathered to pay homage to the martyrs of the 2001 Parliament terror attack. The acrimonious campaign in Gujarat came to an end on Tuesday evening. In the last phase, in a no holds barred attack, the Prime Minister alluded in one of his speeches that the Congress leadership was conspiring with Pakistan to defeat BJP in the Gujarat elections. There were media reports yesterday about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. It was attended by Pakistan's high commissioner, Pakistan's former foreign minister, India's former vice president and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Modi alleged. PM Modi was referring to a dinner meeting held at Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence last week which was attended by some former Pakistani diplomats and ministers. Also present were former PM Manmohan Singh, former vice-president Hamid Ansari along with several other Congress leaders and former Army chiefs. "And, after that meeting, people of Gujarat, backward communities, poor people and Modi were insulted. Don't you think such events raise doubts," Modi asked. He said the Congress should inform the people of the country what exactly it was up to. In an uncharacteristically sharp rebuttal, Dr Singh said that he and the Congress party do not need sermons on nationalism from people with compromised record. Demanding an apology from PM Modi, the soft spoken former Prime Minister had said that he was anguished by the falsehoods being spread to score political points ahead of the Gujarat elections. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable, he said, adding that no one, including Modi can question his track record. So in Parliament on Wednesday, after the heat and the dust of the campaign, some other BJP leaders including law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were seen animatedly chatting with Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi. New Delhi: Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi wants to bring about a badlav or change by ending the culture of personal attacks in Indias political discourse. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent comments during Gujarat election campaign, Rahul Gandhi, in an exclusive interview to Network18, said "Manmohan Singh dedicated his entire life to the country. But the way Modiji spoke is not acceptable. He should have apologised, that is his decision. But we want to bring about this change." In a no-holds-barred attack, PM Modi had alluded in one of his speeches during the last phase of campaign in Gujarat that the Congress leadership was conspiring with Pakistan to defeat the BJP in the Assembly elections. Rahul claimed that, unlike the BJP, he does not make personal attacks on his political opponents. BJP aur Narendra Modi ji zaroor karte hain. Bura to lagta hai (BJP and Narendra Modi do this. We feel bad), Gandhi said. Gandhi also made it clear that the language used by family loyalist Mani Shankar Aiyar against the Prime Minister during the heat of the campaign was unacceptable to the party. Modiji is the PM of India and we are not going to tolerate this type of language, Gandhi said, referring to a television interview where Aiyar had called PM Modi a "neech aadmi" (vile man). On Gujarat poll results, Gandhi expressed confidence that the Congress will "surprise" everyone on counting day (December 18), but the party president-elect shied away from calling the election outcome a referendum on his leadership. "We will do very well. We will surprise you, Gandhi said. Earlier this week, the Gandhi family scion was elected unopposed as the next party president. After leading the party for close to two decades, Sonia Gandhi will formally hand over the baton to her son on December 16, just two days ahead of counting in Gujarat. "My challenge as Congress president will be to ask questions for the people," Gandhi said in the interview. "The Prime Minister has lost credibility, he added, as he doesn't talk about development anymore but about himself and the Congress party. During the Gujarat elections campaign, the Congress Vice-Preident addressed more than 30 rallies and visited many temples. The tactical shift in Congress' strategy was seen as a conscious attempt to soften any attempts to polarise the elections on communal lines. "I don't need the BJP's permission to go to temples. Was Kedarnath in Gujarat? Rahul said on being asked if this was an attempt to pursue a soft-Hindutva line by the party. High-speed data services were today launched in Ladakh area, the country's coldest region where temperatures fall to minus 20 degrees, by Bharti Airtel under its ambitious 'Project Leap' programme of providing connectivity across the nation. The services were made operational even at Dras, the coldest place in the country where temperatures go down to minus 40 degrees in winters. It was a main area of confrontation of the 1999 Kargil war when Pakistani intruders had occupied the mountains there. "Customers in 130 towns and villages, including Kargil, Leh, and Dras, will now be able to enjoy affordable high-speed data services and get on to the digital superhighway," an Airtel statement said. The roll-out of 4G services in the region would not only be beneficial to the local population but also a large number of tourists who visit the region, it said. Popular spots like Kargil War Memorial, Magnetic Hill, Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace, Thiksey Monastery, Lamayuru Monastery, Moon Land Lamayuru, Sakti towards pangong Lake, Stok Palace and Hall of Fame are now covered by Airtel 4G, said the country's largest telecom operator. Bharti Airtel's chief operating officer (India and South Asia), Ajai Puri said: "This is a major milestone for India and for Airtel. Having pioneered 4G rollout in India, Airtel has been committed to expanding its high-speed data networks to every corner of the country and contribute to the Governments Digital India vision. "As part of Project Leap, we will continue to channel investments towards building a world-class future-ready network that touches every Indian." Under the 'Project Leap' initiative, Airtels nationwide 4G footprint now spans Ladakh in the North to Kanyakumari in the South and Tawang in the East to Kutch in the West. The company has committed over Rs 60,000 crore investment for the initiative. "Airtel network teams and partners have overcome the challenge of extremely difficult terrain and harsh weather conditions, including sub-zero temperatures, to deploy a state-of-the-art 4G network in the region," the statement said. Watch: Tech and Auto Show Awards 2017 President Donald Trump signed into law on Tuesday legislation that bans the use of Kaspersky Lab within the U.S. government, capping a months-long effort to purge the Moscow-based antivirus firm from federal agencies amid concerns it was vulnerable to Kremlin influence. The ban, included as part of a broader defense policy spending bill that Trump signed, reinforces a directive issued by the Trump administration in September that civilian agencies remove Kaspersky Lab software within 90 days. The law applies to both civilian and military networks. "The case against Kaspersky is well-documented and deeply concerning. This law is long overdue," said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who led calls in Congress to scrub the software from government computers. She added that the company's software represented a "grave risk" to U.S. national security. Kaspersky Lab has repeatedly denied that it has ties to any government and said it would not help a government with cyber espionage. In an attempt to address suspicions, the company said in October it would submit the source code of its software and future updates for inspection by independent parties. U.S. officials have said that step, while welcome, would not be sufficient. In a statement on Tuesday, Kaspersky Lab said it continued to have "serious concerns" about the law "due to its geographic-specific approach to cybersecurity." It added that the company was assessing its options and would continue to "protect its customers from cyber threats (while) collaborating globally with the IT security community to fight cybercrime." On Tuesday, Christopher Krebs, a senior cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters that nearly all government agencies had fully removed Kaspersky products from their networks in compliance with the September order. Kaspersky' official response to the ban did not appear to contain any information that would change the administration's assessment of Kaspersky Lab, Krebs said. Watch: Tech and Auto Show Awards 2017 London: British Prime Minister Theresa May was on Wednesday facing a rebellion from her own MPs over whether parliament will have a "meaningful vote" on the final Brexit deal in what would be a damaging defeat. A vote is expected later on Wednesday on an amendment to a landmark bill ending Britain's membership of the European Union and incorporating thousands of pieces of EU legislation into the British statute books. Dominic Grieve, an MP in May's Conservative Party, proposed the amendment requiring any Brexit deal to be made law by a binding parliamentary vote. Ten Tory MPs have signed Grieve's amendment. If the government loses, that would deal a heavy blow to May less than a week after she struck a deal in Brussels to move onto the next stage of negotiations. "The government needs to listen to what's being said to them," Grieve told Sky News on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, my impression of the last few days, when I've been talking to the government, is that it seems to be a bit of a dialogue of the deaf. They've turned this into a battle of wills." Keir Starmer, chief Brexit spokesman for the main opposition Labour party, has tweeted that his MPs will back the amendment if pushed to a vote. Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith, a hardline Brexiteer, earlier accused Grieve of "looking for ways to derail the bill", saying the amendment would "tie the government's hands" in negotiations with the EU. The row revolves around Clause 9 of the bill, which hands the government "Henry VIII powers" to implement the Brexit deal without parliamentary approval. Brexit secretary David Davis has promised to give MPs a final vote, and issued a statement today in a bid to head off the rebellion. "The government has committed to hold a vote on the final deal in parliament as soon as possible after the negotiations have concluded," he said. "This vote will take the form of a resolution in both Houses of Parliament and will cover both the Withdrawal Agreement and the terms for our future relationship." The statement did not specify whether the resolution would be legally binding. "The government will not implement any parts of the Withdrawal Agreement - for example by using Clause 9 of the European Union (Withdrawal) bill - until after this vote has taken place," he promised. The statement did little to appease the potential rebels as it did not spell out what would happen if MPs voted against the terms of the divorce deal. Only if MPs approve the resolution will the government bring forward a bill to give the Withdrawal Agreement domestic legal effect. "On first reading, the major problems with this: no guarantee of a vote before we leave the EU; and, no guarantee we get full details of terms and approve them before the PM finalises the Withdrawal Agreement," Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a prominent pro-EU campaigner, wrote on Twitter. Tokyo: A crack has been found in a Japanese "bullet train" that could have caused a derailment, officials said Wednesday, in the first-ever "serious incident" for the iconic mode of transport. Crew aboard a "shinkansen" bullet train reported a burning smell and strange noises when it pulled out of a station in southern Japan on Monday. The train stopped for checks at Nagoya station in central Japan and inspectors discovered a crack in the chassis under one carriage as well as an oil leak. If the train had continued to run, the crack could have caused it to derail in the worst-case scenario, transport officials said. About 1,000 passengers aboard were unhurt and they continued their journey on fresh trains. "We recognise it as a 'serious incident' as it was an extraordinary case... It could have led to an accident," said an official at the Japan Transport Safety Board. It is the first such "serious incident" since the predecessor to the safety board was created in 2001, she said. "We have sent three inspectors (to Nagoya) to find out the cause. Their report will include measures to prevent a recurrence," said the official, who declined to be named. Japanese shinkansens have been derailed before due to earthquakes but no-one has been hurt. Washington: President Donald Trump faced a new, more perilous political reality Wednesday, after a stunning Democratic victory at the polls in America's deeply conservative south threw the depth and breadth of his support into serious doubt. Doug Jones' win in a special Senate race in Alabama the first such Democratic win in a quarter-century cut the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, making it more difficult for an already struggling Trump to get legislation through Congress. The finger of blame turned squarely to Roy Moore, the Republican candidate who ran on an openly bigoted message, was plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls and ignored party calls to drop out. Sensing the gathering storm, Trump tried to absolve himself of any blame. "Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" Trump tweeted, reminding Americans that Moore was not his first choice in the race. He had endorsed another candidate in the party primary. But as the broader political autopsy commenced, Trump's role in the race and the implications for his presidency came under the microscope. Trump ignored the advice of party leaders when he threw his weight behind the 70-year-old Moore, seeing the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice as something of a kindred political spirit. Like Trump, Moore had sought to win through a coalition of evangelical and white voters, betting that bedrock of support would be enough and would provide a shock absorber to any political scandal. Moore who received advice from Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon also borrowed liberally from Trump's campaign, reveling in racially charged statements and constant attacks on the press and other "elites." Traditional Republicans saw the vote as a turning point in the bitter battle for the soul of Trump's party. "What a relief," said one Republican party operative who, like many in the "establishment," had feared Moore would come to define the party had he won. Congressman Peter King took aim at Bannon directly. "It's not the type of person we need in American politics," the Republican lawmaker told CNN. "He looks like a drunk that wandered onto the national stage." What does Alabama mean for 2018? But some in Trump's inner circle now wonder whether Alabama shows the limits of his approach: If it does not work in deep red Alabama, where can it work? The question is one that the White House will have to solve urgently. Next year sees mid-term legislative elections that offer Democrats a chance to regain control of both chambers of Congress. For months, Republican donors have voiced concerns that the party may lose control of the House of Representatives. After the upset in Alabama, even the Senate may be in play. "It opens the door to an unlikely Democratic Senate takeover next year," said Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia's politics department. Keeping control of both houses is key to Trump passing his agenda and avoiding moves toward his own impeachment. With an approval rating of 35 percent, Trump has faced one controversy after another during his 11 months in office. Normally cautious paper USA Today all but called for Trump resign, after he suggested a female senator would do "anything" for campaign contributions. "A president who'd all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama's presidential library or to shine George W. Bush's shoes" the paper wrote in a searing editorial. 'We can be unified' With 100 percent of Alabama precincts reporting, Jones won 49.9 percent of the vote compared to Moore's 48.4 percent, a margin of nearly 21,000 votes out of 1.3 million cast, according to figures posted by US media. Jones, 63, is a former federal prosecutor who shot to local prominence when he convicted members of the Ku Klux Klan who bombed a black church in the 1960s, killing four girls. "We have shown the country the way that we can be unified," Jones told ecstatic supporters at his election night party in Birmingham. Alabama, which Trump won last year by 28 points, has been at a "crossroads" before, and sometimes did not take the correct path forward, Jones said. "You took the right road," he said. Moore however refused to concede, declaring: "When the vote is this close, it is not over." He signalled he wanted a recount, but Alabama law only provides for an automatic recount if the margin is within half a percentage point. The current margin stands at 1.5 percent. Alabama officials will certify the vote between December 26 and January 3. If no recount is ordered, Jones is expected to be seated in the US Senate in early January. 'Vile' losing candidate The Democratic National Committee said Moore's loss in the conservative heartland sent a "loud and clear" message to Trump and his Republicans. "You can't call yourself the party of family values as long as you're willing to accept vile men like Roy Moore as members," DNC chairman Tom Perez said. Tuesday's Democratic win is the second dramatic upset by the party in under two months. In November, in a sweeping rebuke to Trump, a Democrat won the governor's race in swing state Virginia. Washington: Noting that the two countries need to find common ground, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan, as US' relationship with the country has 'drifted over the years'. Responding to a question posed by a State Department employee, during a meeting, Tillerson said, "Dealing with Pakistan I don't enjoy that." "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," he added. Today that's just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. Earlier in his remarks, Tillerson referred to the new South Asia Policy as one of the key foreign policy highlights in the first year of the Trump administration. Tillerson said that President Donald Trump took a very bold decision by asserting that the US will be in Afghanistan with its military presence and continue to fight terrorism and the Taliban on a conditions-based effort. He, however, refused to give any time limit for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. "We're there until this thing is brought to a conclusion. It's not a blank cheque. It's not forever. But we're going to stay on the ground and support the Afghan Government," he said. "The Afghan government has to continue to deliver on the needed reforms and create the conditions to have an inclusive government that allows for participation of all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. "When the Taliban are ready to come to that negotiating table, there will be a place for them to participate in a future Afghan government," Tillerson said. According to him, Trump's South Asia policy aims to deny any safe haven to terrorist organisations in the Afghanistan- Pakistan region. "Our policy is to deny them the ability to have a safe haven where they can organise, recruit fighters, raise money; plan and carry out attacks against our allies, our own homeland, as they did in the past. So the entire policy in South Asia is to achieve that," Tillerson said. The top American diplomat asserted that the policy could be achieved by "eliminating the safe havens"; bringing on board the groups fighting with each other, to get them involved in dialogues and creating the conditions for a reconciliation process within Afghanistan for peace. (With PTI inputs) Islamabad: Pakistan has ordered a host of international aid groups to wrap up their operations in 60 days, a global NGO said Wednesday, as officials tighten controls on foreign charities in the country. Authorities have moved to force overseas-funded aid organisations to re-register under stricter rules that came into force two years ago, leading several to lose their licenses. "We believe that we are one of more than 20 organisations whose registrations have been rejected," Jonathan Birchall, the lead Communications Officer for the Open Society Foundation told AFP. The organisation, which is funded by the US billionaire philanthropist George Soros and runs a raft of programmes from education to governance, had earlier issued a statement seeking clarification from the interior ministry over the move. International charity ActionAid, which supports a range of projects from livelihoods to women's rights, has also said it is being forced to leave Pakistan. The organisation "has been given 60 days to close all operations in the country", it said in a statement released last week, after its application to register under Pakistan's new rules for international non-governmental organisations was declined. Pakistan officials declined to comment when contacted by AFP. In September, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had been ordered to close its facilities in a militancy-wracked tribal district, leaving thousands without healthcare. While militancy and natural disasters plague parts of Pakistan, the country has shown increasing suspicion of foreign aid groups in recent years. In 2012, a Pakistan intelligence report linked the aid group Save the Children to the doctor, Shakeel Afridi, who the CIA used to carry out a fake vaccination programme as they searched for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Save the Children has always denied it had any links with Afridi or the CIA. But the charity's expat staff were forced to leave Pakistan after the accusations emerged. Pakistan has since hardened its policies towards international aid groups, accusing them of being covers for spying operations, and has repeatedly warned them to restrict their activities. Washington/Seoul: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillerson's new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. "Let's just meet," Tillerson said in a speech to Washington's Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday. The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether President Donald Trump - who has said Tillerson was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea - had given his approval for the speech. "The president's views on North Korea have not changed," the White House said. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way ... North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea." Ahead of Tillerson's speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced ICBM, according to North Korean state media on Wednesday. Kim said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing "more latest weapons and equipment" to "bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity", the KCNA news agency reported. "PERIOD OF QUIET" While reiterating Washington's long-standing position that it cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea, Tillerson said the United States was "ready to talk any time they're ready to talk", but there would first have to be a "period of quiet" without nuclear and missile tests. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, who visited Pyongyang last week, said senior North Korean officials did not offer any type of commitment to talks, but he believes he left "the door ajar". "Time will tell what was the impact of our discussions, but I think we have left the door ajar and I fervently hope that the door to a negotiated solution will now be opened wide," Feltman told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. Not everyone is ready for talks. Japan has advocated a strategy of pressuring North Korea through sanctions to give up its nuclear weapons. Tokyo and Washington are in "100 percent" agreement about that stance, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday when asked about Tillerson's comments. A former Japanese diplomat said that, while a diplomatic solution was the "only acceptable solution", now was not the time for talks. "We have to see the effects of sanctions on life in North Korea," the former diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. "I heard that they are having a serious impact on everyday life. Let's wait and see. If we were to hint anything for dialogue, we'd be losing clout," he said. South Korea continued with its military exercises with the United States to check military readiness, exercises the North describes as preparation for war. The South's army said separately on Wednesday it conducted a successful air-to-air missile firing drill from Apache helicopters. US TALKS TO CHINA Tillerson also disclosed the United States had been talking to China about how to secure North Korea's nuclear weapons in the event of a collapse of the government in Pyongyang. He said Beijing had been given assurances that if U.S. forces had to cross into North Korea they would pull back across the border into the South. However, he made clear that the United States wants to resolve the North Korea standoff through peaceful diplomacy and, in terms far more tempered than Trump's recent threats against Pyongyang, offered to hold exploratory talks. "We can talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table," he said. "Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards." Tillerson - whose influence has appeared to wane within the administration - said Trump "has encouraged our diplomatic efforts". Trump said on Twitter in October that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man", using his derisive nickname for Kim. North Korea, for its part, has made clear that it has little interest in negotiations with the United States until it has developed the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, something most experts say it has still not proved. Tillerson also said the United States was working to tighten enforcement of international sanctions against North Korea, especially further measures that China can apply, and that Washington had a full menu of military options if such a response was needed. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the non-partisan Arms Control Association, said Tillerson's proposal was overdue but that "in order to get to such talks going, the U.S. side as well as North Korea must demonstrate more restraint". Washington: The deeply conservative Alabama threw up a surprise as Democrat Doug Jones won the bitter fight for a US Senate seat against Republican candidate Roy Moore. Jones is the first of the liberal to win a Senate seat from Alabama in 25 years. The result deals a huge political blow to President Donald Trump, who actively took part in the senate race marred by accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore. The Republican candidate has been in the eye-of-the-storm after several women accused him of pursuing them in their teens while he was in his 30's. The Democratic victory will reduce the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49 once Jones takes his seat on Capitol Hill, thus reducing the margin for the conservatives to push through major bills, especially their flagship corporate tax cut. Twitter was abuzz with reactions after Jones' victory with many leaders hailing the people of Alabama, while others congratulated the liberal candidate: On a very personal level, I want to thank each of you for fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve in the U.S Senate.We have work to do in this state. Thank you all, god bless you.Doug Jones, election night victory.#RightSideOfHistory pic.twitter.com/mpgFGAqofg Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) December 13, 2017 Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud. And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can -- and must -- compete everywhere.Onward! Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 13, 2017 Doug Jones. Thank you, Alabama. Youve elected a man of incredible integrity, grit, and character. A fighter for working class and middle class Alabamians. He is going to make you proud in the Senate. Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 13, 2017 Congratulations, Doug Jones. You were a great US Attorney, and you ran a terrific campaign. You deserve this win. Its a win for the people of Alabama. Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) December 13, 2017 Love and decency prevails. Thank you Alabama! The black folks of Alabama saved the day. They should seriously get priority space at the table. pic.twitter.com/5vxMfJEQgY Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) December 13, 2017 Common sense and decency have prevailed in Alabama. It was a vote not just against sexual abuse but also against racism and against those who would ride roughshod over our democratic institutions. Robert Reich (@RBReich) December 13, 2017 I call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to listen to the people of Alabama and seat @GDouglasJones without any delay. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) December 13, 2017 PM Narendra Modi greets his former counterpart Manmohan Singh as other lawmakers look on during a ceremony to pay tributes to security officials who lost their lives in the 2001 attack on Indian parliament, in New Delhi. (Image: AP) Military school students take positions as they gear up to perform at their annual ball in Moscow, Russia. The ball attracts the youth from all over Russia. (Image: AP) Soldiers use bulldozers to destroy hundreds of guns and weapons confiscated during a pro-Islamic State group siege in Marawi, at the Philippine Army Headquarters in Manila on December 13, 2017. Philippine Congress voted overwhelmingly to approve Duterte's request to extend martial law in the south by a year after the military warned that terrorist threats continue to lurk despite the defeat of a disastrous pro-Islamic State group siege. (Image: AP) 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 The city of Lynchburg received the highest possible marks on its annual financial audit for fiscal year 2017. At Tuesdays City Council work session, Chris Banta, from auditing firm Brown Edwards, presented council with the results of the citys Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. From the auditors, the city received a clean and unmodified opinion, which means the city has no significant deficiencies related to financial statements and no instances of noncompliance material. Lynchburgs Finance Director Donna Witt said she is pleased with the outcome of the audit. I feel really good about it, but Im not surprised, Witt said in an interview after the work session. We work really hard throughout the year to ensure that we are in compliance with all auditing standards. The city also was completely in compliance with regulations from the federal government for how funds are spent, which Banta said is unusual because most localities have at least a few small infractions. One area of the financial statements Banta drew councils attention to was the citys pension fund liability of $354,164,051, which has grown since last years $346,967,878. He assured council this was not because the city or the school administration had not been paying what they were supposed to but because the city pays into the states Virginia Retirement System, and the return on those investments for fiscal year 2016 were weak. Because the stock market has been performing well so far in fiscal year 2017, the audit for fiscal year 2018 should see a decrease in the pension fund liability. The state pension plan gives you a set amount youre supposed to pay, Banta said. Youve been paying that. The problem were facing is these results [have a] one-year lag, and investments in the state pension plan did not perform that well leading up to June 30 [2017]. The stock market has been doing pretty well, so were hoping to see things improve for the [fiscal year] 2018 audit. According to the report provided to council, the net investment income for the pension fund fell from approximately $32 million in fiscal year 2014 to approximately $4 million in fiscal year 2016. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy About 75 residents showed up for Centra Healths first Community Voices event in downtown Lynchburg on Tuesday night. The event put residents face-to-face with Centra CEO and President E.W. Tibbs as well as Michael Elliott, chief operating officer; Sam Gerstemeier, manager of government relations; and Dr. Dan Carey, chief medical officer. For more than 90 minutes, they spoke and answered questions about health care costs, regulations affecting health care, competition, mental health and the health care needs of individuals with disabilities. Moderated by Centra, the free event is slated to be the first of several such programs as the health care system works to better communicate with residents. Seated casually on couches, administrators first took questions from a moderator about regulations, access to health care, competition and its provider-based billing practice. Gerstemeier said roughly 75 percent of the acute care services Centra provides are reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid or the uninsured, and whenever a government program is involved, there will be regulations to make sure program goals are being met. In health care, those goals are largely oriented to the triple aim, he said. Those are high quality care, cost efficient for the patients and achieving better health for the communities. And so when you look at why regulation is present in health care, thats really the top reason, he said. When it comes to access, Elliott said Centra is working to decrease the load on its Emergency Department by opening urgent care clinics for illnesses such as strep throat, increasing the number of physicians in primary care offices and offering online medical care through Centra 24/7. According to Elliott, Centras Emergency Department will see more than 92,000 patients this year alone making it the second or third busiest emergency department in Virginia. Frankly were doing a lot, but we need to do much more, Elliott said. Asked by moderator Angela Bryant about Centra gobbling up all these practices, kind of limiting our choices here living in Central Virginia as to who we can go and see, Carey said he can see how it looks that way from the outside. Centra is getting larger, he said, but its in part because when providers join forces, they increase their resources. You have to have access to resources to be successful, Carey said, pointing to several examples of area providers that independently have joined forces in recent years. Central Virginia Family Physicians, Medical Associates of Central Virginia, Physicians Treatment Center and Access Health are part of Privia, and OrthoVirginia is the result of three orthopedic practices coming together, Carey said. Physicians are banding together, and I think thats actually good for patients, Carey said noting newly minted doctors want to join teams, be with advanced practice professionals and have access to capital. In regards to its practice of using provider-based billing, which also is called hospital outpatient billing a legal practice that allows hospitals to charge an extra fee for services Tibbs said the practice only is used at three Lynchburg clinics. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allow hospitals to use provider-based billing on hospital outpatient departments. Centras cardiology and urology clinics were classified as outpatient departments in 2010 and its hematology/oncology clinic in 2014. Centra has 64 outpatients sites, according to Tibbs. On Tuesday, Tibbs said Centra has a financial incentive to use provider-based billing. The reason we made the changes, two in 2010 with cardiology and urology and one in 2014 was to ensure that we could offer an academic level of medicine at all three of those specialties in a community setting so residents dont have to travel out of town for that care, Tibbs said adding the practice is used by Carilion Clinic as well as the University of Virginia. He said he does not expect to expand provider-based billing, and Centra instead will look for ways to control costs. When given the opportunity to ask questions, residents asked about Centras property taxes, what it is doing to address mental health and about providers lack of understanding of the needs of individuals with disabilities. Tibbs said although Centra is a nonprofit, it does pay property taxes on a number of properties per an agreement established with former Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne several years ago. Centra pays property taxes on undeveloped properties; offices that are not hospital affiliated; and any sites where Centra doesnt take care of patients, he said. Weve tried to look at that and tried to make sure we are being responsible, Tibbs said. Carey said Centra is working to close the gaps in psychiatric care through recruitment of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric social workers. He said Centra has grown that team recently and increased the number of beds in adult psychiatry but still needs to increase beds in child and adolescent psychiatry. Its a high priority within the medical group as well as within the administration, Carey said. Tibbs added he wants to add more mental health providers into primary care practices and better integrate mental health care with primary care. Emily Moore, of DePaul Community Resources, a nonprofit that works with individuals with intellectual disabilities, said Centra does a lot of things well, but there is a lack of education with the providers whether its nurses or physicians when it comes to working with individuals that we serve with developmental disabilities in this community. Thats an area where we could definitely get better, Carey said. He said Centra has implemented a program to care better for those with autism and wants to use that as a model across acute care facilities. At the end of the night, Moore said the event was a great opportunity for the community to come out and voice its concerns. I think that this type of event certainly needs to happen more frequently because there are health care needs of folks that may not be able to advocate for themselves, that they need people to come out and address for them. So I think this was a good opportunity for us to be their voice, said Moore, who offered to help train Centra how to work with her population. Deb Lowe, trainer and home finder for DePauls, said, We do understand that education isnt as it could be, and thats another reason we wanted to come tonight is to help to maybe provide that education. Lowe and Moore said their biggest goal is to integrate their residents into the community, and part of that is knowing if residents cannot verbalize their health care needs, a provider will take the time to try to determine how to best help them. Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, also praised Centra for taking the time to host the event. I think we have tremendous challenges in health care today, but I think weve got tremendous opportunities, and what I heard is a very sincere commitment to try to address the challenges but a very hopeful and optimistic look at the opportunities that are before us. As was repeatedly said today, health care is very, very complex, and some people, because it is so complex, see it as complicated, but Centras job is trying to figure out how to break down the complications of it such that despite its complexity, people can better understand it. I applaud em for taking the time and effort for trying to reach out to a community, Garrett said. Left-wing activists in Charlottesville are encouraging Unite the Right counter-protesters who have been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury to not comply with the summons. At a protest outside the federal courthouse in Charlottesville Wednesday morning, approximately two dozen activists stood behind a large banner that referred to the alleged deliberations of the grand jury as a witch hunt. Star Peterson, a victim of the car attack that occurred on at the intersection of Fourth and Water streets on Aug. 12, said she has been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. I will not be bullied, she said. The attack resulted in the death of another counter-protester, Heather Heyer, 32, and scores of injuries. Members of the activist collective Solidarity Cville said they are alarmed that Peterson and other victims of the attack have been summoned to appear before the jury, and believe that their testimony could be used against anti-racist activists who protested the white nationalist rally this summer. According to Ibby Han, a local activist, a U.S. attorney has said the grand jury is deliberating whether to indict James Alex Fields Jr., who local prosecutors have already charged with second-degree murder for the car attack, on federal charges. It is shameful that the most vulnerable members of our community are being singled out by law enforcement, Han said. Its is a secretive procedure no lawyers, no judge. Just the prosecutor and the grand jury. Peterson said her summons has been rescinded, but was initially concerned that she would not be allowed to bring an attorney into the secret hearing. She and others said they are worried about being prosecuted for refusing to comply with the subpoena. The prosecutor may ask any questions, and they're not obligated to reveal the subject of the investigation. Historically, they have been used as a tool of political repression to surveil and incriminate social movements, Han said. A blogpost from the anti-fascism website It's Going Down referenced in flyers promoting Wednesdays protest, says people should be wary of trusting federal prosecutors. The same law enforcement who rely on the violence and white supremacy of the state can never be relied upon to serve justice against white supremacists. It is vital to look at this situation from this perspective, the blog post says. It goes on to say that non-cooperation is the strongest and safest option for activists. We want to acknowledge that all of us deeply wish to see justice for Heather Heyer. We want to see justice for those injured by James Fields and other white supremacists on Aug. 11 and 12. But, how can we ever trust the state to deliver that to us? Following her own remarks, Han read a statement submitted by one of the people subpoenaed but who wished to remain anonymous. Being in Charlottesville is gut-wrenchingly hard, she said, reading from the statement. Sometimes there's no way to avoid driving by the street where a Nazi tried to kill me or by the statue where some of the people I love most in the world were surrounded by a torch-bearing mob," the statement continued, referencing the Aug. 12 car attack and a white nationalist march at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11. Seeing cars like the one that hit me makes me catch my breath again and again. I'm surrounded by reminders of one of the scariest days of my life. I refuse to sell out the people I love. We've been burned by torches, pepper-sprayed and run over. When contacted last month, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia said he could not discuss the grand jury. The spokesman, Brian P. McGinn, did not immediately respond to a phone call Wednesday morning. Last month, a Milwaukee-based Youtube user by the name of Daniel Duerst filmed what he said were FBI agents serving him a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury in Charlottesville. Duerst, whose Youtube account features dozens of videos from protest events across the country, including the rally in Charlottesville, said he later provided the federal agents with a flash drive that included his videos from the Unite the Right rally. The description of a Youtube video documenting his interaction reads, I have the agent on video stating that these video files should satisfy the subpoena, so hopefully they stay gone forever. We need to prepare for the eventuality that the Mueller probe catches President Trump, family members and associates red-handed and Republicans in Congress refuse to do anything about it. This is beginning to look like a possible or even probable outcome. With its cravenness matched only by its arrogance, the GOP is Trumps party now. It no longer has any claim to be Lincolns. Witness the cowardly about-face on the subject of Roy Moores candidacy for the Senate. The party initially took a position in line with its purported values: that a credibly accused child molester, who haunted the local mall seeking dates with teenaged girls when he was in his 30s, is unworthy of the high office he seeks. But then Trump endorsed Moore given that more than a dozen women have accused the president of sexual misconduct, the phrase birds of a feather comes to mind and Republicans changed their tune. The flow of money from national party coffers to Moores campaign, briefly interrupted, was resumed. Moores fitness became a matter that no longer troubled the GOPs moral conscience, or what was left of it; only the people of Alabama could decide the difference between right and wrong. Here is the distinction between our two major parties in 2017: Democratic leaders are forcing Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., both accused of harassing women, to resign. Republican leaders are trying to put Moore, accused of harassing teenagers and molesting a 14-year-old, in the Senate. Given that context, it is naive to assume that anything special counsel Robert Mueller uncovers will lead Republicans to choose principle over political advantage. Trump boasted during the campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support. As far as the GOP majorities in Congress are concerned, he may be right. Ultimately, thats what Trump is counting on. He has been using his Twitter feed to try to create the impression that Mueller the straightest of straight arrows, and a lifelong Republican is somehow biased against him. Trumps aim isnt so much to pull the wool over the eyes of his base; rather, its to give House Republicans an excuse not to start impeachment proceedings if and when the time comes. I realize it seems premature to speak of such eventualities. But if there really was no collusion with Russia to tilt the election in Trumps favor, I wonder why one of the presidents lawyers, Jay Sekulow, is arguing that such collusion would not constitute a crime. And if there really was no obstruction of justice, I wonder why another of Trumps lawyers, John Dowd, is arguing that the president by virtue of his office is incapable of obstructing justice. Perhaps Trump and his family are just getting bad legal advice. Im wondering who gave Donald Trump Jr. the bright idea to cite attorney-client privilege in refusing to answer the House Intelligence Committees questions about conversations with his father conversations that might bear on both collusion and obstruction. Neither Trump nor Trump Jr. is an attorney. Conversations between Trump Jr. and his lawyer would be privileged, but not conversations Trump Jr. might have had with someone else while his lawyer was present. And Congress is not compelled to honor attorney-client privilege anyway, though it often does. At least Trump Jr. gave a reason for his stonewalling. Other administration officials called to Capitol Hill to testify about Trumps possible obstruction including Attorney General Jeff Sessions have relied on some imaginary privilege not to discuss conversations with the president. The GOP-led committees investigating the Russia affair could subpoena witnesses, compel them to speak and hold them in contempt if they refuse. Im not holding my breath. Those of us who care whether the president worked with a foreign power to influence the election and then actively impeded an FBI investigation do have recourse, however. Ive said it before, but it bears repeating: If this Congress refuses to stand up for justice and American ideals, we need to elect a Congress that will. The Trump presidency poses a challenge beyond politics or policy. Wrongheaded trickle-down tax policy is a matter of arithmetic; it can be corrected by moving numbers around a spreadsheet. But once corruption has become established, it takes Herculean effort to root it out; once respect for the rule of law is lost, it takes generations to restore. Mueller is doing his job. Ours is to elect Democrats and independents next year who will hold this appalling presidency to account. Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post. Email him at eugenerobinson@washpost.com. The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday announced a $1,5 billion economic stabilisation package for Zimbabwe that will go towards the revival of the productive sector to stimulate more exports. Afreximbank president and board of directors chairman Dr Okey Oramah said the bank was keen to support the stabilisation of the Zimbabwean economy by providing currency liquidity to avoid bank queues. He said Afreximbank would also be supporting nostros of the different banks to ensure that those dealing in American dollars had access every time they needed them to pay for goods. The funds being provided by Afreximbank would also provide investment guarantees for investors, to entice them to come to Zimbabwe. Dr Oramah was speaking after paying a courtesy call on President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices. He also revealed that the $600 million nostro stabilisation facility extended to Zimbabwe to meet its foreign currency requirements for productive foreign payments had been finalised. Dr Oramah was leading the delegation that met President Mnangagwa. The $1,5 billion facility will support the productive sector through banks, especially the mining and manufacturing sectors. We are here to extend congratulations to President Mnangagwa and to also reaffirm our continued support for the Government and people of Zimbabwe under his leadership, said Dr Oramah. We discussed various areas where we have been intervening and will continue to intervene. We also informed the President that the $600 million we engaged a few weeks ago has now been finalised. We also discussed a number of areas that will involve additional investments from us, something that will be in the order of $1 billion to $1,5 billion that will include certain kinds of guarantees to encourage investors to come into Zimbabwe at this time. It will include a $150 million facility we are doing for banks to enable them to confirm letters of credit to ensure that we have good supply of essential items like fuel, fertilisers and so on. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said he was delighted that Dr Oramah had been able to come to Zimbabwe and pay a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa after his inauguration. His visit sends very good signals to the rest of the world that Zimbabwe is open to do business, he said. It is open for investment and this is the support that I think we deserve. As you are aware, Afreximbank has been a pillar of strength throughout our most difficult times and I am happy to say that they have been with us from beginning and they will be with us even in the new era of prosperity that is beckoning to us. As things stand now we have, through the inaugural speech by the President and through the Budget that I delivered in the National Assembly on Thursday, given a clear policy direction as to where we are headed as far as the management of the economy is concerned. Minister Chinamasa said Afreximbanks interventions were going to support the country to have an investment guarantee. He said this was adequate demonstration that next year the country should register a higher growth rate than he anticipated in the Budget. Minister Chinamasa anticipated a 4,5 percent economic growth in the Budget delivered last week. He said with these developments, Zimbabwe should do better. The support they (Afreximbank) are going to give is to support the productive sector, of course through our banks, mining sector, especially the gold sector, retooling of our manufacturing, all those are good things that are going to happen to our economy and I believe this economy is going to be in for a good time ahead, he said. The funding is expected to restore confidence in the economy, a good foundation for attracting both domestic and foreign investment. Herald There is no stationery, no gloves, no needles, no syringes and the drugs in our hospital pharmacy, but people can buy them at a private pharmacy at our hospital. Our patients are buying everything despite paying hospital bills; they buy sundries for theatre despite paying theatre fees. We have emergencies like ruptured uterus, but we have to ask relatives to go and buy sundries, risking the patients life, the letter, signed by Majongosi, read. Botswana Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Pelenomi Vincent Moitoi has delivered a special message to President Emmerson Mnangagwa from his counterpart President Ian Khama congratulating him on his recent appointment and also indicating areas of further cooperation between the two countries. Dr Moitoi said the relationship between the two countries is bound to grow from strength to strength following the smooth transition of power in Zimbabwe. Botswana ambassador to Zimbabwe Lieutenant General Louis Fisher accompanied the minister to the meeting which was also attended by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Major General Sibusiso Moyo. Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa is currently chairing a Zanu PF politburo meeting whose agenda is to discuss final preparations of the extraordinary congress set to be held this Friday. Finance Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa will also brief the politburo on the progress of ZIM ASSET while the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Air Marshal Perrance Shiri will brief the meeting on the progress of command agriculture and preparations for the summer cropping season. Businessman James Makamba has reportedly arrived back in the country from self-imposed exile. Makamba is an entrepreneur, politician and former commercial broadcaster. He has interests in the retail, telecommunications, mining, agricultural, property and professional consultancy sectors, digital publishing and philanthropy. In 1997, one of his companies leased Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporations second colour television channel, turning it into the countrys first independent television station, known as Joy TV. The stations licence was revoked in 2002 due to licensing complications. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed eight new judges six men and two women to the High Court bench, in a move expected to reduce the backlog of cases at the superior court. The eight are Labour Court judge Justice Philda Muzofa, University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturer Ms Sylvia Chirawu and Messrs Pisirayi Kwenda, Neville Wamambo, Thompson Mabhikwa, Benjamin Chikowero, Jacob Manzunzu and Isaac Muzenda. The judges were appointed following public interviews held by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) last year. The eight will take their oath of office today before Chief Justice Luke Malaba at the Constitutional Court at Mashonganyika Building in Harare. Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs Virginia Mabiza said gender and regional balance were considered on the appointment of the judges. I can confirm that the President has appointed eight High Court judges and they will be sworn into office at a ceremony set for Thursday (today) in Harare, she said. Chief Justice Luke Malaba will preside over the swearing-in ceremony. In terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, judges may take oath of office before the Chief Justice or any other senior judge present. Gender and regional balance were also considered in the process. Mrs Mabiza said although gender balance was important, the women were expected to score high in the interviews. We cannot just appoint women to the bench when their performance in interviews was poor, she said. Gender consideration benefits women who perform well in the selection interviews. One has to perform well in order to make it professionally. The newly appointed judges yesterday were at the Constitutional Court for rehearsals. Prior to the public interviews, the late Retired Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku set an aptitude test for the 43 aspiring judges to assess their ability to write judgements and 29 of them flunked. Fourteen candidates passed, but the Judicial Service Commission said all the candidates, including those who failed the pre-interview test, had a right to participate in the public interviews and justify why they should be considered for the posts. The eight were among the list of top performers, whose names were recommended for appointment by the JSC. From the list of the successful ones, the President had to appoint eight judges to the bench. herald A Zimbabwean man has died in South Africa after he was stabbed twice during an armed robbery that occurred last Friday night at Loftheim Flats area at Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal. According to media reports, Trust Chipunha (30), who was based at Melmoth, was stabbed twice on Friday night during the robbery and the murder of the LifeLine Zululand social worker has sent shock waves through the organisations ranks. South Africa Police Services spokesperson Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said a case of murder was under investigation at Empangeni Police Station and that no arrest had been made. Chipunha was declared dead at Ngwelezana Hospital after five hours after waiting to be rushed to the Durban hospital for an emergency operation as there was allegedly no surgeon on standby at the hospital before Saturday morning. He was allegedly attacked by two suspects at about 7pm after he had jumped off the taxi from work. The two suspects demanded his cellphone and after handing it over, they also demanded his bag, which had valuable documents such as his passport and work permit. When he tried to resist, they stabbed him. Chipunha was found by some of his relatives sitting outside the gate of one of the flats, bleeding from stab wounds to his neck and back. He was taken to hospital, where nurses administered intravenous fluids) on him as he had lost a lot of blood. The doctors later tried to resuscitate him, but he succumbed to death at about 12.45am. LifeLine Zululand director Michelle Jewlal was quoted describing Chipunha as a deeply spiritual man. He was humble, always pleasant and committed to his work. He was a true asset to our staff, said Jewlal, who added that Chipunha was always sending spiritual messages and uplifting words of encouragement to her and other colleagues. He only graduated in August this year and his proud mother was there to witness it. He also has a brother and sister in South Africa, she said. Herald Idaho Cops: Actually, There Could Be a Threat to the Community Last year, police in Anchorage said they were troubled by a mysterious spike in murders. This year has been even worse. Police say they have determined that a man whose body was found outside the Alaska city was murdered in Anchorage, making it a record 35 homicides for the year, with almost three weeks to go, KTOO reports. The previous record was set last year, which had 34 homicides, way over what police said is the usual range of 12 to 24 killings per year. Before 2016, the year with the most homicides in Anchorage was 1995, with 29. Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll told reporters this week that most of the cases involved victims and suspects who knew each other, and were often "involved in criminal activity together." Some 23 of the cases have been closed, meaning a suspect has been charged or the killing was deemed justified. The Anchorage Daily News reports that this year's tally includes two triple killings. In February, an apartment fire that killed three people was determined to be caused by arson. In September, a man who got into an argument with a gold shop owner shot and killed three people. (Read more Anchorage stories.) A 36-year-old man walking toward a gun range was fatally shot Tuesday before he stepped inside. Joshua Cummings had just got out of his vehicle and was walking across the parking lot of Hot Wells Shooting Range near Cypress, Texas, shortly after 9am when a rifle accidentally discharged inside, reports KHOU. Police say a gun range employee in his early 20s had been cleaning a high-caliber hunting rifle when a bullet exited the chamber. "The bullet went through the wall of the small range house and struck [Cummings]," a Harris County sheriffs deputy tells KTRK. He was flown to a nearby hospital in a helicopter but later died. A sheriff's spokesman says homicide detectives are questioning employees but the shooting appears to be accidental, per NBC 5. It's "just a terrible tragedy," a range employee tells KTRK, which identifies Cummings as a father. "We simply do not have the words to express the sorrow in our hearts," adds Hot Wells in a statement. "For 44 years we have operated this facility accident free, yet today we are shaken by tragedy." The range said it wouldnt comment on "the accident details" until after an investigation is complete. (A man discussing church shootings accidentally shot his wife in a church.) The Navajo Nation announced Tuesday that it is suing Wells Fargo for allegedly engaging in predatory and unlawful banking practices that targeted and harmed tribal members. In a statement, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said the tribe's lawyer has been directed to seek restitution, damages, and civil penalties based on Wells Fargo's alleged violations of federal, state, and tribal law, the AP reports. The tribe alleges employees at Wells Fargo branches on the vast reservation "routinely misled customers into opening unnecessary accounts and obtained debit and credit cards without customers' consent." They also allege Navajo elders "were purposely confused and deceived into purchasing products to help employees meet banking quotas." The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New Mexico, said "since at least 2009 and continuing through 2016, Wells Fargo employees at branches on the Navajo Nation routinely opened unauthorized savings and credit accounts, misled customers into opening unnecessary accounts, obtained debit cards without customers' consent, and enrolled customers in online banking without proper consent." Wells Fargo has five bank branches across the Navajo Nationwhich covers more than 27,000 square miles over portions of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexicoplus 12 other branches within a 30-minute drive of the reservation. Wells Fargo was fined last year after bank employees opened millions of fake accounts without customers' knowledge. (Read more Wells Fargo stories.) Los Angeles detectives said Tuesday they're investigating a woman's claim that Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski molested her in 1975, when she was 10 years old. But the statute of limitations has long expired, so criminal charges couldn't be brought even if proven, reports the AP, though law enforcement officials may be able to use any evidence they collect to help prosecute other cases. Authorities are now investigating the case because LA detectives "will always take a report from any victim and then determine if the case is within the statute of limitations," a police spokesman said. The 84-year-old director has been a fugitive since he fled to France in 1978 on the eve of a sentencing for an unrelated case involving the sexual assault of a then-13-year-old girl. He splits his time between France, his native Poland, and Switzerland. The victim in that case, Samantha Geimer, made an impassioned plea to a California judge earlier this year supporting Polanski's efforts to end the four-decade legal saga that limits his freedom. The latest allegations against Polanski were first reported to police in October when Marianne Barnard, a California artist, said Polanski had molested her during a photo shoot in 1975 after he had her pose nude in a fur coat on a beach in Los Angeles County. Polanski's attorney, Harland Braun, said he has hired an investigator to interview the accuser's relatives and has told the investigator to speak with police and provide any information and documents obtained. "I believe that a competent LAPD investigation will prove the whole story to be bogus," he said in an email. (Read more Roman Polanski stories.) San Francisco native London Breed became the city's acting mayor Tuesday following the sudden death of Mayor Ed Lee, and is the first African-American woman to lead the city in the midst of a seemingly endless technology driven economic boom. Breed, 43, is a lifelong San Francisco resident who was raised by her grandmother in the city's predominantly black and lower-income Western Addition neighborhood, part of the same district she now represents as a city supervisor, the AP reports. She said she and Lee bonded over their shared experience of growing up in public housing. "He was from the dawn of his career an advocate for the powerless," Breed told a crowd of city workers who gathered to honor Lee in City Hall Tuesday. Breed, like every San Francisco mayor since 1964, is a Democrat. Nationally, her political positions on issues like funding housing projects for the homeless and support for marijuana legalization are viewed as solidly liberal. But within the insular politics of San Francisco, she has had to defend her credentials from attacks from the left that she is a moderate and beholden to traditional Democrats like Lee and former mayor Willie Brown. She will remain acting mayor and board president of the supervisors unless a majority of the 11-member board votes to appoint another person, city attorney Dennis Herrera says. Herrera says San Francisco will now vote for a mayor in June 2018 rather than in the November 2019 election that was to take place at the end of Lee's term. (Read more San Francisco stories.) Nine weeks into her pregnancy, Naomi Findlay was told "termination" was the only option. The fetus in her womb was growing a heartbut in a rare case of ectopia cordis, it was outside of the body, as was a portion of the stomach, giving the fetus less than a 10% chance of survival, reports the Guardian. Three weeks after giving birth a month prematurely, however, Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, are the proud parents of a baby girl believed to be the first in the UK to survive such a condition, joining a few others in the US, per the New York Times. Less than an hour after she was delivered via caesarean section on Nov. 22, Vanellope Hope Wilkins went into her first of three surgeries at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital to relocate her heart into her chest. Doctors say she's now doing well, though she remains on a ventilation machine. Getting to this point wasn't easy. After the first surgery, doctors had to wait for Vanellope's chest to grow to make room for the heart. With doctors assisting, the heart eventually moved into a cavity through gravity. Doctors then created a mesh to protect the heart, as Vanellope was born without ribs or a sternum, and in the final surgery, they covered the hole with skin taken from under the infant's arms. "In a way her strength gave me a strength to keep going," Findlay tells the BBC. "No one believed she was going to make it except us," adds Wilkins. "It's beyond a miracle." A pediatric cardiologist says Vanellope "has proved very resilient." The main focus now is to prevent infection, but "in the future we may be able to put in some internal bony protection for her heart, perhaps using 3D printing or something organic that would grow with her." (Heart surgery saved an unborn child in Canada.) It's a tale of murder fit for the movieswhich is just where Swati Reddy allegedly got her inspiration. Police in southern India say the 27-year-old nurse killed her husband, then poured acid on the face of her lover in an effort to pass him off as her spouse. And she nearly succeeded. Telangana police say Reddy convinced her husband's parents that their son had been the victim of an acid attack, when the man lying in a hospital bed was actually her lover, Rajesh Ajjakolu, reports the BBC. But while the parents paid Ajjakolu's medical billswith plastic surgery to be includedtheir other son grew suspicious. Police say Ajjakolu refused a meal of mutton soup, claiming he was a vegetarian though Reddy's husband wasn't, per the Khaleej Times. When he couldn't identify relatives and began communicating with signs, the family went to police. After fingerprints revealed Ajjakolu to be an imposter, authorities say Reddy admitted she and Ajjakolu killed her husband, Sudhakar Reddy. The murder is believed to have taken place on Nov. 26. According to Gulf News, Reddy is accused of injecting her husband with anesthesia before hitting him on the head, with Ajjakolu's help. Police believe the couple burned the man's body the next day. A day later, Ajjakolu was admitted to hospital with facial burns police now say were caused by Reddy deliberately pouring acid on his face to disfigure him. Reddy, who was arrested Sunday, reportedly told authorities she was inspired by the 2014 Indian movie Yevadu, in which a person emerges from plastic surgery with the face of a deceased man, per the Hindustan Times. Ajjakolu is to be taken into custody upon his release from the hospital. (Read more murder stories.) By the time he was 7 years old, Christopher had been seen at Texas hospitals and pediatric centers 323 times and underwent 13 major surgeries, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reports. He was put on full-time oxygen, confined to a wheelchair, fitted with a feeding tube, and entered into hospice care. Christopher's mom, 34-year-old Kaylene Bowen, said he had a rare genetic disorder and cancer and needed a lung transplant. Now Bowen is in jail and doctors can't find anything wrong with Christopher, according to NBC DFW. Bowen was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of injury to a child, and Christopher's father, Ryan Crawford, says he believes Bowen has Munchausen syndrome by proxy, wherein a person seeks attention by faking medical conditions in others. Crawford says the behavior started before Christopher was even bornwith Bowen claiming multiple hospitalizations during her pregnancyand wants to know why it took so long for authorities to step in. How do you do 13 surgeries and not question the fifth surgery? The sixth surgery? Crawford asks WFAA. Crawford says he went to family court multiple times to convince them there was nothing wrong with Christopher. In response, he was blocked from visiting his son and told he was in denial about his son's impending death. CPS finally took Christopher away from Bowen last month after doctors could find no evidence to support her claim the 8-year-old had a seizure. Police say Christopher has suffered three life-threatening blood infections due to Bowen's actions over the years. Christopher is in foster care, and Crawford is seeking custody. (Read more Munchausen syndrome by proxy stories.) Looks like we're getting a real Flight of the Living Dead situation to close out 2017. CBS Los Angeles reports a JetBlue flight had to be rerouted after a male passenger started biting people. The flight out of Los Angeles was somewhere over Utah when the man bit apparent acquaintances sitting next to him. The man then attacked a doctor who was trying to examine the victims, forcing another passenger to restrain him. "I really had a hell of a time keeping him in place there, the other passenger says. The flight was diverted to Las Vegas, where the man was arrested, before continuing on to New York. It remains unclear why the man decided to try to masticate his fellow travelers. (Read more air travel stories.) Salma Hayek joins the long list of women in Hollywood accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct with a searing op-ed in the New York Times. "For years, he was my monster," she writes. Looking back, she now thinks it was only her friendship with the likes of Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney "that saved me from being raped." Still, she recounts a long list of "no's" she had to use. "No to opening the door to him at all hours of the night, hotel after hotel, location after location, where he would show up unexpectedly," she writes, before ticking off several more: "No to me taking a shower with him. No to letting him watch me take a shower. No to letting him give me a massage. No to letting a naked friend of his give me a massage. No to letting him give me oral sex. No to my getting naked with another woman." Much of the op-ed deals with her harrowing account of dealing with Weinstein as she was making Frida, the 2002 biopic of Frida Kahlo, for his Miramax studio. The film, and Hayek herself, would be go on to be widely acclaimed, but she writes that Weinstein constantly belittled her as an actress and producer during the shoot. He often complained that nobody would want to see it because she didn't look sexy enough. At one point, he threatened to kill the film unless she did a nude scene with another woman. She recalls being physically sick the day of that shoot. "It was not because I would be naked with another woman," she writes. "It was because I would be naked with her for Harvey Weinstein. But I could not tell them then." Click to read her full piece, in which she says Weinstein once told her in a rage, I will kill you, dont think I cant. (Read more Salma Hayek stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region New Delhi: As campaigning for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections ended on Tuesday, newly elected Congress President Rahul Gandhi claimed his party shall return to power as there is Jabardast (massive) undercurrent against BJP in the state. BJP, on the other hand, looked a little insecure in its bastion for the first time in last 22 years. However, the party said it will win over 150 seats. But, the narrative emerged in Gujarat is that there was a discontent among BJPs otherwise traditionally strong trading community over GST and demonetisation. And this was the reason PM Modi could not seek votes in the name of GST and demonetisation, what he claims his biggest reforms. However, the same trading community, especially in urban Gujarat, would be the biggest obstacle for Congress to remove as they are the loyalists of BJP and "Narendra Bhai". The Congress President-elect, while talking about the undercurrent against BJP, was hoping to ride on the discontent among the farmers over mutted cotton and groundnut prices and among traders facing slowdown in their business activities due to GST and demonetisation. Farmers can change the equation in Congress's way as the party was not too far behind BJP in Rural Gujarat in 2012 elections. Suggested Read | Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: Muslim voters fear The Devil might transfer their votes to wrong candidates What 2012 Assembly Election Data Shows Despite the favourable-looking political conditions in the state, the road to dislodge BJP in its stronghold Gujarat would be a herculean task for Rahul Gandhi to travel. In 2012 Assembly elections, BJP won 52 seats in Urban Gujarat while Congress could only manage to win 6 constituencies. When it comes to Rural Gujarat, the grand-old party winning 55 seats as compared to BJPs 63 produced a neck-to neck fight. So, as per this analysis, if the Congress wants to gain substantial ground in Gujarat, it has to make inroads into the BJPs loyal urban vote base. Also Read | 'Shame on you', Sharad Pawar tells PM Modi for remarks against Manmohan The Rural and Urban Voter Mindset According to a pre-poll survey conducted by Lokniti-CSDS-ABP News, BJP is way ahead of Congress in Urban Central Gujarat and Urban Saurashtra regions. In Urban Central Gujarat, 35 per cent people intended to vote for the saffron party while only 20 per cent said they will vote for the Congress. The Modi factor was quite visible in Urban Saurashtra as well where 46 per cent people said they will vote for BJP while only 30 per cent extended their support to Congress. However, the Congress seems to be giving a tough fight to BJP in Urban North Gujarat where 41 per cent people were in favour of voting for Congress as opposed to BJPs 51 per cent. But in the Patidar dominated Urban South Gujarat region, Congress may be able to severely dent BJPs vote share. 43 per cent people in this region said they will vote for the Congress while only 36 per cent favoured the ruling party. According to the poll, Congress seems to have gone past the BJP when it comes to the rural areas. In Rural Central Gujarat, 47 per cent people said they will vote for the grand-old party while 56 per cent in Rural North Gujarat and 49 per cent in Rural Saurashtra gave preference to Congress over BJP. In Rural South Guajarat, BJP, with 44 per cent votes was slightly ahead of Congresss 42 per cent. Though, the Congress stands in a much more comfortable position in Rural Gujarat, it will have to improve its average victory margin (votes per seat) which stood at 14,456 votes in the 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections. With Congress enjoying the bigger cushion in rural areas, the upheaval task ahead would be denting through BJPs loyal urban vote bank and increase the victory margin to win the high-stake Gujarat elections. Ahmedabad: Voting for the second phase of the crucial Gujarat Assembly polls will be held on Thursday after the high-voltage campaign witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi leading the electioneering for their parties. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat, in the final phase of the polls, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise. Prominent candidates in the fray for tomorrow's battle include state deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana against Jivabhai Patel of Congress. Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress, is seeking election from Radhanpur constituency. Lavingji Thakor of the BJP is contesting against him. Vadgam SC seat is another key constituency from where independent candidate Jignesh Mevani is fighting the election on Congress support against BJP's Vijay Chakravarti. In Maninagar, the constituency once represented by PM Modi, Congress has given ticket to foreign-educated young face Sweta Bhrambhatt against BJP's sitting MLA Suresh Patel. Modi had vacated the constituency after becoming the PM in 2014. In its bid to form a caste bloc against the BJP, the Congress has won over Hardik Patel, Thakor and Mevani, who have emerged as the young Turks representing the Patidars, OBCs and Dalits respectively. Also read: BJPs loyal urban voter: Resurgent Congresss biggest obstacle in Gujarat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP patriarch L K Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are among the saffron heavyweights expected to exercise their franchise in the second and final phase of Gujarat elections tomorrow. Modi will cast his vote at Sabarmati Assembly constituency, Advani is expected to exercise his franchise at Jamalpur-Khadia seat and Jaitley in Vejalpur constituency, all located in Ahmedabad, a party release said. BJP president Amit Shah and former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel are expected to cast their votes at Naranpura and Ghatlodiya, respectively, again in Ahmedabad. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel will vote at Kadi constituency in Mehsana district, the release said. The elections, being viewed as precursor to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, are a prestige battle for Modi, who helmed the campaign for the ruling BJP in his home state, and a litmus test for Gandhi, who spearheaded the campaign for the Congress. The electioneering for the second phase concluded yesterday after Modi took a seaplane ride from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam in north Gujarat, and returned after offering prayers at the famous Ambaji Temple and holding a road show. Also read| BJPs loyal urban voter: Resurgent Congresss biggest obstacle in Gujarat On the concluding day of the campaign, Gandhi told reporters that there was "tremendous undercurrent" against the ruling BJP in Gujarat and predicted a victory for his party in the Assembly polls. He claimed that "public mood" had undergone a radical change with all sections of society angry with the saffron party. In the final stages of the electioneering, Modi set off a political firestorm after he alleged during a rally in Palanpur that Pakistan was trying to influence the Gujarat polls. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met a day before Mani Shankar Aiyar made the "neech aadmi" jibe against him. However, the next day Manmohan Singh asked Modi to apologise to the nation for his remarks. Earlier, at a rally in Bhabhar town in Banaskantha district in north Gujarat, Modi accused Aiyar of giving "supari" (contract) while on a visit to Pakistan to get him "removed" from the way to ensure peace between India and the neighbouring country. This came a after Aiyar called Modi a "neech kism ka aadmi" (lowly man). Bengaluru: Amidst the ongoing controversy over the alleged killing of Paresh Mesta, Kamalakar Mesta, his father said, "I don't know who killed my son. They are saying minority people killed. My son was not associated with any party or group. We are Hindus but not associated with any group." 18-year-old Paresh Mesta' s dead body was found in a lake in his village Honnavar in Uttar Kannada district on December 8 after which the situation became volatile in the area. Since December 8, senior BJP leader and Member of Parliament Shobha Karandalaje representing the Udupi-Chickmagalur constituency has been asserting that Paresh Mesta was a BJP worker.A Shobha had tweeted that Paresh Mesta was a BJP karyakarta who was killed by aJihadis.a Shobha alleged that activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) tortured and murdered Paresh and Karnataka's Congress government is trying to protect the accused because they belong to the minority community.A While addressing media on Wednesday Shobha said, "We will meet union home minister Rajanath Singh on December 15 and appeal him to give this case to NIA for investigation. We will also protest in Honnavar on 18th." Our young Karyakarta Paresh Mesta is killed by Jihadis in Honnavara.My heartfelt condolences with the family.Shame on the CM who continued with his visit in the district!! a Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP)A December 8, 2017 Claims made by BJP about torture and mutilating the body of Paresh had fallen flat after the forensic report released by Karnataka Police on December 11 ruled out the claims of torture. Right-wing groups have been protesting in various parts of Uttar Kannada district since the body of Paresh was found but now the situation is limping back towards normalcy.A Talking to News Nation, IG western range Hemant Nimbalakar said, "Situation is under control now in the entire Uttar Kannada district. We are waiting for the postmortem report then only we can ascertain the cause of death". Meanwhile Home Minister of Karnataka Ramalinga Reddy said, aBJP is frustrated by seeing thousands of people gathering in the rallies of Chief Minister Siddharamaiah in Uttar Kannada district and that is why they are playing politics on the death of a youth and trying to polarise the people of the state.a Islamabad: Dilip Kumar's fans in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar celebrated his 95th birthday with much fanfare, according to a media report on Tuesday. The birthday celebrations on Monday were organised by the Cultural Heritage Council at the Peshawar Press Club. Fans cut a ceremonial cake surrounded by pictures of the 'Mughal-e-Azam' star at the event. Saira Bano, Kumar's wife addressed his fans via telephone. She thanked the people of Peshawar for remembering him and hoped that with their prayers and well wishes, he will soon recuperate and be able to speak to them himself. Kumar was born in Mohallah Khudadad in Qissa Khwani in1922 as Yousaf Khan. His contribution to the cinema was also recognised by Islamabad and he was awarded Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1998, the country's highest civilian award. Also Read: Supreme Court asks Dilip Kumar to deposit Rs 20 crore to settle property dispute Kumar's house in Peshawar was declared a national heritage, but the building has now collapsed and only its facade and main gate remain. Earlier, the K-P government announced plans to rebuild the house. Government officials believe that the house has immense cultural and historical importance due to its association with the legendary actor and intends to maintain it as his symbol in Peshawar. During Monday's ceremony, people of the city paid rich tributes to Kumar and remembered him as the 'pride of Peshawar'. They urged the government to rebuild Kumar's house and set up a gallery in it which showcases Kumar's life and his contribution to the Indian film industry. "We are hopeful that his house will be renovated and willbe opened for public," said Shakil Waheedullah, a social activist who organises Kumar's birthday in the city every ear. Also Read: Veteran actor Dilip Kumar diagnosed with mild pneumonia, advised rest at home Waheedullah said the government has already allocated funds for the purpose and will start by renovating those parts of the houses which are still in good condition. He told the Express Tribune that the purpose of celebrating Kumar's birthday in the city was to bring both the countries closer to each other on the basis of their common cultural and historical links. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Beyhadh actor Piyush Sahdev, who was recently arrested on rape charges after an 23-year aspiring actress filed an FIR against him. As per latest reports by Telly Chakkar, the actor has now been found guilty on the rape charges as per his medical reports. Recently, Piyushs bail application was also rejected by the court after the actor was shifted to Arthur Road Jail. In a talk with Telly Chakkar, Senior Inspector, Versova Police Station said, He is still in jail and the charge-sheet is being prepared in the case; until then he is being kept in judicial custody and the investigation is going on alongside. As per Hindustan Times reports, The actor had met the woman through mutual friends and soon moved in with her; he then proposed marriage to her after two months of their relationship. When the woman found some objectionable photographs of him with another girl, they had a nasty fight and the actor apparently refused to marry her. The woman then approached the police on November 20 and filed a rape case against him. Piyushs sister and Secret Superstar actress Meher Vij told Times of India, Piyush and I havent been in touch at all ever since he got married. His wife had some issues so I chose to back off. Whatever contact we have had, has been only through our father. Apart from Beyhadh, Piyush Sahdev has also worked in serials like Devon Ke Dev Mahadev and Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Centre has agreed to continue search operations for the missing fishermen in Cyclone Ockhi that hit the state's coast on November 29 and 30. The death toll in the disaster has, meanwhile, climbed to 58 with more bodies recovered from high seas. State control room officials said three bodies were found off the coast of Kozhikode and three from Kochi. Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has agreed to continue the search operations in the high seas as requested by the state, Vijayan told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. However, the chief minister said complete information was still not available on the fishermen who went out to sea during the cyclone days. "Several fishermen had ventured into sea in boats and some in small crafts. The anxiety is about people who had gone in crafts", Vijayan said. When pointed out that the Latin Catholic Church, to which most of the affected fishermen belonged, had disputed the official figure on missing fishermen, Vijayan said, "there is no need for dispute on that." The government has a figure of missing persons and if there were any more persons other than in the list, that also would be confirmed, he added. The official missing toll is 94. Read more: Ram Setu is man-made claims American science channel, BJP says stance vindicated In a bid to set up a mechanism to ensure safety of fishermen, Vijayan said a system was being planned in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The chief minister said the government would speed up relief and rehabilitation work. The financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for families of fishermen killed in the cyclone would be given in one go, he said adding "it will be given shortly without any hassle." An amount of Rs five lakh would be given to those who were seriously injured and not able to go for work in future as an "alternative livelihood" initiative, he said. Efforts were on to identify the bodies through DNA test, he said. Observing that the Centre seems to have understood the gravity of the damage caused by the cyclone in the state, Vijayan said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured him that a Central team would visit the affected areas very soon. Seeking support of all sections of society for relief and rehabilitation of cyclone victims, Vijayan said all cabinet members have donated their one month's salary to Ockhi cyclone relief fund. He appealed to government employees to donate three days salary and workers in other sectors one day's salary to the fund. Giving details of the measures planned for the victims, he said houses would be built for those who had lost it under the government's Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) programme. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bengaluru: Conceding a BJP demand, the Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to hand over to CBI the case relating to the mysterious death of a youth, which has sparked violence in coastal Uttara Kannada district. The state government has decided to hand over Paresh Kamalakar Mesta's mysterious death case to Central Bureau of Investigation," state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told PTI here, as the BJP upped the ante on the issue. Maintaining that Mesta was a Hindu activist and had been 'killed' by "Jihadi elements", the BJP has demanded an investigation by the CBI or the National Investigation Agency. Hitting out at BJP, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had accused it of using the incident for "political gains." Mesta (19), hailing from the fisherman community, was reported missing on December 6 before his body was found near a lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district two days later. Sirsi and Kumata towns in the district have been hit by violence since then. Mesta's family and local residents alleged he was abducted and killed amid reports that the body bore marks of attack by sharp objects. Police, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination. Earlier today, senior BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje claimed the involvement of Muslim outfit Popular Front of India Mesta's death as she pressed for CBI or NIA probe. "Investigations have shown the involvement of PFI behind the murder of RSS worker Rudresh (early this year) and other leaders in Karnataka and Kerala. Why is the government soft On PFI and not banning it" she asked. PFI had earlier rejected the BJP charge pinning the blame on it for the killings of Hindu activists. Karandlaje dismissed Reddy's charges that she and other firebrand BJP leaders were responsible for the riotous situation in the coastal belt. To a query, Reddy said, "We do not want to indulge in political mud-slinging, and the government is not shielding anyone in this case, and hence we thought it fit to hand over the case to CBI." Also read: Bengaluru: New twist in Paresh Mesta death case as forensic report belies BJPs allegations Charging the BJP with playing politics over Mesta's death in poll-bound Karnataka, where assembly elections are due early next year, he said the victim did not belong to any political party. "Mesta's father, in a TV interview yesterday, had denied that his son belonged to any political party. This is just in contrast to BJP allegations that Mesta belonged to a Hindu outfit," he said. Also read: Paresh Mestas father says son not associated with any group while Karnataka BJP maintains he was their karyakarta The death of Mesta had given a fresh ammunition to the BJP which has been targeting the Siddaramaiah government in recent months, saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu outfits have been killed in coastal Karnataka and elsewhere. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: A city police inspector was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthan's Pali district in the early hours of Wednesday where a special team went to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist. A senior police official identified the deceased as S Periyapandiyan, an inspector attached to the Maduravoyal police station in Chennai. "The shoot-out took place when a police team went to nab the suspects at a village in Pali district. Periyapandiyan was killed in the firing while others suffered injuries", he said. The incident occurred around 2:30 am, the official said. Read more: Govt extends December 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar to bank accounts A police team led by Joint Commissioner (West) Santosh Kumar is likely to visit Rajasthan in connection with the incident. Last month, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur, after entering it by making a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to nab the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bengaluru: In a shocking incident in Karnataka, students of Government High School of Tumkuru have complained that they were given water mixed with alcohol by their school teachers while they were on a school picnic. On Friday, students and teachers of Government High School Tumkuru had gone to a picnic to Dharmasthala. After visiting few religious places, students started playing games and dancing. Some of the students got tired and were looking for water and saw a bottle of water with the headmaster Sachidanand. The students claim that their headmaster Sachidanand, teachers Rathod and Muzammil had consumed alcohol and gave students same water bottle in which they had mixed alcohol with water. One of the student's while describing the incident to media said, "Our headmaster Sachidanand was fully drunk. We requested Rathore and Muzzamil sir to give us some water from their bottle. They gave us the water bottle but didn't tell us they have mixed alcohol with water. We drank the water and after some time students started feeling dizzy and few students vomited". On coming back from the picnic, students complained to the higher authorities about the incident but Muzzamil has denied all the allegations. Muzzamil said, "This is all lie. Neither I nor the other two teachers consumed alcohol that day. This is baseless." When the incident was reported in the media, Ravi Shankar Reddy, Deputy Director, Department of Public Instructions Karnataka immediately suspended all the three teachers and ordered an enquiry. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ruled out for now the release of former youth Congress leader Sushil Kumar Sharma, serving life term in the murder case of his wife Naina Sahni. Sharma has sought release on the ground that he has already spent 25 years in jail. He has challenged the decision of the Sentence Review Board, which examines the records of those who have spent 14 years in jail and those who were given life term, declining his plea for release. The board, which was constituted in 2004 as per Supreme Court directives and is chaired by the Delhi Home Minister, decides on the pleas of convicts and other related issues. The board also has representatives of Tihar Jail, Delhi Police and Home Department as its members. According to Sharma's counsel, he has applied for release before the board thrice and his pleas were turned down in January 2016, September 2016 and in September this year. During the day's hearing, the court said though he has a right to be considered for release by the board, he cannot claim his release as a matter of right. "You have a right to be considered for release but you do not have the right for grant of release", Justice Mukta Gupta said while posting the matter to March 14 for further hearing. Sharma, who is serving life term for murdering his wife Naina Sahni, chopping it off and throwing the body parts in a restaurant's tandoor, has sought premature release on the ground that he has spent over 25 years in jail. Read more: Ram Setu is man-made, claims American science channel; BJP says stance vindicated Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Sharma, said the valuable rights of the convict are also at stake and the board has rejected the plea without giving any reason. When advocates Sumeet Verma and Amit Sahni, also representing Sharma, said the convicts in more henious offences have been released, the court said there can be no comparison. The counsel claimed that the board's decision was arbitrary and in violation of the guidelines. To this, the bench said it was not going to sit in appeal on the decision of the board. The counsel submitted that the years also include four years in remission earned over the period of jail term. In September 2015, 20 years after he was sent to jail for the murder, Sharma was released on unconditional parole till a final decision on his release was taken. Now 56, Sharma had shot his wife Naina Sahni to death in 1995 objecting to her alleged relationship with a male friend. He had then chopped her body into pieces and attempted to burn it in a restaurant's oven. Popularly known as the tandoor murder case, it is one of the landmark cases in India in which DNA evidence and a second autopsy were used to establish the guilt of the accused. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crime, even as the opposition termed it as a "fascist bill". The draft Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Bill was approved in a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, state government spokesperson and Power Minister Srikant Sharma told reporters. It is expected to be introduced in the Winter Session of the state legislature which commences in Lucknow on Thursday. Opposition parties hit out at the government, claiming that the new law was drafted to fool people. "We will oppose the bill. It is fascist and undemocratic. There are already a number of laws. It's just to curb voice of the people as Yogi Adityanth government has done nothing in the past nine months. It's a bid to curtail freedom and will be misused", SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI. Congress Legislative Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu to a question said, "The BJP has done nothing in the state after forming the government. They (BJP) has failed to maintain law and order. The existing laws are not implented and the new one has been drafted just to fool people and divert their attention." Read more: NGT directs protection of endangered species in IIT Madras On opposing the draft bill, Lallu said he had not yet got a copy of the same. "It will be decided by the party accordingly at an opportune time", he said. Earlier, Sharma said that the rule of law was the top priority of the government. "For this it is essential that those indulging in mafia and 'goonda' activities, and disturbing peace in the society are identified and a special drive is launched against them...The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind", he said. The draft of the proposed legislation has been prepared in consultation with the Law Department to check organised and white-collar crime, and mafias, Sharma said, adding that there are 28 provisions in the draft bill which are not present in the existing Gangsters Act. The committee set up to examine the draft bill also took into account a similar act in Maharashtra. It was headed by the home department's secretary with the additional director general of police for crime and special secretary law as its members, the minister said. Sharma said organised crime was defined in detail in the draft bill. "Kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, manufacturing illicit liquor and its sale, acquiring contracts on the basis of muscle power, organised exploitation of forest produce, trade in wildlife, fake medicines, grabbing of government and private properties, and 'rangdari' (extortion) will come underthe ambit of the new law", he said. Sharma said arrangements have also been made to check the misuse of the bill and that cases under it will be filed only on the recommendations of the committee of divisional commissioner and the range deputy inspector general of police. The permission of the zonal inspector general of police will be required before filing of charge sheet after thorough inquiry, he said. It has also been proposed that properties amassed through organised crime would be taken over by the government with the permission of the court during the course of investigation to check criminal elements from taking advantage of it, Sharma said. The property will be confiscated by the state government after conviction, the minister said. Sharma said that special courts will be constituted for hearing of cases lodged under the provisions of this bill and that a state-level organised crime control authority has been proposed to monitor gangs involved in organised crime. The state-level authority will be headed by the principal secretary for home. Read more: Indian teacher among top 50 contenders for USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize "This authority will either take cognisance on its own or on a complaint. It will probe the activities of organised gangs and will be entitled to examine any government file related to the case", he said. There is also a provision to form district-level organised crime control authorities which will be led by district magistrates. They can recommend cases to the state-level authority after thorough probe, Sharma said. The draft bill also proposes a tribunal led by a retired high court judge for appealing against it. It will have a principal secretary and an official of the DGP rank as its members, the minister said, adding that anyone can appeal against the decision of the authority in this tribunal. Those having security and found to be involved in organised crime will no longer be extended government protection and all white-collar criminals will be treated as such, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A video footage has surfaced in which former deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka KS Eshwarappa is seen giving tips to party workers on how to fool voters to gain support in elections. In the video, Eshwarappa asked workers to lie to voters if necessary to win their support at a meeting held in Koppal region of Karnataka. On this incident, the Congress lashed out at the BJP leader, saying his tips to the worker is a reflection of BJP political strategy. Dinesh Gundu Rao, Congress working president said that the statements by Eshwarappa are a reflection of the BJPs political strategy and culture. They are spreading lies through their campaigns around the state and urging party workers to follow their actions. Also Read| PM Modi makes a splash with seaplane ride to mark end of campaign "We need to tell the people about the achievements of the BJP- what we will do for minorities, Dalits, women, and elderly when we come to power in Karnataka. We should never say no, remember we are politicians, we should never say we don't know, just lie! People should never wonder what kind of a politician are you with no knowledge of things," said Eshwarappa in a video. "After you go home if you think Manmohan Singh did good work or Siddaramaiah is doing well, you can resign from the BJP and sit at home. Do not be a part of the BJP," he further added. However, Eshwarappa refuted to comment anything on the video. He was the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka in the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar from 2012 to 2013. He is currently serving as the Leader of opposition. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Seoul: Kim Jong-Un has vowed to make North Korea the "world's strongest nuclear power," state media reported on Wednesday, as the reclusive nation shows little sign of reining in a weapons programme fuelling global alarm. The North has rattled the international community with a flurry of missile launches and its largest ever nuclear test in recent months in its bid to develop a warhead capable of striking the United States. Kim told the workers behind the nuclear test on Tuesday that his country "will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world," according to state news agency KCNA. His comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim's regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US President Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with the US President pejoratively dubbing his rival "Little Rocket Man." Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. Last month's launch was the first test of any kind since September 15, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was confident that Washington is doing all it can to force North Korea to discuss nuclear disarmament. "As I've told people many times, I will continue our diplomatic efforts until the first bomb drops," he said in a speech to the Atlantic Council policy forum. But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. Also Read: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un promotes sister Kim Yo Jong to key position of ruling Worker's Party of Korea Washington has ramped up the pressure on the North and last week the United States and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise. Pyongyang slammed those manoeuvres as a provocation, accusing the drills of "revealing its intention to mount a surprise nuclear pre-emptive strike." For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The US is ready to talk to North Korea over its nuclear disarmament without preconditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said, in what appeared to be a softening of America's stance toward Pyongyang. The offer to North Korea comes amid crippling sanctions on the country and just two weeks after another intercontinental ballistic missile test by the reclusive nation. It also marks a shift from Tillerson's own previous comments that the US would not negotiate its way to the negotiating table with North Korea and that it would only talk once the regime was ready to address its denuclearisation. "We've said from the diplomatic side we're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and were ready to have the first meeting without precondition. Let's just meet,"Tillerson said. He was speaking on 'Meeting the Foreign Policy Challengesof 2017 and Beyond' organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum. "And then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap ofwhat we might be willing to work towards," he said. The offer stands in contrast to President Donald Trump's warnings that talks have failed and that Tillerson was wasting his time. Tillerson said it was not workable to demand that North Korea give up its weapons before talks begin. "It's not realistic to say we are only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it. And the President is very realistic about that as well," he said in response to a question after delivering his remarks. However, the White House was quick to assert that there had been no change in the views of the president on North Korea. "The President's views on North Korea have not changed. North Korea is acting in an unsafe way not only toward Japan,China, and South Korea, but the entire world. North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good forNorth Korea," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement to the press. The secretary of state made clear that full North Korean nuclear disarmament would be the ultimate goal of substantive negotiations. He argued that containment was not an option, as an impoverished North Korea would seek to earn money by selling its nuclear weapons on the black market. "Because we are dealing with a new leader in North Korea that no one ever engaged with. And he clearly is not like his father nor is he like his grandfather, and we don't know a whole lot about what it will be like to engage with him," he said. "I have to understand how do they process, how do they think. Because getting to an agreement, as all of us know, innegotiations means a willingness to talk about a lot of things," he said. However, he then laid down one condition and said thereshould be a "period of quiet" in which such preliminary talks could take place. "If there was any condition at all to this, it's that, look, it's going to be tough to talk if, in the middle of ourtalks, you decide to test another device. It's going to bedifficult to talk if, in the middle of our talks, you decide to fire another one off. So I think they clearly understand thatif we're going to talk, we have to have a period of quiet,"Tillerson said. North Korea, he noted, can't be treated like other nuclear weapons states. "Many people have asked the question of, well, why can't you live with a containment strategy You lived with it with Russia; you lived with it with China; you lived with it with others," he said. "The difference is that the past behaviour of NorthKorea, it is clear to us that they would not just use the possession of nuclear weapons as a deterrent. This would become a commercial activity for them. Because we already seeelements of it in the commercial marketplace. And in a world we live in today where our greatest threats are non-state actors, we simply cannot accept that," Tillerson said. Tillerson's comments came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to make North Korea the "world's strongest nuclear power". For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Earlier this year, Austin McChord told graduates at the Rochester Institute of Technology that he could have sold his data backup company Datto a few years back for $100 million, with his attorney telling him at the time he could always rue passing up the opportunity to continue building the company from the beach of the private island he could buy with the proceeds. As it turns out, RIT is a big beneficiary of McChords decision to take the risk to build up Norwalk-based Datto beyond the $100 million milestone, with the founder bestowing on RIT Wednesday a sum sufficient to purchase half of that fictional island. "We are thrilled to be celebrating our 150 th location during this important anniversary year for Canada," Goggins says. "Since the first franchise opening, Great Clips has had a rich history of embracing neighbourhoods across North America. We always encourage our salon owners to be active community members. They give back in a number of ways, from supporting fundraising efforts like Movember to offering free clipper cuts to cancer patients facing hair loss, and helping families displaced by the Fort McMurray fire. Our franchisees' community spirit has been the key to our success, and I have every confidence Yasir will carry on this tradition in Fort Saskatchewan." The Fort Saskatchewan franchise is the second for Saeed who also owns a Great Clips salon in Sherwood Park. Before becoming a franchisee, Saeed says he discovered Great Clips online when looking to get a haircut. He was so impressed by the experience, he subsequently applied for a franchise. "I had explored other franchise options, but all they wanted to know about was my bank account. Great Clips wanted to know about me as a person. I'm especially proud that as the 150th salon in Canada, we are opening in the same year as Canada's 150th birthday." An added milestone for Saeed is that 2017 is the year that he officially became a Canadian citizen. He says he is committed to developing good relationships with his employees and providing jobs and opportunities in todays' growing economy. "I'm there to support my employees. When they're happy, the customers are happy. I know what's most important to them, so I want to make sure their work supports that and provide them with opportunities that will make their lives better." About Great Clips Great Clips, Inc. was established in 1982 in Minneapolis to provide competitively prices, high-quality haircuts to men, women and children. The company began franchising in 1982 and now has 1,200 independently-owned franchises in 205 markets across North America. The first Canadian franchise was established in Vancouver in 1993. Today it has more than 4,200 salons throughout the United States and Canada, employing nearly 40,000 stylists and servicing two million customers weekly, making it the world's largest salon brand. SOURCE Great Clips, Inc. For further information: Tara Bolger, [email protected], 647-228-3944 SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 12, 2017 /CNW/ -- The holiday is just around the corner, so we've shortlisted some gift ideas for those looking to do some last minute shopping. Whether they are a photographer, world traveler, tech fanatic, or just looking for a cool gift, there's something for everyone within DJI's drone and handheld product line up. Limited Edition Spark Christmas Set For those looking to capture their inspirations and sharing their stories on-the-go, they can enjoy up to USD $100 discount on the Spark and Mavic. For those who want to get the most out of their Mavic Pro, they can enjoy up to USD $150 discount with the Fly More Combo. For those looking for a special gift idea, the Limited Edition Spark Christmas Set, which includes propeller guards & a riser kit, may just be the perfect present. Phantom 4 Advanced and Pro purchases will include an additional free battery, which makes them an ideal option for serious photographers who demand a powerful camera system and extended flight time. For those who want to capture cinematic videos like a professional can choose from the Osmo series or experience flight in FPV with the DJI Goggles. To help readers choose which product is best-suited for their friends, family or loved ones, we've detailed our most-popular items, their special features and the type of consumer who may appreciate them. Discounted holiday pricing, product descriptions and photo download links are also included below. Products are available for purchase and shipping directly from the DJI online store. For more details about the products, market availability and pricing in local currency, visit https://store.dji.com/event/winter-holiday. For more info, please contact: [email protected] Story Angle Suggestions For Him (Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Series, DJI Goggles) For Techy (Phantom 4 Series; DJI Goggles, Osmo+) Big Boys' Toys Must have tech in your bag Awesome tech gifts for him Gift ideas for your techy other half Gifts for geeks Top tech toys to own in 2018 For Her (Spark, Osmo Mobile Silver, Mavic Pro Alpine White) For Travelers (Mavic Pro, Osmo Mobile Silver, Spark) Take selfie to new heights Gadgets that will make your boyfriend jealous Top tech fashion accessories Ways to capture and share your travel experience this holiday Must have travel tech Gift ideas for those on the go General Lifestyle For Professionals (Phantom 4 Series, Inspire 2) Affordable: Gadgets under USD 500 (Spark, DJI Goggles, Osmo Mobile Silver) Luxury: Holiday gifts for the 'high-flyer' (Mavic Pro Alpine White and Phantom 4 Series) Cool: Gadgets everyone should have in their bag (Spark, Osmo Mobile Silver) Gifts for the photographer in you / them A new perspective for the serious photographer in your life New year resolution: Learning a new art form - aerial photography Osmo Mobile Silver A stabilizer that turns a smartphone into a smart motion camera https://store.dji.com/product/osmo-mobile-silver?from=event-winter-holiday Promotional price: USD 199 (original USD 299 What's special about it? Minimizes camera shake and turns shots into cinematic videos ActiveTrack automatically creates perfectly framed shots of objects in motion 4 different operation modes Detailed panoramas, long exposure, motion timelapses and slow motion video Live-stream to social media Up to 4.5 hours of battery life Ideal for: Travel enthusiasts People who love sharing videos Vloggers on the go Parents capturing their baby's first steps Capturing special moments at concerts / sporting events DJI Goggles An immersive FPV flight experience https://store.dji.com/product/dji-goggles?from=event-winter-holiday Promotional price: USD 399 (original USD 449) What's special about it? Full HD 1920 X 1080 resolutions Head tracking feature Fixed Wing Mode (rotational movement to simulate realistic flight) Easy access to key intelligent flight features such as ActiveTrack, TapFly, Terrain Follow, Cinematic Mode and Tripod Mode Up to 6 hours of operation time Compatible with most DJI drones Ideal for: Tech enthusiasts and gamers Drone racing enthusiasts Those who enjoy VR experience / entertainment Aviation enthusiasts / pilots Photographer and videographers who require a close up perspective of their footage Spark The smallest, most fun and easy-to-use mini camera drone https://store.dji.com/product/spark?from=event-winter-holiday Promotional price: USD 399 (original USD 499) Fly More Combo: USD 599 (original USD 699) Limited Spark & Accessories Combo: USD 418 (original USD 549) Limited Spark Fly More Combo & Accessories Combo: USD 618 (original USD 749)1 What's special about it? Weighs just 300 grams (less than the size of a soda can) Lifts off from the palm of your hand, with gesture control 12 MP camera QuickShot Intelligent Flight Modes Fly with the controller, smartphone, or just your hand Up to 16 mins of flight time Comes in Alpine White, Sky Blue, Meadow Green, Lava Red, and Sunrise Yellow Ideal for: Your first drone / family's first drone Grandparents' / parents' first high-tech gift Those who love new and cool gadgets Pet owners Documenting family travels Those who love selfies Mavic Pro / Mavic Pro Alpine White A portable and intelligent drone for those capturing stories on the go https://store.dji.com/product/mavic-pro/preferences Promotional price (Mavic Pro): USD 899 (original USD 999) Fly More Combo: USD 1,149 (original USD 1,381) Limited Mavic Pro & Accessories Combo: USD 918 (original USD 1,049) Limited Mavic Pro Fly More Combo & Accessories Combo: USD 1,168 (original USD 1,349)2 https://store.dji.com/product/mavic-pro-alpine-white-combo?from=event-winter-holiday Price (Mavic Pro Alpine White Combo): USD 1,0493 What's special about it? Compact, foldable and mobile Fly with the controller or just your smartphone Front-facing obstacle avoidance Intelligent features include ActiveTrack,TapFly and Gesture mode for selfies 4K video, 12 MP camera Up to 27 mins of flight time Ideal for: Travel enthusiasts / travel vloggers Photography enthusiasts Landscape and outdoor photographers Recording kids' sports game Outdoor adventurers 1 The Limited Accessories Combo for Spark is only applicable to the Alpine White and Lava Red edition while supplies last. 2 The Limited Accessories Combo for Mavic is available while supplies last. 3 The Mavic Pro Alpine White Combo is available exclusively at store.dji.com, Apple.com and Apple Stores in select countries. Phantom 4 Advanced An affordable, yet powerful flying camera for photographers https://store.dji.com/product/phantom-4-advanced?from=event-winter-holiday Price: USD 1,199 (with one additional free extra battery) What's special about it? Powerful camera, precise controls, easy to use 1-inch sensor, able to capture videos at 4K 60fps and 20MP still photos Intelligent features: Draw, ActiveTrack, TapFly, Gesture and Tripod Mode FlightAutonomy system with obstacle avoidance Up to 30 minutes of flight time Ideal for: Those learning how to fly but also requiring a powerful camera Amateur to semi-professional photographers and filmmakers Photography enthusiasts looking for new perspectives Phantom 4 Pro A powerful and intelligent flying camera for the serious aerial photographer https://store.dji.com/product/phantom-4-pro?from=event-winter-holiday Price: USD 1,499 (with one additional free extra battery) What's special about it? Ready-to-fly integrated aerial system with a powerful camera 1-inch sensor, able to capture videos at 4K 60fps and 20MP still photos 5-direction obstacle sensors with FlightAutonomy System Built-in intelligent features including Draw Mode, ActiveTrack, TapFly and Enhanced Return-To-Home function Up to 30 minutes of flight time Ideal for: Professional photographers Photography enthusiasts looking for new perspectives Production agencies and creatives Wedding photography services Drone and RC hobbyists Osmo+ A stabilizer with an integrated zoom camera that helps you capture cinematic footage like a professional https://store.dji.com/product/osmo-plus?from=event-winter-holiday Promotional price: USD 559 (original USD 649) What's special about it? Integrated zoom camera that provides a focal length ranging from 22mm to 77mm without sacrificing HD quality Crisp 4K/30fps video and 1080p/100fps for slow motion video Advanced stabilization, master in long exposure even without a tripod Great for moving selfies with a focal distance starts from 0.5 meters Ideal for: Professional videographers Amateur and semi-professional filmmakers Production agencies and content creators who demand high quality footage Inspire 2 A ready-to-fly aerial platform designed for professionals and filmmaking https://store.dji.com/product/inspire-2 Price: USD 2,999 Photo showing Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X4S camera What's special about it? Ready-to-fly aerial platform for professionals and filmmakers Captures 5.2K video at 4.2 Gbps for Adobe CinemaDNG RAW videos Features two cameras, FPV for operator and main camera for DP 360 degrees camera rotation to capture action in any direction New magnesium-aluminum body that increases stiffness and reduces weight Dual battery redundancy system Top speed of 58 mph (takes only 5 seconds to accelerate to 50 mph) Up to 25 mins of flight time Ideal for: Professionals in production, filmmaking and creative industry Advanced drone pilots Technology enthusiasts Note: DJI's 2017 Holiday Promotion is available at store.dji.com immediately and will end on December 31, 2017, 23:59 PST. Promotion timeframe and availability may vary by market. The Limited Edition Spark Christmas Set is only available during the promotional period while supplies last. Product photos available for download below: Osmo Mobile: http://bit.ly/2wT3GrZ Osmo+: http://bit.ly/2gYd5Kj DJI Goggles: http://bit.ly/2yrMYlf Spark: http://bit.ly/2fCAQpM Mavic Pro: http://bit.ly/2wi6eQX Mavic Pro Alpine White: http://bit.ly/2ygQqOq Phantom 4 Advanced: http://bit.ly/2ouofGT Phantom 4 Pro: http://bit.ly/2jqBtHV Inspire 2: http://bit.ly/2ytiOho About DJI DJI, the world's leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, was founded and is run by people with a passion for remote-controlled helicopters and experts in flight-control technology and camera stabilization. The company is dedicated to making aerial photography and filmmaking equipment and platforms more accessible, reliable and easier to use for creators and innovators around the world. DJI's global operations currently span across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and its revolutionary products and solutions have been chosen by customers in over 100 countries for applications in filmmaking, construction, inspection, emergency response, agriculture, conservation and other industries. For more information, visit our: Website: www.dji.com Online Store: store.dji.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/DJI Instagram: www.instagram.com/DJIGlobal Twitter: www.twitter.com/DJIGlobal LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dji Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/DJI SOURCE DJI VANCOUVER, Dec. 13, 2017 /CNW/ - Mawson Resources Limited ("Mawson") or (the "Company") (TSX:MAW) (Frankfurt: MXR) (PINKSHEETS: MWSNF) is pleased to announce the commencement of the Company's winter diamond drilling program at the 100% owned Rompas-Rajapalot gold project in Finland. Key Points: Winter diamond drill program is now underway with 15,000 drill metres planned from December 2017 to April 2018 ; to ; One diamond drill rig has been mobilized to East Rompas with 2,000 metres to be drilled through to mid-January; Further drill rigs will be mobilized to Hirvimaa and Rajapalot from mid to late January 2018 ; Mr. Michael Hudson, CEO, states: "We thank our shareholders and the team involved in Mawson's recent brokered financing of $5.3 million. We are not wasting any time, with a drill rig already on site to begin the Company's largest ever drill program in Finland. We are particularly excited to begin drilling at our new East Rompas project, where exceptionally high-grade gold has been discovered in outcrop and mini-drill sampling including 2,375 g/t gold; 1,284 g/t gold; 642 g/t gold and 216 g/t gold. We will add additional drill rigs in the new year, to test a range of high priority targets." The 15,000 metre winter program plans to both extend known gold mineralization and test new exploration targets. Drilling at known gold areas near Palokas, Palokas South, South Rajapalot and Raja shall follow up on previous gold mineralized intersections, with an aim to define maiden resources. At East Rompas, Hirvimaa and Rajapalot, new exploration targets with extensive surface data shall be tested. In addition, fast and cost-effective grid base-of-till drilling will be used to discover and test targets along a 20 kilometre strike extent of the new East Rompas high grade gold prospect. One diamond drill rig has been mobilized to East Rompas with 2,000 metres of drilling planned by mid-January. Further drill rigs will be mobilized to Hirvimaa and Rajapalot from mid to late January when snow cover is sufficient and final drill permits are received. East Rompas is located approximately 500 metres east of the 6 kilometre long Rompas high-grade vein system where drill results include 6 metres @ 617 g/t in drill hole ROM0011. Discovery samples were reported on October 11, 2017 and October 23, 2017. To date a total of 30 grab samples (27 from outcrop) range from 0.1 g/t gold to 2,375 g/t gold, with an average grade of 201.1 g/t gold and a median of 0.82 g/t gold. Gold mineralization discovered in outcrop is fracture controlled and associated with strongly biotite-altered mafic rocks, believed hydrothermal in origin, and similar to the undrilled Joki prospect at Rajapalot. Gold mineralization has been discovered sporadically in two semi-parallel trends, perhaps as part of an en echelon array within a 750 metre long NNW-SSE oriented zone, where the width of the individual occurrences are at least 20 metres. Outcrop is poor and forms less than 5% of the area. The northern mineralized zone is better exposed than the southern zone. Technical Background The qualified person for Mawson's Finnish projects, Dr. Nick Cook, President for Mawson and Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the contents of this release. About Mawson Resources Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, PINKSHEETS:MWSNF) Mawson Resources Limited is an exploration and development company. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company with a focus on the flagship Rompas and Rajapalot gold projects in Finland. On behalf of the Board, "Michael Hudson" Michael Hudson, Chairman & CEO Forward-Looking Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Mawson disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. SOURCE Mawson Resources Ltd. For further information: www.mawsonresources.com, 1305 - 1090 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6E 3V7, Mariana Bermudez (Canada), Corporate Secretary, +1 (604) 685 9316, [email protected] Related Links http://www.mawsonresources.com For several years, 12-year-old Jax raised money for the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, not knowing that one day he would receive a wish himself. Having had his wish granted, he wanted to pay it forward. This year, he learned 5-year-old Cooper's wish was to have a swimming pool. To help Jax and Cooper, UPS will pay for the pool and Children's Wish Foundation of Canada will help install it next spring. To convey the news to Cooper, Jax became a UPS driver for the day, filled a UPS delivery truck with pool toys and delivered them to Cooper, giving the young boy something to look forward to through the winter. "For Children's Wish it's about the anticipation of the wish," says Cheryl Matthews, regional director, Atlantic Region, Children's Wish Foundation. "It's what gets those kids through the needles and the hospital visits." Cooper also received a mini UPS delivery truck. "It was an overwhelming moment for everyone involved, watching Jax deliver the wish to Cooper and watching the boys interact," says Will Johnston, business manager, East Atlantic, UPS Canada. "Wishes Delivered gives us the opportunity to come together as a community and experience the real magic of the holidays. "Wishes Delivered is an annual campaign designed to make wishes come true and benefit charities. This year marks the third Wishes Delivered campaign for UPS Canada and the second 'Driver for a day' video. About UPS: UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at ups.com or pressroom.ups.com and its corporate blog can be found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, follow @UPS_Canada on Twitter. SOURCE UPS Canada Ltd. For further information: For all media inquiries, please contact: Murssal Akramy, [email protected], 905 676 1708 Related Links http://www.ups.com/canada For the second time in a month, a San Bernardino, Calif.area home has been "ice-bombed," presumably by an aircraft passing overhead. Claudell Curry and his wife, Odell, who live in the Southern California city, were watching television Sunday night in their living room when they were startled by an ear-splitting crash. "This horrendous boom and our house just shook and trembled," Curry told CBS Los Angeles. Curry looked around the house to see if he could find out what happened. While passing his bedroom, he glimpsed pieces of drywall and insulation on the bed. And something else: large chunks of ice. "Snow white, just ice, and heavy. Each piece was like iron," he told the station. Above the bed, he could see the sky through a hole in the ceiling. The only thing that could have caused such damage is ice falling from an airplane, Curry believes. Now Playing: A family in Chino, California found itself dealing with a rather unusual case of home damage after large chunks ice broke through a bathroom ceiling and landed in the bathtub. Video: GeoBeats About a month ago, the same thing happened to a San Bernardino County home, only instead of the bedroom, the ice debris crashed through the roof and a bathroom ceiling. "I'm wondering what's going on, don't know what's happening. But once I kind of settled down a little bit and saw the ice, I immediately think it had to fall from the sky," the homeowner, Brandon Blanchard, told KABC on Nov. 7. "What's in the sky? Airplanes." As in the case of the Curry home, the ice was clear, not blue. There have been reports of blue ice waste from an aircraft's lavatory possibly falling from planes and hitting buildings or leaving craters in the ground, but the FAA says such incidents are exceedingly rare. Pilots of today's jets cannot eject toilet contents, the agency says, but blue ice could result from a mechanical failure, such as a leak. Whatever the cause, Claudell Curry thinks "something needs to be done about this." "Someone could get killed and we came close to it," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MIDDLETOWN The community is grappling with the loss of a man who, by all accounts, was a beacon of light and joy an uncommon individual whose touch, however brief, made a profound impact on those he met. He turned strangers into friends, said Justin Wilkies mother, Karen Wilkie. The 30-year-old died early Saturday following a 3 a.m. accident on Interstate 91 in Rocky Hill. He was a passenger in car that crashed into a tractor trailer that was parked on the highway shoulder. In July, Wilkie joined the Middlesex United Way as developmental director. He was a natural to fundraising, said Executive Director Kevin Wilhelm, his close friend for three years. It wasnt work. It wasnt a job. Hed say to me, Mom, this is my passion, said his mother, a nurse who recently moved to Middletown from Texas. He used to say to me, If I could change one life at a time, thats all that matters, she recalled. The kid never stopped smiling. He smiled throughout everything, said his mother, who just settled in to the Thimble Rock Road home her son purchased with an in-law suite. I used to call him my ray of sunshine. I cant tell you, when he would talk about work, the joy, the joy to know that he was doing something, Karen Wilkie said. Its hard to overstate the impact Justin had on everyone he touched, Wilhelm said. Just last week, Justin Wilkie was elected to the Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Wilhelm said, a rare honor for such a young person. He was an irreplaceable human being, Wilhelm said. At the annual meeting, Justin Wilkie took part in the auction for a $25 framed poster: It was some wonderful image that said community on it, Wilhelm said. Justin Wilkie bid as high as $300, and he ended up losing, Wilhelm said, marveling at the memory. The poster sold for $350. I really wanted it, but once I realized I could buy it the next day for $25, I just did. I saved a lot of money. Wilhelm said, with a laugh at the retelling. He was willing to pay $300 because at the moment, he saw himself in that poster. Growing up in Manchester, the son of a research scientist father, Wilkie was extremely protective of his mother and younger sister Kayla Drake, 27. It was very scary for me starting high school and he made sure he was always there if I needed him, said Drake, a speech therapist. Justin Wilkie was very popular in high school, his mother said, and he and his sister hung around with the same young men. Although none of the boys would touch her, Karen Wilkie said, with a laugh. Drake said she and Wilkie grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of children. It was almost all boys. I used to say, I grew up with a bunch of brothers. All of the kids we grew up with, I feel like theyve lost a brother, too, Drake said. Justin Wilkie and his girlfriend Alexis Olechno, who has a 3-year-old son, had plans to be married at Wickham Park in Manchester. It was more important to Justin Wilkie to purchase a house for Olechno and her boy than an engagement ring, his mother explained. When Justin Wilkie began working for United Way, it became very important for him to make his home in the community, his mother said. Patti Anne Vassia, former executive director of Middlesex United Way, was introduced to Justin Wilkie by a Middletown Rotary Club member who wanted Vassia to recruit him. At the time, Wilkie was a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America, Connecticut Rivers Council. I was so taken with this young man. From the day we met, we had this instant connection, said Vassia. She became his mentor. He was amazing. We became very close very quickly. Soon, he was elected to the board. Justin Wilkie texted Vassia a photo Olechno took of him at Charter Oak Park in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day after they watched the Manchester Road Race together. In it, the young man grins, leaning up against the Manchester Rotary Clubs obelisk engraved with The Rotary International motto, Service Above Self. When Vassia saw the photo, I said, I always regretted that our Rotary didnt do something visible like that in Middletown. And his first comeback to that was, Well, what do we have to do to make it happen? He always saw the potential in an idea. I said, Thats a topic for another day. Enjoy your day, Vassia laughed, recalling their exchange. Toward the end of every weekly Rotary Club meeting at First & Last Tavern on Main Street, members carry out a tradition by passing around a Happy Dollars basket, said Co-President Cheryl Duey. Tuesdays meeting was so bittersweet, she said. I encouraged the group, in Justins memory, to share something that celebrated his life, Duey said. If you met him, youd never forget him. He was so positive and fun and nice, and had a smile on his face all the time, Duey said. So it was a natural for the club to deem Justin Wilkie the meeting greeter. Anybody that walked through the door got greeted by Justin and he just put you in a good mood, she said. He just had this spark he had this light. When people gave their dollars, there were so many comments about his smile, and the light that he had inside that he shared with people, Duey said. Wilkie evoked strong emotions in many people he met, Wilhelm said, precisely because he always put others first. Rotary membership by younger folks is waning, Wilhelm acknowledged. He was by far the youngest person in the room. He was an anomaly in the room because of his age. Yet, already, following Tuesdays meeting, two of Wilkies friends committed to joining the club, Duey said, inspired by his commitment. The club didnt have anyone to help run the Middletown Rotarys participation in the national Amber Alert program, Duey said. Once Justin Wilkie heard that, he immediately signed on, she said. Its that I can attitude, but its more than I can. Its I will do it. And he always raised his hand to volunteer always, Vassia said. We are all grieving from our personal loss of that energy: that bright, shining light of our future, Vassia said. We saw Kevin, particularly that this was the person who could follow in his footsteps as he did in mine. And so theres a picture of the three of us the past, the present, and the future, Vassia said. It was like the Three Musketeers. Its painful in that way, too, she said. On so many levels. Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com. NEW HAVEN A Guilford contractor waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Tuesday in New Haven federal court to submitting false documents to the U.S. Postal Service. According to court documents and statements made in court, Marcel Van Wolvelaerd, 62, owns and operates CableComm LLC. NEW HAVEN Last year the state found that 4,300 young people were either homeless or in unstable housing situations, a figure that is expected to increase this year. Locally this population, ages 18 to 24, is served by Youth Continuum, an organization with multiple programs to assist teens and young adults facing this dilemma with some 60 housing opportunities in Greater New Haven to serve them. The vast majority are not yet chronically homeless, according to Paul Kosowsky, vice president for program operations at Youth Continuum, but a portion of them are and need more structured services to help them overcome this. On Tuesday, Youth Continuum, as well as city and state officials, dedicated a new, two-story apartment building, Winchester Manor, the states first supportive housing complex designed specifically for youth. Kosowsky said the new facility at 888 Wincheser Ave. will be home to seven young people for the foreseeable future. As the dedication of the building was taking place outside, it began to rain. The weather today ... reminds us of the storms that many of our homeless young people have suffered through, Kosowsky said. The project was supported by the state Department of Housing, city of New Haven, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Corporation for Supportive Housing. The architect was Paul Bailey and the contractor, who finished it in 61/21/2 months, was Viking Construction. Kosowsky said over 200 newly identified young people who are homeless or unstably housed come to our street outreach program this year. He said they not only bring the usual problems of late adolescence or young adulthood, but in their short lives they have suffered extreme hardship and trauma. He said some have significant mental health or substance abuse issues, some are victims of domestic violence or have been kicked out of their homes because of an unwanted pregnancy or unaccepted gender identity. Kosowsky said some of the young people they have helped have suffered the humiliation of being sexually trafficked. Unfortunately, many have many of these issues all going on at the same time, he said. Youth Continuum works against homelessness through a number of programs for persons ages 14 through 24 with a lot of it taking place under its street outreach work. The agency, which has an office on Grand Avenue, offers counseling, food, advice on parenting skills, baby and hygiene supplies, showers and job assistance at that location. In addition to the 60 beds they have for youths in different settings, the agency recently started to offer six emergency housing beds, the only shelter of its kind in the area for youth. Since day one it has been full and it has a waiting list, Kosowsky said. He said the efforts of Youth Continuum and others who work in this field is to end homelessness for youth and families by 2020, just as Connecticut was the first to end homelessness for veterans. He gave special thanks to Kathy Grega, director of community services, Tim Maguire, manager of its housing programs and Carole Shomo, the CEO of Youth Continuum. Mayor Toni Harp said she was happy that in addition to a place to live, Youth Continuum staff will provide crisis counseling and other types of services for the new residents at Winchester Manor. As mayor I know how vitally important it is to address the issues that crop up for young people before those issues begin to linger, fester and blossom into much more serious trouble, Harp said. She said she was proud to be mayor in a community that addresses these issues and is thankful for the funding from the governors office and state agencies. You dont find in New Haven NIMBY (not in my backyard.) We know that we are one big human family and we work together to ensure that everyone is strong and supported, Harp said. NEW HAVEN Mayor Toni Harp joined Rabbi Gershon Borenstein Tuesday evening to mark the beginning of Hanukkah the Elm City way: By lighting the towering, blue menorah on the New Haven Green. Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, celebrates two miracles, which Harp said represent overcoming overwhelming odds. The miracles involves the Maccabees defeating the Greeks and their use of oil to light a menorah. Despite having only a one-day supply, the oil lasted for eight days, Harp said. The key to making miracles happen is to maintain our faith, Harp said. She wished everyone a happy Hanukkah on behalf of the city. I hope these next eight days are characterized by good health, good fellowship and bright lights, Harp said, adding: The concept of faith and the sincere belief in miracles can transform individuals and as a direct extension of that, the faith built into individuals can transform larger groups of individuals. A crowd of more than 60 people joined Harp and Borenstein, of Chabad Lubavitch, during the lighting ceremony. After lighting the oil lanterns on the menorah and after Borenstein shared blessings, there was dancing and singing, as well as doughnuts for people in attendance. Among the attendees were young students from Yeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo in New Haven. Lighting the menorah teaches people that by adding a light during each day of Hanukkah, a person is building on success stemming from their will and passion, to do much better, Borenstein said. And in our personal lives, so too, to add one more light, additional mitzvah, a commandment, a good deed, and collectively, we have a beautiful menorah, that the whole menorah shines, Borenstein said. Borenstein said Harp has joined members of the Jewish community during Hanukkah to kindle the menorah every year since being elected mayor. He also thanked New Haven police for arranging the ceremony and following the Hanukkah menorah parade. This morning, as the rain was coming down, I said, Im sure Mrs. Harp will be here in the rain, Borenstein said. Thank God for the beautiful weather. We appreciate all of you for coming out. We appreciate her for joining us. Reach Esteban L. Hernandez at 203-680-9901. NEW HAVEN Although Efrain Perez lost nearly everything when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, he has started to build a new life with his family in New Haven with the help of a giving community. On Tuesday, Amazon added its weight to the effort. which devastated Puerto Rico leading to a loss of lives, property and industry. Amazon rode through the city as part of its 33-stop Holiday Giving Tour, looking to serve people in need. The giant Internet retailer, which had a market capitalization of about $548 billion late last month according to MarketWatch, donated $15,000 in toys and essential supplies to Puerto Rican families in the greater New Haven area at Junta for Progressive Action. Perez said he is grateful for the support hes found here. Hes been able to find essential medical services for his son with cerebral palsy in his new home in Connecticut. The hospitals there are running on generators, and Perez said he is thankful for what the state has been able to do for him and his family. Mayor Toni Harp said the city has welcomed some 600 evacuees from Puerto Rico, including Perez and his family. However, as temperatures in Connecticut have chilled, new problems have arisen for those who relocated following massive losses in tropical Puerto Rico. These new city residents need winter clothes and mundane things like household items, Harp said. Vivian Acevedo-Rivas, associate director of patient support services at Fair Haven Community Health Center, said the center, which serves many of the Puerto Rican evacuees in the Fair Haven neighborhood, focuses on wellness, but that can be difficult when there are social determinants weighing negatively on health, and the donation helps combat those factors. Sofia Morales Navarro, a care coordinator at Fair Haven Community Health Center, said they are able to treat immediate health needs, but the other social factors must also be treated. We need this, Acevedo-Rivas said of Tuesdays donation of supplies. Alicia Caraballo, interim chief executive officer of Junta, said she heard city Deputy Director for Emergency Operations Rick Fontana speak the day prior and use two words humanity and kindness which had stuck with her. You made our day, she told employees from Amazon. She also thanked Harp and her staff for their leadership, as well as some state legislators, community agencies and individuals. State Senate Democratic President Martin M. Looney of New Haven said its unfortunate that President Donald Trumps administration has not treated the situation as a disaster. We know people are greatly in need, he said. State Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, said those who traveled to the mainland following the hurricane came to uncharted waters, and he is happy to see both cities and private companies such as Amazon embrace the evacuees. Republican North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda, whose town plays host to an Amazon fulfillment center with an estimated 1,800 jobs, said Amazons donations have a real impact on the community. This is what its all about, ladies and gentlemen: delivering important things to people in need, Freda said. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com A West Haven man was found guilty Tuesday of a Meriden carjacking that occurred on New Years Day 2016. A federal jury delivered the verdict against Don Meeker, 30, Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Hartford, John H. Durham, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced Wednesday in a press release. U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant presided in the trial, which began Dec. 8. According to the evidence at trial, on Jan. 1, 2016, two men from out of state were driving a rented 2015 Volkswagen Passat in the vicinity of Hobart and Myrtle streets in Meriden when they became victims of an armed carjacking, the release stated. The victims reported that they had stopped to ask an individual, later identified as Kyle Valentine, for directions to a gas station. Valentine told the victims to follow a car in which Valentine was a passenger. After traveling a few minutes, the car stopped. Valentine and Elbert Llorrens then exited their car and approached the Passat. Llorens pointed a handgun at one of the victims who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car, opened the door and stated, I want everything, the U.S. attorneys office said in the release. The victims exited the car and Llorens and Valentine stole their wallets and cell phones and drove away in the Passat. The investigation revealed that Meeker drove the car that the carjacking victims followed, and that Meeker provided the handgun to Llorens, the release stated. After the robbery, Meeker, Llorens and Valentine split the money stolen from the victims. Meeker was arrested on March 9, 2017. Meeker was convicted of one count of taking a motor vehicle from a person by force and violence or by intimidation, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Judge Bryant scheduled sentencing for March 14, 2018. Bryant also ordered Meeker, who had been released on $200,000 bail since June 2016, to be remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing. Llorens and Valentine, both of New Haven, previously pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in the carjacking. On March 20, 2017, Llorens was sentenced to five years in prison. Valentine awaits sentencing. This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the East Haven, Meriden, Milford, New Haven and West Haven Police departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas P. Morabito and Patrick F. Caruso. Id like to say on this fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre that the United States did right by those 20 children slaughtered on that bright December day. But I cant. Thats not true. The United States, as a whole, decided those kids deaths did not matter enough to change things so the inept and the insane cannot access the weapons that have killed or injured thousands more. (According to the Gun Violence Archive, 1,767 people have died, 6,200 have been injured, since 2012 in 1,550 mass shootings.) Indeed, the U.S. House of Representatives has chosen to grind salt into this great wound. The Republicans in charge of the peoples chamber passed a bill forcing states with strict gun laws, such as Connecticut and New York, to recognize loose guns laws from other states. This isnt just a betrayal of the GOPs love of state sovereignty. Its an insult to everyone whose hearts shattered after Adam Lanza blasted into Sandy Hook Elementary and murdered 26 innocents. Instead of decreasing risk and increasing responsibility, the United States has allowed, by its indifference, for men and women of bad faith to tell lies about mothers and fathers who ask only for responsible laws; and to spread myths about good guys with guns. Instead of securing safety and promoting the general welfare, some of our leaders have said, without saying it, you and I are on our own. In welcoming the weapons of war, the U.S. government has forfeited its duty. But that isnt the end. In permitting semi-automatic rifles (and components that turn them into machine guns), the United States is actively promoting anarchy. Participate in this great experiment in self-government, if you dare, but only if youre armed. Instead of enjoying peace and order, children learn the vocabulary of chaos. They must learn this vocabulary in order to function. In schools, churches and institutions of higher learning, men and women have grown familiar with words such as active shooter, lockdown and shelter in place. Such exercises were commonplace during the Cold War and thus familiar to this new generations parents. But the U.S. could not back then prevent a foreign evil from launching a nuclear strike. Death, now, is preventable, but the United States would rather not. There are, however, reasons to hope. First, we live in a federalist system, meaning states and localities have rights and authority they are entitled to exercise. After the massacre, Connecticut wisely outlawed a class of semi-automatic rifle, and that law has thank God survived legal testing. It is now a model for other states led by men and women of conscience who can no longer rely on the federal government to do what should be done. States and cities are also experimenting with taxes to curb gun deaths. Seattle placed a nominal tax on bullets that survived legal challenge. Unlike gun bans, taxation avoids the conventional Second Amendment arguments. The power to tax is theoretically unlimited. Lloyds of London, an insurance firm in the United Kingdom, is now underwriting gun liability. It is taking advantage of its unique structure to offer coverage in ways domestic insurers cant. With insurance comes something that has not existed widely: a means of holding owners accountable for what happens with their guns. Finally, mothers and fathers of Sandy Hook are bringing suit against Remington and Bushmaster. They hope to show that the gun makers knew the AR-15 was lethal, and that they consciously marketed it to violent men. This is called negligent entrustment, and its the only loophole in a federal law that otherwise shields gun makers. The plaintiffs lawyer, Joshua Koskoff, told the New York Daily News over the weekend: [The AR-15] has military roots going back to Vietnam, he said. They were trying to design the perfect killing machine for the worlds greatest military. It checked all the boxes. Innovative policy. Private enterprise. Family honor. We can expect more from these than we can from the most powerful government on the planet. And we have no reason to expect that to change. That, however, does not mean we wont carry on. We will. The righteous prevail in the end. John Stoehr is a fellow at the Yale Journalism Initiative and a New Haven resident. The Sandy Hook tragedy of Dec. 14, 2012 will forever be an unspeakable stain on our nation. Five years ago , a mass murderer walked into an elementary school armed with weapons of war to senselessly slaughter 26 beautiful children and educators. Through our tears and shock, that day and since, we prayed and grieved, but Congress turned its back. All saw the photos of those innocent babies, their grieving parents, the lines of terrified and traumatized children being led to safety from their school, a war zone. Republicans in Congress chose to pocket the cold cash of the gun lobby and block commonsense reforms. In the 1,825 days since the Sandy Hook tragedy, Congress has been complicit in its inaction and disregard for public safety and the clear will of Americans. As 90 lives are lost each day to the scourge of gun violence, Congress is an aider and abettor in this mounting death toll. So, I am not just heartbroken, I am furious. Shame on Congress for allowing yet another year to pass without taking commonsense measures to protect Americans. Shame on Congress for allowing this tragic anniversary to be followed by so many morein Sutherland Springs, in Las Vegas, in Orlando, in Charleston, and in our communities each and every day. I am hopeful that there is a crack in the ice of partisan paralysis. I am proud to be part of a bipartisan alliance along with Sen. Chris Murphy working to make modest but crucial improvements to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The Fix NICS bill would ensure federal and state authorities comply with existing law and accurately report relevant criminal history records to the background check system. This step is the least we can do, not the most. And while there is broad bipartisan support for such action, GOP leadership in the House is already attempting to sabotage itpairing it with the truly dangerous Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. The bill would allow more dangerous criminals and untrained individuals to carry loaded, hidden guns in public by forcing states with strong concealed carry laws like Connecticut to honor permits from states with weak or non-existent standards. Thankfully, that bill is dead on arrival in the Senate and I will do all that I can to ensure it remains so. We have offered commonsense, serious solutions to address the scourge of gun violence. We have offered legislation to close background check loopholes, measures to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and a ban on bump stock to stop sales of mechanisms that convert semi-automatic assault rifles into fully automatic machine-gun like weapons. I have also authored the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act to give victims of gun violence their day in court. It would repeal the sweetheart deal that Congress granted to provide unique legal immunity to gun sellers and manufacturers. My proposal would unlock the courthouse doors to justice holding gunmakers and dealers accountable and giving them a strong incentive to make safer and smarter products. Breaking the industry's legal shield means that bad actors can be made to pay, and good ones have a fairer playing field. These basic measures would do nothing to threaten gun ownership by law-abiding citizens, but would ensure that people who are a danger to themselves or others cannot carry a lethal firearm. The idea that there is nothing Congress can do to make a difference and save American lives is unacceptable and falsea political cop-out resoundingly rejected by the vast majority of Americans. When I feel most discouraged and disgusted, I recall one heartbreaking, gut-wrenching moment. At calling hours for one of the children killed at Sandy Hook, I spoke to the mother of this beautiful child, and said, When youre ready, we should talk about action on gun violence. She answered through reddened eyes and cracking voice, Im ready now. I stand in awe of the Sandy Hook families and the courage and strength of all survivors. Their determination drives me in the darkest moments. Year after year, and through unimaginable grief and pain, they show unimaginable bravery and resilience. So today, we pray and we grieve, but we must also fight. We must honor with action. Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ... The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani, on Wednesday said the much-talked-about East-West Road in the Niger Delta was designed to fail.He however said the present administration would correct the situation.Usani spoke with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.The minister also disclosed that the council approved N16bn for the construction of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development CommissionHe said the building, which would be sited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, would be completed within 52 weeks. The Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki has said that the Court of Appeal Court verdict today has vindicated him noting that prosecut... The Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki has said that the Court of Appeal Court verdict today has vindicated him noting that prosecutions case was entirely based on hearsay, not on any concrete evidence. The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Tuesday, had given the Federal Government the nod to re-open the case it entered against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.But Saraki in a press statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Yusuph Olaniyonu said todays judgement has confirmed the position of the Tribunal that the prosecutions case was entirely based on hearsay, not on any concrete evidence.We noted the verdict of the Court of Appeal Court today in which it agreed with the decision of the Code of Conduct Tribunal that Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has no case to answer on 15 of the 18 charges filed against him by the Federal Government. We believe that upholding the no case submission by Dr. Saraki with regards to 15 of the 18 counts charges vindicates the innocence of the Senate President. At least, todays judgement has confirmed the position of the Tribunal that the prosecutions case was entirely based on hearsay, not on any concrete evidence.The verdict of the Court of Appeal, just like that of the Tribunal before it, aligned with our position that the preposterous claims made during trial by the prosecution concerning operation of foreign accounts, making anticipatory declarations, collecting double salaries, owning assets beyond his income and failure to declare assets owned by companies in which the Senate President owns interests, among others, have fallen like a pack of cards and lack any basis.On the remaining three counts, which really touch on two issues, referred back to the Tribunal for the Senate Presidents defence, it should be noted that the Appellate Court only gave a summary of its decision today promising to provide the parties with Certified True Copies of the Judgment soon. As soon as it makes the details of the judgement available, our lawyers will review the grounds of the decision and take appropriate action.We remain convinced about the innocence of the Senate President on the three ( or two) counts because we believe the decision of the Court of Appeal is not consistent with the submissions made by both parties at the Tribunal. Thus, it is our view that that aspect of the judgment will not stand. The confidence and faith of Dr. Saraki in the nations judiciary and its ability to dispense justice to all manners of people remains unshaken. About 32 operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, are currently in detention. A source revealed that the arrested officers ... About 32 operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, are currently in detention.A source revealed that the arrested officers were moved to Abuja from different state commands during the weekend. The suspects, who are all male, are now being held at various detention cells of the Federal SARS at Guzape District, Abuja, the source said. Since their arrival in Abuja, their family members and lawyers have not been allowed to see them based on an order from above, it added.The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who reportedly ordered their arrests, is said to have assembled a team of top Police investigators to look into their cases.It was learnt that they are being investigated for cases ranging from extortion, robbery, rape, among others. The commands where the suspects were serving have been directed to report to Abuja with proofs and exhibit needed in the course of investigation.The source said Lagos Command has the highest number of suspects, next to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Their immediate orderly room trial and punitive measures will also become part of the ongoing moves to stem the tide of alleged impunity being campaigned against the Police institution, the source said.At a recent meeting with the Police management team, the IG decided to apply prompt punishment for any SARS officer found wanting here in Abuja instead of their commands, where such cases are not properly handled. The latest news in Imo State is that the state House of Assembly has approved Governor Rochas Okorochas request for his son in-law, Uch... Culled from Vanguard The latest news in Imo State is that the state House of Assembly has approved Governor Rochas Okorochas request for his son in-law, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him in office in 2019. Nwosu is currently the Chief of Staff to Okorocha.This is coming on the heels of the hullabaloo over Okorochas appointment of his younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo, as the commissioner for the newly created Ministry for Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment in the state. Before her appointment as commissioner, Ololo had served as the Chief of Staff, Domestic Affairs in Okorochas cabinet apart from being in charge of the Christmas Decoration Project, since the inception of Okorochas administration about seven years ago. Since assumption of office, Okorocha has never joked with the issue of Christmas decorations. It is one of the projects given serious attention by the government even as workers and pensioners are owed salaries and other legitimate entitlements.During Christmas as we have now, huge amount of money is spent in buying the tallest Christmas trees available in the market as well as variety of ornamentals like Christmas lights that are spread across the length and breadth of the state in addition to other materials that could attract the attention of passersby. The project usually gulps between N600 million and N800 million yearly.Also, another of his sons-in-inlaw, Uzoma Awuka, is also an important personality in Okorochas government. Uzoma is the son of the current Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Awuka. Chief Okorocha was the first governor to create the office of Chief of Staff, Domestic Affairs, since the creation of Imo State on February 3, 1976. Ohorochas wife and deputy Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the state, Nkechi also supervises five other ministries and departments.According to a statement by the Secretary to Imo State Government, Mr George Etche, on December 15, 2016, the key ministries include the Ministries of Works, Health, Women Affairs and the Office of the Secretary to the Imo State Government as well as the state Amnesty Committee which was announced on September 26, 2016.The Amnesty Committee has the mandate of ensuring the welfare of those who denounced militancy in the oil-bearing areas of the state. All the appointments were greeted with loud protests which were largely ignored by the governor, just as questions had always been raised about the modalities used in allocating funds for the projects handled by the governors sister as no official figures were mentioned for such special projects, including the Christmas Decoration Project.In what some Imolites have described as the Okorocha Conundrum, the people of the state are worried about how a ministry which operations were not captured in the states yearly budget could be run without running into trouble with provisions of the 1999 Constitution over such unapproved expenses. Those who spoke to South-East Voice in Owerri lamented the situation whereby Okorocha was running key ministries with his brothers and sisters as if the state was his private estate.The former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, who spoke on the situation said: Honestly, I am completely tired of talking about this man and his style of administration. You can be sure that before we finish talking about the creation of Ministry of Happiness, he will come with a more bizarre thing. The reactions of most Nigerians, not just Imolites, will show you the level of frustration of people in the state. Real crisis has engulfed the state.Also, commenting on the issue, the immediate past governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim said: This is a sort of abomination. How can this man continue to insult the sensibilities of Imo citizens? Whose happiness are they looking for when salaries and pensions are not paid? Are we looking for the happiness of the Okorocha family and friends? I have not heard about such a ministry anywhere in the world before. It is not in Britain that gave us independence. It is not in the United States of America whose democratic system we copied.It is not in Canada. It is nowhere in West Africa. I have searched through the internet and I am still searching to see where it was practised and I have not found any. Honestly, this is bizarre and I wont be surprised to see the Governors aides struggling to defend this indefensible act. Also, the former commissioner for Information, under Chief Okorocha, Mr. Vitalis Ajumbe said: The governor has a right to do anything he likes in the process of governance. For him to have appointed a commissioner in charge of Happiness, that means Imo people are not happy. Somebody should be there to make Imo people happy.May be, he has noticed that Imo people are not happy, so he decided to put a commissioner that will make Imo people happy. In his comments over the issue, the State Organizing Secretary of Labour Party, LP, Mr. Igboayaka. O. Igboayaka said: Let me start with this, the person the governor appointed as Commissioner for Happiness is his sister. She is also the Deputy Chief of Staff, Domestic Affairs. This is the high level of mediocrity and nepotism. Okorochas government does not consider expertise in governance. If you look at his commissioners, they are the same.What Imo people are currently facing is the inability of the government to pay workers and pensioners. This is what we call administrative prodigality. The governor and his family members are running Imo State as it was their personal business. It is unfortunate but this is where we have found ourselves. Can we call this familiocracy because we cannot find the appropriate description anywhere in the dictionary? We do not need this kind of ministry.In the same vein, the Director- General, New Media, Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Aic Akwarandu, said: I have always believed that nothing about Okorocha interests me. I wish I can stop talking about him but it is not possible. We all know that whoever the gods want to destroy, they would first make mad. He will continue to make mistakes to the detriment of the people who are at the receiving end, but these things are temporary. Everything that has a beginning has an end.How can a governor create 27 ministries and a Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment in a state where pensioners are being owed their entitlements in this period of recession? This is the height of insanity. This is a government of just family members. You can see that the key ministries are not given to any other person except members of Okorocha family or others around him.All those who spoke found objectionable, the seeming plan by Okorocha to turn government into a family affair. But reacting to the barrage of criticisms, Okorocha said, At the end of the day, the achievements of the new Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment, will be so amazing that the critics of the initiative, will not only be shocked but will also regret to have drawn the curtain for the new Ministry even before it took off. Ideas are like bullets. They pierce greatly. And Rochas Okorocha is a man of tremendous ideas who thinks about the present and the generations yet unborn. He does not misfire on any issue, the attendant criticisms notwithstanding.When the new ministry begins to bear the expected fruits, the accolades will envelop the early criticisms. Some people have also talked about Jacob Zumas statue as a referenced case. The criticisms that greeted Zumas statue were all anchored on the corruption allegations against the South African president. Yet, the fact remains that the man is still the president of that country.He has neither been sentenced to imprisonment nor impeached as president following these corruption claims. We also want to let the public know that the former governor of the state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim and the 2015 PDP governorship candidate in the state, Chief Emeka Ihedioha are the least qualified to criticize Okorocha on any policy or programme. President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said with Nigeria just coming out of recession, he was not under any illusion of the numerous prob... President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said with Nigeria just coming out of recession, he was not under any illusion of the numerous problems facing the country.According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President said this in his submission at the One Planet Summit in Paris, France.Having just come out of recession, we are under no illusion of the challenges that we face in Nigeria, the President said.Buhari therefore appealed to the international community to support Nigerias commitment to reducing the negative effects of climate change.He told the over 60 Heads of State and Governments, as well as representatives of non-governmental and private organisations that attended the summit with the theme, Climate Change Financing, that the country cannot implement its Nationally Determined Contribution without adequate financial, technical and capacity building support from the developed countries.He said, Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, we have been strengthening our national efforts towards the implementation of the Agreement and the Marrakech Call for Action and Nigeria had already ratified the Paris Agreement in May 2017.The countrys Nationally Determined Contribution to reduce our emission by 20% by 2020 and 40% by 2030 cannot be attained alone. he National leader of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has dismissed report that he was planning to become Presid... he National leader of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has dismissed report that he was planning to become President Mohammodu Buharis running mate in 2019.Tinubu, in a statement issued by his media office, said it was a classic case of utterly and irredeemably-fake news.He said: The attention of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Office has been drawn to the front page lead story of a national newspaper, December 13, 2017, which sensationally and ridiculously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari may pick Asiwaju Tinubu as his running mate for the 2019 election. This is a classic case of utterly and irredeemably fake news.There is no empirical or logical basis for this mischievously speculative story. Is it even conceivable, as the story recklessly insinuates, that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be considering returning to full church work rather than run with his boss, President Buhari for a second term if the latter so decides without as much as discussing such a sensitive issue with his party and with Asiwaju Tinubu? In any case, is this story not entirely unwarranted and indefensible as the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket has an electoral mandate of four years out of which it has spent only over two years and a half years?Tinubu described the report as an attempt to instigate crisis in the APC.This is clearly an attempt to distract the APC federal government from the yeomans job it has been doing in rescuing the country from the deep-rooted socio-economic, political, security and moral mess inherited from the PDPs 16 years misrule of Nigeria, instigate crisis within the party, stoke dangerous embers of religious disaffection within the party and the country generally and stem the remarkable progress being made in the reinvention and revitalization of Nigeria, the statement added.There is greater sanity, accountability and transparency in the management of the countrys finances. The Boko Haram insurgency has been substantially contained. We should not allow ourselves to be derailed from the job we are effectively undertaking in fulfilling our campaign promises anchored on the tripod of containing insecurity, taming the scourge of corruption and resuscitating the economy.The Buhari and Osinbajo-led Federal Government is deftly steering the country out of an economic recession that was the result of the ineptness of the PDP years of the locusts. Asiwaju Tinubu will never support any attempt to distract Buhari and Osinbajo from the job they are passionately doing through the kind of false report. In particular, this story does great injustice to Vice President Osinbajo. Here is a man of the highest integrity, moral rectitude, amazing humility, high intellect and unimpeachable credibility. Here is a man of fierce loyalty and absolute trustworthiness who will never do anything in word, thought or deed to undermine his boss. His unquestionable dependability and indisputable fidelity to his oath of office was demonstrated beyond question by his honourable conduct during the Presidents medical vacation. Google on Wednesday announced the results of its 2017 Year in Search major moments and top trends based on searches conducted in Nigeria.... Google on Wednesday announced the results of its 2017 Year in Search major moments and top trends based on searches conducted in Nigeria. The 2017 Year in Search list contains the top trending news moment, music and movies that got the attention of Nigerians as well as the people, places, and things that trended. The most searched person on Googles year-end list is Moji Olaiya, who died two months after giving birth. Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a notorious kidnapper better known as Evans, Adesua Etomi and Banky Wellington are also on the list. During the course of the year, Nigerians used Google for information on the health of President Muhammadu Buhari, JAMB and WAEC results, monkeypox, MM, Bitcoin, among others. The full list Year in Search 2017: Most searched people Moji Olaiya 1.Moji Olaiya Evans the kidnapper 2.Evans the kidnapper Adesua Etomi 3.Adesua Etomi Donald Trump 4.Donald Trump Mr. Eazi 5.Mr. Eazi Efe 6.Efe Jide Tinubu 7.Jide Tinubu Olumide Bakare 8.Olumide Bakare Dammy Krane 9.Dammy Krane Eric Arubayi 10.Eric Arubayi Most searched stories and events ASUU Strike 1.ASUU Strike Moji Olaiya dead 2.Moji Olaiya dead Monkeypox outbreak 3.Monkeypox outbreak IPhone 8 / IPhone X Launch 4.IPhone 8 / IPhone X Launch New president in Gambia 5.New president in Gambia Adesua and Banky Wedding 6.Adesua and Banky Wedding Anambra Elections 7.Anambra Elections Mayweather vs Mcgregor fight 8.Mayweather vs Mcgregor fight Zimbabwe Coup 9.Zimbabwe Coup Catalonia Referendum 10.Catalonia Referendum Most asked questions: Ok Google? WhoHowWhat Is Buhari dead? 1.Is Buhari dead? How to check JAMB results 2.How to check JAMB results How to check WAEC results 3.How to check WAEC results What is a female Hyena called? 4.What is a female Hyena called? What is Monkeypox? 5.What is Monkeypox? What is bitcoin? 6.What is bitcoin? What is MMM? 7.What is MMM? Who is Bobrisky? 8.Who is Bobrisky? How to check BVN 9.How to check BVN Where is Nnamdi Kanu now? 10.Where is Nnamdi Kanu now? Most searched-for songs Olamide Wo 1.Olamide Wo Davido Fia 2.Davido Fia Davido- Fall 3.Davido- Fall Patapaa Ft. Ras Cann One Corner 4.Patapaa Ft. Ras Cann One Corner Davido If 5.Davido If Runtown Mad over you 6.Runtown Mad over you Kiss Daniel Yeba 7.Kiss Daniel Yeba Tekno Go 8.Tekno Go Mayorkun Mama 9.Mayorkun Mama Tekno Ft. Wizkid Mama 10.Tekno Ft. Wizkid Mama Most searched for movies/TV series Fast and Furious 8 1.Fast and Furious 8 Wonder Woman 2.Wonder Woman Game of Thrones season 7 3.Game of Thrones season 7 Big Brother Naija 2017 4.Big Brother Naija 2017 Justice League 5.Justice League Thor Ragnarok 6.Thor Ragnarok Jenifas Diary Season 7 7.Jenifas Diary Season 7 Baahubali 2: The Conclusion 8.Baahubali 2: The Conclusion The Wedding Party 9.The Wedding Party Better call Saul 10.Better call Saul Most searched sports people Philippe Coutinho 1.Philippe Coutinho Romelu Lukaku 2.Romelu Lukaku Tiemoue Bakayoko 3.Tiemoue Bakayoko Anthony Joshua 4.Anthony Joshua Ousmane Dembele 5.Ousmane Dembele Floyd Mayweather 6.Floyd Mayweather Nemanja Matic 7.Nemanja Matic Cheick Ismael Tiote 8.Cheick Ismael Tiote Ivan Perisic 9.Ivan Perisic Kylian Sanmi Mbappe 10.Kylian Sanmi Mbappe Most searched near me queries Restaurants near me 1.Restaurants near me Nail Salon near me 2.Nail Salon near me Clubs near me 3.Clubs near me Food near me 4.Food near me Movies near me 5.Movies near me Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, says that his pursuit for change made him to leave his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).Amaechi made the disclosure to newsmen on the sidelines of the Future Awards Africa held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos last Saturday.He said that he would have done otherwise by staying in PDP and fight for the change, instead, there was a need to cross over to APC because of his belief in President Muhammadu Buhari.I moved from PDP to APC because I was tired of what was happening in the party, I have the option to stay because of my position as the Chairman of the Governors then.I can use my position to fight them (PDP) and get what I want because I believe Nigeria was not going in the right direction by then.My attention and belief shifted to Buhari which was the viable alternative, I believe in the change mantra because it is the only way to improve on what is on ground.He has not disappointed because the economy is now back on track and is growing. This is evident in the current prices of food items because it is getting lower, he told newsmen.Amaechi said that prices of food would further crash because of the efforts of the government at making the country self-sufficient in food production.With the change going on, the price will further crash because before this government came in, the price were soaring because we were importing food items, things we can grow here.Now the policy of government is working which banned the importation of rice, the price is now about N16,000, but before now, we are importing about N3 billion worth of rice.Before now too, we were importing another N3 billion worth of poultry products, we are importing tomatoes but with the ban, we are now concentrating on our local production.Many states in the northern part of the country are now growing rice in large quantities though by right, the South-South geopolitical zone should be doing that because they are the ones in the swampy area, he said.Amaechi said that the wastage in the PDP era was alarming, adding that there suppose not to have been the depletion of the excess crude account.When Obasanjo was leaving, he left about $65 billion in the Excess Crude Account, but the money was frittered away and we wonder where the money is.As at then, the price of crude oil during the President Goodluck Jonathans administration hovered around $140 with this, they did not leave anything for the incoming government.With that kind of money, we should be thinking of connecting Nigeria through rail system. The rail between Ibadan to Kano would have been completed.Also the rail gauge between Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and Lagos to Calabar, but all the excess crude money was frittered away, we need to ask questions, he said. Over 2,000 Megawatts (MW) of the 7,000MW of electricity generated in the country are unable to be distributed due to weak transmission, M... Over 2,000 Megawatts (MW) of the 7,000MW of electricity generated in the country are unable to be distributed due to weak transmission, Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola said yesterday.He said it was important to devise means of taking the unutilised 2,000MW to Nigerians, who needed power, noting that we cannot afford to keep power; that is not good for business, especially those who invested in it.One of the steps we are taking with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPH) is to try and complete some of the distribution projects under the Nigerian National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) projects, Fashola said.The minister said on completion of ongoing projects next year,an additional 1,129MW will be generated to add to the present 7,000MW.He explained that he had contacted the President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to discuss how its members could key into the undistributed power.Fashola said: Director Generator, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and other chambers of commerce had been contacted on how to take up the 2000 unused megawatts.We are also working on how Distribution Companies (Discos) could benefit from the entire process.The minister, who said the sector had made progress on power generation and transmission, added that distribution issues would also be cleared soon.The minister spoke at the 22nd monthly meeting of stakeholders in the power sector at Geregu, Kogi State.He said: The Azura power plant will give us another 450MW; I know that we will also get 10MW of wind power from Katsina State.I know that we will get 115MW from Gbari and 30MW from Kashimbila.From Afam III, we will give 240MW of power in 2018, while Gurara is working to deliver 30MW, as Dadinkowa in Gombe will provide 29MM and Kaduna will generate 215 MW.All these power plants do not involve the mini grids and solar systems that are coming.In Kogi, the distribution project that will affect the people positively are the ones in Okene, Igba, which will be completed in the first quarter of 2018.Fashola said the narrative must change from not enough power to how unutilised power could be distributed.He attributed the success recorded in the sector so far to government policies, especially the provision of N701 billion assurance guarantee fund that enabled the payment to gas suppliers by Generating Companies (Gencos).The assurance guarantee brought confidence to power production business, which resulted to increased power production which took us to all-time high of 7,000MW power availability.As at December 5, 2017, power supply stood at 5,019MW, which was below the 5,074 MW achieved in January 2016.However, grid supplied power peaked at all-time high of 5,155 MW on December 8, an increase over the January 2016 figure of 5,074 MW.He said the success was due to teamwork and leadership provided by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbanjo and other stakeholders.He then urged stakeholders to join hands in solving the problems in the sector.The Managing Director of Geregu Power Plant Plc, Mr. Aderemi Adenuga, said owners of the company injected $94 million to overhaul and upgrade the plant.He said the company was comfortably running the three turbines in the plant and thanked Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) for payment of the electricity generated to the company. #banks-interest income Banks log record interest income through Sept. on rising rates Banks in South Korea earned record net interest income in the first three quarters of the year, helped by sharp rate hikes by the central bank, data showed Thursday. Their intere... #BTS BTS' Jin to release photo book before joining military Jin, a member of the K-pop megastar BTS, will put out his individual book of photography next month before joining the military, the group's management agency said Thursday. The... Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, says he would have made Jos Nigerias capital, but for the fear of being accused of parochialism and f... Yakubu Gowon, former head of state, says he would have made Jos Nigerias capital, but for the fear of being accused of parochialism and favouritism. He said this on Tuesday at the 26th anniversary exhibition and commemoration of the movement of the seat of government from Lagos to Abuja. Gowon, who was the head of state from 1966 to 1975, said the idea of moving the nations capital from Lagos to Abuja was conceived by his government in 1974. The former head of state said in the course of his search for a new capital city, he was attracted to somewhere in Plateau. Gowon is from Kanke local government area in Plateau state. He said: One of the places I saw that attracted me was somewhere in Plateau, those of you who know the place, especially close to Jos forest, will agree that the area is beautiful and I thought that place was beautiful for the capital city. But I did not make that choice because I would have been accused of parochialism and favoritism, because it was very close to my original place where I come from. So I said no, I must look at other places. The search for a new capital took me around the north-west, and in my state, I continued to look for other places. When I came to Abuja, I was attracted. Gowon said although he was the brain behind the present federal capital territory, successive governments failed to name a street in the city after him. I had to officially complain to General Ibrahim Babangida when he was the military president, that I have been excluded from getting a street named after me in Abuja, while all other members of the military council who nurtured the idea, had got streets name after them, he said. Dr. Dakuku Peterside, Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has accused Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State of being behind the #EndSARS campaign against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police.Peterside also said he supports the good work of SARS, noting that the agency should be strengthened to function better.Peterside, who spoke in Lagos on the sidelines of Friends of Gulf of Guinea Conference, organised by the Italian government in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy, said that the SARS officers in Rivers State were doing well.According to him, Rivers State is number one in high profile crimes of murder, kidnapping and robbery and the state government may have become uncomfortable because of its inability to influence and control the police. Some people are obviously benefiting from the criminal activities that SARS officers stand against. I support the good work of SARS and I wish the agency could be re-organized and strengthened to function better.Its a campaign championed by Governor Wike. In every society, without the police there can be no law and order and consistently for the past 18 months, Rivers State has occupied number one position in the area of violent crimes.Several have been beheaded especially in areas like Omoku and Ahoada.Recently a lady lawyer, Mary Obe was killed because she was pursuing a case on those who killed her brother. Her brother, Edwin Obe was killed earlier in Eleme part of Rivers State. I believe nobody will deny the fact that SARS has been very potent in tackling crimes in Rivers State. They have reduced the crime rate and given confidence to the people. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed Senate President Bukola Sarakis acquittal of false assets declaration charges. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed Senate President Bukola Sarakis acquittal of false assets declaration charges.The appellate court, in a unanimous judgment by a three-man panel, led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe Wilson, ordered Saraki to return to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for the continuation of his trial.The court held that the prosecution led direct and credible evidence to establish a prima facie case against Saraki in three of the 18 counts contained in the charge for which he was tried.The counts on which Saraki is to enter defence are 4, 5 and 6 in relation to his alleged failure to declare some houses he acquired in Ikoyi, Lagos.In Count 4, Saraki is alleged to have falsified his Assets Declaration at the end of his tenure as Kwara State Governor in 2011 and on assumption of office as a senator in 2011 when he declared that he acquired No. 17A, McDonald, Ikoyi, Lagos.The prosecution contended that the defendant falsely declared that he had acquired No 17A, McDonald, Ikoyi on 6th September 2006 from the proceeds of sale of rice and sugar.In Count 5, he is also alleged to have falsified his Assets Declaration at the end of his tenure as Governor of Kwara State in 2011 and on assumption of office as a senator in 2011 when he declared that he acquired No. 17B, McDonald, Ikoyi Lagos.The prosecution contended that the defendant falsely declared to have acquired No. 17A, McDonald, Ikoyi on 6th September 2006 from proceeds of sale of rice and sugar.In Count 6, Saraki is accused of making a false declaration in the Assets Declaration Form at the end of tenure as governor in 2007 and on assumption of office as executive governor in 2007 when he failed to declare his outstanding loan liabilities of N315,054,355.92 out of the loan of N380,000,000 obtained from Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.The CCT on June 14, upheld Sarakis no-case submission, discharged and acquitted him, a decision the Federal Government appealed.The Appeal Court, in its judgment yesterday, resolved four out of the five issues identified for determination in favour of the appellant.The court said the tribunal was wrong to have held that Saraki was not invited to make a statement in the course of investigating the allegations against him.It said the Senate President made a statement in the course of investigation, which was tendered and admitted by the tribunal as Exhibit 46.The appellate court also faulted the CCTs decision that the joint investigation team constituted by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the allegations against Saraki was unknown to law.It said there was no law forbidding the CCB from collaborating with other investigating agencies of government to effectively discharge its mandate.The court also faulted the tribunal for holding that the prosecution failed to prove its case by not tendering the original copies of Sarakis assets declaration forms and his statement.It said the certified true copies (CTC) of the forms and statement were sufficient under the law to be admitted as exhibits in favour of the prosecution.On whether the tribunal was right to have upheld Sarakis no-case submission, the appellate court resolved the issue against Saraki.After a thorough analysis of the evidence led by the prosecution, the appellate court said the prosecution led credible and direct evidence in respect of three counts 4, 5 and 6 of the 18-count amended charge, to warrant his being called upon to enter his defence.The court said the prosecution was unable to discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law in relation to counts 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.It said some of the prosecutions witnesses gave both oral and documentary hearsay evidence that are inadmissible in law. It also said the prosecution failed to call witnesses in relation to the 15 counts.For instance, the court noted that the prosecution, though accused Saraki of earning double salaries from the Kwara State Government and as a senator, it failed to call witnesses from the Kwara State Government and the National Assembly in support of the allegation.The court ordered that the case be remitted back to CCT for Saraki to enter his defence.Other members of the panel Justices Tenimu Y. Hassan and M. Mustapha agreed with the lead judgment by Justice Akomlafe-Wilson.A two-man panel of the CCT, headed by Danladi Umar, on June 14, 2017, upheld the no-case submission filed by Saraki after the prosecution, led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), closed its case after calling four witnesses and tendering 48 documentary exhibits.In upholding the no-case submission, the tribunal dismissed the amended 18 counts preferred against Saraki on the grounds that the prosecution, was unable to establish any prima facie case against the Senate President.Umar, in his lead ruling, exonerated Saraki, holding that failure of the prosecution to obtain his statement and make it part of the proof of evidence was fatal to the case.He adjudged as absurd that neither Sarakis statement nor the report of the investigation said to have been carried out was produced before the tribunal.He agreed with the defence team, led by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), that the prosecutions evidence had been manifestly discredited during cross-examination by the defence.He added that the evidence adduced by the prosecution, led by Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), was so unreliable that no reasonable tribunal could convict based on it.The tribunal chairman specifically noted that the third prosecution witness, Mr. Samuel Madojemu, who is Head, Intelligence Unit of the Code of Conduct Bureau, only gave hearsay evidence on the information the witness purportedly received from the EFCC.But the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, through Jacobs, on June 20, filed a 17-ground notice of appeal against the CCTs judgment.The Federal Government faulted all the grounds on which the CCT predicated Sarakis acquittal, describing the entire judgment as unreasonable and unconstitutional.Jacobs subsequently filed an appellants brief on July 28, formulating five issues for determination.Saraki, through his lead counsel Agabi, also filed his respondents brief on August 22.While adopting his appellants brief on November 22, Jacobs urged the court to grant the Federal Governments appeal and hold that the judgment of the CCT was perverse. He also reiterated that the CCT erred by adjudging the oral evidence of the prosecutions third witness, Madojemu, the Head, Intelligence Unit of the CCB, as hearsay.Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday described the Court of Appeal verdict as a vindication for him.In a statement by his media adviser Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki expressed the belief that upholding a no-case-submission with regards to 15 of the 18-count charge confirmed his innocence.At least, todays judgment has confirmed the position of the Tribunal that the prosecutions case was entirely based on hearsay, not on any concrete evidence.The verdict of the Court of Appeal, just like that of the Tribunal before it, aligned with our position that the preposterous claims made during trial by the prosecution concerning operation of foreign accounts, making anticipatory declarations, collecting double salaries, owning assets beyond his income and failure to declare assets owned by companies in which the Senate President owns interests, among others, have fallen like a pack of cards and lack any basis.On the remaining three counts, which really touch on two issues, referred back to the Tribunal for the Senate Presidents defence, it should be noted that the Appellate Court only gave a summary of its decision today promising to provide the parties with Certified True Copies of the judgment soon. As soon as it makes the details of the judgment available, our lawyers will review the grounds of the decision and take appropriate action.We remain convinced about the innocence of the Senate President on the three ( or two) counts because we believe the decision of the Court of Appeal is not consistent with the submissions made by both parties at the Tribunal. Thus, it is our view that that aspect of the judgment will not stand.Saraki added that his confidence and faith in the nations judiciary and its ability to dispense justice to all manners of people remained unshaken. Dennis Mischler leaves the St. Tammany Parish courthouse in Covington during a break in his trial on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. The former Boy Scout leader and teacher in New Orleans is accused of sexual battery, molestation of a juvenile and possession of child pornography.(Robert Rhoden, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune ) A young elf is working to make Christmas a little brighter for some children away from home. Ava Dahmke, 8, of Millard, Nebraska, daughter of Brent and Amy Dahmke, is making blankets, paper dolls and other gifts for children staying at the emergency shelter at Childrens Square U.S.A. Occupants can range from babies to 15-year-olds, said Allison Hay, contract manager for the shelter. Children younger than 6 only stay for 24 to 48 hours, but older children may stay for 30 to 45 days. We send blankets and backpacks with everyone who comes in the door, so its theirs to take home with them something they dont have to share with anybody, Hay said. Ava is happy to help. I like to do this stuff for them, and I dont want them to give anything back for this, she said. Ava was one of 15 children chosen for U.S. Cellulars 2017 The Future of Good program, a press release from U.S. Cellular stated. The company donated $1,000 to help her create a special Christmas for the children in the shelter. The presents reflect what Ava likes, said her mother, Amy Dahmke, who teaches kindergarten at Edison Elementary School in Council Bluffs. Her blanket makes her feel good when she feels bad, so she thought maybe that would be a good thing, she said. Ava will make 10 to 15 blankets with various colors of fabric and decorate them with buttons shaped like cupcakes, elephants, pandas and other things, her mother said. Ive talked to Carol (Wood, president and CEO of Childrens Square) about how to make this more of an ongoing thing, she said. Ava has created paper dolls who make up her own cast of superheroes with outfits to match. Each one comes with a tag that tells its name, special powers, favorite food and best friend (You). Superpowers include Tammy Twizzler (shes got a Twizzler lasso), Speedy (his favorite food is fast food), Animal Girl and Ninja Boy, Amy Dahmke said. The gifts should be ready this week. Last year, Ava wanted to help young children when she heard that a student from her moms class was placed at Childrens Square. She created toys for the class and donated Childrens Square funds received from a Giving Tuesday text campaign. Ava just likes giving away presents, Amy Dahmke said. At home, shell put random stuff in envelopes and then leave them around the house and run just a little gift, she said. Its something that her brother, Owen, 5, is bound to enjoy. Additional youth who make an impact can be nominated through Dec. 31 by visiting thefutureofgood.com. The three winning young humanitarians will be announced on Jan. 19. Each will be rewarded with $1,000 to put toward their cause. DES MOINES Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday said she would keep U.S. Rep. Steve King involved in her gubernatorial campaign while condemning a comment he made on Twitter that criticized diversity. Reynolds made her comments after Iowa Democrats called on her to drop King as a state co-chair in her campaign after he tweeted Friday, "Diversity is not our strength." along with an article describing anti-immigration views from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The tweet included a comment that King attributed to Orban that says, "Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one." King later added another tweet: "Assimilation has become a dirty word to the multiculturalist Left. Assimilation, not diversity, is our American strength." Reynolds told reporters during a news conference in Des Moines Tuesday that she can disagree with the conservative Republican congressman from Iowa even while he remains involved in her campaign. Reynolds pointed out she has multiple people serving in the role, including U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst. "I'm not going to agree with everything that they have to say, and I can certainly make it known when I don't agree with a comment that they made," she said. "But I also want to be able to work with them on really important issues for Iowans." As far as King's comments, Reynolds said: "I don't believe that that's reflective of Iowa values. I believe that diversity has made this state and this country stronger." Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price criticized Reynold's decision. "By keeping Steve King on her campaign team, Kim Reynolds is sending the message to all Iowans that she thinks his un-patriotic ideology is okay as long as it helps her politically," he said. A handful of gubernatorial candidates on Tuesday also criticized Reynolds, who is seeking a four-year term as governor next year. She is serving the remaining term of Republican former Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down in May to become U.S. ambassador to China. Reynolds announced King as a state co-chair on Nov. 1, although he had been criticized for previous tweets, including one that said, "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies," and offered support for a far-right Dutch politician who opposes immigration. When she appointed King, Reynolds was quoted in a campaign press release as saying he "is a strong defender of freedom and our conservative values." The following editorial was published in The Des Moines Register on Dec. 6: Iowa frequently licenses occupations that are rarely licensed elsewhere. So begins the section about Iowa in the new edition of License to Work, a report from the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm. Authors examined work requirements for 102 low-income occupations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Iowa was embarrassed on job licensing again. On average, states license 54 of the occupations examined, which include everything from landscapers and barbers to auctioneers and taxidermists. This state, however, licenses many more a total of 71. Compare this to neighboring states: Kansas licenses 35, Minnesota 34, Illinois 40, South Dakota 32 and Missouri 37. Forcing people to obtain government permission to work stifles economic growth, reduces competition in lower-wage industries, raises costs for consumers and frequently does not make anyone safer. Iowa also places some of the highest experience requirements in the nation on barbers and cosmetologists, according to the report. Aspiring licensees must demonstrate 2,100 hours of experience, while EMTs need only demonstrate 110 hours to become licensed. In other words, you need nearly 20 times as many hours of training to cut hair as you do to respond to a heart attack victim. Meanwhile, HVAC contractors must obtain 2,190 days of training and experience, according to the report. That is about twice as long as other states licensing these workers. Such inconsistencies are common throughout Iowa law and rules. Ultimately, the authors of the report suggest the same thing this editorial board has repeatedly suggested: State lawmakers should reduce and repeal unnecessary requirements to work in many professions. Not all of them, but many of them. Government licensing should exist only to protect public safety and health, not legitimize a certain profession or prevent more workers from entering it. Among the questions Iowa leaders should ask about every requirement related to occupational licenses in this state: Does it exceed requirements in other states? Does it make sense? Does it make anyone safer? Not just anyone should be able to perform a knee replacement, but one does not need extensive, required training to legally style a wig. Public health is not protected by requiring someone to train for 600 hours to be a make-up artist or pay $893 in fees to install security alarms. Iowa even requires government permission to be a milk sampler, the report notes. This year, lawmakers proposed a lengthy bill on licensing that lacked any coherent guiding principles about which workers should be overseen. It contained inexplicable inconsistencies like eliminating a board for barbers but not cosmetologists and replaced licensing of therapists and others with undefined registration. The bill was a mess, ultimately abandoned, and a reminder reform must be thoughtful. When the Legislature convenes in January, lawmakers should try again. Because they and their predecessors are to blame for Iowa being ranked in the Institute for Justice report as the 12th most broadly and onerously licensed state, making it one of the worst states for occupational licensing for lower-income workers. Elected officials who claim to be advocates of smaller, less intrusive government should be clamoring to eliminate burdensome requirements that discourage business creation and limit opportunities for workers. The clock is now ticking on President Donald Trumps announcement that he plans to wind down the government program that protects young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, or DACA, initiative, through a 2012 executive order. Regardless of the programs merits, the fact that it was created by an Obama executive order raises a red flag for the Trump administration. The program has allowed hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children to remain in the country. Applicants cannot have serious criminal histories and must have arrived in the U.S. before 2007, when they were under the age of 16. DACA recipients, often referred to as Dreamers, can live and work legally in the U.S. for renewable two-year periods. As many as 800,000 Dreamers have applied to join the initiative since its inception. Immigration rights advocates have said some 200,000 more have sought DACA protection since Trump became president. Some experts have said the program could end up covering 1.3 million young people if it were allowed to continue. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who announced in September the Trump administrations intent to wind down DACA, called the program unconstitutional and criticized it as unilateral executive amnesty. He added that the Trump administration will allow DACA recipients with a work permit set to expire before March 5, 2018, the opportunity to apply for a two-year renewal. The administration gave Congress six months to come up with a fix before the federal government stops renewing permits for current DACA recipients. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced legislation last week that would afford temporary protection for DACA recipients coupled with tougher border security and enforcement. Democrats working on the issue are looking for a permanent fix, with many pushing for a pathway to citizenship. Referring to Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacons support for legal status for DACA recipients, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, recently said, I dont know that hes had the opportunity to think this through thoroughly. While we seldom agree with Rep. King, and for good reason, we do agree with his implied point that not everyone has had the opportunity to think this through thoroughly. However, thinking it through does not mean we agree with Kings proclaimed position. Though we do not support automatic citizenship for DACA recipients, we do not, at the same time, support as King does their expulsion. We believe that thinking it through thoroughly means Congress needs to find a solution that is not tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water. Republicans and Democrats need to work together to find a permanent fix that provides the law abiding and productive Dreamers an opportunity to remain in this country and, eventually, a path perhaps with special requirements towards citizenship. Anyone who thinks it through thoroughly will realize thats whats best for the Dreamers and the country. The contest was simple: Color a picture and ride with Santa in Thursdays Light up the Bricks Christmas Parade downtown. Coltan Ham, a third-grader at McDaid Elementary School in North Platte, won the drawing. His teacher, Cheryl Braithwait, won $250 from the Downtown Association. Thursdays parade starts downtown at 5:30 p.m., with a number of organizations and businesses entering floats. From 3 to 5 p.m., children are invited to decorate cookies at the Espresso Shop by Caravan, 419 N. Dewey St. For the contest, coloring pages of elves, Christmas trees and stars were distributed to North Platte schools and day cares in recent weeks. Other children colored at last weeks Downtown Christmas Kids Festival. The pictures were displayed at Swans Furniture, American Mortgage and First State Bank. Each young artist was entered in the drawing. In addition to riding with Santa, Coltan gets to hang out with the man in red while waiting for the nights activities. Coltan was announced as the winner of the drawing after last weeks Christmas Kids Festival. I had no idea it was going to be me, he said. I never get picked for anything. While Coltan said he doesnt plan to chat with Santa much while riding in the parade, he does plan to ask Santa for an iPad this year. Braithwait hasnt decided how to spend her $250 earmarked for classroom supplies. Ive asked the kids, and theyve given me some ideas, she said. Well do some more thinking and see what we come up with. Braithwait said she appreciated the simplicity of picking the winner through a drawing rather than a talent contest. She reminded her students that while everyone would be entered into the contest, their artwork would also hang on display for the city to see. Braithwait said the contest also encouraged community involvement. She thanked Alan Perlinger, the contests organizer, for giving us the opportunity for letting the kids participate in the community. Democrat Jane Raybould wants to be Nebraskas change leader and she was in North Platte on Tuesday as part of her Kitchen Table Tour. The Lincoln County Democrats hosted Raybould at a meet and greet at Wild Bills, where about 50 people listened to her ideas. Im pretty excited I mean beyond excited because yesterday we paid our filing fee and I am now an official candidate for U.S. Senate, Raybould said. Its so important that we go out and visit the state to listen to you, to the folks I want to serve, and hear your concerns. She said like so many Nebraska families who gather around their table to discuss and resolve the issues they have, she wants to utilize the same process to bring about change. Im running for one simple reason, Raybould said. Washington D.C. is broken and its time we send some Nebraskan common sense there instead of the same elected official whos making things back in Washington D.C. even worse. Her list of priorities include lowering health care costs, supporting local farmers and small business owners, standing up to the current administrations approach to public school funding, fighting for tax reforms that help middle class families and not the special interests and millionaires, and protecting a womans right to choose. I know its time to make a change, Raybould said. We are so sick and tired of the short-sighted, divisive, partisan politics that are eroding our democracy, our democratic process, our voting rights. She said there are serious issues facing Nebraskans and Americans that deserve thoughtful, reasonable solutions. Health care costs are at the top of her agenda. We can agree that health care is getting far too expensive, Raybould said. Its not working for our working families. She said the Affordable Care Act needs improvement. We need to mend it and not end it, Raybould said. We need to deliver on affordability and make sure that we safeguard the quality. Raybould believes the time is right for her to defeat Sen. Deb Fischer. So how are we going to do it, Raybould said. Does it seem impossible for the state of Nebraska no. She said there were three reasons she believes prove Nebraskans are looking for change garnered from some polling her campaign did in November. Sen. Fischer sent out a statement following Rayboulds filing to run for her Senate seat. Negative attacks and zero vision are not the Nebraska way, said Fischers campaign manager Allison Bedell in the release. Nebraskans know Debs record and her love for the state where she chose to raise her kids and spend her entire life. Sadly, it seems the Democrat candidate simply wants a job that will take her back to Washington, where she chose to raise her family and spent the majority of her adult life. Raybould said she left for a time to go to college, get married and raise her children, but moved back in 2003 and has been in Nebraska since. The reason Sen. Fischer has been attacking me so much is because she knows shes in trouble in the state of Nebraska, Raybould said. Raybould said about 1,600 Nebraskans were polled and 51 percent of them identified themselves as registered Republicans. She said the poll showed that 45 percent said they disapprove of Sen. Fischers job performance while 35 percent approve. The next question asked if they thought Sen. Fischer should be re-elected or do you think its time to send someone new, Raybould said. Forty-eight percent said its time to send someone new and 35 percent said she should be re-elected. INDIANAPOLIS A Chicago-based asset management firm has been selected to make investments in promising Hoosier companies by using up to $250 million generated by the 2006 Indiana Toll Road lease that since then has been held in trust by the state. The Next Level Indiana Trust Fund Investment Board last week chose 50 South Capital Advisors LLC, a subsidiary of Northern Trust Corp., to make strategic investments in accordance with the board's goals, beginning in the first quarter of 2018. Earlier this year, Hoosier lawmakers in House Enrolled Act 1001 approved Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb's proposal to allow riskier equity and debt investments, primarily in Indiana-based companies, using half of what previously was known as the Next Generation Trust Fund. According to the governor's office, the board soon will adopt an investment policy to guide decisions made by 50 South Capital Advisors, which will manage the fund and regularly report to the board. State law limits Next Level investments to a maximum of $25 million in any single company or investment account. The other half of the fund, which state records show totaled $520 million on March 31, will continue to be invested mostly in products with limited downside risk, similar to money invested by the Indiana Public Retirement System. Investment proceeds are required to be transferred to the state in 2021, and every five years thereafter, to be used for transportation infrastructure projects. "The Next Level Trust Fund will build upon Indiana's developing venture community and support increased entrepreneurship and innovation in our state," Holcomb said. The fund was established by the Indiana Finance Authority as a charitable trust that operates separately from the state since the Indiana Constitution bars the state from becoming a stockholder in any corporation or association. The five-member board is led by Elaine Bedel, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., and includes State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell; Indiana Office of Management and Budget Director Micah Vincent; Cynthia Lucchese, chief administrative and financial officer for Hulman & Co.,of Indianapolis; and Bill Godfrey, managing director of 4G Ventures in Carmel. Former state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and state Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, serve as nonvoting advisers to the board. CROWN POINT Lake County Council officials on Tuesday stripped Councilman Jamal Washington of influence he had over county law enforcement agencies. They voted to remove Washington, D-Merrillville, from the council budget committees overseeing the Lake County Sheriff's police force, the county jail, animal control, the prosecutor, the county's public defenders, local court judges, the county's Emergency Management Agency and the Community Corrections Advisory Board. Councilman David Hamm, D-Hammond, and Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, said this removes Washington from being in a position to fiscally reward or punish elected county officials and department heads in county government's law enforcement community who must meet privately with council committee members before they can spend tax dollars. Washington wasn't present to cast an opposing vote; he remains in Lake County Jail. Washington used his committee authority over the Sheriff's Department a year ago to attack former Sheriff John Buncich's fiscal bookkeeping. Hamm said this protects county officials who need fiscal advice. "These departments need someone else to talk to," Hamm said. Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said it was necessary to temporarily remove Washington from committees giving select council members private access to law enforcement departments "to avoid any conflict of interest." Merrillville police arrested Washington on Friday, and the prosecutor charged him with battering and confining his 23-year-old female cousin, Kamaria Buckley, during a domestic dispute. Washington can still vote on the budgets during publicly scheduled monthly meetings after he is freed on bail later this month. Council members have said only the voters or the courts can remove Washington as the 3rd District councilman representing much of Gary, Merrillville and parts of Griffith, St. John Township and Schererville. Washington denies having assaulted Buckley and she has withdrawn her accusation, but authorities continue to proceed against him. It is the second time in two years Washington has been absent from his public duties in the wake of criminal charges. Merrillville police arrested Washington in December 2015 on charges he battered his wife. He bailed out of jail in time to attend the final council meeting of that year, but chose not to attend. Washington's nameplate was on the council table Tuesday, but his chair was empty and pushed to the back of the wall. He missed the opportunity to vote on more than four dozen budget changes and ordinances the council took up at its final 2017 regular meeting. The council voted 5-1 Tuesday to grant two weeks paid leave for county employees who are new fathers and mothers. Strong cast the lone dissenting vote against giving paid leave to men. "I'm not against fatherhood or motherhood," Strong said, adding he believes it is wrong to charge this benefit to the taxpayers. He said he would rather see higher disability benefits for employees suffering from chronic illnesses. The council approved a labor agreement with the 158 members of the Lake County police providing them 3-percent pay raises for the next three years. The council deferred a vote on approving pay raises for about 350 Lake Superior Court secretaries, bailiffs, office managers, stenographers and administrators to settle a lawsuit local judges filed last March, mandating higher salaries for their employees. CROWN POINT A 32-year-old man pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, Wednesday to murder in his mother's slaying at her Gary home. Joseph M. Nelson, of Gary, admitted in Lake Criminal Court he bludgeoned Annie Nelson, his 69-year-old mother, to death with a hammer March 1 at the woman's residence in the 500 block of Kentucky Street. Nelson, who appeared in court in an orange jail uniform, answered Judge Diane Boswell's questions about his plea in a quiet voice, his heavy-lidded eyes hiding under a shock of salt-and-pepper hair. Nelson will be sentenced to 45 years in prison, with an initial placement in mental health treatment, as part of his plea agreement with the Lake County Prosecutor's Office. Two court-appointed doctors determined earlier this year Nelson was mentally ill, but able to stand trial for his mother's murder. Nelson told police officers during his arrest he was schizophrenic, but had not taken his medication for about 20 days, according to court records. Nelson is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 19. HAMMOND State environmental officials are expected to see if they can clean up a dispute between Hammond and Munster over the proper removal and disposal of storm sewer waste. Marty Wielgos, manager of the Hammond Sanitary District, contends Munster's method of disposal of material vacuumed out of its stormwater pipes is not in compliance with state regulations. Munster City Manager Dustin Anderson disagrees and said the town's research shows its disposal of the material does comply with state regulations. "I feel very confident that the town of Munster is in compliance with all regulations, both state and federal," he said. Munster is a minority partner in the Hammond Sanitary District, although both are individually responsible for cleaning out their lines. Wielgos said the district is highly regulated and officials had a responsibility to say something when it spotted its minority partner doing something they believed was wrong. Material vacuumed out of Munster storm sewer pipes has been taken to a public works site in the 500 block of Fisher Street in Munster where it is dried out before being shipped to a certified solid waste site for disposal. Anderson said material taken from sanitary sewer lines, however, still is taken to the Hammond Sanitary District facilities for treatment. The attorney for the sanitary district, Joe Allegretti, sent an email to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management last Friday asking whether it would be "possible or appropriate" for someone from that agency to "have a look at" the Munster Public Works facility and "otherwise look into the Town's sewer maintenance and Vactor spoils issues?" Vactor is a brand of vacuum trucks used to clean out material from sewer lines. Munster town Attorney David E. Wickland had earlier sent a letter to Allegretti noting the district's accusations of the town illegally dumping material at the public works site. Wickland, however, said in his letter that the regulation being cited by a Hammond Sanitary District employee in regard to the issue was not the correct one when it came to the disposing of the material. "Although our investigation continues, we believe that IDEM will support our position, although we have not received a written opinion from them yet," he wrote. "The upshot of the foregoing is that Munster can continue to deposit storm sewer spoils on Town property, and later remove them to a certified solid waste facility without committing any illegal activity." Wielgos contends that Munster is wrong and state environmental officials will agree with the district's position. He said if the material is stormwater run off rather than material from sanitary sewer it still will contain "gas, oil and all kinds of stuff." Wielgos and Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. also have expressed concern about how regularly the town cleans out its lines. They noted the amount of material the sanitary district receives from Munster for processing has dropped dramatically over the past few years. Anderson said instead of vacuuming out all the town's sewer lines, Munster instead now jets out areas where sonar technology shows there is a build up and then vacuums out that material. He said this is a more efficient and less expensive method of cleaning the lines. Wielgos, however, said the town should be vacuuming out all the lines regularly as the city of Hammond does with its lines. Wielgos said improper cleaning of the lines can negatively impact the sewer system's pumping stations, which the district is responsible for maintaining. He also said it can lead to back-ups in the town of Munster. Wag your Tail Wednesday HAMMOND The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will once again hold Wag Your Tail Wednesdays in conjunction with the "A Christmas Story" Comes Home exhibit. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 20, well-behaved pets are invited to have their picture taken with Santa atop Santas Mountain. Cost is $6 a photo and portions of the proceeds will be donated to local pet rescues. In addition to Wag your Tail Wednesdays, Santa will be available for photos leading up to Christmas. Santa will visit the Indiana Welcome Center on Saturdays and Sundays from Thanksgiving to Christmas from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A Holiday Festival Celebration Aspire Charter Academy presents its visual and performing arts students in a holiday festival celebration at 2 p.m. Dec. 16 at the academy, 4900 W. 15th Ave. The public is invited and all pledges are sold in advance. Cost for adults is $5, for students $3. The event will feature First Lady of House Music, Kym Mazelle, of London. Call 219-944-7400. Christmas concert HAMMOND The annual Bishop Noll Christmas concert will be performed at 6 p.m. Dec. 17 in the auditorium. The concert will feature the Bishop Noll choir followed by the Bishop Noll concert band. Santa's visit will allow the entire family to get a photo. The concert is free. Before the concert, the Bishop Noll Band will host its annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the school cafeteria. This all-you-can-eat meal is $7 and proceeds benefit the BNI band program. Visit bishopnoll.org for information. Spirit of Christmas dinner State Rep. Vernon G. Smith, D-Gary, announced the Spirit of Christmas Dinner will be back again this year at the Genesis Convention Center, 1 Genesis Center Plaza in Gary, from 1-4 p.m. on Christmas Day. Smith hosts the Spirit of Christmas Dinner every year to honor his deceased mother, the Rev. Julia E. Smith, and a teacher, Patricia Tillotson, who made a positive impact on his life. Transportation is available to the dinner. Call Smith at 219-887-2046 to schedule transportation, reserve a place for dinner, donate, volunteer or obtain additional information about the Spirit of Christmas Dinner. The event is primarily for residents of Gary, Merrillville, Griffith, New Chicago, Lake Station and Hobart. However, Smith said anyone from Lake County or anywhere else is welcome to share the holiday and a good meal at the Spirit of Christmas Dinner. ST. JOHN After video surfaced last month of a Lake Central High School teacher allegedly snorting cocaine, Superintendent Larry Veracco told the School Board Monday it is time to at least discuss whether teachers should be tested for drugs the way bus drivers and some students already are. Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Samantha Cox, 24, on charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia at an initial court hearing Monday morning before Magistrate Judge Natalie Bokota. Cox, of Cedar Lake, was ordered to appear Feb. 8 at a hearing before Judge Salvador Vasquez. Cox was arrested after a video surfaced allegedly showing her using cocaine in an empty classroom Nov. 22, according to a probable cause affidavit. Veracco said as far as he knows, no other school district in Indiana currently tests teachers for drugs, but he talked to providers who handle the testing for corporations that do test when the person is hired and randomly during employment. He said most do urine testing, but hair samples are better because the traces of drugs can linger longer. It takes about 90 hairs and the test costs twice as much, but some consider that too invasive. The board would have to decide which testing method would best put the community at ease, he said. We need to be careful about overreacting. This is the first incident I know of since Ive been working here, but I do think it is worth discussing. The superintendent also said since the district reduced the number of students tested in August 2013 due to increased testing costs and budgetary constraints, it has consistently randomly tested six students from each middle school and 18 high school students. "I believe we were at 12 and 24 prior to cutting back," he said. "We currently pay $40 for the five-panel urine test. The only employees who are tested prior to employment and randomly while employed are bus drivers. The driver test is currently $60 but will go up to $61.50 due to an expanded opiate test as mandated by the federal Department of Transportation." Expanded drug testing coming for bus drivers Since Coxs arrest, Veracco said he and the board members have received only a couple of calls from residents. Federal DOT regulations require that all bus drivers be tested regularly, and Veracco said students involved in extracurricular activities or who drive to school also are tested under board policy. Lake Central Transportation Director Christian Flores said beginning Jan. 1, the federal regulations will expand the testing to look for additional classes of synthetic opioids. Testing is done three times a year covering at least half the drivers. Alcohol testing is done twice a year. Additional tests could be done on drivers involved in an accident, depending on the accident's severity, he said. Under the old regulations, drivers were tested for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opioids and PCP. Beginning Jan. 1, the expanded opioid screening will look for hydrocodone, hydromorthone, oxycodone and oxymorphone. Board member Sandy Lessentine asked if corporations that test employees also have programs available to help them with a drug or alcohol problem. Veracco said that would be something he would have to look into. We want to do some more investigation and look at it on a national scale, Veracco said. If they are doing it, which test are they doing? I think most are doing it only if they have reasonable suspicion. Board President Janice Malchow said a story she read about a year ago said Indiana was at or near the bottom in dealing with this issue. Cox, 24, told police she bought $160 worth of cocaine before school on Nov. 22, the affidavit states. According to the affidavit, a search of her desk and vehicle turned up drug paraphernalia. She is free on $1,000 bond. Times reporter Carmen McCollum added to this report. The merging Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County and Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana have settled on a new name for the new organization. Effective Jan. 1, the club will be called Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana, according to a press release from the group. The new organization will have one board and one budget. Naming the new organization consisted of a strategic process guided by AC Incorporated, a Valparaiso-based integrated marketing and consulting firm. After a list of roughly 11 names was pared down to three, AC Incorporated polled board members, staff, community members and club members. AC Incorporated conducted a focus group with club members from both Lake and Porter counties. Selected youth were asked to explain what they thought and how they felt about three possible organizational names. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 77 percent voting for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana. "We had a list of truly creative and wonderful names. Through the expertise of AC Incorporated, they helped us to really focus and identify a name that best represents all of us our youth, our families, and our corner of the state. Greater Northwest Indiana truly represents all of our collective communities, and places us on a geographic map as a large, strong and great organization. I am very proud of our process and our new name," said Ryan Smiley, president and CEO of the merged enterprise. Now that Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana has a new name, communities will start seeing it "pop up" all over Northwest Indiana with a fresh website to be unveiled in the new year, according to the release. A 21-year-old man from rural LaPorte was killed Tuesday when his car slid on a snow-slicked stretch of U.S. 20 into the path of a semi truck in LaPorte County. The crash happened about 11:30 a.m. near Range Road on a stretch of U.S. 20 that has had a high number of car crashes this year. Jake Eason was pronounced dead at the scene. The semi driver, Thomas Darrus, 54, of Riverside, Illinois, was not injured. According to police, the number of traffic fatalities countywide this year now stands at 19, with seven* of those happening on U.S. 20 from U.S. 35 near Michigan City to Ind. 2 east of Rolling Prairie. Center-line rumble strips were installed on that four-lane stretch by the Indiana Department of Transportation in late August in response to the high number of bad traffic crashes. LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd said in the latest crash, the westbound victim, later identified as Eason, slid on slush-covered pavement into the path of an eastbound semi truck. "He was killed on impact," Boyd said. Boyd said the four-lane highway remained open during the investigation and clean-up of the crash site. A few inches of lake-effect snow had fallen just prior to the crash and conditions were hazardous from that and wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. "Dont think you can drive on a day like today at normal highway speeds. That just isnt safe," Boyd said. Ian Nelson, chief deputy marshal in Westville, said the conditions there were similar, and less than an inch of snow had fallen there by late morning. "When the wind kicks up, itll start blowing the loose snow around. So far, it hasnt been too terrible," Nelson said. The result of toxicology screenings for both drivers are pending. However, police believe weather was the primary factor, according to a news release. *This story has been changed from the original. Drivers should brace for more snow in the forecast after Tuesdays winter storm claimed one life on LaPorte County roads. Much of Northwest Indiana experienced some snowfall Tuesday, but the highest totals were in areas east of Porter County. LaPorte County was hit the hardest with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour and heavy lake effect snow making travel difficult in some areas. Weather was the primary cause behind a crash along U.S. 20 near Range Road in LaPorte, police said. A 21-year-old man from rural LaPorte died on impact after his car slid on a snow-slicked stretch of road into the path of an oncoming semi. According to the National Weather Service, another fast-moving, low-pressure clipper system will bring light snow Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesdays forecast for Northwest Indiana calls for mostly cloudy skies and snow likely in the afternoon with a high of 37 and low of 19. Snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain, is expected through midnight Wednesday. Snow showers are likely after midnight with accumulations of about one inch, according to the NWS. Theres a 30 percent chance of snow in the forecast for Thursday with mostly cloudy skies and highs in the mid-20s. Theres a 50 percent chance of snow under cloudy skies Friday. Northwest Indiana residents traveling to St. Joseph County or southwestern Michigan should be aware of a winter storm warning scheduled until 7 a.m. Wednesday. Four to 9 inches of snow, with localized accumulation of up to 11 inches, were expected. Heavy lake effect snow is expected during the Wednesday morning commute for people in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties. A winter weather advisory for LaPorte County expired 6 p.m. Tuesday. Porter County was under a lakeshore flood advisory until 3 p.m. Tuesday. The weather service warned northwest gales to 40 knots and waves of 14 to 18 feet were expected along the lakeshore. High waves, onshore winds and high lake levels were expected to cause beach erosion and minor flooding along the lakeshore. Waves could wash over piers and jetties, forecasters said. They span every county in the northwestern section of Indiana with life stories of valor, genius and innovation. Their stories of selfless sacrifice during times of war, the ability to touch thousands of people through the generations with their literary prose or music and their pioneering and societal changing inventions give us all reason to be #RegionProud. As the South Shore Wall of Legends prepares to induct its two newest honorees Thursday at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond, we all should reflect on these home-cultivated sons and daughters of Region greatness. On Thursday, the late billionaire businessman, lodging mogul and Region philanthropist Dean White and legendary World War II fighter pilot and Tuskegee Airman Quentin Smith will join the Legends legacy as the 69th and 70th honorees. Both are worthy pioneers of transformational change in their fields giants in the greater world. Both also happen to have Region roots White in Crown Point and Merrillville and Smith in Gary. Like many of the legends on the wall, neither man is alive today. But their memories provide Northwest Indiana with a heavy dose of pride. The Wall of Legends honorees are a collective dose of reality to the often-imagined chip of inferiority many in our Region have felt in the shadows of Chicago and Indianapolis. Now White and Smith will be enshrined beside military Medal of Honor recipients who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country. They'll take their place beside volunteer heroes of the American Civil War, including the 20th Indiana Volunteer Infantry and its Crown Point Col. John Wheeler, who died at the Battle of Gettysburg. On the wall, White and Smith also will be in the company of satirist and broadcast legend Jean Shepherd, best known this time of year for creating the classic story line behind the movie, "A Christmas Story," which was based on his childhood in Hammond. Anyone in our greater Region of Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Pulaski and Starke counties who hasn't visited the wall and taken in its honorees should do so. It's one of those inspirational points of homegrown human greatness that remind us all what Northwest Indiana can accomplish for the greater good of humanity. I would like to commend U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., for his recent introduction of a bill to hold politicians who protect illegal aliens accountable for their illegal actions. Liberal politicians believe in one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for the rest of us. These politicians decide which particular laws they want to comply with and which ones they do not. by Miklos BolzaAustralian Peer-to-peer lender RateSetter has reached $200m in loans matched to investors with the firm managing to double its volumes in just over six months.This rapid growth has been attributed to poor returns on retail investments and greater scrutiny on the banks all of which has led to a great year for RateSetter, said CEO Daniel Foggo.The peer-to-peer lending industry is reaping the benefits of Australians frustrations with the banks, with record numbers of investors and borrowers seeking out the better value alternative we offer.In research conducted earlier this year, RateSetter found that 56% of its investors withdrew money from a bank savings account, 17% moved money from a bank term deposit, and 17% sold their shares to invest.RateSetters investors are predominantly between 18 and 36 years old at 58% of the total investor base. This age bracket invests an average of $9,400.Investors in older age brackets are more likely to put down larger amounts however. Those between 55 and 64 invest an average of $66,100 while those greater than 65 years old invest $64,400.This year, as well as reaching the $200m milestone, RateSetter also launched its green loan marketplace the first in Australia supported by a $20m commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Council.The firm also partnered with digital real estate agent Purplebricks, telecommunications firm Amaysim, and auto finance broker Stratton.Foggo reflected on the companys history saying that in June 2015, RateSetter was excited to fund $1m of loans in one month.In October, we loaned that same amount in one day. This growth exceeded even our own estimates. Peer-to-peer is booming in Australia because we are providing a genuinely attractive alternative to both investors and borrowers.This article is from our sister site Australian Broker. Nearly 33 percent of registered Lee County voters participated in Tuesday's election, compared to 11 percent in the August primaries. Democratic candidate Doug Jones won the county, with 19,810 votes, or 57.42 percent of ballots cast. Republican candidate Roy Moore claimed 14,017 votes in Lee County, or 40.63 percent. There were 672 votes for write-in candidates cast. Supporters of both candidates commented Tuesday that the voter turnout was higher than they expected, whether they were standing in line to cast their ballot for a few moments or were campaigning for their candidate outside a polling place all day. 'Both black and white' Two people sat in lawn chairs only a few feet apart from each other outside the Opelika Sportsplex and Aquatics Center on Tuesday. David Floyd had a Roy Moore campaign sign next to his chair, and Barbara Bandy had a Doug Jones sign next to hers. Its a heavier turnout than it was during the primary and the runoff, Floyd said. Exactly how much more, I dont know. But you can tell theres more. Its been a steady crowd, both black and white, said Bandy, who arrived at the Sportsplex when polls opened at 7 a.m. and planned to stay until they closed at 7 p.m. A steady stream of voters seemed like a contrast to the 11 percent registered voter turnout in the August primaries, which some chalk up to controversy and publicity. The effect of allegations Theres more interest in it, because of all the allegations that have been laid against Judge Moore, which I dont think are correct, Floyd speculated. I believe hes innocent of that. But thats probably stirred up things, and brought down a lot of national media to the state of Alabama. The allegations that Moore had relationships with teenage girls in his hometown of Gadsden while he was in his 30s did bring some voters to the polls who didnt vote in the primaries. If those were never brought up, I might not be here today, said Alex Chuplis, who cast his ballot at the Clarion Inn on South College Street. But since they were brought up, I thought maybe he needed some extra support that wouldnt have been there before. Roy Moore is who I wanted to vote for. I dont agree with everything hes done. But allegations aside, which are allegations until theyre proven, I agree with him and helping Trumps agenda at the end of the day, vs. the opposite side. But the allegations against the former Chief Justice had the opposite effect on people like Jack Parrish, who voted at Frank Brown Recreation Center in Auburn. Im voting Doug Jones, Parrish said. Im a lifelong Republican. But recently, Im just not OK with Roy Moores campaign and how things are going right now in this country. So I just wanted to come out here and try something different for a change. Energy or intensity In the Clarion Inn parking lot, Noel Forsythe stood with a Roy Moore sign and encouraged people to vote for him. Forsythe said he has been campaigning for Moore since the GOP runoff. Ive been trying to give signs to my friends, trying to make phone calls to people who are potential voters, he said. Today, Ive made about 500 calls, encouraging people to come out and vote. Forsythe said he was surprised by the amount of people who participated in Tuesdays election. This is the voter turnout that you expect for a general election, where youve got several things on the ballot, including the president, he said. This is triple, if not quadruple, the turnout the local Republicans thought we would have. Opelika voters turned out in droves as well. Overall, I dont think Ive seen the energy or the intensity concerning an election, especially on a Senate level, said Michael Edwards, who cast his ballot at the Opelika Community Center. I expected to see something like this when were voting for president. The whole nation is watching Some Lee County voters visited the polls Tuesday simply because they always have, while others viewed the election as monumental, or felt driven to vote because of the attention surrounding it. I started voting right about the same time I enlisted in the military, Auburn resident Connie Tolbert-Johnson said. If I can go out and defend my country, I should be able to have a say-so in who runs our country. Dwnesin Williams voted at the Dean Road Recreation Center because of people who made it possible. I always tell people, If youre going to complain about it, then you need to vote. If youre not going to vote, then dont complain about it, Williams said. This is something my ancestors, my family has fought for. I still have grandparents that are alive that fought for this. I dont know how many people came out today, but it just seemed like there was a lot of outside pressure in the state, said David Kerr, who voted at the EAMC Education Center on Pepperell Parkway. Auburn University student Yash Desai said Tuesdays election was a special occasion. The whole nation is watching Alabama today, and I just think its good to come out here and cast my ballot, he said. The Internal Security Organisation, the government spy agency, recently released a report on wasteful government expenditures arising mainly out of duplication of services by various government agencies and departments. The report follows a directive from the president in July 2017, that the agency, among others, reviews the public service structure with a view of scrapping, downsizing and merging government agencies and authorities to end wastage of meager resources. President Museveni also directed the ministry of Public Service to set up a Salary Review Commission to come up with a comprehensive balanced remuneration structure across the public service. The commission is expected to publish its report by the end of the year. Whereas both reviews and their reports are all geared towards addressing structural and pay disparities in public service, chances are that their implementations are going to be tricky. A pay reform should have been informed by a structural reform, implying that a salary review should have come after the restructuring process. For me, one of the biggest areas of concern is the semi-autonomous government authorities such as Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda Revenue Authority, National Social Security Fund, etc, that operate like non-governmental organisations within government ministries. Staff in those agencies get more money in salaries and allowances than their supervisors in the mother ministries. Besides, most of the activities they do are also done by some personnel within the mother ministry, who are paid differently. For instance, whereas permanent secretaries who supervise those agencies get about Shs 15 million per month, heads of those agencies get between Shs 17 and Shs 40 million, or even more. Even the lowest-paid cadres in those agencies such as drivers reportedly get five or more times what graduates in mainstream government departments get. Some sources actually indicate that those agencies determine their own salary structures like NGOs, meaning they are not centrally controlled by the ministry of Public Service. The difference should be in allowances, depending on how much revenue each agency generates and also their priorities. Whether working in agencies or mainstream ministries, all are government employees who should earn within the same range. Bernard Odida, Concerned citizen You want oil by 2020, but for who? Everyone is excited about the expectation of the first oil drop to be pumped out by 2020 and, to this end, there are many hasty processes to achieve this target. For some years now, the Albertine graben has been busy with developers undertaking various activities to ensure smooth operations. The question that is never answered is: whose oil is it? Whose development is it? To have over 817 project-affected persons not compensated for their land for a central processing facility in Kasenyi in Buliisa is not good news at all! No wonder, recently the residents had to protest and stop developers from accessing this land until they are fully compensated. There can never be development for us without us; you cannot want to acquire 300 square miles where people derive their livelihoods in the name of development and leave peasants helpless. As if that is not enough, we have gone ahead to launch the East African Crude Oil Pipeline that will run from Hoima to Tanga in Tanzania. Apart from promising Ugandans many jobs, is anyone thinking of how to avoid similar compensation troubles? Who is talking to the would-be affected communities? Who is ensuring that the Resettlement Action Plan should be followed to the letter? Who is involving local governments to ensure that they are informed about the project and its implications and the readiness to mitigate such issues? All we are concerned about is getting the oil out by 2020 and paying less attention to the issues surrounding the wellbeing of citizens. Michael Aboneka, Thomas & Michael Advocates. Will agriculture ever get fair share? Agriculture was allocated just 3.1 per cent of the national budget yet more than 70 per cent of Ugandans depend on the asector. Further, a 2008 World Bank report titled Agriculture for Development observed that GDP growth originating from agriculture is three times more effective in raising peoples incomes than GDP growth originating outside the sector. That notwithstanding, even the Maputo declaration on agriculture which Uganda is signatory to recommends a 15 per cent budgetary allocation, but all this has been ignored. Unfortunately, this important sector has been continuously ignored by government for decades. Kennedy Kabonge, kabongek@yahoo.co.uk. Letter to Museveni I am glad to hear that you are still willing to continue sacrificing for your country. But the greatest sacrifice you can give your nation is to close your ears to self-seekers and let others prove their worth. One is tempted to think you have failed to nurture leaders and must shed your skin and come back again and again with new excuses for your continued stay. I honestly cant fathom how you look at yourself in the mirror, when you think of yourself as the revolutionary who gave Ugandans hope that they would have true democracy. Which democracy is it when we have rigged elections, cadre judges, soldiers in parliament, kidnappings by security operatives and now twisting of the countrys supreme law so you can continue your trial and error politics. Paget Kintu, kin2pag@yahoo.co.uk. Respect life as human right Considering the demographic diversity of Uganda, different regions have adopted various customs such as female genital mutilation (FGM) among the Sebei, gender-based violence, widow inheritance, denial of equal land and property rights, etc. According to United Nations, human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Numerous campaigns have been staged to create awareness and also wipe out archaic cultures. One of them is the annual 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. As Youth Alive Uganda, we believe that behavior change is the most essential strategy in overcoming the current youth quandary and all societal delinquencies which are the backbone of violence. Olive Nazziwa, bigabwa99@gmail.com. letters@observer.ug A record number of 262 journalists were jailed for their work in 2017 as of Dec. 1, with Turkey, China and Egypt ranking as the top three gulags, according to the annual report released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ faults the US for failing to criticize the war on the press. In fact, it believes the Trump Administration has abetted the crackdown. In CPJs view, Donald Trumps nationalistic rhetoric, fixation on Islamic extremism and constant attacks on the media as fake news provide a cover for legal charges and the jailing of journalists. The group counted 21 journalists jailed after they were charged with distributing fake news. For the second year in a row, Turkey topped the list as the worst jailer of reporters, throwing 73 journalists behind bars. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown of press freedom in early 2016 and accelerated it following a failed coup attempt, which was blamed on an alleged terror group led by exiled cleric Fethlullah Gulen, who is living in Pennsylvania. CPJ noted that Team Trump has turned a blind eye to Erdogans repressive treatment of the press. Trump hosted the Turkish strongman at the White House in May and recently called him a friend. Similarly, Chinese president Xi Jinping enjoyed the hospitality of Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The US president also made no mention of Chinas human rights abuses during his November visit to Beijing. After visiting Trump at the White House in April, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi passed a draconian anti-terrorism law that furthered Egypts press crackdown, according to CPJ. There is a bridge between two universities in Japan that is a small testament to the power of linguistic inclusion and outreach. For more than 50 years Korea University, Tokyo (a Korean minority university) and Mushashino Art University (a Japanese arts university) were side by side, separated by single, chain link fence. Yet the two schools never communicated, recalled Wooki Park-Kim, a Korean minority rights activist born and raised in Japan. Koreans have been resident in Japan since 1910 due to colonization. Recently, the students decided enough was enough. They built a bridge from the Korean side to the Japanese side and began to host art exhibitions in one anothers universities. Korean school students have been making great efforts to promote greater understanding with greater Japanese society, she said. Park-Kim was speaking about the importance of mother tongue instruction as part of inclusive education during the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues. The forum, which took place recently in Geneva, is a yearly meeting where minorities from across the spectrum -- linguistic, ethnic, religious, or national to identify and analyse best practices, challenges and initiatives to full implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. This year the forum focused on minority youth, toward a more inclusive and diverse society. Young people are the vanguard of activism for minority communities. Panel discussions looked into the role minority youth play in public life, as well as their contributions to discourse online using social media as a platform for advocacy. Upholding minority rights is not only the right thing to do it is a powerful way to de-fuse tensions, prevent conflict and facilitate broad-based economic prosperity, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein. No society will ever find sustainable harmony and peace without justice; and development will always be impeded when members of society are held back, he said. Minorities and minority youth are not a threat; they are under threat. They do not undermine social harmony and security; they enrich society with a diversity of outlooks, experiences and skills. One of the best ways to improve cohesion and inclusion for minority youth is through education, said Saskia Schellekens, Special Advisor to the UN Envoy for Youth. It plays a formative role in socializing communities in the ideas of citizenship and is essential support for the development and maintenance of community identity. It is also the primary means by which communities and individuals can sustainably lift themselves out of poverty, and a means of helping minorities overcome the historical injustices committed against them. Support from the government for mother tongue minority language education is crucial, said Nouha Grine, president of the Amazigh Culture Club in Tunisia. The club provides a space for Amazigh youth to learn more about their culture through events. While the government has recognized the Amazigh language, more needs to be done to allow its inclusion, she said. Young people have the right to learn in their mother tongue, she said. Linguistic diversity is also diversity Elzbieta Kuzborksa is a product of the minority language education system in Lithuania. Raised in a Polish environment, her schooling was in Polish, with the official language being taught as a separate subject. Far from creating separation, the former UN Human Rights Office Senior Minority Fellow said the system made her and her peers more fluent in both languages and improved comprehension. Education in mother tongue of children leads to encouragement, strength and enthusiasm and greater academic success, she said. It leads to greater family and community involvement. Kuzborska is now a board member of the Association of Polish Academics in Lithuania, where she organizes projects and conferences all with the aim to encourage the youth to take advance of the education systems and encourage better uptake of mother tongue education. Language is the key to inclusion, she said. Language is the centre of human activity, self-expression and identity. Recognizing the kind of importance that people place on their own language fosters the kind of true participation in development that achieves long lasting results. 13 December 2017 Don Otis feels lucky to have grown up in a philanthropic family. It opened my mind to the idea that its more about others than yourself, he said. For more than a decade, Don and his wife, Rita Otis, have supported Goodfellows, The World-Heralds charity. They have increased their donations over the years, and now send in $1,000. Its a wonderful community charity, and we like that 100 percent of the donation is used efficiently, Don said. Because the newspaper covers all administrative costs, every dollar donated to the charity goes to local people in need. Now retired, Don said hes focused on giving back to the community. The 67-year-old is a member of the west Omaha Rotary Club and volunteers to help Skinner Magnet Center students improve their reading skills. Don said hes proud to call Omaha home, especially when he thinks about all the giving in the community. Every year, he enjoys reading about those helped by Goodfellows funds. Im always moved to hear the stories of the recipients, he said. So many lives have been touched by Goodfellows. Its just a great program that helps people get over those speed bumps of life. Two brothers were seriously injured early Wednesday in a shooting and assault case in Waterloo. The Douglas County Sheriffs Office said deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. to the shooting call along River Road Drive. The Sheriffs Office said deputies found two victims, Rogelio Roy Garcia, 39, and Cesar Garcia, 44, inside a residence just north of Farmer Browns restaurant. The younger Garcia was semiconscious and suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower leg, deputies said. Cesar Garcia had been struck by an unknown object, suffering a deep laceration to his forehead, the Sheriffs Office said. Both men were taken to Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy, where they were listed in serious condition Wednesday night, a hospital representative said. Roy Garcia was in surgery late Wednesday morning. The Sheriffs Office said that its investigation into the case was continuing and that detectives were waiting to interview the brothers for a better picture of what occurred. There is another person being sought who may be connected to the shooting and assault, the Sheriffs Office said. That person is familiar to Roy Garcia, the Sheriffs Office said. Authorities described the case as an isolated incident and they said there was no threat to the public. No arrests were announced. Anyone with information on the matter is urged to call the Sheriffs Office at 402-444-6000. Heather Francisco got in line before dawn Tuesday for a chance at a free tattoo, one that would carry special meaning for her. Francisco got a butterfly tattoo in honor of her grandmother who died more than two decades ago. She said her grandmother loved butterflies and planted flowers in her yard to attract them. She displayed pictures and figurines of butterflies in her home. Francisco said whenever she sees a butterfly she thinks of her grandmother. Its her trying to say she still loves us, said Francisco, who lives in Omaha. She was among more than 100 people who lined up outside Quality Ink Tattoo in Bellevue. The shop began offering free tattoos four years ago around the holidays and has kept up the tradition. The free tattoos drew people from across the Omaha area, Lincoln and western Iowa. The shop says its a way to help people get a tattoo who might not otherwise be able to afford one. The business said its especially glad to help people get a design that commemorates a family member or a special occasion in their lives. Francisco said the butterfly tattoo on her left arm turned out great, and her grandmother would have loved it. Francisco showed up outside the shop about 5 a.m. Tuesday, in advance of the 10 a.m. opening. Volunteers from the shop brought out coffee and bagels to her and others. Some of the first people in line arrived Monday evening. People bundled up in layers against freezing temperatures, and some had blankets or a sleeping bag draped around them. People said the event gave them a sense of camaraderie as they sipped coffee and swapped stories about the tattoos they have and the one they planned to get. The shop is owned by Leon Alderette. His wife, Valerie, helps run it. She said that the free 3-by-3-inch tattoos were offered first come, first served and that the shop hoped to provide 112 of them before it closed at 8 p.m. Teisha Thomas arrived at the shop at midnight from her home in Vail, Iowa, about 90 miles from Bellevue. She already has six tattoos and said the chance for a free one was worth the drive and the long wait in the cold. She said she has a 4-month-old son and planned to get his name, Jace, tattooed on her wrist. I love him and (will) flaunt his name everywhere, she said. Work programs for Omaha students and young adults, as well as life and career coaching, will get a big boost with a $2.9 million gift from one of the nation's leading philanthropists. LINCOLN Nearly 50 Dakota County businesses have signed a letter asking the local sheriff to drop his effort to empower jailers to enforce federal immigration laws. Dakota County recently submitted an application to become the first entity in Nebraska to seek to participate in the so-called 287(g) program with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a letter Wednesday, the businesses said that empowering local deputies to enforce federal immigration laws would be a waste of local tax dollars, and could lead to racial profiling and civil rights violations. The businesses said it would discourage immigrant families from reporting crime to law enforcement and would significantly affect area businesses, both in terms of employees and customers. We cannot target minorities without risking our businesses, said Adriana Dungan, owner of Cardinal Tax & Business Services, in a press release. Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg said Wednesday that such concerns are overblown and that all he wants is federally paid training for his jailers on what they can and cannot do when an undocumented immigrant lands in the local jail. Once they come to the jail, if theyre here illegally, then something needs to be done, in my opinion, Kleinberg said. He emphasized that his department would not have power to round up illegal immigrants under the program, but it would eliminate the need for a federal ICE officer to come to the jail to address immigration enforcement. The sheriff said he recently met with officials of the ACLU of Nebraska and a local group, Unity in Action, about their concerns. Kleinberg said he assured them that if Dakota County has to increase spending to participate in the 287(g) program, he will drop the idea. I wouldnt have any choice. The county at this point is strapped for money, he said. But, the sheriff added, hes had some people offer to help cover any increased costs. That tells me theres a lot of people who want to see this, Kleinberg said. About 60 local agencies nationally now have agreements with ICE, and the Trump administration has said it is seeking more cooperating agencies to beef up enforcement of immigration laws that is done by federal agents. On Nov. 14, an ICE advisory committee recommended that Dakota Countys application be approved. Unity in Action, a group that works with immigrants in Dakota County, collected the signatures from local businesses for the letter. Wednesdays letter also urged the Dakota County Board to refuse to sign a 287(g) agreement if one is ultimately offered by ICE. CORRECTION APPENDED BELOW Health officials have sent home nearly a dozen Clark County students with whooping cough over the past month. Among the 11 cases, eight have been at Mountain View High School and one each at Hela and Mount Pleasant Elementary School. Another student lives in Vancouver but attends Portland Adventist Academy in Southeast Portland. This time of year, the county tends to have nine to 16 cases. But it's a bit usual to see more than two at any one school, said Monica Czapla, infectious disease program manager for Clark County. The cases don't mean that Clark County is facing an epidemic. It's had nearly 80 cases so far this year and just over 60 at this point last year. But in 2015, nearly 370 people in Clark County got pertussis, which is characterized by a whooping cough, another name for the infection. "Every three to five years we see a huge spike in pertussis cases," Czapla said. No one knows why but it could be that the vaccination wanes in its effectiveness, she said. Oregon also was hard hit in 2015 year, with nearly 600 cases, compared with about 180 in 2016 and 190 so far this year. There are currently no outbreaks in Oregon, according to Jonathan Modie, spokesman for the Oregon Public Health Division. Symptoms usually appear a week to 10 days after exposure, though they can take up to three weeks to appear. They include a cough and other signs of respiratory illness. Pertussis is treated with antibiotics and prevented with a vaccine. Clark County school data show that only about 60 percent of students have all their immunizations, including for mumps and measles. "I would like to see 100 percent," said Dr. Alan Melnick, health officer for Clark County. The minimum threshold for herd immunity -- the percentage of people who are immune -- is 80 percent for pertussis, according to Plotkin's Vaccines textbook. Once that proportion is reached, the bacteria are prevented from spreading and turning into a epidemic. In adolescents, pertussis usually appears as a cold, with a cough and runny nose. But adults and adolescents should get immunized to protect young children, Melnick said. "In infants under 12 months of age, the fatality rate is as high as 1 percent," Melnick said. About 65 percent of children younger than 2 months who get pertussis end up hospitalized, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine wanes over time, which is why women are urged to be vaccinated every time they're pregnant, Melnick said. A CDC study published in September showed that three out of four children under 2 months didn't get whooping cough when their mothers got the Tdap booster for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis during the third trimester of pregnancy. "While the vaccine is not 100 percent effective - it's most effective soon after receiving it - if you do have the disease, it's less likely to be as severe as it would be otherwise," Melnick said. (Correction: This story misidentified Mount Pleasant Elementary School due to misinformation from a source.) -- Lynne Terry Gavin McInnes, popular right-wing provocateur, used his 240,000 Twitter followers to try to sway results in The Oregonian/OregonLive's 2017 Person of the Year poll on Tuesday. The leader of the conservative group Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, surged to the top of unofficial online results after McInnes, based in New York, tweeted his call to action. "Please help trigger the entire state of Oregon by scrolling down this link and voting for Patriot Prayer hero @JoeyRockstone as Person of the Year," wrote McInnes, using Gibson's Twitter handle. A writer and political commentator, McInnes is also the founder of The Proud Boys, which bills itself as a street-fighting "pro-Western fraternal organization." Members have made regular appearances alongside Gibson at his rallies in the Portland area. As of Tuesday afternoon, Gibson had surged from the low single digits just two days ago to nearly 28 percent of all votes cast. The inclusion of Gibson on the list of 2017 newsmakers didn't sit right with some readers for a variety of reasons, including for the fact he does not live in Oregon. Similarly, in 2016, some readers objected to Ammon Bundy's presence near the top of poll results, fearing his supporters were gaming the system. Jason Goodding, slain Seaside police sergeant, was ultimately named 2016 Person of the Year. This year, Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, the two men fatally stabbed aboard a MAX train in May, held second place with 19 percent as of Tuesday, followed by the group of Oregon firefighters who battled blazes in the Columbia River Gorge this summer with 13 percent. The online poll closes at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The top 10 candidates will appear in a second round of voting starting Thursday. The Oregonian/OregonLive reserves the right to ensure our local community's voice is heard in the voting. -- The Oregonian/OregonLive BY EUGENE ROBINSON WASHINGTON -- The great Simeon Booker, one of the bravest journalists of our time, faced dangers far worse than a petulant president's social media feed. Booker refused to be cowed -- and ultimately helped change the nation. His life's work should be a lesson to us all about the power of truth to vanquish evil. Booker died Sunday at 99. At the height of his career, few could have imagined he would live so long. As Washington bureau chief for the Chicago-based Johnson Publications, publisher of the newsweekly Jet and the monthly magazine Ebony, Booker went to the Deep South to cover the most tumultuous events of the civil rights movement -- life-threatening work for an African-American journalist. In 1961, he accompanied the Freedom Riders on a bus journey from Washington to New Orleans, testing whether Southern states would comply with a federal mandate against segregated interstate travel. In Alabama, the protesters were firebombed once and beaten twice by white mobs before federal officials, acting on orders from attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, flew them to safety. Booker covered the seminal 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. He was there when Alabama state troopers savagely attacked demonstrators with billy clubs and police dogs -- images that shocked the nation and helped shift public opinion outside of the South from indifference to outrage. As The Washington Post reported in its obituary, Booker returned many times to the South to report on the struggle: "For his safety, he sometimes posed as a minister, carrying a Bible under his arm. Other times, he discarded his usual suit and bow tie for overalls to look the part of a sharecropper. Once, in an incident retold when Mr. Booker was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists' Hall of Fame in 2013, he escaped a mob by riding in the back of a hearse." Booker was the Post's first full-time black reporter, hired by publisher Philip Graham, who gave him an admonition similar to the one Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey had given to Jackie Robinson: "If you can take it, I'm willing to gamble." Washington was a segregated city in 1952 -- Booker recalled that when he went out to cover a robbery, "they thought I was one of the damn holdup men" -- and ultimately he found the work unsatisfying. In 1954, Johnson Publications offered him the bureau chief job, and he took it. He kept it for five decades. Booker is best known for the story he wrote for Jet about Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager brutally slain in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. In Chicago at the time, Booker tracked down Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and was with her when Till's mutilated body arrived. Booker wrote: "Her face wet with tears, she leaned over the body, just removed from a rubber bag in a Chicago funeral home, and cried out, 'Darling, you have not died in vain. Your life has been sacrificed for something.'" Jet photographer David Jackson took photographs of Till's brutalized body that remain among the most searing and indelible images of the century. Booker's death comes at a moment when journalism and the civic necessity it seeks to provide -- truth -- are under assault. President Trump and his amen chorus are cynically trying to delegitimize news organizations whose work they find inconvenient. They seek to deny the existence of objective, ascertainable fact. Trump goes so far as to use his Twitter feed, with its millions of followers, to attack individual reporters and demand they be fired. Journalism's response must be to tell the president -- politely, with all due respect to the office -- to stuff it. There are facts. There is truth. We try our best to get everything right, but of course we sometimes make errors. When we do, we must correct them promptly and fully -- and move on. The only "fake news" is the self-serving rubbish Trump tries to peddle through insistent repetition. No matter how often he lies, it is our job to call him on his lying. Every single time. One of the media's most important roles in our democracy is to hold public officials accountable, and if they don't like it, too bad. When they lash out at us viciously and unfairly, as Trump so often does, we should remember all the brave journalists who have faced much worse. More than once, Simeon Booker had to escape from Southern towns where white vigilante mobs were on the prowl to "get that man from Jet." We should be able to withstand a few nasty tweets. -- Eugene Robinson's email address is eugenerobinsonwashpost.com. (c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group A Spokane man has been sentenced to 90 months in prison then 25 years in the custody of the Oregon Psychiatry Security Review Board for his role in a Wasco County crash Dec. 26 that killed a Lewis & Clark College faculty member, her husband and another driver. Nathan James Verhaeghe was driving his vehicle 105 miles per hour at the time of the crash, authorities said in announcing the sentence delivered Friday. The prison sentence is for first-degree assault that resulted in injuries to one passenger; the mental health portion of the sentence is for three counts of second-degree manslaughter in the three deaths. He pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 26. Verhaeghe, 32, was driving his Chevrolet Malibu west on U.S. 26 near milepost 86 when he crashed into the back of Adam Clausen and Shannon O'Leary's vehicle, a Toyota Matrix, which was also traveling west. The collision shoved the Matrix into a head-on collision with Robert and Rachel Burke's Chrysler van. Clausen, 37, O'Leary, 39, and Robert Burke, 34, died at the scene. Rachel Burke was seriously injured and is still recovering, authorities said. Clausen and O'Leary's 4-year-old son survived as did the Burkes' 22-month-old son. Both children likely survived because they were in properly fitted child safety seats, said Eric Nisley, Wasco County district attorney. Verhaeghe had minor injuries when his car rolled over after striking an embankment. "There was no indication of consumption of intoxicants by (Verhaeghe) or anyone else involved in the incident," Nisley said in a news release. Nisley called Verhaeghe's sentence "unique." "The state and the victims wanted accountability for the senseless deaths of three vibrant young parents and wanted to ensure safety of the public," the release says, adding that the sentence will accomplish that. Nisley's written statement noted that Verhaeghe did not have a criminal history "and suffered from bi-polar disorder at the time of the incident. (Verhaeghe) expressed remorse for his conduct and recognizes that he will need to take medication to treat his disease." The prosecutor's statement noted that many of the victims' family members attended the sentencing. "It is impossible to express in words the grief this young man created by his reckless and irresponsible conduct," Nisley said. O'Leary was a physics professor at Lewis & Clark College. The college established the Shannon O'Leary Fund after her death. "Shannon's death was profoundly painful for our community, especially for the faculty and students who worked side by side with her," college spokesman Roy Kaufmann said. "Though nothing can bring Shannon and Adam back, earlier this year we established the Shannon O'Leary Fund, which will remain a permanent reminder of her life, exemplary scientific work, and efforts to advance opportunities for women in the sciences." --Allan Brettman 503-294-5900 @allanbrettman Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a moment to celebrate the defeat of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday night, while speaking in Portland to promote her best-selling election memoir. "Trump lost tonight, too," Clinton said, referring to President Donald Trump's endorsement of Moore. "I have a lot more hope tonight." Her comments were met with great applause from a crowd that had learned of the election results while waiting in the theater, or in a line outside, to see Clinton. The Democrats' victory offered Clinton and her audience something to celebrate as she wraps up her book tour, in contrast to the issues she tackles in her 2016 election post mortem, "What Happened." Clinton spoke for about an hour at the event at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland, which seats nearly 2,800 people. It sold out months ago. The former presidential candidate has said she will not run again for elected office. But she was clear on Tuesday that she'll continue her involvement in politics. "I'm not going anywhere, except right into the middle of the debate about our future," Clinton said, adding that she would do whatever she could to encourage other women to run. Clinton got a warm reception from the heavily female audience, even though Oregon's Democratic voters selected Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary. Clinton easily defeated Donald Trump in last year's general election in Oregon, a reliably blue state in presidential elections since the 1980s. Nonetheless, the event drew a small group of protesters and counterprotesters between 30 and 35 on each side who shouted invectives at each other across Main Street as event attendees made their way inside the concert hall. The protest, organized by Joey Gibson of Vancouver, Washington-based Patriot Prayer, rallied against the one-time Democratic presidential nominee, alleging she "stole the election from Bernie (Sanders) with the super delegates" on a Facebook page for the event. Counter demonstrators taunted the right-wing protesters throughout. Clad in black, most reserved their ire for Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, a confidant of Gibson's who was arrested for assault during a similar rally last week after allegedly punching a counter protester near Chapman Square. Clinton did not speak specifically about any political issues in Oregon, other than to encourage audience members to contact their representatives in Congress in favor of renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program and against Republicans' tax plan. Portland was also the scene in 2014 of what is now a poignant moment for Clinton supporters. A 6-year-old elementary school student submitted a question posed to Clinton, "In 2016, would you prefer to be called Madam President or Mrs. President?" The Oregonian/OregonLive captured the question on video. It was the last stop on Clinton's U.S. tour to promote her book "What Happened," her account of what led to her election loss to Donald Trump that so few pundits or pollsters foresaw. Clinton will head north for her final speaking event of the book tour tomorrow, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Clinton said her goal in the memoir and speaking tour was "to pull the curtain back on the wildest election in American history." She'd also promised on the book tour website, to "(let) my guard down." The event on Tuesday night, moderated by New York Times opinion contributor Jennifer Weiner, touched only generally on Clinton's election takeaways. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton faced criticism from the news media and then-candidate Donald Trump for going months without holding a press conference and carefully scripting her public events. She never made a public appearance in Oregon last year. In her book, Clinton both apologizes for mistakes that might have cost her the presidency, including paid speeches at investment banks and using a private server to house her official emails while serving as secretary of state, and goes after people who thwarted her. Examples of the latter prompted The Washington Post to describe the memoir as "bitter," in reference to Clinton's recounting of how she was repeatedly "shivved," an informal term that means stabbed with a sharp implement. That's the word Clinton chose to describe the actions of former FBI director James Comey, who re-opened the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server at the State Department less than two weeks before the presidential election. Clinton blames Comey's actions for giving Trump an electoral college edge in those final days. Who else is in Clinton's rogue's gallery? The media, Bernie Sanders, Vladimir Putin and, of course, Trump. "Everyone gets knocked down," Clinton said on Tuesday night. "What matters is that you get back up." Reporter Eder Campuzano contributed to this report. -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud Brett Kage Andre UPDATED 4:10 p.m. Wednesday: Police have arrested a suspect in an assault Tuesday night that left a man at the front door step of a pastor on Sauvie Island. Brett Kage Andre, 28, was arrested Wednesday and booked at the Multnomah County Detention Center accused of attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, first-degree robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a firearm. Multnomah County Sheriff's Office detectives were assisted by teams from Portland Police Bureau and Gresham Police Department, a news release says. Detectives continue to investigate this incident. -------------------- UPDATED 1:20 p.m. Wednesday: The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office issued a news release Wednesday morning to say it continues to investigate the incident on Sauvie Island. The news release says a man who'd been shot sought help shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Sauvie Island Community Church. The man is not a church member, the release says. The man was brought to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries and is in stable condition, the release says. The agency said Wednesday afternoon that detectives had "identified and located persons of interest" around the 9500 block of NE Sacramento Street. Authorities are interviewing those people "to determine what level of involvement they may or may not have" in the Sauvie Island incident, the sheriff's office said. The sheriff's office asked the people with information about the case contact them at 503-988-0560. --------------------- A man was taken to a hospital after being found shot on Sauvie Island in Portland on Tuesday, authorities say. Someone called 911 around 6:55 p.m. and reported the shooting along Northwest Reeder Road, according to Multnomah County Sheriff's Lt. Marc Shrake. The injured man was found along the roadway near Sauvie Island Road. The circumstances of the shooting and the severity of the man's injury were not immediately clear, Shrake said. Investigators plan to interview the man once he is physically able to speak with them. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com 503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey Fire crews twice responded to a Southeast Portland warehouse over an approximately 7-hour span late Tuesday and early Wednesday, authorities said. Firefighters first were called to the 6100 block of Southeast 111th Avenue on Tuesday evening and extinguished a fire in an interior bathroom, Portland Fire & Rescue said in a news release. They returned to the warehouse early Wednesday morning after patrol officers reported flames were coming through the building's roof. Firefighters continued to put out hot spots later Wednesday morning. Crews first were sent to the building about 6:45 p.m., and the blaze burned through the building's roof while they were on scene, authorities said. A second alarm was called about 7 p.m. Firefighters found the fire in a bathroom and quickly put it out. Investigators determined a faulty bathroom exhaust fan started the blaze. Firefighters returned to the building about 1:45 a.m. and "found heavy fire conditions," fire officials said. They worked to control embers from the blaze and keep it from spreading. Short clip of the fire, 6100 blk SE 111th. @PDXFire used the Springwater trail to access one side of it. No reported injuries at this time. pic.twitter.com/xMTRbvybY7 PPB East Precinct (@ppbeast) December 13, 2017 Firefighters are still at the scene, extinguishing hot spots, as of about 5:15 a.m. Video footage of the blaze shows authorities dousing a large fire using a ladder truck. "Investigators will work to determine the nature and circumstances surrounding the rekindle of the building," fire officials said. They said the building housed offices for a cannabis dispensary but that no production or processing was done there. Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Four months ago, a federal judge spared Lori Nicholson, described as the "most successful tax fraudster'' in Oregon's history, by sentencing her to five years of probation instead of prison because of her serious illness. On Tuesday, Nicholson was back before the judge, accused of violating a special condition of probation. And this time, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones had no sympathy. Nicholson, who suffers from an intestinal failure called short bowel syndrome that resulted from a botched surgery, was accused of failing to notify her probation officer of changes in her economic circumstances that could affect her ability to pay her court-ordered restitution of $429,269 for income tax fraud. Lori Nicholson Namely, she never told the court that she had received a check for $215,894.92, a settlement in a medical malpractice case she brought against her surgeon in Multnomah County Circuit Court. She helped her daughter open an account at U.S. Bank on Sept. 1, using the settlement check. Her daughter then used cashier's checks to buy a new Jeep Wrangler and a new Jeep Grand Cherokee from a Gresham car dealership. Nicholson was seen driving the Grand Cherokee at the time of the purchase. Money also went to pay a year of Nicholson's rent. Today, about $100 is left in the account, a U.S. bank investigator testified. Nicholson's defense lawyer argued that Nicholson meant no malice. Nicholson believed the court had been alerted about the settlement negotiations in her medical malpractice case, defense lawyer Tiffany Harris said. Harris presented text messages and emails that Nicholson sent her probation officer, inquiring how much she should be paying per month toward her restitution, but said Nicholson never got a meaningful response. Probation officer Michelle Noli, called as a defense witness, said she hadn't yet set up a schedule for monthly restitution payments for Nicholson. That's because Nicholson hadn't yet completed a set of financial disclosure forms that would have established her assets, any involvement in a civil suit or a court judgment, Noli said. Nicholson's lawyer also argued that the government wouldn't have been allowed to simply take the settlement money to help satisfy the restitution because Nicholson wasn't in custody at the time she received the settlement check. "It's true she could have made better decisions, but there was nothing sinister'' about helping her daughter set up a bank account, Harris said. She argued that Nicholson didn't knowingly violate the special condition of her probation. "I didn't understand a lot of what was going on,'' Nicholson told the judge. "I didn't do that maliciously.'' The judge wasn't convinced. "As a matter of fact, you did,'' Jones responded. "You stole over $400,000 from the government that was rightfully theirs. Yet you totally turned your back on any sense of doing what was right.'' Jones said he kept Nicholson out of prison in August because he believed then that her severe medical condition couldn't be accommodated in prison. But he noted that she appears to have survived behind bars just fine in a regular dormitory at Multnomah County's Inverness Jail since her Oct. 31 arrest on the probation violation. Prosecutor Lori A. Hendrickson, from the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division, urged the judge to revoke Nicholson's probation and send her to prison for 2 years, the high end of the sentencing range for her offense. A year ago, Nicholson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government, filing a false claim and theft of government funds. Nicholson and co-defendants were responsible for defrauding the government of $2.6 million in fraudulent tax refunds. Nicholson was called the "architect" of the fraud, which resulted in the filing of more than 700 fraudulent income tax returns in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The government described her as the "most successful tax fraudster'' in Oregon history. Nicholson's lawyer argued that the judge should follow the probation officer's recommendation for a six-month prison sanction. Harris noted that Nicholson's health hadn't changed from when the judge originally agreed to just probation, and to radically depart from such a sentence was unjustified. Jones said he believed Nicholson "knew exactly what she was doing.'' "She set up a con job which she's quite capable of doing as she's done it before,'' the judge said. Jones found Nicholson intentionally diverted her settlement check away from her restitution for her own greed, and "spent every dime of it.'' He ordered Nicholson, 54, to spend 2 years in prison for the probation violation. "You made the decisions to get you where you are,'' Jones said, "and you amply deserve this sentence.'' -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It was below 50 degrees Tuesday, a cold morning by Alabama standards, but that didn't keep nearly 50 voters from waiting outside of Brown Elementary School before 7 a.m. to cast their vote in the special Senate election. Most of the voters that arrived early were older African Americans who lived in the Five Points West neighborhood. Treva Killian, chief inspector of the polling site, was worried about keeping them warm, but she was not surprised at their willingness participate in this important race. "This is a community filled with people who remember people who fought for their right to vote - and it's just not something older black Alabamians take for granted," she said. But it wasn't always clear, at least to national Democrats, that black voters would turn out for Doug Jones and fuel his upset of Republican Roy Moore Tuesday night. Days earlier, the party mobilized rising stars such as Sen. Cory Booker, N.J. and former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick for a final campaign push for Jones. Those high-profile voices may not have mattered, though. More than two dozen black voters here said they did not feel inspired to show up for a candidate who they felt did not aggressively pursue their vote. They were moved to wait in line - some people for hours - with the goal of keeping Moore from winning. Moore, a President Trump-backed Republican accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls, has repeatedly made controversial remarks about minorities and the LGBT community, that many liberal Alabamians view as a microcosm of many of their issues with the White House. He reportedly said at a September rally that America was "great" during the era of slavery. It was Moore's discriminatory views before the sexual assault allegations made international headlines that led black voters not to consider the Republican many deemed a local version of Trump. African Americans made up about three in 10 Alabama voters Tuesday, according to preliminary exit polls, slightly higher than the 28 percent of the electorate in 2012 presidential election and 29 percent in 2008, when Barack Obama was on the ballot. Part of that turnout may have been because some voters said Moore reminds them of an Alabama that the community has worked so hard to escape. On Tuesday afternoon, community organizer T. Marie King brought her mother to Brown Elementary School to vote for Jones. King regularly spoke out during the race about how Jones failed to connect with black voters on specific policy issues that were important to them. When talking to The Post, she struggled to identify a key policy issue of Jones' that targeted black voters. "I obviously know what he did to prosecute white supremacists years ago, but I don't know what he has done for the black community lately," she said after dropping her mother off at a polling place. Despite that, King still wanted Jones to win because she was certain that he would be a better choice for black Alabamians than Moore, who she said like Trump, wants to move the state in reverse. While many of the black voters she spoke with said they had not personally met someone from the Jones campaign, no one from the Moore campaign had pursued them either, she said. But what these black voters knew was that Moore had adopted Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan - and for residents of a state that has deep-rooted racial tensions running through its veins, some moments of America's past are not among the state's finest moments. Writer William C. Anderson backed Jones despite saying Jones's campaign was "disrespectful" in its neglect of black voters. William C. tweeted "Today I voted to defeat Roy Moore because he's horrible, not because I felt encouraged by Doug Jones. I still think Jones' campaign was a mess that disrespected the Black community. I know other Black Alabamians felt the same too, but we did what was needed." Tuesday's election was the first nonpresidential election for 23-year-old Alabama native Alex Moore. The Lyft driver cruised north on I-20 discussing how his family and friends felt a unique responsibility to turnout in this special election. "My main motivation was making sure that Moore would not become the national face of Alabama," he said. "I've traveled a lot out of state and I just wanted to show the world that we're better than this." While Birmingham-Southern College student Robyn Gulley said Jones could have done more to convince black voters that he would advocate for them if elected, she said she's hopeful he would stand for voters in Washington. Unlike others, her support for Jones wasn't only a vote against Moore. Gulley genuinely believes Jones is the best person to represent black Alabamians in a Republican-controlled Congress. "I trust that if Jones wins this election, he will remember the groups that helped him win it - and black voters will be one of those main groups," she said. If Jones' victory speech is any indication, Gulley may be correct. Black voters were the first identity group the newly elected senator thanked for their support: "You know, I keep hearing about the different communities in this state. The African American community, thank you. My friends - my friends in the Latino community, thank you. To all my Jewish friends, happy Hanukkah." --The Washington Post The Associated Press Our knowledge of the Arctic has come a long way since the early 1800s, when former U.S. Army officer John Cleves Symmes tried to recruit fellow adventurers to journey with him to the North Pole, where he expected to find a large opening to the "hollow, and habitable" interior of the Earth. When Robert Peary's expedition finally made it to the top of the world in 1909 it found not the "Symmes Hole" but virtually unending ice. More than 100 years later, the North Pole still offers no entrance to the Earth's interior, but there is a lot less of the cold stuff that made it so difficult for explorers to reach the planet's apex in the 19th century. Don't Edit An illustration of Symmes' Hole This is not good news. The newly released 2017 Arctic Report Card, a peer-reviewed collection of essays from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found that ice is disappearing from the Arctic at an alarming rate that exceeds even climate sciences most dire projections. "The Arctic shows no sign of returning to the reliably frozen region it was decades ago," NOAA wrote in a summary of the report. "Arctic temperatures continue to increase at double the rate of the global temperature increase." 2017 is the second warmest on record for the Arctic -- behind only 2016. Don't Edit Photos: AP Diminishing sea ice in the Arctic will make travel over the pole much quicker and easier. But its believed that significant changes in sea ice could reshape the jet stream, causing unpredictable weather. Some scientists believe this could be the reason for the severe wildfire season in the U.S. The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator to the planet, said lead NOAA researcher Jeremy Mathis, but the door of the refrigerator has been left open. Don't Edit One of the monitoring stations NOAA uses is in Barrow, above the Arctic Circle in northern Alaska, but the station this year suddenly stopped reporting data. The reason: Temperatures in the town have been warming so fast that the algorithm running the data collection determined the spike must be "unreal" -- an error -- and deleted the information. Reports the Denver Post: If climate change is a fiery coal-mine disaster, then Barrow is our canary. The Arctic is warming faster than any other place on Earth, and Barrow is in the thick of it. With less and less sea ice to reflect sunlight, the temperature around the North Pole is speeding upward. Don't Edit The automatic data deletion, said NOAA climate-monitoring chief Deke Arndt, was an ironic exclamation point to swift regional climate change in and near the Arctic. Temperatures in Barrow have increased by an average of 7.8 degrees just since 2000. Don't Edit Don't Edit The Arctic has not had such warm temperatures in more than 1,500 years, scientists say. This years maximum winter sea ice area was the lowest ever observed, and the ice is getting progressively thinner. Multi-year ice, as opposed to newly frozen winter ice, made up only 21 percent of Arctic sea ice in 2017, down from 45 percent in 1985. "New research looking into the Arctic's past using ice cores, fossils, corals and shells as stand-ins for temperature measurements show that Arctic Ocean temperatures are rising and sea ice levels are falling at rates not seen in 1,500 years," the Toronto Star writes, citing the NOAA report. "And those dramatic changes coincide with the large increase in carbon dioxide levels in the air from the burning of oil, gas and coal." Don't Edit Other findings from NOAAs report: Sea-surface temperatures in the Chukchi Sea have risen 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the past 35 years. Arctic tundra is experiencing record permafrost warming. Satellite imagery shows that the tundra is getting greener, with more and larger plant life growing in the Arctic. Snow cover in the North American Arctic is down for the 11th of the past 12 years, while it increased over the Eurasian Arctic for the first time in a dozen years. Don't Edit 2017s average surface air temperature is the second warmest since 1900. The Greenland ice sheet saw below-average melt, but its streak of losing mass every year continues. The ice sheet has diminished annually since measurements started being taken in 2002. This is considered a major factor in rising sea levels. Don't Edit The Report Cards conclusion: Taken alone, observations made in spring and summer 2017 might encourage a relaxation in the concerns over environmental conditions in the Arctic. However, when taken in context, there are many strong signals that continue to indicate that the Arctic environmental system has reached a 'new normal'. While modulated by natural variability in regional and seasonal fluctuations, this 'new normal' is characterized by Arctic air temperatures that are warming at double the rate of the global temperature increase. Accordingly, there are pronounced decade-long declines in the extent and volume of the sea ice cover, the extent and duration of the winter snow cover, and the mass of the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic glaciers. ... The unprecedented rate and global reach of these changes highlight the pressing need to prepare for and adapt to the New Arctic, enabled by more effective and timely communication of observations to scientists, policymakers, and residents. Don't Edit Said NOAAs Mathis: The Arctic is a very different place than it was even a decade ago. Don't Edit Don't Edit Watch a 3-and-a-half-minute video summarizing the 2017 Arctic Report Card. Don't Edit The Arctic Report Card has been issued annually since 2006. This years report was put together by 85 researchers from 12 countries. -- Douglas Perry Wednesday 13 December 2017 11:52am Otago alumnus Graeme Hart has been awarded a Honorary Doctor of Commerce by the University of Otago. The University of Otago will this week confer an Honorary Doctor of Commerce degree on internationally renowned businessman and philanthropist Graeme Hart. Mr Hart, of Auckland, is an Otago alumnus and is considered one of the most successful and generous businessmen to operate within New Zealand, and on a global scale. Mr Hart left school at the age of 15, but at the age of 30 he embarked on what he considers the most pivotal and influential experience of his career, undertaking a Master of Business Administration at the University of Otago. Mr Hart says he is immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to study and learn from academics at the School of Business, to have experienced life on the University of Otago campus, and to meet individuals with global reach. University of Otago Chancellor John Ward describes him as an "outstanding" University of Otago graduate. "I am immensely proud to be able to recognise Mr Harts substantial contributions to New Zealand, its business community, and people," he says. Mr Hart is married with two children and four grandchildren. His priorities revolve around family, work ethic, strong values and integrity in his personal and professional life. His philanthropic focus has been on helping New Zealand children, particularly those in need. While Mr Hart prefers to keep a low profile, individuals, family groups, organisations and schools have all benefited from his generosity. Mr Hart's business career started when he was 18. Over the past 44 years he has achieved amazing success thanks, in no small part, to his leadership skills and a profound ability to build and retain personal relationships. He has substantial expertise in the disciplines of accounting and finance, corporate strategy, business integration, as well as mergers and acquisitions. His current profile relates to building, owning and managing the largest business enterprise in New Zealand Rank Group under which sits a vast global platform. The group has built and developed several substantial financial entities including Whitcoulls Group, Goodman Fielder and Carter Holt Harvey. Mr Harts honorary doctorate will be conferred at the Universitys 4pm Graduation Ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall on Wednesday 13 December. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate St. John's Lutheran School recently hosted its STEMmies awards and family fun night. Families enjoyed an evening of pizza, pop and hands-on science/engineering projects. The STEMmies program is a six-week long after-school program designed to introduce younger students to the "hands-on" part of science, technology, engineering and math. This program is led by teachers Mark Koschmann and Michael Hiddings along with volunteer Steve Webb. Several upper grade students also provided assistance. Saginaw Valley State University has been recognized for creating a supportive environment for students affiliated with the military. SVSU received the Military Times Best: Colleges 2018 distinction, formerly known as the Best for Vets: Colleges rankings. "Of the hundreds of schools that applied, fewer than half received the Military Times Best: Colleges designation this year," said George Altman, the Military Times editor in charge of the rankings. "Only the best made the cut." Military Times bases its rankings on a survey of each institution's services along with data from the U.S. departments of Defense, Education, and Veterans Affairs. Decisive factors include university culture, academic outcomes, student support, academic policies, and cost and financial aid. SVSU was ranked No. 108 among 4-year institutions that earned the designation. More than 600 higher education institutions participated in this year's survey. Bethany Alford, director of SVSU's Military Student Affairs office, said the recognition reflects the quality attention SVSU devotes to students who are active service members, veterans or family members of military-affiliated individuals. "As veterans ourselves, we know what the transition is like from the military to higher education and we want to help," said Alford, a former member of the U.S. Navy who now serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves. "These designations are recognizing SVSU's unwavering commitment to our military students. It is not just a label. It is seeing the value in the experiences and leadership they bring to campus. It is providing them resources. It is a commitment to ensuring student success. It is offering them ways to engage on campus and in the community." The rankings are published in the Military Times magazine and available online here: http://bit.ly/2A3A3aC 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. CHICAGO The sentencing hearing for a Chicago man on fraud charges that forced the resignation of former McLean County Board Chairman Matt Sorensen has been delayed to Feb. 22. Navdeep Arora was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois related to a fraud scheme that involved his work with a Chicago consulting firm hired to provide services to State Farm. Arora pleaded guilty in April to a single count of wire fraud that could send him to prison for a term ranging from 27 to 33 months, according to advisory sentencing guidelines filed by the U.S. Attorney's office. Absent the plea deal with the government, Arora faces 20 years in federal prison. Sorensen reported to the Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 27 to begin serving 12 months and a day on wire fraud charges. Sorensen is being held at the federal facility in Marion in southern Illinois. The medium-security prison has housed foreign and domestic terrorists and organized crime figures such as the late John Gotti. Sorensen reached a plea agreement with the government that included restitution of $490,975 that is the responsibility of both defendants. Sorensen's sentencing order includes a requirement that he pay at least 10 percent of his net monthly income toward that amount when he is released. Arora and Sorensen were charged in indictments unsealed in January 2016 of participating in a complex scheme that led to fraudulent invoices submitted to Arora's employer, McKinsey & Co., and State Farm, where Sorensen worked as an internal consultant. Arora was recently granted permission to begin making payments on his mandatory $568,000 restitution ahead of his sentencing hearing. Letters of support also have been submitted on Arora's behalf for consideration by Judge Ronald A. Guzman. The restitution will be paid to McKinsey because the consulting firm has reimbursed State Farm for the fraud that was uncovered in 2012. The charges against Arora accuse him of taking more than $890,000, an amount that includes the money allegedly taken by Sorensen and money Arora spent on expensive travel in the U.S. and Europe that he claimed as business expenses. BLOOMINGTON A nursing home that is on the state's radar for problems with care of residents is taking the unusual step of temporarily reducing the number of residents until underlying problems at the long-term care facility can be remedied. Aperion Care Bloomington, 1509 N. Calhoun St., Bloomington, is reducing its census to stabilize operations at the facility and address problems, said Aperion Care Bloomington General Counsel Fred Frankel. "In an effort to stabilize the situation and build the facility back up, we are allowing the census to get smaller so staff issues aren't as exascerbated," Frankel told The Pantagraph on Wednesday. Aperion Care Bloomington, which has a capacity of 117 skilled- and intermediate-care residents and 75 full- and part-time employees, had a census "in the upper 70s" in July, Frankel said. As of Wednesday, the number of residents was down to 65, Frankel said. "We're looking to get it down another 10 to 15 residents so the census will be in the low 50s," Frankel said. That way, all remaining residents will be concentrated in two wings, allowing staff to focus on care of those residents. Building improvements will take place in the two empty wings before Aperion begins accepting new residents again, Frankel said. "Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has been informed," he said. "We've worked with families and residents to find proper locations (other facilities) that they would be interested in," he said. "No one was sent against their will." IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold noted that facilities can reduce their headcount without reducing the number of beds for which they are licensed. Residents concerned that they are being asked to leave without their consent can call the state Nursing Home Hotline at 800-252-4343, she said. After Aperion Care took over operation of the nursing home at the end of 2015, the company found a facility with financial and building problems and staff instability. "With the nursing shortage in this country, we are feeling that as much as anyone," said Frankel, noting that in July, the state cited the facility with violations. "At no time was there abuse or neglect going on," Frankel said. "They are issues that deal with the underlying care because of staff instability." As Aperion staff has worked to address the problems, the decision was made to reduce the number of residents to make it easier to take corrective action and "build a solid foundation" before rebuilding the resident population. "We have plans to do renovations some day, but the care and staffing are what we are focused on now," he said. "We are committed to the facility," Frankel said. "I'm sure there is some apprehension and concern of residents and staff, but I'm sure they see we are committed to resolving these issues. The first and foremost commitment we have is for the highest level of quality care for these residents." Trust is a two-way street, not a us-and-them proposition, and Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner has made it the top priority of his department as part of an updated strategic plan. The plan, revealed to the City Council Monday night, seeks to improve community policing and public trust, while spending some money on better technology. The plan is straightforward, and employs common sense solutions. For instance, as outlined in a story last week, the crime and intelligence analysis unit and command staff will identify city locations with a high density of criminal incidents and repeat offenders. Police then will use a "variety of resources and techniques" to reduce or eliminate criminal activity in those areas. Police also will target juvenile crime by working with local youth intervention programs. Might police target certain neighborhoods? Yes, but based on criminal activity. The goals of the overall plan are to reduce crime and the fear of crime; improve the quality of life in neighborhoods; enhance community and police partnerships; maintain advances in law enforcement technology; and perform duties with integrity. The goals, said Heffner, are aligned with those in an executive order signed in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama after a spate of police-involved shootings involving people of color. I think that it's good for people to know that we are already doing many of the things in the 21st century report," Heffner told The Pantagraph. We agree. And trust, transparency and training both for police and for the community are key to making the Twin Cities safer. We learn our trust and distrust of police based on our experiences. Officers, sometimes with unfortunate results, learn about civilians the same way. Thats where positive interactions, transparency and training come into play: We can learn about each other in a neutral zone and see the positives on both sides. If something happens, or theres a question, police and the public should be transparent with their answers and any investigations. We all need to know whats right and whats wrong, and stand for those values. Earlier this year, the Jefferson Street Community House, designed to be a place for neighbors and police to interact positively, wasnt received that way by many residents. But it's become a real neighborhood asset. A new civilian board offers a way to air public complaints, but needs a fact-based approach to be successful. The Bloomington Police Department long has had outreach programs and services, but has stepped up its game. If officers know the community members as individuals, and we know the officers, a level of understanding and trust will follow. Prevention of crime, rather than reaction to it, is better for both sides. Everyone has a stake in making the city a safer place to live, work and play. The chiefs proposed plan is a solid start that follows positive steps of the review board and the community house. Rising design star Christian Cowan has teamed up with Moshiqa to create a line of limited edition canine couture for pet lovers who want the same glittery, maximalist style of stars like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus (both of whom have previously worn full looks by Cowan). Related | Designer Christian Cowan Embraces the Fantasy The 14-piece collection, out today, is entirely vegan and cruelty-free, featuring glittered leashes, hot pink harnesses and an instantly iconic "Bitch" leather biker jacket. Cowan designed each piece in reference to his most famous looks, like Gaga's pink glitter tux and Paris Hilton's oversized bow dress. "I've always loved pets from a young age," Cowan said. "My brother and I had loads at our house back in the UK, including rabbits, crayfish, tree frogs, tropical fish, dogs and cats. At one point our mum even let us have leaf insects and giant snails." Moshiqa Founder Meryem Birsoz added that their "goal is to make our four-legged friends who need to dress up happy as they don their costumes and accessories. So why not rejoice and honor [with] glittery, jovial and stardust-laden creations for our best ever friends?" Related | Duckie Thot Is Going to Shock Us Several of Cowan's looks with Moshiqa were first previewed at his spring '18 NYFW presentation, which saw top models like Duckie Thot (of PAPER's Beautiful People) and Jazzelle Zanaughtti donning the designer's whimsical, New York-inspired pieces. To purchase Cowan's saccharine sweet Moshiqa collaboration, head to Moshiqa.com. In 2015, shortly after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis denied Kentucky resident David Ermold and his partner of 19 years their legal marriage license because of "God's authority." Now, two years after Davis went to jail for civil contempt for her denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples and her testimony that same-sex marriage is "not of God," Davis is facing Ermold once again, but this time as his opponent in 2018 race for the position of country clerk. That's right despite her notoriety and the headlining making news of her earlier case, Davis didn't actually lose her job as county clerk. She has continued to be a vocal advocate against human rights for gay people, even traveling to Romania to make the case against legalizing gay marriage. Ermold told Broadly that the Romania trip in particular was one of the last straws for him in his decision to run against Davis for her seat. Not only was she out in the world spreading her hateful views, but he also felt she was neglecting her own community. He says now that it's not a personal vindication against Davis that he seeks. Rather, he wants to reform the system that enables her and people like her. "Back in 2015 when all of that was happening, there was not a single politician that stood by our side through all of thatnone, zero," he said. "If these people can be in office, these people that have such a divisive, dismissive attitude towards people, then I should have a shot, because my message is bringing people back together." He added, "There's a broader, more ideological goal here. And that's to restore the integrity of that office by beginning at the local, grassroots level and replacing leadership with honorable people who work for citizens. I know that the people in our county believe in equality. It's just about getting them to come out to vote." Photo via Getty Several pages from Hayley Dimarcos Christian purity book Sexy Girls: How Hot Is Too Hot were posted to Facebook this week. Dimarco is the author of devotionals for girls and women and speaks at evangelical womens conferences around the country. Shes the kind of female evangelical promoter who is hip and cool, but only writes books for women, because underneath all that hipness and coolness is an adherence to regressive evangelical ideas about gender roles. This paragraph is a good basic introduction to what Dimarco writes in her book on modesty, which is marketed to teenage girls: A lot of girls get mad when guys treat them too sexually. When guys call them names, or make rude advances, or say nasty stuff to them, they get all in a huff. How could he talk to me like that? What does he think I am, a piece of meat? And the answer is yes. Thats exactly what he thinks you are because thats how youve marketed yourself. The sign in front of your establishment screams sex. The banner on your ad yells use me. Guys eyes become clouded by the flesh, and they lose all sight of the girl inside that flesh. So if you show off parts of you that turn guys on, dont blame them for your PR campaign. You designed it and created the image you wanted to sell to the world, and theyre just hoping to get a chance to purchase or steal a piece of you. In other words, if guys are hitting on you in inappropriate ways or catcalling you, its your fault. Your. Fault. You werequite literallyasking for it. Men cant help it, you see! If they see someone they think looks sexy, they basically have to make crude comments or yell at them out of car windows. And why shouldnt they, really? Because againyou were totally asking for it. Dimarcos argument is built on an assumption that sexual harassment only happens to women who are dressed in sexy, revealing clothingclothing that she terms an advertisement screaming sex and use me. But that is not the case. Does Dimarco honestly think women dont get catcalled on the street in the winter, when theyre wearing heavy coats? Because they do. In fact, the last time I got hit on by a random guy, I was wearing a bulky coat and a scarf and showing literally no skin. In Saudi Arabia, women are required to wear a abayaa garment that covers their bodies from head to foot, leaving only their faces visiblewhen they leave the home. And yet, women there are still ogled and men still catcall. In fact, nearly 80% of Saudi women report experiencing sexual harassment, and Saudi women are far more likely to face sexual harassment in the workplace than are women in the United States or other Western countries. How have conservative hardliners responded to these facts? By proclaiming that women should not laugh or smile in public. My intent is not to pick on Saudi Arabia. My intent is to point out that women face catcalling and sexual harassment no matter what they wear. Its almost like behaving appropriately is on men, not women. Oh waitthats kind of how human responsibility actually works. The person doing an actionwhether that be catcalling or making crude, suggestive commentsis the one responsible for that action. With that, lets go back to Dimarco: Now that you can start to see how guys are totally visual, the next thing to think about is who all is copping a visual on you. This can get really creepy, so hold on. Teenage guys arent the only ones who have those masculine hormones raging in their loins. Its guys, men, of all ages. From the 22-year-old clerk at the checkout line to the 43-year-old pastor behind the pulpit, they are all men, and they are all turned on by what they see. So its like this: if you go out sporting your sexiest top that shows just enough of your voluptuous chest and your totally hip miniskirt ever so slightly revealing your lacy undies placed just above the waistband, dont be surprised when I tell you that not only is the hottie down the hall checking you out but every guy from 13 to 83 is catching a glimpse, and their mouths are watering. Sure, some of them might try to look away. But its hard work. And then they have to fight with their minds and those memories of your supple body. That means that if you walk down the street and see a bench lined with 70-year-old men, they are looking at your breasts and smacking hitter lips. You are every bit as sexy to the old guy as you are to your target guy. And you think thats gross? Just think about the poor pastor who has to stand in front of his congregation all morning and talk about God while trying to avoid seeing your breasts popping out from your baby doll top. A guy is a guy is a guy, and so if what youre showing aint on the menu, keep it covered up. My husband grew up in a Christian home, but not one that embraced the purity teachings I had learned growing up in an evangelical home. I tried to explain to him why dressing modestly was so important to me. I told him that I didnt want guys thinking sexual thoughts about me, that it was my responsibility to dress modestly to protect mens minds. He was baffled. He explained that your average 20-year-old manand at the time, he was oneis going to think about sex no matter what a woman wears. There wasnt a sliding scale, he said, between clothing that left nothing to the imagination and clothing that covered all body parts in a way that I would consider adequate. This conversation shook everything Id been taught about modesty growing up. The reality is that men will notice women no matter what they wear. A turtle neck and jeans can be just as sexy as a halter top and miniskirt. There is nothing short of never leaving the house that will change this. And you know what? Its not only men who notice someone hot walking down the street. I check out guys all the timeand girls, too. But theres a difference between seeing and acting. Its not the noticing thats the problem. Its the sexually harassing. Dimarcos entire approach is backwards. Rather than telling girls to cover up, we need to change our societyto make it culturally unacceptable to sexually harass girls or women. Telling girls to cover up runs at cross purposes to this goal. When we tell teenage girls if you dont want guys to catcall you, you should cover up, as Dimarco does, what do you think teenage boys hear? When we tell teenage girls that preventing sexual harassment is their responsibility, as Dimarco does at length, what do you think teenage boys hear? Theres another piece of the purity culture puzzle that Dimarco illustrates perhaps better than Ive ever seen it illustrated. Namely, while evangelical girls are told in strong terms not to wear clothing that is considered too revealing, they are also chastised if they wear flour sacks. Have a look at how Dimarco puts it in her book: Now, theres nothing wrong with being comfortable. And its great that you arent revealing all you body parts like some other girls. But deciding to wear every day the same clothes you wear to work out or to sleep is a PR choice that definitely taints the way people think about you. Words like sloppy, careless, disinterested, and uncreative come to mind. Can you see a starlet walking around in her volleyball clothes 24/7? Or showing up to work in her pajamas? It just wouldnt fly. Dressing like a guyreally, they wear the exact same workout gearis telling the world you dont give a darn about your femininity. But the thing is, that femininity is how you were made. You were made a girl. A soft, sweet, yummy girl who has chosen to hide herself in androgynous clothing so as not to be noticed. And there can be some comfort in that. You blend in. No one takes notice of you. But truthfully, is that what you want? Or would you rather be the girl God made you, curves and all? This doesnt mean you should go out and start dressing all sleazy, but it is a call to start thinking about what your choice in apparel says to the rest of the world. If you choked on your drink, youre not alone. The standards here are impossible. Dressing like a guy is not okay, Dimarco says. Would a starlet do that? (Never mind that a starlet wouldnt be bound by Dimarcos modesty teachings to begin with.) You were made a girl, Dimarco continues. A soft, sweet, yummy girl who has chosen to hide herself in androgynous clothing so as not to be noticed. And the confusing thing (leaving aside Dimarco use of the phrase soft, sweet, yummy girl) is that you would think thats a good thingto wear bulky or androgynous clothing so as to cover ones curvesbut its not. Dimarco tells her imagined reader to be the girl God made you, curves and all. This paragraph actually enrages me more than the others, because Ive tried to walk this line, and its impossible. Growing up in an evangelical home, I got two messages: (1) conceal your curves and hide the parts of you that are sexually alluring, so as not to tempt men around me into thought sin; (2) dress in an attractive manner and show off your God-given femininity. I was supposed to be beautifulbut not sexy. I couldnt do it. I could wear baggy dresses and T-shirts and conceal my curvesthat was easy. Mostly. But I could never figure out how to both cover up all the right things and look like a starlet, and that tortured me. In the end, I gave up trying. I wore baggy dresses and skirts and figured I was just ugly. I was so incredibly insecure about my body during my teenage years that some days I just want to go back and give myself a hug. It was only when I stopped trying to hide and started dressing for me, and not for anyone else, that the body-hatred began to melt away. The sooner we can accept both that people are sexual beings and that people should be treated with respect no matter what they wear or why, the better. I have a Patreon! Please support my writing! News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Iran says supplies to Iraq pushed gas exports up 64 percent 12/13/17 Source: Press TV Iran says its exports of natural gas saw a huge rise over a period of five months starting 21 March 201 in what it says was a result of rising supplies to its western neighbor Iraq. Behzad Babazadeh, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), was quoted by the domestic media as saying that the country had exported as much as 50 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas over the aforementioned period that marks the first five months after the start of the new Iranian calendar year. The figure, Babazadeh said, marked an increase of 64 percent compared to a similar period last year. He added that the rise in exports came as supplies to Iraq increased from 7 mcm/d to 14 mcm/d. The official said exports to Iraq, themselves, had seen an increase of 100 percent from what the Islamic Republic had pledged to supply based on a contract signed between the two countries in 2013. Babazadeh said the doubling of the supplies to Iran's western neighbor had been implemented upon a request by Iraq that had wanted a rise in gas imports during summer, Iran's IRNA news agency reported. The official said Iran would be committed to providing as high as 40 mcm/d of natural gas to Iraq upon the full implementation the 2013 agreement. That, he said, would then make Iraq the biggest client of Iranian natural gas. Presently, Iran's biggest gas client is Turkey which is importing 30 mcm/d from its eastern neighbor. State-owned Daily Graphic newspaper has reported that the government has tipped Mrs Josephine Ankomah, who heads Ecobank in The Gambia, as replacement for Dr Johnson Asiama, who is reported by the same paper to be in negotiations with the government over his exit as Second Deputy Governor. According to the paper, Dr Asiamas fate is uncertain as his legal adviser says the government is pushing for his exit from the Central Bank. According to the paper, Dr Asiamas legal team is yet to begin discussions over a negotiated package for him. Meanwhile, Governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison, has, in response to media reports that his Second Deputy has resigned, said: He [Dr Asiama] is on leave. Dr Addison made the comment to journalists at a Press Soiree in Accra on Tuesday, 12 December. Dr Asiama, who is on a 10-day leave, denied media reports that he had resigned from the BoG. Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video One of Ghana's most stable indigenous banks, Unibank, is to obtain a colossal amount of over GHS700 million. The amount, which will significantly shore up the banks capital when the Central Bank approves the recapitalisation programme it is embarking on, will peg the banks assets at almost a billion cedis. The over GHS700 million is coming from a local financial consortium led by Belstar Capital. Sources close to the regulator of the banking sector, the Bank of Ghana, say a proposal has been received in respect of the transaction and is being studied. Sources say the deal is expected to be closed very soon. The transaction comes at a time the Central Bank is expecting banks in Ghana to meet the enhanced minimum capital requirement of GHS400 million. With this amount, Unibank, which was recently adjudged the Best Practising Corporate Social Responsibility Company at the Ghana Club 100 awards, is set to play amongst the big boys in the banking sector. The Best Bank in Long term Finance- an honour conferred on it at the 16th Ghana Banking Awards - believes the financial status will catapult it into the top ten banks in the country and help create a comfortable buffer between the GHS400 million capital requirement and its actual asset base. Business mogul cum politician, Papa Kwesi Nduom who runs the GN Bank has had cause to complain about the new capital requirement. The GHS400 million represents a quantum leap from the previous minimum requirement of GHS120 million. Financial analysts believe the wholly owned Ghanaian bank is in a strengthened position to continue to give its customers consistent and reliable banking services. The bank, which early this year swept three other awards at the banking awards including ;1st Runner-up Best Growing Bank, 2nd Runner-up Best Bank in Customer Care, 2nd Runner-up Best Bank in Customer Advisory Services can continue to give oxygen to the countrys growth through its innovative products which receive praise annually. Source: myjoyonline 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 failure of an accountant of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to prepare monthly bank reconciliation statements has resulted in the loss of GH1,561,434,333.31 to the state, the Auditor Generals Report has established. The amount which covered the period between January and September 2015 was said to have been debited to the petroleum revenue account without the knowledge of TOR management. Among other things, the report identified that no explanation was provided for the withdrawal. The 2016 Report of the Auditor-General on public accounts of Ghana including Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs) signed by Daniel Yaw Domelevo, the Auditor-General, copied the Speaker of Parliament, recommended that the withdrawal should be investigated and officials involved in the act sanctioned. It further urged that the accountant should prepare monthly reconciliation statement to enable prompt action to be taken on such deviations. According to the report captured under the heading:Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division-Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the amount was debited to the petroleum revenue account at the Bank of Ghana. The report formed part of the overall weaknesses and irregularities identified in the course of audit which amounted to GH2,165,542,375.14. The irregularities occurred in the areas of tax, cash, outstanding debts/loans, payroll, contract, rent payment and stores/procurement. In a related development, the report identified that 549 companies, business entities and individuals owed GH6,806,899.00 and $61,506.00 in corporate taxes for the 2015 year of assessment. The companies, individuals and businesses were part of the 1,555 selected tax files reviewed from 10 domestic tax revenue points in the Greater Accra Region. The Auditor-General has urged management to increase its enforcement role to collect all the outstanding tax revenues. Meanwhile, the office of the Auditor-General has surcharged 62 organisations for receiving payments from the state without any documentation. Source: The Ghanaian Times 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 fate of the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Johnson Asiama, is uncertain, as his legal advisor says the government is pushing for his exit from the central bank. His legal team is yet to begin discussions over a negotiated package for him. The Daily Graphic has gathered that Mrs Josephine Ankomah, who heads Ecobank in The Gambia, is highly tipped to succeed Dr Asiama when his terms of exit are concluded. Dr Asiama, who is on a 10-day leave, denied media reports that he had resigned from the BoG. Rather, he insisted that he was still at post, although reports suggest that he is on his way out. I have not resigned and I have not authored any resignation letter, he told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview. Dr Asiama was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama in April 2016, but after serving two years of his four-year contract, he is bowing out in what analysts describe as a difficulty working with the current regime. The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, has been widely commended for embarking on major reforms at the bank. Exit by close of year Although Dr Asiama would not say whether he was being pushed out of the central bank by the government, sources say the second deputy governor may not end the year at the bank. I have no problem working with any government any day, any time. I am a technocrat, he told the Daily Graphic. Dr Asiama rose through the ranks after joining the bank in 1996 as Assistant Director until his appointment as Deputy Governor. He holds a doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, and a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon. People who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity said the competence of the second deputy governor had never been in doubt. But counsel for Dr Asiama, Mr Kojogah Adawudu, alleged that some people in the government were hounding his client out of the central bank. According to Mr Adawudu, some government officials had indicated to Dr Asiama that they would want him to step aside. They have their terms and conditions of service and we expect them to apply them, he said. He has not said he wants to leave or resign, but they want to push him out and if thats the case, they should go by the terms as they did to others, he said. Cost to state The sources at the BoG say if Dr Asiamas conditions are accepted, then he will be paid his salary for the remainder of his contract. He will also be paid all entitlements due him, including his end-of-service benefits, as was done in the case of the immediate past Governor, Dr Nashiru Issahaku. Issahakus case Analysts are concerned that the BoG will have to pay two governors and two second deputy governors. Dr Issahaku, who also exited under similar circumstances, still draws his monthly salaries and has taken all other entitlements. This, they say, is a huge cost to the state, the analysts said. Effect of action But an economist and lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Dr John Gatsi, said the exit of the second deputy governor from the central bank would send a negative signal to investors. He said investors would be worried about policy sustainability at the bank because they would not trust the continuity of policies being agreed on with the BoG. This action by the government will also mean that the central bank is weak and not able to assert its independence if it allows politicians to interfere in its operations, he said. Again, you should know that investors will be worried that they will not trust the continuity of any policy they agree with the bank once there is a political change, Dr Gatsi added. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ghana and Germany have signed a 100-million Euro bilateral investment and reform partnership agreement to promote private investment in renewable energy and vocational training in Ghana. Ghana's Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and Germanys Deputy Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Friedrich Kitschelt, signed the agreement for their respective countries. The signing ceremony was witnessed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the visiting German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Tuesday. The agreement is part of Germany's G-20 Compact with Africa for sustainable economic development. The partnership with Ghana is geared towards improving conditions for sustainable private sector investment, investment in infrastructure, economic participation and employment in the country. After the signing of the agreement, the two leaders addressed a joint press conference, during which President Akufo-Addo described the relations between the two countries as excellent and that Ghana was the third biggest trading partner of Germany in sub-Saharan Africa. Beyond that, he said, there were many important features of commonality between what we are trying to do here and what is taking place in Germany. Emulating the German example He said Germany had always been distinguished by some key elements that were worthy of emulation by Ghana. First, he said, there was the prevalence and importance of small and medium-scale enterprises within the context of the German economy. Small and medium-scale enterprises are the overwhelming number of enterprises in our own economy and how to scale them up and strengthen them is the major challenge of policy for us in Ghana. We believe that this is an area where we can profit very strongly from the German experience and model, he said. Another area where Germany had taken the lead in the world, President Akufo-Addo said, was the training of its workforce. He alluded to the so-called dual system that allowed people to work and study in Germany, saying that initiative had made the German workforce one of the most efficient in Europe and the world. That, according to him, showed in the continued performance and resilience of the German economy. The President said education was the main priority of the government and that a considerable part of state funds had been invested in the sector, with the vision to scaling up the capacity and competence of the nations workforce. He said Germany was an important world leader in the area of renewable energy and that was another extremely important area of concern to Ghana. We have significant hydro resources, as we all know, and we believe that going down the road, a mixture of hydro and renewable energy represents the best mix for the energy generation of the future. We are hoping again that this is an area where we can have a meaningful intercourse with Germany, he stated. He said the German President had come to Ghana with a very impressive business delegation and that he was hopeful that the delegation would have a very serious and meaningful interraction with the Ghanaian business community, so that the very strong relations that existed between the two countries would continue to deepen. Ghana beyond aid is one of the finest and greatest resonance of the leadership of Germany and it provides another important basis for this continuing and fruitful dialogue between our two countries, President Akufo-Addo added. Mr Friedrich Kitschelt, the German Deputy Minister for Economic Cooperation, and Mr Ken Ofori-Atta signing the deal between the two countries. With them are President Akufo-Addo and Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Mr Friedrich Kitschelt, the German Deputy Minister for Economic Cooperation, and Mr Ken Ofori-Atta signing the deal between the two countries. With them are President Akufo-Addo and Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. A long-standing tradition In his remarks, President Steinmeier said relations between Germany and Ghana had a long-standing tradition and that in the last years it had been given additional impetus and grown immensely. That, he said, was evidenced by the visible proof which he and his delegation had when they interacted with business representatives from Ghana, adding that the interest in each other was incredibly great and a matter of curiosity for various reasons. As far as German businesses and industry are concerned, I can say that, compared to other African countries, the infrastructure and the investment condition and climate are much better here and German businesses and industry are happy to invest where there is democracy like Ghana where you have a tradition of stability, President Steinmeier said. He said Ghana had shown the world in the last 12 months that it was possible to move away from divisive tendencies through determined actions and that the data available to Germany on Ghana had improved, stressing that we are more optimistic now than we were a year or two ago. President Steinmeier said interest on the part of Ghana in Germanys investment was just as great because it was not only about investing in companies and plants but also about German companies bringing Germanys educational model and experience to Ghana. He was full of praise for the governments focus on education to spearhead efforts to build a Ghana beyond aid and pledged the commitment of Germany to support and co-operate with Ghana to make that vision possible and attainable. This is very important and, as important as it is, we are more than happy to be of assistance. We will support you in that endeavour and co-operate with you in that regard. The joint declaration of intent on the design of a partnership to promote private investment and sustainable economic development is a sign of us respecting fully what Ghana has been doing in the recent past, he added. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday said Ghana needs $600 million to achieve 100 per cent electricity coverage across the country from the current 85 per cent. He said the government had put in place measures to enable it to achieve this goal within the next three years, which would facilitate its job creation and industrial agenda, and ensure prosperity for all Ghanaians. He said infrastructure development was the building block that would propel the countrys socio-economic development, which was in tandem with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Vice-President Bawumia said this during a plenary session on the role of the private sector towards the implementation of the SDGs at the African Roundtable Discussion in Accra yesterday. Other panel members who took part in the discussion were Gunnar Andreas-Holm, the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana; Nana Osei Bonsu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Private Enterprises Federation; and Ms Razia Khan, the Chief Economist for Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, London. The discussion was moderated by Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, the Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel. The event was on the theme Mobilising Support and Accelerating Implementation of the SDGs. Vice-President Bawumia said the private sector should be interested in the SDGs because successful implementation of the goals would create stable business climate to work and ensure sustainability of their operations. He said a Report by the Sustainable Development Commission of the UN indicated that there was about $12 trillion available to the private sector to access towards the implementation of the SDGs. Therefore, every country is supposed to build a strong foundation to achieve the SDGs, which required those countries to have good investment climate with functioning regulatory bodies to facilitate the process, he said. So whatever you do, you must ensure inclusiveness in order to achieve the SDGs. For instance, in Ghana, were prioritising education to make sure everyone, at least, attain senior high education. We cannot build an economy that is exclusive; we must build an economy that is inclusive, and since independence, the paradigm is shifting from exclusive economy to that of inclusive one whether in the education, healthcare and identifying people. What we want in Ghana is ensuring inclusion in everything we do in terms of formalising the economy to facilitate job creation. We launched the national identification system for easy tracking of individuals. Were also rolling out the digital property addressing system so that every 5.5 square metre of land or water in the country can be uniquely addressed, he said. The Vice-President called for investment from all stakeholders to implement the SDGs since it would provide a huge opportunity to the vulnerable and deprived in society to be lifted from the shackles of poverty. Commenting on how the private sector could be the engine to create jobs, Vice-President Bawumia said one of the major concerns of the youth was to secure gainful employment, adding that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government was conscious about it and was putting measures in place to create jobs for them. He said government was creating the enabling environment for investment for both domestic and foreign investors, adding that a conducive business climate was a fundamental ingredient for job creation to propel the fulfillment of the SDGs. Dr Bawumia called for the introduction of coding in school curricular so that children of school-going age would not be excluded in the digital revolution. He said the government introduced the Free Senior High School policy to provide employable skills to the youth while facilitating plans to extend electricity, water and other basic amenities to the deprived communities. As part of the decentralisation agenda, he said, government had decided to allocate 20 per cent of the budget to implement the One Million, One Constituency initiative so that each constituency would identify its specific needs and channel the funds to resolving them. 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 Fear has gripped students of Damango Senior High School (SHS) in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region as one of them has been confirmed dead, and at least 25 others admitted at the Damango Government Hospital, believed to have been afflicted by meningitis. Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that Nantomah Fadila, the deceased, was a first-year Home Economics student from Tamale. She reportedly collapsed in class and was rushed to the hospital where she died shortly on admission. A resident, Abduul Rauf, disclosed to DAILY GUIDE that the other 25 students were responding to treatment. The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Damango, Saeed Muazu Jibreal, revealed that surveillance had been stepped up on the campus while health authorities had equally been notified about the matter to closely monitor the students. Meanwhile, they are currently writing their end-of-term examinations as they prepare for the Christmas festivities. Some of the students, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, expressed fear over the suspected outbreak of meningitis and appealed to the school authorities and the district and regional health directorate to stop the imminent spread of the disease. 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 President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says West Africa is not prepared to contemplate the scenario of Liberia sliding back into instability and conflict. According to President Akufo-Addo, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), over the years, has made a huge investment in promoting peace in Liberia, and we will do all we can to ensure that democracy is entrenched in Liberia, and we will not accept any other outcome. The 7th December, 2017, recent ruling made by Liberias Supreme Court on their presidential election, the President said, must ensure that Liberia will have its first peaceful handover of power from one democratically elected leader to another in 73 years. The work undertaken by that truly historic figure, the first elected female leader of an African nation, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in stabilising the country, after a bitter and protracted civil war, has been very solid and commendable, he said. The President continued, I am anticipating that, at the end of the day, Liberias institutions, particularly the Supreme Court and the Electoral Commission, will be up to the task, and shepherd the country through a successful transition. President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, 13th December, 2017, when he delivered the Commencement Address at the 98th Commencement Exercises of the University of Liberia, in Monrovia. Transform structure of African economies With over 2,500 students graduating from the University, the President noted that it is not enough to hold successful elections every four years or to be able to criticize the government and to have a choice of 100 radio stations. Democracy, he explained, must ensure that we are able to provide our people with a good quality of life. The structure of economies, bequeathed to us by colonialism, was dependent on the production and export of raw materials. Even though Liberia was not colonised, the structure of her economy remains very much the same as the others on the continent. Such economies cannot create opportunities, prosperity and wealth for our people, he said. President Akufo-Addo stressed that the time is long overdue for Africa to transform the structure of African economies to serve better the needs of the African peoples. Too many of our peoples are still kept down by extreme poverty. The promise of prosperity that was to accompany freedom has not materialised for the mass of the African peoples, and has rather been replaced with widespread despondency across the continent. This is not what our forebears promised, he said. President Akufo-Addo, therefore, urged the current generation of African youths to meet the challenges of today, and help banish the disgraceful spectre of young Africans, taking harrowing risks in trekking the Sahara desert or drowning in the Mediterranean, seeking greener pastures in Europe. Your generation has to ensure the fulfilment of the statement, made almost 70 years ago in 1949 to the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly by Joseph Boakye Danquah, the father of modern Ghanaian nationalism, that the two things go together, economic freedom and political freedom. And we must have the two together in this very age, and in the shortest possible time, President Akufo-Addo added. To this end, President Akufo-Addo stressed that a new paradigm of leadership on the continent is called for, i.e. leaders who are committed to governing their peoples according to the rule of law, respect for individual liberties, human rights, the principles of democratic accountability and social justice; leaders who are looking past commodities to position their countries in the global marketplace. The President also called for leaders who are determined to free their peoples from a mindset of dependence, aid, charity and hand-outs; leaders who are bent on mobilizing Africas own immeasurable resources to resolve Africas problems; leaders who recognise the connectedness of their peoples and economies to those of their neighbours. This new generation of African leaders, the President added, should help bring dignity and prosperity to our continent and its longsuffering peoples. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Contractors working on the Kejetia Bus Terminal in Kumasi are now eligible to work on portions of the facility that have been earmarked for utility works of the million-dollar project. The news was made possible after a High Court in Kumasi dismissed an injunction placed on some vital parts of the project by All State Construction Company Ltd, a private company on Monday. All State Construction Company Ltd, the plaintiffs, had appealed to the court to extend the injunction which was placed on the utility area in the Kejetia Bus Terminal project but their request was rejected. The High Court, presided by Justice Charles A. Williams, dismissed the injunction application, on the grounds that the Kejetia Bus Terminal project is a national project, which is of public interest. The court also threw out the injunction order because All State Construction Company Ltd had failed to comply fully with the courts order for it (All State) to file an undertaking in February 2017. Per the undertaking, All State Construction Company Ltd would have been made to pay damages to the KMA should it (All State) lost the case after the hearing in court. But instead of filing the undertaking within seven days as ordered by the High Court, All State Construction Company Ltd, rather used nine months to file that particular undertaking. All State Construction Company Ltd argued that the place earmarked for utility area in the Kejetia project was close to its septic tank, hence seeking court injunction to stop the works. Godwin Okumah Nyame, KMA PRO, who briefed the DAILY GUIDE, expressed joy about the decision of the court, saying, due to the injunction, the completion date of the Kejetia project has been moved from January to July, 2018. Meanwhile, another case between All State Construction Company Ltd and KMA is still pending in court. The private company had sued the KMA for demolishing its building at the Kejetia Bus Terminal. According to the company, over US$ 2 million worth of hospital equipment that was being kept in that building before it was demolished by the KMA is nowhere to be found. All State Construction Company Ltd has therefore prayed the court to order the KMA to pay the over US$ 2 million; the KMA should also pay the value of the building and it is also seeking general damages. 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 National Vice Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has sent a strong warning to President Nana Akufo-Addo not to orchestrate a plot to remove EC Boss, Charlotte Osei, from office. Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Kokrokoo on Peace FM, Mr. Ofosu Ampofo expressed suspicions of President Akufo-Addo and his government's attempt to manipulate the probe into the corruption and abuse of power allegations against Mrs. Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Amankwa. According to him, it has always been a plan by the governing New Patriotic Party to get rid of the EC Boss since she was appointed by Ex-President John Dramani Mahama. He recounted machinations by some NPP stalwarts who doubted the competence of Mrs. Charlotte Osei and to him; the President is allegedly in cahoots with those party members to ensure that the EC Boss definitely vacates her office. For the first time, people wanted to throw the supreme law of the land the constitution - aside because of some parochial interest . . . Shes one of the most vilified public officers ever seen in this country in recent times but I doff my hat for her that she stood very tall in all this and did her work effectively. As we say the end justifies the means, shes been able to work for a successful election, Mr. Ofosu Ampofo stated on Peace FM. He was therefore certain that the petition to impeach the EC Boss is a "political agenda" on the government's table. Theres no doubt in my mind that what is happening now is more political than anything. And I want to caution President Nana Akufo-Addo to be very very careful because running a nation is not like leading NPP . . . My caution is that the Chief Justice, the Presidency must be careful the way they handle this matter. . . I am cautioning the President because this matter is political and I want to say its political. And there is lack of transparency in the way this is being handled and it is being handled to achieve a certain end. Were also in politics. We know the sort of conspiracies that are going round. And Im cautioning that they must be very very careful because some people are alleged to have even met and decided the outcome of this matter before the matter even goes there . . . Let us be careful that we do not politically manipulate this to achieve some certain ends . . . 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 Audio Attachment: Click to listen The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong has dared Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, to a bout "if he claims to be a man". Why? The NPP MP claims Mr Anyidoho attempted to coerce a police officer to change the charge sheet of arrested drug baron Asem Darkey aka "Limping man", all in an attempt to implicate him (Ken) in a drug-related scandal a couple of years ago during the tenure of the late President John Evans Atta Mills. Somewhere in 2012, Koku Anyidoho, then Communications Director at the Presidency, in what can best pass for unguarded enthusiasm, indicated that, Asem Darkey is singing like a canary He further claimed the Limping Man had named some leading opposition figures involved in the cocaine trade and even issued a fiat; that the borders of the country was going to be closed to prevent the named NPP activists from leaving the country under the cloud of darkness. That and many other allegations by the NDC stalwart, is the basis of Hon Ken Agyapong's ballistic rant. According to him, the NDC bigwig has the penchant of peddling falsehood about him and that he will not bother reporting it to the police or seek redress from the court. "I am just waiting for the right moment...i will hit his stomach repeatedly....I will take good care of him. I dare him to come to the ring for a fight if he claims to be a man. That bout can only be stopped when one of us loses his life...I don't believe in the police who connive with land guards to collect money. I am just keeping quiet because of Nana Akufo Addo. But if he is ready, I will meet him face to face," he said on Oman FM's 'National Agenda' morning show on Wednesday. Click on the audio above to listen to Kennedy Agyapong's outburst. Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Richard Labar, 58, has lost his fight for life after being blasted in the face with a shotgun early Monday in a brazen ambush-robbery in Monroe County. WNEP-TV reports that Labar was pronounced dead at a hospital late Tuesday night. Labar, of East Stroudsburg, had taken the delivery job to earn extra money for Christmas. But in the wee hours of Monday, three people in Monroe County allegedly called in a fake order to Domino's pizza, then lay in wait for the driver with what police said was a sawed-off shotgun on the campus of East Stroudsburg University. When Labar did not immediately give up the money in the 1:30 a.m. Monday ambush, one of the three allegedly shot him in the face with a shotgun. Labar was shot in the right eye. Three suspects in the case face attempted homicide charges: Carolina Carmona, 30, Israel Zebulon Berrios, 17, and Salvador Roberts Jr., 21, all of East Stroudsburg. Now that Labar has died, the charges would be upgraded to homicide. Police say Carmona made the bogus call at 1:10 a.m. to Domino's for a delivery to the ESU Army Recruitment office, while Berrios allegedly shot Labar before taking $100 from the ambushed driver, WFMZ reports. A convicted child rapist can't escape the 6 1/2- to 13-year prison term for his conviction in another case where he brutally assaulted a little boy, a state appeals court panel ruled Wednesday. Instead, Judge Jack A. Panella concluded in the Superior Court opinion that Dauphin County President Judge Richard A. Lewis got it right when he slapped that penalty on John Henry Snyder Jr. for the assault. "The figure of Justice is firmly rooted to her pedestal here," Panella wrote in affirming Snyder's sentence. Snyder, 33, formerly of Steelton, claimed on appeal that the evidence didn't support a jury's decision to convict him of aggravated assault and child endangerment last year. Steelton police said Snyder's own sister told them her brother had confessed to her that he choked his girlfriend's 2 1/2-year-old son and slammed the tot's head against a wall in August 2014 because the boy wouldn't stop crying. Snyder claimed the boy was injured when he fell down some stairs. Panella rejected Snyder's contention on appeal that his sister's and his girlfriend's testimony during his trial was too inconsistent to warrant his convictions. The state judge cited a medical expert's testimony that the child's injuries were consistent with the actions Snyder confessed to his sister. Snyder also is serving a 13- to 26-year prison sentence for raping a 6-year-old Middletown girl in 2012. A county jury convicted him of that crime in June. Lewis ordered Snyder to begin serving his sentence for the rape conviction after he finishes his jail term for assaulting his girlfriend's son. A 33-year-old corrections officer from Lebanon County is accused of bringing contraband into Lancaster County Prison and selling it to inmates. Konstantinos John Paliometros was caught just before midnight Dec. 8 after taking the steps to bring the contraband into the prison, state police said. Paliometros and undercover state troopers arranged a deal to bring contraband into the prison in exchange for money, state police said, adding that he was apprehended prior to entering the secure portion of the prison with the contraband. Authorities did not disclose the nature of the contraband. The investigation began after state police were made aware of allegations Paliometros was bringing contraband into the prison as a part of his employment. Paliometros is charged with felony counts of possession of contraband and criminal use of a communication facility. He is free on $2,500 bail. A preliminary hearing has yet to be scheduled. A 41-year-old Lancaster man accused of robbing a bank in Lancaster County was arrested in Philadelphia last Friday. Emory Edward Reed III is facing felony robbery and theft by unlawful taking charges stemming from an incident at around 12:25 p.m. Dec. 4. Reed is accused of robbing the Fulton bank on the 100 block of Willow Valley Square in Willow Street. Reed, who was on federal probation at the time of his arrest, was apprehended by the FBI violent crimes unit Dec. 8 in Philadelphia. He is being held at Lancaster County Prison on $35,000 bail. Ismarie Vazquez Reyes lost her house, her job and her kids didn't have school after Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico in September. "I have two kids without school, I need to continue my life. In Puerto Rico it's difficult," she said Wednesday at a resource fair for displaced residents Harrisburg School District staged at Foose Elementary School. With their school system in shambles, Puerto Rican students head to Pa. For a while she stayed at her mother's house in Puerto Rico, but it wasn't safe and there was no electricity. Plus, like many others, she had no source of income. Ismarie had one word to describe what Christmas will be like: "Sad. It's more hard for me," she said, than her daughters, who she said are adjusting well. Her husband stayed behind for now in Puerto Rico while she and two daughters came to Harrisburg to stay with her aunt. They've now found temporary lodging in an area hotel. "My dream is establishing here," she said. She worked as a medical assistant in Puerto Rico, but has a teaching degree for grades K-3, and hopes to find work in a school. Karen Rodriguez and her three daughters came here Oct. 20, after living in deteriorating conditions without electricity and water. They sought refuge in a school, and it was two weeks before she could drive from her home in Coamo to San Juan, where she could call her brother. They had been thinking of moving to the states even before the hurricane, so that one daughter with a disability could obtain more help. She lived with her brother here for several weeks, and has now moved into a rental house of her own in Harrisburg, but it's empty. Karen now works evenings for a cleaning company, and her daughters are adjusting to school in Harrisburg. Xavier Rodriguez Rentas and Marisela Rodriguez lost one side of their house and the roof, and three feet of water blew inside. Their town, Playuta-Cortada, was a disaster. They and their four children had to split up afterward. Xavier stayed with his father in a community center, while Mariselo and their four children ages 2-11 went to a friend's house. They decided to leave Puerto Rico, because the recovery was taking too long and they were anxious to start over again and get jobs. Mariselo's mother and other family members live in the Harrisburg area, so that's where they headed. The couple has already found work at a candy packing plant in Hershey, and are hoping to find housing of their own. Harrisburg School District now has more than 193 students from Puerto Rico and other areas affected by hurricanes, and are expecting more. About 120 of them are considered homeless, said Saundra James-Goodrum, a Harrisburg School District social worker, which means they don't have permanent housing. "For some, unfortunately, there's not too much left for them to go back to...They plan to be here with families for a while," she said. At least 230 adults and children have been served by the Latino American Hispanic Community Center in Harrisburg since they came here after Hurricane Maria, said Gloria Merrick, center director. Merrick said many of the families tried to stay as long as they could in Puerto Rico. "But they reached the point reality was starting to set in, and they needed to start looking at other options," Merrick said. Parents who would like more information on resources may contact Nicauris Rosario, Harrisburg School District ESL parent liaison, at 717-703-4148; or the Latino American Hispanic Community Center at 717-232-8302. Other school districts in the region who have students enrolling from Puerto Rico include Central Dauphin, with 25; Carlisle, with three; and Middletown, with an unspecified number. A long-awaited grand jury report about hazing and excessive alcohol consumption "cultivated by fraternity life at Penn State University" is expected to be released Friday. Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller on Tuesday announced a news conference for 10 a.m. Friday where she will announce the grand jury's report and recommendations. Such reports typically call for executive or legislative changes. The grand jury started looking at broader safety issues with fraternities at State College about ten months ago, after the death of Timothy Piazza as he sought to join the Beta Theta Pi house. Piazza, 19, of Lebanon, N.J., was served 18 drinks within 82 minutes at a Feb. 2 pledge party then he fell down a flight of stairs and was knocked unconscious. His blood-alcohol level was a life-threatening 0.37 when he took his first fall, according to previous court testimony. Fraternity brothers did not call for help for nearly 12 hours. Piazza later died from his injuries. The grand jury in May issued recommendations for criminal charges against 18 fraternity brothers and noted "the Penn State Greek community nurtured an environment so permissive of excessive drinking and hazing that it emboldened its members to repeatedly act with reckless disregard to human life." Evidence presented to support hazing allegations in the Piazza case, and another case that was heard by a different grand jury: the 2014 suicide of Marquise Braham, a pledge at the Altoona campus who endured hazing, hinted at problems at other fraternities. "My understanding is the prosecutor is looking to take a broader look at how hazing cases are handled in general," Marquise's father Rich Braham told PennLive earlier this year. "My own view is that it's been terrible. It's lousy." Braham was called to testify before the grand jury in September. A Penn State spokeswoman said earlier this year that she could not say whether any top officials had been summoned to appear before the grand jury. "We would not comment on ongoing legal matters," said Lisa Powers. The grand jury's report from May supporting criminal charges in the Piazza case kicked off a prolonged legal battle in criminal court that still is not resolved. After seven days of hearings spread over three months, a magisterial district judge in September tossed the most serious charges against eight defendants, and dropped four defendants altogether. Parks Miller is currently trying to get a new judge to hear the case so she can bring back the most serious charges. Parks Miller also recently added 12 defendants to the case by filing new criminal charges last month after the FBI recovered deleted basement footage. But Parks Miller leaves office at the end of the year, providing an uncertain future for the case. The incoming district attorney, Bernie Cantorna, has asked the Attorney General's office to take over the case, something which Parks Miller vehemently opposes. A preliminary hearing on the newly filed charges against 12 defendants set for Wednesday Dec. 13 has been postponed indefinitely. State police are trying to identify two men who got away with $100,000 in cash during a burglary at a Schuylkill County business last weekend. The burglary occurred sometime between 10:15 p.m. on Dec. 8 and 11:30 a.m. Dec. 10 at the Weiner Iron and Metal Company in North Manheim Township, police said. One of the suspects is described as black, about six feet one inch tall, weighing about 280 pounds. Police did not release a description of the other suspect. Police said the man "broke a window to gain entrance into the office, crawled on the floor to avoid the motion detectors and disarmed the alarm control pane by tearing it apart. He used a yellow pry bar to unlock the vault room door." Once inside the vault room, the suspect took the cash from an unlocked vault, police said. Anyone with any information about the burglary is asked to contact police at 570-754-4600. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers or by phone at 1-800-472-8477. By Marc A. Thiessen Steve Bannon and his alt-right movement have helped accomplish something no one in a quarter-century has been able to do: get a Democrat elected in the state of Alabama. Marc Thiessen (Washington Post photo) Alabama is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. The last time a Democrat was elected was in 1992, and no Democrat has won more than 40 percent of the vote in a Senate race there since 1996. The closest election in recent memory was in 2002, when Jeff Sessions won reelection by a razor-thin margin of 19 points. Sen. Richard Shelby has won his last three elections by 35 points, 30 points and 28 points, respectively. So it takes a special kind of stupid to pick a candidate who can lose to a Democrat in Alabama. Not just any Democrat, but an uncompromising pro-abortion Democrat. Alabama is one of the most pro-life state in the union. According to the Pew Research Center, 58 percent of Alabama voters believe that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while only 37 percent disagree. And yet the Democrats won with a pro-abortion extremist on the ballot. How extreme? In September, "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd asked Jones what limitations he would support on abortion. He could not name one. "I am a firm believer that a woman should have the freedom to choose what happens to her own body," he said, "and I'm going to stand up for that and I'm going to make sure that that continues to happen." When pressed if he would support a ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks, Jones said, "I'm not in favor of anything that is going to infringe on a woman's right and her freedom to choose," adding that he supports the right to life "once a baby is born. . . . That's where I become a right-to-lifer." Yet despite these radical views, Jones won in pro-life Alabama. Why? Because Bannon and his allies forced Alabamians to choose between a pro-abortion Democrat and an alleged sex predator. Bannon helped nominate a man who was credibly accused of pursuing and sexually molesting teenage girls - and then stood by him when his loathsome alleged conduct was exposed. Bannon counted on distrust of the mainstream media and conservative voters' repulsion at the Democrats' pro-abortion views to put his man over the top. It didn't work. Because while the state's evangelical Christian majority is appalled by abortion, they are also appalled by grown men who prey on high-school girls. Now Bannon wants to replicate his disastrous Alabama strategy in Republican primaries across the country. He has announced that he is seeking Moore-like challengers to take on every GOP incumbent except Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas. Bannon is busy taking the GOP back to the glory days of 2010, when Republicans nominated such terrible Senate candidates that they lost very winnable senate races in places such as Delaware and Nevada - losing the chance to retake control of the Senate. The difference is, back then, the stakes were not so high. Barack Obama was president, and unless Republicans could win 60 votes, a few more GOP Senate seats would have made little difference. But today, a few GOP Senate seats can make all the difference, because Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House. President Donald Trump was already struggling to get his agenda passed with a narrow 52-seat GOP Senate majority. Thanks to Bannon, that majority has been whittled down to 51. That makes it harder for Trump to advance any of his remaining agenda next year and complicates his ability to confirm judges and get other nominees through the Senate. Jones's victory also put the Democrats within striking distance of taking back control of the Senate in 2018. If that happens, the Trump presidency is over. The "resistance" will control Congress, and Trump's ability to pass conservative legislation and continue appointing conservative judges - especially another Supreme Court justice - will be gone. Moreover, Democrats will run the Russia investigation and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., as majority leader, will have unbridled subpoena power. Trump could face impeachment proceedings. That is the future if Trump does not learn the lesson of Alabama and tell Bannon to back off. The goal in 2018 should be to expand Trump's governing majority, not lose it. Instead of targeting vulnerable Democrats and strengthening the Trump presidency, Bannon is busy destroying the Trump presidency. Trump may want to suggest he stop. Marc A. Thiessen writes a twice-weekly column for The WashingtonPost on foreign and domestic policy and contributes to the PostPartisan blog. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has revealed no evidence the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election. Marc A. Scaringi (PennLive file) Yet it grinds on with no end in sight. Mueller has been reduced to playing the part of Lavrenti Beria, the head of Joseph Stalin's KGB, who once said to his boss, "show me the man and I will find the crime." Mueller was appointed in May of 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein "to investigate Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election" and any "links or coordination...with [the Trump campaign]." Eight months into his appointment, and a year and a half into the FBI investigation, Mueller has found none. He's brought criminal charges against four men; but none for coordinating with Russian agents to interfere in our election. The biggest fish netted so far is Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security advisor. But all Mueller could charge Flynn for was lying to the FBI. That's the dubious offense charged when there is no underlying crime. What did Flynn lie about? He denied asking the Russian government to refrain from retaliating against the US for then President Obama's imposition of sanctions against them. He also denied asking the Russians to delay or defeat a pending vote in the United Nations. Yet, Flynn's requests to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, when he was the incoming national security advisor, - are not crimes. That Flynn is charged with a crime and facing imprisonment for engaging in lawful conduct is a travesty. Mueller claims Flynn's false statements impeded his investigation. But how? Flynn's lawful and proper post-election conversations with the Russian Ambassador revealed nothing about coordination and Russian interference in the election. The guilty plea document does not even attempt to explain how Flynn's false statements impeded the investigation. The assumption set forth in Mueller's appointment, and that provides his investigative authority, is false. There was no "Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election" let alone coordination with the Trump campaign. Neither the document appointing Mueller, the charging or plea documents or Mueller himself has identified any. No one has been charged let alone convicted of any election law violation. There is some evidence Russian agents attempted to influence the election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee's computers. But those are just allegations. The DNC to this day refuses to allow the FBI to examine the actual server. Although hacking is a crime, after a year and a half, the FBI has still not charged anyone for it. There's no evidence Trump's campaign was involved. The alleged hacking was first discovered in September of 2015 - several months before the primary contests when no one thought Trump would win the Republican nomination let alone the general election. In any event, attempting to influence our election is not the same as interposing in a way that hinders or impedes it, which would constitute interference. Yet, Flynn is now deemed a criminal; even though he not only had the legal right to communicate with the Russian ambassador, he was encouraged to do so by the Presidential Transition Guide the Trump team was provided to guide them through the transition. The guidebook encouraged them to "coordinate outreach to and interaction with...foreign dignitaries...to build support and momentum for major policy initiatives." That's what Flynn did. Now there's speculation that President Trump was attempting to obstruct justice because a recent tweet he sent apparently shows he was aware Flynn had lied to the FBI when Trump allegedly told then FBI Director Comey he "hoped" he would be "letting Flynn go." Trump's lawyer, however, claims he sent the tweet. But it doesn't matter. Comey has already testified Trump never brought up the issue of Flynn again, neither Trump nor any member of the Administration asked him to stop the Russia investigation, closing the investigation of Flynn would not impede the Russian investigation and Trump had every right to fire him. Nevertheless, Mueller continues onward despite the fact it has become glaringly apparent he is spearheading a crimeless, victimless investigation that is prosecuting individuals for offenses that have nothing to do with his appointment. And, it has been recently discovered several members of Mueller's team itself were perhaps more involved in trying to influence the election for Hillary Clinton than the Russians allegedly were for Trump. Mueller's team has included several Clinton campaign donors, a former Clinton Foundation lawyer; an FBI agent who edited a memo to include language exonerating Clinton from her email server crime and sent anti-Trump, pro-Clinton text messages to a former investigator; a lawyer who represented Clinton's aide who set up the private server and destroyed her smart phones and Mueller's top assistant, a lawyer who donated to the Clinton campaign and the DNC and who partied, at least until the results started to come in, at the Clinton campaign election night party. All those high-powered Clinton-supporting lawyers and agents and they still haven't found one election law violation to pin on Trump or his campaign. Yet, the wheels of justice will continue to grind and more Republicans who have nothing to do with the non-existent Russian interference will continue to be ground down. Marc A. Scaringi, a 2016 Donald Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, is an attorney and PennLive Opinion contributor whose work appears biweekly. He writes from Camp Hill. The state House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a controversial bill that would impose the most far-reaching restrictions on Pennsylvania's abortion law since the early 1990s. The Senate-passed bill won House approval by a 121-70 vote. Senate Bill 3 now goes to Gov. Tom Wolf who has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he will not sign it into law. "Senate Bill 3 is a particularly vile assault on a woman's right to make her own medical decisions," Wolf said. "I'll veto any effort to restrict the rights of women to make their own health care decisions." Based on the votes cast to pass the bill in either chamber, the votes do not exist to override his imminent veto. The bill changes the law by moving up the ban on elective abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks of a pregnancy with no exceptions to that timeframe for rape and incest victims or those who learn a fetus has abnormalities. It also curtails the use of a common second trimester abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation. The House passed a similar measure last year, but that bill stalled in the Senate prior to last year's general election and died at the end of the legislative session. So this year, the Senate took up the bill early in the legislative session to impose restrictions on the state's abortion law began in the Senate opponents, where it passed 32-18 - two votes short of the two-thirds needed to override a governor's veto. With the House having two open seat, 134 votes are needed to override a veto. Tuesday's House vote was preceded by an hours-long debate filled with a plethora of passionate speeches, biblical references, and compelling stories on both sides of this hot-button issue. Several supporters pointed to scientific advances that allow out-of-the-womb surgeries on fetuses before they reach full term. Moreover, they said medical advancements indicate that fetal viability - the ability of a baby to survive outside the womb - begins after 20 weeks instead of 24 weeks as previously thought. Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren County, who sponsored the House bill that passed in the last legislative session, pointed out allowing abortions up to 20 weeks of gestation keeps Pennsylvania and most of the nation in line with only a few countries including North Korea and China, while the majority of other countries prohibit abortions after 12 weeks of a pregnancy. "After 60 million abortions since Roe v. Wade decision in [19]73, it is time to look at the gruesomeness of this dismemberment practice and recognize the technologies that allow many babies born at 21, 22 weeks thrive and survive," Rapp said. "Vote for life today." "Seldom do we have the opportunity to spare the the most innocent, the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters from pain and suffering and death just by our simple vote," said Rep. Steve Bloom, R-Cumberland County. "But today we have that opportunity. Today by voting for SB3, we can stand for the least of these." Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-York County, took aim at those who claimed the bill infringes on women's rights. "The question that begs to be asked is what about the rights of those pre-born women in the womb who are being terminated?" she said. Meanwhile, opponents argued this bill wrongfully inserts government into a personal decision between a woman and her doctor and puts doctors in the position of having to decide whether to violate the law if ending a pregnancy is deemed best for the health of mother or fetus. Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny County, said when people seek medical care, "they should be able to seek the safest care possible. I believe this bill prohibits that." If this bill becomes law, he said it could force doctors "to compromise care of their patients. It defies reason and frankly it exceeds our capabilities as legislators." Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne County, was among those who shared an emotional story about someone faced with having to make a decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy. He spoke of a young couple whose unborn child had so many abnormalities that it was uncertain how long the baby might survive after it was born or the quality of life that child might have. They chose abortion. "They'll live with that for the rest of their life. We may live with this for the rest of ours as well," said Pashinski. Despite how difficult those decisions may be, he said he had a hard time voting for the bill it in light of major medical organizations, including the Pennsylvania Medical Society and Pennsylvania Section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, opposition to it. Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D-Chester County, said she found it shocking the Legislature comprised mostly of men would be willing to vote on abortion restrictions without the benefit of a public hearing. "What are we afraid of learning? What are we afraid of hearing from the medical community and women across Pennsylvania?" she said. "Do you really believe that your own personal opinion, your own feelings will trump scientific research and medical professionals?" Immediately after the vote, the Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania fired off a news releases pledging to work to elect a new governor next year who will supports the bill while the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania vowed to continue to fight to ensure the measure is never implemented. A conservative Republican lawmaker's outburst at a committee meeting last week over a legislative colleague touching his arm drew a group of about 25 people to the state Capitol to call for his resignation as chairman of the House State Government Committee. But their calls fell on deaf ears. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County said he has no intention of resigning his position as committee chairman over his reaction to Rep. Matt Bradford's unwanted touching, which made national news and led to his being the butt of jokes on late-night talk shows. "It's really twisted and backwards that these people would try and turn somebody who was a person having their personal space invaded and try to turn me into the perpetrator instead of the person doing the touching," Metcalfe said about the protesters' calls. The protesters from Cumberland and Dauphin counties gathered outside Metcalfe's Capitol office in a busy hallway near the Rotunda during the noonhour on Tuesday. Many held signs, some of which spelled out the words that Metcalfe said in response to Bradford's unwanted touching: "I'm a heterosexual. I have a wife. I love my wife. I don't like men as you might so stop touching me all the time. Keep your hands to yourself. If you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle that might like it. I don't." Spokeswoman Alissa Packer said the citizens' group found Metcalfe's "homophobic rant" to be appalling. She told PennLive this isn't the first time he has made such remarks and is why he is undeserving of chairing the committee that controls the fate of legislation that provides protections for the LGBTQ community and refuses to advance it. She called for Metcalfe to step down and if he didn't, for House leadership to remove him. Metcalfe said he has spoken with House GOP leaders and rank-and-file Republicans since last week's committee meeting and "not one Republican I've talked to has suggested at all that I shouldn't remain as chairman of the state government committee." The group of protesters filed into Metcalfe's office to personally deliver their message for him to resign only to find he wasn't there. But their visit to his office prompted a call for House security and Capitol police to ensure it remained peaceful. Joining the protesters in the hallway and helping to lead a chant of "Hey, hey. Ho-ho. Metcalfe has got to go" was Philadelphia Democrat Rep. Brian Sims. Sims, an openly gay legislator who has got into several heated exchanges with Metcalfe, was not shy about expressing his view of Metcalfe's qualifications to be the committee chairman. "Many of us have known for years that the chairman is a racist. He's homophobic, that he's sexist, that he's a xenophobe," Sims said. "He is also an incredibly powerful chairman here in the Capitol. He oversees ethics reforms bills. He oversees LGBT civil rights bill. And what I believe and I think most people here believe is that he's shown he lacks a capacity to thoroughly, effectively, and fairly evaluate these types of bills." Metcalfe said Sims' participation in a protest against another member is not something he remembers ever seeing in his 19 years in the state House. Then again, he said Sims is probably trying to distract from the ethics investigation underway into speaking fees and the travel costs he was been reimbursed during his time in office. But Sims wasn't the only one that Metcalfe had sharp words for. He also took aim at Wolf for questioning his fitness for the committee leadership post. Metcalfe said he found the governor's remarks to be hypocritical given that he has rarely called for removing any of the string of Democratic elected officials who have gotten in trouble with the law since he took office. Attorneys for Republican legislative leaders who built Pennsylvania's current Congressional districts began building their defense of those politically-driven maps in court Tuesday. They argued that an expert who portrayed the current map as a freakish outlier Monday when compared to 1,000 computer-generated maps he drew based on traditional redistricting principles was largely undertaking an academic exercise. University of Michigan professor Jowei Chen drew his maps from scratch, they noted, as if Pennsylvania's political history did not exist, or Pennsylvanians had no attachment to their Congressmen. Chen, under cross-examination Tuesday, conceded his computer algorithms did their map-building work on a clean-slate Pennsylvania. The legislature's map-makers, by contrast, were working from a playing field that already had 19 established districts, which they had to reduce to 18. Attorney Patrick Lewis asked Chen if "core retention," or preserving the base of as many of those existing districts as possible, could be a legitimate motivation for Pennsylvania's mapmakers to have considered. "I acknowledge that may sometimes happen," Chen said under cross-examination Tuesday. "Incumbent legislators often like keeping their districts exactly as they were drawn." Lewis also raised an important question about pitting incumbents against each other when a state is forced to forfeit a seat, as Pennsylvania did after the 2010 U.S. census. Chen's neutral calculations suggested pairing Congressmen who are already close to each other, like two of the seven House members from Philadelphia or its suburban collar. More than half of Chen's simulations pitted U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, D-Philadelphia, in an elimination contest against U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Delaware County, or former Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia. "Is it realistic to believe that the Pennsylvania Legislature would have ever paired Representative Brady with another incumbent?" Lewis asked at one point. Brady is the titular head of the Democratic Party in the state's largest city. But legislative leaders, Lewis contended later, did have other legitimate reasons including seniority of members or looking to southwestern Pennsylvania as a slower-growth part of the state. In fact, the Republican-controlled General Assembly of 2011 forced Rep. Jason Altmire, of suburban Pittsburgh, and Rep. Mark Critz, of Johnstown, into what amounted to an elimination Democratic primary in 2012. Lewis appeared to be setting the grounds for an argument that Chen's maps are nothing more than an idealistic, academic exercise, premised on criteria that aren't set in Pennsylvania law. Attorneys for the 18 Democratic voters bringing the redistricting suit pushed back with their second witness of the day, who brought some real-world observations of his own to the debate. John Kennedy, a West Chester University political science professor who's made a career of studying Pennsylvania electoral politics, went through a district-by-district dissection of how the current map splits communities of interest for partisan purposes. Kennedy spent considerable time on the 7th District in the Philadelphia suburbs, which has been held up by national observers as one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the nation. He pointed to connections between the eastern and western lobes of the district that, at various points, dwindle to nothing more than the width of a hospital campus or a steakhouse. At another point, Kennedy noted, there's a finger from Brady's Philadelphia-based 1st District that juts into Delaware County to grab the heavily-Democratic city of Chester, and the town of Swarthmore. This was, Kennedy noted, specifically done to "pack" Democrats into Brady's district, and make the 7th a little safer for Republicans. He also objected to breaking of traditional communities of interest. Kennedy said the Congressional map has essentially erased Pennsylvania's real-life regions, and super-imposed a brand new set that are based almost entirely on vote results. He cited the creation of the new 12th District merger which marries Beaver County on the Ohio border with Johnstown, 120 miles to the east. For the first time in modern political history, Kennedy noted, Erie County was split, with Erie City split off in the 3rd District and most of the rest of the county divided into the 5th District. And in the middle of Pennsylvania, portions of South Central Pennsylvania and the "anthracite region" have been lashed together to create another Republican-leaning seat in the 11th District. Kennedy's conclusion? "This is a gerrymandered map, in that it gives preferences to one set of voters over another." That is the gist of the plaintiff's case. The voters are arguing the Legislature practiced "extreme gerrymandering" in 2011, with the effect of causing what amounts to "viewpoint discrimination" against Democratic voters in various parts of the state. They point to the three campaign cycles played out under the maps in which Pennsylvania voters have sent 13 Republicans and five Democrats to Congress, no matter the prevailing political wind. That's had the effect, the plaintiffs argue, of squashing Democrats' freedom of speech and association, and equal treatment under the laws. They are seeking a court-ordered re-draw of the maps for the 2018 campaign cycle. Defendants, again, are expected to argue they have met every legal requirement with the 2011 maps. Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson is presiding over the case, and is tasked with drafting findings of fact and proposed conclusions of law. But the final decision, Brobson has noted, will be in the hands of the state Supreme Court. The plaintiff's case will continue Wednesday with some additional expert witnesses. Gov. Tom Wolf issued a statement about the House's passage of a bill that imposes further restrictions on the state's abortion law. The House on Tuesday voted 121-70 - with six Republicans among those voting no and 12 Democrats among those voting yes - to send the Senate-passed bill to Wolf's desk. Wolf has indicated he will veto the bill that: Moves up the ban on elective abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks of a pregnancy with no exceptions to that timeframe for rape and incest victims or those who learn a fetus has abnormalities. Curtails the use of a common second trimester abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Wolf said: "Senate Bill 3 is an assault on the doctor-patient relationship by politicians without medical or health expertise. Women, not politicians in Harrisburg, should be making their own health decisions in consultation with their doctors and families. "I have met with women and doctors, and learned about how this bill violates a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. Unbelievably, this cruel legislation provides no exception for rape or incest. It punishes women who learn from their doctors that they are at risk if they give birth after their 20 week ultrasound. "This bill criminalizes a medical procedure that doctors use to protect the life of the mother when tragedy strikes during a pregnancy. These women deserve our support, not to be maligned by politicians in Harrisburg for making medical decisions about their bodies for their families with their doctors. I will veto this bill because I stand with every woman in Pennsylvania who deserves to make her own health decisions." Chris Schindler, Director of Animal Cruelty and Fighting at Humane Society International (HSI), rescues and moves the mother Tosa dog to a boarding at a dog meat farm in Namyangju, South Korea, on Thursday, October 26, 2017. An animal welfare group says dozens of dogs rescued from a dog meat farm in South Korea have arrived in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Humane Society International-Jean Chung FILE - In this June 9, 2017 file photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is interviewed by The Associated Press in Sacramento, Calif. California and the Trump administration will square off at a key federal court hearing in Oakland to help a judge decide whether to block new rules allowing more employers to opt out of birth control coverage for women. U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam is not expected to immediately issue a ruling at the hearing Tuesday, Dec. 12. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) FILE - This 2017 file booking photo provided by the Tooele County Sheriff's Office shows Lyle Jeffs. The former polygamous sect leader was sentenced Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, to nearly five years for his role in carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement while awaiting trial. (Tooele County Sheriffs Office, via AP, File) In this courtroom sketch, defendant Akayed Ullah is seen on a video monitor from his hospital room, joined by his attorneys, federal defenders Amy Gallicchio, left, and Juliet Gatto, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, in New York. On the bench at left and on the video monitor at right is Magistrate Judge Katherine Parker. Ullah is accused of setting off a pipe bomb that was strapped to his body on Monday, Dec. 11 in a pedestrian tunnel linking two busy subway stations near New York City's Port Authority bus terminal. Only he was seriously injured. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 in Washington. A day after hundreds of text messages between two FBI officials on the special counsel's Russia investigation revealed a strong anti-Trump bias, the Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein appears on the Hill. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte salutes to soldiers during a ceremony to destroy hundreds of guns and weapons confiscated from pro-Islamic State group siege in Marawi, southern Philippines at the Philippine Army Headquarters in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday Dec. 13, 2018. Philippine Congress voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve Duterte's request to extend martial law in the south by a year after the military warned that terrorist threats continue to lurk despite the defeat of a disastrous pro-Islamic State group siege. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) U.N. Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, left, talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Guk at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. The senior United Nations official is on a four-day visit to the country at the invitation of the North Korean government. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon) The world's largest oil consumer exported more hydrocarbons than ever before in 2017 and shows no signs of slowing down. You name it -- crude oil, gasoline, diesel, propane and even liquefied natural gas -- all were shipped abroad at a record pace. While the surge comes many years after the shale boom started, it can be traced straight back to the growth of horizontal drilling and fracking. U.S. exports are poised to expand even further, as the fear of peak oil supply has all but vanished just as a new demand threat emerges in the form of electric vehicles. Crude Oil Americans are expected to end the year pumping oil out of the ground at rates unseen since the early 1970s. More and more of it is going overseas, giving OPEC a headache as the group restrains its own output. Last year the U.S. tested the export waters after a nearly four-decade-old ban was removed. But this year, purchases of U.S. light, sweet crude have skyrocketed as pipeline and dock infrastructure was built out and the wider price spread between Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude coaxed more cargoes abroad. Canada, once the only regular buyer of U.S. crude, finds itself competing with refiners in Europe and Asia. China's appetite for American oil is voracious: in April, China bought more than Canada did for the first time. It's pretty amazing, really, said Matt Smith, ClipperData LLC's director of commodity research. "You learn to never say never in this market." Of all the emerging trade flows this year, crude deliveries into Europe and Asia are most surprising, according to Smith. Brent crude, the European benchmark, has maintained at least a $4 a barrel premium to WTI since mid-August, and was $6.31 more expensive Tuesday. If the price of European oil stays suspended into the New Year -- a good possibility after the Forties oil pipeline was shut to repair a crack -- U.S. exports will continue hold above 1 million barrels a day. The U.S. has fully integrated itself into the global market, Smith said by phone. You have U.S. crude going into Europe, and European crude heading elsewhere because the U.S. is selling crude into its own backyard. Fuel Bonanza The growth of U.S. gasoline and diesel exports was more subtle this year, mostly filling the gaps left as refiners in Latin America weren't up to the task of meeting the region's growing thirst for fuel. Refiners in the middle of the U.S. were pumping out fuel at a record pace, leaving a surplus of refined products along the Gulf Coast ready to be shipped to eager Latin American buyers, according to Mason Hamilton, an analyst with the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Midwest is running at bonkers levels, Hamilton said by phone from Washington. Weekly preliminary government data show total gasoline exports hit a record 1.21 million barrels a day in November. July was a banner month for American refiners, who processed crude and exported distillate fuel at a record clip, according to monthly data. The strong demand from Latin America will continue into 2018, according to Hamilton. NGL/LPG Talk about alphabet soup. Exports of oft-confused natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas exports chugged along to records as well. NGLs like propane and butane are in high demand around the world to feed plastics-making plants, heat homes and stoves. China and Japan emerged as the biggest propane buyers in 2017. LNG shipments are just warming up. The sole export terminal in the U.S., operated by Cheniere Energy Inc., hit new highs this year after its capacity was expanded. Mexico, where demand for natural gas increased following energy sector reforms, led all countries in 2017, followed by South Korea and China. LNG is even reaching the Middle East, typically a top supplier of the fuel. It's like selling ice to the Eskimos, ClipperData's Smith said. Heavy Canadian crude fell to the lowest in almost four years against benchmark prices Tuesday as bottlenecks on pipelines and rail networks crimped exports. Canadian crude's discount to West Texas Intermediate futures has widened more than $15 since August as pipeline companies including Enbridge Inc. rationed space amid high Western Canadian inventories. Rail cars struggled to catch up on deliveries after line disruptions over the past two months. You are in a serious pain point right now, Mike Walls, a Genscape Inc. analyst, said by phone from Boulder, Colorado. It's the perfect storm of too much supply and not enough capacity. Western Canadian Select's discount to WTI steepened $4.75 to $26.50 a barrel, the weakest level since December 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 1:13 p.m. Calgary time on Tuesday. It was $10.05 below WTI four months ago. The outright price of the crude slid $5.60 to $30.64 a barrel, the lowest level in a year. Edmonton Mixed Sweet crude's discount to WTI grew $1.50 to $7.50 a barrel, the widest since January 2015, and the price fell $2.35 to $49.64 a barrel. TransCanada Corp. 's Keystone pipeline to the U.S. shut for almost two weeks last month after a spill in South Dakota, contributing to rising oil inventories in Western Canada. While service on the line has resumed, it's required to run at a reduced pressure, meaning less oil can pass through. Enbridge said Monday it would ration space on some of its pipelines by another 5 percent in December. The announcement came after the company required shippers on light oil feeder pipelines around Edmonton, Alberta, to restrict deliveries because of high inventories. Enbridge's main line ships heavy and light crude from Edmonton to Superior, Wisconsin. Rising Production Crude export pipelines were already filling up as new oil sands production entered the market. Suncor Energy Inc.'s Fort Hills mine, for example, is starting up now and scheduled to reach 20,000 to 40,000 barrels a day by next quarter. When pipelines fill up, excess crude is typically pushed onto rail cars, requiring a bigger price discount for the crude to make the more expensive form of transport profitable. Space on rail cars is in short supply after three disruptions to the Canadian National Railways Co. 's system in the past two months. The company is playing catch up, Kate Fenske, a spokeswoman, said by phone Monday. Business on all of the company's lines is up 10 percent since last year, she said. Canadian National gives shippers who have committed to use capacity on the network priority when space is limited because the rail company would have to pay a penalty for shipments not delivered, Fenske said. But Canadian oil shippers have been reluctant to sign up for committed space on rail networks after three new oil export pipelines were approved over the past year, Genscape's Walls said. That's in contrast with shippers of other commodities, who have been signing up for space, he said. Two of the new oil pipelines, the expanded Trans Mountain line to British Columbia and Enbridge's Line 3, could start operation as early as 2019. You may not see a lot of people committing on rail right now and that's causing the differentials to blow out, Walls said. Four officers of the Port Authority Police Department didn't hesitate to engage the man accused of detonating an explosive in the New York City subway system yesterday morning, leaping on top of the suspect and removing the device before more damage could be done. Port Authority Police Department Officer Anthony Manfredini apprehended bombing suspect Akayed Ullah, with the help of three other officers: Sean Gallagher, Jack Collins and Drew Preston, Port Authority Police Benevolent Association President Paul Nunziato told ABC News Monday evening. "They engaged the suspect, who was on the ground, they handcuffed him, they saw wires, cellphone. They made a split-second decision to actually get on top of him and restrain him, and [Manfredini] actually removed the device off of his person before he could further detonate it," Nunziato said. "Those four guys are heroes," Nunziato told ABC News. The ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) honored 16 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and one Assistant District Attorney for their tireless efforts to help animals through the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership. The honorees attended a celebratory luncheon Tuesday held at the ASPCA's Adoption Center and were given appreciation awards for their critical roles in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting cases of animal cruelty and neglect in 2017. "The 17 men and women we're honoring today were champions this year for animals across New York City," said Howard Lawrence, Vice President of ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement. "They helped engage their colleagues and citizens in concrete ways to combat animal cruelty and were instrumental in building more actively engaged, safe, and humane communities." The honorees were given appreciation awards for their critical roles in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting cases of animal cruelty and neglect in 2017. (Photo: ASPCA) This year's honorees: New York Police Department Deputy Chief James Luongo, Special Investigations Division Deputy Chief Luongo is the Commanding Officer of the Special Investigations Division. This division is comprised of the Detective Bureau's elite investigative units, including the Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad (ACIS). Deputy Chief Luongo is being recognized for his commitment and dedication to the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership. Through his many duties and responsibilities, Deputy Chief Luongo has been an integral part of the growth and development of the program. He always finds time in his busy schedule to participate in trainings and other events where his presence has a great impact in ensuring that animal welfare is a priority with all members of the NYPD. His oversight of ACIS has resulted in an increased focus on animal fighting as well as other animal cruelty-related crimes in New York City. Deputy Chief Donna Jones, Executive Officer, Patrol Borough Staten Island Deputy Chief Jones is being recognized for her commitment to improving police/community relations, community development and raising animal welfare awareness. Deputy Chief Jones was the lead facilitator for the Let's Paws for Earth Day event on Staten Island in April. She initiated this event to provide residents in Staten Island an opportunity to connect with police officers, social service agencies, city agencies, and various animal welfare groups. Attendees celebrated Earth Day with a DJ, the NYPD rock wall, the ASPCA adoption van and multiple give-a-ways. This event was innovative and combined the efforts of law enforcement, human service agencies and animal welfare organizations to provide support to residents in the borough. Deputy Inspector Kelly Kilfeather, Police Academy Deputy Inspector Kilfeather is the Commanding Officer of the Leadership Development Section, which provides quality leadership training for NYPD executives, lieutenants, sergeants and civilian supervisors, first upon achieving rank or title, and then continuing with in-service training programs. Deputy Inspector Kilfeather is being recognized for her dedication and commitment to ensuring that animal cruelty training is an integral part of the department's supervisory training. Due to her efforts, ASPCA training is presented to all newly-promoted police department captains, lieutenants and sergeants. In addition, the ASPCA has hosted two Executive Development Seminars at the ASPCA animal hospital for department personnel in the rank of captain and above. Deputy Inspector Kilfeather's continuing support of these crucial training efforts contributes greatly to the overall efficiency of the program. Sergeant Michael Murphy, Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad Sgt. Murphy brings a myriad of supervisory investigative experience to his role as Commanding Officer of the Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad (ACIS). Sgt. Murphy's previous assignments include Precinct Detective Unit Supervisor, Homicide Unit Supervisor, and HIDTA Supervisor. Under Sgt. Murphy's leadership, ACIS has had a significant impact on animal welfare in New York City. ACIS detectives have conducted several successful animal fighting cases and continually effect cruelty arrests as the result of investigating open complaints of animal cruelty. Sgt. Murphy has cultivated relationships with prosecutors at the local, state and federal levels and has conducted cases in all venues. In addition to enforcement, Sgt. Murphy ensures that ACIS personnel work closely with the ASPCA Community Engagement members on those cases where there is no criminality, but where there are opportunities to provide necessary resources to community residents in need. Sgt. Murphy has been a cornerstone of the program and a significant contributor to its success. Sergeant Brendan McGuigan, 47th Precinct Sgt. McGuigan is being recognized as an integral part of the war on animal cruelty in Bronx County. His tireless efforts to assist in improving the welfare of animals in the borough are admirable. Sgt. McGuigan has displayed dedication to helping fight animal cruelty at all times, including nights, weekends, holidays and vacations, when he always answers his phone and is willing to get involved. His knowledge of the Bronx and his network of colleagues in other Bronx commands ensures a quick response of needed personnel day or night. Sergeant Wendell Seymour, Patrol Borough Queens North Sgt. Seymour is being recognized for his dedication and assistance to the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership. Sgt. Seymour supervises all liaisons in Patrol Borough Queens North Precincts, where he ensures that all animal complaints reported in PBQN are thoroughly investigated. He has also played a crucial role in growing the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership in Queens Precincts through providing animal cruelty related training to supervisors, police officers, and newly assigned members of PBQN, as well as implementing ongoing training to all precinct Sergeants to distribute to their own commands. Detective John Glynn, Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad Det. Glynn has played a significant part in numerous arrests made in animal cruelty cases, resulting in the rescue of hundreds of animals. This year alone, his tenacity led to the arrest of an individual responsible for the horrific act of stabbing a dog to death in Manhattan and subsequently throwing the deceased animal in the garbage. He has been involved in multiple long term animal fighting cases prosecuted by local and federal prosecutors, including cases that are currently ongoing. Detective Charles Cadiz, Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad Det. Cadiz's dedication to animal welfare throughout New York has led to numerous arrests in animal cruelty cases and contributed to the rescue of hundreds of animals. In March of this year, he was part of a joint operation with the ASPCA, Animal Care Centers of NYC, the Queens County District Attorney's Office, and the DEA Strike Force that resulted in the arrest of two individuals from Bronx and Putnam counties. The individuals arrested were charged with drug possession and conspiracy for hiding ten kilos of cocaine in the false bottom of a dog crate under a Shepherd-type dog who was shipped from Puerto Rico to New York. The drugs had an estimated street value in excess of $1 million. Detective Marique Monzert, 105th Precinct As the 105th Precinct's Animal liaison, Det. Monzert is consistently dedicated to all animal-related issues whether on duty or off. She constantly assists her fellow officers, ASPCA liaisons and Community Engagement Coordinators with responding to animal welfare concerns that arise in her community. As a result of her tireless efforts, numerous investigations have been concluded that resulted in the removal of animal cruelty victims from unsafe situations. She continued to engage with animal welfare issues through her recent maternity leave and has recently returned to being an invaluable resource for the 105th precinct and the broader community. Detective Walter Brant, Police Service Area 2 Det. Brant is the primary NYPD community liaison for approximately 48,000 residents living in 40 NYCHA developments spread over 281 buildings. He has served as the PSA 2 Community Affairs Officer for 17 years, and is being recognized for his continued efforts to bring needed resources to his Brooklyn community through the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership. He has engaged the public with the ASPCA mission through National Night Out events, Family Day events, and many additional police/community gatherings. These interactions have proven immensely valuable to community residents and their pets in need of assistance. Detective Matthew Edelman, Staten Island Gang Squad Detective Jonathan Kalman, Staten Island Gang Squad Earlier this year, while conducting an unrelated investigation, Det. Edelman and Det. Kalman came across a horrendous act of animal cruelty. They observed a Facebook video of a perpetrator beating a cat named Chester. The detectives immediately began searching for Chester and found him dumped in the garbage. Had they not acted so quickly, Chester likely would have died, and possibly never been found at all. Det. Edelman also followed through with the investigation, obtaining a statement from the defendant that ultimately led to his arrest. Police Officer Earl Rochester, 67th Precinct Officer Rochester is a Neighborhood Coordinating Officer in the 67th Precinct and is being recognized for his strong collaboration with the ASPCA's Community Engagement team through investigations of animal cruelty complaints in the command. In one instance this year, Officer Rochester's commitment to the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership and his communications skills led to warm and clean shelter, medical care, and spay/neuter services for three dogs in need in his community. Police Officer Danielle Venuto, 9th Precinct Office Venuto was appointed as the ASPCA liaison for the 9th Precinct in 2015, and she currently oversees all animal-related incidents, providing outreach assistance as needed. Since her appointment, she has made multiple arrests in cases of animal abuse and neglect, and she regularly partners with Community Engagement coordinators in cases regarding dogs who belong to homeless individuals and are in need of medical treatment. Officer Venuto's dedication to the animal welfare cause has also extended to the rescue and successful placement of dozens of dogs. Police Officer Judy Biondolillo, 23rd Precinct Office Biondolillo has been the 23rd Precinct's animal liaison since the inception of the NYPD/ASPCA Partnership in 2014. Officer Biondolillo has assisted on numerous animal abuse cases within the 23rd Precinct as well as outside the confines of her command. She is being recognized for her tremendous dedication and tireless support to the animals and people she serves. Police Officer Catherine H. Klyde, School Safety Division Officer Klyde is the eyes and ears of the animal welfare mission in Bronx County. Her dedication and commitment have made her a valuable asset to the NYPD/ASPCA partnership. Through her work, she has partnered with ASPCA and PBBX personnel on dog and cat cases spanning the entire borough. District Attorneys Assistant District Attorney Karen Turner, Kings County District Attorney's Office ADA Turner is being recognized for her dedication and expertise in overseeing all of the animal abuse cases in Kings County. In 2016, the Kings County District Attorney's Office selected ADA Turner a veteran prosecutor who has been with the Kings County DA's Office since 1999 to lead the Office's new Animal Cruelty Unit. Since her appointment as Chief of the Animal Crimes Unit, ADA Turner has worked hand in hand with the NYPD and the ASPCA to review, investigate, and ensure the successful prosecution of all animal-related crimes in the county. Her commitment to these cases has been invaluable to protecting the animals of Kings County. For more information about the NYPD/ASPCA partnership, visit https://www.aspca.org/animal-protection/nypd-partnership. A Chicago police union official on Monday blasted a $31 million settlement for four men whose convictions got overturned in an Englewood murder, calling the wrongful conviction movement a cottage industry that uses taxpayers as a blank check in pricey settlements. Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Martin Preib spoke during the public comment portion of the City Council Finance Committee meeting, where aldermen approved the money for the four men who each spent some 15 years in prison for a 1994 rape and murder before DNA linked the crime to a convicted killer, the Chicago Tribune reports. As city attorney Jane Elinor Notz explained the lawsuit settlement to aldermen, she also revealed that two Chicago police detectives who allegedly played a part in making the case against the Englewood Four in 1995 are now the subject of an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. What is happening in this city is that the civil rights lawyers have carved out a cottage industry in the name of wrongful convictions, Preib told aldermen. They look to this chamber as their blank check. Their playbook is simple: they claim police misconduct, get the prosecutors to exonerate, draft a willing media and then manipulate the citizens of Chicago out of their tax money. Preib said in the Englewood Four case, its ludicrous to think a group of detectives would frame the men when the real killer was still walking around to potentially reveal their frame-up. A Los Angeles police officer was in serious condition Tuesday after he was struck by a vehicle while conducting a traffic stop on the northbound 405 Freeway in the West Los Angeles area. The officer was conducting a traffic stop on the freeway when he was struck by another vehicle, the Los Angeles Police Department tweeted. The officer suffered a serious leg injury, but was expected to survive, Police Department Officer Mota told KTLA. The driver of the vehicle that struck the officer was arrested after officers administered a field sobriety test, ABC 7 reports. The New York City Council has struck a deal with the NYPD on two hotly debated police reform bills, which could now pass next week. The de Blasio administration and the Council reached a last-minute compromise on the Right to Know Act bills that would require officers to identify themselves when they make many stops, and tell people they have the right to refuse a search. Amended legislation was submitted Monday night, just in time for a deadline to allow a vote at the Councils last meeting on Dec. 19, the New York Daily News reports. One bill would require officers to get consent before they search someone if theres no other legal basis for the search, and to inform the person they have the right to say no. The other bill will require officers to identify themselves with a business card listing their name, rank and command when they stop someone, and to state the reason for the stop. That bill was changed in negotiations so that it only applies to stops based on a suspicion of criminal activity. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Republicans have a big problem as the results are coming in for the Alabama Senate special election. African-Americans turned out in massive numbers for Doug Jones, while white Republican counties stayed home for Roy Moore. Video: MSNBCs Steve Kornacki explained what is happening: We talked about a refrain was not just Democrats support from black voters and turnout. Let me show you three counties and give you an example. These are majority black. Jones with 100% in. This is in the region of the state with lots of majority black counties. Here is the interesting stat. This total turnout Greene County is 78%. So its 78% of that level. This seems to be a trend seeing. Ill show you another one. Here is Perry county. Jones winning overwhelmingly the turnout here 71%. Excuse me, 76% of last year in bullet county 71%. High 70s of the 2016 turnout. Contrast that to the heavily white rural areas where Moore is running up the score. So remember, in the 70s down here. Here is Winston County, Alabama. Overwhelming Moore win. This is at 55% of the 2016 level. Okay? Go north of that to Lawrence County. Again, 100% in big Moore win. Youre at 57% of the 2016 level. We talked I think earlier about Limestone County. Again, Moore a little smaller in terms of support here than last time around but also, this is only 61% of the support. There seems to be youre seeing in the rural areas up here, not the same energy in 2016 compared to down hear in the heavily black counties. The turnout more impressive in the heavily black counties than up here and very quickly, one other county is white college educated suburban. Thats where they try to flip Republican voters. One county with the highest concentration is Lee County, not surprisingly the home of Auburn University. Lee has just came in. Trump won Lee with 53% of the vote. Excuse me, 59% of the Moore last time got 53%. Tonight, Roy Moore is down to 43% and that is with all of Lee county in. This is exactly when you hear the Jones campaign and look at the map of counties and circle the places with the biggest concentration and said this is where we need a big turn, this is exactly what you wanted the see. It has been a trend in every election since Trump took office. Republicans are having trouble turning out their voters. Trump has energized an electorate, but it isnt his own. Democrats are surging and making a Senate election in the reddest state in America more competitive than it has any right to be. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Democratic Senate nominee Doug Jones shocked the political world on Tuesday as he is now the projected winner of the special U.S. Senate election in Alabama, according to the AP, defeating Republican opponent and accused child molester Roy Moore in one of the most controversial Senate races in history. BREAKING: Democrat Doug Jones won election to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in a sharp blow to President Trump that narrows the GOPs majority in the Senate to two. He beat Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the state Supreme Court who had been accused of sexual misconduct. The Associated Press (@AP) December 13, 2017 The stunning victory comes after weeks of women coming forward with credible allegations that Moore made unwanted sexual advances on them, some when they were just teenagers. Instead of taking accountability for his disturbing behavior, Moore clung to the Trump playbook and attacked the women accusing him and the media for reporting their stories. Unlike in 2016, when Trump eked out an electoral college victory over Hillary Clinton, that strategy failed and Jones will be heading to the U.S. Senate. Not only does the race represent a loss for Moore, but its another major setback for Donald Trump, who was a vocal supporter of the Senate nominee, particularly toward the end of the campaign when the president hit the trail for the controversial Republican candidate. At a Florida rally just days ago, Trump told Alabama voters to get out and vote for Roy Moore, despite the credible allegations made against him by numerous women. With the administration yet to achieve any substantive legislative accomplishment all year, losing another Republican vote in the Senate when they cant even pass anything now will only add fuel to the raging dumpster fire of Trumps winless presidency. The Democratic wave last month in places like Virginia and New Jersey was a positive sign for a party that has newfound momentum in the era of Trump, but conservative pundits claimed it was to be expected in those two states, which Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Tuesdays results in Alabama prove that the blue wave is not a fluke its happening. And it should have the Republican Party from coast to coast sounding the alarm ahead of next years midterm elections. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) President Donald Trumps eldest son asked a House of Representatives committee on Tuesday to investigate possible leaks of information about his Dec. 6 interview with lawmakers, as congressional probes of Russia and the 2016 election picked up steam ahead of the New Year. Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Donald Trump Jr., asked Representative Michael Conaway, the Republican leading the House Intelligence Committees investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the election, to look into comments he said came from committee members and staff that were included in media reports. To maintain the credibility of the Investigation, this Committee should determine whether any member or staff member violated the Rules, he said in a letter to Conaway. A spokeswoman for Conaway declined comment. Separately, the Associated Press reported that Trump Jr. was due to appear in Congress again on Wednesday, this time before the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing a source familiar with the matter. Republican Senator Richard Burr, the committees chairman, would not confirm the report. Other committee members and their aides declined comment. Futerfas also declined comment. The Senate and House Intelligence panels are conducting the main congressional investigations after U.S. intelligence agencies found that Moscow attempted to influence the campaign to help the Republican Trump defeat his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. They are also working to determine whether Trump associates colluded with Russia. Moscow denies seeking to influence the election, and Trump has dismissed any talk of collusion. The two committees, sometimes members and sometimes staff, have been conducting frequent interviews with a variety of witnesses, seeking to wrap up their investigations well before the U.S. congressional elections in November 2018. Burr said he felt some urgency related to election security related to next years vote. He said he expected the Senate committees investigation would last into 2018, and that there were dozens more people still to be interviewed. So its going to carry over (into next year), but its not going to carry over far unless the basket of people (to be interviewed) changes, and the only way that changes is if we learn of individuals that we didnt know about today, Burr told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. He said the committee did not now plan any more public hearings in its Russia probe. Separately, Sam Clovis, a former Trump campaign official, was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee for more than four hours on Tuesday. He came to the attention of investigators after a report that he encouraged George Papadopoulos, a one-time Trump foreign policy campaign adviser, to improve relations between the United States and Russia. Clovis attorney denied those reports. She did not respond immediately to a request for comment about his House testimony on Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Exit polls should be taken with a truckload of salt, but they so far indicate that tonights special Senate election in Alabama could go in favor of Democratic candidate Doug Jones. According to early exit polling from NBC News, Trumps approval rating among those who turned out to vote on Tuesday is split evenly in the ultra-conservative state 48 percent to 48 percent. EARLY AL EXITS: 48% of voters approve of Pres. Trump; 48% of voters disapprove of Pres. Trump #MTPDaily Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 12, 2017 In a state where the presidents average approval rating hovers near the 60s and where he won 63 percent of the vote in 2016, this suggests that Tuesdays electorate could be much more favorable to Jones than GOP nominee and accused child molester Roy Moore. To further lift the hopes of Democrats in this longshot Senate contest, the same set of exit polls showed quite stunningly that 30 percent of the electorate in Alabama on Tuesday was African American. This is higher than what Democratic pollster Zac McCrary said Jones would need to score a close victory over Moore. A lower African American turnout (say, comprising 24% of the electorate) makes things very tough for Jones whereas a higher African American turnout (28% of the electorate) would make the math for a Jones victory much more manageable, McCrary wrote. According to CNN exit polling, Jones has a better overall favorable rating than Moore among those who turned out to vote on Tuesday. Same CNN exit poll has voters giving Doug Jones a 49/49 favorable to unfavorable rating, same exit polling gives Roy Moore a 55-42 unfavorable to favorable rating Jonathan Hardison (@FOX6Hardison) December 12, 2017 At the end of the day, the real results that matter will come after polls close at 8 p.m. eastern in the state of Alabama. Its still anybodys game, as the live model from the New York Times suggests at this hour. For now, though, Democrats have good reason to be cautiously optimistic that they have a shot at winning a Senate seat in one of the reddest states in the country. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Election Day is finally here. Follow the results live to see if Democrat Doug Jones can turn an Alabama Senate seat blue by defeating Republican Roy Moore. The polling has been all over the map for this election, but the conventional wisdom is that Roy Moore has a built in advantage in deep red Alabama that will take a lot for Jones to overcome. You can follow the official results here. The excellent New York Times model is a valuable resource. Democrat Doug Jones is telling his supporters to stay in line to vote: Polls close in 30 minutes. Make sure to get to your polling place by 7pm. As long as youre in line, you can vote. Check https://t.co/MKWnG58S8r to confirm where to vote. pic.twitter.com/TG8K1MeklJ Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) December 13, 2017 Some conservatives are saying that the exit polling shows that Jones has a real chance: The voter ID and race ID and sub-questions on these exit polls indicate to me that Jones may have a real chance. So do turnout numbers in some African American precincts. So does anecdotal evidence of high write-in numbers. Quin Hillyer (@QuinHillyer) December 13, 2017 Heavy African American turnout in Alabama: CNN exit poll shows the Alabama electorate is 65% white, 30% black, 3% Latino. Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 13, 2017 Update: With less than 1% of the vote in, Doug Jones leads Roy Moore by 12 points. DNC Chair Tom Perez says Democrats were all in on Doug Jones: Update: With less than 1% of the vote in, Jones leads Moore 62.4% to 37%. Among non-white women, Doug Jones had 92% support in the exit poll: AMONG *NON-WHITE* WOMEN IN #ALSEN EXIT POLL, JONES HAS MORE THAN 90% SUPPORT: Jones 92% Moore 8% Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) December 13, 2017 Update: Doug Jones leads Moore 60%-39% with still less than 1% reporting. Troubling early results for Republicans in counties that Trump won big: Fairhope Civic Center, one of largest polling places in Baldwin County: Moore 3911, Jones 3407, Other 193 In 2016, Trump 5021, Clinton 2026 (straight tickets: GOP 2661, Dem 955)#ALSEN Alex Schriver (@AlexSchriver) December 13, 2017 It is VERY early, but this is interesting: With 15% in in little Limestone Co, Jones is up 53%-45% In 2012 race, Moore won this county, 61%-39% Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) December 13, 2017 Update: Doug Jones leads Roy Moore by 1.2 points with 4% reporting. Update with 5% in Moore leads Jones 50.3%-48.5% At least in Limestone County, Moore is hitting his target number: Now with 77% of Limestone reporting, Moore ahead by 25 points there https://t.co/dKiOEeBCeM John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) December 13, 2017 Doug Jones may have to beat estimates with his base in order to win: Moore's strength in the white, rural counties with the *most* returns gives him a slight edge in our estimates. If that holds, the question is whether Jones can beat our estimates in his base countiesmetropolitan and majority black areas of Alabama? Not much there yet Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) December 13, 2017 Big votes come in for Doug Jones: Big vote dump in Jefferson Co (Birmingham) narrows Moore lead to 1.5 pts // and reduces his projected win under 1 pt (via NYT) Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 13, 2017 Update: With 21% of the vote in, Moore leads Jones 52%-47%. Moore fell back under his target number in Limestone County: Limestone now 25/26 precincts, and Moore lead shrinks back down to 19%. The reason it's so difficult to tell what's happening so far: Alabama's precincts are so racially polarized and quick swings are the rule, not the exception. Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 13, 2017 Update: With 26% of the vote in, Roy Moore leads 53%-45%. Update: With 52% of the vote in Roy Moore leads Doug Jones 52%-47%. Update: Republicans are having a massive turnout problem in white counties: Folks, our model thinks that the GOP may have a big turnout problem. The three, white, GOP counties have fallen far short of our turnout estimatesincluding two under 75% of our estimates. That's what the big swing in our estimate is about. Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) December 13, 2017 Update: With 86% of the vote in, Democrat Doug Jones has pulled into the lead 49.6% to 48.9%. Update: with 88% of the vote in, Doug Jones leads 49.6% to 48.8%. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The Trump agenda was dealt a crippling blow as the Democratic pickup of the Alabama Senate seat means that Republicans have zero margin for error. Trump endorsed and campaigned for Roy Moore. Trump cut a robocall for Moore. Alabama was supposed to be the heart of Trump country, and Alabama rejected Donald Trump. The demise of the Republican Party under Trump was entirely predictable from the moment that Trump won the presidential election. Roy Moore followed the Trump playbook after he was accused of child molestation, and he lost. Ed Gillispie in Virginia tried to follow the Trump playbook in that gubernatorial election, and he lost. There is no good way to spin this result for Trump. The President put himself on the ballot in this election, and he was soundly rejected. The morally devoid Trump mentality was not welcome in Alabama. This result cuts Trump to the bone. Donald Trump is a failing president who is leading the Republican Party to historic defeats, and the worst is yet to come. Republicans were already terrified about 2018, and the results in Alabama demonstrated that their voters dont care about tax cuts. Tax cuts for the rich arent going to get Republicans motivated and to the polls next year. Donald Trump was never a Teflon Don. He was a tinfoil tweeter who was exposed as a political liability for his own party. Americans are taking their country back. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print After Gov. Mark Dayton appointed his Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to replace Sen. Al Franken, Minnesota Congressional Democrats Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum released statements praising the appointment. Rep. Ellison said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Congratulations to my friend Tina Flint Smith on her appointment to the U.S. Senate. Tina is a progressive champion who will be an extraordinary senator for the people of Minnesota. From expanding broadband access in rural areas to investing in early childhood education, Tina has always put working people ahead of special interests, and thats what shell do in the Senate. I look forward to working with her to protect health care, stand for respect for all, and fight for Minnesota families. Tina Smith is the right person at the right time and has my full support both now and when she runs in the 2018 special election. Rep. McCollum said in a separate statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith is an outstanding choice to be Minnesotas next United States Senator. I have worked with Tina for years she is a good friend, an incredibly hard worker, and a woman who is totally committed to our state. Tina will be a fierce advocate for families, work for good jobs, and fight to protect health care for all Minnesotans. I look forward to working with her in Congress to continue building a country where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and succeed. Gender has nothing to do with why Smith was the best choice. She is very qualified, well regarded by all, and she has run and won a statewide election. If Al Franken had to go, Gov. Dayton made the right call when he picked Tina Smith to fill the seat. Smiths appointed term will end in January 2019, but she plans on running in the special election to fill the rest of Frankens term, which ends in 2020. She will be a fine advocate for the interests of the people of Minnesota, and she will have a decent chance of keeping the seat by winning a full term. The Al Franken scandal has been a painful chapter for Democrats, but the appointment of Smith, the party can begin to turn the page and resume the fight against the Trump agenda. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) In backing Roy Moore in Alabamas U.S. Senate race even though the candidate faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, President Donald Trump made a risky bet and lost big. The victory by Democrat Doug Jones over the Republican Moore in the Alabama special election on Tuesday was a catastrophe for Trump, portending a Democratic wave next year that could cost Republicans control of one or both houses of Congress. The stakes in Alabama were that high. Democrats already were confident they had a strong chance to retake the U.S. House of Representatives in next years congressional elections. Jones narrow victory increases their once-long odds of retaking control of the Senate as well. If Democrats were to recapture both chambers, they would serve as a check on Trumps agenda and might even initiate impeachment proceedings against him. That Republicans lost in one of the most Republican states in the nation is a wake-up call no matter how flawed their candidate was, said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Democrat Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. Democrats never expected to have a chance in Alabama, where they had not won a U.S. Senate race in 25 years. But the combination of Trumps unpopularity, the sexual misconduct allegations that erupted against Moore in November, and Trumps enthusiastic support of him anyway gave them the opportunity, experts said. Trump was the one who got Jones within firing range, and Moore allowed Jones to win, said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. Even as Democrats lost several special congressional elections this year, they consistently showed higher levels of turnout and engagement, which is attributable to Trump, Kondik said. TRUMP REFERENDUM? The Alabama race showed there were limits both to Trumps endorsement power and his judgment. Even as senior Republicans urged Trump to abandon Moore, the president decided instead in the campaigns final days to throw the full weight of his office behind him. In the end, that was not enough, and early turnout reports suggested that many Republicans stayed home. Moreover, despite the sexual misconduct allegations against Moore, the race near the end increasingly seemed to become about the president. Moores camp this week said the contest was specifically a referendum on Trump and his presidency. It is Donald Trump on trial in Alabama, Dean Young, a strategist for Moore, told ABC News. Trump congratulated Jones on Twitter on a hard fought victory and added: Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. The loss was also a body blow to Steve Bannon, Trumps former top strategist, who backed Moore in the primary against the Republican incumbent, Luther Strange, because he viewed Moore as a more reliable ally. Bannon also frequently characterized the race as less about Alabama and more about furthering Trumps economic nationalist agenda. Bannon is looking to wage an insurgency against the Republican establishment in the 2018 congressional elections, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who condemned Moore after several women accused him of unwanted sexual contact when they were in their teens and he was in his 30s. Moore, 70, has denied the allegations, and Reuters has not independently verified them. ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT Beyond Moore, Bannon is supporting anti-establishment candidates such as Kelli Ward in Arizona, Danny Tarkanian in Nevada and Kevin Nicholson in Wisconsin, all of whom oppose McConnell staying on as Senate leader. Bannon also may ultimately support challenges against sitting Republicans in Mississippi and Wyoming. But Moores loss seems certain to dampen that effort, and Republicans who fear losing control of Congress may be even less likely to back outsider candidates who may turn off mainstream voters. It is now an open question whether Trump will inject himself into more Republican primaries, given his setback in Alabama. When you nominate candidates who are unqualified and an embarrassment to the party, you run the risk of ruining your entire brand, said Josh Holmes, a Republican consultant and close ally of McConnell. Bannons supporters say rank-and-file Republican voters are more likely to blame McConnell, not Bannon, for the loss in Alabama, arguing that McConnell and his well-resourced Senate Leadership Fund did nothing to help Moore. McConnell actively opposed the Republican candidate in Alabama and threatened our Senate majority by helping to put a liberal Democrat in that seat, said Andy Surabian, a former Bannon protege who now advises a pro-Trump advocacy group, Great America Alliance. Even with the Alabama win, Democrats face a significant challenge next year if they are to take control of the Senate. They must defend 10 incumbents in states that were won by Trump and they must gain two seats currently held by Republicans. Their best opportunities to secure those seats lie in Arizona and Nevada, and perhaps Tennessee. Democrats need 24 seats to retake the House, but that is viewed as a more realistic goal because of the number of congressional districts where they are competitive, particularly in suburban areas. Brian Walsh, president of another pro-Trump group, America First Policies, said Trump could not be blamed for Moores loss, arguing that the presidents late endorsement almost won the race for Moore, a deeply flawed candidate. He was trying to push a boulder up a hill, Walsh said. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print During an interview on The View, former Vice President Biden laid out a series of easily met conditions a potential presidential campaign in 2020. Video: .@JoeBiden to @TheView on running in 2020: "If, in a year from now, if we're ready, and nobody has moved in that I think can do it, then I may very well do it." https://t.co/CFdzczVBEe pic.twitter.com/OunchPDQqW ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 13, 2017 Biden said, If I were offered the nomination by the Lord Almighty today right now, I would say no because were not ready. The familys not ready enough to do this. If in a year from now, if were ready, and no one has moved in that I think can do, then I may very well do it, but Im being as honest as I can. The former Vice Presidents answer was not one that someone gives if they arent running. When former First Lady Obama is asked about running, she always answers with an emphatic no. When the question is posed to Hillary Clinton, she answers with some version of my public life is over. Joe Biden isnt sounding like a guy who is closing the door on public life. Interestingly, by putting a date on it of next year, Biden also moved up the timetable for other potential Democratic candidates. The Democratic field in 2020 is going to be crowded. It would be a surprise to see the race start off with 20 or more declared candidates. The Alabama Senate election demonstrated that the Obama coalition is as powerful as ever, and if Joe Biden runs for the Democratic nomination, they will be behind him. Trump is obsessed with Elizabeth Warren, but the person with the most immediate capability of turning him into a one-term president is Joe Biden. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Democrat Doug Jones pulled off a stunning victory on Tuesdays senatorial race in Alabama, beating Republican Judge Roy Moore by roughly 20,000 votes and becoming the states first Democratic senator in two decades. The loss was a significant one for Republicans and for Trump. In one of his customary morning tweets, the president tried to disassociate himself from the defeat by insisting Moore had never been his preferred candidate. After the Washington Post published a report of multiple sexual assault allegations some which purportedly took place when the accusers were minors against Moore in mid-November, a considerable number of Republicans rescinded their endorsements and asked him to step down from the race, arguing that the possible victory of an accused pedophile would do irreparable damage to their partys image. One GOP senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, publicly donated to Jones campaign in an attempt to make a statement against the senate hopeful. Unlike those Republicans who took a stand against Moore, though, Trump officially endorsed the candidate a week before the election, praising his conservative pro-life, anti-gun control, tough on crime and illegal immigration agenda. Yet on the morning following Moores loss, Trump attempted to do away with the idea that the elections results should be considered a failure of his. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election, he wrote. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him! The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017 While its true that Trump did endorse junior Alabama Sen. Luther Strange over Roy Moore in August during the primaries, it wasnt for the reason hes now peddling. In fact, according to CNN, Trump supported Strange partly at the request of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and partly because he felt the need to repay the senator for his loyalty in pushing Trumps agenda in the senate. Looking forward to Friday night in the Great State of Alabama, he tweeted in September. I am supporting Big Luther Strange because he was so loyal & helpful to me! Looking forward to Friday night in the Great State of Alabama. I am supporting "Big" Luther Strange because he was so loyal & helpful to me! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2017 According to CNNs sources, though, Trump was never enthusiastic about backing Strange, who he saw as being too low energy in addition to being an establishment politician. Trump reportedly felt even more doubts in his decision to back Strange after his former chief strategist Steve Bannon endorsed Moore and pushed him as the type of anti-establishment candidate typically associated with Trumps political brand. In a bizarre moment at a September rally for Strange, Trump admitted in his speech that endorsing him might have been a mistake. I might have made a mistake and Ill be honest I might have made a mistake, he said to the crowd. If Luther doesnt win, theyre not going to say we picked up 25 points in a very short period of time. Theyre going to say Donald Trump, the president of the United States, was unable to pull his candidate across the line. It is a terrible, terrible moment for Trump. This is total embarrassment. After seemingly catching himself, he proceeded to praise Strange and insisting that he would definitely win, adding that Strange had a better shot at winning the general election than Moore. Still, regardless of whether Trump originally wanted Moore to be the final candidate on Alabamas ballot, the point is he still decided it was worth putting an accused pedophile in office in order to pass the GOPs unpopular tax plan as well as the rest of his agenda. The moment he chose to back Moore is the moment he made the judge his candidate and therefore tied himself to Moores loss. Imagine Joel. He absolutely loves his car. But over time, the car gets dents and breaks down from continual use and age. And as each part breaks, Joel replaces it with a new piece to keep the car functioning. Over time, every part in the car gets replaced. Is it still the same car that Joel originally bought? Now let's say that Joel had kept all of the old parts of his original car and put them back together to make another whole car. Which car is Joel's car? Take Margaret. Growing up, Margaret has only ever seen everything in black and white. She never left her room, and watched television in black and white, wore black and white, etc. While she is in her room, she starts studying color and becomes a neurophysicist. She knows what colors are and how the brain sees them, but has never seen color herself. One day, she walks outside and sees color for the first time. She sees red flowers, green grass, the blinding yellow sun, brown bark, etc. The question is this: Did Mary learn something new? ADVERTISEMENT Oedipus is a known Greek character. It was prophesied when he was born that he would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Knowing this, his parents abandoned him in the forest when he was an infant. A couple walking through the woods finds Oedipus and raises him as their own. When Oedipus grows older, he learns of the prophesy. Because the couple that raised him were the only parents he knew, Oedipus ran away so that the prophecy can never be fulfilled. Soon, Oedipus meets a stranger that angers him, leading to Oedipus killing the man. It soon turns out that the man that Oedipus killed was actually his biological father. Later on, he even marries the stranger's widow: Oedipus's biological mother. Even though Oedipus tried to flee the prophecy by making decisions from his own free will, the prophecy was fulfilled. Can we ever escape fate? Does fate even exist? All of the above stories are interesting things that students learn when exploring the fascinating subject of philosophy. There are so many questions that make the gears in one's mind turn in the subject, yet so many students go through their entire education without exploring even one philosophical concept. In many high schools, courses such as philosophy are not offered to students. Schools educate students and give us knowledge. But how can we have knowledge if we don't even know what it is? How do we know what we know? What is it to know? And it isn't just philosophy. There are so many courses that are under-taught in the U.S. K-12 school system. I am a senior in high school and I know that mitochondria is the power house of the cell, but I don't know how to do my taxes or what rights I have as a human being! We spend so much time learning about the past, how European countries came to be, how the feudal system worked, etc., but don't know much about current events. Why is first aid not taught in school? I am not saying that subjects that aren't essential to survival should be booted out of the school curriculum; what I am saying is that schools should also focus on essential life skills as well. What schools are doing right now is preparing students to get into college. Schools should teach students to lead successful lives, to prepare them for life. A better educated youth ensures the future of the nation, even the world. So why not make it a priority? On Dec. 9, GetKnit Events rolled a busload of thirsty craft beer fans into town to see whats on tap in the Med City. Based in Minneapolis, the companys mission is to connect Minnesotans with local businesses to knit communities together. They host more than 150 events each year across the state, including the Southern Minnesota Brewery Tour, which goes from Roseville to New Ulm, Mankato to Faribault, then to Rochester, where it will stop at Forager and Grand Rounds. The mission is to cultivate community, says GetKnit president Nick Blake. "What better way to meet someone new than over a pint of craft beer?" Rochester has four breweries within city limits, and LTS and Kinney Creek, while not on this route, have been included in previous tours. These tours show metro residents and other beer tourists what makes Rochester a great place to grab a pint. "Each brewery seems to take on a unique personality trait of the city," Blake says of his experience working with breweries across Minnesota. Its no exception in Rochester. Travis Temke, president of F-Town Brewing in Faribault, agrees. Every brewerys atmosphere is different, and each approaches beer in a unique way. Grand Rounds exemplifies this bridge building approach. "We really want to showcase that craft beer is great and accessible to everyone," says Grand Rounds CEO Tessa Leung. "With craft beer, there really is something for everyone. You dont have to have high alcohol, huge hops, or barrel-aged everything." Both Grand Rounds and Forager rotate their taps frequently, so Rochester visitors can try beers they cant regularly get. In her experience, Leung says that out-of-town guests "are happy and a little surprised that Rochester has such an active and delicious craft beer scene." ADVERTISEMENT The tours show off local beer, but the community and culture are equally important. Its about the idea of a communal "Main Street", says Temke. When a tour comes to Faribault, "we want people to gain an attachment to an experience," he says With the Twin Cities only 75 miles away, beer enthusiasts can drive to town on their own, but thats different than a chartered tour. People can visit breweries on their ownin Rochester or elsewhereBlake says, but that includes the stress of navigating unfamiliar streets, paying for lodging, and making safe choices. "The great thing about these events [is] that people can let us do the legwork so they can just enjoy themselves," he says. "All of us are busy in our day-to-day routine and its nice to get to turn your brain off and just enjoy yourself." For more information about GetKnit events, visit getknitevents.com. The man at the center of a months-long search by law enforcement has been charged with attempted murder, as the hunt for him ramps up. Luke Elias Hottel, 35, has been on the run since missing a court appearance Aug. 30. An arrest warrant was issued that day. Knife attack The next day, deputies were called to a local medical provider to meet with a victim of an assault. The victim had a puncture wound to his right tricep, as well as injuries to his shoulder and head. ADVERTISEMENT The man said that earlier that day, he was inside a barn when he was approached by Hottel, whom he'd known for a few years. Hottel was upset, the man said, and began blaming the man for problems he was having with his vehicle. Hottel "came at" the man with a metal object, he said, and they both went to the ground. Hottel attempted to choke him as the two struggled on the ground, the complaint says. The man was able to get up and run from the barn, but he tripped and fell, allowing Hottel to catch him. The victim said Hottel again began to choke him, then punched him in the face. Hottel had one arm around the victim's neck, court documents say, and was holding a knife in the the other hand. The man said Hottel was choking him while attempting to stab him in the leg and chest, the document continues, and was yelling, "are you ready to (expletive) die?" during the attack. The victim was eventually able to free himself and run to a nearby home, where he called friends to take him for medical treatment. Hottel disappeared. Another warrant has been issued, this one charging Hottel with one count each of second-degree attempted murder-with intent and second-degree assault. Recent sightings Hottel was first spotted more than six weeks later. Deputies attempted to stop an eastbound vehicle he was in about 11:20 a.m. Oct. 24 on U.S. Highway 14 west of Rochester. ADVERTISEMENT Instead, the vehicle fled to southbound West Circle Drive Northwest, then turned west onto Seventh Street Northwest. That's where the deputies discontinued the pursuit because of safety concerns to the public, said Capt. Scott Behrns of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office. About noon Friday, law enforcement "swarmed" a house on the northeast side of the roundabout at 75th Street Northwest in another attempt to find Hottel. The area that was searched "is large, cluttered and wooded," Behrns said, prompting local officials to request "air support" in the form of a helicopter from the Minnesota State Patrol. Neither Hottel nor anyone else was at the residence. Hottel, who is described as 6-foot-1, approximately 203 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, is considered armed and dangerous, according to the sheriff's office. He should not be approached. Started in July The original case stemmed from an incident July 12, as a woman who is familiar with Hottel drove south on U.S. Highway 63. Hottel, who was driving north, made a U-turn and followed her. Hottel drove his vehicle beside the woman's car and attempted to force her off the road, though the vehicles did not collide. ADVERTISEMENT He followed her to a residence and parked behind her in the driveway to block her in. The woman locked her car doors and honked her horn in an attempt to get the attention of the homeowner. Hottel got out of his car and began "attacking" the woman's car, pulling the door handles, climbing on top of the car and pounding on it, all while yelling at her. A 22-year-old man said he saw two vehicles in the driveway, and heard Hottel "screaming threats at the woman that he was going to "(expletive) kill her," the complaint says. The witness saw Hottel jump on top of the victim's car. The witness ran into the home and got the 53-year-old homeowner and a 12-gauge shotgun. The two men approached Hottel and told him to leave. Hottel responded by threatening to return to the residence and slit their throats, court documents say. The homeowner fired a shot in the air as Hottel left the property, hoping it would deter him from returning. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Hottel should call the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office at 507-328-6774 (Warrant Division) or 607-328-6800 (Communications). You could also email warrants@co.olmsted.mn.us or visit the local Crimestoppers website at www.rochesterolmstedcrimestoppers.org. A high-profile business leader, who was controversially ousted from the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerceearlier this year, has been hired by Think Mutual Bank. Rochester-based Think announced Tuesday that it has hired Judy Braatzas its new business development representative to expand the bank's "business relationships and promote the growth of its business portfolio." Braatz was quoted in the announcement as saying, "I am thrilled and proud to be a part of Think Mutual Bank. Their mission and dedication to customer service is a perfect fit for me." This new role follows Braatz's abrupt departure from the Rochester Chamber in August. She had served as the organization's very popular membership director for 23 years and had grown the chamber to be one of the largest in Minnesota. Following her unexpected ouster by then-Chamber President Rob Miller, Braatz accused him of discriminatory bullying of female employees, age discrimination, bias against women as well as public defamation. Several other chamber employees, mostly women, had left in the months prior to the Braatz. ADVERTISEMENT Miller resigned shortly after her allegations became public. Braatz hired an attorney and is believed to have been working on a lawsuit over the situation. The chamber conducted what it described as an independent investigation into the charges, though none of the results where released publicly. Now Braatz has a new role in Rochester's business community. "We're excited to add Judy to our business banking team," said Think's Vice President of Business Banking Chad DeCookin the announcement. "Judy has a true passion for people and a proven ability to build longstanding relationships with business owners. She will be an incredible asset to our organization." Think has 10 Minnesota offices in Rochester, Apple Valley, Eagan, Edina and St. Paul. Chamber hires new VP The Rochester Chamber also announced its own new hire this week. The chamber hired Stewartville native Matt Bissonetteas the new vice president of workforce development. ADVERTISEMENT Bissonette is now responsible for leading the Chamber's workforce development, strategic planning, and programming. "The depth of his experience and excellent leadership skills will be of great benefit to our membership in meeting the significant workforce challenges in our region," said Kathleen Harrington, the interim chamber president, in the announcement. Bissonette's experience includes working for Jostens, serving as the executive pastor for Rochester's Bethel Churchand launching his own consulting business. Since 2012, he has served as the dean of business, technology, trade and industry as well as health and wellness for Riverland Collegein Austin. He replaces Julie Brock, who abruptly left the chamber in May for another job. Beside the workforce position, she also led the Rochester Chamber of Commerce Foundation. In the first quarter of 2017, she also served as executive director of the chamber foundation. Brock was hired in January 2015 to replace Jessi Strinmoen, who was the workforce director. Peter Gerrard says the Metropolitan Marketplace development, which includes People's Food Co-op, may not have spurred further growth south of the downtown core if it hadn't been for tax-increment financing. The city uses tax-increment financing, most commonly referred to as simply TIF, to help developers meet gaps in funding needs. In the case of downtown development, it also helps provide public infrastructure, such as parking and skyway connections, while making projects with public amenities possible. "If there is no TIF piece to a deal, they generally don't pencil," Gerrard said, indicating plans could change to make costs balance without the assistance. Elsewhere in the city, TIF has taken on a role in housing projects, helping cut costs of adding affordable units. Gerrard has had a hand in that area as well. Gerrard Corp.'s Kutzky Park Place used redevelopment TIF to overcome costs related to environmental and other concerns. Without it, the project likely wouldn't have contained lower-priced apartments, he said. ADVERTISEMENT Objections to TIF While developers have seen TIF as a way to make their projects happen in Rochester, others point to the use of TIF as a detriment. During last week's public hearing on a proposed apartment complex in an industrially zoned part of the city, Rochester business owner John Kruesel told the Rochester City Council he believes the use of TIF is at least partly responsible for burdensome tax rates faced by existing businesses. "I can't say all TIF projects have caused harm to other entities owning property, but I can say it has in my case," he said, noting assessment increases in recent years have boosted taxes on downtown businesses, like John Kruesel's General Merchandise & Auction Co. While TIF doesn't reduce the tax collected on a property, it documents that tax collected before development. A portion of taxes collected beyond that point is returned to the developer each year, but they not used to determine other property assessments, according to Mark Krupski, director of Olmsted County Property Records and Licensing. A developer will receive the rebates until the negotiated TIF amount is reached or the agreement's time runs out, which can be up to 25 years. Kruesel, however, said since property values continue to rise on TIF-supported developments, they affect the values of surrounding properties. Those increased values can drive up local tax bills for others since increased property values are used as comparisons to determine assessed values. "I'm going to suggest any project using TIF not be allowed to be used as a comp, and I'm going to be addressing that on the state level here sometime soon," Kruesel said, noting state mandates govern the assessment process. Providing options ADVERTISEMENT Patrick Seeb, the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency's economic development and placemaking director, said much of the development would happen anyway and property prices would likely still increase without TIF. The incentive, however, offers an opportunity to support projects deemed as community priorities. "TIF is but one arrow in our quiver," he said. "It's not what we lead with, and it would be inefficient if it was all we had." In the case of the Mortenson project in DMC's Discovery Square subdistrict, Seeb said $4.9 million in TIF is helping build a $35 million life-sciences building unlike anything in Rochester. Without financial assistance, he said the project might not have happened or could have been sent on a different path to make it less of a risk for lenders. The Mortenson project is being built on what was until recently a Mayo Clinic parking lot. The clinic will lease at least 30,000 of the 80,000 square feet available in the planned building, with other businesses and organizations expected to fill the space with plans for collaboration between tenants, which could include the University of Minnesota Rochester, Fortune 500 companies and local startups. Seeb said it the first phase of the Discovery Square effort proves viable, he anticipates further development will be possible without the need for TIF support. Too much TIF? Kruesel said it appears that all new developments receive the incentive. He said the city needs to be less willing to agree to the financing option. The council voted 4-3 to deny a $1.1 million TIF request last week for the proposed Technology Park Apartments project planned by Nate Stencil. ADVERTISEMENT Spaeth said Rochester has traditionally been more conservative than other communities when it comes to making TIF agreements. Gerrard said he's seen communities that are more restrictive but has also worked in communities where TIF agreements Is easier to obtain. Spaeth said developers must show a funding gap exists for their project before TIF is considered. Typically, for downtown redevelopment, the gap comes from high property values and expenses for relocating utilities to service what would otherwise be an empty lot. "It's intended to cover extraordinary costs," he said. With detailed information from a developer in hand, Springsted Inc. verifies the funding gap and works with city staff to prepare a recommendation for the city council to consider. There are limits to what the city can approve. Limits to TIF State statute sets three main options for using TIF: Housing To obtain TIF for housing, a project must provide 40 percent of its units as affordable for people earning 60 percent of the area median income. Redevelopment To be used to redevelop an area in the city, a project must pass the "blight test," which requires proving that more than 50 percent of existing buildings are substandard to a point of costing more than 15 percent of market value to replace them. Economic development For this use, the developer must prove the project will retain or replace jobs. The state legislation that created DMC, allows the option to use TIF for projects that fall outside the three options, but they need approval for the city council, as well as the DMC Corp. board. So far, four projects have seen approved TIF agreements under the DMC efforts. Spaeth said there have to be limits for TIF. "There's only so much increment to go around," he said. What's on the books? Olmsted County records show 17 projects had active TIF agreements in Rochester this fall. They resulted in nearly $1.65 million in tax dollars being returned based on last year's taxes. Of those projects, at least 11 included some sort of housing. Another 13 TIF agreements have been approved, including the four for DMC-approved projects, but are waiting final implementation. Only seven of those projects have been certified. If the districts were active, the developers would have seen approximately $1,368 in taxes returned this year. Since Oct. 15, 2012, 22 TIF-supported projects have fully returned to the tax rolls. throughout Olmsted County. Most agreements were fully funded in 15 years or less, with only two three taking the full length of their agreements before being decertified. 4 DMC projects approved for TIF 1 / 4: Krupski 2 / 4: Seeb 3 / 4: Terry Spaeth City of Rochester 4 / 4: Construction continues on the Hilton Hotel in downtown Rochester on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Minnesota nonprofit leaders are speaking out against Republican tax cut proposals advancing in Congress. Linda Driessen, executive director of Bear Creek Services, joined more than two dozen nonprofits who sent out press releases urging members of Congress to reject the tax plans. "I just feel like I need to be a voice for people who don't have the ability to speak for themselves," Driessen said in an interview. The Rochester nonprofit provides services to individuals with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. Driessen said she fears that tax proposals could be a double whammy for the nonprofit leading to fewer charitable donations and setting the stage for future cuts to Medicaid and Medicare to help pay for the $1.5 trillion proposals. The GOP tax plans call for nearly doubling the standard deduction. As a result, fewer taxpayers would be expected to itemize deductions, including for charitable donations. Driessen said charitable giving is becoming a bigger piece of the nonprofit's budget because state reimbursement rates have changed little over the past 10 years. ADVERTISEMENT "The number of people that have moderate incomes that donate is pretty significant," shes aid. "I think there is the potential that if you aren't using it as a tax deduction, we could see some people who will choose not to give anymore," she said. House and Senate Republicans are negotiating a final tax cut package after proposals recently cleared both the House and Senate. Congressional leaders are hoping to pass the tax cut package by the end of the year. Republicans argue the tax cut package will provide needed relief for middle class families while helping to create more jobs. Democrats have blasted the proposals, saying the big winners are the wealthy and large corporations. More than two dozen nonprofits flooded reporters' email inboxes Tuesday morning with press releases in opposition to the tax proposals. Groups issuing statements included the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses in Minnesota, the Children's Defense Fund in Minnesota and the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians just to name a few. Rebecca Lucero, public policy director for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, said the group helped organize the mass issuing of statements. Lucero's organization represents more than 2,000 nonprofits. She said the council is deeply concerned that reductions in tax incentives for charitable giving will lead some people to give less. "The tax bill is a perfect storm of harm to nonprofits," Lucero said. The council also opposes a proposal in the House tax bill that gets rid of a long-standing ban on nonprofits supporting candidates. That would open the door to anonymous donors giving money to nonprofits for political purposes and receiving a tax break in exchange. Lucero added, "This fundamentally alters the state of nonprofits in this country to make this move." ST. PAUL Gov. Mark Dayton announced this morning that he has chosen Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to replace Sen. Al Franken in the U.S. Senate. "Before making my decision, I listened to many Minnesotans who shared their views, but this final decision is mine alone. Again, it is based entirely upon my conviction that Tina Smith will be the best possible senator for the people of Minnesota," Dayton said. Smith said it will be a "great honor" to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. She said she will plan to run for the seat in November 2018. "Though I never anticipated this moment, I am resolved to do everything that I can to move Minnesota forward. I will be a fierce advocate in the United States Senate for economic opportunity and fairness," she said. Franken announced last week he will resign his seat amid allegations of sexual misconduct. He has not yet said when he will officially submit his letter of resignation. Smith said Franken's office wants to ensure a smooth transition and they expect the resignation will take place in January. ADVERTISEMENT Smith has played a critical role in overseeing Rochester's $5.5 billion Destination Medical Center initiative the largest economic development project in state history. She worked behind the scenes in 2013 to get the DMC law passed and is chairwoman of the Destination Medical Center Corp. Board. "I give her compliments as DMCC board chair. I think she kept partisan politics out of it. She was professional in her approach, and she's done a good job of moving DMC forward in its infancy years," said Rochester GOP Sen. Dave Senjem, who authored the DMC bill in the Senate. While the board's bylaws do not require her to resign her post, individuals interviewed say they would expect her to step down because of the demands of the new Senate job. Smith told reporters she is not sure yet what will happen with leadership of the board. She said working on that transition will be a priority because it is the largest and most important economic development project in state history. "It is incredibly important to me not only as lieutenant governor but also as senator that that project proceeds well, so that will be the main thing on my mind in the next couple of weeks," Smith said. Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede called Smith a "great lady" and said the governor has made a wise choice. "It's a good pick. We will obviously miss her, and I will personally miss her. She has been a great leader with DMC," Brede said. Senate District 26 DFL Chairwoman Deb Staley had been hoping Dayton would pick a woman for the Senate seat. This will be the first time in Minnesota history the state has had two female senators. Staley said Smith is pretty well known among Rochester Democrats, having made a point of marching in the Rochesterfest parade with local DFLers in recent years. She also pointed to Smith's lengthy background in Democratic politics. "She knows the behind-the-scenes stuff, so she knows how to get things done," Staley said. ADVERTISEMENT Smith's political rise Smith, 59, a native of Albuquerque, N.M, moved to Minnesota in 1984 after earning an undergraduate degree at Stanford and an MBA from Dartmouth, to take a job in marketing for General Mills. She became increasingly politically active in the 1990s, founding a marketing and political consulting firm in 1992. She managed a losing 1998 gubernatorial campaign for Ted Mondale, then led Former Vice President Walter Mondale's unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2002 after Sen. Paul Wellstone's sudden death. She was vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota from 2003-06, a post that doesn't appear on her official state bio page nor on her LinkedIn account. After that, she served as chief of staff to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Rybak, a former Democratic National Committee vice chairman, said voters shouldn't confuse Smith's decision to skip the governor's race in 2018 with a lack of grit for a grueling campaign. He thinks she is uniquely suited to the Senate. "It plays to a couple of her strengths: The ability to really dig in and understand issues in depth and a pretty off-the-chart ability to find common ground among people who don't always agree," he said. Rybak called Smith instrumental as a liaison between his office and the state in responding to the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in 2007 then rebuilding it. She left her City Hall position to manage his unsuccessful 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Dayton hired Smith as his chief of staff in 2011. Their close relationship helped her turn the historically undemanding post of lieutenant governor into something more substantive when Dayton needed a replacement in his second term. ADVERTISEMENT The online news website MinnPost reported that Smith met with Mondale before she took the job, interested in learning how he transformed the position of vice president into a more responsible position under President Jimmy Carter. Smith spent much of her three years as lieutenant governor traveling the state to tout Dayton's agenda, building connections and visibility throughout Minnesota an asset for a 2018 campaign. But her own politics are somewhat of a mystery. She's known largely as a liberal Democrat who has maintained connections to the state's large and politically powerful business community. Mondale discounted any concern about Smith's stomach for a U.S. Senate campaign that's likely to be more intense than the run for governor she passed up. "I've worked with her on many different things," he said. "When she gets into it, she's committed, disciplined, strong, unrelenting." Alberto Nisman was about to present the findings of his investigation of the cover-up of Iranian responsibility for the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center when he died in January 2015 under mysterious circumstances. The bombing was an act of mass murder; it killed 85 people. Was Nisman himself murdered in turn? We covered the attempts to unravel the circumstances behind his death in a series of posts titled Who killed Alberto Nisman? In a stunning development last week, an Argentinian federal judge asked Argentinas Senate to allow the arrest of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the former president, on treason and other charges relating to Irans possible involvement in the 1994 bombing. The Daily Mail has a straightforward account of the charges here. Daniel Politis New York Times story on the charges is here. By far the best commentary I have found on the charges is the intensely reported New York Times op-ed column by Mark Dubowitz and Toby Dershowitz of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. It opens: One morning last week, Argentines woke up to a political earthquake: A judge had charged a former president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, with treason against the homeland, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Her crime? Nothing less than covering up Irans role in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the Americas before Sept. 11. On July 18, 1994, Ibrahim Hussein Berro, an operative of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, drove a van filled with 606 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil into the Buenos Aires Jewish community center, known as AMIA. More than 300 Argentines were wounded; 85 were murdered. It remains the bloodiest terrorist attack in Argentinas history. From 2004 until 2015, our friend, the prosecutor Alberto Nisman, tirelessly pursued the truth behind this crime. He knew from his investigation that the attack was an Iranian-planned operation. And he determined that Ms. Kirchner was behind a cover-up designed to whitewash Irans role. * * * * * When we heard the news of Mr. Nismans death and of Ms. Kirchners suspected cover-up, we were horrified, but not entirely shocked. Anyone who had followed Mr. Nismans pursuit of this case knew that he was assuming grave risks by taking on both a terrorist state and his own government. Through a decade of investigation, Mr. Nisman received death threats against not only him but his children as well. One email he told us about had a picture of bloodied and brutalized bodies lying on the ground, with a note saying this would be the fate of his young daughters if he did not cease his investigation. The column concludes with a message for us: As Mr. Nisman documented, Iran and Hezbollah have penetrated Latin America, and still pose a grave threat to the security of Argentina, the region and the United States. Read the whole thing here more than once to let it sink it. It is incredible. Five European finance ministers have objected to the GOP tax plan on the ground that it is too favorable to the United States: Finance ministers from Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain say they have significant concerns about some of the US Presidents tax initiatives and fear they could harm the global economy. In a letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the ministers said the tax overhaul could risk seriously hampering genuine trade and investment flows between Europe and America. Their warning mirrors fears among some European businesses that aspects of Mr Trumps tax-reform bills may have been designed to give American companies an advantage over foreign rivals. Whereas today, European companies have an advantage over their American rivals, due among other things to our irrationally high corporate tax rates. One of Mr Trumps proposals would see US companies forced to pay a 20 per cent tax on payments to foreign companies effectively forcing them to spend money with American firms. This, the ministers, said, would impact on genuine commercial arrangements. Because it would only apply where payments are being made for foreign goods and services, this would discriminate and break WTO rules. I have no idea whether this claim is true or not. I assume that those in Congress who drafted the tax reform act are aware of WTO rules. But in any event, WTO rules cannot freeze in place terrible tax policy forever. If our corporate tax system is irrational and places American companies and workers at a disadvantagewhich it is, and doesit should be changed. If international arrangements need to be modified in the wake of tax reform, so be it. I am just glad to see Europeans complaining that a U.S. administration is favoring American companies and workers. That certainly isnt something we had to worry about during the Obama administration. Michael Barone takes up the case of Minnesota Public Radios erasure of Garrison Keillors A Prairie Home Companion and The Writers Almanac broadcasts from its website. Barone shares my unhappiness, and that of Rod Dreher, that Keillors work has been flushed down the memory hole because of the authors sins. Barone notes that Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a criminal, quite possibly a murderer, yet he created great art. Indeed, if one of his few dozen extant paintings came on the market, it would fetch tens and possibly hundreds of millions of dollars, and rightly so. Barone updates us on the status of MPRs website as it pertains to Keillor: Apparently Minnesota Public Radio has revised its website since [David] Vossbrink reported he could find no mention of Keillor on it. Here is what I found on their website today: A Prairie Home Companion and The Writers Almanac Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) recently terminated its contracts with Garrison Keillor and his private media companies. (MPR cannot discuss specific details. Here is the full statement.) MPR does not fully own the rights to continue to use the names or provide archive content for A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and The Writers Almanac programs. Garrison Keillor and his companies own many of the rights to this artistic content. Barone concludes: Thats better than complete erasure, but I wonder why they couldnt provide a link to Keillors work as well. Robert Muellers investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election has been plagued with scandal. In one notorious episode, the FBI agent who was perhaps most critical to the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as to Muellers inquiry, Peter Strzok, turned out to be a rabid anti-Trump partisan. Moreover, he was conducting an extramarital affair with another anti-Trump zealot, Lisa Page, who is an FBI lawyer and also worked on the Russia investigation. Both Strzok and Page have been dismissed from Muellers team, but Mueller apparently has tried to cover up the circumstances surrounding their respective transfers. It has been suggested that both Peter Strzok and his illicit lover Lisa Page may have been involved in using the fake Russia dossier created by and for the Clinton campaign to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. If this is true, it is the biggest scandal in the history of American politics. Glenn Reynolds decided to go to the source and ask Mueller or his representatives whether these reports are accurate. I am taking the liberty of reproducing Glenns post in its entirety: SO I JUST HAD AN INTERESTING EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH THE SPECIAL COUNSELS PRESS OFFICE: Me: Im hearing from a source that Lisa Page was involved in approving Peter Strzoks warrant requests to the FISC and possibly elsewhere. Can you confirm or deny if this was the case? And please tell me what her job title and function are in your office. Thanks. Them (via spokesman Joshua Stueve): Lisa Page, who was an attorney on detail to the Special Counsels office, returned to the FBIs Office of the General Counsel in mid-July. Me again: Thank you but that doesnt answer my question. What role did Lisa Page have in the handling of warrant applications, and in particular those involving Peter Strzok? Them again: Ill decline to comment further. Well, then. Page, remember, is the FBI lawyer with whom Strzok was having an extramarital affair and exchanging anti-Trump texts. Perhaps someone with more resources than I will be able to get to the bottom of this. The entire Mueller operation stinks. President Trump would be thoroughly justified in shutting it down, if that were politically feasible. I might as well get into the hot take game. Democrats and their media echo chamber will openly celebrate Doug Joness narrow win in Alabama, but inside Ill bet they are actually disappointed. There is little chance they can hold this seat in 2020 (unless Republicans nominate Roy Moore again). Meanwhile, Jones deprives them of their favorite talking point that Republicans are all drooling knuckle-dragging morons. Worse, it means Al Franken will likely have to go through with his resignation after all. Id bet money that a polygraph examination would reveal that Franken was secretly hoping for a Moore victory. It was his only chance of hanging on. One other factor: if Doug Jones hadnt been a pro-abortion absolutist he might have won this contest easily. His win will mean that Democrats will entertain no second thoughts about their abortion absolutism, and it will continue to hurt them, on balance, in many states. Also: Steve Bannon not looking so good right now either. The government we live under does not resemble the one that is described in the Constitution. The principal reason for this is the power of federal regulatory agencies, which has grown explosively and is virtually unrestrained by Congress, the courts or even the president, who nominally controls the executive branch. The extra-constitutional administrative state now represents a grave threat to our liberties. The Supreme Court has an opportunity to begin the long process of restoring democratic, constitutional government in a case called Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, et al. The facts of the Weyerhaeuser case are almost impossible to believe if you havent been following the federal governments regulatory overreach. The Fish and Wildlife Service has designated an area in Louisiana (Unit 1) consisting of 1,544 acres as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog even though not a single dusky gopher frog lives in Unit 1. Not only that, it is not possible for a dusky gopher frog to live in Unit 1! As of 1965, there were only 100 dusky gopher frogs known to exist in the wild, none in Louisiana. It is not hard to understand why: the species has complicated habitat requirements, including small, isolated ephemeral ponds located in open canopy forest, for breeding; open canopy forest upland from such ephemeral ponds as non-breeding habitat; and open canopy uplands connecting the two, allowing the frogs passage. Oh, one more thing: this intermediate territory must not only have an open canopy, it must include abundant native herbaceous species of ground cover produced by frequent fires. The Fish and Wildlife Service has admitted that Unit 1 does not contain the features necessary to be habitable by dusky gopher frogswhich is consistent, of course, with the fact that none live there. The land we are talking about is private property, owned by, among others, Weyerhaeuser Company. It is suitable for development; in fact, St. Tammany Parish, where Unit 1 is located, is the fastest-growing parish in Louisiana. The parish has filed a brief as an amicus which would almost be funny if the circumstances were not so outrageous: The critical habitat designation removes said property from being developed and as such usurps the authority of the Parish as authorized by the State of Louisiana to manage growth.Management of the proposed habitat to sustain the frogs would ultimately require that the existing forest be destroyed and the establishment of a longleaf pine forest, which would require in turn that this forest be maintained by the periodic burning of the property in order to stimulate the growth of new planted longleaf trees, which is essential to converting the existing ponds back into ephemeral ponds for frogs to even have a chance to survive at the said property. This maintenance procedure along the abutting Louisiana Highway 36 corridor, which is a critical east-west transportation route, will create serious public safety concerns both for local and interstate commerce traffic as well as resultant health hazards from the thick smoke clouds for the nearby community of Hickory. The Fish and Wildlife Service is required by law to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the economic impact of the critical habitat designation. Even though it wildly underestimated the economic impact, Fish and Wildlife found up to $34 million in costs, and no economic benefits. No matter. It proceeded with the designation anyway. How does such an outrageous regulation come about? Here, as is often the case, it is the result of the corrupt sue and settle tactic. Environmental advocacy organizations sue agencies like Fish and Wildlife, asking the court to compel the agency to, in this case, designate the land in question as critical habitat. The agency is only too happy to complythe lawsuit is fundamentally collusiveand the court has little alternative but to rubber-stamp the parties settlement. Sue and settle is an area where reform is desperately needed. A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Fish and Wildlifes designation of uninhabitable, privately-owned land as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. Judge Priscilla Owen, dissenting from that opinion, wrote: There is a gap in the reasoning of the majority opinion that cannot be bridged. The area at issue is not presently essential for the conservation of the [endangered] species because it plays no part in the conservation of that species. Its biological and physical characteristics will not support a dusky gopher frog population. There is no evidence of a reasonable probability (or any probability for that matter) that it will become essential to the conservation of the species because there is no evidence that the substantial alterations and maintenance necessary to transform the area into habitat suitable for the endangered species will, or are likely to, occur. Judge Owen concluded that the panels decision re-writes the Endangered Species Act. Weyerhaueser petitioned for review by the full 5th Circuit court. Its petition was rejected, with six judges dissenting. Weyerhaeuser has now petitioned for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. The dusky frog case is so outrageous that one might assume that it is unique. Unfortunately, it isnt. in 2014, the Fish and Wildlife Service designated 35% of all the privately-owned land in San Juan County, Utah, as critical habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse, even though, according to the Countys brief, the sage grouse does not and cannot live on most, or all, of that land. In 2014, the Washington Post wrote that proposals to conserve the sage grouse could cost up to 31,000 jobs, up to $5.6 billion in annual economic activity and more than $262 million in lost state and local revenue every year. It is vitally important that the Supreme Court begin the process of reining in the out of control federal bureaucracy. The Weyerhaeuser case is a good place to start. The Supreme Court should grant certiorari, and should reverse the 5th Circuits decision. This is how the Petitioners characterize the issue that is ultimately at stakecorrectly, I think: The core question is simple: Does the Endangered Species Act give the Federal Government, at its choosing, virtually unrestrained control over any and all land (public or private) throughout the United States? Cases like this one are also a reminder of how fortunate we are that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, and how important it is that the Senate confirm his judicial nominees with dispatch. The alliance between the left-wing federal bureaucracy and left-wing federal judges is the greatest threat to our liberties that we face. In 2009, President Obama nominated Chai Feldblum, a leading gay rights activist, for a spot on the five-person Equal Employment Commission. Her nomination inflamed social conservatives. As a result, in March 2010, Obama placed her on the EEOC without Senate confirmation, through a recess appointment. In December of that year, the Senate finally confirmed her for a term ending in 2013. In 2013, the Senate confirmed her for a second term. This time, Harry Reid relied on the abolition of the filibuster for presidential nominees, and Feldblum was approved by a vote of 54-41. Now, Bloomberg reports (via its subscription only Daily Labor Report) that President Trump will renominate Feldblum. I find this news shocking. Given Feldblums history as EEOC commissioner, described in part below, I would have wagered plenty against it. Feldblum used her position at the EEOC to promote a radical LBGT agenda. First, she succeeded in having the Commission take the position that Title VII protects gays and lesbians from employment discrimination. Theres a good argument that gays and lesbians should have this protection as a matter of policy. However, Feldblums legal argument has long been rejected by the courts. As Ed Whelan wrote in 2015: Over a period of decades, every federal courts of appeals that has addressed the question has ruled that Title VIIs bar on sex discrimination in employment does not encompass a bar on sexual-orientation discrimination. [See link for citations to decisions from seven different courts of appeals] Next, Feldblum focused on the transgender bathroom wars. She cast the deciding vote in a case where the EEOC decided that the Department of the Army discriminated against Todd Lusardi when it denied him equal access to female restroom facilities. Feldblum and two other commissioners viewed the denial as both disparate treatment on the basis of sex and creation of a hostile work environment. They wrote: On this record, there is no cause to question that Complainantwho was assigned the sex of male at birth but identifies as femaleis female. Yes there was. According to Ed Whelan, the record indicated that the complainant, who recently had changed his legal name from Todd Lusardi to Tamara Lusardi, is genetically male and even retains (or, at least at the time of the events in question, retained) male genitalia. Whelan also noted: [E]ven though Lusardi did not complain about it, the EEOC [went] out of its way in a footnote to opine that his employer unlawfully deprived him of the use of common locker and shower facilities that non-transgender employees could use. In other words, according to the EEOC majority, its unlawful sex discrimination to bar a man who thinks of himself as a woman from sharing locker and shower facilities with women. Feldblum has little more use for religious freedom than she does for biology, when it stands in the way of her radical LGBT agenda. She told NROs Maggie Gallagher that when religious liberty and sexual liberty conflict, Im having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win. (Later in the same interview, she said in almost all cases the sexual liberty should win because thats the only way that the dignity of gay people can be affirmed in any realistic manner). The Trump administration sees it differently. For example, it took the side of Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker, in the gay wedding cake case. In addition, the Trump Justice Department recently argued in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that Title VII does not protect gays and lesbians from employment discrimination. In that case, the judges were treated to the curious spectacle of the EEOC taking one side and the DOJ taking the other in the same case and the same courtroom. Again, the DOJs position reflected how Title VII has always been understood. The EEOCs position reflected Chai Feldblums crusade to change the law. Furthermore, President Trump opposes allowing men (biologically speaking) to use womens restrooms and shower facilities. Indeed, his administration formally rescinded guidance issued by the Obama administration on the supposed right of transgender public school students to access to bathrooms and locker rooms used by members of the opposite sex (biologically speaking). Why in the world as Trump re-nominated the Obama administrations leading LGBT activist to the EEOC? To be sure, two of the five members of the EEOC must be Democrats. [Correction: the statute only requires that no more than three commissioners be of the same political party. See 42 USC 2000e-4.] But nothing requires that any of the five be hard-left Dems who push a radical LGBT agenda. There are plenty of Democrats Trump could have selected who would be fairly innocuous, at least compared to Feldblum. Nor can it be argued that Feldblum would be innocuous because of a Republican majority on the Commission. There is no Republican majority and probably wont be anytime soon. At present, the EEOC consists of three Democrats and only one Republican. No Republican has been confirmed and at the rate things are going, we cannot expect a Republican majority for quite some time. To make matters worse, Trump hasnt nominated a General Counsel for the EEOC. The General Counsel drives the EEOCs litigation strategy, subject to approval or disapproval by the five-member Commission. Thus, under President Trump, a left-liberal Democrat nominated by former president Obama will continue for the foreseeable future to choose which cases and legal theories he wants the EEOC to pursue, and left-liberal Democrats will continue to sign off on these cases. The result will be that the government continues to take litigation positions inconsistent with the views of the White House and inconsistent with the views of social conservatives who consider President Trump their ally. In fact, as noted, the EEOC has taken a position inconsistent with the Justice Departments in a real live case pending in the Second Circuit. I assume (but dont know) that Trump re-nominated Feldblum as part of a deal with Chuck Schumer. I can conceive of favors from Schumer that might justify another term of Feldblum. I cant imagine Schumer granting those favors. NOTE: I have modified this post to correct an error about the state of play regarding Republican nominees to the Commission. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. PLEASANTVILLE Despite a Rice notice to instructional aide Tim Jones that possible disciplinary action against him would be discussed at Tuesdays Board of Education meeting, and a large turnout in Jones favor, the board declined to broach the subject. Pleasantville School Business Administrator Elisha Thompkins announced at the meeting that discussion on Jones was not on for today. Thompkins said Wednesday that Jones Rice notice was one of 17 that went out to employees on various matters. And public comment was inappropriate, he said, referring to various people, including Jones, who made public comments about Jones during the early part of the meeting. Jones, 58, who has been employed by the district since 2009, has been caring for the same student who uses a wheelchair since he started working there. According to a letter provided to The Press of Atlantic City, Jones was notified in late November by Thompkins that Superintendent Charles Alston would be discussing his performance-related issue with the school board at its December meeting. The letter offered Jones the opportunity to have the issue discussed in closed session or in public. Jones replied to Thompkins via email Dec. 4 asking for clarification on the performance-related issue, according to an email forwarded to The Press. In that email, he also asked that his case be heard in open session. Rice notices are sent to public employees when the governing body intends to discuss that individuals employment, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association. The term Rice notice stems from the 1977 case of Rice v. Union County Regional High School Board of Education, in which the court found that individual employees being discussed could waive their right to privacy and have the board discuss the matter in open session. Jones claimed the issue was related to him not being near his student at all times. I have not had one complaint from anyone regarding this issue of me shadowing him, Jones said. Im always here. The student, Stephon Gant, and his mother, Stephanie Bruno, came out Tuesday in support of Jones. Stephon is a 14-year-old teenager. Hes starting to assert his independence, Bruno said. She said because Stephon cant do a lot independently, she appreciates Jones giving him the space to talk with his friends when he can. Stephon said he has never felt unsafe or unsupported when Jones would allow him space to socialize. If I need something, I can call him, Stephon said. Hes always been there for me. He goes over and beyond for him, so I dont really understand it, Bruno added. On Wednesday, Thompkins said the board is not obligated to have Jones participate in any discussion about his employment. He said he is unsure if there will be future discussion. Thats a decision by the superintendent whether or not we will discuss any matter on any personnel issue for the January board meeting, Thompkins said. Bid requests tabled In other business, the school board tabled a resolution to solicit bids for custodial and maintenance services for the 2018-19 school year after members of the Pleasantville Education Association questioned whether it was an attempt at privatization. Are you planning on doing away with our custodial and maintenance department? asked Jean Hovey, vice president at-large of the PEA. The resolution, part of the finance consent agenda, authorized the board to solicit competitive contracts for custodial maintenance grounds maintenance. Hovey said per the PEA contact, the union must be notified before any such action is taken, and that no notice was given. Before the vote on the consent agenda, board member Lawrence Tony Davenport asked for clarity on why the district was soliciting bids. Are we looking to privatize or not? Davenport asked. Board members Ethel Seymore and Sharnell Morgan also questioned the intent of the resolution. Thompkins said the move was an attempt to look at possible cost savings but did not rule out future privatization. We look at costs on everything. There is a difference in going out to bid and awarding a bid, he said. Im not saying down the road its not possible. Davenport said he sees more places to save money in the administration than in the custodial staff, whom he said are mostly all members of the community. The board voted to pull the agenda item for discussion in executive session, but because the item was not eligible for discussion in executive session, Thompkins said he informed the board that it could not be discussed. After executive session, the resolution was held for discussion at another time. ATLANTIC CITY For 21-year-old Diallo Watts, next week will mean the start of something new. Watts, originally from Philadelphia, was homeless and found his way to Covenant House in Atlantic City to get services and resources. He came to the city to start fresh and now hes enrolled in a class starting Monday to begin training for a career. I came out here to start my life over, he said Wednesday. This will be a big step for me to improve my life and get my life back on track. Watts was one of 15 people all living in Atlantic City chosen to be part of the new class of the Training to Hire program, a 12-week program that will ultimately connect the participants with a job working on the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City project. The students were welcomed in the city Wednesday, where Watts said hes interested in the electrical field and hopes to pursue it in the program. The program is sponsored by Joseph Jingoli & Son, Inc., an investor in the property, along with Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. It is administered by Anthony Brower, who leads the Atlantic City nonprofit Friends in Action. Mayor-elect Frank Gilliam said the program opens opportunities for people in Atlantic City, something thats necessary to boost the citys future. The program teaches skills that can expand from a job and grow into a career, he said. Its not every day that you get an opportunity that can change your lives, Gilliam said to the students Wednesday. You are the masters of your own destiny. The incoming class sat around a large table Wednesday with students from the previous Training to Hire class, who are finishing jobs working on the Atlantic City Gateway project, building a Stockton University campus and a South Jersey Gas headquarters. You have a great opportunity to be whatever you want to be, Shakera McAllister, 35, told the incoming students. McAllister, an Atlantic City native, joined the program in January 2016. She first learned communication skills and then moved along to become an administrative assistant. McAllister explained to the students that perseverance, tenacity, time and dedication will help lead them to success. During this years program, the students will be trained in construction math, heating, ventilation and air conditioning basics, electrical work and job-site safety. Once they graduate the 12-week program, they can be connected to construction jobs on the Hard Rock project. Matt Harkness, the president of Hard Rocks Atlantic City property, said the program, through community outreach, will help the residents and neighborhoods around the property have stability. The training you guys can be a part of is not just a job, its a career, Harkness told the students. The program will teach basic skills and involve branching out in the fields the students are interested in and qualified for. Along with construction training, they will receive safety training, and resume and interviewing skills. Everybody is invested in you, Brower said. Be ready for work. CAMDEN A Camden County postal worker Tuesday admitted his role in a scheme to steal and convert over 100 blank U.S. Postal Service money orders, resulting in nearly $100,000 in losses, authorities said. Marc Saunders, 39, of Sicklerville, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to an information charging him with one count of transmitting and presenting unlawfully issued USPS money orders with intent to defraud the United States, according to the statement issued by Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick. According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Saunders was employed as a letter carrier at the USPS branch in New Lisbon, New Jersey. Saunders admitted that while working at the New Lisbon branch, he stole a money order imprinting machine and more than 100 USPS money orders. Saunders used the machine to produce completed money orders that appeared legitimate, which he then gave to middle men that he recruited. The middle men recruited individuals to cash the money orders for a small fee. The middle men and Saunders kept the rest of the money. The charge for transmitting and presenting unlawfully issued USPS money orders carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for March 20, 2018. AVALON Representatives from Cape May County municipalities, police departments and businesses gathered Wednesday morning to learn more about cybersecurity in the wake of recent attacks. Detective Sgt. Bryan Hamilton, of the Cape May County Prosecutors Offices High Technology Crime Unit, said school districts, businesses and police departments in the county have been subject to cyberattacks in recent years. Its running rampant, Hamilton told the audience. The workshop was hosted by the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management. It featured presentations by the countys Department of Management Information Systems, the Prosecutors Office and the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell. Presenters said hackers use a number of techniques, including phishing emails and ransomware attacks, to infiltrate computer systems to obtain information and siphon money. It could devastate a business, said Martin Pagliughi, the countys emergency management coordinator and mayor of Avalon. It could devastate a municipal, county, state or federal government. Hamilton said his unit is investigating an incident where scammers stole about $800,000 from a local title company during a real estate deal. The hackers posed as the real estate firm involved in the deal and used a fake email address to convince the company to wire the money out of state. Within hours, the cash was transferred overseas, Hamilton said. Solving cyber crimes involving hackers from China, Europe or any foreign country is exceedingly difficult, he added. So, the presenters said, companies and municipalities should do what they can to bolster security and mitigate risks before an attack happens. Our goal is to reduce everyones cyber risk, said Krista Mazzeo, an analyst for NJCCIC. She suggested users allow their computers to update often Microsoft and other tech companies usually patch security issues during that process. All the presenters stressed the importance of regularly backing up computer data. That way, organizations will have something to go back on if attackers hold files for ransom or destroy them all together. Mazzeo said businesses and governments should also utilize two-factor authentication for their accounts, meaning that users need their password plus another piece of personal information. Suspicious emails should be thoroughly investigated before being opened, the presenters said. In the title company case, the email address used by the hackers was one letter off from the real estate companys actual address, Hamilton said. Phishing emails have become much more sophisticated than the popular Nigerian Prince emails of years past. There are phishing scams now that can fool security researchers, Mazzeo said. It can work on all of us. Everyone is vulnerable to this type of attack. Pagliughi said Wednesdays workshop was part of an effort by the emergency management office to look at threats to the county. Five or six similar events discussing different topics will be held over the course of the next year, he added. GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP Firefighters from several fire companies battled a blaze in the freezing cold Wednesday afternoon at the Mattix Run apartment complex. Authorities were looking Wednesday afternoon to contact the occupant of the two-story, single-family unit, Galloway Township Fire Chief Richard Smith said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, Smith said. Firefighters were still putting out hot pockets close to two hours after the blaze started. Once the fire was completely out, police and fire crews planned to search for anyone who might have been inside the unit at the time of the fire, Smith said. A Bayview Volunteer Fire Company firefighter was one of the first people at the scene at about 12:45 p.m. He said he saw fire coming out of every window and every side of the corner unit. The building has brick front, which was intact, but the back of the unit was not made of brick and had collapsed. The unit's roof was gone. The fire was contained to the unit as firefighters attacked the blaze with a hand-line operation on the first floor and a water line on an aerial ladder for the roof and the second floor, Smith said. The firewall kept the blaze from spreading, he said. "The initial attack was excellent," Smith said. Although temperatures were hovering around the freezing mark, Smith said firefighters did not have to deal with snow or ice. "Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from the building," Smith said. The fire was under control by about 2 p.m. In addition to Galloway Township and Bayview, crews from Oceanville, Pomona and Absecon responded to the fire, while multiple companies covering various fire houses, Smith said. The Galloway Township Police Department and Galloway EMS also were at the scene, along with South Jersey Gas. ATLANTIC CITY The Rev. Jon Thomas, pastor of St. Monicas parish, stood on the newly installed luxury vinyl tile at Our Lady Star of the Sea church and laughed when he pointed to a spot where the old carpet had been held together with masking tape. When parishioners return to Our Lady Star of the Sea for Christmas Mass later this month, they will walk into a completely renovated church with a touch of history from previous parishes in the city. The renovations are something that I think everyone will enjoy, Thomas said. We will be much more handicap-friendly. Martha Schmidinger, of Atlantic City, donated nearly $500,000 to Our Lady Star of the Sea church when she died in 2009. It was money Schmidinger intended to go to restoring the interior of Our Lady Star of the Sea. (Martha) knew that down the line the church was going to need some work, said Mary Ellen Maguire, a parishioner and former business manager at Our Lady Star of the Sea for 40 years. Her faith meant so much to her and she saw this as Gods house. Schmidinger volunteered at the church office three days a week answering phones and the door, Maguire said. She was very humble, Maguire said. She never spent any money on herself. She loved this church and the priests here. Following several months of renovations, the church will have a new floor, new wheelchair-friendly ramps, a new bathroom, new pews and a new altar, among other things. The new altar, which will feature the Virgin Mary, is the same altar used in the Holy Spirit church that closed in the 1990s. The church was located in near where the closed Revel casino now sits. We wanted to make sure that people who worshiped there would recognize something, Thomas said. The closing of churches was controversial for Catholics in Atlantic City in recent years. In 2015, St. Michaels and St. Monicas church celebrated Mass for the last time after the Diocese of Camden ordered them closed due to declining attendance. St. Michaels closed, while St. Monicas consolidated with the citys two remaining Catholic churches Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Nicholas of Tolentine remained open. The citys Italian immigrant community founded St. Michaels in 1904 in the Ducktown section of the city. The churchs construction was completed in December 1912. St. Michaels was reopened for Sunday Mass last summer to accommodate the high number of tourists, and the church also has been open for Mass while Our Lady Star of the Sea has been closed for renovations, Thomas said. Since the consolidation of the parishes, St. Monicas has tried to make the new parish something parishioners from around the city can recognize. The new parish logo, for example, pulls from the history of Catholicism in Atlantic City. The waves below Parish of Saint Monica on the logo refer to the Atlantic Ocean, and the image of St. Monica is taken from the stained glass window in St. Nicholas Church above the door between the sanctuary and the sacristy. The icons on the bottom of the logo depict the five original parishes of Atlantic City in the order of their creation, according to parish history. The halo above the Purgatory fire represents St. Nicholas of Tolentine, the star above the waves refers to Marys ancient title as the Star of the Sea, the sword surrounded by wings represents Michael the Archangel, the dove represents Holy Spirit Church, and the hands folded in prayer refer to St. Monica and the conversion of her son, Augustine. Thomas said when the church reopens for Christmas, the tabernacle will be moved behind the altar and the baptismal font will be moved to the right of that. One confessional has been removed to help accommodate people with wheelchairs, and the pews no longer will have padding because the upholstery does not hold up well. The church still will seat about 450 people, he said. ATLANTIC CITY The opening of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and anticipated Stockton Gateway Project next year have increased both interest in and the value of the citys real estate. Those marquee projects are helping drive a change in perception regarding the resort, and thats driving up real estate prices, said Max M. Spann Jr., president and chief executive officer for the company auctioning city properties. During a land auction Tuesday at Atlantic City Convention Center, the Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co. sold more than $1.6 million worth of surplus city-owned property. Many of the properties, mostly open lots, were auctioned in bundles. Today, three-quarters of the portfolio were just lots. A year or so ago, we would have gotten considerable less prices or had no bid on some of the lots, Spann said. There has been an uptick in values and interest. After years of casino closings, the city appears to be heading for a rebirth in 2018 and land buyers have noticed, said Flamur Rama, founder and CEO of AAR Renovations, who was at the auction looking for properties. The market is starting to come back up, Rama said following the auction. People are interested because there really is no risk of the value of the property dropping any further. In summer 2018, Hard Rock is expected to open its casino hotel. The company plans to spend $500 million renovating the property into its universally recognizable brand. The project is expected to generate more than 1,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs, according to the company. A couple of months after Hard Rock opens, Stockton University plans to open its 675,000-square-foot, $220 million Gateway Project the new headquarters for South Jersey Gas and a campus for the university that includes an academic building, housing for more than 500 students and a parking garage. Next fall, The Beach at South Inlet, a residential project on a grassy four-acre lot bound by Atlantic, Pacific, New Jersey and Connecticut avenues, will bring a much-needed boost to a struggling area. A lot of important things have happened in the city and the marketplace is responding, Spann said. Sales that we have done earlier, it was mostly local buyers. Now we are having definite interest from the Philadelphia market, the New York City market and the northern New Jersey market. Tuesdays auction was the third the company has done for the city, Spann said. Each successive auction has increased in participation and excitement, he said. I think there is a very really perception, that people see Atlantic City being on the upswing again. After what seems like years, the Alabama special election is over. The race to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Senate featured votes spanning nearly four full months, featured one bizarre turn after another, and ended Tuesday night with Democrat Doug Jones pulling off the upset over Roy Moore, who faced allegations that he sexual assaulted teenage girls while he was in his 30s. Let's break down the whole thing via winners and losers. Winners - Democrats' Senate majority hopes: At the state of the cycle, the math for Democrats winning the Senate majority in 2018 - even in a very good environment - appeared prohibitive. They only had two bona fide pickup opportunities, they needed three pickups, and they had to defend 10 swing and red states that Donald Trump won. The map was just brutal. But since then, they've gotten the news they need to at least put the Senate in-play. Potential takeovers in Arizona and Nevada look increasingly promising. An open seat popped up in Tennessee where they last week landed popular former governor Phil Bredesen as a candidate, and now they nabbed 1 of the 3 pickups they needed a year early in Alabama. The math is still tough, but it's clearly within the realm of possibility now. And with Democrats claiming a double-digit lead on the generic ballot, things are looking up. - The #MeToo movement: As I argued earlier Tuesday, I don't think the results in Alabama say much about how voters would treat similar allegations in any other state. Alabama is just that uniquely polarized and ruby-red. And the fact that Moore still had a fighting chance - and that so many Alabama Republicans clearly believed him when he said his female accusers were making it up -- showed the downside of going public with these things. But Jones' win has to be a shot in the arm for the #MeToo movement. A year after sexual harassment accusations failed to bring down Trump, they were able to bring down a Republican in a dark-red state. Moore certainly had other problems, but this has to embolden other women who might be considering sharing their own stories. At the very least, it shows they can have real, palpable impact. - Democrats' pulse in the Deep South: To be clear: This is a stunning result -- no matter what preceded it. Before Tuesday, a Democrat had not won a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in more than three decades. The party is practically extinct in the Deep South and have been for a few years now, with their gains there gradually rolling back during the Obama presidency. Racial polarization has made the region practically impenetrable for the blue team, which basically holds majority-black congressional districts and nothing else. I wouldn't say this ushers in a Democratic revival, by any means - absent the allegations against Moore, Jones very likely would have lost - but the fact that Democrats could even capitalize on the right opportunity in a tough region has to warm the hearts of party officials and supporters. - The gender gap: The 2016 election featured the largest gender gap in a presidential race in modern history, with men going for Trump by 11 points and women going for Hillary Clinton by 13 points. Well, the gender gap in Alabama was even bigger, with men going for Moore by 17 points (57-40) and women going for Jones by 15 (57-42). That should reinforce the idea that men and women process allegations of sexual harassment and assault differently. - African-American turnout: Perhaps the biggest storyline heading into special election day was whether black voters would turn out to vote enough for Jones. Given how racially polarized Alabama is, Jones could only count on so many votes from white Alabamians, who usually got about 4-to-1 or more for the GOP. And the home-stretch of Jones' campaign featured names like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Charles Barkley, along with robocalls from former President Barack Obama. Well, black voters turned out -- in about the same numbers they did for Obama in 2008 and 2012, in fact. Exit polls show 28 percent of the electorate was back, which is slightly higher than the state's black population (27 percent) and especially good considering Obama wasn't on the ballot. The big question is whether this was because conservative-leaning white voters were turned off by the allegations against Moore and stayed home, or because efforts to turn out black voters were just that successful. Even if it was a mix though, black voters gave Jones a shot. * * * Losers - President Trump: Trump stuck his neck out by backing Moore even when other members of the GOP establishment wouldn't, apparently believing Moore had regained momentum and perhaps wary of losing another vote in a closely divided Senate. Whatever the case, it backfired - and in an extremely pro-Trump state, no less. Dating back to the October primary runoff in which he backed Luther Strange over Moore, Trump has now supported the loser in three straight statewide contests in three consecutive months (the third being Ed Gillespie's Virginia governor campaign in November). Trump loves to point out how well Republicans have done in House special elections, which all happen to have been in conservative districts by the way. By that same logic, he's now on quite the losing streak. - Senate Republicans: As The Post Paul Kane astutely pointed out Tuesday morning, either result Tuesday was difficult to call a victory for Senate Republicans. Losing the seat would mean their Senate majority was narrowed by half and more imperiled come 2018, but winning it would mean they have to deal with Moore. And even before all the sexual allegations, that was something Senate Republicans really preferred wouldn't be the case, given Moore's uniquely extreme politics and penchant for fashioning himself a martyr. Layer on top of that the fact that Republicans said they'd call for an ethics investigation and even, in some cases, Moore's expulsion, and Moore being in the Senate might be a bigger headache than a Democrat. In the end, Republicans got Option A. - Mitch McConnell: This may seem redundant given the above, but there was nobody who took a beating worse in the entire Alabama campaign than the Senate majority leader. Moore decided to make him the bogeyman from the very start, sending hyperbolic emails warning that McConnell was trying to stop him. And when the allegations came to light, McConnell clearly did try to stop Moore, urging him to step aside in favor of a GOP write-in candidate. Well, none of it worked. And not only did McConnell fail to nudge Moore aside, but by the end of the race, exit polls showed just 16 percent of Alabama voters had a favorable opinion of the GOP leader, versus 67 percent unfavorable -- in a red state. Expect plenty of insurgent GOP primary challengers to use this exact same playbook next year. It sure seemed to pay dividends here. - Roy Moore's surrogates: They took to the media to defend Moore when nobody else would, and they repeatedly showed exactly why nobody else would. They compared Moore's alleged relationships with teenagers to Mary and Joseph in the Bible. They compared unwanted sexual touching of a 14-year old to stealing a lawnmower. They awkwardly cited a TV host's "diverse background" -- apparently a reference to arranged marriages in India (despite the host never having lived there). And even on special election day, they took to the cable news airwaves to suggest public officials were required to swear oaths of office on the Bible (they're not). It was a painful, and now thankfully it's over. ZUG, Switzerland, Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BLOCKv is showcasing its technology with an innovative contest leading up to a concert at Moscow's Olympic Stadium featuring Leningrad, one of the biggest bands in Russia. The contest, a digital treasure hunt for fans of the band, is sponsored by MegaFon, one of the largest telecom operators in Russia. "MegaFon is using our technology to build excitement prior to a huge show with an augmented reality holiday themed treasure hunt around Moscow," explains BLOCKv CEO Reeve Collins. "It will provide a new, novel engaging experience not possible before BLOCKv." In the contest, fans of the band will go on an augmented reality journey to collect digital objects found in real-world Moscow locations like St. Basil's Cathedral and The Bolshoi Theatre. Fifty tickets for the Dec. 16 concert will be awarded and every participant will win a "surprise" prize too. "BLOCKv is a technology platform and this is just one example of the types of experiences it can bring to life. All of the tools to build, run, view and interact with smart digital objects are provided," explains Collins. "In this use case, the Ethereum blockchain will be used to ensure that the sweepstakes is run with complete legitimacy. Our technology ensures a level of transparency and fairness that was not possible prior to blockchain." BLOCKv lets developers create highly programmable digital objects, called vAtoms. The ownership of digital ticket vAtoms is confirmed via a record on blockchain, meaning that for the first time, people can own a virtual object that is unique, verifiable and tradable, and that can exist across different environments (AR, VR, mobile phones, TVs, tablets, etc.). "We've built a contest where the digital and the real world cross paths. Fans will love the hunt and the great prizes, MegaFon gets to be at the forefront of an exciting new technology, and BLOCKv innovates a brand new way to use blockchain. It's thrilling all the way around," Collins says. MegaFon is the second largest mobile phone operator and the third largest telecom operator in Russia (at the end of 2016, the total subscriber base had more than 77.4 million people more than half the country's population). The company approached BLOCKv in the hopes of using new technologies to create exciting experiences for customers. Anton Elizarov, Internet Marketing Manager at MegaFon, says, "The goal of the project is to demonstrate the use of blockchain technology for a wide audience and provide a platform for a groundbreaking user experience and a truly honest competition." Collins adds, "Working with MegaFon has been great and we look forward to attracting other big brands around the world. Knowing that companies like MegaFon are hearing about our technology and approaching us to use the developer platform proves we're headed in the right direction. This contest is just the beginning." Contact: supportblockv.io Related Links http://blockv.io SOURCE BLOCKv Kubtec's suite of imaging solutions are sold to breast radiologists, breast surgeons, clinicians and pathologists around the world. Kubtec's XPERT point-of-care specimen radiography systems enable improved outcomes, provide better patient comfort through shorter procedure times and allow for superior cosmesis. The MOZART System, the only intraoperative breast specimen imaging system using 3D Tomosynthesis technology, helps maximize breast conservation while removing the entire breast tumor. The XPERT 80 Series improves pathology lab efficiency with practical and dedicated imaging systems that provide the highest resolution. "Our strategy is to provide best-in-class technology that increases the accuracy of breast cancer detection while improving the patient experience," said Alain de Lambilly, President of Leica Biosystems Tissue Acquisition Solutions business. "Kubtec's innovative specimen imaging systems for breast centers, operating rooms and pathology labs are a great fit with our ever-growing product portfolio and align with our company's mission of advancing cancer diagnostics, improving lives." The agreement includes exclusive distribution of the newly co-branded Mammotome Confirm specimen imaging system both within the United States and worldwide, as well as non-exclusive distribution of the XPERT 40, XPERT 80 Series and the MOZART Systems both in the United States, Canada and several countries throughout Europe and Asia. KUBTEC will continue to market those products under the KUBTEC label through its own distribution channels. "Our goal at KUBTEC is to provide physicians with the tools they need to provide the best oncological and cosmetic outcomes for their patients while providing economic advantages for their institutions," said Vikram Butani, Chief Executive Officer of Kubtec. "We have had strong relationships with OEMs for a decade and we are delighted to add Leica Biosystems to our list of OEM partners. This agreement further increases our access to health care professionals specializing in breast cancer biopsy, surgery and pathology in the United States and worldwide." About Leica Biosystems Leica Biosystems is a global leader in workflow solutions and automation, integrating each step in the workflow. As the only company to own the workflow from biopsy to diagnosis, we are uniquely positioned to break down the barriers between each of these steps. Our mission of "Advancing Cancer Diagnostics, Improving Lives" is at the heart of our corporate culture. Our easy-to-use and consistently reliable offerings help improve workflow efficiency and diagnostic confidence. The company is represented in over 100 countries and is headquartered in Nussloch, Germany. For more information, please visit mammotome.com or LeicaBiosystems.com. About Kubtec Kubtec, a registered trademark of KUB Technologies, Inc., offers the most innovative tools in digital x-ray equipment for specimen radiography, low-dose imaging, scientific research, forensic analysis, non-destructive testing, irradiation and more. Kubtec is ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified and complies with U.S., Canadian, and European requirements for radiation safety. Systems and manufacturer-trained support are available worldwide. For more information, please visit kubtec.com. LEICA and the Leica logo are registered trademarks of Leica Microsystems IR GmbH. Mammotome is a registered trademark of Devicor Medical Products, Inc., part of Leica Biosystems, in the USA and optionally in other countries. Confirm is a trademark of Devicor Medical Products, Inc., part of Leica Biosystems, in the USA and optionally in other countries. Media Contact: Courtney Hill, Global Brand Marketing Specialist Phone: 847-405-7041 LBS-GlobalMarketing@leicabiosystems.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/396793/Leica_Biosystems_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/618961/Kubtec_Logo.jpg SOURCE Leica Biosystems The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), a cross-industry association of the telecoms and automotive industry, held a policy debate on Tuesday 5 December in Brussels to discuss the concrete actions necessary to implement 5G connected and automated vehicles in Europe. A recurring theme in Tuesday's debate was the cohesive development and implementation of cellular "vehicle to everything" (C-V2X) technology, the technology that will enable automobiles to communicate via cellular networks to other connected devices but also the possibility of ad-hoc communication without any cellular network involvement (e.g. in case of weak coverage). Policymakers and industry face the ongoing challenge of creating a cohesive framework that enables private sector innovation while ensuring a safe and economically viable rollout of new technologies. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/618815/5GAA.jpg ) (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/618816/Markus_Dillinger.jpg ) Attendees heard from a wide range from various European political and administrative representatives, including Eddy Hartog, EC Head of Unit Smart Mobility and Living, Attila Benedek (Adviser to Istvan Ujhelyi MEP, rapporteur on European C-ITS Strategy), Jaime Moreno Garcia-Cano of the Spanish traffic authority or Andreas Geiss, EC Head of Unit for Spectrum Policy. 5GAA was represented by its Secretary, Markus Dillinger of Huawei and board members, Luke Ibbetson of Vodafone, Joachim Gothel of BMW, Rainer Krumrein of Daimler, and Friedhelm Ramme of Ericsson. The debate coincides with the Commission's ongoing public consultation on its European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), which runs through January 5, 2018. C-V2X technology stands to significantly improve road safety and facilitate traffic flows in the EU. Ultimately, the benefits of this technology across the EU could save the several billion euros that are lost every year to traffic accidents and congested roadways. Markus Dillinger, 5GAA Secretary and Member of the Executive Committee: "5GAA was founded to underscore the urgency in developing technology that makes our roads safer and smarter. Today's debate brought together public and private sector stakeholders to discuss the capabilities of such technology as well as the acceleration of creating a regulatory framework in which the industry can work." During the event, analysts from Analysys Mason and SBD Automotive presented the findings of a cost-benefit analysis of implementing C-V2X technology. The socio-economic returns of deployment of C-ITS systems may amount to EUR 43 billion by 2035 in Europe, if both C-V2X and the Wi-Fi Standard IEEE 802.11p are able to co-exist in the 5.9GHz spectrum band. The 5GAA also presented a study assessing the road safety benefits of LTE-V2X (PC-5) and IEEE 802.11p in the EU, which indicates that LTE-V2X (PC5) outperforms 802.11p in reducing fatalities and serious injuries. In addition, it demonstrates that the absence of interoperability between technologies is unlikely to present a substantive barrier to the reduction of road accidents in the short to medium term. Bill McKinley, 5GAA rapporteur on tests and trials, and Rainer Krumrein of Daimler also presented 5GAA's perspective on C-V2X performance and future capabilities. The event culminated in a panel discussion to discuss the right framework to accelerate the deployment of the C-ITS across Europe. Particular attention was given to short range communications in the 5.9 GHz band and the four guiding policy principles established by the European Commission: uncompromised safety services for all users in case of multiple technologies implementation, technology neutrality of spectrum regulation, efficient spectrum use and introduction in the longer-term of 5G for the further development of cooperative, connected and automated mobility. Luke Ibbetson, R&D Director Vodafone Group and member of 5GAA: "Both C-V2X and ITS-G5 technologies should peacefully co-exist in the 5.9 GHz band. The socio-economic and road safety studies presented at this event indicate that co-existence offers the highest net benefits for the European economy, amounting to EUR 43 billion by 2035." Joachim Gothel, Senior Manager Project 5G-Alliance of BMW and member of 5GAA: "C-V2X offers a strong evolution path to 5G which is absolutely essential to enable full connected and automated driving in the future, while enabling a fast roll-out for many functionalities in the very short-term, utilizing existing cellular networks." About 5GAA The 5GAA is a cross-industry association between the cellular and automotive industries to develop, test and promote communications solutions, initiate their standardisation and accelerate their commercial availability and global market penetration, to address society's connected mobility and road safety needs with applications such as automated driving, ubiquitous access to services and integration into smart city and intelligent transportation. Press contact:Robbe Libbrecht, Robbe.libbrecht@finnpr.coml, +32-49723-3038 SOURCE 5GAA - 5G Automotive Association e.V. New Delhi, Dec 9 : Festival of Bharat, a four-day festival to be held in Rajasthan from March 1-4 next year will celebrate the essence of the country. Backed by Ministry of Tourism's Incredible India campaign and supported by The Art of Living, the first edition of the gala will take place at the Tijara Fort-Palace . It will consist of a live music festival, literary fest talks and debates, yoga retreat, organic Holi party and organic food fest. Among some of the performers will be renowned Indian classical flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Grammy-winning Hindustani classical music instrumentalist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. There will also be performances by crossover artistes Prem Joshua and Band, Aditya Prakash Ensemble -- known for its jazz and Indian classical music fusion, Sanskrit music band Dhruvaa Sanskrit Band, Chennai-based violinist and vocalist Karthick Iyer and his band and sitarist and a virtuoso cellist and composer Shubendra Rao and Saskia Rao De Haas respectively. Jasu Khan from Barmer, Rajasthan, will also perform, apart from Mumbai-based Indian pop rock band Sanam. Vadodara, Dec 10 : Dabhoi, one of the 36 constituencies of Gujarat where Muslims can influence the results, appears to be a hard nut to crack for the BJP as the social dynamics and tradition of "no repeat" favours the Congress, prompting the saffron party to rake up anti-Muslim fervour in a bid to polarize the voters. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Shailesh Mehta alias Sotta Bhai hit the headlines a few days back with communally provocative remarks. With the support of most voters among Patidars, Muslims and Scheduled Tribes (mostly Vasavas), which forms a winning combination, Congress candidate and former MLA Siddharth Patel looks to be in a good position. The tradition of "change" in each election since 1962 also favours Patel as BJP's Balkrishnabhai Patel won in 2012. Dabhoi has never elected a party or candidate twice in a row, forcing the BJP to change the nominee. Siddharth Patel, son of former Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel and head of the Congress campaign panel, won the seat in 2007 and 1998. Dabhoi constituency, part of Vadodara district and Chhota Udai Pur Lok Sabha constituency, consists of 45,854 Patidar, 22,321 Muslim, 47,040 ST, 44,026 Bakshi Panch (OBCs), 10,413 SC, 9,443 Rajput and 5,642 Brahmin voters. With the support of Patidars, STs and Muslims, Siddharth Patel has an edge as most STs here are Vasavas. Former JD-U leader and Bharatiya Tribal Party leader Chotubhai Vasava holds a good image among tribals. Vasava has joined hands with Congress. The BJP here, apart from upper caste votes, is banking on over 44,000 Bakshi Panch votes which comes under OBC category. As the Patidars are angry with the BJP, the ruling party is unlikely to get the major chunk of the community. Worried by the social dynamics favouring the Congress, Shailesh Sotta, days before the first phase of polls, told an election rally that "those sporting a beard and a topi must not raise their voice and eyes". Later, addressing an election rally in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Sotta maintained his stand, saying these "anti-social elements" must be oppressed. The statements may have given Sotta some prominence but people are not taking him seriously. Reacting to his remarks, Vinod Bhai Jaiswal, a transporter in Kilanpur village, told IANS: "All these are election gimmicks. Sotta Bhai has said this to polarize voters as he is losing the election. People will give him a befitting reply." But Kanubhai Darwadi, an OBC, hopes Sotta Bhai wins. "He is a strong candidate as he knows how to win even in odd situations." Truck owner Nadir Bhai Pathan said: "Siddharth Patel may be an outsider but he is a frequent visitor. He participates in our family functions as well and helps us too when needed." Rajkumar Vasava and his friends are eager to vote for Siddharth Patel. "The BJP has brought Sotta to beat the anti-incumbancy against the outgoing MLA Balkrishnabhai. This is not going to work," Vasava said. Retired teacher Rama Bhai Hada said Sotta's remarks were meant to woo Patidars and the tribals who are annoyed with the BJP. Alkesh Vasava, a barber, said: "None of the leaders come to the area after their victory. I last saw Balkrishnabhai Patel in 2012. How can anyone expect us to vote for him?" Hada added: "I don't think he (Sotta) will win." He said similar remarks were being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah as well in areas where the social dynamics don't favour the saffron party. Dabhoi will vote on December 14 in the second and final phase of the Gujarat election. The first round of voting took place on Saturday. Jamalpur-Khadia, Vejalpur, Vagra, Wankaner, Dariapur, Bhuj and Abdassa are among 36 seats where Muslim voters can play a key role. In Jamalpur-Khadia, Muslim voters form around 60 per cent while in other seats they comprise 13 to 15 per cent. In some seats in Bharuch and Kacchh region, Muslim voters range from 20 to 25 per cent. Political observers feel that while the Congress will benefit more in these seats, voting on communal lines will only help the BJP. (Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in) New Delhi, Dec 10 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said banning liquor was the biggest example of practising secularism and urged the Congress and Left parties to announce such bans in the states governed by them. "In all religions -- Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism -- consumption of liquor is termed bad. I want to ask the Congress and the Left parties -- since they talk about secularism a lot -- why don't they talk about liquor bans in states ruled by them? Why don't they run campaigns against it?" the Chief Minister said while addressing Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Delhi unit workers at the Talkatora Stadium here. Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD-U President, recalled that while addressing a meeting in Patna ahead of assembly elections in Bihar, some women had requested him for a ban on liquor in the state. "And I promised that if my government returns to power, I will do so," he said. He said it required a lot of courage to ban liquor, which was done in Bihar in April 2016. Talking of Bihari migrants living outside the state, the Chief Minister said they were Indian citizens who could, as per the Indian Constitution, go anywhere in the country to live and earn a living. "If Bihar people living in Delhi stop working for a day, the city will come to a standstill," Nitish Kumar said. The JD-U leader exhorted the workers to expand the party base in the national capital. "There is opportunity since lakhs of people from Bihar live and work here," he said. He also asked party leaders in Delhi to take up problems faced by residents of over 1,642 unauthorised colonies. "The party leader must take up the issues as colony residents are living in miserable conditions without proper drinking water or power," he said. "I visited some areas of Delhi and was shocked to see conditions there. Even conditions in Bihar villages are much better," he quipped. Accra, Dec 11 : Not much is known about him, but it has now emerged that trade relations between Ghana and India were started by Bhai Boolchand, the first Indian to arrive in the Gold Coast -- Ghana's colonial name -- in 1890. That's some 67 years before the British colonial government granted the country independence, research by the Indian Association of Ghana has found. "As far as our records show, Bhai Boolchand (of the Bhaiband Sindhworki trading community), landed on the shores of the Gold Coast in western Africa in 1890. Nearly twenty years later, in 1919, the first Sindhi company was established by two brothers -- Tarachand Jasoomal Daswani and Metharam Jasoomal Daswani," the Indian Association said. The duo opened a store -- Metharam Jassomal Brothers -- in the then capital city of Cape Coast in 1919. "Their business flourished and branches were opened in Accra and Kumasi. A few years later, the two brothers separated and whilst Bhai Metharam Jasoomal continued the business as Metharam Brothers, Tarachand Jasoomal operated his business as Bombay Bazaar. These were the first two Indian companies that were established in the Gold Coast," the Association said. Boolchand's arrival, therefore, pre-dates the historical links between the two countries that were always thought to have started between Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkruman, and India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Boolchand can thus be described as the one who paved the way for the arrival of other members of the Sindhi community, initially as traders and shopkeepers. The Indian Association said more of this group arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, with a few venturing into manufacturing industries such as garments, plastics, textiles, insecticides, electronics, pharmaceuticals and optical goods. The Association said two more Indian firms were established under the names of Lilaram Thanwardas and Mahtani Brothers in the 1920s. This trend continued in the 1930s and 1940s with the creation of several more Indian companies like T. Chandirams, Punjabi Brothers, Wassiamal Brothers, Hariram Brothers, K. Chellaram & Sons, G. Motiram, D.P. Motwani, G. Dayaram, V. Lokumal, and Glamour Stores. Glamour Stores, which was stared by Ramchand Khubchandani who arrived in Ghana in 1929, has grown -- after changing its name to Melcom Group -- to become the largest retailing business in the country. The Melcom Group, headed by Ramchand's son Bhagwan Khubchandani, is now in its 60th year and about 40 stores all over the country. Ramchand and his brother later went into garment manufacturing in 1955 and once employed over 1,200 Ghanaians. They later opened the first Indian restaurant, Maharaja, in Ghana. Bhagwan followed in his father's footsteps and in 1989 established the Melcom Group with his sons-in-law, Mahesh Melwani and Ramesh Sadhwani. Another Indian-owned company that has survived through the years is the Mohanani Group, which is currently in its 51st year. At the first-ever Ghana Expatriate Business Awards, the Ministry of Trade and Industries recognised the work of one of the thriving Indian-owned B5 Plus Steel Company and awarded it the Best Expatriate Company in the metal and steel category. As these companies brought in new expatriate staff, some left their employers to venture out on their own -- resulting in more companies opening up. "After 1947, the Gold Coast attracted the attention of some Indian multinational companies, and big names like Chanrai, Bhojsons, K.A.J. Chotirmal, Dalamals and A.D. Gulab opened branches in Ghana," the Association said. "The employment of Ghanaians by these founding companies also helped to lessen the burden of unemployment in the country. This amply demonstrates the level of commitment India has in the developmental agenda of Ghana," it said. Indians are not only investing in the manufacturing and commercial sectors of the country; they are also investing in the financial sector. Bank of Baroda, one of India's biggest and most reputable banks, recently established a branch in Ghana and hopefully it will expand its operations in other parts of the country very soon. (Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@gmail.com) Banaskantha (Gujarat), Dec 11 : Hitting out at Narendra Modi for dragging Pakistan into the Gujarat elections, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that rather than talking about foreign countries in his election campaign speeches in Gujarat the Prime Minister should say something about the state. "The Prime Minister talks sometimes about Pakistan and sometimes about China and Japan. Modiji, this is the election for the future of Gujarat. Talk something about Gujarat too," Gandhi said while addressing an election rally in Tharad assembly constituency of Banaskantha district. Rahul Gandhi's remark came in the wake of Modi's accusation that a group of Congress leaders met Pakistan's High Commissioner at party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence in New Delhi, before the latter called him (Modi) "neech". Addressing an election rally at Sanand, Modi on Sunday said: "There was a meeting convened at Aiyar's residence where Pakistan's High Commissioner, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, (former Vice President of India Hamid) Ansari and (former Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh were present. The meeting lasted three hours." "The next day Mani Shankar said I am a 'neech'," said the Prime Minister. Aiyar was promptly suspended from Congress' primary membership for the remark, and he also apologised for his comment. Gandhi said that since the last 2-3 days the Prime Minister has "left behind all other issues and talks about only two things". "During his entire speech half of the time he talks about Congress. You (Modi) claim that the country has been 'Congress-free' then why are you giving so much prominence to the Congress in your speeches?" he said, adding that Modi spends half the time talking about himself. Accusing Modi of maintaining silence over the development of Gujarat, Gandhi said that despite it being election time in Gujarat the Prime Minister is not talking about development of the last 22 years under the BJP government. "It seems that he has lost faith of the people of Gujarat. Speak about development at least for two-three minutes," he said in a jibe. Gandhi said that BJP President Amit Shah "runs Gujarat by remote control" and even Prime Minister "is scared of him". "The Prime Minister seems to be scared of Amit Shah. Listen to his speeches. He does not talk even a word about corruption," he said. Canberra, Dec 11 : A same-sex Australian couple stuck in a "legal limbo" was now finally being allowed to divorce, the media reported on Monday. Lawyers for the Perth woman filled out divorce papers on Sunday, a day after same-sex marriage became legal in Australia, reports the BBC. The pair had married in an European nation's consulate in Australia in 2015. When they later separated, the couple found themselves in a "legal limbo" of being unable to divorce in either nation, barrister Teresa Farmer said. "They were just stuck. (My client) was very much inextricably linked to this person and couldn't do anything about it," Farmer told the BBC. "Unless something changed in Australia, or in the overseas jurisdiction, she wasn't going to be able to move on." The women could not divorce because they were not residents of the country that married them, Farmer said. The marriage was immediately recognised when Australia's new laws became official, after MPs overwhelmingly voted for the change last week. Farmer said her client immediately lodged an application for divorce, received by a court on Monday. It was possibly the first application for a same-sex divorce in Australia, she told the BBC. Ankara, Dec 12 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin warned that the US move on Jerusalem destabilizes the Middle East and will not help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speaking at a joint news conference on Monday after his meeting with Putin, Erdogan criticised Israel for taking advantage of the US move on Jerusalem as "an opportunity to ramp up oppression and violence against the Palestinians," Xinhua reported. "It is impossible for anyone who has a conscience, morality, or value to ignore the killings," the Turkish leader said. He was apparently referring to the deaths of two Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces in clashes over the weekend in the Palestinian territories during Palestinian protests against Israeli occupation and US President Donald Trump's decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Erdogan added that Turkey and Russia share the same position on the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and will keep close cooperation on the issue. "We have seen the same approach on the US Jerusalem move. Both have agreed to continue our contacts in this regard," he said. For his part, Putin said the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital did nothing to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and was destabilising the situation in the Middle East. "The status of Jerusalem should be resolved by direct contacts between Israel and Palestine," Putin said. Erdogan said that, as the chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkey had invited the Islamic leaders to hold a summit in Istanbul this week. "I believe we will deliver a very strong message from there," he noted. Both leaders also discussed the bilateral relations as well as regional developments, particularly Syria, while pledging to continue cooperation on the Astana political process to resolve the Syrian crisis. They planned to hold a meeting next week in the Russian resort of Sochi, according to Erdogan. The two leaders have been meeting regularly in the past months. They last met in Sochi on November 22 to discuss the issue of Syria with Iran. New York, Dec 13 : The US Attorney's Office in New York has filed federal terrorism charges against a bombing suspect who was accused of detonating a pipe bomb in an underpass at Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal on Monday. The suspect, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, faces five charges ranging from using weapon of mass destruction to providing support to a terrorist organization, according to a court complaint filed on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Ullah, a US lawful permanent resident from Bangladesh, admitted to investigators that he had built the pipe bomb and carried out the attack, the complaint said. It also stated that Ullah had been inspired and radicalized by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group as far back as 2014. "I did it for the Islamic State," he said, according to the complaint. Moreover, prosecutors said in the charging document that before the attack, Ullah posted an update to his Facebook account on Monday that stated, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said in a news conference on Tuesday that "in plotting his attack, Ullah had hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him." "But through incredibly good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone," he added. The attack, using a low-tech bomb strapped to Ullah's body, took place in an underground passageway near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, wounding Ullah himself and injuring three others near him. Ullah admitted that he began researching about how to build bombs about a year ago, and had been planning this particular attack for several weeks. Kim added that Ullah allegedly selected the location and timing to "maximize human casualties". "Like many others before him, we believe Ullah was inspired by a group that exploits technology in an effort to spread a violent ideology, effectively convincing sympathizers to commit terrorist acts worldwide," said Federal Bureau of Investigation Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. Washington, Dec 13 : Voters in the US state of Alabama are choosing between a Republican accused of child abuse and a Democrat hoping for an upset win after an ugly Senate race in the Deep South. President Donald Trump's populist brand will be tested after he backed ultra-conservative Roy Moore, who is accused of misconduct by multiple women. Much of the Republican establishment has distanced itself from the 70-year-old former Alabama judge. The race between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones is too close to call, BBC reported on Tuesday. The Republican candidate has said homosexual activity should be illegal and argued against removing segregationist language from the state constitution. But it is sexual misconduct claims against him by a number of women, mostly when they were teenagers, that have made Washington conservatives baulk. One accuser alleges Moore molested her when she was 14. Another says he tried to rape her. The scandal has put an Alabama Senate seat within reach of Democrats for the first time in more than two decades. Elections are rarely competitive in Alabama. It's the kind of place Republicans might as well weigh their votes rather than count them, such is the party's dominance here. This special election has upended all the normal expectations and still, at this late stage, remains too close to call. Democrat Doug Jones can win if he manages to galvanise the black vote in cities such as Birmingham and Montgomery. Roy Moore, his Republican rival, could easily lose if those rural, white, church-going conservatives stay at home amid the allegations against him. Whatever the outcome, the repercussions will be felt beyond Alabama. If the Republicans lose, their Senate advantage contracts to just one vote. If they win, their candidate is likely to face months of ethics inquiries, and an outside chance of being expelled from the Senate. For the Democrats, a win would bolster their bargaining power in Congress, and place control of the Senate within definite grasp at next year's mid-term elections. Washington, Dec 13 : US President Donald Trump has signed a nearly $700 billion annual defense policy bill in the White House, which authorizes the US military to add troops, ships, planes and other equipment. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed by the Congress last month, authorizes $626.4 billion for the base defense budget and $65.7 billion for a war fund known as Overseas Contingency Operations, Xinhua news agency reported. The US President signed the defense policy bill on Tuesday. The money would go toward adding 7,500 active-duty soldiers to the Army, 4,000 active-duty sailors to the Navy, 1,000 active-duty Marines and 4,100 active-duty airmen to the Air Force. It would also allow for a 2.4 per cent pay raise for troops, higher than the 2.1 percent requested by the administration. Under the bill, the Pentagon will be allowed to buy 90 F-35s, 20 more than requested; 24 F/A-18s, 10 more than requested; and three littoral combat ships, two more than requested, among other equipment purchases. Moreover, the bill folds in the administration's November request for $4 billion more for missile defense and $1.2 billion to support sending another 3,500 troops to Afghanistan. The US Army, Navy and Air Force would also see increases in the reserves and National Guard, according to a report by the Washington-based political news website The Hill. However, the total money exceeds budget caps by more than $80 billion and the Congress has yet to pass a defense spending bill to make the buildup a reality. London, Dec 13 : The UK and European Union (EU) face a "furious race against time" to finalise Brexit talks before March 2019, the head of the European Council says. Donald Tusk urged EU leaders to show unity as they try to negotiate what the future relationship will look like and to set up transitional arrangements, BBC reported on Tuesday. The EU is set to agree this week that enough progress has been made so far to move on from the first phase of talks. The UK has been told not to "backtrack" on last week's divorce deal. The comment from EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier came after UK Brexit Secretary David Davis suggested the divorce agreement unveiled by Theresa May amounted to a "statement of intent" rather than a binding agreement. Davis -- the UK's Brexit secretary -- said he was quoted out of context. But European Parliament negotiator Guy Verhofstadt said the "unacceptable remarks" would harm "good faith" in the process. The UK is set to leave the EU in March 2019, two years after May served formal notice of Brexit. Both sides hope to finalise a deal by October 2018 on the future relationship, including trade, so the UK and European Parliaments have time to vote on it before the UK leaves. In his formal letter on Tuesday inviting leaders to this week's EU summit, Mr Tusk told the 27 member states: "This will be a furious race against time, where again our unity will be key." On Sunday, Davis said guarantees on the Northern Ireland border - included in a joint EU-UK report published on Friday -- were not legally binding unless the two sides reached a final deal. But he told LBC Radio on Monday they would be honoured whatever happened. A European Commission spokesman said the first-phase deal on the Northern Ireland border, the divorce bill and citizens' rights did not strictly have the force of law. "But we see the joint report of Michel Barnier and David Davis as a deal between gentlemen and it is the clear understanding that it is fully backed and endorsed by the UK government." Mumbai, Dec 13 : The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Wednesday opened on a negative note during the morning session of the trade. The Sensex of the BSE after opening at 33,229.73 points touched a high of 33,248.92 and low of 33,123.44 points. On Tuesday the Sensex closed at 33,227.99 points. The Sensex is trading at 33,179.21 points down by 53.56 points or 0.16 per cent. On the other hand, the broader 51-scrip Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 10,236.60 points after closing at 10,240.15 points. The Nifty is trading at 10,225.90 points in the morning. New Delhi, Dec 13 : A court here on Wednesday convicted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, among others on corruption charges in a coal block allocation case. Special Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, Jharkhand's then Chief Secretary A.K. Basu, among others, guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Thursday. The court's order came in the case related to Jharkhand's Rajhara North coal block allocation to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (Visul). The Central Bureau of Investigation had alleged Koda, Gupta and others conspired to favour Visul in allocating the coal block. New Delhi : Title: The ASEAN Miracle: A Catalyst for Peace; Authors: Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffery Sng; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Pages: 264; Price: Rs 750 As India prepares to host the leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations for a commemorative summit next month, a new book says that the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister has brought about a change to the relationship between India and the regional grouping and that New Delhi can provide strategic balance in the bloc given the geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing. "The election of Prime Minister Modi created a unique window of opportunity to shift the ASEAN-India relationship," Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffery Sng write in "The ASEAN Miracle: A Catalyst for Peace". "In PM Modi India has a strong leader who is willing to take risky long-term strategic decisions," the authors state. While Mahbubani is Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National University of Singapore, Sng is a writer and well-known diplomat. The book comes in the year when India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are celebrating the silver jubilee of their dialogue partnership and the grouping itself is celebrating the golden jubilee of its formation. With New Delhi focusing on ties with Southeast Asia after converting its Look East Policy into an Act East Policy, in a unique first, all the leaders of 10 ASEAN nations, after participating in the commemorative summit here, will collectively attend the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2018, as chief guests. In the book, Mahbubani and Sng argue that India was a latecomer in developing ties with Southeast Asian nations. "Even though it (India) became politically decolonised in 1947, it remained colonised for several decades and continued to look towards Europe and America for inspiration," the book caustically states. During the Cold War era, while India drifted towards the Soviet camp, the ASEAN nations remained clearly pro-American, it says. It was only in 2012, at the 20th anniversary commemorative summit, that the ASEAN-India Vision Document was adopted and the relationship was elevated to that of a strategic partnership. "As ASEAN comes under renewed stress from the growing geopolitical rivalry between the US and China, India could provide a strategic balance," Mahbubani and Sng opine. "India has an opportunity to develop a 20-year plan to enhance its relationship with ASEAN." Elaborating on this, the book says that the worst-case scenario for ASEAN would be a schism resulting from member-countries being forced to choose between China and the US. "If this rivalry intensifies, the only power that can provide ASEAN with a geopolitical buffer is India," it notes. Stating that the India-ASEAN relationship rested on the three pillars of culture, economy and geopolitics, the book, however, adds: "A tripod is stable when all its legs are equally strong, but the tripod supporting the ASEAN-India relationship still needs a great deal of work." The authors point out that as a trading partner of ASEAN, India ranked seventh below China, the European Union (EU), Japan, the US, South Korea and Australia. Stressing on the need to boost cultural ties, the book refers to the fact that, of the 10 ASEAN nations, only Vietnam and the Philippines do not have cultural roots in Indian civilisation, though there are people who believe that even Vietnam had cultural links with the eastern Indian state of Odisha dating back to a thousand years. "No other partner, not the US, not Europe, and not even China, can match India's long historical association with Southeast Asia," the authors assert. Apart from India, the book also describes ASEAN's relationship with the other great powers -- China, the US, the EU, and Japan. Dwelling on the strengths of ASEAN as a regional bloc, Mahbubani and Sng opine that the first and most important was a sense of community among the 10 member-nations. "The sense of identity that the people of ASEAN have developed is not the same as the sense of identity that the people of Europe have clearly developed," the book contends. This apart, the mutual trust and confidence among the ASEAN leaders, "although often invisible to the international community, is one of ASEAN's greatest strengths", it says. Regarding ASEAN's weaknesses, Mahbubani and Sng are of the view that there is no natural custodian of the bloc, unlike the EU which remains strong and resilient because France and Germany have accepted the common responsibility of keeping the organisation going. According to the book, Indonesia, accounting for 40 per cent of the region's population, could be a logical choice. However, if Jakarta was not forthcoming, the authors name Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as the three other natural candidates. (Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in) New Delhi, Dec 13 : Ashutosh Rana, an alumnus of the National School of Drama, says people struggle to get the big ticket to the film industry but he isn't among those who like to "glorify" the difficult phase in life. His latest project - "Test Drive", presented by Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, is a story of a struggling actor who believes in himself and aspires to achieve success on the basis of his talent. Asked about his own struggles, Ashutosh told IANS over phone from Mumbai: "If you want to glorify your own struggles, you can build up your own story and say 'I did this and slept there'. All these things were done by everyone. You can't say that someone else's struggle is lesser than your struggle. "Everyone is struggling and they are fighting their own battles," he added. He feels fortunate enough to have got the opportunity at the right time. "Every opportunity that I got, I considered them to be big. I did not measure them and say that 'This opportunity is small'. I was ready to accept each and every role because of that," said the actor, who shot to fame with the 1998 psychological thriller "Dushman". The actor, known for playing negative roles, grabbed every opportunity that came his way, but in the process, didn't he feel like he was getting stereotyped? "If you look at my films like 'Dushman' or 'Sangharsh', there is no comparison between the two villains. After playing a rapist in 'Dushman', I didn't do the same role again. I have not repeated myself. Had I repeated my roles, then you can say that I am being typecast. "I have done a variety of roles and I feel fortunate to have got so many opportunities to explore," said the actor, who has played a fight agent, a police official and partner of a porn-website creator and more on the big screen. Apart from challenging himself by taking up different roles, he also likes to explore various mediums like films, television and theatre. He has now taken the digital route with "Test Drive", a short film that released last week. "Art can't be tied up to a medium. I think for actors, a medium should not hold any importance because acting and reaching out to the audience are more important. "The good thing about the digital platform is that there are lots of new stories and talent but no resources to back them. Now, because of the digital platform they are able to reach out to the audience," he said. Asked about social networking sites, Ashutosh said: "I am just on Facebook. When you are socially connecting with people, you should do it directly. I chose Facebook as there is no word limit, so the exchange of thoughts is better. "I don't believe in imposing my thoughts on others. There should be discussions because it is not necessary that what I say, others will agree with me or vice-versa." (Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in) Jaipur, Dec 13 : An investigation into a gold heist in Chennai claimed the life of a Tamil Nadu Police Inspector who was shot dead on Wednesday by an alleged burglar in Rajasthan who then escaped. Police sources said Periyapandi, 48, was shot by one of the alleged robbers, Nathuram, after snatching the officer's revolver at Jaitaran in Pali district. Periyapandi was part of a special team of Chennai police set up to solve the robbery in the Tamil Nadu capital last month. The criminals had escaped with 3.5 kg of gold after drilling a hole in a jewellery shop's ceiling in Kolathur area. The Chennai police team was in Rajasthan for further investigation. On a tip off, a team of seven police personnel went to Jaitaran and caught Nathuram on Wednesday. As he was being led away, he snatched Periyapandi's revolver and opened fire, killing the Inspector on the spot. Nathuram then escaped. Some others were injured in the firing and were rushed to a hospital. Additional Superintendent of Police Jyotiswaroop Sharma of Rajasthan Police told IANS that the Chennai police acted unilaterally in the operation. But he said the Rajasthan Police were extending all cooperation to their colleagues from Tamil Nadu. The Inspector's body had been sent for postmortem to Jodhpur after which it would be flown to Chennai, he added. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday brushed aside a question on whether a Congress loss in Gujarat will be a referendum on him and insisted that the election outcome will be "shocking" for the BJP. "Gujarat will this time throw a surprising result. It will be shocking for the BJP. They are scared. BJP workers who talk to our leaders say that the Congress effectively campaigned in Gujarat and their own campaign was not so effective. Even they feel they will not be able to defend their own record," Gandhi told CNN News18. He avoided a reply when asked if a possible poor showing by the Congress would be considered a referendum on him as he was set to take over as party President and was also the star campaigner in the BJP-ruled state. Gandhi sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his attack on his predecessor and Congress leader Manmohan Singh for alleging that the latter had conspired with Pakistanis to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. "That was wrong. If Modiji is Prime Minister, Manmohanji was also Prime Minister. He devoted his life for the country. It is not acceptable. Frankly, he (Modi) should apologize. But that is for him to decide. What he has said is wrong." Gandhi said he won't indulge in personal attacks on Modi even if the Prime Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party do so daily. "The BJP and Modiji indulge in aggressive attacks against me. But I don't retaliate because I don't mind it." He said the language Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar used to attack Modi was unacceptable to him and the Congress, which acted promptly by suspending the former MP. At the same time, Gandhi hit out at Modi. "He has lost his credibility. It seems difficult that he will regain it. "The youth had reposed their faith in Modiji. But the trust has been broken. He had promised to create two crore jobs every year. But he doesn't speak about that now. And he doesn't speak a word even about corruption. "You may have noted that he didn't utter a word when reports about (BJP President Amit Shah's son) Jay Shah and (the French) Rafale deal came in." The Congress leader said the Modi government was not able to create in one full year the number of jobs China produces in two days. "This is the challenge India faces. There are lots of distractions. Modiji speaks about a lot of things. But the main issue in India or in Gujarat is about unemployment. This is the challenge before the country and the Congress." Gandhi said the Congress fought the Gujarat elections -- whose second and final phase will be held on Thursday -- on the strength of what people in the state desired and added that the BJP was cornered on every issue. New Delhi, Dec 13 : India, Australia and Japan on Wednesday underscored their support for the Asean bloc's centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region, amid China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and rising influence in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The three countries held their fourth Trilateral Dialogue here at the Foreign Secretay-level, a month after the three countries alongwith the US held their first Quadrilateral Dialogue. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar hosted the dialogue which was attended by Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Frances Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J. Sugiyama. "The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries' interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region," the Eternal Affairs Ministry said in a statement. "They underscored their support for Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region," the statement said. It stated that the three sides stressed the need for greater collaboration on maritime security and domain awareness and disaster response capabilities. "They also renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism. They deliberated on strengthening regional connectivity as well." Wednesday's meeting comes a day after the India-Australia 2+2 Foreign Secretaries and Defence Secretaries Dialogue and a month after the India-Australia-Japan-US quadrilateral dialogue in the Philippines on the sidelines of the East Asia and Asean summits in which the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region was discussed. With China's increasing influence in the Indian Ocean region and aggressiveness in the South China Sea, the trilateral meeting can be seen as a reassertion of the freedom of navigation in the open seas. Japan is also locked in a dispute with China over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both the nations. North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes is another reason for the significance of the trilateral meeting. According to Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, his country has placed India right at the centre of its strategic Indo-Pacific policy. With the changing global scenario, Australia too is looking at India as a potential partner in promoting regional security and stability. The first India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting was held in India in 2015, the next one in Japan and third in Australia in April 2017. In Wednesday's meeting, the Japanese Vice Minister proposed to host the next round in Tokyo. Mumbai, Dec 13 : Superstar Salman Khan will be seen battling a pack of wolves in "Tiger Zinda Hai". Director Ali Abbas Zafar says that it is a very dramatic sequence in the forthcoming film. "Tiger's encounter with a pack of wolves marks one of the most important chapters in the film. The idea was to do something, which has never been seen on the Indian screen, and give Tiger's character an edge. This is a very dramatic chase and action sequence that Tiger has with a pack of real wolves," Zafar said in a statement. The scene with the wolves has been shot in the snow-capped forests of Austria. The international action crew took all precautionary measures to ensure that the wolves were well taken care of and that security measures were on point. The crew spent months planning this with specialised wolf trainers. The action crew led by Hollywood stunt choreographer Tom Struthers has pulled off this sequence. "Tiger Zinda Hai", which also features actress Katrina Kaif, will release on December 22. New Delhi, Dec 13 : The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of mandatory linking of Aadhaar to various schemes. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday said the matter will be heard at 2 p.m. on December 14 after the matter was mentioned for hearing before the court goes into winter recess. The petitioners are pressing for an extension of interim relief on the mandatory linking of Aadhaar to various schemes, including bank accounts and mobile numbers. The top court had on December 7 said that a Constitution bench will hear the various plea for interim relief on the mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and the Permanent Account Number (PAN). While the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and PAN can be extended by an administrative order, the mandatory linking of mobile numbers with Aadhaar would require an order from the top court as it was on its direction that mobile numbers were linked with Aadhaar. The deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with mobile numbers is February 6. Former Karnataka High Court Judge Justice K.S. Puttuswamy, Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon and many others have challenged the validity of Aadhaar Act on the grounds that it violates the fundamental right to privacy. The government has already lifted the December 31 deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts and PAN. Earlier the deadline for the linking of Aadhaar with PAN was August 31 which was extended till December 31 and now it has been further extended without any specific deadline. Hyderabad, Dec 13 : Attivo Economic Zones Pvt Ltd will develop an infrastructure equipment manufacturing park in Telangana, it was announced on Wednesday. The park will come up over 500 acres in the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) near Zaheerabad town, according to the MoU signed by the company with Telangana government on Wednesday. Telangana's Department of Industries & Commerce and Attivo, an initiative of Kanoria Foundation entity Srei, signed the MoU in Bengaluru in the presence of Telangana's Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, Srei Vice Chairman Sunil Kanoria and Attivo CEO Indranil Dasgupta. According to a statement released here, the park to be formed in joint venture by Telangana government and Srei Infrastructure, will create a sustainable and comprehensive industrial zone of international standards. Most of the world's leading original equipment makers are expected to set up their units in the park, which has a potential to generate direct and indirect employment in excess of 10,000 jobs over the next 10 years. "Attivo's proposed park would be the most ideal location for all construction and mining equipment manufacturers as a plethora of road, irrigation and mining work is being awarded by the Government of Telangana and most of the contractors and construction companies are based there," said Kanoria. Rama Rao said the park to be developed with work to play concept will have the facilities. He announced that five first anchor investors in the park will get additional incentives. Stating that land acquisition for the park was completed, the minister said foundation stone for the facility would be laid soon. The minister, who was in Bengaluru to attend EXCON 2017, an international construction equipment and construction technology trade fair, met representatives of various companies manufacturing infrastructure equipment. He told them that Hyderabad is ideal location for their operations as the city is centrally located and the Telangana government had also launched several industry-friendly measures. He said with several infrastructure projects being developed in Telangana, the state was a major consumer of the equipment. New Delhi, Dec 13 : The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday declared the Amarnath shrine a "silent zone", and barred the chiming of bells or chanting of mantras in the areas surrounding the famed cave shrine to preserve its eco sensitivity. The Amarnath shrine, located in the Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, is visited by lakhs of pilgrims during the pilgrimage season in the monsoon. The decision came following the tribunal's earlier hearing when it suggested that the shrine be declared a silent zone to prevent avalanches and noise pollution. The bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also directed officials to remove the iron rods and grilles installed inside the Amarnath cave so that pilgrims can get a better view of the shrine. "All the parts of stairs and surroundings of the holy cave shall be declared a silent zone," the bench directed. "No chanting of mantras inside the cave and surrounding areas shall be allowed," the bench said, adding that pilgrims shall be allowed inside the cave in a single file. The bench directed the concerned authorities to ensure that mobile phones and food offerings like coconuts are not allowed inside the holy cave. "No committee or authority can sit on the implementation of these directions," the bench declared. The Tribunal, which on November 15 appointed a committee to look at environment protection during the annual Amarnath Yatra, asked the authorities to ensure that the directions come into effect before January 18, the next date of hearing. This year the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath shrine saw over 2.6 lakh pilgrims over 40 days between June 29 to August 7. Over 200 stairs lead to the cave from the base camp sites. Pilgrims take two traditional routes of 14 km and 45 km to reach the shrine situated at 3,888 meters above sea level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses during Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) annual general meeting in New Delhi on Dec 13, 2017. Image Source: IANS : New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) annual general meeting in New Delhi on Dec 13, 2017. . Image Source: IANS New Delhi, Dec 13 : Scotching rumours that depositors' interest will be harmed by a new legislation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said their money in the banks is completely safe and their interests won't be allowed to be affected in any way. Addressing the Ficci annual general meeting, he said rumours were being spread by some sections about provisions of the proposed Financial Regulation and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill under which the depositors would suffer. "...the government is constantly taking steps to strengthen the banking system. The interest of the banks will be secure, the interest of the customers will be secure, then the interest of the country will also be safe," Modi said. "In such a big role of institutions like FICCI, it is also with the right information to make the industry and people aware. Now, for the past few days rumours are being spread about the FRDI bill. The government is working to secure the interest of the customers, in order to safeguard the interests of the customers, but the news is being played in the opposite direction," he added. Modi was apparently referring to the raging controversy over a bail-in provision in the FRDI Bill under which banks will be allowed to forfeit major portion of deposits of account holders in case of crisis in the financial institution. The Prime Minister said the UPA government had completely spoilt the banking system. The biggest liability passed on by the previous government was the non-performing assets (NPA), he said. "Nowadays, the non-performing assets, the NPA-NPA attack, is the biggest liability given to this government, of economists sitting in the previous government." Modi said the last government had put pressure on banks and forced them to lend to influential people, which further led to NPAs. "The people in the previous government knew, the bank knew, the industry was also aware, the market-related institutions also knew that this was going wrong. It was the biggest scam of the UPA Government. Commonwealth, 2G, coal, bigger scandal than all these. It was a kind of robbery of the public's earning by people sitting in the government through industrialists." He said his government was working to create a system that was transparent and sensitive. Talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Modi said the government's effort was to ensure that maximum businesses register for GST. "The more formal the system becomes, the more it will benefit the poor. It will enable easier availability of credit from the banks, and reduce cost of logistics, thereby enhancing competitiveness of businesses." Modi recalled that around the time of Ficci's founding in 1927, Indian industry had united against the Simon Commission. He said Indian industry had joined all other sections of Indian society, in national interest, then. He said a "similar atmosphere" existed today when people were coming forward to fulfil their responsibilities towards the nation. Modi said the hopes and aspirations of people were to rid the country of internal problems like corruption and black money. Kathmandu, Dec 13 : Nepal's CPN-UML emerged as the largest party in the Himalayan nation as vote counting of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) for Parliament and provincial assembly elections in Nepal came to an end on Wednesday, the Election Commission said. The Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist was able to secure 80 out of the total 165 seats under the FPTP category of the Parliament. The party garnered 166 out of 330 seats in provincial assembly polls, the Kathmandu Post reported. The CPN (Maoist Centre) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" became the second largest party by winning 36 seats in Parliament and 73 seats in provincial assembly under the FPTP category. The Nepali Congress (NC), which was the largest party in the last election, managed to win 23 seats in Parliament and was elected in 45 provincial constituencies, said the Election Commission. It became the third largest party this time. Though the Election Commission announced the final outcomes of the federal and provincial assembly elections on Wednesday, vote counting for the proportionate representation category was still underway. Navaraj Dhakal, a spokesman for Nepal's Election Commission, told Xinhua news agency that the vote counting for the proportionate representation category was also coming to an end and the results will be made public soon. The CPN-UML took a clear lead in the proportionate representation category as well, according to the results made public so far. Nepal held the two-phased state and federal elections last week under the new Constitution promulgated in 2015. The second phase of the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections was held on December 7 while the first phase was held on November 26 with the aim to restore democracy in the country hit by a decade-long civil war that ended in 2006 and years of instability after the monarchy was abolished in 2008. The historical elections are seen as a crucial step to implement the new Constitution which saw strong protests from some Madhesi ethnic groups in Nepal's Terai region bordering India. After a hiatus of 20 years, local elections were held earlier this year choosing local bodies across the country. Patna, Dec 13 : BJP ally Hindustan Awami Morcha (HAM) chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's much-hyped prohibition policy in Bihar and termed it a failure. "Prohibition has failed in Bihar. Several state government officials including Secretary-level officers have been consuming liquor in the dry state. It can be confirmed if the state government orders a probe," Manjhi said here while addressing party workers at a dharna. Manjhi's HAM is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and ever since the Nitish Kumar-led faction of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) joined hands with the BJP and formed the state government last July, he is said to not be comfortable. Manjhi has already hinted that politics was a game of possibilities, and therefore, he could change sides. He has further expressed his displeasure over prohibition, saying it had been harming the age-old culture of tribals and Dalits, because they would offer liquor to different deities. Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has already declared prohibition a big failure. Only two days ago, Nitish Kumar demanded "total prohibition across India" and stressed the need for it. "When Gujarat implemented a liquor ban, Bihar also proved that it can be banned in any state. So, why not ban it in the entire country?" he said. Istanbul, Dec 13 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as Palestine's capital while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any US involvement in the peace process. Addressing a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) here, Erdogan called on countries to recognize "Jerusalem as the capital city of the occupied Palestine" while Abbas urged the world to recognize the state of Palestine, Xinhua news agency reported. Erdogan described his US counterpart Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision a "threat to all humanity" and called on Washington to withdraw the "wrong, provocative and unlawful" decision. "The US decision ... means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," he said. "The US has lost its mediator role in the Israel-Palestine peace process and we will never allow in the future that the US takes part in the process," Abbas said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the US decision on Jerusalem. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Facebook on Wednesday announced a virtual reality (VR) programme in partnership with Bengaluru-based Startup Village Collective (SV.CO) to help students in the country build their ideas into globally marketable products and services. The new VR programme under SV.CO's School of Innovation will provide a platform for nearly four million engineering students across 3,300 colleges to learn how to build innovative products while they are in college and get polished under the guidance of the industry experts. "India is host to one of the largest community of developers and is also one of the fastest growing regions for start-ups. The School of Innovation programme is our investment into skill for tomorrow. We want to make sure, that we have invested in not only helping the communities in building products today, but also in building a world for tomorrow," Satyajeet Singh, Head of Platform Partnerships, Facebook India and South Asia, told reporters here. "The new programme is a step forward, in realising our vision of building an ecosystem that inspires innovation and empowers young talent to build products using emerging technologies such as VR that will shape the future of businesses," Singh added. As part of the new VR-based programme, top 10 student teams from across 3,300 engineering colleges in India will be selected to build a next generation VR product idea they have. The selected teams will be on-board the SV.CO Online Learning Platform for a six-month programme that includes online and in-person learning to progress their idea, build a low and high-fidelity prototype and finally launch to customers. The successful teams will be selected and given an opportunity to represent their product in front of a leadership panel on demo day, to be organised at Facebook India office in January 2019. "Startup ecosystem in India is plagued by the notion that they are copycats of the US models. We need to change this perception that our startups only hop into the bandwagon while others blaze the trail," said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman at SV.CO -- India's first digital incubator for students. "The VR platform, in throwing open uncharted areas, provides us just that opportunity. And we are a happy partner with Facebook which recognises the potential of bright 18-22 year olds in Indian colleges in working wonders with the new technology," Vijayakumar said. New Delhi, Dec 13 : The Gujarat election result will be "shocking" for the BJP, Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, maintaining he didn't return Prime Minister Narendra Modi's verbal barbs targeting him and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because he wanted to change the culture of personal attacks in political discourse. "Gujarat will this time throw a surprising result. It will be shocking for the BJP. They are scared. BJP workers who talk to our leaders say that the Congress effectively campaigned in Gujarat and their own campaign was not so effective. Even they feel they will not be able to defend their own record," Gandhi told CNN News18. He, however, avoided a reply when asked if a possible poor showing by the Congress would be considered a referendum on him since he is set to take over as party President on Saturday and was also the star campaigner for the party in the BJP-ruled state. Gandhi sought an apology from Modi for his attack on Congress leader Manmohan Singh for alleging that he had conspired with Pakistanis to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat. "That was wrong. If Modiji is Prime Minister, Manmohanji was also Prime Minister. He devoted his life for the country. It is not acceptable. Frankly, he (Modi) should apologize. But that is for him to decide. What he has said is wrong," he said. He said he won't make personal attacks on his political opponents even if the Prime Minister and the BJP do so daily because "we want to bring about this change". "The BJP and Modiji indulge in aggressive attacks against me. But I don't retaliate because I don't mind it." He said the language Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar used to attack Modi was unacceptable to him and the Congress, which acted promptly by suspending the former MP. "Modiji is the PM of India and we are not going to tolerate this type of language," Gandhi said, referring to Aiyar's description of Modi as a "neech qisam ka aadmi". In another interview with Gujarat Samachar TV, Gandhi said Modi's criticism had helped him grow "the most" and that "there is zero emotion of anger and hatred in me". "How can I hate him? If you look at the religion and the history of this nation, love has to be the response to hatred," he said, responding to Modi's repeated attacks on the Nehru-Gandhi family. "It is the nature of our family. Maybe the legend of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi, taught this to our family." At the same time, Gandhi said Modi had "lost his credibility" and it seemd "difficult that he will regain it". "The youth had reposed their faith in Modiji. But the trust has been broken. He had promised to create two crore jobs every year. But he doesn't speak about that now. And he doesn't speak a word even about corruption. "You may have noted that he didn't utter a word when reports about (BJP President Amit Shah's son) Jay Shah and (the French) Rafale deal came in. He doesn't talk about development any more but about himself and the Congress." The back-to-back TV interviews a day before Gujarat votes in the second and final phase of Assembly elections triggered criticism from the BJP that it violated the model code of conduct. "It was not permitted to give an interview in the last 48 hours of campaigning in Gujarat. I am sure the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and take action," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters. The Congress accused the BJP of using the Election Commission as a tool for political gains. Kolkata, Dec 13 : The fifth edition of 'Route 55', a 10 km walkathon event in the city, aimed at raising funds for the impoverished in the society, would be held on December 24, organisers said on Wednesday. The fundraising initiative organised by the alumni of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) in Howrah district's Sibpur and Belur Sramajibi Hospital, has been held since 2013 on the iconic bus route 55, a key link between Howrah and Kolkata, to help improve healthcare access for the poor. Organisers also plan to give out free health cards to at least 70 city bus drivers and conductors this year. "There are a number of walkathons and other mass running events in the city now but this one is unique as the entire fund raised in the event is donated to Belur Sramajibi Hospital that has been providing treatment to the impoverished at a nominal cost," said Ajay Kumar Roy, Director of IIEST, formerly known as Sibpur BE College. "This year the drivers, conductors and helpers of all the buses in that route would be given free health cards by the hospital which would enable them to get medical check ups and diagnostic tests for a year," he noted. About the title of the event, he said the route of the walk is significant to all the students of the century-old institute as most of them have used it during their days in college. "The route 55 was the only route to go to BE college in Howrah from Esplanade. So it can be said that most of the students of our institution for the last 161 years have used this route. The event was planned by the alumni as a tribute to the route," he noted. The organisers said, nearly 150 people including existing students and the alumni of IIEST from 15 Indian and international cities are expected to participate in the event and donate Rs 3,500, or approximately $55, each directly to the hospital. Hailing the initiative, the hospital authority said the donation received by them is used in infrastructural development to provide better treatment to its patients. "We use the donation for the development of our hospital. We are planning to open a blood bank next month. So all the donation of this walk event this year would be utilised in hat purpose," said Fanibhusan Bhattacharya, working president of the hospital. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday again accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of spreading "falsehood and canards" and tarnishing every constitutional office in a bid to win the Gujarat election and asked him to "apologize to the nation". "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than ... Modi," the Congress leader said in a video release in a repeat of his Monday statement. Manmohan Singh said the Congress needed no sermons on nationalism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Prime Minister whose "compromised track record in fighting terrorism is well known". Reading out his hard-hitting statement of December 11, Manmohan Singh again denied Modi's charge that he and others, including former Vice President Hamid Ansari and former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, discussed the Gujarat election with Pakistani diplomats at a dinner at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's residence. Manmohan Singh said it was also "wrong and unfair" to question the nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants who attended the dinner. "Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of the Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable. "Sadly and regrettably, Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former Prime Minister and Army chief." Modi alleged at a rally in Gujarat that guests at Aiyar's house discussed the Assembly election with Pakistan's High Commissioner to India and former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss the Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Aiyar, as alleged by Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner," Manmohan Singh said. "The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," he added. "Let me remind Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. "Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan to our strategic air base in Pathankot (in Punjab) to investigate terror attack that emanated from Pakistan." He said: "My track record of public service to the country over the last five decades is known to everyone. No one, including Modi, can lamely question it to gain lost political ground." Manmohan Singh went on: "I sincerely hope that the Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring erroneously conceived brownie points. "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill-thought transgression (so as) to restore the dignity of the office he occupies." Strasbourg (France), Dec 13 : The European Parliament on Wednesday gave conditional approval to move the Brexit negotiations onto the second phase, although it added an amendment calling for agreements adopted on citizens rights and the divorce bill in the preliminary stages to be written into a legal document. The vote edges the UK and the EU closer to talks on a future trade deal but the amendment calling for phase one commitments to be legally enshrined and concerns raised about comments made by Brexit Secretary David Davis suggesting the agreements were merely "a statement of intent," demonstrated the European Parliament's caution heading into stage two. "By 556 votes to 62, the European Parliament has just confirmed its conditional support for the Article 50 Brexit talks to move to Phase 2," according to a statement cited by Efe news. "But, the European Parliament resolution adopted today makes clear that phase 1 commitments entered into the Joint Report should be translated into a legal text asap," it added. Following a crunch meeting in Brussels on Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker announced a breakthrough in the first phase of talks. It suggested that sufficient progress had been made on the rights of EU citizens in the UK and vice-versa, the so-called Brexit divorce bill that could see London pay some $52 billion to leave the bloc and the issue of maintaining a soft border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, a UK territory. It was widely regarded as a success for May, who had to overcome a rebellion not just from a regional Northern Irish party that supports her government but also from her own backbenchers over the future status of Northern Ireland. Speaking on British TV days later, however, Davis suggested that the agreements would not be legally binding, a statement that caught the attention of Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit spokesperson, who signed an amendment to the Council's resolution directly raising concerns about Davis' remarks. It said his comments "risked undermining the good faith that has been built during the negotiations". The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 after narrowly voting in favour of Brexit in June 2016. Istanbul, Dec 13 : A summit of Islamic countries held in Istanbul on Wednesday declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also invited all the countries to "recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital", said the draft final communique unveiled at the conclusion of the one-day meeting. The heads of states and governments present at the summit "reject and condemn in the strongest terms" the unilateral decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the communique was cited as saying by Efe news. The OIC communique declared Trump's move "null and void" and considered it an "attack" on the rights of the Palestinian people. It accused the US of "deliberately undermining" peace efforts and warned that it has given "impetus to extremism and terrorism". Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier said the UN should take over. In a speech to the OIC summit, he said it would be "unacceptable" for the US to be the mediator "since it is biased in favour of Israel". The communique said Washington will be held "fully liable for all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision". The leaders at the summit asked the UN to assume its responsibilities and reaffirm the city's legal position. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Trump's Jerusalem decision a "threat to all humanity". "The US decision ... means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," he said. Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders. "Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said. The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the US decision on Jerusalem. New Delhi, Dec 13 : A gangster, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head by Delhi Police, has been arrested for killing and robbing a businessman here, an officer said on Wednesday. Police said the accused, 27-year-old Rajesh Kumar, is a dreaded interstate gangster. He, along with gang members Sanjiv, Dalip and another, had on August 22 killed businessman Sanjeev Gajwani when he resisted their attempt to snatch his bag outside his residence in the Ashok Vihar area. After murdering him, they took away over Rs 4 lakh from him. The entire crime was noticed by Gajwani's elder brother Ashok Gajwani who was standing on the balcony of the house. The three gang members were arrested in September by a crime branch team but Kumar was on the run. "Kumar was finally arrested in Rohini on Tuesday following a tip-off. A country-made pistol was also recovered from his possession," Deputy Commissioner of Police Joy Tirkey said. "During interrogation, Kumar told police that he had escaped from police custody twice -- of Punjab Police in 2014 and Haryana Police in 2016. "He said that he is involved in 10 criminal cases, which include attempt to murder, one assault in Panchkula, two under Arms Act in Haryana and others in Kaithal and Patiala," the officer added. "Kumar is a resident of Kaithal district in Haryana. He is married but separated from his wife. He has a number of tattoos on his chest." The victim had a hosiery factory in the Shastri Nagar area. Mumbai, Dec 13 : Actress Priyanka Chopra was on Wednesday honoured with a Digital Marketers Award for 'Most Effective Use Of Digital Platforms For A Social Cause'. The actor, who is serving as Unicef's Global Goodwill Ambassador, reached out to Syrian refugee children who were displaced and uprooted from their homes and loved ones. She took to social media to capture her journey and raise awareness about the life of these children who are in need of help and support. "My association with Unicef to bring light to the issues that children face today is very important to me. Social media is a powerful tool that I can rely on to take their stories and messages across the world, especially to the younger audience," Priyanka said in a statement. "The idea is to involve the young ones and make them aware of the situations and problems people face in different parts of the world." She thanked the organisers Moneycontrol and Internet & Mobile Association of India for recognising her efforts and honouring her with the award. Digital Marketers Awards stands for honouring excellence and innovation in employing digital marketing tools to effectively promote businesses, brands, causes, individuals and beyond. Kolkata, Dec 13 : Alleging that the Narendra Modi government's proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill would create problems for bank depositors in getting their money back, CPI-M politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra on Wednesday urged people to join protest demonstrations before bank, insurance and financial institutions against the legislation. "In adherence to the recommendations of G20, the Central government wants to pass the FRDI bill in the winter session of parliament. Though the declared objective is to insure deposits to solve the economic problems of sick banks and financial institutions, the real objective is something else. "Through this legislation, the sick banks, insurance and financial institutions would try to regain their financial health by utilising the money parked by the depositors with them," Mishra said. Pointing out that the banks were incurring heavy losses due to the big corporate houses not repaying the huge loans they had taken from them, he said the unrepaid loans have doubled to over Rs 10 lakh crore during the three years of the Modi regime. "The government now wants to come up with a law to use the deposito rs' money to improve the banks' financial health, but it refuses to take any action against the guilty corporates," he said. "The bill that has been prepared, may cancel out the losses of the bank, insurance and financial institutions, but the three steps that the law prescribes in case banks turn bankrupt, will reduce the power and authority of the Reserve Bank of India and the deposits of depositors will not have the guarantee of security any more," he said. The steps are selling off the bankrupt banks and financial institutions to private financial companies including foreign corporate, merging them with other such institutions and cancelling out the losses by using the money of the crores of depositors without their permission. According to Mishra, it was an "unprecedented attack" on th e crores of common people, particularly, the poor, lower income, middle income groups, pensioners, and small manufacturers and businessmen who are already troubled after the GST rollout. "Such attacks had never been seen before. The depositors cutting across party lines should raise a chorus of protests against the move. People from all strata need to be rallied before banks, insurance and financial institutions to launch continuous protest programmes," he said. New Delhi, Dec 13 : The Congress on Wednesday questioned the government over its approach to fighting terrorism and corruption, and sought response to allegations that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's son had a business partner based in Pakistan. Reacting strongly to BJP President Amit Shah's charges that Manmohan Singh had quietly watched "monumental loot and plunder" when he was the Prime Minister during the UPA rule, the Congress said the ruling party was frustrated staring at an impending defeat in the Gujarat election. "We had hopes that Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will answer Congress questions on development in Gujarat, throw some light on the business exploits of his son Jay Shah...," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement. "On one hand, Amit Shah claims that crackers will be burst in Pakistan (if the BJP loses) while on the other NSA Ajit Doval's son Shaurya Doval's business partner Syed Ali Abbas is a Pakistani. His another business partner is from Saudi Arabia. Amit Shah has no objections on that." He said Modi and Shah need not to teach Manmohan Singh lessons on "language and decency" because the entire country was convinced of his "humility and politeness". "Everybody knows the kind of humiliating language Modi and Shah used against Manmohan Singh during Gujarat election campaign," he said, adding people of Gujarat will reply to them on the election result day on December 18. "Neither did Shah speak about the rise in the income of his businessman son Jay Shah neither did he answer about the Rafale deal... The BJP's past about fighting terrorism is so bleak that no one believes them now." Surjewala posted 12 questions for the BJP to answer: - How did international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's wife travel to Mumbai from Pakistan in 2016 and no action was taken by the state or the central government to arrest her? - Is it not true that Eknath Khadse had to resign as state BJP chief and minister because he was alleged to have spoken to Dawood Ibrahim? - How did senior BJP leader and Minister Girish Mahajan and MLAs Devyani Farande, Balasaheb Sanap, Seema Heere and other BJP leaders attend the wedding of Dawood Ibrahim's niece on May 19 this year in Nasik? - How did the government let officers of Pakistan's ISI "which is known to be sheltering terrorists" access to strategic Air Force base in Pathankot? - Why did Modi travel to Pakistan as an "uninvited" guest at the wedding of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's kin after the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur? - Isn't it true that 11 people who were caught spying for Pakistan's ISI were led by Dhruv Saxena who was also from the BJP's IT cell? - Didn't the previous BJP government set free Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Kashmiri terrorist Mushtaq Zargar and their accomplice Umar Syed Sheikh and took them in a flight to Kandhahar in Afghanistan. - Didn't Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh say that Hizb militant Burhan Wani was killed in an "accidental encounter and security forces would have taken precaution had they known he was there"? - Isn't it true that the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir offered job and ex gratia to Wani's family? - Isn't it true that Kashmiri woman separatist Asiya Andrabi had figured as a brand ambassador of a government scheme, featuring in a poster campaign? - Isn't it true that a special NIA court in May this year convicted 15 people, including Niranjan Hojai, who happens to be a BJP leader and was a member of a hill council? Hyderabad, Dec 13 : The proposed legislation on triple talaq and Babri Masjid will be among the key issues to be discussed at the general body meeting of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) scheduled to be held here in February. The three-day meeting will be crucial in the wake of the recent developments on Babri Masjid issue and the proposed move by the Central government to make triple talaq a cognizable offence. The apex body of Indian Muslims is expected to take key decisions, especially on triple talaq. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 is expected to be tabled during Parliament's winter session starting Friday. The bill reportedly provides for three year sentence for a husband pronouncing 'talaq' thrice in one sitting and will give women the right to seek maintenance. If the bill is passed in the winter session and enacted by February, the board will chalk out an action plan to oppose the legislation, sources said. The board members have opposed the proposed legislation, saying this will lead to an increase in cases of husbands abandoning their wives. At a meeting held here on Tuesday to discuss arrangements for the AIMBPLB conclave, AIMPLB Secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani voiced concern over what he called attempts to interfere in 'Shariat'. Referring to the proposed law on triple talaq, the religious scholar said it would lead to more complications. He wondered how a man jailed for three years can provide maintenance to his wife and children. He said Muslim Personal Law had been under implementation since the British rule in the country. It was in 1937 that Shariat Application Act was made and the Constitution of India gave the right to all citizens to profess, practice and propagate their religion. Rahmani said some forces which had no respect for fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution were trying to enforce the directive principles, which were not obligatory. The meeting will also review the status of Babri Masjid case, which is set to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on February 8. The board will also discuss the issue in the light of the statements by some VHP and RSS leaders that the construction of Ram temple will begin in October 2018. Sources said the board is expected to reiterate its stand that there can be no compromise on Babri Masjid as surrendering this mosque would open Pandora's box and there will be similar demands in different parts of the country. Rahmani pointed out that some communal groups had prepared a list to target 3,000 mosques. The board meeting is expected to be held on February 9-11. The final dates will be announced soon. The conclave will end with a massive public meeting. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, who is chairman of reception committee, called for making the general body meeting a success. The MP, who is also a member of the board, presided over Tuesday's meeting, which discussed the arrangements. New Delhi, Dec 13 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the city government for not buying low-floor disabled-friendly CNG buses due to their high cost. "For the last 10 years you have justified not buying low-floor buses, saying the price was unrealistic without saying what is realistic or carrying out an empirical study," the court said The court questioned the basis for the government's assessment that the cost cited by Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland for supplying the low-floor buses was "unrealistic, exorbitant and unjustifiable", asking it to take a "practical, pragmatic and realistic view". "If you are comparing low-floor buses with standard floor buses to say the cost is unrealistic, then it is like comparing apples with oranges," it added. "We are pained. Sometimes you have to see what you are balancing the cost against," said the court, adding that if there was only a single manufacturer of a specialised product, then the government should go for it by taking into account the interests of the disabled persons as well as the environment. The observation came after the Delhi government's counsel told the court that it had invited bids for low-floor buses four times but there was only a single bidder (Tata Motors) and the cost was unreasonable and unjustifiable. The court also impleaded Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland as parties in the matter, so that they could inform it about the basis for the costs of their low-floor CNG buses. During the hearing, the court even said that it could send officials to jail for contempt of the Supreme Court's 19-year-old direction to augment its bus fleet. However, the court said the city needed more buses now rather than officials in prison. "We can still send you to jail. But what the city needs is buses, not you in jail." In 1998 the Supreme Court had directed the government to augment its bus fleet from 5,000 to 10,000. The court was hearing a PIL filed by a person suffering from locomotor disability, challenging the Delhi government's move to procure 2,000 standard floor buses at a cost of Rs 300 crore. New Delhi, Dec 13 : In light of the increasing strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific region, Australia is willing to join the Malabar naval exercise if invited by the other three participating nations of India, the US and Japan, a senior Australian official said here on Wednesday. "Australia, of course, stands very willing to join Malabar should we be invited to do so," Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Frances Adamson said at a media round table. "But that invitation could only come from the other three," Adamson, who was here to participate in the inaugural 2+2 Foreign Secretaries and Defence Secretaries Dialogue between India and Australia and the fourth India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting, said. Originally started by India and the US in 1992, Japan became a permanent member of the Malabar naval exercise in 2015 after participating in some earlier editions. Australia took part in the 2007 exercise but left thereafter. Regarding the 2+2 Dialogue on Tuesday, Adamson said that both sides shared their perspectives on the region with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific, "and within the Indo-Pacific, a particular focus on the Indian Ocean". Stating that Australia is an Indian Ocean country as much as it is a Pacific country, she said that the conversation quickly turned to cooperation in the maritime domain and the importance of maritime domain awareness. "We have been over a period of many years now developing a bilateral defence relationship, including through Ausindex, our bilateral naval exercise, including through the exchange of senior level visits, including discussions of a whole range of maritime issues," she said. "But it is not limited to maritime domain either. The conversation also includes practical dimensions to our military-to-military cooperation." Regarding Wednesday's India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting, Adamson said that the three sides discussed North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, counter-terrorism, cyber security and regional security issues. Referring to the white paper on Australia's new foreign policy released last month, she said that it recognised that India now sat in the front rank of Australia's international partnerships. "Beyond an increasingly important economic relationship, our security intents are congruent, particularly in relation to the stability and openness of the Indian Ocean," she said The white paper also encourages India's strategic engagements with East Asia and the US. "In addition to our bilateral relationship, Australia's trilateral and quadrilateral dialogues with India are an essential part of our approach to order-building in the Indo-Pacific," Adamson said. India, Australia, the US and Japan last month discussed the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region at a quadrilateral meeting in the Philippines on the sidelines of the East Asia and Asean summits. Adamson said that the white paper sets five priorities fundamental to Australia's future. The first is to promote an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific in which the rights of all states are respected. "We seek a region in which our ability to prosecute our interests freely is not constrained by the exercise of coercive power," the Australian official said in what can be seen as a veiled reference to China's aggressiveness in the South China Sea. The second is to deliver opportunities for Australian businesses globally and stand against protectionism. This includes an India Economic Strategy. The third is to ensure Australians remain safe, secure and free by guarding against terrorism, cyber, transnational crime and foreign interference. The fourth priority is to promote and protect the international rules that support stability and prosperity and enable cooperation to tackle global challenges and the fifth priority is to step up support for a more resilient Pacific. Adamson also said that Australia would be supportive if India decided to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) a forum of 21 Pacific Rim member economies. To a separate question on when the first consignment of uranium from Australia will reach India after the two countries signed a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, she said that no governmental obstacles remained and only the commercial contract was awaited. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that there was a 18.5 per cent loss in Metro passenger trips after the fare hike on October 10 and urged the Central government to roll back the hike, which would cause more pollution. In a letter to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, he said: "There have been a decline of about 10.5 per cent in the number of passenger trips undertaken during November 2017 as compared to November 2016." Noting passenger trips used to grow each year by about 8.5-9 percent, Kejriwal said that "even if we assume a conservative growth rate of 8 per cent per annum, it would be evident that not only was this growth of 8 per cent missed, there was also a decline of 10.5 per cent as mentioned above, implying a total loss of 18.5 per cent in passenger trips". The Chief Minister also said that this would significantly add to air pollution as the passengers who used to commute by Metro were now using modes of transport which were less-environment friendly. "In view of the sharp decline in ridership after the recent tariff hike, it seems necessary in public interest to review this hike and claw back the fares to their September level. "I reiterate our earlier offer to bear half the losses arising out of the proposal roll-back," the letter read. In October, the Central government had informed Kejriwal that it cannot put on hold the proposed hike unless his government gives about Rs 3,000 crore annually to DMRC as grant-in-aid for the next five years. In response, Kejriwal said that his government was ready to pay Rs 1,500 crore a year, if the central government was ready to fund the other half. The DMRC was formed in 1995 with equal equity participation of the Central and Delhi governments. The Aam Aadmi Party government had locked horns with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) over the fare hike on October 10 -- the second this year. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Following the Election Commission notice to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi for allegedly violating the poll code, the Congress on Wednesday asked the poll panel to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech at at Ficci on eve of Gujarat polls' second phase. It also said that the Prime Minister had misused the business chamber's platform to attack Congress and an FIR must be registered against Modi. The party also demanded that EC should immeditely withdraw "the order, if any, directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Congress President". The Election Commission on Wednesday shot off a notice to Gandhi for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct by giving election-related interviews to TV channels a day prior to the second phase polling in Gujarat, and asked him to respond by December 18. A Congress delegation led by senior party leader Ashok Gehlot met the Election Commission after the notice to Rahul Gandhi. "BJP was putting pressure on the EC to file an FIR against the press. Journalists are being suppressed. "By the same standards, we urged the Election Commission to that in 2014, one day before the elections, Modiji gave interviews to many news channels. "Election Commission did not take any action against him," said Congress spokesperson Randeeep Singh Surjewala after meeting the EC. "Narendra Modi entered the polling booth to cast his vote and openly showed the BJP symbol. No action was taken by Election Commission," he said. The party also said that for the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9, the campaign period ended at 5 p.m. on December 7 but despite that Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley accompanied by BJP and other leaders held a press conference in Ahmedabad in the afternoon of December 8. "Not only this, they proceeded to release the election manifesto of the BJP. EC took no action," said Surjewala. "BJP President Amit Shah gave extensive TV interviews at Ahmedabad Airport today (Wednesday), which were televised by the same channels. "He also issued a statement criticizing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Even this statement was also televised by the same news channels. EC has taken no action," he added. In a memorandum submitted to EC, the party also said that Union Minister Piyush Goel held two press conferences on Wednesday on Gujarat, which were televised, but, the EC took no action. "In case, the yardsticks of violation of Model Code of Conduct is to be applied as is being done by EC, order registration of FIR against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goel, Jeetu Baghani and other BJP leaders for flouting the Code of Conduct. "Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state that aforesaid apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion," it said. Bengaluru, Dec 13 : Karnataka on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation into the mysterious death of Hindu activist Paresh Mesta to the CBI, police said. "The state government has decided to handover the inquiry into the death of Mesta to the CBI on the request of his father Kamalakar Mesta," Inspector General of Police, Western Range, Hemant Nimbalkar told IANS from Karwar. "I have directed the state Director General of Police and Chief Secretary to complete the formalities and hand over the probe to the CBI at the earliest," state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters here later. The 19-year-old's mutilated body was found on December 8 floating in a lake at Honnavar, a coastal town in Uttara Kannada district, about 490km northwest of Bengaluru. According to Mesta's family, he went missing on December 6. "My son did not return home after visiting a temple on December 6. There were clashes in the town that day after which he was found missing. We suspect he was kidnapped and murdered. I want his killers punished," his father told reporters at Honnavar earlier on Wednesday. Police, however, denied Mesta's family charge that he was abducted and killed by some members of another community. "Mesta's body has been sent for autopsy, whose report will reveal the cause of his death. The report is expected in 8-10 days," said Reddy. Suspecting foul play, the opposition BJP demanded a National Investigation Agency or Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Mesta's unnatural death, alleging that he was "murdered by Jihadi elements". Mesta's death sparked off unrest in the coastal towns of Kumta, Sirsi and Honnavar during the last two days, as hundreds of BJP cadres and right-wing activists held protest rallies and sought action against the alleged killers. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Following the Election Commission notice to Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi for allegedly violating the model poll code, the Congress on Wednesday asked the poll panel to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech at at Ficci on eve of Gujarat polls' second phase. Arguing that the Prime Minister had misused the business chamber's platform to attack Congress and an FIR must be registered against Modi, it cited more examples of the Model Code of Conduct's (MCC) violation by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and questioned the poll panel's silence on it. The Congress also demanded that EC should immeditely withdraw "the order, if any, directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Congress President", while saying that Modi is going to make an attempt on Thursday again to influence the elections. "It is EC's duty to take steps. We have also submitted examples and video proof," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. The EC on Wednesday shot off a notice to Gandhi for allegedly violating the by giving election-related interviews to TV channels a day prior to the second phase polling in Gujarat, and asked him to respond by December 18. A Congress delegation led by senior party leader Ashok Gehlot met the EC after the notice to Gandhi. He was accompanied by Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ahmed Patel. "BJP was putting pressure on the EC to file an FIR against the press. Journalists are being suppressed. "By the same standards, we urged the Election Commission to that in 2014, one day before the elections, Modiji gave interviews to many news channels. "Election Commission did not take any action against him," said Surjewala after the meeting. "Narendra Modi entered the polling booth to cast his vote and openly showed the BJP symbol. No action was taken by Election Commission," he said. The party also said that for the first phase of polling in Gujarat on December 9, the campaign period ended at 5 p.m. on December 7 but despite that Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley accompanied by BJP and other leaders held a press conference in Ahmedabad in the afternoon of December 8. "Not only this, they proceeded to release the election manifesto of the BJP. EC took no action," said Surjewala. "BJP President Amit Shah gave extensive TV interviews at Ahmedabad Airport today (Wednesday), which were televised by the same channels. "He also issued a statement criticizing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Even this statement was also televised by the same news channels. EC has taken no action," he added. Sharma told reporeters that Election Commission heard them and said "'hum isko dekhenge' (we'll see)". In a memorandum submitted to EC, the party also said that Union Minister Piyush Goel held two press conferences on Wednesday on Gujarat, which were televised, but, the EC took no action. "In case, the yardsticks of violation of Model Code of Conduct is to be applied as is being done by EC, order registration of FIR against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goel, Jeetu Baghani and other BJP leaders for flouting the Code of Conduct. The party also pointed out that on the day of the polling i.e. December 9, Narendra Modi proceeded to hold four public meetings in Gujarat - in Lunawada, Bodeli, Anand and Mehsana. "Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state that aforesaid apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion," it said. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi is going to visit the areas hit by Cyclone Ockhi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and meet the affected fishermen. He will meet the fishermen in villages of Poonthura and Vizhingam in Kerala's Thiruvanthapuram in the afternoon on Thursday and will then move to Tamil Nadu where he will meet the fishermen at St Jude's College Ground in Chinnathurai of Kanyakumari district. Gandhi will also take part of the inaugural function of the birth centenary celebration of late Baby John and the valedictory rally of the "Padayorukkam" march in Thiruvananthapuram. The toll in the disaster has, meanwhile, climbed to 58 with more bodies recovered from high seas. The official missing figure is 94. Visakhapatnam, Dec 13 : Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy has been released on bail from Visakhapatnam Central Jail, officials said on Wednesday. The top leader of outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist, who was facing trial in several cases including murder and sabotage, was released late Tuesday after he was granted bail by courts in five cases. The 66-year-old, who was arrested in Delhi in 2009, later left for his hometown Mumbai. Ghandy was brought to the jail here in April this year in connection with eight cases but was acquitted in three of them. Arrested in Delhi in 2009 when he was trying to set up a network in the national capital, Ghandy was charged under the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code. He was initially lodged in Cherlapally central jail in Hyderabad for three months in connection with the assassination of former Congress legislator C. Narsi Reddy in August 2005. Ghandy was also facing trial in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker D. Sripada Rao in 1999 and for a conspiracy to kill the personnel of anti-Maoist force Greyhounds and police in Gunurkayi village of Visakhapatnam district in 2008. According to police, the former member of the Central Committee of Maoist outfit was allegedly operating with several alias including Azad, Aravind, Kamal and Saleem and had links with revolutionary groups in various countries including Philippines, Peru and Nepal. In 2015, the ailing Maoist leader went on a hunger strike in Tihar Jail to protest his repeated transfer in jail wards. He was acquitted by Delhi's Patiala House Court last year but he remained in prison due to other cases pending against him. Ghandy, who studied in prestigious Doon School in Dehradun and Elphinstone College, Mumbai, was reportedly elected to the Maoist Politburo in 2007 and went underground after the merger of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India in 2004. New Delhi, Dec 13 : Congress' Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken on Wednesday described the death of former Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh as an irreparable loss for the party. Singh, breathed his last on Tuesday night at Max Hospital in south Delhi's Saket, where he was admitted since December 6. The 84-year-old leader had collapsed at a function to commemorate the death anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar at the Ambedkar Bhawan. His body was kept at the Delhi Congress office for Congress workers to pay their final homage. Several senior party leaders paid tribute to one of the seniormost leaders of the party in Delhi. Ghulam Nabi Azad, and ex-MPs Sajjan Kumar, Mahabal Mishra and Ramesh Kumar placed wreaths to pay their homage. Maken also wrapped the Congress flag on the body of Singh on behalf of the party workers. The party flag was also lowered at half mast at the Delhi Congress office as a mark of respect to the departed leader. Maken expressed his deep sorrow at the death of Singh saying, "His death has caused an irreparable loss to the Congress party." Singh was cremated at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium in the presence of a large number of Congress workers and leaders. Singh was a three-time president of the state Congress unit and also the Speaker twice. His name also features in the Limca Book of Records for getting elected 10 times consecutively for different positions from the same constituency - Ambedkar Nagar. He contested his first election from Ambedkar Nagar in 1958 and did not lose an election from there till 2013. He is survived by his wife, six daughters and two sons. New Delhi, Dec 14 : After BJP's attack on Congress on the "Ram Setu" issue, the party defended itself by saying "Lord Rama was "omnipresent" and BJP was trying to divert attention from the development issues of Gujarat. "Lord is omnipresent, he is everywhere, he resides in every substance and particles, Ram is present in the entire universe. "You can see him in an idol, because that is a matter of faith. But it would have been good had the BJP respected the Ram in the hearts of the people in Gujarat, the Ram in the expectations and desire of Gujarati people ... the Ram hiddden in people belonging to Patidar community, who were attacked by the BJP, and also against whom false complaints were filed, the Ram who resides in 30 lakh unemployed youth, the Ram in the farmers of Gujarat. "They should have respected the Ram who is hidden in the pain and Sufferings of Dalits, who were attacked in Una..the Ram hidden in people belonging to backward classes who are being exploited. They should have been given due respect by the BJP," he added. Surjewala also said: "The truth is BJP is only diverting attention. They are not talking about issues. Gujarat election is not about Congress vs BJP, but the contest is between the people of Gujarat and BJP. They cannot hide the misrule of 22 years by taking Ram's name." After an US science channel claimed that the 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka is man-made and not natural - a stand which the BJP takes, the ruling party had seized the chance to attack the Congress. New Delhi, Dec 14 : Two persons have been arrested for stabbing a teenager to death and injuring two of his family members over a scuffle, police said on Wednesday. Danish, 20, and Mohan Singh, 23, residents of Lal Kaun at Prahald Pur, were arrested from their hideout in south Delhi, police said. The incident occurred on Tuesday night when police was informed about a quarrel at the Lal Kuan market in which three persons received stab injuries after they were attacked by a group of ten goons. "Police reached the spot and took all three persons - Ramji Lal, 60, his son, Tara Chand, 30 and Tara Chand's nephew Rahul, 16 to the Batra hospital where Rahul was declared dead, while Lal and Chand are undergoing treatment," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal. According to their family members, a group of goons came near their residence and started misbehaving a woman member of her family. The three went to look into the matter and objected, but the accused attacked them with knives and even opened fire at them. The accused managed to flee from the spot when police was informed, the family member added. "We have registered a case and a manhunt is on to nab the other accused," Biswal added. Washington, Dec 14 : US President Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from the defeat suffered by the controversial Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore in the Senate election in the US state of Alabama. The loss sustained by 70-year-old Moore, whose campaign was marred by allegations he preyed upon teenage girls several decades ago, shrinks the Republicans' slim majority in the US upper house of Congress to 51-49. "The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" Trump tweeted on Wednesday, Efe news reported. The Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, obtained 49.9 per cent of the vote in Tuesday's balloting to narrowly beat Moore, who garnered 48.4 per cent with all precincts around the state counted. Moore has refused to concede pending a tallying of overseas ballots, although Jones' margin of victory is currently above the range of between 0 and 0.5 percentage points that would trigger an automatic recount. Moore won the Republican primary in Alabama in a surprise over Trump's favored candidate, Luther Strange, who was appointed interim senator when Jeff Sessions stepped down in January -- two years into his six-year term -- to become Trump's attorney general. But after becoming the GOP's nominee, several women came forward alleging Moore had sexually abused or made unwanted sexual advances toward them. Most of the accusers were minors at the time the alleged incidents occurred; three say that Moore sexually abused them, with two of those purported incidents occurring in the late 1970s and the other in 1991. Moore has given evasive answers in interviews when asked whether he dated teenage girls when he was in his 30s but he has denied the sexual misconduct allegations. Despite the accusations, Moore was strongly backed by members of the populist wing of the Republican Party -- including Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon -- who thought he would be a reliable supporter of Trump's America First agenda. Our Secure.Systems allows customers to have access to secured work applications on their personal phone so they can continue workforce productivity remotely. SyncDog, Inc., the leading ISV for mobile application security, today announced it was awarded as one of the 30 most innovative companies in 2017 by CIO Bulletin. CIO Bulletin is a leading technology publication that discusses IT management for corporate strategies and goals. Technology decision-makers rely on CIO Bulletin to discover and share innovative enterprise solutions from start-ups that address needs unmet by the existing enterprise market. Were so proud to be included by CIO Bulletin as one of the most innovative companies of the year, said Jonas Gyllensvaan, SyncDog founder and CEO. With the rise of mobile device connectivity in the workplace, companies need a way to use workspace applications remotely and without having multiple devices. Our Secure.Systems allows customers to have access to secured work applications on their personal phone so they can continue workforce productivity remotely. Other companies featured on the list include Automated Financial Systems, Inc., Avtex, Interlogic Outsourcing, and Eurostep AB. The acknowledgement from CIO Bulletin applauds SyncDogs approach in enterprise mobility management by providing a lightweight, easy to install, and flexible security solution that protects employees personal phones and tablets while still allowing them to access a range of enterprise workplace applications like Microsoft Office 365, DropBox, Skype for Business, SharePoint, and more. As well as SyncDogs personal customer service team and dedication to market needs that keeps the company ahead of the competition. Click here to read the full article on SyncDog. For the list of the Top 30 Innovative Companies click here. The Secure.Systems Workspace The Secure.Systems workspace provides a secure application platform that encrypts and transports data between the enterprise and secure, sandboxed applications running on employees mobile devices. The workspace delivers a highly functional and easy app experience for users, and protects client enterprise networks with secure, partitioned FIPS 140-2 certified* container on both iOS and Android devices. Secure.Systems secures data both on the device and in transit using AES 256-bit encryption. A full suite of mobile-enabled productivity applications is available in the defense-grade container, including SharePoint, Enterprise Chat, Geo-location Services, DropBox, a Personal Information Management (PIM) suite, Office Suite, Office 365, File Sync, and Secure Mobile App Management & Development functions. Secure.Systems can be deployed via on-premise or through cloud-based managed service. For more information about Secure.Systems deployment as managed service please visit https://secure.systems. About CIO Bulletin CIO Bulletin is an interactive, preeminent leadership platform serving as a central resource fro information on Business & Information Technology (IT) leaders and their entrepreneurial ventures. For more information visit http://www.ciobulletin.com/ About SyncDog, Inc. SyncDog is the leading ISV for building mobile IT frameworks that extend enterprise app functionality to mobile devices while securing networks from mobile-endpoint threat. SyncDog Secure.Systems delivers an unimpeded, fully-functional mobile app experience that supports Microsoft OneDrive, Office 365, Skype for Business, and other Microsoft productivity apps within a NIST-certified, FIPS 140-2 workspace. The Secure.Systems mobile-app mobile workspace is ideal for organizations that want to deliver a rich mobile app experience across BYOD, CYOD, or other device policy. Secure.Systems can be deployed as managed service from https://secure.systems or as an on-premise solution. Secure.Systems can be found on both the Microsoft Azure and MobileIron marketplace exchanges. For more information about SyncDog, please visit https://syncdog.com. "In electing Christie, Chris, David, Bill and Erum to partners, we are recognizing their outstanding leadership skills, strategic thinking, customer service and community involvement. I applaud their impressive careers," said Joseph A. Kask, chief executive officer of BlumShapiro.com. BlumShapiro, the largest regional business advisory firm based in New England with offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, has announced the election of five new partners: Christie M. Bluhm, CPA; Christopher S. Ernest, CPA, MSM; David E. Fontes, CPA, CFE, MBA; William C. Moore, Jr., CPA, MST; and Erum Randhawa, CPA, CFF, CFE. In electing Christie, Chris, David, Bill, and Erum to partners, we are recognizing their outstanding leadership skills, strategic thinking, customer service and community involvement. They have consistently personified the mission, vision and values of BlumShapiro. I applaud their impressive careers to date and look forward to their continuing contributions to our firm in the future, said Joseph A. Kask, chief executive officer of BlumShapiro. Bluhm joined BlumShapiros Quincy, Massachusetts office in 2015. Bluhm has over 15 years of experience providing accounting, auditing, tax and consulting services to manufacturers, distributors, construction contractors and professional service firms. Further, she has developed an industry specialization in food and beverage manufacturers and distributors and currently serves on BlumShapiros Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail Marketing Committee, the Audit Personnel Subcommittee and the Women Who Lead Committee in Massachusetts. Bluhm has extensive experience with audits overseeing the entire audit from planning to fieldwork and reporting and also provides consulting services to businesses and their owners on financial and general business, buy/sell consulting and tax planning. Bluhm is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a member of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, and a Board Member for School on Wheels of Massachusetts. Ernest joined BlumShapiros Quincy, Massachusetts office in 2011. Ernest has over 12 years of experience providing accounting, auditing, tax and consulting services to privately held businesses in industries such as dealerships, manufacturing, distribution and retail. He also provides these services to non-profit organizations, including educational institutions, membership organizations, associations, and arts and cultural organizations. Further, Ernest specializes in audits of employee benefit plans, currently serves on the firms Massachusetts Audit Personnel Committee and is active in on-campus recruiting at Bridgewater State University and Stonehill College. Ernest is the President of the Board of Directors for South Shore Stars and the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Doc Wayne Youth Services. He is also a member of South Shore Young Professionals, the Pinnacle Networking Group, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. Fontes joined BlumShapiros Cranston, Rhode Island office in 2013. Fontes has over 13 years of public accounting experience providing tax, assurance and consulting services to clients in a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, gaming/lottery, financial and other services, real estate, and jewelry and precious metals, many with international operations. He directs and performs specialized engagements for clients such as litigation support, financial projections, forensic analysis and various agreed-upon procedures projects. Fontes is part of the dedicated team that provides employee benefit plan audits to firm clients across a variety of industries and sectors. He serves on BlumShapiros Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail Delivery Committee, MDR Revenue Recognition Committee, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, RI Tax Content Group and RI Giving Committee. In 2015, Fontes was named as one of the Top 10 Public Accounting Professional Rising Stars by The National Academy of Public Accounting Professionals. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners - Rhode Island Chapter, the Rhode Island Young Accountant Network Committee, the Providence Jewelers Club and the Rhode Island Manufacturing Association, and is a Board and Finance Committee Member and Secretary for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ocean State. Moore joined BlumShapiros Quincy, Massachusetts office in 2014. Moore has over 10 years of tax experience and oversees and coordinates tax compliance services for many of the firms corporate clients. His privately owned clients span industries such as construction, manufacturing, distribution and professional services. Moore is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. Randhawa, a resident of South Windsor, joined BlumShapiros West Hartford, Connecticut office in 2011 as a member of the firms Litigation Services and Business Valuation Group. She will be leading the firms Forensic Accounting and Bankruptcy practices. Randhawa has extensive training in forensic accounting, litigation support and bankruptcy and specializes in assisting counsel in complex fraud investigations, tracing and identifying fraudulent transactions and providing expert testimony. Her areas of expertise include marital and business dissolutions, shareholder and business disputes, embezzlements and bankruptcy. In 2016, Randhawa was recognized by the AICPA Forensic and Valuation Service Division with a Standing Ovation Award in Forensic and Valuation Services. She is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Connecticut Council for Non-Adversarial Divorce. Randhawa is also a Bankruptcy Diversity Committee member for the Connecticut Bar Association, a Gala Committee member for the Childrens Law Center of Connecticut, a member of the Estate and Business Planning Council of Greater Hartford, and on the Board of Directors for Interval House. Randhawa also holds the following certifications: Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified in Financial Forensics and has a certificate in mediation from the Quinnipiac University School of Law. ### BlumShapiro is the largest regional business advisory firm based in New England, with offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The firm, with over 450 professionals and staff, offers a diversity of services which includes auditing, accounting, tax and business advisory services. In addition, BlumShapiro provides a variety of specialized consulting services such as succession and estate planning, business technology services, employee benefit plan audits and litigation support and valuation. The firm serves a wide range of privately held companies, government and non-profit organizations and provides non-audit services for publicly traded companies. Just in time for the holidays, Sunrise has it covered with their holiday gift guide. They offer a wide selection of tech accessories as well as custom printed items. Tech gifts are both amazingly popular and practical. Its not even too late for customization orders! For all those new phones being received for Christmas, why not protect them with a custom phone case? Sunrise Hiteks Custom Phone Case is the perfect balance between style and function This case features a streamlined appearance with a hard plastic back combined with a durable TPU bumper for added grip and protection. Available now for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and pricing includes matching custom packaging! Another great gift idea is the Rugged Laptop Case. The rugged laptop case is made of durable ballistic nylon on a rigid frame. Its always-in design with our proprietary Cooling Channel technology allows the computer to be used without being removed from the case. This is perfect for students, businesspeople, or really anyone who is often on the go. Sunrise Hiteks Universal Wireless Keyboard is a handy item for tablet and iPad users. This ultra slim wireless keyboard combines clean white keys with fine crafted aluminum. It is universally compatible with all wireless enabled systems such as iPads, laptop and desktop computers, tablets running iOS, Android and Windows operating system. A rugged iPad case is another useful gift. The Slim Tough Case G6 offers the most rugged protection for your iPad Air 2, Pro 9.7, and iPad 2017. It features a dual-layer rugged design with a protective silicone skin over inner hard case and built-in scratch-resistant screen protector. This case is available in eight different colors. About Sunrise Hitek Sunrise Hiteks Hitek store, is a leading maker of protective gear for Apples iPad. The brand changed to uuber when the company starting developing cases for other devices, such as the MacBook, Chromebook, and Samsung devices. Sunrise Hitek Group, LLC, owner of the uuber brand, also operates Sunrise Hitek, a leading digital printing company based in Chicago. As a G7 Qualified Master Printer, Sunrise is uniquely qualified among protective gear makers to offer a wide array of customization options, ensuring the most consistent and accurate color reproduction. Sunrise is an Inc. 5000 company established in 1988 and employs the most advanced equipment and technology, such as G7-certified HP Indigo and UV flatbed presses, and digital die-cutting, to create best-in-class products. A privately-owned enterprise, the company is based in Chicago and sells products worldwide. Not-for-profit STEM education program iUrban Teen launches its new skilled trades initiative at iTrades Career Day on February 24, 2018 at the NECA-IBEW Training Center in Portland, OR. Also named iTrades, the newest program recognizes that the skilled trades are among the highest paying occupations in the United States today. As a result, iUrban Teen has partnered with northwest-based Electrical Workers Union, IBEW 48, for its iTrades launch event. Jobs in the skilled trades space are clearly a lucrative career path for many economically disadvantaged youths of color to pursue, said iUrban Teen founder, Deena Pierott. The iTrades initiative joins our other pillar programs to promote and host awareness-raising events like our upcoming iTrades Career Day built around STEM-related careers. Under the iTrades banner, those currently working in skilled trades can showcase their professions as well as mentor and encourage students of color to prepare for career opportunities in skilled trades and technology. They will also share local apprenticeship programs in the Portland Metro area. iTrades Career Day, which runs from 9:00 AM- 2:30 PM, will cover six interactive and information workshops, free to middle and high school students in the Portland area. To register for this event, go to http://itradespdx.eventbride.com. About iUrban Teen iUrban Teen is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) nationally recognized, multi-state program dedicated to bringing career-focused education to underrepresented teens ages 13 to 18. Youth receive hands-on exposure to a variety of careers, educational paths, and civic engagement opportunities to draw them outside of their current boundaries. iUrban Teen programs are now in Washington, Oregon, California, Texas and Connecticut. The program launched in 2011 and has served more than 5,000 youth across all locations. iUrban Teen was recently featured in INC Magazine as one of the top five organizations building the diverse talent pipeline in tech outside of Silicon Valley. For more information, visit http://iurbanteen.org/. About IBEW 48 - IBEW Local 48 is a long-standing Union of skilled, trained, professional, and certified Journeyman and Apprentice Electricians in the cities of Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA and its surrounding areas. Its approximately 4,000 members are providers of superior and safe electrical construction and maintenance work for the region's residences, communities, and businesses. IBEW 48 provides support, training, and leadership for these working people in Northwest community. For more information, visit https://www.ibew48.com/. # # # "We are delighted to partner with FinSight and DSV," says Nikita Blinov, of SBDA Group. "Their extensive experience in financial technologies will help us reach our banking-related goals, including helping all banks evolve with scalable, customized AI-driven solutions." SBDA Group Ltd., an artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides retail banks with solutions for boosting customer engagement and cross-selling in digital channels, and FinSight Ventures, a global venture capital firm focused on FinTech and enterprise IT, announce the closing of SBDAs Series A round of VC funding. The proceeds will help expand the SBDA product suite and grow the team. SBDA Group Ltd. signed an agreement with lead investor FinSight Ventures and Digital Space Ventures to close the Series A venture investment round last month. The funding will be used to advance the existing SBDA technology for any bank in addressing their needs, with no limitations to the scale and language. Europe is SBDAs immediate target market, in the light of PSD2 regulation, while expansion to North America is also planned in the future. As of today, SBDA technology uses proprietary AI models in transforming the mix of a retail bank's internal data and publicly available data about merchants from 10,000+ external sources into 500+ ready-to-distribute real-life facts and highly-personalized AI driven recommendations. The product boosts banks Net Promoter Scores and customer engagement levels, enhances trust and increases the sale of core banking products by suggesting targeted products for the client. We are proud of our solution that allows retail and corporate banks to take advantage of open banking reforms utilizing our personalised recommmendations-based approach that gives a customer a reason to stick with his or her current bank, as switching banks becomes more frequent, says Nikita Blinov, of SBDA Group. We are delighted to partner with FinSight and DSV, their extensive experience in fintech will help us reach our banking-related goals, including helping all banks evolve with scalable, customised AI-driven solutions from being reactive to becoming proactive and serving as personal financial assistants. Alexey Garyunov, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of FinSight Ventures, says, The team of experts and the high-quality innovative product are the key competitive advantages of SBDA Group, allowing the company to work with top-tier banks globally. The data analysis and predictions based on digital data make processes in a customers everyday life easier. SBDAs AI technology helps banks and merchants make their product profiles relevant to each customer by solving any problems as they arise. It also identifies the most appealing communication channels with a customer. Abdul Abdulkerimov, Founding Partner of Digital Space Ventures, adds, SBDA Group has huge potential for international growth and expansion. About SBDA Group SBDA Group Ltd. is an AI company that provides retail banks with solutions for boosting customer engagement and cross-selling in digital channels. SBDA technology helps banks leverage client transactional data and public data about merchants to automatically generate highly personalized tips. The company is recognised as a Top-10 young AI banking company worldwide, it was a finalist of BBVA Open Talent Artificial Intelligence 2017, and was a gold winner of the UniCredit international hackathon 2016. More than 10 top-tier banks are currently served by SBDA technology, which has processed over 100 million customer profiles. Strategic offices are located in Dublin, London and New York. Find out more about SBDA Group at sbdagroup.com and follow the company on Twitter (@sbdagroup). About FinSight Ventures FinSight is a global venture capital firm focused on FinTech and enterprise IT. This focus includes companies addressing solutions in the banking, finance, insurance and payments sectors, along with enterprise software companies driving digital transformation in and around these segments. FinSight works with innovative and ambitious FinTech and enterprise software start-ups that are driving or capitalizing on changes in these sectors. FinSight's team, experience and extensive financial service partnership networks allow the firm to significantly help entrepreneurs in FinTech sectors. Find out more about FinSight at finsightvc.com and follow the firm on Twitter (@finsightvc). About Digital Space Ventures Digital Space Ventures (DSV) is a Luxembourg venture fund. DSVs goal is to make the financial world easy and manageable with the use of innovative financial technologies. The fund helps its portfolio companies to become successful through sharing funding, expertise and networking. DSV focuses on 6 areas, investing in early stage project with global and scalable potential: payments & transfers, credits, investment services, data analytics, insurance and loyalty programmes. DSVs portfolio includes such companies as Revolut, Tandem, Capitalise, PaySend, Cybertonica. Find out more about DSV on its website at http://www.digital.space and follow the firm on Twitter (@d1g1tl_). Media contacts: SBDA Group: Anastasia Voronkova (avoronkova(at)sbdagroup.com) FinSight Ventures: Alexander Prokhorov (ir(at)finsightvc.com) Digital Space Ventures: Daria Samarenko (daria(at)digital.space) When an inventor from Hampton, Ga., moved into a country home with a septic tank, she was told that shed know if the tank was full if the yard flooded with waste or the toilets became backed up. "Not pleased with this situation, I came up with a better way to monitor septic-tank levels," said the inventor. The SEPTIC SENSOR provides an easy and reliable way to monitor septic-tank levels. It prevents unexpected overflow of waste, which minimizes risk of unhealthy conditions by alerting the homeowners via text, email or social media when the tank reaches near-capacity. It also avoids expensive or unnecessary septic services, which saves money. Featuring an easy-to-use design and ideal for households with septic tanks, new-home builders, septic-care companies and Third World countries, the SEPTIC SENSOR promotes convenience and peace of mind. The original design was submitted to the Atlanta office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 16-ALL-1233, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. -https://www.youtube.com/user/inventhelp Friends for Life has an inspiring relationship with our community and our furry friends, and we are honored to have the privilege of supporting such an amazing organization Jason Thorpe, executive director of the Thorpe Agency, is announcing the launch of a charity effort in the greater Phoenix area centered on rescuing animals that are facing euthanasia. The Thorpe team will be working in support of Friends for Life Animal Rescue, a regional nonprofit that offers multiple pet-friendly programs to area residents. Friends for Life has an inspiring relationship with our community and our furry friends, and we are honored to have the privilege of supporting such an amazing organization, said Thorpe. Proceeds will be generated using an invitation method that encourages community involvement. For each person referred to the firm to receive a complimentary insurance quote, the Thorpe Agency will provide a monetary donation to Friends for Life. Information on how to get involved with the charity event is available here: http://thorpeagency.com/rewards/. About the Thorpe Agency As a Personal Finance Representative in Gilbert, agency owner Jason Thorpe knows many local families. His knowledge and understanding of the people in his community ensures that clients of the Thorpe Agency are provided with an outstanding level of service. Jason and his team look forward to helping families protect the things that are most important family, home, car and more. The Thorpe Agency also offers clients a preparation strategy for achieving their financial goals. To contact an expert at the Thorpe Agency, visit http://thorpeagency.com/ or call (480) 732-9696. Being the first Tesla Destination Charging Site in Mazatlan means that we are always looking forward to innovate and offer the best to all of our guests, said Carlos Berdegue, CEO of El Cid. El Cid Resorts is proud to have Tesla, one of the worlds most cutting-edge automotive companies, choose El Cid Marina Beach Hotel in Mazatlan to be the location of the citys first Destination Charging Station. El Cid Marina Beach Hotel now has two Tesla Wall Connectors and an additional universal charger to use with other electric cars. Currently, only properties approved by Tesla can have the Tesla Wall Connectors which are Level-2 charging stations. These Tesla-specific stations are able to provide up to 58 miles of driving range per hour of charge. El Cid will continue to work with Elon Musks Tesla brand to establish more Destination Charging Stations at other El Cid properties in the future including Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Resort in Riviera Maya. Being the first Tesla Destination Charging Site in Mazatlan means that we are always looking forward to innovate and offer the best to all of our guests, said Carlos Berdegue, CEO of El Cid. In recent years, El Cid has made tremendous strides when it comes to helping the environment by investing in green technology and solutions for the hospitality industry. Considered one of the greenest vacation clubs, the resort group has received the Touristic Environmental Quality Certification and the highest Sustainability Certification Rating that is given by Mexicos Federal Environment Agency, PROFEPA. El Cids environmental efforts have also been recognized by TripAdvisor with five of its properties carrying the GreenLeaders distinction. For almost five decades, El Cid has been welcoming travelers from all of the world to its fabulous resorts in Mexico. Known for providing gold star service and offering world-class amenities, El Cid Resorts and El Cid Vacations Club are dedicated to going the extra mile for guests and members. For more information about the location of El Cid Resorts Teslas Destination Charging Station please visit https://www.tesla.com/es_MX/findus/location/charger/dc33960 About El Cid Vacations Club El Cid Vacations Club is a global leader in the vacation ownership and resort industry, delivering a wide variety of memorable vacation experiences for members. El Cid Vacations Club continually strives to enhance its member services and guest experiences. Members are invited to take advantage of downloading the complimentary El Cid Vacations Club Member mobile app available on both the App Store and Google Play (keyword ecvc). This application allows members to stay up to date on the most recent news, make reservations, and always stay in contact with El Cid Vacations Club. This is the perfect opportunity for El Cid Vacations Club members to plan their next dream vacation at one of the many stunning El Cid properties. For more information, visit http://www.elcidvacationsclub.com. With its warm days and cool evenings, winter is the ideal time to visit Guadalajara, the ultimate getaway for U.S. travelers seeking sun, fun, and culture. Beat the summer rainy season by exploring the natural beauty of Guadalajara and enjoying the markets and cultural events that give the city its character. Travelers can explore the destination at little cost right now by taking advantage of a favorable exchange rate. Markets Known as the shopping capital of Mexico, Guadalajara is home to the largest indoor market in Latin America, the largest jewelry marketplace, and a mall entirely dedicated to shoes. Neighboring Tlaquepaque is a small colonial town home to some of the best traditional handicrafts and decorative arts in Mexico, and is particularly famous for its pottery and blown glass. The areas high-end artisanal items can be as low as US$5. Tlaquepaque's main shopping stores are located on a pedestrian-only street, Independencia, where shoppers can go door to door to visit boutiques selling handmade jewelry, pottery, glassware, and home goods. Travelers can enjoy an authentic shopping experience at these popular markets: Mercado Libertad, also known as San Juan de Dios market (Calz Javier Mina No.52), is the largest enclosed market in Mexico, featuring three themed floors and more than 2,800 vendors. The first floor features fresh produce, sweets, and a variety of spices. Restaurants can be found on the second floor, and on the recently-added third level vendors sell items such as hand painted masks, colorful blankets, terra cotta bowls, and regional clothing. The market is open daily from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Magno Centro Joyero (Paseo Hospicio 22) is the largest jewelry marketplace in Latin America, with more than 700 stores comprising four levels. Here, visitors can marvel at the sparkling sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, as well as gold and silver, costume jewelry, precious stones, and watches. The mall is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Galeria del Calzado mall (Avenida Mexico 3225) features 60 stores solely dedicated to shoes. Leather is the material of choice for shoemakers in Guadalajara, which is known for its shoe workmanship (especially custom leather loafers). The mall is located in the district of Zappopan and is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 10:30 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Culture and Events Considered Mexicos cultural center, Guadalajara entertains visitors with an array of events for everyone. As the birthplace of mariachi, music can be found year-round in many of the citys plazas. Winter events include: Many gallery openings take place year-round in venues like Ex Convento del Carmen, a 17th-century church converted into an art gallery, and Cabanas Cultural Institute, which resides in Hospicio Cabanas, a World Heritage Site and one of the oldest and largest hospital complexes in the Americas. Cosmos exhibition by Roberto Pulido will be on display in Ex Convento del Carmen, December 14, 2017 through February 18, 2018, and Forever Caves by Jose Luis Cuevas will run through December 31, 2017 at Cabanas Cultural Institute. Each month Ex Convento del Carmen presents a new theme for its Classics in the Video Room series. Every Friday in December, the cinema will feature a classic American Western film including Shane, High Noon, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. A holiday season would not be complete without a masterful performance of The Nutcracker. The beautiful 19th century Degollado Theater will be featuring the ballet on select dates, including December 14, 15, 16, 17 and December 19 and 20, 2017. City Tours From tequila and Guadalajaras signature torta ahogada (a sandwich comprised of pork smothered in homemade salsa), to Lake Chapala, Mexicos largest freshwater lake, Guadalajara is filled with culinary and natural wonders. Travelers can explore its rich history through guided city tours, including: Travelers often explore historic downtown Guadalajara and its popular landmarks, including Plaza de Armas, home to the magnificent twin-towered cathedral, and the colonial buildings that line nearby Liberation Square. After a guided tour through downtown and Mercado Libertad, visitors may drive just four miles southeast to Tlaquepaque to stroll the narrow cobblestone streets and admire the beautiful architecture before walking through one of the citys many arts and crafts markets. For a Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque full day tour, visit http://www.goway.com A day may be spent sampling the famous torta ahogada and other traditional dishes on a full-day gastronomic tour. Visitors will get a taste of the citys rich history and culture on this guided tour, ending at the colorful main market in downtown Guadalajara to see the fresh, homegrown ingredients that make up the local dishes. For a gastronomic tour, visit http://www.viator.com Being the birthplace of tequila means distilleries and blue agave fields are as common as Napas winelands. All-day packages to the town of Tequila are available from Guadalajara via the Jose Cuervo Express, Tequila Herradura Express, or Tequilacopter. Visitors can tour a distillery or two to about the tequila-making process and sample varieties of the spirit. To book a trip on the Cuervo Express, visit http://www.mundocuervo.com/jose-cuervo-express. For additional ways to visit Guadalajara or to view a full list of tour packages, visit http://www.visitguadalajara.com. About Guadalajara The birthplace of iconic Mexican heritage including tequila and mariachi, Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico and considered the countrys cultural center. Each year, tourists travel to this cosmopolitan destination to experience a plethora of attractions including nearby magical towns such as Tequila, where the popular spirit is produced; explore colonial architecture; and visit museums and small towns with exquisite crafts and artwork. Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco, which is located in the center of Mexico, 350 miles west of Mexico City and 200 miles east from Puerto Vallarta along the Pacific Ocean. The metropolitan area of Guadalajara consists of four urban districts Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque, Tonala, and Zapopan and three suburban districts, Tlajomulco, El Salto, and Tequila. Travel to Guadalajara is easily accessible via the Miguel Hidalgo International Airport (GDL), which is located 24 miles from the city center of Guadalajara, with non-stop daily flights from major markets across the United States and Canada. Athena today announced that its Board of Directors appointed Holly Smithson as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 6, 2017. This is the perfect time for Holly to become Athenas new chief executive officer, said Athena Chair, Constance Maples, Todays pace of change is exponential and our next leader needs to thrive in a highly dynamic environment. One of Hollys greatest strengths is her ability to translate vision and strategy into world-class execution. She knows how to mobilize the key players to drive significant outcomes. I want to be a part of a company where I believe the possibilities are limitless and where the mission aligns with my passion for science and technology and empowerment, said Smithson. Im honored by the privilege to work with such a strong and visionary board of directors. The culture and consciousness of professional women in the workforce today is under immense reexamination and Athena members are well poised to lead that national dialogue. Smithson previously served as vice president, business strategy at the California Life Sciences Association, the nations largest statewide advocacy organization for the life sciences sector. Prior to that, she served as president and chief operating officer at Cleantech San Diego, one of the first cleantech industry associations launched to establish the region as a global hub. Smithson worked in public policy as a Presidential Appointee in several federal agencies and as a registered lobbyist for industry in Washington, D.C. Smithson began her career in broadcast journalism as a news director and anchor for several television and all-talk radio stations. She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Executive Leadership Program and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast communications from East Carolina University. She has been recognized by multiple organizations, including San Diego Daily Transcript (San Diego's Top 100 Influentials in 2014), Delegate on California Governor Browns Trade Mission to China in 2013 and the San Diego Metro (Women Who Rock in 2012). Founded in 1998, Athena is a 501(c)(6) professional development association serving women in science and technology. Athena is a community of dynamic women that provides education and leadership programs to empower women in realizing their potential within STEM industries. Athena members are executives, entrepreneurs, educators and rising stars from life sciences, healthcare, defense, engineering and related industries, as well as the associated service providers. It is known, both inside and outside of the ACS, the instructors of these courses wanted to recognize the accomplishment and time commitment of the attorneys who truly learn and understand forensic science as it relates to the law. Texas DWI Defense Attorney Carl David Ceder completed the required courses for the American Chemical Society-Chemistry and the Law Division: Forensic Lawyer Scientist Designation at: Axion Laboratories, Inc. in Chicago, IL. To read more about this accomplishment, please read here: http://www.forensicchromatography.com/acs-chal-forensic-lawyer-scientist-carl-david-ceder-from-texas/. After completing all four required courses, Texas DWI Defense Attorney Carl David Ceder had to pass a rigorous written examination to be eligible for the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation. There are currently less than 100 attorneys nationwide that have completed and received the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation. Carl obtained certificates from Axion Laboratories Forensic Chromatography: Theory & Practice (2015, 2017), Forensic Analysis of Solid Drugs (2017) and Forensic Principles of DUID (2017) with coursework and training through Axion Analytical Labs, Inc. Like poet-warrior or philosopher-king, there are lawyers of a new breed known as the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist. The ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist is one who uses validated and legitimate science for the benefit of justice. These are lawyers who study the science and apply it legitimately in the courtroom. They expose invalid or non-validated science and use valid science in the courtroom. They eschew the smoke and mirrors techniques of old and embrace the science for the benefit of all. More details on ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer Scientist can be found at: http://www.forensicchromatography.com/. What is a Forensic-Lawyer-Scientist? A lawyer-scientist is an attorney with a strong understanding of forensics, chromatography, toxicology, and other related fields, and utilizes this knowledge for the legitimate use in the court of law to best benefit justice. In plain English, this means that your lawyer knows just as much as the science behind the laws as the States experts who work in forensic laboratories and testify in criminal trials. The official title is The ACS Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation as recognized by the Chemistry and the Law Division of the ACS but ACS-CHAL has approved a shorthand where the person who has earned the honor can say that he or she has earned The ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist. The ACS-CHAL Lawyer-scientist is a highly exclusive designation (less than 100 total in the entire nation) given out by the Chemistry and Law Division of the American Chemical Society. In addition to their own independent studies, lawyer-scientists have to pass a series of forensic courses, pass a proficiency examination, maintain strong standing with the bar association and remain an active member of the ACS-Chemistry and the Law Division so that they can stay up to date on the latest scientific advances. Description of the Program: With more than 161,000 members, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is the worlds largest scientific society and one of the worlds leading sources of authoritative scientific information. The Chemistry and the Law Division (CHAL) has over 1400 members. A nonprofit organization, chartered by Congress, ACS is at the forefront of the evolving worldwide chemical enterprise and the premier professional home for chemists, chemical engineers and related professions around the globe. The American Chemical Society sponsors and approves the "Forensic Lawyer-Scientist" designation offered for lawyers through Axion Analytical Labs in Chicago, IL. The ACS Education Committee has previously approved all 3 courses. Details on the 3 classes can be found here: http://www.forensicchromatography.com/. 1. The first class (has to be taken twice) Forensic Chromatography involves DUI ethanol based analysis by HS-GC-FID. The first and second courses: Introduction to Forensic Chromatography focused on ethanol analysis using Head Space Gas Chromatography with a Flame Ionization Detector. This is the process used by most government crime labs in analyzing a drivers blood sample to try to convict someone of driving under the influence. Advanced Forensic Chromatography focuses on the most advanced topics related to Head Space Gas Chromatography, including troubleshooting problems that arise in the chromatography process. 2. The second class Forensic Drug Analysis involves the instrumental analysis of solid drugs in their pre-consumption form using FTIR, GC-MS, Colormetrics, Microscopy, Thin Layer Chromatography, etc. The course teaches participants to understand how drug testing in pre-consumption form (solid drug dose) is conducted for nearly all drugs of abuse, sources of uncertainty (misidentification) of the qualitative measure, sources of uncertainty (wrong concentration or weight) of the quantitative measure, representative sampling, validation of methods, bench work, and federal analog act prosecution. Attendees used reagents (colorimetric analysis), GC-MS, GC-FID, and FTIR instruments with samples containing unknowns. 3. The third class Forensic Principles of DUID involves the pharmacology of drugs, also driving issues in drugs, as well as instrumental analysis using GC-MS. It primarily focuses on the analysis of biological fluids (blood, urine, hair, oral fluid) for drugs of abuse. As the name implies, it focuses on DUID from the alleged motorists point of view. The course included instrumental analysis on the qualitative and quantitative analysis, in addition to pharmacology including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The course involved hands-on use of instruments and actual processing of biological samples. All three classes are hands-on classes with labs and actual sample development, testing, and data interpretation. We use the instruments, in the same way, using the same matrices in the Axion Laboratory as an analyst would in a forensic laboratory. They are wonderfully educational and wholly unique. It is known, both inside and outside of the ACS, the instructors of these courses wanted to recognize the accomplishment and time commitment of the attorneys who truly learn and understand forensic science as it relates to the law. To obtain this designation, it is something beyond simply an attendance based achievement, but also recognized retention of the highly specialized knowledge. Eligibility for Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation: To earn an ACS Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation as recognized by the Chemistry and the Law Division of the ACS, the prospects must complete coursework outlined below and then take and pass a proficiency test based upon what is learned in those courses. The official qualification criteria are as follows: 1. You must be and remain a member in good standing with the ACS-Chemistry and the Law Division. 2. You must be a lawyer in good standing with your state bar. 3. You must answer questions put to you by CHAL about your bar status upon demand as well as your compliance with all terms and conditions of the designation. 4. You must successfully complete the ACS Forensic Chromatography Course TWO TIMES. 5. You must successfully complete the ACS Solid Drug Dose (Forensic Drug Analysis) Course. 6. You must successfully complete the ACS Forensic DUID (Forensic Principles of DUID) Course. 7. You must pass a proficiency and knowledge examination based upon the courses. 8. You must agree that the advertising and display of any credentials will be done only in a tasteful and ethical manner per the ACS and your state bar rules and per the language of ACS Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation as recognized by the Chemistry and the Law Division of the ACS or shortened simply to having earned The ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist Designation or referring to the person as an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist. 9. You must agree that that these rules and terms may change without future notice or right to appeal. For more information about Texas DWI Defense Attorney Carl David Ceder and his legal services, you can contact him at 214.702.CARL(2275) or visit: http://www.TexasDWIDefender.com. Dennis Drake and IDEA team with SIP Panels. From left to right: Lea Ayop, Fernando Camotes, Dennis Drake, Florie Jane Elle, and Ronabel Sonquipal. In the Philippines, many people with severe hearing difficulties are regarded as incompetent or even cursed. We want to change that. With earthquakes, typhoons, voracious termites and torrential rains, the Philippine islands can be a challenging place for construction projects. But the International Deaf Education Association (IDEA), a non-profit focused on empowering and educating people with hearing disabilities on the islands of Bohol and Leyte, might just have the solution: SIP Panels. SIP panels, or Structural Insulating Panels, are a completely new technology to the Philippines. By sandwiching a Styrofoam core between fiber concrete sheets to form extremely strong, lightweight panels, IDEAs primarily deaf workforce is making better homes quickly and affordably for lower-income families. Unlike standard wood panels, these new panels are light, sturdy and naturally resistant to a host of challenges frequently seen in the Philippines. This new building process is the wave of the future for the Philippines, says Dennis Drake, founder and president of IDEA International. Weve started this project on the island of Bohol, but as people see how efficient these buildings are I could see it being adopted on the rest of the islands very quickly. And construction isnt the only field IDEA is working to revolutionize. By employing a primarily deaf workforce of both men and women, IDEA is also empowering a long-neglected community. Here in the Philippines, says Drake, many people with severe hearing difficulties are regarded as incompetent or even cursed. Women especially have a lot of trouble finding work, and many children never receive any sort of education. We want to change that. Founded over 30 years ago, IDEA was one of the first organizations to offer a basic elementary education and sign language skills to hearing-disabled children from low-income families. Today, IDEA partners with the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) to provide dorms, classrooms, furniture, books, teachers salaries, and vocational training and opportunities for sponsored deaf students. Due to limited government funding, IDEA relies on donations from supporters across the world to sponsor hearing-impaired children as they learn and grow. A big challenge in empowering our students is providing them with a safe place to learn, says Drake. These new SIP panels give us an innovative new way to show Gods love for the Philippines and provide better homes, schooling and community for hundreds. And by inviting people to help sponsor their educations, we can give safe housing, hot meals, and hope for the future to children who have never had any of those things. The International Deaf Education Association (IDEA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that relies on generous donations and support from people just like you. To find out how you can support their mission and sponsor a child with hearing disabilities, visit https://www.ideadeaf.org/. Pariveda Solutions, a leading provider of strategic consulting services and technology solutions expertise, is pleased to announce their selection as a winner of the 2017 Dallas 100 Awards. They were honored on November 16, 2017 at a formal reception and awards ceremony at the Omni Hotel, Dallas Convention Center. The Cox Schools Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship ranks the top 100 Dallas entrepreneurial companies annually based on percentage growth and absolute dollar growth over the previous three years. The award is presented to the fastest-growing, most dynamic privately held companies in the Dallas Area. Dallas 100, co-founded by the Caruth Institute, honors the ingenuity, commitment and perseverance of the fastest-growing privately held entrepreneurial businesses in the Dallas area. According to Jerry White, the Linda A. and Kenneth R. Morris Endowed Director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, The entrepreneurial spirit that drives these companies helps make Dallas a dynamic city for business. We feel its only right to shine the spotlight on their hard work and the contributions they make to our economy. We are excited and honored to earn a spot on the Dallas 100 list, stated Susan Paul, Dallas Office Managing Vice President. She continued, Each person at Pariveda contributed to this recognition with their expertise and commitment to providing strategic solutions to our clients. We look forward to continuing our journey in building a company with a mission of equipping employees and clients achieve their fullest potential. About Pariveda Solutions Pariveda Solutions, Inc. is a leading management consulting firm specializing in improving our clients performance. We are complex problem solvers who provide strategic consulting services and custom application development solutions for mobility, cloud computing, data, portals and collaboration, CRM, custom software, enterprise integration and user experience needs of our clients. Pariveda Solutions and The Business of IT are trademarks of Pariveda Solutions, Inc., Dallas, Texas, USA. About The Dallas 100 Entrepreneur Awards Co-founded by the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship in 1990, the Dallas 100TM Awards is an annual event that identifies and honors the 100 fastest-growing privately held companies in the Dallas area. For more information on The Dallas 100, visit http://www.smu.edu/Cox/CentersAndInstitutes/CaruthInstituteForEntrepreneurship/Dallas100. Nicks experience in creating and managing multi-hospital health systems, as well as his work on the managed care side in risk-based contracting, he will provide valuable insights to HEI and our customers -Marj Green, CEO of HEI Healthcare Excellence Institute (HEI), a leading health systems engineering firm, announced today the addition of former health system and hospital CEO, Nick Hilger, to the firm. As a Senior Advisor, Hilger will leverage his experience leading health systems by providing guidance to organizations as they transition to new payment structures, delivery systems, and innovative care models. Todays healthcare executives are facing unprecedented change and pressures. They must adapt without adding cost to their organizations by re-engineering, said HEIs CEO Marj Green, with Nicks experience in creating and managing multi-hospital health systems, as well as his work on the managed care side in risk-based contracting, he will provide valuable insights to HEI and our customers. Prior to joining HEI, Hilger served for over 15 years as CEO of multi-hospital healthcare systems such as HealthOne in Colorado and HealthEast in Minnesota. Hilger was responsible for helping large health systems integrate staff and administrative services among hospitals, physicians, and sub-acute providers. More recently, Hilger served as a Senior Vice President of UnitedHealth Group and Vice President of United Surgical Partners International Inc. About Healthcare Excellence Institute: HEI is a health systems and technology engineering firm headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Over the last twenty years, HEI has developed a transformational model that encompasses leading change management methods, data science, technology optimization, and process re-engineering to help health systems meet the growing pressures associated with delivering healthcare in todays world. Learn more at healthcare-consulting.org Chinook Salmon "Microsofts Azure platform gives us the capacity, power and speed to rapidly assess impacts to our Puget Sound food web..." Long Live the Kings has been awarded a grant from Microsoft as part of its AI for Earth program. The grant will be used to power an intensive ecosystem model of Puget Sound. AI for Earth is a Microsoft program aimed at empowering people and organizations to solve global environmental challenges by increasing access to AI tools and educational opportunities, while accelerating innovation, via the Azure for Research AI for Earth award program, Microsoft provides selected researchers and organizations access to its cloud and AI computing resources to accelerate, improve and expand work on climate change, agriculture, biodiversity and/or water challenges. Long Live the Kings, a nonprofit with over 30 years of experience recovering wild salmon and steelhead and supporting sustainable fisheries, is among the first grant recipients of AI for Earth, which was first launched in July 2017. The grant process was a competitive and selective process and was awarded in recognition of the potential of the work and power of AI to accelerate progress. Microsofts Azure platform gives us the capacity, power and speed to rapidly assess impacts to our Puget Sound food web that may ultimately be affecting the salmon we care so much about, said Long Live the Kings' Deputy Director, Michael Schmidt. The ecological model Azure supports is part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, a 60 entity, $20 million effort to determine why juvenile salmon are dying in our combine marine waters of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. Bolstering marine ecosystem modeling with Azure cloud computing will provide natural resource mangers the opportunity to understand how changes to our ecosystem (pollution, warming waters, etc.) will affect salmon and other key Puget Sound species, such as killer whales and shellfish. To date, Microsoft has distributed more than 35 grants to qualifying researchers and organizations around the world. Microsoft recently announced their intent to put $50 million over 5 years into the program, enabling grant-making and educational trainings possible at a much larger scale. More information can be found on these websites: AI for Earth: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/aiforearth Long Live the Kings: https://lltk.org/ The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project: https://marinesurvivalproject.com/ Cost of US Trading Nanosecond If time is money, then how much does it cost?.......Todays children learn the English language with A for Apple, tomorrows children will learn with A for AI A for AIs research analyzed exchange market data and found that the US equities electronic trading markets, are the worlds fastest and most expensive. At peak times, if trading firms were 1 nanosecond late to the market, it could cost them more than $50,000 a trade. There are 1 billion nanoseconds in 1 second. A blink of a human eye takes more than 100 million nanoseconds. If time is money, then how much does it cost? What is the cost of the most expensive unit of time? said Massoud Maqbool, Founder and CEO of A for AI. Everybody in the world has heard of time is money, I wanted people to think differently, to re-examine the obvious and if possible, to also try to do some social good at the same time. AI will challenge conventional wisdom. In order for humanity to obtain the full benefits of AI, non-linear thinking will be needed, said Maqbool. A for AIs first Think Differently research report, Time is Money: The Most Expensive Time on Earth - The Cost of a Nanosecond in U.S. Electronic Markets 2017$50,000+ is technically free, but the free version will not be released for a number of months. However, because time is money, anyone who makes a $10+ donation will be able to read the report much earlier, on Dec 31th 2017. Free excerpts of the report are available at http://www.afor.ai/research. A for AI is donating the majority of revenue generated from this report to a number of charities and social causes. A for AI is currently inviting corporate sponsors and advertisers to participate by Sponsoring a Nanosecond for Charity. A for AI is also inviting social media users to participate by suggesting their favorite charities and why they are their favorite, using the hashtag #Nanosecond4Charity. A number of charities selected by social media will be added to A for AI's additional causes. 100% of the reports $10+ sales (minus card fees) will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, Red Cross and the UNHCR. Sponsor A Nanosecond for Charity: 51% of corporate sponsorship/ads will also be donated to DWB, Oxfam, Red Cross and the UNHCR. 25% will be donated to additional causes 24% to AI for AI and its Sponsor/Ads Ambassador program. Ambassador's can donate 10% of a sponsorship/ad sale to a charity of their choice or start a new charity. "AI will have a profound impact on the future. Todays children learn the English language with A for Apple, tomorrows children will learn with A for AI" said Maqbool. About A for AI: A for AI makes AI learning, as easy as learning ABC. A for AI thinks AI tools should be accessible for everyone, not just the limited (and largely male) technical few. A for AI helps individuals and corporations- Think AI, Train AI, Use AI. A for AI believes, the A for Apple era, is ending, it believes the future, is A for AI. A for AI is currently focusing on using AI for social good. It will share its AI knowledge via running Pop-Up Start Ups around the world, that will be focused on positive social change. http://www.Afor.AI Killer AI Robots vs Killer AI Viruses: Everybody talks about killer AI robots. While it is possible, that, humanitys demise will come from future AI robots, the more immediate and higher probability threat will come from super-charged AI Nano Bot Viruses, that are trained to exploit multiple security holes, infect and reinfect all networked devices. These infected devices could be used to create massive denial of service attacks, or all of these devices could be bricked en masse. Both would cripple the internet. Computer viruses like WannaCrypt show the damage an individual lone cyber wolf can unleash world wide. Getting nations to sign non-killer robot treaties are great but AI viruses will create chaos in the present. Humanitys first line of defense against these new AI threats will come from new sources, such as current corporate AI titans. These AI first corporations are at the cutting edge of AI, their resources will be needed. said Maqbool. Gilpin County joins the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System This allows us to take advantage of new technology that makes the procurement process more efficient. It saves us time and allows us to reach a much larger pool of interest. Today, Gilpin County announces it has joined the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, an e-Procurement solution from BidNet, to help simplify their purchasing process and make it easier for their vendors to access and compete for bids and RFPs. Gilpin County invites all potential vendors to register online with the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System to access its upcoming solicitations by visting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado. As a member agency of the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, Gilpin County joins a community of 205 participating local government agencies located throughout Colorado and Wyoming, including Boulder County, Jefferson County and Central City. The Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System offers a way for Gilpin County to collaborate with like-minded public purchasing professionals in the area in order to share resources and attract local vendors. Vendors looking to do business with Gilpin County and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado. In addition to a centralized location for regional public bids, benefits of registering with the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System include: 24-hour access to local government opportunities Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addendums and documents Notification of Term Contract Expiration E-Bid and E-Quote Submission Were delighted about joining the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, said County Manager Leslie Klusmire. This allows us to take advantage of new technology that makes the procurement process more efficient. It saves us time and allows us to reach a much larger pool of interest. About Gilpin County: Gilpin County is a rural community in Colorados high country, neighboring the Continental Divide, yet less than an hour west of downtown Denver. Residents enjoy a quality of life enhanced by the vast recreational opportunities offered by Golden Gate State Park, the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, the limited-stakes gaming in Black Hawk and Central City, a state-of-the-art recreation center and fairgrounds, low taxes and financially secure local government. About the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System: The Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies. With years of input from procurement professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs regional purchasing groups throughout the country used by nearly 1,200 local government agencies. To learn more about the features and modules available to government agencies, please visit http://www.SourceSuite.com. Lauren Roth, M.D., named 2017 Leading Women Honoree by Marylands The Daily Record. As a reproductive endocrinologist, I feel privileged that my job is to help people achieve their dreams of parenthood. Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) board certified reproductive endocrinologist, Lauren Roth, M.D., has been named by Marylands The Daily Record as a 2017 Leading Women Honoree. The Daily Records Leading Women awards honor 50 women who are 40 years of age or younger for the accomplishments they have made so far in their careers. A panel of previous Top 100 Women and Leading Women winners selected the honorees based on their professional experience, community involvement, and commitment to inspiring change. As a reproductive endocrinologist, I feel privileged that my job is to help people achieve their dreams of parenthood. I am deeply committed to my patients and providing them with the highest quality fertility care, says Lauren Roth, M.D., of Shady Grove Fertilitys Frederick, MD and Harrisburg, PA offices. Dr. Roth earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She continued on to the University of Colorado, Denver where she completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a 3 year fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She then served as an Assistant Professor at University of Colorado for 2 years before moving back to Maryland. During her residency, Dr. Roth received several teaching awards and served as chief resident. During her fellowship and time as faculty at the University of Colorado, she presented research at multiple national meetings and received three national research awards. She has published research on a range of fertility topics including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the impact of weight on reproductive hormones. Since joining Shady Grove Fertility in 2015, Dr. Roth has played an active role in educating the community about infertility by hosting dozens of patient education events including in-person seminars and online webinars. In addition, she has been involved in outreach to the referring physician community in an effort to help educate and spread awareness about fertility options to overcome infertility. "This year's Leading Women honorees are making outstanding contributions to their fields. They are active in their communities and are committed to inspiring change," said Suzanne Fischer-Huettner, publisher of The Daily Record. "They are Maryland's next generation of women leaders, and The Daily Record is honored to recognize their achievements." Remarked one recent patient of Dr. Roths, Upon meeting with Dr. Roth, we could tell she was well educated and invested in our specific journey. Even through some bad breaks, she was kind, patient, and let me be in the moment I needed. She was reassuring when it got tough and shared in our joy when we had success! Infertility is such an intimate topic; we really felt cared for under Dr. Roth's wing. Patients can schedule an appointment with Lauren Roth, M.D., at Shady Grove Fertilitys Frederick, MD or Harrisburg, PA offices by calling the Shady Grove Fertility New Patient Center at 888-761-1967 or completing a brief online form. About Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) SGF is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence with 50,000 babies born and counting. With 41 physicians and 28 locations throughout MD, PA, VA, GA, and D.C., we offer patients individualized care, accept most insurance plans, and make treatment affordable through innovative financial options, including treatment guarantees. More physicians refer their patients to SGF than any other center. Call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com. Lucas Group Lucas Group, the leader in North American executive search, announced the promotion of 19 Associates to Executive Senior Partner, Senior Partner and Senior Executive Search Consultant positions. At Lucas Group, we believe success is achieved when Associates enjoy a balance of autonomy and support that empowers them to take professional risks and develop into industry leaders, says Carolina King, VP of Human Resources. Each of these Associates has truly earned their promotions through their willingness to take risks, their passion for exceptional client service, and their tireless commitment to team excellence. The promoted Associates represent all seven of the companys practice groups: Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, IT, Legal, Manufacturing, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing. The following Associates were promoted to Executive Senior Partner: Bob Carignan, Sales and Marketing, Atlanta David Smachetti, Accounting and Finance, Los Angeles Victoria Moore, Human Resources, Atlanta The following Associates were promoted to Senior Partner: Jeff Evers, Accounting and Finance, Phoenix John Ali, IT, Irvine Megan Strelow, Accounting and Finance, Denver Nicole Kennedy, Legal, Houston Victor Dates, Military, Atlanta Vince Stratte, Sales and Marketing, Chicago The following Associates were promoted to Senior Executive Search Consultant: Andrew Federman, Legal, New York City Ashley Raschke, Accounting and Finance, Denver Brooke Cadwallader, Accounting and Finance, Houston Chris Kouns, Human Resources, Atlanta Craig Moebus, Military, Washington, D.C. Eric Deines, Accounting and Finance, Houston George Garcia, Legal, Los Angeles Janis Reid, Human Resources, Washington D.C Jesse Mencow, Military, Washington, D.C. Mickey Brewster, Manufacturing, Atlanta We congratulate these Associates on their well-earned promotions and we look forward to celebrating more success milestones with them in the future, says King. About Lucas Group Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of Kovels' staff picks, clockwise from upper left: Stockdale burl bowl, Kagan rocker, Picasso vase, J.P. Miller earrings. More pictures at Kovels.com. The staff members at Kovels.com study hundreds of books and auction catalogs filled with all types of vintage and antique treasures. As much as they love reporting the stories of items bought by others, they are often attracted to things they wish they could snag for themselves. The Kovels staff was asked, What (in a perfect world or if you just won the lottery!) would be on your wish list? Here Kovels staff picks from 2017 auctions that they are excited about: Terry Kovel collects many things and loves political memorabilia of all types, from banners, bandannas and buttons to paper, pins, and posters. Terry would love to add a rare and historic warlog to her collection. It contains a 12-lb. cannon ball and grapeshot from Snodgrass Hill, site of the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga. The pricey historic item was offered at a Julia auction, estimated at $20,000 to $30,000, but the lot was passed. Maybe there will be another chance. Ive been collecting things like a burl basket, a root carving, or a buffalo walking stick made from a sapling that was tied into a knot when it was young. Kim Kovel collects many things Midcentury Modern and later, and she was drawn to 18-karat gold earrings by jewelry designer and goldsmith John Paul Miller (1918-2013). I like these earrings because they are starfish and made by a local Cleveland artist. Gay, the mother of Kovels annual price guide, travels a lot and always hunts for Christmas ornaments that are reminders of many places in the U.S., Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as family events. I have always wanted a carved wooden Christmas pyramid from the Erzgebirge region of Germany. One with 4 tiers. I had a smaller one years ago that was damaged when I failed to notice it had stopped turning and the candles were burning the wood. A few vintage 4-tier pyramids have sold in German auctions for $800 to $1,000. Newer ones are a bit less expensive, $400 and up. Janet is Kovels graphic designer and would like to own an original Apple-1 computer, considered to be one of the most valuable and collectible computers. I love using a Mac and the whole Apple story. It has been great to see the personal computer movement evolve in my lifetime. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the computers by hand in Jobs garage in Los Altos, California. Two hundred models were sold between July 1976 and September 1977. Apple-1 didnt come with a case or housing, had a not-whopping 4K memory, and required a separate keyboard and television to work. Price in 1976: $666.66, equivalent to about $2,806 today. Janet especially likes the Apple-1 model in a homemade wooden case. Since it was discontinued in 1977, Apple-1 computers have sold from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hamsy, Kovels marketing expert, loves everything midcentury modern and Scandinavian in design furniture, art, ceramics, etc. Im in love with cobalt blue dining chairs designed by Eva Koppel! I love their modern and distinctive design, as well as their bold color. The chairs are upholstered beech and made in Denmark. The set of six recently sold for $6,875 at Wright in Chicago. Danielle, editor of Kovels On Antiques & Collectibles newsletter, says, When I was pregnant with my first child, I interviewed furniture designer Vladimir Kagan for an article. At the end of our conversation he asked about the baby. I joked, that I could really use one of his beautiful rockers. Tell me when you see them come up at auction, they rarely do, Kagan said. He passed away last year. I noticed a Kagan 1970s rocker in the fall after it sold at Rago. The wooden frame has a Scandinavian influence but with a modern biomorphic feel. Its a functional sculpture. "Ive seen these rocking chairs sell for over $30,000, so this was a bargain at $6,250. If I bought it, I would have it reupholstered in a midcentury modern fabric, perhaps something by Alexander Girard or Boris Kroll. I think Kagan would have liked that." Lauren is the graphic designer of Kovels newsletter and chose cast iron banks that will be auctioned soon. The lot includes two banks, an owl on a stump and a pug dog, that she thinks are cute and would fit well on book shelves. Auction estimate for the lot: $150 to $300. Cherrie, Kovels copy editor, has her sights set on a stylized owl vase designed by Pablo Picasso. I like nature and wild life. This vase reminds me of the owls we have in our backyard. The 12-inch figural vase was made by Madoura Pottery in France and sold for just over $19,000 at a Palm Beach Modern auction. Tina is everything tech and admin at Kovels. She was drawn to a painting. I absolutely love the painting, The Weary Moon, by Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914). If I could, Id fill my house with art! The 8 by 5 -inch painting sold at Sothebys for $193,650. Liz, one of Kovels editors, would love to be gifted with a nicely shaped old burl bowl. Its a natural and rustic way to serve a beautiful salad. And no two bowls are ever alike. A black burl walnut example, 6 by 12 inches and inscribed by Bob Stockdale, a 20th-century woodturner noted for his bowls of exotic woods, sold for $485 in a California auction. And who wouldn't love to receive the 50th anniversary edition Kovels' Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide! Kovels 2018 is the best book of prices for average collectors. And one last suggestion: Put a dollar bill in the book, along with a reminder that the bill makes a perfect 6-inch ruler. Terry Kovel is Americas foremost authority on antiques and collectibles. She is the well-known columnist and author of more than 100 books on antiques and collecting. The 2018 / 50th anniversary edition of Kovels Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide is currently available at Kovelsonlinestore.com and local bookstores. Terry Kovel will discuss antiques and collectibles topics with accredited media. Photographs are available. Contact pr(at)kovels(dot)com. About Kovels.com Kovels.com, created by Terry Kovel and her daughter, Kim Kovel, provides collectors and researchers with up-to-date and accurate information on antiques and collectibles. The company was founded in 1953 by Terry Kovel and her late husband, Ralph. Since then, the Kovels have written some of Americas most popular books and articles about antiques, including the best-selling annual Kovels Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide. The website, Kovels.com, online since 1998, offers more than a million free prices, and includes a free weekly email, Kovels Komments. It gives readers a birds-eye view of the market through the latest news, auction reports, a Marks Dictionary, readers questions and answers and much more. Contact Information: Liz Lillis 216.752.2252 Pr(at)kovels(dot)com LifeChanger of the Year, a national program that recognizes and rewards K-12 teachers and school employees, has launched its annual Give the Gift of Appreciation holiday campaign for 2017. Sponsored by the National Life Group Foundation, LifeChanger of the Year celebrates educators and school employees who are making a significant difference in the lives of students by exemplifying excellence, positive influence and leadership. Nominations are now being accepted online at LifeChangeroftheyear.com. Anyone can nominate a teacher or school employee they feel meets the program criteria and deserves thanks and recognition. Each nominee receives the following: A holiday picture frame with a personal message from the nominator A unique profile of the nominee on the LifeChanger of the Year website A congratulatory certificate & poster sent to the nominees school A chance to win a trip to Bermuda for two with airfare, hotel and other amenities A chance to win one of 16 cash prizes, including a $10,000 Grand Prize (All prize money is shared equally with the winners school) When Susan Turner, a 6th grade teacher from Hollywood, Florida received her LifeChanger of the Year nomination, she went online to read the comments posted on her nominee profile page and was touched by what she read. Christmas Eve I have been sitting here in the quiet of my apartment reading all the comments parents, students and teachers have left on my profile page and I need to say that comments have become the best gift I have EVER received. Even if I were not to receive the award, the comments mean more than can ever be put into words. Winners will be selected at the beginning of 2018 by a national selection committee, comprised of past winners and education professionals. In Spring 2018, cash prizes will be awarded to the Top 15 LifeChanger of the Year winners during surprise ceremonies at their schools. The top five finalists will be flown to the National LifeChanger of the Year Grand Prize Ceremony, which will be held in May 2018 in Bermuda. Current nominee, Lisa Forney, an academic support administrator from Katy, Texas, said, I am absolutely overwhelmed. I have already won in my heart and soul as a LifeChanger of the Year. I know that I am making a difference. To give the gift recognition and appreciation to a teacher or school employee this holiday season, visit http://www.lifechangeroftheyear.com to complete the brief online nomination form. Nominations close on December 31st. About National Life Group LifeChanger of the Year is sponsored and run by National Life Group and the National Life Group Foundation. Since its inception in 2006, the goal of the National Life Group Foundation is to do good in the communities in which we live and work by supporting nonprofit and educational organizations. We do this in a number of ways, including providing grants through our Foundation, giving our employees 40 hours of paid volunteer time annually, sponsoring events, and offering in-kind donations. https://www.nationallife.com/ PowerChord, Inc., a leading SaaS company that transforms how manufacturers drive local dealer sales, has joined the Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. PowerChord joins other Forbes Agency Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on Forbes.com. The companys first contribution to Forbes.com, Five Ways to Maximize the Path to Purchase through Dealer Locator Pages, launched November 30th and was written by Stephanie Shreve, PowerChords Director of Partner Engagement. The Forbes Agency Council is an extraordinary opportunity for us to further our participation in advancing digital technology at the global and local levels, said Lanny Tucker, PowerChord CEO. We look forward to sharing our thought leadership and deepening our collaboration with members of the Council. Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, We are honored to welcome PowerChord into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world. About PowerChord A leading SaaS company that offers digital solutions for brands with dealer networks, PowerChords advanced technology works with global manufacturers to provide brand-specific, local websites to their dealer networks. These Digital Storefronts help manufacturers protect their brand, engage customers and grow local revenue - while giving independent dealers the ability to compete against large, online retailers. The PowerChord Platform also includes hyper-local Digital Marketing strategies that scale national campaigns into personalized dealer campaigns, and flexible Digital Services to win local search and drive dealer sales. PowerChord is a BIA/Kelsey GOLOCAL award winner and has been recognized as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company, a Inc. 5000 company. They currently operate in 28 countries and service over 10,000 local sites worldwide, with employees based across the United States and Europe. Learn more about PowerChords end-to-end digital solutions at http://www.PowerChord.com. About Forbes Councils Forbes partnered with the founders of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to launch Forbes Councils, invitation-only communities for world-class business professionals in a variety of industries. Members, who are hand-selected by each Councils community team, receive personalized introductions to each other based on their specific needs and gain access to a wide range of business benefits and services, including best-in-class concierge teams, personalized connections, peer-to-peer learning, a business services marketplace, and the opportunity to share thought leadership content on Forbes.com. For more information about Forbes Agency Council, visit https://forbesagencycouncil.com/. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com. Premium Riverfront Corporate Headquarters Building The exceptional design of the building and irreplaceable riverfront location in Downtown Miami generated tremendous interest. Multiple offers came from companies looking to locate their corporate headquarters in Miami. Paul Silverstein, Sr. Director, Commercial Division at RE/MAX Advance Realty & President of the Florida Commercial Team, LLC, brokered the sale of an office building directly on the Miami River for $10.2 Million Dollars. The buyer, Univista Insurance, is a Miami based insurance company with more than 100 offices in Florida and California. The Seller, GLF Construction Corp., built this contemporary office building in 2016. Located at the juncture of the Miami River and the Seybold Canal, with spectacular views of the Miami River, the building consists of more than 15,000 square feet on four levels, plus a parking garage. Silverstein said, "The exceptional design of the building and irreplaceable riverfront location in Downtown Miami generated tremendous interest. Multiple offers came from companies looking to locate their corporate headquarters in Miami. A drone video was produced in order to highlight the Miami Riverfront premium location. According to Silverstein, A birds eye view of this unique property was important in helping potential buyers fully understand its relationship to its surroundings, and where it fits into the overall environment. Paul Silverstein is one of the top commercial brokers in the State of Florida. He has been successfully selling commercial real estate in Florida for more than 35 years and has received numerous awards from RE/MAX International including the prestigious Platinum Award, 100% Club Award, the Executive Award, the Chairmans Club and the Hall of Fame Award. He can be reached at paul(at)fctus.com, or FloridaCommercialTeam.com. The Village of Grayslake has so much to offer retailers, and were excited to use SiteSeer and its powerful platform to do better research in order to show national and local chains exactly what they will gain by coming here. The Village of Grayslake, Illinois, has engaged SiteSeer Technologies to use its analytics software, SiteSeer Professional, to help the town assess its current retail and restaurant landscape and identify opportunities for intelligent retail and restaurant expansion. Through its Grayslake Business Partnership, the Village will use SiteSeer Professional to assess the potential of sites throughout the area and identify growth opportunities for the town. The mission of Grayslake Business Partnership is to attract new businesses and expand existing ones in the Village of Grayslake to make a positive impact on the financial and quality of life of its residents and businesses. Michael Stewart, managing director of the Grayslake Business Partnership, says that Village officials are excited about SiteSeers robust functionality and what the tool will do for Grayslakes short- and long-term economic development goals. The Village of Grayslake has so much to offer retailers, and were excited to use SiteSeer and its powerful platform to do better research in order to show national and local chains exactly what they will gain by coming here, he says. Were looking forward to enhancing our site selection services by providing detailed custom research and demographic data that will help the retailers and restaurants we approach make their decisions. Stewart adds that Grayslake has many attractive characteristics that retailers and businesses are searching for. We have a highly educated workforce, a median household income exceeding $100,000, and highway access, and were located less than one hour from Milwaukee and Chicago, he says. All the pieces are in place to ensure business success now and in the future. Lance Blick, manager of client services for SiteSeer, shares that the village of Grayslake will use SiteSeer with the Communities City Government Expansion Pack, which includes tools for community analysis, surplus and leakage analysis, and creating retail recruiting packets. SiteSeer helps communities across the United States like Grayslake evaluate their retail potential, identify gaps, and find the best businesses to fill those gaps, Blick says. Were thrilled to help this growing community develop convincing, data-driven recruitment strategies that will help them attract retail development, thereby creating jobs and increasing tax revenue for the town. To learn more about SiteSeer and its Communities City Government Expansion Pack, visit http://www.siteseer.com/solutions/#Acommunity. To learn more about the Grayslake Business Partnership, visit http://www.grayslakeforbusiness.com. ABOUT SITESEER TECHNOLOGIES, LLC SiteSeer Technologies, LLC, provides a suite of software, professional services, consulting and support for site selection and market analysis. Its flagship Software-as-a-Service, SiteSeer Professional, is a web-based analytics platform that helps businesses make data-driven location decisions through mapping, demographics, custom reporting, analytics, and predictive modeling tools. The SiteSeer Professional product suite also includes customer intelligence software, a real estate analytics tool (Void Analysis Pro), and a territory management tool (Automated Territory Optimization Model (ATOM)). Learn more at http://www.siteseer.com. Tiffany Hanzik, Escrow Officer for North American Title With Tiffanys closing expertise combined with her law degree, our Park Cites clients real estate transactions could not be in better hands. North American Title Co. (NATC) has named Attorney Tiffany Hanzik escrow officer for its Park Cities branch in Dallas. With Tiffanys closing expertise combined with her law degree, our Park Cites clients real estate transactions could not be in better hands, said Scott Moize, division manager for NATC's Dallas-Fort Worth region. Tiffany will be joining Rashelle Gallegos, closing associate, and Shawn Stephens, marketing business consultant, along with Regional Legal Counsel Lynn Stillman, and Regional President and Attorney Roland Love in our new Park Cities office. Prior to joining North American Title, Hanzik worked as an attorney/escrow officer for a national title group in Addison, Texas. Previously, she was an associate attorney with Pratt, Aycock & Associates, PLLC in Dallas, where she first began working in the title industry, and before that, worked as an attorney in the oil and gas industry. She also worked in civil litigation and corporate immigration practice while in law school and is a qualified mediator. A lifelong resident of the DFW Metroplex, Hanzik earned a Master's degree from Southern Methodist University and her Juris Doctor from Texas A&M School of Law. She will be working out of the Park Cities branch at 8333 Douglas Ave., Suite 130, Dallas, TX 75225 and can be reached at telephone number (214) 720-1020. About North American Title With more than 1,200 associates and a network of branches from coast to coast, North American Title Group, LLC (NATG) is among the largest real estate settlement service providers in the United States. Consisting of both agent and underwriter operations, NATG reported total gross revenues in fiscal 2016 of $360 million. The company also has the resources and stability of a wholly owned subsidiary of an S&P 500 company with over $15.3 billion in assets (fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2016). North American Titles agency network operates nationally under the name North American Title Co. and similar names (NATC) in 18 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia, in addition to the District of Columbia. Through its relationship with an expanding affiliate network, NATC provides real estate settlement services in all 50 states. NATG is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.nat.com. Unlike when you shop online, virtually everything here is available to taste before you buy. The city of Chicagos first vomFASSa European-style store selling imported oils, aged vinegars, wines, spirits and liqueurs straight from the caskhas opened at 4755 N. Lincoln Ave. Located in the heart of the popular Northside neighborhoodalready to home to several European-style food destinationsvomFASS Lincoln Square sells a variety of other products from around the world, including spices, spreads, syrups, pastas, olives and gift-boxed samplers for holiday- and year-round giving. Unlike when you shop online, virtually everything here is available to taste before you buy, said owner Michael Aldrich, explaining that vomFASS translates from German as from the cask. Many Chicago-area residents are already familiar with our products from their travels throughout the U.S. and Europe, he added. The new store is the second Illinois vomFASS; a downtown Naperville location opened in November 2016. As the exclusive Chicago-area franchise holder, Aldrich, a former 30-year human resources executive, owns both stores. We feel right at home in this vibrant neighborhood, which coincidentally was settled by German immigrants in the 1840s. Its close to public transportation, has a loyal customer base that shops local, and several food stores and businesses close by that complement what vomFASS offers, he said. He explained that many vomFASS products are organic, the spirits and liqueurs use traditional distillation methods, and the balsam and balsamic vinegars are made from the carefully processed juice of ripened aromatic fruit and are free of preservatives and artificial colorants. Some of the stores more unusual offerings include pumpkin seed oil and cranberry vinegar, as well as Cognacs, Armagnacs, brandies, and American, Irish and Scotch whiskeys. Those looking to live greener will appreciate that consumers can return empty vomFASS oil and vinegar containers to the store to refill with their product of choice. As hes done at vomFASS Naperville, Aldrich plans to offer classes at the Lincoln Square location on topics such as cocktail-making and pickling, and the store can host private events for groups of up to 30 (age 21+). We have new offerings for people who already know and love our products. And we look forward to introducing our brand to those who are visiting a vomFASS store for the first time, he said. VomFASS Lincoln Square is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Theres metered street parking in front of store, and parking lots close by. For more information visit http://www.vomfassusa.com or call 872-208-3027. About vomFASS Lincoln Square Located in one of Chicagos most popular northside neighborhoods, vomFASS Lincoln Square is the second Illinois location of the European-style store that sells imported oils, aged vinegars, wines, spirits and liqueurs straight from the cask, along with an assortment of specialty foods. The Lincoln Square and Naperville locations are both owned by Michael Aldrich, a former human resources executive, who is the exclusive Chicago-area franchise holder. The vomFASS concept originated in Germany in the early 80s, eventually expanding throughout Europe and the United States. There are 36 independently owned and operated U.S. vomFASS locations. The U.S. headquarters is in Madison, Wisc. This support helps NECC remain steadfast in our mission to help children with autism learn the skills they need to become independent and reach their potential," said Jared Bouzan, Chief Development Officer of The New England Center for Children. The New England Center for Children (NECC), a global leader in education and research for children with autism, announced today a record-breaking Children of Promise Gala for 2017. Held on Nov. 17 at Bostons InterContinental Hotel, 477 business leaders, philanthropists, and NECC supporters enjoyed an evening of music, awards, auctions, and stories of inspiration. The Children of Promise Gala is NECCs largest fundraiser and raised $733,898 for the NECC Annual Fund, an increase of 28 percent from the previous year. The Annual Fund supports autism education by providing funds for student activities, adaptive equipment, specialized instructional technology, and vocational program support. The Gala was hosted by KISS 108s Billy Costa, and among the guests were former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, State Senator Karen Spilka, State Senator Barbara LItalien, State Representatives Danielle Gregoire and Kevin Honan, former Registrar of Motor Vehicles Rachel Kaprielian, and Dan Rea of WBZ NewsRadio 1030. We are humbled and overjoyed by the generous support from friends, families and the community, said Jared Bouzan, Chief Development Officer of The New England Center for Children. This support helps us remain steadfast in our mission to help children with autism learn the skills they need to become independent and reach their potential. At the Gala, Dunkin Donuts was honored with the Community Autism Champion Award for 2017 for their commitment to fund raising for autism education. Two long-time NECC executives, Kathy Foster and RoseAnn Lovely, both of whom were instrumental in the organizations growth and success, were recognized with Inspirational Leadership awards. About The New England Center for Children The New England Center for Children (NECC) is a world leader in education, research, and technology for children with autism. For more than 40 years, our community of teachers, researchers and clinicians have been transforming lives and offering hope to children with autism and their families. NECCs award-winning services include home-based, day, and residential programs; public school partnerships and consulting; the John and Diane Kim Autism Institute; and the ACE ABA Software System used by more than 4,620 students in 24 states and nine countries. NECC received the 2017 Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA). A 501c3 non-profit, The New England Center for Children is based in Southborough, MA, and also operates a center in Abu Dhabi, UAE. More information is available at http://www.necc.org. The freedom and happiness children experience through the equine-assisted programs are necessary for the improvement of their lives, and we want to help support this mission. We hope the whole community rallies to embrace the Equi-Kids riders! Hirsch Insurance Agency of Virginia Beach has announced the initiation of a master charity program created to strengthen the community they serve. The agency pledges to select a new beneficiary every 90 days, working closely with nonprofit organizations and community leaders to seek out those who most need help. Their desire is to bring awareness to important local causes by forming campaigns which aid worthwhile organizations, families and individuals. Were passionate about activating community support for the beneficiaries of our Community Program, said Steven Hirsch, owner of Hirsch Insurance Agency. To debut the new community involvement program, Hirsch has elected to support Equi-Kids Therapeutic Riding Program. The program was founded almost 30 years ago and has since grown into one of the largest accredited equine riding programs in the country, benefitting close to 140 people with special needs every week. Situated on 92 beautiful acres, Equi-Kids indoor riding arena and 24-stall barn house a team of hard-working horses offering a variety of equine-assisted activities to children with Down syndrome, autism, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, amputation, mental and physical disabilities, ADD and more. Working with a horse allows kids to be transported out of their disability to a place of trust and confidence which aids in physical and mental healing and greater independence. The freedom and happiness children experience through the equine-assisted programs are necessary for the improvement of their lives, and we want to help support this mission, said Hirsch. We hope the whole community rallies to embrace the Equi-Kids riders! The donations page for each featured campaign will be accompanied by a fully detailed story, and the team at Hirsch Insurance Agency will spread the word through its own network of customers, business associates, neighbors and friends. To join the agency in support of local children with disabilities, donors may visit http://hirschagency.com/causes/galloping-toward-better-life/ and are asked to share the information with their own personal and professional networks. The page even showcases a unique way to contribute to this worthy cause without donors feeling the impact in their own wallets. Hirsch Insurance also produces a monthly publication, Our Hometown magazine, which will use a full page to highlight each selected Community Cause. The electronic Flipbook version of the special holiday issue featuring the fundraiser for Equi-Kids Therapeutic Riding Program may be enjoyed at http://hirschagency.com/magazines/. About Hirsch Insurance Agency A full-service insurance and financial services provider serving families and businesses from offices in Virginia Beach, agency owner Steven Hirsch knows many local families. This knowledge and understanding of Virginias people help him to provide customers with an outstanding level of service. Hirsch and his team of dedicated professionals work diligently to help families protect the things which are most important to them their families, homes, businesses, cars and more. They also prepare strategies to help clients achieve long-term financial goals. More information about the agency is available at http://hirschagency.com/. To speak with a caring expert, please call 757-499-9911. We are excited to partner with ReversingLabs. Malware is an important and dangerous attack vector that threatens all of our customers, said Ed Bellis, co-founder and CTO at Kenna Security. ReversingLabs threat intelligence enhances the Kenna Security Platform with the critical link between ma Kenna Security, a leader in vulnerability and cyber risk management, today announced results from its partnership with ReversingLabs, a leading provider of threat intelligence solutions that accelerate and broaden an organizations ability to detect threats, respond to incidents, and gain visibility into advanced attacks. The technology partnership integrates ReversingLabs real-time malware threat intelligence into the Kenna Security Platform. Kenna customers benefit from: The ability to identify which of a companys vulnerabilities are targeted by malware; their Kenna risk scoring will elevate accordingly. Additional intelligence, including real-time telemetry about in the wild malware attacks, their volume (increasing use) and velocity (exploit frequency) that further informs Kenna Securitys real-time prioritization analysis. Visual tagging of malware targeted vulnerabilities, with respectively increased risk scores, and prioritized using Kenna Securitys unique data-science driven risk analysis. The ability to identify malware hashes to identify if and where malware strains exist across their network, enabling them to quickly and proactively both remove malware instances and remediate malware-targeted vulnerabilities. These powerful enhancements are available immediately to all Kenna customers. We are excited to partner with ReversingLabs. Malware is an important and dangerous attack vector that threatens all of our customers, said Ed Bellis, co-founder and CTO at Kenna Security. ReversingLabs threat intelligence enhances the Kenna Security Platform with the critical link between malware and the vulnerabilities they exploit. This enables our customers to work across IT to effortlessly prioritize malware-targeted vulnerabilities and reduce cyber risk together. Its been a pleasure working with the Kenna Security team to successfully deliver this integration which enhances the ability to detect and defeat advanced cybersecurity threats, said Mario Vuksan, CEO at ReversingLabs. This effort is a great example of how our technology can be applied to help Kenna Securitys customers identify and prioritize vulnerabilities targeted by malware, as well as making their threat hunting tools more effective. Learn more about protecting your organization from vulnerabilities and malware by viewing this 2-minute demo video led by Ed Bellis, Kenna Security Co-founder and CTO, and reading this blog post by Michael Roytman, Kenna Securitys Chief Data Scientist. About ReversingLabs ReversingLabs is a leading provider of malware detection and threat intelligence solutions that dramatically accelerate and broaden an organizations ability to detect new threats, respond to incidents and gain visibility on attacks. Our solutions implement unique, innovative technologies that perform real-time deep inspection and analysis to detect threats within files. Large enterprises, government agencies and security vendors use these solutions to implement enterprise-scale classification, analysis and hunting. For more information refer to http://www.reversinglabs.com. About Kenna Security Kenna Security is the leading vendor in vulnerability and cyber risk management. The Kenna Security Platform enables organizations to work cross-functionally to determine and remediate cyber risks. Kenna leverages Cyber Risk Context Technology to track and predict real-world exploitations, focusing security teams on what matters most. Headquartered in San Francisco, Kenna counts among its customers many Fortune 100 companies, and serves nearly every major vertical. For more information, visit kennasecurity.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Media Contact: Guyer Group Alison Kenney alison.kenney(at)guyergroup(dot)com 781-990-3729 Combining PrideStaff's proven recruiting and assessment methodologies with our local connections, we will match the industry's best professionals with rewarding employment opportunities. PrideStaff, a national, franchised staffing organization, is pleased to announce that their San Antonio office has added a PrideStaff Financial Division to their existing operations. PrideStaff Financial San Antonio will specialize in accounting and financial staffing, offering expanded services for area companies seeking accounting and finance specialists. "Combining our unique, continuous improvement program with over 40 years' combined executive management experience has given us the expertise necessary to assist our clients in overcoming their complex challenges," said Michael Troyer, Strategic-Partner and Co-Owner of the San Antonio office. "We are excited to expand our current offerings to benefit employers and job seekers in San Antonio. Our increased capabilities will allow us to help clients thrive in an extremely tight accounting and finance talent market." Strategic-Partner and Co-Owner Therese Troyer will be heading the new San Antonio PrideStaff Financial Division, and she is looking forward to serving new clients in the accounting and finance industry. "Combining PrideStaff's proven recruiting and assessment methodologies with our local connections, we will match the industry's best professionals with rewarding employment opportunities," stated Troyer. "Our current clients have benefited from a high degree of satisfaction and service from our team. This has allowed us to have continued success as a PrideStaff office. We are focused on a professional, consultative approach and delivering the highest standards to our clients in the finance and accounting market." Earlier this year, PrideStaff Financial was named one of Inavero's 2017 Best of Staffing Client and Talent Diamond Award winners, after winning the Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards five years in a row for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers. PrideStaff Financial is the only national staffing firm specializing in accounting and financial staffing in the U.S. and Canada to win these awards three years in a row. PrideStaff Financial was developed to meet the specific staffing needs and challenges associated with accounting and finance, from accounts payable and receivable staffing to executive recruiting. The San Antonio office has added staff, processes and a specialized approach to recruit superior accounting and financial candidates for employers throughout San Antonio and its surrounding areas. PrideStaff Financials mission statement is Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most." We live our mission statement with our clients and employees every day. About PrideStaff Financial A division of PrideStaff, PrideStaff Financial specializes in accounting and financial staffing. The parent company was founded in the 1970s as 100 percent company-owned units and began staffing franchising in 1995. They operate over 75 offices in North America to serve over 5,000 clients. With over 40 years in the staffing business, headquartered in Fresno, CA, all PrideStaff brands offer the resources and expertise of a national firm with the spirit, dedication and personal service of smaller, entrepreneurial firms. For more information on PrideStaff Financial services or for franchise information, visit http://www.pridestafffinancial.com. Altenbach added that the smoothness of the implementation could be credited to good project management by both Kraft Kennedy and Chuhak & Tecson, as well as to a savvy technical team. Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. has elevated its document management system (DMS)all the way to the cloud. Aiming for tight security and futuristic functionality the Chicago-based law firm, in partnership with the consulting firm Kraft Kennedy, has implemented NetDocuments in each of its locations, including those in New York and New Jersey. Initially, when the firms DMS was due for an upgrade, management considered a different route. Judging the system to be adequate at best, they were looking for modern productivity features, up-to-date security and a user-friendly interface that would simplify processes for attorneys and staff. Chuhak & Tecson had a choice to make. They could continue as before or opt for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform where the data would be hosted offsite. The firm decided on the latter, choosing NetDocuments, and then engaged IT consulting firm Kraft Kennedy, which specializes in legal technology, to assist with the implementation. The constant gradual improvements offered by the NetDocuments SaaS model appealed to the tech-savvy law firm, according to Chief Information Officer Charlie Altenbach. The existing system required an intensive upgrade every few years to introduce new features. Up-to-date productivity tools were important to the firm with security the utmost concern. Security is front and center with everything we do, said Altenbach. We wanted the data to be encrypted both in transit and at rest. Data at rest (that is, in storage rather than in the process of being sent) is often left unencrypted due to the cost and complexity of encrypting non-hosted data, according to a white paper on client security audits authored by NetDocuments Chief Technology Officer Alvin Tedjamulia and Kraft Kennedys General Counsel Michael Kraft. NetDocuments hosted model makes it possible to thoroughly encrypt the sensitive data end-to-end. Experts often describe enterprise security as a balance between security and convenience. With a mobile version and single sign-on, Chuhak & Tecson is finding that it doesnt have to sacrifice user-friendliness. The response to the new system has been enthusiastic, according to Altenbach, and the firm is seeing the benefits of NetDocuments productivity and coloration tools. We are filing emails with NetDocuments now, said Altenbach. Email management was one of the main objectives of the project and that is now paying dividends. Ironically, many law firms historically avoided cloud systems due to security concerns. It might seem safer, understandably, to know that your data is in the server room down the hall from your office. In reality, today it is difficult if not impossible for on-premise installations to beat the security that a vendor like NetDocuments can supplyand it would be costly to try. In addition to encryption, NetDocuments restricts access based on Internet Protocol address, logs audit trails and enforces two-factor authentication and strong passwords. Chuhak & Tecsons management team was also aware that availability, another doubt that the IT world had about the cloud, is higher with hosted solutions. The implementation was pretty seamless, said Altenbach. Thats remarkable considering the complexity, the number of documents that had to be migrated and the coordination involved. Altenbach added that the smoothness of the implementation could be credited to good project management by both Kraft Kennedy and Chuhak & Tecson, as well as to a savvy technical team. The engineers at Kraft Kennedy are clearly knowledgeable. The expertise they brought to the table was vital to the projects success, said Altenbach. Our attorneys and staff were able to come into the office and work without any disruption on the Monday following our migration, which was very impressive. That knowledge comes from experience. Kraft Kennedy has many NetDocuments implementations under its belt, including its own in 2016. We learned from our own experience, said Brian Podolsky, leader of NetDocments certified Enterprise Content Management Group. Since our own migration last year, we have streamlined the process, making sure that all documents are migrated properly and attorneys can really hit the ground running. Kraft Kennedy completed a test migration and performed quality assurance before proceeding with the full deployment. Several custom migrations allowed administrative departments to preserve the folder structures of their previous DMS. The cutover was positioned very well, with a lot of front-end planning, said Altenbach. And, because of that, we received a lot of praise internally about how smoothly the project went. About Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. For 30 years Chuhak & Tecson has provided clients with affordable service and highly accessible legal advisors. Its three offices, Chicago, New York and Totowa, New Jersey, position the firm in prime locations to fully serve its clients across the United States. The firms 72 attorneys provide broad experience in a multitude of practice areas such as aviation, banking, condominium, corporate, employment, probate, estate planning, healthcare, litigation, not for profit, real estate, tax and employee benefits. More details can be found at chuhak.com. About Kraft Kennedy, Inc. Since its inception in 1988, Kraft Kennedy has been a trusted consulting partner to law firms worldwide. Clients range from some of the largest organizations in the world to small boutique firms to corporate legal departments. Kraft Kennedy combines an understanding of the unique manner in which law firms operate, a deep knowledge of technology, and an approach to problem-solving and design that is not limited by the capabilities of a particular vendor or technology. "CollegeFindMe leads the college search and application process, giving us unique insight into emerging trends in student recruitment." As the leader in the college search and application process, CollegeFindMe is convening top universities in the US in a series of live recruitment broadcasts to prospective Chinese students. This is the first time that schools from across the US are working together to engage with high-performing Chinese students in a live web broadcast. More than 1 million students from across the globe come to the United States for higher education, pumping an estimated $39 billion into the US economy. With students from China making up the largest share from any single country, recent data from the Institute of International Education shows a decline in the overall number of international students coming to the US. A report by Open Doors, a survey of more than 2,000 colleges, found that only New England saw growth in the number of international students every other region in the US reported declining numbers, with the mid-part of the country taking the biggest hit. Its no secret that the number of international students coming to college in the US is declining, said Christina Bai, CollegeFindMe CEO. CollegeFindMe leads the college search and application process, giving us unique insight into emerging trends in student recruitment. Our university partners look to CollegeFindMe to help drive student applications. With a strong user base in China, we can increase student interest in US higher education, and reinforce the world-class nature and value of an American education. International students play an important role in US higher ed, said Miguel Alvarez, Associate Director for International Admissions, at UMass Boston. This live CollegeFindMe broadcast gives us unique access to high-performing students in China, the top home country of international students. We can personally introduce our school to Chinese students, letting them know how welcome they are at UMass Boston. Broadcasts will take place on December 13 and 15 at 8 am EST. CollegeFindMe is planning additional international outreach in 2018, enabling colleges to find prospective students at a lower cost than traditional recruitment practices. About CollegeFindMe CollegeFindMe is the first-step in a student's college search and application process. Headquartered in Boston, CollegeFindMe is a network for colleges and students to find each other. Through this platform, a comprehensive picture of students and their credentials not only their test scores - are presented to college admissions officers. In turn, admissions officers are able to search online a large pool of student candidates that meet their admission criteria, reducing the cost of student recruitment by as much as 90%. For more information, please go to http://www.collegefindme.com and follow @CollegeFindMe on Twitter. SMS Gateways communicate directly with the cellular network, providing an alternate path to message delivery. "When designing the Attention! 4G/LTE SMS Gateway, we made certain to separate the software interface from the hardware used to actually transmit and receive the SMS messages, said Bob Lueth, President of Attention Software. Many of our customers are Verizon shops, so they choose CDMA hardware for transmission of the messages. When CDMA is retired, they will be able to seamlessly transition to GSM. The upgrade will take a matter of minutes. SMS Gateways are used heavily in high availability environments, as an interface to system and network monitoring applications. They provide a backup to Internet-based notifications for those situations when the Internet is not available. SMS Gateways communicate directly with the cellular network, providing an alternate path to message delivery. The Attention! SMS Gateway is also used as an alternative to Cloud-based short code solutions. When implemented with the required number of SMS channels, the Attention! SMS Gateway allows organizations to send, and receive, SMS text messages to a large number of users, for a fixed monthly cost. By eliminating the need for a short code, and the per-message charge assessed by Cloud providers, organizations using the Attention! SMS Gateway can save thousandsand sometimes tens of thousands of dollars per year. Scale to new technologies, while using the same API Future technologies affecting the growth of IoTnamely 4G and 5G networkingmay eventually provide alternatives to the ubiquitous SMS text message. The Attention! SMS Gateway will provide support for these new technologies on the back end, while allowing access using the same input Application Programming Interface (API). Two-way communication of SMS messages The Attention! SMS Gateway supports up to 4,096 channels of outbound, and inbound SMS communication. When users reply to messages sent by the Attention! SMS Gateway, their response is archived for later review. In addition, the Attention! SMS Gateway supports automated, programmatic responses to all replies, in real-time. This capability is often used to verify acknowledgement of the message, or provide updates to help desk and management systems. For more information about Attention! 4G/LTE SMS Gateway, please visit: http://www.attentionsoftware.com/SMSGateway.aspx. About Attention Software Since 1993, Attention Software, Inc. of Colorado Springs, CO. has provided alerting, alarm management and web-based messaging systems to organizations around the world. The company has provided solutions for Information Technology, Government, SCADA, Healthcare and the Financial Services industries. Customers include major companies such as Avon, Abbott, AAA, ADP, Advocate Health Care, Allied Signal, AT&T, Bank of America, Verizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Chase, and many more. For more information on Attention Software, visit http://www.attentionsoftware.com. Attention is a registered trademark of Attention Software, Inc. Other products mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. CB Insights yesterday named Kyndi to the prestigious AI 100, a select group of promising private companies working on groundbreaking artificial intelligence technology. CB Insights CEO and co-founder Anand Sanwal revealed the full list of the second annual AI 100 companies at the A-ha! conference in San Francisco. "Last year's AI 100 enjoyed amazing success in the year since earning this recognition. 55 of them went on to raise additional funding nearing $2B and 5 were acquired. This year's list was culled from 1000+ applications and looks even more impressive. These are companies using artificial intelligence in industries from drug discovery and cybersecurity to robotics and legal tech. I'm happy that CB Insights is able to shine a light on the founders and companies that will revolutionize these industries and look forward to seeing what they do in 2018 and beyond," said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. Being named to CB Insights AI 100 is an incredible honor, said Ryan Welsh, Founder and CEO of Kyndi. It is a major industry recognition, and I think it underscores the importance of moving past black box machine learning towards Explainable AI products that have auditable reasoning capabilities. Explainability is especially crucial for critical organizations that are required to explain the reason for any decision. The CB Insights research team selected the AI 100 companies based on criteria, examining company-submitted data and the companys Mosaic Score. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights National Science Foundation-funded algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. Through this evidence-based, statistically-driven approach, the Mosaic Score can help predict a companys momentum, market health and financial viability. Companies such as Zoox, Shield AI, Zest Finance, Dynamic Yield, Appier, and CognitiveScale joined Kyndi in being recognized for their innovative technology in front of an audience of 400 senior innovation executives from around the world and news outlets including The Financial Times, CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg and the Washington Post. Founded in 2015, Kyndi transforms business processes by offering auditable AI products. Its novel approach to AI, which unifies probabilistic and logical methods, enables organizations to analyze massive amounts of data to create actionable knowledge significantly faster and without having to sacrifice explainability. Kyndis Explainable AI Platform supports the following solutions: Intelligence, Defense, Compliance (i.e., for financial services and healthcare), and Research. Quick facts on the AI 100: These 100 emerging private companies have raised $6.6B across 99 deals in 2017. Applications of their technology include breakthroughs in fintech, digital health, auto tech, robotics, and more. More than 1,000 companies were nominated or applied and only 9% were selected. Eleven AI 100 companies have reached a valuation of $1B or more. Thirty-three companies on the list were also on the list for 2017, with 67 new companies making it for 2018. Nine countries are represented among the AI 100 companies. The AI 100 Companies (in alphabetical order): AEYE Affirm Afiniti AiCure Algolia Amplero Anki Appier Applitools Appthority Aquifi Arterys babylon Benson Hill Biosystems Brain Corporation Bytedance C3 IoT Cambricon Cape Analytics Captricity Casetext Cerebras Systems CloudMinds CognitiveScale CrowdFlower CrowdStrike Cybereason Darktrace DataRobot Deep Sentinel Descartes Labs Drive.ai Dynamic Yield Element AI Endgame Face++ Flatiron Health FLYR Foghorn Systems Freenome Gong Graphcore InsideSales.com Insight Engines Insilico Medicine Invoca Kindred Systems Kyndi Liulishuo MAANA Merlon Intelligence Mighty AI Mobalytics Mobvoi MOOGsoft Mya Systems Mythic Narrative Science NAUTO Neurala Numerai Obsidian Security Onfido Orbital Insight OrCam Technologies Osmo PerimeterX Petuum Preferred Networks Primer Prospera Recursion Pharmaceuticals SenseTime Shape Security Sher.pa Shield AI Shift Technology Socure SoundHound SparkCognition Sportlogiq Tamr Tempus Labs Text IQ Textio Tractable Trifacta Twiggle UBTECH Robotics Upstart Versive Vicarious Systems Workey WorkFusion ZestFinance Zoox About CB Insights Our team builds technology that helps corporations guess less and win more. We aggregate and analyze terabytes of data and use machine learning, algorithms and data visualization to help corporations replace the three Gs (Google searches, gut instinct and guys with MBAs*) so they can answer massive strategic questions using probability not punditry. *We have MBAs. Contact: Farrah Kim, Senior Public Relations & Communications Manager fkim(at)cbinsights.com 212-292-3148 To learn more about A-ha!, go here: http://events.cbinsights.com/aha About Kyndi Kyndi is an artificial intelligence company thats building the first Explainable AI platform for government, financial services, and healthcare. We transform business processes by offering auditable AI systems. Our product exists because critical organizations cannot use black box machine learning when they are required to explain the reason for any decision. Based in Silicon Valley, Kyndi is backed by leading venture investors. For more information, visit http://www.kyndi.com. Contact: Patrick Di Chiro Patrick(at)thunderfactory.com 650-245-7310 Temprano, a firm operating in software sales and distribution and led by local entrepreneur Luke Walling, donated $10,000 to Catawba Countys K64 initiative and is challenging others to chip in, too! Were challenging the community to match us, Walling said. We want area businesses and residents to keep the ball rolling, and we will match themup to another $10,000 for all donations made by December 31st, 2017. Who will accept our challenge? Temprano Techvestors, a high-tech company operating in software sales and distribution and led by Catawba County entrepreneur Luke Walling, has donated $10,000 to Catawba Countys K-64 initiative and is urging others to chip in, too, with a challenge. Were challenging the community to match us, Walling said. We want area businesses and residents to keep the ball rolling, and we will match themup to another $10,000 for all donations made by December 31st, 2017. Who will accept our challenge? Tempranos motives for donating are simple. We dont just want to ensure a future for businesses and families in this region, but we desire a future where we grow and thrive through innovation and invention, Walling remarked. To do this, our educators must be supported to inspire our children at an early age. K-64 is the first vehicle in this county to have the potential to make an impact in this area. The K-64 (Kindergarten to age 64) plan is an educational and economic development initiative to prepare all students to be college and career ready in a global economy, while supporting the local workforce and economic growth. The K-64 focus is on six key objectives: 1-to-world technology, character and soft skills development, tech-savvy educators, work-based learning, employer engagement and career adaptability. So the call is clearwho else will step up? Temprano believes that by providing resources to enable access to technology, students and educators can become real leaders. Mark Story, K-64 CEO, agrees. Technology facilitates a shift in the way kids learn, allowing our educators to become facilitators and truly teach versus old-style lecturing, Story said. This concept of blended learning empowers children to learn at the pace they are comfortable with and capable of, and frees up teachers to personalize learning and support, he continued. And without donations like Tempranos, we rely solely on government funding, which just isnt enough. As a member of the K-64 Technology committee, Walling agrees with Storys approach. Were supporting the execution of this vision, and as community members we are pitching in to help make sure it is financially possible to get it done and sustain it. Will you, too? To make your tax-deductible donation via major credit or debit card, please visit http://www.cvcc.edu/Apps/Foundation-Donation.cfm, select K64 from the pull down box, and indicate in the other box that you are participating in the Temprano Match Challenge. To donate by phone or mail your donation, please call the CVCC Foundation office at 828-327-7000 ext. 4288. About Temprano Techvestors Temprano Techvestors was formed by Luke Walling, a long-time serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and corporate executive known for building high-growth B2B software businesses. His team is comprised of a group of SaaS and electronically-distributed software experts who have worked with and for some of the biggest names in the industry. Their expertise is dedicated to acquiring and consolidating value-added software resale and distribution businesses while also bringing emerging-market B2B software products to market in North America. They invest in their partners with expertise, outsourcing, strategic partnerships, and capital. 40 Square Cooperative Solutions Were dedicated to ensuring every farm family in Minnesota has the opportunity to enroll in a health plan they will own for years to come. Today 40 Square Cooperative Solutions (40 Square) announced that due to overwhelming demand, it has extended its health insurance open enrollment deadline to December 20, giving farmers an additional five days to enroll in a health insurance plan through the co-ops health plan consortium. Late harvest posed a challenge for open enrollment this year, said Charlene Vrieze, project manager for 40 Square. Farmers told us they were committed to signing up for a 40 Square health plan, but needed to tend to their crops first. Now that harvest is complete, weve been swamped with enrollments and recognized additional time will allow every farmer interested in 40 Square to get signed up. Its been a great problem to have. 40 Square began organizing for open enrollment season after the state legislature recognized the need for a new health plan solution for farmers in 2016. Earlier this month the 40 Square Board of Directors officially approved the release of its health plan consortium for 2018 coverage, solidifying a 15-year mission to offer cooperative health plan choices to members of the Minnesota farm community. Insurance agents are available for walk-in enrollments at cooperative locations in Waconia, Winthrop, Lake Crystal and Lamberton through December 15, and by personal appointments with local agents through December 20. A full list of agent availability, locations and times are listed at 40square.coop. We encourage every farmer to visit our website or reach out by phone if they want to work with one of our agent partners to get signed-up. Were dedicated to ensuring every farm family in Minnesota has the opportunity to enroll in a health plan they will own for years to come, said Vrieze. For more information, visit 40Square.coop or call 844-205-9579. About 40 Square Cooperative Solutions 40 Square is a health plan cooperative providing Minnesota farm families the control to manage their health care. The initiative was founded by Cooperative Network, the Minnesota and Wisconsin state trade association of cooperatives, and United Farmers Cooperative (UFC), an agricultural supply cooperative based in Winthrop, Minnesota. Neat, a recognized leader in business document and bookkeeping automation solutions for small businesses, recently announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., and their ScanSnap brand scanners. The two companies will be offering a bundled solution that brings together the industrys most popular scanner with Neats cloud-based software for expense, spend and document tracking and management. This past July, Neat made an official announcement that it had completed its exit from the scanner market and announced a hardware certification program that would ensure its popular software app would continue to be available to consumers that use a physical document scanner as part of their expense and financial document management process. The partnership with ScanSnap expands on the hardware certification program by bundling the Neat software with a specific device and making it available for purchase in retail channels. Mike Crincoli, President of The Neat Company, spoke about the importance of fostering hardware relationships. Said Mike We are excited about the partnership with Fujitsu and opportunity to bundle our organization and expense management software with the ScanSnap product line. This partnership provides the small business market with a powerful solution to organize and manage the critical financial documents burdening all small businesses. The integration with ScanSnap enables batch scanning as well as accommodating a variety of document types, delivering a higher level of productivity beyond typical mobile capture. CEO of Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., Victor Kan, believes the partnership with Neat offers an advantage, especially to small businesses. Neat shares our philosophy of delivering solutions that not only improve efficiency and productivity, but are also simple to use, Kan commented. This offering gives our customers the tools they need to effectively manage all of their paperwork. The bundled solution will be available for purchase initially through Amazon.com. About Neat: The Neat Company provides small businesses and sole proprietors a cloud-based expense and document management system, which streamlines the collection and retention of important financial documents, automatically extracts key information, and provides real-time insights to automate time-consuming bookkeeping tasks. Neats patented ID2 technology intuitively classifies documents and populates key data fields, helping small businesses organize and categorize financial information that is critical to their businesss needs. In order to manage the high, daily volume of expense transactions and financial documents, Neat gives small business owners the power to capture and access files from any device, taking productivity to the next level. By consolidating reporting and eliminating time-consuming tasks like data entry, Neat streamlines accounting and tax-related workflows, giving time back to small businesses so they can get to what matters most. About Fujitsu: Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., is an established leader in the Document Imaging industry, delivering innovative scanning products and services that enable our customers to solve critical business productivity issues and streamline operations. Fujitsu provides cutting-edge document capture solutions for business and personal environments, backed by a comprehensive portfolio of service and support programs. Michael J. Schaengold, co-chair of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLPsGovernment Contracts & Projects Practice, spoke at PubKGroups 3rd Annual Year in Review program, hosted as a webcast, Dec. 7. More than 1000 PubKGroup members attended the event, which consisted of 21 speakers from government, industry, and private practice. Schaengold participated on the panel titled, Statutes, Regulations, Executive Orders, and Policies. He specifically discussed fiscal year 2017 Congressional statutory developments from a federal procurement standpoint as well as the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Acts significant impact on federal procurement law. Schaengold focuses his practice on government contracts litigation and counseling, and on litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. His substantial government contracts dispute and bid protest experience includes litigation of major cases before the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Court of Federal Claims, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Boards of Contract Appeals. He represents clients in disputes involving most major departments and agencies of the U.S. government and, in recent years, has focused on procurements involving the Department of Defense (DOD), the General Services Administration (GSA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of State (DOS). He also has substantial experience in due diligence reviews and other issues related to the acquisition, merger, spin-off, or sale of government contractors. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GTLaw) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. A single entity worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and is among the Top 20 on the 2017 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. Two recent reports purport to offer a comprehensive assessment of the impact on student achievement of Mark Zuckerbergs $100 million grant to Newark schools. Yet these first attempts at such an assessment come up far short, according to a new review. School District Reform in Newark: Within- and Between-School Changes in Achievement Growth, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Assessing the Impact of the Newark Education Reforms: The Role of Within-School Improvement vs. Between-School Shifts in Enrollment, published by the Center for Education Policy Research, Harvard University, are both authored by Mark J. Chin, Thomas J. Kane, Whitney Kozakowski, Beth E. Schueler, and Douglas O. Staiger. Mark Weber, a doctoral candidate at Rutgers, and Bruce D. Baker, a Professor at Rutgers, reviewed the reports. Weber and Baker found that the reports do not clearly define the treatment in question, omit important factors that are known to affect student learning and test score outcomes, are hampered by the use of crude data, and find what can, at best, be described as isolated and small effect sizes. According to the reports, the Zuckerberg donation initiated a series of reforms in the Newark schools. These reforms are divided into within-school (personnel changes, Common Core implementation, turnaround schools, and a teacher contract featuring differentiated pay) and between-school (school closures, charter school expansion, and universal enrollment) components. The reforms were supposed to spur increases in student achievement growth; however, the reports find no increase in student growth or value-added in math and only nominal increases in English language arts over the five-year period following the grant. The reviewers note that these small gains in English are most likely due to a change in assessments, rather than to any policies connected to the Zuckerberg donation. They also note that many districts close to Newark with similar demographics experienced similar gains in ELA relative to the rest of the state, further calling into question any causal inference that the gains had anything to do with policy changes in Newark. In addition, there is little evidence presented as to how the reforms were actually implemented, or how they differed from other New Jersey schools, making any claim of a causal connection between the grant, the reforms, and student achievement growth suspect. A central contention of the reports is that the majority of the small gain in English was due to the between-school reforms: students moving from less productive to more productive schools specifically, to charter schools. Weber and Baker find, however, that (in addition to the above-noted problems) the reports did not account for critical differences between Newarks district schools and charter schools. Key differences include resources, student characteristics, discipline, student attrition, staffing, and curricular narrowing. Assuming that the between-schools locus is correct, the underlying change might be charterness or might be one or more of these related differences that have little to do with charterness. The results, therefore, are rendered inconclusive and provide no evidence in favor of the Newark-Zuckerberg reforms or the efficacy of moving students in urban districts to charter schools. The reports repeatedly claim to be a productivity analysisa type of analysis that evaluates which schools or districts get the most bang for the buck. The reports, however, make no attempt to account for differences in school inputs the resource differences that can have a profound effect on student achievement. Because Newark charter schools enjoy significant resource advantages over district schools, omitting those advantages from the analyses greatly diminishes the value of these reports for shaping the education policies of Newark schools. For these reasons and others, Weber and Baker conclude, the reports provide little evidence in favor of the Zuckerberg-funded reforms, particularly when considering the documented disruption around Newarks schools that has occurred since 2010. Find the review, by Mark Weber and Bruce B. Baker, at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-newark-reform Find School District Reform in Newark: Within- and Between-School Changes in Achievement Growth, by Mark J. Chin, Thomas J. Kane, Whitney Kozakowski, Beth E. Schueler, & Douglas O. Staiger, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23922 Find Assessing the Impact of the Newark Education Reforms: The Role of Within-School Improvement vs. Between-School Shifts in Enrollment, by Mark Chin, Thomas J. Kane, Whitney Kozakowski, Beth E. Schueler, & Douglas O. Staiger, published by the Center for Education Policy Research, Harvard University, at: https://cepr.harvard.edu/files/cepr/files/newark_ed_reform_report_final.pdf Find Documents: Press Release: nepc.info/node/8961 NEPC Review: nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-newark-reform Report Reviewed: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23922 NEPC Reviews (http://thinktankreview.org) provide the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC Reviews are made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: http://www.greatlakescenter.org The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC (RCCB), a law firm offering a distinctive combination of practical business acumen, legal expertise and entrepreneurial passion, experienced tremendous growth and innovation in 2017 a year in which the firm strengthened internal operations, added exceptional talent and enhanced international capabilities. As RCCB advances into the new year, the firm looks to further their commitment to offering sophisticated legal counsel that empowers the ambitions of their clients. Throughout the year, RCCB continued to strategically add top-level talent that is directly aligned with the mission and culture that our firm was built upon, said John E. Royer, Jr., Managing Partner at RCCB. The added talent, combined with our existing multi-faceted team, has allowed the firm to formalize initiatives that astutely address the essential needs of our clients. Noteworthy achievements include: RCCB Hires First C-Level Executive Erik Carrozza, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, joined RCCB, bringing extensive business and operational experience to the firm, after spending the last five years at Liquid Hub, a leading customer engagement technology company. Distinguished Attorney David Gitlin Joins RCCB Respected both regionally and throughout the world, Gitlin joined RCCB after spending years in large law firms. Gitlin was drawn to RCCB because of the firms innovative approach to serving their clients, especially the flexibility to offer alternative billing arrangements. RCCB Launches International Group Gitlins hire, combined with the cross-border matters the firm was already handling and the addition of attorneys with varied international experiences, led to the formal announcement of the firms International Group, enabling the firm to offer even greater international resources to their clients. The International Group is Co-Chaired by Gitlin and Tax Group Partner Dustin Covello. Beth Cohen Joins RCCB as Director of Business Strategy and Innovation A well-respected lawyer both in the region and internationally, Cohen, in addition to her role as Counsel, will act as a mentor and resource to RCCBs clients as they plan for growth and future opportunities. Cohen, who earned her MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania, will also spearhead the firms internal innovation strategy in conjunction with the firms executive committee. RCCB Continues Innovative Approach to Growth with a People Focus Multi-faceted attorney Megan Petetti Londergan joined the firm as Employment and Ethics Counsel, as well as Director of Talent Acquisition and Management. As director of Talent Acquisition and Management, Petetti Londergan will assist the firms recruiting efforts seeking attorneys that fit RCCBs Empowering Ambition philosophy. While bolstering the executive staff, supplementing the firms recruiting process and launching the International Group, RCCB added a total of nine attorneys and four administrators in 2017, a 39% increase in employment. Because of the growth, the firm moved into a new, larger office at the Conshohocken location. A number of RCCB attorneys were also recognized by Super Lawyers, including nine attorneys who were selected as 2017 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and Rising Stars, while two attorneys were selected as 2017 New York Metro Super Lawyers. About Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC RCCB empowers your ambition. We are attorneys who think and act like entrepreneurs and business people. We combine sophisticated, cost-effective legal counseling with the type of sound practical judgment that comes from hands-on business experience. We encourage entrepreneurial approaches and creative thinking, while maintaining the utmost in integrity and responsiveness. RCCB understands and delivers the advice that companies, business executives and investors, as well as individuals and their families, need to realize their hopes and goals. From offices in the Greater Philadelphia area and New York, RCCB serves clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Additional information about Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld is available at http://www.rccblaw.com. Decryptx provides any processor, gateway or integrated software provider, globally, the ability to extend the security, cost benefits and reduced PCI scope of Bluefins PCI-validated P2PE solution directly to their clients," said Ruston Miles, Chief Strategy Officer, Bluefin. Bluefin, the leader in payment security, announced today the expansion of its highly scalable Decryptx PCI-Validated P2PE Network to more than 50 payment gateways, processors and software platforms from across the globe with an expected 60 partners to be enabled on Bluefins P2PE platform by the end of 2017. Bluefin introduced Decryptx in November 2014 just eight months after the company became the first North American provider to receive PCI validation for their P2PE solution. At that time, Bluefin was one of only four companies globally to have received validation. It was actually a conversation with a major petroleum provider that brought about the idea for Decryptx, said Ruston Miles, Bluefins Chief Strategy Officer. The company wanted our PCI-validated P2PE solution but they didnt want to leave their payment processor to get it. So we thought to ourselves, how could we decouple P2PE from payment processing and only provide the P2PE piece to these companies? Thats when Bluefin developed Decryptx, also known as the companys Decryption as a Service (DaaS) platform. The goal of Decryptx is to enable Bluefins PCI-validated P2PE solution through partner payment gateways, processors and software providers. Bluefins platform secures credit, debit and other card transactions by encrypting all data within a PCI-approved point of entry device, preventing clear-text cardholder data from being available in the device or the merchants system where it could be exposed to malware. Data decryption is only done offsite in a Bluefin hardware security module (HSM). Through Decryptx, the only part of the transaction that Bluefin requires is the encrypted data and other P2PE payload data elements, which contain the swiped, keyed or EMV card data encrypted within the PCI-validated P2PE device. Bluefin decrypts the data and then sends the decrypted payload back to the processor or gateway for authorization. Currently, Bluefin has 18 PTS mobile, countertop, unattended and call center devices (payment terminals) that are validated for use with the companys P2PE solution. Bluefin expects to add 2 more devices by year-end. Decryptx provides any processor, gateway or integrated software provider, globally, the ability to extend the security, cost benefits and reduced PCI scope of Bluefins PCI-validated P2PE solution directly to their clients with no change in the processor relationship and no change in how merchants accept payments today, said Miles. These Connected Partners come to Bluefin for three reasons: 1) Increased margins, 2) Move market-share and 3) Reduce merchant attrition. To date, Bluefin is the only company providing a DaaS P2PE service on such a large scale and with the companys patented P2PE Manager, which tracks, catalogs and reports on all of a merchants P2PE devices, locations and users. We proved the value of the Decryptx platform with our first partners who were security trailblazers in recognizing the importance of PCI P2PE to their clients. Starting in mid-2016, interest in joining our Decryptx network grew significantly, said Greg Cornwell, Head of Global Sales, Bluefin. 50 of some of the largest gateway and processing companies are Decryptx partners, and we look forward to adding another 10 by the end of this year." Bluefin was issued its first Decryptx patent in June 2016 and currently holds six issued US. Patents, one issued Japanese patent and one allowed Japanese patent, with additional patents pending nationally and internationally. For more information about Decryptx, visit https://www.bluefin.com/products/p2pe-point-to-point-encryption/decryptx/. A list of select Decryptx partners can also be seen at https://www.bluefin.com/partners/. About Bluefin Bluefin is the leader in payment security. The company specialize in PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) integrated and stand-alone solutions for retail, mobile, call center and kiosk/unattended environments, and secure Ecommerce technologies including transparent redirect, payment iFrame and tokenization. Bluefin is a Participating Organization (PO) of the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) and is headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York, Chicago, Tulsa and Waterford, Ireland. For more information, please visit https://www.bluefin.com/. Dr. Robert Levine Limiting sun exposure through lifestyle choices, clothing, and sunscreen is the biggest step we can take to protect ourselves from skin cancer. Hankering for a dusting of angel kisses across the bridge of your nose? Your local tattoo parlor may oblige: Freckle tattoos, the tabloids say, are the rage. And the ode-to-beauty-mark of the Marilyn Monroe lip piercing is still going strong. But Dr. Robert Levine of Advanced Dermatology PC reminds us that its the real-life counterparts of these enhancements, in particular the moles most of us have, that deserve our attention. Cultivating skin awareness regarding actual beauty marks is a key means of protecting ourselves from skin cancer, says Dr. Levine, the most serious form: melanoma. Skin cancer, according to the CDC, is the most common form of cancer. While melanomas make up a small fraction of cases, they are the most dangerous due to their ability to spread to other organs. Alarmingly, their number doubled between 1982 and 2011. While older people are particularly susceptible, the American Cancer Society reports that melanoma is one of the most common cancers affecting young adults, particularly young women. And in 2017, the society forecasts close to 10,000 deaths. The pigment cells that form a mole called melanocytes can develop into a melanoma. That relationship is not a call to hit the panic button, Dr. Levine emphasizes. Almost all of us have moles, and, in most cases, they will remain harmless. But its important to monitor our skin and take prompt action when needed. Our ability to observe our skin, elaborates Dr. Levine, is an opportunity for early identification and treatment of skin cancer. In support of those goals, he makes the following recommendations: 5 Tips to Spot Melanoma Early 1. Understand the difference between freckles and moles: Freckles pose no threat, explains Dr. Levine. Theyre normal skin cells colored due to the sun, like dots of tan. Moles, on the other hand, are clusters of melanocytes. Most of the time, moles are harmless, too. But in rare cases they can develop into melanoma, so its important to stay alert. 2. Know which type of moles you have: Almost everyone has moles, medically referred to as nevi, says Dr. Levine. They fall into two categories: common moles and atypical moles, called dysplastic nevi. Common moles are usually smaller than a quarter inch, with an even color (pink, tan, or brown) and distinct edge. In contrast, atypical moles are larger and may have a mix of colors and irregular borders. We want to monitor for changes in both, but for the ten percent of us with atypical moles, its important to see a doctor and to follow an inspection schedule. 3. Make a body map of your marks: It cant be overemphasized, Dr. Levine states. Key to addressing skin cancer is having an awareness of your skin and carefully checking for changes. The American Academy of Dermatology offers a Body Mole Map on their web site that can help track changes that may require action. Taking photos can also help. 4. Be aware of your level of risk: Melanomas seem to occur as the result of genetics and environment, explains Dr. Levine. In addition to the higher risk posed by atypical moles, those of us with immediate family members with melanomas are at higher risk, as are people who have had a lot of sun exposure. 5. Know the ABCs and DEs of high-risk moles: Weve indentified characteristics that may be present when a mole develops cancer cells, says Dr. Levine: A an asymmetrical shape. B a border that is irregular. C color that is uneven. D a diameter that varies, usually growing. And E evolving or changing over a period of weeks or months. A new mole or a mole with any one of these characteristics should immediately be evaluated. Of course, Dr. Levine points out, our understanding of the direct relationship between sun exposure and skin cancer underscores the importance of everyday prevention: Limiting sun exposure through lifestyle choices, clothing, and sunscreen is the biggest step we can take to protect ourselves from skin cancer. Robert Levine, D.O., F.A.O.C.D., is experienced in many areas of medical and surgical dermatology with a particular interest in cosmetics. Advanced Dermatology P.C. and the Center for Laser and Cosmetic Surgery (New York & New Jersey) is one of the leading dermatology centers in the nation, offering highly experienced physicians in the fields of cosmetic and laser dermatology as well as plastic surgery and state-of-the-art medical technologies. http://www.advanceddermatologypc.com. Cyber Investing Summit 2018 Logo We are excited to have one of the most influential leaders in the cyber security sector deliver the 2018 Cyber Investing Summit keynote address Renowned cyber security executive David DeWalt will deliver the keynote address at the Third Annual Cyber Investing Summit Tuesday, May 15th, 2018 in New York City. The Cyber Investing Summit is a unique all-day conference focused on the financial opportunities available in the rapidly growing cyber security industry. Panels will explore sector investment strategies, market growth forecasts, equity valuations, merger and acquisition activity, cryptocurrency protection, funding for startups, and more. Speakers include leading Chief Information Security Officers, VC founders, financial analysts, cyber security innovators from publicly traded and privately held companies, and government experts. Recognized as one of the top influencers in the cyber sector, Mr. DeWalt has over 25 years of experience leading and helping to develop startup, midsize, and publicly traded cyber companies. He currently serves as Managing Director at AllegisCyber, an integrated cyber security investment platform focused on seed to early growth cyber security companies. David DeWalt has a distinguished background. From 2012 to 2017, DeWalt served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of FireEye. During this time DeWalt spearheaded the effort to take the cyber security company public. He also presided over FireEyes acquisition of computer forensics firm Mandiant. Prior to FireEye, DeWalt served as the CEO of McAfee LLC, from 2007 to 2011, where he led the company through its acquisition by Intel. We are excited to have one of the most influential leaders in the cyber security sector deliver the 2018 Cyber Investing Summit keynote address, said Summit Co-Founder Lindsey Lachman. David DeWalts impressive career at the helm of some of the biggest publicly traded cyber security companies, as well as his current role helping to build AllegisCybers portfolio, will provide attendees with a unique perspective on the future of the industry. DeWalt regularly consults with government, industry players and corporate management on matters related to cyber security policy, technology, and strategy. In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed DeWalt to serve on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. DeWalt is a partner of two government originated incubators, Team8 and DataTribe, that have produced nine new cyber security companies. He serves as a Board Member and the Vice Chairman of Safety and Security at Delta Airlines. DeWalt is also a member or leader on the Board of Directors for CallSign, Claroty, ForeScout, ForgeRock, Illusive Networks, OPTIV, and Phantom Cyber. About the Cyber Investing Summit The Cyber Investing Summit is an all-day conference exploring the investment opportunities and trends in the cyber security industry. The Summit differs from traditional product centered conferences by focusing on the financial side of the cyber security sector. Attendees include Chief Information Security Officers, VC founders, financial analysts, institutional and retail investors, publicly traded and privately held cyber security companies, government experts, and the media. The Third Annual Cyber Investing Summit will take place Tuesday, May 15, 2018 in New York City. Additional information can be found at http://www.cyberinvestingsummit.com. Contact Lindsey Lachman info(at)cyberinvestingsummit(dot)com ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete is a trusted provider of disaster restoration services for Staten Island and Brooklyn, NY, as well as the nearby areas of northeastern New Jersey. They recently moved into a new facility in Staten Island, NY with new offices and a warehouse to store their vehicles and equipment. Their new facility is centrally located in their service area so that they can quickly respond to emergency situations in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. The new facility for ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete contains enough space to house their offices and store their equipment from their dehumidifiers for water damage restoration and other restoration equipment to their vehicles. The centralization of their offices and warehouse makes it much easier for their staff to coordinate their operations and dispatch a team of equipped technicians very quickly. ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete has a large service area and it is important for them to be able to store large amounts of equipment and have space to provide content restoration on-site. About RestorationMasterFinder.com RestorationMasterFinder.com, or RMF, is a lead generation website built and operated by Proceed Innovative to provide relevant, cost effective leads for listed businesses of the disaster restoration, furniture restoration, and cleaning industries. RMF consists of geographically based micro-sites that help attract local search traffic to these service pages which increases the number of quality sales leads and helps boost conversion rates. The micro-sites of RMF are visible on major search engines including Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as many local, vertical, and social media web portals. About ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete has been providing disaster restoration and cleaning services for the homes and businesses of Staten Island and Brooklyn, NY, as well as northeast New Jersey since 2001. Their technicians are highly trained and certified to provide a range of disaster restoration services and they respond within 1-2 hours of your initial call. ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete is also part of ServiceMasters nationwide catastrophic response network that responds to large losses anywhere in the U.S. Contact ServiceMaster Restoration by Complete to learn more about their disaster restoration services in Staten Island, NY & surrounding areas. Greenberg Traurig's Linda L. DOnofrio (left) received a Freda Johnson Trailblazer Award at the Bond Buyers Deal of the Year Awards event on Dec. 6 in New York City. Linda L. DOnofrio, a tax shareholder with global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has received a Freda Johnson Trailblazer Award from The Bond Buyer. DOnofrio was the only attorney to be recognized with this award honoring women in the public finance industry. The award was presented at the publications Deal of the Year Awards event on Dec. 6 in New York City. The award honors leading women in the public finance industry who promote the participation and professional growth of women generally throughout the public finance industry and demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism and integrity, according to the publication. DOnofrio, resident in the law firms New York office, focuses her practice on the tax law relating to public and project finance, and taxable and tax-exempt financial instruments, including derivative products. She is experienced in the tax analysis and structuring of all types of municipal bond transactions, including all categories of private activity and governmental bonds, as well as current and advance refundings. A Georgetown University Law Center J.D. cum laude graduate and a New York University School of Law L.L.M. recipient, DOnofrio is consistently recognized for her legal accomplishments. She has been listed in the 2018 Best Lawyers in America, Public Finance Law, and has held leadership positions in various organizations, including Treasurer of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, Chair of the Tax-Exempt Bond Committees of the Tax Sections of both the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association, Fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel, and former Trustee of the Citizens Budget Committee. She currently serves as Secretary of Northeast Women in Public Finance. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GTLaw) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is celebrating its 50th anniversary. A single entity worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and is among the Top 20 on the 2017 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. R3 Stem Cell Founder and CEO David Greene, MD, MBA, appeared on KSCO discussing stem cell therapy. PRP and stem cell therapy are changing standard treatment options to ones that repair and regenerate, rather than providing the typical proverbial band-aid as in the past! The Founder of R3 Stem Cell, Dr. David Greene, appeared recently on the Stepping In Radio Show to discuss regenerative medicine. Nurse Jackie Tucker has been hosting the show in Santa Cruz CA for over twenty years, and routinely interviews guests regarding state-of-the-art healthcare topics. Dr. Greene is the Founder and CEO of R3 Stem Cell, which has over twenty Centers of Excellence nationwide. The Centers offer regenerative therapies including platelet rich plasma therapy and stem cell procedures for many conditions. Jackie asked specific questions about the different types of stem cell procedures and conditions being treated. The most common option currently available involves amniotic stem cell therapy. David explained the FDA regulations regarding amniotic fluid, its processing, storage and usage. Commonly, the amniotic stem cell therapy is being used for hip and knee arthritis, neuropathy, back/neck pain, COPD, kidney failure, neurologic conditions and overuse conditions. To date, no adverse events have been reported at R3s Centers of Excellence after thousands of treatments. Another guest on the show, Carol, remarked on several of her friends who had undergone stem cell therapy for arthritis and achieved remarkable outcomes while avoiding surgery. Dr. Greene explained that R3 offers webinars frequently, and they are available on-demand through the companys website at http://r3stemcell.com and typically every two weeks live. During the show, Dr. Greene elaborated on the current options available at R3 Stem Cells Centers of Excellence nationwide. He said, PRP and stem cell therapy are changing standard treatment options to ones that repair and regenerate, rather than providing the typical proverbial band-aid as in the past. The complete show is available for listening HERE. For those who want to schedule appointments for treatment, simply call (844) GET-STEM. The Howard County Health Department (HCHD) in Maryland announces the launch of CAREAPP (Community Access to Resources via Enhanced technology Applications for Providers and Public) today. CAREAPP is a community-wide project, led by HCHD, to support healthy living beyond the traditional healthcare settings. The CAREAPP project focuses on community clients social determinants of health (SDOH), such as transportation, food, education, employment, housing, and health access. The project is designed to: identify unmet social and health needs, improve a clients ability to receive social services, enhance care coordination between local healthcare and community agencies, increase client and provider satisfaction with care coordination, and ultimately reduce healthcare costs within the Howard County population. The Howard County Health Department recognizes that SDOH impact over 40% of health outcomes. Knowing this, we set out to create a community model to enhance services between Howard County agencies for our most vulnerable population with the greatest social needs," said Maura J. Rossman, MD, Health Officer of Howard County. CAREAPP is powered by Healthify, a health-determinants screening, and referral tool that allows healthcare organizations to close-the-loop in a network comprised of vital social services partners. By fully coordinating with community partners, HCHD care coordinators can identify which referrals are successful and how needs are addressed long-term. The web-based platform features: an on-demand, searchable Howard County resource database, verified every 90-180 days a needs assessment screening tool for basic SDOH; a bi-directional referral tracking system directly between community agencies; data analytics to identify gaps in community services and resource mapping. The CAREAPP project is an innovative partnership with Healthify that cultivates a single, web-based care-management tool to ensure updated community resources, effective client referrals, and direct communication between Howard County agencies providing health-related social needs, said Elizabeth Menachery, M.D., Medical Director of Howard County Health Department and CAREAPP Project Director. This community-wide collaboration motivates more efficient care coordination for our clients, energizes partnerships between our County agencies, and optimizes health opportunities in our community. The Healthify Coordinate platform is further supported by the Healthify services team who are working with the HCHD to grow their network of community-based organizations. There are currently 27 private, public, government and academic agencies participating in CAREAPP Network today. The Howard County Health Department is blazing a trail with its commitment to adopt a greater definition of healthcare that addresses the unmet social barriers to good health, said Healthifys Co-founder and CEO Manik Bhat. We commend Howard County Health Departments leadership in prioritizing their clients social needs as an essential element of supporting a healthier community and in realizing our shared vision to address these needs as a standard part of quality care. For Howard County, the CAREAPP project and Healthify partnership is a continuation of its ongoing investment in innovative projects designed with a focus on prevention and wellness. With Healthifys platform, HCHDs 900 CAREAPP users are now equipped to connect community clients to local resources throughout Howard County. To learn more about the CAREAPP project, visit http://www.hccareapp.org. About the Howard County Health Department The vision of the Howard County Health Department is to be a model community in which health equity and optimal wellness are accessible for all who live, work and visit Howard County. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve the health of all in Howard County. About Healthify Powered by a mission to build a world where no ones health is hindered by their need, Healthify delivers a leading solution to enable healthcare organizations to find community services for their patients, track social needs across their population, and coordinate care with community-based services. As a partner to health plans, social service agencies, and provider networks working with Medicaid and Medicare members, Healthify enables integrated care to fulfill the promise of a value-based healthcare system. For more information, please visit http://www.healthify.us, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. Distech Controls is excited to announce our agreement with HTS New England. The ability to partner our award-winning controls line with an established market leader represents a great opportunity for us to feed the growth needs of budding Boston market. HTS New England, the New England partner of the largest HVAC manufacturers representative in North America, announced that the company has signed an agreement with Distech Controls to expand its portfolio to include building automation for HVAC systems. An innovation leader in energy management solutions, Distech Controls, an Acuity Brands company, provides unique building management technologies that optimize energy efficiency and comfort in buildings while reducing operating costs. Were proud to partner with Distech Controls to offer a broader range of equipment and provide comprehensive solutions to our customers across New England, Peter Foss, HTS New England Principal, said. We look forward to working with Distech and were excited to grow our businesses together throughout the region. Since 1995, Distech Controls has been dedicated to delivering innovative products and leading solutions that empower businesses and individuals to achieve energy efficiency. The companys building automation offerings promote sustainability while simplifying system operation for building owners. After HTS demonstrated success in representing the product line throughout the companys seven Texas offices, Distech Controls recognized an opportunity to utilize HTS presence in the New England market. Distech Controls is excited to announce our agreement with HTS New England, Avish Bhalani, Distech Controls Regional Sales Manager Northeast, said. The ability to partner our award-winning controls line with an established market leader represents a great opportunity for us to feed the growth needs of budding Boston market. Through this strategic partnership, HTS New England will leverage Distech Controls full product portfolio, allowing the company to serve as a one-stop-shop for high quality HVAC systems with state-of-the-art controls that optimize efficiency while improving interface and comfort for the end user. Through their combined technological advancements, industry experience, and commitment to quality, HTS New England and Distech Controls are able to collaborate in providing sustainable HVAC solutions with controls capabilities that exceed customer expectations. This expertise, combined with a full suite of specialized departments focused on equipment, building automation systems, parts, and service, allows HTS New England to provide support for HVAC systems through the entire product life cycle. About HTS HTS is the largest independent commercial HVAC manufacturers' representative in North America. The company represents more than 100 HVAC suppliers and has approximately 700 employees in 16 cities across Canada and the United States. Delivering Real Success to all involved in its projects, HTS provides HVAC and refrigeration solutions to commercial, institutional, and industrial markets from leading manufacturers such as Daikin, Epsilon, AcoustiFLO, and Haakon Industries. For more information about HTS, visit http://www.hts.com/ or connect via LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. About Distech Controls Distech Controls was founded in 1995 by award-winning entrepreneur Etienne Veilleux. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, the organization serves multiple market segments through its worldwide business divisions, service offices and a superior network of Authorized System Integrators and Distributors. Distech Controls is a subsidiary of Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. We deliver Innovative Solutions for Greener Buildings through our passion for innovation, quality, customer satisfaction, and sustainability. For more on Distech Controls products and solutions visit http://www.distech-controls.com. Startup Space 2017 Winners: Astrapi Corporation SATELLITE Conference & Exhibition, the largest global satellite and space technology show, will be held March 12-15, 2018 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. The SATELLITE program boasts impressive speakers leading discussions on the future of satellite connectivity and how the landscape is changing for so many markets, including transportation, enterprise, media, military/government, and more. So if youre an innovative entrepreneur whos looking to change the future of satellite connectivity, this is THE chance to make a difference! This is the second year SATELLITE 2018 will be partnering with the Space Frontier Foundation to host Startup Space, a competition where entrepreneurs pitch their business and technology ideas to a panel of highly accomplished space professionals, investors, thought leaders, and fellow entrepreneurs. And it all takes place on the show floor! The event is open to any of the 14,500 Exhibit Hall attendees. Only twenty lucky applicants will be chosen to give a five-minute pitch for their company or product in front of a panel of judges followed by a five-minute period during which judges will ask questions or make comments to the contestants. The grand prize winner will receive: Private pitch meetings with major investors 1 free, full-week, full-access registration pass to the SATELLITE 2019 Conference & Exhibition 1 free, full-access registration pass to the NewSpace 2018 conference An interview with SATELLITE 2018 Chairman, Jeffrey Hill, to be featured in Via Satellite magazine .and more! David Shaw, Co-Founder of Astrapi Corporation, was the 2017 Startup Space grand prize winner! When asked how his involvement with Startup Space has affected his company in the previous months, he responded with, We understood the win to be an important event and it was. [Astrapi] immediately had prospective customers and alliance partners express interest in engaging at a deeper level... [and] now have inbound calls from both investment banks and prospective investors. Our expectation is that the Startup Space Pitch competition will lead to a successful 'A' round of funding in an accelerated fashion. Time will tell, but its not an exaggeration to say the SATELLITE 2017 Startup Space Pitch event will prove to be a seminal event for Astrapi. To see his pitch, visit our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChQGsRna0E0 Were very excited to bring Startup Space back after an extremely successful launch in 2017. This is an amazing opportunity for twenty contestants to bring a fresh perspective to the satellite industry with ideas that are personally important to them. What better place to get yourself going in this business than the worlds largest commercial satellite show? says Jeffrey Hill, SATELLITE Conference Chairman. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2017 so register today for your chance to become the next Startup Space grand prize winner! Apply at: bit.ly/2BAw2xL or http://www.SATShow.com Want to drive the next generation of startups? The Startup Space title sponsorship is available! Interested in judging? contact Michael Cassinelli at mcassinelli(at)accessintel.com or +1-301-354-1691 to discuss the packages. SATELLITE 2018 will be held March 12-15, 2018 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center located at 801 Mt Vernon Pl NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. Early Bird registration for SATELLITE 2018 is open from now until December 15, 2017 visit our website http://www.SATShow.com and sign up early to secure the lowest prices available. To apply for press credentials, visit http://2018.satshow.com/media-press/. Follow SATELLITE 2018 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=926067 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SATELLITEShow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SATELLITEDC (@SATELLITEDC, #SATShow) About SATELLITE 2018 SATELLITE unites 14,500 aerospace and connectivity thought leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, engineers, end-users and enthusiasts from over 150 countries for the largest and most important global satellite technology event of the year. Serving all industries looking to better their business operations or enhance their strategy through connectivity, the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition will take place on March 12-15, 2018 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. For more information, visit http://www.SATShow.com. The new Brandlive mobile app features a live feed We gave the new Brandlive mobile app a test-drive immediately after it appeared in the app store, and were impressed with how effortless it was. Brandlive, the omni-channel live video platform, has announced the rollout of its new mobile app. The app makes it easier for brands and retailers such as adidas, Cabelas, The North Face, REI, and others to go live to their audiences with increased agility and flexibility. Built on the needs and requirements of sophisticated marketers, the platform is helping to shape the way live video efforts are managed and reported on, for both public and private events. Additionally, Brandlive partnered with IBM Cloud Video to better understand how marketers intend to incorporate live video into their 2018 marketing strategies. Early results show that 67 percent of those surveyed are taking live video beyond social platforms, leveraging it across their enterprises for training, sales meetings and corporate town halls, as well as consumer events. Customer Feedback: "GoPro's education team operates in a fast-paced world, often in remote places, shared Chris Naegele, GoPros Director of Global Education. The new Brandlive mobile app opens up some new possibilities on how we connect with our partners by giving us more freedom on how and where we can go live to get them the education they need. We use our GoPros to broadcast 99% of the time, but now that we don't need a computer, we have that much more flexibility." We are so excited for Brandlives mobile app. At Cabelas we are hosting an average of 300 live events per year, including internal trainings for our North American retailers, said Dustin Edwards, Learning and Development Manager for Cabelas. Live video has become part of the fabric of how we communicate; weve seen the performance of our product lines change on a dime when we use a combination of live video and product experts for training. The Brandlive mobile app will make it that much easier for us to connect with our internal and external audiences in the most authentic, cost effective, and beneficial way. We gave the new Brandlive mobile app a test-drive immediately after it appeared in the app store, and were impressed with how effortless it was. The app worked flawlessly and was really intuitive, even for non-video experts like myself, added Sales Operations Manager Brian Mastrofino from Superfeet. The Brandlive mobile app includes the following features for brands and retailers: Mobile Broadcasting - Simply log in and go live from any mobile device on your brands owned and operated channels and apps. Public/Private Events - Broadcast internal and external events for increased use cases and ROI. Simulcasting to Social Channels - Broadcast to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, sharing and tracking events on any major platform. Training - Allow internal or external audiences to take quizzes and courses for product trainings or promotions. Audience Features: Watch Videos - Watch live or on-demand videos at any time. Discover - Find live video events produced by the brands you follow. Training Courses - Participate in classes and trainings from anywhere and at any time. Our goal at Brandlive is to make live video as accessible as possible to the brands and companies that we work with. In the past year, we have seen our customers using live video across their entire enterprises, for everything from town halls, product launches, sales meetings and consumer tent pole events, said Fritz Brumder, CEO of Brandlive. The new Brandlive mobile app will make it even easier to broadcast live video experiences across owned and operated channels and then distribute them across social media platforms, all from the palm of your hand. More information is available here: https://www.yourbrandlive.com/mobile About Brandlive Brandlive provides an omni-channel live video platform for brands and retailers who use it for training, marketing and eCommerce events. The end-to-end live video platform enables brands to connect their best product experts and influencers directly to global digital audiences, who can then interact with those experts. Customers such as GoPro, The North Face, REI, eBay, Walmart and Cabela's use Brandlive to launch products, increase eCommerce sales, create innovative live marketing programs and conduct more cost-effective internal events and training. Brandlive is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please visit http://www.brand.live 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. Santos Associates Accountants Father Jamie, Archdiocese of Miami, allows for an outreach collection once a year to give financial help to the many requests for electric, water, medicine and rent to be paid. They also have a fully stocked food pantry year round. Past News Releases RSS Santos Associates Accountants... Susan Santos-Stevens Marks Major... For over 20 years, Ed and Pat Santos, of Santos Associates Accountants, have been in charge of their churchs Outreach Ministry program. Through the program, over 40 volunteers, including Santos Associates Accountants, work together case-by-case trying to fulfill the needs year round for the community. This is a word-of-mouth program and participants must apply, request forms of economic assistance and be approved in order to receive help, said Ed Santos. Father Jamie, Archdiocese of Miami, allows for an outreach collection once a year to give financial help to the many requests for electric, water, medicine and rent to be paid. They also have a fully stocked food pantry year round. The annual Christmas toy drive brings joy to so many children and families. Many volunteers, including Santos Associates, help out. Hoping that no child is left without, they partner with other toy drives in the area. Thousands of gifts and gift cards are donated by the generous community and distributed to the less fortunate children of South Florida advocating love and joy during the Christmas season. Six parishes and communities benefit from the toy drive. Its the least we can do to help and a way to give back, noted Pat. This effort benefits families in financial need that are struggling and offers hope to them. Every year, Thanksgiving dinner baskets are requested, collected and distributed that include a 15-pound turkey, all the trimmings and Publix gift cards. It makes me happy to help and to show them we care, concluded Ed. About Santos Associates Accountants Santos Associates Accountants is a family owned and operated business including tax practitioners Edward J. Santos, Patricia Santos-Golis, Edna Santos-Modlics and Susan Santos-Stevens. Its team of tax professionals keep current on tax law changes and offer insight on how to use the tax breaks available. For more information, please call (954) 437-1040, or visit http://www.low-tax.net. The office is located at 1961 N.W. 150th Avenue, Suite 104, Pembroke Pines, FL 33028. About the NALA The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Through VIPER GAMING, we trade pride in designing and building high quality products that every type of gamer requires today. " PATRIOT, a global leader in performance memory, SSDs, gaming peripherals, and flash storage solutions today announced along with their high-end gaming brand, VIPER, will be attending CES 2018 from January 9th to the 11th, 2018. Taking place at the Bellagio Resort & Casino at 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada, PATRIOT and VIPER will be showcasing completely new products, including: VIPER RGB DRAM, VIPER m.2 SSD, VIPER 2.5 SSD, VIPER Gaming Headset, VIPER Extended Mouse Pad, Scorch m.2 SSD, Thunderbolt SSD, Trinity 3-in-1 USB, EP X Micro SD Card and more. The PATRIOT and VIPER meeting suite will be open from January 9th to the 11th, 2018 from 9AM until 5:30PM each day, by appointment only. Through VIPER GAMING, we trade pride in designing and building high quality products that every type of gamer requires today, said Roger Shinmoto, PATRIOTs Vice President of Product Development. Using the absolute finest materials and technologies available, our experience team produces a wide variety of products that give every player the competitive edge they need. VIPER plans to continue developing creative and outstanding DRAMs, peripherals and accessories for complementing gamers worldwide today. Known for their high-end flagship products, PATRIOTs gaming brand has grown in vitality and importance over the past few years. We are committed to discovering and developing the latest and most innovative technologies in the industry, said Shinmoto. Our products are ultimately made to improve, enhance, and engage users. As part of our CES 2018 suite, we are inviting everyone to stop by and really witness our new products in action. PATRIOT and VIPER is welcoming all media, YouTubers, gamers, and influencers to stop by the suite and learn more about the new products. For more information, or to make an appointment, contact Andrew OuYang on behalf of PATRIOT at: andrewouyang(at)ideecreatives(dot)com. About Patriot Patriot is a leading manufacturer of high performance, enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage, gaming peripherals and mobile accessories. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, USA, Patriot is committed to technology innovation, customer satisfaction and providing the best price for performance on the market. Patriot products have become world renown for their extreme performance, reliability and innovation. Patriot sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, retailers, e-tailers and distributors throughout the world with operations in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice. Follow us Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vipergamingpatriot Twitter: https://twitter.com/patriot_viper Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriot_viper/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/patriotviper Media Contact Andrew OuYang iDee Creatives Marketing Consulting Inc. on behalf of Patriot andrewouyang(at)ideecreatives(dot)com Achieving ISO 27001 certification will have a positive impact on every part of our company. Medeco Security Locks, a division of ASSA ABLOY N.A., has been awarded ISO 27001 certification from Intertek, an independent multi-national testing and certification firm. Achieving ISO 27001 certification affirms that Medecos Salem, Va. operation adheres to the internationally-recognized standards for information security management in the production and sale of Intelligent Key (electronic locking) systems. ISO 20071 certification provides requirements for setting up and maintaining an information security management system (ISMS) in order to keep information assets secure. Achieving ISO 27001 certification will have a positive impact on every part of our company, said Medeco General Manager Joseph Kingma. It validates that which was already in place, and has improved the framework of policies and procedures that includes all legal, physical and technical controls involved in our information security management processes. ISO 27001 certification assures customers that information being stored on servers or cloud-based systems is being handled in a secure manner, minimizing the risk of exploitation of data. Information assets can include financial information, intellectual property, employee information and details, and any information supplied by third parties, including vendors and end users. Although I am proud of our ISO 27001 certification, I am most excited for our customers, added Kingma. They deserve the highest level of integrity from Medeco and, along with delivering the best products and services available in the industry, we must protect the information and infrastructure that makes those products secure. Medecos ISO 27001 certification was awarded by Intertek, an independent multi-national testing and certification firm. Medeco is committed to maintaining the integrity of its Information Security Management System through continuous monitoring and improvement. Our members came together with a common goal of leaving a lasting impact on the adventure travel industry, said Steve Barker, outdoor industry pioneer, and founder of Eagle Creek and ATCF Board Chair. The Adventure Travel Conservation Fund (ATCF), an international nonprofit dedicated to supporting sustainable adventure tourism, today announced they will award more than $70,000 in grant money to three international organizations. This funding is the first round since the inception of the ATCF and will be used by each organization to implement conservation projects in Uganda, Mexico and Indonesia, which will positively impact adventure travel for generations to come. The organizations selected to receive grant money, which is fully funded by ATCF membership dues, include: WILDCOAST - conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife. Their project will support the conservation of coral reefs in more than 687,000 acres of six protected areas in the Mexican Pacific by improving coral reef monitoring, strengthening visitation management, and advancing coral reef legal protection. Awarded $30,000. Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust - connects Volcanoes Rwanda and Uganda luxury lodges to the neighboring communities and conservation activities. Their project will provide a permanent settlement dedicated to the Gahinga community of Batwa pygmies, a group of about 90 adults and children who were displaced from their ancestral homeland due to the designation of their land as national park to promote mountain gorilla conservation. Awarded $16,500. The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program - is dedicated to conserving orangutan populations and forest habitat in and around Gunung Palung National Park, one of the last primary rainforest refuges in Indonesia. This project will provide expedition opportunities to reach remote communities that rarely receive formal education regarding their environment, publicity and media efforts, and community training sessions to create new aquaculture and organic farming groups. Awarded $30,000. Members of the ATCF support on-the-ground tourism-based projects around the world. Once a year, members nominate organizations and vote on projects to be funded through grant money. Projects span the protection of natural resources and cultural assets, the creation of outdoor infrastructures, and business development. Results will be closely monitored by the ATCF to ensure organizations are delivering positive regional and global impact. We are thrilled to announce the first round of grant funding by the ATCF, said Soraya Shattuck, ATCF executive director. These three projects, voted on by our members, exemplify the types of conservation efforts that the travel and outdoor industries are looking to protect. We look forward to following the progress of these incredible projects and to support another round of grantees in 2018. WILDCOAST is very excited to receive the generous support of the ATCF to help us protect coral reefs in the Mexican Pacific, commented Zachary Plopper, Conservation Director of WILDCOAST. Our work in places like Cabo Pulmo and Huatulco has had a significant positive impact on local reefs and surrounding ecosystems. Now we can expand our efforts to conserve a broader area and implement even more effective conservation strategies such as new mooring buoy systems, enhanced outreach, and legal protections for key coral species. The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program is honored to receive the support of the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund to protect orangutans and their rainforest habitat in West Kalimantan, said Gunung Palung Director Dr. Cheryl Knott. This project targets the root of habitat destruction by educating local communities and working with them to provide sustainable livelihood options, such as organic farming, and selling handicrafts made from non-timber forest products. We look forward to this collaboration and the positive impact this project will have throughout this biodiverse landscape. The trustees of Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust are delighted to be a recipient of the 2017 ATCF funding grant, said Kevin James, general manager. The funding will directly assist with the building of the Gahinga Batwa Village. The Batwa pygmies are a highly marginalized group of indigenous people who have existed in extreme poverty near the Mgahinga National Park in Uganda since they had to leave the park 26 years ago. We are extremely grateful for the financial assistance awarded and the awareness that this will bring to the plight of the Batwa as well as the wider conservation-community issues around the gorilla parks. Our members came together with a common goal of leaving a lasting impact on the adventure travel industry, said Steve Barker, outdoor industry pioneer, and founder of Eagle Creek and ATCF Board Chair. Were proud to be able to offer funding to these organizations in support of their missions to protect and preserve destinations, resources, and indigenous cultures that, without their help, may soon disappear. The ATCF will begin accepting nominations for 2018 grants in the spring. Both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, which may include conservation groups, indigenous people groups, tour operators or accommodations, can receive project funding from ATCF, but must be nominated by a member. To learn more about joining ATCF and becoming a member organization supporting global conservation, please visit adventuretravelconservationfund.org. ABOUT THE ADVENTURE TRAVEL CONSERVATION FUND (ATCF) The mission of the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund (ATCF) is to directly fund local projects engaged in the conservation of unique natural and cultural resources of adventure travel destinations. The ATCF is an international nonprofit focused on funding conservation projects primarily outside the United States and Canada. The ATCF members are a diverse group of leading adventure travel and outdoor recreation businesses who share a common ethos and commitment to protecting the resources from which the adventure tourism industry depends on. For more information, visit adventuretravelconservationfund.org. Connect with ATCF on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Photos available through Soraya Shattuck. Press Contact: Soraya Shattuck, Executive Director of the ATCF (425) 835-2493 info(at)atconservationfund(dot)org Costa Rica I decided to shake up my baby-boomer life a bit Our editors in the field are seeing more Baby Boomers taking advantage of good-value opportunities abroadfor medical care, roving retirement, or simply travel, says Jennifer Stevens, Executive Editor of International Living. Retirees are actively looking beyond our borders for savings, and theyre embracing their sense of adventure and striking out in greater numbers than ever. TREND 1: Medical TourismAmericans Increasingly Seek Out High-Quality, Low-Cost Care Overseas As retirees face rising healthcare costs in the U.S., theyre turning more to healthcare abroad, according to International Livings correspondents around the world. In certain destinations, theyre able to access high quality care at a fraction of the cost back home. A growing number of them are opting to take advantage of a phenomenon called medical tourism. For elective procedures that range from hip replacement to hernia surgery to dental implants or teeth cleanings, retirees are finding the costs to be often less than half what theyd pay in the States, says Stevens. It turns out it can be cheaper to fly abroad, have the procedure done, take a vacation for a week or two, and then fly home than it is to simply pay for the procedure alone in the United States. Take Ron Howze, who got a diagnosis of a double hernia. He needed to attend to itas soon as possible. But the price tag from his insurance company for the surgery was sky high. I had a PPO, which meant a co-pay of $10,000 to $14,000, says Texas native Ron, 72. And knowing insurance companies, it was probably going to be closer to $14,000. Thats when he started looking at alternatives abroad. I read about a gentleman who had the same sort of surgery in Costa Rica and was absolutely thrilled, says Ron. So, he called the overseas physicians office to inquire. Within 10 days of that call, Ron was headed to Costa Rica for the operation. The total cost came to less than $7,000travel included. (The surgery, doctors fees, and hospital stay added up to $5,400. The remaining $1,600 covered his flights and travel expenses. All toldhalf what hed have paid at home. Ron is one of the increasing number of Americans looking abroad to find lower-cost, but still high-quality medical care. Its not uncommon for medical tourists to save tens of thousands of dollars on dental treatments. Dawn Morgan of Hernando Beach, Florida, explained that she and her husband Johnny saved thousands by going to Ecuador to have extensive work done on his teeth. On our first tourist trip to Ecuador, we planned on having my husband get extensive dental work done, Dawn says. It was a success. Johnny had a permanent partial bridge made for six teeth. He had about six extractions and about 18 fillings and a teeth cleaning. The process took about six weeks. We had a quote for $770 but it ended up costing only $700. He has been back a couple of times for slight adjustments. He is extremely happy with the result. This would have easily cost over $17,000 in the U.S. The savings easily covered our airfares and accommodation rental. TREND 2: Baby Boomers Trade Occasional Vacations for Long-Term, Travel-Filled Retirement Overseas More and more Baby Boomers are trading an idle retirement at home, punctuated by the occasional vacation, into months at a time spent overseas. Theyre embracing a roving retirement, thus minimizing visa hurdles and reducing their expenses by visiting countries where the cost of living is lower than in the U.S. Just like Mary Holt from Pennsylvania. My husband, Jeff, and I started a new life as roving retirees, says Mary. We are not looking for a permanent home just yet, but are spending several months at a time in dream locations full of local colors and flavor. We exchanged two households of belongings for a carry-on bag each and grabbed our passports. The charities in receipt of our goods thanked us, but we owe them a debt. Since giving up their home and belongings almost two years ago to travel the world, the Holts have experienced many adventures. Isla Mujeres, Mexico, provided us a refuge from winter, says Mary. A 20-minute ferry ride from Cancun, Playa Nortes white sand drew us like seabirds. Never having been to the Dominican Republic, we decided to experience it this spring. Weve been in Ireland for a month, and the sun goes down at 11 p.m. and returns at three in the morning. Locals taught us ceili dancing, played folk music, and invited us to backyard barbecues. And our travels took us to Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Modern conveniences and the internet make it easier than ever for retirees to embrace this roving lifestylebooking accommodations, researching countries, managing financial affairs, and keeping in touch with the friends made along the way is all simpler and faster than it ever has been before. I am living what is called a roving retirement, says Diana L. Davis. In my case, this translates to living in places around the world that cost less than living in the States. These are extended stays for me, usually a minimum of three monthswith two suitcases in tow. Living this lifestyle does require managing details. The internet makes life much easier now compared to those who began this lifestyle many years ago. Having the internet, means I can communicate with family and friends anytime, and manage my financial life and any other details that arise. TREND 3: Solo Travel Overseas on the Rise Among Baby Boomers Three years ago, I decided to shake up my baby-boomer life a bit. I now solo travel abroad once a year, three months at a time, scouting retirement spots, says Carol Barron, who lives in Florida. Im not ready to go full-in and live overseas full time. But she isnt afraid to head out on her own. The foreign-based editors at International Living report theyre seeing an increasing number of retirees choosing to traveland ultimately, retirealone overseas. These single Boomers say theyre drawn by the adventure and empowerment traveling and even living alone overseas provides. Since most European countries allow 90-day stays on a tourist visa (though you must have a passport), I max my stay for the whole 90 days, says Carol. I also get to enjoy grocery and restaurant discounts since their customers in off season are mostly locals. My lifestyle is jam-packed with adventure, new friends, and exploration. It's funny but since Im traveling alone, I tend to interact more with friendly locals and easily befriend expats. Im really glad I decided to not wait to do it tomorrow but to do it now because Im having a blast! Of course, my friends always say when I get home, Oh, I wish I could do that! to which I always reply, You can! David Brych, originally of Virginia, worked for over 40 years in the hectic Washington, D.C. metro area. But when he contemplated retirement, he says he imagined a destination full of wonder and adventure. And thats what he foundin Sancerre, Francewhere hes retired as a single Baby Boomer. After much thinking, I was convinced that, wherever I went, I wanted a little unknown and a little wowhow interesting in a destination. With those thoughts in mind, David began to focus on France. After all, I never spent any time there, didnt speak the language, and knew that the wine was definitely a wow, he says. Sancerre, a town of around 1,600 people tucked away in the rolling hills of Frances Loire Valley, produces world-class wines. The vineyards that stretch to the horizon define the landscape and drew David to the area. And it provides excellent outdoor activities. There is barge-boating on the Loire River canal, horseback riding, kayak and canoe trips on the river, and plenty of walking paths and trails, says David. The scenery is spectacular. Sancerre also offers life at a much more affordable cost. Most everything is cheaper in Sancerre, says David. The variety of artisanal cheeses is phenomenal, at prices that are dramatically lower than in the U.S. Editor's Note: Members of the media have permission to republish the article linked above once credit is given to InternationalLiving.com. Further information, as well as interviews with expert authors for radio, TV or print, is available on request. Photos are also available. For information about InternationalLiving.com content republishing, source material or to book an interview with one of our experts, contact PR Managing Editor, Marita Kelly, +001 667 312 3532, mkelly(at)internationalliving(dot)com Twitter: @inliving Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/International.Living/ About International Living For 37 years, InternationalLiving.com has been the leading authority for anyone looking for global retirement or relocation opportunities. Through its monthly magazine and related e-letters, extensive website, podcasts, online bookstore, and events held around the world, InternationalLiving.com provides information and services to help its readers live better, travel farther, have more fun, save more money, and find better business opportunities when they expand their world beyond their own shores. InternationalLiving.com has more than 200 correspondents traveling the globe, investigating the best opportunities for travel, retirement, real estate, and investment. A policy brief released by The Fenway Institute examines the potential impact on LGBT people of the right to refuse services to others on the basis of religious beliefs Under this definition of free exercise of religion, doctors could refuse to treat LGBT people, and social service providers could refuse to provide services to LGBT people based on religious objection. A policy brief released today by The Fenway Institute examines the potential impact of recent executive actions taken by the Trump-Pence Administration that articulate a right to refuse services to others on the basis of religious beliefs, and to refuse to hire people for programming paid for with federal funds based on religious beliefs. These actions include President Trumps May executive order, an October memo from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an amicus curiae brief in the Masterpiece Cake Shop case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, and documents published this fall by the U.S. Department of Human Services. The report concludes that these executive branch actions are likely to result in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in health care and at the hands of social service providers, private businesses, and government officials. In September 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft strategic plan for 2018-2022 that made no mention of the healthcare disparities experienced by LGBT people, as the last HHS strategic plan did. Instead, it made extensive mention of the rights of faith-based organizations and the need to vigorously enforce laws, regulations, and other authoritiessuch as a May Trump Administration executive order that could authorize religious conservatives to refuse service based on religious beliefs. The following month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum for all executive departments and agencies that authorizes faith-based health and service providers to discriminate in service provision and hiring. Sessions asserted that religious organizations may choose to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the organizations religious precepts, even for programming paid for with taxpayer funds. Under this definition of free exercise of religion, doctors could refuse to treat LGBT people, and social service providers could refuse to provide services to LGBT people based on religious objection, said Sean Cahill, Director of Health Policy Research at The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. These orders and memos take the concept of religious freedom and turn it on its head. True religious freedom protects an individuals right to worshipor notand harms no one. But these new measures are designed so that government employees and healthcare providers can deny service or treatment to LGBT people as a group by claiming that providing such service or treatment would violate their religious beliefs or sincerely held principles. In 2015 and 2016, hundreds of anti-LGBT bills were filed in states around the country. Ten states have religious refusal laws that limit the ability of LGBT people and same-sex couples to access services. In some states these laws target access to health care. The Administrations support for a broader role for religious organizations in health care and social services is of significant concern given the lack of a federal nondiscrimination law explicitly covering sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, Attorney General Sessions dismantling of Obama-era nondiscrimination regulations, and the Department of Justices stated belief in the Masterpiece Cake Shop brief that there is no compelling government interest to prevent anti-gay discrimination, may increase the likelihood that LGBT people will experience discrimination in health care, other services like elder care, and employment to provide these services. Its well established that LGBT people experience greater disparities in health than the general population, and these disparities are rooted in stigma, discrimination, and denial of civil rights. It is imperative that the language in these orders not be interpreted as a license to discriminate by those who use HHS funding to provide healthcare and other services to the public, Cahill added. If these executive orders and memos are interpreted and implemented as the religious refusal laws in Tennessee and Mississippi have been, LGBT people will be harmed and their access to healthcare diminished. The policy brief, Executive branch actions promoting religious refusal threaten LGBT health care access, is available here. Since 1971, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues. Fenways Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center cares for youth and young adults ages 12 to 29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else, including those who are LGBT or just figuring things out; homeless; struggling with substance use; or living with HIV/AIDS. In 2013, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts joined the Fenway Health family, allowing both organizations to improve delivery of care and services across the state and beyond. Furia Rubel Communications, Inc. President and CEO, Gina Rubel, recently presented at a program on crisis response and management to a monthly meeting of the Insured Financial Institutions of the Delaware Valley (IFI). Held in Plymouth Meeting on Dec. 7, 2017, the meeting featured Rubels presentation, What to Do if Your Banks Website is Hacked or Your Customers Data is Compromised. In the presentation, which focused on crisis communications for banks and other financial institutions, Rubel discussed various crisis scenarios including website hacking and customer data skimming. For each scenario, she provided crisis communications strategy and best practices to help mitigate risk to the business. Every organization is vulnerable to a crisis, said Rubel. Having a solid crisis response plan ready to implement at a moments notice gives business leaders a vital tool to protect their companies, staff, and customers and their business hard-earned reputation. A strategic marketing expert, attorney and author, Rubel teaches audiences nationwide how to implement ethical, integrated and measurable communication strategies that drive business success. A third-generation attorney, she is a legal marketing expert who has been honored by The Justinian Society with the Lisa A. Richette Woman in Law Award and has been named a Woman of Distinction by Philadelphia Business Journal and The Legal Intelligencer. Rubel is a graduate of Drexel University and Widener University Delaware Law School. Founded in 1948, IFI is a regional trade organization serving members located in the Delaware Valley. Membership is open to all financial institutions that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, while associate membership is open to companies that provide services to active members. IFI currently is supported by 34 financial institutions and 49 associate members. To learn more, visit the organizations website. About Furia Rubel Marketing and Public Relations: Furia Rubel Marketing and Public Relations is an integrated and strategic marketing and public relations agency based in Bucks County, Pa. The certified woman-owned agency provides strategic planning, marketing, public relations, crisis communications, media relations, graphic design, content marketing, blog production and social media services to a wide array of professional clients. Furia Rubel represents law firms, financial services organizations, technology companies, educational institutions, accounting firms, nonprofits, municipalities, manufacturing, behavioral health and elder care organizations. Furia Rubel understands business objectives, defines strategies and delivers results. For more information, visit http://www.furiarubel.com. The Centrist Project logo WHAT: Doug Jones upset victory is a win for principles over party. In a deep red state, Alabama voters rejected partisan dogma and instead voted for decency and common sense. Jones won independents by more than 8 points an important factor in his victory. Centrists swung this election. Liberal and conservatives overwhelmingly stuck to their partisan corners, but nearly 75 percent of moderates broke for Jones, according to Edison Research exit polls. With Jones victory, Congress will likely be even more deadlocked, as Republicans razor-thin majority makes it extremely difficult for them to pass major legislation while Democrats, bolstered by another Congressional victory heading into 2018 midterms, are unlikely to compromise on any issue that gives Republicans a win. This is why its now important to elect centrist, independent leaders who can restore common purpose and common sense to Congress and work to improve the lives of the American people, not the two dominant parties. As the GOPs majority in the Senate narrows, the possibility that just a few independents could control the balance of power dramatically increases. WHO: NICK TROIANO, executive director of The Centrist Project. In 2014, Nick ran for U.S. Congress as an independent in Pennsylvanias 10th District. Previously, he co-founded and ran The Can Kicks Back, an organization that advocated for bipartisan deficit reduction proposals. JOEL SEARBY, senior strategist for The Centrist Project. Hes a 10-year veteran of political campaigning and leadership development. In 2016, he served as campaign manager for Evan McMullins independent presidential campaign. WHERE: Available by phone, in-studio or Skype. To schedule media interviews, please contact Dennis Bailey at dennisb(at)gabrielmarketing(dot)com or call (202) 733-3444. ABOUT THE CENTRIST PROJECT: The Centrist Project was founded in 2013 and advocates a philosophy that independent candidates can be a catalyst in Congress and state legislatures to disrupt political dysfunction, break the gridlock of the two-party system and serve the American public instead of party bosses and special interests. By providing prospective, independent candidates with access to the tools, training and talent they need to run competitive campaigns without traditional party support, The Centrist Project seeks to strategically elect a handful of independents to closely divided legislatures at the state and federal level. For more information, visit http://www.centristproject.org and follow on Twitter: @CentProj. News World news Rosatom will build Dabaa NPP in Egypt According to the head of the company Alexei Likhachev, this a record deal for the global nuclear industry AUTHOR: publics.bg The signing ceremony was attended by the presidents of Russia and Egypt Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Presidency of the Russian Federation The head of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev and Egypts Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker signed the acts to start working on the General Contract for the construction of the Dabaa nuclear power plant, the Russian energy company announced. The formal signing took place in Cairo. The ceremony was attended by the presidents of Russia and Egypt Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. In accordance with the signed contracts, Rosatom will build Dabaa NPP in the Matruh region, on the cost of the Mediterranean, which would consist of four 1 200 MW power units (VVER-1200) and will supply Russian nuclear fuel for the whole lifecycle of the plant. This will allow for a competitive electric power prices in Egypt for the next 60 years. Rosatom will train the staff and support its Egyptian partners in exploiting and servicing Dabaa NPP for the first 10 years of the its functioning. According to another agreement, Russia will construct a special storage facility and will supply containers for storing spent nuclear fuel. The first power unit is expected to be put into service in 2026. The contracts signed represent a record deal in the history of global nuclear industry. The total amount of the four contracts is tens of billions of dollars. This is the biggest export deal, unrelated to raw materials, in the entire history of Russia, the head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev commented. Rosatom informed that tens of Egyptian companies will participate in the construction. Future NPP employees preparation will take place in Russia as well as Egypt. In the next couple of years hundreds of students will be sent to Russia, which should be trained in nuclear studies. Dabaa NPPs 1200-megawatt reactors are from the latest Generation III+. They meet all post-Fukushima IAEA requirements and reference power units have been realised in Russia. The first Generation III+ reactor of the Leningrad NPP-2 (LNPP-2) was physically started on 8 December 2017, which is a reference plant to Dabaa NPP. Specialists from the operational services of LNPP-2 successfully charged the reactors active zone. Before that, on 5 August 2016, the first innovative Generation III+ power unit of the Novovoronezh NPP-2 was connected to the grid. News From Bulgaria Total is preparing for a third exploration well in Block 1-21 Han Asparuh AUTHOR: publics.bg Ministry of Energy Total is preparing for a third exploration well in Block 1-21 Han Asparuh, according to information the companys website. The methodology and processes are same as these that were applied for the first exploration well Polshkov-1 (completed and abandoned on 05.09.2016) and Rubin-1 well, which currently is in process of drilling. Three options for drilling locations are considered currently and selection will be made upon results from Rubin-1 well, according the announcement on the website. We remind that under the work programme, the company is obliged to drill only two wells. The considered drilling locations are located at a considerable distance from any protected areas or areas of cultural heritage. Due to great distance from shore (more than 100 km from Varna) it is not expected to have impact on the coastal activities or fishing resources under normal operations. As the drilling operations are performed in open sea, there will be no building of new road and technical infrastructure or changes to existing road infrastructure. There are no new facilities to be constructed for the drilling operations. The operations will use existing facilities and infrastructure in local port base of Lesport, Varna. Support vessels and helicopters will be required to support drilling operations, Total explained. The drilling operations are short in time and will be performed in a manner that aims to minimise the impact on the environment. This will be achieved largely through the proper handling and disposal of materials and generated wastes, discharges and emissions (typical wastes for drilling activities are expected to be produced). The operator, Total E&P Bulgaria B.V., will ensure that environmental performance of contractors is continuously monitored and audited. The identification of impacts based on an evaluation of the nature, intensity, scope and duration of impacts concludes that impacts generated during the normal operation of the exploration drilling will typically be temporary in nature and localised in extent. The investment initiative for drilling of the third exploration well has been duly notified to the competent authorities at the earliest stage, Total pointed out. On grounds of Art.6 of the EIA Ordinance interested parties may access the information related to the abovementioned investment initiative, as per Schedule 2 to the said EIA Ordinance, and submit their written opinions at the following address: Total E&P Bulgaria B.V. - Bulgaria Branch, 69 Bulgaria blvd, Infinity Tower, floor 13, Sofia 1404. The information may be accessed and reviewed on a paper copy at the above address until 23 December, 2017. Within the same term, interested parties may submit written opinions on the information provided, by post or by email at the contact details provided here above. We also remind that after Total E&P Bulgaria successfully completed the first Polshkov-1 well in September last year, the company announced in its third quarterly report of 2016 that it has discovered hydrocarbons, but there has been no follow-up yet. A year later, in the end of September 2017, the company announced the start of drilling a second exploration well Rubin-1 which, according to Total, would bring additional information to further assess the hydrocarbon potential of the Han Asparuh Block. Drilling operations for Rubin-1 are expected to last until early 2018. The oil and gas exploration and production contract in Block 1-21 Han Asparuh with the consortium of French Total, Austrian OMV and Spanish Repsol is in force since September 2012 with Total holding operatorship. Its length is 5 year, but in April the government allowed the contract to be extended by 135 days. The four-and-a-half-month extension was requested by Total, after it invoked a force majeure by presenting a Force Majeure Certificate by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Commerce and Industry, certifying a delay of 135 days. LONDON Two of the trading platforms at Deutsche Boerse opened late on Wednesday morning after experiencing "issues." The location of euro-denominated trade clearing has been a hot topic since the euro first entered circulation in the late 1990s. European policymakers have argued that euro clearing should take place within the euro area. Britain has repeatedly had to defend its right to clear euro trades, given that it does not have the euro. Years of disputes culminated in a legal battle in 2015, which the UK ultimately won. Alabama voters elected Democrat Doug Jones as the state's next US senator on Tuesday in one of the most scandal-plagued political contests in recent memory. Jones, a former federal prosecutor, won a stunning upset victory over Republican Roy Moore, who faces several accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers but was nevertheless endorsed by President Donald Trump. "I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than what divide us," Jones said in his victory speech on Tuesday night. "We have shown the country the way that we can be unified." Moore refused to immediately concede Tuesday night, suggesting his campaign could pursue a possible recount. Alabama's secretary of state suggested a recount would be unlikely to change the outcome of the race, the margin of which was 1.5 percentage points with 100% of precincts reporting. The contest was the most competitive the deeply red state has seen in several decades, with high black voter turnout and low enthusiasm among traditionally Republican voters, many of whom were turned off by Moore's alleged history of sexual misconduct and far-right ideology. Jones will be the first Democrat to hold an Alabama Senate seat in more than two decades. His win is a huge blow to the GOP's legislative future, reducing the party's unstable advantage in the Senate to just a single seat. The Democratic victory also eases the party's challenging, but feasible path to taking back the Senate in 2018. Once thought a long shot, Jones benefited from a large influx in outside donations, both from individuals and national Democratic groups, after the first misconduct allegations against Moore were reported by The Washington Post in November. The Democrat raised over $10 million in six weeks, as numerous celebrities and high-profile Democrats visited the state and partnered with his campaign. Jones used the money to lead an aggressive voter turnout effort, targeting black communities and higher-income suburban whites disenchanted with Moore's campaign. This combination of strong support from black voters and low enthusiasm for Moore among well-educated, affluent whites allowed Jones to piece together a winning coalition. The Democrat was also helped by more than 20,000 Alabamians who cast write-in ballots for third candidates. While Moore denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, calling his female accusers politically motivated liars, dozens of prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said they believed the allegations and called on Moore to abandon the race in recent weeks. Many Republicans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday night and some openly celebrated Moore's loss, which they view as an escape from a inevitable, damaging scandal. But Moore's loss is nevertheless a major blow to the party's legislative prospects and to President Donald Trump, who threw his full support behind the embattled candidate in recent weeks. The president officially endorsed Moore in mid-November, writing off the allegations against him as old and unproven, and held a rally in Pensacola, Florida miles from the Alabama state line just days before the election, urging voters to support Moore. "The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet," Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning. "Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!" Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, aggressively campaigned for Moore, along with other far-right GOP leaders, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka. And in recent days, McConnell reversed his position on Moore, saying that the decision on who to elect to the Senate seat should be up to Alabamians. The Republican National Committee also reinstated its support for Moore, even as other party leaders stood firm in their opposition to him. In an unprecedented move just two days before the election, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama denounced Moore, saying that the sexual misconduct allegations against him were a "tipping point" for him. "I couldn't vote for Roy Moore, I didn't vote for Roy Moore, but I wrote in a distinguished Republican name, and I think a lot of people could do that," Shelby said. "I think the Republican party can do better." Moore beat Sen. Luther Strange, who was selected to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in the GOP primary, despite having little support from the Republican Party, including Trump, who initially endorsed Strange. President Donald Trump reflected on the Republican Party's upset in Alabama's US Senate race by saying Roy Moore worked hard but ultimately faced an uphill battle. "The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election," Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. "I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" Moore's loss to the Democrat Doug Jones in what was considered a safe seat for Republicans in deep red Alabama will narrow the GOP's Senate majority to just 51 and will embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. It will also give Republicans even more urgency to pass a tax plan this year. The election was dominated by accusations of sexual misconduct from eight women who said Moore had pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers including one who said she was 14 and he was in his 30s. He denied all of the allegations, which emerged during the swelling #MeToo movement that has encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and that has brought down numerous powerful men. During the same period in which Moore received the Republican National Committee's support amid the storm of misconduct allegations, top Democrats led a push to clean house of Democratic lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct. Trump first seemed reluctant to campaign for Moore after the accusations emerged in November, but he eventually offered de facto and then explicit endorsements of Moore, saying the Republican Party needed to maintain its numbers in the Senate. The first Alabama Democratic senator this century Though Trump did back Luther Strange in the late-September Republican primary, it's unclear why Trump would have doubted Moore's candidacy at that time, as he suggested in his Wednesday-morning tweet, because the allegations against Moore came to light only well after he had clinched the nomination. Moore very nearly did win Tuesday's election, losing by just 1.5 percentage points. In fact, citing the close vote, Moore had not conceded by the time of this writing on Wednesday morning. A Democrat hadn't won a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992. That senator, Richard Shelby, became a Republican two years later, and he said he didn't vote for Jones, instead writing in a Republican name. It was also unclear how Trump felt the deck was stacked against Moore or whether that was a reference to misconduct allegations. Republicans have held both US Senate seats in Alabama since the mid-1990s, and the state consistently votes for the GOP. Trump had also expressed doubts over the allegations, calling attention to a report that one of Moore's accusers had added notes to what she said was Moores signature in her high-school yearbook. "Did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook?" Trump asked the audience at a rally Friday in Pensacola, Florida, which shares a media market with Alabama. "There was a little mistake made. She started writing things in the yearbook. Ah, what are we gonna do?" Overall, Trump seemed conciliatory about the election that did not go his way from the start. Soon after Jones clinched the victory, Trump tweeted to congratulate him. She was responding to questions from participants at the launch of the 2018 citizens budget, which is an abridged version of the 2018 Budget statement translated into various local dialects, at Anyinam in the Eastern Region. She said the government will use portions of oil resources to fund the policy. The President is dedicated and for the next four years of his tenure, funding for Free SHS is secured because by the grace of God we have oil so the President has committed to fund the Free SHS Policy, apart from this, GETFUND which has the mandate to set up support funds for Education will from 2018 also support the Program." We wouldnt want to run it for just four years, so if you want free SHS to stay then you know the party that is committed to the program, keep the NPP in power forever to sustain the Free SHS Policy, she added. She also added that government is still accepting proposals to collate views on sustainable ways of funding the program. The Free SHS policy was one of the main campaign policies of the NPP during the 2016 campaign ahead of the elections. According to Nigerias department of state prosecution, Kenneth Abuya had regularly had sex with the 10-year-old girl, leading to the pregnancy. READ MORE: Man who sleeps on money says he needs a wife urgently The News Agency of Nigeria reported that Mr. Abuya is facing a count charge of defilement. Unless the defilement charge is just a provisional one, it is not clear why incest was not of priority to the prosecutors. State prosecutor, Simeon Imhonwa told the court presided over by Chief Magistrate, Mrs. B.O. Osunsanmi of the Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court that, The accused forcefully had carnal knowledge of his child on Nov. 29 at his residence and threatened to kill her if she would tell anyone about the crime. He added that The accused had been defiling the girl before he was apprehended. READ ALSO: This woman died just hours after her wedding The victims mother reported the case to the police after their daughter narrated her ordeal. The accused is being tried based on section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015. In recent times, Freeman Obg Owoboy has been displaying his wealth on social media in which he is seen sleeping on almost uncountable bundles of money. Africanspotlight.com reported that Freeman is willing to give a juicy reward to any lady that will take the bold step to agree to marry him. The reward includes a cash of 5 million Naira and a car worth 3 million. He wrote in a Facebook post that O.B.G. I need a baby mama after everything I will pay her 5 million and a car worth 3 million. If you are lucky enough you might give birth to a boy who will inherit my multimillion paradise home. So, if you are interested inbox me, Owoboy 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! Kumbo who is facing a charge of defiling a minor pleaded not guilty. His lawyer prayed the court to grant him bail since he had an alibi in the whole case. But the court, presided over Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku, argued that Kumbo would interfere with investigations of the alibi when granted bail. READ ALSO: Jealous woman sets boyfriend ablaze She further ordered that a notice of the alibi be served on the prosecution for investigations. The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire, narrated to the court that both the complainant and the accused live at Burma Camp in Accra. He continued that in the afternoon of November 28, 2017, the victim was going to play with her friends when the soldier met her. Kumbo then blindfolded the girl with a handkerchief and took her to his room and had sex with her. He then threatened to beat the victim if she told anyone about the incident. The victim fell sick afterwards, complaining of severe pains in her lower abdomen. She was later sent to the hospital. READ ALSO: Female students allege their teachers harass them for sex The prosecution told the court that the blood came out the victim after urinating as result of the alleged defilement. The victim told her mother what the soldier had done to her and led her mother to his door. Chief Inspector Atimbire narrated that the victims father, who is also a soldier, reported the matter to the Ghana Military Police which issued a medical form to the victim to be taken to the hospital for examination and treatment. The Minister was not in the vehicle at the time of the attack as he was believed to have travelled by air to be picked up on Friday morning at the Tamale airport ahead of the burial of the late mother of the Minister. Reports say that the driver and the bodyguard travelled to Navrongo ahead of the burial using the Wa and Tumu road. However, upon arriving around Chuchuliga, the bumped into a roadblock which had been mounted by the three suspected robbers. The robbers demanded that the driver comply or they will shoot. But right after the driver pulled off, the Ministers bodyguard managed to pull off the trigger, killing one of the suspected robbers. The others were said to have fled into the bush. The body has since been taken to the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo for preservation. 31ST DECEMBER EVENT OPEN TO ALL LOCThe attention of the Local Organising Committee of the 36th anniversary of the 31st December Revolution has been drawn to a media publication alleging that the leader of the Revolution and former President of the Republic, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has banned certain personalities including former President John Mahama from participating in the anniversary events.The publication is a complete fabrication and a calculated attempt by mischievous persons to water down the huge interest shown by cadres, supporters and sympathisers of the revolution since news broke that the celebration would be held in Ho.The Local Organising Committee wishes to state that the anniversary events are open to all members of the public and indeed every 31st December and June 4th event in the past have been open to members of the public from all walks of life.It is instructive to note that formal invitations have been issued to former President Mahama, the leadership of the National Democratic Congress as well as other leading members of the party, which was spawned by the revolution.Former President Rawlings is not and has never been averse to the participation of any individual at such events and the public is urged to treat the said publication with utmost contempt.Signed:Kobina Andoh Amoakwa(Communications Directorate) Mr Rawlings had during the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the June 4 Uprising, accused Kufuor of being behind the countrys economic crisis and other corruption matters. I have said over and over again that Kufuor is responsible for setting in motion the moral and economic crisis that we are experiencing today, and I will say it again today. The investigation that Mills should have initiated never took place. But today let me give one very visible and concrete example of Kufuors mismanagement that we are all feeling the effects of Rawlings declared in his statement. When Kufuors government removed four noughts from the cedi, he overnight abolished the peoples economy. He abolished the peoples economy because he abolished the means to exchange goods below the value of 1,000 old cedis the countrys longest-serving president said. But speaking on Adom FMs Burning Issues programme Wednesday, Kwaku Agyemang Manu suggested that Rawlings and Kufour might have clashed over a girl in the past. Agyemang Manu who is also the Member of Parliament for Dormaa further wondered why Kufuor has been silent over these attacks from Rawlings. President Maithripala Sirisena had appealed to drivers, station masters and technical staff to end their industrial action to enable students to get to school. But the workers had refused to abandon their strike, which began on Friday and ran for five days before being cancelled. Sri Lankans blasted the unions for creating crippling transport problems as 400,000 teenage students prepared to sit their exams. Many students were left stranded when the tests kicked off on Tuesday and angry commuters have been calling for those responsible to be sacked. "We did not want to strike at the time of the exams, but the government had forced us," union spokesman Janaka Fernando told AFP. "We have a promise that our issues will be resolved in two months and no disciplinary action will be taken against the strikers." Union sources said the strike was called off after the furious backlash from the public. Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne apologised to commuters and students for the inconvenience. "We acknowledge there are some salary issues, but it is something that has to be resolved without causing ripple effect in other sectors (of government service)," he said. Train services are expected to return to normal by Wednesday evening, he added. Images showed Bashir warmly greeted by Erdogan and then attending the family photo and summit plenary session in traditional dress. Sudan's deadly conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN says at least 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced as a result of the conflict. Top Sudanese officials including Bashir now claim that the conflict has ended, but the region continues to see regular fighting between numerous ethnic and tribal groups. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict, charges he denies. Erdogan had while serving as prime minister in November 2009 defended Bashir against the charges, saying "a Muslim could not commit genocide, he is not capable of it". However Bashir scrapped a plan that month to attend an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey after the EU pressured Ankara over his attendance. Turkey at the time pointed out it is not a signatory to the treaty, which set up the Hague-based ICC. Wednesday's meeting is the first time that Bashir has visited Turkey since that controversy, and there have been no reports of such pressure concerning his current appearance. Bashir most recently visited Russia on November 23 where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending the emergency summit in Istanbul, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia. The apparent olive branch -- after a year of mutual threats by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and multiple missile tests by Pyongyang, coupled with its most powerful nuclear blast to date -- could help defuse sky-high tensions. But with the two sides engaged in a war of words there is a long way to go before any negotiations -- let alone a deal. Here are some questions and answers on the issue. What has changed? The US has for years refused to talk unless the North first takes steps towards dismantling its nuclear programme. But the North has staged six atomic tests and declared itself a full nuclear state after the ICBM test on November 28, rendering the prospect of nuclear disarmament increasingly unrealistic, according to experts. "We are ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. We are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let's just meet," Tillerson said at a forum in Washington. William Perry, a former US Defense Secretary who helped broker the 1994 Agreed Framework nuclear deal with the North, said it was "very encouraging news". "We must find a way to come to the table in order to de-escalate the volatile situation with North Korea," he tweeted. What does Donald Trump think? Trump administration officials have piled pressure on Pyongyang with US-led UN sanctions and talk of a potential pre-emptive attack, with National Security Adviser HR McMaster saying this month the potential for war was "increasing every day". The president has previously dismissed Tillerson's push for talks with the North, tweeting in October that his top diplomat was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man" - his favoured epithet for Kim. "Save your energy, Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" he added -- and rumours have swirled in recent weeks that Trump was about to sack him. Whether Tillerson's words herald a major policy shift by the administration remains to be seen. White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump's views on the North "have not changed". How could North Korea react? The North has long expressed a willingness to talk without preconditions and is likely to respond positively to any such offer, analysts say. "They have believed that the US would have no choice but to sit down with the North for talks in the end... and they might have been right," said Chung Sung-Yoon, of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. "The North's goal is to lay low and endure sanctions until the world will accept the reality that the North has become a nuclear power," he added. The further its weapons programmes advance, the stronger its position becomes -- and it says it is now able to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere on the US mainland, although experts believe it still lacks some of the required technology. What will the North's neighbours say? China, the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline, and South Korea are likely to welcome Tillerson's comments. Beijing -- which is under increasing US pressure to tame its wayward neighbour -- has repeatedly pushed for talks, while South Korean President Moon Jae-In is a well-known advocate for dialogue. Japan -- Washington's key military ally in Asia -- has also called for ways to defuse tensions. Some of the North's rocket tests have overflown the island nation, sparking alarm. What has happened in previous talks? Decades of Western attempts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons have failed. The Agreed Framework, which offered the North civilian nuclear reactors and other assistance in exchange for denuclearisation, fell apart after the US accused the isolated state of covertly restarting its weapons programme and aid delays angered Pyongyang, which eventually stormed out. In 2003 the Beijing-led Six Party Talks began, bringing together the US, both Koreas, Russia, Japan and China in a tortuous process. North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear programmes in 2005, but carried out its first atomic blast the following year. It walked out of the talks three years later, detonating its second device soon afterwards. One of the largest brokerages is letting its clients short bitcoin, giving folks bearish on the coin a way to bet against it. According to reporting by Bloomberg News, Interactive Brokers will let clients take short positions in the Cboe Global Markets' bitcoin futures market, which launched Sunday. A spokeswoman for the firm told Bloomberg the move was "in response to client demand." The company has allowed users to invest in the new market via long positions, requiring a larger down payment for trades than the standard required by Cboe. It is one of the largest players in the market, so far. "Interactive Brokers has a few requirements for shorting bitcoin futures: the spread must be one-to-one, and the short leg must have the earlier expiry date so that once it expires the surviving leg will be long," Bloomberg reported. Prior to the launch of futures, the firm's chairman asked the CFTC to prevent exchanges from launching such a market. Most big Wall Street banks have been more cautious, showing no indication of entering the market in the short term. JPMorgan and Citigroup, two of the largest futures brokers, are not clearing trades for its clients. A person familiar with JPMorgan's operations told Business Insider the firm didn't want to be in the market on day one, citing concerns about liquidity and too much risk being placed on clearing houses if the bitcoin market blows up. When there's enough volumes, the bank might consider dipping its toes into the market. The bank's CEO Jamie Dimon notable called bitcoin "a fraud" in September. Then, the cryptocurrency traded just above $4,000 a coin. The red-hot market for cryptocurrency fundraising continues to reach new heights even as US regulators intensify their oversight of the nascent digital-coin market. New data from fintech analytics provider Autonomous NEXT shows the amount raised via initial coin offerings (ICOs) has surged above $4 billion for the first time. ICOs, a cryptocurrency twist on the initial public offering process, have been around for years but have just entered the mainstream in 2017. Celebrities have played their part in hyping up the space, with entertainers from Paris Hilton to Floyd Mayweather Jr. promoting ICOs for some companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also just starting to pay attention to the fundraising method, which is known for its fair share of fraud, intense marketing, and big dreams. A recently created unit by the SEC has started digging into ICOs, halting two this month. The regulator's main concern is that ICOs provide a way for companies to solicit money from small-time investors without disclosing the proper risk. And there's a ton of risk in the space. Most companies solicit money from investors before creating a working product. And even some of the more visible and respected firms running initial coin offering have failed. Tezos, the company behind a more than $200 million ICO, is completely falling apart because of internal management issues. These developments have put pressure on the market, according to "It is harder than before to get funded, so on average the market is cooler towards any particular project," Sokolin told Business Insider in an email. "But overall, ICOs are becoming more mature, both in operating models, code and regulatory approach." Still, some traditional financial services companies are diving into the market in search of big returns. Florida hedge fund that specializes in commodities, is launching a cryptocurrency fund at the beginning of 2018 that will invest in ICOs. LONDON British importers and exporters remain pessimistic about their prospects after Brexit despite the government reaching an agreement with the EU after the first round of talks. Financial services firm Bibby found that 37% of SMEs trading overseas believe Brexit will be bad for their business, while just 11% trading internationally believe Brexit will benefit them in the next three years. Thirty-six percent say they have already been negatively impacted by the referendum. While importers who have been hit hardest due to a fall in the pound's value have been hit hardest, the survey also illustrates that exporters appear to be suffering too. The impact of Brexit according to SMEs "The effects of Brexit are not binary and exporters are also telling us that widespread uncertainty, falling consumer confidence and currency volatility are affecting them," said Bibby's UK chief executive Edward Winterton. The ONS said in September that exporters appeared to have "hoarded" the gains from a falling pound by hiking prices, rather than allowing prices to decline in line with the falling pound, meaning sales have not risen as they might be expected to. "Businesses are heavily intertwined across the single market where they rely on access to customers, suppliers and labour. Its mission-critical that talks with the EU progress quickly onto the next stage so that the UK can secure the best trade [deal] it can with the EU 27," said Winterton. The government agreed to progress to the second phase of Brexit talks with the EU earlier this week after making concessions on key areas of negotiations including the Irish border, EU citizens' rights, and a "divorce" payment. Palo Alto-based Robinhood, a zero-commission stock broker, announced on Wednesday that it would start offering free options trading to its more than 3 million users. "In 2015, by focusing on technology and automation, we challenged the finance industry with the launch of commission-free equity trading, paving the way for millions of Americans to participate in their own financial system, said Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood's cofounder and co-CEO, in a press release on the news. Today, we are doing it again, with commission-free options trading, rooted in the belief that sophisticated investment tools dont need to be complex or reserved for the wealthy." Options don't get the same attention on Main Street as stock trading, but they make up a huge market on Wall Street. An option allows an investor to buy or sell an asset or security say a stock or a currency at a certain price at a specified date in the future. Options allow investors to bet on the price of an asset in the future, or to hedge their bets elsewhere against an unexpected price swing. Some of the highlights of the new offering, according to the company, include: It's free: " Advanced Options Strategies: " Pricing Filter: " The roll-out of free options trading is the latest in Robinhood's evolution as a company. It launched a new web platform in November, and it also started letting users transfer stock The company, which launched in 2012, has been a darling of younger, less experienced stock traders, but it has been recently vying for a more experienced clientele. In August, Bhatt told Business Insider the company would continue to roll out new features to meet the needs of its users as they mature as investors: About two weeks after Poland surrendered to Germany at the end of September succumbing to a month of the Nazi blitzkrieg the British battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a U-boat, claiming more than 800 British sailors. That was followed in short order by the first German air raid on the UK, targeting ships at the Firth of Forth in Scotland. At the end of November, German mining of British waters intensified after claiming several merchant ships. Weeks later, on December 12, the British Royal Navy suffered another setback, as the destroyer HMS Duchess collided with the battleship HMS Barham. The Duchess was cut in half and only 23 of its 160 crew members survived. But the Royal Navy recorded a spirit-lifting victory just days later, after British ships cornered the imposing German warship Graf Spee off the coast of South America, defeating it in the first major naval battle of World War II. The Graf Spee was much larger than any of the British ships pursuing it. Despite doing considerable damage to them, however, it was unable to fend them off. Winston Churchill called the battle a "brilliant sea fight [that] warmed the cockles of British hearts." Here's how the Allies won: When war broke out in September 1939, the Graf Spee was patrolling in the Atlantic. It played a significant role in the German effort to cut Allied shipping lines, sinking eight merchant ships between September and December. The Allies deployed hunting groups to track down the German battleship 23 major ships in total. The Graf Spee, commissioned in 1936, stretched more than 600 feet in length and was manned by 1,150 crew members. It displaced well over 10,000 tons, despite Treaty of Versailles stipulations limiting German warships to that size. It boasted six 11-inch guns, with three each on two turrets one fore and one aft. It also had eight 5.9-inch guns with 105 mm, 37 mm, and 20 mm cannons placed throughout. The Graf Spee was equipped with eight torpedo tubes and carried two floatplane aircraft that could be launched from a catapult on its bridge superstructure. Source: The Graf Spee, commanded by Capt. Hans Langsdorff, sank three more ships bringing its total merchant shipping sunk to roughly a half-million tons before heading toward shipping lanes near the River Plate in the South Atlantic in early December. Commodore Henry Harwood of Hunting Group G guessed where the German ship was headed, closing in with heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles on December 13. The crew of the Achilles was 60% New Zealanders, whose country would not form its own navy until 1941. The Royal New Zealand Navy still commemorates the battle as an example of its fortitude. Source: , The German warship engaged its pursuers just after 6 a.m., landing direct hits on the Exeter, knocking out its guns and much of its communications. The Exeter would eventually retreat to the Falkland Islands. The Graf Spee was also able to disable two of the four gun turrets on the Ajax and did damage to the Achilles. Source: , , The battle was brief but intense. The Graf Spee engaged for about 20 minutes before breaking off and attempting to evade its British counterparts. The Graf Spee had nearly twice the firepower of its pursuers, but was outnumbered. The number direct hits reported on the German warship ranged from 20 to 60 or 70. Reports of the number of German sailors killed range from 36 to 113. Source: , , , , The Exeter, despite its damage, was able to strike the Graf Spees fuel systems and galleys. The damage was limited, but it was enough. The German ship retreated to the neutral port of Montevideo in Uruguay. Harwood, the British commodore, suspected his ships had done little damage to the Graf Spee, and he decided to break off the action around 7:30 a.m. Source: , , British ships continued to shadow the Graf Spee, which fired on the Ajax in the early afternoon on December 13 and then on the Achilles after sundown that day. The German ship appeared to be sailing into the River Plate. International law said warships could only remain in a neutral port for 24 hours. The Graf Spee requested 14 days to make repairs, but was given only a 72-hour extension by Uruguay. British officials tried to have the ship interned or expelled. Source: Harwood initially requested the British minister in Montevideo try to delay the Graf Spee from leaving port so his reinforcements could arrive. Other Allied ships hurried to the area while Harwood kept watch outside the harbor. Only one ship, the cruiser HMS Cumberland, made it to the area, joining the Ajax and Achilles on patrol outside Montevideo on late on December 14. Source: Harwood still thought that the Graf Spee had sustained little damage during the December 13 battle, and he set as his goal the total destruction of the German warship. But the commander of the Graf Spee was convinced that a much more imposing force awaited him in the waters outside Montevideo. Rather than risking another engagement, he scuttled the ship on December 17. Source: The battled claimed the lives of 72 British sailors, but was a bright spot for the Allies amid Nazi Germanys earlier successes especially for the British. Source: Winston Churchill heralded the naval victory, saying, This brilliant sea fight takes its place in our naval annals and in a long, cold, dark winter it warmed the cockles of the British hearts. The British prime minister predicted, This great battle will long be told in song and story. Source: The German commander faced a much more bleak fate. He left most of the ships 350 crew ashore in Montevideo and sailed out of the harbor, where he scuttled the ship. Days later, he committed suicide with a revolver at a Buenos Aires hotel, telling his superiors in a letter that he didn't want his motives to be misconstrued and that the captain's "personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship." His crew was interned in Uruguay or Argentina during the war, and many stayed after the war. The last surviving member of the Graf Spee's crew, Source: , , Salvagers began to recover fragments of the Graf Spee around 2000. The effort ignited controversy in Uruguay, especially the recovery of the vessel's tailpiece: a 9-foot-high eagle sitting atop a swastika, which was covered when it was brought up. The Uruguayan government protested, fearing neo-Nazis would acquire artifacts from the ship at auction. "There are ethical limits on the promotion of Nazi symbols in museums, so who are the potential buyers of these icons if not neo-Nazis?" Miguel Esmoris, director of Uruguay's National Heritage Commission, said at the time. Alfredo Etchegaray, a public-relations executive, party organizer, and amateur historian who led the recovery effort in 2006, told The New York Times that the Graf Spee was a prized artifact of the war, citing reports that collectors in the US and Asia were willing to pay $15 million or more for pieces of the ship. Across the world, the role of a president is one that demands a full-time engagement. Thus, annual leave by a president is usually spent at exotic locations across the world to refresh their mindset and renew the force for better governance. This is also the case for most African leaders. But the duo of Buhari and Museveni are showing their flair for natural endeavours as they took to farming. In most cases, these former military officers are noted to be taking time out at their farms. President of Nigeria stated about why he is spending some time out on his farm despite a tight official schedule of his office. Im spending a few days at home in Daura before I travel to France for the One Planet Summit. Today I paid a visit to my farm. I grow fruits, vegetables and keep cattle. I hope this will inspire one more person to take up farming. My vision is for a country that grows what it eats, Buhari stated. Museveni also related about why going to his farmland is important to the nation, and he advised that Africa should embrace farming and grow its own food. Spent the last two days at my farm in Kisozi, Gomba District. I want Ugandans to know that you can keep an indigenous breed of cattle and still have high milk yield and good quality animals, Museveni said. As Africans, we should embrace who we are and cease having low esteem, which drives us to covet everything foreign/Western, he stressed. In the history of Nigeria, there is one leader that has so much love for farming like President Buhari. And that was the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria Sir Tafawa Balewa. Many Republicans slammed the political strategist Steve Bannon for throwing his weight behind the former judge Roy Moore, who lost in Tuesday's special election in a massive upset that delivered Alabama's first Democratic-controlled Senate seat in decades. Doug Jones, a Democrat, clinched the US Senate seat in Alabama vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Bannon, the former top adviser to President Donald Trump, threw his full weight behind Moore in a contested GOP primary. He stayed loyal to him even as numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and assault emerged over the past month. Top allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Bannon, the head of the far-right website Breitbart News who pledged to run opponents against McConnell-backed candidates whom Bannon deemed not sufficiently conservative. "This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running," Steven Law, the president of the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund PAC, said in a statement. "Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into this fiasco." Before we get the results, ... @ Josh Holmes Some prominent "Never Trump" Republicans also reamed into Bannon. Steve Bannon is a cancer. ... @ Rick Wilson The Coalition of the Decent... @ Evan McMullin Some conservative media figures like the Drudge Report also critiqued Bannon after Moore's loss. Drudge slams Bannon in the ... @ Jon Passantino Meghan McCain, the conservative host of "The View" who is a daughter of Sen. John McCain, tweeted simply: "Suck it Bannon." Other top Republicans and Trump allies also blamed Bannon on background to reporters. A top Republican in close t... @ Jeff Zeleny As businesses take more aggressive steps to combatsexual harassment, a new report from Bloomberg reveals that some hotels are giving their housekeepers "panic buttons" they can press if they feel threatened by a guest. Workers' rights advocates have fought for more effective methods for hotel employees to report and protect themselves from inappropriate behavior from guests. They argue that the power dynamics and language barriers some hotel employees face make it difficult for them to report guests who make them uncomfortable. Advocates have suggested giving employees "panic buttons" that could immediately alert security personnel to intervene if an employee feels threatened by a guest. The buttons can come in the form of electronic whistles, iPads with alert functions, or GPS-equipped devices. Housekeepers in unionized, New York City hotels have been given panic buttons since 2013. A union representative told Bloomberg that panic buttons were activated at least two times in November at a single hotel in Midtown. The hotel kicked out the guest in both instances. In 2016, Seattle citizens voted for legislation that requires hotels to give their employees similar devices, and Chicago's City Council approved a similar measure in October. Miami Beach is discussing similar policies. 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! For years, Donald Trump has reached into his linguistic bag of tricks to subtly insult Democrats. The tactic is removing two letters from the name of their party: the final "-ic." You see it in phrases like the "Democrat Party" and "Democrat leadership." Republicans have rankled Democrats with the phrase for decades, so much that it's considered an epithet in political circles. Yet since taking office in January, Trump has ramped up his usage of the phrase, signifying a deepening of the partisan divisions between Trump and his political adversaries. Take a look at the following tweets from Trump. In every one, he uses "Democrat" where "Democratic" should go: Of course, there's nothing wrong with the word "Democrat" on its own. But when people use it in two-word constructions like "Democrat party," they are purposefully avoiding saying the proper name of the party. Linguists and political scientists have cited Republican usage of the term as an insult since at least the 1950s, and although there is no consensus on why it is offensive, several experts have their opinions. "The implication is that the Democratic Party is not democratic and does not represent our democracy," George Lakoff, a cognitive linguist and expert on political messaging, told Business Insider. Jim Dornan, a Republican political consultant who worked on Trump's exploratory campaign, seemed to agree: "T Whatever the reason, Republicans from Joseph McCarthy to Barry Goldwater to Newt Gingrich have weaponized the phrase over the years. In 2007, President George W. Bush caused a minor uproar when in his State of the Union address, he referred to the new "Democrat majority" in Congress. On the other hand, the low-key nature of the insult could give Republicans the plausible deniability they need to use it in certain situations. The Los Angeles Times found in 2004 that Bush's use of the phrase "Democrat Party" spiked in 2004 and 2006, two major election years. And President Ronald Reagan said it more times in 1984, the year of his reelection, than he did in all the others years of his presidency combined, the newspaper found. "It's kind of like flashing colors in a gang. It's code," Daniel Weiss, chief of staff of former Democratic Rep. George Miller, told The Times. "It says, 'I'm one of you, I'm a right-wing conservative.'" It's anyone's guess as to whether Trump is deliberately channeling decades of Republican derision when he uses the phrase "Democrat Party" in speeches and tweets. But intentional or not, perhaps the best reason why he and other Republicans should stop came from The Economist in 2012: Someday soon some Silicon Valley residents will call Google their landlord. In the early hours Wednesday morning, local lawmakers approved a bid from the internet giant to build nearly 10,000 new housing units near its future campus in Mountain View, California. The decision marks a major victory for housing advocates, who have in the past blamed Google and other tech companies for driving up home prices and displacing longtime residents of the Valley. The San Francisco Bay Area does not have enough dwellings to house all of its workers, tech companies have frequently located their campuses in areas without much nearby housing, and tech workers have often used their high salaries and stock options to bid up home prices. "This is a cutting-edge plan that sets a standard not just for the Bay Area, but for much of the country," said Lenny Siegal, vice mayor of Mountain View, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. "We aren't just building housing, we are building it the right way to create a new kind of community for our area." The tech giant has plans to build a sprawling campus in the North Bayshore neighborhood of Mountain View, a city that already hosts a majority of the company's properties. The development will include 9,850 units of housing, at least 3.6 million square feet of office space, and a public park. (Google is partnering with housing developers including In a statement provided to Business Insider, Mark Golan, vice president of real estate at Google, described the future North Bayshore development as a "live, work, play, and stay" community. Golan added that he was pleased with the city council's decision to adopt the plan. The vote on the North Bayshore Precise Plan which was unanimous brings a close to more than six years of planning and nearly three years of public meetings, the Business Journal reported. For some these predictions turned out to be false and for others, their words came to pass. This list focuses on those that actually happened. Here are the five true prophecies of 2017. 1. Saraki will face many trials In January, Prophet Joshua Iginla of Champions Royal Assembly released his prophetic insights for 2017. One of them involved Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. According to the prophet, Saraki would face a lot of trials. In his words, The Senate president should not think that the trials are over. I see more storm and trials that will take a new turn from his enemies and political distractor. They will scheme for his removal. Saraki was taken to court in 2015. He got discharged and acquitted in June, 2017 after 15 out of his 18 charges were squashed. He was ordered back to continue his case by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on December 12, 2017. 2. There will be floods Prophet Iginlas insights predicted the resumption of floods and heavy downpour. He said, I see the issue of flood resuming. I see a heavy downpour. 3. Muhammadu Buharis health will suffer Prophet Iginla also prophesied about the Presidents health, predicting that he will be forced to travel for a checkup. In his words, His Excellency, Mr President should pray for his health, I see him travelling out for an unscheduled health checkup. But this time, it will be more serious. He should pray for his health, God will keep him. He turned out to be right again as the president took a lot more trips because of his health. ALSO READ: 5 scary prophecies that came to pass in 2016 4. Attempt to impeach Donald Trump Popular Nigerian cleric Apostle John Suleman also released prophecies for 2017. In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, his Public Communications Advisor, he prophesied that the United States of America president would face impeachment. He said, Donald Trump to face impeachment attempt as members of Congress are divided on his style of leadership. In November, some Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against the President. TIME reports that they accused him of obstruction of justice and other offences. 5. Robert Mugabes resignation A video of Prophet T.B Joshua prophesying about a military takeover in an African country popped up in November 2017. This African country turned out Zimbabwe when military leaders placed longtime leader, Robert Mugabe under house arrest and announced takeover. He was eventually forced to resign. This same prophecy was also made by Prophet Iginla. In no particular order, here are the most religious leaders of this year. 1. Pastor Paul Adefarasin Paul Adefarasin is the senior pastor of House on the Rock, one of the biggest churches in Lagos state. This year, the church by extension, Pastor Adefarasin, managed to get even bigger by hosting the Emerge Conference. This conference brought T.D Jakes, other important people from and outside Nigeria. The just concluded 12th edition of The experience with headliners like Don Moen, Donnie McClurkin, Travis Greene and others is also attributed to this Man of God and his church. All of these show just proves how influential he really is. 2. Bishop David Oyedepo It is safe to say that everyone knows the founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church also known as Winners Chapel. Over the years, he is grown from a young pastor to an extremely influential religious leader whose word is the law for a lot of people. This explains why people paid attention when he weighed in on the ongoing tithing debate. Love or hate him, no one can deny his influence on Christians worldwide. 3. Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye Pastor Adeboye, fondly known as Daddy G.O, has definitely captured the hearts of many Nigerians and people around the world. The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is one of those people who holds the attention of everyone whenever he speaks. WOCHIT 07.11.2017 PASTOR ADEBOYE RESPONDS TO DADDY FREEZE ON TITHES AND BEER TALK When he speaks, everyone including world leaders listen. His influence is certainly undeniable. 4. Prophet T.B Joshua The leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) is one beloved prophet. So beloved that people were heartbroken when he announced his intention to leave Nigeria for Israel. Immediately, the news broke, everyone from regular people to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed started appealing the prophet to change his mind. In fact, it was one of the top controversial religious moments of the year. It does not hurt that his prophecies always manage to come to pass. All of them, except for the one about Hillary Clinton becoming the president of the United States. 5. Sultan of Sokoto This list would be incomplete without the Sultan, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar IV who wields a lot of influence over Muslims. He is number 16 on the list of Worlds most influential Muslim leaders. He announces all the important dates for major events like the Ramadan. Hence, he is regarded as the spiritual leader of all Nigerian Muslims. He is also the chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs. Honourable Mention: Daddy Freeze - This year, he went from being just a Cool FM OAP to becoming a well respected/criticised voice in the religious scene. His anti-tithing campaign, regular shots at preachers and #FreeTheSheeple movement, in general, has certainly made him an extremely influential person to many Nigerian Christians. Here's the list of the big moments in the Nigerian Education system in the last 12 months. LAUTECH Crisis The lingering crisis at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho marked the beginning of the chequered fate of the education sector in 2017. The crisis which propelled the lecturers of the institution to embark on an indefinite strike action lasted for over a year while students were consigned into idleness just because of the disagreement between the government and the academic staff of the institution. The students realizing they are wasting away took to the street to protest and implore Oyo state governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi to address the issue. And after some dramatic moments between the students and the governor, the constituted authority promised the students their school would be re-opened before the end of January. ALSO READ: Does anyone remember Edo teacher who could not read well?They opened the school gate in February only for it to be locked again in April. Another strike action began. Queen's College Death Authorities of the Queen's College in Lagos are yet to be washed clean of the sex scandal involving a mathematics teacher and a student in 2016 when another scandal shook the school. This time, it was more tragic than the earlier episode. In March, two students of the unity school in Yaba, Lagos reportedly died as a result of the contaminated water in the school while 16 other students were hospitalized due to the severity of their cases. The SSS3 students who were not affected by the contamination suffered a terrible blow in another form as the Ministry of Health ordered the closure of the school indefinitely few days to the commencement of their final exams. Igbonla Kidnap On May 25, 2017, two days before Children's Day celebration another version of the infamous Chibok girls tragedy played out in Lagos as kidnappers stormed Igbonla Model College, Epe and abducted six boys from the school.It was ostensibly a devastating experience for the six students as their captors imprisoned them for two months before releasing them on Friday, July 28 after demanding a ransom of N400m. IRK VS CRK Saga The controversies that come with religion in Nigeria found its way into education-related issues in June. The Federal Ministry of Education in an attempt to rejig school curriculum grouped Christian Religion Knowledge and Islamic Religion Knowledge under National Values Curriculum. Christian Association of Nigeria found this move suspicious saying the Federal Government is planning to remove CRK from the syllabus and that the government is planning to islamize Nigerians. These accusations refused to go away as Nigerians on social media were greatly divided by CAN's unfounded narrative. To clear the air on the issue, the Ministry of Education came out to explain their intention behind the curriculum re-arrangement to Nigerians, and at the end, it turned out to be one of those pre-existing tension fuelled by religious intolerance in our country. JAMB Cut-off Mark The JAMB's new cut-off mark announcement in August was a moment that got everybody talking. Even illiterates and artisans whose children are seeking admission into University and polytechnic partook in the conversation. In August, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) reduced Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination cut-off mark to 120 for University admission seekers and 100 for Polytechnics and Colleges of education across the country.Institutions like UNILAG, University of Ibadan and other first choice Universities strongly resisted the move saying they would not consider any candidate who scores less than 200 for admission. However, the JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede later explained that the cut-off point is not meant to qualify candidates for admission rather, it is meant to rate them so as to address admission quota system in Nigerian universities. ASUU/ASUP Strike An academic calendar without the Academic Staff Union of University and Polytechnic going on strike over one thing or the other is not complete in Nigeria. The 2017 ASUU strike did not come as surprise because it has become a ritual. So in September, the union announced the commencement of an indefinite nationwide strike.Again, the strike threw Nigerian university students into idleness and were only at the mercy of the Federal Government and ASUU to be in the lecture room again.Sadly, immediately ASUU called off its strike action, its Polytechnic counterpart, ASUP shut down all schools under its control for 15 days to protest Government' failure to honour their agreement. Kaduna Teachers' Competency Test The most popular event that outshines and swallows all other stories in the education sector for this year sprouted from Kaduna state. It is a saga that exposed the depth of the rots in the education system in the state.The Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in a bid to assess the competency of primary school teachers in the state conducted primary four tests for the teachers. It later turned out that 21,780 teachers would have to be relieved of their job because according to the government they failed the test and as such should not have any business with teaching. The dramatic accusations and counter-accusations that followed the sack of the teachers and recruitment of another 25,000 people to replace the incompetent teachers is simultaneously hilarious and ludicrous.First, the pupils were made to protest the sack of their teachers on the streets while teachers took demeaning steps further to the state assembly to protest and vandalizing properties. Second, the governor in a bid to justify his claims about the teachers' incompetency released their text scripts on Twitter. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Teachers and the Nigeria Labour Congress in Kaduna disagreed with the government saying the scripts with low scores belonged to carpenters and other artisans employed by the same government. 2018 Budget allocation for Education With all the issues facing Nigerian education system, Nigerians expect an administration that promised to change the status quo would give the sector a boost in its Budget. But to the dismay of all us, the 2018 Budget did not offer any hope for the Nigerian education system as only 7% percent of the Budget was allocated to the sector as against the 26% recommended by the United Nations. Nigerians kicked and complained bitterly about the government's attitude towards education, but it seems Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics will have to endure another series of industrial action next year.Finally, 2017 has not been a good year for the education sector. It is 365 days of strike and crisis for the sector. We did not seem to register any happy moments apart from Nigerian students abroad conquering the world with outstanding academic performances. While students at home break records in Universities where it is seemingly impossible to graduate with first class degrees. Pulse Movies has put together well-written, superbly acted, and beautifully shot movies that entertained and impressed us this year. This list is not based on popularity. Check them out. 11. The Wedding Party 2 Coming at the tail end of the year, the sequel of The Wedding Party 2 comes in as one of the top movies of the year. Using mainly the original cast, lightning strikes twice as humour ensues as crazy events take over the wedding ceremonies. TWP 2 is a celebration of love and Nigerian pride. If you had fun watching the first installment, then the sequel is a must-watch for you during these holidays. 10. "Roti" A tribute to those coping with the loss and effects of losing a loved one, Kunle Afolayan's "Roti" is a psychological drama that explores the pain and loss felt by parents who lose a child they waited 10 years to have. Kate Henshaw and Afolayan give great performances of grief-stricken parents on a journey of recovery, with Henshaw absorbing herself into the character, so much that her pain is almost real. Its treatment of a sensitive topic such as mental illness is applaudable. It takes away spiritualism and tackles mental instability in the best way possible. 9. Through the Eyes A well interpreted short film, "Through Her Eyes" plays out like a prospectus for a feature. The director Nadine Ibrahim uses the movie as a springboard to address a very topical issue; the rise of child terrorists. In "Through the Eyes," Azeeza, a young girl abducted by a terrorist group is forced to witness and do things that tarnish her life forever. Out of the daily heartbreaking life events, Nadine carves out a thought provoking screenplay worth applauding. 8. "Picture Perfect" "Picture Perfect" follows the relationship between a posh tailor Kumbi and a notorious area boy, Jobe. The movie employs the depth of emotions needed to engage the audience while it focuses on classism, friendship, fate, love, redemption and beauty in imperfection. Directed by Tope Alake, and written and produced by Biodun Stephen, the movie lives up to its title. It also makes proper use of indigenous language to entertain and elicit its laugh-out-loud moments. Its ending leaves you with a sense of satisfaction - one of those that tug at your heartstrings without trying to shove an unnecessary love story down your throat. 7. "Bariga Sugar" A short film set in the mid-90s in a ghetto brothel in Lagos, Ifeoma Nkiruka Chukwuogo's "Bariga Sugar" is an emotional one that conveys the deep sense of humanity. The film tells the story of an 8-year-old Ese, who lives in Bariga Sugar, a ghetto brothel owned by Madam Sugar in Lagos. One day, 10-year-old Jamil and his mother Hanatu move into the brothel. Often neglected, lonely and socially awkward, Ese and Jamil begin an unlikely friendship. Its beauty is not in its 'high quality' production but in its authentic and relatable story, and setting. 6. Hell or High Water The Asurf Oluseyi's short movie doesn't justify, support or condemn homosexuality. It simply starts a necessary conversation about homophobia, sexuality and religion in Nigeria. "Hell or High Water" tells the story of a young married pastor, who is loved and adored by the members of his church. Things take a different turn for him when he has to confront his sexuality - an act that breaks him spiritually, emotionally and psychologically. Perfectly interpreted by Enyinna Nwigwe and Daniel K Daniel, the film avoids popular cliches that are usually seen in Nollywood movies with homosexuality themes. 5. "Isoken" In her debut feature movie, Jade Osiberu tells the story of the universal and overwhelming pressure women and even men, face to get married, with Dakore Akande leading a star-studded cast. Despite being a familiar and exhausted topic in Nigeria, "Isoken" still fleshes out the issue of marital pressure in all of its raw, hilarious, messy, and complicated glory The laughs are accompanied by insights into friendship, love, societal pressure, self-confidence, courage and stereotypes. "Isoken" explores a lot of topical issues. Maybe not in-depth, but enough to kick off conversations on various social media platforms. 4. Hakkunde Asurf Oluseyi's debut feature film "Hakkunde," is as emotional as it is entertaining. With an inspiring story, applaudable performances, magical shots and music, Oluseyi delivers one of the best movies of the year. This inspiring drama centers around a young graduate Akande (Kunle Idowu AKA Frank Donga) who is on a journey to self- discovery. Packed with powerful messages, "Hakkunde" focuses on self-actualization, relationships, and the role of ignorance in societal development. 3. "Slow Country" A hybrid of the romance and action genre, the Eric Aghimien movie follows the story of a homeless teenage mother, Kome, who finds herself trapped in prostitution and drug trafficking for seven years in order to secure a good life for her son. On the basis of stunts and special effects, "Slow Country" is a visual delight. It is rich with apt acting and stunning cinematography. Not every movie has a moral lesson and "Slow Country" is one of those without one. It's simply a well-made action thriller that highlights the plight of some single mothers and prostitutes. 2. "A Hotel Called Memory" A Hotel Called Memory is a Nigerian movie with no dialogue, creating room for various interpretations and capable of lodging itself in your memory for a very long time. It is a brave project that fearlessly breaks down cliche of genres in the Nigerian film industry. Without dialogue, the actors are left with just gestures, movements and expressions to tell the story and connect with the audience - a task they succeed at. Another spectacular thing about A Hotel Called Memory is its breathtaking visuals. A magic created by just the director and his cameraman, using natural light with a Sony A7S camera on a 45mm swing shift with tilt lenses. The film is directed by Akin Omotoso and produced by Ego Boyo. 1. "Ojukokoro" Dare Olaitan's "Ojukokoro" captures the brutality that comes with violence, and still finds a way to play it simultaneously with funny scenarios and witty conversations. The movie features an ensemble cast that inadvertently merges together to give viewers a clear understanding of their different characters. News Agency of Nigeria [NAN], reports that Abuya was dragged to the court presided by Chief Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi after the girl's mother reported him to the police as the one responsible for her young daughter's pregnancy. Abuya, who resides on Idimu Road, Egbeda, Lagos State, according to the police prosecutor, Simeon Imhonwa, is standing trial on a one-count charge of defilement. Imhonwa had earlier told the court that Abuya was in the habit of having sexual intercourse with the minor at his residence whenever the mother was away and had threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the sexual abuse. mhonwa said. Continuing, he added: The accused had been defiling the girl before he was apprehended. The victims mother reported the case to the police after their daughter narrated her ordeal. The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015. When the charge was read to Abuya, he pleaded not guilty and Chief Magistrate Osunsanmi granted him bail in the sum of N500,000, ordering that he must produce two sureties in like sum who must be property owners in the state as well as show evidence of tax payment to the state government. Punch reports that the gang led by 23-year-old Justice Iriah, aka Mopol, an indigene of Edo State, was smashed by the indefatigable ACP Abba Kyari, the same super cop who brought down the elusive Evans after a strenuous investigation and intelligence gathering. It was gathered that the gang went the same route as Evans as they collected their ransom in Dollars and other hard currencies and had been terrorising the Southern states of the country for many months. The five-man gang kidnap syndicate, according to reports, also had Samuel Chikaodi James, alias Chiboy as the second in command, Ikechukwu Igwebuike, alias Anambra, Chikachi Ubani and Chineye Mark as members. The gang said to be responsible for many high profile kidnappings and armed robberies was arrested by police operatives from the Force Headquarters, Abuja, led by ACP Kyari in Aba, Abia State, while several AK 47 rifles, ammunition and operational vehicles were recovered from them. It was gathered that in some of the abductions carried out by the kidnap gang, victims and their families were made to pay various sums ranging from N250, 000, N1 million and N5.5 million all in US Dollars equivalent. In a statement signed by the Force PPRO, SP Jimoh Moshood, the gang had been making life miserable for businessmen and top politicians in the South East, forcing the Inspector General, Ibrahim Idris to deploy ACP Kyari and his team to the region to track and apprehend them. The statement entitled 'Arrest of 5 Notorious Kidnapping Terrorizing Aba, Abia State and Recovery of AK 47 Rifle/Operational Vehicles', reads: 'Sequel to the kidnap of one , 80-years-old, on Sunday, 26 November, 2017 and his subsequent release after a ransom was paid, with technical support from TIU, Operatives of IGP Intelligence Response Team IRT deployed By IGP Ibrahim Idris swung into action and eventually arrested of 5 gang members of the New kidnap syndicate. The kidnappers confessed to having started their kidnapping operations this November 2017 and have been involved in three kidnappings in Aba, Abia State, collecting ransoms of N250,000, N1 million and N5.5 million equivalent in Dollars respectively. The suspects confessed to random kidnapping based on the nature of the vehicle being driven by their targets. Suspects names and confessed roles played are as follows: aka , 29-years-old, the second in command: He is also the driver of the operational vehicles used in the kidnappings, the negotiator of ransoms and does the pick-ups. So far, he has received N3 million. aka , 23, from Edo State, the gang leader. While armed, he snatches and secures the hostages in the vehicle up to the kidnap den. He has so far received the sum of N3 million. aka , aged 22 years. While armed, he snatches and secures the hostages in the vehicle up to the kidnap den. So far he has received N300, 000. aged 30 years. He is in charge of the stronghold and detention camp where hostages were kept. aged 45 years, is a panel beater. He hides their operation vehicles in his workshop. So far, he has received N150, 000." News Agency of Nigeria [NAN] reports that Tanko, who hails from Maigoge Village in the Mariga Local Government Area of the state, hacked his 30-year-old wife identified as Auta, to death following an altercation and to cover up the crime, he threw the cutlass he allegedly used in the killing into a nearby bush. Tanko who was arrested after neighbours reported the matter to the police, reportedly confessed to the crime saying he got angry and killed his wife because she denied him food for five days. My wife was fond of not giving me food on time and when I complained, she would abuse me. She never gave me food each time I demanded it. She even asked my 10-year-old daughter to abuse me because I was asking for food and whenever I want to correct the girl she will abuse me. I am sorry, it was the work of the devil and I pray my in-laws would find a place in their hearts to forgive me. I regret all my actions, Tanko said. The 19-year-old Delta State indigene who gave her name as Eloho, narrated her experience in the hands of her captors as horrendous, inhumane and dreadful, saying it was her father's quest for material things that pushed her into the hands of traffickers. Eloho who is currently in a rehabilitation camp set up for the returnees by the Edo State government, told South-South Voice that it was only the grace of God that kept her alive for the seven months she was held captive. Beginning her story, Eloho who said she cannot forgive her father for her misfortune said: "It was my father who pushed me into this mess and I cannot forgive him. I had just finished my SSCE last year and while preparing to sit for JAMB, my father told me that there was no way I would continue my education as he had no money to sponsor me. He said that instead of wasting my time going to school, I should travel to Europe like one of his friend's daughter who is there and has been sending money to her parents. I asked him if he knew what the lady was doing abroad and he said that he did not care; he said that even if she was a prostitute, she was sending money to her parents and had built a house for them. He said I should also go there and sell my body and send money to him. I thought he was joking but he kept putting pressure on me and at one point, said he was going to disown me and invoke a terrible juju on me if I refused to travel. It was the fear that made me agree to try my luck. He even sold his land and paid the aunty that was to take me to Europe. That was how I found myself in Libya with the promise that I will be crossed to Italy. But while we were waiting to cross, some Nigerian men sold us to some Arab men who took us to a slave camp and The men among us were beaten daily, made to work for nothing and some of them were killed. The girls were raped every day. I can't remember the number of men that raped me. I lived in pains and prayed for death. They would beat us mercilessly and even when someone fainted, they would still rape them. I did not know I will live to see this December but I thank God for saving my life. many Nigerians have died in Libya and no one can trace them. They were either thrown into the sea or burnt to erase any trace. We might have liked them in the past and they might have entertained us but enough is enough. We are simply tired of them. Here are 5 people we got tired of in 2017 1) Bobrisky Bobrisky has worn us out. From his 'Jacob' inspired videos, rants, bad English and arrest, we are tired of Bobrisky. Bobrisky has spent his 15 minutes of fame but somehow he refuses to go away. Here's hoping that Bobrisky takes a long break in 2018. 2) Hush Puppi This Instagram celeb with a cloudy source of wealth is one of the bad highlights of 2017 social media-wise. Throughout the year he made fun of hardworking celebs and never shut up about how rich he is. To make matters all worse he found himself in Tonto Dikeh's drama. We sincerely hope that he has nothing to say in 2018. 3) Uche Maduagwu This man is known more for his controversial statements than his movies. Well, that needs to tell you everything about him. Maduagwu always finds a way to put himself in the conversation even when he is not needed. Well, he is not needed at all. He should stick to movies and save us from his unwarranted statements. 4) Dino Melaye The infamous senator needs a serious timeout. He has a knack for saying the wrong things or being in trouble. His questionable fashion sense hasn't made things better for him. It won't be bad if Dino Melaye actually focuses on his job. 5) Ayo Fayose This is list is based solely on how their makeovers made the rounds on social media, inspired a lot of makeovers and were done picture perfect too. They made the top 10 amongst a lot of others who also did well because they worked on high profile clients, shoots, editorials, were featured all over social media and had press mentions. From traveling around with clients for their destination weddings, taking over celebrities' makeovers or just behind viral makeovers that got round a lot during the year, these ones brought it and are listed in no particular order. ALSO READ:Top 10 makeup artists of 2016 1. Bimpe Onakoya Highly sought after celebrity makeup artist and Maybelline New York Nigeria creative director had a busy year, not slowed down by her triple dose of joy, the makeup artist went to different parts of the world with top celebrities showing of her clean and naturally flawless beats. 2. BM Pro BM Pro is always in demand and 2017 wasn't any different. The jet set makeup entrepreneur and artist got to work on a lot of high profile faces this year. 3. T.A La Mode Beauty T.A La Mode Beauty was seen a lot in 2017, with her work spotted on major celebrities in 2017 she quickly got a deserved spot on the list. She was the brain behind a lot of major looks on celebrities and celebrity brides this year. ALSO READ:Top 10 Nigerian skincare brands of 2017 4. Jide St Ola Jide St Ola had an exciting 2017 doing unforgettable looks on celebrities and high profile brides who got his looks trending. 5. Lolade ML Pro Lolade ML Pro is quite the creative and does a play with colours. She brought it with flawless makeovers on brides and celebrities for 2017.The brand didn't do bad at all this year. 6. Layefa Beauty Layefa Beauty dolled up a lot of ladies this season with some of the makeover spotted on celebrities and style influencers going viral. ALSO READ:Top 8 Nigerian beauty brands of 2017 7. Topal Touch Topal Touch easily picks a spot for 2017 for her flawless makeover and winning colour contrast on her makeup looks for client. The brand who favours Nigerian brands has a knack for flawless, clean, crisp makeovers. 8. Bibyonce Bibyonce comes through everytime with fierce makeovers, her signature includes her dramatic tear duct accents which a lot of celebrities and high profile clients went all out for this year. 9. Anita brows Anita Brows brought it for 2017 with amazing makeovers on high profile clients and celebrities as well as a well attended masterclass. 10. Iamdodos Some opted for 100% natural ingredients while some stayed with this as a selling point, even more introduced new offerings/added to the lines. 1. Ajali Naturals Ajali prides herself as a top natural skincare brand. It does everything from body scrubs, butter down to lip scrubs, balms and konjac sponges. Their products are natural and handmade and packaged beautifully. R&R Luxury comes top again for 2017. Apart from adding a range of home fragrance to prior offerings which include a bestselling black soap, body oil, lip balm and skincare accessories the brand prides itself with natural products handmade with love. ALSO READ:Top 8 Nigerian beauty brands of 2017 3. Oriki ORIKI prides herself of products "free of unnecessary additives, parabens and sulfates". ORIKI is a luxurious skin care brand made with natural ingredients. With product range including serums, body scrubs, moisturisers, cleansers, body wash and more the brand works great for all skintype. 4. Bathkandy Bathkandy is an exciting skincare brand! This Nigerian brand delivers products made with natural ingredients in the 'yummiest' ways with desserts inspired offerings. The brand prides herself with making products "to look and smell like desserts, incorporating gourmet food and drink items for a lusciously indulgent bath-time experience". From their goatmilk lotions, sugar scrubs, black soaps, body oils, turmeric soaps, charcoal soaps and more, pampering yourself with this brand is to indulge. 5. Arami (Essentials) At barely a year old Arami had a killer 2017. The brand wins with minimalist packaging and raved product. The range for body scrub, polish, oils and more work brilliantly and were every skincare enthusiast's must have list this year especially their best selling 'Glow Oil'. 6. Namaste Organics Catering to the skin and hair with aromatherapy infused natural ingredients, Namaste Organics is a winning brand and 2017 wasn't in the least a bad year for the brand. Their raved range of products from the face to the body, hair and so on and made from rich natural ingredients. ALSO READ:5 raved Nigerian owned makeup products of 2017 so far 7. Narganics At only a few months old Narganics is raved already. The luxury artisan brand boasts plant based line of products. Their bestselling gold infused elixir comes with a hefty tag and is one of the most raved amongst their products. 8. Aweni Organics Aweni Organics brought their naturally infused bath and body products to fore this year. They went all out with gorgeous details on packaging and presentation and their miniatures were beautifully presented too. 9. Fig Health This is tricky because this brand also retails organic products not made by them but I could not leave it out because of their amazing products and how raved they were in 2017. The best of the lot by far for me is the Turmeric Black soap that comes brilliant and for any skintype or tone. Their range of coconut oil, other black soap and more are equally great products. 10. Aralewa The party which held on November 24, 2017 was definitely the talk of the town as everyone came out to witness the ground breaking event. The response of the people of Johannesburg to the Quilox brand was so overwhelming that it is likely to become a quarterly event. Two days later, Quilox ALSO READ: undefined The Quilox team led by Nigerias king of Nightlife, Shina Peller and featured Dj Consequence, Alatika on the drums, Dj Brooke Bailey and Hypeman Kole certainly gave the crowd a treat they would not forget in a hurry with special guest appearance from Skales. South Africa was definitely special for Quilox as the brand shut down its two major cities of Johannesburg and Cape town marking the 7th and 8th city visited across four continents. We recount all the fabulous weddings that will forever be associated with the memory of the year. Our list here shows the celebrities who blew our minds in 2017 with the most radiant wedding ceremonies from Banky W and Adesua Etomi'sto Yomi Casual's and a host of others. But the years nuptial magic was of course not limited to just celebs. There were also weddings by non-celebs that were just as charming, mind-blowing, lavish and ultimately, beautiful. This Pulse list 2017 contains 5 of the most fabulous society weddings by couples who are not celebrities. Toke Makinwas sister had a two-pronged wedding in that held everyones attention for its litness and sensational beauty. Busayo and her Norwegian beau had a massive Lagos traditional wedding turn-up in July before their European-style wedding in the woods in August. Folarin, Son of Billionaire, Folorunsho Alakija reset the bar for weddings in June when he and his Iranian bride, Nazanin, tied the knot in one massive, lavish ceremony in The UK. Robin Thicke actually delivered a live performance there. Terrific, innit? Ayomide is the daughter of Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun and the Oladipo is Abike Dabiri-Erewas son. The politicians kids got hitched in a ceremony in July which reportedly had over 5000 guests and had three different locations for the wedding, reception and afterparty.As expected, the couples guests included societys creamiest Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Gov. Ambode, Aliko Dangote, The Ooni of Ife and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo among several others. Mike Adenugas daughter, Oyinda and the love of her life, Ade Abayomi Olufeko tied the knot in a lush Banana Island nuptials in July. Former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida gave his daughters hand in marriage in May, and it was a shutdown! The airliness Country Manager, Mr Samuel Lindfield, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Lagos at a media parley. Lindfield said that the airline in the year collaborated with the winners of the British Council Enterprise Challenge, Nasir Yammama and Sophia Onu. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nasir Yammama is a 26-year-old from the northern part of the country with a knack for technology. He was raised as a farmers child and most of his siblings are still active farmers. Once Nasir became old enough, he ventured out from the fields and into the Institute and Creative Technology at Middlesex University, London. Nasir and Sophia were the faces of the entrepreneur advertising campaign recently run in Nigeria. Sophia Onu also took part in the Virgin Atlantic `Business is an Adventure series, offering unrivalled levels of exposure to her growing business, The 5KShop. Also, Sophia Onu is a B.Sc. holder in Architecture from Covenant University and a Masters degree holder in International Architectural Regeneration and Development from Oxford Brookes University. She is the Founder and CEO of The 5kShop; an online retail store, that stocks and sells fashion and home solutions all under the price cap of N5,000. She is also the co-founder of DRYV.ME; an online service that allows users to request for drivers on demand. Both entrepreneurs received mentoring sessions from Sir Richard Branson himself. Our support for Nigerian entrepreneurs demonstrates the commitment to be Nigerias airline of choice for business, Lindfield said. The country manager noted that the airline and the British Council launched the Enterprise Challenge in 2014. Lindfield said: With many analysts now projecting Nigerias population to reach 500 million by 2050, we see Nigeria as a land of immense opportunity. A growing population will create new opportunities for domestic and international business. We look forward to leading that growth by facilitating air travel from Nigeria to the world and by supporting Nigerian communities and businesses at their core. We have certainly built a rich tapestry of experiences, history and tradition over our 16 years of flying to Lagos from London, carrying in excess of three million passengers. We look forward to adding to that rich tapestry over the next 16 years and beyond. Lindfield thanked Nigerians for their support of the airline daily service to London over the last 16 years. According to him, Virgin Atlantic has enjoyed a very successful 2017, which leaves the airline optimistic and ambitious for 2018 and beyond for operating from Nigeria. He added that Virgin Atlantic is about to embark on a further significant programme of investment to the fleet with the introduction of the A350-1000 from early 2019. This aircraft will offer a superlative level of customer experience, a 25 per cent reduction in fuel consumption versus equivalent aircraft, and an ambient mood lighting to reduce the effects of jetlag. Danladi disclosed this on Tuesday in his presentation at a one-day meeting of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media on maternal mortality in the state, organised by the Advocacy Nigeria Network, an NGO. He said while Nigeria only contributed to about three per cent of the world population of seven billion people, it had remained responsible for most of the health care related burden on the globe. He also noted that this position was largely attained through the northern part of the country. He said pregnancy related death cases among Nigerian women had been discovered to be caused by eclampsia and loss of blood. According to him, there is poor political will on the side of the government to provide standard health care facilities with qualified personnel, drugs and equipment. He said most of the women, especially at the rural areas, did not get to access services where such issues were being addressed in appreciable level. He, therefore, urged the CSOs and the media to be more proactive in their activities, to ginger the government to do more in ensuring good health care delivery in the state. Responding, the chairman of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Mr Maiharaji Sala, assured that the media was always ready to carry out its responsibility. He pointed out that we cannot, however, create news reports; so all stakeholders should be forthcoming with information whenever the need arises so that we can give the required publicity. Mrs Buhari expressed the concern at the inauguration of the 50-bed capacity Maternal and children clinic built and equipped by the Aisha Buhari Foundation in Daura, Katsina State. She said that the situation became possible due to the poor conditions of the primary healthcare facilities. Let me reiterate that maternal and child mortality is a serious health challenge which requires support from all quarters before it can be tamed." Mrs Buhari called on stakeholders and well-to-do Nigerians to put in their best and turn the tide by addressing the challenges women faced. She said this prompted her to venture into the programme of promoting health of women as a cardinal mission in her life. Mrs Buhari added that the intervention was aimed at complementing the Federal Governments effort in providing primary healthcare services to the less privileged families in Nigeria. The wife of the president said that the health of women and children was at the front burner of development discourse. She said, the National Health Policy had been drawn to lay emphasis on primary healthcare as the bedrock of our national health system. According to her, this becomes pertinent because most of the killer diseases affecting women and children are rampant at the primary level. Beyond diseases, the challenges women face trying to access medical care during pregnancy and childbirth are enormous and during childbirth, women are at their most vulnerable state; as such need a lot of attention and support. She said that the facility, constructed in seven-months, was equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to handle vital checks, laboratory tests for in and out-patients as well as surgeries. Mrs Buhari expressed hope that the facility would serve the purpose it was meant for by reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in the areas. She also urged Katsina State Government to provide the necessary staff and logistics to enable the complex operate at maximum capacity. From the inauguration venue, the wife of the president proceeded to Daura Motel, where she was honored by the wife of the state Governor, Mrs Zakiya Masari, as the African Empowerment Legend. Nlekwa gave the advice on Tuesday in Abakaliki while delivering a lecture at a seminar on Health and Environmental Management. The seminar was organised for farmers by the Ebonyi Office of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP). We want to correct the widely-held misconception that sucking the affected spots to extract the venom would stop its circulation inside the victims body rather it will worsen the situation. A farmer bitten on the hand for instance, should lower it to stop the venom from getting to the heart region, then thoroughly clean and wrap the affected spot with a neat cloth. The victim should then proceed to the hospital and inform the doctor the type of snake which bit him for prescription of the suitable anti-venom therapy or drug, he said. The IFADVCDP consultant also warned farmers not to apply oil or herbs on snake-bite spots because it would worsen their conditions. Farmers suffering from epilepsy should not go to the farm alone, to get immediate assistance in cases of sudden seizures. The level of modern health equipment in the U.S. for instance, cannot be compared with those in Nigeria and other developing countries which made us to stress on enlightenment to correct prevailing misconceptions. We also enlighten farmers on general health and environmental management and how to prevent and handle ailments such as malaria, diabetes and cancer among others, he said. Mr Sunday Ituma, the IFAD-VCDP Project Coordinator in Ebonyi, noted that farmers were represented at the seminar by leaders of their cluster groups and various organisations. We have over 500 farmers organisations in the state and it will be difficult to bring all of them together to organise such a seminar. The group leaders are then expected to enlighten their various group members to ensure that the state has a healthy and productive farming population, he said. Mrs Francisca Anya, the projects Rural Institution, Youth and Gender Mainstream Officer in the state, urged the participants to effectively utilise the tutorials received from the seminar. We want our farmers to increase their production capacities and there is no way this will be achieved if they are not healthy, she said. In a statement issued on his behalf by Yusuph Olaniyonu, his spokesman, Saraki said the squashing of 15 out of the 18 charges showed that he had been vindicated. We believe that upholding the no-case submission by Dr. Saraki with regards to 15 of the 18 counts charges vindicates the innocence of the Senate President. At least, todays judgment has confirmed the position of the tribunal that the prosecutions case was entirely based on hearsay, not on any concrete evidence, the statement read. Continuing, it said: The verdict of the Court of Appeal, just like that of the tribunal before it, aligned with our position that the preposterous claims made during trial by the prosecution concerning operation of foreign accounts, making anticipatory declarations, collecting double salaries, owning assets beyond his income and failure to declare assets owned by companies in which the Senate President owns interests, among others, have fallen like a pack of cards and lack any basis. The verdict In a 70-page unanimous judgment, Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, held that there was no evidence to substantiate 15 out of the 18 counts as valid charges. She, however, said the prosecution was able to establish a strong case against Saraki on counts 4,5 and 6 bothering on the purchase of house 17 A and B at McDonald Street, Ikoyi Lagos. The judge asked Saraki to return to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for a continuation of his trial, which the tribunal dismissed in June. ALSO READ:Appeal Court orders Senate President back to CCT to stand corruption trial Response to verdict on return to Code of Conduct Tribunal On the three count charges, Saraki said his lawyers would review the judgement once the certified true copies are ready. On the remaining three counts, which really touch on two issues, referred back to the tribunal for the Senate Presidents defence, it should be noted that the appellate court only gave a summary of its decision today, promising to provide the parties with Certified True Copies of the judgment soon, he said. As soon as it makes the details of the judgement available, our lawyers will review the grounds of the decision and take appropriate action. We remain convinced about the innocence of the senate president on the three or two counts because we believe the decision of the Court of Appeal is not consistent with the submissions made by both parties at the tribunal. Thus, it is our view that that aspect of the judgment will not stand. The confidence and faith of Dr. Saraki in the nations judiciary and its ability to dispense justice to all manners of people remains unshaken. Saraki's previous trial Saraki had been charged by the EFCC in 2015 for false assets declaration when he was Kwara state governor. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Maihajja made the commendation on Tuesday while receiving 245 more Nigerians who voluntarily returned from the volatile North African country. Maihajja, who was represented by Southwest Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu, noted that some others were still stuck in Libya for lack of courage to face a new beginning in Nigeria. He said many of them had refused to return due to shame and fear of meeting their mates at home who might have succeeded in their endeavours. It takes courage for you to return home. Nigeria is changing fast. The Federal government is making everything possible to ensure that every Nigerian will be proud of being a Nigerian. All the government is expecting from you is to have faith in God and your leaders and discharge your civic responsibilities, he said. One of the returnees, Endurance Omeyo from Uromi in Edo State, said he went to Libya in 2016, and unfortunately came back with one of his legs amputated. He said : I come from a very poor home. I lost my father about 12 years ago and only my mother was left to be facing the stress. That is why I went to Libya to cross the sea and go to Italy, but unfortunately, I couldnt make it as we were arrested while on the sea. We were 160 people on that boat but 110 died and only 50 of us survived. They now took us back to prison in Libya. According to him, he spent over a month in captivity before a friend from Italy sent him N250, 000 which he used to buy his freedom from his captors. The 28-year-old said a few weeks after, he was shot while in company of two friends which led to the amputation of his leg. I spent months in the hospital, until my mother went to borrow N400, 000 which was used to perform three surgeries on me and that is why I am alive today, he said. NAN reports that the returnees arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos aboard an Afriqiyah Airbus 330-300 aircraft with Registration Number 5A-ONR at about 8:25pm. They were assisted back to Nigeria by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union (EU) after expressing interest to leave Libya where they had been stranded enroute Europe. They comprised 66 adult females, 74 adult males, four children and six infants. The returnees were also received by officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). For context, 2017 was the year when First Lady Aisha Buhari disclosed that the Aso Rock clinic had no syringe or x-ray facilities to call its own--even after receiving billions of naira in budgetary allocations through the years. Here are the health scares that made Nigerians doubly worried in 2017 1. Strange illness kills 50 in Jigawa In November, the people of Gidan Dugus in Wangara District, Dutse Local Government of Jigawa State, reportedly lost 50 children to a strange ailment. One parent, Haladu Usman, told the media that she lost seven children to the ailment. Within 14 days, I lost seven of my children, 3 boys and 4 girls. The children died one after the other, Usman said. Another parent, Salisu Abdullahi, said the community had left everything in Gods hands. I was dead scared by this unknown sickness which consumed the lives of our innocent children. We have intensified our daily prayers for Allah to protect this community, Abdullahi said. 2. Monkeypox The viral monkeypox disease gave a lot of folks quite the scare in 2017 as it spread from one city to the next before government efforts stopped it dead in its tracks. There were a handful of deaths from the monkeypox disease as well, with healthcare practitioners warning folks to stay off bushmeat while they could. 3. Strange illness kills in Kogi, Kwara A strange ailment took lives in Kwara and Kogi State in 2017. In Kogi, Dr Jannette Hathorn of the ECWA hospital in Egbe, told the press that medical professionals had been unable to tell what ailment it was. We are sure it is not lassa fever; but our concern is that we do not know exactly what is happening. We have not arrived at a definitive diagnosis, Hathorn said. She added that; Two adult patients were also brought here; one showed symptoms of ulcer-viral illness, but there was no bleeding component of any haemorrhagic symptom. We isolated them and both of them were treated for malaria. When they started improving, we let them go. Another parent brought a child to the hospital and pleaded for help. He said that 50 people had died in their village with similar symptoms of bloodstained vomiting, diarrhea and fever. The ailment that claimed lives in Kwara and Kogi remains mysterious till this day. 4. Lassa Fever kills in Lagos In August, Lassa Fever claimed the lives of two persons in Nigerias commercial capital city of Lagos. ALSO READ: Enugu govt stockpiles drugs to tackle disease Chief Medical Director at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof Chris Bode, told the press that about 100 hospital workers had been exposed to the index case and were being monitored. Pulse List brings you some of these blunders that ended up embarrassing the nation. 1. Rochas Okorocha Statues Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State prides himself as being the Peoples' Governor but his actions over the years have shown that he is nothing close to what he claims to be. Apart from being very insensitive to the plight of the people of the state, making life difficult for them by refusing to pay salaries running into several months, Okorocha has continued to baffle many by his actions. After going from one blunder to the other, this year, Okorocha went beyond himself by inviting the embattled President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma to the official launching of his personal foundation and ended up embarrassing the nation by unveiling a statue of Zuma who is facing corruption charges in his country. It was gathered that the statue costs a whopping N532 million to construct. He also named a street after Zuma as well as mandating the traditional ruler of Owerri to bestow on Zuma the highest title in the land. While Nigerians screamed at the insensitivity of a Governor, a few weeks later, Okorocha invited Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and dared everyone again by unveiling her statue which also cost hundreds of millions to construct. 2. Yayaha Bello Yayaha Bello of Kogi State is unarguably the youngest Governor in the country in his early 40s. When he was voted into power, Nigerian youths felt it was the turn of a new era as one of their own had been able to break the jinx of recycled politicians. But either by design or youthful exuberance, Bello has not covered himself in glory as he has blundered head-on into one crisis or the other. Bello, apart from owing staff salaries running into months, he has decided that the only thing he is going to achieve is to battle Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, to a standstill and show who is on top. Bello has practically shirked his responsibilities as a Governor to take on the fight against Melaye, and in the end, it is the people of Kogi who are suffering in this show of power. 3. Samuel Ortom Samuel Ortom, the Governor of Benue State, has not fared any better in his style of leadership. Incidentally, Benue and Kogi States share the same boundary and one wonders whether he meets with Yayaha Bello to strategize on what to do. Early this year, Ortom shocked everyone when he embarked on a phantom empowerment programme when he spent millions of Naira to buy wheelbarrows for the youths of the state. The branded wheelbarrows which had his name boldly printed on them, made Nigerians scream out but Ortom explained it away by saying that the youths were very happy with his gesture. Not done, Ortom ordered a member of his cabinet to kneel down during plenary simply because the man questioned his commitment to the protection of the people in the face of the incessant attacks and killings by Fulani herdsmen. 4. PMB's Rumoured Death Another blunder Nigerians were made to live through was when the President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to the United Kingdom for his medical vacation. Shortly after the President left the country where he spent about 104 days, there were rumours flying left, right and centre on his rumoured death. There were conspiracy theories flown by the likes of Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose who, at different times, swore that Buhari was either dead or on life support. Fayose even said he had photographs to back up his claims that Buhari was a vegetable and would not come back alive. But Nigerians are still waiting for the photos with the President back to work looking not healthy but agile and chatty. 5. Ikoyi Gate Whistle blower When the Federal Government launched the whistle blower policy where a certain percentage of any recovered loot would be given to the person who led to such recovery, everyone applauded the initiative as one of the best things to happen in this government. But the Ikoyi Gate drama has shown that the government has no intention of carrying out the initiative to a fruitful end and this has made many to believe, once again, that this government is not as sincere as they may sound. When news made the rounds that billions of Naira was discovered at an apartment in Ikoyi courtesy of a whistle blower, everyone waited for the announcement that the whistle blower would be paid his commission and in secret. But with what is going on now where the government has not only reneged on the payment, there has been conflicting reports with Prof. Itse Sagay, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, coming out to say the whistle blower has not been paid because he will run mad if he sees so much money. Another angle was that the whistle blower would be made to go through counselling and psychiatric test and finally, that he not be paid all his commission because other people had also come out to claim they were also part of the whistle blowing gang. Another bad blunder, you may say. 6. NNPC Scandal The scandal that rocked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company between the Minister of State in the Ministry, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Barau was another big blunder. In the heat of the scandal, Kachikwu, in a leaked memo, had accused Barau of awarding contracts running into billions of Dollars without consulting him or the other members of the NNPC board. As the issue went back and forth, Barau said he had the express approval of the President who is the substantive Minister in the Ministry to award the contracts. But the period the contracts were reportedly signed was when Buhari was on medical vacation and had officially handed over the reigns of power to his Minister of State. While the scandal went back and forth, the narrative changed when the Presidency came out to support Barau, automatically cutting Kachikwu to size and letting him know that while all animals are supposed to be equal, some are more equal than others. As usual, the issue is now under the carpet and no one knows how or when it was resolved. 7. Maina Gate The handling of the recall and reinstatement of the former Pensions Reforms boss, Abdulrasheed Maina, also went down as one of the biggest blunders of the year 2017. For those who did not know, Maina was indicted in a monumental Pension scam running into billions of Naira and charged to court where he was convicted but granted bail. He promptly went into hiding and was declared wanted by both the EFCC and the Interpol but sometime in October 2017, Premium Times uncovered that he had sneaked back into the country and reabsorbed into the government. Not only that, he was transferred to the Ministry of Interior, promoted two steps to the position of Assistant Director. As another memo leaked on the reinstatement of Maina, denials came from every angle from the office of the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, that of the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita. Even the Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, denied knowing that Maina had been deployed to his office and was an Assistant Director. The Presidency, as usual, distanced itself from the scandal leading to tempers flaring between Oyo-Ita and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari who both accused each other of the leaked memo. Maybe we will get to the root of the Maina Gate before the year runs out, but who knows? 8. Dr Abdullahi Ganduje Another blunder by a government official was when the Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, shocked Nigerians by announcing that he had spent N208 million to buy noodles, bread, eggs, beverages and items to empower tea sellers. Ganduje, in an elaborate ceremony, said that administration spent the huge amount of money to empower 5,200 tea sellers popularly called Masu Shayi. Ganduje stated that the items were distributed to the tea sellers from the 44 Local Government Areas of the state. The distributed items included cartons of noodles, cocoa beverage, liquid and powdered milk, tea, crates of eggs, nylon and cups, baskets, brown and white sugar, spaghetti and bread, as well giving each beneficiary N40,000 cash as take-off capital. 9. Alex Ekwueme Shortly before the former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme died, the Federal Government thought it could score a political point by saying he would be flown abroad for medical treatment on the bills of the FG. While Nigerians hailed the FG for the kind gesture in coming to the aid of the ailing former VP, another statement came from the Presidency that the intervention they could only offer was to fly him to London. With the attendant public outcry, the government came out with another statement that it will take care of the medical treatments of Ekwueme but by then, it was already too late. Nigerians had marked the blunder as one of the top ones in the year 2017. 10. Dr Chris Ngige To round up the blunders in 2017, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, came out to claim that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has created a whopping seven million jobs since coming to power in 2015. Ngige disclosed in an interview with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting he had with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, that the administration had substantially fulfilled its promise to provide jobs. The governors wife made the remarks when members of Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) led by the wife of the Inspector-General of Police, Mrs Asmau Ibrahim, paid her a courtesy visit in Ibadan. According to her, wives of policemen who consistently manage homes while their husbands are busy keeping the country safe are the reasons the men can serve with focus. She assured the association of her readiness to support members as always done in the past. The governors wife said she had reached out to many schools in rural areas through her Educate a Rural Child Initiative as part of her empowerment programme. She added that through this empowerment programme, my office wasable to provide school uniforms, school bags, sandals to pupils and brick classrooms, laboratories and libraries to hinterland schools. Ajimobi lauded the efforts of the wife of the I-G, saying she was the first wife of police boss in the country to visit Oyo State. Earlier, the I-Gs wife had told the governors wife that the associations core focus was to give back to the society through skill acquisition and empowerment programmes for wives of fallen heroes to provide a means of livelihood for them. She said the association had on a few occasions organised campaigns against child abuse, drug abuse and other vices. Top leaders will preside over memorial services in the eastern city, Beijing says, but it is yet to confirm whether President Xi Jinping will lend weight to the occasion by attending. According to China some 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after the invading Japanese military entered Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937. It remains one of the most fraught anniversaries for the two powerful neighbours due to stubborn disputes over the toll and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that the episode took place. Many in China say this symbolises Japan's unwillingness to completely atone for its wartime aggression. Officially, Japan concedes that "the killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred" but says it is "difficult" to determine precise figures. The issue receded during the Cold War but has re-emerged as China strikes an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder with conservative leader Shinzo Abe. China in 2014 formally made the anniversary a National Day of Remembrance, effectively raising its profile. Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University, said Beijing wants to keep such memories alive as leverage against Japan in modern-day disputes such as maritime territorial squabbles. "There are current conflicts between the two countries, so historical issues are re-emerging. All history is contemporary," said Liang Yunxiang, an international relations expert at Peking University. "Japan thinks these historical issues should have ended but China keeps hammering them as it becomes more powerful." Commemorations will centre on the sombre and poignant memorial hall and museum in Nanjing, but observances are expected elsewhere throughout China as well. Beijing has said little about the anniversary, but a Chinese group this week reiterated its annual demand for Japan to compensate relatives of victims. 'Deep remorse' Fewer than 100 people designated as massacre "survivors" remain alive, however, and both sides have repeatedly expressed a desire to look forward and avoiding rocking their huge trade relationship. But the spectre of Japanese aggression refuses to completely fade away. Abe, the grandson of a wartime minister, has been accused of trying to gloss over it. In 2015, he expressed "deep remorse" for Japan's actions in Asia, but also said future Japanese generations need not continually apologise, drawing criticism in China and South Korea, another wartime victim. Japanese politicians also have repeatedly angered Asian neighbours by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's military dead including convicted war criminals. China's Nanjing toll is disputed even by some western academics who put it as low as the tens of thousands, but no respected historians dispute that a massacre occurred. In 2014, Xi marked the first National Remembrance Day with a speech in Nanjing saying the slaughter and its "300,000 deceased victims" could not be denied. Japan invaded China in the 1930s and they fought a full-scale war between 1937 and 1945, until Japan's defeat in World War II. China suffered immense loss of life, reserving special anger over a sense that Japan, unlike Germany, has never properly atoned. Relations plunged in 2005 as China was swept by rare anti-Japan protests denouncing its war conduct. Karl-Heinz Grasser was finance minister at the time -- as well as a society and tabloid darling married to a jewellery heiress -- and is accused of having known about the payments. The money was allegedly hidden from the tax authorities by sending it to Cyprus and then to accounts in Liechtenstein, one of which was allegedly controlled by Grasser himself. The case, which has attracted major media interest in the wealthy EU country, also involves alleged corrupt payments related to the renting of an office block in Linz. His fellow defendants, who include a businessman, a real estate agent and a lobbyist, like Grasser deny wrongdoing and say that the payments were perfectly legal commissions. The trial is expected to last a year. The charge sheet is 825 pages long and is based on hundreds of witness statements, tapped telephone calls and bank account details. The charges include breach of trust, bribery, taking kickbacks, falsifying evidence, money laundering and fraud. The defendants face up to 10 years in prison. The courtroom in Vienna has been specially renovated, reportedly for 500,000 euros, with air conditioning installed and the sound system updated, ahead of the trial. Grasser, 48, was a protege of Joerg Haider, the controversial former head of the far-right Freedom Party who died in 2008 and who was also tied to multiple corruption allegations. "There is so much we have to do for Mexico to be reborn," he told supporters before explaining his platform, which includes the potential amnesty idea which would be put to some kind of a referendum vote. "The only goal is to explore every single chance to putting an end to violence, and guaranteeing peace for the people of Mexico," he explained. Rivals such as Ricardo Anaya, with the conservative National Action Party (PAN) slammed the idea as "complete madness." The candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Jose Antonio Meade said it was a "de facto denial of the legal process" for crime victims. Obrador has also said he would call a national referendum on whether the government's boldest reform -- denationalization of the energy industries -- should stop or be reversed. He makes the Mexican establishment nervous with his talk of a new economic model and attacks on free trade, at a time when Mexico is in delicate negotiations with the US and Canada on a new version of the NAFTA trade agreement, a pillar of its economy. His populist message has generated a swell of support in a country sick of constant corruption scandals and horrific violence unleashed by an all-out war on the country's multi-billion-dollar drug cartels. The pair were arrested under the Official Secrets Act, for allegedly intending "to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine State to foreign agencies abroad," the statement released by the information ministry said. Rakhine has been in the international spotlight after a brutal, military-led crackdown forced more than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the state and cross the border to Bangladesh since August. A photo showed the handcuffed reporters with documents displayed before them. Reuters global communications chief Abbe Serphos said: "We are urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of their arrest and their current situation." Before joining the agency, Wa Lone, 31, worked at the English language newspaper The Myanmar Times. Kyaw Soe Oo has worked for the company since September, the agency said. The government statement said that action will also be taken against two policemen who had recently returned from duty in northern Rakhine. Since Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in 2016 after decades of junta rule, media advocates have pointed to little progress on freedom of expression, with online defamation cases skyrocketing compared to the previous military-backed administration. In October a Burmese journalist, two reporters from Malaysia and Singapore and their driver were arrested in the capital Naypidaw for flying a drone over parliament and sentenced to two months in prison while awaiting additional charges. While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not spell out the president's views, Trump in the past has chided his secretary of state for "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with Pyongyang. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China took note of Tillerson's remarks and expressed hope that the United States and North Korea take "meaningful steps towards dialogue and contact." "We welcome all efforts that are conducive to easing tension and resolving differences through dialogue," Lu said. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: "We can state that such constructive statements impress us far more than the confrontational rhetoric that we have heard up to now. Undoubtedly this can be welcomed." Even as Tillerson stressed the importance of a negotiated end to the standoff, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to make his nation "the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." Trump has promised that Kim will not be allowed to complete his effort to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching mainland US cities. To this end, Tillerson has overseen a global diplomatic effort to isolate Pyongyang and stifle its economy through UN sanctions and, ultimately, the threat of US military force. In two public appearances Tuesday, he warned that these efforts would continue until "the first bomb drops" and that Washington "simply cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea." But he said the door to talks with Kim's regime was open, and left the opening wider than he had before, backing away from his former insistence that Pyongyang accept in principle to disarm. "We're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum, speaking of the possibility of laying out a roadmap of goals. "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it." A senior UN official returning from Pyongyang said that North Korean officials had told him it was important to prevent war but offered no concrete proposal for talks. "They agreed that it was important to prevent war," Jeffrey Feltman, the UN's political affairs chief, told reporters after briefing the Security Council on his trip. Feltman met with North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-Kuk during his visit to Pyongyang over the weekend -- the first by a high-ranking UN official since 2011. Devastating conflict Some in Washington see Tillerson's latest rhetoric as a climbdown. Sanctions expert Anthony Ruggiero, of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said talks should not begin until the US has a way to verify nuclear testing is not continuing. Earlier, in an end-of-year speech to State Department staff and US diplomats, Tillerson stressed the importance of the sanctions regime in forcing North Korea to the table. Despite hopes that China will do more to cut off oil supplies, international action has forced North Korea's fuel prices up by around a half and cost it $2.3 billion in lost exports, he said. And Tillerson added that he would see it as a personal failure if his efforts came up short and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is forced to take military action to deny the North its arsenal. But even if Tillerson remains "confident" that the US strategy is paying off, there was little sign of this in Pyongyang, where Kim gave a typically bellicose speech to workers. According to North Korea's state news agency KCNA, Kim said his country "will victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world." His latest boast came after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, a missile which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Invective Outside experts agree the rocket appears to have the range, but some are skeptical that Pyongyang has the technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. But US officials have been warning privately for months that Pyongyang is on the verge of a breakthrough, and Tillerson's public confidence appears aimed at much at Trump as at Kim. Both the US and North Korean leaders have a penchant for warlike rhetoric and personal invective that risks plunging east Asia into a devastating conflict that could leave millions dead. Salman's address to the kingdom's Consultative Council came as the world's main pan-Islamic body held an emergency summit in Istanbul in response to last week's US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The king renewed his condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision, saying it "represents an extreme bias against the rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem that have been guaranteed by international resolutions". At Wednesday's summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the world to recognise east Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine", while Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani -- a Saudi arch foe -- used his speech to make a thinly veiled jab at Washington's Arab allies. "Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime in determining the fate of Palestine," he said. Jordanian King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait and the presidents of Afghanistan and Indonesia all joined the summit. The US military installed the powerful THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in the South earlier this year to guard against threats from the nuclear-armed North. The move angered Beijing, which considers the deployment a threat to its own security. China slapped a string of measures against South Korean businesses and banned group tours to the South, in moves seen as economic retaliation. But last month, the two countries issued identically-worded statements on their mutual desire to improve relations. It did not state any specifics, but Beijing has demanded that Seoul formally promise not to deploy any more THAAD launchers and not to join any regional US missile defence system. Moon's office said ahead of the trip that the president, who took office in May, wanted to "normalise" ties with Beijing, and that the visit would be a turning point towards a "more mature" relationship. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Moon had arrived in Beijing, and would meet with South Korean residents and attend a business roundtable on Wednesday. Ties recently showed some -- albeit limited -- signs of thaw as China's state tourism board approved last month Seoul-bound group tours from some parts of the country. "China and the ROK (South Korea) have reached some consensus on dealing with the (THAAD) issue in the current stage," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday. "We hope that the issue can continue to be handled properly and that the two sides can bring China-South Korea relations totally back to the track of sound and steady development," Lu added. China has also urged the United States, Japan and South Korea to suspend joint military drills in the region in return for North Korea to halt its nuclear activities -- an idea consistently rejected by Washington and Seoul. Beijing has pressed for talks to peacefully resolve the crisis. The 93-year-old, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, resigned after the army and his ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him when it became clear that his 52-year-old wife, Grace, was being groomed as his successor. Until recently, Mugabe had a reputation for extensive and expensive international travel, including regular medical trips to Singapore, a source of public anger among his impoverished citizens. The official said he left Harare with Grace and aides on Monday evening, the official said. He is expected to make a stop-over in Malaysia, where his daughter, Bona, is expecting a second child. He has gone for a routine medical trip to Singapore, said the official, who has organised Mugabes security protection but who is not authorised to speak to the media. He was due for a check-up but events of the last few weeks made it impossible for him to travel. The trip means Mugabe will not be in Zimbabwe when ZANU-PF endorses President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its leader and presidential candidate for 2018 elections during a one-day special congress on Friday. The security official would not say how Mugabe was traveling although the privately owned NewsDay newspaper said he was on a state-owned Air Zimbabwe plane. Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured of his safety under his resignation deal, a source of frustration to many Zimbabweans who accused him of looting state coffers and destroying the economy during his time in power. Another government official told Reuters in November that Mugabe had been due to travel to Singapore on Nov. 16 but was unable to leave because the military had confined him to his private home the previous day. George Charamba, a senior information ministry official, declined to comment. Under Zimbabwes Presidential Pension and Retirement Benefits Act, a former head of state is entitled to perks including limited foreign travel and medical insurance. These are very standard features of a retired president, another government official said, trying to head off any controversy. Leaders from the the worlds main pan-Islamic body on Wednesday urged the international community to recognise East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital after US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. The emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul said it declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital," according to the final statement. "There will be a hearing Monday to review the (lawyer's postponement) request, which will be accepted in principle," the source close to the investigation said. Only the lawyers will be present in the court without their clients, the source said, adding the case is likely to be postponed until January. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported on its website that Abdeslam's transfer from France "has been cancelled". Under arrangements between the neighbouring countries, he will be transferred to a prison in the north of France and taken to the Belgian capital when the trial actual begins. Abdeslam and Sofian Ayari, also implicated in the shootout, were set to stand trial on charges of "attempting to murder several police officers in a terrorist context" and of "carrying prohibited weapons in a terrorist context". Ayari is in a prison in Belgium. During the gun battle on March 15, 2016 in the Brussels neighbourhood of Forest, several police officers were wounded and an alleged Abdeslam accomplice was killed. Both Abdeslam and Ayari were captured days after the shootout, ending a four-month manhunt for Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Abdeslam, 28, is linked to the same cell that carried out suicide bombings in Brussels a week after the gun battle. Thirty-two people were killed at Brussels airport and a metro station near the EU's headquarters. Abdeslam, born in Brussels of Moroccan origin, has spent nearly 20 months in isolation, under 24-hour video surveillance, at a prison in the Paris region since his transfer to French authorities in April last year. On November 28 Russia lost contact with its Meteor-M weather satellite after its launch from the new Vostochny cosmodrome -- only the second such launch since the facility opened in the country's far east last year. The failure "exposed a hidden problem in the algorithm" that never manifested itself in similar launches, Roscosmos said in a statement, referring to the procedure the computers are programmed to follow. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space industry, slammed the Roscosmos commission for failing to properly assign blame. "The results of the Roscosmos commission cannot be considered fully objective as they do not answer the main question: how could such a mistake take place and who is responsible for it?" Rogozin said Tuesday, quoted by Interfax news agency. Rogozin said a separate commission would be created to assess how effective Roscosmos has been. "Its results will be shown to the country's leadership," Rogozin said. Roscosmos said the commission looking into the incident found the upper-stage rocket that carries the payload to its final orbit behaved unpredictably after separating from the Soyuz carrier rocket. "Unfortunately, we faced a problem which was not linked to quality or production, but to peculiarities of software that was first tested around 20 years ago," Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov told journalists, quoted by Interfax. Vostochny spaceport was built to ease Russia's dependence on the Baikonur cosmodrome it rents from Kazakhstan and in a bid to revive an industry plagued by recent embarrassing failures. The loss of the Russian weather satellite Meteor-M -- which went up along with 18 smaller satellites from companies and institutions in Russia, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada and Germany -- was the latest setback for the Russian space industry. Independent space expert Vadim Lukashevich told AFP that Roscosmos was attempting to save face over what was in fact "incompetency and unprofessionalism." "It is a blunder by the person who tweaked the algorithm... If the algorithm did not work, then it means this programme was not completely finished and did not take into account all the parameters of the Vostochny cosmodrome," said Lukashevich. "According to them, it is not those who failed to check the algorithm in the current new conditions who are guilty -- but those who created it 20 years ago!" he added. 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... Brazilian logistics company and freight rail operator RUMO has awarded a contract worth about $5 million to Wabtec Corp. to design, install, test and commission its Train Management & Dispatching System (TMDS) for wayside signaling interlocking control, training and systems integration at the Port of Santos, Sao Paulo. Installation is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, providing increased safety and efficiency to one of Brazils main ports in Brazil, Wabtec said. The initiative will allow the port to prepare for future technology upgrades and integrate with other railroads. In doing so, it will become an essential interoperable point to Brazils railroads. Wabtecs relationship with RUMO is extremely strong as a result of the freight products and services for cars and locomotives we have been supplying for decades, said Wabtec President and CEO Raymond T. Betler. The addition of this train control contract allows for even greater collaboration while providing innovative railway solutions that reinforce our position as a leading technology supplier in the region. Rumo, formerly known America Latina Logistica (ALL), is a Brazilian logistics company. Mainly focused on railway logistics, it is the largest company in Latin America in this segment. The company also provides transportation services such as intermodal transport, port operations, warehousing. It is involved in leasing railroad equipment to third parties, and also offers road transport services in Brazil through America Latina Logistica Intermodal S.A. RUMO operates more than 7,000 miles of track along the western and southern areas of Brazil. It is the primary freight railroad connecting the geographical regions producing sugar, grain, ethanol, cellulose and paper to other railroads and ports for exporting. Amtrak announced a number of appointments all vice presidents as part of its recent reorganization under new President and Co-CEO Richard Anderson. The changes come one month after Amtrak offered current staff buyouts as part of a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program as it streamlines staffing. Robin McDonough has been appointed Vice President, Human Resources, reporting to DJ Stadtler, Executive Vice President, Administration. Byl Herrmann, who had been serving in this role for the past year, will return to the Law Department as Vice President, Senior Managing Deputy General Counsel. While the transition has begun, Hermann will remain in the VPHR role through the beginning of February 2018. As part of the change, McDonough will continue the transformation of the Human Resources functions begun by Hermann earlier this year, which Stadtler described as a return to the basics including service, efficiency and talent. McDonough most recently worked as Vice President, Network Support, overseeing the HR function within Operations. Jeanne Cantu has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Network Support, succeeding McDonough and reporting to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek. Cantu will be moving from the Finance group, where she had already been working closely with Operations through her role as Senior Director, Business Planning and Controls. Caroline Decker has been appointed Vice President, Northeast Corridor Service Line, reporting to Stephen Gardner, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, effective Jan. 1. Decker, a winner of Railway Ages inaugural Women in Rail award, succeeds Mark Yachmetz, who remains with the group as Vice President, Acela 2021 Program, where he will be exclusively focused on delivering the next-generation of Acela service, including the new high-speed trainsets. In her previous role as Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Communications, Decker led Amtraks efforts in Congress to secure annual federal funding while providing strategic leadership on corporate messaging. In her new role, she will focus on increasing customer satisfaction and driving net revenues through innovation for the companys flagship products and prepare for future growth across the NEC. Bob Dorsch has been promoted to Vice President, Long Distance Service Line, reporting to Gardner and effective Jan. 1. Dorsch succeeds Mark Murphy, who will be retiring after 40 years at the national passenger rail operator, most recently as General Manager Long Distance Business Line. Dorsch previously served as Vice President, Product Support and Management within the Marketing and Business Development group. In his new role, he is responsible for leading efforts to modernize and improve the carriers products, deliver these services more efficiently and at a lower cost, while also providing a higher level of customer satisfaction. Peter Wilander is joining Amtrak on Jan. 4 as Vice President, Product Development and Customer Experience, reporting to Gardner. He comes to Amtrak from Gate Group, a global provider of products, services and solutions for the aviation industry, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. Wilander has more than 35 years of airline industry experience, having previously held the role of Managing Director Onboard Services for Delta Air Lines, where he was responsible for the worldwide catering operation, food and beverage design and implementation, onboard retail programs, and crew service delivery procedures. In his new role, he will establish Amtraks customer service standards. Assisting him in the transition will be Tom Hall, Vice President of Passenger Experience, who will be retiring at the end of March, 2018, also concluding a 40-year Amtrak career. Dennis Newman joined Amtrak on Dec. 4 as Vice President, Schedule and Consist Planning. He reports directly to Tim Griffin, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer. In his new position, Newman is responsible for the execution of Amtraks network strategy through schedule planning and capacity management of trains in the Northeast Corridor, State Supported, and Long Distance services, and ensuring that we manage our route capacity in way that optimizes load factor and revenue, and stays responsive to market conditions and demand. He was most recently Vice President, Sales, at Dish Network. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Network Planning at Delta Air Lines. 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 Washington, Dec. 12 (CNA) Although United States President Donald Trump has signed into law a defense policy bill, which includes clauses that would facilitate port calls between the U.S. navy and the Taiwan navy, several U.S. experts on Taiwan affairs have said it is unlikely the president will allow such visits in practice. Terrorists behind hostage crisis in Russias Budyonnovsk sentenced to 13-15 years MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI) The North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Ramzan Belyalov and Magomed Mazdayev to 15 and 13 years in a penal colony for attack and taking hostages in Russian town of Budyonnovsk in 1995, the Investigative Committees press-service stated on Wednesday. The court established that in June 1995 residents of the Chechen Republic Belyalov and Mazdayev joined a gang under the leadership of notorious warlord Shamil Basayev. Later, they took part in series of grave and especially grave crimes. On June 14, 1995, a group of at least 160 gunmen led by Basayev attacked Budyonnovsk, holding 1,586 people hostage at a local hospital. The attack left 129 persons dead and 317 injured while the property damage was estimated at 95.6 billion rubles (about $1.6 billion at current exchange rate). Mazdayev was arrested in the Volgograd Region in December 2014, and Belyalov was arrested in Chechnya in June 2015. Overall, 28 members of the gang have been sentenced to terms varying from 11 to 15 years in prison. Proceedings against five members, including Basayev, were cancelled due to their death. The federal and international wanted list includes 29 persons more. Moscow court refuses to release alleged Ukrainian Right Sector member MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI) The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has extended detention of Ukrainian national Roman Ternovsky allegedly involved in the activities of Right Sector nationalist organization banned in Russia until March 30, the courts spokesperson Yunona Tsareva has told RAPSI. Investigators believe that Ternovsky took part in pickets, rallies and other mass events in Ukraine as a member of Right Sector. Moreover, he propagated online the organizations activity on his Facebook page among users including Russian citizens. Right Sector is a Ukrainian association of radical nationalist organizations. In January and February 2014, its members clashed with police and seized administrative buildings in Kiev. Since April 2014, Right Sector has been involved in fighting the protest movement in eastern Ukraine. In November 2014, Russias Supreme Court declared Right Sector an extremist group and banned its activity in Russia. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh for alleged incitement of terrorism. In January 2015, Right Sector was added to the Russian register of prohibited organizations. About 2,000 seized from partner of former anti-corruption official Zakharchenko MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI) Law enforcement officers seized about 2,000 belonging to Marina Semynina, a partner of former Russian anti-corruption official charged with receiving a large-scale bribe, Dmitry Zakharchenko, during the searches at her apartment on Wednesday, lawyer Alexander Karabanov told RAPSI. The attorney said that the searches were conducted in violation of law, before their little child. A cellphone, tablet and medical documents were seized as well, Karabanov added. On December 1, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow ruled to seize property belonging to Zakharchenko and his relatives, in the state's favor. A request to turn assets to the state has been filed by the Prosecutor Generals Office. Overall, the property in this case is evaluated at 9 billion rubles (about $153.3 million), including 27 real estate objects in elite neighborhoods of Moscow, 4 high-end automobiles, 8 billion rubles (about $135.1 million) and a gold bar. During the court hearings, Zakharchenko, who was present via videoconference, said that he had never been an owner of real estate objects in question. Ex-Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko was arrested on September 8, 2016. During searches at the apartment belonging to Zakharchenkos sister law enforcement officers found around 9 billion rubles (about $156 million at the current exchange rate). Zakharchenko himself denies any relation to seized funds. Zakharchenko was charged with receiving a 7-million-ruble ($121,600) bribe from an unknown source. He has also been charged with abuse of office and hindering the conduct of preliminary investigation. On March 2, it was revealed that he is charged with two more instances of corruption crimes. According to case papers, the father of Dmitry Zakharchenko, Viktor, is charged with being an accessory to embezzlement. His father also pleaded not guilty. Russian media watchdog proposes to allow out-of-court blocking of animal abuse websites MOSCOW, December 13 (RAPSI) Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor will present the State Duma with its proposals concerning legislative changes allowing to block websites with animal abuse content without a court order, the watchdogs statement reads on Wednesday. These measures are also proposed to be taken against websites on trade of especially valuable animals. According to Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov, currently both categories of websites are blocked only by court and the whole procedure takes too much time. He noted that animal abuse content is very dangerous and affects human psyche, especially that of children. Zharov proposed to amend the law on information by removing the definition of propaganda in order to make the legislation applicable to more situations. Property details: LAKE VIEW LOT LUCERNE CALIFORNIA! Would you like to own property in Lake County California? Does residential lake view land in Lucerne, CA interest you? Here is your opportunity to purchase a well situated lot for a fraction of market value. Known as the "Bass Capital of the West." Clear Lake supports large populations of bass, crappie, bluegill, carp and catfish. Located along Spur Trl., the lot itself measures approximately 6,440 square feet. Please feel free to drive out and visit the propert... Price: $ 432 Seller State of Residence: Wisconsin State/Province: California Zip/Postal Code: 95458 City: Lucerne Zoning: Rural Residential Type: Homesite, Lot Property Address: 5092 Dunstan Rd. Location: 532**, Milwaukee, Wisconsin You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 5092 Dunstan Rd. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate , We're sorry, this article is not currently available A decline in the real estate sector, rising debt and the companys alleged involvement in 2G scam caused damage to the business and its image. The governments seeking to take over embattled real estate developer Unitech would send a strong message to the industry, developers said. It is a wake-up call for all corporates to not do business at the cost of customers, shareholders and vendors, said J C Sharma, vice-chairman and managing director of Bengaluru-based realty developer Sobha. It will send a message to the industry that if you mismanage your company you will lose it, said an executive with a Delhi-based real estate company. With court cases and government policies like RERA there was now a perception that real estate was becoming a buyers market, the executive added. Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman and managing director of Hiranandani Communities, said a government takeover could be justified if there was fraud involved but not because of the failure of the company. Other developers said the move was unfair. How can the government take over the company? You put the promoters in jail and then talk about taking over the company. It does not add up, said office-bearer of Credai, an industry lobby group. Around 19,000 home buyers are awaiting possession of Unitech flats and houses. The company has defaulted on payment of Rs 600 crore to over 15,000 small depositors. It has also defaulted on Rs 880 crore of loans. Besides Unitech, real estate companies Jaypee Infratech and Amrapali face insolvency proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In November, the Supreme Court directed the directors of Jaiprakash Associates, the parent company of Jaypee Infratech, not to alienate personal properties and asked the company to pay up Rs 275 crore by December. The NCLT Allahabad bench admitted the Jaypee Infratech case on August 10 after IDBI Bank referred the company for defaulting on debts of Rs 526.11 crore. Close to 32,000 homebuyers in various Jaypee projects are yet to receive possession of their apartments. The JSW group, Vedanta, the Lodha group and Deutsche Bank are among 18 parties that have shown interest in buying Jaypee Infratech, according to reports. Similarly, Puravankara and Godrej Properties are among six companies that have expressed interest in submitting resolution plans for Amrapali Silicon City, a group firm of the debt-ridden developer Amrapali. In September, the NCLT had admitted a petition by Bank of Baroda against Amrapali Silicon City over a loan default. An interim resolution professional was appointed to conduct proceedings in accordance with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Amrapali Silicon City is developing a housing project in Sector 76, Noida, on over 43.7 acres. Rise and fall of Unitech Realty Mogul, Power Brand and Superbrand are the three recognitions listed by once popular real estate firm Unitech on its website. These recognitions, once the symbol of a flourishing real estate business, have quickly diminished. A decline in the real estate sector, rising debt and the companys alleged involvement in 2G scam caused damage to the business and its image. Set up in 1971 by IITian Ramesh Chandra, Unitech claims to have delivered over hundred residential projects, many of which still command a premium in the resale market. It has also developed several commercial projects, including malls such as the Great India Place in Noida. 'Thousands of families live in Unitech-built homes, work in Unitech-erected offices, drive on Unitech-developed roads and highways, stay in Unitech-constructed hotels, study in Unitech-created schools and unwind at clubs that bear the proud legend -- Unitech,' the company website claims. On March 31, Sanjay Chandra, along with older brother Ajay, was arrested by the economic offices wing of the Delhi police for allegedly duping home-buyers in a Gurugram project. Sanjay (45), who remains the companys managing director (according to the website) was also jailed in 2011 in connection with the 2G scam. A CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) charge-sheet alleged Chandras involvement in allocation of 2G spectrum licences. He walked out of the capitals Tihar Jail in 2012. Unitech had partnered Telenor for a telecom joint venture. The Chandra family, father Ramesh and sons Ajay and Sanjay, were ranked seventh in The Billionaire Club, Business Standards annual ranking of the countrys wealthiest people, in 2007, with a net worth of over Rs 30,000 crore. The real estate business was at its peak then and this company was valued at Rs 1.43 lakh crore in January 2008. Unitech was a highly profitable firm and raked Rs 1,669 crore in profits on a revenue of Rs 4,280 crore in 2007-08. The company also had reserves and surplus of Rs 3,275 crore. By 2009, the real estate sector had started declining. Unitech had by then bought 14,000 acres of land across the country. To bankroll these purchases, the company planned to raise $1.5 billion by listing some assets in a real estate investment trust in Singapore and another $1 billion from investors. Before the company could make the first moves, the markets went into a tailspin and all plans to raise money got shelved. Unitech ended up with debts of thousands of crores. The stock price is down from a peak of Rs 547 in January 2008 to Rs 7.69 as of Tuesday, December 12, 2017. On Friday, the market values the listed entity at just Rs 1,906 crore. With their stake of 17.92 per cent, promoters share is valued at Rs 341 crore. The BSE data shows promoters have pledged shares worth Rs 248 crore as of March 2017. Unitech is said to own Rs 7,800 crore to 16,300 homebuyers across its 61 projects. The company is also saddled with a high debt of over Rs 6,700 crore. The companys consolidated income stood at Rs 1,795 crore in FY17, leading to a loss of Rs 402 crore. Of the consolidated income, real estate brought Rs 1,206 crore, while the revenue from transmission tower business stood at Rs 357 crore. The property management and hospitality divisions contributed Rs 134 crore and Rs 37 crore, respectively. The Chandras did not take a single rupee as remuneration last year, according to the annual report. The report also said given depressed market conditions, the company had focused on project delivery against launch and sale of new projects. The company is continuously engaging with all the parties concerned -- customer groups, banks, local authorities, contractors, etc, to put in place mechanisms to ensure unhindered progress of projects and reassure them of its commitment to delivery, chairman Ramesh Chandra said in the report. The firm sold 74 acres of land in June this year for Rs 260 crore. During FY17, Unitech delivered 5.18 million sq ft of completed area and said 67 per cent of the projects are in handing over/finishing stage across various regions of the country. A total area of 33.16 million sq ft was under development as of March 2017. Despite the adverse conditions, handing over in 56 projects across regions is in progress, the company said. There are multiple cases against the company for non-delivery in various projects. Photograph: Pawan Kumar/Reuters. If the BJP falls sizeably short of the 115 mark -- the seats it won in 2012 -- it will be hard to deny the party hasn't suffered a telling reverse, notes Karan Thapar. IMAGE: A woman gets an electronic voting machine painted on her hair at a parlour to promote voting in the Gujarat assembly election. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters On Monday, December 18, we will know the result of the Gujarat elections. However, as the campaign approaches its climax there is speculation the electoral mood of the state has altered. Depending on who you talk to, the outcome is said to be reasonably close, a cliff-hanger, or a clear victory for one side. But are we analysing the alleged winds of change accurately? Or are these predictions just a reflection of wishful thinking? The first problem is you can make a convincing case for almost any outcome. The second is we don't have reliable -- leave aside indisputable -- evidence to judge by. Questionable polls, electoral logic, individual perception and reporter impressions, all spiced up with anecdote and quotation, lie at the foundation of these judgements. But how reliable is all of this? Let's examine the two key outcomes more closely to find out. First, there are several reasons to believe the Bharatiya Janata Party is on the back foot. After 22 unbroken years in power, it's natural for voters to want a change. Already sizeable sections of the Gujarati population, like the Patidars, Other Backward Classes and Dalits, are said to feel deceived and angry. Many want to teach the ruling party a lesson. On top of this comes the suffering caused by demonetisation and the goods and services tax. Even if time has dimmed the memory of the former and recent amendments tempered the pain of the latter, newspaper reports suggest both could cost the BJP votes. And, finally, there's farmer distress which could hurt the party in Saurashtra. The fact Modi had up to 30 rallies and public meetings in the last two weeks is surely a sign he senses the challenge. That a sizeable proportion of his Cabinet is also campaigning can, presumably, be taken as confirmation. And the defensive nature of the party's rhetoric seems to reflect concern rather than confidence. Now, let's flip the coin and look at the other side. Modi remains enormously popular and has the capacity to single-handedly alter the direction of the political weather vane. Helping him to achieve victory is Gujarat's lingering distrust of the Congress. Neither the Patidars nor the OBCs are irretrievably annoyed by the BJP or fully committed to the Congress. The truth is that we just don't know how the majority voted on the 9th and will vote on the 14th. So far the polls, for what they are worth, suggest the BJP is as strong as it was five years ago. Both in terms of seats and vote share, they are predicting a comparable result. For the Congress to win they would have to be terribly wrong. But that has happened before. Two developments could make a difference. Modi's strenuous campaigning could convince voters the BJP senses trouble and embolden fence-sitters to vote against it. Sometimes when politicians try too hard they, paradoxically, strengthen the case against them. The poor attendance at his initial rallies, if it persists or grows, could be suggestive. The other critical development is the impact Rahul Gandhi is making on the Gujarati people. Previously they didn't take him seriously, but now, as they half turn their backs on the BJP, have they started to view him differently? His speeches certainly reflect their concerns but if he also carries credibility, he might influence the voters. As yet, we don't know. If the contest is as close as some newspaper accounts suggest -- but don't forget the polls strongly disagree -- I don't see the BJP winning the 150 seats Amit Shah has set his sights upon. And let's be honest, he seems to have stopped making that boast. However, can the BJP win 115, as it did in 2012? If it does or comes close, honour will have been saved. But if the BJP falls sizeably short -- and remember it can lose 23 seats before it loses its majority -- it will be hard to deny the party hasn't suffered a telling reverse. All of which means we have an interesting situation on our hands. Victory could still feel like defeat for the BJP whilst a loss could cheer up the Congress, almost as if it was a win! Doug Jones scored a stunning upset in the Alabama Senate race as he defeated accused paedophile Roy Moore, in a huge blow to US President Donald Trump. IMAGE: Democratic Alabama US Senate candidate Doug Jones acknowledges supporters at the election night party in Birmingham, Alabama. Photograph: Marvin Gentry/Reuters Doug Jones on Wednesday became the first Democrat in 25 years to win a Senate seat from the US state of Alabama after scoring an upset victory over President Donald Trump-backed candidate Roy Moore, whose campaign was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct toward teenagers. Moores defeat marks a major political blow to Trump, who endorsed the Alabama Republican and held a rally on his behalf. Although most national Republicans rushed to distance themselves from Moore in the aftermath of the allegations against him, Trump reaffirmed his support through tweets and public statements. With all counties reporting, the Alabama Secretary of State reported Jones with 49.92 per cent of the vote, and Moore with 48.38 per cent of the vote. Thank You Alabama! Jones, 63, tweeted. IMAGE: Jones defeated Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. Photograph: Marvin Gentry/Reuters The new Senator would be sworn in next year. This is for the first time in a quarter century that a Democrat has won a Senate seat in a Republican stronghold of Alabama. Jones unexpected victory also narrows the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49. With 99 per cent of the votes counted, Moore, who fought allegations that he had molested or pursued relationships with teenage girls in the 1970s when he was in his 30s and an assistant district attorney, refused to concede. Democrats pull off an upset in Alabama, The New York Times said as it declared victory for Jones. The daily described as a rare Democratic victory in a staunchly Republican state. The race captivated the nation, not only for its debates over party loyalty and morality, but also for its also immense implications for both parties and the Trump presidency, the paper said. IMAGE: Supporters celebrate at the election night party for Democratic Alabama US Senate candidate Doug Jones. Photograph: Marvin Gentry/Reuters The Washington Post described Jones victory as a shocking upset in a solidly Republican state. According to Time magazine, Jones victory in Alabama, was arguably aided by the rocky candidacy of Moore. With this victory, Jones a former US attorney, has become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama since 1992. Doug Jones will be an outstanding Senator who will represent Alabama well. He was a great candidate and will be an even better Senator, Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer said. Trump congratulated Jones for his hard fought victory. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard-fought victory, Trump tweeted. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win, Trump said in his first reaction. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! tweeted the US President. IMAGE: Roy Moore's loss is a blow to the Republicans as their majority in the senate is now narrowed down to 51-49. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters However, Moore refused to concede, saying Its not over. His close aide indicated that a recount was still possible. Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said Jones win was a massive victory for the country. In a sharp rebuke of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and their anti-American, hate-filled agenda, voters in Alabama blocked a paedophile bigot from serving in the US Senate. Tonights victory is a testament to the power of organising and mobilising, Jayapal said. Allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore drew national attention to the special election. The claims against Moore came amid a wave of allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent figures that has led to the resignation of three politicians. A special court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd, guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. The court will hear argument on quantum of punishment on Thursday. It, however, acquitted four persons -- VISULs Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan -- of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and steel ministry did not recommend VISULs case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the coal ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged. The accused have refuted the allegations levelled against them. 'In Pakistan, during our election campaigns, India is never mentioned,' says Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on Wednesday expressed anguish for being unnecessarily dragged into Indian politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that even the word 'Gujarat' was not mentioned by anyone at a private dinner in New Delhi. Kasuri, who was last week hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar in New Delhi, suddenly found himself at the center of controversy after Prime Minister Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence Gujarat polls. Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi claimed some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met at Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Kasuri expressed anguish for being unnecessarily "dragged" into Indian politics, when none of Pak-India domestic issues came up for discussion at the dinner. "Let me tell you that no discussion whatsoever took place about the internal politics of India or Pakistan. Even the word Gujarat was not mentioned by any participant of the meeting during the discussion," Kasuri asserted. "I am surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics -- surprised because of the nature of the allegations and apparently anti-Pakistani sloganeering can perhaps can still garner votes in India." To a question as why Modi alleged Pakistani interference in Gujarat polls, Kasuri said: "...this is most unfortunate as India is a mature democracy. In Pakistan on the other hand, during our election campaigns, India is never mentioned." Sharing the guest list at the dinner, Kasuri said former premier Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, former minister K Natwar Singh, Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood, some former Indian higher commissioner to Islamabad, defence analysts and well-known journalists were also present. "Sohail Mahmood was invited since the dinner was organised for a former foreign minister of Pakistan," he said but feigned ignorance about the presence of any Pakistani former intelligence official in the meeting. "I am not aware of it (presence of Pakistani intelligence official)." Kasuri said that he has also links with politicians from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and was instrumental for the visit of L K Advani to Pakistan. "On my invitation, Advani visited to Katas Raj (Hindu holy place) in Pakistan. The impression given in media that I have only links with Congressmen is wrong," Kasuri said. He remembered Aiyar as old "friend from Cambridge days" and said the presence of "dignitaries" at the dinner was due to his "involvement with the peace process." He also took credit for making progress towards resolution of all issues when he was foreign minister of the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. "When I was the Foreign Minister we made a lot of progress on all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir," said Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007. Kasuri said that he has long been involved on the Track II diplomacy and expressed his desire that Pakistan and India must resolve all their disputes through bilateral negotiations. "This (peaceful resolution of disputes) is essential to fight poverty in both the countries," he said. In his speech, Modi had also mentioned Sardar Arshad Rafiq, whom he identified as "Pakistan's former Army director general" for alleged interference in Gujarat polls. Rafiq has apparently deleted a Facebook post that "our leader and mentor Ahmed Patel (Rajya Sabha member and Sonia Gandhis political secretary) must be made Gujarat Chief Minister". Little is known about Rafiq except that he belongs to Palandri area of Pakistani Kashmir and served in the army. He currently lives in garrison city of Rawalpindi, according to his Facebook account. Earlier, Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal urged rival Indian leaders to stop dragging Pakistan in its domestic politics. "India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible," Faisal tweeted on Monday. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being presented a memento during his election campaign rally for assembly election in Gujarat. Photograph: PTI Photo Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat polls, releasing a video message where the former premier accused him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points. The sharply-worded message, which was virtually a repeat of his written statement released on Monday, provoked an equally strong backlash from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which questioned Singh's silence when "monumental loot" was taking place under his watch. The usually reticent Singh's video was in response to Modi's remarks insinuating that the former prime minister had colluded with Pakistan to influence the elections in Gujarat where the BJP and the Congeress are locked in a contest, many say, is too close to call. "Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of the prime minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," Singh said in the message released to TV stations. Singh's second salvo in three days was apparently aimed at ensuring there was no let up in the heat on the BJP ahead of Thursday's polling in 93 constituencies of Gujarat. The remaining 89 seats voted in the first phase on December 9. Results will be known on December 18. Not ready to cede any ground to the political rival, the BJP mounted a spirited counteroffensive, with its president Amit Shah questioning why he was "angry" now after being silent when "monumental loot" was taking place during his stint as prime minister. "We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed his anger then!" Shah tweeted. Shah asked why Singh was not angry and anguished when Modi was called Maut Ka Saudagar (merchant of death) or neech. The raucous campaign, marked by fiesty and often acrimonious speeches where Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi locked horns repeatedly, ended on Tuesday. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said and demanded an apology. Singh and Modi ran into each other earlier on Wednesday at an event to pay homage to the victims of the 2001 Parliament attack, and greeted each other briefly. Singh urged the prime minister to show "maturity and gravitas, as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said. Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, as alleged by Modi, and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. "The discussion was confined to Indo-Pakistan relations. It is wrong and unfair to question nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants present at the dinner," he said. Singh also asserted that Modi "is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a former prime minister and Army Chief", and described it as sad and regrettable. Pointing out that Modi had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur, Singh said, "Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan." Shah took on Singh over Rahul Gandhi publicly tearing a copy of an ordinance cleared by his Cabinet. "Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office when a Congress MP tore the ordinance in public," Shah asked. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets his predecessor Manmohan Singh outside Parliament where tributes were being paid to those who lost their lives in the 2001 attack. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo The claim made in a new show of a United States science channel that the 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka is man-made has reaffirmed the party's stand on the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Wednesday, asserting that it believes in the existence of Lord Ram. "It is unfortunate that the Congress has always been apologetic when it came to respecting Hindu religion. I wish once and for all this debate (on Ram Setu) is settled. We should respect Ram Setu and no damage should be done to it," Union minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference at the BJP headquarters. His cabinet colleague and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out at the United Progressive Allaince government for an affidavit in the Supreme Court which had questioned the belief among Hindus that the land bridge was built by Lord Ram to reach then Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, as depicted in the epic Ramayana. "Those who filed the affidavit should explain now. The research has supported what the BJP has been claiming all along...The setu is part of our cultural heritage," Prasad told reporters in New Delhi. In a promo for its upcoming show, the channel quotes an archaeologist that the rocks on top of sand pre-date the sand. "This is what the BJP has been saying all along," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said. The BJP, Goyal said, is not apologetic about its love for Lord Ram and for the party functionaries he was an ideal human being. "A secular democratic framework allows each Indian to respect his religion. We are proud of our religion and we are proud of every religion in India," he said. Image: A screen shot of the promo released by the US-based Science Channel. Photograph: Courtesy @ScienceChannel/Twitter Voting for the second phase of the crucial Gujarat assembly polls will be held on Thursday after the high-voltage campaign witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi leading the electioneering for their parties. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat, in the final phase of the polls, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise. Prominent candidates in the fray for Thursday's battle include state deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana against Jivabhai Patel of Congress. Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress, is seeking election from Radhanpur constituency. Lavingji Thakor of the BJP is contesting against him. Vadgam SC seat is another key constituency from where independent candidate Jignesh Mevani is fighting the election on Congress support against BJP's Vijay Chakravarti. In Maninagar, the constituency once represented by PM Modi, Congress has given ticket to foreign-educated young face Sweta Bhrambhatt against BJP's sitting MLA Suresh Patel. Modi had vacated the constituency after becoming the PM in 2014. In its bid to form a caste bloc against the BJP, the Congress has won over Hardik Patel, Thakor and Mevani, who have emerged as the young Turks representing the Patidars, OBCs and Dalits respectively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP patriarch L K Advani and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are among the saffron heavyweights expected to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the elections. While Modi will cast his vote at Sabarmati assembly constituency, Advani is expected to exercise his franchise at Jamalpur-Khadia seat and Jaitley in Vejalpur constituency, all located in Ahmedabad, a party release said. Advani currently represents Gandhinagar constituency in the Lok Sabha, while Jaitley is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat. BJP president Amit Shah and former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel are expected to cast their votes at Naranpura and Ghatlodiya, respectively, again in Ahmedabad. "Modiji will cast his vote at a poll booth in the Nishan High School in Ranip locality of Sabarmati. Advani will cast his vote at the Hindi School poll booth in Khanpur and Jaitley at the Chimanbhai Institute in S G Highway," the release said. While Shah is expected to cast his vote at Naranpura sub-zonal office in Naranpura, Anandiben Patel and Nitin Patel will do so at the Shilaj Primary School at S P Ring Road and at the Sanskar Bharti School at Kadi, respectively. The elections, being viewed as precursor to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, are a prestige battle for Modi, who helmed the campaign for the ruling BJP in his home state, and a litmus test for Gandhi, who spearheaded the campaign for the Congress. The electioneering for the second phase concluded on Tuesday after Modi took a seaplane ride from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi Dam in north Gujarat, and returned after offering prayers at the famous Ambaji Temple and holding a road show. On the concluding day of the campaign, Gandhi told reporters that there was "tremendous undercurrent" against the ruling BJP in Gujarat and predicted a victory for his party in the Assembly polls. He claimed that "public mood" had undergone a radical change with all sections of society angry with the saffron party. In the final stages of the electioneering, Modi set off a political firestorm after he alleged during a rally in Palanpur that Pakistan was trying to influence the Gujarat polls. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and former prime minister Manmohan Singh met a day before Mani Shankar Aiyar made the "neech aadmi" jibe against him. However, the next day Manmohan Singh asked Modi to apologise to the nation for his remarks. Earlier, at a rally in Bhabhar town in Banaskantha district in north Gujarat, Modi accused Aiyar of giving "supari" (contract) while on a visit to Pakistan to get him "removed" from the way to ensure peace between India and the neighbouring country. This came a after Aiyar called Modi a neech kism ka aadmi (lowly man). Several senior leaders from both the BJP and the Congress also campaigned extensively for their candidates in major parts of north and central Gujarat. Apart from Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah also trained guns at the Congress over several issues, including the Ayodhya dispute. On the other hand, Gandhi persistently attacked Modi and the BJP for "not talking about the future of Gujarat" and skipping key issues being faced by the people of the state. He accused Modi of ignoring the masses and working for only a handful of industrialists. Patidar reservation agitation spearhead Hardik Patel charged up the campaign by holding a massive rally in Nikol area of the city, where he appealed to voters to "teach a lesson" to the BJP this time. The 24-year-old, arguably the most talked-about personality in Gujarat today, even held a road show although the authorities had denied permission for the event. The influential Patidar community, which accounts for around 12 per cent of the state's population, could prove to be the 'X factor' in the polls, in which Hardik Patel has pledged support to the Congress and appealed to the people to "uproot the BJP" this time. The Election Commission had earlier announced that Gujarat would be the second state after Goa, where the voter verifiable paper audit trail system would be used, along with electronic voting machines. In the 2012 assembly polls, the BJP had won 115 seats, while the Congress bagged 61. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan as Americas relationship with the South Asian country has drifted over the years, noting that the two countries need to restore the ties to one of common interest. Dealing with Pakistan -- I dont enjoy that, Tillerson said in response to a specific query during a town hall with the State Department employees. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State? Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and weve got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest, Tillerson said. Today thats just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. So were engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat theyre under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory, Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. Weve got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do, Tillerson said. Earlier in his remarks, Tillerson referred to the new South Asia Policy as one of the key foreign policy highlights in the first year of the Trump administration. Tillerson said that US President Donald Trump took a very bold decision by asserting that the US will be in Afghanistan with its military presence and continue to fight terrorism and the Taliban on a conditions-based effort. He, however, refused to give any time limit for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Were there until this thing is brought to a conclusion. Its not a blank cheque. Its not forever. But were going to stay on the ground and support the Afghan government, he said. The Afghan government has to continue to deliver on the needed reforms and create the conditions to have an inclusive government that allows for participation of all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. When the Taliban are ready to come to that negotiating table, there will be a place for them to participate in a future Afghan government, Tillerson said. According to him, Trumps South Asia policy aims to deny any safe haven to terrorist organisations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Our policy is to deny them the ability to have a safe haven where they can organise, recruit fighters, raise money; plan and carry out attacks against our allies, our own homeland, as they did in the past. So the entire policy in South Asia is to achieve that, Tillerson said. The top American diplomat asserted that the policy could be achieved by eliminating the safe havens; bringing on board the groups fighting with each other, to get them involved in dialogues and creating the conditions for a reconciliation process within Afghanistan for peace. Image: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif at the State Department in Washington, DC in October. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the International Court of Justice, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the ICJ, Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the chargesheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. Rahul Gandhi's interviews to Gujarati TV channels aired on Wednesday on the eve of final phase of the assembly elections sparked a complaints by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress with the Election Commission which sought his explanation for "prima facie" violating the poll rules. As the BJP and the Congress were locked in a war of words over the interview, the Election Commission issued a show cause notice to the Congress president-elect to explain by 5 pm on December 18 as to why action should not be taken against him. Counting of votes is due to be taken up on December 18. The poll body in its 2-page order also said it will decide the matter without any reference to him if he fails to respond to the notice. The Congress too petitioned the Election Commission for action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for addressing an event organised by an industry body on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat polls where he attacked the main opposition party. A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Ashok Gehlot, Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala handed over a memorandum to the poll body, demanding strong action against Modi and other BJP leaders for addressing press conferences and events on the eve of last phase of polling in Gujarat. Sharma said the EC should remain non-partisan. Earlier in the day, Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress, saying that banks were pressured under its rule to give loans worth thousands of crore to select industrialists and termed it as the UPA government's biggest scam. In a press statement earlier, the EC said it has asked TV channels to "forthwith stop" airing interviews of Rahul Gandhi as they violated the election law and directed the Gujarat poll authorities to lodge FIRs against anyone for infringement of legal provisions. It said Rahul Gandhi talked about the Gujarat assembly elections in which the polling for the second phase will be held on Thursday. The notice said display of his interview by channels falls within the definition of election matter under Section 126 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll, amounts to violation of the prohibition contained in Section 126 (1) (b) of the Act, 1951. "...by giving such interview and its display on TV channels on December 13 you have, prima facie, violated the...provisions of para 1 (4) of the Model Code of Conduct, Section 126 (1) (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Election Commission's lawful instructions in this regard," it said. The BJP in its complaint alleged that Rahul Gandhi has turned so "desperate" fearing defeat in the Gujarat polls that he "violated" the Model Code of Conduct to giving the media interviews. The Congress on its part accused Chief Minister Vijay Ruapani and others of threatening journalists for airing Rahul Gandhi's interview and urged the Election Commission for action against them including registration of cases. Surjewala said the EC today acted against news channels for airing the interview of Rahul Gandhi which was against the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. The Congress memorandum said: "The Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state the apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party miltates against this notion." It also requested the poll body to immediately withdraw its order directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Gandhi. Surjewala alleged the EC order is an attempt to "suppress the media", and claimed the BJP was exerting pressure on the poll panel for it. He said Modi had given interviews ahead of 2014 general elections but no case was registered then. "These double standards will not be allowed," he said. "New norms for justice by ECI-: FM, BJP leaders hold a PC in Ahmedabad and release Manifesto on December 8 - No FIR. Modiji does 4 public meetings in december 9 - No FIR. Amit Shahji does a PC at Ahemdabad today - No FIR. Piyush Goyalji does 2 PCs today - No FIR. Rahuljis interview - FIR. Jai Ho!," Surjewala tweeted. Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat B B Swain told reporters in Gandhinagar earlier in the day that a report will be submitted to the Election Commission of India. While the BJP claimed that airing of interviews today was a "clear violation" of the poll code, Swain said the rules and guidelines which prohibit campaigning in the 48-hour period before the end of polling do not amount to a "gag order". "There are rules and guidelines which ban broadcasting of certain election-related content on TV during 48 hours... But we can not call it a gag order. "Yes, we have received a complaint. We will acquire the CD of interview(s) and watch it to decide whether it has violated various provisions of section 126 of the Representation of the People Act. After that we will convey our opinion to the Election Commission," Swain said. Section 126 relates to prohibition of public meetings during period of 48 hours prior to the end of polling. As per the EC guideline for the media, electronic media, including TV channels, can't broadcast anything related to the elections after 5.00 pm of December 12. "We filed three complaints, through e-mail, with the EC as well as the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer, yesterday and today, as we came to know yesterday itself that such interviews will be aired today. Though we sought immediate action, the interviews went on air," said a state BJP leader who did not want to be identified. As Gandhi spoke about Gujarat in these interviews, it was a clear violation of section 126, he alleged. Union minister Piyush Goyal said the Election Commission should act following these interviews and claimed that the undercurrent which Gandhi said was present in Gujarat, will work against the Congress and the BJP will win over 150 seats in the 182-seat assembly. "The Congress is so scared and Rahul Gandhi is desperate to save his face. That is why he violated the Model Code of Conduct and gave interviews. We don't think such interviews are allowed in the 48 hours prior to polls. We have never given such interviews," Goyal told a press conference in Delhi. Photograph: Courtesy @INCIndia/Twitter Trump you failed to protect your nation, the Islamic State-inspired Bangladeshi-origin man wrote on Facebook before detonating a pipe bomb in a Manhattan subway station, according to a complaint filed in a United States court. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, had wires and a pipe bomb strapped to his body. The device exploded prematurely on Monday between two subway platforms near Port Authority, which is Americas largest bus terminal. Ullah is reported to be in a serious condition in hospital after suffering burns in the explosion. Three other people suffered minor wounds in the blast during rush hour. The suspect posted a statement indicating allegiance to IS on Facebook before the attack. Trump you failed to protect your nation, accused Ullah wrote on Facebook. On his Facebook page, Ullah also posted a statement that he believed would be understood by members and supporters of the Islamic State to convey that he carried out the attack in the name of IS. A passport in the name of Akayed Ullah with multiple handwritten notations, including: O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE, was also recovered from his home. The suspect was taken into custody after the device partially exploded. Ullah has been charged on five counts, including providing material support and resources to terrorist organisations, use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public law, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of destructive device. The pipe bomb comprised of a metal pipe, which Ullah filled with explosive material that he created. He used Christmas tree lights, wiring, and a nine-volt battery to cause the detonation of the pipe bomb. Ullah filled the pipe bomb with metal screws, which he believed would cause maximum damage. He used zip ties to secure the pipe bomb to his body. Based on preliminary investigation, federal prosecutors said Ullah carried out the December 11 attack in part because of the US governments policies in, among other places, the Middle East. One of his goals in carrying out the December 11 attack was to terrorise as many people as possible. He chose to carry out the attack on a workday because he believed that there would be more people, the chargesheet said. Federal prosecutors said Ullahs radicalisation began around 2014 when he started viewing pro-IS materials online, including a video instructing, in substance, that if supporters of IS were unable to travel overseas to join IS, they should carry out attacks in their homelands. He began researching how to build IEDs on the internet approximately one year ago. Image: Police officers stand guard outside the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal after the explosion. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters 'When you have made history, you don't need to announce it. You just know it.' 'Never before in Bengal had a single party been re-elected with two-thirds of the assembly,' notes Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien. Exclusive excerpts from his first political book Inside Parliament: Views from the Front Row. IMAGE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Foundation Day celebrations of the Trinamool Congress' students' wing in Kolkata, August 2017. Photograph: Kind courtesy @MamataOfficial on Twitter Rumour Spreading Society (RSS) and BJP playing with fire The BJP has been trying to make inroads into Bengal for a while now. In 2014, it invested heavily in an expensive campaign in the state but came away with only two Lok Sabha seats out of forty-two. (Realistically just one, since the Darjeeling seat was fought and won in alliance with a local party.) Subsequently, it made a lot of noise before the by-elections and then the 2016 assembly election. It got hammered in both. What the BJP couldn't achieve through the front door, without popular support, it is now trying to do through a deep-rooted conspiracy. It wants to manufacture a communal conflagration and draw votes in blood. IMAGE: Derek O'Brien. Photograph: Aanya O'Brien, kind courtesy Derek O'Brien There is a template to this. In Gujarat, the BJP was set to lose the election in 2003. The pogrom of February 2002 was engineered by friendly forces; the election was brought forward. And we know the result. In Muzaffarnagar, in western Uttar Pradesh, religious violence was encouraged before the 2014 Lok Sabha election. It was sustained till the 2017 assembly election. And we know the result. When Manmohan Singh spoke In 1961, following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F Kennedy famously commented, 'Victory has a thousand fathers; defeat is an orphan.' In the past one year, as the fiasco called demonetisation has unravelled and been exposed for what it is -- a thoughtless, unplanned disaster -- this quote has frequently come back to me, albeit in a different manner. ...Manmohan Singh spoke on 24 November. The House heard him in rapt attention. The way the scheme had been implemented, he assessed, would hurt agricultural growth, hurt small industry and hurt all those in the informal sector. He dismissed it as 'organised loot' and 'legalised plunder of the common people'. Finally, the Congress was taking a stand. On the very day, 24 November, Mamata Banerjee called on President Pranab Mukherjee to apprise him of the dire situation in the country. A fortnight later, on 8 December, as the demonetisation devastation completed one month, (West Bengal Finance Minister) Amit Mitra spoke of a 'recession-like situation' having arisen. He predicted that GDP growth could fall by as much as 2 per cent in the short run. The government was unfazed. On 16 December, the then attorney general, Mukul Rohatgi, got into the act. He began to describe why demonetisation was such a 'gigantic exercise': 'Seventy years of change would need at least seventy days,' he claimed, forgetting that the prime minister had sought only fifty days. 'This is a revolution that we are talking about,' Rohatgi continued. 'It will deal with terrorism, black money, counterfeit and many such evils... ' The government was getting consumed by its own bluster. A true leader forgets no one 'At 8.30 am I saw a number that made me sit up: Trinamool leading in fourteen seats out of twenty-one, where early trends were available. About fifteen minutes later, it was twenty-five out of thirty-eight. A thought came out of the air: 'What is the exact number for a two-thirds majority?' As I made mental calculations, I began to relax. The trend was clear, but the pundits were to spell it out only at 10 am. Trinamool's target for this election had never been crossing the halfway mark -- 148 seats in an assembly of 294. We had set ourselves a benchmark. We wanted to cross 184, the seats we had won in 2011 in partnership with the Congress. For our self-validation, we needed to win at least 185. Anything above that was a blessing. And Bengal's people blessed us abundantly. At 11.10 am, Mamata Banerjee came out of her room and stood in the passageway for ten minutes, flashing the victory sign. Then she walked 30 metres to her small office, all of 100 sq ft. We trooped in as well. The office had remained unchanged since 1998. Her face too was unchanged and calm. When you have made history, you don't need to announce it. You just know it. Mamata Banerjee had achieved political immortality. Never before in Bengal had a single party been re-elected with two-thirds of the assembly. The BJP is beatable in 2019 In the last week of August 2017, the third Opposition conclave took place in Patna. It was hosted by Lalu Yadav who took the lead role. Mamata Banerjee was the star attraction. Lalu's sons Tejaswi and Tejpratap have their contrasting styles but seem to have inherited the genes for connecting with the grass roots in Bihar. Akhilesh Yadav of the SP was there too. The crowd at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna would have given turncoat Nitish Kumar more than a few sleepless nights. The BJP, too, squirmed. People have a habit of punishing you when you betray them. Excerpted from Inside Parliament: Views from the Front Row by Derek O'Brien, HarperCollins India, with the publisher's kind permission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the ministries of external affairs and water resources to find out why the water of Brahmaputra turned black and take remedial measures for it. This was conveyed at a high-level meeting chaired by the prime minister and attended by Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal besides others on Tuesday, a statement issued by the Assam government said. Modi assured Sonowal that the centre had already taken up the issue of Brahmaputra turning black seriously and even engaged the Central Water Commission to look into it and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, the prime minister also asked the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Swaraj maintained that her ministry had already contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study was being undertaken to find the real cause, the statement said. The prime minister also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of Brahmaputra water are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. Sonowal informed the prime minister that the state government had directed the director general of Assam Emergency and Fire Services to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri along the Brahmaputra and sent them to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. The water became muddy and cement-like apparently due to construction of a 1000-km tunnel by China to divert waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in Tibet. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Attorney General KK Venugopal, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. One of the best stories coming out of Bihar is a meeting place for Chandragupta Maurya, Buddha, Ashoka, Sher Shah Suri and India's Mona Lisa. Rediff.com's Archana Masih dropped by. Photographs: Seema Pant IMAGE: A couple takes a picture in front of a map of Bihar made of Hindi and English words depicting people, places, rivers, festivals, food etc that the state is famous for. Everything here is precious, but there are no 'Do not touch' signs. No velvet ropes or airport-like barricades that prevent onlookers from crossing the line. Chandragupta Maurya's singhasan (throne) wants you to sit on it. Sher Shah Suri's big tarazu (weighing scale) wants you to stand in it. A bird's nest wants you to swing in it. An excavation site wants you to dig beneath the earth. And the Nalanda ruins want you to touch so that you can feel the texture of bricks dating back 1,500 years. IMAGE: A selfie on a stone throne replica of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan empire. On the right is a story about his advisor Chanakya. The newly opened Bihar Museum in Patna is a museum with a difference -- and its children's gallery is bursting with life for the young and the old. Here you can touch, feel and piece together broken pieces of an excavated stone head. And learn of the past by walking into an ancient cave, crouching under a stone bridge and looking into the eye of the endangered tiger and the vanishing sparrow (all very well made replicas of course!). "Appreciate. Learn. Love," says Moumita Ghosh, the curator, walking through the children's gallery. "Preservation comes only after you start loving the past -- and to love, you have to touch and feel." IMAGE: A weighing scale gives the weight in the old unit measure mann and also in kilograms. Past the display on Sher Shah Suri, a plaque informs about the king who ruled only for 5 years and coined the term 'rupaiya' that we use as our currency. The visionary who also built the Grand Trunk Road that links present day Bangladesh to Afghanistan. Constructed before the Taj Mahal, and christened Sher Shah Suri Marg, an interactive map of the road shows what it must have looked like in the 15th century and what it is like now. But nothing can beat the 'then and now' representation of what our ancestors left behind for us and what we are going to leave behind for our children. The chilling contrast is brilliantly shown by a mound of dug up earth. On one side, layer upon layer show tools, pottery, bits of sculptures that archaeologists had discovered in their excavations. While on the other side, are a stack of drawers, open them and you get a sense of what we are going to leave behind. Plastic. Bottles. Empty packets of chips. Biscuit wrappers. Think about it. Just to put it in perspective: The BBC recently tweeted, while filming the documentary Blue Planet II that its crews found plastic in every ocean, even in the most remote locations. IMAGE: Onlookers can look into large, movable magnifying glasses to see some of the things of the past. 'Archaeologists work like detectives only to solve ancient mysteries,' says the notice above. With spacious galleries dedicated to the Mauryan, Pala, Gupta periods, rooted in the history of the state, the museum is perhaps the best story from Bihar in recent times. Yakshi, its prized possession, is called the 'Indian Mona Lisa'. Her nose is chipped and arm is broken, but she stands gloriously. Her smile is hypnotic. Her torso is gleaming. It is a 5 feet 2 inch statue of a beautiful, heavily bejeweled, woman set in sandstone. "She is the epitome of Indian beauty. So graceful, and imagine she was a chance discovery," says Moumita Ghosh, relating a fascinating story about how the statue crafted 2,300 years ago was discovered only 100 years ago by a dhobi. Yakshi was found submerged in the riverbank of the Ganga. She lay facedown for years, the pedestal on which she stands, used as a platform by washermen to wash clothes! The story goes that while trying to fish out a snake from under the water, villagers discovered the sculpture. "She has been made with a single piece of stone. Even if a single blow of the sculptor had gone wrong, who knows, she would perhaps have not been made," explains Maumita looking at Yakshi. "You can create if you have devotion and only with devotion comes such perfection." IMAGE: The museum's prized possession is the 2,300-year-old Yakshi. The epitome of classic Indian beauty, her smile is enchanting like the Mona Lisa's. An introductory film, highlighting Bihar's glorious past, is played before visitors begin to explore the history galleries. It speaks about the Ashokan Lions, the official seal of India, which comes from Bihar. Of being the land of Buddha, Ashoka, the birthplace of Mahivira and Guru Gobind Singh -- and home to one of the world's oldest universities, Nalanda. Yet, in spite of this enviable heritage, the state has not been able to attract as many tourists as it should. "We are one of the strongest states when it comes to history and heritage. Bihar is where big civilisations flourished," says Bihar's Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh who was pivotal to the creation of the museum. "Art and culture is our strength and can take Bihar on the path of development. The museum is indeed, a bold decision. No other state in recent times has taken heritage as seriously," Chief Secretary Singh adds. IMAGE: A digital artwork showing village life in the brilliant Madhubani style of painting. Some panels show live dance movements to folk music. Costing over Rs 517 crore (Rs 5.17 billion), the Bihar government pulled out all stops in its attempt to make a world-class institution. Japanese firm Maki and Associates with Indian partner Opolis are the architects while L&T constructed the structure. The master planning consultants are Canada-based Lord Cultural Resources; Singapore-based Kingsmen Group are the fabricators; while branding has been done by Indian company Lopez designs. The museum logo is the Mahabodhi tree, under which Buddha received enlightenment. Constructed over five years, the ticket is priced at Rs 100 for Indians, Rs 50 for children and Rs 500 for foreigners. The Nitish Kumar government was criticised for wasting money on a museum instead of sectors like education, health, infrastructure. A public interest litigation was filed and the expenditure was questioned by the Patna high court, but the state government won the case. "We are not neglecting other sectors. We have not stopped building roads. In fact, our spending on the social sector is very high," says Anjani Kumar Singh. "We have to leave something behind for future generations and to bring people to see Bihar." IMAGE: A sculpture of a head by Ravinder Reddy in the contemporary gallery. Aimed at stirring up Bihari pride, the museum also has a section on the Bihari Diaspora and contemporary artwork from artists of Bihari origin. It has one of the largest collections of bronzes and terracotta. An installation by contemporary artist Subodh Gupta will be set up in a couple of months. Many of the artefacts have been transferred from the Patna Museum, the third oldest museum in India, which completed its centenary in 2017. The transfer of nearly half of the Patna Museum's objects to the Bihar Museum had also provoked criticism. On a recent inspection to the Patna Museum, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reportedly disapproved of the poor display of artefacts and announced an expansion of the museum. Two pieces from the Bihar Museum are at display at India and the World exhibition at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya in Mumbai to commemorate 70 years of Independence. IMAGE: An installation by Sanjay Kumar of Buddha's bowl surrounded by 171 monks. One of the striking displays in the Bihar Museum is a contemporary installation by Sanjay Kumar of a 6,000 kg Buddha bowl surrounded by 171 brass figurines of monks. Another masterpiece is an unfinished ancient gargoyle in black stone with exquisite work. It bears scrape marks because it was used a touchstone for checking the purity of gold. The piece has travelled to museums in Brussels and Germany. The museum has many sculptures of Buddha, depicting different schools of art, and a rare sculpture of a dancing Ganesha. "Bihar has given lots to human civilisation. And why should we not tell people about this? Wherever there is a world class museum, it has changed the economy of that place," says J P N Singh, additional director, Bihar Museum. "Culture and art cannot thrive unless it gets state patronage," J P N Singh points out With over 25 museums, he says Bihar is among the leading states as far as museums are concerned. IMAGE: Entrance to the museum. Tickets are priced at Rs 100 for adults and Rs 50 for children. The idea originated with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reveals Anjani Kumar Singh. Nitish Kumar has undertaken a padyatra of Bihar's historical sites and is known to have statues of Buddha in his office. He is also known to have an eye for art and can identify the names of artists looking at their works of art. "The CM has used costly land in the heart of the city for creating parks, open spaces and a museum instead of giving it for building malls. It shows his commitment to breathing spaces and to conserving heritage," says J P N Singh. The museum was formally inaugurated on October 2, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday and also showcases Bihar's Chamaparan Satyagraha, from where Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement. "We want the museum to be a living and lively place and open to interpretation. It should not only be a historians' interpretation but your own interpretation," says Moumita Ghosh. "The reason why artefacts survive through the ages is because they have their own stories to tell." V.S. v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) Publisher Canada: Federal Court Publication Date 7 October 2015 Citation / Document Symbol 2015 FC 1150; docket: IMM-7865-14 Other Languages / Attachments V.S. vs Minister of Citizenship and Immigration 07102015 Cite as V.S. v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 FC 1150; docket: IMM-7865-14, Canada: Federal Court, 7 October 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,CAN_FC,5a31228c4.html [accessed 17 November 2022] Comments The determinative issue on this application concerns the Officers analysis of the evidence of hardship related to the Applicants claim to be a lesbian 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. Date: 20151007 Docket: IMM-7865-14 Citation: 2015 FC 1150 Ottawa, Ontario, October 7, 2015 PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Barnes BETWEEN: V.S. Applicant and THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION Respondent JUDGMENT AND REASONS [1] The Applicant challenges a Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) decision dated November 10, 2014 denying her claim to relief under section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). [2] The Applicant is a citizen of Cameroon. She entered Canada as a visitor in 2009 and sought refugee protection. Her claim to protection was granted in 2010 but later revoked on the basis of a misrepresentation. The record discloses that a pre-removal risk assessment was requested in late 2013 and dismissed on May 23, 2014. A copy of that decision is not in the record before me and I cannot determine the nature of the risk the Applicant asserted, or the reason why her claim was denied. [3] The Applicant submitted her H&C application on August 11, 2014. She sought relief on the strength of her Canadian establishment and because she had given birth to a daughter in 2014. She also asserted hardship based on her sexual orientation as a lesbian. [4] The Applicant has raised a number of issues concerning the decision-maker's analysis of the evidence and argues that the decision was unreasonable. The standard of review for this type of issue is, of course, reasonableness. It is unnecessary for me to deal with all of the matters raised in argument because there is one problem with the decision that is determinative. [5] The determinative issue on this application concerns the Officer's analysis of the evidence of hardship related to the Applicant's claim to be a lesbian. Set out below is that part of the decision dealing with the sexual orientation issue: Counsel states that [the applicant] is a lesbian and is in a relationship with a woman here in Canada. A letter from [S.A.] has been included in the submissions attesting to her relationship with the applicant. [S.A.] submits she wishes for [the applicant] and her daughter to remain in Canada. I note that although [S.A.] submits she met [the applicant] in 2011, little documentary evidence has been provided regarding their relationship, such as photographs of the couple together, celebrating the holidays together, or on outings with friends. While I accept that [the applicant] is a lesbian, I find there is limited information before me that [the applicant] has openly disclosed her sexual orientation. For example [the applicant] has not provided information suggesting she is a part of any activist groups or has ties to the LGBT community in Toronto. I also note that [the applicant] has not provided a personal testimony describing her relationship with [S.A.] or her personal circumstances in relation to being a lesbian. According to my research on Cameroon, homosexuality is against the law and consensual same sex sexual activity is punishable by 6 months to 5 years jail time and monetary fines. The US Department of State 2013 Human Rights Report, further submits, that members of the LGBT group have been actively targeted and regularly face social stigmatization. Based on a review of my findings I accept that conditions are not ideal for LGBT individuals. However, I also make note that the report submits that despite current views on homosexuality, human rights activists and health organizations have continued to advocate for the LGBT community. Counsel submits that returning to Cameroon would place [the applicant] at risk of [sic] due to the community's knowledge about [the applicant] being a lesbian. I note a letter of support from [S.S.] has been included in the submissions. The letter submits that the applicant's stepsisters have rumoured [the applicant's] sexual orientation through a reliable source abroad and the family has been ridiculed as a result. No details of who this source was have been provided. I note that two other letters have been submitted on behalf of [the applicant's] application from a family member [(E.S.)] and the family's legal advocate in Cameroon. I note while [E.S.] discloses she is a family relative and the primary caregiver of the applicant's mother, she does not disclose any information or knowledge about [the applicant's] sexual orientation or details about the family being ridiculed as a result. While I accept that [the applicant] is a lesbian, I find little evidence has been provided to demonstrate that [the applicant] had ever been in a same sex relationship before [S.A.], in Cameroon or any other country in which she has resided. There is limited evidence before me demonstrating that [the applicant] has openly displayed her sexual orientation in Canada or that she would do so upon returning to Cameroon. For this reason, it is my finding that apart from the letter from [S.A.] referred to above, I have not been provided with supporting evidence that establishes, on a balance of probability that [sic], the applicant will be at [sic] face hardship due to her sexual orientation if she were to return to Cameroon. Having examined the totality of the evidence before me, I find that it has insufficient probative value to establish that the applicant is likely known as homosexual/lesbian or would be perceived as such by individuals, Cameroon. Although I have considered the conditions in Cameroon for those suspected of homosexuality, I do not find that the applicant will be adversely and directly affected by these conditions due to her personal situation. I am not satisfied that the applicant's circumstances are such that she will face unusual and undeserved or disproportionate hardship due to her true or perceived sexual orientation. [Emphasis added] [Names redacted] [6] It is clear from these reasons the Officer accepted that the Applicant was a lesbian and apparently in a sexual relationship with a female partner. The Officer also recognized that Cameroon is a hostile place for LGBT individuals. All of this is borne out by a 2013 United States Department of State Report (Certified Tribunal Record at pp 198-200) which sets out the following disturbing facts: Consensual same-sex sexual activity is illegal and punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 CFA ($41 to $410). Authorities actively enforced the law and arrested, tried, jailed, and beat alleged LGBT individuals during the year. Security forces reportedly actively targeted alleged LGBT individuals and cooperated with vigilante groups to entrap and arrest them. Credible reports indicated that there may have been as many as 200 individuals incarcerated in the country on charges of sexual relations between persons of the same sex. LGBT individuals regularly faced social stigmatization and mob violence, which sometimes resulted in their deaths. In July, for example, Eric Ohena Lembembe a journalist, LGBT activist, and the executive director of the Cameroonian Foundation against AIDS was found strangled to death at his home in Yaounde. Lembembe had been bound, beaten, and burned with an iron. Civil society members and human rights organizations credibly claimed that the killing was linked to Lembembe's activism and sexual orientation, a contention that the minister of communication publicly questioned in the days following the crime. The official investigation into Lembembe's death was uniformly unprofessional, and no suspects were identified by year's end. In July a mob in the village of Muyuka, Southwest Region, stoned to death Henry Mbah, an allegedly gay man. Mbah reportedly was killed after his wife caught him in an intimate situation with another man, Elvis Atabong. Although reportedly injured, Atabong was apparently saved from the mob by police officers, who promptly arrested him. The status of Atabong's case and any investigation into Mbah's killing were unknown. Also in July Joseph Omgbwa was sentenced to two years in prison for having sexual relations with a person of the same sex, along with Nicolas Ntamack, who was sentenced to one year in prison on the same charge. Omgbwa and Ntamack's sentences came two years after Omgbwa was arrested while trying to sell a man a gay pornography DVD in an apparent police sting operation. Ntamack was arrested shortly thereafter when he attempted to visit Omgbwa at the police station. The Movement of Cameroonian Youth organized anti-homosexual brigades throughout the year to locate and harass LGBT individuals in nightclubs. In August the movement organized a public march to urge a more heavy-handed government crackdown on homosexuality. Suspected members of the LGBT community received anonymous threats by telephone, text message, and e-mail. LGBT individuals who sought services or protection from the authorities were regularly rebuffed, extorted, or arrested. LGBT organizations also were targeted. In July arsonists set fire to the NGO Alternatives Cameroon Access Center in Douala, resulting in significant damage to the center's HIV testing and counseling records. Police forces ruled the fire a criminal act, but no suspects were identified. During his first public speech in August, Jean Mbaraga, the newly appointed administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Yaounde and the archbishop of Ebolowa, condemned homosexuality as a foreign practice and called on Africans to "resist what will destroy their culture and family." Despite the environment various human rights and health organizations continued to advocate for the LGBT community by defending LGBT individuals being prosecuted, promoting HIV/AIDS initiatives, and working to change laws prohibiting consensual same-sex activity. [7] A 2014 Immigration and Refugee Board Response to Information Request is equally disturbing. It reported, among other things, that "Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world...often based on little or no actual evidence" (Certified Tribunal Record at p 215). The same report described frequent torture, solitary confinement, and degrading treatment by police and prison officials, including unwarranted anal examinations. [8] The Officer's summary of this evidence was cursory and remarkably understated. Surprisingly, the Officer took pains to include a reference to ongoing advocacy work by non-governmental organizations, as though it represented some form of mitigation for the reported human rights abuses prevalent in Cameroon. [9] The Officer's lack of sensitivity to the sexual orientation issue is further borne out by the assertion that the Applicant could avoid difficulty in Cameroon by hiding her sexualidentity. [10] Given the consequences of discovery, it is quite plain that the Applicant would take steps in Cameroon to conceal her sexual identity. She would be foolhardy to act otherwise. To slightly paraphrase the words of Lord Rodger in HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2010] UKSC 31, at para 59 "unless she were minded to swell the ranks of gay martyrs, when faced with a real threat of persecution, the applicant would have no real choice: she would be compelled to act discreetly". [11] Contrary to the Officer's views, the Applicant's ability to hide her sexual identity in Cameroon is not the end-point to the necessary inquiry into hardship. What remained outstanding was an assessment of the hardship associated with the suppression of the Applicant's sexual identity. In the case of Cameroon, where the consequences of discovery would likely be profound, prudence would dictate a life approaching celibacy and it would certainly preclude any outward displays of affection with a same-sex partner. The implications of living "discreetly" and the magnitude of behavioural adjustments demanded by living in fear of discovery have been thoughtfully described by Lord Rodger in HT (Cameroon), above, in the following passage: 75. In my view, the approach adopted by the Court of Appeal is unsound. I leave on one side my reasoning so far and also the obvious point that the Court of Appeal's test seems to require the applicant to establish a form of secondary persecution brought on by his own actions in response to the primary persecution. In my view the core objection to the Court of Appeal's approach is that its starting point is unacceptable: it supposes that at least some applications for asylum can be rejected on the basis that the particular applicant could find it reasonably tolerable to act discreetly and conceal his sexual identity indefinitely to avoid suffering severe harm. 76. The New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority observed in Re GJ [1998] (1995) INLR 387, 420 that "sexualorientation is either an innate or unchangeable characteristic or a characteristic so fundamental to identity or human dignity that it ought not be required to be changed" (emphasis in the original). So, starting from that position, the Convention offers protection to gay and lesbian people and, I would add, bisexuals and everyone else on a broad spectrum of sexualbehaviour because they are entitled to have the same freedom from fear of persecution as their straight counterparts. No-one would proceed on the basis that a straight man or woman could find it reasonably tolerable to conceal his or hersexual identity indefinitely to avoid suffering persecution. Nor would anyone proceed on the basis that a man or woman could find it reasonably tolerable to conceal his or her race indefinitely to avoid suffering persecution. Such an assumption about gay men and lesbian women is equally unacceptable. Most significantly, it is unacceptable as being inconsistent with the underlying purpose of the Convention since it involves the applicant denying or hiding precisely the innate characteristic which forms the basis of his claim of persecution: Atta Fosu v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) 2008 FC 1135, para 17, per Zinn J. 77. At the most basic level, if a male applicant were to live discreetly, he would in practice have to avoid any open expression of affection for another man which went beyond what would be acceptable behaviour on the part of a straight man. He would have to be cautious about the friendships he formed, the circle of friends in which he moved, the places where he socialised. He would have constantly to restrain himself in an area of life where powerful emotions and physical attraction are involved and a straight man could be spontaneous, impulsive even. Not only would he not be able to indulge openly in the mild flirtations which are an enjoyable part of heterosexual life, but he would have to think twice before revealing that he was attracted to another man. Similarly, the small tokens and gestures of affection which are taken for granted between men and women could well be dangerous. In short, his potential for finding happiness in some sexual relationship would be profoundly affected. It is objectionable to assume that any gay man can be supposed to find even these restrictions on his life and happiness reasonably tolerable. [12] In the circumstances of this case, the Officer erred by assuming that the hardship (i.e. risk) confronting the Applicant could be easily managed by the suppression of her sexual identity. That view is, quite simply, insensitive and wrong. The imposition on LGBT individuals of a legal requirement for discretion is a hold-over from a time when, unlike heterosexual couples, LGBT couples were expected to conceal their affection. This type of anachronistic thinking has no place in a humanitarian assessment. [13] Refugee cases, of course, examine risk from the perspective of persecution and humanitarian applications turn on an assessment of hardship. But that is not a meaningful distinction that allows a humanitarian decision-maker to simply ignore the practical effects of a life of sexual confinement. For the purposes of this case, I adopt Justice Russel Zinn's views expressed in Fosu v Canada, 2008 FC 1135 at para 17, [2008] F.C.J. No. 1418: [17] Further, the Member erred in suggesting that he would find safety in Accra so long as he was "discreet" and appears to have assumed that he could be prepared to do so, and there was no evidence of this, or that he would be able to keep his sexuality secret in such a large city. I cannot accept that the Member's decision can be reasonable in arriving at a finding which requires the claimant do deny or hide the innate characteristic which forms the basis of his claim of persecution: see, for example, Sadeghi-Pari v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2004 FC 282, at paragraph 29. The Member was clearly of the opinion that the discrimination the Applicant would face was not tantamount to persecution, but it also appears that she was assessing the danger through the lens of the conditions she would impose on him conditions that are not reasonable or acceptable. [14] Counsel for the Minister urged me to consider this issue within the context of the complete decision and it is, of course, appropriate to do so. There are certainly aspects of the decision that appear to be well-founded. However, the error made by the Officer was very material to the hardship assessment and like Lord Hope in HT (Cameroon), above, I am not confident that the decision would have been the same had the correct approach been adopted. [15] It is accordingly necessary to set aside the Officer's decision and remit this matter for reconsideration on the merits by a different decision-maker. [16] Neither party proposed a certified question and no issue of general importance arises on this record. JUDGMENT THIS COURT'S JUDGMENT is that the application is allowed with the matter to be redetermined on the merits by a different decision-maker. "R.L. Barnes" Judge FEDERAL COURT SOLICITORS OF RECORD DOCKET: IMM-7865-14 STYLE OF CAUSE: V.S. v THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO DATE OF HEARING: SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 JUDGMENT AND REASONS: BARNES J. DATED: OCTOBER 7, 2015 APPEARANCES : Solomon Orjiwuru FOR THE APPLICANT Alexis Singer FOR THE RESPONDENT SOLICITORS OF RECORD : OTTAWA Liberals followed a secretive, unethical process to nominate a new ethics commissioner and force a decision before a long winter break, opposition parties say.Its just ragingly incompetent and frustrating and cynical, New Democrat ethics critic Nathan Cullen said Tuesday.He wondered if Mario Dion, whose work as Public Service Integrity Commissioner was panned by Canadas auditor general, was fit for the job. But its impossible, he said, to figure that out in his allotted seven-minute question-and-answer period during a last-minute, one-hour committee meeting the day after Dions nomination was announced.Conservatives agree that Liberals did not respect a legislated requirement to involve the opposition in Dions nomination . We find very unacceptable the lack of meaningful consultation, said ethics critic Peter Kent, though emphasizing that he took no issue with Dion as a candidate and it is most important that we dont have a lack of continuity between commissioners.During the hastily-convened committee, Dion would not commit to completing ongoing investigations into the prime minister and finance minister if he got the job.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being investigated for the use of a private helicopter during his visit to the Aga Khans private island last year. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is being investigated to see whether he broke any rules by introducing a pension reform bill to parliament while still holding shares in his own pension company.One of the first things I would attend to (is) review the whole genesis of those investigations, Dion said. I would own the final result and therefore I have to assess what has been done to date to determine whether I am supportive of that, but abandoning an investigation completely without reason is not something I would do.Theres no guarantee the investigations will be completed before ethics commissioner Mary Dawson leaves her post on Jan. 8 and, more troubling for Opposition parties, theres no requirement for her successor to do so.Questions have been raised about Dions performance in previous roles. In 2014 Canadas auditor general found gross mismanagement in two separate case files during Dions tenure as Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. We did not do the work as we shouldve done it, but it was taking place in the middle of a crisis, Dion offered in committee.Kent boiled it down to Dion having been given a number of very challenging assignments in challenging organizations.But Duff Conacher, head of advocacy organization Democracy Watch, said, Were not going to see a future of high ethical standards if this guy is approved. I hope that the opposition party leaders will actually complain to the speaker that their privilege has been violated by this process.Well over a year ago, the government hired a headhunting firm, Boyden Ottawa, to conduct executive search services as part of the process. A contract that covers assistance with both the ethics and lobbying commissioners began in October 2016 and is valid until September 2018, at a value of just over $200,000.Dion said he was interviewed for the job about three weeks ago. A senior government official said letters were sent to opposition parties last Tuesday. House leader Bardish Chagger, who was in charge of the process, announced the nomination less than a week later, on Monday. Parliament could rise Wednesday and definitely would not sit past Friday.Theres a clear conflict of interest that the person running this whole operation, this whole hiring process, is also the spokesperson defending the prime minister on his ethical violations, and the finance minister, Cullen said of Chagger.Asked about those optics during committee, Dion wouldnt reveal whether or not he agreed this could be a conflict. I can assure you that in making decisions and in conducting the affairs of the office I would have complete independence of mind, he said.A final vote on Dions candidacy could come as early as Wednesday. Star Wars: The Last Jedi brings something new to the Star Wars franchise: an exceptional performance. All Star Wars movies end up being remembered, and this one is going to be remembered for Mark Hamill. Heres an actor who has spent a long time living with Luke Skywalker, being the guy who was in those movies, getting older, getting used to it, rebelling against it, carving out a place inside his head where he can have his own identity. And all of those 40 years of coming to terms with being Luke find their way into this performance. The movie begins maybe five or 10 minutes after The Force Awakens ended. Rey (Daisy Ridley) has found Luke on a remote rock of a planet, where he has lived like a hermit for long time. The last movie ended with the suggestion that Luke is the heavy artillery, the Jedi master who is about to get into the fight. But The Last Jedi immediately takes a different direction. Luke isnt interested. He wants no part of any star wars. He may have seemed like a contemplative philosopher at the end of the last episode, but dont let the gray whiskers fool you. Hes a bitter guy, who looks like Rutherford B. Hayes on a three-day drunk, and hes filled with self-loathing, cynicism and regret. He looks like what 40 years can do to a person, and the gung-ho kid of yore is nowhere to be found on that face. Now Playing: Behind the scenes: "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Video: LucasFilm Hamill is completely without compromise here. Theres no twinkle peeking out from between the stern words. There are no new lessons for the veteran to learn, because he has already learned them all, and they have led him to this miserable, solitary existence. What a brilliant turn by writer-director Rian Johnson to land Luke Skywalker in such a way, and what a committed piece of acting by Hamill, who gives this everything he has. As for the rest of the movie, its pretty good, not quite in the same league as The Force Awakens, but an improvement over Rogue One. It has the feel and atmosphere of a Star Wars movie and gets pulses going with a strong opening sequence, in which Poe (Oscar Isaac), who always needs a shave, leads a ragtag group of fighters against a fleet of elite starships. The Resistance faces steep odds throughout The Last Jedi. Basically, theyre losing the whole time. Still, they have one big advantage over the evil empire, and that comes under the category of faulty construction. Apparently every single device, ship or Death Star created by the Empire operates in a way that, if you just happen to hit one vulnerable spot, the entire thing blows up. Their engineers have just never quite figured a way around that. The Empires Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) is a large, cadaverous entity with an evil English accent and a long scar on his head that looks like he tried scalp reduction surgery and it just didnt take. His lieutenant is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who is just back from killing his own father, Han Solo. Ren doesnt feel all that great about what he did. He thinks he probably did the right thing, but hes just not sure. In a series of telepathic communications, Rey senses the good within him, even if the audience has no idea what shes seeing. Now Playing: The official trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Video: LucasFilm The Last Jedi has lots of moving parts, but the action mainly surrounds a couple of ambivalent men, Ren and Luke, and a couple of determined women, Rey and Gen. Leia, who are trying to save the galaxy. Its good to see Carrie Fisher again, alive through the magic of film. She looks a bit frail, a bit worn down, but then one of the running themes of The Last Jedi is the toll that endless conflict takes on the survivors, who live with the awful knowledge that victories are never final. Fisher is the soul of this series, and its hard to imagine who could ever take her place. The skillful plotting of The Last Jedi means there are lots of surprises, big and small. Whenever you think you know how things will play out, the movie pulls a reversal. Characters take turns being right and being wrong. Nobody knows everything. Johnson is likewise very smart in knowing when to play up the traditional Star Wars elements and when to spoof them. For example, Domhnall Gleeson plays a starched Empire general, and just when youre sure the movie is descending into accidental parody, Johnson reveals the character as intentionally ludicrous. As is often the case with Star Wars, a certain battle fatigue begins to set in after two hours, but Johnson possesses an instinct for when he has gone over his limit, and he varies or scales back on the space battles each time he needs to. In any case, it helps that Fisher, Hamill and to an extent Ridley ground the action in deeply wrought emotion. You dont see many sci-fi action extravaganzas that are about late-middle-aged disappointment, about wondering what its all about and whether any of it was worth it. Its this element that gives The Last Jedi an extra something, a fascinating melancholy undercurrent. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle Star Wars: The Last Jedi Starring Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Carrie Fisher. Directed by Rian Johnson. (PG-13. 152 minutes.) TORRINGTON A 34-year-old man accused of robbing a Thomaston Dunkin Donuts in August pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Superior Court in Torrington. Ernest J. Blais, of 49 Cypress Road, Windsor Locks, is charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree threatening, second-degree larceny, second-degree reckless endangerment, and second-degree breach of peace in connection with the case. According to an affidavit seeking a warrant for his arrest, Blais entered the Dunkin Donuts at 495 S. Main St. Aug. 20 and handed an employee a note, indicating he had a weapon and demanding the money in the cash register. When asked, he declined to show the employee the purported weapon and became agitated. He came around the counter and took the cash drawer, then left the store, according to the affidavit. According to the affidavit, police from Thomaston and other municipalities conducted an investigation and identified Blais as a suspect in the case, as well as in multiple area robberies. He was arrested and arraigned in Superior Court in Torrington Nov. 27, at which time the case was transferred to Part A proceedings. His bond was maintained at $250,000 at that time. Blais pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Attorney James McCarthy filed a motion to have his bond in the case reduced to $75,000 McCarthy said Blais may be unlikely to make bond, but the reduction would alter how he is categorized and treated while incarcerated. Blais had not failed to appear while past charges against him were adjudicated, McCarthy said. I feel the court can feel some assurance in his past record, said McCarthy. State Attorney David Shannon requested that his bond be maintained at $250,000 in the case. Blais is being held in lieu of $362,500 combined bond from a series of cases, including in Waterbury and Enfield, according to Bail Commissioner Sira Vogini. Judge John A. Danaher III took a middle ground between the two requests in his ruling and reduced Blais bond to $150,000 cash or surety. According to state records, among other charges, Blais is accused of conspiring to commit first-degree robbery stemming from an Aug. 21 incident. He was arrested Nov. 17 by Waterbury police in connection with the case and has pleaded not guilty. His case in Superior Court in Torrington was continued until Jan. 12. First-degree robbery, first-degree threatening, and second-degree larceny are all considered felonies in Connecticut, according to state records. Shannon said Blais faces a maximum of 25 years in the case considered Tuesday. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com TORRINGTON A Morris man accused of burning down a vacant lodge on Bantam Lake in October pleaded not guilty Tuesday at Superior Court in Torrington. Daniel Hunchak, 22, of Little Road, was arrested in November and charged with first-degree arson and third-degree burglary. State police and several area fire departments responded to 231 Bantam Lake Road, known as the Bantam Lodge, on the evening of Oct. 28 for a structure fire at an abandoned residence, according to an affidavit. Firefighters from Litchfield, Bantam, Morris and Bethlehem extinguished the blaze, but (t)he house and the garage sustained heavy structural damage and the house was uninhabitable due to the fire that occurred, Trooper Erinne-Rose M. Litwinczyk said in the affidavit. According to the affidavit, Hunchak told police he started two fires in the structure, which eventually grew out of his control. It wasnt intentional, I was just playing with fire. I didnt use gasoline or anything to start the fires, just flammable stuff that was in the house. I have always been fascinated with fire and have started fires in the past and put them out, mostly in my burn barrel or on my lawn, Hunchak said in the affidavit. He told police he was a member of the Morris Volunteer Fire Department for about six months. I tried my best to put the fires I started in the house out, but I was drunk and the smoke almost made me pass out and the fires grew too big for me to even put out. Im sorry(,) I didnt mean to cause any harm, he said, according to the affidavit. Police and the Morris Fire Marshals office determined the fires were purposefully lit . No accelerants were found on scene. (T)he nature and conditions of this fire subjected the responding firefighters to a substantial risk of bodily injury due to the quickly spreading massive volume of fire and the collapsing building, Litwinczyk said in the affidavit. Hunchak appeared briefly in court Tuesday and the pleas of not guilty were entered on his behalf. He is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 23. First-degree arson is a class A felony in Connecticut, punishable by a prison sentence of 10 to 25 years. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WINSTED Students showed off their skills and were celebrated Tuesday evening during the December meeting of the Winchester Board of Education. Maxwell Uber, 6, read aloud using a device that broadcast words for him, reveling in the attention of an audience that filled the P. Francis Hicks room at Town Hall. Asa Flint, Maxs father, said Maxwell has been diagnosed with autism and is non-verbal. He said that his son was doing well in school and loves to learn. It was a pleasure to see him showcase his skills Tuesday, he said. I loved it. It was great, said Flint. Diana Wachtel, 8, briefed those in attendance on her special education program. Diana was also diagnosed with autism and attention deficit disorder, her mother Lisa Wachtel said. She said Diana was excelling in the program, which helps her control her behavior and learn coping skills. She credited incredible teachers, who provide daily emails on Dianas progress. Shes doing very good, said Lisa Wachtel. The Pearson Show Choir also performed during the meeting, singing two holiday favorites. The children are preparing to share some festive cheer by caroling on Main Street Dec. 19. School psychologist Cassandra Murphy, a Canton resident, was also recognized for her work in the district Tuesday an unexpected and appreciated pleasure, she said. Director of Student Services Seamus Cullinan said Murphy had helped improve education at Pearson and in the district as a whole, including work on testing and the support of students. I cant thank you enough, said Cullinan. This is an opportunity for us to celebrate you and recognize all the hard work that youve done. Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley said Murphy was representative of the quality of staff in the Winsted schools. This is the caliber of staff member that we have here, and we want to make sure that our community knows that and celebrates that, said Brady-Shanley. Murphy said she enjoyed working with the diverse student body in the district and having support from her co-workers and the community. Thank you for the opportunity its been very exciting, said Murphy. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com The Committee on Foreign Affairs for the U.S. House of Representatives has called for a list of individuals and businesses in Cambodia who should be subject to sanctions and plans to review trade agreements with the country as part of a bid to pressure its government to reverse restrictions on democracy ahead of a general election next year. At a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers heard testimony concerning policies to support democracy and human rights in Cambodia from Kem Monovithya, the daughter of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) chief Kem Sokha, who was arrested in September for allegedly collaborating with the U.S. to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sens government. Kem Monovithya, who is also a member of the CNRPs permanent committee, noted that as a signatory to the Paris Peace Accords of 1991, which ended civil war and guaranteed free and fair elections in Cambodia, the U.S. has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that Cambodia does not fall back into an outright dictatorship, citing the charges facing her father, the dissolution of the CNRP last month, and a months-long crackdown on NGOs and the media. In addition to recent announcements by Washington that it was enacting visa bans on individuals in Hun Sens government responsible for limiting democracy and withdrawing financial support for the July 2018 elections, she called on the U.S. to place targeted financial sanctions on government officials through the Specially Designated Nations (SDN) list and through the Global Magnitsky Act. By placing Cambodian officials on the SDN list, the U.S. State Department and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the Treasury Department would block their assets and prevent U.S. nationals from doing business with them. The Magnitsky act, passed by Congress in 2012, was initially intended to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009 by prohibiting their entrance to the U.S. and their use of its banking system, but the scope of the act was expanded in 2016 to allow sanctions for foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses throughout the globe. Kem Monovithya also called for the suspension of all aid to Cambodias government, the continuance of democracy assistance programs for civil society, a review of Cambodias eligibility for preferential trade status, coordination with other importers of Cambodian goods to pressure Hun Sen to reverse course, and the convening of signatories of the Paris Peace Accords to review Cambodias violations of the treaty. The current oppression, if allowed to continue, will generate political instability as repressed dissent boils over; this will eventually trigger economic instability that will take the country backwards, she said. Without an effective response, Cambodias government will believe that international assistance and trade relationships are a one-way obligation, where [it] is entitled to foreign aid and investment but not obligated to fulfill any responsibility to defending its democratic stability and the rights and freedoms of its people. Lawmakers respond Following Kem Monovithyas testimony, Subcommittee Chairman Ted Yoho noted that the European Union, the U.S., Canada, and Japan account for more than 70 percent of Cambodias exports, and suggested that the countries could work together to pressure Hun Sen to end restrictions on democracy. Well also send the information to the Cambodian government that you either choose to do business with the United States of America following these principles that weve all signed on to [as Paris Peace Accord signatories], or you do business with somebody else, he said. The Florida congressman noted that Hun Sen had recently been courting Chinese aid and investment, which Beijing generally offers without prerequisites, saying I think its time we start playing that hand because we see the hand that China is forcing and its not in the favor of democracy. After the hearing was adjourned, California Congressman Alan Lowenthal told RFAs Khmer Service that the recent actions of Cambodias government were seen as very troubling. The situation is deteriorating rapidly and there must be responses now to Hun Sen or else democracy will be lost in Cambodia, he said. I think that out of today's hearing we will begin that discussion about what ... kinds of sanctions we can put on Cambodia. We need to talk to our friends in both Europe and also in Asia to see whether we can all work together. Its not just the United States, but weve seen that when sanctions have worked it was because the world all spoke with one voice. Lowenthal said that Hun Sens recent crackdown was part of a bid by the strongman, who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, to eliminate free and fair elections next year because hes concerned with the outcome following a strong showing by the CNRP during the countrys June commune elections. We must work with other nations to support the reestablishment of the opposition party, and we must send [election] observers, and we must hold Hun Sens feet to the fire that he agreed to free and fair elections, and now he doesnt want to hold [them], he said. What happens in Cambodia must be decided by the Cambodian people and right now the Cambodian people are being held hostage by the prime minister and the world must speak out. The European Union recently followed the U.S. in withdrawing funding for next years election. On Wednesday, Patrick Murphy, deputy assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, told reporters in Cambodias capital Phnom Penh that the U.S. is advising that these steps that have taken place here that have backtracked on democracy could be reversed, according to a report by Reuters news agency. The most senior U.S. official to visit since the CNRP was dissolved warned that Cambodia still had time before next years election to conduct an electoral process that is legitimate. During his visit, Murphy met senior officials but no government ministers. He also met civil society groups. Rejecting recognition Also on Wednesday, Hun Sen maintained that he does not need the international community to recognize the results of next years election, while delivering a speech to more than 10,000 garment workers in Phnom Penh. Whether we have the opposition party or not, the next election will proceed as planned, he said. Meanwhile, he said, democracy and the principle of pluralism in Cambodia must not be held hostage by anyone. Be aware that there is no mention in Cambodian laws, including the Constitution, that election results need to be recognized by any president of any foreign country or the Secretary General of the United Nations, he said. Our election is simply enough and legitimate, as long as Cambodian voters turn out to the polling stations and cast their votes. Last week, Hun Sen maintained that his country is governed by a multi-party democracy and said elections scheduled for next year would go on as planned, despite the recent dissolution of the only opposition party that posed a serious challenge to his rule. In addition to Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and the now-defunct CNRP, around 15 minor political parties are actively registered to participate in the countrys elections, but none have attracted a comparable number of supporters. Slightly more than 7 million Cambodians, or more than 90 percent of registered voters, turned out for commune council polls in June, which saw the CPP win nearly 51 percent of all votes and the CNRP receive nearly 44 percent, while the rest went to 10 other parties. Responding to Hun Sens speech on Wednesday, Kan Savang, coordinator of election observers for the Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said that while a ballot without the main opposition party can proceed, it will lack legitimacy. International sanctions have been mounted not only against the government but also the National Election Committee after the U.S. and EU cut assistance to this electoral body, he said. Japan, which is a key donor, I believe will reconsider its assistance as well. Any election conducted under the current political oppression will not be seen as free and fair, nor legitimate in the eyes of the international community. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. China on Wednesday marked the 80th anniversary of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre with black-clad soldiers, wailing sirens and doves, while the authorities placed rights activists in the city under surveillance ahead of President Xi Jinping's appearance at the ceremony. As military mourners presented eight wreaths to mark the eight decades since the atrocities at the hands of the Japanese army, state security police had also cast a security cordon around the city, detaining anyone seen as a potential troublemaker. "The police called me to have a chat, saying 'you know the score, tomorrow is a day of national remembrance,'" Nanjing-based rights activist Wang Jian told RFA. "[They said] 'the higher-ups have told us that we have to put you under house arrest'." Wang said he was given the choice between having a round-the-clock security detail follow him everywhere and watch his home, or to leave the city on an enforced 'vacation,' alongside state security police officers. "I had no choice but to agree to go with them, so they brought me out here to this farm yesterday, and I will stay here until lunchtime [Wednesday]," he said. Wednesday's memorial is only the third official event marking the anniversary of the massacre, tensions over which still affect ties between Beijing and Tokyo. Wang said he wasn't the only activist to be treated this way. "My friends have all had the same treatment," he said. "Personally, I think this government thinks of us as the enemy, but a national day of mourning should be for all citizens, and ordinary people should be allowed to take part, too." Shanghai petitioner Ye Guixiang said she had been detained after traveling to Nanjing to mark the massacre anniversary. "I had just gotten off the train when four police officers took my ID card away," she said. "There were so many police and plainclothes officers outside the station; they thought we were petitioning." "There were a few people from Shanghai there, and they put us all aboard a big bus and drove us back there," Ye said. She said she is now in unofficial detention at a conference center somewhere in the city. "They have locked a few of us up in here, and they have given me nothing to eat or drink, nor will they let us sleep," she said. "I shouted for help a few times, but nothing happened." Anti-Japanese protests Beijing regularly accuses Tokyo of failing to atone for its imperialist past, and major anti-Japanese protests have erupted across China in recent years, linked to territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea. But the Chinese Communist Party has also been quick to shut down protests, which sometimes result in attacks targeting Japanese goods and businesses, to prevent them spiraling out of control. The tone of Wednesday's ceremony was far from strident, however, and Xi himself made no speech. Referring to the massacre as a "great catastrophe" perpetrated by "Japanese militarism," a former top leader told mourners that China and Japan should nevertheless work together to move on from the past. "Eighty years ago, Japanese invaders perpetrated the tragic Nanjing massacre, and 300,000 compatriots were killed," Yu Zhengsheng said in a speech at the ceremony. "War is a mirror that gives people a better understanding of the preciousness of peace." Describing China and Japan as "close neighbors who can't move away," Yu called for both countries to build on their "long, rich history" of ties to move forward. Chinese nationalist Li Yiqiang said this is still difficult for many in China, where nationalistic sentiment is still widespread. "It will be hard for anything to change, because ... not everyone in China relies on the government [for their opinion], or cooperates with them," Li said. "It doesn't really matter if Japan makes some kind of gesture; ordinary citizens will could still arrive at a different opinion." An international military tribunal in Tokyo estimated in 1946 that more than 200,000 people were killed when Japanese troops went on an orgy of killing and mass rape that targeted civilians, women and children. China claims that the death toll is closer to 300,000. Contemporary reports said at least 20,000 women and girls were raped, amid reports of other widespread atrocities including torture and sexual mutilation. While Japan's government has officially acknowledged the massacre, without citing a death toll, some high-ranking Japanese figures still deny it ever happened, sparking further anti-Japanese sentiment in China. Xi's administration declared Dec. 13 a National Day of Remembrance in 2014, and spoke in support of Chinese historical accounts of the atrocity. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hubei are moving ahead with the subversion trial of rights website founder Liu Feiyue after holding him for more than a year, RFA has learned. Liu Feiyue, who founded the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, was detained on Nov. 17, 2016 under criminal investigation for "incitement to subvert state power," by police in Hubei's Suizhou city and placed under formal arrest on Dec. 23. The case was accepted by the Suizhou Intermediate People's Court on, his defense attorney Wen Donghai told RFA. "The case is now with the Suzhou Intermediate Court, but ... we haven't had the indictment yet; we'll have to wait a while for that," Wen said. "There were no additional charges, and the only charge listed is that of incitement to subvert state power, according to my sources," he said. A friend of Liu's who asked to remain anonymous said that a second charge, that of "leaking state secrets" linked to Liu's posting online of a local-level government document, was dropped by the state prosecutor's office. "There is some good news; after Liu's family contacted the procuratorate, the procurator told them that the more serious charge had been dropped," the friend said. He said the subversion charge was likely linked to an article on China's political system that Liu had posted to his website. Regular police harassment The article has now been deleted, and only articles about people's individual rights remain, he said. Liu has been targeted for police harassment since he founded the group in 2006, and has been routinely detained or placed under house arrest during politically sensitive events. Volunteers at the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch offices had previously said that Liu also stands accused of receiving overseas funding to run the group. Under China's new cybersecurity law, the administration of President Xi Jinping has vowed to step up "monitoring, defending and handling cybersecurity risks and threats originating from within the country or overseas sources, and protecting key information infrastructure from attack, intrusion, disturbance and damage," according to the text of the law. The authorities increasingly use allegations of involvement by overseas organizations to target peaceful dissidents and rights activists. Xi has repeatedly warned against "hostile foreign forces" attempting to overthrow Communist Party rule by infiltrating China with "Western" religious practices and ideas like democracy, constitutional government, and human rights. More than 300 lawyers, law firm staff, rights activists, and relatives were detained, questioned, or placed under surveillance or other restrictions in a nationwide police operation targeting the legal profession and related activists launched in . Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A grand jury indicted suspects involved in November bank robberies at First State Bank in Fremont and Security Home Bank in Malmo on Tuesday, according to the FBI. Three suspects, Warren D. Vasser, 44, Warren D. Copeland, 27, and Angelo C. Douglas, 25, were indicted for their execution of a bank robbery that occurred at First State Banks East Military Avenue branch on November 15th. The bank robbery took place at approximately 10:35 a.m. on November 15th where it was reported by Fremont Police that several individuals entered the bank and took money from the cashier drawers and bank vault. The men then fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of money and no bank employees or customers were injured during the robbery. Following the robbery, a witness saw the suspects drive away from the area in a vehicle described as a white colored sport utility vehicle. Shortly after an FPD Lieutenant saw a vehicle matching that description which was occupied by three individuals driving south on Highway 275 toward Omaha. A description was dispatched to the Nebraska State Patrol, and after a short pursuit that ended at the Village Pointe Shopping Center in Omaha, the three individuals were placed into custody by the NSP. Following the arrest, all three men faced charges of robbery, use of a weapon to commit a felony, possession of stolen property, and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person. The FBI also announced that they indicted four suspects for their roles in the execution of a bank robbery at Security Home Bank in Malmo that occurred in late November. According to the bureau, James C. F. Dismuke, 20, Jonathan R. Franklin, 33, Vincent L McGee, 27, and Corita Y. Burnett, 44, were indicted for the execution of the robbery that took place on November 27th. According to the FBI, following a robbery of the Security Home Bank in Malmo, Saunders County sheriffs deputies arrested two people within minutes of the 8:30 a.m. robbery. Two more were nabbed following a chase involving Yutans police chief, Omaha Police and the NSP that ended in Douglas County. Four people were arrested for their alleged involvement in an armed bank robbery Wednesday morning in Malmo, a town of about 120 people northeast of Wahoo, the FBI says. On Nov. 22, a Saunders County Sheriffs deputy told the Wahoo Newspaper one person went into the Malmo bank with a gun and left with cash, then all four left the scene. According to the FBIs Omaha Field Office, in conjunction with FBI Greater Omaha Bank Robbery Task Force, Omaha Police Department, Saunders County Sheriffs Office, Fremont Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol, Wahoo Police Department, Yutan Police Department, and other task force members were instrumental in the successful apprehension of the suspects. This should be an overwhelming signal to everyone that through the incredible partnerships we have with our other law enforcement partners, we have the best of the best working tirelessly to stop these acts in our community, Special Agent in Charge Randall Thysse of the FBI Omaha Field Office said in a released statement. The FBI Greater Omaha Bank Robbery Taskforce is the culmination of talented law enforcement professionals who are dedicated to bringing these types of individuals to justice, and they prove that this partnership works. North Korea has issued orders severely restricting the use of portable computer devices and memory chips in government and other offices following the recent thefts of laptop computers holding sensitive information, North Korean sources say. The directive, which includes a ban on the use of old laptop computers, was issued in September, a source in Chagang province, bordering China, told RFAs Korean Service this week. It was delivered to all town offices and post offices, train stations, and offices of the military, the ruling party, and judicial authorities in Chagang, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. This was a security measure taken to protect the states confidential information, since laptop computers and other portable devices are frequently being stolen, the source said, without describing the kinds of restrictions currently in place. A laptop computer in the chief clerks office in nearby South Pyongan province had been stolen in June, and measures were finally taken because of this incident, he said. Laptops had earlier been stolen from Yanggang provinces statistics bureau in March 2014 and from Chagangs city planning office in April 2015, the source said. And in June 2016, three Hitachi laptop computers were reportedly stolen from Military Police Office No. 3 in Sinuiju city, across the river from China. Many thefts go unreported Though state investigators tried to track the missing computers, they could not get them back, the source said, adding, Many more computers are probably missing but are not being reported, because their owners are worried theyll be punished. Also speaking to RFA, a source in Yanggang province said that a separate order issued in June had authorized random searches by police of portable computer devices, including laptops and tablets, carried by citizens on the streets. In the past, the judicial authorities had only stopped people to inspect personal mobile devices and portable storage devices, the source said, also speaking on condition he not be named. City and provincial security agents had inspected tablets, laptops, and desktop computers by visiting people in their homes, he said. Following the order issued in June, security agents are not allowed to carry out searches unless they are in uniform, though, the source said. This is because thieves will often disguise themselves as security agents to conduct fake searches in order to steal laptops and tablets, he said. Reported by Sunghui Moon for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Richard Finney. Lao authorities are tightening controls at a crossing on the border with Thailand, posting warning signs and interviewing travelers in a bid to end the exploitation of young Lao citizens for sex or labor in the neighboring country. Speaking to RFAs Lao Service, a Lao border officer at the Vangtao-Song Mek checkpoint in Champassak province said that officials now try actively to help travelers before they cross the border. We are campaigning and giving them information, and we are distributing flyers to anyone going into Thailand, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. We may also refuse permission to cross to anyone who is underage, he said. Signs posted at the border crossing now warn travelers lured into Thailand by the promise of high-paying jobs, Do not listen to strangers who can entrap you in prostitution and hard labor. We can help you with counseling, shelter, food, and job training, the signs say. Lao officers working on the border also take time to speak directly to young Laotians hoping to leave the country, asking their age and the reasons for their travel, RFAs source said. Authorities tell would-be emigrants to be sure they have the proper documentation--including passports, visas, and work permits--required to find jobs in Thailand. Many Lao workers are being sent home every day, RFAs source said. Most of them dont have work permits. They only have passports, and they go there as tourists and then work illegally. So we tell them that it is dangerous and problematic to go to Thailand like that. Many work without papers According to Thailands Ministry of Labour, there are around 170,000 Lao workers working legally in the country out of around 2.7 million documented migrant workersmainly from Myanmar and Cambodia. While the ministry does not provide figures for undocumented workers from specific countries, it estimates that 2 million migrants are working in Thailand without papers. Reports suggest that more than 200,000 of those illegal migrant workers are from Laos. Meanwhile, Laos is suffering from a shortage of workersincluding skilled workersbut Laotians prefer to work in Thailand because they receive nearly double the pay they get at home. On June 23, Thailand enacted a royal decree imposing jail terms of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht (U.S. $2,941) on illegal workers in the country. The decree was suspended following backlash from employers and migrant advocates, but thousands of workers had already fled the country, fearing arrest and deportation. Thailand has been widely criticized by rights groups for its treatment of migrant workers, who are often exploited by unscrupulous employers and labor brokers. Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking, the U.S. State Department said in its 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report. Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney. Myanmar journalist Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, in an undated photo. Myanmar police have arrested two domestic journalists working for Reuters news agency for violating the state secrets law by allegedly illegally possessing government documents, the government and a relative of one of the men said Wednesday. Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested for violating Section 3 of the 1923 Official Secrets Act for allegedly intending to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine state to foreign agencies abroad, said a statement issued by the Information Ministry. The papers included reports, a list of weapons, and a draft map, according to the police report filed by Lieutenant Zaw Naing from the No. 8 Security Unit. Police apprehended the pair at about 11 a.m. Tuesday on Road No. 3 in the commercial capital Yangon and took them to Htauk Kyant Police Station. They have been denied bail. Pan Ei Mon, wife of Thet Oo Maung, confirmed the news and said Reuters had not provided any details about the men's arrests. No one at the Reuters bureau in Yangon would comment on the matter when contacted by RFAs Myanmar Service, and officials at the Htauk Kyant Police Station could not be reached. The news agencys report on the arrests quoted Reuters global communications chief Abbe Serphos as saying: We are urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of their arrest and their current situation. Stephen J. Adler, the news agencys president and editor-in-chief issued a statement that read: Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work. We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately. Reuters has not yet informed the Myanmar Press Council about the arrests, said Myint Kyaw, a member of the organization which investigates and settles press disputes and protects media employees in Myanmar. We heard that they were charged because of some secret papers related to the attacks in August in Rakhine, he told RFA, adding that it is not unusual for reporters to have documents related to the news they cover on their computers or mobile phones But we have to see if they used the confidential facts from the documents ethically or not for their reporting, Myint Kyaw said, adding that he believes the men were arrested and charged become some authorities were not pleased with their reporting on northern Rakhine. Finding documents related to the Rakhine attacks has now become a reason to charge them, he said. We are worried that they will be imprisoned. Both military and government authorities dont like some of the media reports on the problems in Rakhine, and we suspect that they arrested these two reporters because they have a grudge against them. The MPC will hold a meeting on what to do about the two reporters after it receives details from Reuters and from the police, he said. Myanmar medias freedom will definitely deteriorate if these reporters are punished, Myint Kyaw said. US embassy issues statement The U.S. embassy in Yangon issued a statement on the arrest of two Reuters journalists on Wednesday. We are deeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters after they were invited to meet with police officials in Yangon last night, it said. For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely, the statement said. We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists. Wa Lone has worked for Reuters about 18 months, covering a variety of stories, including the Rohingya refugee crisis in northern Rakhine state, while Kyaw Soe Oo has been with the news agency for about four months. An estimated 646,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the region to neighboring Bangladesh during a recent brutal military crackdown which began on Aug. 25 following deadly attacks by Muslim militants. Rights groups and some Rohingya have accused government soldiers of committing atrocities against them, including summary executions, rape, torture, and arson. The Information Ministrys statement also said authorities would take disciplinary action against two Security Police Brigade officers who had recently returned from duty in northern Rakhine state. They, too, are accused of violating the Official Secrets Act. String of detentions, lawsuits The arrests of the two Reuters reporters are the latest in a string of detentions of and lawsuits against journalists in Myanmar since de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party came to power in April 2016. In November, a Myanmar court sentenced two foreign journalists reporting for Turkish state media, along with their interpreter and their driver, to two months in prison for violating a law regulating the use of aircraft after they used a drone to film near parliament in the countrys capital Naypyidaw. All four were also charged under the Import-Export Act for importing a drone, an offense that carries a three-year prison sentence. The court in Naypyidaws Zabuthiri township also charged the two journalists under the countrys Immigration Act for allegedly conducting illegal activities inside Myanmar an offense punishable by six months to five years in jail. The number of defamation suits filed under Section 66(d), a statute that prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine, has soared under the current government. Myanmar journalists and rights groups have called for the statutes abolishment, arguing that government and military officials are increasingly using it to silence their critics, thereby threatening freedom of the press. Reported by Kyaw Soe Lin and Thinn Thiri for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. During its Monday evening meeting, the Fremont Health Board of Trustees asked Fremont Healths Senior Leadership Team to continue exploring strategic partnerships with three premiere medical health systems: Nebraska Medicine, Nebraska Methodist Health System and RCCH Healthcare Partners. In the upcoming weeks, the goal is for Fremont Healths Leadership to continue familiarizing themselves with these three organizations, along with learning how each entity is uniquely positioned to potentially partner with and add value to Fremont Health Medical Center, Fremont Health President and CEO Pat Booth said. In late November, Booth spoke about the possibility of a strategic partnership happening, but didnt speak about what organizations were involved. With the help of our consultants at Juniper Advisory, Fremont Health reached out to a number of prominent local, regional and national health systems, and we have been very pleased by the strong level of interest in Fremont Health as demonstrated by the time and energy these large systems have invested in this process, Booth said. "Following a review of preliminary proposals, a number of systems were invited to make presentations to the Board of Trustees in late October." Booth said that the decision to pursue strategic partnerships was made this summer following a comprehensive strategic and financial planning process, which lead to the Fremont Health Board of Trustees restating its overall commitment to Fremont Healths mission Improving the Health of People in the Communities we Serve. Given the many transformative changes occurring in our healthcare industry and in our highly competitive regional market, the Board of Trustees made a decision to begin exploring potential mutually beneficial partnerships with larger health systems, Booth said. This decision was shared with all Fremont Health employees and medical staff members in early July. As part of this process, the Fremont Health Board of Trustees established key objectives for a strategic partnership. Written proposals were submitted to Fremont Health consultants in late November. These proposals offered a variety of approaches to partnership as well as how each system would help the hospital achieve those key objectives, Booth said. For example, Fremont Health and its physicians and staff have been working over the years to expand and diversify programs and services. Therefore, one essential objective is maintaining and strengthening Fremont Health as a "health system" that provides high-quality care and service throughout the region, Booth said. Bill Vobejda, vice president of administration for Fremont Health, said the process has included evaluating more than three healthcare systems, but as of now, the Board of Trustees views Nebraska Medicine, Nebraska Methodist Health System and RCCH Healthcare Partners as the most viable options. These are the three organizations that offer the best opportunity of coming to a mutually beneficial partnership, but this is still a part of a bigger process that will carry on into the New Year, Vobejda said. Early in 2018, we will probably have a better idea of where we are, but it is a Board (of Trustees) process and they will continue to see what they think is best in terms of our next step. At the end of the day, if a partnership doesnt align with the hospitals future vision, Vobejda said the decision could be made to leave the organization as is. As part of the process, the Board continues looking at whether a partner is the best option, and they continue to evaluate the role a partner would play, he said. But the Board can also leave open the option to remain independent if that is the best choice for our future. A Richmond jury convicted a 23-year-old man Tuesday of voluntary manslaughter after five hours of sometimes-boisterous deliberations. Joseph Boyle, 31, of Chesterfield County, was killed Jan. 29. His body was found in a red Jeep that had crashed into a tree just outside Foxwood Apartments in South Richmond. He had been struck by four bullets in the back; another dozen or so riddled the car with holes. Boyle and his best friend Arden Wesley Wes Searles III, who testified, planned to steal from their drug dealer, Stephen D. Green, that day. After receiving $130 worth of cocaine and heroin, the two friends drove off and Green pulled out a gun and fired 17 shots, authorities said. He was our familys gentle giant, his brother-in-law, Shannon Wakefield, said of Boyle, who was called Joey throughout the two-day trial. Boyle towered over 6 feet tall, Wakefield said, but he wouldnt have hurt a flea. The jury came to a unanimous verdict Tuesday on four of the five charges against Green, 23, of the 1700 block of West Moore Street, who was initially charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle and two gun charges. Members of the jury could be heard from the courtroom yelling at one another and seemed undecided up until the last moments as they shuffled in and out of the courtroom several times. The trial was only expected to last one day, but jurors asked to go home Monday night after hearing testimony until 6 p.m. and come back to deliberate Tuesday. After indicating they had reached a verdict about 3 p.m., a deputy asked if the jurors were ready to deliver it. No! several jury members shouted. The 12-member group eventually convicted Green on a lesser murder charge of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to one year in jail and/or a fine. They acquitted Green of the attempted murder of Searles and the two gun charges, and remained deadlocked on the final charge of maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle. Wakefields in-laws moved to Tennessee, and were in poor health, he told the jury before it began deliberating Greens sentence. They had four children, but Joey was the only one with the Boyle name, Wakefield said. My father-in-law wanted you to know: There is no more of what hes done. Joey was it. Green has a prior criminal record, though nothing violent. He has been convicted of failure to appear and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, and felony charges of eluding police and grand larceny dating back to 2012. His aunt Felecia Green said despite all theyve heard about Green, thats still my nephew and I love him. You all are hearing the bad side, she said. There is a good side. Green has a 3-year-old who needs a father, Felecia Green said. On both sides were losing, she said, apologizing to the Boyles family for their loss. Nobody wins here. The jury recommended a five-year sentence. Circuit Court Judge Gregory L. Rupe sentenced Green to five years in prison Tuesday. Three incoming members of Virginias House of Delegates and a possible fourth are calling on Gov. Terry McAuliffe to better fund the states public schools in his last budget proposal. Dels.-elect Schuyler VanValkenburg of the 72nd District, Debra Rodman of the 73rd, Cheryl Turpin of the 85th and Shelly Simonds, who is in the midst of a recount in the 94th District, sent a letter Wednesday to the governor urging him to support increased funding for local school divisions. In the letter, the four ask McAuliffe to implement the Virginia Board of Educations recommendations to amend the states Standards of Quality, which a major portion of state funding is based on. The SOQ are refigured every other year, and last year the education board asked for about $600 million more per year in K-12 funding. The request was not met. With your support for these revisions, Virginia can help shift the burden of funding our schools away from localities and take the next step in restoring the equitable and necessary funding for all children in the commonwealth to receive a high-quality public education, the letter said. State education funding is still far below what it was before the Great Recession. Funding per student by the state has fallen about 11 percent since 2009, according to an analysis published in August by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a research organization based in Richmond that focuses on economics and policy. Public schools have more than 10,000 fewer staff relative to student enrollment, according to the same study, and the state share of education spending has dropped about 4 percent as localities fill the gap. As a state weve been pretty neglectful of educational issues, VanValkenburg said Wednesday. The economys recovered and school funding has not. These school divisions have very real needs. All four of the Democratic letter writers have ties to education. VanValkenburg teaches government at Glen Allen High School in Henrico County, Rodman is an anthropology professor at Randolph-Macon College and Turpin teaches at Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach. Simonds, who trails Del. David E. Yancey, R-Newport News, by 10 votes pending the outcome of a recount, is a former teacher and current member of the Newport News School Board. The recount is scheduled for next Tuesday. We want to make sure the budget reflects what we ran on, VanValkenburg said. In the letter, they specifically point out underfunding in rural and high-poverty communities. Rural divisions have seen the state share of education spending drop about 5 percent since the Great Recession, according to The Commonwealth Institute analysis, while a high-poverty division like Richmonds funding per student has tumbled 16 percent. The latter prompted Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to write a similar letter to the governor in late November requesting more money for Richmond Public Schools. Brian Coy, the governors director of communications, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In response to Stoneys letter two weeks ago, Coy declined to comment on the governors budget proposal but said that McAuliffe believes quality public education is essential to a healthy economy and will do everything he can to support Virginia schools in his outgoing legislative agenda. Peg Kennedy was a new nurse when the Hotel Pathfinder exploded. Then living in Wahoo, Kennedy was called into Fremont Health Medical Center after a natural gas explosion tore through the stately six-story hotel on Jan. 10, 1976. Kennedy remembers when victims were brought into the hospital. She first worked in the emergency department. So many people were hurt, some of them terribly and some beyond our help, she said. She followed patients up to the critical care area. I took care of some of those folks for months and they got to be like family, she said. Soon, Kennedy will leave a different family the people at Fremont Health, where shes spent her career. After 42 years, Kennedy is retiring as vice president and chief nursing executive. Kennedy, who grew up on a farm southeast of Yutan, was a child when she knew she wanted to become a nurse. I cant remember ever wanting to be anything else, Kennedy said. I had an aunt who was dear to me, who attended at my birth, and she knew I had an interest as a young girl and she fostered that. The aunt a school nurse took Kennedy to school with her, which piqued Kennedys interest. At Christmas and for her birthday, Kennedys parents would buy her Cherry Adams childrens books featuring a nurse named Kathy Martin. Kennedy, who still has those books, went to Nebraska Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. While there, Kennedy said she worked side by side with nurses and gained a lot of real-life and practical experience. I really believe it helped me with one of the most important things about nurses and thats their critical-thinking skills, Kennedy said. A lot of the tasks nurses do take technique and expertise I dont minimize that but what really sets nurses apart from someone whos good at tasks, like starting an IV, is their ability to critically think through patient situations. And while shed not wish for anyone to be critically ill, Kennedy was most drawn to caring for patients in those situations. Kennedy would enter a whirlwind of activity in 1975, graduating from nursing school on June 20; marrying her husband, Joe, on June 28; taking her boards (two days of testing) on July 7-8; and beginning her career at Fremont Health on July 14. You do these things when youre very young, she said, smiling. Kennedy hadnt intended to come and work at Fremont Health. She had a job on the dialysis unit in an Omaha hospital, but her husband got a job with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in field laboratories south of Mead. So she applied and was hired at Fremont Health. Kennedy credits Helen Hoesing, then vice president of nursing, for her mentorship. She was my first and best mentor, Kennedy said. She set me on a path to add to my education. And Kennedy would make many additions. While working at Fremont Health, Kennedy earned bachelors and masters degrees in health care administration; board certification in nursing administration; and achieved fellow status in the American College of Health Care Executives. While I never intended to come here, my decision to stay all these years was very intentional, she said. The place grew and flourished and helped me grow and flourish. Kennedy remembers being directed by some very skilled nurses at Fremont Health after the Hotel Pathfinder exploded. And she remembers the patients, including one small woman who was on a ventilator for months before she died. Her poor little body just finally gave up, Kennedy said. It was a really sad day for us. Do nurses cry? All the time, Kennedy said. When? When we would get children in who were desperately sick or hurt or a SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) baby, Kennedy said. Id keep it together when I was in the room and talking with the parents, but then I needed to go to a private place and cry it out. Shes had many good moments, too, however. Some of the happiest times are working with the people here their joys and sorrows, new babies, new grandbabies and retirements, she said. She remembers one November, during the Great American Smoke Out, when the respiratory therapy department made large buttons, stating, Kiss Me, I Dont Smoke. Kennedy put on one of the buttons. An obstetrics nurse then put on lipstick and planted a big red lipstick print on Kennedys cheek. We all had a good laugh, Kennedy said. I washed my face and I took the pin off. Kennedy will miss the people the most and the project work of bringing up a new unit. But I figure I cant be selfish, she said. Ive done so many things over the years. Its someone elses turn. In July, Kennedy announced her pending retirement and said her focus since then has been on transitioning her work, responsibilities, and even her 42 years of head knowledge something not necessarily found in a file folder. My focus has been on transitioning so this organization will be, not only as good as when I was here, but poised to be even better. Thats my fondest wish, she said. Kennedys husband, Joe, retired from Hormel Foods Corp., where he worked for 32 years. His last job there was in cost accounting. The Kennedys are expecting their first grandchild in April. They have two children, Adam, a research scientist, and his wife, Cathy, a civil engineer, who live in Durham, North Carolina, and Abigail, an architect lives in Sacramento, California. Kennedy said she plans to take a little time for herself and her husband. She plans to quilt and make jewelry. Shes considering a second career. Nothing set in stone yet, she said. Kennedy and her spouse also are planning a big trip to Ireland in 2019 to go back and find his roots. She smiles about all the plans. The people who Ive supervised directly for years know that Im real focused on written action plans, she said. I have them at home for our personal life and Ive had them here. So no one here would be surprised that I have things pretty much planned out to 2019. Virginia Sens. William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin County, and Glen H. Sturtevant Jr., R-Richmond, have introduced a bill to prohibit the use of state funds to pay for experiments on dogs and cats that are considered painful. The bill comes after the senators also wrote to Gov. Terry McAuliffes office in October, asking for details on state grants that pay for experiments on dogs that are classified as painful by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Theres a big difference between lab rats and Labrador retrievers, Sturtevant said. Washington-based watchdog group White Coat Waste Project launched a campaign to bring to light so-called maximum pain experiments at the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in South Richmond. The medical center has done experiments on dogs to study cardiac health in humans that were classified under the USDAs system as category E, which involves subjecting the animals to potentially painful or stressful conditions without any pain relief involved. Learning of these experiments, Sturtevant said, was disturbing in and of itself, but what was even more concerning was finding out that nearly $100,000 in state taxpayer money through state grants was used to support those experiments. I think most folks are probably unaware that it happens, this sort of testing on mans best friend, he said. Currently the legislation, Senate Bill 28, only applies to those experiments on dogs and cats that are considered category E by the USDA, but Sturtevant said he and Stanley are considering broadening its reach to category D as well. He expects that, once it becomes common knowledge that these experiments are conducted in Richmond in the first place, the bill will receive support from other lawmakers and successfully get through the General Assembly, which is set to start its 2018 session on Jan. 10. GO Virginia set a high bar for its first financial grants for regional economic development initiatives, but the Richmond region will have to try again early next year to win approval of a pair of projects that didn't make the first cut. The Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board, better known as GO Virginia, approved five projects on Tuesday - three in Northern Virginia and two in Hampton Roads. The projects will receive more than $2.2 million in state funds aimed at fostering collaboration among local governments, higher education and business on ideas to set the stage for economic growth. However, the state board suggested that the region reaching from the Richmond metropolitan area to the North Carolina border refine the two projects it proposed before reapplying for approval in February. One of the proposed projects would be led by Virginia Commonwealth University to establish a pharmaceutical accelerator program to commercialize new manufacturing processes for drugs. The other would create an apprenticeship academy at the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Prince George County to train workers to work on technologically advanced equipment, as well as retrain transitioning military veterans to become machinists. "We will do our darnedest to provide them the information they need to be accepted in the next round," promised Wilson H. Flohr Jr., president of the Growth Capital Jobs Foundation, the support organization for the regional council. The state-backed, business-led GO Virginia initiative took a deliberate approach to assessing 12 proposed projects from four regions, ultimately asking most of them to try again with more information, and in some cases more local matching funds to demonstrate their commitment. The board also debated some of its own policy boundaries on what to fund, while deferring projects involving broadband communications to the upcoming session of the General Assembly to consider first. "The way we approached this from the beginning was we wanted to have high standards," Chairman John O. "Dubby" Wynne said in an interview after the board meeting in the Capitol. "You're dealing with public funds." Wynne also is a member of the Virginia Research Investment Committee, another state-backed initiative aimed at encouraging collaboration among higher education institutions on research with commercial potential to diversify the state's economy. The committee approved two grants on Monday out of 10 submitted in its first round of funding, awarding a total of $1.4 million for research projects led by Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, respectively. The Virginia Tech project received about $1.2 million to develop products that improve the security of wireless communications from cyber-attacks. The U.Va. project received about $256,000 to develop an artificial pancreas that can reduce variations in blood sugar in people with diabetes. A third project was considered by the committee but not accepted on Monday, Wynne said. The five projects approved by the GO Virginia board are all aimed at developing a talented work force to serve emerging industries - from digital shipbuilding and cybersecurity in Hampton Roads to high-tech fabrication in Northern Virginia. Wynne called the projects "relatively low-risk" investments in developing a talented work force for potentially high-paying jobs. The Richmond-area projects also were well-received by the board and its staff at the Department of Housing and Community Development, but they lacked either details or matching funds to demonstrate local commitment. For example, the VCU-led effort to commercialize research on pharmaceutical engineering is "a bold idea," said Bill Shelton, the state agency's director and GO Virginia administrator. The proposal for a $500,000 grant also was backed by an existing $60 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other sources. It also would have created an estimated 325 high-paying jobs over three years at various sites, including the former Boehringer-Ingelheim chemical plant in Petersburg that closed in 2014. However, Shelton said the proposal lacked a clear business plan or strategy for turning research on pharmaceutical engineering into commercial products. It also lacked matching funds from the six participating localities in the Richmond and Petersburg areas. "It's not where it needs to be to make a final decision," he said. The staff and board also weren't ready to accept the region's proposal for more than $400,000 to establish an apprentice academy at the Commonwealth Centre for Advanced Manufacturing. The academy would have had two parts - a pilot program for training workers in "mechatronics" for technologically advanced equipment and a program that would expand on an existing partnership to train transitioning veterans at Fort Lee as machinists. Flohr expressed confidence that the regional council will be able to satisfy the concerns expressed by the board and staff over the proposal, including documentation of employer commitments to hire newly trained workers. "Most of the questions we should be able to answer pretty easily," he said. Holidays are always a busy time of the year and the library calendar is just jam-packed full of events and activities for all community members. We have several upcoming events that I wanted to highlight this week. All of our events can be found online on our calendar http://fremontne.evanced.info/signup or listed on our events on Facebook! Following last weeks article, I wanted to mention that we have received feedback from community members regarding our programming. Many people made comments that they wanted to see more author visits. Coming December 16th, from 11 a.m. 11:30 a.m., author Matt Leatherwood will be presenting his book The Perfect Stone. There will be an interactive storytime by Matt. We encourage all community members to attend, not just library card holders. Author visits are a great way for children to learn about not only reading books, but writing them as well. Sunday, December 17th, at 1:30 p.m. we will have Storytime Yoga in the large auditorium. Join childrens yoga instructor Kai-Helin Cooper for a Christmas-themed Storytime Yoga! While this event is aimed at children, all ages are welcome. Pre-registration is encouraged due to space limitations for 15 participants. We will wrap-up Christmas with Storytime with Santa and Mrs. Claus on December 23rd at 2:30 p.m. Bring your little ones down to read a story with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. We will do a few crafts, take pictures with Santa and maybe an elf, and enjoy hot cocoa and snacks! As your houses start to fill with family and friends, just remember, you can escape down to the library for a stress relieving visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Door prizes will be awarded to 4 children attending the event thanks to the Friends of Keene Memorial Library! Dont forget, signup for the Inaugural Winter Reading Challenge started December 1st. Keene is participating in this challenge, spearheaded by Mark Cuban from Shark Tank. We are joining over 100 other libraries around the world to track our reading during the month of January 2018. We are challenging each of our cardholders to read at least 465 minutesthats just 15 minutes a day!and track those minutes using Beanstack. Go to http://keene.beanstack.org/ to register. If the 100 libraries reach the total program goal, Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban will donate $25,000 to the organization First Book, which provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need. We could also win part of $10,000 to donate towards a worthy literacy agency in our area. Lets pay it forward and start reading, Fremont! A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. A federal judge says her courtroom is not the place to determine whether the taking of private property for the Mountain Valley Pipeline amounts to what a lawsuit called a government-sanctioned land grab. U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Dillon dismissed part of a lawsuit filed by landowners in the pipelines path. The landowners had claimed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions approval of the project was an unconstitutional overreach that gave Mountain Valley authority to use land it does not own through the controversial process of eminent domain. That challenge was made in the wrong court at the wrong time, Dillon wrote in an opinion issued Monday. Although she dismissed FERC from the case, Dillon kept alive a second part of the lawsuit that calls into question the manner in which Mountain Valley has attempted to obtain easements for its natural gas pipeline to pass through the land of objecting property owners. Mountain Valleys surveys of parcels along the route without permission from the owners represent an unlawful taking of the land with no compensation, the lawsuit claimed. Dillon said she will hear additional arguments on that assertion. Were pleased that she allowed that claim to go forward, said Justin Lugar, a Roanoke attorney who represents the 17 landowners who filed the lawsuit. No court date has been set. Developers of the 303-mile pipeline, which would pass through the Roanoke and New River valleys on its way from West Virginia to Pittsylvania County, have obtained many of the governmental permits needed to begin construction leaving court challenges as one of the few remaining options for opponents. Filed in July, Lugars lawsuit challenged FERCs authority to sub-delegate the power of eminent domain a legal process that allows the taking of private land for public uses, such as a pipeline or a highway to a corporation like Mountain Valley that stands to collect a profit. Its FERC run amok, Lugar said. They get to do what they want, with impunity. Shortly after FERC issued whats called a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the pipeline in October, finding there was a need for the natural gas that would be shipped through the 42-inch diameter steel pipe, Mountain Valley filed an eminent domain lawsuit against about 300 property owners standing in its way. A similar action was taken this week by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which received FERC approval on the same day as MVP. Even before it ruled, FERC was accused in the lawsuit of lacking the proper standards to determine whether public benefits outweigh the rights of private landowners. Without proper oversight from Congress that dates back to the 1940s, FERC has run wild in the years since, and has unconstitutionally sub-delegated the power of eminent domain to private parties seeking private profits, the lawsuit states. Lugar said he plans to appeal. A FERC spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday, citing the agencys policy of not talking about pending litigation. In her 16-page opinion, Dillon sided with attorneys from the federal agency and Mountain Valley, who had argued that the proper venue to challenge FERC was through a federal appeals court, not her Roanoke-based district courtroom. Under that process, those who object to one of the agencys decisions have 30 days in which to ask for a rehearing and a stay of the order while the case remains pending. Only after that process is completed do opponents have the avenue of seeking review from an appellate court. But before they can do that, there has to be a final decision to appeal. Critics of the process have argued that FERC often issues whats called a tolling order that extends the matter indefinitely while it takes more time to consider the rehearing petitions often allowing construction to begin while blocking any legal challenges to the order. If you go with the FERC system, youre stuck there and you get no remedies whatsoever, Lugar said. In an effort to avoid that trap, Lugar argued that his lawsuit did not dispute a single regulatory decision, but rather was a constitutional challenge to the framework of FERCs authority to decide what constitutes a sufficient public use. Dillon saw it differently. Plaintiffs own complaint and their standing arguments make clear that they are concerned not with some abstract constitutional violation, but with the fact that their land will be affected by MVPs proposed pipeline, the judge wrote. Those objections should go to a federal appeals court, Dillon said in finding that she lacked jurisdiction to hear three of the lawsuits four counts. The one count that Dillon did not dismiss asserts that Mountain Valley took property and data from landowners during a surveying process used to map the pipelines route. Surveyors often collect valuable information and, occasionally, tangible items such as historical artifacts and samples of water and soil. Like an invasive non-consensual blood draw or an unauthorized disclosure of private medical records, the information and data that MVP collects about a landowners property is not readily ascertainable or available from public records, and amounts to an unlawful private taking, the lawsuit states. And that, critics contend, violates the Virginia and U.S. constitutions. The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Omaha attorney Steve Grasz to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ending a contentious but relatively swift journey to a seat on the federal court. The 50-48 vote completed a process that began with President Donald Trumps nomination of Grasz in August and the outcome marked the 10th Trump appellate court nomination confirmed by the Senate during the Republican majoritys rush to reshape the federal judiciary. By comparison, three Circuit Court nominations by Democratic President Barack Obama were confirmed during his first year in the White House when Senate Democrats held a majority in 2009. Grasz, a former chief deputy Nebraska attorney general, had been rated as not qualified for the federal bench by the American Bar Association, whose standing committee on the federal judiciary questioned his ability to separate his role as an advocate from that of a judge. That assessment set the stage for a battle sharply divided along partisan lines. His nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 11-9 party line count, then squeezed past a potential filibuster on a 48-47 vote to invoke cloture Monday and proceeded to Tuesdays showdown vote. Sen. Ben Sasse guided the nomination through the process as a member of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Deb Fischer gathered support from her more senior position in the Senate. Both senators had recommended Grasz to the White House. Despite the ABAs concerns, which included Graszs close ties with political leadership in Nebraska, his nomination was lauded by former Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and Deborah Gilg, who had been Obamas U.S. attorney for Nebraska. Grasz has been general counsel for the Nebraska Republican Party and treasurer and legal counsel for Pete Ricketts for Governor. During his confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee, Grasz repeatedly assured senators he would adhere to judicial precedent and not allow his personal views to interfere with his judgment. Several times, he specifically said he accepts the abortion rights precedent set by Roe v. Wade, which he described as a clear, existing and binding precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court. Personal preferences and beliefs of a judge should have no role, he told the committee. Grasz, 56, is senior counsel at Husch Blackwell in Omaha and prior to that he was Nebraskas chief deputy attorney general for nearly 12 years. With Graszs nomination confirmed, two more Trump nominations to seats on federal appeals courts are making their way through the Senate. Both Sasse and Fischer immediately hailed Tuesdays result. Grasz exemplifies the qualities the American people seek in a judge: keen intellect, even judicial temperament and steadfast commitment to the rule of law, Fischer said. Sasse said Nebraskans will have a voice on the 8th Circuit committed to an impartial and independent judiciary someone who understands that judges dont write laws. Gov. Pete Ricketts added his congratulations. The U.S. Senate has elevated a great constitutional lawyer to the bench, who will take a thoughtful and fair-minded approach to issues. Appalachian Power has agreed to purchase electricity from a solar generation project as it continues a shift from coal-burning power plants to renewable energy. The 15-megawatt Depot Solar Center will be built and operated in Campbell County by Coronal Energy, Appalachian said in an announcement this week. It will mark the utilitys first venture in industrial-scale solar power. Appalachian Power is excited to announce the Depot Solar Center as we move forward with the diversification of our generation portfolio, Chris Beam, the companys president and chief operating officer, said in a statement announcing the deal. Once the photovoltaic solar panels are installed on a 102-acre site, Appalachian will purchase the power they generate under a 20-year contract. The Rustburg plant is expected to be operational by September 2019, connecting directly to Appalachians power grid through an existing substation at the site. Coronal Energy is headquartered in Pasadena, California, and has a regional office in Charlottesville. The companys proposal was one of 37 made after Appalachian invited bids last year. Appalachian, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, still obtains about 75 percent of its power from coal. But the utility has been shifting in recent years to more wind, hydroelectric and natural gas sources to serve 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. CALIFORNIA Massive wildfire continues to grow LOS ANGELES The fifth largest wildfire in California history expanded, ripping through dry brush atop a coastal ridge while crews struggled to keep flames from roaring down into neighborhoods amid fears of renewed winds. Firefighters protected foothill homes northwest of Los Angeles, making progress in residential areas while much of the fires growth occurred to the north in unoccupied forest land, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said Tuesday. Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended into the week, with a possible increase in gusts Thursday into Friday. Tens of thousands of people remain evacuated, including many from the seaside enclaves of Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria. MISSOURI Thousands of court cases under review ST. LOUIS Ferguson, Missouri, is reviewing nearly 8,000 pre-2014 municipal court cases to determine which should be thrown out, a process expected to take about six months. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry on Tuesday heard a status update on the consent agreement between Ferguson and the U.S. Department of Justice. The agreement requires Ferguson to remedy mistreatment of black residents by the St. Louis suburbs police and court system. Part of that effort is a court amnesty program. City Attorney Apollo Carey says 7,933 cases dating to before Jan. 1, 2014, are being reviewed. Generally, only those for more serious crimes like assault or drunken driving will be pursued. The fatal August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown prompted a Justice Department investigation that resulted in the consent agreement, reached in 2016. NATO Secretary-general has term extended 2 years BRUSSELS NATO on Tuesday extended Secretary-General Jens Stoltenbergs tenure for two more years as head of the worlds biggest military alliance, setting him up to be its longest-serving civilian leader since the end of the Cold War. Stoltenberg, 58, has held the post since 2014 and his term has been marked by a spike in global security challenges, including a resurgent Russia and the rise of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Stoltenberg said he was honored and grateful to have his term prolonged. MEXICO Leftist front-runner pushes amnesty idea MEXICO CITY Presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador doubled down Tuesday on his controversial proposal to consider amnesty for criminals as he registered to seek the leftist Morena partys nomination for Mexicos July 1 election for president. As the front-runner in election polls, he is assured to win his partys nomination, though the two-time contender has already attracted skepticism by mentioning the possibility of amnesty as a way to rein in Mexicos violence, which has reached record highs. Lopez Obrador showed no inclination to back away. We will debate and consult, mainly with victims, the possibility of amnesties for criminals who opt for re-adapting themselves, he said. Critics have said such amnesties dont work and encourage gangs to be violent. Roanoke police are searching for a person who robbed the Wells Fargo Bank on Hershberger Road on Tuesday evening. When officers arrived at the bank in the 1300 block of Hershberger Road Northwest shortly before 6 p.m., the suspect had already fled, police spokesman Scott Leamon said. The suspect brandished a firearm and demanded money. No injuries were reported. No other information was immediately available about the suspect. Anyone with information can call the Roanoke Valley Crime Line at 344-8500. Tips can be anonymous. One of Vintons oldest and most historically meaningful properties took center stage Tuesday as community members came together to discuss the future of the Gishs Mill site. The town, which hopes to revitalize the now-vacant property, showcased concept drawings that illustrated how the building could be revamped to house a mix of new uses ranging from a boutique hotel to a restaurant to a climbing gym. The ideas, presented for public input at a community meeting Tuesday night, are the result of a planning study initiated last spring. Vinton leaders hope the conceptual images will help inspire interest from private developers who can play a part in bringing new life to the building. This is such an important piece of property for Vinton, said Mayor Brad Grose, noting it both has a long history and occupies a prominent spot along the high-traffic Gus Nicks Boulevard gateway. The building is one of the first things that visitors using that corridor see when they arrive in Vinton. And, like our mothers told us, first impressions are so important, Grose said. The original mill, established on the banks of Glade Creek by the Gish brothers, was an early economic engine for the area in the 1800s and inspired the name Gishs Mill that the town carried before it adopted the title of Vinton in 1884. An image of the mill is still featured in Vintons town seal. More recently, that property was home to Holdrens Country Store, a family-owned feed and supply shop that was in operation for over 30 years before it closed in 2015. Parts of the building still date back to the original mill. The town bought the site after Holdrens closed and is hoping to attract a developer interested in revitalizing the property while preserving its history and local character. Tuesdays concept plans, developed working with Hill Studio, explore a variety of mixed-use ideas designed to showcase the sites potential as the search for a private partner gets underway. Possibilities considered included lofts, retail space, a small hotel, a restaurant with outdoor dining overlooking the creek, a visitors center, and a community market with space for demonstrations and classes. Some designs also emphasized outdoor recreation. Ideas included converting the propertys siloes into climbing walls, building a swinging bridge across the creek or courting an outfitters shop that complements the local greenway trail that will one day pass directly by the site. Rob Lyon, a longtime Vinton resident, said he was impressed with the direction the town was taking and the potential to see the Gishs Mill property revived as an attractive destination point. Theres a lot of momentum in Vinton right now, so hopefully it will happen, he said, referencing the towns other recent successes with projects like the old Roland E. Cook Elementary School and William Byrd High School redevelopments. Its exciting to think about, he added of the Gishs Mill project. It could be a really nice place one day for people to go have dinner or hang out with friends. The town plans to launch a formal request for proposals soon to seek applications from interested developers. Assistant Town Manager Pete Peters said officials hope to get that underway shortly after the new year. E.W. Jackson loves the "tone of patriotism" set by President Donald Trump. But for the Trump agenda to succeed, he said Tuesday, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., needs to go. Jackson stopped by the Richmond Times-Dispatch during a visit to the capital city to meet with pastors and visit the Fairfield Court public housing community a day after announcing his run in the GOP primary for Senate. Jackson - his party's unsuccessful 2013 nominee for lieutenant governor - said he wants to help pass the Trump agenda and is the only GOP candidate who can beat Kaine because he'll assemble a coalition of evangelicals, veterans and African-American voters. "I agree with the president's agenda and I want to see his agenda implemented," Jackson said, singling out his support for tax cuts and higher military spending. "We're still the best place in the world for people to live. We've got a lot to be grateful for. A lot to be proud of. We don't need to tear each other apart with hatred. And I think the president has set the right tone even though it's difficult for him because there are people who certainly hate him." And, Jackson said, he wants a Virginia that reflects Judeo-Christian values. "We see that slipping away." Jackson, 65, is pastor of The Called - Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake. He's known for his socially conservative views on issues like gay rights, and in the past denounced gays as "very sick people" and "perverted." But it's 2017 now, and E.W. Jackson said he regrets his past tenor. "I regret using any words that hurt people or that make people think I hate them, or that make people think I look down on them," he said. So while his Christian faith means he opposes legal same-sex marriage, "I am going to endeavor in this campaign to express that in a way that calls attention to my faith, where appropriate, without implying some sort of hostility against gay people or transgender people. Because I don't believe that. And that's one of the many lessons I've learned." He also noted that some of his past statements were "said not in the context of a campaign but on Christian radio where I'm speaking as a pastor and minister to Christians." Were he to see someone bullying a gay or transgender person, he would step in "and physically fight for them," Jackson said. As a boy, Jackson got into different kinds of fights. He was raised in foster care and by age 10, growing up in Chester, Pa., he said, he was in a gang that engaged in "violent fights" with neighborhood boys. His life changed after his father, a Roosevelt Democrat and welder with a sixth-grade education, took custody of him and imposed strict rules, he said. "The only thing that kept me away from that kind of stuff was a dad who said 'No, you're not going to be a part of it.' " Jackson eventually went to Harvard Law School, worked in talk radio and been a pastor since around 1980, the time he and his wife began their switch from Democrat to Republican because they felt the Democratic Party was incompatible with Christianity. The Republican platform "was more consistent with my values. The focus on family. The acknowledgement of God. The idea of personal responsibility. "I'm conservative because I was raised by a proud black man who had very strong conservative values," Jackson said. "He took the world as he found it, and he understood that you're not owed anything in life. You have to earn your way." The youth center at Jackson's church is named for his father, William Jackson, who died in 2002. In October, the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University found Trump's approval at 33 percent in Virginia. Last year, Virginia was the only Southern state that the Clinton-Kaine ticket carried. This year, Democrats swept the state's 10 most populous cities and counties as they clobbered Republicans in contests for state offices and state House of Delegates. Yet Jackson said he's the only GOP candidate with any chance of beating Kaine in the November 2018 general election, in which Kaine is seeking a second term as senator. Evangelicals "Evangelicals play a major role in Virginia electoral politics, and the problem is, they have often felt ...that they don't have a candidate," Jackson said. "That there's nobody who represents their values. So they're not excited." "If they were to vote in the numbers that we need them to vote in, I think they would present an unstoppable political force." Jackson, a Vietnam-era veteran who did not serve in combat, said he also hopes to attract veterans' votes. And he will make a special appeal to blacks, he said. "I really am convinced that we may be on the cusp of a major shift in the black vote," he said. "I have a private-sector plan for ending the cycle of poverty in America's inner-cities, in Virginia's inner-cities, and I'm going to be taking that message aggressively into the inner-cities of Virginia and to the black community. So I'm hoping to draw an unprecedented number of black votes and minority votes, more than perhaps any Republican has in the recent history of our state." Vernon Robinson, who ran a super PAC called the National Draft E.W. Jackson for Senate Committee, said Democrats' support for abortion rights and opposition to school choice makes them vulnerable in the black community - but Republicans generally don't try to go after the black vote. "The problem is that the Republican brand is destroyed in the black community," Robinson said during an interview Saturday at the Republican Party of Virginia's annual retreat in Bath County. Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and an evangelical leader in Virginia, last week endorsed GOP candidate Corey Stewart for the Senate nomination. "I think he made a premature decision," said Jackson, who spoke to Falwell after the endorsement. "He made clear that ... his endorsement of Corey Stewart is not opposition to E.W. Jackson." In addition to Jackson and Stewart - a local government leader from Prince William County who nearly beat Ed Gillespie in this year's GOP primary for governor - state Del. Nicholas J. Freitas, R-Culpeper, and Ivan Raiklin of Fairfax County are running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate. Jackson announced his campaign Monday on the John Fredericks radio show. In response to a question, and citing no evidence, he suggested that Stewart had ties to Muslim extremists. Jackson declined to go into more detail Tuesday, saying he's known Stewart for five years and considers him a friend. "It wasn't meant to be an attack," he said. The real test will be how voters respond to the candidates' positions on issues, he said. One issue where Jackson and Stewart align is their support for Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama, who has been under fire following a series of allegations that he sought sexual relationships with teenage girls while he was in his 30s. Stewart flew to Alabama on Sunday to campaign for Moore. Jackson said if he lived in Alabama he'd vote for him. "The allegations against him ... I don't think they are all credible. I think they're somewhat questionable," Jackson said. "And they're so old. I mean, my goodness gracious, how far back do you go? "The statute of limitations runs out on trying to hold things against people unless they've committed a felony. I mean, killed somebody or something. But trying to go back and dissect people's backgrounds and all of that, I just think it's not fair to a human being." The Fremont Area Alzheimer's Collaboration supports University of Nebraska Medical Center as they see patients for Alzheimer's Study. Our latest program work with Dr. Murman, UNMC, is called GeneMatch. It consists of a simple swab inside the cheek who through DNA can tell who will be subject to Alzheimer's 10-15 years from now. Those who sign up will get a kit from GeneMatch confidentially. Individuals between 50 and 75 are eligible. The study called Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative Generation Study will involve 80 sites, it's lead by the Phoenix based Bahner Alzheimer's Institute and drug makers Novartis and Amgen. To quote Dr. Murman, "We are much more optimistic we'll be more successful at the earlier stage." And Dr. Petersen, Mayo Clinic says, "If we catch Alzheimer's in the early stages we may be able to delay its progress in terms of years." Dr. Murman also stated, "The medicines...would be like treating people to reduce cholesterol in order to prevent heart disease." Those interested in the study can contact www.endadnow.org/genematch or submit their names on www.alzheimers-fremont.org. For brochures call 402-721-3726. Marv Welstead, Honorary Chairperson Fremont FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - When most folks decorate the exteriors of their houses for Christmas, putting up lights, blow-ups and other figures can be a bit of a chore. For 17-year-old Josh Mattice, a senior at Riverbend High School, working on his familys holiday display and syncing their lights to music has been a pure blessing. Thats because doing the work to sync Christmas songs and patriotic favorites took Joshs mind off the real battle hes waging right now, against the leukemia he was diagnosed with in May. It really helps to have something that I like doing that takes my mind off it all, said the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps leader who has had to put his dream of attending VMI and serving in the military on hold for a bit. Its helped me to keep my spirit up. Joshs mother, Kerrie Mattice, mentioned how much her sons participation in the familys stunning Christmas display has meant to him when she got in touch about the Christmas lights and decorations being up again this year. I joined the family one recent evening to hear about Joshs determination to beat cancer and eventually follow his dreams, and how much creating a holiday display has helped. Except for the frequent visits to the cancer clinic at the VCU Medical Center, and the toll that aggressive chemotherapy takes on himhell get three years of treatmentJosh is a typical high school senior. Hes intensely patriotic and loves the work he does with the JROTC, carrying the flag recently with Spotsylvanias combined JROTC units in the countys Christmas parade. He wants to further his studies. Kerrie and husband Scott Mattice note that teachers, administrators and other staffers at Riverbend High have gone out of their way to help Josh make classes, tests and other activities fit with his frequent chemo treatments and the toll they take on him. His school day is often shortened and he has flexibility with tests. Scott Mattice described the treatment this way: They basically are waging war on all the cells in his body to get the leukemia. Then they build him back up with blood transfusions and other things to get him well enough for the next bombardment. There are often complications, such as a recent trip to the emergency room because of intense pain caused by some of his medications. Josh said its tough during and just after the chemotherapy treatments, with nausea and feeling weak his constant companions for stretches. But his family members say hes a trouper, not often complaining. Josh said one thing he does notice is the effect the steroids have on his appetite. Ill get cravings out of nowhere, he said, his father chiming in about the shrimp he just had to have a week or two ago. His grandmother, Rosalie Molloy, notes that she often fixes three-egg omelets that disappear quickly, as do the sub sandwiches and double cheeseburgers that Joshs mom says he sometimes requests late in the evening or early in the morning. The family notes that its not just their oldest son who is fighting this, but the family as a unit. Joshs brother Caleb is 16 and a junior at Riverbend. Most young people getting diagnosed with leukemia are much younger than Josh, said Kerrie Mattice. But weve found a few other families dealing with it to get and give support. Scott Mattice said they greatly appreciate the financial help they get with gas, groceries and more from the Fairy Godmother Project, which assists families facing pediatric cancer. The two parents, who both work for government agencies, are thankful they have good insurance, and that their superiors have been understanding of the extensive amount of time they must spend out of the office to care for Josh. As for the bill, we reached our insurance deductible a few months into this, but it gets crazy to see the bills submitted go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the father said. Ask Josh how he copes with it all, and he falls back quickly on one simple phrase he understands a lot more these days: take one day at a time. There are good days and bad days, but it helps to be with friends at school and in JROTC, he said. It makes him feel good when cars queue up out in front of the familys house at 11316 Enchanted Woods Way, just off Gordon Road in Spotsylvania, to see the lights flash to the music they can tune in to on their radios. It takes me several hours to program when and how the lights will blink to the music, said Josh, noting that he gets a real feeling of accomplishment watching the results as the extensive display flashes to the music. Its one of the things that has kept me going, he said. To learn more about Josh Mattices determined battle to beat leukemia, go to his Facebook page, Josh Nukes the Leuk. Left-wing activists in Charlottesville are encouraging Unite the Right counterprotesters who have been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury to not comply with the summons. At a protest outside the federal courthouse in Charlottesville Wednesday morning, approximately two dozen activists stood behind a large banner that referred to the alleged deliberations of the grand jury as a witch hunt. Star Peterson, a victim of the car attack that occurred on at the intersection of Fourth and Water streets on Aug. 12, said she has been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. I will not be bullied, she said. The attack resulted in the death of another counterprotester, Heather Heyer, 32, and scores of injuries. Members of the activist collective Solidarity Cville said they are alarmed that Peterson and other victims of the attack have been summoned to appear before the jury, and believe that their testimony could be used against anti-racist activists who protested the white nationalist rally this summer. According to Ibby Han, a local activist, a U.S. attorney has said the grand jury is deliberating whether to indict James Alex Fields Jr., who local prosecutors have already charged with second-degree murder for the car attack, on federal charges. It is shameful that the most vulnerable members of our community are being singled out by law enforcement, Han said. Its is a secretive procedure no lawyers, no judge. Just the prosecutor and the grand jury. Peterson said her summons has been rescinded, but was initially concerned that she would not be allowed to bring an attorney into the secret hearing. She and others said they are worried about being prosecuted for refusing to comply with the subpoena. The prosecutor may ask any questions, and they're not obligated to reveal the subject of the investigation. Historically, they have been used as a tool of political repression to surveil and incriminate social movements, Han said. A blogpost from the anti-fascism website It's Going Down referenced in flyers promoting Wednesdays protest, says people should be wary of trusting federal prosecutors. The same law enforcement who rely on the violence and white supremacy of the state can never be relied upon to serve justice against white supremacists. It is vital to look at this situation from this perspective, the blog post says. It goes on to say that non-cooperation is the strongest and safest option for activists. We want to acknowledge that all of us deeply wish to see justice for Heather Heyer. We want to see justice for those injured by James Fields and other white supremacists on Aug. 11 and 12. But, how can we ever trust the state to deliver that to us? Following her own remarks, Han read a statement submitted by one of the people subpoenaed but who wished to remain anonymous. Being in Charlottesville is gut-wrenchingly hard, she said, reading from the statement. Sometimes there's no way to avoid driving by the street where a Nazi tried to kill me or by the statue where some of the people I love most in the world were surrounded by a torch-bearing mob," the statement continued, referencing the Aug. 12 car attack and a white nationalist march at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11. Seeing cars like the one that hit me makes me catch my breath again and again. I'm surrounded by reminders of one of the scariest days of my life. I refuse to sell out the people I love. We've been burned by torches, pepper-sprayed and run over. When contacted last month, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia said he could not discuss the grand jury. The spokesman, Brian P. McGinn, did not immediately respond to a phone call Wednesday morning. Last month, a Milwaukee-based YouTube user by the name of Daniel Duerst filmed what he said were FBI agents serving him a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury in Charlottesville. Duerst, whose YouTube account features dozens of videos from protest events across the country, including the rally in Charlottesville, said he later provided the federal agents with a flash drive that included his videos from the Unite the Right rally. The description of a YouTube video documenting his interaction reads, I have the agent on video stating that these video files should satisfy the subpoena, so hopefully they stay gone forever. The Nebraska Public Service Commission should clarify its decision on the Keystone XL pipeline in order to head off potential appeals by opponents, a lawyer for pipeline builder TransCanada told the commission Tuesday. Commissioners approved the pipeline last month, but not the companys preferred route through Nebraska. In choosing an alternative route instead, opponents argue the commission overstepped its jurisdiction and deprived landowners and other groups of due process. James Powers of Omaha, attorney for TransCanada, told commissioners Tuesday they could erase those concerns by allowing the company to file an amended application for the alternative route, which would enable the commission to issue a new final order. Such an order could address any issues before they reach the courts in the form of a legal appeal, Powers said: The time to resolve it is now. Powers made his pitch during an hourlong hearing at the Public Service Commissions downtown Lincoln office. Attorneys for groups opposing the pipeline landowners, environmental groups and Native American tribes were allowed to argue against TransCanadas request. David Domina, an Omaha lawyer representing many opposing landowners, said TransCanada is asking the commission to hop over state law and language in the companys own application with the new request. Nebraska law only allows the commission to consider a single route at a time, and TransCanadas application only sought approval of the companys preferred route, Domina said. Further, his clients were denied access to evidence related to the alternative route, and people along that route didnt receive proper notice that their land might be involved. Thats a lot of hopping, Domina said. I dont want to be a kangaroo. And I dont want anybody else in this room to be a kangaroo, either. TransCanadas 275-mile preferred route was the focus of a court-style hearing in August, but on Nov. 20, the commission opted for a slightly longer route known as the mainline alternative. That route would cut farther east, then run parallel with the existing Keystone pipeline for about 95 miles. It would cross 11 counties: Keya Paha, Boyd, Holt, Antelope, Madison, Stanton, Colfax, Butler, Seward, Saline and Jefferson. The pipeline would move Canadian oil bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast from Hardisty, Alberta, to a terminus in Steele City, Nebraska. The commissions five elected members are expected to respond to TransCandas request Dec. 19. Shortly after the founding of our nation, American citizens engaged in a debate about what kind of country they and later generations would live in. No one understood the value of rural Americans more than Thomas Jefferson. Writing in a letter to John Jay, the author of the Declaration of Independence stated, Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands. Then serving as secretary of state, Jefferson understood that the products of rural America, through trade, would be our connection to the rest of world and lay the groundwork for our freedoms. That sentiment still rings true today, and I am proud of the work done in the Senate and by the administration to support and promote the prosperity of rural America. Nebraska is the second largest ethanol-producing state in the country with 25 ethanol plants that have the capacity to produce more than 2 billion gallons of renewable fuel annually. Biofuel contributes $5 billion to Nebraskas economy every year, and Nebraskans fill more than 1,300 full-time jobs related to its production. As a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I was happy to see that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the finalized 2018 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) and 2019 biomass-based diesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The final rule set the total renewable fuel volume at 19.29 billion gallons. This included 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuel and 4.29 billion gallons of advanced biofuel. These volumes provide clarity for Nebraskas ag producers and innovators focused on the future of biofuels. Moreover, the final rule illustrates a commitment to rural America. It will continue to foster investment in the Americans who feed the world and provide renewable energy solutions to match our countrys energy needs. Good agriculture policy also relies heavily on trade that is both smart and fair. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Nebraska ranks fifth in the country in the value of its agricultural exports. Over 90 thousand jobs rely on exporting Nebraskas high-quality products through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I support fair trade because it helps Nebraskans provide for their families. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with President Trump at the White House and expressed my support for trade agreements. During our conversation, I highlighted the significant role the NAFTA plays in expanding agriculture exports and creating manufacturing jobs in the United States. I urged him to safeguard the competitive advantage our agriculture producers and manufacturers have worked so hard to build as his administration negotiates with our North American trade partners. As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, I also met with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and again emphasized the value of NAFTA to rural America. I look forward to continuing these discussions with the president and his administration in the weeks to come. Rural America puts food on tables all over the world and serves as the foundation for a healthy, growing economy. For our country to continue moving forward, we need to ensure that our farmers and livestock producers have stable and dependable markets for their products. I work every day to make sure that continues to happen. Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. The tax reform bills recently passed in the House and Senate have noble and admirable goals higher wages, more take-home pay, and more jobs. However, tax reform may have unintended consequences for a vital portion of our local and national economy: the nonprofit sector. In addition, the House version of the tax reform bill includes a provision that would allow nonprofits to actively engage in the political arena for the first time in more than 60 years. Nonprofits are charitable organizations that are exempt from paying federal income taxes under section 501(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Theyre exempt because they provide a public good such as sheltering the homeless or feeding those without food. Nonprofits have tremendous economic impact. Roanokes Council of Community Services determined the economic impact of area nonprofits in a 2010 study. Among their findings: n 120 survey respondents reported raising and spending more than $220 million annually. n 50 percent of the money that funds the missions of the nonprofits in the region comes from outside of the community. This is the equivalent of getting a $110 million grant every year. The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission calculates that this $110 million creates an additional economic impact to the community of $183 million each year. A 2008 study, Virginias Nonprofit Sector: An Economic Force, published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, the Connect Network in Richmond, and Richmonds The Community Foundation, found the following: n Virginias nonprofit sector is the second-largest employer among Virginia industries. n Virginias nonprofits annually generate $30.7 billion in revenues. n Between 1995 and 2005, nonprofit employment in Virginia grew nearly two times faster than for-profit employment. Nationally, the nonprofit sector contributed $878 billion to the economy in 2012, or 5.4 percent of GDP, according to a 2014 study by the Urban Institute. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nonprofit sector employs 11.4 million people, or more than 10 percent of the American workforce. The reason for the concern about the impact of tax reform on nonprofits is the proposed doubling of the standard deduction which families can claim when they file their taxes. On its face, this sounds like a good idea who wouldnt want to double the amount of income they can deduct, and lower their taxes? However, by doubling the standard deduction, it may have the unintended consequence of discouraging charitable giving. Fewer people would need to itemize their charitable gifts to reduce their taxable income, and may just stop making those charitable gifts to nonprofits altogether. Indiana Universitys Lilly Center has determined there could be a decline in the number of taxpayers who itemize on their returns from an average of 40 million a year to as few as five million, and that charitable giving could decline by more than $13 billion a year. Similarly, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimates that individual charitable giving could decline by between $12 and $20 billion in 2018, or between 4 and 6.5 percent. These forecast declines in charitable giving could be devastating to the nonprofit sector not only in southwest Virginia but across the country, because these organizations rely on charitable giving to survive. Tax legislation that discourages charitable giving can only be seen as a job killer, not a job creator. One solution to this problem would be for the tax bill to include a stand-alone charitable deduction for all taxpayers. This would encourage everyone, not just the wealthy, to make charitable contributions. The problems dont end there. Since the 1950s, the Johnson Amendment, named for then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, has encouraged the public trust in 501(3) entities by prohibiting them from partisan campaigning. The Johnson Amendment protects the independence of charitable nonprofits. This allows these organizations to work effectively with legislators of all parties to advocate for public policy issues that advance their mission. In an era in which there is no shortage of partisan politics and campaigning, it is important to preserve the ability of charitable nonprofits to devote their resources to advocating for the public good. Preserving nonprofit independence and incentivizing charitable giving are long-standing tax policies embraced by the federal government and by both major parties for decades. A healthy, nonpartisan and robust nonprofit sector, fueled by the great American tradition of charitable giving, is vital to job creation and growth of the Virginia economy, and our national economic well-being. Editor's note: The original commentary included a photo of the wrong David Perry. DEFENSE Trump signs $700 billion military budget into law WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law a sweeping defense policy bill that authorizes a $700 billion budget for the military, including additional spending on missile defense programs to counter North Koreas growing nuclear weapons threat. But theres a catch. The $700 billion budget wont become reality until lawmakers agree to roll back a 2011 law that set strict limits on federal spending, including by the Defense Department and they havent yet. The law caps 2018 defense spending at $549 billion. The 2018 defense bill allots about $634 billion for core Pentagon operations and nearly $66 billion for wartime missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. The funding boost pays for more troops, jet fighters, ships and other weapons needed to halt an erosion of the militarys combat readiness, according to the bills backers. It also grants troops a 2.4 percent pay raise, slightly higher than what the Pentagon sought. NORTH KOREA Tillerson softens U.S. position on negotiations WASHINGTON Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday softened Americas stance on possible talks with North Korea, calling it unrealistic to expect the nuclear-armed country to come to the table ready to give up a weapons of mass destruction program that it invested so much in developing. Tillerson said his boss, President Donald Trump, endorses this position. We are ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk. And we are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions, Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think tank. He said the North would need to hold off on its weapons testing. This year, the North has conducted more than 20 ballistic missile launches and one nuclear test explosion, its most powerful yet. EPA Agency to investigate pricey phone booth WASHINGTON A government watchdog will examine whether the head of the Environmental Protection Agency misused taxpayer money by purchasing a soundproof booth for making private phone calls from his office. The EPAs Office of the Inspector General confirmed the latest investigation Tuesday, following a request by congressional Democrats. It will be at least the third probe launched into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitts actions since President Donald Trump appointed him earlier this year. Pruitt spent nearly $25,000 on the custom-made privacy booth. He told a congressional oversight committee last week the purchase was justified because he needs a secure phone line to communicate with the White House. None of Pruitts predecessors used a similar setup. SAN FRANCISCO Mayor dies suddenly; 1st black woman elevated SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco native London Breed became the citys acting mayor Tuesday following the sudden death of Mayor Ed Lee, and is the first African-American woman to lead the city in the midst of a seemingly endless technology driven economic boom. Breed, 43, is a lifelong San Francisco resident who was raised by her grandmother in the citys predominantly black and lower-income Western Addition neighborhood, part of the same district she now represents as a city supervisor. She said she and Lee bonded over their shared experience of growing up in public housing. He was from the dawn of his career an advocate for the powerless, Breed told reporters and a crowd of several hundred city workers who gathered to honor Lee in City Hall. Lee died Tuesday at 65 after collapsing while grocery shopping. Roanoke school leaders heard a positive report Tuesday on the outcome of the divisions decision to outsource many its operations over the past several years. Administrators pointed to successes in all of the areas where the school board has contracted with outside companies to provide food services, busing, substitute teachers, crossing guards and nurses. Laura Rottenborn, a member of the boards audit committee, said she credited the largely favorable outcomes to the close monitoring by board members and staff. I think we have largely prevented those findings, Rottenborn said. The audit committee has made it a practice of regularly reviewing the outsourced services to ensure its goals are being met. Substitute teaching services were examined most recently, in a report that found Source4Teachers is generally meeting the divisions expectations, though the cost savings initially predicted havent materialized. Source4Teachers took over hiring and placement of the districts substitutes in January 2015. A persistent problem recognized in the audit and reported to the board Tuesday is difficulty filling teacher vacancies. When the district managed substitute teachers internally, it filled 92 percent of requests for substitute teachers. The fill rate under Source4Teachers held steady at first and then last year fell slightly, to 91 percent. Source4Teachers biggest success has been its improved rate at filling instructional assistant vacancies. There was a 58 percent fill-rate before the services were outsourced but under Source4Teachers it has risen. Last year, 90 percent of instruction assistant vacancies were filled, something board Chairwoman Annette Lewis said was laudable. Lewis said that shed like to see those fill rates climb higher but that she recognized the difficulty of accomplishing that in light of a statewide teacher shortage. Lewis said overall the board is happy with the substitute outsourcing, particularly because it has taken away the districts responsibility to cover health care costs for substitutes that work full-time hours. I think were doing well, she said. Source4Teachers cost the district $2.2 million during the last school year. The payments to the company have risen each year, in part because the district increased the pay rate for substitutes, which in turn increased the management fees owed to Source4Teachers. Another factor the audit attributed to the increased costs to is an increased use of substitutes, particularly in the spring during testing. Substitutes have been hired to cover teachers classrooms while they work individually with students preparing to retake tests, the audit report stated. Overall, there was a 16 percent increase in substitute teacher requests from May 2015, the first year elementary and middle school students were allowed to retest, to May 2017. CHARLOTTESVILLE Three votes to amend the University of Virginias Faculty Senate constitution to make the body more democratic failed Tuesday. The amendments were intended to make the senate, the main representation for hundreds of faculty to university administration, more representative and more responsive. In debate Tuesday, senators said they sympathized with a desire to spread out the power and voice of the senate, traditionally concentrated in the executive council. However, the majority said a desire to move past what some described as an acrimonious and contentious year was not enough to change the current working order. The three amendments were proposed by law school professor Kim Forde-Mazrui. The senate plays an important role in protecting the academic freedom of the universitys professors, he said, and is the best organization on Grounds to advocate for the professoriate. Theres a divide in the Faculty Senate in terms of how much the senate should ally with the administration and how much they should advise them candidly, Forde-Mazrui said. The three amendments said the executive council should appoint senators to committees of their choosing; that committee chairs should be elected annually by committee; that each senate meeting should include proposals for new business; and that the senate have the ability to review each appointment and change and set new rules if necessary. The executive council is currently made up of chairs of senate committees, at-large members elected by the senate, and the chair, chair-elect and immediate past chair of the senate. It is the primary body that sets the agenda for senate meetings and appoints members and chairs to committees. On the one hand, cooperation can lend a powerful voice to good policies, Forde-Mazrui said. However, good policies can often be made better with a little pushback, he said. On Tuesday, opposition came from former executive council Chairwoman Mimi Riley, now a member of the universitys board of visitors. The proposed changes, Riley said, would just entrench dysfunction rather than letting the council make necessary adjustments to committees. What this does is add all sorts of different pieces to the process, Riley said. But one thing the executive council does is make sure there is ample diversity in ExCo itself, diversity of practice, diversity of race. Forde-Mazrui said he hoped the amendments would help senators feel more invested in the senate, by adding debate and input. Attendance is typically low at meetings, requiring senators to appoint proxies to get a quorum for votes. To the extent Faculty Senate can serve a useful function, it doesnt matter if people arent invested, Forde-Mazrui said. Once upon a time I was hiking in the rain with a small group in the Great Smoky Mountains, and I informed them the rain would end at noon. Just about right at noon, the last sprinkles passed and the sun peeked out. They hailed my amazing weather predicting ability, but then I debunked them. I had merely looked at radar, saw a band of rain 90 miles wide moving east at 30 mph, and noted that it had started at 9 a.m. It would take three hours to pass. It was simple mathematics based on radar observation, not any kind of amazing meteorological skill. Sometimes, this works. We can see a band of precipitation somewhere on radar moving our way, expecting that it will arrive some time later, depending on how far away it is. But often, it does not. Precipitation masses can change direction or dissipate, depending on atmospheric particulars. Or, new precipitation can develop where there is none. This is where meteorologists earn whatever pay they make. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of radar, geography and math can look at an image in motion and make a reasonable prediction on whether and when the rain or snow will arrive. But to envision something emerging seemingly out of nothing takes the meteorological skill of both human and computer. This was on display vividly Friday night and Saturday morning. Throughout the day Friday, a band of moisture had steadily fed northeastward from the Gulf of Mexico, spreading snow from the Deep South across western North Carolina into much of southern and eastern Virginia. The Roanoke and New River valleys, as expected, were on the western fringe of the moisture stream, only experiencing a few showers as locations not far to the south and east turned white deeply white in a few cases near the North Carolina line. But the forecast from just about every source at that point held that accumulating snow would occur farther west late Friday night into Saturday morning, with accumulation into the Roanoke and New River valleys. By late Friday night, the initial band of snow dwindled considerably to the east and behind there was almost nothing. Many doubts were expressed about additional snow happening, as there was nothing much on radar that could move over us. But the snow forecast was not about something currently occurring that would move our way. It was about something that was expected to develop, and had not yet. An upper-level trough of low-pressure was swinging through the south, and another low was located near the Great Lakes. The primary influence of the former and the secondary influence of the latter was expected to trigger a band of snow that would develop on the backside of the intensifying coastal low-pressure system, right over western Virginia. But the hours ticked by, past midnight, and no significant snow area was forming. The computer models continued to show this area developing in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, and it made meteorological sense, as the upper troughs tilt shifted and its lift provided the impetus for snow to develop. But, to anyone associated with forecasting weather or discussing those forecasts, it was nerve-wracking as 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. went by without much sign of the promised snow band developing. Many snow lovers went to bed convinced the forecast would be a bust. Finally, about 3 a.m., an area of snow began to expand rapidly over northeast Tennessee, and over the next couple of hours, it covered most of Southwest Virginia, just as the fancy computer models and old-fashioned synoptic weather forecast indicated would happen. Something had indeed materialized out of seemingly nothing, and many faces remained devoid of egg. The fore part of forecast is important, as many situations involve projecting things to develop that arent yet present, rather than just extrapolating where things that are present now will be several hours ahead. Yes, things happen sometimes to make these unseen but foreseen weather events not happen as expected. But, the next time you see a forecast for something that seems to have nothing on radar that could make it happen, keep in mind that snowflakes and raindrops can literally materialize out of thin air from what unseen weather systems are doing high above us where the air is thinnest. Weather Journal runs on Wednesdays. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will head to Washington to temporary fill the Senate seat left vacant by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who resigned last week in the midst of sexual misconduct allegations and an ethics committee investigation. Though I never anticipated this moment, Im resolved to do everything that I can to move Minnesota forward, and I will be a fierce advocate in the United States Senate for economic opportunity and fairness, Smith said Wednesday from the Minnesota state Capitol. This is a difficult moment for us, but even now I am filled with optimism for Minnesota. Smith was appointed Wednesday by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to serve a one-year term, ending in January 2019, until a special election in November 2018 to permanently fill Frankens seat. Smith said she intends to run in the special election, adding that its up to Minnesotans to decide for themselves who they want to complete Sen. Frankens term. Franken announced he would be stepping down last Thursday on the Senate floor after several women had accused him of groping them years before he was a Minnesota senator. Smith had thanked Franken Wednesday for his service in the U.S. Senate. Franken applauded Smith's appointment in a statement. He has not set an official date to leave the Senate, but promised he will help with the transition process. She is a dedicated public servant whos worked tirelessly on behalf of Minnesotans, and Gov. Dayton couldn't have made a better choice for this job. Her record of accomplishment as lieutenant governor demonstrates that shell be an effective senator who knows how to work across party lines to get things done for Minnesota. I look forward to working with her on ensuring a speedy and seamless transition," his statement read. The timing of Frankens resignation allowed Dayton, a Democrat, to appoint a replacement. Minnesota state law stipulates that in the event of a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, a special election "shall be held at the next November election if the vacancy occurs at least 11 weeks before the regular state primary preceding that election." Dayton said that, in making his decision, he wanted an appointee who would run in the special election, giving "Minnesotans someone to size up and assess." Because Franken resigned 35 weeks out from the regular state primary -- Aug. 14, 2018 -- the governor "may make a temporary appointment to fill any vacancy" until a permanent successor is elected and sworn in, according to state law. During his speech last week, Franken had appeared to hint that his replacement might be a woman. But Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the challenges they face every day, Franken said. Asked if President Donald Trump should resign since he faces sexual harassment allegations or a congressional investigation, Smith said she plans on remaining focused on the job at hand. "I'm going to be focused completely over the next couple of weeks on getting ready to become a senator and moving into Washington, D.C., the first of January. And I'm not going to get into a bunch of the discussion about what's going in Washington right now," Smith said. But she added that "sexual harassment is disrespectful" and "can't be tolerated." Smith was first elected lieutenant governor in 2014. She had previously served as Daytons chief of staff before being tapped to be his running mate in his second campaign for governor. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Geekologie has shut down. Thank you to everybody. Now go be happy. UPDATE 4:45 PM, 12/13: The next in a series of Alberta clipper lows will pass well north of us early Thursday, but it will drag through a cold front that will kick up the gusty northwest winds anew (wind advisory issues for Blue Ridge and I-81 counties from Roanoke southwest) and bring a few more snow showers over the mountains. The moisture levels aren't as great, the connection to the Great Lakes isn't as direct and the front will be moving through fast, so a repeat of Tuesday's rather intense snow squalls is not expected -- but as noted below, it doesn't take a lot to make things slick. So be careful on Thursday morning, especially west of Roanoke, where some heavier snow showers may briefly reduce visibility and/or coat the roads white. Another clipper looks to move well north of us on Friday. END UPDATE ----- It doesn't take a blizzard, or even a winter weather advisory-level snow, to cause quite a bit of mayhem on our roads. The snow squalls that screamed across the mountains this afternoon and early evening were a click or two more intense and widespread than expected, but still failed to reach winter weather advisory criteria (2 inches expected over at least 50% of a locality earns an advisory -- most amounts reported were an inch or less with this). Nevertheless, roads in many locations across the New River Valley and westward, the Blue Ridge south of Roanoke, and even parts of the Roanoke Valley are treacherous, as early snow that melted later froze into ice with falling temperatures and many roads became snow covered. As is typical for a snow squall situation, the amounts are streaky. For instance, your part of Roanoke County may not have anything on the ground or the roads, but the schools are closed Wednesday because other parts of the county are a mess -- I can personally attest to how slick roads in southwest Roanoke County became Tuesday evening, and I'm talking much lower elevations than Bent Mountain. The snow showers -- an extension of "lake effect" snow lifted over the mountains and enhanced by some upper-level lift and the instability of daytime "warmth" (it was in the 30s with some peekaboo sunshine at the surface as temperatures aloft plunged once the cold front passed) -- will dwindle out overnight, leaving us with a sunnier but quite cold day on Wednesday. Roanoke and points south and east may creep above the freezing mark, but the New River Valley and points west probably won't. Temperatures, generally, will be a slightly milder trend into next week, with some ups and downs. The next clipper system with a cold front arrives Wednesday night and Thursday. Right now it doesn't look like it will cause widespread snowfall ... but as we've seen, it doesn't take that to cause some wintry trouble. Marcus Cullumbine THREE men who tortured and locked a vulnerable man in a cupboard in his own home after taking over his property have been jailed for a total of 34 years. Marcus Cullumbine (20), of Haigh Moor Way, Swallownest, Matthew Ward (23), of Garland Croft, Westfield, and Shakaiyah Swindells (18), of Shortbrook Drive, Westfield, abused the 40-year-old man between April and June this year. They were all found guilty on December 11 of two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm with intent and causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a week-long trial. Ward (pictured below) was also found guilty of assault. Yesterday (Tuesday), Cullumbine was jailed for 11 years, Ward for 16 and Swindells for seven years at Sheffield Crown Court. Ward befriended the man in early 2017 and the court heard he was initially nice to him. But one day he turned up at the victims Westfield property with Cullumbine, announced they were staying over and never left. Swindells then joined and the trio began subjecting the man to regular beatings which left him with broken ribs, internal bleeding, burns and extensive bruising. Det Con Dawn Murray, from South Yorkshire Police said: This group exploited a vulnerable member of the community and I am pleased they have been found guilty and sent to prison. Our 40-year-old victim found the courage to report sustained and serious abuse in June 2017, after months of being made to feel like a prisoner in his own home. Our inquiry revealed that on several occasions, the victim was locked in a cupboard in his home against his will, while Ward, Cullumbine and Swindells were in the property. The trio also subjected our victim to violent attacks where he would be burned, punched and kicked, as well as being threatened with further violence if he didnt comply. Shakaiyah Swindells Det Sgt Anna Sedgwick, who led this investigation, said the men were dangerous and violent criminals who posed a risk to other people. She added: I hope their guilty conviction reassures the community that we will not tolerate anyone exploiting and abusing vulnerable people. These three are now behind bars for lengthy periods for their awful crimes. Read more on this in Fridays Advertiser. Diamond producers staged a strong comeback in 2016 with demand for rough diamonds spurring a 20 percent increase in revenues as mining companies sold down inventories accumulated in 2015. However, the picture further up the value chain is less optimistic, due to waning consumer interest in diamond jewelry and intense competition from other luxury segments. In response, rough diamond producers are investing significantly to promote diamond sales. Additionally, the industry is renewing its approach to marketing to address evolving demand. This is according to Bain & Companys seventh annual Global Diamond Report, developed in partnership with Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). According to the report findings, global sales of diamond jewelry were roughly stable in 2016. The U.S. remained the largest global diamond jewelry market, but sales here were flat in 2016 following several years of consistent growth. Chinas performance faltered, as the yuan posted its largest decline in value in 10 years and consumer confidence softened. A strike by jewelers and demonetization disrupted Indias market. Meanwhile, Europe continued to struggle as tourist inflows plunged. Sales in Japan were a bright spot, showing growth in U.S. dollar terms. Overall, the slowdown in global diamond jewelry demand and the resulting downward trajectory of polished-diamond prices translated to a slight revenue drop in the cutting and polishing segment (midstream) in 2016. However, midstream players profitability improved in 2016, supported by declining rough-diamond prices. According to the report, global rough diamond production volume remained relatively flat in 2016 at 127 million carats, extending the trend of the last eight years. Consumers purchasing habits are changing, particularly among Millennials, who prefer experiential luxury to tangible goods, such as apparel, accessories and jewelry. In an effort to reverse these trends, rough diamond players plan to invest about $150 million in both generic and private-brand marketing in 2017. Bains research suggests that sum is a 50 percent increase over previous years. The industry is also renewing its approach to marketing, taking into account evolving customer preferences and marketing channels. The outlook for 2017 is stable across the diamond value chain. Rough diamond suppliers posted a 3 percent revenue decline in the first half of 2017, as lower-priced assortments made up an increased share of their sales. Bain expects that the cutting and polishing segments revenue will stay flat in 2017. The revenues of major retail chains in key markets are trending up amid healthy macroeconomic fundamentals. Retail demand in India turned upward in 2017, after demonetization of large-denomination currency notes at the end of 2016 supported strengthening of organized jewelry retail. Bains projections over the longer-term are upbeat, supported by positive economic and demographic indicators. However, future growth rests on two key assumptions: continued demand for diamond jewelry and a limited substitution of natural diamonds by lab-grown stones. Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels Artisanal diamond mining issues addressed at Kimberley Process Plenary in Brisbane 13 december 2017 News Ian Smillie, Chair of the Diamond Development Initiative, an Ottawa-based international development organization working with small-scale diamond miners, spoke to the 81-nation Kimberley Process Plenary Session in Brisbane, Australia on Dec 13 to address what he calls "the peril and promise in artisanal diamond mining." "For too long," he said, "the challenges created by artisanally-mined alluvial diamonds have been treated with band aids, or they have simply been ignored. This is the greatest test for the diamond world, and it always was. This is where blood diamonds came from and it is where the reputational challenge remains." "Governments," Smillie said, "need to rise to the development challenge. The governments of countries with artisanal miners need to understand that without change, the goose that has laid so many golden eggs will die. Governments of other countries with a stake in diamonds, as well as the diamond and jewelry industry, all need to understand that without much more concerted action, without greater investment and without a comprehensive approach, the phenomenon that is artisanal diamond mining has the potential to cause lasting damage to a $74 billion industry. And the good news is that change is possible. The promise in artisanal diamonds is rarely acknowledged but it is there and it is real. These diamonds provide important income for almost two dozen very poor countries. More importantly, they provide livelihoods for more than one and a half million miners and another seven or eight million people who depend upon themall citizens of those countries. These diamonds could become the polar opposite of every peril they now pose. They could become the focal point for organized, peaceful communities; they could become the beginning of something and not the end; a platform for community development, education, environmental protection, investment, he added. The Kimberley Process (KP) is a joint government, industry and civil society initiative whose objective is to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, especially those used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The term "artisanal mining" generally refers to informal mining activities carried out by individuals or groups using basic tools. Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished (Agencia CMA Latam) - The tax system reform in Argentina is essential because the current framework is "inequitable," limiting job creation and preventing development, said Nicolas Dujovne, the country's Finance Minister, in a speech at the National Congress to provide details on the 2018 Budget and the tax reform bill. The Argentinean House Budget Committee began the analysis of the tax and pension reforms sponsored by Mauricio Macri's administration on Tuesday. "We have to move towards an equitable system and generate quality employment, because only by generating quality employment we increase real wages, prosperity, and we can continue the task of lowering poverty, which is the ultimate goal of this administration," he said. The official also stressed that Argentina currently holds a record level of distortionary taxes "that prevents us from competing on an equal footing with the rest of the countries of the world" while adding that "we have accumulated taxes that do not exist in other countries, as the tax on debits and credits." 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. (Agencia CMA Latam) - Argentinean Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie is optimistic about the possibility of signing a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) before the end of the month. "I do not know if it will be signed tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or December 21," he said. "We are waiting for a deal on the guidelines for this great agreement. Of course, afterward, we will have to work on the details," Faurie said in the framework of the 11th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Buenos Aires. According to sources, some of the subjects that delay the agreement are the intellectual property issues, among other issues. "Both blocs are making a great effort to have a political agreement," said the Argentinean Minister of Agribusiness, Luis Miguel Etchevehere, quoted by the La Nacion newspaper. 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. Long Island Iced Tea Corp. (LTEA) announced Wednesday morning that it has signed two distribution agreements with European food and beverage company Natur. Long Island Iced Tea has been rising sharply since the open of trade Wednesday and is now up 1.05 at $2.80 on the highest volume of the year. The stock has surged to nearly a 1-month high. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The crash and fire occurred about 11 p.m. Tuesday, said Scott County Sheriffs Lt. Tara Dinneweth. Dinneweth said early Wednesday the cause of the crash was under investigation. She could not release any information about the driver of the car. MADISON LAKE, Minn. | A Clear Lake man who pleaded guilty in June to hitting a cyclist with his car while high on drugs is facing prostitution charges in Minnesota and additional drug charges in Cerro Gordo County. Nicholas Dustin Horst, 37, is charged with prostitution hire or agree to hire a 16 or 17-year-old in Blue Earth County. Minnesota law enforcement in September conducted a prostitution sting in Madison Lake, which is located near Mankato. According to court documents, investigators attempted to detect and arrest persons willing to perform sex acts with a 17-year-old female in exchange for money or goods. An ad was placed on a website by a Mankato Department of Public Safety detective. On Sept. 30, Horst called the phone number attached to the ad. Horst agreed to provide some "glass" in exchange for sexual activities with a person under the age of 18 years old, court documents said. "Glass" is a common term for crystal methamphetamine, police said. An undercover detective from the Blue Earth County Sheriff's office communicated with Horst, advising him the person he would meet was under 18. Horst arrived in his mother's pickup truck at the decided-upon location, where he made contact with the undercover detective. Law enforcement said he was arrested without incident and agreed to speak with police without an attorney present. Horst stated he believed the female was younger than 19 years old, court documents said. Horst admitted that he agreed to exchange 'glass' for sexual favors as well as agreeing to bring some food. Horst had graphic, sexually explicit talk with the detective and described the sex acts he wanted to perform with the female, according to court documents. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 18 in Blue Earth County Court. Horst also faces drug charges after being arrested in a Dec. 7 traffic stop about 12:57 a.m. in the 300 block of Ninth Street Northeast in Mason City. He was arrested for driving while revoked, according to the criminal complaint. A consent search of his person turned up two baggies containing meth residue. He was charged for possession of a controlled substance, first offense, and was released from the jail on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for Dec. 27 in Cerro Gordo County District Court. The Clear Lake Police Department said Horst was high on drugs when he hit bicyclist Gary Beach, 47, with his car on Main Avenue in September 2016. Beach was dragged more than 150 feet, police said. Horst pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced to up to five years in prison. He has filed an appeal in the case. The deadline to link the Aadhaar number with bank accounts has been extended by three months till March 31, the government announced on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court is set to commence hearing from Thursday on its mandatory linking to various schemes. The deadline was earlier December 31 for linking the 12-digit unique identification number with both Permanent Account Number (PAN) and bank accounts. However, the government extended the deadline last week for linking it with PAN till March 31. A notification to link it with bank accounts was later issued on Tuesday by the Department of Revenue under the Finance Ministry. The notification, however, did not mention the new deadline, leaving it open-ended. The government later issued a press release which contained the deadline of March 31. According to the December 12 notification, the words "submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by December 31, 2017" have been substituted by "submit the Aadhaar number, PAN or Form No 60 by such date as may be notified by the Central government". The release said under the provisions of Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, it was provided that if a client already having a bank account or any other account-based relationship with reporting entities prior to date of this notification fails to submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by December 31, "the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar number and PAN is submitted by the client". In case of a person opening a new account, the deadline for submitting Aadhaar number and PAN was "six months from the date of the commencement of the account based relationship". "After considering various representations received in this regard and inputs received from banks, it has been decided to notify March 31, 2018 or six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the client, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity," the statement said. _ _SHOW_MID_AD__ The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was threatening journalists in Gujarat for airing Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhis interview, and urged the Election Commission (EC) to take notice of it. Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said here that some journalists were receiving threats from high-level state BJP functionaries who were telling the mediapersons that they would be jailed for violating the Model Code of Conduct. "We appeal to the Election Commission to take notice of it. It is for the EC to decide whether an action is a violation of Model Code of Conduct or not," Surjewala said. "For the record, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also gave an interview to a channel a day prior to voting. If that was not violation of Model Code of Conduct, how could Rahul Gandhi's interview be?" he added. The Congress leader also pointed out the BJP releasing its manifesto a day ahead of the first phase of polling in the state on December 9. Some local news channels in Gujarat telecast Rahul Gandhi's interview on Wednesday. The second phase polling in the state is scheduled for Thursday. MASON CITY | Mason City man is accused of threatening a woman with a knife. John Casmere Kurzawa, 47, was charged with domestic abuse assault, second offense, stemming from an early morning incident Dec. 6 in a residence in the 700 block of North Delaware Avenue. According to court documents, at about 12:06 a.m., Kurzawa allegedly threatened a known woman with a knife and saying he was going to kill her. Kurzawa has one prior conviction of domestic assault, police said. A no-contact order has been filed. Kurzawa is being held in Cerro Gordo County Jail on $1,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Courtney Fiorini There is a certain embrace that is found in the heart of the ocean that can never be fathomed. And sometimes in life there are episodes where we find ourselves looking for an escape from it all, for Zo Pfeiffer, she finds stillness in water that cannot be found anywhere. I love the ocean; there is something about the sea that always draws me back wanting more. It is so calm, peaceful and I get to meditate in there and come back out feeling good again, she said. She is a living proof that some people find themselves and understand more about life by being close to the ocean. Strolling along the shores of Samoa, Zo discovered a new energy within the sea that she never felt back home. There is a lot more energy and power within the ocean here compared to how it is in Switzerland. The way the waves and tides move here is very different from home. I love the energy. The passionate surfer mentioned she doesnt consider herself a mermaid but she has come from miles just for the water and it was one overwhelming experience for her. Over here in Samoa it is more special, not so developed and not many surfers around too. It is a wonderful feeling to experience these untouched places in the world. You can tell because there are still so many fish around and coral, which means that not many people are fishing around here which is really nice, she added. After six months of surfing in Indonesia, she wanted to take a step further and travel to a diverse country to have a different experience in terms of the ocean. Being in Samoa, Zo found what she was searching for. It is beautiful here, when you are surfing there are only two or three people surfing, but in Indonesia 1,500 people or more surf, there are so many people which is why I like it here better. I was there for six months and I still have two months off, so I did some research and it seemed like a really nice place to visit because I wanted to see something different and something new which is why I chose Samoa. Zo believes that people should not be afraid to fail, but be afraid of not trying. Other than surfing, she has tried learning the Samoan traditional dance which was a memorable event for her. This other night there was a group of Tongan students and a group from here they were doing a little dance battle, dancing and singing which was really cool to watch. They tried to teach me but I couldnt do it. She laughed and told the Dear Tourist that she was a terrible dancer. The way the Samoan community interact with one another stunned the Switzerland surfer. I really like the culture here, it is very strong and you can see there is really something bringing the community together and there is something that is holding them together. In Europe, it is more about being an individual and living your own life. It is pretty cool that people help each other here. Everything about Samoa is very different experience, Zo said. It is very green in Samoa, the landscape and the culture here as well. The people are very friendly and the country is just beautiful. It is her first time tasting taro and roasted pork and she liked it. She is currently staying at the Tafatafa Beach Fales for the next couple of days and she is excited to learn more about the people and the country while she is here. If the weather is not good and there are no more waves, than I will go around and visit different places like the villages and schools. I want to see more at the end of the trip. With more and more foreign-owned stores opening up in the country, there have been mixed opinions on whether this is good for the people or not. Its an issue Filisi Sau, 27, from the village of Apolima is aware of. The young man explains that there are those who still believe that foreign-owned stores provide people with cheaper and affordable goods but this is not the case. He feels that there is no difference in the cost of goods sold by the Chinese and the locally-owned stores. According to him, they are both similar and expensive. The one thing I have noticed in Samoa and in these rural villages are the many Chinese shops popping up everywhere, Mr. Sau told the Village Voice team yesterday. There are those who say its good because they bring cheap and affordable goods for us but I believe thats not the case. If you actually compare the costs of the goods sold in Chinese shops with the goods sold in the Samoan stores, there is no difference. They are both pretty expensive and many people find it hard to afford basic necessities. Asked if there is any specific store that he believes is becoming too expensive, Mr. Sau simply said they were all expensive and affordability was becoming an issue. Its not just one or two goods or stores that are becoming more and more unaffordable for the people, all the goods sold at the shops are expensive, he said. Each year we find out that many different goods are sold at a higher price than the previous year and its becoming a real burden on the people. We really need to look into the constant rise in prices because people cannot afford such a high cost of living. Times are definitely getting tougher. On the other hand, Mr. Sau explains that although foreign and locally-owned stores are similar in costs, the only difference is the quality of goods. He says the Samoan people should always consider locally-owned stores over foreign-owned ones. Both types of stores are similar in costs but there is a difference between the two, he said. For me personally, I would rather go to the Samoan-owned stores because not only do I want to support the local people, they also give better quality goods. We Samoans understand each other and that is why the stores owned locally will try and sell better quality items to the people rather than just anything they can get cheaply and turn a profit with. And again, we should always try to support our locals by buying at their stores. Asked about the general life in rural areas, Mr. Sau says everything is great and much of the credit belongs to the village council for keeping everything in order. As for his personal lifestyle, Mr. Sau explains that his one and only duty is to serve those he loves at home. I am currently single because I need to put my family first, he said. Just like many other young people, I am the one who helps a lot around the house. Serving those at home is my one duty that I take seriously. I actually just finished my morning chores and Ive come here to see the school celebrations. Life is what you make of it. What we become and how far we go depends on how we choose to deal with the cards that come our way. The truth is that this journey called life is not all roses. It is fraught with difficulties and challenges that require endurance, perseverance and a steady focus to gain what we really want so that we are not sidetracked and lose our way when we fall. It goes without saying that life is a journey of mountains and valleys. Yes there are mountain moments just as there are valleys. What we must realise is that unless we go through the valley; we will not appreciate those mountain moments. Its just the way it is, just as the popular saying that there is no gain if there is no pain. In other words, we cannot expect a mountain moment until weve learnt to sink and climb out of the valley. There is a reason for that. A valley teaches us to endure, persevere and aim high. It strengthens our resolves, develops character and teaches us to be patient. Those lessons when we learn them will make reaching the mountain top even sweeter. And when were enjoying the summit and looking back, we learn to appreciate that all the experiences are part of the process to build us to be better, stronger and steadfast. Why? So we continue to conquer. As we go along, we find that the mountains become steeper and the valleys are tougher but if we stick to the basic principles, we quite often find they become easier as we go along. We are at a time of the year where so many people are experiencing their mountain moments. Students doing well at school, graduates and all sorts of high achievers will know the feeling. The triumphs they are celebrating today taste that much sweeter because they know what it took to get there. They can appreciate how hard it was to reach their goal so that now they are finally sitting on the summit saying to themselves well that was all so worth it. One such inspiring story that popped up last week was published on the front page of The Weekend Observer under the headline Young Samoan recognised by her Majesty The Queen. The story is about Petronilla Molioo Mataeliga who has been awarded the Queens Young Leaders award, joining a group of inspirational young entrepreneurs in the world whose efforts have been recognised by the Queen of England. Ms. Mataeliga joins another fellow Samoan in the list of winners within the four years of the award, Erna Takazawa. But her story is both fascinating and inspirational. I gave birth when I was 20, and I felt that my life was done, she told The Weekend Observer. I messed up, but over time I realised that if I had given up, I would never have gotten to where I am now. So what did she do? Well she used her God given talents to help revive the art of weaving of the fala-masi. It was a tradition passed down from her grandmother from the village of Faleapuna. From those humble beginnings to the highs she will soon experience having an audience with the Queen, this is what we mean when we say we need to endure our valley moments so we can enjoy those mountain times. Think about this for a minute. When this young lady became pregnant in a society where giving birth before marriage is frowned upon she probably never imagined that this would happen to her one day? She couldve just easily given up and become discouraged. But she did not give up. She kept going and here she is today. What an achievement, what an honour. Its something many well educated folks and filthy rich people can only dream of. But here is Petronilla, soon to make her way to London for the trip of a lifetime. This award really belongs to the legacy of my grandmother, and to my mother who continued it, she said. Having a child at such a young age, I never saw where God would take me. I ended up bringing the fala-masi to my work. I teach my employees how to weave, and Ive taught some of our people how to weave it as well. Today, the 25-year-old is now married with three children and manages Le Rosa Accommodation and Spa. She is proof that if we continue to persevere and do good without growing weary, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. To Petronilla and every one who are celebrating sweet successes at this time of the year for one reason or another, enjoy your mountain top moments. But if you are going through a period in the valley, learn to endure, be encouraged and lift your head up. Your mountain top moment is not far away. Believe it! Have a great Thursday Samoa, God bless! Dear Editor, I refer to an article of Samoa Observer of 09/12/2017 (A.G rejects land threat) regarding the Attorney Generals rejection of land threat. There is something important that was overlooked by the Attorney General in the Article 102 of the Constitution in relation to the idea of leasing. If the Attorney General was quoting directly from the Act or from the book of laws then the H.R.P.Ps idea of leasing and the Attorney Generals rejection of land threat is absolutely wrong. The idea of leasing is a threat according to the Article 102 of the Constitution. The meaning of leasing according to Article 102 of the Constitution is (1) not lawful, (2) not competent, (3) alienation and (4) disposition of customary land or of any interest in customary land, whether by way of sale, mortgage or otherwise howsoever, nor shall customary land or any interest therein be capable of being taken in execution or be assets for the payment of debts of any person on his decease or insolvency. Let me re-quote the Attorney General from that article of Samoa Observer. It begins by some explanations of the Samoa Observers Reporter. [Lemalu says the Acts legal intent is crystal clear. He then points to Article 102 of the Constitution mentioned in s9 which state: No alienation of customary land It shall not be lawful or competent for any person to make any alienation or disposition of customary land or of any interest in customary land, whether by way of sale, mortgage or otherwise howsoever, nor shall customary land or any interest therein be capable of being taken in execution or be assets for payment of the debts of any person on his decease or insolvency:] [Further, the Laws that protect families with interest in any customary land, mean that where any land is leased without proper consultation with all members of family that have connection or claim to such land, those not consulted can object against the lease or license.] We can get the clear meaning of NO ALIENATION OF CUSTOMARY LAND as in the Article 102 of the Constitution if we analyze it. Im going to provide just few analysis points: 1) It shall not be lawful or competent (shall no be lawful) the assurance of the intention of the law is about forbidden, not allowed, prohibited and illegal. (shall not be competent) is not suitable or not appropriate according to any plans for success. 2) For any person anyone including the Head of State, the Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, sao, matai and others. 3) To make alienation alienated, isolation, detachment or separation 4) Or disposition displacement, disfigured, deformed or destroyed 5) Of customary land land owned by Indigenous (Samoans) 6) Or of any (interest) of customary land (interest) is any importance, significance, meaning, consequence, awareness and attention such as sale and mortgage. 7) Or otherwise howsoever (otherwise) is or else and if not. (howsoever) is by whatever means or to whatever degree or extent. Those are facts and evidences Mr. Editor. Those are same facts and evidences for honest discussions with our government in relation to our Customary Land. Accordingly, I have some questions for H.R.P.P and the Attorney General. If the L.T.R Acts 2008 is for freehold land only then: 1) Where does the idea of leasing or the law for the leasing out of Customary Land come from? 2) The law for leasing out Customary Land Is it lawful or unlawful according to the Article 102 of the Constitution? 3) If it is lawful then how? 4) If it is unlawful then where did they get the authority and jurisdiction to establish that unlawful law? 5) Also, if it is unlawful then what should be the right thing to be done for them? Nanai Malonuu Lealaiauloto Nofoaiga Seventeen-year-old Hiroko Mose of Aopo, Savaii, is Vaimauga Colleges 2017 Dux. She is the fifth child of Tupai Mose and Tauaina Eetaus eight children. Besides being the Dux of Vaimauga, she also scooped the top Commerce student, top in Samoan studies awards and second place in the J.I.C.A. Mathematics test. Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Hirokos mother, Tauaina said she was very proud of her daughters achievements. I didnt expect this to happen and I was full of surprise when my daughters name was called, she said in tears. I knew she was getting prizes, but to be the whole schools Dux, Im just out of words. This is the best gift that our daughter could give us for this festive season and so this is a season of thanksgiving and celebration. I know this is just the beginning of her journey and I am confident that she will go far because she is very faithful to her school work. She makes a lot of sacrifices because of her school work and as a mother, I am very proud of her. Hiroko says she wants to be an accountant in the future. I have always been passionate about becoming an accountant, she said. From a very young age, I knew this is what I wanted to do because I love mathematics and especially nobody can fool me when it comes to money because I am very smart at it. Nobody in my family is an accountant so I guess thats the other reason I took this up because I wanted to be different. She dedicates her achievements to her parents. All of these are for my parents, she said. They have sacrificed so much for me, they even left our home at Aopo just so that my siblings and I can have better futures especially education. I have seen them struggle and sweat just so we can come to school and have food on the table and today this is the beginning of something good. Being the top student in college makes me think positive that I can do in N.U.S. as well and I am praying for a scholarship so that I can be a step closer to my dreams. I want to give back to my parents and I know this is the only way I know I can is to do well and work hard in school. Hiroko also acknowledges the support of her teachers and parents throughout her education. The Samoa National Provident Fund facilities, where Yazaki Samoa had spent 25 years in, is under new leadership. And when it was officially handed over to new investment companies Fero Samoa and SleepWell Samoa in partnership with S.S.A.B, it marked the beginning of a new era at the Vaitele industrial area. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi paid homage to the legacy of Yazaki while recognising the excellence in the companies who have stepped in to fill the gap and benefit from the purpose built facilities. For the best part of the last three decades, this facility has contributed greatly to the economy of Samoa and its G.D.P, Tuilaepa said (see speech). The former tenants, Yazaki Samoa, manufactured quality wire harnesses for export to the Australian vehicle manufacturing market since the early 1990s. Since then, thousands of Samoans have been employed in this place enabling them to contribute to the wellbeing of their families and to the economic development of our country. Tuilaepa formally introduced the two companies who stepped in to fill the large gap left behind by Yasaki and revealed that the government was working on securing other possible tenants. In addition to these two companies to which we are handing over the keys this morning, the government, through the efforts of the S.N.P.F., is very close to securing other possible tenants for Building 3 and other areas of this complex in order to maximize the economic output from this facility. Tuilaepa also acknowledged and thanked the New Zealand High Commission for their financial contribution in refurbishing the premises to accommodate the new companies. It is in this regard that we were able to secure grant funding assistance from the New Zealand government to assist the S.N.P.F. in revitalizing this complex for the new tenants, he said. A special note of gratitude is extended to his Excellency David Nicholson and his team at the New Zealand High Commission in Apia for their exemplary efforts in conjunction with the team at the S.N.P.F. in securing this commitment in a very short time. During an interview with the Samoa Observer, David Nicholson was confident that the monetary investment into the facilities was going to enhance Samoas economy by boosting local employment and attracting more investors. We have already given the government NZ$1.5 million for N.P.F to remodel the factory into three factories, Tuilaepa added. We are hoping that in addition to that, all the access ways can be supplied so that each of the companies has individual access to the buildings and separate facilities. We think in talking with the C.E.O. of the N.P.F. that we may also have enough money there to attract a call center and enjoy the facility for them keen to get lots of jobs lots of exports of services or goods out of our investment here. I think there is a great environment here for Samoa, for companies to come here and set up employment opportunities and to export from here. We know from Fero, for example, that they can be highly competitive in exporting goods from here because the labour rates are good. The cost of production is good, the quality of the workers is high and the quality of the goods produced is high. So we have got to thank Yasaki for the training and skills that they put in place that I urge other business to come in and capitalize on that. At the end of the ceremony, Managing Director of Fero Samoa, Sam Fulton, took the government officials, the New Zealand High Commissioner and board members of S.N.P.F. on tour of the facilities to view the renovations. Mr Fulton told the Samoa Observer that business was warming up as the company was settling in. Weve been sampling and getting everything set up and commissioning all the machinery and this we started doing some production runs this week, he said. Christmas has come at a bit of an inconvenient time this year, where when we are just about to get going and then we have to stop, going and then stopping. January is going to be it and thats when everything is going to kick off. Everything is going well and the team coming on board is doing really well. We will get our Australian operation going. We have got a couple of ex-Yazaki employees in Australia starting up on the 15th so that will be getting their business and setting it up here. We already started doing a bit of work for Victoria ambulances and a bit of lease work. So its just starting to trickle in, but the New Year will be when the flood gates open up and well be up to it. Maria Ioane shed tears of joy and happiness when she was announced the 2017 Dux of Vaivase Primary School. The ceremony was witnessed by the young girls family members and friends who gathered at the schools hall to celebrate her achievements. Maria comes from a family whose life is dedicated to serving God. Her parents, Ioane Iosefo and Tamalii Iosefo look after the Vaoala Catholic Church and they couldnt have been more proud of their youngest daughters achievements. I give glory to the Heavenly Father for this achievement because without him I know I would not have achieved it, Maria said. I also want to thank my parents for supporting me throughout this whole year especially to my mother. She always scolds me when I do not do my studies, however I am so happy that I achieved it this year. This is for them. Her mother Tamalii said she was happy that her daughters hard work had been paid off. The 13-year-old wants to become a doctor in the future. I want to become a doctor to help our people because I hear from the hospital that there are not enough doctors working in hospitals. Maria topped in Mathematics, Social Science, English and Samoan Studies. She hopes to attend Samoa College next year. Students at Martin Hautus Institute of Learning Samoa (M.H.I.L.S.) celebrated sweet success with their families and friends last week. Twenty seven students were awarded with Samoa Certificates in Tourism Level Two. M.H.I.L.S. Founder, Pulotu Arthur Solomon, says the institute not only offers students qualifications, but an opportunity to find employment as well. Martin Hautus Institute of Learning Samoa is registered with Samoa Qualifications Authority (S.Q.A.) and the qualifications students will be graduating with, are accredited by S.Q.A, Pulotu said. Therefore, this cohort of students is the first to graduate with an S.Q.A. certificate and we have very successful results in getting students to qualify and gain jobs mainly in the tourism industry. The school roll for 2014 (12), 2015 (97-46), 2016 (72-35), 2017 (51-26). People who made the commitment to enrol with Martin Hautus Institute and complete their course of studies, have been placed into employment or further studies. Therefore, we believe that you as parents are making a good investment when you send your child to study at Martin Hautus Institute. Next year will be an exciting year with A.I.S. working with us to deliver our Diploma in Tourism and Travel early 2018, followed by Diploma in Hospitality Management in mid-2018. Students will then have a choice to study for a degree in New Zealand. We had a very good promotion at all the secondary schools in Upolu. Martin Hautus will also open their new campus in Apia next year, Lotemau Centre and Malololelei will continue as a campus for the Hospitality programmes. The Institute will work in partnership with the employers of Samoa to provide relevant and required skills for the students to better transition to the workplaces. The Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, has acknowledged the work of the International Maritime Organisation (I.M.O.) in developing the Pacific Maritime Industry through Secretariat of the Pacific Community (S.P.C). The Minister made the point in London when he addressed the 30th I.M.O. General Assembly held last week. Papalii, who led Samoas delegation, reaffirmed the support and commitment from government of Samoa with its obligations in the implementation of I.M.O. treaty Instrument and Programsme. He thanked other members states which continue to assist Samoa in various maritime fronts, such as Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, to name a few. These member states had been assisting Samoa in the improvements of its shipping facilities, maritime infrastructure, safety and security equipment and systems, and personnel capacity development. The Minister reemphasized the importance of Maritime Transport in trading as a Small Island Developing State (S.I.D.S.) like Samoa. He said shipping is not only the Engine for Growth, but the Enabler and catalyst for the Development of remote and Isolated Islands. Our small and vulnerable economies are very much dependent on transportation related revenues. Hence, consistency and reliability maritime transport to ensure development together with safe, secure sea transport assumes a significant and crucial role in our countrys economic development. The Minister went on to highlight that the Pacific Island Forum (P.I.Fs) has called for better management of our Oceans. It is vital to our Pacific region, as it is our Identity, our life and our way of living. Sharing the theme of the Pacific Island Forum The Blue Pacific, Our sea of islands: Our security through sustainable development, management and conservation. Therefore he calls for the actions from I.M.O. and member states, for better management of oceans. Reference was also made to the 2030 (S.D.G.) Agenda, as its a framework for the world towards a sustainable and resilient future, for our people, our planet and our prosperity. The Minister called for meaningful actions on climate change as Sea Transport contributes to G.H.G. gases, but more importantly the pollution from ships to the marine environment. MASON CITY | A Mason City man is accused of robbery and sex offender registration violations in Mason City. Joshua Daniel Sellers, 34, is charged with felony second degree robbery and failure to register sex offender registry, second offense. According to court documents, Sellers assisted another in an early morning robbery at about 5 a.m. Nov. 28 on the 500 block of East State Street. Sellers furthered the commission by providing information to facilitate the incident and was present for the assault and theft of (victims) property, the criminal complaint said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Cerro Gordo County Jail. Sellers is also accused of violating the conditions of the Iowa Sex Offender Registry. According to court documents, Sellers failed to provide a new address after he was evicted from his registered address on the 500 block of East State Street in October. The Sex Offender Registry requires him to disclose changes in registration information including place of residence within fine days of the change. In 2011, Sellers was convicted in New Mexico for a similar failure to comply with registration requirements. Sellers is held in Cerro Gordo County Jail for $10,000 bond. Courtney Fiorini A divided City Council failed Tuesday to reach agreement on the long debated question of how to regulate short-term rentals, leaving in limbo an issue that has dogged elected leaders for nearly three years. Multiple proposals, some more permissive than others, were floated on the dais in hopes of reaching a consensus, but after more than four hours of debate and hours more of public testimony, the nine-member council could not secure five affirmative votes. The inability to act seemed to frustrate the council members as much as the community. Advertisement Im very disappointed today. Were like a dysfunctional family, said Councilman Scott Sherman, who had favored a more permissive proposal originally crafted with three of his colleagues Councilmen Mark Kersey, Chris Ward and David Alvarez. Were back to where it always has been, the wild, wild West. Councilman Chris Cate was even more blunt. After nearly three years since my office provided its initial proposal on home sharing and short term rentals, todays inaction by my council colleagues proved that we cannot govern, he said in a statement. Time and time again, the council has heavily relied on special interest and ballot initiatives to pass major public policy. Much has been said about dysfunctional D.C.-style politics, however its happening in our own backyard. In failing to take action, the council also did not set a date to revisit the issue. 1 / 14 Council members went late into the afternoon listening to more than 200 public comments on the issue of short term rentals in san Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 14 Council member Chris Cate sits as Barbara Bry reaches out to David Alvarez hoping to broker a deal. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 14 Late Tuesday morning San Diego City Council members expecting a large turn out held their meeting in Golden Hall, where they listened to public comments for the short term rental. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 14 The council took a recess break to meet with staff to discuss possible amendments. David Alvarez spoke with Barrett Tetlow (Chief of Staff for Scott Sherman), Ruth Martin (policy analyst for Alvarez) and Kevin Smith (staffer for Alvarez). (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) Earlier this year, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott issued a memo concluding that short-term rentals are prohibited because they are not defined anywhere in the municipal code, but she pointed out last week that without a clear definition of what a vacation rental is, enforcement of the current law is not possible. While it had appeared at the outset of the 10-hour session that action would likely be taken, Alvarez later backed away from a compromise proposal he and three of his colleagues had crafted in September that would have allowed up to three vacation rentals per owner but would have imposed a minimum three-night stay in coastal communities. Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who had originally sought to limit rentals popularized by the online platform Airbnb to just an individuals primary home and for no more than 90 days a year, compromised and agreed to unlimited use throughout the year but wanted tough limits on the number of whole-home rentals. Where she would not budge was on slightly more permissive proposals suggested by other council members Tuesday that she said would open up the door to more investors converting long-term housing into vacation rentals. Without limits on no more than two homes, including ones primary residence, investors would continue to buy homes and turn them into mini hotels, she said. And while it appeared Alvarez supported the limits Bry was seeking, he and the rest of the council could not agree on how to define who could and could not rent out homes on a short-term basis. The council was in agreement that whatever proposal was adopted, stepped-up enforcement of short-term rentals is needed via a fee to raise revenues to pay for added code enforcement officers. But without adopted regulations, there was no vote on that issue. Belinda Smith, a Mission Hills resident and a member of the Short Term Rental Alliance of San Diego, said she was flabbergasted by the councils inaction. Im deeply disappointed that our elected leaders could not provide any further clarity on short-term rentals. Equally frustrated was Tom Coat, a Pacific Beach resident and long-time critic of the growth of short-term rentals. They did not provide a curb on out of-town-investors, he said. While figures vary wildly on the number of entire homes, condos and apartments that are being rented out on a short-term basis in San Diego, the best estimate to date is nearly 9,000. Thats according to a report released last week by Host Compliance, a San Francisco-based data analytics and consulting firm that works with dozens of cities across the country. There are also about 2,500 more homes, the company reports, where hosts remain on site and rent out their spare bedrooms. There is no disagreement among council members on that category of home sharing, which they support. While short-term rentals have popped up throughout San Diego, the Host Compliance analysis shows the heaviest concentration is in 10 neighborhoods, with about half of the rentals in just five communities Mission and Pacific Beach, downtown, La Jolla and Uptown. Whatever regulations are ultimately adopted, approval will be needed from the California Coastal Commission for rentals in the citys beach communities. Business lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg Del Mar Councilman Terry Sinnott, whos been the citys mayor for the past year, appeared to breath a sigh of relief last week as he handed the gavel to Councilman Dwight Worden, who was next in the rotation for the top job. Im happy to pass these responsibilities to Dwight, Sinnott said, noting that despite some positive accomplishments, it has been a difficult year. Public discourse has moved from the civil, and thats disappointing, Sinnott said, but he thanked the city manager and the staff for doing their best in the situation. Advertisement Del Mar is one of a few small cities in the county that rotate the largely ceremonial job of mayor annually among the five council members. Several controversial issues have sharply divided Del Mar residents. Council meetings often draw large crowds with many emotional speakers, and they sometimes last late into the night. Especially tough was the three-month investigation and subsequent firing of the citys chief lifeguard and community services director, Pat Vergne, a 35-year employee accused of mismanagement. Many long-time residents supported Vergne. They told the council he was the victim of a political vendetta, and many said the city manager should be fired as a result. Another hot topic has been the proliferation of short-term vacation rentals, which have been part of the economic and social fabric of Del Mar since the 1930s. Many owners depend on their rental income, and oppose the councils efforts to set limits. Also, the city has explored the possibility of creating its own police department to replace its contract with the county sheriff. That idea, which also generated strong opinions for and against, now appears to be on hold. Even a crackdown on leash laws for dogs at the beach had fur flying at council meetings. This has been one of the most contentious years in Del Mar history, said Councilman Dave Druker, who was appointed deputy mayor for the year ahead. He praised Sinnott for being patient and running the meetings smoothly. Among the positive achievements that Sinnott pointed out were the ongoing construction of a new city hall thats on schedule and within budget, improved financial reporting, a successful horse-racing season and the recent Kaboo music festival and Breeders Cup. philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @phildiehl With roots in San Diego, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin has traveled far and wide since it received its first local production two years ago at La Jolla Playhouse. This week, the piece returns to town for a run at San Diego Rep a key creative home for the composer-pianist-actor-writer Felder, whose shows about famous composers have gained him worldwide fame. We checked in with Felder, who was on tour in Italy, for an update on the piece about the man behind White Christmas, God Bless America and many more American classics. Advertisement Q: Your Berlin show is quite well-traveled now have you been making many changes along the way, or is it pretty close to the piece we saw in La Jolla? A: Textually, lyrically, pianistically, what was on the page when you saw it two years back in San Diego is exactly the same. The performer however, hopefully has grown somewhat learning from each new performance in each city. This past April, a lady wrote to me INSISTENT that I changed SO MUCH OF THE TEXT since she had seen the piece a year prior in a different venue. I responded that no, not only had I not changed the text or lyrics, but they were exactly the same. She argued with me and wouldnt let it go, no matter what I said. Finally I explained: The text and lyric work and presentation, and even the staging, have not changed. But in 2016, the country and the world changed. And now you are hearing things you didnt hear before even though they were in there. And so the story of an immigrant boy who came to this great country and gave the country its musical voice now has a very deep and different resonance than it did only 18 months ago. Q: Do you still consider it a holiday show? A: It certainly is (a holiday show) at holiday time. The rest of the year, its a great American story. Thats the really cool thing about this show and this guy its a really great American story, with some of Americas greatest music. Q: What kinds of reactions or comments do you tend to get from audiences who maybe didnt know much about Berlins life and work? A: These days audiences talk about how moved they are by the story of a decent man who came to this country, worked hard and gave back. They talk about immigration, they talk about how important his immigrant story is, how America was once a different, welcoming place. (It still is, of course and its people are the most welcoming and generous, despite any political this or that.) Q: What else have you been up to since Our Great Tchaikovsky premiered at the Rep last January? A: (Tchaikovsky) has since had quite a few performances and become quite beloved by audiences, and young audiences in particular. In the interim I have completed Nathan Gunns play Flying Solo, which will open later this season at San Diego Rep; several new compositions for voice and piano and cello and piano; a new play for another musician; (and) the world premiere of a completely new Beethoven piece last June. You know, it never ends. Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin When: Preview performance Dec. 20; opens Dec. 21. 7 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Check with theater for exceptions.) Through Jan. 7. Where: San Diego Reps Lyceum Stage, 79 Horton Plaza, Gaslamp Quarter. Tickets: $56-$97 (discounts available) Phone: (619) 544-1000 Online: sdrep.org jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @jimhebert In October 2011, Navy bomb disposal technician Andrew Bottrell lost his legs and an arm to an explosion in Afghanistan. But, Tuesday, the veteran proudly walked on two prosthetic legs into his new San Diego home. Bottrell and wife Lindsey received a new smart house from the Gary Sinise Foundation. They can open the blinds, see whos at the front door all by mobile phone or tablet. The national foundation has 61 homes finished or underway for injured veterans, including one in Vista. Donations of building materials and furniture made the Bottrell home project possible. A home for a hero: Heres the full story In October 2011, Andrew Bottrell was deployed with SEAL Team 10 when his unit was hit by a bomb in Afghanistan. Advertisement It cost the Navy bomb disposal technician both of his legs and an arm. But, on Tuesday, he walked upright on two prosthetic legs through his new front door. The Gary Sinise Foundation handed Bottrell and his wife, Lindsey, the keys to a new smart house. The drastically renovated home in Clairemont is engineered so the couple can raise the blinds, see whos at the front door or lock up at night all from a mobile phone or tablet. The 32-year-old veteran wore a big smile on his face. Its surreal, Bottrell said. I guess it will hit after Ive lived here a little while longer. The national foundation has 61 homes finished or underway for injured veterans, including one in Vista. The price of such a home would normally be well over $500,000, a Sinise spokesman said. That is the foundations typical per-house capital cost nationally, before it factors in in-kind gifts from building material donors such as General Electric, Benjamin Moore Paint and the Home Depot Foundation. Houses in Southern California cost the nonprofit group more than they do in the Midwest. The Bottrell home is somewhat unique: The foundation usually buys raw land and builds its specially adapted homes from scratch, which is less expensive. But open land is rare in central San Diego, where Andrew Bottrell wanted to live because the mild weather makes mobility easier for amputees. The young couple knows weather: They both grew up in Wisconsin, meeting in elementary school and then dating in their 20s. They were married just before the sailor deployed in 2011 exactly three months prior to the explosion that took his limbs. During a short ceremony in his driveway, Bottrell sat with his one good arm wrapped around his wife. Lindsey Bottrell said the easy-to-use home is a godsend, allowing her to leave on errands knowing that Andrew can handle the home and their 16-month-old daughter by himself. His injuries were life-altering, she said. But this home is life-changing. Navy veteran Andrew Bottrell demonstrates some of the features of his new home on Tuesday during the home dedication ceremony. The Gary Sinise Foundation built the home specifically for Bottrell, who became a triple amputee while serving in Afghanistan. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune ) Business jen.steele@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @jensteeley In the tony hillside neighborhoods of Bel-Air and Brentwood, residents say they are aware of the homeless people who live in the shadows of their multimillion-dollar homes. The affluent area along the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass, home to celebrities, corporate titans and others, has not been immune to the homeless crisis that has spread across Los Angeles. Some residents express sympathy and concern for the homeless, while others are wary and want them out. But the Skirball fire, which destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of a large chunk of Bel-Air, has put the issue at the forefront of community debate. Officials say the blaze was caused by a cooking fire at a homeless camp along the 405. Investigators say the fire was set accidentally, but they have not been able to find those who occupied the camp. Advertisement Resident Alma Soll, whose balcony was covered with soot by the fire, said that the homeless population is a part of life in the area but that the fire was disconcerting. Its scary, said Soll, 70. Many residents said they dont want to demonize the homeless but also worry about the fire danger in the wake of the blaze, which spread quickly after starting Dec. 6 and was 90% contained a week later. Sign up for the Essential California newsletter I really sympathize and empathize with these people, said Craig Conner, 53. If my house were one of the six that burned down, maybe Id be more angry, he added. Nickie Miner, vice president of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council, said residents have long worried about the fire hazard from hillside homeless encampments, but all the agencies hands seemed to be tied. 1 / 29 A scorched pot is among the few remnants of a homeless site where investigators believe the Skirball blaze, which destroyed more than 400 acres, started. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 29 Firefighter Ken Williams puts out a hot spot on a fire-ravaged home along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) 3 / 29 Firefighter Steve Barrett hits a hot spot on a fire-ravaged home on Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 29 Firefighters work a hot spot next to a vineyard charred by the Skirball fire in Bel-Air on Thursday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) 5 / 29 The downtown Los Angeles skyline is visible through the smoke from the Skirball fire as seen from Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) 6 / 29 A firefighter carries a hose up stairs at a home destroyed by the Skirball fire along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 29 Firefighter Bobby DAmico looks out over the Getty Center while monitoring the scene over Bel-Air, where the Skirball fire has destroyed several homes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 29 A helicopter scouts for hot spots from the Skirball fire in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 29 Firefighter Ray Schiller puts out a hot spot on a home destroyed by the Skirball fire on Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 29 A firefighter monitors the scene over Bel-Air, where the Skirball fire has destroyed several homes. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 29 The Getty Center seen through the smoke of the Skirball fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 29 A mansion is framed by trees charred in the Skirball fire in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 29 A Los Angeles City firefighter makes his way toward a home on Casiano Road that was destroyed by the Skirball fire. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 29 Los Angeles City firefighters Florin Sarbu, left, Dan Smithers and Robert Caropino monitor the Skirball fire from the backyard of a home on Casiano Road. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 29 Fredi Seraydarian, left, her husband, Paul, and son Mark wave to a helicopter pilot after he filled up with water at the Stone Canyon Reservoir. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 29 A Bel-Air home home on Linda Flora Drive burns in the Skirball fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 29 The bedroom of a home is engulfed in flames from the Skirball fire along Linda Flora Drive in Bel Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 29 Firefighters battle a blaze at a home along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 29 Firefighters work to save a home along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 29 A car lies among the ruins caused by the Skirball fire at the end of Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 29 Firefighters try to save a home along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air, where the Skirball fire prompted closure of the 405 Freeway as well as mandatory evacuations. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 29 A helicopter makes a water drop on the Skirball fire in Bel Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 29 Firefighters try to save a home along Linda Flora Drive. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 29 A helicopter makes a water drop on the Skirball fire that threatened several homes along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 29 Firefighters try to save a home along Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 29 Firefighters near Linda Flora Drive in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 29 A plume of smoke from the Skirball fire looms over a home in Bel Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 29 Firefighters in Bel-Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 29 Smoke and fire from the Skirball fire threatens homes in Bel Air. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) We knew it was only going to be a matter of time before something horrible happened, Miner said. Miner said she was skeptical of the proposed campaign to educate homeless people about fire risks. Los Angeles needs a massive regulatory overhaul like the one that followed the 1961 Bel-Air fire, she said, which should include eliminating hillside encampments. Debate about camps and the fire danger come as Los Angeles is struggling with a rise in the homeless population. An annual count in May found that homeless numbers in Los Angeles County had soared 23% to nearly 58,000 people in the last year. In the West L.A. service area including Bel-Air and Brentwood the homeless population rose from 4,659 to 5,511, in the same time period, the count found. Photos taken of the Sepulveda encampment in September and shared with The Times showed a cluster of green and olive tarpaulins stretched across a canyon, partially hidden by treetops and brush. The camp is a little obscure, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokesman Tom Waldman said. An outreach team had not visited the ravine for at least a few months and possibly as long as a year, he said. After the Skirball fire swept through, investigators found evidence that people had been cooking and sleeping in the area, but they did not find anyone to interview, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Peter Sanders said. The department has no suspects. The size of the encampment before the fire could not be determined because the area was so badly burned. All that remained Tuesday was a scorched portable stove, a pot, a cheese grater, several fuel canisters and the remnants of a boombox. Burned pages of a childrens encyclopedia littered the charred brush and rocks in the canyon. Homelessness is a huge problem in our city, added Dash Stolarz, director of public affairs for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. The fire is one more indication that this is a major issue that we need to put all our resources into to deal with. ALSO Investigation into cause of Southland wildfires probes Edison utility equipment Fierce fight along Santa Barbara coast as fire threat eases in Ventura How you can help fire victims in Southern California UPDATES: 11:20 a.m.: This article was updated with a new containment number. This article was originally published at 7:45 a.m. Los Angeles lawmakers pressed forward Wednesday with new requirements that likely would prevent Wells Fargo from hanging on to a multimillion-dollar contract with the city. The decision is the latest fallout from the scandal surrounding Wells Fargo, which admitted to creating as many as 3.5 million accounts without customer permission. Last year, it agreed to pay $185 million in fines and penalties to regulators, including the office of Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, who sued the bank following a Times investigation into its sales practices. Together this council must take a stand against corporate greed, unfair business practices and a pervasive atmosphere that has poisoned the trust of Angelenos as well as millions of Americans across this great country, said City Councilman Mitch OFarrell, who asked city staffers to examine divesting from Wells Fargo earlier this year. Advertisement Wells Fargo is currently the primary bank serving the city, according to its finance office, and held an average daily balance of roughly $94.5 million for the city during the last budget year. That contract to provide financial services expires next summer, and the city is seeking new proposals from banks vying to get the deal. The new agreement, which lasts five years and can be extended, has an estimated value of roughly $4 million annually, according to Todd Bouey, assistant director of the city finance office. To get the city contract, financial companies will be judged not only on their services and pricing but also on social responsibility. That includes punitive action from regulators and how banks are rated under the Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages banks to operate and lend in low-income and minority communities. Under the city criteria, which mandate a rating of satisfactory or better, Wells Fargo would not be able to get the L.A. contract with its current rating, according to city officials. Wells Fargo was downgraded earlier this year by regulators, partly because of its sham accounts scandal. It is unclear how quickly that rating could be updated, but it appears unlikely that it would happen before banks must turn in their proposals for the city contract next year. At the Wednesday meeting, the City Council voted to move forward with those requirements for companies seeking the city contract. Activists with the Divest LA campaign, who had pressed the city to stop doing business with Wells Fargo over its predatory practices and its financial involvement in the Dakota Access Pipeline project, hailed the decision as a major victory that could spur other cities and institutions to follow suit. This is the peoples moment to take down these destructive corporations that have continued to put profit over the good of the community, Divest LA lead organizer Trinity Tran said. When asked about the decision, company spokesman Paul Gomez said in a statement that Wells Fargo values our long-held relationship with the city of Los Angeles, and were proud to have helped the city save money for its taxpayers by working to streamline the citys financial systems. We are deeply invested in helping the city continue working toward a strong, prosperous future. The City Council also voted to draft a new law that would impose similar requirements on any future banking contracts, mandating that the city give lower scores to banks if they have flouted state or federal regulations. Under the proposed rules, L.A. also would require banks to reveal if they have been the target of enforcement actions by regulatory agencies or the courts, affirm that they have rules to protect whistleblowers and certify that illegal and predatory practices are not used as the grounds for paying or promoting employees. In addition, financial institutions would have to certify whether they set sales goals for consumer financial services and whether they use sales to decide what employees are paid or whether they are promoted, a requirement championed by Councilwoman Nury Martinez. In an impassioned speech, Martinez denounced the financial industry for preying on vulnerable people through their crappy loans and their charging of unnecessary fees, their fraudulent opening of accounts without even knowing their names. The new rules would apply to banks that either are seeking or already doing business with the city. If a bank fails to follow the rules, the city could have cause to terminate its contract, Bouey said. The proposed requirements expand on an existing responsible banking ordinance that requires banks doing business with the city to provide detailed reports on the loans they have provided in each community. The council voted to draft the new rules, which now will be drawn up by city lawyers before they come back to the council for final approval. Earlier this year, the California Bankers Assn. and other business groups argued that some requirements under the proposed law could be unnecessarily burdensome, saying that agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau already make information about enforcement actions available to the city. Adding more paperwork just causes more of a headache and can end up costing consumers more, said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. Los Angeles already had started to loosen its ties to Wells Fargo before Wednesdays vote: The city has suspended all purchases of debt-related securities associated with Wells Fargo, and the bulk of its $45 million in Wells Fargo bank securities holdings will expire within months and not be renewed, according to the finance office. Other cities, including New York and San Francisco, as well as states, including California and Illinois, have vowed to cut off some business ties to Wells Fargo. Last year, California Treasurer John Chiang said his office no longer would go through Wells Fargo to buy or sell securities, a move quickly echoed by Chiangs counterpart in Illinois. In New York City, officials in May moved to block the bank from selling municipal bonds and said they would not sign a new banking contract with Wells Fargo until its CRA rating improves. The most recent government body to go after the bank for its sham-accounts practices is the Navajo Nation, which this week sued the bank in federal court in New Mexico. The suit claims that Wells Fargo, the only major bank with branch locations within the massive Navajo Nation, pressured or duped elderly tribal members and those who did not speak English well into opening bank accounts they did not need. The tribe is seeking more than $50 million in damages, restitution and penalties. Times staff writer James Rufus Koren contributed to this report. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @AlpertReyes ALSO Its been a year since the Wells Fargo scandal broke and new problems are still surfacing Navajo Nation sues Wells Fargo claiming it was targeted for fake accounts Wells Fargo, accused of signing up customers for unneeded insurance, could face sanctions from state An antiwar sermon at All Saints Church in Pasadena two days before the 2004 presidential election triggered an Internal Revenue Service investigation that threatened the churchs tax-exempt status. But that hasnt stopped All Saints from taking on contentious issues, as it did on a recent Sunday when the Rev. Mike Kinman preached about sexual assault against women. He also spoke of another hot-button issue: the Republican tax plans. Tucked within the House version of the tax bill which still must be reconciled with the separate Senate version is a proposal that likely would have kept the feds away from All Saints 13 years ago. The House version significantly weakens the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 law that bars tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political activity. The provision would give churches and other nonprofits much more leeway to endorse candidates. Whether the provision remains in the tax bill could be known as early as Wednesday, when Republican leaders are expected to unveil a new version that would reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions. Even if the proposal is removed, other efforts to roll back the Johnson Amendment are underway in Congress. Despite his churchs history with the IRS, Kinman said the Johnson Amendment should remain. It is absolutely not my role to tell someone, You should vote for this person as a faith issue, he said. As soon as you identify with one candidate as the church, it is too tempting frankly, the scriptural term for it is idolatry to say, Were going to be partisan for this person. And then how do you speak truth to that person? Nixing the Johnson Amendment is seen as a nod to President Trumps base. Evangelical Christian groups have argued the amendment is an unconstitutional violation of a pastors right to free speech. We hear from hundreds of pastors across the country fearful of jeopardizing their churches IRS status, said Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian advocacy group that has been at the forefront of trying to overturn it. But in California among the nations most religiously diverse states there is little desire from religious leaders to revoke the amendment. Many of the states congregations are traditionally conservative, and others are very liberal. Others, like the Catholic church, hew to conservative positions on issues like abortion but strongly support the rights of immigrants in the country illegally. It is absolutely not my role to tell someone, 'You should vote for this person' as a a faith issue. Rev. Mike Kinman, All Saints Pasadena Trumps base is small in California, even among Christians, said Tommy Givens, an assistant professor of New Testament studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. I expect that a repeal [of the Johnson Amendment] would be greeted broadly in California with widespread concern about the erosion of institutional separation between church and state, Givens said. Polls show that Catholic voters in 2016 were split between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and Catholics come down on both sides of most issues today, said Father Thomas Rausch, professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University. Bishops are very reluctant in telling Catholics how to vote, he said. At the same time, that doesnt mean the church doesnt have a political voice, because they certainly can preach about moral and social issues. Theyve been very outspoken on the new tax bill and the need for immigration reform. "It is absolutely not my role to tell someone, You should vote for this person as a faith issue, said the Rev. Mike Kinman of All Saints Church in Pasadena (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) The Rev. Mark Whitlock, executive director of the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, believes the anti-politicking rule should be repealed because, in churches, theres always been the undercurrent of who we want in office. Whitlock who has served as pastor of Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Irvine for two decades said black churches have long supported candidates they believe will help the disenfranchised. During the 2008 election, Whitlock said, he stood before his 3,500-member congregation and said, I support Barack Obama. Most of the crowd cheered. A group of Clinton supporters walked out, furious. Whitlock got calls from Republican members of his congregation and from others worried the church would lose its 501(c)(3) status. You would have thought I committed a cardinal sin, Whitlock said. I tend not to hold back and take the risk of finding myself in trouble. I am cognizant of the fact theres a law and I have a responsibility as a pastor to be creative. But why not have the opportunity to speak freely? Trump has vowed to totally destroy the Johnson Amendment since he was on the campaign trail. Changing the law would require an act of Congress. Doing so is deeply unpopular with the American public. A recent survey by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland found that 79% of voters oppose scrapping the Johnson Amendment. The results, released last month, show 71% of Republicans, 88% of Democrats and 78% of independents were against doing so. People are just so tired of the level of partisan polarization, and the idea that it would creep into yet one more area of their life doesnt sound very appealing, said Steven Kull, director of the Program for Public Consultation. Bishop Guy Erwin, far right, say a prayer in 2015 with the Los Angeles Council of religious leaders as they hold an interfaith prayer service to honor the memory of those who died during the Watts riots. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The anti-politicking rule has not been widely enforced. Since 2008, thousands of pastors have participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, a nationwide, coordinated preaching effort promoted by the Alliance Defending Freedom in which they challenge the ban by getting political in sermons and sending recordings to the IRS. Only one participating church has been investigated, Holcomb said. Givens, of Fuller Seminary, compared the push to get rid of the Johnson Amendment to the so-called war on Christmas. He said its a superficial move that plays well with conservative Christians who believe their faith is under attack. Theres a very powerful narrative in conservative Christian parts of the country of losing power, of losing the society that they want, that they think God wants, he said. So I think the Johnson Amendment, like saying merry Christmas, enables the Trump administration and the Republican party to deliver to that sense of nostalgia and sense of loss. Even now, Givens said, plenty of politicking happens in churches. There are certain issues like abortion on the right and LGBTQ rights on the left that congregations take stands on that are linked with certain candidates, Givens said. There are all sorts of dog whistles that are blown, he said. Bishop Guy Erwin of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said he fears a repeal of the amendment would result in politicians chasing religious leaders for endorsements. The job of clergy is to teach the faith, he said. It is not to be power brokers who try to line up the vote for an individual candidate. Erwin said the church is bound by Christian duty to stand against racism, anti-immigrant prejudice and mistreatment of the poor. There are all sorts of dog whistles that are blown. Tommy Givens, assistant professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena But even that can seem to have political overtones these days, he said. Just after the 2016 election, Erwin said, a Lutheran bishop in Texas said a congregant complained that a sermon on the Beatitudes Blessed are the poor in spirit...Blessed are the meek was being preached to make Trump sound bad. At All Saints Church, activism dates back to the 1940s, when the churchs rector stood in front of trains to protest the internment of Japanese Americans. The 2004 sermon that prompted the IRS investigation which did not include an endorsement included an imagined dialogue between Jesus, Sen. John F. Kerry and President George W. Bush. Jesus chided both for supporting the war in Iraq and speaking so little about the poor. In 2007, the IRS said it thought the church had tried to influence votes but that officials would not revoke its tax exemption. Outside the church on a recent Sunday were tables touting the churchs LGBTQ, Middle East and racial justice ministries. An action table each week details a cause and includes forms for writing to elected officials. Elizabeth Tatum, 52, chatted with church-goers at an action table focusing on the plight of Palestinian children. Tatum, who has attended the church since she was 2 and was present for the controversial 2004 sermon, loves its activist spirit. But she, too, favors the Johnson Amendment. You have to have a respect for people with different views, she said. People shouldnt just be sheep blindly following their pastor. The Rev. Mark Whitlock, pastor of Christ Our Redeemer A.M.E. Church, prays at an Orange County Board Of Supervisors meeting in June. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson Many homes in the moneyed hills of Montecito and other communities along the southern Santa Barbara County coast are lined with lush ornamental vegetation intended to increase privacy for those living in the homes. But this type of lush landscaping is also posing a fire risk as the massive Thomas fire swept into the area this week. Firefighters have so far been able to keep the flames out of the major population centers along the coast. But the conditions on the ground heavy vegetation, narrow winding roads, steep terrain and homes in close proximity to each other create a dangerous situation. Advertisement There is a huge risk right now. We have live fire, and a lot of fire, on that front country, said Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson. The potential for it to push down into urbanized areas is huge. Towering eucalyptus trees, whose sap and bark are highly flammable, can be found in the area, Anderson said. Juniper trees, California pepper trees, and pine trees are also common in the Montecito area. All are flammable. 1 / 73 John Bain and Brandon Baker try to stop a fire from burning a strangers home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 73 A brush fire moving with the wind sends embers all over residential neighborhoods north of Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 73 A family packs up and evacuates as a brush fire gets closer to their home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 73 John Bain and his friends, all from Camarillo, came to help as brush fires move quickly through residential neighborhoods in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 73 Strangers band together to help put out a palm tree on fire and stop it from burning homes. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 73 The Hawaiian Gardens apartments burn in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 7 / 73 Residents help with the fire attack on Buena Vista Street in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 8 / 73 Residents watch the Thomas fire on Prospect Street in Ventura. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 9 / 73 Firefighters are deployed to battle the fire in a Ventura neighborhood. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 73 A chimney is all that stands of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 73 Remnants of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 73 A home burns on a hillside overlooking Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 73 Palms are consumed in the Thomas fire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 14 / 73 Emma Jacobson, 19, center, gets a hug from a neighbor after her family home was destroyed by fire in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 73 Olivia Jacobson, 16, wipes tears as she looks at her familys home, destroyed by the brush fire on Island View Drive in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 73 Aerial view of the Thomas fire in Ventura County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 73 Noah Alarcon carries a cage with the family cat while evacuating from Casitas Springs. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 18 / 73 Smoke from the Thomas fire crosses over Lake Casitas near Ojai. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 19 / 73 A Ventura County firefighter battles a blaze on Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 73 Ventura County Firefighter Aaron Cohen catches his breath after fighting to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 73 Aerial view of homes burned to the ground in the Thomas fire in Ventura County. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 22 / 73 A home between Via Baja and Foothill Road burns in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 73 Amanda Leon and husband Johnny Leon watch as firefighters fight to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 73 Chino Valley firefighters fight to save a home along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 73 Embers continue to burn at sunset Tuesday in a home on Ridgecrest Court at Scenic Way in the Clearpoint neighborhood of Ventura. (Al Seib / Los Angeles TImes) 26 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 73 Firefighters try to protect homes from the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 73 Edward Aguilar runs through the flames of the Thomas Fire to save his cats at his mobile home along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs in Ventura County. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 73 Jeff Lipscomb, left, Gabriel Lipscomb, 17, center, and Rachel Lipscomb, 11, look for items to recover from their burned home in Ventura. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 73 A traffic collision temporarily clogged lanes on the northbound 101 Freeway between Solimar and Faria Beaches as the Thomas fire burned in the hills. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 73 The Thomas fire burns towards the 101 Freeway and homes between Solimar and Faria Beaches. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 73 Fire personnel keep an eye on the Thomas fire on Toland Road near Santa Paula. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 34 / 73 A train on the Rincon coast passes a burning hillside from the Thomas fire. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 35 / 73 The Thomas fire burns along the 101 Freeway north of Ventura on Wednesday evening. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 73 A firefighter battles the Thomas fire in the town of La Conchita early Thursday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 73 A resident cries as the Thomas fire approaches the town of La Conchita early Thursday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 73 Burned palm trees are left standing between the 101 Freeway and Faria Beach as the Thomas fire reaches the Pacific Ocean. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 73 Firefighters battle Thursday to protect the resort city of Ojai from encroaching flames. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 73 Casey Rodriquez helps a friend move belongings after the Thomas Fire destroyed most of an apartment building on North Kalarama in Ventura. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 73 A burnt-out bus near Maripoca Highway. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 73 The Thomas fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 73 A huge plume of smoke rises north of Ventura as seen Sunday afternoon from the Ventura pier, as the Thomas fire threatens parts of Carpenteria and Montecito. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 73 The Thomas Fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai, Calif. on Friday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 73 Residents react as they watch the Thomas Fire burn in the hills above La Conchita at 5 am Thursday moning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 73 Mary McEwen and husband Dan Bellaart prepare to evacuate their home on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito as the Thomas fire burns. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 73 Carpenteria resident Chris Gayner, right, photographs a plane in the hills of Carpenteria. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 73 From left, residents Michael Desjardins, his neighbor Patty Rodriguez, daughter Mikayla, wife Veronica, mother in law Amanda Buzin, and son Mikey keep an eye on the Thomas fire in Carpenteria. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 73 Mary McEwen cheers as she sees fire crews make their way up a hill past her home on Toro Canyon Rd. in Montecito. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 73 Dan Bellaart and wife Mary McEwen comfort each other in the backyard of their home that includes an avocado ranch on 9 acres of land on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito, as the Thomas fire burns in the background. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 73 Carpinteria resident Jay Molnar, 55, mouth and nose protected against the smoke, views flames glowing in the hills above the city on Dec. 11, 2017. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 73 Sacramento firefighters battle a blaze in Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 73 Josh Acosta, superintendent with Fulton Hotshots looks for ways to fight fire consuming a structure threatening two homes high up Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 73 A motorcade passes on tHighway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson, who died Thursday morning while battling the Thomas Fire. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 73 Santa Paula City officials, Police and Firefighters salute from a bridge as a motorcade passes on the Santa Paula Freeway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 73 Forest Service crews cut and clear dense brush for contingency lines off of East Camino Cielo in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Montecito and Santa Barbara to help stop the Thomas fire from advancing. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 73 A hotshot crew from Ojai marches towards their assignment to protect structures on East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 73 Firefighters monitor the flames Saturday from a staging area near Parma Park in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 73 Flames slowly make their way down a valley behind a home in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 73 Flames whip around power lines as they move through Sycamore Canyon on Saturday, threatening structures in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 73 Smoke billows over Santa Barbara as the Thomas Fire continues to threaten the area on Saturday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 73 Bill Shubin, deputy fire chief of the Santa Rosa Fire Department checks on flames burning near homes north of East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 73 A fire truck pulls responds to fires burning near homes on East Mountain Drive in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 64 / 73 Brian Good, from US Forest Service, leans forward against the wind, and holds up a Kestrel to measure wind speeds up to 50 mph on Gibraltar Road in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 73 A plume of smoke moves south as winds as high as 50 mph blow down Gibraltar Road on the west fork of Cold Spring Trail in Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 73 Flames and a big plume of smoke threaten homes on Gibraltar Road near Gibraltar Rock, outside Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 73 The sun rises as fire crews prepare for another day of fighting the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 73 An aircraft makes a water drop over a hot spot up in the mountain range at Gibraltar Rock near Montecito, Calif. on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 73 Humboldt County firefighters Bobby Gray, left, hoses down smoldering flames inside a destroyed home, as Kellee Stoehr, right looks on, after the Thomas Fire burned in Montecito, Calif. on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 73 A home on Park Hill Lane was destroyed by the Thomas fire in Montecito, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 71 / 73 Humboldt County firefighters Lonnie Risling, left, and Jimmy McHaffie, right, spray down smoldering fire underneath the rubble of a home that was destroyed by the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 73 Fire crews help the Behrman family retrieve their familys personal belongings out of their burned home, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 73 In the foreground of the ridges that were burned by the Thomas Fire, Rusty Smith stands outside his home that survived the flames that were kicked up by Saturdays wind event and threatened his home in Flores Flats on Gibraltar Road, near Montecito. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Tall and narrow Italian cypress trees are popular in the area, too, because they can offer privacy. Anderson said wooden fences are not popular in Santa Barbara, as homeowners prefer natural vegetation. That is putting flammable fuel that is ready and willing and wants to burn in between those structures, she said. It makes it very dangerous for firefighters to implant themselves into those neighborhoods to do structure protection. Montecito has over the last few decades become a favorite spot of celebrities, making it one of the most affluent communities in America. Those who own homes there include Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe and Ellen DeGeneres. The area is highly susceptible to wildfires, which occur every few years. A 2008 fire threatened the community and badly damaged the home of actor Christopher Lloyd, forcing the caretaker to flee for his life. The city of Santa Barbara bans certain types of vegetation, including cypress, eucalyptus, juniper and pine, from high fire hazard areas. Montecito, which is in unincorporated Santa Barbara County, does not have such restrictions. The Montecito Fire Protection Districts wildfire protection plan notes that Montecitos age and semirural character pose other problems for firefighters: Some addresses are not clearly visible from the road; street signs are not lighted; tight spaces make turning around difficult for a large convoy of firetrucks. The 2016 city plan notes that while Montecito is an idyllic and highly desirable place to live and visit, the residents often overlook the fact that the area is highly prone to large wildfires. The combination of hot and dry Mediterranean climate, highly ignitable vegetation, numerous fire ignitions and human development create significant potential for a major disaster, the plan says. In 2008, embers from an abandoned bonfire above Montecito were pushed downhill by swift sundowner winds. The conflagration, known as the Tea fire, destroyed 210 homes in Santa Barbara and Montecito. We dont want the fire anywhere close to Montecito, said Andrew Madsen, a Los Padres National Forest public affairs officer. The massive value of the homes in the area is not lost on firefighters. I dont know where you would find more value at risk, Madsen said. javier.panzar@latimes.com Twitter: @jpanzar UPDATES: 6:25 p.m.: This post was updated with background and information about Montecito. This article was originally published at 2:40 p.m. Hey, #TheyDidIt! Thanks to a fired-up coalition of women, African-Americans and suburbanites, Democrat and civil-rights activist Doug Jones defeated Republican and alleged teen-dater Roy Moore in Tuesdays closely watched special Senate election in Alabama. To recap: On a day when President Donald Trump turned to his beloved Twitter to make sexist, offensive remarks about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and to claim (incorrectly) that he doesnt know/hasnt met the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, the scandal-plagued candidate he enthusiastically supported was defeated. Advertisement By a Democrat. In Alabama. And one of the best things about Jones underdog victory is that it wasnt the only great thing that happened in the post-Harvey Weinstein, #MeToo universe this week. On Tuesday, dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced that it has named feminism as the word of the year for 2017. Meanwhile, a short story about a bad date published in this weeks New Yorker magazine has people talking about sex and gender roles in a way they would not have just a few months ago. Lets start with the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster, searches for the word feminism defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes and organized activity on behalf of womens rights and interests increased by 70 percent on the Merriam-Webster website in 2017. Starting with the Womens Marches in January and continuing through the tsunami of sexual misconduct allegations that began storming the news cycle in October, feminism is having a zeitgeist moment. And not a minute too soon. It was not that long ago when people would say, Im not a feminist, but , as if admitting that you were a fan of a world in which all people are created equal and treated that way was the social equivalent of wearing a fanny pack. So bulky and uncool. So much for that. In the wake of the Weinstein scandal and other injustices and indignities, women and men are realizing that feminism is not a burden. Feminism is a badge of honor. If you believe in a world where everyone has an equal shot at living a safe, fulfilling life, you are a feminist. Which is an awful lot like being a person. Which brings us to Cat Person, the short story by newcomer Kristen Roupenian that became the New Yorkers most-read piece of fiction of the year after it hit the magazines website last weekend. (It appears in the Dec. 11 print issue.) Roupenians story follows the relationship between a 20-year-old college student named Margot and a thirtysomething guy named Robert. They meet at the movie theater where she works, flirt via text message and eventually end up on a date that goes wrong in a totally relatable, yet thoroughly unsettling way. After going home with Robert, Margot realizes that she isnt as attracted to him as she thought she was. Figuring the sex train has already left the station, she sleeps with him anyway. Regret and horror set in, and she breaks up with him via text. Confused and humiliated, Robert sends the hateful reply that ends the story. Neither character is particularly sympathetic, but when men and women read the story, they are seeing themselves in all of their messed-up and confused human glory. On social media and in the many sharp trend stories that have been popping up this week, women and men talked about what happens when feelings are ignored and signals are misread. They talked about fat shaming and how texting gives you the impression of intimacy but not the essence of it. Best of all, they talked about how reading Cat Person in a post-Weinstein world made them re-examine themselves and how they treat their potential sexual and/or romantic partners. This helped turn a fictional relationship that is not so much #MeToo-appropriate as #MeToo-adjacent into a real teachable moment. Its sad how slow we are to clue in to all of this, a male Cat Person reader told The Cut website. But its exciting how much potential there is for exploration and learning. The fight to right the wrongs of entrenched sexism and to remake the institutions that perpetuate it is going to be long and daunting. But treating each other with more empathy and respect is something we can all do right now. The revolution starts in your heart. Twitter: @karla_peterson karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com MASON CITY | A Mason City man is accused of assaulting a person and threatening them with a hammer. David Allen Berger, 34, is charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. About 10:21 a.m. Dec. 6, Berger allegedly committed aggravated assault by picking up a hammer, raising it while advancing toward the person in a hostile and threatening manner, court documents said. The incident occurred in the 100 block of 10th Street Southwest in Mason City. Berger was charged and released on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 27 in Cerro Gordo County District Court. Courtney Fiorini A deadlocked jury prompted a judge on Tuesday to declare a mistrial in the trial of a Navy commander accused of trying to rape a junior officer in her San Diego home. Jurors voted 11-1 to convict John Michael Neuhart II of assault with intent to commit rape during a burglary and attempted forcible rape last year. They were divided 5-7 for conviction on a charge of resisting arrest by running from police. Jurors did not vote on two lesser offenses of assault with intent to commit rape and burglary. Advertisement Neuhart was commander of a Guam-based helicopter squadron, but was relieved of his command while facing criminal charges. Superior Court Judge Kathleen Lewis set a status conference for Dec. 20 to determine when and if Neuhart will face a retrial. I am confident we will secure a conviction and justice for the victim, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Tag said out of court regarding a likely second trial. The junior officer, a Navy lieutenant, reported to San Diego police on Sept. 12, 2016 that Neuhart forced his way into her Valencia Park home after the two had been drinking heavily together in downtown San Diego. She testified that he tore off her jeans and tried to rape her, but backed off when her repeated screams drew the attention of a neighbor. The neighbor yelled into her house that he had a gun, and Neuhart ran out a back door and into a canyon. Police officers chased him and caught him after he fell, with a broken leg. He said he was running from the armed neighbor and didnt know police were behind him. Neuhart testified that the woman, who had been under his command in Guam, consented to having him come to her home and have sex. He said she took off her own pants and gave him mixed signals about whether she wanted him to continue with aggressive foreplay. He set his cellphone facing her back door to video record part of their encounter. The video, played in court to jurors, showed the woman repeatedly screaming at Neuhart to leave and stop pounding on her door. Moments later, she let him in and at one point shut her pitbull outside. Her voice can be heard asking Neuhart, Why would you want a woman who doesnt want you? Neuhart testified that he made the video to protect himself in case she would claim he raped her. pauline.repard@sduniontribune Twitter: @pdrepard Democrat Doug Jones, who started the Alabama race for U.S. Senate as a massive underdog, swept to victory Tuesday night in a repudiation of scandal-stained Roy Moore. The upset also dealt a serious blow to President Trump. The narrow victory slices the GOPs already-thin margin in the Senate to a single seat, complicating the partys legislative push and giving Democrats a major boost heading into the 2018 campaign, when control of Congress will be at stake. The win which Moore refused to acknowledge marked the first time a Democrat has captured a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in a quarter of a century. Advertisement More broadly, it signaled the limits of the nations political tribalism. In this deeply conservative, overwhelmingly Republican stronghold, the allegations of sexual misconduct Moore faced were enough for many to overcome the reflexive opposition to a party they have long associated with permissiveness and profligacy. At the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect, a jubilant Jones told cheering supporters at a rally in downtown Birmingham. This campaign has been about the rule of law, Jones said. This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure that everyone in this state, regardless of which ZIP Code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life. Moore, for his part, sought to rally his disconsolate supporters. Its not over, the Republican told them at a gloomy appearance in Montgomery, suggesting a recount might change the result. Its going to take some time. But he was quickly undercut by his own party. While we are deeply disappointed in the extremely close U.S. Senate election results we respect the voting process, said Terry Lathan, head of the Alabama GOP. Now that this race has ended, may this holiday season of peace, love and hope resonate with everyone. Moore ran up crushing margins in rural counties dominated by evangelical Christians, long the bulwark of his political base. But Jones drew a robust turnout of African Americans who voted in landslide numbers for the former federal prosecutor. He cut into Moores support among traditionally Republican-voting suburbanites apparently put off by the tawdry allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct. Jones also benefited from more than 20,000 voters who apparently followed the lead of the states senior Republican senator, Richard C. Shelby, who said he could not abide Moore and wrote in another candidate. Jones was ahead of Moore by nearly 21,000 votes in incomplete returns. The race shifted last month, after the Washington Post reported that Moore, 70, had molested a 14-year-old girl when he was a prosecuting attorney in his 30s. Another woman accused him of sexual assaulting her when she was 16, and several others came forward with stories of inappropriate courtship when they were in their teens. Moore was already a controversial figure, off-putting to many Republicans who cringed at his history of inflammatory statements and defiant actions that twice had him booted from his job as the states chief justice. Moore strenuously denied the allegations, calling them a plot hatched by a strange-bedfellow coalition of liberal interests and the GOP establishment. The controversy energized long-suffering Democrats, both here and across the nation. The party and its allies poured millions of dollars and hundreds of volunteers into the state, eager to seize an early Christmas gift: a U.S. Senate seat in the solidly Republican Deep South. Im 45, and Ive voted since I was 18, said Chris Barry, who showed up to cast a ballot for Jones at a fire station in Hoover, a heavily Republican suburb outside Birmingham. Hes the best chance weve had since I can remember. Chris Barry was excited at the prospect of voting for a Democrat with a shot at winning a Senate seat in Alabama for the first time in his adult life. (Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times ) Some Republican voters backed Moore with admitted concern. I think any way you look at it, its horrendous, said Craig Gilbert, 59, a corporate pilot. If a man is falsely accused, its horrendous. And if a 32-year-old man was molesting a 14-year-old girl, its horrendous. You have to kind of keep your fingers crossed, Gilbert said before stepping out of the blustery cold to vote, and hope the truth comes out and well deal with it at that time. Jones, 63, is a former U.S. attorney who gained fame for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for the deadly 1963 bombing of Birminghams 16th Street Baptist Church, decades after the attack. In Washington, Moores defeat was a relief to his prospective GOP colleagues, even as it made their hold on Congress even more tenuous. The controversial judge and his cloud of scandal would have been a fixture in Democratic campaigns across the country, threatening to drag the Republican Partys image down along with him. There was no such upside, however, for Trump, who initially steered clear of the contest, then leaped in headlong as polls showed Moores support among Republicans holding firm. He went 0-2, said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, noting the presidents support for interim Sen. Luther Strange, who lost to Moore in Septembers GOP primary. The special election was held to fill the seat vacated when Jeff Sessions resigned to become Trumps attorney general. Now hell learn the hard lesson that President Obama learned, Duffy said. He doesnt have that much influence on voters when he isnt on the ballot himself. In a Tuesday night tweet, the president offered a strikingly measured and gracious response. Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory, he said. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! Craig Gilbert voted for Republican Roy Moore with fingers crossed. (Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times ) However, this particular campaign did, to the great relief of many. The allegations have drawn national attention and considerable disparagement of Alabama, its history, its voters and their judgment. That condescension along with many millions of dollars in negative advertising, robocalls and attack mailers left many feeling picked on and fatigued. I put the TV on mute, I didnt answer the phone if I didnt recognize the number, and I threw out the mail, said Republican Ann Heitz, a Hoover retiree who declined to give her age or say for whom she voted. Im tired of people acting like all Alabamians are stupid, she said. But we do have so many politicians who dont deserve our respect. Im disgusted by the whole thing. Times staff writers Michael Finnegan in Los Angeles and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report. mark.barabak@latimes.com @markzbarabak ALSO Trumps troubles with Congress just got worse: Five takeaways from Democrats upset in Alabama Omarosa Manigault Newman leaving White House In Florida, Trump attacks credibility of Roy Moore accuser as he rallies support for Alabama Senate hopeful UPDATES: 9:55 p.m.: This story has updated with the election outcome and other details. This report was first posted at 12:05 p.m. 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. Advertisement The groups roster includes the names of contributors and the amount they gave. It shows $440,091 raised from donations ranging from $3 by Jan Miley to Fondas $100,000. The listing did not disclose the city of residence for donors, but organizers said that 40 percent of the money came from the two counties included in the boundaries of the congressional district, Orange and San Diego. The listing included $2,500 from the JDM Foundation, an organization that tax records show is nearly entirely funded by its founder, comedian Jay Leno. The foundation has also accepted some contributions from auto-racing companies. Issas campaign said the donor information should have been disclosed earlier. Despite all their claims about their commitment to transparency, the story behind the groups never really seemed to add up. Were only now starting to see a glimpse of who is behind these efforts, Issas spokesman, Calvin Moore, said in an email. FEC records show that Issas campaign committee received $345,400 from political action committees between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, including 23 contributions for $5,000, the maximum traditional PACs are allowed to give to candidates per each election. The Home Depot, Microsoft, Amazon, Koch Industries, and several purely-ideological organizations have given up to the limit. Flip the 49th has organized as a type of political action committee that can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals and is not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates. Hundreds of grassroots activists have been educating voters on issues across the 49th. Our status change marks the beginning of the next phase of our program, which is to tell voters to vote no on Darrell Issa, a national emergency, spokesman Jeremy Addis-Mills said by email.We will continue to work tirelessly to defeat Darrell Issa, one of Congresss wealthiest members and we call upon patriots from across the country to support our efforts. IRS documents show that it has so far spent spent $12,500 with a Los Angeles consultant on yard signs and materials for volunteers to hand out when they go canvass door-to-door. It has not disclosed other expenditures, if any. Flip the 49th was created to support volunteers from network of grassroots organizations with expertise to run voter registration drives, door-to-door canvasses, and data-driven outreach programs. In a recent news release, Flip the 49th said it has trained more than 200 volunteers so far and canvassed more than 9,000 homes, and hopes to reach 75,000 voters by next years election. One organization, Service Employees International Union Local 221, has given $25,000 worth of in-kind donations. David Lagstein, one of Flip the 49ths founders, is also SEIUs political director. Twitter: @jptstewart joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1841 A veteran union official who is helping San Diego firefighters negotiate benefits is a widely acclaimed expert in how city finances work, particularly when it comes to compensation and retirement programs. Hes also one of the architects of an infamous pension deal 15 years ago that almost bankrupted the city. That Ron Saathoff is back at the negotiating table for the firefighters union predictably has raised some eyebrows at City Hall. Advertisement He was both the president of the union and a city pension system trustee who was a leading figure in the 2002 pension underfunding fiasco. As a result of that action, the retirement fund shortfall ballooned to about $2 billion and now an increasing chunk of San Diegos general fund goes into the pension system each year, diverting money from city services. Proposition B, the successful 2012 initiative overhauling the pension system that was launched in response to the scandal, will eventually lower those payments, but not for some years. On one level, Saathoff did his job well. He got employees, including firefighters, a boost in pension benefits at the time. But the long-term legal, political and financial fallout is still being felt today. There were many to blame, including city officials who were looking for a shortcut to save on payments to the pension system. Essentially, the city ended up reducing its payments due in return for boosting employee retirement benefits. Saathoff and several others involved with the pension system were charged by the federal government and district attorney on a variety of counts related to conflict of interest because their actions increased their pensions. But the cases all collapsed and the city ended up paying millions in attorney fees to the defendants, including Saathoff. He has wonderful historical knowledge of the city, said Jesse Conner, the current president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 145, in explaining why he brought in Saathoff as an unpaid consultant. Conner acknowledged that some of his unions 900-plus members questioned the wisdom of enlisting Saathoff. Some concerns were expressed: What are the optics? Conner said. But those were set aside largely because of the knowledge Saathoff can bring to ongoing negotiations over death and disability benefits for firefighters. Hes a recognized expert in certain fields we literally grab him any chance we can, Conner said. The underfunding pushed by Saathoff and others unintentionally led to a change that hurt new firefighters and other city employees. Except for police officers, those hired after 2012 were enrolled in 401(k)-style plans as required by Proposition B rather than the more generous defined pension plan. Conner and other firefighters feel Saathoff was unfairly assessed the bulk of the blame in the pension scandal. Carl DeMaio does not, to say the least. The anti-tax advocate and former San Diego city councilman was the driving force behind Proposition B. He called it obscenely inappropriate for Saathoff to be involved in any bargaining with the city and said the mayors negotiators should refuse to sit down with him. Im pretty shocked about it, said DeMaio, now a radio talk show host. Ron Saathoff helped fashion a deal that put the city on the brink of bankruptcy(that) should make taxpayers very wary. Saathoff may have been central to structuring the underfunding plan, but he said it was the citys decision. The city chose, requested and demanded to pay less than what was the required (pension) payment, he said in a recent interview. The matter was compounded by an earlier underfunding deal in 1996. When the scandal erupted, some observers said that union leaders shouldnt be blamed for trying to get all they can for their members. But Saathoff also was responsible for the well-being of the retirement system. The underfunding plan wouldnt have happened if the trustees, including Saathoff, hadnt voted for it. When the consequences of the deal became apparent, Saathoff was a lightning rod for criticism, in part because his pay as president of the union was included with his city salary as a fire captain to boost his pension. That was a benefit none of the others who were charged received, so his potential conflict was seen as more severe not just in public perception but legally. Also, he was widely considered the most influential person on the pension board. In 2010, Saathoff took a position with the newly-formed pensions department at the International Association of Firefighters in Washington, D.C. But the Point Loma High grad has since retired and returned to San Diego, where hes glad to assist Local 145 in any way he can. Ive served firefighters my whole life, he said. Asked if he thinks he remains tainted by the scandal, Saathoff pointed to the legal outcome of the cases against him. I think the record speaks for itself, he said. Authorities are asking the public for help in identifying and locating a woman and two men who burglarized three San Diego homes over the summer, making off with valuables worth thousands of dollars. On Aug. 13, a woman rang the doorbell of a residence in the 6300 block of Glenmont Street near Marne Avenue in Del Cerro, according to police. When no one came to the front door, the womans two accomplices broke a sliding glass door at the rear of the home, went in and stole several items. About an hour later, the same woman rang the doorbell of a home on Jackson Drive near Zeta Street in La Mesa. When the homeowner appeared, she asked him if Tony lived there. Advertisement The homeowner said no and went back about his business. Later, he left the home. Upon returning several hours later, he discovered that his rear sliding glass door had been shattered and three bedrooms ransacked. The intruders stole roughly $7,600 worth of jewelry and other miscellaneous items, police said. The morning of Aug. 29, the same three thieves burglarized a home on Calderon Road near Entreken Way in Rancho Penasquitos, getting inside once again by breaking a sliding glass door and stealing several high-end purses with a combined value in excess of $10,000. The burglars were described as a slim Asian woman in her 20s with large black-framed glasses, long green-painted fingernails and a tattoo on her left forearm, accompanied by two thin, black men who appeared to be in their 20s, both of whom were roughly 5 feet, 8 inches tall. Surveillance cameras captured still and video images of the three burglars. During the crimes, they traveled in a black Chrysler 200 with paper license plates and possibly a white four-door Mercedes-Benz, police said. Anyone with information about the break-ins was asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or contact the agency online at sdcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @danalittlefield A San Diego police officer who killed an armed burglar inside a Point Loma home on Sunday has fatally shot three other men in the past four years. Officer Richard Butera shot Kyle Zahacefski, 24, of Connecticut, who threatened officers by advancing on them with a knife, a homicide investigator said. Butera fired his AR-15 rifle and a second officer fired a beanbag round, Lt. Mike Holden said Tuesday. He declined to release the name of the second officer. Advertisement Holden said police got a call about 6 a.m. that a man was trying to break into a home on Trieste Drive. When officers got there, a man in the front yard threw bricks at them, then broke into a different house. Officers followed him inside and found him in the kitchen. Holden said Zahacefski found a knife and quickly walked toward them. He said Butera and the other officer feared for their safety and fired their respective weapons. In one of the past shootings, Butera killed Joshua Adam Sisson on Jan. 1, 2016, after he began to aggressively advance toward the officer with a knife at a Lewis Street home in Hillcrest, police said. Sisson was accused of first holding a knife to his boyfriends throat. On Jan. 26, 2014, Butera shot and killed Aaron Devenere, who had claimed to have explosives while holding a driver hostage. After the truck was stopped, Butera, following orders, shot Devenere in the head with a rifle as Devenere twisted the womans head while she screamed and struggled. On June 1, 2013, Butera fatally shot Giacomo James Cargnoni, 21, who was accused of holding a gun to another mans head. Police said the suspect, crouching behind a car door on Sea World Drive, appeared to be pointing a weapon at officers when Butera felled him with two shotgun blasts. Officers said Cargnoni was holding a folding knife with a 3-inch blade. The District Attorneys Office found all three shootings justified. pauline.repard@sduniontribune Twitter: @pdrepard President Trumps margin of support among the American people and in Congress was already thin. After Tuesdays defeat in Alabama, it is decidedly thinner, more than the loss of one Republican senators vote would suggest. The win by Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in one of the nations reddest states demonstrated both the limits of Trumps power to help the Republican Party in key congressional races and the potential for Democrats to rally voters against one of the least popular presidents in modern history. It will also mean Republicans have one less vote to spare in the Senate, where a 51-49 majority will make passing major legislation even more difficult than it has been in Trumps rocky first year, absent compromises with emboldened Democrats. Advertisement Those Republicans who remain will have more motivation and leverage to decide whats best for their own political futures, rather than Trumps, prompting more of them to buck the president or demand major concessions for their votes. Jones said Wednesday that Trump called him with congratulations and an invitation to the White House. It was a very gracious call, Jones said. I very much appreciated it. Trump on Wednesday dismissed criticism that he had backed a flawed candidate, and instead blamed Republicans who spurned Moore after accusations that he had preyed on teenage girls decades ago as a young county prosecutor in his 30s. Meeting reporters ahead of a lunch with Republicans to discuss tax cut legislation, Trump arched his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders in apparent frustration as he renewed his argument that concerns about Moores character were outweighed by the need for his vote in the Senate. But he acknowledged that some Republicans disagreed. Wish we would have gotten the seat, Trump said. A lot of Republicans feel differently. Theyre very happy with the way it turned out. But, he added, as the leader of the party, I would have liked to have had the seat. I want to endorse the people that are running. Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are hoping to wrap up their tax cut legislation before Jones is sworn in, guaranteeing at least one big victory before the new congressional math sets in. Trump said Wednesday that its important to vote on the legislation next week, not because we lost a seat, but for the country. Yet even the tax vote is uncertain in the elections wake. Democrats are mounting a protest, demanding that Jones be seated before a final tax vote. They are using the sort of arguments that McConnell used in the past to block Democrats from voting on President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland that the voters choice should have an opportunity to weigh in on major decisions. McConnell blocked a vote on Garland for most of a year, arguing that the Senate should wait for a new president to be elected. Even if McConnell ignores Democratic demands, as is likely, he and Trump will have to close the deal with House Republicans on a bill that is unpopular with voters, adding to the caution of wavering Senate Republicans. Holdouts such as Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Marco Rubio of Florida could demand more concessions for their support. Rep. Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who leads the tax-writing committee, said on Fox on Wednesday morning that Moores defeat would not alter the timeline for voting on the tax cuts next week in the House and Senate. The new political reality could also complicate negotiations over immigration and an essential bill to fund the government and keep it open beyond the holidays. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he hoped Republicans would hear the lessons of the election as he reeled off issues on which Democrats would pitch a fight, including on programs for veterans, opioid addiction and pensions. Republicans will have to grapple with the political weaknesses exposed by the Moore loss at least through next years midterm election campaigns if not beyond. Turnout was notably down among rural voters in conservative, white parts of Alabama, areas where Trump is strongest. Democrats were far more motivated, especially in counties with large black populations and suburbs where white, more educated voters reside. For Trump, it was a third straight loss, further undermining his aura of influence among Republican voters. He had first endorsed Luther Strange, the senator appointed to fill the seat Jeff Sessions left to become Trumps attorney general. When Moore beat Strange in the Republican primary, Trump then endorsed Moore for the general election, even as fellow Republicans, including McConnell, warned that association with Moore would sully the party. Trump also recorded an automated pro-Moore phone call to voters and held a rally on Friday in Florida, near the Alabama border, where he promoted Moore. Trump also endorsed Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginias gubernatorial race, only to have him lose by nearly double digits last month to Democrat Ralph Northam. Yet Trump, as he typically does, worked to escape blame after the voting was over with a tweet. The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election, Trump wrote. I was right! Moore had the deck stacked against him! Trump added. Trump said that Moores loss justified his initial endorsement of Strange, though hed privately complained after Stranges defeat that Republican establishment leaders had persuaded him to back the incumbent. Contrary to Trumps latest tweet, Strange did not see a big change in support after the presidents endorsement. Despite his losses, Trump can look to his past Democratic predecessors for precedents suggesting even big setbacks arent fatal. Presidents Clinton and Obama both suffered devastating congressional losses in their first midterm elections Clinton saw Democrats lose majorities in both the House and Senate, and Obama in the House only to recover and win reelection two years later. Obama, like Trump now, also took a huge blow at a similar point in his presidency when Republican Scott Brown won a special Senate election in deep-blue Massachusetts after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Still, neither president subsequently enjoyed legislative success as great as in their first year with a Congress controlled by their party. Jim Manley, a former Democratic Senate leadership aide, predicted Republicans will face more chaos in their ranks, adding, It makes efforts to pass whats left of their agenda that much tougher. Moores defeat leaves a major target on Steve Bannon, a former Trump advisor who remains influential in both the White House and conservative media, and the nemesis of McConnell and other party leaders. The head of Breitbart News, Bannon urged Trump to back Moore and campaigned vigorously for him. Mainstream Republicans, who have long disdained Bannon, eagerly lashed out. After Alabama disaster GOP must do right thing and DUMP Steve Bannon, Rep. Peter King, a moderate New York Republican, tweeted. His act is tired, inane and morally vacuous. If we are to Make America Great Again for all Americans, Bannon must go! And go NOW!! Corker, a senator who has been at odds with Trump and Bannon, said he was happy with the Alabama outcome, calling it good for the country. I would say ultimately, this is probably really good for the Republican Party too, he added. One Bannon ally, who would only speak anonymously, called it a big punch in the face. Christopher Ruddy, publisher of a rival conservative website and a friend of Trumps, said he hopes the loss will persuade the president to discount Bannons counsel. My advice has always been very consistent: that the president listen to Bannon and do exactly the opposite of what he says to do, Ruddy said. Hell get more accomplished. Hell get better press, and his approval numbers will go way up. Bannon is unlikely to back down in his war on the establishment. Breitbart News led with Trumps Deck is stacked tweet on Wednesday morning and ran a second story blaming Republican saboteurs for the loss. Trump, however, seemed to be coming around to the establishments thinking about Moore, suggesting the Alabamian had been a flawed candidate. If last nights election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate, he tweeted. Staff writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. noah.bierman@latimes.com Twitter: @noahbierman ALSO Meet Doug Jones, the law-and-order Democrat who won Alabamas Senate seat Democrat Doug Jones wins Alabama Senate seat, but Roy Moore wont concede Rod Rosenstein, No. 2 official at Justice Department, is grilled by Republicans on House Judiciary Committee Trumps lawyers want second special counsel as Republicans turn up the heat on Mueller investigation UPDATES: 1:50 p.m.: This article was updated to add a quote from Doug Jones. 12:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction and analysis. 8:55 a.m.: This article was updated with additional analysis. This article was originally published at 8:30 a.m. With a mandate from President Donald Trump to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents, Customs and Border Protection awarded a $297 million contract to a private company to help recruit and hire the new agents and other workers. The contract with a division of Accenture, an international professional services corporation with $35 billion in revenues in 2017, comes at a time when the Border Patrol is struggling to meet minimum staffing levels mandated by Congress and is losing more agents per year than it hires. It also represents one of the larger expenditures so far in the Trump administrations now nearly-year-long drive to increase border security. In October work on eight prototype border walls was completed in Otay Mesa a project for which CBP officials set aside $20 million in the spring. Advertisement The contract with Accenture, which is up to five years, is far greater both in its initial year and long term payout. The company will be paid $42.6 million in the first year alone, federal contracting records show. The scope of work in the contract requires the company to manage the full life cycle of the hiring process from job posting to processing new hires. The company, the agency said in email response to questions, will augment the agencys existing internal hiring programs. It also calls for a hard-hitting, targeted recruitment campaign consisting of promoting the CBP law enforcement careers and opportunities and a public education campaign about CBP and Border Patrol jobs. Accenture will be paid to assist hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents, as well as 2,000 customs officers and 500 agents for the Office of Air and Marine Operations. The award was made on Nov. 17, with Accenture being selected above four other bidders, federal contract records show. To skeptics of the hiring push, the Accenture contract makes little sense. Theyre spending almost $40,000 per hire, said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. Just off the bat that seems like a pretty desperate move. If the contract runs its full five years and is fully paid out, the agency will spend $39,600 per hire. Thats just below the $39,738 starting pay for a customs officer. In its statement, CBP said the cost estimates are erroneous. The total contract amount includes one time start-up costs for recruiting measures and other steps to capture applicants. The agency said that the contract was in response to its well-documented hiring woes. It said several factors, such as changing generational values, the state-wide legalization of marijuana and a growing distrust of law enforcement have made hiring more difficult. In fact the agency said in the bid documents for the contract that it has to recruit 133 applicants to fill just a single Border Patrol agent position. Not unlike other major companies and organizations, we are expanding our recruiting and hiring efforts to find better, more effective ways to recruit, hire and retain frontline personnel, the statement said. Congress requires a force of 21,370 agents, but a report recently said that as of May there were only 19,500 agents. Compounding the problem is retention: between 2013 and 2016 an average of 523 agents were hired, while 904 left. The need for the hiring deal stems from a Jan. 25 executive order signed by Trump, which ordered CBP to increase its ranks by 5,000 agents. The agency is the largest federal law enforcement agency with more than 40,000 officers and agents in both Border Patrol and customs. Congress has yet to appropriate funds for the new hires though legislation to do so is pending. Critics have been wary of that hiring goal, noting both its costs and that the last time the agency added to the force with hiring surge in the mid 2000s, hiring standards were lowered. That move likely contributed to a spike in corruption and misconduct cases that tarred the agency. In response Congress required all new hires to pass lie detector tests, but the requirement contributed to the hiring shortfall. Some 65 percent of all applicants failed the test, the Associated Press reported earlier this year. Now there is a bill in Congress that would eliminate the lie detector tests for certain applicants members of the armed services, veterans with security clearances and law enforcement personnel who had passed a lie detector test or had a background investigation in the preceding three years. The bill is still pending. Its one example of how the agency has embraced the ambitious hiring goal and taken steps to widen the applicant pool from which it can hire. Another step: the contract includes a provision for reinstatement of former Border Patrol agents. Nowsasteh said that the Accenture deal could be beneficial because the companys expertise may allow it to draw on a different pool of potential hires than CBP has drawn on in the past. But he questioned whether so many agents are even needed. He noted that the number of apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants across the southwest border has fallen to record low numbers. There were 1.2 million apprehensions in 2001, and this year just 310,000 the lowest level in 46 years. There are currently too many Border Patrol agents, given how low the flow of unauthorized immigrants across the order is, he said. In November the Inspector General for Homeland Security issued a report that said the agency could not provide enough data to justify hiring that many more agents. This is not the first time the government has hired Accenture to help meet its hiring goals. In 2016 the company won a $290 million, five-year contract to help the Transportation Security Agency hire 8,000 to 10,000 additional workers per year. A company spokeswoman said it was confident it could help CBP hit its hiring goals. Twitter: @gregmoran greg.moran@sduniontribune.com MASON CITY | A Mason City man is accused of punching and strangling a woman in a basement. Kalab Scott Van Scyoc, 23, is charged with assault causing bodily injury or mental illness in an incident at about 8 p.m. Dec. 4. According to court documents, Van Scyoc punched the woman in the eye then grabbed her by the neck and strangled her at a residence on the 900 block of North Madison Avenue A warrant for arrest was issued Dec. 6 and Van Scyoc was taken into custody Dec. 8 by Mason City Police. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Cerro Gordo County District Court. Van Scyoc is held in Cerro Gordo County Jail for $4,000 bond. Courtney Fiorini What started in January 2016 as a dramatic early morning raid with dozens of armed drug agents crashing through the front door of Med-West Distribution ended last month in guilty pleas to a pair of misdemeanors. Now appointed District Attorney Summer Stephan has settled the related asset-forfeiture case, agreeing to return almost $290,000 seized from the business owner, pot entrepreneur James Slatic. I am very glad to be done but of course my company and my family life was destroyed, Slatic said by email Tuesday. Its like the old joke, Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play? Advertisement Stephan announced the agreement late last week. The defendant in this case pled guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy to unlawfully possess marijuana for sale and a misdemeanor conspiracy to obstruct or delay a city official by removing evidence of a hash oil lab prior to an inspection, said a statement issued by the district attorney. Agents confiscated $324,000 in cash the day they raided Med-West, a Kearny Mesa business that made marijuana-based products for sale to medical pot shops. The settlement called for the government to retain $35,000. The agents also seized more than $100,000 from Slatic and his family, calling the money illegal drug profits, but a judge ordered prosecutors to return those funds earlier this year. Two weeks after losing the seized-assets case, former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis charged Slatic and six others with 15 felonies. The case fizzled after Dumanis resigned to run for county supervisor and Stephan settled all of the cases but one with two misdemeanors. She cited a changing focus for the office. Felony charges are still pending against Slatics lawyer, attorney Jessica McElfresh, who was accused of removing evidence from Med-West ahead of an inspection and misleading investigators. Prosecutors believe McElfresh helped mislead inspectors into thinking that Med-West was only a paper-packaging business when they visited before the raid. She has pleaded not guilty. Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35 jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald Even after disasters such as the 2007 San Diego wildfires, the deadly 2010 San Bruno pipeline blast and the massive 2015 Porter Ranch gas leak, the California Public Utilities Commission has continued to protect the three giant investor-owned utilities it regulates. Just last month, U-T Watchdog found a sort of smoking gun showing CPUC sleaziness: legal filings from 2016 showing agency lawyers trying to quash a subpoena related to a secret 2013 meeting in Poland between an Edison executive and then-PUC President Michael Peevey in which the parameters were set for a later-approved $4.7 billion settlement of the costs of shuttering the broken San Onofre nuclear plant with ratepayers bearing 70 percent of the tab. The lawyers argued there was nothing wrong with the meeting even though the CPUC fined Edison $16.7 million for not disclosing it. Against this backdrop, Californians should welcome the announcement that San Diego attorneys Michael Aguirre and Maria Severson would file a lawsuit seeking to put the agency into federal receivership if the state Legislature doesnt convene a select joint committee to investigate the CPUC. In 2006, such a lawsuit led to the state losing authority over health care in its prison system, which remains subject to federal oversight. It shouldnt take a threat to get lawmakers to agree to this request. All it should take is a sense of right and wrong. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Advertisement Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion The premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally here and with it comes a level of hype so high that it can literally be felt in space. Seriously. But more on that later. The latest Star Wars movie has already held premieres in Los Angeles and London and officially hits theaters for the commoners on Dec. 14. The hype surrounding the movie has really been building since the last movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit theaters in 2016. And now, premiere week is finally here and the publicity machine is working overtime. Check out five ways the hype for Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out of this world. The International Space Station Spaceflight reporter Robin Seemangal tweeted on Tuesday that The Last Jedi will be shown on the International Space Station. You know, where real space missions take place. Space.com confirmed it as well, though its uncertain when the screening will take place. Theyre a little busy up there. The mere thought of astronauts watching Star Wars among the stars was really blowing peoples minds. The merchandise Nail polish, ice cream, fruit pretty much any product you can imagine is carrying an advertisement for The Last Jedi right now. Here are some of the wildest examples. The princes The film premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Tuesday and the event was twice as regal thanks to an appearance from Prince Harry and Prince William. One of the most over-the-top moments in Star Wars hype so far this year happened on the rep carpet. Watch as the droid BB-8 bows to the princes. Spoiler watch People are adjusting their lifestyles to avoid any The Last Jedi spoilers that might leak out before they get a chance to see the movie themselves. Fans are completely avoiding reviews from critics, blocking people on social media and staying off the internet all together. And that includes star Mark Hamill. Check it out. Will you be seeing The Last Jedi this weekend or this year? Dont worry. You wont be seeing any spoilers from The San Diego Union-Tribune. Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @abbyhamblin MASON CITY | Mason City man is accused of sex abuse after he allegedly had non-consensual sex with a woman. Paul Bernard Grell, 20, is charged with third-degree sexual abuse for an incident in February 2016. According to court documents, Grell met with the victim at the Southbridge Mall in Mason City. The victim and Grell went back to his house on Feb. 29 on 14th Street Northeast. While at the house Grell had sex with the woman against her will. The woman did not give consent at any time for sexual contact. Documents said Grell admitted to having sex with the woman on the day and time in question. A bench warrant for $10,000 was filed May 22. The warrant was served by Mason City Police Dec. 5 A no-contact order was filed Dec. 6. Grell is also charged in Floyd County with possession of a controlled substance, marijuana first offense. Grell is held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on a $6,500 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday. Courtney Fiorini MASON CITY | The city has spent more than $670,000 in the past three fiscal years on two proposed downtown hotels that will never be built plus two related projects. The hotels that will not be built are: G8 Development's Marriott, proposed for the parking lot west of City Hall. The deal fell through when G8 president Philip Chodur missed several deadlines to start construction, defaulting on his development agreement with the city. Gatehouse Mason City LLC's Hyatt, proposed for the south parking lot of Southbridge Mall. It would have connected to The Music Man Square via skywalk. Changes required the city to seek new proposals, which came in from Gatehouse and G8. The council decided to go with G8's plan, which is nearly identical to Gatehouse but represents greater savings to the city, officials said. Earlier in the year, after the city eliminated G8 because of the defaults, Chodur filed suit against the city. He has agreed to drop the suit as a condition of being chosen over Gatehouse in the latest council actions. Through it all, costs have piled up. They are: Parking ramp The city paid $450,000 for design and other costs related to the proposed downtown parking ramp part of G8's first proposal. That parking ramp will not be built. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer said the city has a chance to recoup the $450,000. "Though the ramp won't be built, there is a shovel-ready site for a developer to build on," he said. A new development would mean new property taxes for the city. Pre-construction costs The city paid $150,000 in pre-construction costs to Gatehouse for the project the City Council eventually rejected. G8 legal fees The city has paid more than $25,000. Records show $12,876.80 for legal fees in fiscal year 2016 and $12,405.39 in fiscal year 2017. Gatehouse legal fees The has paid more than $44,000. Records show $6,582.77 in fiscal year 2017 and $37,814.17 in fiscal year 2018. These fees occurred in the 2017 calendar year. Southbridge Mall legal fees Records show the city has paid $502.50 in legal expenses related to proposed renovations. The total for all of these expenses is $670,181.63. Local option sales tax will be used for the parking ramp design and legal fees, Interim City Administrator Kevin Jacobson said. "The other charges will be paid through incremental taxes from the downtown TIF district," he said. The hotel is a key element in the city's application for state funds through the Iowa Reinvestment Act. The city has been pre-approved for $7.1 million and has applied for up to $10 million from the state to help leverage a $38 million downtown renovation plan that includes the hotel, a conference center in The Music Man Square and moving its museum to a new adjacent building; a music pavilion in the north entrance of Southbridge Mall; and an ice arena/multipurpose center in the space formerly occupied by J.C. Penney in the mall. The hotel is an important element because it represents the minimum $10 million private investment the state requires for cities to qualify for funding. Mason City personnel are going to Des Moines Friday to meet with Iowa Economic Development Authority officials who oversee the Iowa Reinvestment Act funding. Mason City's project is listed as an action item on the agenda, leading city officials to hope they will receive final approval of state funding. One of those who will be participating, Development Services Director Steven Van Steenhuyse said, "We're excited that a major piece of funding the River City Renaissance project is about to fall into place. "We are also encouraged by the continued support for this project by several businesses and organizations that have worked so hard to make the project possible." Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/12/2017 -- As per International Monetary Fund (IMF) Cameroon's nominal gross domestic product is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.01% from it's 2015 level of CFA 16807.04 billion and reach CFA 25286 billion by 2022. Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in the west Central Africa region. It shares its borders with Nigeria to the west, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984. Cameroon had estimated population of 23.685 million in the year 2016 and expected to reach 27.468 million by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 2.50%. Cameroon's real gross domestic product (GDP) was around CFA 12319.06 billions in 2016 whereas the nominal GDP was CFA 17386.42 billions. This resulted in GDP deflator 141.134. Per capita GDP was estimated at USD 1238.49 whereas purchasing power parity (PPP) based per capita GDP was estimated to be at USD 3248.78. In 2016, Cameroon government's revenue was CFA 2890.22 billions whereas the expenditure was CFA 3707.80 billions. This resulted Cameroon government's net lending / borrowing negative at CFA 817.572 billion in 2016 indicating that enough financial resources were not made available by the government to boost economic growth. The current account balance for Cameroon was estimated to be at USD 1.052 billions for the year 2016 and is expected to decrease at a CAGR of 1.052% and reach USD 0.643 by 2022. This negative current account balance indicates the Cameroon is net borrower from the whole world. Scope of the Cameroon PESTEL Analysis, SWOT Analysis and Risk Analysis Market Research Reports - These reports provide information about key macroeconomic indicators for Cameroon. - These reports provide PESTELE (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal) analysis for Cameroon. - These reports provide SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis for Cameroon. - These reports provide risk analysis for Cameroon. For more information and to purchase Cameroon PESTEL Analysis Market Research Report please visit: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/market-research-reports-inc/cameroon-pestel-analysis-market-research-report For more information and to purchase Cameroon SWOT Analysis Market Research Report please visit: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/market-research-reports-inc/cameroon-swot-analysis-market-research-report For more information and to purchase Cameroon Risk Analysis Market Research Report please visit: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/market-research-reports-inc/cameroon-risk-analysis-market-research-report About Market Research Reports, Inc. Market Research Reports Inc. is world's largest store offering quality market research, SWOT analysis, competitive intelligence and industry reports. We help Fortune 500 to Start-Ups with the latest market research reports on global ional markets which comprise key industries, leading market players, new products and latest industry analysis & trends. Contact us for your market research requirements: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/contact Zurich, Switzerland -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/13/2017 -- Sir Richard Switzerland is a Swiss luxury fashion brand founded by a married couple and their goal is to make calfskin leather more affordable than ever before. The project has been initiated by the couple to make common leather goods more affordable for everyone so that anyone can afford luxury leather products with ease. In order to accomplish this, Sir Richard Switzerland is currently seeking generous community support on Kickstarter, welcoming everyone to make contributions and pledges. "All of our leather handbags are designed in Switzerland and manufactured in Italy, and we only use some of the finest materials available in the market." Said Richard Ikechukwu, who founded Sir Richard Switzerland brand alongside his wife. The goal of this crowdfunding campaign launched by the brand is to raise a sum of CHF 22,900 and everyone is being welcomed to make contributions. The Kickstarter Campaign is located on the web at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869656797/making-luxury-calfskin-leather-goods-affordable and supporters from around the world can get these luxury leather products as a reward for pledging to the campaign. Pledges can range from CHF 10 to CHF 1500 or more with each pledge offering a great reward and worldwide shipping. More details are available on the Kickstarter campaign page of this inspiring project. About Sir Richard Switzerland Sir Richard Switzerland is an emerging Swiss fashion brand founded by Richard Ikechukwu and his wife to make luxury leather goods more affordable for everyone. The couple is currently raising funds on Kickstarter and they are welcoming everyone to generously support their campaign. Furthermore, they have a wide range of leather items, especially handbags available in stock that are ready for shipment around the world. Contact: Contact Person: Richard Ikechukwu Company: Sir Richard Switzerland Address: Kunzlistrasse 43, 8057 City: Zurich Country: Switzerland Phone: +41765662020 Email: cube06@icloud.com Website: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869656797/making-luxury-calfskin-leather-goods-affordable This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the globular star cluster Messier 79. Messier 79, otherwise known as NGC 1904, is located 41,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lepus. The cluster was discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Mechain on October 26, 1780. Mechain reported the finding to the French astronomer Charles Messier, who included it in his catalog of non-cometary objects. About four years later, using a larger telescope than Charles Messiers, the British astronomer William Herschel resolved the stars in Messier 79, and described it as a globular star cluster. Messier 79 is approximately 11.7 billion years old. It contains about 150,000 stars packed into an area measuring only 118 light-years across. It lies in an unusual location, about 60,000 light years from the Milky Way Galactic center, in the hemisphere opposite the Galactic center. One idea for the clusters location is that its neighborhood may contain a higher-than-average density of stars, which fueled its formation. Another possibility is that Messier 79 may have formed in an unusual dwarf galaxy that is merging with the Milky Way. In the Hubble image, Sun-like stars appear yellow. The reddish stars are bright giants that represent the final stages of a stars life. Most of the blue stars sprinkled throughout the cluster are aging helium-burning stars. These bright blue stars have exhausted their hydrogen fuel and are now fusing helium in their cores. A scattering of fainter blue stars are blue stragglers. These unusual stars glow in blue light, mimicking the appearance of hot, young stars. Blue stragglers form either by the merger of stars in a binary system or by the collision of two unrelated stars in Messier 79s crowded core. According to a paper published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Earths atmosphere is a better shield from meteoroids than scientists thought. Meteoroids are small objects that have entered Earths atmosphere from space, reaching speeds up to 40 times faster than a bullet as they race toward the ground. When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere, aerodynamic heating of the object produces a streak of light; this phenomenon is called a meteor. If that object withstands ablation from its passage through the atmosphere as a meteor and impacts with the ground, it is then called a meteorite. NASA scientists estimate 44 tons of meteoroid matter lands on Earth every day, roughly the same weight as seven African elephants. The friction generated between a falling meteoroid and the surrounding air particles can heat up the rock to the point of disintegration, but the new research suggests the air particles can also break up the meteoroid from the inside. Theres a big gradient between high-pressure air in front of the meteoroid and the vacuum of air behind it. If the air can move through the passages in the meteoroid, it can easily get inside and blow off pieces, said lead author Professor Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University. Meteoroids are like piles of rubble, riddled with fractures and pores, but researchers had not previously considered how the percolation of air through the meteoroid could affect their breakup. Professor Melosh and his colleague, Marshall Tabetah, uncovered the air percolation mechanism while simulating the 2013 Chelyabinsk event, where a 20-m (60-foot) wide object exploded 29.7 km (18.5 miles) above the Ural Mountains. The explosion came as a surprise and brought in energy comparable to a small nuclear weapon. When it entered the planets atmosphere, it created a bright fire ball. Minutes later, a shock wave blasted out nearby windows, injuring hundreds of people. The object weighed around 10,000 tons, but only about 2,000 tons of debris were recovered, which meant something happened in the upper atmosphere that caused it to disintegrate. To solve the puzzle, the scientists used unique computer codes first developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory to model nuclear reactor explosions. For the new research, the models were used to account for meteoroids loose conglomerate composition. The simulations showed that the atmosphere buffets against the meteoroids side facing Earth, forming a dense pocket of air in front of the rock. On the flip side, the meteoroids wake creates a vacuum. The pressurized air bubble ahead of the meteoroid is strongly attracted to the low-pressure environment developing behind the meteoroid, causing air particles to rapidly flow through the rocks cracks and holes from the front to the back of the rock. The high-pressure air moving through the meteoroid forces the fragments apart, causing the meteoroid to disintegrate in the upper atmosphere. While this mechanism may protect Earths inhabitants from small meteoroids, large ones likely wont be bothered by it, Professor Melosh said. Iron meteoroids are much smaller and denser, and even relatively small ones tend to reach the surface. _____ M.E. Tabetah & H.J. Melosh. Air penetration enhances fragmentation of entering meteoroids. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, published online December 11, 2017; doi: 10.1111/maps.13034 [NEW DELHI] Indias ambitious plans to force its 1.3 billion citizens to use biometric identity cards to access government benefits have fallen foul of the countrys highest court which says the project could undermine rights to privacy. After finding that the biometric ID, referred to as Aadhaar ID, infringes on the right to privacy, the Supreme Court decided that the issue was a constitutional matter and therefore should be resolved by a constitution bench. Benches have at least five judges interpreting substantial matters that impinge on Indias constitution. The court has appointed to hear this month petitions filed against the Aadhaar scheme by a number of individuals and groups. The benchs decision will likely decide the future of what has evolved into the worlds largest biometric database. Meanwhile, following the Courts intervention, the government last week (December 8) issued orders extending a yearend deadline for citizens to link their biometric ID numbers to income tax returns, bank accounts and other services until March 31, 2018. What needs to be understood is that they are building databases by putting together your biometric Aadhaar card Usha Ramanathan Launched in 2009, Aadhaar was originally voluntary and was designed to ensure that government benefits go to the intended beneficiaries rather than impersonators, middlemen and corrupt officials. But in 2014 after the Congress party, which are the proponents of the scheme, lost power to the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the new government began aggressively pushing Aadhaar cards on to every possible sphere of activity from university admissions to getting a cooking gas cylinder. Now Aadhaar identity cards are mandatory for opening a bank account, property purchases, filing income tax returns, getting a telephone connection and for the registration of deaths. Several civil society groups, such as the Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, voiced fears that the government has intentions of turning the country into an intrusive police state by cross-linking data gleaned from the different services that are linked to it. The benefits were originally meant for the poorer sections of population who had little to lose from close government scrutiny. But linking it to banking and many other financial transactions exposes everyone especially the middle and upper classes to possible unscrupulous use of databases. Aadhaars chief executive officer, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, said this was not the case. Contacted by SciDev.Net, Pandey declined a formal interview and instead referred to his article that was published in several local dailies including the Times of India (11 November). In the article he said, biometrics used photographs, fingerprints and iris image are the least intrusive. According to Pandey, Aadhaar has already emerged as a powerful instrument which enables people to establish their identity, receive their entitlements and exercise their rights without fear of being excluded or having their rights taken away. However, aside from surveillance fears, critics also worry about the governments ability to protect the confidentiality of the information and data collected and with good reason as there already have been several breaches. In March this year, the government was forced to admit that personal details such as telephone numbers, addresses and email identities of over 10 million Aadhaar cardholders had somehow been leaked. According to information provided by the Unique Identity Development Authority of India (UIDAI), entrusted with the biometrics of the Aadhaar cards, responsibility for the implementation of the Aadhaar card project was entrusted to 25 different private companies hired without open tender. Thats a lot of private companies and they all have access to sensitive data, says Usha Ramanathan in an interview with SciDev.Net. Ramanathan is a well-known human rights lawyer in India but a litigant in Aadhaar cases before the Supreme Court. What needs to be understood is that they are building databases by putting together your biometric Aadhaar card, bank account number and mobile number on several of the services (banking, passports, income tax returns, university admissions, etc.) remember that data is the new oil. she says. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk. FLORENCE, S.C. South Carolinas highest court will begin a hearing Wednesday on whether the West Florence Fire District is legally allowed to operate outside the countys unified fire district. The original lawsuit was filed by Florence County in September of 2014 after the district was created by the state legislature in May that year. It alleged that the creation of the special purpose district was unconstitutional and West Florence Fire should be a part of the countys unified fire district. In January this year, the 12th Circuit Court deemed the special purpose district unconstitutional and ordered the fire district to present a joint plan for a transition to the Florence County unified district. West Florence appealed that decision in March this year and was granted a stay of operation, meaning its still allowed to operate outside the countys unified fire district until the higher courts ruling. The lawsuit has caused tension between county and state officials. While the county says a fire district in Florence County should be under the countys jurisdiction, opponents say joining the countys unified district would disproportionately raise taxes on West Florence residents. The West Florence district covers several large neighborhoods and interstate zones in the West Florence area and about 100 addresses across the Darlington County line. The Supreme Court will start the hearing on the case at 9:30 a.m. in Columbia. LAKE CITY, S.C. The Lake City City Council voted Tuesday evening on first reading to pass an ordinance that would convey Lions Park on Charles Street to Florence County. Lions Park is near the new lake and park on North Church Street in Lake City. Gloria Tisdale, a member of the Greater Lake City Lions Club, said she believes Lions Park was donated to the city the by the Lions Club with the belief that it would continue as a park. During the public comment period of the meeting, she asked the council why the city could not keep the property, and if it is conveyed, if it will be specified that the park must continue to be used for recreational purposes. At Septembers council meeting, the council decided to table the second reading of an ordinance to convey the property to the Grater Lake City Community Development Office. According to former city administrator Shawn Bell, the development office had plans to develop 36 cluster houses in the area of Lions Park. Several residents spoke out at the meeting in opposition to this conveyance. The council decided to table the ordinance. At Tuesdays meeting, Lake City Mayor Lovith Anderson Jr. said there is a statement in the deed that says the park must be used for recreational purposes only. In other business, the council approved on second reading an ordinance to change the due date for business licenses to April 30 of each year. With the current Code of Ordinances pertaining to businesses licenses, the due date is Jan. 1. This date would be changed to allow the city to use a statewide portal being created by the Municipal Association of South Carolina to make it easier for business owner to pay one time for all of their business licensing tasks across the state. The council also passed on first reading an ordinance that would amend the Code of Ordinances to include zoning, building regulations, downtown development and program administration-related issues and to develop a series of strategic recommendations. CLEAR LAKE | It's a marina that has garnered much attention from Clear Lakers, North Iowans and even people from neighboring states. And now, the Sunset Bay dock's future a 496-foot structure northeast of Clear Lake State Park lies in the hands of the DNR and a local young businessman. Currently the dock is too long, according to DNR regulations set in 2008 which cap commercial dock lengths at 300 feet from the water's edge. But several Clear Lakers, including Jake Kopriva, believe the dock should remain at its current length to encourage economic activity and help deal with current boat slip shortages. Kopriva, who owns Lake Time Boat Club, said he submitted a new dock permit application to the DNR last month. He's formed a partnership with Alex Yohn, who is vice president of Yohnco, a concrete ready-mix concrete and excavating service in town. Yohn bought the property and the dock at 2721 South Lake View Drive in the last month for $420,000, according to Cerro Gordo County property records. Yohn said he is allowing Kopriva to handle the dock permit application process to try to keep the dock at the current length. He and Kopriva "have a good relationship and want to save the dock," Yohn wrote in an email. "Ive told Jake Im willing to help him do whatever we need to get this business going," Yohn wrote. "At the DNR meeting I mentioned that theres not a lot of young, excited business people wanting to stay in Clear Lake, and we need to try to grow that in this area." Outside of the dock, Yohn said he plans to renovate or build a new house at the location, which was owned by the late Dale Entner. He also said he had an agreement with Tim Entner, Dale's son, to allow Tim to continue to rent boat slips off the dock for another five years. Tim would then pay Yohn a rental fee of $200 per boat lift. Tim died shortly after the DNR held a meeting at the Clear Lake State Park lodge that heavily focused on the Sunset Bay dock. Yohn said it's unclear what will happen now with that arrangement. This agreement, however, depends on if the DNR is willing to negotiate and allow the dock to exceed 300 feet. Kopriva said his most recent application asks for the dock to remain at 496 feet, but added he is willing to negotiate to save as much space as possible. "What Ill say is something is better than nothing," Kopriva said. "First and foremost is were trying to keep the dock as long as its been in the past well take what we can get but were going for the full length." Randy Schnoebelen, a DNR district supervisor whose jurisdiction includes Clear Lake, told the Globe Gazette his agency is currently reviewing the application, and hopes to have a response by the end of the month. Schnoebelen emphasized that the DNR will proceed through all the proper legal channels if Kopriva appeals the agency's decision. He referred a Globe Gazette reporter to Aaron Brees, who works for the DNR's legal staff, and focuses on conservation, recreation, and state land and waters. The appeals process could take months if it is fully exhausted. Brees said if the initial DNR ruling is appealed, that could head to an administrative hearing. Kopriva could, if he disagrees with that judge's decision, appeal to the natural resource commission a governor-appointed citizen group that oversees the DNR in terms of conservation and recreation. That commission's decision would be final in terms of the DNR's direct involvement but could still be appealed to the Cerro Gordo County District Court, according to Brees. Brees said these types of cases do happen, but aren't common. He declined to give a possible timeline for the Sunset Bay dock case. "I have no idea where it will go," he said. "My understanding is a application has been filed with DNR and its in the system available for review." Whatever the eventual outcome, both Kopriva and Yohn hope a positive outcome can be reached for Clear Lakers and those who use the dock. "Ive asked some of my neighbors and they tell me theyve never known of anything different ... its always been there," Yohn said of the dock. "But if it was reduced I think even keeping a smaller number of boats on the dock would benefit Clear Lake." After what seems like years, the Alabama special election is over. The race to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Senate featured votes spanning nearly four full months, featured one bizarre turn after another, and ended Tuesday night with Democrat Doug Jones pulling off the upset over Roy Moore, who faced allegations that he sexual assaulted teenage girls while he was in his 30s. CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pulse Seismic Inc. (TSX:PSD) (OTCQX:PLSDF) (Pulse or the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Neal Coleman, President and CEO of the Company, to its Board of Directors, effective December 12, 2017. Robert Robotti, Chair of Pulses Board of Directors, stated, The Board welcomes Neal. This is well-deserved recognition of a record of success in serving shareholders well. Since Neal became Chief Executive Officer, he and his team have managed the business very effectively, especially considering industry conditions. They have right-sized the business and have been judicious in the allocation of capital, demonstrating excellent stewardship of shareholders equity. The Company is well-positioned to continue to thrive in the current business environment. The strength of our balance sheet and our access to low-cost capital has positioned us to be opportunistic. This is the active result of extraordinary leadership. CORPORATE PROFILE Pulse is a market leader in the acquisition, marketing and licensing of 2D and 3D seismic data to the western Canadian energy sector. Pulse owns the second-largest licensable seismic data library in Canada, currently consisting of approximately 28,600 square kilometres of 3D seismic and 447,000 kilometres of 2D seismic. The library extensively covers the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin where most of Canadas oil and natural gas exploration and development occur. English French MONTREAL, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EXPLORATION KHALKOS INC. (the Corporation or Khalkos) (TSX VENTURE:KAS) is pleased to announce the results of its Annual General and Special Meeting of the shareholders of the Corporation. During the Meeting, held on December 12, 2017, the shareholders of the Corporation had the opportunity to listen to the President of the Corporation, Mr. Robert Gagnon, speak about the past year, which ended with the acquisition of all the Jolin, Thibodeau and Esteville gold sectors (collectively the "Courville Project"), a large block consisting of gold-bearing claims in the Abitibi region of Quebec. All the proposals presented at the Meeting were approved by the shareholders by a majority of votes. Thus, the following five administrators were elected: Messrs. Robert Gagnon, Roger Bureau, Paul Cregheur, Pierre-Hubert Seguin and Alain Bureau. The shareholders subsequently approved the amendment of the articles of incorporation of the Corporation in view to a change of corporate name and proceeded to the appointment of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton s.e.n.c.r.l. as auditors of the Corporation. Finally, the Corporation's shareholders approved the stock option plan by a majority of votes, subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. In addition, during the Meeting of the Board of Directors held after the General and Special Meeting, Mr. Robert Gagnon was confirmed as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Mr. Roger Bureau was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mr. Pierre-Hubert Seguin, Secretary of the Corporation. The Corporation is also proud to announce the appointment of Mr. Jacques Levesque as Chief Financial Officer. Robert Gagnon, president of Khalkos, declared that, Jacques's great expertise in mining and public corporations will be an important contribution to the corporation's growth and the pursuit of our various exploration projects. Prior to joining the Corporation, Mr. Levesque held several senior financial management positions, specifically in the mining sector. Mr. Levesque is a CPA and CA. For more than a decade, he was a partner and director of the tax department of the Chartered Accountants firm Maheu Noiseux in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. Since then, Mr. Levesque has continued his professional activities within his own consulting firm and is primarily involved in corporate finance and project management. Mr. Levesque was involved until May 2017 as a director, president and chief financial officer of Orex Exploration Inc. Mr. Levesque is a director of Anaconda Mining Inc. and officer of Radisson Mining Resources Inc. 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: Robert Gagnon, Geo. CEO Phone.: (819) 825-2303 rgagnon@khalkos.com Website : www.khalkos.com Fax : (514) 510-7964 SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sorenson Holdings, LLC (Sorenson Holdings) announced today that it has amended the terms and conditions of its previously announced modified Dutch Auction cash tender offer (the Offer) for up to $95.0 million principal amount (the Maximum Face Amount) of the outstanding Senior Unsecured PIK Toggle Notes due 2021 co-issued by Sorenson Holdings and Sorenson Finance Corp. (the HoldCo Notes). The Offer has been amended to (i) extend the expiration date (as such date may be extended or earlier terminated by Sorenson Holdings in its sole discretion, the Expiration Date) in respect of the Offer from 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 18, 2017, to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 27, 2017, (ii) expand the price range of the offer to between $940.00 per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes and $1,032.50 per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes and (iii) decrease the minimum bid increment from $10.00 per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes to $2.50 per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes. Holders of the HoldCo Notes are urged to carefully read the Offer to Purchase, dated November 17, 2017 and Supplement No. 1 to the Offer to Purchase, dated December 12, 2017 before making any decision with respect to the Offer (the Offer to Purchase, dated November 17, 2017, as amended by the Supplement No. 1 to the Offer to Purchase, dated December 12, 2017, the Offer to Purchase). The Offer is subject to the terms and conditions described in the Offer to Purchase and related letter of transmittal. All other terms and conditions of the Offer remain unchanged. The following table summarizes the terms of the Offer as amended: CUSIPs / ISINs Title of Security Principal Amount Outstanding Maximum Face Amount Consideration Acceptable Range(1)(2) Minimum Bid Increment(1) CUSIP Nos. 83583T AA5, U8358L AA9 ISIN Nos. US83583TAA51, USU8358LAA99 13.0% Senior Unsecured PIK Toggle Notes due 2021 $193,862,326 $95,000,000 $940.00 to $1,032.50 $2.50 (1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Notes. (2) Not including accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes accepted in the Offer up to, but not including, the Settlement Date, which will be paid in addition to the Consideration (as defined below). Holders must validly tender and not validly withdraw their HoldCo Notes at or prior to the Expiration Date in order to be eligible to receive the Consideration for their HoldCo Notes. The Consideration for each $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) prior to the Expiration Date pursuant to the Offer (subject to proration) and accepted for purchase by Sorenson Holdings will be equal to the Clearing Price (as defined below). Under the terms of the Offer, holders will have the opportunity to tender some or all of their HoldCo Notes at a price within a range of $940.00 (the Minimum Offer Price) to $1,032.50 (the Maximum Offer Price) per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes. Holders who do not specify a price will be deemed to have specified a price equal to the Minimum Offer Price in respect of HoldCo Notes tendered and to accept the Clearing Price determined by Sorenson Holdings in accordance with the terms of the Offer. Tenders of HoldCo Notes for which a price is specified below the Minimum Offer Price or in excess of the Maximum Offer Price will not be accepted and will not be used for the purpose of determining the Clearing Price. Tenders of Notes submitted with offer prices that are not in whole increments of $2.50 per $1,000 principal amount will be rounded down to the nearest $2.50 increment. Sorenson Holdings, if it accepts HoldCo Notes in the Offer, will accept Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) in the order of the lowest to the highest tender prices specified by tendering holders (in increments of $2.50 per $1,000 principal amount), and on or promptly following the Expiration Date will select the single lowest price (the Clearing Price) per $1,000 principal amount of HoldCo Notes that will enable Sorenson Holdings to purchase the principal amount of HoldCo Notes equal to the Maximum Face Amount, taking into account the Consideration and the proration described below (or, if HoldCo Notes in a principal amount less than the Maximum Face Amount are validly tendered, all HoldCo Notes so tendered). The price at which HoldCo Notes were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or prior to the Expiration Date will be used for the purpose of determining the Clearing Price and proration, as described below. The Clearing Price will be calculated on or promptly following the Expiration Date. All HoldCo Notes not accepted on the Settlement Date, which will be promptly after the Expiration Date, as a result of proration and all HoldCo Notes tendered at prices in excess of the Clearing Price will be rejected from the Offer and will be returned to tendering holders at Sorenson Holdings expense promptly following the earlier of the Settlement Date or the date on which the Offer is terminated. If, at the Expiration Date, the aggregate principal amount of the HoldCo Notes validly tendered at or below the Clearing Price (and not validly withdrawn) exceeds the Maximum Face Amount, then, on the Settlement Date, subject to the terms and conditions of the Offer, Sorenson Holdings, if it accepts the HoldCo Notes in the Offer, will accept for purchase, first, HoldCo Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) at prices (in increments of $2.50 per $1,000 principal amount) below the Clearing Price and, thereafter, HoldCo Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) at the Clearing Price on a prorated basis according to the principal amount of such HoldCo Notes. All HoldCo Notes not accepted on the Settlement Date as a result of proration and all Notes tendered at prices in excess of the Clearing Price will be rejected from the Offer and will be returned to tendering holders at Sorenson Holdings expense promptly following the earlier of the Settlement Date or the date on which the Offer is terminated. For the avoidance of doubt, all HoldCo Notes tendered at a price below the Clearing Price will be purchased at the Clearing Price rather than at their tender prices. If the Offer is not fully subscribed as of the Expiration Date, all HoldCo Notes validly tendered at or prior to the Expiration Date may be accepted without proration and, in such case, the Clearing Price will be equal to the highest bid price at or below the Maximum Offer Price received for Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn), provided the conditions to the Offer are satisfied or waived by Sorenson Holdings. Based on information provided by the Tender Agent for the Offer, as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 12, 2017, Sorenson Holdings had not yet received any tenders of HoldCo Notes. Holders whose HoldCo Notes are accepted by Sorenson Holdings for purchase pursuant to the Offer, will receive, in addition to the Consideration, a cash payment representing the accrued and unpaid interest on those HoldCo Notes from the last interest payment date for such HoldCo Notes preceding the Settlement Date to, but not including, the Settlement Date. Sorenson Holdings will announce the determination of the Clearing Price and the results of any proration, if applicable, by press release on or promptly following the Settlement Date. Sorenson Holdings consummation of the tender offer is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions. Subject to applicable law, Sorenson Holdings reserves the right to extend, terminate or amend the tender offer in its sole discretion. Full details of the terms and conditions of the tender offer are included in the Offer to Purchase. Neither Sorenson Holdings nor any other person makes any recommendation as to whether holders should tender HoldCo Notes and no one has been authorized to make such a recommendation. Holders must make their own decisions as to whether to tender HoldCo Notes. Any requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase and any inquiries regarding the Offer may be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information Agent and Tender Agent for the tender offer at (212) 269-5552 (collect) or (800) 581-3783 (toll free). This announcement shall not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell the HoldCo Notes or any other securities. The tender offer is being made only through and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase and accompanying letter of transmittal. The tender offer is not being made to holders in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. About Sorenson Communications Sorenson Communications, LLC (www.sorenson.com) is a provider of industry-leading communications products and services for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing. The companys offerings include SVRS, the highest-quality video interpreting service; the ntouch VP and the ntouch VP2 videophones, designed especially for use by Deaf individuals; ntouch PC, software that connects users to SVRS by using a PC and webcam; ntouch for Mac, software that connects users to SVRS by using an Apple computer; and ntouch Mobile, an application empowering SVRS communication via tablet and mobile devices. Disclaimer If you choose Sorenson as your default provider, you can port your existing 10-digit number to Sorenson from another provider or Sorenson can provide you with one for the geographic area where you live or work. If you later change your default provider, you can port your number to that provider. When selecting Sorenson, you must provide to Sorenson the physical address (i.e., the Registered Location) from which you are placing the call, so that Sorenson can properly route any 911 calls you may make. If you move or change your location, you must notify Sorenson immediately. You can update your Registered Location from your Sorenson videophone by calling 800-659-4810 or by visiting www.svrs.com/moving. Sorenson will confirm receipt of your Registered Location information. Emergency calls made via internet-based TRS may not function the same as traditional E911 service. For example, you may not be able to dial 911 if there is an internet-service failure or if you lose electrical power, and your 911 call may not be routed correctly if you have not updated your Registered Location. For more information on the process of obtaining 10-digit numbers and the limitations and risks associated with using Sorensons VRS to place a 911 call, please visit Sorenson's website: www.sorenson.com/disclaimer. For information on toll-free numbering, please visit www.svrs.com/tollfree. Forward Looking Statements The statements included in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws. In addition to the assumptions specifically mentioned in the above paragraphs, there are a number of other factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, Sorenson Holdings ability to consummate the tender offer on the terms described in this news release or at all, Sorenson Holdings substantial debt and lease obligations, Video Relay Service and IP Captioned Telephone Service rates, future regulatory actions by the Federal Communications Commission, pending patent litigation and other factors detailed in risk factors and elsewhere in the Offer to Purchase. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or the consequences of such a development worsen, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those forecasted or expected. Sorenson disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly or revise such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Press Contact: D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information Agent and Tender Agent for the tender offer at (212) 269-5552 (collect) or (800) 581-3783 (toll free) VANCOUVER, B.C., Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A group of Canadians and Mexicans demonstrated peacefully in front of the corporate offices of Almaden Minerals to protest its mining exploration project in the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlan, Puebla, Mexico. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/da773483-19e4-4508-97cc-759ac023c630 Carrying banners and distributing leaflets that read Almaden Minerals is destroying our habitat and Almaden Minerals: a business that endangers the lives and water of thousands of people, the protesters informed passers-by and warned investors about the companys human rights and legal violations in Mexico, as well as securities complaints against it in the U.S. and Canada. We ask investors to stop investing in Almaden Minerals mining project because their money is at risk. The company has lied by not telling them about our resistance to the project, the legal actions that we have taken to defend our communities, and the securities complaints weve filed before the U.S. and British Columbia securities commissions, said Ignacia Serrano, community member from Ixtacamaxtitlan. Notably the companys stock performance recently hit its lowest point in the past five years. The protest marked the end of a week-long, cross-country delegation of four community leaders from the affected region Ignacia Serrano, Alejandro Marreros, Francisca Zamora, and Ignacio Carmona, accompanied by the Latin American not-for-profit organization PODER who held meetings in Canada with government officials and politicians from Global Affairs, International Trade, and parliamentary committees, as well as mining investors, trade unions, indigenous communities, and the news media. This delegation shared findings from Mexicos first ever community-led Human Rights Impact Assessment , which outlines the devastation and threats to the regions water supply, ecosystem, and residents health should the Ixtaca Project move forward, as well as legal and regulatory violations by the company in Mexico, in addition to material misrepresentations of facts to investors. About PODER PODER is a regional not-for-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to improving corporate transparency and accountability in Latin America from a human rights perspective and strengthening civil society stakeholders of corporations as long-term accountability guarantors. www.projectpoder.org Media contact Zoe Grams zoe@zgcommunications.com +1 604 336 3822, +1 604 500 3822 French English Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Airports and JCDecaux sign a partnership to launch an unprecedented Drive-to-Store, data driven offer at Dubai International Paris, 13 December 2017 - Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Airports and JCDecaux announce today a partnership introducing a new Drive-to-Store, data driven advertising offer at Dubai International (DXB) starting from January 1st 2018. This is the first worldwide collaboration between an airport authority, advertising and travel retail operators offering a new advertising value proposition to the market. JCDecaux Dicon, operating advertising assets strategically located along the passenger journey, will join forces with Dubai Duty Free to operate part of their existing digital assets located in point of sales. This unprecedented collaboration aims at building a new eco-system based on advertising, airport and travel retail data in order to deliver an optimised advertising scheduling system and boost campaign efficiency. Data is currently changing the selling process and becomes a key element in defining the value of the media proposition. Advertising messages are much more efficient when customised and targeted. JCDecaux will offer brands the opportunity to use "Dynamic Content Solutions" on this network which allows them to adapt their artwork to a specific data feed (retail data, language, time of the day, flight destination.) in order to provide relevant content. This new Drive-to-Store advertising offer will enhance the impact and the efficiency of the existing media proposition at Dubai International. Through a new data eco-system, the right advertising message will be displayed at the right time, in the right location to the right audience. Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, said: "Dubai Duty Free is extremely happy to partner with JCDecaux and Dubai Airports to offer the brands a great way to reach the millions of passengers using Dubai International Airport. JCDecaux is the global leader in transport advertising and is present in more than 220 airports. I have no doubt that their extensive experience will benefit all three partners and will be very good for Dubai Airports and Dubai Duty Free." Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: "We are very pleased to have extended our advertising agreement with JCDecaux, to join forces with Dubai Duty Free, and together create a compelling platform for global brands to position themselves at the heart of the world's busiest crossroads. I look forward to the creativity and impact which this partnership will deliver." Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: "We are very proud of this strategic partnership with Dubai Airports and Dubai Duty Free. This collaboration will be enhanced with the creation of a strong data driven ecosystem allowing us to offer an unprecedented value proposition to brands in the heart of Dubai Duty Free. Bringing innovation at the very heart of our offers, we work hard to make Dubai International a unique data platform for brands and their audiences, for the greatest benefit of Dubai Airport, Dubai Duty Free, passengers, and our clients." 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 Investor Relations: Arnaud Courtial +33 (0)1 30 79 79 93 - arnaud.courtial@jcdecaux.com Addressing delegates, he also referenced DCTCMs plan to ensure that cruise passengers felt the soul of Dubai and there would be an extra concentration on excursions that show the heritage of the city and its older parts, as well as the more modern attractions and architecture. Esam Ahmed, commercial manager, Mina Rashid & Mina Hamriyah, DP World, highlighted the growth plans for Mina Rashid cruise port which include the allocation of additional berths to handle up to seven large ships simultaneously (up from the current six) and the development of a new terminal to meet market demand by 2020. The first days Summit Session on managing growth and planning for the future saw senior government officials and tourism stakeholders then discuss their own growth plans for their destinations. Delegates heard that Abu Dhabi welcomed a record 315,000 cruise visitors in 2017, nearly 40,000 more than the previous year. Saeed Al Dhaheri, cruise sector and city tour development manager, Department of Culture & Tourism, Abu Dhabi, said a recent survey of visiting cruise passengers showed an overall satisfaction score of 96%, a 32% increase since 2015, with consistently high scores across different aspects of their experience during their trip to the capital. Omans Mohammed Zahran Al Mahruqi, program director, ASYAD spoke of the infrastructural port growth plans, while Bahrains Yousef AlKhan, director of marketing & tourism promotion, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority, told delegates of the 45% increase in cruise passengers in the 2016-2017 season to 76,185. Dubais Hamad Mohammed Bin Shaik Mejren, svp, stakeholders department, DTCM, reiterated the citys aim to reach the 1m cruise passenger ambition. He thanked event host Dubai Parks and Resorts, one of Dubais newest tourist attractions, saying the constant addition of new visitor attractions continues to drive the appeal of Dubai. For the first time, a delegation from India were amongst delegates and represented on stage by Satyajeet Rajan, director general (tourism), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and Shri Yashodhan A Wanage, deputy chairman, Mumbai Port Trust. Both gave a rallying cry of the dawn of cruise tourism in India and asked stakeholders to work together to help the growth of cruise tourism to the main ports of Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Chennai and Cochin. All have been identified by the government for cruise development. They also talked about the potential of interporting with Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Shaji Thomas, director destination tourism development, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, told delegates RAK Port is upgrading its passenger terminal to accommodate boutique cruise vessels, which currently account for 11% of cruising capacity in the region. He also spoke of energetic growth plans for the UAE emirate, a new cruise terminal opening in February 2018 and announced that the worlds longest and highest zip line due to open soon. Also taking part on the opening morning were cruise line executives Tine Oelmann, director, port operations, shore excursions & ground operations, TUI Cruises, and Steven Young, director, port services & government affairs, P&O Cruises & Cunard, Carnival UK. Both longtime supporters of the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum and how it has become an essential regional platform for discussion and debate, Young spoke of P&O Cruises inaugural fly-cruise programme that will start in 2019 and resulted from discussions over several years with regional stakeholders at this event. He also mentioned the possibility of a full season to follow in 2019/20. 17 cruise line executives from 14 of the worlds leading cruise lines are attending the annual Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum taking place within Dubai Parks and Resorts, Dubai, UAE from December 12-13, 2017. Cruise lines represented include: AIDA Cruises, Carnival UK, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Cruise & Maritime Voyages. Marella Cruises, MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises, Pullmantur Cruceros, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., TUI Cruises, Star Clippers, Windstar Cruises and Virgin Voyages. Grand Celebrationwhich had been chartered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house first responders to the hurricanes in the US Virgin Islandsis adding an adults-only area, a revitalized casino and specialty coffee and juice bar. The ship will resume its regular two-night Bahamas service from the Port of Palm Beach in time for holiday festivities including an appearance by Santa and a New Year's Eve party. Special holiday menus will be provided, too. The company's new 52,900gt shipformerly Costa neoClassicawill be named Grand Classica and also will sail two-night cruises to Grand Bahama Island. With this second ship, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line will become the only Line to offer daily departures to the Bahamas from the Port of Palm Beach. The company signed a three-year agreement with the Bahamas to sail both of its ships to Grand Bahama Island for two-night cruises and offer its Cruise & Resort Stay packages. 'We are pleased to have been able to assist those in need in the Caribbean. Now we are ready to return to offering memorable cruises to our guests,' said Oneil Khosa, CEO, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. Grand Celebration's enhancements include an upgraded casino. The Par-A-Dice Casino has doubled in size, offering more slot machines, video poker and enhanced table games. Nearly 70 of the most popular slot games have been added, bringing the total number of slots to 125, in addition to several new video poker machines. The table games area, which includes roulette, blackjack, craps, three card poker and the Ultimate Texas Hold Em Poker, has been divided into two spaces and now also includes raised maximum betting limits, the ability to make additional wages while playing blackjack and electronic roulette machines for those who prefer to play without a crowd watching. The forward sun deck at the top of the ship was transformed into The Oasis, a complimentary adults-only area for ages 18 and over. The expansive area includes a bar, a large hot tub, new sun loungers and several outdoor daybeds. At the new Grand Cafe on Deck 9, baristas will prepare specialty coffees and offer gelato and pastries. Menu items feature a variety of hot and iced specialty coffees, teas and other beverages, including smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Morning fare includes chocolate croissants, Viennese pastries, muffins and quiche. Throughout the day, the Grand Cafe will offer sweet treats like homemade gelato, sorbet, cakes, tarts, cupcakes and chocolate truffles. Nisomar South America will serve the companys three brandsNorwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruisesacross 10 Chilean ports. Services include pilot embarkation/disembarkation, berthing assistance, liaison with port authorities and service launches for each visit. The ports include Arica, Iquique, Coquimbo, San Antonio, Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco, Punta Arenas and Posesion Bay. Jaime Otero, regional managing director, Nisomar South America, said at the agreement signing: 'As a new business we are extremely pleased to sign our first launch services agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which has such an excellent reputation worldwide, and [we] look forward to an extremely successful season.' Launched last spring, Nisomar offers analytics derived from big data that support business decisions, transformational management consultancy and port call services, covering all international regions. Capt. Claus Hyldager, formerly with Inchcape Shipping Services, leads the company as CEO. German English Sika has agreed to acquire certain assets of Grupo Industrial Alce in Mexico. As a result Sika will extend its range of solutions for roofing and waterproofing customers, and further expand its manufacturing footprint in Mexico to better serve the Mexico City metropolitan area. The addition of Grupo Industrial Alce's well-known brands will reinforce Sika's position in key project management and specification selling. The product offerings of the two companies are highly complementary and will allow Sika to become market leader in bituminous membranes and number two in liquid-applied membranes in the fast-growing Mexican market. Furthermore, the addition of the production facility located close to Mexico City, results in a perfect geographical fit and is fully aligned with Sika's strategy to expand its presence and local supply chain in growing markets. Jose Luis Vazquez, Regional Manager Latin America: "Already having a strong position in the distribution sales channels, the addition of the acquired highly recognized brands will increase our penetration into key projects and support our growth strategy. The added production capacity will also enable Sika Mexico to expand its portfolio of locally produced solutions for roofing and waterproofing. We welcome the new employees into the Sika team and look forward to growing our business together." CONTACT Dominik Slappnig Corporate Communications & Investor Relations +41 58 436 68 21 slappnig.dominik@ch.sika.com SIKA CORPORATE PROFILE Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protecting in the building sector and automotive industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 99 countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories. Its more than 17,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 5.75 billion in 2016. The media release can be downloaded from the following link: Ferratum Group launches strategic partnership with Thomas Cook Money Powered by Ferratum's Banking-as-a-Service platform, Thomas Cook Money will offer the first ever mobile banking app designed for holidays, with Sweden as launch market Other markets, including the UK, to follow in 2018 Helsinki, 13 December 2017 - Ferratum Oyj (ISIN: FI4000106299, WKN: A1W9NS) ("Ferratum"), is partnering with Thomas Cook Money, the newly launched financial services division of Thomas Cook Group plc, to introduce its first Banking-as-a-Service ("BaaS") venture. Ferratum will provide Thomas Cook Money with a fully functional and regulated mobile consumer finance offering powered by Ferratum's highly successful and innovative mobile banking platform. Customers will experience the world's first mobile banking app designed for holidays through the newly established Thomas Cook Money brand "Sumo". In the first wave of Sumo, available initially in Sweden, customers can quickly and easily set up a fee-free multi-currency account that comes with an intelligent contactless debit card. This can automatically identify the local currency, thus enabling them to pay at point of sale at home and overseas without incurring transaction charges and withdraw cash without incurring additional fees. Sumo also has a range of regular and fixed-term savings accounts that will help people take a year-round approach to planning for their holiday, which remains one of the biggest annual household spends . With the in-built savings tool, customers can set up a weekly or monthly savings plan to reach their target goal. In addition to the app's core features, Sumo customers will enjoy new services not previously seen in a mobile banking app. Customers can also click through to the Thomas Cook holiday booking engine to book their holiday. Another feature is the ability to send money to friends and family via SMS to cover shared holiday expenses. Eligible customers will be able to apply for an industry standard overdraft facility up to a maximum of 20,000 SEK (Swedish Krona). This will allow customers to dip into additional funds via the app, to top up their holiday spending whilst keeping control of their budget. A Sumo account is simple to use and can be set up securely in under 10 minutes, all via a mobile phone. Supporting seven currencies, including Euros and Sterling1, Sumo makes it even easier for customers to plan and manage their holiday money both at home and abroad. As Sumo will run on Ferratum's open Application Processing Interface ("API") architecture, Ferratum and Thomas Cook Money will be able to add further services and functionality to the platform over time. Ferratum's full service, all-in-one mobile bank is already available in Sweden, Norway, France, Germany and Spain. Launching in Sweden today, Ferratum will support Thomas Cook Money as the company expands the service across Thomas Cook's other core markets in Europe, including the UK, from 2018. Ferratum Group founder and CEO, Jorma Jokela, said: "I am incredibly excited to be partnering with Thomas Cook Money, one of the most loved brands in the world. We built our mobile bank to ensure the customer experience is super quick and easy, while giving customers all the features they need to live their lives on the move. Thomas Cook Money is bringing that rich functionality to the travel market, which makes perfect sense. "When it comes to financial services, the needs and expectations of consumers are evolving rapidly, but thanks to our open API platform approach Ferratum, and the brands we partner with, can respond with a scalable ecosystem of relevant features and services - all integrated into one single mobile banking solution - market by market, and brand by brand." Anth Mooney, Managing Director of Thomas Cook Money, said: "We know holidays are a big investment which is why we've designed a service that makes it as easy as possible for our customers to plan and save all year round for their weeks in the sun and to spend their money on holiday with confidence. Sumo has all the security and services customers should expect of a traditional bank account, but because it has been designed with holidaymakers in mind, it includes some great added extras, from removing foreign loading fees on card transactions to offering four fee-free ATM withdrawals at home and overseas per month ." "Working with Ferratum has given us an established, ground-breaking platform for mobile banking services, which we are developing for the future. Ferratum's international reach is also a great fit for our biggest markets, ensuring we can roll out this service to more countries and more customers in time," added Mooney. ### Notes to Editors: The full range of currencies supported in Sumo are: EU ; SEK; DKK; NOK; PLN; CHF and GBP . Sumo offers four free ATM withdrawals per calendar month. Competitive rates apply when customers exceed this figure. About Ferratum Group: Ferratum Group is an international provider of mobile banking and digital consumer and small business loans, distributed and managed by mobile devices. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Ferratum has expanded rapidly to operate in 25 countries across Europe, Africa, South and North America and the Asia-Pacific region. As a pioneer in digital and mobile financial services technology, Ferratum is at the forefront of the digital banking revolution. Ferratum Mobile Bank, launched in 2016, is an innovative mobile banking platform offering a range of banking services, including real time digital payments and transfers, within a single app. It is currently available in five European markets. Led by its founder, Jorma Jokela, Ferratum has approximately 1.8 million active and former customers who have been granted one or more loans in the past (as at 30 September 2017). Ferratum Group is listed on the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol 'FRU.' For more information, visit www.ferratumgroup.com. About Thomas Cook Group plc: Thomas Cook Group plc. is one of the world's leading leisure travel groups with sales of 9 billion. Thomas Cook is supported by 22,000 employees and operates from 17 source markets, serving over 20 million customers annually. Thomas Cook Group plc's shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (TCG). About Thomas Cook Money: Thomas Cook Group plc launched its new financial services division, Thomas Cook Money Ltd, on 20th November 2017. Thomas Cook Money brings all of Thomas Cook's existing financial services under one roof and has new products to help customers plan, save, borrow and spend, both at home and abroad. Thomas Cook Money unites a digitally led vision to a long heritage of foreign exchange and travel insurance to deliver a modern customer experience to holiday money. www.thomascookmoney.com Contacts: Press Release December 13, 2017 Senate ratifies TRAIN bill HIGHER TAKE-HOME PAY A STEP AWAY FROM BECOMING LAW -ANGARA The Senate on Wednesday has ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) bill that would raise the take-home pay of more than 7 million workers in the country. Senate Bill 1592, sponsored by Senator Sonny Angara, was ratified with 16 affirmative votes, 4 negative votes, and zero abstention. While both versions exempt P250,000 annual taxable income, members of the bicameral committee have agreed to adopt the provision of the Lower House that provides for a second tranche of the personal income tax reform that would further reduce income tax rates starting 2023. "Ibinaba na po natin ang kaltas sa buwis simula next year, may mas malaking ginhawa pang naghihintay pagdating ng 2023. Ito ay para hindi na mapagiwanan ulit ng panahon ang tax rates na nagresulta sa napakataas na buwis na hindi na patas para sa mga ordinaryong manggagawa. Alinsunod din ito sa pangako ng administrasyong Duterte na hindi buwisan pa ang kumikita ng P20,000 pababa," said Angara, chairman of the ways and means committee. Bicam conferees have also agreed to raise the tax exemption cap of 13th month pay and other bonuses to P90,000. For example, a call center representative earning about P30,168 a month is currently taxed at 30% or P55,490 annually. With such decrease in tax rates, his or her annual tax due will be reduced to P18,660 at 20%, resulting to approximately P36,830 annual savings. In 2023, his or her annual taxes will be further slashed to P13,995 at 15% income tax rate. Moreover, the TRAIN bill provided for a simpler and easier tax filing and payment for self-employed individuals and professionals (SEPs) to encourage them to pay correct taxes. Members of the bicam have agreed to make the 8% flat tax optional for those earning below P3 million so they can choose whether to opt for the 8% flat tax or the schedular personal income tax. Self-employed and professionals earning below P250,000 will likewise be exempt from income tax, while those with gross sales or receipts of P500,000 and below will be exempt from 3% percentage tax. The 8% flat tax will only be filed once a year, while VAT and percentage tax shall be filed quarterly. Currently, SEPs should file VAT and percentage tax returns every month. Income tax returns will also be shortened and simplified to four pages from the current 12 pages. "Bukod sa pagpapababa ng buwis, mas pinasimple din natin ang proseso ng pag-file ng tax returns para mas madali na ang pagbabayad ng tamang buwis," Angara said. After the ratification of both houses of Congress, the consolidated bill will be transmitted to the Office of the President for his signature. Press Release December 13, 2017 Explanation of Vote Martial Law - Second Extension I vote NO to another extension of Martial Law in the entire Mindanao for one year. The Constitution is clear that martial law may be declared only in cases of actual rebellion when public safety requires it. The elements of rebellion are well-settled. Rebellion is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the government for the purpose of removing from its allegiance the Philippines or any part thereof. To give full and unqualified assent to another martial law extension when an actual rebellion no longer persists is unconstitutional. Mr. President, last October 23, the government through Secretary Lorenzana declared Marawi City as liberated from terrorist influence. Secretary Lorenzana on the same day announced the termination of combat operations in the City. Today, there is no actual rebellion. Rebellion no longer persists in Mindanao. Despite this, a request for a one-year extension was made. Our resource person enumerated acts, which are similar to the grounds given by the President in the request for extension. These acts do not constitute rebellion. "Recruitment and training of new members", "radicalization/recruitment", "planning", "continuing defiance", and "taking advantage of the situation" do not constitute actual rebellion. At best, these are criminal acts punishable under Art. 138 of the Revised Penal Code or "inciting a rebellion or insurrection." This is not contemplated by the Constitution as a ground for declaring Martial Law. We noticed that the 5th ground stated in the letter pertains to the "intensified rebellion" of the CPP-NPA. When Martial Law was imposed last May 23 and extended last July 22, the NPA was never mentioned. Now, their activities are cited to justify the one-year extension. We know that the NPA operates nationwide and the problem of insurgency has persisted over the last 40 years. Is this now a prelude to declaring Martial Law nationwide? "Guerilla warfare", "acts of terrorism", and "perpetration of violent incidents" while deplorable, are not grounds for the imposition of Martial Law. To end these atrocities, the AFP and the PNP can exercise their powers under the law without placing Mindanao under martial law for one whole year. Failing that, the President may even use his power to call out the Armed Forces prevent and suppress lawless violence. Mr. President, let me be clear that I salute and commend the military's victory over terrorist groups and support all efforts to rebuild Marawi City. We however cannot turn a blind eye on this unconstitutional stretch of prerogative. We cannot allow temporary measures reserved for extraordinary perils and extreme exigencies to become permanent. Ang unli-Martial Law ay labag sa ating Saligang Batas. To constantly rely on martial law is an affront to our military's capabilities. Naniniwala po ako na kahit walang Martial Law, ang ating Hukbong Sandatahan ay may sapat na kakayahang matalo ang mga rebelde at terorista. If we continue to go down this track, there might come a time that truly calls for the declaration of martial law. By then, however, we will no longer have a trump card up our sleeve. Martial law would merely be a once-sharp blade that we had dulled through needless and constant use. May panahon sa paggamit ng batas militar. Hindi po ito ngayon. Huwag nating paniwalain ang ating mga kababayan sa Mindanao na ito ang kasagutan para maibalik ang kanilang kaligtasan at normal na pamumuhay. Let us not normalize martial rule and the abandonment of the balance of powers. Doing this will only show the terrorists that they have won because we are ruled by terror and fear. Let us restore normalcy in the lives of our fellowmen in Mindanao, stop displacement, and show the terrorists that our values of freedom, democracy, peace, and human rights are superior to their acts of hate and violence. Maraming salamat po. They picked Dec. 12 to get married because they thought it would make their anniversary easy to remember: 12/12. They picked San Francisco City Hall as the venue because it was simple. Chris Butler and Courtney Bailey wanted to keep the ceremony small, just a few friends and family, and save the money for a honeymoon to Cambodia and Thailand. So, a little more than a week ago, Butler and Bailey set it all in motion. Courtney ordered a white lace dress from Anthropologie, and they carved time out of their work schedules, tough to do this time of year because its harvest time on the cannabis farm they run in Mendocino. On Monday, they came to the city, got a room at the Fairmont Hotel, and bought wedding bands. Tuesday morning they arrived at City Hall around 9, hoping to be married on the ground floor, beneath the high dome, only to learn that there had been a bit of a shuffle. They would need to exchange vows on the fourth floor instead, they were told. Mayor Ed Lee had died, and they would be sharing their happy day with one of the citys saddest. Even on such a day, City Hall cant grind to a stop. There are tours to give, deeds to stamp, weddings to officiate. On Tuesday, the county clerks team of five marriage commissioners performed 38 ceremonies. All day long, couples filed along the red velvet ropes outside the clerks office grooms in tuxes, brides in white and black, kids with flowers in their hair. One floor up, outside the mayors office, the scene was different. From the moment City Hall opened at 8 a.m., members of the mayors staff rushed inside, hurried up steps and disappeared into closed meetings. Most of them had only just heard about the mayors death in an early morning email. He was a good man, Deirdre Hussey, Lees spokeswoman, said through tears. He was a good man. A little after 8 a.m., a City Hall worker brought three flags (city, state, country) and planted them at the site of an upcoming news conference. A janitor swirled his mop atop a spot of marble floor with no perceptible dirt. A woman emerged from an elevator and placed a bouquet of flowers at the mayors office door, wiping away tears. I disagree with some of his policies, but hes still the mayor of the city, and its tragic, she said. Two sheriffs deputies stood before the closed doors. Sad day, one said. Its unfortunate, but were going to have to figure it out. In a chilly fourth-floor office, the phone of City Hall Historian Ellen Schumer rang and rang. By midmorning, shed taken 12 calls from citizens and City Hall workers with questions about what the mayors death meant for upcoming elections. Shed have to check the charter, she told them. Upset, shocked, stunned, Schumer said. Weve been through this before, but in very different circumstances. The mayor was, from my perspective, very young, energetic. This is a biggie. Why do things always happen in the fall? she added. Moscone, Milk, Jonestown. Back on the second floor, in a suite next to the mayors office, Charlotte Maillard Shultz, chief of protocol, was immersed in planning Lees funeral events (a celebration of life), meeting with his family and City Hall staff to get everything just right. We want it to go smoothly because thats the way he wanted us to do things, Shultz said. The place is in shock. Its very quiet around here. Flowers are arriving, and messages, but the people that work here, everybodys on the job. It was clear to her that the transition to a new mayor had already begun. Workers were packing up Lees mementos and files in boxes, readying the office for his successor, and the acting mayor was using one of the rooms in the protocol suite for the time being. She is definitely the mayor, Shultz said. As the time for the acting mayor, London Breed, to speak approached, City Hall was filling up with people who had come to see the news conference, to be a part of history. They filled the galleries on the second and third floors. On the ground floor they mixed with newlyweds taking photos on the grand staircase or in front of a giant Christmas tree. Thats where Bailey and Butler went for photos after they got married on the fourth floor. Bailey held a bouquet of five white roses and two pink ones and poked fun at the casualness of Butlers outfit, a brown leather jacket and pinstripe pants. Chris has his own style, she said. Its like a debonair aviator look. Bailey said she was glad they had decided to get married at City Hall. She looked up at the dome. I didnt realize how stunning it is here. Its sad to share this day, but its a beautiful experience. Back up on the third floor, a young couple stood before an officiant in a judges robe. The bride wore white; the groom, in glasses, wore a neatly tailored dark suit. As a photographer snapped pictures of the happy couple, a silence descended in the vast rotunda, and the acting mayor began to speak. Jason Fagone is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jason.fagone@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfagone VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- East Africa Metals Inc. (TSX-V:EAM) (East Africa or the Company) is pleased to announce, subsequent to the recently acquired Mining License for the Terakimti Oxide Gold Project (See news release dated December 7, 2017), the Company has submitted two additional Mining Licence applications for the Companys Da Tambuk and Mato Bula Gold deposits at the Companys 100% owned Adyabo Project located in the Tigray National Regional State of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ethiopia). Andrew Lee Smith, East Africas C.E.O. stated, Following the recent approval of the Mining Licence for the nearby Terakimti Oxide Gold Project, East Africa is pleased to have submitted formal Mining Licence Applications for two additional deposits at Da Tambuk and Mato Bula. The opportunity to hold three deposits within a 20 kilometre footprint, in an area of well developed, air, road, and power infrastructure offers exceptional potential for project development. Project Profiles: The Company has defined the following mineral resources at Da Tambuk and Mato Bula1: Da Tambuk: 775,000 tonnes at 4.51 grams per tonne gold and 2.4 grams per tonne silver, containing 112,000 ounces of gold and 59,000 ounces of silver, to a drilled depth of 200 metres. The mineralized zone is open along strike and to depth. Mato Bula: 2,280,000 tonnes grading 3.74 grams per tonne gold, 0.28% copper and 1.1 gram per tonne silver, containing 278,000 ounces of gold, 14 million pounds copper and 70,000 ounces of silver, to a drilled depth of 450 metres. The mineralized zone is open along strike and to depth. At Da Tambuk, mineralization occurs in two sub-parallel zones with a strike length of 650 metres in a northeast-southwest direction, a vertical extent of 200 metres and horizontal widths up to 50 metres. At Mato Bula, mineralization occurs in three sub-parallel zones with a strike length of 850 metres in a northeast-southwest direction, a vertical extent of up to 450 metres and a horizontal width of up to 80 metres. The southern part of Mato Bula has a higher copper content relative to gold. The overall Au:Cu ratio is 8.1 to 1. Project Infrastructure: The Da Tambuk and Mato Bula deposits are located approximately 600 kilometres north of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The region has daily commercial air service from Addis Ababa. The existing transportation and power infrastructure is located close to the project site and enhances the development potential of the area. The Da Tambuk and Mato Bula deposits are located approximately 35 kilometres northwest from the regional centre of Shire. Shire has a population of approximately 60,000 people and paved highway access to other regional centres and to Addis Ababa. Shire offers a number of government and commercial services, and a recently completed airport. The Da Tambuk and Mato Bula project sites are located 11 and 7 kilometres west respectively from the paved highway connecting to Shire. A high voltage power line passes approximately 7 kilometres to the east of the Da Tambuk project site. The Da Tambuk deposit is located four kilometres north of the Mato Bula deposit and it is anticipated that certain support infrastructure may be shared for the two projects. It is envisioned that conventional open pit and /or underground mining methods would be applied. Metallurgy Metallurgical test work was conducted by Blue Coast Research Ltd. (BCR), located in BC, Canada, on samples collected from the Da Tambuk and Mato Bula deposits to evaluate gravity concentration, agitated cyanide leaching and flotation technologies for the recovery of gold. Da Tambuk Metallurgy The test results demonstrated that agitated cyanidation leaching in bottle rolls of a whole material sample ground to 80 percent passing 75 microns achieved gold extraction of 97% after 48 hours of leaching, indicating that the gold in the composite sample is not refractory and responds well to industry standard agitated cyanide leaching technology. Based on these results, it is envisioned that conventional crushing and grinding followed by Carbon in Leach (C.I.L.) or Carbon in Pulp (C.I.P.) and carbon adsorption-desorption (ADR) would be appropriate technology for precious metals recovery at Da Tambuk. Mato Bula Metallurgy The Mato Bula test work demonstrated that conventional flotation concentration was successful in achieving gold and copper recovery to a copper-gold concentrate with marketable grades. Copper and gold recovery to flotation concentrate was 93% and 83% respectively with concentrate grades of 27% copper and 166 g/t gold. Additional gold recovery was achieved by agitated cyanide leaching of gold bearing flotation products (pyrite concentrate and copper cleaner tailings). With a combination of flotation and leaching, the overall gold recovery was 89% for the Mato Bula sample. Based on these test results it is envisioned that a process utilizing conventional crushing and grinding followed by flotation to produce a gold rich copper concentrate, combined with agitated leaching of flotation products in a C.I.L or C.I.P. circuit, would be appropriate technology for the recovery of gold and copper at Mato Bula. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment An independent Environmental and Socio Impact Assessment (ESIA) study has been completed by Beles Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Co. of Ethiopia, and forms an integral part of the Mining Licence applications. This ESIA concluded that the local population is supportive, and the anticipated benefits would be important to the local community and to the local and regional governments. The ESIA further concluded that the adverse impacts identified can be mitigated through implementation of the proposed management and monitoring plans. Adyabo Mineral Resources: The Indicated and Inferred Mineral resources for the Adyabo project are presented below. Adyabo Project Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate, David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: May 31, 2016) 1 Pit Constrained Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 23.9 775,000 4.51 0.11 2.4 4.65 112,000 1.9 59,000 116,000 Mato Bula 23.9 2,280,000 3.74 0.28 1.1 4.18 278,000 14.0 70,000 310,000 Sub-Total Pit 23.9 3,055,000 3.94 0.24 1.4 4.30 390,000 15.9 128,000 426,000 Underground Mineral Resource Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Mato Bula 63.9 160,000 3.57 0.25 1.0 3.96 18,000 0.9 3,000 20,000 Total PC + UG N/A 3,215,000 3.92 0.24 1.4 4.29 408,000 16.8 132,000 446,000 Adyabo Project Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate, David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: May 31, 2016) 1 Pit Constrained Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 23.9 35,000 4.30 0.08 3.0 4.42 5,000 0.1 3,000 5,000 Mato Bula 23.9 3,010,000 2.13 0.34 2.4 2.67 207,000 22.2 237,000 259,000 Mato Bula North 23.9 2,470,000 0.27 0.70 3.2 1.49 22,000 38.3 252,000 119,000 Sub-Total Pit Constrained 23.9 5,515,000 1.31 0.50 2.8 2.15 233,000 60.6 493,000 383,000 Underground Mineral Resource Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 63.9 75,000 3.92 0.05 2.9 4.00 9,000 0.1 7,000 10,000 Mato Bula 63.9 330,000 2.77 0.65 5.4 3.82 30,000 4.7 58,000 41,000 Mato Bula North 63.9 15,000 0.75 0.79 2.6 2.10 400 0.3 1,000 1,000 Sub-Total Underground 63.9 420,000 2.91 0.55 4.8 3.80 39,000 5.1 66,000 51,000 Total PC + UG N/A 5,930,000 1.43 0.50 2.9 2.27 273,000 65.7 559,000 434,000 1The resources above have been publicly disclosed. Please refer to East Africa News Release dated June 14, 2016 for full details on the resource. Metal prices of $1,400/oz, $3.20/lb and $20.0/oz were used for gold, copper and silver respectively. Metallurgical recoveries of 97% for gold, 72% for copper and 50% for silver were applied at Da Tambuk. Metallurgical recoveries of 88.5% for gold, 87.5% for copper and 50% for silver were applied at Mato Bula and Mato Bula North. The current Adyabo Mineral Resource incorporates data from 15,295.8 metres of drilling in 84 drill holes, and 2,808 metres of trenching. More information on the Company can be viewed at the Companys website: www.eastafricametals.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo., CEO For further information contact Nick Watters, Business Development Telephone +1 (604) 488-0822 Email investors@eastafricametals.com Website www.eastafricametals.com Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", indicate or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: timing of receipt of mining permit; timing of mining development; projected heap leach recoveries ; early exploration; the closing of the agreement with the exploration and development company to advance the Magambazi Project or identify any other corporate opportunities for the Company; mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo, Harvest and Magambazi Projects; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africas managements discussion and analysis for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and for the year ended December 31, 2016, and East Africas listing application dated July 8, 2013. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the timely closing of the financing; the timely closing of the Handeni Property definitive agreement; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the renewal or extension of exploration Licences; the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Ed Lee wasnt born in San Francisco, but that didnt matter to the large Chinese community that adopted him as a native son. He was one of us, Norman Fong, director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, said Tuesday. One of our guys made it to mayor. Lee became known in the Chinatown community in the 1970s as the civil rights lawyer who pushed residents of the Ping Yuen public housing complex to speak up and fight to improve conditions. He became a perennial volunteer behind the scenes at the Chinese New Year celebrations and then as the citys first Asian American mayor moved front and center, boisterously and with a characteristic giggle, wishing the community a gung hay fat choy. He symbolized a coming of age of Chinese Americans, Asian Americans in San Francisco, said Assemblyman Phil Ting. He really represented Asian Americans and Chinese Americans being accepted into City Hall. Now Playing: Mayor Ed Lee, 1952-2017 Video: San Francisco Chronicle Despite San Franciscos historically large Asian American population currently comprising more than 35 percent of 860,000 residents politics in San Francisco was long dominated by white men, with Willie Brown and Dianne Feinstein the exceptions. For years, the Asian American community sought a seat at the table in City Hall, and Lee was the fruition of so many years of work, Ting said. At times, the Chinese community judged Lee harshly, especially after his 2015 appointment of a Nob Hill activist, Julie Christensen, to Chinatowns supervisor seat. That decision prompted a vocal rebuke from Chinatown power broker Rose Pak, who had helped propel Lee into the mayors office. But regardless of the criticism, the Chinese American community largely remained supportive of Lee. The fact that he was the first Chinese American mayor gave me a huge sense of pride, and it was something to look up to, said Brandon Jew, owner and chef of Mr. Jius on Waverly Place. Chinese Americans dont often get seen as leaders, and it felt like something for the city to be proud of. Lees parents came from a rural village in Taishan and settled in Seattle, where the family lived in public housing, a background that drove him to want to improve the conditions at Ping Yuen, which included a rent strike in 1978. One of his first priorities as mayor was to renovate 3,480 units of public housing in 28 buildings for low-income residents, including Ping Yuen apartments. On Tuesday afternoon, as ongoing construction took place at Ping Yuen, several residents said they were grateful to Lee for pushing to renovate public housing projects and considered him one of their own. He liked to help the lower-income people, said Paul Yuen, a retired salesman who has lived in Ping Yuen for 10 years. Hes really a good man. He will always be known for his ardent protection of affordable housing in Chinatown, said Bettie Louie, who owns a number of shops and restaurants on Grant Avenue. Our community has just lost one of its heroes and a strong advocate. Lees story was the stereotypical American dream. His family was so poor that he and his siblings would scavenge items to give as Christmas presents, including an old shoe just one old shoe, his daughter recounted in 2011. When Lee was a high school student, his father died of a heart attack, and he took on a job, washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant, to earn money for his family. 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. He proved to Asian Americans that you can rise to the top, said George Chen, owner of China Live restaurant. And he got young kids here to take civic leadership seriously as a career. Lee never seemed to lose that aw-shucks allure, said Jenny Zhao, 37. Ive seen him walking around Chinatown a few times, she said. He wasnt like those people who get high up and then ignore where they came from. He reveled in his sponsorship of the annual Chinatown Ping Pong Tournament, gleefully taking on all challengers. But he was also just a working guy, said Steven Lee, a local entrepreneur who helped reopen the iconic Sam Wos restaurant in Chinatown, with the support of Lee. Hes not a politician, Steven Lee said, unable to use the past tense. We were just going to have a conversation with the mayor about whats going to happen in (Chinatown) in the next two years. The entrepreneur said you could tell what kind of person someone is by the car they come in and the mayor would pull up in an electric Chevrolet Volt. Hes just such a nice guy, Steven Lee said. His legacy is hes trying to do the best he can for everybody. Jill Tucker, Annie Ma and Wendy Lee are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, ama@sfchronicle.com, wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker @anniema15 @thewendylee Mountain Views City Council on Wednesday approved an ambitious plan for its North Bayshore neighborhood that would expand its supply of housing by nearly 10,000 units, primarily apartments. The move, which would allow Google and other employers or developers to build housing, comes as cities across the region have struggled to accommodate the influx of jobs. Some Bay Area workers commute from as far away as the Central Valley or live in their cars because they cant afford a place where they work. Mountain View has stepped up and were doing our part to increase the (housing) supply, said City Councilwoman Patricia Showalter. I sincerely hope that many neighboring communities will also step up because thats what really needs to happen. North Bayshore has primarily contained office parks, with only a few places for people to live. Google is already building a futuristic campus there called Charleston East that will open in late 2019, and up to 2,700 employees will work there. The plan passed early Wednesday morning would allow mixed-use development in North Bayshore, Showalter said. Residential buildings can be up to 15 stories tall. The plan allows for up to 3.6 million square feet of office or commercial space. The number of jobs in North Bayshore is expected to rise to 28,080 by 2030, up from 17,480 in 2009, the plan said, while the population is projected to increase from 760 people to 17,998 during the same time period. Even though we are increasing the population significantly, the hope is if we plan it right, we wont see a significant increase, if any, in the amount of cars on the road, said Lenny Siegel, Mountain Views vice mayor. Google, one of Mountain Views largest employers, has previously discussed building housing in the area. The company owns more than half of the land slated for residential development in North Bayshore, Siegel said. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on how much housing the company aims to build. We are pleased with the councils decision to adopt the (plan) and look forward to collaborating with the city of Mountain View to create a complete neighborhood for the community to live, work, play and stay, Mark Golan, vice president and chief operating officer of Googles Global Real Estate Investments and Development, said in a statement. The number of jobs in Silicon Valley grew by 367,064 from 2010 to 2015, according to a report by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. But it added only 57,094 housing units during that time, the report said. That has hurt some companies that are trying to recruit. Carl Guardino, CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, spoke about a local company that plans to hire dozens of engineers in Utah. The folks they need with those skills could not find a place to live here, he said. Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee The last time I saw Mayor Ed Lee was just before Thanksgiving at the San Francisco Interfaith Council Prayer Breakfast, when the thrust of his remarks was that San Francisco would remain a sanctuary city, despite pressures to change that policy. Although his demeanor was always polite and even deferential to the power players with whom he shared the public playing field, and although the effects of his pro-growth policies were often questioned by advocates for the homeless and for housing, on this issue of sanctuary, you could feel his satisfaction in strongly stating a position so in keeping with progressive San Francisco values. I talked with him on many occasions, but I cant say I ever glimpsed the private Ed Lee. In public, he was a booster for San Francisco, he seemed delighted to have found himself its mayor, and his fallback tap dance the spoken patter of a mayor called to celebrate a public occasion was, at least until this season, about his/our noncontroversial love for the Giants. On Opening Day, hed be decked out in his official orange-and-black jacket, standing to one side of the luxury box, eating a hot dog. Sometimes fans, handshakers, selfie-posers approached, but usually not with the zeal with which they accosted past mayors. The contrast didnt seem to bother Lee. When I asked him a few months ago about the highlight of his trip to Asia with the entourage for Dream of the Red Chamber, he said he was surprised by how graciously theyd been received by government officials. Ken Maley recalls that when Lee was San Franciscos chief administrator, just after 2005s Hurricane Katrina, he went along on a trip Maley had organized to visit New Orleans Broadmoor district, which was struggling to recover. When the city was considering bulldozing that neighborhood, one resident suggested neighbors make an effort to keep their homes looking neat, in order to preserve them. Ed took a group of residents to Home Depot and bought them all kinds of yard tools, such as rakes and lawn mowers. His support helped the leader of the Save Broadmoor neighbors, LaToya Cantrell, to be elected to the City Council. Lee hosted a fundraiser for her at Zuni this fall, after which Cantrell was elected mayor. Maley says he often shared meals at Zuni with Lee, because he loved the roast chicken. We always ordered two so he had some to take home. I would pass the leftovers to his security guard as he walked to his waiting car. Lees sudden death, of course, is a shock to San Franciscans. It seems not surprising, though, that the tragedy happened at the supermarket, where he was shopping for groceries, just like everyone else. As a fan of the insightful and in-depth reporting in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Stephen Hochheiser forwards this excerpt from its latest issue: The index card has a more interesting history than you might think. Natural history meets technology, but never the twain did actually meet: Since retiring as KPIX news director, Harry Fuller has become a renowned birder and expert on birding. Fullers new book is San Franciscos Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars, and recently, he gave what Thomas Kuhn describes as a terrific lecture/slide presentation at Googles Community Space on the Embarcadero. There were two large screens at the front of the room, and no one from the building could make them work, emails Kuhn. The author pointed to images on his laptop. My 15-inch screen took us back to the earliest days of color TV, said Fuller. Just back from Santiago, Chile, Naomi Spiegelman couldnt help noticing that Gran Torre Santiago, a 64-story building that dominates the skyline, looks very much like the 61-story Salesforce Tower of San Francisco. The building in Chile was completed in 2013; both skyscrapers were designed by Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli. Considering the damage wrought by fire in California over the past few months, todays Dire Warnings Gazette emphasizes a warnings real-life importance. The Department of Emergency Management sent word, via Nextdoor: Hello, San Francisco. Weve had some home fires in the past 24 hours. ... December is the peak time of year for home candle fires. Think about using flameless candles in your home. They look and smell like real candles. Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @leahgarchik Public Eavesdropping I already miss the corrupt neoliberal world order in the worst way. Gray-haired man to gray-haired man, overheard at House of Nanking by Ted Weinstein BERLIN - Roy Moore's defeat in the Tuesday special election may have come as a relief to liberal Americans, but in Europe it was taken as a sign that the United States has not totally lost its moral compass. The 2016 election victory of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular across Western Europe, appears to have severely damaged the United States' status as a role model in Europe. Democrat Doug Jones' victory over Moore, a Republican - who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades ago - in Alabama's special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat was interpreted by many in Europe as a reversal for Trump and a sign that all is not lost across the Atlantic. In Europe, the Alabama election result was widely seen as a "notable setback for President Donald Trump," in the words of France's liberal Liberation newspaper. Its center-left competitor Le Monde declared the result a "referendum about Trump's political agenda," and Britain's Financial Times agreed that it was "a big blow for Mr Trump." That sentiment was perhaps most pronounced in Germany, where confidence in Trump has been even lower than in France and Britain. The center-left German weekly Die Zeit framed the defeat as "the miracle of Alabama." But the relief was not limited to liberal media outlets. Writing in the conservative German newspaper Die Welt, Clemens Wergin said that the "victory of Jones shows that America has changed since Trump's election." Whereas many voters did not take the sexual assault allegations against Trump seriously ahead of his victory last year, there appeared to be a growing awareness this time around that defied partisan lines, Wergin wrote. "Many people in Alabama want to send a message to the world: America is still able to show a tolerant and cosmopolitan face," wrote Jan Philipp Burgard, a U.S. correspondent with the German public TV station ARD. Germany and Britain have long considered themselves close allies of the United States, but leaders here are finding it increasingly difficult to work with a U.S. president who has repeatedly lashed out at them and is deeply unpopular among European voters. Trump's low approval ratings in Europe have defied partisan lines. Not only liberals but also many conservatives here have viewed his remarks about banning Muslims, building a wall and pulling out of climate and trade deals as populist and divisive. Europe is also struggling with a populist, right-wing resurgence of its own that has made electoral inroads in recent years in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Austria, not to mention a second-place showing in France's presidential election. While the populist right remains restricted mostly to the political sidelines, it was encouraged by Trump's victory. Moore's defeat was also interpreted as a sign of a revival of "decency" in the United States. Alabama's voters "have proved that politics is not just about party interests, but decency and morality as well," commented Alexandra von Nahmen, head of the German broadcaster DW's Washington bureau. (DW is funded by the German Foreign Ministry but operates independently.) To von Nahmen, the refusal of the majority of voters in Alabama to support Moore is not only an electoral but also a moral defeat for Trump. "The Republicans' loss lies squarely with Donald Trump. He believed his support for a candidate like Moore would ensure victory. But Alabama voters did not allow the President to get away with this amoral behavior. That too is a good thing," von Nahmen wrote. That sentiment was widely echoed Wednesday by other major European news outlets, which called the defeat a "black day for Trump" and proclaimed a "red line for Trump-style politics." 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. "Donald Trump chose to waste what little remains of his political capital on a man accused of being a sexual predator of teenage girls," wrote Guardian U.S. columnist Richard Wolffe. "Due to the fact that the president was so involved in the [Alabama] election campaign - which he did not necessarily have to be - the result is also an indication of his declining popularity," political scientist Philipp May told German public radio on Wednesday. Whereas most reactions here focused on the possible repercussions of Moore's defeat on a national level, one sentence from Jones stood out: "I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us," he said. Jones' words almost exactly matched those of slain British member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was killed last year by a man with links to a U.S. Nazi group. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle London Breed, president of the Board of Supervisors, is the first African American woman to become mayor of San Francisco. But in January her fellow supervisors will have an option to vote on an interim mayor to serve until a special election in June. All manner of scheming and horse-trading is already under way, and Ed Lee himself was a product of just such a process when he landed in the mayors job in 2011. Its entirely possible the supervisors might try to use an interim appointment to lift or sink a candidacy. Not even a week ago, I ran into San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at a holiday party. Little did I know then that it would be our last conversation together. I was awakened this morning by a 4 a.m. text from my daughter in Boston. OMG. Mayor Lee has passed away. I read it with shock and disbelief. Quickly scanned news reports confirmed that the news was true. We had lost our first Chinese American mayor to a heart attack. My nonprofit organization, the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, had been planning to honor the mayor at our annual Chinese New Year event in February. I was telling him about our plans to invite Sen. Dianne Feinstein to keynote the evening when he playfully interrupted me: David, honors and recognitions are fine, but what are you really doing to make a difference? He continued his thought by pointing to the declining Chinese American representation in recent years in key elected bodies such as the Board of Supervisors, the school board, the community college board and others. I began to realize what he was trying to tell me: He was talking about complacency over hard-fought political gains, generational leadership change and the dearth of new and emerging political leadership within the Chinese American community. He was talking about being unprepared for the passing of the torch from his generation to the next. Now that he is gone, I have been reflecting on his words. Historically marginalized by racism and bigotry, San Franciscos Chinese American community has been fighting for generations for a seat at the table. Mayor Lee showed us all what is possible. It is up to us to keep the fire burning. David Lee is executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee and a lecturer of political science at San Francisco State University. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Democrat Doug Jones upset victory in the Alabama Senate special election Tuesday not only narrows the GOP advantage in Washington, it sends a cultural message to the #MeToo movement that has been raising awareness about sexual harassment nationally: Even voters in ruby-red states are hearing you. Alabama voters, who had twice elected Moore to the state Supreme Court despite anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim positions, couldnt stomach allegations that he committed sexual misconduct decades ago with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Moore denied the accusations of impropriety, as did Donald Trump, who won the presidency despite allegations of harassment from 16 women. But this time, the denials fell largely on deaf ears as Jones eked out a narrow victory with 50 percent of the vote Tuesday. Moore, who got 48 percent of the vote, didnt concede, saying he would seek a recount because what we should do is wait on God and let this process play out. If Jones victory holds, it would cut the Republican majority in the Senate to the most narrow of margins, 51-49. As a result, Trumps legislative agenda just got a whole lot more difficult. Republicans cant really lose any votes on big-ticket items, said Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races as senior editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication about Congress. Its a very good night for the #MeToo movement in that a lot of voters did not buy Roy Moores insistence that none of this ever happened, Duffy said. Unlike other politicians such as Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who resigned in the face of multiple accusations of sexual impropriety, Moore never even contemplated accepting responsibility for this. Jones surprise victory sends an incredibly hopeful message. It send a message that decency is alive and well in Alabama, said Andrea Dew Steele, a San Franciscan who is president and founder of Emerge America, which recruits and mentors female candidates across the country and recently started a chapter in Alabama. Joe Raedle / Getty Images And Tuesdays impact was felt by women who are running for office for the first time, like Katie Hill, a 30-year-old who is challenging incumbent Rep. Steve Knight, R-Lancaster, for a Los Angeles County congressional seat that Democrats think they have a chance at flipping. It shows the tide is changing. It shows you were making progress, slowly, Hill said Tuesday. Social movements dont happen overnight. In many other states, accusations like the ones leveled against Moore would have buried his political career long ago. But his steadfast Christian political faith he has said homosexual conduct should be illegal, is staunchly anti-abortion and has said Muslims shouldnt be allowed in Congress endeared him to some Alabama voters, half of whom identify as evangelical Christians. Alabamians hadnt elected a Democrat to the Senate or as governor in two decades. Trumps approval rating in Alabama hovers around 50 percent, far higher than it is across the rest of the country (38 percent according to RealClearPolitics.com), and Trump won the state by 28 percentage points last year. But early exit polls showed that a higher percentage (30 percent) of African American voters turned out Tuesday than did for President Obamas 2012 re-election and upward of 90 percent supported Jones. Also, 57 percent of women supported Jones, according to early exit polls. Tuesdays lesson is a continuation of the lesson from (last months election in) Virginia: Voters of color are the base, and when you turn out the base, you win, said Aimee Allison, president of Oakland-based Democracy in Color, which worked on voter turnout in the Alabama campaign. If Democrats miss that message, theyre missing the path to victory for 2018. Moores loss is a major rebuke of Trump. Not only did Trump support Moore but his former top adviser, Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon, campaigned extensively in Alabama for Moore, casting the race as a choice between the Trump miracle versus the nullification project. In the GOP primary, Trump supported the incumbent, Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to the seat after Trump tapped then-Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. Trump stayed with Moore in the general election to keep the seat in Republican hands. Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama, Trump tweeted this month. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet! On multiple levels, Trump lost, Duffy said. He showed that he isnt able to motivate his voters when he isnt on the ticket. Other than retiring Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and a handful of others, Republicans did not strongly oppose Moore. That must change, said Republican political consultant Alex Carey. Republicans need to come out for whats right and say it forcefully, said Carey, a former aide to ex-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. They need to have a voice other than the president who can speak for the party. Tuesdays race, which likely wouldnt have been on the national radar given Alabamas history as a red state, took on outsized significance in light of the recent movement of calling out men who sexually harassed women. Over the past few months, major figures from media, politics and Hollywood including producer Harvey Weinstein, broadcasters Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer and politicians Franken and Conyers have resigned, retired or been fired in the face of accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women. The concurrent national conversation brought in so many outside contributions to his opponent that Moore declared this week that he wasnt going to stand by and let other people from out of state and money from California control this election. Jones raised $10 million between Oct. 1 and Nov. 22, the final campaign finance reporting deadline 10 times more than Moore over that period. Of the nearly 25,000 television ads that aired during the campaign, 86 percent were either pro-Jones or anti-Moore. Overall, Jones raised $11.8 million to $5.15 million for Moore. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The amount Canadians donate to charitiesas a share of their incomehas hit a 10-year low and lags far behind the amount Americans give, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b57c646d-c197-43f3-9a78-b21e15d76698 The holiday season is a time to reflect on giving, and with Canadians becoming less generous every year, charities face greater challenges to secure resources to help those in need, said Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2017 Generosity Index. The study finds that approximately one-in-five Canadian tax-filers (20.9 per cent) claimed charitable donations on their tax return in 2015, the most recent year of available data, compared to 24.5 per centalmost one-in-fourAmericans. Crucially, the total amount donated by Canadiansjust 0.56 per cent of incomeis the lowest amount in a decade and down from a 10-year peak of 0.78 per cent in 2006. By comparison, American tax-filers donated 1.76 per cent of their income to registered charities in 2015more than three times the percentage Canadians claimed. Moreover, the average dollar amount claimed in Canada was $1,699 compared to $6,058 in the U.S. (in local currencies). And tellingly, the lowest average claim of any state$3,231 USD in Rhode Islandwas still higher than the highest average claim of any province$2,581 CAD in Alberta. Overall, according to the index of charitable giving for American states and Canadian provinces/territories, Utah remains the most generous. Manitoba, which ranks 37th overall, is again the most generous Canadian province, followed by Prince Edward Island (48), Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario (all tied at 49th), British Columbia (54), Nova Scotia (55), New Brunswick (57), Newfoundland & Labrador (58), Quebec (59), Yukon (61), the Northwest Territories (63) and Nunavut at 64th out of 64. Canadians might be surprised to learn that Americans are far more generous when it comes to claimed donations to registered charities, and thats been the case for many years, Lammam said. MEDIA CONTACTS: Charles Lammam, Director, Fiscal Studies (Vancouver) Fraser Institute To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Bryn Weese, Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute (604) 688-0221 ext. 589 bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON A House committee is expected to approve controversial legislation Wednesday that would open all federal wilderness, including almost 15 million acres in California, to mountain bikes. The bill by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove (Sacramento County) would amend the 1964 Wilderness Act, which specifically bans mechanical transport, to allow bicycles on 109 million acres of designated wilderness that constitute some of the most remote and undisturbed areas of the country. McClintock, chairman of the House Natural Resources panel on public lands, said the bill would help restore public access to public land. The legislation, HR1349, has provoked a fierce backlash from conservation groups, but has the support of mountain biking enthusiasts who say the areas are unnecessarily closed to wheeled travel. Mountain bikers in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Jose pointed to areas such as the Snow Mountain Wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest northeast of Ukiah, the Ventana Wilderness along the coast of Big Sur, and the Trinity Wilderness near Mount Shasta as areas that could potentially be opened to them. Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle The Pacific Crest Trail up and down the state is closed everywhere, and there are certainly areas that could be opened up, said Daniel Schneider, founder of SF Urban Riders, a San Francisco mountain biking group. A lot of the Pacific Crest Trail runs right through some of the biggest mountain biking areas that we have. But conservation groups worry about safety issues and disturbance of the wilderness experience associated with bringing bicycles into protected areas where only hikers, horseback riders and other non-mechanized travelers are now allowed. Their bigger concern, they say, is that the bill would turn places protected by one of the nations bedrock environmental laws into common recreation areas. Wilderness is not a recreation designation, said Anders Reynolds, an officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, which strongly opposes the McClintock bill. Its the anchor of a broad spectrum of conservation protections. Wilderness is what happens when a country says to itself, what does it look like if we set aside a place and allow it to just be. In a well-known passage, the Wilderness Act states, A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. The only exception to wheeled travel is wheelchairs, an alteration made by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Wilderness areas are the highest form of protection for federal lands, above national parks, national forests, national recreation areas or any other designation, said Rep. Al Lowenthal, D-Long Beach. Wilderness makes up less than one-sixth of all federal public lands, leaving plenty of other land open to biking, Lowenthal said. The Wilderness Act was very clear about how these lands were to be managed, said Paul Spitler, wilderness campaigns director for the Wilderness Society, an environmental group. It was to preserve the wilderness character and afford opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, canoeing or other similar activities. Mountain biking is simply not compatible with wilderness and certainly is not consistent with the Wilderness Act. Proponents contend that, under McClintocks legislation, heavily used hiking trails such as Californias John Muir Trail could still remain off-limits to mountain bikers at the discretion of federal land managers at the local level. I myself think the John Muir Trail is a classic example of where mountain biking should not be allowed, said Ted Stroll, president of the Sustainable Trails Coalition, who testified at a committee hearing last week in favor of the bill. Maybe some parts of it, on a Wednesday in October, but in general no. Stroll said most such trails are too steep or rocky to attract mountain bikers. What would be ideal, Stroll said, are places like the Snow Mountain Wilderness, where he said the trails are so little used, they are simply growing over because nobody is there. Mountain bikers could help keep such trails open and ideally keep the marijuana growers out. Stroll also pointed to the Ventana Wilderness near Big Sur, where he said hes heard the trails are disappearing into thickets of poison oak. He said studies show mountain bikes do far less damage to trails than horse or mule pack trains, which he called money-making dude ranch operations that get to profit from public lands. Rugged, self-reliant adventurous travel is the signature wilderness experience and thats exactly what human-powered mountain biking is, Stroll said, including the rapidly growing sport of bike-packing into areas long the domain of backpackers. The International Mountain Biking Association, however, opposes the bill, much to the consternation of many of its members. We feel it is unwise to amend the Wilderness Act one of the nations most important conservation laws when the outcome mountain bikers desire can be reached through on-the-ground collaborative efforts, the group said in an official statement. The bill is likely to be passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources and the full GOP-controlled House, but Democrats said their party will kill it by filibuster in the Senate. I probably have more mountain bikers per capita in my district than any place in the country, said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, a member of the committee. The mountain bike was invented in my district, so you cant tell me that we cant find opportunities for mountain biking without sacrificing wilderness. Huffman called the bill part of a constant onslaught by Republicans on public lands, whether its building roads, promoting logging or mining or motorized recreation. Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In spite of a sea of kelly green ensembles filling the Four Seasons ballroom Nov. 28 at The Ireland Funds Americas Womens lunch, Maria Shriver, the fetes honoree, opted for elegant all black. Shriver, the award-winning journalist, mental-health advocate, author and former first lady of California, is also a niece of slain President John F. Kennedy. She had no need to exhibit her Irish; the ould sod is ingrained in her DNA. In our family, you were an Irish Catholic Democrat, she recalled, with a laugh. That was actually more important than your first name. And with that Kennedy legacy, tickets to this groups Women in Leadership series sold out like that. Led by co-chairs Mary Driscoll Tobini, Suzi Tinsley and Theresa Driscoll Moore, who joined forces with Ireland Funds America VP Marjorie Muldowney, this 11th San Francisco event celebrates accomplished Irish and Irish American women while benefiting the funds education, cultural, development and peace programs in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Shriver was joined by her friend and fellow journalist Lee Woodruff, last years fund honoree, in a spirited conversation about what it means to be Irish, what it was like growing up in the storied Kennedy clan and how she became a journalist. That career was partially inspired by her grandmother, Rose Kennedy, whom she described as an extraordinary woman of faith, strong and impeccably dressed every day. She had her own version of reality and stuck to it. Thats a very Irish thing to do. Yet her united family stance, one she summarized as This is the way it is; this is the story and dont deviate, left Shriver with questions. And her early foray into journalism was forged by a desire to find out the real, true story. She also recalled traveling with her late father, Sargent Shriver, in 1972 during his vice president candidacy: All the angry, stressed political people sat in the front of the plane. The journalists, who were laughing and having fun, sat in the back. So I sat in the back, too. The journalists seemed to run the campaign, deciding what was written or seen on TV, Shriver said. The journalists felt more like my tribe and the place to develop my own identity: Who Maria was and not what the Kennedy thing was. That Kennedy thing includes Shrivers devotion to the Special Olympics, founded by her late mother, Eunice Shriver, about whom Shriver has written a new book that launches in April. Her fathers illness inspired Shriver to establish the Womens Alzheimers Movement. And her faith has sustained Shriver through numerous tragedies that befell her family. I lean tremendously on my faith and a key group of friends who have lifted me up when I couldn't get up on my own, Shriver said. Thats the way I live my life today: from a place of deep reflection, deep prayer and deep gratitude. As the room erupted in a standing ovation, Woodruff noted that many in the room grew up in a time when Shrivers uncles were heroes to countless Americans. But youre our hero, Woodruff enthused, as Shriver waved away the praise. No, Maria, put a period on that. Youve just described a life of devotion, gratitude and assisting others. Nothing more to be said here, girlfriend. Tip top: Another terrific turnout of community leaders and tech titans crowded into the St. Regis ballroom for the 11th Tipping Point Breakfast Awards. The event honored Tipping Point grantees Genesys Works Bay Area, New Teacher Center, On the Move and Shelter Inc. for improving the lives of the 1.3 million low-income Bay Area residents through helping them meet their basic needs. And Box, the cloud-content management company, was recognized for its corporate philanthropy with Tipping Points Partner award. 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. Tipping Point founder-CEO Daniel Lurie noted that the past year, rife with political policy changes for Dreamers and the devastating North Bay wildfires, has taken an emotional toll on everyone. So many people are hurting right now. But as a community, together with our 44 grantees, we can galvanize action to affect an entire region, Lurie said. Were not just being responsive, we are taking risks. Were trying new things and partnerships to reduce chronic homelessness in this city by 50 percent in the next five years. And thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, any gifts made to Tipping Point through the end of 2017 will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $1 million. Big screen: That other Kathryn Bigelow was recently honored at the 60th San Francisco Film Awards Night. The Detroit director received the indie-film organizations Irving M. Levin Award for film direction. For the first time in many years, the awards were a veritable ladies night, acknowledging the artistry of a female majority, including actor Kate Winslet, writer Emily V. Gordon and her husband, actor-writer Kumail Nanjiani. Led by co-chairs Heidi Fisher and Sonya Yu, with SFFilm Executive Director Noah Cowan, other event elements were refreshed, too: an early December date and a new venue, the Palace of Fine Arts, for the swanky McCalls dinner soiree. The SFFilms annual two-week celebration of international films, shorts and documentaries will, once again, unspool in April. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. The As and Cardinals, who had conversations about outfielder Stephen Piscotty throughout the winter meetings, appeared close to reaching an agreement Wednesday night. The Chronicle reported early Wednesday that the teams could strike a deal before the end of the winter meetings Thursday. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports had reported Wednesday night that terms had been reached that would send two minor-leaguers to St. Louis, but multiple sources indicated that though the deal was close to completion, it had not been finalized. St. Louis was looking for prospects off Oaklands 40-man roster, and though the As will not move any of their top young players, two players the Cardinals were seeking were infielder/outfielder Yairo Munoz, who hit a combined .300 with Double-A Midland and Triple-A Nashville last season, and second baseman Max Schrock, who hit .321 with Midland. The Cardinals, in need of relief help, previously had asked about Liam Hendriks, sources told The Chronicle. Hard-throwing Frankie Montas was another possibility, as was power-hitting corner infielder Renato Nunez, who is out of options. Piscotty, 26, is from Pleasanton and played at Stanford. His mother, Gretchen, was diagnosed with ALS this year, and St. Louis had been open to the idea of trading him to either the As or Giants if the possibility arose. The Cardinals, who already had a glut of outfielders, reportedly have a deal in place for Miami outfielder Marcell Ozuna, freeing them to deal Piscotty. I dont know if I can empathize with Piscotty. You just hurt for him, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Wednesday. You cant even really go there to understand him and at his age and what it is that he had to endure, or what that is like for a family. I think its really just understanding that it is very, very difficult. You let him know that you care. You acknowledge. You have compassion. Were trying to be supportive for him, and we have to look to do anything we can. On Wednesday afternoon, Oakland general manager David Forst downplayed the possibility of finalizing a deal in the next day or two, saying, I wouldnt place odds on it. ... When you see a press release, thats when its done. The As are careful not to acknowledge trades before physicals are conducted; players have been known to fail physicals occasionally, nullifying transactions. Piscotty, who played at Amador Valley High School, is signed through 2022 with a team option for 2023, and the As specifically have been looking for a young, right-handed-hitting outfielder under long-term control. We came in with specific targets, and we made progress with those things, Forst said. But someone asked me, Are you going to leave with a right-handed-hitting outfielder? Im leaving with my luggage. Thats about all I know. ... It doesnt do anybody any good to guess. The As also are looking for a left-handed reliever, and if they acquire an outfielder via trade, as appears more than likely, they probably will go after a free-agent left-hander, with Tony Watson among the potential targets. The As have spoken to a handful of agents, according to Forst. Weve had a lot of conversations, Forst said. Youre seeing, slowly but surely, relievers coming off the board, so things are happening. Weve spent a good amount of time on that as well. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser A 78-year-old man was assaulted by one of four robbers who kicked in the door of his home in the Sunset District of San Francisco, took his money and ransacked his residence, police said Wednesday. The home-invasion robbery occurred between 10 and 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday at the victims house on the 400 block of Noriega Street, near 11th Avenue, police said. Once the bandits forced their way into the home, they demanded the victim fork over money. Now Playing: San Francisco remembers Mayor Ed Lee who died suddenly early Tuesday morning. Video: KTVU Former President Bill Clinton expressed sorrow on Twitter over former Mayor Ed Lees sudden death, and recalled recent times they spent together in San Francisco. Clinton tweeted Wednesday morning, Saddened by the loss of my friend, Mayor Ed Lee Ill always be grateful for his leadership and steadfast support. It was a privilege to spend time with him earlier this month at the @aids_memorial on #WorldAIDSDay2017. He will be missed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate This story originally appeared on the Daily Californian. Since the opening of Connie & Kevin Chou Hall at the Haas School of Business at the start of the fall 2017 semester, visually impaired students have had to navigate large swaths of the building without the help of Braille on classroom and study room placards. A video emerged on social media Saturday demonstrating that the Braille on a placard outside a Haas classroom was flat and artificial. Posted by campus junior Twee Mac to the popular Facebook group UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens, the video has since garnered significant attention, and Mac says many have voiced their frustration over the situation. Although Mac said she thought the signs with "fake" Braille were temporary, she said it was "messed up" that they hadn't been replaced since the building's opening in August. "(Failing to replace the placards is) saying that people are too lazy or cheap to accommodate disabled students," Mac said. Chou Hall is the newest building at Haas, and, similar to the original buildings in the college, was entirely funded by alumni and friends. Although exit and restroom signs include raised Braille, signs outside classrooms and study rooms currently do not. State and federal safety codes require permanent placards by building exits and restrooms, whereas placards corresponding to classrooms and study rooms can initially serve as placeholders, according to Greta Kim, senior projects manager at Propp + Guerin, the graphic design company that constructed the placards in Chou Hall. MORE: Berkeley College Republicans vigil for Kate Steile sparks controversy Signage for rooms aside from exits and restrooms are not required by the safety code but have already been made with raised Braille and await installation in mid-January, according to Haas senior assistant dean Courtney Chandler. The permanent placards including raised Braille will be installed following the building's transfer to the UC Board of Regents, Chandler added. Badier Velji, vice president of diversity for the Evening and Weekend MBA Program, said he thinks that this discrepancy may have been a lapse in "quality control," given pressures to open Chou Hall by the beginning of the semester. "I'm hoping it was an oversight in the rush to finish Chou Hall," Velji said in an email. "But even so, it should not have been done, as it negatively impacts the students who need that functionality." It's not just at Chou Hall. Many buildings on campus don't provide Braille on placards outside classrooms, said Georgina Kleege, campus English lecturer and president of the Faculty Coalition for Disability Rights. When asked for comment, Disabled Students Program Director Karen Nielson said she had not heard of the inadequate Braille in Chou Hall. According to Kleege, there was an incident earlier in the semester at Wheeler Hall, following its reopening, in which new signs were installed by doors with Braille that was flatter than standard Braille. She added that the signs have since been replaced and were intentionally temporary but said the lack of communication was frustrating. "The faculty coalition and student groups on campus have been working the last of couple of years to influence the administration to move beyond simple compliance with the law and to recognize that the point of access is not only be nice to disabled people, but also recognize that disabled people have something to offer," Kleege said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved one of Mayor Ed Lees final requests, to declare a citywide emergency and fast-track construction of shelters for homeless people. But several supervisors contested and ultimately delayed voting on a second proposal from the mayor, who died early Tuesday, to add showers and laundry facilities at an office building on 440 Turk St. where the citys Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is headquartered. Supervisor Jane Kim, whose district includes the 440 Turk St. building and the Tenderloin neighborhood that surrounds it, said the plan was a misuse of the term emergency. She noted also that neighborhood residents had objected to the plan, which would bring additional services for the homeless to an area that already has plenty, some neighbors say. Now Playing: San Francisco Chronicle Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and Editorial Page Editor John Diaz discuss former San Francisco Mayor Ed Lees legacy and what his passing means for the city he led. Video: San Francisco Chronicle Those criticisms led to a fierce debate among supervisors. Some sided with Kim and her Tenderloin constituents, saying the building was poorly conceived and that the city had unfairly forced it on residents. Others feared that homeless services were being demonized and that Lees legacy of helping people in need had died along with him. I hope his passing doesnt end this work, said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, a progressive who ran against Lees policies and then collaborated with him to open new Navigation Centers residential homeless shelters with services in her district. The board put off voting on the 440 Turk St. plan until January but upheld a companion measure to streamline the citys construction bidding process so that additional homeless shelters can be built quickly. Lee had said the city needed to open several new facilities this winter to meet his goal of getting 1,000 more people off the streets. Also Tuesday, the board passed a measure co-sponsored by Lee and Supervisor Ahsha Safai to create an assistance fund for tenants displaced from buildings that are deemed uninhabitable. It was partly inspired by the Ghost Ship warehouse that burned last year in Oakland, and by the basement laundry in the Excelsior where two dozen people lived until January. Additionally, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Katy Tang introduced a June ballot measure to limit how much the city spends on budget set-asides pots of money earmarked for certain programs when the projected budget deficit exceeds $200 million. San Francisco currently has 19 set-asides, more than any other jurisdiction in the country. Los Angeles, by contrast, has two, and San Diego has one. Each of the citys set-asides began as well-intentioned, voter-approved measures to isolate funding for items like street trees, parks, childrens services and public libraries. Over the years, they piled up, Tang and Peskin said, eating up $1.2 billion of the citys budget in the current fiscal year. The mandatory spending requirements have created imbalances in the citys budget, bloating some programs and agencies while others struggle with limited funds, Peskin said. Safai and Peskin introduced a June ballot measure to create a new Department of Livable Streets, which would handle parking, traffic, pedestrian rules and other neighborhood issues that were formerly overseen by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The new department would send decisions to the supervisors for final approval. SFMTA would still handle Muni. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan As a speaker, writer and ordained Baptist minister, Michael Eric Dyson is known for his passionate, pointed discussion of race in America. Exemplary of his style is his 2016 New York Times opinion piece Death in Black and White, written in the wake of the violent deaths of two black men, Alton B. Sterling and Philando Castile, and after an attack on police officers in Dallas. This essay provided the roots for his book Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, released in January from St. Martins Press. Dyson, who is also a professor of sociology at Georgetown University, joins Carvell Wallace in conversation at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, as part of the City Arts & Lectures cultural studies series at Nourse Theater, 275 Hayes St., S.F. Westfield Corp., operator of upscale shopping malls in the Bay Area and dozens of other locations in the U.S. and Britain, is being sold to French commercial real estate giant Unibail-Rodamco in a $16 billion deal, the two companies announced Tuesday. Westfields 16 California locations include Westfield Oakridge in San Jose, Westfield San Francisco Centre and Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara. Unibail-Rodamco owns and operates 69 shopping centers in some of Europes key cities, including Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Munich. The company also is developing malls in Brussels and Hamburg. Westfield began in 1959 when billionaire Frank Lowy and his partner John Saunders opened a shopping center in Sydney. The company grew into one of the worlds largest shopping mall owners. Westfield said it owns 35 shopping malls valued at $32 billion. The deal is subject to approval by both companies shareholders and is expected to close in the first half of next year. Automakers Ferrari speeds up production Ferrari NV, fabled for its fast cars on roads and race tracks, is packing some extra speed into its factories, too. The Italian supercar maker, spun off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in 2016, plans to boost production by doubling assembly shifts to two a day in 2018 as deliveries are on pace to reach its 9,000-vehicle target a year earlier than scheduled, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the matter isnt public. A Ferrari spokesman declined to comment. The increase is part of Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionnes plan to boost profit by expanding Ferraris lineup while maintaining the exclusivity of its $200,000-and-up models. Marchionne, 65, will present the carmakers latest midterm strategy early next year, his final one at the helm of the Italian iconic brand. The plan will include Ferraris first-ever sport utility vehicle. Ferrari stock has more than doubled since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, and its 83 percent gain this year marks the best performance among U.S. automakers in 2017, to value the company at $20.1 billion. The shares Tuesday rose 0.2 percent to close at $106.65. Taxes Facebook to pay locally Facebook Inc. is changing its tax structure so that it will pay taxes in the country where sales are made, rather than funneling everything through its Irish subsidiary. The company said it will move to a local selling structure in countries where it has an office to support sales to local advertisers. the Menlo Park company shifted its international business operations to Ireland in 2010. Facebook has since come under pressure from the U.S. and Europe for its tax practices. Last year, the company said it would stop routing United Kingdom sales through Ireland after public outcry over news that Facebook paid only $6,128 in taxes in 2014. In the U.S., the company is locked in a battle with the Internal Revenue Service that may cost it more than $5 billion, plus interest and penalties, related to global operations that are reported by the Irish unit. Chronicle News Services English Finnish Kotipizza Group Oyj Stock Exchange Release 13 December 2017 at 1pm (EET) Kotipizza Group invests in international restaurant concept Kotipizza Group has developed a new restaurant concept, No Pizza, aimed at international markets. First No Pizza restaurant is meant to open in the Nordics during the year 2018. Kotipizza Group plans to expand the concept into a restaurant chain using the master franchising collaboration model. The No Pizza restaurant concept, created by the Kotipizza Group, is aimed at international markets. The concept is built on a pizza base made of sour dough and responsibly sourced and fresh ingredients, as well as a distinct visual image and customer experience. The No Pizza brand has been designed by N2 Marketing Oy and the interior design by Futudesign Oy. The Kotipizza Group plans to open the first No Pizza restaurant during the year 2018 in the Nordics. After the launch, the company will look for a partner with whom to expand the concept into a restaurant chain operating on the basis of the master franchising collaboration model. "In developing No Pizza, we have benefited from our experiences in driving the Kotipizza chain, as well as our study of the Nordic markets and consumer trends. The innovative No Pizza concept differs significantly from other fast casual restaurants operating in Nordic countries, in terms of both the product and customer experience. We believe that in collaboration with the right master franchising partner, it is possible to build the concept into a successful franchising chain. For example, in Sweden there are currently virtually no nationwide pizza restaurant chains", says the CEO of Kotipizza Group Tommi Tervanen. The concept and business model of No Pizza have been conceived in a way that allows for its operations to be expanded also into other markets after the Nordics. 'No Pizza - There's no pizza like No Pizza' is a trademark registered in the European Union. In the financial year having commenced on 1 February 2017, 200.000 have been invested in the development of the No Pizza concept. No Pizza is estimated to bear no material impact upon the company's financial result in the current financial year or in the subsequent financial year starting on 1 February 2018. On 30 November, the Kotipizza Group acquired a 51 per cent stake in Day After Day Oy operating the Social Food Street Burgerjoint restaurant with the intention of expanding Social Burger into a nationwide burger restaurant chain. In the upcoming financial year 1 February 2018 onwards, the Group plans to invest approximately one million euros in total in the development of new concepts. The Group will report all aforementioned costs as either investments or comparable items in future interim reports. Kotipizza Group Oyj Tommi Tervanen, CEO For more information: Tommi Tervanen, CEO tel. +358 207 716 743 Kotipizza Group in brief Kotipizza is a Finnish pizza chain founded in 1987. At the end of financial year 2016, the number of restaurants stood at 257. In the financial year 2016, the total sales of Kotipizza restaurants amounted to EUR 89.9 million. The Kotipizza chain is part of the Kotipizza Group, alongside the supply and logistics company Helsinki Foodstock Oy and Chalupa Oy that operates the Mexican-style restaurant chain Chalupa, launched in 2015. In the financial year 2016, Helsinki Foodstock had net sales of EUR 53.2 million and the total sales of Chalupa restaurants were EUR 1,04 million. In the same period, the Kotipizza Group had net sales of EUR 66.6 million with a comparable EBITDA of EUR 6.73 million. Attachments: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/27b51a4a-73a1-4fba-a4fc-c95d5c7e95c8 TOKYO Toshiba has cleared one of the last remaining hurdles to a planned sale of its microchip subsidiary and moved a step away from the financial brink. The struggling Japanese conglomerate said Wednesday that it had settled a legal dispute with Western Digital, the San Jose data storage company, that threatened to block the microchip deal. Toshiba is counting on the sale to bring in about $14 billion in much-needed cash after its losses on nuclear power projects in the United States left its finances in tatters. Toshiba and Western Digital said Wednesday that they had agreed to withdraw a cluster of lawsuits and arbitration claims over the deal that they had filed against each other. Under that deal, Toshiba plans to cede a majority stake in the chip subsidiary to a group of investors led by the investment firm Bain Capital. With the concerns about litigation and arbitration removed, we look forward to renewing our collaboration with Western Digital, Yasuo Naruke, Toshiba executive vice president and chief executive of the microchip unit, Toshiba Memory Corp., said in a statement. He added, Toshiba also remains on track to complete our transaction with the consortium led by Bain Capital. Toshiba signed a deal in September, after months of tumultuous negotiations, to sell 60 percent of Toshiba Memory Corp. to the Bain-led group, whose members also include Apple and other technology companies that rely on Toshibas NAND flash memory chips to make their products. Toshiba has bet its future on the sale. Its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric, sought bankruptcy protection in March after delays and cost overruns at two nuclear-plant projects in the United States cost Toshiba $6 billion in write-offs, rendering it insolvent. Toshibas banks have been keeping it afloat, but the company needs cash to repair the damage more permanently. Western Digital, through its subsidiary SanDisk, shares control with Toshiba of flash memory production operations in Japan. The U.S. company also made a bid for Toshiba Memory Corp., but it lost out to the Bain group. Western Digital believed it had a trump card that would allow it to outmaneuver Bain: It contended that, under the terms of its joint venture contracts with Toshiba, Toshiba needed its approval to sell the microchip unit. Western Digital turned to the courts to press that claim, but Toshiba responded by suing Western Digital in return, saying it was unfairly interfering with the sale. The prospect that Western Digitals legal challenges might derail the sale to Bain was daunting for Toshiba, but Toshiba possessed leverage of its own. It announced in October that it would expand flash memory production capacity in Japan without Western Digitals participation, potentially restricting Western Digitals access to an important source of advanced memory drives, which it needs in ever-greater numbers to supply its own customers. Toshiba raised around $5.3 billion in short-term funding to sustain it in case the sale to Bain is delayed. It is supposed to be completed in March, though antitrust regulators in several countries must still give approval. Under the agreement reached on Wednesday, Toshiba and Western Digital said that they would maintain their joint venture arrangement until at least 2029 and that Western Digital would have the option of investing in the capacity expansion in Japan, giving it access to additional flash memory supply. Western Digital CEO Stephen Milligan said his companys core priorities were to protect the Japanese joint venture with Toshiba and ensure their success and longevity. Jonathan Soble is a New York Times writer. Four Oakland firefighters walked through the Ghost Ship warehouse two years before a fire there killed 36 people, one of them testified Tuesday. Oakland Fire Captain George Freelen said he became concerned during the informal 20-minute survey about the high fire load of material stocked inside the artist collective. He sent a one-page report to the departments Fire Prevention Bureau to get clarity on what the building was supposed to be used for. Freelen said he never heard back. And he didnt follow up. The testimony came during a preliminary hearing against master tenant Derick Almena, 47, and his creative director, Max Harris, 27, who have been charged with 36 counts of manslaughter. Records released by the city after the fire showed the extent to which officials knew about the warehouse and its activities, but didnt take steps to prevent the Dec. 2, 2016 disaster. In addition to firefighters, police officers and county social workers had been on the premises. Now Playing: Two witnesses at the preliminary hearing for Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena and creative director Max Harris described the structure in Oakland's Fruitvale district where 36 people perished in a fire last year as a death trap. Video: KTVU While Alameda County prosecutors are relying on Freelens recollections, in part, to show that Almena lied to authorities about people living in the warehouse, the fire captains testimony is likely to be used in wrongful-death litigation against the city, which is being sued by families of the victims. The lead attorney, Mary Alexander, was taking detailed notes from the gallery as Freelen answered questions. Outside court, she said his testimony proved that the neighborhood Fire Department had reason to believe people lived there. The Fruitvale district warehouse was permitted only as a commercial space. But it was never the subject of a formal inspection by the Fire Department, as required by state law, because the software city firefighters use for the program widely seen as flawed and incomplete had no record of the property. The program was built using business licenses the city had on file several years ago. Since there was none for the warehouse, firefighters were never prompted to inspect it. But one day in 2014 Freelen wasnt sure when there was a small fire outside the warehouse that torched a couch and some rubbish. A couple days later, Freelen and three other firefighters, who worked at the firehouse a block and a half away, rolled over to the artist collective to find out what was going on there, Freelen said. The fire captain, a 20-year veteran of the department who does woodworking in his spare time, said he wanted to look inside out of professional and personal curiosity. Almena, with whom Freelen had chatted previously at the fire station, allowed the four firefighters to come in. Freelen remembers it was sometime in the evening. Freelen said he made it about 20 feet into the ground floor and took note of so much random stuff pianos, organs, broken things, art pieces. Then he and his crew went upstairs, climbing what he described as the Pirates of the Caribbean steps, and found about 10 people hanging out and playing music on the second level. Freelen said he noted the immense fire load, which he defined as how much material was inside the box that could burn. At one point, Freelen said, he turned to Almena and inquired about the warehouses purpose. I asked him, straight-up, Do people live here? Freelen testified, and Almena said no. I had no reason to doubt Derick at that time, the fire captain said, adding that he didnt see items that wouldve indicated residential use, like beds or televisions. The fire crew learned the space was an art collective something Freelen said he didnt understand. If an inspection were to have taken place at the property, he said, it would have been way beyond my capabilities. While fire stations in Oakland are responsible for certain annual inspections of residential and commercial buildings, they can alert the Fire Prevention Bureau when a property or its problems are too complicated. This was one of those situations, Freelen said. He wrote a one-page memo and made the referral to the bureau. I never got a followup, he said. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov Some retired police officers like Ronnie Rackley lie awake at night, haunted by a case left unsolved. For Rackley, it was the death of a 14-year-old girl in Antioch whose body was found in the San Joaquin River shortly after her mother reported her missing in 1980. But on the eve of his 66th birthday Monday, the Antioch Police Department made an announcement that Rackley had waited nearly four decades to hear: An arrest had been made in the departments oldest cold-case homicide. This is a huge birthday present; I couldnt have asked for anything better, Rackley told The Chronicle in a phone interview from the Orofino, Idaho, home he moved to eight months ago after retiring from law enforcement in 2014. I have spent a lot of years wondering and hoping and just trying to gain some closure with this thing, and now that may very well be possible. Now Playing: Antioch Police arrested a man on Monday for the city's oldest cold case murder of a teenage girl. Suzanne Bombardier was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1980. Video: KTVU Mitchell Lynn Bacom, 63, of Antioch, was arrested Monday 37 years after Suzanne Bombardiers nude body was found by a fisherman. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the heart. My first thought was, I knew it. That was my first thought, Rackley said. We have always suspected him. That was closely followed by, Its about time. Rackley was the responding patrol officer who on June 22, 1980, took the missing person report from Suzannes mother, Cathy, who told him that her little girl vanished while staying at her older sisters townhouse at 3421 Hudson Court in Antioch. Suzanne had been babysitting her nieces, ages 5 and 6, at the townhouse while her sister, Stephanie, worked an overnight shift at a nearby Mexican restaurant. When Stephanie came home from work about 4 a.m., she noticed Suzanne wasnt sleeping in her usual spot on the couch. She assumed her baby sister was upstairs. It wasnt until noon that Stephanie realized Suzanne was missing. Rackley, who teamed with Detective Gregory Glod, zeroed in Bacom shortly after they started their investigation. In our investigation, Greg and I learned that he had been trying to date the sister, Rackley said. We learned he had been over to the sisters house previously and brought her flowers and candy and was trying to woo her and the sister wasnt interested. The two detectives learned that Stephanie had agreed to meet with Bacom after work the night of her sisters disappearance, but she blew him off. Rackley said he and Glod suspected Bacom showed up anyway and when he couldnt find Stephanie, he decided, Suzanne will do. The officers spent years trying to prove Bacom was the killer by chasing down scores of phoned-in tips and combing through Bacoms criminal history, which included convictions for second-degree burglary, sodomy and assault with intent to murder in 1973. But all the evidence was circumstantial, Rackley said. In 2006, Rackley left the Antioch Police Department after 27 years and worked at the Fresno County Sheriffs Office until he retired. Glod left the Antioch Police Department in 1983. He did a two-year stint at the Concord Police Department and another 26 years with the U.S. Secret Service. He now works as deputy director of the threat analysis center for the police force that protects the Pentagon. But the two could never let go of the hope that one day Suzannes killer would be behind bars. And their efforts to bring justice to the Bombardier family never wavered even as their careers took them farther away from the scene of the crime. Rackley often flew out to Glods home in Washington, D.C., where they would review the details of the case. On the 30th anniversary of Suzannes death, Rackley and Glod went to the then-Antioch police chief and attempted to get him to reopen the case. We wanted (the police department) to bring (Bacom) in and interview him again and put pressure on him and really try to get him to confess to it, but they wouldnt do it, Rackley said. There wasnt enough evidence to bring him in. On the 35th anniversary, Rackley and Glod traveled back to Antioch to meet with a City Council member and city manager to try to convince them that the police department should reopen the case. But, again, their requests went unanswered. It was then that they met with Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons, an author who had taken an interest in Suzannes case when she discovered her grave site next to her grandparents tombstones in Lafayette. She died a month exactly before my grandmother died, said Gibbons, 45, who now lives in Vermont. If you see the stones of the graves my grandparents and Suzies theyre both made of the same pink marble. After spending several years researching Suzannes death and corresponding with her family, Gibbons found herself sitting in front of Glod and Rackley. Together, they took Suzannes story to the news media, sparking renewed interest a little more than three decades later throughout the Bay Area. Less than two years later, the Antioch police used an FBI indexing system not available at the time of the crime to analyze DNA evidence extracted from the crime scene which, ultimately, was traced back to Bacom. Greg sent me a text (on Monday) and he just says, I think they got him, Gibbons said. Police detained Bacom outside his home on the 300 block of West Madill Street in Antioch on Monday evening. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton said Bacom will be charged with kidnapping, rape, murder, oral copulation and murder with use of a deadly weapon. Its closure now, Rackley said. Im just sorry they didnt get him sooner. But, in the end, Ill sleep better at night. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Elizabeth Williams/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3 NEW YORK A Bangladeshi immigrant accused of setting off a pipe bomb in the New York subway system had his first court appearance on Wednesday via video from the hospital room where he is recovering from burns sustained in the blast. Akayed Ullah said little during the hearing, which lasted a little over 10 minutes. He could be seen on the video lying on a hospital bed with his head propped up on a pillow and his body covered up to his neck in sheets. Two assistant public defenders, who stood beside his hospital bed, did not request bail. The Yankees traded third baseman Chase Headley and pitcher Bryan Mitchell and $500,000 to San Diego on Tuesday, giving New York added payroll flexibility and room for infield prospects. New York received outfielder Jabari Blash, 28, who made his big-league debut in 2016 and has played in 99 big-league games over two seasons. A day after finalizing its acquisition of NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton from Miami, the Yankees dealt with their infield logjam and cut their payroll to about $167 million for luxury-tax purposes. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is intent on getting under the $197 million tax threshold next year, and New York still might attempt to re-sign left-hander CC Sabathia or add another starter. Headley, who turns 34 in May, lost his third-base job and shifted to first when the Yankees acquired Todd Frazier last summer. Frazier became a free agent, and the Yankees appear intent on letting Miguel Andujar, 21, compete for the third-base job in spring training. Trading Headley also could signal the Yankees might try to re-sign Frazier, a New Jersey native who relished playing in his home market. Gleyber Torres, who turns 21 on Wednesday, could be a third-base option or have a chance to play at second following the trade of Starlin Castro to the Marlins in the Stanton deal. Headley, returning to the team that selected him in the second round of the 2005 amateur draft, has a $13 million salary next season, which completes a $52 million, four-year deal. He receives a $1 million assignment bonus for getting traded, and his deal calls for $250,000 bonuses each for 475, 500, 525 and 550 plate appearances. He hit .273 with 12 homers and 61 RBIs last season and has a .264 average with 130 homers and 592 RBIs in 11 major-league seasons with San Diego and the Yankees, who acquired him in July 2014 for infielder Yangervis Solarte and right-hander Rafael De Paula. Headley hit a career-high 31 homers and had an NL-leading 115 RBIs with the Padres in 2012. His return to San Diego might be brief. Cory Spangenberg and Solarte can play third. Mitchell was 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA this year in one start and 19 relief appearances for the Yankees. Blash hit .213 with five homers and 16 RBIs this year for San Diego. Ohtani has elbow sprain: Yahoo reported that Angels pitcher-outfielder Shohei Ohtani has a sprained UCL in his throwing elbow. Angels general manager Billy Eppler was unconcerned, saying in a statement to Yahoo, There are not signs of acute trauma in the elbow. It looks consistent with players his age. Briefly: Brandon Morrow agreed to a two-year contract with the Cubs. ... Right-hander Mike Fiers and the Tigers agreed to a $6 million, one-year contract. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate At age 54, Hollywood actor John Stamos is expecting a child with his fiancee Caitlin McHugh, who is due in spring 2018. This is the first child for the Hollywood actor who famously played Uncle Jesse in the 80s hit sitcom "Full House" and helped his brother-in-law Danny raise his three daughters in their San Francisco home. "I'll be a fun dad. I've been practicing for a long time," Stamos told People magazine. "I've done every shtick you can do with a baby on TV ... all the bits and jokes and diaper gags. I'll probably just do all that stuff." Stamos proposed to McHugh, 31, in October in front of the castle at Disneyland, following two years of dating. He told People magazine that he knew about the pregnancy before popping the question. Now Playing: The actor reveals he's expecting a child with fiancee Caitlin McHugh Video: People "The [pregnancy] happened. Then I said, I better have a ring on her finger because it's the right thing to do, and I wanted to marry her anyway," Stamos told the magazine for the Dec. 13 cover story. "So I called her parents to ask, and it was like, 'You better!' " Stamos' proposal made headlines as he cleverly put together a short film of romantic moments from Pixar and Disney films. The final clip was Sebastian from The Little Mermaid saying, 'Just ask the girl.' John shared news of the engagement on Instagram where he wrote "I asked...she said yes! ...And we lived happily ever after." RELATED GALLERY: Hollywood dads in their 60s "Full House" aired for eight season between 1987 and 1995. He also appeared in a reboot of the series titled "Fuller House" that aired in 2016. Stamos was formerly married to model-actress Rebecca Romijn; the two divorced in 2005. As the North Bay recovers from devastating fires in the late fall, many low-income families and community members are still in need of assistance. This weekend, several companies some of which have local ties are stepping in to help. Levi's, Marmot, Coleman and ExOfficio are hosting a large sample sale, after which they'll donate apparel and other items to those affected, as well as a substantial amount of money to the Tipping Point Emergency Relief Fund, an organization supporting vulnerable residents in need of assistance. ALLEN, Texas, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Financial Gravity Tax, Inc., a subsidiary of Financial Gravity Companies, Inc. (OTCQB:FGCO), has contracted with SparkTen in Frisco, TX to assist with a rebranding and integration initiative. Financial Gravity Chief Technology Officer & Chief Marketing Officer Jim Reggio said, We have worked with SparkTen on past engagements to help provide strategy and branding. This time they will also provide expertise in operational effectiveness to assist with acquisition integration. Jon Hanley, Founding Partner of SparkTen commented, We're excited to work with the Financial Gravity team again. SparkTen was founded on the mission to grow small and mid-sized businesses via innovative solutions. Financial Gravity shares a similar mission to create wealth for individuals and business owners with innovative tax and financial services. It's with a spirit of shared purpose that we'll approach this important initiative to generate value for Financial Gravity customers, partners, and shareholders. Charlie Wells, Financial Gravitys Digital Marketing Manager, stated, We are excited to partner with Spark Ten and draw from their expertise and innovative solutions. About Financial Gravity Companies, Inc. Financial Gravity Companies, Inc., a Fractional Family Office , provides integrated tax, business, and financial solutions. Clients include small business owners and high net-worth individuals. Services are focused on helping its clients personal and professional goals, while building wealth, most often with potential tax savings, lowering costs, and improving efficiency. For details, visit www.financialgravity.com. Financial Gravity Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from the current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in the press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Financial Gravitys business and Financial Gravity undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Contact: Jennifer Sanford jennifer@financialgravity.com 469-342-2232 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW YORK In nominations announced Wednesday, Dec. 13, the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards heartily endorsed the Frances McDormand-led revenge drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, offered swift redemption for the Golden Globes-overlooked romantic comedy The Big Sick, and left many Oscar favorites empty handed. Martin McDonaughs Three Billboards led all films with four nominations, including best ensemble, and acting nods for McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. That adds to the movies strong awards portfolio, including six Golden Globes nods and the often predictive audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The other nominees for best ensemble were: Greta Gerwigs mother-daughter tale Lady Bird, Jordan Peeles horror hit Get Out, Dee Rees Jim Crowe-era drama Mudbound and The Big Sick, which was shut out Monday by the Globes. In the television categories, HBOs California murder mystery Big Little Lies dominated as expected with five nominations, including best ensemble. Netflixs Stranger Things and GLOW fared well, with four nods apiece. The streaming service led all networks with 19 total nominations. As one of the steadiest bellwethers of the Academy Awards, the SAG Awards have considerable sway over the Oscar race. Actors make up the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, though the guilds ranks are much larger. Only about 1,000 of their 160,000 members are in the film academy. Last year, Hidden Figures upset eventual Oscar-winner Moonlight as well as Manchester by the Sea for the SAG Awards best ensemble. But its been 22 years since a film that wasnt at least nominated for best ensemble at the SAG Awards won best picture at the Oscars. The Oscars race is so far considered wide open, and by winnowing the field down to five movies for its top award on Wednesday, the Screen Actors left out many frontrunners. Steven Spielbergs Pentagon Papers drama The Post was shut out entirely, including its stars, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. After topping the Globes with seven nods Monday, Guillermo del Toros The Shape of Water missed out on the ensemble category, but still landed nods for Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins. Critical favorites Call Me by Your Name and The Florida Project each emerged with just a solo acting nomination. Notably passed over was Call Me by Your Name co-star Armie Hammer. Instead, The Big Sick, an autobiographical comedy scripted by real-life couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, followed up its rough Globes morning with not just a best ensemble nod but a supporting actress nomination for Holly Hunter. Now we have to go tell our real parents that they arent actually nominated, Nanjiani and Gordon said in a joint statement. Along with McDormand and Hawkins, the best actress nominees were: Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) and Margo Robbie (I, Tonya). Ronan was joined by her Lady Bird cast mate Laurie Metcalf, who was nominated for best supporting actress. The best actor nominees were: Timothee Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), James Franco (The Disaster Artist), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) and Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.). Notably left out was Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread, a performance the actor has said is his final one. Along with Stranger Things, the nominees for best ensemble in a drama series were The Crown, Game of Thrones, The Handmaids Tale and This Is Us. Up for best ensemble in a comedy series are: Black-ish, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glow, Orange Is the New Black and Veep. Winners will be announced during a Jan. 21 telecast hosted by Kristen Bell. Morgan Freeman will be presented with the awards lifetime achievement honor. Jake Coyle is an Asssociated Press writer. For children in this country, at this time, being an immigrant can harm their health. Their fears real and imagined about the potential deportation of their parents are causing illness and perhaps permanent brain changes, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit leader in health-policy analysis. The study showed that legal and undocumented immigrant families are being consumed by the stresses produced by the Trump administrations harsher enforcement policies. The study found: Immigrant families are experiencing alarming levels of uncertainty. Parents who are in the United States illegally fear being deported and separated from their children, while those who are here legally worry that their approved status could vanish in an instant. Daily life has become more difficult for immigrant families who, if undocumented, may spend long hours behind their own locked doors, leaving the house only to go to work. Parents and doctors report children are having trouble sleeping and eating, are withdrawing from friends and family, and are suffering headaches, vomiting, panic attacks and even symptoms of depression. The report highlights how policies can have effects far beyond, perhaps, the individuals that are targeted by those policies, said Samantha Artiga, director of Kaisers Disparities Policy Project and coauthor of the study. We really hear how those feelings of fear and uncertainty have impacts on their health. Analysts for the Menlo Park-based foundation spoke to 100 parents from 15 countries and across a range of ethnicities that included Mexican, Afghani, Brazilian, Syrian and Korean. They interviewed 13 pediatricians who serve immigrant populations in eight states, including Pennsylvania, and in the District of Columbia. An estimated 23 million noncitizens live in the U.S. under a variety of statuses, the report said. Many came here seeking safety, already traumatized by war, gangs or drug violence, while others sought a better life for their families. Those families include more than 12 million children, most of them American citizens by birth. The worst fears are that theyre going to separate us, a Latino parent in Los Angeles said, that theyre going to be separating families. Key research focused on the well-being of children, and the results werent encouraging. Some children expressed an overall loss of hope for the future. One pediatrician reported that fear of Trump had emerged as a chief complaint on her daily schedule. Jeff Gammage is a Philadelphia Inquirer writer. A ship captains unwillingness to listen to his crews suggestions to change course from the path of a raging hurricane. A weak corporate safety culture that left crewmembers ill-prepared to deal with heavy weather. An old ship with outdated lifeboats, open to the elements. All these factors contributed to the sinking of the El Faro in the fury of Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1, 2015, which killed all 33 people on board, the National Transportation Safety Board announced on Tuesday. The report concludes a 2-year investigation into the worst U.S. maritime disaster in modern history. The NTSB issued 53 safety recommendations along with its findings, which investigators hope will be adopted by the industry, maritime safety inspectors and weather forecasters to make the seas safer for future generations. I hope that this tragedy at sea can serve as a lighthouse to guide the safety of marine transportation, said Robert Sumwalt, the boards chairman. The El Faro, which means lighthouse in Spanish, sank between Jacksonville and San Juan, Puerto Rico, after losing engine power in the Category 3 storm. The NTSB retrieved the ships voyage data recorder, or black box, from the sea floor near the Bahamas, 15,000-feet under the surface. The device held 26 hours of data, including audio of conversations on the ships bridge as the frantic crew struggled to save the ship and themselves. While the board found no fault with El Faro Capt. Michael Davidsons decision to leave port in Jacksonville, they did blame his reliance on an emailed weather forecasting system that contained hours-old data, rather than online updates from the National Hurricane Center. Investigators believe, based on his decisions and recorded comments, that he wasnt aware of the delay in the data, and that instead of skirting the storm, he sent the El Faro on a collision course with the hurricane. Although up-to-date weather information was available on the ship, the El Faro captain did not use the most current weather information for decision-making, NTSB investigator Mike Kucharski said at the meeting, held in Washington, D.C. The captain did not take sufficient action to avoid Hurricane Joaquin, thereby putting El Faro and its crew in peril. The board also criticized the weak safety culture of ship owner TOTE Maritime, Inc., including the lack of employee training for dealing with heavy weather situations and flooding. A hatch had been left open, allowing water from the roiling sea to flood an interior hold; this led to the ship tilting, disrupting the flow of oil to the engines. Once the freighter lost engine power, it was at the mercy of battering swells. Also, the ships wind gauge was broken and the 40-year-old freighters open-top lifeboats would not have protected the crew, even if they had been able to launch them. Jason Dearen is an Associated Press writer. WASHINGTON President Trump aggressively returned to the issue of sexual harassment Tuesday, again dismissing his own accusers as fabricators and attacking a female Democratic senator as a lightweight who would do anything for campaign contributions. The presidents attacks came in early morning Twitter posts after three of the accusers had come forward Monday to renew their charges from last year that Trump had sexually assaulted them before he entered politics, and after the senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had called for him to resign. While Trump weathered the accusations during his presidential campaign, the flood of recent allegations against powerful men has revived the issue of sexual harassment with a newfound fury. By inserting himself directly into the discussion, the president ensured that calls for renewed scrutiny of the womens allegations would gain new energy and prominence. Gillibrand was quick to fire back, saying she would not be silenced by a president whose comments she described as a sexist smear. It was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice, and I will not be silenced on this issue, she said. Neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday, she added. Gillibrand first learned of the presidents Twitter post while she was attending a bipartisan Bible study Tuesday morning, one of her aides said. The aide also said that Gillibrand had met with Trump just once in his office, several years ago, and that his daughter Ivanka was at the meeting. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, later denied that Trumps tweet contained a sexual reference, saying that he was referring to general corruption in the U.S. political system. Asked whether the president would apologize to people who read the tweet as sexual innuendo, Sanders said he would not. Only if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way, she said. Senate Democrats, including Gillibrand, forced the resignation last week of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., clearing away any ambiguity over their push to hold the president accountable after the claims of his accusers. About 60 Democratic women in Congress demanded an inquiry into the womens allegations against the president, an unlikely prospect given Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Michael Tackett and Eileen Sullivan are New York Times writers. JANESVILLE, Wis., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diamond Assets, the most trusted Apple trade-up partner for schools and enterprises, announced three additions to its leadership team to support the companys rapid growth. Penny Hartwell and Mark Rand have joined the companys education division and Ryan Egan will service the enterprise market. All focus on helping organizations create sustainable technology strategies by maximizing their current Apple equipments residual value. Hartwell is vice president, business development for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and also leads the companys nationwide higher education efforts. She has more than 20 years experience running sales and support functions for large scale education programs in 35 states. Before joining Diamond Assets, Hartwell served as senior vice president of Kaplan Higher Education, where she oversaw admissions technology, operations, learning, career services and high school, community and military relations programs. She earned a bachelors degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and resides in the Philadelphia area. Rand has been named vice president, business development for the Southeast region. A 10 year veteran in helping educational organizations manage their technology assets, Rand previously was an account executive at Apple, where he serviced hundreds of school districts in Texas. Notably, he helped Stephenville Independent School District deliver technology to every student (1:1), deploying more than 4,000 iPads in under two years. Rand earned a bachelor of science degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University and resides in Houston. Egan joined the company as national account executiveenterprise. He has extensive experience helping organizations manage their technology assets, most recently serving as a sales team manager for the Apple Online Store, where he lead SMB growth in U.S., Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) and Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) markets. He and his family reside in Houston. Diamond Assets works with organizations to help them leverage the residual value of their Apple devices, providing the funding needed for schools and enterprises to provide the best tools for learning and working environments, said Mike McKenna, president of Diamond Assets. Diamond Assets has grown quickly as an increasing number of organizations realize the benefit of adopting sustainable technology practices. To keep pace with growth, Diamond Assets announced it was constructing a 50,000 sq. ft. headquarters building in Milton, Wis., which will be ready for occupancy in March 2018. The new building will allow the company to more than double the number of full-time employees in the next couple years. About Diamond Assets Diamond Assets is the most trusted Apple hardware trade-up partner, working with organizations to maximize the residual value of their Apple devices. Founded in 2014, the company has grown to 120 employees located at their Janesville, Wis. headquarters and across the country. For more information visit www.diamond-assets.com. For information contact: Linda Muskin, 847.432.7300 lmuskin@teamclarus.com Mara Conklin, 847.816.9411 mconkin@teamclarus.com TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Titan Medical Inc. (Titan or the Company) (TSX:TMD) (OTCQB:TITXF), a medical device company focused on the design, development and commercialization of a robotic surgical system for application in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), announces the granting of Canadian Patent CA 2973227 and CA 2973235. These patents are related generally to control methods for robotic surgical systems, including the provision of select autonomous control and safety functions that enable optimal controllability of robotic instruments during use. The methods describe alignment control of robotic instruments, including snake-like or multi-articulated instruments as employed in the SPORT system, which are important for facilitating movement within the abdomen. Corresponding patent applications are pending in the U.S. and Europe, and the Company anticipates future issuances in multiple jurisdictions. In addition to the issuance of the Canadian patents, the Company has received an official Decision to Grant from the Japan Patent Office regarding a pending Japanese patent application. This application is related to one of the Companys previously issued European Patents, EP 2996613, which describes an articulated tool positioner and system. Upon issuance, which is expected in 2018, the patent will be the first issued to the Company outside of North America and Europe. David McNally, President and CEO of Titan Medical, said, Intellectual property is core to our future success and we are excited to strengthen our proprietary position with the issuance of the patents in Canada, the fourth and fifth patents issued this year related to our unique single-port robotic surgical system. Furthermore, the Decision to Grant received from the Japan Patent Office will assist in positioning Titan competitively in the global market for robotic surgical systems. We are encouraged by the growth of our patent portfolio in 2017, which demonstrates the novelty of the design of the SPORT system, and we are committed to continuing to expand Titans patent portfolio in 2018 and beyond. About Titan Medical Inc. Titan Medical Inc. is a Canadian public company focused on research and development through to the planned commercialization of computer-assisted robotic surgical technologies for application in minimally invasive surgery. The Company is currently developing the SPORT Surgical System, a single-port robotic surgical system. The SPORT Surgical System is comprised of a surgeon-controlled patient cart that includes a 3D high definition vision system and multi-articulating instruments for performing MIS procedures, and a surgeon workstation that provides the surgeon with an advanced ergonomic interface to the patient cart and a 3D endoscopic view inside the patients body during MIS procedures. With the SPORT Surgical System, the Company aims to pursue a broad set of surgical indications, including general abdominal, gynecologic and urologic procedures. For more information, please visit the Companys website at www.titanmedicalinc.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements which reflect the current expectations of management of the Companys future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as may, would, could, will, anticipate, believe, plan, expect, intend, estimate, potential for and similar expressions have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect managements current beliefs with respect to future events and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those listed in the Risk Factors section of the Companys Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017 (which may be viewed 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, performance, or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors should be considered carefully, and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in the news release are based upon what management currently believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective investors that actual results, performance or achievements will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Contacts: LHA Investor Relations Kim Sutton Golodetz (212) 838-3777 kgolodetz@lhai.com or Bruce Voss (310) 691-7100 bvoss@lhai.com TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Platinex Inc. (CSE:PTX) (the "Company") announces a proposed shares-for-debt settlement transaction (the Debt Settlement) in which Platinex would issue 138,888 common shares at a price of $0.09 per share to Skead Holdings Ltd., and Ashley Gold Mines Limited (the Creditors) in connection with the settlement of an option payment respecting the Shining Tree property. The option payment comprises an aggregate amount of $25,000, which includes a $12,500 payment in cash. An Exploration Plan has been filed for the Shining Tree property and an Exploration Permit is pending approval. A qualifying report is near completion following which Platinex wishes to finance the project internally or through joint venture and subsequently resume exploration on its expanded property holdings. Further to the Final Closing of the Private Placement announced on November 30, 2017, the Company has paid an additional $5,600 of finder's fees and issued an additional 112,000 Broker Units brings the total of finders fees issued in the Private Placement to $10,800 and a total of 216,000 Broker Units issued. All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement and the shares for debt settlement will be subject to a four month plus one day hold period from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities laws. Lori Paradis, Corporate Secretary Tel: (416) 268-2682 Email: lparadis@platinex.com Web: www.platinex.com About Platinex Inc. Platinex is currently focusing efforts on developing various strategies to capitalize on the lucrative growth of the cannabis sector in North America. At the same time Platinex has been focusing its mining business efforts in assembling a very large property in the Shining Tree gold camp, which has received little modern exploration compared to other gold camps in the Abitibi greenstone Belt. Shares of Platinex are listed for trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "PTX". To receive Company press releases, please email lparadis@platinex.com and mention Platinex press release on the subject line. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Such statements include submission of the relevant documentation within the required timeframe and to the satisfaction of the relevant regulators, completing the acquisition of the applicable assets and raising sufficient financing to complete the Company's business strategy. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Investing into early stage companies, inherently carries a high degree of risk and investment into securities of the Company shall be considered highly speculative. Furthermore, the Company seeks to enter the cannabis market in the United States, where some states have legalized cannabis for medical or adult recreational use, while cannabis remain illegal under United States Federal law. As such, the Company may become subject to additional government regulation and legal uncertainties that could restrict the demand for its services or increase its cost of doing business, thereby adversely affecting its financial results. 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 province in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities issued, or to be issued, under the Private Placement have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not passed upon the merits of the Private Placement and has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LSC Lithium Corporation (LSC or together with its subsidiaries, the Company) (TSXV:LSC) is pleased to announce the rapid progress being made on its five key projects, Pozuelos, Pastos Grandes, Rio Grande, Salinas Grandes, and Jama, all located within the Argentinian section of the Lithium Triangle. These tenements cover an attributable 234,519 hectares within the Companys overall holding of 306,347 hectares (Map 1). PROJECT DEVELOPMENT UPDATE Pozuelos:1 On track to deliver a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate by year-end Exploration target between 860kt LCE at 500mg/l Li and 1,030kt LCE at 600mg/l Li 2 Extensive mineralization drilled across the 10,787 ha salar peaking at 508 mg/l Li Grades are consistent with previous short term average pump test results of between 545mg/l Li to 602 mg/l Li Excellent Relative Brine Release Capacity values peaking at 16.33% Series of pumping well tests and hydrogeological studies have commenced The salar is 99% controlled by the Company Pastos Grandes: Progressing towards completing a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource report in Q2, 2018. First two drill holes have delivered wide high-grade lithium mineralization DRILL HOLE SPG-2017-02B3 Average lithium grades returned a peak of 511mg/l Li Consistent and wide lithium mineralization to significant depth of 512m Favorable brine chemistry - Mg/Li ratio ranging between 6:1 and 8:1 DRILL HOLE SPG-2017-04A4 Peak value intersected of 528mg/l Li Three wide zones of lithium mineralization intersected including 62m at 500mg/l Li from 342m with an average Mg/Li ratio of 6:7 Rio Grande: Advancing towards completing a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate in Q1, 2018 8 drill hole historic data verification drill program ongoing Pump tests to start before year-end to verify historic pump rates CSAMT results indicate up to 600m depocenter in the northern half of the salar Salinas Grandes: Updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate planned for Q1, 2018 Currently verifying and potentially upgrading the NI 43-101 Mineral Resource prepared by Orocobre Limited 5 Verification surface sampling, drill hole sampling and trench pump tests ongoing Jama: 80km seismic survey under way, expected completion by end January, 2018 LSCs President and CEO Ian Stalker, noted The Companys recent decision to accelerate its key projects through initial mineral resource generation and then into feasibility study stage, is consistent with our plan to develop a multiple business unit lithium production strategy, in the medium term. The traction we are starting to see in terms of current delivery of exploration results is pleasing and the first step in this process. Our near-term goal is to report mineral resources on four of our five key projects over the next two quarters and thereafter into pre-feasibility. Map 1: LSC Project Location Map - http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6dd916dd-f6e2-4ce8-9742-f1affecec36c Brine samples are recovered from the diamond holes using a packer system to isolate specific levels in the holes and assayed at Alex Stewart Assayers (ASA) in Mendoza, Argentina. Core samples for Relative Brine Release Capacity (RBRC) tests to determine Specific Yield, a measure of effective porosity, were taken from the drill hole representing all lithologies and all depths of the hole drilled. Samples are shipped to Daniel B. Stephens & Associates Inc. (DBSA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico for analysis. DBSA has developed a proprietary method to test effective porosity of core samples from salars that has been widely adopted by companies exploring for lithium brines. Details of the method are described in a paper by Stormont6 et. al. (2011). The results show moderately high RBRC values in the upper halite zones and productive zones in the deeper lying clastic zones. Pumping tests to develop additional hydraulic data are planned to commence as soon as the planned pumping well program is completed. Sampling and QA/QC Brine sampling for packer tests involved collection of brine from the sample interval in a 20-litre container, which was flushed with fresh brine several times prior to collection of the sample. Brine was poured into 1-litre sample bottles which had been previously flushed with fresh brine from the 20-litre container several times. Sample bottles were filled to the top to eliminate the inclusion of air and sealed with a leak proof lid. Samples were labelled and labels covered in clear tape to prevent erasure of sample information. All samples remained in the possession of the site geologist until delivery to ASA in Mendoza, Argentina by courier. Brine sampling for the pump stress test involved collection of samples from a valve attached to the pump outlet. Brine was allowed to flush and then fresh brine was used to wash the sample bottle several times before collecting the sample. Sample bottles were 1-litre in size and were filled to the top to prevent entrance of air. The samples were sealed with a leak proof lid, labelled and the label covered by clear tape. Samples remained in the possession of the site until delivery by courier to the assay laboratory. RBRC samples were cut to length using a hack saw, bubble wrapped for protection and then placed in PVC tubes which were sealed with packaging tape. The samples were labelled and the labels wrapped in clear tape. Samples remained in the custody of the site geologist until shipped. Brine (20-litres) from each of the holes from which the samples were collected was also shipped to DBSA as part of the sample test protocol. DBSA is independent of LSC. LSC has a well-developed QA/QC program. Brine assays are undertaken at ASA in Mendoza, Argentina. ASA is independent of LSC and has significant experience in assaying lithium brines and is certified to ISO17025 standards. Brine assays are undertaken using ICP, gravimetric, potentiometric and volumetric methods as detailed in the press release from LSC dated April 10, 2017. ASA runs internal duplicates at a rate of 1 in 20. LSC inserts blanks and standards in sample batches at a rate of 1 in 20. Standards are internal standards developed by LSC that have been independently certified by round robin testing. LSC uses distilled water as blanks. Qualified Person/Data Verification The scientific and technical information included in this press release is based upon information prepared and approved by Donald H. Hains, P.Geo. Mr. Hains is a qualified person, as defined in NI 43-101 and is independent of LSC and Orocobre. Mr. Hains has verified all sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information contained in this press release by on-site inspection during drilling, brine sampling, and selection of RBRC samples; review of drill core photographs to verify lithology; review of certified assay certificates against the assay data base; review of pump test data; and review of RBRC results received from DBSA. There are no drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy and reliability of the data. ABOUT LSC LITHIUM CORPORATION: LSC Lithium has amassed a large portfolio of prospective lithium rich salars and is focused on developing its tenements located in five salars: Pozuelos, Pastos Grandes, Rio Grande, Salinas Grandes, and Jama. All LSC tenements are located in the Lithium Triangle, an area at the intersection of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile where the worlds most abundant lithium brine deposits are found. LSC Lithium has a land package portfolio totaling approximately 300,000 hectares, which represents extensive lithium prospective salar holdings in Argentina. For further information please contact: LSC Lithium Corporation Ian Stalker President & Chief Executive Officer Suite 3001, 1 Adelaide Street East Toronto, Ontario M5C 2V9 (416) 304 9384 Email: info@lsclithium.com Web: lsclithium.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance, including statements as to the ability of LSC to confirm prior historical exploration work conducted on Salinas Grandes, ability and anticipated timing to complete a NI 43-101 report on the Salar de Pozuelos, Salar de Pastos Grande, Salar de Rio Grande and on LSCs Salar de Salinas Grandes tenements in the Salta Province, ability, timing and successful completion of the drill and exploration program at all the Companys properties, LSCs overall contained lithium inventory, ability to produce more results on the Companys property, and the existence of extensive and open ended mineralization, ability and timing to complete seismic survey on Jama and commencement of CSAMT. The use of any of the words could, anticipate, intend, expect, believe, will, projected, estimated and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on LSC's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Whether actual results and developments will conform with LSC's expectations is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties including factors underlying management's assumptions, such as risks related to: title, permitting and regulatory risks; exploration and the establishment of any resources or reserves on the LSC properties; volatility in lithium prices and the market for lithium; exchange rate fluctuations; volatility in LSCs share price; the requirement for significant additional funds for development that may not be available; changes in national and local government legislation, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies and the enforcement thereof; regulatory, political or economic developments in Argentina or elsewhere; litigation; title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which the Company holds an interest; excessive cost escalation as well as development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the Company's properties; risks and hazards associated with the business of development and mining on any of the Company's properties. Actual future results may differ materially. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and LSC is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. For more information, see the Company's filing statement on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. 1 See LSCs press release dated November 13, 2017. 2 See LSCs press release dated April 10, 2017 for further details on the exploration target. 3 See LSCs press release dated November 14, 2017. 4 See LSCs press release dated December 11, 2017. 5 See technical report Technical Report on Salinas Grandes Lithium Project dated April 16, 2012, amended August 12, 2013 prepared for Orocobre Ltd filed on Orocobres SEDAR profile (Orocobre Report). 6 Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 34, No. 5. Paper available at www.astm.org. Dallas, TX, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zenergy Brands, Inc (OTCQB: ZNGY), announced today a full suite of social media channels for its business operations as well as a new corporate website, ZenergyBrands.com, and a customer-facing website, whatiszenergy.com. Zenergy Brands previously known as The Chron Organization, under the previous ticker symbol of CHRO, is excited to have completely rebranded its entire online presence under its new trademark name, Zenergy. The purpose of this online ecosystem is to educate shareholders and consumers alike about Zenergys industry and operations and to build brand awareness so the consumer and shareholder alike is better informed when ready to make a buying decision. Over the past several months, the Company has been strategically developing and re-branding its digital ecosystem, with creative assets based on branded content from the Company brand book and style guide. Effective today, all of Zenergy's social media networks are live and can be accessed via the following links: Facebook: Zenergy Brands Twitter: @ZenergyBrands Instagram: @ZenergyBrands YouTube: Zenergy Brands Google+: Zenergy Brands LinkedIn: Zenergy Brands, Inc. Zenergy CEO Alex Rodriguez said, We are so thrilled to be making this announcement and fully intend to use our digital presence to not only create awareness for our brand online but also to efficiently disseminate key information to our shareholders in a timely manner. So I strongly recommend that shareholders follow our social media channels and also subscribe for our monthly email newsletter to keep up with new updates. To keep up with the latest news, updates, milestones, and promos, Zenergy strongly encourages all shareholders and the general public to subscribe to its newsletter via the Subscribe to Newsletter box on the corporate website homepage and follow the Company on its various above listed social media sites. ABOUT ZENERGY BRANDS, INC. Zenergy Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: ZNGY), is a next-generation energy and technology company operating in the emerging smart energy, conservation, and utility industries. The Company provides energy conservation, smart controls, and efficiency-based products and services to commercial, industrial and municipal end-use customers. The Company specializes in reducing utility expenses (electricity, natural gas, and water) by 20% to as much as 60% in some cases through its cutting-edge Zero Cost Program. Zenergy is a public company, fully reporting to the SEC and currently trading on the OTCQB, a venture market designed for early-stage and developing U.S. and international companies. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business or financial results) and other factors discussed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors not within the control of the Company. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown took a break from the global climate summit in Paris on Tuesday to express his condolences in the tragic passing of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. In a phone call to The Chronicle, Brown said Lee left a good impression on everyone he met and that the mayor stood out among other politicians because of his unusual down-to-earth quality. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The closely watched U.S. Senate race in Alabama ended in a stunning upset Tuesday night, with Democrat Doug Jones becoming the first elected Democratic senator in that state in 25 years. Many of Jones' fellow Democrats offered their congratulations to the incoming senator-elect, including California's Sen. Kamala Harris, who wrote, "Congratulations, @GDouglasJones! So proud to welcome you as Alabama's newest U.S. Senator. This shows Democrats can win anywhere in 2018." Illinois congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi congratulated Jones, but warned against the possibility of Republicans resisting Jones' immediate seating in the Senate, invoking the hashtag #SeatHimNow. "Majority Leader McConnell must not be allowed to treat Senator-Elect Doug Jones like Judge Merrick Garland," Krishnamoorthi wrote. "While the election must still be certified, the Senate must follow the will of the people of Alabama and seat the Senator-Elect as soon as possible. #SeatHimNow #ALSenate." READ ALSO: Jones wins in stunning Alabama upset Harris reiterated that sentiment, noting that Jones should be seated before the next vote on the upcoming tax bill. Jones' win narrows the GOP's control over the U.S. Senate to 51-49. A few Republicans refused to back Moore, including Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, after sexual misconduct allegations came out in the weeks preceding the special election. President Donald Trump, however, supported Moore in recent days despite the accusations, recording a message of support to voters for Moore and tweeting early Tuesday that Alabama voters "will do the right thing" and elect Moore. With several news outlets calling the vote for Jones, Trump tweeted his congratulations to Jones Tuesday night: Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends! See some of the other Twitter reactions to Jones' victory over Moore in the slideshow above. The Associated Press contributed to this article. Today United announced that it will fly between San Francisco International Airport and Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, in 2018. (FULL STORY & FARES) United will operate nonstop service, three times weekly with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft between SFO and Fa'a'a International Airport (PPT), beginning Oct. 30, 2018, through March 28, 2019, subject to government approval. United's announcement comes on the heels of French Blue, a new Paris based airline, announcing its intentions to fly between San Francisco and Tahiti starting in May 2018. Travel Tips sponsored by: See More Collapse Currently, the only non-stop service to Tahiti from the U.S. mainland is out of Los Angeles on Air Tahiti Nui and Air France with economy fares in the $1,300 roundtrip range. One stop fares from SFO are about $1,500. Hawaiian Airlines also flies once a week between Honolulu and Papeete. Pixabay Flight time between SFO and PPT is about nine hours. It is about 4,200 miles from SFO to PPT each way. Tahiti is part of French Polynesia (see map), which is located on the eastern side of the International Date Line, so flights arrive on the same day they depart, not two days later as they do when flying to Asia. For more details and fare info, see TravelSkills.com Chris McGinnis is a travel blogger and editor of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. DOVER, Del., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metatron (OTC:MRNJ), a technology pioneer specializing in the accelerated release of over 2000 apps including Cannabis based, CBD, and Vaporized secure chat apps via iTunes and Google Play, is pleased to report the final stage development of Bitweed, a cryptocurrency transaction and tracking app for Marijuana dispensaries and consumers that we expect to evolve into its own token/coin. Sanguine Biotech Corp (SGUI) now distributes the Metatron developed and recent updated Cannaboids and Vaporized Secure Chat app under its own iTunes account with Google Play soon to follow. The digital currency market's total value surpassed $500 billion for the first time, smashing through this milestone amid signs of growing interest in cryptocurrencies. The number of accounts on Coinbase stood at 13.3 million at the end of November, a more than 100% increase from the 5.5 million that existed in January, according to the New York Times. Bitcoin has risen over 1500% this year, about 85% in the last few weeks, trading Bitcoin Futures and Etherium up 15% yesterday..this Blockchain revolution may make look the internet and app booms seem like firecrackers. Cannabis is legal in about 29 states, and Canada just made recreational Marijuana legal, both multi-billion dollar Crypto and Cannabis industries deserve safe and efficient payment solutions that consumers should easily understand. Right now most people need someone to show them how to set up a simple secure crypto walled. We expect Bitweed and upcoming products to eventually evolve into its own cryptocoin and solve this glaring market need, said CEO Joe Riehl Sanguine Corporation (SGUI) (through its subsidiary, SGN LifeSciences), is engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing novel biotechnologies. The company is focused on the development and commercialization of perfluorocarbon based therapeutic oxygen carriers. The Companys core product, PHER-02, is a perfluorocarbon emulsion. Our two companies plan to conduct a shared roll-out of mobile applications geared to solve issues in the cannabis payment space using Blockchain technology and Bitcoin options. These apps will be marketed under Cannaboids ( www.cannaboids.com ), and Bitweed brands while Sanguine provides necessary biotech and medical research for Metatron ( www.Metatroninc.com )app development. This announcement coincides with the launch of http://www.icocryptoblockchain.com , the premier one-stop website soon to be app with the latest cryptocurrency news, education, editorials, market capitalizations, trade volume and ICO alerts. Bitcoin is a technological tour de force. [Source: FoxBusiness] According to Forbes By 2020, the Cannabis industry is expected to create more jobs than manufacturing. Overall legal marijuana sales are set to increase from about 7 billion dollars in 2016 to 26.5 billion dollars 2020. Since Canada recently legalized recreational marijuana nationwide, it will result in an additional 23 Billion dollar added to the industry over the same time period according to Delotte. Metatron an industry leader in the field of mobile app development with over 2000 apps created, millions in sales and downloads historically, has partnered with high profile companies and clients worldwide and is poised to revolutionize the exploding crypto and cannabis industries. Through its app development division i-Mobilize, and as a pioneer in emerging markets, Metatron was the first company to release any Cannabis related apps on iTunes and has extensive experience in processing payments through its Just Data Billing division. Release date for the BitWeed app is expected first quarter of next year. Metatron is also pleased to announce a formal offer to Buzzlink.com, a cannabis e-commerce platform for dispensaries and other retailers. Buzzlink.com will be financed partially by the issuance of preferred B series shares and we now accept Bitcoin, soon other Coins, the first being Litecoin. Metatron approved investors can acquire Series B shares in blocks of various sizes. The first round investors will receive the highest discount. Series B shares can be redeemed through the Company, are immune to reverse splits, and will convert at 1 B share to 50,000 common shares at a discount. There are a limited number of B shares available and Metatron reserves the right to end and change offering at any time. Details available at: http://metatroninc.com/series-b/ Metatrons Apps: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/i-mobilize-inc./id325075390 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer? id=Metatron+Inc Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/metatroninc Twitter: http://twitter.com/metatroninc News: http://metatroninc.com/blog Crytpo consulting available now for existing shareholders and App clients. Email ir@metatroninc.com for more info. Bitcoin Address: 1fYqUi5d8fanqQY5qWsp1NhV4Jj8UQxgv Forward-Looking Statements: Any statements made in this press release which are not historical facts contain certain forward-looking statements, as such term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995, concerning potential developments affecting the business, prospects, financial condition and other aspects of the company to which this release pertains. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results of the specific items described in this release, and the companys operations generally, to differ materially from what is projected in such forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based upon the best judgments of management of the company as of the date of this release, significant deviations in magnitude, timing and other factors may result from business risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the companys need for additional financing, which is not assured and which may result in dilution of shareholders, the companys status as a small company with a limited operating history, dependence on third parties and the continuing popularity of the iOS/Android operating systems, general market and economic conditions, technical factors, receipt of revenues, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Although we believe that the expectations and statements reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable and accurate at time of release, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such statements, and we disclaim any obligation or liability to update information contained in any forward-looking statement or errors in press releases. Metatron does not grow, sell or distribute any substances that violate United States Law or the Controlled Substances Act. Metatron, Inc. 302-861-0431 ir@metatroninc.com SOURCE: Metatron, Inc Q: 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. 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 A: British Airways shouldnt have made you wait nearly four months for a refund. But lets take a closer look at why that wasnt allowed. Even though youre 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, youre entitled to a full refund. You can find details on that rule in the departments Fly Rights brochure, which is available on the departments website: www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights. The second 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: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/expedia and 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, youve been more than patient. This foot-dragging with refunds is endemic to airlines and online travel agencies, and its absolutely infuriating. I got in touch with Expedia, which asked British Airways about your refund. The airline claimed that a refund had been processed in July, which still would have meant that it didnt follow the federal 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. Youve received your refund. Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Find travel tips at www.elliott.org. Email: chris@elliott.org Twitter: @elliottdotorg ISTANBUL Breaking with years of courting the U.S., Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the United Nations to replace Washington as a Mideast mediator and suggested he might not cooperate with the Trump administrations much-anticipated effort to formulate an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. At a summit in Turkey, Arab and Muslim leaders rejected and condemned President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital the trigger for Abbas sharp policy pivot but stopped short of backing his more combative approach toward Washington. A possible Palestinian refusal to engage with the U.S. and growing backlash against Trumps shift on Jerusalem, including from Arab allies, cast new doubt over the administrations already seemingly remote chances of brokering a deal and succeeding where its predecessors have failed. A senior White House official said the administration will continue to work on a Mideast plan that we hope will offer the best outcome for both peoples and will present it when the time is right. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of an expected public statement later Wednesday. In seemingly shunning the U.S., Abbas finds himself in uncharted territory. He does not have an immediate practical alternative to more than two decades of U.S.-led negotiations on the terms of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians seek such a state on lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. On the other hand, Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital was decried by Palestinians and others in the region as a provocative show of pro-Israel bias, making it difficult for Abbas to justify dealing with Washington as a mediator. Trumps argument that his announcement does not mean an endorsement of specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem has not gained traction in the ensuing uproar. Wednesdays extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation ended with a call on Trump to rescind an unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region and on the world to recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a state of Palestine. Karin Laub and Zeynep Bilginsoy are Associated Press writers. JES AZNAR/NYT MANILA The Philippine Congress on Wednesday approved a request from President Rodrigo Duterte to extend martial law on the southern island of Mindanao for another year, which the president said was needed to fight armed groups there. Mindanao was placed under martial law in May, after local militants backed by the Islamic State seized the city of Marawi. After months of fighting, the government declared victory there in October. But Duterte said Friday that a yearlong extension of martial law was needed to ensure the total eradication of militancy in Mindanao, an impoverished region where various armed groups have been active for decades. The government will push through its bill preventing foreign purchasers from buying existing New Zealand houses by early next year, though questions remain over the status of Singaporean buyers. The ban breaches New Zealand's free trade agreement with Singapore and Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said Singaporean buyers may be exempt from the ban in the same way as Australians will be if the FTA cannot be successfully renegotiated. Twyford and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage announced the legislation would be introduced into Parliament tomorrow and first debated next week. The bill will go through a truncated select committee process and will come into force in the first quarter of next year. The bill means that New Zealand and Australian citizens can still buy residential land without screening, while New Zealand and Australian permanent residents would be able to buy without screening provided they have lived in New Zealand for the past year. Australian buyers are protected from the ban by the terms of the Closer Economic Relations Agreement. The ban will also make buying an existing home difficult for skilled migrants who have moved to New Zealand, but who hold only residency visas rather than qualifying to buy existing homes as permanent residents. Permanent residents from each country who have not lived in New Zealand for a year, along with "resident visa holders", would have to pass Overseas Investment Office screening before being able to buy residential land, which is reclassified as 'sensitive' under the Overseas Investment Act. The resident visa holders category encompasses those on resident work visas, people in the skilled migrant category, investors and entrepreneurs, as well as people on partnership, parent, dependent child, refugee, Samoan quota or Pacific access visas, but excludes temporary work and student visas. "Foreign buyers will not be able to buy residential property unless they are either increasing the number of residences and then selling them or converting the land to another use," said Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage. "They will need to be able to show that this will have wider benefits to the country." Twyford said there were two ways for resident visa holders to pass OIO screening, which Sage said would not take as long as sensitive land applications. The first is the new build exemption, which means someone who is not a citizen nor a permanent resident can build a home, provided it is on-sold with the effect of increasing supply. The second exemption covers resident visa holders with an intention to live in New Zealand. "You can buy a home to live in," Twyford said. "You've got to pass that test, that's yet to be determined, about the intention to reside. Then you would have to sell that home if you left the country or your visa expired." Overseas buyers would be able to buy new apartments off the plans, but would not be permitted to live in them. The ministers could not immediately answer how long a foreign buyer would be able to "sit on" property before selling although in other legislation, the government will shortly move to impose capital gains tax on property sold within five years of purchase. Companies or trusts with overseas ownership of greater than 25 percent would also have to go through the OIO tests, Sage said. The bill also permits someone to buy a house in order to knock it down and build several new homes, Twyford said. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 Ebos Group chief executive Patrick Davies has stepped down and will be replaced by chief financial officer John Cullity from March 31 next year, the healthcare and animal products company says. Davies will work on contract for Ebos "to assist with new and emerging opportunities," the company said. It was his decision to step down, Ebos said. Davis became CEO in July 2014, having held the top job for six years at Symbion, the pharmaceutical wholesaler and distributor in Australia that Ebos acquired in 2013 for $1.1 billion cash and scrip, a deal which transformed the company and saw profit almost triple in 2014. Symbions owner Zuellig Group gained a 40 percent stake in the combined business as a result. Cullity also joined Ebos in July 2014 after roles at Sigma Pharmaceuticals in Australia and Coca-Cola Co in the US. Ebos shares last traded at $18.34 and have gained 9.8 percent 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: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 Restaurant Brands New Zealand said third-quarter sales jumped 45 percent, driven by the contribution from Taco Bell and Pizza Hut outlets acquired in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan in March and from additional KFC stores in Australia. Sales rose to $173.3 million in the 12 weeks ended Dec. 4, from $119 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Same-store sales rose to $124 million from $117 million. Restaurant Brands holds the rights to the KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Coffee and Carl's Jr brands in New Zealand and has recently turned its focus to overseas expansion to drive future earnings growth. Total company store numbers rose by 96 from a year earlier to 310, reflecting the 82 store North Pacific acquisition and a further 17 KFC stores acquired in Australia. The 37 Taco Bell and 45 Pizza Hut stores in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan contributed US$27.3 million to third-quarter sales and in the 39 weeks since the acquisition, they contributed US$91.2 million. Its 59 KFC stores in Australia contributed A$33.7 million, an increase of 5.9 percent on a same-store basis from the year-earlier period. The company started the year with 42 Australian stores. KFC New Zealand lifted sales by 7.6 percent to $73.5 million, or 5.6 percent on a same-store basis. The number of outlets rose by one to 93. Sales at the 34 company-owned Pizza Hut New Zealand outlets fell 2.5 percent to $9.3 million while same-store sales rose 5.5 percent. There are 61 Pizza Hut outlets operated by independent franchisees and network sales climbed 8.2 percent to $23 million. Starbucks Coffee sales fell 5.9 percent to $6 million, although on a same-store basis they gained 6.4 percent as total stores in the chain declined by one to 23. Total sales at the Carl's Jr. burger chain fell 7.8 percent to $8.1 million and dropped 5.2 percent on a same-store basis. Total outlets fell by one to 19. The shares last traded at $6.93 and have gained 36 percent 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: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 New Zealand shares edged up to a new record, led by stock market operator NZX and as investors changed their tune on a2 Milk Co late in the day. Air New Zealand fell on disappointing monthly metrics. The S&P/NZX 50 index increased 3.77 points, or 0.05 percent, to 8,284.58. Within the index, 24 stocks gained, 19 fell, and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $141 million. "Our market has recovered late in the day - it's almost unchanged now but was down a reasonable amount," said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene in Christchurch. "There's not a lot of guts to the market at the moment." NZX led the benchmark index higher, rising 1.8 percent to $1.12. The stock market operator has been criticised this year for not developing a pipeline of new initial public offerings, with just one this year, and has developed a strategy to refocus on its core market business. Williamson said a lot of investors are looking ahead to next year, and if the Vodafone New Zealand IPO goes ahead in the first quarter it will be a shot in the arm for the exchange. A2 Milk rose 0.3 percent to $7.77, having traded as low as $7.48 during the day, which Williamson said helped the market's turnaround at the close. Retirement village operator Arvida Group gained 1.6 percent to $1.24 and power company Contact Energy advanced 1.5 percent to $5.57. Real estate investors also gained, with Argosy Property rising 1.4 percent to $1.08, Kiwi Property Group up 1.1 percent to $1.385, and Property for Industry advancing 0.9 percent to $1.635. Air New Zealand posted the biggest fall on the day, down 3.5 percent to $3.205 as investors took a dim view of the airline's latest operating stats. The figures showed passenger numbers rose in the month, largely due to domestic travel, while long-haul routes showed shrinking load factors, indicating declining capacity utilisation. Separately, Qantas Airways subsidiary Jetstar said it would restart its Wellington-to-Queenstown service next year. "Investors obviously didn't think too much of the data that came out," Williamson said. Xero, which leaves the NZX 50 at the end of the week ahead of delisting from the NZX, fell 1.3 percent to $29.40. Ebos Group fell 1.2 percent after the animal and health products maker announced chief executive Patrick Davies is stepping down and will be replaced by chief financial officer John Cullity next March. Heartland Bank slipped 1 percent to $2.05 after it resumed trading. The bank raised $59 million through a rights issue selling shares at $1.70 apiece, and yesterday's shortfall bookbuild set a price of $2.02. Sanford fell 0.5 percent to $8.25 after shareholders were reminded about the seafood group's plans to keep investing in innovation and branding at today's annual meeting. New Zealand Refining decreased 0.4 percent to $2.49 after the government said it will hold an independent inquiry into the pipeline between the Marsden Point refinery and Auckland. Z Energy, a customer of the refinery, fell 1.3 percent to $7.80. Outside the benchmark index, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings climbed 5.5 percent to $3.62 after saying first-half profit could rise by as much as 50 percent, depending on Christmas trading. ERoad slipped 3.3 percent to $3.19 after raising $15.5 million in a placement to investors, selling shares at $3.04 apiece. Fletcher Building rose 1.4 percent to $7.50, Auckland International Airport gained 0.2 percent to $6.695, Spark New Zealand increased 0.3 percent to $3.68, Meridian Energy fell 1.2 percent to $2.935, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare decreased 0.4 percent to $13.54. (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: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 A2 Milk Co managing director Geoff Babidge will retire next year, and will be replaced by Jetstar chief Jayne Hrdlicka. Babidge has been in the role since 2010, and in the past two years has seen the share price jump from around $1 at the end of 2015 to a recent record of $8.75. The shares have soared on the back of successive strong sales, with the company's infant formula attracting strong demand in China, and have gained recently on scientific evidence about the nutritional value of its milk, which comes from cows selected to produce only A2 beta-casein, unlike most dairy products, which contain both A1 and A2 proteins. "Geoffs retirement is part of a carefully planned transition programme which the board has put in place together with Geoff to create an orderly and successful handover which is designed to ensure that the current momentum of the business continues," a2 said in a statement. "Jayne is an outstanding senior executive with particular strengths highly relevant to a2MCs next growth phase. These include her extensive experience in strategy formulation and execution, insight into customer-centricity and innovation and importantly an understanding of operating in a disruptive environment." During 2017, a2's senior team has been reorganised "to further support the ongoing development of its significant businesses in Asia Pacific", with Peter Nathan appointed chief executive Asia Pacific, the company said. Hrdlicka will begin around the start of the 2019 financial year and Babidge has agreed to be available until December 2018 to assist the transition. She was chief executive of Jetstar Group for the last five years, and a non-executive director of Woolworths. "Jayne will be focused on continuing to build both the high performance of the business and the culture of the a2MC senior leadership team to support the companys growth strategy across a broader nutritional products platform in both its established and new markets," chair David Hearn said. "The company has achieved unprecedented growth during this time due primarily to his leadership in developing and executing a bold strategic vision and in skilfully managing the phases of growth achieved to date. We are therefore particularly pleased that Geoff has agreed to remain available to the company until the end of next year as an adviser to Jayne and the board as required to ensure a smooth handover and transition." A2's shares last traded at $7.77, up 265 percent 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: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 The government will hold an independent inquiry into the September outage of the fuel pipeline from Marsden Point refinery to Auckland, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. The 170-km pipeline, which supplies petrol, diesel and jet fuel from the refinery to the Wiri Oil Terminal in South Auckland, was shut down for 10 days following a leak discovered in mid-September. The pipeline supplies about 95 percent of Auckland's total fuel demand, including all of Auckland International Airport's jet fuel demand. The damage disrupted fuel supply, prompting a joint industry and government response. Both the pipeline and the refinery are operated by New Zealand Refining. "The outage showed how vulnerable this key piece of infrastructure is and how important it is to build more resilience in the system," Woods said in a statement. "We need to get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong in September and how we can help prevent this sort of thing from happening again." The terms of reference will be finalised early next year and independent inquirers appointed, she said. Woods said the inquiry will not only investigate the immediate causes of the outage but also the maintenance and operation practices at the pipeline and if they are fit for purpose. "We will also look at how we can make our fuel supply more secure in the future investigating options for improving resilience," she said. Officials will also look at short-term options to improve resilience and ensure all parties involved have effective response plans in place to enable them to respond quickly in the event of any potential future outages, she said. The pipe was shut down temporarily on Sunday over fears of a leak, which were later discovered to be unfounded. NZ Refining shares last traded at $2.50 and have declined 3.9 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: November 18th Morning Report CHI - 2023 Guidance Update 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 Redevelopment plan to bring Kipushis Big Zinc Zone into production in less than two years, with life-of-mine average annual production rate of 225,000 tonnes of zinc and cash costs of US$0.48/lb of zinc Big Zinc Zone has estimated 10.2 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources grading 34.9% zinc Successful restoration of production to establish Kipushi as the worlds highest-grade major zinc mine After-tax NPV of US$683 million and 35% IRR, based on long-term zinc price of US$1.10/lb, with pre-production capital of US$337 million Kipushi has after-tax NPV of US$1.2 billion and IRR of 51% at current zinc price of approximately US$1.40/lb Memorandum of understanding signed with leading mining contractor Byrnecut Memorandum of understanding to rebuild railway spur line signed with DRC national railway to facilitate exports of concentrate KIPUSHI, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) (OTCQX:IVPAF), and Lars-Eric Johansson, Chief Executive Officer, today announced the positive findings of an independent, pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the planned redevelopment of the companys historic, high-grade, Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium mine. The study anticipates annual production of an average of 381,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate over an 11-year initial mine life at a total cash cost of approximately US$0.48 per pound of zinc. The PFS focuses on the initial mining of Kipushis Big Zinc Zone, which has an estimated 10.2 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources grading 34.9% zinc. The planned return to production would establish Kipushi as the worlds highest-grade major zinc mine. Its exceptional zinc grade is more than twice as high as the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of the worlds next-highest-grade zinc project, according to Wood Mackenzie, a leading, international industry research and consulting group (see Figure 2). Independent research by Wood Mackenzie concludes that the Kipushi Project could rank among the worlds largest zinc mines. Figure 1: Worlds 10 largest zinc mines, showing estimated annual zinc production and zinc head grades (ranked by forecasted production by 2020). http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b39d5d90-c213-492f-b11f-a93c2eae6e77 Source: Wood Mackenzie Note: Independent research by Wood Mackenzie concludes that at the forecast production and head grade, the Kipushi Project, once in production, will rank among the worlds largest zinc mines. Wood Mackenzie compared the Kipushi Projects life-of-mine average annual zinc production and zinc head grade of 225,000 tonnes and 32%, respectively, against production and zinc head grade forecasts for 2020. Given the significant, very-high-grade zinc resource at Kipushi, which is rich in potential by-product credits including copper, silver and germanium and the ongoing exploration campaign at Kipushi, Ivanhoe and the Gecamines technical team are continuing to investigate additional downstream processing options. The pre-feasibility study is the latest validation that Kipushi has the resources to become one of the worlds largest and lowest-cost zinc producers, plus the potential to also produce significant quantities of copper, silver and germanium, said Mr. Friedland. Discussions are continuing with potential strategic partners and lenders to support our continuing advance toward a new era of production at Kipushi. Weve made significant progress in upgrading the mines underground infrastructure and now we have a much clearer path to a resumption of production from this incredibly rich orebody. Mr. Johansson said that a definitive feasibility study, to further refine and optimize the projects economics, is underway and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018. Since acquiring our 68% interest in the Kipushi Project in 2011, our team has worked closely with our partner, Gecamines, to move the project forward, he added. During that time, weve seen zinc prices rally from less than US$1.00 per pound to well over US$1.40. Were confident that the long-term supply and demand fundamentals should support a strong zinc price for a long time to come. The Kipushi Project is operated by Kipushi Corporation (KICO), a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (68%) and Gecamines (32%), the DRCs state-owned mining company. Highlights of the PFS, based on a long-term zinc price of US$1.10/lb, include: After-tax net present value ( NPV ) at an 8% real discount rate of US $683 million. After-tax real internal rate of return ( IRR ) of 35.3%. After-tax project payback period of 2.2 years. Pre-production capital costs, including contingency, estimated at US $337 million. Existing surface and underground infrastructure allows for significantly lower capital costs than comparable greenfield development projects. Life-of-mine average planned zinc concentrate production of 381,000 dry tonnes per annum, with a concentrate grade of 59% zinc, is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, among the worlds largest zinc mines (Figure 1). Life-of-mine average cash cost of US$0.48/lb of zinc is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, in the bottom quartile of the cash cost curve for zinc producers globally (Figure 11). The PFS was prepared by OreWin Pty. Ltd., MSA Group (Pty.) Ltd., SRK Consulting, Murray & Roberts, Golder Associates and MDM Engineering, a subsidiary of Amec Foster Wheeler. The PFS was prepared in compliance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Details of Mineral Resource Estimates The Mineral Resource used in the PFS has an effective date of January 23, 2016, and was estimated using The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Best Practice Guidelines and is reported in accordance with the 2014 CIM Definition Standards established by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. The Mineral Resource is classified into the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories as shown in Table 1 for the predominantly zinc-rich bodies and in Table 2 for the predominantly copper-rich bodies. The Mineral Resource estimate was based on the results of 84 holes drilled at Kipushi by Ivanhoe Mines and an additional 107 historical holes drilled by Gecamines. Ivanhoe completed its drilling program for the Mineral Resource estimate in October 2015. Mineral Resource estimates were completed below the 1,150-metre-level on the Big Zinc Zone, Southern Zinc Zone, Fault Zone and Serie Recurrente Zone. The Mineral Resources were categorized either as zinc-rich resources or copper-rich resources, depending on the most abundant metal. The Big Zinc and Southern Zinc zones have been tabulated using zinc cut-offs and are shown in Table 1; the Fault Zone, the Fault Zone Splay and Serie Recurrente Zone have been tabulated using copper cut-offs and are shown in Table 2. For the zinc-rich zones, the Mineral Resource is reported at a base-case cut-off grade of 7.0% zinc and the copper-rich zones at a base-case cut-off grade of 1.5% copper. Table 1: Kipushi zinc-rich Mineral Resource at 7% zinc cut-off grade, 23 January 2016 Zone Category Tonnes (millions) Zn % Cu % Pb % Ag g/t Co ppm Ge g/t Big Zinc Measured 3.59 38.39 0.67 0.36 18 17 54 Indicated 6.60 32.99 0.63 1.29 20 14 50 Inferred 0.98 36.96 0.79 0.14 7 16 62 Southern Zinc Indicated 0.00 - - - - - - Inferred 0.89 18.70 1.61 1.70 13 15 43 Total Measured 3.59 38.39 0.67 0.36 18 17 54 Indicated 6.60 32.99 0.63 1.29 20 14 50 Measured & Indicated 10.18 34.89 0.65 0.96 19 15 51 Inferred 1.87 28.24 1.18 0.88 10 15 53 Contained metal quantities Zone Category Tonnes (millions) Zn (million lbs) Cu (million lbs) Pb (million lbs) Ag (million oz) Co (million lbs) Ge (million oz) Big Zinc Measured 3.59 3,035.8 53.1 28.7 2.08 0.13 6.18 Indicated 6.60 4,797.4 91.9 187.7 4.15 0.20 10.54 Inferred 0.98 797.2 17.1 3.0 0.23 0.03 1.96 Southern Zinc Indicated 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Inferred 0.89 368.6 31.8 33.5 0.38 0.03 1.23 Total Measured 3.59 3,035.8 53.1 28.7 2.08 0.13 6.18 Indicated 6.60 4,797.4 91.9 187.7 4.15 0.20 10.54 Measured & Indicated 10.18 7,833.3 144.9 216.4 6.22 0.33 16.71 Inferred 1.87 1,168.7 49.6 36.8 0.61 0.06 3.21 Notes: All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability. The Mineral Resource is reported as the total in-situ Mineral Resource and on a 100% project basis. Metal quantities are reported in multiples of Troy Ounces or Avoirdupois Pounds. The cut-off grade calculation was based on the following assumptions: zinc price of US$1.02 /lb, mining cost of US$50 /tonne, processing cost of US$10 /tonne, G&A and holding cost of US$10 /tonne, transport of 55% Zn concentrate at US$375 /tonne, 90% zinc recovery and 85% payable zinc. Table 2: Kipushi copper-rich Mineral Resource at 1.5% copper cut-off grade, 23 January 2016 Zone Category Tonnes (millions) Cu % Zn % Pb % Ag g/t Co ppm Ge g/t Fault Zone Measured 0.14 2.78 1.25 0.05 19 107 20 Indicated 1.01 4.17 2.64 0.09 23 216 20 Inferred 0.94 2.94 5.81 0.18 22 112 26 Serie Recurrente Indicated 0.48 4.01 3.82 0.02 21 56 6 Inferred 0.34 2.57 1.02 0.06 8 29 1 Fault Zone Splay Inferred 0.35 4.99 15.81 0.005 20 127 81 Total Measured 0.14 2.78 1.25 0.05 19 107 20 Indicated 1.49 4.12 3.02 0.07 22 165 15 Measured & Indicated 1.63 4.01 2.87 0.06 22 160 16 Inferred 1.64 3.30 6.97 0.12 19 98 33 Contained metal quantities Zone Category Tonnes (millions) Cu lbs (millions) Zn lbs (millions) Pb lbs (millions) Ag oz (millions) Co lbs (millions) Ge oz (millions) Fault Zone Measured 0.14 8.5 3.8 0.2 0.09 0.03 0.09 Indicated 1.01 93.2 59.1 1.9 0.75 0.48 0.64 Inferred 0.94 61.1 120.9 3.8 0.68 0.23 0.79 Serie Recurrente Indicated 0.48 42.4 40.5 0.2 0.32 0.06 0.09 Inferred 0.34 19.4 7.7 0.4 0.09 0.02 0.01 Fault Zone Splay Inferred 0.35 38.9 123.3 0.0 0.23 0.10 0.92 Total Measured 0.14 8.5 3.8 0.2 0.09 0.03 0.09 Indicated 1.49 135.7 99.6 2.1 1.08 0.54 0.73 Measured & Indicated 1.63 144.1 103.4 2.3 1.16 0.58 0.82 Inferred 1.64 119.4 251.8 4.3 1.00 0.35 1.73 Notes: All tabulated data has been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves have no demonstrated economic viability. The Mineral Resource is reported as the total in-situ Mineral Resource and on a 100% project basis. Metal quantities are reported in multiples of Troy Ounces or Avoirdupois Pounds. The cut-off grade calculation was based on the following assumptions: copper price of US$2.97 /lb, mining cost of US$50/tonne, processing cost of US$10/tonne, G&A and holding cost of US$10/tonne, 90% copper recovery and 96% payable copper. Exploration drilling conducted by Ivanhoe Mines in 2015 successfully confirmed that both the Big Zinc Zone and Fault Zone remain open at depth and to the south. Additional high-grade copper-zinc-germanium mineralization also was discovered in the Fault Zone and in the Fault Zone Splay in the immediate footwall of the Fault Zone. Figure 2: Worlds top 20 zinc projects, by contained zinc. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9fafa5c8-d81f-47f6-9ac1-1c1f495f1db0 Source: Wood Mackenzie. Note: All tonnes and zinc grades of the above-mentioned projects (except for Kipushi) are based on public disclosure and have been compiled by Wood Mackenzie. Initial Mineral Reserve estimate for the Kipushi 2017 PFS The Kipushi 2017 PFS Mineral Reserve has been estimated by Qualified Person Bernie Peters, Technical Director Mining, OreWin Pty. Ltd., using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards. The Mineral Reserve is based on the January 2016 Mineral Resource. The effective date of the Mineral Reserve statement is December 5, 2017. Table 3. Kipushi 2017 PFS Mineral Reserve Statement Category Tonnage (Mt) Zinc (%) Zinc (Contained kt) Proven Mineral Reserve 3.10 35.41 1,098 Probable Mineral Reserve 5.48 30.29 1,660 Total Mineral Reserve 8.58 32.14 2,758 Notes: Effective date of the Mineral Reserves is 12 December 2017. Net Smelter Return (NSR) is used to define the Mineral Reserve cut-offs, therefore cut-off is denominated in US$/t. By definition the cut-off is the point at which the costs are equal to the NSR. An elevated cut-off grade of US$135/t NSR (14.03% Zn) was used to define the mining shapes. The marginal cut-off grade has been calculated to be US$51/t NSR (3.43% Zn). Mineral Reserves are based on a zinc price of US$1.01/b Zn and a treatment charge of US$200/t concentrate. Economic analysis to demonstrate the Kipushi 2017 PFS Mineral Reserve used a zinc price of US$1.10/lb Zn and a treatment charge of US$170/t concentrate. Only Measured Mineral Resources were used to report Proven Mineral Reserves and only Indicated Mineral Resources were used to report Probable Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves reported above were not additive to the Mineral Resources and are quoted on a 100% project basis. Totals may not match due to rounding. Upgrading of existing underground infrastructure nearing completion KICO has completed the refurbishment of a significant amount of underground infrastructure at the Kipushi Project, including a series of vertical mine shafts, with associated head frames, to various depths, as well as underground mine excavations. A series of crosscuts and ventilation infrastructure still are in working condition. The underground infrastructure also includes a series of pumps to manage the influx of water into the mine. A schematic layout of the existing development is shown in Figure 3. The main production shaft for the Kipushi Mine, Shaft 5 (labelled as P5 in Figure 3), is eight metres in diameter and 1,240 metres deep, and has been upgraded and re-commissioned. The main personnel and material winder has been upgraded and modernized to meet global industry standards and safety criteria. The Shaft 5 rock-hoisting winder, which had an annual hoisting capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, is being upgraded and is expected to be fully operational early next year. Underground upgrading work is continuing on the crusher and the rock load-out facilities at the bottom of Shaft 5 and the main haulage way on the 1,150-metre level, between the Big Zinc access decline and Shaft 5. This work is expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2018. Figure 3: Schematic section of Kipushi Mine http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/01bb4cc8-07bf-4b59-85ad-72e2273c0906 MOU signed with leading mining contractor Byrnecut Earlier this month, KICO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Byrnecut Offshore Proprietary Limited (Byrnecut), of Perth, Australia. The MOU relates to the potential engagement of Byrnecut to provide underground mining services at Kipushi, including cost estimation, contractor management, operational readiness and operational services. The planned primary mining method for the Big Zinc Deposit in the PFS is sublevel long-hole, open stoping, with cemented backfill. The crown pillars are expected to be mined once adjacent stopes are backfilled using a pillar-retreat mining method. The Big Zinc Deposit is expected to be accessed via the existing decline and without any significant new development. The main levels are planned to be at 60-metre vertical intervals, with sublevels at 30-metre intervals. Figure 4: Planned and existing development at Kipushi http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ba9622fb-00c5-49e2-adae-f7a1413ba23b Optimized zinc processing methodology for the PFS Based on additional metallurgical test work and trade-off studies, Ivanhoe revised the planned process-plant design for the PFS. The optimized plant utilizes dense media separation (DMS), followed by milling and a flotation recovery plant. DMS is a simple density-concentration technique that preliminary test work has shown yields positive results for the Kipushi material, which has a sufficient density differential between the waste rock (predominantly dolomite) and mineralization (sphalerite). The addition of milling and a flotation recovery plant resulted in an overall recovery of 89.6%, producing a consistent high-grade concentrate of 58.9% contained zinc. The improved concentrate grade results in lower transportation costs as compared to the Kipushi 2016 PEA. Infrastructure The Kipushi Project includes surface mining and processing infrastructure, concentrator, offices, workshops and a connection to the national power grid. Electricity is supplied by the DRCs state power company, Societe Nationale dElectricite (SNEL), from two transmission lines from Lubumbashi. Pylons are in place for a third line. The surface infrastructure is owned by Gecamines. KICO has entered into an agreement to use the surface rights on the Kipushi Project to the extent required for its operations. An abundant supply of process water from the underground dewatering operations is expected to provide adequate water for processing and mining operations. The overall proposed site layout is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5: Kipushi Projects proposed site layout http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ee96d88d-b0e1-4b46-872e-cceaeb7de39f Concentrate exports via newly rebuilt spur line to DRC national railway On October 30, 2017, Ivanhoe Mines and the DRCs state-owned railway company, Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), signed a MOU to rebuild 34 kilometres of track to connect the Kipushi Mine with the DRC national railway at Munama, south of the mining capital of Lubumbashi. Under the terms of the MOU, Ivanhoe has appointed R&H Rail (Pty) Ltd. to conduct a front-end engineering design study to assess the scope and cost of rebuilding the spur line from the Kipushi Mine to the main Lubumbashi-Sakania railway at Munama. The study has begun and construction on the Kipushi-Munama spur line could start in late 2018. Ivanhoe will finance the estimated US$32 million (plus contingency) capital cost for the rebuilding, which is included within the overall Kipushi 2017 PFS capital cost. The proposed export route is to utilize the SNCC network from Kipushi to Ndola, connecting to the North-South Rail Corridor from Ndola to Durban. The North-South Rail Corridor to Durban via Zimbabwe is fully operational and has significant excess capacity. Key projections from the Kipushi 2017 PFS Future proposed mine production has been scheduled to maximize the mine output and meet the annual nominal capacity of 800,000 tonnes of the DMS and mill-flotation plant. The mining production forecasts are shown in Table 4. Mine, process and concentrate production are shown in figures 6 to 8. Table 4: Mining production statistics Description Unit Total LOM 5-Year Average LOM Average Zinc feed tonnes processed Quantity Zinc Tonnes Treated kt 8,581 777 780 Zinc Feed Grade % 32.14 30.20 32.14 Zinc Recovery % 89.61 88.76 89.61 Zinc Concentrate Produced kt (dry) 4,196 354 381 Zinc Concentrate Grade % 58.91 58.51 58.91 Contained Zinc in Concentrate kt 2,472 207 225 Figure 6: Estimated tonnes mined and zinc feed grade http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2d83dc7b-155d-492c-88e4-966e3de3c84e Figure 7: Estimated tonnes processed and zinc feed grade http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17e462a2-b156-4f88-bdc6-7439631bb09c Figure 8: Concentrate and metal production http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0cf2cf4d-4cae-4adc-a6b0-caa0e4c314e7 Economic analysis The estimates of cash flows have been prepared on a real basis as at January 1, 2018, and a mid-year discounting is used to calculate the NPV. The projected financial results for undiscounted and discounted cash flows, at a range of discount rates, IRR and payback are shown in Table 5. The key economic assumptions for the discounted cash flow analyses are shown in Table 6. The results of NPV sensitivity analysis to a range of zinc prices and zinc treatment charges are shown in Table 7. A comparison of the Kipushi 2017 PFS key results to the Kipushi 2016 PEA is shown in Table 8. A chart of the cumulative cash flow is shown in Figure 9. Table 5: Financial results Description Discount Rate Before Taxation After Taxation Net Present Value (US$M) Undiscounted 1,944 1,435 5.0 % 1,239 900 8.0 % 953 683 10.0 % 743 517 12.0 % 628 431 Internal Rate of Return 41.7 % 35.3 % Project Payback Period (Years) 1.9 2.2 Table 6: Kipushi 2017 PFS zinc price and treatment charge Parameter Unit Economic Analysis Assumption Zinc Price US$/lb 1.10 Zinc Treatment Charge US$/t concentrate 170 Table 7: After-tax NPV 8% and IRR sensitivity to zinc prices and treatment charges Zinc Treatment Charge (US$/t) Zinc Price (US$/lb) 0.90 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.40 1.50 1.70 2.00 50 524 698 870 1,043 1,385 1,557 1,899 2,412 29.8 % 35.8 % 41.3 % 46.5 % 56.0 % 60.5 % 69.0 % 80.5 % 100 444 619 792 965 1,308 1,479 1,822 2,334 26.9 % 33.2 % 38.8 % 44.2 % 53.9 % 58.4 % 67.2 % 78.8 % 150 364 540 714 886 1,230 1,401 1,744 2,257 23.8 % 30.4 % 36.3 % 41.8 % 51.7 % 56.4 % 65.2 % 77.1 % 170 331 508 683 855 1,199 1,370 1,713 2,226 22.5 % 29.2 % 35.3 % 40.8 % 50.9 % 55.5 % 64.4 % 76.4 % 200 282 461 635 808 1,152 1,324 1,666 2,179 20.5 % 27.4 % 33.7 % 39.3 % 49.6 % 54.3 % 63.2 % 75.4 % 250 200 380 556 730 1,074 1,246 1,589 2,102 17.0 % 24.4 % 30.9 % 36.8 % 47.3 % 52.1 % 61.2 % 73.6 % Table 8: Comparison of results from Kipushi 2017 PFS to Kipushi 2016 PEA Item Unit 2016 PEA(1) 2017 PFS(2) LOM Average Zinc Ore Processed Zinc Ore Mined kt 939 780 Zn Ore Head Grade % 32.15 32.14 Zinc Concentrate Recovery % 92.94 89.61 Zinc Concentrate Produced kt (dry) 530 381 Zinc Concentrate Grade % 53.00 58.91 LOM Average Metal Produced Zinc Produced Mlb 619 495 Zinc Produced kt 281 225 Key Financial Results Pre-Production Capital US$M 409 337 Mine Site Cash Cost US$/lb Payable Zn 0.12 0.14 Realization US$/lb Payable Zn 0.44 0.35 Total Cash Costs After Credits US$/lb Payable Zn 0.54 0.48 Site Operating Costs US$/t milled 74.77 87.77 After Tax NPV 8% US$M 533 683 After Tax IRR % 30.9 35.3 Project Payback Period Years 2.18 2.24 1. Based on long-term zinc price of US$1.01/lb and zinc treatment charge of US$190/t concentrate. 2. Based on long-term zinc price of US$1.10/lb and zinc treatment charge of US$170/t concentrate. Figure 9: Cumulative cash flow http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/58c615c6-2806-43f3-9067-c9a40276ee5e The total capital cost estimates for Kipushi are shown in Table 9. Kipushis estimated low capital intensity relative to comparable probable and base case zinc projects identified by Wood Mackenzie is highlighted in Figure 10. Table 9: Estimated capital costs Description Pre-Production (US$M) Sustaining (US$M) Total (US$M) Mining: UG Mine Refurbishment 17 17 Underground Mining 57 128 185 Capitalized Operating Costs 37 37 Subtotal 112 128 239 Process & Infrastructure: Process & Infrastructure 78 7 84 Railway 32 32 Capitalized Operating Costs 7 7 Subtotal 116 7 123 Closure: Closure 20 20 Subtotal 20 20 Indirects: EPCM 12 12 Capitalized G&A 11 11 Subtotal 22 22 Others: Owners Cost 49 24 73 Capital Cost Before Contingency 300 178 478 Contingency 37 37 Capital Cost After Contingency 337 178 515 Figure 10: Capital intensity for zinc projects http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1177b853-fdc2-44bf-8e9e-1fc6c96c24f7 Source: Wood Mackenzie, December 2017. Note: All comparable probable and base case projects as identified by Wood Mackenzie. Source: Wood Mackenzie (based on public disclosure and information gathered in the process of routine research. The Kipushi 2017 PFS has not been reviewed by Wood Mackenzie). Kipushis estimated revenues and operating costs are presented in Table 10, along with the projected net sales revenue value attributable to each key period of operation. Kipushis estimated cash costs are presented in Table 11. Based on data from Wood Mackenzie, life-of-mine average cash cost of US$0.48/lb of zinc is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, in the bottom quartile of the 2020 cash cost curve for zinc producers globally (see Figure 11). Table 10: Estimated operating costs and revenues Description Total (US$M) 5-Year Average LOM Average (US$/t Milled) Revenue: Gross Sales Revenue 5,095 550 594 Less: Realization Costs Transport Costs 972 103 113 Treatment & Refining Charges 713 77 83 Royalties 197 21 23 Total Realization Costs 1,883 202 219 Net Sales Revenue 3,212 348 374 Less: Site Operating Costs Mining 415 52 48 Processing & TSF 194 23 23 General & Administration 144 17 17 Total 753 93 88 Operating Margin 2,459 255 287 Operating Margin (%) 48.3 46.4 48.3 Table 11: Estimated cash costs Description 5-Year Average LOM Average (US$/lb Payable Zn) Mine Site Cash Cost 0.16 0.14 Realization 0.34 0.35 Total Cash Costs 0.50 0.48 Figure 11: 2020 pro-rata C1 cash costs http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad143e94-1fde-41e6-bf32-4447bc559dd1 Source: Wood Mackenzie, December 2017 (based on public disclosure and information gathered in the process of routine research. The Kipushi 2017 PFS has not been reviewed by Wood Mackenzie). Note: Represents C1 cash costs which reflect the direct cash costs of producing paid metal incorporating mining, processing and offsite realization costs, having made appropriate allowance for the co-product revenue streams. Figure 12: New idlers and rollers being installed on the ore conveyor belt as part of Kipushis upgrading. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8061e38-af09-456f-808d-89b26e7771c9 Figure 13: Shaft 5 main pumping station at the 1,200-metre level. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/69ff0b04-e55b-42f8-bdb9-d39de61b97d3 Figure 14: High-grade copper drill core from Kipushis Serie Recurrente Zone from hole KPU140 in the recently completed underground drilling program. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7ba5c512-4665-4ade-862e-901d2bd244a1 Qualified Persons, Quality Control and Assurance The following companies have undertaken work in preparation of the Kipushi 2017 PFS: OreWin Overall report preparation, mining, Mineral Reserve estimation and economic analysis. MSA Group Resource and geology. SRK Consulting Mine geotechnical recommendations. MDM Engineering Plant and surface infrastructure. Murray & Roberts Underground mining infrastructure. Golder Associates Environmental and hydrogeology. Grindrod Rail Consultancy Services Railway and logistics. The independent Qualified Persons responsible for preparing the Kipushi 2017 PFS, on which the technical report will be based, are Bernard Peters (OreWin); William Joughin (SRK Consulting); John Edwards (MDM Engineering); and Michael Robertson and Jeremy Witley (MSA Group). Each Qualified Person has reviewed and approved the information in this news release relevant to the portion of the Kipushi 2017 PFS for which they are responsible. Other scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, P.Geo., Ivanhoe Mines Vice President, Project Geology and Evaluation, a Qualified Person under the terms of NI 43-101. Mr. Torr is not independent of Ivanhoe Mines. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release not related to the current Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates disclosed herein. Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA-QC program on assays from its Kipushi Project. Half-sawn core was processed either at its preparation laboratory in Kamoa, DRC, or its exploration preparation laboratory in Kolwezi, DRC. Prepared samples then were shipped to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia for external assay. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks were inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. Ivanhoe Mines QA-QC program has been set up in consultation with MSA Group (Pty.) Ltd., of Johannesburg. Ivanhoe has previously filed an independent NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Kipushi Project, titled Kipushi Zn-Cu Project, Kipushi 2016 Preliminary Economic Assessment, dated May 2016, which is available under the companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and on the companys website at www.ivanhoemines.com. The technical report includes relevant information regarding the effective dates and the assumptions, parameters and methods of the 2016 mineral resource estimates on the Kipushi Project cited in this news release, as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures, sample preparation, analysis and security. Ivanhoe Mines will be filing a new NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Kipushi 2017 PFS disclosed herein within 45 days of this news release. Wood Mackenzie provided data based on public disclosure of comparable projects for the compilation of certain figures used in this news release; however, Wood Mackenzie did not review the Kipushi 2017 PFS. About Ivanhoe Mines Ivanhoe Mines is advancing its three principal projects in southern Africa: Mine development at the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery on the Northern Limb of South Africas Bushveld Complex; mine development and exploration at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries on the Central African Copperbelt in the DRC; and upgrading at the historic, high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine, also on the DRCs Copperbelt. For details, visit www.ivanhoemines.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this news release constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company, the Kipushi Project, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as may, would, could, will, intend, expect, believe, plan, anticipate, estimate, scheduled, forecast, predict and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the companys current expectations regarding future events, performance and results, and speak only as of the date of this news release. All of the results of the Kipushi 2017 PFS represent forward-looking information and statements. Statements in this news release that constitute forward-looking statements or information include, but are not limited to: (1) statements regarding the redevelopment plan to bring Kipushis Big Zinc Zone into production in less than two years; (2) statements regarding successful restoration of production would establish Kipushi as the worlds highest-grade major zinc mine; (3) statements regarding the Kipushi Project having an after-tax NPV of US$683 million and an IRR of 35.3%; (4) statements regarding Kipushi has an after-tax NPV of US$1.2 billion and IRR of 51% at the current zinc price of approximately US$1.40/lb; (5) statements regarding pre-production capital estimated at US$337 million; (6) statements regarding future mine production including that mine production is expected to be at a steady-state annual mining rate of 800,000 tonnes; (7) statements regarding annual production of an average of 381,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate over an 11-year initial mine life at a total cash cost of approximately US$0.48 per pound of zinc; (8) statements regarding independent research by Wood Mackenzie concludes that the Kipushi Project could rank among the worlds largest zinc mines; (9) statements regarding that Kipushi has the resources to become one of the worlds largest and lowest-cost zinc producers, plus the potential to also produce significant quantities of copper, silver and germanium; (10) statements regarding that the planned life-of-mine average annual zinc production is 225,000 tonnes and zinc head grade is 32%; (11) statements regarding that the project life-of-mine average cash cost of US$0.48/lb of zinc is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, in the bottom quartile of the cash cost curve for zinc producers globally; (12) statements regarding the work to upgrade the rock load-out facilities at the bottom of Shaft 5 is expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2018 and that the Shaft 5 rock-hoisting winder is expected to be fully operational early next year; (13) statements regarding the proposed rail export route for zinc concentrate to the port of Durban, South Africa; (14) statements regarding construction on the Kipushi-Munama spur rail line could start in late 2018; and (15) statements regarding expected methods of mining and processing. The forward-looking information and statements also includes metal price assumptions, cash flow forecasts, projected capital and operating costs, metal recoveries, mine life and production rates, and other assumptions used in the Kipushi 2017 PFS. Readers are cautioned that actual results may vary from those presented. The factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information, and the risks that could cause the actual results to differ materially will be presented in the body of the Technical Report that will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and Ivanhoe Mines website at www.ivanhoemines.com within 45 days of this news release. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Ivanhoe Mines management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, or delays in the refurbishment or development of infrastructure, and the failure of exploration programs or other studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued studies, development or operations. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements also include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's most recently filed MD&A as well as in the most recent Annual Information Form filed by Ivanhoe Mines. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. This news release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (i) fluctuations in zinc or other mineral prices; (ii) results of drilling; (iii) results of metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) changes to proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licences. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release. Sailing his new ship across the Philippine Sea towards China, Naeem Ashgar feels a sense of nostalgia and pride. Ever since he was a child growing up in Pakistan, the captain longed to follow in the wake of his father, an engineer in the merchant navy. "We would receive letters and photos from different parts of the world and I always dreamt of seeing it like my father," Captain Ashgar says from aboard his voyage from Australia to China. "I was also inspired to become a sailor by explorers like Christopher Columbus and their great adventures." The ship he now captains has been named the Murex. It marks 125 years since Shell's first bulk oil tanker, named after the shell of the Murex sea snail, first delivered kerosene to Asia. That historic voyage, from Azerbaijan to Thailand in 1892, helped drive a revolution in global trade because transporting oil in large tanks, rather than in thousands of barrels, made fuel more affordable. Towards a cleaner future In the late 19th century, the kerosene carried by the original Murex was in demand because it produced bright light with less smoke than burning candles or oil-soaked rags. Today, Ashgar and his crew are delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is increasingly in demand for lighting, heating and cooking because it produces far less smoke than burning coal or wood. "It's an honour to captain the new LNG Murex today," Ashgar, now 50, says. "The thought that our cargo could help people in China breathe more easily this winter gives me and my crew a real sense of purpose." The highly fuel-efficient ship, which can run on diesel or natural gas, left South Korea for its maiden voyage in November 2017. It sailed south across the Philippine Sea, weaving between the islands of Papua New Guinea before arriving at the QGC gas facility on the north-east coast of Australia. After carefully preparing the vessel for its first shipment, Ashgar and his crew left the shores of Queensland behind and set a course for the coast of China. Toronto, Ontaro, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Most Canadian business owners have no contingency plans for their businesses after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation, despite concerns regarding the potential termination of the trade pact between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, according to a new BDO Canada poll. The poll, conducted among 245 small, medium and large business owners across Canada, reveals that 66 per cent of respondents are not making contingency plans for the potential demise of NAFTA. The renegotiation of NAFTA has caused a lot of uncertainties, but the best course of action is to develop a plan to ensure that your business continues to thrive, no matter the outcome, says Dean Elliott, Managing Partner, Central Group and Markets Strategic Lead, BDO Canada. Business owners are most concerned that NAFTA negotiations could lead to unfair trade terms for Canada or Mexico. They are also concerned that the trade deal could be terminated, resulting in the imposition of more duties and regulations, price uncertainty and an adverse impact on business and profitability, the poll revealed. To mitigate the impact of a renegotiated NAFTA, nearly all (92 per cent) of business owners polled say Canada should be looking to strengthen trade partnerships with other countries, particularly those in Europe and Asia. Other interesting data from the poll: 86 per cent believe that U.S. President Donald Trump will exit NAFTA or attempt to negotiate unfairly in favour of U.S. interests The top five issues that business owners want to be addressed in NAFTA talks are: Cross-border movement of professionals (20 per cent) Fairer labour standards across all three countries (20 per cent) Duty-free threshold (18 per cent) Environmental provisions (15 per cent) Procurement (7 per cent) Since the development of NAFTA almost 25 years ago, the economies in North America have drastically changed. E-commerce, which has been impacted by the duty-free threshold, was not addressed in original agreement. And the digital economy, which has brought about a whole new class of economic factors and relationships, was also not considered. A NAFTA update makes sense, but business owners need to be prepared to capitalize on and weather through any changes, says Elliott. Change brings both opportunities and challenges, and with a strong contingency plan in place, small and medium-sized businesses in Canada can make the most out of these NAFTA renegotiations. Canadian business owners believe that there could be opportunities arising from the NAFTA trade talks, such as more access to the U.S. market and fair competition, better access to other international markets if Canada strengthens its ties with other countries, and better and fairer labour standards across all three countries, resulting in more job opportunities. A majority (75 per cent) of business owners believe that NAFTA will impact their business decision-making, regardless of their size or location. For more information on this survey and how business owners can plan for potential impacts of NAFTA, click here. Survey methodology Conducted by BDO Canada, the survey of national scope was fielded online among 245 business leaders. The poll was conducted from September 21 to October 30, 2017 and entailed responses to 17 questions based on the impact of NAFTA renegotiations on the respondents businesses. The margin of error for a representative sample of this size is 6 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level. About BDO BDO Canada LLP is a leading provider of professional services to clients of all sizes in virtually all business sectors. Our team delivers a comprehensive range of assurance, accounting, tax, and advisory services, complemented by a deep industry knowledge gained from nearly 100 years of working within local communities. As part of the international BDO network, were able to provide seamless and consistent cross-border services to clients with global needs. With nearly 67,000 people working out of more than 1,400 offices in over 150 countries, the network generates worldwide revenue of $7.60 billion. BDO Canada LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO member Firms Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/92b8e604-35f9-4a86-9394-13b0f388e8d9 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SYSPRO, a global provider of industry-built ERP software, today announced their customer, Saltworks Technologies, won best Clean Technology category at the 2017 BC Export Awards. Winners of this years BC Export Awards were announced at a gala event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver, on November 24, 2017. More than 200 manufacturing executives and representatives from trade, government and industry attended the event. The BC Export Awards are the provinces most prestigious awards paying tribute to the success, achievements, and innovative approaches of BCs top exporting companies. Created in 1982, the program was initiated by the Ministry of Economic Development to raise the awareness and recognize the contribution that the manufacturing and service sectors were making to the economy of British Columbia. Since that time, the number and categories of the awards have changed to reflect the changes that have taken place in the economy of the province. Business in Vancouver currently organizes the annual event. We are honored to be recognized for our dedication to providing sustainable and economic solutions for treating challenging industrial wastewaters, said Joshua Zoshi, COO of Saltworks Technologies. Wed like to congratulate all of this years nominees who were recognized for their outstanding contributions to driving economic growth in British Columbia. I want to thank our team for their hard work and dedication to providing advanced water treatment technologies to our customers around the world. We congratulate the team at Saltworks for their outstanding innovation in clean technology, said James Weir, Vice President of Sales for SYSPRO Canada. We take pride in our customers aspirations to achieve performance excellence, and dedicate our talented team of experts to help our customers achieve that success. The complete list of winners for the 2017 BC Export Awards can be found at: http://www.bcexportawards.com/2017-winners/ About Saltworks Technologies Saltworks is a water technology company that designs, builds and operates advanced desalination and wastewater treatment plants. Their focus is zero liquid discharge, brine concentration, scaling water treatment, ammonia removal, and industrial desalination. Saltworks provides reliable, modular, and economic systems globally to a wide range of industries for treating the worlds toughest waters. For more information visit: www.saltworkstech.com About SYSPRO SYSPRO is a global, independent provider of industry-built ERP software designed to simplify business complexity for manufacturers and distributors. Focused on delivering optimized performance and complete business visibility, the SYSPRO solution is highly scalable, and can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or accessed via a mobile device. SYSPROs strengths lie in a simplified approach to technology, expertise in a range of industries, and a commitment to future-proofing customer and partner success. SYSPRO has more than 15,000 licensed companies in over 60 countries across six continents. For more information on SYSPRO Canada visit: https://ca.syspro.com/ or contact SYSPRO Canadas Head Office at Toll Free: +1 (888) 259-6666. Discover helpful content to help you grow your business for Canadian manufacturers by visiting the SYSPRO Canada Resource Hub: http://resources.syspro.com/h/ and the SYSPRO Canada Blog: http://canadablog.syspro.com. Follow SYSPRO Canada on social: Media Contacts: Melanie Aizer SYSPRO Canada 1.888.259.6666 Ext: 5228 melanie.aizer@ca.syspro.com Saltworks Technologies Contact: Adrian Ebsary 1-604-628-6508 x210 adrian.ebsary@saltworkstech.com All company names and products mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. VANCOUVER, B.C., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evrim Resources Corp. (TSX.V:EVM) (Evrim or the Company) is pleased to announce it has signed an agreement (the Agreement) with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antofagasta plc (Antofagasta) on the Axe property in British Columbia. Antofagasta can acquire a 70% interest in the Axe property by incurring US$50 million in exploration expenditures, making cash payments of US$800,000, and completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA), over a ten year period. Axe is a 50 square kilometre land package in south-central British Columbia, in the gold-copper porphyry belt that hosts Newgolds New Afton Mine, Tecks Highland Valley Mine and Copper Mountains namesake mine, commented Evrims CEO Paddy Nicol. Both Evrim and Antofagasta have completed an extensive data review with an approved US$1 million drilling and exploration program in the spring of 2018. This Agreement represents our second such transaction with Antofagasta in British Columbia and our fourth transaction overall in 2017. Evrim now has five active joint ventures and one regional exploration alliance. Upon completing the terms of the Agreement Evrim and Antofagasta will participate in a joint venture on a respective 30:70 basis. If either partys interest is diluted to 10% or less, it will convert to a 2% Net Smelter Return (NSR). If Antofagasta terminates the Agreement prior to earning its 70% interest, it will receive a 0.50% NSR for exploration expenditures exceeding US$10 million, an additional 0.25% NSR for expenditures in excess of US$20 million and another 0.25% for expenditures in excess of US$30 million, for a maximum of a 1% NSR. Evrim will be the operator for the first US$10 million in exploration expenditures. Evrim is committed to developing positive and mutually beneficial relationships based on respect and transparency with local First Nations and communities in the areas in which we operate. About the Axe Project The Axe property is located within the Intermontane Belt in the southern portion of the Quesnellia Terrane in southern British Columbia. The southern Quesnel trough is composed of Triassic Nicola Volcanic Belt rocks and associated Jurassic to Cretaceous intrusions. The belt extends from the Canada/USA border to north of Kamloops, and is characterized by several producing mines and advanced stage mineral development projects. The project contains four known porphyry targets (West, Adit, Mid and South) within a 5.0 kilometre by 3.5 kilometre hydrothermal footprint. Following a review and reinterpretation of historic exploration data, Evrim considers that the central cores of the West and South zones have not been drilled. Drilling by previous operators adjacent to these targets returned intersections such as 124.5 metres grading 0.35% copper and 0.22 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold in drill hole A07-08, including 10.5 metres grading 1.55% copper and 0.94 g/t gold at the West Zone. Recent work on the 1516 zone defined an unexplored copper, gold, molybdenum, bismuth and tungsten in soil anomaly immediately east of the Adit and Mid zones over a 1,000 metre by 500 metre area, and is associated with a quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) altered gossan and coincident chargeability and conductivity high. The 1516 zone only has four holes on its eastern edge that were drilled between 1970 and 1982. Qualified Person Statement Evrim's disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Stewart Harris, P.Geo. Vice President, Technical Services for the Company. Mr. Harris serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. About Evrim Resources Evrim Resources is a mineral exploration company whose goal is to participate in significant exploration discoveries supported by a sustainable business model. The Company is well financed, has a diverse range of quality projects and a database covering substantial areas of Mexico and portions of southwestern United States. The Companys projects are advanced through option and joint venture agreements with industry partners to create shareholder value. Evrims business plan also includes royalty creation utilizing the Companys exploration expertise and existing projects. On Behalf of the Board EVRIM RESOURCES CORP. Paddy Nicol President & CEO To find out more about Evrim Resources Corp., please contact Paddy Nicol, President or Charles Funk, VP New Opportunities and Exploration at 604-248-8648, or visit www.evrimresources.com. Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Evrim Resources Corp. (the "Company) expects to occur, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Page Content PHILIPSBURG -- On Monday December 11th, the government represented by Minister Jacobs and supported by the Department of Education and the Divisions of Inspection and Exams met with members of the Board of USM foundation represented by President Mrs. Giterson-Pantophlet, Vice President Wycliffe Smith, member Marcella Henry and MFO Robert Judd in what the Ministry expected would be the final meeting to come to an agreement regarding saving the University from imminent closure and all the negative consequences thereof. After almost 2 weeks of discussion and correspondence back and forth about the MOU it appeared last Friday that the USMF board was prepared to accept the proposed financial injection of 3 monthly installments of 230K guilders to get classes restarted, however that was not the case. On Friday, while the Ministry prepared for a meeting to fine tune the agreement and further explain how the feedback of Legal Affairs and USM was worked out in the document, USM handed us a letter and postponed the meeting to discuss further with other board members not present. The Ministry taking USMs concerns into consideration, further tweaked the MOU in USMs favor, conceding that due to the emergency the injection would be free and clear of any deductions, and that the study financing tuition and other fees (balance 2015/2016) due would still be paid as well, including the current subsidy USM continues to receive (Ang. 63,750 monthly) without living up to the obligations for such. Financially, USM would receive 230K after the MOU was signed (CoM will render a decision this week and payment would occur shortly after). The second payment would take place on January 8, with the third payment in February. The University would also bill government as usual for the students who receive study financing as soon as they could start which could be between 170-200K depending on the number of students. The University is further expected to cooperate with SOAB to do the financial review of their books from 2013-2016, as well as allow an investigation into the financial management and structure of USMF and its affiliates (USMEF, MDC N.V) and provide recommendations to restructure it to improve accountability, efficiency, transparency and management of USM in relation to its usage of public funds and guaranteeing quality education. Once financial statements are completely reviewed and approved by SOAB, USMF would also be eligible to receive the 10% withheld (170K). USM is also expected to report monthly on the usage of the funds to avoid it being used for old debts, and to ensure that funds are used to be able to execute the core objectives of the university - Education. USM had mentioned in its closure options presented to the Minister in writing the possibility for the USM Endowment Foundation to secure a loan to pay off debts and and so this also was included in the MOU to ensure that the new injection of funds would not be used for this purpose. USM was also to submit all necessary documentation in order for the Ministry to process an increase in structural subsidy request (madeNovember 2, 2017) of 3 million guilders per year by January 31 in order for the Ministry to have time to prepare the advice for a decision by March 30. This increase would remain in place until the Higher Education Ordinance could go Into effect or until further increase are requested. Government also highlighted the finalization of the Higher Education Ordinance as a high priority with deadline December 2018. USM demanded that it be at Parliament by June 2018, which the Minister and Dept Head of Education Lacorbiniere-Hodge explained to the president and representatives why that was not possible in the current situation as collaboration with Legal Affairs is necessary for vetting. The Ministry is also seeking technical assistance to aid with the legal advice for this and other ordinances. A formation plan of its staffing and the hiring of an Dean and President were also expected with the restart of the semester. All this was presented with the intention to immediately inject much needed funds, provide assistance with reporting, recommendations for restructuring, increase efficiency, move towards a higher structural subsidy, and the finalization of Higher Education Ordinance to promote quality Higher Education on St. Maarten at USM. USM sat down in the meeting on Monday and after a few introductory words by the Ministry handed over the letter stating they would stick to their decision of November 23 and close the University as the offer from government was too late, was not sufficient, and they could not restart in January as there was no registration in November and holidays were approaching. No matter what efforts were made to discuss the points of disagreement within the MOU, USM stuck to its gameplan and refused the offer. USM stated in its letter that the only viable options to restart were: Get sufficient funds (we offered what had been asked in the MOU and their regular subsidy never stopped) Get a structured increase (that was offered as well in the MOU) Guarantee the Higher Education Ordinance by June 2018 (we have it as priority in the MOU with a deadline of December 2018) In conclusion, USM has decided to jeopardize the futures of all students currently unable to continue their studies or start in January and put the employment of their employees further at risk in order to prove that they are right and the government, which should have finalized legislation for Higher Education, caused their demise. Government of St. Maarten stands firm in its resolve and commitment to assist USM to survive as it is the only opportunity for many for higher education on the island. Government pledges to continue to support and increase support to USM, however, in a transparent, efficient and effective manner where accountability is adhered to. Government is of the opinion that dialogue on this matter was prematurely cut off by USMF and hopes USMF rethinks its position and the weight of their decision to refuse governments offer - unless they have a better offer which they have not enlightened us about. For the record, USM did inform in writing that one of the six options available including filing for Moratorium was Negotiating with the incoming coalition to restart USM ... - this statement would require much explanation as that date is not yet known and the same Ministry and departments would have to advise the new Minister as well. The general public and USMF is reminded that the land on which the University stands is leased land from Government and Governments permission is needed to transfer such assets or take loans/mortgages on it. So any other plans would require transparency towards government. USMF is also further reminded that as long as they continue to not hold classes that their current subsidy can be suspended or stopped according to the subsidy ordinance pending further agreements. These are all scenarios government has avoided over the years including post Irma in the interest of continuity of the institution and the important role it plays in the community. The USMF board should seriously consider the consequences of its actions to the students, staff and community of St. Maarten. USM has submitted a request in the afternoon of December 12th to meet with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport where they plan to revisit and discuss the proposed MOU again. The meeting request has been honored and will take place on wednesday December 13th 2017. Alumni leaders Andrew Hughes and Amy O'Leary, 1992 classmates, team up with Pres. Philip Glotzbach in an interview. Alumni leaders Andrew Hughes and Amy O'Leary, 1992 classmates,team up with Pres. Philip Glotzbach in an interview. At Skidmore, national Giving Tuesday is mix of symposium and big party, featuring interviews and student performances that engage alumni and parents with campus members for camaraderie, fun and fundraising. This years all-day event featured live-streamed video interviews (click top-left icon to see all videos) with student clubs, favorite faculty, campus staffers and more, plus giveaways at Case Center and other events. The First-Year Experience in London even dialed into a trans-Atlantic Google Hangout. Add the events timing, just days after Skidmore launched the Creating Our Future campaign, and perhaps its no surprise that the day was such a success. Jamie Delsoin, the Skidmore Funds senior director, thanked the many participants, adding, I wish I could bottle up the enthusiasm and excitement from our emcees, guests, and volunteers. It was a tremendous day for Skidmore. Here are the numbers: TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX:CDV) (TSX:CDV) (Cardinal or the Company) reports assay results from its continued infill drilling programme of the Namdini Gold Project and an update for its Exploration Licenses in Ghana. Cardinals Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director, Archie Koimtsidis said: Our confidence in the Namdini gold resource is increasing with the return of our initial results from the 9,000m infill drilling programme which began following the release of our September 2017 Mineral Resource update. It is anticipated that when complete results from this current infill programme will lead to an upgrade in the current Mineral Resource in both size and category during Q1 2018. In conjunction with this infill programme, we have completed our initial potential starter pit study with strong correlation to the current Mineral Resource Model (see release dated 11th December 2017), hydrogeological drilling, pit geotechnical drilling and we are also continuing to advance the Preliminary Economic Assessment which is expected to be completed in Q1 2018. Furthermore, we have started mobilising drill rigs which will begin testing our regional Exploration Licenses. These licenses are approximately 900 km in size and are strategically positioned on what Cardinal believes to be regional scale mineralized structural trends. HIGHLIGHTS FROM NAMDINI 9,000m INFILL DRILLING RETURNED TO DATE 7m at 5.1 g/t Au from 206m - NMRC177 from 206m - NMRC177 13m at 4.9 g/t Au from surface - NMDD125 from surface - NMDD125 9m at 4.1g/t from 414m - NMDD110 from 414m - NMDD110 10m at 2.9g/t from 379m - NMDD110 from 379m - NMDD110 10m at 2.7g/t Au from 429m - NMDD107 from 429m - NMDD107 26m at 2.6 g/t Au from 111m - NMDD127 from 111m - NMDD127 38m at 2.1 g/t Au from 291m - NMDD107 from 291m - NMDD107 20m at 1.9g/t Au from 459m - NMDD107 from 459m - NMDD107 10m at 1.5g/t from 228m - NMDD110 from 228m - NMDD110 13m at 1.3 g/t Au from 370m - NMDD108 from 370m - NMDD108 26m at 1.2 g/t Au from 180m - NMDD108 Individual gold intersections are >0.5 g/t Au with no more than 3m of consecutive internal dilution at <0.5 g/t Au. Detailed results of the drill programme are included below and in the attached schedules. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS Infill drilling results have been returned from the comprehensive campaign to continue to add definition to the Namdini Mineral Resource. As infill drill results are returned, they continue to support strong mineralized zones. Further results are pending which will form the basis for a Mineral Resource upgrade expected in Q1 2018. Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the collar locations of drill holes and a typical interpretive section of the mineralization is displayed in Figure 2. Meta Data for significant intercepts are tabulated in Table 1, Schedule 1. Details of all significant intercepts are provided in Table 2, Schedule 1. The listed intercepts within Table 2, Schedule 1 have a detailed explanation within the notes to describe how the mineralized intercepts were calculated. Significant mineralized intercepts are based upon using a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off, approximating the cut-off to be used for Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE) as per the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code 2012) and the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM 2010) guidelines with no more than 3m of internal dilution at <0.5g/t Au. Please refer to www.sedar.com for Cardinals current technical report. Figure 1: Plan View of Namdini deposit showing drill hole locations for the 9,000m infill programme and location of a typical section (H) shown in Figure 2 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/114aab3d-5dca-4712-be8a-8f5bebe1e870 Figure 2: Typical Cross Section http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8aa6adf9-7c51-4502-9083-7f698f9282d6 REGIONAL EXPLORATION UPDATE The Company also provides an update of drill programmes over three Exploration Licenses (Kungongo), (Ndongo), (Bongo) all within the Companys Bolgatanga Project, located in the Upper East Region of Ghana and a fourth license (Subranum) located in the Ashanti Region of Southwest Ghana (Figures 3 and 4). KUNGONGO Regional Bole-Bolgatanga Shear Zone occurs over a length of 5 km within the northwest corner of the tenement (122 km 2 ) ) Reconnaissance RC drilling across strike is planned NDONGO Tenement has now been expanded to 296 km 2 with the recently purchased Kinross ground with the recently purchased Kinross ground Core and rejects from more than 120 diamond and RC historic drill holes within land package are currently being moved to Cardinals Bolgatanga operational office for relogging Auger soil drilling has been completed at 200m x 50m over prospective areas Detailed ground geophysics is underway to further assist with drill target generation Reconnaissance drilling will test anomalous gold targets BONGO The prospect covers an area of 453 km 2 Dominated by three major intrusive complexes, predominantly intermediate and foliated felsic basin type granitoids 545 auger soil drill holes completed totalling 1,883m drill targets being generated SUBRANUM Regional Shear Zone occurs over a length of 9 km within the tenement (63 km 2 ) ) Newmont drilled 31 historic holes, along with soils and trench sampling within land package Operating mines are located nearby Newmont, Kinross Gold and Resolute Mining Diamond drilling to commence with twin and scout holes along a 5 km anomalous zone previously identified by Newmont Figure 3: Cardinal Licenses location map http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bcf2644e-77dc-4276-b87b-f2c5222ab818 Figure 4: Bolgatanga Project Licenses http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/64d46487-c678-4d64-a902-53002441458f ABOUT CARDINAL Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX/TSX: CDV) is a West African goldfocused exploration and development Company which holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa. The Companys Namdini Project has a declared Indicated Mineral Resource of 120 Mt @ 1.1 g/t for 4.3 Moz Au and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 84 Mt @ 1.2 g/t for 3.1 Moz (refer to Cardinal Technical Report on Namdini dated 11 September 2017). The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project through a resource expansion drilling programme and continues to advance the PEA / Scoping Study which is now due for release in Q1 2018. In parallel, a prefeasibility study is progressing supported by additional multi-disciplinary engineering activities. Exploration activity is also underway on its large portfolio of regional exploration Licenses. For further information contact: Archie Koimtsidis Alec Rowlands CEO / MD IR / Corp Dev Cardinal Resources Limited Cardinal Resources Limited P: +61 8 6558 0573 P: +1 647 256 1922 Competent Persons / Qualified Persons Statement The information in this press release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. Richard Bray, a Registered Professional Geologist with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Mr. Ekow Taylor, a Chartered Professional Geologist with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor have more than five years experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which is being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and as a Qualified Person as defined by the NI43-101 instrument. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor are full-time employees of Cardinal and hold equity securities in the Company. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor have consented to the inclusion of the matters in this report based on the information in the form and context in which it appears. Disclaimer This ASX / TSX press release has been prepared by Cardinal Resources Limited (ABN: 56 147 325 620) (Cardinal or the Company). Neither the ASX or the TSX, nor their regulation service providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release contains summary information about Cardinal, its subsidiaries and their activities, which is current as at the date of this press release. The information in this press release is of a general nature and does not purport to be complete nor does it contain all the information, which a prospective investor may require in evaluating a possible investment in Cardinal. By its very nature exploration for minerals is a highrisk business and is not suitable for certain investors. Cardinals securities are speculative. Potential investors should consult their stockbroker or financial advisor. There are a number of risks, both specific to Cardinal and of a general nature which may affect the future operating and financial performance of Cardinal and the value of an investment in Cardinal including but not limited to economic conditions, stock market fluctuations, gold price movements, regional infrastructure constraints, timing of approvals from relevant authorities, regulatory risks, operational risks and reliance on key personnel and foreign currency fluctuations. Except for statutory liability which cannot be excluded and subject to applicable law, each of Cardinals officers, employees and advisors expressly disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the material contained in this press release and excludes all liability whatsoever (including in negligence) for any loss or damage which may be suffered by any person as a consequence of any information in this Announcement or any error or omission here from. Except as required by applicable law, the Company is under no obligation to update any person regarding any inaccuracy, omission or change in information in this press release or any other information made available to a person nor any obligation to furnish the person with any further information. Recipients of this press release should make their own independent assessment and determination as to the Companys prospects, its business, assets and liabilities as well as the matters covered in this press release. Forwardlooking statements Certain statements contained in this press release, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Cardinal and its projects may also include statements which are forwardlooking statements that may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, anticipated timing of the PEA on the Namdini project, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions. These forward looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Cardinal, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forwardlooking statements. Cardinal disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forwardlooking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after todays date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than required by the Corporations Act and ASX and TSX Listing Rules. The words believe, expect, anticipate, indicate, contemplate, target, plan, intends, continue, budget, estimate, may, will, schedule and similar expressions identify forwardlooking statements. All forwardlooking statements made in this press release are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that forwardlooking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forwardlooking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. SCHEDULE 1 DRILL RESULTS The intercepts were calculated, using a 0.5 g/t cut-off, which approximates the cut-off for Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE) as per the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) 2012 and the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) 2010 guidelines and internal dilution of no more than 3m at <0.5g/t Au. Hole ID Depth (m) (m) Dip Azimuth Grid_ID mEast mNorth mRL NMDD107 604.94 -66.64 92.610 WGS84_30N 757291.929 1177038.093 208.904 NMDD108 489.27 -65.33 94.71 WGS84_30N 757154.297 1176707.752 223.012 NMDD109 507.78 -65.29 94.10 WGS84_30N 757121.531 1176736.465 220.721 NMDD110 556.25 -63.840 95.190 WGS84_30N 757252.087 1177149.946 208.411 NMDD112 441.08 -60.16 95.12 WGS84_30N 757084.138 1176453.235 226.162 NMDD125 70.25 -65.040 98.440 WGS84_30N 757719.768 1177082.888 202.972 NMDD127 402.21 -64.850 100.080 WGS84_30N 757382.802 1176976.224 212.335 NMRC177 330.00 -66.600 95.940 WGS84_30N 757245.466 1176769.109 219.441 Table 1: Meta-Data listing drill holes Hole_ID mFrom mTo mWidth Au g/t NMDD107 78 82 4 1.7 NMDD107 104 107 3 0.6 NMDD107 121 142 21 0.8 NMDD107 148 158 10 0.5 NMDD107 162 171 9 0.8 NMDD107 181 201 20 0.9 NMDD107 211 214 3 1.0 NMDD107 222 242 20 1.1 NMDD107 269 280 11 0.7 NMDD107 291 329 38 2.1 NMDD107 333 352 19 0.8 NMDD107 365 373 8 0.9 NMDD107 378 384 6 1.3 NMDD107 389 393 4 1.9 NMDD107 429 439 10 2.7 NMDD107 443 449 6 0.8 NMDD107 459 479 20 1.9 NMDD108 163 169 6 0.7 NMDD108 180 206 26 1.2 NMDD108 210 213 3 0.7 NMDD108 248 253 5 0.9 NMDD108 259 267 8 0.6 NMDD108 273 276 3 0.6 NMDD108 343 349 6 0.8 NMDD108 370 383 13 1.3 NMDD108 389 395 6 0.7 NMDD108 402 408 6 2.7 NMDD108 412 425 13 0.7 NMDD108 432 439 7 0.7 NMDD108 446 451 5 2.4 NMDD109 194 202 8 0.7 NMDD109 215 230 15 0.9 NMDD109 236 244 8 0.6 NMDD109 269 272 3 1.3 NMDD109 306 309 3 2.6 NMDD109 313 318 5 0.8 NMDD109 392 396 4 0.9 NMDD109 408 412 4 2.7 NMDD109 424 427 3 2.1 NMDD109 435 461 26 1.0 NMDD110 212 216 4 1.1 NMDD110 228 238 10 1.5 NMDD110 257 280 23 1.1 NMDD110 312 320 8 0.9 NMDD110 337 343 6 1.8 NMDD110 347 353 6 2.1 NMDD110 367 373 6 1.0 NMDD110 379 389 10 2.9 NMDD110 414 423 9 4.1 NMDD110 451 457 6 1.5 NMDD110 465 474 9 1.7 NMDD112 87 90 3 1.2 NMDD112 173 178 5 1.1 NMDD112 291 305 14 1.0 NMDD125 0 13 13 4.9 NMDD127 0 3 3 3.7 NMDD127 27 39 12 0.9 NMDD127 50 59 9 0.8 NMDD127 80 101 21 0.6 NMDD127 111 137 26 2.6 NMDD127 141 146 5 1.5 NMDD127 173 195 22 2.7 NMDD127 210 224 14 0.7 NMDD127 228 255 27 7.8 NMDD127 285 288 3 0.6 NMDD127 298 304 6 1.2 NMDD127 314 317 3 1.3 NMRC177 67 70 3 0.6 NMRC177 73 78 5 1.5 NMRC177 91 101 10 0.9 NMRC177 108 138 30 0.9 NMRC177 169 174 5 0.5 NMRC177 194 198 4 0.8 NMRC177 206 213 7 5.1 NMRC177 221 228 7 0.9 NMRC177 233 240 7 0.6 NMRC177 306 309 3 1.7 Table 2 Summary of individual intercepts. Notes: Cut-off grade for reporting of each individual intercept is 0.5 g/t Au with a maximum of 3m of consecutive internal dilution included within the intercept; only intercepts 3m are reported. Intervals are HQ diamond core or RC which are sampled every 1m Samples are analyzed for Au (SGS Lab FAA505 method) which is a 50g fire assay fusion with AAS instrument finish Grid coordinates are in WWGS84 Zone 30 North APPENDIX 1 JORC CODE 2012 EDITION TABLE 1 Section 1 Sampling Technique and Data Criteria JORC Code Explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc.). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling. Sampling is by a combination of diamond drill and reverse circulation holes. Nature and quality of sampling is carried out under QAQC procedures as per industry standards. Diamond sampling include both half-core and quarter-core samples of HQ core size and RC samples are collected by a three-tier riffle splitter using downhole sampling hammers with nominal 127 to 140mm holes. HQ core and RC sampling quality is ensured through inserting CRM standards and blanks every 22 samples. Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used. Sampling is guided by Cardinal Namdini protocols and Quality Control procedures as per industry standard. Sample representivity is ensured for: RC samples by collecting 1m samples from a cyclone, passing them through a 3-tier riffle splitter, and taking duplicate samplers every 22nd sample. HQ core through sampling the various lithological units at 1m intervals. The original system used was to sample each unit separately, but after statistical analyses of the results found there was no material grade variation between the units, the quarter core was sampled at 1m intervals throughout the drill hole. Recent HQ core sampling has been conducted by half core. Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. In cases where industry standard work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay). In other cases, more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. Diamond drill samples are firstly crushed using Jaw Crusher and thereafter crushed to -2mm using a RSD Boyd crusher. A less than 1kg split sample is then pulverised via LM2 to a nominal 85% passing -75m. Reverse circulation drill samples are only crushed through a RSD Boyd crusher to -2mm and pulverised via LM2 to a nominal 85% passing -75m. A 200g sub-sample is taken for analysis. A 50g charge weight is fused with litharge based flux, cupelled and the prill dissolved in aqua regia and Gold is determined by AAS. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, openhole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc.) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc.). Diamond core drilling is completed with core size of HQ with a standard tube. Triple tube is used in saprolite at the tops of the hole. Core is orientated using digital Reflex ACT II RD orientation tool. Reverse circulation drilling uses sampling hammer of nominal 127 to 140mm holes. All holes are inclined at varying angles for optimal zone intersection. All drill collars are surveyed using Trimble R8 RTK GPS with downhole surveying every 30m. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed. Diamond core recovery is logged and captured into the database. Method of recording chip and core sample recoveries was to enter the relevant data on a hand-held Motion F5te Tablet PC using a set of standard templates supplied by Maxwell Geoservices, Perth (Maxwell). Reverse circulation sampling is good. Chips are logged and weighed and captured to the database. RC sample recoveries are assessed by weighing 1m samples from the cyclone on a scale in the field and comparing with the theoretical volume contained in a 1m x 140mm diameter hole to calculate an estimated percentage sample recovery. For RC drilling, average recoveries are in the order of 76% and considered acceptable. Core recovered from each drill run is measured and compared with the drill run length drilled to calculate an estimated percentage core recovery. For core drilling overall recoveries are excellent, weighted average recovery greater than 98%. Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples. Measures taken include the use of bigger HQ core size diamond drilling to maximise recovery, having a geologist onsite to examine core and core metres marked and orientated to check against the drillers blocks and ensuring that all core loss is taken into account. At the reverse circulation rig, sampling systems are routinely cleaned to minimise the opportunity for contamination and drilling methods are focused on sample quality. The measures taken to maximize RC sample recovery are through a cyclone and a 3-tier riffle splitter. Each 1m sample is passed twice through the splitter before sampling to ensure maximum homogenisation of each sample and to collect an unbiased representative sample to be assayed. The majority of the reverse circulation rigs have auxiliary compressors and boosters to help maintain dry samples. Where wet samples are encountered, the reverse circulation drilling is discontinued and is progressed with diamond core drilling. Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. No relationship is seen to exist between sample recovery and grade, and no sample bias due to preferential loss/gain of any fine/coarse material due to the acceptable sample recoveries obtained by both drilling methods employed. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. All drill holes are fully logged. The lithology, alteration and geotechnical characteristics of core are logged directly to a digital format on a Field Toughbook laptop logging system following procedures and using Cardinal geologic codes. Data is imported into Cardinals central database after validation in LogChief. All geological logging is to a level of detail to support Mineral Resource estimation. Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc.) photography. Logging is both qualitative and quantitative depending on field being logged. Both RC chips in trays and HQ core are photographed both in dry and wet form. The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. All holes are logged in full and to the total length of each drill hole. 100% of each relevant intersection is logged in detail. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken. Core orientation is completed for all diamond holes and all are marked prior to sampling. Longitudinally cut half core samples are produced using a Core Saw. Samples are weighed and recorded. Some quarter core samples have been used and statistical test-work has shown them to be as equally representative as half core. If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc. and whether sampled wet or dry. RC samples are split using a three-tier riffle splitter. The majority of RC samples are dry. On occasions that wet samples are encountered, they are dried prior to splitting with a riffle splitter. For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique. Drill core samples are sorted, dried at 105C for 4 hours and weighed. Samples are firstly Jaw Crushed and a second stage crushing is through RSD Jaques crusher to a nominal -2mm and then split to <1.0kg. The reject sample is retained in the original bag and stored. The split is pulverised in a LM2 to a nominal 85% passing 75%m and approximately 200g sub-sample of the pulverised material is used for assay. Chip samples are sorted and dried in an oven for 8 hours and weighed. They are then crushed to -2mm using a RSD Boyd crusher and a <1.0kg split is taken. The reject sample is retained in the original bag and stored. The split is pulverised in a LM2 to a nominal 85% passing 75m and a 200g sub-sample is used for analysis. All preparation equipment is flushed with barren material prior to commencement of the job. Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples. 1:50 sample is screened to confirm percentage passing 2mm (crushed) and 75m (pulverised). Crusher and pulveriser are flushed with barren material at the start of every batch. Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/secondhalf sampling. Sampling is carried out in accordance with Cardinal protocols as per industry best practice. Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximize representivity of samples is to insert commercial certified reference material (CRM) for standards and in-house blanks every 22 samples. SGS Laboratory assays duplicate samples of each sample batch (20%) so that representivity of the samples can be checked Field duplicates have been taken and analysis of results have shown the sampling to be representative. Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. Measures taken to ensure that the RC sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected are to take field duplicate samples every 22nd sample. Approximately 3kg samples from the splitter are retained from each sample and stored on the companys premises for possible reassay. Measures taken to ensure that the core sampling is representative is to sample half core at 1m intervals irrespective of lithologies due to the similarities in grade of the main lithologies. Results of field duplicates, standards and blanks are all plotted graphically to ensure that the results of each assay batch are acceptable. Quality of Assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total. Samples are analysed for Au by lead collection fire assay of a 50g charge with AAS finish; the assay charge is fused with the litharge based flux, cupelled and prill dissolved in aqua regia and gold determined by flame AAS. The quality of the Fire Assaying and laboratory procedures are considered to be entirely appropriate for this deposit type. The analytical method is considered appropriate for this mineralization style and of industry standards. For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc., the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc. No hand held geophysical tools are used. Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. Sample preparation checks for pulp fineness are carried out by the laboratory as part of their internal procedures to ensure the grind size of 85% passing 75m is being attained. Laboratory QAQC involves the use of internal lab standards using certified reference material and blanks. Cardinals QAQC protocol is considered industry standard with standard reference material (SRM) submitted on a regular basis with routine samples. The SRMs having a range of values and blanks are inserted in the ratio of 1:22. Duplicates are taken at the riffle splitter at a ratio of 1:20 samples. No duplicate samples are taken from core samples. Pulps are submitted to a secondary laboratory for checks on accuracy and precision of the primary laboratory. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel. Significant intersections have been verified by alternative company personnel. The use of twinned holes. None of the drill holes in this report are twinned. Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. Primary data are captured on field tough book laptops using LogChief Software. The software has validation routines and data is then imported onto a secure central database. Discuss any adjustment to assay data. The primary data is always kept and is never replaced by adjusted or interpreted data. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and downhole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation. Planned drill hole collar coordinates are surveyed using handheld Garmin GPSmap 62s GPS within 3m accuracy. All drill collars are accurately surveyed using Trimble R8 RTK GPS system within 10mm of accuracy (X, Y, Z). Coordinates are based on 12 control stations established on the Namdini site by Sahara Mining Services. Downhole survey is completed by using Reflex Ez-Shot survey instrument at regular intervals. Specification of the grid system used. Coordinate and azimuth are reported in UTM WGS84 Zone 30 North. Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Topographic control was established from aerial photography using a series of 12 surveyed control points. A 1m ground resolution DTM was produced by Sahara Mining Services from the survey completed in 24 flights using the DJI Inspire 1 UAV at an altitude of 100m with an overlap of 70%. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. Drill spacing is at 50m x 100m line spacing with infill to 50m x 50m and 10m x 15m in areas to establish mineralization continuity and upgrade the Mineral Resource. Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. Drill data spacing and distribution are sufficient to establish the geological and grade continuity appropriate for reporting Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve and classifications applied. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether sample compositing has been applied. No sample compositing has been applied. Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type. The majority of the drill holes are orientated to achieve intersection angles as close to perpendicular to the mineralization as practicable. This achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures as drilling is orientated normal to the dip and foliation of the deposit. Structural measurements confirm that the foliation of the entire deposit dips -60W so that the sampling achieves unbiased sampling of the lithologies If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. No significant orientation based sampling bias is known at this time. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. An independent Ghanaian security contractor is used to ensure sample security. The drilling contractor is accountable for drill core and RC chips production at the drill site. Final delivery from the drill site to the laydown within the core yard is managed by Cardinal. The core yard technicians, field technicians and Geologists ensure the core and chips are logged, prepared and stored under security until collected by SGS for delivery to the laboratories. At the time of sample collection, a sign-off process between Cardinal and the SGS delivery truck driver ensures the samples and paper work corresponds. The samples are then transported to the SGS Tarkwa (Ghana) or SGS Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) laboratory where they are receipted against the dispatch documents. The assay laboratories are responsible for the samples from the time of collection from Namdini Project site until final results are returned and checked by Cardinal Geologists. Sample pulps and coarse rejects are retained by the laboratories and are shipped back to Namdini after final results are returned where they are stored under security. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. Sampling techniques are of industry standards. Data is audited by Maxwell Geoservices (Perth), who have not made any other recommendations. Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results (Criteria listed in section 1 will also apply to this section where relevant) 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 GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fieldpoint Private, the fast-growing wealth advisory and private banking firm serving ultra-high-net-worth families and institutions, today announced that Brian Smith has joined the firm as Managing Director and Senior Advisor. His practice is based in Fieldpoint Privates Palm Beach, Florida, office. Mr. Smith had been with First Republic Bank since 2000, first in New York and later in Palm Beach, advising approximately 35 ultra-high-net-worth families on $1.2 billion in banking, lending and wealth management business. Prior to First Republic, Mr. Smith was a private banker with U.S. Trust and the Bank of New York. Mr. Smith joins Fieldpoint Private, a firm that was founded in 2008 by a group of financial industry veterans including former Merrill Lynch chairmen David Komansky, Daniel Tully and William Schreyer; TD Ameritrade chairman Joseph Moglia; Paine Webber and UBS Americas chairman Joseph Grano; and Home Depot founders Bernard Marcus and Kenneth Langone. With roots in Greenwich, Connecticut, and New York City, the firm expanded to Palm Beach in 2016, and in its first decade has become the fastest growing new private bank in America. My clients are in Palm Beach, Connecticut and New York, and their financial lives are complex, Mr. Smith said. Given that footprint and their broad-ranging needs, I expected I would have to settle for one of the giant firms, rather than the boutique experience my clients are clearly looking for. And then I found Fieldpoint. They [Fieldpoint] are where my clients are, and they have an answer for everything my clients need, Mr. Smith added. I know my clients are going to love it here. What impresses me most about Brian, said Robert Matthews, President and CEO of Fieldpoint Private, is that he doesnt think of himself as advising on banking needs, or investments, or trusts. He thinks of himself as advising successful families and their businesses. The money is just a part of that. Mr. Matthews added that the decision to change firms is as weighty as any choice an advisor makes in his or her career. Brian is a perfect addition to our team, and I know his fellow Fieldpoint colleagues are very proud that he has chosen to join us, said Mr. Matthews. About Fieldpoint Private Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Fieldpoint Private (www.fieldpointprivate.com) is a boutique financial firm providing the highest degree of personalized, confidential wealth planning and private banking services. Catering to highly successful individuals, families, businesses and institutions, Fieldpoint Private offers a powerful combination of wealth management and strategy, family office, private banking and business banking services addressing every financial need for each of our clients including: wealth transfer advice, tax planning, aggregation and performance reporting, risk management, goals-based investing strategies, sophisticated investment selection, discreet and personalized banking, highly customized credit solutions, custom custody and trust solutions, highly attentive/responsive service and concierge services. Fieldpoint Private was established in 2008 by 31 Founders with a specific vision and purpose. These extraordinary leaders of industry and community recognized the opportunity to create a financial firm totally attuned to peoples individual circumstances. Our firm is built on a philosophy of exclusive membership and client-centricity. Working with a limited number of relationships gives every person the experience of belonging to an extremely selective group. The result is a new breed of institution established on the basis of personalization, responsiveness, and exclusivity, and an ensured commitment to impeccable service and consistently flawless execution. Our service approach offers a unique client experience custom crafted to each clients financial needs. Media Contacts: Michael White Chief Marketing Officer Fieldpoint Private 203.413.9340 mwhite@fieldpointprivate.com 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! The drugs were concealed in a consignment from Germany labelled pool chlorine and heading to Fyshwick. Tamim Jamaal Nozhat, 23, was arrested last week accused of importing 356 kilograms of MDMA. The MDMA was intercepted by border force officials in Sydney. The man's parents' offered up their Crace home as security, but it was not enough to sway the magistrate's decision. A magistrate on Wednesday knocked back an accused drug importer's second bid for bail. He has not yet entered a plea to the charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. Mr Nozhat was refused bail when he appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court after being arrested last week. On Wednesday, he made a second bid for bail, but it was once again opposed by federal prosecutors, who cited a flight risk. Defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith said the man's parents had offered up their home, worth some $950,000, as security if he failed to appear at court. He said the man knew he had been under investigation since May and had made no indication he would flee, nor any attempt, despite the opportunity to do so. A Canberra drug trafficker behind bars for peddling ice and heroin profited from his trade and gambled more than $5 million in turnover through poker machines over several years, prosecutors have told a court. But lawyers for Lei Zhao, 40, argued the offender's drug habit hadn't been linked to his gambling and there hadn't been any evidence he made a significant profit or lived a lavish lifestyle. Zhao was arrested after police phone intercepts and a tracking device fixed to his car revealed he had a hand in a string of drug deals between April and July in 2016. He pleaded guilty in the ACT Supreme Court to four charges. Court documents said Zhao and his buyers often spoke in code, using the phrases "a beer", "half an hour" or "an hour" to refer to amounts of methylamphetamine, or ice. He sold more than 665 grams of ice for about $6000 per 28 grams. Police had searched a Page house rented by Zhao and his wife after they began investigating him for ice supply in October 2015. CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trakopolis IoT Corp. (TSXV:TRAK) ("Trakopolis" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with a Texas-based oilfield services company specializing in transportation management of fluids and proppant, for an initial sale of 60 subscriptions of the ConneXt LoneWorkerTM gas detection solution, powered by Trakopolis. Brent Moore, CEO of Trakopolis, stated, The ConneXt LoneWorkerTM solution that Trakopolis and Honeywell have created brings both safety and productivity together to provide unrivalled insight and oversight to customers with at risk employees where every minute matters and every dollar counts. We are pleased with the short sales cycle with this new customer as our channel enablement focus continues to evolve and our average revenue per unit (ARPU) trends upward. About Trakopolis Trakopolis is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company with proprietary, cloud-based solutions for real-time tracking, data analysis and management of corporate assets such as equipment, devices, vehicles and workers. The Companys asset management platform works across a variety of networks and devices. Trakopolis has a diversified revenue stream from many verticals including oil and gas, forestry, transportation, construction, rentals, urban services, mining, government and others. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Brent Moore, President and Chief Executive Officer Trakopolis IoT Corp. Telephone: (403) 450-7854 Email: bmoore@trakopolis.com Ron Shuttleworth Oak Hill Advisors Telephone: (416) 487-9050 Email: ron@oakhilladvisors.ca Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: improvements in ARPU; the improvement of our sales and integration processes; and continued expansion through customer growth in the US market. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; our ability to improve upon operational processes; those additional risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors 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 time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. 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. Candice Burch has officially become Canberra's newest local politician. ACT Electoral Commissioner Damian Cantwell declared the former public servant the winner of a countback of 2016 ACT election preferences in the seat of Kurrajong on Wednesday. Canberra Liberals' newest MLA Candice Burch, was elected to fill the casual vacancy left after Steve Doszpot's passing last month. Credit:karleen minney Ms Burch is expected to formally take up in the Assembly chamber in second week of February after ACT politicians return from the summer recess, replacing Steve Doszpot who died last month. An economist and former assistant director in the Department of Finance, Ms Burch was declared the winner of the countback on Monday but was not confirmed until the official announcement, as Elections ACT allows time for successful casual vacancy candidates to resign from any relevant public office if required. High-flying Qantas executive Jayne Hrdlicka has quit the national carrier to join the a2 Milk Company as chief executive. The shock move comes less than a month after Ms Hrdlicka moved from chief executive of Jetstar to heading up Qantas' booming loyalty business. Jayne Hrdlicka is departing Qantas. Credit:Paul Harris The dual Australian and New Zealand-listed a2 Milk announced the appointment to both stock exchanges on Thursday morning. She will replace a2's current CEO, Geoffrey Babidge, and is expected to start at the beginning of the 2019 financial year. A former Commonwealth Bank financial planner who pleaded guilty to forging clients' signatures has been given a $3,000 fine and will not have a conviction recorded against his name. Ricky David Gillespie, a former Queensland-based planner who was permanently banned from the industry five years ago, was sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday after entering a guilty plea in October. Mr Gillespie pleaded guilty to one rolled-up charge alleging the forgery of 33 documents. BusinessDay applied for a copy of the magistrate's sentencing remarks on Wednesday, but these were not yet available at the time of writing. Mr Gillespie is one of several former Commonwealth Bank planners banned from the industry following a past scandal in its financial planning arm. Credit:Jesse Marlow Mr Gillespie, one of a group of CBA planners who were banned from the industry following a scandal in the bank's financial planning arm, was previously found by the corporate watchdog to have forged clients' signatures, provided inappropriate advice, and not complied with financial services laws. Fonterra Australia, the nations biggest dairy processor, has unveiled a boost in payments to its 1300 farmer suppliers in Australia and signalled that demand for dairy products in its key markets remains strong. Fonterra also confirmed that its milk supply volume is up about 25 per cent compared to the same time last year, largely due to the greater number of farmers who supply it with milk, many of whom have defected from competitor Murray Goulburn. Fonterra has increased its milk payments to farmers. Credit:Erin Jonasson Dairy farmers who supply Fonterra will benefit from a step up of 10 cents per kilogram of milk solids, to be paid from this Friday. The increase will be backdated, to cover all milk supplied from July 1 this year. The dairy processor said the increase takes its average milk price to $5.62 per kilogram of milk solids (MS). On top of this Fonterra suppliers receive another payment of 40 cents/kg of milk solids, which has already been announced. Fairfax Media, News Corp Australia and Nine will start sharing data about their audiences in 2018, aiming to compete against search giant Google and social media site Facebook for advertising dollars. The alliance plans to authenticate user identification to ensure that whenever a reader logs in to an account with one of the publishers through any device, they will be able to be tracked and targeted. Nine chief sales officer Michael Stephenson said it would allow the three brands to use their combined identity in brand safe environments. This combination of Australian publishers will offer a real alternative to the global players for our advertisers and agency partners, Mr Stephenson said. The main global players currently consist of search giant Google and social media company Facebook, whose role in diverting advertising away from traditional media is being scrutinised by the Australian competition regulator. ''The Lowys are getting out at the Everest of extreme tops encircled by the threat of assassin by Amazon,''said US-based Eric Schiffer, chairman of the US-based Reputation Management Consultants. ''The Lowys bailed on Westfield before Amazon destroyed their malls and turned them into relic tombs of the 20th Century. The Lowy's move has sparked debate. ''You can only do so much to reimagine a shopping mall. Its like trying to reinvent the horse and carriage, no matter how much you try you cant turn a horse into a Tesla. ''Retailers need to spend their crucial resources on the coming online war of all wars with Amazon, or get buried alive into a retail graveyard plot. The prospect of a rival bid for Westfield Corporation cannot be ruled out, analysts at JP Morgan said. JP Morgan analysts said it is possible that a rival bid could emerge amid a raft of merger and acquisitions in the global shopping centre space. On Tuesday, Sir Frank Lowy agreed with his Westfield board to enter into an agreement to sell the business after starting discussions with Unibail-Rodamco in mid-October. It was signed in the early hours of Tuesday morning at the Westfield office in London. The central promenade of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is called the Oculus. Credit:AP It comes three years after Westfield split its business into two, with the British, European and US assets, including the newly-built World Trade Center, New York, going to Westfield Corp, while the Australian and New Zealand malls were folded into the ASX-listed Scentre group. Under that sale and the most recent proposal, all shopping centres across the world will remain operating under the familiar Westfield name. If the cash and scrip bid is successful, it will create the biggest mall owner and operator, but will spell the end of the Lowy Family's day-to-day running of the empire that Sir Frank and John Saunders established in 1960 in Blacktown, western Sydney. ''This is a day of mixed emotions, but I am 100 per cent confident with my decision.. we will go from executives to investors,'' Sir Frank said. ''I am not sad.. its more bitter-sweet at the moment and its time for me personally to move on.'' Retail values flat But analysts asked if it also reflected the concern about asset prices. Retail real estate investment trusts across the world have seen prices fall as much as 10 per cent on the back of weaker sales, concerns about online shopping attacking traditional store sales and increased uncertainty through takeover activity. Loading At the briefing co chief executive Peter Lowy said it was a combination of factors in the descision, adding that the opportunities to develop flagship assets are limited. He said Westfield had been trading ata significant discount to underlying value and the offer has removed this discount. Michelle Hooper is among one in nine retail and fast food workers who have been verbally abused by a customer in the past 12 months. On one occasion, a customer shot a pellet gun at her through the window of a drive-in counter at the western Sydney fast food outlet where she works. "A bunch of teenagers came through and ordered a [drink] and I called out to them, 'I just got shot'," she said. "They just laughed and drove away. "How can anyone think that is acceptable behaviour?" When we visited Nauru as paediatric specialists three years ago, we were asked to see 30 of the 100 children being detained on the island. Among them was a six-year-old girl who had tried to kill herself and a two-year-old boy with such severe behaviour problems a doctor had prescribed anti-psychotic medicines. Their parents were in despair. They had fled persecution, trying to save their children from harm, but had ended up imprisoned on a remote island, without hope. We left with the view that these were the most traumatised children we had ever consulted on, far worse than children we had seen in Australia, Africa, Asia or Europe. Three years later, 43 of those children remain on the island. Officially they are now free to move around, but reports of attacks by locals show Nauru is not safe and so they remain in the "Regional Processing Centre". In 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission reported that children at this centre were deeply traumatised psychologically, and had even been abused. Their detention was harming them. When Australia introduced mandatory detention in 1992, it took 10 weeks on average to process an application for refugee status. Now it takes years. As the numbers of children in detention fall, the length of time in detention rises. This is deliberate: wilfully damaging children's health to deter others from seeking asylum. Children play near the Regional Processing Centre on Nauru. Credit:Amnesty International About 90 per cent of people who arrive by boat seeking asylum are classed as "genuine refugees". The United Nations Refugee Convention says countries shall not punish people for seeking asylum. It also says countries should never return refugees to their own country of origin. We signed that convention. So if those families on Nauru are not coming to Australia and not going home, what will happen to them? Australia has forgotten those 43 children on Nauru whom we visited three years ago. They are hidden out of sight on a remote island. The media struggles to report on them because the Nauru government charges a journalist $8000 to apply for a visa, which can be refused without right of appeal, no money back. When Alanna talked about Nauru at The Women in the World summit in New York in April, the Americans were shocked: "Not even Donald locks up children indefinitely". Tomorrow morning, Year 12 students across Victoria will receive their VCE results. Some will be elated and others disappointed. But is all of the hard work and emotional investment worthwhile? At a time when employers are crying out for the skills of critical thinking and problem solving, are exams in traditional academic subjects exams that students take alone and in silence really a good preparation for future success? Surprisingly, the answer is that they probably are. Critical thinking is clearly an important aim of education, but we fall into a trap if we think that it is a general skill that can be taught or developed through practice. As Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the university of Virginia, points out, small children can think critically about subjects that they know something about and trained scientists can fail to think critically about subjects they know little about. As The New York Times reported after the release of the Paradise papers: "True enough. The island Apple would soon rely on was in the English Channel." Jersey, to be precise. Staff at the Sydney store of Apple, one of many multinationals criticised for paying too little tax in Australia. Credit:Rob Griffith In May 2013, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, was grilled by United States senators about the nature and structure of his company's tax affairs. The senators were scrutinising a complex corporate structure, and how Apple had come to amass over $100 billion of largely untaxed profits offshore. We often say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But for some multinational firms, their tax affairs often do. Like millions of Australians, my life is better as a result of using Apple products. But I want the company to succeed based on product innovation, not tax innovation. The shenanigans uncovered by tax leaks are not always illegal. But what is legal is not always moral or economically sound. Public health and education services are threatened when tricky tax tactics erode the tax base. Aggressive tax planning can erode public confidence in the tax system itself. After all, one reason most of us pay the taxes we owe is that we believe we live in a society where our fellow citizens do the same. Bad apples can spoil the whole barrel. Multinational taxation is a particular issue in industries that are highly capital-intensive, such as technology and resources. If the profits mostly go offshore and the employment impact is limited, then tax becomes one of the main ways the community can directly benefit. While competition between countries is usually healthy, the race to the bottom in company tax rates can be distinctly unhealthy particularly when firms use accounting tricks to shift profits to the lowest-tax country. Let's put it plainly: there are a lot of crooks in tax havens. Gabriel Zucman, an economist at University of California, Berkley, estimates that about four-fifths of money in offshore bank accounts is there in breach of other countries' tax laws. Tax havens are used by drug-runners, extortionists and money-launderers. They are used to hide the proceeds of fraud, corruption and tax evasion. A recent study found that offshore wealth held by Australians was about 6 per cent of GDP. In today's prices, that would mean wealthy Australians hold over $100 billion in assets offshore. And we know that these people are not just wealthy they are super-wealthy. Anaheim, CA, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LiveWire Ergogenics, Inc. (OTC: LVVV), a company focused on research partnerships, product development and commercialization of cannabinoid-based products, continues its push into the medical and recreational marijuana business to become the premier supplier for genetics cloning. The company announced today that agreements have been made with a group of private investors to provide funding and equipment lease financing for future projects. Additionally, Bill Hodson, CEO of LiveWire, has been appointed to the action committee for the Inland Empire chapter of NORML, the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. LiveWires cloning greenhouse facilities and associated 4-acres of land continue to be improved with a water reclamation pond, power upgrades and security fences. The design of this turnkey property compound is in the process of being adopted and expanded for additional greenhouses. Navigating the ever-changing compliance issues prior to increasing the capacity of the cloning operations is of paramount importance to LiveWire. While we have made significant progress towards our ultimate business goals and are very pleased with the progress to date with respect to our land development, there is still a lot to be achieved as the market heats up. I look forward to personally immerse myself even further into the marijuana compliance, permitting process and other related legal issues. It is a big challenge to be out-front on compliance issues to insure our nursery operation can grow to its potential and realize the expected returns for our shareholders by providing quality clone strains and clean genetics to the exploding cannabis markets, Hodson stated. The new funding agreement will further develop the existing property, provide state of the art equipment, new greenhouses, develop additional locations within California and other states and facilitate new business acquisitions. This funding accelerates the push into the marijuana sector and LiveWires effort for building a sustainable and profitable business, short and long term. Currently, LiveWire does not grow, harvest or distribute marijuana that violates any local, state or federal laws. About LiveWire Ergogenics, Inc. LiveWire Ergogenics, Inc. (LVVV) is focused on identifying and monetizing current and future trends in the health and wellness industry. The Company is focused on establishing research partnerships to explore the application of cannabinoid-based products to target specific ailments or conditions with a large sufferer population for human and veterinarian applications. This includes the cloning of cannabis strains to produce positive medicinal results, dosing verification of zero pesticide products for quality brands and development and licensing of high-quality cannabinoid based products and services. The team at LiveWire Ergogenics has a passion for research and is committed to generate and implement innovative ideas and produce high-quality products that satisfy an increasing demand in this fast-growing industry. Forward-Looking Statements Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, financial projections, statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations, the development, regulatory approvals and commercialization of the Companys products, or any of the Companys other proposed products, systems or services. Such forward-looking statements are not meant to predict or guarantee actual results, performance, events or circumstances and actual events may differ considerably. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any projections may include, without limitation, the Companys inability to obtain additional financing, delays in the development of its products, the impact of significant government regulation in the cannabis industry, existing or increased competition, results of arbitration and litigation, stock volatility and illiquidity, and the Companys failure to implement the Companys business plans or strategies. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release. Each December for the past decade, I've reflected on the past political year. This task of summing up is a sorting and evaluating exercise, which selects the issues that matter most from the day-to-day business of politics and from the passing storms that erupt and then subside. This year, I decided there were nine such issues: legalisation of same-sex marriage; dual citizenship of MPs; national energy policy; federal funding of schools; asylum seekers; the Victorian Parliament's legalisation of euthanasia; the Queensland state election; the rejection of Indigenous constitutional recognition as proposed by the Uluru declaration; and the Turnbull government's dogged refusal to countenance a banking and financial services royal commission before it ultimately capitulated. Politics moves so quickly that, by now, foreign influence on Australian politics should certainly be added. Furthermore, the general characteristic of all these issues is that they are ongoing, not done and dusted. Next year, legalisation of same-sex marriage will morph into a continuing controversy over freedom of religion, conscience and speech. A committee led by former Liberal minister Philip Ruddock committee, due to report in March, ensures this. The first major heatwave of the summer started to lap Sydney's suburbs on Wednesday and is unlikely to fully recede for another week. Sydney's central business district will be spared the worst of the heat for most of the coming seven days as cooling sea breezes are expected to keep the lid on worst extremes. Western suburbs, though, sweltered from Wednesday with the mercury in Penrith nudging 40 degrees, with 42 degrees forecast there on Thursday. It may also touch 40 degrees again next Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The NSW Rural Fire Service has also declared a total fire ban for the Sydney and Illawarra/Shoalhaven regions on Thursday. Australia's ambassador to China was summoned for a meeting at Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in another sign of heightened tensions over the Turnbull government's crackdown on foreign interference. While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has maintained that sweeping new laws are not directed at any one country, he has described reports of Chinese interference as "disturbing", triggering anger from the communist government and state-run media. Australian ambassador to China Jan Adam. Credit:Sanghee Liu Ambassador Jan Adams' meeting first reported by The Australian and confirmed by Fairfax Media comes as Mr Turnbull rejects the Chinese criticism, saying he is standing up for Australian sovereignty. In their attacks on Labor senator Sam Dastyari, Mr Turnbull and other senior Coalition figures have said his involvement with Chinese Communist Party-aligned interests in Australia was a "classic case" of foreign influence and accused him of being a "double agent". The Turnbull government will launch an independent inquiry into allegations of rorts and misconduct plaguing a multibillion-dollar federal scheme designed to help house the poor. Social Services Minister Christian Porter will announce the review of the National Rental Affordability Scheme on Thursday, following a string of complaints against housing providers. Social Services Minister Christian Porter will announce an investigation into the National Rental Affordability Scheme. Credit:Andrew Meares Under the $3.2 billion Rudd government scheme, investors purchase new property and rent it out to low-income earners for 20 per cent less than market rates, in return for an annual $11,000 government subsidy. But since its launch in 2008 the scheme has faced persistent criticism that it has failed to meets targets and has been hijacked to build student housing for wealthy foreign students. John Alexander cut a lonely figure out the back of West Ryde shops, gazing upon the ugly concrete plaza on the first Saturday of the Bennelong byelection campaign. I thought we should say "Hi". Accompanied by my 12-year-old son, we asked Mr Alexander about an issue that bothered my child. Whether we agreed with his argument or not, it was a good start. We were going to talk about issues this campaign. We were going to unearth some fresh ideas to solve the first-world problems so prevalent in our electorate. How would our children ever afford university and a house? Or even one of those? Why are children excluded from the local school because the catchments are so badly skewed? Will the NBN work when it eventually gets here? Will the overcrowded, late, half-cancelled buses get me home in time for dinner with my family? Ever? Can anyone afford to have two parents working when childcare costs are through the roof? Can they afford not to? At worst, we would get promised a heap of good stuff as each party desperately tried to buy our vote. I would hear the magic words "working families" every day. Voters cooled on the Coalition during its perennial but pointless 2016 double dissolution election, but less so in Bennelong. A 3.1 per cent Coalition haircut nationwide was limited by Liberal John Alexander who secured a third term without resort to preferences, on a primary share of 50.4 per cent and a two-party-preferred share of 59.7 per cent. This healthy margin will probably protect Malcolm Turnbull from the ignominy of minority government when the contest is re-run on Saturday. For Turnbull, desperate to retain his 76th seat, this buffer is a godsend. Kym Ellery is about to jump on a plane back to Sydney for Christmas, but it's Paris that has stolen her heart. The designer moved there in early 2016 and on Tuesday, it was announced that her eponymous label will join the official schedule at the Paris Fashion Week couture shows in January. Kym Ellery will show on the Paris Fashion Week schedule in January. Credit:Steven Chee Ellery will feature on the couture schedule in Paris, coinciding with a shift in commercial strategy for the label, which in 2017 celebrated its 10th year in business. As of 2018, Ellery will release two main collections each year, instead of four. Each collection will be released in two parts, or "chapters". This is the year when a sea of pink dominated the streets of several cities in the US and around the world, the year when #MeToo became a symbolic driving force against sexual misconduct by men, and when a group of women - "The Silence Breakers" - graced the cover of Time as the voices that launched that movement. These events, says Merriam-Webster, are the reasons 2017 was a big year for feminism - at least literally. Gloria Steinem and protesters at the Women's March in Washington. Credit:AP The online dictionary has dubbed "feminism" its word of the year, meaning it is the most-searched word on Merriam-Webster's website. Lookups for the definition of feminism increased by 70 percent over last year. There were also several major spikes that coincide with major news events, said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large. "No one word can ever encapsulate all the news, events, or stories of a given year, particularly a year with so much news and so many stories," Sokolowski said. "But when a single word is looked up with great volume, it also stands out as one associated with several different important stories. We can learn something about ourselves through the prism of vocabulary." Less than two years ago, higher education wasn't a possibility for Iranian refugee Masih Ghasemi. But on Wednesday, Masih - who fled to Australia with his family in March 2016 - stood beaming alongside more than 100 high-achievers, having topped the state in his HSC course. Masih went to Epping Boys High School, but placed first in HSC Persian - a subject he studied every weekend at the language school at Arthur Phillip High. The 18-year-old woke up on Thursday morning to learn he had excelled in his HSC subjects, achieving a Band 6 result in every course except for English as a Second Language. The Blue Mountains council is facing suspension by the NSW government over alleged serious asbestos breaches, after the substance was discovered at a number of council-owned sites including two pre-schools and a library. Local government minister Gabrielle Upton issued the council with a formal notice of "intention to suspend" on Wednesday in relation to its asbestos management practices. The council must respond to the allegations within seven days, or it will be suspended for three months and a temporary administrator appointed. Councillors will remain in place during the seven-day response period. "I am concerned the council is not functioning effectively following the volume and scope of recent regulatory notices issued by SafeWork NSW and the Environment Protection Authority," Ms Upton said. Purcellville, VA, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Kentucky social worker forced her way into a familys home and strip-searched all six of their children in front of a male police officer, according to a lawsuit filed by Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) against the social worker and the officer. On December 5, 2017, HSLDA filed the complaint detailing how the two officials violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Holly Curry and her children. The complaint states that on March 31, 2017, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Investigator Jeanetta Childress and police deputy Michael Furnish forcibly entered Hollys home without a warrant, privately interrogated Hollys oldest child without her permission, and strip-searched each of Hollys six children. The officials were responding to a report made the day before by two police officers who witnessed Holly leaving her children in her locked van for five to ten minutes on a temperate day while she stepped into a cafe to pick up some muffins for them. Though Investigator Childress and Deputy Furnish had no warrant, Holly allowed them into her home when they threatened to take custody of her children. After taking Hollys oldest child into her bedroom to question her, the investigator returned and said she had to take a look at the kids now. She then proceeded to strip-search Hollys children, including her daughters, in front of the male deputy. As a father of seven, I am infuriated by what these officials did, said Jim Mason, HSLDA Vice President of Litigation and Development. Hollys children may never again feel truly safe in their own home. The bond of trust they have with their mom has been severely damaged. And the traumatic experience of being strip-searched by a stranger cannot be undone. HSLDA filed their lawsuit on behalf of the Curry family in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, seeking reparation for the emotional trauma inflicted on Holly and her childrenand hoping to prevent intrusive investigations of this nature from happening again. What happened to the Currys could happen to anyone, Mason said. Thats why HSLDAs work to protect homeschooling families in the privacy of their own homes is so crucial. As this case exemplifies, there is a system that thinks its okay to forcibly enter a familys home and routinely strip-search their young children. We are working to change that. HSLDA is providing updates on the progress of the case at www.hslda.org/curry. ----------------------------------- Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children. Visit HSLDA online at www.hslda.org. ----------------------------------- Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7815ea76-0c7a-41ac-9c6a-fa8d31c80872 A Family Court judge has delivered a blistering judgment on the "culture of bitter, adversarial and highly aggressive family law litigation" in Sydney and blasted two law firms for charging "outrageous" fees. In a judgment published on Wednesday, Justice Robert Benjamin said he regularly heard cases filed in the Sydney registry of the Family Court and was "increasingly concerned about the high levels of costs charged by the legal profession in property and parenting proceedings". Family Court Justice Robert Benjamin said solicitors are "not employed to act as 'postman' to vent the anger and vitriol of their clients". Credit:Karl Hilzinger He asked the Legal Services Commissioner to investigate whether the fees charged by the solicitors acting for a former couple fighting over parenting arrangements and property could constitute professional misconduct. Justice Benjamin said the couple, given the pseudonyms Mr Simic and Ms Norton, had spent an "eye-watering" $860,000 in the proceedings and "these amounts are, on their face, outrageous levels of costs for ordinary people involved in family law proceedings". The Macquarie Group's unsolicited proposal to build two towers either side of Martin Place has angered the owners of a neighbouring skyscraper, who complain it will be overshadowed and its views ruined. The owners of the MLC Centre say Macquarie Group's proposed tower on the south of Martin Place represents a "tipping point" and the "critical site in determining the future" of the pedestrian mall. The MLC's owners argue the centre's sky views will be "significantly impacted" if Macquarie's proposal is approved. The north and south developments proposed for Martin Place by Macquarie Group. The bank is seeking significant changes to the local building controls in order to build commercial towers on either side side of Martin Place - one more than 40 storeys at the "north site" and the other at least 28 floors on the "south site". The MLC centre, which sits at the corner of Martin Place and Castlereagh Street, is located directly opposite the proposed south tower. A notoriously dangerous beach on the NSW north coast has witnessed another tragedy after the death of a swimmer. Emergency services were called to Tallow Beach, near Byron Bay, around 12:30pm on Wednesday, following reports that a man was in trouble in the surf. Tallow Beach is not patrolled and regarded by locals as challenging. A 21-year-old man from Brisbane was found face down in the water by a surfer who brought him to shore. A NSW Ambulance spokesman said a bystander was performing CPR when paramedics arrived. They continued CPR for another 30 minutes but were unable to revive the man. A man who murdered his niece and dumped her body in a Central Coast blowhole says he has no recollection of his crime because he was on a drug binge that had caused him to black out. Derek Barrett, 29, murdered Chinese student Mengmei Leng in April 2016 at the home they shared with his wife and stepdaughter at Campsie in Sydney's west. On Wednesday, the NSW Supreme Court began a sentencing hearing for Barrett, who pleaded guilty in August to murder and 19 counts of filming private parts without consent. The killer spoke for the first time, claiming he did not remember the murder nor dumping Ms Leng's body because he was high on ice and synthetic cannabis, which caused a 48-hour gap in his memory. A woman who went missing on December 8 has been found safe and well, police said. EARLIER Police are concerned for a woman who was last seen on Friday east of Brisbane getting into a white van driven by a man she knows. Cherie Coutts, 38, has not been in contact with family since Friday afternoon and was not answering her mobile phone, police said. Karen Ristevski with husband Borce. The disappearance of the fashion boutique owner captivated Melbourne as police mounted an exhaustive search for any sign of her. Her friend, actor Samuel Johnson, pleaded for information about her whereabouts to a national television audience via The Project on Channel Ten. Karen's husband, Borce, their daughter, Sarah, and Karen's aunt Patricia Gray, speak to the media last year. Credit:Penny Stephens On February 20 this year, eight months after her disappearance, Ms Ristevski's remains were discovered 60 kilometres from her home, concealed under a fallen log in the Mount Macedon Regional Park. In court on Wednesday, prosecutor Andrew Tinney, SC, asked Ms Bolger that investigators be granted 12 weeks, instead of the usual 10, before they handed their brief of evidence to Mr Ristevski's lawyers. The site in Mount Macedon where Karen's body was found. Credit:Justin McManus Mr Tinney said investigators needed the extra time "because of the nature of the investigation and the ongoing work that needs to be done". Mr Stary objected to the two-week extension, saying police had been investigating Ms Ristevski's disappearance for 18 months. Karen Ristevski's funeral was held in Essendon in March. Credit:Joe Armao, Fairfax Media. "This man doesn't have any history and we want the matter expedited," he told the court. But Ms Bolger granted prosecutors the extra time as the request was not unreasonable. Karen Ristevski's daughter Sarah carried a photograph of her mother at the funeral. Credit:Joe Armao Mr Ristevski was remanded in custody to return to court on April 18. He nodded to the magistrate as he was led out of the dock and back into custody. Karen Ristevski. Credit:Seven News It is understood police were advised at least a month ago that there was sufficient evidence to charge. In March, hundreds of mourners filled St John's Uniting Church in Essendon for a private funeral service before Ms Ristevski's body was taken to her final resting place. Mr Ristevski was one of the pallbearers while Sarah carried a framed photo of her mother to lead the procession. 'She was a nice lady' There was no sign of anyone at the Ristevski's Avondale Heights home on Wednesday morning. Neighbour Mark Johns, 20, didn't see police arrest Mr Ristevski on Wednesday morning and said he believed the family may have moved out. "We heard recently that they did move out, that they were renting out the place, but otherwise you wouldn't hear a lot, mostly rumours." Another neighbour who didn't want to be named said he saw a moving van in the driveway of the Ristevski family home several days ago. "I assumed they were moving house because it was a big truck and they were moving everything into it." A third neighbour, who also declined to be named, said he last saw Mr Ristevski at the Oakley Drive home three weeks ago mowing the lawn. He said Mr Ristevski said hello to him, but he hadn't seen the couple's daughter Sarah at the home for some time. "She was a nice lady," he said of Karen Ristevski. "I feel very sorry for what happened to her." It is unclear whether the family still lived in the property which was listed for rent last month at the price of $900 per week. The mystery that gripped Melbourne The case of Ms Ristevski's death has been punctuated with rumours and theories since the 47-year-old mother disappeared, holding the attention of Melbourne's public. Mr Ristevski's brother Vasko claimed his sister-in-law fled overseas using a fake passport, while Mr Ristevski's son from a previous relationship, Anthony Rickard, told various media outlets there was a conflict within the family and his stepmother had planned to leave his father. In June this year, almost a year after she went missing, police released CCTV footage of a black Mercedes-Benz SLK coupe travelling towards Mount Macedon on the morning of Ms Ristevski's disappearance. Mr Ristevski reportedly told detectives he had driven his wife's 2004 Mercedes-Benz coupe on the day she disappeared to test a faulty fuel gauge. He said the car hit a bump in the road and the problem fixed itself, so he turned around and went home. Come June, missing persons detectives had used a painstaking process of elimination to identify fewer than 20 owners of coupes to speak to about what they were doing on the day Ms Ristevski disappeared to make sure the car caught on CCTV belonged to the missing mother. The couple had been facing financial problems before her disappearance. Caveats had been placed on their $1.1 million family home by lenders and Ms Ristevski's fashion boutique Bella Bleu, which had two stores in Taylor's Lakes and Broadmeadows, had closed. Karen Ristevski's brother says he has waited patiently for the day charges were laid over the death of his only sibling. Stephen Williams, in a statement, said it had been a surprisingly emotional day. "One in which I have patiently waited to arrive," he said. "It is in no way a celebration, but just another stage in bringing my beautiful sister Karen the justice she so deserves. A career criminal who murdered a friend over a $50 debt and then torched his body in a car has been jailed for 24 years. Robert Musso was this year found by a Supreme Court jury to have murdered Thomas O'Connell in February last year. O'Connell's body was discovered in his burnt-out Kia in Wandong, near the Hume Freeway. Musso met O'Connell in jail and was on a rare stint out of custody when he pursued his friend for several days before stabbing him once in the chest then burning a car with the body inside. Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said on Wednesday that in the days before the attack Musso repeatedly phoned O'Connell, sent him text messages, and contacted the man's friends. On the night of February 4 last year, O'Connell was heard by friends saying on the telephone "I'm sick of this" and "I'm coming to see you", before he went to Musso's parents' home in Mernda. The 32-year-old never returned. Key reforms to Victoria's toll road fines system appear doomed unless the Opposition and Greens support the West Gate Tunnel project. The proposed changes are contained in legislation to build the West Gate Tunnel but the government has indicated they will eventually apply to all toll roads. Toll road fine reform could be doomed. Credit:Phil Weymouth Tolling matters are placing a massive burden on the Magistrates Court, with the latest figures showing that driving on CityLink without a valid pass easily topped the list of charges in the past financial year. Community legal services have been lobbying to overhaul the toll and infringement system that can result in motorists being overwhelmed with debts. Melbourne Express: Thursday, December 14, 2017 Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss VANCOUVER, British Columbia and BONHAM, Texas, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kelso Technologies Inc. (Kelso or the Company), (TSX:KLS), (NYSE American:KIQ) reports that the Company has completed the design and implementation of its proprietary Active Suspension Control System (ASCS). Kelso has successfully outfitted a 2017 Ford F150 production prototype (Prototype) with the ASCS. The Prototype features our suspension-related patents (pending) that have been designed to provide heavy duty performance capability in rugged outback terrains as well as standard road conditions. Implementation of Kelsos business infrastructure and plans for the ASCS project has commenced. The ASCS division of Kelso will operate under the Companys wholly owned British Columbia subsidiary KIQ X Industries Inc. (KIQX) located in Kelowna, BC, Canada. ASCS equipment will be marketed under the trade name Kelso KIQ X Gear. All requirements of commercial production including sub-contracted facilities & equipment, supply chain and engineering are expected to be completed on or before the end of February 2018. The ASCS is a unique suspension methodology based on thirty years of research and experience. It is believed to represent a dramatic improvement over existing technologies presently used in commercial combined road-no-road vehicles. Vehicles featuring the ASCS are expected to provide distinct advantages to customers in terms of safety, effective performance and operational capabilities. The basic design premise of the ASCS is to manage the center-of-gravity of the vehicle with automated gyroscopic controlled air suspension. This ensures that the driver, passengers and payload remain in a stable position when driving in difficult rugged outback terrains including flooded areas. The ASCS technology package is well suited for use in desert, mountain, snow and low lying water regions around the world. Commercial sales and distribution are expected on or before March 1, 2018. Initial marketing initiatives for KIQ X Gear will focus on customers requiring reliable suspension performance in operations involving search & rescue, military, railroad, police & border patrol, first responders, railroads, mining, forestry, agriculture, ranching, pipelines, telecommunications, oil, gas, electric transmission and recreation. James R. Bond, CEO of the Company comments that: Our ASCS program is a key opportunity for Kelso to expand its brand in new non-railroad related markets. Many areas around the world such as Africa, Australia, Middle East and North America require high-performance outback suspension technology. The ASCS suspension is a key addition to our diversification business model. Our focus is to create a new breed of high-value Kelso products that can generate multi-million dollar cash flows from domestic and international markets. About Kelso Technologies Kelso is an engineering product development company that specializes in the design, production and distribution of proprietary service equipment used in transportation applications. Our reputation has been earned as a designer and reliable supplier of unique high performance rail tank car equipment that provides for the safe handling and containment of hazardous and non-hazardous commodities during transport. All Kelso products are specifically designed to provide economic and operational advantages to customers while reducing the potential effects of human error and environmental harm. The Company offers specialized truck tanker equipment, rail wheel cleaning systems, fuel loading systems, military applications, first responder emergency response kits and high performance suspension systems for motor vehicles being used in rugged outback terrains. For a more complete business and financial profile of the Company, please view the Company's website at www.kelsotech.com and public documents posted under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com in Canada and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov in the United States. On behalf of the Board of Directors, James R. Bond, CEO and President Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are indicated expectations or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include that all requirements of commercial production including sub-contracted facilities & equipment, supply chain and engineering are expected to be completed on or before the end of February 2018; that the ASCS is believed to represent a dramatic improvement over existing technologies presently used in commercial combined road-no-road vehicles; that vehicles featuring the ASCS are expected to provide distinct advantages to customers in terms of safety, effective performance and operational capabilities; that commercial sales and distribution are expected on or before March1, 2018; and that the ASCS suspension is a key addition to our diversification business model that can generate multi-million dollar cash flows from domestic and international markets. Although Kelso believes its anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, they can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information as such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Kelso to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information, including without limitation, that we may not be able to raise the funds we expect, the risk that completion of products may be delayed or cancelled; the Companys products may not provide the intended economic or operational advantages; orders may be cancelled and competitors may enter the market with new product offerings which could capture some of our market share; and our new equipment offerings may not capture market share as well as expected. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release. One man who has lived at the housing estate for 15 years said he had been standing with his arms linked with other residents in a peaceful stand against the right-wing protesters who were taunting them, when they were doused with pepper-spray by police wielding batons. "It was a really threatening environment," he said. "Many of us had no idea Milo Yiannopoulos was going to have a show near our home and it does seem deliberate that the location was chosen in an area where there is one of the largest migrant and refugee populations in Melbourne. "People were just coming home from work and they were ambushed as they got off the tram. Women wearing hijabs were particularly targeted." The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the violent protest had left residents distressed, with some children living in the housing estate too afraid to go to school the next day. Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville told radio station 3AW last week up to 300 police were called in to separate the protesters. To be heard, to be listened to, and to be believed. That's what survivors of sexual abuse deserve, say the lawyers and social workers who have supported thousands of people who shared their tragic stories with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, to be handed down on Friday. Megan Ross is the managing lawyer at Knowmore, an independent legal service set up when the commission was established to give free advice to people who might want to tell their stories. As well as uncovering the horrific extent of child sexual abuse, and devising reforms, the commission has offered a forum where survivors feel heard and believed, Ms Ross says. July 22: Anthony Rickard, who says he is Karen's stepson, comes forward and is questioned by police. Mr Rickard tells police that the Ristevskis' marriage was turbulent and that Karen had planned on leaving Borce. July 29: Police divers search a stretch of the Maribyrnong River, approximately three kilometres from the Ristevski home. July 31: Borce Ristevski tells reporters that although the family home has CCTV cameras outside, they haven't been working for five to six months. August 23: Borce Ristevski makes a public statement, claiming that police had strongly recommended he not speak to the media. In the statement Borce claims that the argument between him and Karen, over the day's takings ($850) at the family's boutique, Bella Bleu in Taylors Lakes, had nothing to do with her disappearance. August 23: Vasko Ristevski, Karen's brother-in-law, claims Karen is alive and living overseas. He claims she left the country using a fake passport. The new data shows that one quarter of students in the course had an ATAR below 68.20. The lowest ATAR was 55.30. Nursing at the Australian Catholic University had a cleary-in of 83.10 but one quarter of students had an ATAR of 78.45 per cent or below. At RMIT's Bundoora campus, nursing had a clearly-in of 69, but one quarter of students had an ATAR of 57.25 or below. But the data shows a sizeable majority of students in some courses obtained scores above the requirements. Primary teaching at Deakin University's Burwood campus had a clearly-in ATAR of 60.6, but three quarters of its offers went to people with an ATAR above 61.05. And Arts at Melbourne University, the course that receives the most first-preference applications from year 12 leavers, had a clearly-in ATAR of 89.30 and three quarters of its offers went to students with a score of 90.10 or above. Beijing: South Korean President Moon Jae-in has arrived in China with 200 business people, a sign of thaw in frosty relations with its major trading partner. As tensions rise between the Turnbull government and Beijing, South Korea's experience is a cautionary tale. Moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on Thursday to discuss ways to "normalise" relations. Chinese tourism to South Korea plunged 70 per cent this year. Beijing banned travel agencies selling group tours as retaliation for South Korea installing a US anti-missile system to protect it from North Korea. China claims the THAAD radar can spy deep into Chinese territory. South Korean retailer Lotte was forced to close stores after failing "fire safety" inspections. The Republican finger-pointing started minutes after candidate Roy Moore lost to a Democrat in deeply-Republican Alabama's Senate race, with nervous party members laying blame at the feet of each other and fearing their majority in Congress may evaporate in 2018 elections. Several Republicans had called on Moore to drop out of the race due to allegations of child molestation and, in unusual scenes on Thursday, they openly celebrated the shock win by their ideological opponent, Democrat Doug Jones. The win - in a race that was too close to call when voting booths opened - has left the Republicans with a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate. Despite most votes being counted, Moore refused to concede defeat at his election night function and asked his supporters to keep praying. Istanbul: The world's largest bloc of Muslim countries declared East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state at a meeting convened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, solidifying opposition to President Donald Trump's recognition of the city as Israel's capital. The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in a joint statement on Wednesday that it considered Trump's declaration "null and void legally" and an attack on the rights of the Palestinian people. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, centre, flanked by Jordanian King Abdullah II, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, prior to the opening session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul, on Wednesday. Credit:Lefteris Pitarakis The declaration was spearheaded by Erdogan, who hosted the summit of Muslim countries in Istanbul, said the US move meant Washington had forfeited its role as broker in efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "From now on, it is out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine, that period is over," Erdogan said at the end of the meeting. Vienna: An explosion and fire that ripped through Austria's main gas pipeline hub has killed one person and injured 21 others, prompting Italy to declare a state of emergency as gas supplies were cut off for most of the day. The Baumgarten site in eastern Austria, near Slovakia, is a major regional transfer node, taking natural gas from as far away as Russia and pumping it towards neighbours including Germany and Italy, its biggest recipient. Flames billow from a gas station in Baumgarten, Austria, near the Slovakian border after the explosion. Credit:AP News of the blast sent gas prices in Europe soaring on fears it would restrict supply as winter sets in. But by Tuesday evening local time the site's operator, Gas Connect Austria, said it would soon be brought back online. Italian grid operator Snam said flows would resume by midnight. "Flows on the Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline towards Italy, the West Austria Gas pipeline to Germany and the Hungaria-Austria Gas pipeline will be restored over the next few hours," Gas Connect Austria said, naming the main arteries that supply neighbouring countries from Baumgarten. Cairo: Flanked by army officials, two strongmen Russia's Vladimir Putin and Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sissi stood motionless, peering over their respective energy ministers as they signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant to the tune of $US21 billion ($27 billion). Russia and Egypt might be entering a new era of close ties, reminiscent of the previous Soviet sphere of influence during the Cold War, but that has more to do with haphazard US foreign policy. As Yemen's civil war worsens and Saudi Arabia assumes a more dominant regional role, American allies such as Egypt and Israel, as well as foes including Iran, are turning to Russia as a more reliable partner to push their domestic and foreign agendas. The military pomp and parade on display for Putin in Cairo on his flash visit on Monday was a graphic indicator of how both autocratic leaders are attracted to exuding political might rather than necessarily acknowledging the terminal economic calamities gripping their countries. Berlin: Roy Moore's defeat in the Tuesday special election may have come as a relief to liberal Americans, but in Europe it was taken as a sign that the United States has not totally lost its moral compass. The 2016 election victory of President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular across Western Europe, appears to have severely damaged the United States' status as a role model in Europe. Democrat Doug Jones' victory over Moore, a Republican - who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades ago - in Alabama's special election to fill a US Senate seat was interpreted by many in Europe as a reversal for Trump and a sign that all is not lost across the Atlantic. In Europe, the Alabama election result was widely seen as a "notable setback for President Donald Trump," in the words of France's liberal Liberation newspaper. Its centre-left competitor Le Monde declared the result a "referendum about Trump's political agenda," and Britain's Financial Times agreed that it was "a big blow for Mr Trump." That sentiment was perhaps most pronounced in Germany, where confidence in Trump has been even lower than in France and Britain. The centre-left German weekly Die Zeit framed the defeat as "the miracle of Alabama." HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Groups are invited to Get More by the Shore with an exclusive meetings offer from the Hollywood Beach Marriott that includes extra rewards, rebates and platinum status for events held through December 31st, 2018. With a top-floor executive boardroom, beautiful ocean views, and the latest in audiovisual equipment and amenities, the hotel is a prime space for unique and innovative meetings and events. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7bc777a8-a4d9-49fa-a9fa-e07ecec55b71 The Get More by the Shore Group Offer applies to all Hollywood Beach events and meetings booked by June 30th, 2018 and held through December 31st, 2018. The special offer includes: Up to 5% rebate to the master for rooms spend (tiered based on event spend) Double Marriott Reward Points + Rewarding Events Perks Instant Marriott Rewards Platinum status upgrade for 1 attendee for one year with $10K in room spend towards the master account For an intimate beach setting, Marriotts stylish hotel in Hollywood Beach provides just the right spaces and accommodations. Picture your meeting in a traditional ballroom or breakaway from the usual with a casual outdoor sand-between-your-toes event. With 6,720 square feet of event space including the hotels top-floor executive boardroom, your next meeting can feature breathtaking ocean views. The hotel also offers complimentary Wi-Fi throughout its facilities, experienced, reliable event planners and all the modern tools necessary to make your meeting a success. Offer Terms & Conditions: Book by June 30th, 2018 for events held through December 31st, 2018. Up to 5% rebate to the master account based on availability. Minimum of 20 peak rooms actualized. Offer cannot combine with any other special group offer. Offer not applicable to existing definite booked business. Some black-out dates and restrictions apply. For more information, or to book an event at the hotel, guests can call +1 954-924-2202. About Hollywood Beach Marriott Ideally situated right on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, Hollywood Beach Marriott offers easy access to the very best of this picturesque corner of Florida - from Gulfstream Park to the Anne Kolb Nature Center and dozens of restaurants and shops. Settle in to one of the hotels rooms and suites, all of which offer balconies with ocean views. Relax after a busy day on your plush pillowtop bed. Additional hotel perks for your Hollywood Beach visit include delicious dining at our recently redesigned Latitudes Restaurant, as well as an outdoor pool and a modern fitness center. If you're hosting an event, you will be thrilled with our versatile venue spaces, the largest of which can seat 500. And with the Hollywood Broadwalk just steps away, you have easy access to countless activities and things to do, all within easy reach of the iconic hotel. CONTACT: Hollywood Beach Marriott 2501 North Ocean Drive, Hollywood, FL 33019 +1 954-924-2202 http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/fllof-hollywood-beach-marriott/ PHILIPSBURG:--- Back in July of this year, the Minister of Vromi announced the signing of an MOU with a Canadian company, Envirogreen Energy Inc. According to the statement of the Minister in July about the signing, the company is studying the power purchase agreement (PPA) and the concession. Furthermore according to the Minister this company will not charge the government of St. Maarten anything. Further, than this statement in July, we have not heard from government or GEBE regarding respectively the concession or the PPA. With all the talk going on about the dump site in Philipsburg, the extra garbage because of the hurricane and the recent fires, the question begs, where are we with this concession and the waste to energy project? Not wanting to waste any time with questions to the Minister, which would most probably go unanswered, contact was sought with the company. On a hunch, I invited the principals of Envirogreen to have an audience with Parliament and present their plans for the dump site in Philipsburg. I was pleasantly surprised with the quick reaction to this invitation by Envirogreens COO, Mr. Quade. I, therefore, look forward to his/their visit to St. Maarten before years end to provide Parliament and the people of St. Maarten with some insight into what can be expected and the timeframe involved. Parliament will be on recess later this month, but I am sure members will be willing to interrupt their recess to hear about this vital project. As a Parliament, we can not sit back and wait until government decides it is time to inform the Parliament and the general public about matters of vital importance to our wellbeing. Such an undertaking must be widely communicated to ensure openness, as we have seen in the past too many of these waste management attempts fall by the wayside, without any explanation as to why by those who lead these projects on behalf of the government. Press Release from the President of Parliament PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a plenary public meeting on Wednesday, December 13, 2017. The Minister of General Affairs will be present. The urgent plenary public meeting is scheduled for 14.00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The agenda points are: Incoming documents Approval Decision Lists Public meetings Parliamentary Year 2017-2018 no. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9 Ontwerp van Landsverordening tot instelling van de Integriteitskamer, alsmede tot regeling van de inrichting, samenstelling, taken en bevoegdheden van de Integriteitskamer (Landsverordening Integriteitskamer) (IS/208/2017-2018 d.d. 6 december 2015)(ZJ 2017-2018-104) Amendment to article 69 and addition several new articles to the Rules of Order Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg. The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, SXMGOV Radio 107.9 FM, video live stream via the internet www.pearlfmradio.sx, www.sxmparliament.org and also Parliament FB page: Parliament of Sint Maarten. PHILIPSBURG:--- Christmas is a time for giving, showing and receiving love. The K1 Britannia Christmas Angels Program is a perfect way to show that this holiday season. K1 Britannias post-disaster relief work is aimed at bringing back some sort of normalcy to the community, but the Christmas Angels Program is aimed at bringing back joy and smiles to the many that need it. Since 2014, the foundation has hosted its annual Christmas Angels Program and will host it this year despite the circumstances after Hurricane Irma. The community is encouraged to visit the K1 Britannia team from Thursday, December 14th to Sunday, December 17th between the hours of 9 AM 6 PM at the New Government Administration Building on Pond Island. The two large Christmas trees will be filled with over 600 little angels which were all made with love by and represents a foster child, a client of the Sister Basilia Center, a resident of the St. Martins Home, a client of Mental Health Foundation, a member of UJIMA, or an underprivileged child who needs some extra love this Christmas. Persons can pass by, choose a special angel, buy a present for the child or elder it represents and in return get to keep the little angel as a gift from that person to them. This enables persons to feel the impact one single act can have on another child or elder. For more information about the program and how you can be a part of it as an individual or company, contact the foundation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , +1(721)553-8186 or via Facebook at www.facebook.com/k1sxm. K1 Britannia Foundation Press Release Proceeds will support advancement of AK002 in five disease areas Lead clinical program evaluating AK002 in eosinophilic gastroenteritis, an inflammatory gastrointestinal disease SAN CARLOS, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allakos Inc., a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibodies for the treatment of allergic, inflammatory and proliferative diseases, today announced the successful completion of a $100 million Series B equity financing. The Series B was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and included Redmile Group, Partner Fund Management, Rock Springs Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners, Samsara BioCapital, and a large institutional investor, as well as existing investors Alta Partners, RiverVest Venture Partners, Roche Venture Fund, and 3X5 Partners. Paul Walker, a Partner at NEA, will join the Companys Board of Directors. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Allakoss development programs including the Companys lead clinical candidate, AK002, which is being evaluated in patients with eosinophilic gastritis, indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM), urticaria and severe allergic conjunctivitis. This investment also will support Allakoss preclinical programs. We are excited to welcome a distinguished group of new investors to Allakos and appreciate the support of our existing investors, said Robert Alexander, Ph.D., and Chief Executive Officer of Allakos. The Allakos team is committed to developing antibodies to potentially treat a broad range of conditions for which there are no approved therapies or where treatment options come with undesirable side effects. We have made tremendous progress during 2017 and, with this financing, we look forward to continuing the development of AK002 and our preclinical programs. Allakoss highly differentiated approach has the potential to deliver first-in-class treatments for serious illnesses affecting both large and rare disease populations, said Paul Walker. I welcome the opportunity to work with the experienced leadership team at Allakos as they conduct clinical trials in several important disease indications. About Allakos Allakos is a privately held clinical-stage company developing antibodies that target immunomodulatory receptors present on the surface of immune effector cells involved in allergic, inflammatory, and proliferative diseases. The Companys lead antibody, AK002, targets Siglec-8, an inhibitory receptor expressed on the surface of mast cells and eosinophils. AK002 has completed two Phase 1 studies, one in healthy volunteers and a single ascending dose study in patients with ISM. In addition, patients with ISM are currently being treated with AK002 for up to 12 months in a repeat dose study. In these studies, AK002 was well tolerated and demonstrated pharmacological activity on objective measures as well as patient reported symptoms. For more information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.allakos.com/ Source: Allakos, Inc. Canadas commitment to boost its live-in caregiver program as a pathway to citizenship has boosted the business of nanny institutes in Punjab. Traditionally, people from Punjab have gone to Canada as farmers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and welders. For Punjabis dreaming of better opportunities abroad, a caregiver visa is now one of the best white collar ways to get into Canada, reported the Indian Express. Going to Canada as caregiver is a relatively new trend. After an initial boom, there was a downturn in 2009 when the processing time took much longer due to the increasing number of aspirants. Since last year, there is again a boom as rules were changed. Now a caregiver need not live with the family round-the-clock, but for a minimum eight hours in a day, said Gursharan Sodhi, who runs the Chandigarh-based Cali Healthcare Resources (CHR). There are about 10 institutes in the Chandigarh and Mohali areas alone offering the nanny course, charging between Rs 60,000 and Rs 90,000 The number of students in each class varies between 10 and 30. A network of agents offers packages to the aspiring immigrants, complete with the nanny course and a job offer from Canada. Armed with a certificate from a training institute, and a signed agreement of employment, a visa applicant can apply for a two-year work permit. After two years of working as a caregiver, the candidate is free to apply for a permanent residency and later citizenship in Canada. Jatinder Kaur, 22, is an economics graduate from Kapurthala and is enrolled with Chandigarh Immigration. She described the course as first aid, taking care of children and elderly, prescription reading. And admitted that her goal is Canada. I will get a good salary and better environment there. Fellow student Sukhjeet Singh, a 25-year-old electrical engineer from Hoshiarpur and the son of a Punjab Police inspector, said there is no money in engineering jobs. I worked as an engineer for three years. I was getting about Rs 20,000 as salary. As a nanny in Canada, I hope to easily make more than Rs 1 lakh. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada recently said it will have the backlog of permanent residence applications through the old Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) largely cleared by the end of 2018. In an announcement on Dec. 3, IRCC said its goal is to finalize 80 per cent of applications for permanent residence submitted on or before Oct. 1, 2017, by caregivers and their family members through the LCP. The commitments the government has made today will mean that many Live-in Caregiver Program applicants who have faced long delays and family separation may soon reach their goal of permanent residence, Canadas Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, said in a news release. After diligently providing care for Canadians, they may soon be in the company of their own loved ones, together in Canada. The program provided foreign nationals with at least two years of full-time, live-in employment as a caregiver in Canada with a direct pathway to permanent residence. The program was closed in 2014 but thousands of caregivers who were working in Canada were given an extended opportunity to apply for permanent residence. As many as 6,000 more applications for permanent residence under the LCP could still be submitted, IRCC says. In its announcement, IRCC also committed to processing 80 per cent of new, complete LCP applications submitted on or after Oct. 1, 2017, within 12 months. As of Oct. 1, 2017, IRCC said the number of caregivers and their family members waiting for their applications to be finalized had been reduced by 63 per cent. This reduction was due in part to additional resources that IRCC dedicated to processing the backlog of applications. IRCC says this push has it on track to finalize 5,000 more cases than it had originally forecast for 2017. In total, 20,000 new permanent residents will be welcomed to Canada this year in the caregiver category. IRCC also said that developments could soon be announced regarding a proposal to eliminate the $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee for Canadian families looking to hire a foreign worker to care for a person with high medical needs. The fee would also be eliminated for Canadian families with an income of less than $150,000, who are looking to hire a foreign worker to provide childcare. But not all Punjabis who turn up in Canada as caregivers remain as such, and might switch to other jobs after becoming permanent residents, said an immigration expert in Chandigarh. The majority of Punjabi immigrants do not want to work at someones home abroad. Also, the many Punjabi families in Canada who give job offers do not want a nanny either. It has become a sort of business for many to charge money for paperwork. For others, it is a way to help relatives and friends enter Canada, the expert, wishing not to be named, told Indian Express. National Institute Chandigarh owner G L Kaushal said caregiver employers usually cross-check several times to ensure that the probable caregiver does the job diligently once abroad. Students at the institutes confessed that they had tried unsuccessfully for US or Canadian visas earlier. My family is settled in the United States. But the US turned down my visa twice citing that I was overage. There is no upper age limit for caregiver job, said Rupinder Kaur, 26, who has come from Amritsar to the CHR institute. A woman from Faridkot, with a B.Sc in Biotechnology, said her application for visa for Canada under the hairstylist category was rejected a few years back. She hid her B.Sc. qualification at the time of application. She is now trying again under the LCP. By: Laura Bisaillon New Canadian Media This Worlds Aids Day, I am moving beyond remembering loved ones. I am shifting to a forward position and a distinct political hopefulness. My wish on this World AIDS Day is for Canada to change how HIV is dealt with in its immigration system. Specifically, I would like to see the nation change how it makes inadmissibility decisions about people with HIV who apply to live in Canada. This would be done through the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. It would involve changing specific institutional practices, including the collection and circulation of HIV-related data from prospective immigrants. The imperative for my research is to demystify social institutions like immigration so that we can explore and understand how things happen. As an interdisciplinary professor in health and social justice, and as a former social worker in a womans sexual health communities, I work to detect institutionally arising inequities. For the past 15 years, I have been involved in AIDS work. I have worked in the Horn of Africa and parts of Canada in direct support. My life and lives of people I care about, some of whom cannot immigrate to Canada because of their HIV status, are deeply affected by this infection and its unfortunate pernicious social standing. I work with teams to use creativity and critique in equal measure to produce do-able ideas for remedying some of these inequities. This is precisely what I have done for Canadas mandatory immigration HIV testing policy. The policy was enacted in 2002, but not ever reviewed until my work. The policy acts as a filter. It screens for HIV and sorts people with HIV out (with some exceptions). HIV is discovered in the medical examination that all applicants for permanent residency must undergo at regular intervals. Most of these exams happen outside of Canada in contexts that Canada cannot monitor. My motivation for assessing how this policy functions in everyday lives was because of the disconnect between immigrant peoples everyday social experiences through Canadas imposed HIV testing, and the official representations of these experiences. I formed alliances with racialized women with HIV from the Global South coming through the Canadian refugee ajudication system. Through them, I learned of the contrast between what actually happened in their lives with immigration medical processes and what is officially understood to have happened as documented in national government reports. I set out to understand how this dissonance was happening. All persons aged 15 years and older who request Canadian permanent residence, such as refugees and immigrants, are required to undergo HIV testing. Tuberculosis and syphilis are the two other conditions for which people receive mandatory screening. I produced the first social science exploration and critique of the medical, legal and administrative context governing the immigration to Canada for people with HIV. I identified both inequities and levers for change by using a feminist ethnographic policy analysis. An immigration HIV test catalyzes the states collection of medical data about an applicant. These are entered into state decision-making about the persons inadmissibility to Canada. As it turns out, the HIV policy and mandatory screening ushers in a set of institutional practices that are highly problematic for prospective immigrants with HIV infection, the Canadian state and what is means to be Canadian more broadly. Avoidable inequities have been happening for 16 years, and they are ongoing. The good news is that policies can be adjusted. People with disease and disability, and their advocates, recently met with Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to discuss and plan a future course of action. And we have recently learned that Hussen has said current medical inadmissibility rules do not align with Canadian values and need to be reformed. It was acknowledged that the ways in which medical inadmissibility decision-making is informed and practised are outdated. This certainly applies to HIV/AIDS, a chronic and manageable disease and an episodic disability, in the Canadian context. We see that HIV infection is scrutinized more and differently than any other health condition through the immigration process, where we see layers of institutional directives, guidelines and practices in place governing HIV/AIDS. A core problem with the HIV testing policy is that its not informed by or reliant upon the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.. Democracy depends on how we talk to each other. Research on the social determinants of health shows us that we all live better lives in egalitarian societies. Part of how to achieve such societies is how we talk and listen to each other. What sort of public spaces can we create to hear and be heard on matters related to the Canadian immigration system and medical inadmissibility decision-making? Opportunities are preciously few. I propose a roundtable on immigration, disease and disability in which I bring to the table the most up-to-date scientific knowledge about immigration and HIV. We could invite Harvards Professor Michael Sandel to join, because he also asks critically important questions about immigration (and sparks debate to collectively contemplate answers), as well as my colleagues at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. When can we meet to discuss immigration and HIV? Together in class, students and I have used the research record to examine the human rights implications of mandatory immigration HIV testing in Canada. We have done the same regarding the ethical and material consequences of medical doctors being asked to work in ethical problematic ways within Canadas immigration system. Just as other immigrants to Canada do, those with HIV will contribute to our society in myriad ways. Having interacted with thousands upon thousands of people with HIV over time and across space and place, they are among the most resilient and hard-working people I have met, which I attribute to the experience of personal suffering and knowledge of the larger social and political history of HIV/AIDS, not to mention their place within it. This is precisely the sort of immigrant that Canada wants and indeed welcomes. I am committed to a process in which we can talk with and listen to each other on matters of immigration and disease as they relate to HIV/AIDS. The moment is upon us to work with the most up-to-date scientific evidence to produce a medical inadmissibility decision-making system unfettered by inducing harm. Laura Bisaillon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media. See http://www.newcanadianmedia.ca/component/k2/42872-a-ray-of-hope-on-world-aids-day-for-canadian-immigrants CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyageur Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:VM) (the Company or Voyageur) is undertaking a nonbrokered private placement of up to 8,000,000 units of the Company (Units). As part of this financing the investor can choose either Equity Units at $0.075 per unit or Flow-Through Units at $0.10 per unit. (the Private Placement). Each Equity Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of Voyageur (Common Share) and one Common Share purchase warrant (Warrant). Each Warrant is exercisable for one Common Share at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of closing. The Warrant also contains an acceleration clause where-in if the Common Shares trade $0.20 for 10 days the Company has the right to accelerate the expiration date upon 30 days notice to the holders. Each Flow-Through Unit is comprised of one Common Share and Common Share purchase warrant (Warrant). Each whole Warrant is exercisable for one Common Share at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of closing. The Warrant also contains an acceleration clause where-in if the Common Shares trade $0.20 for 10 days the Company has the right to accelerate the expiration date upon 30 days notice to the holders. The subscription price of $0.10 per unit will be renounced as flow through expense. The Company will pay commissions of 8% cash and 8% broker warrants to arm's-length dealers in the connection with this Private Placement. Net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to meet the Companys commitments under its work program and for general working capital purposes. The securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a four month hold period expiring four (4) months from the closing date. About Voyageur Minerals Voyageur is a Calgary based company which owns 100% interest in three Barium Sulfate ("Barite") deposits including two properties suitable in grade for the industrial barite market place, and interests in two high grade lithium brine projects in Utah, USA. Voyageur's business plan is to develop its barite deposit at Frances Creek, BC, Canada, for potential near term cash flow, while it continues exploration for critical and strategic minerals. For further information, please contact: John Rucci Brent Willis Steven R. Livingston President & CEO Chief Operating Officer VP Finance (403) 383-8588 (587) 779-6166 (403) 471-1659 jrucci@voyageurminerals.ca brent@voyageurminerals.ca steve@voyageurminerals.ca Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Qualifying Transaction, including statements regarding the acquisition of future assets, the discovery and commercialization of commercial quantities of industrial minerals, the successful commercialization of the Companys assets, expected operational activities, other statements that are not historical facts. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that the assets do not provide commercial quantities or grades of marketable minerals, that even if they do contain commercial quantities of marketable minerals that the Company will not be able to economically produce such discoveries, the existence of commercial grades of commercial minerals, timing of obtaining required approvals, state of the economy in general and capital markets in particular, investor interest in the business and future prospects of the Company. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made, by third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OrderGroove, the leader in Relationship Commerce, today announced Adam Weinroth as Chief Marketing Officer and Stephanie Chan as Vice President of Consumer Marketing. In his new role as CMO, Adam will lead the charge to position OrderGroove as the category-defining company within Relationship Commerce. As Vice President of Consumer Marketing, Stephanie will partner directly with OrderGrooves clients to accelerate their sales growth by introducing highly-innovative experiences that make OrderGroove clients indispensable to their customers lives. Weinroth is a marketing executive, entrepreneur and Internet product innovator who most recently held CMO positions at eRelevance and OneSpot. Earlier in his career, Weinroth started his own venture, Easyjournal, a community blogging platform, which was acquired by Pluck. There, he went on to become the Vice President of Marketing. OrderGroove is a trusted partner for top brands like Walmart, Nestle and PetSmart as they shift their consumer interactions from one-and-done transactions to ongoing, long-term relationships, said Weinroth. Im thrilled to join the team and build the profile of both OrderGroove and Relationship Commerce to guide retailers during this dynamic, evolving commerce environment. "Its a real honor to attract a leader like Adam to the OrderGroove team. Adam has a deep understanding of todays marketers mindset and has years of experience evangelizing new technology categories that drive innovative solutions and results for Fortune 2000 companies, said OrderGroove CEO Greg Alvo. Coupled with a highly-strategic and entrepreneurial mindset, I look forward to partnering alongside Adam as we continue to forge what Relationship Commerce means for brands, retailers, OrderGroove and the industry at large. Weinroth earned a bachelors degree in Marketing and an MBA focusing on Technology Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin. Chan is an accomplished marketing executive and entrepreneur. Before joining OrderGroove, she was Vice President of Marketing for Ladders and CMO/co-founder of Please and Carrots, an early learning subscription service. Chan spent several years as part of the Time Inc. organization taking on ever-increasing marketing responsibilities, including Vice President of Consumer Marketing for InStyle, driving both consumer revenue and customer engagement. Im excited to join OrderGroove during this transformative period in commerce, said Chan. OrderGroove has helped major brands and retailers tackle shifting consumer expectations head on and garner tangible results on both the top and bottom lines. I look forward to working closely with this team of smart, forward-looking and ambitious professionals as we help our clients navigate disruption in the industry. Stephanie brings a wealth of valuable, data-driven consumer marketing expertise to OrderGroove through her work at companies like Please and Carrots, Ladders and Time, Inc., said Alvo. As we help our clients move their businesses from transactions and toward ongoing customer relationships, they look to OrderGroove to not only provide world-class technology and data science, but thought leadership and strategic insights as these are new business models for many brands and retailers. We look forward to tapping Stephanies trove of consumer expertise to help our clients better understand their own customers, and help them supercharge sales growth with our Relationship Commerce solutions. We are delighted Stephanie is now part of the OrderGroove team. A native Canadian, Chan attended McGill University and earned her MBA from Northwestern. About OrderGroove OrderGroove helps big brands and omnichannel retailers practice and achieve Relationship Commerce - shifting consumer interactions from one-and-done transactions to long-term, highly-profitable relationships. The companys unique combination of powerful technology, proprietary data and analytics and unique expertise helps brands like Walmart, PetSmart, LOreal, Nestle and The Vitamin Shoppe make the move from product centricity to customer centricitymaking their businesses indispensable to the consumers they serve. OrderGroove is headquartered in New York and has raised $40 million in investment funding from institutional investors including National Securities, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, SWaN & Legend Ventures, Western Technology Investment, Silicon Valley Bank, FYRFLY Ventures, Bee Partners and Stage One Capital. For more information visit www.ordergroove.com. Media Contact: Adiya Taylor ordergroove@launchsquad.com Hamilton, Bermuda, December 13, 2017 Nordic American Tankers Limited (the "Company") has previously announced the NAT recapitalization program where the equity offering is one component. The pricing of the equity offering itself took place today according to the Company's effective shelf registration statement. Following demand for shares the transaction has been upsized to $110 million. The Company agreed to sell 40 million common shares at a public offering price of $2.75 per share. At the Company's request, the underwriters have reserved for sale an aggregate of approximately 450,000 common shares for certain members of the Company's board of directors, management and advisors. The Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and his immediate family have purchased $1 million worth of shares all at the public offering price. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6.0 million common shares . The Company intends to close the sale of the common shares on December 15, 2017, subject to customary closing conditions. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to be part of the recapitalization program primarily to repay outstanding amounts under its current credit facility originally of 2004, finance the growth of NAT and for general corporate purposes. On December1, 2017, NAT initiated a sale/leaseback arrangement for three newbuildings to be delivered in 2018. This is a part of the recapitalization program. Morgan Stanley, Clarksons Platou Securities, Inc., DnB Markets Inc., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) and Seaport Global Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering itself. The other parts of the recapitalization program are supported by Clarksons Platou, DnB, SEB and Morgan Stanley. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. The offering is being made by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement. Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement relating to the offering may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC at 180 Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K. Contacts: Herbjrn Hansson, Chairman & CEO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91 Bjrn Giver, CFO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91 Gary J. Wolfe Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA Tel: +1 212 574 1223 Ariane 5 rocket takes off with European GPS satellites Kourou (AFP) Dec 12, 2017 An Ariane 5 rocket took off from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana on Tuesday, taking with it four satellites for Europe's Galileo navigation project, Arianespace said. The European space workhorse took off at 1836 GMT and was scheduled to deploy its cargo four hours after launch. The Galileo programme, when complete, will have 30 satellites in three orbital planes by 2020. If all goes according to plan the system will be able to pinpoint a location on Earth to within a metre - compared ... read more Ramsey, NJ, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After announcing earlier this year Workplace Hub, an innovative new enterprise IT solution that unifies all of an organizations technology via a single centralized platform, Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) has received four awards for its brand communication and activation approach. In accordance with its corporate strategy, SHINKA 2019, to become a leading IT services and IoT provider, these accolades confirm the technology leader is indeed having positive impact in transforming its brand reputation. The new brand communication strategy for Workplace Hub was recognized at the Transform Awards Asia last week. Konica Minolta, alongside its strategic communications and brand agency, Frank, Bright & Abel (FB&A), was awarded: Gold Prize Best development of a new brand within an existing brand portfolio Gold Prize Best visual identity in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector Bronze Prize Best use of copy style / tone of voice The disruptive new brand was also highly commended by Transform Magazine for Best use of a visual property. Were delighted to have created a brand identity for Workplace Hub that stands out in a highly competitive market and are thankful that Transform Magazine has recognized this across a range of categories, said Stacey Sujeebun, Director of Marketing Communications for Workplace Hub and North America, Konica Minolta. The new brand has been highly successful in signalling a real step-change for Konica Minolta, while still adhering to our global guidelines. By creatively exploring where the incumbent brand could be stretched, without breaking it, FB&A have developed a solution that is being heralded by all and is helping reposition us for the future. Konica Minolta partnered with FB&A to understand the brand challenges they faced in bringing the new and disruptive Workplace Hub product portfolio to market so that it would fit seamlessly in the companys Workplace of the Future portfolio and managed services focus. Global stakeholder and customer research revealed that the bold ambition for the Workplace Hub brand needed to be tempered by the credibility of the master brand. Yet it needed to connect and engage with CEOs globally and knowledgeable IT leaders, reshaping their expectation of Konica Minolta. As such, the team devised IT on Your Terms, a new tagline for the category in tune with the master-brand positioning of Giving Shape to Ideas, to infer Konica Minoltas intended market leadership with the category. To bring this positioning to life, the team created a new brand identity for Workplace Hub. Adhering to the corporate brand, it pushes the boundaries, breathing new life through its unique creative ecosystem made of a distinctive graphic approach / logo, rich imagery and human tone of voice. Norihisa Takayama, General Manager of the Workplace Hub Business Unit, Konica Minolta, added, By having a strong strategic communications approach, the Workplace Hub brand has enabled us to reflect a game-changing moment supporting our corporate transformation vision. Supporting this market engagement, Konica Minolta partnered with the leading brand experience agency, Jack Morton Worldwide, to develop a multi-channel, content led campaign called Spotlight to address the challenges and opportunities IT decision-makers associate with the future workplace. As part of the campaign, Konica Minolta hosted a press preview of Workplace Hub in Berlin (March 2017). Known as Spotlight Live, a TED-style event for a global audience attending in-person and online, the event was headlined by Douglas Coupland and included a dramatic reveal of Workplace Hub to the world for the first time. A well-received event, with around 170 members of the press and IT influencers present, it positioned Workplace Hub and Konica Minolta as a leading innovator across the Workplace of the Future. The campaign and event has gone on to receive the B2B experiential brand campaign / event of the year at The Drum UK Event Awards. The Workplace Hub platform represents an exciting point in Konica Minoltas history, paving the way for future work technologies to evolve. It goes without saying that having a strong brand and communications approach is important to help transform our organization to become a leading digital company, stated Dennis Curry, Executive Director and Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Konica Minolta. Were delighted that our work is being positively recognized and awarded by external bodies. For more information about Workplace Hub and how these activities have come to life, please visit: workplacehub.konicaminolta.com. About Konica Minolta Konica Minolta, Inc. is a global technology company that provides innovative solutions to businesses and society. With its strengths in the combination of its core technologies in advanced imaging, optics, sensing, materials and nano-processing, Konica Minolta is committed to create new values that help customers address challenges in their operations and work processes. Advancing its expertise in digital technologies, the company has been going through business transformation into a digital company with insight into implicit challenges across the board as One Konica Minolta in the era of Internet of the Things (IoT). Konica Minolta is also active in open innovation through various collaborations and alliances with academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners. Headquartered in Tokyo, Konica Minolta has its Group companies in 50 countries with over 43,000 employees and offers products and services in 150 countries around the world. For Press & Media Enquiries, please contact: Becca Cross Marketing Communications Specialist, Workplace Hub Group becca.cross@konicaminolta.co.uk Kristina Marchitto PR Manager, Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, Inc. kmarchitto@kmbs.konicaminolta.us Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a01c0b2c-069c-4fbc-bc34-382986bf78c1 The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When Glens wife assaulted him with a weapon, he reached out for help. Police dismissed his allegations, victim support agencies denied him service and shelters would not accept him and his son. Glen was trapped between an abusive partner and homelessness. In response to dozens of similar stories, a fundraising campaign is now underway to make Toronto the first metropolitan city in North America offering a shelter dedicated to male victims of domestic violence - and their children. Prominent mens issues charity Canadian Association for Equality has raised over $200,000 toward its $250,000 fundraising goal. These funds include a grant from the Ontario REALTORS Care Foundation, funded by the Toronto Real Estate Board. The charity is hosting a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to complete the final leg of its fundraising. The campaign will conclude on December 31st and if successful the shelter is expected to open in 2018. Imagine you and your child live each day in fear of violence, but no one believes you because you're a man, said CAFE Executive Director Justin Trottier. That is the situation for thousands of fathers in Canada every year, and for over 400 men in Toronto that reached out to us in desperation this year alone. Single father families are the fastest growing family form in Canada. Yet while the caregiving role of dads quickly expands, fathers who are suffering violence in the home still have no safe place designed for them and their children. CAFE has been operating a thriving mens health and social service facility, the Canadian Centre for Men and Families, for the last three years in Toronto. It opened a sister office in Ottawa this fall. Information on the Campaign is available at https://www.gofundme.com/abusedmenshelter/ CONTACT Justin Trottier Executive Director Canadian Association for Equality jtrottier@equalitycanada.com 416-402-8856 Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Instead, many companies prefer to hide behind formulaic statements and continue to reject all accusations of any wrongdoing. Industry lobbying groups have likewise sought to cast doubt on the studies that have found recipe discrepancies. But Bahlsen, the manufacturer of the popular sweet biscuits under the Leibniz brand, has taken a different tack. Recently, the company fixed a discrepancy between the recipe it was using in Germany and the recipe it was using in Poland. Company spokesman Christian Bahlmann says that he began suspecting an approaching PR disaster for the company in summer 2016. "It began relatively quietly on social media channels," he says. Customers were asking why Leibniz biscuits baked in the company's Polish factory contained less butter and more palm oil than those produced in Germany. And the company did not have a satisfactory answer. Bahlmann realized that it could become a problem for the brand. After all, the recipe for the sweet biscuits had been around since 1891. Suddenly diluting it with palm oil looked extremely suspicious. But in July, Bahlsen reversed course and has been using exclusively butter since then -- in its Polish factory as well. Cheaper Production Another company that has elected to buck the industry-wide trend of denial is Frosta, a Hamburg-based frozen food company. Felix Ahlers, whose family runs the company, has chosen not to try to use the "national preferences" excuse cited by Iglo, its main competitor. "There is only one reason to use less fish," Ahlers says. "To make production cheaper." For years, Frosta fish sticks produced in Poland were wrapped in a much thicker layer of breading. But the company fixed the inconsistency a year and a half ago. In contrast to Germany and Austria, there are no laws in Poland that required Frosta to make the change, but Ahlers says it was an issue of credibility. "The argument about regional tastes is nonsense," he says. It isn't difficult, he says, to condition children to prefer more breading. "But really, everybody wants more fish in their product," he says. And tests undertaken by Frosta, he says, have shown that Polish consumers prefer the new recipe. Still, many companies continue to insist that it makes sense to have different recipes for different countries. A spokeswoman for the SPAR supermarket chain in Austria made clear that the company doesn't believe products should contain exactly the same ingredients across Europe. The yoghurt sold by SPAR in Eastern Europe, for example, has less fruit in it than the same yoghurt -- packaged under a virtually identical label - sold in Austria, according to a test performed by the Slovenian consumer protection organization ZPS. Furthermore, the fish sticks sold under SPAR's own brand name are fattier and more expensive in Eastern Europe. The spokeswoman justified the discrepancies by citing alleged differences in taste - and by reviving a few outmoded, postwar cliches. Hungarians, she claimed, demand "rather fatty meat." That, she continued, is something known by all industry experts. "It's not something you need a study for." The company also seems rather flexible on other issues as well. In 2011, the company set a goal for itself of only using fish from sustainable sources and catch methods starting in 2013. But that doesn't seem to apply to Eastern Europe. Indeed, the Marine Stewardship Council certification seal is missing from many of the company's fish products in the region. In Slovenia, the spokeswoman said, most consumers aren't particularly concerned about sustainability. Ripping Them Off? The American consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble -- which owns the brands Gillette, Lenor and Pampers, among many others -- is much more rigorous when it comes to determining the predilections of its customers, with a company spokeswoman claiming that it performs 20,000 studies each year. One finding she mentioned as an example is that Poles prefer squirting dishwashing liquid directly onto the sponge rather than using a sink filled with soapy water, as the Germans prefer. So is the company giving Poles what they want by using a more diluted mixture than that sold in Germany? Or is it simply ripping them off? Tests that are pointed to as proof of alleged national differences are often commissioned from the Appliance Technology department at the University of Bonn. One of the studies undertaken by the department is called "Washing-up Behaviour and Techniques in Europe," and as part of the study, 11 test subjects from Poland and the Czech Republic were questioned, apparently by telephone. Hardly a representative study. Paris (France), Dec 12, 2017 (SPS) - Saharawi Minister of the Occupied Territories and Diaspora Mohamed Ouali Akeik on Tuesday demanded that Morocco stop trying Saharawi activists for their political views, using confessions obtained under torture. "The Frente POLISARIO and the government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) want to recall that there is a matter of urgency that the Kingdom of Morocco stop trying Saharawi activists for their political views, on the basis of confessions obtained under torture," said the Saharawi official, who is in Paris to meet with Western Saharawi's community based in France. Amnesty International had launched Monday a campaign for an urgent action in support of the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik, underlining the necessity to transfer them to the Saharawi occupied territories. The Saharawi minister's statement came as a trial of Saharawi students is scheduled to open Tuesday. Amnesty International's campaign is part of a series of calls by international organizations to Moroccan authorities "asking them to meet their obligations, stipulated in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as a result of politically-motivated legal proceedings against the people of Western Sahara, a non-autonomous territory under foreign occupation."SPS 125/090/700 The comprehensive and interactive checklist developed in conjunction with vets and nutritionists experienced in investigating youngstock management problems helps practitioner and farmer work closely together to draw up a workable action plan to improve calf health. This new checklist-based tool explores, records and scores calf health performance across five core areas to identify the strengths and weaknesses of any rearing units environment and processes, said MSD Animal Health ruminant veterinary adviser Kat Baxter. Working through a series of 10 questions within each core area designed to tease out where a rearing unit is in terms of accepted best management practice allows vet and farmer to quickly pinpoint any areas needing attention. Whats more, repeating the checklist every six or 12 months is a great way to keep things on track, allowing both parties to monitor progress against agreed targets, she added. STAMFORD Tableware supplier G.E.T. Enterprises, which is owned by private equity firm Olympus Partners, has merged with kitchenware and tableware supplier Winco, company officials announced this week. Jersey Village, Texas-based G.E.T., and Lodi, N.J.-based Winco will continue to operate as separate companies, according to Olympus officials. G.E.T. and Winco, respectively, have about 100 and 180 employees. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is really a growth avenue for both businesses, Olympus partner Mike Horgan said Tuesday. By bringing these two companies together, they will grow a lot faster than they would alone. G.E.T. represents one of 12 companies currently owned by Stamford-based Olympus, which acquired the firm for an undisclosed amount in 2016. We are thrilled to create one G.E.T. and Winco family, G.E.T. CEO Heidi Modaro said in a statement. By adding the Winco product lines, we are blending our alternative material products with a broad line of the highest quality small-wares. This merger will bring clear benefits to our customers." This fall has marked one of Olympus busiest periods to date, as it has announced or completed several major deals. Last month, the firm agreed to sell Stamford event-hospitality firm Centerplate to French catering-services giant Sodexo for $675 million. It bought Centerplate for about $570 million five years ago. In the same week, Olympus announced it would acquire Nashville-based HR firm Vaco for an undisclosed amount. In September, Olympus closed on the $605 million sale of Columbia, S.C.-based pharmaceutical firm Ritedose Corp., after buying it eight years earlier for about $150 million. Olympus has posted a 30 percent gross internal rate of return since it started investing in 1990. Losses account for only 2.6 percent of $3.7 billion in controlling investments, according to data provided by the firm. We dont operate to try to have two or three (investments) work well and seven blow away, founder and managing partner Rob Morris said in a recent interview. We try not to lose money. Public and private pension funds, endowments and large trusts are significant backers. Olympus was founded in 1988, and it has operated in Stamford since 1990. About two dozen work in its offices at the Metro Center complex across the street from the downtown Metro-North train station. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Westport financial firm and its CEO, claiming clients were hit with nearly $800,000 in extra hidden fees and other charges on risky investments that resulted in losses of $1.2 million. Westport Capital Markets has its office at 257 Riverside Ave. in Westport and is run by Christopher McClure, with the firm operating as an investment broker-dealer both for individuals and insitutional investors. McClure forwarded a Hearst Connecticut Media query to an attorney who stated McClure and his company will defend themselves against the SEC accusation. BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Profitect Inc., the leading prescriptive analytics provider for retail, wholesale, and the CPG industry, today announced that Governor Charlie Baker will be joining the company in celebrating its new office headquarters on Friday, December 15 at 4:00 pm. The new office space was secured to support the companys second consecutive year of 200%+ year over year growth. Profitect is now located at 200 Summit Drive, Burlington, MA and the celebration on December 15th will take place from 4:00 8:00 pm ET. In addition to overall revenue growth, in the last 12 months, Profitect has had a triple-digit increase in staff across the companys global offices. Based out of its Massachusetts headquarters alone, the company added both Executive and junior roles within marketing, engineering, sales, data operations, and customer success. Appetite for Profitects award-winning prescriptive analytics solutions has been a key driver for recruiting talent. Massachusetts is home to a nation-leading innovation economy because of successful companies like Profitect who continue to hire and grow inside the Commonwealth, said Governor Charlie Baker. We were pleased to recently award Profitect and several other technology and manufacturing companies with support through the Workforce Training Fund Program to train workers with the requisite skills to fill needed job openings. Profitect is hosting an office opening celebration for its employees, family members, customer base, and partners. Details include: WHO: The Honorable Governor Charlie Baker & Profitect friends and family The Honorable Governor Charlie Baker & Profitect friends and family WHAT: Profitect Office Opening Celebration Profitect Office Opening Celebration WHEN: December 15, 4:00 8:00 pm ET. December 15, 4:00 8:00 pm ET. WHERE: New Profitect Burlington Headquarters 200 Summit Drive, Burlington This has been another tremendous year for Profitect and I couldnt think of a better way to honor this achievement than with a grand opening celebration surrounded by those who have made it happen including the Honorable Governor Charlie Baker, said Guy Yehiav, CEO, Profitect. This expansion is further validation that our retail and CPG customer base is realizing exceptional value and ROI by leveraging our solutions to truly understand and act on their data. About Profitect Profitects award-winning prescriptive analytics solutions eliminate confusion around reports within the worlds most innovative retail and CPG companies by taking their data, identifying opportunities, prescribing easy-to-understand actions, and leveraging workflows and tasks to ensure the right actions are taken when needed. To learn more about Profitect visit: http://www.profitect.com. Media Contact: Tania Stockbridge tania.stockbridge@profitect.com 781-290-0009 STAMFORD During the last property revaluation, many taxpayers said they felt blindsided. For this one, they may just feel bewildered. In 2012, values careened so wildly that some tax bills spiked 25 percent and others fell by about the same amount. The Board of Representatives responded by requiring that the city notify taxpayers in advance of the 2017 revaluation. Notices are expected to be mailed by Friday. At a meeting earlier this week, Mayor David Martin warned city representatives that they may hear from constituents once the letters arrive. I did not get a chance to review the letter before it was ready to go out, and I think its a little confusing, the mayor said, explaining that wanted to give taxpayers enough information to gauge how the new property values will affect their 2018-19 tax bills. He summarized the important, if perplexing, thing about revaluation, which municipalities undertake every five years by state law. Your property value can go down and your taxes can still go up, Martin said. Thats because it is not just what happens to you its in comparison to everybody else. Figuring that out begins with the Grand List the value of all taxable property in Stamford. The 2017 revaluation showed that, in the last five years, the worth of the list increased a healthy 8 percent. More Information 2017 revaluation Stamford property owners will soon receive letters explaining the difference in property values over the last five years. Data assumes: Value of Grand List+8% City's 2018-19 budget+2% Based on average assessment of a single-family home: $425,000 Home value change Estimated tax change 0% -6% +5% -1% +10% +4% -10% -16% 2017 revaluation Stamford property owners will soon receive letters explaining the difference in property values over the last five years. Data assumes: Value of Grand List increased 8% City's 2018-19 budget increases 2% Based on average assessment of a single-family home: $425,000 Home value change Estimated tax change 0% -6% +5% -1% +10% +4% -10% -16% See More Collapse So a taxpayer whose home value increased more than 8 percent will take on a larger portion of the tax burden, and a taxpayer whose value came in at less than 8 percent will take on a smaller portion, Martin said. The revaluation is about what your share is of the total, he told representatives. For this years assessment, the city hired Municipal Valuation Group, which found that the average single-family home in Stamford increased in value by 5 percent, Tax Assessor Gregory Stackpole said. Because the Grand List grew more than that, the average single-family homeowner can expect a slight decrease in taxes, Stackpole said. To figure out how much of a decrease, elected officials first have to determine how much the city budget will increase for 2018-19, since tax revenue must cover that cost. Say, for example, the budget increases by 2 percent. The average single-family homeowners next tax bill then would be 1 percent smaller, said Stackpole, who emphasized that results will differ based on not only the size of the budget increase but also market fluctuations. Stamford is a very diversified market its not a suburb with only single-family homes where everything falls and rises at the same rate, Stackpole said. Its a complex city with distinctly different neighborhoods, and each neighborhood has its own cycles. Even the single-family market has distinctions, he said the market for larger homes, for example, is flat. Len Schwartz, president of the Stamford Board of Realtors, said the same. Single-family homes priced below $500,000 get snapped up quickly in a city where the average selling price this year was $653,000, Schwartz said. Five years ago, it was $634,000, he said. Condominium prices rose even less during that time from an average of $330,000 to $338,000 but the number of sales increased significantly, Schwartz said. We sold 427 condos in 2012 and so far this year its 603, he said. The market is stronger now than it was five years ago. Thats why there are revaluations, said Michael Handler, the citys director of administration. Its to capture all the changes, Handler said. The revaluation showed, for example, that multi-family houses increased in value much more than single-family ones between 2012 and 2017, Stackpole said. The average increase for multi-families was about 20 percent, he said. That market was depressed in 2012 there had been a lot of foreclosures in the years before that revaluation. But its on the rebound now. Thats true, Schwartz said. His data shows that the average closing price for a multi-family house five years ago was $350,000. So far this year its $532,000, he said. All of a sudden this year that market took off. Theyre selling really quickly and everyone is looking for them, Schwartz said. I think its property investors coming back. So owners of multi-family homes will take a larger share of the tax burden beginning July 1. So will commercial property owners, Stackpole said. The 2017 assessment showed that the value of retail properties increased about 10 percent, he said. The value of office space is up slightly, especially buildings with multiple tenants, he said. And the value of apartment buildings those with five families or more increased an average of 15 percent, which takes some of the tax burden from residential property owners, he said. The apartments are being built where people want to live not only Harbor Point, but downtown, Stackpole said. People think renters dont pay property tax, but they do, Handler said. When taxes on the buildings go up, rents go up, too. The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management released a report earlier this year showing that Stamford had the states fourth-highest increase 49 percent over five years in mill rate, which is used to calculate tax bills. Martin has said that 35 percent of that was because of the 2012 revaluation. But Schwartz said that, as a realtor, he doesnt get many questions about revaluation. I dont hear, How do you think my taxes are going to change? he said. There may not be much awareness until letters or tax bills go out. And now letters are going out. Im sure there will be much confusion, the mayor reiterated in addressing city representatives this week. I suspect you will want to put it on your agenda for a more in-depth briefing next month. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. and NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science, information technology, and engineering company and Claroty, an innovator in operational technology (OT) network protection, announced today that Leidos has partnered with Claroty to provide passive monitoring capabilities to its Industrial Defender Automation Systems Manager (ASM) solution for industrial control systems (ICS) networks. Leidos customers will immediately gain enhanced cybersecurity for industrial and critical infrastructure networks by integrating the Claroty Platform for continuous threat monitoring, detection and response. The offering will be available through resale by Leidos to both current and future Leidos Industrial Defender ASM customers. The Claroty Platform is an award-winning suite of integrated products specifically designed for OT or ICS environments. It provides comprehensive protection, detection and response capabilities yielding unmatched cyber risk management for OT or ICS networks. The platform proactively protects and continuously monitors ICS networks in a passive manner for cyber threats. This approach ensures no interruption to critically important industrial processes. With secure remote access, asset owners can employ policies to control remote employee and third-party access to critical systems, and record the sessions. Continuous threat detection creates a detailed inventory of industrial network assets, identifies misconfigurations, monitors traffic between assets, and finds anomalies that may indicate the presence of a malicious actor. Context-rich alerts provide plant and security personnel with actionable insights for efficient investigation, response, and recovery. Leidos Industrial Defender ASM solution addresses the overlapping requirements of cybersecurity, compliance, and change management for ICS. Industrial Defender ASM is the industry standard for maintaining availability and reliability of critical infrastructure amid escalating cyber threats, increasing regulatory burdens, and accelerating ICS management challenges. Leidos has long helped customers gain better visibility into their industrial networks and control their extensive base of installed assets and manage vulnerabilities, said Bob Meindl, President of Leidos Cyber, Inc. Claroty is recognized as a market leader in their segment with deployments across six continents and nine industry verticals. Partnering with Claroty is a logical step as we strive to help our customers better manage and secure these critical networks. I have said in the past that nothing will deter us from our mission of bringing rapid and long overdue change to the cybersecurity of industrial control networks, said Amir Zilberstein, Chief Executive Officer of Claroty. In addition to direct activity, we have employed a strategy of working with key partners around the globe to accomplish this mission. Working with Leidos is the latest demonstration of our partner-focused mindset and another great step forward for ICS security. Not only does the relationship mean that existing Leidos customers will be better protected it opens new avenues to helping customers across the globe. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the worlds toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The companys 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. About Claroty Launched as the second startup from Israels famed Team8 foundry, Claroty combines elite management and research teams and deep technical expertise from both IT and OT disciplines, with backing from premier investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners and Innovation Endeavors. With an unmatched understanding of ICS, SCADA and other essential OT/IIoT systems, the Claroty team is building an unparalleled suite of integrated products addressing the full spectrum of cybersecurity protection, detection and response requirements. For more information, visit www.claroty.com. All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metallic Minerals Corp. (TSX-V:MMG) (US OTC:MMNGF) (Metallic Minerals or the Company) is pleased to announce diamond drill results from seven holes drilled on the Caribou and Duncan targets in the Keno Summit area at its 100% owned Keno Silver Project in Canadas Yukon Territory. A total of 1,320 meters of diamond drill core was collected from 14 holes in 2017 on areas prioritized during initial exploration work, namely Caribou, Duncan and two vein targets at Homestake (see Figures 1 and 2). The results clearly show that the Caribou target is a classic Keno-type high-grade system with bonanza grades, such as hole CH017-023, which intercepted 1.6 meters grading 2,851 g/t silver equivalent (1,405 Ag g/t, 26% Pb, 3.7% Zinc and 0.28 g/t Au), and that the system is open to further expansion down dip to the north and south. Final results from 2017, including the drilling from two priority targets on the Homestake block, are anticipated in the coming weeks. The objective at the Caribou and Duncan targets was to drill below the shallow historic mining and sampling on the structure to determine the potential of the systems to host significant high-grade silver-lead-zinc deposits and to provide vectors to assist follow-up exploration. The Company completed six drill holes that intersected the Caribou structure, with highlight assay results shown below in Table 1. One hole was drilled at the Duncan target that intersected three mineralized structural zones within Keno Hill quartzite, one of the districts preferred host rocks, down dip from the historic mine confirming the presence of the main structural corridor. Both areas are expected to priority targets for the planned 2018 exploration program. Table 1: Highlighted 2017 Caribou Target Area Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t CH17-021 39.35 42.0 2.65 407 3.39 6.35 0.834 972 including 39.35 39.80 0.45 1,607 15.47 1.70 0.759 2,487 39.80 40.85 1.05 194 0.94 9.95 0.718 827 40.85 42.00 1.15 132 0.89 4.89 0.971 512 CH017-23 40.7 42.3 1.6 1,405 25.98 3.72 0.282 2,851 including 40.70 41.50 0.80 2,408 47.30 4.69 0.108 4,898 41.50 42.30 0.80 402 4.65 2.74 0.456 804 CH17-026 48.62 50.85 2.23 59.1 0.82 4.99 0.960 440 including 49.90 50.85 0.95 104 1.55 9.76 1.641 828 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Greg Johnson, Metallic Minerals Chairman & CEO stated, We are very pleased with the first drill results from the Keno Silver Project, which support our strategy of systematic exploration to rapidly advance targets to drill stage and potential resource delineation. At the Caribou target, our results confirm the existence of high-grade silver and that we have a well-mineralized structure that is open to depth, with widths of 1-3 meters that are typical of the Keno Hill silver district. We now have 14 intercepts grading more than 800 g/t silver equivalent on the Caribou structure with the system open to expansion to the north and south (see Figure 3 - Caribou Long Section below). To put this in context the average reserve grade for primary silver deposits in the industry is 300 g/t silver or 500 g/t silver equivalent1 with the average resource grade in the Keno district at 400-500 g/t silver. Future work at the Caribou target will focus on step out drilling of the higher-grade zones to determine the ultimate scale of the mineralized system. We anticipate conducting a robust 2018 exploration program and to continue development of the 12 priority targets, along with several new priority targets that were added through acquisitions in the district this year. Caribou Target Area The Caribou target, located on the east side of Caribou Hill, was discovered and worked in the 1920s and 30s and produced 87 tons of high-grade material grading 6,072 g/t silver produced from the collective workings. A limited amount of shallow drilling and surface trenching was previously completed on the prospect between 2008 and 2011 with significant high-grade results reported (see Table 2 and 4 below). Exploration by Metallic Minerals on the Caribou target in 2017 followed up on the historic surface work with detailed stratigraphic mapping, magnetic and VLF geophysical surveys, as well as the extension of soil sample grids over the broad target area. Diamond drilling was focused on testing down dip, along the structure below the shallow historic sampling, to determine the potential depth extension of the open-ended mineralization. The results of the drilling show a shallow dipping, well mineralized structure hosted in Keno Hill Quartzite, which hosts the majority of historic production and resources in the Keno Hill silver district (See Table 3 and Figure 3 below). Footnote 1: New Explorer for High-Grade Silver Resources in the Prolific Keno Hill Silver District of Yukon, Canada; Michael Fowler, Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd (LOM), September 2017. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/af1331f6-236a-4370-8c7d-184100031adf A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/26a045f4-0e9f-4138-8142-49dc56a5e88f The drilling further shows that the Caribou structure is open to expansion and there remains significant exploration upside with the potential to develop a resource on this target (see long section in Figure 3 below). Drill holes are shown, with their respective grades, where they pierce the plane of the vein. Planned work for 2018 would include a continuation of step-out drilling of the shallow-dipping vein along the best mineralized shoots to the north and to the south where the high-grade mineralization remains open. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb0fdb0e-99c3-4fd4-bd6d-f827a797ae9e Table 2: Caribou Comprehensive 2008-2011 Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t 08CH001 33.30 35.30 1.15 116.2 0.96 0.18 0.12 180 Including 34.30 34.50 0.2 958 8.44 1.22 0.78 1482 08CH002 28.90 31.40 1.77 87.8 0.74 0.16 0.19 146 Including 18.60 19.80 1.2 432 4.17 0.21 1.00 718 08CH004 33.60 34.60 0.96 84.2 0.64 0.39 0.59 181 08CH005 35.00 35.50 0.48 1046 3.39 1.44 0.77 1,343 08CH006 34.60 39.40 4.61 69.5 0.58 0.47 0.19 137 08RCH002 27.43 28.95 1.5 76.3 1.6 0.03 0.03 156 08RCH003 18.29 19.81 1.49 198 1.75 0.42 0.23 321 CH11-007 14.60 18.50 3.85 314.8 27.8 0.53 0.17 1,667 Including 14.60 15.80 1.2 94.3 85.56 0.01 0.23 4,146 CH11-008 14.80 17.70 2.88 162.5 3.15 0.58 0.16 355 Including 14.80 15.50 0.7 493 10.49 0.93 0.4 1069 CH11-009 15.50 16.90 1.38 1,696.3 9.42 0.94 0.85 2,257 CH11-010 30.30 31.00 0.63 447 2.34 3.07 0.35 749 CH11-011 39.70 42.10 2.37 59.7 0.79 0.79 0.46 175 CH11-013 16.50 20.10 3.38 168.9 1.37 0.62 0.1 274 Including 16.50 17.70 1.2 401 2.95 1.02 0.2 610 CH11-014 20.90 25.70 4.02 31.4 0.41 0.39 0.15 83 CH11-015 13.50 18.40 4.84 129.1 0.9 0.11 0.02 179 CH11-017 22.90 23.40 0.49 1,610.8 16.83 1.16 1.26 2,565 CH11-018 24.10 25.00 0.85 1,151 7.16 1.03 0.05 1,548 CH11-019 23.10 25.60 2.44 20.3 0.45 1.06 0.13 108 CH11-020 21.30 23.50 2.17 213.5 1.38 1.06 0.18 349 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Table 3: Caribou Comprehensive 2011 Drill Results Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Ag g/t Pb % Zn % Au g/t Ag EQ g/t CH17-021 39.35 42.0 2.65 407 3.39 6.35 0.834 972 including 39.35 39.80 0.45 1,607 15.47 1.70 0.759 2,487 39.80 40.85 1.05 194 0.94 9.95 0.718 827 40.85 42.00 1.15 132 0.89 4.89 0.971 512 CH017-23 40.7 42.3 1.6 1,405 25.98 3.72 0.282 2,851 including 40.70 41.50 0.80 2,408 47.30 4.69 0.108 4,898 41.50 42.30 0.80 402 4.65 2.74 0.456 804 CH17-024 54.40 55.00 0.60 15.2 0.06 0.42 0.380 70 CH17-025 53.15 55.2 2.05 52.3 0.44 0.02 0.125 84 including 54.9 55.2 0.3 247 1.38 0.09 0.331 343 CH17-026 48.62 50.85 2.23 59.1 0.82 4.99 0.960 440 including 49.90 50.85 0.95 104 1.55 9.76 1.641 828 CH17-027 51.66 54.43 2.77 0.07 0.49 6.58 0.412 57 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Table 4: Caribou Comprehensive Trench Results ID Sample Type Width Ag g/t Pb% Zn% Au g/t Ag EQ g/t TR-05a Channel 1.32 77.6 0.1 0.16 0.08 97 TR-05b Channel 1.06 119.9 0.18 0.78 0.53 212 TR-06a Channel 1.85 282.5 0.41 0.1 0.17 321 TR-06b Channel 0.26 127.1 1.15 0.26 0.01 196 TR-08b Channel 0.58 84.3 0.42 0.47 0.29 152 TR-08f Channel 0.21 1026 2.75 0.64 0.62 1,238 TR-08i Channel 0.37 981.6 9.33 1.35 0.57 1,538 TR-08j Channel 0.16 1,855.7 41.5 0.05 0.09 3,822 TR-08k Channel 1.43 72.0 0.32 0.06 0.14 101 TR-08n Channel 0.9 3,332.7 13.88 1.07 0 4,044 TR-11f Channel 0.26 57.1 0.26 0.44 0.26 113 TR-11h Channel 0.79 539 2.13 1.05 0.25 715 TR-11i Channel 0.79 954.2 4.81 1.05 0.48 1,275 TR-11j Channel 1.06 2,953.1 8.11 0.64 0 3,370 TR-11l Channel 0.42 138.5 1.35 0.17 0.11 220 Silver Equivalent (Ag Eq g/t) values assume Ag $16/oz, Pb $1.10/lb, Zn $1.25/lb, Au $1,250/oz, and 100% recovery. Widths believed to approximate true width. Duncan Target Area The second area targeted with drilling in the Keno Summit area was an initial test of the structure at the historic Duncan mine, which had the highest recorded grade of production in the Keno Hill silver district at 25,518 g/t silver from the shallow workings2. The Duncan vein was staked in 1919 and saw limited development work in 1920s. The vein is exposed on the steep north face above Silver Basin, which has seen only limited exploration including minor hand trenching and a few bulldozer cuts since the 1920s. Metallic Minerals completed the first known drill hole on the target from the plateau south of the prospect. This down dip test confirmed the presence of a broad window of prospective quartzite and intersected three anomalously mineralized structural zones within the Keno Hill quartzite ending in 70 g/t silver equivalent material. Drilling difficulties limited the further continuation of the hole, falling short of testing the full quartzite package. However, these results confirm the presence of the Duncan target structure, which may have up to 200 vertical meters of Keno Hill Quartzite host rock positioned down dip from the high-grade Duncan shaft, with open-ended strike potential. Follow up drilling in 2018 will be designed to test the full depth potential of this highly-prospective target. Footnote 2: CATHRO, R. J. (Bob). Great Mining Camps of Canada 1. The History and Geology of the Keno Hill Silver Camp, Yukon Territory. Geoscience Canada, [S.l.], Sept. 2006. ISSN 1911-4850 About Metallic Minerals Corp. Metallic Minerals Corp. is a growth stage exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of high-grade silver and gold in the Yukon within under explored districts with potential to produce top-tier assets. Our objective is to create value through a disciplined, systematic approach to exploration, reducing investment risk and maximizing probability of long-term success. Our core Keno Silver Project is located in the historic Keno Hill Silver District of Canada's Yukon Territory, a region which has produced over 200 million ounces of silver and currently hosts one of the worlds highest-grade silver resources. The Companys McKay Hill Project, northeast of Keno Hill, is a high-grade historic silver-gold producer. Metallic Minerals is also building a portfolio of gold royalties in the historic Klondike Gold District. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success, including large scale development, permitting and project financing. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Website: www.metallic-minerals.com Email: chris.ackerman@metallic-minerals.com Phone: 604-629-7800 Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420 Quality Assurance / Quality Control Analytical work in 2017 was done by Bureau Veritas Commodities Canada Ltd. with sample preparation in Whitehorse, Yukon and geochemical analysis in Vancouver, British Columbia. Each rock (grab) sample was analyzed for 36 elements using an Aqua Regia digestion with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled Plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (AQ202). Samples with over limit silver and gold were re-analyzed using a 30-gram fire assay fusion with a gravimetric finish (FA530-Ag, Au). Over-limit lead and zinc samples were analyzed by multi-acid digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry (MA404) or titration (GC516, GC8917). All results have passed the QAQC screening by the lab. Qualified Person Scott Petsel, P.Geo, Vice President, Exploration, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Petsel has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein. Mr. Petsel has reviewed the results of the sampling programs and confirmed that all procedures, protocols and methodologies used conform to industry standards. Forward-Looking Statements Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Metallic Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available 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. NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a real estate lending, investment and advisory company, announced it has provided a $16,500,000 HUD-insured permanent loan to refinance Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a skilled nursing facility in Dunkirk, New York. The transaction was originated by Fred Levine, Managing Director in Greystones Monsey, NY office. The long-term FHA financing represents a permanent exit from a bridge loan provided by Greystone in 2015 for acquisition of the property by VestraCare. The HUD-insured loan carries a 33-year term and amortization at a low, fixed rate. Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is a 216-bed skilled nursing facility located on Lake Erie in close proximity to State University of New York at Fredonia. The healthcare facility provides a range of services including rehabilitation services such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy, as well as memory care, music therapy, palliative care, respite and hospice services. FHA-insured financing enables lenders like Greystone to make critical investments in facilities that improve public health and serve vulnerable populations including seniors, said Joan Spilman, Director of HUDs Buffalo Field Office. The Chautauqua Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is a great example of how public/private partnerships are revitalizing upstate communities. VestraCare took on Chautauqua when it was a non-performing asset, they invested in the facility, and brought it up to the standards that HUD looks for when providing its long-term, low-rate financing, said Mr. Levine. About Greystone Greystone is a real estate lending, investment and advisory company with an established reputation as a leader in multifamily and healthcare finance, having ranked as a top FHA and Fannie Mae lender in these sectors. Our range of services includes commercial lending across a variety of platforms such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CMBS, FHA, USDA, bridge and proprietary loan products. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Corporation, Inc., Greystone Funding Corporation and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greyco.com. PRESS CONTACT: Karen Marotta Greystone 212-896-9149 Karen.Marotta@Greyco.com LINCOLN A petition drive seeking $1.1 billion worth of property tax relief is expected to kick off in Nebraska next week. Trent Fellers, executive director of Reform for Nebraskas Future, confirmed Tuesday that he has filed language for an initiative petition drive with the Secretary of States Office. He said he anticipates launching the drive next week, after the final wording of the petition is set. He said signature-gathering would start immediately. Were moving forward, Feller said. But opponents are already lining up, arguing that the proposal would create a budget crisis in the state and could force increases in other taxes. Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts, said the governor supports property tax relief but not the steep increase in state spending that the proposal required. To pay for this proposal, the proponents would have to pass massive tax increases, cut virtually all state aid to K-12 education or have other unacceptable impacts on priorities Nebraskans care about, he said. State Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, the Revenue Committee chairman, said he wants a more structured and balanced approach that would cut both income and property taxes. My hope would be that (the petition) is not the way we address the taxation issues in our state, he said. If enough valid signatures can be gathered, the property tax petition would put a proposed law before voters at next Novembers general election. The proposal would provide Nebraskans with income tax credits equal to 50 percent of the property taxes paid to school districts. That would amount to roughly 30 percent of total property taxes. As written, the credits would be refundable, meaning that people would get a check from the state for the amount by which the new credit exceeded the amount of their income taxes. State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard said he plans to offer a bill in the coming legislative session that would match the petition language. Lawmakers start the session on Jan. 3. The bill would give lawmakers a chance to pass the tax proposal before the matter goes to the people, he said. The petition drive would provide an option if the Legislature takes no action. My thought is it would be a lot simpler if the Legislature could make a decision and pass a law, Erdman said. If its the No. 1 issue in the state, why wouldnt we want to do something about it? The proposed petition language does not spell out how the state would pay for the new income tax credits. Erdman said it should be done by cutting state spending and ending business tax incentives, not by increasing any other taxes. Weve got plenty of places we can make cuts and not affect anybodys services, he said. Nebraskas general fund budget for the current year is $4.4 billion, of which nearly $1 billion is dedicated to school aid. Opponents said it is unrealistic to expect lawmakers to make $1.1 billion in state budget cuts without harming education, human services or public safety. Renee Fry, executive director of the Open Sky Policy Institute, a Lincoln-based think tank, said property tax breaks may sound attractive said the petition presents only half of the picture. Voters are likely to think twice once they realize what the proposed tax credits would mean in terms of cutting state services and raising income and sales taxes, said Barry Kennedy, executive director of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Nebraska voters rejected previous petitions aimed at relieving property taxes by means of various limits, caps and lids, after campaigns pointing out the possible consequences of those measures. Property taxes have long been a source of anger and frustration in Nebraska, but demands for relief have grown along with the tax bills on agricultural land in recent years. Valuations on farm and ranch land soared along with prices in the past decade. Erdman called for an initiative petition after lawmakers adjourned this year without passing any major property tax legislation. A loose-knit group has been working on the effort since then. Fellers is the point person for the petition drive, as well as heading up Reform for Nebraskas Future, a coalition of agricultural, business and homeowner interests that advocates for easing property taxes. The new group includes property owners, agricultural organizations and taxpayer groups, he said. He declined to give the name of the new group. To make the ballot, the group would need to gather more than 83,000 valid signatures of Nebraska voters by early July. TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Staffing companies across the country have seen quite the range of bonuses over the year, including a door manufacturer who gave employees the last two weeks of the year off and $75 in after-tax spending money. A construction firm handed out $2,000, while another company gave out frozen turkeys. While fowl might be a welcome addition to the holiday dinner table, most employees prefer cash, according to multiple Express owners and surveys. Respondents were asked, What is your favorite type of holiday bonus? Seventy-seven per cent (77%) said cash bonuses, 15 per cent said paid time off, 5 per cent said gift cards, 2 per cent said a holiday party, and 1 per cent said a steak or turkey. Cash also topped last years results. Jessica Culo, Express franchise owner from Edmonton, says while cash bonuses are not uncommon; gift cards are a popular choice in her market. We get positive feedback from employees when they receive a gift card to their favorite store. This way, they are more inclined to get something for themselves, maybe something that they wouldnt otherwise buy. It feels more personal, said Culo. Culo also said paid time off to spend with family and friends is also something she sees at this time of the year. Paid time off is a very popular holiday incentive. We find that people generally like to have paid time off around the holidays, and many companies are willing to give this 'bonus' to employees, she said. Whether its a cash bonus or another gesture of appreciation, showing some holiday spirit this time of year can go a long way in enhancing workplace morale and employee loyalty, said Bob Funk, CEO of Express, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Plenty of businesses may not be in a position to give bonuses. Those that do, though, are not only spreading some cheer but also some good will, which is always a wise investment. The survey of 300 employees was conducted through Express International Headquarters. If you would like to arrange for an interview to discuss this topic, please contact Kellie Major at (613) 222-7488 or email kellie@mapleleafstrategies.com. 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. Media Contacts: Kellie Major 613.222.7488 | kellie@mapleleafstrategies.com Sheena Karami 405.717.5966 | sheena.karami@expresspros.com Surprise, surprise! A new video is flooding the internet that has people raging behind the screen, but this time, with good reason. The video which was released on Twitter was recorded by a woman, defending her 5-year-old cousin after the little girl got called a terrorist by a group of adults. In the video, one can see two women and a man, sporting Trump gear and very strongly exercising their freedom of speech. The woman recording the video can be heard behind the screen, shaming the adults for attacking a little girl based on her Palestinian heritage. But this is America, we can say whatever we want, said one of the women in the recording. Freedom of speech, she called it. She continued in her argument, attempting to defend their attack on the girl by saying, You guys are terrorists, get out of here ... if you hate America so much, then leave. Though the video reveals so many of the flaws in our society, what I would like to focus on is the last thing the woman in the video said: If you hate America so much, then leave. Because as someone who recognizes a lot of the things that are wrong within our own borders, I get this told to me quite often. Once in a while I also receive the go back to where you came from spiel. That one never really gets old. Honestly, it amuses me at this point, because I was born here. Go back to where I came from? Oh, you mean Mexico? Where the color of my skin says I belong, right? Considering all brown people look the same to someone who thinks the majority of us are terrorists and Americas number one haters, I try not to take these words too personally. But sometimes, the commentary leads me to write articles like this. Because that is exactly why my parents struggled for years to get where they are and why they continue to struggle: because they hate America so much. I mean, its obvious. Right? But you see, when we criticize certain things that happen in our nation, when we call out politicians and regulations that corrupt the land we live on, we are not hating on America. We do not hate America. These instances, these leaders who dont even have half a mind of what is going on in the world, are not America. America is not going to be a president with the tolerance of a spoiled brat who has access to a Twitter account. I wont allow it. The people who recognize ignorance when they see it, will not allow it. America is the men and women who wake up each morning with the attitude of someone who believes they can change the world. America is the millions of immigrants who came here with the belief that this country is really as great as it has the capability to be. As the saying goes, America is a melting pot with so many different kinds of people who make this country as amazing as it truly is. So, no, I dont hate America and no, I will not leave, because this is my country too. This country belongs to the people who make America what it is. It belongs to the people who will actually make America great again. It belongs to the people who welcome others into our country with not only open arms, but open hearts as well. No matter what race, gender, religion or sexuality. I dont hate America. I hate, sorry, I strongly dislike the people who assume I hate my country because I disagree with the people who run it. Do not ever try and tell me to move from my home because of the passion that drives me to make this country better than how the leaders of our nation are leaving it. The Iredell County Sheriffs Office says a man had cocaine in his car when he was stopped by deputies Saturday, hours before deputies found methamphetamine during a second traffic stop. HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ucore Rare Metals, Inc. (TSXV:UCU) (OTCQX:UURAF) (Ucore or the Company) is pleased to comment on the signing yesterday of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act by President Trump. The Act features a number of initiatives of strategic importance to Ucore, including the authorization for $5 million in funding for the development of strategic materials technologies at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) during the coming fiscal year. The $5 million program has direct import to Ucore, as the funds have been set aside for the development of improved manufacturing technology for separation, extraction, smelter, sintering, leaching, processing, beneficiation, or production of specialty metals such as lanthanide elements... The lanthanide elements comprise the suite of metals more commonly referred to as the Rare Earth Elements. As previously stated in a report by the Senate Armed Services Committee, this significant funding is allocated for domestic producers that the Department believes are likely to initiate commercial production of such materials within the next five years. This historic legislation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to our men and women in uniform -- the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, commented President Trump. The National Defense Authorization Act could not come at a more opportune or important time. In recent years, our military has undergone a series of deep budget cuts that have severely impacted our readiness, shrunk our capabilities, and placed substantial burdens on our warfighters. Today, with the signing of this defense bill, we accelerate the process of fully restoring America's military might. This is an important step towards promoting a secure supply of critical materials such as rare earth elements, said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore. By authorizing this funding, Congress has reaffirmed the importance of strengthening supply chains for strategic and critical materials. Ucore enthusiastically looks forward to competing for the Army Research Labs funding. As an industry leader in extraction and beneficiation technologies, we are ideally suited to assist the US Department of Defense in promoting supply chain security for strategic and critical materials, said Steve Izatt, President and CEO of IBC Advanced Technologies. Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) provides a domestic platform for the technical capabilities needed to safely and sustainably create a stable U.S. supply chain for these strategic materials. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the $700 billion bill for fiscal year 2018 in mid-November, and the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act approving spending levels for U.S. military efforts was signed into law by the President Tuesday afternoon at the White House. About IBC IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. is an award-winning, green chemistry selective separations company based on innovative MRT products. IBC is headquartered in American Fork, Utah, with manufacturing facilities in Utah and Houston, Texas. IBC has supplied industrial, governmental and academic customers worldwide with environmentally friendly products, processes and services for over 29 years. IBC specializes in MRT, utilizing green chemistry to achieve highly selective separations of metal ions in complex matrices. Based on Nobel Prize-winning technology (1987), IBCs proprietary products and processes are used worldwide by premier metals refining and mining companies such as Tanaka Kikinzoku K.K. (Japan), Asarco Grupo Mexico (USA), Impala Platinum Ltd. (South Africa), and Sino Platinum (China). In 2014, the Japanese Government (Mitsubishi Research, Inc.) awarded to IBC a highly competitive subsidy grant, Demonstration Project for Seawater Purification Technologies, concerning the selective separation of the radionuclides strontium and cesium from contaminated seawater at Fukushima, Japan. IBCs expertise is illustrated by its extensive development and commercialization of separations systems for platinum group metals (PGMs) at a world level. PGMs are analogous to REE, in that they are considered difficult to selectively separate due to their constituent chemical similarities. The Ucore-IBC alliance builds on IBCs proven capabilities to develop, scale-up and commercialize selective separations systems for a number of diverse and complex applications. See www.ibcmrt.com for additional information. About Ucore Ucore Rare Metals is a development-phase company focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. On March 3, 2015, Ucore announced the development of a joint venture with IBC for the deployment of Molecular Recognition Technology for REE and multi-metallic tailings processing applications in North America and associated world markets. The Company has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan project. On March 31, 2014, Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for the investment of up to USD $145 Million in the Bokan project at the discretion of the Alaska Import Development and Export Agency (AIDEA). For further information, please contact Mr. Jim McKenzie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. at: +1 (902) 482-5214 or visit http://www.ucore.com. Cautionary Notes This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities, research and development timelines, and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release include that we may enter into a long-term supply partnership and offtake relationship and the possibility of an independent North American REE supply chain. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include exploitation and exploration successes or setbacks, research and develop successes or setbacks, continued availability of financing, that we may not be able to reach agreements, that the product may not be suitable for intended uses, and general economic, market or business conditions. MRT is at advanced testing stages and has yet to be proven, at a commercial scale, for the separation of rare earth elements. The Company has not yet released an economic assessment on the use of MRT for the separation of rare earth elements and does not yet have any specific contracts for the processing of rare earths using MRT. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday recommended a regulatory panel look at revising its proposed ban of an herbicide farmers in several states say has drifted onto their crops and caused damage, nearly a month after a maker of the weed killer asked a judge to halt the prohibition. A subcommittee of the Legislative Council voted to delay considering the proposed rules by the state Plant Board to prohibit dicamba's from April 16 through Oct. 31 next year. The subcommittee's recommendation on Friday goes before the full council, which is the Legislature's primary governing body when lawmakers aren't in session. The council has the power to approve or reject the proposed ban. State Sen. Bill Sample said he wanted the Plant Board to come up with a new cutoff date based on scientific evidence and potentially a dividing line based on geography in the state. "An arbitrary date will not do any good because you will either set it too early or too late," Sample said. Dicamba has been around for decades, but problems arose over the past couple of years as farmers began to use it on soybean and cotton fields where they planted new seeds engineered to be resistant to the herbicide. Because it can easily evaporate after being applied, the chemical sometimes settles on neighboring fields. The state earlier this year approved a temporary ban on the herbicide's sale and use, and has received nearly 1,000 complaints about dicamba this year. "How can we be assured this is not going to happen again without this cutoff date?" David Wildy, a farmer from northeast Arkansas who has seen damage from dicamba drifting onto his crops, told lawmakers Monsanto, which makes dicamba, has filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court challenging the ban and claiming the Plant Board exceeded its authority in prohibiting the weed killer. The Missouri-based company has asked a judge to block the state from enforcing the ban, and a hearing in the case is scheduled next month. "We're pleased for the growers of Arkansas that the legislative committee has hit the pause button and said go study the science and follow the science," said Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president for global strategy. Farmers have also complained about dicamba causing damage to their crops in other states, including Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee. Minnesota on Tuesday set a June 20 cut-off date for applying the herbicide and prohibited applications when the temperature or forecast high for the day is above 85 degrees. The Environmental Protection Agency in October announced a deal with Monsanto and two other makers of dicamba herbicides, BASF and DuPont, for new voluntary restrictions on the weed killer's use. BOSTON and TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Logz.io, the leading provider of AI-powered log analytics, today announced their completion of PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Level 1 Service Provider Certification. This particular certification, which reflects the companys commitment to safeguarding private credit card information, is the highest possible level administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. Logz.io earned PCI Level 1 certification after passing extensive examinations led by a certified QSA, proving their commitment to adhering to enterprise level security best practices. Logz.io is an intelligent log analytics platform that combines advanced machine learning with the powerful open-source ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) stack designed to help companies reduce production incidents as well as minimize time to resolution. The company enables the midmarket and enterprise alike to leverage ELK in a user-friendly and immensely scalable platform. Logz.io synthesizes machine data, user behavior, and community knowledge into actionable insights that help organizations take their operations and security to the next level. With the increasing occurrence of credit card breaches, protecting personal credit card information is an ongoing issue for enterprises. As a result, it is imperative for large companies to exclusively partner with vendors who prove they can protect customer credit card data by meeting high-level regulatory standards, such as PCI. In addition to being a PCI Level 1 Service Provider, Logz.io has also completed various other security standards and regulations including GDPR, SOC-2 Type 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. Logz.io has proven their security standards are up-to-date in accordance to the European Unions 2018 standards as well as the United States healthcare protocols. Read more about Logz.ios security certifications and standards here. About Logz.io Logz.io is an intelligent log analytics platform that combines the popular ELK stack as a cloud service and sophisticated machine learning. Logz.io derives insights from machine data, user behavior and community knowledge in a scalable, production-ready platform that enables organizations to resolve issues faster and take operations to the next level. Contact: Lauren Sirt lauren@logz.io U.S. President Donald Trump will make a final push on Wednesday to shepherd a Republican tax overhaul across the finish line, hosting congressional negotiators for lunch before a speech in which he will make closing arguments for the legislation. Republican tax writers from the Senate and House of Representatives worked into Tuesday evening to reconcile differences between the separate plans passed by each chamber, as important details, including a final corporate tax rate, remained in flux. Republican leaders are aiming to vote on the sweeping legislation before Christmas. That timetable became more crucial after Tuesday's upset win by Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's special U.S. Senate election. Jones' victory trims the Republicans' already narrow Senate majority to 51-49, which could make it more difficult for them to push through legislation. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday will call on Republicans to delay the tax vote until the newest senator can be seated, likely in early January. Republicans were still trying to finalize important details without increasing the deficit impact of legislation, which could add as much as $1.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to independent estimates. Both House and Senate bills proposed slashing the corporate rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, but negotiators were discussing on Tuesday whether to raise that rate to 21 percent in the final bill, lawmakers said. Tax writers were also still determining a top rate for individual taxpayers and weighing how to best scale back popular individual deductions for mortgage interest and local tax payments that the Senate and House bills treated differently. "We're still talking," No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn said late Tuesday of a possible 21 percent corporate rate. Trump is seeking to sign a tax bill by the end of the year to achieve Republicans' first major legislative victory since they took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House in January. After hosting Republican lawmakers for lunch, Trump will deliver his speech on tax legislation alongside five middle class families who would benefit, senior administration officials said. He was expected to counter claims the Republican tax plan would largely benefit corporations and the wealthy by highlighting how it would also cut rates for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, who could see additional benefits, such as higher wages, result from the corporate rate cut, the officials said. Independent government analyzes by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which assists congressional tax writers, and the Congressional Budget Office, which examines the budget impact of legislation, both concluded that wealthier taxpayers would disproportionately benefit from the Republican proposals. When asked who stands to benefit most from Republican tax legislation, more than half of American adults selected either the wealthy or large U.S. corporations, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. ST. LOUIS A Missouri Highway Patrol trooper and four St. Louis police officers are under investigation over allegations that they lied to cover for the rookie trooper after he accidentally fired a shot during the search of a building earlier this year. The trooper fired the gunshot after he and several police officers entered a home in the 4100 block of Peck Street to look for two carjacking suspects on Aug. 31. The house was vacant. As the trooper and officers searched the building, the trooper accidentally fired a round, the Missouri Highway Patrol said in a statement. No one was struck. It was unclear how the shot was accidentally fired. Supervisors at the scene heard the shot, according to sources. The trooper and city officers told the supervisors that the sound was a light bulb breaking. A Post-Dispatch photographer at the scene also heard the noise and believed it sounded like a gunshot, but was told by police that it was a light bulb. But at some point within the past month, Highway Patrol commanders learned about the accidental discharge of the gun and launched an investigation, sources say. The Missouri Highway Patrol confirmed a probe into the incident, but did not give details of what happened in the building. In accordance with patrol policy, the patrols Division of Drug and Crime Control began an investigation into the incident and has turned the reports over to the St. Louis city circuit attorney as well as the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. John Hotz said in a statement. Also in accordance with patrol policy, an internal investigation is being conducted. Interim St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence OToole said during an interview this month that all he knew of the incident was that it was an accidental discharge involving a trooper, and that an internal investigation was underway. So far, no city police officers have been disciplined, although they have given statements to internal investigators, sources say. Its unclear whether the trooper has faced any discipline. The patrol says the investigation is ongoing. The trooper, who had less than a year of experience, was part of a special detail of troopers assigned in July to assist city police officers with traffic enforcement along several highways. But troopers also were to be available to backstop city police officers and vice versa. The pilot program is still in effect. EDITOR'S NOTE: Three St. Louis police commanders were asked to talk to investigators about the accidental discharge of the trooper's gun, but the patrol decided not to question them after four city police officers involved in the incident gave statements. An earlier version of this story gave incorrect information. Theyre getting away with murder in East St. Louis. Well, not all of the murders. But this year, fewer than one in four of the homicides there has been solved. East St. Louis has seen 34 homicides this year, up from 27 in 2016 and 19 in 2015, Master Sgt. Mark Doiron of the Illinois State Police said. Eight of the cases this year have been solved, for a clearance rate of 23 percent. Not (a) very good rate, but we are doing everything within our power to bring about a successful resolution to the cases, Doiron said. Since 2010, 58 of 206 homicides in the East St. Louis area have been solved, for a 28 percent clearance rate, Doiron said. He said the clearance rate has been about that level since about 2001. The clearance rate nationally for murder is about 60 percent. This year in St. Louis city, 70 of the 197 homicides, or 35 percent, have been solved, said St. Louis Police Officer Michelle Woodling. In the area patrolled by St. Louis County officers, police have cleared 22 of the 35 homicides, for a clearance rate of 63 percent, said County Police Sgt. Shawn McGuire. The clearance rate doesnt necessarily mean the case has ended with a conviction. Under the FBIs definition, a homicide case can be considered cleared when police make an arrest or when the offender is identified but not arrested, such as if the offender dies. Because of the dismal rate of solved murders, on Wednesday St. Clair County States Attorney Brendan Kelly along with Doiron, East St. Louis Police Chief Jerry Simon and other officials made a public appeal to witnesses to help solve the killings. Police are understaffed and overworked, running from fire to fire, doing the best they can, Kelly said. The police force is worn out and struggling to stay ahead of it. East St. Louis is a city with a population of about 27,000. Most of the killings involve victims who are well-known to police because of past arrests for drugs or gun crimes, police say. Many are young men, according to Kelly. Kelly said the holiday season is the perfect time to renew a plea for witnesses to come forward. For grieving family members of those killed, the experience is made all the worse when the killer is not brought to justice, no leads and no evidence, Kelly said. The Illinois State Police assists in every homicide investigation in East St. Louis. Kelly said the police have done a good job trying to build trust with the public. East St. Louis police are worn out, Kelly says, but even Illinois State Police have less staff than they did 10 or 15 years ago, he said. Doiron, who is with the Illinois State Police Violent Crime Command, said his standard response after a killing in East St. Louis was to quickly send special agents to investigate. Quite honestly, he said, Im running them to death. Officials say many of the unsolved killings were witnessed by people who havent shared details with police. Kelly said the reasons for that varied from case to case. But typically, Kelly said, the lack of tips boils down to fear of retaliation, mistrust in public institutions in general and a no-snitch culture that we struggle to overcome every day. We need to have people show a little courage to help break that cycle, Kelly said. Police frustration Illinois State Police Sgt. Elbert Jennings said he knows what it feels like to have a relatives murder go unsolved. No one was ever charged in the 1999 killing of his younger brother, Keifen Jennings. Jennings was 22 years old at the time, working as a Cahokia police dispatcher. His brother Keifen, 18, was fatally shot in a car after picking up someone at the Roosevelt homes, a public housing project. Jennings said his family heard people in the community tell the story about how Keifen wasnt the intended target, but his passenger was. We heard that a lot The streets said ..., noted Jennings. Its when neighbors pass along third-hand or fourth-hand information, basically rumors on the street. That sometimes bubbles up to police, as well. That is the frustration of the loved ones, theyre left with hearing the streets said about who did it, Jennings said. But we as the police are challenged because we need the people with the information to tell us. Without the cooperation from the public, its going to be more difficult for us to solve homicides, he added. Yes, DNA has improved tremendously, but without witnesses it makes it so much more challenging. Nothing replaces having a human being in court to say what they saw with their own eyes. Jennings said he investigates homicides in East St. Louis and surrounding areas and finds that often people wont give a statement to investigators or even open their doors to them. Its a frustrating feeling, he said. Everybody is hurting LaRhonda Nelson, of St. Louis, is mother to one of the 34 homicide victims in East St. Louis this year. Her 25-year-old son, Robert L. White Jr., was killed in October in a vehicle near the Eads Bridge while holding his 2-year-old son in his arms. Someone in an SUV pulled up alongside him and fired shots into the car. The child was hit but survived. White was killed. Police have made no arrests in the case. You just feel empty and lost, Nelson said. Hurt. Everybody is hurting. White was the second child Nelson lost to homicide within about two years. Another son, Anton Minnis, 17, was killed in September 2015 in St. Louis. That case also has not been solved. Nelson asked anyone with information about the cases to come forward to help identify her sons killers. Informants who have information about any homicide can remain anonymous and call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477. Erin Heffernan with the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. ST. LOUIS A man fatally shot earlier this month in the city's Dutchtown neighborhood had been lured there for a drug deal by robbers who then killed him. That's the story laid out in court documents charging Tylor Fothen, 19, with second-degree murder, robbery and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of Jordan Boyd on Dec. 4. Another suspect is still at large, according to police. Boyd, 20, was shot in the abdomen and chest about 8:20 that night in the 4700 block of South Spring Avenue. He died later at a hospital. A witness told police that Boyd had been lured to the area by Fothen, who said he and another man wanted to buy marijuana. After Boyd arrived, Fothen pulled a gun and shot Boyd. Fothen lives in the 5000 block of Tennessee Avenue, according to police. That's less than half a mile from the shooting scene, behind an Imo's at Spring and Delor Street. He was ordered held with bail set at $300,000, cash-only. Boyd lived in the 1300 block of Crown Lane in O'Fallon, Ill., police said. Police are still looking for the other man accused in the crime, but they have not released information about that suspect. The shooting happened just a block from where two people were shot two days earlier. That shooting, in the 4600 block of South Spring Avenue, left one man dead and another injured. The 4600 block of South Spring is also where a pizza delivery driver shot and killed a would-be robber in an exchange of gunfire on Nov. 30. St. Louis Police Major Dan Howard, commander of the South Patrol, said it appears the robbers called the victim, an Imo's delivery driver, to the block to rob him. Police don't believe the three incidents are connected, Howard previously told the Post-Dispatch. He said he had requested extra patrols as well as a narcotics unit in the area because, he said, narcotics were a common theme among the two homicides. AUGUSTA, Ga. A federal grand jury has indicted a Missouri man with making threatening phone calls to a mosque in Georgia. An indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court charges 49-year-old Preston Q. Howard of Wright City with placing 10 threatening calls to the Islamic Society of Augusta between June and August. The indictment says Howard phoned in a series of threats to "blow up the mosque" and "shoot and kill Muslims," as well as to "behead" worshippers and set them on fire after dousing them with gasoline. U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine is prosecuting the case in the Southern District of Georgia. Court records don't list an attorney for Howard. The first two weekends of Christmas tree shopping season were blockbusters, according to three area Christmas tree lot purveyors. Weve already sold 75 percent of our inventory, Katie Truitt, a volunteer at the Delta Gamma Centers Christmas tree lot at 1341 North Rock Hill Road, said Saturday. Although a Christmas tree shortage is causing scarcity in some parts of the U.S., it didnt seem to be the driving factor for St. Louis early tree-shopping crowd. Truitt and other volunteers speculated people had come out in droves the two previous weekends because of warmer-than-usual temperatures. Travis Dillon, vice president of Ted Drewes Inc., and Jill Tantillo, vice president at Eckerts Country Store and Farms, both said they saw similar shopping patterns and credited the mild weather. Of the three, Eckerts is the only one with a cut-your-own-tree option. Theyve got plenty of pre-cut trees that came in from other parts of the U.S., Tantillo said, but at the Eckerts Belleville location, 951 South Green Mount Road, self-cut trees are running out quickly. This will probably be the last weekend for cut-your-own, for all sizes, Tantillo said Saturday. Last weekend was just beautiful, so lots of trees went out. People typically shop for trees that are 7 to 9 feet tall, Tantillo said, and Christmas tree growers usually operate on a 1-foot-per year growth standard. So that takes seven to nine years to grow, she said. Its not like it was a bad growing year this year. Its just problems happened several years ago that made us not have as many of the tall trees. Missouris Christmas tree harvest dropped by 65 percent in 2012 compared to 10 years earlier. Illinois Christmas tree growers harvested 54 percent less, according to the most recent available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Theres a good reason Missouri and Illinois farmers arent harvesting nearly as many Christmas trees as they used to. Between the year 2000 and 2011 there was a significant number of farms that went out of business because Christmas tree farming is done by an older generation, said Steve Meier, a Christmas tree farmer and president of the Missouri Christmas Tree Association. And the younger generation is not being involved as heartily as in the past. So a lot of farms have gone out of business. Additionally, a drought between 2011 and 2013 affected planting, which Meier and other farmers are feeling now. Its slowly coming back up, he said. This year the harvest will be up considerably, about 12 to 15 percent, it looks like. To ensure supply for customers partial to the fresh pine smell that a real Christmas tree brings, Missouri tree farmers are bringing in more trees from western states, Meier said. Midwestern Christmas tree farmers always had to bring in certain species, such as the fir, which cannot accept the Midwest summer climate. Pre-cut trees at the Delta Gamma Centers lot came from Michigan, and volunteer Bart Truitt noticed one change that could be attributed to tree growth issues stemming from the Great Recession. Years back, they used to have at least 15 to 20 of the really big ones, like between 14 and 16 feet tall, Truitt said. Ive noticed the past few years you dont see that anymore. At another local lot, one shopper noticed scarcity in the form of higher prices. We would probably pay about $40 (in the past), I think well pay about $50 or $60 for that one, Scott Leiendecker said, gesturing to the 5-foot tree his 5-year-old daughter Piper picked at the Ted Drewes lot, 6726 Chippewa Street. Its a tradition for the Leiendecker family to go to Ted Drewes and pick out a real tree for the holiday season, Leiendecker said. Although the prices are a little higher, getting a real tree adds something to the familys holiday season that a plastic tree just cant. You get the smell, and its a little bit more work, and I like to do a little bit more work to get ready for the holidays, he said. The holidays are supposed to be a little more fun and interesting, and doing things like this always make it a little more interesting. Linda Derstine braved the cold on Saturday to volunteer at the Delta Gamma Center lot with her daughter, Andrea, who used to attend the center. If the Christmas tree shortage is driving any St. Louisans to shop early for a Christmas tree, Derstine sees it as a good thing. One bright side of the shortage is selling lots of trees for the school, Derstine said. French English JCDecaux will design, build and operate Mexico City's advertising bus-shelters for the Metrobus Line 7 Paris, 13 December 2017 - JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, announced that its Mexican subsidiary, JCDecaux Out Of Home Mexico, S.A. de C.V., a joint venture with America Movil, has been selected for the design, installation, management, maintenance and advertising operation of the 125 bus shelters Line 7 of Metrobus, the Bus Rapid Transit system in Mexico City. JCDecaux has devised and developed modular street furniture that can be adapted to the 125 stations that are currently being installed over the two stretches of the line, from "Indios Verdes" until Santa Fe, passing through the famous Paseo de la Reforma. With 100,000 passengers per day, Metrobus Line 7 will help ease traffic in the city centre and reduce travel times by up to 35%, thanks to a large number of interchanges with other Metrobus lines and the metro system. The new stations have been designed by Lance Wyman, the famous designer who created the 1968 Olympic Games logo and the city's metro map, and whose ground-breaking pictograms were the forerunners of modern graphic trends around Mexico. Tasteful, innovative and respectful of the urban heritage of the Paseo de la Reforma, the capital city's historic avenue was inspired by the wider European boulevards and home to many major Mexican companies and institutions. It hosts the 125 street furniture which have been designed to shelter passengers and provide them with useful services and information, such as bus arrival times and street maps for pedestrians. The bus shelters also have USB ports, as well as - a first in Latin America - state-of-the-art LCD interactive information screens. It was important for the design to reflect Mexico City's urban environment: the vertical structures, advertising hoardings and benches contain references to the letters M and X from Lance Wyman's metro map, and intuitive signage uses his famous icons. In line with JCDecaux's business model, the bus shelters are financed by 2m fixed, scrolling and digital billboards, comprising a 897 premium commercial panels offer on one of Mexico's most prestigious avenues, where a digital network unique to Latin America enables advertisers and their brands to reach the most sought-after audience in the country. These new ad spaces complement the 10 000 panels of street furniture already marketed by JCDecaux in 15 Mexican cities, 17 shopping centres and 3 300 large format advertising operated by the Group under the Vendor brand all over Mexico. Guillermo Calderon, Chief Executive of Metrobus, said: "For the Paseo de la Reforma, a historic avenue that is as emblematic to Mexico City as the Champs-Elysees to Paris, Oxford Street to London or Fifth Avenue to New York, we are delighted to partner with JCDecaux, which has come up with an innovative, rigorous and personalised approach to the design of the bus shelters for Metrobus Line 7 and with Lance Wyman, who is making another major contribution to Mexico's design history. We offer local residents and visitors modern, attractive bus shelters respectful of Mexico's urban heritage and environment, while providing a top quality service to passengers." Jean-Charles Decaux, co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: "We are very proud to have been chosen to develop, alongside Lance Wyman, Line 7 of the Metrobus in Mexico City, the political, economic and cultural centre of the Latin America's 2nd biggest economy. As the number one outdoor advertising company in Latin America and worldwide, we provide Metrobus with the expertise and know-how of our teams, with the aim of improving the passenger experience, while offering our advertisers the capital's best locations on the Paseo de la Reforma. JCDecaux has shown, once again, that it can meet the needs of the world's major capital cities and support them in transforming their urban areas into more intelligent and sustainable spaces, while also making them more attractive." 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 Investor Relations: Arnaud Courtial +33 (0)1 30 79 79 93 - arnaud.courtial@jcdecaux.com Updated at 12:31 p.m. WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans have reached a deal on final tax legislation, the top Senate Republican tax writer said on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump saying minutes later he would back a corporate tax rate of 21 percent. That would be slightly above a proposed 20-percent rate that Trump supported earlier, but still far below the present headline rate of 35 percent, a deep tax cut that U.S. corporations have been seeking for years. Although the president said a "final number" on the corporate rate had not been set, the Senate and House of Representatives were hurtling toward an agreement on that aspect of their legislation, and many other aspects, that would clear the way for final votes in both chambers next week. "I think we've got a pretty good deal," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch told reporters as he prepared to join other Republicans for lunch with Trump. Asked at the lunch by reporters if he would sign a bill with a 21-percent corporate rate, Trump said: "I would ... "We haven't set that final figure yet, but certainly 21 is ... a very great difference," he said. "It's very important for the country to get a vote next week." The emerging congressional agreement includes a 21-percent corporate rate, a top individual income tax rate of 37 percent, down from the current 39.6 percent level, and a $10,000 cap on deducting state and local property or income tax payments, said sources familiar with the negotiations. With their defeat on Tuesday in an Alabama special Senate election, Republicans were under increased pressure to complete their tax overhaul before Christmas and before a new Democratic Alabama senator is seated. Hatch's remarks appeared to reinforce expectations that a final vote could begin in the Senate as early as Monday. Democrat Doug Jones' capture of the Alabama Senate seat came hours ahead of a planned Senate-House conference meeting capping days of closed-door discussions on final legislation. When Jones, who upset Republican Roy Moore in the deeply conservative Southern state, arrives in Washington, the Republicans' already slim Senate majority will narrow to 51-49, further complicating Trump's legislative agenda. Fast action by Republicans on taxes would prevent Jones from upsetting the expected vote tallies on this bill since he will not likely be seated until late December or early January. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to delay a vote on overhauling the tax code for the first time in 30 years until Jones can be seated, but that was unlikely. Before Hatch spoke, Republicans were trying to finalize details without increasing the legislation's deficit impact. It is expected to add as much as $1.5 trillion to the $20-trillion national debt over the next decade. A one-percentage-point change in the corporate rate would give tax writers about $100 billion of revenues over a decade that could be used in many ways. One could be to repeal a federal tax on inheritances paid by wealthy Americans. Another might be to end the corporate alternative minimum tax. Some Republicans also wanted a slightly higher corporate rate to pay for a higher child tax credit. Lawmakers had also debated capping a popular individual deduction for mortgage interest at $750,000 in home loan value, instead of $1 million. Trump is seeking to sign a tax bill by the end of the year to achieve Republicans' first major legislative victory since they took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House in January. After his lunch with Republican lawmakers, Trump will speak on tax legislation alongside five middle class families who would benefit, senior administration officials said. He wants to try to counter claims that the Republican tax plan would largely benefit corporations and the wealthy by saying it would also cut rates for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, who could see additional benefits, such as higher wages, the officials said. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and Congressional Budget Office have both concluded that wealthier taxpayers would disproportionately benefit from the Republican proposals. Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan, Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu. DGAP-Ad-hoc: Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated / Key word(s): Change of Personnel/Forecast Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated: Diebold Nixdorf CEO steps down; Company reaffirms 2017 guidance 13-Dec-2017 / 13:00 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated North Canton, Ohio, United States of America Public Disclosure of Inside Information pursuant to Article 17 MAR December 13, 2017 - North Canton, Ohio, United States of America - Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated (the "Company") today announced that Andreas "Andy" W. Mattes is stepping down from his position as president and chief executive officer of the Company effective immediately. The Office of the Chief Executive will be led by Christopher A. Chapman, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and Juergen Wunram, senior vice president and chief operating officer, until a permanent successor has been named. Chapman and Wunram will serve as Interim Co-Presidents and Co-CEOs of the Company in the Office of the Chief Executive. The Board of Directors also announced that it has created a search committee and retained an executive search firm to immediately begin the process to find a highly qualified CEO. Also today, Diebold Nixdorf, Inc. reaffirmed its full-year 2017 guidance of approximately $4.6 billion in revenue, adjusted EBITDA of $370 million to $380 million and a non-GAAP EPS range of $1.05 to $1.15. Full-year 2017 outlook(1) Guidance Total Revenue ~$4.6B Net Income (Loss) attributable to Diebold Nixdorf, Inc. $ (140 million) - $ (130 million) Adjusted EBITDA $370 million - $380 million 2017 EPS (GAAP) $(1.80) - $(1.70) Restructuring ~0.70 Non-routine (income)/expense: Integration expense ~0.90 Legal, Acquisition and Divestiture expense ~0.25 Impairment & Other Non-routine ~0.05 Wincor Nixdorf purchase price accounting ~2.10 Total non-routine (income)/expense ~3.30 Tax impact of restructuring and non-routine (income)/expense items ~(1.15) Total Adjusted EPS (non-GAAP measure) $1.05 - $1.15 (1)- The Company expects a non-GAAP effective tax rate to be around 20% for the full year. With respect to the company's non-GAAP tax rate outlook for 2017, the Company is not providing the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and, with respect to the Company's non-GAAP tax rate and adjusted EBITDA outlook for 2017, the Company is not providing corresponding reconciliations because it is unable to predict with reasonable certainty those items that may affect such measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP without unreasonable effort. These measures exclude the future impact of restructuring actions, net non-routine items, acquisition, divestiture and integration related expenses and purchase accounting fair value adjustments. These reconciling items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, our future period tax rate calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Information To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP, the Company considers certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, including non-GAAP results, adjusted diluted earnings per share, free cash flow/(use), net investment/(debt), EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP effective tax rate and constant currency results. The Company calculates constant currency by translating the prior year results at the current year exchange rate. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures, in addition to GAAP financial measures, to evaluate our operating and financial performance and to compare such performance to that of prior periods and to the performance of our competitors. Also, the Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures in making operational and financial decisions and in establishing operational goals. The Company also believes providing these non-GAAP financial measures to investors, as a supplement to GAAP financial measures, helps investors evaluate our operating and financial performance and trends in our business, consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. The Company also believes these non-GAAP financial measures may be useful to investors in comparing its performance to the performance of other companies, although its non-GAAP financial measures are specific to the Company and the non-GAAP financial measures of other companies may not be calculated in the same manner. We provide EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA because we believe that investors and securities Analysts will find EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA to be useful measures for evaluating our operating performance and comparing our operating performance with that of similar companies that have different capital structures and for evaluating our ability to meet our future debt service, capital expenditures, and working capital requirements. We are also providing EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA in light of issuance of our credit agreement and 8.5% senior notes due 2024. For more information, please refer to the section, "Notes for Non-GAAP Measures". North Canton, December 13, 2017 Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated Notifying Person: Stephen A. Virostek Vice President, Investor Relations Telephone +1 (330) 490-6319 Facsimile +1 (330) 490-3794 stephen.virostek@dieboldnixdorf.com Forward-Looking Statements This ad hoc release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding anticipated adjusted revenue growth, adjusted internal revenue growth, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and adjusted earnings per share growth. Statements can generally be identified as forward-looking because they include words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "could", "should" or words of similar meaning. Statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. The factors that may affect the Company's results include, among others: the financial performance of the Company through the end of the fiscal year ending December 30, 2017 and the preparation of its financial statements for fiscal year 2017; the ultimate impact of the domination and profit and loss transfer agreement with Diebold Nixdorf AG ("DPLTA") and the outcome of the appraisal proceedings initiated in connection with the implementation of the DPLTA; the ultimate outcome and results of integrating the operations of the Company and Diebold Nixdorf AG; the ultimate outcome of the Company's pricing, operating and tax strategies applied to Diebold Nixdorf AG and the ultimate ability to realize synergies; the Company's ability to successfully launch and operate its joint ventures in China with the Inspur Group and Aisino Corp.; the impact of market and economic conditions on the financial services industry; the capacity of the Company's technology to keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace; pricing and other actions by competitors; the effect of legislative and regulatory actions in the United States and internationally; the Company's ability to comply with government regulations; the impact of a security breach or operational failure on the Company's business; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions into its operations; the impact of the Company's strategic initiatives; and other factors included in the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in other documents that the Company files with the SEC. You should consider these factors carefully in evaluating forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this ad hoc release. ### English French Q1 2017/2018 sales revenues Plaisir, December 13, 2017 - Zodiac Aerospace's sales were down -6.9% on a like-for-like basis for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2017/2018 (September to November). On October 30th 2017, the Group expected a slight decline in sales, which is broken down into a further increase of Aerosystems activities, at a similar pace to the previous year, a stabilization of the Cabin activities, and a decline in Seats business, impacted by past operational performance. Sales for the first quarter are in line with this scenario, with the exception of the Cabin branch, which is experiencing a weak start due to some customers' decision in the VIP and business jets markets to postpone their orders. Zodiac Aerospace reported sales of 1,077.5m, decreasing by -10.4% on a reported basis, impacted by a negative foreign exchange rates of -3.5 points. There was no impact from consolidation scope. Sales revenue for the first quarter of the 2017/2018 fiscal year In millions of euros First quarter First quarter % change Exchange rate Consolidation scope Organic variation 2017/2018 2016/2017 Aerosystems Activities 487.1 479.8 +1.5% -3.6% +0.0% +5.1% Aircraft Interiors Activities 590.4 722.1 -18.3% -3.4% +0.0% -14.9% Zodiac Seats 236.9 306.5 -22.7% -2.3% +0.0% -20.4% Zodiac Cabin 353.5 415.6 -15.0% -4.4% +0.0% -10.6% Group Total 1,077.5 1,201.9 -10.4% -3.5% +0.0% -6.9% /$ (conversion) 1.18 1.10 Aerosystems activities (45.2% of total revenue) reported a growth in revenues of +5.1% on a like-for-like basis and +1.5% on a reported basis, amounting to 487.1m. Aerosystems benefited from a good start of the year on IFE's activities, compared to a weak start in 2016/2017, and from a good performance in Power Systems, Oxygen and Evacuation activities. After-sales activities also contributed significantly to the growth of the quarterly sales. Aircraft Interiors activities (54.8% of total revenue) sales stood at 590.4m, down by -14.9% on a like-for-like basis and by -18.3% on a reported basis. Zodiac Seats branch reported 236.9m sales in Q1, down by -20.4% in organic and by -22.7% on a reported basis. As expected, the Seats branch remains penalized by the impact of its poor past operational performance. Zodiac Cabin branch reported a -10.6% organic decrease of its sales. This weak activity during the first quarter, below the Group's expectations, is due to postponements of orders by some customers, in the VIP and business jets markets. On a reported basis quarterly sales decreased by -15.0% to 353.5m. Currency hedge For 2017/2018, Zodiac Aerospace has hedged 91% of estimated EUR/USD exposure at 1.0952 $/ (spot rate), 54% of USD/CAD, 68% of USD/GBP, 87% of USD/MXN and 65% of USD/THB exposure. As a reminder, the sensitivity of the current operating margin rate is estimated at 168 basis points for 10 cents change in the euro / dollar exchange rate (transaction impact). Outlook As published in the presentation of its annual results on October 30th, Zodiac Aerospace continues its industrial recovery and transformation. On a like-for-like basis the Group confirms its expectation to post a slight decrease in sales for 2017/2018, excluding forex and scope effects, which breaks down into a further increase in Aerosystems activities, at a similar pace to the previous year, a stabilization of Cabin activities over the next 3 quarters and a further decline in Seats business, impacted by past operational performance. Current operating income should rise sharply. As for the sales, the current operating income for the second half of the year should be significantly higher than the first half. Operational Cash Flow generation is expected to remain strong, particularly as a result of ongoing actions to reduce inventories, which should lead to an increase in industrial investments. On December 7, Safran filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) a draft tender offer on a principal basis, complemented on a subsidiary basis by a public exchange offer, targeting the shares of Zodiac Aerospace. NB : A commentary of this quarterly revenues publication will be provided in a conference call intended for financial analysts and journalists on December 13, at 6:00PM CET. This conference will be transmitted by webcast on the following website www.zodiacaerospace.com. The recording of this conference call, the PowerPoint presentation (English only) and the press release will also be available on our website. About Zodiac Aerospace Zodiac Aerospace is a world leader in aerospace equipment and systems for commercial, regional and business aircrafts and for helicopters and spacecraft. It develops and manufactures state-of-the-art solutions to improve comfort and facilities on board aircrafts and high-technology systems to increase aircraft performance and flight safety. Zodiac Aerospace has approximately 35,000 employees worldwide and generated revenue of 5.1bn in 2016/2017. www.zodiacaerospace.com Next meeting: General meeting of shareholders January 9, 2018 ZODIAC AEROSPACE CONTACTS Pierre-Antony Vastra Tel: +33 (0)1 61 34 25 68 Florent Defretin Tel: +33 (0)1 61 34 03 34 Isabelle Delhom (Investor meeting) Tel.: +33 (0)1 61 34 19 86 investisseurs@zodiacaerospace.com 61, rue Pierre Curie - CS20001 - 78373 PLAISIR CEDEX MEDIA/PRESS CONTACTS IMAGE 7 Gregoire Lucas Tel: +33 (0) 1 53 70 74 94 / Ugregoire.lucas@image7.fr ZODIAC AEROSPACE press@zodiacaerospace.com IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION This press release is not intended to and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to subscribe for or buy or an invitation to purchase or subscribe for any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction in connection with the proposed acquisition of Zodiac Aerospace (the "Transaction") or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. The tender offer in connection with the Transaction is subject to obtaining of required regulatory and other customary authorizations. These materials must not be published, released or distributed, directly or indirectly, in any jurisdiction where the distribution of such information is restricted by law. Safran and Zodiac Aerospace filed with the French Market Authority ("AMF") a prospectus project and other relevant documents with respect to the tender offer to be made in France. Pursuant to French regulations, the documentation with respect to the tender offer which, as filed, states the terms and conditions of the tender offer is subject to the review by the AMF. Investors and shareholders in France are strongly advised to read the prospectus project and related offer materials regarding the tender offer referenced in this communication, as well as any amendments and supplements to those documents as they should contain important information regarding Safran, Zodiac Aerospace, the contemplated transactions and related matters. This press release and the information it contains do not, and will not, constitute an offer to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell, securities of Zodiac Aerospace in the United States of America or any other jurisdiction where restrictions may apply. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), it being specified that the securities of Safran have not been and will not be registered within the U.S. Securities Act. Safran does not intend to register securities or conduct a public offering in the United States of America. The distribution of this press release may be subject to legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Any person who comes into possession of this press release must inform him or herself of and comply with any such restrictions. Consolidated revenue by quarter APPENDICES In millions of euros 1st quarter 2017/2018 2nd quarter 2017/2018 3rd quarter 2017/2018 4th quarter 2017/2018 Aerosystems Activities 487.1 -487.1 0 0 Aircraft Interiors Activities 590.4 -590.3 0 0 Zodiac Seats 236.9 -236.9 0 0 Zodiac Cabin 353.5 -353.5 0 0 Group Total 1,077.5 -1,077.5 0 0 /$ conversion 1.18 0 0 0 In millions of euros 1st quarter 2016/2017 2nd quarter 2016/2017 3rd quarter 2016/2017 4th quarter 2016/2017 Aerosystems Activities 479.8 555.9 588.5 620.8 Aircraft Interiors Activities 722.1 689.1 753.8 717.1 Zodiac Seats 306.5 300.9 336.2 302.3 Zodiac Cabin 415.6 388.2 417.6 414.8 Group Total 1,201.9 1,245.0 1,342.3 1,337.9 /$ conversion 1.10 1.06 1.08 1.15 CHANGES (Quarter compared with the same quarter of the previous year) Based on reported data Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Aerosystems Activities +1.5% -187.6% -100.0% -100.0% Aircraft Interiors Activities -18.3% -185.7% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Seats -22.7% -178.7% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Cabin -15.0% -191.0% -100.0% -100.0% Group Total -10.4% -186.5% -100.0% -100.0% Aerospace activities * -10.3% -186.6% -100.0% -100.0% Based on organic revenue Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Aerosystems Activities +5.1% -192.6% -100.0% -100.0% Aircraft Interiors Activities -14.9% -192.2% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Seats -20.4% -183.5% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Cabin -10.6% -199.4% -100.0% -100.0% Group Total -6.9% -192.4% -100.0% -100.0% Aerospace activities * -6.8% -192.6% -100.0% -100.0% Cumulative consolidated revenue In millions of euros 1st quarter 2017/2018 1st half 2017/2018 9 months 2017/2018 Full year 2017/2018 Aerosystems Activities 487.1 0 0 0 Aircraft Interiors Activities 590.3 0 0 0 Zodiac Seats 236.9 0 0 0 Zodiac Cabin 353.5 0 0 0 Group Total 1,077.5 0 0 0 /$ conversion 1.18 0.59 0.39 0.30 /$ transaction 1.14 TBD TBD TBD In millions of euros 1st quarter 2016/2017 1st half 2016/2017 9 months 2016/2017 Full year 2016/2017 Aerosystems Activities 479.8 1,035.7 1,624.2 2,245.0 Aircraft Interiors Activities 722.1 1,411.3 2,165.1 2,882.1 Zodiac Seats 306.5 607.4 943.6 1,245.8 Zodiac Cabin 415.6 803.9 1,221.5 1,636.3 Group Total 1,201.9 2,447.0 3,789.3 5,127.1 /$ conversion 1.10 1.08 1.08 1.10 /$ transaction 1.11 1.10 1.10 1.11 CHANGES (Aggregate at end of period compared with the same period of last year) Based on reported data 1st quarter 1st half 9 months Full year Aerosystems Activities +1.5% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Aircraft Interiors Activities -18.3% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Seats -22.7% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Cabin -15.0% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Group Total -10.4% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Aerospace activities * -10.3% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Based on organic revenue 1st quarter 1st half 9 months Full year Aerosystems Activities +5.1% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Aircraft Interiors Activities -14.9% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Seats -20.4% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Zodiac Cabin -10.6% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Group Total -6.9% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% Aerospace activities * -6.8% -100.0% -100.0% -100.0% *Excluding Trains and Airbags businesses The scene at Warwick Racecourse on Wednesday morning. Photo: David Hucker WEATHER permitting, racing returns to Warwick on Thursday when the Larkshill Engineering Juvenile Hurdle kicks off a seven-race card for the courses Eventmasters Christmas at the Races meeting, writes David Hucker. With the weekend snow and rain causing cancellations up and down the country, trainers will have been anxiously looking at the weather forecasts for the end of the week and, following two inspections on Wednesday, officials have decided to look again at the track at 8am. Assuming the meeting goes ahead, highlight of the afternoon is the 25,000 M-Tec Consulting Group Mares' Novices' Chase (Listed Race) over two and a half miles, in which the progressive Lady Buttons will have to give weight to her rivals following her win in a Class1 race at Bangor-on-Dee last time out. Casablanca Mix finished nearly 15 lengths behind Renes Girl at Worcester in October, but followed up with a good second to Willoughby Court at Huntingdon and then posted a wide-margin win back at the course three weeks ago. Trainer Nicky Henderson has decided to run her here rather than at Cheltenham over the weekend and she looks the one to be on. One race almost certain to attract interest is the BHSF Maiden Hurdle over two miles and five furlongs, in which Bourton-on-the-Water trainer Ben Pauling runs Coeur Pensif who fell on his last outing at Ascot. Pauling won the race last year with Willoughby Court, who followed up at the course in January before landing the Neptune Investment Management Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. He is unbeaten in two chases this term and looks another to add to Warwicks roll of honour which includes three-time course winner Sceau Royal, who stepped up in class to land the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices Chase at Sandown Park at the weekend Longest race of the afternoon is the Balfour Beatty Handicap Chase and the three-mile trip will be ideal for course winner Paddy The Oscar, who showed his well-being when winning at Chepstow last month. Although fast-approaching his 15 birthday, he retains his form well and races off a handicap mark of 109 compared to 112 when successful over the course at the end of 2015. The concluding eventmasters.co.uk Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race looks an open contest, but Wilmcote trainer Olly Murphy has booked top Irish jockey Davy Russell for debutant General Custard and it will be interesting to see if there is any support for him in the betting market. Racegoers are being encouraged to pull on their Christmas jumpers with prizes on offer for the most original and cheesy jumpers, including an annual membership to the course and tickets to future race meetings, plus gifts from Warwicks local community supporters. Were looking forward to seeing everyone on the day in their favourite Christmas jumpers and embracing the festive spirit said manager Andre Klein. Its vital that all horses racing at Warwick are good jumpers, so we wanted to challenge racegoers to wear ones where all patterns go. We will try and get everyone together for a big group photo in the stands, which will be a bit of fun. Its a great chance to do something different for your Christmas party this year and make sure its one that everyone remembers for all the right reasons! added Klein. Gates open two hours before the first race which is due off at 12.20pm and there is ample free parking in the centre of the course. StreamingMedia.com Industry Announcements View Press Releases --- Add Your Press Release StreamingMedia.com provides this section as a service to its readers and customers. Please read our new press release policy, effective February 1, 2022. Press releases are subject to approval by the editorial staff of StreamingMedia.com and may be edited or altered for length and clarity, or to remove unsubstantiated and unverifiable claims. All content presented within the press release section is that of the submitter. StreamingMedia.com does not necessarily endorse such content and bears no responsibility or liability for its accuracy. English French Financial notice of 13 December 2017 Financial Year 2016/2017: Turnover and profit levels keep on increasing millions 2016/2017 2015/2016 Variation Turnover 708.8 682.6 +3.8% Current Operating Profit 52.7 48.1 +9.4% Operating Profit 53.7 46.8 +14.7% Net Income 39.1 34.1 +14.7% Turnover growth boosted by all Group markets The Group achieved a 6% growth over the 2016/2017 financial year at constant exchange rates, perimeter and working days (+3.8% gross growth year-over-year without these restatements). This growth is driven by all the Group's markets. A significant increase in operating profitability Current operating profit increased by 9.4% during the financial year to reach 52.7 million (compared to 48.1 million for the previous financial year), which represents 7.4% of turnover vs. 7.1% the previous financial year. The improvement in profitability is mainly explained by the turnover growth but it is also due to a gross margin increase and effectively managed expenses. After taking into account non-current items, operating profit is up by 14.7%, increasing from 6.9% of turnover to 7.6% of turnover over the 2016/2017 financial year. Non-current items are primarily related to a real estate deal in Belgium, but also linked to restructuring costs. A sharp increase in net income The net income is up by 14.7% compared to the previous financial year. The decrease in the Group's effective tax rate (25.8% in 2016/2017 vs. 28.7% in 2015/2016) is compensated by an increase in financial charges, mainly due to the variation on the foreign exchange rate (pound sterling). The net income amounts to 5.5% of turnover compared to 5.0% in 2015/2016. Dividends In light of these results, the AGM - convened to validate the accounts for the financial year ending 30 September 2017 - will be asked to approve an overall dividend of 12.6 million euros. The dividend payment would therefore amount to 1.65 euro for each of the Group's 7,613,291 shares, at a par value of 2 euros. An ever sound financial position Over the financial year, the Group managed to maintain its financial structure while financing its investment projects from its equity capital. The outlook for financial year 2017/2018 In this context, we will continue our proactive development strategy, particularly by: - Supporting the growth of the activity (Offer expansion, transaction digitalization and Traders) - Innovating to better differentiate ourselves (Digital innovations, Cmalist, The New Class); - Developing the potential of our employees within our University; - Seizing external growth opportunities ********************************** About the Manutan Group The Manutan Group is a European leader in multi-channel equipment distribution for businesses and local authorities. Established in 18 countries through 25 operating subsidiaries, the Group is a leading player in Europe. Manutan International is listed on Euronext Paris - Compartiment B - ISIN: FR0000032302-MAN. www.manutan.com Next publication: Q1 2017/2018 results - 17 January 2018 (after market closure) BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the publication of 5G Network Transformation to outline the new heights of innovation in transforming both the radio and core networks for 5G technologies and the work being done by numerous organizations worldwide. Automation and orchestration will alter how future networks are built, noted Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and adoption of new 5G technologies will transform network operation models and business economics leading to the creation of widely distributed, highly dense, high bandwidth mobile networks. The network architecture for 4G is connection-oriented and based on centralized mobility anchor points. With the exploding demand anticipated for new use cases and services, it is clear that a new network architecture is needed to satisfy the scalability, latency, or overall experience required in future networks. Fortunately, there is momentum and innovation in the industry toward meeting the requirements of 5G use cases. The new 5G architecture brings improved radio units with a much faster air interface when compared to LTE and a new service based architecture for the core. To support and enable both the known and unknown 5G use cases, a 5G Next Generation Core (NG-Core or NGC) and 5G New Radio (NR) are being clearly defined and standardized. The whitepaper focuses on 5G NGC architecture, which is defined as service-based and the interaction between network functions are represented in two ways: network functions within the 5G Control Plane (5GC); and network functions connecting to the 5G control plane from the RAN network. Network functions within the 5G CP shall only use service-based interfaces for their interactions. Key aspects in 5G network transformation explained in the report: 5G architecture brings improved radio units with a much faster air interface when compared to LTE and a new service-based architecture for the core 5G promises ubiquitous wireless coverage. Radios leveraging licensed and/or unlicensed spectrum, small cells, macro LTE eNodeBs, fiber, microwave, leased Ethernet, or satellite backhaul 5G architecture bring improved radio units with a much faster air interface when compared to LTE Functions will be involved in providing network services; each service will have certain characteristics, such as QoS or Mobility. These services can be assigned to dedicated and/or shared network slices. Each network slice will be realized by creating one or more virtual networks, each of them with certain performance characteristics. User-subscribed services will be mapped to the slices With the potentially infinite number of network slices that will be needed, a strong Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) will be necessary Orchestration, analytics and automation will play a key role in transforming a network to support and run the 5G network Separation of the user plane from the control plane is one of the key technological changes in the path to 5G evolution. Considering that 5G use cases and deployment architectures may lead to significant wireless bandwidth densities, its clear that distribution of the traffic towards the edge is imperative for 5G networks The result of the new network architecture will be a core that supports the numerous use cases posed by 5G. 5G Core technology enhancements will first show up in the 4G Core and will be used to inform and guide the development of other 5G standards and technologies, said Arun Rajagopal, Technology Development Strategist at Sprint and co-leader of the project. Some of the technology components are already in place, and key projects are underway as pre-standard technology demonstrators. 5G system architecture has to be highly adaptable to meet the performance expectations to serve new and legacy use cases, services, business models, infrastructure usage approaches and radio access needs that will emerge with 5G, stated Jeff Collins, Director of 5G at Ericsson and co-leader of the project. The revolution towards the 5G innovation engine is well underway. 5G Network Transformation was written by co-leaders Jeff Collins of Ericsson and Arun Rajagopal of Sprint and representatives from member companies on 5G Americas Board of Governors who participated in the development of this white paper. The whitepaper is available for free download. About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas 5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technology and its evolution beyond to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at www.5gamericas.org. Follow our news on Twitter at @5GAmericas and Facebook at www.facebook.com/5gamericas. 5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: America Movil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Entel, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Kathrein, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc. and Telefonica. Contact: 5G Americas Vicki Livingston Vicki.Livingston@5gamericas.org +1 414 688 9000 Can this Lankan American lawyer fix Americas deadliest city? By Ronak D. Desai View(s): View(s): In a banner year for South Asian Americans successfully seeking public office, super lawyer and former Deputy Attorney General of Maryland Thiru Vignarajah is running to be the top prosecutor in Americas deadliest city, his hometown of Baltimore. Vignarajah has staked his candidacy on a pair of ambitious promises: bring Baltimores record murder rates to record lows at record speed and create the most transparent, progressive prosecutors office in American history. If elected, Vignarajah would make history and become the countrys first South Asian American states attorney. Recent years have witnessed South Asian Americans successfully seeking federal, state and local office nationwide. From the US Congress to US Attorneys offices, South Asian Americans are slowly becoming a more common feature of the American political and legal landscapes. Dedicated to public service, these community members are also gravitating toward less visible but equally important and impactful posts like the one Vignarajah is seeking now. Vignarajah, 40, is the son of Sri Lankan immigrants with a compelling family story. When he was just three years old, he and his family fled Sri Lanka just as the country descended into a bloody and protracted civil war. His parents came to the United States with no jobs, squeezed the family into a cramped basement apartment in West Baltimore and spent winter weekends at the local library to keep warm. Like many first-generation South Asian Americans, Vignarajah inherited his parents reverence for education and retains a deep interest in the countrys public schools, a topic on which he teaches and writes frequently. Both his parents are retired Baltimore City high school teachers. Vignarajahs father was the oldest teacher in Maryland when he retired this past summer at the age of 80. His mother earned her Ph.D. at 62, finishing her teaching career at Morgan State, one of Marylands historically black colleges. Vignarajahs sterling resume belies his humble roots. After college at Yale, Vignarajah held some of laws most coveted positions: president of the Harvard Law Review the same post held by Barack Obama at Harvard Law School, federal clerkships, including one for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, constitutional law professor, federal prosecutor, partner at a global law firm and Deputy Attorney General of Maryland. Vignarajahs work has sometimes hit close to home. He attended public schools that struggled with violence, graduating from Woodlawn High School the same high school featured on Serial, the popular podcast about Adnan Syed, a Baltimore teen convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in 1999. As Deputy Attorney General, Vignarajah handled the closely-watched appeal in that case as Syed seeks a new trial. (Vignarajah declined to discuss the case due to the pending appeal, referring only to his statement in court that what is popular is not always just and what is just is not always popular.) Like his fellow South Asian counterpart in New York, Preet Bharara, Vignarajah amassed a distinguished record as a federal prosecutor. He tried and convicted the architect of a string of violent robberies that ended in the murder of a prominent Greek businessman. As a city prosecutor, he brought to justice a wealthy executive who set his mistresss rowhome on fire while she and her five-year-old son slept inside and prosecuted gang members responsible for a quadruple shooting that killed a 12-year-old boy. Vignarajahs track record fighting crime in Baltimore has earned him widespread praise. Detective Luis Delgado, a veteran Baltimore City homicide detective, called him the best prosecutor the city has ever seen. When Vignarajah was named Deputy Attorney General, the police commissioner described him as a once-in-a-generation lawyer and leader. As an immigrant and practicing Hindu, Vignarajah has also staked out progressive positions on national issues affecting vulnerable minorities. As Deputy Attorney General, Vignarajah was the lead author on a report cited by the Supreme Court in its landmark decision recognising same-sex marriage. He has made the case on CNN against Trumps muslim ban. He has also authored a legal challenge to deporting dreamers and has pledged he will not lift one finger to further the falsehood that immigrants are driving crime in Baltimore. Ultimately, he seeks to be an agent of criminal justice reform. He has condemned policies of mass incarceration and zero tolerance and rejected popular calls for more mandatory minimum sentences. Vignarajah is confident he can make a real difference as Baltimore City States Attorney. Yesterdays strategies of zero tolerance and mass incarceration have failed us. The fate of Baltimore depends on us finding a smarter, fairer way forward. If we do this right, Baltimore could be the blueprint for every great city whose promise remains out of reach because of crime. The Baltimore native faces a competitive race. A first-time candidate, Vignarajah is running against the incumbent, Marilyn Mosby, who enjoys star power that stretches beyond the city. She has been an outspoken critic of police misconduct, but her tenure has been mired in controversy amid soaring crime and what observers consider the botched prosecutions of the Baltimore City police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray in 2015. Grays death ignited violence and rioting across the city. The election is on June 26, 2018. PHOENIX, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Exploration Group (USOTC:LEXG) met with the White Top geophysical team and representatives from the processing company in Houston, TX yesterday. The company also brought its outside seismic consultant, Richard Coffin, to assist in the oversight and update meeting. Below are some of the initial findings from the meeting: Very Clean and Clear Data - The initial refraction analysis is in process and should not take much longer because the data is very clean. There are over 2,000,000 traces or readings that were taken that all have to be filtered and scrubbed, but the clarity and consistency of the data has been a blessing in the early stages of the processing. The processing team stated that they have not seen a land-based seismic shoot this positive in a long time. Preliminary Review Shows Bright Spots and Faulting - Dr. Coffin was able to review some of the initial stacking that has been completed and can see clear bright spots (indicative of hydrocarbon deposits) but more importantly he can see the "faulting" in the formations which is the most important part of Salt Dome development. Data Down to 17,000 Feet - The next phase of the project should begin in the first week of January and will take about a month. This time, depth analysis is critical to the 3D aspect of showing the entire structure. They have 3.5 seconds of data and in some areas more, which tells them that they will have clear geological data all the way down to 17,000 feet, which is excellent for the long-term prospect of some of the deeper formations. Dr. Coffin is updating his report on the shoot and processing information he gathered yesterday, which the company will post to its website early next week. "It was great to finally have the data and have tangible results that show progress. The clarity of the faulting that we were able to see gives us high confidence that we will be able to drill the most efficient wells possible as development commences next year," commented CEO Alex Walsh. "This initial data gives my team the assurance that White Top will be able to complete the option and that our royalty will become a substantial cash generator in the years to come." About Lithium Exploration Group Lithium Exploration Group is a US-based exploration and development company focused on the acquisition and development potential of lithium brines and other precious metals that demonstrate high probability for near-term production. Currently the company is focused testing the Sonic Cavitation Ltd. technology and the acquisition of oil and gas related assets in the US and Canada. Lithium Exploration Group is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol LEXG. Website: www.lithiumexplorationgroup.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future testing of the ultrasonic technology. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. We are not in control of lithium prices and these could vary to make development uneconomic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our most recent annual report for our last fiscal year, our quarterly reports, and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact Info Shanon Chilson 480-641-4790 info@lithiumexplorationgroup.com TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A federal study released last Thursday revealed that Canadian veterans are at significantly higher risk for death by suicide than the general populationand have been for the past 37 years. Female veterans are 1.8 times more likely to commit suicide than their civilian counterparts, whereas male veterans are 1.4 times more likely to commit suicide with males under the age of 25 at a 242 per cent higher risk of death by suicide compared to the general population. Over the years of the study from 1976 to 2012, the ministers office discovered that 1,356 veterans had committed suicide1,421 male, and 65 female. These numbers may seem startling, but the sad truth is that they come as no surprise to veterans, who have had to live with such realitieslosing comrades who were unable to access government resourcesfor nearly 40 years. In fact, the study has even drawn criticism because because it ends in 2012, just as the veterans suicide crisis emerged. Over a period of just three months, a shocking eight veteran suicides were reported, beginning with three suicides over three days in November in 2013. According to some veterans, the study provides an incomplete picture of the true severity of the issue. "This is just very vague and topical," Aaron Bedard, a former combat engineer who served in Afghanistan, told CBC News. "It is just generalizing it." Up until now, the government has been reluctant to track suicide among former Canadian Forces members, despite long-held suspicions that veterans are more at risk for depression and PTSD. This is the governments first attempt at collecting data on veteran suicide rates, a complicated task of cross-referencing data from Veterans Affairs, National Defence and Statistics Canada. The data is intended to inform the governments recent suicide prevention strategy announced in October. Meanwhile, this is the Veterans Transition Networks twentieth year in operation, offering specialized mental health services for 20 years to aid veterans in the critical time as they transition from military to civilian life. The research shows its workingthe University of British Columbia has shown that the VTN's programs have a nearly 80 per cent reduction in suicidal thoughts, with nearly all veterans who entered the program actively suicidal continuing to no longer feel suicidal a full 18 months after participating in the program. In addition, 24% reported an increase in life satisfaction and 34% reported an increase in self-esteem. "The study is a good start at establishing care for our Veterans, but our priority is to reach those who are suffering right now," says Dace Mars, Development Director of the Veterans Transition Network. "Our programs reach Veterans who've been otherwise completely isolated since leaving the military, and we've been told countless times that it's saved their lives at their darkest hours." Read more about how the VTN has changed veterans lives here, and for further information on the research data of the Veterans Transition Program, contact Dr. Dan Cox at dan.cox@ubc.ca. Media Contact Nesh Pillay 647-745-4224 nesh@presspillay.com About the Veterans Transition Network: The Veterans Transition Network is the only Canadian charity delivering mental health services to veterans from coast to coast. Founded in 1997 by Dr. Marv Westwood, their mission is to make sure no Canadian veteran is left suffering in isolation. Our programs are backed by 20 years of research and have a 98% successful transition rate, one of the highest in the world. For more information, see vtncanada.org. About Press Pillay: Press Pillay is a socially-conscious, boutique communications agency based in Toronto. With a team of former journalists, PR professionals and social media gurus, Press Pillay offers their lifestyle tech clients the highest-possible level of digital marketing strategies, branding and content. For more information visit www.presspillay.com. NZTAs announcement to proceed with the Katikati bypass and associated safety improvements on SH2, has sparked words between Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and Transport Minister Phil Twyford. Simon started it by labelling the long-awaited SH2 upgrade as overly timid. A job worth doing is a job worth doing right, says Simon. National was going to four lane all the way through Katikati and the NZTA should take the opportunity to do this now. Smaller piecemeal safety improvements wont cut it. Only one decent highway all the way will ensure the efficiency and safety our burgeoning population and freight needs. Hes concerned the plan is being scaled back so Phil can afford his urban projects in Auckland and Wellington. They have blown all the cash on tertiary education and free student fees, and then in terms of transport what they have got will be sucked into Auckland and Wellington for significant proposals they have got there, says Simon. Former Transportation Minister Simon Bridges. Its a raw deal for the Bay of Plenty. We would have done much better under a National Government in terms of our transportation need. Transport Minister Phil Twyford says the Coalition Government hasnt altered any existing projects, except Aucklands East-West link. Four lanes on State Highway 2 from Waihi to Tauranga was an election promise from the National Party. It was a proposal, not an existing project and was never budgeted for, says Phil. The National Party is being misleading to suggest the new Government would go ahead with a project that doesnt exist. The NZTA announced on Monday that a new seven kilometre highway will be built between Omokoroa and Te Puna with a bypass at Katikati. The programme will also see wide centrelines, side barriers and 26 intersection upgrades delivered between Waihi and Omokoroa from next year. The community showed strong support for the options at open days earlier this year, says NZTA System Design Senior Manager, Brett Gliddon. We have spoken with the community and the priority here is to prevent people dying or being seriously injured along this stretch of road. That is why we have started work on interim safety improvements at key intersections. We will also be preparing for safety improvements such as wide centrelines and installing side barriers from next year and speaking more to the community about reducing the speed along State Highway 2. This morning we are filming from Mount Main beach, where a pair of dotterels are nesting. In todays weather forecast we are expecting a mainly fine day with a chance of a shower until evening. Mild southeasterly breeze during the day. Its a one-clothing layer day today with a high of 25 and an overnight low of 13 degrees. Low tide is at 10.30am and high tide is at 4.40pm. Sea temperature is 21 degrees. Theres an average sea swell of 1m. Sunset tonight is at 8.28pm. If youre going fishing today the best fish bite times are between 9am and 11am, and between 9pm and 11pm. This day in NZ history in 1843 the first Auckland A and P Show was held. The Agricultural and Pastoral show demonstrated excellence in agriculture and animal husbandry. These shows became an annual event in communities throughout New Zealand. In 2009 Cabinet endorsed the Tino Rangatiratanga flag. The government recognised the Maori (Tino Rangatiratanga) flag as the preferred national Maori flag. In world history on this day in 1911 Roald Amundsen and four others discovered the South Pole. In 1920 the League of Nations created a credit system to aid Europe. In 1960 a U.S. Boeing B-52 bomber set a 10,000-mile non-stop record without refueling. And in 2008 Iraqi broadcast journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. Today is the birthday of Michel de Nostredame, a French astrologer and physician. Born in 1503, Nostradamus, as he is known, said "...You will live in my heartI will still remember even though we are apart. I will feel you there for me, as I walk the road of life you help me fight for what is right.." To get involved in events and activities please check out our Whats On page. Have a great day! Falls Church, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SOURCE - AZZAD ASSET MANAGEMENT Investors today announced they have filed resolutions at five major pharmaceutical companies asking for information about how well executive pay incentives mitigate long-term financial risks associated with mounting public concerns over the affordability of prescription medicines. The investors are all members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a shareholder coalition that has been engaging the pharma sector for decades on drug access and affordability. In the resolutions, the investors argue that an executive compensation incentive program reliant on revenue growth solely from drug price increases is a risky and unsustainable strategy. The resolution specifically requests a report on the extent to which risks related to public concern over drug pricing strategies are reflected in executive compensation policies, plans and programs. Read the full resolution text here. The five companies receiving the resolutions are Abbvie, Amgen, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly. ICCR members also filed a separate but similar resolution at Pfizer and Vertex requesting a report on the business risks from rising pressure to contain U.S. prescription drug prices. As investors in these companies, we are concerned that misaligned incentive pay may encourage executives to sacrifice long-term, organic growth from drug discovery for short-term, quick fix strategies that may pose business risks, said Meredith Miller of the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust. Public anxiety over drug prices has soared in recent years as millions of Americans struggle to afford the essential medicines needed to maintain their health. Scandals over excessive price hikes at several pharma companies have made the pharma industry the target of Congressional hearings, law suits, denials of coverage from insurers and ballot initiatives in several states which would force manufacturers to negotiate the prices of key medicines with government agencies such as Medicare and Medicaid. Against this backdrop, the investors say, companies need to prove to their investors and to the public that they are doing everything possible to control drug prices in order to manage business and brand risk. The investors view executive incentive programs as a governance tool designed to ensure adequate oversight of risk and alignment of corporate strategies with mission. Said Donna Meyer of Mercy Investment Services, The increased scrutiny around drug pricing and how it is being managed by pharma management has had reputational consequences for the entire industry. Our resolution request is very straightforward: an evaluation of how these concerns are being integrated into corporate governance structures. To the degree that executive incentives reflect a companys mission and growth strategies, this is clearly a critical and material issue for investors. Our goal is to better understand what oversight these pharmaceutical company boards are exercising when executive incentives are tied so closely to profits," said Cathy Rowan, who represents Trinity Health as a member of ICCR. "When these profits appear to be derived wholly from price hikes, it raises concerns among those of us who care about access to, and the affordability of, medicines particularly for vulnerable populations like women, children and seniors. Investors are expected to vote on the resolutions at each companys 2018 annual meeting of shareholders. Although it has had a lower profile, the Environmental Prosecution office in Malaga has played a key role in the trial of the president of the false animal protection centre in Torremolinos, Carmen Marin, who was sentenced to nearly four years in jail for falsifying documents and ill-treating animals. The Chief Environmental Prosecutor, Fernando Benitez, admits that this case particularly affected him, and he has nothing but praise for the effective and intelligent investigation which was carried out by the Guardia Civil's Nature Protection Unit, Seprona. He recalls the impact of discovering what had happened - hundreds of animals were destroyed, suffering an agonising and unjustified death so that Carmen Marin could make money - and he says harsher penalties are needed for cases of animal ill-treatment which are exceptionally serious, such as this one. What was your first impression when you heard about the Parque Animal case? I realised that an offence of fraud concerning the donations made by people who took animals to the shelter was absent from the investigation. They weren't large amounts of money. Most people donated 50 or 60 euros, but altogether they came to quite a sum and that could have been fraud. I would have liked to have followed that up, but I didn't have any more documentation or new evidence which would enable me to do that. That part of the case is now being handled by the court in Torremolinos. Also, the falsifying of documents had been excluded from the summary procedure. I pressed for that to be included, because I thought it was very important, and that was the start of a fierce legal battle; between us, on one hand, because we wanted to overturn the provisional dismissal of the offence of falsifying documents, and the defence, which wanted it to be cancelled altogether. What affected you most about what had happened? Some cases have a particular impact and this is one of them, not only because of the awful images and the witness reports, but because it is hard to imagine that there are people who are dehumanised to such an extent. It's almost incredible that someone who sells themself publicly as a protector of animals has such contempt for animal suffering and kills hundreds of animals in an extremely cruel way for purely financial reasons. I was amazed that the situation had gone on for so long without anyone putting an end to it. In your accusation, you said that the animals were writhing in pain for hours. There were witnesses who said so during the trial. Nothing was the product of invention or imagination. Carmen Marin admitted that this happened simply to save money on the euthanasia products. She injected an amount which was not recommended, into parts of the body which were not suitable, and with no sedation. Instead of giving the injections intravenously, she did it anywhere in the body. That makes intramuscular absorption of the product much slower. What do you think of Seprona's investigation? I think it was exemplary; firstly because it brought an end to this terrible situation, and secondly because it meant the case could come to trial. They carried out an investigation on the ground which was efficient and intelligent, and they collected enough material for us to evaluate what had been happening there. There were plenty of pictures, documents and witnesses. In the conclusions you said you would have liked to have been wrong. The defence maintained that this was a set-up, out of revenge or ill will towards Carmen Marin. I would have liked them to have demonstrated that, because it would have been preferable if this had not happened, but there was irrefutable evidence. The witnesses, the documentation and the experts' reports coincided about what had happened. And unfortunately, it was dreadful. What role did Torremolinos town hall play in this? During the trial Seprona said that the town hall had not collaborated with the investigation, and had even helped Carmen Marin to falsify documents. That wasn't part of the proceedings, but the officers said town hall staff were expressly told not to talk to Seprona. They said Marin was given the files with the invoices for incinerating the animals so they could be altered and then given back. That was proven, as the sentence shows. It points out that she was given favourable treatment. And is that legal? I have never known a case like it. Normally people can get a copy, although it isn't easy, but this is the first time I have ever heard of a public administration giving somebody a file so it can be modified and then re-registered. And why was she given that favourable treatment? I've heard a number of rumours, but I haven't analysed them from the point of view of proven facts. It seems strange that, despite the seriousness of what had happened, Carmen Marin was sent to prison for falsifying documents and not for ill-treating animals. It's strange that falsifying documents can result in up to three years in prison, while cruelly sacrificing thousands of animals only results in a maximum of one year, which can be extended to 18 months. It seems disproportionate that this behaviour has a penalty of 18 months in the worst of cases, when people are given the same sentence for stealing a wallet with 400 euros inside. It shouldn't be like that. We are calling for a new sentence to be available for exceptionally serious cases like this one, which deserve a much harsher penalty, so people can be given more than two years in prison. Proposed bill Have you officially proposed that? As a prosecutor all I can do is call for it in court, recommend it in my report and include it in the minutes for the Malaga Prosecution Authority. I have been doing that for two years. The judge also referred to it in the sentence, and the College of Lawyers has taken the matter to parliament. I believe it is to be presented as a draft bill. -It seems that social sensitivity has advanced more quickly than the law regarding ill-treatment of animals. -This type of matter is usually way down the list. We are a relatively young democracy and we come from an agrarian society. It is only recently that society has started to think of animals as sentient beings and not as mere possessions belonging to their owners. The crime of ill-treatment of animals has been common in the UK and Germany for a great deal longer, and the penalties are higher. Our Penal Code excludes animals which live in the wild, while Germany, for example, protects all animals with a vertebral column and central nervous system because it knows that they are capable of experiencing suffering. In Spain, the crime was introduced in 2003 and there were two important reforms in 2010 and 2015. Each reform widened the sphere of application and the penalty. I believe we're making progress in that sense. What about bullfighting? How does that fit into this context? It's a delicate question. I can only give my opinion as a citizen. I don't like bullfighting; I would prefer it to be abolished. Some regions have done that, without much of a backlash, and some festivals have abandoned their cruelest elements. However, I must stress, that is just my personal opinion. Since his leukaemia diagnosis in 2015, 27-year-old Ivan Gonzalez, from the small Asturias town of Illas, has radically changed his life. The father-of-two suffers from the incurable chronic leukaemia, for which he has to have continuous treatment. He did not let his illness put a halt on his life, instead he started running. Today, he is one of the best long-distance runners in the country. Last weekend he completed his impressive 1,000 kilometre run to pay homage to Pablo Raez, a young man from Marbella who died after transplant complications nine months ago. He ran 600 kilometres and cycled 400 kilometres, from Aviles to Marbella. As well as paying tribute to Pablo Raez, who he never managed to meet, the aim of this great feat was to raise awareness about bone marrow donation, and to collect money on www.1000kilometroscontralaleucemia.com. In the final few kilometres of this eight-day journey he was joined by Paco Raez, Pablo's father. They were met like heroes at the finish line, with applause and tears. Especially from Ivan's parents and wife. Ivan received recognition at the Asociacion de Voluntarios de Oncologia Infantil (AVOI) event which was celebrated last weekend in the Marbella Palacio de Congresos. As a gesture of his gratitude, Paco Raez gifted Ivan with the medal his son received some years ago after taking part in the Ronda 101 kilometres challenge for the first time. I've got a lot out of this but what I feel most excited and emotional about is this, Ivan said, pointing at the medal, which hangs around his neck. Ivan passed through 88 towns in 10 provinces with his team of four people who monitored his health along the way. The hardest bit was the first part, in northern Spain. In the freezing, desolate areas the kilometres became a lot longer. But we fought against the weather and against the pain and it was fantastic, assured the athlete, who was surprised to finish in such good health. He is overwhelmed by the response he has received from the general public. So many people who have opened their doors to me and given me everything even though they don't know me. It has been worth every metre, he said. He maintains that he would do it over again one thousand times. But after a bit of a break of course, he joked. You think about 1,000 kilometres in a car and you think... wow. Imagine doing that walking or by bike without getting anything out of it, only for the desire to raise awareness. It's amazing, an emotional Paco Raez remarked. Now, Ivan Gonzalez continues with his other personal challenge, facing leukaemia every single day. It is under control at the moment so he can prepare for his next sporting competitions. Pablo Raez's legacy brought Ivan and me together, explained his personal trainer Octavio Perez. He has done this 1,000 kilometres for Pablo and for all the children who suffer this illness. New York, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Open Society Foundations today announced the appointment of Patrick Gaspard as president, effective January 1, 2018. He has managed day-to-day operations of the Foundations since September. Gaspard will oversee a 2018 budget of more than one billion dollars at the Open Society Foundations, which support human rights, justice, and access to public health and education in more than 140 countries. I am delighted to have Patrick as leader of the Foundations, said George Soros, chairman and founder of the Open Society Foundations. He has demonstrated enormous energy and commitment in responding to the challenges we face. He brings a strong vision of where we are going, drawing on a broad range of experience that convinced both me and the members of the Global Board that he is ideally suited to this role. Gaspard joined Open Society in January 2017 as vice president, working with outgoing president Chris Stone to oversee program work and advocacy. He took over the role of president on an acting basis when Stone announced his intention to step down at the end of this year. Previously, Gaspard was the U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 2013 to 2016. Prior to that, he was the executive director of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2013, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs from 2009 to 2011, and the national political director for Obama for America in 2008. Gaspard also was the executive vice president and political director for the Service Employees International Union. This is a mission unlike any other, said Gaspard. And I am deeply honored to be confirmed in this role by George Soros and the Global Board. This year has given me a deep introduction to the challenges we face. But it has also reaffirmed my faith in the peopleour staff and granteeswho are working tirelessly to build a better, more just, more open world. Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2ef4d02d-9e46-4230-a522-ec328e629efb SARASOTA, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SUBJECT: U.S. Department of Transportations Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Proposed Civil Penalty Against Braille Battery In response to your request for comment, Braille Battery, Inc. acknowledges the communication from the Federal Aviation Administration dated November 20, 2017. Braille takes the issues referenced in the communication from the FAA very seriously. Braille has been working with the FAA for many months. The result of this interaction is that Braille has made some significant personnel changes; implemented a new and complete training program for employees in the handling, packaging, and shipment of lithium ion batteries; and completely overhauled its shipping materials and procedures. It is important to note that the issues identified by the FAA were rooted in personnel and procedures that predated the current ownership. All efforts have been made to be responsive to the FAA. As a result, the company is currently in negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues with the government. Braille Battery looks forward to continuing to serve its strong and loyal customers with its state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries for the automotive, racing, commercial and marine industries. The companys recent safety upgrades and procedures gives it the highest level of confidence that our products will be in complete compliance and will be delivered safely and efficiently. Contact: Grafoid Inc. Gary Economo, President & CEO 613 238 7417 geconomo@grafoid.com www.grafoid.com Radford officials announced early Tuesday the indictment and arrest of a Wytheville man for the rape of an incapacitated victim. Marcus Avery Hash, 22, of Wytheville is charged with rape and aggravated sexual battery for an Oct. 1, 2016, attack in the 1100 block of Fairfax Street, according to a city news release. The arrest follows a lengthy investigation, the release said. Police are asking that anyone with information about Hashs case contact Det. Eric McClanahan at (540) 267-3211 or eric.mclanahan@radvordva.gov. Hash is being held in the New River Valley Regional Jail, the news release said. The case of a former Montgomery County teacher accused of showing up at school drunk could affect the outcome of other intoxication charges, a judge said Monday. Chelsea Elizabeth Carter, 26, of Wytheville was in Montgomery County General District Court to face a charge of public intoxication tied to an Oct. 10 incident at Eastern Montgomery Elementary School. A sheriffs deputy who was called to the school that morning said that she could smell alcohol as soon as she entered the principals office, where Carter, then a teacher, was crying and talking to school officials. Carter said that she had been drinking gin the previous night but had only two drinks and stopped drinking around 10 p.m., testified Montgomery County Sheriffs Deputy J. Underwood. Underwood was the first of a series of witnesses set to speak Monday. But the hearing came to an abrupt halt after Carters attorney, Michael Barbour of Dublin, challenged a breath test that Underwood had administered. When Underwood began to describe the test she gave to Carter, Barbour objected on the grounds that the device, called an Alco-sensor, is not approved in Virginia for use as evidence in court. The Virginia Department of Forensic Science has only certified one device, the Intox EC/IR II, as having results reliable enough to be used in court, Barbour said. Judge Gino Williams called Barbours argument unique and said it had the potential to affect many other cases where the Alco-sensor has played a role. Williams said that he would need to review relevant laws before deciding how to proceed. Williams said that he would resume Carters case on Jan. 8. Handheld and portable, the Alco-sensor is widely used to administer preliminary breath tests in suspected cases of drunken driving. While the devices results are not approved for use in court, officers regularly consider them, along with a suspects performance on an array of field tests like reciting the alphabet or standing on one foot, to decide whether to arrest a driver. An official breath test using the Intox EC/IR II, a larger, desktop device, is often given after a driver is arrested on suspicion of intoxicated driving. In Virginia, it can be an offense to refuse the Intox EC/IR II breath test but not the preliminary test. This year, in response to a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court case, the General Assembly eliminated Virginias criminal penalty for drivers who decline a blood test in intoxication cases, but streamlined the process for police to get a search warrant that would allow a test. Williams noted that Carters case does not involve driving but Barbour said that the issue was the same that results from an unapproved breath-test device should not be used against his client. The charge against Carter is a misdemeanor and the county commonwealths attorneys office did not prosecute it. Instead, the case against Carter was to be presented by Underwood and other witnesses. English French Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders The Atos proposal does not form the basis for constructive engagement as it: fails to provide a compelling strategy versus Gemalto's standalone prospects; significantly undervalues the Company; fails to adequately address the interests of its various stakeholders; does not offer sufficient deal certainty. Amsterdam, December 13, 2017 at 8:00 PM - Gemalto N.V. (the Company) announces that it has rejected the unsolicited and conditional proposal by Atos SE (Atos) for a possible recommended cash offer for all issued and outstanding shares of the Company at an offer price of EUR46 per share (cum dividend) set forth in letters received from Atos on 28 November, 8 December and 11 December 2017, and as announced by Atos on 11 December 2017 (the Proposal). Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board of Directors, in consultation with its financial advisors Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan and legal advisors Allen & Overy and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, has carefully reviewed and discussed whether the Proposal is in the best interests of the Company, its business and clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. After thorough consideration, the Board of Directors has unanimously come to the conclusion that this is not the case. Philippe Vallee, Gemalto CEO commented: "In 11 years, we have turned Gemalto into a technology Blue-Chip, recognized in over 180 countries throughout the world. In 11 years, the Company has created 5 000 jobs. In 11 years, Gemalto has become the world leader in digital security. We have taken the measure of the recent changes in our historical markets, taken the responsible decisions and are now focused on leveraging the many opportunities of our fast-growing markets. We will soon be presenting to our stakeholders our ambitious and substantial development plan for the Company that will focus on the next generation of digital security for companies, governments and citizens worldwide. Gemalto's employees, its Board of Directors, its Management team and I are fully aligned and committed to achieving the success of this plan that will benefit our stakeholders, including all our shareholders." In its review, the Board of Directors has considered the following topics of particular relevance: Strategy Gemalto - the world leader in digital security - is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders, through its ambitious strategy. Gemalto's unique technology platform allows it to support clients' digital security needs across multiple high-growth markets; Gemalto is well advanced in its transition from traditional banking and telecom smartcard markets to fast-growing Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine markets; The implementation of Gemalto's transition plan is already enabling the Company to be more agile and nimble and better serve its clients' needs. The Proposal is unclear as to critical elements of the combination strategy, integration and potential consequences for its stakeholders; Gemalto is organized to benefit from innovation across its business units and the potential break-up contemplated by Atos through the contribution of Gemalto's businesses to three separate divisions of Atos (for example the integration of the payments business into Worldline) would negatively impact Gemalto's performance and ability to best serve its clients. Valuation The Board of Directors considers that the Proposal significantly undervalues the Company: The timing of the Proposal is opportunistic: the proposed offer price represents a discount of 27.4% vs. Gemalto's last 12-month high and a premium of only 3.5% [1] vs. Gemalto's 12-month average share price. It is made at a time when Gemalto has stabilised its performance following a challenging period; vs. Gemalto's 12-month average share price. It is made at a time when Gemalto has stabilised its performance following a challenging period; As mentioned, Gemalto is well advanced in the transition from traditional banking and telecom smartcard markets to fast-growing Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine markets. The impact of this transition is yet to be reflected in the Company's share price as its strategy and positioning around these growth segments will be detailed during the forthcoming Capital Markets Day; The proposed offer price of EUR46 per share does not reflect Gemalto's leadership positions in these fast-growing segments, and is well below the valuation levels of companies involved in highly strategic Government and Cybersecurity activities; The Proposal does not adequately reflect a fair sharing of synergies accruing from the potential combination, which Atos believes to be substantial. Deal certainty The Proposal does not provide adequate deal certainty, given the significant conditionality attached to it, and the likely execution risks involved in the proposed transaction. In particular, the Proposal does not contain a substantiated explanation on, and analysis of, the envisaged anti-trust, CFIUS and other clearance procedures. It lacks details on timing, risks and potential remedies that would be offered to ensure completion. In addition, the proposed merger protocol contains a number of off-market, unclear, unusual and unacceptable terms and conditions. Stakeholders The Proposal falls short in addressing the interests of the Company, its business and clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. The Proposal provides very limited protection for Gemalto's other stakeholders, mentioning only a small number of general topics, and falls short of actual and concrete commitments. The Proposal fails to include important non-financial commitments customary for a friendly recommended transaction of this size and nature, including, but not limited to, commitments on no-redundancies, customer approach, and the required fair dealing and protection of the interest of any remaining minority shareholders if the offer were to be declared unconditional. In addition, the proposed duration of the non-financial covenants is not specified and their enforcement is not safeguarded post potential completion and delisting, leaving the Company's stakeholders essentially unprotected. Atos' approach The Board of Directors also note that Atos' Proposal is not reflective of a friendly and collaborative approach as it was not preceded by customary exploratory discussions, the announcement of the Proposal was done unilaterally and Atos indicated its intention to file an offer memorandum with the AFM irrespective of whether it has reached agreement with Gemalto. The Board of Directors is concerned that this could exemplify cultural differences between the two companies. Attached to this press release is a copy of the letter that was sent today on behalf of the Board of Directors of Gemalto to Mr Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos. Investor Relations Corporate Communication Media Relations Agency Jean-Claude Deturche Isabelle Marand Frans van der Grint M.: +33 6 2399 2141 M.: +33 6 1489 1817 T: +31 20 404 4 707 jean-claude.deturche@gemalto.com isabelle.marand@gemalto.com Frans.vanderGrint@hkstrategies.com Sebastien Liagre M.: +33 6 1751 4467 sebastien.liagre@gemalto.com Domenic Brancati M. +44 7799 316 030 domenic.brancati@georgeson.com Arien Stuijt T: +31 20 404 47 07 arien.stuijt@hkstrategies.com This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. In most cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential" or "continue" or the negative of such terms or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve significant assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. This is a public announcement by Gemalto N.V. pursuant to section 17 paragraph 1 of the European Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). This public announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Gemalto N.V. About Gemalto Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the global leader in digital security, with 2016 annual revenues of 3.1 billion and customers in over 180 countries. We bring trust to an increasingly connected world. From secure software to biometrics and encryption, our technologies and services enable businesses and governments to authenticate identities and protect data so they stay safe and enable services in personal devices, connected objects, the cloud and in between. Gemalto's solutions are at the heart of modern life, from payment to enterprise security and the internet of things. We authenticate people, transactions and objects, encrypt data and create value for software - enabling our clients to deliver secure digital services for billions of individuals and things. Our 15,000+ employees operate out of 112 offices, 43 personalization and data centers, and 30 research and software development centers located in 48 countries. For more information visit www.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter. Mr Thierry Breton Chairman and CEO Atos S.E. River Ouest 80 quai Voltaire 95877 Bezons Cedex France Amsterdam, 13 December 2017 Dear Mr Breton, We refer to your letters dated 27 November, 8 December and 11 December 2017, as well as to your announcement of 11 December 2017. The Board (the Board) of Gemalto N.V. (Gemalto or the Company) has, together with its financial advisors Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan and its legal advisors Allen & Overy and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, carefully reviewed and considered your unsolicited and conditional proposal for a possible recommended offer for all issued and outstanding shares of Gemalto N.V. as set forth in your letters and in the draft framework for a merger protocol that you sent in parallel to your letter of 8 December 2017 (the Proposal). Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board has reviewed and discussed whether your Proposal is in the best interests of the Company, its business, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. After thorough consideration the board has unanimously come to the conclusion that this is not the case. In the review by the Board, leading to this conclusion, the following is particularly relevant. Strategy We believe that Gemalto - the world leader in digital security - is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders. As you note in your investor presentation, we have a unique technology platform that allows us to support our clients' digital security needs across multiple high-growth markets. We are well advanced in transitioning our business towards the higher growth Government, Enterprise, Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine end markets. We have grown organically significant businesses in On Demand connectivity platforms for mobile operators and in Authentication as a Service platforms for online services access. The board is confident that Gemalto management will deliver the already announced transition plan and the Company is best positioned to deliver long term value given its current capabilities and positioning. Our transition plan is well underway and will allow us to be more agile and nimble and better serve our clients' needs going forward. Your Proposal is unclear as to critical elements of the combined strategy, integration approach and impact on Gemalto, particularly because it lacks a detailed explanation of operational structuring and synergy potential. Gemalto is organized to benefit from innovation across our business units and we believe the potential break-up and contribution to three separate divisions (for example the integration of the payments business into your independent and publicly listed subsidiary Worldline) could negatively impact the propagation of our most advanced technologies and our ability to best serve our clients. Moreover, we think that there will be significant challenges in combining our businesses in the short term which are not addressed in your proposal. Finally, the synergy framework outlined in your presentation is very high level. Valuation The Board considers that the Proposal significantly undervalues the Company and is not reflective of the intrinsic value and prospects of Gemalto. The timing of your Proposal is opportunistic, seeking to take control of the Company at a price that represents a discount of 27.4% vs. our last 12-month high and a premium of only 3.5%[2] vs. our 12-month average share price and at the time when the Company has stabilised its performance following a challenging period. As mentioned, our business mix today is transitioning towards attractive growth activities such as Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine, which together accounted for over 55% of our Q3 2017 reported revenue and grew at over 20% year-on-year. Such businesses, especially at scale, are very scarce and of high strategic value. The impact of this transition is yet to be fully reflected in the Company's share price and our strategy and positioning around these growth segments will be further detailed during our forthcoming Capital Markets Day. Your proposed offer price of EUR46 per share corresponds to a valuation which does not reflect our leadership positions in these faster growing segments, and is well below the valuation levels of companies involved in highly strategic Government and Security activities. In addition, we would expect any Proposal to adequately reflect a fair sharing of synergies accruing from a transaction, which you have indicated you believe to be substantial. Deal certainty The Board considers that your Proposal does not provide adequate deal certainty, given the significant conditionality attached to it, and given the execution risks involved in the transaction envisaged by your Proposal. In particular, your Proposal does not contain a substantiated explanation on, and analysis of, the envisaged anti-trust clearance procedures, timing, risks and potential remedies you would be prepared to offer to ensure completion of the contemplated transaction. The same applies in respect of any other regulatory clearances that may be required, such as CFIUS. In addition, your draft framework for the merger protocol contains a number of off-market, unclear, unusual and unacceptable terms and conditions, that give further serious concerns on deal certainty. Stakeholders Importantly, the Board concludes that your Proposal is not sufficient in addressing the interests of the Company, its business, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. We are continually developing our business in response to the constantly evolving needs of our customers, with whom we develop innovative solutions through trusted and long-term relationships. Our business is key to the governments and citizens that we serve in the area of data security, data privacy and confidentiality. We put a strong focus on developing solutions that help tackle some of society's major challenges, ranging from financial inclusion to efficient and accessible health and welfare services. We continuously maintain significant commercial and technical investments, as we believe these will contribute over the long-term to the progress of the mobile and digital society for our customers and for citizens. For example our investments contribute to the continuous global interoperability of mobile telephony systems and card payment systems, as well as the global deployment of interoperable digital identity systems that people, companies and governments can trust, such as electronic ID documents and their fully digital equivalents such as trusted digital driver licenses on mobile phones. Your draft framework for a merger protocol provides only for very limited protection of our stakeholders. This is not in line with market practice, and is not in line with a friendly recommended transaction. In this respect, your Proposal mentions only a small number of general topics, without mentioning actual and concrete commitments. Important non-financial covenants (NFCs) customary for a friendly recommended transaction of this size and nature are not included in your Proposal, including, but not limited to, those on no-redundancies, continued R&D, approach to customers, the employees' savings plans, the employee share option plan, and the required fair dealing and protection of the interest of any remaining minority shareholders after your offer would be declared unconditional. In addition, the proposed duration of the NFCs is not specified, and the enforcement of the NFCs is not safeguarded post-completion and delisting, leaving our other stakeholders essentially unprotected. Your approach We also noted that your approach in making your Proposal is not reflective of a truly friendly and collaborative approach. On 28 November 2017, your first letter on the Proposal was delivered to our CEO without customary preceding explorative discussions. Following our communication to you that we would revert on or before the 15 December 2017, on 11 December 2017 you announced the Proposal unilaterally without prior consultation. In your announcement of the Proposal you also indicated that you will proceed with filing an offer memorandum with the AFM, irrespective of whether or not you have reached agreement with Gemalto. This sequence of events and the steps you have chosen to take, have led the Board to believe that your approach, contrary to your statements in your announcement of the Proposal, is not friendly and collaborative. Obviously, the nature of an approach and real signs of a true intention to seek the Board's support are important for the Board's consideration of any proposal. We have concerns that this could exemplify cultural differences between our two companies. Conclusion After its thorough and careful review, our Board has determined that your Proposal does not, from the perspective of Gemalto, have a sufficiently substantiated strategic rationale and fails to adequately address the consequences it will have for Gemalto's business. Furthermore, the Board has determined that your Proposal significantly undervalues the Company, is highly conditional and uncertain and fails to adequately address the interests of our various stakeholders. As such, your Proposal does not form a basis for constructive engagement. Thank you for your proposal and for your interest in our Company. Very truly yours, Alex Mandl Chairman of the Board Phillipe Vallee Chief Executive Officer [1] As of market close on 11 December 2017 [2] As of market close on 11 December 2017 Attachments: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2214a9af-6678-45f4-ab6e-4d2eba66b521 ABINGDON, Va. Nine-year-old Lucy Carroll was at the front of the line, bouncing with energy as she volunteered to help package food for a nonprofit organization in Abingdon last week. The student and her classmates from Wolf Hills Community School visited Abingdon Community Center last week, where they got a taste of what it takes to put together Meals on Wheels for homebound people who receive the freshly prepared food each week. The elementary school students, ages 5 to 9, followed Debra Murray, head cook for Meals on Wheels, into the kitchen, where their work was just beginning. Retrieving a large tray of ham rolls from the refrigerator, Murray asked the students to help her fill more than 70 plastic trays with food that will be delivered to clients the next day. I think its pretty fun, said Carroll. I like to do service stuff. Annabelle Finney, age 9, said, Some people need this, and since we dont need it, we can do it for others. Eight-year-old Astrid Bockhorst agreed that she likes helping other people because its important to our community. The second phase of their project took place the next evening when the students accompanied their parents or teachers who picked up the meals at the community center and delivered the food to clients in the Abingdon area. I think its absolutely wonderful to have the students here. This is the start of us proving that the community center is for all ages, said Natalie Graham, executive director of the Abingdon Community Center, the new name for the Abingdon Senior Center. Lori Pennington, program director and teacher at Wolf Hills Community School, said their visit to the community center was an excellent opportunity for the children to learn the importance of community service. Our community is the ultimate classroom, she said. After returning to school, the students engaged in a reflection activity where they were invited to talk about their volunteer experience. We have morning council every day to talk about what were doing. Reflection is a big part of it. Pennington explained the school is a one-classroom learning institution that offers project-based learning for students in kindergarten through fourth grades. Younger children have the unique opportunity to learn from older students. We follow progressive education models, so we focus on experiential learning, spend time outdoors and teach the students the importance of serving others, she said. We look at subjects through the lens of a single primary theme or topic, and we study it, read about it and do activities around it. Brandon Castle, lead teacher, said part of the schools philosophy is we love to be in our community, be of it, learn from it and to serve it. Todays activity is a great way for the students to serve their community. ABINGDON, Va. Abingdon has a new LOVE sign. The Virginia Tourism Corp. unveiled its new LOVE display, part of the Lovework sculpture series, Thursday at Heartwood in Abingdon. Created as part of a state and local partnership in 2013 to promote travel and tourism, the life-sized artwork, which spells out the word LOVE, is meant to build tourism across the state. We are excited that Heartwood will help us share the love with travelers, helping them to be able to discover for themselves why Virginia is for lovers, said Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corp. The new sign at Heartwood captures that perfectly and gives you an authentic sense of place as it showcases culture, music and natural beauty. The artwork is also an extension of the 48-year-old tourism branding, Virginia is for Lovers and one of more than 65 on display across the state. The design work and installation of the sign were done by Bristol native and small business owner Hunter Dannhardt, who owns his own woodworking business, Appalachian Reclaimed. Each piece of the sign was constructed using local materials, according to Dannhardt, who finds pieces of scrap material from old barns and other buildings across Southwest Virginia. The new sign is the eighth to be constructed in Southwest Virginia. The others are in Scott and Russell counties and the city of Bristol. After braving the chill in the air outside, members of the Friends of Southwest Virginia moved inside Heartwood to unveil the newly renovated Mountain Brew Bar. The idea for the new space stemmed from the launch of the Southwest Virginia Mountain Brew Trail, which showcases more than two dozen breweries across 19 counties and four cities. A vibrant atmosphere, local food and music fill the space. Dannhardt also created the cafes new sign, which hangs above the serving line. The new signs further emphasize the importance of Heartwood as a destination center for Southwest Virginia, said Chris Cannon, executive director of the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Foundation and Friends of Southwest Virginia. We are excited for residents and visitors to come experience the changes at Heartwood. ABINGDON, Va. Youve probably been there before, but I, for one, never tire of visiting the eccentric residents of Tuna, Texas, especially as they prepare for Christmas, their second favorite holiday of the year the first being, of course, March 2, the day in 1836 when Texas stuck its collective thumb in Mexicos eye and declared itself Independent with a big Lone Star capital I. And Texans, especially in small towns such as Tuna, have never stopped so declaring. Thanks to two of the Barter Theatres most versatile actors, Michael Poisson and Mary Lucy Bivins, we once again check in with Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie at Radio Station WOKK; Pearl Burras, whose little ol' lady persona hides a felonious distaste for squirrels and bird dogs; Inita Goodwin and Helen Bedd, who are hoping for sexy cowboys in their Christmas stockings; Didi Snavely, whose used gun stores motto is If Didis cant kill it, its immortal and a town well-stocked with equally individual individuals. Of course, as youll soon notice when you visit with the Tuna-rites, except for the availability of Lone Star beer, more cacti and bigger hats, theyre pretty much the same as us Southwest Virginians and East Tennesseans. Youre sure to recognize folks you see every day, even in your bathroom mirror. You might also marvel at how two actors can portray nearly two dozen characters without getting them any more mixed up than they already are. A Tuna Christmas is hilarious, politically incorrect and a revealing look at an America, roses, thorns and all, that still exists out there and here in flyover country where folks dont mind being looked down upon as long as its from 35,000 feet. A Tuna Christmas is on Barter Stage II through Dec. 24. For reservations: 276-628-3991 or www.bartertheatre.com. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Mining Corp. (TSXV:CNG) (the Company) has terminated the Letter of Intent (LOI) announced by the Company in a news release on September 27, 2017 with Crust Resources Corp. (Crust) a BC registered company, to acquire a 100% direct or indirect interest in their operating subsidiary, Care Mining Company Ltd. (Care), a company registered in the Republic of Ghana. Care holds a 100% interest in the Ghana prospecting concession PL 6/340, known as the Ahyireso Concession (the Ghana Project), located near Bibiani, Ghana. Please refer to the news release dated September 27, 2017 for more information on the Ghana Gold Property. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Brian G. Thurston, President For further information please contact: Brian G. Thurston Canadian Mining Corp. Phone: 604-474-5380. 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. TOLUCA, Mexico, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Universal Aviation Mexico, a joint venture between Avemex, and Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. to provide ground support throughout Mexico, officially broke ground on a new, 50,000 square-foot hangar on the property of their FBO at Toluca International Airport (MMTO). The new $3.5 million hangar, not including the cost of the land, which was previously acquired, is slated for completion in June 2018 and will be the fifth for Universal Aviation Mexico, the most of any private aviation company at Toluca. With the addition of the new hangar, Universal Aviation Mexico will increase its total number of hangarage space to almost 170,000 square feet, including a 16,640 square-foot maintenance hangar. The construction of the hangar comes two years after a multi-million dollar renovation of Universal Aviation Mexicos 16,384 square-foot state-of-the-art FBO at Toluca. Over the past two years, weve made significant investments in Toluca in order to ensure the ongoing success of our clients missions, said Greg Evans, Chairman, Universal. Available parking and hangarage at Toluca is extremely limited and has been a challenge for some timeespecially for transient, non-based operators. We are building this hangar to address this need for our clients at this critically-significant, high-traffic destination. And at an airport known during summer for its big thunderstorms with hail and its winter weather with frost and subzero C temperatures, our clients can be confident that their aircraft are secure in this newest hangar that is big enough to safely accommodate even the largest of aircraft. The additional ramp space will allow Universal Aviation Mexico to support simultaneous arrival and departure operations while still facilitating movements of aircraft in and out of the hangars, reducing the possibility of potential delays due to saturation. Included with the new construction, Universal Aviation Mexico will be adding 32,000 square feet built-in office space and 17,200 square feet of storage space, predominantly for use by locally-based operators. Universal Aviations ramp also offers three direct taxiway access points, the most of any FBO at Toluca. Demand for hangar and office space for operators based at Toluca continues to outpace availability all across the airport, said Agustin Lanzagorta, President of Grupo Avemex. Some FBOs at the airport are taking advantage of this by positioning aircraft very closely to one another to accommodate additional aircraftwhich of course creates potential safety issues. Weve been unwilling to make these same compromises, so sometimes we simply have to turn potential new tenants away. This investment allows us to support the growing number of aircraft at Toluca while still adhering to our stringent safety standards that Universal Aviation is known, recognized and valued for. Universal Aviation is the ground support division of Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. and has more than 50 locations in 20+ countries, with five locations operated under Universal Aviation Mexico. Its location in Toluca is also one of the longest-running FBOs at the airport, first established in the early 1990s. Universal Aviation Mexico also offers handling services in more than 50 airports in Mexico. Avemex manages a mixed fleet of 24 aircraft and helicopters. Avemexs service division, Centro de Servicio Avemex, provides support services including: maintenance (corrective, scheduled and preventive), airframe services, engine and APU services, and avionics maintenance scheduling. For more information on Universal Aviation Mexico, visit www.universalaviation.aero/mexico. For more information on Avemex, visit http://www.avemex.com.mx/. About Avemex Grupo Avemex has more than 35 years of experience supporting the corporate aviation industry in Mexico by providing full aircraft operation management services and maintenance, adhering to the highest international standards for quality, safety, compliance, and customer service. Authorized by the Mexican DGAC and the FAA, Grupo Avemex provides maintenance services for a large fleet of operators in Mexico. In addition, Grupo Avemex has a strategic partnership with Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. to provide aircraft ground support services throughout Mexico, under a joint venture, Universal Aviation Mexico, which also operates an FBO in Toluca that underwent a multi-million renovation in 2016. For more information on Avemex contact +52 722-2793000. About Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. You're counted on to make every trip a success, but you dont have to do it alone. Reduce your operating risk and stress by accessing a global community of resources dedicated to helping you prepare for unforeseen events, navigate the ever-changing regulatory environment, and manage your stakeholders expectations. Keep your organization moving and ensure mission success with complete and customized trip management services coordinated through your dedicated trip support team, or online and on your Apple iPad and iPhone via uvGO. For more information, contact worldwide sales at +1 (800) 231-5600 ext. 3300 (North America) or +1 (713) 944-1622 ext. 3300 (Worldwide). Apple, iPad, and iPhone are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by Apple Inc. Media Contact: Louis Smyth +1 (713) 306-3269 lsmyth@univ-wea.com Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/23074dc5-1ecf-40d7-b2a0-9bbd439c472b http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d9fc2079-1e31-4c59-86e0-c027b09fd4c4 VICTORIA, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (TSXV:EMH) (OTCQX:EMHTF) (the Company) is issuing this press release in response to a request by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada to comment on recent trading activity of its stock. The Company announces that it is not aware of any material, undisclosed corporate developments and has no material change to report at this time. The Company will keep the market informed as required. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Chris Wagner Chief Executive Officer, Director About Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (TSXV:EMH) (OTCQX:EMHTF) operates through Emerald Health Botanicals Inc. ("Botanicals"), a wholly owned subsidiary and Licensed Producer under Canadas Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Through Botanicals, Emerald is authorized to produce and sell dried medical cannabis flower and medical cannabis oil. It currently operates an indoor facility in Victoria, BC, and is building a 500,000 s.f. greenhouse on 32 acres in Metro Vancouver, with expansion potential to 1 million s.f. to serve the anticipated legal Canadian adult-use cannabis market starting in 2018. Emerald also owns 50% of Pure Sunfarms, a partnership with Village Farms that is converting an existing 1.1 million s.f. greenhouse in Delta, BC from growing tomatoes to growing cannabis. Emeralds team is highly experienced in life sciences, product development and large-scale agribusiness. Emerald is part of the Emerald Health group, which is broadly focused on developing pharmaceutical, botanical and nutraceutical products designed to provide wellness and medical benefits by interacting with the human bodys endocannabinoid system. Please visit www.emeraldhealth.ca for more information. For investor and media contacts: invest@emeraldhealth.ca 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. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. mobike008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,226 Thanked: 11,646 Times View My Garage Re: Kodachadri Motorcycle Ride : 7 Hydeez & 4 Bangy Riders Meet in this quaint hill-station !!! Thereafter, all of us hit the sack only to get up 8 hours later after the much needed sleep and after a quick homely breakfast we decided to explore the nearby trails and we rode out in search of trails,river streams and waterfalls Our plan was to be back at the resort by 1:30pm as the Bangalore BHPians were arriving around that time and they were scheduled to have lunch with us and return back within 2-hours which was non-negotiable as they had a 9-hour ride back home We lazy guys (Self, Haseeb and IDPSharma) got up later than other folks who had already left the resort for their little exploration and we quickly dressed up and left together to explore a different trail than others and we enjoyed the off-beaten path and discovered a beautiful river stream where we spent nearly a couple of hours enjoying some peace and tranquility We returned back to resort little late (~2:00pm) and found that the Bangy boys were already there and rest of Hydeez gang was giving them company and we had a wonderful time having lunch together and exchanging notes about our respective rides. They left around 4:00pm as we had our Jeep waiting to ride to the top of Kodachadri hill which was a treacherous 32kms (Both ways) ridiculously no-roads trail After saying bye-bye's to visitors, we headed off in the jeep with Ashish H (Versys), Saahil (FZ250, He owns a Z800 and came for this ride only with purpose of doing this off-road trail) and Ishaan (Duke 390) on their respective bikes and rest of us in the Jeep Commander We started the trail a little after a couple of kms from the resort and within few minutes all of us in the jeep were patting our own backs that it was a good thing we didn't get our bike as the trail consisted of loose rocks, sand, thick slush and very narrow turns and even smooth boulders in some sections and imagine all of this for ~13-14kms one-way...Shudder! Jeep was following the riders and as we kept going forward the trail become even worse and it was almost nightmarish for a biker and as soon as we took a turn we saw the Versys was down on the ground and we all jumped off the jeep to help Ashish out of his situation and then they made a wise decision of parking their bikes there (Even the Duke 390) and only Saahil on his FZ-250 rode up smoothly and with almost an ease that was surreal. P.S : I understand one of the Bangalore Versys rider went up the Kodachadri hill on his Versys. It would be safe to assume 2% of the riding population can conquer that trail (especially on heavier super-bikes). Lighter the bike, easier it is to conquer that trail. But, one this is for sure. Be prepared to fall of the bike at-least once We totally enjoyed the views from the Kodachadri hill top that also required a couple of kms of trekking through some rocky terrain and finally when it was time to head back it was nearly 6:30pm and it became pitch dark. We all were worried how these bikes will make it back. There were no other bikers except us that made it worse We were showing the lights to Fz-250 to help him guide the way back as his lights were not that great. He made decent progress back during the downhill climb and suddenly all hell broke loose, his front tyre slipped on a stone and the bike toppled throwing him away at quite a distance on top of those jagged rocks, loose stones and slush. We all jumped out and helped him out and Ashish took over the Fz-250 and rode it back until the point where the 2 other bikes were parked. Then we all slowly resumed the ride back towards the resort Whew! Hats off to those guys and anybody else who has conquered that trail We reached back to resort around 8pm and decided to have an early dinner as we had all the excitement we could catch in one day. All folks in the jeep too had a bad time as each and every bone in our body was creaking and it took us nearly 30-minutes for our jammed legs to function properly That marked an end to an exciting, adventurous and physically challenging day at Kodachadri A few pictures of the property that we stayed in Kodachadri Our breakfast/lunch/dinner was always laid out in this style at this location. Lovely homely food and very delicious as well Only this can shake me awake and help me tackle the hardships of the day...LOL! Our precious machines were parked here IDPsharma cleaning and lubing his bike's chain (We all indulged in this unenviable exercise next day morning) Your's truly on the grounds of resort We found this trail around 15kms away from the resort and we did some trail riding Drone fun at the river stream that we discovered in the middle of the trail riding path Enjoyed some peace and blissfully quiet time A picture meant to be sent to casting directors of John Abraham to cast us instead the next version of Dhoom series...LOL! 3 Musketeers at the river stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n41E3zO5PFw I enjoyed riding this trail. The road behind me keeps going deeper and deeper till the time you wish to ride.... Friday night after reaching our farm resort was spent talking and enjoying our trip over a nice dinner that was served to us despite we opting to have it late in the night around 11:30pm (their cut off time is 10:30pm)Thereafter, all of us hit the sack only to get up 8 hours later after the much needed sleep and after a quick homely breakfast we decided to explore the nearby trails and we rode out in search of trails,river streams and waterfallsOur plan was to be back at the resort by 1:30pm as the Bangalore BHPians were arriving around that time and they were scheduled to have lunch with us and return back within 2-hours which was non-negotiable as they had a 9-hour ride back homeWe lazy guys (Self, Haseeb and IDPSharma) got up later than other folks who had already left the resort for their little exploration and we quickly dressed up and left together to explore a different trail than others and we enjoyed the off-beaten path and discovered a beautiful river stream where we spent nearly a couple of hours enjoying some peace and tranquilityWe returned back to resort little late (~2:00pm) and found that the Bangy boys were already there and rest of Hydeez gang was giving them company and we had a wonderful time having lunch together and exchanging notes about our respective rides. They left around 4:00pm as we had our Jeep waiting to ride to the top of Kodachadri hill which was a treacherous 32kms (Both ways) ridiculously no-roads trailAfter saying bye-bye's to visitors, we headed off in the jeep with Ashish H (Versys), Saahil (FZ250, He owns a Z800 and came for this ride only with purpose of doing this off-road trail) and Ishaan (Duke 390) on their respective bikes and rest of us in the Jeep CommanderWe started the trail a little after a couple of kms from the resort and within few minutes all of us in the jeep were patting our own backs that it was a good thing we didn't get our bike as the trail consisted of loose rocks, sand, thick slush and very narrow turns and even smooth boulders in some sections and imagine all of this for ~13-14kms one-way...Shudder!Jeep was following the riders and as we kept going forward the trail become even worse and it was almost nightmarish for a biker and as soon as we took a turn we saw the Versys was down on the ground and we all jumped off the jeep to help Ashish out of his situation and then they made a wise decision of parking their bikes there (Even the Duke 390) and only Saahil on his FZ-250 rode up smoothly and with almost an ease that was surreal.I understand one of the Bangalore Versys rider went up the Kodachadri hill on his Versys. It would be safe to assume 2% of the riding population can conquer that trail (especially on heavier super-bikes). Lighter the bike, easier it is to conquer that trail. But, one this is for sure. Be prepared to fall of the bike at-least onceWe totally enjoyed the views from the Kodachadri hill top that also required a couple of kms of trekking through some rocky terrain and finally when it was time to head back it was nearly 6:30pm and it became pitch dark. We all were worried how these bikes will make it back. There were no other bikers except us that made it worseWe were showing the lights to Fz-250 to help him guide the way back as his lights were not that great. He made decent progress back during the downhill climb and suddenly all hell broke loose, his front tyre slipped on a stone and the bike toppled throwing him away at quite a distance on top of those jagged rocks, loose stones and slush. We all jumped out and helped him out and Ashish took over the Fz-250 and rode it back until the point where the 2 other bikes were parked. Then we all slowly resumed the ride back towards the resortWhew! Hats off to those guys and anybody else who has conquered that trailWe reached back to resort around 8pm and decided to have an early dinner as we had all the excitement we could catch in one day. All folks in the jeep too had a bad time as each and every bone in our body was creaking and it took us nearly 30-minutes for our jammed legs to function properlyThat marked an end to an exciting, adventurous and physically challenging day at Kodachadri3 Musketeers at the river stream Last edited by mobike008 : 13th December 2017 at 20:09 . Although the holiday shopping season is already busy, Apple managed to improve shipping estimates for its latest iPhone X smartphone. The iPhone X is among the most expensive smartphones out there, starting out at $999, but that hasn't affected its success. The handset is in high demand and Apple has been having trouble keeping up, but things are looking up. iPhone X Shipping Dates Improve In the United States, Apple will deliver the iPhone X either unlocked or tied to major carriers within three to five business days on average. This shipping estimate applies to the Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and SIM-free versions of the smartphone. The T-Mobile variant of the iPhone X, however, will take up to nine days to reach new owners. Either way, even with T-Mobile units taking longer to ship, it seems that the iPhone X will make it in time for the holidays for everyone planning to put it under the Christmas tree. With the other carriers or the unlocked, SIM-free iPhone X, customers who order on Monday should have the device in their hands by Friday. Apple has also improved the iPhone X availability for in-store pickup. If last week the iPhone X was hard to come by, this week a number of Apple stores in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Pittsburg, and Chicago have the smartphone available to purchase on Monday. No details are available regarding how much stock is available in-store, so it's tough to say if the iPhone X will still be available in a few days. However, Apple has constantly added more units and is trying to improve the handset's availability on all fronts. The improvements in iPhone X availability fall in line with investors note from KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Last month, the analyst said that Apple should have better retail channel availability in this period due to improvements in the supply chain. iPhone X Availability Worldwide The iPhone X is seeing improved availability in the United States, but the shipping estimates are even better for other international markets. In China and Canada, for instance, the smartphone is pegged to ship within one to three business dates. Availability in Europe is similar to the United States, meaning, the smartphone should arrive in three to five business days, at least, in the UK and Germany. France will see a slight delay similar to that of U.S. carrier T-Mobile as the iPhone X is estimated to ship in nine days. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google has three "appsperiments" a clever portmanteau of "apps" and "experiments" in store to up users' mobile photography game: Storyboard, Selfissimo!, and Scrubbies. Partly inspired by the Motion Stills app, the Mountain View company is also "building on other technologies in development" for the trio. In other words, they're experiments in the form of functional apps. "They rely on object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies, and perhaps most importantly, fun!" Google said. Storyboard: For The Comic Book Lover First up is Storyboard. This one lets users turn their videos into a single-page comic, picking out frames and laying them out on its own. There are six visual styles in total too, one of which will be applied automatically. At that, Google says about 1.6 trillion count 'em combinations are possible. Storyboard is available for Android via the Play Store. Selfissimo!: For The Selfie Addict Next up is Selfissimo!, and based on just the name, it's all about selfies. Wannabe models will get a kick out of this one, as it's basically an automated photo booth that takes black-and-white pictures. Here's how it goes: Tap the screen to begin a photo session, and each time the user strikes a pose or stops moving, it takes a picture. After it's over, all the shots taken will be on a sheet, and from there, the user can either save images one by one or the whole shoot. Selfissimo! is available for Android and iOS. Scrubbies: For That Video Remix Last but not least is Scrubbies, and it involves a lot of, well, "scrubbing." Put simply, it allows users to scrub a video with one finger to play it through or record the playback with two fingers to save and share as a video loop, but put differently, it lets them remix videos "by scratching it like a DJ." Scrubbies is up for grabs for iOS users via the App Store. It's also worth mentioning that Google referred to them as the "first installment of a series of photography appsperiments," meaning that it's not a stretch to think that the company will roll out more like them in the foreseeable future. Sure, they might not be the most useful apps out there, but they weren't really meant for that. As Google said, they rely on fun, which seems to be the mood the company has been in for some time now, evidenced by the cheeseburger emoji debate and other festive updates. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Uber mistakenly charged a user about $14,000 for a ride that lasted for just 20 minutes when it should've been below $20. That's one of the worst things that could happen to you during your commute, and to make things even worse, this isn't the first time that the ride-hailing app issued an exorbitant bill. The $14,000 Ride This all went down in Ontario, Canada, in the city of Toronto. After the short trip, Uber charged a rider 18,518.50 Canadian dollars, which translates to over $14,000, when it should've been under $20. The Comeback did the math for this one, figuring out that the ride from 12a Widmer St. to 30 The Queensway was about 5 miles and that it should've been between CA$12 and CA$16. The receipt's screenshot confirms this event, and according to Slate Magazine, it first turned up online when an Instagram user who goes by the name of votethehish posted it on their private account. Now Emily Kennard, who claims to be a friend of the Uber user, shared the photo on Twitter and spread the word. My friend was charged 18K for a 20 Min ride (!), and they are sticking to it. What in the world??? This is insane! @Uber_Support @badassboz @Uber pic.twitter.com/RjFihVLKIC Emily Kennard (@emilykennard) December 9, 2017 The California-based company has issued a full refund already, but the thing is, it only did so eventually and not immediately. This partly explains why Kennard said that "they are sticking to it." It is. He disputed and they aren't backing down. Emily Kennard (@emilykennard) December 9, 2017 Uber cleared things up, saying that the error that caused the issue has been fixed already. "There was an error here and it has been resolved. We have provided a full refund to this rider and apologized to him for this experience. We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred," an Uber spokesperson told Slate Magazine. Other Incidents As mentioned earlier, Uber has done this sort of thing before. For starters, Business Insider reports that a user in Philadelphia was charged about $30,000 because of a glitch in 2016, and a female rider in Manhattan was charged $12,000 for a trip that's supposedly $56.40. That's not all either. A couple in Milwaukee was charged $898 for a $214 ride because a surge was in place, which shot up the cost by 8.6 times the normal amount. Have you run into a problem similar to this with Uber before? If so, feel free to hit us up in the comments section below and let us know about your experience. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. LAFAYETTE, La., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedHawk Holdings Corp. (OTCQB:IDNG) (RedHawk or the Company) announced today that it has received a favorable order from the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court in the State of Florida (Case No. 2017 CA 5554) granting the Company approval of a settlement transaction (the Transaction) for RedHawk to issue up to $117,000 of its common stock (Issued Shares) in full satisfaction of up to $153,000 of 3rd party trade obligations and broker fees. The Issued Shares are exempt from registration pursuant to Section 3(a)(10) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and will be issued at a 35% discount to market, as defined. Simultaneous with announcing the Transaction, RedHawk said it has entered into a common stock purchase and sale agreement (the Purchase and Sale Agreement) with Beechwood Properties, LLC (Beechwood) who beneficially owns approximately 60% of the Companys outstanding common stock. Mr. G. Darcy Klug, the Companys Chairman of the Board and Chief Financial Officer owns and controls Beechwood. Under the terms of the Purchase and Sale Agreement, RedHawk has agreed to purchase from Beechwood a like number shares (the Beechwood Shares) to be issued under the Transaction. The purchase price for the Beechwood Shares is also $117,000 and will be paid with the issuance of a promissory note (the Note) to Beechwood. The Note will accrue interest at 5% per annum and will mature three years from date of issuance. After two years from its issuance, the Note and any accrued interest, will become convertible into the Companys Series A Preferred Stock. The Company said the Transaction and the Sale and Purchase Agreement were entered into with the objective of continuing to restructure the Companys balance sheet by eliminating approximately $153,000 of 3rd party debt from the balance sheet, preventing shareholder dilution with the Transaction, and preserving cash to be used for future operations and strategic transactions. Additionally, RedHawk said, upon completion of the Transaction, the Beechwood Shares will be returned into the Companys treasury with no increase in the number of outstanding shares. About RedHawk Holdings Corp. RedHawk Holdings Corp., formerly Independence Energy Corp., is a diversified holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in sales and distribution of medical devices, sales of branded generic pharmaceutical drugs, commercial real estate investment and leasing, sales of point of entry full-body security systems, and specialized financial services. Through its medical products business unit, the Company sells WoundClot Surgical - Advanced Bleeding Control, the Sharps and Needle Destruction Device (SANDD), and the Carotid Artery Digital Non-Contact Thermometer. Through our United Kingdom based subsidiary, we manufacture and market branded generic pharmaceuticals. Our real estate leasing revenues are generated from various commercial properties under long-term lease. Additionally, RedHawks real estate investment unit holds limited liability company interest in a commercial restoration project in Hawaii. The Companys financial service revenue is from brokerage services earned in connection with debt placement services. RedHawk Energy holds the exclusive U.S. manufacturing and distribution rights for the Centri Controlled Entry System, a unique, closed cabinet, nominal dose transmission full-body x-ray scanner. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than statements of historical fact. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. The words anticipate, may, can, plans, believes, estimates, expects, projects, targets, intends, likely, will, should, to be, potential and any similar expressions are intended to identify those assertions as forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties. In evaluating forward-looking statements, you should consider the various factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements including those listed in the Risk Factors section of our latest 10-K report. Further, the Company may make changes to its business plans that could or will affect its results. Investors are cautioned that the Company will undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Media Contact: Julie Calzone (337) 235-2924 jcalzone@calzone.com Company Contacts: Thomas J. Concannon, CEO (908) 625-7811 tom.concannon@redhawkholdingscorp.com G. Darcy Klug, Chairman and CFO (337) 269-5933 darcy.klug@redhawkholdingscorp.com A Burger King employee is gaining recognition online for going above and beyond her call of duty to help a customer with diabetes. Diabetes, for which there remains low awareness but with increasing statistics, is a tough disease to manage, but people like the helpful Burger King employee make it much easier for diabetics. Diabetic Woman Suffers From Low Blood Sugar Levels Rebecca Boening, in a Facebook post, detailed recent events that happened at a Burger King branch in Amarillo, Texas. Boening, who is suffering from diabetes, was out driving one day when she realized that her blood sugar dropped to dangerous levels. She went off the highway and into the nearest Burger King to pick up food from the drive-thru. Boening said in her Facebook post that while she was stumbling through her order, she mentioned that she was diabetic and that she needed some food. As Boening arrived at the first window of the drive-thru to pay for her order, she was surprised to see a woman running to her vehicle. The woman was Tina Hardy, a Burger King employee, and she had an ice cream in her hand. Burger King Employee Saves The Day Boening said in an interview with Fox that Hardy had to squeeze herself between the vehicle and the building to give her the ice cream. "I actually couldn't believe that she was coming to the car," she told Refinery29. "I had stopped pretty close to the building and it was difficult for Tina to get to the drivers window. She almost had to crawl over the hood of my car." After handing Boening the ice cream, Hardy told her to park her vehicle across the establishment's driveway so that she could watch her as she ate to make sure that everything was fine. Hardy is married to a man who is also a diabetic, so she knew the importance of getting Boening some food immediately. Once the blood sugar of a diabetic person falls to low levels, he or she can experience various symptoms that include shaking, dizziness, confusion, hunger, and irritability. However, thanks to the quick actions of Hardy, Boening was able to get her blood sugar back up to normal levels as fast as possible. Boening, meanwhile, has maintained contact with Hardy, continuing to express her gratitude for her actions that day. "I think that the reason why so many people are connecting to this story is that people just don't help people like they used to," Boening said. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thanks in part to the generosity of Sunwing customers, the Sunwing Foundation has made a donation of $20,716 to GlobalMedic; a Canadian international disaster relief charity. Sunwing matched the funds raised through the airlines spare change program over a 6-week period. The money will be used by GlobalMedic to provide ongoing aid to areas of the Caribbean most impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. President & CEO of Sunwing Travel Group, Stephen Hunter, explained the synergy in partnering with GlobalMedic. As Sunwing sends aircraft into destinations to re-patriate its own customers (and often other Canadians), GlobalMedic then uses these outbound flights to transport much needed emergency aid and first response crews. Hunter added GlobalMedic has an established track record of being the first on the scene to provide vital aid and we had no hesitation in facilitating this donation for them. We would also like to express our gratitude to our passengers for their generosity. As the charitable initiative of the Sunwing Travel Group, the Foundation supports charities by passing on 100% of all donations raised through its spare change program on Sunwing Airlines along with matching funds with a donation of its own, taking no administrative fees. Rahul Singh, Executive Director of GlobalMedic, welcomed the news. We appreciate the continued support of Sunwing, along with the generous spirit of its employees who actively participated in packing events to support hurricane victims. On September 9th and 10th, Sunwing Airlines was the first commercial carrier to arrive in St Maarten, bringing with them GlobalMedics Rapid Response Team members along with water purification systems and hygiene supplies to help the thousands affected by the hurricanes. The airline also sent two consignments, one from Toronto and the other from Montreal, carrying water purification tablets and hygiene kits into Cuba the following week. Then on September 15th, an additional Rapid Response Team was flown to Antigua on a special humanitarian flight with a large consignment of aid, tools and construction materials destined for Barbuda. About Sunwing Foundation A charitable initiative established by the Hunter family, the Sunwing Foundation reflects the Sunwing Travel Groups enduring commitment to the support and development of youth in the communities where it operates in the form of project funding or the transport of humanitarian aid. The Sunwing Foundation takes no administration fees and matches on 100% of the charitable donations it raises through the airlines spare change program to the communities that need it the most, funding educational and skills development projects to provide a direct, impactful, and sustainable improvement to quality of life for years to come. Since its inception in 2015, the Sunwing Foundation has provided assistance to a number of community projects, most notably wholly funding the construction of the Spicy Hill Early Childhood Institution in Trelawny, Jamaica. About Sunwing Travel Group The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing Travel Group is comprised of Sunwing Vacations and Signature Vacations, two of the leading leisure tour operators in Canada; Sunwing Airlines, Canada's premier leisure airline; SunwingJets, a luxury private jet charter service and Vacation Express, a growing tour operator in the United States together with the Groups own travel retail businesses SellOffVacations.com and Luxe Destination Weddings. Blue Diamond Resorts is the Groups hotel management company, an innovative organization that operates popular resort brands including Royalton Luxury Resorts, Memories Resorts & Spa and Starfish Hotels & Resorts across the Caribbean and Mexico; while NexusTours is a full-service destination management company offering affordably priced and reliable ground transportation, popular tours and excursions, as well as other travel management services. https://www.facebook.com/SunwingVacations/ https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay https://www.instagram.com/sunwingvacations/?hl=en https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzjZ-lcuaqBQH7Sq0u3ru7A A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c9b2c2b-6463-4775-867e-d3c72f580030 For all media enquiries, please contact: Rachel Goldrick Senior Corporate Communications Manager Sunwing Vacations 1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca Dallas, Texas (SMU), USA, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beginning in the fall semester of 2018, the SMU Cox Master of Science in Finance degree (MSF) will be STEM-designated. The Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, at its December meeting, approved changes to the MS in Finance program curriculum and the request to change the classification of instructional programs (CIP) code. Based on these changes, the SMU Cox MSF program now falls under fields of study considered to be science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The government of the United States considers expertise in these fields an important driver of innovation and job creation. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the country is currently facing a shortage of qualified candidates for STEM jobs. As a result, international students completing STEM-designated programs in the U.S. are encouraged to stay after graduation and contribute their knowledge and skill while gaining work experience related to their field of study. The new STEM designation is a clear signal to potential employers of the strong quantitative content of the Cox MSF program, said Mukunthan Santhanakrishnan, director of the SMU Cox Master of Science in Finance Program. Furthermore, this makes it easier for international students on student visas to get additional years of work experience in the U.S., making them more well-rounded and potentiallly more valuable employees when they return to their home countries. The net result is that our program will be attractive to prospective students (both domestic and international). In order to qualify for the STEM designation, Santhanakrishnan and Cox finance department faculty members worked to bring the MSF curriculum more in line with STEM requirements. The MSF curriculum, which has been taught since 2012, included elements of financial mathematics, but STEM content has now been strengthened with additional math-focused classes and statistics content to better prepare students for careers in the finance profession. The SMU Education Programs Committee and the University provost approved the STEM designation under the financial mathematics category, and the Board of Trustees made it official. The STEM designation helps signal the quantitative rigor of the program to the market, said SMU Cox Distinguished Chair in Finance James Linck. It will help us recruit more high-quality students from diverse backgrounds, and will be attractive to potential employers, improving our students' placement prospects. International student Jason Panxing Qiao, who plans a career in the financial services industry, completed his BBA with a finance major and a math minor from St. Louis University in May 2017. He will begin pursuing his MSF degree at SMU Cox in Dallas in the fall of 2018. The timing of the new STEM designation is ideal for soon-to-be SMU Cox students like Qiao. When I heard the news, it confirmed my feeling that I was making the right business school choice for my graduate work in finance. Im pleased to have been accepted into the SMU Cox MSF program and I look forward to starting classes in fall 2018. International students who begin or continue the SMU Cox MSF program this coming August will be eligible to apply for the STEM OPT Extension through the Department of Homeland Security. This extension allows them to work in the U.S. for an additional 24 months. OPT stands for Optional Practical Training. The standard OPT period is 12 months, which means the STEM extension brings the total length of OPT time such students may be granted to 36 months. Prospective students interested in applying for the SMU Cox Master of Science in Finance degree program can learn more at www.smu.edu/cox/msdegrees. The Cox School offers scholarships to deserving candidates who are evaluated based on their undergraduate academic background and GMAT scores. Additional information about the STEM OPT Extension can be found at https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/eligible-cip-codes-for-the-stem-opt-extension. ### About SMU Cox The SMU Cox School of Business (www.smu.edu/cox), was originally established in 1920 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and was named in honor of benefactor Edwin L. Cox in 1978. SMU Cox is a nationally and internationally ranked business school with undergraduate (BBA) majors in accounting, finance, financial consulting, general business, management, marketing, real estate finance and concentrations in energy management, entrepreneurship, real estate finance and risk management and insurance. The Cox School offers four Master of Business Administration programs including the Executive MBA (EMBA) and Full-Time MBA, Fast Track MBA, and Professional MBA (PMBA), with concentrations in accounting, finance, general business, information technology and operations management, management, marketing, real estate and strategy and entrepreneurship. The school also offers the JD/MBA with Dedman School of Law; MA/MBA with Meadows School of the Arts; Specialized Master of Science (MS) programs in Accounting, Business Analytics (Full and Part-Time), Finance, and Management; Sport Management and Health Promotion Management with Simmons School of Education and Human Development; and Engineering/MBA and MS in Engineering Entrepreneurship with the Lyle School of Engineering. For professionals not seeking a degree, SMU Cox Executive Education and multiple certificate programs cover a broad range of disciplines. The Cox School of Business maintains an active alumni network globally. Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db2d7896-5089-41a8-8b42-1c0f63e798e2 Lafayette City Marshal Brian Popes office sunk deeper into controversy on Monday after executing a 20-year-old arrest warrant against one of Popes nemeses for a misdemeanor offense. The warrants for Steven Wilkerson, an organizer in the failed recall campaign against Pope, relate to four counts of issuing worthless checks totaling less than $200 an offense that has a two-year statute of limitations. Wilkerson was booked shortly before 5:30 p.m. Monday, the day the recall campaign announced it had not gathered enough signatures for an election to recall Pope. Monday was also Popes birthday. +2 Brian Pope recall campaign falters after failing to gain enough signatures The campaign to recall Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope failed to gain enough signatures to get a recall election on a ballot, the campaign a I can only speculate the Marshals Office felt a little bolder, Wilkerson said on Tuesday. Perhaps this was a birthday gift to Marshal Pope. Pope is facing seven criminal charges related to his involvement in the 2015 Lafayette Parish Sheriffs Office. The perjury and malfeasance charges stem from his alleged use of public resources to harm the successful campaign of Sheriff Mark Garber. The trial is scheduled for Feb. 20. Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope's emails can be used as evidence in criminal case, judge rules City Marshal Brian Popes deleted emails can be used as evidence in the criminal case against him, a Lafayette Parish judge ruled on Thursday. The recall campaign organizers also criticized Popes practice of paying himself from court fees, on top of a regular salary. The four checks Wilkerson is accused of bouncing are dated within a little more than a month of one another in early 1997, when Wilkerson was a college student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. They amount to less than $200 combined and are made out to three grocery stores and a Little Caesars pizza restaurant, according to an arrest affidavit. The statute of limitations on misdemeanor theft counts such as those Wilkerson faces is two years from the offense dates, said William Goode, a criminal defense attorney based in Lafayette. If charges are brought, prosecutors will have to show Wilkerson was hiding, thus interrupting the statute of limitations, Goode said. "They have to prove they tried to find and they couldn't find him because he was evading," Goode said. "This whole thing is very interesting." Wilkerson is a U.S. Army veteran and former law enforcement officer who worked as a deputy in the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office and as a police officer on three state college campuses, according to his resume. Hed never heard about a warrant for his arrest until Monday night, he said. Ive been through numerous background checks for employment in both my professional careers, and this has never even come up, he said. Wilkerson said its possible he wrote the checks but that he hasnt seen any evidence. Of course, if I am in the wrong, I am more than happy to make appropriate restitution, Wilkerson said. Pope did not return a call Tuesday. The Metro Council gave a thumbs up Tuesday to Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's 2018 budget proposal, which includes money for a jail diversion program for the mentally ill and additional cash for the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. Broome unveiled her nearly $919 million proposed budget for 2018 in early November, calling it a "standstill" budget that only anticipates 2.3 percent growth from the previous year. It is rare for Metro Council members to tweak a mayor-president's budget proposal, and council members Tuesday unanimously agreed on Broome's spending plan. +3 As Metro Council reviews 2018 budget proposal, city leaders explain goals to 'work smarter' Metro Council members have begun poring over Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's proposed 2018 budget for $918 million to run City Hall thr City Hall will spend additional money next year in hopes of cutting down jail overcrowding and curing widespread blight problems in Baton Rouge. The budget includes $260,000 for a long-discussed program to divert those with mental illness and substance abuse problems out of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and into treatment. The biggest portion will be used to pay the salaries of a social worker and resource coordinator to work at the jail. Their role will be to identify those who would be good fits for the program and figure out which programs best suit them. The pretrial diversion is a scaled-back version of a failed tax proposal from last year to build a short-term treatment center for those in crisis from mental illness or substance abuse in Baton Rouge. Those running the program hope to move 50 people out of jail and into treatment within the next year, while the city-parish is also anticipating $800,000 in savings from freeing up jail space and ending the expensive necessity of sending inmates to jails in other parishes. Broome's administration has also taken a friendlier stance toward the Redevelopment Authority than her predecessor, former Mayor-President Kip Holden. After Broome's close adviser Chris Tyson was offered the job as RDA directo, Broome's budget included $500,000 for the RDA. +3 Baton Rouge hoping to move mentally ill out of prison with new program in 2018 budget After multiple failed attempts to build a center that would keep the mentally ill out of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, local officials a Tyson recently said he expects to focus on redevelopment in north Baton Rouge, given how often the lack of economic development in north Baton Rouge has been a discussion point in political circles over the past year. Nearly $93 million is allocated to pay for the Baton Rouge Police Department's operations next year. The budget includes $845,000 for body camera maintenance and video storage. The police department's budget includes funding for two academies of 35 recruits each to help an agency that is short on manpower and expects many retirements soon. The Fire Department has a budget close to $52 million, which includes an academy of 25 recruits. "All across city government, we have recruiting issues and it seems like it has to do with pay," said Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel on Tuesday. +6 With new Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority director on the way, is it time for a reset? Baton Rouge's Redevelopment Authority got off to an ambitious start after its creation in 2007, investing in such high-profile projects as a Y Gissel said along with the public safety entities, city-parish departments overseeing public works and Head Start are also struggling to hire new workers. While the city-parish is known for generous benefits packages, starting salaries are generally lower than they are in the private sector. Gissel said any new money that becomes available in 2018 might need to go toward salaries, while City Hall also needs to rethink whether to retool benefits packages to allow for higher salaries. The city-parish will also save $877,000 in 2017 because it won't be providing money from the general fund budget to the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. Instead of relying on the general fund, the Council on Aging will begin to receive $7.8 million annually from a dedicated property tax next year. One item that did not make it into the budget for next year was a request from faith-based community organizing group Together Baton Rouge for the city-parish to include money to incentivize more grocery stores to build in Baton Rouge. Together Baton Rouge requested $1.5 million in incentives for grocery stores to build where people live more than a mile away from a grocery store. Broome previously said she hoped to finance the initiative with a public-private partnership. +2 Together Baton Rouge rallies for City Hall to spend money attracting grocery stores A group of 75 people rallied Monday outside of East Baton Rouge Parish City Hall to push for funding in the 2018 budget that would offer incen "I was disappointed in this budget that we didn't have anything for a food initiative in north Baton Rouge," said Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg before casting a vote in favor of the budget. "I know there are a lot of complexities in trying to do something like that, but I believe it is something needed." Metro Council members Trae Welch, Chauna Banks, Erika Green, Donna Collins-Lewis, LaMont Cole, Dwight Hudson, Tara Wicker and Matt Watson all also voted to approve the budget. Scott Wilson, Chandler Loupe and Buddy Amoroso were absent from the meeting While Broome's administration cleared the hurdle of receiving approval for the 2018 budget, they will also ask Metro Council members Wednesday to spend excess money collected in 2017 on some of the city-parish's most dire needs. Broome's administration has proposed spending $2 million in excess sales tax collections from this year to replace 80 aging Baton Rouge Police Department vehicles. Metro Council members will also consider Wednesday whether to use $500,000 on new fire department vehicles; $500,000 on a new fire station in the Lee Drive/Burbank Drive area; $500,000 on building improvements to the sheriff's headquarters and $1 million on Raising Cane's River Center upgrades. The Metro Council meeting is at 4 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall. Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that a Baton Rouge fire station expected to receive $500,000 is in the Lee Drive/Burbank Drive area. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Baltimore, Md., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), today announced new efforts to combat the regions opioid crisis in the communities it serves, as well as programs to address substance use disorders and provide addiction and behavioral health services to CareFirst members. The efforts include $1.5 million in funding for non-profit community organizations for programs aimed at addressing substance use disorders, as well as new prescribing limits and treatment programs to limit opioid abuse and improve care for members battling addiction. The impact of opioids in the region we serve has been well documented, said CareFirst President and Chief Executive Officer Chet Burrell. As the regions largest health insurer and one with a unique community mission, we want to take a comprehensive approach to address the opioid crisis for the greater community, as well as to create and promote policies and programs for our members that address addiction and its disastrous health impacts on the individuals and families we cover. Far too many individuals are familiar with the toll on our community caused by the use and abuse of opioids. It takes a toll on individuals, families, and the entire community. The Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) has developed a comprehensive, three-pillar strategy to combat opioid addiction: prevent deaths from overdose and save lives, increase access to on-demand treatment and long-term recovery support, and provide education to reduce stigma and prevent addiction, said Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh. But, this is one of those situations which you can never do enough to address, and where you always welcome additional partners and resources. Im glad to be here today with representatives of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. We know CareFirst as the areas largest health insurer, but the company is also one of the biggest corporate philanthropists in the region, and this effort is great example of their commitment to greater Baltimore. CareFirst is taking a number of steps to address opioid and substance use disorders: Funding for Community-Based Initiatives : In January CareFirst will issue a request for proposals (RFP) to community non-profit organizations serving the companys Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia Service area. Through an RFP to be issued in the 1st Quarter of 2018, a total of $1.5 million will be awarded for programs and initiatives designed to directly address opioid use, addiction, and related issues. : In January CareFirst will issue a request for proposals (RFP) to community non-profit organizations serving the companys Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia Service area. Through an RFP to be issued in the 1st Quarter of 2018, a total of $1.5 million will be awarded for programs and initiatives designed to directly address opioid use, addiction, and related issues. Expanded Network of Specialized Addiction Recovery Centers : CareFirst has in place and continues to develop a network of high-performing addiction recovery centers. These partners are leaders in intensive outpatient programs, providing highly individualized treatment, including relapse prevention, coping strategies and medication assisted treatment. : CareFirst has in place and continues to develop a network of high-performing addiction recovery centers. These partners are leaders in intensive outpatient programs, providing highly individualized treatment, including relapse prevention, coping strategies and medication assisted treatment. New Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Program : Because many individuals with addiction have co-occurring medical and behavioral health disorders, CareFirst has developed a Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder program through which primary care providers, nurses, and behavioral health providers can refer CareFirst members. In the program, members are assessed and connected to specially trained clinicians who work one-on-one with patients to identify mental health providers, assist with access, and coordinate their overall care. : Because many individuals with addiction have co-occurring medical and behavioral health disorders, CareFirst has developed a Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder program through which primary care providers, nurses, and behavioral health providers can refer CareFirst members. In the program, members are assessed and connected to specially trained clinicians who work one-on-one with patients to identify mental health providers, assist with access, and coordinate their overall care. New Quantity and Duration Limits : Based on Centers for Disease Control Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Pain, CareFirst implemented in October of this year new requirements related to opioid prescription quantity and duration limits. : Based on Centers for Disease Control Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Pain, CareFirst implemented in October of this year new requirements related to opioid prescription quantity and duration limits. Enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring: CareFirst monitors controlled substance pharmacy data to identify members with multiple prescribers/pharmacies, excessive use and high claims costs which indicate behavior patterns that signal possible misuse. Pharmacists notify providers of the members utilization history and work with them to outline and address concerns. All of these efforts are intended to work together, both to address what has become a public health crisis, and beyond that to treat addiction for what it is a chronic disease, said Dr. Daniel Winn, CareFirst Senior Medical Officer and Vice President. Unfortunately, only one in ten people in the United States with addiction to alcohol and drugs are diagnosed and receive treatment compared to 70 percent with hypertension or diabetes. Community-based efforts, new guidelines and programs to staunch the dangerous flow of opioids, and programs that comprehensively treat addiction and its attendant medical issues, are all necessary to address this pressing problem. The community funding RFP is expected to be released in January. Details on how to apply and specifics on the types of programs eligible for funding will be available at that time on www.carefirst.com/community. About CareFirst In its 79th year of service, CareFirst, an independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, is a not-for-profit health care company which, through its affiliates and subsidiaries, offers a comprehensive portfolio of health insurance products and administrative services to 3.2 million individuals and groups in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia. In 2016, CareFirst invested nearly $44 million to improve overall health, and increase the accessibility, affordability, safety and quality of health care throughout its market areas. To learn more about CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, visit our website at www.carefirst.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram or Google+. Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5873ac21-f361-49bd-825a-f33e7c87f97c Louisiana leaders are looking for ways to enhance how the state honors Gold Star families, the relatives of military members who have died in action. A newly-formed Gold Star Families Honoring Committee met for the first time on Tuesday. The state is in the process of preparing to erect a statue to honor Gold Star Families, but the Legislature-created task force is hoping to better explore what services are available to surviving families and where there are gaps. "Whatever we could come up with to do for y'all is never going to be enough," committee member Chris Sullivan, of the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame and Museum, told the crowd of family members who attended Tuesday's organizational meeting. Currently, when a member of the military from Louisiana dies in battle, his or her immediate relatives typically parents or spouses qualify for benefits from the government that include educational financial incentives for dependents and access to veterans homes. There are also services through independent groups, including those founded by military families and veterans services organizations. But representatives from Blue Star Mothers of Louisiana Chapter 1, an organization formed by mothers of active military members, said more assistance is needed. They often voluntarily meet with parents whose children have died in combat. "We know any minute it could be any one of us," said Blue Star Mothers president Janet Broussard. Broussard, who said she went to more than 50 military funerals in her first year leading the Blue Star moms group, said that families receive a lot of support after a service member dies and up until the funeral. The day of the funeral is typically met with a public outpouring of support. "Then everyone goes home and the family is left to deal with unimaginable loss," she said. She said that can leave people feeling like they have fallen through the cracks and been forgotten. "Counseling and support is needed for these families," Broussard said. The task force's timeline remains a bit unclear. It will likely hold its next meeting in January to begin taking suggestions, and the state Department of Veterans Affairs will be collecting public input, as well. Former U.S. Sen.John Breaux talks about his possible bid for governor of Louisiana during a press conference Thursday, March 29, 2007, at the Lake Charles Civic Center, in Lake Charles, La. State lawmakers have asked Attorney General Charles Foti to issue a ruling on whether Breaux, a resident of Maryland, can enter the race. (AP Photo/Lake Charles American Press, Brad Puckett) English Spanish -We have turned helplessness into hope, and fear into empowerment, said Ricardo Salinas, Founder and Chairman of Grupo Salinas- -I am impressed on how efficient every dollar has been spent by Fundacion Azteca to rebuild homes in the most affected regions, mentioned Jose Calderon, President of Hispanic Federation- NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fundacion Azteca, the philanthropic arm of Grupo Salinas in Mexico, and Hispanic Federation, the nations premier Latino nonprofit membership organization, joined forces in September to support the affected families by the devastating earthquakes in Mexico City and other Mexican states. Hispanic Federation established the Mexico Earthquake Relief to raise funds in the United States that were designated to build homes in Mexico. Last week, Jose Calderon - President of the Hispanic Federation - visited San Simonito in the State of Mexico to witness firsthand the results of the joint effort. "We are incredibly pleased to partner with Fundacion Azteca in this amazing endeavor. A home means so much a secure shelter, an abode to raise children, a place to strengthen ties to family and friends. We are proud, not only of the efficient use of dollars, but that families themselves helped build their own homes, thus strengthening feelings of ownership, mentioned Mr. Calderon. "We are extremely happy to help restore normality to families and communities in Mexico." Fundacion Azteca has built homes in the States of Mexico, Morelos, Chiapas and Oaxaca. The foundation has been working since September to rebuild the affected homes, providing families with necessary material, as well as guidance during the reconstruction process. "We have turned helplessness into hope, and fear into empowerment. We are helping to rebuild homes in many of the most affected communities, bringing joy to families during this holiday season. We are set to build over 400 homes in the State of Mexico, and southeastern states of the country," said Mr. Salinas. "I want to thank all the people who have joined this effort, specially the leadership of Hispanic Federation, for the prompt and valuable support." Ricardo Salinas, Fundacion Azteca and Hispanic Federation would like to thank all the people who have donated to ensure hundreds of families have a home. Grupo Salinas is proud to support initiatives that create social, economic and environmental value in the communities where it operates. About Fundacion Azteca Since 1997, Fundacion Azteca has contributed to improving the lives of millions of persons, connecting volunteers and donors with proven organizations, while creating awareness regarding some of society's most serious problems. In each country where Grupo Salinas operates, Fundacion Azteca promotes change by empowering society, with passion, honesty and trust, some of our core values. Because openness and transparency are important for all our operations, we publish detailed results of every Fundacion Azteca campaign. Aside from promoting the efficient use of funds, transparency encourages increased donations, as the public can see concrete accomplishments resulting from these efforts. The primary programs sponsored by Fundacion Azteca are: Esperanza Azteca, Limpiemos Nuestro Mexico, Movimento Azteca, Plantel Azteca, Vive Sin Drogas, A Quien Corresponda and Jugueton. The efforts of Fundacion Azteca not only contribute to the well-being of families in Mexico, but also extend to the United States, Peru, Guatemala and El Salvador. About Hispanic Federation Hispanic Federation (HF) is the nations premier Latino nonprofit membership organization. Founded in 1990, HF seeks to support Hispanic families and strengthen Latino institutions through work in the areas of education, health, immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment, and the environment. With offices in New York, Washington D.C., Connecticut and Florida, and a nonprofit footprint throughout the East Coast, HF uplifts millions of Hispanic children, youth and families locally and nationally through three essential service pillars: membership services/grant making, advocacy and community programs. Contact: Luciano Pascoe Grupo Salinas Tel. +52 (55) 1720-1313 ext. 36553 lpascoe@gruposalinas.com.mx Daniel McCosh Grupo Salinas Tel. +52 (55) 1720-0059 dmccosh@gruposalinas.com.mx Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/adb246be-b70b-49ad-a851-e0cc946c2a0a http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/53c2e308-3be8-4d54-9ee3-28aab29a0e08 Man faces jail, psych exam, other penalties after guilty plea in killing of beloved cat in New Orleans Man faces jail, fine, other penalties for killing of Uptown street cat Blackie Catholic school teachers have overwhelmingly voted down a proposed new employment agreement as tensions heighten between the system's staff and their employers. More than 87 per cent of staff in 11 Catholic dioceses across New South Wales and the ACT rejected the agreement in a ballot that was not endorsed by the furious Independent Education Union. Catholic school staff rally against a proposed new enterprise agreement last month. The dismissal of the proposed contract followed two half-day strikes held late November and early December. "This is a very solid result and we hope that Catholic employers are listening to the voice of their employees," IEU NSW/ACT secretary John Quessy said. About 18 months into his tenure at Marist College, on a Saturday morning in July 2007, headmaster Richard Sidorko picked up The Canberra Times and read with horror stories of historic sexual abuse endured by former students at the hands of Marist staff. "I don't think I slept for about a week," Mr Sidorko said. Marist headmaster Richard Sidorko leaves Marist college this week. Credit:Karleen Minney "I was shocked. I just couldn't believe it. Then the phone calls started on Monday morning. "I had victims ringing me, I had former staff ringing me, I had parents ringing me, I had people in the community ringing me. Canberra's big traditional carols by candlelight started in 1945, outside Parliament House, the crowd celebrating the first peacetime Christmas in six years, holding aloft "candles, hurricane lamps and kerosene-burning lamps". Seventy-two years later and a few things have changed - the crowd gets safety-conscious, battery-operated candles these days - but the spirit of Christmas is just as strong. The 2017 Carols by Candlelight at Stage 88. Credit:Jamila Toderas The 73rd annual Carols by Candlelight was celebrated on Wednesday night, with crowds gathering in Commonwealth Park to hear the voices of the Woden Valley Youth Choir and the music of the Canberra City Band. Featured performers were Anthony Simeonovic and Tina Robinson. The choir's administrator Brenda Copley said the carols moved to Stage 88 in Commonwealth Park in 1988. West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui insists he's on track to play during the AFL pre-season despite undergoing a minor procedure on his reconstructed left knee. Naitanui underwent an arthroscope in October to trim cartilage that had been causing him some discomfort at training. Nic Naitanui said he could "train fully right at the moment". Credit:Tony McDonough The 27-year-old, having missed all of last season, is yet to join in at full training this pre-season. But he said he expected to join in fully next Monday. But Dr Lowe highlighted the impracticality of using bitcoin to make purchases, and said it would mainly appeal to people involved in the black economy. Bitcoin has surged by more than 1500 per cent this year to record highs, as mainstream financial houses have increasingly become involved in trading it as an asset. Philip Lowe, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), is sceptical about how useful bitcoin is for making payments. Credit:Sergio Dionisio After the extraordinary surge in bitcoin in recent weeks, Dr Lowe became the latest top central banker to say cryptocurrencies were being driven by a wave of speculation, as he also said such currencies were not about to replace conventional, government-issued money. Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says there is a "speculative mania" surrounding cryptocurrencies, as he played down the chances of the central bank issuing a digital Australian dollar. "When thought of purely as a payment instrument, it seems more likely to be attractive to those who want to make transactions in the black or illegal economy, rather than everyday transactions," Dr Lowe said at a payments conference in Sydney. "So the current fascination with these currencies feels more like a speculative mania than it has to do with their use as an efficient and convenient form of electronic payment." Dr Lowe said there was nothing to stop people from making day-to-day transactions in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, using the example of buying a cup of coffee. But he said doing so was very expensive. "You can do that now. But the truth is, when you look at the actual cost associated with making a payment with bitcoin, it costs more than the cup of coffee," Dr Lowe said. "If people in this audience want to use bitcoin to make payments they are perfectly free to do that. I'd suggest the cost of doing that is extraordinary, and do you really want to hold the value that you're using to make payments with in something where the price fluctuates 20 per cent in a day?" This week is a big week for those young people who have just completed year 12 in one of the 900 or so schools throughout NSW. They get their HSC results on Thursday, and it is an important time for each and every one of them as they contemplate the next chapter of their lives, in whatever area they decide to pursue. It's a big week for parents too, as they try to support their sons and daughters if they are disappointed, or celebrate with them if they are happy (sometimes it's hard for parents to work out which one is actually the correct or desired response in the moment). It is so important to help our young people to see all that they are their skills, their knowledge, the values and attributes that make up who they are as people. Maybe they are people of strength, or integrity, or curiosity, or they are collaborative team players, loyal, a good friend. It is also important to help our young people to see their future potential all of the things that their parents wanted them to be when they were born, all of the things we want for them as a society today, all of the things ahead of them in the next likely 80 years of their lives. So whilst it is a time for families to celebrate all that their son or daughter has achieved in their 12 or 13 years of schooling, and to think about the next stages of their lives, it's also time for our society to do the same about the HSC itself. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about living in a prosperous nation is that instead of struggling each day for the fundamentals of life food and shelter people have options that allow them to explore the possibilities of existence. When half the world lives on less than $3 a day, Australians, with an average annual income per person of close to $70,000, have it far better than most. Sure, there's no joy in poverty or financial stress, but the most contented, genuinely rich Australian residents are not those who have amassed the most financial and material wealth, but, as numerous psychological studies show, those who choose altruism over greed and self-interest. These people get more out of their community generosity than they put into it. A quarter of us are volunteers. There are 60,000 community organisations in Australia. The not-for-profit sector generates about 5 per cent of our national economic output and about one in 12 jobs. Retail Food Group managing director Andre Neil. Credit:AAP But there is much evidence, too, of wrongdoing. Two of the main causes of this social malignancy are greed and the abuse of power. Over the past several years, investigations by The Herald, sometimes in collaboration with the ABC, have revealed the rottenness at the core of one of Australia's biggest sectors, franchising, which generates sales of about $170 billion a year. One would like to think the students and migrants who staff the fast-food joints that comprise a massive chunk of franchising get a fair go. They don't. They get cheated, bullied and threatened. As the journalism of Adele Ferguson and Sarah Danckert has demonstrated, these young and vulnerable people have long been the victims of wage fraud while working punishing hours. The Herald's investigations have led to law reforms, but more needs to be done. The most recent work of Ferguson and Danckert emphatically shows it is not just the workers who are being illegally short-changed. Franchisees, too, are being driven to despair, bankruptcy, mental illness and marital collapse by the greedy and manipulative choices of franchisors. The Coalition holds a clear lead over Labor two days out from the Bennelong byelection, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten step up their personal attacks in a sign of how much is at stake in the crucial contest. With his absolute majority in Parliament at risk on Saturday, Mr Turnbull warned voters against installing star Labor candidate Kristina Keneally, saying it would take the country a step closer to a "catastrophic" Bill Shorten prime ministership. Mr Shorten slammed the Prime Minister as "up himself" and out of touch. Around half of respondents to a new Fairfax Media-ReachTEL poll published Thursday said revelations about Labor senator Sam Dastyari's connections to China will affect their vote. Of those voters though, 23.5 per cent said they would be more likely to vote for Labor, and 28.4 per cent less likely, with 48 per cent saying it would not affect their decision. Here's a question: have we reached 'peak predator'? What if the names of predators are put on a t-shirt and it sells out? Such is the case for a new range of tops that have hit the internet which combine fashion's obsession with tour merchandise, grey marle and the Hollywood Reckoning. The Another One Bites The Dust jumpers and T-shirts are selling out online. Credit:megshops.com The "Knock 'Em Down" T-shirts and jumpers are designed to look like concert swag but in lieu of performance dates they list the names of men whose careers have been brought down by sexual harassment and assault allegations. They also chronicle the dates of their demise like Harvey Weinstein in October, Matt Lauer in November and predict the impeachment of President Donald "grab 'em by the p--" Trump as "TBA". MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. (the Company) (TSX-V:DMA) (OTCQB:DMCAF), announces that, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, it is undertaking a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of approximately CAD$1 million (approximately USD$780,000) with the issuance of 2,985,075 Units at an issue price of CAD$0.335 (USD$0.26) (the Offering). Each Unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one additional common share at an exercise price of USD$0.35 (approximately CAD$0.45) per share until 5:00 p.m. (Central Time) on the date that is: (i) twenty-four months after the date of issuance, or (ii) if on any date (the Accelerated Exercised Date) (a) the volume-weighted average closing trading price of the common shares on any recognized Canadian stock exchange equals or exceeds USD$0.60 for a period of 21 consecutive trading days, then, at the Companys sole discretion and upon the Company sending the holder written notice of such Accelerated Exercise Date (the Notice) and issuing a news release announcing such Accelerated Exercise Date (the News Release), the day that is 21 days following the later of: (i) the date on which such Notice is sent to the holder; and (ii) the date on which the News Release is issued. The Offering is being offered on a non-brokered private placement basis to accredited investors. The Company may pay finder's fees in accordance with the rules and policies of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"). The Offering remains subject to the approval of the TSXV. The proceeds will be used by DiaMedica to support the Phase 2 clinical development with DM199 for acute ischemic stroke and for other working capital purposes. The common shares and warrants issued by the Company under the Offering are subject to restrictions on resale in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. These restrictions will expire four months and a day following the issuance of the Units. The Offering is subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Offering has been subscribed and is scheduled to close on or about December 15, 2017, subject to regulatory approvals. About DM199 DM199 is a recombinant (synthetic) human tissue kallikrein (KLK1) protein to treat neurological and chronic kidney diseases. KLK1 is a naturally occurring enzyme with a pivotal role in the kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) that regulates blood pressure and local blood flow which has important role for the treatment of diseases including acute ischemic stroke and chronic kidney disease. DiaMedica has completed five clinical trials with DM199, including single ascending and multiple ascending doses, studies in diabetic patients, and a Phase 1b pharmacokinetic study to confirm dosing strategies. In addition to the current REMEDY TRIAL the drug has a good safety and tolerability profile, DM199 showed the anticipated activity, lowering blood pressure and kidney function, over the course of treatment in multiple clinical studies. About DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. DiaMedica Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel treatments for neurological and kidney diseases. DiaMedicas shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol DMA and on the OTCQB under the trading symbol DMCAF. For more information, please visit www.diamedica.com. Follow us on social media Twitter, LinkedIn. For further information, please contact: Paul Papi Vice President of Business Development DiaMedica Therapeutics Inc. Two Carlson Parkway, Suite 260 Minneapolis, MN Phone: (617) 899-5941 info@diamedica.com Tweet this! FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS The statements made in this press release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information that involves risk and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address DiaMedica's expectations, should be considered forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's exercise of business judgment as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. When used in this document, the words may, will, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, intend and words of similar import, are intended to identify any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the Company's objectives, goals, future plans and statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Offering. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information described in detail in the DiaMedica's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, all of which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. DiaMedica undertakes no obligation, and does not intend, to update, revise or otherwise publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events, unless required by law. Although management believes that expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that these expectations will materialize. 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 the contents of this press release. And you can forget whatever nonsense you might be about to spout about leaching child support out of the poor, embattled father. The child support debt in this country is above a billion dollars, which means roughly half of all child support payments are made either late or not at all. Very few people are willing to recognise how many heterosexual relationships break down after children, not because of pre existing violence or violence that manifests during the pregnancy (one of the highest risks times for family violence to begin, FYI), but because the men themselves utterly fail to support the women they've had children with. I don't mean financially, although sometimes that's the case or part of it. I mean that they take no responsibility for learning how to properly care for a baby and for the partner who'll be primarily nurturing that baby for at least the first six months. They don't get up to feed the baby at night or rock them back to sleep. They don't take the baby to 'give' the mother a break. They whinge and whine about not 'getting' sex, making this another job their partner has to be responsible for. They plan weekends away with their friends or stay out all night and come home wasted the next morning. They talk about babysitting or kvetch at their wives for not keeping the house clean because "what do you do all day?" They have no idea how hard it is to actually parent, day in and day out, because they have never done it. Worse, this lack of support and willful helplessness often also transpires in expecting their female partners to mother them as well as the newborn baby. A registered child-sex offender has been nabbed at Sydney Airport while trying to fly out of the country. The man was stopped under new laws that came into effect at midnight preventing registered child-sex offenders from leaving Australia. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Justice Minister Michael Keenan tell reporters at Sydney Airport's international terminal that a paedophile was stopped at the SmartGates and prevented from travelling overseas under new laws. Credit:AAP He is being questioned by the Australian Federal Police. "A registered child-sex offender was stopped here at the SmartGates and has been prevented from travelling overseas," Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop told reporters at the airport's international terminal on Wednesday. A man has been charged with aggravated sexual assault over two alleged attacks on women in Sydney's inner west. One woman was taken to hospital after she was allegedly sexually assaulted and robbed just after midnight on Sunday December 10 at Selbourne Street in Burwood. The 30-year-old was charged with 18 offences and refused bail, due to appear at Burwood Local Court later today. Emergency services were called to the scene and told the 24-year-old woman had been approached by a man, who assaulted her and demanded her bank cards. He then allegedly took photos and threatened her after she handed over her cards, before dragging her across the street and sexually assaulted her. Three men will face court on Thursday after a dramatic arrest at Centennial Park where two loaded semi-automatic weapons and around $650,000 were seized by police. A large police presence descended on the park for the planned operation just before 1pm on Wednesday, with live aerial vision showing police searching a vehicle in the middle of the road. Police had been following the men throughout the day and chose Centennial Park for the arrest because it was the "earliest opportunity and safest location". A 27-year-old Constitution Hill man, a 34-year-old Crows Nest man, and a 39-year-old man from The Ponds were taken to Waverley Police Station on Wednesday. Each of the men were charged with two counts of possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing ammunition without holding a licence, knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group. Queensland's new opposition leader refuses to be drawn on where exactly the LNP went wrong during the election campaign but said the party's inability to get its messages across "absolutely" played a role. Deb Frecklington was elected to the LNP's top job in a partyroom meeting on Tuesday, with Tim Mander voted in as her deputy. Credit:Glenn Hunt/AAP Ms Frecklington said Labor's smear campaign to tie ousted leader Tim Nicholls to former premier Campbell Newman hurt. But the newly minted leader said she did not think the LNP should pretend he didn't exist. Queensland will continue to support shark nets that have "saved lives", despite a federal inquiry arguing they should be phased out. The Senate inquiry found the New South Wales and Queensland governments should phase out shark nets and replace the lethal drum lines with more sophisticated gear to limit unnecessary harm to marine life. Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said there was no plans to phase out shark nets in Queensland. The report noted the frequency of shark bites on humans was "infinitesimal" even as the number of beach visits continued to climb. Greens member for Maiwar Michael Berkman called on the government to remove drumlines. The Apolllo 11 crew Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin bound for the Moon in 1969. Credit:NASA It's possible to book your US$30 Space Center Houston entry ticket online plus I'd pay the extra US$6 for the audio tour. At the same time you can book a free tram tour ticket, which will help you skip the queues on busy days. You'll want at least three hours to see the highlights, but allow at least another hour if you're passionate about space stuff. You could easily spend an entire day at Space Center Houston if you want to see absolutely everything including the short introductory film, other documentaries and the three live shows with people talking about living and working in space. The mighty Saturn V rocket bound for space. Credit:NASA When you arrive you can pick up a map, daily schedule and audio tour at the desk inside on your right. You can also check in luggage for US$7, which is handy if you're making a detour on your way to or from the airport. Local Uber driver Duane tends to sit in the carpark at the end of the day, knowing he'll likely pick up a tourist dashing to the airport. If you're looking for Texan BBQ tips, Duane is your man. The Lunar Module over the Moon, as seen from Command Module. Credit:DPA Look to the stars If you're in a rush to see the Saturn V rocket then head to the back of the complex to jump on the tram tour, as you can't just walk to Rocket Park. Buzz Aldrin photographed by Neil Armstrong, the first men on the Moon. Credit:Neil Armstrong Tours depart every 15 minutes with alternating destinations one takes you to see Orion Mission Control while the next goes to the astronaut training centre. Both these 'Red' and 'Blue' tours stop at Rocket Park on the way back, where you can spend as long as you like and then catch the next tram going past. Pressed for time I opted for Mission Control, but if you're not in a rush you could take both tours and skip Rocket Park the second time around. Mission Control in Johnson Space Center, with a live feed from the International Space Station. Credit:Adam Turner When you arrive at Rocket Park you're greeted by the sight of Little Joe II, used for Apollo high altitude abort testing. Alongside it sits the Mercury/ Redstone rocket used to launch the first US astronauts into space, along with giant stage 1 and 2 engines from the Saturn V. The Redstone rocket is a direct descendant of the German V2 rockets which rained down on London during the Second World War. The Mercury/ Redstone rocket (left) at Johnson's Rocket Park, alongside Little Joe II. Credit:Adam Turner If you can make the trip to the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin you'll see the combustion chambers from the V2 rockets, designed by Wernher von Braun before he and his team were taken to the US after the war to work on intercontinental missiles and space rockets. It's a powerful reminder that our journey to the stars began in a very dark place. Go for liftoff The building which houses the Saturn V at Rocket Park, as seen from the tour tram on the way to Mission Control. Credit:Adam Turner Johnson's Saturn V rocket lives in a 120-metre-long building in Rocket Park, having been fully restored after spending 30 years exposed to the elements. Lying on its side, the rocket is split into its three main stages so you can see the engines which propelled them. The entrance brings you in at the bottom of the rocket, where you're dwarfed by the cluster of five Rocketdyne F-1 engines which lifted the Saturn V off the launch pad. Like the rest of this rocket they're genuine spares which were never fired after the Apollo program was cut short. All the stage 1 engines actually used during the Apollo missions fell back to earth and sank to a watery grave in the Atlantic. The first stage's Rocketdyne F-1 engines, which fired for 2.5 minutes before falling away into the ocean. Credit:Adam Turner Even if you've stood behind a Space Shuttle, such as the Endeavour at the California Science Center, you'll be awestruck by the size of these five engines which together stand three storeys high around twice as high as the Shuttle's three main engines. There's no-one rushing you through, so step back and take a moment to breathe it in. As you slowly walk the rocket's length, take in the enormity of the Saturn V and its role in achieving our age-old dream of walking on the Moon. It's still the most powerful rocket ever built and holds the record for carrying the heaviest payload. The Saturn V's second stage, which kicked in as the rocket reached the upper atmosphere and the first stage fell away. Credit:Adam Turner Breaking the rocket into sections helps illustrate how the three-stage rocket worked, with the five smaller J-2 engines visible on the second stage as well as the single J-2 engine on the third stage. This third stage carried the Apollo spacecraft consisting of the Command, Service and Lunar Modules. Only the droplet-shaped Command Module at the tip would make the return journey to splash down in the ocean and bring the astronauts back to the Earth. The Saturn V's third stage: the Apollo spacecraft which travelled to the Moon. Credit:Adam Turner Once you've done a lap of the rocket, stop to read the timeline of the Apollo program along the far wall, from the Apollo 1 launch pad fire which cost three lives to the Apollo 17 final moon landing. Then take another slow lap of the rocket, admiring every detail from those hulking F-1 engines to the needle-like Launch Escape System on top of the Command Module, designed to carry the astronauts to safety should a launch go wrong. The Freedom 7 capsule. Credit:Adam Turner The right stuff Back in Space Center Houston, the main attractions branch off Main Plaza. This central area has a bit of a Scienceworks/ Powerhouse/ Questacon feel to it with kid-friendly displays and simulators as well as several live shows during the day. The Gemini V capsule, hanging from the ceiling in Starship Gallery. Credit:Adam Turner Don't be discouraged if you're looking for something a little more serious, as there's plenty at Space Center Houston to impress hardcore space fans. We'll come back to Main Plaza, as the adjacent Destiny Theatre is the best place to start your journey. Destiny Theatre offers a 15-minute primer on the history of the US space program which helps set the scene. From here you move into Starship Gallery, where the audio guide will take you through the highlights, but if you're lucky you might be able to latch onto a tour guide like Mike leading a group out of Destiny Theatre who will take you from the Goddard rocket as far as Skylab. Lunar Module cockpit trainer. Credit:Adam Turner The real deal After the Goddard rocket you encounter the Friendship 7 Mercury and Gemini V capsules not life-size models but the actual capsules which survived their journey into space and back. A scene on the Moon, with two astronauts alongside a lunar rover. Credit:Adam Turner One of the great things about Johnson is wherever possible you're either looking at the real thing or a life-size replica often used for astronaut training on the ground rather than simple models. You'll find a Lunar Module cockpit trainer and the docking ring for the Apollo/Soyuz joint mission with the Soviets, plus around the corner you'll discover the actual Apollo 17 Command Module. If you're keen on computing you can see an Apollo guidance system in the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. Life aboard the Skylab space station which orbited Earth in the 1970s. Credit:Adam Turner After passing Johnson's manned capsules you can also walk through the full-sized Skylab training module giving you a feel for where astronauts lived and worked during the 1970s. The space station was actually built inside the first stage shell of a Saturn V. A smooth landing Shuttle Independence hitches a ride on NASA's modified Boeing 747. Credit:Adam Turner Your next stop is Independence Plaza, which probably caught your eye from the car park as it's not every day that you see a Space Shuttle mounted on the back of a Boeing 747. Dubbed NASA 905, the plane is the actual 747 used to test the prototype Shuttle Enterprise's gliding capabilities before Columbia's maiden flight in 1981. It was later one of two 747s used to transport the Shuttles around the country. A tour through the 747 tells the history of the Shuttle program, with a model revealing how the Shuttle is mounted on the NASA 905 jet. Credit:Adam Turner The Space Shuttle was designed to be a reusable craft: launching upright like a rocket with detachable boosters but later landing on wheels like a plane. To simplify the design they decided to forgo traditional engines and just let the Shuttle glide to the ground. Houston's Shuttle is the Independence (formerly Explorer), which never actually made it into space. Houston was unfortunate to miss out on one of the decommissioned Shuttles, instead Independence is a full-scale replica taken from Kennedy Space Center after Kennedy inherited the retired Atlantis shuttle. The Shuttle Independence's cockpit (above) and living quarters - including the airlock - as seen from the cargo bay. Credit:Adam Turner Even if you've seen an actual Shuttle such as Endeavour at the California Science Center, which still bears reentry scars it's still worth a look at Independence because you can get much more up close and personal. As you head up the stairs stop to look in the 747 first for some history on the Shuttle's design and testing, before heading into the Independence's cargo bay where you'll see the famed Canadarm along with a satellite awaiting deployment. Then head up to the cockpit, living quarters and airlock to imagine that you're bound for orbit. The Shuttle Independence's cargo bay, as seen from the cockpit. Credit:Adam Turner In the right place and the right time Back in Main Plaza there's plenty more to see in the Astronaut Gallery, International Space Station and Mission to Mars sections, along with short films running in Space Center Theater. The cockpit of the Shuttle Independence. Credit:Adam Turner If you're pressed for time, make sure you at least check out Mission to Mars, which features a full-scale engineering model of the new Orion Command Module which is already undergoing flight tests for a trip to the Red Planet (it's only one component of the Orion craft). The exhibit at the very centre of Main Plaza changes from time to time, it's hard to see what's inside but make sure you check it out. It might be something extraordinary, even by Johnson's standards. Melbourne had long waited for news of an arrest in relation to the death of Karen Ristevski. Since the Avondale Heights mother went missing in June 2016, the city had followed every twist and turn in the unfolding case. Police on Wednesday morning charged the last person to have reported seeing her alive - her husband Borce Ristevski, 53. The Ristevskis had argued on June 29 about 10am. Mr Ristevski said it was over "a sum of hundreds of dollars" before his 47-year-old wife left the home to "clear her head". One man is dead and another is in custody following a suspected shooting in Melbourne's west on Wednesday afternoon. It's believed the victim, a 37-year-old man, was shot in Poole Street, Deer Park, just after 2pm. He died on the nature strip. Police attend the shooting scene in Deer Park. Credit:AAP Michael Montani was at his mother's nearby and he heard what sounded like glass shattering and then "bang, bang" before a woman started knocking on their window, screaming. "She was yelling 'Call the ambulance. I need the police. I need the police. My partner has been shot'," Mr Montani said. Two-year-old Lachlan died of septicaemia, The case has highlighted concerns that the opinions of parents are often dismissed by doctors. Since Lachlan's death, Monash Health has introduced a new program in the emergency department to allow a patient's care to be "escalated" by worried family members, if the person becomes more unwell and family believes they are not receiving necessary medical attention. Posters have been placed in the waiting room. The Coroner also noted similar initiatives have been introduced in other Victorian hospitals, such as the Northern Hospital, which allows family members to dial a number to trigger an emergency response. Mrs Black said all too often, parents were treated like they did not know anything. "Really we are the best barometer of how our child is in terms of their health," she said. Lachlan was taken to the emergency department of Monash Medical Centre at about midday on August 17 in 2014, after twice asking "is it cold" and refusing to walk. In the days prior he had already been to emergency twice, as well as seeing two different GPs. However during the final emergency visit, it took doctors more than 10 hours to administer antibiotics to treat his septicaemia, a serious blood infection caused by bacteria. Lachlan died in the early hours of August 18, after 30 minutes of CPR. Ms Carlin said there were a number of missed opportunities by medical staff to make the correct diagnosis, including a failure to reassess Lachlan after a rash was noticed on his body at about 5.30pm and his heart rate was found to be elevated. There was also a two-hour delay in administering Lachlan's antibiotics, which Ms Carlin said highlighted the danger of verbal orders. "The reason for the delay remains unclear, save that it appears to come down to human error," she said. Ms Carlin made a number of recommendations. She asked Monash Health develop a formal policy requiring patients who present twice within 72 hours to have their diagnosis re-evaluated by an emergency department consultants as soon as possible. Ms Carlin also called for a new policy governing when it was acceptable for clinicians to make verbal orders for antibiotics. However she said she believed that all medical professionals involved in the case had acted with the best of intentions. "No one wanted him to die," she said. "I take into account that emergency departments are high-pressured environments." Australian Medical Association president Dr Michael Gannon said formal programs that allowed caregivers to ask for a second opinion should be considered, but would come at cost for already-stretched public hospitals. "We should empower parents and carers to be brave enough to ask questions. Yet the reason why this story is newsworthy is that it is fortunately rare that this happens," Dr Gannon said. Monash Health said it apologised to the family. "We apologise to Tim and Angela Black for their heartbreaking loss, and especially for the distressing circumstances around Lachlan's death," said Dr Neil Goldie, director of emergency medicine. "Since 2014 we have made a number of changes to our clinical care processes, to reduce the likelihood that this kind of tragedy could occur again." Health Minister Jill Hennessy said hospital safety watchdog Safer Care Victoria was working with health services to help them identify sepsis earlier. Loading Mammoth Lakes, California, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Honest Kitchen and Mammoth Mountain announced a partnership today that has tails wagging and mouths watering. As the new dog food provider for Mammoths patrol dogs, Eastside k9, The Honest Kitchen will support the hard and important work of a highly specialized and trained team of dogs that help keep skiers and snowboarders safe at one of North Americas premier mountain resorts. Our patrol dogs spend countless hours out on the snow helping to keep our guests safe. They deserve the very best and this partnership with The Honest Kitchen provides that, said Joani Lynch, Mammoths Vice President of Marketing. As a brand built on integrity and ingenuity, The Honest Kitchen is one were excited to align with and we look forward to doing that in some new and creative ways. In addition to providing food for Mammoths current and retired avalanche dogs, the partnership will leverage the combined social influence of two of the leading brands in their respective industries; including co-branded social content and in-resort activations. Mammoths avalanche dogs will now proudly wear an Honest Kitchen patch on their vests and patrollers/ handlers will distribute information and discounts at events and various functions. Mammoth Mountain is one of our favorite places to play, and we are thrilled to support the hard-working dogs of the mountain with hearty, human grade food, said Mike Steck, Chief Marketing Officer of The Honest Kitchen. The best mountain, with the best patrol dogs, now serves the best food. # # # Discover More: Twitter: @HonestKitchen/ @MammothMountain Instagram: @HonestKitchen / @MammothMountain Facebook: @TheHonestKitchen / @MammothMountain The Greens have preselected 28-year-old gay rights and social justice campaigner Adam Pulford as their candidate for Wills, one of a clutch of four Melbourne inner-city seats the party believes it can poach off Labor and the Liberals at the next federal election. Labor holds Wills, in Melbourne's north, by a margin of 4.88 per cent and Greens strategists have slotted it in the "winnable" column after securing a 10.3 per swing last year. Buoyed by their convincing victory in the state byelection for Northcote, the Greens have identified five winnable seats where campaigning should commence well ahead of the next federal election, as the party seeks to turn inner Melbourne into its new heartland. These seats are Labor-held Wills, Batman and Melbourne Ports, Liberal-held Higgins and Melbourne, which is already held by the Greens. A 49-year-old man has been rushed to hospital after he was viciously attacked by his own dog in Carlisle on Wednesday afternoon. It's understood the dog escaped the man's backyard on Harris Street about 8.30am this morning. Harris Street. Credit:Hannah Barry Workers saw the incident, and reportedly rushed over to aid the man. Radio 6PR reporter Anthony Anderson said the man suffered severe cuts to his arms and chest, and the dog was seized by council rangers. Beijing/Taipei: Taiwan will fail to get foreign support for its cause, the Chinese government said on Wednesday after a Chinese diplomat threatened the self-ruled island with attack, while Taiwan said it was committed to peace. China considers Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is its main source of arms. Beijing regularly calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue between it and the United States. In September, the US Congress passed the National Defence Authorisation Act for the 2018 fiscal year, which authorises mutual visits by navy vessels between Taiwan and the United States. That prompted a senior US.-based Chinese diplomat to say last week that China would attack Taiwan the instant any US navy vessel visited the island. New York: The exceptionally high tides this time of the year off Canada's British Columbia can turn the rocky western coast of Vancouver Island into a graveyard. Bones from gray whales, sea lions and killer whales wash ashore, piling on the beach along fallen evergreens. A tibia, fibula, left foot and sneaker found by Doug Johns on a beach on Vancouver Island in Canada. Credit:MIKE JOHNS But on Thursday morning, Taz, a 6-year-old Rottweiler, sensed something different about a bone tangled in a bed of kelp. Taz darted away from her owner, Mike Johns, to inspect it, sniffing a piece that jutted out on a beach in the hamlet of Jordan River. Bangkok: Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha once threw a banana peel at reporters and has threatened to "probably execute" those who did not tell the truth. Now the former army chief, who holds sweeping dictatorial powers, is on the warpath again accusing journalists of stirring up controversy over an expensive watch and ring that his 72-year-old deputy, Prawit Wongsuwan, was spotted wearing at a public relations event. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha last month. Credit:Athit Perawongmetha Photographs of Prawit's Richard Mille watch, which is estimated to be worth up to $US500,000 ($660,000) and the diamond ring, have gone viral across Thailand's social media. And they have prompted questions about why the career military man failed to declare them in his list of assets, as required by Thailand's anti-graft agency. Los Angeles: The blaze that swept through the hills of Los Angeles' ritzy Bel-Air area last week, destroying six homes, damaging a dozen more and threatening Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch's vineyard, was sparked by a cooking fire at a homeless camp in a nearby ravine, city officials said. The encampment was nestled in a canyon about 100 to 200 metres from the 405 Freeway - which was closed by the fire - and hidden from passing cars. For several years, it had been home to an unknown number of people, officials said. Investigators said the fire had not been set deliberately and they have not found any of the people who lived there. The camp - one of scores of makeshift communities that have grown along freeways, rivers and open space across Los Angeles - was largely destroyed in the fire, leaving authorities with little evidence. News that one of Los Angeles' most affluent neighbourhoods was damaged in a fire sparked by some of the city's poorest residents added a sober note to the incident, with some officials saying it underscores the need to do more to house the homeless. Paris: California and Washington state have joined five nations on the Pacific coast of the Americas to agree to step up the use of a price on carbon dioxide emissions as a central economic policy to slow climate change. On Tuesday, the US states were acting in defiance of President Donald Trump who doubts man-made greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are the prime cause of global warming and plans to quit the 2015 Paris climate accord. French President Emmanuel Macron, centre, and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take a selfie in Paris on Tuesday. Credit:THIBAULT CAMUS Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile agreed the measure at a climate summit in Paris along with the two US states and provinces across Canada of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Nations in the Americas, mostly the United States, account for about a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PHX Energy Services Corp. ("PHX Energy" or the "Corporation") (TSX:PHX) announces that its Board of Directors (the Board) has approved the 2018 capital expenditure program of $10.5 million (the program), of which $3.8 million was committed in 2017 but delivery of the equipment was delayed into 2018. PHX Energy has remained strategically focused on developing differentiating technologies that support the growth of higher margin services, and the 2018 capital expenditure program reflects a disciplined approach to furthering this objective. The 2018 program is mainly allocated toward the Velocity Real-Time System (Velocity) and 7.25 Atlas performance drilling motor (Atlas) fleets as these technologies are in high demand and offer significant advantages in key basins across North America. The Corporation projects that at the end of 2018 it will have a fleet of 70 Velocity systems. Additionally a portion of the 2018 program is allocated toward the maintenance of its legacy measurement while drilling (MWD) and motor equipment. In 2017, there was a recovery in overall industry conditions, and thus far, in the second half of 2017, the Corporation has experienced significant growth and improved profitability as compared to 2016. PHX Energy achieved these results despite the delayed delivery of Velocity systems and performance drilling motors, which are now expected to arrive in early 2018. PHX Energy is optimistic that in 2018 it will further build upon the momentum of 2017, achieving improved profitability and greater activity levels as it deploys the additional equipment currently on order and projected in the 2018 program. About PHX Energy Services Corp. The Corporation, through its directional drilling subsidiary entities, provides horizontal and directional drilling technology and services to oil and natural gas producing companies in Canada, the US, Russia and Albania. PHX Energy also provides EDR technology and services. Forward Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this document constitute "forward looking statements" and/or "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively referred to as "forward looking statements"). When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of PHX Energy with respect to future events, program and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this document. In particular, this document contains forward looking statements pertaining to the amount of the Corporation's 2018 capital expenditure program, the source of funding the program, the allocation of the program and the anticipated 2018 activity. Forward looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether such results will be achieved. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of factors could cause actual results to defer materially from the results discussed in these forward looking statements, including but not limited to those factors referred to under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Corporation's Annual Information Form ("AIF") for the year ended December 31, 2016 and the Corporation's management's discussion and analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017. Although forward looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what the Corporation believes are reasonable assumptions, the Corporation cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward looking statements. The forward looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Unless otherwise required by law, PHX Energy does not intend, or assume any obligation, to update these forward looking statements. For further information please contact: John Hooks, CEO; Michael Buker, President; or Cameron Ritchie, Senior Vice President Finance and CFO PHX Energy Services Corp. Suite 1400, 250 2nd Street SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 0C1 Tel: 403-543-4466 Fax: 403-543-4485 www.phxtech.com Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gluten in medications is a hot topic within the celiac disease community. The US Food and Drug Administration today issued draft guidance for drug manufacturers to clarify when a gluten-containing ingredient has been used to make prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. This comes three years after the FDA set voluntary guidelines for labeling foods gluten free. The guidance encourages drug makers to voluntarily include a statement that their drug "contains no ingredient made from a gluten-containing grain (wheat, barley or rye)" when such a statement is "truthful and substantiated" in the description section of the drug's prescribing information. We at Beyond Celiac formerly the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness have been working on addressing the issue of gluten in medications for a decade. said Alice Bast, Beyond Celiac CEO. Though the labeling is voluntary, it is definitely a step in the right direction. Beyond Celiac has heard repeatedly from its constituents that undisclosed gluten in medications was making them sick. With the goal of turning anecdotes into documented, quantifiable research, the organization received a $50,000 grant in 2011 from the FDA to study the prevalence of hidden gluten in medications, the first study of its kind. The Food Allergen Labeling Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004, which requires packaged food labels to identify all ingredients containing wheat and other common allergens, was a major landmark for people with celiac disease and food allergies. Medication labels were not included in FALCPA. In 2011, 5,623 people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity responded to an online survey. 1,399 of these respondents 25% reported that they suspected an adverse reaction caused by gluten in their medication. Patients and healthcare providers find it difficult to ascertain whether a medication is glutenfree, causing anxiety, lack of confidence, medication substitutions and noncompliance. Patients reported a wide range of symptoms associated with their suspected gluten exposure, including: constipation, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, headache, fatigue, irritability, muscle tremors/cramps, failure to thrive and skin rash. Some of the reactions reported by survey respondents are also known side effects of these mediations, others are not. We will continue to fight for accurate labeling and advocate for funding for further research and if appropriate, the elimination of gluten in medications all together, Bast stated. Our communitys health and well-being is at stake. For a person with celiac disease, undigested gluten fragments trigger a reaction by the immune system in the small intestine, which can lead to systemic inflammation. The relationship to the gut and the microbiome, which is evolving as central to overall health in general, is well-documented. Systemic damage caused by gluten can be catastrophic, affecting not only the GI system, but also the brain and nervous system. Attending to the gut-brain connection is an important part of overall healthcare for the celiac disease community. Beyond Celiac recently held its first research symposium to accelerate the search for better treatments for celiac disease. Additionally, the new Go Beyond Celiac online patient platform and registry is designed to bring patients and scientists together to speed progress on celiac disease research. About Beyond Celiac Beyond Celiac, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization formerly known as the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, unites with patients and partners to drive diagnosis, advance research and accelerate the discovery of new treatments and a cure. For more information, please visit www.beyondceliac.org. Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/de659a02-ab5c-4639-bd37-8eae1dd2906d Toronto, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Wildlife Fund Canada lauds the Government of Alberta for acting to stop climate change and reverse the decline of wildlife. The announcement today to develop four wind power projects, totaling 600 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy, is an important step in eliminating the use of coal, which currently generates 51 per cent of the provinces electricity. As Alberta progresses on its commitment to generate 5,000 MW of new renewable energy by 2030, we encourage an approach that ensures development activities do not further stress already vulnerable habitats and species. Thats why WWF-Canada is expanding our Renewables for Nature tool to include Alberta this spring. James Snider, WWF-Canadas vice-president of science, research and innovation, said: By eliminating the use of coal in electricity generation and making a significant commitment to renewable energy, Alberta is playing a critical role in Canadas national climate strategy. Climate change threatens global biodiversity. Wildlife in Alberta, such as woodland caribou, swift fox and greater sage grouse, are already feeling the effects. We welcome this important action on climate change and encourage Alberta to consider wildlife and habitat in deciding where to locate projects, in particular to minimize impacts to remaining prairie-grassland habitats that have already been stressed to the point that significant wildlife declines are evident. We know that renewable-energy development is often impeded by concerns about wildlife. Environmental assessments come relatively late in the development process and the presence of a vulnerable species can delay and even derail a proposed project. In our fight against climate change, we cant afford to make decisions that conflict with wildlife. To that end, WWF-Canada has developed a tool that helps identify areas of high energy potential but comparatively low conservation value. Information for Alberta and Saskatchewan will be available to inform location decisions in spring 2018. We look forward to working with industry and government in ensuring a transition to renewable energy that avoids time-and-resource-intensive nature-related conflicts. About Renewables for Nature: Piloted for New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy. Expanding to include Alberta and Saskatchewan this spring. Overlays renewable energy and conservation data on the same map for the first time in Canada. The energy layer reveals renewable energy reserves: the resource potential for each energy type across the region. The conservation layer captures data on 728 species at risk, as well as detailed information on biodiversity, habitat and other conservation and community environmental uses for the entire area. For more information wildlife loss in Alberta and the rest of Canada, please visit Living Planet Report Canada. For more information or media requests, please contact Rebecca Spring, senior communications specialist, WWF-Canada rspring@wwfcanada.org, +1 647 338-6274 About World Wildlife Fund Canada World Wildlife Fund Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/891c5da9-8325-4bf4-a419-e50744a09750 Texas A&M freshman Shayna Ambers thought her first Hanukkah away from home would be tough. But Ambers, who is from Frisco, was able to gather with dozens Tuesday to light a 13-foot menorah at the Rudder Fountain on campus, and she felt right at home with her Aggie family. "I studied [for exams] all day today and all day yesterday," she said. "Because this is my first Hanukkah away from my family, I wanted to light the candles and keep the tradition alive." Thanks to the yearly efforts of Texas A&M's Rohr Chabad Jewish Center, students away from home and duty-bound to stay on campus and study can still observe the celebration. This is the 10-year anniversary of the Chabad's Hanukkah party at Rudder Plaza, which drew students, faculty and families who gathered around the towering metal menorah. Visitors could take their own free small menorah to use at home, and snacks and hot cocoa were provided at the event. Children were given the chance to play games and make educational Hanukkah crafts. At 6 p.m., Chabad's Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff climbed a tall ladder and lit the first of the menorah's lamps. "Our menorah is actually 2 feet taller than the one they have over at [the University of Texas]," Lazaroff told The Eagle, chuckling. The night of fun, laughter and community served as a reminder of the spirit of the holiday, which honors the historical triumph of the Maccabees. Lazaroff noted that more than 2,000 years ago this group of Jewish people rose up against a government in Greece that did not allow them to practice their beliefs. Jewish tradition teaches that while the Maccabees were hiding in caves as guerilla warriors, an lamp oil that should have only lasted them one day carried them through eight days. To them, this signified light and the reassurance that comes from God in regards to His people. "Over 2,000 years ago, the people of Israel were under the Syrian Greeks, who prevented them from practicing their religion," Lazaroff said. ... Ultimately we're celebrating religious freedom, which is what the menorah represents." The shining light of the menorah also represents hope. "We look at the light as something beautiful," Lazaroff said. "In a dark room you can light one candle, and the light will spread throughout the entire room," Many of the students attending the menorah lighting and party were Aggie freshmen, experiencing their very first Hanukkah away from home. For these young men and women, it was very meaningful to gather together with Jewish friends on campus. Though she's only been in College Station a few months now, Ambers is an active participant in Chabad events. The relationships she has made via the organization are special to her. "Hanukkah is the one Jewish holiday each year where my whole family and siblings come together to light candles together," Ambers said "It feels like a celebration for me, and [considering] the fact that this is the first year I'm not doing that, I thought things would be hard. But, because of Chabad, it's not difficult -- I have a family here, too." San Antonio freshman and Corps Cadet Jacob Widman also has never been separated from his family on Hanukkah. He, too, spent most of his day studying, but he took a quick break for the menorah lighting. "It's definitely bittersweet being here," he said. "This is a great community, but I would really like to be with my family. ... I guess to me Hanukkah is about being together even when you're alone. When you light each candle, you're lighting it with millions of Jews around world." After Lazaroff ceremoniously lit the menorah's first candles, College Station mayor Karl Mooney gave a short appearance. Texas A&M Vice President of Student Affairs Daniel J. Pugh Sr. also addressed the crowd and helped the rabbi to light one of the candles. Pugh told guests that he wants incoming Jewish students to know that Texas A&M is a place where they can find community, and he hopes the university can do even more to make this religious and cultural demographic feel welcome. "On behalf of Texas A&M, happy Hanukkah! Now let's get things lit," he shouted before readying the first oil lamp. CONCORD, Calif., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods joined forces with Safeway to donate 38,000 pounds of protein to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. The donation was part of Smithfields Helping Hungry Homes initiative, a program focused on alleviating hunger and helping Americans become more food secure. Smithfields contribution, equivalent to more than 150,000 servings, will help those fighting hunger in communities across Contra Costa and Solano, where one in eight individuals turn to the Food Bank each month. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/49ea6843-b906-4e3c-8bf5-4461228ac22b Hunger affects more than 192,000 individuals in our Contra Costa and Solano service area, said Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. Our efforts to assist those individuals in need would not be possible without the support of our community and partners like Smithfield and Safeway. We are thankful for this large-scale protein donation, which will help bring many much-needed meals to the thousands we serve. Smithfield and Safeway representatives presented the donation to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano at an event that raised awareness of hungers impact in the local community. Members from all three organizations discussed the significance of protein donations in helping the one in eight individuals who face hunger each day in the food banks service area. "At Safeway, we understand hunger affects millions of people each day, said Wendy Gutshall, director of public and government affairs for Safeway. "Were thrilled to be a part of this positive impact on the community that will not only provide a well-balanced meal to so many in need, but a source of inspiration for others to get involved in their area. Throughout its 2017 Helping Hungry Homes tour, Smithfield will make large-scale protein donations to more than 60 food banks across the country. Since 2011, Smithfield has provided more than 80 million servings of protein to hunger relief organizations through this initiative. At Smithfield, we are passionate about supporting communities in need, said Dennis Pittman, senior director of hunger relief for Smithfield Foods. By providing this donation to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, thousands of our hungry neighbors will be able to provide their families with high-quality, nutritious protein. For more information about Smithfield Foods Helping Hungry Homes initiative and a list of upcoming donation events, visit helpinghungryhomes.com. About Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cook's, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curly's, Healthy Ones, Morliny, Krakus and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com. About the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano has been serving the community for over 40 years. We feed 1 in 8 people living in Contra Costa and Solano coun9es every month directly at community sites and through a network of 180 charitable agencies. Last year, we distributed 22 million pounds of food more than half of which was fresh produce! The Food Bank works to reduce food waste, feed hungry people, and raise public awareness of issues related to food and hunger. The work could not get done without the help of the thousands of volunteers that donate their 9me to coordinate food drives, sort and pack the food, and help distribute it to their hungry neighbors. To learn more about the Food Bank and the work we do or to find out how you can help, please visit us on the web at www.foodbankccs.org or give us a call at 855-309-FOOD. About Safeway Safeway is one of the most well-recognized grocery retail brands with a long-standing reputation for quality and service, proudly serving Northern California since 1926. The company operates more than 280 stores in Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii. In 2016 alone, Safeway donated over $30 million in food and financial support to charitable organizations in the communities they serve. Safeway is one of the top private companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to The San Francisco Business Times. Safeway operates as a banner of Albertsons Companies. Media Contacts: Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law across the southern third of the country until the end of next year to combat Islamist militants and communists. The move comes amidst global protests against the Southeast Nations strongmans administration whom human rights groups described a full-blown dictatorship. In a letter to lawmakers released by his office, Duterte said extending martial law was necessary in the southern region of Mindanao to contain an ongoing rebellion by Islamic State (IS) supporters as well as a rising threat from communist guerillas. Duterte initially imposed military rule across Mindanao, which covers the southern third of the country and is home to about 20 million people, in May to quell an uprising by IS supporters in Marawi city. Hundreds of gunmen rampaged through Marawi, the mainly Catholic Philippines Islamic capital, in what authorities said was part of a campaign to establish a Southeast Asian caliphate for IS. A US and Chinese-backed military campaign took five months to defeat the militants, with the conflict claiming more than 1,100 lives and leaving large parts of Marawi in ruins. I ask the Congress of the Philippines to further extend the proclamation of Martial Although Duterte declared in October that Marawi had been liberated and military chiefs said most militant leaders had been killed, authorities have continued to warn that others who escaped are regrouping and recruiting in Mindanao. The initial period of martial law was limited by the constitution to 60 days. But lawmakers in July endorsed an extension until the end of this year. Martial law is an extremely sensitive issue in the Philippines, after dictator Ferdinand Marcos used military rule as a key weapon in holding onto power a generation ago. Duterte, who has praised Marcos, has repeatedly said he may impose martial law across the entire nation. Rights groups and other critics warn Duterte is destroying democracy in the Philippines with strongman rule and a war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives. But many Filipinos continue to support Duterte, believing tough tactics are needed to solve deep-rooted problems such as the decades-long conflicts with Islamist militants and communists. Duterte enjoys overwhelming support in both houses of Congress. Rights group Karapatan last weekend held a rally in Mendiola, Manila to protest policies of the Duterte administraton that they described as recipes for a full-blown dictatorship. Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay called President Rodrigo Duterte a "wannabe dictator" and said "his recipes, composed of fascist policies such as the drug war campaign, counter-insurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, and martial law in Mindanao, have choked the Filipino people." The group staged a mock cooking showing to depict how the president is supposedly concocting a dictatorship. Blood is spewn by ordinary citizens as the Duterte regime and his State security forces prepares and forcefully shoves poison down peoples throats, Palabay said. Karapatan had earlier said that from July 2016 to October 2017, it has documented 104 victims of extrajudicial killings under Dutertes counter-insurgency program. The group said this is on top of more than 7,000 extra-judicial killing cases in connection with the administration's war on drugs. The government only acknowledges a little more than 3,900 deaths in anti-drug operations. Other deaths have been blamed on vigilantes and on gang rivalries. Movement Against Tyranny, of which Karapatan is part, and other groups stage protest rallies in various areas in Manila. The rallies culminated in a torch march from Bonifacio Shrine to Mendiola Karapatan said protests were also held in the provinces especially in Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo and in the Bicol region. The group said provinces in Ilocos Region and Central Luzon are also set to hold protest rallies while Cordillera-based organizations will hold a human chain at Session Road in Baguio City. Karapatan said various organizations in at least 11 areas including Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada, Australia, US, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands are also set to hold activities to protest the human rights situation in the Philippines. Guest Commentary By Justin Kwan At China's 19th Party Congress last month, President Xi Jinping laid out his vision for China taking a dominant role in global affairs. And now, we will turn our attention to Vietnam, where the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) conference will welcome leaders from the developing and established Asia-Pacific economies of the future. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks toward Asia, he must surely be considering Canada's move away from a sole reliance on traditional allies. But how prepared are we for this shift? The answer is: not nearly prepared enough. A new joint study by the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa and the Munk School of Global Affairs concluded that "relationships with emerging countries" which include, most prominently, Asia-Pacific countries "are becoming increasingly important to Canada's prosperity." The report notes that while Canada's population is becoming increasingly diverse, diversity alone does not automatically translate into the skills and competencies that Canadians will require to succeed in the changing world beyond their doorstep. Currently, among the very small percentage of young Canadians who get international study and work experience, the most popular destinations are also the easiest: Australia, Europe, and the United States. But destination matters. And rising to the challenge of new cultures today will pay dividends far into the future. As the report notes, "emerging economies" such as China or India should be of equal importance. The United States and Australia have already come to this realization and have adopted national-level programs that focus on Asia. In the U.S., the "100,000 Strong" initiative, a public-private partnership, was created by the State Department to send 100,000 American students to China over five years. Meanwhile, the "New Colombo Plan" by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has dedicated $100-million (Australian) over five years for study and work programs in the Indo-Pacific. Canada has no equivalent program. We are already a decade behind these "friendly competitors," and the Canadian government must take a larger and more proactive role in helping young Canadians reach out to Asia. Study and work experience in Asia is a necessary but not sufficient ingredient in developing a truly "Asia competent" cohort of young Canadians. Another vital ingredient is a Kindergarten-to-grade-12 curriculum that builds a foundation of knowledge about Asia, stimulates curiosity, and sparks a desire to learn more about the region. Australia made Asia-based learning one of three cross-curricular priorities, and the U.S. has a network of organizations devoted to curricular and teacher support for teaching about Asia. The Asia Pacific Foundation is piloting such a program in partnership with the B.C. Ministry of Education, but this type of critical change needs to be embraced and endorsed by a wider group of stakeholders across Canada. Simply going to Asia is not the end goal; the end goal is developing the knowledge, skills and networks that make us coveted international partners, whether on business deals, climate change negotiations or educational collaboration. International experience is an important component, but the knowledge-, skills- and network-building process must start long before students leave for Asia and should continue well after they return. And yet, accumulating anecdotal evidence indicates that we are falling short on both pre-departure preparation and post-return validation. In particular, many students find that once they return from Asia, there is little appreciation for their experiences, including by prospective employers. They receive insufficient guidance on how to translate their personal and professional growth into attributes that can help Canada both abroad and at home. And they experience few opportunities to connect with other Asia-engaged Canadians in a meaningful and sustained manner. The Prime Minister has stated on numerous occasions that "Canada is back" and ready to participate on the international stage. In principle, this may be true: Canada, an innovator and fair trader poised with a diverse population, can use the current moment as an opportunity to make our presence known. But the more important question is whether Canadians, particularly young Canadians, are equipped with the knowledge and skills required to maximize these new opportunities in the Asia-centric world of tomorrow. Justin Kwan is a Post-Graduate Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate What began with a single senior center in Danbury continues to expand in Fairfield County as construction of Maplewood Senior Livings latest 93,000-square-foot facility is underway in Fairfield. Representatives of the Westport-based company and officials from Fairfield broke ground Wednesday at the site where Maplewood at Southport is set to open, celebrating another development project since the company started more than 10 years ago. When it opens in spring 2019, it will be Maplewoods seventh senior home to open in Connecticut, since CEO Gregory Smith started the business with his Maplewood at Danbury facility at 22 Hospital Ave. Since then, the upscale senior living company has opened locations in Bethel, Darien, East Norwalk, Newtown and Orange while also expanding into Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. Im excited for the seniors in Fairfield and Southport and to be able to provide them with some additional options, Smith said. Its a good feeling to know that youre bringing well-needed services to the community, and were excited about the prospects of the project and what that means for the town of Fairfield. More Business Southport site purchased for new assisted-living center The development is on a 27-acre parcel just off Interstate 95 at 917 Mill Hill Terrace. Norwalk-based architecture firm Stein Troost is taking point on the building designs, with a variety of local contractors working on the project. Ten acres of the project will be devoted to the 98-unit facility, which will house an array of amenities, including spacious lounges, a bar, bistro and dining areas, and more. The remaining acreage will be converted into courtyard spaces and outdoor trails for residents, with a pond covering 4 acres of the site. Were taking advantage of the size of that particular parcel to be able to offer not only internal amenity packages, but also a lot of external amenities, as well, Smith said. Were looking to preserve as much of the land as we can. Were looking to create a beautiful landscape environment over 10 acres of landscaping that is going to be done. Like other senior homes owned by Maplewood, the Southport location will offer assisted living and memory care services. Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau was among the officials who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. I see this a very important addition to our community, Tetreau said. Weve got an aging population, and were looking for ways to help people stay in Fairfield if they choose but also stay close to their family members. Ive lost my two parents within the last few years, and I know they needed extra help at the end of their life, and a facility like this wouldve been very beneficial to them. This will be the companys most recent Connecticut location since it opened Maplewood at Stony Hill in Bethel in 2014. Smith said development of the Southport facility is slated to employ more than 200 contractors during the construction phase, while also creating more than 100 permanent positions when it opens. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The first snow is in the books and southwestern Connecticuts home-heating season is in high gear. Oil remains the most common way to heat homes throughout the state even as natural gas continues to gain in popularity. Oil and other liquefied gases heat 48.5 percent of the households in Connecticut, while natural gas is the fuel of choice in 33.6 percent of the homes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Just over 15 percent of homes opt for electricity, while the remaining homes are heated by coal, wood or other sources. Although the use of natural gas has increased in the last 10 years, the conversion rate has leveled off as the price of home heating oil fell in 2014 and has remained low. In 2007, 49.5 percent of the homes in the state used oil for heat and 31.2 percent used natural gas. Pockets of the state, even within municipalities, remain without the infrastructure necessary to offer natural gas as an option, further stabilizing the oil market. Energize Connecticut touts natural gas as a cheaper, cleaner fuel source, and one that helps consumers break free from the price spikes that result from a dependence on foreign oil. Energize Connecticut an initiative of the state, the Connecticut Green Bank, the Energy Efficiency Fund and local utilities said the state plans to expand the availability of natural gas to 300,000 more customers over the next 10 years. David Cohen, executive vice president at Standard Oil, which serves the region, said the lower cost of oil and the expense to convert to natural gas make oil the better choice for consumers. There was a period when natural gas was cheaper, but now oil and gas are about the same price, said David Cohen, executive vice president at Standard Oil in Stamford. Its a bad economic investment to switch from oil to gas. Cohen said oil is now selling for about $63 per barrel, compared to about $150 per barrel 10 years ago. The price per gallon of home-heating oil is about $2.65, depending on whether customers chose a fixed or variable price with their oil dealer. The national average topped $4.25 per gallon in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Cohen said the variable pricing option has been the better choice in recent years. With variable pricing, the cost per gallon fluctuates with the market rate. Customers are locked into a rate with the fixed-price option. Fixed prices are a way of getting certainty and theyre a budgeting tool but theyre not necessarily a guarantee of savings, he said. Over time, my guess is that people who go on fixed pricing and people who go on variable pricing will pretty much end up in the same place over a number of years. Variable pricing, while subjecting customers to fluctuations in the market, allows customers to eliminate the guesswork of timing the market to lock in a rate. Id say most people go with variable pricing at this point. Its less stressful than fixed pricing, Cohen said. You get more certainty with a fixed price, but people never know quite when to lock in, and that creates some stress. Managing costs Heating a home during the winter remains a costly endeavor for Connecticut residents, regardless of fuel. Properly servicing and maintaining heating systems can keep those costs at bay, said Daquan McNeill, of Celco Heating and Air Conditioning in Bridgeport. He said boilers, furnaces and other heating systems should be checked and cleaned annually. The manufacturer always recommends maintaining your system at least once a year regardless if its brand new, he said. A properly maintained heating system will ultimately save homeowners money in the long run. Even little things such as changing furnace air filters and using a programmable thermostat can add up to big savings, McNeill said. Dodging drafts Anthony DeRosa, owner of Greenwich-based DeRosa Builders, said modern building codes put almost all new homes in the efficient category. Todays windows have a higher R-value than those installed in older homes. The R-value is the capacity of an insulating material to resist heat flow. Owners of older homes should feel around windows and doors for drafts. The more drafts, the quicker the heat loss. Be sure to identify these drafts and seal them up, he said. You can use spray foam in a can, peel stick weather-stripping or batt insulation, all of which you can find at your local hardware store. For builders of new homes, he said, maximizing heating and cooling efficiency starts at construction, particularly around the building envelope, which is anywhere the interior and exterior meet. As a builder, it is imperative to reduce penetrations in the building envelope, he said. The less penetrations through the walls and roof during construction, the less likely you are to lose your tempered air. The heat factor An efficient heating system can do more than save homeowners money during the winter; it can also raise the value of the home. The overall efficiency of a home can influence buyer decisions on whether to purchase one home over another, said Bryan Morris, a William Pitt Sothebys agent. A lot of buyers prefer to have gas heat, if that is available, over oil-based heat both gas and oil are preferred over electric heat, said Morris, who is the listing agent for a newly constructed home on Witch Lane in Norwalk that features smart-home technology. How well-insulated the home is is also critical to a buyers decision. Older windows (single-paned) versus newer windows are another factor to consider. The age of a boiler or furnace (is) also important. Macaela J. Bennett, Jordan Grice, Paul Schott and Alexander Soule contributed to this article. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cresval Capital Corp. (Cresval or the Company) (TSX-V:CRV) today announced that, effective immediately, Mr. Bruno Barde has resigned from the Company's Board of Directors. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Barde for his service to the Company. Following Mr. Barde's resignation, Mr. Akash Patel was appointed to Cresval's Board of Directors. Having served as an officer and director of several publicly traded issuers, Mr. Patel brings many years of experience in the investment industry having assisted a number of junior companies from inception and incorporation to final listing. About Cresval: Cresval is a junior copper and precious metals exploration company actively involved in three 100% owned projects situated near the productive Bralorne Gold camp in southwestern British Columbia. Information on the MIKE Project is available on the Companys website at www.cresval.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lee Ann Wolfin President Forward looking statements: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This release contains statements that are forwardlooking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forwardlooking statement. Contact Information: Lee Ann Wolfin (604) 682-3701 It takes a brave and talented team to found a company these days.The failure rate of all U.S. companies after five years is over 50 percent, and after 10 years its over 70 percent. Yet an elite collection of startups has been able to navigate the challenging path of the venture world to become billion-dollar organizations. These unicorn companies have either disrupted existing markets or have created entirely new markets, thanks to a combination of technological innovation and clever go-to-market strategies. Below are 10 lessons learned from 10 startup companies that have a combined worth of approximately $130 billion. Read on to uncover valuable business lessons you can apply to your own venture. 1. Build something that customers truly love. When Airbnb was struggling to gain initial traction in 2008, Paul Graham, a founder of well-regarded startup incubator Y Combinator, gave the CEO of Airbnb some advice. Graham told Brian Chesky that he should focus on creating a product that people truly love, not a product that people like. As Chesky has gone on to say, it is better to make a product or service that one hundred people love rather than a product or service that one million people like. When people love a product, they evangelize it to friends and colleagues. The network effect of evangelism from a small but passionate group of customers is enough to propel most businesses to amazing heights. Related: What You'll Really Earn on Uber, Airbnb and TaskRabbit Every Month 2. Establish a mission-driven company culture. WeWork provides private and shared workspaces for small to medium-sized companies. The organization has offices in 20 cities in the United States, and in 20 countries around the world. Today WeWork is valued at approximately $20 billion, making it one of the largest privately held companies in the US. WeWork has perfected the art of articulating a clear mission that speaks to their target customer. If you walk into any WeWork space, youll inevitably see a large sign with the phrase Do what you love. The company has a mission that the entrepreneurial and small-business community holds dear. Thanks to its mission-driven company culture, WeWork has been able to grow quickly. Related: 10 Crazy Things You Should Know About WeWork, the Coworking Company Valued at $20 Billion 3. Know when its time to pivot. Atlassian makes business software that helps teams of all sizes work faster and better together. They are the creators of well-known products like Jiri and Confluence, among others. In early 2017, Atlassian announced that they had spent $425 million to purchase another business-software company called Trello. Trello essentially beat Atlassian at their own game. They created a project-management tool that helped teams of all sizes to get things done. The Atlassian leadership team recognized this, and was bold enough to change course by acquiring a competitor before it was too late. Related: 3 Rules for Making a Successful Pivot 4. Realize that markets can accommodate more than one disruptor. Lyft was founded three years after Uber (2012 compared to 2009), but despite the fact the Lyft did not have first-mover advantage in the ride-sharing industry, the company is still worth approximately $11 billion, and is growing at a faster rate than Uber. Let Lyft serve as an example that some markets are large enough to accommodate multiple disruptive startups. Simply because another company has first-mover advantage does not mean that you should scrap your startup idea. Lyft shows that, with the right positioning, many consumers will welcome a challenger brand. Related: What Switching to Lyft Taught Me About Tech's Authenticity Problem 5. Niche markets can be a great entry point for innovation. Not every startup needs to be consumer-facing to become a unicorn. Twilio is a B2B technology designed to help businesses communicate more effectively with consumers. They make the SMS and voice technology used by Uber, Lyft and Netflix to send automated messages to customers. Twilio is proof that developing a world-class product for a niche market can lead to the development of a unicorn company. Twilio provides best-in-class products that software engineers and product experts want to use, which is why the company is now valued at over $2 billion. Related: 7 Steps to Defining Your Niche Market 6. Consumers are looking for a frictionless shopping experience. Businesses are investing billions of dollars in making shopping experiences faster and easier. From smart speakers to drone delivery to automated warehouses, B2C companies know that consumers have ever-increasing expectations. However, it should be noted that not all shopping experiences are made better with automation. Instacart recognizes this, and sends a human to the grocery store on your behalf. The shopper communicates with the customer should a question about an order arise. When the shopper is done, groceries are delivered to the customers door in as little as two hours. Related: 6 Steps for Converting Loyal Customers Into Enthused Brand Ambassadors 7. Sell the tools you would want to use yourself. Believe it or not, one of the hardest parts of software engineering is maintaining a healthy code base. If not properly maintained, code can decay, making it difficult to innovate quickly. New Relic is a platform made by and for engineers. (In fact, the company says working there is like nerdvana.) It was birthed out of a desire to help software engineers write better code by helping users to constantly monitor performance in order to make engineering teams more successful. As a result of building a product that the founding team would want to use themselves, New Relic has developed into a $3 billion technology giant. Related: This Entrepreneur Learned That When You Try Making 'Something For Everyone,' You Attract Nobody 8. Mid-market organizations are often underserved. HubSpot was launched in 2005. At the time, small and medium-sized organizations didnt have many options when it came to digital marketing. Today, HubSpot has helped these organizations develop and implement automated inbound marketing strategies, and has become a $3 billion company in the process. Whereas competitors like Marketo have slowly moved upmarket to attract larger companies like GE and Kaiser Permanente, HubSpot has found great success focusing on small and mid-market businesses. Thanks to a line of sales and customer-support tools in addition to marketing tools, HubSpot is increasingly becoming an all-in-one solution for thousands of businesses across the globe. Related: The New Approach to Get Customers Banging on Your Door 9. The public is willing to support forward-thinking organizations. A recent study conducted by Google found that both millennials and members of Generation Z thought Tesla was one of the coolest companies in the world. This is a notable accomplishment, considering that many respondents were not old enough to own a Tesla in the first place. Let this serve as a lesson that the public is willing to support organizations that strive to change the world in significant ways. Not only is Tesla considered to be a cool company, but 2017 has seen a significant increase in the organizations valuation. Tesla stock is up more than 75 percent because investors believe that the company is on track to significantly alter personal transportation. Related: What This Casket Maker Learned from Honda, Tesla and Steve Jobs 10. All sectors can be disrupted, even government. Its easy to think that government is one sector that is impossible to disrupt. Legislation, procurement and bureaucracy present problems for startups. But Palantir shows that even government agencies are prepared to embrace innovative technologies if properly implemented. This secretive startup provides technology solutions used by federal governments to detect fraud and suspicious behavior in order to catch criminals or preempt serious crimes. By maintaining a low public profile while attracting some of the worlds best data scientists and software engineers, Palantir has been able to make significant inroads in industries that were thought to be untouchable. Related: Scoring Government Contracts Takes an Increasing Amount of Time and Money Conclusion Each of the successful startups listed in this article has a unique success story. However, there are several characteristics that most of the companies in the article share. Organizations that foster a customer-centric and mission-driven culture, while offering a world-class product, tend to be successful. When founding teams create solutions that improve the daily lives of consumers or professionals, customers eagerly evangelize the product, causing widespread adoption. Follow the hard-earned lessons outlined in the article, and maybe your startup will join the ranks of the unicorns. Related: 10 Lessons From Billion-Dollar 'Unicorn' Startups 5 Ways to Get a Journalist to Respond to Your Pitch How Indian Couples in Business Are Breaking Age-old Myths Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com Contributed photo NORWALK Norwalk Community College Foundation has received a five-year, $50,000 ($10,000 per year) commitment from First County Bank Foundation to support NCCs Division of English Language Studies and World Learning program, formerly English as a Second Language (ESL). In celebration of this multi-year commitment, the college has named the classrooms and offices housing the division in honor of First County Bank Foundation. When you've put a lot of energy and time into painstakingly building your own social brand, it makes sense to guard your reputation. Yet, a surprising number of people and even businesses have no plan of action, and in today's world, things move fast. Related: The 7 Biggest Social Media Fails of 2017 -- So Far Social media and the act of social branding has changed the equation virtually overnight as people discover their own individual personal brand power. Now an entrepreneur like you can be just as much a force of power as a large enterprise. But wait, large or even mid-market companies have plans and systems in place to develop and protect their online reputations because of their sheer size (and revenues). So, how can the entrepreneur or small-business owner apply these brand reputation tactics to their own personal brands? Let's learn and take action from the big guys. Never has social customer care or social brand reputation monitoring and management been so important to the commercial airline industry as it is today. Business travelers and general passengers communicate directly with the airlines through social media for everything from purchase to tracking flights to alerts to jet card services to airline points and more. JetBlue Airways was named No. 1 for customer satisfaction of low-fare carriers by JD Power 11 years in a row (although it lost its crown to Southwest Airlines in 2017). Just this past month, JD Power again shelled out an award to JetBlue for its loyalty program. One factor might be that JetBlue has been planning for its social brand (and investing in it) since 2012, per a Stanford University case study. JetBlue today has over 2 million Twitter followers. So, how does the company do it? Related: 6 Steps for Converting Loyal Customers Into Enthused Brand Ambassadors Laurie Meacham, JetBlue's manager of customer commitment, told Spokal that JetBlue's Twitter team doesn't measure response rates on Twitter to encourage employees "to engage smartly, and for the conversations to be organic and natural. We look for opportunities to add value and connect with our customers, not just respond to every single mention that comes our way." Further, JetBlue welcomes all new flyers immediately and responds within six minutes maximum to any issues. As an entrepreneur you can do this, too. On the flip side of the equation, airlines like American have been faulted and lost customer loyalty by allowing bots and unmanned automatic responses to send tweets to complaining customers. British Airways was caught responding to lost luggage eight hours after the problem occurred. And as I personally witnessed on a recent business speaking trip, Delta's Twitter managers sent upset customers to an 888 number where hold times were up to one hour for delayed flight information. In the social reputation world, you must act like a brand and act fast. With these airlines, you can see that quickness to respond and responding in a genuine way are critical to customer retention. In general, I suggest you follow these social brand strategies daily: 1. Monitor your social media and search engine comments like a hawk. If a bad tweet or response happens, you need to know. You can hire people to do this on a set basis, and the sophisticated ones can also find out what's going on in the blogosphere and on social media in general even when there's no crisis. If you do DIY it, make sure you not only implement a smart social media monitoring tool, but you know how to use it, and have it manned 24/7. Related: What Factors Determine a Brand's Value? 2. Plan your response strategy beforehand. Consider some of the standard customer complaint scenarios and picture your responses. Perhaps it's an accident happening because of your company's negligence, from a sidewalk accident to a faulty product. When England's Grenfell Tower fire tragedy happened a year ago, everyone from the architects to the outside cladding manufacturer to an appliance company that builds refrigerators had to make an immediate PR response. What this may mean to you is to review your company's products and services and determine where there could be any potential failures and write a document on how to respond that can be shared with any new staff. 3. Consider your answer carefully, but get it out soon. In a crisis, or even in the case of a customer complaint on your Facebook page, it's vital to get a caring answer out as quickly as possible, before other consumers can add any criticism. It may seem like a small matter, but to a customer, the problem may be enormous. At the least, post a message of concern and a promise that you're looking into the matter and will respond with a solution once you know all the details. Related: 3 Branding Goals I Know You Can Accomplish This Year In my world, for example, many clients have launched a website or are moving sites to a new domain, which may result in broken links, error pages, Google penalties, links in disavow status, or even the site being down or disrupted. In these cases, it is critical that you continually update your social media profiles on the status of your site and content so that potential clients don't get the wrong impression of your professional online presence. 4. The customer is always right. Try not to get drawn into a fight online. Be courteous, patient and understanding. Answer with a real name, and offer to solve the problem offline at a customer service phone number you'll provide. During a five-day system outage in 2016, Southwest Airlines deployed emergency social media customer service effectively by utilizing its Twitter profile @SouthwestAir to get ahead of issues, sharing updates frequently on the situation and allowing customers to Tweet and DM directly to resolve problems and answer questions on flight changes and delays. In the case of smaller businesses, your reputation, especially in the beginning when you are growing your customer base, is critical to maintain. And so, you need to be 100 percent supportive of your customers and any potential online complaints. As with any security procedure, it's better to be prepared. You have invested in your business and your online brand. Some ways of handling negativity are much better than others, and dealing with people the right way can help get across that you care. That's as true in social media as it elsewhere. If you have a story or a comment about your online reputation, I would love to hear it. Feel free to comment here or share your story with me on Twitter. Related Video: Are You Losing Followers? Ask Yourself These Questions. Related: You Don't Need to Be a Corporate Behemoth to Have a Strong Social Reputation Here's How Taking Cybersecurity Very Seriously Enhances Your Brand Small-Business Owners Will Trust These Brands Most to Get Business Done During the Holiday Season Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com The Omaha Division of the FBI is informing members of the public throughout Nebraska and Iowa to contact IC3.gov to report any suspicious emails or phone calls. The email asks people to obtain and pay in bitcoin to avoid harm to them and their family. The FBI has determined there is no threat or validity to these emails and they are a scam. The FBI takes these allegations very seriously, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kristi Johnson said. We are aware of this situation and ask anyone who may be receiving this type of email to let us know through IC3.gov so we can properly handle it. To protect against fraud: Never give out personal information to someone whom you did not initiate contact with. Before signing up for a contest or email distribution list, make sure the business has a policy not to share your information or sell it to a third party. Be leery of anyone you did not initiate contact with who asks for payment using a third party such as MoneyGram or GreenDot prepaid cards. Scammers count on your lack of knowledge, so take the time to educate yourself about any offer you receive. Individuals receiving such emails, phone calls, or needing to report any Internet related crime can file a complaint through the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov. A plan for the City of Grand Island to improve its streets is moving forward. The Grand Island City Council voted 9-0, with Councilwoman Michelle Fitzke absent, to approve the one- and six-year street improvement plan for the city. The one- and six-year street improvement plan consists of transportation projects in the Capital Improvement Program. The plan is state-mandated in order for the city to receive approximately $5 million in state gas tax funds every year. In his presentation to the City Council, Public Works Director John Collins said the street improvement projects scheduled for 2018 include the Highway 281 project underway by the Nebraska Department of Roads, the Stolley Park Road reconfiguration, work on the Sycamore Street underpass, improvements to 13th Street from North Road to Diers Avenue, and improvements to Old Potash Highway. Collins said the improvements at 13th Street and North Road rose to the top of the citys priority list due to the new 911 center and Fire Station No. 4 being relocated near the intersection. The 13th Street project would also include improvements to drainage and enhanced pedestrian access with sidewalk and drainage additions. While the one- and six-year street improvement plan was approved without questions or comments from the City Council, Grand Island resident Greg Baxter spoke during the public hearing on the plan, raising concerns about the placement of a proposed roundabout at the intersection. The center of the intersection today is not remaining the center of the proposed roundabout, he said. The entire intersection has actually been shifted east so the center of the roundabout is very close to todays east line of North Road. With the additional width required for lanes of traffic in a roundabout and widening it, it is easing into the properties on the east side of North Road disproportionately. Baxter emphasized he had no problems with the city making improvements to the intersection of 13th Street and North Road, but did not like the current design of the proposed roundabout. He said he and another property owner across from him are not willing sellers and the city may be looking at potential lawsuits if it goes forward with the plan for the roundabout. We are not willing sellers, so I doubt this is going to go very well, Baxter said. To come in, declare eminent domain, and push the intersection to the east seems completely counterintuitive. My opinion is that intersection be shifted further west. If the city already owns property in the southwest quadrant of the intersection, why is it not using property it owns for that intersection, rather than property we know is not going to be an easy acquisition? As far as the other projects in the citys one- and six-year street improvement plan. Collins said the city has looked at making improvements to the Sycamore Street underpass for about six years. According to information in the City Council agenda, the bridge deck and abutment would be replaced, abutment walls would be patched and sealed, drainage would be added and pumps would be reconstructed. The construction is expected to begin in 2018 and be completed some time in 2019. Collins said the city has looked at improving Old Potash Highway since 2012, and that it rose to the top of the citys list of projects so it could get funded this year. The work would include widening and reconfiguring Old Potash Highway, and making signal and geometric improvements to the north and south of the project corridor. Projects listed in the six-year street improvement plan include improvements to the Highway 281 street lighting from Stolley Park Road to the Highway 20 interchange, improvements to the Five Points intersection, Highway 30 realignment and Highway 2 resurfacing. For the record In other action, the City Council: Voted 9-0 to elect Councilman Vaughn Minton as council president. This will be the second consecutive year Minton has served in this role. Voted 9-0 to approve funding for the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation. 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. The Hall County Facilities Committee will meet with Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services officials about the DHHS building at 116 S. Pine St. not being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Facilities Director Loren Doone Humphrey announced the decision to the Hall County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. I visited with the previous person in charge of communications, he said. He is no longer with DHHS. Bo Botelho (chief operating officer of Nebraska DHHS) is the one we have been in contact with. I tried to contact him over the last couple days and he cannot be reached until tomorrow. Someone from the office will be calling me back this (Tuesday) afternoon. Botelho wrote a letter to the supervisors informing them that the building is not ADA-compliant and has not been since 2006. Botelho said DHHS had conversations and written correspondence with Humphrey then and again in 2012. However, he claims the issues have still not been addressed. Money has been an issue as our (Hall Countys) money is tight, Humphrey said Monday. It is something that the county board and different facilities committees (over the years) have discussed doing. It is just that it is not an easy solution to come up with. Humphrey added some ADA accommodations have been made in the building. He said there is an ADA entrance on the south side of the building, along with an ADA parking stall. There have been some improvements such as that, Humphrey said. But the building is so old it was built way before ADA was passed and, consequently, it is a major overhaul of the building to get it to be fully ADA compatible. It has a basement on one side of it. If you wanted that to be accessible, youd have to put an elevator in and youd have to widen the hallways and reconfigure the building completely. That is a high cost for an older building. Supervisor Karen Bredthauer questioned Humphrey on when exactly the meeting with DHHS would take place. He responded this would depend on DHHS. Supervisor Gary Quandt asked Humphrey if DHHS was interested in moving into the Federal Building at the corner of Second and Locust streets. Humphrey responded that, at this point, DHHS is interested in moving anywhere. We met with them and we did show them the Federal Building, Humphrey said. They asked to see if there was 5,300 square feet on the second floor that they could occupy. We did not talk about the extra use of it at all. That never came up in the conversation. He added, The situation, if DHHS were to take over, would be that this is something wed have to discuss. There is approximately 7,000 square feet up there. At that time, they said they would take it as is. But that would all be changed with these new people. We should not assume anything until we have a conversation with these new people. There was no further discussion on the issue by any of the supervisors, but when it came time for committee and board member reports, Bredthauer had more to say on the subject. I asked DHHS what they do and they have a division of child support that works closely with both state and county child support, she said. Hall County only has county child support staff. DHHS works with Child Support Services to assist in identifying fathers and verifying information. They have access to their information systems. So, I think they work pretty closely with the child support that is already on the first floor. Bredthauer said the average cost per year to maintain a facility is $1.63 per square foot for maintenance and repair costs, $2.15 for facilities costs, and $1.37 per square foot for janitorial services. Bredthauer said this adds up to $5.15, on average, to maintain and occupy a building such as the Federal Building. If we dont have janitorial in there and just used the top two figures of the $1.63 and $2.15, that comes to a county cost of about $53,240 to not occupy the Federal Building, she said. Its been brought up that we need to put the rest of (Hall County Attorney) Jacks (Zitterkopf) office up there. The county attorney has 54 employees. I subtracted the employees that went over to child support services, which came out to 46 employees. Bredthauer also noted how there is currently redevelopment plans which would add additional apartment buildings and office spaces downtown near the Federal Building. With the goal of adding 50 new apartments downtown by 2021, she questioned how much parking would be available for additional employees in the Federal Building. In the parking study that was done with the apartments in the downtown area, it said you may not be able to park within a block and a half of a building downtown, Bredthauer said. So, I thought, if you put 46 more people over into the Federal Building, is that going to be adhering for parking? Have we thought of this? Do we really know? That is going to 54 people in that building. For the record In other action, the county board: Voted 7-0 to appoint Steve Riehle as Hall County Highway Superintendent effective Jan. 1, 2018, upon the resignation of current Highway Superintendent Casey Sherlock. Voted 5-2 to revise the salary resolution for elected officials for the term commencing Jan. 1, 2019. Quandt and Supervisor Doug Lanfear voted no. Heard a presentation from Paul Walz, project manager for Bay West, on the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant site. In 2005, journalist Chris Mooney published a book titled The Republican War on Science, which documented the persistent tendency among many conservatives to reject any science that runs contrary to their ideological principles, whether it is climate science, evolutionary biology, or health-related findings that challenge industry interests. Since then, things have gone worse in cases that remind us of the evilest experiences from recent authoritarian regimes. In the aftermath of the bioterrorist scares with the mailing of anthrax spores to liberal politicians beginning in the early 2000s. Climate scientist Michael Mann, a professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, received in August 2010 a letter that contained a white powder. It was cornstarch, not anthrax, but threats to Mann were not new. He had received since the late 1990s a number of intimidations because his research had demonstrated how human-related activities were producing a rise in global temperatures. He even received an email that said that he and his collaborators ought to be shot, quartered, and fed to the pigs along with [their] whole damn families. An incident in which the U.S. government was directly involved was the case of physicist Xiaoxing Xi. On the morning of May 21, 2015, about a dozen armed federal agents entered his home with guns drawn and an arrest warrant. He was handcuffed and escorted away in front of his wife and daughters. Xi, a naturalized US citizen and then interim chair of the physics department at Temple University in Philadelphia, is considered among the worlds leading experts on superconducting thin films, which carry electricity without resistance at very low temperatures. The arrest warrant charged that Xi had violated a nondisclosure agreement he had signed in 2006 in order to conduct research with a pocket heater, a patented device that makes thin films of the superconductor magnesium diboride. Xi had sent four emails to scientists in China inquiring about establishing labs and about a collaboration involving a thin-film deposition device that the government charged was a pocket heater. Xi faced 80 years in prison and a $1 million fine, but before a trial date was set the charges were dropped. What happened was that the devices Xi had discussed with Chinese colleagues did not include a pocket heater and the exchanges posed no threat to U.S. interests. Xi has now filed a civil suit charging malicious prosecution. And since the presidential elections of 2016, the atmosphere has become only worse for higher education in general and science in particular. One of the reasons why the U.S. has for decades maintained a leadership position in science is because it has been able to attract people from around the world to contribute to our progress. According to a 2013 report by the National Science Foundation, more than five million of the 29 million scientists and engineers in the United States were born in other countries. Approximately 25 percent of U.S. Nobel Laureates and 25 percent of the members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine immigrated to the United States as students or senior scientists. The anti-immigration policies of the current administration have now resulted in less interest by these bright people to immigrate to the U.S., as evidenced by a drop in the number of foreign-born students coming to the U.S. this year. This decline has further hurt the enrollment crisis that many institutions of higher education are now facing. And it is also creating a chilling effect for future collaborations between American-based scientists and international scientists for fear of being accused of treason or espionage. The contempt toward science by the current administration is evident in many forms. Almost a year after taking office, the president has yet to name a science adviser for the White House. The budgets for scientific research are being slashed. The executives request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the 2018 fiscal year is $6.653 billion, a decrease of $840.98 million (or 11.2 percent) compared with the 2016 fiscal year. Cuts to NASAs budget from $19.7 billion to $19.1 billion are specifically targeted to research on climate science. Add to the cuts the appointees Trump has made to major science-based organizations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Scott Pruitt, is a self-described Leading advocate against the EPAs activist agenda, who has sued the agency 14 times and rejects the scientific consensus that the current climate change is the result of human activities. Trumps nominee to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Jim Bridenstine, has no background in either science or engineering, and he also rejects the influence of humans on climate change. As I mentioned last week in this column, there is a legislative proposal to undermine the peer-review process that leads to grants for federally funded research. This proposal was made with the clear intention of reducing funding for projects that challenge certain ideologies or economic interests. And now comes the new tax codes being proposed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, both of which t will undermine higher education and scientific research. Besides the economic advantages provided by federal funding to science, we tend to forget the impact that these pro-science policies have on U.S. national security. In a report published this month by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) titled National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom, the link between a strong scientific establishment and academic freedom with national security is very well documented through numerous examples. When it comes to science and scholarly inquiry in general, a democracy can only survive with a strongly supported academic infrastructure. When this country faced one of its major threats after the launching of Sputnik in 1957, the response from the U.S. government was more support for science, not less. And that is what made us great. Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education. He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.net The Maryville Board of Trustees unanimously approved bonus payments for volunteer firefighters. At the last regular meeting of the full board, Trustees approved a motion setting the fire call pay for December, 2016, through November, 2017, at $2.35 per point. Mayor Craig Short explained that in order for the volunteers to get paid, they have to respond to at least 15 percent of the non-EMS calls throughout the year. The Maryville Fire Department had a total of 1,166 calls for service during the 2016/17 year. Of that number nearly 80 percent were EMS calls. There were 249 non-EMS calls this year so the volunteers had to respond to at least 15 percent of those calls, he said. This payment is for our volunteers and not our full-time firefighters and EMS personnel. There were 37 more non-EMS call this year compared to last year. Of the staff at the Maryville Fire Department, 21 were paid a total amount of $69,578. Individual fire call pay ranged from payment of $6,765.65 to $1,353.60. Trustee Rod Schmidt, on behalf of the Village, expressed his gratitude to the volunteers. If it werent for these volunteers, the village would be in peril, Schmidt said. I have great admiration for the volunteers and their families for the time taken away from the family as they go out to protect the community. We pay this small amount to express our gratitude. Short said the pay is a budgeted item and volunteers are receiving the same pay per point as last year. The department is served by a combination of more than 30 volunteer firefighters and three full-time career firefighters/paramedics. The department protects over 10,000 residents in an 8-square mile area, including the Village of Maryville and the unincorporated surrounding fire protection district. In other business, Trustees approved a motion to renew the Villages liability and workmens compensation insurance with Illinois Counties Risk Management Trust at an annual premium rate of $271,488. Schmidt said the amount is under budget. Short said the amount represents a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year. The Edwardsville Fire Department is preparing to host a discussion following the recent four-casualty accident on I-55 at the new public safety facility. As discussed at Mondays Public Safety Committee meeting, Edwardsville Fire Chief Rick Welle said the department is in the works of trying to organize a meeting with all of the service providers that were at the scene. Were looking ahead on trying to organize all of the agencies involved to have a debriefing of where we can reconstruct and then deconstruct everything that happened, Welle said. Were trying to get that going. Thatll be the very first week of January if I can make that happen at the new public safety building. The multi-vehicle accident occurred at approximately 6:15 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 21 on I-55 southbound, just south of Hamel. A total of 12 people sustained injuries and four were pronounced dead after an 18-wheel tractor-trailer semi traveling southbound was traveling at a high rate of speed before striking oncoming vehicles. The Hamel Fire Department was the primary agency on scene at the time; however, approximately 20 people from the Edwardsville Fire Department responded as mutual aid. Deputy Chief of the Edwardsville Fire Department James Whiteford was the landing zone coordinator for the helicopters coming in and Welle was the liaison between police and fire agencies on scene. The Edwardsville Police Department, Troy EMS and Fire, Alton Memorial Hospital EMS, and others also responded to the call, among others. Welle said given the severity of the incident, its important for the departments to come together and analyze the response. Theres been a lot of talk among the providers in the area. There were so many providers that were there, its touched a lot of people and this is one of those once-in-a-career-type things that you come across, even for a very large department. You just dont see something to this scale, so we want to make sure that the lessons learned out there are going to be well-documented, Welle said. Although the EFD wasnt the primary agency on site following the crash, Welle said the other involved departments are in favor of the department leading and hosting the discussion. Well be pursuing, kind of taking the lead on that if the other agencies are okay with that. So far, it seems like that is okay, even though it wasnt initially our call. We had a lot of resources there and it seems logical for us to go ahead and try to get this organized, he said. We are working on that. Discussion came to a close and aldermen SJ Morrison, Will Krause and Chris Farrar were also in agreement that this would be a good discussion to host, going forward. For more information about the EFD, visit the citys website at www.cityofedwardsville.com. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 08:04 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d2d98b 4 Editorial #Editorial,bantaeng,South-Sulawesi,anti-corruption,KPK,#KPK Free Residents of Bantaeng in South Sulawesi can be mighty proud of their twice-elected regent, Nurdin Abdullah, who was named a recipient of this years Bung Hatta AntiCorruption Award (BHACA). Named after one of the nations founding fathers renowned for his integrity, Mohammad Hatta, the award recognizes individuals and institutions as islands of integrity that inspire courage against temptations and threats of various parties who benefit from graft. The other recipient announced last Thursday was Heru Pambudi, the Finance Ministrys customs and excise director general; his boss Sri Mulyani Indrawati received the same prestigious award in 2008, also as Finance Minister. Her departure from the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Cabinet was believed to be related to her non-compromising attitude against corruption. Nurdin and Heru are both jewels in our mud pot of corrupt national and local executives, politicians and even prosecutors and judges; so many that in a commemoration to mark International Corruption Day, which falls on Dec. 9, a weary President Joko Jokowi Widodo expressed surprise that corruption persisted although 12 governors, 64 regents and mayors and two Central Bank governors had been prosecuted for corruption since 2004, apart from lawmakers. Nurdin, popular among investors with his one-day service program that grants business permits in one day without annoying illegal levies, has installed a bidding system for official positions. He also rotates officials every three or six months to prevent a comfort zone for corruption, apart from dismissing officials proven to have committed graft. Such little kings are indeed the most resented officials because businesspeople and citizens know that they must be approached tactfully meaning with bribes to accelerate the delivery of services such as permits. Thus we applaud the expected online system for permits nationwide that kicks off in March, a crucial attempt to end decades of abuse by officials. Heru was rewarded for his commitment to good governance within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, long perceived to be a major center of corruption within the government. They thus provide examples not only of their own integrity, but also of their innovative approaches to combat systemic and pervasive corruption. It is easy to overlook similar attempts within the local and national governments amid our daily dose of mega-corruption reports. No day without corruption has long become a popular slogan, an expression of frustration at the evil habit blamed lamely, among others, on low salaries or the high cost of elections resulting in debts that must be repaid by elected officials. In a bid to trace state officials sources of wealth, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Monday launched an electronic wealth reporting system, hoping to end the pattern of ballooning wealth once officials are appointed or elected. The awardees have proven that elected or appointed officials can actually live up to their vows of public office and curb graft, if they are genuinely committed to deliver what is entitled to each citizen. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin I Wayan Agus Eka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 14:14 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d43bc2 3 Opinion economic-inequality,corporate-tax,#EconomicPolicy,inequality,#Inequality,tax,taxation,#tax Free On Dec 2, US Senate passed the tax bill proposed by President Donald Trumps administration. One highlight is statutory corporate tax rate (CTR) cut from 35 percent to 20 percent. Cutting tax rate is not a new phenomenon. Data from auditory company KPMG shows that in the last 15 years the global average of the statutory CTR declined from 29.42 percent in 2003 to 24.25 percent in 2017. Among them, the Asian countries had the largest decrease from 30.19 percent to 21.28 percent. Trumps tax cut proposal seems plausible if we look at the statutory CTR in North American countries that are historically among the highest worldwide; in the last 15 years the rate in this region decreases only by 2 percent in average. The decreasing rate is largely contributed by high-income countries where its current rate is 21 percent lower than its 2003 position. Middle-income countries also contributed to this phenomenon with smaller amount. The low-income countries, however, increased their statutory tax rate in the last 15 years possibly due to the needs to increase their tax revenue. The race to the bottom phenomenon also can be seen by economic group. Tax rate sharp declining was not only happened in European Union but also in OECD and G20 countries. Interestingly, the tax haven countries also tend to decrease their tax rates even though only in a very small portion. In short, almost every country joins the race which is still pushing the rate down until now. The proponents of the tax cut policy usually based their argument on the notion that the policy will spur competitiveness and economic growth. In the US case, the advocates of the tax cut plan argue that the policy would use the money saved from the cut to boost investment, increase workers' salary, produce more jobs and eventually accelerate economic growth. They usually take former president Ronald Reagans 1981 tax cut as an example of how the policy gives a positive impact on economic growth and employment. Answering whether the tax cut will affect growth is not an easy job; economists find mixed results from the research. However, the moderate answer is that there is little evidence that corporate tax cut boosts economic activity unless implemented during recession, when they lead to significant increases in employment and income, according to economists Alexander Ljungqvist and Michael Smolyansky in a 2016 paper. Taxes, undoubtedly, is one of the most effective tools to combat inequality. Thomas Piketty, in his phenomenal book Capital in the 21stCentury, concludes that progressive tax on capital is the answer to inequality. The tax cut race could loosen the tax progressivity and eventually increase wealth accumulation in only a fraction of population. Pikkety argues that the income share for the top 1 percent is relatively low when the tax rate was considerably highly progressive. The low progressivity of tax since Reagans tax cut policy led to the increase of wealth accumulation for the top 1 percent earners. Therefore, tax rate competition could negatively impact the distribution of income among societies which would widen inequality. The US is not the only country proposing a tax cut. The administration of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, through the Income Tax Act amendment proposal, plans to decrease the corporate tax rate from the current 25 percent to keep our investment attractiveness and competitiveness. If tax cuts promote economic activity, the policy could induce wealthy people to work more productively and accumulate more income. The economic pie would get bigger but there is a risk that the pie will be concentrated only in a handful of people. Therefore, this tax cut policy must be followed by other policies to compensate the possible negative impact on inequality. Whatever the government does to counter the possible negative impact of the tax cut policy, it has to make sure that the economic pie is distributed fairly through, for instance, better access to jobs, education and health. More importantly, closing the loophole of profit shifting should also become one of the countermeasures to assure that the wealthy, after the tax cut policy, pay their tax correctly since they still tend to use various schemes to shift their profit to lower tax jurisdiction. Jokowi puts inequality as one of his top priorities for good reason. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote that inequality causes economic instability and inefficiency. Worse, since inequality is also a product of a political system, citizens could see this condition as not only a failure of the economic system but also as an erosion of our confidence in democracy. As a result, citizens would see no more opportunity in our country. This is not a hypothetical statement anymore; the Occupy Movement in 2011 showed us how inequality divides our society into the 1 percent and the 99 percent. And when inequality divides us, our democracy is not the government of the people, by the people, for the people anymore but government of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent and for the 1 percent. Finally, we should start to rethink development. In this case, what former US President FD Roosevelt said is highly relevant. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. *** The writer holds a Master Degree in Public Finance from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan. He is a Tax Objection Analyst at the Directorate General of Taxes, Finance Ministry. The views expressed are personal. Website: http://iwayanaguseka.com/ Twitter: @iwayanaguseka --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to academia@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sinar Mas Land (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Wed, December 13, 2017 One of Indonesias signature dishes is tempeh, fermented soybean cakes that has grown in popularity not only in Asian countries, but also in European countries. Tawi, a humble businessman from Pekalongan, Central Java, is one man who has taken tempeh abroad. Tawi has been running a tempeh stall since 2004 at the Pasar Tradisional Modern BSD City (Pasmod BSD) in South Tangerang, Banten, and only recently started exporting his tempeh to several Asian countries. In the early 2000s, Tawi dreamed of running his own tempeh business, but a capital of only Rp 1 million was insufficient. Therefore, he decided to start small by selling his products door to door on his bicycle in South Tangerang area. One day, he happened to pass by the Pasmod BSD, and was attracted to the public markets interesting concept, which incorporated the modern principles of convenience and efficiency with the concept of a traditional market. In 2004, Tawi was finally able to raise enough money to set up his own tempeh stall at Pasmod BSD. Thanks to its affordable price, his tempeh quickly became popular among local consumers. Along with the growing population in the BSD City residential suburb, entrepreneurs at the market are also enjoying growth in their businesses, including Tawi. Each day, he produces 200 to 400 pounds of tempeh. He has also expanded his business to markets beyond Pasmod BSD. This growth encouraged Tawi to set his bar higher, and he began dreaming of expanding his business to the international market. His wish came true in 2013, when Tawi began exporting 70,000 cakes of tempeh each week to Taiwan. He also exported his products to Hong Kong. The demand for tempeh in the two countries is very high, and Tawi worked even harder to cater to his international customers needs. Thanks to his dedication to fulfilling the needs of his domestic and foreign customers, he now makes Rp 3,800,000 in daily net income from his stall at Pasmod BSD. I feel fortunate to have found a market that supports my business, and would like to extend my gratitude to the middle-class consumers who always flock to Pasmod BSD to buy their groceries, while thanking the markets managers for taking care of small entrepreneurs like us, said Tawi. He was also grateful for the Pasmod BSD managements program called Pasar Rakyat School (Traditional Market Learning Center), which equips traders with skills such as food hygiene and health, as well as a financial planning session that is facilitated by Sinar Mas Land. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin APP Sinar Mas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Thu, December 14, 2017 Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo recently expressed his appreciation for Asia Pulp & Paper Sinar Mas' corporate social responsibility program called "Desa Makmur Peduli Api" (DMPA). This program, according to the minister, works in line with the ministry's goal of applying "Featured Products in Rural Areas" business models in villages. "This business model is in line with the DMPA program initiated by Sinar Mas. Its principle is to create economic clusters from upstream to downstream that can result in products generated by village people that can improve the people's economy," Eko said after opening a recent seminar of the Association of Indonesian Bachelors of Economics (ISEI) that focused on "Strategic Partnerships for the Development of the People's Economy in Realizing Sustainable Development". The ministry appreciates what APP Sinar Mas has done in contributing to and synergizing with the government's programs, which are designed to be in line with the third point of the Joko Jokowi Widodo administration's Nawa Cita (nine-point development program) vision of Indonesia, which in this case refers to the point about how Indonesia must be built from the peripheries through the strengthening of regions and villages in the unitary state of Indonesia. In addition, the minister added that the DMPA program has also helped provide guidance for villagers in the surrounding concession area. "Sinar Mas has demonstrated its program and guaranteed a market," Eko said. "Making a program without a prepared market would be a waste." ISEI chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said the DMPA program was one breakthrough in the spirit of collaborative development. "The company works together with people around the concession, not only to increase economic value but also to empower the people and become a very good model. I think that the government has also seen this as a model that can be applied," Muliaman added. . (Photo: Courtesy of Asia Pulp & Paper Sinar Mas/.) APP Sinar Mas introduced the DMPA program in 2015 as a development of various public empowerment programs it had previously done. "Originally, the DMPA was initiated to mitigate fires and encroachment of forests and lands around the company's concession area. But in its development, the DMPA's role became more holistic and not only mitigated, but also developed self-sufficiency for the villagers through eco-friendly forestry and eradicated tenure disputes in the region," Sinar Mas managing director G. Sulistiyanto said. According to Sulistiyanto, through partnerships and support from different parties, this program has the potential to be further developed so as to become a vehicle for implementing a number of government programs. . (Photo: Courtesy of Asia Pulp & Paper Sinar Mas/.) "The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry has the Featured Products in Rural Areas program, then there is the Social Forestry program in the Environment and Forestry Ministry, as well as the Agrarian Reform program in the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry. The DMPA program touches on a big portion of these things," Sulistiyanto said. The DMPA program is an integrated movement that empowers people in and around the concession areas of APP Sinar Mas and helps these people develop their daily income. It does so mainly through the field of agroforestry. The public is guided to make use of resources that are in line with local characteristics and potential, and to pay attention to surrounding conditions for sustainability. APP Sinar Mas has prepared up to US$10 million in revolving funds to form 500 of these DMPA village programs around concession areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The DMPA program has taken off in five provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan: Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States Wed, December 13, 2017 16:05 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d4a894 2 Art & Culture Garcia-Marquez,Nobel,Gabriel-Garcia-Marquez,archive,Literature Free A US university has made more than 27,000 images from the late Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez's archive available online. They include materials from all of his works of fiction, personal scrapbooks, a memoir, screenplays and photographs. The project was carried out by the Harry Ransom Center, the literary documentation service at the University of Texas, Austin. It purchased the archives for $2.2 million in November 2014, a few months after the death of the Colombian novelist known for works such as "One Hundred Years of Solitude." The archive can be searched in English and Spanish at the address http://www.hrc.utexas.edu. Read also: Nobel Literature Prize: Controversy, fame and flops Part of the archive has never been published, such as a 32-page text for the second volume of Garcia Marquez's memoirs, which never saw the light of day. "My mother, my brother and I were always committed to having my father's archive reach the broadest possible audience," Rodrigo Garcia, one of the authors sons, said in a statement released Tuesday. "This project makes my father's work more widely accessible to a global community of students and scholars." "Spanning more than a half century, the contents reflect Garcia Marquez's energy and discipline and reveal an intimate view of his work, family, friendships and politics," said Jullianne Ballou, the librarian who oversaw the 18-month project. It covers about half of the Garcia Marquez personal archive. For now there are no plans to digitize the other half, the university told AFP. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Beijing Wed, December 13, 2017 15:30 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d49b98 2 Science & Tech Google,artifical-intelligence,#ArtificialIntelligence,AI,China Free Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research center in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider is the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among others. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. "Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015," Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new centre, wrote in a blog post on Google's website. "We've already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead." Read also: AI is here to stay and here's what you need to know Li noted that Chinese engineers formed the backbones of the winning teams in the past three ImageNet Challenges, an international AI competition to test which computing technology is better at recognising and categorising pictures. Chinese search engine Baidu's team was banned for a year for breaking the rules during the 2015 competition. The country's large population and strong mathematics and sciences education has nurtured a slew of engineering talent. Google operates two offices in China, with roughly half of its 600 employees working on global products, said company spokesman Taj Meadows. Its job board in China shows about a dozen openings in the AI field. The China centre will join Google's other research facilities outside of its Silicon Valley hub, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich. Google's search engine and many of its services are blocked by China's Great Firewall, but internet regulators have recently allowed access to its translation product, one that has made leaps and bounds in accuracy by incorporating the company's AI research. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Paris Wed, December 13, 2017 19:33 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d56e7e 2 Art & Culture Nobel,Nobel-Prize,Literature,Claude-Simon Free The French writer Claude Simon, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1985, would not be published today, according to an experiment conducted by one of his fans. Writer Serge Volle sent 50 pages of Simon's 1962 novel, "The Palace", set during the Spanish Civil War, to 19 French publishers. The verdict was damning: Twelve rejected it and seven didn't even bother to reply. One editor said that the book's "endlessly long sentences completely lose the reader", Volle told French public radio on Monday. Nor did the book have "a real plot with well-drawn characters", the rejection letter added. Simon, one of the fathers of the "nouveau roman", was notorious for his meandering prose, with sentences often going on for pages in his masterpiece "The Georgics" (1981). Volle, 70, claimed the refusals showed the philistinism of modern publishing, which was "abandoning literary works that are not easy to read or that will not set sales records." Read also: Recent winners of the Nobel Literature Prize Paraphrasing Marcel Proust, he said that you have to be already "famous to be published. "We are living in the era of the throwaway book," he declared. Volle refused to say who he had sent the extract to, but a number of major French publishers also rejected "The Georgics" four years before it helped Simon win the Nobel. "The Palace" was one of Simon's most controversial works, seen by many critics as a thinly-veiled attack on George Orwell, the British author of "Animal Farm" and "Homage to Catalonia", who like Simon had fought on the Republican side of the Spanish civil war in the 1930s. The same year that Simon won the Nobel he claimed Orwell's account of his time fighting with the anarchists in "Homage to Catalonia" was "faked from the very first sentence". The British critic Christopher Hitchens later lambasted Simon, who died in 2005, for fighting for the "Stalinists" in Spain, who turned their guns on the anarchists as the war wore on. "The award of the Nobel prize to such a shady literary enterprise is a minor scandal," he added, "reflecting the intellectual rot which had been spread by pseudo intellectuals." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 12:38 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d39673 1 Art & Culture archive,UNESCO,#UNESCO,UNESCO-Memory-of-the-World,Borobudur-Temple,#BorobudurTemple,tsunami Free Three Indonesian archives, namely Borobudur Conservation Archives, the Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives and Panji tales manuscripts, have been recognized by UNESCO Memory of the World. Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) acting head Bambang Subiyanto said the documentations serve as important evidence in the history of mankind, adding that the archives are also related to other nations. News agency Antara reported that Borobudur Conservation Archives was proposed by the Borobudur Conservation Office under the Education and Culture Ministry. Read also: Berlin State Library boasts 700 historical Indonesian manuscripts The archive was created after the biggest internationally funded conservation project in the 20th century. The project is said to be the first conservation of a monument using modern techniques. The Borobudur Conservation Archive was claimed to have a crucial role in the development of conservation study, and its documents can be used to find solutions to conservation issues. Meanwhile, the Panji tales manuscript was proposed by the National Library of Indonesia together with Malaysia, Cambodia, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The 13th century literature is said to mark the development of Javanese literature, which was no longer overshadowed by the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Read also: Great Indonesian literature: Tales of Panji Lastly, the Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives was proposed by the National Archives of Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Comprising a set of documentation from various media, it records the Indian Ocean Tsunami event, including the responses, rehabilitation and reconstruction programs. The three archives are not the first documents recognized by UNESCO Memory of the World. Prior to this, the program also acknowledged several archives, namely the poetic text La Galigo in 2011, the Nagarakretagama manuscript in 2013, Babad Diponegoro, which is an autobiographical chronicle of the Javanese nobleman Prince Diponegoro in 2013, and the Asian-African Conference Archives in 2015. Following the three archives, Indonesia is set to register two other documents next year, namely the Non-Aligned Movement and the country's first documents from former president Sukarno. (jes/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kerry Sheridan (Agence France-Presse) Miami, United States Wed, December 13, 2017 20:04 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d57e19 2 Environment global-warming,climate-change,environment,Arctic Free A rapidly warming Arctic, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the planet, is the "new normal," and the melting ice is triggering environmental changes that will affect the whole world, warned a global scientific report Tuesday. The Arctic is going through "an unprecedented transition in human history," that will accelerate sea level rise and boost the frequency of extreme weather events, said the Arctic Report Card, released annually by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The region around the north pole "shows no sign of returning to the reliably frozen region it was decades ago," it said. Last year, winter sea ice fell to the smallest extent on record, and air temperatures reached the second warmest in modern times, said the peer-reviewed report compiled by 85 scientists from 12 nations. Fewer heat records were shattered last year, compared to 2016. But in context, the trend was clear. "The magnitude and pace of the 21st century sea ice and surface ocean warming decline is unprecedented in at least the last 1,500 years and likely much longer," said the report. "There are many strong signals that continue to indicate the Arctic environmental system has reached a 'new normal.'" Read also: Moscow unveils $240m park with tundra, ice cave 'Refrigerator of planet' The consequences of this continued warming are dire, according to co-author Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA's Arctic Research Program. "The changes that are happening in the Arctic will not stay in the Arctic," he told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, where the report was released. "These changes will impact all of our lives. They will mean living with more extreme weather events, paying higher food prices and dealing with the impacts of climate refugees." The warming is already harming valuable fisheries in the eastern Bering Sea, compromising roads, homes and infrastructure due to permafrost thaw and risking increasing wildfires at high altitudes, said the report. "The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator of the planet," explained Mathis. "But the door to that refrigerator has been left open and the cold is spilling out, cascading throughout the northern hemisphere." Read also: Planet marks new highs for heat, pollutants, sea level in 2016: Report Extreme weather Scientists say the two most pressing problems are the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the warming of Arctic air and water. "Greenland ice sheet melting has the potential to trigger catastrophic sea level rise, while the overall warming that is occurring in the Arctic can disrupt the jet stream, which drives our weather patterns and contributes to extreme weather events," said Mathis. Unusual cold snaps, drought in the western US, and storms along the Gulf Coast could all be influenced by Arctic sea ice melting, he said. "We are seeing from model results and now from some limited observations that there are some connections between the warming and the loss of sea ice in the Arctic and the propagation of extreme weather events that we are having across North America,' he told the conference. While much more research is needed to fully understand how the Arctic is influencing weather globally, Mathis said "we are fairly confident now that something is going on in the Arctic." "The warming that is occurring and the loss of sea ice that is occurring are creating conditions where more extreme weather events are beginning to show up in North America because of that." The Arctic Report Card is now in its 12th year, and is the first to be issued since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to quit the 2015 Paris climate deal and has described global warming as a Chinese hoax. NOAA's acting administrator Tim Gallaudet was asked at a press conference if the American public should have confidence in the US government's actions to fight climate change. "The public -- citing the State of the Arctic Report Card as an example -- should have high confidence in us, NOAA and the administration, because we are continuing to report on changes around the planet and in the Arctic to better inform the public and the government," he answered. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 18:49 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d54639 4 Business 4G-technology,cities,regency,2019,Rudiantara Free Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the government planed to provide cellular phone users in all cities and regencies across the country with fourth generation (4G) broadband cellular networks in 2019. The Palapa Ring project (a national fiber optic project) will be completed in 2019. We will also introduce 4G technology in all cities and regencies, he said as reported by kompas.com, adding that the completion of the project was urgent because there were many regions in Indonesian without internet connections. As an example, Rudiantara pointed to the fact that only 80,000 of 226,000 schools elementary, junior high and senior high schools had access to the internet. In schools where internet was available, he added, it was often not used optimally, only being used for the computer-based National Exams. They do not use the internet for teaching purposes, the minister said. Meanwhile, he added that only 3,000 of the roughly 10,000 Society Health Centers (Puskesmas) across the country had internet connections. Rudiantara also said internet connections were needed at military and police district offices as well as at village offices. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 16:36 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d4c4c8 1 City floods,anies-baswedan,solution,expert Free Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has said that he would ask for experts' opinions in order to find long-term solutions to Jakartas flooding problems. We will discuss long-term solutions with experts. We want the solutions to be environmentally friendly, Anies said at City Hall on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com. Meanwhile, for short-term solutions, Anies said he had ordered his subordinates to repair dikes across the capital to regulate water levels. The governor directly surveyed the Jati Padang dike in South Jakarta on Wednesday morning. The dike collapsed on Monday when heavy rains inundated the area and wind toppled several trees. Anies said he hoped that the dike would be repaired within one day. (vny) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (AFP) Sydney Wed, December 13, 2017 08:03 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d2ca72 2 Politics Australia,child-abuse,sex-abuse Free New laws designed to stop paedophiles convicted in Australia from travelling overseas to offend again came into effect Wednesday, with the government saying it will make vulnerable children safer. It is now an offence for registered child sex offenders -- those convicted of the most serious forms of abuse -- to leave Australia without approval from law enforcement agencies. They also face having their passports cancelled at the request of Australian authorities. "Australia has up to 20,000 registered child sex offenders who have served their sentences but are subject to reporting obligations that help to protect the community," said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. "For too long, these predators have travelled overseas undetected, including to countries where weaker laws mean they have opportunities to commit heinous crimes." Last year alone, 800 registered child sex offenders travelled overseas, often to developing countries in Asia, and about 40 percent did so without notifying police. "This will now stop," said Bishop. The move follows repeated episodes of child exploitation overseas, including a high-profile case last year when Australian Robert Ellis was convicted of sexually abusing 11 Indonesian girls on the resort island of Bali. The crackdown comes on the heels of concern about the growing role of technology in paedophilia, with the government proposing new offences and tougher penalties targeting live-streamed child abuse and online grooming. They also plan tougher fines on internet service providers if they do not report abusive material to police. Justice Minister Michael Keenan called the crackdown "the toughest on paedophiles in a generation", making Australia "a world leader in protecting vulnerable children overseas from child sex tourism". Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 16:11 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d4ac26 1 City Bekasi,grant,Jakarta-administration Free The Bekasi administration in the eastern part of greater Jakarta, has failed to get a financial grant from the capital for next year, a contrast to this year, when the West Java city got Rp 250 billion (US$1.75 million). This year's grant, which was disbursed under the leadership of Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, was used to fund bridge construction, which would support the operations of Bantar Gebang trash disposal site. Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi said that during a meeting with the Jakarta Deputy Governor, he proposed nearly Rp 1 trillion in funds for programs to mitigate floods and traffic jams in the city, which were deeply connected to Jakarta, and expected to get at least Rp 350 billion, tempo.co reported. "We agree to establish a small team for now and the grant was postponed," the mayor said on Tuesday. "Maybe we'll get it later next year, in the [Jakarta] budget revision," he added. Bekasi, however, would still receive Rp 202 billion from Jakarta, which would be used as compensation for families negatively affected by the Bantar Gebang trash disposal site, where Jakarta's trash is disposed. Rahmat said Jakarta still owed money to develop health and education infrastructure. Bekasi Public Works and Spatial Planning Agency head Tri Adhianto said the disagreement between the two administrations would affect ongoing infrastructure projects connecting the two areas such as the construction of Pangeran Jayabaru road in North Bekasi. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Michel Comte (AFP) Ottawa Wed, December 13, 2017 07:27 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d2b767 2 Politics Australia,Canada,jet,military Free Canada announced Tuesday it would buy 18 used Australian jets instead of new Boeing Super Hornets, signaling limits in its unwavering friendship with its US neighbor. A little more than a year after saying it would buy 18 Super Hornets for more than $5 billion, and amid trade tensions, Ottawa formally rejected the deal in favor of used planes from Australia. Senior government and military officials said the Australian F-18 fighter jets will fill an air force interim capability gap while Ottawa holds a competitive procurement process for a new fleet. "We have received an official offer from the Australian government regarding the sale of 18 jets, and we intend to follow up on this offer," Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough told a press conference. Consultations with aircraft makers on the new fleet will begin in January, she said, before Ottawa launches the formal bidding in 2019 for 88 new planes. The winning bidder will be expected to partner with Canadian aerospace firms. A special clause requiring the successful candidate to also cause "no economic harm" to Canada appears aimed at disqualifying Boeing, which riled Ottawa when it launched a trade complaint against the nation's largest manufacturer Bombardier earlier this year. Qualtrough insisted that "no firm will be excluded" from the competition. However, "bidders responsible for harming Canada's economic interest will be at a distinct disadvantage compared to bidders who aren't engaged in detrimental behavior," she added. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals in 2015 scrapped three previous administrations' plans to purchase state-of-the-art, but costly Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets to replace Canada's aging F-18 fleet. Canada spent two decades helping to develop the stealth fighter with the United States and its allies. But it is currently the only nation in the partnership not yet committed to buying the F-35s. Trudeau had proposed picking up 18 new Super Hornets as a stopgap while it reset the competition. But that deal fell apart after Boeing filed a trade complaint against Bombardier in an effort to keep Bombardier's new CSeries jetliners out of the US market, resulting in 300 percent duties being slapped on the planes. - Payback for Boeing complaint - "Attempts by Boeing to put tens of thousands of aerospace workers out of work across Canada is not something we look on positively," Trudeau told reporters in October when he went to Washington to press US President Donald Trump on the issue. "And I certainly mentioned that this was a block to us purchasing any -- making any military procurements from Boeing." At the same time, ties with Washington have become strained over Trump's hard line in trade talks, and the targeting of Canadian softwood lumber imports. Military and procurement experts praised Canada's decision to buy the used fighter jets for a tenth of the cost of the Super Hornets. They noted the Australian planes would be easily integrated into Canada's existing fleet. "I don't think the purchase of used Australian fighter jets makes as much sense as expediting the purchase of new jets, but it makes more sense than the previous plan to buy a new fleet of aircraft to use temporarily while running a competition to buy more new aircraft for a full fleet replacement," said Dave Perry, an analyst at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute in Ottawa. The contract for a full fleet of new warplanes will be awarded in 2022, after the next election, with the first deliveries expected in 2025. Most critics say only the Super Hornet or the F-35 can meet Canada's needs as the US and Canadian air forces must be interoperable under the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan confirmed this to AFP last year. Airbus, after coming to the rescue of Bombardier in October, has expressed a desire to do more business in Canada and could pitch the Eurofighter Typhoon to replace Canada's F-18s. "There's some hope among the Europeans that they may be able to get Canada to consider one of their jet fighters," said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute. "But that's a pretty outside shot," he said. Shimooka said hawks in the US Congress "are very upset" with Trudeau for canceling the F-35 purchase. "But it's not a big thing on the radar of the (US) administration," he added. "They know Canada will buy either the Super Hornet or F-35 in the end." Topics : Australia Canada jet military Five third-year cadets of Semarang Police Academy have been sentenced to prison for assaulting their junior, second-year cadet Mohammad Adam, which resulted in his death. Gibrail Charthens Manorek, Martinus Bentatone and Gilbert Jordi Nahumury al Jordi were sentenced to six months and 20 days in prison, while Christian Atmadibrata Sermunes received a 1-year sentence, as the Semarang District Court's judges announced their verdict on Wednesday . Presiding judge Antonius Widijanto considered that the defendants had violated the Criminal Code's (KUHP) Article 170 on assault. Meanwhile, another defendant, Rinox Lewi Wattinema was sentenced to seven months in prison in a trial presided over by Judge Casmaya. Rinox was considered guilty of violating the same article, as well as Article 56 of the KUHP on crimes of ommission. The five defendants received a lighter verdict than the prosecutors indictment, which demanded three years in prison. The case of Adams assault and death involved fourteen third-year cadets, nine of whom have been sentenced to six months in jail. Meanwhile, Christians legal advisor Aris Bonggasalu questioned the judges verdict against his client, which was longer than the verdicts against the other defendants. [Christian received] the same indictment for violating the same article, but why was he sentenced differently? he said, I will seek further legal action. The defendants, legal advisors and prosecutors stated they would think about the judges verdict. The defendants will have seven days to request an appeal. (nmn/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 11:50 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d367a7 4 Business aviation,flights,bali,decline,Mount-Agung,eruption Free December is usually peak season for the tourism industry, but the Indonesian National Aviation Association (Inaca) has told kontan.co.id that flights to Bali had declined by about 30 percent as a result of the ongoing Mount Agung eruption. Inaca flight affairs head Bayu Sutanto said on Tuesday in Jakarta that the trend would continue into early next year, because the volcano remained at a high alert status. We've delayed many flights to Bali for those attending events like seminars and workshops, said Bayu, adding that many domestic and international flights had been canceled. He said tourists appeared to be canceling their trips to the island to avoid the impact of volcanic activities. As the eruption of Mount Agung had not ended, many people are canceling their trips to Bali or are seeking alternative destinations, he said. Bayu said that other passengers had switched to flights heading to other countries, like Singapore and Thailand. However, he added that while the number of flights to Bali had dropped, Inaca saw significant increases in flights to other cities like Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Manado and Medan. Inaca recorded a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in flights to Medan and Manado. Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the country had "lost" about 1 million tourists this year because of the Mt Agung eruption. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 17:29 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d4ce5a 1 Business Garuda-Indonesia,GMF,contract,extension Free National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia signed on Wednesday a memorandum understanding (MoU) with aircraft maintenance service company PT Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia (GMF) to extend its contract signed in 2013. The contract is set to expire in June 2018. The new contract, which expires 10 years after it comes into effect, was signed by GMF CEO and president director Iwan Joeniarto and Garuda Indonesia technique and maintenance director I Wayan Susena in Jakarta. Garuda Indonesia was very selective in appointing the MRO [maintenance, repair and operations] partner of the fleet, said Wayan, adding that around 60 percent of Garuda aircraft maintenance was handled by GMF. He said his company believed that GMF offered high-quality MRO work because it had been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2017. Iwan said that, with the new contract, both parties agreed that GMF would be allowed to draw expertise from Garuda's international partners. Iwan said GMF had long-term contracts with domestic airlines Citilink and Sriwijaya Air, Vietnam's Vietjet Air and several Korean airlines. He further said that, although Garuda contributed to around 65 percent of its revenue, the figure would continuously decline as GMF had seen an increase in orders from other airlines. GMF eyes about US$520 million in revenue in 2018, a 15 to 20 percent increase from this year's figure, Iwan said. (jlm/bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 12:50 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d3d948 4 Business village-fund,2018,evaluation Free The government has canceled next year's plan to double the budgetary allocation for the village fund program from Rp 60 trillion to Rp 120 trillion (US$8.4 billion), a Finance Ministry official has said on Tuesday in Bogor, West Java. President Joko Jokowi Widodo had earlier promised to double the village fund allocation to improve welfare of people in remote areas. The ministry's director general of fiscal balance, Boediarso Teguh Widodo, said the government had decided not to disburse additional funds to villages after evaluating this year's use of the village fund program. Boediarso explained that the government had evaluated the program on four indicators of success: eradicating poverty, creating jobs, increasing the people's incomes and purchasing power, and reducing the economic disparity among villages. Boediarso said this year's use of the village fund program had managed to achieve part of the objective, but the program's impact on poverty eradication had not met the target. This means that its multiplier effect has not been optimal, he said as reported by tempo.co. Instead, the government wanted to improve the capacity of village officials in managing the fund toward improving the people's welfare, and to prevent the officials from becoming involved in corruption. He said the government planned to double the village fund in 2019, with targeted disbursements of about Rp 1.4 billion for each village. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 18:51 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d54ef1 1 Business Grab,Paytren,cooperation Free Malaysias ride-hailing app Grab signed a cooperation agreement on Wednesday with financial start-up Paytren, as part of its "Grab 4 Indonesia 2020" master plan to advance Indonesias digital economy. Under the agreement, which was signed by Grab Indonesia managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata and Paytren managing director Hari Wibowo, the two companies have a commitment to empower the unbanked and disadvantaged society in the country. The partnership between Grab and Paytren will offer micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia new business opportunities and provide more people in their local communities with access to online services, in line with the development of Indonesias digital economy, Ridzki told reporters after the signing ceremony. Starting in January 2018, the Paytren app, which will be integrated with Grabs Kudo platform, will allow its members to recruit driver-partners for Grab and earn a commission-based income. GrabPay Indonesia managing director Ongki Kurniawan said the strategic cooperation was aimed at integrating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) registered under Grab, Paytren and Kudo. Combining all SMEs together will gradually turn our vision into reality. Through the emergence of Paytren in rural parts of Indonesia, we expect it will accelerate Grabs expansion, reaching 5 million micro-entrepreneurs across the country, said Ongki. The company has so far partnered with 3 million micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Earlier this year, Grab acquired Indonesian online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce platform Kudo in a deal to invest up to US$700 million to support Indonesias goal of becoming the largest digital economy Southeast Asia by 2020. (fny/bbn) Topics : Grab Paytren cooperation Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13 2017 Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan blamed Mondays floods on several of the citys thoroughfares including Jl. Rasuna Said and Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta on transportation development projects. I have communicated with officials and personally inspected the scenes. The problem is that parts of the waterways are obstructed by ongoing projects like the MRT, LRT, and so on, Anies said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com, referring to the mass rapid transit and light rail transit projects. Anies asked his officials to pay attention to the waterways. Several thoroughfares including Jl. Rasuna Said, Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. Sudirman were reportedly inundated by up to 50 centimeters of water. 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, December 13, 2017 18:32 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d54405 1 National Jerusalem,Israel,KPAI,Jokowi,Joko-Widodo,DonaldTrump,Donald-Trump,US-president Free The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) plans to summon representatives of publishing company PT Yudhistira, the publisher of social science textbooks for six graders, which referred to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. KPAI commissioner for education Retno Listyarti said the circulation of textbooks that contained inaccurate information or data was not something new. This has happened several times. It shows that the supervision of textbooks, especially those for elementary school students, is weak, Retno said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Wednesday. She further said that KPAI had also found inappropriate content in textbooks, such as material related to violence and pornography, but by naming Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, the publisher touched on a very sensitive religious issue. Retno added that the Education and Culture Ministrys center for curriculum and books was responsible for monitoring the content of textbooks. If it is proven that there was negligence on the ministrys part, then it [the center for curriculum and books] must be accountable [for the error], she said. Retno said KPAI was scheduled to question PT Yudhistiras representatives about its process of publishing textbooks, including the writing and editing stages. We will summon them for a questioning at KPAI next Monday, she added. The government and a number of organizations, including Indonesias two largest Islamic groups, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have condemned United States President Donald Trumps controversial acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his decision to move the US embassy to the Jewish state from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (ami/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 10:41 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d3450f 1 Business Uber,new-president-director,Monika-Rudijono Free Uber Asia Pacific has appointed Monika Rudijono as Uber Indonesia president, a position she will assume in January, next year. Uber Asia Pacific chief business officer Brooks Entwistle said in a statement on Wednesday that Monika had two decades of experience in building brands in the advertising and marketing sector. We are excited to see Monika step into this critical role to lead the next stage of Ubers growth in one of the largest ridesharing markets in the world, Brooks said Commenting on her appointment, Monika said ridesharing was changing the way Indonesian cities moved and the business brought economic opportunities to millions of people. Im thrilled to be part of this movement, and lead the next transformative chapter of Ubers growth story, said Monika, former president director of Grey, one of the worlds leading advertising and marketing organizations. Monika graduated from UC Berkeleys Haas School of Business in 1997 with a degree in business administration in marketing and finance. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 18:56 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d5535e 1 City floods,pump Free Ninety-five percent of 451 water pumps in Jakarta work well in handling floods in the capital, the city's Water Resource Agency head Teguh Hendarwan said on Wednesday. "The remaining 5 percent are old pumps that are already 40 years old," said Teguh as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday. Teguh said the flooding this month dried faster compared to the floods in August. This, he said, could happen because the agency had provided 150 mobile pumps, as well as deploying city cleaners. "Hence, the floods in Dukuh Atas [Central Jakarta] could dry just within one and a half hours," he said. Previously on Monday, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan expressed his anger when he visited the Dukuh Atas pump station in Central Jakarta following severe floods. The floods were reportedly caused by damaged pumps in the area. Of six, only two worked well, when Anies visited the station. The damage had been reported two months ago, according to a Dukuh Atas pump operator. Jakarta public transportation was crippled on Monday when the city was hit by heavy rainfall and fallen trees. (agn) Topics : floods pump Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 16:15 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d4b1d2 1 National 2017-Archipelago-Day,archipelago,Home-Minister,Tjahjo-Kumolo,Jokowi,Joko-Widodo,maritime-cooperation,maritime-sector,MaritimeSector Free Opening an event to commemorate Indonesias Archipelago Day in Cirebon, West Java, on Wednesday, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo pledged more government support to develop the countrys maritime industries. Appearing at the event on behalf of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, Tjahjo expressed his hope that the commemoration could form the basis for developing the character of the Indonesian people, who were deeply acquainted with the sea and had made it their home. We must build [] Indonesia into a maritime country, so the world will respect us, he said as quoted by tempo.co. Tjahjo also expressed his hope that Archipelago Day, this year themed Strengthening mutual cooperation amid archipelagic diversity to make Indonesia the worlds maritime fulcrum, would not remain a ceremonial event but instead serve as a model for developing the countrys outermost islands. This is a synergy of programs proposed by ministries and institutions for Indonesias maritime development, said Tjahjo. The minister reminded participants about the spirit of the Djuanda Declaration, in which the sea was perceived not as a barrier but a unifier of the nation. President Jokowi said during his inauguration that Indonesia had turned its back on the maritime sector for too long, said Tjahjo. As a maritime country, the ocean is our future. He further said Cirebon had been appointed as the host of the 2017 Archipelago Day because it had long played a fundamental role in Indonesias maritime economy. We hope trade between Java and Sumatra can be conducted directly through Cirebon once they are connected by a fast maritime [transportation] route, said Tjahjo. (nmn/ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 12:17 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d3868c 1 National setya-novanto,e-ID,hearing Free The first hearing in the trial of embattled House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto in the e-ID graft case at the Jakarta Corruption Court was cut short after Setyas lawyers said their client required an immediate medical examination. The indictment had yet to be read when the trial was adjourned as Setya was unable to answer presiding judge Yantos questions. Can you hear my question? judge Yanto asked Setya. Prosecutor Irene Putri told the bench that a doctor had examined Setya before the latter appeared in court. He [Setya] complained that he was not well. However, his vitals were good. The doctor concluded that he was fit to be questioned. She added that doctors from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital had examined the suspect several days ago and concluded that the suspect was healthy. However, with Setyas lawyers insisting that he undergo another examination, the judge adjourned the hearing at 10:45 a.m. to allow Setya to seek medical attention at a nearby clinic. It was not made clear when the hearing would resume. Setya is the first House lawmaker to be taken to court as a suspect in the e-ID graft case, which reportedly caused Rp 2.3 trillion in state losses. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) renamed him a suspect in the case on Nov. 10 after the embattled politician won a pretrial motion that voided his previous suspect status in late September. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 18:29 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d52c91 1 City LBH-Jakarta,complaints,urban Free The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) received fewer complaining reports in 2017 compared to last year, but city and urban-related problems increased this year. The head of LBH Jakartas advocation division, Yunita, said the institute received 1,224 complaining reports this year, compared to 1,444 reports last year. In Jakarta alone the overall figure has decreased, but reports complaining about city and urban society problems related to land and housing cases have increased. There are 20 more cases related to such issues this year than last year, said Yunita during the institute's annual end-of-year evaluation on Tuesday. The institute received a wide range of cases from 19,039 justice seekers this year. The cases included city and urban society, civil society and politics, women and children, family and labor, as well as non-structural issues. On city and urban society issues, LBH Jakarta received 154 complaining reports with 6,807 justice seekers. On labor issues, they got 223 reports with 4,565 justice seekers. The institute also received 188 reports on family-related issues, with 188 justice seekers. While for non-structural cases there were 532 reports; 41 reports on women and children issues; and 86 on civil society and political issues. Even though the overall number of reports and justice seekers has declined, LBH Jakarta director Alghiffari Aqsa said the general trend and situation in justice and human rights enforcement in Jakarta was not better than last year. In 2017, there were still many important events that indicates there were infringements of human rights and justice. (roi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 11:48 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d35c19 1 City West-Jakarta,street-vendors Free Street vendors occupying the area under the Asemka flyover have been registered, with their presence ensuring the cleanliness of the space, a West Jakarta official said on Tuesday. "It's no problem, those [operating] under the Asemka flyover are older vendors that we relocated from the their former space, where a [infrastructure] project is currently being developed. [The roadside occupation] has been approved by the mayor [Anas Effendi], because these street vendors are small and medium enterprises," Nuraini Silviana, head of West Java's cooperatives, micro, small and medium enterprises and trade agency, said on Tuesday. Nuraini said the agency was using the space as a temporary relocation site, which meant that the city administration could reclaim the area at any time. She added that the space was previously used as a warehouse, and that renewed use of the empty area would keep it neat and clean. "[The vendors] must be ready to leave at any time, in case the city administration decides to use the space. A street vendor currently pays Rp 3,000 [22 US cents] a day," she said. Nuraini said she did not know how long the vendors would be allowed to operate under the flyover. "We want to utilize all the space available around Asemka," she said. According to Jakarta Bylaw No. 8/2007, the city administration may not allow street vendors to operate their stalls under a flyover. Article 25 of the bylaw stipulates that all individuals and entities are prohibited from trading or working along roads, sidewalks, pedestrian bridges, in shelters and other public spaces. (dis) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dominic Elsome (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 08:59 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d2ecc9 4 City kalijodo,#Kalijodo,prostitution,eviction Free When bulldozers and excavators began to tear down the only home he ever knew in March last year, Bang Joi could not do anything. The month before, he had received three letters from the Jakarta city administration, instructing him to tear down his residence and leave the area. He was given three months free rent in a government housing project 40 minutes away from his family and friends and no compensation. They took away peoples lives, he said. Bang Joi, not his real name, grew up in what was then Jakartas biggest red-light district, Kalijodo. The 29-year-old lived there his entire life, until it was demolished to be redeveloped into a green space for families. At the time, Kalijodo was rife with prostitution, illegal bars and criminal gangs. City administrators had been promising to tear it down for years. Read also: Kalijodo shutdown: Requiem for a legendary red-light district Now, Kalijodo is home to a large skate park for children, and on weekends, market stalls sell food and drinks to families who come for the live music and childrens rides that sit where peoples houses once stood. Joi has returned several times to his former home, and although the new park was great for families, he felt something had been taken from him. Deep inside my heart, I dont get any benefit from it because I lost something, he said. When I pass the park, I see people are enjoying it -- but I dont. Imagine if it was you. Its your house [] other people are occupying your house. Mba Sum lived in Kalijodo for 20 years and worked as a caterer to the many cafes in Kalijodo. After the demolitions, she was forced to return to her hometown in East Java, where she works selling vegetables in the town market. Im having a hard time making money. Im grateful for just being able to eat, Sum said. She questioned why a whole community had to be wiped out just because of a few bad apples. Its unfair. Prostitution didnt stop. It just moved to other places and dispersed just across the park, she said. If the problem is the cafes, then just get rid of the cafes, not the people. It is a sentiment Joi agreed with. New face: Kalijodo is currently home to a large skate park for children, and on weekends, market stalls sell food and drinks to families. (JP/Seto Wardhana) There are a lot of other prostitution places but why Kalijodo? Joi asked. The demolition has also affected business owners in the area, with most reporting a severe drop in their business. One couple even said they had lost nearly 50 percent of the customers in their food business since the redevelopment. Another business owner, Judas Lim, said if business did not pick up soon, he would be forced to move somewhere else. But despite this, the majority of businesses were positive about the demolition, saying the streets had been made safer by pushing out the thugs that once ran the area. And yet, even though the criminals were supposedly driven away, their influence is still felt strongly in the streets around Kalijodo and even beyond. Many businesses still did not wish to speak for fear of violent reprisals from former thugs, whom they claimed were still in the area. Even Bang Joi chose to be known by a pseudonym out of fear of a similar reprisal, despite living more than 40 minutes away from his former home. Im scared that the thugs are still out there until now and would try to find me, he said. Joi said people are still angry over what happened, and many believed they were lied to. Before the relocations began, then-North Jakarta mayor Rustam Efendi told The Jakarta Post his administration would offer skills training to residents who wished to change their professions. But both Joi and Sum said the promised training never happened. Attempts were made to contact the mayors office for comments on these allegations, but to no response. Currently, Joi has found himself a job at a supermarket. Despite the situation, he is simply trying to move on with his life. *** Dominic Elsome, a journalism student from the Queensland University of Technology, visited Indonesia with support from the Australian Governments New Colombo Plan mobility program. Natasha Harianto and Clarissa Adeline contributed to the story. TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, December 13, 2017 10:01 1800 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2d31192 1 News Garuda-Indonesia,#GarudaIndonesia,Garuda-Indonesia-Airways,awards,#awards,travel,#travel,Airlines,#airlines Free National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia was named Airline of the Year at the 2017 Indonesia Travel and Tourism Award (ITTA) ceremony on Monday. Launched in 2010, ITTAs winners are selected based on two methods: 25 percent online voting and 75 percent voting from a committee that comprises experts in the travel and tourism industry. Garuda Indonesia marketing director and information technology Nina Sulistyowati said in a press release that the award was the seventh received by Garuda Indonesia at the annual event, adding that it proved the airline's consistency in delivering an operational excellence service to its passengers. Read also: Garuda Indonesia to add more flights for Melbourne Bali route Nina added that the award was also part of the airlines commitment to support the government in improving the countrys tourism sector, particularly to achieve the target of attracting 20 million foreign tourists by 2019. Nina said that in line with ITTAs commitment to create awareness about the importance of quality service in travel and tourism industry, the airline continuously tried to improve its services as well as operations, ensuring a convenient flight experience for passengers. (kes) Delancey Street Associates, the group building Essex Crossing, has decided to name a 15-story residential/commercial building at 145 Clinton St. for Sonny Rollins. The legendary Jazz musician lived at 400-402 Grand St., the tenements torn down to build the new project, for several years starting in 1959. In a story published in the New York Times, the developers announced that the building will be called The Rollins. In response, Rollins said, That was a fond place for me It really has a place in my heart. An affordable housing lottery was already held for 104 low and middle-income apartments at 145 Clinton St. (Monthly rents will range from $519 to more than $3400). Next month, Douglas Elliman will begin renting 107 market rate units. According to the Times. prices will range from $3150/month for studios all the way up to an eye-popping $8450 for 3-bedrooms. One-bedroom apartments are expected to run $4450 and two-bedrooms will be set at $5800/month. A splash page, complete with Sonny Rollins music, has already been set up. The building will also include a Trader Joes and a Target store, plus 15,000 feet for other retail businesses. The Times notes the following: The rents will be among the highest in the neighborhood at a time when the rental market has slowed, particularly at the top. In the third quarter of 2017, the median asking rent for a one-bedroom in the Lower East Side was $2,589 a month, with only 34 of the available one-bedrooms (about 10 percent of the inventory) asking a higher rent than what the Rollins will be charging, according to data provided by StreetEasy. In spite of the soft market, however, the development team says it already has a thousand inquiries from people interested in renting apartments at Essex Crossing. The broker told the Times, This product is going to speak to a more established and more mature audience Its going to speak to people who want a more elevated living experience. Coincidentally, local resident Jeff Caltabiano has been campaigning to name the Williamsburg Bridge for Sonny Rollins. [He notes, by the way, that the Sonny Rollins Bridge Project has no affiliation with this development or its landlord.] More than 3,000 people have signed a petition in support of changing the name of the bridge, which served as Rollins makeshift (and very inspirational) outdoor practice studio. Another Essex Crossing building will be named for someone with very strong Lower East Side ties. It was recently decided, with input from a local community task force, that a senior building at 175 Delancey St. will be named in honor of LES housing activist Francis Golden. She waged a decades-long battle to build affordable housing in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (which has now been rebranded Essex Crossing). If you would like to read our tribute to the people who lived and worked at 400 Grand St., including Rollins, click here. Special Statement For recognition of a Palestinian state and of Israel For repeal of the U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act For workers solidarity in Israel, Palestine, the world over The Dec. 6 decision by President Donald Trump, backed by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, "to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" and "begin preparation to move the American Embassy" underlines the political necessity for the Israeli and Arab governments and leaderships of Palestinian organizations to begin immediate talks to recognize both Israel and an independent Palestinian state. Negotiations to reach such an agreement must recognize the right of Jews everywhere to take refuge in Israel in face of the global rise of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic violence, as well as the unconditional right of the dispossessed Palestinian people to a contiguous, sovereign homeland on territory including East Jerusalem conquered and occupied by the Israeli government during the 1967 war. If such talks are to succeed, there is no question that Palestinian representatives would insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Nor can there be any doubt that the Israeli delegation would need to agree to West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, renouncing what that countrys rulers have called "undivided Jerusalem" since the 1967 occupation. All those practicing the Islamic, Jewish or Christian faiths must be guaranteed free, secure and dignified access to their holy sites in Jerusalem, including the location Muslims call Haram al-Sharif and Jews and Christians call the Temple Mount. It is along this road that working people of all national backgrounds, religious beliefs and political allegiances in Israel and Palestine can use and defend their space to speak, organize and begin redressing the blood-drenched legacy of imperialist domination and capitalist exploitation. These historic outrages include ruthless colonial and national oppression across the Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the genocidal crimes of the Holocaust, the murderous pogroms preceding it across Eastern and Central Europe and Russia, and the enduring reality of Jew-hatred in todays crises-ridden capitalist world. As an elementary precondition to progress along this course, the Socialist Workers Party demands immediate repeal of the U.S. governments Jerusalem Embassy Act, which declares that "Jerusalem should remain an undivided city" and that "the United States Embassy in Israel should be established" there. That law was adopted in 1995 with overwhelming Democratic and Republican party majorities 93-5 in the Senate; 374-37 in the House of Representatives. When President Trump made his Dec. 6 White House announcement, he was stating what is bipartisan Washington policy and law, reaffirmed as recently as June 2017 by a Senate resolution adopted unanimously. It is a reactionary policy that both the Democratic and Republican parties enshrined in their 2016 presidential platforms, as theyve done in many election cycles beforehand. Claims by sections of the bourgeois media that President Trump has now scuttled his pledge to broker "the ultimate deal" between Israel, the Palestinians and Arab governments miss the point. In fact, the White House is putting it to its allied regimes in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Egypt and Jordan, as well as to the bourgeois misleaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, that Washington is "making them an offer they cant refuse." By combining the stick of an anticipated U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with the carrot of greater economic and military aid to Sunni-led governments against their feared rival in Shia-led Tehran with its so-called Revolutionary Guards and military surrogates extending from Afghanistan to Lebanon the Trump White House is determined to facilitate talks the next year or two with a different outcome from failed efforts by Democratic and Republican presidents alike since the 1990s. Thats why, among other things, the Trump administration rejected Minority Leader Schumers counsel to refer to Jerusalem as Israels "undivided capital, saying instead that Washington leaves open "the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem." With regard to Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, the White House called on "all parties to maintain the status quo" that is, to maintain official Jordanian authority over those religious sites, within the constraints of Israeli police and military power on the ground. For the second time since his inauguration in January 2017, the president also signed a waiver to the Jerusalem Embassy Act enabling him to postpone moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, as the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations had done before him twice a year since 1995. And the Trump administration announced no steps to begin transferring embassy operations there anytime soon. Prospects for sustained and effective struggle led by working people in Palestine or elsewhere in the Middle East against Washingtons policies, and against their own local exploiting classes, are hobbled by political exhaustion in face of decades of setbacks and defeats due to anti-working-class misleadership, whether Stalinist, bourgeois nationalist or Islamist. In the United States and other imperialist countries, organizations of middle class radicals claiming to be communist or socialist have taken to the streets in opposition to the Trump administration statement. These organizations explicitly disavow any course to advance class solidarity among Palestinian, Jewish and other working people, often raising the reactionary cry, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" This course to drive Jews out of the region disqualifies such groups from any moral or political legitimacy to speak as what Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin more than a century ago called "tribune[s] of the people able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it appears, no matter what stratum or class of the people it affects." In opposition to Washington, to bourgeois governments and political organizations across the Middle East, and to the middle class left here in the United States, the Socialist Workers Party has a different starting point: the class interests and solidarity of workers and toiling farmers across the Middle East be they Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, Kurdish, Turkish, Persian or otherwise, and whatever their religious or other beliefs as well as working people in the United States and around the world. We are for whatever helps working people organize and act together to advance our demands and struggles against the capitalist governments and ruling classes that exploit and oppress us and their petty bourgeois political servants and media apologists. We are for whatever renews our class solidarity and self-confidence, advancing us along a revolutionary course toward a united struggle for workers power. This is the proletarian internationalist course of action, part of our communist program, that members and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party are discussing with workers as we campaign door to door in their neighborhoods, with co-workers on the job and their friends and family members, and with those we join in protests against Washingtons anti-working-class policies at home and abroad. Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home Facebook says it is a different company to the one described by a former executive as ripping apart society. Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice president for user growth, said he feels tremendous guilt over the creation of the site, adding: We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. He said social media was leaving users vacant and empty. However, the social media giant has dismissed Mr Palihapitiyas description as one of a company that no longer exists. Chamath has not been at Facebook for over six years, a spokeswoman for the firm said. When Chamath was at Facebook we were focused on building new social media experiences and growing Facebook around the world. (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Facebook was a very different company back then and as we have grown we have realised how our responsibilities have grown too. We take our role very seriously and we are working hard to improve. Weve done a lot of work and research with outside experts and academics to understand the effects of our service on well-being, and were using it to inform our product development. We are also making significant investments more in people, technology and processes, and as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made. Mr Palihapitiya, who was speaking at a Stanford Graduate School of Business event, urged people to take a hard break from some of these tools. The 41-year-old added: The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops weve created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no co-operation; misinformation, mistruth. And its not an American problem this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem. We are in a really bad state of affairs right now. Mr Palihapitiya, whose comments were made in November but have only recently been reported, did also say the company overwhelmingly does positive good in the world. He said: We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection because we get rewarded in these short-term signals hearts, likes, thumbs-up. We conflate that with value and we conflate that with truth. Instead, what it is is fake brittle popularity. Bus tours can be a great way to see everything that a city has to offer. But nothing beats walking the streets of a foreign country, fully taking in everything around you. Whether it is a guided sightseeing tour or just yourself free roaming around the city, the best way to see Europe is on foot. Berlin When in Berlin ensure that you discover the wealth of cultural and historical opportunities that the city holds. Begin at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, two of the citys most iconic sights. Located in the very heart of Berlin and less than 1ten minutes away from each other, it will ease you into to your on-foot exploring. Next, why not head to the modern district of Berlin and stroll along Unter den Linden, Alexanderplatz and Ku'Damm? When in Alexanderplatz make sure that you take a trip to the top of the Berlin TV tower to get a birds-eye-view of the city below. You could even map out your next walking route whilst youre up there. Time for more history, and next up is a visit to Checkpoint Charlie on the south-side of the city, followed by the Berlin Wall Memorial located towards the north of the city centre. Dubrovnik Explore the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, otherwise known as Dubrovnik, now a must-see destination thanks to Game of Thrones. A guided break to this stunning city is the ideal way to explore the Pearl of the Adriatic. Visit the Old Town and walk the 16th Century city walls or visit some traditional shops and restaurants in the pedestriamised Stradun. There are so many walks you can do in Dubrovnik, from a walk of the city's castle grounds to the cliff side walk of its coastline. Venice You may think of travelling by gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice as the best way to see the city, but there are so many more opportunities by foot. Simply walk the streets of the Italian city and take in the awe-inspiring architecture and medieval vibes. Visit St Marks Square with its Basilica and Doges Palace, and of course take a walk across the stunning Rialto Bridge the oldest bridge across the Grand Canal. And when all the walking tires you out the head to a traditional Italian restaurant for some mouthwatering food and drinks. Barcelona Embrace Catalan culture in the vibrant city of Barcelona and explore everything this coastal city has to offer, from its love of art to its beautiful architecture. Discover all things Gaudi, from the towering Sagrada Familia to the colourful Parc Guell and the famous Casa Mila, or head down the boulevards and experience Barcelonas modern side. The harbor offers another amazing location for a city walk. Krakow Considered as one of Europes hidden gems, Krakow offers a great historical getaway, perfect for you to experience on foot. Wander through medieval town squares visiting Wawel Hill, the Royal Castle and the Cloth Hall in the Old Town. The old Jewish quarter is another great place to visit on foot. Explore the area and learn about the citys history and the lives of people who used to live there and those who live there now. One of the best walks to do whilst in Krakow is definitely through Planty Park, which is a natural wonderland. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98% RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami. Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi. Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh. Apa itu RTP Live? RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal. Apa itu RTP Slot? RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah. Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar. Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting? Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan. Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan. Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya : Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP. Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi: RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%) Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik. Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar. Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot: RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar. Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot. Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini: Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia. Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia. Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong. Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam. Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars has declared a snow emerency beginning at noon Wednesday, Dec. 13. During the snow emergency, residents are asked to removed parked vehicles from streets, so plows can remove snow. Vehicles remaining in the streets may be subject to ticketing. A winter storm warning was declared at 10 a.m. in Southeast Michigan, and will last until midnight. Snowfall is expected to range between 7-11 inches during this time. A Helena man accused of a long list of felonies is now in custody. Jeffrey James Medina, 38, was arrested earlier in the week on a litany of charges including possession of drugs, failure to register as a sex offender, misdemeanor theft, criminal possession of dangerous drugs and bail jumping. Medinas charges go back March of this year. According to court documents, Medina moved to Wheat Ridge, Colorado, without notifying his probation officers. Officers and marshals discovered Medinas new address because he left it with the Montana Child Support Division. Medina was charged in 2016 with selling meth out of a Helena restaurant. A captured fugitive is accused of dozens of federal firearms violations in Montana for allegedly exporting guns from the U.S. to customers in countries with restrictive gun laws. Authorities allege 37-year-old Eric Daniel Doyle concocted an elaborate scheme to use the internet to sell handguns to customers in Australia, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. He's pleaded not guilty to 44 gun violations and related crimes and is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing Tuesday in Montana. CHEYENNE, Wyo. National parks in the U.S. will sharply drop the number of days they allow visitors to get in for free, a move that was criticized by opponents of the parks' plan to raise entrance costs at other times of the year. After waiving fees 16 days in 2016 and 10 days in 2017, the National Park Service announced Tuesday that it will have four no-cost days next year. They will be Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 15), the first day of National Park Week (April 21), National Public Lands Day (Sept. 22) and Veterans Day (Nov. 11. This year's free days included all of Veterans Day weekend and the weekends surrounding National Park Week. All of National Park Week and four days over the 100th anniversary of the Park Service were free in 2016. The Park Service charges weekly entrance fees of $25 or $30 per vehicle at 118 of the 417 national parks. The Park Service has proposed raising the cost to $70 at 17 busy parks mainly in the West, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Zion. The agency estimates the increase would generate an additional $70 million to help address backlogged maintenance and infrastructure projects. Opponents, including attorneys general from 10 states, say the higher costs could turn away visitors and might not raise that much money. The Park Service didn't explain why it was cutting back on free days. An Interior Department spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. "The days that we designate as fee-free for national parks mark opportunities for the public to participate in service projects, enjoy ranger-led programs, or just spend time with family and friends exploring these diverse and special places," National Park Service Deputy Director Michael T. Reynolds said in a statement. A group opposed to raising fees criticized the change. "Not everyone can book a helicopter or charter a boat when they want to visit our national parks," said Jesse Prentice-Dunn with the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities in a release. "America's parks must remain affordable for working families." Set to take place from January 25 to 29, the JLF 2018 will be a celebration of literature like no other, hosting over 350 writers from 35 nationalities, the organisers said on Tuesday. After the Mumbai last week, the Festival held its Delhi preview here and the third roster of speakers exemplifies the diversity and depth of intellect from across India and the world. The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival this year will host over 350 writers, thinkers, politicians, journalists and popular cultural icons, representing over 15 Indian and 20 international languages as well as being recipients of awards such as the Nobel Prize, the Man Booker, the Pulitzer Prize, the Padma Vibhusan and the Sahitya Akademi Award. The third list of speakers features a stellar line-up of Indian and international names covering issues as varied and complex as war and geopolitical boundaries, the environment and climate change, dystopia and gender along with broader themes such as science, history, cinema and Shakespeare. Bestselling international novelist Adam Nicolson will speak about the resurgence in nature-writing heralded by the current wave of green literature; cultural historian and Virginia Wolfe expert Alexandra Harris will offer a fresh perspective on the English writers iconoclastic masterpiece Orlando; and Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of the Globe Theatre, will discuss Shakespeares universality and how his works manage to resonate with audiences from China to Syria as seen through Globe to Globe, the recent world tour of Hamlet. Harvard professor Homi Bhabha, with his vast knowledge of post-colonial writing, will also speak at the 2018 edition of the Festival as will forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, whose books inspired the popular American television series Bones; human rights activist and surgeon Ma Thida will speak of her ideals and chronicle Myanmars dramatic history; author and filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir will take part in a candid conversation with musical maestro Zakir Hussain; Philip Norman, author of biographies on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elton John, will recollect anecdotes from the Beatles famed 1968 visit to India; and celebrated naturalist Redmond OHanlon will take the audience on a fascinating journey deep inside Congo, where he went in search of a dinosaur rumoured to have survived in a remote prehistoric lake. Writer and Festival Co-Director William Dalrymple said: I am thrilled to launch our line-up in Delhi. The audiences that come to the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival always contain a large number of Delhi literature-lovers and our list of star writers is always full of Delhi literati. We hope to see more Delhi wallahs than ever at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2018 and I look forward to welcoming them at the Diggi Palace in January. Amongst the Indian speakers are geo-strategist Brahma Chellaney who will discuss the troubled waters of the South China Sea and the Brahmaputra conundrum; C. Raja Mohan will consider the many ideas that make China an Asian powerhouse; author and economist Gurcharan Das will analyse the complex modern triptych of aspiration, greed and instant gratification and the elusive idea of frugality; poet and novelist Jeet Thayil will discuss his latest book, The Book of Chocolate Saints, and his dominant themes of love, hate and savagery. P. Sainath, Indias best known development reporter, will shed light on the heart of darkness within Indias agrarian and rural reality; filmmaker and environmentalist Pradip Kishen will unravel the ancient history and the rugged topography of the mysterious Aravalli hills; debut novelists Prayaag Akbar and Preti Taneja will discuss their chillingly dystopic novels, Leila and We That Are Young respectively and Bollywood royalty Sharmila Tagore will speak to her daughter, Soha Ali Khan, who has authored a witty memoir titled The Perils of Being Moderately Famousa. An online petition against allowing government banks to use your deposits is spreading like wild fire on social media. The petition started by a Mumbai woman has so far got over one lakh signups by the depositors who fear their money lying in banks will be wiped out once the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017, becomes law. The FRDI Bill is expected to come up in the Parliaments winter session that starts from 15 December. However, it is not yet clear what view the Parliament Committee, which is studying the Bill, will take. The Bill has also been opposed by the bank unions. All India Bank Employees Association said it was planning a strike if the government proceeded with the proposed legislation. The unions feel that a new authority proposed under the FRDI Bill will undermine the powers of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as it gets sweeping powers to dismantle public sector financial institutions. RBI Governor Urjit Patel is likely to depose very soon before the Parliamentary committee on the issue. The FRDI Bill proposes to create a legal framework to help financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, rural and cooperative banks in case of insolvency. What has got depositors worried is the controversial bail-in provision which allows banks to use depositors money for resolution of bad loans due to corporate defaults to save banks and other financial institutions. So, in the event of collapse of a financial institution such as bank, its creditors and depositors will have to absorb some of the losses, as per Section 52 of the Bill. So far the bailout measure is used in such cases and the government steps in to save banks. Depositors worry that their hard earned savings left in the bank could be deducted or turned into fixed deposits without any prior notice. Currently, deposits upto Rs 1 lakh are insured by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, while the rest can be forfeited in case of a bank failure. The new Bill has not specified the amount of insured deposits yet. Looking at the public reaction, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was quick to clarify last week that depositors money would be fully protected in the event of a bank failure. He said that the FRDI Bill is before the joint committee of Parliament and whatever are the recommendations of the committee, the government will consider them. Clarifying on the rumours being spread about the Bill, the finance ministry said, the legal provisions in the Bill will ensure that the rights of the depositors are considered at an elevated level over unsecured creditors and dues owed to banks. The government believes that the proposed law seeks to protect customers in times of financial distress. The Bill also provides for the setting up of Financial Resolution Corporation (FRC), a rescue body which will decide if your money can be used in case the bank sinks. The Corporation in consultation with the regulator will take a decision whether it is necessary to bail-in a service provider and absorb the losses to enable it to carry out business and maintain market confidence. The bailouts have been facing the criticism that they incentivise the bank managements to take risk. The new Bill seeks to minimise the costs and time involved in resolving distressed financial institutions. People fear that the governments responsibility of maintaining financial system insolvency will be shifted to depositors. The Bill was first mentioned by Jaitley in his Budget speech in 2016-17. He had said that a systemic vacuum exists with regard to bankruptcy situations and that a comprehensive Code on Resolution of Financial Firms will be introduced in the Parliament. In March 2016, a committee was set up under the chairmanship of Ajay Tyagi, then additional secretary at the ministry of Finance, to draft the bill. Subsequently, the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017, was introduced in the Parliament in August this year. The Bill was then referred to a joint committee of the Parliament that is likely to give its report in the winter session. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by former Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy in which he had accused the West Bengal government of tapping his phone, after the state police authorities denied it. As Justice Vibhu Bakhru was informed by the state Director General of Police, Crime Investigation Department, and the Kolkata Police Commissioner through an affidavit that there was no interception of his phones, the court dismissed Roys plea. Reading from a state police affidavit submitted in a sealed cover, Justice Bakhru said: Apprehensions expressed by the petitioner are without basis and incorrect. The petitioners apprehensions are unfounded. At no point of time has an order been issued to intercept or tap any of the four (phone) numbers mentioned by the petitioner (Roy), the Judge said after going through the affidavit. Roy, who has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had approached the High Court that his mobile phone was being tapped for many months now. He had sought direction to his telecom service provider to submit in the court if any communication was issued by the Centre or the West Bengal government to intercept telephonic messages originating from or received by him or any of his relatives. The West Bengal politician had claimed the state government had been tapping the phones of several other persons not belonging to the ruling TMC. The Delhi government on Tuesday approved the proposal of the Finance and Planning Department to revamp and strengthen its Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) unit so as to ensure effective design, development and implementation of government policies. According to an official statement, besides guiding Outcome Budgeting, this will help the government to conduct independent surveys and evaluations, enable data analysis and assessment of large government datasets. The newly created M&E unit will create a government-wide roadmap for effective use of modern tools and techniques in the government for improved policy making and better delivery of public services. The unit will also lay a roadmap for the government to join the Open Data movement by making large government datasets open to citizens and researchers, said the statement. It is under the present government that such a bold vision for strengthening and modernising the M&E functions of the department has been first articulated, and tangible actions towards the same initiated in the form of a comprehensive Outcome Budget for 2017-18, it quoted Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia as saying. This is because our government believes in the fundamental value of data-driven policymaking and the role scientific surveys and evaluations can play in helping elected governments better deliver public services to citizens and with the highest cost-effectiveness, he said. Accusing the BJP-led Central government of promoting the RSS ideology, Meghalayas opposition Hill State Peoples Democratic Party (HSPDP) on Tuesday demanded that the state be included under the special provision of the Constitutions Article 371. Kickstarting its election campaign here, the HSPDP also castigated the BJPs move to introduce the Uniform Civil Code to fulfill the RSS agenda to make India a Hindu Rashtra. India is known as country of unity in diversity, but the BJP wants to turn it into unity in uniformity. They are even planning to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and the aim of the BJP government at the centre is to have one religion in the country, said HSPDP supremo Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit. Harping on the need to include Meghalaya under the special provisions of Article 371, similar to Article 371 A and Article 371 G being accorded to Nagaland and Mizoram respectively, he said that Meghalaya too needed to be brought under special provisions of the Constitution to protect the political-socio-economic interest of its indigenous people. Addressingparty supporters from across the Khasi-Jaintia Hill region in eastern part of the state, he lamented that even after 45 years of statehood, Meghalaya was lagging behind in socio-economic sphere and asked people to oust the ruling Congress and prevent other national parties from ruling the state. Basaiawmoit said that the HSPDP had stitched a pre-poll alliance with the United Democratic Party to pave way for the regional parties to form the new government. Elections to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly is scheduled to be held on February-March 2018. The Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ruled out any rollback on the decision to provide power to the industry at the subsidised rate of Rs 5 per unit. The CM said the decision had already been taken by his government and ratified by the Cabinet while setting at rest all apprehensions of any change in this regard. The CM said the notification on the industrial power subsidy had been slightly delayed only to give the Department of Industries the time to resolve some critical issues faced by the industry on account of the newly imposed fixed power tariff. The CM stated that the two-part power tariff structure announced by Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) would prevent the benefits of the subsidy from reaching the bulk industrial power consumers, such as the steel industry and the large units with co-generation capacities. He added that he had received various representations from the industry seeking government intervention to minimise the adverse effect of the fixed tariff. Elaborating on the problem, Amarinder pointed out that large units were forced to install massive external power capacities, and were required to pay fixed charges on the same, even though the usage of power from the grid was minimal. The plight of the steel industry was somewhat similar, as it required large power capacities for the cold start of its machines, and had to pay fixed tariff on the same even though the bulk consumption was much lower, said the CM. Taking cognisance the problems faced by the industry, the CM said he had directed the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Power), Chairman Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Secretary Industries to work out the modalities, in consultation with representatives of industry, to resolve the matter. The officials have been asked to come out with their recommendations and submit the same to the regulator by the end of the month, so that the benefit of the subsidy can reach the entire industry in the state, with the fixed tariff impact being minimised, the CM said. If the power subsidy announced by the government fails to positively impact the industry across the board, the whole purpose of providing the industrial power subsidy would be defeated, said Amarinder Singh. The CM also said the industrial subsidy was a sacrosanct promise of his government and a necessity to boost industrial development, to which he was committed. How can the government even think of retracting a promise which is so crucial to bringing the state back on the path of industrial and economic revival? he asked. Actress Priyanka Chopras rise to fame is surely one of the biggest success stories from India, as she has not only earned fame is Bollywood, but is a sensation on International platforms as well. But, everything has a price to pay and even the global celeb had to pay one for the spotlight. Priyanka, who is one of the most popular celebs in both Hollywood and Bollywood, has been trolled time and again by her group of haters. From her comment on Sikkim, to wishing Independence Day in a disrespectful manner (as twitterati quoted it to be), haters have proved their point that PeeCay is their favourite victim for trolling. Check out five times when the Quantico star had to face the wrath of haters on social media; Disrespectful Independence Day post Independence Day imbibes the feeling of patriotism in everyone. Priyanka had posted something on social media on the special occasion, which was not welcomed by many as they found it disrespectful. Priyanka, who was in LA on the occasion of Indias Independence Day, posted a video of herself waving her tricolor dupata in the air. Haters found it shameful and disrespectful and their hatred for the actress was quite evident in the comment section. Poor Priyanka didnt know how much her haters pay attention to her social media activities. Inappropriate dress in front of PM Modi Earlier, this year Priyanka met the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi, and everyone dropped off their sanskari rage on the actress. She met with Modi in Berlin and apparently her dress was too short for a meeting with the Prime Minister. Priyanka, who represents her nation at a global level, was wearing a decent dress but haters needed to showcase their hatred on the public platform. The actress was slammed for exposing her legs in front of Modi and shamefully disrespecting the culture of the nation in foreign land. Met Gala Dress This may not be justified but it was surely funny! Priyanka wore a dramatic trench coat at the Met Gala 2017, which was designed by Ralph Lauren. But, Bollywoods desi girl didnt know that her haters will take trolling a notch higher. Priyankas dress was the talk of social media for quite some time, as fans started to make hilarious trolls on the her outfit. Sikkim insurgency comment Priyanka might have become a popular name in the Hollywood but her fan following back here in her home country is surely dropping! Earlier this year, on the forefront of promoting her regional film, Pahuna, the actress in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival said, It is the first film ever to come out of that region as Sikkim is troubled by insurgency, The actress had to face some serious backlash from her fans and haters, who claimed the actress doesnt know anything about whats going on in her country and even asked the Unicef goodwill ambassador to get her facts straight. Seems like half knowledge is even more dangerous than being clueless. Oscars 2017 outfit Seems like her haters love to troll her on dressing sense and style. Priyanka, was one of the few foreign celebs present at Oscars 2017 and had all eyes on her for her customised outfit. But social media didnt have the same feeling as the people present in attendance. The actress fans back in India made some hilarious remarks on her dress, which got so popular that it started trending on social media. Read the comments below: #Oscars2017: #PriyankaChopra showing up in white, looking like Kaju Katli! Why does she remind me of my bathroom tiles at my home in Delhi? #PriyankaChopra #Oscars2017 With cheetah population in southern Africa found to be 11 per cent smaller than recent estimates, an international team of scientists has called for uplisting the cats conservation status from vulnerable to endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Populations of cheetahs in southern Africa have declined as farming and other human activities push deeper into the free-roaming cats range, said the study published in the journal PeerJ. Fewer than 3,600 adult cheetahs remain in the region, the researchers found. This new assessment is 11 per cent lower than the IUCNs most recent population estimate in 2015, adding urgency to calls from scientists to uplist the cheetahs conservation status. To conduct the study, the researchers mapped and analysed more than two million collared cheetah observations made between 2010 and 2016 across 789,700 square kilometres of open grasslands in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This is the area with the largest population of free-ranging cheetahs left on Earth. Knowing how many cheetahs there are and where they occur is crucial for developing suitable conservation management plans for the species, said Varsha Vijay, a doctoral student at Duke University in the US. Protecting cheetahs who live on, or travel through, privately owned livestock farms or game preserves is a particularly pressing conservation issue, said Florian Weise, programme coordinator at the nonprofit Claws Conservancy, who co-led the research with Vijay. The future of the cheetah relies heavily on working with farmers who host these big cats on their lands and bear the heaviest cost of coexistence, Weise said. Interviews with farmers who share their land with cheetahs showed that nearly half of them consider cheetahs a problem, and about one in four actively kill or trap the cats to protect their herds. These losses can cause population declines, especially when reproductive conditions are not optimal, the researchers noted. Here is a thought for conversation around the Christmas dinner table: would you define yourself as compassionate? Lets dive a little deeper. On a compassion scale of 1 to 10, where do you fall? How much empathy or concern do you show for others? The point being that compassion is your choice. You are not born with it, like the color of your eyes. It is wholly voluntary. When you volunteer at the Salvation Army, you show compassion. What happens though when the court orders someone to do 20 hours of community service? To say that a court-ordered felon showed a great deal of kindness by carrying out their community service sentence even sounds absurd. His 20-hour display of warmth and charity was something to really aspire to. Not so. Even if the felon had a change of heart and was remorseful as he carried out his community service sentence, we do not credit it as compassion, all because it was mandatory. Is it ever possible to mandate compassion? Teach it to your kids, model it in the work place or encourage it in society, yes, but force another human to be compassionate -- that defies the meaning of the word. Agree so far? Here is the challenge. If that is true, then we as a society and political leaders need to rethink the way we look at our justification for who we vote for or what laws we support. We cannot say we support the legislation because it was the compassionate thing to do. Everything that government does at the local, state, or federal level, is done with the force of strength behind it. For example, you believe that you are paying too many taxes, that there are programs the government funds that you believe are excessive, so you are only going to pay 50 percent of your tax bill. Ultimately, you are looking at jail time. The reality is government mandates. That is the very nature of the word law. It is not optional. It is not voluntary. Government creates laws that should be logical and apply to the community as a whole. When a voter or politician votes to take money from the populace by force, the motivation cannot be attributed to compassion, charity, or kindness. Consider this: a muscular man approaches a pedestrian and takes his wallet by force, removes $5 and explains to the pedestrian that there is still plenty remaining, then heads over to the corner of the sidewalk and gives $4 to the homeless man (keeping $1 for administration fees and his retirement pension). It would be an extreme distortion of the word to call this scenario an act of compassion. It has to be called something else. By definition, government cannot be compassionate. Compassion requires free will. However, individual politicians can and should show charity and compassion with their own time, talents and treasures, but this is entirely different from legislating the use of others time, talents and treasures. You say I am starting to rub the fur the wrong way, then lets turn this cat around. Mandating taxes and using force to carry out law, does not make government evil. Government has its own very distinct role, and the people of a free will society have another distinct role. Free will people have the role of charity and kindness, and government has been founded as the maker of laws. If people in a free will society act by force, we call them vigilantes or worse. Citizens in a free society should not play the role of government, and government should not play the role of the citizen. Individuals in a free society are the ones that can carry out charity, kindness and compassion. Join me this holiday season in exercising true compassion and charity by freely giving of our time and treasures to a nonprofit, church, or those less fortunate. Voluntary generosity genuinely shows the beautiful side of humanity. Merry Christmas! No peace can last, or ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the principle that governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that no right anywhere exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were property, said President Woodrow Wilson of America in a 1917 address. The issue of unilateral secession has always been controversial. The recent case of Catalonia only highlights the continuing confusion in dealing with the issue. International law contains neither a right of unilateral secession nor the explicit denial of such a right. Its no doubt true that international law places great importance on the territorial integrity of nation states. The creation of new states is generally determined by the domestic law of the existing state from which the new entity secedes. But the right of self-determination allows, in certain circumstances, to secede unilaterally. Article 1 of the United Nations Charter mandates developing friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace; also Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights both declare that All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Even the UN General Assemblys Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, GA Res. 2625 (XXV) (Declaration on Friendly Relations, 1970), states that by virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples enshrined in the Charter, all people have the right freely to determine, without external interference, their political status and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development, and every State has the duty to respect this right in accordance with the provisions of the Charter. After the end of World War II, many new countries came into existence using the right to self-determination. But creation of new countries thereafter through unilateral secession has been a very difficult task. To take the case of Kosovo, following the Kosovo War, UN Resolution 1244 (1999) established an international civil and security presence in Kosovo with full civil and political authority and sole responsibility for the governance of Kosovo. As per UNMIK regulation 1999/1 all legislative and executive authority with respect to Kosovo was vested in UNMIK and exercised by the Special Representative. Thus an international territorial administration was set up and the primary reasons were humanitarian purposes, stabilisation of Kosovo and for the re-establishment of a basic public order. The interim administration was thus designed to suspend temporarily Serbias exercise of its authority flowing from its continuing sovereignty over the territory of Kosovo. Kosovos declaration of independence was adopted on 17 February 2008 by the Assembly of Kosovo. In the Kosovo Advisory Opinion (2010, ICJ) the ICJ was asked to opine on whether or not the declaration of independence was in accordance with international law. The Court observed that the purpose of the legal regime established under resolution 1244 (1999) was to establish, organise and oversee the development of local institutions of self-government in Kosovo under the aegis of the interim international presence. The purpose of resolution 1244 was thus to establish a temporary, exceptional legal regime which superseded the Serbian legal order and which aimed at the stabilisation of Kosovo and that it was designed to do so on an interim basis. Terming the declaration of independence as not illegal, it observed that the declaration of independence reflected the awareness of its authors that the final status negotiations had failed and that a critical moment for the future of Kosovo had been reached. The procedure employed in relation to the declaration differed from that employed by the Assembly of Kosovo for the adoption of the legislation. Also the declaration was signed by all those present when it was adopted, including the President of Kosovo who was not a member of the Assembly of Kosovo. The self-reference of the persons adopting the declaration of independence as the democratically-elected leaders of our people immediately preceded the actual declaration of independence within the text. Again, the declaration was not forwarded to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for publication in the Official Gazette and the silence of the Special Representative in the face of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 suggested that he did not consider that the declaration was an act of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government designed to take effect within the legal order for the supervision of which he was responsible. Thus, the authors of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 did not act as one of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government within the Constitutional Framework, but rather as persons who acted together in their capacity as representatives of the people of Kosovo outside the framework of the interim administration and thus the declaration was held legal under International Law. On the question whether the authors of the declaration of independence acted in violation of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) the Court distinguished this case with that of Cyprus wherein the Security Council had reaffirmed its position that a Cyprus settlement must be based on a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded. The Security Council thus set out the specific conditions relating to the permanent status of Cyprus. But in the case of Kosovo, under the terms of resolution 1244 the Security Council did not reserve for itself the final determination of the situation in Kosovo and remained silent on the conditions for the final status of Kosovo. The Security Council had earlier condemned many declarations of independence, viz. Security Council resolutions 216 (1965) and 217 (1965), concerning Southern Rhodesia; Security Council resolution 541 (1983), concerning Northern Cyprus, and Security Council resolution 787 (1992), concerning the RepublikaSrpska. In all of those instances the Security Council was making a determination as regards the concrete situation existing at the time that those declarations of independence were made; the illegality attached to the declarations of independence thus stemmed not from the unilateral character of these declarations but from the fact that they were, or would have been, connected with the unlawful use of force or other egregious violations of norms of general international law, in particular those of a peremptory character (jus cogens). The controversial Crimean referendum was held in 2014 to determine its future legal status. Though the referendum overwhelmingly supported the secession from Ukraine and joining Russia, the international community rejected the referendum primarily because the result was achieved by Russias use of or at least threat of force. A draft Security Council resolution seeking to declare the referendum as having no legal validity was vetoed by Russia. This declaration of independence was held illegal as International law clearly prohibit any change of legal status of a territory in violation of a peremptory norm. In the Quebec Referendum case, the Supreme Court of Canada in Reference by the Governor in Council concerning Certain Questions relating to the Secession of Quebec from Canada [1998, Supreme Court of Canada] was asked to determine whether international law gave the National Assembly, legislature or government of Quebec the right to effect its secession from Canada unilaterally. It was also asked to determine whether a right to self-determination under international law existed which would give the National Assembly, legislature or government of Quebec the right to effect secession from Canada unilaterally. The Supreme Court of Canada held that even a clear expression of self-determination by the people of Quebec would impose no obligations upon the other provinces or the federal government. But the continued existence and operation of the Canadian constitutional order cannot remain indifferent to the clear expression of a clear majority of Quebecers that they no longer wish to remain in Canada as that would amount to the assertion that other constitutionally recognised principles necessarily trump the clearly expressed democratic will of the people of Quebec. Failure of the duty to undertake negotiations and pursue them according to constitutional requirements undermine a new governments claim to legitimacy which is generally a precondition for recognition by the international community. Thus, a Quebec that had negotiated in conformity with constitutional principles and values in the face of unreasonable intransigence on the part of other participants at the federal or provincial level would be more likely to be recognized than a Quebec which did not itself act according to constitutional principles in the negotiation process. The right to external self-determination, which entails the possibility of choosing (or restoring) independence, has only been bestowed upon two classes of peoples (those under colonial rule or foreign occupation), based upon the assumption that both classes make up entities that are inherently distinct from the colonialist Power and the occupant Power and that their territorial integrity, all but destroyed by the colonialist or occupying Power, should be fully restored (Cassese, Antonio. Self-determination of peoples: A legal reappraisal). The other clear case where a right to external self-determination accrues is where the people are subject to alien subjugation, domination or exploitation outside a colonial context.The third but much disputed and controversial ground is when people are blocked from the meaningful exercise of the right to self-determination internally, they are entitled, as a last resort, to exercise it by secession. The Supreme Court observed that international law right to self-determination only generates, at best, a right to external self-determination in situations of former colonies; where a people is oppressed, as for example under foreign military occupation; or where a definable group is denied meaningful access to government to pursue its political, economic, social and cultural development. The people in question are entitled to a right to external self-determination because they have been denied the ability to exert internally their right to self-determination. A state whose government represents the whole of the people or peoples resident within its territory, on a basis of equality and without discrimination, and respects the principles of self-determination in its internal arrangements, is entitled to maintain its territorial integrity under international law and to have that integrity recognised by other states. But the Supreme Court further held that although there is no right under the Constitution or in international law to unilateral secession, that is secession without negotiation, this does not rule out the possibility of an unconstitutional declaration of secession leading to a de facto secession. The ultimate success of such a secession would be dependent on recognition by the international community, which is likely to consider the legality and legitimacy of secession having regard to various facts in determining whether to grant or withhold recognition. Even if unilateral declarations of independence may not be illegal in all circumstances, the ICJ has rightly observed in the Kosovo Advisory Opinion that the illegality attached to certain declarations of independence arise not from the unilateral character of these declarations as such, but from the fact that they were, or would have been, connected with the unlawful use of force or other egregious violations of norms of general international law, in particular those of a peremptory character (jus cogens). (The writers are Mumbai-based advocates and legal consultants) Rasagolla, the king of sweets, forms an integral aspect of the culinary culture, history and tradition of India, especially its eastern part. The sensitivities surrounding the recent debate over the claim of origin and ownership of Rasagolla by the states of West Bengal and Odisha has certainly been unfair and unnecessary. The importance of GIs in products like Rasagolla, however, goes far beyond trade and commerce; it is linked to Indias culinary history and culture. It has to be understood in the wider context of protecting and preserving intellectual property pertaining to traditional cultures, assets, and production methods. The West Bengal Governments penchant to get a GI tag for Rasagolla led it to the Geographical Indication (GI) Registry, Chennai vide an Application seeking GI protection. According to the Intellectual property India website, GI Number-533 was registered on 14 November 2017 in the name of West Bengal State Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation Limited with respect to Banglar rasgolla. Experts believe that the tag could not have been given for the sweet as a whole since Rasgulla or Rasagolla is a generic term. The West Bengal Government went into a celebratory mode claiming that it had won over Odisha in the battle for rights over the ball-shaped white, juicy and spongy sweet though GI tag was denied on Rasagulla which is a generic term. Battle lines were meticulously drawn for the boundary-sharing states in terms of food history, culture, anecdotes and possibly reams of old newspapers, testimonies from traditional confectioners and folklore. The West Bengal government claimed that the iconic Rosogolla was invented by Nabin Chandra Das, a notable Bengali confectioner in 1868. On the other hand, according to Odisha Government, the origin of rasagolla is rooted to the Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri and dates back to the 12th century. Odisha also cited Pundit Suryanarayan Dashs Sahitya Akademi award-winning Odia Sahitya ra Itihasa, which mentions Dandi Ramayan and its pointers to Odia food including rasgolla. But the fallacious fight is destined to take the battle nowhere. Rasagolla is no more confined to Bengal or Odisha, it has become a pan-Indian favourite making the GI verification irrelevant. Experts believe that it is a ridiculous idea to even think of getting a GI for something like the rasagolla. What commercial or competitive advantage does it offer? It is like seeking a GI tag for your daily Roti. Whether it originated in Bengal or Odisha, it is a popular sweetmeat across the country and also in many parts of the world where Indians reside. Protection of origin-based products can be traced to the medieval period and southern Europe France was the first nation to introduce legal protection for products linked to a geographical region. Over time, the legal frameworks protecting origin-based products travelled to different parts of the world. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) contains the current framework for the international protection of GIs. Consequently, member countries frame their own rules which are complemented by a series of grandfathering or insulating provisions. A GI sign symbolises a product originates from a particular place and its qualities, characteristics and reputation are due to the place of origin. For example, Darjeeling tea which is popular across the globe and cannot be replicated elsewhere because of the unique climate, soil and hilly slopes of Darjeeling. The same can be said for sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France and so on. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) defines GI as, A sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. It clarifies, In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production. This definition underlines a twin test to be satisfied before granting GI i.e. the product should originate in a specific region/place and its qualities, characteristics or reputation should be uniquely attributable to such region/ place. The Indian Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 also specifies similar test. The second aspect requires specifying from the perspective of uniqueness of the region and not from history. Bengals claims have been based entirely on history. Similarly, Odishas rebuttal also rested on the 600-year-old culinary history at the Puri temple. Both sides failed to establish the linkage of Rasagolla to their respective regions and specific chacerstics of the area. Without considering this basic point in question, the GI registry has erroneously granted GI tag to Bangla Rasagolla though Section 9(f) of the GI Act, 1999 prohibits registration of generic names or indications of goods that are not protected or ceased to be protected, or which have fallen into disuse. The king of sweets deserves not to be monopolised by any state or any person in India. West Bengals GI Application sailed through easily in the absence of any pre-grant opposition. Section 14 of the GI Act, 1999, provides for challenge to the application by way of opposition, once the application has been advertised after its examination. A browsing of GI website reflects an unopposed and easy sail-through for West Bengal which suggests either complacency or lack of awareness by the Odisha Government or any other party for that matter. Surprisingly, grant of GI tag to the most popular sweet escaped the attention of lakhs of sweet producers and vendors across the country. However, certain aspects could have been validly raised at pre-grant opposition stage. First, the West Bengal State Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation, the applicant, is not a Sweet producers Association as contemplated in the Act. Second, the application did not demonstrate how the Bangalar Rasagolla was unique to the state of West Bengal as echoed in Section 8 of the GI Act which is its heart and soul (e.g. Darjeeling Tea, Sambalpuri Saree, Coorg Orange etc.). Third, the GI application failed to demonstrate how the Banglar Rasogolla is different from similar rasogollas produced across the country. This issue reveals that GI is not properly understood, applied and enforced in India. The GI regulatory framework is still wishy-washy and isnt as robust as its patent counterpart. IP rights in the form of GI are bureaucratically channelled through an Intellectual Property Office at the national level which is facing relative obscurity in this area of law. In the instant case, there is a sense that the conceptual underpinnings of GIs have not been rigorously examined. The heterogeneity of concepts and forms coupled with scholarly neglect also precipitates a more fundamental question on their wisdom in the current episode. This opens up the space to fundamentally reassess the basis as well as techniques for GI protection in India which can be a subject matter of adjudication before Appellate Courts. (The writer is an Advocate, Supreme Court of India) The Army on Wednesday deployed a team from the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) to trace three soldiers missing after an avalanche hit their post in Gurez Sector of the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. Defence Ministry sources said here that the HAWS team from Sonamarg was deployed at the spot on the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipora district after the avalanche on Tuesday morning. HAWS is the Armys training establishment for special operations in very high altitudes, glaciated, and snow-bound areas. Forthright in politics, three-time state BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) chief from Una, Satpal Singh Satti is hopeful of change in the power in Himachal Pradesh in 2017. Three-time MLA in a row from Una, Satti, who is locked in the poll battle again, finds that corruption and inefficiency of Virbhadra government and radical decisions by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will see the ouster of Congress government in the hill state. In the run-up to HP Assembly poll results on 18 December, Satti opens up on various poll issues in an interview with Sanjeev Kumar in Shimla. Excerpts: Q. What were the key issues that dominated 2017 polls in HP? A. Corruption was one of the main issues, which dominated the electoral debate. The Congress government in state was completely mired with allegations of corruption, inefficiency and its patronage to various mafias including drugs and forest. The worsening law and order, crime against women and growing sense of insecurity among people in Congress rule also weighed high in the minds of people. Q. What is the impact of demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST) as poll issues? A. The demonetisation is not at all an issue now. The GST also did not have much impact on elections. Q. What about the debate on price-rise and closure of several small businesses after the implementation of GST? A. In my opinion, only tax-evaders are crying hoarse over the issue of GST. The GST was much awaited and much needed reform in the country, which would increase transparency and ensure better tax regime in the country. There should be an independent study over how the GST has impacted the business. It should be noted that GST has brought down the prices of many commodities and it has ended over 1100 toll tax barriers which would prove a boon for transporters across the country. Q. Why BJP did not make GST a poll issue then? A. It isnt the case. But the reality is that negative things or criticism sells better than its positive effects. The irony behind the opposition of GST is that the tax reform was initiated way back during the Congress led government at Centre. The new tax regime was prepared in consultation with all the states whether they were Congress ruled or BJP. The Congress led UPA government didnt implement the decision for the fear of initial backlash. But our Prime Minister NarendraModi wasnt bogged down by such predictions and implemented it. India needs leaders like Modi to implement harsh decisions like GST which would prove a major economic reform in the country. Q. What made BJP push the Modi face back and declare the CM face in HP in the last leg of campaign? A. It was our electoral strategy to contest polls on policies of BJP led government in centre and have a CM candidate. It was all part of our plan. Q. Did Prem Kumar Dhumals projection as CM face yield desired results? A. Yes, it did. Dhumal is a senior BJP leader, who has served the state for long. Such leaders always have a personal connect with people of the state, which appeals to the masses. BJP would reap benefits of the decision by forming government in state with clear majority. Q. Whats your take on CM Virbhadra Singh versus BJP jibe? A. Six-time CM, Virbhadra Singh is the tallest leader of Congress, who dominated the government as well as party in last five years. Many senior Congress leaders and ministers were against him and they were seen in direct conflict with him, that too in public domain. The BJP contested polls as a family and unitedly in each election. Given the divided Congress scenario, Singh was obviously at the centre of poll battle in Himachal. Q. What about Modi governments impact in HP? A. The people of state are positive and happy over BJP rule in centre and the policies of PM Modi. Modi has launched various schemes and policies for welfare of common man of the country. The BJP government has allocated various important projects to Himachal including AIIMS, railway lines expansion and various road projects worth crores of rupees. However, the inefficient and corrupt Congress government failed to implement the projects and schemes, thus, depriving the people of state of their benefits. As Gujarat braces up for the second and final phase of its assembly elections, a section of the people comprising nearly one-tenth of the population feel left out of the political discourse and cacophony of the campaigns which lasted for over a month. Though people may differ about the reasons behind the phenomenon, there is agreement amongst all Muslims comprising nine to 12 per cent of Gujarats population have been side-lined in the election narrative this time. While the ruling BJP is clear in their thinking that there should not be any appeasement of any community, the secular Congress too has cleverly steered clear of the Muslims during their campaigning this time despite its tallest leader from Gujarat being Ahmed Patel. Except Ahmedbhai, as he is fondly called by his party men, there was no Muslim leader visible among the Congress campaigners despite many urban clusters like Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Porbandar and Bhavnagar having sizable Muslim population. Muslims have been ignored as both the parties are busy in cornering Hindu votes which has been divided now, lawyer and human rights activist Shamshad Khan Pathan told The Statesman. The Congress is pursuing a soft Hindutva policy and thus needs to stay away from Muslims, Pathan said, adding that the BJP needs to woo the Hindus more as its solid Patel vote bank has got fragmented this time. The Congress fear of being seen as pro-Muslim was vindicated when the party had rushed to deny any move to make Ahmed Patel the chief minister as soon as posters with that claim appeared in Surat localities with sizable Patel presence. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Gujarat politics can guess that the purpose of the posters claiming Ahmed Patel as chief minister candidate was to scare the section of Patels who have decided to vote for the grand old party due to the atrocities on them in wake of their agitation demanding reservations. Muslims are upset with the Congress, but they have no option, says minority rights activist Mujaheed Nafees who thinks that there is a paradigm shift in campaign style this time. Trapped in soft Hindutva, the Congress has kept the Muslims out of the political discourse, said Mujaheed adding that the strategy has prevented communal polarisation. But a section of Muslims would love to be left alone, out of the political narrative so that they can carry on with their life and livelihood in peace. That may be the strategic reason behind many Muslims with Fez caps and burqas attending ruling BJPs meetings and rallies and, maybe, casting their votes too. Nevertheless, communitys activists insist that such Muslims in Gujarat would be only a miniscule in number. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi violated security guidelines by flying in a single engine seaplane. In a statement on his twitter page, he said: How is it that the security guidelines were relaxed for this flight? No Z+ protectee is allowed to fly in a single engine aircraft, much less the PM of our country. On the last day of campaign for the second and final phase of Gujarat elections, Modi flew in a single engine seaplane that landed on the Sabarmati river. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will once again visit Gujarat on Thursday, the second final day of polling in the assembly election, to cast his vote. Many other senior state and national leaders will also be here to cast their votes. Modi, who returned to the national capital on Tuesday, after extensively campaigning for four consecutive days and having practically made Gujarat his home for more than a month, will come to Ahmedabad, where he will cast his vote at Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah too will be in the city to cast his vote from his former assembly constituency, Naranpura. He had vacated the seat to contest for a Rajya Sabha seat from the state. Another Rajya Sabha member from BJP representing Gujarat Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be in city to cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad. Former Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani too will be in Ahmedabad city to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar. State Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi. Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi was welcomed by party leaders and workers amidst much fanfare and gusto at his residence at 12 Tughlak Lane, a day after he was elected party chief. Delhi Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Maken, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and party workers and leaders from Delhi and Karnataka were present as he returned, bringing to an end a three-month election campaign in Gujarat. The 47-year-old Rahul will formally take over the reins of the party on December 16, two days before the counting of votes for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, the outcome of which could be a trendsetter ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Kalvari, the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines handed over by shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Limited, will be commissioned into the Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Thursday. The prime minister will unveil its plaque at the commissioning ceremony on Thursday , an official told PTI. This will be preceded by reading out the commissioning warrant, hoisting of colours and breaking of commissioning pennant with national anthem, the official said. Pennant is a tapering flag on a ship, especially one flown at the masthead of a vessel in commission. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding of the Western Naval Command, and top defence officials will attend the commissioning ceremony. Kalvari underwent around 120 days of extensive sea trials and tests for various equipment, the official said, adding the vessel is expected to bolster Indias maritime prowess. The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai as part of Project-75 of the Indian Navy. The technology utilised in the Scorpene has ensured superior stealth features such as advanced acoustic silencing techniques, low radiated noise levels, hydro-dynamically optimised shape and the ability to launch a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons, an official of the MDL said. Kalvari is named after the dreaded tiger shark, a deadly deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean. The first Kalvari, commissioned on December 8, 1967, was also the first submarine of the Indian Navy. It was decommissioned on May 31, 1996 after nearly three decades of service. Amid growing challenge from China on regional issues, India is pulling out all the stops to accord an unprecedented welcome to leaders of ten ASEAN nations who will be the chief guests at the Republic Day parade on 26 January. Commerce, culture and connectivity will be three Cs of the India-ASEAN relationship during the high-profile India-ASEAN commemorative summit to be held a day before Republic Day, highly-placed sources said here on Wednesday. The Republic Day celebrations will see the leaders of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei descending on the Indian capital in what will be a landmark event that will give a new impetus to Indias Act East policy. All the ASEAN leaders have accepted Indias invitation to attend the event, sources said. They said India and ASEAN countries were currently discussing in Jakarta the joint declaration to be issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ASEAN leaders at the end of their day-long summit. The fight against terrorism would be an important component of the declaration. The focus would also be on connectivity and economic cooperation in the joint declaration, given the fact that both India and ASEAN countries are looking at giving a thrust to their strategic relationship. Sources said New Delhi was hopeful of completing the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project to connect the seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Myanmar by sea by the end of 2019. India was also looking at providing the much-needed stability in the South China Sea, where some of the ASEAN countries are locked in territorial disputes with Beijing. While not directly questioning Chinas aggressive posturing in the South China Sea, New Delhi has repeatedly stressed the need for freedom of navigation in international waters. India would also lay emphasis on the role of the youth by hosting nearly 500 children from ASEAN countries during the Republic Day celebrations and exposing them to the Indian way of life. At the religious-cultural level, India has asked all ten ASEAN countries to send their Ramayana troupes to perform during the Republic Day celebrations. Ramayana is an important link between India and each of the ten ASEAN nations, said sources. They denied that there was friction between India and ASEAN over the quadrilateral set-up by India, Australia, Japan and the US, which held its first meeting in the Philippines on the margins of the ASEAN Summit last month. All ASEAN nations wanted India to play its rightful role in the regional security architecture, they added. News broke this fall that Chronic Wasting Disease, which affects deer, elk, and moose, had been detected in free-ranging deer in Montana for the first time. The discovery garnered considerable media coverage and dire predictions for hunting in Montana. Overlooked is this question: What if the sky isnt falling? Last year, state authorities in Arkansas detected CWD for the first time. One detection soon turned into dozens, and close to 100 animals were eventually found with CWD. Experts believe that CWD actually existed quietly for years in Arkansas before it happened to be detected. Could that be the case in Montana as well? CWD was first detected in Colorado in a research facility in the 1960s. It was then found in Wyoming in 1985. Free-ranging animals spread it through the state. (While deer farms are often unfairly blamed for CWD, Wyoming has none.) Montana state authorities also werent doing a lot of testing for CWD. The state was only testing around 550 deer per year for CWD, according to public records. Thats a fraction of 1 percent of our deer and elk population. Its certainly possible, if not quite likely, that CWD has been in Montana for years and no one noticed. And yet, hunting opportunities have still been plenty. Just as they were in Arkansas. We shouldnt expect CWD to affect hunting opportunities in the future, either. Researchers in Wisconsin examined whether CWD affected deer mortality and found no evidence that CWD was substantially increasing mortality rates. Researchers in Colorado found that CWD effects on mule deer were so small that they could be omitted as a factor. Hunting may fluctuate from year to year depending on factors like wolves and weather, but CWD isnt something to worry about. What about the health aspect? Its understandable that people are concerned. However, there is no evidence that CWD has ever affected a person, according to health authorities. And it may never. The World Health Organization points out that scrapie (a cousin of CWD that affects sheep) has never jumped the species barrier to affect humans, and weve been farming sheep and eating mutton for centuries. Similarly, a 13-year experiment in Wyoming exposed cows to CWD-positive areas, but none became infected. Obviously, dont harvest animals that look sick. And any hunter can get his harvest tested for CWD, just to be sure. But worrying about CWD is like distressing over getting struck by lightning. So what should be done? Montanans deserve to know which areas have CWD. That means the state needs to do more testing (which it should have been doing all along). This will give a better idea of where CWD is and is not. The state can also contribute to research into developing a vaccine for CWD. This may not ever be practical to use broadly in the wild, but it will allow us to stamp out CWD in closed environments, such as research facilities or farms. In the long run, CWD will likely continue to slowly spread over time. Well continue to hear about it for the foreseeable future. But armed with the facts, hunters might wonder if CWD isnt the equivalent of a tree falling in the forest. A hot serving of kanda poha or a plateful of spicy pav bhaji are what we generally associate Maharashtrian food with. But hold on! the cuisine of this second most populous Indian state is much more than this. To put it simply, the Maharashtrian or Marathi cuisine is an eclectic mix of fresh flavours infused in tastefully and traditionally made dishes, which are more of a ghar ka khana than being a rich or glamorous menu. The state boasts of a variety of items. Assembling a Marathi thali is no mean task as it ideally comprises food from the cosmopolitan Mumbai, the spicy menu of Kolhapur and Malwan, and also savouries from Khandesh, Nagpur and Pune. Celebrity chef Kunal Kapur feels thali is a term given by restaurants so it becomes easier for them to create a plate with basic dishes from a certain region and sell it with variations like vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. A thali belongs to a community. Within Maharashtra there are different communities, Kapur, who hosts the Utsav Thalis of India show on television, tells PTI. He says in Maharashtra, a Kolhapuri thali will have pandhra rasa (non-vegetarian white curry dish), tambda rasa (red curry) and other dishes unique to Kolhapur. Similarly, theres a Malwan region, the thali of which is made on special occasions. They have lot of seafood in it, whereas Kolhapuri has lot of mutton in it, he says. There are sub-categories of thalis from every community, that makes and prepares it, and they are all collectively known as Maharashtrian thalis, he said. We have a lot of variety, but there certain tips which across the board everybody loves, like kombdi vada (chicken curry served with rice flour vade in Konkan region), which everybody relates that this is Maharashtrian. The dish is very reminiscent of Maharashtrian food. Maharashtrian food also has pitla-bhakar (gram flour curry with rice flour or sorghum bread), zunka (gram flour based dry dish)-bhakar among the vegetarian options. Food writer, author and television personality Kunal Vijaykar shares similar views, saying, You cant categorise Maharashtrian cuisine and one needs to taste the Malwani, Kolhapuri, Nagpur or Vidarbha thali to have an experience. According to him, a Maharashtrian thali will have some fish curry or prawn curry from the coast, sukka (dry) mutton with the tambda rasa, pandhra rasa from Kolhapur, food from Nagpur, the Saoji cuisine, which is very spicy, bhakri and varan bhat (yellow dal and rice) with ghee on it. He says an ideal thali would also have usal (representing Brahmani food from Pune) made out of matki (moth bean sprout) or moong (bean) and some dry sabzi like potato, snacks like patrel (colocasia rolls with gram flour filling) and koshimbir made out of cucumber, and green chutney. That would be an elaborate Maharashtrian thali. Kapur says Maharashtra, being a confluence of a lot of people and cultures, the USP of its food is the use of spices. It is not a bland cuisine, but a spicy one, and the prominent thing is Maharashtrians cant do without chilly, he says. The use of coconut is also quite abundant, specially in the coastal areas. At the same time, I find Maharashtrian dishes to be quite rustic and simple. They are not refined, strained pureed sort of curries, they are coarse, very homely and very strong on flavours. Even a drink like a solkadhi or a kokum curry, its very pungent, Kapur says. There is also the unique and distinct cuisine of Maharashtras very small Pathare Prabhu community. There is not a single Pathare Prabhu restaurant in the country or outside. So, to enjoy a Pathare Prabhu meal, you have to know somebody and have it at their home. So that ways Maharashtrian food is very very unique, he says. Kapur went with Vijaykar, who hails from the Pathare Prabhu community, to the house of the latters friend where they relished some unique recipes. There Kunal (Vijaykar) showed me how to cook a Pathare Prabhu pomfret, which they call thande tel ka tadka. They dont heat the oil, just marinate with everything, oil, add water and give a boil and its done, Kapur says. Vijaykar says in Maharashtrian cuisine, a lot of similarity is due to common use of masala and the difference comes from the region, like the coast has coconut, while the mountainous areas use more black masala. He says the food of his (Pathare Prabhu) community is largely based on the pardhi sambhar masala- a sort of garam masala the primary ingredient in most of their dishes. Unlike other Maharashtrian foods, our food doesnt contain huge amount of coconut. There is huge use of garlic in and our dishes are very simple, not more than four ingredients, very simple to make and very tasty, he says. We have a dish called bhujana, its a very simple dish you can make it with fish, potatoes or egg or prawns or wal, its just four ingredients, he says. We are a small community, around 5,000 pople in the whole world, still our cuisine is going strong and with social media spreading awareness about it so theres a lot of interest in it and I am happy for it, Vijaykar says. Sunny Pawaskar, who owns three restaurants serving Maharashtrian food in adjoining Thane, says they are trying to bring foods of the entire state, including western Maharashtra, Konkan, Khandesh, Marathwada and Vidarbha, on one platform since he feels these cuisines are not promoted much. Earlier everybody used to associate Maharashtrian food with vada pav, misal pav, thalipeeth, sabudana khichdi. People still know only a handful of dishes like bharli vangi (stuffed eggplant), Kolhapuri mutton, while Khandesh, Marathwada and Vidarbha regions are almost untouched, he says. India, Australia and Japan on Wednesday underscored their support for the Asean blocs centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region, amid Chinas growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and rising influence in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The three countries held their fourth Trilateral Dialogue here at the Foreign Secretay-level, a month after the three countries alongwith the US held their first Quadrilateral Dialogue. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar hosted the dialogue which was attended by Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Frances Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J. Sugiyama. The three sides highlighted the growing convergence of their respective countries interests in the Indo-Pacific region and underscored their shared commitment to peace, democracy, economic growth and a rules-based order in the region, the Eternal Affairs Ministry said in a statement. They underscored their support for Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) centrality in the political and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region, the statement said. It stated that the three sides stressed the need for greater collaboration on maritime security and domain awareness and disaster response capabilities. They also renewed their resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for enhanced cooperation on counter-terrorism. They deliberated on strengthening regional connectivity as well. Wednesdays meeting comes a day after the India-Australia 2+2 Foreign Secretaries and Defence Secretaries Dialogue and a month after the India-Australia-Japan-US quadrilateral dialogue in the Philippines on the sidelines of the East Asia and Asean summits in which the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region was discussed. With Chinas increasing influence in the Indian Ocean region and aggressiveness in the South China Sea, the trilateral meeting can be seen as a reassertion of the freedom of navigation in the open seas. Japan is also locked in a dispute with China over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both the nations. North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programmes is another reason for the significance of the trilateral meeting. According to Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, his country has placed India right at the centre of its strategic Indo-Pacific policy. With the changing global scenario, Australia too is looking at India as a potential partner in promoting regional security and stability. The first India-Australia-Japan trilateral meeting was held in India in 2015, the next one in Japan and third in Australia in April 2017. In Wednesdays meeting, the Japanese Vice Minister proposed to host the next round in Tokyo. Israels air force hit the Gaza Strips Hamas rulers today after Palestinians fired at southern Israel on Monday, the army said. Late Tuesday night the military said that an undefined projectile was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was very probably a rocket but that it was not clear where it fell. Palestinians in the coastal territory have recently fired both rockets and mortar rounds into the Jewish state An army statement gave Israels reply to the latest fire. In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel Air Force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip, it said, without elaborating. There were no reports of casualties on either side. A wave of rocket fire follows US President Donald Trumps statement on Wednesday recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Light snow this evening giving way to partly cloudy conditions late. Low around 20F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80%.. Tonight Light snow this evening giving way to partly cloudy conditions late. Low around 20F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80%. The Disaster Artist, based on the true story of an actor-director wannabe, proves to be a surprise entry in the race for year-end awards recognition. Its a comedic tour de force for James Franco, who plays the mysteriously eccentric but earnest Tommy Wiseau. However, its also an impressive effort for Franco the director, who until now has mostly dabbled in film shorts and documentaries. He stars along with his brother Dave Franco, who plays Wiseaus best friend Greg Sestero, as two actors just trying to make their way. They meet in a San Francisco acting class where Tommy gives a rather unusual take on a pivotal scene in A Streetcar Named Desire. Greg is blown away by Tommys fearlessness in the class and the scene, and they forge a friendship that leads them to move to Los Angeles where Tommy has an apartment. Attempting to tackle the movie business proves to be a chore. Eventually, they decide to go all Mickey Rooney and make their own movie. Based on Sesteros book, The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, they truly create that a movie titled The Room, which might rival Ed Woods Plan 9 from Outer Space as the worst piece of cinema ever created. Directing from a script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who collaborated on The Fault in Our Stars, the filmmakers document all of the hilarious eccentricities that Wiseau brings to his directorial debut as well as Sesteros reaction to some of what hes doing. Many of those moments are not only dismaying, but also hilarious. Through his lens, Franco reveals a film with layers worth peeling away. The first explores the ups and downs of friendships and how Wiseau and Sestero deal with them. In some instances, its not an outcome many would consider acceptable. They certainly make for humorous fodder mostly. The beauty of The Disaster Artist, however, comes from watching the Franco brothers play off one another. Perhaps the fact theyre siblings contribute to the easiness they display in some genuinely tension-filled moments. As for their individual performances, James transforms himself into this ditzy character with passion and intelligence who is absolutely difficult to hate. Dave is more the straight man, but his reactions to the proceedings probably mirror the ones any member of the audience would have. The key to The Disaster Artist and Francos success: He finds the heart and soul of the film. Its not difficult to predict what those things are, ultimately, but there will be no spoilers here. Go see it. 2017 Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) Visit the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) at www.ohio.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 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. Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Position No.: 10026392 Vacancy Notice: 032/2017 Reports to: Protection Officer Duty Station: Uganda Post Grade: NOA About UNHCR: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international protection to refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate concerning issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Job Summary: The Assistant Protection Officer will have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community services, registration, resettlement and education. The incumbent will provide functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff; and monitors protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards. The Assistant Protection Officer is expected to: coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern; and identify opportunities to mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards in operational responses in all sectors. He/she contributes to designing a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. He/she also ensures that persons of concern are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and protection and assistance partners. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Keep abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment. Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct. Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern. Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation. Carry out eligibility and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles. Actively promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness. Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy. Significantly contribute to a country-level education plan as part of the protection strategy. Provide inputs for the development of global / regional international protection policies and standards. Implement and monitor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities. The jobholder will manage individual protection cases including those on SGBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents. Assess needs for Promote and find durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement. Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern. Significantly contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners. Actively contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy with sectorial and/or cluster partners. Contribute to and facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems. Contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights. Take part in initiatives to capacitate authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures. Key Performance Indicators: The protection of populations of concern is met through the application of International and National Law, relevant UN/UNHCR protection standards and IASC principles. Protection activities are guided by the protection strategy and respect the policy of UNHCR on age, gender and diversity (AGD). The participation of persons of concern is assured through continuous assessment and evaluation using participatory, rights and community based approaches. Protection incidents are immediately identified and addressed Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate for the United Nations UNHCR Assistant Protection Officer job placement should hold a University degree in Law, International Law, political Sciences or related field. At least two years relevant professional experience. Diverse field experience is desirable. Good IT skills including database management skills Completion of the Protection Learning Programme, RSD- Resettlement Learning Programme is desired Ability to work as part of a team but also independently, in a multi-cultural environment Knowledge of the UN system is an added advantage Ability to work in remote areas. Excellent knowledge of English and Aringa is an added advantage How to Apply: All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions after reviewing the job details. Deadline: 18th December 2017 But the tribe has a long way to go The Indian Parliament, symbol of a robust and noisy democracy was taken by surprise when a group of terrorists attacked the sprawling Parliament complex on December 13, 2001. The attack was foiled by the security staff along the outer perimeter and in the ensuing engagement, a total of 14 people were killedand this included five terrorists. C. Uday Bhaskar The perpetrators belonged to the LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and the JeM (Jaish-e-Mohamad) and were linked with their handlers in Pakistan and its intelligence agencies. The terrorists were able to enter the Parliament complex using a fake security sticker on their vehicle and also by bring their lethal weapons into the complex. But for the grit of the Delhi police and the Parliament security service (whose personnel were killed in this attack), the terrorists could have succeeded in opening fire on the parliamentarians who were in the building at the time. Had they succeeded, it would have dealt a serious blow to India and the world and emboldened the Islamic terror groups. The December 2001 Parliament attack followed the enormity of 9/11 in September of that year when the USA was targeted by Al Qaeda. It merits recall that the Delhi Parliament attack was preceded by an attack in November on the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly in Srinagar in which 38 people were killed. Clearly symbols of the vitality of Indian democracy were being targeted. An urgent review of security protocols was undertaken after this surprise attack as regards the Indian Parliament and in the last 16 years, entry into the Parliament complex has been made very stringent. I can recall entering this complex in the 1980s and 1990s to visit the library and driving through the premises from South Block to reach Parliament streetbut that kind of easy access is now a memory of the past. Under the new protocols, a common citizen cannot even access the rich parliamentary librarya restriction that one hopes will be reviewed Investigations revealed that security agencies in Pakistan had planned and executed this attack through the terror groups they had nurtured and in response, the Vajpayee government mobilised the Indian military in what is recalled as Operation Parakram. The vast Indian military machine was moved closer to the border and Pakistan under General Musharraf also mobilised. The fact that both India and Pakistan were nuclear weapon capable, caused deep anxiety at the global level. At the time, this tense situation on the sub-continent was perceived to be similar to the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis. The USA and other major powers intervened and Pakistan was prevailed upon to make a public declaration that it would not allow terrorist to operate from its soil. General Musharraf made this insincere statement on January 12, 2002 and it seemed that a major military confrontation had been avoided. At the time the USA and its allies were more focused on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan had been recognised as an indispensable ally in the global war on terrorGWOT. It was a different matter that the wily Musharraf was playing both sides of the terror dividehunting with the hounds and running with the harea devious strategy that has frustrated both India and the USA for decades. The terror attacks against India continued and in May 2001, a gruesome attack was carried out in Kaluchak in Jammu where the softest targetsthe families of soldiers were brutally killed. India bristled and some moves were made on the military chess board but were again put on hold by urgent US intervention. Then US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, visited the region and extracted a commitment from General Musharraf that Pakistan would stop all support to terror groups and activities. The Vajpayee government was persuaded to accept this commitment and finally Op Parakram was stood down in mid October 2002. Both sides de-mobilised after losing many lives and expending considerable military stock. The question that arises after 16 years is if such a terror attack on the Parliament can occur again. The answer, to my mind, is an emphatic no. The general level of security protocols and access to public buildings such as Parliament has become far more stringent and this is a pattern that one can discern globally. The parliamentarian is safer but what of the hapless Indian citizen? Thus, the more relevant question is if India is better prepared to deal with this scourge of terror, motivated by a mix of radical ideology linked to Islam and audaciously nurtured by the deep-state in Pakistan. Here the answer is not as clear. The very fact that the December 2001 Parliament attack was followed a few years later by the tragedy that struck Mumbai in November 2008 (26/11) is illustrative of Indias perennial vulnerability to such attacks. And General Musharrafs most recent public statement that as the Pakistan Army Chief he was quietly supporting terror groups, is indicative of the deep links that the deep-state has established with the likes of Hafiz Saeed and the Islamic terror eco-system. However, the good news is that outside of Jammu and Kashmir, the actual number of deaths/killings linked to Islamic terror has dwindled considerably. Figures for the last four years are as follows: 2013-25 deaths; 2014-4; 2015-13 and 2016-11. But as the terror attacks in 2016 at Pathankot, Uri, Nagrota and the most recent July 2017 attack on the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims indicatedthe threat remains potent. There are many gaps and inadequacies in Indias composite security capability and most of these were identified in the aftermath of the Kargil war of 1999. However, the higher defence management of India which is symbolised by the Parliament and distilled into the CCS (cabinet committee on security) remains indifferent to make the necessary investment and related change. When was the last time that a citizen can recall an objective and constructive debate in Parliament on national security? Alas, what comes to mind is the alacrity with which this esteemed body awards privileges and fiscal benefits unto itself. That is the dirge of December 13, 2001. Bhaskar is director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publication Can a person honor his family and pursue his dreams? That is the question at the heart of Coco, a whimsical and high-spirited romp through the underworld from Pixar Animation Studios. The storys 12-year-old protagonist, Miguel Rivera, is an aspiring guitarist with a song in his heart and stardom on his mind. But to realize his destiny he must defy the wishes of his close-knit Mexican family, which, for reasons stemming from a long-ago ancestral scandal, has forbidden him from enjoying or pursuing music. No such ban will be placed on the audience for Coco, which bounces along to the beat of a Michael Giacchino score, several traditional Mexican songs and a few original tunes that never run the risk of burrowing into your mind. (The most significant one, ironically, is titled Remember Me.) But while the movie revels in its music and duly rebukes the Riveras for trying to stifle young Miguels destiny, it also comes down firmly on the side of family, taking pains to acknowledge the importance of staying true to ones roots. It does this, in part, by upholding its own formidable creative and corporate lineage. Directed by Lee Unkrich with some of the warmth and imagination he brought to Toy Story 3 (and co-directed by Adrian Molina, who wrote the script with Matthew Aldrich), Coco is the first of Pixars 19 features to feature a nonwhite human protagonist, diversifying a company slate that has already proved a model of inclusivity with regard to talking fish, sentient toys and anthropomorphic cars. But beyond the novelty of having animated characters eat tamales and drop the occasional word of Spanish, the movie betrays an instinctive kinship with the Disney brand that is by turns pleasing and thoroughly unsurprising. It is an alternately smooth and strenuous Pixarian weave of bright colors, spirited chatter and inventive action, prepared and tested in accordance with the highest factory standards. After an inspired prologue designed entirely in the intricate papel picado style of tissue-paper art, the story begins on Dia de los Muertos, the holiday when Mexican families display their late ancestors photographs alongside food offerings on a commemorative altar. But while young Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) loves his family especially his adorably wizened great-grandmother, Mama Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguia) he is less excited by the upcoming festivities than by the prospect of performing in a local talent show. That doesnt sit well with the music-loathing Riveras, especially Miguels domineering grandmother (Renee Victor), an overly broad caricature who does her part to set the plot in motion by smashing the boys guitar like a pinata. In a more satisfying version of Coco, the Riveras fiesta might have quickly gone the way of Carries prom. But Miguel, a good boy at heart, simply finds a new guitar in the nearby tomb of his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a legendary musician and movie star in the Pedro Infante mold. Robbing a crypt on this day of all days, alas, is a serious no-no, and with one strum of Ernestos guitar, Miguel finds himself transported to the Land of the Dead, where the deceased walking, talking skeletons with a sheen of orange ectoplasm are preparing to visit their families on the other side. And so Coco begins its extended journey across a gorgeous pink-and-purple-daubed vision of Hades, with Miguel basically playing Orpheus in a red hoodie. (He even has a canine sidekick named Dante.) If that sounds pretty dark for a movie with a PG rating (awarded for that horror of horrors, thematic elements), the scripts ghoulish touches and mordant flashes of wit turn out to be its most disarming qualities. Kids may squirm in delight when Miguel realizes hes turning into a skeleton, one phalange at a time, and will soon be dead himself unless he finds his way back to the land of the living by morning. To do this, he must secure a blessing from his ancestors a tricky proposition, as none of them is willing to let him return home unless he agrees to their music moratorium. In perhaps the storys most poignant conceit, death turns out to be simply another circle of life where the deceased can remain and thrive so long as they are remembered by a living, breathing loved one. That raises the stakes a bit when Miguel meets a street-smart skeleton named Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) who is desperate to ensure that his mortal legacy is not erased. Their partnership complicates a busy plot already thick with chases, coincidences, ancient secrets, mistaken identities and Frida Kahlo sightings, and it plows through each twist like a roller coaster navigating a new loop. Which is only fitting, since the movies underworld suggests nothing so much as a giant theme park, complete with turnstiles, bustling streets and gaudy attractions (none more brilliant than the alebrijes, fantastical winged animals come to life). Theres nothing inherently wrong with that. The best theme parks, Disneys included, are worth getting lost in. But try as you might to lose yourself in Coco, or at least pause long enough to ponder its metaphysics, too often you might find yourself hindered by the movies breathless velocity. And also by the increasing monotony of its character design. The visuals have the telltale Pixar richness; you sense a hundred different creative choices went into the animation of a simple confetti shower. But like earlier movies, including Corpse Bride and the similarly Dia de los Muertos-themed The Book of Life, Coco offers a reminder that skeletons, for all their googly eyes and gorgeous bone structure, are not the most emotionally expressive creatures. With the exception of his great-great-grandmother Mama Imelda (a spirited Alanna Ubach), Miguels dead relatives are a pretty indistinguishable and sorry lifeless bunch. The action beats arrive right on cue, followed in due course by a show-stopping musical climax and an ending all but guaranteed to tickle your tear ducts. The question proposed at the outset can a person honor his family and pursue his dreams? is answered with the kind of skill and ingenuity that leaves you strongly suspecting it was bogus to begin with. None of which makes Coco a bad movie, only one whose flights of imaginative frenzy are too constrained by formula, in the end, for it to count as a great one. In the best Pixar movies, Wall-E, Inside Out and Toy Story 3 among them, you get the sense of filmmakers boldly and brilliantly conquering new terrain. Coco, by contrast, feels governed by more timid, responsible spirits. Its goal is to reassure, to provoke no offense and to give an underserved culture the sentimental, uplifting Hollywood cash cow it deserves. Progress could certainly look worse. COCO Rated: PG, for thematic elements Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes Playing: In general release 2017 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Doklam stand-off had put severe pressure on bilateral relations between New Delhi and Beijing, a statement issued by the Chinese foreign ministry, quoted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as telling his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj. He added that lessons should be learnt from the episode so that 'such incidents are not repeated'. The statement added that Wang had brought up the 73-day stand-off between the Indian and the Chinese troops in the Donglang (Doklam) sector near the Sikkim border in June, during a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi, on Monday. Swaraj had then said at a press briefing that she and Wang had spoken about strengthening mutual trust to develop better understanding. The statement, published in Mandarin, said: "The viciousness caused by the cross-border infiltration of the Indian border guards put bilateral relations under severe pressure. The matter was finally settled peacefully through diplomatic means, reflecting the maturing of bilateral relations. India-China ties maintained their momentum of development as a whole in 2017. Both sides have made efforts in this regard. But they (the efforts) were not very satisfactory. However, lessons should be learned and (such incidents) should be avoided again." "With mutual trust, the specific problems are expected to be resolved on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation," he added. Wang's visit to New Delhi was the first by a top Chinese official to India after the Doklam stand-off. He further said, "Without mutual trust, individual problems will continue to overflow and erode the overall situation of bilateral relations To this end, both sides should strengthen strategic communication at all levels, restore the established dialogue mechanism, deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and at the same time control the existing differences and safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas." Wang also called on President Ram Nath Kovind and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The Doklam stand-off came to an end on August 28 after the two sides agreed to withdraw their respective troops from the Doklam plateau and the Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to India's corridor. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan. India had objected to the construction highlighting its security concerns. Besides this, Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency also quoted Wang, as saying, "Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial moment when both sides need to make right choice on the future of the bilateral relations." The Election Commission became the battleground for the BJP and the Congress on the eve of the second phase of the assembly elections in Gujarat. If the BJP complained about Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi violating the model code of conduct (MCC), with his interviews to TV channels getting aired today, the Congress charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with having breached the rule with his speech at a FICCI meeting. Acting on a complaint by the BJP, the EC issued a notice to Rahul for violation of the MCC, and asked him to file his response by 5 pm on December 18. ...such display of your interview falls within the definition of the 'election matter' under Section 126 (3) of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll, amounts to violation of the prohibition contained in Section 126(1) of the Representation of People Act, 1951..., said the EC's notice to Rahul. As per MCC norms, campaigning ends 48 hours prior to elections. The commission also ordered that Rahul's interviews will not be aired, and directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to lodge FIRs against the TV channels that showed the interview. A Congress delegation also approached the commission to complain about violation of MCC by BJP leaders, including Modi. The Congress' complaint was that the prime minister violated the MCC by misusing the FICCI platform to attack the Congress and comment about the UPA government. The EC should stay unbiased, said AICC communications department head Randeep Surjewala. The Congress also complained against BJP chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, saying they had repeatedly violated the MCC. The Congress accused the commission of working under pressure of the ruling dispensation and adopting dual standards. BJP leaders hold a press conference in Ahmedabad and release the party's manifesto on December 8, but there is no FIR against them. Modiji does four public meetings on December 9, the day of polling, and there is no FIR against him...but there is an FIR for Rahulji's interview, said Surjewala. Doug Jones, the Democrat candidate for the senate race from Alabama, won the closely fought contest with Republican Roy Moore on December 12, causing a major political upset and a decisive blow to President Donald J. Trump. Alabama, one of the solidly Republican states in the deep south, last elected a Democrat, a quarter of a century ago. The state is such a Republican stronghold that Richard Shelby, who won in 1992 as a Democrat, eventually had to shift his allegiance to the Republican Party. The special election to the senate had to be conducted after incumbent junior senator Jeff Sessions quit his seat to join the Trump administration as attorney general. The Republican establishment had initially supported Luther Strange, former attorney general of Alabama, who was appointed to temporarily stand in as senator. Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, however, ran an insurgent campaign, reminiscent of Trump's own presidential campaign, and won the primaries against Strange, aided in no small measure by Steve Bannon, former White House strategist. The move was widely considered as a part of Bannon's attempts to recast the Republican Party in a far right image. And, Moore fit the bill perfectly. As chief justice of Alabama, he had installed the ten commandments in the courthouse, asked state judges to disregard the Supreme Court order legalising same sex marriages, compared Quran to Mein Kampf, demanded Muslims should not be allowed to serve in the Congress and had once even said that the last time the US was great, slavery was legal. During the senate campaign, several women raised complaints against Moore for sexual misconduct when they were minors. Such allegations and Moore's track record of extreme views made him hugely unpopular among mainstream Republicans, who chose not to support him. Shelby refused to endorse him and former Minnesota Republican senator Norm Coleman tweeted that the loss of Moore and Bannon was a big plus for the Republican party. Moore would have buried the GOP in 2018, tweeted Coleman. Jones tamed a deep red state riding on the strength of an unlikely coalition comprising moderate Republicans, liberal white voters and African Americans. He won overwhelming support from major cities like Mobile and Montgomery, and received near unanimous support from all the Afro-American strongholds. His history as a prosecutor, who secured the conviction of two members of the Ku Klux Klan for a 1963 dynamite attack on a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young Afro American girls lost their lives, has helped him win support of a large number of Afro-Americans. Moore was relying on the support from middle class whites and far right groups. In the end, it was not enough for him to secure a win, in a state which the Republicans have always taken for granted. Moore's defeat is a major political setback for Trump, who had carried Alabama by a whopping 30 per cent margin in November. Despite objections from senior Republican leaders and White House aides, Trump chose to throw his full weight behind Moore and even appeared in a campaign event near Alabama. A White House source called the result an earthquake. It is devastating for the president. Trump, however, congratulated Jones soon after Associated Press called the election in his favour although he hinted that write-in votes voting for a candidate whose name is not on the ballot played a key role in his victory. The unlikely victory of Jones is expected to create some concern among the Republicans. With the senate Republican majority now precariously placed at 51-49, it will not be easy for majority leader Mitch McConnell to manage his legislative agenda. It could possibly have an effect even on the tax reform bill and the Republican caucus is likely to finish major items on their agenda before Jones is sworn in. The victory has added to the momentum of Democrats, who have been looking upbeat after their promising show in the November special elections. They now hope to flip the senate and give the Republicans a tight fight in the midterm polls in November 2018. Still, the GOP could take back the Alabama seat in 2020 when Jones finishes the remainder of Sessions' term. The state is so ruby red that a decent Republican candidate can win it back from the Democrats. SPRINGFIELD Alan Beaman has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to reconsider its denial of an appeal related to his lawsuit against the Town of Normal and three former police officers. Beaman filed the lawsuit in 2014 accusing the former Normal officers Dave Warner, Frank Zayas and Tim Freesmeyer of conspiring to wrongfully convict him of murder in the 1993 death of Jennifer Lockmiller of Decatur. The victim and Beaman had ended a romantic relationship before she was found strangled and stabbed in her apartment near Illinois State University. Beaman was released form prison in 2008 after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state withheld evidence from defense lawyers during his trial. He also received a certificate of innocence from the state and pardon from former Gov. Pat Quinn. Beaman's lawsuit was halted in June 2016 when a judge granted a dismissal sought by the Town and its former officers. The Fourth District Appellate Court upheld that ruling. In a newly filed petition, lawyers for Beaman asked the Illinois Supreme Court to reconsider a November decision denying a review of his appeal. According to Beaman's lawyer Locke E. Bowman with Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in Chicago, "Mr. Beaman deserves a day in court to seek justice from the men who maliciously robbed him of his youth." Since his arrest on murder charges, Beaman has claimed that police focused on him unfairly as a suspect and manipulated time trials for his alleged trip from his home in Rockford to the victim's apartment to support the state's theory that he killed his former girlfriend. Police also ignored evidence pointing to another suspect, Bowman argues in the court filing. "They buried evidence inculpating one of the victim's paramours, a steriod-abusing drug dealer who beat women, had sex with the victim and sold her drugs, could not complete a polygraph about the killing, and lied about his alibi," said the motion. Lawyers for Beaman were not available to comment Tuesday on the new petition. Beaman's lawyer disagrees with the position taken by the Fourth District Appellate Court that police are liable only if Beaman can show that pressure, influence or a false statements by police induced prosecutors to file charges. Beaman works and lives in Rockford with his wife and two children. Banks will soon be unable to claim it is impossible to refund genuine victims of online fraud, according to the Government. In an interview with Money Mail, security minister Ben Wallace says technology already exists to track down stolen cash and return it to victims. The computer program the banks need is understood to be going through its final stages of tests. Both Mr Wallace and Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, have urged the banks to adopt the technology, but firms are treading with caution and will await the results of the tests. In an interview with Money Mail, security minister Ben Wallace says technology already exists to track down stolen cash and return it to victims Figures show more than 100 people a day are falling foul of con artists who trick them into transferring money into accounts opened by criminals. Crooks often masquerade as bank staff, telecoms companies or security experts and pretend their victim is at risk of fraud. Once the customer has been duped, criminals typically move the stolen cash quickly through several bank accounts, before it disappears into the ether. Just 1 in every 4 lost is ever returned to victims because banks say they cannot trace the funds. Up to seven in ten victims are left out of pocket by some banks. Mr Wallace is adamant that these losses could be avoided. He says he saw computer software tracking payments through various accounts. Once the software from technology firm Vocalink has located the money, it can be frozen before it is withdrawn by a crook. 999 CALLS BLOCK BRANCH SCAMS More than 9 million of attempted fraud in bank branches has been stopped and 101 arrests made in the first year of a rapid response scheme launched in October 2016 by banks and police. Banking staff can call 999 if they are worried a customer may be about to fall victim to a scam, if they are trying to make a large withdrawal or transfer. Police and trading standards officers have been called 1,262 times, stopping losses of up to 212,000 by individual customers. Barry Fox, 71, a retired lorry driver from Essex, was stopped from withdrawing 9,000 to pay for a scam eBay listing of a 1988 Rolls-Royce at his Barclays branch. Police arrived in half-an-hour. Barry says: 'I was relieved when I found out how close I'd come to losing that money. I've since bought a genuine 1989 Rolls-Royce.' The minister says he then wants banks to return the cash to victims. Banks have previously claimed they cannot act due to strict data protection rules that prevent them from tracing victims, leaving customers with no way to recover life savings. Some are left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket. The security minister says laws were passed in April to remove most of these barriers. While the legislation, in the Criminal Finances Act 2017, will only be fully implemented by March, Mr Wallace says firms should not fear retribution if they use the laws now. He insists the Government will keep working with banks to tackle the fraud epidemic and will listen to concerns. If they adopt the new technology and then find further legal impediments to repaying victims, the Government will consider making more legislative changes. The Home Office confirmed that Mr Wallace met representatives of banking trade body UK Finance in July, when he urged banks to adopt the new fraud tracing tools. Ms Rudd also wrote in October to the Joint Fraud Taskforce, of which most big banks are members, asking for an update on its progress. Mr Wallace says: 'I don't recognise the view that it is impossible to get stolen money back to victims. The technology is there. It's about getting banks to roll it out. 'In the past, the process [of tracking down stolen funds] was manual and laborious. Now, technology lets you watch on a screen and see money ping around through different banks and sort codes. I've told the banks I support the technology and have urged them to adopt it. 'We have taken steps in the Act to remove the data protection barriers [to returning money to victims]. The only remaining barrier would be whether the money has exited the payments system [such as being withdrawn or spent].' Pressure Home Secretary Amber Rudd wrote in October to the Joint Fraud Taskforce, of which most big banks are members, asking for an update on its progress The security minister also boosted hopes of reuniting past victims with lost savings. Money Mail's Pay Back Fraud Victims campaign called for 130 million in frozen bank accounts identified as fraudulent to be given to customers left out of pocket. Some of this money is believed to be traceable to the victims. But banks say by law, they cannot access frozen funds unless the account holder is convicted, or they fear they may be at risk of taking money from someone later proven innocent. Many criminals who own frozen accounts cannot be convicted, as they've abandoned the cash and disappeared. Mr Wallace says: 'Any of the 130 million in frozen funds should be repatriated to victims if they can be found.' It is understood the new Vocalink technology has not yet been tested for this purpose. The Joint Fraud Taskforce, with representatives from the Government, police and big banks, is looking at how powers in the Criminal Finances Act could be used to free up the money and locate victims. The Government will consider further legislation to help, says Mr Wallace. 'I'd envisage being able to make any changes [deemed necessary] in about a year's time, subject to what opportunities I have in Parliament,' he says. A spokesman for Vocalink, which is owned by Mastercard, says: 'The technology being developed by Vocalink Analytics to support the repatriation of proceeds of crime will shortly be assessed by the industry for its applicability.' Katy Worobec, head of economic crime at UK Finance, says: 'Banks take fraud seriously and are keen to play their part to enable money to be returned to victims. 'The industry fully supports the Criminal Finances Act, which will let law enforcement go to court and more easily seize criminal funds frozen in bank accounts. 'This is a valuable step forward. We are working with the Home Office and law enforcement on how the powers are used to help victims. The industry supports the need to use new technology to help recover stolen money, and is working closely with Government to pilot and test any approach. 'All parties are in agreement of the need to ensure that banks have the right legal powers to quickly share information to trace fraudsters and recover stolen money.' d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk Ray Henry was forced to give up driving after his beloved Volvo was written-off When 78-year-old Ray Henry came down from his flat one Sunday morning in May to find a massive dent running along the side of his beloved Volvo, he feared the worst. The other driver hadn't left a note and Ray's insurer, Post Office Money, confirmed the cost of repairing the 20-year-old car would be higher than its value. After two strokes in 10 years, his health deteriorating and only a modest pension to rely on, the former military policeman and antiques dealer reluctantly concluded it was time to give up driving. He received a 100 payout from Post Office Money for the write-off and thought that was that. Yet even though he no longer had a car and wouldn't be getting a new one Ray was told he would have to keep paying insurance premiums of 109 a month until the following May. He was told this was because he'd made a claim on the policy, which he'd taken out just a few days before, so it couldn't be cancelled. It meant that getting a measly 100 payout for his old Volvo would end up costing him almost 1,145. Ray, from North London, had no idea he'd fallen into a common trap contained in the terms and conditions of car insurance policies. Most insurers impose a rule that means you cannot cancel your policy halfway through the year if you've already made a claim. As a result, you don't get a refund if you pay annually. If you pay monthly, as Ray did, you must keep up the instalments until the policy renewal date. By contrast, if you haven't claimed on a motor policy, any unused premiums for the rest of the year are typically refunded or waived, minus a cancellation fee, which would have been 55 in Ray's case. Ray says he was not aware of this when he bought the policy, nor when he claimed for the massive dent in May. Research for Money Mail found that 24 of the 25 top car insurers impose similar policy cancellation rules to Post Office Money. According to information service Defaqto, only Aviva offers to refund or waive unused premiums for the rest of the year. However, it deducts a 42.56 fee if you cancel. Most insurers impose a rule that means you cannot cancel your policy halfway through the year if you've already made a claim To Ray, it seemed like he was being penalised for doing the right thing. He was due to get a mobility scooter for local errands from the council, which he felt would be much safer at his age. In any case, he didn't have the spare cash to buy and run a new vehicle. On top of that, the accident wasn't his fault and, as Post Office Money acknowledged, he was within his rights to claim for the damages to the car he owned and now wouldn't be able to sell. 'The scrape was the final straw really in terms of continuing driving,' Ray says. 'It was a tough decision because I loved driving and the freedom it gave me, but I felt it was the responsible thing to do. 'I kept arguing that it wasn't fair to make me keep paying for my insurance because I wasn't using it and had been given such a small payout. 'But the people at Post Office Money told me I had to pay because it was in the terms and conditions. It was like talking to a robot. Clearly, if I'd have known about this catch before I claimed, I'd have just accepted the loss on the chin.' It was like talking to a robot. Clearly, if I'd have known about this catch before I claimed, I'd have just accepted the loss on the chin Ray grudgingly paid the premiums until September as he tried to reason with Post Office Money. But it refused to budge and he cancelled his direct debit, asking his bank to claw back all payments since the accident. He then began to receive intimidating letters from Post Office Money about debt collectors. After Money Mail contacted Post Office Money it agreed to stop chasing Ray for the rest of the year's premiums. A spokeswoman for Post Office Money says: 'Given the individual circumstances including the low value of the claim and the short policy period we have waived Mr Henry's outstanding balance. 'We are very sorry for any confusion, worry or distress our customer has suffered. We are reviewing our correspondence in relation to this scenario to make sure it is clearer for customers in the future. 'We would like to apologise to Mr Henry and are grateful to Money Mail for bringing this to our attention.' Brian Brown, head of insurance insight at Defaqto, says: 'Almost every insurer in the UK will charge the full premium if you try to cancel your policy after a motor claim. 'This includes those policies where you pay monthly, and stopping any direct debit could also have a negative impact on your credit ratings, so think very carefully before doing this.' Ray says: 'It was amazing how the insurer's tone changed after Money Mail got involved. The next day I had a call and they were grovelling on the phone.' l.milner@dailymail.co.uk Uber investor Shervin Pishevar has denied inappropriately touching a colleagues's leg Uber hardly covered itself in glory during Monday's failed pipe bombing when stranded commuters were charged nearly four times the regular amount for using its cars. Uber says it has begun reimbursing customers but it's another unwanted piece of bad publicity. One if its investors, Shervin Pishevar, 43, recently denied inappropriately touching a colleagues's leg at an Uber party in 2014, insisting he has maintained professional and friendly relations with the woman. A friend claims, somewhat incongruously, Pishevar couldn't have engaged in impropriety as he spent the evening with 'a pony's leash in one hand and a drink in the other'. New Yorkers reacted with wonderfully British insouciance to the terror attack, lolling around the financial district. JP Morgan's offices on Wall Street were blown up in 1920, killing 38, by anarchists using 100 pounds of dynamite and a horse-drawn carriage. A primitive method though sadly more effective than Monday's moronic effort. New York's record property price is about to be shattered. Financier Vinnie Viola's Upper East Side town house is under offer for $80million. The buyer remains unknown, but it's thought to be the same big spender who snapped up ex-Barclays chief Bob Diamond's Park Avenue penthouse for $50.5million earlier this year. Viola, 61, has enjoyed a bumper year. His wonder horse Always Dreaming romped home in the Kentucky Derby, clocking up $2.5million in prize money. Some of Donald Trump's, ahem, less salubrious neighbours in Trump Tower are delighted to have round-the-clock secret service guarding the Fifth Avenue monstrosity. But there are drawbacks. A local broker remarks: 'Such high-level security makes it hard to get your cocaine and prostitutes up to your apartment discreetly.' Next spring Christie's Midtown auction house hosts a sale of art belonging to John D Rockefeller's last remaining grandson, David Rockefeller, who died in March aged 101. The collection, which includes Monets, Picassos, Cezannes etc. is expected to fetch over $650million. All for charity too. Banks have been fobbing off fraud victims with the same old excuse for years. By the time someone realises their account has been ransacked by a scam artist, they call their bank and are told devastating words to this effect: 'Your money has disappeared without a trace and cannot be recovered.' It's hard to believe, but this has often been the truth. Once they have your money, conmen typically use online banking to ping it through several accounts extremely quickly. Get moving: Banks have been fobbing off fraud victims with the same old excuse for years, but now they have the power to recover the stolen cash As the cash whizzes between banks, each firm has to contact the next in the chain and tread around strict data protection rules to share information. Any crumbs of stolen money discovered along the way are returned to the victim. But the trail quickly runs cold, either because one of the banks won't co-operate or it simply gives up the chase. Until now it's been hard to argue with this excuse for the simple reason that the banks usually haven't been at fault. Typically, the customer has been duped by an email or a telephone trickster and has authorised a cash payment from their account. Unlike with a credit or debit card payment, that meant the customer not the bank was liable for losses. This loophole in consumer protection law has left thousands of victims out of pocket and is why the new fraud tracing technology being offered to banks is so vital. Thanks to Vocalink, part of Mastercard, banks will for the first time be able to see stolen money travelling through different accounts, freeze it and then return it to victims. As in any business, rolling out new software on a big scale takes time and energy. Most banks seem like they're on board, which is terrific, as it would be a great shame if some were dragging their feet. Every day the full rollout is delayed, 100 more people face losing their life savings. Security minister Ben Wallace left no room for doubt in his interview with Money Mail: the Government is busy clearing the way for the tool to be used without breaking any laws. He must now stick to his word. The time has come for banks to end the excuses and start returning stolen money to all victims of fraud and scams. Your votes count When Money Mail launched the Wooden Spoon Awards in December 2008, then editor Tony Hazell wrote that many of the thousands of letters, phone calls and emails we received from readers could have been 'sorted out if only someone in the company had bothered to listen to your legitimate complaint and taken responsibility for resolving it'. It'd be easy to conclude that nothing has changed; you are still being fobbed off by energy firms and left boiling mad by banks. But there's evidence that our Wooden Spoon is forcing firms to sharpen up their acts BT's response to last year's failings being a case in point. In 2015 and 2016, barely a day passed without a letter about BT's poor service arriving in our postbag. Bosses promised to sort the mess in January and the number of complaints has started to fall. So your votes do make a difference. Please also enter your Service Star submissions. We'll print the best tale of outstanding service to show the bunglers how it's really done. The Trump slump Very rarely should you listen to experts who claim it's time to sell all your shares in a major market such as the UK, U.S. or Japan. Usually there's a hidden agenda behind the doom-mongering. But I'm making an exception today. U.S. shares look overpriced and with Donald Trump in the White House, a slump could be around the corner. When the likes of Robert Shiller, the Yale university professor who correctly predicted the slumps in 2008 and 2000, say they've spotted the hallmarks of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, you can't ignore it. After a huge rise in share prices, I'd consider cashing in my profits they could be on to something. d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk The kidnapping and torture trial of Demariel Cunningham began on Tuesday with testimony from the victim and details about the purported motive in the incident. Four other stories you should read are Illiopolis' unconventional librarian, Jews begin celebration of Hanukkah, woman in hospice has day on the town with friends and Chenoa mayor defends shooting turkeys. Decatur man's kidnapping, torture trial begins The trial of Decatur man Demariel Cunningham, charged with beating and torturing a woman by burning her with a heated knife blade, began Tuesday in Macon County Circuit Court. With 25 years in the books, Illiopolis librarian breaks the mold Parked outside the Illiopolis/Niantic Public Library is a Harley-Davidson motorcycle fondly dubbed Rayce. The proud owner is librarian Shelley Hopkins. I put 14,000 miles on her last year," Hopkins said. "I love her." Librarians are quiet, Hopkins said. She jokingly says her voice and her laugh are loud, and that's part of what makes her different from the image people have of librarians, and then there's the bike and her tattoos. Jews begin celebration of Hanukkah At sundown on Tuesday, Jews began the celebration of Hanukkah sometimes spelled Chanukah the Festival of Lights. The eight-day festival commemorates the Jewish uprising against the king of Syria around 200 B.C. Jews light the candles and say a prayer every night, said Tasha Cohen Smegal of Decatur. Some give a gift a night, as is traditional. We usually light candles each night, but just have one night where the whole family gets together for a dinner and celebration and gift exchange." Decatur hospice patient treated to makeover, day on the town As a 93-year-old hospice patient, Georgia Leefers hadnt had many opportunities recently to leave her room at Fair Havens Christian Home. I love my friends, she said. One of the people Leefers enjoys spending time with is Shontrale Williams, a Safe Haven Hospice aide who looks after her. Chenoa mayor defends shooting of turkeys in town The mayor of Chenoa on Monday defended shooting two wild turkeys that were local celebrities to some Chenoa residents and a nuisance to others. He also told the audience that he discussed the issue with the man, whom he did not identify, who later shot the birds Saturday. Selling up: Australian billionaire Sir Frank Lowy The 18.5billion sale of the Westfield shopping centre colossus by self-made Australian billionaire Sir Frank Lowy to an ungainly named European rival Unibail-Rodamco is a signal moment. It suggests that Westfield, which invented the concept of shopping centres as a life experience replete with fancy cinemas, upmarket eateries and luxury brands is calling the top of the market. It comes hard on the heels of the proposed merger between Britains Hammerson and Intu, which binds together the owners of Birminghams Bullring and Manchesters Trafford Centre. Both deals show shopping centre owners are seeking scale and cost savings in the face of the onslaught of digital shopping and changing consumer tastes. Both Westfield and Hammerson have shown that with the right incentives (low introductory rents) they are still able to fill their malls with the best high street names. Companies such as Next still retain some faith in bricks and mortar in spite of a great online offer. But as Marks & Spencer has shown over the last decade, fashion retail is like running uphill and that is why it has embarked on a store closure programme. The Westfield deal is sweeping in its reach. It adds 35 of the most valuable shopping centres in London and the United States to the bloated Unibail-Rodamco portfolio. But looked at analytically, it doesnt make a huge amount of immediate financial sense. The financial uplift of an estimated 88million is minimal compared with the size of the transaction. Brilliant entrepreneurs like Lowy do not sell on a whim. One must assume something much more fundamental is afoot. Even though shopping centres can revitalise shabby neighbourhoods as is being seen in the centre of Bradford, Croydon and Shepherds Bush in London, where Westfield has sprinkled gold dust, the question is for how long? Going to the mall may once have been a great experience but evidence suggests that millennials are searching for something else in the shape of foreign travel, convenience shopping, and coffee shops in hipster areas rather than vast indoor emporiums, however glitzy the chandeliers and capacious the car parks. Many of the best-known names in US retail, including Macys and JC Penney, are closing stores at a rapid rate. Here in the UK, Sainsburys bought Argos as part of an effort to keep Amazon at bay as the American predator moves into groceries with the purchase of Whole Foods. Billionaires as smart as Lowy do not retreat from dynastic ambition unless they can see the writing on the wall. Sky sell-out Another elderly entrepreneur likely to execute a Cruyff turn this week looks to be Rupert Murdoch. Now that cable giant Comcast has taken itself out of the battle for control of 21st Century Fox assets, Disney looks odds-on favourite to secure the creative side of the enterprise, plus the stakes in Sky in Europe and Star television in India. Because it is in the nature of media to be interested in other media, expect much of the focus of this transaction to be on the wealth it creates for the younger Murdochs, the future role of James Murdoch at Disney and the ownership of Sky News. But there is another issue at stake for a Britain seeking to be a powerhouse of new media and creativity. The disposal of the 39 per cent of Sky owned by 21st Century Fox to Disney, and likely eventual full ownership, means that Skys mastery of satellite broadcasting, its advances into streaming and social media will all be gobbled up by a foreign giant. Once again the UK will be denuded of skills, a UK corporate taxpayer and patents and intellectual property central to the nations post-Brexit future. The Government should insist on an assessment of the economic and cultural implications before Disney is allowed to absorb Sky. Somehow one doesnt see it happening. Horror film Will the ambitious takeover by Cineworld of US rival Regal get done? Shares in Cineworld are down more than 20 per cent since the deal was unveiled and a lead investor, Royal London, is expressing concern about the amount of debt being taken on. Royal London would have preferred more modest European expansion and a return of cash to investors. Whatever happened to ambition? Former TalkTalk boss and horse racing fan Dido Harding is joining the board of The Jockey Club. The 50-year-old peer, a keen amateur jockey who is chairman of regulator NHS Improvement, will sit on the so-called board of stewards from January 1. It appears to be a perfect match for both parties. Dido Harding is seen in the saddle at Goodwood Racecourse in 2015. Now the 50-year-old peer has joined the board of the Jockey Club The racecourse owner owns 15 courses including Aintree, Cheltenham and Epsom Downs and runs major events such as the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and The Derby. Harding, a married mother of two, has won more than 25 races as an amateur and was the owner of Cool Dawn that won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in 1998. It has been a busy few days for Harding. It is understood that as the boss of NHS Improvement, which supports health service trusts, she last week asked Lord Kerslake to consider his position as chairman of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London in light of the parlous state of its finances. Kerslake, an adviser to Jeremy Corbyn and a former top mandarin in the civil service, resigned days later with a broadside at the Government. TECH DEAL French tech firm Atos wants to buy Dutch credit card microchip maker Gemalto, which has issued four profit warnings, for 3.8billion. SALES SOAR Upmarket clothing brand Joules has defied the High Street slowdown, posting an 18 per cent rise in sales in the 26 weeks to November 26. Store openings helped boost revenue to 96.2million during the period. STORE WAR Discounter Aldi has reclaimed its crown as the UK's fastest growing grocer, serving up a 15 per cent increase in sales compared to last year, data published by Kantar Worldpanel revealed. AIRPORT POP-UP Toy retailer Hamleys has launched a pop-up store at Gatwick Airport in time for Christmas and it will remain open into the spring. PICTURE THIS Teenagers favour Instagram ahead of Facebook, a study by global bank RBC Capital Markets found. It said 73 per cent of 13 to 18 year olds had an account with the picture and video-focused subsidiary of Facebook, but only 57per cent were on the social network. CHINA HEDGE Investment firm Man Group has opened a hedge fund in China amid a rush to target the nation's newly rich middle classes. PROFIT AIMS Online-only lender Starling Bank will be making a profit by the end of 2019, boss Anne Boden has said. EASTERN PROMISES City grandees including HSBC chairman Mark Tucker and London Stock Exchange executive Nikhil Rathi are heading to China with Chancellor Philip Hammond this week in a bid to boost trade ties with the country. GEM CYCLE Diamond seller De Beers has sold 337million worth of diamonds during its latest sales cycle, up from 316million during the same cycle last year. MINE WORK Work on Berkeley Energia's uranium mine in Salamanca, Spain, is due to start in the New Year with engineers Sanchez y Lago and Wood Group involved. CHEM SALE Speciality chemicals firm Elementis is selling its surfactants chemicals business in the Netherlands to Kolb Distribution for 34million. ALL CHANGE AIM-listed gas producer Saffron Energy plans to change its name to Coro Energy. The billionaire tycoon behind shopping centre group Westfield has agreed to sell the company for 18.5billion as traditional stores face an onslaught from online rivals. Sir Frank Lowy, who built Westfield into a global powerhouse, has struck a deal with French rival Unibail-Rodamco more than half a century after he set up the business in Sydney in 1960. 'What a privilege it has been to lead this great Australian company,' the tycoon said. 'We started small but we took Westfield to the world.' Mall deal: The owner of shopping centre group Westfield has agreed to sell the company for 18.5bn The takeover will create a 54billion retail giant with 102 shopping centres in 13 countries taking in many of the world's wealthiest cities such as London, Paris, Stockholm, New York and Los Angeles. The proposed deal comes just days after Hammerson, which owns the Bullring in Birmingham and Brent Cross in London, agreed to buy rival Intu for 3.4billion as it stepped up its fight against internet giants such as Amazon. Westfield owns 33 shopping centres in the US and two in London, at White City and Stratford, while Unibail operates across Europe. Westfield is also developing a site at Croydon with Hammerson. Between them, the Westfield and Unibail shopping centres attract more than 1.2bn visitors a year. But shopping centres and High Streets are under siege from the likes of Amazon and shares in Westfield have fallen 20 per cent on the stock exchange in Sydney since May last year. Retailers in the US have been particularly hard hit with analysts at Credit Suisse estimating that nearly 9,000 stores will close there this year. Asked why he chose to sell Westfield now, Lowy said: 'It is appropriate to do it now. 'Firstly because it's a very good price for our shareholders and also, from our point of view and the company, I think we want to change our roles in the world. We would rather be investors than executives. 'It's more than a lifetime that I've put into this company. It's time, from a personal point of view, for me to move on.' The deal will see Lowy retire as chairman of Westfield and become chairman of a new advisory board at the combined group. 'MAN OF STEEL' WHO SURVIVED HOLOCAUST Shopping centre king Sir Frank Lowy is giving up his throne less than a week after being knighted for his services to the economy and charity. The 87-year-old Slovakian-born Jew who survived the Holocaust before settling in Australia, co-founded the Westfield empire with his late business partner and fellow immigrant John Saunders in 1960. Lowys biographer Jill Margo said: The extremes of the Holocaust did not melt Frank. They forged him into steel. His sons Peter, 58, and Steven, 55, will also step down as co-chief executives of Westfield although Peter will join the supervisory board of the enlarged company and the family will retain a substantial stake. Unibail chief executive Christophe Cuvillier will keep the top job after the deal. Outlining plans for cost-savings of nearly 90million a year once the takeover is complete, Cuvillier said he will continue to expand the Westfield brand. 'All of us at Unibail have immense respect for what the Lowy family and the Westfield team have accomplished with the Westfield brand and the company's iconic collection of world class shopping destinations,' he said. 'The acquisition of Westfield adds a number of new attractive retail markets in London and the wealthiest catchment areas in the United States. We believe that this transaction represents a compelling opportunity for both companies to realise benefits not available to each company on a standalone basis, and creates a strong and attractive platform for future growth.' Frank Lowy added: 'We look forward to seeing Westfield continue to grow as part of the world's premier owner of flagship shopping destinations. 'For the assets I have spent my life building I could not imagine a better home for them than in this new company. Today is the second most important day in Westfield history the most important day was in September 1960 when Westfield was born.' LSE chairman Donald Brydon is locked in a battle with hedge fund boss Sir Chris Hohn The chairman of the London Stock Exchange looks likely to survive a crunch vote next week after winning support from one of the companys biggest investors. Donald Brydon is locked in a battle with billionaire hedge fund boss Sir Chris Hohn and faces a showdown which could see him sacked in a shareholder ballot on Tuesday. But sources close to the Qatar Investment Authority, which owns 10.4 per cent of the LSEs shares, have said it intends to support 72-year-old Brydon amid rising speculation the campaign is secretly aimed at making LSE vulnerable to a takeover bid. Aviva Investors has also thrown its 1.8 per cent holding behind the chairman and several other large shareholders have privately pledged support. He is also backed by ISS and Glass Lewis, which advise big shareholders on how to vote. Hohn, 51, blames Brydon for forcing out LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet. Advice firm Pirc urged shareholders to abstain, saying the way Brydon handled Rolets departure was a major failure of board leadership. LSE shares rose 0.3 per cent, or 10p, to 3843p. Profits at Carpetright have been floored as the company admitted it is struggling to compete with a rival retailer set up by its founder's son. One of Britain's biggest flooring retailers, the company has been hammered since the launch of Tapi, which is run by Martin Harris who was with Carpetright for 23 years. Harris is the son of the retailer's founder Lord Harris of Peckham, 76, who stepped down in 2014. Martin Harris ,who was with Carpetright for 23 years, is the son of the retailer's founder Lord Harris of Peckham, 76, who stepped down in 2014 Carpetright's latest results revealed its profits were all but wiped out in the 26 weeks to October 28, plummeting by 93 per cent to just 300,000. Wilf Walsh, chief executive, said: 'The first half has undoubtedly been challenging. Consumer confidence remains fragile and we continue to manage the impact of intensified competition.' The Harris family built the Carpetright empire after Lord Harris was forced to take over his family's flooring business at the age of 15 when his father died. PECKHAM'S 10M MAN With a 110million fortune from the Carpetright empire, the Harris family have become well known. Lord Harris was born in Peckham and left school with one O-level. He set up the Harris Federation which has academy schools mostly in south London, which he still sponsors. He is also a Tory party donor. Harris bought Olympic gold-winning horse Hello Sanctos for 1.7million in 2012 with DFS founder Lord Kirkham. Son Martin was the third generation to be involved in Carpetright. When he quit in 2014 he cashed in 500,000 in shares to start Tapi. He was later joined at the company, which officially became Carpetright in 1988, by Martin who served as development director and sat on the board. However, Lord Harris retired and his son became disillusioned with the business, so both stepped down. Launching Tapi in 2015, Harris junior said he planned to open 200 stores over five years which would target the more affluent customer, and so far it has 91 stores. 'There's enough room in the market for more than one national retailer,' he said at the time. City analysts initially appeared sceptical that Harris junior could replicate Harris senior's success, with one commentator saying he was not in the same league as his father. But Tapi soon ate in to Carpetright's sales as it opened stores close to some of its more established rival's most profitable sites. Carpetright has given its strategy an overhaul to claw back customers by refurbishing shops, shutting and downsizing sites and refocusing its business online. Despite competition concerns, Carpetright said it is managing the threat, with sales growing 5 per cent at 52 of its stores directly competing with Tapi. 'Arguably the customer has never had it so good and the advent of a national competitor means that we have had to respond with a raft of offers to ensure that we remain the most popular choice for customers,' Walsh said. 'To be crystal clear the cost of ignoring the competitive threat and continuing with an under-invested, unattractive store offer would be severe.' Analysts said that Tapi remains a major threat. Mark Photiades, director of general retail research at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, said: 'The key risk, in our view, is the further development of Tapi, which is having an impact on sales, gross margins and competition for sites.' Today we launch the tenth annual Wooden Spoon Awards It's time to stick it to the firms that drove you up the wall in 2017. Today we launch the tenth annual Money Mail Wooden Spoon Awards for poor customer service. If you've been let down by a telecom firm, passed from pillar to post by your power supplier or left brimming with rage by a bank, this is your chance to get your own back. And in a new feature this year, we also want you to nominate your Service Star. This new prize will be awarded to the company that has gone above and beyond the call of duty, and left you beaming. Just send us a short account of a memorable act of kindness or of staff unexpectedly resolving a tangle using good, old-fashioned common sense. Over the past decade, Money Mail's Wooden Spoon has become the trophy big bosses fear the most. That's because your opinion matters. Today we reveal the five on this year's shortlist and ask you to vote for the one you want us to name and shame as the worst. Our list has been carefully compiled from the hundreds of letters, emails and calls we receive each week. Scroll to the bottom to vote in the Wooden Spoon Money Mail spends most of its time fighting your corner against the giants who bungle everyday requests and payments. So the traditional end-of-year Wooden Spoon Award hones in on organisations that look after the key areas of our finances: bank accounts; savings and mortgages; investments; insurance; tax; and essential utilities such as phone and energy bills. BT, the winner for the past two years, is the most notable absentee this time around, after considerably cleaning up its act. We now receive far fewer complaints about faulty BT broadband and phone lines or unhelpful call centre staff. The same goes for Vodafone. After an ignominious third place last year, chief executive Nick Jeffery vowed he'd invest in better customer service and it seems to be paying off. The quantity and seriousness of the gripes you send us are much reduced. Once you've made a decision on who provides Britain's worst customer service, vote using the form below. And don't forget to tell us about the good service you've had, too for our new Service Star prize. Simply include a note in your letter explaining your choice. You can pick any company you've had dealings with this year. You have until Friday, January 5, 2018, to vote. We'll then reveal the winners later in January, when we'll hand over the Spoon and Star gongs to the respective chief executives. E.ON When Money Mail revealed in September that energy companies were using high-pressure tactics to push customers into having smart meters installed, you inundated us with examples. These new meters use wireless signals to tell suppliers how much energy you use. But they are not compulsory and customers can refuse. In some cases, firms scheduled dates to fit the meters without being asked and bombarding customers with calls, texts and letters if they refused to have one. E.ON was the worst offender among the Big Six power giants. Angry customers said it had told them that they must switch to a smart meter or face bill hikes. Others had been sent letters that suggested installing a smart meter is a legal or a safety requirement. E.ON also revealed plans to replace its expensive standard tariffs with cheaper rolling deals but only for its customers with smart meters. It was only after Money Mail reported the firm to the energy watchdog that E.ON agreed to change the information it sends customers to make it clearer that smart meters are optional. A spokesman for E.ON says: 'We're always looking at how we can improve things for our customers. We fully support the smart meter rollout and are keen to enable our customers to see the benefits of this advanced technology for themselves.' HMRC The taxman is no stranger to the Wooden Spoon shortlist and it's had another miserable year. HM Revenue and Customs' new tax-free childcare service, launched in April, has been plagued by technical problems, leaving parents locked out of the website and unable to log into accounts to pay nursery fees. When parents then tried to ring the helpline, they routinely couldn't get through. In August the taxman had to set up a compensation scheme for those who had lost out. HMRC has also come under fire for unfairly pocketing thousands of pounds from savers. Money Mail revealed in November that people in their 50s and 60s who made extra payments to top up state pensions found they didn't actually qualify for an increase. Yet when they asked for their money back, the taxman refused. There has also been a great deal of confusion around the marriage tax break. In September we reported that 2 million of the 4.2 million couples eligible for the perk had not claimed it, missing out on around 1.3 billion between them. You tell us the application process is cumbersome and it is difficult to find out if you're eligible. Letters to Money Mail's agony uncle Tony Hazell also suggest HMRC is still giving customers the runaround when they've paid the wrong amount of tax and need to correct their records. Sometimes it has taken the tax office months to reply to your requests and then it's failed to apologise.A spokesman for HMRC says: 'We're delivering better customer service across the board. 'Call waiting times are below five minutes, we're now available seven days a week, and 13 million people have signed up to online tax accounts to manage their tax online. 'We're sorry that some parents didn't receive the standard of service to which we are committed. We've improved the new service.' SANTANDER At the start of this year Money Mail was flooded with heart-wrenching cases of Santander customers who had lost their life savings to online banking fraud. Con artists pretending to be from telecoms firms and even Santander itself had found a way to exploit the bank's payment verification system to empty people's accounts without them being alerted by text message. In one of the worst cases, a 49-year-old from London lost 180,000. Santander refused to cover these losses, claiming the victims should not have given out their details over the phone. In some cases it sent victims standardised letters claiming to have investigated their case fully just 24 hours after the customer had reported the incident. Santander also failed to tell some customers that they had the right to appeal to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they disagreed with the bank's decision. Since Money Mail highlighted the flaw in Santander's text message system, the bank has tightened its security. But many victims are still thousands of pounds out of pocket. A spokesman for Santander says: 'We work hard to prevent our customers becoming victims of scams. We invest heavily in processes and systems to detect and prevent fraud. We are sorry if some of our customers feel we have not met the simple, personal and fair standards we strive to meet. We take our responsibility in this area very seriously and will continue to fight back against the criminals who are ruining people's lives.' SCOTTISH POWER After Scottish Power won our Wooden Spoon three years ago, its service appeared to be improving. But over the past 12 months its name has again started to crop up in our postbag with regularity. You tell us time and time again that the firm is unable to deal with the simplest of queries. Readers routinely say their bills and direct debit payments are wrong sometimes because their address has been confused with a neighbour's. Then, when you ask for it to be corrected, nobody comes back to you and sometimes Scottish Power compounds the error with another bungle. In the worst cases, customers are being threatened with debt collectors over money they don't owe. Scottish Power has been ranked bottom of the Big Six suppliers for service by Citizens Advice in its latest ratings. And the firm's own figures show that complaints are starting to creep up again. Between July and September it received 138,877 complaints. That's a 14.4 per cent increase on the 121,320 it received in the final three months of last year. Its figures also show that complaints are taking longer to resolve. Colin McNeill, retail director at Scottish Power, says: 'In a recent survey we had the best call answering times out of the big suppliers and throughout the year we have continued to make solid progress in our service. 'We are working hard to keep making service improvements and developing new products to look after our existing customers.' VIRGIN MEDIA Not a week goes by without a fistful of complaints about this telecoms giant appearing in our postbag. One of the biggest gripes is around moving home. Customers who have been loyal to Virgin Media for years tell us that after moving to an area where the firm doesn't supply broadband and TV, they are being charged hefty fees to exit their contract early. How much they have to pay depends on how long their contract has left to run. In some cases, bills of up to 240 are being charged. Customers say they feel as though they are being exploited. They say they were never warned about this trap when signing up and are paying the price for the firm failing to invest in full nationwide coverage. Readers tell us that when they complain, Virgin's staff are unhelpful and promise callbacks that never come. The regulator, Ofcom, has said it will be investigating whether these charges are excessive. It could introduce a cap, but the firm is continuing to bill customers in the meantime. A spokesman for Virgin Media says: 'Giving our customers excellent customer service is at the very heart of our business, so it's disappointing to hear we've fallen short of their expectations and the high standards we set ourselves. 'We take this feedback very seriously and are listening to the concerns raised by Money Mail readers. We have already taken a number of steps and are investing significantly to improve our customers' experience.' VOTE NOW The bosses of two firms accused of preying on British Steel workers' pension pots ducked out of a grilling by MPs at a committee inquiry today. Chairman Frank Field MP said he was 'surprised' two directors of Active Wealth UK and Celtic Wealth Management had chosen not to put their side of the story in public, adding: 'We may require them to come in.' Amid a growing furore over British Steel savers making life-changing decisions about their pensions, steelworkers attending today's hearing told of their struggle to get help and information from reputable advisers and pension scheme administrators. Pension choice: Steelworkers at the Port Talbot plant and others are making life-changing decisions about their retirement savings Fears have also been raised about rogue advisers trying to loot workers' pots, levying high charges and encouraging people to transfer into unsuitable high risk investments. Field piled pressure on the regulators meant to police financial advisers - even extending the session to force them to name on the record several firms recently banned from giving pension advice due to activities involving British Steel workers. Active Wealth, Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre and Mansion Park were eventually named by the Financial Conduct Authority, with a fourth firm not identified yet for technical reasons. The watchdog said it was in the process of either visiting or investigating up to 17 further firms, which it also could not name. Field slammed FCA director of supervision Megan Butler for not being able to name the banned firms off the top of her head, saying regulators should wish to shout them from the rooftops. Free helpline for British Steel savers A dedicated helpline at 0207 932 9522 has been set up by The Pensions Advisory Service to assist scheme members. 'This is a treacherous area for pensioners. You are set up by parliament to protect and ensure people are not trapped and tricked out of their wealth,' he said. 'I think there is something desperately wrong at the core of the FCA that it operates like this.' Tens of thousands of British Steel savers must make a crunch decision about their pensions by December 22, a deadline recently extended from 11 December. Those still working must move to the Pension Protection Fund, stay with a new British Steel scheme called BSPS2, or transfer their pots out to a private scheme. Workers who have retired must choose between the first two options. Full details of the alternatives and their implications are explained here and here. Up to 2,200 pension transfers have been made already or are in progress, potentially totalling as much as 760million, it emerged at today's hearing of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Meanwhile, workers have struggled to get through to the pension scheme's helpline, with one said to have made 207 attempts before being answered and discovering staff were unable to answer their question. Where British Steel workers have received poor advice or transferred into unsuitable schemes, the advisers and receiving schemes involved should be forced to give them their money back, the committee was told by a financial expert attending today's hearing, Pension PlayPen and First Actuarial director Henry Tapper. Tapper has been prominent among the financial industry experts raising the alarm with regulators and the media about British Steel workers being targeted by unscrupulous advisers. He appeared at today's inquiry alongside Rich Caddy, shift operations manager at British Steel in Teesside, who has set up Facebook groups to help his fellow workers. David Neilly, plant process operator at Tata Steel UK in Port Talbot, and Stefan Zaitschenko, a former steelworker in Teesside, also recounted their experiences to MPs at the hearing. Field said the committee was likely to release a 'quick' report, making urgent recommendations to help protect British Steel workers. DECATUR Drawing on the legacy of one of Decatur's most storied advocates for social justice, 2016 Citizen of the Year Jeanelle Norman spoke Tuesday to the ongoing fight for equality in public education and civil rights. "Giving up and throwing our hands in the air is not an option, because the time has come to keep on walking and marching for the necessary social changes and family enhancements," said Norman, NAACP Decatur branch president and this year's chosen speaker for the annual Martin Mangan Lecture. The lecture is named after the late priest of St. James Catholic Church who became a central figure in the area's labor struggles during the 1990s, when unions organized against some of the area's biggest employers like A.E. Staley Mfg. Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. over major changes to worker contracts. Next to a photo of Mangan in a clerical collar being taken into custody by police during the "War Zone" days, Norman addressed an audience of roughly 30 people at the Decatur Public Library. Norman said she only got to meet the religious and labor leader once before his death in 2001, but he was very well-regarded by members of the black community who lived in the neighborhood near St. James due to his outreach efforts there. "He was looked upon with a lot of appreciation," Norman said. Norman, now the president of the Decatur branch of the NAACP, went through her own storied labor fight. She was one of the Decatur 14, a group of public school teachers who were fired by the district for striking a decision later upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court. "The teachers had a very powerful slogan (then): 'We will stick together like glue,'" she said. Despite losing her job as a teacher in Decatur, Norman later succeeded in getting elected to the school board, and served as president for multiple terms. In these politically charged times, when longstanding social debates of race, gender, and class have jumped more frequently onto the front pages, Norman's lecture took notes from the height of the Civil Rights movement a political fight that focused on civil disobedience and risking one's own safety to defeat inequalities. In recent years, some on social media and elsewhere have come to use the phrase "social justice warrior" as a derogatory term for those who want to silence their political critics with unfair claims of racism and notions of political correctness. "I think there's a lack of understanding of what the mission of 'social justice' is, and thank God social change has already happened in America, otherwise we would be behind," Norman said. Already a priest with decades of experience, Mangan arrived in Decatur in 1991 to lead the St. James parish. Within a few years, Mangan became one of the leading figures behind the labor strikes and lockout at Tate & Lyle in 1994. After his death, Mangan was inducted into the Illinois Labor History Hall of Fame. MBABANE It was raining money yesterday as government raked in about E3 million in less than two hours. This was during the government auction sale of motor vehicles which was held at the Central Transport Administration (CTA) where dozens of bidders contested for 103 lots that went under the hammer on the day. Vehicles bidded for included immobile police vehicles and others from different government departments. Car models included, but not limited to BMW, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Kia, Isuzu, Ford, Land Rover, and Nissan. The highest selling lot was a Mercedes P/Line Horse which sold at E210 000 while the lowest was a Toyota Camry sedan which was sold at E4 000. One of the bidders was Lugongolweni Member of Parliament Joseph Souza who, however, did not successfully bid for any of the vehicles. Souza in an interview stated that he was hoping to drive home one of the trucks that were up for grabs. He said he could not successfully bid for one because they were expensive. The trucks ranged between E32 000 for a water tanker and E79 000 for a Flat Truck. Tippers were auctioned at around E32 000. I was hoping to buy a tipper so to have something when I retire, Souza said. Souza mentioned that the vehicles were in good condition and successful bidders would get value for money. He said that the auction was different from what used to happen in previous years as the government garage was well prepared. In the past, bidders complained about the vehicles having missing parts especially after the auction. This year the arrangements were better as no one will be allowed to enter the auction area in the absence of police, explained Souza. CLINTON It wasn't the exact anniversary, but Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner came to Clinton on Tuesday to celebrate one year since he signed what he called historic legislation to save two Exelon nuclear plants. The Future Energy Jobs Act provided $235 million in ratepayer subsidies annually to Exelon Corp. to keep the power stations near Clinton and the Quad-Cities running for at least another 10 years. We are here to celebrate, he told employees at the plant. This is one of the great economic engines for the entire state of Illinois. You are the best engineers and the best energy-generating professionals anywhere in the United States of America. In June 2016, Exelon announced plans to close the Clinton Power Station in June 2017 and Cordova Power Station in June 2018 because the plants racked up losses of about $800 million in the previous seven years. Thanks to the legislation Rauner signed Dec. 7, 2016, at Clinton High School, the plants now enjoy energy subsidies previously offered to solar, wind and other carbon-free sources of power. We are going to have many more birthdays for the rebirth of this facility, he said. This creates economic prosperity for the people of Illinois. This creates great careers for the people of Illinois, a better quality of life and a lower cost of living for the people of this great state. The Clinton plant employs about 700 people and generates at $15 million per year in property tax revenue. They contended that the bill would mean greater uncertainty for electricity customers across the state, from large manufacturers to individual families, who will pay for the $235 million in annual subsidies for unprofitable assets of an otherwise profitable company. Exelon said the subsidies are warranted because, like subsidized wind and solar power, nuclear generation doesnt emit climate-damaging carbon pollution. It was tough, and it took many, many months to get it passed, he said. There were many points to it. It was a rough, rough process. But this facility and the ability to stay competitive and dynamic in every segment of the energy-generation field is critically important," he said. "Your success is Illinois' success. Rauner said about 1,500 jobs were saved at the two plants with the legislation, and another 500 jobs were added as a result of the plants staying open. The real power is the thousands of jobs that each of you support in your community here, he said. There are three or four jobs for every one of your jobs that are created here because of your success. "This plant staying opens, and helping keeping our energy costs low and competitive, allows us to bring more jobs to Illinois because our energy costs to industrial customers are 20 percent lower than other states. Also joining Rauner, were state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth and state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. We are doing a lot better than we were 13 months ago when we didn't know if this plant was going to stay open or not, Mitchell said. I have to give kudos to the workers." Exelon Chief Operating Officer David Rhoades said Tuesday that plant officials expect to begin soon the process of applying for a renewal of the plant's operating license. We are sequencing it behind some other things, but I think in 2019, we plan to actually submit the renewal for Clinton, he said. The current license expires on Sept. 29, 2026. MBABANE The Swaziland Development Finance Corporation (FINCORP) has realised a profit drop of 34.92 per cent, which amounts to E8.8 million in monetary terms. FINCORP, a company with two shareholders in the Swazi government and Tibiyo TakaNgwane holding 80 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, reported a group profit after tax of E16.4 million. This is a decline from the profits of E25.2 million made the previous year. This is largely because the parent company posted a loss of E8.6 million which is largely attributable to foreign exchange valuation losses of 14.8 million, reported Tibiyo TakaNgwane in the financial year ended April 30, 2016. It was explained that the foreign exchange losses resulted from foreign currency denominated borrowings with the International Corporation for Development Finance (ICDF). However, only E3.8 million of these losses had been realised. The balance of E11 million are unrealised foreign exchange losses and provisions which are not tax deductible, FINCORP attracted a tax expense of E1 645 345 despite making losses for the year, it was explained. Under operations, it was mentioned that loan commitments (undisbursed approvals) as at the end of the year were 53.5 million. On a positive note, the brokerage business, under the subsidiary Finance Insurance Brokers continued to improve performance under new management and support of the parent company, FINCORP. MBABANE Beauty pageant queens from different parts of the world are coming together to make the world a better place. Nanami Chinatsu Tsuyama, who is the reigning Miss Japan Heritage, landed in the country last Tuesday to carry out her charity work commitments. The beauty queen made a commitment back in February during the Miss Cultural Heritage World pageant, where she formed a strong friendship bond with Miss Cultural Heritage Swaziland Nelisiwe Shongwe. The Japanese beauty queen chose New Hope Centre in Matsapha as her focus. Tomorrow Tsuyama will be hosting a fun day for the orphans of New Hope Centre where she will be donating food parcels and clothing to the orphanage. Speaking to the publication, the Japanese beauty said that it was part of her mandate as the reigning queen to carry out duties that will benefit not only her society, but other countries. She also highlighted that her trip was made possible by Swazi based zipper company YKK. This is a Japanese factory situated in the heart of Matsapha Industrial Site. According to Pageant SDs Catrien Potgieter the Japanese beauty queens visit will not only be recognised through her hosting a charity event, but she will get the opportunity to meet up with other local beauty queens. They will get to share ideas on how to impact change in their different communities as beauty queens, said Potgieter. CARTERVILLE Each year, Santa gets some help from the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children to provide a brighter Christmas to children in Southern Illinois. The Poshard Foundation hosts one of the regions largest toy giveaway events each year at John A. Logan College. The foundation is giving away more than 1,500 toys this year, with each child receiving a large present and two smaller ones. Toys included bicycles, dolls, trucks, cars, trains, puzzles, games and much more. During the annual toy giveaway, social service agencies pick out toys for their clients. Many of the toys come from the efforts of Richard Clark, owner of Tri-State Business Equipment in Harrisburg. Clark collects toys at this annual company Christmas party for the Poshard Foundation, according to founders Jo and Glenn Poshard. The rest come from individual donations designated for Christmas and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Phyllis McCowen, a foundation volunteer, does the shopping. She looks for bargains and makes sure we get good deals, Jo Poshard said. We used to get a lot of items from Pats Kids, then Pat Benton retired, said Glenn Poshard, a former congressman whose district covered much of Macon County from 1989-99. Some of the individual donors who used to donate through Pats Kids continue to earmark donations for the Poshard Foundation. These are children who are not on any list and not picked up by other Christmas programs, Jo Poshard said. The rate of abuse, neglect and abandonment is 2.5 times greater in Southern Illinois than in the rest of the state. Glenn Poshard said the toys go to the people charged with taking care of those children, more than 16 agencies. Jo Poshard said this year two agencies have a lot of need, Centerstone and the Family Counseling Center. According to Marsha Hayes of the Family Counseling Center, toys from the Poshard Foundation will go to approximately 75 children, and that will not serve all the children on the agencys angel tree. This year, Family Counseling Center will provide gifts for 240 children in seven counties. So, this is going to help immensely, Hayes said. Hayes said they had 263 children on their list in 2016, and she believes this years number will grow. Someone will turn in names they havent thought of, and I dont have the heart to turn them down, Hayes said. She added that parents have difficulties like job loss, illnesses and addictions, but that is not the childs fault. Children need to keep believing in Santa as long as possible, she said. I dont know what we would do without the Poshard Foundation. Jo and Glenn are the largest-hearted people and always continue to help children, Hayes said. Niki Grajewski of Centerstone said they are shopping for about 75 children in three programs, family services, mental health services and halfway houses. For a lot of families, if they dont get presents through this program, they would not get them at all, Grajewski said. This is our way of trying to make sure they have a happy holiday. The families served by Centerstone struggle to pay electric bills. Most do not have the resources to provide Christmas gifts for their children. We are always grateful for what the Poshard Foundation does. We have been working with them a long time, and they do a lot during the holidays. Its fun to be a part of it, Grajewski said. The agencies also received small gifts for children to give their moms, and hats and gloves for the children. Mary Nehring of Oakdale crocheted many of the hats. Decorated sugar cookies made by McCowen were provided for the shoppers. The spirit of giving at Christmas is a primary focus, but the kids have needs throughout the year, Glenn Poshard said. ALBANY New York education leaders on Tuesday urged government officials to build more flexibility into the state's new "free tuition" program, which launched this summer and is currently serving more than 23,000 public college students statewide. University leaders told lawmakers at a Tuesday hearing of the Assembly's Higher Education Committee that they hope the state will expand the program's application period, particularly for community college students, who historically tend to enroll in the days and weeks leading up to the first day of classes. "A lot of community college students may have had financial circumstances change, and at the last minute decide to enroll," said Patricia Thompson, assistant vice chancellor for student financial aid services at the SUNY system. "We certainly don't want to discourage that." It was the first major hearing on the state's free tuition program, known as the Excelsior Scholarship, since its much-heralded launch this summer. Lawmakers, led by committee chair Deborah Glick, were eager to hear how the implementation went, what mistakes were made, and what improvements could ensure a smoother rollout in the future. Of particular concern to education leaders and advocates was the late, compressed time frame that students had to apply for the scholarship, which is available to students from households making less than $100,000 a year. The income cutoff will rise to $110,000 next year, and $125,000 in 2019. Because it passed with the state budget in April, it wasn't until June 7 that the application window for the scholarships even opened. It closed 45 days later on Aug. 21. As a result, some students weren't notified until mid-semester that they were eligible for an award, and many had still not seen the tuition deducted from their bills. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Tuesday said tuition should have been deferred for these students, with colleges receiving reimbursement at the end of each semester. "I think the rollout of this program was done very well, given that we had an incredibly compressed time frame," said Dan Fuller, assistant secretary for education for Cuomo, who championed the program. Moving forward, the application period for a fall semester will kick off in March, Fuller said, giving students plenty of advance time to get their applications in. SUNY leaders stressed it would be important to open the application window "as soon as possible" and keep it open "as late as possible," so that as many students as possible have a chance to apply. During the 45-day window this past summer, more than 94,000 students applied for a scholarship and 46,000 of them learned they would receive free tuition. But not all of those would receive the new Excelsior Scholarship. That's because the scholarship is a "last-dollar" award, meaning it applies only after all other forms of financial aid are taken into account. For 45 years, the lowest-income students in New York have been able to receive free or discounted tuition through the state's Tuition Assistance Program, not to mention the federal Pell grant program. All told, just 23,000 students ended up qualifying for an Excelsior Scholarship with most of them coming from families that historically made too much to qualify for financial aid. The low acceptance rate was proof to critics that the program was far too exclusive. To receive an award, students must attend school full-time and complete 30 credits a year a requirement that boxes out the large number of students in New York who attend part-time because they are juggling jobs, families, or both. While the governor's office and SUNY have said that this requirement is key to ensuring students save money and graduate on time, the Center for an Urban Future on Tuesday called it a "relic of a long-dead era" when most college students were recent high school graduates whose parents could fully support them while they studied full-time. "Today, such so-called 'traditional students' are a minority of the student population," Thomas Hilliard, a senior researcher at the center, told lawmakers. "Six out of 10 college students nationwide work, one in four have children, and more than half are independent. Some students may change their behavior to obtain the Excelsior grant, but most will find it unrealistic or counterproductive." The acceptance rate also prompted Glick to wonder aloud if the governor's office hadn't "oversold" the program, giving false hopes to students who may not have been aware of the program's strict requirements. "I think to some extent when you put the words 'free' in front of things you generate a lot of interest," Fuller responded. "And free tuition, certainly at a time when student loan debt is at $1.4 trillion, generates interest. I think that we were always pretty clear about the credits and the on-time graduation ... so I don't think there was a big surprise. I think we did get a lot of interest, and I think that's a good thing." Lawmakers also heard from the state's private colleges, who early on had voiced concerns about the free tuition program potentially siphoning off their students. In response to concerns, state legislators established an Enhanced Tuition Award for private college students, promising to shave $6,000 off their tuition so long as their colleges put up half the money and agreed to cap tuition for the duration of the award. Only 30 of the state's 110 private colleges signed up to participate, though. That's because the requirements for both students and colleges were too tough, said Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. Private campuses in New York already provide $5.4 billion in grant aid to students each year, which amounts to nearly 90 percent of all grant aid students receive, she said. "Requiring a new matching program does not account for the aid campuses already give," she said. "This is particularly harmful to institutions that operate on a low-tuition, low-aid business model that keeps costs low for students." This fall, CICU reported that the state's private colleges that largely enroll in-state students had experienced a notable drop-off in enrollment this fall. "I think it was a confluence of factors," Labate told lawmakers Tuesday. "I can't say it was all part of this Excelsior effect." ALBANY The Rev. Alvian Smirensky, a Russian Orthodox priest recalled as accomplished, compassionate and wise, had his lifes final wish fulfilled, according to the Rev. Peter Olsen, who referred to the older priest as his spiritual mentor. He had said to his son in law, I dont want to live without my wife, said Olsen, archpriest of St. Basils Russian Orthodox Church in Watervliet. In fact, Alvian and Helen Smirensky, married for 59 years, died Sunday within hours of each other, on adjoining beds at Albany Medical Center Hospital. Their deaths on the same morning were not the result of an accident, crime or other shared tragic circumstance, but were the endings through unconnected natural causes of two lives intimately joined for six decades. That was fitting, according to another fellow clergyman who knew them well. They were very much a partnership, said the Rev. Christopher Savage, prior at New Skete Monasteries in Cambridge. Helen Smirensky went to Albany Med late last week for emergency surgery, Olsen said. (He did not say what her ailment was, and family could not be reached Thursday.) The surgery was not successful, however, and on Saturday night, Father Alvian, as he was called in the Russian Orthodox tradition, went to his wife to perform ministrations at her death bed. As he was being driven home to the Beverwyck senior living community in Slingerlands, Alvian had a massive stroke, Olsen said. He was promptly transported back to Albany Med, where staff arranged for them to be together. Helen, 84, whom Olsen called Matushka (for priests wife) died around 5 a.m. Alvian, 88, passed away about three hours later, Olsen said. Alvian was born in 1929 in Harbin, China. His family had fled Russia during the revolution, Savage said. They lived in Japanese-occupied Manchuria until 1939, when the 10-year-old boy emigrated with his mother, Sophia, to San Francisco. He served in the U.S. Navy as both an officer and a chaplain, and worked in state government, retiring in 1991 as director of information services for the New York State and Local Retirement System. Helen Smirensky was born in 1933 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where her family lived during the German occupation and World War II. They left prior to the Soviet occupation and lived in a series of displaced persons camps in Germany until emigrating in 1949 to the United States, where they settled in Nyack, Rockland County. As an adult, she worked as a librarian, including at the University at Albany and the New York State Library. The couple met in New York City while Helen was at Barnard College and Alvian at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, according to their joint obituary. Alvian was ordained as a priest in 1958 and the couple later moved from New York City to Connecticut, New Jersey, Guilderland and eventually the Beverwyck. They raised three children, Nicholas, Anna and Maria, and were also survived by three grandchildren. Father Alvian was at St. Basils when Olsen arrived 12 years ago. He had served at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Cohoes and St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Albany. For the last decade, though officially in retirement, he became affiliated with New Skete Monasteries, serving as an ordained priest but without the responsibilities of a full-time clergyman. Olsen and Savage lauded Father Alvians knowledge and scholarship. Because he was fluent in Russian and Slovanic (a language used in Eastern European orthodox churches) and at ease reading Greek, he could read directly from early church writings, Savage said. Yet he was concerned not only with upholding tradition, but with reaching contemporary worshippers, his colleagues said. Olsen recalled changes that Father Alvian urged at St. Basils, which made the liturgy more accessible to parishioners. He called for the opening of screen doors between the altar and the pews, and the reading aloud of passages that priests had once recited silently. He was trying as much as possible to draw (parishioners) in to what we were doing in the altar and make it so they were not just spectators, Olsen said. He was a very knowledgeable man, Savage said. But more than knowledgeable, he was a wise man. He understood how to take the traditions that weve received and apply it in our contemporary society. He was definitely not what you would call a rigid legalist, he was rather very relaxed. The clergymen described Helen as a brilliant scholar as well, and the couple as consistently kind and approachable. They were partners in everything -- in scholarship, in service to the church, Olsen said. She kept him humble. And she also gave him wise advice. Publicly, she always gave him her moral support. A funeral service for the Smirenskys will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday at New Skete Monastery in Cambridge. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany The Capital Region will receive $85 million in grants and tax credits for dozens of projects in the seventh round of the state's Regional Economic Development Council awards, announced Wednesday at the Albany Capital Center. Ten regions across the state compete for money $800 million this year through a process launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011. Local government and business officials from across New York gathered at the center at 11 a.m. on Wednesday for the announcement of funding recipients, hosted by Howard Zemsky, head of Empire State Development. The Capital Region was among five regions selected as "top finishers" this year. The other four were Central New York, Mohawk Valley, Mid-Hudson and Long Island. Of the $85 million awarded to Capital Region projects, more than $7.9 million was for sewer improvement projects including Albany, Lake George, Cohoes, Watervliet, Menands, Hoosick Falls, and Scotia. Top Capital Region award winners $5 million to the Albany Water Board to reduce raw sewage entering the Hudson River $4 million to The Quackenbush Building Inc. to renovate downtown Troy buildings for technology companies $2.9 million to Hudson Valley Community College for a program to train machinists $2.9 million to Re4orm Architecture to renovate space for a culinary arts innovation center $2.5 million to Palace Performing Arts Center to renovate the Palace Theater See More Collapse Albany and other towns along the Hudson River are in the third year of a 15-year, $136 million rebuilding project aimed at reducing the amount of untreated sewage spills into the river caused by combined aging sanitary and stormwater sewer systems. The plan covers Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Watervliet, Rensselaer and Green Island, which have about 150,000 homes and businesses. Albany is getting $5 million toward its projects, the biggest chunk of the $85 million, with smaller planning and engineering grants given to Cohoes ($72,000), Watervliet ($30,000), and Menands ($30,000). Elsewhere in the Capital Region, the Rensselaer County village of Hoosick Falls got a $30,000 grant to study adding disinfection systems to its current wastewater treatment plant. In Schenectady County, the village of Scotia got a $30,000 grant to study potential improvements to its sewage system. In Warren County, the village of Lake George is looking an estimated $18 million bill to replace its 1930s-era sewer treatment plant that has been linked to pollution in that lake. The $2.5 million announced on Wednesday comes on top of $4.2 million in state grants announced for that project in October. The town of Lake George also got $220,000 in grants to study and improve part of its sewage system, which feeds into the village treatment plant. In Saratoga County, the village of Corinth got a $1 million grant to support repair its sewage systems, as well as build a new pump station and wastewater treatment plant. A project proposed by The Quackenbush Building, Inc. to improve and rebrand existing building stock in Troy was awarded $4 million. Re4orm Architecture was also awarded $2.9 million to renovate the former Breslaw's Department Store for use by Schenectady County Community College's culinary arts program. The Palace Performing Arts Center, Inc. was awarded $2.5 million to renovate and upgrade the Palace Theatre. "This is exciting news for all who love and appreciate the Palace Theatre," said Susan Rosko Fogarty, executive director of the Palace. "This award recognizes the Palace's important role in the downtown economy." She said the state grant is the symbolic kickoff to a long process of raising funds necessary for the expansion. A capital campaign jump-started by significant gifts is being planned, Fogarty said, but she was not ready to announce specifics. Nothing can start until the nonprofit entity that manages the Palace gains ownership of the building from the city, Fogarty said. Theater officials have proposed paying $750,000 over 30 years for the property, saying the figure, after taking into account $4.2 million in repairs and maintenance necessary to the current structure, strikes a balance between the values assigned by two appraisals conducted last year: $650,000 and $1.1 million. The Albany Common Council voted in March to approve the sale, but Fogarty said Wednesday contract negotiations continue and the sale has not been finalized. A project to redevelop Starbuck Island, also known as Center Island, in Green Island will receive $1.79 million. University at Albany will get $1.25 million for Innovate 518, a program to link startups in the Capital Region with resources, but not the $2.4 million it requested to renovate the Schuyler Building. The building, a former high school, was slated to house the university's new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Two local high-tech manufacturing workforce training centers got funding through the council. The Manufacturing Technology Education Center, or MTEC, a project by GlobalFoundries, the State University of New York and other educational institutions received $1.7 million to acquire land and build a new semiconductor training facility and test bed. It is unclear if the facility would be built in Malta next to GlobalFoundries' Fab 8 computer chip facility, although it is expected to be built in Saratoga County. The money was actually awarded to Rochester-based Pike Cos., which has worked on projects for GlobalFoundries in the past at Fab 8. Another training center is the advanced manufacturing technology center planned by Hudson Valley Community College. That project got $2.9 million. The state also provided $1.5 million to the not-for-profit Rensselaer Land Trust to protect the Tomhannock Reservoir in Rensselaer County. The group will use the money to buy about 650 acres around the reservoir to prevent from ever being developed. That reservoir is used as a drinking water supply for Troy, Rensselaer, Waterford and Halfmoon. Elsewhere in Rensselaer County, the village of Hoosick Falls received $900,000 to help rebuild its stormwater drainage system, which was heavily damaged in a flash flood in July 2017. The flood ravaged a system meant to contain Woods Brook, which flows through the heart of the small village. The Children's Museum of Science and Technology in North Greenbush, which is currently operated by SUNY Polytechnic Institute, also received $200,000 for its relocation. The museum had originally been slated to move to SUNY Poly's Fuller Road campus in Albany, but SUNY Poly has since decided to not move the museum there. There are now plans to move the museum to another location potentially to downtown Albany or Saratoga County. The $200,000 would be used to help with that relocation. CMOST's current location is at the Rensselaer Technology Park, which is mostly an office park. Museum officials believe the children's science museum could benefit from a new location. In the town of Moreau, a new barley and specialty grain hub being called Z-HUB, was awarded $300,000. The hub is the creation of Rachel Czub, a 31-year-old, second generation farmer who returned to the Capital Region after working in investment banking. The Z-HUB, located on 310 acres, will be used to grow, process and store barley and other grains for craft brewers and distillers. The first phase will include $1.5 million of construction and equipment purchases. The Z-HUB got technical assistance from the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, the county's economic development agency. "This is great news for farmers and great news for craft brewers," Czub said. "I appreciate the invaluable assistance of the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership and can't wait to get started." One major area developer, Rotterdam-based Galesi Group, failed to receive the $5 million it requested to redevelop the former Starlite Theater property on Route 9R in Latham. Galesi is proposing building 3,000 housing units, two office buildings and retail space on the 58-acre site. The Ayco Company plans to centralize its headquarters operations there. A full list of the awarded funds can be found online at ny.gov. Below is a list of the Capital Region projects that received funding. miszler@timesunion.com 518-454-5018 @madisoniszler CHICAGO Officials with the Museum of Science and Industry say the museum will no longer host the Chicago Public Schools science fair after 2018. The Chicago Tribune reports that museum officials cited the staff and time it takes to host the fair. The museum has been home to the event since 1950, providing space for 300 or more students and their projects. The fair is organized by the nonprofit group Chicago Public Schools Student Science Fair Inc. Debra Sutkowski, past president of the group's board, said they need to find a new venue that they can afford. She said hopefully the venue would be donated or reduced in cost. Museum officials said they would support the fair in other ways and help find another venue for 2019. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A new brand in theater is being rolled out for Saratoga Springs audiences with the show "American Soup," a kind of fantasy on late 20th-century America featuring Andy Warhol as a guiding spirit. iTheater Saratoga is the name of the troupe, which previously operated under the moniker of Creative Place International. "American Soup" opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at the National Museum of Dance where it will run for six performances through Dec. 23. "You see a family living through great events, and experiencing the pain and joy of being an American in the '60s, with the assassination of Kennedy and the Vietnam War," says playwright Mary Jane Hansen. "Things continue on into the glamour and the mess that was the 80s and the 90s." The large family from Queens will be seen center stage, while off to the side is a rock combo. "Music helps tell the story and document the times," says Will Severin, the music director. Severin composed some of the songs, though the score is mostly made up of iconic hits. There's also a solo guitar rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," which Severin describes as his homage to Jimi Hendrix. More Information If you go "American Soup" When: Opens 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14,and continues for five more performances through Dec. 23. Where: Riggi Theater, National Museum of Dance, 99 South Broadway, Saratoga Springs Tickets: $15-$25. Call (518) 584-7780 or visit: http://www.thecreativeplaceinternational.org See More Collapse Finally, a third area of the stage is reserved for Andy Warhol and his studio. The pop artist is engaged in a sometime candid, sometimes guarded conversation with a new client named Joe. "The banter between Andy and Joe is hilarious," says Hansen. "It was always difficult to pin down Warhol and the more you tried the more he eluded interviewers. But Joe helps Andy come to terms with his own life." While the show itself deals with big themes of past decades, the experience for audiences should be intimate and personal. If for no other reason, every seat in the house will be lost to the stage, since the museum's Riggi Theater seats only about 70. Including the band, there will be 15 performers. The history of "American Soup" traces back to the defunct New York State Theater Institute, where Hansen was a regular guest artist and Severin was the in-house composer. The show was conceived as a concise view of American culture for presentation to European audiences. NYSTI debuted "Soup" in Sweden in 2005 and also performed it in Italy. Back home in the states, Hansen revised and expanded the property to its current one-act 90-minute form for its local debut in 2007. After NYSTI was shut down as the result of a state audit in 2010, many of the principals of the company regrouped as the Creative Place International and began producing and presenting shows at the National Museum of Dance. A revival of "American Soup" was the company's debut production. Now celebrating its fifth season, Creative Place is reintroducing itself as iTheater Saratoga. "We wanted to rebrand because 'theater' and 'Saratoga' weren't in the title," explains Severin. The new logo integrates other i-words as descriptive of the company's work, including innovative, inspired, and inclusive. According to the company's website, "American Soup" is back on the boards due to popular demand. "It's just a lot of fun," says Hansen. "The show has a lot of universal truths. It sounds cliche but it's a celebration of the human spirit." Asked if "American Soup" speaks to the holiday atmosphere or is intended as an alternative to it, Hansen replied: "It's about hope even in the darkest times, and the ability of love to conquer all. When your heart is in the right place you can't go wrong." Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Prince William and Prince Harry joined the cast of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" at the film's European premiere Tuesday, delighting fans who braved the London cold for a glimpse of Hollywood stars and British royalty. Cast and crew were silent on reports that the royal siblings make a cameo appearance in the film. The tuxedo-clad princes walked the red carpet at London's Royal Albert Hall for the black-tie gala, a benefit for their Royal Foundation charity. Royal officials have refused to comment on reports that the princes recorded a scene playing Stormtroopers when they visited the film's set in April 2016. At the time they were filmed meeting crew members, battling with light sabers and hugging a Wookie. Star John Boyega has said the royal duo filmed a scene during their visit to London's Pinewood Studios, though it's unclear whether it made the final cut. Director Rian Johnson would not comment on the reported royal cameo. "I can neither confirm nor deny it," he said. London-born star Boyega was joined on the red carpet by fellow cast members including Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Benicio del Toro, Anthony Daniels who has played C-3PO in the "Star Wars" series since 1977 and Mark Hamill, who returns as Luke Skywalker. The eighth film in the "Star Wars" series, "The Last Jedi" is a follow-up to "The Force Awakens." It is the last film to feature Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Fisher died in December 2016 at 60. Hamill said fans were helping him get through his sadness at Fisher's death. "I shouldn't be upset she's not around, I should be grateful for all the time I had with her," he said. "She was hilarious, adorable, (and) as tough as she acted, she had a vulnerability." Associated Press Kimmel, Billy lobby for CHIP funding Jimmy Kimmel was absent from his ABC late-night show last week while his 8-month-old son, Billy, recovered from his second heart surgery. Ever since Billy was born with a heart defect and required surgery, Kimmel has become an outspoken advocate for universal health care, occasionally using his monologue to plead with members of Congress. On Monday, Kimmel returned to the stage with his son in his arms. Billy, wearing a sweater vest, stayed remarkably calm on camera as Kimmel choked up while talking about his son. "I was out last week because this guy had heart surgery. But look, he's fine," Kimmel said, his voice quivering. Kimmel thanked celebrity guest hosts, such as Chris Pratt and Melissa McCarthy, for filling in. He had trouble getting the words out. "Daddy cries on TV, but Billy doesn't," Kimmel joked. "It's unbelievable." Then Kimmel segued into an emotional monologue about the Children's Health Insurance Program, which expired in October. "I don't know about you, I've had enough of this. I don't know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children. Why hasn't CHIP been funded already? If these were potato chips they were taking away from us, we would be marching on Washington with pitchforks and spears right now." Kimmel urged his viewers to call their representatives and "tell them to take a break from tax funds for a minute and fully fund CHIP immediately." "Billy is doing great, by the way. He has one more surgery," Kimmel said. "And this is amazing: ... They say he's probably on track to win at least a bronze medal in the Olympics in 2036." Washington Post Harry's creator adds to her list of honors Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling can add another magic moment to her list of achievements she has been made a royal Companion of Honor. Rowling received the honor from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, on Tuesday at a Buckingham Palace ceremony. Rowling said she was "deeply honored and proud" to receive the title, which is limited to 65 people "of distinction." The boy wizard's creator is being honored for services to literature and philanthropy. Associated Press This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Eleven years ago, Janice Rowell was a woman with a propensity for numbers, holding down two jobs. She lost that after a stroke robbed her of much of her cognitive and physical abilities. Eventually rehab, therapy and hard work allowed her to regain enough of her previous abilities to live on her own at a senior living complex in Albany with the help of home care aides. Eighteen months ago, a new aide came in to her life and allegedly took advantage of her, assuming her identity and draining her bank account, family and police said. On Tuesday, Albany police arrested Margaret Frazier, 55, of Albany. She is charged with identity theft and grand larceny. Police say Frazier stole nearly $14,000 from Rowell through a combination of credit card theft and withdrawals from her checking account. She had so much power, Rowells sister, Samantha Rowell, said. Rowells is a cautionary tale. It highlights the potential danger for people who require home health care. One in nine seniors reported being abused or neglected in the past year and approximately one in 20 older adults have suffered some sort of financial mistreatment in the recent past, according to the state AARP. Laura Ehrich, Associate State Director with AARP New York, said seniors and family members need to have on-going conversations on financial fraud. Workers should not have access to information about your finances, she said. Instead, she recommended that seniors should check with the agency about payment and not hesitate to reach out to their home care agency if the worker isnt doing what theyre paid to do. The purchases on Janice Rowells accounts varied. Samantha Rowell says records show Frazier allegedly bought a washer-and-dryer set, a $200 pair of shoes, phones and other items at three different Walmarts from January 2016 until the first week of November. Rowell said Frazier even had her husband come and paint Rowells apartment, and then charged her for the paint. The thefts may have stretched back even further than police think, she said. That woman just took advantage of her and used her position, she said. When Frazier realized she had been caught she allegedly tried to repay some of what she had taken, Samantha Rowell said. The sisters refused and contacted police. Between thefts, Frazier was working to drive a wedge between her and her sister, Samantha Rowell said. The discovery of the theft shocked her. How bad is it that someone would be that malicious, she said. There are steps seniors can take to prevent these types of thefts, Ehrich said. Seniors should make a financial plan and protect their identity by shredding papers with personal identifying information on them, she said. They should also lock up their checkbooks and bank statements. Another good idea is to ask for help when making complicated financial decisions and monitor credit scores at least one a year. Finally avoid making cash purchases, using a check or card creates a paper trail and may offer additional protections. Treat your personal information, like your Social Security Number, like its a valuable commodity, she said. Dont give it away unless you have a very good reason to. Frazier is represented by the Albany County Public Defenders office. They could not immediately be reached Wednesday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate New York New York subway riders shrugged off the city's latest attack Tuesday, a day after police say a would-be suicide attacker set off a pipe bomb. The underground passageway at the Times Square station where the homemade device went off Monday was crowded with commuters a day later. The only sign of Monday's explosion was in increased police presence, including a badge-wearing German shepherd named Omar. Riders said they had no qualms about returning to the station where authorities say Akayed Ullah set off the bomb. "I just feel like New York City is a resilient city and you just go on with your life and do the best you can ..." said Jennifer Farinas, whose commute involves a bus from Secaucus, N.J., to the Port Authority Bus Terminal near the targeted station and then the subway to her marketing job. "You just have to be aware." Maintenance worker Jorge Garcia said he didn't think twice about getting on the subway at the Times Square station. "I'm used to it," Garcia said. "I already went through 9/11. I was about three blocks away when the World Trade Center came down." Sammy Baron said that his bus from New Jersey arrived at the terminal about 20 minutes after the explosion and people were still running from the scene. But Baron took the same bus Tuesday and transferred to the subway to his Manhattan banking job. "Life continues," he said. Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant, was the only person seriously injured in the explosion in the blocklong walkway. Three other people complained of hearing loss and headaches. New York Days after New York City Ballet's Peter Martins took a leave of absence in the face of sexual harassment allegations, the New York Times reported Tuesday that a total of five dancers have accused the ballet master-in-chief of physical and verbal abuse. One of the accusers, the Times reports, is Victor Ostrovsky, who was 12-years-old when he said Martins grabbed him by the back of the neck in what he called "a death lock." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY - On May 21, 2015, Edward "Ted" Mero told homicide investigators the discovery of Shelby Countermine's body in a remote area of Coeymans had been stressing him out for "about a week." Here was the problem: Only two days had passed since police identified the body as Countermine. The investigators confronted Mero with the knowledge that he could not have known the human remains were those of Countermine found by a water pipeline where the city water employee had worked months earlier -- unless Mero had a reason to know. On Tuesday, a video of the interrogation and Mero's alleged slip-up -was shown to the jury in Mero's double-murder trial in Albany County Court. Prosecutors later rested their case against Mero, 30, who is also charged with the Jan. 27, 2013 murder of his roommate Megan Cunningham. On the video, part of a four-hour interrogation at State Police Troop G headquarters in Latham, Mero was questioned by State Police Investigator Robert Martin and Coeymans Detective Jason Albert. Mero told them the discovery of Countermine's body stressed him out for "about a week" -- and all weekend. "This has been bothering you since Friday?" of the investigators asked Mero. "Thursday, Friday, when I first found out," Mero told them. "What day is today?" the investigator followed up. "Thursday," Mero answered "OK," Martin replied. "You know we only released who it was two days ago, right?" "I could have sworn it was over the weekend," Mero answered. "No, it was Tuesday," the investigator replied. Moments later, Martin told Mero: "You should have like two sleepless nights, not six sleepless nights." Mero said he was exhausted and, in a sudden shift, said he had been stressed out because he and his girlfriend were planning to build a new patio. Martin told Mero his time frame did not add up. Martin and Albert told Mero to start over and come clean. Mero had already told them on Dec. 3, 2014, the day Countermine disappeared, he met the woman at his parents' home in Albany for a five-hour prostitution session. The parents were away in Hawaii. Mero said he kicked Countermine out of the house when he exited a bathroom and saw Countermine snorting drugs off a photo of his grandmother. Now, the investigators heightened the pressure on Mero in an apparent attempt to get him to confess to the murder of Countermine. Martin repeatedly accused Mero of lying. "I didn't do anything to her but ask her to leave my house," Mero, becoming frustrated, insisted. "I don't believe that," Martin replied. "I'm sorry. I don't." Martin noted to Mero that if he simply disposed of Countermine's body and not killed Countermine, that was a misdemeanor in New York (unlawful disposal of a human body became a felony that September). "Did you take the body down there and put it down there? Did something else happen?" Martin pressed Mero. Mero sat frozen and silent for an extended period. "Did something else happen?" Martin repeated. Mero said he needed to talk to other people. Martin, in a final effort, asked Mero to "give me something" to "get it off your chest." Mero soon asked for an attorney and the interview ended. That portion of the video was not shown to the jury. Mero defense attorney Cheryl Coleman began calling witnesses late Tuesday, including an Albany store worker who said he believed he saw Countermine in January 2015. He also said he believed he saw her after Countermine's remains were found and suggested his seeing her could be an "illusion." Coleman is expected to call several more witnesses Wednesday. A disabled train shutdown a portion of Route 5s in Rotterdam Junction at about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. The train was removed before 6 a.m. Police directed vehicles heading west from Rotterdam to detour to Route 5 via Interstate 890. Drivers headed east were directed to detour to Route 5 via Route 103. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate State Police are asking for the public's help as they search for an alleged marijuana smuggler and others as part of their Warrant Wednesday initiative. Sandra S. Beaudoin, 46, is wanted by State Police in Raybrook for a felony marijuana charge that troopers say stems from her Nov. 22, 2oo5 arrest for allegedly trying to get 40 pounds of marijuana through the Fort Covington Port of Entry. Christian Berry, 26, is wanted by State Police in Valley Stream on a drunken driving and traffic offenses. The charges stem from a traffic stop on the Southern State Parkway last year. Kenneth Desormes, 43, is wanted by State Police in Tarrytown on a charge of driving while intoxicated. State Police Desormes was drunk when he was involved in a car crash on the state Thruway. Ariah M. Mike, 19, is wanted by State Police in Lysander on a charge of petit larceny that stems from the theft of clothing from a Sears store at the Great Northern Mall in Clay. Mike was arrested in April 2016 after allegedly taking $339 worth of clothing. Nathan L. Page, 27, is wanted by State Police in Brunswick on an identity theft charge that stems from his alleged use of someone else's Apple Pay account to make $2,562 in purchases. Troopers said Page might be hiding in North Carolina. Johnny Santiago-Rivera, 25, is wanted by State Police in Niagara on a criminal contempt charge for allegedly failing to appear in court on Aug. 15, 2017. Troopers said Santiago-Rivera violated an order of protection in June. Jose Omar Amaya Serrano, 22, is wanted by State Police in Somers on charges of possession of stolen property. Serrano is accused of stealing a Ford pickup truck in Queens. He was taken into custody on July 28, 2017 and did not return to court, troopers said. Christopher Willix, 35, is wanted by State Police in Catskill on a charge of criminal mischief. The charge is connected to an altercation and allegations that Willix did damage to a home. State Police ask that you contact them if you know the whereabouts of any of the individuals. Zach Gibson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered a strong defense of Robert Mueller's appointment and actions as special counsel on Wednesday and further praised the FBI, even as the bureau has been criticized by President Donald Trump in recent weeks. Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Rosenstein, who serves as acting attorney general in matters related to last year's presidential election given Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal in such cases, said Mueller was an "ideal choice" for the position and pushed back on the suggestion that investigators on the Russia probe have acted with bias. Rosenstein said it would be "very difficult" for "anybody to find somebody better qualified for this job. "Director Mueller has, throughout his lifetime, been a dedicated and respected and heroic public servant," he said. Mueller is a Republican who was appointed as special counsel by a Trump nominee. In August, FBI investigator Peter Strzok was removed from the Russia inquiry, later revealed to be due to his participation in text message conversations critical of Trump with a colleague. ABC News reported Tuesday evening that the texts included messages that the president -- still a candidate at the time of the exchanges -- was "an idiot." Rosenstein addressed concerns from congressmen on Wednesday that political affiliation could have an impact on the impartiality of the investigation. "I think its important to recognize that when we talk about political affiliation the issue of bias is something different," he said, adding that he and Mueller "recognize we have employees with political opinions. Its our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions." The deputy attorney general continued by saying that he believes Mueller is leading his office "appropriately." Appearing to seize upon the news of Strzok's messages earlier this month, Trump commented via Twitter that he believed the FBI's reputation was "in tatters" and the "worst in History," a notion Rosenstein refuted. "Ive expressed concern with certain aspects of certain things done by the FBI, but in general throughout my experience working with FBI agents over the decades, I found them to be an exceptional group of public servant -- very loyal, faithful and dedicated. And I believe some of the finest people that I know are agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation," he said in response to committee questioning on the matter. As for some legislators' ongoing concerns that Trump would order Rosenstein to dismiss Mueller in an attempt to end the Russia investigation, the deputy attorney general said no such suggestion has been raised. "Nobody has communicated to me a desire to remove Robert Mueller," he said Wednesday. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. If youre a normal person who pays attention to politics, youd be forgiven for thinking that Washington cant decide whether deficits are bad or not. Well, I have one easy trick that will help you make sense of it all. In Washington, when you hear people complain that this or that piece of legislation will explode the deficit, what they are really telling you is that they dont like the legislation. Its really that simple. Good legislation, like good food, movies, novels and pretty much everything else except for dogs (theyre all good), is in the eye of the beholder. A politician or partisan who thinks a proposal is worth doing will think its worth doing even if it increases the deficit. If he thinks a proposal is bad, he might argue that its bad on the merits. But you can be sure that if it also increases the deficit, he will cite this fact as a major reason why it is bad. That is the role deficits and the national debt play in our politics. Anti-debt talk serves as dye marker for some more fundamental objection. Almost everyone thinks deficits are bad in the abstract, but that their badness should only be a problem for the other side. In 2008, for example, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said that the $4 trillion in debt rung up under George W. Bush was unpatriotic. But his actual complaint wasnt about the debt but what that money was spent on the Iraq war and tax cuts. Under Obama, the national debt soared from $11 trillion to just under $20 trillion, but that deficit spending was justifiable, according to Democrats, because it went to combating the financial crisis and paying for various other domestic programs. The source of the apparent inconsistency isnt simply partisan hypocrisy (though thats a factor as well), but a good-faith ideological disagreement. As a matter of economic policy, conservatives believe that the people themselves are better at spending their money than the government is. Cutting taxes and regulations drives economic growth. Liberals, meanwhile, believe that the government is the prime, or at least an indispensable, driver of economic growth. This is why liberals tend to talk about spending on everything from infrastructure to education as an investment. The Obama stimulus was sold as an investment that would pay huge dividends, thanks in part to Keynesian multipliers the idea that every dollar of government spending results in more than a dollar in economic growth. Obamacare, we were told, would reduce the deficit by cutting health care spending and improving economic growth. Conservatives make similar arguments about tax cuts. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News that the tax cuts would yield more than enough economic growth to make up for the deficit the bill creates on paper. On the philosophical side, theres an even starker conflict of visions. Liberals tend to start from the assumption that the government is entitled to as much revenue as it needs, and so tax cuts amount to giving people money. Earlier this year, Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed a budget that would add at least $21 trillion to the debt over a decade. But when the Senate passed the GOP tax bill, he tweeted, Historians will look back on Dec. 1, 2017 and conclude this was one of the great robberies in US history because Republicans are looting the Treasury. For Sanders, letting people keep more of their own money is theft because its really the governments money. Conservatives, on the other hand, start from the assumption that money belongs to the people and businesses who earn it. Letting people and businesses keep more of their money isnt a handout or giveaway, never mind a robbery: Its fairness. The ultimate problem is that everyone says they care about the deficit, but few people care about it enough. Democrats think spending is more important than the deficit, and Republicans think cutting taxes is more important. And thats why the national debt is more than $20 trillion, and growing. Jonah Goldberg is an editor-at-large of National Review Online. Email JonahsColumn@aol.com. Local dementia advocate Catherine Kennedy, has spoken about the struggles and challenges she faced when her husband, Liam, was diagnosed with the diease at just 42 years of age. Catherine, from Portroe and mother of former Miss Ireland, features on a new video launched by the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. In the video, she recalls the struggles they faced because of Liams young age. When you get a diagnosis like dementia, age shouldnt come into in when you are looking to get supports. Because Liam was so young and was diagnosed with Younger Onset Alzheimers, there were literally no supports for him no respite, no free GP, no nothing, she says. A year after Liams diagnosis, he was admitted into full-time nursing care and the family had to adjust to their new reality I remember in the early days of visiting Liam I would take him for a walk every morning and then collect the children from primary school. They would go in and do their homework with Liam and sit and play with him in his room. Liam, who passed away in 2011, received his diagnosis of younger on-set familial Alzheimers in 2002. Daughter Niamh, was crowned Miss Ireland in 2016 and has become an official ambassador for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland in her dads memory. Catherine recalls vividly how Liam spoke about Niamh. Our daughter, Niamh, was to receive her First Holy Communion in May, so we bought the dress and she modelled it for her daddy in the nursing home. I vividly remember one thing Liam said to me in care home just after Niamh had modelled her dress for him. Liam turned to me and said: Do you know what? She will be a model someday. Little did we know that Niamh would go on to be crowned Miss Ireland in 2016, says Catherine. The video was made as part of AlzTalks event at the Cork Arts Theatre during World Alzheimer Month 2017. All of the presentations have now been uploaded to the society's AlzTalks YouTube channel, which has been created to bring dementia out of the shadows and enable the many different voices of dementia to be heard all over the world. We hope this will provide a platform to allow awareness-building and perception-changing of dementia, given that a lack of understanding and stigma is still rife. Having people speak about their own lives and experiences creates a better understanding of the unique experiences of people living with dementia, said Alzheimer Society of Ireland head of advocacy and public affairs, Tina Leonard Meanwhile, Niamh speaks about memories of her dad and Christmas in a moving interview with Nenagh broadcaster Cian McCormack which will be aired on RTE Radio1 at 1pm on Christmas Eve. Tipperary farmer Pat McCormack has been selected as the next president of the ICMSA, the country's oldest farm organisation. Pat is steeped in the ICMSA and was elected to senior positions at a relatively young age. Having just turned 40, he has already served six years as deputy president and chaired the all-important Dairy Committee for the six years previous to that. He has a spring-calving dairy farm at Greenane, near Tipperary town and supplies Tipp Co-op. In terms of policy, Mr McCormack has indicated that his focus will be first, second and third on milk price and dairy farmer income, but he is also determined to make the phrase Freedom to Farm a reality. He has previously expressed the view that ICMSA must concentrate on its core mission for its core membership and that, in his opinion, that this core concern is a milk price that is proportionate to the skill, work and investment involved in dairying and the continuation and wellbeing of family farms dependent on that. His knowledge and appreciation of Irish and international dairy markets is well noted and he has represented ICMSA at several European Milk Board meetings developing a network of foreign contacts and sources in the process. Following six years after Tipperarys last president of ICMSA, Jackie Cahill, Mr McCormacks ascension to the office marks Tipps central role in the association and is recognition of the leadership the county provides in ICMSA and in the wider area of farmer advocacy. Former leader and current Fianna Fail Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill told the Tipperary Star that Mr McCormack would be the ICMSA's third Tipperary president, with his next-door neighbour Sean Kelly having the reins in the 1980s. It shows the strength of the organisation in this part of the country, said Deputy Cahill. He said Mr McComack would be a vigorous and articulate leader and that was what the organisation needed. I am fully confident he will do an excellent job. He talks straight from the hip, said Deputy Cahill. He will have the welfare of the members uppermost in his mind. When Deputy Cahill contested the leadership, he said he faced a battle royale with two other candidates and the fact that Mr McCormack was selected unopposed showed he was accepted by everyone in the organisation. Tipperary Town Plaza and Supermacs Clonmel will have a GIANT Snow Globe at their Family Fundays! You can get your photo taken in the giant snow globe in Supermacs Clonmel this Thursday, 14th December and at The Tipperary Town Plaza this Saturday, 16th December. There will also be face painting and balloon modelling on the day! The events kick off at 1pm and will last until 5. There will also be some special guests on the day so it should be well worth a visit! Not only that but you can also try the deliciously popular Festive 5oz burger that is back by popular demand. The 100% Fresh Irish beef burger, that made its debut last year, forms part of the festive menu at Supermacs. In keeping with the time of year, the double stacked fresh never frozen Irish beef burgers are topped with caramelised mushroom and onion, a slice of swiss cheese and light peppercorn mayo it even sounds festive! The mouth-watering burger is cooked to order every single time and served in a freshly baked Kaiser Bun. The limited edition Festive 5oz is a variation of Irelands first fresh meat burger, the 5oz Burger, made famous by the Irish rugby legend, Sean O Brien. The fresh juicy burgers are made from prime cuts of Irish beef and are never frozen. Supermacs has recently launched its new App so now its easier than ever to order the countries favourite burgers. Supermacs is Irelands largest indigenous family restaurant chain. The franchise recently opened its 108th restaurant in Headford, Co Galway. Supermacs also operates the Papa Johns Pizza and SuperSubs brands. It's been almost three months since Howard Buffett was sworn in as Macon County sheriff after Tom Schneider announced his retirement. And he has a limited number of days to help the sheriff's department achieve the things he wants it to achieve. Buffett served as undersheriff in the county since 2014, receiving an auxiliary sheriffs certification in 2012. He had more than 3,300 hours of patrol and training, 74 weapons qualifications and several law-enforcement awards. In a meeting last week with the Herald & Review's editorial board, Buffett emphasized his goal of increasing public safety. He's doing so with his work and his wallet. Among the millions of dollars given to Decatur organizations, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation has given $186,000 to fund a new prosecutor and paralegal dedicated to handling opioid cases, $236,000 for consultants to evaluate the Macon County Jail, $4.2 million in October for a facility south of Decatur for the new Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center, and $15 million last year for a law enforcement training facility on Decaturs south side. Officers working under Buffett praise the current improvements and the potential betterments thanks to the funding. Buffett said the biggest learning curve is tending to improvements to the jail, and at one point he jokingly offered it for sale. The facility would be quite different if it were built today, and changes to a facility built in 1989 and remodeled in 2006 are a challenge. Buffett works with and respects his law enforcement counterparts in the Decatur Police Department, saying their call volume is just unbelievable. Equally impressive, from our view, is the financial effort toward improvements in county law enforcement. Buffet's final day in office, he quickly pointed out, is Nov. 30. At that time, the Macon County Sheriff's Department will undoubtedly be the best-equipped sheriff's department in the state. Buffett's route to the role of sheriff was certainly an unconventional one. But as he approaches the milestone of three months in office, the improvements keep piling up. This is an important week for workers at the Bord na Mona plant in Littleton with negotiations about the severance package coming to a conclusion according to Cllr Seamus Hanafin. Speaking at this week's council meeting Cllr Hanafin compared the closure of the Lisheen Mine with the planned closure of the Briquette factory in Ballybeg. The Municipal District Council awarded a civic welcome to the Mine owners Vedanta for the manner in which they handled the Mine closure. Vedanta is an Indian mining company and they committed in their closure plan to setting a new standard for Mine closures and then they delivered on that promise Cllr Hanafin said. They looked after their employees, their local community and secured the future of the site and deserved to be recognised for that commitment Bord na Mona are a semi-state company owned by the people of Ireland. They too have a responsibility to their workers who have always shown great loyalty to the company and they have a responsibility to the wider community to ensure that that the bogs have a future use I hope our semi-state company will meet the standard set down by Vedanta Cllr Hanafin concluded. Meanwhile, Deputy Jackie Cahill also called on Bord na Mona to show generosity to the Littleton Bord na Mona workers in the redundancy package that is to be offered soon. Cahill said that negotiations between the workers and the Company are now at the end stage and considering the healthy financial position of the Company it is important that the workers are treated fairly. Cahill went on to say that the contribution that the Littleton area has made to Bord na Mona over many decades must be reflected in how the workers are treated. Cahill recently challenged the incoming Chairman of Bord na Mona at a Dail committee hearing to insure that Bord na Monas withdrawal from Littleton is done in a structured way, that all opportunities for the site be explored and most of all the workers themselves are properly remunerated for their long service. There was deep shock, and profound regret in the community, at the news of the untimely passing of James Maher, The Orchard, Shanakill, just two months short of his 80th birthday. His unexpected and sudden death occurred on the 4th of May, 2017, in the familiar surroundings of his family home. It was in that same house, beneath the shadow of the Devils Bit Mountain that James Maher was born on the 11th of July 1937. He was the eldest son of Timothy and Margaret, nee Broderick, (who was a native of Killea). James had two younger siblings Mary and Lar. Jim attended National School in Shanakill. He often spoke about his first day at that school and how his mother walked him there. Alas only a few days after that happy memory, Jim was standing by the graveside of his mother. At the age of 13, Jim left school to begin working on the family farm, a task he was most happy in and active at up until the time of his passing. For many years Jim was a well known Agricultural Contractor. He began this business at the age of 17 operating a tractor driven sprayer and plough. He never ploughed with horses. He later branched out into Silage Contracting with his brother Lar. On the 4th of August 1957, their first day at silage contracting, they started cutting silage in a field owned by Joe Brennan of Aughall in Castleiney. Famously when news of the silage cutting reached the Mart in Templemore, such was the novelty of silage cutting at the time, that all in attendance left the mart to go see James and Lar in action. Jim worked hard to develop the family farm. He operated a pig unit and a herd of Dairy cows. He was always a great admirer of the British Friesian cow. A progressive type of farmer, he was always interested in new ideas and advanced methods of farming, so much so that his farm became a model enterprise one that was visited by agricultural groups and students from across the country. So successful was Jim, that in time he was able to buy an adjoining farm, and indulge in a new hobby one of land reclamation. In October of 1976 Jim was married to Margaret Carroll of Killahagan, Drom. Together they worked, side by side, to build up the family farm; as well as raise two children - Tim and Catherine In all aspects of James life, Margaret proved to be the ideal partner. They shared similar views and values; both possessing the virtues of integrity, honesty, and a strong sense of justice. Certainly Jim was never more correct, then at the celebration of his 40th wedding anniversary in October 2016, when he publicly declared that meeting Margaret was his luckiest day. Jim was a member of Dunkerrin Macra, a founder member of Clonmore Macra na Feirme and Chairman of the Clonmore Branch of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA); and twice Chairman of Mid Tipp Farm Relief Service. He was a member of the Board of Management for Shanakill National School. He also served on the committee that renovated the three Churches in the Parish of Templemore, Clonmore and Killea for the year 2000. He was also an active committee member of Clonmore Community Centre, as well as an original promoter for the need of such a hall in the area. A man possessed with a deep interest in current affairs, Jim was elected Chairman of Templemore Fianna Fail Comhairle Ceantair in 2004, and subsequently worked to rebuild the organisation in the Templemore area. Then, in 2009, he was elected President of Tipperary Fianna Fail. He was also a proud life long member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association and never took a drink in his life. His hobbies and interests were many and varied. He had a great knowledge of local history, and was readily available to talk to anyone researching various local happenings in the area down through the years. Hence, without any untruth, it was widely remarked at the time of his passing there will be no-one to answer those questions now. Jim also had a great passion for family history and tradition. He was the go to person for anyone tracing their Maher family connections. Over the years he welcomed many people, from far and near, who arrived at his door, seeking such information. In short Jim is a man who will be greatly missed, as he was always so willing to help anybody. As such he was a great father figure, not only to his own family, but to a wide circle of friends. This was very evident at his funeral, where people, from all walks of life, came from far and near, to pay their respects to a man they could all say they knew well. Many groups and organisations, stood either side of the funeral hearse which carried Jim to the Sacred Heart Church in Templemore, including his colleagues in Fianna Fail. On his final journey to the graveyard in Templemore he was accompanied by the young farmers of Tipperary the members of Devils Bit Macra na Feirme a gesture he would have been very proud of. During the graveside oration, which was delivered by Dail Deputy Jackie Cahill, the Fianna Fail TD for Tipperary spoke of the Jimmy he knew, a man of unbending principal and deep faith. Jackie went on to list Jimmys numerous contributions which benefited the people of the area, including the widening of the Suir Bridge a task in particular which people had told Jimmy could not be done, yet Jimmy saw that it was done. In concluding his oration about Jimmy the Community Activist, Deputy Cahill, stated: He believed in standing up for his beliefs, to see the dreams of progress become a reality. Fianna Fail has lost a stalwart today; the local community has lost a great activist; but the Maher family has lost their anchor, and our sympathy is with them today. May the gentle soil of Tipperary rest on his gentle soul. No doubt all those who knew and loved Jimmy, do desire likewise, those same soft sentiments, upon the gentle soul of James Maher. - A family friend. [December 13, 2017] 24 Hour Fitness Expands Southern California Presence 24 Hour Fitness is expanding its presence in Southern California with the opening of its Mission Hills club in the urban residential community of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. The community is named for the nearby Spanish Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana that includes Andres Pico Adobe (News - Alert), the second oldest residence still standing in Los Angeles. A grand opening event for the new club is scheduled for Saturday, December 16, 2017, 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., 24 Hour Fitness Mission Hills Sepulveda, 10400 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, CA (News - Alert) 91345. The community is invited to this free celebration, which includes club tours, prize drawings, group training demonstrations, innovative GX24 studio classes and more. Ranked among the top 50 most livable communities within the city of Los Angeles, Mission Hills continues to see significant population growth due in part due to the stable housing market, lifestyle amenities and proximity to landmark Los Angeles area attractions including The Getty Center, Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign, among others. "The friendly neighborhood, community environment of our club is a perfect fit for Mission Hills," said Marco Cecena, General Manager. "This is the perfect time to think about fitness goals for the upcoming year-whether it's accomplishing a local 5K race, getting in shape for a wedding or becoming functionally fit to lift a bag of groceries from the car into your home. We offer great program variety and a terrific talent pool of professionals that are both knowledgeable and passionate about fitness, and they will help guide and inspire each step of your fitness journey." The modern new 37,500 square foot club features quality amenities, including: GX24 and cycle studios with popular studio classes such as Zumba , BodyPump , POP Pilates, RPM and bootybarre included with membership and cycle studios with popular studio classes such as Zumba , BodyPump , POP Pilates, RPM and bootybarre included with membership Hundreds of digital studio classes available on demand, for times when ou want to take a class on your own or with friends Personal and small group training programs, designed to elevate performance and motivation* Rows of cardio and strength machines, plus free weights for every level of fitness Dedicated zones for TRX resistance training, core work, stretching, functional and sports-specific workouts resistance training, core work, stretching, functional and sports-specific workouts Multi-functional Olympic Training rig, used by athletes and fitness enthusiasts for both high-intensity training and Olympic lifting Indoor lap pool for swim workouts and aqua classes Whirlpool, steam room and sauna for relaxation and recovery Spacious locker rooms with private showers Pro shop for convenient access to nutritional products, snacks and workout gear Kids' Club for children up to age 12* Towel Service *Additional fees apply 24 Hour Fitness offers a network of more than 420 locations nationwide, as well as signature content and programming including: 24GO on-demand workouts, including discounted access to Daily Burn , streamed to any device, anytime , streamed to any device, anytime Fit:Perks Rewards program, featuring exclusive sweepstakes, deals and VIP passes Rewards program, featuring exclusive sweepstakes, deals and VIP passes Innovative My24 app with class finder, XCapture fitness tracking and compatibility with leading fitness apps and wearables app with class finder, XCapture fitness tracking and compatibility with leading fitness apps and wearables 24Life digital magazine, packed with ideas and lifestyle advice from world-class experts and celebrities on how to think, eat, move and recover better digital magazine, packed with ideas and lifestyle advice from world-class experts and celebrities on how to think, eat, move and recover better 24 Day Smart Start program, created in partnership with top health and fitness coaches to help you maximize your membership and your results To experience the new gym, download a free guest pass from www.24hourfitness.com/MissionHills About 24 Hour Fitness As an industry leader for more than 30 years, 24 Hour Fitness changes lives every day through fitness. Conveniently located clubs, furnished with a wide variety of strength, cardio and functional training equipment, are the perfect environment for fitness professionals to deliver dynamic personal and group training programs. GX24 and cycle studios feature a popular array of live studio classes included with membership. A multitude of additional offerings engage and inspire every member to lead a full and healthy life both inside and outside of the club. Opening new clubs on average at the brisk pace of one every few weeks, 24 Hour Fitness is headquartered in San Ramon, CA and serves nearly 4 million members in over 420 clubs nationwide. To learn more about us and to find the club nearest you, visit www.24hourfitness.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005309/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 12, 2017] Vonage Continues International Expansion with New Tokyo Location HOLMDEL, N.J., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage (NYSE: VG), a leading provider of business cloud communications, has announced the opening of its first location in Japan. The new Tokyo office is located at Business Airport Marunouchi, near Tokyo Station. Vonage has named Hiroshige Kusumoto as Country Director. Mr. Kusumoto will report to Sunny Rao, VP and General Manager for Vonage in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. With a meaningful portion of Vonage's Nexmo revenues coming from APAC, expansion into Japan reinforces the Company's plan for continued growth in the region. "We are thrilled to welcome Hiro to Vonage to grow our business in Japan," said Alan Masarek, Vonage CEO. "We are focused on expanding our offers globally to deliver a full suite of cloud communications solutions to help businesses increase collaboration and productivity among employees and enhance connections with customers for deeper relationships that drive better business outcomes." With more than 25 years of experience in technology, Mr. Kusumoto most recently served as Country Manager of Japan for video and collaboration software provider Vidyo, where he worked for eight years and spearheaded the company' entry into the region. Mr. Kusumoto has also held various sales, operations, and product management positions at global businesses that serve the Japanese market, including US export company Fresco, electronics manufacturer Tandberg, and Japanese telecommunications provider KDDI. "Vonage's continued investment in growing its APAC business demonstrates the company's position as a global leader in business cloud communications," said Mr. Kusumoto. "APAC is a rapidly growing market for business communications, and I am excited to join Vonage at such a pivotal time in its growth, to strengthen the Company's foothold in Japan." Existing Vonage customers in Japan include companies in the e-commerce, talent acquisition, and online ticketing platform industries, as well as the country's largest real-time payment network, Paidy, an Exchange Corporation company. Lee Smith, CTO and Head of Product for Exchange Corporation K.K. commented, "Vonage's reliable SMS and text-to-speech technology plays a critical role in making Paidy secure and convenient for our customers." Vonage also has APAC offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shenzhen, with plans to open two additional offices in mainland China by the end of the year. About Vonage Vonage (NYSE: VG) is a leading provider of cloud communications services for business. Vonage transforms the way people work and businesses operate through a portfolio of cloud-based communications solutions that enable internal collaboration among employees, while also keeping companies closely connected with their customers, across any mode of communication, on any device. Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform, provides tools for voice, messaging and phone verification services, allowing developers to embed contextual, programmable communications into mobile apps, websites and business systems. Nexmo enables enterprises to easily communicate relevant information to their customers in real time, anywhere in the world, through text messaging, chat, social media and voice. Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. (vg-a) View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vonage-continues-international-expansion-with-new-tokyo-location-300570044.html SOURCE Vonage [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 12, 2017] BLOCKv partners with MegaFon and Showcases New Technology Platform with Digital Treasure Hunt in Russia ZUG, Switzerland, Dec. 12, 2017 /CNW/ -- BLOCKv is showcasing its technology with an innovative contest leading up to a concert at Moscow's Olympic Stadium featuring Leningrad, one of the biggest bands in Russia. The contest, a digital treasure hunt for fans of the band, is sponsored by MegaFon, one of the largest telecom operators in Russia. "MegaFon is using our technology to build excitement prior to a huge show with an augmented reality holiday themed treasure hunt around Moscow," explains BLOCKv CEO Reeve Collins. "It will provide a new, novel engaging experience not possible before BLOCKv". In the contest, fans of the band will go on an augmented reality journey to collect digital objects found in real-world Moscow locations like St. Basil's Cathedral and The Bolshoi Theatre. Fifty tickets for the Dec. 16 concert will be awarded and every participant will win a "surprise" prize too. "BLOCKv is a technology platform and this is just one example of the types of experiences it can bring to life. All of the tools to build, run, view and interact with smart digital objects are provided," explains Collins. "In this use case, the Ethereum blockcain will be used to ensure that the sweepstakes is run with complete legitimacy. Our technology ensures a level of transparency and fairness that was not possible prior to blockchain." BLOCKv lets developers create highly programmable digital objects, called vAtoms. The ownership of digital ticket vAtoms is confirmed via a record on blockchain, meaning that for the first time, people can own a virtual object that is unique, verifiable and tradable, and that can exist across different environments (AR, VR, mobile phones, TVs, tablets, etc.). "We've built a contest where the digital and the real world cross paths. Fans will love the hunt and the great prizes, MegaFon gets to be at the forefront of an exciting new technology, and BLOCKv innovates a brand new way to use blockchain. It's thrilling all the way around," Collins says. MegaFon is the second largest mobile phone operator and the third largest telecom operator in Russia (at the end of 2016, the total subscriber base had more than 77.4 million people more than half the country's population). The company approached BLOCKv in the hopes of using new technologies to create exciting experiences for customers. Anton Elizarov, Internet Marketing Manager at MegaFon, says, "The goal of the project is to demonstrate the use of blockchain technology for a wide audience and provide a platform for a groundbreaking user experience and a truly honest competition." Collins adds, "Working with MegaFon has been great and we look forward to attracting other big brands around the world. Knowing that companies like MegaFon are hearing about our technology and approaching us to use the developer platform proves we're headed in the right direction. This contest is just the beginning." Contact: supportblockv.io View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blockv-partners-with-megafon-and-showcases-new-technology-platform-with-digital-treasure-hunt-in-russia-300570324.html SOURCE BLOCKv [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] LGL Announces Re-Appointment of Marc Gabelli as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board The board of directors of The LGL Group Inc.(NYSE MKT: LGL) is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Marc Gabelli as the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Marc joins Michael Ferrantino, the Executive Chairman and CEO of LGL Group, in the stewardship for shareholder value creation. Mr. Gabelli was previously Non-Executive Chairman of LGL Group from 2004 through 2016. "We are enthusiastic to have Marc back representing shareholders in a senior board capacity as the company pursues future initiatives," Mr. Ferrantino. About The LGL Group, Inc. The LGL Group, Inc., through its two principal subsidiaries MtronPTI and PTF, designs, manufactures and markets highly-engineered electronic components used to control the frequency or timing of signals in electronic ciruits, and designs high performance Frequency and Time reference standards that form the basis for timing and synchronization in various applications. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the Company has additional design and manufacturing facilities in Yankton, South Dakota, Wakefield, Massachusetts and Noida, India, with local sales offices in Hong Kong, Sacramento, California and Austin, Texas. For more information on the Company and its products and services, contact Michael Ferrantino Sr. at The LGL Group, Inc., 2525 Shader Rd., Orlando, Florida 32804, (407) 298-2000, or visit www.lglgroup.com and www.mtronpti.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006432/en/ [December 12, 2017] CalSTRS Selected as a Best Place to Work in Money Management The California State Teachers' Retirement System today announced that Pensions & Investments magazine has named it a Best Place to Work in Money Management for 2017. This year's honor is the third CalSTRS has garnered-the only public pension plan to do so. Pensions & Investments, a global news source for money management, created the survey and award program, which is dedicated to identifying and recognizing the best employers in the money management industry. "This recognition reflects all the hard work our board, staff and leadership have done. We employ the best investment officers in the country," said CalSTRS Chief Investment Officer Christopher J. Ailman. "Our people and our culture demonstrably produce some of the best results in terms of low cost, efficient investment performance, among all large U.S. pension plans. Our 160 Investments Branch staff are among the most valuable assets in CalSTRS and this award validates our team effort." "We balance the demands of managing a huge pool of assets in a global financial system with those of our employees' work and life realities," Mr. Ailman added. "The fact that we accomplish this at a high level within a governmental structure is indicative of the grit and ingenuity of our leadership and Investments staff." Mr. Ailman firmly believes that rcruiting and retaining top talent requires providing stimulating work and a closely knit culture. Senior investment leadership is 55 percent female. Opportunities at CalSTRS Investments continue to grow as more assets are managed in-house and an Innovation Unit continues to explore new investment strategies. CalSTRS is also implementing an asset allocation strategy that moves more assets from a home-country bias to a more global orientation. "We appreciate Pensions & Investments' recognition of the strength that embracing a diversity of ideas and people has had on our work environment," Mr. Ailman added. Pensions & Investments worked with Best Companies Group, an independent research firm specializing in identifying great places to work, to conduct a two-part survey process for employers and their employees. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. This part of the process comprises approximately 25 percent of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process comprised approximately 75 percent of the total evaluation. Combined scores determined the top companies. About CalSTRS The California State Teachers' Retirement System, with a portfolio valued at $219.6 billion as of October 31, 2017, is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world. CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system, consisting of traditional defined benefit, cash balance and voluntary defined contribution plans. CalSTRS also provides disability and survivor benefits. CalSTRS serves California's more than 914,000 public school educators and their families from the state's 1,700 school districts, county offices of education and community college districts. See how CalSTRS demonstrates its strong commitment to long-term corporate sustainability principles in its annual Global Reporting Initiative sustainability report: Global Stewardship at Work Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @CalSTRS View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006446/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 12, 2017] California Life Sciences Association Commends New Legislation to Suspend Medical Device Tax California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the trade association representing California's life sciences industry, today applauded the introduction of H.R. 4617, which suspends until December 2022 the job and innovation destroying 2.3% medical device excise tax levied on medical device firms originally established as part of the Affordable Care Act. This statement can be attributed to Sara Radcliffe, President & CEO, California Life Sciences Association: "California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) welcomes the introduction of H.R. 4617, legislation that places a 5-year suspension on the ill-conceived 2.3% medical device excise tax. Without swift enactment of this measure, the medical device tax would further hamper innovation and investment in medical technology research and development. "According to our newly released 2018 California Life Sciences Industry Report, California is home to 1,796 medical device firms employing over 77,200 people - more firms and employees than any other state in the nation - making the impact of the tax on our state particularly troublesome. While our medtech innovators certainly welcome a 5-year reprieve from the tax, CLSA applauds this legislation as a positive first step towards full repeal of the device tax, which is critical to ensuring that the U.S. does not jeopardize our position as a global leader in medical technology innovtion. "CLSA thanks House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Reps. Erik Paulsen and Jackie Walorski for introducing this critical bill, and we strongly urge our California congressional delegation to support this measure to suspend this counterproductive tax on innovation." *** Click here to view the legislation. Click here to view CLSA's Legislative Action Center, urging Congress to scrap the device tax. To learn more about California's life sciences industry, visit www.califesciencesindustry.com. About California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is the state's largest and most influential life sciences advocacy and business leadership organization. With offices in Sacramento, San Diego, South San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC, CLSA works closely with industry, government, academia and others to shape public policy, improve access to innovative technologies and grow California's life sciences economy. CLSA serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors and service providers throughout the Golden State. CLSA was founded in 2015 when the Bay Area Bioscience Association (BayBio) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) merged. Visit CLSA at www.califesciences.org, and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @CALifeSciences, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006452/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 12, 2017] Resverlogix Announces Voting Results From The 2017 Annual Meeting Of Shareholders CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Resverlogix Corp. (Resverlogix, or the "Corporation") (TSX:RVX) announced today that, at its annual meeting of shareholders held on December 12, 2017, Resverlogix shareholders approved all resolutions outlined in the Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular dated October 30, 2017 (the Information Circular), which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the Resverlogix website at www.resverlogix.com. 1. Fixing the Number of Directors and Election of Directors By resolution passed by ballot vote, each of the six nominees proposed as a director were elected as directors of the Corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. The voting results for each nominee is set out below: Votes For Votes Withheld Percent For Percent Withheld Donald J. McCaffrey 33,234,615 172,543 99.48 0.52 Norma Biln 33,299,805 107,353 99.68 0.32 Shawn Lu 33,187,705 219,453 99.34 0.66 Kelly McNeill 33,302,505 104,653 99.69 0.31 Dr. Eldon Smith 33,299,805 107,353 98.68 0.32 Kenneth Zuerblis 33,319,505 87,653 99.74 0.26 2. Appointment of Auditors By resolution passed by show of hands, KPMG LLP, Chartered Accountants, was appointed as auditor of the Corporation to hold office until the next annual general meeting of the Shareholders and to authorize the Board to fix the auditors remuneration. About Resverlogix Resverlogix is developing apabetalone (RVX-208), a first-in-class, small molecule that is a selective BET (bromodomain and extra-terminal) inhibitor. BET bromodomain inhibition is an epigenetic mechanism that can regulate disease-causing genes. Apabetalone is the first and only BET inhibitor selective for the second bromodomain (BD2) within the BET protein called BRD4. This selective inhibition of apabetalone on BD2 produces a specific set of biological effects with potentially important benefits for patients with high-risk cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, neurodegenerative disease, Fabry disease, peripheral artery disease and other orphan diseases, while maintaining a well described safety profile. Apabetalone is the only selective BET bromodomain inhibitor in human clinical trials. Apabetalone is currently being studied in a Phase 3 trial, BETonMACE, in high-risk CVD patients with type 2 DM and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and is expected to be initiated in a Phase 2a kidney dialysis trial designed to evaluate biomarker changes and safety parameters in up to 30 patients with end-stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis. Resverlogix common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:RVX). Follow us on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/resverlogix_rvx For further information please contact: Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Phone: 403-254-9252 Or visit our website: www.resverlogix.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Ecoppia Completes $13 Million Funding Round, Shows Over 1600% Growth in Revenues HERZELIYA, Israel, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecoppia, the pioneer of robotic technology for the solar industry, will leverage the round to meet sharp product demand in large scale projects, push geographical expansion, and introduce new products. Ecoppia, the world-leading developer of automatic, water-free, cloud-based photovoltaic solar panel cleaning solutions, announced today the completion of a $13 million round of funding, led by both existing investors - Swarth Group, GlenRock and Gandyr, and Israel's largest insurance group, Harel Group Insurance and Finance. (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/618584/Ecoppia_Eran_Meller.jpg ) Ecoppia's solutions gained unparalleled experience cleaning over 200 million solar panels worldwide working with some of the largest energy players in the world including Engie Group, EDF, NTPC, Actis Group, Adani Power, SunEdison/Terraform and more. The Company's pipeline is expected to top 2GW in 2018. Ecoppia solves the challenge of solar panel soiling - one of the greatest impediments to solar energy production that can dramatically reduce energy output. Cloud-based and connected, Ecoppia cleaning robots use a patented water-free cleaning process to remove 99% of dust daily, utilizing advanced data analysis and machine learning for a unique performance and maintenance optimization. The closure of this most recent round of funding came on the heels of Ecoppia's ranking in the top ten of Deloitte's 2017 Technology Fast 50. With a growth rate of over 1600% in the past four years, Ecoppia is currently the fastest growing cleantech company in Israel. "We are thrilled to lead this round of investment," Harel Insurance & Finance Group commented. "Ecoppia is a game changer. They've successfully identified a critical need in the solar industry and created a reliable and cost-effective solution that contributes to lowering LCOE worldwide," they concluded. "The addition of Harel Group to the company's investors cement Ecoppia's market position as the only viable solution for large-scale solar projects," noted Eran Meller, CEO and Co-founder of Ecoppia. "The financial stability this investment grants us will enable the company to continue serving the largest energy players in the world, meeting the requirement of the top financial institutions involved in cleantech, and the growing demand in our pipeline," he continued. Oren Rozenbach, Partner at Swarth Group added: "Having the privilege of working with Ecoppia since early days we were able to see the agile work of the company, enabling it to remain at leading position and gain the full trust of all the players in the value chain" "Making it on the Technology Fast 50 shows a deep understanding of the market," Said Mr. Shally Tshuva, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Leader at Deloitte Israel. "Presenting such growth rates shows that Ecoppia has attained the agility needed to prosper in a challenging and dynamic market," he noted. About Harel Insurance & Finance Group Harel Insurance and Finance Group is Israel's largest insurance and financial group. Harel Group is Israel's largest and most dominant in the field of health insurance. Harel Group assets under management, in insurance, pension funds, provident funds, mutual funds and financial services, as of September 30, 2017, totaled over NIS 203.5 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.harel-group.com About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 provides a ranking of the fastest-growing technology companies including hardware, software, communications, media life sciences or clean tech - both public and private - in Israel. Technology Fast 50 award winners must be headquartered in Israel and are selected based on their growth percentage over the last four years. For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/2iY7RBU. About Ecoppia Ecoppia designs and produces innovative photovoltaic panel cleaning solutions to cost-effectively maximize the performance of utility-scale installations. The company's water-free, automated technology removes dust from panels on a daily basis to ensure peak output, even in the toughest desert conditions. Supported by a robust control unit, systems can be remotely programmed and managed to minimize O&M costs. Ecoppia is a privately held organization, backed by prominent and experienced international investment funds and led by a team of energy and robotics experts. For more information, please visit http://www.ecoppia.com. Contact Anat Cohen Segev VP Marketing, Ecoppia [email protected] +972-9-8917000 +972-52-8433466 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] cKers Finance Paves way for Innovative Sustainable Energy Project Financing: Makes 5 Investments and Looks for More MUMBAI, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently launched cKers Finance (pronounced 'seekers') has made a series of 5 investments in quick succession. They cover several emerging segments: rooftop solar, solar home systems and solar pumps. The project financier is actively building its portfolio in other decentralized renewable energy segments including micro-grids. This was revealed by Jayant Prasad, Executive Director, on the sidelines of 'Intersolar India' just concluded in Mumbai. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/619054/cKers_Finance_Logo.jpg ) "Our aim is to make debt available to companies in newer sustainable energy segments as they grow and need to leverage their equity. We specialize in making project finance viable at a small scale; and are developing innovative asset-backed financing approaches, including securitized structures," comments Pawan Mehra, Director of cKers Finance. "Our aim is to grow our deployment 3x in the next 6 months as we continue to deepen our relationships with companies operating in different Sustainable Energy segments." cKers Finance was launched earlier this year and is providng debt capital between Rs. 20 million and Rs. 150 milllion. It is backed by global sustainability firm cKinetics, cleantech catalyst Infuse Ventures, and IIM Ahmedabad's Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship. "We see an opportunity to plug the debt gap for several sustainable energy companies that are operating in new spaces. These companies have been adequately equity funded, and mainstream investors are looking for someone else to come in first. cKers Finance will fill that gap," reasons Kunal Upadhyay, CEO of Infuse Ventures. Over the last year, cKers Finance was selected as a PACESetter, an award constituted by the Indian and U.S. government, for its differentiated approach to providing competitive project finance and long-term venture debt financing for interventions. cKers Finance has also been selected by the Climate Finance Lab to develop a Sustainable Energy Bond to bring more capital into the space. "Our cross-functional team has extensive experience in financing DRE (Decentralized Renewable Energy) and Energy Efficiency projects. We have developed customized frameworks to underwrite loans in these segments and innovative asset-backed financing approaches," shares Jayant Prasad, Executive Director of cKers Finance. "In select projects, we also operate as a co-developer." Additional details on cKers Finance are available at http://www.cKersFinance.in. About cKers Finance cKers (pronounced 'seekers') Finance is a specialized Sustainable Energy (SE) finance company that operates in the rapidly growing segments around clean energy and energy efficiency. It is developing new instruments for project finance in decentralized renewable energy, creating standards for sustainable energy bonds and building data around risk metrics. cKers has been recognized for driving sustainable energy finance innovation and is a recipient of the PACEsetter Award which has been jointly instituted by the Indian and US Governments. For more information, visit: http://www.cKersFinance.in. Media Contact: Pranil Shah [email protected] +91-11-4017 0629 cKers Finance [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Leidos Partners with Nozomi Networks for Passive Monitoring of Cyber Threats to Industrial Control Systems FOXBOROUGH, Mass. and SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science, engineering, and information technology company, and Nozomi Networks, the pioneer in real-time cybersecurity and operational visibility for industrial control systems (ICS), announced today that Leidos has partnered to integrate with Nozomi Networks passive monitoring capabilities for its Industrial Defender Automation Systems Manager (ASM) solution for industrial control systems networks. Leidos customers will immediately gain enhanced cybersecurity for Industrial and Critical Infrastructure networks by integrating the passive monitoring and continuous threat detection capabilities of Nozomi Networks SCADAguardian solution. The offering will be available through resale by Leidos to both current and future ASM customers. Partnering with Nozomi Networks gives our customers access to enhanced passive monitoring technology that provides the visibility and detection customers need amid escalating threats to critical infrastructure operations, said Leidos Cyber, Inc. President, Robert Meindl. With a deep heritage and pedigree, Leidos Cyber is committed to staying on the forefront of technologies and services that will help our customers to protect, defend, and prevail against cyber threats. The integrated Leidos and Nozomi Networks solution adds ICS intrusion detection and passive asset discovery and monitoring to Leidos Industrial Defender ASM. This strengthens the ASMs ability to safely identify operational technology network assets and adds cutting-edge detection capabilities. Designed and built from the ground up to ensure the safe and reliable operation of control systems, Industrial Defender ASMoffers applications specifically engineered to address the overlapping requirements of cybersecurity, compliance, and change management in one solution. Nozomi Networks SCADAguardian integrates to automatically identify industrial assets and network activity, as well as provide real-time monitoring of cybersecurity and process anomalies. Complete integration means that alerts and incidents identified are correlated into meaningful incidents and communicated to the Industrial Defender ASM management infrastructure. Leidos has hundreds of industrial customers around the world many with immediate and long term needs for enhanced protection against advanced ICS security threats, said Nozomi Networks CEO, Edgard Capdevielle. We are proud to work with Leidos to provide the deep expertise and operational technology (OT) that these customers require. About Nozomi Networks Nozomi Networks is revolutionizing Industrial Control System (ICS) cybersecurity with the most comprehensive platform to deliver real-time cybersecurity and operational visibility. Since 2013 the company has innovated the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to secure critical infrastructure operations. Amid escalating threats targeting ICS, Nozomi Networks delivers one solution with real-time ICS monitoring, hybrid threat detection, process anomaly detection, industrial network visualization, asset inventory, and vulnerability assessment. Deployed in the worlds largest industrial installations, customers benefit from advanced cybersecurity, improved operational reliability and enhanced IT/OT integration. Nozomi Networks is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Visit www.nozominetworks.com About Leidos: Leidos is a Fortune 500 science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the worlds toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The companys 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. Press Contact: Jil Backstrom, Gamut Public Relations - for Nozomi Networks [email protected] - 303.913.1650 Follow the Nozomi Networks Blog Follow @nozominetworks on Twitter Visit and Follow the Nozomi Networks Corporate Page on LinkedIn [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] IFSEC India 2017: Catalyst to the Progress and Vision of the Security Industry NEW DELHI, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- South Asia's largest security and surveillance congregation in the Capital by UBM India IFSEC India 2017 at a glance: 20+ participating countries & over 300 brands showcased Smart Security for Emerging India Launched a whitepaper on 'Maximizing benefits of Command Control Center' developed by Knowledge Partner - PwC India developed by Knowledge Partner - PwC India Witnessed the second IFSEC India Awards One-day high impact conference focusing on Homeland Security UBM India successfully concluded the 11th edition of International Fire & Security Exhibition and Conference (IFSEC) India Expo, a three-day security and fire safety show (6th-8th December) in New Delhi. The show brought together internationally renowned exhibitors, consultants, business experts and key government officials under one common platform, to discuss global best practices and concepts such as smart cities, and to seek solutions for challenges in the security and fire domain. It also provided informative demos and a wealth of opportunities for the visitors to network and learn about cutting-edge technologies, industry trends, challenges, market insights and discover the best solutions to keep their business and clients secured. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/471349/UBM_Logo.jpg ) (Logo: : http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524706/IFSEC_India_Logo.jpg ) The inaugural ceremony of IFSEC India 2017 took place in the presence of key dignitaries Shri Gopal K Pillai, Chairman, Data Security Council of India & Former Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India; Shri Shiv Charan Yadav, President, Asian Professional Security Association (APSA); Mr. Anil Dhawan, Co-Chair, ASSOCHAM Homeland Security; Commander Deepak Uppal, Director, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC); Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India and Mr. Pankaj Jain, Group Director, UBM India, amidst an august industry gathering. This year, the expo saw participation from countries such as UK, USA, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Lithuania, South Africa, Russia and Turkey to name a few, from the commercial security domain. It is well-supported in its endeavours by associations such as Asian Professional Security Association (APSA), American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), Electronic Security Association of India (ESAI), Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) and Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), along with ASSOCHAM as Strategic Partner and PwC as knowledge Partner. Speaking on the successful 11th edition of the expo, Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, UBM India said, "The flourishing economy and rapid growth in sectors such as airports, construction, energy, ports, telecom, railways, road and retail, coupled with the influx of multinational companies has been the primary driving force for creating demand for the security industry. The government of India has also made its intention clear to revamp the country's ailing infrastructure by announcing new airports, ports and by building 100 smart cities across the nation. While implementing these schemes, it is necessary that the aspects of 'safety' and 'security' which is of prime concern in urban areas is incorporated. With the need for robust and updated security technologies to gain momentum with each passing day, UBM India through IFSEC India 2017 showcased the latest know how in the industry and deciphered relevant insights gained in the global security market. It provided an opporunity to its exhibitors and visitors to discover the best solutions to keep their business and clients secure amongst a showcase of innovative products." This year, the expo also witnessed the launch of a whitepaper by PwC - knowledge partner for IFSEC India on ' Maximising the benefits of a Command and Control Centre (CCC)' that primarily talks about key challenges in today's command and control centre (CCC) utilisation of the concept of operations and co-locating various command centres for integrated operations. With the increasing focus on Homeland Security in India, IFSEC India, 2017 discussed relevant insights gained in the global security market by conducting a one-day conference with the theme 'Secure Nation and Safer Environment' alongside the exhibition. The conference witnessed eminent personalities delivering special address and key note, to name a few -- Shri Gopal K Pillai, Chairman, Data Security Council and Former Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Shri Shiv Charan Mathur, President, APSA and Shri Anil Dhawan, Co-Chair, ASSOCHAM Homeland Security. Some interesting topics that were discussed at the conference are -- Smart Border Management - Comprehensive Strategies for Challenges and Threats to Land Borders, Coastal & Maritime Security Challenges. Sandisk, Videocon and Western Digital were the conference partners this year. Key take aways from the conference include: Shri G K Pillai, Chairman, Data Security Council of India and former Home Secretary, Govt of India emphasised the need for policy makers to get more serious about adopting technologies in homeland security due to the growing threats from terrorists and other extremist organisations. During the first panel discussion on Smart Border Management - Comprehensive Strategies for Challenges and Threats to Land Borders, panelists discussed the need to incorporate new and sophisticated weapons for border patrolling and also to equip our forces in adequate numbers so that they use those equipment without any fear of spoiling them. Also, the equipment should be customized to withstand wide variations in temperature and climatic conditions across different geographies. Vice Admiral (retd.) Anup Singh discussed the threats to Indian coastal and maritime security and the importance of protecting the Indian Ocean region which is home to 40% of the world's trade. He further elaborated on the four potential choke points around this region that could be targeted by enemies to disrupt world trade. John Livingstone - Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Johnette Technologies spoke about the need to use drones and other UAVs for securing our borders against illegal trade in drugs and weapons and also infiltration by terrorists. During the second panel discussion on Role of Drones, UAVs and other Upcoming Technologies in Border Security, panelists discussed the rules and regulations governing the usage of drones in India , the need to regulate the trade in drones, the various frequencies at which they operate, the technologies used in their production and operation and also the key points to be kept in mind before purchasing a drone or a UAV. The expo had over 300 participating brands which included -- Aditya Infotech, Dahua, eSSL, Globus Infocom, Hanwha Techwin, Hikvision, Mark Electronics, Realtime, Roadpoint, Secureye, Techsmart, Tenda, TVT, Uniview & Zkteco as Premier Plus partners. Premier partners include -- Advik, Axestrack, Biomax, Delta, Dlink, Face ID, Hifocus, Idemia, Mantra Softech, Orbit, Panasonic, Seagate, Slingshot, Tansa, Timewatch, Unique Electrovision and Western Digital amongst others. This year, IFSEC India brought back the 2nd edition of IFSEC India Awards. The Electronic Security Industry in India is proliferating and the awards were crafted to specially get the minds behind electronic security in various industry verticals like BFSI, retail, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, PSUs, IT & ITES and infrastructure in the limelight. The awards recognised the excellence and innovations of CSOs & Security officers who continuously work behind the scenes to ensure robust security. Ernst and Young were the process advisors and CNBC TV18 the television partners for the IFSEC India Awards 2017. The Presenting Partners for the awards were -- Dahua, Hikvision and Western Digital and the Associate Partner was Videocon. The winners at the IFSEC India Awards include: 1. Cyber Security Team of the Year - Winner - Capgemini Technology Services India Pvt Ltd 2. Cyber Security Team of the Year - Runner Up - Fidelity Information Services Pvt Ltd 3. Excellence in Cyber Security - Winner - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd 4. Excellence in Cyber Security - Runner Up - Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited 5. Excellence in Access Control & Perimeter Security - Winner - Tata Communications Ltd 6. Excellence in Access Control & Perimeter Security - Runner Up - Essar Oil Limited 7. Excellence in Fire Security - Winner - Bharti Airtel Ltd 8. Excellence in Fire Security - Runner Up - Tata Communications Ltd 9. Excellence in Physical Security - Winner - BSES Yamuna Power Limited 10. Excellence in Physical Security - Runner Up - Hero Motocorp Ltd 11. Excellence in Video IP Based Surveillance - Winner - Bharat Diamond Bourse 12. Excellence in Video IP Based Surveillance - Runner Up - IDFC Bank 13. Excellence in Security Technology Implementation - Winner - Medley India Infosolution Pvt Ltd 14. Excellence in Security Technology Implementation - Runner Up - Hexxa Geo 15. Excellence in Security Training & Awareness - Winners - Bharat Diamond Bourse 16. Excellence in Security Training & Awareness - Winners - Sasan Power Limited 17. Excellence in Security Training & Awareness - Runner Up - Cairn Oil & Gas 18. Excellence in Security Training & Awareness - Special Recognition - Maharashtra Cyber Police 19. Industry Crusader of the Year - Capt. B. N. Yadav 20. Lifetime Achievement Award - Mr. Gopal Chaudhary About UBM India: UBM India is India's leading exhibition organizer that provides the industry with platforms that bring together buyers and sellers from around the world, through a portfolio of exhibitions, content led conferences & seminars. UBM India hosts over 25 large scale exhibitions and 40 conferences across the country every year; thereby enabling trade across multiple industry verticals. A UBM Asia Company, UBM India has offices across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. UBM Asia is owned by UBM plc which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. UBM Asia is the leading exhibition organizer in Asia and the biggest commercial organizer in mainland China, India and Malaysia. For further details, please visit ubmindia.in. About UBM plc: UBM plc is the largest pure-play B2B Events organiser in the world. In an increasingly digital world, the value of connecting on a meaningful, human level has never been more important. At UBM, our deep knowledge and passion for the industry sectors we serve allow us to create valuable experiences where people can succeed. At our events people build relationships, close deals and grow their businesses. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors - from fashion to pharmaceutical ingredients. These global networks, skilled, passionate people and market-leading events provide exciting opportunities for business people to achieve their ambitions. For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com; for UBM corporate news, follow us on Twitter at @UBM ,UBM Plc LinkedIn For media enquiries, please contact: Roshni Mitra Email: [email protected] Mili Lalwani [email protected] +91-22-61727000 UBM India [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Titan Medical Strengthens Patent Portfolio With Issuance of Two Canadian Patents and Allowance of a Japanese Patent TORONTO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Titan Medical Inc. (Titan or the Company) (TSX:TMD) (OTCQB:TITXF), a medical device company focused on the design, development and commercialization of a robotic surgical system for application in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), announces the granting of Canadian Patent CA 2973227 and CA 2973235. These patents are related generally to control methods for robotic surgical systems, including the provision of select autonomous control and safety functions that enable optimal controllability of robotic instruments during use. The methods describe alignment control of robotic instruments, including snake-like or multi-articulated instruments as employed in the SPORT system, which are important for facilitating movement within the abdomen. Corresponding patent applications are pending in the U.S. and Europe, and the Company anticipates future issuances in multiple jurisdictions. In addition to the issuance of the Canadian patents, the Company has received an official Decision to Grant from the Japan Patent Office regarding a pending Japanese patent application. This application is related to one of the Companys previously issued European Patents, EP 2996613, which describes an articulated tool positioner and system. Upon issuance, which is expected in 2018, the patent will be the first issued to the Company outside of North America and Europe. David McNally, President and CEO of Titan Medical, said, Intellectual property is core to our future success and we are excited to strengthen our proprietary position with the issuance of the patents in Canada, the fourth and fifth patents issued this year related to our unique single-port robotic surgical system. Furthermore, the Decision to Grant received from the Japan Patent Offce will assist in positioning Titan competitively in the global market for robotic surgical systems. We are encouraged by the growth of our patent portfolio in 2017, which demonstrates the novelty of the design of the SPORT system, and we are committed to continuing to expand Titans patent portfolio in 2018 and beyond. About Titan Medical Inc. Titan Medical Inc. is a Canadian public company focused on research and development through to the planned commercialization of computer-assisted robotic surgical technologies for application in minimally invasive surgery. The Company is currently developing the SPORT Surgical System, a single-port robotic surgical system. The SPORT Surgical System is comprised of a surgeon-controlled patient cart that includes a 3D high definition vision system and multi-articulating instruments for performing MIS procedures, and a surgeon workstation that provides the surgeon with an advanced ergonomic interface to the patient cart and a 3D endoscopic view inside the patients body during MIS procedures. With the SPORT Surgical System, the Company aims to pursue a broad set of surgical indications, including general abdominal, gynecologic and urologic procedures. For more information, please visit the Companys website at www.titanmedicalinc.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements which reflect the current expectations of management of the Companys future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as may, would, could, will, anticipate, believe, plan, expect, intend, estimate, potential for and similar expressions have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect managements current beliefs with respect to future events and are based on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those listed in the Risk Factors section of the Companys Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017 (which may be viewed 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, performance, or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors should be considered carefully, and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in the news release are based upon what management currently believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective investors that actual results, performance or achievements will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Contacts: LHA Investor Relations Kim Sutton Golodetz (212) 838-3777 [email protected] or Bruce Voss (310) 691-7100 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] INFINIDAT Wins Gold in Best in Biz Awards 2017 WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- INFINIDAT, the markets leading independent provider of petabyte-scale data storage systems, today announced that it has been named a gold winner in the Most Innovative Company of the Year - Medium category in Best in Biz Awards. Best in Biz is the only independent business awards program judged each year by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications, from the Associated Press to the Wall Street Journal. INFINIDAT continues to disrupt the storage industry with its flagship storage solution, the InfiniBox, a multi-petabyte, future-defined storage system. For enterprise customers, InfiniBox provides simple-to-use, low-cost, general-purpose storage that features seven nines (99.99999%) availability and faster than all-flash performance for real-world workloads. As competing companies pin their hopes on old approaches, substituting disk drives with all-flash media, INFINIDAT is surging ahead with its software-centric, neural-cache architecture. The perception of these competing vendors that the cost of flash approaches the cost of spinning drives over time is flawed and doesnt hold up for enterprises digital transformation. To truly enable a competitive digital transformation, enterprises need highly efficient, highly reliable, multi-petabyte, affordable and scalable data storage. Receiving the Best in Biz Awards gold award for Most Innovative Company of the Year is a tremendous honor for INFINIDAT, said Doc DErrico, Vice President of INFINIDAT. This designation is a testament to boh the importance of delivering high-performance storage without compromising cost, capacity and functionality, and to the work of the entire INFINIDAT team in delivering a cutting-edge storage solution that can keep up with the growth of data and strengthen our customers competitive advantage. Each year, Best in Biz Award entrants span a broad spectrum, from some of the most innovative local start-ups to the most recognizable global brands such as Wells Fargo, GoDaddy, Ernst & Young and Ultimate Software. The seventh annual program was particularly hotly contested with more than 650 entries from an impressive array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada. The 2017 judging panel included: Accounting Today, AdWeek, Associated Press, Atlanta Tribune, Business News Daily, Consumer Affairs, Entrepreneur, eWeek, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Healthcare Innovation News, Inc., Investment Advisor Magazine, Laptop, MediaPost, Pittsburgh Business Times, Security Products Magazine, Wired, WLRN and Yahoo Tech. For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2017, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2017-winners. About INFINIDAT Founded in 2011 by storage industry pioneer Moshe Yanai, INFINIDAT helps customers unlock the full potential of their data. INFINIDATs software-focused architecture, an evolution and revolution in data management design over 30 years in the making, solves the conflicting requirements of bigger, faster, and less expensive storage. INFINIDAT technology simultaneously delivers sub-millisecond latency, seven nines of reliability, and hyperscale capacity with a significantly lower total cost of ownership than incumbent storage technologies. For more information, visit www.infinidat.com. About Best in Biz Awards Since 2011, Best in Biz Awards, Inc. has made its mark as the only independent business awards program judged each year by a whos who of prominent reporters and editors from top-tier publications from North America and around the world. Best in Biz Awards honors are conferred in two separate programs: North America and International, and in 65 categories, including company, team, executive, product, and PR and media. For more information, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com. Press Contact Lori Bertelli Bhava Communications for INFINIDAT [email protected] 916.216.2968 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Immunomic Therapeutics Welcomes Key Thought Leader in Immuno-Oncology, Dr. Drew Pardoll, to Its Scientific Advisory Board Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a privately held, Maryland-based biotechnology company, is pleased to welcome Drew Pardoll, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Bloomberg (News - Alert)~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as a new oncology advisor to Immunomic Therapeutics' scientific advisory board. The company is currently pursuing application of their investigational LAMP-Vax platform in immuno-oncology. Dr. Pardoll is a world-renowned cancer researcher in the field of immuno-oncology. With over 300 papers and 20 book chapters on the subjects of T cell immunology and cancer vaccines, he is a recognized expert in the field of immunology. Among his many successes, he identified three immune cell types (Gamma-Delta T cells, NKT cells and Innate killer dendritic cells), discovered PD-L2, described the role of LAG-3 in regulatory T cells and its related effect on CD8+ effector function, and has led the development of multiple cell-based and antigen specific vaccines. Notably, he served as a co-investigator on the initial clinical trials at Johns Hopkins that introduced anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies for the treatment of cancer patients, marking a momentous step forward in immunotherapy for oncology. Through his work on the Scientific Advisory Board for Immunomic Therapeutics, Dr. Pardoll will advise on scientific and technical matters relating to the research and development of the LAMP-Vax platform, bolstering the Company's focus on immuno-oncology. "Immunomic is delighted to welcome Dr. Pardoll to our scientific advisory board," said Bill Hearl, Ph.D., Immunomic Founder and CEO. "His deep expertise and vision in the immuno-oncology space will be a great asset to ITI as we continue to explore applications of our LAMP technology in oncology." In the 1990s, at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Pardoll was part of the foundational work that led to the application of LAMP technology. He worked with Dr. Thomas August on lysosomal associated membrane protein (LAMP) and its application as a targeting sequence in nucleic acid vaccination. Several of his early publications on LAMP laid the groundwork of what would become the basis for the patent titled, "Lysosomal Targeting of Immunogens," forming he foundation for ITI's LAMP-Vax platform. Although LAMP-Vax has a rich publication history in several application areas, including oncology and infectious disease, Immunomic Therapeutics initially focused on applying it to allergy immunotherapy. This ultimately resulted in a $300 million license deal for allergy in humans to Astellas Pharma, Inc. Following the Astellas transaction, the Company turned its attention back to one of the early scientific focuses for LAMP - using it as a cancer vaccine. ITI is now applying the LAMP-Vax Technology to one of the most exciting new fields of cancer therapy. The Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy is intended to focus on advancing the science and clinical impact of cancer immunology, with the goal of reducing cancer mortality by 50% in the next 10 years. The Institute supports cancer immunology research across many cancer types, including melanoma, colon, pancreatic, urologic, lung, breast and ovarian cancers. Dr. Pardoll serves as the Director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. In these roles, he is leading the pursuit of discoveries that are making it possible to trigger the immune system's natural cancer-fighting abilities. Dr. Pardoll is also appointed as the Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. Complementing his academic pursuits, he founded Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. in 2012, is the Scientific Founder and Board Observer at Amplimmune, Inc., chairs the scientific advisory board of Aduro BioTech, Inc., and serves as a Director of DNAtrix, Inc. About ITI Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI) is a privately-held clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering the study of the LAMP-based nucleic acid immunotherapy platforms. These investigational technologies have the potential to alter how we use immunotherapy for cancer, allergies and animal health. On the heels of two landmark deals in 2015, including an exclusive worldwide license with Astellas Pharma Inc. to explore the use of LAMP-Vax for use in the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases which resulted in over $350M in licensing revenue that year, the company has now focused on the application of LAMP technology in oncology. For information about ITI and LAMP Technology, visit www.immunomix.com. About LAMP-Vax ITI's investigational LAMP-Vax platform is thought to work by encoding the Lysosomal Associated Membrane Protein, an endogenous protein in humans. In this way, ITI's vaccines (DNA or RNA) have the potential to utilize the body's natural biochemistry to develop a broad immune response including antibody production, cytokine release and critical immunological memory. This approach could put LAMP-Vax technology at the crossroads of immunotherapies in a number of illnesses, including cancer, allergy and infectious diseases. LAMP is currently being employed in Phase II clinical trials as a cancer immunotherapy. ITI is also collaborating with academic centers and biotechnology companies to study the use of LAMP in cancer types of high mortality, including cases where there are limited treatment options like glioblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia. ITI believes that these early clinical studies may provide a proof of concept for LAMP-Vax therapy in cancer, and if successful, set the stage for future studies, including combinations in these tumor types and others. Preclinical data is currently being developed to explore whether LAMP nucleic acid constructs may amplify and activate the immune response in highly immunogenic tumor types and be used to create immune responses to tumor types that otherwise do not provoke an immune response. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005099/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Telco Systems Expands Arm Ecosystem with Joint Security Offering with Trend Micro MANSFIELD, Massachusetts and DALLAS, December 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Telco Systems, the leading provider of innovative SDN/NFV, CE 2.0, MPLS and IP solutions, and Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today jointly announced the launch of the first vSecurity VNF based on Telco Systems' NFVTime and Trend Micro's Virtual Network Function Suite (VNFS). The new joint offering combines rich industry experiences and enables telcos and managed service providers to deliver best-of-breed network security services, including intrusion prevention and web security, with Arm-based uCPE white box solutions. NFVTime is an advanced NFVi-OS that can turn any white box appliance into a carrier-class uCPE solution. NFVTime comes with a broad portfolio of certified VNFs, including SD-WAN, vRouter, vFirewall, vProbe, vSecurity and more, that are centrally managed and orchestrated by either Telco Systems' uCPE manager or any other MANO solution. NFVTime can run on both Intel x86 and Arm architectures, seamlessly providing high performance on COTS cost optimized devices. Trend Micro's VNFS offers elastic and high performance network security functions providing threat defense and enabling more effective, faster protection. It is natively crafted and optimized for the NFV infrastructure and deploys the Data Plane Development Kit for fast packet processing as well as featuring advanced security threat technologies that provide greater and more cost efficient enhancements. VNFS also scans network traffic and performs designated inspection functons, such as intrusion prevention, URL filtering and application control. The joint vSecurity offering extends Telco Systems' Arm-based VNF ecosystem that runs on the company's open uCPE NFVi software. By offering Arm-based uCPE devices, Telco Systems provides its customers with more options for uCPE hardware selection without adding deployment or operation complexities due the NFVTime's seamless support multi-technology architectures. Dr. Terence Liu, Vice President of the Network Threat Defense Technology Group at Trend Micro stated, "uCPE offers a remotely manageable platform and allows telcos and managed service providers to easily and flexibly deploy network services to achieve higher customer satisfaction. The joint offering is based on Arm architecture, which delivers higher performance for less cost. We are happy to collaborate with Telco Systems to help our customers deliver high quality network security services in the new NFV era." "vSecurity based on Trend Micro's market leading Virtual Network Function Suite is an important addition to our growing Arm-based VNF ecosystem," said Raanan Tzemach, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Telco Systems. "We are proud to lead the market innovations and allow our customers more choices to meet the deployment and management of their VNF services." About Telco Systems Telco Systems delivers an industry-leading portfolio of Carrier Ethernet and MPLS-based demarcation, aggregation, NFV and vCPE solutions, enabling service providers to create intelligent, service-assured, CE 2.0-compliant networks for mobile backhaul, business services and cloud networking. Telco Systems' end-to-end Ethernet, SDN/NFV-ready product portfolio delivers significant advantages to service providers, utilities and city carriers competing in a rapidly evolving telecommunications market. Telco Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of BATM Advanced Communications (LSE: BVC). To learn more, visit Telco Systems at http://www.telco.com or follow Telco Systems on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. About Trend Micro Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks and endpoints. All our products work together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster protection. With more than 6,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world's most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their journey to the cloud. For more information, visit http://www.trendmicro.com. Press Contacts For Telco Systems Tony Miller +1-617-418-3024 [email protected] For Trend Micro Erin Johnson [email protected] SOURCE Telco Systems and Trend Micro [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] New Additions to Executive Team Aim to Strengthen GoodData's Global Growth SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GoodData has strengthened its executive leadership team with the appointment of two industry veterans to drive and execute the leading embedded analytics companys go-to-market strategy. The company is focusing on global growth and continuously improving its Platform-as-a-Service analytics offerings. This expansion is an integral part of the companys strategy, according to CEO and founder Roman Stanek. Although more than 70,000 businesses and one million users already use GoodData, global expansion is a top priority for us, said Stanek. Were excited to have James and Garry join our team, and I am eager to see how their strategies introduce the GoodData platform to new users around the world. James Smith has joined the company as chief marketing officer, bringing more than 25 years of global marketing expertise to GoodData. Prior to joining, Smith led marketing teams at OneLogin and Sitecore and was responsible for lead generation, branding, product marketing, and all aspects of online marketing. "I'm thrilled to join a recognized leader in enterprise business intelligence (BI) and help drive the future direction of thecompany. GoodDatas recent top-scoring marks in the BI and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) categories have made this a particularly exciting time to start my career here, said Smith. Garry Olah has also joined GoodData, as the companys senior vice president of business development, with more than 30 years of expertise in sales, marketing, and business development. Prior to joining GoodData, he worked as the vice president of business development at Coho Data, Apprenda, and Citrix. More organizations are thinking about decision management, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, but many have been slow to actually deploy these technologies due to cost, complexity, and lack of technical talent, said Olah. Im looking forward to demonstrating how the GoodData platform can help them overcome these hurdles. In addition to its work in embedded analytics, GoodData is focusing efforts on AI and machine learning to further enhance its platform and provide its clients with tangible, end-to-end analytic value. About GoodData GoodData provides an integrated set of data management, analytics, and insight application development and management tools as the leading platform in the Systems of Insight category. We focus on enterprise-wide data democratization by delivering actionable insights at the point of work and embedding into applications and workflows so business users can spend time doing what they do best rather than performing data discovery. More than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 are using GoodData to achieve actionable insights. GoodData is headquartered in San Francisco and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Intel Capital, TOTVS and others. For more information visit our website and follow GoodData on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2017, GoodData Corporation. All rights reserved. GoodData is a registered trademark of GoodData Corporation in the United States and other jurisdictions. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. GoodData Contact Amy Duryea [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Featured Auctions On HiBid.com Take Advantage Of Year-End Momentum OCALA, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HiBid.comthe leader in internet bidding solutions and webcast bidding for live auctionswill host featured auctions from numerous auction houses through both HiBid.com and its local auction websites. In addition to regularly hosting online-only auctions for qualified sellers all over the world, HiBid reserves limited space for featured auctions, which begin every Monday at 1 p.m. (EST). These auctions appear at the top of www.HiBid.com and at www.Featured.HiBid.com. "Auctioneers who take advantage of featured auctions get the benefit of our marketing power," explains Auction Flex and HiBid's Kris Kennedy, noting that this includes email campaigns that increase auction participation by engaging the platform's massive pool of registered bidders all over the world. "Last week alone we sent out over 463,000 bidder emails to our respective portals," notes Kris. "This generated 26,944 extra bids for our customers with a bid max total of $2,608,781.25." Auction houses interested in leveraging featured auctions for an upcoming sale should contact Auction Flex/HiBid directly to learn more. Featured Auctions Currently On HiBid.com: Office & Construction Storage, Tools & Supplies + Trucks & Trailers Gravitt Auction & Appraisals, LLC Dayton, Tennessee-based Gravitt Auction & Appraisals is currently holding an online-only auction through HiBid.com set to clos December 16th at noon (EST). The auction includes office equipment, fireproof filing cabinets and desk drawers, wooden desks and other office furniture, computers, fax machines, gas range kettles, racks, shelves, ladders, a sand blaster, a hopper, pressure washers, generators, tripod hoists, pump sprayers, air compressors, a forklift, pallet jacks, a floor buffer, and bolt bins, as well as a number of trucks and trailers. View all 126 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. Guns, Scopes & Accessories Cold Creek Auction, LLC A largescale gun auction from New Braunfels, Texas-based Cold Creek Auction will begin soft closes December 15th at 9 a.m. (CST). This online-only auction features over 40 guns, plus Leupold optics and a number of BB guns. Brands include Harrington and Richardson, Savage Arms, Mossberg, Little Pet, Remington, Benelli, Winchester, Browning, Red Ryder, Gamo, Ruger, Sako, Leupold, Simmons, All American, Weaver, NcSTAR, Aimpoint, Redfield, Bausch & Lomb, Bushnell, and more. View all 68 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. Medical & Hospital Equipment Big Medical Auctions, LLC Bidding for an online-only auction with hundreds of pieces of medical equipment hosted by Largo, Florida-based Big Medical Auctions will begin closing December 13th at 1 p.m. (EST). The auction features the following types of equipment: ultrasound, imaging, anesthesia, OR, surgical, stretchers, beds, endoscopy, exam room, AED, monitoring, therapy, endoscopy, CPAP, and waiting room items; brands include AED, Stryker, Olympus, and others. View all 554 items for sale in the HiBid catalog for this auction. About HiBid & Auction Flex Auction Flex is the market-leader in auction software for live auctions, with capabilities that include cataloging, clerking, cashiering, accounting, mailing list management, inventory management, multi-parcel, and more. Auction Flex also provides a seamless solution that enables auction houses to upload auction catalogs online and accept internet absentee bids, conduct internet-only auctions, or offer webcast live internet bidding through its integrated web service and internet bidding solutionHiBid (both a private-label solution and a portal). Auction Flex and HiBid were built from the ground up to function together seamlessly. HiBid conducted over 21,000 auctions in 2016 and had Gross Auction Proceeds (GAP) of over $559 million. Contact Auction Flex: (352) 414-1947 [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/featured-auctions-on-hibidcom-take-advantage-of-year-end-momentum-300570772.html SOURCE HiBid & Auction Flex [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] by Georg Eckelsberger (Dossier) With polo shirts selling for 1,760 and tailored suits priced as high as 50,000, shopping at Kiton, an Italian fashion boutique in Viennas fashionable First District, is reserved for the wealthy. The offices and penthouse apartments above the store also come with hefty price tags. In fact, they are among the most expensive in the city. Their largest single owner, Rene Benko, 40, is a well-known Austrian real estate mogul who has publicized this exclusive urban district as the Golden Quarter. With the arrival of the Kiton store in 2014, the upscale neighborhood gained a curious tenant. One of the men behind it, Rasim Asadov, is an Azerbaijani businessman and regime insider who appears to have access to significant wealth. His store has posted repeated losses and owed millions of euros of rent to a subsidiary of Benkos powerful Signa Group development firm. Nevertheless, Asadov and his partners invested additional money into the business, enabling it to stay afloat. In addition to the boutique, Asadov, 37, owns a valuable condo in the Golden Quarter that he purchased through a legal loophole, as well as another Austrian company that manages large sums of money. But, though he may be a valuable tenant for the Golden Quarter, Asadov isnt simply an enterprising businessman. He is the son of Azerbaijans first post-independence minister of internal affairs and a key player in the Azerbaijani Laundromat, a slush fund that was used to pay out large sums of money to European politicians and their family members who spoke positively about the Caucasian dictatorship. The scandal has already led to the resignation of a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Asadov is also a business partner of the cousin of Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijans Vice President and the wife of President Ilham Aliyev. 2.5 Billion Euros Flowed Through Dark Channels In early September, journalists from the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported on a series of suspicious transactions out of Azerbaijan, a dictatorship run by the Aliyev family. Some 2.5 billion allegedly flowed from the countrys ruling elite to European politicians who spoke highly of the regime even as it was arresting journalists and political activists. The billions were smuggled into the EU, mostly through four shell companies registered in the United Kingdom. Journalists in 15 countries, including at the Suddeutsche Zeitung and the Guardian, analyzed the transaction data. DOSSIER traced the cash flows to Austria and tracked down Asadov, an important figure in the operation. Asadov is registered as the founder of Baktelekom MMC, a small company headquartered in Baku, Azebaijans capital, through which almost half the money was smuggled into the network. The name of the company bears a striking resemblance to the name of Azerbaijans state telecommunications company, Baktelecom. However, Rasims Baktelekom appears to be a paper company with no offices, no employees, no website, and no real business presence. As DOSSIERs research shows, Asadov appears at the other end of the money trail as well. In 2014, he flew from Sardinia to Montenegro in a private jet. The flight was paid for by Hilux Services LLP, one of the four Azerbaijani Laundromat shell companies. Payments to European politicians that are being investigated as bribes flowed through this same company. [December 13, 2017] Solodev Web Content Management Software Earns a 97 Percent Rating in User Satisfaction in New Report ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Solodev, the Web Experience Company, announced that it outranked 22 competitors in every area of satisfaction in the latest G2 Crowd Grid Report for Web Content Management. At 96 percent, the Orlando-based company earned the highest ease of use rating. Industry leader WordPress scored an 85 percent in the same category, and Sitefinity got an 81 percent. Out of 5,700 reviews from qualified users, Solodev creators of the first Web Experience Platform built from the ground up for the AWS Cloud ranked at the top of the report for fall 2017. The company received the highest ratings around "quality of support," validating their commitment to technology, service and innovation. The report also revealed that 97 percent of Solodev's users are "likely to recommend the WCMS to others," one of the most valuable measures of performance. These qualifications and more helped the Orlando-based company earn the "High Performer" designation, challenging industry stalwarts and disrupting the WCMS space. "Solodev is honored to have received a top ranking on the G2 Crowd Grid. Nearly all of the report is based on user reviews, and we work diligently each day to help our users succeed," said Shawn Moore, CTO of Solodev. "We want to offer up nothing short of the highest quality product that consistently exceeds customer expectations. This recognition validates that we meet those standards for a variety of clientele. We're thrilled that reviewers would give their insights. They keep us moving toward excellence." Moore pointed to three key features that helped Solodev thrive in the face of industry leaders like WordPress, Sitefinity and Oracle: Solodev is built from the ground up for the AWS Cloud. By aligning with the advanced capabilities of the AWS infrastructure, businesses build their websites with Solodev in a highly-scalable environment, capable of handling diverse amounts of traffic without worrying about capacity. This allows clients to only pay for what they need and not have to guess about the future. With the AWS global footprint of redundant data centers, Solodev users create highly secure websites that include disaster recovery, high availability and unlimited storage. Additionally, Solodev is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner with competencies in Education, Government, and more. Solodev delivers enterprise features with totl design freedom and control. Built for web designers and content marketers, the Solodev Web Experience Platform allows users to create beautiful, feature-rich websites without compromising on design or being limited by rigid templates. Solodev also offers best-in-class enterprise features, with powerful backend tools for easy management, rapid development and minimal coding. Solodev is also on the forefront of WCM technology, pioneering "headless" capabilities for delivering content to nearly any device from mobile to smartwatches to the Internet of Things. "With Solodev, people can finally make what they want today, and be ready for tomorrow," said Moore. "This incredible design control and enterprise functionality is why our customers are so satisfied with us." Solodev is one of the few companies committed to U.S.-based, 24/7/365 support. When emergencies occur, Solodev's human support stands ready to assist from their U.S. headquarters. But they are also redefining the value of the relationship, with Solodev Certified Engineers acting like an extension of a client's internal team. This commitment to service helped garner Solodev a 98 percent rating in the "ease of doing business" category. "We have been customers of Solodev for 10 years," said Bill Sprau, Director of Creative and Digital Services for OneBlood. "They have been able to successfully keep us at the forefront and continually meet our ever-adapting needs. That is a true testament to their organization." Every day, users around the world rely on the Solodev Web Experience Platform to: Build amazing, feature-rich websites that are secure and scalable. Manage web content across every device. Develop engaging web and mobile applications. Leverage powerful capabilities such as inline editing, A/B testing and more. Easily integrate with third-party applications. Meet evolving web compliance, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Solodev's ranking reflects a year of significant achievements, including a win at the AWS Public Sector "City on a Cloud" competition in the Best Practices (Large category), as well as a third consecutive year on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Companies. A complimentary copy of the G2 Crowd Grid report is available at www.solodev.com/lp/g2-crowd.stml. About Solodev Solodev is the Web Experience Company, and the world's first enterprise Web Content Management System (WCMS) built for the AWS Cloud the most secure, redundant and extensible infrastructure on the planet. With Solodev, organizations of all sizes can build amazing websites, custom applications and engaging digital strategies that transform the customer experience. Leading brands like the Florida Department of Education and OneBlood rely on the Solodev Web Experience Platform to create without compromise, and build unique digital experiences across any device with unparalleled control and 24/7/365 U.S.-based support. Solodev's revolutionary SaaS solution is available for purchase in the AWS Marketplace or at Solodev.com. Media Contact: Wes Marsh Phone: 407.898.1961 Email: [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg G2 Crowd Grid for Web Content Management | Fall 2017 image2.png G2 Crowd Grid image3.jpg Solodev Logo View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solodev-web-content-management-software-earns-a-97-percent-rating-in-user-satisfaction-in-new-report-300570681.html SOURCE Solodev [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] OpHaus and MACPA Announce Partnership to Streamline the Connection Between CPA Talent and Hiring Companies TOWNSON, Md., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OpHaus and Maryland State Society of CPAs (MACPA) announce the availability of an MACPA Talent Platform, powered by OpHaus. Hiring companies will now be able to confidentially post job opportunities and receive matched MACPA candidates in real time through the OpHaus Match software. Prior to the partnership, companies seeking to hire MACPA talent were reliant on candidates finding their job opportunity and applying. OpHaus eliminates that step. Through OpHaus, talent on-boards just once. They build a digital sequence of accomplishments which is utilized to match them with job opportunities on their terms. With one click, professionals indicate whether they are seeking new opportunities or not. It is completely confidential and OpHaus engages MACPA members by offering value-add services when they are not seeking a new job: skill gap analysis, access to customized MACPA learning, flexible and project-based job opportunities and data on in-demand skills. "With technology available today, talent should be able to continuously market their accomplishments and results. We're able to match them with relevant opportunities and avoid ineffcient job applications. We reduce the friction between talent and that crucial first interview," said Kate Ferreira, founder of OpHaus. MACPA has 9,000 members across public practice, business and industry, consulting and non-profit. As a state society, MACPA is at the forefront of utilizing technology to advance the role of CPAs. "We are excited to be working with OpHaus to connect the power of the platform to a networked community of developing talent and the firms - companies that need full and part-time expertise to grow their business. It's a win-win and we are very pleased to provide this new and unique member benefit," said Jackie Brown, chief operating officer of the Maryland State Society CPAs. OpHaus and MACPA will launch this benefit at the CPA Summit on Dec. 13, 2017, at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland. About OpHaus OpHaus is a Denver-based software company that offers organizations a recruiting solution to build a pipeline of talent with greater efficiency and lower fees. Utilizing an accomplishment-based Match, OpHaus reduces the friction between top talent and that first interview. OpHaus Office: 1550 Wewatta Street, 2nd Floor, Denver, CO 80202 Media Contact: Kate Ferreira, Founder [email protected] 720-772-1650 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ophaus-and-macpa-announce-partnership-to-streamline-the-connection-between-cpa-talent-and-hiring-companies-300570794.html SOURCE OpHaus [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Federal Data Measures Economic Contribution of Clean Technology in Canada for the First Time OTTAWA, Dec. 13, 2017 /CNW/ - Harnessing the power of data will help us to continue to move toward a clean, low-carbon economy and improve the daily lives of Canadians. Today, the Honourable Jim Carr, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, and the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, welcomed new data from Statistics Canada that for the first time shows how clean technologies and environmental goods and services benefit the Canadian economy. The data shows that production of clean technologies, clean energy, and environmental goods and services contributed three percent of Canada's gross domestic product and provided jobs to 274,000 Canadians in 2016. Exports of Canadian clean technology and environmental goods and services companies also accounted for two percent of Canada's total exports abroad. Canada is among the first countries to measure the impact of clean technologies and environmental goods and services on a national level and commit to the regular publication of data on clean technology to inform decision-making, improve knowledge and foster innovation. In Budget 2017, the Government of Canada announced a $2.2-billion investment in the clean technology sector. The Government also invested $14.5 million to establish the Pan-Canadian Clean Technology Data Strategy, a commitment in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The data from the new Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account is now available. Quotes "We're transforming data into insight to help us understand the environmental and social impacts of clean technologies on the Canadian economy an important part of our vision for a clean, innovative economy that balances economic growth and environmental protection." Jim Carr Minister of Natural Resources "Clean technology presents a promising opportunity for Canadian businesses, and studies like the Clean Tech Satellite Account are integral to ensuring Canada is continuing its role as a clean technology leader." Navdeep Bains Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "Today, Statistics Canada is providing Canadians with a detailed portrait of the clean technology sector and its role in our economy. With this information, Canadians, businesses and governments are better informed to make sound, evidence-based decisions to promote the development of a sustainable economy and environment." Anil Arora Chief Statistician of Canada Associated Links NRCan Clean Growth Page Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. SOURCE Natural Resources Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Gemalto rejects unsolicited and conditional proposal by Atos Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders The Atos proposal does not form the basis for constructive engagement as it: fails to provide a compelling strategy versus Gemalto's standalone prospects; significantly undervalues the Company; fails to adequately address the interests of its various stakeholders; does not offer sufficient deal certainty. Amsterdam, December 13, 2017 at 8:00 PM - Gemalto N.V. (the Company) announces that it has rejected the unsolicited and conditional proposal by Atos SE (Atos) for a possible recommended cash offer for all issued and outstanding shares of the Company at an offer price of EUR46 per share (cum dividend) set forth in letters received from Atos on 28 November, 8 December and 11 December 2017, and as announced by Atos on 11 December 2017 (the Proposal). Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board of Directors, in consultation with its financial advisors Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan and legal advisors Allen & Overy and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, has carefully reviewed and discussed whether the Proposal is in the best interests of the Company, its business and clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. After thorough consideration, the Board of Directors has unanimously come to the conclusion that this is not the case. Philippe Vallee, Gemalto CEO commented: "In 11 years, we have turned Gemalto into a technology Blue-Chip, recognized in over 180 countries throughout the world. In 11 years, the Company has created 5 000 jobs. In 11 years, Gemalto has become the world leader in digital security. We have taken the measure of the recent changes in our historical markets, taken the responsible decisions and are now focused on leveraging the many opportunities of our fast-growing markets. We will soon be presenting to our stakeholders our ambitious and substantial development plan for the Company that will focus on the next generation of digital security for companies, governments and citizens worldwide. Gemalto's employees, its Board of Directors, its Management team and I are fully aligned and committed to achieving the success of this plan that will benefit our stakeholders, including all our shareholders." In its review, the Board of Directors has considered the following topics of particular relevance: Strategy Gemalto - the world leader in digital security - is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders, through its ambitious strategy. Gemalto's unique technology platform allows it to support clients' digital security needs across multiple high-growth markets; Gemalto is well advanced in its transition from traditional banking and telecom smartcard markets to fast-growing Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine markets; The implementation of Gemalto's transition plan is already enabling the Company to be more agile and nimble and better serve its clients' needs. The Proposal is unclear as to critical elements of the combination strategy, integration and potential consequences for its stakeholders; Gemalto is organized to benefit from innovation across its business units and the potential break-up contemplated by Atos through the contribution of Gemalto's businesses to three separate divisions of Atos (for example the integration of the payments business into Worldline) would negatively impact Gemalto's performance and ability to best serve its clients. Valuation The Board of Directors considers that the Proposal significantly undervalues the Company: The timing of the Proposal is opportunistic: the proposed offer price represents a discount of 27.4% vs. Gemalto's last 12-month high and a premium of only 3.5% [1] vs. Gemalto's 12-month average share price. It is made at a time when Gemalto has stabilised its performance following a challenging period; vs. Gemalto's 12-month average share price. It is made at a time when Gemalto has stabilised its performance following a challenging period; As mentioned, Gemalto is well advanced in the transition from traditional banking and telecom smartcard markets to fast-growing Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine markets. The impact of this transition is yet to be reflected in the Company's share price as its strategy and positioning around these growth segments will be detailed during the forthcoming Capital Markets Day; The proposed offer price of EUR46 per share does not reflect Gemalto's leadership positions in these fast-growing segments, and is well below the valuation levels of companies involved in highly strategic Government and Cybersecurity activities; The Proposal does not adequately reflect a fair sharing of synergies accruing from the potential combination, which Atos believes to be substantial. Deal certainty The Proposal does not provide adequate deal certainty, given the significant conditionality attached to it, and the likely execution risks involved in the proposed transaction. In particular, the Proposal does not contain a substantiated explanation on, and analysis of, the envisaged anti-trust, CFIUS and other clearance procedures. It lacks details on timing, risks and potential remedies that would be offered to ensure completion. In addition, the proposed merger protocol contains a number of off-market, unclear, unusual and unacceptable terms and conditions. Stakeholders The Proposal falls short in addressing the interests of the Company, its business and clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. The Proposal provides very limited protection for Gemalto's other stakeholders, mentioning only a small number of general topics, and falls short of actual and concrete commitments. The Proposal fails to include important non-financial commitments customary for a friendly recommended transaction of this size and nature, including, but not limited to, commitments on no-redundancies, customer approach, and the required fair dealing and protection of the interest of any remaining minority shareholders if the offer were to be declared unconditional. In addition, the proposed duration of the non-financial covenants is not specified and their enforcement is not safeguarded post potential completion and delisting, leaving the Company's stakeholders essentially unprotected. Atos' approach The Board of Directors also note that Atos' Proposal is not reflective of a friendly and collaborative approach as it was not preceded by customary exploratory discussions, the announcement of the Proposal was done unilaterally and Atos indicated its intention to file an offer memorandum with the AFM irrespective of whether it has reached agreement with Gemalto. The Board of Directors is concerned that this could exemplify cultural differences between the two companies. Attached to this press release is a copy of the letter that was sent today on behalf of the Board of Directors of Gemalto to Mr Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos. Investor Relations Cororate Communication Media Relations Agency Jean-Claude Deturche Isabelle Marand Frans van der Grint M.: +33 6 2399 2141 M.: +33 6 1489 1817 T: +31 20 404 4 707 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sebastien Liagre M.: +33 6 1751 4467 [email protected] Domenic Brancati M. +44 7799 316 030 [email protected] Arien Stuijt T: +31 20 404 47 07 [email protected] This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. In most cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential" or "continue" or the negative of such terms or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve significant assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. This is a public announcement by Gemalto N.V. pursuant to section 17 paragraph 1 of the European Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). This public announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Gemalto N.V. About Gemalto Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the global leader in digital security, with 2016 annual revenues of 3.1 billion and customers in over 180 countries. We bring trust to an increasingly connected world. From secure software to biometrics and encryption, our technologies and services enable businesses and governments to authenticate identities and protect data so they stay safe and enable services in personal devices, connected objects, the cloud and in between. Gemalto's solutions are at the heart of modern life, from payment to enterprise security and the internet of things. We authenticate people, transactions and objects, encrypt data and create value for software - enabling our clients to deliver secure digital services for billions of individuals and things. Our 15,000+ employees operate out of 112 offices, 43 personalization and data centers, and 30 research and software development centers located in 48 countries. For more information visit www.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter. Mr Thierry Breton Chairman and CEO Atos S.E. River Ouest 80 quai Voltaire 95877 Bezons Cedex France Amsterdam, 13 December 2017 Dear Mr Breton, We refer to your letters dated 27 November, 8 December and 11 December 2017, as well as to your announcement of 11 December 2017. The Board (the Board) of Gemalto N.V. (Gemalto or the Company) has, together with its financial advisors Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan and its legal advisors Allen & Overy and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, carefully reviewed and considered your unsolicited and conditional proposal for a possible recommended offer for all issued and outstanding shares of Gemalto N.V. as set forth in your letters and in the draft framework for a merger protocol that you sent in parallel to your letter of 8 December 2017 (the Proposal). Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board has reviewed and discussed whether your Proposal is in the best interests of the Company, its business, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. After thorough consideration the board has unanimously come to the conclusion that this is not the case. In the review by the Board, leading to this conclusion, the following is particularly relevant. Strategy We believe that Gemalto - the world leader in digital security - is best positioned to grow successfully on a standalone basis and create long term value for its stakeholders, including its shareholders. As you note in your investor presentation, we have a unique technology platform that allows us to support our clients' digital security needs across multiple high-growth markets. We are well advanced in transitioning our business towards the higher growth Government, Enterprise, Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine end markets. We have grown organically significant businesses in On Demand connectivity platforms for mobile operators and in Authentication as a Service platforms for online services access. The board is confident that Gemalto management will deliver the already announced transition plan and the Company is best positioned to deliver long term value given its current capabilities and positioning. Our transition plan is well underway and will allow us to be more agile and nimble and better serve our clients' needs going forward. Your Proposal is unclear as to critical elements of the combined strategy, integration approach and impact on Gemalto, particularly because it lacks a detailed explanation of operational structuring and synergy potential. Gemalto is organized to benefit from innovation across our business units and we believe the potential break-up and contribution to three separate divisions (for example the integration of the payments business into your independent and publicly listed subsidiary Worldline) could negatively impact the propagation of our most advanced technologies and our ability to best serve our clients. Moreover, we think that there will be significant challenges in combining our businesses in the short term which are not addressed in your proposal. Finally, the synergy framework outlined in your presentation is very high level. Valuation The Board considers that the Proposal significantly undervalues the Company and is not reflective of the intrinsic value and prospects of Gemalto. The timing of your Proposal is opportunistic, seeking to take control of the Company at a price that represents a discount of 27.4% vs. our last 12-month high and a premium of only 3.5%[2] vs. our 12-month average share price and at the time when the Company has stabilised its performance following a challenging period. As mentioned, our business mix today is transitioning towards attractive growth activities such as Government, Enterprise & Cybersecurity and Machine-to-Machine, which together accounted for over 55% of our Q3 2017 reported revenue and grew at over 20% year-on-year. Such businesses, especially at scale, are very scarce and of high strategic value. The impact of this transition is yet to be fully reflected in the Company's share price and our strategy and positioning around these growth segments will be further detailed during our forthcoming Capital Markets Day. Your proposed offer price of EUR46 per share corresponds to a valuation which does not reflect our leadership positions in these faster growing segments, and is well below the valuation levels of companies involved in highly strategic Government and Security activities. In addition, we would expect any Proposal to adequately reflect a fair sharing of synergies accruing from a transaction, which you have indicated you believe to be substantial. Deal certainty The Board considers that your Proposal does not provide adequate deal certainty, given the significant conditionality attached to it, and given the execution risks involved in the transaction envisaged by your Proposal. In particular, your Proposal does not contain a substantiated explanation on, and analysis of, the envisaged anti-trust clearance procedures, timing, risks and potential remedies you would be prepared to offer to ensure completion of the contemplated transaction. The same applies in respect of any other regulatory clearances that may be required, such as CFIUS. In addition, your draft framework for the merger protocol contains a number of off-market, unclear, unusual and unacceptable terms and conditions, that give further serious concerns on deal certainty. Stakeholders Importantly, the Board concludes that your Proposal is not sufficient in addressing the interests of the Company, its business, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. We are continually developing our business in response to the constantly evolving needs of our customers, with whom we develop innovative solutions through trusted and long-term relationships. Our business is key to the governments and citizens that we serve in the area of data security, data privacy and confidentiality. We put a strong focus on developing solutions that help tackle some of society's major challenges, ranging from financial inclusion to efficient and accessible health and welfare services. We continuously maintain significant commercial and technical investments, as we believe these will contribute over the long-term to the progress of the mobile and digital society for our customers and for citizens. For example our investments contribute to the continuous global interoperability of mobile telephony systems and card payment systems, as well as the global deployment of interoperable digital identity systems that people, companies and governments can trust, such as electronic ID documents and their fully digital equivalents such as trusted digital driver licenses on mobile phones. Your draft framework for a merger protocol provides only for very limited protection of our stakeholders. This is not in line with market practice, and is not in line with a friendly recommended transaction. In this respect, your Proposal mentions only a small number of general topics, without mentioning actual and concrete commitments. Important non-financial covenants (NFCs) customary for a friendly recommended transaction of this size and nature are not included in your Proposal, including, but not limited to, those on no-redundancies, continued R&D, approach to customers, the employees' savings plans, the employee share option plan, and the required fair dealing and protection of the interest of any remaining minority shareholders after your offer would be declared unconditional. In addition, the proposed duration of the NFCs is not specified, and the enforcement of the NFCs is not safeguarded post-completion and delisting, leaving our other stakeholders essentially unprotected. Your approach We also noted that your approach in making your Proposal is not reflective of a truly friendly and collaborative approach. On 28 November 2017, your first letter on the Proposal was delivered to our CEO without customary preceding explorative discussions. Following our communication to you that we would revert on or before the 15 December 2017, on 11 December 2017 you announced the Proposal unilaterally without prior consultation. In your announcement of the Proposal you also indicated that you will proceed with filing an offer memorandum with the AFM, irrespective of whether or not you have reached agreement with Gemalto. This sequence of events and the steps you have chosen to take, have led the Board to believe that your approach, contrary to your statements in your announcement of the Proposal, is not friendly and collaborative. Obviously, the nature of an approach and real signs of a true intention to seek the Board's support are important for the Board's consideration of any proposal. We have concerns that this could exemplify cultural differences between our two companies. Conclusion After its thorough and careful review, our Board has determined that your Proposal does not, from the perspective of Gemalto, have a sufficiently substantiated strategic rationale and fails to adequately address the consequences it will have for Gemalto's business. Furthermore, the Board has determined that your Proposal significantly undervalues the Company, is highly conditional and uncertain and fails to adequately address the interests of our various stakeholders. As such, your Proposal does not form a basis for constructive engagement. Thank you for your proposal and for your interest in our Company. Very truly yours, Alex Mandl Chairman of the Board Phillipe Vallee Chief Executive Officer [1] As of market close on 11 December 2017 [2] As of market close on 11 December 2017 Attachments: //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2214a9af-6678-45f4-ab6e-4d2eba66b521 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [December 13, 2017] Boosting the Internet of Things with the Power of Artificial Intelligence BEIJING, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 8, 2017, Wuxi DSP Technologies held the "2018 Internet of Things (IoT) and Embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development Platform and Eco Strategy" press conference with the theme of "boosting IoT with the power of AI" at InterContinental Beijing Beichen, Beijing, China. This is the industry's first release of a single-chip platform solution that integrates wide area IoT connectivity with edge computing and embedded artificial intelligence. With its long-term accumulation in the areas of software-defined processors and heterogeneous computing, multi-core heterogeneous processor platform launched by Wuxi DSP Technologies has advanced performance power ratio with ease to the software development. The experience of multiple company partners shows that in a short period of time, a small-scale R & D team can quickly develop industry-leading innovations, dramatically shorten the product development cycle, reduce project investment risks and improve market response ability. With its innovative platform solutions, Wuxi DSP Technologies is committed to joining hands with numerous partners in the whole (upstream and dwnstream) industry chain to build the "Wuxi DSP" chip ecosystem by providing chip customization services with the goal of "openness, customization, shared-creation, security" and the strategy of "ecosystem co-construction, resource sharing, collaborative development, value enhancement". During the conference, partners such as China Mobile, Beijing Acoinfo Technology, Guangzhou Power Electrical Technology, Akceler Hardware Accelerator, Nationz Technologies shared their experiences in IoT eco-construction, technology and business model innovations respectively. Many vendors, including Shenzhen Micro & Nano Institute, Extra Dimension Technology, Hangzhou Langyang Technologies, Sun Kaiseng Technology, Beijing Sigbean Information Technology, Beijing Orihard Technology introduced their latest R & D achievements based on "Wuxi DSP" processor platform from IoT perception, computing, connectivity, AI cloud collaborative services, etc. Sample products were showcased onsite across multiple industries including communications, power sector, municipal administration and smart homes, which cover the hottest fields of IoT multimode communications, embedded real-time operating system, broadband power line carrier, microphone array, deep learning, multimode communications, millimeter wave radar, gesture recognition, smart metering, intelligent speaker and others. The conference attracted hundreds of industry experts and application vendor representatives from the whole industry chain to participate, and was live broadcasted to the global audience. Contact: Bin Hou Wuxi DSP Technologies +86 18811172460 +1 9142878500 x 561 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boosting-the-internet-of-things-with-the-power-of-artificial-intelligence-300571010.html SOURCE Wuxi DSP Technologies [December 13, 2017] Cybersecurity Solutions Provider FoxGuard Protects Military Bases CHRISTIANSBURG, Va., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- FoxGuard Solutions, Inc. was awarded a grant from the Department of Defense to develop a "Cybersecurity Platform for Energy Management and Control Systems". The program is through the Secretary of Defenses Office and is targeted at protecting military installations across the world of cyber-attack. About ESTCP: The Program's goal is to identify and demonstrate the most promising innovative and cost-effective technologies and methods that address DoD's high-priority cyber security requirements. DoD need: The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States. It operates over 500,000 buildings and structures with diverse inventory encompassing barracks, commissaries, data centers, office buildings, laboratories, and aircraft maintenance depots. A majority of these bases are largely dependent on a commercial power grid that is vulnerable to disruption from cyber-attacks, aging infrastructure, weather-related events and direct attack. In an effort to reduce energy costs, increase security and improve energy resiliency, oD has adopted a cyber security strategy for fixed installations. FoxGuard Solutions was tasked with researching, developing, and demonstrating technology and techniques to identify and monitor BacNet field controllers for vulnerabilities, continuous monitoring of security controls, identify patches for Building Automation Systems software, hardware and firmware, while also facilitating the deployment of those patches. Key Elements: Building Automation System Asset Discovery BacNet Vulnerability Scanning Patching Building Automation Systems Continuous Monitoring of Cyber Security Controls The program is based around the Risk Management Framework (RMF) to help DoD control system owners continuously monitor Building Automation Systems for vulnerabilities. About FoxGuard Solutions, Inc. FoxGuard Solutions develops custom cyber security, compliance and industrial computing solutions. FoxGuard provides reliable, secure and configurable patch management reporting services, which include availability reporting and applicability analysis for information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) assets used in critical infrastructure environments. Visit foxguardsolutions.com to learn more. Media Contact Marcie Killen Marketing Manager p. 540-382-4234 e. [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cybersecurity-solutions-provider-foxguard-protects-military-bases-300571105.html SOURCE FoxGuard Solutions, Inc. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). By Norayr Shoghikyan Students attending Public School 160, in Yerevans Erebuni District, must wear their coats in the classroom - its that cold. This is what one of the students parents told Hetq. The parent wished to remain anonymous, fearing a potential backlash against her child. Hetq visited the school to investigate the claim. School Principal Anahit Galstyan escorted us to the classroom where she would be teaching. Entering the classroom, we saw most of the students at their seats, wearing coats. However, when Galstyan asked the pupils if they were cold, they all, in unison, replied, No. We then visited other classrooms in the school, without Galstyans presence. We saw many other children wearing their coats. They confided to us that the school indeed was chilly. We sit in class wearing our coats. We turn on a fan heater. Its cold for the first three morning hours, said one of the pupils. Even Principal Galstyan confessed that some of the classrooms arent sufficiently heated via the central system, and that additional electric heaters are necessary. We have classrooms with a norther exposure. Theyre colder than the others. The walls are thinner than standard. We turn on electric heaters in them, said Galstyan. The principal has advised parents to dress their children appropriately and to bring items to cover the seats. Surprisingly, the school is officially regarded as having an adequate central heating system. Armenias Ministry of Education and Science reports that 945 of the countrys 1,430 schools have central heating. 257 of these are in Yerevan. Toshiba and WD have announced a truce after a year-long legal saga. The disagreements between the two companies began earlier this year when Toshiba announced that it planned to sell off Toshiba Memory Company (TMC), which is the company's stake in the "Flash Forward" joint NAND manufacturing venture with WD. Toshiba's failed investments in U.S.-based nuclear initiatives left the company badly in debt and mired in an accounting scandal. Toshiba's accounting indiscretions placed the company in perilous territory with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, leaving it with no recourse but selling valuable assets. WD inherited its partnership in the venture when it purchased SanDisk for $19 billion in 2015. Industry analysts initially predicted that WD would purchase the Toshiba Memory Company, thus bringing the entire operation under its umbrella. Toshiba instead opened a bidding process with several suitors. WD immediately filed for arbitration, claiming that, under the terms of the joint venture, Toshiba could not make a unilateral decision to sell off its stake. Toshiba also took steps to prevent WD from investing in its new Fab 6, which threatened to choke WD out of future NAND supply. That's a particularly alarming position for WD, which has invested heavily in diversifying from its HDD-only business model into a combined flash and HDD powerhouse. In the interim, Toshiba decided to sell its partnership stake for $18 billion to a consortium led by Bain Capital. The consortium includes industry heavyweights such as Dell EMC and Apple. This decision intensified the ill will between Toshiba and WD largely because the consortium also includes their competitor SK Hynix. WD has severe objections to granting SK Hynix access to the company's IP, intentional or otherwise. Image 1 of 2 The mounting tension between the companies left both in a bad position. If Toshiba effectively locked WD out of investing in future production lines, it could force the company to source NAND elsewhere. For Toshiba, WDs arbitration could drag any plans for the sale out into months, and even years, which wouldn't allow the company to restructure in time to avoid further regulatory oversight from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Now, the two companies have came to terms that allow WD to invest in the new Fab 6 venture, thus assuring its access to future NAND production. The two companies will also participate in another future fab in Iwate, Japan. As such, the companies have extended the Flash Forward agreement to 2027. They extended their other joint venture, Flash Alliance, to 2029. The two companies also agreed to protect mutual assets and IP, thus quashing WD's concerns about SK Hynix. With these conditions in place, WD no longer objects to the sale of Toshiba Memory Company and will drop all pending legal and arbitration action. Of course, Toshiba will do likewise. In the end, the agreement was a foregone conclusion. WD cannot afford to lose access to flash, and Toshiba can't afford to have the sale delayed further. The contentious nature of the process highlights the reality of fabricating flash. Each generation of flash becomes more expensive to develop and produce, and the stakes have risen even further in the 3D NAND era. That means that even large companies, like Intel, Micron, Toshiba, and WD, have to forge alliances to spread out the investment. Very few companies have the heft of Samsung and SK Hynix, which are the only companies left that produce NAND flash as standalone entities. The Great Kansas City Doggie Debate More Deets On KCMO Daddy Killer Suspect 18-year-old Kansas City man charged with Dec. 7 murders of father and convenience store clerk KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An 18-year-old has been charged in the fatal shootings of his father and a convenience store clerk, prosecutors say. Reginald E. Jones Jr. faces two first-degree murder charges in the shooting deaths of 36-year-old Reginald Jones 57-year-old Darryl Singleton. KCK Triple Death Aftermath Still without answers, family members gather for a vigil at scene of KCK fire, suspicious deaths Police are investigating whether that house fire was intentionally set to cover up the deaths of the three people inside. Closure After Deadly Carjacking Friends and family relieved after suspect charged in murder of KCK man killed in carjacking KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- "Frankie was such a light," Jennifer Steimetz says of her longtime friend, Frank Davila. "When he walked into a room, he just burst." It's been almost two weeks since the 86-year-old Army veteran and former bar owner was suddenly killed. Creative Class Burning Sensation KC artist loses home in California wildfire KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Maria Caldron has always been artistic. From founding Yoga in the Park! at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art to creating installations downtown, her pieces often marrying her Peruvian roots with her Kansas City upbringing. Here Come Golden Ghetto Carbs Doughnut Lounge Set to Open Third Location in Overland Park in Early 2018 On the heels of the announcement of a new North Kansas City location at 1250 Burlington Road, Doughnut Lounge owner Jake Randall has announced plans for yet another location. A third Doughnut Lounge will open in Overland Park in early 2018. The downtown Overland Park store, located at 7926 Santa Fe Drive, will be Randall's first in Kansas. Say Goodbye To Moose Royals Rumors: Mike Moustakas signing with Angels seems inevitable The Kansas City Royals know they can't keep all of their free agents, but every time I see a former Royal linked with another team, the sadness rolls in. One of the most likeliest scenarios this offseason is that Mike Moustakas will sign with the Angels. Seems appropriate amid the recent coldness . . .. . .All these Kansas City local news links. Take a look:is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now . . . Police investigate Kansas City's 140th homicide after shooting near 55th, Benton Police officers discovered a person shot dead in Kansas City late Tuesday night. It happened at about 11:46 p.m. in the 5500 block of S Benton Boulevard. The sound of gunfire echoed through this Kansas City neighborhood last night and police discovered a corpse in the aftermath. With two and a half weeks left to go in the year, this latest killing represents about a 7% increase in killing over last year's total. Read more: Authorities release composite sketch of 'Kansas College Rapist' The Riley County Police Department and Lawrence Police Department have released a composite image of a serial rapist they say has attacked women the past 17 years at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. The image was created based on information the departments have obtained in the investigation during the past two decades. A very familiar looking place put on blast to make finals that much more stressful for college ladies hoping to avoid joining the angry litany of #MeToo victims. Read more: Greece's steady and harmonious relations with its creditors are very critical for the recovery of its crisis stricken economy as well as the further promotion of its booming tourist industry The Deutsche Bank forecast a positive climate for Greece in a report titled Greece in 2018: Finally some light at the end of the tunnel, the Deutsche Bank predicts Greece will successfully exit the fiscal program by August 2018, with research analysts suggesting that the successful outcome is based on the fact that for the first time in a long while political incentives between Greece and European creditors are reasonably well aligned. The bank's analysts said the successful exit hinges on a Greeces continued commitment to fiscal prudence and structural reform in co-operation with Europe; a normalization of the banking system involving a gradual wind down of NPLs and easing of capital controls; and political stability that in combination with a steady fiscal stance promotes a further recovery in consumer and business confidence. Furthermore, the Bank of Greece published data demonstrating that local Greek banks, which comprise around 97% of the banking system, have met their third-quarter 2017 targets for nonperforming exposures (NPEs). Read full story 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: Dimboukas License: CC-BY-SA Source: greekcitytimes.com Tensions between the two countries , Greece and FYROM, have been going on for years but their cooperation has also been extensive enabling tourism to benefit significantly and reach very high levels lately BRUSSELS American lawyer Matthew Nimetz, whos been trying for two decades to get Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to agree on a mutual name for the Balkan break-off country, said he thinks an answer can be had in intensified talks. Nimetz, who stopped trying three years ago, met with representatives of both countries in the European Union capital city and said there was a good atmosphere, diplomatic code which means nothing significant happened in the re-opening of negotiations. He said there will be additional meetings at the UN headquarters in New York from January through March, 2018 in a push to get the two sides to make some progress after Greece 26 years ago gave away the word Macedonia in the FYROM acronym and has been trying to find a way out of that ever since, even though all other suggestions still would let Macedonia be in the title. Greece has objected to the use of the word it gave away because its the name of its northern province abutting FYROM, a territory the former Yugoslav Republic covets and has drawn maps showing it also owns Greeces second-largest city, the port of Thessaloniki. Nimetz met with Greeces envoy, Adamantios Vassilakis, and FYROMs Vasko Naumovski. He said that a real push for some resolution in the next months is being made and that the longstanding dispute can and should be resolved, said Kathimerini. Nimetz said both countries made the talks a high priority, especially the new moderate government in FYROM which replaced a hard-line administration that kept provoking and taunting Greece. He said the current FYROM government seems determined to try break the deadlock in its relationship with Greece and move forward with its European Union and NATO (induction) program, both of which Greece has blocked with veto power under a unanimous scheme. Despite all that optimism he threw in the caveat that its unlikely a magical new name will suddenly appear to appease both sides which could leave the talks and hopes deadlocked as they have been unless, he added, there is hard work, political will and good diplomacy, without explaining why there hasnt been. FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said officials from Greece and FYROM were working to reconfirm their will of resuming essential talks to reach a solution. Zaev, in power since spring, has vowed to improve relations with Greece, which blocked FYROM from joining NATO in 2008 under the name Macedonia. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Source: thenationalherald.com Tour operators and travel agents in Germany achieved solid growth this year, while Egypt and Greece were the two big winners among major destinations, according to the German Travel Association (DRV). German tour operators increased turnover by about 4% this summer and by at least 2% for the full 2016/17 business year, according to sales analysis by market researchers GfK, DRV president Norbert Fiebig noted at the annual conference held in Ras Al Khaimah late last week. The overall market growth will be slightly higher as the GfK figures only partly include cruise sales, he added. Moreover, most major tour operators and cruise firms had reported at least high single-digit growth, he pointed out. Travel agents remained the principal sales distribution channel in Germany this year, with low growth and a good result in financial terms, Fiebig said. However, bookings through Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and tour operator websites increased much more strongly by 12%. The number of travel agencies in Germany is estimated to have remained stable at 9,900 this year. Reviewing the performance of major destinations, Fiebig pointed out: Egypt and Greece are the clear winners this year. Tour operator sales for holidays in Egypt increased by 55% this year, although on the basis of a weak previous year. Greece, after a strong 2016, grew by a further 30% this year and overtook Turkey as the second-largest destination for German holidaymakers behind Spain. Morocco and Tunisia also recovered this year with high growth rates, while bookings were strong for Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus. Spain remained the leading destination for German tour operator customers this year after last years strong growth. However, there were varying trends for the main regions, the DRV observed. The Canary Islands and the Spanish Mainland both had low single-digit growth in terms of tour operator revenues. But the Balearics declined, according to GfK figures, suggesting that customers responded to higher prices and extreme over-crowding either by switching to alternative destinations or by booking online instead of through a travel agency. In contrast, Turkey again suffered a double-digit drop in German bookings, according to GfK data, despite good last-minute summer sales. Turkey has lost half of its German visitors in the last two years, Fiebig admitted. He voiced his concern about this trend, saying: With its excellent value for money, Turkey is nearly irreplaceable. The German travel industry needs this destination. Long-haul destinations were generally in stromg demand this year but the USA suffered a 17% slump in sales revenues (both for summer 2017 and the year as a whole). This change is not only to be explained by the exchange rate but is possibly also based on a Trump effect, the German travel association commented. More positively, Canada enjoyed a double-digit rise, but could not compensate for the US downturn. Looking ahead, the 2017/18 winter season has made a posotive start with a 2% rise in cumulated sales as of end-October, according to GfK figures. The consumption climate is good, available household income is high and we expect further growth for the industry in the new tourism year, Fiebig said. Winter bookings for the Canary Islands are slightly above last years high levels, Egypt is continuing its recovery and there is strong demand for long-haul trips to Asia (Thailand and the Maldives in particular), the UAE (+23%) and southern Africa, the DRV said. But bookings for the Caribbean are suffering from the impact of the hurricanes in the autumn. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Source: fvw.com There are many groups that protect wildlife in Greece but the accident occurred between two mountain ranges that are both bear habitats and form a "natural passage" for animals Greek authorities on Monday reported the death of yet another bear killed by oncoming traffic on Greek roads this year - the sixth so far in 2017 - following yet another accident on the Egnatia highway near Siatista, Kozani in northern Greece. The latest victim was a female brown bear weighing about 100 kilos, which died immediately when it was hit by a car. The driver was pulled free of the vehicle unharmed but the car was written off. According to the environmental groups Callisto and Arcturos, which focus on bear conservation, the latest incident "highlights the need to intervene with works to fence off and avert the entry of large mammals onto the road network, as has happened at other points along the Egnatia Highway, while taking measures that allow wildlife to safely cross the motorway." This is the third accident in the Siatista-Kozani area within five years and occurred very close to the spot where a young female bear was killed by a truck just days before. The location is between two mountain ranges that are both bear habitats and, according to environmental groups, it forms a "natural passage" for wild animals. They once again recommended to motorists driving through this part of the country to exercise extreme caution and abide by speed limits, especially at night and in the early morning. 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: Peris Vitalis License: CC-BY-SA Source: ANA-MPA The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced a partnership today (December 13) officially endorsing the launch of Bahrain FinTech Bay (BFB) and its fintech initiatives in Bahrain. The announcement is the most recent in a series of steps affirming the CBBs commitment to developing Bahrain into a leader of Fintech innovation and investment in the GCC region. The CBB and its recently announced FinTech & Innovation Unit will work closely with the BFB to support the development of the Bahrain Fintech ecosystem and ensure the participation of financial institutions seeking to innovate and invest in Fintech. In addition, the CBB will work closely to support innovators at the BFB in providing access and guidance to its regulatory framework, including the Regulatory Sandbox. The BFB will be the first dedicated Fintech hub and corporate incubator in the Middle East & Africa region. It is located in the Arcapita building overlooking Bahrain Bay and with 10,000 sq ft of state of the art facilities including co-working spaces, communal areas, workstations and other shared infrastructure. The hub will be operated by Fintech Consortium, a global fintech ecosystem builder and operator. The BFB platform and offering is set to create ideal conditions to attract both local and international corporate innovation labs and FinTech start-ups to collaborate on developing, testing, scaling and deploying new technologies in Bahrain and the wider GCC region. The BFB will form part of a growing global network operated by the Fintech Consortium, comprising of Singapore, New York, and now, Bahrain. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the CBB, said: We are pleased to endorse Bahrain FinTech Bay and support its strategy towards positioning Bahrain as a regional leader in Fintech. Its launch complements our initiative to introduce a comprehensive regulatory framework for Fintech and to encourage its adoption by market participants as they look to prepare for the future. The CBB is confident that this level of partnership and coordination with the BFB will only enhance the Bahrain ecosystem and nurture further innovation. Maissan Al Maskati, chairman of FinTech Consortium Bahrain said: We are delighted to receive this endorsement from the Central Bank of Bahrain and look forward to our partnership with the CBBs Fintech Unit. We believe that close coordination on all matters pertaining to the development of new innovation will be important in promoting Bahrains advanced, robust and fintech friendly regulations to innovators globally. TradeArabia News Service Acwa Power, a major developer and operator of power and desalinated water plants, said its consortium with French water and energy management company Veolia and Oman-based Dhofar International Development and Investment Holding Company (Didic) has been awarded the Salalah independent water project in Oman. The project is being procured by Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) under a build-own-operate framework on the back of a 20-year water purchase agreement. Dhofar Desalination Company, the project company, will be owned by Acwa Power, Veolia Middle East and Dhofar International Development & Investment Holding (Didic). The plant, to be located at Salalah in Dhofar region, will have a capacity to generate 25 million gallons per day of desalinated water using reverse osmosis technology, said a top official. "Water is the most vital commodity for human life as well as a necessity for all enterprises. We are delighted to have been awarded this project and the opportunity to continue supporting Oman as a reliable supplier of desalinated water and power," remarked Paddy Padmanathan, the president and chief executive of Acwa Power. The engineering, procurement, and construction of the plant will be handled by a consortium of Fisia Italimpianti and Abeinsa Infraestructuras Medioambiente. The operations and maintenance of the plant will be undertaken by a consortium of Veolia Middle East, Nomac Oman and Didic. Thamer Al Sharhan, the managing director at Acwa Power, said: "Oman is a strategic country for Acwa Power our portfolio of six plants can generate over 4,300 MW of power and 42 million gallons per day of desalinated water." Acwa Power is committed to ensuring the success of this project while creating real value for the local communities, he stated. As such, the project will play a key role in meeting the increasing demand for water in Oman, which is expected to be on an average, about six per cent per annum over the next seven years, he added. A major investor in a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants, Acwa Power has presence in 10 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and South East Asia regions. Its portfolio, with an investment value in excess of $30 billion, can generate 22+ GW of power and produce 2.7 million cu m/day of desalinated water to be mostly delivered on a bulk basis to state utilities and industrial majors on long term off-take contracts under Public-Private-Partnership, Concession and Utility Services Outsourcing models. The group is owned by seven Saudi conglomerates including Sanabil Direct Investment Company (owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia), the Saudi Public Pensions Agency and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group).-TradeArabia News Service Gemini Property Developers, a Dubai-based boutique real estate developer, has broken ground on its 29-storey Symphony tower in Dubais Business Bay. The tower is the second in a series of high-end luxury residential projects being planned by the developer, after the 90 per cent completion of its debut Splendor at MBR City project in Sobha Hartland community, said a statement from the company. Geminis Symphony project, which has a built-up area of 361974 sq ft, boasts apartment units ranging from 430 sq ft to 2,900 sq ft. The 29-storey tower will house 455 residential apartments that include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats. The residential project will be equipped with state-of-the-art amenities smart home technologies, gym, yoga lawn, swimming pool, rooftop barbecue, jogging track, kids play area, retail stores, much-needed green open spaces and concierge services for the residents. The ground-breaking ceremony marks the beginning of the construction of the project that is slated for completion in May 2020 five months before the historic Expo 2020 gala event. The enabling works contract has been awarded to National Piling, a leader in the field of specialist geotechnical and foundation engineering. The Dubai developer will be announcing the main contractor soon, said the statement. Sudhakar R Rao, the managing director, said: "Dubais upward market trend has given us enough reason to launch new projects. Due to growth of non-oil economy, Expo 2020 and other mega developments, we foresee the market to remain on this upward trajectory of sustained growth." The ground-breaking comes at a time when Dubais real estate is gearing up for Expo 2020 demand and developers are in a race to complete their projects before the mega event starts, he stated. Dubai real estate's first half results by Dubai Land Department bear promising results for sector despite global economic pressures. The cosmopolitan city has once again reaffirmed its leadership in regional markets and driven renewed growth in the region. "The UAE has emerged as one of the most vibrant, cosmopolitan and progressive countries in the Middle East and there is very strong demand for value-for-money housing in many parts of the country," remarked Rao. "We are confident that due to UAEs preference for high-quality living, our projects will be well received," he added. Gemini group has an established presence in India and Middle East and boasts around 30 years of successful business operations in various fields, including testing, inspection and certification (TIC) services, trading and allied fields for the energy sector.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai Safari, home to the most diverse array of animals in the UAE, is set to become a fun-filled living classroom for young minds as it opens its doors to visitors. Housing more than 2,500 animals, Dubai Safari is a unique edutainment destination that will allow visitors to engage their curiosity as they observe wildlife in their natural habitats, interact with animals in a safe and healthy environment, and discover fascinating facts about a wide diversity of species native to the Middle East, Africa and Asia, while developing a deeper understanding of the importance of wildlife conservation and protection efforts. Dubai Safari is more than just a wildlife park. Our vision for this project is to offer a highly engaging edutainment experience that fosters education on animal welfare, inspires a sense of learning about wildlife diversity and raises awareness on what makes wildlife protection a top priority. The full range of activities at Dubai Safari have been designed keeping in mind these overarching goals, to ensure that every guest who walks through our doors, leaves the destination with a deeper appreciation for wildlife and wildlife conservation, said Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of Dubai Municipality for Communications and Community Sector, during an exclusive first-look media event hosted by Dubai Municipality at Dubai Safari on December 12. A diverse array of family-friendly activities promises to make the park an exciting destination for hands-on learning and endless fun. From running around in the open in the Kids Farm, hearing fascinating animal stories from the parks expert guides, feeding and petting other children-friendly animals, to experiencing an unforgettable journey of wildlife discovery across the Arabian, African, Asian and Safari Villages Dubai Safari will ensure an unforgettable adventure for visitors of all ages. - TradeArabia News Service Unique offbeat Scandinavian Itineraries (TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - December 13th, 2017 - In preparation for Christmas, we are super stoked about announcing our Yuletide Scandinavian holidays which have been designed to specifically encapsulate the Christmas experiences in each of the Scandinavian countries. With its picture-perfect blanket of snow, wild wilderness and fairy-tale forests, it is the best place to enjoy the much-loved white Christmas. Fun experiences like riding through the fields on a husky-drawn sledge, tobogganing down the snow-capped slopes, reindeer feeding, visiting the authentic Santa Claus land in Rovaniemi, staying in an igloo hotel and spotting the Northern lights and much more. We also cover the bustling Christmas markets in Gothenburg, Sweden an experience that is sure to build memories for years to come. ### Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 12 Peddlers of illicit liquor have now started using tractor-trolleys to carry illicit liquor from Haryana to Punjab. The CIA-2 wing of the Bathinda police today seized illicit liquor from tractor trolleys for the fourth time and this time, the police seized 71 boxes of illicit liquor, which were covered by a water-proof tarpaulin (plastic sheet). Tarjinder Singh, in charge of CIA-2 of Bathinda police, said acting on a tip-off, the police team, led by ASI Harinder Singh, set up a nakabandi near the Tiyona-Singpura road and stopped a tractor-trolley (covered by tarpaulin), the team when checked found 71 boxes of illicit liquor. The police took tractor driver Kaku Singh, a resident of Gelewala village in Talwandi Sabo sudivision, in their custody. Tarjinder Singh said Gelewal village was situated just near the Haryana border. Accused Kaku Singh started peddling a few months ago. He purchased per box of illicit liquor at the rate of 700 and sold here for Rs 1,000-1,200 near surrounding villages. The accused was booked under sections of the Excise Act in the Talwandi Sabo police station. Before this, the CIA-2 wing had seized close to 610 boxes of illicit liquor from three tractor-trolleys. Tarjinder Singh said the CIA-2 wing also arrested four more persons with 30 boxes of illicit liquor. A police team, led by sub-inspector Jagroop Singh, seized 22 boxes of illicit liquor from a City Honda car (PB-02-AD-0495) from Kotbakhtu village. The accused were identified as Darshan Singh and Jagdeep Singh, residents of Kotbakhtu village. In another case, the CIA-2 wing seized eight boxes of illicit liquor from Tata Sumo (PB-04-H-9780) on the Rampura road and arrested Harcharan Singh, a resident of Dhadhe village, and Seera Singh, a resident of Dikh village. On the other hand, the Rama police recovered 400 litres of lahan from Bangi Nihal Singh Wala village and arrested Ghulla Singh, a resident of the same village, while Attar Singh and Surjeet Kaur are absconding and both were booked in the same case. The Rampura Sadar police arrested Gurjeet Singh, a resident of Balliaanwali, with 12 bottles of illicit liquor from Gill Kalan village. The Bathinda Sadar police arrested Malkeet Singh, a resident of Beer Talab village, with 5 litres of illicit liquor from the Narruana road T-point. Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 12 Members of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Employees Union today went on a two-day strike to demand third pay revision. They protested outside the BSNL office in Bharat Nagar. The protesters raised slogans against the Union government. They alleged that to support private companies, the Union government had not promoted the BSNL. The union members were demanding implementation of the third pay commission, revised 15 per cent fitment from January 1, 2017, and other allowances. They also demanded that the issue regarding the second pay revision should also be addressed. Employees said the third pay revision committee headed by Justice Satish Chandra had submitted its report and on July 19 and the Union cabinet had also approved it, but it has not been implemented till date. They alleged that the government did not allow the BSNL to purchase material to expand its mobile network from 2006 to 2012. Even a tender was also issued to purchase the material but it was cancelled by the government. Union members Tara Singh, Vishal Kumar, Manohar Lal, Gurpreet Singh, Ramdas Sodhi and others were present during the protest. Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 The Supreme Court today stayed a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order allowing the Centre to take over the management of real estate giant Unitech after Attorney General KK Venugopal conceded the government should not have moved the tribunal when the top court was already seized of the matter. While staying the NCLTs December 8 order, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra appreciated the fair stand taken by Venugopal who candidly admitted the lapse on the part of the government. The Bench said the Attorney Generals stand saved a lot of stress and time of the court and the home buyers who were seeking refund of money from Unitech after the embattled company failed to deliver flats to those who shelled out their hard-earned money. The tribunal had suspended all eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mismanagement and siphoning of funds and authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nominees on the Board after the government moved the panel with a view to protect the interests of around 20,000 home buyers. After the top courts order staying the NCLT order, jailed Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra can resume negotiations for the sale of assets to generate Rs 750 crore to be deposited in terms of the top courts October 30 order for refund of money to home buyers. Chandra will be granted bail only after Unitech deposits money with its registry by December-end, it had said. The stay order comes a day after the top court expressed displeasure over the Centres move to approach the NCLT. The court had on Tuesday taken strong exception to the Centre moving NCLT without its permission. Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra were arrested by the Delhi Police on April 1, 2017 on complaints of cheating filed by homebuyers. On behalf of Unitech, lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar had said the SC had given time to Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra to negotiate from jail to sell assets to generate Rs 750 crore for refunding money to home buyers but, in the mean time, the Centre has approached the NCLT. Seoul, December 13 South Korea today banned its financial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency soars in a bubble fuelled by retail speculators, many of them from the country. The hyper-wired country has emerged as a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20% of global Bitcoin transactions about 10 times its share of the world economy. About one million South Koreans, many of them small-time investors, are estimated to own Bitcoins, and demand is so high that prices for the unit are around 20% higher than in the US, its biggest market. Bitcoin prices have surged globally this year, soaring from less than $1,000 in January to over $17,000. AFP Chandigarh, December 12 A local court acquitted a 23-year-old in a gang-rape case today. Pappu Kumar of Hallo Majra was acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove the case. The other two accused, Mahesh Kumar and Babu Ram, were declared proclaimed offenders by the court earlier. Pappu was arrested on October 20 last year after a complaint was filed by the victim, a domestic worker. As per her complaint on January 15, 2016, she was on her way to Sector 21 from Kaimbwala wherein the three accused stopped her near Sector 19 and allegedly offered her tea and laddoos. She alleged that they had mixed something in the ladoos due to which she lost consciousness after which a tea vendor, Bimla, sister of one of the accused, offered to drop her home. When she woke up the next morning, she found herself naked with Pappu who told her he had slept with her and captured the videos of the act and threatened her. It continued till June, wherein she even lodged a formal complaint with the police but to no avail. She got pregnant and delivered a baby in August after which she lodged a complaint against the accused on October 20, 2016, and the three men, along with Bimla, were booked for gang rape and criminal conspiracy. The defence counsel of Pappu said the DNA report was negative. Also, the woman kept changing her statements in the court due to which the prosecution was unable to prove the case and the court, acquitted the accused. Man acquitted in rape case A 25-year-old city resident has been acquitted of rape charges by a local court today as the prosecution failed to prove the case. Gautam Sagar was arrested in January on the complaint of his brothers wife. However, the case could not be proved in the court and Sagar was let off. As per the complaint given by the woman, she got married in 2007 and was staying with her husband and in-laws in Sector 38 (West) since then. Sagar stayed with them for three to four months and was then ousted by her in-laws due to his behaviour with her. He started staying in Dadu Majra after that and the two talked over the phone. The complainant said Sagar needed money to go to his native village in Uttar Pradesh and she mortgaged her gold earrings for the same. Later, Sagar took the earrings from a jeweller and she went to his place to collect them. However, she was raped by Sagar after she drank milk he had offered as it was laced with an intoxicant. During the trial, the complainant admitting to having visited Sagar twice before the incident and while he was in jail as well, informed defence counsel Inderjit Bassi. She also admitted to having consensual physical relations in the past with him. Bassi added. TNS Ishrat S Banwait Tribune News Service Chandigarh, December 13 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairman, Justice Swatanter Kumar, has urged political parties to unite to find a solution to the issue of smog and pollution. The issue should not be made a political agenda as it concerns the lives of our children, he said. Justice Kumar also appreciated the role played by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the stubble-burning issue. He said the NGT would announce its decision on the stubble-burning issue in the next 24 hours. It might also issue guidelines related to controlling smog in Delhi, the NCR and nearby areas. Justice Kumar was at the Chandigarh Judicial Academy in Sector 43 today to attend an exhibition and dialogue on Environmental changes: Its effect on health and economy. He was the chief guest at the event. The dialogue was followed by a panel discussion, hosted by the Serving in Organisations for Legal Initiatives (SIOLI) and the Punjab and Haryana Bar Association. Justice Kumar said, Our Constitution talks about social and economic security, but it does not talk about environment conservation. I suggest we should have clean environment as our fundamental right to achieve social and economic prosperity. He said, We are talking about clean air in Delhi, but it cannot happen unless the state governments of Punjab, Haryana and UP come together. Tribune News Service Panchkula, December 13 A 25-year-old vendor of temple offerings was stabbed to death this evening at the Mansa Devi Complex (MDC), Panchkula. The victim has been identified as Jagdeep Singh of Bhainsa Tibba village at the MDC. Jagdeep Singh was unmarried and was living with his parents. He was their only son. He used to sell temple offerings outside the Mansa Devi temple. His father, Mahendra Singh, rears goats. The murder took place around 6.30 pm at Bhainsa Tibba behind Rhod Dharamshala. According to the police, Jagdeep had a tiff with youths of Gandhi Colony, a slum located opposite Bhainsa Tibba village. They allegedly stabbed him multiple times. Raj Kumar, who used to work with Jagdeep, took him to General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, where he was declared brought dead. The postmortem will be conducted tomorrow. The police have registered a case of murder at the Mansa Devi Complex police station under Section 302 of the IPC. There are two suspects. We will arrest them soon, said Sub-Inspector Bhagwan Dass, SHO. Ajay, a relative of Jagdeep, said the murder took place after he came from the shop. Sources said two brothers were rounded up for the murder. It is learnt that the younger accused was slapped and he complained to his elder brother. Both then planned and executed the murder. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, December 13 A local court has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to send summons to the kingpin in the Rs 600-crore Ponzi scam, who is said to be residing in Malaysia. The court is also expected to initiate proclaimed offender (PO) proceedings against all accused on the next date of hearing on April 5, 2018. Mugundhan Gangam is said to be residing in Malaysia. The other accused -- Sellathrurai Bhaskar, Chella Dhuri, Amal Raj and Ram Krishna Murthy -- are also yet to be arrested. The chargesheet against the accused has already been filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The court has already directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to produce the accused before it in the next hearing. However, the ED said they were not traceable. As of now, only one accused has been arrested in the case and is in judicial custody. The accused are directors of Unipay 2U Marketing Pvt Ltd and Unigateway 2U Trading Pvt Ltd, which was a Chandigarh-based Malaysian e-wallet company that made members online on paying some money. Thousands of investors were systematically lured and cheated to the tune of over Rs 600 crore by floating ponzi or pyramid schemes assuring exorbitant returns. The ED had arrested an agent, Kamal K Bakshi, of a Chandigarh-based company and seized assets worth Rs 4.18 crore in connection with its money laundering probe on July 29, 2017. Bakshi was also a proclaimed offender in a cheating case registered with the city police in 2012. Four tricity residents were duped of about Rs 50 lakh, following which the economic offences wing of the city police had registered the case. The case was later investigated by the ED, which seized fixed deposit receipts, immovable property papers, jewellery and high-end cars worth about Rs 4.18 crore during raids. Abigail Becker joined The Capital Times in 2016, where she primarily covers city and county government. She previously worked for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and the Wisconsin State Journal. G Parthasarathy G Parthasarathy FORMER US President Barack Obama astounded audiences in New Delhi, when he proclaimed that the US had no evidence of Pakistan governments complicity in the prolonged stay of Osama bin Laden in the cantonment town of Abbotabad. His statement was particularly astonishing because bin Laden lived in a huge mansion, barely a kilometre from the Pakistan Military Academy. Moreover, he lived there with his son, three wives and a number of children and grandchildren, born in hospitals in Pakistan. It is impossible for any foreigner to live even for a day in the Abbotabad cantonment without the knowledge and approval of the Pakistan army. Why did Obama utter something totally false, even after he had left the White House? He was fully aware of Pakistani complicity in providing bin Laden a safe haven. He also turned a blind eye to Pakistan assistance to the Taliban, which resulted in the killing of over 2,000 American soldiers. Obama firmly believed that he needed Pakistans cooperation in arranging for an early withdrawal of the US forces in Afghanistan. Moreover, he was quite ready to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan at any cost and even consider a significant role for the Taliban in the future governance of Afghanistan. It was for this reason that he readily agreed to a dialogue involving the US, Pakistan, the Afghan government and the Taliban. Denial of a Pakistan role in Ladens stay was considered imperative to achieving this aim. Obamas policies also involved the US and Pakistan treating the legitimate government of Afghanistan and the Taliban virtually as sovereign equals, while giving Pakistan a significant say in the future governance of Afghanistan. Pakistans hand was also strengthened by support from Russia and China, who coordinated with Pakistan to reinforce efforts to equate the status of a recalcitrant Taliban and an isolated Afghan government. Taking note of Pakistans imperatives, China and Russia sought to create a new narrative, averring that the real threat of global terrorism came not from the Taliban, but from the ISIS, whose cadres, it was claimed, were shifting to Afghanistan. Iran, not surprisingly, was helped by Pakistan to establish contacts with Taliban leaders. Taliban supremo Mullah Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan while returning from Iran. This suited Pakistan just fine, as it would help it to claim that the Tehriq-e-Taliban, which was fighting against it from Afghan soil, was really nothing but an ally of the ISIS. But, given public and Congressional opinion in the US, Obama could not achieve his cherished objective of bringing back the US combat forces from Afghanistan, while attempting to virtually hand over Afghanistan to Taliban/Pakistan control, despite having held office for eight years. Pakistans plans and ambitions received a setback, with the unexpected election of Donald Trump as President. Trump had made it clear that he was not going to forget the losses of American lives, quietly withdraw from Afghanistan and hand it over to Pakistan-backed Taliban rule. He was determined to listen to his military advisers to make the Afghan military strong enough to resist Taliban depredations by providing it increased firepower and even air power. The US declined to join the Russia-China-Pakistan initiative to promote dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, while totally ignoring Taliban-sponsored terrorism. Indian diplomacy persuaded the American establishment and Trump that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism had to be tackled not just across Pakistans borders with Afghanistan, but also its borders with India. On June 27, the Modi-Trump Declaration proclaimed the will to meet threats from not just the Al-Qaida, ISIS and Taliban, but also the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, D (Dawood) Company and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Naming Hizb was a categorical American rejection of Pakistans claims that it was helping a freedom struggle in J&K. India should not relent on its campaign against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The US Congress had developed a bipartisan consensus to deny American assistance to Pakistan, unless it ends its support to the Taliban and India-focused groups like the LeT. The US Congress had, in fact, also drafted legislation incorporating such conditions on aid to Pakistan. New Delhi was, therefore, surprised when the Trump Administration moved legislation, delinking aid to Pakistan from its support for India-focused terrorist groups. The focus was entirely on Pakistan support to terrorism in Afghanistan. The White House, however, condemned the release of Hafiz Saeed, stating: If Pakistan does not take action to lawfully detain Saeed and charge him for his crimes, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistans global reputation. It is clear from these developments that while the Trump Administration is determined to strengthen the Afghan armed forces adequately to deal with Pakistan support for the Taliban, it will have to be reminded continuously that India looks forward to it abiding by its word during PM Modis visit to Washington and act against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism across South Asia. While the White House staff and large sections of the Pentagon deeply distrust Pakistan, there are sections of the State Department and liberals in the American think tanks and mainstream liberal media, which have historically resorted to India bashing. It is, therefore, crucial that India strengthens the bipartisan consensus in the US Congress to condition aid to Pakistan on its end to terrorism, not just in Afghanistan, but across the entire South Asian Region. It should also be made clear to Washington that our participation in the US-Japan-Australia-India quad cannot be confined just to security of sea lanes in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Washington should also deal firmly with issues of terrorism across the Indian Ocean. The Trump visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines clearly established that the US needs partners if it is to get the Chinese to respect international conventions and treaties in the Indo-Pacific Region. The quad partnership, however, cannot be selectively confined to issues of interest of the US alone. President Trump could well consider diluting his emphasis on strong action against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in his Afghanistan policies also, while yielding to his domestic compulsions. Washington, December 13 Foreign workers in the US on a H-1B work visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals, may work for more than one company, the country's immigration agency has said. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "In general, H-1B workers may work for more than one employer but must have approved I-129 for each," the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency, which receives and determines the successful applications for H1B visas, tweeted yesterday. "New employer must submit an I-129 petition before you may begin working," the USCIS said. Form I-129 is a form submitted for a non-immigrant worker to the USCIS used by employers or prospective employers to obtain (or amend the details of) a worker on a non-immigrant visa status. While this is not a new rule, but very few people know about it. The H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit cap of 65,000 visas each fiscal year as mandated by the Congress. The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher are exempt from the cap. Additionally, H-1B workers who are petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education or its affiliated or related nonprofit entities or a nonprofit research organisation or a government research organisation are not subject to this numerical cap. Meanwhile, an American think-tank, the Cato Institute in a report said that in 2015, a total of 56 per cent of all supposed employment-based green cards went to the family members of workers. The other 44 per cent went to the workers themselves. If family members were exempted from the quota or there was a separate green card category for them, an additional 76,711 highly skilled immigrant workers could have earned a green card in 2015 without increasing the quota. According to the institute, about 85 per cent of those who received an employment-based green card in 2015 were already legally living in the US. "They were able to adjust their immigration status from another type of visa, like an H-1B or F visa, to an employment-based green card. Exempting some or all of the adjustments of status from the green card cap would almost double the number of highly skilled workers who could enter," it said. In a blog post, Immigration Attorney Tsion Chudnovsky said immigration lawyers are seeing a big change in how visas are being processed in 2017 and many expect denial rates to increase to 40 per cent in this year's H-1B cap. The USCIS has started challenging H-1Bs, which would have no problem being approved in the past, she said. PTI Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service Rohtak, December 13 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has stated that the Congress has always been in a denial mode over historic religious facts pertaining to India even though these have been scientifically acknowledged and universally acclaimed. The Congress leaders have been making adverse comments on the Holy Gita and Gita Jayanti, apart from the Saraswati river. They should think before making such statements, the chief minister said while talking to reporters here on Wednesday. Khattar said while the BJP government was trying to inculcate good values amongst the people and make them sanskarwan, it seemed that the Congress leaders had no such inclination. Even the US space agency NASA has confirmed the existence of Shri Ram Setu, but the Congress leaders are still in a denial mode over this, he maintained. Replying to a question, the chief minister asserted that RP Group and several other groups of Dubai had evinced keen interest in making investments in Haryana and the state authorities were discussing some big projects with them. Apart from establishing a logistic hub at Narnaul and promoting industrialisation in Gurugram, the Haryana Government has prepared a plan to develop 7-8 industrial clusters along the KMP Expressway to attract investments for the state, he revealed. On being asked about the accomplishments of his government, Khattar stated that they had ensured full transparency in the provision of jobs to the state youths. Besides, the government had introduced e-governance, e-stamping and digitisation concepts to streamline the state administration, he added. The chief minister inspected the progress on the elevated road project and stated that it would not only resolve the traffic problem of Rohtak town to a great extent but also add to its beauty. Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Grover informed the chief minister that almost 60 per cent work on the elevated road had been completed and it would be commissioned by May, 2018. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, December 13 The services of more protesting National Health Mission (NHM) workers, who did not join duties despite notices issued to them, were terminated with immediate effect in several districts today. However, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar gave a contrasting statement in Rohtak, saying they had only been warned and not sacked. According to reports, the services of 240 NHM workers in Amabla and 35 in Panipat were terminated while in several districts the employees continued with their protest today. Khattar, while talking to mediapersons in Rohtak, said that the Union government has a 40 per cent share in the NHM scheme. To extend the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission to NHM employees, their remuneration has been increased by 14 per cent. Their other demands have also been sympathetically considered. The NHM workers have not been sacked, but warned. If they rejoin duties, it will be in the states interest, he added. However, the Civil Surgeons of several districts, including Rohtak, said that the striking NHM employees have been sacked. Congress Legislative Party leader Kiran Chaudhary and former minister Subhash Batra met the protesting workers in Rohtak and extended support to them. Meanwhile, District Magistrate Yash Garg has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in a radius of 2 km of all health centres in Rohtak district in view of the strike of the NHM employees. 240 workers services terminated in Ambala Ambala: Service termination letters were issued to 240 National Health Mission (NHM) employees in Ambala on Wednesday as they failed to join duties even after notices were served on them. There are 567 NHM employees in Ambala and 327 had joined duties till Tuesday. The remaining 240 employees were issued service termination letters Wednesday afternoon. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Vinod Gupta said, Following directions from the higher authorities, the agitating NHM employees, who failed to resume duties, were issued termination letters on Wednesday. The higher authorities have taken the disciplinary action against the NHM employees considering public interest. According to information, the Health Department in Ambala has 22 ambulances and they are not being operated due the strike of NHM employees who drive them. The department has hired seven private ambulances, putting a financial burden of nearly Rs 30,000 every day. The CMO said, In some departments, especially in the Sick Newborn Care Unit where we were facing issues, regular staff have been assigned the duties that NHM employees were performing. Meanwhile, the protesters said they would continue with their agitation until their demands are met. Health Minister Anil Vij had said on December 11 that, The strike of NHM employees is unjustified and they have been asked to join duties. If they dont report for duties, their services will be terminated and new employees hired. 35 sacked in Panipat Panipat: The Health Department on Wednesday terminated the services of 35 National Health Mission (NHM) employees. As many as 405 of total 440 NHM employees in the district joined duties on Wednesday. However, 35 employees, who did not join duties, were issued service termination orders, said Dr SL Verma, Civil Surgeon. Earlier, the Civil Surgeon tried to pacify the protesting employees. He was carrying service termination notices and warned them of stringent action. Around 90 per cent of the total NHM employees had joined duties and all referral, transport and health services would be normal from Friday, said Dr Verma. The entry of sacked employees into the general hospital premises was banned, he added. TNS Protest continues for 9th day Karnal: NHM employees continued with their dharna for the ninth consecutive day here on Wednesday. They earlier staged a dharna outside the Civil Surgeons office and observed a fast. They later held a protest march in the city in support of their demands. They handed over a memorandum, addressed to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, to Naib Tehsildar Raj Baksh Arora. Meanwhile, members of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh also extended support to their protest. Turn of events Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Tosham (Bhiwani), December 12 Clandestine removal of minerals stocked at locations adjoining the Dadam mining area continues despite the November 22 orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court banning the removal of resources till further orders. The Tribune team spotted several dumper trucks/cranes plying amid the huge piles of minerals excavated from the Dadam mine region. Locals revealed that dumper trucks carrying stones from stocked piles to crushers continued to operate in the area. At least two dumper trucks were seen moving up to a 150-foot pile of minerals near the Pinjokara turn. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The manager of the stone crusher claimed they had stocked the mineral after purchasing it from the mining contractor in Dadam before the HC imposed the ban. He said: We can take stone from this pile for crushing as this material is owned by us and the HC ban doesnt apply to the purchased material. The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC) has been awarded the mining contract in Khanak mines located in the vicinity of Dadam mining zone where the HC has imposed a ban in view of gross violations by the contractor. The HSIIDC wont be able to fulfil the demand of the stone crushing units as its very slow in mining, he said. A local revealed that the mining contractor had excavated excessive mineral from the Dadam zone just before the ban. Huge stocks of mineral have been piled up over several acres of land at five-six spots. The stone crushers claim they have purchased this material from the contractor, which is not true. The mining contractor is hand in glove with the stone crusher, he claimed. Mining Office Bhupinder Singh refused comment, while Bhiwani DC and SSP did not take calls. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was in Bhiwani today, was handed over complaints by two individuals alleging illegal mining in the district. Tribune News Service Karnal, December 13 A 27-year-old youth was killed while another was injured as five to six assailants stabbed them on the Ranwar road late last night. Deceased Amit Kumar and injured Sanjay were residents of Vikas Colony on the Ranwar road. Amit was a fruit vendor in the new vegetable market in the city. Old enmity is said to be reason behind the murder. Enraged over the murder, Amits family members, relatives and friends created a ruckus outside the forensic department of the hospital and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. They also demanded an arms licence for the bereaved family members citing threat as one of their relatives was also killed earlier over an old enmity. DSP Rajiv Kumar and SHO, Sadar, Manoj Kumar tried to pacify them but they remained adamant on their demands. Later they met SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa, who assured them of early arrest of the accused. Amits cousin Rajesh alleged that six persons belonging to Ranwar village stabbed to death Amit and injured his friend Sanjay. We have registered a case against six persons under Sections 302, 307, 506 of the IPC and various sections of the Arms Act. Efforts are being made to nab them, said Manoj Kumar, SHO, Sadar. Tribune News Service Shimla, December 13 Despite the inclusion of a large number of ineligible persons, including sitting and ex-members of the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) in the list of below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries in the state, no mechanism has been evolved for the selection of BPL families in a transparent manner. Despite two orders being issued by then Chief Information Commissioner Bhim Sen in this regard asking the authorities to select BPL families on the basis of evidence-based parameters and also passing strictures on the authorities stating that the process of the selection of BPL families was non-transparent and illegal, nothing has been done. RTI activist Debasheesh Bhattacharya is contemplating to issue legal notice to all officers concerned under Section 166 of the IPC for not implementing the orders of the CEC. The CIC had passed orders on July 11, 2015, and April 4, 2016, after information sought under the RTI revealed that 10,628 PRI and ex-PRI members were included in the list of BPL families. After an inquiry, conducted by respective SDMs, pointed out that families of 1,530 PRI and ex-PRI members were found ineligible and their names were removed from the list, then Secretary, Rural Development, Onkar Sharma issued a letter on March 23, 2016, to all deputy commissioners in the state, asking them to initiate action against those who were wrongly included in the list. As a follow-up action, then Director, Rural Development, Abhishek Jain asked the Deputy Commissioner, Bilaspur, to initiate action against all those officials who had given false figures to locate the members of PRIs and ex-PRIs in the BPL lists. However, even after the lapse of a year, there is no marked change in the selection process of the BPL families. Complaints are pouring from various parts of the state about the bad selections of BPL families, Bhattacharya said. An RTI application was filed after getting the information from all gram panchayats of the Bhoranj block where it was revealed that two pradhans, two up pradhans, four BDC members and 63 ward members were selected in the list of BPL families. The RTI information further revealed that none of the gram panchayats followed the directions given by the state Chief Information Commissioner. Bhattacharya sent a letter to the Prime Minister, detailing the facts and now the PMO has intervened and asked the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, to look into the issue which in turn directed the state on October 3 to initiate necessary action. The Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj on November 3 issued a letter to the Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj of Himachal, to take necessary action on my petition, he said. He added that the Principal Secretary, Rural Development of Himachal Pradesh, issued letters to all deputy commissioners on December 2 to provide action-taken report on the orders of the State Information Commission. Rifat Mohidin Tribune News Service Srinagar, December 13 After fresh snowfall in the Valley, 24 flights were cancelled from the Srinagar International Airport due to poor visibility. Only 20 flights were able to operate, officials said. Fresh snowfall hit the Valley on Wednesday morning. However, the weather started improving since the afternoon. The Meteororlogical Department has predicted mostly a dry weather for the week ahead with isolated rain or snow. The long dry spell ended in the Valley this week as snowfall and rain lashed mountains as well as plains for the past two days. There will be occasional light rain or snow. The maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 6Celsius and 0C, respectively on December 14, the MeT forecast said. The fresh snowfall affected the air traffic since the morning as the visibility dropped to 500 m. Due to the improvement in conditions in the afternoon, some flights were able to operate from the airport. On Tuesday, six flights were cancelled due to bad weather. Twenty flights operated and 24 were cancelled today, said Sharad Kumar, Director, Srinagar International Airport. The MeT officials said the current weather pattern would continue for 24 hours more. This weather system will remain for the next 24 hours while there will be snow in higher reaches and rain coupled with snow in plains of the state, an official said. While Leh shivered at minus 6.5 Celsius, Kargil recorded a minimum of minus 5.8 Celsius. Srinagar recorded minus 0.7, Pahalgam minus 2.1, Jammu 8.8, Katra 8.2, Batote 1.1, Banihal 0.6, Bhaderwah 0.4 and Udhampur 8 Celsius, the department said. The tourist resort of Gulmarg also received fresh snowfall and the temperature remained below normal. Tribune News Service Jammu, December 13 Transport Nagar, one of the biggest trade and business hubs in the state, has become a symbol of official apathy and neglect. Despite announcements by successive governments, including the ruling PDP-BJP coalition, to bring in massive transformation in the infrastructure facilities, nothing much has been done to improve the area in the last three years. A visit to the area, where thousands of trucks load and unloads their goods brought from outside the state and for export purpose, is enough to see the outcome of the hollow promises of the authority. Even though the state government earns a large sum of tax revenue from business establishments here, Transport Nagar is reeling under the problem of drinking water and erratic power supply. Besides, roads are in a bad condition and sanitation is a casualty. Crime is also rampant in the area. Every rainfall adds to our misery. Roads turn into cesspool as water gets accumulated in potholes, said Jagtar Singh, who runs a courier company. Besides, dumping of chemicals and motor vehicle oils in unscientific ways is also making the area ideal for cancer, TB and other respiratory diseases. Further, encroachment by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis has added to the problems. We have been raising the demand for basic amenities, but to no avail. In 2014, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) made efforts and Rs 70 lakh were released for infrastructure development, but that is not enough, said Rakesh Gupta, president, CCI, Jammu. Lack of coordination between the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and the Jammu Municipal Corporation has added to the miseries of businessmen, as both the civic bodies are ignoring the pleas of trade bodies. Rajesh Shavan, vice-chairman, JDA, did not respond despite repeated attempts. Manpriya Singh The language of poetry, of prophets, of ancient emperors; and today, celebrated through calligraphic tattoos; there is a journey that the language Urdu has traversed. Ridden with political highs and lows; dotted with rich literature, pretty much like its script - from right to left. It didnt come as a surprise when recently Shabani Azmi, once again professed her love for Urdu. During childhood, I couldnt even understand the language, but it was like music filling up my years. She is not the first. At the late Jagjit Singhs 70th birthday celebrations, Gulzaar expressed his love for Urdu and how. Badi aristocracy hai zubaan mein, Urdu bole toh fakir bhi nawaab lagta hai. It might take special effort getting used to a left to right script, but there are people who havent given up on the language! Delicate note Dr. HK Lall, the first-ever doctorate in Urdu from Panjab University and currently taking classes at SD College, has been teaching the language since the 1976. Urdu is not a language, its a culture. Ek teehzeeb hai is boli mein. A delicacy that no other language has. He adds, If you overhear two people talking in Urdu, everybody will stop to hear and wonder at the beauty of the words. It was long back when he started teaching, at the time paid a meager 100 rupees a month for one hour of Urdu classes. After 12 years, that amount was doubled to Rs 250 and to Rs 500 after another 12 years! But it was only sometime back at the insistence of Manpreet Badal that the amount was raised to rupees 5,000 a month. The finance minister of Punjab has studied abroad, but I dont know why he has some soft spot for this language. Today, at SD College, he draws a vibrant mix of enthusiastic students from all age-groups, though mostly past their middle age. Rich literature Rama Sharma, retired principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, took to the language during childhood, when her father would recite poems. However, she got a chance to formally learn it further only sometime back. There is so much rich literature that this language gives access to, she says. Not to forget the poetry and philosophical writings by some of the greatest Urdu writers ever. At the Department of Urdu, Panjab University, of the total 75 seats allocated for certificate course, there are 70 students pursuing the one-year course, while there are only 24 students pursuing a Masters in Urdu in the department, as against a total of 30 available seats. Laughs Dr. Lall, Once an Urdu lover from Jharkhand got in touch with me, saying how Urdu is currently in ICU and I am the only doctor available. We hope itll survive. manpriya@tribunemail.com Greatest ever Translations, howsoever great, there is a lot proverbially lost in them! John Keats wouldnt be Keats as we know him, if it were not for English and Mirza Ghalib wouldnt be what he is in any other language. A quick look at the greatest writers in Urdu ever, starting with Mirza Ghalib. Mirza Ghalib: Urdu literature, timeless poetry, philosophical couplets; credit them all to Mirza Ghalib. The legendary poet is the subject of hundreds of plays in both India and Pakistan. The best known maestros ever have further immortalised several of Ghalibs ghazals. Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Having been nominated as many as four times for the Nobel Prize for literature, Faiz Ahmed Faiz is undoubtedly one of the most known Urdu poets, renowned for his revolutionary poetry. Meer Taqi Meer: Popularly called the God of Poetry in the world of Urdu, the Mughal era poets deep poetical renditions were drawn from the several tragedies that life meted him out; from the death of his family members to Afghani invasions. Learning curve For those keen on pursuing the language, minus the institutional restrictions, can opt for online Urdu learning course with CIIL, Mysore, which is run by National Council for Promotion or Urdu, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. UW-Madison political scientist Kathy Cramer will be the guest of honor at a Cap Times Talk in January talking about the politics of resentment (the title of her recent book) in 2018 in Wisconsin. Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 A five-judge Constitution Bench will assemble on Thursday to take up petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar law and governments notifications making the 12-digit unique biometric identification number mandatory for various services and schemes. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said the Constitution Bench would commence hearing at 2 pm and focus on applications seeking interim relief against the Centres decision to make it mandatory to link Aadhaar with various services and schemes. The Centre had on December 7 told the top court that the deadline for making Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of more than 130 schemes, including linking of bank accounts with the 12-digit unique biometric identification number, will be extended till March 31 next year. On Wednesday, the Government issued a notification was extending the current deadline of December 31 to March 31. Those opening new banks accounts will have to submit their Aadhaar number to banks within six months, it added. However, the deadline for mobile phone number-Aadhaar linking will remain February 6, 2018, as ordered by the top court in a PIL that dealt with national security issue. A nine-judge Constitution Bench had on August 24 declared right to privacy a fundamental right and had said individual cases challenging the Aadhaar Act would be decided separately by a five-judge Constitution Bench. While petitioners want the top court to suspend implementation of Aadhaar Act and linking it with various services and schemes, the Centre has opposed it. "There cannot be a stay on the Aadhaar scheme, which has gone on for years," Attorney General KK Venugopal had earlier said. Venugopal had informed the court that a Data Protection Committee headed by former SC Judge BN Srikrishna was likely to submit its final report to the government by February next year. The Supreme Court had on November 3 asked banks and mobile telecom service providers to inform their customers about the last date for linking of accounts and mobile numbers with Aadhaar. A Bench headed by Justice AK Sikri had, however, refused to stay such linking, noting that all Aadhaar-related matters had already been sent to a Consitution Bench which would assemble much before the deadlines for Aadhaar-linking for bank accounts and mobile phones. The Government had on October 25 told the court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who did not have the unique identification number but were willing to enrol for it. Venugopal had submitted no coercive action would be taken against those who did not have Aadhaar but are willing to enrol for. Such people would not be denied benefits of social welfare schemes till March 31, he had said. Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 A day before the second round of polling for the Assembly elections in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that previous Congress-led UPA government during its tenure had pressured banks to give huge loans to select industrialists and said the bank scam was the biggest scam of the UPA, bigger than the coal, 2G and Commonwealth scams. Addressing the 90th AGM of industry chamber, FICCI, the PM leveled the allegation while talking about his governments schemes for giving loans to young entrepreneurs through the Mudra Yojana and Start-Up India. The Modi government has been targeted by the Congress for following a model that favours only a few rich industrialists. The PM said the huge non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans in the banking system are the biggest liability that economists in the UPA regime had left for the present government, which was taking steps to bolster the banking system. Modi alleged that the UPA government indulged in loot and stole the hard-earned money of the common man by giving away such loans and at that time all the institutions knew that something wrong was going on but nobody raised their voice. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a recent Facebook post had attacked the UPA government, alleging that between 2008 and 2014 public sector banks disbursed disproportionate sums of loans to several industries as advances grew by Rs 34 lakh crore, a threefold increase in six years. Jaitley had said that these loans were given under pressure and no action was taken when the debtors delayed payments. Assuring to protect bank deposits, the PM said rumours were now being spread about the Financial Regulation and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill. He said the government was working to protect the interests and deposits of the account holders, but rumours and misgivings were being spread. He said organisations such as FICCI were responsible for spreading awareness about such issues. He said industry had a big role now in making GST more effective so that its benefits were passed on to consumers. The governments effort is to ensure that maximum businesses register for GST. The more formal the system becomes, the more it will benefit the poor. It will enable easier availability of credit from banks and reduce cost of logistics, thereby enhancing competitiveness of businesses, the PM added. Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 Riding a mix of religion, commerce and a growing challenge of China, India will be hosting the all heads of state of the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for an India-ASEAN summit to mark 25 years of the relationship. All the ten will be chief guests at the Republic Day parade down the Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26. Commerce, Culture and Connectivity will be three Cs of the India-ASEAN relationship, said sources. Various people-to-people connects will be marked by the high-profile India-ASEAN commemorative summit in New Delhi on January 25 and followed by the festive fanfare of the military-cultural parade the next day. This is the second time that an India-ASEAN summit is being held the previous took place five years ago to mark 20 years of the relationship. The maritime connectivity will be an important route for our relationship, source said. Another focus will be on strategic ties as India and companies held by private individuals are investing in various infrastructure projects. ASEAN Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos, Brunei form the fourth largest trading partner of India with trade at US $70 billion. India is also looking at providing the much needed stability in the South China Sea. Some of the ASEAN countries are locked in territorial dispute with China in the hydrocarbon rich sea. New Delhi has a stated goal that freedom of navigation and over flight over the South China Sea in crucial. China unilaterally claims large parts of the sea. A peaceful, stable and free Asia is very important, said sources. India will focus on the youth and host 500 children exposing them to the Indian way of life. At the religious-cultural level India has invited all ten ASEAN countries to send in their Ramayana troupes to perform in India. Variations of the Hindu epic are narrated in various forms in these countries. Ramayana is an important link, said the sources. Connectivity is the fulcrum of all three C's. It is not just maritime or road connectivity it is the soft connectivity. India-ASEAN ties go back to 2000 years, the sources said. The trilateral highway that will link Indias northeast to Thailand via Myanmar is expected to be completed by 2019. At the trade level India is looking to integrate itself into the textile manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. India see no friction between India and ASEAN on the quadrilateral India , US, Australia and Japan. They know India respects international rule of law, sources said. Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 Riding a mix of religion, commerce and a growing challenge of China, India will be hosting all heads of state of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for an India-ASEAN summit to mark 25 years of the relationship. All 10 leaders will be chief guests at the Republic Day parade down the Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26. Commerce, Culture and Connectivity are the three Cs of the India-ASEAN relationship. Various people-to-people connects will be marked by the high-profile India-ASEAN commemorative summit in New Delhi on January 25 and followed by the festive fanfare of the military-cultural parade the next day. This is the second time that an India-ASEAN summit is being held, the previous one being organised five years ago to mark 20 years of the relationship. ASEAN has conducted such summits with the US, Russia, China and Korea. The maritime connectivity will be an important route for our relationship, a source said. Another focus will be on strategic ties as India and companies held by private individuals are investing in various infrastructure projects. ASEAN Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos, Brunei form fourth largest trading partner of India at $70 billion. India is also looking at providing the much needed stability in the South China Sea. Some of the ASEAN countries are locked in territorial dispute with China in the hydro-carbon rich sea. New Delhi has a stated goal that freedom of navigation and over flight over the South China Sea is crucial. China unilaterally claims large parts of the sea. A peaceful, stable and free Asia is very important, a source said. India will focus on the youth and host 500 children, exposing them to the Indian way of life. At the religious-cultural level, India has invited all 10 ASEAN countries to send in their Ramayana troupes to perform in India. Variations of the Hindu epic are narrated in various forms in these countries. Ramayana is an important link, a source said. Connectivity is the fulcrum of all three Cs and this is not just maritime or road connectivity, but the soft connectivity. India-ASEAN ties go back to 2000 years. The tri-lateral highway that will link Indias north-east to Thailand via Myanmar is expected to be completed by 2019. Marking 25 yrs of relationship Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 The Congress on Wednesday night moved the Election Commission demanding equal application of poll rules to the ruling party and opposition leaders and sought immediate withdrawal of FIR, if any, against TV channels that telecast interviews of Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi. In a memorandum to Central Election Commissioner and his counterpart in poll-bound Gujarat, Congress leaders said if giving interviews on the poll eve is an election offence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders should also be equally proceeded against and FIRs should be ordered against all of them for holding press conferences and rallies after the expiry of canvassing period for the first and second phase of Gujarat poll. Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Randeep Surjewala and Ashok Gehlot moved the EC after the poll body issued notice to Gandhi for violating the model code by way of telecast of his TV interviews today. Canvassing for the last phase of Gujarat election ended yesterday at 5 pm. The Congress, however, argued that after the end of canvassing for first phase of polling in Gujarat, Jaitley addressed press conferences but was not proceeded against for violating the model code of conduct. The BJP even went on to release its election manifesto on December 8 on the eve of first phase polling when the campaign for first phase had ended on December 7. The PM addressed four public meetings on the day of polling but EC took no action...in case the yardsticks led violation of model code are to be applied the way these are being applied by the EC, order registration of FIRs against PM, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal and the state president of BJP, the memorandum said. The Congress also argued that no action was taken by the EC against Narendra Modi on the eve of 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he gave TV interviews before polling in more than one phase. At that time the EC took no action, said the Congress adding that nothing was done even when Modi entered a polling booth and openly displayed the symbol of the BJP there. The Congress also sought an FIR against the BJP for casting aspersions on the fairness and conduct of EC even before a decision was taken. BJP leaders Amit Shah and Piyush Goyal have been saying since afternoon that EC will order registration of an FIR. In our humble opinion this decision of the EC goes beyond the code of conduct, past established practices and Article 324 of the Constitution which the EC uses for superintendency of elections. This decision goes against the freedom of speech and expression of the media and the opposition, the Congress memorandum said. New Delhi, December 13 The Election Commission of India on Wednesday directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Gujarat to lodge FIRs against TV channels that aired Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhis interview as "it violated the law". It also issued a notice to Gandhi. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) In a press statement this evening, the poll panel said Gandhi, the Congress president-elect, talked about the Gujarat Assembly elections in which the polling for the second phase will be held tomorrow. "Such display falls within the definition of election matter" under Section 126 (3) of Representation of the People Act, 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll in the poll- going areas, amounts to violation of Section 126 (1)(b) of Representation of the People Act, 1951," it said. The statement said after due deliberations, the EC has directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat "to initiate necessary action by filing FIR against those who have violated the above mentioned provisions in phase two districts in Gujarat". "Further, those TV channels which are violating the provisions of Section 126 (1)(b] by displaying said election matter in phase two district in Gujarat have been directed to forthwith stop the display of such matter," it said. The EC said it had today received reports and complaints that some of the TV channels in Gujarat have displayed interview given by Gandhi in which he had talked about the state elections. 'Threats' The Congress however accused the Bharatiya Janata Patry of threatening journalists in Gujarat for airing the interview. In a press conference held earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that some journalists were receiving threats from high-level state BJP functionaries who were telling the mediapersons that they would be jailed for violating the Model Code of Conduct. "We appeal to the Election Commission to take notice of it. It is for the EC to decide whether an action is a violation of Model Code of Conduct or not," Surjewala said. "For the record, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also gave an interview to a channel a day prior to voting. If that was not violation of Model Code of Conduct, how could Rahul Gandhi's interview be?" he added. The Congress leader also pointed out the BJP releasing its manifesto a day ahead of the first phase of polling in the state on December 9. Some local news channels in Gujarat telecast Rahul Gandhi's interview on Wednesday. The second phase polling in the state is scheduled for Thursday. PTI/IANS New Delhi, December 13 Taking note of a complaint filed by the ruling BJP, the Election Commission today served a show-cause notice to Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi for prima facie violating election laws after a few news channels aired his interview a day before the polling for second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections. Acting swiftly, the Congress petitioned the poll panel, demanding action against PM Modi for his FICCI speech. The EC also directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to lodge FIRs against TV channels that aired the interview as it violated the law. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The EC has asked Gandhi to explain his position by December 18, failing which it would decide the matter without any further reference to him. In its order, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the EC said: The Commission after due deliberations of the complaint it received has, therefore, directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat to initiate necessary action by filing FIR against those who have violated the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, in Phase 2 districts in Gujarat going to the poll tomorrow (December 14). The poll panel said: Such display (in which Gandhi talks about election to Legislative Assembly of Gujarat) falls within the definition of election matter" and its display within 48 hours ending with hour fixed for conclusion of poll in the poll-going areas amounts to violation of Section 126 (1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act. TNS Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 Eighteen years after India launched a submarine action plan, the first of the indigenous conventionally powered sub is set to be commissioned at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to do the commissioning of the sub named Kalvari (meaning deep sea tiger shark). It will be the first diesel-electric sub to be commissioned under the submarine action plan announced in 1999 following a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. New Delhi plans to have 24 modern submarines by 2030. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Since then India has taken on lease a nuclear submarine from Russia and named it the INS Chakra and commissioned a nuclear powered submarine of its own and named it the INS Arihant. The Kalvari is the first of the six scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines being built by Mazagon Docks Limited, a Ministry of Defence-owned company in collaboration with Frances Naval Group (earlier known as DCNS). In security circles a diesel-electric sub is referred to as conventionally powered. The last time a diesel-electric submarine was commissioned into the Navy was in July 2000. The submarine would be equipped with anti-ship missiles and long-range guided torpedoes along with a modern sensor suite. For Naval planners, the worrisome part, however, is that Chinas submarine fleetof nuclear and conventionally poweredis four times that of Indias. The Indian battle-ready under-sea fleet of diesel electric vessels is at present down to 14: nine Kilo-class (EKMs), four German-designed HDWs (SSKs) and one Akula class nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) on a 10-year lease from Russia (since 2012). The Navy plans to have 22 submarines by 2021-22 and is looking at building more of these under the newly announced strategic partnership, which allows foreign companies to partner with Indian firms under the Make in India initiative. Making submarines here is one of the four targeted sectors, the other three being fighter jets, helicopters and tanks. In comparison, China is rapidly expanding its submarine fleet. The US Department of Defence, in its annual report to the US Congress, has spelled out the rise of Chinas submarine fleet. The report, Military and security developments involving the Peoples Republic of China 2017, says: The Peoples Liberation Army Navy places a high priority on the modernisation of its submarine force and at present possesses 63 vessels. By 2020, this force will likely grow to between 69 and 78 submarines. Islamabad, December 13 Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri on Wednesday dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's Foreign Minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, Are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say. Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. PTI New Delhi, December 13 A special court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), guilty of varying offences, including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The court would hear argument on quantum of punishment tomorrow. It, however, acquitted four persons VISUL's Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged. The accused have refuted the allegations levelled against them. Following is the chronology of events: December 2014: CBI files charge sheet against Koda, others. Jan 21, 2015: Court summons Koda, others as accused. Feb 18: Court grants bail to accused after they appear before it and seek relief. July 14, 2015: Court orders framing of charges against Koda, others. July 31: Court frames charges against accused. July 11, 2017: Court concludes hearing in coal case. Dec 5: Court reserves order. Dec 13: Special court holds Koda, Gupta and others guilty of corruption, criminal conspiracy and other offences. PTI New Delhi, December 13 A special court today held former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and ex-Coal Secretary HC Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused, including former Jharkhand Chief Secretary AK Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited (VISUL), guilty of varying offences, including criminal conspiracy, in the case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The court will hear argument on the quantum of punishment tomorrow. It, however, acquitted four persons VISUL director Vaibhav Tulsyan, public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and CA Navin Kumar Tulsyan of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of the IPC and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI said the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It alleged that although the Jharkhand Government and the Steel Ministry did not recommend VISULs case, the 36th screening committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said Gupta, who was the chairman of the committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for the allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the investigation agency had alleged. PTI Islamabad/The Hague, Dec 13 Pakistan today rejected Indias plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies. Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ. The ICJ halted his execution. The Express Tribune said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that disentitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to Jadhavs mother and wife to meet him on December 25. An Indian diplomat would be allowed to accompany them. PTI Smita Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 Pakistan on Wednesday submitted its formal response in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague. The counter memorial submitted by Firah Bugti, Director India in the Pakistan Foreign Office, dismissed Indias stand and stressed that Jadhavs case cannot be considered as that of an ordinary national. India had dragged the case to The Hague court this year after repeated requests for consular access were stonewalled. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Lodged in a Pakistani jail since March of 2016, Jadhav faces the gallows on charges of espionage and conspiring to destabilise the restive Balochistan province. The Hague Court had ordered a stay on his execution in its provisional order in May. According to Pakistan official sources, the counter memorial stresses that Jadhav entered the country to spy and carry out sabotage activities, hence questions the realm of ICJs jurisdiction in this case. The response also argues that since Jadhav was an Indian Navy officer working for RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) at the time of arrest, Islamabads actions have not violated the Vienna Convention. Delhi said Jadhav was a retired naval officer, not a serving one and dismissed Pakistans allegations while accusing Pak agencies of having abducted Jadhav from Iran. Ahead of its ICJ reply though Pakistan proposed a meeting between Jadhav and his wife, and with Indian conditions accepted, the meeting is now expected on December 25. Agreeing to Indian terms Jadhavs mother Avantika and an Indian diplomat will also be present for the meeting. Pakistan has stressed the proposal was made on purely humanitarian grounds. It is now up to The Hague Court to seek further documents from both sides and whether to take up the case for further hearing. Though with recent elections to the ICJ, the newly-elected judges will take oath on February 6, 2018 following which the new full bench is expected to take up the case not before April-May next year. Indias candidate Judge Dalbeer Bhandari was re-elected to the ICJ bench, while former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani will serve as an ad-hoc judge on the bench. According to Pakistani sources, the counter response document prepared by the legal and foreign ministries and the Attorney General of Pakistan includes details of Jadhav's alleged involvement in subversive activities as well as his said confession video. Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Patan, December 13 As Gujarat readies to cast its ballot in the second phase of polling for 93 seats of north and central Gujarat tomorrow, the bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress saw hectic activity at the party headquarters throughout the day today. As party workers readied for the D-day, the BJP is looking to retain power in a state it has ruled for 22 years, while the Congress is hoping to ride on the wave of change and acute anti-incumbency. The public, from Patan to Dahod, has its own reasons for supporting either of the two parties. A farmer in Patan, Ishwar Desai, a die-hard fan of PM Narendra Modi, says: He is a Gujarati and that is all that matters. He never lies and fulfills all he commits to. His every action, including demonetisation, has been in the nations interest. He has nothing to gain. If Patan comes across as a BJP stronghold, the tribals in Dahod are vociferous in condemning the BJP for lop-sided development. We have had enough of BJPs lip-service. Its high on talks and low on delivery. Change is the only way forward. Only the Congress can deliver the state now, remarks Raman Dehda of Abhlod in Dahod. In Anands Boriavi, Rasik Purshotta, a farm worker, rues: Modi talks of bullet trains and takes away agricultural land in the name of development. We are poor and have never sat in the Shatabdi. What attraction does a bullet train hold for us? Let him leave our land alone. This is why the Congress is our party of choice. If scams and growing unemployment are an issue against the government, Magan bhai who attended Modis rally in Haalol in Vadodra is bowled over by Modis oratory skills. Nobody stands a chance before him. He is one man who can set any house in order and he keeps tabs on the Gujarat Governments working. Nobody can hoodwink him. Besides, Gujarat has been peaceful since the BJP came to power, he justifies. Countering this argument, Manu bhai and Sunita, working in their maize fields in Dabra in Dahod, remark: The Congress is a secular party. Obviously there have been no clashes in Gujarat since the BJP took over because they are the ones who build up the tension. While the Modi fans cant see beyond him and the BJP makes a show of all it does, the Congress supporters are lying low and waiting to declare their commitment only on the polling day through their votes. In Patan, they refused to speak about the fate of election and chose not to make any comment on why they favour the party of their choice. We fear being identified. We will only cast our vote. We dont want to talk, a tailor stated. When Gujarat votes tomorrow, people will vote based on the degree of Modi-deification, the percentage of disappointment, the weight of anti-incumbency, the faith of delivery and the need for change. The permutation and combination of this mix of sentiments will decide the next government in Gujarat when counting takes place on December 18. Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 13 If what Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi said today is to be believed, women will occupy far greater and larger positions in the party in near future. This was the unambiguous message from Gandhi at an event organised by the Congress womens wing today. The very fact that the first function Gandhi chose to address after being elected party chief this December 11 was that of Mahila Congress is significant. Even more significant is what he said at the function which was dedicated to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was titled, I am courage. I know we will no longer have a woman Congress president (read Sonia Gandhi) but we are going to make up for it. The first major beneficiary of Congress reorganisation will be women and there will be fair distribution of roles and responsibilities, Gandhi told a gathering of top Congress leaders featuring Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sheila Dikshit, Anand Sharma, Kumari Selja, Rajni Patil and Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Deb. The Congress has long been trying to raise intra-party reservation for women to 50 per cent from the earlier cap of 33 per cent. The leaders who attended the closed-door event at Constitution Club here also spoke of Gandhi reiterating his sense of confidence about Gujarat. Having yesterday predicted a zabardast (stunning) result for the Congress in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state, Rahul today told his rank and file, You will all be surprised with the Gujarat results. He underlined the partys unity in attaining the collective purpose in Gujarat. In Gujarat, we fought together against the BJPs 22 years of misrule. This is the way we should always be. This is the way we should always fight elections, together. The message comes at a time when the party remains faction-ridden in most states and has always faced internal challenges on the eve of most elections. In Punjab, on the poll eve, Congress affairs were dominated by an open war between CM Amarinder Singh and former Punjab Congress chief Partap Bajwa. The Himachal poll eve saw a replay of the same story with CM Virbhadra Singh and state chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ceasing to attend the rallies together. Factionalism is Gandhis daunting challenge in many other states. Will back womens reservation Bill Tribune News Service Faridkot, December 13 After over a weeks protest by 249 MBBS students of now-defunct Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, the Oversight Committee (OC) of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Union Health Ministry today gave their nod to the shifting of these students to other medical colleges in the state. The Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) invited all 249 students of 2014 and 2016 batches at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, on December 18 for counselling. The counselling process has been started as per the directions of the Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER), said Dr SP Singh, Registrar, BFUHS. Dr Sushil Garg, president of the Chintpurni Medical College Parents Association, said after approval by the OC, the Union Health Ministry also gave its nod to the shifting as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Demanding expeditious approval of their shifting, after it was ordered by the High Court on September 8 and approved by the executive committee of the MCI on November 22, 249 students decided to camp in New Delhi last week till the OC and the Union Health Ministry gave their approval to shifting. While 101 students of the 2014 batch will be shifted only to three government colleges in the state, 148 students of the 2016 batch will be shifted to government and private colleges as per their allotment on quota seats in Chintpurni college. Gurdaspur, December 13 The BSF on Wednesday seized a Pakistani boat here from the Ravi river in Indian territory, police said. The boat with a Pakistani flag was spotted by the BSF near Dharamkot Pattan, which is close to the India-Pakistan border, they said. The BSF is investigating how the boat strayed into Indian territory, the police said. In October last year, a Pakistani boat had been found in an area under the Kakkar Border Outpost (BOP) in the Amritsar Sector. PTI Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 13 Activists of various farmer unions today staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner office here in support of their demands, including total debt waiver for the farmers and job avenues for the unemployed in the state. Farmer leaders Buta Singh Burjgill and Jhanda Singh Jethuke said, Prior to the elections, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had promised that he will extend complete debt waiver to the farmers, including the one they owe to public sector banks, cooperative and private banks, but even after nine months of forming the government he is yet to deliver the same. The government is resorting to dilly-dallying tactics on the premise of its empty coffers while debt-ridden farmers are committing suicides. The announcement regarding waiver of Rs 2-lakh debt will benefit only a small section of farmers. They said the Congress had promised to facilitate a government job in each household of the state, but on the contrary it was snatching the livelihood of people by shutting down thermal plants. They said all seven farmer unions would hold a meeting to chalk out the future course of agitation regarding farmer issues. They also demanded that complete debt waiver, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the next of kin of the deceased should be extended in case a farmer or farm labourer commits suicide. Later, they handed over a memorandum of their demands to the DC. Sangrur: The farmers also protested in front of Sangrur and Barnala Deputy Commissioner (DC) offices for their long pending demands. Fearing attack of stray cattle, special groups with sticks were deputed to guard protesters. Many a time, stray cattle have attacked protesting farmers. We have formed special groups to prevent any such incident, said Kulwant Singh from Nagra village along with a group of other members while standing with sticks near the dharna in Sangrur. The protest started around 11 am and continued till 3.30 pm. The organisations included BKU Ugraha, BKU Dakaunda, Kirti Kisan Union, Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Kanwalpreet), Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab, BKU Krantikari and Kisan Sangharash Committee (Azad). Their demands include ownership rights of land to tenants, effective steps to control stray cattle to prevent the damage to crops, seizure of affidavits, blank papers signed by farmers and debt related record of farmers from commission agents, withdrawal of all court cases filed against farmers and labourers for recovery of debt, ban on release of defaulters lists by banks, implementation of Swaminathan report and release of immediate compensation to farmers for damaged crops. THE fearful toll of lives which the recent malaria epidemic took in Amritsar led to a visit of inspection by the Sanitary Commissioner, Punjab. The severe but none the less well deserved strictures passed by this officer furnished food for thought to Government and the people alike. One outcome of this is the increased attention which the local municipal committee appears to be giving to schemes of sanitary improvement. We have before us a report of the proceedings of the last meeting which seems to show that huge schemes costing Rs. 50 to 60 lakhs are in the air and heavy loans will be required to finance these schemes. Dubai: Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck a military police camp in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing at least 39 persons, including some prisoners. The strike is part of an air campaign by the Western-backed coalition on the Iran-allied Houthis. Reuters Left gets 116 seats as Nepal vote count ends Kathmandu: The Left alliance has won a majority in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls, with the CPN-UML emerging as the largest party with 80 seats after counting of votes of the first-past-the-post system (FPTP) ended. The alliance bagged 116 seats out of a total 165 under the FPTP. PTI Istanbul, December 13 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused US counterpart Donald Trump of having a "Zionist mentality" over his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding Washington had no further role to play in the peace process. "The real proprietor of these lands is Palestine. Mr Trump wants all this to be Israel. This is the product of an evangelist and Zionist mentality," he said at the close of an emergency Muslim summit, adding that there can no longer be "any question" of the United States being a mediator in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. AFP Istanbul, December 13 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned there could be no peace in the Middle East until such a move was made. Erdogan opened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the worlds main pan-Islamic body the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking to marshal Muslim leaders towards a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Abbas warned that the United States has lost its role as the mediator in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians as a result of the move by US President Donald Trump. Erdogan who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause described Israel as a state defined by occupation and terror. With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even, he said. Erdogan added: I am inviting the countries who value international law and fairness to recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, saying Islamic countries would never give up on this demand. Abbas warned that there could be no peace or stability in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of the Palestinian state... There will be no peace, no stability without that, Abbas told the meeting. He slammed the recognition by Trump of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a gift to the Zionist movement as if he were giving away an American city, adding that Washington no longer had any role to play in the Middle East peace process. We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel, he said. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC, will be hoping to unite often feuding Muslim leaders into a tough final statement on the move by Trump. His top diplomat early today indicated that Ankara would be pushing for OIC states to, in a counter move, recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. This step taken by the US legitimises the occupation, of the Palestinian territories, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavsuoglu told a meeting of OIC foreign ministers. We will never be silent, he said, urging countries to recognise Palestine on the basis of its 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital. But bridging the gaps in a Muslim political community that includes arch-rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran will be a far from easy task, let alone announcing any concrete measures agreed between the 57 OIC member states. Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Councils Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, told AFP he believed Muslim leaders would merely issue a boiler-plate condemnation. Several key players, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are unlikely to want to risk their key relationship with Washington for the sake of an anti- Washington OIC statement. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Lebanese President Michel Aoun are among the heads of state attending, as well as the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, was also in attendance. However, the level of Saudi representation critical if the final statement is to carry long-term credibility was only at the level of a senior foreign ministry official. Arab countries have so far condemned Israel without announcing any concrete measures. Jerusalems status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state. Trumps announcement last week prompted an outpouring of anger in the Muslim and Arab world, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the Jewish state and show solidarity with the Palestinians. The decision sparked protests in Palestinian territories, with four Palestinians killed so far in clashes or Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hundreds wounded. AFP Istanbul, December 13 Islamic leaders today urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned the US no longer had any role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the worlds main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israels capital. With the Islamic world itself mired in division, the summit fell well short of agreeing any concrete sanctions against Israel or the United States. But their final statement declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and invited all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital. They declared Trumps decision null and void legally and a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts that would give impetus to extremism and terrorism. Jerusalems status is perhaps the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel as the capital of their future state. Erdogan-who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause-denounced Israel as a state defined by occupation and terror, in a new diatribe against the Israeli leadership. With this decision, Israel was rewarded for all the terrorist activities it has carried out. It is Trump who bestowed this award even, said Erdogan, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC. He said all countries who value international law and fairness should recognise occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, saying Islamic countries would never give up on this demand. Using unusually strong language, Abbas warned that there could be no peace or stability in the Middle East until Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of a Palestinian state. Moreover, he said that with Trumps move the United States had withdrawn itself from a traditional role as the mediator in the search for Mideast peace. We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on. Because it is completely biased towards Israel, he said. The final statement from the OIC echoed this sentiment, saying Trumps move was an announcement of the US administrations withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace in the Middle East. AFP Istanbul, December 13 The Palestinian president said on Wednesday his people would not accept any role for the United States in the Mideast peace process "from now on," following President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a gathering of heads of state and top officials from Islamic nations at a summit in Turkey that is expected to forge a unified Muslim world's stance against Trump's move. Abbas called Trump's decision a "crime" that threatened world peace. He called on the United Nations to take charge of the peace process and create a new mechanism, arguing that Washington is no longer "fit" for the task. The Palestinian leader also said that the Palestinians are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict but that after Trump's pivot on Jerusalem, Washington is not accepted as a fair negotiator. The Istanbul gathering of heads of state and top officials from the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation could offer the Muslim world's strongest response yet to Washington's move. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current president of the OIC, called on countries to urgently recognise the Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital. Erdogan has been among the most vocal critics of Trump's announcement. In remarks to the summit, he said Israel is an "occupying state" and a "terror state". Jerusalem's status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Trump's December 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem had triggered violent outbreaks. Earlier, in opening remarks to a pre-summit meeting, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told OIC foreign ministers that the US decision aims to "legitimize Israel's attempt to occupy Jerusalem." "They expect the Islamic nation to remain silent," he said. "But we will never be silent. This bullying eliminates the possibility of peace and the grounds for shared life. The US' decision is null for us." Most countries around the world have not recognised Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem. Under a long- standing international consensus, the fate of the city is to be determined in negotiations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, Jordanian King Abdullah II and top ministers of numerous nations were to attend the gathering in Istanbul. In an emergency meeting in Cairo last weekend, Arab foreign ministers demanded that the United States rescind Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In a resolution long on rhetoric but short on concrete actions, the ministers also called for the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump's decision, but acknowledged that Washington would most likely veto it. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the state's establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people. In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured the city's eastern sector and later annexed it in a move that is not recognised internationally. The Palestinians equally lay claim to Jerusalem and want the eastern part of the city as capital of their future state. Some 320,000 Palestinians live in that part of the city and Palestinians claim a deep cultural, historical and religious connection to the city. The Old City, located in east Jerusalem, is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. These include the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site. AP Los Angeles, December 13 Filmmaker Roman Polanski is being investigated for new allegations of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old child in 1975. While the statute of limitations has long expired, through this investigation, law enforcement officials may be able to use any evidence they collect to help prosecute other cases, reports pagesix.com. Authorities are now probing the case because Los Angeles detectives "will always take a report from any victim and then determine if the case is within the statute of limitations," police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said. Polanski, 84, has been a fugitive since he fled to France in 1978 on the eve of sentencing in an unrelated case for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He splits his time between France, his native Poland and Switzerland. IANS. Washington, December 13 The US is ready to talk to North Korea over its nuclear disarmament without preconditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said amid North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns assertion to make his country the worlds strongest nuclear power. The offer to North Korea comes amid crippling sanctions on the country and just two weeks after another provocative intercontinental ballistic missile test by the reclusive nation. It also marks a shift from Tillersons own previous comments that the US would not negotiate with North Korea and that it would only talk once the regime was ready to address its denuclearisation. Weve said from the diplomatic side were ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk, and were ready to have the first meeting without precondition. Lets just meet, Tillerson said. He was speaking on Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council- Korea Foundation Forum. And then we can begin to lay out a map, a roadmap of what we might be willing to work towards, he said. The offer stands in contrast to President Donald Trumps warnings that talks have failed and that Tillerson was wasting his time. No negotiations can be held with North Korea until it improves its behavior, a White House official said on Wednesday, raising questions about Tillerson's offer. The White House has declined to say whether Trump gave approval for the overture. Agencies You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Photo: Port of Long Beach The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Dec. 12 to investigate a ban of trucking and warehousing companies that break local, state, and federal employment laws from operating on city property. The motion directs City Attorney Mike Feuer to submit a written report advising the City of Los Angeles on what options it has to mandate fair wages and working conditions for companies servicing the Port of Los Angeles. The report is also to determine if the citys land use laws can be used to deny access to port property of companies that have repeatedly violated state and federal employment laws in a similar manner to how the city responds to nuisance activities. The motion specifically targets companies that have been accused of denying drivers fair wages, rights, and benefits by not classifying them as full employees, which groups like Justice for Port Truck Drivers characterize as driver misclassification. In the official summary of the City Councils motion, it makes reference to the controversial USA Today report that described the plight of certain drivers working at the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach who took home little pay and worked long hours just to pay off their truck leases. That story has been challenged by port trucking companies and stakeholders that claim that USA Today exaggerated the extent of the problem, cherrypicking stories for their extremeness and ignoring the majority of drivers who have made the independent contractor business model work. The City Councils summary stated that since 2010, at least 1,150 port truck drivers have filed claims in civil court or with the labor commission against these trucking companies. It further states that judges have sided with drivers 97% of the time. Council Member and Committee Chair Joe Buscaino stated that it was "unacceptable for companies to profit on city property while exploiting human beings." The motion was sponsored by Council Members Buscaino, Bob Blumenfield, and Mike Bonin. Wagoner area residents looking to enjoy a Christmas Day meal in the company of others are invited to the First Presbyterian Church Monday, Dec. 25 for its 32nd Annual Community Christmas Dinner. Linda Brown, one of several volunteers who helps with the dinner, said approximately 300 people are anticipated to enjoy the free meal either in person or have it delivered to their home. Turkey and dressing with all the fixings will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. People can simply walk in at the church or call 918-485-5203 up until 12 noon Christmas Day to place an order. The meal will be prepared and delivered by approximately 30 volunteers. Usually we will host a husband or wife who are like grandparents and not around their children or grandchildren for Christmas, Brown explained. We also have people come by to take a meal home or others who are shut-ins that cant get out that we deliver to. She added it is not uncommon for a homeless person to stop by and spend the entire time in fellowship with others. In addition, church members deliver meals to all of the emergency services personnel working on Christmas at the fire station, police department and sheriffs office. So why does the church do this outreach each year? Its more than weve always done it, its really a mission especially for the ladies who have done it since the beginning in 1986, Brown noted. Throughout the year we hear, Yes, my mother came to eat at Christmas or, You brought a meal to my mother from others in the community. Others come who I see riding down the street on a bike or walking. When they ask if they can have a few meals, we let them know its okay! They can smile, feel good and fell warm. They will have people to talk to, she assured. Brown said during her growing up years, it was not uncommon for 10-20 people to show up at her familys home on Christmas Day for breakfast. One of my best memories was having people who didnt have someplace to go come over and fix food for them, she admitted. OKLAHOMA CITY A legislative supermajority requirement for tax increases is the reason lawmakers must return for a second special session, Senate Majority Floor Leader Greg Treat said Tuesday. Treat, R-Oklahoma City, House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, Senate Minority Leader John Sparks, D-Norman, and House Minority Leader Elect Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, spoke at a public affairs forum sponsored by the Oklahoma State Chamber at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. Passed by voters in 1992, State Question 640 requires that tax increases be approved by a supermajority 75 percent in both legislative chambers, or by a vote of the people. Lawmakers have never been able to attain that threshold since the laws passage. Legislators are expected to return to the Capitol on Monday for a second special session to plug budget holes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court said they illegally passed a $1.50 a pack cigarette tax without a supermajority and called it a fee to get around that requirement. Kouplen said the inability to garner a supermajority for tax hikes has resulted in the increase in a lot of fees, because increasing a fee requires only a majority. But many people dont make a distinction between a fee and a tax, Kouplen said. In the upcoming regular session, which starts in February, legislators could consider measures to let voters reconsider the supermajority requirement by either eliminating it altogether or reducing it. Kouplen said that if the law created by State Question 640 is to be altered, it should take the same percentage of votes to raise taxes as it does to reduce taxes. Sparks agreed, saying there has been a land run on fees that arent used to improve business regulation but to fund government in general. A number of tax cuts, credits and incentives, along with depressed oil prices, have contributed to the states poor budget picture. In an effort to garner the needed votes to raise the cigarette tax, which a majority of Oklahomans support, lawmakers in the past special session had to agree to consider additional tax hikes, Treat said. In order for Republicans to attract Democratic support for a hike in the cigarette tax, they had to offer votes to increase the gross production tax on the oil and gas industry. The intent of State Question 640 has been turned on its head, Treat said. SQ 640 also makes business incentives more of a target, Treat said. Eliminating business incentives to increase state revenue takes only a majority, while raising taxes takes a supermajority, he said. McCall said the state needs to provide certainty with regard to business incentives so the state can be competitive. But at the same time, there must be a return on the investment, he said. Should a measure altering the law created by SQ 640 be introduced, McCall said it would get a hearing on the House floor. When about 30 capped and gowned Tulsa Public Schools students climbed the half-dozen or so steps that lead up to the Will Rogers High School auditorium stage Tuesday night, they surmounted the last barrier between themselves and their high school diplomas. Most had faced down challenges much larger than those steps. More than a few. Some had to deal with a new life in a new city. Others had to deal with parenthood. And one, Synatonia Dawson, had to deal with a medical issue that made the act of learning itself difficult. Dawson has epilepsy. Her attention span is short, she said, and sometimes, in traditional schools, it could be a struggle to remember and retain what had been erased from the whiteboard. Dawsons time at Tulsa Learning Academy allowed her to have a personalized learning pace and one-on-one time with a teacher, said her mother, Charlene Foster. Not far away from Foster sat Ivan Green, whose younger brother, Joshua Roberts, was graduating. Roberts is the smarter of the brothers, Green said as he waited for the ceremony to start. Green, Roberts and their mother, Susan Green, moved to Tulsa from New Haven, Connecticut. Tuesdays ceremony was TPS second winter commencement. Almost every high school in the district had at least one graduate, and they all came together for the ceremony. The winter festivities are part of TPS push to raise the graduation rate and not let students who are a little behind slip through the cracks. Superintendent Deborah Gist told the students, and the nearly full auditorium sprinkled with balloons and crying children, that the 30 graduates had made it because you persevered. She said the diplomas they were about to receive would open doors and mean $10,000 more a year in salary over their lifetimes. Gist also said there would be peaks and valleys in their lives and that they should remember this moment as proof of what they can overcome. It seemed that they and their families would. As the ceremony wore on, the edges of Fosters mouth kept tugging upwards. Green watched, phone in his hand. When the newly minted graduates walked back up the aisle and out of the school, Fosters smile broke through. Ivan Greens phone rose higher, and when his brother reached him, he smiled, video recording the whole time. Both Dawson and Roberts plan to go to college. Roberts wants to design video games, and Dawson wants to train to be an accounts specialist. She almost didnt get to graduation, she said, almost giving up multiple times. The last time she wanted to give up was Sept. 20, just two months before her final classes in November. Dawson had a job, and she figured shed be all right if she didnt finish high school. But her family helped her through it, she said, and made her think, Well, maybe its worth an extra couple of months of my life. For her mother, it was something to remember, though she never doubted it would happen. She appreciated the venue the historic Will Rogers High School auditorium. It sets the mood for graduation, Foster said Its a historical event. Your child graduated. Fadumo* furrows her brow as she concentrates on folding the piece of cloth spread out before her. She soaks it in a mixture of salt, hot water and dye for a few hours and, after rinsing it, reveals a beautifully patterned cloth that she hangs out to dry. This is another of her intricately designed tie-and-dye fabrics that have made her renowned in Kismayo. I really enjoy my work with tie and dye especially when I wash the clothes and hang them to dry, she says. Last year, she could barely foresee a life where she was in control and earning an income. Born and raised in Kenyas Dadaab camp, Fadumo, 24, could only imagine her homeland through the stories and memories shared by her parents, who fled Somalias civil war in 1991. That August, she finally had an opportunity to make her dreams of going home become a reality. She and her family decided to return to Kismayo in southern Somalia, which her parents had left nearly three decades ago. It is a decision she does not regret. I am so grateful that we decided to come back home as our country is gradually becoming peaceful, she says. However, settling in Somalia was not easy. Besides adjusting to a new environment still rife with security problems and a severe lack of infrastructure, Fadumo quickly realised that she needed a job to help her take care of her three young sons. I can afford food, I am able to pay rent and take my eldest son to school. She learned of a centre in Kismayo that supports returnees. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, funds the Returnee Support Centre which is run by the American Refugee Committee (ARC) -- an international non-governmental organization that supports returnees in Somalia in partnership with UNHCR. See also: UN refugee head says global compact is chance to chart a different course Fadumo registered for courses in computer literacy and technical vocational education and training (TVET). The three-month course taught her tie-and-dye skills and, soon after completing her training, she took out a US$500 loan through ARCs micro finance programme. She started her own business and now runs a busy workshop, making beautiful garments that she sells in the local market. She also started a small grocery shop selling fruit and vegetables. Fadumo, who was born in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, has returned to her homeland of Somalia with her children. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Without running water, Fadumo carries buckets back and forth to add water to her dyes. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Fadumo wrings out a piece of fabric she is in the process of tie-dyeing in her rooftop workshop. UNHCR/Feisal Omar The cloth is submerged in a bucket of dye before being hung out to dry. UNHCR/Feisal Omar The dyed fabric is hung to dry before being taken to Kismayo market. UNHCR/Feisal Omar More than a year later, Fadumo has found success, and sense of belonging, for the first time in her life. Life here is much better than in the refugee camp, she says. I can afford food, I am able to pay rent and take my eldest son to school. She has also been steadily repaying the loan, made possible by the daily income she generates from her two businesses. Most returnees do not have the right skills to get gainful employment when they return, said William Ejalu, the head of UNHCRs sub office, in Mogadishu. TVET is therefore a handy tool that helps them acquire the right skills and provides them an equal opportunity to compete for jobs. The support centre was set up last year when the first group of returnees started to arrive in large numbers in Somalia. Since then, through the programme UNHCR has been able to support 1,200 returnees, including 100 in Kismayo alone. The trainees receive cash grants to start businesses and are supported by regular visits from their trainers. Somalia: Returning refugees rebuild their lives and country (Mary Theru, producer / Mohamed Sheikh Nor, camera / Arnold Temple, editor) Mohamed* another beneficiary of the TVET programme, returned to Somalia last December. He left his home town in Jamame for Dadaab at the height of the 2011 drought with his wife, his brothers widow and her four children. Returning to his homeland was always on his mind. The prevailing mood in the country was of optimism and peace, he says. So, we decided to come back home. Like Fadumo, he was faced with no prospect of an income and struggled to readjust to life back in Somalia, taking care of his brothers family and his own. Through the TVET programme, his optimism was rekindled. The agency really came to our aid and showed us all the opportunities available for us to establish a new life in the town, he explains, referring to the support he received through the centre. He graduated in June with skills in carpentry, and has started a small business making high-quality picture frames. He sells the frames for between US$10 and US$22 each, making a good profit. Mohameds products are so popular that the ARC and the centre have commissioned him to make frames for their offices. Mohamed 's newly acquired carpentry skills have allowed him to open his own business. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Mohamed constructs a wooden frame. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Mohamed displays his wares. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Mohamed with his family. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Mohamed also does part-time construction work to support his family since returning to Somalia. UNHCR/Feisal Omar Since December 2014, when the voluntary return exercise was officially launched, more than 75,000 Somalis have returned from Kenyas Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. UNHCR issues returnees with a package consisting of a cash allowance to sustain them for the first six months in Somalia and support to start businesses. However, the scale of returns to Somalia continues to be restricted since some areas in the country are still not safe for the millions that have been displaced. More than one million are internally displaced within Somalia and nearly another million are refugees. According to Mohamed Affey, UNHCRs Special Envoy on the Somali refugee situation, more needs to be done by the international community to support safe and dignified returns. Conditions need to improve in Somalia and this requires resources, he says. There needs to be a sincere commitment to mobilize resources that will allow the people to develop their country. Affey adds that returns will be viable only if the international community is strongly committed to a comprehensive approach to make conditions in Somalia safe for return. I feel welcome back here and, with my new skills, I can make a living. UNHCR and its partners are working to support programmes and strengthen systems to aid returnees transition back into their communities. These programmes are essential for ensuring that Somalis who voluntarily return are able to readjust to a new life and start the process of rebuilding their lives, says UNHCRs Ejalu. Mohamed and Fadumo believe they are helping to rebuild their country, too. I feel welcome back here and with my new skills, I can make a living, says Mohamed. He gives motivational talks at the centre where he shares his experiences. This process has been an eye-opener and a reason to have hope in the future. As UNHCR and its partners continue to support returnees such as Fadumo and Mohamed, more needs to be done to ensure these returns are sustainable. Conditions should be right, and returnees should feel safe and have access to education, health and most importantly, an income. Only then can all those returning to Somalia echo Fadumos sentiments. Fadumo is happy to be back in her home country, where feels a sense of freedom. It is an extraordinary happiness. (Additional reporting and research by Mary Theru and Cathy Wachiaya in Nairobi) *Names changed for protection reasons Newly arrived refugees from South Sudan wait for transport from Nadapal transit centre on the Kenyan border to Kakuma refugee camp. UNHCR/Samuel Otieno Marking four years since the outbreak of South Sudans civil war, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today appealed for urgent action by all sides to settle the conflict and put an end to the countrys deepening humanitarian crisis and Africas largest refugee crisis. The world cannot continue to stand by as the people of South Sudan are terrorized by a senseless war, the head of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said. Grandi declared that the devastating effects of the fighting were a direct consequence of tragic failures in political leadership. Noting that 63 per cent of all South Sudanese refugees are under 18, Grandi labelled the situation a childrens refugee crisis and stressed that: many children are arriving unaccompanied, separated and deeply traumatised. Refugee women arriving in neighbouring countries have also reported repeated rape, the killing of their husbands, and abduction of their children. The six countries neighbouring South Sudan host two million refugees, while nearly seven million citizens inside the country are in need of essential humanitarian assistance. Two million of these are internally displaced. Pressure must be brought to bear on those driving this deadly conflict, which has uprooted a third of South Sudans people in just four years, and killed and maimed countless more. Urgent, concerted action by regional and international actors is needed before it is too late, Grandi stressed. He added that failure to protect South Sudanese refugees and other civilians would make the crisis even more complex and destabilize the region for decades to come - a possibility the world can ill afford. The High Commissioner called on the parties to the conflict to find a political solution. The success of the High Level Revitalization Forum is key to ending the suffering of South Sudanese refugees and the killing of innocent civilians, he said. Brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, this peace initiative in South Sudan is intended to revive a stalled 2015 peace agreement for the country. The South Sudan conflict has created the largest refugee crisis on the African continent. UNHCR estimates the refugee population could exceed three million by December 2018. Refugees are hosted by South Sudans immediate neighbours -- Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, which are struggling with instability and large-scale displacement of their own nationals. All six have continued to keep an open door, as growing numbers of refugees flood in against the backdrop of dwindling financial resources. The inter-agency regional response plan for South Sudanese refugees is just 33 per cent funded, and the majority of refugees are at grave risk of disease and malnutrition, unable to attend school or receive adequate medical care, and often without shelter. The situation is no longer sustainable - for the governments of asylum countries, humanitarian agencies and, most importantly, the South Sudanese people, he said. The cycle of violence must be brought to an end. For more information on this topic, please contact: Joseph McCarthy was a shameless self-promoter who surrounded himself with imagery that The Capital Times noted seemed totalitarian in character. Published: December 12, 2017 December Grads Find Full-time Success with Internships When Chelsea Finch 17 walks across the stage on Saturday to get her diploma, it will be as both an undergraduate and graduate candidate. As part of the 4+1 program, she receives her undergraduate degree at UT in business management with a minor in economics and her Master of Business Administration at the same time. I will forever value these professors, their teachings, their wisdom and genuine care for students, said Finch, who will join 501 graduates in UTs 145th commencement on Dec. 16 at the Florida State Fairgrounds, Expo Hall. UT has impacted me professionally by equipping me with the necessary tools to survive in the real working world, said Finch, of New Port Richey, FL. The MBA program was especially instrumental in my professional growth. I discovered important things about who I am as a leader and as a person, realized areas of improvement and created an action plan for my career. That action plan included utilizing HIRE-UT, the Universitys career management system, where she landed an internship with General Dynamics, an aerospace and defense company, in the human resources department. When she completed it, she was offered a full-time position as a human resources generalist in their St. Petersburg office working on strategy projects and involved heavily with benefits for the organization. Cui Li, who will be receiving an MBA and M.S. in finance, also held an internship at which she was then offered full-time employment. Lis current role is in cash management for Jabil, a Fortune 200 company, and she will be a treasury analyst in her full-time position. It was an amazing two years, said Li, of Dezhou, Shandong Province, China. Although I have received academic recognition for my classroom work, my real education has been in meeting instructors, advisors and fellow students who take a real interest in assisting others, which differs from her experiences in China. Inspired by the professionals I have met both at school and in my company, I have started to give back to the community in ways I never did in my home country, Li said. This has been the best facet of experience of my American education. Deanna Scotti, of West Islip, NY, is graduating with two degrees, one in criminology and criminal justice and the other in cybersecurity. She leaves Tampa for Japan, where shell be working in the U.S. Embassy and Consulate translating network documents. In addition, shell be teaching for Interac America and start an online masters program in information security and assurance. UT has given me the opportunity to travel and network with professors who are active in their field. This has pushed me ahead by giving me personal recommendations and enabled me to make contacts in the cybercrime field, said Scotti, whose long term goal is to act as an information security liaison and integrate long term technology initiatives into the federal government. After taking studio television and writing for broadcast news classes and interning at CTTV, HSN, NBC2 and WFLA News Channel 8's Daytime, December graduate Megan Myers, of Naples, FL, has received offers and is pursing options across the U.S. to be a multimedia journalist. I have had incredible professors at UT who have taught me valuable information I will carry on throughout my career journey, said Myers, a communication major with a minor is journalism. Classes such as studio television, writing for broadcast news and multimedia journalism helped prepare me for my future endeavors. Going to school in a city like Tampa gives students great opportunities that I tried my best to take advantage of. The speaker for Saturdays ceremony is Gregg Bachman, professor of communication and recipient of the 2016-2017 Louise Loy Hunter Award, which is given annually by its previous recipients to a UT professor for excellence in teaching and cumulative contributions in service and scholarship. Missy MacFarlane 04, co-founder and principal of B2 Communications, is the recipient of the 2017 Alumni Achievement Award, which recognizes UT alumni who have made great accomplishments in their careers or civic involvement. In the days leading up to the ceremony, several departments will hold hooding ceremonies for their masters degree candidates: Thursday, Dec. 14: Department of Education hooding ceremony, 6 p.m., Plant Hall, Grand Salon Department of Nursing hooding and pinning ceremony, noon, Plant Hall, Grand Salon (by invitation only) Department of Health Sciences and Human Performance hooding ceremony, noon, Plant Hall, Music Room Sykes College of Business hooding and awards ceremony, 6 p.m., Martinez Athletics Center View a live webcast of Saturdays commencement ceremony. Drawing upon her Syrian roots, UTSA graduate student May Mzayek conducted research to help others understand the challenges faced by refugees. (Dec. 13, 2017) -- Meet May Mzayek. Shes using her studies at UTSA to take on the refugee crisis. Born in Aleppo, Syria, Mzayek immigrated to the United States with her parents and sister in 2000, when she was just 10 years old. Mzayeks father was motivated to move his daughters to U.S. so they could have as many opportunities as possible. It was very difficult at first for us, she said. My mother was very unfamiliar with the Western world and took on a few jobs to help her learn English. Mzayeks father, previously a medical doctor in Syria, worked to obtain his Ph.D. in public health, instilling a deeper respect for higher education in his children. Then, just one year after their arrival in the U.S., terrorists attacked the nation on September 11. In the wake of the tragedy, Mzayek began to experience Islamophobia. My sister and I were bullied and told awful things, she said. We were afraid, but my parents were there for us and kept us going with their strength. Mzayek was inspired by how hard her parents worked to bring the family to the U.S., and believes that gave her the conviction to change the worlds perspectives on Arabs and Muslims like herself. After completing her undergraduate studies in Tennessee, Mzayek set her sights on the masters program in archaeology at UTSA. I was really interested in Maya archaeology, she said. The anthropology department at UTSA is just so impressive and I was really thrilled to be accepted. Shortly after Mzayek arrived at UTSA in 2014, the Syrian Civil War, which has been ongoing since 2011, began to escalate. She found herself struggling to focus, with her thoughts constantly straying to her family back home in Syria, many of whom became refugees as a result of the intensifying conflict. UTSA is an amazing place, she said. Everyone was very sympathetic to what I was going through and did everything they could to help me out. It was like having a second family. My parents and sister were all I had here in the U.S., but at the same time I had a family here at UTSA. As a result of those challenges, Mzayek was drawn to a new academic project that gave her a stronger sense of purpose. She switched the focus of her studies to cultural anthropology so that she could work with Syrian refugees in the U.S. I think there is a negative stigma to refugees, she said. I wanted to give a voice to refugees and show the true, human side to these people. I knew I could do that because I know the Syrian people. Mzayek worked with the Syrian American Refugee Aid Organization in Austin, which aids Syrian refugees, to study the well-being of refugees in Austin. I felt very connected with the refugee community in Austin, Mzayek said. It was so welcoming, and UTSA was very supportive of my work. My professors encouraged me to do this project and really represent the population. As Mzayek prepares to graduate with her masters degree, shes now working on completing a study on the well-being of Syrian refugees in the U.S., and hopes to publish it soon. Shes also reminding herself to keep in touch with the UTSA family that supported her through such a difficult time. My faculty advisor, Jill Fleuriet, was someone I could always go to when I felt I was in crisis, she said. I admire her so much. She helped me to improve my writing and research skills, and I feel I owe a lot to her. Mzayek has plans to eventually pursue a Ph.D., but for now is interested in working with a non-profit, possibly in the Middle East, so she can continue to work with refugees. Its going to be hard leaving UTSA, she said. Its a big community and its accepting of everyone. Seeing so many people from different backgrounds made me feel so at ease, and Ill always be grateful for that diversity because it taught me to think from different points-of-view. UW Professor Recruits High School Students to UW through Science Lessons Danny Dale (standing in front of a whiteboard), a UW professor of physics and astronomy, and Jessica Sutter (standing in front of the projector screen), a UW astrophysics graduate student, talk to Sheridan eighth-graders about NASA's search for Earth 2.0. Since last spring, Dale has traveled to a number of the states high schools and junior high schools, where he provides science lessons and discusses cutting-edge research opportunities, all in an effort to interest students in college and attending UW. (Pat Clair Photo) Years ago, Danny Dale used to visit Laramies Beitel and Spring Creek elementary schools -- where his daughters attended school -- and taught mini-science lessons to the young students there. Now, years later, the University of Wyoming professor of physics and astronomy is doing something similar. But, this time he is visiting some of the states high schools and junior high schools, with a focus on student recruitment by sharing various science lessons with students and explaining how UW undergraduates are involved in cutting-edge research internships. These are research internships UWs Science Initiative ultimately enables, Dale says. The Science Initiative charts a clear course for these science programs to rise to top-tier status in the nation and builds upon Wyoming's STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives -- the location of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne; construction of the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility; and the Wyoming Governor's Energy, Engineering STEM Integration Task Force. I thought I would reach out to high schools and let them know what we are doing at UW in terms of research; how it relates to NASA; and how UW students, even freshmen, are involved in that research, says Dale, who began his visits last spring. So far, Dale has visited Laramie, Cheyenne East, Greybull, Kelly Walsh and Sheridan high schools, as well as Sheridan Junior High School. He plans to join UW President Laurie Nichols and a few state legislators when they make a stop at Rock Springs High School Dec. 14. Dale says he hopes to visit Natrona County High School and Kelly Walsh High School (again) next May. Each trip is different. When I went to Greybull High School, four kids were taken out of a class, Dale says. When I went to Kelly Walsh, there were four classes totaling 80 kids and, at Cheyenne East, there were 60 kids. I like to talk to students in their hometowns about UW and the students from their school doing research here, Dale says. Its a good recruiting tool. During his latest visits to the Sheridan schools, Dale focused his lessons on dark matter in space and the search for exoplanets. My story is exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system, Dale explains. Its Hannah Jang-Condells (a UW associate professor of physics and astronomy) research. Its pretty cool. The UW Science Initiative began in 2014 when Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming Legislature challenged UW to develop a plan to address outdated science laboratories at UW and improve the quality of instruction and research in the sciences. A task force, appointed by Mead and informed by faculty representatives, developed a transformational vision for UW's core science programs in botany, zoology and physiology, molecular biology, chemistry, and physics and astronomy. Our message is that students should go to any school (UW or community college) in Wyoming, Dale says. If a student wants to transfer after they get the associate degree, come to UW. We just want to get students to go to college. Ron Johnson's concern wasn't for Wisconsin's middle class taxpayers, who stand to lose their state income tax deduction, but for "pass-through" companies like his plastics plant in Oshkosh. FILE PHOTO: An oil and gas processing plant fed by local shale wells is pictured along a highway outside Carrizo Springs, about 48 km from the Mexican border, in Dimmit County, Texas, US. ( Photo source: Reuters / David Alire / File Photo ) Two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement to avert worst-case-scenario climate change, the World Bank said it would stop financing oil and gas exploration and extraction - about two per cent of its portfolio now - from 2019. On the sidelines of a summit of some 60 leaders called by French President Emmanuel Macron, French insurer Axa said it would speed up its carbon sector divestment, pulling 2.5 billion (US$2.9 billion) from companies which derive more than 30 per cent of their revenues from coal. Dutch bank ING said it would have "close to zero exposure" to coal power generation by 2025, and a group of more than 200 global investors, including banking giant HSBC, launched a campaign to pressurise the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters - including BP, Airbus, Volkswagen, and Glencore - to go greener. Summit participants, meanwhile, warned that trillions of dollars must be invested in clean energy technology to meet the Paris Agreement's existential goal of limiting global warming to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels. "While the challenge is great, we must do everything in our power to meet it. We know it is the difference between life and death for millions of vulnerable people around the world," said Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji who presided over UN climate talks in Bonn last month. Macron called the summit after US President Donald Trump's announcement in June that he would pull America out of the 2015 Paris pact which had taken nearly 200 nations more than two decades to negotiate. About 200 protesters gathered in the Paris streets, demanding that France pays "not a single euro more for fossil energy". Mankind's voracious burning of oil, coal and natural gas is blamed for planet-warming greenhouse gases that have caused the average global temperature to rise by an estimated 1C to date. 'DON'T WORRY' On current emissions trends, the world is on course for warming of 3C, experts warn, with life- and asset-threatening superstorms, sea-level rise, floods and droughts the result. Trump, who has described climate change as a "hoax", has slashed climate finance - cancelling an outstanding US$2 billion out of US$3 billion Washington had pledged towards the Green Climate Fund. The US leader came under fire from all quarters on Tuesday. His rejection of the Paris pact was "politically short-sighted and misguided, economically irresponsible, and scientifically wrong," said former UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon. Obama-era Secretary of State John Kerry said it was a "disgrace" that there were no senior American officials at the summit, while California governor Jerry Brown lamented: "We have a climate denier in the White House." In the absence of climate champion Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor who helped push the Paris pact over the finish line, American businesses, regions and local government leaders have taken up the cudgels, and were represented in Paris by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, ex-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. "It doesn't matter that Donald Trump backed out of the Paris Agreement, because the private sector didn't drop out, the public sector didn't drop out, universities didn't drop out, no one dropped out," said Schwarzenegger, now the face of the R20 network regional climate actors. "We at the subnational level, we're going to pick up the slack." But many remain concerned about climate finance for developing countries, of which the US - the world's biggest historical greenhouse gas polluter - has traditionally been a major contributor. Money is a sore point in the UN climate process, with developing nations demanding aid to ease the costly shift to less-polluting energy sources, and to shore up defences against climate-change induced weather disasters. Rich nations, who have polluted more for longer, pledged in 2009 to muster US$100 billion per year in climate finance from 2020. On 2015 trends, total public financing would reach about US$67 billion by that date, according to a report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The International Energy Agency estimates that investments of some US$3.5 trillion per year in the energy sector will be needed to 2050 to stay under the 2C limit - double current spending. Among the summit participants were current UN chief Antonio Guterres, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, Theresa May of Britain, and Spain's Mariano Rajoy. Absent were the leaders of major polluters China, India, Brazil, Russia and Canada, Germany's Angela Merkel, and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Dow has been supporting Vietnams industries to develop sustainably since 1995. We value corporate social responsibility a founding principle contributing to our business success in Vietnam as well as to the betterment of the Vietnamese. We see this award as a testament to our long-term commitment to the sustainable development of Vietnam and as an encouragement to Dow Vietnams CSR initiatives in the future, said Tomoyuki Sasama, general director of Dow Vietnam. In particular, in 2017, Dow Vietnam did implement new community projects. As a vice-chair of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development, Dow introduced a new concept of circular economy to the Vietnamese business community to reduce waste and minimise the dependence on raw materials. Dow Vietnam donated 10 water purification devices to schools and hospitals in Vietnam to provide safe and clean drinking water to thousands of pupils, patients and people in need, teaching the schools and hospitals to apply business operation model to run the water systems sustainably. Furthermore, Dow Vietnam has been implementing building houses, building hope projects for the underprivileged; collaborating with Vietnam Transportation Safety Association to enhance the awareness of traffic law compliance and transportation safety to thousands of pupils in Hanoi; and providing scholarships to help Vietnamese young generation develop their talents. Significantly, in 2017, for the first time, Dows fifth annual Leadership in Action (LIA) programme reached out to Vietnam. 43 employees across the globe collaborated with six strategic non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and universities in Hanoi and Haiphong, Vietnam to address issues related to water quality and access, environmental cleanup, education and career readiness that contribute to the betterment of the Vietnamese. The six signature projects included reducing environmental engineering programme and industry gaps to support graduates to easily get jobs in both local and domestic companies, revising university curricula and developing new subjects relating to green growth and sustainable development, restoring and protecting the ecosystem of West Lake aided by the development of a comprehensive baseline database for West Lakes depth, water quality, ecosystem health and water pollution sources, encouraging greater participation of local people in the citizen science model in water resources monitoring. The fifth project is creating sustainable solutions for rural waste reduction in partnership with Ocean Conservancy. The last one is enhancing university training capacity on soft skills such as leadership, communication, teamwork and problem solving skills. It is also in 2017 that Dow Vietnam in collaboration with the Chemical Society of Vietnam launched the hands-on STEM education programme for chemistry students to develop chemical industry a highly-responsible and well-qualified workforce as a crucial part of a sustainable economy. AmChams CSR Recognition Award is designed to raise awareness of CSR among AmCham members and the community, and to provide recognition to firms with best practice CSR programmes in Vietnam. We are delighted to see Dow Vietnam in the winner list for three consecutive years, appraised Adam Sitkoff, executive director of AmCham in Hanoi. Dow Chemical Company combines science and technology knowledge to develop premier materials science solutions that are essential to human progress. Dow has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in the industry, with robust technology, asset integration, scale and competitive capabilities that enable it to address complex global issues. Dow has been to Vietnam since 1995. From that year forward, Dow has been a partner in Vietnams progress and development and has always been committed to contributing to Vietnams industrial growth for the long term to add value to most of the countrys advanced manufacturing industries, which continues to create jobs and revenues for the local economy. No delay in construction works Ho Chi Minh Citys lone island, Diamond Island, is abuzz with activity. The 42 amazing facilities, such as the 2,300-square-metre resort-style swimming pool, the 50-metre lap-pool, and the kids pool, have been well developed and getting attention. Kusto Home are continuously working with the main contractor and other partners to accelerate the construction of landscaping, facilities, and condominium interiors to ensure that homebuyers can receive their dream homes on schedule. Applying cutting-edge construction technology solutions, the project team strives to ensure the highest standards of construction quality, as committed to customers. All the apartments balconies sport luxurious glass surfaces, offering sweeping views over the Saigon and Giong Ong To rivers all the way to Ho Chi Minh Citys buzzing central business district (CBD). The 2,300sq.m resort-style swimming pool and lap-pool at Diamond Island are considered as one of the most impressive facilities at the high-end segment While the project is nearing completion, the construction of Diamond Island Bridge spanning over the Saigon River, connecting Thanh My Loi residential area to Mai Chi Tho Steet is also on track. The bridge will help shorten the travel time from Diamond Island to District 1 to only a few minutes. The bridge is still under construction but property prices in Binh Trung Tay and Thanh My Loi areas have recently increased by 14-56 per cent and are forecast to be on the upswing in the next 6-12 months. The view on the construction works at Diamond Island bridge from Diamond Island A last attractive offer Diamond Island is a pioneer of the luxury and green living trend in Ho Chi Minh City, with its unique concept of Luxury in Nature. Customers and property experts alike celebrated this architectural and landscaping masterwork when the Hawaii, Bora Bora, Bahamas, and Maldives towers were introduced. The project has sold 95 per cent of the units since the first tower was introduced last year. Representing the best in high-class living for residents in Vietnam, Maldives is the only tower that features four-bedroom units with panoramic views on three sides, offering the breath-taking scenery of the Saigon River, Thu Thiem New Urban Area, and Bitexco Financial Tower rising in the background of Diamond Islands resort-style natural landscape. The finishing touches, such as kitchen equipment, air conditioner system and sanitary ware, were imported from Europe, along with the marble stone slabs decorating the living and dining rooms as well as the kitchen area. In addition, all rooms are kitted out with a concealed air conditioner system. The imported marble stone slabs decorating the kitchen area at Maldives Tower To show the highest appreciation to all homebuyers, developer Kusto Home will hold an event titled Diamond Shine on January 16, 2018 at GEM Center. Buyers making a purchase at Diamond Island in 2017 will be entered a raffle event to win a new Mercedes Benz E300 AMG worth VND2.8 billion. Buy an apartment at Diamond Island for a chance to win a Mercedes Benz E300 AMG The lack of transparency around the excise tax on sweetened drinks vexes enterprises, VBF participants were told yesterday (Source:VNA) According to Natasha Ansell, chairwoman of American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Amcham), importing products into Vietnam remains more costly and complicated given Vietnams $32-billion trade surplus towards the US last year, thus, it is particularly important for Vietnam to be seen as seriously addressing the numerous non-tariff technical barriers and the so-called behind-the-border barriers which restrict the activities of companies and hamper the flow of US exports into Vietnam. Regarding the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)s proposal to apply a special consumption taxation (SCT) of 10 or 20 per cent on soft drinks, the representative of Amcham expressed concerns about its impact on enterprises revenue and profit. If MoITs proposal comes true, the selling price of soft drinks will increase by 12 per cent due to the increased manufacturing expenditure, leading decreasing sales. In this case, small- and medium-sized enterprises will see the largest impact because of their weaker financial potential. They may even face bankruptcy, Ansell stated. Based on comments from European enterprises, vice chairman of European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham) Tomaso Andreatta expressed that the responses from tax authorities (both local and central tax offices) to written requests for clarification have been very general and do not provide specific guidance to enterprises. As a result, after receiving the responses from the tax authorities, the enterprises are still be confused and unsure about applying the regulations. Enterprises are growing disappointed about the transparency of the tax authorities implementation of the regulation. Thus, it is important to improve the quality of responses from the tax authorities, especially the ones addressing concerns over tax policies. United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres (left), French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (right) pose at the end of a session of the One Planet Summit. (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP) PARIS: Major investors vowed on Tuesday (Dec 12) to move away from Earth-warming fossil fuels as world leaders met in Paris seeking to unlock new cash to save humanity from climate "doom". Two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement to avert worst-case climate change, banks and companies announced billions of dollars of intended divestments from coal, oil and natural gas at a finance-themed climate summit. But conference host France, as well as the UN and the World Bank, said efforts to shift the global economy into a green energy future were too little and too slow, as a report warned about unprecedented Arctic warming. "We are losing the battle" against climate change, French President Emmanuel Macron told delegates. "We are not moving fast enough." For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said continued fossil-fuel subsidies amounted to humanity "investing in its own doom". "We are in a war for the very existence of life on our planet as we know it," Guterres told more than 50 heads of state including Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, Britain's Theresa May and Spain's Mariano Rajoy, at the summit called by Macron. 'DAMNING VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE' The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Arctic warming - which is happening at twice the planetary rate - was the "new normal", and would have global consequences. "The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator of the planet," said Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA's Arctic Research Programme. "But the door to that refrigerator has been left open." The Paris Agreement, which took more than two decades to negotiate, seeks to limit average global warming to under two degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. Under it, countries have pledged nonbinding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas. US President Donald Trump has called climate change a "hoax", rejecting the Paris deal and vowing to restore jobs in the fossil-fuel industry. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced to loud applause on Tuesday that the lender would "no longer finance upstream oil and gas after 2019" in a move hailed by Greenpeace as a "damning vote of no confidence to the future of the fossil fuel industry". French insurer Axa, meanwhile, said it would speed up its divestments from the carbon sector, pulling 2.5 billion (US$2.9 billion) from companies which derive more than 30 per cent of their revenues from coal. TRUMP REJECTION 'MISGUIDED' And a group of more than 200 global investors launched a campaign to pressure the world's largest corporate carbon emitters - including BP, Airbus, Volkswagen and Glencore - to go greener. According to the International Energy Agency, green energy investments of about US$3.5 trillion per year will be needed for the world to stay under the Paris accord's two-degree limit, an amount double current spending. On current emissions trends, the world is on course for warming of three degrees Celsius, experts warn, with life- and asset-threatening superstorms, sea-level rise, floods and droughts the result. Trump came under fire from all quarters on Tuesday. His rejection of the Paris pact was "politically short-sighted and misguided, economically irresponsible, and scientifically wrong," said former UN chief Ban Ki-moon. But American businesses, regions and local government leaders have pushed on with climate efforts regardless of the federal government. 'PICKING UP THE SLACK' "It doesn't matter that Donald Trump backed out of the Paris Agreement," said former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the face of the R20 network of regional climate actors. "We at the subnational level, we're going to pick up the slack." Still, many remain concerned about climate financing for developing countries, of which the US - the world's biggest historical greenhouse gas polluter - has traditionally been a major contributor. Trump has vowed to slash climate finance and withhold US$2 billion pledged to the Green Climate Fund. Developing nations need the money to ease the costly shift away from fossil fuels and to shore up defences against weather disasters induced by climate change. Rich nations, who have polluted more for longer, pledged in 2009 to muster US$100 billion per year in climate finance from 2020. On 2015 trends, total public financing would reach about US$67 billion by that date, according to a report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Climate activists welcomed the outcome of Tuesday's summit, though many said they had hoped for more funding announcements and a clear commitment from governments to stop financing fossil fuels. The meeting showed that "countries, states, cities, businesses and civil society are firmly committed to their Paris commitments and are coming good on their promises, with or without the US," said Mohamed Adow of Christian Aid, which represents the interests of developing nations at the talks. Macron called for a yearly gathering to take stock of progress. "We started today to make ground on the battle field," he said. "I hope that in the coming weeks and months we can accelerate." This picture taken on December 12, 2017 shows Austria's main gas pipeline hub at Baumgarten, Eastern Vienna, where an explosion rocked the site. (Photo: AFP/APA/Einsatzreport) Photos showed a huge tower of orange flame visible for miles around roaring out of the Baumgarten facility some 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Vienna near the Slovak border. "An explosion occurred at 8.45am (0745 GMT), followed by a fire," police spokesman Edmund Tragschitz told AFP. He later put the number of people hurt, including one seriously as well as those with minor injuries, at around 60. But Red Cross spokeswoman Sonja Kellner told the Austria Press Agency that one person had been killed and 18 were injured, one of them seriously who has since been airlifted to hospital in Vienna. "I heard a huge explosion and thought at first it was a plane crash," photographer Thomas Hulik, a resident of a nearby village in Slovakia, told AFP. "Then I saw an immense ball of flame," he said. Armin Teichert, a spokesman for the site's operator Gas Connect Austria, said that the site had been evacuated and that the facility had been put into "security mode". The material damage is "major," Teichert told AFP. Police said on social media that people should avoid the area. Media reports said that more than 200 fire fighters from several brigades in the surrounding area were called in to help, as well as a number of air ambulances. Lower Austria state police said on Twitter that the situation was "under control". "Fire services are currently engaged in putting out the fire following the explosion. Emergency services are treating the wounded," the statement said. An AFP journalist nearby said that by late morning the flames had been extinguished but there was still a huge cloud of smoke over the site. Other photos showed the heat from the blast was so extreme that cars parked at the site partially melted. 'TECHNICAL' CAUSE Police added that the cause of the incident was a "technical" one and the local authorities had begun an investigation. The Baumgarten site is Austria's largest reception point for gas, the end-point for a number of pipelines bringing it in from Russia, Norway and elsewhere. It receives some 40 billion cubic metres of gas annually and redistributes it elsewhere in Europe including to Germany and northern Italy. Teichert, the Gas Connect Austria spokesman, said that there could be interruptions in supply to Italy and Croatia, but not to elsewhere. Russian gas giant Gazprom, which relies on the Baumgarten site to send gas to clients around Europe said in a statement that it was aware of the incident. "Currently the company is working on redistribution of gas flows and (doing) its best to secure uninterrupted gas supplies to the clients on this transport direction," Gazprom said. RESUMPTION EFFORTS Gas Connect Austria said its deliveries to Austria's southern and southeastern borders were affected by the blast until further notice. Those pipelines supply Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia but also Baumgarten's biggest recipient, Italy. That dependence on its gas led Italy to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday as its industry minister said the country had a "serious" energy supply problem. A state of emergency would give Rome the right to use a series of extraordinary measures such as allowing coal and oil power plants to fire at full blast. The Italian wholesale day-ahead price surged 150 per cent to 60 euros per megawatt-hour, its highest recorded level. Italian gas transport group Snam, however, sounded optimistic on a return to normal soon. "On the basis of the information currently available, supplies could resume today if the first indications on the absence of damage to transport infrastructure are confirmed," it said. Gas Connect Austria said only that Austrian authorities would conduct a damage assessment at Baumgarten as soon as it was safe and it said supplies would resume as soon as possible. Slovakia's main gas transit route to Austria was suspended after the fire, Slovak pipeline operator Eustream said. Russia's Gazprom Export said it was working on redirecting gas flows and trying to secure uninterrupted supplies to clients. In Britain, Europe's biggest gas market, gas for immediate delivery soared 40 per cent to 95 pence per therm, a level not seen since 2013. A UK National Grid spokesman said there was sufficient gas supply to meet demand amid multiple outages, underlining the breadth of concern about supply after the Baumgarten blast. Modern concepts like co-living, paired with new technologies, are challenging customers and companies approach to real estate Photo: Le Toan According to Mindy Teo, vice president for brand marketing and digital innovation at Ascott, millennials inhabit space completely differently from their parents and grandparents. This is a generation which grew up with technology, social media, and the sharing economy. They are highly adaptable and much more willing to share facilities. For one, a pantry is a working area and a networking spot, while a lobby can double up as a yoga space. Millennials are not fond of cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approaches, Teo said. So its no surprise that co-living, defined as a modern, urban type of accommodation with shared living spaces, is beginning to gain traction. The driving force behind the rising demand for co-living is similar to the reasons behind the popularity of co-working a mobile generation of young people who demand flexibility, openness, and collaboration. Millennials, defined as those born between 1980 and 2000, no longer draw distinctions between business and pleasure, work and play. They have no qualms about being digital nomads, travelling frequently, or relocating for work. More than anything else, they seek experiences and value being part of a community, Teo cited. 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. A number of co-working spaces have been developed in Vietnam, and in the future, more living spaces and public areas may be shared. Housing styles are also changing. According to Nguyen Xuan Quang, chairman of housing developer Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company, five or 10 years ago, consumers bought big houses which could accommodate three generations of a family. Nowadays, consumers are mostly young people who want housing with a good living environment and on a smaller scale. Luu Thi Thanh Mau, CEO of Phuc Khang Investment and Construction JSC, said that a change has been developing in consumer demand and knowledge. Living standards in Vietnam have been increasing and consumers perceptions of a living environment are also very different. Now, life does not simply mean having enough food to eat and a place to live. The young, well-educated people earning higher incomes want houses with good living conditions that are friendly to their health and the environment, Mau said. With such concerns growing, construction of green housing has increased in recent years in Vietnam with about 100 projects being considered green housing projects. MM Mega Market delegates cutting the ribbon at the launching ceremony of MM Mega Market Thang Long The launch of the first MM Mega Market in North Vietnam is a further demonstration of TCC Groups strong commitment to invest in Vietnam, bringing its products and services to consumers in the north. Addressing the launching ceremony, Phidsanu Pongwatana, managing director of MM Mega Market Vietnam, said, With big changes from the image and store layout to new product development, MM Mega Market Vietnam is advancing food safety by developing safe food supply chains through partnerships with local farmers and suppliers. Our aim is to offer safe and quality food products to consumers. To achieve this goal, in April 2017, MM Mega Market set in motion a pork platform in the southern province of Dong Nai, purchasing VietGAP-standard pork from over 400 pork farmers from 23 agricultural co-operatives. MM Mega Market currently buys about 250 tonnes of pork each month from farmers in Dong Nai. Going forward, MM Mega Market will continue working with LIFSAP (a World Bank project for animal husbandry competition and food safety) to set in place another pork platform in the north. We are on the lookout for good farmers and business partners from the northern provinces to build a MM Mega Market Pork Platform. We are confident that this plan will benefit the farmers doing business with MM, given our large-quantity and reliable purchases and good offered prices. I believe that this pork platform will help MM customers in North Vietnam put to bed food safety concerns over pork, added Pongwatana. Along with the new modern warehouse concept, offering maximum convenience and happiness for shoppers, MM Mega Market has been tirelessly developing new services for customers. We have started using QR codes (labels encoded with product information) to allow shoppers to easily track down the food products origin with their smart phones at MM stores all over the country. More recently, we started offering free delivery in just under two hours within a 10-kilometre radius to provide MM customers with the maximum convenience possible, said Pongwatana. Dinh Thi My Loan, president of the Association of Vietnam Retailers, speaking at the ceremony One of Thailands premier investors in Vietnam, MM Mega Market will help TCC Group to fast-track its policy of marketing and distribution of Vietnamese products to Thailand and other ASEAN markets. Pongwatana said, We have just received our export license, which is a major step forward enabling us to further support promoting Vietnamese products in Thailand as well as other countries where we are present. To speed up cross-border shipments, MM Mega Market not only supports domestic businesses to connect to Big Cs distribution system in Thailand (Big C Thailand is an affiliate of TCC Group), but also putting together field trips for purchasing teams from Thailand. In these trips, we communicate about source areas, farming and production processes, and quality control practices to keep them informed about available supplies from Vietnam, added Pongwatana. Following the unveiling of the MM Mega Market in North Vietnam, next week, there will be a similar launch in Danang, along with a string of MM malls across the country in 2017. MM Mega Market Vietnam (formerly Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam) started its wholesale operations in 2002 and now owns 19 stores all over the country with more than 3,300 employees. Over the years, it has been making strong and continuing investments in developing commercial infrastructure as well as food safety in Vietnam. The company has provided training for over 20,000 Vietnamese farmers and fishermen to increase productivity and product safety to achieve better access to modern trade practices and upgrade capacity in the long term. A former Black River Falls city council member faces charges of retail theft and possession of stolen property related to five incidents at Scholze Ace Home Center in Black River Falls. Eric J. Erickson, 54, of Black River Falls, was referred to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office Friday. Detectives received reports from Scholze Ace Home Center of thefts that occurred Oct. 14, Nov. 2, Nov. 12, Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. Detectives were able to recover most of the stolen property Dec. 4 after executing a search warrant based on information obtained from their investigation. Erickson resigned as the city of Black River Falls First Ward Alderperson Nov. 26. Black River Falls Administrator Brad Chown said that Erickson's resignation letter stated that he resigned due to personal demands and ongoing health concerns. Erickson previously was employed as a school counselor with the Black River Falls School District. Erickson could not be reached for comment. Family members of El Faro crew members stand with photographs of their loved ones during a break in a U.S. Coast Guard investigative hearing in February in Jacksonville, Fla. A judge has dismissed a homicide charge against a La Crosse woman accused of helping her boyfriend deliver heroin to a man who overdosed, though prosecutors are planning to file new charges. Jennifer Tenner drove Zachary Miller to a North Side convenience store on June 18 where Miller sold heroin to Kyle Bott, according to criminal complaints. Bott, 28, overdosed about half an hour later and died June 21 in a local hospital. After an autopsy, a medical examiner determined Bott died of acute fentanyl poising, according to the complaint. An amended complaint later added that morphine was found in Botts urine, which could be an indicator of prior heroin use. Prosecutors charged Miller, 25, and Tenner, 34, with first-degree reckless homicide. Tenners attorney, Daniel Linehan, argued that Bott died from fentanyl, but prosecutors made no allegations that either Tenner or Miller were involved in delivery of the potent prescription painkiller. Deputy District Attorney Jessica Skemp said dealers often cut heroin with other substances like fentanyl and dont necessarily know the exact contents of what they sell. Judge Scott Horne said prosecutors failed to show a causal relationship between the delivery of drugs and Botts death. I think there is probable cause for delivery in this complaint, he said, but that is not the offense thats charged. Horne made a similar ruling in Millers case, though he found probable cause for prosecutors to re-file homicide charges based on testimony at an evidentiary hearing in November. Skemp said she will file a new homicide charge against Tenner when she returns to court Friday. GBC to Move into New Purpose-Built Premises at South Jumpers Bastion Government has announced the move of the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation from its old cramped premises in South Barrack Road into new, purpose-built accommodation at South Jumpers Bastion. This new building will contain two new large television studios, four radio studios and a voice-over studio, along with all the areas essential for make-up, costumes, props, etc. The whole complex should be ready by the end of 2019 and Mr Picardo said that he was already looking forward to being in the new studios for the pre-election debates in the run-up to the 2019 election. The building will be rented for 300,000 per annum with an option to purchase for 7.5 million. GBCs Chief Executive Officer, Gerard Teuma said that his staff were clearly excited at the prospect of moving into such prestigious and well-equipped accommodation. The Chief Minister said: When it came into office, this Government immediately increased GBCs annual budget in order to enable it to make the essential switch from analogue to digital broadcasting and that investment has produced a return in droves. Meanwhile, todays announcement is clear evidence of that we are investing in GBCs highly professional staff: a team that is highly valued by our community. GBC is a hugely important asset for this community. Quite simply, it provides a focal point for Gibraltars cultural life and I am delighted to announce that, at last, it will have the accommodation to allow it to fulfil that role to the best of its ability. Congrats! Photo: Getty Images The 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of inductees is here: Joining the institution next year will be Bon Jovi, Nina Simone, Dire Straits, the Moody Blues, and the Cars. The godmother of rock and roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, will also receive the Early Influence Award. The legendary Simone will be the first black woman inducted into the Hall since Donna Summer in 2013. Bon Jovi had dominated the fan-voted ballot, with the Hall now giving all of New Jersey what it wants. The band says theyre open to welcoming back ex-guitarist Richie Sambora, who left in 2013, for the induction, and it appears hes also down. Sambora tells Variety, Oh yeah, I have no problem playing. None. Other wishes that have been fulfilled include the snub of Radiohead, who made it abundantly clear they had zero desire to be inducted or attend the ceremony despite being nominated they went so far as to schedule a concert the night of the induction and have now been left off in their first year of eligibility. Somewhere in London we imagine Thom Yorke is having a laugh about it with his new friend BB-8. Also snubbed but likely less happy about it: Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, Depeche Mode, LL Cool J, MC5, the Zombies, the Meters, Link Wray, Rufus with Chaka Khan, and J. Geils Band. The induction will be held in Cleveland on April 14 and will air later on HBO. or Already a subscriber? Sign In What is your email? This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Enter your email: Please enter a valid email address. Submit Email or Connect with Google Sign In To Continue Reading Create Your Free Account edit email Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Choose a password to create an account: Enter your password or sign in with a different email Forgot Password? Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: Lower case letters (a-z) Upper case letters (A-Z) Numbers (0-9) Special Characters (!@#$%^&*) New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our This password will be used to sign into allsites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Sign In Create Account Paul Thomas Anderson came to fame as the bard of the San Fernando Valley, charting the sprawl just outside Los Angeles in his ensemble films Boogie Nights and Magnolia, so his latest directorial effort Phantom Thread is a departure in more ways than one. Set in 1950s London, the film explores Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a renowned couturier whose desire to keep his life just so is aided by sister Cyril (Lesley Manville), his protector and enabler. Into this orderly world comes Alma (Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps), a young immigrant waitress who immediately intrigues Woodcock. The two fall into a relationship, but Alma is not content to simply play the role of supplicant, as so many of the women in Woodcocks world have done: Over the course of this surprisingly funny and knowing film, the two jostle for power, attempt to dominate the other in untraditional ways, and eventually recognize what theyre doing as love. I met Anderson last week in a Beverly Hills hotel room, where he was watching TV coverage of the devastating Southern California wildfires. (He later switched channels to Comedy Central, which was playing Workaholics.) The 47-year-old filmmaker lives a few miles away in the valley with actress Maya Rudolph and their four children, and many of Andersons films have been shot in California, including parts of There Will Be Blood, his first collaboration with Day-Lewis, and 2014s Inherent Vice, which starred Joaquin Phoenix. Phantom Thread is a much more intimate and controlled film than his last effort, and Anderson told me that he relished leaving both his country and comfort zone behind to make it. The way he sees it, now is the time to make big moves, because the future may not provide as many chances to do so. You always come up with great character names, from Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights to Freddie Quell in The Master. Tell me how you got to Reynolds Woodcock. Well, the credit goes to Daniel. We were making each other laugh, texting each other back and forth like teenagers, trying to come up with names. I had a placeholder name: Arthur Dapple, Jr. Thats not a bad name. No, not bad. But its no Reynolds Woodcock. Its no Reynolds Woodcock! It was lingering around but not quite right, and then the text from Daniel came through: Reynolds Woodcock. And on two simultaneous coasts, we both started laughing so deeply and so hard that I suddenly had tears pouring down my face. I thought, We cant do that, right? Of course we cant. But we have to do that! I remember calling him, and he was laughing as much as I was, and I said, Weve got to do this. Let me write it into the script and well live with it. Well try it on for size. Phantom Thread is the eighth movie youve directed. If I had told you about this film years ago maybe after youd made your third movie, Magnolia what would have surprised you most about it? Oh, lets play this game. This is a good game. I would have said, You mean Ive worked with Daniel Day-Lewis twice? I think that honestly would have been my reaction. Were you intimidated by him at first? Or do you ever get intimidated by actors? Quentin [Tarantino] has a great line about this: I dont get intimidated by good actors, I get intimidated by bad ones. The translation is that great actors make you look good, and are obviously fantastic to watch and work with, but the challenge a director can face if the actor isnt meeting expectations well, thats difficult on everybody. Its difficult on the actors; its difficult on the crew; its difficult most of all because you think, Oh, shit, now I have to be a director and figure out what to say. I have had unfortunate situations that happen where an actor gets really nervous, often when they just come in for a day. Those are really hard to deal with, trying to calm someone down. Saying Calm down to somebody is like saying Dont think of a hippopotamus. Tell me about your first meeting with Daniel. You hadnt known him prior to There Will Be Blood, right? Right. I went to his house in New York, sat down, and had some tea. We talked for about two, three, four hours, then again the next day, and the next day, and never stopped doing it. Did you come into it with a lot of preconceived notions about him? You always do, dont you, if youre meeting an actor? But I knew I wasnt going to meet Bill the Butcher. I knew I wasnt going to meet Christy Brown. I was meeting a human being who puts one leg in front of the other. [Pause.] You know what? I do remember being nervous. Im sure I was actually very nervous, to go back to your question. Do I get intimidated? Yeah. But we got on so fast. It happened really quickly, and that spark of romance was clear between us. People are surprised to see that he has tattoos, because they think of him as someone who plunges so deeply into character. Theyre not aware of who the real Daniel might be. Lucky for us, isnt it? I think it helps us enjoy these performances he gives so much more. It only adds to our enjoyment, that ability to suspend disbelief and sit for two hours in a dark theater watching him. That excitement you feel: Hes acting again! I remember Lincoln coming out and I was so fucking excited. I didnt see a trace of the person I know. Not a trace? I mean, he was roughly the same height. Similar eyes, it seemed to me. But then again, thats Abraham Lincoln! I dont know how it happens, its fucking mysterious. Dont start digging around to find answers about how he does it. Some people can do it; some people cant. Its a weird, weird thing. Youve said that after Inherent Vice, you were looking to do a high-class movie with a lot of finery. To what extent are your movies a reaction to the last movie you made? I think they are, and you know very quickly if its a knee-jerk reaction. I definitely have that impulse, but I wonder, too, if it has something to do with the ticking clock in the corner of the room. How many more films do I have left to make? Times running out. I had a desire to make a film in England, and an appreciation for couture and those gowns and that kind of world, and the genre of Gothic romance that was so appealing to me, too. And Ill name-drop: Chris Rock once said to me, Man, when are you gonna make a relationship movie? I was like, Hmm, thats a good one. If Chris Rock gives you a piece of advice, you should run with it. I feel like youve definitely made relationship movies before, though. I would think so, too, but I think this one certainly tries to tackle what it means to be in a relationship. What it means to be in the drivers seat and the passengers seat, and how you can delicately exchange those roles. That was a pointed thing that didnt feel like something Id done before. Thats the fascinating thing about the relationship with Reynolds and Alma, that shifting of power dynamics. Even when Alma appears to be the subordinate, she is dominating him in her own way, and I dont often see that dynamic onscreen. Because its not particularly cinematic. It has to be slow-moving, you know? It cant have sharp corners, because that is the way it would move in a relationship: It would be generally invisible, kind of like a fog as it rolls in and the roles start to move and change. Ive heard that one of the key inspirations for Phantom Thread came when you got sick. You were in bed, and your wife looked at you with such sudden tenderness, now that you had been brought low and she was in charge. Its a slight exaggeration, but not too far from the truth, and a helpful way for me to remember one of the beginnings of the idea. But it also is about just what it means to slow down. Do you ever have trouble slowing down? Theres a certain level of busy that I like to keep myself at, and if Im not at that level, something feels off. In this day and age, it becomes magnificently difficult to stop yourself and slam on the brakes. The idea that you can only slow down if some sort of illness takes over you is so relatable to me. It used to be that when I was too overscheduled, I would fantasize about getting hit by a car, so I could wipe all of my obligations clean. Exactly! Yes, you see. And these fires are a perfect example: Our family is focused on getting the kids out to school every day, always moving, moving, moving, and it took this horrible thing to happen to stop us and slow us down. Its exactly what you said; its some sort of bizarre wish: Wont somebody or something come along to slow me down? Its funny, isnt it? What idiots are we that we need cars to hit us or some act of God to do that for us? Were really incapable of pumping the brakes ourselves. We dont know if our habits continue because we really still want them, or because theyre simply habitual. Mmm-hmm. And now Im describing Reynolds Woodcock. Ive never been able to quite figure out whether he has a voice inside his head that wants somebody to slow him down. Does he wish somebody would come along and flip the needle on this record, so he can get out of this groove, or is he perfectly happy to be in that same groove over and over again? Cant it be both? It must be. I think it must. And as much as he protests, I think he appreciates that Alma can go toe to toe and sometimes even best him. Could you sense that Vicky Krieps had the fortitude to do that with Daniel Day-Lewis when you first met her? I did, I have to say, but that doesnt mean much. You can feel that and then somebody doesnt [deliver], and perhaps that was a false impression. The challenges of actually getting into the ring and having to do this for 60 days toe to toe with Daniel might have worn on her, but even if it did, she didnt show it. God, shes so strong, that Vicky. And she had to take it, a lot. The dynamics of that relationship meant that there were days and days of standing and being on the back foot and dutifully keeping her mouth shut. Theres a great line that she has, and I like the way she says it so much: I can stand endlessly. No one can stand as long as I can. And its that great thing of somebody essentially saying, I will not lose. Theres nothing more thrilling to me. Do you like it when powerful women go toe to toe with you? Who doesnt? Ive always dreamed that Myrna Loy is gonna come walking in the room and smack me across the face. [Laughs.] Thats my secret fantasy. Paul Thomas Anderson directing Phantom Thread. Photo: Laurie Sparham/Focus Features LLC. As you grow older, do you become more or less controlling as a filmmaker? I would say less, and Im sure that everybody who works with me would roll their eyes. Or maybe Ive just gotten sneakier at portraying my controlling nature! But I dont want to have control over what the performances are, I really dont. I want to have control over the situation that enables the performers to be free and do their thing. I dont ever want to tell somebody how to chew gum or grab a teapot. So hopefully theres a balance, where you can control it enough for there to be a looseness and a discovery, because thats where great shit can happen and accidents come your way. It takes a lot of really annoying, psychotic, control-freak shit to get it there, but its fun to take your work seriously, you know? Theres a scene in Phantom Thread where Woodcocks dress is so abused and misunderstood by a client that he and Alma launch a campaign to steal the garment back. It reminded me of the struggle on your first film, Hard Eight, where the production company took the footage from you and essentially tried to make their own bastardized version. A very good friend of mine said that to me the other day as well, and I had not in any way consciously thought of that. I certainly see those parallels, and I certainly have those feelings of pride and ego and protection about something Ive made, where you want to see it go out into the world and be treated properly. You can be an artist while youre making these things, but once they leave that showroom, theyre not yours anymore. Thats where the designer Charles James came into it: I thought about how obsessive he would be, that he would get garments back and then continue working on them. And the impression of [Cristobal] Balenciaga was that everything was exactly how the master wanted it, unchangeable, but what you come to find out is that behind the scenes, they were allowing compromises. A rich Dallas heiress would come and say, I want red piping instead of green, and theyd whisper to her, Just dont tell anyone. Theyd have to do those things just for the survival of the house. That was shocking to me! But its what kept the business afloat. Its that eternal battle between art and commerce. You dont work inside the studio system, per se, but you surely understand the challenge of making something that is both idiosyncratic and accessible. I hope people go see this film. I dont think its idiosyncratic. You dont think so? I dont, no. I think it might be peculiar, but I dont think its more or less idiosyncratic than most movies. I dont say it as a bad thing. I think, right now, people want idiosyncratic. I just worry that word might equal annoying. [Laughs.] Theres a good version of idiosyncratic that means not the same old shit, so thats good. Then again, I dont know. Youre probably asking the wrong person, because it all seems perfectly normal to me. I know that its not, but I hope people go for it. I really do. Phantom Thread feels very of a piece with two other films this year, The Beguiled and Mother! Like the former, women compare notes and eventually assert power over the man who would control them, and like the latter, the story is a cautionary tale about dating a creator. I have not seen either one of them yet, but then again, I havent seen anything. This is the curse of making and editing a film: Over those few years, you dont see anything. But Ill get to both of them. The Beguiled what a great cast in that movie. Taking nothing away from the other women, but Elle Fanning? Youve got my money. And Kirsten Dunst as well. Kirsten Dunst is incredible in The Beguiled. The way she suffuses her whole body with sadness She can do no wrong in my eyes. The last great, great thing she did I mean, great, great was Melancholia, so Im anxious to see The Beguiled, and Im anxious to see Mother!, which everyone has an opinion about, so Ive got to get one, too. But Lady Bird is at the top of my list. Call Me by Your Name, of course. I still havent seen Blade Runner [2049], I didnt even see It, but like everybody else on the planet, I really only care about Star Wars. Im going to the premiere [of The Last Jedi], and its my first premiere in a million years. I cant wait. If your films really are a reaction to the last one you made, I cant help but wonder what direction Phantom Thread will send you in, now that youve got free time again. Probably somewhere back home. Id love to come back to the West Coast. I have an idea that has wide-open spaces, which would be really fun to do. Especially after shooting in those narrow British townhouses with creaking floorboards? Exactly right. Give me a pop-up tent in Chatsworth. [Laughs.] You mentioned becoming aware that you have a finite amount of movies left in your career. Thats something Tarantino talks about a lot, and Luca Guadagnino recently pondered it when I spoke to him. He wants to make several sequels to Call Me by Your Name, but hes 46 right now and doesnt know how many movies hell be able to get to. That sounds all too familiar to me. It would be hard for me to look back and say exactly when that dawned on me, but I certainly never had that thought at all when I was 26 and made Boogie Nights. I was like, This will never end, right? But I have four children now. Its different. Kids will put things in perspective for you. Fuckin A, right? But I cant live without doing this, both emotionally and financially. I cant do anything else, and I feel put here to do it, so Ill just keep doing it. Theres a horrible thing I heard many years ago, that the average life expectancy of a DGA member is something like 57 years old! I think the median must have been brought down by assistant directors whove been terrorized, who chain-smoke and have heart attacks, but that said You also take a few years to get your narrative films off the ground. Well, you wont hear me crying about it because I love this work, but youve got to pace yourself. Ive got no interest in burning out. So do you think youll be like Robert Altman, making films until you die? I would imagine so. I hope so! That sounds fine to me. Photo: LucasFilms In the lead-up to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, we look back at the first Jedi (narratively speaking) with a series of stories about the much-beloved and never-disparaged prequel trilogy. Darth Maul is one of the few elements in George Lucass Star Wars prequels to be almost universally admired. The badass Sith lord red-and-black war paint obscuring his entire head, which is protected by a crown of dinosaurian horns, girded in a billowing black cloak and armed with a red, double-bladed lightsaber cuts a terrifying figure from the moment hes introduced in The Phantom Menace, brooding next to the future Emperor Palpatine. He gets one of the best lines of the movie, delivered in Peter Serafinowiczs British baritone: At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge. Another element that (almost) no one complains about is John Williamss music, three epic scores added to his soon-to-be eight-cycle space opera. The prequels are chock-full of now-classic melodies, including Anakins innocent theme (with its hidden references to Darth Vaders march), the bittersweet love theme (Across the Stars) for Anakin and Padme, and the epic choral showdown Battle of the Heroes from Revenge of the Sith. But the theme that came closest to achieving the pop-culture invasion that The Imperial March did in the previous Star Wars cycle was the one Williams boldly dubbed Duel of the Fates. You know the one. As Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) lead a heist into the occupied palace of Naboo, the giant doors of its hangar bay open to reveal Maul in all his demonic glory his appearance heralded by a dark brass fanfare pumping out the opening notes of Williamss pagan anthem for orchestra and choir. This Lucasian liturgical mass accompanies the lightsaber duel that ensues, motored along by a rippling string ostinato, with low woodwinds, then French horns stacking gravity on the melody before it erupts into a tiered, almost frenzied chorale. But as the themes title indicates, its about much more than a single sword fight. Why this theme works so well, and why it transcends the film it was written for, speaks to the composers genius at writing earworm tunes that feel like primal, eternal music echoing from the beginning of time. He accomplished this earlier with Lukes theme, the Force theme, the Imperial March, Han and Leias theme to say nothing of the hundred other melodies hes written for films that most people could hum from memory. The Star Wars films have given Williams an ideal canvas for these catchy, orchestral folk songs: Lucass operatic series is overtly larger-than-life, inspired by grandiose antecedents in film, classical music, and literature. The creator has often spoken of them as silent films, and he gave Williams the keys to let music drive the story and, consequently, tell its own. The Darth Maul duel provided a showcase for score usually reserved for religious ceremony. The piece was a result of my thinking that something ritualistic, and/or pagan and antique might be very effective, and that the introduction of a chorus at a certain point in the film might be just the thing, Williams said in a 1999 interview. He figured it needed a text, and looked to one of his favorite books, The White Goddess by English poet Robert Graves, which he had recently used portions of in a very modern, very nonStar Warsian concert work called The Five Sacred Trees. I remembered the great Celtic epic poem The Battle of the Trees, in which two fields of trees are animated by a Druidic priest and they become warriors, Williams said. And they do the battle, and on command from the Druid the trees again freeze and become trees. And theres a stanza in the poem, translated by Graves from the early Celtic into modern English, which is roughly, Under the tongue root a fight most dread, while another rages behind in the head. And for no conscious, sensible reason, the idea of a fight, something raging and imagined in the head more than anywhere else, seemed to be a good, mystical, cryptic piece of business. Williams had some friends at Harvard translate that line back into Celtic, as well as other ancient languages, and he settled on Sanskrit for its exotic and beautiful sounds. Basically what Ive done, in this case, is reduced the stanza, which was translated literally, and used either single words or syllables or combinations of these things the words dreaded fight or this kind of thing and put them together, repeatedly and melismatically, which is to say repeating syllables. (Everybody knows what that is from the Hallelujah chorus, where you sing the word Hallelujah for 20 minutes, you know.) And it gave an atmosphere, I think, to the music that was at once mysterious and old and dramatic, and I hope effective. Duel of the Fates, belted out by an 88-piece choir and the full weight of the London Symphony Orchestra, further elevated Nick Gillards quicksilver, ferocious choreography and almost made you forget about Jar Jar Binks dribbling Bantha poodoo out of his digital Gungan mouth. (Almost, because Lucas kept cutting away from the magnificent duel inside Theeds cavernous power generator to Muppet Baby Anakins exploits in space and Jar Jars unfunny comic relief in the land battle outside.) Taken on its own terms, the duel is one of the true high points of the prequels expertly visualizing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wans master-apprentice relationship and revealing Maul as one of the most formidable villains in the Star Wars universe, culminating in the still-gut-punching death of Neesons endearing Jedi. (Before he even reached act two of this new trilogy, Lucas foolishly killed off his best new characters.) I just felt the way that George has staged that, the top of that great stage or stairway I dont even know what to call it the way its done is so dramatic and so like a great pagan altar, you can imagine, that the whole thing seemed like a dance, a ballet, a religious ceremony of some kind, Williams explained in his sage, professorial way, probably ending in the death of one of the combatants, you know. A ballet about that, super-real or unreal even and that the medium of chorus and orchestra would give us a sense that were in a big temple. The drama is the contrast and the contest between good and evil. Which is why Duel of the Fates is so good not just because its infectious, but because it is so deep. It certainly works as an action set piece, but Williams really composed an oratorio that captures the spiritual combat for the soul of Anakin Skywalker. In fact, back in 1999, Lucas envisioned this piece reprising in a big way for the climactic clash between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith. You didnt realize this, Lucas told Williams in the Abbey Road recording booth at the Phantom Menace sessions, but it really goes into the third film very well. It definitely has the quality of the inevitable fate of doom, you know, with larger hands at work. (For some reason, by the time they got to Sith they decided to go with the related but new choral anthem, Battle of the Heroes.) Duel of the Fates far outlived its corny context. It did so right out of the gates, when it landed (in the form of a music video) on MTVs Total Request Live the only classical piece to do so where it remained for 11 days. As of 2015, it was the most-streamed of all of Williamss Star Wars themes on Spotify. YouTube is littered with remixes and covers (from a cappella to little kids on keyboards to heavy metal), and a video that loops the piece for ten straight hours has 2.6 million views. It has the honor of accompanying a parody duel on The Simpsons, and it has underscored countless duels in a variety of sports. It clearly speaks to people, as so many of Williamss film themes do, as pure music. Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images Actress Tiffany Haddish broke out this year with her rambunctious role in the summer hit Girls Trip. Theres been a social-media wave of support for her, and the New York Film Critics Circle named her Best Supporting Actress this year. The Hollywood Foreign Press, however, was not as taken by Haddishs performance, and left her out of the 2018 Golden Globe nominations. Her co-star Jada Pinkett Smith expressed her frustration with Haddishs snub, and took to Twitter this afternoon to critique what she sees as an unfair nominations process that kept Girls Trip from being a contender at all. It started last night when Pinkett Smith tried not to tweet about the Globes. I have so much to say on why @TiffanyHaddish was not nominated for a Globe... but I won't Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 11, 2017 After sitting on the topic for a day, Pinkett Smith decided she had too much to say to hold back. Actually I will... here we go... Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 I'm not upset about @TiffanyHaddish or @GirlsTripMovie not getting a nom... I'm discouraged about the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press/@goldenglobes wouldn't even WATCH the movie. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Girls Trip was one of the most successful films this summer & Tiff was hands down the funniest person on screen in 2017 and we couldn't get eyes on the film or a press conference. How could a nom happen & how much more critical acclaim must a movie have to simply get a screening? Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 But yet... Tiff has been asked to present at their ceremony. This isn't about shaming, this is about the need for discussion of an antiquated system. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 And I dare not invalidate all the many journalist and people from all walks of life who have supported this movie by defining the issue as simply... racism. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Hollywood has systems in place that must learn to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 The fact that the brilliance of @TheBigSickMovie went unnoticed and the fact that one of the most prolific films of the year, @GetOutMovie, is considered a comedy... illuminates the depths of the sunken place... for real. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 Moments like this occur so that we have an opportunity to discuss, recreate and regenerate old paradigms. It's all about growth. Love. Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017 An HFPA screening of Girls Trip did take place in July, the same month the movie hit theaters, which is a long time before awards season kicks off in earnest. Movies released earlier in the year have to overcome falling into the back of peoples minds by the time they vote, especially with so many prestige pictures flooding the market at years end to beat submission deadlines. Pinkett Smiths desire for a paradigm shift, though, reflects a greater frustration with institutional biases that may have contributed to women being fully shut out of the directing category (e.g. Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird) and movies like The Big Sick getting snubbed entirely. Girls Trip also faces the additional complication of being produced by the same studio as Jordan Peeles smash hit Get Out. With Universal going all-in on an Oscar campaign for the horror film, its possible that in the allocation of resources, Girls Trip as a whole took a back seat to its more broadly competitive studio sibling. With the Oscars and Screen Actors Guild Awards still yet to come, Pinkett Smiths call for Hollywood to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board is likely one that will only grow louder in the coming months. Update: Tiffany Haddish responded on Twitter to Pinkett Smiths thread, and while she is not nasty enough to care about awards drama, she is grateful for the support. Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department opened a new investigation into Roman Polanski. In late October, as a result of the outpouring of sexual-misconduct allegations in Hollywood, artist Marianne Barnard came forward to accuse the director of sexually assaulting her in 1975 when she was just 10 years old. The incident allegedly occurred when Barnards mother took her to a photo shoot with Polanski. Barnard claims that when her mother stepped away, Polanski instructed her to take off her bathing suit, then molested her. According to The Hollywood Reporter, although the statute of limitations have passed for the 42-year-old alleged assault, the detectives could possibly use the evidence from it to build on another case. Polanski was previously found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He fled to Paris before he could be sentenced and has been living in exile ever since. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the Conjuring series. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Conjuring films are all supposedly based on true stories, despite the fact that they include lots of ghosts, which to be clear, are not real. But the very claims that the films are based on the real-life accounts of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married pair of Catholic investigators played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, seems to have gotten Warner Bros. New Line division into some trouble, according to a detailed investigation from The Hollywood Reporter. Legal filings from lawsuits against the studio allege that, while Ed and Lorraine are depicted as happily married and in love on film, Ed initiated a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl during the 1960s and continued it for 40 years. That womans testimony also alleges that Ed was physically abusive toward his wife. The revelations stem from a lawsuit from Tony DeRosa-Grund, a producer on the first Conjuring, who claims he was unfairly shut out of profits from sequels and spinoffs and that he alerted the studio that the films claim to be the true story of the Warrens was inaccurate after it opened. Ed Warren died in 2006. Lorraine Warren, now 90, did not comment in THRs story as her attorney cited health issues. (The couples daughter and son-in-law insisted they saw no evidence of Eds alleged actions and that they believe the woman in question is being manipulated.) Regardless of the truth of the claims, its also unlikely that they would have too much legal standing against the film studio. The lawyers THR spoke with pointed out that audiences are aware that liberties are being taken with the horror films, and there isnt a strict legal standard for films based on real-life characters in the first place. Mostly, this could become a PR disaster for the films if audiences become aware of the alleged flaws in the main characters though, to be fair, were about to get a feel-good film about P.T. Barnum, so maybe people are morally flexible. Photo: Executive Produced by The Daniels /Topic Its hard to know how to start talking about Snowy Bing Bongs Across the North Star Combat Zone, a 40-minute film of an indescribably comedic ballet of sorts that is about farts and beach balls and the business of show, and is possibly the most funny and delightful thing I saw all year. So about halfway through my conversation with Cocoon Central Dance Team, the trio that are its creative driving force, I do what anyone does in a moment of doubt, and invoke Beyonce. Specifically, the 2011 video for Countdown, a zippy, retro-tinged technicolor confection that borrows from Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face and Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaekers contemporary dance piece Rosas Danst Rosas. I had been watching the Beyonce clip earlier that week for no particular reason, as one does, and it felt relevant in a way I couldnt quite put my finger on. As soon as I mention it, theres a burst of affirmation from the trio. Oh hell yes, Eleanore Pienta declares. Theres a kind of classical competency on display in both pieces; Beyonce uses it to make you swoon, Cocoon uses it to make you gasp with laughter. Pienta, Sunita Mani, and Tallie Medel have been dancing and choreographing as Cocoon Central Dance Team for nearly a decade, and the almighty Bey was an early part of their repertoire, in spirited, inexplicably hilarious performances at house parties and improv theaters around New York City. Throughout it all, that commitment to putting on a goddamn show has been a constant. Since Bing Bongs made its streaming debut on Topic.com last Friday, Cocoon Fever, to quote the film, has truly begun sweeping the nation. (Sample tweet, from Jenny Slate: I want to watch this all the time all day i love these people (i dont know them but i love them hi guys hello i love your work); another from John Early, whos collaborated with the troupe: MY FAVE MOVIE OF THE YEAR IS NOW STREAMING!!!) None of its reception is what you could exactly call predictable when was the last time the comedy world collectively obsessed over a dance film? But from its opening scene, the joy of Bing Bongs is being welcomed into its positive, psychedelic sensibility, a pure physical silliness thats completely unconcerned about any conventional ideas of how three women dancers should move and exist in space. Its been unbelievably gratifying, because what we started out doing in our fucking apartment was for us, Pienta says. It was for joy, it was the thing that we fucking loved. And so to hear people get that joy out of Snowy Bing Bongs is like, great! Were doing it! I think physical comedy really dignifies an audience, Medel says, of the films appeal. I think it appeals to everyones intelligence. In all of its dumbness, it can be really welcoming. Just to get to peoples centers, like their tickle-spots or whatever, adds Mani. And that it crosses generations is amazing, says Pienta. Thats also the joy of using your body. Its like, everyone has a fucking body. The trio met as students at Emerson College in Boston, a breeding ground for comedy writers and stand ups, as well as Bing Bongs executive producers Daniels (Swiss Army Man, Greatest Music Video of All Time candidate Turn Down For What). They all studied or shared a background in dance, Pienta tells me, and thus a similar sense of rigor that wasnt necessarily shared by the rest of their peers. [Sunita was] on a competition team, Tallie was in I was a star, Medel interjects with faux-faux-modesty and a flutter of her eyelashes. Pienta sighs. She was Clara in I was Clara in The Nutcracker. Please write it down. Ketchikan Theater Ballet. 1996. When the trio moved to New York after college, they shared a two-bedroom cockroach-ridden Sunset Park apartment, which they kept mostly free of furniture so as to have more room to move in. The ability to goof around and choreograph in the comfort of their home was a much-needed support system during the early days of trying to crack into show business. Wed already been established among our friends in Boston as women who could improvise and do sketch comedy, says Medel. But this dance aspect was something that none of them had ever seen us do before this secret where we all knew how to choreograph. The housemates would host parties and DIY comedy shows in their living room, which is where the first-ever Cocoon performance took place. I do think that we kind of blew our buddies away with the professionalism of this stupid dance that we did, Pienta says. The group took its name from their go-to first position, in which all three women would huddle up. But that protective, supportive gesture informed the whole act. It was a cocoon in the sense that we were like, in our own little tank of giggles, Mani says. When youre out of that vacuum, youre like wait, what is this? Once the team started doing live shows, Mani says, We raised the bar really high. Pienta sewed elaborate costumes, and they would spangle their faces with stick-on crystals and fake lashes, always preferring to err on the side of looking like they were trying too hard. We put everything into it because we had nothing else really going on yet, but also because it made us so happy, Medel says. We were like, Well, if were going to show our vaginas to the world Mani catches herself with a nervy laugh. Not literally, but it was that private If were going to show our privates to the world, it has to be so unstoppable youre going to have to like it. Or at least appreciate it. With the release of Snowy Bing Bongs, theyre showing their privates to a whole new world. What started as an hour-long live show in 2015 was adapted by Cocoon friends and filmmakers and friends Rachel Wolther and Alex Fischer into a series of sketches and monologues, woven together by the arc of the titular Bing Bongs battling giant beach balls in an arctic wasteland. It was such a lucky collaboration, because they really, unspokenly, just turned it into a script, Mani says. I dont know how to describe it, because it feels like thats rare. Mani is joining us on speakerphone from the set of the second season of Netflixs original series GLOW, on which she is a series regular, and Pienta and Medel tell me that the once-inseparable roommate/dancemates havent seen each other in about a month. But despite their increasingly busy schedules, Cocoon remains a very necessary going concern in their lives, a home base to come back to for inspiration. Here in L.A. Im just like, Thank God I have a voice and a sensibility that was totally carved out with Cocoon. says Mani. I feel like I am a better person and performer because of Tallie and Eleanore. So when we go away and work on other stuff, it feels like we have a strong, familial voice, and when we come back were like OK, were back around the campfire. John Boyega in The Last Jedi. Photo: Lucasfilm The new Star Wars, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is shockingly good. Youd expect it to be loud and gargantuan and to hit its marks in the manner of J.J. Abramss The Force Awakens, which was the first episode under Disneys aegis as well as the first to leave George Lucas behind, presumably counting his money and lamenting the fickleness of fans. What youd never dare expect is high style, let alone the kind of emotion that holds you through the requisite hopscotching among three different story arcs. Theres no such thing anymore as a straight, single-strand narrative in this kind of universe movie, which has a mandate to look backward and forward as well as sideward at any character with the potential to be spun off into his or her own vehicle. But the new writer-director, Rian Johnson, isnt an impersonal technician (or a rote imitator, like Abrams). He pinpoints the intersection between characters desperate need to belong and the special effects that will lift those longings into the realm of myth. He achieves what no one else has since The Empire Strikes Back: a fusion of junkyard genre parts and passion. Daisy Ridley returns as Rey, the orphan who, last time out, discovered that she had the Force (you either got it or you dont) and used it to repel an attack by the callow Darth Vader wannabe Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) after which she took off (with Chewbacca and R2-D2) for the rocky island where Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) lives in self-imposed exile. It was a holy moment at the end of The Force Awakens when she came face-to-face with him at the top of a long line of steps, bearing his old lightsaber. Its an unholy moment in The Last Jedi when the last Jedi tosses it away and returns to his cave to feel sorry for himself. Not Yoda will he be, apparently. Whats eating Luke? It takes Rey a while to get the full story. In the meantime, who should show up in visions but Ren, who carves out a quiet space in a parallel realm in which he and Rey share their innermost thoughts. Shes convinced that despite his fealty to the creepy Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis plus CGI as the love child of Gollum and Voldemort), she can reach the core of Jedi decency in him, much as Luke once stirred the long-dormant heart of Darth Vader. But Luke has his doubts about Ren. Perhaps it had something to do with how the little shit skewered his own dad. The Rey-Luke-Ren triangle is really the main story line, but much time is taken up by Star Wars new high-flying cowboy, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and his tussles with rebel leaders General Leia (Carrie Fisher, RIP) and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern) over attacking the First Orders mighty fleet (Poes preference) or getting the hell out of there. The third strand features Finn (John Boyega) and the small but huge-spirited rebel Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), who rocket (or whatever the appropriate verb is) off to disable the source some sort of First Order something something. (It doesnt matter what it is its a MacGuffin.) To pass the time, they need to find a space-age safecracker, who happily turns out to be the sleepy-eyed, pervy-vibed Benicio del Toro, who only has to gaze on a female character to lift a film into the realm of a borderline R rating. However much I love The Last Jedi, theres a lot of sleight-of-hand involved in making you think that the plot is moving forward instead of in circles. The first demolished space cannon is very exciting, the twelfth a bit of been-there-exploded-that. And how can it be that, however traumatic the intervening decades, the open-faced, shining-eyed Luke Skywalker has evolved into a raspy, hirsute, get-off-my-lawn old fart? Luke Cavesulker is more like it. Not even Yoda can get a smile out of him. You know hell have to pull himself together his Jedi directive is to pass his accumulated wisdom on but he sure takes his sweet time doing it. When he does, his Obi-Wan serenity amid chaos gladdens the heart. Carrie Fisher doesnt get as many big moments as youd hope for probably because the filmmakers were holding off for the trilogys final film, which was meant to be her showcase. (The first was Harrison Fords, this one Hamills.) But its moving to hear her soulful croak for the last time. It took 40 years, but she and Leia finally merged. The joys outweigh the downers tenfold. Its fun to see Isaacs smirk of superiority get wiped off his face by women whose minds are stuck on the survival of the entire galactic anti-fascist movement. (Yes, Dern plays a killjoy for most of the film, but its worth it for her final scene.) Domhnall Gleeson has a meaty comic role as the First Orders imperious General Hux: The more he asserts his dignity, the more hes reduced by his betters to a pulling ninny. Kelly Marie Tran has a delightful way of tagging along after Finn like a lovelorn groupie before knocking him for a loop or saving him from himself. Johnson might be stuck with multiple story lines, but each has its own look, its own palette to match the many motifs in John Williamss ever-invigorating score, which quotes from itself constantly and still sounds fresh. The showstopper is the throne room of the snooty Snoke, with its luminous crimson walls that silhouette an array of elite samurai guards its like an avant-garde Aida. The climactic throne-room lightsaber battle is choreographed and shot like nothing in this generally flat-footed series. Johnson doesnt cut on the saber clacks the way Lucas did. He has the fighters go at it in breathtakingly long shots, their whole bodies charged. It feels like the first time since The Empire Strikes Back that the Force has extended to the director. Even the usual merchandisable beasties are unusually easy to take, among them a pop-eyed, puffin-like bird that attaches itself to Chewbacca, and eerily beautiful crystalline foxes that eye Leia and company enigmatically as the rebels barricade themselves in a cave and prepare for a possible last stand. Ridleys Rey is even more appealing here plucky, steadfast, doggedly determined to find her place in the cosmos. But the core of The Last Jedi of this whole trilogy, it seems is Drivers Kylo Ren, who ranks with cinemas most fascinating human monsters. He makes his entrance in a skinny black head-helmet, so cute and pathetically hopeful, like an 8-year-old in a Darth Vader Halloween costume. Told by the Supreme Leader that he looks like an idiot (or words to that effect), Drivers Ren rips off the helmet and in another of his toddlerish tantrums smashes it to a pulp. When he and Rey telepathically communicate, he keeps his emotions shrouded, and you never tire of searching that shroud for glimmers of light. Drivers actual visage a Modigliani portrait come to life is more unnerving than the helmet. Its Vaders mask incarnate. JUNEAU A 26-year-old Juneau woman was found guilty on Monday of biting a police officer while being placed under arrest for breaking into Sidelines Tap, 111 S. Main St., Mayville, last summer. Anna C. Smith entered no contest pleas to a felony count of battery to law enforcement officer, and misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer and criminal damage to property. A felony count of burglary was dismissed and read into the record. According to the criminal complaint, Mayville Police were dispatched to Sidelines Tap at 3:35 a.m. on July 14 for a burglary in progress. Two women, who matched the description of the suspects, were seen walking across the street from the bar. The officer asked the women for identification, but they both claimed they did not have any with them, and said they did not feel they had to tell the officer their names. Smith started walking away from the officer on South Main Street, according to the criminal complaint. The officer told Smith she was going to be detained until she was identified and he put a handcuff on her wrist. Smith began trying to break the officers grip. The other suspect left while the officer was struggling with Smith. During the struggle, Smith bit the officers arm. The officer used pepper spray to stop Smith from biting him. A Horicon officer also arrived and emergency medical service was called to observe Smith. The Horicon officer then went to look for the second suspect. The witness who contacted police said both the women were in the bar earlier that night. The witness showed officers a window that was damaged and said she saw the two women climbing through the window on cameras that were in the building. The witness could see the two attempting to break in the building on the cameras as she phoned police. A sentencing hearing in the case will be held on Feb. 16. Deborah Findlay and Ron Cook in The Children, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Photo: Joan Marcus How are the children? shouts a woman standing in a spare, roughly furnished cottage kitchen at the start of Lucy Kirkwoods potent, aching new play. The woman is still, serious; theres an almost alien quality about her, as if shes processing the details of the world of human beings for the first time. She has gray hair with some wave to it, nicely kept, and a finely featured, elfin face that hints at younger days of striking beauty. Shes also bleeding heavily from the nose, and though another woman more earthy, more energetic will soon arrive with a washbowl and a rag and a profusion of apologies, the first woman, the alien, will spend the rest of the play with the front of her shirt marked with blood. The Children which premiered at the Royal Court in London last year and has now transferred to Broadways Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with its original cast and deft, deceptively unostentatious director, James Macdonald is a play about responsibility and guilt, reparation and redemption. Its also a British play, so these heavy matters are handled lightly, wryly; theyre approached from the side until circumstances absolutely demand a head-on confrontation. And then I saw the wave, one character tells another, talking quickly and avoiding sentiment as she describes the cataclysmic event that has redefined reality in The Childrens version of contemporary coastal Britain: Only it didnt look like a wave it looked like the sea was boiling milk and it just kept boiling and boiling and boiling and and then everyone was running, so I ran too Im so sorry, did you say you wanted tea? The character speaking is Hazel. Shes the second woman, the one with the washbowl and the apologies, and this cottage belongs to her and her husband, Robin. The alien is Rose, a ghost from their pasts, now standing in the middle of Hazels kitchen covered in blood. For Hazel, even after a semi-apocalypse, theres still great importance in things like tea and routine and yoga and salads and keeping ones cottage tidy. Electricity is rationed, yes, and the home she and Robin used to live in ten miles down the road is now a stinking, flooded wreck after the great, boiling wave, but here Hazel can keep order. And order is hope, and hope is life. But now a shiver ripples through the cottage, emanating from that blood on her visitors chest. Rose is a smaller woman than Hazel. She looks harmless enough, but her presence is as unmistakable as if she were carrying a scythe and a chessboard. Death has come to call. Of course Rose brings no sinister props with her only an important question, one that wont break the surface tension for a while yet. She, Hazel, and Robin are old friends, or old work colleagues, at least. She hasnt seen Hazel for 38 years (though we discover soon enough that shes seen Robin a bit more recently than that). Shes been in America, and while shes been away, the world has come to an end. The boiling wave, the flooding, the electrical failure, the earthquake that made the road outside Hazel and Robins old house crack down the middle it all came from the nearby nuclear power station, a man-made volcano, dormant and useful until recently, now an explosive, open wound gushing poison into the sleepy English countryside. The power station is also the place where Hazel, Rose, and Robin all used to work. The three of them are in their mid-60s, but theyre not your average retirees: Theyre nuclear engineers. Rose and Hazel can banter about free neutrons and the difference between a uranium-235 nucleus and a uranium-236 nucleus (Laymans terms, scoffs Hazel) just as easily as they can about Hazels grandchildren or the farming she and Robin have taken up. More easily, actually. Though theyre polite to one another, the two women dont share much mainly nuclear physics. And Robin. At the first hints of some kind of affair between Robin and Rose, my heart sank a little. It seemed like a cheap answer for the question dangling in the air from the beginning of The Children. In Hazels words: Rose? Why have you come here? But the sinking feeling didnt last for long. Kirkwood is far too smart not to realize exactly how shes deploying an idea as well-worn as a love triangle. For one thing, its certainly not the answer to that hovering question more like a messy, human wrinkle in Roses quest to ask the thing that shes come here to ask. For another, Kirkwood plays a clever and ultimately heartbreaking game with the complex relationships among these three old friends. First, she manages to convince us that whatevers going on in the realm of the heart love, lust, jealousy, bitterness, regret is merely a red herring, distracting us from more literally earthshaking issues. Then she pulls a marvelous conjurers trick, ultimately revealing that human fellowship the way we care for each other in all our selfish, generous, contradictory ferocity doesnt diminish in the face of the apocalypse. Rather, it becomes all. In the gradual building of The Childrens emotional heft, from its Did you say you wanted tea? beginning, Kirkwood receives stellar support from the productions remarkable trio of actors. Francesca Annis as Rose, Deborah Findlay as Hazel, and Ron Cook as Robin may be the most powerful chamber ensemble to hit Broadway since the original cast of A Dolls House, Part 2, and in a way their work is even more striking for its unison of intelligence and power. Theres no Laurie Metcalf, no single show-stealing tour de- force, in The Children. Instead, theres the sense of three expert players staying in close harmony: at first reserved, eventually released. Findlay, hiding deep stores of fear and love beneath her pragmatic, accommodating exterior, truly makes Hazel into the kind of woman that holds up the world, as Rose admits late in the play, in a moment thats both admiration and apology. Hazel takes care of things: this cottage, her husband, and her children, though theyre all adults and far away. Watching her and Robin deal with phone calls from their oldest daughter Lauren a troubled 38-year-old whos just quite angry and who cant even get a washing machine put in without calling her parents in a panic is a sharp blow to the heart. Findlay captures Hazels love and her suffering, her inability to resist her childs cries, with terrible precision, and Cook is equally devastating in his rendering of a father who loves his child, but who will eventually hold his crying wife and tell her gently, I know what youre about to say youll want to talk about duty, but what I think, what I honestly think is, this is your duty: You have a real duty to that child to fuck off at some point. What is our duty to our children? Whats our responsibility to those who will inherit the world that we helped to make and that we helped to destroy? These are Kirkwoods painfully resonant central questions, and its heartening to hear a playwright asking them with such forthrightness and skill. (In a way, The Children is the antidote for The Parisian Woman, a depressing mess of a play thats running a few blocks away, whose author has roughly the same engagement with questions of responsibility as Pontius Pilate.) Rose thinks she has an answer. That alien quality in her, that weird sense that shes seeing everything as if for the first time: Its certainty. The Rose of 38 years ago was never the responsible type. I thought, one day Ill be like Hazel, she sighs, I wont smoke cigarettes and Ill wear sun cream and plan the weeks meals ahead and get a slow cooker and Ill stop crying all the time and Ill do exercise and have a really neat handbag and do washing regularly, not just when Ive run out of knickers. But the Rose who enters this little cottage on Englands eroding shore, with radiation blanketing the earth not ten miles away, this Rose is holding herself accountable. Im going back, she finally tells Hazel and Robin, Anniss eyes burning with calm, frightening energy, to work at the power station. Roses mission: gather a team of engineers, all over 65 years old, and go back to work. Let the young ones go the new generation of engineers who are there now, exposed to the stations deadly radiation levels every day in their struggle to limit the damage and restore control, and take their place. Lots of them have families, Rose argues. Their whole lives ahead. And I just feel I feel very strongly: Its not fair because we built it, didnt we? Here is death: slight and bird-boned, gray-haired and sharp-eyed, wearing a blood-stained pink T-shirt and sensible shoes, still deeply, dreadfully in love with her old friends husband, still feeling inadequate in comparison to that friend, still full of longing and sorrow and life. Macdonald creates a delicate, heart-wrenching sympathy amongst his trio, who eventually find themselves performing their own literal danse macabre: Rose pulls a janky laptop and speaker from her backpack and plays a song from their past, and all three fall into the silly, joyful choreography that Hazel made up for it so many years ago. As the three actors bop and twist and giggle on Miriam Buethers tilted diorama of a set the room sits surrounded by a wall of darkness on a precarious angle, as if the ground beneath is falling away Kirkwoods title starts to expand. Who are the children? They are angry Lauren and her three siblings; they are Hazel and Robins grandchildren; they are the young ones trapped in the nuclear plant; and they are Rose, Hazel, and Robin, who have such life and desire beating within them still. The question is, if it means taking responsibility, and if it means facing death, are they are we ready to grow up? The Children is at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET Jordan Peeles Get Out is having an interesting awards season. Its critically acclaimed, but mixed recognition from major bodies like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and now SAG-AFTRA have left onlookers confused. First it was submitted by its production studio and accepted by Golden Globes voters as a Comedy or Musical contender, and now the movie is nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture but that nod exlcudes recognition for cast members Lil Rel Howery, Erika Alexander, Marcus Henderson, and Betty Gabriel. Howery gave a breakout turn as the movies comic relief and unlikely hero, while Gabriel became one of the faces of the film when she defended the honor of the Armitage family to Chris with her haunting, strained, No no no no no no. But if Get Out wins Outstanding Cast, none of those four will receive a trophy if they storm the stage. And heres why. According to the SAG-AFTRA nominating rules, an actors name must appear on an individual title card in the main title sequence in order to be eligible for the award. Here is the complete text of the guideline from the 2017 Rules and Regulations manual. CAST ELIGIBILITY: A Cast in a Motion Picture includes all actors whose names appear in the cast credits of the final release print. Motion Picture Casts shall be represented by those actors billed on separate cards in the main titles, wherever those titles appear. In cases of special, unusual or non-billing or credit, eligibility shall be at the sole discretion of the Awards Committee. Members of the cast who are not single card billed but are credited in the cast crawl of the motion picture announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture shall each receive a certificate. Henderson and Gabriel share one card together, while Howery and Alexander share another, which makes them ineligible for the core Outstanding Cast designation. So for whatever reason those cast members were given shared cards perceived level of star power, deals that were brokered by representation for name placement, other back-channel decisions it affects their SAG trophy eligibility. SAG Awards producer Kathy Connell says the rule is meant to put discretion in the hands of the filmmakers, rather than having the voting union determine who deserves a nomination and who doesnt. At the beginning, we had to put in a rule that would be very clear to everyone, Connell told the Wrap. And that rule had to allow filmmakers to make the call. How would it look if we decided that this actor should be in and this actor shouldnt? The intention here too is to avoid assigning an arbitrary number of eligible nominees, so if, say, only eight actors could be included, an essential ninth performer wouldnt be left out for space limitations. And bigger names are likely going to get bigger exposure, even with smaller parts. (As Film Experience points out, Gwen Stefani managed her own title card in The Aviator for her absolutely tiny role as Jean Harlow, likely because she is a known celebrity quantity.) Connell adds, We feel horrible about it sometimes, but were not in control. And so thats the rule. No solo title card but a spot on the cast crawl means a certificate for these four actors if Get Out wins the SAG Award. The L3 Technologies plant in Waco has suffered four rounds of layoffs the past four years, but it still employs about 1,300 people and is seeking state money for facility upgrades it says will support 500 existing jobs. The Waco City Council has agreed to support L3s pursuit of state Enterprise Zone Program money through the Office of the Governors Economic Development and Tourism Division. L3 could qualify for sales tax rebates of up to $1.25 million on facility and equipment upgrades valued at about $5.5 million, according to information provided by the city of Waco. A Texas Enterprise Zone designation, and the money that goes with it, would make the facility more competitive in pursuing military and private aircraft-modification contracts and help it retain and grow its current employment level of about 1,300 people, L3 spokesman Lance Martin wrote in a statement. Employment has dropped in recent years from a peak of about 1,800 people. The capital improvements would support at least 500 existing jobs at the Waco facility, the maximum the state program provides tax incentives for, Martin said. L3s most recent round of layoffs in Waco came in September. The company announced it was laying off 124 staffers in Waco after a round of voluntary buyouts at its Waco and Greenville plants. Shifts in employment levels are nothing new to the Waco operation. When L3 bought the plant from Raytheon in 2002, the number of staffers had declined from 1,900 to 1,500. Rounds of layoffs in 2014 and 2015 were related to reduced military spending, company officials said at the time. The Aerospace Systems unit that includes the Waco plant has not performed as well as the Electronic, Communications and Sensor units in recent years, with the company reporting during a recent shareholder meeting that Aerospace likely will enjoy profit margins of 8.1 percent next year, the lowest among the four units, on $2.7 billion in sales. Companies approved for state Enterprise Zone Program money on capital projects valued between $5 million and $150 million can claim up to 500 jobs and receive up to $2,500 per position, according to the Governors Economic Development Finance department website. Based in New York, L3 operates three facilities in Texas, in Waco, Greenville and Rockwall, and employs 8,204 people statewide, according to information provided by the city of Waco. Houston-based Los Cucos Mexican Cafe has bought the Heitmiller Steakhouse building in Legends Crossing, the development at Interstate 35 and West Loop 340, and will open a restaurant there within two months, a spokesman for the chain said Tuesday. Heitmiller owner Jay Hinojosa closed the popular steakhouse Monday after receiving an unsolicited offer on the building that he and his family just could not refuse, Hinojosa said. The Heitmiller location at Lake Shore Drive and Interstate 35 in Lacy Lakeview will remain open, Hinojosa said. Manuel Cabrera, president of the Los Cucos Mexican Cafe chain he founded with his brother, said he has been eyeing the Waco market about five years, and in recent months solicited the support of local real estate agent Jim Peevey in finding a suitable location. I was impressed with its population growth, and I thought it would be a good place for our quality food, Cabrera said. Weve made a name for ourselves preparing our unique recipes from fresh ingredients. We make everything in-house every day, and we have the highest of standards. The chain, which has grown to 22 locations, the closest operating in College Station, has an extensive menu that includes traditional Tex-Mex favorites and seafood including Shrimp Poblano and Seafood al Vapor, which is an 8-ounce fish fillet and three jumbo shrimp wrapped in aluminum foil, with spices, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, cilantro and butter lemon sauce, according to its website. Special plates include Mexican Taquitos, Brisket Flautas and Tacos Plazeros. Grill specials include Parrillada San Luis, which features beef and chicken fajitas, jalapeno sausage, grilled shrimp, chicken quesadillas and molcajete sauce, served with rice, beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese tortillas and a side of chihuaha cheese, according to the online menu. Asked if the abundance of restaurants serving Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican food in Greater Waco gave him second thoughts about opening a restaurant locally, Cabrera said, They have their food, and we have ours. Crews will make minor changes to the Heitmiller building, which already is beautiful, Cabrera said of the 8,500-square-foot steakhouse Hinojosa created from the shell of short-lived Quaker Steak & Lube, a garage-themed restaurant whose menu doted on wings and beer. Hinojosa said business was great at his second Heitmiller location and that he was holding his own against nearby Saltgrass Steak House. But owning two restaurants can become quite a challenge, and my wife and I had considered a change, he said. The buyers came along at just the right time to get the answer they wanted to hear. Neither Hinojosa nor Cabrera would divulge the sales price of the building, though Hinojosa said he made more than he paid for it. Cabrera said he already has started hiring to fill positions and likely will put 35 to 80 people on the payroll, depending on volume. Peevey said Legends Crossing has become a prime site for development, considering its proximity to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center, where about 2,000 people are employed, and the presence of Central Texas Marketplace right across West Loop 340. Real estate agents Jimmy Banks and Lisa Monroe have heavily marketed Legends Crossing, and announced earlier this year deals have been struck with P.F. Changs and Cajun-themed Walk-Ons Bistreaux & Bar for lots near the small lake that anchors the upscale development. The wife and adult children of a longtime Waco oral surgeon who died after being struck by an SUV in the parking lot of Bird-Kultgen Ford in April have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the auto dealership. Kayron Lance, widow of Dr. Jerry Don Lance, and Shelly Lance and Jason Lance are seeking more than $1 million in damages in their lawsuit, filed Wednesday against Bird-Kultgen Inc. and Ernesto Ramirez, the dealership employee the suit states backed a Ford Expedition into the 77-year-old Lance while Lance was looking at new cars. The suit was filed in Wacos 414th State District Court on the familys behalf by Waco attorneys John Mabry Jr. and John Lewis. Claire McDonald, a vice president at Bird-Kultgen Ford, declined comment on the lawsuit. The Lances were married 46 years. Lance practiced oral surgery for 40 years in Waco and treated more than 87,000 patients. We held off on filing suit to give Bird-Kultgens insurance company the opportunity to resolve this matter without litigation, but the insurance company chose to low ball the Lances and add insult to injury by refusing to settle, Mabry said. Blame for Dr. Lances death falls on Bird-Kultgen Ford and their employee, but blame for having to file this lawsuit falls on their insurance company. Dr. Lance was a beloved member of our community, and we believe a McLennan County jury will show the insurance company how wrong they were for refusing to do the right thing for the Lance and Kultgen families. According to the lawsuit, Lance dropped his car off at Bird-Kultgen, 1700 W. Loop 340, for service at about 7:30 a.m. and was looking at new cars while waiting for his wife to pick him up. While walking around the lot, he was struck by a 2017 Ford Expedition that was traveling backward down the aisle of new vehicles at a high rate of speed, the lawsuit alleges. Ramirez drove the Expedition, with another dealership employee in the front seat, according to the suit. Detectives from the Waco Police Department investigated the incident and determined that Mr. Ramirez was at fault for backing without safety, according to the lawsuit. The Expedition was traveling so fast, and struck Dr. Lance with such force, that his body crumpled the rear lift gate and crimped the metal. Investigators said Lance was dragged more than 20 feet by the Expedition, which was going about 22 mph in reverse when it struck him, the lawsuit states. Ramirez and the passenger told detectives they did not see Lance and did not know where he was or what he was doing there, according to the lawsuit. This may seem like a freak, isolated accident, but the risk of harm for customers like Dr. Lance was present on a daily basis at Bird-Kultgen Ford because of its flawed policies and procedures, the lawsuit states. Mr. Ramirez and the passenger both described a similar procedure for unlocking the gates in the mornings, which involved retrieving keys for the locks from the manager and backing multiple vehicles hundreds of feet down the aisles from one gate to another around 8 a.m. The lawsuit alleges gross negligence and charges that Ramirez failed to back safely, failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to control his speed and failed to yield to a pedestrian. Unfortunately, Mr. Ramirez and the passenger presumed that nobody would be in the new car lot, as Mr. Ramirez sped backward for over 300 feet down the aisle of vehicles on display before hitting Dr. Lance, because the sales office did not open until 8:30, the suit states. The service department opened at 7:30 a.m., and employees should have known that patrons might be in the lot looking at new cars, the suit claims. Lance suffered head injuries, internal bleeding, multiple facial fractures, eight broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and a broken hand, according to the lawsuit. He died 11 days later at a local hospital. ASHLAND Training has begun for the public on the new makerspace equipment at Ashland Public Library. Library Director Heather St.Clair said the library was one of 18 chosen in the first round of the states Library Innovation Studios: Transforming Rural Communities project to create makerspaces in public libraries throughout Nebraska. The goal is to stimulate creativity and innovation, facilitate entrepreneurship and spark local economic development. The makerspace is divided into two components permanent stations and mobile stations. The six permanent stations are made up of equipment that is calibrated and cannot be moved from place to place. These stations include equipment like a Makerbot replicator and 3D laser printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter, sewing machine, embroidery machine and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router. They are located on the north side of the community meeting room. On Monday, training officially began for the public. Most of the equipment in the permanent stations requires training and/or certification, St.Clair said. Classes can be scheduled by calling 402-521-2012 or by stopping by the library. Class size is up to three people, although for the embroidery machine, the training is one-on-one, St.Clair said. After they are signed up for training and certified they will be able to use the equipment during open hours or by appointment, St.Clair said. The permanent stations are open during scheduled hours to help ensure trainers are available. The hours are Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. On Thursdays the stations will be open during the youth tech clubs scheduled times. St.Clair suggested people sign up to use the equipment to ensure that it is free when they arrive and to avoid scheduling conflicts with training sessions. The nine mobile stations have equipment or tools that can be used in various areas and are available upon request. Examples of a mobile station would be robotics kits or photography and video creation tools. Some of the mobile station equipment may also be checked out and taken from the library for a short time. People using the makerspace may bring their own materials, or some will be provided. A small fee may be charged for some materials. There are age limits to some of the equipment and some children may have to be supervised, depending their age and the equipment they are using, St.Clair said. Children must be over the age of 12 to use equipment in the permanent stations and only with supervision. Youth ages 16 or 18 can use the equipment unsupervised. The specific age depends upon the equipment. In the mobile stations, much of the equipment can be used by children 8 years old and up who are being supervised. Over the age of 12, children can use this equipment unsupervised, St.Clair said. An open house will be held Dec. 30 to mark the official start of the makerspace at the library. A showcase will take place at the end of the makerspace tenure at the library sometime in April. There the community will have a chance to show off the items they created with the tools and equipment. The makerspace will be open to the public, including people who do not have an Ashland Public Library card. If demand from non-card holders is high, the staff may set aside scheduled times for local library patrons, St.Clair said. The makerspace was originally supposed to be up and running by the end of October. However, training for St.Clair and her staff was postponed and the delivery of the equipment was delayed. We received it about a month later than expected, she said. The delays will push back the date when the equipment leaves Ashland. That final date has not yet been set, St.Clair said. The project is funded by a grant from the Nebraska Library Commission. The library commission received a National Leadership Grant of over $500,000 for the project, which is a partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Innovation Studio, Nebraska Extension, Regional Library Systems and local public libraries. WAHOO The Saunders County Board of Supervisors will continue the conversation Dec. 19 regarding the potential move of the Saunders County Public Defenders Office from an elected position to an appointed one. A public hearing on the matter has been scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Saunders County Supervisor David Lutton said the move to an appointed position would save the county money. Lutton said the public defenders office has spent money on additional services, including attorneys outside the public defender for representation. The move would also remove the financial obligation to pay rent on a building, he added. The approved budget for the pubic defenders office for the 2016-2017 fiscal year is $246,700. The elected position is not required to handle juvenile cases, but the appointed position would handle juvenile cases in addition to felonies and misdemeanors, Lutton said. Public Defender Tom Klein does handle juvenile cases now. Moving to an appointed position could also allow the county board leeway to say who is appointed, Lutton said. Currently, the voters of Saunders County have that say. Last week, Klein said he would file and run for office if it stayed as an elected position. His biggest concern was that the change might affect benefits to the employees in his office. The position was changed from part-time to full-time at the Nov. 28 Saunders County Board of Supervisors meeting due to the increased caseload the office has seen over the last few years. Counties with population under 35,000 residents are not required to have the public defender be an elected position. The public hearing on Dec. 19 will not only allow for public notification, but will allow the community to voice concerns and approvals, Lutton said. WAVERLY Waverly High School Senior Kayla Pracht has been selected for the 2018 High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall. She will play the French horn in February with the Honors Symphony Orchestra. Participation in one of the five Honors Ensembles is limited to the highest-rated high school performers from across the world. Earlier this year, Pracht auditioned for the Honors Performance Series and was accepted after a review by the Honors Selection Board. I sent in an audio recording that I did at home, she said. And I was a little bit nervous about doing it. She is The daughter of James and Dona Pracht. She said her family had been supportive of her trying out for the orchestra. After all, they were used to it, as her older sister, Alyssa, was selected three years ago. She was helpful in understanding the application for it, she said. Acceptance to the elite group is a direct result of the talent, dedication and achievements demonstrated in her application and audition recording. Pracht will join other performers from all 50 United States plus the District of Columbia, Guam, six Canadian provinces, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, South Korea, and the United Kingdom for a special performance at Carnegie Hall. Being selected to the Honors Performance Series is something each finalist should be extremely proud of accomplishing, said Morgan Smith, program director, We processed more than 18,000 nominations this year and have selected nearly 700 of the most talented student performers from around the world. Working with these conductors and performing at Carnegie Hall is an once-in-a-lifetime experience that these musicians never forget. Pracht has studied music for eight years and is a member of school band. Band director Brady Rohlfs encouraged Pracht to audition. She is the second one from Waverly to be selected to the performance series. Nick Brown was honorable mention two years ago. Im extremely thankful to have been given the opportunity to audition, and Im honored to have been selected for this prestigious program, Pracht said. Im looking forward to performing in Carnegie Hall with the other finalists and am excited to work under the direction of an esteemed director. Finalists will come together in New York City for five days in February. They will have the opportunity to learn from world-renowned conductors, work with other Finalists, and get a taste of New York City. Two performances, an Honors Choral Performance and an Honors Instrumental Performance, will take place Sunday, Feb. 4 and are open to the public. We will get the music in advance so we can practice before we get there, she said, adding that her goal was to sound good. Playing in a symphony is want Pracht wants to experience she pointed out. I want to major in music performance, she said. My dream is to be part of an orchestra that plays for film screens. A former Sauk City investment broker was sentenced Tuesday to 3 years in federal prison for taking nearly $1 million from clients that he claimed would be invested in energy companies, but instead paid personal expenses. James Kolf, 64, of Mauston, wrote to U.S. District Judge William Conley that it was my fear that hardened me in false attitudes and led him to make irrational choices with disastrous consequences, among them the decision to create a fictitious investment that he used to solicit $905,077 from 14 clients between 2011 and 2016. Kolf had been a registered dealer-broker in the Madison area since 1981. Kolf pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud and money laundering for the scheme, in which he promised clients a 6 percent return on their investments but ultimately gave them only fictitious account statements and what prosecutors called Ponzi-style payments to some investors to maintain the charade. The money was instead used to pay personal living expenses, including a house, cars, credit card bills, legal bills and tax bills, according to a sentencing memorandum by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner. I didnt arrive at this sentence lightly, Conley told Kolf. Were it not for the fact that MetLife had stepped in and made the investors largely whole I would have set a sentence closer to the guideline range. Conley said that it could be argued that not much is accomplished by sending Kolf to prison for that long, but he believes it will help deter other people from doing what Kolf did. MetLife, for whom Kolf had worked as a registered agent between 2015 and 2016, has reimbursed 11 of the 14 clients. Two others are waiting until the outcome of the case to decide whether to accept MetLifes offer, Wegner wrote, while the third was fully reimbursed by Kolf during the course of the fraud scheme. Wegner recommended a sentence of five years in prison, within the advisory federal sentencing guidelines applicable to the case. The guideline range was between four years and three months to just short of six years. Kolfs lawyer, federal defender Peter Moyers, recommended a two-year prison sentence, citing Kolfs previously spotless criminal record and his age. Unlike his peers who are retiring, hell begin his golden years in prison, Moyers wrote. Given this combination, prison will exact a penance from Kolf. Instead of a leisurely retirement with material comfort and a feeling of professional pride, hell begin his lifes third act behind bars, after which hell be working to pay back his victims. The exact restitution amount will be set after a future hearing, but is expected to be around $875,000, all expected to go to MetLife. The states ethics and elections commissions defended their staff Tuesday against Attorney General Brad Schimels report on a leak investigation stemming from a now-shuttered investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers 2012 recall campaign. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission criticized the report for omissions and inaccuracies and called on Schimel to acknowledge that ethics staff cooperated. Schimel responded that a letter from ethics commission officials doesnt list a specific error and accused commission chairman David Halbrooks of having a conflict in the matter because he was granted immunity in the John Doe investigation. Meanwhile the state Elections Commission defended its administrator and a staff member against a call for their termination, while saying it will ask Walker for permission to hire an outside lawyer to represent them in matters related to Schimels report. Nothing in that report has caused us to question our support of interim administrator Michael Haas, chairman Mark Thomsen said. Schimel investigated the leak of documents to the Guardian U.S., which published a report in September 2016 revealing previously secret details about Walkers effort to raise millions of dollars for the Wisconsin Club for Growth during the 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Schimels investigation didnt identify who leaked the records to the Guardian and didnt recommend criminal charges. But he concluded a crime occurred and that nine individuals who worked on the John Doe investigation, including Elections Commission lawyer Nathan Judnic, be held in contempt of court. Schimels report revealed a previously unknown investigation into whether Republican aides were campaigning during taxpayer-funded work time. The investigation included millions of pages of subpoenaed email records from Republicans in what Schimel described as the weaponizing of the states former ethics and elections agency by partisans in furtherance of political goals. But in a letter to Schimel, Halbrooks and Ethics Commission vice-chairwoman Katie McCallum cast doubt on a key piece of evidence Schimel used to support that claim. They wrote that folders containing thousands of private emails from Wisconsin Republicans marked opposition research were not created by an employee of the Government Accountability Board the predecessor to the separate ethics and elections commissions. Rather, they said the folders were labeled that way before the GAB took possession of them which Haas told reporters Tuesday was the explanation given to Schimel, but not reflected in his report. The emails in the folder included private email exchanges between Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Brookfield, and her daughter that included personal health information. Schimel reported that Vukmir was one of 35 Republicans and the only elected official whose entire personal email account had been subpoenaed, but its unclear when or why. Schimel said Tuesday the folders were created on a GAB hard drive on April 10, 2012, after the documents and emails found within the folders were subpoenaed by the Milwaukee District Attorneys office as part of the first John Doe investigation into Walkers Milwaukee County office, which resulted in six felony convictions. Shane Falk, one of the former GAB staff recommended for discipline, said Tuesday in an interview GAB investigators didnt change the names of files they received and DOJ should be able to trace who set up the folder. The implied inappropriate conduct has no place in this matter, as he admits he has no explanation for this, Falk said. To suggest that there can only be an inappropriate explanation is irresponsible. Lawyer requested Halbrooks, appointed by a Democrat, and McCallum, appointed by a Republican, took issue with the report characterizing commission employees Brian Bell and David Buerger as being uncooperative in locating records and for invoking their Fifth Amendment right to counsel. Halbrooks and McCallum said after DOJ asked in June to interview Bell and Buerger individually, the bipartisan commission requested that the two employees have a lawyer. Walkers office appointed a lawyer on July 6 and they were interviewed later. They also raised concerns that the report gives the appearance that the Ethics Commission and its staff did not comply with DOJs record requests. Our staff promptly provided all requested records based on each successive search criteria DOJ identified, they wrote. We immediately notified DOJ when potentially responsive records were located. Schimel responded that the commission turned over records in five separate batches between February and November and that the commissions level of cooperation is explained fully in the report, and the commission has not identified any inaccurate statements in the report. Bell and Buerger, who were not involved in the John Doe investigation but handled related records, were not among those Schimel recommended for discipline, but Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, called for their termination in part based on the Fifth Amendment reference in the DOJ report. Halbrooks and McCallum objected to Schimel questioning why no member of the Ethics Commission reported a crime when the Guardian published its report. They noted no one at the Ethics Commission was privy to the sealed John Doe records so none of us were able to identify that a crime had occurred at the time. They also objected to the report mixing up a description of the records security practices under the former GAB with those under the Ethics Commission, which has since put in place measures to ensure records are properly checked in and out. Make no mistake, the security deficiencies that previously existed under the GAB have been resolved, they wrote. We can immediately identify any attempt to obtain and leak confidential information in the future. Court shuts down investigation The Wisconsin Supreme Court shut down the John Doe investigation in 2015, saying the underlying legal theory that coordination between Walkers campaign and a tax-exempt independent group was illegal had no merit. It also took custody of all related records. Republicans angered by the John Doe investigation dismantled the nonpartisan GAB in 2015, creating separate bipartisan ethics and elections commissions. Schimels investigation faulted John Doe special prosecutor Francis Schmitz and former GAB staff Judnic, Falk, Kevin Kennedy, Jonathan Becker and Molly Nagappala, for their review of records after a John Doe judge quashed several subpoenas or their handling of the records after the state Supreme Court ordered all records be turned over to it. Nass also called for the termination of Judnic and Haas, who was involved in drafting some court responses as part of the John Doe investigation. Schimel recommended Falk be referred to the Wisconsin Court Systems Office of Lawyer Regulation for discipline. Schimel suspects Falks hard drive of containing the records leaked to The Guardian. Falk gave the drive to Judnic, who gave all of Falks records to Buerger, who put them in a locked filing cabinet but didnt catalog them. Falks hard drive still hasnt been located. WATERFORD is marking time with a new museum in the Viking Triangle. The Irish Museum of Time is the first of its kind in the... ... but you will need to show proof of jab get into bars STUDENTS heading to college in September will not have to be vaccinated... Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins has described the progress which has been made on the purchase of the former Waterford Crystal site for... AS we count down the days, hours and minutes to Christmas, we at Waterford Today would like to make one appeal before the festivities... Seven jobs at a Waterford charity look set to be lost after it was announced that it is to be wound down. The U-Casadh... BHP, the world's largest miner, has asked four investment banks to help it prepare for a sale or spin-off of its underperforming US shale oil and gas unit, with a view to taking a decision in early 2018, sources have said. BHP said in August it aimed to sell its unconventional onshore shale assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian, Haynesville and Fayetteville basins, which it acquired at the height of the oil boom and could be valued at more than $US10 billion ($13.2 billion). It has hired Barclays and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch to assess options for their sale, including whether they would be sold together or separately, as they may appeal to different potential buyers, the sources said. BHP has reportedly engaged four investment banks to help it sell off its US shale business. Credit:Bloomberg It has also asked Citi and Goldman Sachs to research the potential spin-off of the unit into a new company, the sources added. Madison has terminated a $512,000 contract with a local company implementing a troubled pilot program to deliver low-cost internet service to four low-income neighborhoods. In a letter dated Nov. 20, the city ordered ResTech Services to immediately cease and desist work under the contract to build a fiber-optic broadband network to residents in the Darbo-Worthington, Brentwood, Allied Drive and Kennedy Heights neighborhoods. The pilot is part of a larger initiative still being studied to expand the citys limited internet network to every resident and business, called Fiber To Premises, which could take more than $200 million in public and private investment. ResTech was supposed to provide services for residential subscribers in the neighborhoods for $9.99 a month with unlimited data and a minimum speed of 25 MBps, plus a call center, 24-hour support, infrastructure maintenance and network monitoring. Despite completing the backbone of a system intended to bring service to more than 1,000 apartments in the neighborhoods, ResTech had managed to sign up just 19 customers. The citys letter provided a 45-day notice to terminate the contract effective at midnight, Jan. 4. We terminated the digital divide contract under a clause that allows us to do so, said assistant city attorney Roger Allen, who offered only limited comment. Were still investigating matters we find concerning. Until the investigation is completed, I dont want to disparage anyone. Were looking at other avenues with which we can accomplish our (pilot program) objectives, Allen said. The citys letter does not spell out the reason for terminating the contract. But it says the city will not make any further payments to ResTech until the city has determined the full scope of its liability for damages incurred by the city from unlawful access, splicing, connecting, relocation of city-owned fiber, lack of labeling/mislabeling of fiber and the unlawful/unauthorized occupation of city of Madison conduit, and any other unauthorized/unlawful uses of city infrastructure done by, on behalf and/or to the benefit of ResTech. Under the contract termination clause, the city will pay for all work and network infrastructure completed by the contractor to the citys satisfaction, the letter says. But the city said it may withhold whatever amount it determines the company owes the city. Paul Kronberger, the citys chief information officer, declined to go into detail on the cancellation but suggested that the issues go beyond ResTechs failure to get subscribers. Kronberger, referring to language in the letter, said, a reasonable person would conclude theres more to it. Asked if the issues involved potential criminal activity, Kronberger said, I cant answer that. ResTech president Bryan Schenker could not be reached for comment. The city has already paid for most of the contract and its unclear if it will seek to recover money from ResTech, Kronberger said. The network has been installed and could be used for the larger Fiber To Premises initiative if it moves forward, he said. The citys Digital Technology Committee is set to get an update on the initiative and discuss the contract termination at its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday. Some of the meeting may be in closed session. After two years and spending more than $500,000, Madison is well short of goals for the pilot program. ResTech had delays in extending fiber cable to the neighborhoods, and once there, found unexpected barriers in getting permission from property owners to connect to buildings and so far has signed up few customers. Those problems were outlined in a story in the Wisconsin State Journal on Nov. 20, the same day the termination letter was sent. The Connecting Madison pilot program has potential to bring service to 161 buildings with 1,083 apartments in the neighborhoods with connections projected by the end of 2016. But as of Nov. 17, ResTech had made broadband service available to just 86 buildings and had only 19 customers. Programs future seems unclear The termination letter allows ResTech to continue service to the 19 subscribers for 30 days as the city pursues another vendor, Kronberger said. Its unclear, however, if the city will be able to continue marketing and other efforts to secure more subscribers and further develop the pilot program, he said, adding, It would be our preference if we could continue the program. We have not gotten very far in discussions to see if were able to do that, or if its even practical. For my staff, were disappointed, Kronberger said. This is something we felt strongly about. We wanted this to be a successful project. Im sure there will be people who question it. In March 2016, after a competitive process, the city and ResTech signed the $512,000 contract to build a fiber-optic broadband network to residents in the four neighborhoods. ResTech was to expand the citys Metropolitan United Fiber Network, which serves schools, libraries, police and fire stations and other public buildings, to the target neighborhoods. Nonprofit DANEnet, which helps Dane County nonprofits find and use quality information technology, would provide digital literacy training and distribute free donated computers. Closing the digital divide the disparity between people with access to modern information and communications technology and those without has been a priority for city leaders for years. The city continues to pursue the broader Fiber To Premises initiative with goals of connecting those with low incomes to the internet so they can compete in school and for jobs, providing service to the entire city, increasing market competition and consumer choice, and leaving the city with a long-term say in the system. The city spent $107,500 on a feasibility analysis from Columbia Telecommunications Corp. of Kensington, Maryland, that provided initial estimated costs, and is now funding a $189,000 implementation plan by the same company that should be completed in late 2017 or early 2018. The first large heatwave of summer has prompted a fire weather warning and a public health alert with only modest relief forecast for the next few days before the heat starts to build again. Sydney's expected top temperature was trimmed by the Bureau of Meteorology to 35 degrees for the central business district - reversing an overnight revision higher. Many western suburbs had already reported temperatures above 40 degrees by early afternoon, with Penrith setting its highest December mark with the mercury topping 43 degrees. The bureau earlier issued a fire weather warning for the Sydney metro and Illawarra/Shoalhaven fire areas. Both districts have a total fire ban in place for the day. Growing tension between the Chinese and Australian governments over allegations of undue political influence has filtered into coverage of the Bennelong byelection in Chinese-Australian media, potentially hurting the Liberal Party's chances in Saturday's knife-edge poll. As attacks by the Coalition on Sam Dastyari over his association with Chinese government-linked donors ramped up over the past few days, the People's Daily, a major Chinese state-controlled outlet, took a hard line against the Australian government, publishing an opinion piece on Monday decrying the debate as racist and urging the government and media to "discard their political biases and prejudices." After that piece was published, the tone of coverage of the byelection rapidly began to change in Australian-based Chinese media. That coverage may prove crucial in the election on Saturday, as Bennelong has the highest percentage of Chinese-Australians of any seat in the country. Hours after the People's Daily piece ran, Sydney Today, one of Sydney's largest online Chinese media outlets, described Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as "standing at the front line of anti-Chinese sentiment". An angry open letter urging Chinese Australians to "take down the far-right Liberal Party ruling party" by voting against John Alexander in the Bennelong byelection has been shared on social media by a man who allegedly met the Chinese Communist Party's department tasked with overseas influence activities. The 1700-word letter, attributed to "a group of Chinese who call Australia home", urged people to support Labor's candidate, Kristina Keneally. "When we look at the Liberal Party we see it's already totally different from before. It's a far-right ruling party and they are privately against China, against Chinese, against ethnic-Chinese migrants and against Chinese international students," it reads in part. "For the interests of Chinese people, let us mobilise, share this message and use the ballots in the hands of we Chinese to take down this far-right Liberal Party ruling party". One year before the Weinstein allegations and the #MeToo phenomenon, political journalist Karen Middleton wrote an article about sexual harassment in Australian politics. It was not so much a personal account of her own experiences as a description of an entrenched culture in Canberra's hothouse of politicians and journalists. If her description of this culture is still accurate, politicians, and the profession supposed to hold them to account, are living in a culture that normalises criminal behaviour. Institutionalised sexism goes some way to explaining the measurably low priority given by parliament to systemic issues of male violence, female poverty and unequal representation. Half the women currently working in media have experienced sexual harassment, bulling and intimidation. Credit:Ingrid Kurtz One of the many incidents Middleton described occurred when she was 21 years old and had just started working in the press gallery. An MP with "an octopus reputation" found her, as he thought, alone in an office. She wrote: "Remarking that he had not met the newest member of the bureau, the MP quickly stepped into the minuscule room and started running his hand up my stockings, with a sleazy 'And who have we here?' A dog has died after being locked in a car in Sydney's east, police say Police were told a dog walker left the four-year-old keeshond in the car on Old South Head Road, Rose Bay, about 11am on Tuesday. A keeshond died after it was left in a vehicle at Rose Bay. Credit:Aaron Sawall The dog's owner, a 46-year-old woman, became concerned when her pet had not been returned home. About 5.30pm she found the car with her dead animal inside, police said. The 10 Australian suburbs with the largest proportion of male same-sex couples living together are all clustered within a few kilometres of Sydney's Central Station. Topping the list was Darlinghurst, where almost one in five couples living together are men in same-sex relationships, followed by Elizabeth Bay, Surry Hills, Potts Point and Redfern. Suburbs with the highest proportion of female same-sex couples were a little more dispersed. Seven inner-Sydney neighbourhoods were among the top 10, but the list was rounded out by Mayfield East in Newcastle, Daylesford in central Victoria and Ethelton in suburban Adelaide. The State Government has been slammed for announcing plans to axe jobs and programs throughout WA's state education system, on what has been described as a "dark day" for regional education. Education Minister Sue Ellery said the government would close the popular School of the Air facilities based in Hedland, Carnarvon, Derby, Kalgoorlie and Meekatharra, and a further 170 job would be cut. Minister Ellery announced the abolition of Schools of the Air in Hedland, Carnarvon, Derby, Kalgoorlie and Meekatharra. Credit:Hannah Barry Tuart College in Perth will close, and Canning College will change to take overseas fee-paying students only. School camp sites in Bridgetown, Dampier, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Pemberton and residential accommodation in Northam and Moora are also set to go. It was built at the height of WA's gold rush in the late 1800s with no expense spared, then buried for years under layers of tacky 1980's decor. Now Perth's historic Palace Hotel has re-emerged as one of the city's finest buildings thanks to a considered refurbishment by global architects Woods Bagot - and that effort has been recognised with a gong for "Best in State" at the 2017 Design Institute of Australia (WA) awards. The ornate three-storey landmark, at the corner of St George's Terrace and William Street, was owned by infamous WA businessman Alan Bond, who constructed a skyscraper - now known as 108 St Georges Terrace - directly behind it, and tricked out the interior of the hotel with plenty of '80s bling. The Palace eventually made its way into the stewardship of Bankwest until it was sold to Brookfield with Woods Bagot as the major tenant - and the architecture firm swiftly came up with a restoration effort that would strip away the dated decorations to create a simultaneously modern and historic finish. A Joondalup real estate agency and sales representative who were duped into believing their client's family had been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and sold their Balga property has been ordered to pay $21,200 in penalties and costs. First Western Realty was contacted by the homeowner in November 2012, and he told the agency his family was moving back to Afghanistan and he need the home sold "as soon as possible". The agency and sales representative have copped big fines for not verifying the woman's identity. Credit:Arsineh Houspian Sales representative Ligaya Varela took on the listing of the property, which was jointly owned by both the husband and wife. According to the State Administrative Tribunal Ms Varela received a written offer of $347,500 from a willing buyer. Criminals as young as 10 who burgle Perth homes often come from disadvantaged and chaotic families, according to research. A study by Edith Cowan University of 87 juveniles facing WA's Children's Court found 77 per cent have a family member who has run foul of the law, while 38 per cent had a relative imprisoned at some point. Seventy-seven per cent of juveniles facing WA's Children's Court have a family member who has run foul of the law. Researchers interviewed young people ranging in age from 10 to 17, most of whom said they committed their first crime at 12. Only 16 per cent live with both parents while 10 per cent were in foster care or child protection, with many children exposed to domestic violence, drugs and alcohol abuse. DALLAS Democrats are ending the year on a political high note. They are buoyed by Doug Jones stunning upset victory in the Alabama Senate race, an array of successes in Novembers off-year elections and signs that the party apparatus is making progress in overcoming the 2016 divisions about the fairness of their nominating process. Jones victory improves the Democrats long-shot hopes of regaining control of the Senate next year by reducing the current Republican margin to 51-49. And though it saves the Republicans from being saddled with a Sen. Roy Moore, the controversial state judges defeat was a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump, who campaigned strongly for him in the campaigns closing week after opposing him in an earlier GOP primary. To add to the presidents political woes, his strong support for a man accused of improper behavior with under-age girls, along with renewed focus on prior allegations of sexual improprieties against him, has put the GOP on the wrong side of the growing debate over the role of women. This comes at the very time Democrats are seizing the political high ground by forcing the resignation of two prominent members over alleged sexual improprieties. While Tuesdays Alabama election and last weeks ouster of Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers took the headlines, they were not the only positive developments for a Democratic Party that has struggled to regain its footing since Trumps unexpected victory a year ago. Over last weekend, the Unity Reform Commission, created to resolve 2016 concerns about the partys nominating process, marked an important step toward internal party unity by coming together on an array of reforms. The panel unanimously recommended a reduced 2020 role for elected and party officials serving as so-called super-delegates, took steps to encourage greater participation in nominating primaries and caucuses and voted to require greater sharing by top party leaders of National Committee finances. Those recommendations, most adopted with near or total unanimity, must still pass through two more levels, the partys Rules and Bylaws Commission and the full Democratic National Committee. The DNCs members may not take kindly to a recommendation their convention votes in 2020 would be tied to the results of primaries and caucuses in their states. Nevertheless, the proposals adopted last weekend, which also mandate strict neutrality by party officials in 2020, will go a long way toward resolving the sometimes overheated complaints by supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders that their decisive 2016 defeat to Hillary Clinton was due to restrictive party rules. That will change to a substantial degree in 2020, if the recommendations are approved, though the panel rejected a Sanders proposal to require participation of independent voters in all caucuses and primaries. Representatives of the Vermont senator hailed the panels unity after the sometimes tense two-day session. On Friday, Nina Turner, the outspoken former Ohio state senator who heads the Sanders political organization, said excluding independents was the height of hypocrisy for a party that seeks their general election votes. But on Saturday, she acknowledged the outcome represented a consensus, adding that in consensus, you dont get everything you want. Like most out-of-office parties, Democrats lack a clear leader and have had trouble crafting a unified party message. But the Alabama result and the other events provided a significant morale boost for next years mid-term elections, in which they hope to overcome the 23-seat Republican margin in the House, regain big-state governorships and reverse that narrow two-vote Senate deficit. The latter will be tougher because so many Democrats are seeking re-election in states that voted for Trump. To win control, Democrats need to retain all of their seats, including the Minnesota spot opened up by Frankens resignation, and win at least two now held by the GOP. Their best chances are in Arizona, where GOP Sen. Jeff Flake is retiring, and Nevada. And Jones victory makes it possible for victories in those states to give them control. In the House, some Republicans foresee an anti-Trump political tidal wave similar to the ones that gave Democrats the House in 2006 and restored it to Republicans in 2010. In Alabama, a strong turnout of black voters and support from suburban women proved crucial, just as an outpouring of women were key to Novembers Democratic tide in Virginia. Republicans, meanwhile, may have escaped the political burden of a Sen. Roy Moore and diminished the prospect his victory would spur more insurgent challenges to sitting GOP senators. But they face a difficult 2018, thanks to Trumps record-low job approval, unpopular tax-cut legislation and the fact that voters often punish the party in power in mid-term elections, a pattern they may have started a year early. It's alleged as police entered the William Street home he tried to flee out a back door. The damage caused to a Perth rental property which was used to grow cannabis. Credit:Consumer Protection He was charged by Organised Crime Squad detectives after a search warrant at a home in Beckenham on September 4. Police are hunting for a Vietnamese national who skipped bail after he was charged in connection with a 'high grade hydroponic' cannabis set up inside a Perth home. Ho Yeon Kim, 23, has been missing for at least two months. Police will allege power to the home had been illegally bypassed into a power board in the kitchen. Mr Kim, and another man who was also at the property, were both charged with fraudulent appropriation of power and cultivate a prohibited plant with intent to sell or supply. The 23-year-old was granted bail by a magistrate in September, but he failed to show up at his last court appearance in October. A warrant was issued for his arrest on October 12 and is still in place. It's understood prior to his arrest, Mr Kim had been studying. WAtoday asked WA Police for a photo of Mr Kim so it could be broadcast, but they declined to provide one this week. Those pleas appeared to pay off Tuesday, as precincts in Birmingham and its suburbs reported heavy turnout throughout the day, and Jones ran up a commanding lead in the state's other urban centres. The abandonment of Moore by affluent white voters may have proved decisive, allowing Jones to transcend Alabama's rigid racial polarisation and assemble a winning coalition. US Senate candidate Roy Moore leaves the stage after giving a speech at the end of his election-night watch party in Montgomery, Alabama. Credit:Mike Stewart To progressive voters here, Jones' victory marked a long-awaited rejection of the divisive brand of politics that Alabama has inevitably rewarded even as some of its Southern neighbours were turning to more moderate leaders. At an election-eve rally in Birmingham, Jones cast the campaign as just such a political crucible and alluded darkly to Alabama having opted in the past for "a path that has not been productive." Grouping his embattled opponent with other spectres of Alabama history, Jones urged voters to avoid new humiliation. Democratic candidate for US Senate Doug Jones before his victory in Alabama. Credit:John Bazemore "We've got to make sure that in this crossroads in Alabama's history, we take the right road," Jones said, adding: "We've lagged behind in industry. We've lagged behind in education. We've lagged behind in health care." The campaign, originally envisioned as a pro forma affair to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions, now the attorney-general, developed in its final months into a referendum on Alabama's identity, Trump's political influence and the willingness of hard-right voters to tolerate a candidate accused of preying on teenage girls. Roy Moore, second from right, looks at election returns with staff during an election-night watch party on Tuesday. Credit:Brynn Anderson Jones, 63, best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for bombing Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, offered himself chiefly as a figure of conciliation. He vowed to pursue traditional Democratic policy aims, in areas such as education and health care, but also pledged to cross party lines in Washington and partner with Sen. Richard Shelby, the long-tenured Alabama Republican, to defend the state's interests. Moore did little in the general election to make himself more acceptable to conventional Republicans. To the extent he delivered a campaign message, it was a rudimentary one, showcasing his support for Trump and highlighting Jones' party affiliation. But after facing allegations in early November that he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and pursued relationships with other young teenagers, Moore became a scarce presence on the campaign trail. President Donald Trump adjusts his suit jacket on Tuesday. Credit:Evan Vucci The election is a painful setback for Republicans in Washington, who have already struggled to enact policies of any scale and now face even tougher legislative math. Moore's success in the Republican primary here, and the subsequent general-election fiasco, may deter mainstream Republicans from seeking office in 2018 and could prompt entrenched incumbents to consider retirement. But there is also a measure of relief for some party leaders that Moore will not join the chamber, carrying with him a radioactive cloud of scandal. A number of Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, had indicated that Moore would face an ethics investigation if he were elected, and possibly expulsion from the Senate. Republican senate candidate Roy Moore arrived by horse to to cast his ballot in Alabama's special Senate election. Credit:Albert Cesare Trump and Republican activists would most likely have opposed such a measure, setting up a potentially drastic, months-long clash within the Republican Party, now averted thanks to Jones. Still, that relief comes at a steep price. Before the election in Alabama, Republicans were heavily favoured to keep control of the Senate in 2018, when Democrats must defend 25 seats, including 10 in states that Trump carried in 2016. Just two or three Republican-held seats appear vulnerable, in Arizona, Nevada and Tennessee. Supporters Frannie James talks with Connor Welch during an election-night watch party for Democratic candidate Doug Jones on Tuesday. Credit:John Bazemore But after Jones is sworn in, Republicans will control only 51 seats, creating a plausible route for Democrats to take over. If the election burst into the national consciousness in early November, with the sex-abuse claims against Moore, it was an intensifying political migraine for Republican leaders months before then. Trump's decision to pluck Sessions from the Senate in early 2017 left a vacant Senate seat in the hands of an Alabama governor, Robert Bentley, who was under investigation, and the governor named the state attorney-general who was scrutinising him, Luther Strange, to the post. With Strange politically tainted from the start, a series of other self-inflicted setbacks befell the party. Multiple Republicans stepped up to challenge Strange, including Moore and Mo Brooks, a conservative. After Bentley resigned in disgrace, his successor, Kay Ivey, moved up the date of the special election by nearly a year, denying Strange a chance to establish himself before seeking election in his own right. Efforts to prop up Strange over the summer faltered. When a super PAC backed by Senate leaders intervened to help him, it did so by demolishing Brooks in television ads - a move that backfired when his supporters flocked to Moore. Trump endorsed Strange and campaigned for him but wondered aloud during a campaign rally about whether he had backed the wrong man. The comedy of errors culminated in the early northern fall, after Moore defeated Strange handily in a run-off election, and most party leaders grudgingly endorsed him - just in time for a scandal of unmatched luridness to appear. The Washington Post reported in early November that Moore, while a local prosecutor in his 30s, had made sexual overtures to four teenage girls, one of whom was 14 at the time of their encounter. Other women soon stepped forward to say Moore had made advances on them too, one of whom charged him with committing sexual assault. National Republican officials abandoned Moore's campaign as his defense proved wanting - he initially said he had never pursued a girl without receiving her mother's permission before subsequently denying he knew any of the women. Yet after it appeared that Moore remained viable, Trump offered a Thanksgiving week defense of the candidate and urged Alabamians to oppose Jones. Trump's intervention helped stabilise Moore's campaign. When the president made the case for the Republican's candidacy at a Friday rally in Gulf Coast town of Pensacola, Florida, just over the Alabama line, Jones' campaign saw their internal polling advantage dissipate. Yet the conclusion of the campaign was largely to Jones' benefit. Money poured in for him. Jones raised $US10.2 million ($13.4 million) in just over a month and a half and third-party groups augmented his candidacy, helping him finance a massive voter-turnout effort after he had dominated the state's airwaves for weeks. He raced across the state with a handful of out-of-state surrogates and one local celebrity, basketball star Charles Barkley, in the race's last days, focusing his attention on Alabama's cities, college towns and heavily black communities. Instead of facing questions about his alleged sexual abuse, Moore not only avoided the news media, he largely vanished from the campaign altogether in the race's last week. Moscow: An adviser to President Vladimir Putin said cryptocurrencies may help Russian banks avoid international sanctions, the Rambler News Service reported on Tuesday. Sanctions against Russia have created an "objective need" for the digital currencies, Sergei Glazyev told a meeting of the presidential administration on the legal status of such instruments, according to Rambler. Glazyev also argued that the government could use cryptocurrencies to make and receive payments around the world for "sensitive" services, it said. Russian officials have grown increasingly nervous about a possible expansion of US sanctions early next year in retaliation for alleged Kremlin meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which Russia has denied. Virtual currencies such as bitcoin, which has soared in price this year amid a rush by investors to buy the instrument, could help bypass any such US measures because they allow users to remain anonymous. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree last month allowing the government to classify purchases by the Defence Ministry, Federal Security Service and Foreign Intelligence Service as state secrets. The United States military is a huge organization with critical responsibilities. When it undertakes big changes, they need to be thoroughly assessed in advance and carefully formulated to minimize unwanted effects. President Donald Trumps decision to ban transgender individuals, which he announced without waiting for a Pentagon review in an abrupt series of tweets last summer, is a case study in how not to change course. On Monday, unsurprisingly, a federal court blocked his policy from being carried out. His ban overturned a policy announced by President Barack Obamas defense secretary, Ash Carter, in June 2016 after a yearlong review. At the time, Carter noted that transgender personnel have deployed all over the world, serving on aircraft, submarines, forward operating bases and right here in the Pentagon. But they had been forced to keep their gender identification secret to avoid being discharged much as gay men and women had to stay in the closet when open homosexuality was forbidden. Carter said the change was needed in the interest of fairness and, more important, of military capability: Our mission is to defend this country, and we dont want barriers unrelated to a persons qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who can best accomplish the mission. Whether allowing transgender members would help or hurt the overall mission was a crucial question. Some critics in and out of the ranks depicted the lifting of the ban as an irresponsible social experiment that would hurt morale and readiness and waste money. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, accused the Obama White House of prioritizing politics over policy. Carter, however, cited evaluations showing the fears were misplaced. A study by the RAND Corp. said the evidence from foreign militaries that allow transgender members indicated little or no impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness, or readiness. The cost of gender-transition medical treatments, it estimated, wouldnt exceed $8.4 million per year which, as supporters of the change noted, is about a tenth of what the military spends on Viagra and other erectile dysfunction remedies. The Obama administrations conclusions might be subject to debate. But if youre going to overturn a policy based on its allegedly destructive consequences, you need to take the trouble to document them. Trumps decision came without such deliberation, and in an echo of his first two travel bans, which were withdrawn after court rulings against them its haste and sloppiness have been a big liability. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said it appears that the rights of a class of individuals were summarily and abruptly revoked for reasons contrary to the only then-available studies. Had the president ordered additional research and then decided that banning all transgender individuals from serving in the military was beneficial to the various military objectives cited, this would be a different case. The evidence before her, the judge said, indicated the real damage to the military would come from rejecting these members. She blocked implementation of Trumps ban and, barring a reversal on appeal, the military will be obligated to accept transgender individuals beginning Jan. 1. In trying to discredit and dismantle this policy, Trump didnt have the best of hands. And so far, hes played it badly. Wildlife officials arent worried about voracious Asian carp invading the Wisconsin River north of Prairie du Sac because a large dam blocks their way. A similar solution is needed in a shipping canal near Chicago so the invasive species doesnt infest Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. Specifically, the Brandon Road Lock near Joliet, Ill., should be shut down to separate the Mississippi River Basin from the Great Lakes, as nature intended. The attorneys general of three Great Lakes states Republican Bill Schuette of Michigan, Democrat Lori Swanson of Minnesota, and Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania last week urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Chicago to close the lock and replace it with a concrete structure. Thats the most effective, least expensive and quickest solution to stopping the Asian carp from advancing farther north, the attorneys general correctly stressed. Wisconsin officials should add their voices and clout to this bipartisan effort to protect the Midwests precious waterways. Wisconsin was previously part of a lawsuit against the federal government seeking permanent closure of the Chicago canal, and it shouldnt back down now. Asian carp escaped decades ago from Southern fish farms and have been moving north ever since. In some northern Illinois waterways, Asian carp now make up 90 percent of the concentration of fish. With their large size and appetites, they crowd out and decimate the sport fish anglers love to catch, such as walleye and bass. Even a relatively small number of Asian carp reaching Lake Michigan through the Chicago canal system could eventually spread across the Great Lakes. And the man-made canal leading from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan has shown vulnerabilities. Electric shock barriers in the water have been breached by smaller fish, according to a federal study last year. And an adult bighead carp was caught last spring in the Chicago waterway well past the barriers and only 9 miles from Lake Michigan. In the absence of more effective action, they will move through the Brandon Road Lock and the Chicago waterway in sufficient numbers to ultimately invade the Great Lakes, causing devastating ecological and economic damage, the attorneys general of Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania wrote last week to the Corps. Theyre right. The Army Corps of Engineers has highlighted the potential cost to the shipping industry if products must travel over land rather than on barges in the canal. We understand that concern. But the cost to the Great Lakes fishing and tourism industries would be much greater should Asian carp take over the worlds largest supply of fresh water. The best solution is a permanent barrier that will stop the Asian carp for good. Under the auspices of the WCO-WACAM Project financed by Sweden, a scoping and assistance mission was carried out in Niamey from 27 to 30 November 2017. This mission had two objectives. One objective was to assess the human resources management (HRM) situation based on the WCO HRM diagnostic tool. Another objective was to galvanize the HRM modernization process by developing the basis for a modern HRM competency-based system. During the mission, where 43 participants actively participated (among which 6 women), the HR modernization team within Niger Customs has finalized and validated a job catalogue, a competency framework, and job descriptions for steering and mentoring professions. Capacity-building activities carried out by WCO experts (including one regional expert from West and Central Africa) have enabled the project team members to own the approach of developing competency-based tools and to be aware of the issues arising from the adoption of the competency-based approach. Furthermore, an action plan for future support was developed. This action plan describes the different capacity-building activities to be implemented in the course of 2018 to develop HRM competency-based tools. Moreover, and in order to gain political support, WCO experts held a meeting with the Finance Ministry and its counselors at the Ministry of Finance premises to sensitize them to this key modernization project. For more information about this activity or about this project, please contact WCO Sweden Programme Director, M. Richard Chopra (richard.chopra@wcoomd.org). The World Customs Organisation (WCO) with the support of Comoros Customs Administration organized a diagnostic mission from 27 November to 1 December 2017, to assist Comoros in evaluating the feasibility for Single Window implementation. From a strategic planning perspective, the mission focussed on identifying gaps in adopting a coordinated border management (CBM) approach and building a Single Window Environment. In his welcome note, the Director General of Comoros Customs Administration Mr Souef Kamalidini, underscored the progressive steps taken up by his administration towards improving the effectiveness of Customs operations towards facilitating trade and thanked the WCO for assisting Comoros in identifying organisational, regulatory and procedural requirements for implementing trade facilitation agenda and strengthening institutional capacity. Being the inception mission, it was aimed at evaluating the as is situation, prevailing at high-traffic sea ports including the current state of business processes relating to the clearance of import, export and transit cargo. The assessment exercise included the observation of processes and interviews/consultations with relevant managers and technical staff from Customs, other cross-border regulatory agencies and stakeholders including Ministry of Finance, Transport, Quarantine, Port Authority, Chamber of Commerce, Customs Brokers, Terminal Operators etc. Comoross organisational, regulatory and procedural aspects relevant for the implementation of a Single Window Project including the acceptability of electronic documents, licenses, permits, certificates and other related controls and the exchange of information between and among various government agencies concerning the movement of goods across borders were examined in the context of already available institutional mechanisms to facilitate trade. The WCO Experts in association with Comoros officials evaluated the functional relevance and readiness of Comoros Customs Administration and other agencies in supporting the implementation of ICT solutions for facilitating international trade. The WCO experts also visited the ports of Moroni (Grand Comoro Island) and Mutsamudu (Anjouan Island) and identified key operational areas, associated business processes and documentary requirements for reviewing and harmonising them as a step forward. This strategic assessment of the progress of reform and modernization activities taken up by Comoros Customs conducted with the support of the WCO would help Comoros in initiating the process for establishing necessary requirements in place for further reforms and modernization, including the implementation of an electronic Single Window. Based on this evaluation mission, the WCO would provide recommendations and tailor-made capacity building support to Comoros for enhancing effective coordination between Customs and other border agencies to reinforce trade facilitation reforms and for alignment of existing programmes and projects to progress towards a Single Window environment, taking into account the experiences and best practices from other countries that have successfully implemented similar trade facilitation initiatives. During the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires, to which the WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, was invited as a Special Guest, the WCO and the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) of Argentina jointly organized a round table session on "E-Commerce: Game changer for Customs, Trade and Consumers" at the AFIP building on 11 December 2017. After the opening remarks by Dr. Alberto Abad, Federal Administrator of AFIP, Secretary General Mikuriya described the work done by the WCO Working Group on E-Commerce and the resulting Luxor Resolution on the Guiding Principles for Cross-Border E-Commerce, adopted by the Policy Commission in Luxor last week. He also referred to the Communication from the International Customs Community on Cross-Border E-Commerce addressed to the MC11, and circulated among WCO Members. The round table, moderated by Dr. Mikuriya, heard the views of Customs, represented by Mr. Diego Davila, AFIPs Director General of Customs, and Mr. Xiangyang Sun, Deputy Director of Ningbo Customs in China and Co-Chair of the WCO Working Group on E-Commerce, as well as of the E-Platform, represented by Mr. Jacobo Cohen Imach, Vice-President of Mercado Libre, Mr. David Roth, Head of International Public Policy - Amazon, and Ms. Lin Luo, Deputy Director of International Government and Public Affairs - Alibaba Group, and also from logistics services, represented by Mr. Carlos Grau Tanner, Director General - Global Express Association and Mr. Harald Weyerich, Director of the Postal Technology Centre - Universal Postal Union. The speakers at the round table provided useful insights into the rapid development of E-Commerce, as well as its challenges and opportunities, and interacted with participants. They suggested that Customs and businesses should embrace E-Commerce and the opportunities it offers in the spirit of innovation and collaboration, and use the available WCO tools to simplify the process. Dr. Mikuriya shared the way forward for the WCO, including the development of a framework of standards, and the organization of the Global Cross-border E-Commerce Conference in China next February, and clarified the complementary and supportive nature of the work by both the WCO and the WTO on E-Commerce. The round table was brought to a close by Mr. Mitsunari Okamoto, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan. In the margins of the MC11, Secretary General Mikuriya also participated in the launch, by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), of the Global Trade Help Desk. This Help Desk is a multi-agency initiative to enhance trade transparency for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Dr. Mikuriya expressed his support for this initiative, and the WCO's willingness to work with other stakeholders in further developing the Help Desk. He additionally indicated that the WCO is currently working with the ITC on a joint Origin Database covering preferential rules of origin in Free Trade Agreements. Madisonians won't have to deal with a snowstorm now aiming its main blow at the Lake Michigan shoreline, but drivers will see a mixed bag of light snow, freezing rain and rain on Wednesday, according to forecasters. The National Weather Service said moderate snow is expected north of a line from Fond du Lac to Port Washington, with 2-4 inches possible, but Sheboygan could get up to 6 inches of snow. More details are in this Weather Service video: 27 Storm Track meteorologist Branden Borremans said most of south-central Wisconsin will see a dusting of snow, mostly falling in the afternoon, while southwest Wisconsin will see nothing and counties north of Dane County could see 1-2 inches of snow. What snow falls could get blown around, with winds gusting up to 30 mph. Thursday should be dry with a high of 27, then a few flurries could fall late at night into Friday morning. Friday's high should top out at 28. Highs this weekend are expected to be above the normal 31, with 34 on Saturday and 36 on Sunday. There's a slight chance of snow mixed with rain on Sunday, the Weather Service said. Sun and 38 is forecast for Monday and Tuesday, with a slight chance for rain and snow on Tuesday. Borremans said we can expected clouds and 26 next Wednesday. Tuesday's high in Madison was 21, 10 degrees below normal and 32 degrees below the record high of 53 for Dec. 12, set in 1965 and tied in 1968 and 1991. The low on Tuesday was 13, 4 degrees below normal and 23 degrees above the record low of -10 for the date, set in 1962. A trace of precipitation (rain and melted snow) fell at the airport on Tuesday, keeping the December and meteorological winter (December through February) totals at 0.53 inches, 0.29 inches below normal. The record precipitation total of 0.96 inches on Dec. 12 came down as 10.6 inches of snow, both records set in 1909. The trace of snow on Tuesday kept the snowfall total at 1.3 inches for December and winter, while the snow season total stayed at 1.6 inches, 7.6 inches below normal. . To do so, first type the original number into the text box. Then click on the "Scientific Notation" option located at the top of the floating window. Finally, click on the "Standard" button found beneath the text box to display your result. This program is useful for scientists and engineers working with decimal-based numbers. It provides easy access to those who need to convert those numbers into more compact forms without having to do heavy math calculations first. Scientific notation is a way to express very large or very small numbers. It is used in physics, chemistry and other fields where large numbers are common. Those numbers are written as a power of 10 followed by a number with an exponent. For example, 1,000,000 (one million) is written as 1 103. The exponent shows how many zeros are after the first digit. For example, 1,000,001 is written as 1 102. Scientific notation is a useful tool for making calculations easier. You can use it to write down very big or very small numbers in one step instead of writing out both the large and small numbers separately. You can also use it to express large or small numbers in terms of other units like centimeters or millimeters. Scientific notation solver is an online tool that can be used to convert any number into scientific notation. Simply enter any number to the left of the decimal point and it will automatically convert it into a scientific notation equivalent. This web tool can be very helpful when you need to convert a large number into scientific notation. However, please note that this online tool can only convert numbers that are in scientific format. For example, it cannot convert a non-scientific number like "1,085" into a scientific notation equivalent. It is also important to keep in mind that this web tool only works when converting numbers from one particular format to another. For example, if you want to change a non-scientific number like "1,085" into standard format, then you will have to use another online tool like NumberFormatting.com. In the May 2000 issue of Science, a shocking article appeared. A team of geologists at Franklin and Marshall College, examining conditions on earth some 541 million years ago, calculated that there were 182 skeletal animal designs theoretically permitted by the laws of physics (under which conditions at the time could support). Fully 146 of these appear the very instant their appearance was first possible. Until this period, the seas chemistry did not permit the formation of skeletons. This expansive initial appearance of life is, however, the rule and not the exception. Even noted atheist Richard Dawkins is forced to admit this inconvenient fact, We find many in a very advanced state of evolution. The very first time they appear, it is as though they were just planted there without any evolutionary history. Certain works written over the last decade have briefly touched on the various discoveries that show the fantastic and seemingly impossible arrangement of circumstances that need to have conspired for life to be merely possible. But these points are usually made amongst other wider arguments the author is trying make, from the cosmological, to the probabilistic to the scriptural and textual, leaving the reader hoping for someone to mine this potentially fruitful area-- hoping that the few sparse sentences thrown like a mere bone to the reader are not all there is of these arguments. Neither does the reader want to traverse dry academic literature in search of this history, paging past articles on medieval weaving patterns to find something meaningful. Hugh Ross meets this demand and answers it in Improbable Planet. He charts the course of our earths early history, using primarily peer reviewed academic articles as his ammunition. What he produces is stunning in its breadth and detail, and even more so in its implications. More importantly, however, where some works of such factual depth are written for the scholar, Ross has made this work readable for those (like this reviewer) without a graduate background in the sciences. Ross paints the story of our planets history by repeatedly using a metaphor of building a structure, laying a foundation, installing plumbing and wiring, and finally getting it up to code and ready for occupancy. He shows that, despite how long 4.9 billion years may seem, it was necessary to get our planet ready for us. He shows also why an additional 9 billion years (two generations of stars) were necessary before earth even appeared on the scene. Once that all was in place, just as any realtor might insist, location, location, location was key. A spiral galaxy such as the Milky Way is the only type of galaxy supportive of life with an abundance of heavy elements, coupled with any possibility of long-term stability of planetary orbits. The size of our galaxy is also perfect, passing the Goldilocks test. Any bigger and a massive black hole would form at the center, any smaller and the co-rotation radius of the arms would be too small and too near deadly radiation from its core, and too close to the other spiral arms to ensure long term survival. Simply beginning in the Goldilocks zone of the Milky Way was not enough to get the essential quantities of elements we possess. Our solar system needed first to originate in one of the most dangerous (to life) locations in the MWG and then quickly move into the MWGs safest (for life) location. Threading many a potentially deadly needle along the way as our sun and its satellites sling shotted their way through other densely packed regions of our galaxy on its way to the peaceful idyllic backwater of our galaxy where we now sit. Our home which also happens to have the best night sky view of our universe anywhere in our galaxy. Ross does an expert job explaining the crucial role played by the formation of our moon and its implications for life here. Not to mention its essential role in our tides, its effect on slowing the earths rotation dramatically from days as short as a few hours to the twenty four hour day today, has allowed for much milder weather. Additionally, the perfect ratio of the earth to the moon and the earth to the sun allows for the perfect eclipse we experience, which has had its own advantage of allowing us to discover more of our universe and its laws throughout the ages. We learned during the Apollo missions to the moon the extent to which the earth was bombarded by asteroids and meteors 3.9 billion years ago. Every square yard on the entire planet received at least 200 tons of it. This too changed the chemistry of the early planet. It changed our atmosphere, our core and crust to finally support life. Even more astounding is that almost immediately after the earth had sufficiently cooled from this bombardment is exactly when life first appeared. Earths surface would not have cooled and stabilized enough for life to survive, let alone originate, until 3.833.85 billion years ago. Life first appears in the fossil record 3.82-3.83 billion years ago. Other works have stressed and proven the probabilistic unlikelihood given a full 3.9 billion years for merely the complex folds of proteins to appear naturally let alone the complex language of DNA, whose barest minimum viable life form requires 1,308,759 base pairs (containing) 1,354 gene products (are) considered the theoretical minimum. The fossil record window is infinitesimally small for these to have developed on their own, but like a builder without tools, that too might have been a problem, No natural source can be found, either on Earth or anywhere else in the universe, for hemochorial amino acids or sugars. Neither has any natural source been found for the five-carbon sugars that all DNA and RNA molecules need. Nor has research identified any possible natural source for the basic amino acids arginine, histidine, and lysine. We are treated to still more explanations of the necessity of certain biological events to happen in their historical order, from the appearance of plant life, to the necessity of millions of years of decay to provide us with nutrient rich soil, mineral deposits and energy resources in proper abundance for our appearance on the scene. In one example, he shows how certain marine lifes metabolic reactions transformed much of the soluble metal resources in the oceans and crust into insoluble concentrated metal ore deposits. Thus, a potentially poisonous environment for advanced life became an optimal resource repository, As Ross brings us closer to the present day, the timetable he uses gets smaller and he shows still other ways how we have been placed here in the perfect time, from the continents being now capable of bearing more ice than ever before because of the position of Greenland and Antarctica to the cooling effect of the Tibetan plateau, to a fortunate period of no excessive radiation from the sun or no supernovae within 5000 light years for the last 12,000 years. Finally, Ross notes we are living on earth right now at its most beautiful stage. The receding ice sheets and glaciers have enhanced the relief of earths mountains and valleys, creating majestic waterfalls. They have produced meadows, forests, rivers, and lakes filled with an extravagant diversity of plants and animals displaying every imaginable combination of color and texture. Over the last few decades, a quiet revolution has been stirring in scientific thought regarding the beginning of earths history. Gradually, the intellectual pillars for the idea that our planet is nothing remarkable are being hollowed out and now stand only by force of habit. The more we learn, the clearer this becomes, from astronomy to geology, to biology, physics, chemistry and genetics, events conspired to place us here. Hugh Ross masterfully spins this marvelous tale that has needed to be told for far too long. Written by: Geoff Johns Art by: Todd Nauck Colors by: Matt Herms Letters by: Rob Leigh Cover art by: Todd Nauck Cover price: $3.99 R... By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 12, 2017 | 09:14 PM | PADUCAH, KY Paducah's stormwater master plan was the dominant topic at Tuesday night's Paducah City commission meeting.Representatives from Strand Associates provided the commission with an update on the work completed since the project was adopted in March.Project manager Michael Woolum reported that Strand's research has identified 23 problem areas in Paducah. Using the baseline model of a typical 10-year storm event, 75 structures would flood. For a 25-year flood event, 208 structures would experience flooding.By comparison, Woolum said Paducah's flooding in July of 2015 was considered to be a 100-year storm event. During that event, 416 structures experienced flooding.Specific problem areas mentioned were 25th at Park Avenue, 23rd at Clay Street, and Harrison and Madison at 24th Street. Woolum said that during a 10-year storm event, a total of 37 structures would experience flooding. As a comparison, during the 2015 event, 133 structures experienced flooding.Another problem area is along Buckner Lane. For a 10-year storm event, a total of 6 structures would experience flooding. During the 2015 event, 32 structures experienced flooding.To create the model, Strand included information submitted by city residents electronically and from public meetings held in July and November.Woolum reported that the master plan development is on schedule. He said the project is challenging due to several factors including several watersheds - the Ohio River and river flood influences, the flood wall and pump stations, flat topography in the city but steeper topography outside city limits, as well as a complicated combined sewer system."We're using a tool in the urban area that's specifically designed for the kinds of conditions that the City of Paducah has with its flat topography in the downtown area," said Woolum.Strand planning advisor John Lyons told the commission the next step in the Master Plan process will be to review the problem areas and establish ten priority areas for evaluation, then evaluate flood mitigation control options and prepare preliminary cost estimates.For other action taken during the meeting, click on the link below. On the Net: Advertisement By Bill Hughes Dec. 12, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By Bill Hughes Dec. 12, 2017 | 10:58 PM | PADUCAH, KY Three elected officials from the city and county held a press conference Tuesday evening to share their impressions from a meeting earlier in the day with state corrections officials about problems with a Paducah halfway house. McCracken County Commissioners Scott Wathen and Bill Bartleman, along with Paducah City Commissioner Richard Abraham, spoke at the county courthouse about what they agreed was a positive meeting with John Tilley, Secretary of Justice and Public Safety, and two other state corrections officials. Bartleman arranged the meeting after a man walked away from Keeton Correction Facility on Clarence Gaines Street November 9, stole two cars and assaulted a Sheriff's Deputy. Another resident of the halfway house was arrested last week on a burglary charge. Bartleman quoted state data about Keeton Correction from the Department of Corrections, showing that over the past five years, 1,645 inmates were assigned to the facility. In that period, 163 escaped, including 32 this year. In that same five-year period, 638 were sent back to prison for violating state laws. That means 801 people of the people who were sent to Paducah's halfway house were removed, which is just about 50 percent. Bartleman said, "That's an alarming number. It's scary that that many people have violated rules and that many people have walked away from that facility." He told the officials about how the neighborhood surrounding the facility has rebounded over the last 10-15 years. A place once called "the set," where criminal activity was commonplace has now become a residential area with two churches and a hotel, so Bartleman said the presence of the facility endangers the community and its progress. Wathan stressed public safety with Tilley and James Erwin, Deputy Commissioner of Adult Institutions. He said the privately-run facility gets paid $34 per bed per day to house the prisoners, with 101 beds available and 76 currently being used. Wathen said he learned that on many nights there is only one person at the home to oversee all of those inmates. He said the threat of contraband and illegal activity is something we "don't need in this community." Abraham said he learned this is the only facility of its kind in the state that is in a residential neighborhood, and that's alarming. He also said he was encouraged that officials told him they have been discussing the possibility of "moving away from this model," of how halfway houses are populated and operated. Abraham also said officials were interested in engaging more with local law enforcement, which is just a few blocks away, instead of always working with State Police when there is trouble. This might include "spot checks" by a McCracken County drug-sniffing dog or other searches for contraband. Bartleman asked Tilley to stop sending inmates to the halfway house until they can assure everyone that the neighborhood is safe, and all three men said they hope the facility would close, or at least move to another part of town. But Keeton is under a 2-year state contract to run the facility that won't renew until late 2018. In the meantime, Bartleman said the officials are going to visit Paducah soon. "They made a commitment that they will come down here within a week or two to meet with the operators of that facility and express our concerns and see what can be done to make sure it's safe, and make sure that the residents of that facility are better behaved, that they don't escape, they don't violate rules," Bartleman said. All three men said they were encouraged by how the officials listened, and believe they were legitimately concerned about the situation. Now that they have met face-to-face, local leaders say they intend to continue pressing corrections officials on the situation in the weeks and months to come. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 13, 2017 | FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, IL By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 13, 2017 | 11:49 AM | FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, IL A Paducah man has been sentenced to federal prison, after pleading guilty to child pornography and mail fraud charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois says 43-year-old Clint Wade Green of Paducah was sentenced Tuesday on four counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of mail fraud. Green pleaded guilty on Sept. 7 to the charges. Green was charged with diverting checks payable to the Pulaski County Development Association into his personal banking account after his service as Executive Director of the PCDA from around November 2010 through November 2013. Green was sentenced to 108 months in prison and five years of supervised release on each of the receipt of child pornography counts, and 24 months in prison and three years supervised release on the mail fraud count. The sentences will run concurrently. Green must also pay $51,881.60 in restitution to the PCDA. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 13, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 13, 2017 | 10:06 AM | PADUCAH, KY Two people have been charged with stealing a vehicle and firearms from a McCracken County home, after being captured in Louisiana following a police pursuit. The McCracken County Sheriff's Department says they began an investigation on Dec. 1 into the theft of a vehicle and firearms from a home in the 4000 block of Bethel Church Road. They reportedly learned 30-year-old Sarah Young of Ledbetter and 31-year-old Johnathan Coates of West Paducah had been at the home the previous night, and were suspected of stealing the vehicle and four guns from inside the home. Detectives learned on Dec. 6 that officers had stopped the stolen vehicle near Gray, Louisiana after a pursuit. They worked with detectives in Louisiana and secured arrest warrants for Young and Coates. The suspects are being held at the Lafourche Parish Jail on local charges, and will face extradition to McCracken County upon their release. Both Young and Coates are charged with theft by unlawful taking under $10,000 and four counts of theft of a firearm. 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. Its particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the Christmas season, when we celebrate a new dawn of hope and joy coming into the world with the birth of a child, explained Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League. With our Christmas carols, we seek to remind those entering abortion facilities, and the entire community, that the Christmas message of salvation came through an unplanned pregnancy. CHICAGO - Throughout December, Christmas carolers will gather outside abortion facilities across America, to draw attention to the unborn children at risk of abortion. The Pro-Life Action Leagues nationwide caroling event, Peace in the Womb , brings the Christmas message of peace and joy to the darkness of abortion clinics at over 80 locations in 30 states. The Pro-Life Action League calls for pro-life advocates to gather outside of abortion facilities across America throughout December to sing Christmas carols. Peace in the Womb caroling events take place nationwide, with multiple events and locations in some metro areas, including Chicago, Omaha and Philadelphia. December 2017 marks the fifteenth year that the Pro-Life Action League has coordinated caroling outside of abortion clinics. Scheidler remarked, The message of the Christmas angels is, Be not afraid. This is the same message our carolers are sharing with abortion-minded mothers. Whatever fear might be bringing them to the abortion clinic, we want to help, in any way that we can. Scheidler noted that pro-life carolers throughout the country will be prepared to refer women to pregnancy assistance centers that offer a wide range of assistance to help women choose life for their babies. Scheidler noted that over the years, many women have decided against abortion after hearing the pro-life carolers. At least 9 babies were saved from abortion during the 2016 nationwide caroling event, including one in Wood Dale, Illinois: The couple came out of the abortion clinic with huge smiles on their faces, Scheidler reported. The mother declared, Were having a baby! We changed our minds! while the father thanked the carolers, saying, Good job! All theyd done was sing Christmas carols, and a life was saved. Loading... Debbie Isitt's Nativity! will return for a second UK tour next Christmas. Based on Isitt's popular festive film series of the same name, the musical sees Coventry teacher Mr Maddens trying to mount a nativity show at his school. WhatsOnStage reviewer Diane Parkes described the piece as "a warm-hearted family show with lively performances, great songs, brilliant sets and lots of cheer and good will." The play is currently running at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, with Louis Walsh making his stage debut in the piece. Nativity! will begin its 2018 tour in Coventry (where the play is set) on 23 October, before visiting Liverpool, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Oxford. It will finish its run at the Eventim Apollo from 19 to 31 December. Casting for the 2018 tour is to be announced. Written and directed by Isitt, the show opened in Birmingham earlier this year before embarking on a UK tour. Nativity! runs at the Eventim Apollo until 17 December 2017. It will begin its UK tour in Coventry in October 2018. NEW YORK - The fiscal guide Wall Street Journal posted a scathing editorial "Illinois drives people away" Tuesday about Illinois and its loss of revenue and population in the past ten years: If Republicans succeed in limiting the state-and-local tax deduction, one hope is that this could finally inspire a come-to-Jesus moment in prodigal high-tax states. Democrats in Illinois ought to be especially chastened by new IRS data showing an acceleration of out-migration. BREAKING: State Rep. Jeanne Ives, GOP gubernatorial primary candidate, released a response to this piece Wednesday afternoon HERE. Williamson, WV (25661) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds light and variable. Welcome to The Independent Herald E-Edition! Check back each week on Tuesday to see our[Read More] Two were reported dead following a fire in Buffalo City. According to the Buffalo County Sheriffs office, Douglas Shawley, 30, and Genevieve Shawley, 2, both succumbed to toxic smoke and fire Tuesday evening. The Buffalo County Sheriffs office responded to a call just after 5 a.m. of a trailer home on fire in the Circle Drive along County Road 00 in Buffalo City. At the time of the deputys arrival the back half of the trailer was engulfed in flames and smoke, according to their press release. They also reported a small explosion just after arriving, which they attributed to a small propane tank near the trailer. Surrounding homes were evacuated, but none were also lost in the fire. In addition to the sheriffs department the Scenic Valley Ambulance and fire departments of Fountain City, Waumandee and Alma also responded to the scene of the fire. Autopsies are being performed in Madison and currently the cause of the fire hasnt been determined. It is being investigated by the Tri-Community Fire Department and the Wisconsin Fire Marshall. Word is out that Minnesota State College Southeast will voluntarily suspend the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year. This move has understandably raised questions, and I would like to address some of those questions in this column. First, please know that our doors are still open to healthcare programs. Our Practical Nursing (PN) program is not affected by this decision, and in fact, several students who were planning to enroll in the Associate Degree in Nursing are switching to the Practical Nursing program as an attractive alternative. Nursing students are attending classes and will continue to graduate from the college. Nursing is and will always be an important part of MSC Southeasts academic programming. We decided to step back from offering the the Associate Degree in Nursing program because our NCLEX pass rates were not consistently above 75 percent as required by the Minnesota State Board of Nursing, and this December ends our three-year cycle. It is important that the college maintain high quality programs, and suspending the the Associate Degree in Nursing program provides an opportunity for the college to take steps to ensure that a quality program is offered. We made the decision to stop enrolling new students into the the Associate Degree in Nursing program effective January, 2018 because we were concerned that these students might invest in two or three semesters of study in a program that would be suspended before they could graduate. However, our currently enrolled ADN students will be able to complete the program and graduate. Minnesota State College Southeast has a long and proud tradition in nursing. The first nursing program offered at the college was Practical Nursing, which was a one-year diploma started in Winona in 1953. The two-year the Associate Degree in Nursing option was a relatively new program, launched 14 years ago. Over the years, countless nurses have begun their professional careers with a diploma or degree from Minnesota State College Southeast. MSC Southeast has several strong options in the health care fields. In addition to Practical Nursing, Medical Laboratory Technician and Radiography are accredited by their respective national organizations. We also have successful career options in Massage Therapist, Biomedical Equipment Technology, and Certified Nursing Assistant. Graduates from all of these programs are serving communities throughout Southeast Minnesota. Plus, Winona State University will soon be offering the RN to BSN completion program on the Red Wing campus. In the very near future, we are looking forward to opening new programs such as Medical Assistant and a Broad Field Health Science program. We are exploring other options in health care careers that would be a good fit for our students and region. The college is already in early conversations with other local educational institutions to explore ways to ensure that associate degree nursing options remain available in our region. As the president of Minnesota State College Southeast, I want to assure you that student success is our top priority. We are dedicated to providing a quality educational experience for our students and our communities. Let us love in deed... Ive noticed that anti-gay religious people tend to avoid using the word gay, but instead use the word homosexual. Apparently this helps them inflict hate on gay people with a clear conscience. Biblical writers, like everyone else at the time, believed all people are created straight. Some condemned these straight people having sex with members of their own gender, because this was considered unnatural contrary to the way God created them. These people are called homosexuals. Then in the second half of the 20th century we began to realize that some people are not created straight. Many people are created by God in such a way that they fall in love only with members of their own gender. These are gay people. In the 21st century we began to understand that God made this orientation permanent. This is the way God wants it. Biblical writers never wrote anything about gay people, because they couldnt write about that which they didnt know existed. I can understand why anti-gay religious people avoid using the word gay. They dont want to admit that people like this exist, because if they did exist, the practice of applying Biblical homosexual morality to them would be revealed as completely inappropriate. This would be a big problem for many traditional religious people who, as youngsters, are taught that our understanding of human nature doesnt evolve; their religion already has all the correct moral answers, therefore, they should never reconsider any moral judgment that was taught to them when they were young. But encouraging people to reject the love God created in them is obviously an act of hate. Ironically some of those who claim to follow Jesus are actually inflicting hate on innocent people in Winona. In my opinion, the ones who are morally culpable for this abuse are the parishioners, teachers, students, ministers, and priests who know better, but have decided not to actively help eliminate the moral ignorance and hate their religion is presently promoting among its followers. Let us love in deed and in truth and not merely talk about it. (l John 3:18) John Rupkey, Winona On Dec. 6, the 45th President of the United States announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, making the U.S. the first country to recognize it as such. This decision also reverses over half a century of U.S. policy as well as a United Nations consensus to stay neutral on this decision in the absence of peace talks and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian East Jerusalem. He also announced his intention to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. This announcement will only further Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians, who have suffered in myriad ways due to the apartheid under which they are living. To just name a few, since the 1948 creation of Israel, there are 7.2 million Palestinian refugees worldwide. Since the 1967 war, one in three Palestinian men have been incarcerated in a system run by the Israeli military. And in the summer of 2014, the United Nations reported that at least 2,104 Palestinians died during Operation Protective Edge, including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children. During that deadly siege on Gaza in 2014, the New York Times reported that Israelis cheered on their military from plastic chairs while eating popcorn. Recently, in 2016, the U.S. role in the conflict was furthered by a $38 billion package of military aid to Israel over the next 10 years. This is the largest aid package the U.S. has offered to any country, ever. This summer, I witnessed first-hand the violations of Israeli apartheid and occupation while in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and I heard testimonies from many parents about the toll of occupation on children. One father shared: It is your tax dollars that kill our children. It is your tax money for which we are killed in your name, and killed by them [Israeli Defense Forces]. I dont blame you [Americans], rather your administration. As I tell my kids, dont blame individual people, go to the people that make the decisions. While the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital may seem geopolitically remote to Winona, Minnesota, this political decision makes us complicit through the tax dollars we pay. As the Palestinian father I met noted: these dollars and the repression they buy are being used in our names, and the decisions to spend tax dollars in this inhumane way are made by our elected representatives, of both parties, in the U.S. Congress. The sentiments I heard from Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank were not that different than the values and dreams I was raised with in the rural Midwest. Parents, much like my own, wanted their children to have access to a good education, job, and a safe family home to return to. Painfully, many homes have been demolished in the move for perpetual land grabs under occupation. Many families post images of their homes prior to demolition; these bear powerful witness: this was once home. The 45th Presidents announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will exacerbate violence perpetrated by the Israeli Defense Forces against Palestinians living under occupation. And the theft and demolition of homes will continue. The goal of family security and shelter, a commonality many of us share globally, is one that we as Americans are complicit in making unavailable to Palestinian families. But we still live in a democracy which at least pays lip service to freedom of speech. Lets use this freedom to help put an end to US complicity in the Palestinian apartheid. WASHINGTON The Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour is a movie that should be seen, but not entirely believed. Gary Oldmans alternately fierce and vulnerable Churchill is a triumph of both acting and the cosmeticians art. Just hearing him deliver snippets of Churchills speeches is worth the ticket price. (Am I the only one who tears up at the words We shall fight on the beaches? My wife: Probably.) But the central conceit of the film that a deflated, defeated Churchill required bucking up by average Brits is a fiction. Very nearly the opposite was true. The policy of appeasement was broadly popular in Britain during the early to mid-1930s. In 1938, a majority supported Neville Chamberlains deal at Munich (which ceded much of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in return for ... nothing). It is more accurate to say that Churchill summoned British courage and defiance by his intense idealization of British character. He saw heroic traits in his countrymen that even they, for a time, could not see. This is not to say that May and June of 1940 werent dark times, even for Churchill. As resistance in France collapsed and Italy seemed destined to enter the war on Germanys side, Churchill asked his chiefs of staff if it were possible to continue the war at all (they gave a conditional yes). The despair implied in that question still startles. But on June 3, even as British troops were being evacuated at Dunkirk, Churchills private secretary Jock Colville wrote in his diary: Winston is tired of our always being on the defensive and is contemplating raids on the enemy. How wonderful it would be, he writes to [Gen. Hastings] Ismay, if the Germans could be made to wonder where they were going to be struck next instead of forcing us to try to wall in the Island and roof it over. In the midst of catastrophe, Churchill was dreaming of Normandy (and North Africa, and Italy). Not the thoughts of a defeated man. Where Darkest Hour shines is in presenting the alarming, inspiring contingency of great events. In the spring of 1940, Europe was being shaken by massive, impersonal, world-historic forces the apparent failure of liberal democracy and free markets, the rise of communism and fascism, the unleashing of anti-Semitism. Millions marched, line by line, to the Horst Wessel song or the Internationale. And yet, in saving the remnants of the British Army at Dunkirk, it fell to 665 private British boats (along with 222 British warships) to rescue their country from (likely) capitulation or invasion. All the powerful, impersonal forces funneled down and down to 665 volunteer captains in pleasure craft and fishing trawlers. The future of freedom was determined by the choices and courage of a few hundred free people. And, of course, the choices and courage of one man. A New York Times review of Darkest Hour sneered at the movies great man fetish. But is there really any doubt that history would be darker if Churchill had truly lost his nerve, or had died when hit by a car in New York in December of 1931 (he escaped with two cracked ribs and a severe scalp wound)? History can hinge on a single life. From Churchill, we learn to resist pessimistic extrapolation. May 1940 was terrible, but not permanent. We learn the power of unreasonable optimism the value of planning for revival in the midst of defeat. We see the possibility of leadership that can not only ride the tide but summon it. Many of us view this example, not only with appreciation, but with longing. The problem of our time is not only arrogance without accomplishment or swagger without success. These are common enough in politics. Rather, it is the arrival of leadership that survives by feeding resentment, hatred and disorienting flux. Leadership urging us at angry rallies, in ethnic stereotyping, through religious bigotry to forget who we really are as a people. Leadership that has ceased to believe in the miracle at our countrys heart the inclusive, unifying power of American ideals. But the moment is not permanent. Many are looking for a place to invest their hope. And some leader, we trust, will rise who calls his countrymen to choose decency and civic friendship above the destructive pleasures of hatred and blame. Who can see and summon the best in American character, even if, for the moment, it is hidden. In the meantime, we shall fight on the beaches. Submit an event for Around Town by emailing calendar information to bnr-news@wiscnews.com at least three business days before the event date. For a complete listing of calendar events for the next week, visit baraboonewsrepublic.com. Today Blood drive: noon to 5 p.m., Weston National Honor Society and BloodCenter of Wisconsin, school gym, E2511 Highway S, Cazenovia. 13, 2017. Students who are 16 years of age or older may donate with parent-guardian permission. Permission and sign-up slips are located in the Weston High School office. For more information or to make an appointment, call Kay Amborn at 608-986-2151, ext. 230. Grazing event: 2-3 p.m., Sauk County Conservation, Plannning, and Zoning, Yankes Echo-Y Farm, S7909 Skyview Road, Loganville. Grazing Stockpiled Forages and Out-Wintering Cattle will be presented. Meeting: 3 p.m., SSM Health St. Clare Hospital, 707 14th St., Baraboo. Better Breathers Club will hold a discussion on tips for staying healthy during the holidays, energy conservation and managing lung disease with co-occurring conditions. Thursday Author visit: 6 p.m., La Valle Public Library, 101 W. Main St., La Valle. Darcy Miller will discuss her book, Roll about competitive pigeon rolling. Meet her birds, Crow and Squirrel. For more information, call 608-985-7323. Pottery painting: 6-8 p.m. River Arts, River Arts on Water Studio, 590 Water St, Prairie du Sac. A selection of ceramic pottery pieces will be provided, $15-70, for students to paint. Guidance, color options and surface ideas, along with reference materials and samples will be provided. Fee is $15. For more information or to check availability, email Kristina at riverartsinc.org" target="_blank">kcoopman@riverartsinc.org, call 608-643-5215 or visit riverartsinc.org. Court program: 6:30 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Primer on the Criminal Court System in Wisconsin with Appellate Judge Brian Blanchard, District IV, Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He will present a non-partisan program about Wisconsins criminal court system. For more information, call 608-356-6166. Live theater: 7 p.m., Baraboo High School, Universtity of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County, R.G. Brown Theatre, 1006 Connie Road., Baraboo. Our Town will be performed. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, available at Corner Drug, and the school office. Friday Senior coffee hour: 9-11 a.m., Friday Senior Coffee Hour, Baraboo Area Senior Center, 124 Second St. Room 24, Baraboo. Gourmet coffee hour, light refreshments and fellowship free of charge. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464. Chair yoga: 10:10-11 a.m., Baraboo Area Senior Center, 124 Second St., Room 21, Baraboo. Instructor Tatsiana ONeil will lead the group in stretches while seated. Cost is $1 per class. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464. Blood drive: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., American Red Cross, St Pauls Lutheran Church, 727 8th St., Baraboo. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org. Live music: noon, Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. An Interlude of Seasonal Music presented by Zach Ott and Gretchen Roltgen performing holiday piano music arranged for one piano, four hands. This program is free. For more information, call 608-356-6166. Live theater: 7 p.m., Baraboo High School, Universtity of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County, R.G. Brown Theatre, 1006 Connie Road., Baraboo. Our Town will be performed. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, available at Corner Drug, and the school office. Open stage: 7:30 p.m., The Village Booksmith, 526 Oak St., Baraboo. Mostly Musical Toast of the Town Open Stage will take place with host Ron Frye. All acts, musical or otherwise, are welcome to the stage. For more information, call 608-355-1001 or visit villagebooksmith.com. Saturday Craft fair: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sauk Prairie Area Food Pantry, former Sauk Prairie Harley Davidson location, 836 Phillips Blvd., Sauk City. Third annual Holiday Shop with bake sale, specialty foods and about 40 vendors and crafters. Christmas party: 1 p.m., Baraboo Elks Lodge 688, Al. Ringling Mansion, ballroom, 209 5th Ave. Baraboo. The 100th annual kids Santa will provide a gift stocking to attending children. Santa: 1-5 p.m., Parkview Bed & Breakfast, 211 N. Park St., Reedsburg. Milk & Cookies with Santa and photo for $5, additional for horse drawn wagon rides. A limited number of tickets are available at the Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, 240 Railroad St. Live theater: 2 and 7:30 p.m., Baraboo High School, Universtity of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County, R.G. Brown Theatre, 1006 Connie Road., Baraboo. Our Town will be performed. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, available at Corner Drug, and the school office. Sunday Fundraiser: 8 a.m to noon, Reedsburg Knights of Columbus, Sacred Heart School gym, 545 N. Oak St., Reedsburg. Brunch to support the Reedsburg Area Food Pantry; menu includes French toast, hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausages, sliced ham, applesauce, donuts and beverages. Tickets are $7 adults, $3 ages 4-10. Free will donations accepted. Open to the public. Christmas event: 7 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church, 309 Water St., Sauk City. Annual Christmas Program with Jan Housley presenting a monologue entitled Marys First Christmas, with childrens Christmas pageant. For more information, call 608-643-2101 or visit saukprairiecalvary.com. Monday Sewing repairs: 9-10 a.m., Baraboo Area Senior Center, 124 Second St., Room 24, Baraboo. Senior sewing repairs and alterations will be offered by Teena Castle. Fees will vary depending on the specific project. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464. Senior potluck luncheon: noon to 1 p.m., Baraboo Area Senior Center, 124 Second St., Room 24, Baraboo. Pianist Nick Kelly will play Christmas carols during the Senior Christmas Party. There is no cost, but bring a side dish to pass. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464. Blood drive: noon to 5:30 p.m., American Red Cross, GraceWay Church, 65 13th St., Prairie du Sac. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org. Blood drive: 1-6 p.m., American Red Cross, La Valle Fire Department, 101 W. Main St., La Valle. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org. Student art exhibit: 3:30-6 p.m., River Arts Center Gallery, 105 Ninth St., Prairie du Sac. Art exhibit and free public reception for Sauk Prairie middle school and high school students. Money received will help fund the art program. This exhibit runs through Jan. 13 and is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on school days. For more information, visit riverartsinc.org or call 608-643-5215. Caroling concert: 6:30 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Village Voices Caroling Concert with hot chocolate and cookies and a chance to sing-a-long at this free event. For more information, call 608-356-6166 Electors meeting: 7 p.m., School District of Reedsburg, Webb Middle School, 707 N. Webb Ave., Reedsburg. Public meeting of the electors where district residents can vote (approve or not) on the purchase of a specific piece of property to build the new school. For more information, call Tom Benson, district administrator, at 608-524-2016 ext. 2006 or email referendum@rsd.k12.wi.us. Tuesday Hospice training: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Agrace Hospice and Palliative Care, 1670 South Blvd., Baraboo. Volunteers are needed to visit and provide companionship to local hospice patients. For more information, an application and to schedule orientation, call 608-327-7163. Caregiver group: 6 p.m., Aging and Disability Resource Center of Sauk County, Sauk Prairie Community Center, 730 Monroe St., Sauk City. Family Caregiver Support Group is a support group for those who care for their parents, spouse or children. The group meets the third Tuesday of the month. Light dinner will be provided. For more information, call Marina Wittmann at 608-355-3289. Art class: 6-8 p.m., River Arts on Water Studio, 590 Water St, Prairie du Sac. Wrapping paper workshop where students learn how to carve a linoleum printing block, roll ink onto it, and make a one-of-a-kind design on sturdy craft paper. Cost is $40 and includes all necessary materials and instruction, and two yards of printed paper. Open to ages 16 and older. Call 608-643-5215 or visit riverartsinc.org/workshop-wrapping-paper to check availability. Amit Shah in a series of tweets targeted the former prime minister and asked why was he still silent when PM Modi was called 'neech'. BJP chief Amit Shah hit out at former PM Manmohan Singh for lashing out at PM Modi. (Photo: Reuters) By India Today Web Desk: Hours after India Today aired an exclusive footage of former prime minister Manmohan Singh lashing out at PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief has hit out at the former prime minister. Amit Shah in a series of tweets targeted the former prime minister. "We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry & anguished when a CM of his country was called 'Maut Ka Saudagar.' Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called 'Neech'?," asked Shah in one of his tweets. We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry & anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called Neech?&; Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 advertisement Shah said that the respected former prime minister has done his best to mislead the people of Gujarat in previous elections and Gujarat has rejected him and Congress each time. On ex-PM Manmohan Singh's statement, Amit Shah asked that where was Dr Singh's anger when president-elect of the Congress Party Rahul Gandhi tore an ordinance which his Cabinet had cleared. Towing PM Modi's line of the allegation of a secret meeting between Pakistan leaders and Congress, Shah asked the former PM why he took a u-turn when Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala vehemently denied such meeting. We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot & plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed this anger then!&; Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 "We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singhji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch. The nation missed his anger then," said Shah. Singh had issued a rebuttal against PM Modi's allegation of meeting held at suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's home in New Delhi. PM Modi while addressing a recent rally in Gujarat had alleged that the meeting was attended by former PM Manmohan Singh, Pakistan High Commissioner and a former Pakistani foreign minister. Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Why did he not consider it appropriate to apprise GoI about such a meeting with a neighbour like Pakistan. Why did he try to hide it?&; Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 PM Modi also said that the attendees at Aiyar's party also discussed the much-anticipated Gujarat Assembly Elections. --- ENDS --- A committee may consider new rules for how Sauk County government appropriates money to outside agencies, such as nonprofit organizations. I think we have some high hopes of tightening down that process a little bit going into the (next) budget year, Sauk County Controller Kerry Beghin said Tuesday. Beghin told members of the Sauk County Boards Finance Committee that in the midst of discussions about the 2018 budget, county leaders learned of a legal opinion from Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel that involved outside agency requests. In the opinion, Schimel advised that the Shawano County Board was not authorized to appropriate money to a nonprofit food pantry. The opinion stated that a county board only has powers expressly conferred upon it or necessarily implied under Wisconsin law. Because the statutes granting powers to county boards do not authorize appropriations to nonprofit corporations for the purpose of operating food pantries and no such authority can be implied, I conclude that county boards do not have the authority to make such an appropriation, Schimel wrote in the Sept. 1 opinion. The Wisconsin Constitution grants cities and villages much broader power over their local affairs than it does counties, according to Schimels opinion. Sauk County contributes about $1.6 million annually to about 20 outside agencies, such as libraries, local airports, the local Boys & Girls Club, Hope House of South Central Wisconsin, and the Sauk County Historical Society. Beghin said the countys corporation counsel has determined that appropriations to outside agencies in prior years and those approved for 2018 have met legal standards. For example, state law expressly allows county boards to appropriate funds to nonprofit organizations, such as Hope House, that provide assistance to domestic violence victims. Although past appropriations have been within the law, Beghin said, county board members have expressed concern that a failure to closely scrutinize outside agency donations could open up a floodgate of requests. She said a new process for approving the requests is needed. The requests typically are submitted to county departments that deal with matters similar to that of the outside agency. The departments then incorporate the donations into their annual budget requests, which are considered by their oversight committees, the Finance Committee, and finally the full county board. Administrative Coordinator Alene Kleczek Bolin said Tuesday she has heard from department managers who have been uncomfortable with sponsoring outside agency appropriations, because they artificially increase the county departments budget requests. District leaders are planning to offer a firefighter training course at Baraboo High School next school year. The school district will partner with the Baraboo Fire Department and Madison Area Technical College to prepare students for state firefighter certification exams. The new Fire Academy course and a host of others were approved by the Baraboo School Board on Monday. Director of Teaching and Learning Nicholas Karls said students enrolled in the program would receive instruction at the Baraboo firehouse from certified Madison College instructors. They would also travel to Madison College five times throughout the semester to use firefighting equipment in training structures. Karls said he and other district leaders traveled to Madison College to watch area school districts that have enacted similar courses participate in the training. Sun Prairie has this occurring with one of their high school programs right now, so we actually got to see the students come in, put on the gear and go through some of the training, he said. The students had a lot of positive things to say. Baraboo Fire Chief Kevin Stieve said the semester-long Fire Academy course would offer training ranging from basic firefighting techniques to somewhat advanced levels. Through training exercises at Madison College, he said students will gain experience with live fire conditions, smokey environments, extrication procedures, raising ladders and other important firefighting skills. Theyll definitely have their share of practical skill applications throughout the training semester, Stieve said. Stieve added that having the students in class for a semester will give instructors more time to delve deeper into different aspects of firefighting than they generally have with normal training courses. The school semester provides a little bit more instructional hours where we can expand on practical or classroom skills, he said. School board members asked if the district would offer workforce certification through the Fire Academy course. District Administrator Lori Mueller said program leaders are asking the state to include Baraboo High School on a list of schools that receive funding to offer workforce certification for similar programs. District leaders plan to offer the Fire Academy course next fall. Stieve said he approached Baraboo school leaders about offering a Fire Academy course after hearing about the Sun Prairie Area School Districts program through Madison College. He said bringing a similar course to Baraboo would benefit the district, as well as the community and area fire departments. Its a huge opportunity for the Baraboo School District and the Baraboo Fire Department, he said. Hopefully we can get it wrapped up into a program where we can help each other out, and help out the Baraboo community and potentially the other communities with trained firefighters. Its no mystery why Trump doesnt trust U.S. intelligence agencies, Bloombergs Eli Lake wrote last month. As the old saying goes: Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean theyre not out to get you. Trump understandably believes the intelligence agencies are out to get him. Of course, leaders in the intelligence community would deny they are out to get the president. But in an extraordinary new interview, one CIA veteran who served in the agency from 1980 to 2013, who briefed presidents on the most sensitive issues of the day, and is still a prominent voice in intelligence matters, is at least conceding that he can understand why the president feels the way he does. Michael Morell stayed out of politics when he served as the CIAs No. 2 official. He was the classic non-partisan operative who served the office, and not the man. Until Trump. In August 2016, the retired-but-still-active-in-intelligence-matters Morell decided to abandon decades of non-partisanship and come out in support of Hillary Clinton. In a New York Times op-ed, he praised Clintons experience and called Trump a danger to the nation, a threat to its foundational values, and an unwitting agent for Russia. I was so deeply concerned about what a Trump presidency might look like from a national security perspective, and believed that there was such a gap between Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump with regard to how well they would protect the country, that I thought it extremely important to come out and say that, Morell told Politico. Some of Morells former colleagues in the intelligence community took the same step. Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA director, blasted Trump as Russias useful fool. Another former top CIA officer, Michael Vickers, pronounced Trump unfit. And the agencys then-director, John Brennan, openly clashed with Trump. These were all men who came out of the non-political tradition of American intelligence. And all chose, for the first time, to publicly take sides in a presidential campaign. Of course, its safe to say that each assumed Clinton would win. But when Trump prevailed, amazingly enough, he thought the intelligence agencies were against him. Lets put ourselves in Donald Trumps shoes, Morell said to Politico. So what does he see? Right? He sees a former director of CIA and a former director of NSA, Mike Hayden ... criticizing him and his policies. Right? And he would rightfully have said, Huh, whats going on with the intelligence guys? And then he sees a former acting director and deputy director of CIA criticizing him and endorsing his opponent. And then he gets his first intelligence briefing, after becoming the Republican nominee, and within 24 to 48 hours, there are leaks out of that that are critical of him and his then-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn. And so, this stuff starts to build, right? And he must have said to himself, What is it with these intelligence guys? Are they political? The answer to that was simple: Yes, they were political. But the astonishing part of the Morell interview is his admission that at the time he did not stop to consider what was happening from Trumps perspective, even as the leaks continued when Trump took office. He must have thought, Who are these guys? Morell said. Are these guys out to get me? Is this a political organization? The first time Trump met the FBIs then-director, James Comey, was when the intelligence chiefs chose Comey to tell Trump, then the president-elect, about a collection of salacious and unverified (Comeys words) allegations about Trump, compiled by operatives working for the Clinton campaign, that has since become known as the Trump dossier. That surely got Trump off to a good start with the FBIs intelligence-gathering operation. It was also a clever way for the intel chiefs to push the previously secret dossier into the public conversation, when news leaked that Comey had briefed the president on it. And on and on it went. Could anyone blame the new president for believing the intelligence agencies were after him? Trumps fellow New Yorker, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, warned the president against messing with the spy organizations. Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you, Schumer said in January. Indeed, they did. And now, Michael Morell admits he went after the new president without even considering what that might mean. I think there was a significant downside to those of us who became political, he told Politico. So, if I could have thought of that, would I have ended up in a different place? I dont know. But its something I didnt think about. Sometimes you have to acknowledge what you are and embrace it, even if part of you doesnt like it. I might wish I were tall and famous and a candidate for People Magazines Sexiest Man Alive. You might wish you had invented Google and appeared on the cover of Forbes. But that doesnt change the fact that were regular schmoes from Wisconsin whose appeal has, to date, gone unrecognized by national periodicals. What are we to do, attempt to pass ourselves as something were not in hopes of getting attention? I could spend my days strutting about in pantaloons, munching on baguettes and humming La Marseillaise, but that wouldnt make me the king of France. Alas, some in Wisconsin want our state to deny its heritage and create a new identity in hopes of impressing others. They want to discontinue the states slogan Americas Dairyland and replace it with something that isnt quite so, well, cheesy. This fall the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce business group pushed to remove the slogan from license plates. Business leaders want the world to know theres more to Wisconsin than cheese wedges. On this point, the organization is right: Theres also sausage, beer, Harley-Davidsons and the Green Bay Packers. But those are just the kind of traditional they might call them tired images business leaders want Wisconsin to shed. They want to promote exciting things happening in the states economy outside the agriculture sector. They point to the Taiwanese company Foxconns plan to build a massive high-tech manufacturing campus near Racine with help from a $3 billion state subsidy. Perhaps our license plates should read, Wisconsin: Taiwans Sugar Daddy. I can understand the states chamber of commerce wanting Wisconsin to be known for more than its dairy air. No one wants to be perceived as one-dimensional. But the reputation of the states cheese across the nation and around the world is a commodity to be treasured, not trashed. Any rebranding effort must take care not to throw out the cheese wedge with the whey. Imagine Las Vegas suffering a crisis of conscience and deciding it would prefer to be known not for gambling, but for something more wholesome such as, say, crocheting. Try though it might to rebrand itself as the Crocheting Capital of the World What Frays in Vegas Stays in Vegas it wouldnt change public perception of Sin City. Wisconsin should count itself lucky that it has a well-established identity. Tell me what you know about Delaware. Im waiting. Ask people in Dover what they know about Wisconsin, and theyll mention cheese, beer, bikes and the Pack. Business leaders dont like that Wisconsins poster child is a shirtless guy holding a beer and wearing a cheese wedge on his head at Lambeau Field. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation wants to spend nearly $7 million on marketing efforts to recruit skilled young workers, forsaking our agricultural slogan because millennials prefer to live in cities. They want to draw millennials by showing Wisconsin has more to offer than farms and bars. Good luck drawing a generation of vegans with gluten allergies to the land of cheese and beer. Everyone here wants Wisconsins economy to thrive, of course, and its important to attract and retain bright young minds. Our state has been a hub of innovation since its inception, giving the world the typewriter, stem cell research and the ice cream sundae. This last example proves innovation and dairy products arent mutually exclusive. And it shows Wisconsin neednt hide from its heritage. I could try to masquerade as the Sexiest Man Alive or the king of France or the Wizard of Oz, but in the end the world would learn the man behind the curtain is a Wisconsin newspaper columnist. And theres nothing wrong with that, just like theres nothing wrong with Wisconsin being known being known for its dairy products. When it comes to slogans, I ask whats in a name? Limburger by any other name would smell like feet. The wee hours of Tuesday morning in Beaver Dam were dark and windy, with temperatures in the teens, but the church parking lot at St. Katharine Drexel Parish began filling up despite the cold. The parish hosted a celebration in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexicos patron saint, starting with a rosary recitation at 3:30 a.m. The Mariachi Garibaldi band of Williams Bay filled the rafters with Las Mananitas (early morning serenading) from 4 to 5 a.m., followed by Mass. A light breakfast of homemade tamales and sweet breads rounded out the celebration. Claudia Ramirez, bilingual secretary at St. Katharine Drexel, explained that Dec. 12, is a popular Catholic feast day which commemorates the belief that Jesus mother appeared in Mexico almost 500 years ago to the peasant Juan Diego. It is tradition in Mexico to wake up very, very early in the morning and celebrate all day long, she said. According to lore, in 1531 the mother of God appeared to Juan Diego near present-day Mexico City and asked that he build her a shrine. Twice Juan Diego reported her appearance to his bishop, who asked for proof. On the morning of Dec. 12, the vision directed Juan Diego to gather flowers at the top of the hill. It was winter and flowers were not in season. However, he followed her instructions and discovered Castilian roses on a hill. The lady helped Juan Diego arrange them in his tilma (cloak). When Juan Diego showed the bishop his cloak, the roses tumbled out and on the inside of the cloak was an image of the Virgin Mary. This image is known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. The tilma is on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside Mexico City. Its colors have not faded despite the passage of hundreds of years, and the cloak has reportedly defied some scientific explanation. Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexicos most popular religious and cultural image. A powerful symbol of devotion and patriotism, she retains the sense of being an accessible source of hope for the poor or oppressed. The Rev. Mike Erwin explained that St. Katharine Drexel Parish held a novena (a form of worship consisting of special prayers on nine successive days) prior to Tuesdays celebration. Father Erick (the Rev. Erick Cassiano) planned the novena as a rotation throughout the area. Seven days the prayers were said in peoples homes and two days we came back together at church, he said. The idea was to provide an important outreach to our Hispanic community. WAUPUNEvery month except in summer, area women have gathered on the first Tuesday at St. Joes Catholic Church to knit and crochet clothing to give away. The Holy Stitchers started small, but has grown. Its been going on now for nine or more years, and started out with four people. Now we have 12 to 14 people meeting monthly, said Terri Main. Most of the knitting and crocheting is done at home, but we like getting together monthly where we can chat, have refreshments, and drop off what we did that month, such as shawls and lap robes for the elderly in nursing homes, or twiddle muffs for dementia patients, and autistic children. Those muffs keep hands busy, said Main. The Holy Stitchers also make scarves, mittens, hats for children and baby sweaters and blankets. The finished products go to whoever needs them, often local charities or non-profit organizations such as People Against A Violent Environment, Waupun Christian Home, Salvation Army, Dodge County Dementia Coalition, pregnancy support centers and special education groups. Head organizer Mary Malchow said, Most of the yarn is donated, adding, Yarn is like money, you can never have too much of it. The women meet from 10 a.m to noon at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 118 W. Main St. Everyone is welcome, and yarn can be dropped off at the same address. For more information, call 324-5428 or 324-4171. A Mauston man faces strangulation and domestic abuse charges after allegedly beating a woman at his home. Lance Newman, 24, is charged with strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor battery, and disorderly conduct. He faces up to six years imprisonment for the first charge. According to the criminal complaint: On Nov. 23, two officers of the Mauston Police Department were dispatched to Maine Street in Mauston after reports of an argument threatening to escalate into a physical fight. Upon arriving on scene, the officers made contact with Newman and an older man who were arguing over the origin of the injury to a womans head. Newman said the woman had broken a candle over her own head while the other man stated it was Newman who did it. Newman was placed in handcuffs and was put in the rear seat of the officers patrol unit. The officers went to the residence where the fight between Newman and the woman was said to have taken place. They found a broken Christmas tree candle type decoration on the floor. Newman informed the officers he and the woman had been out drinking, and the woman accompanying him played some rap music on the bars jukebox. He told her the bar was a country type bar and that she should play country music and not rap. The two then began to argue over the music. Newman told the woman he was going home, but she said she did not want to go home alone so she would accompany him. At home, a shoving match ensued and Newman said the woman broke the candle decoration over her head. The officers then spoke with the woman at a different residence. The officers reported that she had a bloodied towel in her hand that was packed with ice. She said she did in fact break the candle decoration over her head. She said that during the fight, Newman had punched her in the lip with a closed fist. The officer reported that her lip appeared to be swollen and bruised. The woman stated when Newman punched her, she became upset and broke the candle over her head in frustration. The officer also observed multiple bruising areas and marks on her neck. The woman said Newman choked her during the fight, and she almost lost consciousness and vomited. The officer photographed her injuries. Newman denied punching the woman, and said the marks on her neck were from pushing her. While he was being transported to the Juneau County Jail, the officer reported Newman asked him to give him a ticket instead. Newman was released on a $5,000 signature bond on Nov. 27. He is due in court Dec. 20. Mauston locals looking for low-income housing opportunities have a new option. The Central Wisconsin Community Action Council unveiled their newest project Dec. 8. The John Weenum family apartments opened on Herriot Drive in Mauston. The apartment complex is the CWCACs first project in Mauston, it has previously completed projects in Necedah, Wisconsin Dells, Adams County and other locations. The complex has 10 units with eight single bedroom units and two double bedroom units. The apartments are meant for low-income individuals and families, primarily on a long-term basis. The ribbon was cut by the apartments namesake John Weenum, a CWCAC board member for Juneau county. Mauston Housing Authority Administrative Assistant Dawn Matson said she was pleased with the complex. These are gorgeous apartments, Matson said. Well thought out, well figured, gorgeous, I love them I think people are really going to like it. Matson said the high level of handicap accessibility in the apartments was a major benefit, and the housing authority would be very careful picking out who comes in. Mauston needs more places like this, Matson said. Dale Casperson, who does maintenance work for CWCAC properties, said the housing authority has been helpful in finding tenants. The housing authority has pretty much given us all the tenants so far, Casperson said. Casperson said the CWCAC had a good experience with Bank of Mauston and local government officials as well. Theyve all been really helpful. Executive Director of the CWCAC Fred Hebert attended the grand opening. We think (Maustons) an ideal location, Hebert said. Everybody who has come by really likes it. We have some renters who just happened to be driving by and saw our sign. State Representative Ed Brooks also attended the event. Brooks said his general impression of the complex was it fits well into the Mauston need for housing, and helps to fill that particular niche in the market of low-income housing. In addition to the two acre lot the John Weenum family apartments are built on, the CWCAC owns the neighboring two acre lot. That will be a project we will start about a year from now, Hebert said. The next planned project is a senior living complex in Necedah, which will have eleven units. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US is ready to talk with North Korea without preconditions. "We've said from the diplomatic side, we're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk," Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Tuesday, in what amounted to a direct public invitation for North Korea to put aside an escalating cycle of tests and taunts and engage in diplomacy. "We are ready to have the first meeting without precondition," Tillerson said. "Let's just meet, and we can talk about the weather if you want. Talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table, if that's what you are excited about. But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map of what we might be willing to work towards." Tillerson said it wasn't workable to demand that North Korea give up its weapons before talks begin, and that President Donald Trump agrees. The administration has said that serious negotiations with North Korea will have to focus on denuclearization. "It's not realistic to say we are only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program," Tillerson said. "They have too much invested in it, and the President is very realistic about that as well." The top US diplomat laid out one caveat: North Korea would have to ensure a period of quiet during talks. "If there was any condition at all to any of this, is that, look, it's going to be tough to talk if, in the middle of talks, you decide to test another device," Tillerson said. "So I clearly think they understand that if we are going to talk, we have to have period of quiet ... or it's going to be very difficult to have productive discussions. And so we continue to indicate to them, we need a period of quiet. You need to tell us you want to talk, the door is open. But we'll show up when you tell us you're ready to talk." North Korea has dramatically increased the pace of its missile program in 2017, and in September, tested its largest and most powerful nuclear device yet. Since February, Pyongyang has fired off 23 missiles, improving its technology with each launch. The most recent test of an ICBM on November 29, came after a break in testing of almost two months and a week after the Trump administration slapped new sanctions on the regime. It flew higher and farther than any previous test, and demonstrated that North Korea had the ability to hit "everywhere in the world," Defense Secretary James Mattis said at the time. Simultaneously, over the year, Trump has ratcheted up the rhetoric about North Korea, mocking its leader Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man," threatening to "totally destroy" the country and rain down "fire and fury" if it threatens the US. Tillerson coupled the public invitation to Pyongyang with an update on the international pressure campaign he has helped build that has squeezed North Korean revenues from coal, textiles and forced labor, winnowed down its oil imports, and left it increasingly isolated on the diplomatic stage as countries across the globe expel its diplomats. Speaking earlier in the day at the State Department, Tillerson told employees there that the US will maintain the diplomatic campaign "and continue to turn that pressure up until we can get an engagement in a meaningful way with North Korea." "Ready to talk anytime" "We need to have DPRK come to the table," Tillerson added at the Atlantic Council. "We're ready to talk anytime they're ready to talk, but they have to come to the table and they have to come to the table with a view that they're ready to make a different choice." In the remarks at the State Department, Tillerson had acknowledged that there is a limit to what the US and its international partners can do with the pressure campaign. "We can only do our part of this," he said. "And the regime is going to have to come to some decision about their future. ... We want them to make the right choice." "If they keep going, they can cross a point in which there is nothing left for us in the diplomatic community ... where there is nothing else left for us to do," Tillerson said. Tillerson said that he has told Mattis that if diplomacy doesn't work, he will have "failed." He added that diplomatic efforts are backed by military options and that if North Korea makes "bad choices," the US is ready. "We have a strong military presence standing behind us," Tillerson said of his diplomatic efforts. "If North Korea makes bad choices, we're prepared." "That's not the path we want to take," Tillerson added. "Certainly, at the State Department, our role is to create an alternative pathway." At the Atlantic Council, Tillerson said the question was about how to "begin the process of engagement, because we are dealing with a new leader in North Korea who no one has ever engaged with." "We don't know a whole lot about what it will be like to engage with him, and that's why I think my expectations of how to start are really framed around, first, I have to know who my counterpart is," Tillerson said. "I have to understand, how do they process, how do they think? Because getting to an agreement, as all of us know in negotiations, means a willingness to talk about a lot of things. Let's just put a lot of things on the table and what do you want to put on the table? And we'll tell you what we want to put on the table." "The important thing is that we get started," he added. This article has been updated. Former state Sen. Spencer Coggs says he was unable to testify to defend himself in a case against him and the Wisconsin Legislature that resulted in a taxpayer-funded settlement paid in 2015 to his former staff member for being fired after complaining of sexual harassment in his office. Coggs, a Democrat who is now Milwaukee city treasurer, said in a column published in the Milwaukee Courier that he denies ever sexually harassing former staffer Jana Harris, who went by the name Jana Williams while she worked for him between 2004 and 2011 in the state Capitol. He also said the state should not have settled the case, paying Harris $75,000, and that he was unable to testify during the hearing that led to the settlement but does not specify why he did not testify. Coggs has not returned phone calls seeking interviews since the Wisconsin State Journal first reported the settlement last week, but he issued a statement that day claiming he had never sexually harassed a staff member or colleague in the decades he has been in public office. Coggs did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Tuesday. An administrative law judge in 2011 found that Coggs sexually harassed Harris, who was fired that year nearly two years after she filed a complaint with the Legislature against Coggs alleging the harassment. The judges findings were part of a complaint case Harris brought to the Department of Workforce Developments Equal Rights Division in 2011 after being fired. While I understand that settlements of Equal Rights Division matters and the allegations themselves may not be confidential, my strong concerns about not being able to testify against the accusations and the conclusions that some could make against me many years later because of the settlement apparently now have come true, Coggs wrote. I believed then, and I believe now, that the state never should have settled. The judges findings capped off days of testimony from Harris co-workers and state Senate officials. Johnny Koremenos, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, which defended the Legislature and Coggs in the matter under then-Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, said the case was likely settled with permission from Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, before Coggs had an opportunity to testify at a full hearing. But Koremenos also noted that the DOJ did not on Tuesday have the cases files and that its hard to know with certainty. According to findings by administrative law judge Deborah Little Cohn, who reviewed Harris complaint, Coggs told Harris that her breasts were distracting, to cover up in front of her male colleagues and to wear her hair down, among other things. Harris worked in Coggs office with all men, and there she watched her co-workers use binoculars to watch women walking and jogging around Capitol Square, calling them double-breasted warblers, according to Cohns report. Harris also heard Coggs make jokes about her sex life and questioned whether she was black enough, according to the report. When Harris asked to not be fired, Coggs told Harris, You cant create an adversarial situation and then come back and ask me for something, according to Cohns report. In defending the state and Coggs, a DOJ attorney argued Harris would have quit her job if her allegations were true, Harris has said. Cohn found probable cause that the Legislature permitted sexual harassment and that Harris was fired because of her skin color and gender. Cohns findings were a result of an appeal Harris filed of an initial DWD determination that there was no probable cause. Harris said Tuesday she is frustrated by Coggs continuing to deny the allegations. I feel victimized all over again, Harris said. She also said she believes Coggs could have testified if he had wanted to. Columnist Shefali Vaidya today slammed Amruta Fadnavis for participating in a Christmas-inspired event. Four years back, Vaidya herself celebrated a jolly Christmas, with real live tree and all. By India Today Web Desk: In 2013, columnist Shefali Vaidya celebrated Christmas in all its glory. She had Christmas gifts for her children, a Santa Claus, and a "real, live Christmas Tree". Vaidya shared with the world her joy of celebrating Christmas, and told everybody that this Santa Claus "clearly takes into account cultural preferences and individual tastes,". She ended her heartfelt Facebook post [dated December 25, 2013], which she also shared on Twitter, by saying that it is, indeed, "a season to be jolly". advertisement FAST-FORWARD TO 2017: SHEFALI VAIDYA SLAMS AMRUTA FADNAVIS FOR PARTICIPATING IN CHRISTMAS-THEMED EVENT. Vaidya, undoubtedly, had a magical Christmas that year. Four years later, when Amruta Fadnavis -- wife of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis -- tried to participate in and promote a Christmas-inspired event, Vaidya got offended. Fadnavis shared a tweet yesterday about launching the Be Santa campaign in Mumbai. That was the beginning of a bitter Twitter spat with Fadnavis and Vaidya. Husband @Dev_Fadnavis leading Christmas prayers, wife @fadnavis_amruta launching Be Santa campaign. Hallelujah! Praise be to the Lord! Harvesting souls in Maharashtra just became a lot easier!- Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) December 12, 2017 We hope everybody a very merry and peaceful Christmas. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Dec 13 (PTI) Police today registered a case of murder against an unknown person in connection with the suspicious death of a 25-year-old woman in Malad, who was working as an anchor for events. The woman, identified as Arpita Tiwari, had allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the 15th floor of a building in Malwani area of Malad on Sunday. advertisement Malwani Police had earlier filed a case of accidental death. However, a case of murder was registered today against an unknown person under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of the IPC after Tiwaris family members suspected a foul play in her death, a police official said. According to the official, Tiwari was in relationship with a person and was about to get married. Further investigation is on. PTI AVI NSK --- ENDS --- Domingo to head School of Law Professor Wesahl Domingo appointed to head the School of Law as from 1 January 2018. Domingo is an Associate Professor at the Oliver Schreiner School of Law (Wits), where she has been teaching for sixteen years. She has a Bachelor of Social Science degree, with a major in Sociology from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of the Western Cape. She holds a Masters degree from Columbia University, New York and a Doctor of Juridical Science degree (SJD) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduating with her masters degree, Prof. Domingo interned at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. She was also invited by Senator Paul Strauss, shadow senator of Washington DC, to work at his congressional office as a legislative aid. Prof. Domingos teaching and research interest include Family Law, Child Law, Succession, Gender Studies, Legal Education and Legal Pluralism. She has presented her work at conferences throughout the world including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hawaii, Boston, New York, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Seattle and Mexico. She has made several appearances on television and radio as an academic expert in the field of family law and legal pluralism. Prof. Domingo is also an accredited family law mediator and does family law mediation training (focussing on different cultures and religion) for NGOs. She also runs community workshops for women on culture and religion within marriage and divorce. Prof. Domingo was an editor for the South African Journal of Human Rights (SAJHR) for 10 years. She is the co-editor and writer of the textbook, Law of Persons and Family. She has been the recipient of the following academic awards: Columbia/Wits Academic Fellowship; Carnegie Large Research Grant; and the NRF Sabbatical Grant. In 2015 and 2016, she has co-supervised final year law students in the Annual Child Law Moot Competition. In addition to her academic credentials, Prof. Domingo has a wealth of academic administrative and management experience. She has served as chairperson of the University of Witwatersrand Forum Committee which is a governmental statutory body which reports to the Universitys Council. Prof Domingo was the chairperson of the University of the Witwatersrands Senate Academic Freedom Committee and a member of the Senate Institutional Culture Committee, and Senate ITC Committee. Prof. Domingo also serves as a committee member on the Know Your Constitution (KYC), a subcommittee within the South African Human Rights Commission. She is a member of the South African Law Reform Commission, and is on the Advisory Board dealing with Alternative Dispute Resolution: Contact and Care with Children. Dr Sibusiso Sibisi to head Wits Business School New Director of the WBS, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, praised for his strong strategic, leadership and operational skills, as well as academic background. Wits University is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Sibusiso Sibisi as Director and Head of the Wits Business School (WBS). Dr Sibisi will start at the WBS in January 2018. Professor Imraan Valodia, Dean: Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at Wits says: It has been a long and extensive search to find the right person and the appointment panel is confident that we have found exactly what the WBS needs to take it forward now. Dr Sibisi comes from a 14 year stint as President and CEO at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is well known for having built it into a world-class research institution over his tenure. He brings that rare combination of a proven pedigree as a leader at the highest level, world-class research excellence and managerial strength that we have been looking for to lead the WBS. In addition to his work at CSIR, Dr Sibisi has also served on the boards of a number of commercial entities including Harmony Gold, African Rainbow Minerals, Murray & Roberts, and currently Liberty and Telkom-BCX. This experience will prove invaluable as the WBS continues to develop and advance its current and new offerings while strengthening its role within in the business community. Sibisi obtained his PhD in mathematics from Cambridge University and has a keen interest in mathematics and finance an area that the University is looking to grow. He previously held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He was a Fulbright Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the late eighties and a Senior Research Associate at Cambridge University in the early nineties. Dr Sibisi was awarded the Order of Mapungubwe: Silver by President Thabo Mbeki in September 2007. National Orders are bestowed on South Africans who contribute to the betterment of the country in their respective fields and represent the highest award that a country, through its President, bestows on its citizens. As a business school in the economic heart of Africa, the WBS strives to offer students a relevant, world-class, Africa-centric, critical-thinking journey. We want our students to graduate not only with the necessary technical skills, but with the drive to be part of something bigger than themselves, as Africas future leaders in both business and in society. Therefore the role of Head of School is crucial in driving this vision forward. We believe that Dr Sibisis strong strategic, leadership and operational skills, his experience and knowledge within industry and his academic background are exactly the combination of factors that WBS needs to take it into its next growth phase. In addition, his track record of service to the community is exactly the type of person we want to head up the WBS as it positions itself as a key institution to work on the broader transformation and development agenda not only here in South Africa, but across the continent and beyond, says Valodia. As the School celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, I am confident that with Dr Sibisi and an excellent team of academic and support staff, the WBS is going to go from strength to strength while continuing to make a significant impact on the business community and broader society for the next 50 years and beyond. This is an exciting time for the WBS and we look forward to Dr Sibisis contribution to the institution from 2018, concludes Valodia. By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) After the US, Australia today came out in strong support of India playing a leading role in East Asia and said the security interests of both the countries are "congruent" in ensuring stability and openness in the Indo-Pacific region. Australian Foreign Secretary Frances Adamson also said Canberras trilateral and quadrilateral dialogues with India along with other major powers are a central part of its approach to "order-building" in the Indo-Pacific. advertisement "Beyond an increasingly important economic relationship, our security interests are congruent, particularly in relation to the stability and openness of the Indian Ocean," she said during a media interaction. She said Australia "strongly encourages" Indias strategic interests in East Asia. The Trump administration has been favouring a larger role for India in the Indo-Pacific region. At the same time, Adamson said Australia will pursue "an active and positive" agenda with China and encourage it to use its growing influence to support regional security. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Adamson and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Shinsuke J Sugiyama today held held the 4th Australia-Japan trilateral dialogue here which discussed a range of issues including the regional security scenario, counter-terror cooperation and North Koreas nuclear missile tests. Australia, India, the US and Japan had held a meeting of the proposed quadrilateral coalition in Manila last month, seen as a move to counter Chinas aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific. Adamson said the quadrilateral and the trilateral coalition will continue to exist alongside as both the platforms are broadening discussions in pursuing common interests. Asked whether Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) figured in the trilateral talks, she said all the three countries were "very clear" that there should be transparency around these mega connectivity projects including in award of contracts and financing arrangements. India has opposed the BRI due to its sovereignty concerns over the USD 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). CPEC is part of the BRI. "It does not matter under whose auspices infrastructure is being developed," Adamson said. Referring to Australias recently unveiled "white paper" on foreign policy, she said it recognises that India now sits in the front rank of Australias international partnerships. On bilateral trade and economic ties, Adamson said Australia is developing an India Economic Strategy to identify new ways of doing business together and to work towards free trade between the two sides. advertisement She also said Australia will back India if it wants to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a forum comprising 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Asked about Australias interests in joining the Malabar naval exercise, she said her country would be part of it provided there is an invitation to it. At present, the US and Japan are part of the Malabar exercise along with India. Noting that China is Australias largest trading partner, she said Australia recognises that China increasingly has a capacity to contribute to peace and security in the region. Referring to South China Sea disputes, the Australian foreign secretary said China must follow the ruling by an international tribunal in The Hague which favoured claims made by the Philippines. Adamson said the evolving security scenario in Indo- Pacific figured during the trilateral dialogue today as well as 2+2 dialogue between India and Australia yesterday. On supply of Australian uranium to India, Adamson said it is up to the issue is in the commercial domain as there is no obstacle for the supply. PTI MPB ZMN --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) In a bid to keep the Test specialists match-ready, the BCCI has decided to allow the likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav to turn up for their respective states in the Ranji Trophy semi-final from December 17-21. Bengal will be playing Delhi in Pune in the first semi- final while Karnataka will take on Vidarbha in the second semi-final. advertisement "Shami and Wriddhiman Saha will turn up for Bengal while Ishant Sharma might turn up for Delhi. Umesh Yadav will get to play for Vidarbha against Karnataka which will have KL Rahul in their ranks. Since there arent any practice games in South Africa, it is only fair that they play Ranji Trophy," a senior BCCI official told PTI here today. It is learnt that the national selectors also wanted the Test specialists to play the semi-final. When asked CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya said: "Yes, Shami and Wriddhi will be playing for Bengal. It has been a good move by BCCI to allow the top stars take part in a marquee match. Ranji Trophy is the premier tournament and at a stage like semi-final, it will be a boost for the Bengal team to get two of its senior most players," Dalmiya said. However when contacted, a senior DDCA official said that there is still no clarity whether Ishant will be available for the match. Ishant, who has captained the side impressively at the group league stage also bowled brilliantly taking 20 wickets in four games. The final is set to be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore from December 29. PTI KHS KHS --- ENDS --- 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 Piyush Sahdev was arrested after an FIR was lodged against him by a 23-year-old woman. By India Today Web Desk: Beyhadh actor Piyush Sahdev was recently arrested on rape charges. The actor, who played Samay on the show, was held after a 23-year-old woman filed an FIR against him Recently, his bail application was rejected by the court and the actor was shifted to Arthur Road Jail. According to a report in Tellychakkar.com, the medical reports of Piyush, who was arrested under IPC section 376 suggest that he is guilty of rape. advertisement Piyush, who has worked in shows like Devon Ke Dev Mahadev and Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke, was arrested on November 22 on allegations of raping a 23-year-old aspiring actress, on pretext of marriage. The investigation is going on and a chargesheet will soon be filed by the Versova Police. While talking to Tellychakkar.com, Kiran Kale, Senior Inspector, Versova Police Station said, "He is still in jail and his charge sheet is being prepared; until then he is being kept in judicial custody and the investigation is going on alongside." According to Hindustan Times, the actor had met the woman through mutual friends and soon moved in with her; he then proposed marriage to her after two months of their relationship. When the woman found some objectionable photographs of him with another girl, they had a nasty fight and the actor apparently refused to marry her. The woman then approached the police on November 20 and filed a rape case against him. Meanwhile, Piyush's sister actress Meher Vij, said that she didn't know anything about the charges and was informed about the whole thing after reading various reports. The actor's former wife Akangsha Rawat also claimed that she had no clue about the news. --- ENDS --- Harmony vision presented in Brussels 13 December 2017 Share World Nuclear Association yesterday presented its Harmony programme to members of Foratom, the Brussels-based trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe. Harmony is the nuclear industry vision for the future of electricity and how nuclear energy can help the world achieve its 2-degree climate target. Agneta Rising presenting the Harmony programme (Image: Forum Nucleaire) According to the Association, nuclear power capacity will need to grow significantly around the world in order to meet the International Energy Agency's 2-degree scenario, Foratom noted. According to the Foratom statement, World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising said: "By 2050, nuclear energy must account for 25% of energy generation if we are to meet our climate targets. With nuclear making up 11% of generation in 2014, an extra 1000 GWe in nuclear capacity will need to be built by 2050. However, meeting this goal will not be easy." Harmony evaluates barriers and recommended solutions. First, electricity market failures: Ensure a level playing field for all low carbon energy sources including nuclear. Second, regulatory barriers: Harmonise international regulatory processes to ensure consistency, efficiency and predictability. Third, misconception of risks and benefits: Address public concerns and put the health, environmental and safety risks of nuclear in perspective compared to other power generation technologies. Yves Desbazeille, Foratom director general, said the organisation "very much welcomes" the work on the Harmony programme. Europe "faces many of the same challenges, and opportunities, as other regions", he said. "Globally, the EU is the region which emits the lowest amount of CO2 emissions from electricity generation thanks to nuclear energy. We look forward to continuing our fruitful cooperation with the WNA and making sure our positive messages about the real value of nuclear energy resonate across Europe," he added. Foratom comprises 15 national nuclear associations and through these it represents nearly 800 European companies working in the industry and supporting around 800,000 jobs. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics High court orders suspension of Ikata 3 operation 13 December 2017 Share A Japanese high court has today overruled a lower court decision that allowed Shikoku Electric Power Company to continue operating unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture. Ikata 3 is one of five units that have so far restarted since Japan took all its operable reactors offline for safety checks following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The three-unit Ikata plant (Image: Shikoku) Ikata 3 had been idle since being taken offline for a periodic inspection in April 2011. It was given approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority to resume operation in April 2016. Shikoku began the process to restart the 846 MWe pressurised water reactor on 12 August and the unit was declared back in commercial operation on 7 September 2016. Four residents from Matsuyama and Hiroshima filed a request for a temporary injunction against the unit's operation with the Hiroshima District Court on 11 March last year, the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The plaintiffs claimed that Shikoku had underestimated the potential size of an earthquake that could strike the plant. However, on 30 March this year, the court ruled that Shikoku has used reliable measures in calculating the basic earthquake ground motion at the site and rejected the petition. In April, the plaintiffs appealed the decision in the Hiroshima High Court. The high court has now overruled the district court's decision and ordered the suspension of Ikata 3's operation. The injunction is effective until the end of September 2018. The ruling marks the first time a high court has overruled a lower court decision on issues related to reactor restarts. Similar lawsuits and other injunctions seeking to halt operation of Ikata 3 have been filed with other district courts in nearby Matsuyama, Yamaguchi and Oita. Ikata 3 is currently offline for maintenance and periodic inspections and was scheduled to restart on 22 January. Shikoku said the high court's ruling was "extremely disappointing" and it would "promptly" file an appeal against its decision. Of Japan's 42 operable reactors, five have so far cleared inspections confirming they meet the new regulatory safety standards and have resumed operation. These are: Kyushu's Sendai units 1 and 2; Shikoku's Ikata unit 3; and Kansai's Takahama units 3 and 4. Another 19 reactors have applied to restart. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Grand Canyon uranium mining ban remains 13 December 2017 Share A 20-year ban on the mining of uranium near the Grand Canyon has been upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court ruling effectively confirmed that the ban is lawful and the government has the power to impose it. The US Department of the Interior decided in January 2012 to withdraw more than one million acres of federal land surrounding the Grand Canyon National Park from uranium mining. Although mining of a few existing claims will be permitted, the withdrawal effectively bans uranium exploration and mining within the region. Oil, gas or other non-hard rock energy resources are not affected by the withdrawal. In February 2012, lawsuits were filed by plaintiffs including the National Mining Association (NMA), the Nuclear Energy Institute, American Exploration & Mining Association, the Arizona Utah Local Economic Coalition and exploration and mining company Quaterra Resources. The plaintiffs questioned the legal authority of then Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to withdraw such a large tract of public land. They also alleged that Salazar did not comply with requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act in making the decision, and asserted that the decision to withdraw the land was "arbitrary and capricious". The Arizona district court ruled in October 2014 that the US Department of the Interior acted within its rights to impose the ban. The plaintiffs launched an appeal to contest the court's decision. The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco yesterday upheld the Arizona district court's ruling, meaning the ban will remain in place. The three-judge panel concluded, "At its core, the 'merits question' in this case is whether the [Interior] Secretary was allowed to adopt a cautious approach in the face of some risk, difficult to quantify based on current knowledge, to what he called 'America's greatest national wonder'." The panel added, "Appellants raise a myriad of challenges but in the end identify no legal principle invalidating the Secretary's risk-averse approach. As Interior concluded, withdrawal of the area from new mining claims for a limited period will permit more careful, longer-term study of the uncertain effects of uranium mining in the area and better-informed decision making in the future." The NMA said, "It is now time for the Congress and the administration, working with the impacted states, to re-evaluate whether the withdrawal was justified based on the scientific, technical and socio-economic facts." In testimony yesterday before the House Natural Resources Committee, NMA General Counsel Katie Sweeney warned against "unwise and unwarranted mineral withdrawals" that ignore the vast sectors of the American economy that depend upon a reliable and secure supply chain of minerals and metals. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics A BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh has been caught on camera purportedly threatening a trainee IAS officer that she would make his life "difficult" during an argument over an anti-encroachment drive. By PTI, Press Trust of India: A BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh has been caught on camera purportedly threatening a trainee IAS officer that she would make his life "difficult" during an argument over an anti-encroachment drive. The video of the exchange between Barabanki MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Ajay Kumar Dwivedi last evening in Chaila village of the district has gone viral. advertisement In the video footage, Rawat is heard threatening the IAS officer: "Main tumhara jeena mushkil kar doongi(I will make your life difficult) in Barabanki if my workers face even an iota of difficulty." Asked for her comment, the 32-year-old MP said Dwivedi walked away without listening to her when she was discussing the matter. "What message will go out to the people? It is the responsibility of the official to listen, understand and pay due respect to protocol," Rawat told reporters today. The incident took place when Rawat apparently lost her cool seeing the opposition of locals against an anti- encroachment drive by a team of government officials led by Dwivedi, who is currently posted as a sub-divisional magistrate. In the video, Rawat, can be heard asking Dwivedi if he has any etiquette. "I am standing here for the people of the area and you are walking away...you have to work for the people of the area and not for yourself. Learn about protocol and how peoples representatives have to be given respect," she said in Barabanki, about 30km from Lucknow. Rawat defended herself when reporters asked her if she stood by her statement. "We are educated people and know what language has to be used. We are not illiterate people. You can get an enquiry done into what kind of language was used by the said person (the trainee IAS officer)," the MP said. Giving his version of what happened, Dwivedi said a team of revenue department officials and police was sent to clear an alleged encroachment on a pond and a primary school on government land, but they were stopped from doing so. Later, the MP also reached there. The SDM said he had informed his seniors of the matter and maintained that his drive against the illegal encroachments would continue. In April this year, Rawat was in the news for telling a police officer that she would "skin him alive". --- ENDS --- To understand the significance of the Social Democrats (SPD) party congress, which began in Berlin yesterday, it is necessary to study the keynote foreign policy speech given by Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel this week at the Korber Foundations Berlin Foreign Policy Forum. The two-day congress has the task of aligning the 600 delegates and 440,000 party members with the aggressive imperialist policy outlined by Gabriel in this speech. The Social Democratic Foreign Minister advocated a radical break from Germanys post-war foreign policy, which resorted mainly to diplomatic methods and relied on US military might in the pursuit of geopolitical interests. Germany has no comfortable place on the sidelines of international politics any more, said Gabriel. The European Union can survive only if it defines its own interests and projects its power. He explicitly warned against a fixation on the law as the form for overcoming political challenges. He appealed for political-strategic thinking whose gaze is not directed always to the horizon of moral norms and imperatives, and cynically added, The era in which Germany allowed itself to have strategic ideas was quite unpleasant for everyone else. Gabriel was referring with his unpleasant remark to the extermination of 6 million Jews, the death of 25 million people in the Soviet Union and the destruction of large parts of Europe. Gabriels foreign policy, without over-dimensional moral or normative blinkers includes the use of overwhelming military force. But this was not discussed, or mentioned only on the sidelines at the SPD congress. There are two reasons for this: first, within the SPD, broad agreement exists on Gabriels course, and second, the delegates do not want to discuss these issues openly because militarism and great-power politics are deeply unpopular among the population. Instead, those directing the congress agenda organised an open debate on whether the SPD should continue the grand coalition, support a minority government, or reject any form of government participation. It was a phony debate, whose outcome was predetermined. In his opening speech, party leader Martin Schulz ruefully apologised for the SPDs worst election result in 70 years andin one of the few honest passages of his speechacknowledged that many people no longer view SPD politicians as representatives of their interests, but as part of the establishment. He then advocated government participation. We dont have to govern at any cost, but we also cannot not want to govern at any cost, he told his audience, and appealed to the SPDs responsibility to the next generation. Like Gabriel at the Korber Foundation, Schulz called for an aggressive foreign policy based on a German-dominated European Union and an alliance with France. A strong SPD is necessary to make Germany strong and make Europe strong, said Schulz. He threatened to throw EU states out if they do not submit to German dictates. The EU should be transformed by 2025 into the United States of Europe with a common constitution, he demanded. Member states who do not accept this federal constitution would have to leave the EU, he added. Europe is our life insurance, according to Schulz. It is our only chance to stay competitive with the other great regions on this Earth. In the debate that followed, ministers, high-ranking party and trade union officials, and from time to time a less well-known delegate blustered about a new style of politics, content (which was never specified in concrete terms), and open and unbiased negotiations. German Trade Union Association leader Reiner Hoffmann appealed to the comrades to assume their responsibility and ensure a government capable of acting. In the name of all DGB trade unions, he advocated a strong European Union and praised French President Emmanuel Macron, who has launched a frontal assault on French workers, to the skies. All of the delegates were agreed that new elections had to be avoided at all costs, because they could serve as an entry point for social and political opposition. This was declared most explicitly by SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner, who is considered a representative of the SPDs left wing. Nobody could wish for new elections, he said. Then the voters will flay us alive. He therefore appealed for talks on a grand coalition. After almost four-and-a-half hours the open debate was halted, even though less than half of the registered speakers had been heard. The congress decided by a wide majority to initiate open and unbiased negotiations with the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union on forming a government. The formulation open and unbiased was chosen by the party executive to keep the number of votes against as low as possible. The congress subsequently declared its faith in Martin Schulz, re-electing him with 82 percent of the vote as leader. This was further proof that the party fully backs a third installment of the grand coalition. As Gabriels speech at the Korber Foundation made clear, its policies will not merely be the continuation of those pursued by previous governments. Instead, they will be much further to the right. This does not only apply to foreign policy, but also to the internal and external buildup of the state apparatus and the attacks on the working class. After its election defeat in September, when it suffered its worst election result in 70 years, the SPD decided to go into opposition. But it has become clear in the meantime that the party is needed to enforce an agenda that is deeply unpopular among the working class and young people. The SPD barely enjoys any support among these layers. But the party possesses a large apparatus of state and municipal politicians, and civil servants and trade union bureaucrats, all of whom are determined to smother popular opposition. The SPDs core consists of 80,000 office-oriented active members, as a recent comment in the Tageszeitung aptly put it. Municipal civil servants, health insurance directors, supervisory board members of regional banks, trade union officials, press spokesmen from state parliamentary groups, broadcast commissionersin short: the backbone of the state, such as it is. In a special election Tuesday to fill the US Senate seat from Alabama vacated by President Trumps attorney general Jeff Sessions, conservative Democrat Doug Jones defeated ultra-right former state Supreme Court chief judge Roy Moore. It was the first time a Democrat won a US Senate election in Alabama since the election in 1992 of Richard Shelby, who subsequently became a Republican and remains today the states senior senator. The vote count as of this writing was 49.9 percent for Jones to 48.4 percent for Moore, a narrow but comfortable margin. Despite the fact that state law triggers an automatic recount only if the margin of difference is 0.5 percent or below, Moore refused to concede the election following Jones victory speech and indicated that he would contest the outcome. The Democratic victory was the result of a higher-than expected turnout of more than 40 percent, with turnout particularly high, compared to previous elections, among African Americans and young people. Voter turnout was especially heavy in the major urban centers of Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville and Montgomery. Moore won, as expected, in the rural largely white parts of the state, but he lost in the black rural areas, where turnout was much higher. Jones had a big advantage among younger voters and won overwhelming majorities among African Americans. He also won the independent vote by 9 points, an indication that Moore was abandoned by sections of affluent white voters who traditionally vote Republican. Some 22,000 voters cast write-in ballots, a higher number than Jones margin of victory. On Sunday, Senator Shelby had told CNN that he would not vote for Moore and he urged Alabama Republicans to write in the names of other Republicans. The result is a serious blow to Trump, who intervened strongly in favor of Moore after the Senate Republican leadership withdrew its support following allegations that the 70-year-old former judge had made improper sexual advances to teenage girls when he was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Jones admission to the Senate will cut the Republicans majority to one, 51 to 49. The election campaign itself was a spectacle of political reaction and mud-slinging. Moore is a fascistic evangelical who advocates the establishment of a theocracy in the United States. He supports making homosexuality a crime, glorifies the pre-Civil War South, has called for the deployment of US troops on the border with Mexico and promotes xenophobia as part of a pseudo-populist crusade against the Eastern establishment. He was twice removed from the state Supreme Court for defying federal court rulings against his agenda of religious bigotry. The first occasion was his refusal to abide by a ruling that he take down a three-ton monument to the Ten Commandments which he had installed outside the Supreme Court building. The second was his issuing of instructions to probate court judges to continue enforcing a state law banning same-sex marriage that had been overturned by the federal courts. In one campaign appearance, Moore was asked when he believed America was last great. He said one would have to go back to the period before the Civil War, i.e., during the period of slavery in the South. In 2011, he told a right-wing talk show host that getting rid of every amendment to the US Constitution after the 10th would eliminate many problems. That would mean overturning the amendments that freed the slaves, guaranteed the democratic rights of freedmen and granted them the right to vote. In 2009 and 2010, Moores Foundation for Moral law hosted pro-Confederate Alabama Secession Day celebrations. Jones and the Democratic Party virtually ignored Moores ultra-right policies and instead based their campaign almost entirely on playing up accusations of sexual misconduct against the Republican candidate. As Election Day approached, the national Democratic Party and its allied media sought to leverage the Moore allegations to revive charges of sexual harassment against Donald Trump that had first been raised by the media and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016. This will undoubtedly be intensified following Jones victory. Indeed, USA Today published an editorial Tuesday night that cited a Trump tweet with sexual innuendos directed against Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who had called for his resignation over sexual allegations against him. The newspaper declared that Trump was unfit to remain president. Apart from this sexual mud-slinging, Jones stressed his independence from the national Democratic Party, his support for increased military spending, his commitment to fiscal austerity and his backing for tax cuts to improve the business climate for corporations wishing to exploit the deeply impoverished working class in Alabama. He combined an appeal to black voters with an effort to win over disaffected Republicans. Jones made no class appeal whatsoever in a state that is a byword for crushing poverty and exploitation, and offered no serious proposals to address unemployment, poverty wages or lack of decent education, housing and health care. Nevertheless, he benefited from growing opposition to Trump and his administrations attacks on health care and democratic rights, its push for a $1.5 trillion tax windfall for the rich and threats to unleash a nuclear war against North Korea. According to exit polls, Trumps disapproval rating of 48 percent equaled his approval rating. This is in a state that he won last year by a margin of 63 percent to 35 percent. In his victory speech, Jones reiterated his campaign themes of unity and bipartisan cooperation with the Republicans, declaring, We tried to make sure this campaign was about finding common ground. He said nothing about the pervasive poverty in Alabama, the fourth poorest state in the country, where household median income is nearly $11,000 less than the national figure. Nor did he mention, let alone criticize, Moores fascistic politics. The Democratic victory, which clearly came as a shock to Jones himself, revealed the fragility of the hold of right-wing populist and nativist politics on states that have long been conceded by the Democrats to the Republicans. Alabama itself has undergone a significant development in recent years, with the entry of major firms such as Airbus, Mercedes Benz, Honda and Hyundai and the rapid growth of an industrial working class. Manufacturing workers made up between 13 and 16 percent of the total workforce in 2015. That is the fifth highest concentration of all states, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, and a substantial increase from a decade ago. Neither of the right-wing parties of US big business offers any policies to defend the interests of workers in Alabama or any other state. Nor was Tuesdays election an indication of a surge in support for the Democrats. Exit polls showed that the majority of voters disapproved of both parties, and by similar margins. The controversial sex CD which allegedly features Chattisgarh PWD minister Rajesh Munat came into news when senior journalist Vinod Verma was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence on October 27. By Munish Pandey: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases in connection with alleged possession and circulation of a fake sex CD involving a Chattisgarh Minister. "On the request of state government, we have registered two cases in the alleged sex CD and extortion case involving a Minister," said CBI. Earlier, in this case, a senior journalist was arrested by the Chattisgarh police from Ghaziabad after a complaint was lodged by a BJP leader alleging extortion by the journalist on the name of thesex CD. CBI confirmed the developments and said that they have initiated their investigation in the case. advertisement The controversial sex CD which allegedly features Chattisgarh PWD minister Rajesh Munat came into news when senior journalist Vinod Verma was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence on October 27. Verma was arrested on charges of blackmailing and extortion. Chattisgarh minister claims that the CD was fake and that Congress is trying to malign his image. Munat has also filed a case against Vinod Verma. Munat alleged that Vinod Verma demanded Rs 2 lakhs from him and threatened to make the sex CD public if he was not paid. Verma, however, denied the allegations saying he received the clip through WhatsApp and that he never demanded any money from the minister. On November 9, Vinod Verma's bail application was rejected by the sessions court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district and he was sent to judicial custody. In the court, his lawyer argued that it is a conspiracy against Verma as the person who had called for extortion was yet to be identified. According to the Raipur police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by a BJP leader. The complaint letter said that a BJP leader Prakash Bajaj got a call from an unknown number in which the caller claimed that he had a sex CD of his 'aaka'. After the case was lodged, a search team was sent to Delhi and Ghaziabad. The police also claimed to have recovered 500 "porn" CDs, a pen drive and a laptop from Verma. Due to mounting pressure from the opposition, the Chhattisgarh government had recommended a CBI probe. --- ENDS --- Last month, NBC News and the University of Chicago conducted a survey of young adults between ages 18-34, known commonly as Millennials, which found that an increasing number of young Americans express concern or dissatisfaction with the current two-party electoral system in the United States. Nearly half of all those surveyed expressed strong disapproval of the current Trump administration, while only six percent voiced strong approval of the president. More than half answered with disapproval of the way Congress is doing its job and over 60 percent stated that this country is...on the wrong track. When asked What best describes your feelings about what Donald Trump is doing as President? 74 percent answered either concerned or scared, while only four percent expressed excitement. Half of those polled said that Trump will go down in history as a poor president, with only six percent predicting that he will be remembered as a great president. Most notably however, when asked In your view, do the Republican and Democratic parties do an adequate job of representing the American people, or do they do such a poor job that a third major party is needed? an overwhelming majority, 71 percent, answered that a third party is needed. The latest report is further confirmation of the growing radicalization among students and young workers and above all a growing disillusionment among the Millennial generation with the Democratic Party. Confronted with rising inequality, nearly three decades of unending war, and a fascistic billionaire demagogue president, the younger generation is not expecting any viable opposition to come from the Democratic Party. Selena, an undergraduate at Wayne State University in Detroit, told the WSWS that she was not surprised by the report. I am a part of the 71 percent of Millennials that would support a third party. I think it is clear to most that both parties are failing. One of the biggest issues for me is that both parties are overcome with special interests; every issue is driven by money. I think the main problem people have with two parties is that they know the candidates who are put forward are just puppets of larger forces. The abandonment of the Democratic Party can largely be explained by understanding the experience of the Obama administration, which was brought to power on a wave of antiwar sentiment among young people and promises of a better future under the slogan of Hope and Change. What the Obama administration delivered was, in fact, the opposite. After funneling trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to the banks and auto industry; escalating United States military involvement around the worldfrom Iraq and Afghanistan, under Bush, to Syria, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen; constructing the worlds most massive domestic surveillance apparatus and persecuting whistleblowers; killing tens of thousands of innocent people with an illegal drone program and openly authorizing the assassination of US citizens; overseeing the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in history, it should come as no surprise that large segments of youth and students became disillusioned with the empty rhetoric of the Democratic Party. Asked about why she opposed the Democratic Party, Selena criticized, above all, the foreign policy of the Obama administration. The Obama administration oversaw the murder of Gaddafi which was orchestrated by Hillary Clinton. I think Hillary Clinton is a really bad example of what should be considered left. I mean yes, a progressive women president might sound nice but does it matter if she is a woman if she is demonizing layers of the population and pushing for things like the industrial prison complex? Speaking about the conditions facing youth, Selena explained that after eight years with Obama in power most Millennials find themselves living in a very precarious state. Many students I know are homeless and the others are at risk of being homeless. They dont know what they will do to live from one month to the next. Most of my friends are at minimum wage jobs. Some jobs that require a bachelor's degree nowadays only pay $12 an hour which is really not even $25,000 a year before taxes. The devastating effect of the Obama experience was most conclusively illustrated in the 2016 election. In Hillary Clinton, workers, youth, and students, like Selena, saw a continuation and intensification of the pro-war and pro-corporate policies of the Obama administration. Unlike Obama, Clinton did not even give the pretense of being an anti-establishment or anti-war candidate but rather campaigned openly as the candidate of war and Wall Street. Clintons campaign strategy was distinguished by her relentless promotion of identity politics and a complete disregard for the working class and the youth. On the other hand, her competitor in the primaries, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, brought class issues to the forefront of his campaign by railing against the billionaire class and calling for a political revolution. The World Socialist Web Site explained from the outset of his campaign that Sanders, despite his populist rhetoric, was neither a socialist nor an independent, but a liberal apologist for an increasingly right-wing Democratic Party dispatched to redirect the leftward movement of workers and youth. To the surprise of the Democratic Party and Sanders himself, millions of young people, seeing no future for themselves under the present system, sought an alternative to the big business politics that have dominated political life in the United States, and were attracted to Sanders promotion of class-based questions and his identification as a socialist. That the nominal socialist Sanders was able to garner the support of some 13 million voters in the primaries was an indication, not of confidence in the Democratic Party, but instead an indictment of the partys decades-long rightward shift. And, in the end, Sanders thirteen million supporters watched as he worked hand over foot to channel mass social discontent back into the dead end of the Democratic Party, which was completed by his full-throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Eleven months into the Trump presidency, workers and youth face increasingly worsening conditions of life. Trumps ultra-right cabinet is leading a full-on assault on living standards in the US with Congress passing massive corporate tax cuts. Under these conditions Kahuk, a student at University of California in Berkeley, told the WSWS that he was deeply troubled by the prospects for youth and students in the world today. It is troubling to know that I'm entering a workforce where democratic rights have already largely been taken away. And that I'm part of a system that I didn't really have any consent over, paying for debts that I didn't really have any choice but take, but trying to enjoy school at the same time. He added, My life is inherently political because it feels like every decision I'm making is because of a system that was completely out of my control. When the WSWS asked Selena what she thought of prospects for the future she said she was confident that things could change, There is a lot of unrest and discussion going on right now, particularly among young people. I think the youth are poised and ready to move the world. As more and more young people are beginning to realize, the solution to the crises of capitalismconcentrations of unimaginable wealth into fewer and fewer hands, more than a quarter-century of unending war, and the bolstering of far-right forces around the worldwill not be found in either of two parties of Wall Street and the Pentagon, nor the pro-capitalist Green Party or the whole host of pseudo-left parties who supported Jill Stein, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The present situation requires a party that bases its program scientifically on the objective lessons of history. That party is the Socialist Equality Party and its youth wing, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality. The New Jersey state government estimates its unfunded pension liability for public employees at $50 billion, but the Government Accounting Standards Board calculates the debt to be $90 billion. At this point, after years of underfunding, the pension system has enough assets to cover only 31 percent of its liabilities. Intransigence, inaction, apathy, and denial are habits the State can no longer afford when it is at risk of losing the budget flexibility necessary to respond to emerging challenges and crises, the panel warned. The report recommends maintaining current state and local pension plans, and moving active employees to a cash balance plan that combines a traditional pension with a 401-k, exposing retirees to the danger of substantial losses in the next economic crisis, as happened in 2008. Under such a plan, the newest employees would receive the lowest level of benefits that the state government has yet offered. Kentucky has been maintaining a similar plan for its employees. The Urban Institute found that state employees with fewer years of service would receive more than they would under a traditional defined-benefit plan, assuming no stock market decline, but veteran employees would receive less. The panel also recommended reducing state employees health benefits to the less-generous levels common in the private sector. Finally, it recommended shifting a larger share of health care costs to state workers. Dan Bryan, a spokesperson for governor-elect Phil Murphy, a Democrat, reiterated Murphys resolve to fully fund the states pension obligations. Full funding of future payments, even if implemented, will likely be insufficient, however, due to the huge existing deficit. The panel predicts that one fund within the pension system will run dry within 10 years. Murphy, a Goldman Sachs alumnus, has already vowed that state workers would contribute more toward their pensions. Furthermore, as the states financial problems deepen, it is likely that he will propose tax increases that would affect more than just the wealthy state residents whom he singled out on the campaign trail. In the budget for the current year, New Jerseys annual retirement contribution is $2.5 billion, which is half of what actuaries say is needed. At the same time, New Jersey has lost more than $4 billion in revenue because of tax cuts that Christie and the legislature have passed since 2010. The panel declared that recent changes to the pension system have been insufficient. In July, the state adopted a plan to allocate about $1 billion from the sale of lottery tickets to the pension system. This tactic shifts some of the states fiscal obligations onto working peoples shoulders, and the panel stated that it would not save the pension plans or the state budget. The state government created this problem 25 years ago, and governors from both parties have starved and looted the pension funds ever since. In 1992, Democratic Governor Jim Florio diverted $1.5 billion in pension payments, expecting that the future value of New Jerseys investments would make up for the shortfall. To balance the states budget, succeeding Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman sold $2.8 billion in bonds, again relying on the assumption that investment income would be large enough to pay for interest that the state would owe. After she left office, legislators increased state pensions by 9 percent without earmarking funds to pay for them. The bursting of the dot-com bubble between 2000-2002 and the great recession that began in 2008 brought hardship to working people and took a toll on the states finances. Governors used the opportunity to trim pension payments in the name of belt-tightening and fiscal responsibility. Christie increased the amount that state workers must contribute toward their pensions. He promised that the state would greatly increase its payments to the pension fund, but he and the legislature have never fully funded an annual pension obligation throughout Christies time in office. Although under Christie the state contributed more to the pension fund than the previous five governors combined, the debt obligation keeps increasing. In 2015, a commission appointed by Christie recommended reducing retirement and health benefits while making employees pay more into the system. The public employee unions and some legislators pretended to express outrage. A proposed constitutional amendment would have required the state to contribute toward pensions quarterly, rather than annually, and would have increased the amount of the states contribution over time. However, the legislators professed outrage was purely for show, designed to divert workers anger. The promised amendment did not appear on last Novembers ballot. To expect any governor or any legislator from either party to materially improve the welfare of state workers, or any workers at all, would be to ignore the behavior of the two big business parties, especially for the last two and a half decades. The governor and legislators are beholden to the pharmaceutical chiefs, construction magnates, and financial executives that fund and maintain them. The state government can be counted on to try to extract more value from the workers and to safeguard these millionaires profits. The author also recommends: New Jersey, New York part of a national trend, Northeastern US states seek to cut public worker pensions [10 September 2014] It is an honor to introduce the first-ever Urdu-language edition of Leon Trotskys Lessons of October, since it remains, more than nine decades after its original publication, a crucial, even indispensable work: indispensable both for understanding the history of the October 1917 Russian Revolution and the pivotal role of revolutionary leadership in the socialist revolution. Lessons of October was written by Trotsky in 1924, as the introduction to a volume of his writings and speeches from 1917 issued by the Soviet Unions state publishing house. But it is not a history of the revolution as such. After being expelled from the Soviet Union by the Stalinist regime in 1929, Trotsky would write a monumental three-volume History of the Russian Revolution, which remains the authoritative account of the revolutions causes, events, and dynamics. Written from the standpoint of politically preparing future Octobersthat is, socialist revolutionsboth in the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and North America and the oppressed countries of the East, Lessons of October documents the internal conflicts within the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party between the February 1917 overthrow of the Tsar and the seizure of power by the Russian working class under the Bolsheviks leadership in October. Trotsky shows that the Bolshevik victory was prepared through an ongoing internal political struggle over the partys evaluation of the revolutions development, its class dynamics and tasks, and its relationship to the mounting opposition of the European working class to the capitalist carnage of the First World War. The socialist revolution is an objective process, rooted in the contradictions of capitalismthe conflict between the increasingly socialized character of production and the subordination of all socio-economic life to private capitalist profit, and between the development of world economy and the continued existence of the capitalist nation-state system. But, as Trotsky explains, at a certain point in the revolutions development, the most important objective determinant in its victory is the role of the revolutionary party, which, having organized the most class-conscious and self-sacrificing sections of the working class, becomes the instrument for the working class to seize power and begin the socialist reorganization of society. Should the party fail to recognize the approach of the revolution, and to take the necessary steps to bring its practice in alignment with it, a revolutionary opportunity can be lost in a matter of days or weeks, thereby allowing the ruling classes to regroup and restabilize their rule for years to come. As Trotsky demonstrates, V. I. Lenin played the principal role in the elaboration of the Bolsheviks strategic orientation in 1917: first in the evaluation that unless the revolution liquidated capitalist rule, none of the most essential needs of the workers and peasants could be met, and that the task, therefore, was to patiently explain the need for workers power; and second, in the fall of 1917, after the complete discrediting of the bourgeois Provisional government and its Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary (S-Rs) supporters, and with the Bolsheviks emergence as the mass party of the working class, that the Bolsheviks had to shift from politically preparing the working class for the struggle for power, to the organization of the insurrection itself. Central to this was the political rearming of the party, brought about by Lenin upon his return to Russia from exile in April 1917. In a matter of a few weeks, Lenin won the party away from the policy it had been pursuing, namely, providing conditional support to the Provisional government, under the direction of the Old Bolsheviks, Kamenev and Stalin. With his celebrated April Theses, Lenin reoriented the Bolsheviks to politically prepare the socialist revolution, under the slogan All power to the Sovietsthe councils of workers, soldiers and (later peasants) that had formed in the immediate aftermath of the February Revolution, and which the masses viewed as the revolutions embodiment and guarantor, but which, under the leadership of the Mensheviks and S-Rs, had ceded power to the bourgeoisie and its Provisional government. The April 1917 differences reemerged at every major turning point in the revolution, up to and including the October 1917 insurrection, with a section of the Old Bolsheviks arguing that socialist revolution in Russia was premature, given the countrys relative economic backwardness. They sought to justify this position with references to the Bolsheviks pre-1917 call for a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry. Lenin, for his part, had discarded this conception as outdated, and adopted, as was widely recognized at the time, Trotskys theory of Permanent Revolution: that the fundamental tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution in Russiaincluding the liquidation of Tsarism, radical redistribution of the land to the tiller, and the elimination of Great Russian national oppressionwould only be realized through socialist revolution; a revolution that would begin in Russia, but whose fate would be bound up with, and ultimately determined by, its spread to the more advanced countries of Europe; that is, the development of the world socialist revolution. Although the republication of Trotskys 1917 writings and speeches served as the formal reason for his Lessons of October, its preparation was very much a response to the failure of the German Communist Party (KPD) to seize the revolutionary opportunity that had developed in the summer and fall of 1923. With the German bourgeois regime facing political and economic collapse, and support for the KPD surging, the leadership of the German Communist Party set the date for a proletarian insurrection, only to lose its nerve and call it off at the last minute. Lessons of October must also be recognized as an important blow in the struggle against the privileged bureaucracy, which emerged in the apparatus of the workers state and the Communist Party under conditions where the revolution remained isolated in a backward, predominantly peasant country; one moreover that had been ravaged by world war and then by the imperialist-supported Whites during the post-Revolution civil war. The missed German Revolution of 1923 compounded the isolation of the Soviet Union and thereby strengthened the bureaucracy, which was now openly usurping political power from the working class. Only weeks after the publication of Lessons of October, Joseph Stalin, who, as General-Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was emerging as the political leader of the bureaucracy, openly repudiated the socialist internationalist perspective that had animated the Russian Revolution, propounding a new strategic orientationsocialism in one country. This break with the program of world socialist revolution invariably went hand in hand with all manner of opportunist maneuvers. They included the Communist Internationals revival of the Menshevik two-stage theory of revolution, which had provided the theoretical justification for the Mensheviks support for the bourgeois Provisional government in 1917 and Russias continued participation in the world war, and the claim that in countries of belated capitalist development, the working class had to limit itself to acting as the subordinate ally of the national bourgeoisie in the democratic (anti-feudal, anti-imperialist, national) revolution. The Stalinist insistence that the working class subordinate itself to the progressive national bourgeoisie was to have catastrophic consequences. First in China, where the Chinese Revolution of 192527 was crushed, due to the Stalinized Communist Internationals insistence that the Chinese Communist Party liquidate itself into the bourgeois Kuomintang of Chiang Kai-Shek. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Soviet Stalinist bureaucracy and its South Asian acolytes, organized in the Communist Party of India (CPI), would advocate a similar line on the subcontinent, with no less disastrous results. Willfully ignoring the central lessons of the 1917 October Revolution, the Stalinists pursued a course that, at every point, served to reinforce the control of the national bourgeoisie over the anti-imperialist struggle and prevent the working class from challenging it for the leadership of the peasant masses. This included hailing the bourgeois Congress Party as a multi-class front, supporting the British Indian authorities in their repression of the 1942 Quit India movement on the grounds that it was jeopardizing the Allied war effort, and supporting the Muslim Leagues reactionary demand for a separate Pakistan. Partition was only the most immediate and striking expression of the suppression of the democratic revolution at the hands of the Indian and Pakistani bourgeoisies, which was itself a major element in the post-World War II restabilization of world capitalism. As Trotsky had warned, the political triumph of the Stalinist bureaucracy was the first stage in a capitalist counter-revolution. Between 1985 and 1991, the bureaucracy carried out its ultimate betrayal, restoring capitalist private property and dissolving the Soviet Union. But the respite for capitalism has proved to be short-lived. Today, one hundred years after the Russian Revolution, world capitalism is beset by its greatest economic and geopolitical crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s and its outcome, the Second World War. Once again, rival national ruling elites are turning toward reaction, authoritarianism, and war. As Trotsky insists in Lessons of October, without a party, apart from a party, over the head of party, or with a substitute for a party the socialist revolution cannot triumph. The critical question in every country is the building of a revolutionary workers partyone that has learned the lessons of the great strategic experiences of the last century, including the politically destructive role of the Stalinist CPI and its many off-shoots and, most importantly, the lessons of Russian Revolution and the struggle against its bureaucratic degeneration. This means building sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International throughout the world. Two days of procedural hearings have confirmed that the official government inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire crowns a state-orchestrated cover-up. The inquiry into the June 14 inferno that claimed, officially, the lives of least 71 people, was formally established August 15, but is yet to hear a single witness or disclose any evidence it has received. The procedure hearings were organised solely in order that Core Participants could discuss issues of case management, timetabling, sequencing of witnesses and evidence disclosure. Led by its chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, a renowned pillar of the establishment, the inquiry is the servant of the Conservative government. Moore-Bickunder the provisions of the 2005 Inquires Act legislated by the Blair Labour governmenthas no powers to prosecute anyone in relation to Grenfell. The fraudulent character of the inquiry was epitomised by Moore-Bicks prior insistence that issues of a social, economic and political nature will not feature in its deliberations. The inquirys two-day meeting, ending yesterday, did at least underscore the scale of the cover-up being carried out by the Tory government and the Metropolitan Police. It will have been a great comfort to the guilty parties who managed Grenfell Tower and turned it into a death trapthe Conservative-run Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, its housing management company, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation and the corporations involved in installing the flammable exterior cladding that resulted in so many dying. Counsel to the inquiry, Richard Millett QC, addressed Moore-Bick first, confirming that the first phase of the inquiry would deal only with an investigation of the facts as they occurred on the night of the fire and into the next day. It would not report back to the government until Autumn 2018, rather than by Easter as originally promised. The Metropolitan Police, a core participant in the inquiry, were invited to speak to provide a brief update on the criminal investigation. Speaking on behalf of the Met, Jeremy Johnson QC, said the police had now acquired 31 million documents and had possession of 2,500 physical exhibits. It had taken 2,332 witness statements from 1,144 witnesses, and 383 companies had been identified as having some involvement in or connection to the construction or refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. There were some 3,916 investigative tasks or lines of inquiry that had been generated, said Johnson. Reeling off this staggering total serves to hide the fundamental truth in plain sightnamely that the police have still not even questioned, let alone arrested a single person regarding this heinous crime. Johnson confirmed that there was no prospect of anyone being questioned as a suspect until next autumn. To justify this criminal inaction, he claimed that interviews of further witnesses or of suspects could not take place until the forensic careful analysis of every room within the tower, as well as every inch of the communal areas and, of course, importantly, the outside of the towerwas completedto be followed by a series of further forensic tests and reconstructions. Quite why the pursuit of normal lines of inquiry, such as questioning suspects, is conditional on such an inch-by-inch examination was never explained. The first day of the hearing also heard statements from solicitors representing the families of the bereaved, survivors and those who lived locally. The attempt to reassure everyone that everything possible was being done to get to the truth was punctured by Sam Stein QC, who spoke on behalf of 65 residents. He said to Moore-Bick that those residents he represented have lost loved ones, they have been injured, they have been poisoned by cyanide [emitted by the cheap, flammable clad that encased the Tower], they have been taken to hell itself [W]e ask this inquiry the simple question: When will it start? When will the truth come out? When can we start seeing the defences and potential excuses which will be raised by companies and institutions at fault? He added, Many of the core participants lost all of their belongings and are still living in temporary accommodation... Many are living in single hotel rooms and may well continue to do so over the Christmas period. There is no innocent explanation for the refusal of the police to even attempt to bring the guilty to justice. The police and the courts can act with extraordinary speed when its serves the interests of the ruling elite. In the immediate aftermath of the riots that erupted in London and nationally in 2011following the police killing of Mark Dugganthe police arrested thousands of people and the government and the courts established a system of assembly line justice. Courts were empowered to work around the clock so that more than 3,000 people were rapidly chargedoften for the most trivial offences. A staggering 1,292 people were jailed for a total of over 1,800 years. In the present situation, the week prior to the procedural hearings, survivors launched a petition to demand that the blatantly undemocratic nature of the inquiry be changed. They are calling for Prime Minister Theresa May to appoint a panel of people they trustwith decision-making powersto work alongside Moore-Bick. At present, the inquiry team consists of three Assessors, all establishment figures, who are working with Moore-Bick but who dont have any decision-making powers. Survivors also insist that, Legal representatives of bereaved families see all evidence from the start and are allowed to question witnesses at the hearings. Presently all questions must be submitted in advance to Moore-Bick, who can decide which go through to the inquiry. On Tuesday, the families delivered to Downing Street the 16,000 signatures collected so far. Several solicitors called on Moore-Bick to consider these demands. Leslie Thomas QC, representing 17 people, including some of those bereaved and former residents of the tower, asked Moore-Bick, How many of them [the inquiry team] have lived in a tower block or a council estate or in social housing? That affects confidence. Confidence, or a lack of it, affects participation. And a lack of participation of the very people that matter affects justice. And a lack of justice is injustice. Responding to the calls, Moore-Bick refused to accept the necessity for a Panel, instead suggesting that he would consider establishing a consultative panel of local residents that would be able to advise him, but not make decisions in the inquiry. On the final day of the procedural hearing, yet more evidence emerged of the inquirys political character. Exposing the claims of inquiry counsel Millett that it would oversee a ruthlessly independent and effective investigation, Fire Brigades Union barrister Martin Seaward called for Steven McGuirk, one of the key experts appointed by the inquiry, to stand down. Seaward said this was necessary as McGuirk would be conflicted and compromised in giving evidence. Giving reasons why, Seaward said, For example, he was in charge of Greater Manchester when recommendations were made from the Lakanal fire [in London] and one question would be whether those recommendations were carried out. McGuirk was a former chief fire officer in Greater Manchester, with Seawards submission saying he had been the principal adviser to local authorities on fire safety guidance. A United Nation teams tour of Alabama last week exposed what many Alabama residents have known for decades: residents of the states Black Belt region are suffering in social conditions most frequently encountered in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Notably, Lowndes County, the home of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, suffers from poor sewage disposal and resultant hookworm infection otherwise unknown in the United States. Phillip Alston, the UNs Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, witnessed communities where raw sewage flows into open pits or into surrounding creeks and streams. I think its very uncommon in the First World, Alston said to reporters as he toured Butler County in South Alabama. This is not a sight that one normally sees. Id have to say that I havent seen this. Alston visited communities in Lowndes and Butler Counties last Thursday, accompanied by local activists. These counties are located in the so-called Black Belt, named for the rich loam that stretches throughout the Deep South States. The regions fertile soil, along with its steamy, subtropical climate, made it the epicenter of the Antebellum Souths cotton-growing industry. Today, it is known for its entrenched poverty and appalling social conditions. The lack of sewage disposal and the related occurrence of gastrointestinal pathogens in the Black Belt are but two startling indicators of those conditions. In Lowndes and Butler Counties, residents frequently struggle with gastrointestinal diseases such as E. coli. Many of those who are not diagnosed have reported in the past to health officials that they suffer from frequent or protracted bouts of vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea. Lowndes County activist Aaron Thigpen took Alston and his team to a property inhabited by members of Thigpens extended family. The house had no functioning septic system; the family, which includes two minor children, relies upon PVC pipes to direct the household sewage into an open-air, aboveground pool. As Thigpen pointed out, the main water line lies in close proximity to the improvised sewage system. Should the water main become open, everyone in the house gets sick all at once, as Thigpen told Alston. He also took Alston to a community in Butler County, where he showed the UN team an entire community where man-made ditches carry effluent into a nearby creek. Its really bad when youve got a lot of kids around like there are here, Thigpen told AL.com. Theyre playing ball and the ball goes into the raw sewage, and they dont know the importance of not handling sewage. Another Butler County resident showed Alston where his outdated septic system leaches raw sewage into the soil and bubbles up into his yard. A significant flood would send this raw sewage into the house, exposing all residents therein to coliform bacteria and parasites. In September, the National School of Tropical Medicine (NSTM) at Baylor University published a study that revealed serious sanitation deficits in Lowndes County. Three-quarters of study participants reported that raw sewage had managed to reenter their houses, either because of heavy rainfall or clogs in improvised sewage disposal systems. The problem is not entirely unknown: in 2011, the Alabama Department of Public Health reported that the number of households with no sewage disposal or inadequate sewage disposal ranged from 40 to 90 percent. The ADPH further reported that 50 percent of homes with on-site sewage containment systems had systems that were failing or expected to fail within the near future. The loamy soil and hot, humid weather that made cotton farming such a profitable endeavor in the Deep South provides a perfect breeding environment for Necator americanus, a species of hookworm that lays its eggs in the intestines of those it infects. In a place like Lowndes or Butler County, where raw sewage seeps into poorly draining soil, the eggs deposited through sewage have a warm and hospitable locale to incubate, hatch and reproduce. A person unwittingly walking through a soil where hookworms have incubated can become infected when one or more worm enters their body, usually through bare feet and exposed ankles. According to the NSTM study, 19 of 55 participants tested positive for the parasite, which causes stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. As infection progresses, severe anemia frequently leads to fatigue and cognitive disabilities; in some cases, particularly among the very young, the very old, and the immune-compromised, it leads to death. Hookworm infections were largely eradicated from the United States between the 1950s and the 1980s due to social programs that addressed both sanitation infrastructure and community health. The parasite is mainly associated with extreme poverty in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, and many infectious disease researchers had assumed that it no longer existed in the US at all. The Baylor study would not have occurred had Catherine Flowers, the founder of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise in Montgomery, Alabama, not prevailed upon the NSTM to investigate the situation in Lowndes County. Hookworm is a 19th-century disease that should have by now been addressed, Flowers told the Guardian in September, yet we are still struggling with it in the United States in the 21st Century. As NSTM researchers pointed out to the Guardian, the discovery of hookworms in Lowndes County highlights the need for further research throughout the United States. The incidence of hookworm is clearly tied both to poverty and to blatant malfeasance on the part of local, state and federal governments. In Lowndes County, the annual median household makes a mere $30,225 yearly. According to the 2010 US Census, over 25 percent of county residents live below the poverty line. For a family that earns less than $2000 a month, the cost of a new septic systemwhich can cost up to $15,000 to installis prohibitively high. Speaking to the Guardian in September, Aaron Thigpen pointed out that, while people are disgusted by having to live near raw sewage, theres no public help for them and if youre earning $700 a month theres no way you can afford your own private sanitation. Thigpen also pointed out that between 2002 and 2008, the State of Alabama prosecuted many residents who could not afford to install septic systems. Thigpen recounted the case of an elderly woman who was jailed for a weekend after she was unable to install a new septic tank; the installation would have cost more than her annual income. People...dont like to speak out as theyre worried the Health Department will come round [sic] and cause trouble, Thigpen stated. Flowers reported that 80 percent of Lowndes County is without municipal sewer systems. In the absence of such systems, people are required to install and maintain their own septic tanks. In a location such as Lowndes County, however, very few people can afford to install any septic systemmuch less one sophisticated enough to deal with the water retention of the area soil. The poverty and lack of infrastructure in Lowndes County is neither incidental nor accidental, and the urgent state of its sewage disposal issue is not the only evidence for that. Lowndes County was known as Bloody Lowndes during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, home to a large proportion of disenfranchised African Americans whose demand for voting rights was met with police violence and the states intentional destruction of roads, ferries, and public transit that might allow poor residents to make it to the voting polls. Older residents recount how the homes of black residents were shot up or set on fire to dissuade them from voting; law enforcement either turned a blind eye or actively encouraged such acts. Voting rights remain an issue in Lowndes County. Philip Alston and his team made their final stop in Alabama at the home of Pattie Mae Ansley in Fort Deposit. The 96-year-old Ansley told Alston how her house was shot up in 1965, after the Voting Rights Act was ratified. Her children spoke to Alston privately about their experiences with obtaining a voter ID card and the difficulty of getting to the polls. Flowers pointed out that access to the polls is not the only issue. People are frustrated because people are getting into office who arent doing what the people elected them to do, she told AL.com. Alston rightly points out that access to decent sanitation, like voting rights, is a human rights issue. However, the Republican Party stands poised to pass a tax bill that will overwhelmingly place the countrys tax burden onto the backs of the poor while subsidizing the wealthiest, exacerbating the social problems seen in Alabama. Moreover, the budget proposed by President Donald Trump drastically cuts spending for creating new infrastructure or for upgrading outdated infrastructure; to the contrary, it places social infrastructure at the mercy of private entrepreneurs. Lowndes County and its abominable lack of sewage disposal stands as an example of how such a system, which Alabamas government has faithfully embraced since the 1960s, utterly fails to addresses even dire social issues. As this article was being written, Alabamians were waiting for the results of a special election to determine whether Republican Roy Moore or Democrat Doug Jones would take the hotly contested US Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Sessions. Moore is an openly fascistic, antidemocratic candidate, well-known as a highly partial judge who supports restricting voting rights. Nevertheless, the Jones campaign refused to mount an attack upon either Moores viciously antidemocratic positions or the failure of the Republican Partys history within the State of Alabama, which has orchestrated massive cuts to public programs. The NSTM released its study in September. Jones campaign has had ample time to answer to the damning report on social conditions in Lowndes and Butler Counties. Nevertheless, the Democrats persisted in running a right-wing pro-business campaign against Moore focused solely on allegations of sexual misconduct, ignoring the poverty that will only continue to fester in the Black Belt along with hookworm and E. c oli infections. The reason for such an abject lack of concern for the conditions of workers in the Democrats campaign in Alabama is clear; it does not concern them, and they cannot offer an answer to it. Neither party represents the interest of Alabamas working-class residents. To resolve the social problems they confront, workers in Alabama and throughout the US must reject both parties of big business just as surely as those parties have rejected them, and stand united with their counterparts worldwide in fighting for a socialist program. The World Socialist Web Site is pleased to announce the publication of the first-ever Urdu translation of Trotskys seminal work, Lessons of October. Urdu is Pakistans national language and is also spoken by some 50 million people in India. Written by Trotsky in 1924, Lessons of October is indispensable both for understanding the history of the October 1917 Russian Revolution and the pivotal role of revolutionary leadership in the socialist revolution. The Urdu edition was prepared by Pakistani supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It includes a preface written by Keith Jones, a member of the WSWS International Editorial Board, and an introduction, written by the pioneer Canadian Trotskyist Maurice Spector, for the 1937 English-language edition. Marxist Voice, a Pakistani group that has expressed political agreement with the perspectives of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and undertaken to work with the ICFI to build it as the World Party of Socialist Revolution, has published the Urdu translation of Lessons of October in book form. The Urdu translation can be accessed here. The original, English-language version of the Preface, can be accessed here. By PTI: Chennai, Dec 13 (PTI) A city police inspector was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthans Pali district in the early hours of today where a special team went to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist here. A senior police official identified the deceased as S Periyapandiyan, an inspector attached to the Maduravoyal police station in Chennai. advertisement "The shoot-out took place when a police team went to nab the suspects at a village in Pali district. Periyapandiyan was killed in the firing while others suffered injuries," he said. The incident occurred around 2:30 am, the official said. A police team led by Joint Commissioner (West) Santosh Kumar is likely to visit Rajasthan in connection with the incident. Last month, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur here, after entering it by making a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to nab the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. PTI SA SS ANB --- ENDS --- By Sneha Agrawal: In the eternal fight of the luxury brands to keep their trademark designs protected from infringement and fakes, the high-end designer shoe brand Christian Louboutin won a legal battle against three Delhibased shoe stores that were found infringing and selling its premium trademark design 'Red Sole'. Christian Louboutin is known for its distinctive red-soled heels. The luxury shoe brand had moved high court seeking permanent injunction against the shoe stores from the use of its trademark 'Red Sole' or similar designs, and was granted by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday. The high court also awarded approximately Rs10,00,000 to the brand as damages and litigation cost. advertisement Speaking to MAIL TODAY, its counsel Pravin Anand said, "What started off as serendipity that is Christian Louboutin painting the bottom of the shoe with a red nail polish, has now become the world famous brand. The interesting thing is that the order speaks volumes of the maturity of Indian courts and it is quite clear that red is the soul of the order." The premier shoe brand told court that the violation by these stores came to light during an extensive market survey conducted in 2016. It found out about three shoe store sellers operating in Karol Bagh and Ghaffar market using its trademark design. Also Read: Did Deepika Padukone wear Anushka Sharma's wedding earrings before her? It also found out that these shopkeepers were selling these products on social media platforms. The court was told, "A shoe with a red sole clearly identifies the product and distinguishes it from the goods of every other person. The 'Red Sole' trademark has thus become the signature of the plaintiff." The Delhi HC during the course of hearing appointed an independent investigator which confirmed the allegations of the brand. The court observed that Louboutin was a well-known luxury brand with presence in over 60 countries including India through stores and on the internet. It also observed that it had successfully enforced its rights in the said trademarks. The 'Red Sole' trademark has been applied for trademark registration and granted in several jurisdictions including in India. Shoe stores were found to be infringing the shoes for at least 15 months. 45 pairs of infringing shoes were recovered from the stores. --- ENDS --- CAMILLA, Ga. (WTXL) - Camilla Mayor Rufus Davis says he's fed up with what he believes is discrimination within the city government. In response, he and newly elected Councilman Veterra Pollard say they'll sit out future City Council meetings. Davis says the racial issues are the biggest problems and lists concerns about what he says is the city's segregated cemetery and the lack of black police officers. City Manager Bennett Adams says at least one of those claims is untrue. Adams says anyone can pay the required money to be buried in the cemetery regardless of race. As for the police officers, Adams says that while there are minority officers, none are black. There is an even further fallout now after the City Council passed a new charter Monday. The mayor says it will allow the city manager to carry out these types of policies and practices without being held accountable by voters. But the city's attorney says the powers of the mayor and city manager did not change in the new charter. City Manager Bennett Adams is retiring. His replacement has been selected and will be announced at a later date. 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. MAYO, Fla. (WTXL) - A fire Saturday night destroyed the home of a family in Lafayette County just two weeks before they were planning to celebrate Christmas with loved ones. "It didn't take but about 10 minutes, and it was gone," said Preston Pittman, the owner of the home lost to the fire. A small amount of time left a big burden on the Pittman family. Saturday night, a fire gutted their home in Mayo. "You know, 20-something years of raising kids in that house, and everything's gone," said Preston. It's a hard reality for Marshall and Brian Pittman, who grew up in this house, as they reflect on their memories here. "Running through the house, playing hide-and-go-seek, getting beat up by my brothers," said Marshall. "It's everything, sir." "It's unbelievable," Brian said. "I was just here four hours before it happened, and you don't think nothing like this can happen -- and it does." The fire department says it all started when a fire escaped a portion of this chimney, went over the back walls of this bedroom and quickly took over the entire house. Officials say the family was lucky to make it out alive. "When I went in and smelled something plastic, I opened the bedroom door and flames rushed out, you know, hit the ceiling," said Preston. Preston Pittman and his wife Joyce could only grab their two family dogs and escape the fire. A family friend was able to put them in a cabin for a few days. Pictures show the house's chimney standing amid the rubble. "After that, we don't know right now," said Preston. "I had insurance, but it don't cover everything." Community members have offered what they can to help the Pittmans. The Red Cross has also stepped in and the family says it's grateful for the support. "Makes you feel really, really good that you got a lot of people in your corner when something like this -- something tragic happens," said Brian. Neighbors have been collecting money and donations to help the Pittman family. If you'd like to help, go to the family's GoFundMe page. 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) - An up to $3,000 reward is being offered for information about a person who put fraudulent checks into a local credit union's ATM and withdrew money. The Leon County Sheriff's Office is asking people who know the person in the image to contact Detective Joe LeSerra at (850) 606-3420. To remain anonymous and be eligible to possibly receive a reward up to $3,000, call Big Bend Crime Stoppers at (850) (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. By PTI: (Eds: Updates with state govts decision for CBI probe) Bengaluru, Dec 13 (PTI) Conceding a BJP demand, the Karnataka government today decided to hand over to CBI the case relating to the mysterious death of a youth, which has sparked violence in coastal Uttara Kannada district. A A"The state government has decided to hand over Paresh Kamalakar Mestas mysterious death case to Central Bureau ofA Investigation," state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told PTI here, as the BJP upped the ante on the issue. A Maintaining that Mesta was a Hindu activist and had been killed by "Jihadi elements", the BJP has demanded an investigation by the CBI or the National Investigation Agency. A AHitting out at BJP, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had accused it of using the incident for "political gains." A AMesta (19), hailing from the fisherman community, was reported missing on December 6 before his body was found near a lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district two days later. A ASirsi and Kumata towns in the district have been hit byA violence since then. A AMestas family and local residents alleged he was abducted and killed amid reports that the body bore marks ofA attack by sharp objects. A APolice, however, have rejected the claims, citing a report by doctors, pending a postmortem examination. A AEarlier today, senior BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje claimedAthe involvement of Muslim outfit Popular Front of India MestasAdeath as she pressed for CBI or NIA probe. A A"Investigations have shown the involvement of PFI behind the murder of RSS worker Rudresh (early this year) and otherA leaders in Karnataka and Kerala. Why is the government soft onA PFI and not banning it?" she asked. PFI had earlier rejected the BJP charge pinning the blame on it for the killings of Hindu activists. Karandlaje dismissed Reddys charges that she and other firebrand BJP leaders were responsible for the riotous situation in the coastal belt. ATo a query, Reddy said, "We do not want to indulge in political mud-slinging, and the government is not shielding anyone in this case, and hence we thought it fit to hand over the case to CBI." ACharging the BJP with playing politics over Mestas deathA in poll-bound Karnataka, where assembly elections are due early next year, he said the victim did not belong to any political party. A A"Mestas father, in a TV interview yesterday, had denied that his son belonged to any political party. This is just in contrast to BJP allegations that Mesta belonged to a HinduA outfit," he said. A A AThe death of Mesta had given a fresh ammunition to the BJP which has been targeting the Siddaramaiah government in recent months, saying that nearly 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar and pro-Hindu outfits have been killed in coastal Karnataka and elsewhere. PTI BDN RA VS --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) today organised a car rally to take home a women who was allegedly beaten up by locals for helping authorities unearth an illicit liquor racket in Narela area. The woman was discharged from hospital today. She was first taken to Rajghat where she offered prayers before heading home. advertisement Over 400 vehicles and thousands of women from across the city assembled at Rajghat to take her home. "We appeal to people to join the campaign by giving missed call at 9313-181-181 and send information on illegal liqour and drugs trade through whatsapp. The identity of those providing information to the commission shall be kept secret," DCW chief Swati Maliwal said. Last week, the woman was allegedly assaulted for helping the DCW and police unearth an illicit liquor racket Terming the incident as "shocking and shameful", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had sought intervention from Lt Governor Anil Baijal and demanded action against local policemen who were allegedly colluding with those running the racket. Police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against those who assaulted the woman. PTI GJS SMN --- ENDS --- Price tag for community colleges new IT system goes up $45 million YORK -- On Thursday, Dec. 14, all are invited to tour the Clayton Museum of Ancient History led by the children of the Junior Docents program. Tours will begin at 6:30 p.m. and there is no cost for admission. The museum is located in the lower level of the Mackey Center on the York College campus (8th and Delaware). Junior Docents are 8-to-15 year-olds who meet with museum curator Amber Soderholm each week for educational fun. I wanted to teach them how to research and how to talk about an object and its historical context, and to give them a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at a museum, said Soderholm. The Junior Docents have led museum tours at special events such as the Ides of March dinner last spring. This Junior Docent evening will be the final event for Soderholm, who will be leaving her role at the Clayton Museum at the end of the month. In January, Soderholm will start a new adventure as visitor services coordinator at The Grove Museum in Tallahassee, Florida. While she admits she will miss the people the museum has brought into her life and York, the new opportunity is thrilling. The Grove Museum is a historic home on ten acres in the heart of Tallahassee, next door to the Governors mansion. The museum has just undergone considerable renovation and reopened to the public in March. Soderholm is excited about working with an historic home again (her previous experience was at The Hermitage in Nashville, former home of President Andrew Jackson). Her hope for the Clayton Museum is that it continues to grow and be a vibrant resource for history lovers of all ages for many years to come. The Junior Docents event on Dec.14 is a great opportunity to see the Martin Luther temporary exhibit that is open through Dec. 15, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation movement. Its also a great time to wish Soderholm well on her new professional endeavor and thank her for her service to the community. Soderholm has been working with the Clayton Museum collection since 2013, first as a consultant and then as the curator and museum designer. It was a learning experience, she said. Most of my experience up to that point had been with historic homes and working with a supervisor, someone I could go to with questions. With this project, she had a collection of artifacts from many places and times, and the responsibility for planning how they would be displayed as well as cared for. Soderholm enlisted the talents of friend and local artist, Kate Fitch, as well as her father, Robert Soderholm. Fitch brought the designers eye and Robert Soderholm brought the construction skills. What did she bring? All the crazy ideas, she said with a laugh. I would think of something that I wanted to do, but had no idea how to make it happen. Together we would figure it out. One of the biggest challenges was trying to contextualize the artifacts so that museum-goers would have a deeper appreciation of the eclectic collection, from silver shekels to roman military equipment to Syro-Hittite figurines. The biggest take-away from her experience has been never to say never, said Soderholm. Sometimes you limit yourself. You think thats not possible when really, it is possible, if you just keep trying and wait for things to work out. The museum opened in 2015 and has since entertained more than 10,000 guests. A search is underway to find Soderholms successor. Interested parties may view the job description at www.york.edu/employment. The deadline was earlier December 31 for linking the 12-digit unique identification number with both Permanent Account Number (PAN) and bank accounts. The deadline to link the Aadhaar number with bank accounts has been extended by three months. By Indo-Asian News Service: The deadline to link the Aadhaar number with bank accounts has been extended by three months till March 31, the government announced on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court is set to commence hearing from Thursday on its mandatory linking to various schemes. The deadline was earlier December 31 for linking the 12-digit unique identification number with both Permanent Account Number (PAN) and bank accounts. However, the government extended the deadline last week for linking it with PAN till March 31. advertisement A notification to link it with bank accounts was later issued on Tuesday by the Department of Revenue under the Finance Ministry. The notification, however, did not mention the new deadline, leaving it open-ended. The government later issued a press release which contained the deadline of March 31. According to the December 12 notification, the words "submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by December 31, 2017" have been substituted by "submit the Aadhaar number, PAN or Form No 60 by such date as may be notified by the Central government". The release said under the provisions of Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, it was provided that if a client already having a bank account or any other account-based relationship with reporting entities prior to date of this notification fails to submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by December 31, "the said account shall cease to be operational till the time the Aadhaar number and PAN is submitted by the client". In case of a person opening a new account, the deadline for submitting Aadhaar number and PAN was "six months from the date of the commencement of the account based relationship". "After considering various representations received in this regard and inputs received from banks, it has been decided to notify March 31, 2018 or six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the client, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity," the statement said. VIDEO | India Today Conclave Next 2017: Govt should have created proper ecosystem for Aadhaar, says Rajeev Chandrashekhar --- ENDS --- News Washington, DC - The United States is concerned by Polands decision to fine the private TV broadcaster TVN for alleged biased reporting of demonstrations outside Parliament last December. This decision appears to undermine media freedom in Poland, a close ally and fellow democracy. Free and independent media are essential to a strong democracy. As Secretary Tillerson has said, Societies built on good governance, strong civil society, and an open and free media are more prosperous, stable, and secure. We remain confident in the strength and ability of Polands democracy to ensure Polands democratic institutions are fully functioning and respected. Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - The Concert Series at St. Paul's Episcopal Church will be presenting Arizona Western College Music Department Faculty in Concert on Sunday, January 21. Faculty will perform vocal and instrumental classical music as part of the series, which will begin at 5 p.m. at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, 1550 S. 14th Ave. The concert is free for the community to attend. Donations will support scholarships for students in the music department. For more information, contact Professor Rodney Abriol at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at (928) 317-6019. Delhi government has constituted a nine member committee to attempt medical reforms in private hospitals and to keep a check on cap of medicines sold beyond mentioned limit. By Pooja Shali: Delhi government has constituted a nine member committee to attempt medical reforms in private hospitals. The committee will also keep a check on cap of medicines sold beyond mentioned limit. Private hospitals have been often reported to force patients to buy medicines on an inflated rate and from medical shops from the hospital, adding to burden of patients. advertisement The committee will also look into consumables, behaviour protocol of medical staff, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and misdemeanour at the hospital. The committee will recommend to the government any suggestions to be considered. After cancelling registration license of a private hospital, health ministry of Delhi government is taking forward further steps to restrain alleged profiteering. "Over-billing a massive problem in private hospitals in Delhi. We are forming a committee including experienced doctors and medical experts from associations, which will provide recommendations," said Health Minister Satyendra Jain. Minister added, "Calling this merely a populist measure is disrespecting our effort, like cracking a joke. The attempt is to bring relief to the patient suffering and is forced to over pay. Ask a patient suffering at these hospitals if this is merely a populist measure." "Central government has made a national list of essential medicines for upto 400 medicines with capped rate. Experts gave compiled list. Hospitals must write those medicines in prescription, why are these not mentioned," the minister added. He concluded, "Hospitals must inform patients ahead of treatment about the amount expected to be spent. We have received complaints that often the final bill is higher than mentioned. How will patients arrange so much money unless informed earlier? These are genuine concerns." However, it remains to be seen if the recommendation would be easily implemented without a requisite Health Act. The government has assured it is working on the Act and likely to implement it soon. The Delhi government in the last few days has earned appreciation for its measures in the health sector, from cancelling license of a private hospital at fault, to promising free medical aid to 'accident' victims. --- ENDS --- Stiri pe aceeasi tema - President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday participated in an event where US Exim Bank handed two letters of intent regarding the provision of loans for units 3 and 4 of Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant that took place in on the sidelines of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations - President Klaus Iohannis signed on Wednesday the decree for the decoration of academician Zeljko Reiner, vice-president of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro - President Klaus Iohannis declared on Wednesday that the ideal way would be for all EU member states to share the same approach and stand together in all matters, but a democracy works with a diversity of opinions. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook - President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday thanked the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, for the presence of the Dutch military in Romania, pointing out that these, together with the other allied military, make a safer Europe and protect Euro-Atlantic values. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. - Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and Prince Radu visited, on Wednesday, the 21st Mountain Troops Battalion General Leonard Mociulschi in central Predeal. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro Help your friends - A ceremony dedicated to the Romanian-British economic partnership and the beginning of the reign of King Charles III took place, on Tuesday evening, at the Peles Castle in central Sinaia. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, participated, on Tuesday, in New York, in a meeting in the Bucharest 9 format, organized on the sidelines of participating in the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly, the discussions aimed, among other things, at the recent developments in - Children of Romanian defence personnel killed in international military operations and missions will plant on Wednesday an oak tree in Carol I Park, in Bucharest, as part of an event to honour the sacrifice of Romanian soldiers killed in the line of duty for peace outside Romania, according to the Stiri pe aceeasi tema - The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) is organizing, on Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Palace of the Parliament, the Ministerial Conference of the Salzburg Forum, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro Help - The 13th edition of the Royal Charity Concert held on Tuesday evening at the Romanian Athenaeum with the Royal Family of Romania in attendance raised over 160,000 euros that will support young talented artists with limited financial possibilities through scholarships, mentoring and promotion, the - The Metropolitan Bishop of Veria, Naousa and Kampania (Greece), Panteleimon, officiated on Wednesday the Holy Liturgy, at the Feast of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius, the Fountain of Myrrh, surrounded by priests and deacons, in the Great Summer Altar of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, on - Romania sent on Tuesday to the European Commission the National Strategic Plan for agriculture for the period 2023-2027, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea announced on Facebook on Wednesday. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro - Termoenergetica Bucharest announces that, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the working tests will begin for urban consumers in the Capital, in compliance with the legal requirements, informs the company in a press release sent to AGERPRES. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. - As many as 64,905 people, including 7,505 Ukrainian citizens, up 0.4% on a daily basis, entered Romania on Tuesday, October 11, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Wednesday, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook - The General Inspectorate of the Border Police informs that, on Wednesday, 80,992 people entered Romania, through the border crossing points, out of whom 11,000 were Ukrainian citizens, increasing by 15.7pct compared to the previous day. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, will participate on Tuesday and Wednesday in the informal meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU Member States (in Gymnich format), which will take place in Prague, within the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a District of Columbia: The abortive bombing by an Islamic State-inspired Bangladeshi in New York has raised fresh fears of a possible surge in attacks during the year-end holiday season on both sides of the Atlantic. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old immigrant who mainly injured himself when he tried to detonate a pipe bomb in a New York subway Monday, reportedly told investigators that he targeted the station based on the Christmas posters on the walls. The explosion, which saw three others lightly injured, came two weeks before Christmas, a period which terror experts says offers potential terrorists a large choice of "soft targets" where many people are gathered, shopping and celebrating, with limited ability to protect them. IS-inspired militants carried out two devastating attacks in Europe during the holiday season last year. In one, a Tunisian refugee drove a large truck into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. A week later, a jihadist militant shot dead 39 people at a New Year`s Eve party at an Istanbul nightclub. In November 2016, French police broke up an Islamic extremist ring that was weighing an attack on a Christmas market as well as Paris Disneyland in the weeks before December 25 holiday. This year, such markets around the continent have a heavier police presence and more concrete blocks to prevent possible vehicle attacks. The US State Department has issued an alert for travelers to Europe during the holiday season, reminding them of both the Berlin and Istanbul attacks. "US citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals and events," the State Department warned. "Extremists continue to focus on tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls and local government facilities as viable targets." US authorities have also put out a general domestic warning over possible season-based attacks, according to Christopher Krebs, a senior Department of Homeland Security official. "We`re focused on general awareness with the general public, like `see something, say something,`" he said.Analysts say there have not been any public directives from any of the authoritative media channels of Islamic State, Al-Qaeda or related groups. But for weeks, supporters have disseminated propaganda encouraging holiday-period attacks. SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, has shown posters made to encourage Christmas attacks. In one, a Santa stands next to a box of explosives looking over New York`s Times Square, with the text: "We meet at Christmas in New York... soon." Another depicts a European city with a warning in three languages: "Soon on your holidays." Such propaganda underscores the move of Islamic State to an online "virtual caliphate" after the successful campaign to break up its territory in Syria and Iraq over the past year. Rather than plot attacks from a central command, the group now seeks to guide lone attackers online. "It is adapting its model, looking to inspire individuals operating overseas, rather than trying to direct and command and control them," Nick Rasmussen, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, said on PBS television Monday. "That`s a different model of terrorism. It`s harder to prevent." The Christmas-New Year threat is a perennial one, said Jeff Ringle, a former FBI counterterror official who now heads the Soufan Group security consultancy. "Holidays have always raised the threat alarm," he told AFP, saying the expanded ability of soft targets -- public places where many people gather, like concerts and markets -- would give an attacker "a lot of visibility in the news." Preventing them is particularly difficult. "In order to allow people to enjoy the holidays, law enforcement has to be on their toes. It can never be completely effective," Ringle said. Karachi: Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer spy thriller 'Tiger Zinda Hai will not release in Pakistan after it failed to obtain a clearance from the country's Central Board of Film Censors. Geo Films, which has the distribution rights for the film in Pakistan, had started publishing the release of the film with the note 'subject to censor clearance' but its release on December 22 is unlikely now. The first part, "Ek Tha Tiger", was also not cleared for the release in Pakistan. Sources said the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage has refused to grant a No-Objection Certificate for the film upon CBFC's recommendation. Pakistan-related scenes are reportedly the basis for the film's non-clearance. In the spy thriller, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, Salman plays the role of a Raw agent who falls in love with Pakistani spy Zoya (Katrina) and together they team up to fight against terrorists. New Delhi: Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar is back with yet another promising entertainer after 'Sultan'. His latest outing 'Tiger Zinda Hai' stars superstar Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, who will reprise their roles of Tiger and Zoya respectively from the first part 'Ek Tha Tiger'. 'Tiger Zinda Hai' is a sequel to 2012 blockbuster 'Ek Tha Tiger' by Kabir Khan. The film's trailer has already become a huge hit with maximum likes on YouTube. Also, the first track 'Swag Se Swagat' received a warm response from the fans, topping all chartbuster lists. The film promises a lot of action and will give you an adrenaline rush. Salman shared the latest promo on Twitter where he can be seen fighting a pack of ferocious wolves in chilly locales. Watch it here: Tiger Zinda Hai brings back the much-loved jodi of Salman and Katrina back on the silver screens after a long hiatus of five years. Hollywood stunt master Tom Struthers has designed some jaw-dropping actions scenes which will leave you completely awestruck. The film is set to hit the screens on December 22, 2017. Salman has a couple of films lined-up for the coming year with 'Race 3', 'Bharat (2019) and 'Dabangg 3'. The actor is currently hosting controversial reality show 'Bigg Boss 11' where a mix of celebrity and commoners are locked inside a house for good three months. The superstar has hosted the show consecutively for 8 seasons. New Delhi: The CBI has taken over investigations of the two cases related to the alleged circulation of a "fake sex CD" allegedly involving a Chhattisgarh minister, agency sources said on Thursday. Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat had lodged complaints against senior journalist Vinod Verma, who was arrested from Ghaziabad in October, and also state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel for allegedly tarnishing his image through the CD. According to procedure, the CBI has re-registered the FIRs of the Chhattisgarh Police which were registered against Verma on Munat's complaint. The two cases are related to alleged possession and circulation of fake pornographic video and allegations of ransom demand, CBI sources said. The journalist had denied the allegations. According to the Raipur Police, a case of blackmail and extortion was registered at the Pandri police station based on a complaint by BJP leader Prakash Bajaj who had said that he "was being harassed over phone by an unidentified caller who told him that he had a CD of his 'aka' (master)". After investigation, a search team was sent to Delhi and Verma was held from Ghaziabad, the police had said, claiming to have recovered 500 CDs, pen drives etc. The case against Baghel, Verma and others was registered under section 67 (A) of the Information Technology Act following the minister's complaint, Station House Officer (SHO) Civil Lines, Raipur, Hem Prakash Nayak had told PTI. Both the cases have been taken over by the CBI, the sources said. After cancellation of hospital's license by the Delhi Government, the Max Hospital authorities have now filed an appeal against government order. By Munish Pandey: After cancellation of hospital's license by the Delhi Government, Max Hospital authorities have now filed an appeal against government order. "Following the due process of law, we have filed an appeal with the appropriate authority against cancellation of registration of Max Hospital Shalimar Bagh," said a release by hospital. Sources have told India Today that appeal has been filed before Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi, Anil Baijal. advertisement Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, license to operate with immediate effect was cancelled by the Kejriwal government on Friday. The Delhi government came down heavily on the hospital where a premature baby was allegedly declared dead on November 30. The baby died at a nursing home in Pitampura after battling for life for nearly a week. Delhi health minister, Satyendar Jain, had earlier said in a press conference, "Delhi government has cancelled the licence of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, over medical negligence in the case. The medical fault which happened at the Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh is a criminal medical negligence and it is not acceptable at all." "Earlier, we had also requested Delhi Government to review their decision and restore the registration. This decision has caused significant inconvenience to thousands of patients and local residents and this is further compounded by unavailability of suitable alternatives for their medical needs in the vicinity," added Max Hospital. The Delhi Medical Association and Indian Medical Association have also backed Max Hospital and have warned Delhi government to review the decision. Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh on a monthly basis treats around 14000 patients in the OPD, attends to over 1600 emergency patients and additional 3000 are treated in inpatient wards. After the cancellation order, Max Hospital has to turn down the OPD and new IPD, but, planned procedures such as 171 chemotherapies, 63 surgeries and 241 dialysis sessions had has been cancelled, rescheduled or transferred. ALSO WATCH | Several other violations against Max Hospital too, says Delhi health minister --- ENDS --- RAIPUR: Known Pakistani hacker Faisal Afzal is back on the action as he hacked websites of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office (CMO) and Public Works Department (PWD) on Monday and Tuesday. Defacing the website, the hacker posted a Pakistani flag with a message on the web page, 'Never forget me'. On Monday, the Chhattisgarh CMO website, cmo.cg.gov.in, was hacked for nearly two hours with a display message that read, "Everyday, a website gets hacked. Today is your day." "Hacked by Faisal. We are team Pak Cyber Attackers. We are Pak Hackers,", the hacker said in the message, challenging the IT skills of cyber experts. The hacker also left a warning for the admin with a message, "Remove your flaws or else anything can happen." After being informed about the incident, the team of the technical department came into action. The information was given to the National Informatics Center (NIC). The officials shut down the website to take back its control. Both the websites remained offline for several hours before restored and started working after their security features were strengthened. This was not the first incident when a state government website came under the target of hackers. In 2015, at least 24 websites of Chhattisgarh government were hacked and defaced by Faisal. State websites, including cgprosecution.gov.in, sericulture.cgstate.gov.in, choice.gov.in, cgvyapam.choice.gov.in, cglabour.gov.in and others, were hacked by Pakistan-based hackers. The home pages of these websites were defaced and displayed Pakistan's flag with a remark saying "Rummy Khan was here, Jux a security round". The websites were taken down immediately by the state government. Pakistani hackers had then hacked Chhattisgarh NIT's website twice, mocking at the low security of Indian websites and had threatened of more such cyber attacks. London: The fourth day of the defence arguments in the efforts of the Government of India to extradite liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the UK was marked by questions over the role of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and its special director, Rakesh Asthana, as well as the Enforcement Directorate, by a London-based political economist. Professor Lawrence Saez, an expert defence witness, was brought in to reaffirm Mallya`s long-standing contention that the case against him is politically motivated. Saez, a professor in Political Economy of Asia in the Department of Politics at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), University of London, said, "The politicisation of cases such as this is widespread. It will continue to have political value. The next general election is scheduled for 2019 and if there isn`t any conclusion to this case, it will be used for political purposes by both the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "Further drawing attention towards the "lack of independence" of the CBI, Professor Saez said, "I`m a student of Indian political institutions. There have been alarm bells raised about its independence by former CBI directors as well as the Supreme Court, which labelled the CBI as a `caged parrot` of its masters. An institution which cannot act autonomously and independently without political interference." "This is a fact that is widely accepted as true in India. It is unfortunate for those of us who want to see India prosper. It has remained true despite the change in governments. In recent years both with the Congress, and especially with the BJP, there has been far less independence in the CBI than its formative early years," he added. He also highlighted research conducted between 1988 and 2009 that looked at the correlation between election cycles and the number of corruption cases registered. Professor Saez cited an academic study published in The Economic and Political Weekly that indicated that election campaigns saw an increase in anti-corruption cases, suggesting political manipulation of anti-corruption agencies such as the CBI. The government, in its response to Professor Saez`s testimony, pointed to the CBI`s investigation of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination as an example of the competence and independence of the CBI. Professor Saez responded by claiming that there had been serious breaches of protocol in the case by CBI officer in that case too. The court also heard of the controversial circumstances leading to the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the special director of CBI. Professor Saez reiterated his contention that even though Asthana was not proved to have done anything wrong, the accusations against him undermined the integrity of the CBI. In response, Mark Summers of the Crown Prosecution Service representing the Indian Government pointed to the fact that the Supreme Court had approved the appointment of Asthana as the special director of the CBI. Professor also cited concerns about the independence of the ED. He mentioned the National Herald case and ruling BJP MP`s aiding and abetting in the ED`s investigations of Congress politicians. Professor Saez also said Mallya should not be held responsible for the poor lending decisions of the bankers. In the previous hearing on Monday, a senior British executive of the Force India Formula One team, appearing as the defence witness for Mallya, vehemently denied the Indian government`s allegation that the Force India Formula 1 racing team was used to illegally channel money to the liquor baron. Mallya`s extradition trial began at the London`s Westminster court on December 4, wherein Britain`s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) outlined the Indian Government`s case against him. The Indian government through CPS has been contending in the court that liquor baron had misled banks back home with regard to his company`s net worth while seeking loan totalling around Rs 2,000 crore. Mallya, who has been out on bail since Scotland Yard executed an extradition warrant in April this year, will be in the dock for the duration of the trial scheduled to end on December 14. In the hearing on Wednesday, Alan Mitchell, a prison expert, will provide testimony. Written closing statements will be presented in the New Year. Mumbai: With the RBI's deadline ending on Wednesday to resolve the 28 large stressed accounts that the regulator had identified on its second list, banks are set to refer as many as 23 of them for insolvency proceedings. In August, the Reserve Bank had asked banks to either resolve the 28 more large stressed accounts by December 13 or refer them to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by December 31. These 28 accounts together account for 40 percent of bad loans of around Rs 4 trillion. "Except for Anrak Aluminium, Jayaswal Neco Industries, Soma Enterprises and Jaiprakash Associates, all other accounts are going to the NCLT (for resolution)," a senior banker told PTI. Some of the large accounts which are likely to go to the NCLT include Asian Color Coated Ispat, Castex Technologies, Coastal Projects, East Coast Energy, IVRCL, Orchid Pharma, SEL Manufacturing, Uttam Galva Metallic, Uttam Galva Steel, Visa Steel, Essar Projects, Jai Balaji Industries, Monnet Power, Nagarjuna Oil Refinery, Ruchi Soya Industries and Wind World India. In the case of Anrak Aluminium, the lenders are looking for a one-time settlement while for Soma Enterprises, the banker said the account is closer to resolution. For Jaiprakash Associates -- its EPC business arm -- the lenders are seeking the Reserve Bank approval for a "deep restructuring", another banker said. The lenders have also sought RBI permission to extend the December 13 deadline for Videocon Industries, where they have huge exposure, said another banker. "If the RBI gives us some extension for Videocon Industries, then it is fine. Otherwise, it will also have to go to the NCLT," said the banker. "For these accounts, there is hardly any traction for us to do it in another 10-15 days," said a senior official from a state-owned bank. The lenders have the restructuring option under S4A (Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets), SDR (Strategic Debt Restructuring) or 5/25 schemes till today. Many bankers said that though they asked for extension on today's deadline, they don't expect the RBI to oblige. Once these accounts pass the resolution deadline, banks will have to refer them to the NCLT in the next 18 days, that is December 31. Banks will also have to make a provision of 50 per cent on these accounts by March 2018. It can be noted that of the 12 largest accounts that the RBI had named on the June list, 11 of them are under the NCLT. These 12 accounts were worth a quarter of over Rs 10 trillion dud loans in the system. New Delhi: A giant species of penguins, which had the size of an adult human, inhabited New Zealand between 55 and 60 million years ago, scientific researchers have revealed. A group of researchers from Germany and New Zealand revealed in a study published in the scientific journal Nature Communications that this ancient species measured about 1.65 meters on foot, or about 1.77 meters from its tail to the top of its head, and weighed about 100 kg. The fossils, which were discovered in 2004 on some rocks near Hampden Beach in South Island of New Zealand, suggested that it was one of the largest penguins in history. In comparison, the Emperor Penguin, the largest species living now, measures around 1.22 meters and weighs 23 kg. Alan Tennyson, a scientist from New Zealand who worked with Gerald Mayr, the lead author of the study and a German scientist from the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Natural History Museum of Frankfurt, commented that it was difficult to determine what these ancient penguins would look like in real life. Tennyson said in a telephone conversation with Efe that "it's difficult to determine exactly what it would have looked like in life, but it would have been very impressive, as tall as many people, and a very solid, muscly animal built to withstand frequent deep dives to catch its prey." Tennyson, also a paleontologist at the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand, added that "the discovery of this incredible creature tells us how the earth changed over time". Due to its height, these penguins are named "Kumimanu biceae", which combines two Maori words - "Kumi", meaning a monstrous animal, and "Manu", a bird - while "Bice" is added at the end in honor of Tennyson's mother Beatriz. The discovery of Kumimanu biceae shows that many species of flightless birds, like these and other penguins which inhabited the Antarctic and other parts of the southern Hemisphere, were also very tall. The extinction of their predators such as dinosaurs or marine reptiles allowed these birds to grow in size as they did not have to fly. However, these large-sized penguins finally vanished 20 million years ago. "Their extinction could have been triggered by the evolution of seals and other toothed marine mammals that ate them or competed for access to food," Tennyson said. Although the fossils of the Kumimanu biceae, which comprise parts of its body and legs, were found in 2004, the rocks that housed the ancient remains were stored for several years and only in 2015 was the relevant paleontological work carried out. Tennyson further explained that fragments of fossils previously found in Antarctica indicated that there could be penguins that measured about 2 meters high such as the Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, but the fossils found of the Kumimanu biceae are more diverse and prove that the proportions were more consistent with the calculated height of 1.65 meters. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: News about the melting Arctic sea ice may not come as a surprise anymore, but it is certainly a major concern which seems to be growing with every passing day. A global scientific report on Tuesday warned that temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Calling the rapidly warming Arctic the 'new normal', the report said that the melting ice is triggering environmental changes that will affect the whole world. The Arctic is going through "an unprecedented transition in human history," that will accelerate sea level rise and boost the frequency of extreme weather events, said the Arctic Report Card, released annually by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The region around the north pole "shows no sign of returning to the reliably frozen region it was decades ago," it said. Last year, winter sea ice fell to the smallest extent on record, and air temperatures reached the second warmest in modern times, said the peer-reviewed report compiled by 85 scientists from 12 nations. Fewer heat records were shattered last year, compared to 2016. But in context, the trend was clear. "The magnitude and pace of the 21st century sea ice and surface ocean warming decline is unprecedented in at least the last 1,500 years and likely much longer," said the report. "There are many strong signals that continue to indicate the Arctic environmental system has reached a 'new normal.' 'Refrigerator of planet' The consequences of this continued warming are dire, according to co-author Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA's Arctic Research Program. "The changes that are happening in the Arctic will not stay in the Arctic," he told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, where the report was released. "These changes will impact all of our lives. They will mean living with more extreme weather events, paying higher food prices and dealing with the impacts of climate refugees." The warming is already harming valuable fisheries in the eastern Bering Sea, compromising roads, homes and infrastructure due to permafrost thaw and risking increasing wildfires at high altitudes, said the report. "The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator of the planet," explained Mathis. "But the door to that refrigerator has been left open and the cold is spilling out, cascading throughout the northern hemisphere." Extreme weather Scientists say the two most pressing problems are the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the warming of Arctic air and water. "Greenland ice sheet melting has the potential to trigger catastrophic sea level rise, while the overall warming that is occurring in the Arctic can disrupt the jet stream, which drives our weather patterns and contributes to extreme weather events," said Mathis. Unusual cold snaps, drought in the western US, and storms along the Gulf Coast could all be influenced by Arctic sea ice melting, he said. "We are seeing from model results and now from some limited observations that there are some connections between the warming and the loss of sea ice in the Arctic and the propagation of extreme weather events that we are having across North America,' he told the conference. While much more research is needed to fully understand how the Arctic is influencing weather globally, Mathis said "we are fairly confident now that something is going on in the Arctic." "The warming that is occurring and the loss of sea ice that is occurring are creating conditions where more extreme weather events are beginning to show up in North America because of that." Now in its 12th year, the Arctic Report Card is the first to be issued since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to quit the 2015 Paris climate deal and has described global warming as a Chinese hoax. NOAA's acting administrator Tim Gallaudet was asked at a press conference if the American public should have confidence in the US government's actions to fight climate change. "The public citing the State of the Arctic Report Card as an example should have high confidence in us, NOAA and the administration, because we are continuing to report on changes around the planet and in the Arctic to better inform the public and the government," he answered. (WIth AFP inputs) New Delhi: Hosting the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned the international community that it was losing the battle against global warming. Calling on the world leaders to take concrete action, Macron urged those due to speak at the conference to set out tangible plans to combat climate change. The One Planet Summit marked the two-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement on mitigating global warming that brought together dozens of heads of state and government, as well as leaders in the science and technology industries, Efe news reported. "We are losing the battle, we should not be mistaken," Macron told the arena packed with world delegates, adding that there was no longer an excuse not to heed the scientific warnings about climate change. "We need to set in place concrete actions that will change our countries, our societies, our economies, so that our children, and maybe us too, can choose our future, choose our planet, and not increase global warming, the disappearance of vulnerable countries and profound transformations," Macron added. All countries have signed the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by cutting greenhouse emissions and investing in green energy, although the US under President Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw from the deal in 2020. Macron made an allusion to that, by thanking those local and state leaders in the US who have vowed to uphold the Agreement despite its rejection at a federal level. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took the stage next and reiterated the stark warnings issued by the French president. "We are not yet winning the war on climate change. And that is the defining challenge of our times," he said, adding: "Climate change is moving much faster than we are." Guterres said that embracing science and technology was key to curbing global warming, adding that countries that fail to engage in green economics would face a dark future. Earlier, the European Union announced a 10-point initiative called Action Plan for the Planet, which included a nine-billion-euro ($10.6 billion) increase in investments in cities, energy and sustainable agriculture in Africa and the European Union neighbourhood region by 2020. Among the leaders present at the summit were leaders in private enterprise, such as Bill Gates, founder of software giant Microsoft, and Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group. (With IANS inputs) Paris: Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam`s lawyer asked on Wednesday for next week`s opening of his client`s trial in Belgium to be postponed, a senior court official said, adding it is "highly likely" it will be delayed. Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks, had been due to go on trial Monday for his alleged role in a 2016 shootout in Brussels that led to his capture, which in turn investigators believe precipitated the Brussels suicide bombings in March last year. "It is highly likely that the matter will be postponed," said Luc Hennart, who heads the court where Abdeslam and his alleged accomplice Sofian Ayari will be tried. Hennart, who is organising the trial, told AFP that Abdeslam`s lawyer Sven Mary had made the request on his client`s behalf, confirming information from a source close to the investigation. That source also told AFP on condition of anonymity that Mary`s request should "logically be accepted." "There will be a hearing Monday to review the (lawyer`s postponement) request, which will be accepted in principle," the source close to the investigation said. Only the lawyers will be present in the court without their clients, the source said, adding the case is likely to be postponed until January. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported on its website that Abdeslam`s transfer from France "has been cancelled". Under arrangements between the neighbouring countries, he will be transferred to a prison in the north of France and taken to the Belgian capital when the trial begins.Abdeslam and Sofian Ayari, also implicated in the shootout, were set to stand trial on charges of "attempting to murder several police officers in a terrorist context" and "carrying prohibited weapons in a terrorist context". Ayari is in a prison in Belgium. During the gun battle on March 15, 2016, in the Brussels neighbourhood of Forest, several police officers were wounded and an alleged Abdeslam accomplice was killed. Both Abdeslam and Ayari were captured days after the shootout, ending a four-month manhunt for Abdeslam for his alleged role in the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Abdeslam, 28, is linked to the same cell that carried out suicide bombings in Brussels a week after the gun battle. Thirty-two people were killed at Brussels airport and a metro station near the EU`s headquarters. Abdeslam, born in Brussels of Moroccan origin, has spent nearly 20 months in isolation, under 24-hour video surveillance, at a prison in the Paris region since his transfer to French authorities in April last year. The Belgian federal prosecutor`s office has declined to comment on the development. Gujarat Congress OBC leader Alpesh Thakors latest dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesnt seem to have gone down well with many. Thakor had said that PM Modi eats mushroom from Taiwan worth Rs 4 lakh everyday to become fairer. Responding to the statement by the OBC leader, Messi Joe, a woman who claims to be from Taiwan, has posted a video saying no such mushroom is available in her country, asking politicians in India to refrain from dragging her countrys name in electoral battles. She says, "I am Messi Joe, I'm from Taiwan, I saw a news today that is from India, its Indian leader saying that there is some mushroom in Taiwan which costs $1,200 and if you eat that mushroom you can make your skin lighter and white. I haven't heard any such thing in my country and this is impossible." Here is a stinging response from a Taiwanese woman to #AlpeshThakor 's blatant lie that one can get fairer by consuming Taiwanese mushroom. pic.twitter.com/kBrxjXOOyQ Pramod Kumar Singh (@SinghPramod2784) December 12, 2017 Speaking at a rally in Gujarat on Tuesday, Thakor had said, "Someone told me that what Modi ji eats, you can't eat because it's not poor people's food. So I asked what such food does he eat? He said he eats mushrooms. I asked what was wrong in that, mushrooms are widely available. He said that he doesn't like the ones we eat, the ones he eats are from Taiwan and the cost of one mushroom is Rs 80,000. He eats five of them every day." #WATCH Modi Ji eats mushrooms from Taiwan, one mushroom costs Rs 80 thousand & he eats 5 mushrooms a day. He was dark like me but he became fair because of imported mushrooms: Alpesh Thakor, activist & Congress leader #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/jh5QPN27SD December 12, 2017 He went on to say that "it's been going on ever since Modi was the CM of Gujarat" and added, "I saw his (PM Modi's) photo of 35 years ago, he was as dark as me, now how is he so fair. A PM who can eat mushrooms worth four lakhs every day, mushrooms worth one crore twenty lakhs every month, won't like regular meals." Thakor is the founder of the OSS (OBC, SC and ST) Ekta March. He joined the Congress officially on 23 October 2017. Ahmedabad: An air of expectancy pervades Gujarat on Wednesday a day ahead of the second and final phase of Assembly polls after an acrimony-filled campaign for the key western state ended on Tuesday. Plumes of dust raised by campaign vehicles have settled down and loudspeakers at election rallies have fallen silent after 49 days of frenzied electioneering by leaders of the ruling BJP and challenger Congress that seeks to reclaim power after being in the Opposition for 22 years. The hustings this time were dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who powered the BJP's campaign in his home state, while Congress's president-designate Rahul Gandhi was the party's face in the elections. "Never before I had seen both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi coming here so frequently, at times on the same day, to woo voters," said shopkeeper Raju Doshi. He somewhat misses the hustle and bustle of the high- octane campaign. "It was hard to miss a single news ever since the campaigning began. It was pretty entertaining," he says. The lull looks like a break from the routine after the protracted cut and thrust of high-decibel electoral politics. "It's a lull before the real storm," says Amit Patel, a student, summing up the the mood of the state ahead of the crucial vote that will decide the winner on December 18, the day the ballots are counted. "The fight is likely to be close given the aggressive campaigning by both the sides," says Patel. Many poll watchers have predicted a dead heat between the two parties. From the common man on the street to those in the lobbies of think tanks, there is near unanimity that the contest is too close to call, though the two major contenders to power are confident of their victory. The tone of the campaign, which began on a somewhat subdued note with the talk of development politics, assumed rare stridency which saw the protagonists in the electoral arena making personal attacks against each other. The acrimony between political rivals peaked with Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's "neech aadmi" barb at the prime minister, who used it as a stick to beat the rival party with rally after an election rally. The dying moments of electioneering saw a rare row break out after prime minister Modi seemed to suggest that Pakistan was trying to meddle in the Gujarat elections through his predecessor Manmohan Singh. Addressing a rally in Palanpur on December 10, Modi claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6, a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against him. Shedding his usual taciturnity, Manmohan Singh issued a strongly worded statement against Modi and demanded an apology. "I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points. "I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said, adding he was "deeply pained and anguished" by the "falsehood and canards" being spread by the prime minister to score political points in what he said was a "lost cause" in Gujarat. Gujarati pride remained the only constant in the rapidly changing election rhetoric of the BJP. The party's campaign began with the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' by the party and Modi repeatedly invoked the issue of injured Gujarati pride as he planned the end game, calling upon the electorate to "avenge" the insult on the 'son of Gujarat' by the Congress. Whether the sense of Gujarati pride, which PM Modi appealed to, sways the voters in favour of the BJP, or the the prophecy of "zabardast" result by Rahul Gandhi comes true, will be known on December 20, the day the electorate's verdict is announced. New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is set to take over the reins of the country's oldest party on December 16, spoke on a wide range of issues on Wednesday which included his plans for Gujarats development and BJP's vision-less campaign and its failure in tackling corruption. In an exclusive interview to the Zee Media, the Gandhi scion attacked the PM, the ruling BJP party in Gujarat over GST, which he and his party refers to as the ''Gabbar Singh Tax'' and demonetisation, while also exuding confidence that his party will spring a major surprise in the state. Here are his top quotes:- -BJP is afraid in this election. Its campaign in Gujarat lacks vision: Rahul Gandhi -Voters in Gujarat want development, but the BJP does not care about the aspirations of people here: Rahul Gandhi -We reached out to people months ahead of the polls to try and understand what people want. We have been able to make a vision for the people of the state: Rahul Gandhi -This election is not about BJP or Congress, it is about the people of Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi -We thought that the BJP will defend 22 years of its rule in Gujarat, give it a vision of its own but it did not. The BJP's Gujarat campaign is vision-less: Rahul Gandhi -BJP campaign in Gujarat is in fact distracting. It refrains from addressing the core issues: Rahul Gandhi -BJP and the PM never spoke about farmers, issues related to youth. Govt colleges and institutions are non-existent in Gujarat. Rs 15 lakh is needed to do engineering, 90% of educational institutions are in private hands: Rahul Gandhi -There are no nurses, doctors in government hospitals, people have no option but to go to private hospitals. BJP keeps evading from real issues, but it won't succeed this time: Rahul Gandhi -If my party comes to power in Gujarat, it will listen to people and talk about their expectations. Humari sarakar apne mann ki baat nahi nkaregi: Rahul Gandhi -My party has given a powerful platform for the development of Gujarat, we have been very successful in that. We will implement all that when my party comes to power: Rahul Gandhi -I only say what Gujarat is saying, what the people have told me their problems are. The BJP is afraid of what the people are saying, not of what I am saying: Rahul Gandhi -Throughout his election campaign, the PM did not raise the issue of corruption, he just made personal attacks on us: Rahul Gandhi -Voters in Gujarat will vote on facts this time, they have realised the truth of Gabbar Singh Tax, demonetisation... how these measures have made the lives of small traders and businessmen miserable: Rahul Gandhi -Only people of Gujarat will prepare the vision for their state, I will only help in its implementation: Rahul Gandhi -I am confident that my party is set to reverse trend in Gujarat polls: Rahul Gandhi -The PM and his party made personal attacks. We expelled Mani Shankar Aiyar. But Modiji spoke about Manmohan Singh, it is not acceptable. Manmohan Singhji has served the country for so many years. He headed the government for 10 years but despite that, Modiji made such allegations against him. I want to change this discourse: Rahul Gandhi -My political rivalry with PM does not extend to hatred: Rahul Gandhi -I want to change the national political discourse by refraining from making personal attacks. We want to take the nation forward by adhering to the Gandhian philosophy, the philosophy of love and brotherhood: Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi is set to take over as Congress president on Saturday. He returned to Delhi on Tuesday after wrapping up an intense campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections. The bitter Gujarat campaign, that ended yesterday and the state votes in the second and last phase tomorrow. It had voted in the first phase on Saturday. Results will be announced on Monday, December 18. An editorial in a leading US newspaper said Donald Trump isn't "fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush." Read on to find out why. Donald Trump isn't fit to clean toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library, a top US newspaper said. (Photo: AP) By India Today Web Desk: "Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low." That's a line from the opening paragraph of a withering USA Today editorial which goes on to say that Donald Trump isn't "fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush." advertisement But what did Trump do to provoke such ire, to elicit such sharply-worded condemnation from a newspaper which - as a CNN report noted - "isn't known for its blistering opinion pieces"? Well, it all goes back to this tweet, which the president posted yesterday. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging?? for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Gillibrand is a member of the Democratic party, arch-rival to Trump's Republican party. According to an AP report, she's "a leading voice in the (US) national debate over how to confront sexual assault and harassment." The news agency said that in 2010, Trump gave her Senate campaign a donation of $4,800. On Monday, after women who had previously accused Trump of sexual harassment or assault provided detailed accounts of their ordeals, Gillibrand called for his resignation. President Trump should resign. But, of course, he won't hold himself accountable. Therefore, Congress should investigate the multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations against him.- Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 11, 2017 And then came Trump's tweet, which USA Today described as amounting to "all but call(ing) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore." Here's what Gillibrand had to say in response. You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv- Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017 But Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sandeers said "there is no way that this is sexist at all," AP reported. "Only if your mind is in the gutter" can the tweet be considered sexually charged, she was quoted as saying in the report. --- ENDS --- New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday night asked people to vote in large numbers in Gujarat's second phase. He also pitched the state Assembly polls as a battle between "dynastic rule and rule of development". In a statement on the eve of the second and last phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls on Thursday, Shah claimed that the state suffered a lot of discrimination and injustice under the UPA government but is now developing fast, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm in the Centre. Gujarat has become a model state in the 22 years of the BJP rule, he said. "Vote in large numbers tomorrow and choose the rule of development in its battle against the rule of the dynasty," the BJP chief added, PTI reported. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote. The first phase of voting for the 182-member house held on December 9, covered 89 seats. Elections will be held in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur districts from 8 am to 5 pm. A total of 25,575 polling booths have been set up in 14,523 places. Apart from the 112 general observers deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the Gujarat elections, 70 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI for counting of votes registered in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which will be carried out on December 18 in 37 selected regions of the state, as per IANS. PM Modi will be casting his vote at Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad, while Amit Shah will be in the city to cast his vote from his former state Assembly constituency, Naranpura. Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley will cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad. Former deputy PM and senior BJP leader LK Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar. State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi. The Gujarat contest is being seen as a prestige battle for PM Modi in his home state, where a reinvigorated Congress has sewed up a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC, and Dalit leaders in its bid to unseat the BJP in power for over two decades. In the 2012 Gujarat Assembly polls, the BJP had won 115 seats, while the Congress bagged 61 (With Agency inputs) Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the latters allegation that Pakistan is interfering in Gujarat Assembly elections. Taking to Twitter, the Patel leader said that it was unfortunate to have a weak Prime Minister like Modi. Pointing that Pakistan has not been able to cause India any harm in the last 70 years, Patel alleged that despite being the Prime Minister, Modi was showing people the fear of the neighbouring country. 70 PM Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) December 12, 2017 Addressing a rally in Gujarat on Sunday, PM Modi had alleged that Pakistan was interfering in Gujarat Assembly polls, and sought an explanation from the Congress over its top partymen who are said to have recently met leaders from the neighbouring country. The prime minister had also raised questions over the alleged appeal by former director general of the Pakistan Army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq, that senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel be made chief minister of Gujarat. Responding to the allegations, the Congress had launched an all-out attack, led by former prime minister Manmohan Singh. A statement by the veteran Congress leader said, "I sincerely hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously scored brownie points." "Sadly & regrettably, Sh. Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a Former Prime Minister and Army Chief," he added. "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone present at the dinner. The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," Manmohan Singh had said in his statement. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had also attacked PM Modi over his statement, saying he should be ashamed of making such wild allegations. "Shame on you, prime minister, for making such allegations! You have made the allegations against this country's former prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and former defence officials," Pawar, a former defence minister himself, said. NDA constituent Shiv Sena had also targeted the Prime Minister for resorting to histrionics and taking the Gujarat poll campaign to a new low. Apart from these, the foreign office of the neighbouring country had also issued a statement on Twitter saying India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate. A tweet posted by Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal had said, India should stop dragging Pakistan into its electoral debate and win victories on own strength rather than fabricated conspiracies, which are utterly baseless and irresponsible. The BJP reacted sharply to this statement saying Pakistan must stop giving us lessons, we are proud of our democracy. DABHOI: Days after Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani claimed that he was attacked during Gujarat poll campaigning, spokesperson of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) Piyush Patel has alleged that he was attacked late on Tuesday night. Patel claimed that he was attacked by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in Dabhoi in Gujarat. "Last night, 8 people attacked me. BJP has a role to play in this attack," he alleged. The Dabhoi Police has begun the investigation into the case. Last week, Jignesh Mevani had posted pictures on twitter saying that his convoy was attacked by BJP members in the poll-bound state. "Friends, supporters of the BJP today attacked me at Takarwada village. The BJP is scared and therefore it is resorting to such acts. But I am a revolutionary, will not get scared," Mevani had written on Twitter. Confirming that a vehicle in his convoy was hit by a stone, police had said that no one was injured. "A vehicle in Mevani's convoy was hit by a stone but nobody was injured. Mevani was in another vehicle. We will initiate whatever legal proceedings are required in the matter," Banaskantha SP Niraj Badgujar had said. The BJP had, however, denied all allegations in connection with the attack on Mevani's convoy. New Delhi: The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday rejected a plea moved by the juvenile accused in the Pradyuman Thakurs murder case. According to reports, the accused had moved a petition urging the Juvenile Justice Board to delay its verdict on the plea of Pradyuman Thakurs father that the juvenile be tried as an adult. The board also allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take fingerprints of the 16-year-old accused in the sensational murder of the 7-year-old student of the Gurugram-based Ryan International School. The Class XI student, who is accused of murdering Pradyuman, was produced before the JJB again on Wednesday. The board is set to hear accuseds bail plea on Friday. The accused has been lodged in Faridabads observation home. Earlier, a session court had granted bail to bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was arrested by the Haryana Police on the charge of killing Pradyuman. Adding a fresh twist to the sensational murder case, the CBI later gave a clean chit to bus conductor Ashok Kumar. The central probe agency also trashed the investigation done by the Gurugram Police in the Pradyuman Thakur murder case and summoned several officials for questioning over alleged cover-up. Pradyuman was found with his throat slit in the washroom of the Ryan International school in Bhondsi area on Sohna Road on September 8. Gurgaon: The Haryana government has recommended cancellation of a recognition to Fortis Memorial and Research Institute (FMRI) hospital here following the death of a seven-year-old dengue patient due to alleged medical negligence and allegations by her family that they were overcharged. The charges against the hospital were investigated by a government panel following which a letter in this regard was sent to the chairman of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABHHP). The panel in its report accused hospital authorities of removing Adya Singh from ventilators without alternative arrangements and sending her in an ordinary ambulance even though her condition was "very critical" at that stage. The letter was sent to the accreditation body's chairman by the Haryana director general of health services (DGHS) on December 9, state government reports said. Besides, it was also been found by the panel that the hospital had overcharged by using expensive medicines. "The hospital could have used generic medicines for Adya's treatment instead of expensive allopathy medicines," the letter read. Besides, the DGHS in a letter to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has also sought that the hospital's land lease be cancelled as it had violated the terms and conditions of allotment. However, HUDA Administrator, Yashpal Yadav, said he had not received an official copy of the letter from the Haryana Health Department for cancellation of the hospital's land lease. "If we receive any order from the state government in this regard, we will act accordingly," he said. NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid homage to those who had lost their lives in the 2001 Parliament House terrorist attack. President tweeted: Gratefully remember those martyred while defending Parliament from terrorists on this day 16 years ago. Forces of hate and terror targeted what we cherish most India's democracy and democratic values. They did not succeed. And we will never let them succeed. Here's what PM had to say: We pay homage to those who laid down their lives protecting the temple of our democracy on 13th December 2001. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. Several Union Ministers, including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and several others paid tributes to the martyred. Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP leader LK Advani were also present in the ceremony held in the Parliament premises. On this day in 2001, our brave soldiers and Parliament staff repulsed the attack on our Parliament House. Respects to our martyrs. The nation shall remember with pride their sacrifice, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharama tweeted. Union Minister and former Army chief VK Singh tweeted: 16 years back, terrorists attacked the temple of our democracy, our Parliament. Brave men & women adorning the uniform thwarted these attempts - I salute their valour, sacrifice, selflessness & courage. Jai hind! Gratefully remember those martyred while defending Parliament from terrorists on this day 16 years ago. Forces of hate and terror targeted what we cherish most India's democracy and democratic values. They did not succeed. And we will never let them succeed #PresidentKovind President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) December 13, 2017 We pay homage to those who laid down their lives protecting the temple of our democracy on 13th December 2001. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. pic.twitter.com/Fn4RYDvqxL Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 13, 2017 On this day in 2001, our brave soldiers and Parliament staff repulsed the attack on our Parliament House. Respects to our martyrs. The nation shall remember with pride their sacrifice. @DefenceMinIndia December 13, 2017 We will never forget the #ParliamentAttack of 2001 that shook the nucleus of our democracy. The political resolve of this nation will always stand united against terror. #ThisDayThatYear pic.twitter.com/NPXvvfWIBa Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 On December 13, 2001 in a horrific incident, five heavily-armed terrorists belonging to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), stormed the complex in New Delhi and opened fire indiscriminately. New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday hit back at former PM Manmohan Singh over his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked the Congress leader as to why he was silent when a "monumental loot" took place during his tenure at the Centre. "We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry and anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called neech," he said in series of tweets. "When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh ji's honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance," Shah asked. He said the nation missed Singh's anger when the "monumental loot and plunder" were taking place during his tenure as the PM. "Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking PM," the BJP chief said. He also accused Singh of taking a U-turn in declaring that he had attended a meeting with Pakistani diplomats after denying it. "Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," Shah said, asking him why he had not apprised the government of the meeting. At the same time, he took Singh on over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi publicly tearing up an ordinance during the UPA rule. "Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Minister's office," he asked. Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking PM @narendramodi. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 If Congress is nervous after more than 60 rallies by Shri Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat, last day attacks on PM Modi are also not going to help them in Gujarat. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We want to remind respected Manmohan Singh ji that he has done his best to mislead the people of Gujarat in previous elections but Gujarat has rejected him & Congress everytime. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry & anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called Neech? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Where was respected Manmohan Singh jis anger when Shri Rahul Gandhi tore an ordinance which his Cabinet had cleared? Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 The question that Congress and Manmohan Singh need to answer is, why did Shri Anand Sharma and Shri Randeep Surjewala vehemently deny that the meeting with a top Pakistani leader has ever happened? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 After strongly denying the meeting, why did respected Manmohan Singh take a sharp U-turn and declare that he attended the meeting. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Why did he not consider it appropriate to apprise GoI about such a meeting with a neighbour like Pakistan. Why did he try to hide it? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh jis honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance! Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 BJP chief's comments came after Singh on Wednesday again accused PM Modi of spreading "falsehood and canards" and tarnishing every constitutional office in a bid to win the Gujarat election and asked him to "apologise to the nation". Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh issues a statement on the baseless allegations made towards him by PM Modi. pic.twitter.com/Vlqfjcgr5q Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than PM Modi," the Congress leader said in a video release in a repeat of his Monday statement. Singh said the Congress needed no sermons on nationalism from the BJP and a Prime Minister whose "compromised track record in fighting terrorism is well known". Reading out his hard-hitting statement of December 11, he again denied PM Modi`s charge that he and others, including former vice president Hamid Ansari and former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, discussed the Gujarat election with Pakistani diplomats at a dinner at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar`s residence. Singh said it was also "wrong and unfair" to question the nationalism of journalists, diplomats and public servants who attended the dinner. "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss the Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Aiyar, as alleged by PM Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations," he added. PM Modi had alleged at a rally in Gujarat that guests at Aiyar`s house discussed the Assembly election with Pakistan`s High Commissioner to India and former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri. "There were media reports about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. It was attended by Pakistan's high commissioner, Pakistan's former foreign minister, India's former vice president and former PM Manmohan Singh. The meeting at Aiyar's house continued for almost three hours. The next day, Mani Shankar Aiyar said Modi is neech (a vile man). This is a serious matter," he had said. (With PTI and IANS) New Delhi: A high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday approved a total package of Rs 305.14 crore for Manipur, Mizoram and Kerala to help the states battle natural calamities in each of the three states in recent months. While Manipur has been allotted Rs 130.65 crore, Mizoram has been sanctioned Rs 49.02 crore. Both states witnessed widespread floods and landslides. Kerala, which suffered one of the worst droughts ever earlier this year, has been provided with Rs 125.47 crore - Rs 112.05 crore from the NDRF and Rs 13.42 crore from the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). The decision to grant the amount was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba among others. Days after suggesting that the iconic 108-feet tall Hanuman statue at Karol Bagh in the national capital be airlifted, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked if prayers from illegal encroachments on pavements would reach the god. "Will prayers reach the god if you pray from illegal encroachments on pavements? What is its sanctity," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said, warning that everyone responsible for unauthorised constructions, including the temple, "will be dealt with". The court was hearing a case of removing encroachments from around the 108-feet tall Hanuman statue. The court asked the municipal corporation of north Delhi, under whose jurisdiction the area falls, to produce records pertaining to the construction of the road and the pavement adjoining which the illegal encroachments have sprung up. The direction was issued after Delhi government additional standing counsel Satyakam, appearing for the Public Works Department (PWD), told the bench that the road and the pavement was the responsibility of the municipal corporation. He said while one paw of the statue fell on the pavement, the rest of the structure was primarily located on land belonging to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Thereafter, the court asked the authorities why commercial activities and car parking was permitted in the area and said it will prosecute the corporation and DDA officials during whose tenure the statue and other encroachments came up. Satyakam, who also appeared for the Delhi Police, said the temple, including the statue, was being maintained and operated by a trust whose bank statements were being examined by the agency. In November, the court, while hearing the PIL filed by an NGO, had suggested airlifting of the massive 108-feet statue. Using the reference of United States where entire skyscrapers have been airlifted, bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked Delhi civic body to speak to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The bench had also directed Karol Bagh SHO, the central range DCP and PWD's chief engineer to submit an inquiry report on people responsible for erecting the idol and list of people who funded the unauthorised constructions and in charge of encroached areas. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "prima facie" violating the provisions of the election law and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by giving interviews to TV channels in Gujarat where the final phase of polls is due tomorrow. It asked Rahul Gandhi to respond to the notice latest by December 18 evening, failing which it will decide the matter without any reference to him. Election Commission asks Rahul Gandhi to reply by 5 pm on 18th December over his interview to TV Channels, says 'explain why action should not be taken against you for violating provisions of MCC, failing which Commission will decide matter without any further reference to you' ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 The counting of votes is also scheduled on that day. In its notice to the Congress president-elect, the poll panel asked him to ''explain why action should not be taken against him for violating provisions of MCC.'' The Election Commission also directed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Gujarat to lodge FIRs against TV channels that aired Rahul Gandhi's interview as "it violated the law". "The Election Commission today received reports and complaints to the effect that some TV channels in Gujarat have displayed interview given by Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, in which Rahul Gandhi has been talking about the election to the legislative assembly of Gujarat, which is currently in progress," the EC said. Earlier in the day, the BJP had lodged a complaint to the EC regarding the telecast of Gandhi's interview. "Such display falls within the definition of election matter' under Section 126(3) of Representation of People Act (RP Act), 1951 and display of such election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll amounts to the violation of Section 126(1)(b) of RP Act," the poll panel added. "The Commission after due deliberations has, therefore, directed the CEO of Gujarat to initiate necessary action by filing FIR against those who have violated the above-mentioned provisions in phase 2 of the polls to be held on December 14," it said. It also directed TV channels "displaying the said election matter" to "forthwith stop the display of such matter". ''We have been directed by the EC to take actions by filing FIR against violation of 126 (1) (b) of Representation of People Act 1951 in the areas going to polls tomorrow and we are working on it, '' BB Swain, Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat, said. In his interview to local TV news channels, Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party BJP for failing to address the real issues of Gujarat and distracting the voters by a misleading election campaign. He also exuded confidence that his party will make a comeback in Gujarat after a gap of 22 long years. Meanwhile, the EC notice to Rahul Gandhi evoked a sharp reaction from the Congress party which demanded stringent action against PM Modi, Amit Shah and top BJP leaders for violating the Model Code of Conduct. A Congress delegation also reached the Election Commission office in Delhi and said, ''PM Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, FM Arun Jaitley and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal have violated Model Code of Conduct again and again. PM misused the FICCI platform to attack Congress. The EC should stay unbiased.'' ''In 2014 elections, Modi Ji even showed BJP symbol on voting day but EC didn't act. BJP held a press briefing just before the 1st phase of Gujarat election. These double standards won't work and 1st FIR should be filed against PM Modi and other BJP leaders instead of press,'' Randeep Surjewala, Congress, hit back. It was a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which took the lid off the Rs 1.86 lakh crore coal scam. The court will announce the sentence against Madhu Koda in a coal scam case tomorrow. By India Today Web Desk: A special CBI court today convicted former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda on charges of corruption in the multi-crore coal block allocation scam, commonly referred as coal scam or Coalgate. It was a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which took the lid off the Rs 1.86 lakh crore scam, and became one of the biggest cases of corruption reported under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 government. advertisement After the coal scam was reported, Manmohan Singh offered to resign from Prime Minister's post if found guilty. As the scam was unearthed, the tag of corruption got attached to the Congress government, something that the party, now out of power, is still fighting to shrug off. HOW DID IT ALL START? A number of coal blocks, which were not in the production plan of Coal India Ltd and the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), were identified and a list was prepared. A total of 216 blocks were allocated between 1993 and 2010, but some were taken away at different points in time. In the end, the number of allocated blocks stood at 194. In March 2012, a draft report of CAG accused the government of "inefficient" allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009, and estimated the windfall gains to allottees at Rs 10.7 lakh crore. CBI PROBE ORDERED With allegations of corruption mounting against the UPA-2 government, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he will quit office if proven guilty. Simultaneously, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) ordered a CBI enquiry into the allegations following complaints by BJP MPs Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir. In June 2012, the Coal Ministry constituted an inter-ministerial panel to review the process of allocation of coal blocks and take a decision on either de-allocating the blocks or forfeiture of bank guarantees. Over the years, 80 coal fields have been taken back while guarantees in 42 cases have been forfeited. CASE MOVES TO COURT CAG's final report, tabled in Parliament in August 2012, pegged the loss to exchequer at Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The UPA government, however, said that the CAG's presumptive loss theory was flawed. A PIL moved in the Supreme Court sought cancellation of all the 194 coal block allotments. The court, monitoring the CBI probe into the coal scam, asked the agency not to disclose probe details to the government. How the Supreme Court rapped then UPA government for meddling in CBI probe in coal scam. Graphic: India Today. In April 2013, the Standing Committee on Coal and Steel in its report tabled in Parliament said that allocation of coal blocks between 1993 and 2008 was done in an unauthorised manner. It also said that allotment of mines where production has not started should be cancelled. advertisement COAL BLOCK ALLOCATION QUASHED Then CBI director Ranjit Sinha told the Supreme Court that the investigation report was shared with Law Minister, leading to Ashwani Kumar resigning from the office. On June 11, 2013, CBI registered an FIR against Minister of State in the Coal Ministry Dasari Narayana Rao and an industrialist. Subsequently, Supreme Court decided to set up a special CBI court where all coal block allocation cases will be tried. On September 24, 2014, Supreme Court quashed allocation of 214 coal blocks. Thereafter, the Lok Sabha passed a bill paving way for fresh auction of the coal blocks de-allocated by the court. CHARGESHEET AGAINST MADHU KODA A special court ordered the CBI to examine former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and the latter's statement was recorded in January 2015. Consequently, the court summoned the former prime minister who then moved the Supreme Court against the order. Supreme Court stayed the trial court's order summoning Manmohan Singh. advertisement In April 2015, CBI filed a chargesheet against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, former MoS for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao and 13 others in a coal block allocation case. Koda and nine others were later granted bail. The CBI opposed Koda's plea to summon Manmohan Singh as an accused in a coal mine allocation in Jharkhand. The CBI special court ordered framing of charges against Koda and others in alleged irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL). After the special court held Koda and two others guilty of cheating and criminal conspiracy today, the sentencing in the case will take place tomorrow. ALSO WATCH: Lalu rubbishes corruption charges in railway hotel sale case, says it's a BJP conspiracy --- ENDS --- A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday found former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda guilty in a coal block allocation scam case. Former coal secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu were also found guilty by the court. The argument on sentencing of the convicts will take place on Thursday. The case pertained to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL). Besides Koda, Gupta and the firm, the other accused in the case included ex-Jharkhand Chief Secretary A K Basu, two public servants -- Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh, VISUL's Director Vaibhav Tulsyan, Koda's alleged close aide Vijay Joshi and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan. The eight accused persons were earlier granted bail by the court after they had appeared before it in pursuance to the summons issued against them. During arguments, the CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency added. The accused had refuted the allegations levelled against them. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Concerned over reports about Brahmaputra river suddenly turning black, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Ministries of External Affairs and Water Resources to find out this happened and directed them to take immediate remedial measures for it. According to PTI, the matter was discussed during a high-level meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by Union Ministers including Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and others last evening. A statement issued by the Assam government said this. During the meeting, Modi assured Sonowal that the Centre had already taken up the issue of Brahmaputra turning black seriously and even engaged the Central Water Commission to look into it and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to take remedial steps on a war footing. Considering the trans-national extent of the Brahmaputra, the Prime Minister also asked the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with the respective country to get into the root cause of the problem and find a positive solution. Swaraj maintained that her ministry had already contacted China and a pragmatic and exhaustive study was being undertaken to find the real cause, the Assam government statement said. The Prime Minister also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of Brahmaputra water are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. Sonowal informed the Prime Minister that the state government had directed the director general of Assam Emergency and Fire Services to collect water samples from 15 places from Jonai to Dhubri along the Brahmaputra and sent them to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT, Guwahati. Water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. The water became muddy and cement-like apparently due to construction of a 1000-km tunnel by China to divert waters of the Brahmaputra which originates in Tibet. However, China has categorically rejected any wrongdoing on its part. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Attorney General KK Venugopal, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. (With PTI inputs) Mumbai: Underworld don Chhota Shakeel has rubbished reports of a split in the D Company- an organised crime syndicate controlled by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Speaking exclusively to Zee Media reporter Rakesh Trivedi, Chhota Shakeel said, ''It's all rumours and there is no question about me getting apart from the D Company till my last breath.'' ''I am very much with Bhai," the fugitive gangster said. Chhota Shakeel said this in a telephonic conversation to Zee Media from an undisclosed location. The clarification from Shakeel long known as the right-hand man of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim - came in view of media reports that the two have parted ways after several decades of association. Earlier, media reports quoting top intelligence sources said that Chhota Shakeel has in fact moved away from the Clifton area of Karachi, where he had been living since the two fled Mumbai in the 1980s. The sources claimed that Shakeel is currently holed up at an unknown location. Shakeel, who is now in his 50s, reportedly had an argument with Dawood over the latter's younger brother Anees Ibrahim's alleged interference in the gang's operations. Though Shakeel is known as Dawood's most trusted lieutenant and has played a major role in handling the gang's activities for the past three decades, insiders claim that Anees has at various occasions in past made attempts to gain the upper hand in the D Company. Despite Dawood making it clear to his sibling that he should not come in the way, Anees reportedly exceeded his brief recently, triggering a verbal brawl between the gang leader and Shakeel and prompting the latter to stay away after that. Shakeel also reportedly had a meeting with some of his close aides in an East Asian country after that, the sources claimed. Intelligence sources were also quoted as saying that Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is trying to broker peace between Dawood and Shakeel as it fears the break-up would hit its anti-India activities, including terror activities. ISI succeeded in carrying out the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai allegedly with the help of the Dawood gang, and Shakeel is one of the main accused in the case. Also, sources said that as of now, only a few core members of the gang in Mumbai, Pakistan and Dubai are aware of the latest developments. In the past, gangsters Abu Salem, Chhota Rajan, Fahim Machmach and some others had parted ways with Dawood and formed their own rival gangs. Shakeel, in fact, was the one who allegedly orchestrated an attack on Dawood's arch-rival Rajan in Bangkok in the year 2000. Gandhinagar: The second phase of elections in Gujarat on Thursday will see polling for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts in northern and central regions of the state. A host of VVIPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will cast their vote. A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to vote. Elections will be held in Banaskantha, Patan, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur districts from 8 am to 5 pm. A total of 25,575 polling booths have been set up in 14,523 places. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a tweet, urged voters to turn out in record numbers and cast their votes. "Today is Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections. I request all those voting today to vote in record numbers and enrich this festival of democracy," he tweeted. Today is Phase 2 of the Gujarat elections. I request all those voting today to vote in record numbers and enrich this festival of democracy. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 14, 2017 Visuals from Mehsana: Voting for second phase of #GujaratElection2017 to begin shortly. Visuals from polling booth no.121 in Mehsana's Kadi pic.twitter.com/BwGurtqF4E ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2017 The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat's office has completed all the necessary procedures and claimed to be fully prepared for the day. Apart from the 112 general observers deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the Gujarat elections, 70 counting observers have been appointed by the ECI for counting of votes registered in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which will be carried out on December 18 in 37 selected regions of the state. To take care of the law and order situation, the ECI has deployed hundreds of companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 12 companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and 19 more companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) for the election. During elections in the second phase, 1,700 of the critical polling booths will be covered under the webcasting with constant monitoring of these booths, IANS reported. PM Modi will be casting his vote at Nishan Vidyalaya in Ranip area of Ahmedabad, while Shah will cast his vote from his former state Assembly constituency, Naranpura. Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley will cast his vote from Vejalpur region of Ahmedabad. Senior BJP leader LK Advani too will be in Ahmedabad to cast his vote from Khanpur area. The sitting MLA from Abdasa and Congress candidate from Mandvi, Shaktisinh Gohil will be casting his vote in Gandhinagar. State Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki will exercise his voting right in Borsad town of Kheda district. Another Congress candidate Siddharth Patel will be casting his vote from Dabhoi. Prominent candidates in the fray for Thursday's battle include state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is contesting from Mehsana against Jivabhai Patel of Congress. Alpesh Thakor, who joined the Congress, is seeking election from Radhanpur constituency. Lavingji Thakor of the BJP is contesting against him, as per PTI. Vadgam SC seat is another key constituency from where independent candidate Jignesh Mevani is fighting the election on Congress support against BJP's Vijay Chakravarti. In Maninagar, the constituency once represented by PM Modi, Congress has given a ticket to foreign-educated young face Sweta Bhrambhatt against BJP's sitting MLA Suresh Patel. PM Modi had vacated the constituency after becoming the PM in 2014. The Gujarat contest is being seen as a prestige battle for PM Modi in his home state, where a reinvigorated Congress has sewed up a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC and Dalit leaders in its bid to unseat the BJP in power for over two decades. The first phase of voting for the 182-member Assembly was held on December 9 and covered 89 seats. The counting of votes will be on December 18. In the 2012 Gujarat Assembly polls, the BJP had won 115 seats, while the Congress had bagged 61. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday petitioned the Election Commission for action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for addressing an event organised by an industry body on the eve of the final phase of the Gujarat polls. The Congress's complaint came soon after the EC issued a show cause notice to Rahul Gandhi for prima facie violating the model code by giving interviews to Gujarati TV channels and asked him to reply by December 18, failing which it will decide the matter without any reference to him. A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Ashok Gehlot, Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala handed over a memorandum to the poll body, demanding strong action against PM Modi and other BJP leaders for addressing press conferences and events on the eve of the last phase of polling in Gujarat. "We are going to the Election Commission with a memorandum demanding action against PM Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal and others for violating the model code," Anand Sharma told reporters before meeting the poll panel. He said the EC should remain non-partisan. The Congress memorandum said, "The Election Commission is duty bound to be fair and impartial. We have to regrettably state the apparent discrimination and an apparent advantage being given to the ruling party militates against this notion." It also requested the poll body to immediately withdraw its order directing registration of an FIR against news channels for telecasting the interview of Gandhi. Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to ECI demanding immediate registration of FIR against BJP leaders in the context of them violating the model code of conduct.If FIR can be registered against news channels for telecasting Rahul ji's interview then why not against BJP? pic.twitter.com/AbOzlUU1R2 December 13, 2017 On the other hand, the notice to Rahul by the EC said that the display of his interviews by TV channels fell within the definition of "election matter" under Section 126 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and their telecast within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of the poll amounted to violation of Section 126 (1) (b) of the Act." "...By giving such interview and its display on TV channels on December 13, you have, prima facie violated the...Provisions of para 1 (4) of the Model Code of Conduct, Section 126 (1) (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Election Commission's lawful instructions in this regard," it added, PTI reported. The BJP had complained to the poll panel about the interviews. Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, PM Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress, saying that banks were pressured under its rule to give loans worth thousands of crore to select industrialists and termed it as the UPA government's biggest scam. He attacked "economists" in the UPA for handing him a "liability" of non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, while hard-selling his central government's pro-poor schemes. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: After a month of heavy exchange of fire with Pakistan, it was finally the BSF`s "Operation Arjun" that brought the Pakistani border guards to commit themselves to a peaceful resolution of issues, say defence officials. "Operation Arjun", targeting farms and residences of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers and retired Pakistani Army officers, was unleashed after heavy Pakistani firing and shelling killed Border Security Force constable K.K. Appa Rao on August 25. Rao, deployed with BSF`s 192 Battalion in Jammu sector`s Budhwar border outpost, fell victim to snipers of the Pakistan Rangers. An official document revealed that "Operation Arjun" continued till September 24, with the BSF using small and medium arms as well as aerial weapons, causing heavy casualties and damage on the Pakistani side. This led to more heavy firing and intermittent shelling by the Pakistanis in the Akhnoor, Jammu and Samba sectors, mostly targeting BSF posts and civilian-inhabited areas in Jammu and Kashmir. In the month-long cross-border firing between August 25 and September 24, seven Pakistan Rangers personnel and terrorist infiltrators, as well as 11 Pakistani civilians, were killed. "As many as 35 Pakistan Rangers were also injured in BSF`s retaliatory firing." Firing by Pakistan Rangers also claimed the lives of a BSF trooper and a civilian, the document showed, adding that six BSF personnel and 16 civilians were also injured in the ceasefire violations by the Rangers. But "Operation Arjun" dramatically changed the situation, leading to the Pakistan Rangers initiating a request at the level of Director General for bi-annual border talks in a bid to end the spiralling clashes. "Operation Arjun" followed the equally successful 2016 "Operation Rustam" by the BSF. The BSF forced the Pakistan Rangers to silence their guns gradually and then talk, the document noted. As a result, the Rangers` Director General told BSF chief K.K. Sharma they were ready for DG-level bi-annual border talks in New Delhi, the document said. Three days of talks between the two sides took place from November 8 -- after a gap of over one year. At the conference, the BSF chief said the dialogue was a limited success. "My feeling is these conferences are held in a very friendly atmosphere and both sides are eager to make things better. Unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is such that not much headway takes place on the actual ground, I am sorry to say," Sharma said. "The limited takeaway was that a dialogue started after a long gap," Sharma added. According to Sharma, the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 1,020 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces in the last one year, followed by numerous attempts by terrorists to sneak into India. From shooting an AK-47 to dealing with computer-simulated sieges, 20 Afghan women officers are being put through their paces at a military training academy in India. They are the first Afghan women to attend the academy in the south Indian city of Chennai, which has been training men from the country`s military for several years. The women receive weapons training and learn tactics and logistical and navigational skills at the academy, the only military training establishment in India for both men and women. This week they were taught how to use an AK-47 and given classroom training in ambush situations. The three-week crash course ends on December 24 and is reported to be a pilot for a full training scheme being planned for next year as part of the Afghan National Army`s efforts to recruit more women. Afghanistan has said it wants women to make up 10 percent of the armed forces, an ambitious goal given the current figure is barely three percent. As well as the dangers of fighting in their war-plagued homeland, those who sign up say they face criticism for their choice. Niloofar Rahmani was hailed as a role model for Afghan women after becoming the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan air force. But last year she sought asylum in the US saying she had received death threats from insurgents and faced contempt from some of her colleagues. Under the Taliban`s 1996-2001 regime, girls were banned from education and women were not allowed outside unless wearing a burqa and accompanied by a man. More than 15 years after the fall of the regime gender equality remains a distant dream, in spite of official promises. New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs clarified on Wednesday that during the meeting between Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on December 11, 2017, Doklam issue was raised and the challenge it had posed to the relationship was noted by both. "During EAM-Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet in Delhi, Doklam issue was raised, both noted challenge it had posed to the relationship and expressed satisfaction that it was resolved with the disengagement of troops at face-off site through concerted diplomatic communications," the MEA said. The ministry added, "Chinese Foreign Minister conveyed that peaceful resolution of the Doklam issue reflects political maturity on both sides. While agreeing with this, EAM reiterated that maintenance of peace in border areas is an essential pre-requisite for the smooth development of bilateral relations." "EAM underlined the need for approaching our difference with due consideration to each others sensitivities and concerns. Both Foreign Ministers agreed to strengthen strategic communication at all levels, through the established dialogue mechanisms," the MEA further said, as per ANI. A day after External Affairs Minister Swaraj met Wang, the Chinese Foreign Minister on December 12, had said that the Dokalam standoff had put "severe pressure" on India-China ties though the issue was resolved through diplomatic means. The Chinese foreign minister was in New Delhi to attend the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting. The bilateral ties went through a serious test after Indian border troops "illegally trespassed" into the Chinese territory in June, Wang is said to have told Swaraj, PTI reported. Although the standoff ended eventually through diplomatic means more than two months later, lessons must be learned and efforts must be made to avoid such an incident in the future, said Wang, whose comments were posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website. "The standoff put the bilateral relations under severe pressure," he had said. Wang had added that the Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial period and the most important thing between the two countries is to really cultivate mutual trust. Leaders from both countries have shared the view that China and India should regard each other's development as opportunities rather than challenges, and China and India are partners rather than rivals, thus the two sides should sincerely implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, Wang had noted. Wang's visit to New Delhi was the first by a top Chinese official to India after the 73-day Dokalam standoff and after the commencement of the second five-year term of President Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, on December 11, 2017, Swaraj had said, "Foreign Minister Wang Yi and I agreed that we should further strengthen our mutual trust to develop a better understanding between the two parties. And it will be better to meet again and without agenda, which will help us to expand our mutual understanding," Imparting fresh momentum to our bilateral relationship, EAM @SushmaSwaraj had a positive and forward looking meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi ahead of Russia, India & China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting. pic.twitter.com/ivPmFDyt6t Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) December 11, 2017 Towards global and regional peace, security and stability, EAM @SushmaSwaraj welcomes Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi & Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the 15th round of Russia-India-China #RIC Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/mJePKS1E8n December 11, 2017 Trilateral Russia-India-China #RIC Foreign Ministers had very useful and productive discussions on economic and development issues, fight against terrorism, and on regional, multilateral and global issues @SushmaSwaraj pic.twitter.com/zyQJ2A8BVB Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) December 11, 2017 On his part, Wang had talked about political settlement to resolve "hotspot and difficult issues" and also pitched for dialogue and consultations overuse of force. The Chinese foreign minister had also stressed on the need to find commonalities in strategic areas. Asked if the Dokalam episode came up in the talks, officials had not confirmed but had said that "all issues of mutual interest were discussed", PTI reported. The Dokalam standoff ended on August 28, 2017, after Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to India's 'Chicken neck' corridor. India had objected to the construction highlighting its security concerns. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: Former PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday again hit out at his successor Narendra Modi, accusing him of spreading "falsehood and canards" to score political points and sought an apology for his "ill-thought transgression". Singh put out a video message to attack PM Modi over his remarks insinuating that the Congress leader colluded with Pakistan in the Gujarat polls. "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, the desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," he said. He added that he sincerely hoped that PM Modi will show "maturity and gravitas", as expected of the high office he holds, instead of concentrating his energy solely on scoring "erroneously conceived brownie points". "I sincerely hope that he will apologise to the nation for his ill-thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," Singh said. Also Read - PM Modi, Manmohan shake hands amid row over 'secret meeting with Pakistan envoy' Strongly rejecting the "innuendos and falsehoods" made by PM Modi, Singh said he did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by the Prime Minister and nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh issues a statement on the baseless allegations made towards him by PM Modi. pic.twitter.com/Vlqfjcgr5q Congress (@INCIndia) December 13, 2017 Reacting to Singh's statement, BJP president Amit Shah took to Twitter and posted a series of questions for the former PM. He asked, "We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry and anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called neech? Shah also asked, "Where was respected Manmohan Singh jis anger when shri Rahul Gandhi tore an Ordinance which his Cabinet had cleared? Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office?" Amused to see the Congress party so desperate before the Gujarat elections. Just a day before polling, both Shri Rahul Gandhi and respected Manmohan Singh ji are only maliciously attacking PM @narendramodi. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 If Congress is nervous after more than 60 rallies by Shri Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat, last day attacks on PM Modi are also not going to help them in Gujarat. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We want to remind respected Manmohan Singh ji that he has done his best to mislead the people of Gujarat in previous elections but Gujarat has rejected him & Congress everytime. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 We want to ask respected Manmohan Singh ji why was he not angry & anguished when a CM of his country was called Maut Ka Saudagar. Why is he still silent when PM of his country is called Neech? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Where was respected Manmohan Singh jis anger when Shri Rahul Gandhi tore an ordinance which his Cabinet had cleared? Where was his concern for the dignity of the Prime Ministers office? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 In another post, the BJP chief said, "We are seeing a very angry Manmohan Singh ji these days. We just want to ask him whether he was so angry when monumental loot and plunder was happening under his watch? The nation missed this anger then." The question that Congress and Manmohan Singh need to answer is, why did Shri Anand Sharma and Shri Randeep Surjewala vehemently deny that the meeting with a top Pakistani leader has ever happened? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 After strongly denying the meeting, why did respected Manmohan Singh take a sharp U-turn and declare that he attended the meeting. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Only after the secret meeting was exposed, respected Manmohan Singh ji said that the discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Why did he not consider it appropriate to apprise GoI about such a meeting with a neighbour like Pakistan. Why did he try to hide it? Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 When it comes to respected Manmohan Singh jis honesty, I would not like to say anything. The monumental loot and plunder under his watch speak for him in abundance! Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 13, 2017 Earlier also, on December 11, 2017, a "deeply pained and anguished" Singh had accusing PM Modi of spreading "falsehood" in a desperate bid to win the Gujarat election. Statement from Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the falsehoods being spread to score political points, in a lost cause by PM Modi. pic.twitter.com/X20X3oeeYw Congress (@INCIndia) December 11, 2017 "I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than PM Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, the desperation of the Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," Singh had said. "Sadly and regrettably, PM Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every Constitutional office including that of a former Prime Minister and Army Chief," he had added. Singh had also made public the guest list at Aiyar`s in Delhi. Those present included former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh, former foreign secretary Salman Haider, former high commissioners of India to Pakistan TCA Raghavan, Satinder K Lambah, Sharad Sabharwal and MK Bhadrakumar and India`s former permanent representative to the UN, CR Gharekhan. On December 10, addressing a rally in Gujarat, PM Modi had that claimed leaders of the Opposition party had held a secret meeting with current and former Pakistani officials a day ahead of Aiyar's 'neech' jibe against him. PM Modi had claimed there was an attempt by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat polls. "There were media reports about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. It was attended by Pakistan's high commissioner, Pakistan's former foreign minister, India's former vice president and former PM Manmohan Singh," he had said at Palanpur. The meeting at Aiyar's house continued for almost three hours, PM Modi had said, and had added, "the next day, Mani Shankar Aiyar said Modi is "neech" (a vile man). This is a serious matter." "(On one hand) Pakistan Army's former DG is interfering in Gujarat's election, on the other, Pakistani people are holding a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. After that meeting, people of Gujarat, backward communities, poor people and Modi were insulted. Don't you think such events raise doubts?" he had questioned. (With PTI and IANS inputs) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and shook hands with his predecessor Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. The meeting comes at a time when Modi has attacked Singh over being part of a secret meeting held with an ex Pakistani envoy over Gujarat elections. The brief handshake between Modi and Singh was held when leaders gathered in Delhi to pay tribute to those who lost lives in the 2001 Parliament attack. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj among others were also in attendance at the memorial event. During the election campaign in Gujarat, Modi had linked the dinner meeting with the ongoing polls and questioned: "Why are people who previously held high posts in the Pakistan military intelligence writing that we should help make Ahmed Patel (senior Congress leader) the CM (of Gujarat)." Denying all allegations, Manmohan had hit back at Modi demanding an apology from the PM for his "thought transgression". "I sincerely hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously scored brownie points," Manmohan said. "Sadly & regrettably, Sh. Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a Former Prime Minister and Army Chief," he had added. Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, got into a Twitter battle with right-wing columnist Shefali Vaidya after the latter taunted her for taking part in a Christmas-inspired charity event. By India Today Web Desk: 'Tis the season for a good-old Twitter feud! Well, to be honest, 'Fight Club' season is open at Twitter all year long, but bickering over festivals have a special taste of their own. And in this holiday season, the latest Twitter rap battle is, of course, over Christmas. So, what happened was, Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, shared a tweet yesterday about launching the Be Santa campaign in Mumbai. advertisement #FYI Be Santa is a campaign being led by a radio channel that aims at collecting gifts from people and distributing them among poor children "to bring smiles to their faces during this Christmas", a gesture that plays with the concept of Santa Claus. launched-Be Santa-campaign, as Ambassador for @927BIGFM - to collect gifts from people -for poor children ,to bring smiles to their faces during this Christmas.Drop ur gifts at nearest @927BIGFM & Feel the joy -as best way to multiply your happiness is by sharing it with others??? pic.twitter.com/r5UTAi3nDY- AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Pretty quickly, Vaidya put out a tweet taunting the Fadnavis couple for "leading Christmas prayers" and "launching Be Santa campaign". Her tweet had a not-so-subtle hint at Christian conversions as well. Husband @Dev_Fadnavis leading Christmas prayers, wife @fadnavis_amruta launching Be Santa campaign. Hallelujah! Praise be to the Lord! Harvesting souls in Maharashtra just became a lot easier!- Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) December 12, 2017 Love , sharing & empathy have no religion - lets accept all positivity around us & stay away from negative thoughts & demotivating energies ! @ShefVaidya- AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 (FYI, 'evangelical' is anything related to the teachings of Christianity.) Dear @fadnavis_amruta DO get your SM team to read all the replies to this tweet. Respect the will of people who elected your husband rather than sounding like a writer of 'Chicken Soup For The Evangelical Soul' https://t.co/HOouBopHLZ- Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) December 12, 2017 Im a proud Hindu & like many, I celebrate every festival in my country & that is an individual choice.... We represent the true spirit of our country ... and that doesnt dilute our love towards our country , religion & humanity ....- AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Vaidya came right back at her: As a private individual you are free to do what you want. As the First Lady of Maharashtra, your actions will always be open to scrutiny and criticism. And who is 'We' here? https://t.co/C43YT0APyi- Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) December 12, 2017 Fadnavis seems to have ended the battle while sticking to her guns: In my capacity as a Proud Hindu Citizen, I will always try to unite & bring in harmony wherever I can. But just wish to remind you that empathetic journalists & journalism should not ignite the fire of religious differences .Icant stop a serene action bcoz of some wrong deeds!- AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 advertisement So who do you think won this round of Twitter battle? Who, do you think, was left with a face as red as the nose of Santa's Rudolf the Reindeer? Or do you agree that each has a right to their own opinion? Whatever be it, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas in advance. Peace out. --- ENDS --- MUMBAI: A 35-year-old man has been arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) for claiming that there will be a chemical attack during Gujarat elections. The call, which later turned to be a hoax, was made by Eshad Shaikh to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA looped in the Maharashtra ATS to find out the details. Taking prompt action, the Maharashtra ATS traced Eshan and arrested him from Mira Road for making the call. During introgression, Eshan revealed that he had made the call to get a person with whom he had some personal rivalry, arrested. Eshad has been arrested under IPC section 505 and 182. The case has been handed over to the local police station. Gujarat election is in its final leg with the second round of polling due to be held on Thursday. The first phase of polling was held on December 9. Counting for both phases will be held together on December 18. Lucknow: Shia cleric Kalbe Jawwad has praised the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for their "outreach to the minorities" and said that the Muslims were safest under their rule. Barring some incidents of `love jihad` and cow vigilantism, law and order in Uttar Pradesh had improved considerably under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Shia cleric told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Kanpur late Tuesday. "There has not been a single communal riot in the eight months of the Adityanath government as against more than 600 big and small riots during Akhilesh Yadav`s tenure," he said. As for the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya, Jawwad said all stakeholders should wait for the Supreme Court verdict on the matter. He accused the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh of being the "most corrupt and dishonest". Jawwad accused Akhilesh government of wasting over Rs 20,000 crore of public money in the name of building cycle tracks, a pet project of Akhilesh Yadav. Commenting on Gujarat assembly elections, the cleric said the results will have far reaching ramifications for both the BJP and the Congress. New Delhi: Taking on his own BJP party, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Wednesday asked the "one man show and two man army", referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, to return to Delhi from Gujarat if they have exhausted all their "tricks, tantrums, wrong statements and tall promises". "Humble appeal to our one man show and two man army (Modi and Shah). Please return "home" to Delhi, if we`ve exhausted all our tricks, tantrums, wrong statements and tall promises. Time to also bring back the ministers, ministries and government sitting in Gujarat and fighting amongst themselves to get credit," Sinha said in a tweet. "If we are victorious, we know you shall get full credit..but if we are not, then who will take the rap? There`s an old saying - "Taali kaptaan ko to gaali bhi kaptaan ko". Hope wish and pray that we get only Taalis (claps) in Gujarat elections. Jai Hind!" the BJP leader said. Sinha, who has been sidelined in the party, has been continuously taking pot shots at the party leadership via social media. Modi and Shah have been on hectic campaigning in Gujarat for the state assembly elections, with the BJP facing strong anti-incumbency. The campaigning for the second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly elections came to an end on Tuesday evening. The polls for the 93 seats are due on Thursday. Counting of votes will take place on December 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power in the state since 1995. New Delhi: Once upon a time, Kings reigned supreme, then they died and then their kingdoms passed over to their firstborns. It was the norm, a tradition, a given. Then came nation-states and with them - democracy. And nothing was the same ever again. Or was it? Politics the world over is considered murky and notorious but nowhere else in the whole world, perhaps, is it as entertaining as it is in the Indian sub-continent. Close to 2 billion living here are considered part of fully-functioning and thriving democracies. Periodically, they come out, vote, and choose who would rule. Correction. Govern. And yet, through all the decades of the post-colonial era - certain parties and political families have largely dominated - perhaps a throwback to the days of Kings and their firstborns. In particular today, India and Pakistan once again stand at the cusp of having two such firstborns in the limelight. Meet Rahul Gandhi and Bilawal Bhutto. Two (relatively) young leaders - highly educated and yet highly scoffed at. Take the case of Mr. Gandhi. The surname itself has had a connect with Indian masses for close to a century. The person? Not so much. What else would explain that since he became the face of the party - some five years back, Congress has collapsed to more than 27 electoral defeats. Earlier this year, an engineering in Madhya Pradesh even approached the Guinness Book of World Records to 'hail the political feat'. His form, he said, has been accepted. Fast forward from that bright Fall day of March to the gloomy Winter day last week when Congress workers were seen celebrating with fervour. Not because the party had finally reversed its electoral fortunes but because Gandhi - an M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge, was all set to take over as party President. Unopposed. Some say his journey to the top of Congress has been a walk down the dynastic park. Still others say he is but a feeble shadow of his father and former India Prime Minister - Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated in 1991 by LTTE. And then there are even more who opine mother Sonia Gandhi making way for him hardly shows he has the political acumen and charismatic personality to really deserve what he has received. All of that may or may not be true depending on which side of the political fence one is looking from. Yet, just across the border, a similar tale is all set to unfold. Take the case of Mr. Bhutto. The surname itself has reverberated strongly through the influential corridors of Islamabad's politics. The person? Hardly. At 29, Bhutto is 18 years younger than Gandhi. And yet, he too stands on the verge of inheriting the wilted fortunes of his family`s political dynasty ahead of general elections in Pakistan next year. What possibly works for Bhutto in a country where democracy has often been accused of being subservient to the Army is that his Pakistan People's Party was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - former Prime Minister of the country. He is also the son of former Pakistan Prime Minister - Benazir Bhutto, assassinated a decade ago. For all the talks of having political paths nicely paved, having a parent assassinated would have been surely been as difficult for Bhutto as it was for Gandhi. "If they stopped assassinating us then my mother would be in the foreign office and I would still be a student," Bilawal told AFP in a recent interview. "My mother often said that she didn`t choose this life, it chose her. The same applies to me." It is perhaps true for both Bhutto and Gandhi. They don't look the part of being hardcore politicians. And they seldom don't act the part either. They make controversial remarks. They give out unsubstantiated statistics. They have also made embarrassing speeches. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even said that Rahul Gandhi is the politician with maximum jokes on him. And yet, both are here to stay. In India, Gujarat elections may yet again be a referendum on Rahul's leadership. Afterall, he has extensively campaigned in the state. In Pakistan, there are reports that Bhutto plans on contesting from his mother's old seat in Sindh despite a perceived threat to his life. Whether voters in both countries warm up to the two or whether the two remain sequestered from voters is anybody's guess. What is certain though is that time well may be on their side to allow for repeated chances. As are their respective political associates. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.) Islamabad: Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri on Wednesday dismissed as "a strange story with no basis" the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Islamabad was interfering in the Gujarat Assembly polls. "I am astonished. I had gone for dinner and I heard him saying that Pakistan is hatching a conspiracy," Kasuri, who served as Pakistan's foreign minister between November 2002 and November 2007, told Urdu language Samaa TV news channel. Recalling that ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari, ex-Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, four former foreign secretaries and three former high commissioners to Pakistan and military analysts were present in the dinner, Kasuri asked, "are they also part of Pakistan's conspiracy? It is a strange story with no basis. What else can I say." Addressing an election rally in Palanpur in Gujarat this week, Modi sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the Assembly polls in the state. He claimed some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at then Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. "The people who attended the private dinner were talking on India and Pakistan ties...," Kasuri asserted. Kasuri also claimed that he even met the sitting president of India during his last visit to the country. "I have even met the former RAW chief in previous seminars. So does that imply, all of the people whom I met were conspirators?" he asked. Kasuri said that he is invited to such seminars and events because of his association with the India-Pakistan peace process and work on Kashmir. New Delhi: The government has convened an all-party meeting on Thursday, ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament. The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry has sent out invites to the leaders of major political parties that have representatives in both Houses of Parliament for the meet. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will also host a dinner for the leaders of all parties, PTI reported. The Winter Session will be held from December 15 to January 5. There would be a total of 14 working days. Last year, the session began on 16 November and ended on 16 December, with 22 sittings. The Opposition has claimed that the ruling BJP delayed the Session fearing that it would raise various issues ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls. The government has, however, maintained that there were precedents of Session dates being changed in view of elections. On November 20, 2017, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had warned the NDA regime that it can not escape constitutional accountability by "locking the temple of democracy". Addressing the Congress working committee, she had said that despite PM Narendra Modi`s failure to adhere to the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he continued making "false promises". "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. The government is mistaken if it thinks that by locking the temple of democracy, it will escape constitutional accountability ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat," she had said. Sonia had added that the Parliament was the forum in which questions should be asked - questions about corruption in high places, conflict of interest of serving ministers and dubious defence deals. On the other hand, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had back at Sonia and had said that the rescheduling of Parliament Sessions has happened several times before during election time. He had added that the Opposition party had also 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," the FM had told reporters. (With PTI inputs) Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Mumbai late on Wednesday to attend the commissioning ceremony of Scorpene-class submarine INS Kalvari today. According to PTI, the Prime Minister landed at Mumbai at around 11 pm and then proceeded to the Raj Bhavan where he stayed overnight. He was received at the airport by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao. Kalvari is the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines handed over by shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Limited. The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai as part of Project-75 of the Indian Navy. Representing a significant success for the "Make in India" initiative, INS Kalvari is a diesel-electric attack submarine and the first of six such submarines that will be inducted into the Indian Navy. Along with Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, important dignitaries of Maharashtra Government, and senior Naval Officers will be present for the event. The PM will unveil its plaque at the commissioning ceremony. He will undertake a visit of the submarine and will also address the gathering. This will be preceded by reading out the commissioning warrant, hoisting of colours and breaking of commissioning pennant with the national anthem. Kalvari has gone through 120 days of extensive sea trials. Kalvari is named after the dreaded tiger shark, a deadly deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean. The first Kalvari, commissioned on December 8, 1967, was also the first submarine of the Indian Navy. It was decommissioned on May 31, 1996, after nearly three decades of service. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Speaking on the significance of having a greater role of women in the Congress, President-elect Rahul Gandhi accused RSS of not even allowing women entry. Addressing a Congress Mahila Samvad event here, Rahul Gandhi said that the party must transform itself and women members have to play a large role in making the change possible. "We have to work on transforming the Congress party, and a fundamental part of it is going to be the role of women in the Congress party," he said. He then trained his guns on RSS - accusing it of being biased against women. "Aap kabhi Gandhi ji ki koi bhi photo dekhiye, uss mein aapko Gandhi ji ke paas 3-4 mahilaayein zaroor dikhayi dengi (See any photo of Gandhi ji, in it three to four women can be seen for sure)," he said. "RSS ka jo sangathan hai, uss mein mahila ghus bhi nhi sakti, wo unki ideology hai (RSS as an organisation, women cannot even enter. That is their ideology)." Aap kabhi Gandhi ji ki koi bhi photo dekhiye, uss mein aapko Gandhi ji ke paas 3-4 mahilaayein zaroor dikhayi dengi. RSS ka jo sangathan hai, uss mein mahila ghus bhi nhi sakti, wo unki ideology hai: Rahul Gandhi,Congress President elect pic.twitter.com/6qR43jV2zQ December 13, 2017 (Exclusive - Rahul Gandhi on BJP's Gujarat campaign, development for state and more) The 47-year-old did point out that he is taking over from his mother as party President but that he will try to have a more proactive role from women in Congress. "Unfortunately we do not have a woman President anymore, so we will have to compensate. We will work on having women CMs in states." Rahul Gandhi will officially take charge as Congress President on Saturday. Senior party leader Mullappally Ramachandran made the announcement on Monday afternoon. "Eighty-nine nomination proposals were received. All were valid. Since there was only one candidate, I hereby declare Rahul Gandhi elected as the president of Indian National Congress," he had said. Beijing: Amid reports of highly polluted waters from its tributary Siang flowing into India, China on Wednesday denied plans to construct a tunnel to divert Brahmaputra river waters. "I would like to point out that China's position on the eastern part of the China-India border is consistent and clear," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to questions about the reports on blackened, muddy waters with cement and sledge of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh. "I have never heard of the project mentioned by the Indian side. It is hoped that the Indian side will not conduct unfounded speculation and reports," he said in a written response to a question in this regard," PTI reported. In October 2017, too, China had denied reports of plans to build a 1000-km long tunnel to divert Brahmaputra waters to the arid regions of Xinjiang, saying the report is untrue and false. In 2016, China had declared that it would be building a dam on a tributary of the river, sparking concerns about its potential downstream impact in India. Arunachal Pradesh State Water Quality Testing Laboratory (SWQTL) in a recent report said the water of the Siang river, which has turned dark and muddy, has become unfit for human consumption. PM asks MEA, Water Ministry to find out why the Brahmaputra turned black Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the External Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Water Resources to find out why the water of Brahmaputra turned black and take remedial measures for it. This was conveyed at a high-level meeting chaired by the PM and attended by Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal besides others last evening, a statement issued by the Assam government said. The PM also asked the other ministries to work in synergy and directed the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that scientific tests of Brahmaputra water are conducted to ascertain the physical and chemical composition of the river where it turned black. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Attorney General KK Venugopal, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajeev Jain besides others attended the meeting. Brahmaputra originates in Tibet where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo and is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before it enters Assam and flows southwards to the sea through Bangladesh. The water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh, which is called Brahmaputra in Assam, turned black from November-end. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Expressing concern over the falling sex ratio against the girl child, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to take all the steps so that the trend is halted and reversed. Calling for the "constructive solution" for arresting the trend of falling sex ratio, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the nodal agency and other technical experts will draw a mechanism to curb the online display of sex determination techniques. "We are constrained to say so, as some people are guided by exposure to the internet," Chief Justice Misra said in the order. The court agreed with senior counsel Sanjay Parikh, appearing for petitioner Sabu Mathew George, who said that despite several orders having been passed in the past to block sex determination techniques on the internet, these have not achieved desired results. The court directed the nodal agency and the technical expert to find a mechanism for taking appropriate steps so that the mandate of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PC&PNDTAAct) is not violated. The court said that mechanism would be finalised after discussion with the representatives of the search engines - Microsoft, Google and Yahoo- and that of the petitioner as it disposed off the petition of George who had knocked the doors of the top court in 2008 seeking to block online information on sex determination techniques. Parikh told the court that despite the setting up of the nodal agency by the Centre, it has not been effective in stopping the offending material being displayed on the internet and that the search engines were not removing the objectionable material on their own. However, Additional Solicitor General Pinki Anand told the court that on receiving a complaint, the nodal agency takes steps and interacts with the representatives of search engines and objectionable materials are removed. The counsel appearing for the search engines said that it was difficult for them to remove the objectionable material on their own without a complaint as there are several permutations and combinations available for search. George had moved the top court seeking curbs on advertisement commercially promoting sex determination techniques/kits and other related things which have contributed to eschewed sex ratio. By PTI: Beijing, Dec 13 (PTI) Five people were killed and eight others injured when a residential building caught fire in Beijings Chaoyang district early today. The fire broke out at a village house in Shibalidian Township, the fire department said. The injured were taken to hospital, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The fire was triggered by flames from an electric bicycle, the fire department said. advertisement This is the second fire incident in Beijing in recent weeks. Nineteen people were killed and eight injured in a house fire on Nov 19. The incident led to the evacuation of thousands of migrant labour from the city. A number of fire incidents have taken place elsewhere in China recently. On December 10, eight people were killed in a fire at Haifeng County of south Chinas Guangdong Province. Ten People were killed and five others injured when fire broke out at 38th floor of an apartment in Tianjin on December 1. PTI KJV CK --- ENDS --- New Delhi: A US-based science channel today claimed that the 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka is man-made, prompting the BJP to say that the finding has reaffirmed the party's stand on the issue. A jubilant BJP further said that the findings of the US channel have reaffirmed its belief in the existence of Lord Ram. "It is unfortunate that the Congress has always been apologetic when it came to respecting Hindu religion. I wish once and for all this debate (on Ram Setu) is settled. We should respect Ram Setu and no damage should be done to it," Union Minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference at the BJP headquarters. His cabinet colleague and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out at the UPA government for an affidavit in the Supreme Court which had questioned the belief among Hindus that the land bridge was built by Lord Ram to reach then Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, as depicted in the epic Ramayana. "Those who filed the affidavit should explain now. The research has supported what the BJP has been claiming all along...The Setu is part of our cultural heritage," Prasad told reporters here. In a promo for its upcoming show, the channel quotes an archaeologist that the rocks on top of sand pre-date the sand. Are the ancient Hindu myths of a land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka true? Scientific analysis suggests they are. #WhatonEarth pic.twitter.com/EKcoGzlEET Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 11, 2017 The channel claimed that the bridge may have been built by humans and may not be a natural formation. "This is what the BJP has been saying all along," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said here. The BJP, Goyal said, is not apologetic about its love for Lord Ram and for the party functionaries he was an ideal human being. "A secular democratic framework allows each Indian to respect his religion. We are proud of our religion and we are proud of every religion in India," he said. (With PTI Inputs) The emergency landing of a Mumbai-London British Airways flight in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, led to ordeal for all passengers. And among the passengers was former State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya. According to reports, Bhattacharya was not just stranded for 19 hours, but had to even sleep throughout the night on a carpet on the floor of a waiting room. The reason for the emergency landing of the flight was smoke detected in the first class cabin of the British Airways flight. The flight, BA198, was rerouted to Baku 'squawking 7700'. That's aviation code for when the crew of a flight declares an emergency and requests immediate assistance from all air traffic control centres in the region. A trace of the flight path on flight-tracking site Flighradar showed BA198, a Boeing 777-300 ER, departing from Mumbai, flying into Pakistani airspace over Balochistan, entering Iranian airspace and issuing the emergency call just as it was about to leave Iranian air. While the British Airways has claimed that the stranded travellers were provided all assistance, people onboard the flight later said that they were neither given any food nor basic medicines. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special court will on Wednesday pronounce the quantum of punishment to Muhammed Ameerul Islam, a migrant labourer from Assam, guilty of raping and murdering a 30-year-old Dalit law student in Kerala in 2016. The 27-year-old woman was found murdered in her house near here on April 28, 2016. Her mother, Rajeshwari, who works as a casual labourer, discovered her body. Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court judge N Anil Kumar on Tuesday held Ameerul guilty under various sections of the IPC including 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) 376 (A) (causing death or causes the woman to be in persistent vegetative state while committing rape). As many as 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which commenced in April last. The prosecution has described it as a rarest of rare case. The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house. Islam, who had left Perumbavoor soon after committing the crime, was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after the gruesome incident. The police cracked the case after conducting a successful DNA test to nail the accused. Trial in the case was conducted in-camera. The mother, who was present in the court to hear the trial, told the media before the verdict that she wanted her daughter's killer to be hanged to death. "I'm very happy with the verdict. I'm thankful to all who helped solve the case," she said later. The incident was in focus during the state assembly polls campaign last year with political parties attacking the then Congress-led UDF regime for 'tardy' progress in the probe and 'failure' to nab culprits. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the Centre has agreed to continue search operations for the missing fishermen in Cyclone Ockhi that hit the state's coast on November 29 and 30. The death toll in the disaster has, meanwhile, climbed to 58 with more bodies recovered from high seas. State control room officials said three bodies were found off the coast of Kozhikode and three from Kochi. Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has agreed to continue the search operations in the high seas as requested by the state, Vijayan told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting. However, the chief minister said complete information was still not available on the fishermen who went out to sea during the cyclone days. "Several fishermen had ventured into sea in boats and some in small crafts. The anxiety is about people who had gone in crafts," Vijayan said. When pointed out that the Latin Catholic Church, to which most of the affected fishermen belonged, had disputed the official figure on missing fishermen, Vijayan said, "there is no need for dispute on that." The government has a figure of missing persons and if there were any more persons other than in the list, that also would be confirmed, he added. The official missing toll is 94. In a bid to set up a mechanism to ensure safety of fishermen, Vijayan said a system was being planned in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The chief minister said the government would speed up relief and rehabilitation work. The financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh for families of fishermen killed in the cyclone would be given in one go, he said adding "it will be given shortly without any hassle." An amount of Rs five lakh would be given to those who were seriously injured and not able to go for work in future as an "alternative livelihood" initiative, he said. Efforts were on to identify the bodies through DNA test, he said. Observing that the Centre seems to have understood the gravity of the damage caused by the cyclone in the state, Vijayan said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has assured him that a Central team would visit the affected areas very soon. Seeking support of all sections of society for relief and rehabilitation of cyclone victims, Vijayan said all cabinet members have donated their one month's salary to Ockhi cyclone relief fund. He appealed to government employees to donate three days salary and workers in other sectors one day's salary to the fund. Giving details of the measures planned for the victims, he said houses would be built for those who had lost it under the government's Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) programme. MUMBAI: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis became the latest target of online distort for sharing a photograph from an event that she attended recently in Mumbai. Amruta, who attended a Christmas charity event on Monday, shared a photograph on Twitter with caption: "launched-Be Santa-campaign, as Ambassador for @927BIGFM - to collect gifts from people -for poor children ,to bring smiles to their faces during this Christmas.Drop ur gifts at nearest @927BIGFM & Feel the joy -as best way to multiply your happiness is by sharing it with others." launched-Be Santa-campaign, as Ambassador for @927BIGFM - to collect gifts from people -for poor children ,to bring smiles to their faces during this Christmas.Drop ur gifts at nearest @927BIGFM & Feel the joy -as best way to multiply your happiness is by sharing it with others pic.twitter.com/r5UTAi3nDY AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 Soon after the photograph was shared, some users slammed her for promoting a charity linked to Christmas, while others accused her of spreading Christianity. I hope madam@amruta_fadnavis n hubby Dave can appeal to their coreligionists to not wear Santa suits this Xmas as they cause pollution in production. Just like they appealed against crackers on Diwali. Oh and no crackers on new year please. rajeev bhardwaj (@rajeev579) December 12, 2017 Mrs. Amruta Fadnavis OR FERNANDES ?? Please leave some space for Hindus too. Take it from a Voter of Maharashtra, this Secular Sycophancy won't do any good to your husband's vote bank politics. Before next Maharashtra elections he will be KICKED OUT by Modi for this. https://t.co/Pj10wX0qEK December 13, 2017 Later, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's wife had to issue a clarification over her post. "I'm a proud Hindu & like many, I celebrate every festival in my country & that is an individual choice.. We represent the true spirit of our country . and that doesnt dilute our love towards our country, religion & humanity. In my capacity as a Proud Hindu Citizen, I will always try to unite & bring in harmony wherever I can. But just wish to remind you that empathetic journalists & journalism should not ignite the fire of religious differences .Icant stop a serene action bcoz of some wrong deeds!," Amruta's said in a tweet. In another tweet, she tagged the Maharashtra Chief Minister and said, "Love , sharing & empathy have no religion - lets accept all positivity around us & stay away from negative thoughts & demotivating energies." Love , sharing & empathy have no religion - lets accept all positivity around us & stay away from negative thoughts & demotivating energies ! @ShefVaidya December 12, 2017 Im a proud Hindu & like many, I celebrate every festival in my country & that is an individual choice.... We represent the true spirit of our country ... and that doesnt dilute our love towards our country , religion & humanity .... AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) December 12, 2017 "In my capacity as a Proud Hindu Citizen, I will always try to unite & bring in harmony wherever I can. But just wish to remind you that empathetic journalists & journalism should not ignite the fire of religious differences .Icant stop a serene action bcoz of some wrong deeds!," she said. Mumbai: An analysis of the affidavits of 836 candidates, out of the total 869 in fray for the ongoing polls in 10 municipal councils in Maharashtra, has revealed that 87 of them were facing criminal cases, including some serious charges like murder, rape, kidnapping and dacoity. The analysis was conducted by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch (MEW). These organisations also found that out of the 836 candidates (analysed so far), 108 are 'crorepatis'. Election to 10 municipal councils-- Dahanu, Hupari, Nandurbar, Navapur, Kinwat, Chikhaldara, Pandharkavda, Jat, Trimbak, Igatpuri-- are being held in three phases. While some of the councils went to polls on December 10, polling in some others is being held today. The last phase of the polls will be held on the coming Sunday (December 17). Besides, bypolls for four councils- Ambejogai, Shahada, Mangurlpir and Jintur- are also being held simultaneously. ADR and MEW analysed the affidavits of 836 candidates. They said in a press release that affidavits of 33 candidates could not be analysed as they were not available. As per the party-wise analysis, the BJP tops the list with 27 candidates facing criminal charges, followed by the Congress with 13 and the Shiv Sena with eight nominees respectively, the press release said. The NCP stands at number four with five such candidates, it added. Apart from murder, rape, kidnapping and dacoity, the criminal charges include criminal intimidation, robbery, forgery, cheating and crime against women, the report said. Congress candidate in Dahanu municpal corporation, Ashok Shinwar Mali, has emerged as the wealthiest candidate with declared assets worth Rs 27 crore, it said. However, two candidates have declared that they have 'zero' assets. In terms of the educational qualifications, 52 candidates mentioned that they were illiterate, 93 candidates said they have passed 5th standard, 160 have passed 8th standard, 147 candidates have passed 10th pass. 182 candidates are 12th pass, while 125 candidates are graduates, the report said. Mumbai: At least 28 students of a Mumbai-based school fell ill after consuming 'khichadi' served at their school on Wednesday. According to ANI, the victims are students of Bal Vikas Vidya Mandir located in the Jogeshwari area in Mumbai. 28 students of Balvikas Vidya Mandir school in #Mumbai's Jogeshwari fall ill after consuming 'Khichdi' served at the school; All students admitted to Konkan hospital, all students out of danger. December 13, 2017 The students fell unconscious soon after consuming the 'khichadi' served at their school. They were immediately rushed to the Konkan Hospital for treatment. They are said to be out of danger. More details are awaited. The mystery surrounding the death of a 24-year-old anchor, Arpita Tiwary, had deepened with her post-mortem report. According to the report, she died due to multiple injuries but there was no sign of any sexual assault. Though the post-mortem report says that there was no suffocation or strangulation, the police has not dismissed the possibility of murder. They even recreated the crime scene in a bid to ascertain the cause of the death. She was found dead at a building in Malwani area in Mumbai. Arpita was reportedly in a relationship and about to get married. According to sources, Arpita wanted to end the relationship with her boyfriend Pankaj Jadhav. After a late-night event on Sunday, Arpita, a resident of Mira Road, did not return home and instead went to a flat in Malwani area with her boyfriend. It was earlier said that she jumped from the 15th floor of that building, suffering serious injuries to which she succumbed. Two other friends of Jadhav were present at the flat at the time of the incident. They realised only on Monday morning that Arpita was missing and the bathroom door was locked from inside. Following this, they reportedly went on a search for her and later, with the help of fire-fighting personnel, they discovered her body in an adjacent building. The police said that there was no suicide note at the spot. One of her close friends and an event management company owner Lucky Sharma said that Arpita had no finance-related trouble. Sharma said that he suspected the role of her friends in her death. BHUBANESHWAR: Another case of sexual assault of a minor student at a school has emerged and the prime accused in the case is the school headmaster who reportedly raped one of his students at the campus. The Odisha Police arrested the accused on charges of sexually assaulting a minor student over a period of a month in Mayurbhanj district of the state. The victim is a class 6 student and was allegedly assaulted by the accused at the school premises. Odisha: A class 6 student allegedly sexually assaulted by the headmaster of her school in Mayurbhanj over the period of a month. Headmaster thrashed by people and later arrested by police. (12.12.2017) pic.twitter.com/sR30p8mJVN ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 "The headmaster of the school had been sexually assaulting a Class 6 student since last one month. She later told her family about it. A case has been registered regarding this and he has been arrested", VK Patel, DIB DSP, Mayurbhanj told news agency ANI. The incident came to light after the girl narrated her ordeal to her family. The police have registered a complaint against the school headmaster and have started an investigation in this regard. The accused was beaten by angry people before being handed over to the police. On December 5, a three-year-old child in a Behala-based Kolkata was sexually assaulted and a non-teaching staff was arrested by the police as the prime accused. Manoj, the staff member at the school had allegedly sexually abused the child twice, in June and later in September. The parents had lodged a complaint with the police in September, but the arrest was made only after parents of other students held demonstrations following the sexual assault. In another incident, a four-year-old was raped at one of the high profile schools in Kolkata. Later, two PT teachers were arrested and sent to police custody in connection with the case. The girl child was allegedly sexually abused inside a school by the two teachers. Later, her mother found the blood stain on her uniform while picking up from school. New Delhi: A young Bollywood actress was allegedly molested by a fellow passenger while travelling via Vistara flight a few days back. The actor had Instagrammed her ordeal which left the fans and celebs in a state of shock. After the incident, complaint was filed by the actor and soon the accused was identified and arrested under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) as the actor happens to be a minor. Now, the accused has been sent to judicial custody till December 22, 2017 by the Dindoshi sessions court, Mumbai. He has filed the bail plea and the court will hear it on December 15, 2017, reports ANI. A host of Bollywood celebrities had strongly condemned the incident and shown concern over safety of women in the country. They extended their support to the teen actor after the act. The actor was travelling from New Delhi to Mumbai via Vistara flight UK 981 along with her mother. The actress flew to the city to collect an award. By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) A special court today held former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL), guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL. advertisement The court will hear argument on quantum of punishment tomorrow. It, however, acquitted four persons ? VISULs Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan ? of all charges. All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recommend VISULs case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the Coal Ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged. The accused have refuted the allegations levelled against them. PTI UK AG RRT DV --- ENDS --- Mutual fund market has become lucrative investment option in India, as it has reached all-time high. Experts now recommend people to invest in mutual fund industry to avail the benefit of higher returns. According to the latest data of Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), total infusion in mutual fund schemes reached Rs 3.8 lakh crore in the first eight months (April- November) of the current fiscal. In month of November 2017, investors pumped in about Rs 1.26 lakh crore into mutual funds market, taking industry assets under management to an all-time high of Rs 21.8 lakh crore. Usually an investor can invest in mutual fund after opening a demat account. But Sharekhan has introduced an InstaMF portal, which is an online and paperless mode of investment, for investors eliminating the need of demat account. InstaMF platform allows investors to open an account in just three steps. In the first step itself, investors will know whether they are KYC compliant or not. In case their KYC is not in place, Sharekhan will get in touch with them within 24 hours to complete the KYC process. With an InstaMF account, investors will also be able to access the flexi invest option provided by Sharekhan. In Flexi Invest, investment amount, date and frequency of SIPs can be altered at any given point of time. Click here to read the full story. Pooja Jaiswar Investors have found a new love for investment in Bitcoin, as this cryptocurrency continues to touch new highs day after day. Although trading in Bitcoin came into effect from 2009, this digital currency became the most searched topic on Google this year. There is over 90% positive correlation between price of bitcoin and the volume of google search requests, ICICI Bank said. Surprisingly, the digital currency which was not even close to $1 in 2010, has now touched over $17,000-mark in just nine years. With just $14 worth in 2013, Bitcoin shooted up to $1,017.58 in February 2017. Recently, Bitcoin showed a breath-taking performance as on November 29, 2017, it stood at 10,991, and further jumped to $13,741 on December 7, 2017, and later on December 8, 2017, it rose to over $17,000 mark. From January 2013 to till date, it has gained up to a whopping 1,22,396.07% or 1225 times. Further adding to madness in trading, Bitcoin has been launched as futures on December 11. On the Chicago-based CBOE Global Markets exchange, it opened at $15,460 in New York on December 11 evening, and leaped to a high of $18,700 - a gain of 21%. They were last quoted at $17,550 a premium of more than $1,600 to the price on Gemini Exchange. The ICICI Bank data stated that there are over 1300 cryptocurrencies right now with a total market cap of over $300 billion, and bitcoin dominates at 55%. However, confusion still mars the world as far as trading in Bitcoin is concerned. Many economists believe that trading in Bitcoin is an illusion and say it was created out of thin air. Since it was introduced by an anonymous individual, it does not serve the purpose as an instrument to buy and sell goods. Economists also say that people are trading in this portal without even understanding it. Others say that Bitcoin is the most important invention in all human history and it is the dawn of the free world. They believe this cryptocurrency saves time and anybody could have access to it as nobody can control or alter it. However, this era of Bitcoin is also considered as one of those bubbles that destroyed global markets. Here's a list of bubble that came in and hampered various global markets. Click here to read the full story. Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ruled out rolling back the decision to provide power to the industry at the subsidised rate of Rs 5 per unit. The decision has already been taken by the Congress government in the state and ratified by the cabinet, he said, putting to rest apprehensions of any change in this regard. In a statement issued here, the chief minister said the notification on the industrial power subsidy had been slightly delayed only to give the Department of Industries time to resolve some critical issues faced by the industry on account of the newly imposed fixed power tariff. The two-part power tariff structure announced by Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) would prevent the benefits of the subsidy from reaching the bulk industrial power consumers, such as the steel industry and the large units with co-generation capacities, he said. Singh added that he had received various representations from the industry seeking government intervention to minimise the adverse effect of the fixed tariff. Taking cognisance of these and some other problems faced by the industry, the chief minister said he had directed the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Power), Chairman PSPCL and Secretary, Industries to work out the modalities, in consultation with representatives of industry, to resolve the matter. The chief minister stressed that the industrial subsidy was a sacrosanct promise of his government and a necessity to boost industrial development. "How can the government even think of retracting a promise which is so crucial to bringing the state back on the path of industrial and economic revival?" he asked. Dismissing the apprehensions expressed by a section of the industrialists on this count as totally baseless, the chief minister pointed out that he had been personally engaged with the industry over the past nine months to invite them to invest in Punjab. Jaipur: Taking a dig at Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on completion of four years in office, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said she had pushed the state backwards during her tenure. He alleged that corruption and nepotism flourished and crimes like rape of minor girls and murders have become a daily routine in the four years of BJP rule. "I have never seen such an irresponsible and useless government in 50 years of my political career. The state home minister and health minister should feel ashamed for being in the government," Gehlot said in a statement. "It seems she (Raje) knows that it is her last term as chief minister, therefore, corruption is rampant and decisions are being made at the CMO level instead at the level of ministers. There is resentment among people and she knows it," he said. The AICC general secretary and former chief minister also accused the government of wasting crores of rupees in the name of foreign tours and Resurgent Rajasthan investment summit. "The state government was also not ready for a CBI or judicial inquiry into the mines scam. There would be a big expose if corruption cases of Rajasthan government are probed by CBI," Gehlot said, adding it would be better if the chief minister tendered the resignation herself. New Delhi: The Dawn spacecraft was launched into space by NASA with the mission to conduct a probe into two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. Currently in the final phase of its mission, Dawn is presently circling dwarf planet Ceres and has frequently beamed back intriguing images of its exterior. The spacecraft has once again returned images of the dwarf planet the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter revealing that far from being a dead world, is an active and evolving world, indicate hundreds of bright areas that stand out. The surface of Ceres is otherwise dark. "The mysterious bright spots on Ceres, which have captivated both the Dawn science team and the public, reveal evidence of Ceres' past subsurface ocean, and indicate that, far from being a dead world, Ceres is surprisingly active," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Geological processes created these bright areas and may still be changing the face of Ceres today," Raymond said. The researchers presented the latest results about the bright areas at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on Tuesday. Check out the video NASA released of the new Dawn findings at Ceres: (Video courtesy: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Since Dawn arrived in orbit at Ceres in March 2015, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas. A new study in the journal Icarus, led by Nathan Stein, a doctoral researcher at California Institute of Technology divided Ceres' features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the centre of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 10-kilometre-wide pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the centre is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright material in Occator Crater is made of salt-rich material, which was likely once mixed in water. More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies likely exposed bright material that was already in the subsurface or had formed in a previous impact event. Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed, the study said. As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists hope to learn more about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator. (With IANS inputs) Chennai: The DMK on Wednesday urged Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to take steps to declare Cyclone Ockhi that battered Kanyakumari as a "national calamity," and sought expeditious search and rescue operation for missing fishermen. A DMK delegation led by party Working President MK Stalin submitted a memorandum to the Governor at the Raj Bhavan here. It accused the K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government of failing to give due importance to the search and rescue operations for the missing fishermen from the state in the aftermath of the cyclone that hit Kanyakumari on November 30. The DMK claimed the chief minister, his deputy O Panneerselvam and senior state government officials were making "contradictory" statements on the number of missing and stranded fishermen as it had no true account in this regard. The state administration has "grossly failed" to wake up and quickly respond to the emerging situation, it alleged. Therefore, the Centre should intervene to help trace the missing fishermen quickly within a time-frame, in coordination with state agencies, the memorandum said. The party appealed to the Governor to urge the Centre to ensure immediate deployment of more Naval helicopters and ships for a massive rescue operation in deep sea to "trace thousands of fishermen missing." It also requested Purohit to apprise the Home Ministry of the situation and prevail upon it to declare the cyclone as a national calamity. The DMK also alleged that "a complete breakdown in day-to-day business of the Government, resulting in untold sorrow and sufferings to the people." Later, speaking to reporters, Stalin said Purohit has assured him that he would 'forward' the memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also said the Governor recalled his meeting with affected persons in Kanyakumari recently. Purohit also told them he had taken up the matter with Finance minister Arun Jaitley, Home minister Rajnath Singh and Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman during his two-day Delhi visit which ended yesterday, Stalin said. CHENNAI: Scores of devotees whipped themselves with ropes as part of a ritual at Poosaripalayam's Adaikalamman Temple in Tamil Nadu. In a video shared by news agency ANI, several male devotees, painted in sandalwood powder and garland around their neck, are seen engrossed in dancing on the beats of the instruments and whipping themselves. #WATCH: Devotees whip themselves with ropes as a part of ritual at Poosaripalayam's Adaikalamman Temple. #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/EeqeyzAWhG ANI (@ANI) December 12, 2017 As per the villagers, the ritual has been being performed in the temple for the past 800 years and it all started when a washerman picked a wooden box from a nearby river flowing in the opposite direction. The villagers said there was a statue, a whipping rope, a bow and an arrow in the box, which was kept inside the Adaikalamman temple. Following this incident, the villagers started to celebrate this day with a belief to attain 'divine power' and for the welfare of the village. According to another report, the ritual of self-flagellation is carried out by villagers of Coimbatore to worship goddess Adaikala Amman, a form of Hindu Goddess Kali. Women too took part in the festival by walking in the procession but the self-flagellation was carried out only by men. New Delhi: Bigg Boss season 11 has sparked controversies ever since the premiere when two people with an ugly past entered the show together; yes, we are talking about Vikas and Shilpa. However, as the show progressed, several other controversies developed in the show such as Puneesh and Bandgi's 'love affair', which many suspected was just a strategy to survive in the house. After Bandgi got evicted, Priyank Sharma's love life is the latest hot topic inside the house and when his (ex) girlfriend, Divya Agarwal visited the house, the audience, as well as the inmates, were shocked. Benafsha Soonawalla, who got evicted last month, was a good friend of Priyank and was often linked to him in the show. Ben and Priyank did share a good bonding and were always seen together in the house. Many people believed that the reason Divya broke up with Priyank was his growing closeness with Ben. However, refuting all rumours of a cat-fight, Benafsha and Divya have now posted a picture together. Ben, took to Instagram stories to post this picture. The two girls met on the sets of Roadies' upcoming auditions in New Delhi and seem to have sorted all differences between them. Earlier, Benafsha told Bollywoodlife: "Why do people think I am the only reason why Divya has broken up with Priyank. Once I came out, I spoke to Divya. We are not best friends but we spoke well. She told me, Ben, it's not your fault. Divya's main problem is that her name has not been mentioned by Priyank as she expected it to be. He has been mentioning other girls. She is like, why is my name not being taken. He is talking about this and that girl. Priyank's statements are changing by the day. Honestly, I don't know much about the relationship they share or shared. Last night, he told Hina (Khan) that they broke up before he went inside. I don't think Divya was rude. I felt she was pretty polite. Yes, she was hurt. Perhaps it was not the occasion to break up. I feel it was a little too early." Well, what is interesting is the fact that once Divya was out of the house, Priyank was seen telling his friends that their relationship had ended even before he went inside the house. Priyank said that same during the weekend ka vaar episode with Salman Khan as well. Who broke up with whom? We do not know! All we know is that Divya and Benafsha are on good terms with each other. New Delhi: Bigg Boss season 11 has been one of the most controversial seasons in the history of Bigg Boss. From ugly arguments to a 'love angle' shaping up within the first week in the house, things escalated rather quickly this season of Bigg Boss. An angry Salman Khan asked Priyank Sharma to leave the Bigg Boss house after he got violent with Akash. Priyank was fighting on behalf of Vikas, his then best friend. However, owing to Priyank's fan-following, he re-entered the show as a wild card contestant. Priyank and Vikas' equation changed with time and the two are now at loggerheads with each other. However, the latest incident will shock and leave you wondering if it is appropriate to stoop to such a low level on National television. In a video posted by a Twitter user which was originally released on Voot, Priyank can be seen giving an absurd nickname to Vikas. He is sitting with his friends Hina and Luv and the three are discussing Vikas. While Hina calls him a Vulture, and Luv calls him 'weak ass', Priyank crosses all lines and calls him a Vagi**'. Don't believe us? Check out the video right here: Priyank has been making headlines these days, for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't long ago until he body-shamed Shilpa Shinde and Arshi Khan. Priyank's image has also been tarnished when his ex, Divya Agarwal entered the house and said that he had hurt a lot of girls, including her. Even though Priyank claimed that their relationship had ended even before he entered Bigg Boss, nobody knows the truth. New Delhi: Christmas, a traditional Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is marked by spruce, pine, or fir or an artificial Christmas tree, cakes, gifts and lavish dinner mostly. Delhi is all about flamboyant decorations on Christmas. We are thrilled with the sight of gingerbread decorations especially in malls and open places. So just to add a little more spice to making your mellifluous Christmas day memorable, here is a list of places you can visit in Delhi: 1. Khan Market From best cake shops to a vendor selling Christmas caps, from shops offering Christmas clothes to the delightful cafes serving Christmas food, and everything you can think of having can be found at this very place. The market is furnished with colours, even you can site Santas distributing chocolates and toffees to the children. It is one of the busiest open location where people love to hangout with their friends and family on this special day. 2. Vatican Embassy Chapel Traditional Christmas mass is performed at midnight at the beautiful Vatican Embassy Chapel which is constructed in traditional Roman style. The Chapel also has a giant Christmas tree and carols are performed over there. The place gives you the best feeling of Christmas in Delhi and also makes your eve special with Christmas cakes which is available there. 3. Secret House Cathedral Church Get the warmth of Christmas by visiting this Church. A huge crowd gathers outside this famous church and people can be seen lighting candles. Also, the magnificent decorations of the Church will make your jaw drop. Apart from this Church, people spend their Christmas time near the inner and outer circle of Rajiv Chowk. 4. Promenade mall Beautifully decorated with Christmas bells, balls and trees, this mall is one prime stop for shopaholics. What else can you ask for? 5. South Extension Market Another open place which is in our index to make your day. Bakeries of South Extension are famous for Christmas cakes and cookies. A place rich with Christmas food and DIY is visited by people in large numbers to chill with their friends and family. Pay a visit to one of these places to make the most of the festive season. Based on the Gujarat election results, Rahul Gandhi will either get pats on his back or brickbats. By Panini Anand: Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi's coronation as Congress president just ahead of the Gujarat Assembly election is both positive and challenging for him. Positive because Rahul's active participation in the Gujarat election has played a major role in his changing image. Rahul entered the Gujarat arena with a vigour and aggression not witnessed before. His confidence level is high. This avatar strengthens his responsibilities of a Congress president. advertisement However, Rahul also faces a few challenges. This is the reason why it is very crucial for him to win or perform better in Gujarat. The results for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections will be declared exactly a week after Rahul being anointed as the Congress president. Based on the results, he will either get pats on his back or brickbats. Here are the five big challenges Rahul faces: PERCEPTION Rahul's critics are of the view that he has seen only defeats in his political career. The Congress lost wherever he campaigned. As his mother was the Congress president, all defeats were went in the party's account. Now that Rahul is the party president and has mingled freely among the Gujaratis instead of being seen as an outsider, electoral setback in Gujarat will be seen as his defeat. Critics will get a chance to say that even if Rahul gets the party command and all rights, he is fated to lose always. But a victory in Gujarat will change this perception. IMAGE Rahul undoubtedly is being seen in a new avatar. His image is changing fast among the people. Rahul is exhibiting a high level of confidence. His retorts and speech delivery have shown marked improvement. For the first time, he is showing signs of a mature politician. However, a defeat in Gujarat will again make Rahul a subject of jokes. Rahul needs a proof of an improved image. Only a win for Congress can provide this opportunity to him. LEADERSHIP Rahul has to prove himself to be taken seriously inside his own Congress party. Even after putting his body and soul in Gujarat, if he fails to make his party victorious he will not have any moral authority to demand performance from other leaders. States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will go to polls next year. Rahul can demand a guarantee for victory from the leaders of these states only if he succeeds in Gujarat. SABOTAGE A large number of leaders in the Congress will slowly be made irrelevant in the Rahul Gandhi brand of politics. If Rahul loses Gujarat, the same leaders will fan dissatisfaction inside the party. This may give rise to factionalism and slogans like 'Sonia lao, desh bachao (Bring back Sonia Gandhi)'. The cadres will get demoralised and it will become difficult for Rahul to strengthen his party.To avoid such a condition, it is necessary for Rahul to win in Gujarat. advertisement MODI'S ALTERNATIVE A whole year after the Gujarat election will be the time for the political parties to make preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. A win in Gujarat will make the Opposition and those dissatisfied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to see an alternative in Rahul . If he fails to deliver in Gujarat, the Opposition will refuse to see probabilities in him. A divided Opposition will miss preparing a comprehensive strategy against Modi. A win in Gujarat will make him capable of presiding over a combined Opposition. --- ENDS --- Aligarh: A scuffle broke out between BJP and BSP workers as one of the newly-elected corporator associated with the latter took oath in Urdu in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh. The pandemonium broke out at Aligarh Municipal Corporation on Tuesday when newly elected Mayor Mohammad Furqan and other corporators were taking the oath but to everybody's astonishment, the BSP corporator took the oath of secrecy in Urdu. Confirming the incident, Aligarh DM Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod said, Some people objected and raised slogans during the ceremony. We received information that a Councillor tried taking oath in Urdu. We'll probe recording of the ceremony and take action if we find this to be true, No religious slogans were raised, the DM confirmed. The latest incident comes days after BSP leader and newly-elected Meerut mayor Sunita Verma categorically stated that national song Vande Mataram will not be sung ahead of the board meetings. While topping the ex-mayor's order that made singing Vande Mataram at meetings a must, Verma said that as per the constitution of the municipal board, National Anthem 'Jan Gan Man' would be sung before the meetings and not the national song. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on December 7 had apparently questioned why there were objections to saying 'Vande Mataram', which meant salute to the motherland. "If not your mother, who would you salute, Afzal Guru?" Naidu asked. "Vande Mataram mane maa tujhe salam. Kya samasya hai? Agar maa ko salam nahi karenge to kya Afzal Guru ko salam karenge? (Vande Mataram means salute to mother. What is problem with it, if you don't salute your mother, who would you salute, Afzal Guru?)," he asked. Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government today approved the draft of a bill to enact a stringent law on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crimes in the state. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Winter session of the state legislature, which commences here tomorrow. The Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was approved at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, the state government spokesperson and Power minister Srikant Sharma told mediapersons after the meeting. "The rule of law is the top priority of the government and for this it is essential that those indulging in mafia, goonda activities and disturbing peace in society are identified and a special drive is launched against them...The bill is being brought with this purpose in mind," Sharma said. The draft of the proposed legislation has been prepared in consultation with the law department for effective check on organised crime, mafia and white collared crimes, he said. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has unveiled a new multi-coloured logo for the Kumbh Mela that is scheduled to be held in Allahabad in January 2019. The logo, which comprises temples, seers, a kalash (pitcher) and a 'Swastika', was launched by the governor at a function in the Raj Bhawan here last evening. The unveiling comes close on the heels of the Kumbh Mela this month being recognised by the UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" and held up as the world's largest peaceful gathering of pilgrims. Naik also launched the Kumbh's tagline "Chalo Kumbh Chalo-Chalo, Kumbh Chalo", Uttar Pradesh Tourism's slogan "UP Nahin Dekha to India Nahin Dekha" and a one-stop travel solution portal. "The UNESCO has declared the Kumbh as a world heritage, realising the importance of the event... Sometimes outsiders realise the importance of things sooner than the locals," the governor said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present at the function, said it was a matter of pride that the UNESCO had recognised the Kumbh as a world heritage. He promised that the Uttar Pradesh government would ensure that Kumbh 2019 is celebrated with grandeur. Claiming that there was "nothing half in the Sanatan Hindu culture", the chief minister said that the Ardh Kumbh, held every six years, will be referred to as 'Kumbh' and the Kumbh, held every 12 years, as 'Maha Kumbh'. The Kumbh Mela is believed to be the largest religious gathering on earth and is held every 12 years on the banks of the 'Sangam'- the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati -- in Allahabad. The Mela alternates between Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The one celebrated at the Sangam is the largest and holiest of them. Istanbul: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday all Muslim nations should work together to defend the rights of Palestinians against Donald Trump`s decision last week to recognise Jerusalem as Israel`s capital. Speaking in an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Turkey`s Istanbul city, Rouhani said the Muslim countries should resolve their internal disputes through dialogue and called for unity against Israel. Rouhani said Israel had planted seeds of tension in the crisis-hit region. Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday slammed Israel as a state defined by "occupation" and "terror", as he opened an Islamic summit on the US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. "Israel is a state of occupation. Besides this, Israel is a state of terror," Erdogan told leaders from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered for an emergency meeting in Istanbul. Jerusalem: The Israeli air force hit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday lightly wounding three people, after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military and Gaza security officials said. Israel also arrested a number of senior Hamas members in the occupied West Bank overnight, including one of its leaders in the territory. Late on Tuesday, the military said that an undefined "projectile" was fired from Gaza towards southern Israel. A spokeswoman told AFP that it was "very probably" a rocket but that it was not clear where it hit. Palestinians in the coastal territory have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trump`s recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. "In response to the projectile fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel earlier, the Israel air force targeted a Hamas military compound in the southern Gaza Strip," the army said on Wednesday. Gaza security officials said that aircraft hit a Hamas naval base west of the city of Khan Yunis and open land nearby. Three Palestinians were lightly wounded in the strikes, the health ministry in Gaza said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side. Those arrested overnight included Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist movement. He was arrested in Ramallah, a Hamas statement said. Yousef is a member of the largely defunct Palestinian parliament elected in 2006 and was jailed between 2012 and 2014. A spokeswoman for Israel`s Shin Beth domestic security agency told AFP: "He was arrested because of his involvement in encouraging and directing Hamas activity in the West Bank." Yousef`s son, Mosab Hassan Yousef, gained prominence in recent years after a film was released detailing his spying for Israel, called "The Green Prince." Yousef disowned his son after he admitted to spying on Hamas for Israel. Trump`s announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or retaliatory Israeli air strikes so far. New York: "Trump you failed to protect your nation," the ISIS-inspired Bangladeshi-origin man mocked the US President on Facebook before detonating a pipe bomb in a Manhattan subway station, according to a complaint filed in a court here. Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, had wires and a pipe bomb strapped to his body. The device exploded prematurely on Monday between two subway platforms near Port Authority, which is America's largest bus terminal. Ullah is reported to be in a serious condition in hospital after suffering burns in the explosion. Three other people suffered minor wounds in the blast during rush hour. The suspect posted a statement indicating allegiance to ISIS on Facebook before the attack, the Daily Beast reported, citing the complaint. "Trump you failed to protect your nation," Ullah wrote on Facebook on Monday morning as he mocked US President Donald Trump. On his Facebook page, Ullah also posted a statement that he believed he would be understood by members and supporters of the Islamic state to convey that he carried out the attack in the name of ISIS. A passport in the name of Akayed Ullah with multiple handwritten notations, including: "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE," was also recovered from his home. The suspect was taken into custody after the device partially exploded. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far, though it is being treated as terror-related. Ullah has been charged on five counts, including providing material support and resources to terrorist organisations, use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public law, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of destructive device. The pipe bomb comprised of a metal pipe, which Ullah filled with explosive material that he created. He used Christmas tree lights, wiring, and a nine-volt battery to cause the detonation of the pipe bomb. Ullah filled the pipe bomb with metal screws, which he believed would cause maximum damage. He used zip ties to secure the Pipe Bomb to his body. Based on preliminary investigation, federal prosecutors said Ullah carried out the December 11 attack in part because of the US government's policies in, among other places, the Middle East. One of his goals in carrying out the December 11 attack was to terrorise as many people as possible. He chose to carry out the attack on a workday because he believed that there would be more people, the charge sheet said. Federal prosecutors said Ullah's radicalisation began around 2014 when he started viewing pro-ISIS materials online, including a video instructing, in substance, that if supporters of ISIS were unable to travel overseas to join ISIS, they should carry out attacks in their homelands. He began researching how to build IEDs on the Internet approximately one year ago. The Bangladesh police yesterday detained the wife and in-laws of Ullah for questioning, according to a media report. His wife Jannatul Ferdous and their six-month-old baby live with her parents in Dhaka. Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to "win victory in the showdown" against the US with his rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, state media said Wednesday, after the country`s latest missile test heightened global tensions. The nuclear-armed North has rattled the international community with a flurry of nuclear blasts and missile launches, most recently on November 29 when it test-fired its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching all major US cities. Kim told workers behind the latest test that his country would "victoriously advance and leap as the strongest nuclear power and military power in the world" at a conference on Tuesday, according to state news agency KCNA. "The... national defence industry will continue to develop and we will win victory in the showdown with the imperialists and the US," he was indirectly quoted as saying. The country`s nuclear force had been completed in a "death-defying struggle" and despite a high cost, he added. Kim`s comments come as global powers scramble for a response to the crisis, with the US backing stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Kim`s regime to halt its nuclear drive. But the North has continued to lob missiles, posing a major challenge to US President Donald Trump. Fears of a catastrophic conflict with the nuclear-armed regime have spiked as the leaders have taunted each other, with Trump dubbing his rival "Little Rocket Man". Tension flared anew in the flashpoint peninsula after the November 29 launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which the North claimed could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland. Many analysts suggest that the rocket is capable of reaching the US mainland but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth`s atmosphere. Last month`s launch was the first test of any kind since September 15, and quashed hopes that the North may have held back in order to open the door to a negotiated solution to the nuclear standoff. But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said for the first time that Washington was willing to talk to Pyongyang "without preconditions". The US has long insisted that the North should take concrete steps towards disarming before any negotiations, which should lead to complete, irreversible and verifiable denuclearisation. "It`s not realistic to say we`re only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your programme," Tillerson told a meeting of the Atlantic Council policy forum. "They have too much invested in it." But he also warned that the US military stands ready to act if necessary. The latest military standoff prompted concerns of another full-scale conflict in the region after the 1950-53 Korean War that left much of the peninsula in ruins. Even if a second war remained conventional, tens of thousands of South Koreans -- as well as many of the 28,500 US troops stationed in the country -- are expected to be killed just in the first days of fighting, analysts say. WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said the US is paying a close attention to Beijing's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "It's part of the global order, the international system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administration's relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administration's engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US President's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trump's recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was these need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be ? have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixon's historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did it has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue we're having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and we're in a different place," he said. On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and that they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed ? others lay claim to ? and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia "In our view, China has gone too far in this area. So can can we achieve some kind of halt? Can we freeze it where it is so we can sort out how we're going to work through this?" he asked. NEW YORK: United States prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against the suspect in Mondays attempted suicide bombing in one of New York City`s busiest commuter hubs, accusing him of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation. Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi and self-described supporter of Islamic State, was also charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. district court in Manhattan with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device. Ullah planned to "murder as many human beings as he could ... in support of a vicious terrorist cause," acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim told a news conference after filing the charges. New York police say Ullah set off a pipe bomb in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others. He told police interviewers after the blast that "I did it for the Islamic State," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors. Ullah began the process of self-radicalization in 2014 when he began viewing pro-Islamic State materials online and carried out his attack because he was angry over U.S. policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said. New York officials on Tuesday also filed state charges against Ullah, as investigators in his home country questioned his wife. Ullah was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism, and making a terroristic threat under New York state law, the New York Police Department said. The federal charges, which are expected to take precedence over the state charges, carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Ullah remains in the hospital. His first appearance in the case will likely be there either later on Tuesday or on Wednesday. On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Ullah`s passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE." HOMEMADE BOMB Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah`s pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires. Ullah told investigators he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a workday to target as many people as possible. Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah`s wife, according to two officials who declined to be identified as they were not permitted to discuss the matter publicly. They said the couple have a six-month-old baby boy. A police official who took part in that interview, who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak publicly, said the wife told investigators that Ullah had never prayed regularly before he moved to the United States. New York police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were leading the investigation into Ullah in conjunction with other agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and were asking the public for any information about the suspect. Investigators are poring through data on Ullah`s electronic devices, said a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity. Assistant FBI director in charge William Sweeney said, there is so far no indication that Ullah attracted attention of FBI before. Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York. U.S. President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the attack emphasized the need for U.S. immigration reforms. Monday`s incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility. There have now been two terrorist attacks in New York City in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards," Trump said. "The first attacker came through the visa lottery the second came through chain migration. Were going to end both of them." The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed Trump`s latest travel ban, targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries, to go into full effect even as legal challenges continued in lower courts. The ban covers people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen seeking to enter the United States. Trump has said the travel ban is needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamist militants. Bangladesh is not among the countries affected by the ban. Firecrackers will be burst in Pakistan if Congress comes to power in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in an unoriginal comment first made by BJP chief Amit Shah. By India Today Web Desk: With just days to go before results are announced for one of the most hotly contested and closely watched elections in recent times, the old Pakistan bogey has made a comeback to the Indian political discourse. After PM Narendra Modi alleged a Congress-Pakistan conspiracy in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani too used named the neighbouring country at one his rallies. advertisement However, while Prime Minister's allegations was novel, CM Rupani was just repeating what Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah once said: "If Congress wins, firecrackers will be burst in Pakistan." The difference? Amit Shah said that in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly election, an election where the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat (that the defeat did not stop the party from eventually becoming part of the government in Patna is another story). Rupani, on the other hand, was speaking in the milk city of India - Anand, where local media quoted him as saying what he did. If the BJP wins, firecrackers will be burst in Gujarat, but if the Congress comes to power, firecrackers will go off in Pakistan, Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar quoted the CM as saying. Rupani was speaking on the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly election, where an unusually combative Rahul Gandhi has seemingly given the BJP a run for its money. The party has been in power in Gujarat for over two decades, but this is the first time the state will polls since Narendra Modi left Gandhinagar for Gujarat. 'PAKISTAN' Rupani's comments came just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sparked furore, claiming Mani Shankar Aiyer held a "secret meeting" at his New Delhi residence with current and former Pakistani officials and diplomats. The meeting, PM Modi referring to unverified news reports claimed, was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and an ex-vice president of India. While PM Modi did not name the ex-vice president, BJP chief Amit Shah while repeating the same claim said it was Hamid Ansari. PM Modi brought up the supposed "secret meeting" at a rally in Gujarat this Sunday. The Prime Minister suggested the Congress was hand-in-glove with Pakistan, questioning why such a "secret meeting" was held while Gujarat went to the poll. The claims was reject outright by the Congress and by an unusually vocal Manmohan Singh. In a stinging rebuttal, the former Prime Minster accused PM Modi of spreading "falsehood and canards" in order to "score political points in a lost cause". advertisement "Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, [the] desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable," Manmohan Singh said as he rejected all the allegations levelled by PM Modi. "I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Shri Modi." Singh's version of the meeting was backed by former Indian Army chief Deepak Kapoor who said "only India-Pakistan relations were discussed at the meeting" held at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. WATCH | PM fires 3 Pakistan-related missiles: Can Congress duck Modi's bombardment? --- ENDS --- With campaigning for the prestige poll in PM Narendra Modi's home state now done and dusted, India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai brings you ten takeaways from his reporting in Gujarat. India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai brings you ten key takeways from his extensive reporting on the biggest election of the year in Gujarat. (Photo: @sardesairajdeep/Twitter) By India Today Web Desk: The campaign is over. By Thursday evening, voters of Gujarat would have sealed the fate of both BJP and Congress after a bitterly fought election. By 11 am on Monday, we will know the result of one of the most awaited assembly elections in recent years. India Today TV's Consulting Editor and host of the popular prime time show News Today, Rajdeep Sardesai has been touring Gujarat trying to catch the political pulse. advertisement Here are 10 takeaways from his extensive election reporting in Gujarat: 1. Modi Magic: Narendra Modi still rules the Gujarati heart. He has fought and won three consecutive elections in the state as its chief minister. Today, he is not fighting for the chief minister's chair, yet the election is being fought on his personal charisma. He enjoys a local connect like no other leader does. 2. A New Raga: Rahul Gandhi, struggling and reluctant for over a decade, has found his mojo. He has surprised even his critics with the energy that he brought to the campaign in Gujarat. He is not as brash as his chief contender but his softer, kinder approach of claiming to be a good listener rather than a big talker has struck a chord. If he has managed to turn this resurgence into tangible votes, we have a contest in 2019. 3. X Rated: A new leader has emerged from the Patel heartland and has become the X factor in this election. Hardik Patel is playing the street fighter who has made it impossible for BJP to have another walkover. Congress owes a great deal of its revival to Hardik Patel. He has the indefatigable fighting spirit of a Mamata, the chutzpah of a Kejriwal and the sharp edged rhetoric of a Bal Thackeray. Call him whatever, he is a force to reckon with today and a leader of tomorrow. 4. Model watch: The Gujarat Model has a question mark. With the spotlight on Gujarat's development like never before, the gaps are exposed. Yes, Gujarat has done well on building physical infrastructure, but has performed poorly on social indices and the service sector. By virtually outsourcing health and education to the private sector, Modi's Gujarat model has become a subject of ridicule. Hence the Vikas Gando Thayo Chhe vs Huun Chhun Vikas battle of perception turned vicious. 5. Division bells: The rural-urban divide. While the cities have shiny new flyovers and high-rises, parts of rural Gujarat remain backward. The BJP will win most seats in cities in spite of the Patel factor but rural Gujarat will not be equally forgiving. The panchayat system has long broken. Farmers are in distress and unemployment among the rural youth including those educated has stirred them. Rajdeep Sardesai reports on the Gujarat election in Surat (Photo: @sardesairajdeep/Twitter) Rajdeep Sardesai reports on the Gujarat election in Surat (Photo: @sardesairajdeep/Twitter) advertisement 6. Money talks: The Gujarati can take GST or Demonetisation in his stride, but not 'business interrupted'. For the Gujarati trader and those engaged in small and micro enterprises, notebandi and then GST were a double whammy. The anger is perhaps greater because a central government headed by a fellow business friendly Gujarati didn't listen to their grievances. It's an anger that gets easily transferred to a state government headed by a nondescript chief minister. 7. No election for Muslims: From Mian Musharraf to the Mughals to Mian Ahmed Patel and even some Salman Nizami, in no other state is the attempt to polarise communities so easily and coarsely legitimised as it is in Gujarat. Muslims, 10 per cent of Gujarat's population, don't matter. The Congress did not raise 2002 even once during this campaign and Rahul Gandhi went temple hopping instead. 8. Caste Plus: Gujarat is caste in a different stone. Caste matters but is not decisive. Patels are united behind Hardik Patel, yet a section of them will vote the BJP. The Kolis of Saurashtra may vote very differently to the Kolis of South Gujarat, Dalit and tribal votes too could get split and OBCs may not toe Alpesh Thakor's line. Just like the BJP needs Hindutva plus politics now to expand, the Congress too now needs a caste plus voter base to grow. advertisement 9. Who's winning Gujarat? It's complicated. Gujarat has been a BJP fortress for over two decades. Amit Shah has built a formidable organisation right down to the last booth worker. Gujarat is Modi-Shah duo's home turf. The Congress has just revived at the top level. BJP has mastered booth-level management, Congress has begun work on this. To the latter's benefit, there is an undercurrent against the incumbent. So who will win? Impossible to know before December 18. 10. SatyamEVM Jayate: Despite the worrying complaints, in the absence of hard irrefutable evidence, the EVM tampering bogey is just that.Only losers complain of EVM manipulation, and in India's multi-party democracy, today's loser in one state could well be a winner in another. To read all India Today stories about the Gujarat election, click here. advertisement WATCH | Battleground Gujarat: Voters say farmers' distress, unemployment, minority welfare key poll issues --- ENDS --- 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. The Art of Christmas: New Mexico Style 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!) YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Greece is one of Armenias key partners in the Armenia-EU relations, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said during his speech at the Greek foreign ministry, reports Armenpress. He said in this context the last weeks were very significant. On November 24 Armenia signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership agreement with the European Union. As an active member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Armenia also develops the relations with other integration formats. The minister expressed hope that such purposeful and realistic dialogue will become a driving force for boosting the cooperation in the region. The signing of this agreement is not the only example of Armenia-EU partnership. Over the past two years we managed to move forward in different spheres of mutual cooperation, in particular, we joined COSME, Creative Europe, Horizon 2020 projects, initialed the agreement on Common Aviation Area and signed the high-level protocol of mutual understanding on expanding the Trans-European transportation network to Armenia. We expect new initiatives at the same time attaching a specific importance to the launch of visa liberalization process. We expect the further support of our Greek partners to the Armenia-EU partnership, FM Nalbandian said. Talking about the opportunities to expand the Armenian-Greek economic ties, the minister said the work of the inter-governmental commission and the organization of business forums can be useful in this regard. Thanks to Armenias membership to the Eurasian Economic Union new opportunities have been created for trade and investments. Today its possible to enter the EAEU market worth 170 million via Armenia without any customs. Armenia has a privileged regime with the EU, US, Japan and other countries. We hope that the opportunities provided as a result of political developments will enable to conduct a fully economic cooperation with our neighbor Iran with 80 million market. In this sense the projects of Persian Gulf-Black Sea transportation and communication routes can be important, the FM said. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian had a private meeting with foreign minister of Greece Nikos Kotzias during his official visit to Athens, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. After the meeting the Armenian FM delivered speech at the conference hall of the Greek foreign ministry talking about Armenias foreign policy, international and regional urget issues and Armenias approaches on their solution ways. FM Nalbandians lecture was attended by the leadership of the Greek foreign ministry, ambassadors, renowned scientists, political scientists, analysts and reporters. In his speech the Armenian FM touched upon the Armenian-Greek centuries-old relations, the achievements recorded over the past 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Greece. He also touched upon the Armenia-EU expanding relations in the context of the new agreement signed on November 24 in Brussels. FM Nalbandian highlighted Armenias leading role in international efforts on preventing the crimes against humanity. The FMs speech also focused on the joint efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at peacefully settling the Karabakh conflict, as well as the recent developments over the conflict settlement. After the speech the Armenian FM answered to questions of the participants. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian and Irish programmers created a mobile app, which makes the burden of buying easy for young families with babies, and strive to spread the app in the European countries, firstly attracting London. The competitive advantage of Buymie start-up, established in 2015 in Dublin, is the quick delivery (an hour) of food from stores preferred by users. At the moment there are other companies in Dublin and London which provide the same service on the same or the next day, whereas Buymie can deliver products in an hour, the company co-founder Artavazd Sokhikyan told Armenpress. The Buymie mobile app has attracted nearly 800 thousand Euro investment through online crowdfunding and from investment foundations, including Unilever. Artavazd Sokhikyan stated with a joke that the app is designed for busy and lazy people. Its mainly designed for young families who have a baby, work and have no time for buying food. The programs targeted market is the United Kingdom, firstly London. There are plans to enter the London market in a year, and conduct an activity in other major cities of the UK in the upcoming five years. The crowdfunding is only one piece of our investment stage, we already have 400 thousand Euro investment from different companies and investment funds, including also Unilever company. Overall, we have 800 thousand Euros which will be spent on developing the companys infrastructures and being spread in new cities. In particular, in the upcoming 18 months we have plans to be expanded in three more cities of Ireland and UK, he said. Artavazd Sokhikyan informed that the programming part of the app has been completely created in Armenia, at the moment three specialists are working on the app here. The Armenian team will most likely expand in the near future. As of now Buymie has more than 6000 downloads, 12.5% of which are permanent customers. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will enter the spring of 2018 without the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in Zurich, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said in his speech at the Greek foreign ministry. Speaking about the Armenian-Turkish relations, he reminded it was the initiative of the President of Armenia to start the normalization process with Turkey that resulted in the conclusion of the Zurich protocols in October 2009. However, up to now, those documents have not been ratified, since Turkey came up with groundless preconditions that run counter to the letter and spirit of the Protocols. These documents cannot be held hostage forever and that is why the President of Armenia declared in September from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly that Armenia will declare the Protocols null and void since they continuously lacked any positive progress towards their implementation and we will enter the spring of 2018 without those Protocols. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is going to host the Third International Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said in his remarks at the Greek foreign ministry, reports Armenpress. On the next December 9th the International Day of Commemoration will gain even more significance since it will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. On this occasion Armenia is going to host the Third International Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide in Yerevan. 70 years passed after the adoption of the Convention, but the world is not immune from this odious scourge. It is imperative to redouble the international efforts aimed at reinvigoration of the prevention agenda. What is happening in front of our eyes, in the Middle East particularly, related to the identity-based crimes against ethnic and religious groups vividly manifests the relevance of the Convention, which clearly establishes the punishable actions, including the complicity, the FM said. He said Armenia has been among the first to raise this issue with the aim of strengthening the international mechanisms in this regard. The further development of effective measures to counter hate crime and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions was the main focus of the recent high-level conference in Yerevan, co-organized by the OSCE Chairmanship and ODIHR with the support of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. The violence in the Middle East has not bypassed Armenians, who for centuries has constituted a part of the multicultural and multi-religious mosaic of Syria and the wider Mediterranean region. The Armenian settlements, churches, schools and cultural institutions were destroyed. Many of our fellow Armenians lost their lives in terrorist attacks, others were forced to flee. Armenia has received more than twenty two thousand refugees only from Syria, making our country the third largest recipient of Syrian refugees in Europe on per capita basis. We have also tried to reach out to the people who need assistance in Syria by continuous provision of humanitarian aid, FM Nalbandian said. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is among the highest priorities on the Armenian foreign policy agenda, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said while delivering speech at the Greek foreign ministry, Armenpress reports. The minister said in the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council, on December 6th in Vienna he had a meeting with his Azerbaijani colleague, and according to him, the meeting generally passed in a positive atmosphere. However, after the meeting I said that we have to see how the situation will develop. Why? Because, the last Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva this October also passed generally in a positive mood, however, just after it Azerbaijan again returned to its usual groundless accusations and warmongering. Last week at the OSCE Ministerial Council I made a detailed speech on the settlement process. The heads of the delegations of the mediator countries Russia, France and the USA, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, issued a statement on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution. Armenia was ready to join them, however, Azerbaijan rejected and, as a result, we did not manage to have a joint statement of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Co-Chair countries. This situation has continuously repeated during the OSCE Ministerial Councils. A question raises: how it would be possible to reduce tensions if Azerbaijan rejects to confirm its commitment to the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements? How it would be possible to reduce tensions if Azerbaijan rejects to implement the establishment of the mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violation?, Nalbandian noted. The FM stated that Azerbaijan pretends as if the agreements reached during the previous Summits are preconditions put forward by the Armenian side. Armenia has not used preconditions, but that does not mean that the reached agreements should not be implemented. The Co-Chairs statement at the Ministerial Councils in Hamburg and Vienna proved that the Azerbaijani attempts to reject the implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits are doomed to failure. The pattern of refusal by Azerbaijan to honor prior agreements seriously questions Bakus credibility as a negotiating partner. I would like to once again reiterate Armenias firm commitment to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the proposals of the Co-Chairs. There is no alternative to the negotiation process. It is evident that what has been proposed by the Co-Chairs and supported by Armenia has been rejected by Azerbaijan and this is the main reason that hinders the advancement of the peace process, the Armenian FM stated. An agreement was reached by the initiative of the Co-Chairs to organize a meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the second part of January. Nalbandian added that Armenia as always is going to such kind of meeting with the constructive approach. According to Nalbandian, if Baku abides to the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implements previously reached agreements, reiterates its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs and constructively engages in the negotiations that will pave the way to move the peace process forward and change the status-quo. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Cross-bench political power, The Australian Greens have added the recognition of the right to self-determination of the people of the Republic of Artsakh) to their party policy platform, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) reports. The Australian Greens, who also reiterated their party's recognition of the Armenian Genocide, called on the government to officially recognize the independence of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [Artsakh] and strengthen Australia's relationship with Nagorno Karabakh and its citizens. The Australian Greens note Nagorno Karabakh's sustained efforts towards creating a free and democratic society through the use of legitimate parliamentary elections and its continued efforts to develop a responsible government, the partys statement says. ANC-AU Managing Director, Vache Kahramanian welcomed the partys decision, stating that Nagorno Karabakh has been part of the greater Armenian motherland for millennia. The Republic of Artsakh's Permanent Representative in Australia, Kaylar Michaelian also appreciated this decision on behalf of the Artsakh government. This is a truly historic recognition," said Michaelian. "The people of the Republic of Artsakh have lived under constant security threat for 26 years, however their resilience during that time has allowed them to build a democratic nation, which only waits for the world to recognize it and its citizens in order to thrive. In the current Federal Parliament, The Australian Greens are represented by nine Senators in the Upper House and one Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. While on an official visit in Athens, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian on December 12 had a meeting with nearly four dozen representatives of Armenian organizations of Greece, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. At the meeting FM Nalbandian presented the goals and agenda of his visit to Athens, the steps aimed at further strengthening and developing the Armenian-Greek relations. The minister thoroughly presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at peacefully settling the Karabakh conflict, as well as the recent developments over the conflict settlement process. FM Nalbandian informed the Armenian community representatives about the prospects of cooperation envisaged by the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, introduced them on Armenias approaches over international and regional urgent issues, as well as the countrys foreign policy priorities. The minister also touched upon the results of the OSCE Ministerial Council held in Vienna, Armenias upcoming presidency in the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), and the upcoming Francophonie Summit in Yerevan. Thereafter, the FM answered to questions of the meeting participants. Following the death of seven-year-old Adya Singh, Haryana government has recommended license cancellation for Fortis hospital in Gurugram By Ajay Kumar: The Haryana government has recommended cancellation of recognition to Gurugram's Fortis Memorial and Research Institute (FMRI) following the death of seven-year-old Adya Singh due to alleged medical negligence. A letter in this regard was sent to chairman of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABHHP) by the director general of Haryana health services on December 9. MAIL TODAY has accessed a copy of the letter, in which the DG has pointed out negligence found during an investigation by a three-member committee headed by the additional director of the health department. advertisement The panel's report accuses the hospital of removing Adya from ventilators without any substitute arrangements and sending her in an ordinary ambulance despite the fact that her condition was very critical. "Removing Adya from ventilator was a serious lapse done by hospital," the letter said. The institute is also accused of overcharging by using expensive medicines. "The hospital could have used generic medicines for the treatment of Adya instead of expensive allopathic medicine," the letter also said. The DG also urged presidents of the Indian Medical Association and Medical Council of India to act against the hospital. He has also written a letter to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for cancellation of the hospital's land lease over violation of terms and conditions of allotment. According to health department guidelines, if any hospital is found guilty of flouting norms and negligence leading to death, there is a provision for licence cancellation. When contacted, HUDA administrator Yashpal Yadav said did not receive any official copy from the state health department regarding the cancellation of land lease, assuring that once he receives the same, action will be taken accordingly. --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The export from Armenia to Russia comprised 248 million USD in January-October 2017. It increased by 239% compared to 2015, Andrei Babko Russias Trade Representative to Armenia, told reporters on December 13, Armenpress reports. According to him, Armenia, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), having customs privileges had an opportunity to export more products to the Russian market. The trade turnover between Armenia and Russia comprised 989,7 million USD in January-October 2015, and 1 billion 336,6 million USD in the same period of 2017. In 2015 the export from Armenia to Russia comprised 179 million USD, and it increased by 239% in 2017 comprising 428 million USD, Andrei Babko said. He added that the import from Russia to Armenia comprised 810 million USD in 2015, whereas in 2017 this number was 908,6 million USD or an increase of 112%. 62% of Armenian products imported to Russia in 2017 comprised the agricultural products, 11.5% - precious metals and stones, 9.2% - textile and light industry, and 5.9% - machinery and equipment. 46.9% of Russian products imported to Armenia in 2017 comprised the mineral waters, 16.8% - agricultural products, 11.9% - machinery and equipment, and 9.1% - precious metals and stones, Babko said. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. On the initiative of the National Defense Research University (NDRU) of Armenian defense ministry, from December 9 to 12, Prof. Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs international movement-an international network of scientists concerned about peace and international security, and Prof. Alexander Nikitin, Doctor of Political Science, Elected Member of Pugwash Council, Director of the MGIMO Center for Euro-Atlantic Security, MFA, Russia, President Emeritus of the Russian Political Science Association (RPSA), made a visit to Armenia, the NDRU told Armenpress. Members of Pugwash international movement are renowned scientists, who are advocates for peace, disarmament and international security, prevention of nuclear war, and scientific cooperation, whose estimations are significantly underlined by different state leaders and international organizations. This Movement was initiated back in 1955 by 11 world famous scientists, among who was Albert Einstein. For its efforts made in the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons the Movement was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. On December 11, the guests paid a visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, where the Secretary General of Pugwash Movement Paolo Cotta-Ramusino laid a wreath at the Genocide monument. The same day they were received by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. They were accompanied by Lieutenant General Hayk Kotanjian, Head, NDRU, Doctor of Political Science, Professor. The Pugwash Conferences Secretary General Paolo Cotta-Ramusino asked for the President Serzh Sargsyans consent and support to hold the 2019 Pugwash International Conference in Yerevan. The President welcomed the idea of hosting the conference in Yerevan, and noted that Armenia was eager to support in organizing and holding the event at a high level. In the frameworks of their visit to Armenia the guests also took a trip to Garni and Geghard where they came to know the Armenian spiritual, historical and cultural heritage. To wind up their visit, the guests visited the National Defense Research University. They were hosted by Lieutenant General Hayk Kotanjian, Head, NDRU. The meeting was also attended by Benyamin Poghosyan, Deputy-Head for ResearchHead, Institute for National Strategic Studies, NDRU, PhD in History. In the course of the meeting the attendees discussed the issues regarding the holding of the 2019 Pugwash reporting-elective conference in Yerevan. ARMAVIR, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian governments activity is directed for reducing the level of poverty, Prime Minister Karen Karapetayn told reporters in Armavir province, adding that the poverty rates, of course, are concerning. You will definitely see how we are going to manage and reduce this figure thanks to our entire activity since it is directed for that purpose, the PM said, Armenpress reports. According to the PM, the government activity report has a format like the governments of all over the world. All present in the same way to what extent the GDP, export, import and trade have increased. We will end this year with higher figures than predicted, PM Karapetayn said, stating that all these, however, dont solve all problems. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The delegation comprised of members of the National Assembly of Armenia Samvel Farmanyan and Suren Manukyan and led by the Deputy Speaker of the parliament, the Head of the Armenia-Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia Parliamentary Friendship Group Eduard Sharmazanov met with the Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, the Chair of the Committee on European Affairs Gediminas Kirkilas and the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Juozas Bernatonis. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan also attended the meeting. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, during the meeting the members of the delegation highly assessed the fact of condemning the Armenian Genocide by Lithuania and underlined that by now Lithuania is the only Baltic country that has recognized the Armenian Genocide. The delegation expressed gratitude to the Deputy Speaker for the organization of the exhibition dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide in Vilnius Genocide Museum by the support of the Lithuanian Parliament and Gediminas Kirkilas. In the course of the meeting the sides highlighted the continuous development of the Armenian-Lithuanian parliamentary relations and the cooperation of the delegations in the inter-parliamentary structures. The Deputy Speaker of the Armenian parliament Eduard Sharmazanov touched upon the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership signed on November 24, noting that Armenia would continue going on through democratic reforms and development. The continuity of the political dialogue with the EU is one of the important directions of the political agenda of the Republic of Armenia. Armenia is the only EEU country which has signed such an Agreement with the European Union. It gives an opportunity to be a bridge between the EU and EEU, Eduard Sharmazanov said. The sides also discussed issues concerning the regional problems of the South Caucasus. Mr Sharmazanov noted: Both Armenia and Artsakh are for the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the format of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the basis of well-known three principles. The support to those three principles in the statement of the Eastern Partnership Summit is very important: non-use of the force or threat, territorial integrity and exercise of equal rights and self-determination of peoples. The bellicose rhetoric permanently sounding from Azerbaijan is concerning and does not stem from the logic of the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Democracy is being built in Armenia and Artsakh, while authoritarianism flourishes in Azerbaijan. At the end of the meeting the Deputy Speaker of the parliament of Armenia Eduard Shramazanov invited Gediminas Kirkilas to Armenia in 2018. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Russia has planned to make investments in several fields of Armenias economy, reports Armenpress. Russian Trade Representative to Armenia Andrei Babko said in 2016 Russias investment in Armenia comprised more than 2 billion USD. In the future Russia also planned to make an investment in the Meghri free economic zone. Of course, this issue cannot quickly be solved since the Iranian market is quite unusual, and without observing it investments cannot be made. Its also necessary to understand what products are needed to Iran, he told reporters. According to Andrei Babko, the upgrading process of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant has already launched where Russia also has its investment. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. While on an official visit in Athens Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian on December 13 met with President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. The Greek President said he is happy to host the foreign minister of friendly Armenia and expressed hope that his visit will contribute to further strengthening the Armenia-Greece ties. The Armenian FM thanked for the reception and said his visit to Greece is symbolic in the context of the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. He conveyed the greetings and wishes of the Armenian President, as well as the invitation to visit Yerevan. The Greek President and the Armenian FM expressed satisfaction over the multilayer cooperation between the two countries, stating that the two brotherly peoples are linked with each other by centuries-old friendship and mutual sympathy. During the meeting the officials exchanged views on deepening the bilateral political dialogue and further intensifying the economic ties. In the context of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement the Armenian FM introduced the Armenia-EU expanding relations. FM Nalbandian also introduced the agenda and main topics of the Francophonie Summit which will be held in Yerevan in 2018. The Greek President attached importance to holding the Summit in Yerevan and wished success in its organizational works. The FM presented to the Greek President the joint efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries aimed at peacefully settling the Karabakh conflict. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir repeated his call for Turkey to release imprisoned journalists, the OSCE Office told Armenpress. I am deeply concerned about the aggravated life sentences demanded by the prosecution for several journalists, including Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazl Ilcak, the Representative said, referring to a court decision on 11 December to continue the detention of six defendants in the so-called coup attempt media trial. The journalists are accused of violating the Constitution and assisting in the preparations of the coup attempt of July 2016. Recognizing the serious security concerns faced by Turkey following the 2016 coup attempt, media freedom and freedom of expression are human rights that must be fully protected according to international law. The current state of emergency does not justify the unlimited restrictions on journalists. I urge Turkey, once again, to release all journalists imprisoned in the country, the Representative said. He also highlighted the fact that 20 journalists from various media outlets, including Abdullah Klc, Habip Guler and Yakup Cetin, have been in jail for over 500 days. They are accused of carrying out media activities on behalf of a terrorist organization. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel shows no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians and proves that the US cannot be an honest mediator in the Middle East peace process, RIA Novosti reports. The recent decision by the US administration made it clear that the US is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of the Zionists and has no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians. The US has never been an honest mediator and will never be, Rouhani said on Twitter. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandians statement in Greece on the Armenian-Turkish Protocols has been widely covered by Turkish media. The statement made headlines in numerous newspapers and online media. The Turkish Hurriyet quoted Armenian FM Nalbandians following statement: President of Armenia declared in September from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly that Armenia will declare the Protocols null and void since they continuously lacked any positive progress towards their implementation and we will enter the spring of 2018 without those Protocols. HaberTurk also quoted the same sentence, reminding that the Protocols shouldve been ratified by the parliaments of the two countries. Milliyet reportef that the Protocols were signed with Switzerlands mediation. Nalbandians statement was also quoted by numerous other agencies, such as Sputnik, Cumhurriyet, CNN Turk, Gazete Duvar, Bianet, Haberler and others. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian summed up the results of the bilateral meeting during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Greece Nikos Kotzias in Athens, the foreign ministry told Armenpress. The Armenian FMs speech runs as follows: Dear Nikos, Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, I would like to thank my dear friend and colleague Nikos Kotzias for the invitation and exceptional warm welcome. Armenia and Greece, our brotherly peoples are bound by the centuries old cordial relations, traditionally deep mutual sympathy, reciprocal support and solidarity. We meet frequently with Minister Kotzias in different international formats. Recently I hosted him in Yerevan and now I am glad to be in Athens to continue our discussions. Earlier today I had an honor to meet with the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and to exchange views on the Armenian-Greek relations. My visit started yesterday with the lecture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I would like to thank once again for the provided opportunity to share our approaches on the regional issues and some of the Armenian foreign policy priorities. At our meeting with my colleague we have reviewed the implementation of the agreements, reached during last years official visit of the Armenian President to Greece. As Minister Kotzias mentioned, we have discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral and multilateral agenda. We touched upon the ways of further deepening our political dialogue, strengthening economic cooperation, boosting bilateral trade, partnership in the areas of defense, education, science, culture, tourism and many other fields. We exchanged views on the potential of our economic relations that could be explored through the work of the intergovernmental commission and the organization of business forums. The possibilities of the engagement of the Greek companies in the free trade zones in Armenia, the use of the potential provided within the framework of EU-Armenia relations, prospects of development of cooperation between Greece and the Eurasian economic Union were among the issues discussed between us. We highlighted the solid legal framework between our two countries that could serve as a basis for the further enhancement of our ties. In this regard during our meeting in Yerevan we agreed with Minister Kotzias to create a special working group between the Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Greece to take stock of what has been done and explore new avenues. I am glad that this group has already been established and even hold its first meeting this October here in Athens headed by Secretary General of the Armenian Foreign Ministry and Greek deputy Foreign Minister. We also discussed in Yerevan with my colleague the possibilities of cooperation between sizable Armenian and Greek Diasporas. We continued exchange of views on this issue here today. I am glad that our two ministries are actively engaged in exploring the full potential of such ties. We attached an importance to promoting cooperation between our Parliaments. We believe that bilateral visits of parliamentary delegations could enhance dialogue between our parliaments, as well as strengthen cooperation in the framework of international parliamentary assemblies. Our talks were focused on the intensification of our interactions within the international organisations, notably the UN, the OSCE, Council of Europe and others. As you probably know, next year Armenia will host the summit of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which unites 84 countries, Greece among them. So, I presented to my colleague the preparations ahead of the Summit. In a few days Armenia will assume chairmanship of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation, so we have touched upon the upcoming BSEC Ministerial meeting in Kiev. Within the context of Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, we have exchanged views on prospects of development of cooperation between Armenia and the European Union. We also discussed the urgent regional and international issues. We touched upon the Cyprus issue. Minister Kotzias presented the recent developments with this regard. Armenia supports the Greek and Cyprus efforts in this regard. I briefed my colleague on the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process, the efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to advance the peaceful settlement of the issue. And of course we have an extensive exchange of views on a number of urgent regional and international issues. Dear Nikos, Thank you again for warm hospitality and fruitful discussions. Hardik Patel's disgruntled aide Dinesh Bambhania claimed the Patidar leader met Robert Vadra in Delhi. Hardik said the accusation is false. Hardik Patel reacts to Dinesh Bambhania's accusation that he met with Robert Vadra in Delhi (Photo: ANI/Twitter) By India Today Web Desk: What does Patidar leader Hardik Patel think of his disgruntled aide Dinesh Bambhania's claim that he met Robert Vadra? In an interview with ANI, Hardik brushed off the allegation, saying sarcastically that tomorrow, he would be accused of meeting disqualified Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and even underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. In addition to alleging that Hardik met Robert Vadra (who is Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law) Bambhania also accused Patel of "misleading" core members of his Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) about his "secret meeting" with Gandhi at a five-star hotel here in October. advertisement It was the PAAS that spearheaded the Patidar quota agitation - a key election issue in this year's Gujarat assembly poll. Patel should explain what transpired at these meetings with Gandhi and Vadra, Bambhania said. Now they are alleging I met Robert Vadra. All false.Tomorrow they can even claim I met Nawaz Sharif, then they will say I met Dawood Ibrahim: Hardik Patel #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/mbbW5uKhFX- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 "Despite being asked by PAAS leaders several times, Hardik never revealed what transpired in that meeting with Rahul Gandhi. Hardik even met Robert Vadra in Delhi. Yet, there is no explanation about it. Was there any secret deal with Vadra?" Bambhania told reporters here. Both the Congress and Patel had denied that he had a meeting with Gandhi at a five-star hotel near the city airport in October. On December 8, a day before the first phase of polling in Gujarat, Bambhania alleged that though the Congress Gujarat unit had not clarified how it would give reservations to Patidars, Patel was supporting the party as a result of some "fixing". Questioning Patel's open support to the Congress when the party's manifesto was not clear about how it would give reservations to Patidars under the OBC quota, Bambhania today asked, "Under what secret understanding is Hardik appealing to people to vote for the Congress?" "At his poll rallies, Hardik Patel openly says he does not like the Congress, but he asks people to vote for it. So what are the reasons that compel him to say so?" he asked. (Inputs from agencies) WATCH | Hardik Patel's poll talk over Gujarati platter: Modi, Shah speak lies, people will decide our fate --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The working visit of the delegation led by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, the Head of the Armenia-Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia Parliamentary Friendship Group Eduard Sharmazanov to Lithuania continues. The delegation is comprised of MPs Samvel Farmanyan and Suren Manukyan. On December 13, the parliamentary delegation met with the Speaker of the Seimas (parliament) of Lithuania Viktoras Pranckietis. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, the members of the parliament highlighted the development of the inter-parliamentary cooperation, and in this context the role and importance of the Friendship Groups functioning in the parliaments of the two countries. The level of the bilateral political dialogue of the last years and the progress recorded in the sphere of economic cooperation was positively assessed. The Armenian delegates emphasized the signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Agreement on November 24, noting that it could open a new page in the development of the Armenia-EU dialogue. We expect that Lithuania as the first state that has recognized the independence of Armenia in the world will be the first also to ratify as quick as possible and without artificial procrastination the Armenia -EU Agreement, Eduard Sharmazanov said. The Deputy Speaker of the Armenian parliament underlined with satisfaction the fact that Lithuania is the only country among the Baltic countries which has recognized the Armenian Genocide. He highly assessed the Lithuanian parliamentarians political and civil position in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Touching upon the process of the reforms going on in our country, the Head of the parliamentary delegation of Armenia noted that the development of democracy, the fight against corruption are the most important issues of the political agenda of Armenia, and in that aspect, with all international assessments Armenia and Azerbaijan are incompatible. Eduard Sharmazanov also referred to the Nagorno Karabakh problem, reaffirming the position of the Armenian side to solve the conflict exclusively through peaceful negotiations in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Any attempt of the military solution of the problem, bellicose rhetoric, as well as the existence of the black lists by Azerbaijan are inadmissible. They dont promote the establishment of peace in the region. The solution of the problem is impossible without the complete exercise of the right of the Artsakh people to self-determination. Artsakh has become independent from the USSR on the same legal basis, as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The citizens of Artsakh have the same right of building a state, as the citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Mr Sharmazanov said. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan also attended the meeting. YEREVAN, 13 DECEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 13 December, USD exchange rate down by 0.56 drams to 483.55 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.21 drams to 568.22 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 8.18 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.65 drams to 645.35 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 119.62 drams to 19291.64 drams. Silver price down by 1.14 drams to 245.32 drams. Platinum price down by 31.46 drams to 13727.55 drams. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to Iran Artashes Tumanyan met with Irans Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami on December 12, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia. At the beginning of the meeting Ambassador Tumanyan conveyed the warm greetings of Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan to Amir Hatami and expressed satisfaction with the current situation of Armenian-Iranian relations in the sphere of defense and security. Brigadier General Amir Hatami, highly assessing the current level of Armenian-Iranian relations, noted the strengthening relations with neighbors is one of the main directions of Irans foreign policy and those relations have only developed during the 26 years of Armenias independence. Presenting Armenias position on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Ambassador Tumanyan highly assessed Irans balanced stance aimed at the peaceful settlement of the conflict based on international right. In response, the Iranian Defense Minister noted that Iran leads a balanced policy to assist the conflict settlement and calls on the sides to continue peaceful talks on the settlement of the conflict. The interlocutors also referred to the situation in the Middle East, highlighting the necessity of the establishment of lasting peace in the region that stems from the interest of all the countries. Newly appointed military attache of Armenia to the IRI Colonel Artur Aznavuryan was also present at the meeting. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades has expressed the states pride for the contribution of the Armenian community in the political, social, and economic life of the island, ARMENPRESS was informed from Cyprus Mail. Anastasiades, who was addressing an event in honour of the Armenians of Cyprus, recalled that both peoples have fallen victim historically to the same aggressor, noting that they did not give up but fought and are continuing to fight for the great principle of justice in order to prevail on the international scene. This is why Cyprus was one of the first European countries to recognise the Armenian genocide and we have jointly condemned the perpetrators of this crime, he said. Referring to the Armenian community in Cyprus, he said that as a state, we will always show off proudly the fact that your small community manages with its vigour to be present in all aspects of our countrys life political, social and economic. Anastasiades also spoke of his vision for a free and reunified Cyprus, which will be inhabited in peace and prosperity by all Cypriot citizens: Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latins. We aim to put an end to the occupation and we insist on working towards a just, viable and functional solution, which will not allow for a dependence on any third country, he stressed. To that extent, he referred to the efforts over the summer in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem. It is true that the outcome disappointed us but there was no other alternative, he pointed out. According to Anastasiades, Turkeys persistence in retaining anachronistic treaty of guarantee, intervention rights and a presence of Turkish troops did not allow for anything other than a rejection of these positions. He said that he has conveyed a message to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that he is ready to return to the negotiating table on the internal aspects of the problem. On the international aspect, he said he has made it clear to the UN SG, our European partners and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council that a new conference on Cyprus should be well prepared so that it does not lead to disappointment. What we seek is mutual respect and political will from both our Turkish Cypriot compatriots and Ankara, because human rights and security are not negotiable, he stressed. His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, who was present at the event, bestowed Prince of Cilicia medal on the President of Cyprus. Receiving the medallion, President Anastasiades expressed his gratitude to His Holiness and in his speech he mentioned that Cypriot Armenians are dedicated citizens of Cyprus. Addressing the audience of around 500 guests, including the speaker, ministers, ambassadors, MPs, clergy, His Holiness talked about the role that Cyprus has played in the region throughout history. He stated that close relationship was established between Armenians and Cyprus since the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. His Holiness condemned the use of power to oppress people and legitimize the occupation. YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Georgia Ruben Sadoyan met on December 12 with the Doyn of the diplomatic corps accredited to Georgia, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Georgia Tomas Pernicky, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Armenian Embassy in Georgia. The Doyen congratulated Ambassador Sadoyan on his appointment to the post and wished him fruitful work. Ambassador Sadoyan, in turn, thanked the doyen for the reception and expressed the hope that during his activity as ambassador, close cooperation will be established between them. The sides exchanged views on the plans and initiatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Georgia, as well as on bilateral Armenian-Czech relations. MONTREALGay adult studio Icon Male breaks up the chilly month of December with Boys of Summer, now available on DVD. The movie is distributed through parent company Mile High Media. GayVN Award-nominated filmmaker Nica Noelle weaves an erotic tale of bad boys and summer passions in Boys of Summer, starring Armond Rizzo, Brendan Patrick, Roman Todd, Max Sargent and Troy Accola. To view box art and product information for Boys of Summer, click here. Nica is at her best, creating a compelling gay drama that delves into the intense emotions and attraction between passionate young men in Boys of Summer, said Mile High Media Vice President Jon Blitt. Fans of good-looking men exploring their sexuality and pushing boundaries will find all that and more in this new feature from Icon Male. Boys of Summer begins when hot bad boy Roman Todd gets room and board in a beautiful house in exchange for "servicing" his older landlord, Max Sargent. But when Max goes away on a business trip Roman is free to have bearded lover Brendan Patrick over for some sexy summer fun. When they meet gorgeous teens Troy Accola and Armond Rizzo at the lake, the four start to bondespecially hairy Brendan and power bottom Armond. Jealous twink Troy catches on to the sexual tension and tempers flare as romance explodes into rage. The latest Icon Male trailers can be seen on IconMale.com. For Icon Male sales and distribution, email [email protected] . For news and BTS previews, follow Icon Male on Twitter. WASHINGTON, D.C.A bill that advocates say is aimed at curtailing online sex trafficking passed a major hurdle in Congress on Tuesday, when the legislation known as the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 passed the House Judiciary Committeeand is now headed to a full vote in the House of Representatives. But opponents of the bill say it is too broad, and rather than address sex trafficking directly, instead imposes a widespread ban against online advertising for prostitution services, a move that could actually push independent sex workers into the clutches of the very traffickers that the bill claims to target. Digital advertising has revolutionized the sex trade, making it much more possible for women to work without the aid of abusive or controlling pimps; to screen clients before seeing them; and to generally take more control over their bodies, businesses, and personal safety, wrote Elizabeth Nolan Brown of the libertarian magazine Reason on Tuesday. Its also been hugely useful to law enforcement and families for finding victims of exploitation, Brown continued. Ann Wagner, a Missouri House Republican who co-sponsored the bill, described FOSTA as a victims first bill that will shut down the websites that profit from modern-day sex slavery, send the people who operate them to jail, and ensure that vulnerable people are never sold online. The new bill is a modified version of a previous bill that passed the House earlier this year, known as SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which raised the ire of big technology companies including Google and Facebook by making them liable for ads published on their massive platforms that facilitate sex trafficking, if those sites had knowledge of the advertising content. That bill has come under heavy fire from the tech companies, as well as online freedom advocates, who say that the bill actually discouraged the tech companies from policing their own platformsbecause by looking for illegal ads, they could acquire knowledge that they exist and as a result, become criminally responsible for sex trafficking. The new FOSTA bill changes the knowledge requirement. Under the new bill, tech companies must actually intend to promote prostitution by publishing the ads. But the new approach fails to distinguish between prostitution and sex trafficking. Erasing that distinction, according to Brown, would cause authorities to stop distinguishing between forced or underage prostitution and sex that free adults consent to have. In other words, the new bill targets not merely forced sex slavery, but any form of prostitution at all. The new bill is supported, according to Wagner, by two Christian non-profit groups, the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and the right-wing Freedom Coalition. Staceys Bakery has raised 500 for the Royal British Legion by selling poppy cupcakes. Cake sales through its shops in Ilkeston, Heanor and Eastwood accounted for 350, while 150 was from donations. The cupcakes were created to raise funds for the armed forces through the annual Poppy Appeal, and were sold for 1 each in the run-up to Remembrance Day on 12 November. We were delighted to support such a great cause and hope to continue to raise funds for the legion in the future by getting involved with its work in the town, said Staceys Bakery owner David Stacey. The funds were presented to Royal British Legion community fundraiser Lily Clements, who said the charity was grateful to Staceys Bakery. Their donation will help support todays armed forces community through hardships, injury and bereavements, said Clements. The work of the legion is as relevant and vital today as it was in the aftermath of the First World War when the charity was founded. Staceys Bakery recently announced it will supply a variety of its baked goods to restaurant chain Georges Kitchen. Warburtons has changed the hashtag used on a celebrity-backed competition after realising it is shared by a subculture known as furries. Britains biggest bread brand used the #crumpetcreations hashtag as part of a competition in which customers upload photos of Christmassy crumpets to Instagram for the chance to win VIP tickets to the Christmasaurus Live Show the stage adaptation of a book by McFlys Tom Fletcher. However, Crumpet Creations is also the name of a company in Phoenix, Arizona, that makes costumes for people involved in furry fandom, and which tags its work on Instagram using the same hashtag. Furries is a subculture in which people dress up in elaborate costumes as animal characters including dogs, cats, wolves and even goats with human personalities. They can be seen at comic book conventions, as well as specialised furry events. As a result, Instagram users viewing #crumpetcreations can see a mixture of crumpets topped with salmon, poached eggs and fruit, alongside a selection of people dressed up as furries. A Warburtons spokesperson told British Baker the hashtag has now been changed to #warburtonschristmascrumpets and that the competition is still on. The world of social media is a wonderful and varied place, but this shows just how easy it is to get it wrong! We will be doing a bit more research next time, said the bakery. Warburtons previously partnered with Tom Fletcher for the launch of The Christmasaurus last year, creating a giant dinosaur out of 2,500 crumpets which was on display at the Natural History Museum. 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. A plea by academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar and two of the accused facing trial has alleged that the amendments to the law relating to sexual offences is being abused in practice. By India Today Web Desk, Press Trust of India: On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court sought to know the Centre's stand on a plea seeking to strike down the amendments made in the rape law after December 16 (Delhi Nirbhaya case) gangrape incident in the national capital. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar gave six weeks time to the Ministry of Law and Justice to file an affidavit. advertisement It fixed the public interest litigation (PIL) for further hearing on April 23 next year. The law relating to sexual offences is being abused in practice, a plea by academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar and two of the accused facing trial alleges. They have challenged the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, in which a penal provision minimum of seven years of jail term for a rape convict was included and the courts discretion to award less than that was taken away. It cited data of rape cases given by the Delhi Commission for Women after the amendment in 2013 and alleged that the law has been misused widely. The petitioners said the law had not been judiciously crafted and was misused widely and in most cases, complaints were lodged to take revenge. The PIL sought striking down of some of the provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 which provides amendments to the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedure on laws related to sexual offences. The plea urged the court to summon the records from the National Crimes Records Bureau, Tihar Jail and the Centre to assess the profiling features of rape prosecution post the 2013 amendments. It sought a direction to the authorities to reconsider the case in which a sentence of imprisonment has been passed post the amendments. The gangrape of a 23-year-old woman on December 16, 2012 had led to a countrywide agitation. Following the protests, a committee under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge was constituted to suggest amendments to the criminal law to sternly deal with sexual assault cases. (With PTI inputs) --- ENDS --- Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)I am providing this supplemental consolidated report, prepared by my Administration and consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148), as part of my efforts to keep the Congress informed about deployments of United States Armed Forces equipped for combat.In furtherance of counterterrorism efforts, the United States continues to work with partners around the globe, with a particular focus on the U.S. Central and Africa Commands' areas of responsibility. In this context, the United States has deployed United States combat-equipped forces to conduct counterterrorism operations and to advise, assist, and accompany security forces of select foreign partners on counterterrorism operations. Specific information about counterterrorism deployments to select countries is provided below, and a classified annex to this report provides further information.Military Operations against al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and Associated Forces and in Support of Related United States Counterterrorism ObjectivesSince October 7, 2001, United States Armed Forces, including Special Operations Forces, have conducted counterterrorism combat operations against al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and associated forces. Since August 2014, these operations have targeted the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which was formerly known as al-Qa'ida in Iraq. In support of these and other overseas operations, the United States has deployed combatequipped forces to several locations in the U.S. Central, European, Africa, Southern, and Pacific Commands' areas of responsibility. Such operations and deployments have been reported previously, consistent with Public Law 107-40, Public Law 107-243, the War Powers Resolution, and other statutes. These ongoing operations, which the United States has carried out with the assistance of numerous international partners, have been successful in significantly degrading ISIS capabilities in Syria and Iraq. If necessary, in response to terrorist threats, I will direct additional measures to protect the citizens and interests of the United States. It is not possible to know at this time the precise scope or duration of the deployments of United States Armed Forces that are or will be necessary to counter terrorist threats to the United States.Afghanistan. Consistent with the strategy I announced publicly on August 21, 2017, United States forces remain in Afghanistan for the purposes of stopping the reemergence of safe havens that enable terrorists to threaten the United States, supporting the Afghan government and the Afghan military as they confront the Taliban in the field, and creating conditions to support a political process to achieve a lasting peace. United States forces in Afghanistan are training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces; conducting and supporting counterterrorism operations against al-Qa'ida and against ISIS; and taking appropriate measures against those who provide direct support to al-Qa'ida, threaten United States and coalition forces, or threaten the viability of the Afghan government or the ability of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces to achieve campaign success. The United States remains in an armed conflict, including in Afghanistan and against the Taliban, and active hostilities remain ongoing.Iraq and Syria. As part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS, United States Armed Forces are conducting a systematic campaign of airstrikes and other necessary operations against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. United States Armed Forces are also conducting airstrikes and other necessary operations against al-Qa'ida in Syria. United States Armed Forces are also deployed to Syria to conduct operations against ISIS with indigenous ground forces. In Iraq, United States Armed Forces are advising and coordinating with Iraqi forces and providing training, equipment, communications support, intelligence support, and other support to select elements of the Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Actions in Iraq are being undertaken in coordination with the Government of Iraq, and in conjunction with coalition partners.Since the last periodic update report, United States Armed Forces participating in the Defeat-ISIS campaign in Syria have undertaken a limited number of strikes against Syrian government and pro-Syrian government forces. These strikes were lawful measures to counter immediate threats to United States and partner forces engaged in that campaign.Yemen. A small number of United States military personnel are deployed to Yemen to conduct operations against al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS. The United States military continues to work closely with the Government of Yemen and regional partner forces to dismantle and ultimately eliminate the terrorist threat posed by those groups. Since the last periodic update report, United States forces have conducted a number of airstrikes against AQAP operatives and facilities in Yemen, and supported the United Arab Emirates- and Yemen-led operations to clear AQAP from Shabwah Governorate. In October, United States forces also conducted airstrikes against ISIS targets in Yemen for the first time. United States forces, in a non-combat role, have also continued to provide logistics and other support to regional forces combatting the Houthi insurgency in Yemen.Jordan. At the request of the Government of Jordan, approximately 2,300 United States military personnel are deployed to Jordan to support Defeat-ISIS operations, to enhance Jordan's security, and to promote regional stability.Lebanon. At the request of the Government of Lebanon, approximately 100 United States military personnel are deployed to Lebanon to enhance the government's counterterrorism capabilities and to support the Defeat-ISIS operations of Lebanese security forces.Turkey. United States forces, including strike and combatsupport aircraft and associated United States military personnel, remain deployed to Turkey, at the Turkish government's request, to support Defeat-ISIS operations and to enhance Turkey's security.East Africa Region. In Somalia, United States forces continue to counter the terrorist threat posed by ISIS and al-Shabaab, an associated force of al-Qa'ida. Since the last periodic report, United States forces have conducted a limited number of airstrikes against al-Shabaab as well as ISIS. United States forces also advise, assist, and accompany regional forces, including Somali and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, during counterterrorism operations. Additional United States forces are deployed to Kenya to support counterterrorism operations in East Africa. United States forces continue to partner with the Government of Djibouti, which has permitted use of Djiboutian territory for basing of United States forces. United States military personnel remain deployed to Djibouti, including for purposes of posturing for counterterrorism and counter-piracy operations in the vicinity of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and to provide contingency support for embassy security augmentation in East Africa, as required.Libya. Since the last periodic update report, United States forces have conducted a number of airstrikes against ISIS terrorists and their camps in Libya. These airstrikes were conducted in coordination with Libya's Government of National Accord.Lake Chad Basin and Sahel Region. United States military personnel in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel Region continue to conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations and to provide support to African and European partners conducting counterterrorism operations in the region, including by advising, assisting, and accompanying these partner forces. On October 4, 2017, an element assessed to be part of ISIS attacked United States and Nigerien forces in Niger. The attack resulted in the deaths of four United States service members. Approximately 800 United States military personnel remain deployed to Niger. United States military personnel are also deployed to Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria to support counterterrorism operations.Cuba. United States forces continue to conduct humane and secure detention operations for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under authority provided by the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40), as informed by the law of war. There are 41 such detainees as of the date of this report.Philippines. United States forces deployed to the Philippines are providing support to the counterterrorism operations of the armed forces of the Philippines.Approximately 400 United States military personnel are assigned to or supporting the United States contingent of the Multinational Force and Observers, which have been present in Egypt since 1981.United States AND NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION OPERATIONS IN KOSOVOThe United States continues to contribute forces to the Kosovo Force (KFOR), led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in cooperation with local authorities, bilateral partners, and international institutions, to deter renewed hostilities in Kosovo. Approximately 640 United States military personnel are among KFOR's approximately 4,150 personnel.I have directed the participation of United States Armed Forces in all of the above-described operations pursuant to my constitutional and statutory authority as Commander in Chief and as Chief Executive (including the authority to implement Public Law 107-40, Public Law 107-243, and other statutes), as well as my constitutional and statutory authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States. Officials of my Administration and I communicate regularly with congressional leadership and other Members of Congress with regard to these deployments, and we will continue to do so.Sincerely,DONALD J. TRUMPWhite House Now that the Russia Collusion scandal has most completely boomeranged on core Democrats, the Democrat Media, and the Deep State, who have promoted this scandal for over one year: Should congress and Jeff Sessions's DOJ investigate the DNC, the Clintons, and, notably, the FBI /Obama DOJ with the same fervor that they have hounded all things connected to Candidate, then President Donald Trump? Yes, it is a necessity that we discover all that is corrupt, and stains the government of this land. No, investigate only everything connected to Donald Trump, as a candidate and then president. I generally don't pay attention to most things except what is normally pop culture. 165 total vote(s) What's your Opinion? Kirsten Gillibrand, and other unprincipled core Democrats, claim that the President made a sexist comment when he tweeted how she 'would do anything for campaign dollars.' The tweet by Mr. Trump was his band of pushback when Ms. Gillibrand called for the President to resign due to accusations charged, just weeks before his 2016 election, by a collected group of women who say that he harassed them at sometime in the distant past.The larger question in this regard is: Why are unprincipled Democrats always thinking about sex? Well, sex and Race ... ugh, and Open Borders, and the weather, Abortion on Demand, Guns Only for the Wealthy ... Oh, and, the United States as a post constitutional 'democracy' ... they really think about quite often.Everyone, with a full working brain, knows that Kirsten Gillibrand, as an unprincipled Democrat, is first and foremost a hypocrite , and she will use whatever means necessary to achieve whatever end desired.Remember, the president is from New York, and he knows New York's Junior Senator quite well; even admits slipping her campaign funds in the past to get stuff done, and simply spoke to what he knows. Many of us like that about this President; he tells it straight, and he gets stuff done.Also remember, Ms. Gillibrand called for Democrat Senator Al Franken to resign , for his inappropriate behavior, without the benefit of "due process". When Ms. Gillibrand was anointed to take Hillary Clinton's senate seat, she stuck to Bill and Hillary like glue during the campaign . Only in the last few weeks, more than two decades since Bill Clinton's: numerous affairs while in public office, sexual harassment situations with subordinates, and allegations of rape, does she denounce Bill (and Hillary) for his (her) sexist behavior; behavior that she and other Democrats not only tolerated then, but also defended the Clintons when they were head of the Democrat party.Understanding this accurate backstory, President Trump was not accusing the unprincipled Senator of being a sexual whore, but, contextually, he was tacitly accusing her of being a political whore, which she obviously is.It is so sad, but quite understandable considering their collective intellect, that core Democrats, and the Democrat Media can not tell the difference. The HSUS and HSI are succeeding in moving food companies to shun the worst factory farmed products and to incorporate more plant-based foods into their offerings, thereby giving consumers real-world options to act on their principles, Photo by iStockphoto 436 shares In 2017, The HSUS continued its campaign to bring about major transformational change in the food and agriculture sector, specifically by rolling out its Nine Billion Lives campaign to take out so much of the pain and misery from the conventional means of raising and killing broiler chickens (those raised for meat). Meanwhile, weve been unrelenting in our efforts to eliminate extreme confinement practices, by convincing companies on the international stage to implement purchasing practices that disassociate them from farms that rely on gestation crates and battery cages. In the broadest sense, we are succeeding in moving food companies to shun the worst factory farmed products and to incorporate more plant-based foods into their offerings, thereby giving consumers real-world options to act on their principles. Corporate wins for chickens After launching our Nine Billion Lives campaign calling for a set of minimum standards for the care of broiler chickens more than 70 companies have agreed to phase in purchasing practices consistent with the terms set forth. Within the last 12 months, weve helped convince Burger King, Sonic, Jack in the Box, Subway, and dozens of other companies to announce comprehensive reforms for their chicken supply chains. These include mandates that suppliers switch to healthier breeds of chickens, give the animals more room and provide enrichments that allow them to engage in their natural behaviors, and transition to better and more modern slaughter systems. McDonalds agreed to one of the four standards controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) at slaughter that phases out the use of inhumane shackling of conscious birds. But the company has not embraced the other tenets of a comprehensive broiler welfare policy. As 2018 approaches, a major priority will be urging McDonalds to join so many other players in the food industry to improve the lives of broiler birds. McDonalds played a pivotal role in campaigns to phase out gestation crates and laying hen confinement, but its lagging on the issue of chickens raised for meat, and this is the moment for the company to show leadership on the broad set of practices that connect to its vast supply chain. Perdue announces welfare reforms for broiler hens, while Tyson lags We made a major announcement with Perdue (the nations fourth-largest chicken producer) that placed the company as the leader on chicken welfare within the large-scale poultry industry. Perdue has provided updates on its progress toward producing healthier breeds of chickens and providing them with more space, enrichments, natural light, and a shift to CAS for slaughter. The company also joined The HSUS in calling for the implementation of new organic standards that would provide higher welfare for tens of millions of animals. Weve also started our 12th Agriculture Advisory Council, in Alabama. Many of the farmers there are contract growers who feel that they are bound up in a fundamentally inhumane and anti-competitive production system. Weve joined together to make farming a fairer enterprise for farmers and a more humane system for the animals. So many of these farmers are ready to embrace a new future for the treatment of animals, but the major chicken companies, including Tyson Foods, have to get on board for that to happen. Global wins Our Humane Society International team worked with corporations around the world to improve conditions for egg laying hens, from Brazil to Mexico and Singapore. The first Asian, Chilean, and Colombian food companies, and dozens of others around the globe, adopted cage-free egg policies after working with HSI. Among those who committed to sourcing 100 percent cage-free eggs this year are the Lo & Behold Group, the first Singaporean hospitality company to announce a cage-free egg policy, Melting Cook, a popular restaurant group in Chile, and G&N, a major Chilean restaurant operator, with more than 250 restaurants in the country. HSI also garnered the first major cage-free egg victories in Colombia. Major Colombian companies, including Hoteles ESTELAR, the countrys leading hotel chain, Pan Pa Ya!, one of the leading restaurant and coffee shop chains, and IMC Colombia, a leading restaurant and food service company, partnered with HSI to announce cage-free egg policies. We continued to drive the transition to cage-free eggs in Mexico and Brazil. Taco Holding, Mexicos second largest restaurant operator with more than 550 restaurants across the country, announced with HSI that it will go 100 percent cage-free. Seventeen major Brazilian food companies, including JBS, Kraft Heinz, Bunge, Casa do Pao de Queijo, and Sapore also announced cage-free egg policies. HSI also worked with major multinational companies, including Nestle and Kraft Heinz, two of the worlds largest food manufacturers, to announce global cage-free egg policies. In Brazil, the fourth largest pig processor, Frimesa, committed to eliminating gestation crates, joining the countrys top three producers that have made similar commitments. Legal wins In September, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling reinstating Californias law banning the sale of foie grasa fattened bird liver product made by force-feeding birds. The court rejected foie gras producers contentions that the California law, which is focused on the way the birds are treated on the farm, was preempted by federal food safety and meat inspection laws. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by several state attorneys general and governors, including former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, seeking to overturn Californias landmark egg sales law, AB 1437, which requires eggs sold in the state come from hens not subjected to cruel confinement practices. This was the latest in a long string of failed attempts by Big Ag and its allies to overturn AB 1437 and Proposition 2, a ballot initiative which mandates that laying hens, breeding sows, and veal calves must have room to stand up, lie down, turn around freely, and extend their limbs. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has announced hes ramping up another legal challenge the California law, but he and the other state attorneys general who have joined him have no egg producers lined up to join them. Business-minded and forward-looking egg producers recognize that there is no future in cage confinement systems, with more than 300 retailers, including Walmart and McDonalds, agreeing to phase in the exclusive use of cage-free eggs These politicians appear to be searching for campaign contributions from the larger agribusiness sector that has a knee-jerk opposition to animal welfare reforms, even as so many rank-and-file farmers take intentional steps to move toward more humane production systems. Whats more, we believe its the right of every state, including California, to adopt policies that eliminate cruel products from their marketplaces and ensure food safety and the health and well-being of their citizens. In April, the D.C. Circuit vacated a 2008 Bush-era EPA regulation exempting industrialized animal agriculture facilities, called CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) from their legal obligations to report releases of harmful air emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. In January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made final its Organic Livestock and Poultry Practice rule, enshrining into federal law for the first time strong animal welfare standards in agriculture. The new rule covers a whole array of housing, husbandry, and management topics, including the prohibition of certain painful practices, like tail docking of pigs and cattle and debeaking of birds. Importantly, the rule sets minimum indoor and outdoor space requirements for egg-laying chickens, and requires that producers provide a sufficient number of exits and outdoor enrichment to entice birds to go outside on a daily basis. It also specifies that covered porches and similar structures do not qualify as outdoor space. While existing organic poultry operations have five years to come into compliance with outdoor access requirements for birds, the minimums for indoor space and all other welfare standards in the proposed rule will come into effect one year after the rule becomes effective. Implementation of the rule, which was expected to go into effect on March 20 this year, has been pushed back three times already, and the new date is May 2018. Well be working hard with the USDA and with Congress to see this family-farmer-friendly rule is implemented, as a way to promote farm animal protection and to give family farmers more opportunities to stay in business and to stay on the farm. Taking on factory farming lobbyistsand winning In West Virginia, we helped stop a Right to Farm constitutional amendment that would have permanently barred meaningful legislative reforms for chickens, cows, and pigs. We worked with local allies to thwart a prosperity district bill in Oklahoma that would have exempted large swaths of the state from anti-cruelty protections. We successfully fought back a whistleblower suppression bill in Maine, an effort to establish a pro-factory-farming commission in California, and multiple pro-factory-farming bills in Missouri. Weve launched a ballot initiative in California that would ban the cage confinement of laying hens, mother pigs, and veal calves in cages and ensure that eggs and meat sold in the state come from operations that meet this standard. Massachusetts voters approved a similar measure in 2016 with a 78 percent yes vote. Food service industry goes plant-forward In 2017, we announced far-reaching partnerships concerning plant-based meals with Compass Group and Aramarktwo of the largest food service corporations in the world. Combined, they manage dining operations at tens of thousands of U.S. colleges, universities, K-12 schools, hospitals, and other institutions. Through this partnership, our team is training their culinary leaders on vegan cooking and baking, and helping them to shift their menus from being meat-centered to being plant-focused. Our culinary professionals are in the field daily training food service professionals on how to create delicious and affordable plant-based meals. This year alone, weve conducted nearly 100 plant-based culinary trainings, teaching more than 1,700 professionals. Weve partnered with our corporate contacts to urge them to offer plant-based options at their restaurants. We worked with TGI Fridays to place on its menus the Beyond Burger a remarkable plant-based burger that has the qualities and texture of a real hamburger. In our work for farm animals, we are working to throw the curtain back on archaic and cruel practices, to drive innovation in production and in developing healthier, better-tasting foods, to stir the conscience of caring people, and to build bridges talking with the biggest production companies in agriculture, with all of the major food retailers in the United States, with politicians of both parties, with chefs and celebrities, with scientists and nutritionist, and with family farmers and others working in agriculture. Ultimately, we need this entire cast of players to transform the food system, to make it more humane and sustainable, for the health of the animals, the planet, the consumers, and rural communities. Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of many things sexually assaulting girls, racism, sexism, and antisemitism. On that last point, earlier this month Moore said George Soros, who is Jewish, is headed for hell because he doesn't worship the right deity: "He's still going to the same place that people who don't recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going. And that's not a good place." But his wife, Kayla, wants you to know that they love Jewish people. They have Jewish friends, so many Jewish friends. Here are her comments at a rally: Fake news would tell you that we don't care for Jews. I tell you all this because I've seen it all, so I just want to set the record straight while they're here. One of our attorneys is a Jew. We have very close friends that are Jewish and rabbis, and we also fellowship with them. She didn't say whether or not her many, many dear Jewish friends will go to hell because they made the mistake of sticking with Judaism, though. [via Vox] Video taken during a Southwest Airlines flight Saturday shows a woman screaming and making threats toward passengers' lives. The airline said the woman was found smoking in the plane's lavatory after tampering with the smoke detector, according to the Washington Post. Accused of subsequently pulling out an oxygen mask, the woman can be seen and heard demanding the plane be stopped or else she would kill all passengers and crew. "I swear, if you don't fing land, I will fing kill everybody on this fing plane," the woman says to a flight attendant. More chaos ensued. The crew eventually complied and landed in Sacramento, where deputies were waiting on the ground to make their arrest. A dozen Michigan cops from Grand Rapids broke into a family home and rushed an 11 year old black girl, pointing guns at her and cuffing her while her terrified mother begged them not to shoot her. The police were looking for the girl's aunt, a 40 year old white woman, accused of stabbing her sister. Grand Rapids police will not comment on why 12 armed adult police officers drew their guns and pointed them at a small, terrified child with brown skin when they'd come looking for a 40 year old woman with white skin. One note: kudos to the mother. If it had been me watching armed men threaten to shoot my child before my eyes, I believe there is a real chance I'd have taken leave of my senses and done something that would have escalated the situation. Not because I don't understand how unwise that would be, but because even trying to imagine such a thing makes me see red mist. Honestie's mother, Whitney Hodges, said she tried to explain to the police that Honestie had done nothing wrong. "The whole time they are telling her to come down, I'm telling them she's 11 years old, that's my daughter, don't cuff her," Hodges told WOOD-TV. >[? "It made me feel scared and it made me feel like I did something wrong," Honestie said. Michigan Police Won't Explain Why They Arrested an 11-Year-Old Girl at Gunpoint [Liz Posner/Alternet] (via Naked Capitalism) A concerned UK citizen called an ambulance from their car after spotting a person covered in snow, sitting stone still on a bench in the middle of a park. The ambulance rushed to the scene, only to find that the "person" was sitting stone still for a reason she was actually a statue. Paramedic Katie Tudor explained the mixup in a tweet: Next, call from a member of the public who was concerned that there was someone sat on a bench, not moving and covered in snow! Luckily, on our arrival, it turned out to be a statue! ???? pic.twitter.com/mIBHmse4DF According to Mashable: "Somebody in their car spotted who they thought was a person covered in snow and called us," a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman told ITV news. "An ambulance arrived straight away and our crew was there for exactly minute and one second." "The woman who called us had good intentions," he continued, "but it's unfortunate that she didn't go over to check first that it wasn't a statue." The statue is actually called "The Lady in the Park" and according to Brampton Park's website she was erected to commemorate "all the women in Newcastle-under-Lyme who lost husbands, sons and friends in the First World War and subsequent conflicts." The American Legislative Exchange Council is a big-business-backed think tank whose funders run the gamut from oil companies to Tesla motors; they specialize in drafting insane, racist, voter-suppressing laws and getting them enacted at the state level, primarily by Republican state governments. At ALEC's latest States & Nation Policy Summit, they voted in favor of a motion to create model legislation providing for prison sentences for protesters who oppose oil pipelines. ALEC characterizes itself as libertarian, in favor of individual freedom, and opposed to big government. The ALEC model bill combines the two pieces of Oklahoma legislation by breaking them up into separate sections, one for criminal penalties and another for civil penalties. Oklahoma's HB 1123 calls for citizens to receive a felony sentencing, $100,000 fine, and/or 10 years in prison if their actions "willfully damage, destroy, vandalize, deface, or tamper with equipment in a critical infrastructure facility." The ALEC model bill, by comparison, calls for those who "willfully trespass or enter property containing a critical infrastructure facility without permission by the owner of the property or lawful occupant thereof shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than {dollar figure}, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of {length of time}, or by both such fine and imprisonment." ALEC, Corporate-Funded Bill Mill, Considers Model State Bill Cracking Down on Pipeline Protesters [Steve Horn/Desmogblog] (via Naked Capitalism) (Image: Ron Paul Institute For Peace and Prosperity) Yesterday, before Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican child predator Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate election, we were entertained by an idiot spokesperson for Moore on CNN. Ted Crockett, said spokesperson, was talking to Jake Tapper, trying to defend Moore's view that Muslims shouldn't be allowed to serve in congress. When Tapper asked why Muslims should't be able to serve, Crockett said, "Because you have to swear on the Bible. You have to swear on a Bible to be an elected official in the United States of America. He alleges that a Muslim cannot do that, ethically, swearing on the Bible." "You don't actually have to swear on a Christian Bible," Tapper said. "You can swear on anything, really. I don't know if you knew that." "Oh no, I swore on the Bible. I've done it three times," Crockett said, as if because he chose to swear on the Bible, swearing on the Bible is the law. Tapper patiently explained to Crockett, "I'm sure you have. I'm sure you've picked up a Bible, but the law is not that you have to swear on a Christian Bible. That is not the law." At this point Crockett was so befuddled he just stared blankly, mouth agape, for much too long of a time on live TV. The dead air was almost as dead as the look on his face. Finally Tapper broke the silence. "You didn't know that?" Crockett still stared blankly, before sputtering, "I don't know. I know that Donald Trump did it when we made him president." "Because he's a Christian and he picked it," Tapper said, and then quickly ended the interview. According to The Washington Post: By PTI: (Eds: With additional details) New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today posted for hearing tomorrow former JD(U) president Sharad Yadavs plea seeking immediate setting aside of his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha. Justice Vibhu Bakhru said he would take up the issue tomorrow as he wanted to go through the file in which the Rajya Sabha chairmans order has been challenged. advertisement Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said the matter needed to be heard urgently on the ground that the Winter Session of Parliament is to begin on Friday and he will not be able to participate in it if the order is not suspended. Sibal, however, agreed with the courts view and said he will appear tomorrow. The matter was mentioned today for urgent hearing before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, which had allowed it. Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for Yadav, had submitted before the court that he wanted urgent listing of the matter so that an interim stay can be passed. The counsel for the leader of JD(U) in the House, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, opposed its urgent listing. Yadav, in his plea, has submitted that he was not given a chance by the Rajya Sabha chairman before the order was passed against him and his party colleague and MP, Ali Anwar, on December 4. He has sought interim stay of the decision of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after Janata Dal(U) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July this year. While disqualifying Yadav and Anwar, the chairman had agreed with the JD(U)s contention that the two senior leaders had "voluntarily given up" their membership by defying the partys directives and attending events of opposition parties. The JD(U) had sought their disqualification on the grounds that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives. Yadav was elected to the House last year and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwars term was to expire early next year. Singh had moved the Rajya Sabha Chairman praying for Yadavs disqualification. Acting on it, Naidu disqualified him as a member of the Rajya Sabha under the Anti-Defection Act. advertisement The plea said the order has proceeded to disqualify him in an "extremely casual and callous way". "The petitioner is the Member of the Upper House of the Parliament, i.e. Rajya Sabha. His membership ought not to have been dealt with in a manner as has been done in the present case," the plea alleged. PTI PPS SKV HMP ARC --- ENDS --- In Terrorism before and after 9/11 a more dangerous world? , researchers from the US Department of Defense and the RAND Corporation used data from the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program to produce a quantitative look at the long-term trends in terrorism: the short upshot is, terrorism is up globally because of massive increases in places where US troops have been sent as occupiers, presenting a target-rich environment for terrorists but when you take those places out of the data, terrorism is way, way down worldwide. What are we to make of these empirical patterns and what are the policy implications? First, it is possible that post-9/11 counterterrorism efforts have contributed to reducing incidents of non-insurgency terror. In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States and other countries became more diligent in undertaking preventive measures against terrorists, frustrating their plans and degrading their organizations. The data indicate that such labors may have paid dividends in the form of fewer attacks outside of conflict zones, though we are unable to conclusively say this. Moreover, we do not have information on the extent to which counterterrorism efforts have foiled terror plots, which could mean these measures are having an even greater effect than the data show. Additionally, large deployments of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan also likely provided a richer target environment for jihadists. Those who wanted to kill crusaders could attempt to do so without having to plan and execute much more difficult external operations. This is one of several possible ways in which Western intervention in conflict zones may be linked to higher numbers of terror incidents in those areas. Second, it is important to point out that the decline in terrorism we describe could be reversed in the next several years. For instance, as foreign fighters return from current warzones such as Iraq and Syria to their countries of origin, attacks may start taking place elsewhere. Foreign fighters may leverage the training and experience they garnered in combat zones to carry out future attacks in their home countries. They may also gain access to Western states and inspire other attackers. Third, and most importantly, the evidence raises difficult questions about the efficacy of the U.S. approach to the war on terror in the future. Is the United States willing to maintain a sustained presence in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and parts of Africa to confront a problem that is increasingly regional and local? If so, what type of commitment should it maintain and for how long? During World War II, the Allies feared that Germany was on the brink of creating an atomic bomb. To prevent this, they launched a dramatic midnight commando raid to destroy a key piece of equipment in the mountains of southern Norway. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll remember Operation Gunnerside, "one of the most daring and important undercover operations of World War II." We'll also learn what to say when you're invading Britain and puzzle over the life cycle of cicadas. Show notes Please support us on Patreon! We spent four days at Blancaneaux Lodge on our own before meeting up with the Coppola Winery team and other press outlets at Turtle Inn, a little less than four hours away. What I loved is that even though we were moving properties, we knew the same management team was overseeing each location. This meant we knew the quality and service that was waiting for us. Each property also had tons of books and board games to borrow and play, which I found so family-friendly and charming. So while we were sad to leave the gorgeous tropical jungle of Blancaneaux, we looked forward to swimming in the Caribbean at Turtle Inn! I knew I was in good hands when I was greeted with a dog upon my arrival. Ocho is a part of the security team of the resort, which means she sleeps during the day and walks around the property at night. A four-legged friend (no offense Lula, we love your three legs too) is my kind of greeting! Our cottage was so beautiful and spacious. We had a huge bathroom and both an indoor and outdoor shower, several sitting areas and tons of windows, letting that ocean breeze in throughout the space. Again, excellent wifi! I was able to work for 20-30 minutes a day to keep from getting too behind (Im actually on a flight to NYC as I type this post, it never stops!), and that was a huge help to me. hat, also available here | coverup, similar styles here and here crop top and skirt, also love this set and this set | similar sandals here and here | earrings | hat, also available here swimsuit no longer available, love this one and this one | linen shirt | hat, also available here | sunglasses available here, here and here | necklace and earrings JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content. FOOD: The main restaurant has an incredible wine selection (all stored in the wine aquarium which is such a beautiful display of all of the Coppola Wines), and its also where we had breakfast each morning. They had my beloved burrito and Marie Sharps hot sauce so all was well in the world! My favorite meal was the first night when we had Indonesian rijsttafel. Id never had a meal like this before and its one of those experiences Ill remember forever. Delicious! We also tried traditional Belizean food which was rice and beans with seafood, vegetables, cole slaw and potato salad. SO good! It was definitely a Creole-style meal, and as a Southerner you know I was game. I loved that desserts were typically fresh gelato (mango, passionfruit, etc.) or local fresh fruit. The coffee and wine was always a-flowing. My kinda party! ACTIVITIES: There are lots of water-based activities on the property or you can go into the Placencia town for market items. Kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, diving, snorkeling its all here. The reef off of Belize is one of the largest in the world which is why its so well known for incredible snorkeling and diving. We lounged in hammocks, read by the pool and had incredible wine tastings, learning more about the different Coppola wines. You guys know Im a huge wine-lover, so it was an honor to listen to Coppolas winemaker, Sandy, share different stories about not only Coppolas labels but also a recently acquired vineyard in Sonoma County named Virginia Dare. CORAL CAYE: On our last full day at Turtle Inn, we took a short boat ride to a private island named Coral Caye. When we were pulling up to the dock, the most darling white shepherd named Goldie. Youll see her cozying up to Christian below. She was so friendly and they say the island is hers. Shes queen of the island! She also helps the security team on the property and has caretakers that look after her every day. I LOVE snorkeling and couldnt wait to jump in the warm waters to see what we would discover. Our guide was pulling crabs and all kinds of things out of the sea to show us. The vibrant colors underwater were breathtaking. We had a Belizean lunch at Coral Caye with huge lobster tails and mango cheesecake that I think Ill be dreaming of forever. Christian was in heaven I think this tiny yet stunning island was his favorite day of the entire vacation. While we were at the island (which you can absolutely stay overnight at what a DREAM!), we sipped on Sofia bubbles and Coppolas Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio which I didnt even know came in cans now! I also didnt realize that Sofia sparkling wine was the first canned wine on the market. I found this kind of incredible and learned is was Franciss idea. No big surprise there. I continued to be amazed at his brilliant mind while hearing of all of his interests, projects and passions. Truly, I was so sad to wrap up this trip. We have been looking forward to this time in Belize together for so long, and it really proved to be an adventure of a lifetime. I didnt even realize how much C and I needed some time away until we arrived. Id forgotten that while Ive been traveling all over the world for work, C hasnt taken vacation in almost two years. He saved all of his vacation days for his fellowship interviews. So if anyone was ready to unwind, it was him! Let me know if I missed any of your questions, dont forget to check out yesterdays review of Blancaneaux Lodge, and thanks so much for reading! Would love to hear if youve tried any of the Coppola wines, your favorite in the collections, etc. XO WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- You don't have to be famous for your public health message to reach millions. A new case study describes how Tawny Dzierzek, a young nurse from Kentucky, posted a startling selfie on social media in April 2015, shortly after she had a skin cancer treatment. Dzierzek was a regular user of tanning beds in her youth. She was diagnosed with skin cancer at age 21. By the time she was 27, she'd had basal cell skin cancer five times, and squamous cell skin cancer once. Her selfie was shared 50,000 times on social media in less than a month, and her story received widespread media attention. Google searches about skin cancer climbed to near-record levels when news coverage about Dzierzek's selfie was at its peak, according to the case study published Dec. 13 in the journal Preventive Medicine. Online searches about skin cancer and tanning were as much as 489 percent higher than normal, and searches about skin cancer prevention rose by as much as 232 percent, the researchers found. "A growing body of research shows that [personal] stories can be very impactful -- more impactful than [educational] information -- in delivering a health message," said study author Seth Noar. He's a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Media and Journalism. "This event was really a perfect storm of a compelling story and graphic selfie, which seems to have led this Facebook post to go viral," Noar added in a university news release. If public health researchers and groups identified such events when they occur, they could ramp up messages about medical issues and reach many more people, the study authors suggested. "When this happened, it really captured the public's attention on social media and through national media coverage," Noar said. "That's an opportune time for all of us to get the message out about the dangers of tanning beds." Ultraviolet radiation from the sun and tanning beds is categorized as a known carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Tanning beds cause as many as 400,000 cases of skin cancer each year in the United States, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. "Tanning bed use has been starting to decline, and events like this may play a role by reaching people through a 21st century medium with a real story that strikes a chord at a very human level," Noar said. More information The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on skin cancer. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram The Honorable Thelma Aldana Public Ministry 15 avenida 15-16 Zona 1, Edificio Gerona 8 Nivel Ciudad de Guatemala, 01001 Guatemala December 12, 2017 By email: [email protected] Dear Attorney General Thelma Aldana, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent press freedom organization, asks you to release immediately and drop all charges against Jerson Antonio Xitumul Morales, a journalist currently detained in the province of Izabal. Local police arrested Xitumul, a reporter with the independent digital media outlet Prensa Comunitaria, on November 11. The journalist had been covering a local fishermen guilds protests in the area against the Guatemalan Nickel Company since early 2017, and now faces multiple criminal charges tied to his protest coverage, as CPJ has reported here. The judge for the Trial Court of First Instance in El Estor, Edgar Anibal Arteaga Lopez, on August 11 issued an arrest warrant for Xitumul and another Prensa Comunitaria reporter, Carlos Choc, as well as five people allegedly involved with the protests. The warrant charged them with making threats, incitement to commit crimes, illicit association, illegal protests, damages, and illegal detention. On November 16, following Xitumuls arrest, Judge Arteaga admitted three of the August charges and remanded the journalist into custody. Police then transferred Xitumul to the Preventive Detention Center for Men and Women in the city of Puerto Barrios where he is currently being held in pre-trial custody. His next hearing is scheduled for February 2018. The complaints alleged that Xitumul was involved in protests on May 4 and 5, 2017, during which protesters blocked roads and allegedly restricted the free movement of employees of the mining company and their family members, according to a letter the company sent to CPJ. According to his colleagues and individuals consulted by CPJ, Xitumul was in Livingston, another town in the region, on May 4, meaning there was no way he could have been present at the protests, much less participate in them. The journalist was reporting on the demonstrations on May 5, but did not take part in them. CPJ requests the Attorney Generals Human Rights Section review the charges against Xitumul, and allow him to remain free pending his trial. There is no justification for Xitumuls continued detention or the charges against him. A journalist doing his job, as Xitumul was, should not be viewed as a threat to public safety. Furthermore, Judge Arteagas failure to refer the case to a press tribunal, pursuant to the freedom of expression law, Article 35, of the Guatemalan Constitution, also violates Xitumuls right to due process. CPJ has documented a rise in violent attacks and threats against the press in Guatemala, and most notably against local reporters, and finds this trend deeply concerning. We urge you to make sure the countrys judiciary does not become a mechanism for retaliation against journalists, like Xitumul, who report critically on matters of public interest. CPJ calls on Guatemalas Public Ministry, the Attorney General and the Attorney Generals Human Rights Section to uphold the Guatemalan constitution and protect press freedom by conducting a thorough investigation into the penal process to date against Jerson Antonio Xitumul Morales, drop all charges against him, and immediately release him from prison. Sincerely, Courtney Radsch Advocacy Director Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram CPJ has included eight staffers of the controversial Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper in its 2017 global census of imprisoned journalists. Some may disagree with that decision. After all, Red Pepper arguably endangered the lives of LGBTQ Ugandans by splashing the names of 200 top homos across its pages back in 2014 when President Yoweri Museveni toughened criminal penalties for gays. Outside of the country some accused the daily of hate speech but at home the government of course said nothing. Now the tables are turned. Musevenis authoritarian administration has cracked down hard on Red Pepper for republishing a story by a Rwandan outlet alleging a Ugandan plot to overthrow Rwandas President Paul Kagame. Red Peppers critics may view the arrests and prosecution of the eight journalists as poetic justice but that misses the bigger point. The Ugandan media is under tremendous and continuous pressure from an administration that attempts to silence critical and independent voices, and this crackdown is yet another attempt to intimidate the press. That is why we, the World Association of Newspapers local media and press freedom organizations, as well as competitors and commentators, among others, have condemned the Red Pepper raid. As the countrys Africa Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) has stated: Our defense of the tabloid is not to endorse its approach to journalism, but rather to highlight what Ugandas Supreme Court has called the greater danger of smothering alternative views of fact and opinion. Those who are celebrating the silencing of Red Pepper should remember that some of the offences preferred against the directors and editors, such as offensive communication, are as much a threat to ordinary Ugandans . If these charges are allowed to stand against Red Pepper, we shall be in trouble because they can easily be preferred and allowed to stand against any of us, said ACME executive director, Peter Mwesige. Police accused Red Pepper of publishing information prejudicial to national security in its November 20 edition. It reproduced an article by a Rwandan online publication Rushyashya under the headline M7 plotting to overthrow Kagame. M7 is a nickname for Museveni who has ruled Uganda for 31 years. The original charge of treason was dropped, but the journalists face seven other counts, including offensive communication, libel and disturbing the peace of Museveni, his brother Gen. Salim Saleh and Security Minister Henry Tumukunde. The polices anti-terrorism unit raided the offices and some editors homes; arrested management and senior staff; confiscated their tools of the trade, including computers and cellphones forced staff to hand over their passwords, sealed the office premises and declared it a crime scene. More than three weeks after the arrests, Red Pepper has not been allowed to resume publishing, its staff, including those who were not charged, cannot earn a living and the company is unable to conduct business and pay the bills. The eight also remain in jail. Police spokesman Emilian Kayima rejected criticism that the police were heavy-handed, saying its action was very proportional and very professionally done. The effect of the States sledgehammer approach is felt beyond Red Pepper and is widely regarded as a tool to intimidate other journalists into self-censorship and to toe the government line, according to editors interviewed by CPJ, as well statements by media freedom organisations, cited above. Haruna Kanaabi, the executive secretary of the Independent Media Council of Uganda, told CPJ: What they (the authorities) did was to take the hammer to beat the mosquito. The Daily Monitors executive editor Charles Bichachi, said the state seems to be using the detention to intimidate them, to harass them, and send a message to the rest of the media. That is why we should speak out because if the government gets away with holding Red Pepper editors, they will come for the rest, he told CPJ. However, Information Minister Frank Tumwebaze does not believe that the arrests are a threat to media freedom. When people have been charged in courts of law then it means that the state has given them an opportunity to get justice and defend themselves. Nobody is above the law, ;whether a journalist or any other citizen, Tumwebaze told CPJ. The States apparent bullying tactics appears to be succeeding. The Observer reported on December 7 that the management of Top Radio & TV had banned opposition politicians & other voices critical of government from all its shows. Meanwhile, the Uganda Communications Commission, has directed various media houses to suspend programs or dismiss presenters considered critical of government, The Observer reported. Police have also recently summoned editors of the Monitor publications and New Vision and interrogated them about articles they published. It is clear that Ugandas media, not only Red Pepper, is under siege and ordinary Ugandans are the poorer for it. [Additional reporting by Muthoki Mumo, CPJ East Africa correspondent] Sri Lanka formally hands over Hambantota Port to China for 99-Year Lease Published: December 13, 2017 Sri Lanka has formally handed over its southern strategic port of Hambantota to China on 99-year lease. Two Chinese firms managed by China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) and Sri Lanka Ports Authority will own port and the investment zone around it. Hambantota port is strategically located right in middle of vital energy supply lines in Indian Ocean, connecting Middle East and East Asia. It had gained strategic significance after Sri Lankan government had decided to build massive deep-sea port and airport with huge Chinese loans. Background The Sri Lankan government had signed a $1.1 billion deal in July 2017 to sell a 70% stake in Hambantota port to China. Under the 99-year lease agreement, Sri Lanka received $300 million as initial payment. The deal was signed after port suffered heavy losses, making it impossible for Sri Lanka to repay its debts to China which was used to open Hambantota port in 2011. The 99-year lease deal had fanned concerns of countries with competing strategic interests with China, particularly India and US. Local residents of Hambantota are also protesting selling of national assets to foreign entities leading to violent clashes. Significance of Port For China, Hambantota port is linchpin of its One Belt One Road project, which aims to build new Silk Road of trade routes between China and more than 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe. That project is underpinned by network of harbours across world that has put China in position to challenge US as the worlds most important maritime superpower. Other similar developments in region include Gwadar port in Pakistan, which is centrepiece of $55 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Indias Concern India is apprehensive that the port is part of Chinese string of pearls with an objective to surround India and dock its military vessels. The String of pearls is a geopolitical theory on potential Chinese intentions in the Indian Ocean region. To ally Indias concern, Sri Lanka earlier had ruled out the possibility of the strategic port being used as a military base by any foreign country. Month: Current Affairs - December, 2017 Latest E-Books Our Divisions Copyright 2022-23 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. A case has been registered against Tapas Giri, the headmaster of Andala Nodal school. But even before he was taken into custody, villagers took the law into their hands, and thrashed him. By India Today Web Desk: A headmaster accused of sexually assaulting a Class Six student in Odisha's Mayurbhanj* - for a month - was arrested, but not before villagers decided to punish him with a sound thrashing. Police had to rescue Tapas Giri, the headmaster of Andala Nodal school, after villagers tied him to a pole, and beat him. advertisement His alleged crime came to light when the victim was reluctant to attend school for three days straight. Her uncle asked her why, and found out what was going on. A case has been registered against Giri, a top police official told ANI. The headmaster of the school had been sexually assaulting a Class 6 student since last one month. She later told her family about it. A case has been registered regarding this and he has been arrested: VK Patel, DIB DSP, Mayurbhanj pic.twitter.com/x4QwcvebCq- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 The news agency was able to film villagers taking the law into their own hands. Odisha: A class 6 student allegedly sexually assaulted by the headmaster of her school in Mayurbhanj over the period of a month. Headmaster thrashed by people and later arrested by police. (12.12.2017) pic.twitter.com/sR30p8mJVN- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 *In Naffri gram panchayat in Bangoriposi block WATCH | 5 ways friends and family can help a sexual assault survivor heal --- ENDS --- Taking non-material bribes like sex will be a crime under the revised Penal Code, but a top judge says the definition is 'vague.' People who take non-material bribes will face criminal charges in Vietnam starting from the beginning of next year, which means anyone who accepts sex as a form of bribery could face jail time of up to seven years. However, legal experts and officials say the terms are not specific enough to be implemented effectively. The revised Penal Code expands the definition of bribery to include non-material forms besides the more traditional offers such as money, houses, cars and other tangible objects with a market price. The new law says that those convicted of accepting non-material bribes will be punished by two to seven years in jail. But it does not clearly spell out the penalties against those who offer such bribes. The range of non-material bribes the law covers has not been specified, but legal experts say they include sex, educational opportunities, among other things. Nguyen Hoa Binh, the chief justice of the Supreme Peoples Court, has been quoted by local media as saying that the definition of the crime is still too vague. He said the court will issue further instructions in the near future. The 2015 Penal Code had been scheduled to come into effect in July 2016, and at the time, many legislators proposed that the acceptance of sex as a form of bribery be treated as a crime. The law was shelved due to multiple errors and loopholes and only received final approval from the legislative National Assembly in June. The session reportedly heard no discussions on the sex-bribe matter. In Vietnam, the practice of passing money under the table is so common many don't consider it bribery, but an inevitable part of getting things done. For years studies have confirmed what everyone in the country knows: Bribery is bad and getting worse. Ishqbaaz's Shivaay aka Nakuul Mehta took a dig at the recent ban on condom ads at prime time. Nakkuul Mehta takes a dig at the recent ban on condom ads at prime time. By India Today Web Desk: TV actor Nakuul Mehta is quite vocal about his thoughts on social media. Recently, the actor took a dig on the recent ban on condom ads during the prime time. He took to Twitter and wrote, "Can't wait for #Ishqbaaaz to be heavily sponsored by CONDOM adverts cause hey.. we are at 10pm." advertisement He further tweeted, "Yes, because condoms are terrible. Who needs family planning & safe sex is overrated. And yes let's win a GOLD medal in the only sport we can beat China at!" Can't wait for #Ishqbaaaz to be heavily sponsored by CONDOM adverts cause hey.. we are at 10pm ???? https://t.co/d042oWLy07- Nakuul Mehta (@NakuulMehta) December 12, 2017 Yes, because condoms are terrible. Who needs family planning & safe sex is overrated. And yes let's win a GOLD medal in the only sport we can beat China at! https://t.co/En6NcK3tz1- Nakuul Mehta (@NakuulMehta) December 12, 2017 On Monday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting restricted airing of condom advertisements on television, after repeated complaints. The advertisements will now be shown only between 10 PM and 6 AM. According to the ministry, it was observed "that some channels carry advertisements of condoms repeatedly which are alleged to be indecent especially for children". Nakuul Mehta plays the role of Shivaay in Star Plus' popular show Ishqbaaz. --- ENDS --- After a more than twenty-year delay by successive administrations, President Donald Trump has finally made good on the promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He also directed the State Department to begin preparations to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, said President Trump is a long overdue step to advance the peace process [between the Israelis and Palestinians] and to work towards a lasting agreement. Israel is a sovereign nation, he said, with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this as a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace. Jerusalem, said President Trump, is not just the heart of three great religions, but it is now also the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world. Over the past seven decades, the Israeli people have built a country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and people of all faiths, are free to live and worship according to their conscience and according to their beliefs. Jerusalem, is today, and must remain, said President Trump, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the stations of the cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa mosque. President Trump stressed that the U.S. remains deeply committed to helping facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides. Indeed, the United States would support a two-state solution, said President Trump, if agreed to by both sides. In the meantime, he called on all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif. President Trump called for calm, for moderation and for the voices of tolerance to prevail over the purveyors of hate. It is time, said President Trump, for the many who desire peace to expel the extremists from their midst. It is time for all civilized nations and people to respond to disagreement with reasoned debate, not violence. And it is time for young and moderate voices all across the Middle East to claim for themselves a bright and beautiful future. After a courageous three year campaign of intense fighting, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced the liberation of all Iraqi territory from ISIS control. The United States applauds the leadership of Prime Minister Abadi, said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, "and we offer our sincere congratulations to the Iraqi people and to the brave Iraqi Security Forces, many of whom lost their lives heroically fighting ISIS." The Iraqi announcement signals the last remnants of ISISs self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and the people living in those areas have been freed from ISISs brutal control. The liberation of Iraq, warned Ms. Nauert, "does not mean the fight against terrorism, and even against ISIS, in Iraq is over. The United States, along with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, will continue to partner with the Iraqi Security Forces, advising, training, and equipping them. Together" she stressed, "we must be vigilant in countering all extremist ideologies to prevent the return of ISIS or the emergence of threats by other terrorist groups." Throughout its occupation in areas of Iraq, ISIS showed its barbaric nature: beheadings, crucifixions and torture became the norm for innocent civilians trapped in cities and being used as human shields, turning hospitals, mosques, universities, and schools into weapons-making and storage facilities and bases for its terrorist operations. Beyond human casualties, ISIS left a trail of destruction, with an unprecedented number of Iraqis displaced from their homes and massive damage to infrastructure. The United States has contributed more than 1.7 billion dollars in humanitarian assistance and committed more than 265 million dollars in stabilization assistance to Iraq since 2014. The United States has also contributed 112 million dollars to assist in clearing improvised explosive devices, mines, and unexploded ordinance, as well as outreach programs to warn Iraqis on the dangers of explosive hazards that ISIS left behind. These efforts have helped facilitate the safe and voluntary return of nearly 2.8 million Iraqis to their homes. "We remain committed," said spokesperson Nauert, "to standing with the government of Iraq and the Iraqi people to," to help them reclaim their land and lives from ISIS. Tiago plays with his mother. oscar corral Last September, a few days after he turned three, Tiago underwent a spinal tap in the pediatric ICU of Santiago de Compostela University Hospital Complex (CHUS). Doctors extracted 2.5 milliliters of spinal fluid and injected the same amount of Spinraza, a new medicine for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). He told me: look mom, now I am very strong Tiago's mother Carmen Vazquez The drug was not approved for commercial sale in Spain because the laboratory that makes it, the US multinational Biogen, had not reached an agreement with the Health Ministry about its cost, which is around 800,000 per person per year. But thanks to an agreement reached by the Galician regional parliament following pressure from GaliciaAME, which to date is the only association of people affected by SMA in Spain, the Galician health department purchased the drug in Europe and treated the young boy from A Coruna. Two months later, little Tiago can hold a pencil between his fingers, which until now had been doubled over into a claw, and sit upright on the sofa. The doctors are surprised by his progress, and while I dont want to have false hopes, its true the degenerative process is slowing down, and very quickly in his case, says his mother, Carmen Vazquez. Spinraza, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in December 2016 and by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last June, was acquired by the Galician health department as soon as it became available in Germany the first European country to buy stocks of the treatment. This was made possible after GaliciAME successfully petitioned the Galician parliament to categorize Spinraza as a medicine for compassionate use a classification that allows for a drug to be administered to patients who are seriously ill before it is officially approved throughout Spain. This sped up the process, meaning the health department could purchase the treatment in Europe until the Spanish health ministry reached an agreement with Biogen. Around one in every 10,000 people suffer from SMA and up until now there has been no effective treatment Those affected by SMA worried that distribution of the drug would be slowed down by budget disagreements just as had happened with the authorization of hepatitis C medication, when two senior Galicia government officials were accused of homicide after delaying administration for budgetary reasons. But this was not the case. We still cant believe it, says Mercedes Alvarez, the president of GaliciAME who founded the organization after being diagnosed with SMA at the unusually late age of 27. It was her determination that pushed the association to present the proposal to the regional parliament. We thought it was going to be a long battle that we would need to chain ourselves to the parliament building to get anywhere, but in seven weeks everything was organized, she says, adding that the move has opened the door for other Spanish regions to take similar action. Mercedes is clear about the urgent need to access the treatment: We dont want to lose time because it is important to slow down the degenerative process as soon as possible. She explains that the drug was offered to all Galicians with the disease in order of age (youngest to oldest) and severity. We thought we would need to chain ourselves to parliament to get anywhere, but in seven weeks everything was organized Mercedes Alvarez, GaliciAME president One in every 10,000 people suffer from SMA, a disease which causes the progressive loss of muscular strength, affecting not only a persons ability to walk, but also to breathe and swallow, and often ending in death by asphyxiation. Children diagnosed with the disease rarely make it past the age of two and until now, there has been no effective treatment. Tiago and two other young children (one of them only just two months old) have begun the new treatment in different regional hospitals. Soon, dozens more people will have access throughout Galicia. Everyone except Mercedes, the driving force behind the initiative. She was the second person in Spain to be diagnosed with SMA at such a late age: she has an abnormal genetic mutation on a chromosome. After two and half years, the doctors still cant find the genetic mutation but Im convinced that some day they will find it, as well as a drug that doesnt just repair a specific chromosome, she says, adding that she is delighted with what her work has achieved for others. Now GaliciAME is looking to share its experience with other regions to help other children with SMA access the drug as soon as possible. We are aware that this is not a definitive cure, says Mercedes, but it is a huge step forward that gives little ones the possibility of living a longer and better life. At just three years of age, Tiago is not aware of what has happened to him. He is very little and never asks anything, although the other day he was surprised when he was able to open the box of a toy, his mother recounts. He told me: look mom, now I am very strong. Carmen does not know if her son will manage to get out of a wheelchair, but she has seen how the disease has slowed down. Now her son can use and stretch his hands, just like his spine, to the point where he can go to school in good conditions. Because not only does SMA not affect intellectual abilities: most people who suffer from SMA often learn to develop new abilities. English version by Melissa Kitson. Civil Guard officers during the operation to stop the illegal referendum on October 1. TONI FERRAGUT The Spanish Interior Ministry is considering sending 3,500 Civil Guard officers to beef up security ahead of the Catalan regional elections on December 21, according to an internal memo which EL PAIS has had access to. The association of Civil Guard officers has described the measure as a unilateral imposition The document, dated Monday at midday, also outlines the ministrys plans to cancel any leave days or holidays between December 19 and 22 for officers participating in Operation Copernicus the codename for the operation against the Catalan secessionist challenge. The memo lists the need to be able to rely on the maximum possible presence of security personnel in Catalonia in the event of any extraordinary circumstances. According to the document, during this four-day period, officers permanently stationed in Catalonia, as well as those who have arrived in the region from other parts of Spain to take part in Operation Copernicus, will not be able to go on leave except in cases where it is considered absolutely indispensable and duly justified. The main association of Civil Guard officers (AUGC) has protested the measure, arguing it is a unilateral imposition that disrespects the officers. Not only does the order revoke holidays, it also asks the heads of different commands to detail the number of officers available for deployment as part of the security arrangements for the regional election on December 21. On November 2, days after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy activated Article 155 of the Constitution and called early regional elections, the number of officers in Catalonia was around 3,496. Of those, almost half 1,683 came from Barcelona province, followed by Tarragona (609), Girona (517) and Lleida (457). The remaining 230 police officers came from the Barcelona city headquarters. The document demands these figures be updated as soon as possible. The order comes weeks after the Interior Ministry decided to downsize the security operation in Catalonia, which had been deployed from mid-September to contain the illegal secessionist push. But given the relative calm following the activation of Article 155, a constitutional provision allowing the central government to take direct control of a regions affairs, the 6,000-strong National Police and Civil Guard force in Catalonia had been halved by the end of November. By the end of November, 15 anti-riot units had returned to their bases High-ranking ministry sources previously told EL PAIS that the plan is to keep the remaining 3,000 officers in Catalonia until after the regional election. This contingent will provide backup for the 2,929 police officers and 3,164 Civil Guards who are stationed permanently in Catalonia. According to the team at the Interior Ministry, with law and order now in the hands of the Catalan police force Mossos dEsquadra which now answers directly to central authorities as part of the application of Article 155 , national police and Civil Guard officers have been focused solely on protecting state buildings and critical infrastructure in Catalonia, and investigating the illegal independence referendum that was held on October 1. The security downsize has been especially significant in the numbers of police intervention units, known colloquially as riot police. At the height of the crisis, the Interior Ministry deployed 44 of these units two with a permanent base in Barcelona to take part in Operation Copernicus. This represented two-thirds of Spain's 2,700 riot police officers. By the end of November, 15 of these units had returned to their bases. English version by Melissa Kitson. Rodrigo Lanza, the alleged attacker, in 2014. Massimiliano Minocri A 55-year-old man died in Zaragoza on Tuesday night as a result of the beating he received outside a bar last week by a leftist radical who didnt like the suspenders he was wearing; they were in the colors of the Spanish flag. The alleged attacker, a 33-year-old member of the Barcelona squatter movement named Rodrigo Lanza, had already served a five-year sentence for assaulting a local police officer in the Catalan capital; that victim has been a quadriplegic since 2006. Lainez was admitted into Hospital Clinico with severe head damage This latest assault took place at around 2.30am in the early hours of Friday outside El Tocadiscos, a bar located on Antonio Agustin street, in Zaragozas old town district, the local daily Heraldo de Aragon reported. Victor Lainez, 55, got into an argument with a group of people inside the bar. He was alone at the time. Witnesses said that the attacker and three other individuals began yelling at Lainez and calling him a facha, short for fascist, because of the red and yellow stripes on his suspenders. When Lainez walked out of the bar, two individuals came running after him. Witnesses said that Lanza struck the victim on the head with a metal bar; he and his accomplice then kicked the man several times as he lay unconscious on the ground before running away. In 2014, sympathizers of the squatter movement filmed a documentary that presented the 2006 attack as a police set-up Lainez was admitted into Hospital Clinico with severe head damage and four blood clots that left him brain dead. He died on Tuesday after being taken off life support. On the night of the attack, the National Police launched an investigation that focused on radical left-wing groups in the Aragonese capital. Lanza was arrested late on Monday. His accomplice was held, then released. Sources familiar with the investigation said that eye witnesses provided a description of Lanza, who was also seen at a different bar where he paid with a credit card. 2006 attack In February 2008, Lanza was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for assaulting a local police officer in Barcelona who was trying to evict him and other squatters from a local building. The Supreme Court later raised the sentence to five years. That attack took place on February 4, 2006, when Lanza hurled a stone at the officer, who fell and sustained spinal injuries. The victim, a father of four, is now a quadriplegic. A biker Victor Lainez was born in the Catalan town of Terrassa but had been living in Zaragoza for years. He was a member of the biker group Los Templarios and always rode on his Harley Davidson. In 2014, sympathizers of the squatter movement filmed a documentary, Ciutat Morta (Dead City), that presented the events as a police set-up, and suggested that the police officer had been hit by a falling flower pot. Lanza himself featured in the film. After serving his sentence, Lanza, who is a native of Chile, moved to Zaragoza with his partner, the Heraldo reported. English version by Susana Urra. Business creation in Spain as a whole went up 1.5% in October. PACO PUENTES Catalonia has paid an economic price for the flurry of political activity by the pro-independence movement in October. After a frantic month bookended by an illegal independence referendum on October 1 and a unilateral declaration of independence in the regional parliament on October 27, business creation had dropped 14.3% year on year to 1,224 new firms, according to the latest figures from Spains National Statistics Institute, the INE. Sacked Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont has criticized large firms and sided with small and medium-sized enterprises Spain as a whole chalked up a 1.5% year-on-year uptick in new businesses, with the total number of new firms hitting 7,236. The 1,224 new businesses in Catalonia is the worst October figure for the region since 2011 during the height of Spains crippling economic crisis. It is also the second-worst figure for this year to date for the region after September, and the third worst year-on year result in Spain behind Extremadura and Galicia, which saw falls of 27.5% and 15.65% respectively. At the other end of the scale, the number of new businesses in La Rioja was up 21.42% on October 2016, while that figure was 20.93% higher for Aragon. October was a very bad month for Catalonia, there was an enormous amount of mistrust, which was reflected in numerous indicators, said Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos on Tuesday, speaking about a month in which over 1,000 businesses including the banking giants Sabadell and La Caixa moved their legal headquarters out of the region over fears about independence. Asked about the effects of Madrids application of emergency powers in Catalonia using Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution a move which involved sacking the regional government and calling a snap regional election on December 21 the minister said a normalization of the Catalan economy was apparent. He added that the madness of the independence movement would disappear from the Catalan scene after the upcoming vote. Guindos also said Catalonia would return to 3% growth. Business leaders Meanwhile, far from attempting to woo back the large firms that have left Catalonia in recent months, ousted Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont has turned his attention to small and medium-sized enterprises. Speaking via a video link from Belgium during a meeting in Barcelona on Friday, Puigdemont described the decision by around 3,000 businesses to move their headquarters out of Catalonia as economic warfare by Madrid. He also took aim at Spains blue-chip Ibex 35 stock market index, which until October included seven Catalan firms but now only has one: the pharmaceutical and chemical company Grifols. The 1,224 new businesses in Catalonia is the worst October figure for the region since 2011 Our small and medium-sized enterprises are those that dont change their headquarters, those that have to make a living without the influence of a corporate box at the [exclusive Real Madrid stadium] Bernabeu or on the Ibex 35, the sacked premier said, ignoring the fact that hundreds of smaller firms have also left the region. This attitude represents a far cry from the times of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) party, the forerunner of Puigdemonts Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT). The CDC had close links with the Catalan business community. The arrival in power of business-friendly former CDC president Artur Mas in 2011 was greeted enthusiastically by the corporate world, as were his governments austerity and privatization policies. But several years on, regional business leaders keen for economic stability and concerned about a possible return to hard-line independence tactics by pro-secession parties are backing the so-called Constitutionalist or anti-independence parties ahead of the December 21 regional elections. On Tuesday, Carlos Cuatrecasas, the president of the of the Economy Circle the most influential business lobby in Catalonia described Ines Arrimadas, the leader of the reform-minded Ciudadanos party in the region, as a magnificent candidate. The leader for Ciudadanos in Catalonia Ines Arrimadas with the lawyer Juan Jose Lopez Burniol on Tuesday. Carles Ribas During her appearance at the Economy Circle, Arrimadas promised a reduction in the tax burden for businesses, but also emphasized her concern over social division resulting from the independence push in Catalonia. Ciudadanos is riding high in the polls in the run-up to December 21, with an EL PAIS analysis of dozens of voter intention surveys suggesting the party will run a close second behind the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC). English version by George Mills. A top Iranian environment official has lambasted the countrys Sixth Development Plan as detrimental to soil and water resources. Such plans are forced on the government without taking soil and water capacities into account, Issa Kalantari, head of the Iranian Environment Department, said on December 11. At a ceremony celebrating World Soil Day, he said Irans limited water and soil resources were endangering its ability to feed the countrys population of more than 80 million. Since our level of consumption has been higher than our limited resources, we are going to face soil bankruptcy as we have already experienced in water-related fields, he said. Excessive erosion and degrading have seriously endangered Irans soil resources, experts maintain. Describing the countrys laws, including the overarching Sixth Development Plan, as unrealistic in regard to the environment, Kalantari said, We are using our resources in excess without thinking about how to sustain them. The top laws of the land have forced governments to excessively build dams and consume surface and underground water resources. Meanwhile, many parts of Iran have faced unprecedented periods of drought. According to official statistics, 750,000 wells are operational in Iran, 330,000 of which are illegal. Stop repeating the shibboleth and saying our country is great, Kalantari has said against those who promote population growth, noting, Our resources are limited. If we are going to have a larger population, we should do it in tandem with our imports. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the main proponent of population growth. In 2014, he issued an edict obliging the heads of Irans ruling system to reduce the legal age for marriage and encourage families to have more children. Kalantari had previously echoed other experts warnings, asserting, Irans 8,000-year-old civilization will be destroyed if the level of our water consumption is not reduced. The former agriculture minister also cautioned that Irans soil resources have reached a tipping point requiring urgent measures. When the Iran-Iraq War started, no one considered the consequences of the armed conflict and its bombardments on the unemployment rate, because there was no time to do so. We were facing a much greater problem: the war itself, Kalantari said in an interview with the governments official news agency, IRNA. Today, were in a similar situation. We must not consider the unemployment rate among farmers at this point in time, because were facing a much more critical problem. He further warned that if Iran does not change its approach to water use, the result would be mass migration. If water consumption for agriculture remains at this level, in less than 25 years Irans eastern and southern areas will be completely deserted, and 50 million people will have to emigrate, he added. Blaming the agricultural sector for excessively using Irans water resources, Kalantari said, 90 percent to 95 percent of water consumed in the agricultural sector must be reduced; otherwise, the problem will never be solved. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 Trend: The OSCE monitoring held on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia near Azerbaijans Qazakh district passed without incidents, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Dec. 13. The monitoring was held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, said the ministry. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was held by Andrzej Kasprzyk, ambassador and the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, as well as Ognjen Jovic, who is field assistant of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative. On the Armenian side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Ghenadie Petrica, Simon Tiller and Mikhail Olaru. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 Trend: The decision of the US President to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which is contrary to international law and the UN Security Council resolution, and the transfer of the US embassy to this city causes great concern. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made the remarks at the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Dec.13. "This decision could negatively affect the just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, lead to dangerous consequences in the Middle East. We believe that the US should reconsider this decision," President Aliyev said. President Aliyev said Azerbaijan supports the consistent settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by peaceful means on the basis of two-state principles with recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. "Several years ago, with the aim of assisting the Palestinian state, Azerbaijan held a donor conference in support of the founding conference of the Islamic Financial Security and Development Network of the City of Jerusalem. An international conference on the Jerusalem issue was held in July 2017 in Azerbaijan with the participation of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, OIC and various non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations. A declaration was adopted at the conference condemning the occupation of East Jerusalem and the restrictions that was imposed on those who perform worship services in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. As always, we stand next to the people of Palestine today," said the President. Swathi took inspiration from a Telugu movie, Yevadu, in which a plastic surgeon gives an injured youth her son's face. By India Today Web Desk: A woman in Telangana murdered her husband to live with her paramour. Inspired by Telugu movie Yevadu, Swathi hatched a plan to kill her husband and swap him with her boyfriend. In Yevadu, a plastic surgeon gives an injured youngster her son's face. And that was Swathi's plan - getting her boyfriend her husband's face. advertisement Swathi Reddy, a 27-year-old nurse working in a private hospital, killed her husband Sudhakar Reddy. Sudhakar and Swathi were married for three years and had a child. On November 27, Swathi administered anesthesia to Sudhakar and killed him after he fell unconscious. Swathi threw a small amount of acid on Rajesh's face and took him to her in-laws saying Sudhakar was attacked by some people and they threw acid on his face. The concerned parents rushed Rajesh (who they thought is Sudhakar) to the hospital where the doctor recommended a plastic surgery. All was well with Swathi and Rajesh until a mutton soup ruined their plans. According to the police, Sudhakar's relatives got suspicious of Rajesh's behaviour when he refused to have mutton soup being served to the patients. He even told the hospital staff that he is a vegetarian. But Sudhakar was a non-vegetarian. The relatives then questioned the man undergoing treatment about the identities of other relatives, but he refused to speak and started communicating in signs, an IANS report said. The family then alerted the police. After being grilled by the police, Swathi confessed to killing her husband with Rajesh's help. Swathi was arrested on Sunday while Rajesh will be taken into custody after being discharged from the hospital. (With inputs from IANS) WATCH: Hyderabad: Wife kills husband, pours acid on lover's face to pass him off as hubby --- ENDS --- first version 16:42 Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 Trend: Muslims should know that Armenia, destroying our sacred mosques can not be friend of Muslim countries, said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. He made the remarks at the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Dec.13. "I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to OIC, its members and the Muslim societies of the world for the just support provided to Azerbaijan in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . For more than 20 years, Armenia has occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjusted districts. Nagorno-Karabakh is the native and historical land of Azerbaijan. As a result of the Armenian aggression, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons. The occupied territories were subjected to complete ethnic cleansing and were looted," the head of state underlined. President Aliyev noted that Armenia destroyed all cultural monuments, including mosques and Islamic monuments. "Meanwhile, Armenia wants to establish friendly relations with various Muslim states. This is the biggest hypocrisy. The world's Muslims should know that Armenia, which destroys sacred mosques, cannot be a friend of Muslim countries," the head of state said. The President recalled that in 1993 the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Azerbaijani territory. "However, Armenia refuses to implement them. The organization of Islamic cooperation and other international organizations adopted similar decisions and resolutions. Azerbaijan will never reconcile with the Armenian occupation, the conflict should be settled only within the internationally recognized borders and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," said President Aliyev. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: The European Parliament has today approved the annual "EU foreign and security policy", which for the first time reaffirmed EU's commitments to support the territorial integrity of all Eastern Partnership countries within their internationally recognized borders. The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of votes (408 for and 132 against). The resolution, prepared on the basis of the annual report by David McAllister, the chairman of the European Parliament's International Relations Committee, is doctrinal in nature and must be taken into account when formulating and implementing the foreign policy of the European Union. This was stated by the Vice President of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Federica Mogerini, who was present during the discussions. This document is of fundamental importance for the relations of the EU with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which are involved in territorial conflicts. First, the commitment to supporting the territorial integrity of the Eastern Partnership countries is for the first time outlined within the framework of the internationally recognized borders of all these states. Earlier such concretization was demonstrated only in relation to Ukraine. Attempts by the Armenian lobby again to "tie" this point only to Ukraine was defeated by the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority of votes - overwhelming to such an extent that there was no need to count votes! Second, for the first time this commitment is expressed as an obligation of the European Union. Third, for the first time these definitions were used not in the general sense, but in the context of the settlement of all conflicts existing in the countries of the Eastern Partnership. Fourth, the mandatory nature of this resolution practically nullifies all previous attempts by the Armenian lobby to fix its interests in the documents of the European Parliament, which have a recommendatory character. Thus, the phrases that could be interpreted "in an Armenian way", were reflected in the recommendations of the European Parliament to the EU External Relations Service while preparing the agenda for EU's participation in the 72nd General Assembly of the United Nations and the Brussels Summit of the Eastern Partnership. By the way, none of these formulations was taken into account when preparing documents for both the UN General Assembly and the Summit. The last resolution of the European Parliament, dated Dec. 13, was a logical continuation of the process fixed in the joint statement of the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Brussels on Nov. 24 and which President Ilham Aliyev assessed as the diplomatic success of Azerbaijan. To understand this shift in the EU foreign policy, it is necessary to understand that a few years ago the European Union categorically refused even to recognize (let alone support) the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, using other principles in the approach to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, rather than in evaluating other conflicts ... ...Brussels, 2011. The then president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, after returning from a trip to the countries of the South Caucasus refused (!) his statements made in support of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, documented during his public appearance in Baku ... ...Brussels, 2013. During the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the EU, the European Commission annulled the signing of the final joint declaration due to the refusal (!) of the team of EU officials to fix mutual support for the territorial integrity of the parties. In response to this and other unfriendly actions of the EU, Azerbaijan decided to end the negotiations on The Association Agreement with the EU, the annual meetings of the Council, the Committee and the sectoral subcommittees of bilateral cooperation with the European Union ... Riga Eastern Partnership Summit, May, 2015. The legacy of the "double standards" policy for Azerbaijan, left by the previous team, continued to poison our country's relations with the new leaders of the European Union. Thus, in the draft joint declaration of 28 EU member states and 6 Eastern Partnership countries, in spite of Azerbaijan's protest, there was used the terminology differentially evaluating conflicts in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova on the one hand and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on the other hand. Then, President Ilham Aliyev made a principled decision that radically changed the negative trend in the relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan. He refused to participate in the Summit and instructed the Azerbaijani delegation to vote against the Joint Statement, which should be adopted by the consensus of all participating countries. According to some sources at the EU, after the Azerbaijani delegation refused to support the consensus on the Joint Statement, the President of the Council of the European Union Donald Tusk held a phone talk with President Ilham Aliyev. Only after that, Azerbaijan agreed to a consensus, though with the addition of the Azerbaijani delegation, adopted as part of the Joint Statement. The significance of what happened at the Riga Summit cannot be overestimated. The clear position of President Aliyev demonstrated that Azerbaijan can not only limit bilateral cooperation with the EU exclusively on the economic agenda, but also withdraw from such an important multilateral project of the European Union as the Eastern Partnership. What, in fact, can turn this project into a formal substance, with a purely donor function of the European Union, without any political impact in terms of establishing interaction with Asian neighbors, without such system-forming elements of any multilateral process as infrastructure, transport, energy and economic components. The EU paid dearly for curtsey to the occupant country... This was the reason for the unplanned visit of President of the EU Council Donald Tusk to Azerbaijan in July 2015, just one month after the Riga Summit. In Baku, he issued an official statement on unequivocal support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the need to resolve the Karabakh conflict on the basis of norms and principles of international law. This support was repeated in February 2016 in the statement of Mogherini during her visit to Baku. Tusk again officially announced the support of the EU to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan during President Aliyev's visit to Brussels in February 2017 Thus, this principle was fixed in the doctrinal documents of both the executive and parliamentary institutions of the EU, as well as in the multilateral statements of the heads of state and governments. Moreover, the European Union clearly demonstrated a unified approach to resolving conflicts in the territory of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan, without dividing them into "theirs" and "outsiders", without applying the policy of "double standards". One can suggest that the life itself made Europeans reconsider approaches to these issues. Yet Catalonia and Crimea did not initiate, but only consolidated this process, which began long before the events in Barcelona. In addition, what prevented the European Union from pursuing a policy of differentiating approaches to conflict resolution in its "own" Spain, "associated" - Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and seemingly "alien" Azerbaijan? Or rather, who prevented? The answer is obvious. What President Ilham Aliyev named "a diplomatic success" in Brussels, because of his modesty, is his foreign policy victory achieved as a result of the foresight of the political trend in world politics, a correct assessment of the role and potential of the country in European projects, his stamina and professionalism, and the ability to maximize the effective use of the emerging situation in the national interest. President Ilham Aliyev was not only able to instill in Europeans respect for his people and to convince them of the correctness of Azerbaijan's position. By and large, he is the author of such a qualitatively new and strategically important political trend in European politics for Azerbaijan as supporting the territorial integrity of the partner countries on the basis of the principle of inviolability of borders and the use of a unified approach to conflict resolution in all countries of the Eastern Partnership. Future sporadic attempts by the Armenian lobby for levelling this trend are not ruled out, but they are unlikely to have such a significant effect. The opportunities for using the institutional platforms of the European Union and the Eastern Partnership to justify Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan will be extremely limited. This inspires confidence in the future of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union. And first of all, the EU support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the framework of internationally recognized borders will be fixed in the new agreement on strategic partnership with the EU. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Azerbaijan is the main economic and strategic partner of Kazakhstan in the Caucasus, ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Beybit Isabayev said at an event dedicated to the 26th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence on Dec. 13. "During the years of independence, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan developed very strong, friendly relations built on trust and equality. These relations are getting stronger every year. A huge potential of mutually beneficial cooperation allows foreseeing the bright future of relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," ambassador said. Over the past 10 years, Azerbaijan has achieved impressive progress in the development of the national economy, ambassador added. "We are pleased to see the growing influence of the country", ambassador said. Isabayev noted that Azerbaijan is one of the key regional participants of the global energy policy. Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov congratulated the Ambassador of Kazakhstan and all the people of Kazakhstan on the 26th anniversary of independence. He noted that during independence, under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has become one of the leading countries of the region. "Relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are dynamically developing in many spheres, and especially in the energy sphere and serve as an example of strong mutual cooperation", minister said. He noted the important role of the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in achieving today's results of bilateral cooperation. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 Trend: Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov made an official visit to Heriot-Watt University (HWU) located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland (Great Britain). The main purpose of the visit was to enhance partnership ties between two higher educational intuitions and discuss issues related to new spheres of cooperation and joint administration of teaching programs at the Higher School. The first meeting was held between the Rector Elmar Gasimov and Head of HWUs School of Engineering and Physical Sciences Prof. Stephen McLaughlin. It also gathered BHOS representatives including Program Manager Nargiz Tarverdiyeva, Head of English Language and Humanitarian Disciplines Centre Kaklik Gozalova and HWU team comprising Prof. John Ford, Dr. Gillian Thomson, Dr. Graeme White, Dr. Stephen Houston, Dr. Asghar Shams, and staff members Patricia Duncan and Nicola Gordon. After detailed discussion, the participants reached an agreement on the ways of further improvement of the teaching process and academic program management at the Higher School. Issues related to conducting a second graduation ceremony at BHOS in summer next year were also considered. At another meeting, the Higher School rector Elmar Gasimov and the Principal & Vice Chancellor of HWU Prof. Richard Williams discussed prospects of further development of the strategic partnership between two higher educational institutions including issues related to extension of Master degree program and admission of students to Ph.D. degree program at BHOS. Since 2012, the Heriot-Watt University has been an official partner of the Higher School in training specialists for oil and gas sector. Upon a cooperation agreement between BHOS and HWU and within a dual diploma program, the Higher School graduates receive diplomas of both higher educational institutions. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 Trend: Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center of Azercell Telecom LLC has represented our country at Seedstars CEE Summit with the support of PASHA Bank. Imran Baghirov, Head of Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center and Seedstars World Ambassador and Wake me up project startup which will join Seedstars Summit to be held in Switzerland in April, 2018, took part in the international conference held in Kiev, Ukraine. Imran Baghirov had a number of meetings with startups from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Georgia and made a speech about the activities of Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center and startups in Azerbaijan. Notably, CEE Summit brings together the best and most promising players in innovation and technology sphere from around the world. Over 600 representatives attended the Seedstars CEE Summit which lasted for 3 days. The summit featured presentations by the participating startups, which was followed by panel discussions that engaged a range of topics and ideas pertinent to entrepreneurs in the region. It should be noted that Azerbaijans leading mobile operator Azercell Telecom is closely cooperating with Seedstars. Barama Innovation Center was founded in 2009 by Azercell with the aim to support entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan. The Center generally supports IT projects and startups operating in this industry and helps them grow as independent businesses. Barama Center has facilitated the realization of dozens of projects and competitions in the country. For more information, please contact [email protected] The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory (excluding 20% of the occupied territories) and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, Mobile Customer Care office, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell deployed first 4G LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: Uzbekistan's monopoly enterprises will sell cement only through exchange auctions starting from Jan.1, 2018 in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On the production and consumption of cement in 2018". Thus, 8.44 million tons of cement will be sold to domestic consumers the next year through exchanges. The volumes not sold during the first trades will be re-exhibited within a month and only after that can be sold for export under direct contracts. Under the decree of the President of Uzbekistan starting next year 27 types of highly liquid products will be sold exclusively through exchange trades. However, the ban on the resale of the products purchased on the exchange is canceled. According to the data of the State Committee for Privatization, Demonopolization and Competition Development, as of October 1, 2017, four enterprises that are dominant in the commodity market are carrying out cement production in Uzbekistan: Kizilkumcement JSC, Kuvasaycement JSC, Bekobodcement "and JSC" Akhangarancement ". Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: Flag carrier airlines of Ukraine and Uzbekistan may resume direct flights between Kiev and Tashkent by the spring of 2018, the Uzbek media reported quoting Ukrainian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Yuri Savchenko. On Dec. 12, delegations of the State inspectorate of Uzbekistan for supervision of aviation safety and the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine with the participation of representatives of the Ukraine International Airlines PJSC and the Uzbekistan Airways OJSC discussed issues in Tashkent regarding resumption of direct flights between Kiev and Tashkent, Savchenko wrote on his Facebook page. At the initial stage, it is planned that each of the airline companies will carry out two flights a week, according to the ambassador. Several years ago, direct flights between the two countries were operated by the Ukraine International Airlines PJSC and the Uzbekistan Airways OJSC. However, controversial issues related to the distribution of passenger seats and airline tickets led to the cancellation of direct flights, and this turned out to be major inconvenience for citizens of both countries. Passengers from Ukraine and Uzbekistan had to use services of other airlines offering transit routes. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: The EU may use the approach and system of operation of Azerbaijans ASAN service and ABAD public legal entity in its projects, Kestutis Jankauskas, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan, said. He was speaking Dec. 13 in Baku at a signing ceremony of a project to support family business facilities of Azerbaijan. He noted that the work of ASAN service was highly assessed by Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service Jean-Christophe Belliard during his visit to Azerbaijan. The EU has already supported ABAD projects, in particular in the Masalli district, and the fact that a farmer can supply own products to major chains of stores, demonstrates importance of such projects, because without them, it would have been much more difficult for rural producers to sell their products, said Jankauskas. He added that the EU, when participating in such projects, aims to disclose huge potential of Azerbaijans districts, the productivity of which is currently lower than could have been. The level of districts productivity in various countries differs from the capitals productivity level, however, the task is to increase regional productivity, and both economy of Azerbaijan and the countrys producers will benefit from this, he noted. On Dec. 13, a document of a joint project to support family business facilities in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic zone was signed by representatives of the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program. Up to 30 families in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic region will receive support for the development of family business facilities within the project. The project aims at developing family business in Azerbaijans villages. In total, $1.074 million were allocated for the implementation of the project. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: A document of a joint project to support family business facilities in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic zone has been signed by representatives of the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program. Up to 30 families in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic region will receive support for the development of family business facilities within the project, Rufat Elchiyev, head of the ABAD (Easy Support to Family Business) center, told reporters in Baku Dec. 13. These people will become private entrepreneurs, and will play an important role in the Azerbaijani economy, Elchiyev said. He added that the project will be completely implemented in 2020 and will serve the implementation of the United Nations Development Program in Azerbaijan. He also noted that the families participating in the project will be able to manufacture products under their own brand. The project will be financed by all three parties, Elchiyev said. The ABAD Public Legal Entity will be the direct executor of the project. Elchiyev also noted that the project is far from being the last one in the plans of ABAD center, and that in the future, the center plans to work on projects in the field of tourism, in particular, concerning hostels. The project organized by the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program aims at developing family business in Azerbaijans villages. In total, $1.074 million were allocated for the implementation of the project. By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) The Income Tax Department today conducted survey operations at major bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspicion of alleged tax evasion and detected several lakh entries of high-networth individuals (HNIs) in their databases, official sources said. The operations that began early morning at nine major exchanges in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi were on till last reports came in. advertisement Sources said the taxman has deployed an heavy assortment of software cloning and mirror imaging devices to drain out "complete details" of emails, addresses and correspondence ids of the investors and players from the computers. They said that the sleuths detected a number of high- networth individuals (HNIs) and customer ids in these databases and prima facie about 20-25 lakh such entities have been traced. Entries of HNIs suggest that they were trading on these exchanges. "Out of these, about 8-10 lakh entities would be active for transactions. However, the operations are still on and final findings will emerge later," a senior official here said. The operations were supervised by the Bengaluru investigation wing of the department as the sleuths have worked on these cases for long and have conducted similar actions in 2013 in the Karnataka capital. The surveys, under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, are being conducted for "gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and traders, transaction undertaken by them, identity of counter-parties, related bank accounts used, among others", they said. A survey action under I-T law pertains to the tax officials making a surprise visit to the business premises of the party under action but not their residential ones. The trigger for the action is understood to be the huge spike being registered in the value of the bitcoins and other virtual currencies in the recent past in the country. A huge amount of black money converted into white, post demonetisation, by using bitcoins is also under the scanner of the department. Earlier this month, there was a spurt in the value of a bitcoin. It rose from under USD 10,000 at start of the year to close to USD 20,000, before a sharp 20 per cent plunge within hours. The survey teams, the sources said, were armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big comprehensive action against them in the country. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause for concern among central bankers the world over for quite a while now. advertisement The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins. The government has also said that it does not recognise crypto currency as legal tender in India as of now. In March, the Union finance ministry constituted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of virtual currencies both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies. The committee has submitted its report to the government and it is being examined. Bitcoins were in news recently after a massive global ransomware attack WannaCry hit systems in over 100 countries. The cyber criminals demanded a fee of about USD 300 in crypto-currencies such as bitcoin for unlocking affected devices. PTI NES SMN --- ENDS --- Details added (first version posted on 12:54) Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: A document of a joint project to support family business facilities in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic zone has been signed by representatives of the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program. Up to 30 families in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic region will receive support for the development of family business facilities within the project, Rufat Elchiyev, head of the ABAD (Easy Support to Family Business) center, told reporters in Baku Dec. 13. These people will become private entrepreneurs, and will play an important role in the Azerbaijani economy, Elchiyev said. He added that the project will be completely implemented in 2020 and will serve the implementation of the United Nations Development Program in Azerbaijan. He also noted that the families participating in the project will be able to manufacture products under their own brand. The project will be financed by all three parties, Elchiyev said. The ABAD Public Legal Entity will be the direct executor of the project. Elchiyev also noted that the project is far from being the last one in the plans of ABAD center, and that in the future, the center plans to work on projects in the field of tourism, in particular, concerning hostels. The project organized by the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program aims at developing family business in Azerbaijans villages. In total, $1.074 million were allocated for the implementation of the project. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Officials from Azerbaijan Railways, Rail Cargo Austria and Turkish State Railroad Company signed a memorandum of understanding in Baku, Azerbaijan Railways said on Dec.13. Azerbaijan Railways held a tripartite meeting with delegations, headed by Erik Regter, a member of the board at Rail Cargo Austria, and Veysi Kurt, General Director at Turkish State Railroad Company. Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways informed the parties about the transport and logistics potential of Azerbaijan, the Trans-Caspian international transport route, the North-South and South-West transport corridors, as well as the newly commissioned Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that will connect Asia and Europe. Then, issues of cooperation development were discussed. Following the meeting, representatives of Azerbaijan Railways, Rail Cargo Austria and the Turkish State Railroad Company signed a memorandum of understanding, which includes the development of a competitive, high-speed, inter-modal railway network in Europe, the CIS and China. Details added (first version posted on 12:27) Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: The EU may use the approach and system of operation of Azerbaijans ASAN service and ABAD public legal entity in its projects, Kestutis Jankauskas, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan, said. He was speaking Dec. 13 in Baku at a signing ceremony of a project to support family business facilities of Azerbaijan. He noted that the work of ASAN service was highly assessed by Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service Jean-Christophe Belliard during his visit to Azerbaijan. The EU has already supported ABAD projects, in particular in the Masalli district, and the fact that a farmer can supply own products to major chains of stores, demonstrates importance of such projects, because without them, it would have been much more difficult for rural producers to sell their products, said Jankauskas. He added that the EU, when participating in such projects, aims to disclose huge potential of Azerbaijans districts, the productivity of which is currently lower than could have been. The level of districts productivity in various countries differs from the capitals productivity level, however, the task is to increase regional productivity, and both economy of Azerbaijan and the countrys producers will benefit from this, he noted. On Dec. 13, a document of a joint project to support family business facilities in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic zone was signed by representatives of the EU, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Program. Up to 30 families in Azerbaijans Sheki-Zagatala economic region will receive support for the development of family business facilities within the project. The project aims at developing family business in Azerbaijans villages. In total, $1.074 million were allocated for the implementation of the project. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.13 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The OPEC deal to cut oil production has exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo at the 2nd High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue in Beijing. He noted that developing constructive relations with all stakeholders in the energy industry is an utmost priority for OPEC. The course of time has repeatedly shown that no single actor or agency acting alone can resolve all of the issues which the energy industry will face, added the OPEC secretary general. I am delighted to say that the consequences of our historic cooperation have exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations. The market rebalancing process is well underway, supported by historically high levels of conformity by participating countries, said Barkindo. He pointed out that commercial oil stocks in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) fell further in November and the difference to the latest five-year average has been reduced by around 200 million barrels since the beginning of this year. Investments and confidence are returning to the industry and a spirit of collaboration, equity and transparency infuse OPECs relations with its non-OPEC oil producing partners, added Barkindo. Earlier, OPEC announced that it, along with Russia and several other non-OPEC producers, had reached an agreement to extend its production deal for a further nine months. This would shift the expiration date of the agreement from March to the end of 2018. The agreement is on the same terms as those agreed in November last year. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.13 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The United States will continue to support the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria (IGB) project, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in his remarks on The U.S. and Europe: Strengthening Western Alliances. The United States will continue to support European infrastructure projects, such as LNG-receiving facilities in Poland and the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria pipeline, to ensure that no country from outside Europes Energy Union can use its resources or its position in the global energy market to extort other nations, he said. Tillerson pointed out that enhancing European energy security by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, diverse, and secure supplies of energy is fundamental to national security objectives. The United States is liberalizing rules governing the export of liquefied natural gas and US-produced crude, and were eager to work with European allies to ensure the development of needed infrastructure like import terminals and interconnecting pipelines to promote the diversity of supply to Europe, added the US Secretary of State. IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets. The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas. The projects cost is estimated at around 240 million euros. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Azerbaijani oil contractors may take part in the implementation of projects to develop Kazakhstans oil fields, a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend. In particular, Azerbaijani contractors may be involved in the development of Kazakhstan's biggest fields, in particular, Karachaganak and Kashagan, the source said. According to the source, this issue was outlined in the road map adopted during the meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in Baku on December 7. Currently, discussions on cooperation are being conducted among the Azerbaijani Ministry of Energy, the countrys State Oil Company SOCAR, the Kazakh Ministry of Energy and the countrys national oil company KazMunaiGas. Karachaganak is one of the biggest fields in the world. Its oil reserves amount to 1.2 billion tons, gas reserves - 1.35 trillion cubic meters. Kashagan is one of the biggest fields in the world. Its total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels. Some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Statoil company intends to continue and expand partnership with Azerbaijan in the future, Fawad Quraishi, Norways Statoil Country Manager in Azerbaijan, said. Quraishi made the remarks at the meeting with Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov in Baku, the Azerbaijani Energy Ministry said in a message Dec. 13. According to the message, Quraishi congratulated Shahbazov on his appointment to the post of Azerbaijani energy minister. "I am sure that the ties between Azerbaijan and Statoil will strengthen, Quraishi said. Azerbaijan is one of the most important countries for Statoil. The company's participation in the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil fields and in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project, the involvement in exploration work at Karabakh, Ashrafi and Dan Ulduzu fields testifies to the successful cooperation, which we are very pleased with." In his turn, Shahbazov appreciated Statoil's activity on the use of advanced experience, new technologies and attraction of investments in the Azerbaijani oil and gas sector since the first years of the countrys independence. "This cooperation is beneficial for both sides, Shahbazov said. The projects related to the exploration and development of new fields will ensure a long-term partnership between Statoil and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Energy Ministry will continue to render necessary support for the company's activity." Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.13 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: In November, OPEC crude production decreased by 133,000 barrels per day to average 32.45 million barrels per day (mb/d), the cartel said in its December Oil Market Report, citing secondary sources. Crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, while production mainly declined in Angola, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and UAE, according to the report. Based on the current global oil supply/demand balance, OPEC crude in 2017 is estimated to stand at 32.8 mb/d, some 0.6 mb/d higher than the 2016 level. In 2018, OPEC crude is forecast at 33.2 mb/d, an increase of 0.3 mb/d over the 2017 level, said the cartel. Preliminary data indicates that global oil supply increased by 0.84 mb/d to average 97.44 mb/d in November 2017 compared with the previous month. Preliminary November supply data shows an increase in non-OPEC supply (including OPEC NGLs) by 0.98 mb/d to average 64.90 mb/d. This was mainly driven by the US, Canada, Norway, UK and Brazil, according to OPEC report. The share of OPEC crude oil in total global production fell slightly by 0.4 percentage points to total 33.3 percent in November, compared with 33.7 percent in the previous month, said the cartel. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.13 By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend: Kazakhstan has recorded growth in production of detergents following a long period of decline. During the 10 months of 2017, the output reached 4,200 tons, which is 10 percent compared to the same period in 2016, energyprom.kz reports. The figure for January-October of 2016 was 8.6 percent below than in the same period of 2015. Despite the growth in production, the share of Kazakh producers in the market is too small - only 4.2 percent in the three quarters of 2017. The imports, however, covered 95.8 percent of demand, compared to 95.6 percent in the same period last year. A growth is also observed in demand, as the sales of detergents in the domestic market increased by 23.2 percent during the year. The situation with soap production is similar, as the output volumes increased by 35.1 percent in January-September compared to the same period of 2016, but this is still only 22.9 percent of the demand. The domestic demand increased by 17.3 percent during the year. The high volume of import also pressures prices. So, for example, with an average rise in price of non-food products by 9.2 percent a year, the price for toilet soap in November in stores and bazaars rose by 10.2 percent year-on-years. However, the price for washing powder cost 410 tenge per half-kilogram package - only 4.6 percent more than a year earlier. The official exchange rate for Dec. 13 is 334.85 KZT / USD. Government of Kyrgyzstan decided to give Uzbekistan land plots in Issyk-Kul, where 4 resorts are located, for a temporary use. Prime Minister Sapar Isakov signed the resolution on December 13, AKI press reports. The decision was taken in accordance with the agreement on eternal friendship between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan dated 24 December 1994, the government statement said. The document is aimed at development of tourism and attracting direct investments. 4 objects in Issyk-Kul regio -- Bosteri, Altyn Jai (former Rakhat), Ene Sai (former name Dilorom) and Buston resorts -- are being given back to Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan appropriated the resorts in 2016 after the failed debt repayment. According to the document, the land plots where these resorts are located will be provided to Uzbekistan for a temporary use and Uzbekistan side undertakes to invests in these resorts to make them the 3-4 star hotels with at least 80% of Kyrgyz employees. In response, Uzbekistan will withdraw its claims from international arbitral proceedings and settles all outstanding disputes peacefully. The Income Tax thinks that bitcoins, cryptocurrency of the virtual world, is becoming a mode for laundering money. By Meetu Jain: From a cost of Rs 23000 per bitcoin before demonetisation to Rs 10 lakh now. Bitcoins are clearly the currency to vote for as the Income tax is fast realising. But are bitcoins, cryptocurrency of the virtual world, becoming a mode for laundering money. The Income Tax thinks so and on cue raided Bitcoin exchanges across the country on Wednesday. advertisement Nine exchanges were raided under the command of the Bengaluru investigation wing. Surveys were conducted in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Gurugram, since early morning. The survey is being conducted for "gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and traders, transaction undertaken by them, identity of counterparties, related bank accounts used, among others," said Income tax officials. The survey teams, sources said, are armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big action against them in the country. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause of concern among central bankers around the world for quite a while now. The RBI says bitcoins are a commodity and not a currency and need to be regulated accordingly. The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins. The Income tax is also looking at whether crypto currencies should be declared in income tax returns. And the worry for security agencies is that e-wallets are virtually undetectable and can therefore be used for funding terrorism. Cyber experts are also pointing to other uses of cryptocurrency, like political funding. Delhi police officials say there have been cases of extortion using bitcoins. The East District last month stumbled across a fraud of Rs 2 crore using bitcoins where one company accused the other of not honouring its word in providing the virtual currency after taking the money. In March, the Minister of Finance of India had constituted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of VCs both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies. --- ENDS --- Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Nigar Guliyeva Trend: A meeting of Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev is taking place at the Durmen Residence in Tashkent. The sides are expected to discuss prospects for the development of Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations, as well as other topical issues between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Jeenbekov has arrived in Tashkent on an official visit at the invitation of the Uzbek president. Jeenbekov visited the Islam Karimov Scientific and Educational Memorial Complex in Tashkent. It is expected that a joint statement of the two presidents will be adopted, and a package of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents aimed at futher strenghening and expanding bilateral relations in various fields will be signed following the visit. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 13 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: In 2017, Uzbekistan allocated 49.3 billion soums for construction and reconstruction of medical and social institutions, which is twice as much as a year earlier. These data were given during a meeting on healthcare sector development, chaired by President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. During the meeting, Mirziyoyev noted evident changes in healthcare sector, the president's press service reported. This year, Uzbekistan has set up 793 round-the-clock rural family clinics housing emergency medical centers and day hospitals. Special attention is paid to medical and social services. The provision of needy people with rehabilitation devices increased by 90 percent. The provision of wheel chairs, hearing aids and other means increased twofold. The funds allocated for purchase of medicines and medical products increased by 3.5 times to 821 billion soums. The volume of foreign investments attracted to healthcare sector is growing. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani submitted the budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins on March 20, 2018, to the parliament. Rouhani said that the budget bill has taken into account the main demands of voters in the May presidential election, namely plans to create employment, accelerate economic progress, reduce poverty, and stimulate private sector activities. He made the remarks in the Iranian parliament Dec. 10, while outlining the characteristics of the proposed budget bill, the state-run IRINN TV reported. Next year's national budget bill is based on an oil price of $55 per barrel and a projected average exchange rate of 35,000 rials to the US dollar for the fiscal year. The overall budget ceiling is estimated at about 11,940 trillion rials, with government spending accounted for 4,290 trillion rials. Meanwhile, the administration earmarked government spending for the current fiscal year (started March 2017) of 3,710 trillion rials. About 1,280 trillion rials of revenues via taxes are forecasted for the next fiscal year, 120 trillion rials more year on year. Also some 1,010 trillion rials of oil and oil products revenues are forecasted for next fiscal year, 120 trillion less compared to the current fiscal year. The administration has decreased allocated funds for the development projects in the next year's budget by 15 percent. The budget bill maintains a cap on monthly subsidy payments to public and allocates part of the Subsidy Reform spending to health care and reduction of poverty. The value of the cash subsidies payment to the households has decreased to 230 trillion rials in the draft bill. The figure for current year is 420 trillion rials. Iran's subsidy reform plan is aimed at easing the pressure on state finances by cutting tens of billions of dollars from government subsidies on food and fuel. The government pays cash to citizens as compensation for increased prices by cutting subsides. According to the internal regulations of the Iranian parliament, the administration should present the annual budget bill by December 5 each year for review and approval. The lawmakers have ten days for discussions on the bill in the subcommittees of the Parliament, which will then review lawmakers' suggestions and finalize a report to a parliamentary ad hoc committee reviewing the budget within 15 days. The committee should discuss the budget bill within 15 days and provide its final report for a second reading in the open session of the Parliament. Parliamentarians will then confer the final bill. Once the parliamentarians endorse the governments proposed budget bill, it will go to the Guardian Council, the constitutional supervisory body, for ratification before becoming law. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11 By Fatih Karimov Trend: An Austrian energy firm, will take part in development studies of Iran's Susangerd oil field as sub-contactor. Austria's HOT Engineering signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IDRO Oil, a subsidiary of Irans government-owned IDRO (Industrial Development & Renovation Organization), for carrying out the studies on oilfield and submit the study results within 6 months, IDRO said. Under the deal, the IDRO Oil and Austrian side will prepare a master development plan (MDP) for Susangerd fields development. Last May, IDRO signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to carry out studies for development and increasing oil recovery rate of Susangerd, Cheshmeh-Khosh and West Paydar oil fields in partnership with a reputable international company. Mansour Moazzami, managing director of the IRDO said last July that, after studies, IDRO will sign a contract for development and exploration of Susangerd oil field as well, putting the investment value for the project at $800 million to $900 million. Nasrollah Zarei, managing director of IDRO Oil, said that the Austrian HOT Engineering has been chosen as international consultant, through a tender. He added that after confirmation of the NIOC, technical information for completing the studies and preparing oil recovery rate methods (IOR , EOR) will be submitted to the Austrian company. Susangerd oilfield, which was discovered in 2009, is estimated to hold more than 6 billion barrels of in-place oil reserves. It is planned that 30,000 barrels of oil to be extracted from the field on a daily basis. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to strongly condemn the US decision on recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It is necessary to strongly condemn, through the OIC, the US decision on recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital as well as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, he told an extraordinary summit of the OIC on Wednesday in the Turkish city of Istanbul. The meeting was convened and chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this morning. The recent decision by the US made it clear that the US is only seeking to secure the maximum interests of Israel and has no respect for the legitimate rights of Palestinians, Rouhani added. Rouhani further urged the Islamic countries to put differences aside and unite in order to help Palestine. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that the Muslim world stands with Palestinians. Zarif, who is accompanying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Turkey to attend an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), made the remarks on Wednesday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier during the day addressing the OIC summit called on Muslims to unite against Israel, expressing Irans preparedness to cooperate with Islamic countries to defend the rights of Palestinian. The meeting was convened and chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this morning following the US decision on recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian Intelligence Ministry has seized the fake money making equipment in the western province of Kermanshah, authorities said. The officials have discovered a considerable amount of fake money, special papers for printing money and printers in the hideout of the forgers, Intelligence Ministry said on its website. The report added that the forgers printed a considerable amount of fake money and transferred them to surrounding provinces as well as the capital city Tehran over the past several months. According to the report, organized crime groups have used the fake money produced by the forgers in Kermanshah. Several individuals linked to the forgers and the heads of the group were arrested following the intelligence operation. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Fuad Aslanov Trend: Starting from January 1, 2018, a paragraph of the protocol On the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC) will come into force in Armenia. It says that the principle of exhaustion of the exclusive right for a trademark is applied on the territory of the EAEC member states. This implies prohibiting the import of any goods from a third country to Armenia without the consent of the trademark owner. For instance, if an Armenian citizen buys a car abroad with the aim to sell it in Armenia, he will not be allowed to import the car at the border checkpoint. Armenian media are worried that this may lead to numerous negative consequences. Trademark owners can easily prohibit such kind of goods imports, and this will undoubtedly lead to a rise in the price of goods in Armenia. Therefore, many people in the country express dissatisfaction with Armenias membership in the EAEC. When our country was pushed into the EAEC, the power and its supporters in the media and expert community were ranting about the advantages of Armenias membership in this union, saying we would receive huge investments from Russia and Kazakhstan, lower prices for gas, oil products, food products and basic goods, including bread and dairy products, says Armenian Report. However, this did not happen and the situation in Armenia has not improved unemployment, food prices increased in the country and Yerevan did not receive large investments from Moscow. After Armenia signed the agreement on a comprehensive and expanded partnership with the European Union on November 24, Armenians again began to pin hope for foreign investments. However, their hope, most likely, is doomed to failure. The official statistics say that during the first nine months of this year, the net inflow of foreign investments into the Armenian economy was negative -$1.78 million. This figure was positive in the same period last year, amounting to $59.3 million. Thus, Armenia is losing capital rather than receiving it. We were waiting, but did not receive foreign investments neither being in the EAEC nor in advance of signing the agreement with the EU, although our authorities promised that by cooperating with both the EAEC and the EU Armenia would become an attractive market for foreign investment. Nothing like this happened, the Armenian media wrote. The obvious reason for this is the monopolistic nature of the Armenian economy and comprehensive corruption reigning there. Almost all spheres of the countrys economy are monopolized by a group of oligarchs. For instance, the supply of sugar in Armenia is controlled by the MP from the Republican Party Samvel Aleksanyan, former Major-General of Justice Migran Pogosyan imports bananas. The spheres of the economy are divided among the oligarchs who are close to the Armenian president. In this regard, it is not surprising that foreign investors, even wealthy Armenians living abroad, do not want to invest in Armenia. Those who were deceived by the Armenian authorities and invested in the countrys economy, have already realized their mistake and now they are in a hurry to withdraw the invested capital from the monopolized and corrupt Armenian economy. Therefore, it is unlikely that the outflow of investment capital from Armenia will stop in the near future. The United States is seeking a US$250 million cut to the core budget of the United Nations for 2018-2019, on top of US$200 million in savings already proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, diplomats said Tuesday, AFP reports. The budget is under negotiations in a General Assembly committee which is expected to adopt it before the end of December. Guterres has proposed capping the UN biennial budget at US$5.4 billion, shaving off US$200 million from the 2016-2017 budget. Two diplomats told AFP that the United States had put forward a proposal for an additional US$250 million reduction - a five per cent cut that another diplomat said would be nearly impossible to achieve. The United States is the UN's number one financial contributor, providing 22 per cent of the core budget. Diplomats said the proposed US budget cuts could target political missions in Libya and Afghanistan as well as the office for Palestinian rights and communication services. The UN mission to the United Nations declined to comment. There was no immediate UN reaction. The European Union has also put forward a proposal to seek an additional US$170 million in savings from the budget. Two Reuters journalists are missing in Myanmar, with local media suggesting they have been detained by police. The international news agency told the BBC they "have filed a missing person's report and are doing everything we can to locate them". The two journalists are named as Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. Reports say they were held near Yangon late on Tuesday. Myanmar has seen increasing curbs on press freedom, especially on issues around the powerful military. According to local paper Frontier Myanmar, the two were arrested on the outskirts of the commercial capital after being found in possession of military reports and a map of a location in northern Rakhine state. Reports say they have been held under the Official Secrets Act. If found guilty they could be jailed for up to 14 years, The Irrawaddy said. Rakhine has been the site of months of conflict, with government troops in the Buddhist-majority country accused of targeting the Muslim Rohingya population. Violence broke out on 25 August when Rohingya militants launched attacks on police posts in the state, killing 12 security personnel. More than half a million Rohingya have since fled the violence to neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar (also called Burma) has been widely condemned by the international community for its brutal crackdown. Journalists' access to the affected areas has been tightly controlled by the military. In November, two foreign journalists were arrested while local journalists describe "a climate of fear" returning to the country's independent media. By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) India is discussing setting up refineries and LNG plants in Indonesia, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. In an attempt to increase its presence in its eastern neighbourhood, India is selling diesel to Bangladesh via rail. "Recently, we have dispatched the first consignment of diesel to Myanmar," he said at India-ASEAN Partnership@25 conference here. "We are currently in consultation with Indonesia for partnering in the refining and LNG sector." advertisement He, however, did not give details. Stating that Indias presence in the ASEAN region has been historic, he said one of the countrys oldest overseas oil and gas fields was acquired in 1988 in Vietnam. "We also have oil and gas assets and equity in gas pipeline in Myanmar. Today, we have a growing engagement with ASEAN region in the hydrocarbon sector," he said. ASEAN region, he said, is also a source of crude oil and LNG to meet Indias hydrocarbon requirement. Last year, India imported 6 million tonnes of crude oil from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, accounting for 2.8 per cent of the total crude oil imports, which is an increase of 12 per cent from the year before. It also imported 1.45 million tonnes of LNG mainly from Singapore and Malaysia accounting for 7 per cent of the total LNG imported. India also imported one million tonnes of petroleum products and some quantities of LPG from the region, he said. Pradhan said there is a healthy collaboration between oil majors Indian Oil Corporation and Petronas of Malaysia. The two companies, he said, are working in India and third country. The Malaysian national oil company is a reliable partner in technology. "Our oil marketing companies are also in the process of increasing their foot prints in the retail marketing segment in the ASEAN countries," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, has invited heads of ASEAN countries next month. "It is our tradition that we call foreign dignitaries on the occasion of our Republic Day. First time since independence heads of ten countries would be visiting the country," he said. India and ASEAN together represent one-fourth of worlds total population. "It is our endeavour to work together. We have shared culture and long standing economic ties. If you work together it will have great impact on the worlds economy," he said. ASEAN is Indias 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2 per cent of its total trade. Investment flows are also substantial both ways, with ASEAN accounting for about 12.5 per cent of investment flows into India since 2000. advertisement FDI inflows into India from ASEAN between April 2007- March 2015 were about USD 32 billion. Whereas FDI outflows from India to ASEAN countries, from April 2007 to March 2015 was about USD 38 billion. "The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has been completed with the entering into force of the ASEAN-India Agreements on Trade in Service and Investments on July 1, 2015," Pradhan said. PTI DP ANZ MR --- ENDS --- A warming, rapidly changing Arctic is the "new normal" and shows no signs of returning to the reliably frozen region of the past. This is according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Report Card, BBC reports. Director of the administration's Arctic Researcher Program, Dr Jeremy Mathis, said the region did a great service to the planet - acting as a refrigerator. "We've now left that refrigerator door open," he added. Dr Mathis was speaking at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans, where Noaa presented its annual summation of Arctic science. Starving polar bear: The 'face of climate change'? This is the 12th report the administration has produced. And although it pointed to "a few anomalies" in a recent pattern of warming in the Arctic region, Dr Mathis said: "We can confirm, it will not stay in its reliably frozen state." "The thing I took that had the most resonance for me was we're able to use some really long-term records to put the Arctic change into context - going back more than 1,500 years. "What's really alarming for me is that we're seeing the Arctic is changing faster than at any rate in recorded history." The speed of change, Dr Mathis added, was making it very hard for people to adapt. "Villages are being washed away, particularly in the North American Arctic - creating some of the first climate refugees," he said. "And pace of sea level rise is increasing because the Arctic is warming faster than we anticipated even a decade ago." Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The US has already lost its status of mediator in the settlement of the conflict in Palestine, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. Abbas made the remarks in Istanbul Dec. 13 at the opening ceremony of the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Jerusalem. Abbas said that by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the US grossly violates the international law. "Muslim countries must express solidarity with Palestine," he said. Previously, US President Donald Trump proclaimed that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital after the end of the War of Independence in 1949. In 1967, after the Six Days War, it seized East Jerusalem and united it with the West Jerusalem, but the UN did not recognize this. Embassies of countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel are located mainly in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Ramat Gan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The Israeli Defense Forces thwarted two allegedly Palestinian rocket attacks launched from Gaza Strip, according to an IDF spokesperson, Sputnik reported. The rockets were "successfully intercepted," IDF said in a tweet. Residents in southern Israel were alerted to a siren indicating rockets were on their way, according to social media users, specifically in the town of Sderot. At least two people have been killed after a shooting on the Penn State Beaver campus, CBS Pittsburgh reported. Pennsylvania State Police say the shooting is being investigated as a murder suicide. Troopers say an employee at Penn State Beaver was shot near her car by her estranged husband. Police say the estranged husband got her to go outside and then he shot her in the parking lot before he shot and killed himself. No names have been released and no students were injured. Penn State Beaver issued an alert just before 4 p.m. Wednesday that shots were fired, adding that the situation is contained and they say there is no threat at this time. It asks students and faculty to avoid the Student Union building and food services area. The school is closed until further notice. Penn State Beaver is a campus of Pennsylvania State University in Center Township. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Tuesday in Istanbul with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of an emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over the Jerusalem issue, TASS informs referring to Sabah daily. Talks were focused on Washingtons decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The status of Jerusalem is one of the key problems in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel occupied its eastern part during the 1967 war. It insists that Jerusalem is the "eternal and indivisible" capital of Israel. Meanwhile, the Palestinians want to make the eastern part the capital city of their own state. US President Donald Trump said in the White House on December 6 time was ripe for the official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He instructed the Department of State to start preparations for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Mass poisoning among university students happened in the Turkish province of Rize in the north-east of the country, Turkish media reported Dec. 13. According to the latest report, the poisoning affected 473 students. The report said the mass poisoning occurred following a dinner in the hostel of the University of Rize the day before. The students were hospitalized and now their condition is assessed as fair. A criminal case has been initiated, investigation is underway. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Saudi Arabia is not represented at the highest state level at the emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jerusalem being held in Istanbul, the Turkish media reported Dec. 13. Saudi Arabia is represented by minister for OIC affairs. Heads of state of other OIC member countries are taking part in the summit. Previously, US President Donald Trump proclaimed that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital after the end of the War of Independence in 1949. In 1967, after the Six Days War, it seized East Jerusalem and united it with the West Jerusalem, but the UN did not recognize this. Embassies of countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel are located mainly in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Ramat Gan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu KYODO NEWS - Dec 13, 2017 - 22:08 | All, Urgent, Japan A window fell from a U.S. military transport helicopter onto the grounds of an elementary school in Okinawa on Wednesday, triggering renewed concern in the prefecture that hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan. The 1-square-meter metal-framed window, weighing about 7.7 kilograms, dropped from the CH-53E chopper while some 60 students were taking physical education classes in the playground of a school in the city of Ginowan, located just outside U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, local officials said. According to the school, the students ran to a nearby building after the incident, some of them crying. A boy in the fourth grade was hit in the arm with gravel thrown up as the window frame struck the ground, the local police and other sources said. There were no obvious marks on him, however. It is "a miracle" that the incident did not cause any serious injuries to students, said Etsuko Kyan, the principal of the Futenma Daini Elementary School. She said the children are so upset that the school cannot resume physical education classes anytime soon. The U.S. Marine Corps apologized for the incident and Brig. Gen. Paul Rock, commanding general of Marine Corps installations in the Pacific, told the Okinawa prefectural government that all the CH-53Es that belong to the Futenma base have been grounded for safety checks. Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga reacted sharply to the incident, the latest in a series of mishaps involving U.S. military aircraft based in Futenma. "The safety of children should come first. It is unforgivable that it dropped in the middle of the playground," he told reporters as he visited the site. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the incident "stirred concern" among the people of the island prefecture. The window, apparently acrylic, along with its metal frame fell onto the playground of the elementary school around 10:10 a.m. The nearest student was only about 5 meters away, according to a group of city assembly members who went to the site. Shattered pieces of the window were scattered at the site, while parents, worried about their children, rushed to the school. The students in the playground at the time were in the second and fourth grades. The Defense Ministry's local bureau told Okinawa Deputy Gov. Moritake Tomikawa that the window had fallen from the left side of the helicopter's cockpit. The CH-53E is a large transport helicopter, which can carry up to 55 personnel in addition to seven crew members. Tomikawa also met Rock and called for emergency checks of all the U.S. military aircraft deployed in the prefecture and the suspension of their flights until the checks are complete. The incident occurred less than a week after a small cylindrical object was found on the roof of a nursery school in Ginowan, with local government and the school officials believing it fell from a U.S. military aircraft. The U.S. Marine Corps has admitted the object was part of a CH-53 helicopter but denied that it fell off during flight. Given the conflicting opinions, the nursery school has received dozens of telephone calls and emails criticizing it for "telling a lie" or "trying to make up a story." Takehiro Kamiya, the nursery school's principal, said Tuesday, "I don't want the prefectural and central governments to accept without question what the U.S. military says. I want people on the mainland to think of this as their problem." The Japanese and U.S. governments struck an accord in 1996 on the return of land used for the Futenma base after public anger over the 1995 rape of a local girl by three American servicemen. But progress has been slow, with many locals opposed to the current plan to relocate the base within Okinawa. Under the plan, the Futenma base is expected to be moved from a densely populated area of Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal district of Nago. Okinawans are frustrated by noise, crimes and accidents linked to U.S. bases. Safety concerns were recently rekindled by a series of accidents involving U.S. Marines Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and another CH-53E helicopter belonging to the Futenma base. On the same day a year ago, one Osprey crash-landed off the coast of Nago in Okinawa, with two of the five crew members injured. In 2004, a CH-53D helicopter from the Futenma base crashed at a university in Ginowan, injuring three crew members. By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) Eyeing to play a more pro active role in the Indo-Pacific, India is expected to push for a deeper strategic cooperation with ASEAN to balance the China- dominated power dynamics in the region when the two sides hold talks here next month. A range of key issues including effectively tackling threat of terrorism, boosting maritime security cooperation and enhancing connectivity will be the other areas of deliberations at the India-ASEAN commemorative summit to be held on January 25, sources said. advertisement They said there is no friction point between India and ASEAN over formation of the proposed quadrilateral coalition comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia which is seen as a move to counter Chinas expansionist behaviour in the Indo- Pacific region. All the 10 ASEAN member countries have already confirmed that their participation at the summit as well as at the Republic Day celebrations will be at the level of heads of state, they said. The summit is being hosted by India to celebrate 25 years of India-ASEAN engagement. The sources, while referring to the evolving security situation in the Indo-Pacific, said India supports the ASEANs centrality and the blocs unity in the regional security architecture, in the wake of "emergence" of China. They also said, at the same time India believes there must be a balancing factor in the regional security architecture when there have been competing claims of various countries in maritime disputes, in a clear reference to South China Sea issue. The sources said Indias benign presence in the Indo- Pacific region would be a welcome one considering its historical and civilisational links with the resource rich region. Indias presence definitely helps balance the power dynamics in the region, they said. A number of ASEAN member countries have territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea. Widening the security cooperation under the proposed quadrilateral coalition, officials of India, the US, Japan and Australia had held extensive talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manila for pursuing common interests in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. The sources said India wants to see further deepening of ties between India and ASEAN in the strategic and political spheres, besides rekindling its focus on "commerce, connectivity and culture" with the bloc. While attending the India-ASEAN summit in Manila last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited the leaders of the 10 South East Asian countries to attend Indias next Republic Day celebrations as well as participate at the commemorative summit marking 25th anniversary of the countrys ties with the bloc. Modi is also expected to have separate bilateral meetings with all ASEAN leaders. India has also invited groups from all the ASEAN countries for performance on themes based on Ramayana as it reflected Indias civilisational links with the bloc. advertisement The ties between India and ASEAN have been on an upswing, particularly in the areas of trade and investment. The ASEAN region along with India together comprises combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over USD 3.8 trillion. Investment from ASEAN to Indian has been over USD 70 billion in the last 17 years accounting for more than 17 per cent of Indias total FDI. Indias investment in ASEAN during the same period has been more than USD 40 billion. India had hosted an India-ASEAN commemorative summit in December 2012 to mark 20 years of engagement between the two sides. The sources said India is the only dialogue partner of ASEAN with which it has agreed to hold a second such commemorative summit. A number of major countries including the US, Russia and China are dialogue partners of ASEAN. PTI MPB ZMN --- ENDS --- A 99-million-year-old tick encased in amber with a feathered dinosaur is the best evidence scientists have about what these bloodsucking insects feasted on millions of years ago, according to a new study published in Nature Communications on Tuesday. Ticks, as we know them today, are pesky parasites that feed on the blood of mammals and birds. Theyre also a resilient insect that existed long before the appearance of mammals, leading scientists to ask the question: Whose blood did they feed on before mammals? Amber, hardened tree resin, from a well-known deposit in Myanmar is providing new clues. Scientists, including Ricardo P?rez-de la Fuente, from Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and David Grimaldi, from the American Museum of Natural History, examined the amber samples and found a tick grasping onto a feathered dinosaur. Here, we report direct and indirect evidence in 99 million-year-old Cretaceous amber showing that hard ticks and ticks of the extinct new family Deinocrotonidae fed on blood from feathered dinosaurs, according to the studys abstract. In another piece of amber, two ticks are attached to microscopic hairs that are similar to hairs found on a type of a beetle larvae, which today are found in birds nests. The most likely scenario is that the two ticks got entangled with the hairs when visiting the nest of a feathered dinosaur, P?rez-de la Fuente, one of the studys lead authors, told Science. Another piece of amber included a tick after feeding, however the blood in the tick could not be analyzed because it was contaminated, according to NPR. Prior to this study, scientists thought that ticks may have fed on early amphibians, reptiles, or ancestors of mammals, according to paleontologist Ben Mans, who was not part of the study. Mans told NPR, The paper is a pleasant surprise. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Amazon.com Inc.s AMZN Amazon Web Services (AWS) is gradually expanding its presence in China. The online retail giant has entered into a partnership with Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology Co. Ltd. (NWCD) and has announced the launch of its second data center region in China. The second data center is located in the Ningxia autonomous region in central China. AWS Region is already available in China. The new opening will mark the second AWS Region (Ningxia) in China, operated by NWCD. This region will join the AWS China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet. Based in Ningxia, China, NWCD is a licensed datacenter and cloud services provider. It will join Sinnet, the operator of the AWS China (Beijing) Region, as AWSs second operating partner in China. Notably, Amazon, the worlds leading cloud platform, has underperformed the industry it belongs to on a year-to-date basis. The companys shares have gained only 55.5% compared with the industrys growth of 60.3%. More to the Headlines The recent launch is in response to increasing customer demand for AWS presence in the China region. The new AWS China (Ningxia) Region will comprise two separate AZs. These AZs are actually data centers located at distinct places within a single region but equipped to operate independently of other AZs. Although these remain interconnected over a low-latency network, their power sources, cooling and physical security are totally independent of one another. These factors contribute to lower down time and therefore increase efficiency for companies using cloud resources. Amazon believes that from now on, the new AWS China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD, will help in better serving the Chinese developers, startups, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and non-profit organizations. AWS Expansion Continues in the Asia-Pacific Region The company forayed into this region in 2010 with the opening of its first AWS Region in Singapore. Since then AWS has expanded its bases in Beijing, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, China and Tokyo. Story continues On a global basis, AWS is now accessible across 46 Availability Zones (AZs) through 17 technology infrastructure regions worldwide. These AZs enable businesses to save costs, accelerate innovation, expedite the time to market as well as expand their geographic presence within minutes. The new investment in the region will not only perk up the service for existing customers but also attract new businesses to the cloud. This has led Amazon to believe that Asia Pacific will be one of AWS's main regions in the long run. Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote Our Take AWS is into providing computing infrastructure like a utility, so companies are not required to maintain their own IT infrastructure. It facilitates the movement, which we have come to know as cloud computing. In the last reported third quarter, the AWS segment was up 11.8% sequentially and a massive 41.9% year over year with revenue share at nearly 10%. AWS is also the biggest public cloud infrastructure provider in the market, ahead of Google GOOGL, Microsoft MSFT, IBM Corp. IBM, VMware and many others. However, the speed at which businesses are moving to the cloud and increasing innovation in the space has intensified competition. Microsoft already operates a pair of cloud regions in China, with data centers in Shanghai and Beijing. Additionally, homegrown tech titans like Tencent and Alibaba also offer their own cloud computing services. Despite the increasing competition, we remain positive about AWS' growth prospects. Amazons continued efforts to launch new features, open more data centers globally and lower prices will give it a competitive advantage. Zacks Rank Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. * Blackstone building Japan-focused corporate buyout team * Bain's Toshiba chip deal is top PE-backed global deal this yr * Blackstone is raising its first Asian private equity fund By Junko Fujita and Kane Wu TOKYO/HONG KONG, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Blackstone Group has hired seasoned dealmaker Atsuhiko Sakamoto from Bain Capital to build a corporate buyout team in Japan in a bid to broaden its focus beyond property deals in the country, people with knowledge of the matter said. Sakamoto, who has been with Bain since 2007 and most recently as a managing director, focused on the tech, media and telecoms sectors, according to Bain's website. He was a senior executive at Bain whose Tokyo team worked on the biggest private equity-backed deal globally this year - the $18 billion purchase of Toshiba Corp's chip unit by a Bain-led consortium. The move by Sakamoto comes as private equity interest in Japan is growing, with many large companies expected to consider a series of spin-offs amid a government drive to improve corporate governance and boost shareholder returns. Japan-based private equity firms have raised a total of $4.8 billion so far this year, the highest since 2007 and tripling the amount of last year, according to data provider Preqin. Blackstone has till now focused on real estate in Japan. Its move to spread its focus comes as it is raising its first Asia-focused private equity fund with a target of at least $3 billion. In August, Blackstone announced the appointment of Katsuyuki Kuki as chairman and representative director for Japan. Sakamoto will build Blackstone's Japan-focused buyout team, the people told Reuters, with one saying further local hires are expected. Blackstone and Bain declined to comment. Sakamoto did not respond to several requests for comment. The people declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Bain has been among the more active private equity groups in Japan. Besides the Toshiba deal, it won shareholder support last week to complete its tender offer for advertising agency Asatsu-DK Inc in a $1.35 billion deal. Other western private equity firms are also increasing their dealmaking in Asia's second-largest economy. KKR has completed a series of acquisitions, including a $1.3 billion buyout of Hitachi Ltd's power tool unit in January, and is now looking to buy Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc in a $2.2 billion deal. Last month Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's largest brokerage, announced plans to relaunch a private equity business after dissolving the unit in 2014. The business plans to invest up to 100 billion yen ($883.00 million) in small and medium-sized companies. ($1 = 113.2500 yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita in Tokyo and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) BP plc BP has awarded British oilfield services company, Petrofac Ltd, a contract for central processing facility (CPF) at the Khazzan Phase 2 gas development in Oman. The contract is valued at approximately $800 million. The award closely follows on the heels of the Phase 1 CPF Khazzan project, which was awarded to Petrofac in February 2014 and was worth $1.4 billion. Phase 1 produced first gas on Sep 22, 2017. The project scope includes the addition of a third gas train with a capacity for handling 500 mmscfd (million standard cubic feet per day). Eventually, this will boost total production capacity from the CPF to 1,500 mmscfd. The Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) scope of work comprises liquid and compression trains and related infrastructure. Brownfield work to link the facilities is also a part of Phase 2 award. BP expects to drill about 300 wells over the lifetime of the Khazzan field. Moreover, the phases are estimated to yield about 10.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas resources. BPs presence in Oman dates back to 2007. BP is the lead partner in the Khazzan project with an interest of 60%. The remaining 40% is held by Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production. Khazzan gas field is the sixth and largest of seven new upstream projects for BP that was due to commence production in 2017. Price Performance Shares of the company have gained 13% compared with the industrys rally of 6.9% in the last three months. Zacks Rank & Key Picks BPcurrently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Other top-ranked players in the energy sector include Holly Energy Partners, LP HEP, SunCoke Energy Inc SXC and Northern Oil and Gas Inc NOG. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Holly Energy Partners, owner and operator of refined product pipelines and terminals, delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 57.14% in the preceding quarter. SunCoke Energy produces metallurgical coke in the United States. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 113.52% in the last four quarters. Northern Oil and Gas, based in Minnetonka, MN, is an independent energy company. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 175.00% in the last four quarters. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 SunCoke Energy, Inc. (SXC) : Free Stock Analysis Report BP p.l.c. (BP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (HEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By Geeta Mohan: Indian High Commissioner designate Ajay Bisaria arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday with his wife Bharati Chaturvedi. He crossed over on foot through the Wagah border and was welcomed on the other side by the Indian Deputy Chief of Mission in Islamabad, J.P. Singh and other officials of the Indian High Commission. He will formally take charge after he presents his credentials to Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain. advertisement Upon his arrival, he met and spoke to the media at Wagah-Attari border where he emphasised the need for "trust building" which is essential at a time when India and Pakistan relations are at a real low. "I have come with this hope that our future should be different from our past. We should work towards trust building which would lead to strengthening of ties between the two countries", he told the media. While talks have been suspended between the two sides because of the terror attacks carried out by terrorists who have sanctuaries in Pakistan, the Indian envoy spoke of the need to move forward with a "humane"approach. Pinning his hopes on the youth of both the nations he said, "We have to move forward and strengthen ties. There is a feeling especially among the youth to increase ties. We should endeavour to achieve that. We should have a people-centric, humane approach in our relations. We need to bring in new initiatives and take newer steps towards better ties." One of the biggest concerns for people in Pakistan has been the issue of visas. India has made its visa policy towards Pakistani citizens very stringent following the non-cooperation of the Pakistani establishment in reining in terror. To a question regarding easing of India's visa policy, Ajay Bisaria said, "We will try to make an effort to ease visa issues on humanitarian grounds. The ones who need visa on humanitarian grounds will get preference and we intend to make movement easy between the two nations." Ajay Bisaria who has also served in the Prime Minister's Office had once come to Pakistan in 2004 with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This is his second visit to Pakistan. Before this, he was India's ambassador to Poland. Pakistan never intended to interfere in India's internal politics: Abdul Basit on PM Modi's remark --- ENDS --- Coinbase, the leading U.S. platform for buying and selling major digital currencies, said twice on Tuesday that transactions in ethereum (Exchange: ETH=) were "temporarily disabled." In the morning New York time, Coinbase said buys and sells of ethereum and litecoin were temporarily disabled. That issue was resolved around noon ET. But by 2:04 p.m., Coinbase said on its status website that ethereum buys and sells were temporarily disabled again, before resolving the problem within 45 minutes. The company did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on the latest halt in transactions. Earlier, a spokesperson for Coinbase said in a statement that "the site is seeing high traffic volume at the moment and some users may be experiencing intermittent service outages." Ethereum seven-day performance Source: CoinMarketCap Coinbase's GDAX exchange website also said there is a "partially degraded service," as of 2:38 p.m. Ethereum briefly surged more than 23 percent Tuesday to a record high of $637.62, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin (Exchange: BTC=) spiked more than 5 percent to a high of $17,615.47, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index. "As an industry we are experiencing a massive increase in interest and adoption, and for most people Coinbase is the most accessible on-ramp," said Benjamin Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Citizen Hex, an ethereum-focused start-up backed by three Canadian venture funds."Scaling any software business is challenging, but scaling a business like Coinbase, which secures huge amounts of digital value, is extremely complex." "To date they have made all the right moves, and I'm sure they are being extremely cautious as they experience the largest wave of adoption that cryptocurrency has ever seen," Roberts said. The gains in ethereum followed news Monday that UBS is leading a project to use ethereum's technology to improve data quality as part of impending implementation of financial regulation in Europe called MiFID II. Barclays, Credit Suisse, KBC, SIX and Thomson Reuters are also participating in the project. With Tuesday's gains, ethereum is now up more than 7,500 percent from $8 at the start of this year, according to CoinMarketCap. "The rise you're seeing is a lot of speculation on the usefulness of ethereum," said Dan Ciotoli, a software engineer and blockchain analyst at Bespoke Invest. WATCH: Ethereum just topped $500 for the first time More From CNBC The president's eldest son will appear before congressional investigators on Wednesday , according to sources cited by Politico. The Associated Press also confirmed the meeting. The closed interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee marks the third round of questioning for Donald Trump Jr. , who met with the Senate Judiciary Committee in September and the House Intelligence Committee last week. The three committees are conducting independent probes of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Investigators reportedly asked Trump Jr. at both hearings about a conversation he had with his father, President Donald Trump , regarding the public response to a June 2016 meeting he attended at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. That initial statement failed to disclose that Trump Jr. had received promises of incriminating information about Hillary Clinton while setting up the meeting.The Washington Post reported that the president dictated the public statement about that meeting while aboard Air Force One, according to The Washington Post. Jay Sekulow, the president's attorney, has denied the Post's report, saying the president wasn't involved in drafting the public statement.Trump Jr. tweet: I met with the Senate Judiciary Committee today. I am thankful for their professionalism and courtesy. During the summer meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Trump Jr. told investigators that he did not recall the White House's role in crafting the public response , according to CNN. At last week's meeting with House Intel, Trump Jr. invoked attorney client privilege in denying to answer questions about his conversation with his father about the meeting.That response drew criticism from experts as well as Democrats on the panel."I don't believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present," Rep. Adam Schiff told Politico. Harry Litman, a former United States attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, told CNBC the justification was "comically over-aggressive."An attorney for Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.WATCH: Ex-Soviet counter intelligence officer attended Trump Jr. meeting The president's eldest son will appear before congressional investigators on Wednesday , according to sources cited by Politico. The Associated Press also confirmed the meeting. The closed interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee marks the third round of questioning for Donald Trump Jr. , who met with the Senate Judiciary Committee in September and the House Intelligence Committee last week. The three committees are conducting independent probes of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Investigators reportedly asked Trump Jr. at both hearings about a conversation he had with his father, President Donald Trump , regarding the public response to a June 2016 meeting he attended at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. That initial statement failed to disclose that Trump Jr. had received promises of incriminating information about Hillary Clinton while setting up the meeting. The Washington Post reported that the president dictated the public statement about that meeting while aboard Air Force One, according to The Washington Post. Jay Sekulow, the president's attorney, has denied the Post's report, saying the president wasn't involved in drafting the public statement. Trump Jr. tweet: I met with the Senate Judiciary Committee today. I am thankful for their professionalism and courtesy. During the summer meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Trump Jr. told investigators that he did not recall the White House's role in crafting the public response , according to CNN. At last week's meeting with House Intel, Trump Jr. invoked attorney client privilege in denying to answer questions about his conversation with his father about the meeting. That response drew criticism from experts as well as Democrats on the panel. "I don't believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present," Rep. Adam Schiff told Politico. Harry Litman, a former United States attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, told CNBC the justification was "comically over-aggressive." An attorney for Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment. WATCH: Ex-Soviet counter intelligence officer attended Trump Jr. meeting More From CNBC Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity, Alabama. And thank you for fighting for whats right, @GDouglasJones. And thank you to every volunteer who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and that worked tirelessly to make this happen. Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 13, 2017 Eni SpAs E successful drilling of the Tecoalli 2 well in Contractual Area 1 offshore Mexico encouraged the company to raise hydrocarbon yield estimate to 2 billion barrels from 1.4 billion barrels. This comprises about 90% oil while the rest is associated gas. The modification of the reservoir models of the Amoca and Mizton also contributed to the increase of estimate. The Tecoalli 2 well, located in the shallow waters of the Campeche Bay, lies about 200 kilometers west of Ciudad del Carmen, in water depth of 33 meters. The field is situated 24 kilometers from the Amoca field and 13 kilometers from the Mizton field. The well was drilled to reach a final depth of 4420 meters and struck about 40 meters of net oil pay in the Orca formation, featuring sandstone reservoirs of exceptional quality. Subsequently, the well was extended to the Cinco Presidentes formation exploratory target, discovering further net oil pay of 27 meters. A production test will be carried out, following which, the well will be temporarily abandoned. Eni proposes to submit the Development Plan (PoD) for Area 1 to Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH). Upon approval of the PoD, Eni will endorse the development. Consequently, production is anticipated to commence in first half 2019. Enis presence in Mexico dates back to 2006. The companys wholly-owned subsidiary Eni Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. was established in 2015. Eni has holdings in four exploration and production blocks, as operator, in the Sureste Basin. Area 1, wherein Eni has a holding of 100%, was obtained in 2015 along with the Ronda 1-Licitacion 2. In 2017, Eni obtained the other three blocks Block 7, Block 10, Block 14 where Eni holds 45%, 100% and 60%, respectively. Moreover, Enis upstream operations in other regions including Cyprus, Egypt, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Kenya are expected to generate profits in the future. Moreover, start-up of new upstream projects in Ghana, Angola and Indonesia will continue to support the companys oil production. Price Performance Shares of the company have gained 2.1% compared with the industrys rally of 6.8% in the last three months. Story continues Zacks Rank & Key Picks Eni carries a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the energy sector include Holly Energy Partners, LP HEP, SunCoke Energy Inc SXC and Northern Oil and Gas Inc NOG. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Holly Energy Partners, owner and operator of refined product pipelines and terminals, delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 57.14% in the preceding quarter. SunCoke Energy produces metallurgical coke in the United States. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 113.52% in the last four quarters. Northern Oil and Gas, based in Minnetonka, MN, is an independent energy company. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 175.00% in the last four quarters. Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars? Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research. It's not the one you think. See This Ticker Free >> 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 SunCoke Energy, Inc. (SXC) : Free Stock Analysis Report ENI S.p.A. (E) : Free Stock Analysis Report Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (HEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research First billionaires such as George Soros spoke out about the GOPs income tax plan. Now, its some of Americas most important trade partners who are raising the red flag on the U.S.s most recent tax proposal. On Monday, finance chiefs representing Europes five largest economies warned in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the tax plan may hurt international trade and break international treaties on double taxation. "It is important that the U.S. government's rights over domestic tax policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international obligations to which it has signed up," the letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned and seen by the Wall Street Journal. The letter was signed by U.K.s Philip Hammond, Spains Crist?bal Montoro, Germanys Peter Altmaier, Italys Pier Carlo Padoan, and Frances Bruno Le Maire. Concerned that U.S. businesses will gain a competitive edge on international markets once the tax proposal is enacted, the five finance heads mentioned certain provisions of both the House and Senate bills. They argued a base erosion provision in the Senate bill that aims to prevent corporations from moving profits abroad could also adversely hurt banks by treating cross-border transactions as non-tax deductible. Separately, the ministers also took issue with the House bills call for a 20% tax on payments made to a foreign subsidiary--arguing that it could allow taxation of non-U.S. companies. "We appreciate the views of the finance ministers. We are closely working with Congress as they finalize the legislation through the conference process," a Treasury spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. The House and Senate have both passed their own versions of the tax bill, and are now hoping to find a middle ground that can pass a final vote. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com A fire at the Baumgarten facility in eastern Austria after an explosion rocked the site, one of Europe's main gas pipeline hubs (AFP Photo/Tomas HULIK) Baumgarten an der March (Austria) (AFP) - A large explosion rocked one of Europe's main gas pipeline hubs on Tuesday, leaving one person dead and stoking concerns about the continent's winter supplies. Photos and videos on social media showed a huge tower of orange flames visible for miles around roaring out of the Baumgarten facility in eastern Austria. Police said that the blast at around 8:45 am (0745 GMT) killed one person and left 21 hurt, one of them with serious but not life-threatening injuries who was airlifted to hospital in Vienna. "I heard a huge explosion and thought at first it was a plane crash," photographer Tomas Hulik, a resident of a village over the border in Slovakia, told AFP. "Then I saw an immense ball of flame." Austrian police said the incident at the site, which is responsible for about a tenth of Europe's gas supply, was caused by a "technical" fault and that local authorities had begun an investigation. Some 200 firefighters took several hours to extinguish the blaze. The heat was so extreme that cars parked at the site partially melted. Baumgarten, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Vienna, is Austria's largest reception point for gas, the end-point for a number of pipelines from Russia, Norway and elsewhere. It receives some 40 billion cubic metres of gas annually and redistributes it onwards to other countries in Europe including to Germany and northern Italy. Armin Teichert, a spokesman for the site's operator Gas Connect Austria, said that the facility had been evacuated and put into "security mode". The material damage is "major," Teichert told AFP. - Italian emergency - He added that there could be interruptions in supply to Italy and Croatia, but nowhere else. Italy's government declared a state of emergency for its gas sector and said it would tap its underground reserves to ensure that customers were not affected. Russian gas giant Gazprom said it was "working on redistribution of gas flows and (doing) its best to secure uninterrupted gas supplies to the clients". Story continues A spokesman for Austrian gas firm OMV, which part-owns Gas Connect Austria, told Bloomberg that getting Baumgarten back to normal "isn't a question of hours, but days". The incident further spooked European energy markets a day after one of Britain's most important North Sea oil pipelines was closed because of a crack. Natural gas and power prices jumped in Europe, and Brent crude oil futures rose above $65 a barrel for the first time since June 2015. A cold snap in Britain and across Europe has also pushed up demand for gas and heating oil in recent days. burs-stu/dl Last month, former Facebook president Sean Parker expressed fears over what the social network is doing to our childrens brains. It was developed to be addictive, he said, describing Facebook as a social-validation feedback loop that exploited weaknesses in the human psyche. Now another Facebook alum has come out with deep regret over his involvement in the companys work. This time its venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebooks former head of user growth, who told the Stanford Graduate School of Business that he feels tremendous guilt over Facebooks divisive role in society, as exploited by Russian agents in last years U.S. election. He added that Facebook encourages fake, brittle popularity, leaving users feeling empty and needing another hit, and suggested that this vicious circle drives people to keep sharing posts that they think will gain other peoples approval. Palihapitiya, who is these days the CEO of Social Capital, made the remarks last month, but they were only picked up by the media this week. Even though we feigned this whole line of, like, There probably arent any really bad unintended consequences, I think in the back, deep, deep recesses of our minds, we kind of knew something bad could happen, he said. We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are. Palihapitiya raised the example of how rumors spread via WhatsApp in India led to the lynching of seven people. If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you, Palihapitiya advised his audience. If you push back on it, we have a chance to control it and rein it in. It is a point in time where people need a hard break from some of these tools and the things that you rely on. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, [but] misinformation, mistruth. He added that this is a global problem and not just about Russian ads. Story continues My solution is I just dont use these tools anymore, Palihapitiya said. I havent for years. Its created huge tension with my friendsI guess I kind of innately didnt want to get programmed. He also doesnt allow his children to use social networks, he added. In an unusual riposte, Facebook commented on Palihapitiyas words by noting that he has not worked there for six years, and Facebook was a very different company back then. As we have grown, we have realised how our responsibilities have grown too, it said. We take our role very seriously and we are working hard to improveWe are also making significant investments more in people technology and processeses, andas Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings callwe are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made. This article was updated to include Facebooks statement. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) has received its largest renewable energy order to date in Thailand, which will contribute to the country's goal to reach 40% of renewable energy in its energy mix by 2036. Specifically, GE Renewable Energy and GE Power recently announced agreements to provide 270 MW of wind energy capacity to Wind Energy Holding (a member of Thailand's KPN Group) for the Theparak Wind Farm in Central Thailand. GE Renewable Energy is set to provide a total of ninety 3.0-137 wind turbines with 156.5m hybrid towers, making those the tallest turbines it has ever installed outside of Europe. Pete McCabe, President & CEO of GE's Onshore Wind Business, said "Partnering with Wind Energy Holding and contributing to Thailand's largest Onshore Wind Farm is a terrific win for the whole GE team. Our 3.0-137 wind turbine with its 156.5m tower is ideal for the very specific wind conditions in Central Thailand and has the potential to contribute to reaching grid parity for onshore wind in the country." GE Power will supply the wind turbine's electric drive train with generators and pitch motors and will also supply the collector and grid interconnection substation packages, including high voltage switchgears, transformers, SCADA controls, telecommunications and power systems studies for the wind farm. The 270 MW of capacity will be installed in three phases of 90 MW each and is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2018. The scope of the project also includes a 15-year Full Service Agreement between Wind Energy Holding and GE Renewable Energy. Kovit Kantapasara, President & CEO of GE Thailand said, "This project is a great example of what is possible when we put the full power of GE to work in helping Thailand reach its renewable energy goals. By collaborating with experts across our wind and grid business, our customer will be able to implement a solution that ensures full integration from the turbines all the way to the local utility." Story continues On the ratings front, General Electric stock has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. In a report issued on December 8, Goldman Sachs analyst Joe Ritchie reiterated a Hold rating on GE. Separately, on November 21, Deutsche Bank's John G. Inch reiterated a Sell rating on the stock and has a price target of $15. According to TipRanks.com, which ranks over 7,500 financial analysts and bloggers to gauge the performance of their past recommendations, Joe Ritchie and John G. Inch have a yearly average loss of -2.3% and a return of 13.6% respectively. Ritchie has a success rate of 46% and is ranked #3811 out of 4722 analysts, while Inch has a success rate of 78% and is ranked #709. More recent articles about GE: Google will be opening a large new campus in Manhattan and doubling its New York City workforce to 14,000 over the next decade (AFP Photo/PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA) (AFP/File) Beijing (AFP) - Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among other innovations. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. "Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015," Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new centre, wrote in a blog post on Google's website. "We've already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead." Li noted that Chinese engineers formed the backbones of the winning teams in the past three ImageNet Challenges, an international AI competition to test which computing technology is better at recognising and categorising pictures. Chinese search engine Baidu's team was banned for a year for breaking the rules during the 2015 competition. The country's large population and strong mathematics and sciences education has nurtured a slew of engineering talent. Many land in Beijing's burgeoning AI tech startup scene, supported by universities and government-affiliated institutes. - Young talent - It is not hard to find AI talent in China, said Yuan Jirui of SeetaTech, one of the start-up's core team of founders from the Institute of Computer Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Story continues "There's a trend of AI talent in China being quite young," she said. "AI education is expanding to high schools and middle schools." SeetaTech uses deep learning to solve problems like detecting defects in factory products and finding faces in a crowd for public security organs. "Data fuels our AI engine," Yuan said. AI companies in China suck up personal data from the massive population and use it to train machine-learning algorithms -- but Google, locked out of the internet, has little user data to pull from in the country. For now it is focusing on making use of Chinese talent. Roughly half of its 600 employees in China are engineers working on global products, said company spokesman Taj Meadows. Its job board in China shows about a dozen openings in the AI field. The China centre will join Google's other research facilities outside of its Silicon Valley hub, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich. Google's search engine and many of its services are blocked by China's Great Firewall, but internet regulators have recently allowed access to its translation product, one that has made leaps and bounds in accuracy by incorporating the company's AI research. By PTI: By Harinder Mishra Jerusalem, Dec 13 (PTI) An inter-faith delegation from Bahrain, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, is on a five day visit to the Jewish state, drawing angry reactions from the Palestinians. Ten of the 24 members in the inter-faith delegation are Indians practising Hinduism, Sikhism and Budhhism, its leader Betsy Mathieson said. advertisement The visit comes at an extremely volatile time when Palestinians and the Arab world have been protesting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. "It is not a political visit and was planned much before this political development. We are here to pass on a message that we live peacefully in Bahrain. People of all faiths can co-exist there. We have not met any political leader during our stay in Israel," Chairman of the Hindu Temple in Bahrain Sushil Muljimal told PTI. "Everybody we have met here during our stay has met us with warmth and we have seen nothing but respect in their eyes," he said. Muljimals family built a Hindu temple in Bahrains capital Manama some 200 years ago and have been living in the Gulf country for almost 150-200 years. "Wed planned this trip many months ago and all the relevant reservations were also made several weeks ago. Well never let a political statement stop us. Politics and politicians can change at a heartbeat but our mission to spread coexistence doesnt change," Mathieson, who is from the This is Bahrain non-governmental organisation (NGO), said. She said that the delegation reflects the religious co- existence in Bahrain, citing the presence of Christians, Sunni Muslims, one Shiite, Hindu leaders, a Buddhist, a Sikh among others in the delegation. Mathieson also stressed that the delegation is non- political and was coordinated between two NGOs - This is Bahrain and Israels Somin Wiesenthal Centre (SWC). "We have also planned an inter-faith event in Mumbai starting January 24 next year," she said. Associate Dean of SWC Rabbi Abraham Cooper said that the visit was not "under the radar" and has been blessed by the Bahraini leadership. The visit should be viewed as a follow-up trip of a pledge by Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa to him and SWC dean Marvin Hier who visited Manama in February to allow his subjects to travel to Israel freely, Cooper said. "A delegation of Israeli business leaders is due to visit Bahrain next month in a follow up to the current visit to Jerusalem of a Bahraini inter-faith group," Copper was quoted as saying in a local media report. advertisement "The Bahrainis have approved it. It will be a Wiesenthal Center delegation. The idea is to establish some direct contacts, which are not political, but the idea is to start normal contacts," he told The Jerusalem Post. The delegations visit, however, has not gone down well with the Palestinians who have been protesting US President Donald Trumps controversial announcement recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last week. "They either are totally clueless or being deliberately provocative. I think the lesser of these two evils is that they are clueless," PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told the Post. "This whole lovey-dovey approach of were here to show tolerance. Then go home and show tolerance at home. Bahrain certainly cant boast of a lot of tolerance domestically," Ashrawi said as he condemned the visit. The Palestinian leader sharply criticised Bahrains poor human rights record in its treatment of the Shiite majority. "Theyve chosen a very inappropriate time to spread their message of tolerance. This is a time the whole world is centered on the future of Jerusalem after the American move to recognise it as Israels capital", Qais Abdul Kareem, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, reacted. advertisement "This was politically wrong from the beginning and it caused more anger because it came at a very inappropriate time," he said. Majority of the delegation members are expatriates, but it includes several native Bahrainis carrying the countrys passport. PTI HM CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- On Wednesday afternoon, astronomers will try to see if they can detect any radio signals coming from a strange object that recently hurtled past Earthand that almost certainly comes from another star system. If it really does come from outside the Solar System, ?Oumuamua (the name comes from the Hawaiian for messenger from afar arriving first) is the first interstellar object weve ever seen in our own star system. With a dark red color that suggests hundreds of millions of years worth of cosmic irradiation, the cigar-shaped object is moving too fastup to 196,000 miles per hourto be caught in the Suns gravity. ?Oumuamua is perhaps a quarter-mile long and far more elongated than asteroids are. It spins on its axis once every 7.3 hours or so. The object was first spotted in mid-October as it passed Earth (at a distance of 85 times that between us and the Moon), and last month NASA said it appeared to be made of rock and possibly metals. So, is ?Oumuamua natural or artificial? The former is of course more likely, but Breakthrough Listen, a project that is trying to find evidence of extraterrestrial life, is on the case. The project, funded by Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner, announced Monday that it was focusing its attention on the interstellar interloper. At 3 pm ET on Wednesday, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia will track Oumuamua across four radio bands, in search of some kind of signal. According to Listen, it should be possible for the Green Bank instrument to pick up a signal as weak as that from a cellphone. ?Oumuamuas presence within our solar system affords Breakthrough Listen an opportunity to reach unprecedented sensitivities to possible artificial transmitters and demonstrate our ability to track nearby, fast-moving objects, said Andrew Siemion, the director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center. Whether this object turns out to be artificial or natural, its a great target for Listen. When ?Oumuamua was initially observed by the University of Hawaiis Pan-STARRS1 telescope, it was first classified as a comet, then an asteroid. It now carries the designation 1I/?Oumuamuathe I stands for interstellar, and the 1 shows it is the first object ever to be defined as such. (Refiled to modify headline) By Tova Cohen TEL AVIV, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Reports that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is planning a restructuring involving mass layoffs in Israel sparked calls on Wednesday for a half-day general strike to be held in protest. The plan includes closing Teva's research and development centre in the coastal city of Netanya, selling its logistics centre in Shoham and cutting 3,300 jobs out of 6,430 nation-wide, the Israeli financial news website Calcalist reported. Teva, the world's largest generic drug maker which employs more than 56,000 people, did not comment on the details of the report. But it confirmed there was a restructuring plan that it would discuss in a 1300 GMT conference call on Thursday. Saddled with nearly $35 billion in debt since acquiring Allergan's Actavis generic drug business for $40.5 billion, Teva made a series of changes after Kare Schultz joined as its new chief executive on Nov. 1. Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said only that he was following the situation closely. Avi Nissenkorn, chief of the Histadrut labour federation, declared a half-day general strike for Sunday, the beginning of the Israeli work week. "The entire economy - from the (Ben Gurion) airport to the banks to the seaports to the municipalities to the government service to the health clinics - will stand until noon on Sunday in solidarity with Teva's employees," Nissenkorn told reporters. He predicted mass layoffs under the Teva restructuring plan, which he described as "ruinous" for a company that was long a symbol of Israeli enterprise. One of the plants earmarked for sale, Calcalist said, is the Teva Tech factory in Israel's southern Negev desert. It produces raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry and employs 870 workers, according to Teva's website. "This is a young plant ... and hundreds of millions of shekels of Israeli government money were invested here," Meir Babayoff, chairman of the Negev region in the Histadrut, told Israel Radio. Story continues He vowed to stop any layoffs and called on Israel's government "to wake up". Last week Bloomberg reported that the firm was considering cutting up to 10,000 jobs to reduce costs by $1.5 billion to $2 billion in the next two years. Teva said on Tuesday that Yitzhak Peterburg, who previously served as its chairman and interim CEO, had resigned from its board with immediate effect. Schultz ousted top division heads last month and said he would combine the firms generic and specialty drug businesses. He had also said Teva was working on a detailed restructuring plan to be unveiled in mid-December. (Additional reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Alexander Smith, Greg Mahlich) After Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called for President Donald Trumps resignation following multiple sexual assault allegations that have come out against him, the commander-in-chief hit back in a suggestive tweet early Tuesday. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), Trump wrote, is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED. Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 Presumably, Trumps reference to Bill & Crooked stems from Gillibrands recent assertion that Bill Clinton should have resigned after having a relationship with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The presidents tweet comes after Gillibrand called for Trump to resign on Monday over the sexual assault allegations that were brought back to life. The women who accused Trump during the 2016 election cycle once again came forward, saying during a press conference they were disappointed and hoped their allegations would be given more weight, in light of recent events. Gillibrand was just one of the four Democratic senators who called for Trumps resignation over sexual assault allegations, saying that Trump should be investigated. She is thus far the only woman on that list, which includes Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) who joined the chorus Monday, Jeff Merkley (D.-Ore.) who made the call last week, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) who voiced the sentiment Sunday. Trump made no mention of the other men in his most recent tweets. Story continues Notably, Trump dubbed those allegations FAKE NEWS! He argued that the Democratic party had organized the accusations. Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017 The New York senator hit back also on Trumps social media platform of choice. You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017 Gillibrand was reportedly at a bipartisan bible study group when Trump tweeted, and had to be pulled out of the gathering in order to talk about the issue. Gillibrand aide says she was attending bipartisan bible study group when Trump tweeted, she had to be pulled out by aides to hear what was happening https://t.co/3XCYfSzJNw Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 12, 2017 Trump, on the other hand, ended his early Twitter rant saying he was working to pass, MASSIVE TAX CUTS (looking good). Charlie Lee CNBC youTube Litecoin, a smaller cousin of bitcoin, has seen its value more than double in just one day. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee tweeted a sobering warning to those not prepared to lose their entire investment. Still, Litecoin fans on Reddit were preparing celebrations, some of which seem fairly risky. Cryptocurrencies have exploded since bitcoin futures began trading in Chicago over the weekend. Litecoin, the fourth-largest coin by market-cap, has seen its value more than double since Sunday afternoon, trading above $300 Tuesday morning 110% above its weekend price. Creator Charlie Lee wasnt celebrating like some other Litecoin holders, though. The former director of engineering at crypto exchange Coinbase tweeted a dire warning for potential litecoin holders Monday night: "Sorry to spoil the party, but I need to reign in the excitement a bit," he wrote. "Buying LTC is extremely risky. I expect us to have a multi-year bear market like the one we just had where LTC dropped 90% in value ($48 to $4). So if you can't handle LTC dropping to $20, don't buy!" Charlie Lee twitter Twitter That didnt stop some Redditors from planning celebrations as litecoin passes more milestones. One user, rashadthedad, claimed he would record himself eating a Carolina Reaper, one of the worlds hottest peppers, if Litecoin passed $300 before New Years Eve. Another user said he would streak down Wall Street in New York before swimming to the Statue of Liberty if the coin passed $1,000 before the same date. Jay Clayton, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, also weighed in on the cryptocurrency craze Monday. "The world's social media platforms and financial markets are abuzz about cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings. There are tales of fortunes made and dreamed to be made," he said. "Investors should understand that to date no initial coin offerings have been registered with the SEC. The SEC also has not to date approved for listing and trading any exchange-traded products (such as ETFs) holding cryptocurrencies or other assets related to cryptocurrencies. If any person today tells you otherwise, be especially wary." (emphasis his) Story continues Litecoin has mostly lived in the shadow of bitcoin, but has garnered a fan base through its slightly different mining technique which aims to use less electricity than its rival. A recent estimate from the UK said the electricity used to mine bitcoin this year is bigger than the annual usage of 159 countries. Litecoin is up 5953% so far this year. You can watch its price move in real time here. Screen Shot 2017 12 12 at 9.12.55 AM Markets Insider NOW WATCH: The stock market is flashing warning signs See Also: SEE ALSO: SEC head Jay Clayton weighs in on cryptocurrency mania Litecoin steals the limelight from Bitcoin ahead of next weeks 2nd futures market launch that could spur a second rally in Bitcoin. All the talk at the start of the week was on Bitcoin and whether the launch of Bitcoin futures contracts can lead to any material moves in Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies. Whilst many had expected the futures contracts to come in slowly, things were a little hotter than had been anticipated and Bitcoin certainly saw the benefits of the upbeat sentiment towards Bitcoin in the futures markets. All things considered, the Bitcoin bubble looks set to keep growing for some time to come and the futures markets have provided strong evidence that all the talk of a bubble may have been more speculative than the investors looking to get in on the Bitcoin bandwagon. Reports earlier in the week had stated that as many as 300,000 new users had been seen on Coinbase, one of Bitcoins major exchanges, between 22nd and 26th November. Get Into Cryptocurrency Trading Today So with Bitcoin having passed its first of the two futures markets tests, it perhaps comes as no surprise that the market response to the positive moves were not only restricted to Bitcoin, but also its peers. The biggest story of the week so far is the moves made by Litecoin, which has surged to $253.42 at the time of writing, up 15.93% on the day, whilst up in excess of 4,000% year-to-date. Its no secret that Bitcoin users continue to struggle with transaction speeds and fees and its also no secret that Litecoin delivers users with significantly faster transaction speeds with far lower fees. This week, the Litecoin community decided to step into the limelight and take a more vocal stance on Bitcoins shortcomings, following news of more than 230,000 transactions being log jammed on exchanges at the start of the week. The decision to take advantage of Bitcoins woes certainly paid off, with Litecoin surging in excess of 60% this week. Many would have been looking in the wrong direction, distracted by the launch of the Bitcoin futures market to have considered the upside for Litecoin over the near-term. The rally may not be over however and, whatever is good enough for Bitcoin investors is likely to be better for Litecoins investors. Story continues Were not seeing any forks in the near-term that could diminish Litecoins sparkle, but Bitcoins core developers may need to begin considering what needs to be done to address transaction speeds and reduce fees in order to ensure that Bitcoin remains at the top and is not overtaken by the likes of Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Looking at current market capitalizations, it may seem like a most unlikely scenario for Bitcoin to yield to one of its pressing peers, but stranger things have happened and both Bitcoins mining cartel and core developers will likely have taken note of Litecoins surge to record highs this week. That alone should be incentive enough for the Bitcoin community to become more united, though that then raises the question of whether such an outcome defies the ethos of Nakamotos decentralization. Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency Instantly This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election is one of the most important law enforcement investigations in American history. But it is also becoming increasingly undermined from within and without, and the best way to save it is with an amputation. Mueller needs to step down. That's because over the last few weeks, many questions have arisen about the integrity of his staff and even Mueller himself. Some of those questions are fair and some aren't, but they're enough to forever taint the investigation's conclusions. The biggest issue right now is the blatant partisanship of many of the senior investigators. Of course, Washington is a partisan place, and it's impossible to assemble a team of professionals who have not worked for or donated to one party's political candidates or the other. But Mueller's staff included people like his top investigator Peter Strzok, who went beyond the realm of acceptable partisanship by sending texts to a colleague that reportedly appear critical of President Trump. If those texts were the only issue with Strzok, a good argument could be made that Mueller has done more than enough by removing him. But Strzok is also said to have modified a key phrase in an FBI report detailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information. He reportedly changed "grossly negligent," to "extremely careless," in then FBI director James Comey's report, making it easier for Clinton to avoid prosecution for her use of a private email server. Either Mueller knew about that controversial move and hired Strzok anyway, or he was unaware of it. Either are unacceptable mistakes. Mueller must take full responsibility for the error by stepping aside. Strzok is the worst example, but there are other questionable staffing decisions. The Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller investigator Andrew Weissmann attended Clinton's election night party. In January, Weissmann also reportedly praised outgoing acting Attorney General Sally Yates, after she was fired for refusing to defend President Trump's travel ban. Investigator and attorney Aaron Zebley once represented Justin Cooper, who was responsible for helping set up the now-infamous Clinton private email server. Cooper later admitted to helping to destroy Clinton's old mobile devices. In fact, a total of six of the 15 lawyers on Mueller's staff have been connected to either the Clinton campaign or actions that can be viewed as overtly partisan. The other big problem is the constant leaks about details of the investigation. While it's not realistic to believe a crucial investigation of a sitting president can maintain an airtight level of silence, the regularity of these leaks is troubling. For those Democrat-leaning members of Mueller's team, it must be very tempting to use leaked details and partial information to poison the public against President Trump and his family. Mueller has either been unwilling or unable to plug the leaks, yet more evidence that he should step down. The good news is that none of this should disqualify any of the evidence Mueller and his team have uncovered so far. If there is something leading to a possible smoking gun in the case, Mueller's removal in no way erases that evidence. If the compromised Mueller stays on, however, a significant segment of the population on either side will reject his findings. If the evidence incriminates President Trump, Trump supporters will be much less likely to accept it. If the findings exonerate the president, Trump opponents are more likely to believe the partisan pressure on Mueller led to a whitewash. The worst case scenario is that the criticisms against Mueller push President Trump into firing him. That bad decision would set off a true constitutional crisis and would almost surely lead to massive and crippling protests. The better scenario is for Mueller to step down voluntarily. Let's face it, trust in government and even government law enforcement is at a low ebb right now. The Clinton email scandal, the IRS targeting scandal, and now questions about the integrity of this Russia probe have taken a serious toll. Mueller can go a long way to restoring honor and trust by stepping aside in the name of avoiding the appearance of impropriety. This would stand in great contrast to government officials from both sides who now routinely deny they should be held to the same standards as the rest of us. The longer Mueller sticks around, the more time critics will have to undermine the probe by attacking him and his senior team. For those on either side who want to see a solid conclusion reached in this case, it is obvious that Mueller must sacrifice himself for the greater good. Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. Story continues Related Video: Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. More From CNBC By PTI: New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) Domestic mobile phone maker Jivi Mobiles expects over three-fold growth in revenue by the end of fiscal 2018-19, mainly on account of foray into 4G VoLTE- enabled smartphone segment. "Currently, we are selling 5 lakh feature phones per month and 70,000 4G smartphones. We are looking to scale it to 10 lakh feature phones and 5 lakh smartphones per month by end of 2018-19. At the end of 2018-19, we are expecting revenue in the range of Rs 2,400-2,500 crore," Jivi Mobiles CEO Pankaj Anand told PTI. advertisement The company expects revenue around Rs 700 crore for the current financial year. He was speaking at the sidelines of launching a 4G VoLTE (voice over long-term evolution) smartphone Revolution TnT3, blended with feature phone keypad for Rs 3,999. The company is aiming to sell 20-30 lakh of Revolution TnT3 series phones alone by end of 2018, he said, adding "through this phone we are targeting at 1.3 crore feature phone buyer who are willing to transition to easy navigation feature of smartphone". The Revolution TnT3 has 1 GB RAM, 8 GB internal storage, 2300 mAH battery, 5 megapixel rear camera with flash and 2 mp front camera and finger sensor at the back to lock and unlock phone. "There will be many more models of this phone in coming days. Upgradation in upcoming models will be in terms of storage and camera mainly," Anand said. He said that the company as of now is selling phones offline only, through around 38,000 retailers, which will be scaled up to 60,000 by March next year. "We will start selling some of the mobile phones exclusively on e-commerce platform from April onward," Anand said. Jivi Mobiles is in the process of setting up its second mobile manufacturing plant in Lonavala, which it expects to be operational by April. "The Lonavala plant will have 10 lakh feature phone and 4 lakh smartphone production capacity per month. It will be operational before April 2018," Anand said. The company already has an assembly unit in Delhi. PTI PRS ADI BAL --- ENDS --- A Russian hacker has confessed, in court, to being hired by Russian state intelligence to hack the Democratic National Congress computer systems in 2016. Russian website The Bell, known for a generally critical stance towards President Vladimir Putin and the corruption under his rule, reported Monday that Konstantin Kozlovsky had testified to carrying out attacks at the request of state intelligence organs, notably the FSB (the KGB-successor for which Putin himself had worked in Soviet times). The testimony is potentially explosive, as it is a first-hand account of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that directly contradicts Putins denials of any involvement. President Donald Trump had indicated after a recent meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam that he believed Putins account, rather than the reports of four U.S. intelligence agencies that came to the opposite conclusion. Kozlovsky had been arrested earlier this year as part of a sweep by Russian authorities into a group of hackers who had stolen over $50 million from Russian bank accounts since the start of 2016 using the so-called Lurk virus. His testimony comes from an Aug. 15 court hearing on whether to extend his pre-trial detention. The website cited Kozlovskys own Facebook page for the written transcript, and also an audio recording of the hearing posted on Soundcloud. Fortune hasnt verified either independently. Kozlovsky said he reported to Dmitry Dokuchayev, a major-general in the FSB, for various tasks since 2008. In 2016, Dokuchayev had instructed him to attack the DNCs servers for the purpose of manipulating the U.S. electoral process, Kozlovsky testified. Dokuchayev is himself now in prison on charges of treason, accused of passing similar information to U.S. intelligence agencies. In other words, Dokuchayev appears to be one of the main sources for the information on which joint U.S. agencies, in a report released by the director of national intelligence in January, argued that the Russian state had directed a campaign designed to polarize public opinion and broadly discredit the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Story continues Its not clear from The Bells report when Kozlovsky was detained but it can be deduced from his testimony that it was no later than June 2016. That would be around three months after Clintons campaign chief John Podesta had some 50,000 e-mails stolen in a phishing attack. Selected e-mails were published by Wikileaks five months later, only hours after Billy Bushs infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged of using his TV fame to make sexual advances on women. Kozlovsky isnt the first Russian to insert himself into the drama playing out between the U.S. and Russian governments over election hacking. In May 2017, Yevgeny Nikulin claimed to have been offered cash and U.S. citizenship by FBI agents in return for confessing to the DNC hack. Nikulin had been detained in the Czech capital of Prague at the request of the U.S. Justice Department and was subsequently indicted for hacking servers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring. At the time, Czech media reported that FBI agents had interviewed Nikulin in Prague, but had not mentioned any Clinton-related offer. Instead, they wrote, the agents had been looking for connections to Stanislav Lisov, another Russian hacker detained in Europe on unrelated charges. The FBI doesnt comment on ongoing investigations. The Czech Republics supreme court approved Nikulins extradition to the U.S. in November, against the wishes of Russia, where he is also wanted on a minor count of computer-assisted theft. UPDATE: This article has been updated to include information about the Nikulin case. Finisar (FNSR) up big as Apple announced the manufacturer of optical communications will receive $390 million from Apples (AAPL) Advanced Manufacturing fund. Taking a look at the chart, shares are chugging higher, up over 20%. Up Next Helios and Matheson (HMNY). The parent of Moviepass, the subscription theatrical movie service in the news as it announced a complicated share offering of over 8 million new shares, plus warrants. Check out the chart, shares are tumbling over 20% but remember this stock is up big in 2017. Finally Western Digital (WDC). The maker of hard disk and memory systems in the green as it announced a global settlement agreement with Toshiba to settle all ongoing litigation related to their flash memory businesses. Looking at the chart, Western Digital shares are up in the single digits today. For more on todays big movers check out the Final Round, live at 3:55pm ET, right here on Yahoo Finance. Tuesday, December 12, 2017 The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Facebook (FB), UPS (UPS) and PepsiCo (PEP). These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today. You can see all of todays research reports here >>> Facebooks shares have outperformed the S&P 500 index over the past year, gaining +48.8% vs. +17.3%. Facebook's efforts in mobile and live videos continue to pay off in a big way. Instagram remains another important revenue stream. Apart from mobile and video, the monetization opportunities of the companys other subsidiaries Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus and a huge user base/higher engagement levels are expected to drive growth going ahead. Facebook is also dabbling in AR/VR and AI technologies, which bodes well for long-term growth. However, the recent uproar caused by apparent use of the platform by Russian elements for interfering in the presidential elections has put Facebook in a spot. As a result, Facebook CEO has said that it will make sizable investments to tighten security on the platform, which, along with continued investments in video, AR/VR and AI, will dent operating margins going forward. (You can read the full research report on Facebook here >>> ). Shares of UPS have underperformed the Zacks Air Freight and Cargo industry as well as rival FedEx on a year-to-date basis. While UPS has gained +2.9% of its value, the industry it belongs to and FedEx have rallied +11.6% and +28.1%, respectively, in the same period. Moreover, the ongoing holiday season might prove to be a dampener for UPS due to the unprecedented surge in demand. Order volumes have surged courtesy the rapid e-commerce growth. UPS, however, is also leaving no stone unturned to meet the demand increase. Story continues Despite its efforts, high delivery costs might hurt the companys fourth-quarter results. However, the Zacks analyst is encouraged by the companys efforts to reward shareholders through buybacks and dividend payments. The company's efforts to expand globally also raise optimism in the stock. (You can read the full research report on UPS here >>> ). PepsiCos shares have gained +12.2% year to date, underperforming the Zacks Soft Beverages industry, which has increased +13.9% over the same period. PepsiCo has been doing well on the back of significant innovation, continued momentum in Frito-Lay business, revenue management strategies, improved productivity and cost-saving initiatives, along with better market execution. An improving economy, better industry pricing dynamics and consistency in positive innovation bode well. It rolled out several products recently which management believes will drive sales and profits in 2017. That said, growing health awareness has been hurting the CSD category, resulting in a 4% volume decline in the first nine months of 2017 in North America. Again, rising volatility in global markets and increasing currency headwinds may dampen growth. (You can read the full research report on PepsiCo here >>> ). Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include AT&T (T), Costco (COST) and NextEra (NEE). More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >> Mark Vickery Senior Editor Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>> Today's Must Read Facebook (FB) Drives on Increasing Live Video Initiatives Dividends & Buybacks Buoy UPS, High Costs Hurt PepsiCo (PEP) to Gain From Innovation & Productivity Plans Featured Reports Delta (DAL) Buoyed by Unit Revenue Growth, High Costs Ail The Zacks analyst likes Delta's performance with respect to unit revenues. Efforts to reward shareholders are also encouraging. RenaissanceRe's (RNR) Premium Grows, Rising Debt Level Hurts Per the Zacks analyst, although RenaissanceRe's top line grows on premiums, continuously rising level of debt weighs on the company's bottom line. Strong Class 8 Lineup & Cost Savings Aid Navistar (NAV) Per the Zacks analyst, Navistar is gaining from new products & improved Class 8 lineup. Also, cost-saving initiatives like engine restructuring and reductions in discretionary spending are aiding the International Paper (IP) to Trim Costs to Improve Margins Per the Zacks analyst, International Paper intends to invest $300 million through 2017 to improve product quality and reduce costs to counter volatility in raw material prices and pension headwinds. Costco's (COST) Sturdy Comps, Price Management to Fuel Sales Costco boasts impressive comparable sales run. Per the Zacks analyst, better price management and operational efforts should fuel sales. Higher Inflows Aid Blackstone's (BX) AUM, Dividend A Concern Per the Zacks analyst, higher net inflows should continue to aid Blackstone's assets under management growth. Valeant (VRX) Upbeat on Drugs Approval, Dermatology Weak New drug approvals are also expected to boost growth for Valeant and offset the weakness in the dermatology segment. New Upgrades NextEra (NEE) Gains From Clean Energy Focus, Customer Growth The Zacks analyst believes investments made by NextEra to strengthen its clean energy portfolio and consistent rise in customer count is going to boost its performance. da Vinci X Robotic Platform Boosts Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) The Zacks analyst believes Intuitive Surgical has been gaining significantly on the CE Mark and FDA approval for da Vinci X Robotic Platform. The company is spending on product development of late. Southern (SO) Buoyed by Speedy Loan Guarantee for Vogtle The Zacks analyst believes that the agreement to receive guaranteed payments worth $3.2 billion for the Vogtle nuclear plant by Dec 15 will help Southern Company reduce its financing costs. New Downgrades Spot Market Risks Continue to Hit American Electric (AEP) Per the Zacks analyst since American Electric Power enters into contracts to sell power in the spot market, it faces the risk of volatile market prices, which could affect its margins and revenues. Wireless Competition, Regulatory Issues Weigh on AT&T (T) The Zacks Analyst is pessimistic about AT&T's struggle in the competitive U.S. wireless market. Regulatory norms and threat from online video streaming service providers are others risks. Lennar's (LEN) Gross Margin Suffers From Rising Land Costs The Zacks analyst believes labor shortage along with rising land and labor costs pose a threat to the company's margins. 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 United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AT&T Inc. (T) : Free Stock Analysis Report Pepsico, Inc. (PEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp and its chip business partner Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) agreed to settle a long-running dispute over the embattled Japanese conglomerate's plans to sell its chip unit, the companies said in a statement, removing a key obstacle to the deal. Toshiba agreed in late September to sell Toshiba Memory, the world's second-biggest producer of NAND chips, to a consortium led by Bain Capital LP for $18 billion to cover billions of dollars in liabilities arising from Toshiba's now bankrupt U.S. nuclear power unit Westinghouse. With data storage key to most next-generation technologies, demand for NAND chips has boomed, and Western Digital, Toshiba's chip business partner and jilted suitor in the auction, had threatened to block any deal without its consent. The settlement calls for Western Digital to drop arbitration claims seeking to stop the sale to the Bain consortium in exchange for Toshiba allowing the U.S. partner to invest in a new production line for advanced memory chips. As part of the settlement, Toshiba and Western Digital will extend existing agreements for their chip joint ventures in Yokkaichi, central Japan, until 2027 or later. Western Digital also plans to invest in a new chip plant that Toshiba will start building next year in northern Japan. Toshiba gained the upper hand in negotiations with Western Digital after securing a $5.4 billion cash injection from overseas funds that will allow it to bolster its balance sheet before the end of March and avoid a delisting. The chip unit sale may, however, face more complications. Argyle Street Management Ltd, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund with $1.2 billion under management, sent a letter to Toshiba's board on Monday urging the company to scrap the deal, which the fund claims significantly undervalues the chip unit. Argyle is inviting the 30-plus overseas investors who participated in Toshiba's new share issue to team up in opposition to the deal although it remains to be seen just how much traction it will gain. The sale also needs to clear regulatory reviews, but they are not expected to scuttle the deal. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki in Tokyo and Rushil Dutta in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the signing ceremony of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the military, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday, establishing Pentagon spending levels and priorities for the 2018 fiscal year, which began October 1. Passed by Congress in November, the bill allocates $700 billion for defense spending, with $634 billion for the base budget and $66 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, used for the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. The bill provides $26 billion more than the White House requested in its 2018 budget proposal. Among its many provisions, the bill includes instructions for a 2.4 percent pay raise for service members, the addition of 20,000 troops to the armed services and the acquisition of new military equipment, including $10 billion for 90 F-35 fighters. The bill does not, however, make the money start flowing to the Pentagon, since funding is provided in separate legislation. And securing the full amount will be an issue this year, since the Budget Control Act of 2011 imposes caps on federal spending, with Pentagon funding limited to $549 billion in 2018. Lawmakers must agree on deal to break through the spending caps, and Democrats insist that higher spending for defense must be matched by higher spending on domestic programs, a move some Republican defense hawks are resisting. This could all come to a head soon as Congress turns its focus to the 2018 budget later this month, once the tax bill is settled. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times By Luc Cohen and David Lawder BUENOS AIRES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, European Union and Japan are expected to announce a joint effort on Tuesday aimed at confronting China over its excess industrial capacity and other trade practices, a source close to the discussions said. Trade officials from the two countries and the EU will make a joint statement on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, aligning to address the overcapacity issue, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because talks on the issue were continuing. It was unclear whether China would be specifically named in the statement. Washington, Brussels and Tokyo have raised complaints about China's subsidies to state-owned enterprises, state financing and investment rules that often force foreign firms to transfer strategic technologies. They argue that such distortions have fueled rampant overcapacity in key industries such as steel and aluminum that are flooding global markets and forcing layoffs elsewhere. The United States has sided with the EU in arguing that the WTO should not grant China market economy status, a move that would severely weaken Western trade defenses. On Monday, Japanese Trade and Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko voiced support for efforts to strengthen WTO transparency and reporting standards - a U.S. initiative largely aimed at exposing illegal Chinese subsidies. "Free trade only works when we secure fair conditions for competition," Seko said in remarks to WTO colleagues. "Fair market conditions must not be negatively affected by measures such as market-distorting subsidies, forced technology transfer, infringement of intellectual property rights and unfair trade practices by state-owned enterprises." U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in remarks to colleagues, said some members were "intentionally circumventing" their obligations and seeking unfair concessions through litigation, causing the WTO to lose its trade negotiation focus. Story continues The Financial Times reported that the joint statement would also target China's intellectual property practices, including requirements that require firms turn technology over to local joint-venture partners. The Trump administration is investigating Chinese intellectual property practices, which could lead to unilateral trade retaliation under a U.S. trade law that predates the WTO's creation in 1995. The administration is also considering broad import restrictions on steel and aluminum on national security grounds under a Cold War-era trade law. EU member countries including as Germany have threatened retaliation against any U.S. steel tariffs and have urged Washington against such unilateral actions. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in Buenos Aires and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney) Bitcoin's price shrugged off the warning - REUTERS The US markets regulator has issued a warning to investors buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, cautioning that there are higher risks of "fraud and manipulation" in the market. In some of the strongest official comments about digital currencies to date, Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, warned that some trading or fundraising schemes that use them may be breaking the law. It came just hours after the regulator stepped in to block an "initial coin offering" (ICO), a fashionable form of crowdfunding that involves companies issuing token assets that are similar to cryptocurrencies. The ICO in question, for a restaurant review app, was blocked because it had not been registered as a sale of securities, in a sign that the regulator may view cryptocurrency tokens as securities, and thus subject to regulation. "A number of concerns have been raised regarding the cryptocurrency and ICO markets, including that, as they are currently operating, there is substantially less investor protection than in our traditional securities markets, with correspondingly greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation," Mr Clayton said. Bitcoin price: last 365 days "While there are cryptocurrencies that do not appear to be securities, simply calling something a 'currency' or a currency-based product does not mean that it is not a security." The warning failed to dampen enthusiasm about Bitcoin. Its price rose above $17,000 (12,800) on Tuesday, close to an all-time high. It came as two of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges, Coinbase and Bitfinex, suffered outages. Bitfinex blamed the downtime on a distributed denial of service (DDOS) cyber attack. Kareena Kapoor is setting some really high festive-dressing standards in this sultry outfit. By Shivani Chhabra: Bold, beautiful and versatile--these words perfectly define the stellar fashion sense Kareena Kapoor has. When one begins to think of how phenomenal the actress looks in every public appearance, it becomes an ordeal to pick the finest from her collection of innumerable stunning looks. Kareena's recent public appearance has added another option to this long list. advertisement Gracing the launch event of Soha Ali Khan's first book, The Perils of Being Moderately Famous, along with Saif Ali Khan, Bebo looked too hot to handle in her super-glam, maroon dress. Pictures courtesy: Instagram/minenyoursweddingshow Also Read: Getting over Kareena Kapoor's divine look in this white attire is the hardest thing you'll ever have to do Ticking off the box of sensuality, the resplendent outfit boasted of a rather massive, key-hole neckline that plunged into its empire-waistband. Displaying a fair amount of cleavage, Bebo really got the temperatures soaring, while keeping it quite elegant too--thanks to her choice of the outfit's powerful colour. Photo: Yogen Shah The designing of this gorgeous, knee-length ensemble was pleasing to the eye, especially how the full sleeves presented an appealing contrast against the key-hole neck. Apart from displaying an exceptional design sense, the embellishments on the sheath dress emanated appropriate amount of bling too--and made the outfit look just so well-balanced. Also Read: You won't be able to handle how hot Kareena Kapoor looks in this black gown Picture courtesy: Instagram/bollywood.24X7 Keeping it elegant, the actress opted for a simple pair of black, single-strap stilettos that looked just perfect with this shimmery number. It's admirable how Bebo wore absolutely no accessories, and minimal makeup, and aced this look with her elegant sense of style. --- ENDS --- Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss put $11m into Bitcoin three years ago - Getty Images There are currently 10 Bitcoin billionaires according to a website tracking global transactions of the cryptocurrency and that list might well include government agencies, such as the FBI. The price of Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency, has rocketed from less than $2,000 (1,500) six months ago to more than $16,000, making many people very rich in the process. The price is currently $16,832 (12,609). You can track it here. According to Bitinfo, a website tracking Bitcoin price and ownership data, there are 10 digital wallets holding more than $1bn worth of Bitcoin. It does not reveal where in the world those wallets are located or whether they are owned by syndicates, organisations or individuals. According to the site, the 10 richest Bitcoin owners collectively hold $13.5bn worth of the cryptocurrency. In sterling terms this is worth 10.1bn or, to put it into another context, approximately half the value of grocery giant Tesco. While information about digital wallets containing Bitcoin is publicly available, precise details of who owns those wallets is not. The information emerges only when investors admit their connection to certain wallets or when details are leaked. It is possible that the individuals or groups may hold more than one wallet, further increasing their total wealth. bitcoin price There has been much speculation surrounding the identities of the worlds richest Bitcoin investors. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the twins who sued Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their idea for the social network, are thought to have become billionaires by buying $11m worth of Bitcoin in 2013 and retaining ownership throughout its meteoric rise. The pair hold an estimated 100,000 units of the cryptocurrency. At the current price of $16,832 their 100,000 holding would be worth $1.68bn (1.3bn). According to Fortune, venture capitalist Barry Silbert has long had an interest in digital currency and is thought to have made hundreds of millions, while fellow investor Ted Draper best known for co-founding Californian venture capitl firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson reportedly purchased 30,000 Bitcoins seized from Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online drugs marketplace The Silk Road, which would now be worth $500m (375m). Story continues Bitcoin | Read more Another individual who is likely to have been fabulously enriched by Bitcoin is the anonymous figure, known only as "Satoshi Nakamoto", who published the original white paper laying out what the currency would look like in 2008. Silicon Valley magazine Wired estimated last year he owned one million Bitcoins, which would now be worth a staggering $16.7bn. Also likely to be among the biggest holders of the digital currency in the world is the FBI. Again according to Wired, the American Government owns at least 144,000 Bitcoins seized from operators of the Silk Road. At todays valuation this haul would be worth $2.4bn. Both of these fortunes are thought to be spread across several different wallets. New corporate and institutional owners of Bitcoin are also emerging. These vehicles buy Bitcoin on behalf of thousands or even millions of other, end investors. The enormous interest in the currency is driving mainstream private investors as well as high net worth individuals to want to include Bitcoin within their portfolios. As a result, a plethora of investment funds, which list their shares on stock markets or issue units direct to investors, are now buying up the currency. Investors can then buy shares or units in the funds. One of the most famous of such funds is Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust, with shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It currently owns $1.5bn (1.1bn) Bitcoin on behalf of shareholders, but at $1.9bn (1.4bn), is trading at a 26pc premium. Several "exchange-traded funds" are also growing rapidly, operated out of financial centres all over the world and appealing to a wider range of investors. Two of the most popular among British investors are Sweden-based funds run by XBT. One is denominated in kronor and the other in euros. sam.meadows@telegraph.co.uk The Republic of Ecuador and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has reached a deal on the payment terms to Burlington, a subsidiary firm of ConocoPhillips, under a 2017 ICSID arbitration award. As per the terms of agreement, the company will recover $337 million from Ecuador. On December 1, 2017 Ecuador compensated $75 million, with the remaining of $262 million to be compensated by April 2018. The settlement sum comprises an offset for the decision granting Ecuador amount og $42 million on its counterclaims. Out of this amount, Burlington is authorized for an additional $24 million via a third-party contribution. The details Janet Langford Carrig, the EVP, Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of ConocoPhillips, expressed that they are delighted that the government of Ecuador stands by the rule of law and functioned constructively with them to reach a mutually acceptable resolution. In December 2012, the ICSID Tribunal stated that Ecuador unlawfully took the firms significant oil investments in Blocks 21 and 7, in breach of the U.S. Ecuador bilateral investment pact. In February 2016, the tribunal decided an award on damages, and in this August, the ICSID Annulment Committee removed the stay of enforcement of the award enabling ConocoPhillips to commence enforcing the award. ConocoPhillips is the leading independent E&P company of the world, when counted on the parameters of production and proved reserves. Based in Houston, the company had activities and operations in 17 nations, total assets worth $75 billion, and around 11,600 employees as of the close of September 30, 2017. Production discounting Libya averaged 1,403 MBOED for the first three quarters closed September 30, 2017, and proved reserves came at 6.4 billion BOE as of the close of December 31, 2016. A couple of weeks earlier, the company reported that it has fixed a $50 per barrel oil price cap for latest assignments. ISLAMABAD -- Five-year-old Mohammad Ashar Aziz will never be able to walk without orthopedic leg braces. The youngest of three brothers from a village near Islamabad, he is one of just 17 children in the world -- all of them in Pakistan or Afghanistan -- who developed paralysis during 2017 from a wild polio-virus infection. His father, 41-year-old day laborer Hamid Aziz, is disconsolate because he repeatedly had the chance to immunize Mohammad Ashar for free during the past five years. Instead, Hamid Aziz says he listened to the advice of a cleric in his village, who announced over loudspeakers of the madrasah, a local Islamic religious school, that the vaccine was not good for childrens health, and prevented it from being administered to any of his sons. Whenever teams of government and international aid workers came to his village as part of a massive polio-eradication campaign, Aziz and his illiterate wife, Huma, hid Mohammad Ashar and his siblings and told the vaccination teams there were no children in their home. Why didnt I give the vaccine to my son? says Aziz, who quit school at the age of 14 and knew nothing about the polio vaccine. We believed what our cleric told us, but now I realize that weve not done the right thing for our son, Aziz tells RFE/RL. We realize how important it was and that we should have let him get the vaccine. Perceptions And Misinformation Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that maternal illiteracy and low parental knowledge about vaccines -- together with poverty and rural residency -- are factors that most commonly influence whether children are vaccinated against the polio virus. Nooran Afridi, a pediatrician at a private clinic in Pakistans Khyber tribal region, says one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating polio in Pakistan has been refusals stemming from antipolio propaganda spread by conservative Islamic clerics in backward areas. One common fallacy in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan with low literacy rates is that the vaccine sterilizes young boys. Antipolio propaganda also has been fueled by distrust in Western governments who fund vaccine programs -- particularly after the CIA staged a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign in 2011 to confirm the location of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Since then, some clerics have even issued fatwas saying that children who become paralyzed or die from polio are martyrs because they refused to be tricked by a Western conspiracy. Taliban militants in both Afghanistan and Pakistan also have propagandized that Western-made vaccines contain pig fat or alcohol, which are both forbidden in Islam. Pakistans Tehrik-i Taliban has used that false claim to justify its killing of more than 80 polio vaccination team workers in Pakistan since a massive polio-eradication effort was launched in 2012. Massive Eradication Effort Pakistani health workers, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international aid organizations, have immunized millions of children across the country since 2012 with more than 100 rounds of the vaccination drive. More than 38 million children under the age of 5, the most susceptible age group for contracting the contagious disease, were vaccinated in Pakistan during 2017 alone. The effort has brought Pakistans paralytic polio rate to its lowest level since the early 1990s. Six of the worlds 17 paralytic cases in 2017 were reported in Pakistan, compared to 20 in 2016 and a peak of 198 cases in 2011. In Afghanistan, there were 11 paralytic polio cases in 2017, down slightly from 13 the year before. The WHO, which treats Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single epidemiological block, has warned that the risk of the spread of polio remains high along the countries' 1,500-kilometer shared border -- particularly among nomadic tribes that travel within both countries and across the frontier. But the WHO also has been encouraged by Pakistans eradication efforts in its tribal regions along the border, where no new paralytic cases were reported during 2017. Completely eradicating polio from Pakistan will depend on reaching all children who have not been vaccinated, it said in a late November report. Both countries demonstrated strong progress, with independent technical advisory groups underscoring the feasibility of rapidly interrupting transmission of the remaining polio virus strains, according to the WHO, which also praised closely coordinated Afghan-Pakistani initiatives to identify children missed by vaccination programs and to understand why they were missed. Almost Gone Pakistan had hoped to be removed from the list of polio-endemic countries by the end of 2017 by achieving its goal of no new paralytic cases for a year -- a result achieved by Nigeria in October. Rana Safdar, coordinator for Pakistans national Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication, announced in April that Pakistan was about to defeat polio because of a continued political commitment from Islamabad and support from international and Pakistani partners in the eradication programs. The next round of mass vaccinations in Pakistan is scheduled for the end of December. WATCH: Pakistan Launches New Polio Vaccination Drive (from July 2017) Mezhar Nisar, a member of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasis polio eradication task force, says he is confident the disease is on the way to being rooted out from Pakistan. We have addressed all the refusal issues in our overall social-mobilization strategy, Nisar told RFE/RL. We have involved religious scholars from the Ulema councils and community-based women health workers. This has brought the number of vaccination refusals to the minimal level. The program is fully on track. The Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) on December 8 praised the prime ministers hands-on approach with Pakistani provincial leaders. Meanwhile, in Cairo, the Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication has issued a new training manual for madrasah students that supports polio eradication efforts with practical guidance about engaging with local communities in support of vaccination. Endpolio Pakistan, which brings nongovernmental and government experts in Pakistan together with international health organizations, says declarations by Muslim scholars in Ulema councils were critical to eliminating new paralytic polio cases during 2017 from Pakistans tribal areas along the Afghan border. In the town of Akora Khattak in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party chief Maulana Samiul Haq declared a fatwa in late 2013 at the Darul Uloom Haqqania religious seminary, stating that there is nothing forbidden in the polio vaccine. Haq, who had close ties with the late Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, said it is the responsibility of the religious scholars in the Ulema councils "to remove misconceptions about the use of vaccines to protect children from the crippling disease. He also publicly declared that Islamic Shari'a law has made it clear that there is no harm in it. Rather, the treatment is an obligation. Other clerics have issued appeals for ordinary citizens, religious scholars, and tribal elders to fully support the polio vaccination initiative across Pakistan so that every child is vaccinated -- insisting that the vaccine's ingredients are, beyond any doubt, permissible under traditional Islamic law. Hamid Aziz says he wishes he would have had that kind of Islamic instruction when his son was born in 2012. Instead, Aziz is now struggling on his intermittent wages of about $7 per day to come up with the funds needed to buy the leg braces that his youngest son will need to use for the rest of his life in order to walk. Now I am asking other parents to allow the medical workers to administer the polio vaccine to their children, Aziz told RFE/RL. It is good for your children. Written and reported by Ron Synovitz in Prague with additional reporting by RFE/RL Radio Mashaal correspondent Ahmad Ullah in Islamabad The government of Equatorial Guinea has partnered with ExxonMobil in Block EG-06 through a 20-percent stake held by national oil company GEPetrol ExxonMobil discovered oil at its Block EG-06 Avestruz-1 well, drilled in October 2017. Commerciality is yet to be established for the Avestruz discovery. The block is located next to the legacy oil-producing Block B and EG-11, ExxonMobils most recently signed acreage. MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, Dec. 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ExxonMobil (http://corporate.ExxonMobil.com) has struck oil with its Avestruz-1 well in Block EG-06, announced the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea (www.EquatorialOil.com). The well was drilled in October 2017. The operator is now assessing potential commerciality. Avestruz-1 is located approximately 160 kilometers offshore Malabo in an exploration area adjacent to ExxonMobils Zafiro field, a prolific legacy oilfield in Equatorial Guineas northern maritime area. The company signed its production sharing contract for Block EG-06 in 2015, followed by its entry into nearby Block EG-11 in 2017. Equatorial Guineas partnership with ExxonMobil continues to yield new oil discoveries, testifying to the huge potential in this country and our enabling environment for oil and gas exploration, said Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima. We hope that commerciality will be established at Avestruz-1 and look forward to seeing more developments in the areas surrounding Block B. The government of Equatorial Guinea has partnered with ExxonMobil in Block EG-06 through a 20-percent stake held by national oil company GEPetrol. An ExxonMobil local subsidiary is the operator with 80 percent. At the Zafiro field in Block B, ExxonMobils affiliate has a 71.25 percent interest, GEPetrol has 23.75 percent and the state has 5 percent. Since 1996 Zafiro has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy Equatorial Guinea. Media Inquiries: Aydanur Akkurt Aydanur@AfricaOilAndPower.com +27 76 586 7717 SAN RAMON, Calif., Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Schubros Brewery, a craft beer company focused on creating a bold epicurean experience influenced by all the flavors of the world, today announced its expansion to Asia via a new Subsidiary, San Francisco East Bay Brewing Company (SFEBB) Inc. Schubros, run by CEO Ian Schuster who previously ran portfolio sales operations for Philip Morris Japan, currently exports a large percent of its beers to China. However with the launch of SFEBB, the company will focus on rapidly increasing these exports, and expand distribution to Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and India. As part of this initiative, SFEBB also plans to launch beers created especially for the Asia Pacific market, featuring unique Southeast Asian fruit-infused IPAs. The first of these beers, a Kiwifruit IPA has already been released, and a Dragonfruit, Passionfruit, and Lycheefruit IPA is due in early December. The company also has plans to build a production brewery and taproom in Tianjin, China. We look forward to creating American craft beer with a distinctive Asian flair, fusing our IPAs with Kiwi, Dragonfruit, Passionfruit, Lychee and Mango, melding classic craft with the style, taste and gastronomy of the region, said Ian Schuster, CEO and founder of Schubros Brewery. The Asian craft market is wide open, with China having a market the size of Germany, the U.S. and Brazil combined and India experiencing 20 percent year-over-year growth, for example. We are excited to be at the forefront of this growing Asian premium beer market. To fund the new Asian subsidiary and expansion, Schubros Brewery has undertaken an equity crowdfunding campaign through a crowdfunding intermediary, Wefunder, with a goal of raising a total of $1.07 million. Currently there are already 117 initial investors whose investments total just over $123,000. The campaign runs through February, 2018, and offers a unique opportunity to invest in the rapidly growing, yet still relatively untapped, Asia Pacific craft beer market. According to a recently released report by Transparency Market Research, the value of the Asia Pacific beer market will reach $220.3 billion by the end of 2020. Its been a half-decade since I began championing the benefits of crowdfunding for investors and businesses, and worked with the SBA and a few Congressmen and Senators to advance the concept (that later became part of the JOBS act of 2012), added Schuster. Now with San Francisco East Bay Brewing Company, weve come full-circle and are excited to be able to offer an opportunity to invest in the Asia Pacific craft beer market. More About San Francisco East Bay Brewing San Francisco East Bay Brewing (SFEBB) Company is a new subsidiary of San Francisco Bay Area-based Schubros Brewery. Through this new entity, Schubros seeks to bring the American craft beer culture and a unique epicurean experience to the Asia Pacific region. SFEBB Company plans launch a new line of beers that pay tribute to the local flavors and taste of the region. For more information about SFEBB, visit http://www.sfebb.com/ or call (925) 327-0700. Those who are interested in investing in SFEBB can also visit https://wefunder.com/sfebb. About Schubros Brewery Schubros Brewery was founded in 2011 and strives to elevate beer enjoyment to the highest level, Schubros believes in creating the ultimate epicurean experience through its purposefully reciped beers. Guided by three core values community, responsibility and quality, Schubros is committed to preserving the purity of its brands, investing in green technology and using all-natural and organic ingredients. Schubros Brewery participates in community events and hires locally whenever possible. Schubros supports a variety of local and national causes including local area schools, and military veterans. Schuster is himself an ex-Naval Officer. For more information about Schubros, please visit www.schubrosbrewery.com or call (925) 786-2232. Media Contact: Andrea Corry TopMind PR (925) 640-5482 CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ATCO Ltd. (TSX:ACO.X) (TSX:ACO.Y) Today, ATCO Ltd. and CYDSA S.A.B. de C.V. (CYDSA) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the two companies work together to explore and develop midstream opportunities in Mexicos oil and gas industry. The initial focus will be on underground hydrocarbon storage in both salt cavern formations and depleted reservoirs, and will also include opportunities in gas gathering and processing, as well as natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction and fractionation. This MOU presents us with an opportunity to expand our integrated suite of products and services in a growing strategic market, said George Lidgett, Managing Director, Pipelines & Liquids with ATCO. Our decades of experience developing customer-focused midstream and energy storage services, paired with CYDSAs invaluable local expertise, should enable us to identify targeted opportunities for growth in Mexico. CYDSA has more than 50 years of experience in mining and exploring salt formations in the Coatzacoalcos region, serving both the consumer and industrial sectors. The company has recently started developing salt caverns in the formation for safe use in hydrocarbon storage, the first project of its kind in Mexico and Latin America. In November 2017, in cooperation with PEMEX, the state-owned oil company of Mexico, the initial operation to store liquefied petroleum gas went onstream. ATCO also brings extensive experience developing and managing underground storage facilities, both in salt cavern formations and depleted reservoirs. The company has a long history of developing and reliably operating a variety of energy assets, including gas gathering and processing, NGL extraction, as well as providing transportation and logistics services. We very much look forward to cooperating with ATCO. By combining CYDSAs presence throughout Mexico and our experience in the Coatzacoalcos salt exploration with ATCOs expertise in underground hydrocarbon storage and managing midstream assets, I believe that this potential partnership could become one of the premier providers of midstream services in Mexico, said Tomas Gonzalez Sada, Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer with CYDSA. The cooperation will benefit the Mexican economy and improve the competitiveness of many industries through the reliable delivery of oil and gas products to the benefit of producers and consumers. With approximately 7,000 employees and assets of $21 billion, ATCO is a diversified global corporation delivering service excellence and innovative business solutions in Structures & Logistics (workforce housing, innovative modular facilities, construction, site support services, and logistics and operations management); Electricity (electricity generation, transmission, and distribution); Pipelines & Liquids (natural gas transmission, distribution and infrastructure development, energy storage, and industrial water solutions); and Retail Energy (electricity and natural gas retail sales). More information can be found at www.ATCO.com. CYDSA operates five business segments that include the Mining and Exploration of Salt for human consumption and industrial production, Chemical Products & Specialties (Chlorine and Caustic Soda), Cooling Gases (in a joint venture with Honeywell), Cogeneration of Electricity and Steam and the Underground Storage of Hydrocarbons. Headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, the Company incorporates more than 20 subsidiaries located in eight cities and serves customers in more than 15 countries. For further information, please review www.cydsa.com. Investor Inquiries: D.A. (Dennis) DeChamplain Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer 403-292-7502 Media Inquiries: Spencer Forgo Manager, Communications 403-662-8467 Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, plan, estimate, expect, may, will, intend, should, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The Companys actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Companys expectations as of the date hereof, and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. broall wrote: Only 1,000 to 2,000 species of fruit flies exist worldwide. Nowhere in the world are fruit flies more taxonomically diverse than in the Hawaiian islands, which host some 500 species. A subset of fruit flies called the picture-winged drosophilids is represented in Hawaii by 106 species. All of the fruit fly species now present in the Hawaiian archipelago are thought to be the descendants of the same one or two ancestral females. Which one of the following can be inferred from the passage? (A) All of the picture-winged drosophilids in Hawaii are believed to be the descendants of the same one or two ancestral female fruit flies. (B) Picture-winged drosophilids are found only in the Hawaiian islands. (C) All of the 1,000 to 2,000 species of fruit flies worldwide are believed to be the descendants of one or two females. (D) If 500 new species of fruit flies were discovered, then Hawaiian fruit flies would no longer be the most taxonomically diverse population. (E) Some fruit flies originated in Hawaii and spread from there to other parts of the world. Source: LSAT When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. - Henry Ford The Moment You Think About Giving Up, Think Of The Reason Why You Held On So Long Signature Read More We know three things:1) There are 106 species of PWD in Hawaii.2) PWDs are fruit flies.3) All fruit flies in Hawaii are thought to be descended from the same 1 or 2 females(A) Yep. PWDs are fruit flies, and all fruit flies in Hawaii are said to come from these ancestors.(B) Though we know there are 106 species of PWDs in Hawaii, that doesn't mean there aren't 100 more somewhere else.(C) This extrapolates out too far from the last sentence. We know this is true about all the fruit flies in Hawaii, not all the fruitflies in the world.(D) This is an interesting one. There are about 500 species in Hawaii, so if, say, 600 species were found in another place, this answer would be true. However, 500 alone wouldn't be enough. ALSO (and more important), those 600 species would have to be found somewhere other than Hawaii.(E) This goes into way more detail than the passage does. We don't know about the migrations of the fruit flies._________________ Phocion88 wrote: Hi all I've taken the GMAT once (in January), scoring 690 (99% verbal, 47% quant). I'm looking to take it again in the next month and would appreciate any advice on the best way to approach studying so as to improve the quant to 70-75%. I've used the Manhatten books/tests so far. Thanks! Hi:Wow! You have a killer verbal score and all you need to do is maintain your form. Now let's talk about how we can improve the quant score.I present to you "The Topic from Hell"approach.Here's the plan.1. Review the tests you wrote.2. Identify one topic that has consistently brought your performance down. This topic is your "Topic from Hell"3. Work on ONLY that topic for a couple of days4. Re-take one of the Manhattan tests (forget about the familiarity bias. This is just practice)5. Check if you made any improvement in the "Topic from Hell"6. If not, then study the topic for a couple of days and take another testIf yes, pick another topic - your new "Topic from Hell" - and study it for a couple of days. Then write a practice test to check improvement7. Do this for the whole of next month and I am sure you will make a huge leapThe principle at play: Given a fixed period of time, you are likely to make significant improvements studying your weakest area.All the bestRegards,Entwistle_________________ By Amitabh Srivastava: After the lip locking competition, a controversy brews in the otherwise sleepy Jharkhand with the Raghubar Das government asking Pakur district administration to probe the kissing contest held at the traditional Sidho- Kanho Mela on Sunday evening. The kissing contest was held for Santhal couples. Nearly 20 pairs had participated in the remote Littipara block of Pakur district, some 375 km from State Capital Ranchi. Among others, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) veteran MLA Simon Marandi was present on the occasion and lauded the initiative as '"one which will go a long way in strengthening the mutual bond among Santhal couples' The top three "winning couples" were rewarded with cash prizes of Rs 900, Rs 700 and Rs 500 after the first- of- its- kind event. advertisement A day after a nod from Ranchi,Pakur district administration assigned a deputy Superintendent of Police and a Sub-divisional Magistrate to probe the issue. According to preliminary inputs, the district administration may institute a case against the participants and organizers of the event including the JMM MLA for indecent behaviour in public place. An unrepentant Marandi has offered a logic to defend the kissing contest. He believes such events will bring openness in the society, but he failed to explain how the kissing competition would change moral ideas of the society. While the ruling BJP has played a perfect moral police, demanding strong actions against the JMM MLA over this " vulgarity " and staging protests, opposition parties like RJD have refused to defend the event. RJD Jharkhand President Annupurna Devi has criticized the event as ' unjustified and unbecoming of Indian culture'. Besides Simon Marandi, JMM MLA from Maheshpur Stephen Marandi, JMM Pakur district unit chief Shyam Yadav and a host of local JMM leaders attended the event. BJP termed it a strategy to 'ruin Santhal culture and convert ignorant tribals into Christianity'. BJP farmers' wing and All Adivasi Youth and Students Union (AAYSU) on Tuesday staged demonstrations and burnt effigies of Simon Marandi . BJP State Vice President Hemlal Murmu, who lost to Simon Marnadi in a by- poll held this year has attacked Marandi and JMM for twisting Santhal tradition in the name of Siddo and Kanu, both tribal icons. Santhal Paragnas, located in the north eastern part of Jharkhand, has three Lok Sabha and 18 Vidhan Sabha seats spread across six districts. It is known as a stronghold of BJP's archrival JMM. --- ENDS --- New York, Dec 13(Just Earth News): Omar Al Bashir recently travelled to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) but none arrested or surrendered the Sudanese President, the ICC Prosecutor on Tuesday told the United Nations Security Council. I call on this Council to prioritise action on the outstanding warrants of arrest issued by the Court, Fatou Bensouda told the Security Council in New York. She also said that there can be no justification for States Parties to fail to arrest a suspect against whom an ICC warrant of arrest has been issued, irrespective of that person's official status. Bensouda's briefing comes one day after the Pre-Trial Chamber II decided that Jordan, which is a non-permanent member of the Security Council, was non-compliant when Al Bashir visited Amman in March. The Chamber agreed to refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute which established the ICC and to the Security Council. This costly inaction has the potential to undermine the fight against impunity, the effect of which is to lower the bar of accountability that many have fought to raise, Bensouda said. This continuous nonfeasance only serves to embolden others to invite A1 Bashir to their territory, safe in the knowledge that there will be no consequences from this Council for such breaches, she added. Al Bashir last week visited Chad, a country which had been referred to the Security Council for non-compliance on this matter in 2011 and 2013. The Sudanese President also recently visited Russia and Uganda, among other countries. In June 2015, he visited South Africa. While the Chamber established that there was no legal or factual justification for South Africa's failure to arrest and surrender Al Bashir, it decided against referring South Africa to the Assembly of States Parties or to the Security Council. In 2005, the Council asked The Hague-based Court to investigate war crimes in Darfur. ICC judges issued arrest warrants in 2009 for Al Bashir and other top officials for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the western Darfur region, where up to 300,000 people may have died and millions have been displaced since civil war erupted in 2003 between the Government and rebels. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Dec 13(Just Earth News): An uptick in armed hostilities in Ukraine has resulted in more deaths and new damages to critical water infrastructure storing dangerous chemicals posing a grave threat to human life and the environment, according to a new United Nations report. The report of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, published on Tuesday, warned that that daily ceasefire violations coupled with falling temperatures further aggravated a dire human rights and humanitarian situation on both sides of the contact line. The hostilities have never really stopped, affecting, in one way or another, the daily lives of millions in the conflict zone and in the country as whole, with the heaviest burden falling on those living in the immediate vicinity to the contact line, stated Fiona Frazer, Head of the Monitoring Mission. As one civilian told my colleagues, it is now worse than in 2014 because we can no longer bear it, she added. From 16 August to 15 November, the mission recorded 15 conflict-related civilian deaths and 72 injuries with 20 individual cases of killings, deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearances, torture and conflict-related sexual violence committed on both sides of the contact line, illustrating the prevailing atmosphere of impunity for grave violations in the conflict zone. As the report cautioned about the situation of people who are detained incommunicado, the UN mission continued to be denied access to detainees raising serious concerns on conditions and possible further human rights abuses, such as torture and ill-treatment. The report detailed that in conflict-related cases, victims complaints of torture are often disregarded, and investigations into allegations are either rarely opened or ineffective. Behind closed doors, those detainees are convicted without recourse to effective remedy. This posed a grave concern, given that in November the supreme court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk peoples republic pronounced a second death penalty. Also highlighted in the report was the broad interpretation and application of the criminal codes on terrorism, high treason and territorial integrity of the country. Additionally, it flagged that protracted investigations and trials in many conflict-related cases resulted in prolonged detentions of the accused in pre-trial detention facilities, where the issue of access to medical care remained acute. During each month of the reporting period, more than one million crossings over the contact line were recorded, with people claiming corruption and overly complicated checking procedures. While the UN Human Rights Office does not have access to Crimea, it continued to analyze the situation there from its offices in mainland Ukraine. The report concluded with advice in addressing acute systemic challenges, such as having Government policies evolve in an inclusive manner, and, together with judicial reforms, foster accountability and social cohesion. In parallel, the implementation in full of the Minsk agreements by all parties to the conflict is critical for peace and reconciliation. Photo: UNICEF Ukraine/Pavel Zmey Source: www.justearthnews.com We hope Myanmar will draw upon the wealth of expertise the UN can offer, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council in his briefing on developments in Myanmar. The estimated number of refugees who entered Bangladesh from Myanmar since 25 August now exceeds 626,000. He said that the UN is grateful for the continued generosity of the Government and people of Bangladesh, and called on the international community to continue to support these efforts. But the origins and solutions to the Rohingya crisis rest in Myanmar. Repatriation and reconciliation policies will fail without accountability and non-discriminatory rule of law and public safety measures to address the fears and distrust among communities in Rakhine, he emphasized. To that end, one of the major developments Feltman highlighted was a bilateral agreement on the issue of returns reached on 23 November between the two countries a pact that recognizes the need for a comprehensive and durable solution through the safe, dignified, and voluntary return in accordance with international law. Feltman said returns must be supported by reconciliation efforts, and central to this is the implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission recommendations. The Advisory Commission, established by Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, recommends that the Government take concrete steps, such as ending enforced segregation of Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims and ensuring full and unfettered humanitarian access throughout Rakhine state. Feltman said that during his October visit, he explored with the authorities potential UN support in key areas. We urge all Myanmar leaders, including in the military, to condemn incitement to racial hatred and violence. We encourage them to adopt measures to defuse tensions between communities and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation, including through interfaith initiatives, he said. The origins and solutions to the Rohingya crisis rest in Myanmar, he said. Repatriation and reconciliation policies will fail without accountability and non-discriminatory rule of law and public safety measures to address the fears and distrust among communities in Rakhine. Feltman noted that the 2020 national elections will stand as an important test in the consolidation of the nations democratic institutions. He noted that the General Assembly is expected to approve a resolution that requests the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy for Myanmar. This initiative can strengthen the partnership between the UN and Myanmar, in close consultations with interested Member States in the region and beyond. We believe we have much to offer in working with Myanmar on a number of challenges the country faces, in full respect of Myanmars sovereignty, he concluded. On Tuesdays meeting is a follow-up to the Councils presidential statement on the situation in Myanmar adopted on 6 November, which requested the Secretary-General to brief on developments 30 days after its adoption. Also briefing the Council was Pramila Patten, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, who visited Bangladesh from 5 to 13 November. Describing the most heartbreaking and horrific accounts of sexual atrocities against girls and women in Myanmars Rakhine state, she said that every woman or girl she had spoken with during her visit to Rohingya encampments in Bangladesh had either endured brutal assault or had witnessed sexual violence, including seeing women literally being raped to death. Such shocking accounts indicate a pattern of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Sexual violence was being used as a push factor for forced displacement on a massive scale, with some survivors being told to leave because they were not citizens of Myanmar. It was crucial that safe return of the Rohingya people be accompanied by basic security and guaranteed rights, stated Patten, emphasizing that otherwise, the cycle of violence, impunity and forced displacement risked being repeated if the underlying conditions did not change. Photo: UNICEF/LeMoyne Source: www.justearthnews.com At the heart of this tension, the article suggests, is the Islamic Republics vulnerability and its leaderships recognition that it cannot in fact stand toe-to-toe with adversaries like Saudi Arabia, who wield advanced weaponry sourced in large part from the United States. LobeLog explains that in light of that vulnerability, the Iranian regime feels compelled to make potential conflicts in the region look as costly as possible for the Saudis and their allies, but this is not to say that the regime would actually welcome open conflict with those parties. The LobeLog analysis added some context to reports that emerged on Tuesday regarding the Iranian governments stance with regard to Saudi Arabia, in the wake of months of escalating tensions between the two rival claimants to power in the Gulf region. Al Waght reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had once again expressed willingness to reestablish diplomatic relations with Riyadh after the Saudis severed ties last year following their execution of a Shiite dissident cleric and the subsequent sack of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad. At various times, Iranian officials have reached out via public channels to suggest that they were willing to put differences with their rival aside, often suggesting that the other side was primarily or solely responsible for the tensions in the first place. But this characterization has been just as frequently undermined by the broader context of those officials statements. In the most recent case, Rouhani imposed specific conditions on Riyadh for the resumption of diplomacy. And these conditions could easily be regarded as giving Tehran the upper hand in regional affairs. Specifically, in his remarks that accompanied the presentation of the annual Iranian budget Rouhani demanded that the Saudis end their bombing campaign in Yemen and disavow any nascent friendship with the state of Israel. The Saudi-led bombing campaign also involves a number of other participants in an Arab coalition that is working to resist the expansion of Iranian influence in the region. It targets the Houthi rebels who took control of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2015. Although Tehran denies its own involvement in the conflict, it is widely recognized that the Islamic Republic has been supporting the Houthi, in part by providing them with weapons like the missile that penetrated deep into Saudi territory in early November. Iranian calls for Saudi Arabia to end its role in Yemen are seemingly invalidated not only by Irans contributions to the other side but also by its longstanding role in the Syrian Civil War, where Iranian forces and Iranian proxies were credited with saving the government of Bashar al-Assad from overthrow while also prolonging a nearly seven-year conflict that claimed roughly half a million lives. On the other hand, Irans calls for Saudi disavowal of Israel are somewhat more credible, not just because of the longstanding antagonism between Israel and much of the Arab world but also because of the recent decision by US President Donald Trump to announce the formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. In his remarks on Sunday, Rouhani referred to this as a new plot by the US and the Zionists. Saudi Arabia, along with much of the world, expressed opposition to Trumps move, but there was no immediate indication that it halt the positive developments in the relationship between Israel and Arab powers, which has been driven in large part by mutual anxiety about the expansion of Iranian influence. What was immediately evident, however, was the fact that Iranian officials would utilize Trumps announcement to further extend their reach toward the shores of the Mediterranean. Following several such officials calls for Muslim unity on the issue, Major General Qassem Suleimani called the leaders of Palestinian forces on Monday to declare the Quds Force ready to support them in any new escalation of conflict with Israel. The Quds Force, being the special foreign operations wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, takes its name from the Persian word for Jerusalem. Irans own Tasnim News Agency specifically reported that Suleimani, as the Quds Force commander, spoke to several leaders of Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the leader of Islamic Jihad. But whereas this outreach may provide Iran with more fuel for propaganda among Islamic militants who are interested in unity under the banner of the Islamic Republic, the same factors threaten to undermine Iranian relationships that are equally if not more important. Irans relationship with Russia has remained strong against the backdrop of the Syrian Civil War thanks to the two countries shared interest in the preservation of the Assad regime. But analysts long speculated that those interests would start to diverge over time, partly because of Russias traditionally strong relations with Israel. With Iran even more openly threatening the Jewish state in the wake of Trumps Jerusalem announcement, the Russians may have a significant incentive to pull away from their Iranian allies. This follows upon speculation in such outlets as Foreign Affairs that there had already been signs of a Russia-Iran split in recent weeks. And the significance of this was underscored by the LobeLog piece, which stated that one of the main reasons why Iran cannot seriously confront Saudi Arabia is because they cannot rely on backing from Russia in the same way that the Saudis and Israelis can rely on backing from the United States. If anything, this has become even truer in recent weeks, as both Moscow and Tehran showed willingness to declare victory for their forces in the Syrian Civil War. On Monday, Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a surprise visit to Syria to formalize this message and announce a significant draw-down in the presence of Russia forces there. While this may point to a diminished rationale for Russian-Iranian cooperation, Tehran is so far making an effort to paint a different picture. The Iran Project recently reported that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security in Irans Islamic Consultative Assembly announced that he sees no obstacles for the continued acquisition of advanced weapons from Russia, which previously provided the Islamic Republic with the S-300 missile defense system, in a much-publicized exchange. Boroujerdi reportedly highlighted the success of Iranian-Russian military cooperation in Syria, even though this cooperation may now be nearing an end. But this is not to say that there is no basis for such cooperation in other areas. In fact, The Iranian issued a report last week highlighting the launch of a new Iranian naval vessel on the Caspian Sea, which borders Iran and Russia, as well as three other nations. An Iranian naval commander described the launch as a symbol of the authority of the Islamic Republic. It is arguably also a symbol of Irans dependence on Russian permission for the projection of that authority. While such reports point to the broader context of Iranian-Russian cooperation, they also highlight the potential sources of Russian leverage in the event that Russia and Iranian interests begin to seriously diverge in the vicinity of Israel while remaining aligned in other areas of the globe. Id like to briefly share my views: First, it is important to identify the core problem. Of course, there are a number of challenges, and all of them are real. These challenges could be tackled only after the core problem is solved. Rajavi said: I cannot stress enough on the importance of the first step which is identifying the core problem. Second, we need a realistic assessment of the situation. Dictators appear more powerful than what they really are. In 1979, Iran was called an island of stability under the Shah. And today, the mullahs regime is far weaker than the Shahs regime when it was overthrown Maryam Rajavi stressed. Third, identifying the key players and in this case, the forces for change. Fourth, being prepared to pay the price to solve the problem. Glancing at the past 3 to 4 decades, it would not be difficult to identify the core problem. Maryam Rajavi said: There is not a single crisis in the region where the mullahs regime is not involved. From Lebanon to Yemen, in Syria and in Iraq, even in the Middle East peace which is a much older problem, the Iranian regimes destructive role is undeniable. Rajavi then reiterated that focusing on the activities of Irans ruling dictatorship does not require military intervention. The regimes lobby in Washington and Europe attempts to falsely portray firmness and siding with the Iranian people for change, as war mongering. Rajavi then stressed that: on the contrary, their approach and ignoring the problem would be a recipe for disaster, as it has been in the past. Maryam Rajavi said: I believe focusing on the core problem, requires the following steps: 1. Holding the dictatorship accountable for its crimes against the Iranian people and in the region, including taking steps to bring to justice the perpetrators of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, those who stayed loyal to Irans freedom and were massacred in just a few months on Khomeinis fatwa. 2. Taking practical steps to drive the IRGC and its proxies out of Syria and Iraq and other countries in the region. The mullahs meddling in the region is vital to their survival. Therefore, forcing the regime to end its meddling is a major setback to the dictatorship. Khamenei and other regime officials have repeatedly declared that if we do not fight in Iraq and Syria, we will have to fight in Tehran, Isfahan and other Iranian cities. Maryam Rajavi restated that it is time for practical steps. 3. Those benefiting from trade with the Iranian regime are not the people of Iran but the IRGC. Therefore, comprehensive sanctions, including sanctions on its banking system, must be imposed on the regime. As I said before, the past policies on making concessions to the religious fascism have been disastrous. The peoples of Iran and the region have paid a heavy price for it. The most destructive aspects of this policy were a deal over the Iranian Resistance, the terrorist designation of the MEK, breaching US commitments to the MEK members in Ashraf and Liberty, and inaction vis-a-vis their murder Maryam Rajavi stressed. To end the disastrous past policies Rajavi said, it is essential to recognize the National Council of Resistance of Iran with MEK as its main force as the only democratic alternative to the religious terrorist dictatorship in Iran. Maryam Rajavi said: This alternative believes in a free and democratic Iran, gender equality, separation of religion and state and a non-nuclear Iran. Such recognition would send a message of firmness to the mullahs and a message of solidarity to the people of Iran. Rajavi repeated that: Regime change is within reach and the people of Iran are capable of realizing it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my views with you and best wishes for a successful conference. About Maryam Rajavi: Early Days Maryam Rajavi was born into a middle-class family in Tehran. One of her brothers, Mahmoud, is a veteran member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and was a political prisoner during the Shahs regime. Her older sister Narges was killed by the Shahs secret police, SAVAK, in 1975. Her other sister, Massoumeh, an industrial engineering student, was arrested by the clerical regime in 1982. Pregnant at the time, she was ultimately hanged after undergoing brutal torture. Rajavi joined the MEK as a young woman. Following the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution, she ran for a seat in Parliament from Tehran during the first parliamentary election in 1980. But, due to widespread voter fraud by the new fundamentalist regime, none of the opposition candidates made it into Parliament. Despite the fraud, Rajavi received over 250,000 votes. President-elect of the NCRI In 1993, during its plenary session, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition whose members include a number of Iranian opposition organizations and prominent personalities, elected Mrs. Rajavi as the President-elect for the period of transitioning power to the Iranian people. The NCRI acts as a parliament-in-exile and a legislative assembly As the President-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi has mounted an extraordinary political, social, cultural and ideological challenge to the ruling mullahs in Iran. Under her leadership, women have risen to hold key positions in the Iranian Resistance. Over half of NCRI members are women. They occupy various political, diplomatic, social and cultural positions in the Resistance. Mrs. Rajavi has made numerous speeches regarding the real message of Islam, which revolves around tolerance and democracy, in direct contradiction of the reactionary and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. She believes that one of the most important differentiators between these two entirely contradictory views of Islam focuses on attitudes toward the status of women. Among her published works are: Islam, Women, and Equality, Women, the Force for Change, and Women against Fundamentalism. Against Fundamentalism In 1994, during a speech delivered at the Oslo city hall, Mrs. Rajavi warned about the octopus of religious tyranny and Islamic fundamentalism whose heart beats in Tehran. She said: Fundamentalism has turned into the greatest threat to peace in the region and the world, adding, The mullahs ruling Iran are pursuing their expansionist agenda and exporting crises and tensions by exploiting the religious beliefs of over a billion Muslims. During a June 21, 1996 speech entitled, Women, the Voice of the Oppressed, delivered at a conference in Londons Earls Court, Rajavi said, The issue of women and the equality movement is linked to the struggle against reactionary ideology and fundamentalism. For women are not only pioneers in the equality movement, but also the main force for progress, peace and social justice. In my view, humankind can only rid itself of the evil phenomenon of reactionary outlook and fundamentalism if women would assume their leading role in this global campaign and employ all forms of democratic struggle to shut the door on any form of appeasement and compromise with the misogynous and inhumane mullahs in Iran. The Third Option In December 2004, during a speech at the European Parliament, Maryam Rajavi proposed the Third Option, a clear prospect to resolve the Iranian crisis, which had caused anxiety on a global scale. She said: In response to the Iranian crisis, two options are regularly proposed: Either compromise with the mullahs regime, in a bid to contain or gradually change the regime. Western countries have pursued this policy in the past two decades. Or, the second option, overthrowing the mullahs by way of a foreign war, similar to what occurred in Iraq. No one is interested a repeat of the Iraqi experience in Iran. But, I have come here today to say that there is a third option: Change by the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance. With the removal of foreign obstacles, the Iranian people and Resistance would have the ability and the readiness to bring about such change. This presents the only way to avert a foreign war. Offering concessions to the mullahs is not the alternative to a foreign conflict and will not dissuade them from pursuing their ominous intentions. International Solidarity with the Iranian Resistance Today, in the eyes of the Iranian people, Maryam Rajavi is the pioneer of the struggle for democratic change in Iran. In recent years, she has led a global movement comprised of some of the most celebrated political and social personalities, including former U.S. government officials and secretaries in the political and military arenas, as well as political personalities and parliamentarians from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. This international movement has attained significant victories in support of regime change and establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran through its support and recognition of the Iranian Resistance and the organized opposition in Camps Ashraf and Liberty. The movement has gained international credibility and legitimacy. International Campaign to Delist the MEK Another front in the struggle led by Maryam Rajavi was a major campaign to remove the MEK from terrorist lists in Europe and the U.S. while exposing secret deals in the context of appeasing the clerical regime. These efforts led to the delisting of the MEK in the United Kingdom in 2008 and the European Union in 2009, as well as the dismissal of terrorism charges in the June 17, 2003 dossier by a senior French Investigative magistrate in May 2011 and the revocation of the MEKs terrorist designation in the United States in September 2012. International Campaign in Defense of Resistance Members in Ashraf and Liberty In 2009, the U.S. government transferred the protection and security of over 3,000 Resistance members in Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government. On the orders of the Iranian regimes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked Camp Ashraf in July 2009, April 2011, and again in September 2013, killing over 100 residents and injuring more than 1,000 in the process. Subsequent to these attacks, the residents of Ashraf were transferred to Camp Liberty under the auspices of the United Nations. They were attacked several more times by missiles and rockets, as a result of which dozens were killed and many more were wounded. The objective of the clerical regime and its puppet government in Iraq through these attacks was to completely eradicate the Iranian Resistance. Mrs. Rajavi led an international campaign in support of Iranian Resistance members in Ashraf and Liberty, which included hundreds of statements issued by human rights organizations, numerous reports and statements by UN-affiliated organizations, and statements by thousands of parliamentarians around the world, in addition to multiple resolutions passed in parliaments and international institutions. Efforts in the U.S. led to the adoption of a 2016 resolution in Congress calling for the provision of security for the residents of Camp Liberty. Pakistan claims that it has 'evidence' of Kulbhushan Jadhav being a terrorist. Pakistan claims to be ready to counter India's argument 'point-by-point' in ICJ. By Geeta Mohan: Pakistan will submit its memoir in response to India's at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday around noon. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office have told India Today that the memoir "effectively replies to all questions and arguments raised by India." Pakistan's Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Dr Fareha Bugti, along with the Pakistani envoy in Netherlands will submit the documents at the Registrar's office at The Hague. advertisement The ICJ had ordered an interim stay on Jadhav's death sentence this May and asked India to make its submission by September 13 and Pakistan to make its submission by December 13. Sources in the foreign office have told India Today that Pakistan has compiled a detailed response to India's stance on Kulbhushan Jadhav after carrying out wide policy, legal consultations. Highly placed sources say that Pakistan will "reject" all "claims" made by India in front of the international court regarding "consular access" to Jadhav. The contents of Pakistan's reply will also detail out the "terror charges" levelled against Kulbhushan Jadhav and a case will be made to prove that "a terrorist's case cannot be taken up in the International Court", according to a Pak source. The detailed reply will cover all aspects of arguments made by India and counter it point by point. Pakistan alleges that Kulbhushan Jadhav was involved in terror-related activities and hence "evidence" to back that claim will be furnished which would also include the confessions of Kulbhushan Jadhav. This would enable Pakistan to build a case on jurisdiction and the fact that ICJ will hold no jurisdiction to hear the case of a "terrorist". After Pakistan's submission, ICJ would review memoirs of both the countries and then fix the date for hearing. Meanwhile, the ICJ had come down heavily on the Pak administration for flouting all International norms by not allowing any access to Jadhav. Keeping that in mind, Pakistan recently decided to allow Jadhav's wife and mother to visit him on December 25. India continues to maintain that Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Naval officer, was abducted from Iran in March, 2016 by Pak forces who have made it look like he was arrested from Balochistan's Mashkel area near the border region of Chaman. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017 on charges of espionage and terrorism evoking a sharp reaction in India. It was only after India approached the ICJ that a 10-member bench on May 18 2017 restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case. --- ENDS --- 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. A rare painting will be sold to raise money for kidney patients in rural parts of Central Australia. The painting is a work by Albert Namatjira, one of Australias most celebrated indigenous artists. Indigenous Australians suffer from kidney disease at 15 times the national average. Namatjira was born in 1902 near Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory. He did not start painting seriously until he was 32 years old. His use of watercolors was influenced by Western art. His paintings were different from the designs and look of traditional indigenous art. Namatjira became well-known to Australians during his life time. In the late 1960s, his image even appeared on an Australian postage stamp. One of the most famous and valuable examples of his work is a painting called Mount Hermannsburg. It has been donated by an Aboriginal group to a kidney dialysis center in Alice Springs. Money from the sale of the painting will help indigenous kidney patients receive treatment nearer to home. Often, patients must travel hundreds of kilometers for treatment. Sarah Brown is the head of The Purple House, the center that now has the Namatjira painting. She says the donation is an incredible act of kindness. "So I got a phone call saying, 'Hey Sarah, the Ngurratjuta (Aboriginal Corporation) board has met, we would like you to come to the Araluen Arts Center (in Alice Springs) and choose an Albert Namatjira painting.' And I thought, 'I am never going to have a phone call like that ever again.'" Brown added that Central Australia is "the center of the universe" for kidney failure. In this part of Australia, she notes, more than 350 people need dialysis three days each week for five hours a day. The Purple House also provides support services, including transport of patients to appointments. Chronic kidney disease is the slow loss of the health of one's kidneys. This happens when other diseases or conditions damage the organs over time. The non-profit group Kidney Health Australia notes that nine in 10 indigenous Australians with signs of chronic kidney disease do not know they have it. The group says the high rate of this disease in these communities comes from the high rate of conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Other causes include higher rates of poor nutrition, smoking and alcohol abuse. Indigenous people are the most disadvantaged group in Australia. They suffer high rates of poor health, poverty, imprisonment and unemployment. They make up about three per cent of Australia's population. Namatjira died in 1959 at the age of 57. His Mount Hermannsburg painting is expected to sell for about $75,000. I'm Alice Bryant. Phil Mercer reported this story for VOA News. Alice Bryant adapted his report for Learning English. Her story includes information from health-related websites. The editor was George Grow. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story indigenous adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment postage stamp n. a small piece of paper that you buy and then stick to an envelope or package to pay the cost of mailing it Aboriginal adj. of or relating to the native people of Australia board n. a group of people who manage or direct a company or organization dialysis n. the process of removing some of a person's blood, cleaning it, and then returning it to the person's body disadvantaged adj. lacking access to the things, such as money and education, that are considered necessary for an equal position in society One of the most-used features of mobile devices is the camera. The quality of photos has improved greatly and many apps exist for creating useful and fun picture effects. Google just released three new apps designed to help users get the most out of their cameras. In an online announcement, Google said the new apps are part of a research project that explores experimental technologies. It calls these app experiments appsperiments. Google says this idea came partly from its Motion Stills app, which launched in 2016. The app can create short, shareable clips or images from video. Motion Stills began as an experimental app that Google released to users while it was still being developed. The company says the three new mobile photo apps are built on technologies that are still in development at Google. The software has been tested and is fully operational for users, but will continue to be developed and improved over time. Google says the new photo apps are powered by machine learning technologies. These include tools to improve the recognition of people and objects. The apps also use algorithms to automatically create many different style effects. The first of Googles new photo apps is called Storyboard. This tool takes videos and turns the footage into a series of frames on one page in comic book style. The software works in a similar way to the hugely popular Prisma photo app. Googles machine learning technology automatically chooses interesting video frames and places them in a particular order. Users can choose to save these app-created images or to have new ones made. Google says the image combinations are endless, with an estimated 1.6 trillion possibilities. Googles second new app, called Selfissimo!, is designed to make it easier for people to take their own selfies in black and white, photo booth style. Selfissimo! lets users launch their own photoshoot just by touching the screen. Users can then pose in different positions either by themselves or with others and the camera automatically takes a picture when they are not moving. Touching the screen again stops the app. The user can then review the captured selfies and decide whether to save single photos or the whole photo booth style-page. This purpose of this app is similar to Google Clips, which was released in October. Google clips is a separate camera, not built into the phone, that can be placed anywhere to take pictures by itself. This smart camera uses machine learning to automatically choose the best times and conditions to capture good photo moments. The third of Googles latest photo offerings is Scrubbies. This app lets users change the speed and direction of video playback to produce a variety of special effects. Scrubbies allows the easy creation of video loops by touching the video directly on the device screen. The app lets users move the video back and forth and even produce DJ-style remix videos. Storyboard is currently only available for devices using the Android operating system. Selfissimo! is available for both Android and iOS users. Scrubbies is currently only available for iOS. Google says its new photo-related appsperiments are just the beginning in a series of experimental apps to launch in the future. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Give these apps and try and let us know what you think! Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story software n. programs that run on a computer and perform certain functions algorithm n. set of steps that are followed in order to solve a mathematical problem or to complete a computer process style n. a particular form or design of something frame n. an arrangement of parts that form the basic shape of something selfie n. picture people take of themselves, especially using a camera on a mobile device booth n. a small, enclosed structure screen n. surface on which an image appears on an electronic device pose v. to stand, sit, or lie down in a particular position as a model for a photograph, painting, etc. loop n. a series of functions repeated over and over Islamic leaders united on Wednesday to reject and condemn the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. A joint statement was released by the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, after a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. It said the Muslim leaders rejected and condemned in the strongest terms the U.S. decision, which was announced last week by President Donald Trump. The groups statement also declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine. It urged all nations to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and has declared all of Jerusalem its capital. But this is not recognized internationally. The Palestinians seek to create their own state to include the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The citys future has long been a major dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke during the OIC meeting. He called Trumps decision a crime. He said the action meant the U.S. had chosen to lose its qualification as a mediator in peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. We will no longer accept that it (U.S.) has a role in the political process from now, Abbas said. He urged the United Nations to take over mediation efforts for the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also spoke during the OIC meeting. He said it was now out of the question for Washington to mediate between the Palestinians and the Israelis. He added: That process is now over. A senior White House official said Wednesday that President Trump remains as committed to peace as ever. When asked about the latest statements, the official said such rhetoric was not surprising and has prevented peace for years. U.S. officials will remain hard at work putting together our plan, which will benefit the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, the official added. In his announcement last week, Trump said the U.S. would be open to a possible two-state solution for Jerusalem if the Israelis and Palestinians agree to such a settlement. Trumps declaration was criticized by many political and religious leaders around the world. They said the future of Jerusalem should be decided by the two sides during peace talks and warned the action could lead to increased violence. The U.S. decision also led to protests and clashes in several Palestinian areas last week, as well as demonstrations in other nations. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story qualification n. something that is necessary in order for a person or group to be a part of something mediator n. person or organization working with opposing sides in an argument in an effort to get agreement rhetoric n. language intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable By PTI: By Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Dec 13 (PTI) The Left alliance has won a majority in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls, with the CPN-UML emerging as the largest party with 80 seats after counting of votes of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system ended today. The CPN-UML led by former premier K P Oli and the CPN- Maoist led by former premier Prachanda had forged electoral alliance for both the provincial and parliamentary elections. advertisement The alliance bagged 116 seats out of a total 165 under the first-past-the-post system. The CPN-UML won 80 seats, which is close to 50 per cent of the total 165 seats under the direct voting system. The CPN-Maoist and the Nepali Congress have won 36 and 23 seats respectively. The Left alliance would form a government at the centre. CPN-UML chairman Oli is likely to lead the new government. The combined strength of the two Madhesi parties, Rastriya Janata Party and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, has reached 21. RJP secured 11 seats whereas FSFN won 10. The remaining four seats were divided among three fringe parties and an independent candidate. The Left alliance also secured majority in all provincial assemblies except province No. 2. In the provincial assembly, out of a total 330 seats, the CPN-UML secured highest number of 168 seats followed by the Maoist Centre with 73 seats. The Nepali Congress stood third by securing 41 seats. The RJP and FSFN have secured 16 and 24 seats respectively, and the remaining 8 seats went to the fringe parties. Under proportionate voting system, the CPN-UML is leading the Nepali Congress with a thin margin. The CPN-UML has so far received 2.25 million votes where as the Nepali Congress has secured 2.16 million votes. The house of representatives consists of 275 members, of which 165 would be elected directly under the first-past-the- post system while the remaining 110 will come through the proportional representation system. Voting in two-phased parliamentary and provincial assembly elections were held on November 26 and December 7. In the first phase, polling was held in 32 districts, mostly situated in the hilly and mountainous region, in which 65 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise. In the second phase, 67 per cent voter turnout was registered.PTI SBP ZH --- ENDS --- Russia is pressuring India to support Chinas plan to build trade and transport links across Asia and in other areas. On Monday, Russian officials suggested that India find a way to work with China on the Belt and Road project, even if the two sides have political differences. India is strongly opposed to an economic corridor that China is building in Pakistan as part of the project because it travels through Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan have territorial claims to the area. India was the only regional country that did not send representatives to China for a meeting in May. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the gathering to promote the Belt and Road project. Under the plans, crews are building railway lines, ports and electric power grids. The work is expected to cost many billions of dollars. Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of China, India and Russia met in New Delhi. They talked about Indias concerns about the project. After the talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to reporters. Lavrov said he told Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj that India should not let political disagreements stop it from joining -- and benefiting from -- the project. I know India has problems with the concept of One Belt and One Road. But the specific problem in this regard should not make everything else conditional to resolving political issues, he said. Lavrov noted that Russia, all the countries in central Asia, and European nations have agreed to support the project. He says it will increase economic cooperation in the region. Those are the facts, he said. India, I am 100 percent convinced, has enough very smart diplomats and politicians to find a way which would allow (it) to benefit from this process. Russia was an ally of India during the Cold War with the United States and western countries. Fifteen years ago, Russia, India and China formed an alliance to challenge American influence on world affairs. But the three countries do not agree on everything. For example, India and China have had disagreements over border issues for many years. These disputes have stopped the three nations from fully cooperating. Also, India has grown closer to the United States in recent years. It has spent billions of dollars on American military weapons and equipment. Until recently, the Indian military mostly used weapons made at the time of the Soviet Union. Im Jill Robbins. Sanjeev Miglani reported this story from New Delhi for the Reuters news agency. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the 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 corridor n. a passageway or path regional adj. of or related to an area promote v. to support; to help bring into existence grid n. a system of evenly spaced lines; a system of electrical wires and equipment that supplies electricity to a large area benefit v. to be useful or profitable to concept n. an idea resolve v. to deal with successfully challenge n. a problem; the act of testing ones ability Donald Trump is blaming opposition lawmakers for fueling stories that he abused women before becoming president of the United States. On Monday, 56 members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on House leaders to investigate reports of sexual wrongdoing by Trump. All 56 are female and members of the Democratic Party. Tuesday, the president denied knowing any of the women who claim he abused them. He published the denial on the social networking website Twitter. Trump wrote that the Democrats have been unable to prove his presidential election campaign worked with Russia. He added that they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I dont know and/or have never met. Trump also criticized New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat. On Monday, Gillibrand told CNN she believed Trumps accusers. She said many of their stories are heartbreaking. Gillibrand joined three other Democratic senators in calling on Trump to resign from the presidency immediately. She said if he does not do so, Congress should have appropriate investigations of his behavior and hold him accountable. On Twitter, Trump called Gillibrand a lightweight. He said she has begged him for campaign donations and would do anything for them. On Monday, the 56 lawmakers sent a letter to Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy, who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Relations. The letter was also sent to Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee. The letter noted that at least 17 women have publicly accused the president of sexual misconduct. It said The American people deserve a full inquiry into the truth of these allegations. The presidents own remarks appear to back up the allegations...(He) feels at liberty to perpetrate such conduct against women. We cannot ignore the multitude of women who have come forward with accusations against Mr. Trump. The letter invites Trump to provide evidence that will show he did not do what the women accuse him of doing. Three women who accused Trump last year of making unwanted sexual advances repeated their claims on Monday. They called on Congress to investigate. They noted that many other powerful men have been punished recently for their mistreatment of women. During the 2016 election campaign, at least 12 women accused Trump of sexual misconduct. He denied all of the accusations. On Sunday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke in support of the growing number of women who have reported abuse. Haley told CBS News that any woman who has felt violated or mistreated by a man has every right to stand up, even if she is accusing Trump. Women who accuse anyone should be heard, Haley said. They should be heard, and they should be dealt with. In a statement on Monday, the Trump administration again rejected the womens claims against the president. Also on Monday, administration spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said we feel these allegations have been answered by the results of the election. The American people knew this and voted for the president, she added. Im John Russell. Wayne Lee, Ken Bredemeier, Kenneth Schwartz wrote this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted their 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 fabricate v. to create or make up (something, such as a story) in order to trick people accountable adj. required to explain actions or decisions to someone lightweight n. someone or something that has little importance or power inquiry n. an official effort to collect and examine information about something at liberty expression able to act or speak freely (followed by to + verb) perpetrate v. to do (something that is illegal or wrong) multitude adj. a great number of things or people (often + of) advance n. the act of speaking to someone in an effort to start a sexual relationship Bancolombia S.A. provides banking products and services in Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other. It offers checking and savings accounts, fixed term deposits, and investment products; trade financing, loans funded by domestic development banks, working capital loans, credit cards, personal and vehicle loans, payroll loans, and overdrafts; financial support to real estate developers and mortgages for individuals and companies; factoring; and financial and operating leasing services. The company also provides hedging instruments, including futures, forwards, options, and swaps; and brokerage, investment advisory, and private banking services, including selling and distributing equities, futures, foreign currencies, fixed income securities, mutual funds, and structured products. In addition, it offers cash management services; foreign currency transaction services; life, auto, commercial, and homeowner's insurance products; and online and computer banking services. Further, the company provides project and acquisition finance, debt and equity capital markets, principal investments, M&A, hedging strategies, restructurings, and structured financing; money market accounts, mutual and pension funds, private equity funds, payment and corporate trust, and custody; internet-based trading platform; inter-bank lending and repurchase agreements; managing escrow accounts, and investment and real estate funds; and transportation, securities brokerage, maintenance and remodeling, and outsourcing services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,015 branches; 28,676 banking correspondents; 529 PAMs; 210 kiosks in El Salvador and 187 in Colombia; and 6,094 ATMs. Bancolombia S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Medellin, Colombia. 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. The sentencing in the case will take place on Thursday. The coal scam refers to massive irregularities in the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd. By India Today Web Desk: A special CBI court in New Delhi today held former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and one other person guilty of cheating and criminal conspiracy in the multi-crore coal blocks allocation scam. The sentencing in the case will take place on Thursday, news agency ANI reported. Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar had directed all the accused to remain present before the court today. advertisement The coal scam refers to massive irregularities in the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL). Coal scam: Delhi's Special CBI court holds former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, former Coal Secy HC Gupta, former Jharkhand Chief Secy Ashok Kumar Basu & one other as guilty of criminal conspiracy & section 120 B. Sentencing to take place tomorrow.- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 Besides Koda, Gupta and the firm, the other accused in the case include former Jharkhand Chief Secretary AK Basu, two public servants - Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh, VISUL's Director Vaibhav Tulsyan, Koda's alleged close aide Vijay Joshi and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan. The CBI, which filed its chargesheet in 2015, has alleged that VISUL had applied for the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. The Jharkhand government and the Union Steel Ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for the block allocation, yet the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm. The CBI has alleged that Gupta, who was then the chairman of the screening committee, concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also headed the Coal Ministry. Koda, Basu and two other public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency added. WATCH | From the archives (August 2012) | BJP slams PM Manmohan Singh on coal scam --- ENDS --- Snap Inc. is a social media company operating globally. The company was founded in September 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Originally known as Snapchat, the company changed its name to Snap in order to represent its offerings better as it grew over the years. The companys headquarters are in Santa Monica, California and it is a very tightly held company. The original founders, Evan Speigel and Bobby Murphy own a combined 45% of non-dilutable shares with ownership transferable to the other upon death. The two remain active in the company today serving on the board and acting as CEO (Speigel) and CTO (Murphy). The company was formerly known as Snapchat, Inc. and changed its name to Snap Inc. in September 2016. Snap Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Over the years it has been courted by most of the big tech companies including Facebook and Google but has always opted to remain a standalone company. The business went public in 2017 and raised $30 billion on its opening day which is about 10 times the expected amount. Today, Snap operates as a camera company internationally. The companys main revenue streams are Snapchat, a mobile app for cameras and communications, and Spectacles, a wearable augmented reality device. Snapchat is a camera app that allows users to take pictures and tell stories, the platform also permits ad sales which is an integral part of the revenue and earnings. The companys mission? To empower people to express themselves in todays digital world. Spectacles is a hardware device that can connect with Snapchat to deliver pictures and video from a point-of-view perspective. The company has since made three upgrades to the original version and has a Next Generation model available too. The Next Generation of Spectacles are not intended for sale but will be made available to creators who wish to push the boundaries of video and digital communications. In October 2022 the company reported it had more than 347milion daily active users with more than 250 million engaging with AR each day. The platform had more than 250,000 Lens creators (Lenses are AR experiences) with more than 2.5 million lenses created. There were more than 6 billion lens plays each day and more than 75% of 13-34-year-olds in 20 countries were users. Bank of America has a rich history dating back to 1800 and even earlier. It was begun by immigrants as a group of separate and unrelated banks that, over the years, merged and grew together. One such is the Bank of Italy which was founded in 1904 by Amadeo Giannini to serve Italian immigrants that were facing discrimination. He later buys out the Banca de America e de Italia (Bank of America and Italy) which was also located in San Francisco. Over the years additional mergers and changes in Federal banking legislation, as well as the boom brought on by WWI and then WWII, helped boost the bank to national prominence. Things turned sour, however, in 1998 with a major bond default that led to yet another merger, this time with Charlotte, NC-based Nations Bank to officially become the Bank of America that exists today. At the time, the merger was the largest bank merger in history and the company has only grown in the time since. Other additions to the new Bank of America include MBNA (a major credit card operator), Fleet Boston (then the US 7th largest and one of its oldest banks), and Merril Lynch, now Merril, which was added to the group in 2008 to provide an investment banking branch. Together the company dominates as one of the Big Four Banks in America. Bank of America lays claim to nearly 11% of all US deposits which ranks in line with its peer group and Bank of America Securities is listed as the worlds 3rd largest investment bank. Today, Bank of America Corporation provides banking and financial services for individuals, small businesses, institutions, corporations, and governments worldwide. The bank operates in three segments Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management, and Global Banking bringing in a combined revenue greater than $90 billion in 2022. As of 2022, Bank of America serves approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,200 retail financial centers. The bank also operates more than 16,000 ATMs and digital banking platforms with approximately 41 million active users. Its Consumer Banking segment offers traditional banking and investment products for retail clients. These range from deposit accounts to savings, credit cards, consumer loans, and IRAs. The Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and wealth management solutions including, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products. The Global Banking segment provides lending products and services, including commercial loans and leases for businesses of all varieties. The Global Markets segment offers market-making, clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as risk management, derivatives, and FX exchange services. An influential Australian opposition lawmaker under fire over his close links to wealthy Chinese political donors announced yesterday that he was quitting the Senate for the good of his party as the government moves against foreign interference in politics. Sam Dastyari announced that he would quit as a senator for the center-left Labor Party before Parliament next sits in February. The move comes after Cabinet Minister Peter Dutton on Monday described him as a double agent of China. Ive been guided by my Labor values, which tell me that I should leave if my ongoing presence detracts from the pursuit of Labors mission, Dastyari told reporters. It is evident to me we are at that point, so I will spare the party any further distraction, he added. Dastyari refused to take questions from reporters. The 34-year-old senator widely known as Shanghai Sam resigned from his leadership roles in Labor last month over scandals involving the wealthy Sydney-based Chinese businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo that have raised accusations of China buying influence. Australian security chiefs have advised against accepting political donations from Huang because of his suspected links to the Chinese Community Party. Labor has accused the conservative government of tapping into community China-phobia to attack Dastyari. A week ago, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Australia will ban foreign interference in its politics either through espionage or financial donations in a move motivated largely by Russias alleged involvement in last years U.S. election and Chinas growing influence on the global political landscape. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Turnbulls remarks were prejudiced against China and had poisoned the atmosphere of China-Australia relations. China is Australias largest trading partner and its biggest source of foreign political funds. Australian law has never distinguished between donors from Australia and overseas. The government said Dastyaris has not broken current laws, but the reformed laws would not allow a repeat of Dastyari asking Huang to pay a USD1,250 travel bill that Dastyari owed. Dutton, who will head Australias security and intelligence agencies as the governments first minister for home affairs next year, accused Dastyari of being a double agent who should be dumped by Labor. Sam Dastyari cant be beholden to a foreign power and pretend to be acting in the Australian publics interest by being a senator in the Australian Parliament, Dutton told reporters. Fairfax Media reported that Dastyari gave Huang counter-surveillance advice when they met at the businessmans Sydney mansion in October last year. Dastyari suggested the pair leave their phones inside the house and go outside to speak in case Australian intelligence services were listening, Fairfax reported. Dastyari has not denied the reports but said he had no knowledge about whether Huang was under Australian surveillance at the time. Media later broadcast audio of the senator misleading Chinese journalists last year on Labors policy on the South China Sea territorial disputes. Australia maintains that China should respect international law, and an arbitration ruling last year found Chinas broad claims to the sea were legally baseless. But Dastyari told Chinese reporters at a news conference in Sydney attended by Huang that Australia should observe several thousand years of history by respecting Chinese claims over most of the South China Sea. The phrasing mirrors Chinas stance. Accusations of Dastyari representing Chinese interests have continued to mount. Fairfax reported on Monday that Dastyari attempted to pressure deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek to abandon a meeting with a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong in 2015 because of Beijings sensitivities. The meeting went ahead. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Dastyari made the correct decision by resigning. Sam Dastyari is a good, decent and loyal Australian, and an effective parliamentarian, but his judgment has let him down and now he has paid the heaviest price, Shorten said in a statement. Rod McGuirk, Canberra, AP Madhya Pradesh minister Archana Chitnis has sent a proposal to expedite gun licenses to women. In case of rape victims who have sought gun licenses the same should be given immediately, the minister has proposed. By Hemender Sharma: After seeking death penalty for those accused of raping girls below 12 years of age through legislation, the MP government now proposes to empower women by giving them guns. Madhya Pradesh women and child welfare minister Archana Chitnis has sent a proposal to the state home department seeking speedy disposal of cases where women have sought gun licenses. In case of rape victims who have sought gun licenses the same should be given immediately, the minister has proposed. advertisement "The proposal is a reflection of the chief minister's concern towards women. Gun licenses will help empower women. Victims will be given gun licenses immediately", Archana Chitnis told India Today. My recommendation is that if a women requires a weapon license, then she should get it without delay. This would boost their morale & they'll feel confident: Archana Chitnis, Madhya Pradesh Women and Child welfare minister on recommendation of facilitation of gun license to women pic.twitter.com/fevdzAlX54- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 The opposition Congress party, however, has called it a gimmick. "Guns are not a solution. They can be used against women. The accused can over power women, snatch the guns from them and kill them," chief Congress spokesman KK Mishra said. Madhya Pradesh has the dubious distinction of being at the top when it comes to rape and crime against women, according to National Crimes Records Bureau. The state government has already proposed death penalty for rapists but has failed to stop such crimes that are being reported from across the state almost on a daily basis. Also read: If you are anemic, fair and lovely won't work: MP Minister at India Today Mind Rocks --- ENDS --- Bangladeshs government condemned an attack on New York Citys subway system, as it emerged that the suspect is an immigrant from the South Asian nation. Bangladesh is committed to its declared policy of Zero Tolerance against terrorism, and condemns terrorism and violent extremism in all forms or manifestations anywhere in the world, including Monday mornings incident in New York City, the government said in a statement. Police in Bangladesh said yesterday that they were not in a position to comment on the suspect, identified by U.S. authorities as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant. Ullah is accused of strapping a crude pipe bomb to his body and detonating it during rush hour Monday in an attack in which only he was seriously wounded. Ullah arrived in the United States in 2011 and the Department of Homeland Security said hes a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. who was living in Brooklyn. He came to the U.S. on a visa issued to him based on a family connection to a U.S. citizen. Law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said Ullah had looked at Islamic State group propaganda online and told investigators he was retaliating against U.S. military aggression, but had no direct contact with the group. The people spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak publicly about the blast. Ullahs family in the U.S. said in a statement that it was heartbroken and deeply saddened by the suffering the attack has caused. Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country governed by largely secular laws, has struggled with a rise in radical Islam over the last few years. In July last year, the country was shocked when five young men belonging to the domestic militant group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB attacked a popular restaurant frequented by foreigners and wealthy Bangladeshis and left 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, dead. During the attack the men sprayed bullets and threw grenades, and slaughtered the hostages. But even before that smaller attacks had been taking place targeting secular academics, atheist bloggers and members of the countrys tiny Hindu minority and foreigners. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for most of those attacks, including the one at the restaurant, but the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denied that the Sunni extremist group has any presence in the impoverished country. The government has blamed the attacks on local radical groups. Over the last year, the government has reinforced a crackdown to crush Islamist militants and killed dozens of suspects, including some accused of being the masterminds of the restaurant attack. AP Chinese officials struck a tempered tone on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre yesterday, saying China would look forward and deepen friendship with its neighbor Japan despite historical misgivings. Chinese President Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of Chinas parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future. China has frequently criticized Japan for not showing sufficient contrition for the brutality of its expansionist campaign that swept across Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Chinas government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops entering Chinas then capital in December 1937 following bitter street fighting in Shanghai. Some right-wing Japanese politicians, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have downplayed the death toll or denied outright that the Nanking atrocity even happened. Wearing a white flower on his lapel, Xi watched somberly yesterday as Chinese soldiers bearing large funeral wreaths marched slowly past a memorial showing the figure 300,000 the number of massacre victims, according to official Chinese estimates. Denial by conservative Japanese quarters of the countrys wartime history has frequently incensed neighbors that bore the brunt of its militarism and colonial rule, including China, South Korea and the Philippines, and it continues to fuel debate in contemporary Japan. A Japanese hotel chain attracted condemnation in January when it distributed a book questioning Japans use of forced sex workers and calling the Nanking Massacre a fake. Nanking, an ancient Chinese capital 320 kilometers west of Shanghai, is now commonly known as Nanjing. Chinas ruling Communist Party, particularly under Xi, has often stoked nationalism and allowed anti-Japanese sentiment to build. But relations have improved in recent months, with Xi and Abe posing together with smiles and pledging to seek a fresh start at a November summit in Vietnam. Yu, a former member of the Communist Partys top leadership circle, did not touch on the historical controversies Wednesday but said China and Japan share a long, rich history and should promote friendship for generations to come. China has raised alarms in Asia with its more assertive military and diplomatic posture in recent years, particularly over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Yu said in his address that Beijing would never be hegemonic or expansionist. It will never impose the tragic experience that it experienced on other peoples, he said. In an op-ed in the Financial Times Chinese edition, the French and German ambassadors to Beijing said their countries experience as opponents in the wars European theater showed that perpetrators need to recognize their crimes, and victims need to forgive to achieve a measure of reconciliation. Reflecting the occasion, the Nanking memorial was far more low-key than Chinas 2015 celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which unfurled as a propaganda showpiece with a massive military parade observed by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin from atop Tiananmen Gate. China similarly pressured foreign ambassadors in Beijing to attend the Nanking memorial but many did not, according to a Beijing-based diplomat. They fear being instrumentalized by propaganda, the diplomat said. AP The European Union said yesterday it has suspended assistance to Cambodias election commission following last months dissolution of the countrys main opposition party, and warned that next Julys general election will not be legitimate if the opposition is not allowed to participate. The Supreme Court on Nov. 16 ordered the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the only opposition group with seats in parliament, to be dissolved, in the latest move by authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sens government to remove threats to his power ahead of the vote. Julys election will be the first national polls since 2013, when Hun Sen narrowly retained office after the opposition made unexpectedly strong gains. The government has accused the party of involvement in a plot to topple it. The opposition staunchly denies the allegations a position backed by international rights groups and independent analysts who say no credible evidence has emerged to back the claims. The EU said in a statement that it had provided assistance to the National Election Committee for local elections in June that were viewed as reflecting the will of the people, but that a series of actions taken by authorities since then, including the reallocation of the opposition partys seats to other parties, denied voters their choice. It noted that the CNRP won 43.8 percent of the vote in the local elections. The dissolution of the CNRP also means that it will not be able to run in the National Assembly election in 2018, it said. An electoral process from which the main opposition party has been arbitrarily excluded cannot be seen as legitimate. Last week, the military filed a lawsuit against former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, a day after Hun Sen said he should be charged with treason over a social media post. Sam Rainsy was charged with inciting the military to disobey orders and with insulting military leaders because of a Facebook post in which he called on soldiers not to obey any dictators if they are ordered to shoot innocent people. He also mentioned that Egypts former leader was removed from power by the armed forces. Sam Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile since late 2015 to avoid a two- year prison sentence for a criminal defamation conviction. He has been the target of several lawsuits by Hun Sen and his ruling party. Kem Sokha, who took over the opposition party earlier of this year, has since been detained on treason charges and is awaiting trial. The government has also intensified restrictions on civil society groups and independent media, often through the countrys pliant courts. The campaign to neutralize political opponents and silence critics has prompted international condemnation. The U.S. announced last Wednesday it will restrict visas for Cambodians undermining democracy. The State Department said it was a response to anti-democratic actions by the Cambodian government, but did not disclose which individuals would be affected. Sopheng Cheang, Phnom Penh, AP Sands China Ltd. presented a cheque for just over MOP2 million to Macau Holy House of Mercy yesterday to help with the cost of restoring its elderly home, which was damaged when Typhoon Hato tore through Macau in August. Sands China Ltd.s president Wilfred Wong met with the elderly residents and received a tour of the damaged areas that will be restored with the help of Sands Chinas donation. Macau is still recovering from the devastation of Typhoon Hato, so it is important that we continue to assist the community where we can, said the president. Holy House of Mercys president Antonio Jose de Freitas said, this donation will be of critical importance in helping us restore our elderly home back to a suitable condition for its residents. Typhoon Hato caused damage to Macau Holy House of Mercys elderly home, including major structural damage to its roof. MGM invites Fu Hong society to its digital exhibition Along with the latest collaboration with the art collective teamLab, MGM invited members of the Fuhong Society of Macau to participate in an art workshop for display at its co-creative digital exhibition Learn & Play! teamLab Future Park, and prepared an exclusive exhibition session for them. According to a statement issued by the gaming operator, MGM hopes to give them an opportunity to be part of the exhibition, to express their creativity and empower them to display their ideas. Prior to the official opening of the exhibition, MGM Golden Lion Volunteer Team went to Pou Lei Center, one of the service centers of the Fuhong Society, for an art workshop. MGM invited 30 members of the Fuhong Society to the exhibition on December 4 to experience the interactive space, called the Light Ball Orchestra, where they enjoyed the changing colors of the spheres in the area by touching them or bumping them against one another. An international summit yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the Paris climate agreement has drawn world leaders, celebrities, companies and environmental groups to the French capital, all aiming to keep up momentum on efforts to curb global warming. Financial institutions are using the meeting to highlight the need to ensure that their investments dont suffer from, or contribute to, the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and more extreme weather around the world. Here are some of the major announcements and plans being considered at the Paris summit: LEANING IN A group of institutional investors calling themselves Climate Action 100+ said it would use its financial clout to raise the issue of climate-related risk with companies. The group, which comprises 225 investment funds managing more than USD26 trillion in assets, said it will focus its efforts on 100 of the worlds largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters. The idea is that companies will heed the concerns of major funds because they dont want to be considered a bad investment due to the financial risks that climate change might pose for their business. GREEN TRANSPARENCY Over 200 companies have pledged greater transparency on reporting climate-related risks in their businesses as part of a voluntary program led by U.S. billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The former New York mayor and Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Financial Stability Board, said Tuesday that the number of companies supporting the program had more than doubled since its recommendations were first published in June. The 237 companies , with a combined value of over $6.3 trillion, include construction firms, energy companies and financial institutions from 29 countries. Carney said the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures plans to report on its efforts when leaders of the Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging economies meet in Argentina in a year. COAL GOAL Dutch bank ING plans to have zero investments in coal power generation by 2025. The company said Tuesday it expects fossil fuels to remain a key source of energy in the coming decades but wants to see the most polluting kind coal phased out. ING said that rather than walk away from clients who dont meet its environmental risk policies, the bank will try to work with them to help improve their climate footprint. It added, though, that when engagement and improvement dont work, we dont provide financing. FOSSIL-FREE FUND Norwegian pension fund Storebrand said its expanding its portfolio of fossil fuel-free investments to over $3 billion. Storebrand, which has $80 billion in assets under management, said Tuesday that the move reflected growing public concern over climate change. The company has recently tightened its rules, ditching investments in companies deemed to be among the most polluting as a result CARBON SHOCK French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the summit, is proposing an increase in the cost of carbon emissions. Macron said he believes the global economy needs a shock if the goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) is to be achieved. Macron told French daily Le Monde that he doesnt favor outright bans on gasoline vehicles, for example, but rather financial incentives for companies to invest in renewable energy and new modes of production. One such incentive would be to raise the minimum price of per metric ton of carbon dioxide to 30 euros ($35.39) a position Macron acknowledged not all European countries agree on yet. Current prices for the greenhouse gas in Europe are up to five times lower. He told the newspaper that while carbon-intensive industries wont welcome such a move, without this shock to change productive behavior, we will not get results. LIFE SAVINGS Among the issues being discussed in Paris is how to increase financial support for poor countries, including for a U.N. fund meant to help put their economies on a climate-friendly track. The fund, agreed on in 2009, aims to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 but is currently about a third short. The prime minister of the Pacific island nation of Fiji warned Tuesday that climate change should be considered a life or death issue for millions of people around the world. Frank Bainimarama, who chaired last months U.N. climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, said the financial resources required to shift the world economy onto a low-carbon path were there, but that the money needs to flow faster if its going to make a difference on the ground. Frank Jordans, Berlin, AP The Tourism Federation of Cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau Bay Area held its first members assembly in Hengqin yesterday. During the assembly, the Federation approved its internal rules. Initiated by the Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Tourism Commission and the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and under the guidance of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), the federation is a new organization for comprehensive cooperation of tourism authorities of the nine cities in Guangdong Province Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing as well as the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau. Among the federation goals is the building of a quality living circle ideal for inhabitation, work and travel. The Secretariat of the federation is set up at the Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province, and the first Rotating Chairman of the year is the Tourism Administration of Guangzhou Municipality. Upholding the principle of concerted development, joint branding and market sharing, the Federation will promote communication and cooperation among members through resource integration, image promotion, collaborative marketing and other means, as all members join hands to forge a world-class travel destination. The CNTA director general of the Department of Affairs on Tourism of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Li Yaying, remarked that tourism is a rising industry and a new era of holistic tourism development has arrived. According to a statement issued yesterday by the MGTO, the establishment of the federation will not only push forward tourism cooperation and interchanges between the three destinations but will also foster their joint branding as one international tourism destination. The statement continues to say that the cooperation will forge a new tourism benchmark as a world-class bay area, creating a strong momentum for the tourism development of the entire region of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as national tourism development. Guangdong launches measures for greater bay area THE GUANGDONG Security Department yesterday announced 18 measures to assist the Greater Bay Area plan. The 18 measures encompass six fields, including security force cooperation, border entry of people and vehicles, and talented peoples residence concerning the three regions. The Hengqin Free Trade Zone will allow a maximum of 800 Macau single plated cars to enter the zone. This number is seven times the current value, in terms of said vehicle permissions. Macaus single plated cars will also be waived from undergoing annual checking within the next six years. Hong Kong authorities yesterday increased the number of driving permits for the upcoming Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau Bridge to 10,000, in response to overwhelming demand. The revision, announced by Hong Kongs Transport Department, marks a threefold increase from the initial 3,000 dual-plate permits. In light of the overwhelming response, the two governments have decided to increase the quota for Hong Kong cross-boundary private cars by 7,000, bringing the quota for Hong Kong cross-boundary private cars to 10,000, explained the Transport Department in a statement. The permits allow Hong Kong private cars to use the bridge to cross into Zhuhai and to drive on the mainland. It remains unclear whether these permit holders will be entitled to drive in Macau, or whether other such arrangements are being planned by authorities. The licenses refer to the car in question and not the driver, and last for an initial period of five years. Those eligible to apply for the permits include Hong Kong-based companies with an accumulative tax amount of at least RMB100,000 in Guangdong Province in the past three years, recognized high-tech companies and residents of the HKSAR who have donated over RMB5 million to Guangdong-based charities. Hong Kong residents who are members of the Peoples Congress and the CPPCC in Guangdong will also be eligible, according to media reports. Several Hong Kong industry leaders welcomed the increase but complained that the 10,000 permits are not enough to satisfy demand in the SAR and that the mega-bridge is able to accommodate a much larger number. The multi-billion-dollar HKZMB is scheduled to complete before the year ends, however a date for when it will open to traffic has not been announced. The bridge has been beset for almost a decade by delays, budget overruns and safety concerns. The Cakemaker a film directed by Ofir Raul Graizer is a movie that tackles religion, grief and hidden love, shown through a slight political lens. The film, which was part of the competition segment of the 2nd International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) is about a young German baker, Thomas, and an Israeli widow, Anat, who both grieve for an Israeli businessman named Oren. Oren, a married man from Israel frequently traveled to Germany on business. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers about his death. Hiding his romantic relationship with Oren, Thomas infiltrates the life of Orens widow Anat who owns a small cafe in the city, where he starts to work for her. Graizer, when speaking to local press, admitted that directing the movie also required a sensitive approach but at the same time, it was a daring move since the Israeli director grew up in a world of both religious and secular conservatism. What I tried to do is to make this topic [religion] a part of the story but in the background. [] [I] let the characters consider religion in their own way, he said. The movie, which was reviewed as a blend of old-school melodrama and contemporary identity politics depicts the pain of the characters with empathy. Graizer directed The Cakemaker as a unique story of same-sex romance that recognizes a human beings sexuality, desire, and emotional need. Even though they have this concept on religion and lifestyle, and belief, they are eventually human beings and they find a way to remain human despite the difference, the director said of his characters. Inspired by a true story, Graizer explained that his friend, who had passed away, lived a double life, as he was married, had children yet had an affair with a man. Its actually a story which is happening today in liberal cultures. [] There are still people who are living a double life because of family, social and religious [matters]. Its still happening, explained the filmmaker. When exploring the line between fiction and reality in his film, Graizer noted that the context of the movie was factual, while the elements in the film food, and the connection between Israel and Berlin, blurs more into the realm of fiction, although still draws upon his experiences. Questioned by the Times whether there were hesitations in screening the film in the region due to sensitive topics that it portrayed, Graizer said that he has always been curious about showing the film in places which might be more conservative. What I dont want to do is to hurt people. [] I didnt try to make it either nice or provocative. In the end when I look at it, I think its quite done in a gentle way, he commented. The movies ending is relatively open to interpretation, and Graizer remarked, the idea is to let people find their own way to define who they are. This is what the characters try to do in the film in an unconscious way. They want to be able to exist without defining themselves nationally, religiously and sexuality, he continued. It took eight years for the movie to be realized due to funding difficulties, yet the director noted that the movie has been invited to be screened at different regions including the United States, Australia, Spain, Korea and Taiwan. The director, who is based in both Israel and Germany, is currently working on the script The Dream Of The Shepherd a movie very different from The Cakemaker as it tackles politics, violence and refugees. Sharing more on The Cakemaker, the director admitted, I think its a very political film and has a very political message. Its something hidden. Its the first time Im saying it. Graizer also shared that he is developing three more stories, all of which are influenced by what is happening in politics and his personal life. Today we live in a world where ideas of human rights or the rights of the refugees have been neglected. Theyve been less valued, while the idea of nationality, religion and patriotism and monarchy are coming back, he commented. The Cakemaker, which screened at the Macao Cultural Center on Sunday, is Graizers first feature film and had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic in June, where it won the Ecumenical Jury Award. Thailands military junta has welcomed the European Unions decision to ease political sanctions imposed against it for overthrowing an elected government in 2014. The EUs announcement is good news that underscores positive developments under military rule, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said yesterday. The EUs Foreign Affairs Council announced Monday that it was appropriate to pursue a gradual political re-engagement with Thailand because it had improved human rights conditions, adopted a new constitution and set an election date for 2018. The EU suspended official visits with Thailand in response to the coup. It said it would continue to review its relationship with Thailand while watching for the lifting of media restrictions and ban on political activities, and the installation of a democratically elected civilian government. The EU also urged the junta not to try civilians in military courts on charges of insulting the royal family, or lese majeste. Thailands lese majeste law is the harshest in the world, providing punishment of up to 15 years in prison per offense. The EU also called on the military government to respect its promise to hold elections next November. The junta has already postponed elections several times. Last month, police said they found a stash of weapons they suspect belonged to supporters of the government that was ousted in the coup. The junta has given the arms discovery as a reason to prolong its ban on political activities, raising speculation from critics that it does not want to relinquish power. Once again the military government seems to be finding every excuse to try to curtail political parties and their ability to start mustering support ahead of the planned elections in less than a year from now, Bangkok Post editor Umesh Pandey said in a Dec 3 op-ed column about the weapons discovery. Officials have denied accusations that the discovery was a set up. Don, the foreign minister, told reporters that he now expects there will be more communication between Thailand and the EU over the next year, which he said could be a good opportunity to explain why elections might have to be delayed if any incidents occur. But today we are sticking to the roadmap, Don said. AP Before he was killed by a sniper in Syria at age 23, Ivan Slyshkin wrote a poignant message on social media to his fiancee: We will see each other soon and I will hold you as tight as I possibly can. But Slyshkins name wont be found among the Russian Defense Ministrys official casualties in the fight against Islamic State extremists. Thats because the young man who left his hometown of Ozyorsk in the Ural mountains was one of thousands of Russians deployed to Syria by a shadowy, private military contractor known as Wagner, which the government doesnt talk about. Slyshkins gravestone depicts him holding a machine gun, according to a local news website Znak.com that sent a reporter to his March 2 funeral in Ozyorsk, where friends said he joined Wagner to earn money to pay for his wedding. He was in Wagners group, his friend Andrei Zotov told The Associated Press, adding that Slyshkin was killed as the security forces were advancing on the Al-Shayer oil field north of Palmyra. There are many good guys there. He volunteered to join the company, Zotov said. Like many Russian fighters, he wanted to solve his money issues. The St. Petersburg-based website Fontanka reported that about 3,000 Russians under contract to the Wagner group have fought in Syria since 2015, months before Russias two- year military campaign helped to turn the tide of the civil war in favor of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime Moscow ally. When Putin went to a Russian air base in Syria on Monday and told Russian troops that you are coming back home with victory, he did not mention the private contractors. Russian troops are expected to remain in Syria for years while the contractors are likely to stay to guard lucrative oil and gas fields under a contract between the Syrian government and another Russian company allegedly linked to a businessman known as Putins chef for his close ties to the Kremlin. Proxy fighters like Slyshkin have played a key role in Syria. In addition to augmenting troops officially sent by Moscow, their secret deployment has helped keep the official Russian death toll low as Putin seeks re-election next year. The Russian Defense Ministry has said 41 of its troops have died in Syria. But according to Fontanka, another 73 private contractors have been killed there. The Kremlin and the Defense Ministry have stonewalled questions about Russians fighting in Syria in a private capacity. Private contractors have been used by countries like the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan for years; Russian law forbids the hiring of mercenaries or working as one. But Russia has used such proxies before in the conflict to help pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014. One Russian commander boasted of working alongside Russian troops who said they were on vacation while fighting in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry has refused to say how many of its troops are in Syria, although one estimate based on absentee ballots cast in the Russian parliamentary election last year indicated 4,300 personnel were deployed there. That number probably rose this year because Moscow sent Russian military police to patrol de-escalation zones. The Russian people are not very enthused by the idea of an empire that would involve their boys coming home in body bags. Theres clearly a lack enthusiasm for this conflict, said Mark Galeotti, senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. By having this military company Wagner, they can have a force they can actually deploy but when people die, it doesnt have to be announced, Galeotti said. Fontanka, which is respected for its independent reporting, has obtained what it described as Wagners spreadsheets and recruitment forms that indicate thousands of Russians have fought in Syria. Of about 3,000 Wagner employees deployed to Syria over the years, the single largest contingent at a given time has been about 1,500, said Denis Korotkov, a reporter for Fontanka. Since 2015, at least 73 of them have died, he said. Another investigative group, Conflict Intelligence Team, or CIT, put the number of private contractor deaths at 101. Both outlets say those are conservative estimates. The most important proof is people, dead and alive, who have said they are mercenaries and their relatives say there are mercenaries, said CIT founder Ruslan Leviev. How would hundreds of people all over the country collude and come up with the same story? Activists with CIT made a name for the group by combing social media and other records for Russias involvement in Ukraine and are doing the same for Syria. Both Fontanka and CIT published photos from what they called a Wagner training base in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia. Some of the facilities look identical to those seen in official Defense Ministry photos of a military base in Molkino, in the same area. Agreements signed with the security companies have kept the private contractors and members of their families from speaking to the media about their activities. Survivors receive generous compensation for keeping silent, and most attempts by AP to contact relatives and friends of those killed have been unsuccessful. Media in southern Russia reported the death of Alexander Karchenkov in Syria in November 2016. The BelPressa website showed the mayor of his hometown of Stary Oskol giving a medal to Karchenkovs tearful widow, Marina, and mother. Marina Karchenkova said her husband went to Syria as a contract soldier because he had children to raise. In a handwritten form dated December 2015, Karchenkov said he was unemployed, serving in the Soviet army in 1989-1991 and as a volunteer in Kosovo in 1998-2000. In October, the Islamic State group released video of two Russian captives it said had been fighting in Syria, and one of them identified himself as Roman Zabolotny and said the other was Grigory Tsurkanu. The Defense Ministry denied they were Russian servicemen, and media reports said they were working for Wagner. Their fate at the hands of the extremists is unknown. The Wagner group was founded by retired Lt. Col. Dmitry Utkin, who came under U.S. sanctions in June after the Treasury Department said the company had recruited former soldiers to join the separatists fighting in Ukraine. Utkin was photographed a year ago at a Kremlin banquet thrown by Putin to honor military veterans. Also under U.S. sanctions is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the St. Petersburg entrepreneur dubbed Putins chef by Russian media because of his restaurants and catering businesses that once hosted the Kremlin leaders dinners with foreign dignitaries. In the more than 10 years since establishing a relationship with Putin, his business expanded to other services for the military. Earlier this year, an anti-corruption foundation run by opposition leader Alexei Navalny detailed how Prigozhins firms have come to dominate Defense Ministry contracts. The U.S. State Department put Prigozhin on its sanctions list in 2016 related to the Ukrainian conflict, citing his extensive business dealings with the Defense Ministry. Among the firms linked to Prigozhin is Evro Polis, a Moscow-registered company that Fontanka reported has become a front for Wagners operations in Syria. In 2016, Evro Polis listed the sale of food products as its core activities, according to the Spark Interfax database. But this year, it listed mining, oil and gas production, and opened an office in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The AP obtained a copy of a 48-page contract between Evro Polis and Syrias state-owned General Petroleum Corp., which said the Russian company would receive 25 percent of the proceeds from oil and gas production at fields its contractors capture and secure from Islamic State militants. While the five-year contract could not be authenticated, Fontanka reported the same deal in June. The link between Evro Polis and Prigozhin is significant and is not in doubt, said Fontankas Korotkov. We believe that this firm is just a cover for the private company Wagner, and it could be an attempt to legalize this group, possibly for a commercial use later on. Both Evro Polis and Prigozhins Concorde Management and Consulting were unavailable for comment, and the Defense Ministry did not reply to APs request for comment. An AP reporter who went to Evro Polis Damascus office in November found it closed, with no sign on the door. Syrias Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources declined comment when asked about the Evro Polis deal. Asked about the contract, the Russian Energy Ministry told Fontanka it cannot divulge commercial secrets, and declined comment to the AP. As the Russian campaign in Syria draws to a close, the private contractors will probably stay, analysts say. Wagner is is likely to cement its footing because we saw that there were not only military goals to pursue [] but there is a commercial motive, Leviev said. Someone needs to guard the oil fields. Nataliya Vasilyeva, Moscow, AP By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: A big protest was carried out in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh district by members of the Muslim community demanding stringent action in the Rajsamand brutal killing case . The protestors submitted a memorandum to the District Collector addressed to the Chief Minister. While the protest was being carried out, gates of the Mini Secretariat, where the Collector's office is located, remained closed. However, they were opened after an argument ensued. advertisement Members from the minority community took out a rally which reached the Mini Secretariat. Heavy police arrangements were in place during the course of the rally. Shambulal Raigar, the man allegedly behind Rajsamand hate crime, was arrested by the district police and later sent into police custody. A video showing Shambulal hacking another person with a machete and then burning him had surfaced. He, in the video, claimed that he had murdered the person to avenge for 'love jihad'. WATCH | Man burnt to death to 'save girl from love jihad' in Rajasthan After the first video, another video of Shambulal had surfaced in which he admitted to committing the crime and said that he will surrender. In one of the videos, Shambulal can be heard saying that he committed the act to save the girl from 'love jihad'. Mohammad Afrazul was identified as the person seen in the video. The entire incident happened on Dev Heritage Road in Rajnagar area of Rajsamand. The police had initially received information about the half-burnt body of a man being found. Senior police officials including SP Manoj Kumar, ASP Manish Tripathi, DSP Rajendra Singh reached the location and found a disfigured body. A team of Forensic Scientific Lab and a dog squad was summoned. The State Human Rights Commission in Rajasthan had taken cognizance of the case of barbaric killing in state's Rajsamand district. Justice Prakash Tatia, the Chairman of the State Commission, has directed Rajsamand Superintendent of Police to submit a report on the matter on December 19. The Commission Chairman termed the incident as "extremely cruel and inhumane criminal incident" and mentioned that the video of the act along with the speech were being spread to scare and terrorize the common people. Taking note of the incident, Justice Tatia said, "To so barbarically kill a person pleading and begging for life and to get its video made and to be proud of it and to propagate the video is an extremely serious attempt to not just shake the entire concept of human rights but to destroy them." Shambulal Raigar was, on Sunday, sent for ten days' police remand. --- ENDS --- advertisement The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) has forwarded a travel warning issued by the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom (UK), which aims to provide information for Chinese citizens that are currently in UK or planning to travel there shortly. In the message, the Chinese diplomatic representative in UK warns Chinese nationals about the current conditions of the snowfall and cold weather. According to the message, the snowfall is occurring in several regions of the United Kingdom and has been affecting air, rail and subway services. The message aims to alert the Chinese citizens and make them aware and informed of the possible aggravation of the conditions. Travelers have been told to pay special attention to warnings on the official website of the British Meteorological Service (www.metoffice.gov.uk) and to keep an eye out for updates on information issued on the websites of Heathrow Airport (www.heathrow.com) and the London Transport Service (tfl.gov.uk), to accurately take into account the impact that the snowfall might have on their travel plans. Nansha to open lusophone exhibition center The Portuguese-speaking Countries Commodities Exhibition Center, located at the innovation zone in Nansha, Guangzhou, will officially open to the public from the first day of 2018. On December 20, operations will start internally. A ceremony to mark the launching of the exhibition center will be held in April. The center has been established to give mainland customers access to products from the Portuguese-speaking countries. Nanshas innovation zone reportedly said that the zone will build a 6,666 square meters economic and trade center for products coming from Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries. Gongbei Customs arrest three drug dealers Gongbei Customs has arrested three drug dealers at the Gongbei Port Plaza, following the seizure of an anonymous package containing drugs which had been shipped from Pakistan. In total, 447.5 grams of Ketamine were spotted while the customs officers carried out daily checking of shipped parcels. After spotting the drugs, the Gongbei customs authority took action to detain the drug dealers. Two people working at a shop located in the Gongbei Port Plaza were arrested, as well as another man who picked up the drugs at the shop. Lawmaker questions reopening of flooded parking lots The pedestrian flyover at Avenida Doutor Mario Soares has been repaired and has now reopened. The flyover was first opened in August, before being damaged during Typhoon Hato. Regarding facilities damaged by Hato, lawmaker Lam Lon Wai also questioned the government about the reopening of parking lots, which were flooded during the typhoon. Three parking lots that were flooded are still closed. The lawmaker has urged the government to open the government departments parking lots to the public, as Lam believes that these parking lots are not being used reasonably. The Court of Second Instance (TSI) concluded the analysis on the appeal submitted by the Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Predial Baia da Nossa Senhora da Esperanca S.A. last week. The appeal was made to stop the legal order to vacate the land where the former Iec Long Firecracker Factory in Taipa is located. The order issued by the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) had been grounded on a previous decision from the Administrative Court (TA). The TA gave their support to the Chief Executives (CE) order, from April 24. According to that order a contract of land swap between the government and three companies (including the defendants) was cancelled. The reason for its cancellation was the legal impossibility of making such a contract in light of the investigations and report, made prior by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) in July 2016. The company has decided to appeal after the TAs decision and their case had been forwarded to the upper court (TSI). The aim of their appeal was to try to supersede the order from DSSOPT, which was imposing a 60-day period for the release of the land, to avoid immediate eviction. According to the CEs order, the DSSOPT had the duty to take immediate action to keep unoccupied lands, which are its property, [specifically in this case] the area called Iec Long Firecracker Factory. The company have contested this action, claiming that the process is still running and that this procedure would cause them to suffer financial losses. Concerning claims that the execution is likely to cause damage, which will be difficult to repair for the applicant the TSI ruled that in the case of a later decision (that is favorable for the appellant), they, the company, may request compensation for the losses suffered, even if it can not continue as owner of the concession of the land. The TSI ruling continued, nor can it be said that it will be impossible to calculate the exact amount of profit losses, damages and any other losses which it may suffer, reaffirming that it is possible to establish criteria to determine the profitability of the construction and the profits that the entrepreneur would have if he could have completed the use of the land. A British banker sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome slayings of two Indonesian women appeared in a Hong Kong court yesterday to appeal his conviction. Lawyers for Rurik Jutting made their case in the semiautonomous Chinese citys Court of Appeal, arguing that the trial judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury on deciding their verdict. The nine-person jury last year convicted Cambridge University-educated Jutting of the 2014 killings of Seneng Mujiasih, 26, and Sumarti Ningsih, 23. The case shocked residents of Hong Kong, while also highlighting wide inequality and seedy aspects usually hidden below the surface. Jutting, 32, watched the proceedings from the dock yesterday, wearing a blue dress shirt and often leafing through a bundle of court documents as he followed along. During a break he chatted with the three uniformed court officers sitting alongside him. Jutting worked for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, while Seneng and Sumarti arrived in Hong Kong as foreign maids but ended up as sex workers. During the trial, jurors were shown graphic iPhone videos shot by Jutting of him torturing Sumarti and snorting cocaine. Jutting attempted at the trial to plead guilty to manslaughter, which the court rejected. His defense argued that he was under diminished responsibility. Yesterday, lawyer Gerard McCoy told the three-judge appeal panel that the trial judge made a fatal error in his directions to the jurors on how to assess Juttings psychiatric disorders and whether they constituted a mental abnormality. Under Hong Kong law, an abnormality of mind that substantially impairs mental responsibility can be used as a defense against a murder conviction. Juttings lawyers argued the trial judge also erred by instructing jurors to come up with the same verdict for both counts, despite the different circumstances of the two deaths. The case was adjourned until today. Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong, AP BANGLADESH Counterterrorism officers are questioning the wife and other relatives of a man accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York Citys subway system, as the government condemned the attack, saying it opposes all forms of terrorism. HONG KONG A British banker sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome slayings of two Indonesian women appeared in a Hong Kong court yesterday to appeal his conviction. CAMBODIA The European Union said yesterday it has suspended assistance to Cambodias election commission following last months dissolution of the countrys main opposition party, and warned that next Julys general election will not be legitimate if the opposition is not allowed to participate. PAKISTANs army says militants opened fire on an army vehicle on patrol in the countrys mountainous northwestern region near the Afghan border, killing two soldiers. TURKEY-RUSSIA Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are meeting to discuss developments in Syria and the Middle East, as well as bilateral relations. Putin and Erdogan have already met several times this year and are reportedly in regular communication. ISRAEL A new survey released yesterday shows just how divided the country has become. The annual Israeli Democracy Index found that 45 percent of Israelis, believe the countrys democratic system of government is in serious danger. AUSTRIA An explosion yesterday at a major natural gas facility near Austrias border with Slovakia left one person dead and 21 injured, and caused some gas flow disruptions to other countries, authorities said. THE NETHERLANDS The Dutch capital, with its World Heritage-listed canals, narrow streets and web of alleys in its red light district, is pushing back against excessive tourism in an attempt to keep the city attractive to visitors and residents alike. The government is considering a tourist tax among other disincentives. US-MEXICO Advocates for a Mexican journalist detained in a remote West Texas facility asked the U.S. government to grant him asylum instead of deporting him to a country where he believes hell be killed. UNITED NATIONS The global economy is growing by about 3 percent its highest rate since 2011 and a significant acceleration from last year, the United Nations said. In Asian deals, fundamentals can often matter less than connections. The latest illustration: Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdis emergence as the sole bidder for a stake in Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. Sabeco ranks as the worlds most richly valued major brewer after surging 58 percent on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange this year, including a 6.8 percent jump on Tuesday. So it shouldnt be much of a surprise that a unit of Charoens Thai Beverage Pcl was the only one of about half a dozen foreign companies to register an interest in buying 25 percent of Vietnams largest beermaker even if the country offers the growth potential that international brewers crave. Other companies may still bid for smaller stakes. Beer giants Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Heineken NV, and Japans Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. and Kirin Holdings Co. are grappling with flat or falling sales in their home markets. Vietnam, as my Gadfly colleague David Fickling has noted, is Asias third-largest beer producer after China and Japan with a working-age population that will overtake the latters by 2030 and Sabeco has almost half the market. The Southeast Asian country could be home to the worlds second-largest increase in beer sales by volume between 2016 and 2021 after India, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Thomas Jastrzab. But the price would have been hard to explain to shareholders of these multinationals, especially given the low level of control that was on offer. A 25 percent stake would be worth USD2.3 billion based on the initial price guidance. While the government is selling 53.6 percent of Sabeco, Vietnam has a 49 percent cap on foreign investor stakes in public companies. With 10.4 percent of Sabeco already in overseas hands, any acquirer faced being stuck with a minority interest. Thats clearly not a concern for a Southeast Asian tycoon like Charoen, whos been cultivating connections in Vietnam and appears content to play a long game. Charoen came to global prominence four years ago when he beat Heineken and Indonesias Riady family to a multibillion-dollar takeover of Singapores Fraser & Neave Ltd. Hes since been building up stakes in regional assets through ThaiBev and several privately held companies. These include the acquisition of Thai supermarket chain Big C Supercenter Pcl from French grocer Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA last year and a deal to buy half of Myanmars largest spirits maker from U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital. Fraser & Neave is already a major shareholder in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC, or Vinamilk, Southeast Asias biggest milk producer. Charoen also acquired German retailer Metro AGs wholesale stores in the country three years ago. Sabeco would further extend his interests in one of Asias most dynamic and fast-growing economies. That looks like a smart strategy provided the price doesnt leave him with a nasty hangover. Nisha Gopalan, Bloomberg Top image shows interactions between the androgen receptor protein (AR) and the TFIIF protein in red. The bottom image shows that no interactions occur after the removal of the region of the AR to which TFIIF binds. Credit: Paula Martinez-Cristobal, IRB Barcelona In most cases, prostate cancer is cured by surgery and/or radiotherapy. However, 20 percent of patients will need treatment to remove tumour cells but this treatment ceases to be effective after two or three years and the cancer recurs. Once this stage of the disease is reached, there is no cure. A team headed by Xavier Salvatella, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), has discovered a new avenue through which to attack prostrate cancer cells that have developed drug resistance. Published in the journal Structure, the study opens up new therapeutic avenues against a disease that causes 75,000 deaths a year in Europe alone. A clear target and new sites of attack The survival and proliferation of prostate tumour cells requires a highly active androgen receptor protein. The drug used to remove tumour cells interferes with this protein by binding to a specific region of the receptor and blocking its activity. "Over time, the protein accumulates alterations and mutates, and there comes a point when it is futile to target this region with drugs because, in fact, it is no longer there," says Salvatella. The Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, headed by Salvatella, studies the tridimensional structure and atomic movements of the androgen receptor, with the aim of finding new binding sites. It has been known for some years that the protein has a small region, spanning only 20 amino acids, that is important for tumour cell survival. The study now describes for the first time that this regionusually without a structure and therefore a priori disregarded as a drug targethas a helix shape. After it becomes helical, another protein, called TFIIF, binds to it. The study reveals that this interaction stimulates the activity of the androgen receptor, and consequently facilitates the survival and multiplication of tumour cells. "The fact that TFIIF is a folded protein with a more defined structure makes it easier to search for drugs that can interfere with its interaction with the motif. For prostate tumour cells that have become resistant to treatment, we believe that this interaction could be their last mechanism through which to survive and proliferate," explains Salvatella. "Using cells in vitro, we have seen that if we remove this region, the TFIIF protein can't bind to the androgen receptor. So if the interaction does not occur, the androgen receptor loses activity, which is what we are interested in achieving," says researcher Elzbieta Maria Szulc. In collaboration with experts in computational modelling, the scientists are searching for drugs that interfere with TFIIF. "We don't know whether such drugs will have a positive effect on cells, but the data available is promising," says Salvatella. More information: Eva De Mol et al, Regulation of Androgen Receptor Activity by Transient Interactions of Its Transactivation Domain with General Transcription Regulators, Structure (2017). Journal information: Structure Eva De Mol et al, Regulation of Androgen Receptor Activity by Transient Interactions of Its Transactivation Domain with General Transcription Regulators,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2017.11.007 (HealthDay)A deep learning algorithm can detect metastases in sections of lymph nodes from women with breast cancer; and a deep learning system (DLS) has high sensitivity and specificity for identifying diabetic retinopathy, according to two studies published online Dec. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Babak Ehteshami Bejnordi, from the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and colleagues compared the performance of automated deep learning algorithms for detecting metastases in hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections of lymph nodes of women with breast cancer with pathologists' diagnoses in a diagnostic setting. The researchers found that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) ranged from 0.556 to 0.994 for the algorithms. The lesion-level, true-positive fraction achieved for the top-performing algorithm was comparable to that of the pathologist without a time constraint at a mean of 0.0125 false-positives per normal whole-slide image. Daniel Shu Wei Ting, M.D., Ph.D., from the Singapore National Eye Center, and colleagues assessed the performance of a DLS for detecting referable diabetic retinopathy and related eye diseases using 494,661 retinal images. The researchers found that the AUC of the DLS for referable diabetic retinopathy was 0.936, and sensitivity and specificity were 90.5 and 91.6 percent, respectively. For vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy, the AUC was 0.958, and sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 91.1 percent, respectively. "In this evaluation of retinal images from multiethnic cohorts of patients with diabetes, the DLS had high sensitivity and specificity for identifying diabetic retinopathy and related eye diseases," Ting and colleagues write. Several authors from the Bejnordi study disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Several authors from the Ting study hold patents related to the deep learning system used in the study. Abstract/Full Text - Ting (subscription or payment may be required) Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Sylentis SYL136001v10 drug is a small interfering RNA capable of penetrating the cells of the retina and blocking the formation of new blood vessels by intravitreal drops. Credit: PharmaMar The Spanish firm Sylentis has developed a compound to treat diseases of the retina including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The treatment is administered by ophthalmic drops instead of intraocular injections and has been tested in animals. It is a small interfering RNA capable of penetrating the cells of the retina and blocking the formation of new blood vessels. The drug SYL136001v10, developed by PharmaMar, is still in the preclinical phase. "Its effectiveness has been proven in animal models and trials with humans will begin at the end of 2018," said Covadonga Paneda, R+D Manager at Sylentis. Paneda is the main author of a study on SYL136001v10, which was presented at the end of September at the XIII Annual Meeting of the Oligonucleotides Therapeutics Society, held in Bordeaux (France). Paneda says, "This compound is a small interfering RNA (siRNA) designed to silence the expression of NRARP, a protein that controls the formation of new blood vessels in the retina." In this way, she says, "the drug exerts its action by entering the cells of the retina, where it prevents the synthesis of this protein and blocks the formation of new vessels, which is one of the fundamental characteristics of degenerative diseases of the retina." The compounds currently used to treat these diseases are based on large antibodies that cannot penetrate from the ocular surface to the retina, so they must be administered by intravitreal injections. "Patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy have to go to the hospital where the treatments are performed with ocular injections, which is annoying and painful, and also involves a significant financial investment for the health system," says Covadonga Paneda. However, she notes, "siRNA, like SYL136001v10, are up to 10 times smaller than these treatments. Their size allows them to penetrate the retina and inhibit the formation of new blood vessels after their application in ophthalmic drops, as we have shown in animal models. In particular, efficacy studies have shown that the reduction of NRARP in the retina by means of siRNA leads to the regression of angiogenic retinal lesions and that the observed reductions are equivalent to those of anti-VEGF, which is the current treatment standard for these diseases with ocular injections." The firm, located in Tres Cantos (Madrid), plans to take charge of the first clinical efficacy studies. Once the proof of concept in humans has been demonstrated, it will try to license the drug to a multinational. The European Commission won support on Wednesday for a new plan to regulate chemicals which can potentially disrupt the body's hormones, expressing hope it can take effect next year. Member state experts endorsed a proposal from the commission, the EU executive, that revises criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in products used to protect farm animals and plants from disease and insects. The commission said the proposal targeted concerns of the European Parliament, which in October blocked a previous list of identification criteria. "I now call on Council and the European Parliament to give their green light on this text to ensure a swift implementation of the criteria in the course of 2018," EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said. The council groups ministers from the 28 European Union member states. Endocrine disruptors are believed to have a role in many health conditions, from obesity to infertility, and are found in many common goods such as cosmetics or even toys. Activist group Health and Environment Alliance said the new criteria fall short, reiterating concerns about the "very high burden of proof required in the criteria." The body's endocrine systemin the ovaries and testes, as well as the adrenal, pituitary and thyroid glandsproduce hormones that are secreted into the bloodstream to control and coordinate a range of critical body functions. These hormones help regulate energy levels, reproduction, growth, development, as well as our response to stress and injury. The disruptors issue has pitted industry and agriculture against consumer and environmental groups for many years. The EU even announced last year that it had reached broad agreement on what substances were involved but had to go back to the drawing board amid controversy. 2017 AFP Arpita's sister Shweta earlier today demanded a CBI probe into her sister's mysterious death and pointed out many flaws in the suicide theory by the police. By Saurabh Vaktania: Two days after 25-year-old Arpita Tiwary was found dead in Malad, Mumbai Police today registered a case of murder against unidentified persons. Arpita's sister Shweta, who rubbished the suicide rumours, earlier today demanded a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe into her sister's mysterious death. Shweta had also pointed out many flaws in the suicide theory by the police. advertisement Calling her sister an ambitious person, Shweta said, "She wanted to do so many things in life and achieve her goals. There was no reason for her to commit suicide. She was jovial and made friends easily". Arpita, who was an anchor, had also started a start-up. She was in a relationship with Pankaj Jadhav but the couple was witnessing hard times off late. Speaking to India Today, Shweta said, "I spoke to her just two days before her death. Everything appeared fine and there was no problem at all. In fact, a day before the incident, she discussed her future plans with our father. Arpita told dad that she has good enough savings and that she wants to invest in something good". The fateful incident took place when Arpita and Pankaj had gone to visit a friend at Manavsthal Apartments in Malvani in the wee hours of Monday. According to the statement by Pankaj and his friends, they released Arpita was missing only in the morning as all of them fell asleep after enjoying a small party. The statement mentioned that one of Arpita's friends woke up at 7 in the morning but could not find her. He looked around and found the bathroom door locked. Presuming that Arpita is inside the bathroom, he went off to sleep once again. When he woke up an hour later, he realised Arpita hadn't returned to her bed. Sensing that something was wrong, he woke up his friends and Pankaj started to look around for Arpita in the 15th floor apartment. They broke open the bathroom, which was still locked, and after looking around for some time found Arpita's body hanging at the parapet on the second floor. The Mumbai police and fire brigade was informed and Arpita was rushed to a hospital, but she had already breathed her last. "Something terrible must have happened in those few hours (before her death) inside the apartment. I am sure her boyfriend and the three friends know everything, they are hiding the truth. All the theories and stories given by them are false, no one will believe it. I want justice for my sister at the earliest. She cannot commit suicide. Our entire family is devastated," said Shweta. --- ENDS --- advertisement (HealthDay)Exposure to firefighting chemicals may be one reason why Florida firefighters have a higher-than-normal rate of skin cancer, a new study suggests. The researchers analyzed data from almost 2,400 firefighters statewide who'd participated in a cancer survey. They found that 4.5 percent109 firefightershad been diagnosed with skin cancer. That included 17 cases of melanoma, 84 cases of other types of skin cancer and 18 of an unknown type of skin cancer. The melanoma rate among the firefighters was 0.7 percent, compared with 0.011 percent in the general population, according to the researchers. "We believe there are chemicals in the work environment that, when firefighters come into contact with them, might be increasing the risk for specific kinds of cancer," study leader Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez, said in a University of Miami news release. He's with the university's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study noted that other factors also could be involved, such as: Increased ultraviolet radiation exposure when firefighters respond to an emergency during daylight hours Improper decontamination of safety gear after an emergency call Exposure to diesel exhaust from fire trucks engines idling while firefighters prepared to respond to a call A major surprise in the study was the younger ages that skin cancer occurred among the firefighters, Caban-Martinez said. The firefighters' average age when diagnosed with skin cancer was 42 for melanoma, 38 for non-melanoma and 42 for unknown skin cancer types. The findings were published online Dec. 13 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. "If a primary care physician has a patient who is a firefighter, the findings suggest that they make it a point to do a full body skin exam and provide health education on skin cancer protection," Caban-Martinez said. He noted that some firefighters may not consider skin cancer screenings until they're older, but this study suggests it's wise to begin full body skin examinations at an earlier age. "Firefighters are already at risk for developing and dying from other cancers, so it's not surprising to me that our research has now identified that the risk of skin cancer among firefighters is elevated, particularly within the South Florida context," said senior study author Erin Kobetz, associate director of the Sylvester Center. "There are certain occupational-vulnerable groups, including firefighters, who may need more regular skin cancer screening or to start earlier," Kobetz added. More information: The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on Journal information: JAMA Dermatology The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on skin cancer Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Electron micrograph of a negatively stained human papilloma virus (HPV) which occurs in human warts. Credit: public domain Men who have never engaged in sexual intercourse are still at risk for acquiring HPV, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. The study included 87 male virgins between the ages of 18 and 70 from Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. The participants were followed every six months for up to 10 visits between 2005 and 2009. Male virgins who did not have sex during the research period acquired HPV despite never having engaged in penetrative sexual intercourse, although they acquired the virus at about half the rate as those who began having sex during the study period. "Previous studies have found HPV among female virgins, but this is the first to find it among male virgins. Finding HPV in this population was not entirely surprising, but it reinforces the point that HPV vaccination should not be thought of only in the context of sexual behavior," said Alan Nyitray, Ph.D., corresponding author and assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Environmental Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health. Researchers believe that HPV was transmitted to male virgins enrolled in the study through non-penetrative sexual behavior such as hand-to-genital contact or genital-to-genital contact. Another notable finding of the study was that 28.7 percent of virgins who began having sex during the study period acquired HPV within one year and 45.5 percent acquired it within two years, reflecting the highly infectious nature of the virus. "These findings highlight the rapid acquisition of HPV after sexual debut among men and thus emphasize the importance of HPV vaccination before sexual debut," said Zhiyue Liu, Ph.D., first author who conducted the study as a research assistant at UTHealth School of Public Health. HPV can cause cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer and cancers of the vulva, vagina, penis or anus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recommends girls and boys ages 11 or 12 should get two shots of the HPV vaccine six to twelve months apart. Teen boys and girls who did not start or finish the HPV vaccine series when they were younger should also get vaccinated. It is also recommended that men who have sex with men, including those who identify as gay or bisexual, get vaccinated by age 26. Nyitray added that the vaccine is most effective when the immune system is maturing during puberty, but it is still considered effective through age 26. The data were collected as part of the HPV Infection in Men Study, led by study coauthor Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., from the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Coauthors from the School of Public Health include Lu-Yu Hwang, M.D., and Michael D. Swartz, Ph.D. More information: Zhiyue Liu et al. Acquisition, Persistence, and Clearance of Human Papillomavirus Infection among Male Virgins Residing in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States, The Journal of Infectious Diseases (2017). Journal information: Journal of Infectious Diseases Zhiyue Liu et al. Acquisition, Persistence, and Clearance of Human Papillomavirus Infection among Male Virgins Residing in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States,(2017). DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jix588 A vacuum tube holds a blood-fed strain of Aedes aegypti mosquito in place under a microscope. Credit: Jeff Miller Monkeys who catch Zika virus through bites from infected mosquitoes develop infections that look like human Zika cases, and may help researchers understand the many ways Zika can be transmitted. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison infected rhesus macaques at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center with Zika virus one of two ways: by allowing mosquitoes carrying the virus to feed on the monkeys or by injecting virus under the skin, the common method for infecting animals in laboratory studies. The differences between the resulting infectionsreported today (Dec. 13, 2017) in the journal Nature Communicationswere subtle, but will be useful as scientists continue to learn more about Zika after a high-profile epidemic in the Americas caused grave birth defects."It's important in a laboratory setting to understand the difference between mosquito transmission and sexual transmission and needle inoculation," says Matthew Aliota, a UW-Madison research professor of pathobiological sciences and one of the authors of the new study. "But better understanding these transmission routes is also important from a broader standpoint in terms of prevention and severity of disease and risk factors involved with certain behavior." The infection progressed faster in needle-inoculated monkeyswho had plenty of virus in their blood within two or three daysthan in the mosquito-bitten subjects. "It's a difference of a couple days to what we call peak viremia," says Dawn Dudley, a UW-Madison pathology research scientist. "But we still get robust infection with both methods of inoculation." Just why the mosquito-borne infection takes longer is unclear, and the mechanics and chemistry of mosquito bites are complicated."The biology of the disease probably depends a lot on how the mosquitoes transmit that diseasemechanically how they do it, and biologically what comes along with the virus when the mosquito bites," says Tom Friedrich, a UW-Madison professor of pathobiological sciences. Mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti, the primary Zika-carrying species of mosquito, make shallow jabs through human skin with their mouthparts until they break open tiny blood vessels. Then they eat. "Each time it probes, it's spitting into your skin," says Aliota, whose work is funded by the National Institutes of Health. "Ideally for the mosquito, it's going to find and rupture a capillary bed, and cause a hemorrhagic pool just under the skin. And that's when it's going to start ingesting blood and spitting saliva at the same time." The precise depth of the probing and the effect of the mosquito's salivawhich keeps blood from coagulating and inhibits the immune responseare just a few likely factors separating a bite from any other method of Zika transmission. The researchers found Zika spread nearly as wide in mosquito-infected monkeys as needle-infected animals, though the monkeys who had been bitten were less likely to have the virus invade central nervous system tissues like the eye or brain. Reproductive tract tissuesof particular interest given the virus's most visible symptomswere infected in both groups of animals. "That reflects what we're seeing epidemiologically in peopleat least in infected adultswho don't often have evidence of infection in their central nervous system and in their brain," Aliota says. The researchers brought uninfected mosquitoes back to feed on the monkeys when the animals were near the peak of their infections, but none of the macaques in the study developed an infection virulent enough to pass virus back to the biting mosquitoes. "One thing we don't understand about Zika virus is whether there's an animal reservoir the virus can survive in, apart from the mosquitoes and humans we're studying," Dudley says. "These rhesus macaques did not seem to generate a high enough viral load to allow infection of a mosquito that could transmit it to another host, but that doesn't mean other non-human primates couldn't do that." More information: Dawn M. Dudley et al. Infection via mosquito bite alters Zika virus tissue tropism and replication kinetics in rhesus macaques, Nature Communications (2017). Journal information: Nature Communications Dawn M. Dudley et al. Infection via mosquito bite alters Zika virus tissue tropism and replication kinetics in rhesus macaques,(2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02222-8 Recent functional studies conducted at the University of Helsinki and Aarhus University suggest that noise sensitivity, a trait describing attitudes towards noise and predicting noise annoyance, is associated with altered processing in the central auditory system. Now, the researchers have found that noise sensitivity is associated with the grey matter volume in selected brain structures previously linked to auditory perceptual, emotional and interoceptive processing. Having an increased amount of grey matter in these areas may mean that noise sensitivity requires more neural resources to be involved in dealing with sound. "We found greater grey matter volume in people with high noise sensitivity in the brain temporal regions, as well as the hippocampus and the right insula. These cortical and subcortical areas are parts of brain networks supporting listening experience," says researcher Marina Kliuchko, the first author of the research article published in NeuroImage. The research included brain images of 80 subjects from which grey matter volume, cortical thickness, and other anatomical parameters were measured and correlated with noise sensitivity. The work brings new insight into the physiological mechanisms of noise sensitivity. "Noise sensitivity may be related to self-awareness in noise-sensitive individuals about the sensations that noise induces in them. That is suggested from the increased volume of the anterior part of the right insular cortex, which is known to be important for matching external sensory information with internal state of the body and bringing it to one's conscious awareness," Kliuchko says. More information: Marina Kliuchko et al. Neuroanatomical substrate of noise sensitivity, NeuroImage (2017). Journal information: NeuroImage Marina Kliuchko et al. Neuroanatomical substrate of noise sensitivity,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.11.041 (HealthDay)Yet again, the nation's leading authority on preventive medicine says postmenopausal women should avoid hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is standing by its original recommendation that women who have already gone through menopause should avoid using female hormones to guard against osteoporosis or diabetes, said task force chairman Dr. David Grossman, a senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. "Basically, the task force concluded there was no overall benefit from taking hormones to prevent chronic conditions," Grossman said. "There are some benefits, but we believe those potential benefits are outweighed by the harms, making this essentially no net benefit overall." The advisory covers all formulations of hormone replacement therapy, the task force said. The therapy can consist of pills or patches containing either estrogen or an estrogen/progesterone mix. However, women undergoing menopause can use hormone replacement therapy short-term to treat symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, said Dr. Suzanne Fenske, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "Hormone replacement therapy does still have a benefit to women with menopause whose symptoms do not respond to other treatment options," Fenske said. "It really should be used to manage menopausal symptoms, rather than being used for any sort of preventative medicine." The task force first recommended against hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women in 2012. It updates its recommendations every four years to make sure they reflect the latest medical evidence. In its evidence review, the task force considered results from 18 clinical trials including more than 40,000 women. All of the evidence suggests that combined estrogen and progesterone increase older women's risk of breast cancer and heart disease, while estrogen alone increases risk of stroke, blood clots and gallbladder disease, the task force said. Those risks outweigh hormone therapy's benefits in preventing brittle bones and diabetes, the task force concluded. "When hormone replacement therapy first was brought out on the market in the 1960s, it was touted as a way to keep feminine forever," Fenske said. "Then in the 1980s they began to see there were some potential benefits otherwise, like [preventing] osteoporosis. "Then the infamous and famous Women's Health Initiative [WHI] study came out, which kind of put the kibosh on hormone replacement therapy," Fenske added. Results from the WHI trials were published in the early 2000s; the trials were halted early after linking hormone therapy with increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke. The updated task force recommendation contains the latest long-term follow-up data from the WHI trials, Grossman said. "It didn't change our conclusion, but there is new information available that we incorporated into our evidence review," Grossman said. Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic Office of Women's Health in Rochester, Minn., took issue with the task force's recommendation. "I think this report is going to scare women," Faubion said. "Even those who are having symptoms and not excluded from hormone therapy according to this guideline are going to avoid it because they're afraid of it." For example, the guideline does not apply to women who go through menopause early or prematurely, at age 45 or younger, Faubion said. "Those women actually have adverse health consequences if they don't use hormone therapy at least until the natural age of menopause," Faubion said. She said she also takes issue with a blanket recommendation covering all age groups. "This is a key issue," Faubion said. "If you do break it down by age, there are more clear benefits for women in their 50s than women in their 60s and 70s. "The task force is trying to make this more black-and-white than it can ever be," Faubion concluded. Fenske said women in menopause suffering from hot flashes, vaginal dryness and other related symptoms can still safely turn to hormone therapy to ease their discomfort. There are no clear guidelines for how long a menopausal woman can remain on hormone replacement therapy, or what dose is best for treating menopause symptoms, Fenske said. In large part, doctors are urged to be cautious because of the long-term health risks. "It should be the smallest dose possible for the shortest period of time necessary," Fenske said. Women interested in using hormone therapy to treat their menopause symptoms should talk with their doctor, because there is a lot of false and misleading information out there, Fenske said. The task force recommendation was published online Dec. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. A case of severe psoriasis. Credit: Penn Medicine Despite the fact that their disease may be more severe, a new study shows minorities are less likely than white Americans to see a doctor for psoriasis treatment. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that black, Asian, and other non-Hispanic minorities are about 40 percent less likely to see a dermatologist for psoriasis than whites. Additionally, whites averaged about double the number of doctor's appointments for psoriasis overall compared with non-Hispanic minorities. Rates were similar between white and Hispanic individuals. Researchers published their findings this week in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes skin cells to multiply faster than normal resulting in raised, red patches covered by silvery scales. It occurs most commonly in a symmetrical manner on the scalp, knees, and elbows but can appear anywhere on the body including the face, genitals, nails, and other places. It also has profound effects on health-related quality of life, and in moderate to severe cases, it carries an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death. The National Psoriasis Foundation estimates psoriasis affects about 7.5 million Americans. "While psoriasis is less common among minorities, previous research has shown their disease can be more severe. Despite that, this study shows minorities are less likely to see a dermatologist for treatment," said the study's senior author Junko Takeshita, MD, PhD, MSCE, an assistant professor of Dermatology and Epidemiology at Penn. The study's lead author was Alexander H. Fischer, MD, MPH, who was a medical student at Johns Hopkins University at the time of the research. The researchers gathered data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the most complete source of data currently available on healthcare utilization, cost, and insurance coverage in the United States. All of the information is self- or caregiver-reported over a series of interviews, and is designed to be representative of the general population. The team used information from 2001 through 2013 and identified 842 psoriasis individuals representing over 1.6 million Americans. An average of 50.8 percent of whites saw a dermatologist for their psoriasis, compared to just 38.3 percent for non-Hispanic minorities, which include blacks, Asians, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and others. Among Hispanics, 46.7 percent saw a dermatologist for their psoriasis. In addition to the rates for dermatological visits, whites also averaged approximately twice as many visits to a doctor overall. Researchers found whites averaged 2.69 visits per year, compared to 1.87 for Hispanics and 1.30 for non-Hispanic minorities. In total, this amounts to over 3 million fewer visits per year for psoriasis among non-Hispanic racial minorities compared with whites. "When you combine the results of our study with the knowledge that psoriasis severity and quality of life impact suggest a larger burden of psoriasis among minorities, it brings into focus the racial gaps that exist in psoriasis care," Takeshita said. The researchers say more research is needed to understand what may be contributing to these disparities, and if the gap in medical care is directly contributing to the increased severity of disease among minorities. "Ultimately, increasing awareness of these disparities is the first step in trying to provide equitable care and improve outcomes for all individuals with psoriasis," Takeshita said. More information: Alexander H. Fischer et al, Health care utilization for psoriasis in the United States differs by race: An analysis of the 2001-2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (2017). Journal information: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology Alexander H. Fischer et al, Health care utilization for psoriasis in the United States differs by race: An analysis of the 2001-2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2017.07.052 Credit: Pixabay user gaoyun A new international study suggests that parents who employ challenging parent behavioural (CPB) methods active physical and verbal behaviours that encourage children to push their limits are likely protecting their children from developing childhood anxiety disorders. Researchers from Macquarie University's Centre for Emotional Health, along with partners from the University of Amsterdam and the University of Reading, surveyed 312 families with preschool-aged children across the Netherlands and Australia. Results showed that the parents who scored higher in their CPB methods, thereby encouraging their kids to push their limits to a greater extent, had children who were less at risk of exhibiting anxiety disorder symptoms, demonstrating that CPB was related to significantly less anxiety in children. CPB encourages safe risk-taking in children such as giving them a fright, engaging in rough-and-tumble play or letting them lose a game, as well as encouraging them to practice social assertion and confidently enter into unfamiliar situations. This study aimed to build upon existing research that establishes a relationship between parenting behaviours particularly overinvolvement and overcontrol and the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders. "Around seven per cent of Australian kids between the ages of four and seventeen have an anxiety disorder," explains Professor Jennie Hudson, Director of Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University and co-author of the study. "The fact is that we really need to learn more about how we can help families to reduce this percentage. While previous research has shown that encouraging risk taking behaviours helps cognitive, social and emotional development, our study shows that this method of parenting may also help reduce the risk of children developing an anxiety disorder." To determine the effects of CPB on preschool-aged children, parents' CPB was assessed via a questionnaire assessing how much the parents encourage the exhibition of risky behaviour in their children, as well as the extent to which they encourage their children to venture beyond their comfort zones. "While Dutch and Australian mothers showed no differences in CPB towards their sons or daughters, both Dutch and Australian fathers of sons demonstrated more competition towards their sons than fathers of daughters. Dutch fathers in particular reported more rough-and-tumble play than the other groups of parents," says Rebecca Lazarus from Macquarie University, another co-author of the study. The results are promising in raising the clinical relevance of CPB methods, which could potentially be used to aid parents in helping their children's wellbeing. "While this isn't a cure for anxiety, and we cannot at this stage determine causality, the results are promising in terms of parent education. By gently encouraging their kids in a reasonable way to push their limits, parents could be helping to reduce their child's risk of developing an anxiety disorder, which is a great insight," concluded Professor Hudson. More information: Mirjana Majdandzic et al. The Structure of Challenging Parenting Behavior and Associations With Anxiety in Dutch and Australian Children, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology (2017). Mirjana Majdandzic et al. The Structure of Challenging Parenting Behavior and Associations With Anxiety in Dutch and Australian Children,(2017). DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2017.1381915 No, you dont need to douche yourself with a cucumber. Or anything for that matter. Credit: www.shutterstock.com A staggering variety of so-called feminine hygiene products seek to help with "vaginal odour" and discharge, and "keep you fresh". From deodorants to cucumber cleanses, scented "panty liners", and the newest fad "vaginal steaming". These products actively promote the view that women's vaginas should be discharge-free and either have no smell at all or exude the whiff of rose petals or vanilla pods. Many women perceive vaginal discharge as undesirable and unnatural rather than physiological and normal. Data suggest around half of all women use "panty liners" to absorb discharge with up to 30% using them on a daily basis. While Australian women are generally not big fans of "douching", a French term for washing out the vagina using a liquid spray, it's important to understand why cleaning the vagina is not recommended. What is vaginal discharge and why is it important? The vagina is self-cleaning, and vaginal discharge plays an important role in keeping the vagina healthy. From puberty, when oestrogen kicks in, the vagina becomes colonised with healthy bacteria from the Lactobacillus group which produce lactic acid. This finely balanced vaginal ecosystem is referred to as the vaginal microbiome and the resulting acidity of the vagina provides protection against sexually transmissible infections. Healthy vaginal discharge is made up of fluid from the vaginal walls, mucus from the cervix as well as the lactobacilli, and because the vaginal environment is hormonally influenced, variation in the amount of discharge throughout the month is to be expected and completely normal. As well as providing a protective environment, vaginal discharge provides natural lubrication with between one and 4mls of fluid produced every 24 hours. Healthy vaginal discharge has a characteristic smell and in some women this can become stronger because of the large number of sweat glands in the hair-bearing pubic area. So while washing inside the vagina is not recommended, it's important to keep the outer skin clean. Disruption of the healthy vaginal environment Anything put in the vagina can potentially disrupt the vaginal environment and its balanced vaginal flora, including tampons, penises, condoms, semen, fingers and hygienic sex toys. Disruption in these cases is almost always temporary and the vagina quickly restores itself. But this may not be so in the case of vaginal cleansing products, or repeated douching. Homemade douches usually contain water and vinegar and commercial products contain antiseptics and fragrances that can reduce the lactobacilli and reduce the protective effect of the discharge. So what about the latest "v-treatment", vaginal steaming? To quote a version promoted on Gwyneth Paltrow's site GOOP: "you sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al. It is an energetic releasenot just a steam douchethat balances female hormone levels." Apart from the risk of burning and scalding, there are many other reasons not to v-steam. Not only will steam have a drying effect on the vagina, it's likely to disrupt the vaginal microbiome and reduce the body's natural barrier against infections. While no steam may actually reach the uterus, blowing hot herbal fumes into this important organ has no benefits and could in fact do harm. There would certainly be no effect of this pseudo-scientific treatment on female hormone levels. When to seek medical advice While vaginal discharge is certainly normal, if you experience a significant change in the volume, colour or odour of discharge, you should seek medical advice. A change in vaginal discharge can be a sign of infection, although the most bacterial STIs, including chlamydia and gonorrhoea, usually do not cause any change in discharge. More common causes are candida (vaginal thrush) or bacterial vaginosis (BV) which occur when the vaginal flora becomes over-colonised with either yeast (candida) or other vaginal bacteria. Bacterial vaginosis is a condition in which the vagina is unable to return to its normal state and becomes more alkaline. The alkalinity of menstrual blood can be associated with bacterial vaginosis. The lactobacilli are reduced and replaced with other vaginal bacteria which can be associated with an increased greenish-greyish discharge and an unpleasant odour. Although the condition is not thought to be harmful, for women living with bacterial vaginosis, having a persistent and malodorous discharge can be debilitating and they should see their doctor to discuss how to manage the condition. As doctors working in sexual health we are keen to help women work out what is normal and what is not. It's crucial to reject practices that masquerade as clinical treatments but have no base in evidence. Vaginal discharge is healthy and plays an important role in the defence against infection. Trying to eliminate it makes no sense and is in fact harmful. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. This undated identification file photo released Wednesday, April 3, 2013 by Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Conn., shows former student Adam Lanza, who authorities said opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, killing 26 students and educators, after killing his mother at their home. A 2014 report by the Office of Connecticut Child Advocate concluded that Lanza's actions were not directly caused by his psychiatric problems, but it noted that his mother rejected psychologists' recommendations that her son should be medicated and undergo treatment for anxiety and other conditions. (AP Photo/Western Connecticut State University, File) Anguished mothers with mentally ill children have sought out Liza Long for help ever since she wrote an essay, "I am Adam Lanza's Mother," comparing experiences with her son to the emotionally troubled 20-year-old who carried out the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The massacre sounded alarms nationally about gaps in mental health care and led to calls for better screening and services, especially for young people showing a propensity for violence, but some key reforms enacted in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting depend on funding that has yet to be delivered by Congress. And Long still hears almost daily from families overwhelmed by their children's behaviors and struggling to get treatment. "We're still not seeing the health access, the access to mental health care," said Long, an Idaho mother of four and community college instructor who credited her essay with attracting the attention of a physician who correctly diagnosed and treated her then-13-year-old son for bipolar disorder. Like other mass shootings before and since, the tragedy prompted calls for tighter controls on guns and improved mental health treatment, but five years later, mental health care providers are waiting for promised boosts in funding, and many families are still battling insurance companies to cover their children's services. While advocates say the quality of mental health care varies widely by state, they also see reason for optimism in a push for more early intervention programs and changing public attitudes about mental illness. "There's a lot of reason to feel optimistic," said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "But there are a lot of challenges too, particularly around financing these services." The 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama in December 2016, was inspired in part by the tragedy and included what proponents touted as the first major mental health reform package in nearly a decade. The measures that were included in the law but still await funding include grants for intensive early intervention for infants and young children showing signs of mental illness. "There were a lot of things people took credit for passing," said U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, a Democrat whose district includes Newtown. "If they're not funded, it's a nice piece of paper and something hanging on somebody's wall, but it's not going to help save lives." Mental health experts point out the vast majority of people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders do not commit violent crimes, and no motive has ever been determined for the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre in which Lanza fatally shot his mother at home and then gunned down 20 children and six educators at the school in Newtown. A report by the Connecticut Child Advocate noted Lanza's mother rejected recommendations that her son be medicated and get treatment for anxiety and other conditions, but it concluded his actions were not directly caused by his psychiatric problems. In this Dec. 14, 2012, file photo, officials stand outside of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. A 2014 report by the Office of Connecticut Child Advocate concluded that gunman Adam Lanza's actions were not directly caused by his psychiatric problems, but it noted that his mother rejected psychologists' recommendations that her son should be medicated and undergo treatment for anxiety and other conditions. Five years after the massacre, efforts to improve mental health care for young people have had mixed results. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, file) Rather, it said, his "severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems," when combined with a preoccupation with violence and access to deadly weapons, "proved a recipe for mass murder." In her column, Long wrote that she was terrified of her son, who was prone to violent rages and had been placed in juvenile detention facilities four times. Only a few weeks earlier, her son had pulled out a knife and threatened to kill her. Since receiving treatment, her son, who is now 18, has not had another violent episode. "People don't understand the world that parents live in when they have a child with mental illness," Long said. When other mothers reach out to her, she tries to match them up with resources in their states. Many patients find the right treatment only after going through a lot of detours, said Dr. Vinod Srihari, director of the clinic for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven. "The nature of these illnesses is that they're often misunderstood," said Srihari, also an associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. "And so, families with a young person with psychosis can often not rely on others around them to assist because what they're struggling with is misunderstood and could be a source of shame and embarrassment. And that means that they can't leverage their community supports to get the care they need." U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said he expects it will be difficult to secure funding for the new programs in the Republican-controlled Congress. But, he said, there are other recent reforms that are also making a difference. The creation of an assistant secretary position at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dedicated to improving behavioral health care has put pressure on insurance companies to cover the cost of mental health conditions equally as physical health, he said. The 21st Century Cures Act also created a committee to advise Congress and federal agencies on the needs of adults and young people with serious mental illness. It is scheduled to meet Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre, to discuss the group's first report to Congress. Committee member John Snook, executive director of the Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center, said there is cautious optimism about improvements to come from the focus the Sandy Hook shooting put on mental health. "We are definitely cognizant that the window is closing and attention is shifting," Snook said. "You don't want another tragedy to be the reason people are reminded they need to focus on these issues." 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Credit: CC0 Public Domain As doctors grapple with increasing rates of colorectal cancers in young people, new research from the University of Michigan may offer some insight into how the disease developed and how to prevent further cancers. Researchers found that 20 percent of young people diagnosed with colorectal cancer have an inherited genetic abnormality that predisposes to its development - a percentage exponentially higher than those diagnosed over age 50. More than half of them do not have clinical or family histories that would typically indicate the need for genetic testing. The study, published in Gastroenterology, looked at the results of multigene panel testing from 430 people under the age of 50 who were treated for colorectal cancer at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center between 1998 and 2015. Genetic testing is usually only recommended for colon cancer patients with a strong family history or with tumors with certain features. This study tested a broader sample of patients and looked at a wider variety of genes than are traditionally tested. "Usually when someone is diagnosed with cancer, if there's no family history of cancer we think the likelihood of an inherited factor is small," says Elena Stoffel, M.D. M.P.H., assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and director of the Cancer Genetics Clinic at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "But our study suggests that even in the absence of a family history of cancer, the prevalence of inherited factors is so high in young colorectal cancer patients that it makes sense to test everyone, as these heritable alterations can impact their care as well as the care of their family members." Stoffel says that the new findings illustrate the shortcomings of algorithms currently used to identify patients likely to benefit from genetic testing. "I think what we're finding is the people we used to test in the past were probably the tip of the iceberg," says Stoffel. "And that there are many other people who may not meet those strict criteria, who are actually at high risk." Catching up insurance coverage with research results "From a public health standpoint, characterizing the genetic contribution to these often deadly cancers is a vital first step in the design of prevention and screening strategies to identify those at highest risk," says study co-author Laura Rozek, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Nutritional Sciences at U-M's School of Public Health. But identifying the need for genetic testing is only half the battle. Insurance companies have strict guidelines about who qualifies for genetic testing, usually involving multiple relatives with colon cancer diagnoses spanning two generations. "Requiring those criteria in young people means that you're going to miss people," says Stoffel. "Missing inherited alterations in young people arguably has a larger impact because of the opportunity to prevent cancers in their at-risk relatives." The more extensive - and expensive - multigene panel testing employed by researchers to cast a wider net and identify more genetic mutations that lead to colorectal cancers is also is not covered by many insurers, and can run anywhere from $300 to $2,000 out of pocket for patients. "We're caught in that time frame between where the technology has advanced to the certain point where our tests are now better than they used to be," says Stoffel. "The insurers are not covering the new technology because they consider it experimental." Insurance companies require proof that the new technology is better than the old technology, says Stoffel, and there have now been a number of studies published that suggest that if doctors test for more genes, they will find more alterations. The next step is to show how those findings will impact morbidity and mortality. "I think whenever we see a patient with colorectal cancer we should be asking why did this person develop cancer," says Stoffel. "We know that in most cases it's just plain bad luck, but we always need to look at a patient's family history, and in young people, consideration of the possibility of an inherited condition should always be there even if there is no family history of cancer. With early intervention, we can prevent future cancers in these patients as well as cancers in their relatives." More information: Elena M. Stoffel et al. Germline Genetic Features of Young Individuals with Colorectal Cancer, Gastroenterology (2017). Journal information: Gastroenterology Elena M. Stoffel et al. Germline Genetic Features of Young Individuals with Colorectal Cancer,(2017). DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.11.004 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) said that declaring the area around the Amarnath cave shrine a "silence zone" would be helpful in preventing avalanches and maintaining its pristine nature. By PTI: In a bid to preserve the eco-sensitive Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) today declared it a "silence zone" and prohibited religious offerings beyond the entry point. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said the Amarnath Shrine Board should ensure that proper infrastructural facilities are provided to the pilgrims so that they are not deprived of a clear darshan, and the ecology of the area is maintained. advertisement The NGT earlier said that declaring the area around the Amarnath cave shrine a "silence zone" would be helpful in preventing avalanches and maintaining its pristine nature. "Nobody would be permitted to carry anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave and everybody should be properly frisked at the entry point," the bench said. A BETTER DARSHAN FOR DEVOTEES The green panel ordered removal of iron grills in front of the ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga so that devotees could get a better view of it and said there should be no noise pollution near the sacred structure. It also restrained carrying personal belongings, including mobile phones, beyond the last checkpoint and asked the shrine board to construct a place where pilgrims can keep their valuables. The green panel also directed the committee of experts headed by an additional secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to submit an action plan on providing facilities to the pilgrims within three weeks. Environment activist Gauri Maulekhi, on whose plea the directions were passed, welcomed the NGT order and termed it "progressive". "The Amarnath cave is located in a delicate ecosystem. The directions would make the Amarnath Yatra safe and convenient for the devotees. This would protect the shrine from degradation and ensure it is protected for the coming generations. It is indeed a very good and progressive direction," Maulekhi said. The matter will be heard again on January 18 next year. In November, the NGT rapped the Amarnath Shrine Board for not providing proper infrastructural facilities to pilgrims going to Amarnath, saying it could not "deprive people of proper darshan". The green panel took exception to non-compliance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court in 2012 and asked the board what steps it had taken in all these years. The bench directed the experts committee to submit report on aspects such as providing a proper path and declaring the cave shrine a "silence zone" while maintaining cleanliness in the area. advertisement The Amarnath cave is covered with snow most of the year except for a short period of time in summer when it is open to pilgrims. ALSO WATCH: Lashkar terrorist Abu Ismail, who plotted Amarnath Yatra attack, killed in Naugam encounter --- ENDS --- New law allows pets in Spain to be the subject of joint custody divorce agreements ARCHIVED ARTICLE Spain recognizes the need to afford rights to animals as well as humans New legislation was passed unanimously on Tuesday in Congress (the lower house of the Spanish parliament) by which pets are no longer to be treated by the judiciary as mere objects, one of the implications being that in cases where their owners divorce or separate the animals can be the subject of joint custody agreements. In an effort to grant legal rights to pets in the same way as they are enjoyed by humans, another innovation is that valuable animals can no longer be the subject of bank embargos when their owners fail to pay off debts. Outlining the proposals in parliament, Avelino de Barrionuevo explained that these modifications to the Civil Code reflect a new current social reality in which pets become humanized and their rights are recognized. However, the animal rights activist groups which campaigned for the reform are adamant that more needs to be done, while a Unidos Podemos MP welcomed the initiative but at the same time expressed the hope that this apparently universal recognition of animal rights will be extended to a ban on bullfighting and other bull-related fiestas in the near future. Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Murcia region: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/ article_detail --> Over a sixth of all property purchases in Spain are made by non-Spaniards ARCHIVED ARTICLE Over half of third quarter sales were to non-Spaniards in Alicante, and over a quarter in the Balearics, the Canaries, Girona and Murcia This Tuesday the Ministry of Development published its residential property sales summary for the third quarter of 2017, reporting that between 1st July and 30th September the number of transactions registered rose by 16.7% in comparison to the same period last year and reached 121,561, and at the same time the breakdown of the data also underlines the degree to which the current buoyancy of the market is fuelled by non-Spanish buyers. The Ministrys figures show that the number of residential property purchases made by non-Spaniards in this country also increased, this time by over 17 per cent, reaching 21,173 during the three months, and accounting for as much as 17.4 per cent of the sales total: thats more than one in six! Almost 20 per cent of those sales (4,619) were registered in the Costa Blanca province of Alicante where over half of all sales were to non-Spaniards - with another 10.1 per cent belonging to the province of Malaga, where the transactions involving foreign buyers represented 34 per cent of all sales. The data also reveal a high dependence on foreign buyers in the Balearic Islands (35 per cent of all transactions), the Canaries (33 per cent), the province of Girona (33 per cent), the Region of Murcia (27 per cent) and the province of Almeria (23 per cent). To view a wide range of properties for sale across Spain consult the Spanish property page. Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Murcia region: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/. The Indian Navy says the "lost decade" for the submarine construction was the period when diesel-electric Shankul submarine, the second German U-boat of the 209/1500 class, was built by license at the MDL shipyard and became operational in 1994. After that the HDW Company was hit by a corruption scandal and the potential order for the licensed construction of two more submarines was lost. Thus, MDL submarine production facilities stood idle for eleven years until the launch of the Project 75 in 2005 which envisages the construction of six French Scorpenes. The facilities were restored by major investment in the final end. "There should be no gap between Project 75 and the beginning of Project 75I," MDL shipyard former CEO and Rear Admiral in Reserve R.K. Sheravat believes. He said the creation of a submarine construction facility is a sophisticated, labor-intensive and costly business and the facility cannot be eliminated in future. In October 2015 former Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said the defense ministry will not allow MDL shipyard to lose the experience gained from the licensed construction of the French Scorpenes. He said further orders for a big number of Scorpenes were being considered. He did not specify the number of U-boats but said the additional air-independent propulsion submarines will be upgraded according to the operational needs of the Indian Navy. Prime Minister of Finland: Europe is now too reliant on Chinese technology Turkey to require insurance from oil tankers when passing through its waters EU to provide Ukraine with generators and kits to repair power grids Turkey sentences sect founder to 8,658 years in prison Xi Jinping urges world to abandon any Cold War mentality Aliyev rules out talks with Artsakh State Minister FP: Ukraine's appetite for weapons depletes Western stocks Putin and Aliyev discuss energy cooperation Armenian financial technologies to enter international market: VISA and Idram sign memorandum in Yerevan Incident in Poland causes disagreement between Kyiv and West Mark Milley urges Kyiv and Moscow to find political solution: Chances of military victory are unlikely New NATO Secretary General to be announced at Vilnius summit in 2023 Finnish Defense Ministry announces largest batch of military aid to Ukraine Pashinyan receives Ukrainian businessmen of Armenian origin Armenian soldier wounded in Azerbaijani shooting Erdogan: Turkey-Israel relations entered a new phase of development Mishustin: Cooperation between Moscow and Baku has become truly strategic and allied Igor Khovaev to visit Baku Mishustin arrives in Baku Russian Foreign Ministry: South Caucasus is a strategic transport hub for Eurasia U.S. general lays flowers at eternal flame at Armenian Genocide memorial Republicans stand for same-sex marriage rights Pallone says US State Department should not hesitate to speak about Azerbaijani aggression Aliyev refuses to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh and threatens Armenia with new aggression Greek minister doesn't get off plane to meet head of Libya's presidential council Sergey Lavrov to visit Yerevan Lebanese parliament fails to elect president of country Kremlin on Zelenskyy's proposal to hold 'public' talks National Assembly Speaker: Armenia is extremely interested in establishing strategic relations with Georgia Canada provides additional military aid to Ukraine Representatives of defense agencies of CSTO countries discuss crisis response issues Armenian Defense Minister and American General discuss defense cooperation Tehran accuses Israel and West of trying to organize civil war in Iran Oppositionist: No guarantees that war with Azerbaijan can be avoided Issue of biometric passports to Armenian citizens is temporarily suspended Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement to be signed till end of year? Pashinyan's associate voices conditions Erdogan says Russia and US agreed to refrain from using nuclear weapons Azerbaijani oppositionist complains of torture by police Kyaram Sloyan and Andranik Zohrabyan posthumously bestowed 'Hero of Artsakh' title UN Secretary General Guterres welcomes parties' agreement on renewal of food deal Eurasian Development Bank: Armenia is the leader among EEU countries in terms of economic growth Greece promises to continue military support to Ukraine Number of appeals from Azerbaijan to ECHR is growing Pashinyan: The wheel of processes related to confiscation of illegal property is spinning Fire hits Baghdad airport North Korea fires ballistic missile towards Sea of Japan Istanbul agrees to extend 'grain initiative' for another 120 days 'Hayastan' Fund to build 6 residential houses in Nerkin Khndzoresk village Vocal as Russophobic propaganda: Azerbaijani singer sings about 'disgusting peacekeepers' Biden congratulates Republicans on winning majority in House of Representatives 14 freight cars derailed in Kazakhstan, train traffic suspended Newspaper: Ruben Vardanyan does not hurry to make changes in composition of Karabakh government Russia attacks Ukraine with missiles in morning: Explosions heard in Dnieper, air defense works in Kyiv region U.S. National Security Council: It is clear that the party ultimately responsible for this tragic incident is Russia Gold prices decline Russian Trade Representative to Armenia: Situation at Upper Lars checkpoint is not related to geopolitical issues Trade Representative of Russia: Trade turnover with Armenia sets new record Copper falls in price Gas explodes in Fatih district of Istanbul, 10 people injured Oil prices go down Meteorite that fell in Britain contains key information about how oceans and life formed on Earth Gamer drinks 12 energy drinks in ten minutes and ends up in hospital Chinese customs officers accidentally find cockroach unknown to science Man removes cobra's teeth with manicure pliers and gets arrested Sweden to provide Ukraine with new military aid worth $287 million Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania meet conditions for joining Schengen zone 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 Donfried says Armenia and Azerbaijan have historic opportunity to establish lasting peace Bob Menendez: How on earth can we justify sending any support, security or otherwise, to the regime in Baku? 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 We will enter the spring of 2018 without the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, stated the aforesaid in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. I am sure you also should be interested in our views with regard to the Armenian-Turkish relations, he noted, in Particular. As you know it was the initiative of the President of Armenia to start the normalization process with Turkey that resulted in the conclusion of the Zurich protocols in October 2009. However, up to now, those documents have not been ratified, since Turkey came up with groundless preconditions that run counter to the letter and spirit of the Protocols. These documents can not be held hostage forever and that is why the President of Armenia declared in September from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly that Armenia will declare the Protocols null and void, since they continuously lacked any positive progress towards their implementation and we will enter the spring of 2018 without those Protocols. The last Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva this October also passed generally in a positive mood. However, just after it, Azerbaijan again returned to its usual groundless accusations and warmongering. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, said the aforementioned in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. It goes without saying that the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is among the highest priorities on the Armenian foreign policy agenda, he stated, in particular. In the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council, on December 6th in Vienna I had a meeting with my Azerbaijani colleague, which was the sixth one in the course of one year and it lasted more than four hours. It generally passed in a positive atmosphere. However, after the meeting I said that we have to see how the situation will develop. Why? Because, the last Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva this October also passed generally in a positive mood. However, just after it, Azerbaijan again returned to its usual groundless accusations and warmongering. Last week at the OSCE Ministerial Council I made a detailed speech on the settlement process. The heads of the delegations of the mediator countries Russia, France and the USA, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, issued a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. Armenia was ready to join them, however, Azerbaijan rejected and, as a result, we did not manage to have a joint statement of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Co-Chair countries. This situation has continuously repeated during the OSCE Ministerial Councils. The Co-Chairs statement reiterated once again the three principles of the international law that form the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, namely the non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. These principles were elaborated by the Co-Chairs together with the elements of the conflict resolution as an integrated whole. Here, in Athens all OSCE participating States, including Azerbaijan endorsed them during the December 2009 Ministerial Council. However, since then Azerbaijan has made a step back and refused to reaffirm them. On numerous occasions Armenia has continuously reiterated its readiness to continue negotiations based on these principles and elements with the aim of the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict. The pattern of refusal by Azerbaijan to honor prior agreements seriously questions Bakus credibility as a negotiating partner in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, noted about the above-said in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. The statement of the [OSCE Minsk Group] Co-Chairs referred to the October 16 Geneva Summit that took place after about sixteen months interval in the meetings on the highest level, he stated, in particular. For the first time in about four years at the Geneva Summit it was possible to adopt together with the Co-Chair countries, although quite brief, a joint statement. This joint statement reflected what Armenia has been long advocating for: to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact. These steps have been identified in the statements made at the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits of 2016 and were continuously rejected by Azerbaijan. It raises a question: how it would be possible to reduce tensions if Azerbaijan rejects to confirm its commitment to the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements? How it would be possible to reduce tensions if Azerbaijan rejects to implement the establishment of the mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violation? The Geneva statement also stressed the necessity to intensify the negotiation process, and this too has always been strongly advocated by Armenia. In their last statement, the Co-Chairs once again urged to accept the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and emphasized the necessity of implementation of other decisions adopted during the Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016. Azerbaijan pretends as if the agreements reached during the previous Summits are preconditions put forward by the Armenian side. Armenia has not used preconditions, but that does not mean that the reached agreements should not be implemented. The Co-Chairs statement at the Ministerial Councils in Hamburg and Vienna proved that the Azerbaijani attempts to reject the implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits are doomed to failure. The pattern of refusal by Azerbaijan to honor prior agreements seriously questions Bakus credibility as a negotiating partner. The Co-Chairs encouraged the Parties to avoid the unnecessary politicization of the important humanitarian steps. For many years Azerbaijan has been refusing to implement confidence building measure, both in humanitarian and military spheres. After Paris Summit of October 2014 Baku has claimed again that the confidence building measures could be possible to implement only after the conflict is resolved. However, it is clear that after the settlement there will not be equally high demand for confidence building measures. Even if Azerbaijan gives agreement to a any confidence building measure then as a rule Baku transforms it to the instrument of confidence destroying propaganda. The Co-Chairs reiterated their commitment to mediating activities to promote compromises on the working proposals submitted to the parties. These proposals are well known and are reflected in the five statements of the presidents of the Co-Chair countries issued since 2009. The core of these proposals offers a package deal that includes the future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. I would like to once again reiterate Armenias firm commitment to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the proposals of the Co-Chairs. There is no alternative to the negotiation process. It is evident that what has been proposed by the Co-Chairs and supported by Armenia has been rejected by Azerbaijan and this is the main reason that hinders the advancement of the peace process. An agreement was reached by the initiative of the Co-Chairs to organize a meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the second part of January. As always we are going to such kind of meeting with the constructive approach. If Baku abides to the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implements previously reached agreements, reiterates its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs and constructively engages in the negotiations that will pave the way to move the peace process forward and change the status-quo. Parents of Nirbhaya who was gang-raped by six on a moving bus in December 2012 By Harish V Nair: Four days before the fifth anniversary of the brutal incident that triggered worldwide outrage, a defence lawyer for four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case triggered a controversy with his bizarre comments in the Supreme Court. During the hearing of the plea, seeking a review of the death penalty confirmed by the Supreme Court on May 5, advocate ML Sharma who represents Mukesh accused the 'state and police of bribing two witnesses - (the victim's mother and father) - to toe the prosecution's fabricated and manufactured story in the trial court implicating the accused'. advertisement The shocking comment immediately provoked a sharp reaction from Chief Justice Dipak Misra who tersely told Sharma: "What is this? Stop it. You can't make such statements and that too at the review stage." In a note submitted to the judges and arguing orally, Sharma termed the DDA flat in Dwarka given to victim's parents and grant of compensation of `20 lakh by the Chief Minister as "bribes to prosecution witness from state accounts". Talking to MAIL TODAY, victim's father Badrinath Singh expressed shock at the 'outrageous' comments. "It is unimaginable how a lawyer can make such insensitive comments. He is trying to insult us," said Singh. During the hearing Sharma was pulled up for reiterating whatever was argued earlier and not making a case for review by pointing out the errors in its earlier judgment confirming death penalty. CJI told Sharma: "What are you arguing? Please make a case for review". Tell us how our conclusion is wrong. Prove our analysis of DNA and dying declaration was wrong, investigation was perverse, etc. You are only repeating what you argued earlier." While upholding the death penalty given to Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay and Akshay by the trial court and Delhi High Court, the SC bench had termed the attitude of offenders as 'beastial proclivity' and said 'It sounds like a story from a different world where humanity is treated with irreverence.'. "If ever a case called for hanging, this was it,' the judges had said. "The cruel manner in which the gang rape was committed in the moving bus; iron rods were inserted in the private parts of the victim; and the coldness with which both the victims were thrown naked in cold wintery night of December, shocks the collective conscience of the society. The present case clearly comes within the category of 'rarest of rare case' where the question of any other punishment is 'unquestionably foreclosed'," they added. On December 16, 2012, the victim and a companion were attacked by six men aboard a moving bus in South Delhi. The woman, who was brutalised with an iron rod and had her intestines pulled out, died in a Singapore hospital 13 days later. advertisement One of the men, Ram Singh, was found hanging in his cell in Delhi's Tihar Jail in March 2013, while a convicted juvenile was released in December 2015. Karnataka: Youth's brutally mutilated body found, political parties play blame game --- ENDS --- We anticipate further support of our Greek partners to Armenia-European Union (EU) cooperation. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, stated the abovementioned in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. Greece is one of our key partners in Armenia-EU relations, he said, in particular. The past weeks were very remarkable in this regard. On November 24th Armenia signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement [(CEPA)] with the European Union. Being an active member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia develops its relations also with other integration formats. We hope that such pragmatic and result oriented dialogue will be the driving force of the cooperation for all in our wider region. The signing of CEPA is not a stand-alone example of the Armenia-EU partnership. In the past two years we have been able to deliver in different fields of mutual cooperation, namely joining COSME, Creative Europe, HORIZON 2020 programs, initialing the Agreement on Common Aviation Area and signing the Protocol on High-level Mutual Understanding on extending the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) network to the Republic of Armenia, to name but a few. We are looking forward to the new endeavors, attaching particular importance among others to the launch of visa liberalization dialogue. We anticipate further support of our Greek partners to the Armenia-EU cooperation. Of course we are looking to the opportunities of expanding bilateral economic ties between Armenia and Greece. The work of the intergovernmental commission and the organization of the business forums could be helpful in this regard. As a result of Armenias accession to Eurasian Economic Union, new possibilities emerged for the trade and investments. Today, Armenia is a tax-free gateway to the 170 million strong Eurasian Economic Unions market. Armenia enjoys preferential regime with the EU, US, Japan and others. We hope that the opportunities provided by the political developments would allow making full use of economic cooperation with our neighbor Iran with its 80 million strong market. The projects on Persian Gulf Black Sea transport and connectivity routes could be illustrative in this regard. In a couple of days I will head to Kiev to assume the chairmanship of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. During Armenias chairmanship we will do our best to ensure that this Organization fully serves to its goals of boosting the regional economic cooperation between the member countries. It is our firm conviction that those who misuse this platform to advance their narrow political objectives at the expense of the economic cooperation not just contradict the goals of the Organization but are not genuinely interested in developing the regional economic partnership. And those who remain faithful to the objectives of the BSEC such as Armenia and Greece should strive to preserve the purely economic and non-politicized nature of this Organization. Two weeks ago Armenia assumed the chairmanship of the Ministerial Conference of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which unites 84 countries, including Greece and will have the honor of hosting its Summit next October in Yerevan. The mantra of the Summit will be "Living together in solidarity, sharing humanistic values and respecting diversity as a source for peace and prosperity". We intend to organize in its framework a business forum of the Francophone area and would like to draw the attention of the business circles of the Hellenic Republic to this event. On next December 9, the International Day of Commemoration will gain even more significance, since it will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, noted the aforesaid in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. In 2015, upon the initiative of Armenia, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a unanimous Resolution on the Genocide Prevention, he said, in particular. In its development again upon our initiative the UN General Assembly assigned December 9th as an International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide. Since 2015, 9 December has become a solid platform for manifestation of our collective resolve against the recurrences of this heinous crime. It also bears an important mission of raising awareness and promoting education about the crimes against humanity. Three days ago in my statement on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration I stressed that we join our voice with all those who strive to ensure that never again is a solemn promise that is universally respected and kept. It is a moral obligation of the people that endured through the horrors of Genocide, to stand at the forefront of the international efforts for prevention of the genocides and crimes against humanity. Our efforts are gaining an international recognition, as recently the United Nations Under Secretary General Mr. Michael Mller stated, Armenia has become a leading voice for safeguarding the importance of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. On the next December 9th, the International Day of Commemoration will gain even more significance, since it will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. On this occasion Armenia is going to host the Third International Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, in Yerevan. Seventy years passed after the adoption of the Convention, but the world is not immune from this odious scourge. It is imperative to redouble the international efforts aimed at reinvigoration of the prevention agenda. What is happening in front of our eyes, in the Middle East particularly, related to the identity-based crimes against ethnic and religious groups vividly manifests the relevance of the Convention, which clearly establishes the punishable actions, including the complicity. Armenia has been among the first to raise this issue with the aim of strengthening the international mechanisms in this regard. The further development of effective measures to counter hate crime and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions was the main focus of the recent high-level conference in Yerevan, co-organized by the OSCE Chairmanship and ODIHR with the support of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. The violence in the Middle East has not bypassed Armenians, who for centuries has constituted a part of the multicultural and multi-religious mosaic of Syria and the wider Mediterranean region. The Armenian settlements, churches, schools and cultural institutions were destroyed. Many of our fellow Armenians lost their lives in terrorist attacks, others were forced to flee. Armenia has received more than twenty two thousand refugees only from Syria, making our country the third largest recipient of Syrian refugees in Europe on per capita basis. We have also tried to reach out to the people who need assistance in Syria by continuous provision of humanitarian aid. As the threat to security and stability continues to spread in different parts of the world it is crucial to make international joint efforts in countering them more efficient and effective. It is with this understanding that Armenia has participated in a number of UN and UN-mandated Peace Operations, thus actively contributing in the most direct way to the building of international peace and security. The United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations stated in this regard that Armenias support is important not only for its contribution but also for the Armenian history and the challenges overcome during it. Indeed, history teaches us that security is a common endeavor. The geography of our engagement in the past and present missions in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Lebanon (UNIFIL), Mali (MINUSMA) vividly demonstrates our attitude towards peace operations. We remember with deep appreciation that Armenia made its first steps in the field of the international peace operations with generous support of the Hellenic Republic. We are more than just historically friendly nations, this is a true brotherhood. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, stated the aforementioned in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. I would like to thank for this opportunity of meeting with such respectful audience and share with you our views with regard to the Armenian-Greek partnership, the regional issues, and some of the Armenian foreign policy priorities, he said, in particular. I am glad to be back to Athens, one of the cradles of civilization, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, an ancient city whose legacy still widely shapes the cultural and spiritual values of the modern Europe. Armenian nation has embraced and contributed to this, leaving alongside with the Greek people our footprints in the world history. The relations between our people go deep into the history. There are references to the Armenian people in the works of Herodotus and Plato. Xenophon of Athens passed through Armenia in the fifth century B.C. and called it a prosperous land. The ancient Greek geographers such as Strabo and Ptolemy knew well the indigenous people of our region and the boundaries of their states. It would be good for those who try to rewrite the history and make cultural and territorial claims nowadays to familiarize themselves with the works of these great scientists. We shared also with the Greek people some of the most tragic pages of the recent past, we both suffered from the genocide and crimes against humanity, defended shoulder-to-shoulder our right for life and stood by each other in the difficult times. There is no doubt that we are more than just historically friendly nations, this is a true brotherhood. Twenty-five years ago the diplomatic relations were established between the newly independent Republic of Armenia and the Hellenic Republic. The regular high level visits gave new impetus to our partnership and outline the main areas of cooperation. In this regard I would like to highlight the visits of President Serzh Sargsyan to Greece in 2016 and the visit of President Karolos Papoulias to Armenia in 2014. We meet frequently with the Foreign Minister and my good friend Nikos Kotzias in different international formats. Recently I hosted Minister Kotzias in Yerevan and now I have the pleasure to be in Athens to continue our discussions. In the past quarter of a century, we managed to develop robust interstate relations and solid bilateral agenda ranging from the active political dialogue to the partnership in different fields of mutual interest. We have developed a solid legal framework that could serve as a basis for the further enhancement of our ties. We closely work in the framework of international organizations. We explore the possibilities of cooperation between sizable Armenian and Greek Diasporas for the benefit of our nations. YEREVAN. The National Assembly of Armenia on Wednesday passed the bill with respect to ratifying a loan agreement between Armenia and the Asian Development Bank, and within the framework of the public efficiency and financial markets program. The said proposed law was adopted by a vote of 61 for and 37 against. As reported earlier, the main speaker at the respective parliamentary debates, Deputy Finance Minister Armen Hayrapetyan, had noted that this agreement is a budget support loan that will enable Armenia go through 2017 smoothly and to ensure financial stability in the country. In his words, this loan is $40 million, it is issued for 15 years, of which 3 years are a preferential loan. The deputy minister had said this loan program has no specific target expenditure, and this is why a budget support loan differs from other types of loans. Since our budget year will be with a deficit, that loan will cover the difference between the revenues and the expenditures, Hayrapetyan had added. Cross-bench political power, The Australian Greens have added the recognition of the right to self-determination of the Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) to their party policy platform, following meetings between their candidate in the upcoming Bennelong by-election, Justin Alick and representatives of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU). The Australian Greens, who also reiterated their party's recognition of the Armenian Genocide, have become one of the first non-Armenian political parties in the world to adopt what ANC-AU called a principled position on the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). The Australian Greens' party position also includes a call on the Commonwealth Government to officially recognise the independence of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh] and strengthen Australia's relationship with Nagorno-Karabakh and its citizens. ANC-AU Managing Director, Vache Kahramanian said: We sincerely thank the The Australian Greens hierarchy and their Bennelong by-election candidate Justin Alick for proving their belief in the principles of self-determination by formally recognising the Republic of Artsakh. "Nagorno Karabakh has been part of the greater Armenian motherland for millennia, and the continued threat of the war-mongering, corrupt dictatorship governing Azerbaijan means the world must take notice and speak out for the human right to self-determination of the Armenian citizens of the region, who have voted overwhelmingly in a referendum declaring independence." Kahramanian added: "The Australian Greens have taken notice and they have spoken out, and for this, we are grateful." The Republic of Artsakh's Permanent Representative in Australia, Kaylar Michaelian added praise on behalf of the government he represents. This is a truly historic recognition, said Michaelian. The people of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) have lived under constant security threat for 26 years, however their resilience during that time has allowed them to build a democratic nation, which only waits for the world to recognise it and its citizens in order to thrive. On behalf of the government of the Republic of Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, I thank The Australian Greens for their commitment to human rights, Michaelian added. In the current Federal Parliament, The Australian Greens are represented by nine Senators in the Upper House and one Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said the US was paying a close attention to Beijings One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. By PTI, Press Trust of India: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said the US was paying a close attention to Beijing's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain China's economic growth. The "One Belt One Road" is a maze of projects meant to connect China with Asia, Europe and Africa. advertisement "It is not our intent to contain China's economic growth. They must grow. They still have hundreds of millions of people that need to move out of poverty. But we do pay close attention to their OBOR policy," Tillerson told the State Department employees in a town hall. The OBOR strategy articulates the Chinese view of their future of how they're going to grow their economy, and how they're going to protect that economic growth, and perhaps extend some of their own spheres of influence around the world, he noted. The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy have many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road." "Its part of the global order, the international system of rules and norms. China can choose to carry out its OBOR within that system, or it can try to redefine that. And that's what a lot of the discussion between us is about: How are we going to live together? How are both of us going to be prosperous together?" the top US diplomat sought to know. China, he said, has been cooperating on North Korea, but it needs to do more. "In some respects, it was a good way to start this new administrations relationship with China because it gave us something of a shared objective from the very beginning to pursue. And they were very open to hearing our approach and have been supportive in that regard," he said. Trump administrations engagement with China kicked off with the visit of President Xi Jinping to the US Presidents Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Now there are four dialogues with China: diplomatic and security dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, law enforcement and cyber security dialogue, and people-to-people dialogue. "All four of these high-level dialogues met throughout the year and reported out the status of those discussions and President Trumps recent state visit to Beijing. Our message to the Chinese in these dialogues was this need to be results-based dialogues, not just meet and talk. We have to produce something that moves this relationship forward," Tillerson said. advertisement These dialogues, he said, are serving very important purposes because behind all of these discussions is trying to understand what is going to define the US-China relationship for the next half century. "How are we going to live together, two great powers with great peoples that need to be? Have needs that need to be served? So that's framing much of the China policy in our engagement, and obviously, there are significant national security issues," he said. The Secretary of State said relationship with China has been pretty well defined since the opening of China with Nixons historic visit over the past many years with the "One China" policy, the commitment to the three communiques, and it did? It has led to a period of calm, prosperity as China's economy has grown. "All of us have benefited globally with China's economic growth. But now, a lot of things have kind of gotten out of balance, as you well know," he said. "The dialogue were having with the Chinese today is okay, that worked for the last 40 to 50 years, but China is in a different place now. You are in many respects still a developing nation because you have millions of people that are yet to move out of poverty and to middle class status, but you're not the developing China of the Nixon era. You're in a different place today and were in a different place," he said. advertisement On the South China Sea, Tillerson said it is one area where the two countries hold significant differences and those they have to deal with it. "China's continued building of these structures in the South China Sea in territories that are disputed ? others lay claim to ? and then further militarising those structures is a very serious issue that we talk about routinely," he said. Tillerson noted that the contentious South China Sea issue is "a concern to many of our allies and trading partners in the Southeast Asia region." China claims almost all of the South China Sea but Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the waterway. --- ENDS --- Israeli military and police officers arrested 32 Palestinians during the joint operation, including one of the leaders of the Hamas movement, Sheikh Hassan Yusuf, RBC reports referring to The Times of Israel. Yusuf is suspected of being involved in the riots. Recently, he was released from administrative arrest. The Arab-Israeli conflict escalated on December 6, after the U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Palestine did not accept this decision and said that after this, from a mediator in the conflict, the U.S. turned into its direct participant. In this regard, the Palestinians have promised to abandon the services of Americans as mediators and decided to start looking for another guarantor. In response to the U.S. decision a series of riots erupted in Palestine. The leaders of the autonomy announced the beginning of a new intifada. Both Israel and Palestine call Jerusalem their capital. At the same time, Israel declares the city one and indivisible, and Palestine continues to consider the eastern sector of the city as its territory and does not recognize the power of Israel over it. The de jure capital of Israel is Tel Aviv. Since 1992 Hasan Yusuf has been the main speaker of Hamas. The Israeli special services arrested him several times; he served two terms in an Israeli prison and was under administrative arrest for several times. Some members of Hamas accuse him of collaborating with the Shabak (Israeli Security Service). YEREVAN. NATO does not see any challenges or threats to its current relations with Armenia. While answering to the question about the existence of such threats At a press conference marking the beginning of the NATO week, Rosaria Puglisi, Deputy Head of the NATO Liaison Office in the South Caucasus noted that NATO does not see any challenges. The NATO representative explained that they know what Armenians want, and they are happy with that. According to her assessment, the Alliance is linked with Armenia by a special cooperation, dictated and adapted to the needs of the country. YEREVAN.- The working visit of the delegation led by the Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker, the Head of the Armenian National Assembly Armenia-Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia Friendship Group Eduard Sharmazanov to Lithuania continues. The delegation is comprised of the Armenian National Assembly deputies Samvel Farmanyan and Suren Manukyan. On December 13, the parliamentary delegation met with the Speaker of the Seimas (parliament) of Lithuania Viktoras Pranckietis. The members of the parliament highlighted the development of the inter-parliamentary cooperation, and in this context the role and importance of the Friendship Groups functioning in the parliaments of the two countries. The level of the bilateral political dialogue of the last years and the progress recorded in the sphere of economic cooperation was positively assessed. The Armenian delegates emphasized the signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Agreement on November 24, noting that it could open a new page in the development of the Armenia-EU dialogue. We expect that Lithuania as the first state that has recognized the Armenia independence in the world will be the first also to ratify as quick as possible and without artificial procrastination the Armenia -EU Agreement, Eduard Sharmazanov said. The Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker has underlined with satisfaction the fact that Lithuania is the only country among the Baltic countries which has recognized the Armenian Genocide. He highly assessed the Lithuanian parliamentarians political and civil position in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Touching upon the process of the reforms going on in our country, the Head of the Armenian National Assembly delegation has noted that the development of democracy, the fight against corruption are the most important issues of Armenias political agenda, and in that aspect, with all international assessments Armenia and Azerbaijan are incompatible. The Armenian National Assembly Deputy Speaker also referred to the Karabakh problem, reaffirming the position of the Armenian side to solve the conflict exclusively through peaceful negotiations in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Any attempt of the military solution of the problem, bellicose rhetoric, as well as the availability of the black lists by Azerbaijan are inadmissible. They dont promote the establishment of peace in the region. The solution of the problem is impossible without the complete exercise of the right of the Artsakh peoples self-determination. Artsakh has become independent from the USSR on the same legal basis, as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The citizens of Artsakh have the same right of building a state, as the citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Mr Sharmazanov said. The European Union urges the UK to adhere to the agreements reached during the first phase of negotiations on Brexit process, DW reported. "We will not tolerate if these results are questioned," EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said. There is no going back on this sufficient progress, this progress has been noted and recorded and is going to be translated into a legally binding withdrawal agreement he said. It should be noted that the agreements, signed on December 8 between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May marking the end of the first phase of talks, must be approved by the heads of state and government of the EU. The comment from EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier came after UK Brexit Secretary David Davis suggested the divorce agreement unveiled by Theresa May amounted to a "statement of intent" rather than a binding agreement. By PTI: By Lalit K Jha Washington, Dec 13 (PTI) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan as Americas relationship with the South Asian country has "drifted over the years", noting that the two countries need to restore the ties to "one of common interest". "Dealing with Pakistan ? I dont enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during a town hall with the State Department employees here. advertisement His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and weve got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today thats just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So were engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat theyre under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "Weve got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. Earlier in his remarks, Tillerson referred to the new South Asia Policy as one of the key foreign policy highlights in the first year of the Trump administration. Tillerson said that President Donald Trump took a very bold decision by asserting that the US will be in Afghanistan with its military presence and continue to fight terrorism and the Taliban on a conditions-based effort. He, however, refused to give any time limit for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. "Were there until this thing is brought to a conclusion. Its not a blank cheque. Its not forever. But were going to stay on the ground and support the Afghan Government," he said. "The Afghan government has to continue to deliver on the needed reforms and create the conditions to have an inclusive government that allows for participation of all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. "When the Taliban are ready to come to that negotiating table, there will be a place for them to participate in a future Afghan government," Tillerson said. advertisement According to him, Trumps South Asia policy aims to deny any safe haven to terrorist organisations in the Afghanistan- Pakistan region. "Our policy is to deny them the ability to have a safe haven where they can organise, recruit fighters, raise money; plan and carry out attacks against our allies, our own homeland, as they did in the past. So the entire policy in South Asia is to achieve that," Tillerson said. The top American diplomat asserted that the policy could be achieved by "eliminating the safe havens"; bringing on board the groups fighting with each other, to get them involved in dialogues and creating the conditions for a reconciliation process within Afghanistan for peace. PTI LKJ CK --- ENDS --- A wealthy ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has placed a bounty on the heads of two former U.S. military and intelligence officials as part of what U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon is an effort by the Turkish government to threaten and intimidate Americans who they believe are working to undermine Erdogan. A bounty of three million Turkish lira, or nearly $800,000, was placed on the heads of former Pentagon official Michael Rubin and former top CIA official Graham Fuller for what Erdogan's allies claim is their role in a 2016 failed coup that nearly toppled Erdogan's ruling government. Both Rubin and Fuller have been vocal critics of Erdogan's, often publicly highlighting his widespread corruption. Rubin, in particular, has been in constant conflict with Erdogan, who once filed a lawsuit against the former Pentagon official in a bid to silence him. The Turkish prosecutors office has issued arrest warrants for both Rubin and Fuller. Current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Free Beacon about the situation called allegations that Rubin and Fuller played any role in the coup attempt "absurd," and said the bounty is part of a larger effort by Erdogan to silence dissent against his government across the globe. Some also criticized the State Department for doing very little to combat Turkey's threats on former American officials. Erdogan's government has threatened and intimidated several prominent Americans in recent years and is currently holding hostage U.S. citizens who his government claims played a role in the failed 2016 coup. A lawyer representing the anonymous businessman who put up the cash for the bounty called Rubin and Fuller "traitors wanting to interfere" with Erdogan's government, according to regional reports, which only described the businessman as "a person in love with his country, flag, and nation." When asked about the bounty, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said officials have "seen the reports." "The notion that current or former employees of the United States Government were involved in the failed coup is absurd," the official said. Asked to comment on possible security concerns over Rubin and Fuller, the State Department would not provide further information. The public silence has angered Rubin, who told the Free Beacon the U.S. government is allowing Turkey's threats to go unchecked and countered. "The State Department's silence in the wake of Turkey putting a bounty on two Americansboth of whom were government officialssends a horrible signal that encourages Turkey," Rubin said. "All it takes is one crazy who equates silence with a green light and things can get bad fast." "This, after all, is a regime that saw nothing wrong with beating up protestors in the center of Washington, D.C.," Rubin said, referring to a June incident in which Turkish security personnel attacked and beat anti-Erdogan protestors who were demonstrating in downtown D.C. Eric Edelman, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, told the Free Beacon the latest bounty on Rubin and Fuller represents a "continuation of Erdogan's effort to export authoritarian lawlessness and lack of respect for due process." YEREVAN. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and India. Armenian News-NEWS.am interviewed Indias ambassador to Armenia, H.E. Yogeshwar Sangwan about the high-level visits as well as prospects for the development of economic ties. This year was marked by high-level visits. Vice President of India Mr. Hamid Ansari visited Armenia in April. Later on President Sargsyan visited India in November. What are the key arrangements that were reached during the visits? How did they affect relations between our countries? Yes, it was a very important year. It marked the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations. We had Vice Presidents visit in April and there was Armenian presidents visit in November. The sides agreed to enhance bilateral relations in all spheres: in political, economic spheres, people-to-people contacts, cultural sphere. Armenian president in particular discussed economic cooperation in various areas: defense, science and technology, IT, food processing. Our countries can develop cooperation in diamond polishing and mining. The great achievement was political contacts. Now these visits will lead little by little to various cooperation proposals. For example, Armenia has already lifted visas, the move which will promote tourism. We will see the other results in the coming years. Bilateral trade turnover between our countries has increased. What are the main areas where we have intensified the bilateral trade? Is there potential to uncover some new areas where we have not been working so far? We want to establish relations in almost all areas, primarily to promote trade on meat products, pharmaceuticals. We can now focus on jewelry, food processing. We can have investments from India into Armenias food processing sector and vice versa. In his interview to Indian television, President Sargsyan said the countries are going to launch visa facilitation. Do you have any data about the number of Indian tourists visiting Armenia and Armenian tourists visiting India? This is a very short period. I do not have the exact data now, but last year about 2,000 Indians visited Armenia. In addition, 4,000 Indians from the Gulf countries visited Armenia. The figure is much less when we speak about tourists from Armenia to India. Every year Yerevan traditionally hosts Indian fair that is very popular among the locals. Are there any cultural events that India is planning to hold in the near future? In the same interview, President Sargsyan said an Indian movie had been shot in Armenia. Has this film been screened in Armenia? If yes, what was the feedback? I suppose the film will be released in December in south India. As to the cultural events, We plan to organize an exhibition of Indian music and dances, sari exhibition. We also plan to have in Yerevan an exhibition of the works of the Aslamazyan sisters as well as a display of Armenian heritage in India. Of course, there is a Bollywood week that we also had last year and aflash mob on Northern Avenue featuring Indian dances. Ambassador of Armenia to Iran Artashes Tumanyan met with Irans Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami on December 12, the press service of the MFA Armenia reported. At the beginning of the meeting Ambassador Tumanyan conveyed the warm greetings of Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan to Amir Hatami and expressed satisfaction with the current situation of Armenian-Iranian relations in the sphere of defense and security. Brigadier General Amir Hatami, highly assessing the current level of Armenian-Iranian relations, noted the strengthening relations with neighbors is one of the main directions of Irans foreign policy and those relations have only developed during the 26 years of Armenias independence. Presenting Armenias position on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Ambassador Tumanyan highly assessed Irans balanced stance aimed at the peaceful settlement of the conflict based on international right. In response, the Iranian Defense Minister noted that Iran leads a balanced policy to assist the conflict settlement and calls on the sides to continue peaceful talks on the settlement of the conflict. The interlocutors also referred to the situation in the Middle East, highlighting the necessity of the establishment of lasting peace in the region that stems from the interest of all the countries. Newly appointed military attache of Armenia to the IRI Colonel Artur Aznavuryan was also present at the meeting. By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Dec 13 (PTI) The state vigilance wing today arrested an assistant professor of a medical college on charges of cheating and misappropriation of funds. Vigilance sleuths are also looking for another professor, suspected to be the key accused, of the same medical college. A vigilance statement said an assistant professor of the SCB Medical College and Hospital was arrested for misappropriating money from the Odisha State Treatment Fund (OTSF) of which the accused is the nodal officer. advertisement The sleuths are also looking for another professor, also an accused, whose whereabouts are not known, the statement said. The vigilance department had launched the probe following allegations of abuse of official position, show of undue favour to pharmaceutical companies and embezzling funds while treating patients under the OSTF, it said. The OSTF was launched in December 2011 by the state government primarily to help/supplement poor patients from BPL category who are suffering from life threatening diseases such as cancer and chronic heart diseases. After enquiry, the vigilance cell registered a criminal case yesterday against two doctor professors and some pharmaceutical companies, the statement said. PTI SKN SBN --- ENDS --- By PTI: Nagpur, Dec 13 (PTI)AMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the Legislative Council in a written reply that between January 2012 to October 2017, as many as 12,047 offences were registered in the state under the Information Technology (IT) Act. Of these, 4,342 cases were registered in Mumbai, the countrys financial capital, including 1,801 related to credit and debit card frauds. advertisement The reply was submitted to questions asked by Congress legislator Anant Gadgil and others. Of the 12,047 offences registered under the act in the state, 3,602 offences were solved, stated Fadnavis, who also holds the charge of home ministry. PTI CLS KRK --- ENDS --- By PTI: Nagpur, Dec 13 (PTI)AMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the Legislative Council in a written reply that between January 2012 to October 2017, as many as 12,047 offences were registered in the state under the Information Technology (IT) Act. Of these, 4,342 cases were registered in Mumbai, the countrys financial capital, including 1,801 related to credit and debit card frauds. advertisement The reply was submitted to questions asked by Congress legislator Anant Gadgil and others. Of the 12,047 offences registered under the act in the state, 3,602 offences were solved, stated Fadnavis, who also holds the charge of home ministry. PTI CLS KRK BAS --- ENDS --- By PTI: (Eds: with additional inputs) Nagpur, Dec 13 (PTI)AMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the Legislative Council in a written reply that between January 2012 to October 2017, as many as 12,047 offences were registered in the state under the Information Technology (IT) Act. Of these, 4,342 cases were registered in Mumbai, the countrys financial capital, including 1,801 related to credit and debit card frauds. advertisement The reply was submitted to questions asked by Congress legislator Anant Gadgil and others. Of the 12,047 offences registered under the act in the state, 3,602 offences were solved, stated Fadnavis, who also holds the charge of home ministry. The conviction rate in cyber crime cases registered in Mumbai was 31 per cent, while that in rest of the state was 24 per cent, the reply said. PTI CLS KRK --- ENDS --- By PTI: Gurdaspur, Dec 13 (PTI) The BSF today seized a Pakistani boat here from the Ravi river in Indian territory, police said. The boat with a Pakistani flag was spotted by the BSF near Dharamkot Pattan, which is close to the India-Pakistan border, they said. The BSF is investigating how the boat strayed into Indian territory, the police said. advertisement In October last year, a Pakistani boat had been found in an area under the Kakkar Border Outpost (BOP) in the Amritsar Sector. PTI Cor SUN ANB --- ENDS --- By Geeta Mohan: After former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh broke his silence on allegations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of Congress-Pak nexus in Gujarat elections, the former foreign minister of Pakistan has come out and rejected all the charges levelled against him. Khurshid Kasuri, for whom the dinner was hosted by suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer, has said that it was an "open" dinner where the conversation focused on "Indo-Pak" relations and that there was "no mention of Gujarat elections". advertisement "There were 18-19 people including former Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor and many politicians like Natwar Singh, former diplomats, bureaucrats, etc. Gujarat was not even mentioned. And why should it be. I also make it a point that when I'm in India I do not talk about internal issues of India and only focus on the peace process. Gujarat was not mentioned. It's out of the question", said Khurshid Kasuri, former foreign minister of Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently at a rally on Sunday had hit out at the Congress saying that the Congress is colluding with Pakistan to impact the assembly elections in Gujarat. The PM also referred to a Facebook post by a former director general of the Pakistani army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq, saying Congress leader Ahmed Patel should be the next chief minister of the state. "Pakistan Army's former DG is interfering in Gujarat's election, on the other hand, Pakistani people are holding a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyar's house. After that meeting, people of Gujarat, backward communities, poor people and Modi were insulted. Don't you think such events raise doubts?", Modi had said. When asked Khurshid Kasuri told India Today, "There was no closed door meeting with anybody. All meeting was in the presence of all the people and it was an open dinner. All conversations took place in front of everyone. There was no exclusive meeting or conversation. I am grateful to those who attended." Kasuri also said that there is no Pakistani who can influence elections in Gujarat and if he indulged in such activities during his travels to India, it would adversely impact the work he does towards peace between India and Pakistan. "Have not even heard of General Rafiq. Who is this guy. I am unaware of him but if he was somebody of consequence, you would have known him forget about me. Pakistani generals are normally very high profile. I don't know, you don't know, nobody knows. He may very well have been a General but after retirement everybody is a civilian", said the former Pak Foreign Minister. He also ended by saying that his efforts towards peace have been appreciated and supported by leaders from all political parties and trough the NDA and UPA governments. He said, "There was not discussion on Gujarat because this is not on my agenda. I only focus on Indo-Pak peace and when I released my book in India both Congress and BJP leaders had attended." --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: (Eds: Updating with fresh inputs) By Lalit K Jha Washington, Dec 13 (PTI) Pakistans political leadership would lose control over the country if it does not begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and other terror groups having safe havens there, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned. Tillersons remarks came amid Trump administrations repeated calls to Pakistan to do more against terrorist outfits. advertisement "We want to work with Pakistan to stamp out terrorism within their boundaries as well, but Pakistan has to begin the process of changing its relationship with the Haqqani Network and with others," Tillerson told a Washington audience. In his remarks on Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council- Korea Foundation Forum, Tillerson said that Pakistans relationship with the Haqqani Network needs to be altered. "I understand that this is a relationship that has emerged probably for, in their view, good reasons a decade ago, but now that relationship has to be altered because if theyre not careful, Pakistan is going to lose control of their own country," he warned. He said the US was willing to share information with them to be successful. "But we cannot continue with the status quo, where terrorist organisations are allowed to find safe haven inside of Pakistan," the top American diplomat warned. Notably despite repeated warning from the Trump Administration there is not much impact on Pakistan?s attitude towards terrorist groups. It has been more than two weeks now that the White House issued a stern warning to Pakistan and asked Islamabad to re- arrest Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind. Tillerson made no reference to this in his speech. The US and Pakistan have had a long history of good relations, but that relationship has really deteriorated over the past decade, he conceded. "So now we?re engaged with Pakistan in a conversation to ensure our expectations of them are clear, that our concern is really about Pakistans stability," he said. "Pakistan has allowed so many terrorist organisations to find safe haven within its territories, and these organisations are growing in size and influence, that at some point I have said to the leadership of Pakistan, you may be the target, and they turn their attention from Kabul and decide they like Islamabad as a target better," Tillerson said. The global effort to defeat the Islamic State and the global effort to defeat terrorism is one of President Donald Trumps top priorities, he said. advertisement "The President made a decision and announced the policy that we would remain in Afghanistan, we would remain engaged in the fight to defeat the Taliban, and that the time and effort would be conditions-based. He said it?s not a blank check," Tillerson said. Separately during a townhall, Tillerson said he does not enjoy dealing with Pakistan. "Dealing with Pakistan ? I dont enjoy that," Tillerson said in response to a specific query during the town hall with the State Department employees here. His remark, without any further explanation, was in response to a question posed by a State Department employee who asked: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" "...Pakistan is still an important and valued partner of the United States. Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and weve got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today thats just not the case, he told his State Department colleagues. "So were engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat theyre under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. advertisement The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "Weve got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. PTI LKJ NSA AKJ NSA --- ENDS --- By PTI: week Islamabad, Dec 13 (PTI) Pakistan Supreme Court today ordered a cement plant to fill up the historic Katas Raj temples pond within a week after reports emerged that it is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories, according to a media report. A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, is hearing a suo motu case based on media reports that the Katas Raj pond in Punjab province is drying out due to water consumption by nearby cement factories, Dawn News reported. advertisement The factories are reportedly draining the pond through a number of bored wells which have reduced the subsoil water level the created shortages for domestic users as well, it said. Bestway Cement factory is one of the four major cement production units located in the area. In the hearing of the case, the bench expressed anger over the continued absence of Bestway Cements counsel. The bench told the Punjab government to provide details of the conditions under which the authorities had allowed the construction of cement factories in the area. The court also sought reports on the environmental pollution factories cause in the area. The prosecution claims that the cement factories in the Katas Raj temple area have worsened the risks of breast cancer and respiratory diseases among people living nearby due to their activities. "We will not allow cement factories to operate at the cost of peoples health," the chief justice said. The apex court had also expressed dismay over the absence of representations of Hindu deities in the historic Sri Ram and Hanuman temples in the complex and sought an explanation from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in this regard a day earlier. The ETPB said the temples were locked up to prevent desecration that might be caused by wild jackals and bats in the area. The court was perturbed to learn that Hindu pilgrims who visited the holy site had to bring their own idols to perform their rituals, the report said. The chairman also claimed that no religious services are held in Shri Ram and Hanuman temples since they are archaeological sites. The Shiv Ling was present in all temples where people come to worship, he said. The Katas Raj temple is one of the Hindu communitys most well-known places of worship. The name Katas is derived from Kataksha, a Sanskrit word meaning tearful eyes. According to legend, the sacred pond was formed after lord Shiva wept upon the death of his wife Satti. PTI UZM AKJ UZM --- ENDS --- advertisement Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying. By Piyush Agrawal, Press Trust of India: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India's plea for consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its "spy". In its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan said the provision of such an access under the Vienna Convention is only for legitimate visitors and not for spies, the Express Tribune reported. advertisement Pakistan said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan has stated that "the Indians have not denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name." "Lack of explanation on how a serving naval commander was operating under secondment to Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was travelling under an assumed name leads to only one conclusion that India wanted consular access to the information he had gathered," said the counter memorial submitted by Pakistan, according to the paper. The reply encompasses the charge-sheet against Jadhav and narrates Pakistan's stance in a comprehensive manner. Sources said it took several weeks to prepare the response which was approved by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week in a special meeting. Official sources said that the reply was jointly prepared by the attorney general, legal team in the case, and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and submitted in ICJ at The Hague by the Foreign Office's Director India, Fariha Bugti. Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. "Only a state which adheres to legitimate actions can request the court to intervene in a matter between two states," Pakistan has stated in the ICJ. Citing its sources, the paper said Pakistan will argue that sending Jadhav for espionage, funding terrorist activities are some of the reasons that dis-entitle India from invoking the jurisdiction of the ICJ. advertisement The international court will now decide whether to take the case forward for hearing or ask both India and Pakistan to submit more documents. Talking to Geo News earlier, Pakistan Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali had said he thinks the case would be taken up for hearing around April-May. Last week, Pakistan granted permission to the mother and wife of Jadhav to meet him on December 25. A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors. --- ENDS --- there is a difference between saying "i like you" and saying "i'd like to fuck you" is morrissey really that fucking obtuse? why is he like this? Reply Thread Link Ughhhhhhhh, please stop talking. Did fame and money make him this way or was he always garbage? Reply Thread Link lmfao YES Reply Parent Thread Link thank you for making LOL in the office out loud :p Reply Parent Thread Link I love Maxine Peake. I must get around to booking tickets to see her at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester next year. Yeeees at the actress from Three Girls being in that video. It was such a fantastic drama, hard to watch, but brilliant. Edited at 2017-12-12 11:50 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link I'm excited to see what else he releases. I was so hesitant when I heard it was spoken word but I ended up really loving it. The music was brilliant. Reply Parent Thread Link die Reply Thread Link can he go away Reply Thread Link I hate Morrissey so fucking much, Robert Smith should break being vegan by eating Morrissey. Reply Thread Link Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha AS YOU WERE LG x Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) November 10, 2017 Reply Parent Thread Link lmfaooooooooooo Reply Parent Thread Link Lmfao I support this. Reply Parent Thread Link "vowed to never speak to the press again" Just never speak again, period. Reply Thread Link mte Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh, I'm so upset that this asshole is tarnishing The Smiths for me, I used to be such a huge fan. I still like them, but it's hard to reconcile that with how awful Morrissey is now. :( Reply Thread Link Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ Reply Thread Link I can't believe the amount of superior shit Morrissey talks when he still hasn't even gone full vegan. Like it's one thing to keep it to yourself, but if you're going to be a hardcore activist and use that to shield your racism, you'd at least give up cheese. Reply Thread Link Hardcore vegetarians baffle me. It's like being a militant agnostic. Reply Parent Thread Link Water isn't wet. Wetness is a description of our experience of water; what happens to us when we come into contact with water in such a way that it impinges on our state of being. We, or our possessions, 'get wet'. Reply Thread Link All that needs to be said right there. Reply Parent Thread Link I can almost feel the seismic shift from a bunch of actor-dudes falling on the ground in a floor-fit about it, honestly. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Well yeah I could see that. Cause a lot of woman today always say how strong, independent and free willed they are but still constantly need to be praised and propped up by the masses - ESPECIALLY woman in Hollywood. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I know it's a gimmick, but I am always here for more women. Curious to see who they choose. Reply Thread Link emma stone and viola davis should be expected to present the actor/supporting actor since they won it this year, i reckon Edited at 2017-12-13 09:25 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link White women. Reply Parent Thread Link kristen bell is the worst part of the good place there i said it Reply Thread Link are you going to say tahani and chidi are the best things from the show? Reply Parent Thread Link Ummmm Chidi is delightful. What are you on? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link tahani and janet* Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Manny Jacinto is the best thing lol and D'Arcy too. Edited at 2017-12-13 10:42 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Fuck Kristen Bell though. Reply Thread Link wait what happened? is she racist or smtg? Reply Parent Thread Link she and dax bought an apartment and rented it out for more than the people in that area earn, contributing to gentrification of that la area Reply Parent Thread Expand Link she's kinda insufferable in all of those videos. edit: shit. idk how to embed, here's the link: Edited at 2017-12-14 03:30 am (UTC) 6:50she's kinda insufferable in all of those videos.edit: shit. idk how to embed, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yj0YdutFCQ0 Reply Parent Thread Link Ban men from the award show as a whole. Really though, just get rid of the actor categories, they're always the most boring. knowing our membership, Im sure our men will embrace the opportunity to honor women. You sure about that, sis? Reply Thread Link lol no they'll whine about it Reply Thread Link Too bad I hate her! Reply Thread Link i love how all the comments here became about hating kristen bell, lmao, even though the story's not even about her Reply Thread Link i mean i had to start it off with that, but the story's really about the presenters Reply Parent Thread Link mte. Never miss an opportunity for misogyny. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I like Gossip Girl. Shell be good imo Reply Thread Link holy shit, i will only accept her as host if she does it as gossip girl Reply Parent Thread Link It's not a lot but it's a nice gesture, especially for the SAGs since they're split 50/50 between men and women. This would never work at the Oscars though, since it would just be women presenting the overwhelming majority of awards to men. Reply Thread Link Hadn't thought about that angle. Has anyone seen Molly's Game? Is it any good? Reply Parent Thread Link lol i love being pandered to yES Reply Thread Link This seems hollow, since they are supporting Gary Oldman. And they have supported past abusers with nominations. Reply Thread Link Hopefully this will show Hollywood that men really were a mistake. Reply Thread Link Uncontacted indigenous tribe in the brazilian state of Acre. Credit: Gleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre / Wikipedia Environmental scientists from The Open University (OU) have discovered that trees growing in the Amazon floodplains surrounding the Amazon River emit as much methane (CH 4 ) into the atmosphere as all of the world's oceans. These trees growing in seasonal wetland areas of the Amazon contribute between 15.1 and 21.2 million tonnes of CH 4 to the atmosphere every year, comparable to 18 million tonnes from the oceans, or 16 27 million tonnes from Arctic tundra wetlands. Conducted in collaboration with academics from the University Federal of Rio de Janeiro, the Universities of Leeds, Linkoping, British Columbia, and other partners, the research measured the gas emissions from the trunks of over 2,300 Amazonian floodplain trees. It found that the trees, which act as chimneys, funnelling the methane produced in the soil, are the source of the largest diffusive emissions ever recorded in wetlands. Co-author of the paper and a lead investigator of the research is Professor of Global Change Ecology, Vincent Gauci; he said: "Methane is around 34 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere so it is really important to understand where this gas comes from in both natural ecosystems and from human activity. "Great swathes of the Amazon become flooded forest for a large part of the year, which are ideal conditions for the production of methane. However, methane emissions measured from the water surface over the last few decades didn't add up to what satellites and models were suggesting was the real amount of methane coming out of the Amazon. We have discovered that large emissions from trees, sometimes flooded by up to 10 meters, fill this gap." Whilst the process is natural, these emissions could respond to environmental change, such as the programme of dam building across the Amazon basin. However, co-author and Research Fellow at Lancaster University, Sunitha Pangala, who carried out the research whilst a post-doctoral researcher at the OU, warns that the Amazon floodplains are not the source of greenhouse gases we should be concerned about: "We are not, in any way, saying that trees are bad for the environment this is how natural forests function. We now have a fuller picture of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions and this could help to inform how environmental change can have a knock on effect on the tropical wetland methane source. "Emissions from these Amazon trees are still only half as much as those created by humans in the form of landfill and waste, so we should be targeting reductions in human emissions," continued Pangala. "This also includes the dairy and meat industries, and fossil fuel emissions, such as from fracking." The research, "Large emissions from floodplain trees close the Amazon methane budget," is published yesterday in the journal Nature. More information: Sunitha R. Pangala et al. Large emissions from floodplain trees close the Amazon methane budget, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature24639 Journal information: Nature Astronomers at ANU have created the most comprehensive map of the southern sky that can be viewed online by anyone around the world. The map includes about 70,000 individual images, capturing nearly 300 million stars and galaxies. Lead researcher Dr Christian Wolf from ANU said the map was created using SkyMapper, a 1.3-metre telescope at the ANU Siding Spring Observatory that is creating a full record of the southern sky for astronomers internationally. "The map of the southern sky we've released to the world today is the best ever created, but this is only the beginning of a five-year program to capture it in all its splendour," said Dr Wolf from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. "The final map will show stars and galaxies that are up to 50 times fainter than the limits of this map." SkyMapper's camera has nearly 270 megapixels and the faintest objects visible in the final map will be over one million times fainter than those visible to the naked human eye on a dark night. The map of the southern sky is available through an online portal at skymapper.anu.edu.au/sky-viewer/ . The search bar can help viewers find well known objects in the southern sky with astronomical coordinates or common names, such as Eta Carinae or NGC 253 (also known as the Sculptor Galaxy). In 2014, ANU astronomers used early data taken with SkyMapper to discover the oldest known star in the Universe that formed shortly after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Co-researcher Dr Christopher Onken said the SkyMapper provided a treasure map for astronomers to find many new interesting objects in the southern sky because of the range of colour bands available in images. "SkyMapper's special filters probe light across a range of colours beyond what the human eye can see, reaching into the near-ultraviolet and the near-infrared," said Dr Onken from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. "This abundant colour information is crucially important to search for astronomical 'needles in the haystack' among the vast number of stars in this map." ANU developed the map with support from the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Centre (CDS) in France, the Australian Research Council, Australian Astronomy Limited and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) at ANU. The bright areas of Occator Crater -- Cerealia Facula in the center and Vinalia Faculae to the side -- are examples of bright material found on crater floors on Ceres. This is a simulated perspective view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI If you could fly aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the surface of dwarf planet Ceres would generally look quite dark, but with notable exceptions. These exceptions are the hundreds of bright areas that stand out in images Dawn has returned. Now, scientists have a better sense of how these reflective areas formed and changed over timeprocesses indicative of an active, evolving world. "The mysterious bright spots on Ceres, which have captivated both the Dawn science team and the public, reveal evidence of Ceres' past subsurface ocean, and indicate that, far from being a dead world, Ceres is surprisingly active. Geological processes created these bright areas and may still be changing the face of Ceres today," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Raymond and colleagues presented the latest results about the bright areas at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Different Kinds of Bright Areas Since Dawn arrived in orbit at Ceres in March 2015, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas on Ceres. A new study in the journal Icarus, led by Nathan Stein, a doctoral researcher at Caltech in Pasadena, California, divides Ceres' features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the center of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the center is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright material in Occator Crater is made of salt-rich material, which was likely once mixed in water. Although Cerealia Facula is the brightest area on all of Ceres, it would resemble dirty snow to the human eye. Oxo Crater is an example of bright material found on the rims of a crater on Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies likely exposed bright material that was already in the subsurface or had formed in a previous impact event. Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed. The mountain Ahuna Mons gets its own fourth categorythe one instance on Ceres where bright material is unaffiliated with any impact crater. This likely cryovolcano, a volcano formed bythe gradual accumulation of thick, slowly flowing icy materials, has prominent bright streaks on its flanks. Over hundreds of millions of years, bright material has mixed with the dark material that forms the bulk of Ceres' surface, as well as debris ejected during impacts. That means billions of years ago, when Ceres experienced more impacts, the dwarf planet's surface likely would have been peppered with thousands of bright areas. Ahuna Mons, Ceres' unique tall mountain, hosts the only example of bright material on Ceres that is not associated with an impact. This is a simulated perspective view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Full image and caption "Previous research has shown that the bright material is made of salts, and we think subsurface fluid activity transported it to the surface to form some of the bright spots," Stein said. The Case of Occator Why do the different bright areas of Occator seem so distinct from one another? Lynnae Quick, a planetary geologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, has been delving into this question. The leading explanation for what happened at Occator is that it could have had, at least in the recent past, a reservoir of salty water beneath it. Vinalia Faculae, the diffuse bright regions to the northeast of the crater's central dome, could have formed from a fluid driven to the surface by a small amount of gas, similar to champagne surging out of its bottle when the cork is removed. Ahuna Mons, Ceres' unique tall mountain, hosts the only example of bright material on Ceres that is not associated with an impact. This is a simulated perspective view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA In the case of the Vinalia Faculae, the dissolved gas could have been a volatile substance such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane or ammonia. Volatile-rich salty water could have been brought close to Ceres' surface through fractures that connected to the briny reservoir beneath Occator. The lower pressure at Ceres' surface would have caused the fluid to boil off as a vapor. Where fractures reached the surface, this vapor could escape energetically, carrying with it ice and salt particles and depositing them on the surface. Cerealia Facula must have formed in a somewhat different process, given that it is more elevated and brighter than Vinalia Faculae. The material at Cerealia may have been more like an icy lava, seeping up through the fractures and swelling into a dome. Intermittent phases of boiling, similar to what happened when Vinalia Faculae formed, may have occurred during this process, littering the surface with ice and salt particles that formed the Cerealia bright spot. This map from NASA's Dawn mission shows locations of bright material on dwarf planet Ceres. There are more than 300 bright areas, called "faculae," on Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI/Caltech Quick's analyses do not depend on the initial impact that formed Occator. However, the current thinking among Dawn scientists is that when a large body slammed into Ceres, excavating the 57-mile-wide (92-kilometer-wide) crater, the impact may have also created fractures through which liquid later emerged. "We also see fractures on other solar system bodies, such as Jupiter's icy moon Europa," Quick said. "The fractures on Europa are more widespread than the fractures we see at Occator. However, processes related to liquid reservoirs that might exist beneath Europa's cracks today could be used as a comparison for what may have happened at Occator in the past." As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists will continue learning about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did say that Pakistan was "an important and valued partner of the United States." But their relationship, he said, had "drifted." Rex Tillerson, US President Donald Trump's Secretary of State, says he doesn't like dealing with Pakistan (Photo: AP) By India Today Web Desk: "Dealing with Pakistan? I don't enjoy that." A top US diplomat - the Secretary of State, no less - said those exact words in Washington today. Rex Tillerson's comment came in response to a State Department employee's question: "Is it fair to ask and say do you enjoy your job as Secretary of State?" advertisement Tillerson did say that Pakistan was "an important and valued partner of the United States." "Over the last decade, the relationship has drifted, and we've got to bring this relationship back to one of common interest," Tillerson said. Today that's just not the case, he added. "So we're engaged in very frank discussions with Pakistan over the concerns we have about their own stability and their future, and the threat they're under by allowing terrorist organisations to operate in their territory," Tillerson said. The top US diplomat said the two countries should find ways as to how they could work together to bring stability and peace to the whole region. "We've got a great team working in that region as well. A lot of work left to do," Tillerson said. ALSO WATCH | Pakistan never intended to interfere in India's internal politics: Abdul Basit on PM Modi's remark --- ENDS --- Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University, cuts an ice core retrieved from the Guliya Ice Cap in the Kunlun Mountains in Tibet in 2015. Credit: Giuliano Bertagna, the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. The oldest ice core ever drilled outside the polar regions may contain ice that formed during the Stone Agemore than 600,000 years ago, long before modern humans appeared. Researchers from the United States and China are now studying the corenearly as long as the Empire State Building is tallto assemble one of the longest-ever records of Earth's climate history. What they've found so far provides dramatic evidence of a recent and rapid temperature rise at some of the highest, coldest mountain peaks in the world. At the American Geophysical Union meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14, they report that there has been a persistent increase in both temperature and precipitation in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains over the last few centuries. The change is most noticeable on the Guliya Ice Cap, where they drilled the latest ice core. In this region, the average temperature has risen 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last 50 years and the average precipitation has risen by 2.1 inches per year over the past 25 years. Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and co-leader of the international research team, said that the new data lend support to computer models of projected climate changes. A joint research team from the United States and China ventured to the Guliya Ice Cap in Tibet in 2015. They drew a core from the ice that was more than 1,000 feet long, the bottom of which dates back to more than half a million years ago. Credit: Giuliano Bertagna, the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. "The ice cores actually demonstrate that warming is happening, and is already having detrimental effects on Earth's freshwater ice stores," Thompson said. Earth's largest supply of freshwater ice outside of the Arctic and Antarctica resides in Tibeta place that was off limits to American glaciologists until 20 years ago, when Ohio State's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) began a collaboration with China's Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research. There, glaciologist Yao Tandong secured funding for a series of joint expeditions from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "The water issues created by melting ice on the Third Pole, along with that from the Arctic and Antarctica, have been recognized as important contributors to the rise in global sea level. Continued warming in these regions will result in even more ice melt with the likelihood of catastrophic environmental consequences," Yao noted. The name "Third Pole" refers to high mountain glaciers located on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalaya, in the Andes in South America, on Kilimanjaro in Africa, and in Papua, Indonesiaall of which have been studied by the Ohio State research team. Of particular interest to the researchers is a projection from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that future temperatures on the planet will rise faster at high altitudes than they will at sea level. The warming at sea level is expected to reach 3 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, and possibly double that, or 6 degrees Celsius, at the highest mountain peaks in the low latitudes. In 2015, a joint research team from the United States and China ventured to the Guliya Ice Cap in Tibet, and captured the oldest ice core ever drilled outside of the North and South Poles. The core contains more than half a million years of Earth's climate history. Credit: Giuliano Bertagna, the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. "The stable isotopic records that we've obtained from five ice cores drilled across the Third Pole document climate changes over the last 1,000 years, and contribute to a growing body of evidence that environmental conditions on the Third Pole, along with the rest of the world, have changed significantly in the last century," Thompson said. "Generally, the higher the elevation, the greater the rate of warming that's taking place." Around the world, hundreds of millions of people depend on high-altitude glaciers for their water supply. The Guliya Ice Cap is one of many Tibetan Plateau ice caches that provide fresh water to Central, South, and Southeast Asia. "There are over 46,000 mountain glaciers in that part of the world, and they are the water source for major rivers," Thompson said. In September and October of 2015, the team ventured to Guliya and drilled through the ice cap until they hit bedrock. They recovered five ice cores, one of which is more than 1,000 feet long. The cores are composed of compressed layers of snow and ice that settled on the western Kunlun Mountains year after year. In each layer, the ice captured chemicals from the air and precipitation during wet and dry seasons. Today, researchers analyze the chemistry of the different layers to measure historical changes in climate. Based on dating of radioactive elements measured by scientists at the Swiss research center ETH Zurich, the ice at the base of the core may be at least 600,000 years old. The oldest ice core drilled in the Northern Hemisphere was found in Greenland in 2004 by the North Greenland Ice Core Project and was dated to roughly 120,000 years, while the oldest continuous ice core record recovered on Earth to date is from Antarctica, and extends back 800,000. Over the next few months, the American and Chinese research teams will analyze the chemistry of the core in detail. They will look for evidence of temperature changes caused by ocean circulation patterns in both the North Atlantic and tropical Pacific Oceans, which drive precipitation in Tibet as well as the Indian monsoons. For instance, one important driver of global temperatures, El Nino, leaves its chemical mark in the snow that falls on tropical glaciers. Ultimately, researchers hope the work will reveal the linkages that exist between ice loss in tropical mountain glaciers and climate processes elsewhere on the planet. Thompson, Yao, and German ecologist Volker Mosbrugger are co-chairing a Third Pole Environment Program to focus on basic science and policy-relevant issues. "The more we study the different components of the environment of the Third Pole, the better we understand climate change and its linkages among Earth's three polar regions," Yao said. As in the ISOLDE facility, the targets at MEDICIS have to be handled by robots because they are radioactive. Credit: Maximilien Brice/CERN Today, the new CERN-MEDICIS facility has produced radioisotopes for medical research for the first time. MEDICIS (Medical Isotopes Collected from ISOLDE) aims to provide a wide range of radioisotopes, some of which can be produced only at CERN thanks to the unique ISOLDE facility. These radioisotopes are destined primarily for hospitals and research centres in Switzerland and across Europe. Great strides have been made recently in the use of radioisotopes for diagnosis and treatment, and MEDICIS will enable researchers to devise and test unconventional radioisotopes with a view to developing new approaches to fight cancer. "Radioisotopes are used in precision medicine to diagnose cancers, as well as other diseases such as heart irregularities, and to deliver very small radiation doses exactly where they are needed to avoid destroying the surrounding healthy tissue," said Thierry Stora, MEDICIS project coordinator. "With the start of MEDICIS, we can now produce unconventional isotopes and help to expand the range of applications." A chemical element can exist in several variants or isotopes, depending on how many neutrons its nucleus has. Some isotopes are naturally radioactive and are known as radioisotopes. They can be found almost everywhere, for example in rocks or even in drinking water. Other radioisotopes are not naturally available, but can be produced using particle accelerators. MEDICIS uses a proton beam from ISOLDE the Isotope Mass Separator Online facility at CERN to produce radioisotopes for medical research. The first batch produced was Terbium 155Tb, which is considered a promising radioisotope for diagnosing prostate cancer, as early results have recently shown. Innovative ideas and technologies from physics have contributed to great advances in the field of medicine over the last 100 years, since the advent of radiation-based medical diagnosis and treatment and following the discovery of X-rays and radioactivity. Radioisotopes are thus already widely used by the medical community for imaging, diagnosis and radiation therapy. However, many isotopes currently used do not combine the most appropriate physical and chemical properties and, in some cases, a different type of radiation could be better suited. MEDICIS can help to look for radioisotopes with the right properties to enhance precision for both imaging and treatment. The robot arm at MEDICIS. Credit: Noemi Caraban/CERN "CERN-MEDICIS demonstrates again how CERN technologies can benefit society beyond their use for our fundamental research. With its unique facilities and expertise, CERN is committed to maximising the impact of CERN technologies in our everyday lives," said CERN's Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frederick Bordry. At ISOLDE, the high-intensity proton beam from CERN's Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) is directed onto specially developed thick targets, yielding a large variety of atomic fragments. Different devices are used to ionise, extract and separate nuclei according to their mass, forming a low-energy beam that is delivered to various experimental stations. MEDICIS works by placing a second target behind ISOLDE's. Once the isotopes have been produced at the MEDICIS target, an automated conveyor belt carries them to the MEDICIS facility, where the radioisotopes of interest are extracted through mass separation and implanted in a metallic foil. They are then delivered to research facilities including the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), the University Hospital of Vaud (CHUV) and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). Once at the facility, researchers dissolve the isotope and attach it to a molecule, such as a protein or sugar, chosen to target the tumour precisely. This makes the isotope injectable, and the molecule can then adhere to the tumour or organ that needs imaging or treating. ISOLDE has been running for 50 years, and 1300 isotopes from 73 chemicals have been produced at CERN for research in many areas, including fundamental nuclear research, astrophysics and life sciences. Although ISOLDE already produces isotopes for medical research, the new MEDICIS facility will allow it to provide radioisotopes meeting the requirements of the medical research community as a matter of course. CERN-MEDICIS is an effort led by CERN with contributions from its dedicated Knowledge Transfer Fund, private foundations and partner institutes. It also benefits from a European Commission Marie Skodowska-Curie training grant, which has been helping to shape a pan-European medical and scientific collaboration since 2014. Provided by CERN Credit: American Chemical Society Many people don't worry about the security of their personal information until it's too late. And protecting data is even more important for military personnel, whose lives could be in danger if some types of information were to get into the wrong hands. Now, one group reports in ACS Nano a new way to protect data, especially when it is subjected to extreme environmental conditions. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the financial loss from cybercrime in the U.S. was over $1.3 billion in 2016. As this number is only expected to rise in the upcoming years, the military, businesses and individuals are seeking new ways to guard their information. Traditional methods involve installing software, but that can require frequent updates and large amounts of power. As a result, experts have proposed alternative security methods based on hardware. Physical unclonable function (PUF) devices hold promise. Random physical variations occur as this type of hardware is fabricated, which creates a unique structure that is impossible to copy or clone. But current PUFs are sensitive to harsh environments, making them a bad choice for military or outside use. So Yang-Kyu Choi and colleagues wanted to make new PUF hardware that would overcome this challenge. The researchers designed a PUF based on nano-electro mechanical switches (NEMs), which are often used in circuits and are known for their low power consumption. A nanowire in the contraption floats between two gates. As the liquid used in the fabrication process naturally evaporates, the wire bends and adheres to one of the gates. Depending on which gate the nanowire is touching, a 0 or a 1 is generated. An array of several gates and nanowires can create an unpredictable, unique code. The NEM-PUF withstood exposure to high temperatures, microwaves and high-dose radiation. In the case of a data breach, it can self-destruct, providing an additional layer of security. More information: Kyu-Man Hwang et al. Nano-electromechanical Switch Based on a Physical Unclonable Function for Highly Robust and Stable Performance in Harsh Environments, ACS Nano (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b06658 Journal information: ACS Nano Telstra and the City of Joondalup have joined forces in a trial of smart park applications at Tom Simpson Park. You're on the train on your daily commute, head bowed, peering at your phone. A cavalcade of news stories, friends' holiday snaps and random promoted images of trending slippers pops up on your social media feed, which you idly push along in search of something fresh. You look up. Most of the people around you are doing something similar. Connecting intensely with their smartphones, and not with anyone near them. It's a scene repeated across Australian cities every weekday morning. More and more of our daily lives how we work, how we navigate, how we learn and how we entertain ourselves take place through the interface of glowing rectangular screens. There is concern about what smartphones are doing to our attention spans, our capacity for random human interactions and our self-esteem. But what does the age of the smartphone mean for our cities, and for how we design our public spaces? It's a question that has intrigued tech futurists for decades. Australian-born architect Bill Mitchell trained a generation of digital urbanists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to imagine and plan for the coming "city of bits". In his 1995 book City of Bits, he likened the impact of the infobahn to that of Haussmann's 19th-century Parisian boulevards, in their capacity to radically reshape the city. Unlike Haussmann's network of avenues, parks and water infrastructure, the "invisible city" of the 21st century would, Mitchell argued, be shaped more by the logic of networked data. Places would be "constructed virtually by software instead of physically from stones and timbers". Mitchell wasn't the only one who believed our digital future would dramatically reshape our cities. Media futurist Marshall McLuhan speculated in 1964 that the coming "global village" would mean that "the city as a form of major dimensions must inevitably dissolve like the fading shot in a movie". Our need for groups of people to be near to each other, he believed, would become redundant as more and more of our connections would occur virtually. Of course, the future didn't quite turn out that way. Vibrant, productive physical places still matter. Architects and designers are still building places of "stones and timbers". Marshall McLuhan The World is a Global Village. Credit: CBC TV Smartphone-equipped citizens need not be tethered to their desks to surf the infobahn. The Internet of Things (IoT) entails more and more urban services and infrastructure being connected via tiny distributed sensors. The virtual space of the internet has become increasingly interconnected with our urban fabric. Experimenting with the city of data The city of bits has become the city of data. The millions of daily interactions and transactions in cities volumes of energy used; movements of people, traffic, water and waste; social media interactions; emails; financial and retail transactions; and multi-modal transport flows are generating huge volumes of "data exhaust". These data are increasingly being put to work in an attempt to better manage the pressures and challenges our cities face. Many hope this age of big data will lead to smarter, more responsive cities. Australian cities have begun trialling smart technologies parking apps, smart lighting trials, public Wi-Fi to improve basic city services. The Australian government's A$50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program will help scale up these investments to allow for more ambitious trials. Many smart-city technologies are designed to help local governments better monitor services such as waste collection and roads maintenance. For example, the Western Australian city of Joondalup is partnering with Telstra to test IoT technologies to better monitor environmental factors like temperature, humidity, pollution, light and noise levels in real time. The recently released Smarter Planning Perth (SPP) map allows government agencies and utilities involved in infrastructure works to better collaborate, share costs and co-ordinate timetables. This is a platform designed to minimise works congestion and cut project time frames, so the city's road networks run more efficiently. But what kinds of places will these smart technologies and services actually create? With a focus on data analytics, efficiency and automation, there is no guarantee that the latest data-driven technologies will necessarily help our public places thrive. As the digital urbanist Rick Robinson wrote in a 2016 article, commercial agendas for smart cities are: Digital lighting technology allows residents of a building slated for demolition to express how they feel. Credit: Jessica Hromas "just as likely to reduce our life expectancy and social engagement by making it easier to order high-fat, high-sugar takeaway food on our smartphones to be delivered to our couches by drones whilst we immerse ourselves in multiplayer virtual reality games." Places of 'stone and timber' still matter Data-driven technologies may make cities work more efficiently, but that may not always be the only thing we want out of places. One of the great lessons of the past two decades is that, despite our growing dependence on digital platforms of communication, spaces that enable us to connect and mingle in real life still matter. Our enduring connection to places of "stones and timber" surely reflects our all-too-human desire not only for seamless interfaces and swipeable apps, but also for places of disturbance, delight, random noises and chance encounters. As the US urbanist Jane Jacobs observed many decades ago, good places are nourished by diversity and difference, not uniformity and efficiency. We need, therefore, to ensure the new-found insights generated by all of our cities' data works in the service of good places. How can this be done? For a start, putting data to use may lead to a very analogue solution. For example, more fine-grained urban data that alerts us to temperature anomalies in different places should be used not only to monitor, but also to cool. This means more trees, not just more sensors. Many cities have begun to design smart bus stops equipped with heat-responsive water misters and blinds, so these become places of respite and shelter for weary travellers. This approach uses digital technologies to artificially "switch on" natural services like water-cooling and shade in places that have, as a result of the use of materials like bitumen and concrete, become urban heat islands, exposing some of our most vulnerable to extremely hot conditions. Digital technologies can also help us navigate and experience places through the events and characters that have shaped their unique identities. Digital overlays, soundscapes and augmented media can provide us with interactive experiences of the the built environments of today and their past "lives". Feeling blue: Waterloo towers resident Fiona in her apartment. Credit: Nic Walker, Author provided These uses of technology allow for different, perhaps more intimate, interactions between people and places. Crucially, augmented experiences of the history of a place can help us recover what has been lost through decades of urban transformation. Digital technologies can also be used to disrupt official narratives of place. At Sydney's Waterloo public housing tower, slated for demolition in a new phase of urban renewal, community artists worked with public housing tenants to create a large-scale digital artwork that expresses the residents' emotional connections to their homes. Embedded digital technologies were used to subvert the usual mechanistic processes of community consultation managed by development agencies. The spectacular piece of digital art worked to highlight that residents should not be forgotten in the renewal process. Clearly, the possibilities of digital technologies can be used to confound and enlarge our experiences of and connections to place. As McLuhan and Mitchell would no doubt have realised by now, with the rise of digital technologies public spaces have become more, not less, important to the experience of cities. As we design the digital interfaces and data-driven services to support our places and spaces, the evolving possibilities of place and digital publics will no doubt continue to surprise. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Pseudooides. Credit: University of Bristol Everyone wants to be with their family for Christmas, but spare a thought for a group of orphan fossils that have been separated from their parents since the dawn of animal evolution, over half a billion years ago. For decades, paleontologists have puzzled over the microscopic fossils of Pseudooides, which are smaller than sand grains. The resemblance of the fossils to animal embryos inspired their name, which means 'false egg'. The fossils preserve stages of embryonic development frozen in time by miraculous processes of fossilisation, which turned their squishy cells into stone. Pseudooides fossils have a segmented middle like the embryos of segmented animals, such as insects, inspiring grand theories on how complex segmented animals may have evolved. A team of paleontologists from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences and Peking University have now peered inside the Pseudooides embryos using X-rays and found features that link them to the adult stages of another fossil group. It turns out that these adult stages were right under the scientists' noses all along: they have been found long ago in the same rocks as Pseudooides. Surprisingly, these long-lost family members are not complex segmented animals at all, but ancestors of modern jellyfish. Dr Kelly Vargas from the University of Bristol said: "It seems that, in trying to classify these fossils, we've previously been barking up the wrong branch of the animals family tree." Professor Philip Donoghue, also from the University of Bristol, co-led the research with Professor Xiping Dong of Peking University. Professor Donoghue added "We couldn't have reunited these ancient family members without the amazing technology which allowed us to see inside the fossilized bodies of the embryos and adults." The team used the Swiss Light Source, a gigantic particle accelerator near Zurich, Switzerland, to supply the X-rays used to image the inside of the fossils. This showed that the details of segmentation in the Pseudooides embryos to be nothing more than the folded edge of an opening, which developed into the rim of the cone-shaped skeleton that once housed the anemone-like stage in the life cycle of the ancient jellyfish. Luis Porras, who helped make the discovery while still a student at the University of Bristol, said: "Pseudooides fossils may not tell us about how complex animals evolved, but they provide insights into the how embryology of animals itself has evolved. "The embryos of living jellyfish usually develop into bizarre alien-like larvae which metamorphose into anemone-like adults before the final jellyfish (or 'medusa') phase. "Pseudooides did things differently and more efficiently, developing directly from embryo to adult. Perhaps living jellyfish are a poor guide to ancestral animals." Professor Donoghue added: "It is amazing that these organisms were fossilised at all. "Jellyfish are made up of little more than goo and yet they've been turned to stone before they had any chance to rot: a mechanism which some scientists refer to as the 'Medusa effect', named after the gorgon of Greek mythology who turned into stone anyone that laid eyes upon her." The Bristol team are still looking for fossil remains of the rest of Pseudooides life cycle, including the 'medusa' jellyfish stage itself. However, jellyfish fossils are few and far between, perhaps ironically because the 'Medusa effect' doesn't seem to work on them. In the interim, the embryos of Pseudooides have been reunited with their adult counterparts, just in time for Christmas. More information: The early Cambrian fossil embryo Pseudooides is a direct developing cnidarian, not an early ecdysozoan, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rspb.2017.2188 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Saturn's 'Great Springtime Storm' in visible light. Credit: University of Leicester Immense northern storms on Saturn can disturb atmospheric patterns at the planet's equator, finds the international Cassini mission in a study led by Dr Leigh Fletcher from the University of Leicester. This effect is also seen in Earth's atmosphere, suggesting the two planets are more alike than previously thought. Despite their considerable differences, the atmospheres of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn all display a remarkably similar phenomenon in their equatorial regions: vertical, cyclical, downwards-moving patterns of alternating temperatures and wind systems that repeat over a period of multiple years. These patternsknown as the Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) on Saturn and the Quasi-Quadrennial Oscillation (QQO) on Jupiter, due to their similarities to Earth's so-called Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO)appear to be a defining characteristic of the middle layers of a planetary atmosphere. Earth's QBO is regular and predictable, repeating every 28 months on average. However, it can be disrupted by events occurring at great distances from the equator of our planetand a new study reveals that the same is true of Saturn's QPO. "These oscillations can be thought of as a planet's heartbeat," says Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester, UK, lead author of the study (published in Nature Astronomy) and co-investigator of Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). "Cassini spotted them on Saturn about a decade ago, and Earth-based observations have seen them on Jupiter, too. Although the atmospheres of the distant gas giants may appear startlingly different to our own, when we look closely we start to discover these familiar natural patterns." Cassini observed Saturn from June 2004 until 15 September 2017 when the mission concluded by plunging into the gas planet's atmosphere. To better understand Saturn's QPO, Fletcher and colleagues studied data from Cassini's CIRS covering this entire time period. Credit: University of Leicester "We looked at data of Saturn's 'heartbeat', which repeats roughly every 15 Earth years, and found a huge disturbancea palpitation, to continue the metaphorspanning 2011 to 2013, where the whole equatorial region cooled dramatically," adds co-author Sandrine Guerlet from Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD), France. "When we checked the timing, we realised this happened directly after the eruption of a giant storm that wrapped around Saturn's entire northern hemisphere. This suggests a link between the two events: we think that the wave activity associated with this huge storm headed towards the equator and disrupted the QPO, despite the storm raging tens of thousands of kilometres away!" This storm was known as the Great Northern Storm. Such storms occur roughly once every Saturnian year, which is equivalent to 30 Earth years. The timing of the storm was thus serendipitous, allowing Cassini to observe it in detail from orbit around the ringed planet. Although the influence of Saturnian storms was known to be substantial, this study suggests an even wider influence than expected, and confirms a connection between Saturn's QPO and remote, distinct events occurring elsewhere in the planet's atmosphere. "We became especially excited when we compared this palpitation on Saturn to one observed in Earth's QBO in 2016: it was disturbed in a similar way by waves carrying momentum from Earth's northern hemisphere to the equator," adds Fletcher. "That disruption was unprecedented in over 60 years of monitoring the QBOand yet we were lucky enough to capture a similar behaviour at work on Saturn with Cassini." On Earth, this relationship between distant events in a planet's climate system is known as teleconnection. Meteorological patterns across the globe are known to be delicately linked together, and can affect one another quite significantly. A key example of this is the El Nino Southern Oscillation, which can influence temperatures and climate patterns across the Earth. "It's remarkable to see this process occurring on another planet within our Solar Systemespecially one that's so vastly different to our own," says Nicolas Altobelli, ESA Project Scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission. "Cassini-Huygens may now have ended its mission, but there's still a wealth of data to explore, and a huge amount of valuable information to be gathered from the spacecraft's observations. As well as telling us more about Saturn, gas giant planets, and the Solar System in general, this study helps us better understand the Earth. This is one key driver of our research into other planets: to discover more about our own." More information: Leigh N. Fletcher et al, Disruption of Saturn's quasi-periodic equatorial oscillation by the great northern storm, Nature Astronomy (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0271-5 Journal information: Nature Astronomy The green spots are stained bacteria, which have mainly colonized depressions on the grain. Credit: MPIMM/CC-SA BY 4.0 Just imagine, you are sitting on a sunny beach, contentedly letting the warm sand trickle through your fingers. Millions of sand grains. What you probably can't imagine: at the same time, billions upon billions of bacteria are also trickling through your fingers. Between 10,000 and 100,000 microorganisms live on each single grain of sand, as revealed in a study by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. This means that an individual grain of sand can have twice as many residents as, say, the city of Fairbanks, Alaska! It has long been known that sand is a densely populated and active habitat. Now David Probandt and his colleagues have described the microbial community on a single grain of sand using modern molecular methods. To do this, they used samples taken from the southern North Sea, near the island of Helgoland, off the German coast. The bacteria do not colonize the sand grains uniformly. While exposed areas are practically uncolonized, the bacteria bustle in cracks and depressions. "They are well protected there", explains Probandt. "When water flows around the grains of sand and they are swirled around, rubbing against each other, the bacteria are safe within these depressions." These sites may also act as hiding grounds from predators, who comb the surface of the sand grains in search of food. Impressive diversity However, the diversity of the bacteria, and not just their numbers, is impressive. "We found thousands of different species of bacteria on each individual grain of sand", says Probandt. Some bacteria species and groups can be found on all investigated sand grains, others only here and there. "More than half of the inhabitants on all grains are the same. We assume that this core community on all sand grains displays a similar function", explains Probandt. "In principle, each grain has the same fundamental population and infrastructure." We can therefore really discover a great deal about the bacterial diversity of sand in general from investigating a single grain of sand. Sandy coasts are enormous filters Sand-dwelling bacteria play an important role in the marine ecosystem and global material cycles. Because these bacteria process, for example, carbon and nitrogen compounds from seawater and fluvial inflows, the sand acts as an enormous purifying filter. Much of what is flushed into the seabed by seawater doesn't come back out. "Every grain of sand functions like a small bacterial pantry", explains Probandt. They deliver the necessary supplies to keep the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles running. "Whatever the conditions may be that the bacterial community on a grain of sand is exposed to - thanks to the great diversity of the core community there is always someone to process the substances from the surrounding water." More information: David Probandt et al. Microbial life on a sand grain: from bulk sediment to single grains, The ISME Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2017.197 Journal information: ISME Journal Illinois atmospheric sciences researchers Zach Zobel, left, and professor Donald Wuebbles led a team that developed new, high-resolution models that may help direct climate policy initiatives at the local level. Credit: L. Brian Stauffer Approaching the second half of the century, the United States is likely to experience increases in the number of days with extreme heat, the frequency and duration of heat waves, and the length of the growing season. In response, it is anticipated that societal, agricultural and ecological needs will increase the demand on already-strained natural resources like water and energy. University of Illinois researchers have developed new, high-resolution climate models that may help policymakers mitigate these effects at a local level. In a paper published in the journal Earth's Future, atmospheric sciences professor Donald Wuebbles, graduate student Zach Zobel and Argonne National Laboratory scientists Jiali Wang and Rao Kotamarthi demonstrate how increased-resolution modeling can improve future climate projections. Many climate models use a spatial resolution of hundreds of kilometers. This approach is suitable for global-scale models that run for centuries into the future, but they fail to capture small-scale land and weather features that influence local atmospheric events, the researchers said. "Our new models work at a spatial resolution of 12 km, allowing us to examine localized changes in the climate system across the continental U.S.," Wuebbles said. "It is the difference between being able to resolve something as small as Champaign County versus the entire state of Illinois - it's a big improvement." The study looked at two different future greenhouse gas output projections - one "business as usual" scenario where fossil fuel consumption remains on its current trajectory and one that implies a significant reduction in consumption by the end of the century. The group generated data for two decade-long projections (2045-54 and 2085-94) and compared them with historical data (1995-2004) for context. "One of the most alarming findings in our business-as-usual projection shows that by late-century the southeastern U.S. will experience maximum summer temperatures every other day that used to occur only once every 20 days," Zobel said. Although not as severe, other regions of the country are also expected to experience significant changes in temperature. "The Midwest could see large unusual heat events, like the 1995 Chicago heat wave, which killed more than 800 people, become more common and perhaps even occur as many as five times per year by the end of the century," Wuebbles said. "Heat waves increase the mortality rate within the Midwest and the Northeast because people in these densely populated regions are not accustomed to coping with that kind of heat that frequently." The extreme temperatures and extended duration of the warmer season will likely take a significant toll on crops and the ecosystem, the researchers said. Areas like the American West, which is already grappling for limited water resources, could witness much shorter frost seasons at high elevations, leading to a smaller surge in spring meltwater than what is needed for the early growing season. "The high resolution of our models can capture regional climate variables caused by local landforms like mountains, valleys and bodies of water," Zobel said. "That will allow policymakers to tailor response actions in a very localized way." The new models concentrate on temperature and do not factor in the effect that regional precipitation patterns will have on the impact of the anticipated climate changes. The researchers plan to extend their study to account for these additional variables. "The concept of global climate change can be somewhat abstract, and people want to know how these projected changes are going to affect them, in their community," Wuebbles said. "Our models are helping answer those questions, and that is what separates our work from the larger, global-scale studies." More information: Zachary Zobel et al, High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling Ensemble Projections of Future Extreme Temperature Distributions for the United States, Earth's Future (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017EF000642 Austronesian languages with the highest EDGE scores, based on linguistic distinctiveness and degree of global endangerment. Credit: M. Farrell et al/McGill University One of the world's 7,000 languages vanishes every other week, and half - including scores of indigenous North American languagesmight not survive the 21st century, experts say. To preserve as much linguistic diversity as possible in the face of this threat, McGill University scientists are proposing to borrow a leaf from conservation biology. When setting conservation goals, ecologists use evolutionary trees - diagrams that show how biological species are related to one anotherto identify species that have few close relatives; such species are said to be evolutionarily distinct. Similarly, recent advances in the construction of language trees make it possible to gauge how unique a language is. "Large, well-sampled species trees have transformed our understanding of how life has evolved and helped shape biodiversity conservation priorities," says Jonathan Davies, Associate Professor of Biology at McGill and senior author of the new study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. "The construction of more comprehensive language trees provides an equivalent opportunity for language preservation, as well as benefiting linguists, anthropologists and historians." "The rapid rate of language loss, coupled with limited resources for preservation, means that we must choose carefully where to focus our efforts," adds Max Farrell, a PhD student in Davies' lab and co-author of the new paper. "The more isolated a language in its family tree, the more unique information it contains and ultimately contributes to linguistic diversity." Tongues on the EDGE As a case study, Farrell and co-author Nicolas Perrault, now a graduate student at the University of Oxford, used this approach borrowed from conservation biology to generate rankings for 350 Austronesian languages, spoken in islands scattered across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Data were drawn from a language tree of several hundred Austronesian languages published by University of Auckland researchers in 2009, and from Ethnologue, an online database of over 7,000 living languages. (All told, there are more than 1,200 Austronesian tongues today, making it one of the world's largest language families.) For each of the 350 languages in the new study, the researchers combined measures of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and global endangerment (GE) to produce an "EDGE" score, similar to a metric used in conservation biology. The language with the highest score was Kavalan, an exceptionally distinct yet nearly extinct language indigenous to Taiwan, where Austronesian languages are believed to have originated some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. The next-highest scores went to Tanibili, a nearly extinct language in the Solomon Islands, and the Waropen and Sengseng languages of New Guineau. A tool for preserving diversity By building trees for other language groups and applying similar metrics, language specialists could target preservation efforts and help minimize the loss of linguistic diversity in the future, the researchers say. In Canada alone, for example, there are more than 70 Aboriginal languages - most of which are considered to be endangered. "Languages are the spark of a people, the bearing of cultures, and with their extinction we lose unique insights into human history and the evolution of language, itself," says Perrault. "Their disappearance is a loss to humanity, scholarship and science." More information: "Tongues on the EDGE: language preservation priorities based on threat and lexical distinctiveness," Nicolas Perrault, Maxwell J. Farrell, and T. Jonathan Davies, Royal Society Open Science, published online Dec. 13, 2017. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171218 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Schematic of the anomalous moist enthalpy advection mechanism. Warm SSTAs in the equatorial CEP (red line) enhance local convection (green shading) and thus stimulate cyclonic anomalies to the northwest (black solid line). The northerly component of the western flank of the cyclonic anomalies advects off-equatorial dry (low moist enthalpy) air into the tropical WNP and thus suppresses convection there (orange shading). The suppressed convection further stimulates the WNPAC (black dashed line) to the northwest. Credit: (Wu et al. 2017a) Western North Pacific anomalous anticyclone (WNPAC, or referred to as Philippine Sea anomalous anticyclone) is the most important anomalous circulation pattern connecting El Nino and East Asian-western North Pacific monsoon. WNPAC begins from the El Nino late winter to the following summer, and thus is one of the most long-lasting anomalous circulation patterns over the entire tropical climate system. Researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Hawaii proposed a new mechanism to explain the maintenance of WNPAC called the anomalous moist enthalpy advection mechanism. This mechanism explains why WNPAC forms in the late fall of El Nino developing phase. Since the 2000s, it has been widely accepted that WNPAC is maintained by local air-sea interaction via wind-evaporation-Sea Surface Temperature (SST) feedback over the tropical WNP during El Nino mature winter and the following spring. However, some recent studies found that WNPAC can be simulated by the atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), driven by El Nino-related warm SST anomalies in the central-eastern Pacific plus climatological SST in other ocean areas. This indicated that WNPAC can be maintained by an atmospheric bridge from equatorial central-eastern Pacific without the help of local air-sea interactions in the WNP. The contradiction between the leading theory and the AGCM experiments suggests that a new theory is needed to be developed for the maintenance of WNPAC. "The anomalous moist enthalpy advection mechanism proposed in our study works through pure atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamic processes and does not rely on the local air-sea interactions in the WNP," says Dr. WU Bo, lead author of the study published in Journal of Climate. According to the study, idealized numerical experiments further suggested that the contribution of the new mechanism to WNPAC is larger than that of the local air-sea interactions. "Furthermore, the new mechanism can reasonably explain the formation timing of WNPAC, which cannot be explained by previous theories," says Prof. ZHOU Tianjun from IAP, a co-author of the study. More information: Bo Wu et al, Atmospheric Dynamic and Thermodynamic Processes Driving the Western North Pacific Anomalous Anticyclone during El Nino. Part I: Maintenance Mechanisms, Journal of Climate (2017). DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0489.1 Journal information: Journal of Climate iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The senior FBI agent removed from special counsel Robert Muellers team over the summer repeatedly called President Donald Trump "an idiot," and said the Republican Party "needs to pull their head out of their" rear-ends, according to text messages he sent to an FBI colleague that were reviewed Tuesday by ABC News. ABC News first reported in August that Peter Strzok, who had been tapped only weeks earlier by Mueller to help lead the probe of alleged Russian meddling in last year's presidential election, had left Mueller's team. Strzok is now working for the FBIs Human Resources Division. The Justice Departments inspector general, looking into an array of FBI actions tied to last years election, found the text messages sent between Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page, who also worked on Muellers team into the summer. Even without knowing the contents of those messages, Trump and fellow Republicans seized on the news, using it to question the integrity of Muellers probe. But now lawmakers know exactly what Strzok said in those messages, after the Justice Department sent copies of them to House and Senate committees on Tuesday night. "God trump is a loathsome human," Page texted Strzok on March 4, 2016, the day after a Republican primary debate. Strzok responded, "Yet he may win," adding later, Omg hes an idiot. In the early morning of Oct. 20, 2016, hours after the final debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, Strzok texted, "I am riled up. Trump is [an] idiot, is unable to provide a coherent answer." Numerous times over the next several months, Strzok expressed concern that "the absolute bigoted nonsense of Trump, as he called it, could incite racial tensions inside the United States. "I am worried about what Trump is encouraging in our behavior, he wrote to Page on Aug. 14, 2016. The things that made me proud about our tolerance for dissent -- what makes us different from Sunnis and Shias losing each other up -- is disappearing." And then on Nov. 21, 2016, after Trump had been elected the next president of the United States, Strzok told Page that he was worried racial tension is going to get really bad." In all, ABC News reviewed more than 375 messages exchanged between Strzok and Page from August 2015 to December 2016. Their criticisms were not only aimed at Trump; they also targeted other Republican candidates for president and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Strzok has spent much of his law enforcement career working counterintelligence cases, and he has been widely praised by federal law enforcement officials who spoke with ABC News. According to The Washington Post, Strzok and Page were involved in a romantic relationship. "Immediately upon learning of the allegations, the Special Counsel's Office removed Peter Strzok from the investigation," Mueller spokesman Peter Carr said in a recent statement. "Lisa Page completed her brief [assignment] and had returned to the FBI weeks before our office was aware of the allegations." During a House hearing last week, FBI Director Chris Wray disputed any suggestions that FBI agents bring inappropriate biases to their work. The FBI that I see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off to keep Americans safe from the next terrorist attack, gang violence, child predators, spies from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, Wray said. "The FBI that I see is tens of thousands of brave men and women who are working as hard as they can to keep people that they will never know safe from harm." He continued, "The FBI that I see is people - decent people committed to the highest principles of integrity, professionalism and respect." Wray noted that the Justice Departments "outside" and "independent" inspector general is currently looking into allegations related to Strzok and others. "And when that independent fact-finding is complete, we will hold our folks accountable if thats appropriate," he said. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack case, was hanged in February 2013. Parliament was attacked by five armed terrorists on December 13, 2001. Photo for representation: Reuters. By India Today Web Desk: Sixteen years ago, Parliament, the symbol of Indian democracy, was attacked this day by five heavily-armed terrorists who killed nine people and injured 16 others. Twelve years after the Parliament attack, Afzal Guru, one of the convicts, was hanged. On the 16th anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other parliamentarians paid tributes to martyrs. advertisement ALL THAT HAPPENED FROM 2011 PARLIAMENT ATTACK TO AFZAL GURU HANGING: December 13, 2001: Five terrorists enter Parliament complex and open indiscriminate fire, killing nine people, including security personnel, and injuring 16 others. Security personnel take positions during the firing outside Parliament on December 13, 2001. December 15, 2001: Delhi Police picks up Afzal Guru from Jammu and Kashmir. S A R Geelani of Delhi University's Zakir Hussain College picked up for questioning and later arrested. Two others--Afsan Guru and her husband Shaukat Hussain Guru--were picked up later. December 29, 2001: Afzal Guru sent to 10-day police remand. June 4, 2002: Charges framed against four people--Afzal Guru, Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afsan Guru. December 18, 2002: Death sentence given to S A R Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afzal Guru, while Afsan Guru let off. August 30, 2003: Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Ghazi Baba, prime accused in the attack, is killed in an encounter with the Border Security Force (BSF) in Srinagar. Three more militants along with him are also killed in the 10-hour encounter. October 29, 2003: Geelani acquitted in the case. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his predecessor Manmohan Singh at Parliament. Parliamentarians paid tributes to 2001 attack martyrs. Photo: ANI. August 4, 2005: The Supreme Court, while confirming the death sentence of Afzal Guru, commutes Shaukat Hussain Guru's death sentence to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. September 26, 2006: Delhi court orders Afzal to be hanged. October 3, 2006: Afzal Guru's wife Tabasum Guru files a mercy petition with then President A P J Abdul Kalam. January 12, 2007: Supreme Court dismisses Afzal Guru's plea seeking review of his death sentence, saying "there is no merit" in it. May 19, 2010: Delhi government rejects Afzal Guru's mercy petition; endorses capital punishment awarded to him by Supreme Court. December 30, 2010: Shaukat Hussain Guru released from Delhi's Tihar Jail. December 10, 2012: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde says he would examine Afzal Guru's file after Parliament's Winter session concludes on December 22. February 3, 2013: President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Afzal Guru's mercy petition. advertisement February 9, 2013: Afzal Guru hanged in Tihar Jail. Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013. Photo: Reuters. WATCH: Afzal Guru's interview after 2001 Parliament attack --- ENDS --- A muriqui mother with infant. Counting infants is a necessity for projecting future populations. Credit: Pablo Fernicola A Brazilian-American research group has just published an unusual study outlining data needs for monitoring the survival of monkeys called muriquis that live in patches of forest in Brazil. "If you want to preserve the muriquis, exactly what do you need to know?" asks Leandro Jerusalinsky, one of the authors of a report published today (Dec. 13, 2017) in the journal PLOS ONE. "This was the essential question, focusing on identifying population trends and conservation priorities." "Where do you need to go, and what numbers or qualities do you need to focus on?" adds Jerusalinsky, who leads the National Action Plan for the Conservation of Muriquis at Brazil's National Center for Research and Conservation of Brazilian Primates, linked to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation. "We think this may be one of the most comprehensive efforts to analyze the data monitoring needs for ensuring the survival of an endangered animal," says first author Karen Strier, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has observed muriquis in Brazil for 35 years. "The two muriqui species live in one of the five most biodiverse hotspots in the worldfor both plants and animals, but the southeastern Atlantic Forest is the center of Brazil's economy and population, and so this habitat has long been chopped up by development." At most, 2,300 muriquis survive in the wild, including fewer than 1,000 members of the northern species, and an estimated 1,300 for the southern species. "Monitoring demographic trends is essential for management programs, including translocations," explains co-author Fabiano de Melo, a professor in the forestry engineering department at the Federal University of Vicosa. Ensuring that the species survives requires an accurate picture of the different populations, says co-author Mauricio Talebi, professor of primatology and conservation at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Diadema campus. "One of the problems we have is that if monitoring uses different methods, the results are not comparable. When we worked on the national action plan for muriquis, we identified gaps. There are big differences in habitat conditions for the northern and southern species, but we still need a standard monitoring system for the various locations." Monitoring the health of an endangered species can entail much more than just counting individuals or breeding pairs, says Strier. "Population counts at particular sites and in total don't require a big labor force, but we are usually interested in other factors, such as genetic uniqueness or geographic importance: Could this site be used to make a corridor linking isolated populations to enhance genetic diversity?" More monitoring can answer more questions, Strier says. "If you want to understand past or future changes in demographics, or why a population is growing or declining, you will also want to know the sex ratio and what proportion of females are carrying babies. This takes more time, and more expertise." Strier, who leads one of the longest field studies of primates in the wild, calls muriquis "the most amazing primates in the world. They have a very low rate of aggression, and have been called 'hippie monkeys.' Females are independent and promiscuous, males don't dominate them, and there's no real hierarchy among males or females. They spend a lot of time hugging and socializing. "If you are aiming at avoiding extinction, you need to ask a lot of important questions," says Strier. "Are you trying to reach the highest genetic diversity? The highest demographic probability of success?" Monitoring plans must also take feasibility into account, since some places, through topography or ownership, are impossible to get to. Decisions can be problematic if they are made on the fly or based on incomplete information, Strier says. Another factor that plays a role in monitoring decisions is sites that are on the fringe of species' habitat. Outliers in terms of altitude or longitude may be the first to die as climate changes. But a relatively cool and underpopulated site today could become an important refuge as climate warms. Through the work of Strier and a growing number of Brazilian researchers, the plight of the muriquis has become clear, and the primate has emerged as a charismatic animal in desperate need of help, with both species now listed as critically endangered. "Interest in muriquis has been growing," says Talebi. Already, he says, the ideas in the monitoring framework are starting to guide his work program of monitoring the southern muriqui. The same is true for de Melo, who is experimenting with technology, including the use of thermal cameras mounted on drones, to count northern muriquis. One key factor, called "implementability," focuses on access, and while some sites are closed to researchers, Talebi says some private landowners have been establishing muriqui reserves. Muriquis are also getting help from the recovery of landscapes that were converted to farms and then abandoned decades ago, says Strier. "Seeing the resilience of nature makes me more determined than ever. We can't reverse past assaults to the planet, but we can do everything we can to stop them and give the animals and plants a chance to come back." Strier sees the thoughtful processes detailed in the new study as a foundation for a new generation of scientists. "If somebody wants to know how to promote muriqui preservation, this study would be a roadmap. It gives you an idea where to start, and where to focus. We hope it will also serve as a template for scientists concerned with other endangered animals." The configuration of a thin crystal film. Credit: Anton Tarasov A team of scientists from Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center (Siberian Department of Russian Academy of Sciences) and Siberian Federal University synthesized thin crystal ferromagnetic films and developed a technology for their shaping. Processed films can be used in electronic and spintronic chips. The results of the study were published in Thin Solid Films. The team created films that are hundreds to dozens of nanometers thick, consisting of iron silicides synthesized on a silicon substrate. Iron silicides are compounds of iron and silicon that usually have ferromagnetic properties when subject to certain temperatures. There are also non-magnetic iron silicides with unique optic characteristics that may be put to practical use. Films like this are used as active parts in optic and photonic devices, as well as in integral electronic and spintronic chips. Thin ferromagnetic films open a lot of prospects for spintronics (an area of science that provides for the creation of information storage and processing devices). Devices like this consume less electrical energy and have higher operating speeds compared to traditional electronic ones. However, to develop such devices, scientists need films to be specifically shaped. It means that a template has to be applied to synthesized films, and they have to be cut according to it. To do so, scientists use etching. The technique can be either wet (chemical) or dry (plasma, reactive-ion, or just ion). In the course of wet etching, a film is placed in liquidan etching agent that dissolves the rest of it. Before that scientists cover the films with "masks" using photolithography to set out required configuration. Such a mask protects the desired part of the film from solving. In dry etching, the same result is achieved using a gas that destroys the material physically or chemically. "We've broadened the application of this approach, extended it to new iron-silicon alloys, and showed that it works. We've also determined the speed of etching and developed a micro-device. The same methods may be used for the production of different structures in electronics, photonics and other applications," said Anton Tarasov, a co-author of the article, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, a scientific associate of Kirensky Institute of Physics (FRC KSC of SD RAS), and senior tutor at Siberian Federal University. The scientists point out that a big advantage of the new films is not only their electronic and magnetic properties, but compatibility with the most popular technological semiconductors. It means that these films may be grown on bases made of silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide. This will help the team obtain high-quality thin films with specific shapes and geometry in a simpler and more affordable way. Moreover, the obtained results increase the selection of materials that scientists may use to develop devices. "Using this technology, one can create spintronic or photonic devices, because iron silicides have properties applicable in these areas of science. Right now, we are growing new films and studying the effects that depend on their topology," concluded the scientist. Provided by Siberian Federal University Potentially life-saving sniffer dog research . Credit: University of Lincoln A team of scientists has provided the first evidence that dogs can learn to categorise odours and apply this to scents they have never encountered before. The research reveals how the animals process odour information and is likely to have a profound impact on how we train sniffer dogs. The study, led by researchers at the University of Lincoln, UK, and funded by the Office of Naval Research and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Global in the US, found that dogs are able to categorise odours on the basis of their common properties. This means that dogs can behave towards new smells from a category in the same way as smells that they already know. As humans, we do not have to experience the smell of every fish to know that it smells 'fishy'; instead we use our previous experience of fish and categorise the new smell in the correct way. The new research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveals that dogs can do the same. Researchers separated dogs into two groups and then trained them to respond to 40 different olfactory stimuli, half of which were accelerant-based. The dogs in the experimental group were trained (through a reward) to offer a behavioural response, for example "sit," when they were presented with smells which fit a specific category, but to withhold that response for other non-category stimuli. The remaining dogs were trained on the same stimuli but were not rewarded for the categorical variable. The researchers found that only the dogs in the category group were able to learn the task. Even more significantly, when presented with completely unknown smells, the dogs were able to place them in the correct category and to remember the odours six weeks later. The researchers concluded that this means that dogs can apply information from previous experience to novel or new scents in order to apply an appropriate response. Dr Anna Wilkinson from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln said: "As humans, we are very good at assigning different things to different categories; for example, we know something is a chair because there are identifiable aspects such as a flat space to sit on, or four legs. Categorising odours works the same way, and we were keen to discover whether dogs would be able to learn those skills. "This was an extremely hard task for the dogs as the odour stimuli varied in strength, so animals were never trained on exactly the same stimulus. As such, it is even more impressive that the experimental group dogs learned and retained the information. "These findings add substantially to our understanding of how animals process olfactory information and suggest that use of this method may improve performance of working animals." The findings have implications in the field of working dog training as it implies that it may be possible to improve the way we train detection dogs. Ayodeji Coker, the ONR Global Science Director sponsoring the research, said: "The threats being faced by today's warfighter are constantly evolving, especially as it pertains to explosives. Developing new capabilities to better train dogs to categorize explosives odours will help save lives." More information: Hannah F. Wright et al. Animals can assign novel odours to a known category, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09454-0 , www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09454-0 Journal information: Scientific Reports Left, an image of Earth from the DSCOVR-EPIC camera. Right, the same image degraded to a resolution of 3-by-3 pixels, similar to what researchers will see in future exoplanet observations. Credit: NOAA/NASA/DSCOVR The search for life beyond Earth is riding a surge of creativity and innovation. Following a gold rush of exoplanet discovery over the past two decades, it is time to tackle the next step: determining which of the known exoplanets are proper candidates for life. Scientists from NASA and two universities presented new results dedicated to this task in fields spanning astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics and planetary sciencedemonstrating how a cross-disciplinary approach is essential to finding life on other worldsat the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Dec. 13, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana. "The potentially habitable real estate in the universe has greatly expanded," said Giada Arney, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We now know of thousands of exoplanets, but what we know about them is limited because we can't yet see them directly." Currently, scientists mostly rely on indirect methods to identify and study exoplanets; such methods can tell them whether a planet is Earth-like or how close it is to its parent star. But this isn't yet enough to say whether a planet is truly habitable, or suitable for lifefor this, scientists must ultimately be able to observe exoplanets directly. Direct-imaging instrument and mission designs are underway, but in the meantime, Arney explained, scientists are making progress with tools already at their disposal. They are building computational models to simulate what habitable planets might look like and how they would interact with their parent stars. To validate their models, they are looking to planets within our own solar system, as analogs for the exoplanets we may one day discover. This, of course, includes Earth itselfthe planet we know best, and the only one we know of yet that is habitable. "In our quest for life on other worlds, it is important for scientists to consider exoplanets from a holistic sensethat is, from the perspective of multiple disciplines," Arney said. "We need these multi-disciplinary studies to examine exoplanets as the complex worlds shaped by multiple astrophysical, planetary and stellar processes, rather than just distant points in the sky." Since Earth, right, and Venus, left, are so close in size and yet so different in terms of their prospects for habitability, Stephen Kane, an exoplanets expert at the University of California, Riverside, is interested in developing methods for distinguishing Earth- and Venus-analogs in other planetary systems, as a way of identifying potentially habitable terrestrial planets. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames Studying Earth as an Exoplanet When humans start collecting the first direct images of exoplanets, even the closest image will appear as a handful of pixels. What can we learn about planetary life from just a smattering of pixels? Stephen Kane, an exoplanets expert at the University of California, Riverside, has come up with one way to answer that question using NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR. Kane explained that he and his colleagues take DSCOVR's high-resolution imagestypically used to document Earth's global weather patterns and other climate-related eventsand degrade them down to images just a few pixels in size. Kane runs the DSCOVR images through a noise filter that attempts to simulate the interference expected from an exoplanet mission. "From just a handful of pixels, we try to extract as much information that we know about Earth as we can," Kane said. "If we can do it accurately for Earth, we can do this for planets around other stars." DSCOVR takes a picture every half hour and it's been in orbit for two years. Its more than 30,000 images are by far the longest continuous record of full-disk observations from space in existence. By observing how the brightness of Earth changes when mostly land is in view compared with mostly water, Kane has been able to reverse-engineer Earth's albedo, obliquity, rotation rate and even seasonal variationsomething that has yet to be measured directly for exoplanetsall of which could potentially influence a planet's ability to support life. Searching for Other Venuses Much the way scientists use Earth as a case-study for habitable planets, they also use planets within the solar systemand therefore planets they are more familiar withas studies for what makes planets uninhabitable. An illustration of Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size planet discovered within a star's habitable zone. Scientists now know of thousands of exoplanets, but our knowledge is limited because we can't yet view them directly. Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech Kane also studies Earth's sister planet, Venus, where the surface is 850 degrees Fahrenheit and the atmospherefilled with sulfuric acidbogs down on the surface with 90 times the pressure of Earth's. Since Earth and Venus are so close in size and yet so different in terms of their prospects for habitability, he is interested in developing methods for distinguishing Earth- and Venus-analogs in other planetary systems, as a way of identifying potentially habitable terrestrial planets. Kane explained that he works to identify Venus analogs in data from NASA's Kepler by defining the "Venus Zone," where planetary insolationhow much light a given planet receives from its host starplays a key role in atmospheric erosion and greenhouse gas cycles. "The fate of Earth and Venus and their atmospheres are tied to each other," Kane said. "By searching for similar planets, we are trying to understand their evolution, and ultimately how often developing planets end up a Venus-like hellscape." Modeling Star-Planet Interactions While Kane talked about planets, Goddard space scientist Katherine Garcia-Sage focused on the way planets interact with their host star. Scientists must also consider how the qualities of a host star and a planet's electromagnetic environmentwhich can shield it from harsh stellar radiationeither hinder or help habitability. Earth's magnetic field, for example, protects the atmosphere from the harsh solar wind, the Sun's constant outpouring of charged solar material, which can strip away atmospheric gases in a process called ionospheric escape. Garcia-Sage described research on Proxima b, an exoplanet that is four light-years away and known to exist within the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri. But just because it's in the habitable zonethe right distance from a star where water could pool on a planet's surfacedoesn't necessarily mean it's habitable. While scientists can't yet tell whether Proxima b is magnetized, they can use computational models to simulate how well an Earth-like magnetic field would protect its atmosphere at the exoplanet's close orbit to Proxima Centauri, which frequently produces violent stellar storms. The effects of such storms on a given planet's space environment are collectively known as space weather. In this illustration, extreme ultraviolet light from an active red dwarf star cause ions to escape from an exoplanets atmosphere. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center "We need to understand a planet's space weather environment to understand whether a planet is habitable," Garcia-Sage said. "If the star is too active, it can endanger an atmosphere, which is necessary for providing liquid water. But there's a fine line: There is some indication that radiation from a star can produce building blocks for life." A red dwarf starone of the most common types of stars in our galaxylike Proxima Centauri strips away atmosphere when extreme ultraviolet radiation ionizes atmospheric gases, producing a swath of electrically charged particles that can stream out into space along magnetic field lines. The scientists calculated how much radiation Proxima Centauri produces on average, based on observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. At Proxima b's orbit, the scientists found their Earth-like planet encountered bouts of extreme ultraviolet radiation hundreds of times greater than Earth does from the Sun. Garcia-Sage and her colleagues designed a computer model to study whether an Earth-like planetwith Earth's atmosphere, magnetic field and gravityin Proxima b's orbit could hold on to its atmosphere. They examined three factors that drive ionospheric escape: stellar radiation, temperature of the neutral atmosphere, and size of the polar cap, the region over which the escape happens. The scientists show that with the extreme conditions likely to exist at Proxima b, the planet could lose an amount equivalent to the entirety of Earth's atmosphere in 100 million yearsjust a fraction of Proxima b's 4 billion years thus far. Even in the best-case scenario, that much mass escapes over 2 billion years, well within the planet's lifetime. Mars, a Laboratory for Studying Exoplanets While Garcia-Sage spoke of magnetized planets, David Brain, planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, spoke of Marsa planet without a magnetic field. To receive the same amount of starlight as Mars receives from our Sun, a planet orbiting an M-type red dwarf would have to be positioned much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center "Mars is a great laboratory for thinking about exoplanets," Brain said. "We can use Mars to help constrain our thinking about a variety of rocky exoplanets where we don't have observations yet." Brain's research uses observations from NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission to ask the question: How would Mars have evolved if it were orbiting a different kind of star? The answer provides information for how rocky planetsnot unlike our owncould develop differently in different situations. It is thought that Mars once carried water and an atmosphere that might have made it hospitable to Earth-like life. But Mars lost much of its atmosphere over time through a variety of chemical and physical processesMAVEN has observed similar atmospheric loss on the planet since its launch in late 2013. Brain, a MAVEN co-investigator, and his colleagues applied MAVEN's insights to a hypothetical simulation of a Mars-like planet orbiting an M-class starcommonly known as a red dwarf star. In this imaginary situation, the planet would receive about five to 10 times more ultraviolet radiation than the real Mars does, which in turn speeds up atmospheric escape to much higher rates. Their calculations indicate that the planet's atmosphere could lose three to five times as many charged particles and about five to 10 times more neutral particles. Such a rate of atmospheric loss suggests that orbiting at the edge of the habitable zone of a quiet M-class star, instead of our Sun, could shorten the habitable period for the planet by a factor of about five to 20. "But I wouldn't give up hope for rocky planets orbiting M dwarfs," Brain said. "We picked a worst-case scenario. Mars is a small planet, and lacks a magnetic field so solar wind can more effectively strip away its atmosphere. We also picked a Mars that isn't geologically active, so there's no internal source of atmosphere. If you changed any one factor, such a planet might be a happier place." Each one of these studies contributes just one piece to a much larger puzzleto determine what characteristics we should look for, and need to recognize, in the search for a planet that might support life. Together, such interdisciplinary research lays the groundwork to ensure that, as new missions to observe exoplanets more clearly are developed, we'll be ready to determine if they might just host life. US wireless carrier T-Mobile said Wednesday it would launch a pay TV service in 2018, aiming to disrupt the dominant cable and satellite providers. The number three US wireless firm, controlled by German-based Deutsche Telekom, said it had acquired Layer3 TV, a startup offering cable and internet service in five cities. T-Mobile offered no financial terms of the acquisition. It provided few details of its TV plans, other than a statement saying it would be "tapping into the amazing content available from creators today to disrupt legacy cable and satellite TV's distribution model." T-Mobile president and chief executive John Legere said the service would be modeled on the telecom group's "Un-carrier model," a term that suggests it will be different from the incumbents. "People love their TV, but they hate their TV providers," Legere said in a statement. "And worse, they have no real choice but to simply take itthe crappy customer service, clunky technology and outrageous bills loaded with fees... We're gonna fix the pain points and bring real choice to consumers across the country." While Layer3 has a limited footprint, the statement said the tie-up would "take full advantage of T-Mobile's nationwide retail presence." Jeff Binder, CEO of Layer3, said, "Together with T-Mobile, we're going to ditch everything you hate about cable and make everything you love about TV better." The move comes with a handful of cable and satellite providers dominating the pay TV sector, with near monopolies in some markets. T-Mobile hinted that the new TV service may rely on wireless internet, including the upcoming 5G, or fifth generation of networks being built for heavy data usage, and the existing high-speed networks known as LTE. 2017 AFP Camera trap photo captures tiger in India. Credit: Ullas Karanth/WCS A new book co-edited by tiger biologist Dr. Ullas Karanth of (WCS) Wildlife Conservation Society and Dr. James Nichols, an Emeritus statistical ecologist from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), provides an authoritative text on monitoring tigers, their prey, and many other similarly endangered species. The volume is co-authored by 32 authors, from several leading research and conservation organizations, representing a range of technical expertise from tiger biology to mathematical statistics and modeling. The text provides detailed answers to critical questions in population assessment, such as why, what and how to monitor animal populations, and offers hope that such rigorous audits will greatly help in recovering wild tigers. "Methods for Monitoring Tiger and Prey Populations," published by Springer, is a culmination of Karanth and Nichols' decades of research partnership. In it, they have collaborated with 30 other scientists to produce in-depth treaties on advanced scientific methods to accurately track tiger and prey population dynamics. Additional methods demonstrate how multiple connected populations and their distributions can be monitored. "This work is a distillation of 40 years of science dedicated to the single aim of more effectively conserving wild tigers," said WCS Director of Global Conservation Dr. John Robinson. "As such, it is a foundational text for anyone committed to recovering the world's largest cat." The earth is currently thought to be home to less than 4,000 wild tigers, 96,000 fewer than suggested to have roamed the planet at the beginning of the 20th century. Their survival depends upon the ability of scientists to properly monitor effectiveness of conservation efforts and accurately answer questions such as: Are tiger numbers increasing or decreasing? How are tigers distributed in the wild? What is the status of tiger habitat? Because tigers are popular icons, the last 50 years have seen vast resources invested by tiger range countries and the global conservation community to save them. However, the status of the big cat remains precarious and its population status is uncertain across much of its range. Karanth, a conservation biologist and one of the world's leading authorities on tigers, believes that reliable audits of tiger conservation are essential, and cannot be arrived at by simply throwing money at the situation. He and other co-authors argue that many current, expensive tiger monitoring programs lack the necessary rigor to generate reliable results in spite of massive investments made. As a world-renowned pioneer in developing and evaluating the efficacy of tiger counting methods, Karanth is in a unique position to make that call. Among his many accomplishments are his critiques that led to the abandonment by the Indian Government of "pugmark tiger census" and its replacement with camera trap sampling developed by him and Nichols that can estimate tiger numbers from photos using their unique stripe patterns. Their collaboration, involving innovative capture-recapture statistical models, has been widely adopted by researchers to estimate population parameters not only for wild tigers but many naturally marked animals. "Over the years, we've successfully adapted our monitoring approaches with the introduction of new tools and techniques, but studying wild populations of tigers and prey species remains challenging," said Robert Dorazio, a statistician with the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and one of the book's co-authors. "We really wanted to make sure the statistical methods presented in this book were state-of-the-art and were capable of extracting as much useful information as possible from the available data." Contributing to the text are scientists with expertise in a range of necessary disciplines: biology and ecology of tigers; prey and habitats; advanced statistical theory and practice; computation and programming; practical field-sampling methods that employ technologies as varied as camera traps, genetic analyses and geographic information systems. Without dependable answers, conservationists and scientists are at a disadvantage in finding and implementing conservation solutions that will safeguard tigers. Thorough monitoring of surviving wild tiger populations continues to be essential for both understanding and recovering wild tigers. The new book details how to do it right. The book discusses cutting edge methodologies of sampling, modeling, estimation and adaptive management of animal populations using cutting-edge tools such as camera-traps, genetic identification and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using a modern statistical approach. "I believe our coauthors in this volume are among the best in business as far as monitoring tigers and other threatened species and as a result this volume represents the state of the art on this topic," said Ullas Karanth. "Conservationists should not be satisfied with substandard methods, given how much money and passion they are investing on recovering wild tigers across species range." Cooper's Hawks in urban Albuquerque, New Mexico, are so successful that they're outcompeting their rural neightbors. Credit: B. Millsap Depending on whether a species flourishes in a city environment, urban wildlife populations can be "sources" or "sinks," either reproducing so quickly that individuals leave to colonize the surrounding area or needing constant immigration from outside to stay viable. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications examines the population dynamics of Cooper's Hawks in urban Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finds that city-born birds aren't just thrivingthey're actually forcing their rural neighbors out of their nest sites. New Mexico State University's Brian Millsap collected data on Cooper's Hawks living in a 72 square kilometer area of northeast Albuquerque from 2011 to 2015, monitoring each year's nests and tracking newly fledged females with radio transmitters. He found that 30 times more hawks emigrated out of the urban area than immigrated into it, suggesting it was a source population for the surrounding region. However, the details didn't fit neatly with the traditional source-sink model. While the surrounding exurban hawk populations were breeding and surviving well enough to sustain themselves without immigration, females moving out of the urban area were able to beat them to their nesting sitesunlike their exurban neighbors, they didn't migrate south for the winter. White-winged Doves, which first became established in the area in the 1980s, provide an abundant food source for city-dwelling hawks. "Individuals living in urban Albuquerque actually have a fitness advantage over their neighbors living in natural habitats. This advantage comes from the higher prey populations in urban areas, which allow urban female Cooper's Hawks to spend the winter near their eventual breeding sites, as opposed to rural females that migrate south in winter," explains Millsap. "The urban female hawks begin searching out and claiming nesting territories before the rural hawks return in spring and thus obtain nesting sites without direct competition from migrants. Because of this advantage, the urban Albuquerque Cooper's Hawk population not only supports itself but also serves as a substantial source of immigrant females for surrounding native habitats." Changes in migratory behavior that lead to segregation between different groups can have profound effects on populations, altering how they interact both with each other and with other species in a community. According to the Peregrine Fund's Chris McClure, an expert on raptor ecology, "This study is a great example of how solid field work and sophisticated modeling can yield new insights in basic and applied ecology." More information: "Demography and metapopulation dynamics of an urban Cooper's Hawk subpopulation" www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1650/CONDOR-17-124.1 Congress leader Ashok Chavan said that the Congress and the NCP would form an alliance to fight the election in 2019. Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP could forge an alliance before 2019. Photos: Reuters. By India Today Web Desk: With Rahul Gandhi taking over the reins of the Congress, talks about the party's strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections have gained momentum. Recently, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo said that his party has "certainly" accepted Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It now seems that the Congress' friendship with Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is back on the track too. advertisement The Congress and NCP took out a joint rally against the BJP's unfulfilled promises on farmers' loans in RSS-stronghold Nagpur on Tuesday. At the rally, former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan said that the Congress and the NCP would form an alliance to fight the election in 2019. On an alliance with the Congress, NCP leader Praful Patel said that the two parties should stay united and that he was confident they would together win the election in 2019. Along with Lok Sabha polls, Maharashtra too would face Assembly election in 2019. SHARAD PAWAR SLAMS MODI The NCP's growing bonhomie with the Congress was also visible when Sharad Pawar slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for attacking Manmohan Singh over a "secret meeting" with Pakistani diplomats. "BJP should feel ashamed of itself", said Pawar, for accusing the former prime minister of seeking Pakistan's help to win the Assembly election in Gujarat. "Ever since the BJP-led government has come to power, it has destroyed the country, it is indulging in dirty politics and has invoked Pakistan merely to cling to power," Sharad Pawar said. The NCP supremo, addressing the rally in Nagpur, also accused the Modi government of ignoring the issues of farmers and thereby compelling them to commit suicide. The NCP walked out of the alliance with the Congress after seat-sharing between the two parties remained unresolved ahead of the 2014 Assembly election in Maharashtra. Both the parties fought separately, handing over an easy win to the BJP. WATCH: 'Rahul raj' in Congress: Gandhi scion elected president of Grand Old Party --- ENDS --- Commonwealth Bank Partners To Bring Mobeewaves SoftPOS Solution to Australia Commonwealth Bank customers will soon have the ability to accept payments from a contactless card or mobile wallet in person using just their phone. Commonwealth Bank has signed an agreement with Mastercard, IDEMIA and Samsung Electronics Australia to bring Mobeewaves SoftPOS technology to Australia. This partnership will enable Australian small businesses to securely accept payments of less than $100 by simply tapping their phones with a contactless card or mobile wallet. Mastercard research has shown that more than four in five Australian consumers are using contactless payment at least once a week, but fewer are making use of mobile contactless payment services. Through this partnership, Mobeewave will provide a white label solution to Commonwealth Bank, leveraging IDEMIAs world-leading Digital Enablement platform. This solution will allow Commonwealth Bank customers to accept Mastercard transactions on Samsung flagship devices from the second half of 2018. Sam Itzcovitz, Commonwealth Bank Managing Director Commerce and Platforms, said: This solution gives Australian small businesses the ability to accept in person payments quickly and simply using just their phone so they can get on with running their business. We are proud to be bringing leading brands Samsung and Mastercard together with IDEMIA and Mobeewave to put this innovative technology into the hands of our customers. Matt Barr, Senior Vice President, Core, Digital and New Payment Flows of Mastercard Australasia, said: This pilot brings us one step closer to our vision of enabling every device to become an acceptance device. We all use our phones to make payments, why not use them to accept payments as well. With its high use of contactless technology, Australia is an ideal environment to roll out this type of tap-on-phone solution. I am proud that together with our partners, we can bring yet another innovation to the market and help merchants to grow their business. Mark Garvie, Asia Pacific Managing Director for Financial Institutions, said: We are delighted to partner with Mobeewave in launching this new and innovative technology as it is the first offering of its kind in the world. The rise of mobile payment solutions in the Fintech market has the potential to seriously disrupt existing payment methods and this will be one of the channels through which that disruption will flow. Maxime de Nanclas COO and co-founder of Mobeewave, said: Commonwealth Bank will be the first financial services institution in Australia to offer the Mobeewave SoftPOS solution. The invaluable support of global leaders like IDEMIA and Mastercard will accelerate the deployment of Mobeewaves patented technology to forward-looking banks around the world. Danny Mandrides, Head of Sales, Enterprise Mobility at Samsung Australia, said: Samsung Australia is thrilled to collaborate with the Commonwealth Bank, IDEMIA, and Mobeewave, to bring together a mobility solution that breaks new ground for the way merchants and customers transact using Samsungs latest mobile device technology. By utilizing the customisation of our secure KNOX mobile platform, we have been able to support the delivery of the solution which enables a stable and secure transaction experience. The solution uses the secure and customisable Samsung KNOX platform, and IDEMIAs embedded secure element (eSE) PEARL. Other Point of Sale 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 " " Bollards and other structures are becoming an increasingly important part of defensive urban design. Christopher Lee/Getty Images After the British defeated Napoleon's navy in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, they stripped the French ships of their cannon, but found that their size wasn't a good fit with British ships. So instead, as London guidebook author Simon Leyland recounts, they implanted the cannons vertically in various locations along London's streets, where they served as decorations to remind passers-by of the historic victory. Two centuries later, bollards, as such posts are known, have again become a common design feature in cities in the U.S. and elsewhere. But their main purpose isn't decorative. Instead, today's bollards often made of strong, resilient steel pipe are intended to protect urban dwellers and visitors from rampaging vehicles that have been turned into weapons by drunk drivers or, worse yet, terrorists bent on inflicting carnage. Advertisement Bollards already have shown their value in New York City. In May, after a car drove the wrong way up a one-way street and slammed into dozens of pedestrians, killing one, bollards prevented the vehicle from inflicting even more injuries and fatalities, according to USA Today. More recently, after a truck veered into a bike lane killing eight people and injuring 12 in what federal authorities say was an act of terrorism, city officials began installing bollards to protect the route. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, has introduced legislation calling for the federal government to provide $50 million in grants to cities to install more of the protective devices. Bollards are part of the growing trend toward defensive design in U.S. cities and elsewhere in the world. Increasingly, outdoor public spaces are being redesigned to include a variety of subtle features from sight lines to the design of park benches that are intended to protect users from terrorism, crime and other violent threats, and sometimes also to thwart behavior that's been deemed undesirable. Such defensive design measures vary according to what the city is hoping to prevent, explains Randy Atlas. He's a Florida-based architect with a doctorate in criminology who is both a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a Certified Protection Professional, a distinction conferred by ASIS International, a security industry organization. "How do you design public spaces to resist acts of incivility, criminal acts and potential acts of terror?" he says. "There's a different answer for each one." At one end of the spectrum, a city might use design to keep a public square from being taken over by skateboarders or graffiti taggers, or turned into a campsite for homeless people. Some outdoor places, for example, now have outdoor benches with armrests, which make it difficult for homeless people to sleep on them, as well as knobs and other impediments attached to surfaces to prevent them from being used by skateboarders to do stunts. On the next level, deterring crime such as assaults and robberies in a public space requires more extensive measures, Atlas says. Landscaping and structures can be crafted to allow good lines of sight for police patrols and video surveillance, so that perpetrators who aren't deterred can be spotted and caught. But terrorism, the most extreme threat, is more difficult to protect against, because the attackers, unlike ordinary criminals, aren't motivated by the desire to get away to enjoy the fruits of their labor. "Terrorists want to take as many people as possible with them," Atlas says. "They don't expect to live." India Today travelled deep into ground zero to get a first-hand account on the battle between cow smugglers and vigilantes. By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: Straddling Haryana and Rajasthan, the historical region of Mewat has gained notoriety for the pitched 'battle' between cow vigilantes and cattle smugglers. The shocking lynching of Pehlu Khan in April and the death of Umar Khan in a shooting in November-both allegedly by cow vigilantes in Alwar have a common link. Both belonged to the badlands of Mewat. advertisement India Today travelled deep into ground zero to get a first-hand account. It's dead of the night and a crude version of spike strip lies adjacent to a police picket in Alwar's Govindgarh-the hotbed of cow vigilantism-with VHP activists and "cooperating" cops ready to pounce upon any vehicle suspected of smuggling cattle. The vigilantes and the police are aided by a wide network of informants. VHP activist Naval Kishore Mishra says, "Vehicles used to smuggle cattle don't have number plates. Out informants immediately recognise them when they pass through this area during the day and confirm that the same vehicles will smuggle cattle using the same route during night. The smugglers operate in six tehsils of Rajasthan spanning around 100 km." Though Mishra spearheads a group of vigilantes, any mention of recent violence committed allegedly by gau rakshaks angers him. There are scores like him who have become self-proclaimed custodians of Hinduism, but deny targeting Muslims. He rubbishes allegations of extortion by vigilantes. "If the smugglers are using secret routes and firing at us when stopped, will they let us extort?" he asks. "From this spot itself, 50 cows are smuggled daily," Mishra says pointing at the police picket. Another VHP activist Phool Singh Chaudhary claims that the survival of Hindus is under threat, but denies attacking Muslims. "Cow vigilantes should not take law in their hands and work in tandem with the police. In Pehlu Khan's case, the accused came out with their honour intact. We counter bullets with stones and sticks," he says mentioning how they take on "armed" smugglers. Another VHP member Satyapal too alleges that the smugglers are well-armed. "They fire straight away when stopped. We only have sticks to stop them." India Today also interacted with some cattle traders of Ghatmika, Bharatpur, which allegedly has most smugglers. But, the traders refuted allegations of smuggling although admitting that trading in cattle has been their ancestral business. Issaq alleges that the vigilantes even swap cows purchased from the market with different cattle to prove that they were smuggled. He said, "The gau rakshaks even stop vehicles transporting cows that have been purchased legally. Later, they exchange them with other cows. If the matter goes to the police, the buyer is booked and arrested without any investigation." advertisement Another cattle trader Mustafa says, "Attacks have increased after the BJP formed government at the Centre." By VHP's own admission, there are more than 240 men actively involved in cow vigilantism in the area. Mewat comprises Nuh, Firozpur Jhirka and Hathin in Haryana, Ramgarh, Laxmangarh, Kishangarh Bas in Alwar and Pahari, Nagar and Kaman regions in Bharatpur. Though cattle traders deny the allegations, the multi-crore 'smuggling industry' thrives in these areas of Haryana and Rajasthan. The smugglers are undeterred by the increasing number of deadly confrontations with vigilantes for no reason. Cowhide, used to make leather goods, is a huge temptation for the smugglers. Once the smuggled cows cross into Haryana, the rampant cattle mafia takes over. From Haryana, the cows are transported to Uttar Pradesh and from there to Assam and West Bengal. According to sources, they are finally smuggled into Bangladesh. Once the cows lands in Bangladesh, they are taken to abattoirs from where their hide is transported to tanneries. Bangladesh has a huge leather industry which caters to America, Britain and other western countries. The smugglers don't operate alone. In various parts of Mewat, including Kaman and Pahadi, and Deeg in Bharatpur, and Govindgarh and Ramgarh in Alwar, scores of men are involved in smuggling. advertisement A cow could fetch anywhere between Rs 80,000 and Rs 90,000. Pointing to a vehicle transporting cattle, gau rakshak Mukesh Mishra says, "You see the man transporting the eight cows; they are worth Rs 10 lakh. At times, pregnant cows are made to stand in a tanker with high temperature so that they deliver." "Calf hide is in great demand in the international market with one pair of shoes priced at Rs50,000 - Rs 1 lakh. Even SUVs like Bolero and Scorpio, ambulances and milk tankers are used to smuggle cows, claims VHP member Satyapal. "One night sortie fetches Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 for the driver, who smuggles the cows in 3-4 hours," he says. Bharatpur SP Anil Kumar Tank says, "The police registered 65 cases in 2015, 16 in 2016 and 51 till October this year against cow smugglers. Forty-one smugglers have been arrested. Cows are primarily smuggled for their hide." The Alwar Police is on record stating that apparently Umar and his 'accomplice' Tahir were smuggling cows in a pick-up van. He denies allegations that the vigilantes are violating law. --- ENDS --- advertisement Canada December 13, 2017 Richard Fidler There were two main tasks on the agenda at the congress of the left party Quebec solidaire (QS), meeting in Longueuil December 1-3. One was the adoption of the partys platform for the next Quebec general election, to be held in October 2018. The other was ratification of a proposed fusion with Option nationale (ON), a small party originating in a split from the Parti quebecois in 2011 after the PQ had put its goal of Quebec independence on the back burner for the foreseeable future. The fusion may add several hundred ON militants to QSs membership of 18,000. Following extensive debate, the fusion proposal was adopted by a vote of more than 80% of the 550 QS delegates. At a subsequent ON congress in Quebec City on December 10, the fusion with QS was accepted by 90% of the members who voted. Several dozen more, opposed to the fusion, walked out and did not vote. However, the QS congress lacked sufficient time to debate and adopt the bulk of the proposed platform, including some of the most important parts. It will be left to the partys 16-member executive, the national coordinating committee (CCN), to adopt the remaining proposals in the spring of 2018, in consultation with the partys policy commission which had created the original draft platform. Homage to Catalonia The congress debates were informed from the outset by the lessons of Catalonias militant mass struggle for independence from the Spanish state. The opening night heard powerful speeches by two leaders of the Catalan left pro-independence party, the Candidatura dUnitat Popular (CUP), Eulalia Reguant and Anna Gabriel, the CUP spokeswoman in the now-dissolved Catalan parliament. Their presentations (in French) can be heard and viewed here. Their message of internationalist solidarity with national liberation struggles everywhere was cited by a number of participants in the congresss subsequent debates. In a pre-congress interview, QS spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said the recent events in Catalonia had opened up our thinking about the need for a clear and positive approach to Quebec independence. They reveal, he said, the profoundly revolutionary nature of the independence process, which entails a rupture with the dominant political system. Catalonia is a good reminder that independence cannot be achieved only from above, in the salons of Outremont, with experienced constitutional scholars. The political forces that are going to lead the Quebec people toward independence are going to have to have the potential to generate a powerful social mobilization. This thinking was reflected in the congress debate on fusion with ON, and in particular in the new centrality of the fight for Quebec independence that fusion entails. Further Clarity on Quebec Independence At its earlier congress in May of this year, Quebec solidaire had voted to probe the possibilities for a fusion between QS and Option nationale. In the proposed negotiations between the respective party leaders, it said, QS would discuss in its authoritative bodies the development of political campaigns on the independence of Quebec and the means by which to accede to it. However, no report on these negotiations was issued to the QS membership until early October, when a joint news conference of QS and ON leaders suddenly announced they had signed an agreement in principle on a fusion that was to be put to the respective party congresses in December. The agreement presented as a package deal for adoption without amendment by the party memberships indicated that Option nationale had taken advantage of the QS leaders eagerness for a fusion to drive a hard bargain. I have summarized its key provisions in an appendix to this article, below. Among these provisions: ON is to continue to exist within QS as a collective with special rights not allowed to the other half-dozen or so collectives in the party. Under the QS statutes, members promoting specific orientations for the party (for example, secularism, ecosocialism, degrowth, animal rights, etc.) are allowed to organize within the party as a recognized collective, provided they comprise at least 10 members and abide by the partys fundamental values. They are not given representation in leading bodies of the party, however.Under the agreement, ON will constitute a distinct collective with its own funding and representation in leading bodies, and at least three ON members will be nominated in 2018 as candidates in electoral constituencies deemed winnable for QS. ON leader Sol Zanetti will be presented as the leading party spokesman on issues surrounding the independence of Quebec. The ON collective will organize a university on independence in the spring of 2018, with the right to organize this event each year, provided it is self-financed. The unified party will republish an ON publication, the Livre qui fait dire oui [the Book that leads to a yes], although the sovereign Quebec it advocates is totally neoliberal in its economic program and conflicts in major respects with the QS program. [the Book that leads to a yes], although the sovereign Quebec it advocates is totally neoliberal in its economic program and conflicts in major respects with the QS program. A party congress after the 2018 election will review the QS program with a view to aligning it with the ON program the program of a party that has always said the independence it proposes is neither left nor right in its political content. As might be expected, the sudden announcement of this ON-QS agreement aroused considerable controversy in the ranks of both parties. Many QS militants, in particular, deplored the fact that they had been given no opportunity to experience dialogue or collaboration with ON as a prelude to a unification of the parties. Instead, some noted, ON had run a candidate against QS in a recent by-election in Quebec City, and (unlike the PQ, which desisted) had even run against Nadeau-Dubois when he was the QS candidate to succeed party leader Francoise David in Gouin riding last spring. Some members protested their inability to amend the agreement with its 18 different provisions, as well as the party leaderships insistence that it could be approved by a simple majority of votes at the congress even though it entailed some changes in the party statutes (which require a two-thirds majority for amendment). A Constituent Assembly for an Independent State But the substantive criticism, the subject of the most controversy in QS, was the agreements inclusion of amendments to the partys program providing that a Quebec solidaire government would act from the outset as the government of an independent Quebec, and its proposed Constituent Assembly would develop a draft constitution of an independent Quebec that would then be submitted to a popular referendum for approval. Thus the ON-QS agreement alters what has been Quebec solidaires favoured mechanism for accession to independence. As I have noted in previous articles, since its founding in 2006 the party has insisted that the constitution to be drafted by its proposed Constituent Assembly need not necessarily be the constitution of an independent Quebec, that it could simply be, for example, a proposal for greater provincial autonomy within the Canadian constitutional regime even though Quebec solidaire itself would fight for an independent Quebec within the Assembly. This ambiguity with respect to the Assemblys mandate reflected in part a fear that federalist supporters currently a majority in Quebec would be disinclined to participate in a project aimed at founding an independent state. It also reflected, I suspect, lingering federalist sympathies among former members of Option citoyenne, the feminist and community-centered organization that was one of the new partys founding components in 2006. (The other one, the radical-left Union des Forces Progressistes, had always advocated a constituent assembly with a closed mandate to found an independent and socialist Quebec.) However, this ambivalence over the Assemblys mandate was not universally accepted by QS members. Nadeau Dubois had indicated he disagreed with the open mandate. And only last May, QS representatives in OUI Quebec, a coalition of pro-sovereignty parties (PQ, ON, QS and the Bloc quebecois) working to develop a common road map in the fight for independence, had signed a joint statement with the other parties endorsing the proposal for a Constituent Assembly but specifying that the Assembly must develop the constitution of an independent Quebec. They were then overruled by the QS leadership, who withheld that statement from the QS congress meeting soon afterwards. As the partys national coordination committee explained in a report to the December congress, the four-party statement completely contravened the QS program on this sensitive question. Thus the ON-QS Agreement in Principle, with its amendments to what the QS program says about the mandate of the Constituent Assembly, represented for some QS members a sea change in a basic part of that program. A typical reaction was that of Jean-Claude Balu, chair of the QS orientations committee. In a vigorous dissent, Balu noted that from the outset of the process of defining its program, QS had made a rigorous distinction between its support of Quebec independence and its conception of a constituent assembly that is a fully sovereign assembly of citizens open to everyone. In our founding principles, we say the national question must belong to the population of Quebec as a whole, including the indigenous peoples and persons of every origin, and not to the political parties. Moreover, if we really wish to have relations of equals, nation to nation, with the indigenous peoples throughout the constituent process, they must be invited to participate without imposing any conditions whatsoever upon them. Option nationale, he noted, with its virtually sole emphasis on independence, had manifestly failed to win electoral support. (In fact, ONs electoral results have barely exceeded 1% of the popular vote.) To rally a popular majority, Quebec solidaire has relied since its founding on its social agenda [projet de societe] and, to counter the downturn in support for independence, on a strategy linking its social transformation project to the accession to independence through a popular and sovereign Constituent Assembly. The QS members negotiating fusion with ON, Balu concluded, should have done a better job in defending the partys positions. Most of the debate over the fusion agreement took place publicly, and almost all of the key documents were published in the on-line journal Presse-toi a gauche . Does Independence Trump Democracy? Balu accurately expresses the reasoning behind Quebec solidaires road map to independence, as it has been articulated up to now. However, the argument is notable for its wishful thinking. The fight for an independent Quebec necessarily confronts powerful propertied interests dominant within the existing federal state and civil society. They will bring to bear immense media and material resources to influence and if necessary sabotage the proceedings of a constituent assembly. No matter how democratically appointed, or how democratic its functioning, if it lacks the clear objective of establishing the framework for an independent state the assembly will be immensely vulnerable to such pressures. Yet any result short of the draft constitution of an independent Quebec would simply be of no effect whatsoever. As Quebec solidaire has consistently said, the federal regime cannot be reformed to become an adequate framework for the partys progressive social agenda. Yet the QS ambiguity on the Constituent Assembly mandate has undermined the credibility of the partys commitment to independence. In a six-page leaflet distributed to congress delegates, a self-described group of QS members in favour of the agreement for fusion with ON addressed the fear of some QS members that the partys support of independence might trump its commitment to democracy: What makes the Constituent Assembly radically democratic is precisely that it directly involves the people in the foundation of a new state, given the perspective of independence. But it must be clear from the beginning that the question of independence will be posed in the [subsequent] referendum [to approve the new constitution]. If there is a lack of clarity during the constituent process, the debates will be confused: are we writing the constitution of a province, of a country, both at once, one or the other separately? That is why we must know clearly where we are heading. Giving the constituent process direction or a destination does not mean it will be controlled from above, or that the people will not have an opportunity to declare themselves freely on their political future. Quite the contrary, it means leaving it to the people to democratically draft the outline of their proposed country [their project de pays] without having to comply a priori with the narrow constraints of the Canadian regime Furthermore, the argument for independence cannot be left to an assembly appointed after the election of a Quebec solidaire government. The party must campaign even today around a progressive social program that is clearly the program of a sovereign Quebec with control over all the powers of an independent state. And it must be recognized that the party will come to power only on the strength of a massive social movement from below that challenges the capitalist logic and laws responsible for the social inequality and environmental catastrophe we are now facing a movement for another Quebec that is analogous, but multiplied many times over, to the mass upsurge sparked by the Quebec students who in 2012 mobilized and won broad popular support for free public post-secondary education. The arguments in support of the Agreement in Principle negotiated by QS and ON leaders had been amply expressed before the congress, so the debate at the congress gave greater exposure to the critics and opponents. However, in the end the delegates voted overwhelmingly to accept the agreement. Quebec solidaire leaned over backwards to accommodate Option nationales concerns and it remains to be seen how this will affect the partys functioning in the near future. Clearly, the integration of those ON members who will now join QS will stimulate some useful internal debate. With the fusion, the former ON has been won to a party that proudly proclaims its progressive goals and program and does not pretend that Quebec independence is neither right nor left. Inconclusive Debate on the Election Platform The congress was unable to achieve its other major objective, the adoption of a platform for the next Quebec election. The platform, for Quebec solidaire, is intended to select and highlight particular issues and demands drawn from the lengthy program that the party has hammered out over nearly a decade with a view to their immediate relevance. An initial draft is compiled by the partys policy committee; it is then submitted to the members for amendment, following which a synthesis comprising the draft and proposed amendments by QS associations and leadership bodies is debated by congress delegates. This has proved to be a somewhat unwieldly process. This year it resulted in a 130-page document in which the 15 topics addressed are listed alphabetically from agriculture (Agroalimentaire et ruralite) to local democracy (Vie democratique et regionale). And although an attempt was made to prioritize certain topics for the less than two days of debate, the proposed order, in the opinion of some delegates, did not assign sufficient importance to some urgent matters of the day. As it was, the congress managed to get through the first six of the proposed topics, for the most part without major changes in the draft, leaving the remainder (as I noted earlier) for debate and adoption by the partys national coordinating committee later in 2018. Topics omitted from debate at the congress include economy and taxation, education, environment and energy, justice, health and social services, and strategy for sovereignty that is, some of the most important questions the party should address in the election campaign, key components of a coherent social agenda. Furthermore, some of the platform proposals left for later adoption by the party executive omit important parts of the partys adopted program. A blatant example is in the platform draft on the environment and climate change, which omits the QS programs target of a 67% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 needed to comply with the COP 21 Paris accords, as well as the partys opposition to carbon taxes and carbon markets, and its call for free public transit; Quebec solidaire has been unique among political parties in Canada in adopting these demanding targets and demands. Incredibly, a 24-page pamphlet circulated at the QS congress by the Reseau ecosocialiste likewise omits these demands, as did a pre-congress article by a Reseau leader attempting to prioritize platform proposals from an ecosocialist perspective. Quebec solidaire has made important progress in 2017. But the congress debates point to important challenges the party faces during the year to come, and beyond. This article was first published on Fidlers blog Life on the Left . Appendix Agreement in Principle between Option nationale and Quebec solidaire a translated summary Preamble This fusion should allow all progressive independentists in Quebec to work within a unified party that will spearhead the promotion of Quebec independence. This union takes place therefore on the basis of the program, the founding values (independentism, democracy, ecologism, feminism, pluralism, progressivism, global justice) and the statutes of Quebec solidaire, but will preserve the spirit and visibility of the constituent aspects of Option nationale, which is summoned to become a collective in the unified party. In the current political context, a reconciliation of the independentist and progressive forces is more necessary than ever in order to reunite the conditions for our exit from the Canadian regime and to enable the social agenda that Quebec needs. In view of the history of Quebec society and todays reality, this unification can be achieved only around a true program for a country, freed of the limits imposed by the Canadian political system. This historic agreement creates a new pole of unification for all those who are resolutely committed to this course. The unified party will be called Quebec solidaire. Programmatic Issues The QS program on accession to independence is to be amended as proposed in Appendix 1 hereto. For the party program to fully reflect ONs contribution, five proposals from the ON program will be included in the electoral platform to be addressed by QS in December 2017. The congress following the 2018 election will, in addition to adopting the partys program on national defense, as provided by last Mays QS congress, will review the entire program with particular (but not exclusive) attention to aligning it with the ON program. Political actions The unified party will continue its participation in OUI-Quebec when it resumes its proceedings. In the 2018 general [Quebec] election, the party spokespersons will support three candidates for nomination from ON, including at least one woman. One of these candidates will be the present leader of ON, who will be supported in contesting one of the 9 ridings considered most favourable by partys election committee among those not already held by QS. This arrangement will be implemented by a mediation committee formed of ON and QS members and concerned local associations. In the 2018 general election, the unified party will present (a) a financial framework for the process of accession to independence, including the establishment of the Constituent Assembly; (b) a financial analysis showing the financial viability of an independent Quebec. And these documents will be developed by consulting economists designated by ON. Finally, the Canadian colonial regime will be ranked equal in importance with neoliberalism in the unified partys public communications. Organizational adjustments ON will become a collective within QS. Its present funds will be integrated with the partys but may be used to fund initiatives of the ON collective provided the executive first approves, until the 2018 election. The ON collective will have two positions on the national coordinating committee (a woman and a man) guaranteed for two years. QS will hire one person designated by the ON collective, who will enjoy the same conditions of employment as other employees of the party. A committee will be established to advise and accompany ON and QS associations in their fusion process. Local, regional and campus QS associations must be fully functional as associations of the unified party no later than the end of April 2018 to ensure full participation of ON members in deliberations of the unified QS national council to be held next spring. Every effort will be made to ensure that national commissions, theme commissions and working committees include members of ON who wish to participate. Promotion of independence The ON collective will organize a university on independence in the spring of 2018. ON funds may be used to finance this event. The ON collective may organize this event each year, inasmuch as it is self-financed. The unified party will work closely with the ON collective to ensure that party members have available material promoting independence on a permanent basis, including the republication, reprinting and development of the Livre qui fait dire oui [the Book that leads to a yes], within the budgetary constraints of the party. The unified party will feature the current ON leader in its public communications and activities concerning the issues surrounding the independence of Quebec, and in particular in public presentations on the matter. Appendix 1 The Quebec solidaire program concerning accession to independence will be amended as follows. All amendments are underlined or crossed out . The Quebec nation and Canadian federalism () Amendment 1 Canadian federalism cannot fundamentally be reformed. Quebec cannot possibly obtain all the powers it desires, not to mention those that would be needed for the profound changes proposed by Quebec solidaire. A Quebec solidaire government will therefore implement the measures provided in its program irrespective of whether or not they are compatible with the Canadian constitutional framework. () A Constituent Assembly Amendment 2 A Quebec solidaire government will propose, at the earliest opportunity , the adoption of a law on the Constituent Assembly defining its mandate, its composition and its process. Amendment 3 This law will declare the independence of the Constituent Assembly from the Quebec National Assembly and provide mechanisms to allow and promote the free expression of all tendencies within the Constituent Assembly and in the public debate surrounding the process. The Constituent Assembly, an affirmation of popular sovereignty, will simultaneously reaffirm the sovereignty peculiar to the indigenous nations. The Quebec National Assembly will invite these nations to join in this democratic exercise by whatever means they decide, including, if this is their wish, granting them a major place in the very framework of the Constituent Assembly. Existing text Amended text Amendment 4 source Congress 2016-11.04 The mandate of the Constituent Assembly will be to develop a Quebec constitution specifying the values, rights and principles on which our common life is to be based, and defining its status, its institutions, powers, responsibilities and resources that are delegated to them. The mandate of the Constituent Assembly will be to develop a draft constitution of an independent Quebec , specifying the values, rights and principles on which our common life is to be based, and defining its status, its institutions, powers, responsibilities and resources that are delegated to them. The Constituent Assembly will be elected by universal suffrage and will be composed of an equal number of women and men. The voting procedure will ensure proportional representation of the tendencies and the various socio-economic walks of life present within Quebec society. In the election of this Constituent Assembly, candidates of all means and origins shall be allowed equitable access to the means of communication. Members of the National Assembly may not be elected to the Constituent Assembly, as participation in it requires that they be available on a full-time basis. After the election of the Constituent Assembly, it will have the responsibility and the means to conduct an extensive process of participative democracy aimed at consulting the people of Quebec concerning their political and constitutional future as well as the values and political institutions pertaining to it. Pursuant to the results of this process which shall be publicized and which the Constituent Assembly will be obliged to take into account the Assembly will develop a draft constitution. The court will have its full complement of judges after three years. Font size: A - | A + President Andrej Kiska will appoint the three missing Constitutional Court justices on December 14. As a result, the court will be ready to operate with its full complement of judges (13) after more than three years. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement With his decision, the president is responding to the earlier Constitutional Court ruling that ordered him to appoint three of the seven candidates selected by parliament. Kiska will appoint two long-term politicians from the Smer party, Jana Lassakova and Mojmir Mamojka, and notary Miroslav Duris, the Sme daily reported. I will accept the loss of one battle in order to continue the fight for a better judiciary, Kiska said, as quoted by Sme. At the same time, he described the ruling, issued by the senate composed of Peter Brnak, Milan Lalik and Marianna Mochnacova, as one of the worst decisions, which was made arbitrarily and is full of formal and factual errors as well as contempt for the constitution. Kiska, however, decided to end the dispute with the constitutional court, which has lasted for more than three years, as he saw no other solution. Expert questions the ruling The Constitutional Court ordered the president to also approve those candidates who did not complain about his decision not to appoint any parliamentary candidates to the court: Imrich Volkai and Mojmir Mamojka. Kamil Baranik from Comenius Universitys Faculty of Law criticised the order, claiming that the court should have decided only on people who had turned to it. Read also: Read also: Kiska must select constitutional judges but he has run out of options Read more The senate does not have the power to issue such an order, Baranik explained to Sme. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robert Fico called on Kiska on December 11 to appoint the judges before Christmas. He is responsible for the Constitutional Court not having all its judges and not dealing with the agenda as it should, Fico said, as quoted by Sme, referring to the fact the court has to operate with only 10 judges at the moment. If Kiska did not do anything in the matter, rumour had it he might have been sued for inactivity. Such a lawsuit can be filed by parliament but only if it is supported by the constitutional majority (which means 90 MPs). Fico already said he would not initiate it, Sme wrote. Selection of judges will change Responding to the current decision, opposition MP Jan Budaj (Ordinary People and Independent Personalities) said that it is necessary to change the law concerning the selection of constitutional judges. The reason is that in 2018 another nine justices will have to be replaced. Without the changes, there will be a risk that the Constitutional Court will be of one-colour, Budaj said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska is now responsible for preparing the new rules. Zitnanska (Most-Hid) responded that she respects Kiskas decision and that it is similarly necessary to respect the situation after the verdict by the Constitutional Court was issued. The deadlock at the court is now over, the minister wrote in her Facebook post. Im ready to do everything necessary to have the next election of constitutional justices in 2018 follow the new rules. The driver will have to pay 200 for breaking several rules applied to taxi drivers. Font size: A - | A + A person driving without permission for the company Uber received the first ever valid fine. He will have to pay 200, as stems from the ruling issued by the district court in Bratislava. The court doubled the original fine imposed by the city of Bratislava, the SITA newswire reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The district court delivered the decision on October 12, and it became effective on October 16. The city of Bratislava fined the driver back in August, with the local police officers, who stopped the vehicle in the Petrzalka borough, claiming that he did not have his vehicle marked properly. The vehicle was missing the yellow roof lamp with the inscription Taxi, the district court wrote in the ruling, as quoted by SITA, adding there was neither the name of the taxi service provider on doors or the basic fare. Read also: Read also: Dissatisfied taxi drivers hit Bratislava streets, again Read more The car also lacked a fixed taximeter that issues confirmation about the fee payable. In addition, the driver did not have any confirmation of being a taxi driver and ran a taxi service without permission, SITA reported. The driver also failed to show confirmation of the regular medical and psychological check that is required from taxi drivers. He kept repeating he was working for Uber. We can only say that to drive for Uber is providing a taxi service and the same rules that are applied to taxi drivers apply here, said the Civil Association of Licensed Taxi Drivers, which was the first to inform about the fine, as quoted by SITA. His decision on whether to explain his official address to the Slovak parliamentary committee is voluntarily. Font size: A - | A + The chairman of the coalition Slovak National Party/SNS and Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko is not obligated to attend a session of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee to explain the speech that he delivered at the Russian State Duma, according to a resolution approved by the constitutional committee on December 12. He could do so on a voluntary basis, though. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Danko asked the constitutional committee to decide on the matter after the foreign committee's attempt to summon him for an explanation. Why Danko is not accountable to the foreign committee Neither the Slovak Constitution, nor the Rules of Procedure imply an obligation of the parliamentary speaker to attend a committee session, constitutional committee chairman Robert Madej (ruling Smer party) said, as quoted by TASR. Therefore, the resolution passed by the foreign affairs committee cannot be interpreted as binding for the chairman. Back in November, Danko declared that the resolution of the foreign committee is not in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, but added that he would oblige anyway. Ever since I returned from Russia, I've noticed polarised views among the public, and this committee resolution is one of the results of that debate, Danko opined then. There's no legal way to oblige a speaker of parliament to engage in such a task, but there's no need to respond to a bad decision in a bad way. So, I'll either summon the committee members or go to the session and explain to them how important it is not to have a black and white lens [in foreign policy]. What did Danko say? During his visit to Russia, Danko gave a speech to the Russian parliament on November 15, hailing the country and describing it as a state that courted and was visited by top global politicians, a pillar of global peace and able to solve issues through a correct dialogue. He did not consult about the address with the Foreign Ministry, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak noted, as cited by the Sme daily. Let's stop attacking Americans one minute and Russians the next; let's stop the bickering and polarisation, Danko said, adding that the train of economic cooperation with Russia is about to leave the station so there is a need to initiate further visits to Russia. Danko cited, according to TASR, Czech President Milos Zeman as a role model worthy of emulation, as Zeman is received by heads of state in the USA, China and Russia. As for Russia's annexation of Crimea, Danko declared that the post-World-War-II order should be maintained. But I'm not a historian to say yes or no, he said. The committee opted to summon Danko to its session following a vote by opposition MPs who enjoy a majority in this committee. They wanted to hear an explanation for why Danko's views diverge from the official ones of the Foreign Ministry. The Committee's coalition members, including committee chair Frantisek Sebej (coalition Most-Hid party), voted against. Sebej expressed criticism of Danko's speech to the Duma and even the visit to Russia itself, via the media several days ago but he pointed out that the Rules of Procedure do not empower committees to summon other representatives of parliament to their sessions for questioning, TASR wrote. This option can be used only against the government. Nearly 45,000 fake products found by customs officials in Dunajska Streda that violated the intellectual property rights were meant for the Czech market. Font size: A - | A + When checking a container in Dunajska Streda heading to the Czech Republic, customs officials discovered almost 45,000 imitations among goods from China on December 12. They discovered that the container included goods that were not declared in official documents. After a thorough physical inspection, suspicion of violations of intellectual property concerning the trademarks Smurf, Prada, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Minions, Pokemon, Minecraft and others arose. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Overall, customs officials seized 31,148 toys, 5,600 cigarette lighters, and 7,740 handbag tags. The estimated damage that might have arisen form the sale of these fakes as original products was calculated at about 700,000, the spokesperson of the Trnava Customs Office, Iveta Zlochova, told the TASR newswire. What will the next steps be? Officials informed the representatives of the trademarks, who confirmed the goods are imitations. Now representatives will decide on further steps. They can opt for the goods to be destroyed, or a lawsuit for faking the trademarks. Anyone who violates the law on the protection of intellectual property by customs authorities can receive a fine from the Customs Office, between 3,000 and 67,000, due to the relevance and type of violation. A repeated violation can result in a fine of up to 135,000, Zlochova explained. Officials also warn against the risk of buying fake goods before Christmas. The risk is biggest when it comes to toys and childrens goods. These can be dangerous for health due to the materials used, the spokesperson summed up for TASR. Analysts call for faster consolidation of public finances Font size: A - | A + Slovakia is enjoying robust growth in its economy. In spite of this, the Robert Fico government pushed through parliament another deficit budget and again, postponed reaching a balanced deficit. The adopted budget is a glue for the ruling coalition, said Prime Minister Robert Fico after parliament adopted the law of the year, referring to the summer crisis in the ruling coalition of his Smer party, the Slovak National Party (SNS) and Most-Hid. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The crisis resulted in shaping another social package, which includes measures sponsored by individual coalition parties like the 13th and 14th salaries, the increase of the minimum wage, the exemption of working pensioners from the payment of income taxes, as well as an increase in bonuses for night, weekend and holiday work. Since several of these measures are waiting to be incorporated into Slovak legislation, their impact on public finances is still unclear. Read also: Read also: Minister Kazimir presents a new budget Read more Analysts criticise the government for too slow consolidation of public finances. The budget is a wasted opportunity, said Robert Vlachynsky, analyst with the economic think-tank INESS. The budget The adopted state budget projects revenues of 13.983 billion and expenditures of 15.956 billion, leaving a deficit of 1.973 billion next year. The basis for calculating the budget was a macro-economic prognosis foreseeing the national economy as growing by 4.2 percent in 2018. Behind the acceleration of the economys growth is mostly the planned production launch in car plants and the related growth of exports. The following companies are subsidiares of NRG Energy: 3279405 Nova Scotia Company, 3283764 Nova Scotia Company, 7549709 Canada Inc., 7644868 Canada Inc., 7711565 Canada Inc., AC Solar Holdings LLC, Ace Energy Inc., Agua Caliente Borrower 1 LLC, Agua Caliente Solar Holdings LLC, Agua Caliente Solar LLC, Allied Home Warranty GP LLC, Allied Warranty LLC, Arthur Kill Gas Turbines LLC, Arthur Kill Power LLC, Astoria Gas Turbine Power LLC, Bayou Cove Peaking Power LLC, Beheer-en Beleggingsmaatschappij Plogema B.V., Berrians I Gas Turbine Power LLC, BidURenergy Inc., Big Cajun I Peaking Power LLC, Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC, Bluewater Wind Maryland LLC, Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy LLC, Boquillas Wind LLC, Cabrillo Power I LLC, Cabrillo Power II LLC, Camino Energy LLC, Carbon Management Solutions LLC, Carlsbad Energy Center LLC, Carlsbad Energy Holdings LLC, Chester Energy LLC, Chickahominy River Energy Corp., Cirro Energy Services Inc., Cirro Group Inc., Citizens Power Holdings One LLC, Commonwealth Atlantic Power LLC, Connecticut Jet Power LLC, Cottonwood Development LLC, Cottonwood Energy Company LP, Cottonwood Generating Partners I LLC, Cottonwood Generating Partners II LLC, Cottonwood Generating Partners III LLC, Cottonwood Technology Partners LP, Delaware Power Development LLC, Devon Power LLC, Doga Enerji Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Doga Isi Satis Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Doga Isletme ve Bakim Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Dunkirk Gas Corporation, Dunkirk Power LLC, EHI Development Fund LLC, EME Eastern Holdings LLC, EVgo Services LLC, Eastern Sierra Energy Company LLC, Ecokap Power LLC, El Segundo Energy Center II LLC, El Segundo Power II LLC, El Segundo Power LLC, Elkhorn Ridge Wind II LLC, Energy Alternatives Wholesale LLC, Energy Choice Solutions LLC, Energy Curtailment Specialists, Energy Plus Holdings LLC, Energy Plus Natural Gas LLC, Energy Protection Insurance Company, Everything Energy LLC, Forward Home Security LLC, GCP Funding Company LLC, GenOn Energy, Geostellar Inc., Gladstone Power Station Joint Venture, Goal Zero, Goal Zero Europe GmbH, Goal Zero LLC, Granite II Holding LLC, Granite Power Partners II L.P., Green Mountain Energy, Green Mountain Energy Company, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, Gregory Partners LLC, Gregory Power Partners LLC, Hanover Energy Company, Huntley IGCC LLC, Huntley Power LLC, Independence Energy Alliance LLC, Independence Energy Group LLC, Independence Energy Natural Gas LLC, Indian River Operations Inc., Indian River Power LLC, Intellastar LLC, Ivanpah Master Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project I Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project II Holdings LLC, Ivanpah Project III Holdings LLC, James River Power LLC, Kaufman Cogen LP, LSP-Nelson Energy LLC, Long Beach Generation LLC, Long Beach Peakers LLC, Long Beach Power LLC, Louisiana Generating LLC, MEC Esenyurt B.V., MEC San Pascual B.V., Maplekey UK Finance Limited, Maplekey UK Limited, Meriden Gas Turbines LLC, Middletown Power LLC, Midway-Sunset Cogeneration Company, Midwest Finance Company LLC, Midwest Generation EME LLC, Midwest Generation Holdings I LLC, Midwest Generation Holdings II LLC, Midwest Generation LLC, Midwest Generation Procurement Services LLC, Midwest Peaker Holdings LLC, Mission Bingham Lake Wind LLC, Mission Del Cielo LLC, Mission Energy Construction Services LLC, Mission Energy Holdings International LLC, Mission Energy Wales LLC, Mission Funding Zeta LLC, Mission Midway-Sunset Holdings LLC, Mission Midwest Coal LLC, Mission Minnesota Wind LLC, Mission Watson Holdings LLC, Mission Wind Boquillas LLC, Mission Wind New Mexico II LLC, Mission Wind Owaissa LLC, Mission Wind Pinnacle LLC, Mission del Sol LLC, Montville IGCC LLC, Montville Power LLC, NEO Chester-Gen LLC, NEO Corporation, NRG Acquisition Holdings Inc., NRG Advisory Services LLC, NRG Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Alexandria LLC, NRG Arroyo Nogales LLC, NRG Arthur Kill Operations Inc., NRG Asia-Pacific Ltd., NRG Astoria Gas Turbine Operations Inc., NRG Astoria Power LLC, NRG Audrain Generating LLC, NRG Audrain Holding LLC, NRG Bayou Cove LLC, NRG Berrians East Development LLC, NRG Bluewater Holdings LLC, NRG Bluewater Wind Massachusetts LLC, NRG Bourbonnais Equipment LLC, NRG Bourbonnais LLC, NRG Brazoria Energy LLC, NRG Business Services LLC, NRG CTA Holdings LLC, NRG Cabrillo Power Operations Inc., NRG Cadillac Inc., NRG Cadillac Operations Inc., NRG California Peaker Operations LLC, NRG Capital II LLC, NRG Carbon 360 LLC, NRG Cedar Bayou Development Company LLC, NRG Chalk Point CT LLC, NRG CleanTech Investments LLC, NRG Coal Development Company LLC, NRG ComLease LLC, NRG Common Stock Finance I LLC, NRG Common Stock Finance II LLC, NRG Connected Home LLC, NRG Connecticut Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Connecticut Peaking Development LLC, NRG Construction LLC, NRG Cottonwood Tenant LLC, NRG Curtailment Solutions Canada Inc., NRG Curtailment Solutions Inc., NRG DG Development LLC, NRG Development Company Inc., NRG Devon Operations Inc., NRG Dispatch Services LLC, NRG Distributed Energy Resources Holdings LLC, NRG Distributed Generation PR LLC, NRG Dunkirk Operations Inc., NRG ECOKAP Holdings LLC, NRG ESA Joint Development LLC, NRG El Segundo Operations Inc., NRG Energy Center Eagles LLC, NRG Energy Center Oxnard LLC, NRG Energy Fuel LLC, NRG Energy Fuel Services LLC, NRG Energy Gas & Wind Holdings Inc., NRG Energy Holdings II Inc., NRG Energy Holdings Inc., NRG Energy Inc., NRG Energy Labor Services LLC, NRG Energy Petroleum LLC, NRG Energy Services Group LLC, NRG Energy Services International Inc., NRG Energy Services LLC, NRG Equipment Company LLC, NRG Fuel Cell CA1 LLC, NRG Fuel Resources LLC, NRG Fuel Transportation LLC, NRG GTL Holdings LLC, NRG Gas Development Company LLC, NRG Generation Holdings Inc., NRG Gladstone Operating Services Pty Ltd, NRG Granite Acquisition LLC, NRG Greenco LLC, NRG HQ DG LLC, NRG Holding Leasing Vehicle 7 LLC, NRG Home & Business Solutions LLC, NRG Home Services LLC, NRG Home Solutions LLC, NRG Home Solutions Product LLC, NRG Homer City Services LLC, NRG Huntley Operations Inc., NRG Identity Protect LLC, NRG Ilion LP LLC, NRG Ilion Limited Partnership, NRG Independence Solar LLC, NRG International LLC, NRG Kaufman LLC, NRG Latin America Inc., NRG Lease Co LLC, NRG Lease Development LLC, NRG Limestone 3 LLC, NRG Maintenance Services LLC, NRG Mesquite LLC, NRG Mextrans Inc., NRG MidAtlantic Affiliate Services Inc., NRG MidCon Development LLC, NRG Middletown Operations Inc., NRG Middletown Repowering LLC, NRG Midwest Holdings LLC, NRG Midwest II LLC, NRG Montville Operations Inc., NRG NE Development LLC, NRG Nelson Turbines LLC, NRG New Roads Holdings LLC, NRG NewGen LLC, NRG North Central Operations Inc., NRG Northeast Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Norwalk Harbor Operations Inc., NRG Ohio Pipeline Company LLC, NRG Operating Services Inc., NRG Oswego Harbor Power Operations Inc., NRG Oxbow Holdings LLC, NRG PacGen Inc., NRG Peaker Finance Company LLC, NRG Portable Power LLC, NRG Potrero Development LLC, NRG Power Marketing LLC, NRG Procurement Company LLC, NRG Project Company LLC, NRG Reliability Solutions LLC, NRG Renter's Protection LLC, NRG Repowering Holdings LLC, NRG Residential Solar Solutions LLC, NRG Residential Solar Solutions Leasing II LLC, NRG Retail LLC, NRG Retail Northeast LLC, NRG Rockford Acquisition LLC, NRG Rockford Equipment II LLC, NRG Rockford Equipment LLC, NRG Saguaro Operations Inc., NRG Security LLC, NRG Services Corporation, NRG Sherbino LLC, NRG SimplySmart Solutions LLC, NRG Solar Arrowhead LLC, NRG Solar CVSR Holdings 2 LLC, NRG Solar Dandan LLC, NRG Solar Guam LLC, NRG Solar Ivanpah LLC, NRG Solar Ring LLC, NRG Solar SC Stadium LLC, NRG Solar Sunrise LLC, NRG South Central Affiliate Services Inc., NRG South Central Generating LLC, NRG South Central Operations Inc., NRG South Texas LP, NRG Sterlington Power LLC, NRG Storage Fabrication & Delivery LLC, NRG Storage on Demand NY LLC, NRG SunCap Leasing I LLC, NRG Telogia Power LLC, NRG Texas C&I Supply LLC, NRG Texas Gregory LLC, NRG Texas Holding Inc., NRG Texas LLC, NRG Texas Power LLC, NRG Texas Retail LLC, NRG Trading Advisors LLC, NRG Transmission Holdings LLC, NRG ULC Parent Inc., NRG Victoria I Pty Ltd, NRG Warranty Services LLC, NRG West Coast LLC, NRG Western Affiliate Services Inc., NRG Wind Development Company LLC, NRG Wind Force LLC, NRG Wind LLC, NRG dGen Advisory Services LLC, NRGenerating German Holdings GmbH, NRGenerating International B.V., NRGenerating Luxembourg (No. 1) S.a.r.l., NRGenerating Luxembourg (No. 2) S.a.r.l., New Genco GP LLC, New Jersey Power Development LLC, Norwalk Power LLC, O'Brien Cogeneration Inc. II, ONSITE Energy Inc., One Block Off The Grid Inc., Oswego Harbor Power LLC, Pacific Generation Company, Petra Nova CCS I LLC, Petra Nova Holdings LLC, Petra Nova LLC, Petra Nova Parish Holdings LLC, Petra Nova Power I LLC, Pure Energies Group, Pure Energies Group ULC, Pure Energies Installation Inc., Pure Energies Solar Services Inc., Pure Group Inc., RDI Consulting LLC, RERH Holdings LLC, Reliant Charitable Foundation, Reliant Energy, Reliant Energy Northeast LLC, Reliant Energy Power Supply LLC, Reliant Energy Retail Holdings LLC, Reliant Energy Retail Services LLC, Restoration Design LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar Holdings LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar and Electric LLC, Roof Diagnostics Solar and Electric of NY LLC, Saguaro Power Company a Limited Partnership, Saguaro Power LLC, San Gabriel Energy LLC, San Joaquin Energy LLC, San Juan Energy LLC, San Pascual Cogeneration Company International B.V., Sherbino I Wind Farm LLC, Solar Partners I LLC, Solar Partners II LLC, Solar Partners VIII LLC, Solar Power Partners, Solar Pure Energies ULC, Somerset Operations Inc., Somerset Power LLC, South Texas Wind LLC, Station A LLC, Sunrise Power Company LLC, Sunshine State Power (No. 2) B.V., Sunshine State Power B.V., TCV Pipeline LLC, Tacoma Energy Recovery Company, Taloga Wind II LLC, Texas Coastal Ventures LLC, Texas Genco GP LLC, Texas Genco Holdings, Texas Genco Holdings Inc., Texas Genco LP LLC, Texas Genco Services LP, US Retailers LLC, Valle Del Sol Energy LLC, Vienna Operations Inc., Vienna Power LLC, WCP (Generation) Holdings LLC, Watson Cogeneration Company, West Coast Power LLC, XOOM Alberta Holdings LLC, XOOM British Columbia Holdings LLC, XOOM Energy BC ULC, XOOM Energy California LLC, XOOM Energy Canada ULC, XOOM Energy Connecticut LLC, XOOM Energy Delaware LLC, XOOM Energy Georgia LLC, XOOM Energy Global Holdings LLC, XOOM Energy Illinois LLC, XOOM Energy Indiana LLC, XOOM Energy Kentucky LLC, XOOM Energy LLC, XOOM Energy Maine LLC, XOOM Energy Maryland LLC, XOOM Energy Massachusetts LLC, XOOM Energy Michigan LLC, XOOM Energy New Hampshire LLC, XOOM Energy New Jersey LLC, XOOM Energy New York LLC, XOOM Energy ONT ULC, XOOM Energy Ohio LLC, XOOM Energy Pennsylvania LLC, XOOM Energy Rhode Island LLC, XOOM Energy Texas LLC, XOOM Energy Virginia LLC, XOOM Energy Washington D.C. LLC, XOOM Ontario Holdings LLC, XOOM Solar LLC, and eV2g LLC. Read More Rajasthan Police has imposed Section 144 and suspended internet services after Hindu groups announced that they will hold a rally in support of Rajasmand killer. By India Today Web Desk: In another turn of events, Rajasthan Police today imposed Section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code in Rajsamand and Udaipur district. Section 144 was clamped after some Hindu organizations announced a rally in support of Shambhu Raigar, who brutally murdered a Muslim man and filmed the act over love jihad. On Wednesday, the Udaipur Police issued a notice stating that it has imposed section 144 as some Hindu groups were planning to holdia rally that could compromise the safety of other citizens and may lead to communal clashes in the region. advertisement The police have said that they have temporarily suspended telecom services. The police have announced that it has temporarily suspended 2G/3G/4G Data, internet services, bulk sms/MMS/WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other social media services. The internet services are likely to resume after 24 hours. The note also asked citizens to stay vigilant and alert the police if anyone broke the law. Notification issued by Udaipur Police. Notification issued by Udaipur Police. On December 7, the incident came to light where Raigar was seen assaulting a man with a sharp-edged weapon and later dousing him with an inflammable liquid and setting him on fire. was also seen saying that anybody who indulges in love jihad will be met with same fate. The horrific incident sent shock waves across the nation. The Rajasthan Police later arrested Raigar and said that he committed the crime after being angered over an incident of exploitation of women from his village in the past. Watch | Viral Video: Man burnt to death to 'save girl from love jihad' in Rajasthan --- ENDS --- DTE Energy Company engages in the utility operations. The company's Electric segment generates, purchases, distributes, and sells electricity to approximately 2.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity through fossil-fuel, hydroelectric pumped storage, and nuclear plants, as well as wind and other renewable assets. This segment owns and operates approximately 698 distribution substations and 449,800 line transformers. The company's Gas segment purchases, stores, transports, distributes, and sells natural gas to approximately 1.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan; and sells storage and transportation capacity. This segment has approximately 20,000 miles of distribution mains; 1,304,000 service pipelines; and 1,305,000 active meters, as well as owns approximately 2,000 miles of transmission pipelines. The company's Power and Industrial Projects segment offers metallurgical coke; pulverized coal and petroleum coke to the steel, pulp and paper, and other industries; and power, steam and chilled water production, and wastewater treatment services, as well as supplies compressed air to industrial customers. Its Energy Trading segment engages in power, natural gas, and environmental marketing and trading; structured transactions; and the optimization of contracted natural gas pipeline transportation and storage positions. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. According to a Science Channel promo, scientific analysis shows that rocks on a sandbar between southern Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka are 7,000 years old. But the sand beneath it? It gets interesting. Read on. Adam's Bridge, which many believe is the 'Rama Setu' built by a vaanar sena. Dhanushkodi is thought to be the place where the Hindu god Rama ordered the construction of the bridge. (Image courtesy: Google Maps) By India Today Web Desk: Is a there a man-made land bridge between the southern coast of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka? Is there scientific evidence that supports the idea of a 'Rama Setu' - the bridge that millions of Hindus believe was built by a vaanar sena? Well, according to a Science Channel promo, scientific analysis shows that rocks on a sandbar between southern Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka - said to have been the demon king Raavan's kingdom - are 7,000 years old. But the sand itself is only four millenia old. advertisement "These results suggest the structure in the satellite image isn't natural, but built by humans. Some scholars believe the ancient text referred to a time 5,000 years. At this time in history, building such a bridge would have been a superhuman achievement," the video explains. "The rocks on top of the sand actually pre-date the sand. So there's more to the story," archeologist Chelsea Rose says in the video. "There are stones that have been brought from afar and set on top of our sand bar island chain," geologist Alan Lester says. Now before you run to your phone to break the news to a friend, here's a caveat: this information isn't exactly new. In 2007, Congress leader and then union minister of state, Kapil Sibal said that there is no scientific evidence to prove Rama Setu is man-made but argued that one should respect the faith people have. The stretch of sand and rock between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka has a name: Adam's Bridge. And as an India Today report noted last year, "..no one really knows if this is the Ram Setu, but satellite pictures taken over time, and a recent image released by NASA have confirmed that the a stretch of land formation visible between Dhanushkodi and the Sri Lankan mainland is certainly man-made." Here's the Science Channels' promo. Are the ancient Hindu myths of a land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka true? Scientific analysis suggests they are. #WhatonEarth pic.twitter.com/EKcoGzlEET- Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 11, 2017 --- ENDS --- The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property. The Personal Lines segment writes insurance for personal autos and recreational vehicles (RV). This segment's products include personal auto insurance; and special lines products, including insurance for motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, watercrafts, snowmobiles, and related products. The Commercial Lines segment provides auto-related primary liability and physical damage insurance, and business-related general liability and property insurance for autos, vans, pick-up trucks, and dump trucks used by small businesses; tractors, trailers, and straight trucks primarily used by regional general freight and expeditor-type businesses, and long-haul operators; dump trucks, log trucks, and garbage trucks used by dirt, sand and gravel, logging, and coal-type businesses; and tow trucks and wreckers used in towing services and gas/service station businesses; as well as non-fleet and airport taxis, and black-car services. The Property segment writes residential property insurance for homeowners, other property owners, and renters, as well as offers personal umbrella insurance, and primary and excess flood insurance. The company also offers policy issuance and claims adjusting services; and acts as an agent to homeowner general liability, workers' compensation insurance, and other products. In addition, it provides reinsurance services. The company sells its products through independent insurance agencies, as well as directly on Internet through mobile devices, and over the phone. The Progressive Corporation was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Mayfield, Ohio. Total Energy Services Inc. provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry primarily in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Contract Drilling Services, Rentals and Transportation Services, Compression and Process Services and Well Servicing. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers contract drilling services to oil and gas exploration and development companies. As of December 31, 2021, it operated a total fleet of 95 drilling rigs. The Rentals and Transportation Services segment provides drilling, completion and production rental equipment, and oilfield transportation services in western Canada and in the United States. This segment owned and operated a fleet of 79 heavy trucks. The Compression and Process Services segment offers gas compression services; and designs and packages skid style compressors and proprietary trailer-mounted compressors under the NOMAD brand in Canada and the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Mexico. It had 53,800 horsepower of compression in its rental fleet. The Well Servicing segment offers well services. This segment operated a total fleet of 83 well servicing rigs across Western Canada, mid-western United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. A Vietnamese silk brand popular with both local and international customers has been found to use no silk at all, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Tuesday. The trade ministry has completed its inspection of Khai Duc Co. Ltd., which owns the Khaisilk brand, and has discovered numerous violations by the company. The case file has been transferred to police to verify the alleged criminal offenses, according to the ministry. Khai Duc Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Khaisilk Group, owned by local tycoon Hoang Khai, who is also known as Khai Silk. The popular silk brand made headlines in October, after a customer found a Khaisilk scarf, purchased from a store in Hanoi, carrying both a Made in China and a Made in Vietnam label. Hoang Khai was later forced to admit that half of his scarves were sourced from China and falsely sold using made-in-Vietnam labels. A Khaisilk scarf found with both the 'Made in China' and 'Made in Vietnam' labels. Khai Silk has made no further comment while an inspection by the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been underway. The inspections conclusion, released on Tuesday, has left local consumers shocked, as the company apparently did not source its products from China, and its silk merchandise did not seem to be made from silk. No silk in Khaisilk According to the trade ministry, while the company markets its products as made of 100 percent silk, tests have found that some of the samples contained no silk at all. The company has also violated laws in terms of tax, receipt management, product labeling and origin. The ministry underlined that Khaisilks brand owner has concealed information, or provided insufficient, inaccurate or misleading information regarding its products to consumers. A Khaisilk store in Ho Chi Minh City is seen in this photo posted on the company's Facebook page. The company has allegedly mixed products of various origins with its made-in-Vietnam stock, but failed to keep consumers informed of the true origin of the merchandise. According to customs data, Khai Duc imported fashion products from Thailand and China between 2006 and 2009, but no such importation was recorded between 2009 and October 15, 2017. The Khaisilk brand owner had also stopped outsourcing silk products from local manufacturers since 2012. Instead, the company sourced ready-to-use products from other stores and shops in Vietnam and replaced their labels with either the Khaisilk, Khaisilk cach dieu or Khaisilk Made in Vietnam labels before putting them on sale through its chain. In the October scandal, Khaisilk was found to have removed the Made in China labels from Chinese products and replace them with Made in Vietnam ones. Hoang Khai has deactivated his Facebook page and disappeared from the public eye, and Khaisilks outlets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have all been shut down. Market surveillance officer are seen at a Khaisilk store in Hanoi. Photo: Tuoi Tre The scandal has disappointed many Vietnamese who long favored what they believed to be a strong Vietnamese brand. Khaisilk scarves and ties were previously considered premium gifts for Vietnamese businesspeople and diplomats who chose to give to their prestigious guests or partners, and even world leaders. According to Phu Nu Online news website, among the famous customers of Khaisilk products are former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Anna, Janette Howard, wife of former Australian prime minister John Howard and former U.S. president Bill Clinton. These public figures all chose Khaisilk when they were in Hanoi to attend the 2006 APEC Leaders Week. A woman walks past a closed Khaisilk store in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The decision was announced on Tuesday by Le The Chu, Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre, as he addressed a crowd of hundreds who had gathered at the White Palace convention center in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the first-ever Pho Day. The event, co-sponsored by Tuoi Tre and Japanese-invested instant noodle maker Acecook, treated visitors to a history of the dish and everything one needs to know about making pho as well as the dishs significance in Vietnamese culture. Tuoi Tre has made an official proposal to relevant authorities to recognize December 12 as the Day of Pho, according to the editor-in-chief. At Tuesdays event, the newspaper was granted the certificate of intellectual property over the logo of the event, which reads "Ngay cua Pho" in Vietnamese and "Day of Pho" in English. The logo of Day of Pho The Journey of Pho. Clip: Tuoi Tre Though debates rage on the correct way of enjoying pho, a typical bowl should consist of broth, rice noodles, herbs and meat, primarily made of beef or chicken, served steaming hot and eaten with chopsticks. Widely believed to have originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam, pho has since been popularized throughout the country and the rest of the world thanks to its crowd-pleasing taste and superior nutritious value. The steps of making pho is displayed at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre At Tuesdays event, a gallery walk themed The Journey of Pho offered visitors a brief look at the history of the iconic Vietnamese soup since its inception and subsequent spread across Vietnam and the world. Chefs from the countrys most famous pho houses were invited to cook in different styles for visitors to enjoy for free. Over 2,000 bowls of pho were served during the event, with both seasoned pho eaters and first-timers praising the irresistible taste of the cuisine. Nicki, a UK national from Brighton, England, said she had never tasted such a delicious pho her whole life despite living close to five pho restaurants in her hometown. A family enjoy at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre I love Vietnamese pho It has become a habit for Kajiwara Junichi, general director of Acecook Vietnam, to break the ice with his Vietnamese business partners and friends by exclaiming his passion for pho. I love Vietnamese pho, the Acecook executive told us as he began recalling the companys decades-long relationship with Vietnamese rice and its products. When Junichi first came to Vietnam in 1993 to launch Acecook, the companys first product two years later was instant pho made from wheat flour. Having since grown into a major food manufacturer in Vietnam, Acecook has never lost its interest in pho nor stopped exploring new technologies to produce instant products that can retain the essence of the delicacy. Junichis tireless work paid off in 2006, when Acecook finally managed to produce instant pho from rice flour, transforming its flavor into the closest it had ever been to traditional pho. Le The Chu (R), Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, chats with Kajiwara Junichi, general director of Acecook Vietnam, at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre When you export rice as rice, there is no added value, but if you export a rice-derived product such as pho noodles, the value can be increased by three to five times, Junichi said. According to the general director, Acecooks instant pho products are now exported to 42 countries all over the world, accounting for ten percent of the companys total exports. Each year the firm uses 20,000 metric tons of Vietnamese rice to produce a range of food products, with combined revenue of VND1.5 trillion (US$66.08 million) in 2017. Kajiwara Junichi (L), general director of Acecook Vietnam, enjoy pho at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Beyond pho Nguyen Quoc Ky, chairman of the Vietnam Cuisine Culture Association, said that despite the country being among worlds leading rice exporters, the value of Vietnamese rice had yet to be fully recognized and invested accordingly. An official survey of six foreign countries with high Vietnamese populations found that over 1,600 Vietnamese restaurants were in operation, most of which sell pho. Unofficial statistics claim there to be over 10,000 Vietnamese restaurants worldwide, Ky said, highlighting the increasing popularity of Vietnamese cuisine and pho. With such an extensive network of restaurants, the value of Vietnamese rice would be tremendous if we knew how to invest in it properly, he concluded. A chef demonstrates the traditional way of making pho noodles at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Phan Ton Tinh Hai, a respected Vietnamese chef and culinary expert who was part of the panel of judges for televised cooking show MasterChef Vietnam, attributed phos worldwide popularity to its adaptability to different cultures and cooking styles. I have cooked and taught many foreigners to cook pho, she said. Everybody can make a delicious pho if you put your heart into it. Each bowl of pho is a story and a history of its own. A chef prepares pho at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre A visitor tries grinding rice into flour at the first Day of Pho event in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Nguyen Quoc Ky (R), chairman of Vietnam Cuisine Culture Association, presents Le The Chu, Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, with a certificate of intellectual property over the logo of Day of Pho at the event's first edition in Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Government sources have been quoted as saying 10 ASEAN nation leaders will attend the Republic Day celebrations in January. India's next Republic Day parade will be attended by 10 chief guests, according to government sources (File photo: PTI) By India Today Web Desk: Ten leaders of ASEAN countries will take part in the January 26 Republic Day celebrations as chief guests, news agency ANI quoting sources in the government reported today. To underline India's focus on its South-East Asian neighbours, sources said an ASEAN-India tableau will be part of the Republic Day parade on Rajpath in New Delhi. Moreover, artists from ASEAN nations will also perform during the Ramayana festival to be held in New Delhi in January. advertisement Addressing the 15th India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held in Manila last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that 1.25 billion people of India were keen to welcome the ASEAN leaders as the chief guests at next year's Republic Day Celebrations. India has favoured working with the ASEAN for a joint fight against terrorism and violent extremism, and has called for a rules-based regional security architecture. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and the Philippines are members of the ASEAN. --- ENDS --- A Vietnamese book company will celebrate Christmas with a special event whereby titles will be sold by weight, but not all booklovers are happy with the idea. During the Year-end Book Hot Pot event, running from December 15 to 17 in Hanoi, Alpha Books will sell 25 metric tons of books not by the price on their back covers, but by weight, the book company said on Monday. The books, of all genres from economics and business administration to self-help and sciences, will be available at a fixed rate of VND88,000 (US$3.9) per kilogram. The event will also give 1,000 books collectively worth VND1 billion [$44,053] to lucky visitors, and offer 2,000 titles at a 50 percent discount. The idea of selling books by weight and associating them with a hot pot, a soup made with various ingredients, has sparked mixed responses from local bookworms. The event poster on Facebook Making books cheap? Some are looking forward to attending the event as it is a chance for them to buy books cheaply, while others have raised their eyebrows at it, with selling books by weight considered a devaluation of books by some people, especially as books are still deemed a source of knowledge. Doesnt it sound like selling old, unused books as scrap paper? one wrote on Facebook user, while others criticized describing books as a hot pot, even though books are considered food for thought. Other critics say the event, which is intended to empty the companys stock by year-end, cheapens books, exacerbating the sad reality that on average Vietnamese read only one book a year. People choose discounted books at an event. Photo: Tuoi Tre However, many still support the idea, saying books are after all a commodity, and should be treated as any other goods. The value of a book is decided by one who owns it, a reader named Nguyen Thanh Tuan Kiet, wrote to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Books are born to be read, so whats important is whether people will buy them or not, not how they are sold. Another reader, Vu Linh, said there is nothing offensive for a book company to sell its products by the kilo. At a time when few Vietnamese read books, the company is doing nothing wrong by trying to find a larger audience for books, Linh said. Linh Pham, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, holds a moderate view on the issue. For bookworms, the idea is unacceptable as it makes books cheap and valueless, but they should also look at the issue from the perspective of a business, he said. For a book company, the ultimate goal is to sell their stuff and empty stock, so this is just a standard business tactic. Readers choose books on sale at discounted prices at an event in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out what is in the news on December 13 Society -- A cold front, forecast to be the strongest to hit northern Vietnam this winter, will create severely cold weather conditions there and possible snow in mountainous areas starting Saturday, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting warned. -- Astronomy fans in Vietnam can behold Geminids, an annual biggest meteor shower, which will have a peak activity meteor count on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, according to the Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association. -- Police in Tan Chau Town in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have revealed they had arrested and begun legal proceedings against a 32-year-old physical education male teacher for allegedly dating and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. -- Police in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, disclosed on Tuesday they were investigating a purported suicide committed by a middle-aged couple and their teen son in a house earlier the same day. -- C46, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security's economic police unit, on Tuesday started legal proceedings against the former board chair of the Vietnam Rubber Group for deliberately violating state regulations on economic management and causing serious consequences. Business -- The Ministry of Industry and Trade inspectorate have revealed Khaisilk, a premier Vietnamese silk brand, might face criminal charges for fraud following the discovery of the companys scarf merchandise being sourced from China and sold under the guise of made-in-Vietnam labels in October. -- Speaking with Tuoi Tre on Tuesday, leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department confirmed they had asked the Netherlands-based Uber B.V., which oversees the ride-hailing app operations in Vietnam, to repay VND66.68 billion, roughly US$2.95 million, in tax arrears, or they would face public announcement of their tax evasion and compulsory measures. -- Trade departments in Mekong Delta provinces called for investment into their 54 food and agricultural projects at a seminar held in Can Tho City on Tuesday. Lifestyle -- Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, with sponsorship from Japanese-invested food manufacturer Acecook, on Tuesday organized Pho Day to honor and better promote the hallmark noodle soup. A middle-aged couple and their teenage son have been discovered dead inside their home on Tuesday in what could be a murder-suicide. The deceased were identified as Nguyen Van Linh, 49, his wife Le Thi Kim Lien, 44, and their son Nguyen Thanh Nguyen, 15, who all lived at a home on Chuong Duong Street in Thu Duc District. According to Thu Duc Police, a neighbor of the family was walking past their house at around 9:45 am on Tuesday when she saw Linhs dead body hanging from the ceiling through an open window. The neighbor immediately phoned Le Minh Tuan, 53, an older brother of Lien, to inform him of her awful discovery. Tuan arrived shortly after and used a sledgehammer to break into the locked house, only to discover that Lien and Nguyen were also lying dead on the floor, inside a mosquito net. Police arrived later to carry out an autopsy, a crime scene investigation and to collect eye-witness accounts after being informed of the incident at around 10:05 am. Police cordon off the site of the incident on Chuong Duong Street in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, December 12, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Initial investigations revealed no signs of disturbance or anything that would indicate a violent struggle. No evidence of external force was found on the bodies of the mother and son, and their faces appeared pale, with blood coming from their mouths tell-tale signs of poisoning, according to an investigator. Linhs body was found in a hanged position. According to neighbors of the family, Lien earned a living running a small street-side soup stand, while Linh worked as a construction worker. Their son Nguyen was attending a junior high school in Thu Duc District. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! AIM-listed London-focused residential property developer Telford Homes said on Thursday that it is on track to exceed 40m of pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March 2018. In a statement at the companys annual general meeting in Hertfordshire, chief executive Jon Di-Stefano will tell shareholders that Telford is also on course to achieve 50m in pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March 2019, having already secured over 80% of the anticipated gross profit for next year and over 60% for 2019. Since the groups results on 31 May, Telford has achieved further momentum in the build to rent sector and is assessing a number of exciting new development opportunities to add to its 1.5bn development pipeline. Telford highlighted the chronic need for new homes in London and said that although all of its developments are being delivered on programme, the timing of their completion is not evenly spread across the current financial year. It expects less than a quarter of the forecast open market handovers for the year to occur in the first six months and as a result, full-year profits will be significantly weighted towards the second half. Whilst there has been some political and economic uncertainty in recent weeks the Group is hopeful of greater stability in the months ahead. Regardless of this uncertainty there remains a lack of supply of new homes relative to need in non-prime areas of London. We believe this imbalance, coupled with our increased focus on build to rent, will continue to underpin the longe- term growth of Telford Homes." At 0920 BST, the shares were up 2.1% to 394.75p. Out-of-hospital services provider Totally announced on Friday that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of urgent care services provider Vocare for a consideration of up to 11m on a cash-free and debt-free basis, with a normalised level of working capital. The AIM-traded companys board said it believed that the acquisition marked a transformational step for Totally in the implementation of its stated buy-and-build strategy, as it looked to become a leader of 'out-of-hospital' care in a growing UK market estimated to be worth in excess of 20bn per year. It described Vocare as one of the leading providers of integrated urgent care services to the NHS throughout the UK, including GP out-of-hours services, the NHS 111 service via its call centres and urgent care centres working in conjunction with NHS accident and emergency departments. Vocare provides healthcare services to clinical commissioning groups covering approximately 9.2 million patients nationally, Totally confirmed. The acquisition allows the group to obtain a foothold in the growing urgent care sector in the UK and the board believes it will provide the company with a strong and commercially attractive opportunity to grow the group and provide more comprehensive and national services in the out-of-hospital care sector, Totallys board said in its statement. Vocare's integrated urgent care services offer synergies with Totally's existing subsidiary businesses and complement its business model of providing preventative and responsive healthcare in 'out-of-hospital' settings to improve people's health, reduce patient NHS healthcare reliance, readmissions and emergency admissions to hospital. Totally said it would benefit from Vocare's innovative approach to the delivery of integrated urgent care services in the UK, which provided the whole care pathway for urgent care which its directors said they believed is rare for businesses operating in the urgent care sector. [We] believe that there is increasing demand and significant market opportunity for urgent care services nationwide and a need to develop innovative delivery models to support the delivery of key NHS national performance targets, the board added. Key publications such as Sir Bruce Keogh's Urgent and Emergency Care Review, which calls for the provision of urgent care services outside of hospitals, and NHS England's Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care clearly demonstrate the potential market for Vocare's services. The enlarged group would gain access to Vocare's established regional presence across the UK, opening up additional NHS partnerships and contracts and enhancing and diversifying its range of services to offer integrated healthcare solutions across the whole spectrum of out-of-hospital care. Vocare has experienced substantial revenue growth with revenue growing from approximately 32.4m in the financial year ended 31 March 2015 to approximately 76.8m in the year ended 31 March 2017 - equivalent to 137% growth over the two financial years. This revenue growth has been driven by Vocare securing substantial new contracts covering both NHS 111 services and urgent care, the board commented. Totally's management said it anticipated expediting the turnaround in Vocare's quality of service following recent inspections and reports published by the Care Quality Commission concerning inadequacies in certain of Vocare services. Shares in Swatch tumbled on Friday after the Swiss watch maker cautioned that sales and profit fell in the first half of the year. The company said that sales are expected to have declined by some 12% in the first half of 2016 due to lower sales in important markets such as Hong Kong and Europe, particularly France and Switzerland. Swatch said operating profit and net income are expected to be down around 50% to 60 not just because of the drop in sales but also as the tradition and industrial long-term philosophy the Swatch Group to consider its employees not just as a cost factor but to keep them (also in spite of important cancellations of orders from third parties), to maintain investments in new products and marketing and to pursue a defensive price increase policy. Still, the company said developments in mainland China were positive. RBC Capital Markets said: This pre-announcement implies that 1H net sales should be around CHF3.7bn and operating profit should be around CHF340m (operating margin less than 10%). This implies a miss vs. consensus of ~6% at sales level and a miss of ~40% at operating profit level if we take the mid-point of its 50-60% profit decline guidance. It added: Swatch Group has clearly faced a much tougher external environment and profitability erosion than we expected given its high fixed cost base and continued long-term investment policy. Shares will be under significant pressure today but a very strong balance sheet, lower capex needs, rising cash returns (~3% dividend yield and ~2% buyback yield) and ~25% short interest level are supportive. At 1115 BST, Swatch shares were down 11% to CHF257.90. London stocks were expected to open higher on Monday as investors breathe a sigh of relief that the Turkish government has taken back control following an attempted military coup. The FTSE 100 was set to open 21 points higher than Fridays close at 6,690. CMC Markets Jasper Lawler said: The failure of the coup and a reassertion of Turkish government control appear to have allayed concerns of rising geopolitical risk on Europes border. As such, European stocks look set to open mostly higher on Monday, adding last weeks advance. The British pound is rising early on Monday ahead of a talk from the Bank of Englands Martin Weale on Brexit and a meeting of EU foreign ministers. Sterling had fallen the most in two weeks on Friday after BOE chief economist Andy Haldane added to speculation the central bank would add stimulus at its August policy meeting after holding fire in July. Nonetheless, the Bank of England on hold, even with hints of action at its next meeting in August could deter more speculative shorts for the time being. Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Martin Weale will make a speech at 0915 BST. In corporate news, ARM Holdings' directors have agreed a 23.4bn takeover offer by Japan's Softbank, in what could be the first major move sparked by the post-Brexit collapse in the value of the pound. The board of the Cambridge-based chip designer, which is a major supplier of components for smartphones made by the likes of Apple and Samsung, said it unanimously recommended the 1,700p-per-share cash offer, which is a 43% premium to the 1,188.73p price at which trading closed on Friday. AstraZeneca announced on Monday that the Phase III AURA3 trial has met its primary endpoint, demonstrating superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared to standard platinum-based doublet chemotherapy. The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant said the AURA3 randomised trial assessed the efficacy and safety of Tagrisso as a second-line treatment in more than 400 patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive, locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, whose disease had progressed following first-line EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Tagrisso also demonstrated a safety profile consistent with previous trials, the company reported. British Land said it was too early to properly assess the impact of the referendum result on its markets but it did expect some occupiers and investors to take a more cautious approach. British Land has entered this period of post-referendum uncertainty in a robust position, it said in a trading update. "We had a good quarter of activity in the lead up to the referendum. In the short period since, we are pleased to have exchanged on the sale of Debenhams, Oxford Street and completed further lettings across the office and retail portfolios. The Debenhams flagship store was sold for 400m. British Land also exchanged 17 long term retail leases totalling 58,000 sq ft on terms agreed prior to the referendum at 9.5% ahead of ERV. Theresa May revealed new plans to pump 2bn into affordable housing in her speech at the Conservative party conference on Wednesday, also confirming that parliament would debate legislation for an energy price cap as soon as next week. The additional funding would bring current government spending on council home programmes to 9bn. Mays speech was the high point of the Tory conference in Manchester, where foreign secretary Boris Johnson gave a rousing address on Tuesday amidst speculation about his loyalty to the PM. In a move which is likely to boost housebuilders and construction groups, May announced housing as the central focus of her speech, kickstarting new plans to use public land to increase the housing supply in the UK. The government will give help to local councils in order for them to finance new housing projects. Mays focus on housing is a potential move to stave off increasing support from the younger generation, which has displayed an affinity for Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party in recent months. Corbyn included a promise in the Labour manifesto in June to substantially increase the council house building programme. May's speech was interrupted at the conference after comedian Lee Nelson approached the stage to offer her a P45 form, before being led away by security at the event. ENERGY PRICE CAP In addition, the Prime Minister also announced that draft legislation would be introduced into parliament next week for an energy price cap, in an attempt to end "rip-off energy prices". Energy firms such as SSE and Centrica fell following May's speech, as investors spy difficult times ahead for profits connected to the introduction of the price cap. ETX Capital analyst Neil Wislon said Centrica was likely to be particularly badly hit. "As noted when the policy was mooted back in May ahead of the snap election, any move to cap prices would be a massive hit to the industry," Wilson said. "It might cost Centrica something like 200m and make it much tougher for the firm to reintroduce the progressive dividend policy. Like other providers it relies heavily on these standard variable rate tariffs about three-quarters of customers are on these lucrative contracts." A former minister has said the UK has no trade negotiators to take part in Brexit talks with the European Union. Oliver Letwin, who was sacked on Thursday from the cabinet by Theresa May as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was part of David Camerons supposed Brexit unit in government. Letwin told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Friday: "We do not have trade negotiators...Trade negotiators who are Brits at the moment are basically working for the EU." The EU has led trade talks on behalf of the UK since 1973 and is why there is a skills shortage of negotiators in the country. He added that he did not know how long talks with the EU would take. "We will only know as we go along just how tricky this will be and how long that takes." Letwin added his sacking and Mays reshuffling of her cabinet was not a purge of her predecessors supporters. "It was clear that Theresa was forming a different kind of cabinet, and I was not to be part of it. When you change the guard, you change the guard. It's a natural process." Previously, the then foreign secretary now Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said the UK would have to recruit negotiators from abroad. On 7 July Hammond told a committee of MPs: The government will have to acquire additional trade negotiation resources. We will look to friendly governments to assist us, as well as seeking to hire the best resources available on the open market". Talks with the EU will largely be led by Brexit minister David Davis, secretary for international trade Liam Fox and foreign secretary Boris Johnson. ARM Holdings has agreed to a 23.4bn takeover offer from Japan's Softbank, in what could be the first major move sparked by the post-Brexit collapse in the pound. The board of the Cambridge-based chip designer, which is a major supplier of components for smartphones made by the likes of Apple and Samsung, said it unanimously recommended the 1,700p-per-share cash offer, which is a 43% premium to the 1,188.73p price at which trading closed on Friday. SoftBank's offer price values ARM's shares at approximately 24.3bn, with shareholders still on the register on 8 September due to receive a dividend of 3.78p per share. ARM has also proposed a final dividend of up to 6.76p per share to be paid in May 2017, although if the effective date of acquisition occurs earlier it will not be paid out. ARM's cost in Japanese yen has fallen nearly 30% due to the weakening of the pound in the wake of the Brexit vote on 23 June and analysts said it would not be surprising to see other bids for UK companies in coming weeks thanks to the fall in sterling. SoftBank, which owns a majority stake in US telecoms operator Sprint after its 17m deal in 2013, said it would maintain ARM's headquarters in Cambridge and planned to "at least double" staff numbers in the UK over the next five years as well as expanding headcount overseas. Chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son, who at a press conference on Monday revealed he had only met ARM's board two weeks ago, expressed his long-held admiration of ARM as a market-leader in its field "by some distance" and said the main rationale for the deal was the company's leading position in the 'Internet of Things' where he saw the potential for a huge "paradigm shift". ARM's chairman, Stuart Chambers, said: "It is the view of the board that this is a compelling offer for ARM shareholders, which secures the delivery of future value today and in cash. The board of ARM is reassured that ARM will remain a very significant UK business and will continue to play a key role in the development of new technology." Shares in ARM quickly surged 43% to 1,699p on Monday morning, while new UK chancellor Philip Hammond hailing the wider implications of the deal as showing that Britian "has lost none of its allure to international investors". Analysts felt the deal is likely to go through given there is no existing conflict of interest for SoftBank in ARMs markets, with Berenberg saying a counterbid is "unlikely". JP Morgan Cazenove refused to rule this out, however: "We believe this was an unsolicited bid for the company so we do not think the company has not been 'shopped' to other potential bidders meaning that if an independent bidder such as Softbank with a higher bid showed interest, the board could change its opinion. On the other hand we do not believe tech industry companies such as Intel, Apple are likely bidders because their bids create conflicts of interest as competitors (regulatory issues) and customers (to the business model)." Kepler Cheuvreux recommended ARM Holdings shareholders accept the "generous" offer: "Even though a share price of 1,700p might have become reachable on a stand-alone basis, it likely would have taken ARM Holdings shares several years and required a lot of patience from investors." Chris Beauchamp at IG said he thought the ARM deal could be the first in a procession of deals of overseas companies buying UK businesses due to the pound slide since the EU referendum result. "It wont be an ugly rush, since ongoing political uncertainty will make it even more important for acquisitive firms to pick their targets carefully, and questions will linger over just how protectionist the UK may become with regards to some of its prized assets. Nonetheless, as a sign of confidence, the deal is very welcome indeed." Karnataka BJP leaders will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and request him to hand over the case to National Investigation Agency. By Nagarjun Dwarakanath: Raking up a fresh controversy on Wednesday, BJP Member of Parliament Shobha Karandlaje while addressing the press said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed the Inspector General of Police (IGP)- Western Range of Karnataka to protect the minorities in the Uttara Kannada district in the ongoing communal violence. Karandlaje went on to say that Tipu Sultan was reborn as Siddaramaiah and he does not care about the lives of Hindus. advertisement Shobha said that Popular Front of India was behind the death of 21-year-old Paresh Mesta in Honnavar. While protesting, violence erupted in parts of Uttara Kannada district and the IGP's car was torched by the mob. "Why is BJP being blamed for the violence in Uttara Kannada? PFI is behind the death of our party worker, this is the same organization that NIA is probing ISIS link. State government is trying to hush up the case," said Karandlaje. Karnataka BJP leaders will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and request him to hand over the case to National Investigation Agency. Clearing the air, the government released question and answer report from the forensic department which mentioned that there was no evidence of injuries caused by weapons over the body of Mesta. The change in color of the face is due to putrefaction and there are no evidences on the body suggesting attack by hot water or chemicals. However, Shoba Karandlaje alleged that the government is fabricating the forensic report and hiding the murder of Mesta. Meanwhile the Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that the final post mortem report is yet to come that would then ascertain the cause of death, which is unknown till date.BJP leaders have planned to hold a protest rally in Honnavar on December 18 and will request the state government for permission for the same. Watch the video | Paresh Mesta murder: Karnataka government trying to influence investigation? --- ENDS --- Great Portland Estates was celebrating being the highest rated property company for the second consecutive year in Management Today's 'Britain's Most Admired Companies' awards on Wednesday. The FTSE 250 firm ranked fifth in the overall awards - its highest-ever position and the only property company in the top 10. I am delighted that the company has been voted by our peers as a one of the top five most admired companies for the first time and the most admired company in the sector for the second year running, said chief executive officer Toby Courtauld. This award recognises the hard work of everyone at the company to deliver another successful year. Ultra Electronics said its Ocean Systems business, based in the USA, has been awarded a firm one year contract valued at just over $4m from the US Navy for the continuing production of the ADC MK2 Countermeasure. Options to extend the contract for a further four years could increase this initial value to just under $34m, Ultra said. The ADC MK2 is an expendable acoustic countermeasure launched from both ships and submarines to protect those platforms from torpedo threats. Ocean Systems has been producing the ADC MK2 since 1988 and has delivered over 20,000 devices to date. This five-year contract includes effort for design enhancements, development, production, and support services. Londons FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,365.82 in afternoon trade as investors mulled the implications of Brexit. Equipment rental company Ashtead was higher after Liberum initiated coverage of the stock at buy with a 1,940p price target, saying the upside potential from increased rental penetration in the US market is yet to be fully reflected in the share price. The brokerage said its detailed analysis of managements medium-term growth plan, Project 2021, suggests that it is well placed to deliver 9% per annum underlying revenue growth and further improve its sector leading margin. Supermarket retailer Morrison was lifted by a double upgrade to buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which hiked its price target on the stock to 275p from 220p. The bank pointed out that Morrison has one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector, a capital light growth plan, self-help opportunities, is close to net cash and has one of the most attractive cash flow valuations in the sector. We believe that its strong balance sheet position and resultant cash optionality deserves a premium, it said, adding that it looks as if the stock is trading on a 20% discount versus the sector. Direct Line was higher as RBC Capital Markets maintained its outperform rating on the insurer and upped its price target. On the downside, retailer Marks & Spencer was under the cosh after UBS downgraded it to neutral from buy and cut the price target to 340p from 390p. Despite a respectable free cash flow yield and an invigorated management team, it seems premature to expect either a rerating or positive earnings momentum in the foreseeable future, the bank said. Energy provider SSE retreated after saying it expects operating profit in its networks division to be around 100m lower in 2017/18 than the current year on a like-for-like basis. SSE said it now expects its dividend cover for 2017/18 to be within, but towards the bottom of the expected range of around 1.2 times to 1.4 times what it set out in its annual report 2016 for the three years to 2018/19. Schroders, British Land, Old Mutual, and Smith & Nephew declined as their stock went ex-dividend. Risers Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,690.00p 3.17% Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 241.40p 1.77% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,913.00p 1.72% Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,163.00p 1.55% Antofagasta (ANTO) 827.50p 1.41% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,060.00p 1.33% Pearson (PSON) 669.00p 1.21% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 339.80p 1.16% Mondi (MNDI) 1,969.00p 1.03% Anglo American (AAL) 1,247.00p 1.01% Fallers Mediclinic International (MDC) 762.00p -2.62% Schroders (SDR) 3,017.00p -2.49% BT Group (BT.A) 315.55p -2.11% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,213.00p -2.02% British Land Company (BLND) 590.00p -1.99% Old Mutual (OML) 215.40p -1.91% Intu Properties (INTU) 271.40p -1.70% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 330.00p -1.64% Vodafone Group (VOD) 207.30p -1.61% SSE (SSE) 1,464.00p -1.61% The Footsie closed higher for a fourth consecutive week for a cumulative 5% gain since the EU referendum vote, albeit wih defensive issues pacing gains in the form of advances for tobacco and pharmaceuticals. "More defensive sectors have led the way, showing that safety and yield still come top of the list when stock-picking," Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG said. Support services also put in a solid performance on Friday, with shares in Ashtead Group - with its large exposure to the US market - and Intertek clocking in with the biggest rises. Stock in the former was boosted by a price target upgrade out of UBS from 3,650p to 4,000p. In a research note on the European support services sector, analyst Debnis Moreau lifted his 2017 estimates for earnings per share at Intertek and Ashtead by 9% and 15%, respectively, to account for recent moves on foreign exchange markets. Moreau expressed caution towards the likes of Aggreko and Serco in that same note, while noting that Hays and DCC were now among his 'highest-conviction' buys despite the higher uncertainty in Europe after the 'Leave' vote. "We have adjusted our estimates across the sector to factor in a more challenging economic environment in Europe (though not a recession), and to also take into account recent FX changes," he said in a research note published on 14 July. Several of the sectors typically most sensitive to the possibility of a weakening economy in the aftermath of Brexit were at the bottom of the pile. That list included real estate investment and services, food and drug retailers and life insurance. To take note of, in an updated speech published on Friday Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane argued in favour of the "sledgehammer" method when it came to further monetary policy easing, likely at the next MPC meeting, as opposed to a more surgical approach. Mining was also to be found among the biggest fallers despite better than expected economic data out in China overnight and gains in most LME-traded industrial metals. China's gross domestic product expanded at a 6.7% year-on-year clip in the second quarter, the same pace as in the first three months of the year (consensus: 6.7%). Nevertheless, "surging stimulus-linked investment by state firms appears to have compensated for the private sectors unwillingness to invest," Daniel Martin and Mark Williams from Capital Economics pointed out in a research note sent to clients. Precious metals miners were one particular source of weakness in the sector as gold futures headed for their first weekly loss since May following their recent strong run. COMEX-traded gold futures for delivery in August were slipping 0.21% to $1,329.40/oz. as of 18:28 BST, acting as a drag on the likes of Randgold Resources or Fresnillo. In parallel, the US dollar spot index was moving up by 0.55% to 96.60 after the release of a stronger than expected reading on US retail sales for June, courtesy of the US Department of Commerce. Top performing sectors so far today Forestry & Paper 15,349.19 +0.85% Tobacco 56,464.99 +0.85% Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 13,997.91 +0.79% Personal Goods 30,671.66 +0.71% Support Services 6,910.26 +0.68% Bottom performing sectors so far today Real Estate Investment & Services 2,373.79 -1.44% Food & Drug Retailers 2,600.97 -1.18% Life Insurance 6,390.89 -1.06% Insurance (non-life) 2,539.54 -1.03% Mining 11,752.01 -0.79% Top performing sectors so far today Forestry & Paper 15,349.19 +0.85% Tobacco 56,464.99 +0.85% Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 13,997.91 +0.79% Personal Goods 30,671.66 +0.71% Support Services 6,910.26 +0.68% Bottom performing sectors so far today Real Estate Investment & Services 2,373.79 -1.44% Food & Drug Retailers 2,600.97 -1.18% Life Insurance 6,390.89 -1.06% Insurance (non-life) 2,539.54 -1.03% Mining 11,752.01 -0.79% When Monica Fikes graduates with a degree in Agricultural Leadership and Community Education from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, she does so acknowledging her own hard work as well as the legacy of her family. Although its taken longer than I anticipated, I am leaving with a degree that includes my interests and pairs well with my values. Im excited to work alongside communities of color, reconnecting to the land, creating spaces to live, and to be authentic, said Fikes, of Alexandria, Virginia. In the last year, Ive learned my degree and career path also align with who my ancestors were. One side of my family, in the 1800s, were farmers and blacksmiths. On the other side, they were educators. Im the sum of many parts and its significant to actually see that. The path to commencement was not always easy for Fikes. Personal growth and discovery were just as important to her as getting a degree. Because of the identities I hold, I was tested here in a way I may not have been elsewhere, she said. There were times I wasn't sure if I'd be finishing my degree at Virginia Tech. Blacksburg will always be a special place because I grew so much in the time Ive spent here. I am more confident in who I am. I see more clearly what I bring to a table. Im proud of this accomplishment, particularly grateful for the growth and the access to opportunities being a Hokie provided. Fikes advice to current students as they continue their Virginia Tech journey is, Be honest with yourself. If something is not working for you, change something, do something. Ask for help even if you dont know how to articulate it. Sometimes theres a benefit in simply talking through a process with someone else. And take advantage of all the opportunities on campus to travel the country and abroad! Among the highlights of her experience at Virginia Tech, Fikes lists witnessing, with her family, Sheer Good Fortune: Celebrating Toni Morrison, a tribute to the acclaimed author and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, orchestrated by renowned poet and Virginia Techs University Distinguished Professor of English Nikki Giovanni. Another standout memory is missing a flight to Ecuador on a Crop and Soil Science study abroad trip. Fikes also gives a nod to the ginger cookies at Gillies. What she will miss, she said, is being able to drop in to spaces around campus to say hi to folks I appreciate and admire; the perks of being a student; and the Black Cultural Center and the Cultural and Community Centers staff. Kimberly Williams, assistant director of the Black Cultural Center, said Fikes welcomed her to her new position by taking her out to lunch. We talked about her experience and love for community, justice, and healing work," Williams said. "Since then, I learned about Monicas work with community building and social justice, like with her work in Floyd and farming. She brings inspiration, knowledge, patience, honesty, and an unyielding love to her community. Although her voice is soft, her dedication against oppression is loud and direct. I admire her love and kinship she offers to each Black Culture Center student. I wish we had the funding and support to enact her creative ideas! I look forward to her future story. Following graduation, Fikes said, Im looking forward to working with the soil and contributing to more just food systems while preparing for grad school. I also want to read the works of Nnedi Okorafor, an international award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism." Written by Sandy Broughton. As a young child growing up in Puerto Rico, Katrina Colucci-Chang knew she wanted to pursue a career in the sciences. My dream job is to work for the federal government. I want a position in a national research lab, said Colucci-Chang, a first-year Virginia Tech a graduate student in biomedical engineering. Colucci-Changs peer Chris Garcia is equally clear about his goals. Garcia plans to pursue an industry research position. I would like to work for a pharmaceutical company, said Garcia, who is also a first-year graduate student from Twain Harte, California, studying chemistry. The doctoral student aspires to discover new drugs to cure a host of diseases. Although Colucci-Chang is focused on bioengineering with a specialty in heart arrhythmia while Garcia is a chemist, both are realizing their dreams thanks to an innovative trans-disciplinary training program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The students are part of the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program, which is funded by NIGMS in National Institutes of Health. The training program is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who wish to pursue careers in biomedical science. At Virginia Tech, the IMSD program is a cross-disciplinary partnership with departments and programs across the university. Colucci-Chang is in the College of Engineering and Garcia is in the College of Science. The $2.3 million program is now in its third cycle at Virginia Tech. To date, 85 percent of IMSD alumni from the pre-doctoral program have received their doctorate degrees and are pursuing a postdoc or a position at a research 1 university or in industry. An impressive 70 percent of the undergraduates who participate in the IMSD pre-baccalaureate program are in Ph.D. programs at institutions including Brown, Cal Tech, Duke, NC State, Penn, and Stanford. IMSD, and its sister program PREP, were the first NIH Research Education training grants at Virginia Tech. Ed Smith, a professor Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, leads the program with Zachary Mackey, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry. David Bevan, who is retiring, previously ran the program. I want to build on the community-centered approach to graduate training. In terms of underrepresented minorities, community is an important factor for development and mentorship, said Mackey. If you are the first person in your family to go to college or the only underrepresented minority in your program, having a community to fall back on to provide support can go a long way in alleviating some of the stress and feeling of isolation that our students often confront. IMSD emphasizes community, mentoring, and networking as fundamental to becoming a successful undergraduate and graduate student. Students participate in a laboratory-training component during the summer for 40-hours per week, and laboratory research projects during the academic year for 20-hours per week. What makes IMSD unique are hands-on, bench research experiences under the supervision of a principal investigator, enhancement programs, faculty and peer mentoring, and enrichment activities such as group seminars, and travel to scientific meetings. During the rotational phase, students are encouraged to explore a broad range of laboratories in their field of interests. Several scholars have, for instance, rotated with multiple faculty mentors in the Department of Psychology. The idea behind this approach is to expand the students research experience and knowledge base while helping them to develop skill sets that include oral and written communications, grant writing, and other competencies that will aid them in their research careers. NIHs vision for the program is to develop a diverse research and scientific workforce in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. The current NIH IMSD cohort includes 22 undergraduate and graduate students from institutions including George Mason University, Florida International University, Columbia College, the University of Virginia, Purdue, Cal State, and Arizona State. They are studying subjects as diverse as computational biology, chemistry, engineering, dairy science, animal science, and more. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced the approval of funding for Virginia Techs research using machine learning, or artificial intelligence, to defend wireless communication systems from cyber-attack. Researchers at Virginia Techs Hume Center for National Security and Technology have discovered innovative ways to protect networks from cyber-attack using algorithms that enable machines to detect, identify, and block wireless threats to better defend systems. Todays global landscape demands security in the cyber domain, said Theresa Mayer, vice president for Research and Innovation at Virginia Tech. The cybersecurity capabilities developed at Virginia Tech have both national security and commercial applications providing threat identification that can be scaled to protect American infrastructure, businesses, and homes. More than $1.1 million was approved by the Virginia Research Investment Committee to support the applied research and development needed to advance this innovative technology to commercial products. The award is being matched by support from the Arlington-based start-up company, DeepSig, which was founded by university researcher Tim OShea, to apply machine learning to improve the safety and security of wireless communications from cyberattacks. DeepSig is one of eight start-up companies founded by Virginia Tech faculty affiliated with the Hume Center, said center director Charles Clancy. These companies have raised more than $120 million in venture funding since 2012, and currently employ nearly 200 people, the majority of whom work in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are proud of our facultys tremendous work in commercializing research begun at Virginia Tech. The project will be conducted at the Hume Center, which leads the universitys research, education, and outreach programs focused on the challenges of cybersecurity, autonomy, and resilience for national and homeland security. The centers education programs support a pipeline of uniquely qualified U.S. citizens entering federal service. By PTI: registered Jaipur, Dec 13 (PTI) The Rajasthan Police today said unidentified persons have been detained in connection with the death of a Tamil Nadu policeman in a shoot-out in Pali district. S Periyapandiyan (48) was killed in Rajasthans Pali district in the early hours where a special team was sent to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist in Chennai. advertisement Pali SP Deepak Bhargav said the team from Chennai had reached Jaitaran town of Pali district late last night in search of one Nathuram. Periyapandiyan was probably shot at with his own service pistol and he eventually died, he said. "A murder case has been registered against unidentified men by the Chennai police. We have detained a few persons in connection with the case. Postmortem of the slain inspector was done at Jodhpur," Bhargav said. Eight to nine persons were present in the house raided by the Chennai cops. A scuffle ensued between the culprits and the forces, with the former forcing the police team to retreat. Peripandian was somehow left behind, Bhargav said, adding the constables heard a gunshot and found the officer fatally injured when they rushed back. They took them to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said. Bhargav said an empty shell of 9 mm pistol used by the police was found from the spot, hinting that the officer was probably shot with his service weapon during the scuffle. Last month, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur in Chennai, after entering it by drilling a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to catch the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. Four persons hailing from that state had been earlier arrested in connection with the robbery. PTI AG SRY --- ENDS --- The Mosaic Company, through its subsidiaries, produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It owns and operates mines, which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients, such as diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammoniated phosphate products; and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients primarily under the Biofos and Nexfos brand names, as well as produces a double sulfate of potash magnesia product under K-Mag brand name. The company also produces and sells potash for use in the manufacturing of mixed crop nutrients and animal feed ingredients, and for industrial use; and for use in the de-icing and as a water softener regenerant. In addition, it provides nitrogen-based crop nutrients, animal feed ingredients, and other ancillary services; and purchases and sells phosphates, potash, and nitrogen products. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, retail chains, farmers, cooperatives, independent retailers, and national accounts. The Mosaic Company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Its the rare company training session that opens with an enthusiastic rendition of Jingle Bells by round-bellied, rosy-cheeked, bushy-bearded men (average age about 65). But thats what happened in a nondescript conference room of a suburban Denver hotel on an autumn Sunday. Bells appeared, and soon the singing men were on their feet, bouncing up and down and swinging their arms. When they hit that final ho-ho-ho!, they brought the house down which is to say, there was back-slapping, chortling and bellowing of Merry Christmas! Welcome to Santa University, a four-day training program open to the roughly 1,000 naturally bearded Santas who work for Cherry Hill Programs. The company places jolly ol elves in 675 retail centers across the country, promising a turnkey Santa mall experience. In todays America, even the kindly Kriss Kringle of 34th Street fame has been corporatized. The training session convenes each year in Westminster, Colo. Its not required of Cherry Hills employees, which means the 73 Santas here paid their own travel and lodging to learn the ins and outs of portraying old St. Nick. For some, this is their first session; others return repeatedly, eager to reconnect with the brotherhood of the bearded. Theres a lot of mentorship that takes place at Santa University, says Santa James Smetana, 66, of St. Paul, Minn. And it gets us so excited for the Christmas season. Which one is Santa? Well, all 1,000 hope to be that is, if they make it through Santa University in Colorado. BRETT CARLSEN Behold the Beard They come from a variety of backgrounds: oil field workers, bus drivers, a lawyer, a former salesman at a camera store. While most are retired, others have day jobs and use vacation or unpaid time off to perform their Santa-by-proxy duties. One trainee was a federal ranger in his previous life. Another ran a hardware store (fittingly, it also sold toys) in Spokane, Wash. Some Santas are married with children; others, lifelong bachelors. One Santa tells of recently being tracked down by a 57-year-old daughter he didnt know hed fathered. It felt like a Christmas miracle, he says. Many of these bearded men report being recruited for Cherry Hill Programs. Most had been mistaken for Santa since growing out their long beards anyway (some also carry around natural padding in their midsection). Smetana says the big chair found him. After three people told him on a single summer day that he looked like Santa (while in street clothes in fact, he was wearing shorts), he joined a Minnesota Santa group and got his big break with Cherry Hill. Despite the bravado of the announcement, Trump isnt the first recent president to attempt to mount a sequel to the moon shot program of the 1960s. Both President Bushes George H.W. and George W. publicly called for NASA to return to the moon, but lack of funding and other obstacles derailed those plans. President Obama had redirected the agencys focus to Mars exploration yesterdays announcement would tack the space program back toward the moon, though Trump noted that a return there would be a benchmark on the way to eventual Mars missions. Details surrounding the new initiative were scarce to nonexistent, and its still unclear how NASA policy will change in the short term and whether funding will be increased to the level necessary to support the effort. But the administration has made clear that it has its sights set on the moon. In October, Vice President Mike Pence oversaw the first meeting of the National Space Council, which recommended that NASA send astronauts back to the moon. Yesterday, Pence stressed the benefits including job creation that a new moon mission might have. Establishing a renewed American presence on the moon is vital to achieve our strategic objectives and the objectives outlined by the National Space Council, he said. Well see jobs created that we couldnt even imagine could be created today. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE New Mexico could shave about 3 percentage points off its gross receipts tax rate maybe more if it removed all deductions in the tax code and started levying the tax on wages, real estate transactions and food. That was one hypothetical scenario shared with state lawmakers Tuesday as experts hired by the state walked them through a computer model theyre building to analyze legislative tax proposals. The experts employees of the global professional services firm Ernst & Young didnt advocate for any particular proposal Tuesday. They simply demonstrated the power of the computer model they expect to turn over to the Legislature and its staff later this month. State Sen. William Sharer, a Farmington Republican who pushed for the $400,000 study, said he hopes it will give legislators the information they need to make sound policy decisions on a topic thats drawn intense debate, especially over the past year. Opponents have said they fear the potential unintended consequences of revising the tax code. I think this model will certainly give us some confidence going forward, Sharer said. The tax study isnt expected to be completed until late January, after the legislative session begins, although parts of the work will be available to the Legislature later this month. Andrew Phillips and Caroline Sallee of Ernst & Young shared an update Tuesday with the Legislatures Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee. Much of their presentation focused on New Mexicos gross receipts tax base and how potential changes would affect state revenue. They are also working on a model that will help analyze potential changes to personal income taxes. Lawmakers spent nearly three hours poring over the data Tuesday, but it wasnt clear the discussion moved the political debate forward much. Democratic legislative leaders have suggested there wont be enough time in the coming 30-day legislative session to pass a substantial overhaul of the tax code a priority of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. Im just hopeful that we can get something meaningful done before I die, said Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho, drawing laughter from his colleagues. Rep. Bill McCamley, a Las Cruces Democrat and chairman of the House Labor and Economic Development Committee, noted that the study shows that levying the gross receipts tax on food purchases would have a disproportionate impact on households making less than $40,000 because they spend a higher percentage of their money on food than do higher-income households. He said he wouldnt favor adding to the tax burden of poor families, but he acknowledged that other changes to the tax code to income taxes, for example could help address his concern. I think the tax code here is too complicated, McCamley said. I just worry that if were not going to address it in a holistic manner, we risk putting the burden more on poor people or risk reducing government services. Among the preliminary findings released Tuesday: Almost half of all gross receipts in New Mexico basically the sale of goods and services is the subject of a tax deduction, meaning it isnt taxable. Food is in this category, for example. Many of the deductions are in place to address pyramiding, or the imposition of taxes on each step in a larger transaction, the result of which is an exponential increase in the overall taxes paid. But supporters of overhauling the tax code say much more needs to be done to address pyramiding. If New Mexico were to remove every deduction and start levying the gross receipts tax on more goods and services, it could reduce the state share of the tax rate from about 4.4 percent to about 1.43 percent, while generating the same amount of revenue. But city and county governments also impose gross receipts taxes, so it isnt clear how high the actual rate would be. In Albuquerque, for example, the rate is about 7.5 percent added, like a sales tax, to the purchase of most goods and services. Sharer, who favors a low tax rate across a broad tax base, has been pushing for a 2 percent gross receipts tax, meaning local governments would have to get by with just 0.57 percent to fit under the cap. That might be possible, Sharer said, given that more things would be subject to the tax under a proposal like his. The scenario evaluated by Ernst & Young would have involved levying gross receipts taxes on a variety of transactions that now get a break, such as food, employee wages and real estate transactions. Once the companys work is finished, lawmakers can mix and match their own proposed deductions, exemptions and other changes to evaluate what works. Sen. Clemente Sanchez, a Grants Democrat and chairman of the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee, said the study is a good start for us. Now we cant claim we dont have the tool anymore to do something. We just need to decide when to do something to fix our tax I wouldnt call it a mess confusion. A policy circular issued by the ministry instructs toll plaza staff to salute the soldiers or give them standing ovation when they pass the toll plaza. By Rakesh Ranjan: Defence personnel who complained of boorish behaviour by attendants at toll plazas across the country will now encounter a course correction. The soldiers will be given a salute or standing ovation at the road tax collection kiosks while on the move. A policy circular issued by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last week said the move is in view of the "unparalleled service" of defence personnel towards the country for which they deserve the highest regard and honour. advertisement The circular came on the heels of complaints that soldiers were not only forced to pay toll charges but were also treated rudely by attendants. Personnel of the Army, Navy and Air Force have been exempted from paying at any toll plaza in the country. However, members of the Territorial Army and NCC were entitled for exemption only when they were on duty. The defence forces had complained to the NHAI that despite explaining to the toll attendants that they were on official duty, they often used harsh language against the personnel and insisted on checking their identity cards. Taking note of the complaints, the NHAI also ordered that only a competent authority or officer of the toll operating agency, and not the lower staff, can check the identity cards in case of any doubt. "Considering the unparalleled service of the armed forces towards the safety and security of the county, such kind of rude behaviour is not acceptable. The armed forces personnel deserve the highest regards and should be given due respect at the toll plaza including salute and standing ovation as deemed fit," the circular issued by the highways authority said. The NHAI has also directed toll operators to train their staff to pay due respect and salute the men in uniform for their "selfless dedication to the country". "The verification of the identity cards of armed forces personnel should be done by some senior/competent authority and should not be left up to the untrained lowest staff," the circular reads. The Indian Tolls (Army & Air Force) Act, 1901, provides for exemption from toll charges to all members of the armed forces. However, the controversy occurred after a letter issued by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) said only those "on duty" would be entitled for the exemption. This resulted in toll operators insisting defence personnel to pay toll charges and this often led to misbehaviour by toll attendants. The armed forces claimed the letter was in contravention of the Indian Tolls Act. The transport ministry also cited a noting of the law ministry that Section 3(b) of the Act only permits toll exemption to defence personnel who are "on duty". However, sources said the condition was only applicable to the Territorial Army and National Cadet Corps (NCC) personnel. advertisement The government of India has exempted 15 categories, including dignitaries, from paying toll charges. These include the President, vice president, Prime Minister, chief justices and judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, governors and chief ministers, cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, MLAs and foreign dignitaries. The exemption is also extended to the armed forces, paramilitary forces, gallantry award winners and emergency vehicles like ambulance and fire tenders. Recently physically challenged persons with more than 40 per cent handicap were also exempted from paying toll tax on highways. As the tussle between defence forces and the transport ministry escalated, the matter was dragged to court and later the SC also ruled in favour of the armed forces, upholding the exemption. The NHAI, while extending relief to the armed forces, has told the toll operators that in case of any doubt, the benefit must be given to the defence persons. "Considering the extreme sacrifices of the defence forces towards the nation, in case of any doubt with respect to nature of their official duty, the benefit of doubt must appropriately be given to the armed personnel," it said. advertisement Battleground Gujarat: Voters say farmers' distress, unemployment, minority welfare key poll issues --- ENDS --- Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal Greek life at least most of the affiliated social activity is temporarily on hold at the University of New Mexico. With three UNM fraternities already in emergency suspension following allegations of hazing or alcohol policy violations, administrators have ordered a two-month halt to most social events within the universitys larger Greek system. The social restriction continues through Feb. 19, according to a Dec. 8 memo to the fraternity and sorority chapters from Vice President of Student Affairs Eliseo Cheo Torres. Its an unusual situation, according to Ryan Lindquist, interim director of student activities, who estimated that UNM had not enacted such an activity pause in about a decade. We dont like to see this, but we want to make sure our organizations are ensuring they are living up to their values established by their national headquarters and expectations that the University of New Mexico has for them, he said. The Dean of Students Office is investigating allegations against three separate fraternities for incidents this fall. Lindquist said allegations against Pi Kappa Alpha involve alcohol violations, Phi Delta Theta faces a hazing allegation, and Phi Gamma Delta faces allegations of both. He deferred to the Dean of Students Office for more details, and a university spokeswoman said Tuesday that the associated records would not be released except through a formal Inspection of Public Records Act request. Journal emails sent to the Phi Delta Theta and Pi Kappa Alpha chapters were not immediately returned. A Phi Gamma Delta representative reached by phone Tuesday declined comment. UNM has 22 chartered sororities and fraternities with about 900 total members. Only six have houses on campus; most are what Lindquist called unhoused. The newly imposed restrictions prevent any of UNMs Greek organizations from holding events even off campus that are open to anyone besides the individual chapters own members. They can still do community service projects, conduct operational business, recruit and participate in Greek Week scheduled for mid-February. None of the approved activities can involve alcohol, Torres letter states. UNM will work with the chapters and their advisers during the next two months to evaluate policies and procedures. The parties will likely review event forms and create a new initiation notification form for chapters to complete and submit to UNM, Lindquist said. We really want them to be introspective during this period to focus on self-governance and accountability, which should be at the heart of all of these organizations, he said. We are at a crossroads in our city and in our state, particularly regarding the education of bright young minds. The stakes have never been higher. Our states education outcomes over the past 10 years show us that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Take for example New Mexicos graduation rate. New Mexico has the (second-)lowest graduation rate in the nation. It doesnt take much imagination to see the effect all these disconnected young people have on our city. It shows up in our crime rates, Medicaid rolls, teen birth rates, alienation and despair. Fortunately, through innovation and community involvement, public and charter models have emerged in New Mexico to provide students and parents with options when traditional school isnt a fit. And many of these models, like the leadership high schools, are built from the ground up with community and industry partners. These schools meet the needs of New Mexicans. However, the Public Education Departments insistence on using a one-size-fits-all approach is threatening to eliminate these choices for families across our state. This is particularly true when it comes to schools for students who have fallen through the cracks, have dropped out, or have not found success in a traditional school. PED would have us believe those schools and their students who have overcome the biggest obstacle of reconnecting with an academic path should be assessed with the exact same measures as a school that serves students who have regularly attended and succeeded. In the case of ACE Leadership High School, which has painstakingly followed its graduates over the past seven years, we know that 97 percent of them are currently employed or pursuing higher education. In fact, 40 percent are in college. Many of these students have stories that begin with dropping out, becoming a teen parent, or long-term absence from structured schooling. But their stories end with high school diplomas, college attendance and career success. These are the stories not captured by an only data-point-driven approach to measuring scholastic success. There are now 900 students being served in the Leadership Schools Network (ACE, Health, Technology, and Siembra). By 2021 the schools will serve 1,500 students, a significant majority of whom will attend because they are off-track to graduation or have dropped out. Importantly, these schools, and their intentional approach to re-engagement are, in fact, successful. For example, 84 percent of Health Leadership High School seniors graduated in 2017, and 97 percent of those graduates were accepted into post-secondary programs. Ironically, PED has agreed that we should be assessing these types of schools differently. In fact, PED has a working group focused on finding a different way to consider grading schools that serve disconnected student populations. This is, in part, why we find it both concerning and disingenuous for PED to question the effectiveness of such schools, using traditional school assessment measures as the justification for critique. Despite ongoing successes, there is room to refine and improve, and were grateful for the chance to bring charter renewals for ACE, Health and Tech Leadership before a locally elected board of education that understands the needs of our community. Were excited to share what we have learned about meeting the needs of disengaged students. A one-size-fits-all approach to education and to assessing schools leaves out too many students and too many opportunities passed by. School choice should not be a choice for the few, fortunate ones who are already being served by the public school system. Real school choice must be robust, and must include options for those students for whose needs have not been met in traditional schools. Behind all of the numbers and statistics are actual young people whose hopes and dreams deserve more than to be distilled down to a one-sized-fits-all conception of what works. They deserve for their stories to be considered, and they deserve a path forward. PED should not threaten to eliminate choice for these students. President Donald Trumps recent announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was met with expected anxiety among concerned Americans, condemnations from the European establishment, and promises of chaos on the Arab street. It remains to be seen whether these concerns are founded. However, rather than a revelation of great consequence, the presidents proclamation is instead simply the formal acknowledgement of conditions that have existed in practice since well prior to the establishment of the modern-day state of Israel. Rather than focus on the messenger a deeply unpopular American president it is important to instead examine the physical and geopolitical realities facing Israel and the region, and thus understand the why the reaction to Trumps proclamation is much ado about relatively little. Jerusalem has functionally served as Israels capital since the states founding in 1948. The buildings housing the Knesset or Parliament plus the headquarters of almost every critical government agency have always existed in West Jerusalem on land that, by any measure, is well within Israels internationally accepted borders. Indeed, Jerusalem served as the seat of Judaism itself from the time of the citys establishment until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., after which Judaism ceased to operate as an administratively monolithic religion. Even the land reserved decades ago for an eventual U.S. embassy in Jerusalem sits well to the west of the so-called Green Line demarcating Israels pre-Six Day War borders. Under no circumstances would Jerusalem cease to be the physical, spiritual and administrative capital of Israel under any solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Central to the arguments of those opposed to the announcement is the notion that it will necessarily slow or stop the already tenuous prospects for a two-state final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In fact, the simple acknowledgement of Jerusalem as Israels capital a long-standing practical fact in no way precludes the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem. Lost in the outpouring of both elation and trepidation immediately following the announcement was another item not significantly covered by the news media. Contrary to the understanding of most, President Trump did, in fact, sign the waiver of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, thus following his three most recent predecessors in delaying for at least six months the opening of a United States embassy in Jerusalem. While officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital was a departure from past administrations, Trump indeed stood in lockstep with Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton in ensuring that the embassy will stay in Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future. The largely overlooked signing of the waiver is an important rhetorical symbol. Simply recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a statement of the obvious. The opening of an embassy in Jerusalem would send a far stronger and more consequential message, and yet it is a move to which the United States is no more obligated today than it was a year ago. This is quite likely by design and represents a deft solution to the long-standing conundrum of how to put to rest the unproductive debate over Jerusalem as Israels capital while preserving every opportunity for the peace process to move forward. As we analyze the Trump administrations rational decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, it is important to separate the message from the messenger and from the controversies surrounding this presidency. It is equally important that we acknowledge two inalienable truths: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and yet that fact does not preclude the eventual creation of a viable Palestinian state with its own capital in the Holy City. By agreeing to a handful of changes to the nearly 3-year-old case management order it imposed on the 2nd Judicial District, the state Supreme Court has shown a willingness to listen to, and act upon, recommendations by defense lawyers, public defenders, prosecutors and others involved in the judicial system. That flexibility bodes well for any future adjustments the order might need and, hopefully, for its eventual dismissal. The case management order, or CMO, was put in place in February 2015 to speed up the adjudication of backlogged criminal cases in the 2nd Judicial District, which covers Bernalillo County, and to address overcrowding at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The CMO set strict deadlines for prosecutors to arraign defendants, turn over evidence and bring cases to trial. Unfortunately, the tight deadlines led to numerous case dismissals that some observers say has contributed to the metro-areas burgeoning crime rate. At the urging of many in the criminal justice system, the state Supreme Court has amended the CMO. A summary of the changes includes: An additional five days for initial disclosure of evidence when a defendant is in custody. An additional five days for prosecutors to arraign a defendant who is not in custody. Trials for complex cases can be delayed 60 days, other cases can be delayed 45 days upon a showing of good cause. (Previous extensions were limited to 30 days.) Requirements and notices for requesting witness interviews are set. Prosecutors can re-file the same charges without new probable cause determination after a case was voluntarily dismissed by prosecutors or dismissed by a judge without prejudice. District Attorney Raul Torrez says he welcomes the changes but, like others in the judicial system, notes that without additional money, it will still be difficult to meet even the extended deadlines in some cases. Thats a valid point: Without additional police officers, public defenders, prosecutors, specialty court personnel and data-driven programs, streamlining the countys judicial system will remain a challenge. With last weeks projections by state economists that New Mexico could see nearly $200 million in new money for the coming fiscal year because of an improving economy, state legislators should put these needs at the top of their funding list. Heres why: Last year, New Mexico had the highest per capita property crime rate in the nation, and the second-highest per capita rate of violent crime. Metro Albuquerque, a key driver of those disturbing statistics, had the highest per-capita rate of auto theft in the nation, with more than 10,000 vehicles stolen. And Albuquerque has had more than 70 homicides this year, the most since 1996. Any way you look at it as a crime victim; as a child in a violent home; as a relative of a drug addict; as a taxpayer funding jails, the court system and federally mandated police reforms we have a crime crisis on our hands that demands immediate attention and resources. The case management order, new crime-fighting techniques, prosecuting the worst of the worst offenders, police reforms and community policing and especially the Legislature all have their role in reducing our untenable crime rate. As new Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has noted, there is no magic bullet here. But the type of cooperation that has led to a needed revision of the CMO is an encouraging sign that, finally, everyone is getting to the same page. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. SANTA FE Five down, 69 to go. A key New Mexico Senate committee voted Tuesday to recommend confirmation of five lower-profile nominees of Gov. Susana Martinez, but did not act on dozens of other appointees including 11 university regents who have been awaiting hearings for months. The Senate Rules Committee is not expected to meet again before lawmakers convene next month for a 30-day session, leaving a hefty backlog in place for the start of the Martinez administrations final year. The panels chairwoman, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said attempts to hold additional hearings were scuttled by scheduling conflicts. The appearance may be that were moving slow, but were working with volunteers, she told the Journal. However, in a letter sent to committee members earlier this week, Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, described the agenda as anemic and said the panel should be able to conduct 25 to 30 confirmation hearings in a day. He also said the cost of Tuesdays hearing per diem payments and mileage reimbursement for legislative committee members will likely amount to between $800 to $1,000 per nominee. That is disrespectful to the taxpayers and disrespectful to all those volunteers who are willing to serve their state and want to have a confirmation hearing, Moores wrote. New Mexicos confirmation system is based on the federal model and requires that high-level officials be appointed by the governor, with the consent of the Senate. Those subject to Senate confirmation include Cabinet secretaries, university regents and appointees to a range of boards and commissions. Appointees who are not confirmed can, in most cases, continue serving. However, any nominee who is voted down by the full Senate is immediately removed from the appointed position. The nominees approved Tuesday serve on four state boards: The Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Blind, the Labor and Industrial Commission, and the Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. WASHINGTON Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand got a fight she wants after President Donald Trump lashed out at the New York Democrat in a provocative tweet that claimed shed begged him for campaign contributions and would do anything for them. Gillibrand, whos up for re-election next year and is considered a possible presidential contender in 2020, has been an outspoken voice in the national debate over how to confront sexual assault and harassment. Shes argued that the rules in institutions from Congress to Hollywood to the U.S. military are set to benefit the powerful and the favored at the expense of the vulnerable. Gillibrand and a chorus of Democrats declared Trumps tweet to be sexually suggestive, an assertion the White House flatly rejected. Appearing Wednesday on NBCs Today show, Gillibrand was asked whether shed misread the meaning of Trumps tweet. No, she responded. She said the tweet was a sexual smear intended to silence me. The fiery exchange with Trump could brighten the spotlight on Gillibrands campaign to upend the dynamics and put power in the hands of the victims while simultaneously pushing the 51-year-old mother of two boys to the forefront of an unformed Democratic presidential field. Shes scathed icons in her own party along the way. Gillibrand was appointed to Hillary Clintons Senate seat, but she recently said Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency for his improprieties. That led Clinton loyalists to criticize her as an ungrateful opportunist. The back-and-forth between Trump and Gillibrand on Tuesday came as a wave of sexual misconduct allegations roils Capitol Hill, forcing several lawmakers out of office in just the last week alone. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said he would resign amid an ethics probe into accusations that he sexually harassed several women. Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Trent Franks, R-Ariz., also quit after misconduct accusations surfaced. I do think this is a reckoning. This is a watershed moment, Gillibrand said of the resignations in speaking to The Associated Press late last week. Politicians should be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. And she rejected the notion that she and other Democrats, by demanding Franken and Conyers step aside, are making a calculation they hope will pay off politically as Trump continues to fend off allegations of sexual misconduct lodged over the last year by more than a dozen women. That couldnt be more cynical and backward, said Gillibrand, who was one of the first Democrats to call for Franken to step down. It has nothing to do with politics. This whole debate is, Do we care about women.' Gillibrand served notice several years ago that combating sexual assault would be her issue. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she and other female lawmakers dressed down senior military leaders at a headline-making hearing, insisting sexual assault in the ranks has cost the services the trust and respect of the American people as well as the nations men and women in uniform. Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together, Gillibrand told the uniformed men in 2013. Four years later, Gillibrand added her voice to the growing number of male senators calling for Trump to resign in the face of multiple accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior. A day after her broadside, Trump singled her out. The president tweeted: Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! Gillibrand was at a bipartisan Bible study in the office of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., when she stepped out to take a call alerting her to Trumps tweet. She fired back, calling the presidents tweet a sexist smear aimed at silencing her voice. She also renewed her call for a congressional inquiry into the accusations against Trump. Gillibrand silently shook her head at the idea that she had begged Trump for campaign contributions. Democrats rushed to Gillibrands defense. Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tweeted back at Trump. Do you know who youre picking a fight with? Good luck with that. Senate Republicans steered clear of the latest uproar involving Trumps Twitter account. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a frequent Trump critic, was an exception, telling reporters he didnt think it was appropriate at all. At the White House, however, Trumps spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said theres no way the presidents tweet was sexist at all. She said Trump was talking about a rigged political system and the fact that lawmakers repeatedly plead for money. Federal Election Commission records show Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump donated nearly $8,000 to Gillibrands congressional campaigns. Gillibrand, of Dartmouth and UCLA law, has fought since 2013 to overhaul the way the U.S. armed forces deals with allegations of sexual misconduct. A bill she crafted aims to stop sexual assaults by stripping senior U.S. military officers of their responsibilities to decide whether to prosecute sexual assault cases and giving that authority to seasoned military trial lawyers. But the Pentagon has stridently opposed the change and the bill has remained stalled. ___ Contact Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner TOKYO A court ruled Wednesday that a nuclear reactor in southwestern Japan should not operate because it is too close to an active volcano and could be affected by a major eruption. The injunction ordered by the Hiroshima high court is likely to force the Unit 3 reactor at the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime prefecture to stay offline after its regular inspection ends in February. The court said the nuclear regulators risk estimate for Mount Aso, 130 kilometers (78 miles) southwest of the plant, was inadequate, citing a past eruption tens of thousands of years ago that caused pyroclastic flows that exceeded that distance. Judge Tomoyuki Tanoue ruled that the plants operator, Shikoku Electric Power Co., had underestimated the potential impact of a cauldron explosion at the volcano, and said the possibility of a pyroclastic flow and ash reaching the reactor is not small enough. The judge said the Nuclear Regulation Authoritys safety approval of the reactor was irrational and that the lives of the plaintiffs could be endangered by radiation in the event of a major accident. The decision reverses a lower court ruling and upholds the plaintiffs request for an injunction through September to protect the safety of residents while their lawsuit demanding a permanent shutdown is pending. A higher court decision carries a greater legal weight, and the ruling could result in nuclear operators having a greater burden in proving the safety of their reactors. Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the decision as a victory. An extended closure of Unit 3 would be a major business loss for Shikoku Electric, and the utility said it will appeal the decision. The utility had earlier decided to decommission the 40-year-old Unit 1 reactor, while the Unit 2 reactor has been shut down since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami. All operating reactors in Japan were temporarily stopped for safety checks after the Fukushima accident. Five reactors, including Ikata No. 3, have since resumed operation under a tougher post-Fukushima safety standard, with seven others in the final stages of restarting. Dozens of lawsuits and injunction requests have been filed across Japan over safety concerns since the Fukushima disaster, slowing down a government push for more reactors to be operated. Prime Minister Shinzo Abes pro-business government wants nuclear power to remain a key component of the energy mix for resource-poor Japan. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Find her work at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi ATHENS, Greece Greeces Supreme Court has ruled in favor of extraditing a Russian cybercrime suspect to the United States to stand trial for allegedly laundering billions of dollars using the virtual currency bitcoin. Alexander Vinnik made his final appearance at an Athens court Wednesday amid an ongoing legal battle between the U.S. and Russia, who are both seeking his extradition. Greeces justice minister will ultimately decide on whether Vinnik will be sent to Russia or the U.S. The case was heard amid growing global interest in virtual currencies and their underlying blockchain technology, fuelled by the ongoing boom in the price of bitcoin. The 38-year-old former bitcoin platform operator denies any wrongdoing but is not contesting the Russian request on less serious charges. U.S. authorities accuse Vinnik of laundering $4 billion worth of bitcoins through BTC-e, one of the worlds largest digital currency exchanges, which he allegedly operated. Garrick Hileman, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, said bitcoins growing acceptance by mainstream markets makes criminal cases surrounding the currency more significant. For bitcoin to continue to attract regulated and institutional investors it will need to operate within the law, he told the AP. The United States, with the support of evidence from various cyber sleuths, is arguing that Vinnik and BTC-e were two of the biggest bad actors in the crypto-currency industry. Bringing bad actors to justice will help bitcoin move beyond its tainted history. Vinnik was arrested at a northern Greek holiday resort in July and a lower court has already approved his extradition to the U.S. Ilias Spyrliadis, a lawyer for Vinniks defense, said they would formally respond after Wednesdays decision is published, in about one week. The Supreme Court has in essence accepted that our client should be sent to the United States, the lawyer said. Our client has not made any response. He listened to the ruling as it was read out It is now up to the justice minister to decide when and where our client will be sent. ___ Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Athens and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece contributed Follow Gatopoulos at: http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos ISTANBUL Breaking with years of courting the U.S., Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the United Nations to replace Washington as a Mideast mediator and suggested he might not cooperate with the Trump administrations much-anticipated effort to hammer out an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. At a summit in Turkey, Arab and Muslim leaders rejected and condemned President Donald Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital the trigger for Abbas sharp policy pivot but stopped short of backing his more combative approach toward Washington. A possible Palestinian refusal to engage with the U.S. and growing backlash against Trumps shift on Jerusalem, including from Arab allies, cast new doubt over the administrations already seemingly remote chances of brokering a deal and succeeding where its predecessors have failed. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Wednesday the administration would continue to work on a Mideast plan that it believes will benefit Israelis and Palestinians. Referring to Abbas, she said that the type of rhetoric that we heard has prevented peace in the past, and its not necessarily surprising that those types of things would be said. In shunning the U.S., Abbas would find himself in uncharted territory. He does not have an immediate practical alternative to more than two decades of U.S.-led negotiations on the terms of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians seek such a state on lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. On the other hand, Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital was decried by Palestinians and others in the region as a provocative show of pro-Israel bias, making it difficult for Abbas to justify dealing with Washington as a mediator. Trumps argument that his announcement does not mean an endorsement of specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem has not gained traction in the ensuing uproar. The fate of Jerusalem is a hot-button issue in the region, and even the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt reportedly eager to help advance Trumps Mideast efforts cannot afford to be seen as soft on the religious claims of Muslims and political claims of Palestinians to the contested city. Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is home to Islams third-holiest shrine, along with the most revered site in Judaism and a major Christian church. Wednesdays extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation ended with a call on Trump to rescind an unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region and on the world to recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a state of Palestine. A concluding statement lacked tougher criticism of U.S. policy contained in an earlier draft, which questioned Washingtons continued role as a Mideast mediator and warned that Trumps shift on Jerusalem threatened global security. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit, stuck to the harder line, saying at a news conference that it is out of the question for Washington to continue mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. That process is now over, he said. Abbas speech marked a high-profile break with what had been his unwavering policy in more than a decade as Palestinian leader. Despite setbacks, he had considered a close relationship with the U.S. the centerpiece of his efforts to win Palestinian statehood through negotiations. When Trump was elected a year ago, Abbas went out of his way not to criticize the new president, for fear of harming the relationship. On Wednesday, he expressed a sense of betrayal. We were shocked by the U.S. administration, Abbas said. While we engaged with them in the peace process for the sake of a deal for the ages, (Trump) delivered a slap for the ages. Abbas said the United States has disqualified itself as a mediator. We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process, Abbas said. The Palestinian leader said he remains committed to a two-state solution but that he would push for the U.N. to assume responsibility and find a new mechanism for resolving the conflict. In another sign of a harder Palestinian stance, Abbas aides said earlier this week that he would not meet with Mike Pence when the U.S. vice president visits the region, starting this weekend. Abbas was initially to have hosted Pence, a devout Christian, in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, following the vice presidents visit to Israel. Trumps nod to Israel on Jerusalem came at a time of mounting speculation about the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian deal the U.S. might propose. Palestinian officials have said they have not heard anything official from the U.S. team led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner or from the powerful Saudi crown prince who met Abbas last month. Saudi Arabia did not participate in a high-level capacity in Wednesdays summit. But in Riyadh, King Salman and his heir met Wednesday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also leads the United Arab Emirates armed forces. A statement said they discussed the serious repercussions of the negative decision of the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to criticize Abbas comments, though he did not directly refer to the Palestinian leader. Netanyahu said in a speech Wednesday that Palestinians should work for peace and not for extremism. All of these declarations do not impress us, Netanyahu said. He said Israel is committed to protecting the freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem, but reaffirmed Israels claims to the entire city. Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital since the states establishment in 1948 and sees the city as the ancient capital of the Jewish people Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it to its capital, a move not recognized by most of the international community. Over the past 50 years, Israel has cemented its control over the eastern sector, building large settlements there that are now home to more than 200,000 Israelis. Despite efforts to ensure a large Jewish majority, the share of the Palestinian population in Jerusalem has grown from 26 percent in 1967 to 37 percent today. ___ Laub reported from Jericho, West Bank. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, Ken Thomas and Josh Lederman in Washington and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report. LONDON British lawmakers delivered a blow to Prime Minister Theresa Mays Brexit plans Wednesday by giving Parliament the final say on any exit agreement the government reaches with the European Union. The House of Commons voted 309-305 to give lawmakers what is essentially a veto on the terms of Brexit, a challenge to Mays fragile authority amid the already strained disentanglement process. The vote came on the eve of a major EU summit. A dozen lawmakers from the prime ministers governing Conservative Party sided with the opposition to insist that any withdrawal deal with the EU requires an act of Parliament to take effect. May had promised lawmakers a meaningful vote on the departure agreement, but political opponents and some within her own party said her assurance was not enough of a guarantee. The vote was the governments first defeat in Parliament on its Brexit legislation. It came as an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill, the governments flagship piece of Brexit legislation. The bill itself, which still is moving through Parliament, would convert some 12,000 EU laws into British statutes on the day the U.K. leaves the bloc in March 2019. Without it, Britain could face a legal black hole the day after Brexit. The government said it was disappointed with the result and would see whether changes were now needed to the essential legislation. If the amendment survives a final vote on the withdrawal bill, it would not have a direct impact on Britains negotiations with the EU. But it could reinforce perceptions in the bloc that May lacks authority. It increases pressure on May, who is caught between the opposing wings of a government and Parliament deeply split over Brexit. The vote was hailed by those who support a soft Brexit in which Britain continues to align closely with the EU as a sign that the government will have to pay more attention to Parliament, where pro-EU forces are in a majority. Pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve, who drafted the amendment, said it ensured Parliament did not give the government a blank check on Brexit. EU leaders, including May, open a two-day summit Thursday during which they are slated to agree that there has been sufficient progress for Brexit talks to move to the second phase of future relations and trade, a subject Britain wants to open as soon as possible. Earlier Wednesday, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said there could be no turning back for Britain on commitments made during an initial divorce deal between the two. He spoke after his U.K. counterpart insisted it was merely a statement of intent. Barnier told legislators at the European Parliament that the negotiations so far have been extremely complex and extraordinary but insisted he had made no concessions to the British side. U.K. negotiator David Davis riled officials in Brussels by suggesting on the weekend that the deal was less than cast in stone. The initial deal involved agreement on keeping a transparent border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.s Northern Ireland, as well as guarantees on citizens rights. But, Barnier said, progress has been noted and recorded and is going to have to be translated into a legally binding withdrawal agreement. The European Parliaments chief Brexit official, Guy Verhofstadt, said Davis had assured him it is absolutely not his intention, not the intention of the U.K. government, to backtrack on their commitments. Britain is due to leave the bloc in March 2019, but a Brexit deal will have to be agreed by the fall of 2018 to give national parliaments time to approve it. European Union Council President Donald Tusk warned Tuesday that it would be a furious race against time to finish Brexit negotiations by autumn. ___ Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported this story in London and AP writer Raf Casert reported from Brussels. By PTI: Tillerson By Lalit K Jha Washington, Dec 13 (PTI) The US has elevated its engagement with India as part of its effort of a free and open Indo-Pacific, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said amid Chinas increasing assertiveness in the region. The US for long has been favouring a larger role for India in the Indo-Pacific region to pursue common interests in the strategically key area. advertisement "As part of the free and open Indo-Pacific, we have elevated our engagement with India," Tillerson said. "Weve long had a trilateral relationship in the Indo- Pacific between Japan, Australia, and the US, and were now working towards whether this will become a quad relationship to include India because of the importance of Indias rising economy as well and I think shared national security concerns that we have with India," he said. On Americas relationship with China, he said the administration now have a very active mechanism in which it can put complex issues on the table. "And we have differences, such as the South China Sea and Chinas building of structures, militarisation of these structures, and how that affects our allies in the region as well in terms of free and open trade," he said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea but Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the waterway. The Indo-Pacific includes South Asia and the Indian Ocean. "As weve said to the Chinese, we hope we can find a way to freeze this particular activity. Whether we can reverse, it remains to seen. But it is not acceptable to us that these islands continue to be developed, and certainly not for military purposes," Tillerson said. "In Southeast Asia, we put forth a policy here not too long ago of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and this was built on the back of some of our views about Chinas One Belt, One Road policy. Chinas One Belt, One Road, we understand, is a policy they have to continue their economic development, and our policies do not seek to contain Chinas economic development," Tillerson said. Tillerson said the US is paying a close attention to Beijings One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, but sought to clarify that the Trump administration does not intend to contain Chinas economic growth. "But Chinas economic development, in our view, should take place in the system of international rules and norms, and One Belt, One Road seems to want to define its own rules and norms," he added. advertisement The Secretary of State borrowed a quote from Defence Secretary Jim Mattis: "China has One Belt, One Road; the United States and the global economy has many belts and many roads, and no one country gets to choose the belt or the road. Tillerson said that a free and open Indo-Pacific means all countries have access to continue their economic development and free access for trade through the region. PTI LKJ CK NSA AKJ NSA --- ENDS --- JAKARTA, Indonesia A top Indonesian politician accused of involvement in one of the countrys biggest corruption scandals told a court on the first day of his trial that he was suffering a stomach complaint, forcing a postponement while his medical condition was checked. Lawyers for Setya Novanto, the former speaker of Indonesias parliament, argued Wednesday he was too ill to stand trial but prosecutors said he was in good health. Judges postponed the hearing until later in the day. Novanto was allegedly part of a conspiracy of dozens of officials who used the introduction of an electronic ID system to steal more than $170 million of public money. He evaded questioning by anti-corruption officials for months but was arrested in November at a hospital after being involved in a car accident. In court Wednesday, Novanto initially refused to respond to repeated questions from judges and then told the court, I am suffering diarrhea, I asked for drugs but they were not given. Prosecutors said prison guards reported he was coughing in his cell. This is a lie by the defendant, state prosecutor Irene Putri told the court before Novanto was excused for a checkup. After two postponements, during which the defendant was examined at the court clinic, the five-judge panel concluded that he was fit to face trial and the hearing resumed. The panel then allowed prosecutors to read out the indictment, in which Novanto was accused of involvement in the scandal and enriching himself and others. Novanto, also a senior figure in the Golkar party, which is part of Indonesias governing coalition, has denied any wrongdoing. An admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, Novanto made an unexpected appearance at a Trump news conference at Trump Tower in New York in September 2015 along with another Indonesian lawmaker, Fadli Zon. Novanto was introduced by Trump as one of Indonesias most powerful men who would do great things for the U.S. MOSCOW When Russia launched a military campaign in Syria two years ago, President Vladimir Putin sought to save his ally from imminent collapse and break Russias international isolation over a crisis in Ukraine. He achieved that and more, emerging as a key stakeholder in the Middle East who has brokered deals with many of its key players from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and Israel. Its a regional footprint that comes with a degree of clout that even the Soviet Union, which depended on a handful of Arab allies, couldnt dream of during the Cold War era. And it was accomplished with limited resources and a lot of audacity. Vladimir Putin is determined to restore a greater role for Russia as a global power and the Middle East is really the main area where Russia has that potential, in part because the Soviet Union played that role in the Soviet period, said William Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at RAND Corporation. With just a few dozen jets and several thousand troops, Russia waded into Syrias war and stubbornly pressed its campaign despite international scorn and an outcry over resulting civilian casualties. Russias bold intervention in Syria came as the United States under President Barack Obama steered clear of military engagement and found itself in a series of acrimonious disputes with key allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. Under the vastly inconsistent policies of Donald Trump, and in an era of an inward looking, America-first U.S. policy, Russias maneuvers became all the more poignant on the global stage. Putins success in the region was on full display Monday, with the confident and upbeat leader moving between Syria, Egypt and Turkey in a whirlwind tour a week after announcing he will seek re-election for another six-year term in March. Speaking to Russian troops on the tarmac at Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Putin declared victory over the Islamic State group and Syrian rebels and announced he had ordered a scaling down of the Russian contingent in Syria. In Egypt, he signed a deal for the construction of a nuclear reactor on the countrys Mediterranean coast and sought to strengthen his relationship with a key regional power that has in the past three years bought billions of dollars in Russian weapons. And in Turkey, a NATO member, the Russian leader appeared to be on the same page with strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan on key issues, including opposition to Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which sparked outrage across the region. The Russian president was frequently derided for his penchant for a 19th century-style Realpolitik characterized by cynical political calculus. But Putins approach paid off in Syria, where he managed to play on the conflicting interests of regional powers and strike deals with various players. When Putin decided to intervene in Syria, President Bashar Assad was on the verge of collapse, his forces losing on all fronts. Within weeks, the Russian military had airlifted supplies needed to set up a base in Assads heartland and launched an air campaign at the end of September 2015. At first, observers were skeptical about Putins Syria adventure given Russias economic troubles and the overwhelming negative odds on the chaotic Syrian battlefield, where the Islamic State group, al-Qaida militants and a motley collection of rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and others were routing Assads shrinking military. Many in the West and in Russia predicted Syria would turn into another Afghanistan a botched Soviet intervention that led to massive losses and ended in a humiliating 1989 withdrawal after nearly a decade of fighting. Putin argued that Russia needed to intervene in Syria to fight a terror threat, but made it clear that he wasnt going to walk into a trap like the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Another reason for skepticism was the Russian military meltdown that followed the Soviet collapse. The armys vulnerabilities were highlighted by separatist wars in Chechnya and a brief 2008 war with Georgia, where the lack of modern communications and weapons, lack of coordination between various military branches and poor discipline were woefully apparent. But the Syrian campaign suddenly saw a different Russian military one armed with sophisticated precision weapons, well-trained, neatly-dressed and proud of its mission. Putin managed to explain to the Russian people why Syria was important and not only did he explain it, he also showed them Syria wasnt going to be Afghanistan, Dmitry Trenin, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, told The Associated Press. The war saw the combat debut of an array of Russian weapons, including long-range cruise missiles that were fired from surface navy ships, submarines and bombers. The display of Moscows revamped arsenals also served another key goal to show the U.S. and its NATO allies that Russia no longer exclusively relies on nuclear weapons. The new cruise missiles gave Putin a long-sought long-range precision cruise capability that only the U.S. had before. Early in the campaign, Moscow found itself on the verge of a military conflict with Ankara after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane on the Syrian border in November 2015. But just a few months later, Putin mended ties with Turkey, offering President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strong support after a failed coup attempt. They struck a deal on Syria, setting up de-escalation zones that helped reduce fighting. Russia also reached out to other key players from Iran, which staunchly backed Assad, to the Saudis, the Qataris and others who supported the opposition. It also communicated with Israel to make sure the conflict didnt hurt their friendly relationship. Russian military successes in Syria and its rapprochement with Turkey paved the way for another Putin diplomatic coup a warming of ties with Saudi Arabia, Moscows opponent since Cold War times when it armed Afghan fighters battling the Soviet invasion. In a first-ever visit by a Saudi monarch, King Salman visited Russia in October. While declaring victory in Syria, Putin made it clear Russia is there to stay. He plans to expand the air base and turn a crumbling Soviet-era naval supply facility in Syrias port of Tartus into a full-fledged navy base capable of hosting big ships. Russia has also drafted a deal with Egypt to allow its warplanes to use bases there a deployment unseen since the times when Egypt was a key Soviet ally in the Mideast before going to the U.S. side in the mid-1970s. Courtney, the RAND analyst, said despite Putins successes in the region, Russia will remain a limited great power that serves mainly as a military supplier because it lacks the resources and capability that the West has for nation building or reconstruction. The challenge for Putin is to turn the use of his military force and military weapons supplies in the Middle East to something that is a lasting success, and we dont yet see how Russia is going to get there, he said. ___ Karam reported from Beirut. LEADVILLE, Colo. A former Colorado undersheriff has been arrested following a grand jury indictment on charges stemming from the alleged harassment of several 911 dispatchers and the alleged exploitation of a minor. KMGH-TV in Denver reports former Lake County undersheriff Fernando Mendoza was arrested Tuesday and is being held with no bail. District Attorney Bruce Brown says Mendoza is facing charges after sexual harassment allegations were levied against him by several female 911 staffers. The former undersheriff also is accused of using a camera owned by the sheriffs office to observe someone in a bathroom and of trying to entice a girl into posting nude photos on the internet. He was fired from the department several weeks ago. Jail staff did not return a phone call to determine if Mendoza has hired an attorney. ___ Information from: KMGH-TV, http://www.thedenverchannel.com Many oil and gas operators and water producers in the Permian Basin region are adjusting their operations to conserve water from one of the countrys largest underground aquifers, six months after the New Mexico State Land Office demanded companies find another source of water. The Ogallala aquifer extends as far north as Wyoming and South Dakota, with a small section of the freshwater shale reported in eastern New Mexico along the Texas state line. The Ogallala, a freshwater source, has long been a source for agriculture in the American Midwest and for extraction activities in the Permian Basin. But the massive water supply was found to have depleted in recent years, and State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn issued a directive in May aiming to curtail its use in favor of the nearby Capitan Reef aquifer which is brackish. More than 70 percent of the Permian Basins wells are in water-stressed areas, while hydraulic fracturing needs were expected to double by 2020, read a 2014 study by environmentalist nonprofit Ceres. In Dec. 8 news release, Dunn commended several companies for complying with his directive, even after a Local Hills water producer sued the Stand Land Office hoping for an injunction to the regulation. That case was still being litigated as of Dec. 5, court records show. Using fresh drinking water for extracting oil is a thing of the past and Im encouraged by the number of producers who are taking steps to be the solution, not the problem, Dunn said. Will Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Midland-based Remnant Oil Company LLC, an independent contractor, said his company is analyzing other sources of water aside from the Ogallala. By working within the scope of the State Land Offices agenda, Remnant wants to implement a more strategic policy in handling not only produced water associated with oil and gas operations, but to recognize the importance of freshwater for everyday life, and has identified multiple alternatives for water in lieu of the Ogallala aquifer, Gray said. Remnant also intends to work with nearby oil and gas operators, read the release, hoping to purchase produced water at a reduced rate comparable to what companies pay for disposal. Not only will this collaboration benefit Remnants ability to offset any loss of water from the Ogallala, it will allow offset operators to recognize lower lifting costs which will ultimately result in more economic wells and an improved tax base for the State of New Mexico, read the release. Under the new regulations, companies that draw from the Ogallala are required to submit additional hydraulic information along with applications for easements to use water from the aquifer for oil and gas related activities. Those operations intended to draw from the Ogallala will be individually evaluated by the State Land Office, before or if they are permitted to draw up the water. Gray said conserving the nations freshwater is a priority for the oil and gas industry, along with conservation efforts intended to reduce the industrys impact on the environment. Water is a key component in our industry with many of the majors and large independents having led the way in innovation and conservation of this natural resource, Gray said. The New Mexico oil and gas community will need to work together to better preserve these precious water resources going forward. Oil and gas giant The Chevron Corporation also announced changes to its water usage aimed at protecting the Ogallala, while maintaining production using other, non-drinking-water sources. The company nearly eliminated all of its use of freshwater for well completions, read a Friday statement from Chevron. Instead, Chevron spokesman Cary Baird said Chevrons Mid-Continent Business Unit, which operates in the Permian Basin, relies highly on low-quality brackish water, and recycled produced water also lowering the amount of produced water that is disposed of once drilling is finished. Chevron recognizes the value of water as a fundamental social, environmental and economic resource, Baird said. As a global company, we know that access to adequate supplies of water, both freshwater and water of lower quality, is essential for the communities where we operate as well as for our ability to produce energy around the world. As users of this critical natural resource, we must manage it responsibly. Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter. 2017 the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) Visit the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) at www.currentargus.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas A surgeon has been identified as the 36-year-old man police believe fatally shot his two young children before killing himself in the familys North Texas home. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that officials Tuesday identified the man as Dr. Christopher Dawson. Police are calling the deaths Saturday in North Richland Hills a murder-suicide. The Tarrant County medical examiners office says Dawson fatally shot himself. The deaths of 9-year-old Luke Dawson and 5-year-old Aubrey Dawson were ruled homicides. Both children died from gunshot wounds. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Waxahachie records show Christopher Dawson was employed there from Sept. 4 to Oct. 20. Hospital officials didnt comment on why Dawson left. Police have said there had been no previous calls from the house. The childrens mother was home but wasnt injured. ___ Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com SANTA FE Political flyers touting Gov. Susana Martinezs accomplishments are hitting mailboxes in Albuquerque the work of a nonprofit group that doesnt have to disclose whos paying for them. Martinez political strategist Jay McCleskey said the nonprofit group, New Mexico Legacy, is countering well-funded leftwing dark money groups that have spent well over a million dollars in opposition to these various issues over the previous months and years. Martinez, a Republican, is entering the last year of her second consecutive term as New Mexico governor, the limit set by the state Constitution. She hasnt revealed any future political plans beyond that. But she is preparing for her last regular legislative session as governor when she plans to push for anti-crime legislation, an overhaul of the tax code and other longtime priorities. The New Mexico Legacy advertisements resemble the kind of mailers common in campaign season. One sent to a home in Albuquerques Northeast Heights, for example, highlights Martinezs signing in 2011 of an expansion of Katies Law, which requires adults arrested for a felony to submit to DNA testing. The flyer credits the expansion with helping solve brutal murders and cold cases, listing a variety of statistics and examples. Martinez, with tears in her eyes, is photographed with the mother of Katie Sepich, for whom the law was named. Sepich was a New Mexico State University student murdered in 2003. Her killer was identified with DNA evidence after he was convicted of another crime. The flyer urges people to Support Governor Susana Martinezs efforts to crack down on crime. State corporation records list the officers of New Mexico Legacy as: President Amy Orlando, a former District Attorney in Dona Ana County. Martinez, herself a former Dona Ana County district attorney, appointed Orlando to succeed her in office when she won election seven years ago as governor. Treasurer Rob Doughty, an attorney and member of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents, appointed by Martinez. Secretary Jessica Perez, fundraising director of Martinezs 2014 re-election campaign. McCleskey responded to a Journal request for comment sent to Perez. New Mexico Legacy, he said, is a nonprofit group educating the public about important policy successes over recent years and advocating in favor of these issues. It has no plans to engage in any electioneering. Nonprofit groups like New Mexico Legacy are allowed to engage in education campaigns, as long as politics isnt their primary purpose. They generally dont have to disclose their donors. In addition to mailers, the group is also doing radio ads. A Journal Poll in October last year found that 42 percent of likely voters surveyed said they approve of Martinezs job performance, while 44 percent said they disapproved. SALT LAKE CITY A former polygamous sect leader was sentenced Wednesday to nearly five years in prison for his role in carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement while awaiting trial. The sentencing of Lyle Jeffs closes the book on a major government bust that took several years to investigate, culminating in February 2016 with fraud and money laundering charges against him and 10 other group members. Lyle Jeffs was accused of being the ring-leader of a scheme that diverted some $11 million in food-stamp benefits to a communal storehouse and front companies over several years. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said during a hearing in Salt Lake City that Lyle Jeffs deserved the 57-month prison sentence because his behavior showed he doesnt respect U.S. laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sects imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs, above everything else. Stewart said Lyle Jeffs religious beliefs provide context for his decision to blindly follow his brothers orders, but dont justify the fact that he cheated taxpayers out of government funds. Mr. Jeffs is an adult. He knows right from wrong, Stewart said. Lyle Jeffs is a lifelong member of the Mormon offshoot group based on the Utah-Arizona border known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS. Lyle Jeffs 57, spoke briefly and said he accepted responsibility for his mistakes and that he erred in not properly researching food stamp fraud laws. He was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and failure to appear. I do your honor humbly and respectfully say that I acknowledge my mistakes and decision-making, said Lyle Jeffs, his hands and ankles shackled. I do humbly accept my responsibly for my actions. I dont blame anyone. The cases against the 10 other defendants ended in plea deals without prison time or with dismissed charges, but prosecutors made Lyle Jeffs their top priority from the outset. They dug in even more against him after he became a fugitive in June 2016 after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device while out on supervised release. The FBI put up a $50,000 reward. He was caught in South Dakota a year later after pawn shop workers spotted him and called police. Prosecutor Robert Lund said he hopes the sentence sends a strong message to Lyle Jeffs and other sect leaders that a culture of corruption in recent years wont be tolerated. He said Lyle Jeffs and other leaders lived and ate well while lower-level group members suffered, using businesses and special instructions to members to try and conceal the scheme. This case cries out for a message to that community, Lund said. They must obey the law. Lund added about Lyle Jeffs: There is no training, no treatment for what ails the defendant. The food stamp investigation was one of several government crackdowns on the group in recent years that has weakened the sect and created a leadership void in its home base in the sister cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. The town governments and the police are being watched closely by court-appointed monitors after a jury found them guilty of civil rights violations. Government-ordered evictions of sect families from nearly 150 homes has forced many to seek refuge in trailers around the communities or in different cities across the West. Last month, the mayors office and three council seats in Hildale that had always been controlled by FLDS members were taken over by former sect members. Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered wives. Lyle Jeffs attorney Kathryn Nester said the scheme wasnt malicious but meant to ensure everyone in the group had food to eat as part of the groups religious beliefs in communal living. She said her client was serving his faith just as hes done his entire life. His salvation was on the line like everybody elses, Nester said. She said Lyle Jeffs has already suffered tremendously because hes been banned from the sect by Warren Jeffs. That means hes lost his family, his job and his faith. If youre looking to humble him, I think were there, Nester said. Nester tried to get a more lenient sentence by telling Judge Stewart that a perfect storm of factors led her client and the group to share the food stamps and that it wont ever happen again. Stewart said hes not so sure based on letters sent in by Jeffs friends who were trying to vouch for his character. He said several of them referred to the charges as religious persecution, leading him to believe they still dont understand the seriousness of the crime. That troubles me because it suggests it could happen again, Stewart said. The deterrent effect has not been felt by some members of the community. PHOENIX The widow of an unarmed Texas man who was killed by an Arizona police officer in videotaped shooting that later gained widespread attention says she feels betrayed by jurors who acquitted him of murder. Laney Sweet said her husband, Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas, was executed last year as he begged for his life. Police in the suburban Phoenix city of Mesa fired Officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford after the shooting. I just dont understand how anybody could watch that video and then say not guilty, that this is justified, Laney Sweet told CBS News in an interview that aired Tuesday. That Daniel deserved this and that Philip Brailsford doesnt deserve to be held accountable for his actions. Officers had gone to a hotel in response to a report of a man with a gun. Police ordered Shaver to exit his hotel room, lay face-down in the hallway and refrain from making sudden movements. The jury saw video of Shaver crawling in the hallway and begging police through sobs not to shoot him. Authorities released the unedited, roughly 18-minute body-camera video Dec. 7, shortly after the verdict was reached. Jurors declined to speak with reporters after returning their decision. Brailsford said he thought Shaver was grabbing a gun when he reached for his waistband. Authorities have said it looked like Shaver was pulling up loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he crawled. He was shot five times for what? For his elbow coming up too high? For being confused? For being compliant? Why did he deserve to die? He didnt, Sweet said. No gun was found on Shavers body. Two pellet rifles related to his pest-control job were later found in his hotel room. Shaver had two young daughters, including an 8-year-old who Sweet says now needs psychiatric help. Sweet and Shavers parents have filed separate wrongful-death lawsuits against the city of Mesa. Brailsford was a Mesa police officer for about two years before being fired for violating department policy. THE WOODLANDS, Texas Officials say a man fatally shot his 90-year-old father at a Houston-area home and then killed himself. The Montgomery County sheriffs office says the men died in an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday night in The Woodlands. Lt. John Schmitt said they believe the 65-year-old James Gregory Crawford shot his father, James Milford Crawford, before turning the gun on himself. Schmitt says the father had been suffering from dementia. Deputies were called to the home after a family member returned home and found the son dead in his bed. After deputies arrived they searched the house and found the father. WASHINGTON Former Vice President Joe Biden sought to console the daughter of ailing Sen. John McCain after she began crying while discussing her fathers battle with brain cancer on ABCs The View. Meghan McCain, a panelist on the program, told Biden on Wednesday she hadnt been able to get through his new memoir, Promise Me, Dad, which centers on the 2015 death of his son, Beau, from an aggressive tumor called glioblastoma. Doctors diagnosed John McCain, an Arizona Republican, with the same type of tumor this past summer. I think about Beau almost every day and I was told that this doesnt get easier but that you cultivate the tools to work with this and live with this, Meghan McCain said, her voice breaking. I know you and your family have been through tragedy I couldnt conceive of. Biden, who served with John McCain in the Senate, stood up and moved from his seat on the set to sit next to her and hold her hand. He told Meghan McCain not to lose hope and that a medical breakthrough is possible. And it can happen tomorrow, Biden said, adding that if anyone can beat brain cancer, its John McCain. McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman, has missed several votes in the Senate this week and didnt attend a White House ceremony held Tuesday for President Donald Trump to sign the annual defense bill into law. The sweeping policy measure has been a major achievement of McCains for years. A statement issued late Wednesday by the senators office said hes at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland receiving treatment for the normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy. He looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible, the statement added. Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a longtime McCain friend who was his congressional chief of staff in the 1980s, said he talked to McCain this week and he seemed very weak. These treatments are very tough on people and hes just dealing with the byproduct of the treatment, Woods said Wednesday. Hopefully hes going to get on top of this part of it and get some rest and come back stronger than ever. Thats our hope. Now in his sixth Senate term, McCain, 81, underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a 2-inch (51-millimeter) blood clot in his brain after being diagnosed with glioblastoma. He rebounded quickly, however, returning to Washington and entering the Senate on July 25 to a standing ovation from his colleagues. In a dramatic turn, he cast a deciding vote against the Republican health care bill a move that drew the wrath of President Donald Trump and conservatives. McCains vote scuttled the seven-year effort by the GOP to dismantle much of President Barack Obamas health care law. But McCains condition has appeared to worsen in recent weeks. He suffered a minor tear in his right Achilles tendon, forcing him to wear a walking brace. McCain eventually began using a wheelchair with members of his staff pushing him where he needed to go. As a Navy pilot, McCain lived through a July 1967 fire that killed 134 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. The following October, his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi. He spent more than five years as a prisoner of war. McCain also has survived several bouts with melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer. Biden, 74, considered a run for the Oval Office in 2016, but decided against it, later citing the trauma of his sons death keeping him from the race. During his appearance on The View, Biden, a former Democratic senator from Delaware, recounted his long friendship with John McCain and how McCain had befriended Beau many years earlier when he served as a Navy liaison officer to the Senate. Biden also laughed while remembering their political clashes, with the two Senate heavyweights going toe to toe. Her dad goes after me hammer and tong, Biden told the audience. But he also said that, even now, if he called John McCain and asked for help, hed be there for him. Meghan McCain thanked Biden later, tweeting she had no words to convey her immense gratitude. Your strength, hope and fortitude are an inspiration to me and so many others daily, she wrote. ___ Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report. ___ Contact Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner By India Today Web Desk: After their hush-hush wedding in Tuscany, newlyweds Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have flown off to Rome for their honeymoon. The couple, who tied the knot on December 11, have a week in hand before their grand reception in Delhi on December 21. And they want to spend that time in Rome. According to a report in BollywoodLife, Virat and Anushka left Borgo Finocchieto at around 3 on Tuesday afternoon for their roman holiday. advertisement After a dreamy wedding in world's second most-expensive holiday destination, Virat and Anushka want to spend some quality time before they return to India for the receptions. It is only after a reception in Delhi and Mumbai that the couple will travel to South Africa where Virat has an upcoming series. Anushka and Virat will ring in the New Year together, post which the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil actor will return to Mumbai to resume work. Virat will stay in South Africa for his series. Away from the hustle bustle of Mumbai, Virat and Anushka decided to get married in Tuscany, Italy in the presence of family and close friends. After months of speculation, Virat and Anushka confirmed the news of their wedding on Monday by sharing a post on Twitter. Today we have promised each other to be bound in love forever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you. This beautiful day will be made more special with the love and support of our family of fans & well wishers. Thank you for being such an important part of our journey. pic.twitter.com/Scobdiqk7l- Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) December 11, 2017 Virat and Anushka, or "Virushka" as their fans call them have been dating for a few years now. Their love story began way back in 2013, though the two preferred to keep their relationship out of the limelight. Their adorable photos on Instagram, and constant support for each other in tough times have earned them the title of a golden couple. ALSO SEE | Full coverage: Virushka wedding ALSO WATCH | Virat-Anushka wedding: Engagement, haldi and garland-exchange visuals --- ENDS --- DALLAS Consumer advocacy groups are raising concerns about the U.S. Department of Transportations decision not to pursue regulations that could have increased transparency of airline baggage fees and other add-on charges. The federal agency last week announced it was withdrawing two notices of proposed rulemaking that were investigating possible regulations requiring airlines to disclose bag fees earlier in the booking process and provide more detailed reporting about the fees they collect. While the rulemaking processes wouldnt have necessarily resulted in regulations, consumer advocacy groups said the Department of Transportations action is the latest in a string of decisions that have leaned in airlines favor. Its also another sign of a light-touch regulatory approach that has marked President Donald Trumps first year in office. What theyre doing now is stepping back from that kind of (consumer) protection, said Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United, one of several groups that have criticized the decision. Its like the police department deciding theyre not going to investigate a crime. Leocha said the decision is especially worrisome because it cut short processes to study the new rules, one of which had been taking place for more than five years, before a conclusion could be reached one way or the other. It also comes as the DOT has delayed, suspended or not acted on other consumer-centric efforts. That includes a March decision giving airlines an extra year to comply with new reporting requirements meant to more accurately capture how many bags are lost or mishandled that were set to take effect Jan. 1. The DOT has also not put in place rules allowing families with children younger than 13 to book seats next to each other without paying additional fees, despite Congress approving the change over a year ago. For its part, the airline industry cheered the decision, with trade group Airlines for America commending the DOT for ushering in a new era of smarter regulation. Airlines, like all other businesses, need the freedom to determine which third-parties they do business with how best to market, display and sell their products, spokesman Todd Burke said in a statement. We continue to believe that dictating to the airline industry distribution and commercial practices would only benefit those third parties who distribute tickets, not the flying public. Last weeks DOT decision targeted a pair of potential new rules. One would have required airlines and travel agents to more clearly disclose fees for checked bags and carry-ons wherever fare and schedule information is shown. That would have given consumers the information earlier in their flight search, rather than having to advance through several steps of the booking process to find out what the total cost would be. The other proposed rule would have required airlines to report more detailed information about ancillary fees they collect whether for baggage, changed flights, seating assignments, early boarding or any other add-on to the federal government. We respect airlines right to charge whatever they want, but we feel it should be out in the open and not in a way that deceives consumers, said Kurt Ebonhoch, executive director of the Air Travel Fairness Coalition. It makes it difficult for consumers to understand what the bottom-line price theyre going to pay is. In its justifications, the DOT said the rules could prove overly burdensome on the airline industry and suggested existing regulations already provide consumers with fee information. Both decisions also cited a January executive order from President Donald Trump requiring federal agencies get rid of two regulations for every one that is added. Ebonhoch said increased transparency is especially important as airlines introduce new types of fares, such as the no-frills basic economy offerings from major carriers that often dont include carry-on bags. His group, which is backed by an array of travel groups, including online travel agencies and global distribution systems, is also pushing the DOT to restart a regulatory process it paused earlier this year that would look at how widely available fare and schedule data is and which travel websites are allowed to display it. Leocha said consumer groups are meeting this week to discuss ways to continue the effort to improve transparency during the booking process and make it easier for travelers to know the full cost of a trip when comparison shopping. Our number one goal is to get DOT working again for consumers and the public, he said. Leocha said the issue isnt specific to just the current administration, with a number of proposed rules, including one of the two withdrawn last week, making little process during the tail end of the Obama administration. We were in a situation where nothing happened they were studying it to death, he said. Maybe the silver lining is theyre being honest with us. Were not going to do it instead of leading us on for years. 2017 The Dallas Morning News Visit The Dallas Morning News at www.dallasnews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Santa Fe school board filled the vacancy being left by the departure of state Rep. Linda Trujillo by swearing in Rudy N. Garcia as the new District 4 board member during a ceremony prior to a planned study session Tuesday night. After being sworn in by former school board member and current Santa Fe Magistrate Court Judge Donita O. Sena, Garcia said he was looking forward to working with the other school board members and that the safety of the schools was a high priority. His comments came in the wake of a shooting at Aztec High School in the northwest part of the state earlier this month and two recent incidents where threats were made at Santa Fe High School that led to arrests. The issue of safety and recent events throughout our state has really affected our schools. I hope to advocate for the best approaches for the protection of students, faculty (and) staff throughout the school district, he said. In addition, it is my hope that my knowledge of government administration can help me succeed sitting next to you guys as a colleague, board member. I look forward to continue hearing ideas, feedback and finding our the best ways that I can be a good school board member. Youre going to be a fine representative for District 4, said board vice-president Maureen Cashmon, who worked side by side with Garcia on the school districts Citizen Review Committee (CRC), an advisory committee that reviews and makes recommendations about capital projects. Its an honor to have you join us. Garcia, 47, was selected by a 4-0 vote of the school board on Dec. 6, beating out John Salazar, who, like Garcia, is a Santa Fe County employee. Garcia serves as legislative liaison/project manager for Santa Fe County. He is well acquainted with Santa Fe Public Schools, having served on the districts CRC on a voluntary basis for more than 10 years. School board members are also unpaid, although they do receive a per diem for attending meetings and are reimbursed for travel expenses. According to a news release from the school district, Garcia also served the county as project development division director and as a project manager for the countys Project and Facilities Management Department. He has also served on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Mountain Center. Garcias District 4 encompasses Capital High School, Ortiz Middle School, Nina Otero Community School, Cesar Chavez, Ramirez Thomas and Sweeney elementary schools, and the Nye Early Childhood Center. Trujillo, a Democrat who was elected to her District 48 (Santa Fe County) seat in 2016, decided to step down from the school board to focus on her responsibilities in state government. She was first elected to the school board in 2011 and won reelection four years later. She was picked as president of the New Mexico School Board Association this year. She now serves on the Houses Education and Enrolling and Engrossing committees and is vice-chair of the Labor and Economic Development committees. Police are looking for two people seen with Marqus Chavez, 20, the night before he was found dead at a northeast Albuquerque park on Nov. 29 (APD) Police are looking for two people seen with Marqus Chavez, 20, the night before he was found dead at a northeast Albuquerque park on Nov. 29 (APD) Police are looking for two people seen with Marqus Chavez, 20, the night before he was found dead at a northeast Albuquerque park on Nov. 29 (APD) Prev 1 of 3 Next Police are looking for two people seen with Marqus Chavez, 20, the night before he was found dead at a northeast Albuquerque park. Spokeswoman Sonya Marquez said surveillance video showed Chavez meeting with two unknown people at Mesa Verde Park, near Pennsylvania and Lomas SE, on Nov. 28. Around 10:40 p.m., she said neighbors heard gunshots and the two people are seen leaving the park. One of the subjects wore all black and carried a black backpack, Marquez said, while the second subject left on a bicycle. Officers found Chavez shot to death around 8 a.m. at the park after responding to reports of a man who was down and out. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-7867 SANTA FE A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers will push again next year for the creation of a vehicle database aimed at combating auto theft in New Mexico. They are asking Republican Gov. Susana Martinez to add the proposal to the agenda of next years 30-day legislative session, which is otherwise dedicated to financial matters. The bill would create a system for salvage yards and other auto recyclers to verify with the state Motor Vehicle Division that the vehicle theyre purchasing isnt stolen. The proposal comes after the Albuquerque area posted the highest per capita rate of auto thefts in the country for 2016, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. My colleagues know that this legislation is critical to helping reduce auto theft in our state, Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque, said in a news release. There was significant support, but the clock ran out on passage of this legislation last session. The proposal is also backed by Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, and Rep. Patricio Ruiloba, D-Albuquerque. Martinez, a former prosecutor from Las Cruces, has already suggested that she will make anti-crime legislation a priority in the legislative session that starts Jan. 16. Its the last regular session of tenure. The bill has already drawn support from Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and State Police Chief Pete Kassetas. The onlookers were amused when a wild elephant was seen walking through a residential area in Coimbatore, however, the animal seemed nonchalant. By India Today Web Desk: A wild elephant was seen walking through a residential area in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. As of now it is unclear if the elephant did any harm but it seems like he was just out on a casual stroll, probably to clear his head and to deal with the existential thoughts that come from over-thinking at around 3 am. Coimbatore: Wild elephant seen in residential areas of Palayam village #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/QiVt8r1uXI- ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2017 advertisement While it was amusing for the onlookers, the elephant seemed nonchalant. Roaming in the same forest every now and then can be monotonous and banal, so the animal might have wanted to explore the human territory. Humans aren't that much fun to be around with, but who could have told this to the elephant anyway. Nonetheless, the giant ventured into the human territory. Also watch: WATCH | Hathi not mera saathi: Angry elephant sends wannabe Baahubali flying Watch: Angry elephant in Bengal attacks man clicking selfie, tosses and kicks him furiously --- ENDS --- Levi Slavin, Chief Creative Officer of Colenso BBDO in New Zealand, is joining Adfest 2018 as Jury President, Film Lotus and Radio Lotus. Slavin has won over 100 international awards across dozens of campaigns, including one Black and five Yellow Pencils at D&AD. His work has featured at TED, ranked #1 on the iTunes music and podcast charts, and has spanned product innovation, literature, television series, and film. I cant wait to join the Film and Radio Jury at Adfest next year. Having recently returned to New Zealand, its the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends and reacquaint myself with the best work being produced in Asia, said Slavin, who first joined Colenso in 2006, leaving in 2014 to take a global creative director role at Anomaly in New York. In 2015, he returned to the BBDO fold as VP, Group Creative Director at BBDO New York. This year, he returned to the best agency on earth, in the best place on earth as Colenso BBDOs Chief Creative Officer, based in Auckland. Jimmy Lam, President of Adfest, commented, Levi has consistently produced brilliant ideas for leading brands at agencies all over the world. To say were excited to have him lead our Film and Radio Jury at Adfest 2018 is an understatement. Adfest 2018 runs from March 21-24, 2018 at the Peach Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that brothers Piyush and Prasoon Pandey will be honoured with the Lion of St. Mark award at the 2018 Festival. Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director Ogilvy South Asia, won his first Cannes Lions awards with two Gold Lions for his work on an anti-smoking campaign in 2002, marking the start of a period of global recognition for a man who was already a creative legend in his native India. Piyushs work is considered instrumental in the popularity of advertising campaigns produced in Hindi during the 1980s and 90s, heralding a shift to more universally accessible creativity in India. Prasoon Pandey, younger brother of Piyush, is a highly respected director whose name has repeatedly featured in global rankings of top film directors. Prasoon is credited for directing the first Indian campaign to win a Lion, for Ericssons One Black Coffee in 1996 and is one of the most awarded directors in India. The Lion of St. Mark recognises those who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry, said Jose Papa, Managing Director of Cannes Lions. Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous, and rightly so, in their homeland, Im thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage. The fact we get to honour the achievements of two brothers makes this years Lion of St. Mark award particularly special. Piyush Pandey paid tribute to India, his clients and colleagues, commenting, This is a huge, huge honour. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the people of India. It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and to create good work. I am also indebted to my clients, my colleagues and Ogilvy who gave me the support and the freedom to fly. Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they. Prasoon Pandey added, The Lion of St. Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15 year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing Emperors and Thugs, Dragons and Demons, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends. We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesnt make the kids inside us conscious. Piyush Pandey joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982, and made his name on work for Fevicol, Luna Moped, Cadbury and Asian Paints. In 1994, he was made National Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather India. Piyush was the first Jury President from Asia at the 2004 Cannes Lions Festival. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016. Prasoon Pandey started his career at Lintas Delhi, eventually becoming the Creative Director for Lowe India. He set up his own production company, Corcoise Films, in 2002. Piyush and Prasoon will be presented with the Lion of St. Mark at the closing awards ceremony of the 2018 Festival. The brothers will also take part in an interview hosted by Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential Events, in the Lumiere Theatre as part of the 2018 content programme. Cannes Lions is the annual meeting place for the global creative communications industry and takes place from June 18-22, 2018 in Cannes, France. Previous Lion of St. Mark winners include: 2017: David Droga, Founder and Creative Chairman, Droga5 2016: Marcello Serpa, former Partner, AlmapBBDO 2015: Bob Greenberg, Founder, Chairman and CEO, R/GA 2014: Joe Pytka, Director, PYTKA 2013: Lee Clow, Chairman, TBWAMedia Arts Lab, Director of Media Arts, TBWAWorldwide 2012: Dan Wieden, Co-Founder and Global Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy 2011: Sir John Hegarty, Worldwide Creative Director, Founder, BBH Coca-Cola India, one of the countrys leading beverage companies, today announced the launch of Maaza Gold, a premium mango drink made from the choicest of mangoes. The new variant of Maaza offers consumers an indulgent, thicker and smoother mango drink. This product innovation is in-line with the companys steadfast commitment to provide more choices to consumers. Launched in the 1970s, Maaza has an impressive heritage and has been the most loved mango juice drink in the country. The launch of Maaza Gold builds on the love and faith that consumers have had for Maaza for years, and that has helped make Maaza the largest selling juice drink brand in the country. Srideep Kesavan, Director Marketing Juices, Coca-Cola India & South West Asia, said, We are always listening to our consumers and with the launch of Maaza Gold the company is expanding its product portfolio in-line with consumer tastes. The company at the same time is also accelerating Maazas journey towards becoming a homegrown billion dollar brand by 2023. Maaza Gold comes in a unique one-litre Tetra Pak packaging that comes with metallic laminate to make the product stand out. Consumers can purchase Maaza Gold from the modern retail outlets, select grocery stores and online stores. The Coca-Cola Company along with its bottling partners in India procures approximately 1 lakh metric tonnes of mango pulp annually. In 2023, if Maaza becomes the first USD 1 BN juice drink brand from India, the Coca-Cola system in India will be able to procure 2 lakh metric tonnes of mango pulp annually, worth nearly INR 1100 crores, thereby helping 100,000 farmers. In what is seen as the coming together of like-minded serial entrepreneurs from India to forge a partnership of the future, Mr. Sanjay Labroo Promoter & MD & CEO, Asahi India Glass Ltd. (AIS), Mr. Kabir Bhandari Promoter and Owner & CEO, Padmini VNA Mechatronics, Mr. Rahul Mookerjee Ex-MD of Deutsche Bank and current Managing Director, YoNao Capital & Founder, Ashoka University and Mr. Kapil Kapoor, Ex Global COO, Timex Global & chairman Timex India, and current Chairman & Non-Executive Director, Info Edge India Limited announced today that they are coming together for a 100% buyout of Timex Group Precision Engineering Limited (TGPEL). TGPEL is the Indian subsidiary of Timex Nederland B.V, part of the Timex Group B.V, one of the worlds leading watchmakers. TGPEL was initially started by Timex for captive production of precision engineered parts to be used in watches. Today, TGPEL has diversified and operates across the entire value chain providing end-to-end solutions from mould conceptualization and design to producing the final plastic injection moulded components and product assembly parts used in leading automobile, electrical equipment, construction and consumer goods sectors. The new investors bring unique and complementary skills. AIS & Padmini have domain expertise in the engineering industries for a number of years and supply to customers all across the globe in the automotive value chain. The investment and the subsequent changes planned in the ownership structure also brings a sense of continuity to TGPEL in the form of Mr. Kapil Kapoor who earlier was the Global COO of the Timex Group, apart from being Chairman of its India operations, and who was instrumental in setting up of TGPEL in India. Mr. Rahul Mookerjee brings to TGPEL his wealth of global M&A, financial and management experience. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sanjay Labroo, MD & CEO, AIS said, This is a strategic and long-term investment for AIS, which will not only help AIS in securing supply chain integrity through backward integration, but also diversifies AISs operations, further complementing and consolidating AIS position as a value-added and integrated supplier. Tier 2 upgradation is widely regarded as the key for future growth and AIS has been focussing on upgradation and streamlining its key tier 2 suppliers. This investment is a step in that direction. Besides, our partnership with likeminded investors like Padmini, Rahul Mookerjee and Kapil Kapoor, brings long-term stability and continuity to TGPEL. Mr. Kapil Kapoor said, Timex has built a reputation as one of the foremost watch companies in the world, offering world-class quality and innovation for decades. Its unique expertise in precision engineering and assembly line processes has been honed for over 25 years to establish TGPEL as one of the top precision engineering companies in India. I look forward to working with my fellow investors in steering TGPEL towards a new era of growth. Mr. Kabir Bhandari of Padmini VNA Mechatronics adds, TGPEL offers unique advantages of precision engineering and has the capabilities of further diversifying its offering into various other industries as well as value addition in its products. I see this as a strategic investment that will help both companies to grow, with each leveraging its unique strengths. Speaking about the investment, Mr. Rahul Mookerjee said, This is truly a unique combination of investors, with each of us thinking in the long term, and having invested as value-driven shareholders. We will work together to ensure that the highest code of Corporate Governance is followed, conforming to global standards, which I look forward to contributing to. Commenting on the sale of TGPEL, Mr. John Walker, Senior Vice President, Global Finance at Timex Group, said, Timex Group is sharpening focus on its core business, which is designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative timepieces around the world. After careful consideration, Timex Group has decided to transition ownership of this valuable non-core asset to a new investor group. We believe this decision is mutually beneficial to both TGPEL and Timex Group. We are confident the new owners will take this business forward in a positive way. New digital service will connect Chinese communities in the UK, China and Europe, fostering economic and social integration China Mobile International Ltd (CMI) today announced the launch of CMLink, its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business in the UK. CMLink will provide mobile voice and data services designed for Chinese immigrants, students and professionals living in and traveling to the UK. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005494/en/ China Mobile International Launches CMLink MVNO Business in UK (Photo: Business Wire) There is a significant Chinese community living and working in the UK with over 433,0001 British-Chinese living in the UK today. Furthermore, over 82,000 Chinese nationals were studying in the UK on student visas2, up 17 percent year-on-year, while visits to the UK from China reached 115,0003 in the first half of 2017, 47 percent higher than last year. This growing trend of travel between China and the UK has created demand for services that enable consumers to stay connected. China Mobiles Big Connectivity strategy affirms its vision of becoming a leading global operator with innovative digital services. said Dr. Li Feng, Chairman and CEO at CMI. While China Mobile serves 880 million domestic mobile subscribers, CMI its operating subsidiary responsible for international business is breaking new ground in overseas markets. With the growing business and cultural exchanges between China and the UK, the launch of CMIs CMLink MVNO, enables Chinese communities to stay connected with family, friends and business partners anytime, anywhere. We expect the UK launch to be a new chapter in CMI delivering compelling digital services that break down barriers of communication for global consumers while fostering open exchange between Belt and Road companies. The CMLink MVNO comes with three main features: CMLink is currently the only MVNO service with no extra fees on data, minutes and texts across the UK, selected destinations in the EU, mainland China and Hong Kong SAR. CMLink subscribers can conveniently make free calls to 880 million China Mobile users in China. To meet the increasing data demands of the Internet Age, CMLink MVNO also offers a Data Growth Pack which rewards subscribers with an extra 5 percent data allowance each month, up to a total of 200 percent more data. Thanks to a partnership with BT to use its leading EE mobile network, CMLink customers will be able to benefit from the biggest 4G network in the UK, which extends to 86 percent of the UKs landmass, rising to 95 percent by 2020. Gerry McQuade, CEO BT Wholesale & Ventures said: Im delighted BT has been chosen by China Mobile International to help them as they enter the UK mobile market using our EE network. Our MVNO offering is best in class thanks to the strength and coverage of our EE mobile network, which is the largest 4G network in the UK and continues to expand. Our partnership will allow Chinese people and communities to stay connected, whether they are UK residents, students, here on business or visiting as tourists. From today, customers can apply for a free CMLink SIM card with free worldwide shipping, by visiting www.cmlink.com/uk or calling +44 (0)79 7300 0186. ### About China Mobile International Established in December of 2010, China Mobile International Limited ("CMI") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile Limited, mainly responsible for the operation of China Mobiles international business. In response to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative and the mother groups Big Connectivity strategies, CMI leverages China Mobiles global network and its experience of serving over 880 million domestic mobile subscribers to expand its global market and international business to help the Belt and Road companies go out. Furthermore, CMI is committed to delivering a complete international telecommunication service to the global community, including International Calls, Mobile Roaming, International Network Data, Multinational Corporation Service and Top Up service etc. Headquartered in Hong Kong, CMI has 19 overseas offices aimed at expanding its business globally. Additional Press Materials: http://bit.ly/2kqqnj2 1 Office for National Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census 2 The Home Office: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/summary-of-latest-statistics 3 Visit Britain https://www.visitbritain.org/best-britain-show-buyers-across-china-visitbritain-hosts-travel-trade-event View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171213005494/en/ Media Inquiries Racepoint Global For China Mobile International Limited Mark Fowler Email: mark.fowler@racepointglobal.com or China Mobile International Limited Yan Cheng Email: yancheng@cmi.chinamobile.com Tel.: +852 3975 6751 Belk is one of the two anchor tenants left at the Aiken Mall and will remain while the property is being redeveloped. West Bengal police is on the tenterhooks with about a dozen buffaloes, presently in the custody of the Bhatar thana in Burdwan district for the last few days. By Arindam De: A few years ago UP police was in all over the national media for first failing to prevent the theft of seven buffaloes belonging to a powerful UP minister and subsequently tracing them after a couple of days, amidst total media glare and coverage. Earlier in the year, eight donkeys were allegedly jailed for grazing on 'expensive plants' to the tune of over rupees five lakhs outside the Urai jail in UP. advertisement West Bengal police is now on the tenterhooks with about a dozen buffaloes, presently in the custody of the Bhatar thana in Burdwan district for the last few days. Around last Friday local police, from the Bhatar thana, on a routine night patrol intercepted a couple of vehicles carrying heads of cattle without the requisite papers. A truck carrying around dozen buffaloes was intercepted in Oragram on the NH 2B and another truck carrying some sixteen cows was stopped at nearby Bijipur. The driver and helpers were not able to produce the requisite papers needed for the transportation of livestock. Police impounded the vehicle and the livestock was also taken into custody. The case was forwarded to the court, where the drivers and helpers secured bail. The court asked police to hand over custody of the sixteen cows in question to a bailor. He took them into his custody and continues to look after them. The buffaloes had no claimants, neither did any local came forward to take their custody and besides the court gave no separate ruling on the buffaloes. Hence, the dozen buffaloes continue to remain in police custody. They are being kept at an adjacent farmer's mandi. Police personnel and civic volunteer force personnel are guarding the buffaloes round the clock. Police officers are at their wits end in arranging fodder for their wards. A vet has been roped in to keep a tab on the health of the bovines. They are reportedly being given regular baths with water from the thana submersible pump. Station officer said, "Since there is no directive from the courts we are caring for them." --- ENDS --- August 31, 2017 After years of waiting out the Barack Obama administration, the fractious Syrian opposition is finding out that time has run out under Donald Trump for any meaningful US action to force Bashar al-Assad from power. Recent victories by Assads armies and their Russian and Iranian allies have crushed hope for a game-changing surge in US military and financial assistance to the beleaguered rebels. Instead, the opposition groups and their US lobbyists are uniting around a dual agenda of boosting anti-Assad sanctions and restoring order in areas recaptured from the Islamic State (IS). The Syrian opposition is focused on different priorities with this administration because the priorities on the ground have also changed, Ibrahim al-Assil, a fellow at the Middle East Institute who has trained activists in Syria, told Al-Monitor. Removing Assad is not the top priority anymore. Its about civilian protection and the areas outside regime control. Early in his administration, Trump heartened the opposition with his decision to strike a regime air base following a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun in northeastern Syria. Obama had drawn the rebels ire when he called off a similar attack in 2013 after striking a deal with Russia to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. Years of previous attempts at changing Assad's behavior have all failed, and failed very dramatically, Trump said in a statement the evening of April 6. I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. A month later, Assads opponents scored another victory when the Treasury Department slapped sanctions on 10 individuals and entities close to the Assad regime for their relentless attacks on civilians. The previous day, the Trump administration had accused the Assad regime of cremating the remains of thousands of hanged prisoners as part of an effort to cover up the extent of mass murder. Since then, however, the administration has made it clear that defeating IS is its top priority. Following negotiations between Russia, Turkey and Iran to create so-called de-escalation zones where US-backed rebels and Assads forces should halt hostilities, the Trump administration announced July 7 that it had reached a deal with Moscow on a fourth zone near the border with Jordan and Israel. Talking to reporters after the deal was reached on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Tillerson said that by and large, US and Russian objectives are exactly the same. Where there's differences, we have more work to get together and understand, he said. Maybe they've got the right approach and we've got the wrong approach. That same month, Trump himself ended a $1 billion, four-year-old covert CIA effort to arm Syrian rebels by dismissing it as a massive, dangerous and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad. And in late July, a US-allied rebel faction left a joint coalition base in southern Syria after being ordered to stop fighting the Syrian regime. The Shohada al-Quartyan have made it known that they may want to pursue other objectives, coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon told CNN. "The coalition is making it clear to Shohada Al Quartyan leadership that if they choose to pursue other objectives, the coalition will no longer support their operations." However, the Department of Defense in May unveiled a fiscal year 2018 budget request that seeks $500 million to train and equip the vetted opposition to fight IS. Congress is also increasingly ambivalent about the opposition, souring on proposals to arm the rebels even as the House voted overwhelmingly in May in favor of new sanctions. As US policymakers have gone back and forth about what the future of the embattled country will look like, opposition groups have been communicating their own thoughts on how order can be restored in areas liberated from IS. For the past four years, the Istanbul-based National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces (SNC) has retained the services of New York-based Independent Diplomat to advise the opposition on how to engage with US officials in Washington and at UN headquarters. The firm received $2.1 million last year for those efforts, a 50% increase over 2015. Those fees are paid by the British Foreign Services UK Conflict Pool, which has paid a key role building up the rebels negotiations apparatus. Separately, the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC) of the Syrian opposition hired Squire Patton Boggs in September 2016 for $50,000 a month to lobby on its behalf. The HNC, which includes the SNC, was formed in December 2015 to represent the Syrian opposition at UN-led peace talks. In addition, MSLGROUP (formerly Qorvis) has been providing media support for the HNC for the past few years as part of its $6.2 million-a-year contract with the Saudi government. Interestingly, Independent Diplomat has been jointly representing the HNC as well as the SNC for the past few months, according to its latest lobbying disclosure. An official with the advisory firm told Al-Monitor that its work with the opposition at peace talks in Geneva has been with more than just the SNC, so the firm decided to update its foreign lobbying submissions accordingly. The opposition groups are joined in their advocacy by a handful of US-based nonprofits, including the Michigan-based United for a Free Syria, which was founded in 2014 but only registered as a lobbying entity this April ito push sanctions on Syria and Iran. United for a Free Syria held a forum in Washington on Oct. 26 and 27 to advocate for a "free, secular and democratic Syria" in conjuction with the Syrian Emergency Task Force and other like-minded groups. Riad Seif, the new leader of the SNC, attended the forum and met with US lawmakers as well as State Department and National Security Council officials. He told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview that he hopes to promote closer cooperation between the opposition and the Syrian diaspora in the United States in order to get the Trump administration more involved in ongoing peace negotiations. We need political, military and economic support from the United States, Seif told Al-Monitor. If the coalition is strong, it will make an equilibrium on the ground and will force the regime to sit at the table for a political solution. Though the Syrian opposition do not want Assad or his Russian and Iranian allies fighting in the country to have a role in administering security in post-conflict areas outside of regime control, they may look to Damascus to provide other amenities, such as maintaining roads and bridges, providing medical care, and keeping schools. I dont think those areas would mind if the Ministry of Education or Health comes back, said the Middle East Institutes Assil. But the disagreement is about the security. What if those security forces want to go back and detain people? That lingering distrust has led the US Syrian community to enhance coordination and focus on relief work, lobbying the Trump administration to help fund medical facilities, which often lack security. According to the United Nations, more than 13 million Syrians require humanitarian assistance, including 11.5 million that need urgent medical care. Earlier this year, 13 Syrian medical organizations, including the US-based nonprofit Syrian American Medical Society, called on the US government to provide funding for underground hospitals in the sprawling war zone, where they are targeted by militants who often use civilians as decoys and human shields. Meanwhile, opposition supporters appear resigned to removing Assad slowly, by attrition, using sanctions as a key lever to bleed the regimes financial stamina. It will help to isolate the Syrian regime, regardless of what would happen in the future, said Assil. So they would say, for example, if Assad stays, lets make sure hes not rehabilitated in the international system or in relations with the US. The sanctions will help serve that goal. December 13, 2017 Leaders of the worlds Muslim countries announced on Wednesday that they recognized East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and called on the United States to reverse its decision recognizing the contested city as Israels capital, firing a salvo in the bitter dispute over the ancient site claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. The decision, made at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans call to the group to acknowledge Jerusalem as the Palestinians rightful capital. Erdogan has reportedly sought to lead the response to US President Donald Trumps declaration last week that Washington sees Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but condemned by Muslim countries around the world. The declaration unleashed violence that killed at least two Palestinians in protests last week. Erdogan organized the OIC summit in an effort to form coherent opposition to Trumps move as Arab leaders scrambled to respond. In a final communique obtained by Al-Monitor, the OIC said it was declaring East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and inviting all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital. Israelis and Palestinians both see 5,000-year-old Jerusalem as their religious and political capital. Until the formation of the Israeli state in 1948, when Israel captured Jerusalems western half, the city was designated a special international zone. In 1967, Israel seized control of the eastern half and later declared that Jerusalem was the nations undivided capital, a move seen by the Palestinians as an attempt to annex the east. I call on those nations that make a claim to international law and equity to recognize Jerusalem as the occupied capital of the Palestinian state. I reiterate my statement that Jerusalem is a red line for us, Erdogan said at the start of the summit. Israel is an occupying state, and at the same time, is a terrorist state, he continued. Hey Trump, what else can we explain to you? You already know everything. Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital and pledge to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv was a sharp break with decades of US policy that said a negotiated settlement would determine the citys fate. Most world leaders have anticipated that a peace deal would make western Jerusalem Israels capital and eastern Jerusalem the seat of a future Palestinian state. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who was joined by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, King Abdullah of Jordan and the leaders of Qatar and Kuwait at the Istanbul summit, said Palestinians no longer accept the United States as a mediator in the decadeslong quest to broker peace with Israel and that the United Nations should now lead the process. Trumps call will incite radical extremism and risks removing this as a political matter and making it a religious one, as we have repeatedly warned, Abbas said in televised remarks that were translated into Turkish. Jerusalem will remain the eternal capital of the Palestinian people, where Christians and Muslims will continue to live. It is not possible for us to accept otherwise. Turkey has repeatedly tried to carve out a role as mediator in the Middle East peace process, once enjoying close relations with both Israel and Palestinians. But its ties with Israel ruptured in 2010 over the killing by Israeli commandos of 10 Turkish activists who were attempting to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip, and full diplomatic links were only re-established last year. A devout Muslim, Erdogan has championed the Palestinian cause but his relations with some Arab leaders is strained, especially with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and countries like Syria and Iraq see him as a divisive figure, hampering his potential role as leader of a global Islamic community. A leadership role for a non-Arab will not be warmly received by Arabs, who make up the bulk of the worlds Muslim population, and fails to acknowledge the deep fissures between Muslim states, said Ilter Turan, professor emeritus of political science at Istanbuls Bilgi University. Since Turkeys foreign policy has increasingly made it partisan among problems between Arabs, its bid at leadership is unlikely to be accepted with excitement by all sides, Turan told Al-Monitor. But Erdogan has kept up the tough talk with Israel, and over the weekend called the Jewish state a child-murdering country that cares only about "occupation and plunder. Netanyahu struck back, saying, "I am not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran go around international sanctions and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, killing innocent people. Relations with the United States are also fraught, with senior Turkish officials insinuating Washington was behind a failed military coup in 2016 to topple Erdogan. A trial in New York looking at whether Turkey evaded US sanctions on Iran has implicated Erdogan and his close circle, and the arrests of American citizens and consular employees in Turkey have also soured ties. On Tuesday, in yet another sign of the deteriorating US-Turkish alliance, Trumps national security adviser H.R. McMaster accused Turkey and Qatar of sponsoring radical Islamist ideology that harms Western interests. Turkeys Foreign Ministry said McMasters remarks were bewildering, baseless and unacceptable. In an emailed statement, the ministry also called on the United States to abandon its support for armed Kurdish groups in Syria and to more concretely and effectively support our countrys determined struggle against terrorism and radicalism. December 12, 2017 WASHINGTON European diplomatic efforts have helped persuade Congress to hold off on passing legislation that would violate the Iran nuclear deal, at least for now. In the wake of US President Donald Trumps decision to not certify the Iran nuclear deal in October, a 60-day window for Congress to vote to reimpose Iran nuclear sanctions with only a simple majority closed Dec. 12 with no action. Meanwhile, once-discussed alternative draft legislation spearheaded by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has stalled in part because the Democrats have stood firm in opposing it and also because European diplomats have extensively consulted with members of Congress about how elements of it could violate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). So what happens next? Proponents of the deal, while welcoming Congress restraint, say it is too soon to celebrate. Fundamental uncertainty over Trumps intentions and unpredictable decision-making continues to undermine confidence that the United States will come around to being persuaded to stay in the landmark 2015 accord. I think we are in a very precarious position, former US nuclear negotiator Richard Nephew told Al-Monitor. Personnel and developments and even Trumps mood might determine if we stay in this thing. If the United States wants to continue to comply with the deal, at least for the time being, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has to reissue the waivers for the relevant sanctions relief on Jan. 15-16. "For the time being, we're in the agreement," Tillerson told State Department employees at a town hall meeting Dec. 12, of the JCPOA. "Congress is examining the agreement to see if there are things they'd like to ask us to do." We have not announced any intention to leave the JCPOA at this time, a State Department official, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor. And we will continue to uphold our JCPOA commitments. We wont comment on any draft legislation, but we will continue to work with Congress to address the JCPOAs serious flaws, the State Department official added. The United States has been working with its allies for decades to counter the full scope of Irans malign activity, a National Security Council spokesperson told Al-Monitor. Now, this administration is doubling down on its commitment to combat Irans behavior, and this includes intensifying cooperation with European allies in all areas. Our European counterparts have made clear their unwavering support for the JCPOA. At the same time, they have made it clear, based on their own judgments, that a concerted transatlantic effort is necessary to reduce regional instability, halt ballistic missile development, and address human rights violations. We look forward to deepening this collaboration in the coming months. European allies have urged the Trump administration to commit to the accord, suggesting it would bolster their confidence as they discuss cooperating with the United States to address other shared concerns about Irans destabilizing actions in the region, from Syria to Yemen to ballistic missile tests. "We hear a lot of people telling us their aim is not to destroy JCPOA," a senior European diplomat said on a visit to Washington earlier this month. "If we start from that premise, we can talk with the administration about various ways we can improve what is already on the table and talk with Congress about ways we can address ballistic missiles or regional activity." The Europeans are trying to secure the administrations commitment to the deal in return for cooperation to counter Iran on other fronts, Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al-Monitor. While it is not an explicit quid pro quo, there is perhaps an implicit one, he said. If you dont keep the deal, you are going to be isolated, Vaez said. On the Hill, that has been pretty effective. European diplomats and veteran arms control negotiators say it is quite common to make successor arms control agreements over the lifetime of an accord, but not by disrupting it in the beginning, when it is being implemented. In arms control agreements, you very rarely have everything you want, and the way of addressing that is to work over the course of time on successor agreements, the senior European diplomat said. The Trump administration has reluctantly conceded that Iran is abiding by the JCPOA, but said that it finds the accord inadequate. Trump, in announcing his decertification decision in October, cited as his rationale not that Iran was in violation of the accord, but that he could not certify that the sanctions relief the US provides in the deal is proportionate to Irans actions to curb its nuclear program. But, in fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified that Iran had, in the run-up to implementation day in January 2016, poured concrete into the core of its unfinished Arak plutonium reactor, stopped all enrichment and removed centrifuges from the underground Fordo facility, which is being converted into a scientific research site. The IAEA also verified that Iran removed thousands of centrifuges from its main Natanz enrichment facility, shipped out all but a few hundred kilograms of its low enriched uranium stockpile, ended 20% enrichment for medical isotopes and provisionally implemented the Additional Protocol, which granted the IAEA the most far-reaching monitoring and verification access of any arms control deal in the world. At present, Iran is subject to the worlds most robust nuclear verification regime, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Oct. 13. The Trump administration has said that in particular, it wants the nuclear deal to be modified so that Iran cannot expand its enrichment capacity after 10 years, when restrictions on Irans enrichment capacity begin to be loosened, or sunset. A European official compared the logic of withdrawing from an accord because of dissatisfaction over sunsets in 10 years to a starving family refusing to eat food in a refrigerator because the foods expiration date is in 30 days, and they would still need to eat in 90 days. That is the logic we look at here, said the European official, speaking not for attribution. "The agreement moved us from two months to a one-year breakout time. We were not able to achieve 20, 30, 40 years. But that is not what gives us any reason to walk away from a quality agreement. "We have not come to Washington to beg," the European official said. "The way we look at the substance, if we cant convince people here with the best possible arguments, if they decide to walk away, we will not be able to stop them. But until then, we want to present the most enlightened case." "For us, it is not a purely military approach, not a pure push-back approach," he said on how his country views policy towards Iran. "We seek an Iran policy that] takes care of our concerns, [and seeks to find] a benign place for Iran in the region. It is something we are ready to engage the administration and the Congress on." Consultations with diplomats from the UK, France, Germany and Brussels have been very effective and persuasive with members of Congress, congressional aides told Al-Monitor. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has indicated that he will not support any legislation that crosses two red lines: that it would make the United States be the one to violate the JCPOA or that the Europeans are not on board with the legislation. It is the administrations job to bring the Europeans along, one congressional aide told Al-Monitor. I think [Trump] has taken the pin out of the grenade and thrown it to us. He is poised to blame us if it does not work. But we are still trying to work in good faith. Even amid uncertainty over what Trump will do on the JCPOA, European diplomats say they, too, are working in good faith to consult with the Trump administration on how to address other concerns presented by Iran (and others) in the region. European diplomats say those consultations have become more productive since the Trump administration completed its Iran policy review in October. They see potential prospects for working together on Yemen, which is suffering a catastrophic famine, and where over two years of Saudi-led airstrikes have failed to dislodge the Houthi rebels, who are alleged to receive support from Iran. The regional issues are where more of the action is at this point, a second European official said, referring to consultations with the US government. In the meantime, US officials for now continue to take part in the eight-member Joint Commission overseeing implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon is leading the US delegation to the Joint Commission meeting in Vienna on Dec. 13, which also includes the political directors from the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, the European Union and Iran, the State Department said. He is accompanied by the director of the State Departments Office of Iranian Affairs Steven Fagin. Andrew L. Peek, a former Army intelligence officer who advised then US commander in Afghanistan John Allen and a member of the Trump State Department transition team, started Dec. 11 as the new deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran and Iraq. Christopher Backemeyer, the former deputy assistant secretary for Iranian affairs, has been named the deputy assistant secretary of state for assistance coordination as well as the head of public diplomacy for the departments Near East affairs bureau, a State Department official said. Also recently advising Tillerson on Iran at the State Departments policy planning office is Matthew McInnis, formerly a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, as well as David Tessler, previously at the Treasury Department, officials said. Richard Johnson is serving as the acting coordinator for Iran nuclear issues in the State Departments Office of Iran Nuclear Implementation. December 12, 2017 Ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ministerial meeting in Vienna Nov. 30-Dec. 1, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh expressed hope that production cuts that were agreed to last year would be extended. What was at stake, however, was more than energy markets. Zanganeh and his counterparts, including Qataris, Saudis and Emiratis, met amid a delicate geopolitical situation. In light of regional competition that features economic blockades, proxy warfare and the exchange of public insults, the prospect of negotiating and subsequently enforcing a joint plan to shape global oil markets might have appeared unlikely. On the contrary, a deal was reached to maintain the production cuts without major obstacles. As in the previous year, though, an effective deal could only be realized through cooperation with non-OPEC energy giant Russia, which together with Saudi Arabia, OPECs leading producer, is bearing the brunt of cuts. For Iran, the Russian-Saudi accord is somewhat of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, Tehran is pleased with the outcome itself. On the other hand, it would certainly be alarmed if Russian-Saudi cooperation would extend to sensitive arenas where the two are at odds including regional geopolitics. But rather than representing an overall warming of Russian-Saudi relations, the process leading to the OPEC cuts reflects a combination of necessity (in Riyadh) and realpolitik (in Moscow). Low oil prices have caused an economic crisis in Saudi Arabia. As the Saudi governments financial reserves are depleting and tangible progress of its touted Vision 2030 reform program remains outstanding, Riyadh needs any increase in oil export revenue it can get. The kingdom takes harsh stances on most of its pressing policy issues, including domestic opposition, the conflict in Yemen, the crisis with Qatar and the proxy warfare in Syria. But Riyadh continues to show remarkable flexibility on oil policy even though Moscow is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a partner of Tehran. To Russia, the OPEC deal fits into its broader approach of integrating foreign and energy policy with regard to the Middle East. Moscow seeks to increase its profile in the region and thereby partly fill the void left by a retreating Washington. To this end, and in addition to its direct military involvement in Syria and arms sales to numerous regional states, Russia has also concluded a number of energy deals that remarkably cross geopolitical fault lines. Indeed, it has signed accords with Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Thus, while Moscow has a clear and strong economic rationale to increase its oil export revenues, Russia is also pursuing cooperation with OPEC as part of a broader effort to increase its energy profile in the Middle East. Mindful of the above, Iran benefits from the oil bromance between Russia and Saudi Arabia: Identical to last years OPEC deal, Tehran is not required to cut production. Given that international energy companies continue to refrain from investing in the Iranian oil sector despite the lifting of sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal the touted contract with Total is focused on natural gas Iran is not likely to be able to produce more crude than it is allowed to sell. In Vienna, Iran was also able to make progress on the geopolitical dimension of energy. Beyond ensuring that it wont have to cut production while other countries, including Libya and Nigeria, had to accept new production caps, Tehran was able to make other important deals. First, Iran concluded an agreement with Oman aiming at the advancement of a project to export natural gas to the Sultanate. Following a meeting with his Omani counterpart on the sidelines of the OPEC meeting, Zanganeh told reporters that experts from both sides would meet in the coming weeks to make progress on the specifics. The project involves the construction of a pipeline to deliver gas from Irans giant South Pars field to Oman, from where it may be further exported by ship. In 2013, Iran and Oman announced that the goal of the project would be natural gas trade of 1 billion cubic feet per day, with project costs for the pipeline estimated at $1.5 billion. Though it appears unlikely that the project will materialize in the near future, it still holds large symbolic importance. At a time when Saudi Arabia is trying to bring fellow Gulf Cooperation Council states behind its policy to isolate Iran (and Qatar), Oman is signaling a willingness to deepen its cooperation with Tehran. This may be interpreted as openly calling into question Riyadhs credibility as the leader of the political bloc of Persian Gulf monarchies. Second, Zanganeh announced an oil swap contract with Iraq, which was signed last week. Under this deal, refineries in Iran will receive between 30,000 and 60,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Kirkuk. In return, Iran will provide Iraqi ports on the Persian Gulf with similar quantities of refined oil, which will subsequently be exported. The Iraqi crude oil is to be delivered to Iran by truck and prospectively by a pipeline, which is currently under discussion, according to the minister. Zanganeh described Irans relationship with Iraq as strategic. Should the oil swap deal proceed as announced, this would advance Irans position in multiple ways. Beyond utilizing idle capacity at Iranian refineries, Irans position in global oil markets could improve as Iraqs customers will receive refined oil originating from Iran. This would make them somewhat dependent on some form of Iranian integration into global energy markets, thus likely impacting their calculus when it comes to potentially reimposing energy sanctions on Iran. However, considering that the volumes of the proposed swap deal are rather modest, its major benefit for Iran lies in the realm of foreign policy. Kirkuk and its oil fields played a major role in the recent struggle over the Kurdistan Regional Governments (KRG) independence referendum. As the KRG held a plebiscite on its independence from Iraq, which was rejected by Baghdad, Kirkuk and its surrounding oil fields were claimed by Erbil as belonging to a future Kurdish state. Tehran unequivocally supported Baghdad in its rejection of both the referendum and the KRGs claims regarding Kirkuk. Moreover, Iran played a major role in the forceful takeover of Kirkuk by Iraqs central government in October. With the Kirkuk oil swap, Tehran now further cements its political and economic ties with the central government of Iraq. This follows the launch of Iranian natural gas exports to Baghdad, which commenced earlier this year in June. In light of these developments, the OPEC meeting not only confirmed the new reality in global energy markets but also reflected the shifting nature of energy-related geopolitical developments: From Russias increasing engagements in Middle Eastern energy to the politics surrounding the oil of Kirkuk, regional energy and geopolitics continue to go hand in hand. December 12, 2017 BRUSSELS Heavy snow in Brussels the evening of Dec. 11 delayed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's flight back to Israel. So while waiting for Belgian authorities to clear the snow, Netanyahu briefed journalists on his exchanges with the European Union foreign ministers earlier that day. I told them to stop pampering the Palestinians, said Netanyahu, adding that he urged the ministers to engage in a new discourse on the region. Netanyahu's two-day trip to Europe was planned several weeks ago, when Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri fled his country to Saudi Arabia, announcing his resignation. It was Netanyahu's entourage who persuaded Lithuania to invite him to the European foreign ministers' monthly council meeting in Brussels, behind the back of other European leaders. Netanyahu's people reminded Israel-friendly Lithuania that no Israeli prime minister had visited the European institutions in the past 22 years and that regional developments in Lebanon, and also in Syria, call for such a meeting. Once the European invitation was launched, Netanyahu's associates reached out to French President Emmanuel Macrons people. With Macron personally engaged in the Lebanese crisis, it seemed logical for Netanyahu to come over to Paris and exchange viewpoints on regional developments. The two leaders had discussed the issue of Lebanon over the phone in November and agreed to meet face-to-face for further discussions. Netanyahu intended not only to confer about Lebanon, but also, perhaps foremost, to raise again Israeli concerns over the Iranian military presence in Syria. But President Donald Trump's Jerusalem proclamation on Dec. 6 shuffled the cards. And while Iran, Syria and Lebanon were indeed deliberated during this trip, the main focus became Jerusalem and the future of Trump's Mideast initiative. Shortly after the declaration, EU's High Commissioner for Foreign and Security Affairs Federica Mogherini stated, The European Union expresses serious concern about todays announcement by the United States President Trump on Jerusalem and the repercussions this may have on the prospect of peace. President Macron chose a somewhat lighter formula, saying that Trump's decision was regrettable. From Netanyahu's point of view, Trump's proclamation only boosted his own diplomatic stance, and the trip that was planned well in advance became a golden opportunity for him to charge forward. He estimated that European rage over the proclamation exposed Europe's fragility, as Brussels can do little but sit and wait for the Americans to finish their move, present their initiative to the sides and see what happens. And even if Trump decides at the end to delay the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has been made loud and clear for the whole world to take note. And so, instead of Lebanon and Iran, Netanyahu formulated a new objective: to make sure that Europe stays at its place while he and Trump call the shots. This does not mean that Netanyahu dismisses European leadership. A source at the Elysee Palace told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the discussion between Netanyahu and Macron was very frank. Macron told Netanyahu bluntly that without freezing settlement expansion, no peace process could be advanced and that the two-state solution is the only viable solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A senior diplomatic source said that contrary to their July meeting, where Netanyahu mostly talked and Macron listened, this time it was mostly Macron doing the talking. Macron spoke about Trump's initiative and about Jerusalem, but also expressed at length his take on the region at large, France's intentions to put forward in the near future concrete proposals on Syria, its determination to implement fully the nuclear deal with Iran and more. The source also explained that Macron acts differently than French presidents before him; it's not a question of ideology for him. He will only act wherever he feels he can bring a significant change. This was why France engaged in the Qatar-Saudi crisis, and this was why Macron visited Riyadh in November in the midst of the Lebanon crisis. Macron estimates that, for the moment, a French initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would achieve nothing. Netanyahu mostly listened. Of course, he rejected out of hand European objections on Jerusalem, but he welcomed Macron's assurances concerning Trump's initiative. In the joint press conference held after the meeting, Macron said there will be no multiplying of initiatives. Macron explained that the only proposal on the table now is the American one, and that Europe will support the Trump administration in its efforts to advance talks. Mogherini repeated the same thing, saying on Dec. 12 after her meeting with Netanyahu, I can say very clearly that there is no initiative, no peace initiative, no attempt to restart peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians that can happen without an engagement from the United States. And so, Netanyahu comes home to Jerusalem content. The Europeans are furious about Trump's Jerusalem proclamation, but they won't stand in the way of his initiative, nor will they take any punitive steps against Israel in the short term. Most importantly, Europe won't surprise Israel with a Paris 3 conference (as former French President Francois Hollande did with the Paris 1 and Paris 2 conferences) or another initiative of the sort. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner called Mogherini last week, asking to deliberate with European leadership in order to engage it in the president's initiative. A European diplomat in Brussels told Al-Monitor that the telephone conversation was a positive sign that the Americans want the Europeans on board. But he also said that, as usual, the Americans would like the Europeans to convince the Palestinians to agree to their plans. They would like Europe to do the dirty part of the job. PM Modi's recent flight stunt at Sabarmati River front has flouted several norms but what was more surprising is that DGCA gave its nod to seaplane to take off and land at Sabarmati river front and other location on a very short notice. By Mayuresh Ganapatye: PM Modi's recent flight stunt at Sabarmati River front has flouted several norms but what was more surprising is that DGCA gave its nod to seaplane to take off and land at Sabarmati river front and other location on a very short notice. After Prime Minister Modi's grand hawa hawai stunt, talks have begun for the use of seaplanes for ferrying passengers. Incidentally, this is not the first time that India has seen a seaplane. advertisement Earlier, there was an operational seaplane service in Andaman and Nicobar islands. For 3 years the company ferried over 10000 passengers doing 6000 water landings without any incident. Now questions are being raised why this service has been shut? To gather more details on the state of seaplanes in the country, India Today approached one of the few people providing a seaplane services in India, Lakshmanan who is also the co-founder and director of operations at Mehair. After successfully running a sea plane service at Andaman and Nicobar islands for three years Mehair approached the government to grant them permission to start same service in other parts of the country. However, their application was delayed for over three months. "We are not as fortunate as yesterday's seaplane that got permission in a very short time. Usually to obtain a permit, one has to meet norms set by more than one agency including DGCA. Due to the enormous amount of documentations and protocols the permissions usually get delayed. I simply want to get the permit without any hassle," said Lakshmanan. Talking to India Today, Lakshmanan said that he wishes to use dams in Maharashtra as air strip so that small villages are connected with seaplanes. "Seaplanes don't need much infrastructure. You can see many villages and small cities are located nearby dams in our country. We wanted to start this project in Maharashtra using dam water as airstrip. Then Congress-NCP government was very supportive for this project but bureaucrats and bureaucracy took too long to give permission. Due to which our operational cost increased. But we had done trials at Girgaum Chowpatty," said Lakshmanan. Lakshmanan feels that rules and regulations for aviation industry should be changed by DGCA as their rules treat small airlines like big commercial airlines. According to one of their rule, a helicopter which is usually for short service can do 61 landings in day but an aircraft is allowed to do only 6 landings per day. These rules and limits affects business. "We should learn from the US and other developed nations. In the west, to land a seaplane, permission of water body or owner of property is required. We have done trials in Pawana dams near Lonavla where we operated for two months; we also did test in Nashik and Nagpur's Pench and Mumbai's Girgaum Chowpatty," said Lakshmanan. advertisement Ultimately Mehair had to suspend its flight operation in Maharashtra as company was not making profit due to stringent rules. Lakshmanan had written a letter to PM Modi in 2014 seeking encouragement to seaplane operations, however, he is yet to receive any response from the PM. After PM Modi's landing in a seaplane, Lakshmanan said that his hopes are renewed. --- ENDS --- December 12, 2017 President Donald Trump, or his people, were clearly trying very hard over this past weekend to douse the flames ignited across the Middle East by US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to dampen the enthusiasm of Israeli celebrations following the Dec. 6 announcement and to calm Arab protests against the United States and Israel. He tried to make clear that the status of the contested city would only be determined within the framework of a permanent arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was also mobilized to put out the fires. Addressing the UN Security Council on Dec. 8, she noted that Trump had not taken a stand on Jerusalems boundaries, adding that the issue of sovereignty over the city is still to be decided on by Israelis and Palestinian in negotiations. Tillerson promised that the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem was at least two years away. He cited unspecified logistical considerations as the reason for this delay, although those in the know say there is nothing preventing the embassy in Tel Aviv from calling in the movers tomorrow. Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, tweeted last week that a recently completed US consular facility in West Jerusalem could fit the bill and house relocated embassy staff. Indyk knows whereof he speaks. As US ambassador and a senior member of the Middle East negotiating teams under presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Indyk has been closely following progress on the construction of a potential US embassy in Jerusalem. Planning sources in Jerusalem said a year ago that the building erected in the citys Arnona neighborhood, ostensibly for use by the US Consulate, was being outfitted with the needs of an embassy in mind. The new building, located in what was a no-mans land between the Israeli and Jordanian borders from 1948 to 1967, covers an area of 210,000 square feet, making it almost as big as the embassy in Tel Aviv. Although the building has long been ready for tenants, the US Consulate in the western part of Jerusalem and the one in the eastern part have both stayed put. The delay, therefore, does not stem from logistical difficulties. Trump has bragged that his approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is better than the one pursued by his predecessors. During the Dec. 8 UN Security Council debate on Jerusalem, Haley remarked that by withholding formal US recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital, presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama had contributed to the dead end in negotiations between the sides. On the other hand, Haley added, Trump is convinced that his Jerusalem policy will result in a diplomatic breakthrough. Whereas Trump's predecessors in office saved the goodies to compensate Israel for bitter land concessions it would have to make in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Trump is giving the Israelis a taste of the sweets to whet their appetite for the main course. Trumps Jerusalem proclamation could well have been designed to shore up the waning popularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the presentation of the US peace plan being cooked up in Washington. Trumps declaration could be nothing but a honey trap. The Israeli political right has been depicting Trump as Judah Maccabee, the Jewish leader who defeated the ancient Greeks and handed the Jewish Temple back to the Jews more than 2,000 years ago. If the US real estate mogul ever hands Israel the bill for the West Bank land it has been using without permission for 50 years, the right will have a hard time transforming his image into that of the wicked Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes. Whether the Jerusalem declaration was a sweet aperitif or a honey trap, for now it is playing into the hands of Americas rivals. Trump who is obviously ignorant of the saying Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21), attributed to King Solomon is supplying opponents of Middle East peace with ammunition. His tongue contributed this week to the deaths of Palestinian protesters, and he is the only one that can breathe life into the dying Israeli-Palestinian peace process and stop the bloodshed. State Department envoys and UN ambassadors wont get the job done. The law adopted in 1995 by a Republican Congress mandating the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem stipulated that the move be completed within five years, giving the Israeli government of prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres and the Palestinian leadership, headed by Yasser Arafat, time to complete negotiations on a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rabin was assassinated in November of that year, and both Arafat and Peres have also since died. Religious and nationalist zealots, both Jews and Muslims, have managed to sabotage the diplomatic process, and in so doing, to derail the embassy relocation. Three US presidents adopted the assessment that unilaterally changing the status quo in Jerusalem, without reaching a comprehensive agreement between the sides, could deliver a fatal blow not only to Israeli and Palestinian interests, but also to US interests in the Middle East. This assessment is just as valid today. Presenting a serious blueprint for negotiations on a permanent status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is the only move that can save the dying peace process. If there is such a thing as the Trump peace plan for Mideast peace, it is unclear what the president is waiting for. His advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt will not reinvent the wheel and turn back the negotiations conducted sporadically between the sides for more than 20 years. An agreed-upon border between Israel and the Palestinians was, and still is, the border that separated Israel from its neighbors until 1967, with some mutually accepted land swaps. Israel will not get anything more, unless it is willing to turn into a binational state or an apartheid regime. A magic wand will not turn predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem into a part of the Zionist state. A normalization of ties with the Arab world will not occur as long as Israel remains the sole sovereign over the Temple Mount, the Jerusalem site holy to both Jews and Muslims, who call it Haram al-Sharif. For too many generations, Jerusalem was a pawn in the hands of zealots who turned it into a battleground. Trump has been handed a rare opportunity to go down in history as the man who turned Jerusalem into a city of peace. For that to happen, the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, will have to wait until the US Embassy is inaugurated in East Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. December 12, 2017 The US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has resulted in an explosion of reactions in the streets and in political corridors. But perhaps the biggest response has been in the virtual world. Millions have turned to social media and digital platforms to express their support and position on Jerusalem. Hashtags such as #jerusalemcapitalofpalestine in English and Arabic have been trending for days. Saed Karzoun, the founder and CEO of Taghyeer for Social Media and a Palestinian social media trainer in Ramallah, told Al-Monitor that the word Jerusalem in Arabic, with different adjectives to it, has been posted millions of times on individual social media profiles and other locations on digital outlets. What is positive today is that the digital revolution has allowed for a bottom-up revolt. The Jerusalem story came at the right time with so many young people around the world disgusted with the world order that the digital response has been so powerful, he said. Aroub Soubh, a Jordanian social media influencer and a former host of a popular childrens program on Jordan TV, told Al-Monitor that the Arab world has been engulfed by virtual attempts to express support for the Palestinians and to reject the US move. Jerusalem in both English and Arabic has been trending in the Arab world more than any other term. Phrases like Jerusalem the capital of Palestine or the eternal capital of Palestine have been made popular, which has encouraged people in Jordan to call for the cancellation of the peace treaty and the gas deal with Israel. As a result of the public outpouring of support, the Jordanian parliament voted unanimously to ask the judicial committee to review all agreements with Israel and to report on Israeli violations of these agreements. While much of the anger and protests were directed at Israel, many singled out the United States for this decision. Popular protests outside US embassies in various locations were also reflected in online protests. In Jordan and Egypt, online calls for changing the name of the street where the US embassies are located produced concrete results. Issam Bustanji, a city council member from Amman, told Al-Monitor that he has submitted a request to the Amman municipality asking to change al-Umawyeen Street where the US Embassy is located in the ritzy Abdoun neighborhood of Amman to "al-Quds al-Arabi Street" Arabic for "Arab Jerusalem." In Jordans parliament, parliamentarians demanded a change of the street name where the Israeli Embassy is located to Palestine Street. Khaled Dawoud, an Egyptian activist, picked up the idea and posted it on his social media account. Dawoud told Al-Monitor that he has contacted Egyptian parties and encouraged them to do the same in Cairo. Egyptian musician Shaaban Abdel Rahim posted on YouTube Dec. 9 a song titled Trump has gone mad. The song has had more than 200,000 views as of the time of this writing. The Trump administrations Jerusalem move also produced reactions from around the world. Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff drew a cartoon showing a woman wearing a Palestinian embroidered dress and beating a Trump figure on the back with her shoe as she tells him that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. Latuff told Al-Monitor by email that he has been drawing for and about Palestine since a trip to the West Bank in 1998. Obviously, I had to make a cartoon about Trump's decision on Jerusalem, he said. Latuff was also unhappy with the reaction of Arab leaders in comparison to the public sentiment. What made me angry is to realize that while Arabs are protesting in the streets, the Arab leaders are doing nothing. On the contrary, they are offering empty statements to Palestinians while maintaining collaboration with Israel. While the popular and online reaction was generally well-received and supported, not everyone was happy with it. A television anchor was fired from her job at a Saudi-owned station for her tweets on the issue because it was understood to be critical of the weak reaction in the Gulf region. Ola Al Fares, a Jordanian anchor of Palestinian origin, was suspended from her job Dec. 7 as the main anchor of a weekly news program on the popular MBC television network according to Saudi media reports, simply because of a tweet she wrote encouraging Arabs to act against Trump, which some felt was criticism of the lukewarm reaction of the Gulf region to the US president. She later removed the tweet and wrote, Those who try and misinterpret what I wrote should criticize Trump and not me who loves Saudi Arabia and its people. Others have argued that the virtual campaign is a waste of time. Columnist Imad Eddin Hussein wrote a column Dec. 9 in the left-wing Al-Shorouk newspaper of which he is the editor-in-chief mocking social media activism, under the title Struggle By Way of Changing Your Profile. In his article, Hussein talked about how social media has replaced real struggle. When we get mad, we change our profile for two days and then we go back to normal, he argued. But the attack on social media activism was rejected by a Palestinian Jerusalemite living in Sweden. Alaa Abu Diab posted a video online Dec. 8 saying that in todays world, social media has a major influence on political decision-making and that countries that are trying to change public opinion employ and support people who are social media influencers. December 11, 2017 On Dec. 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin completed a diplomatic sprint, touring Syria, Egypt and Turkey in just one day. While the latter two visits were announced by the Kremlin beforehand, his detour to the Russian air base in Syrias Khmeimim was a surprise to the public, for security reasons. In Syria, Putin ordered the partial drawdown of Russian troops and, together with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, attended a military parade. "You are coming home to your families with victory. The Motherland is waiting for you, friends! Thank you for your service!" Putin said, addressing the troops. Should terrorists rise up in Syria again, we'll deliver strikes they have never seen." Putin then headed to Cairo, where he was met at the airport by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. On Nov. 28, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had approved an agreement with Egypt on use of the airspace and airport infrastructure of both countries, raising speculation that Russia plans to lease Egyptian air bases. That possibility was first mentioned in 2013 when numerous sources said Egypt was willing to provide the Port Said and Suez navy bases for Russia's temporary use. In 2016, Moscow said it might return to Sidi Barrani, another Egyptian military base on the Mediterranean. Until 1972, this base had been used by the Soviet Union to monitor NATO naval actions in the region; now Russia eyes using it mostly for air force operations. Last year, the Izvestia newspaper cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry who claimed Cairo was ready to lease Sidi Barrani for a permanent Russian military contingent. Even if that were to materialize, the base needs to be modernized and couldn't be ready before 2019, the paper said. Officials in Moscow insisted, however, that Russias military presence was needed because of counterterrorist operations and would help stabilize North Africa. Indeed, now that Russia sees itself as victorious over the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, helping Cairo battle terrorists in Sinai may become a pillar of Russian-Egyptian security cooperation. In October 2015, an IS affiliate in Egypt claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian tourist plane, killing more than 200 people. The attack ruptured direct air connection between Russia and Egypt for more than two years. The agreement regarding airspace and airports that Medvedev approved was made around the same time Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was visiting Egypt and just days after the country suffered a terrorist attack Nov. 24 at a Sinai mosque that killed more than 300 people. The first order of business when Putin arrived in Cairo and sat down with Sisi was the Syria settlement. Putin praised Sisi for his active support of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress (a Russian initiative that recently was postponed until February) and said he appreciates Egypts contribution to the Syrian peace process by helping to form the Cairo group an umbrella group predominantly representing Kurdish opposition groups in Syria. In return, Sisi emphasized the inclusiveness of the Russian approach to forming such an opposition group. Bilateral trade and economy came up second in their discussion. The annual trade turnover between Russia and Egypt stands at $4 billion and Cairo is very interested in attracting new Russian investments. Putin and Sisi even discussed creating an industrial zone in Egypt with favorable conditions for the Russian businesses. The jewel in the crown of that part of the talks was a two-part agreement: construction of Egypt's first nuclear power plant, under a $30 billion contract with Russia's Rosatom. The Russian government has offered a $25 billion loan for the project. The second part of the agreement holds that Russia will supply the fuel for the plant. This deal is the latest deal in Russia's nuclear diplomacy" project, which includes plants in Iran, Turkey, Sudan and Jordan. Restoring flights was also on the meeting agenda. Egypt has done a great job in making airport security more effective," Putin told the media after the meeting. "Russian security services reported that on the whole we are ready to restore such connection between Moscow and Cairo. First there should be an intergovernmental agreement signed, but we are seeking to do that shortly. Flights to Egyptian resort areas will still be restricted for now. Regarding US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, both Putin and Sisi agreed that such a move impedes efforts for setting up direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis, while the issue should be solved within the framework of the international law and on the basis of respective UNSC [UN Security Council] resolutions. After all these topics were addressed, one subject was noticeably missing: There was no announcement of an actual Russian military presence in Egypt. Yet, such a presence would be logical, given the legal agreements and Moscows outreach to the region. To further strengthen its position in the Middle East, Russia needs to guarantee its influence not only on the Asian, but also on the African frontier. Russia believes the bases in Syria are both crucial but vulnerable. To counter this vulnerability, Moscow needs backup military plans to support its communications and logistics. For Cairo, Russia's return is a matter of prestige. As some Egyptian journalists have pointed out, When the USSR left Egypt, it deeply injured the countrys dignity. President Vladimir Putin hopes to wipe out that episode from the memories [of Egyptians] by reviving Russian bases in Egypt, which also looks like a victory over the US. Even if this is a debatable premise, Russia's very presence would be impressive. Among other potential reasons for Moscow to want some form of military engagement in the country are Russian interests in Libya. Russia has occasionally used Egyptian territory to support Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the rival of internationally recognized Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. The Sidi Barrani base, which is a mere 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Libyan border, is perfectly suitable for this and other activities. Should Russia expand its military presence in the region, Europeans may fear their own strategic interests might be endangered, considering that Moscow could situate its main power close to the Suez Canal the EUs bloodstream, carrying major amounts of oil and gas consumed in Europe. These fears are further supported by recent confidential negotiations between Putin and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who is wanted by the Hague Tribunal for alleged war crimes over the prospects of hosting a Russian military base on the Red Sea. Though some fear Russia's potential return to Egypt could signal Moscow's intent to start a full-blown military intervention in the region, Cairo sees Moscows moves mostly as an attempt to create political hype. Cairo believes Russia plans to confuse Western politicians and turn their attention away from Sisi and "his failures in internal policy, which corrupt his image. Following this logic, Sisi invites Moscow to help solve Egypts challenges in the Sinai and help resolve the Libyan crisis, both of which have become key aspects of his agenda, considering the threat of Islamic radicals. In any case, this kind of cooperation gives Russia more opportunities to develop its presence in the Middle East and opens prospects for military-technical collaboration between the countries, which was curbed in the 1970s when Egypt shifted to the American sphere of influence. While Egypt is struggling economically and depends on Saudi Arabia for financial help, Russia is probably going to provide Cairo with some arms in exchange for using the military bases. In 2014, Egypt agreed to buy from Russia $3.5 billion worth of artillery systems, firearms and air-defense units. The parties also negotiated Egypt's purchase of Ka-52K naval helicopters (as equipment for Mistral helicopter carriers), Ka-50 combat helicopters and a large installment (46 items) of Su-34 and MiG-29M aircraft. Egypts interest in purchasing this weaponry is mostly based on its will to pressure Ethiopia, which is building a dam on the Blue Nile that is likely to endanger Egypt's freshwater supply. For Putin, the visit to Egypt was the second stop in his shuttle diplomacy across the region. But for Cairo, the meeting could mean much more, perhaps signaling that Russian-Egyptian cooperation may just be on its way up to a new level. December 13, 2017 After US President Donald Trumps ill-advised decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, some headlines have noted that Irans hard-liners have been empowered as a result. While that may be true and extremists in Tehran certainly claim as much it also paints an incomplete picture. Trumps Jerusalem fiasco has, in fact, also been a boon to President Hassan Rouhani and his administration. In other words, it has in several key ways empowered the Islamic Republic as a whole and not any particular faction or group. First, Irans political system will now have an easier time realigning its ideological and geopolitical proclivities. This will essentially solidify the executive branch as Iranian stakeholders unify against Trumps extremist activities in the Middle East. Before the Jerusalem announcement, Tehran was more measured in playing the anti-Israel card relative to its bombast during the presidency of conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013). This was because Irans geopolitical goal of escaping American and Israeli-led efforts to render it a pariah required tempering its ideological inclination to spout off anti-Israel tirades, which score brownie points among Arab public opinion. Rather than being forced to choose between those ideological and geopolitical inclinations, Rouhanis pragmatic team can now work with other domestic stakeholders to pursue both. Notably, it will be able to do so while maintaining its position on Israel, which is nearly identical to that of former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005): Refusing to recognize Israel, maintaining criticism of the Israeli occupation and double standards, and emphasizing defensive rather than offensive measures against Tel Aviv. Twenty years ago, Iran adopted this position as part of a proposed quid pro quo to end the American-Israeli hostility it was facing. After Trumps Jerusalem announcement, Rouhani can use this position to widen divisions between Washington and Tel Aviv on one side, and the majority of the world on the other. For related reasons, Irans broader position in the Middle East may now also be strengthened. As a Persian Shiite Muslim minority in the region, the Islamic Republic has long used the anti-Israel card as a way to foster credibility and common cause with Arab populations and Sunni Muslims. This strategy arguably peaked in late 2010, when Arab public opinion ranked Ahmadinejad as one of the most admired world leaders. Fast-forward seven years, and that reservoir of Iranian soft power in the region has vanished, largely due to Tehrans support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Trumps latest train wreck may help reverse this trend. With most of the Muslim world incensed over the American-Israeli-Saudi initiative on Jerusalem, Rouhani can now lead Irans efforts to foster condemnation across the Middle East and reconstitute Palestine rather than Syria or sectarian strife as the regional fault line. Tehran can thus work to rehabilitate its image among Arab public opinion by openly supporting any peace process accepted by the Palestinians, emphasizing that it does not seek hostility or conflict, and arguing that the problem is continued occupation of Palestinian territory. It will now be comfortable readopting these positions held by Khatami because the peace process is no longer a threat to Irans regional standing, directly thanks to the Washington-Tel Aviv-Riyadh troika effectively having killed whatever remained of it. Finally, the rehabilitation of Irans image and standing may not be limited to the region. The swift rebuke from American allies and adversaries alike to Trumps Jerusalem decision has been ferocious, thereby providing Tehran with an opportunity to further reintegrate itself into the international community as a whole. Rouhanis measured approach to the region compared to his predecessor, combined with Irans demonstrated track record of diplomacy and compromise with the world since he took office in 2013, stands in stark contrast to the trail of tears left behind in Qatar, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere by the US-Israel-Saudi bloc in less than one calendar year. Indeed, the latters actions in the Middle East may reinforce a growing global perception that the problem is in their respective capitals, and not Tehran. Armed with Trumps Jerusalem debacle, Tehran now has more tools at its disposal to protect itself from increased efforts to isolate it politically and economically. Moreover, the joint American-Israeli-Saudi efforts to create an exclusionary regional security framework at Irans expense will likely fall flat since much of the world deeply opposes it, having seen the chaos it has already caused. Now that Irans position on regional matters is more (but not entirely) in line with global public opinion, it may help Tehran consolidate its regional and international gains without having to be more stringent on the issue of Palestinian statehood. The ultimate irony of the Jerusalem debacle is once again that Iran has been given the upper hand without having lifted a finger. Indeed, with the peace process dead, most of the world is blaming Trump, Israel and Saudi Arabia for tearing the region apart. But Jerusalem is only the latest in a long line of missteps over the past year that Iran has capitalized on. This has left Rouhani in a position in which he can now work across the political spectrum to reconnect the Islamic Republics ideological goal of opposing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory with its geopolitical goal of avoiding international isolation with increased international support for both objectives. Iran may not have drawn it up this way, but it will gladly accept the freebies being handed out by Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh. December 12, 2017 US President Donald Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel appears, at first glance, to have provided President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a new opportunity to play for leadership in the Islamic world while deflecting attention from his troubles at home. Analysts believe, however, that the lack of support among Arab powers for the vehemence with which he is pursuing the campaign against the United States and Israel is likely to leave him disappointed in the end. Nevertheless, Erdogan is gaining populist points, not just in Turkey, but also in the Middle East where his strong line on Jerusalem is praised and contrasted with the limp response from Arab regimes. Addressing supporters in the central Anatolian city of Sivas on Dec. 10, Erdogan pointed to Security Council Resolution 478 adopted in 1980, which condemned Israel for declaring Jerusalem its capital, and went on to attack Trump. Hey Trump! How can you unilaterally deem the 1980 resolution void? Do you have such authority? Are you buying and selling property here? Erdogan said, taking a dig at Trumps real-estate empire. Erdogan went on to label Israel a "terrorist state. Referring to a picture that has gone viral of a large number of Israeli soldiers arresting and blindfolding a young Palestinian protestor, he poured scorn on the Israel military. Look at what nearly 20 lowdown Israeli terrorists did to a 14-year-old boy, Erdogan fumed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is no less acerbic than Erdogan, responded in like fashion. "I'm not used to receiving lectures about morality from a leader who bombs Kurdish villagers in his native Turkey, who jails journalists, who helps Iran go around international sanctions and who helps terrorists, including in Gaza, who kill innocent people," Netanyahu told reporters in Paris during an official visit. Erdogan nevertheless seems to have carried the day, since his bitter jibes and strong accusations aimed at the United States and Israel are always welcomed by Muslims around the world. Wajih Nuseibeh, the head of the Palestinian family entrusted with opening the door to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem every day, appeared to sum up the sentiment of the street in the Arab world. In an interview with Hurriyet, Nuseibeh said Turkey was defending Jerusalem better than Arab leaders, whom he accused of wasting time by clashing among themselves. Turkish antipathy toward Arab regimes also resurfaced again over the Jerusalem crisis, especially but not exclusively among Erdogans Islamist supporters. Nuh Albayrak, the editor-in-chief of Star newspaper which is a staunch Erdogan supporter claimed in an article that Trump could not have arrived at his decision without the approval of the global puppets at the head of Islamic countries. Albayrak said Turkey was the only country bothered with the plight of the Palestinians and the fate of Jerusalem. Taha Akyol, a widely read liberal columnist for Hurriyet, echoed similar sentiments but went a step further and criticized the Arab public for what he said was its relatively mild response to Trumps decision on Jerusalem. Arab societies today are silent, dormant and underdeveloped, he wrote in his column, blaming this on the absence of a democratic culture and free thinking in the Arab world. Erdogan told reporters in Athens last week, where he was on an official visit, that the disunity in the Islamic world is what had emboldened Trump to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. He also made it clear that he wants concrete results from the emergency summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) he called for in his capacity as the term president of the organization and which is due to convene in Istanbul Dec. 13. Erdogan is hoping that this will produce a meaningful collective response to the United States and Israel and not just a hollow statement. If he can achieve this, it will also enhance his standing as a key leader in the Islamic world. Erdogan has been down this road before, though, and he ended up having to eventually climb down from his moral high ground. His popularity in the Islamic world soared when he publicly scolded late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Davos in 2009, accusing Israel of being adept at killing Palestinian children. Nevertheless, the realities that govern the Middle East weighed heavily on him and forced him in the end to backpedal by, among other things, restoring normal ties with Israel in 2016, much to the annoyance of Islamists in Turkey and his admirers in the Middle East. The normalization with Israel also came when Ankara was increasingly isolated in the region due to serious miscalculations it made relating to the Arab Spring. Erdogans strong support of the Muslim Brotherhood also left many Arab regimes questioning his regional ambitions. Leaving aside the traditional antipathy felt among Arab regimes to the idea of Turkish leadership in the Middle East, these regimes are also unlikely to be too pleased with Erdogans support for Hamas, which is trying to start a new intifada against Israel. The last thing Riyadh, Cairo or Amman would want now is to see radicalized Islamic crowds take to the streets again. The main focus of Sunni Arab powers today remains on Iran, despite Trumps decision regarding Jerusalem, which clearly has complicated matters for them. These powers are also unlikely to heed calls for punitive measures against the United States and Israel when they are busy developing strategic ties with Washington and indirect ties with Israel to counter the Iranian threat. Veteran journalist Fehmi Koru, who has backed the Justice and Development Party and Erdogan in the past, also believes that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and not Israel, are seen as the principal threat by Arab regimes today. Koru is concerned that Turkey will come out the overall loser if Erdogan fails to unite the Islamic world at the OIC summit. My fear is that the waves created by Trumps move on Jerusalem in the world have the potential to push our country into further isolation, Koru wrote in his widely read and cited blog. Erdogan may be relying on the OIC to produce concrete results regarding Jerusalem, but it wasnt even clear at the time of this writing who would be attending the summit or what the level of representation from countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be. There was also the question of whether common ground can be established at a summit attended by bitter rivals and their clashing agendas. Kemal Ozturk from the pro-government daily Yeni Safak does not expect much to come out of the OIC summit. In an article on the subject, he referred to the OIC as an organization that was established to do nothing, to spoil what has to be done and to prevent unity. Ozturk blamed the OICs ineffectiveness on degenerate governments, incapable leaders and ignorant but ambitious administrators. He said countries that prevent a strong result from the Istanbul summit should be declared the greatest enemies of the Islamic world. Such views, which are clearly shared by many in government circles, are merely expressions of frustration and will change little on the ground given current developments in the Middle East. This leaves Erdogan facing an uphill battle in trying to mobilize the Islamic world and casting himself as a key Islamic leader. His efforts are more likely to end up highlighting his failure in this respect a distinct possibility that even his supporters concede while fueling more suspicions among Arab leaders regarding his motives in the Middle East. December 11, 2017 In this age of globalization, most of the local tastes can be found in other parts of the world. But some local delights remain outside that trend either because the basic ingredients are only available locally or the traditional and often laborious preparations are too much of a burden in modern-day life. Three authentic dishes are among those mainly sold in Turkey. The first is the Turkish dish tavuk gogsu, which literally means chicken breast, a remnant from the Ottoman palace whose creative chefs regularly used meat and sugar in their dishes, just like their European counterparts at the time. Tavuk gogsu is a dessert even the most courageous home cooks would not attempt making as only few possess the skill to beat the chicken into silk threads so that the meaty flavor is almost unnoticeable. Almost everyone in Turkey purchases the dessert from pastry shops, and only few establishments have perfected the proper consistency of the dish. The most prominent pastry shops, many located in Istanbul, that make tavuk gogsu use the Ottoman recipes. Konyali Restaurant, founded in 1897 and now a chain, used to be one of the few places that offered the dessert on its menu. Mehmet Yalcinkaya, the executive chef of Wyndham Grand Istanbul Kalamis Marina Hotel, told Al-Monitor, Mass production in some instances could lead to quick but unimpressive results of tavuk gogsu. The original recipe used wheat milk, but today rice flour is common and some even use cheaper options like starch. The taste suffers significantly." Nowadays, tavuk gogsu can be found in well-stocked markets in most cities, but once you have tasted tavuk gogsu made from a traditional recipe all others pale by comparison. A close to perfect tavuk gogsu is made of fresh farm-raised chicken breast, whole fat milk, rice flour, sugar and heavy cream; ground cinnamon is added once the desired consistency is reached through slow cooking. The result is a protein-rich dessert that could classify as a healthier alternative to other types of milk pudding. The use of meat helps generate a texture softer than gelatin and thicker than starch. Another tasty dish is kaymak, a traditional clotted cream. Although clotted cream is widely used all around the Balkans and the Levant, most Turks believe the tastiest version is produced in Afyon province in central Anatolia. Here, kaymak is made of milk from water buffalos that graze on poppy plants and seeds, creating a unique flavor. Buffalo milk is simmered on low heat for hours, cooled off and then the cream rising to the top is skimmed off and chilled. Because buffalo milk is twice as high in fat as cows milk, the pure white Afyon kaymak resembles dense vanilla ice cream. It is much thicker than clotted cream, requiring a sharp knife to cut it. While kaymak can be made from cow, sheep or goats's milk, the water buffalo version is preferred. Only a handful of places in Afyon province produce the original kaymak due to the rising costs of raising water buffalos. Yalcinkaya, one of the new generation innovative chefs in Turkey who works with local ingredients, said that kaymak produced in Afyon was registered in 2009 by the Turkish Patent Institute as a product of geographical origin. It is not mass produced and it is a perishable good that needs to be stored and consumed in a timely manner. Kaymak aficionados can instantaneously tell if it is not real Afyon kaymak, he said. Yalcinkaya and other fusion chefs are utilizing this delicacy in new ways in Turkey's upscale restaurants. Kaymak is popular in Turkish cuisine and can be substituted for butter at breakfast or served as a delicacy in restaurants, alongside honey. Slow-cooked quince halves are served with a slice of kaymak, or poached dried apricots are filled with almonds and kaymak. Kaymak is also used in Turkish delight or it can accompany different types of baklava or kadayif, both traditional Turkish desserts. Traditionally, kaymak was used in festive fruit desserts to add a dense flavor packed with protein and fat. Another white-colored sweet that symbolizes the arrival of fall in Turkey is salep or sahlep, a hot drink traditionally sold by street vendors and pastry shops. Salep is a starch collected by grinding the bulb of the Orchis orchid into a white powder. Salep powder, which has a rather bitter taste, is also the main ingredient in traditional Turkish ice cream. The powder is available in a few well-stocked Middle Eastern stores in the United States. Due to the long cooking process that requires the cook to stir for hours, pure salep is expensive and is often compared to gold. While there are cheaper alternatives, such as mass-produced ready-to-drink salep mixes that are widely available on store shelves, they contain little to no raw salep. The thickening agents such as corn starch in these mixes fail to produce a drink that tastes like the original. The original salep recipe calls for salep powder to be mixed with sugar and starch, then gently added to warm milk while patiently stirred to avoid lumps. After it thickens, it is sprinkled with cinnamon and served warm in a small cup. Today, most restaurants and pastry shops have salep machines to make the drink for their customers. Salep is said to cure all ailments, from broken hearts to digestive issues, and is also believed to be an aphrodisiac. Renowned chef Poopa Dweck explains in her book Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews that the drink was a popular tonic in 17th century England and was said to cure gastrointestinal ailments. As soon as fall sets in, salep is sold on the streets of Istanbul as an alternative to Turkish tea, and for those who can spare the time to enjoy the drink. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned his counterparts at the start of the World Trade Organizations Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires this week that the longtime global trade body risks becoming irrelevant. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned his counterparts at the start of the World Trade Organizations Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires this week that the longtime global trade body must address some serious challenges to stay relevant. Many are concerned that the WTO is losing its essential focus on negotiation and becoming a litigation-centered organization, Lighthizer said. Too often, members seem to believe they can gain concessions through lawsuits that they could never get at the negotiating table. We have to ask ourselves whether this is good for the institution and whether the current litigation structure makes sense. He also chastised the WTO for not moving some countries, such as China, off development status. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to the few, and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status, Lighthizer said. Indeed, we should all be troubled that so many members appear to believe that they would be better off with exemptions to the rules. Lighthizer criticized the WTO for insufficient efforts to ensure that the countries participating in the trade body are meeting their membership obligations. It is impossible to negotiate new rules when many of the current ones are not being followed, he said. This is why the United States is leading a discussion on the need to correct the sad performance of many members in notifications and transparency. Some members are intentionally circumventing these obligations, and addressing these lapses will remain a top U.S. priority. Lastly, the chief U.S. trade negotiator said the WTO must do more to make markets efficient and take on challenges such as overcapacity of certain global commodities, including steel and aluminum; curtailing market influences of state-owned enterprises; and ending non-scientific based phytosanitary requirements. The United States looks forward to working with all members who share our goal of using the WTO to create rules that will lead to more efficient markets, more trade and greater wealth for our citizens. Such outcomes will build public support not only for open markets, but for the WTO itself, Lighthizer said. In his opening remarks to the Ministerial Conference, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said without the 70-year-old trade body, the world would not be as economically well off as it is today. He noted that during and after the global financial crisis, less than 5 percent of the worlds imports were impacted as the result of trade restrictions. Trading nations held each other to the commitments agreed multilaterally, he said. As a result, we avoided unilateral actions, potential trade wars and economic catastrophe. In the heat of crisis, the WTO did what it was created to do. And it will continue to provide stability and certainty especially in challenging times, Azevedo said. Thats why Im so relentless in beating the drum for the system. Not because its perfect, but because its essential, it works, and its the best we have. 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 [] B&H Photo currently has the LG Watch Style on sale for just $99. That is down from its original price of $249, and it also matches an all-time low that was seen on Black Friday. That makes this a fantastic deal. The LG Watch Style is an Android Wear 2.0-powered smartwatch, that was announced earlier this year. Unlike its brother the LG Watch Sport, it does not sport 4G LTE. But it does have NFC, allowing you to take advantage of Android Pay, and pay with your wrist. Additionally, you have Google Assistant on your wrist, so you can ask it to things like adjust the temperature at home, change the lights and much more. It has a 1.2-inch P-OLED display, powered by the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. With this watch, youll be able to check your email from your wrist, take notes with your voice using Evernote or Google Keep and take advantage of a ton of other apps. You can also track your activity with Google Fit and a few other fitness apps. This would make a great gift for any Android enthusiast on your holiday shopping list this year. At B&H Photo, you do get free expedited shipping, and if you purchase before 4PM EST today, it will ship from its New York City warehouse today. Theres no taxes being collected unless you reside in the state of New York or New Jersey. B&H also offers extended returns for the holiday season. Anything purchased on or after November 1st, 2017 can be returned up until February 1st, 2018. Advertisement Update: B&H has now raised the price to $119. Thats still a great price for this watch, and still good for $130 off of its regular price. The sales of the Essential PH-1 surpassed 50,000 units, as suggested by the number of its Camera app downloads on the Google Play Store which was updated on Tuesday, as first spotted by one Reddit user. While app downloads may not be the most accurate indicator of smartphone sales even when it comes to device-specific software, the number would be in line with what previous reports of underwhelming commercial performance suggested. As BayStreet Research estimated earlier this fall, Essentials first Android handset sold approximately 5,000 units in its first month, with its poor sales being attributed to a variety of factors; multiple delays ended up pushing the device to directly compete with premium offerings from more established brands like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, LG V30, and the Apple iPhone 8, whereas its $700 price tag also discouraged some prospective buyers who were looking for an alternative flagship that would be a significantly more inexpensive option than what the market was offering. That state of affairs is believed to have prompted a permanent $200 discount less than two months after the device was launched, whereas consumers who already bought it at a full price were given early adopter credit worth $200 which they could have used for the PH-1s accessories or another handset unit. While the 50,000 mark generally wouldnt be considered a failure for a startup competing in the saturated smartphone market, the fact that the Palo Alto, California-based firm already raised approximately $300 million at a $1 billion valuation makes that number largely underwhelming, some industry watchers believe. Android co-creator Andy Rubin partially funded Essential with his venture capital company Playground Global and acts as Chief Executive Officer of both firms but its currently unclear whether the PH-1 is internally considered a failure. Mr. Rubin himself recently took a short leave from Essential after allegations of his inappropriate behavior at Google emerged but returned to the startup after only two weeks. Essential is presently still developing additional accessories for the PH-1 and is also working on the Essential Home, a smart speaker running its proprietary Ambient OS which is meant to provide consumers with a contemporary IoT experience without compromising their privacy. The Essential Home was originally said to be launching in 2017 but now appears set to miss that release window. ADR's strong reaction has come a day ahead of the important hearing in Supreme Court on a PIL seeking lifetime ban on convicted persons to contest elections. By Anand Patel: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the NGO spearheading campaign to stop tainted leaders from entering Parliament and State Assemblies has welcomed Government's move to set up 12 fast track courts to try 1571 lawmakers with pending criminal cases against them. But it has also warned that these fast track court may have to work indefinitely unless tainted leaders are barred from contesting polls. advertisement Talking to India Today TV, ADR's National Coordinator retired Major General Anil Verma said that the political parties have been blocking electoral reforms to bar candidates with pending criminal cases. ADR's strong reaction has come a day ahead of the important hearing in Supreme Court on a PIL seeking lifetime ban on convicted persons to contest elections. "It appears to be a positive step even though it comes after persistence of the Supreme Court. The Government has given an affidavit that they will set up 12 courts to fast track cases of 1571 pending criminal cases. In an earlier judgment in March 2014 in a similar PIL, the Supreme Court had directed all the state High Courts to fast track criminal cases against sitting MPs and MLAs and to carry out those trials on a day to day basis. All the courts were directed to submit a status report to the chief justices of the respective High Courts and incase there was a delay, a report was to be submitted to the Chief Justice of the High Court. Then he was to take up appropriate measures to speed up the process," said retired Major General Verma. "We filed RTIs to know the status of such cases but we got no satisfactory reply from any of the High Courts, similarly from the Government also we could not get any clarity," he added. Major General Verma said that the government should specify as to when these courts are going to set up and when will they start functioning, though they have said that it will cost Rs 8 Crores. ADR national coordinator said that there are PILs pending before the Supreme Court where petitioners have requested the Supreme Court that people with criminal cases against them, where cognizance has been taken and charge sheets have been filed, judicial application of mind has taken place, and the charges are such which buy imprisonment of two years or more, such people should not be permitted to contest elections. He said, "The larger issue is that until and unless political parties stop fielding such candidates who have criminal cases against them, things will not improve. So if this practice continues we will need permanent fast track courts." "These recommendations are there from the law commission and various review committees (but) all the political parties are of one view; whenever there is an issue related to electoral or political reforms and that is how best to prevent it,' he added. As per ADR data, number of MPs with declared criminal cases in Lok Sabha Elections has seen a steady rise. advertisement In 2004, there were 24 percent MPs with declared criminal cases. In 2009, the number increased to 30 percent while in 2014, it further rose to 34 percent. ADR has analyzed 4776 sitting MPs/MLAs, there are 1566 (33 percent) MPs/MLAs with declared criminal cases while 983(21 percent) MPs/MLAs analyzed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Among the states with highest number of MLAs criminal cases pending, Jharkhand leads with 64 percent followed by Kerala with 62 percent, while Bihar has 58 percent MLAs with criminal cases pending. As for the state of Gujarat, where second and final phase of polling is to be held, ADR report says that out of 1815 candidates analyzed, 253 (14 percent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections, out of 1283 candidates analysed, 222(17 percent) had declared criminal cases against themselves. --- ENDS --- Facebook has now announced a decision to switch up its sales structure to be more accommodating at a local scale, wherever possible. What that means for advertisers is going to depend on what country a given advertiser is operating in. By way of example, the company says the shift in focus will apply primarily to countries where a local office is available to support sales by local advertisers. More directly, what that means is that advertising revenues, in countries where an office is present, will no longer be recorded by Facebooks international headquarters in Dublin. Instead, that will be recorded locally, within a given country. The plan is to have the change completely implemented in the first half of 2019, with the bulk of the policy implementation to be completed over the course of 2018. However, each country with offices will be included in the policy one at a time as opposed to implementing the change as a widespread, immediate policy change. Facebook says that will give it time to address unique differences between countries on an individual level. As to the reason for the shift, the company says that the restructuring is in response to requests from governments on a global scale for more transparency. Localization, the company claims, will enable transparency to governments, legislators, and other policy officials, with regard to revenue associated with locally supported sales in a given country. The separation between offices could feasibly also make it easier for Facebook to respond to a request from any specific government without incidentally or accidentally divulging information that is really only pertinent to other world regions. Meanwhile, this latest change also follows several other changes the company has made in terms of advertising and content control which is where the company makes the bulk of its revenue. Among those changes, the company recently decided to provide better, more definitive policies around what kinds of content can generate revenue via the service. Moreover, the changes are part of a series of greater, company-wide changes that Facebook is undergoing in order to better serve customers from every portion of the market. Those changes have also included responses to fake news allegations, experimental privacy tools, and other policy reviews which appear to be part of a still larger movement among technology companies in general. Google is planning to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) research to China by launching an R&D center in the Far Eastern country with the goal of tapping the local talent there, the search giant announced today. The new AI research hub was formally announced at the Google Developer Days event in Shanghai, with Google Clouds Chief Scientist for AI and machine learning, Fei-Fei Li, noting that the research center is the first such facility in Asia. According to Google, the AI research center will be focused on exploring the basic concepts of this emerging technology, a task that will be taken up by a small team of researchers based in Beijing with support from the internet giants engineering team in the country. Fei-Fei Li also revealed that the company intends to grow the AI research team over the next few months after Google previously formed the group with a small number of AI professionals. The Google AI China will be led by Fei-Fei Li herself along with Jia Li, Head of Research and Development at Google Cloud AI, and the team will be responsible for publishing its own work in addition to supporting AI conferences and workshops in China through funding efforts. The launch of Googles AI research center in China is notably one of the largest expansions of the unit across the world. Already, Google operates other AI research facilities in other parts of the globe including New York, Toronto, London and Zurich, which together aim to help advance the development of AI and contribute to the holistic welfare of the public. The announcement also comes despite Googles lack of full entry in China, where most of its services like Search, Cloud, Google Play, Gmail, and Google Drive are being censored as part of a broader effort by the Chinese government to crack down on foreign internet platforms that are deemed detrimental to the general stability of its socialist policies. However, AI is something that Google has been pitching to the Chinese government, which strongly supports AI research in the country. Beyond China, Google is also investing in AI efforts in other parts of the world, with its AI division having launched an offshoot in May of this year aimed at fostering AI startups. The Mountain View, California-based also infused $5 million into an AI institute in Canada last April. Kaspersky Lab-made software was officially banned by the United States on Tuesday after President Trump signed the bill that effectively prevents such services from being used by government agencies. The move came following months of investigations and deliberation as the intelligence community and legislators expressed concerns over the Russian firms connection to Kremlin that it previously accused of interfering with the U.S. democratic process. Kaspersky founder and Chief Executive Officer Eugene Kaspersky is said to have attended a university established by the KGB and worked as a Soviet intelligence officer prior to starting the cybersecurity firm. The company repeatedly denied ties with Kremlin and said its software was never used for spying on the U.S. or any other country but was still removed from the General Services Administrations list of approved vendors in July as part of a move that served as a prelude to the official federal ban on its offerings. The bill effectively banning Kasperskys software from federal use came in the form of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 which was ratified three months after the President issued a directive ordering civilian agencies to dispose of the software by the end of the year. The order itself was nearly entirely successful and the majority of agencies already complied with it, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing Department of Homeland Security official Christopher Krebs. The ban on Kasperskys services is largely seen as a bipartisan issue in the U.S. and enjoyed support from both Republican and Democratic politicians even as the Russian firm offered to submit its source code to independent auditors. The company still believes its unfairly discriminated against due to the fact its headquartered in Russia, having already said its in the process of considering its options following the ban. Regardless of the firms ultimate reaction to the development, its software is unlikely to ever return to U.S. agencies even if tensions between Washington and Moscow lose momentum in the future, many industry watchers believe. The tech industry in the country didnt have any strong opinions about the development despite some of its actors previously lobbying against sanctions on Russia due to their business ties with certain foreign entities. Lenovo seems set to launch a new smartphone, as a device with the model number K320t from the company has been listed on TENAA. TENAA is Chinas certification body, equivalent to the FCC in the US. According to the specs listed on TENAA, the Lenovo K320t appears to be an entry-level phone. Specs include a 5.7-inch display with support for HD+ resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels. The body of the device measures 155.2 x 73.5 x 8.5mm and it weighs in at 153.8 grams. The power button and volume rockers are situated on the right-hand side of the phone, while a fingerprint scanner can be found on the rear. The listing doesnt give away the name of the chipset powering the handset, but we do know that it will be a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. Memory wise, the K320t will sport 2GB or 3GB of RAM, along with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. The storage is expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. From the images attached to the TENAA listing, a dual-camera setup can be seen on the rear of the smartphone, though the listing only mentions a 2-megapixel shooter on the rear, so there may be an error in the spec sheet. Meanwhile, selfies will be handled by an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Keeping the lights on is a 3,000mAh battery, which should be able to provide decent battery life considering the resolution of the display upfront. The Lenovo K320t will run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Connectivity options available on this 4G LTE device include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, while sensors such as distance, light and gravity sensors are also part of the package. Color choices of the Lenovo K320t are Black and Silver. These specs may not be the final hardware of the phone, as Lenovo may change certain components before releasing the final product. At the moment, there is no information regarding the launch of the Lenovo K320t, and it may also be launched under a different name. Lately, a number of Lenovo branded smartphones have appeared online, with the most recent being the Lenovo K520, which was listed on Geekbench. Google has now made available a new Google Maps Go Android app on the Google Play Store. As the name suggests, this is an app which is related to the standard Google Maps app, although the Go references how this is more of a lightweight version of the main app. As is the case with all things Go labelled from Google at the moment. As Maps Go is part of the wider Go initiative first announced by Google earlier in 2017. In spite of being announced much earlier in the year, it was only in December when Google first made available its Go OS through the release of a Go Edition of Android 8.0 (Oreo). Android Go in itself is designed to provide owners of less capable phones with a version of Android which is by definition less capable. Or in other words, less resource demanding and therefore more suitable to run on devices that are not as capable of handling more demanding applications. Which is where apps like Maps Go comes in. As part of that initiative Google is readying multiple versions of its apps which are also designed to work with Go OS and be less taxing on hardware. The app is a free to download app, although the chances are good that a majority of users will not be able to download the app in the first place. As the availability of the app is largely dependent on the hardware associated with a smartphone. While it is still unclear how this will be defined, it is probably a safe assumption to make that only phones running the new Go edition of Android Go will be able to download the app. Which is in contrast to the likes of Files Go which was also released by Google recently. As while Files Go is built around the same premise (a file manager designed to be less taxing) as Android Go and Maps Go, it is available to download on other select devices. In either case, more details on Google Maps Go and the option to download on compatible devices through the Google Play Store link below. Amazons Alexa and Googles Assistant platforms are ready for the Holidays, with both companies putting more effort in this year to make their A.I. better for users who are celebrating. Both Assistants functionality and Alexas Skills range from Santa tracking to festivities-based home automation and more. Thats great news for those users who want to get in on the technology-driven celebrations and who happen to own an Alexa-enabled device, Google Home, or any number of other such A.I.-enhanced devices that arent directly made by the companies. With all of the efforts that Google has increasingly put into its own Holiday apps and applets over the past few years, it can be easy to forget that Amazons Alexa is actually the more popular platform among consumers and has a lot of similar features. Although the platform does differ in that it often requires Skills to be enabled on an account attached to an Alexa device before they can be used, both provide great functionality for users looking to get into the Christmas spirit. Asking Alexa what she wants for Christmas, for example, results in what may be a surprising answer. Without giving too much away, its probably safe to say that the response from Alexa reflects the sentiments of a lead designer or executive at the company rather than what a digital assistant might actually want. Meanwhile, Googles Home-based A.I. assistant also has its own response to the question, which is somewhat more in keeping with the traditions associated with the Holidays. Having said that, there arent any rules about what Christmas wishes can encompass so the response from either is, unsurprisingly, both interesting and entertaining. Its also a functionality that doesnt require any Skills to be enabled for Alexa. Looking past that, both platforms also perform well with respect to pumping out holiday music. For Alexa, having access to Amazon Prime or other music-specific subscriptions available to users allows a wide variety of music to be played. Theres also a skill specifically designed for the playback of Christmas music, for those who dont have a subscription to music services but still want to fill their home with Christmas Music. Googles Assistant, meanwhile, has similar features and can play from Google Play Music, YouTube Red, and more. Thats in addition to free playback through YouTube or free services like Pandora. On the other hand, users can also ask either assistant to sing a Christmas carol each with their own take on it. When testing out both, Amazon has obviously put more effort into their version of the feature, with Alexa singing a full verse of O Christmas Tree, while Google Assistant plays only a stylized music-box rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Advertisement Both platforms will also read classic Christmas stories on queue, although Alexa does go further here as well and is able to read some stories by request. For example, Alexa can read The Night Before Christmas on request, or even play musical versions in song format, but Googles Assistant requires users to own the book as part of their Google Play Books Library in order to read it. In fact, Assistant wont read any Christmas stories at all, as of this writing, unless they are owned by the user in question. Alexa also outdoes Google when it comes to playing Christmas sounds to create a more festive atmosphere around the house. Asking Google to play Christmas sounds results in a YouTube playback involving a Christmas soundtrack and fireplace sounds. That will, of course, also show associated visuals on any connected displays but that only shows by request. While Alexa wont show any visuals, functionality goes further via an associated Christmas Sounds Alexa Skill. With the skill enabled, asking Alexa to play Christmas Sounds results in a wealth of sounds which emulate a Christmas party, complete with carolers and animal sounds associated with the holiday. Theres even an interesting Easter Egg when a user asks Alexa to stop. Meanwhile, both platforms can readily control the atmosphere tied to an actual holiday gathering through the smart home functionality each has built in. That means users can easily control smart plugs or lights directly in order to set the mood for the holidays, turning lights off or on, or enabling whatever other features are available through a given set of smart Christmas lights. Both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa also have varying degrees of functionality in terms of connected displays, with both being connectable through a wide variety of connectivity platforms, as well. That means videos or photos suitable for the holidays can be displayed on request to further enhance a users holiday experience. Googles is arguably more robust but both have a lot to offer on that front. Both platforms will also respond to various questions about Santa Claus, such as where Santa is via a simple question on Assistant or through the Norad Santa Skill for Amazon Alexa. Beyond that, users can ask any number of other questions, such as how old Santa Claus is or, for those adventurous enough to ask, if hes really real. However, Amazon also has one final functionality that may come in handy for those who want to go beyond music, lights, and tracking Santa Claus, thanks to an Alexa Skill called Christmas Kindness. By enabling the skill, Alexa-enabled devices will provide users with random acts of kindness they can perform in order to make others lives just a little bit easier. Thats something Google hasnt put any real effort into enabling, although users of Assistant-enabled devices can get information about random acts of kindness in the form of a more basic search. While Amazon does have one or two edges over Google, theres a lot to discover on both platforms for those interested in checking the Holiday features out. Another bizarre twist has been added the convoluted tale of the modern odyssey of Leonardo da Vincis Salvator Mundi, bought anonymously at Christies on Nov. 15 for $450.3 million. The latest news, posted today on Christies website, is this: And heres this mornings tweet from the Louvre Abu Dhabi: Louvre Abu Dhabi is looking forward to displaying the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo Da Vinci. The work was acquired by the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi for the museum. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/ AP pic.twitter.com/4iSUOL5X5A Louvre Abu Dhabi (@LouvreAbuDhabi) December 8, 2017 The ambiguity of was acquired in that tweet leaves many questions unanswered: Is this a permanent acquisition or a borrowed work, over which Abu Dhabi will have (possibly temporary) custody? Does Abu Dhabis DCT and/or the Louvre Abu Dhabi actually own the work? Neither is described as the entity that bought the painting at the Christies auction. Is it possible that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was described today in a front-page Wall Street Journal piece as the buyer of the work at auction (through a proxy), had acquired it with the intention of transferring it into what he regards as safe hands? Prince Mohammeds extravagant purchase of Salvator Mundi, the only da Vinci in private hands, comes at a time of deep economic and political uncertainty in Saudi Arabia, the WSJ noted, adding that the crown prince had recently launched an anticorruption crackdown that netted other Saudi princes, government ministers and prominent businessmen. Heres what The National, the United Arab Emirates English-language newspaper, today reported: Louvre Abu Dhabi has confirmed it will display Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci after the $450 million (Dh1.65 billion) artwork was acquired by the government [emphasis added]. In a tweet, the newly opened museum said it was looking forward to putting the masterpiece on display in Abu Dhabi. Saudi sources confirmed to The National that western newspaper reports that the painting had been bought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were wrong. Instead it is the UAE that has landed the prized work, which will now go on display at the museum, which is at the heart of a fast emerging cultural district in the capital. The WSJ piece (online yesterday), for which art-market reporter Kelly Crow was one of three co-authors, said that the lesser known Saudi prince who was IDd as the buyer by David Kirkpatrick on the front page of yesterdays NY TimesPrince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammedhad been the nominal winner at Christies, but merely served as a proxy for the crown prince. The WSJ attributed its identification of the crown prince as the buyer to people with direct knowledge of information in U.S. intelligence reports. When I asked the Louvre if it was planning to borrow the painting for its planned Leonardo exhibition in Paris, its spokesperson told me this: Concerning the 2019 Musee du Louvre exhibition about Leonardo da Vinci, the museum is currently working on the list of the loans. It is too early to communicate on that list. One things for sure: This is not your standard art-market story. You may need to have possession of this crystal ball to be able to predict what happens next: By Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Vasundhara Rastogi The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on December 8, 2017 began accepting requests for foreign knowledge worker (FKW) projections. In Malaysia, companies registered with the MDEC must seek FKW projection approval in advance before applying for visa application (new or renewal) for their foreign employees. For hiring foreign workers in 2018, companies with Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Status and those in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector can submit their FKW projections requests through the MDECs eXpats portals. It is important to note that no visa applications will be entertained in 2018 unless the FKW request has been submitted and approved by the MDEC. The time period for application processing may vary from five to 10 working days, depending on the number of foreign workers a company is planning to hire in the next calendar year. Further, the companies must note that the unutilized balance of companies FKW projections for the year 2017 will be forfeited by December 31, 2017, and will not be carried over to the year 2018. Companies planning to apply for employment passes in 2018 must ensure that they immediately apply for approval of their 2018 FKW projection to avoid any visa disruptions next year. About Us ASEAN Briefing is published by Asia Briefing, a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. We produce material for foreign investors throughout Asia, including China, India, Indonesia, Russia, the Silk Road & Vietnam. For editorial matters please contact us here and for a complimentary subscription to our products, please click here. Dezan Shira & Associates provide business intelligence, due diligence, legal, tax and advisory services throughout the ASEAN and Asia. We maintain offices in Singapore, as well as Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City, and maintain Alliance offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila as well as throughout China, South-East Asia, India and Russia. For assistance with ASEAN investments into any of the featured countries, please contact us at provide business intelligence, due diligence, legal, tax and advisory services throughout the ASEAN and Asia. We maintain offices in Singapore, as well as Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City, and maintain Alliance offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila as well as throughout China, South-East Asia, India and Russia. For assistance with ASEAN investments into any of the featured countries, please contact us at asean@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com 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 ASEAN 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in ASEAN 2017 introduces the fundamentals of investing in the 10-nation ASEAN bloc, concentrating on economics, trade, corporate establishment, and taxation. We also include the latest development news for each country, with the intent to provide an executive assessment of the varying component parts of ASEAN, assessing each member state and providing the most up-to-date economic and demographic data on each. ASEANs FTAs and Opportunities for Foreign Businesses In this issue, we provide an introduction to some of ASEANs FTAs and how foreign investors and exporters can maximize opportunities in this dynamic region. We also discuss the salient features of each FTA and the overall benefits they offer. We then discuss the Rules of Origin criteria associated with each FTA that foreign businesses need to be aware of. Finally, we analyze the growing opportunities for investors looking to set up alternative production bases within ASEAN. Email Newsletters Get the best of The Aspen Daily News in your inbox. Our newsletters are free, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Eighteen lawyers at Allens will be starting 2018 as senior associates following the firms latest round of promotions.Those promoted come from six practice areas and the promotions are effective from the 1st January.They are: banking & finance lawyers Sunny Jong and Victoria Johns; Harini Amarasinghe, Patrick Boyle, and James Martin (corporate); Corin Morcom, Carissa Smith, Mary Berton, Carly Donovan, Katie Gardiner, Ben Murphy, and Freya Dinshaw (disputes & investigations); Sophie Matthiesson (competition, consumer & regulatory); Adrian Chang, Julia Kovarsky, and Kaelah Ford (IP & PTA); and Kelvin Yu and Yolanda Karantgis (projects & development).We congratulate our 18 new senior associates on this significant career milestone, said Managing Partner Richard Spurio . Each of these lawyers has demonstrated that they have the skills and experience to take their careers to the next level. They all have a critical role to play in the future success of our firm.'National employment law-focused firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers has won a prestigious award judged by a panel of senior HR directors.The firm took a gold medal at the inaugural HR Service Providers Awards from Australasian Lawyers stablemate Human Resources Director magazine.The firms people and workplace (P&W) team has focused on providing advice that is both innovative and valuable in the face of the rapid transformation they are seeing in the way workplaces function, HRD magazine noted. A unique point of difference to competitors is that they challenge the historical approach of getting employment lawyers involved only at the point of escalation, instead shifting their clients focus towards risk management and promoting positive culture in the workplace, as well as anticipating issues and working strategically with a client before matters escalate.Harmers chairman and senior team leader Michael Harmer thanked clients for enabling the firm to undertake the work it does.The firms achievement has also been praised by the L&E Global, the alliance of employers counsel of which Harmers is the Australian member firm.To lay people, some points of law are baffling and amusing, but ultimately they can make a significant difference to a case.One such point is to be decided in Spain where separating couples often face the tricky subject of who keeps the dog.The issue is that the countrys Civil Code deems pets to be things rather than living beings, but that could change as the Spanish Peoples Party submits proposals to judges to change the legal status of pets and recognise that they have feelings.The proposals are backed by a petition signed by almost 350,000. The JLU is also costlier than the JKU, retailing at $30,495 compared to $27,895. At the very top of the lineup, the JL and JLU in Rubicon specification can be yours starting at $36,995 and $40,495, respectively. Make no mistake about it, Jeep is dwelling in premium territory with the pricing of the newest kid on the no-nonsense sport utility vehicle block.What do you get for your money? In U.S. -spec flavor, the JL Sport is equipped with a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 and a six-speed manual transmission, Dana 30 solid axles at the front and Dana 35s at the rear, 17-inch all-season Bridgestone tires, and a transfer case for the off-road stuff.Moving up to the Rubicon, the Wrangler boasts two more USB ports, automatic headlights, and 17-inch BFGoodrich off-road tires. Regardless of trim, optional equipment includes a three-piece hardtop roof, Mopar accessories, and a tow hitch. The eight-speed automatic transmission is optional, as is the 2.0-liter turbo . Codenamed Hurricane, the four-cylinder engine is good for 268 horsepower and 295 pound-feet (400 Nm).The order books for the JL and JLU are scheduled to open in January 2018 for the Pentastar-engined models, whilst the Hurricane will join the range in the first quarter. Theres a 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V6 in the pipeline for 2019, with Jeep further confirming a plug-in hybrid powertrain for 2020.When it comes to diesel power, the rest of the world will receive a 2.2-liter four-cylinder instead of the North America-exclusive EcoDiesel . The engine hasnt been rated yet, though dont expect anything too different from the MultiJet II available in the Euro-spec Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio. In its most potent setting, the oil-chugging plant develops 207 horsepower (210 PS) and 350 pound-feet (470 Nm) of torque from as low as 1,750 rpm. AWD In Europe, you would call an Opel trying to compete with Audi "plucky." However, since Buick is a luxury automaker, it can get around this problem.So what's this all about? Well, during the media launch of the 2018 Regal, Buick wanted to show that its all-wheel-drive system is better than the one Audi made. Think about it! We're talking about the famous quattro badge, that's almost synonymous with "Made in Germany" all-weather grip.The rig is the same for the A5 Sportback (that's the 5-door model) and the Regal. Three of the wheels are sitting on rollers, so they can't move the car forward. Only the left rear rubber is touching the road.When the Audi tries, it can't move because all wheels are spinning. But the Regal can shuffle power not just from one axle to the other, but also between the rear wheels.We bet that if the Audi driver kept his foot down for a little longer, the car would eventually move. But there's no denying that the Buick Regal got out almost instantly. Is GM making better technology than the Germans? Now that's a scary thought. Better not let anybody hear about this, or there will be riots.Under the hood of every new Regal is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder delivering 250-hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. Ifis also specified, that torque increases to 296 lb-ft. Those numbers are nearly identical to the Audi.There's no denying that in a drag race, the A5 is probably going to be faster. However, you always get more standard stuff for less money in the American competitor. The price? From $25,000 as standard or $32,600 for the Preferred II model with AWD. You can barely get the Audi A3 for that kind of money. Ferrari stock on the NYSE more than doubled since the initial public offering, with the Italian company now valued at $20.1 billion. And the secret to this development is how the stock exchange reacts to increasing yearly deliveries. To this effect, 2018 poses a new challenge for Ferrari Citing people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the matter isnt public, business publication Bloomberg reports that production output is anticipated to rise to 9,000 vehicles in 2018. The way Ferrari will reach this goal is by doubling assembly shifts to two a day.This is all part of Sergio Marchionnes plan to boost profit even further, by any means possible. Ultra-limited editions, affordable models such as the California T-replacing Portofino , even a sport utility vehicle is in the pipeline to support the head honchos mid-term strategy. Speaking of which, the plan will go official early next year through a press conference.The self-imposed production cap of 10,000 cars per year will likely get shelved once the F16X Ferrari Utility Vehicle makes its debut. The high-riding model is anticipated to outsell every other Ferrari in the lineup, a precedent set by the original Porsche Cayenne and new Bentley Bentayga. The endgame, Bloomberg reports, is to double the operating profit to approximately 2 billion ($2.35 B) by 2022, which is nothing to scoff at.On another note, hybridization is key to Ferraris five-year plan. Marchionne told the media at the end of 2016 that every Ferrari sold from 2019 on will implement a hybrid system of some sort, including the F16X. The 488 GTO thats coming to the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, meanwhile, is rumored to combine the twin-turbo V8 with an F1-style KERS system. Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine honored four veterinarians Oct. 30, 2017. Recipients of the 2017 Stange Award for Meritorious Service were Drs. D.L. "Hank" Harris, Richard F. Ross, and Jack A. Shere. The 2017 William P. Switzer Award in Veterinary Medicine was presented to Dr. Bill Williams for his contributions to society and the ISU veterinary college. Dr. Harris (Iowa State '67) played a key role in identifying the etiology of swine dysentery. His research efforts in the basic science of the disease ultimately led to elimination and control programs. While employed at the Pig Improvement Co., he developed isolated weaning for eliminating infectious agents and developed multiple-site swine rearing systems. He was a founder of vaccine companies NOBL Laboratories Inc. and Harrisvaccines Inc. In 2014, Harrisvaccines developed a vaccine for porcine epidemic diarrhea. Now retired, Dr. Harris was on the faculty at ISU from 1970-1982 and again from 1992-2014. Dr. Ross (Iowa State '59), a professor emeritus at the ISU veterinary college, is an international expert in the field of veterinary microbiology. His research on swine respiratory diseases caused by mycoplasmas has had a substantial impact on the understanding of mycoplasmal infections in animals and humans. During his tenure as dean of the college, he was instrumental in the planning and funding of the Livestock Infectious Disease Isolation Facility. He led the effort to obtain funding for the Healthy Livestock Initiative. Dr. Ross also served in other college leadership roles and as dean of the ISU College of Agriculture. Dr. Shere (Iowa State '87) is deputy administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Services and chief veterinary officer of the United States. For the past 27 years, he has been on the leading edge of responses to animal disease outbreaks in the United States and abroad, including outbreaks of Salmonella enteritidis, foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza, and exotic Newcastle disease. He leads USDA efforts in protecting and improving the health, quality, and marketability of the nation's agricultural animals, animal products, and veterinary biologics. He also oversees Veterinary Services' national and international reference laboratory network. A past president of the Iowa VMA, Dr. Williams (Missouri '95) works to increase the visibility of the veterinary profession in Iowa, improve engagement with ISU veterinary students, and champion the IVMA foundation that provides more than $50,000 annually for scholarships for veterinary students. He also volunteers with IVMA legislative activities. For years, he has helped the college in recruiting prospective veterinary students. He has raised more than $10,000 pedaling across Iowa for the Josh Challenge Project at the college, which provides hospitalized children with stuffed animals and other comforting resources. He co-owns two small animal practices, in Des Moines and Altoona. Alabama voters decide today whether Republican Roy Moore or Democrat Doug Jones will serve as their next Senator. The big questions: Will the scandals and allegations of sexual assault on teenagers be enough to deter Alabama voters from casting their ballots for the once-favored Roy Moore and elect the state's first Democratic senator in 25 years? Or will a population distrusting of Washington and the media stick with their party? Dive in: Click here for Axios' Alabama substream. Democrat Doug Jones has defeated Republican Roy Moore for the Senate seat held until recently by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore was overwhelmingly the favorite until nine women accused him of sexual misconduct. Why it matters: Alabama is a deep red state that went 62% for President Trump and hadn't elected a Democrat to the Senate in 25 years. Trump endorsed Roy Moore, recorded a robocall on his behalf and labeled Jones a "Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Democrat." The defeat will narrow the Republican margin in the Senate to 51-49. Go deeper: Meet Doug Jones ; Results map ; Trump's picks go 0-2 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Tuesday criticized two of President Donald Trump's controversial judicial nominations, saying the White House "ought to reconsider" the picks in an interview with CNN. Why this matters: Grassley's comments serve as an unexpected brake against President Trump's ongoing effort to fill federal judicial benches with young, conservative judges. Trump has been filling judicial vacancies at a near-unprecedented pace.Background: Trump tapped Jeff Mateer to become a federal judge in Texas and Brett Talley in Alabama. Matter has been facing backlash for his controversial speeches on religion and homosexuality. In one instance, he said transgender children are part of "Satan's plan" and advocated for gay conversion. The American Bar Association said in a letter to Grassley last month that Talley is unqualified for the judgeship and lacks the "requisite experience." Talley's nomination, which was cleared by Grassley's committee and now awaits final approval from the Senate, has been criticized for a blog post he wrote about Barack Obama and gun control following the Sandy Hook shooting. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday that he does not believe members of the special counsel or FBI involved in the Russia investigation give off the appearance of impropriety for having donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Where things got heated: GOP members on the committee argued that several FBI agents investigating Russian collusion are biased, as seen through the anti-Trump texts sent by Peter Strzok. Rosenstein responded by stating that the DOJ recognizes they have employees with political opinions, and work to ensure they "are not in any way a factor in how they conduct themselves in office." Backlash from Committee members: Multiple panel members slammed Rosenstein's response, arguing that the text messages show clear bias among investigators against Trump, which they feel will impact the Russia probe. Note that Mueller fired Strzok after learning of the text exchange. Multiple panel members slammed Rosenstein's response, arguing that the text messages show clear bias among investigators against Trump, which they feel will impact the Russia probe. Note that Mueller fired Strzok after learning of the text exchange. Go deeper: Trump's lawyers want a second special counsel appointed to investigate the DOJ and FBI. More from Rosenstein's testimony: Two FBI agents who were assigned to investigate alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin exchanged text messages in which they referred to President Trump as an "idiot," Politico reports, citing copies of the messages provided to Congress by the Justice Dept. The backdrop: Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired one of the agents, Peter Strzok, from the investigation in late July, "immediately" after he learned of the text exchange, the Justice Dept. told Congress. Lisa Page, the other agent in question, had already left Mueller's team by that point. Rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston over the summer, was at least 15% heavier due to human caused climate change, according to two independent studies by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Hurricanes like Harvey are also three times more likely today than in 1900, researchers reported. Why it matters: This isn't the first time scientists have attributed violent weather events to a warming planet, The Washington Post reports. Scientists have also warned of the increased likelihood of droughts such as the one in Texas in 2010 and floods similar to Colorado's in 2013. These findings suggest cities and communities may need to reassess their risk and find new ways to prepare for harsher weather as climate change continues. The studies: Researchers in the Netherlands found the storm's precipitation was 15% more intense due to climate change compared to a similar storm in the early 1900s. They also reported "a deluge such as Harvey would have occurred in the region once every 2,400 years in the pre-warming period but that it is now a 1-in-800 year event and is becoming more likely," per The Post. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory team found that rainfall was increased by at least 19% and as much as 38%, and that the chances of a storm with as much rainfall has at least tripled since the 1900s. We have two independent efforts with essentially the same answer. Theres a clear human fingerprint. The numbers will undoubtedly change as more researchers look at this with different techniques, and perhaps different data sets and different methods. But our numbers are kind of big. Michael Wehner, senior staff scientist at Berkeley How it works: "Climate change, caused by increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, is raising temperatures globally. Warmer air can carry more moisture, which can lead to more extreme rainfall events, and warmer ocean surface temperatures are known to intensify the most powerful hurricanes," according to the press release from the American Geophysical Union fall meeting taking place this week. Following Doug Jones' victory in Alabama, National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Cory Gardner is calling on Jones to vote with the GOP: .@NRSC Chairman @SenCoryGardner: Tonights results are clear the people of AL deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate..I hope Senator-elect Doug Jones will do the right thing and truly represent AL by choosing to vote with the Senate Repub Majority. David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) December 13, 2017 Be smart: That's not going to happen. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he was the victim of a fake news hit on Tuesday, and has turned over to Capitol Police a document that purports to detail lurid sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer. Why it matters: This was an apparent effort to dupe reporters and smear a senator both symptoms of an amped-up news environment where harassment charges are proliferating and reporters have become targets for fraud. The former staffer told me in a phone interview that she did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged. She said she had never heard of the document before Axios took it to Schumer's office for comment on Tuesday. Matt House, Schumer's communications director, told me: "The document is a forged document and every allegation is false. We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken." House continued: "We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same." The backstory: A password-protected PDF of the 13-page document was shopped to Axios and other outlets. The document, which is dated 2012 and has the file name "Schumer_Complaint," looks like a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. One of many red flags: No lawyer for the staffer is named. The woman named in the document was a legislative staffer for Schumer from 2009 to 2012, and is now a career employee of the federal government. The former staffer said she took the matter to Washington, D.C. police on Tuesday. She said the police told her they were unsure of their jurisdiction in the case. She said she now plans to go to Capitol Police. She told me in a statement: "The claims in this document are completely false, my signature is forged, and even basic facts about me are wrong. I have contacted law enforcement to determine who is responsible. I parted with Senator Schumer's office on good terms and have nothing but the fondest memories of my time there." Axios agreed to her stipulation that she not be named, because she said she is the victim of a crime. A source close to Schumer said the document is full of errors: "The document contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior on September 16th 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in New York City." "It contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior by Schumer on August 25th 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in France." The source tells Axios that reporters from the Washington Post, CNN, BuzzFeed, The New Yorker and ABC all inquired about the document Tuesday. Be smart: Look for more hits like this, aimed at victimizing both reporters and public figures. Sign up for Axios newsletters to get our smart brevity delivered to your inbox every morning. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that the U.S. was dropping the precondition that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons before sitting down together, according to CNN. "We are ready to have the first meeting with precondition...Let's just meet, and we can talk about the weather if you want. Talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table, if that's what you are excited about. But can we at least sit down and see each other face to face, and then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map of what we might be willing to work towards." Why it matters: Tillerson said demanding North Korea denuclearize is "unworkable," and that Trump agrees it isn't plausible. Tillerson did demand, however, that North Korea "ensure a period of quiet during talks," per CNN. President Trump delivered his closing arguments on tax reform Wednesday afternoon, just hours after GOP lawmakers reached an agreement on an overhaul package. Trump emphasized how passing tax cuts was a key campaign promise, and said "now we're just days away" from keeping it. Key quote: "But we need your help to get Congress across that finish line. We'll have very little Democratic support, probably none, and that's purely for political reasons. They like it a lot, and they can't say it ... some day we have to come together and do bipartisan and hopefully it can happen soon." More from Trump: President Trump issued an official statement on the first night of Hanukkah wishing everyone who celebrates "here, in Israel, and around the world have a wonderful holiday." The full statement: Hanukkah is a time for Jewish families around the world to come together around the lighting of the menorah and celebrate the miracles of the past and promises of the future. Melania and I wish all of our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrating this meaningful holiday a happy and healthy eight nights in the company of those they love. The miracle of Hanukkah began more than 2,000 years ago, when the practice of Judaism was made punishable by death. A small band of Jewish patriots rose up and reclaimed their Jewish identity by vanquishing a mighty army. In their pursuit to rededicate their holy temple, the Jewish heroes found only enough oil to light the temples menorah for one night. However, a miracle occurred and with Gods grace the oil lasted for eight days. On this holiday, we are proud to stand with the Jewish people who shine as a light to all nations. We also stand with the people of Israel, the Jewish State, which has itself a miraculous history of overcoming the tallest of odds. We hope that those observing the holiday here, in Israel, and around the world have a wonderful holiday. President Trump has now twice endorsed the losing candidate in Alabama. He backed Luther Strange in the Republican primary, and threw his weight behind Roy Moore for the general election. Moore was defeated by Democrat Doug Jones tonight. The big picture: Trump won Alabama by almost 20 points in the 2016 election, but Alabama voters rejected his favored candidates in the Senate race. The same thing happened on Nov. 8 in Virginia, when voters elected Democrat Ralph Northam over Trump-backed Republican Ed Gillespie by a 9-point margin. The Moore campaign has revoked press credentials from reporters for the Washington Post and asked them to leave an election party tonight in Alabama. The campaign also reportedly notified the Post on Monday that its reporters' credentials were denied. It was the Post that broke the story of the first sexual misconduct allegations against Moore. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian reaffirmed on Wednesday the Armenian governments intention to formally annul U.S.-brokered agreements to normalize Armenias relations with Turkey, citing Ankaras groundless preconditions for their implementation. The two protocols signed in Zurich in October 2009 committed Turkey and Armenia to establishing diplomatic relations and opening their border. Shortly after the high-profile signing ceremony, Ankara made clear, however, that Turkeys parliament will ratify the deal only if there is decisive progress towards a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. The Armenian government rejected this precondition, arguing that the protocols make no reference to the conflict. The United States, the European Union and Russia have also repeatedly called for their unconditional implementation by both sides. President Serzh Sarkisian again denounced Turkeys stance when he addressed the UN General Assembly in September. Given the absence of any progress towards their implementation, Armenia will declare the two protocols null and void, he said. We will enter the spring of 2018 without those, as our experience has demonstrated, futile protocols. Nalbandian echoed that statement during a visit to Greece. Those documents have still not been ratified since Turkey came up with groundless preconditions that run counter to the letter and spirit of the protocols, he said. Those documents cannot be held hostage forever, and that is why the president of Armenia declared in September that Armenia will declare the protocols null and void, Nalbandian said in a speech delivered at the Greek Foreign Ministry. Ankara has still not officially reacted to Sarkisians September statement. Successive Turkish governments have kept that border with Armenia completely closed since 1993 in a show of support for Azerbaijan. Sarkisian already threatened in February 2010 to scrap the protocols if they are not ratified by the Turks in the shortest possible time. But he avoided doing that, saying two months later that he does not want to upset the U.S. and other world powers that strongly backed the landmark deal. Speaking after talks with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Nalbandian also described Greek-Armenian relations as a true brotherhood. We both suffered from genocides and crimes against humanity, defended shoulder-to-shoulder our right to life and stood by each other in difficult times, he said. Meeting with Sarkisian in Athens last year, Greeces Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras likewise said that Armenians and Greeks were victims of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks during World War One. For his part, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos told his Armenian counterpart that at the beginning of the 20th century the two peoples endured tragic moments for the same reason. Turkey condemned those statements. Solidarity between Greece and Armenia is built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in March 2016. Greeces strained relations with Turkey, a fellow NATO member, again came to the fore during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans official visit to Athens last week. Opposition lawmakers faulted the government for Armenias increased public debt on Wednesday as the National Assembly lifted a legal limit on further government borrowing. An Armenian law has stipulated until now that the total amount of debt incurred by the government cannot exceed a sum equivalent to 60 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Government-drafted amendments will scrap this borrowing cap. At the same time, they will require the government to come up with a plan to ease the debt burden. The parliament passed the amendments in the first reading by 61 votes to 37. Voting against them were deputies from the opposition Yelk alliance and businessman Gagik Tsarukians bloc, the second largest parliamentary force. The sole aim of this bill is to attract more foreign loans. This is unacceptable, Naira Zohrabian, a senior lawmaker from the Tsarukian bloc, said just before the vote. Zohrabian said Finance Minister Vartan Aramian failed to present convincing arguments when the parliament debated the bill on Tuesday. Aramian claimed during the debate that the bill is not primarily aimed at allowing the government to obtain more multimillion-dollar loans. He insisted that the government is committed to cutting the GDP-to-debt ratio from 55.4 percent to 54.4 percent by the end of next year. Aramian also dismissed claims by another Tsarukian Bloc deputy, Mikael Melkumian, that the government has wasted or misused many loans extended by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other multilateral lenders. Armenia is considered by them a best performer country, said the minister. Armenias public debt, which also includes foreign loans extended to its Central Bank, currently stands at $6.4 billion. It was below $2 billion before the 2008-2009 global financial crisis that plunged the county into a severe recession. Later in the day, the parliament allowed the government to take a $40 million loan from the Asian Development Bank. The money is to be used for financing the state budget deficit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev urged Muslim countries to avoid close relations with Armenia as he attended on Wednesday an emergency summit of their leaders held in response to the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Addressing the summit in Istanbul organized by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Aliyev again denounced Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and what he called the destruction of Islamic monuments in the historic land of Azerbaijan. He described as hypocritical Armenias desire to forge friendly ties with Islamic states. Muslims of the world must be aware that an Armenia tearing down mosques cannot be a friend of Muslim countries, he said, according to Azerbaijani news agencies. Aliyev did not specify which Azerbaijani mosques were destroyed during or after the 1991-1994 war in Karabakh. The regions largest Shia mosques are located in the war-ravaged towns of Shushi (Shusha) and Aghdam. While they are in need of repairs, they were not torn down after those towns were captured by Karabakh Armenian forces. At least one of them has undergone cosmetic repairs. The Karabakh leadership announced late last year it has contracted an unnamed Iranian company to complete the reconstruction of Shushis 19th century Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque. In his speech, Aliyev also thanked countries making up the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for supporting Azerbaijans position on the Karabakh conflict. Three of them -- Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- refuse to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia out of solidarity with Azerbaijan. A joint declaration adopted by the heads of OIC member states at a 2016 summit branded Armenia an aggressor and called for more coercive measures that would help Azerbaijan regain control over Karabakh. The Armenian government responded by accusing the Muslim bloc of completely distorting the essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Predominantly Christian Armenia maintains cordial relations with some OIC member states, notably neighboring Iran. The latter has had an uneasy rapport with Azerbaijan. 13 December 2017 10:07 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 136 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on December 13. Armenians were using large-caliber machine guns. 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 13 December 2017 17:41 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Today Armenian experts and economists are very concerned about the future of the country, which is likely to be worse than Armenias today. The countrys state debt continues to increase but there is no recovery of economy and the well-being of population is considerably low. Armenian media have recently reported that the countrys state debt increased by $108 million in November, thus exceeding $6.4 billion. As much as $5.1 billion constitute the external debt, while $1.3 billion is the domestic debt. Despite these huge amounts, the countrys poor economy is not improving. The already small economic growth is slowing down, and decline has been observed in agriculture, construction and other spheres of Armenias economy during the first nine months of 2017. In this regard, Armenian economic analysts remind Sargsyans pledges that the countrys GDP per capita will be $10,000 in 2040. Obviously, Sargsyan just wanted to console the desperate population of the country, since it is absurd to make such a statement when every citizen of Armenia owes foreign lenders about $2,150 due to the huge state debt. However, the Armenian government is still dissatisfied with the multi-billion loans borrowed, therefore it now tries to raise the threshold of loan taking, which is currently established at 60 percent of the GDP. The draft amendments to the law On state debt were once again discussed at the Armenian Parliament on December 12, where the Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan offered not to forbid taking loans that may result in the excess of GDP beyond the fixed threshold. The Armenian authorities are walking on thin ice, since if they overdo in taking loans, the country will certainly face the default, which will destroy the already weak economy of Armenia. Armenian experts and economists have long ago warned that it is necessary to ensure at least 7-8 percent of GDP growth to avert the default. However, the realities show that the countrys government couldnt even reach the promised 2 percent of growth, as it stood at only 0.2 percent last year. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 12 December 2017 12:00 (UTC+04:00) By Aminata Garba , Dorothy Nyambi , Hendrina Doroba and Ivy Mwai A girl in Ethiopia could grow up to engineer a new method for improving agricultural yields, if only she could meet the right mentor. A young woman in Malawi has ideas for new cancer treatments, but will never apply them if she is pushed out of school. And a girl in Rwanda has all the skills to create a mathematical model to mitigate droughts; all she needs is a research grant to help her pay for college. There is a global gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics the so-called STEM disciplines. But in Africa, this imbalance is doing more than threatening individual futures. It is also depriving the continent of talents and contributions needed to drive development and progress. A 2011 African Development Bank report finds that getting women into science and technology ultimately promises to benefit society as a whole. Gender equity in STEM is achievable, and many African scholars are showing the world how to do it. But they need help, and programs that offer scholarships and support are among the best ways to achieve parity in the sciences. The causes of Africas STEM gender imbalance are often compared to a leaky pipe: girls start out with interest and aptitude, but drop out of the disciplines at various points in their education. Early data from a Mastercard Foundation initiative aimed at reversing these trends show that a comprehensive approach to plugging the leaks can make a difference. Success begins with acknowledging that gender equity in STEM matters. Science needs us is how Armanda Kouassi, an industrial engineer and former Mastercard Foundation scholar, puts it. With different ideas and perspectives come better solutions and thinking that can move scientific innovations forward and benefit the whole of Africa. Kouassi is right. Africa cannot afford to squander its young, female talent. Sub-Saharan Africa faces a shortfall of some 2.5 million engineers, technologists, mathematicians, and scientists. This dearth of expertise threatens a number of Sustainable Development Goals, such as food security, health care, clean water and sanitation, energy, and infrastructure. Removing gender barriers to STEM requires African governments to make equity in the sciences a priority. Nowhere is this happening more successfully than in Rwanda, where our collective experience has helped more than 1,250 girls and young women excel in STEM disciplines. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), in Rwandas capital, Kigali, is one of these agents of change. The school believes that the next Einstein could be an African woman, an educational approach that informs its comprehensive strategy to plug leaks in the STEM development pipeline. AIMSs innovative approach includes helping governments train teachers, ensure that female students are not vastly outnumbered in their classrooms, support students who are mothers, and engage with industry leaders to help graduates succeed in their careers. To attract more female students, 30% of the schools scholarships are reserved for female applicants, and the school aspires to reach 50% in the near future. Similarly, Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa), also in Kigali, is championing change by allocating 30% of its scholarships to young women. These commitments will have a positive effect on the entire institution, as CMU-Africa seeks to increase dramatically enrollment of female scientists. Finally, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in Rwanda has funded the education of 1,200 girls enrolled at the countrys top-performing secondary schools specializing in STEM subjects. Of these students, an estimated 70% are expected to study science at the university level. Despite these positive developments, quotas alone will not achieve parity. To make lasting gains, opportunities outside the classroom are also needed. At FAWE Rwanda, a program called Tuseme (a Swahili word meaning lets speak out) offers girls leadership training through drama, song, and creative arts to teach presentation, negotiation, and decision-making skills. FAWE Rwanda also works with teachers to develop gender-responsive pedagogical methods. Likewise, at CMU-Africa, scholars are invited to participate in the universitys Meeting of the Minds Symposium, an annual global gathering for undergraduates to showcase their work to a wider audience of faculty, students, government officials, and industry representatives. And, the Next Einstein Forum, a select program at AIMS that recognizes Africas best young scientists and technologists of which 40% are women provides emerging innovators with an opportunity to lead their own research while inspiring the next generation of scientific thinkers. Inequalities faced by girls and young women in African education cannot be erased overnight. As Rebecca, a Mastercard Foundation scholar from Uganda, remembers, When I was at my school, the boys used to call us half-men, because if youre a lady and you go for sciences, youre a half-man. But, Rebecca adds, It was cool being a science student. Africa needs more women who share Rebeccas enthusiasm for STEM. To ensure that science remains appealing to girls, schools, governments, and industries must cooperate to educate teachers and mentors, and allocate funding to close the gender gap. As Miranda, another Mastercard Foundation scholar, recently observed, As we try to find new innovations and inventions to drive the economy, I believe that math and science is at the forefront of that progress. As professionals working to improve African education, we couldnt agree more. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Gender equity for Africas scientists --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 11:48 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Israfilbayova Car prices in Azerbaijan remained unchanged, spare parts and equipment went up by 0.2 percent in November 2017. The State Statistics Committee reported that the prices on accumulators, shock absorbers, security equipment also remained stable. In November of this year, prices for consumer goods and tariffs for services increased by 0.2 percent, as compared to October, including food and non-food products-0.3 percent, tariffs for paid services rendered to the population remained unchanged. Azerbaijan imported 9,828 motor vehicles in January-November 2017, which is 2.04 times more than the indicator of the same period of last year, according to State Customs Committee. The Committee reported that the largest number of vehicles imported to the country during the period accounted for motorcars and other motor vehicles for passenger transportation 8,577. Moreover, Azerbaijan plans to produce cars jointly with Iran and will soon launch manufacture of cars in the Neftchala Industrial District. The plant will operate on the basis of joint project of AzEuroCar LLC and Irans largest car manufacturer Iran Khodro. The plant was due to open in June, but because of the cold winter there were delays in the plant's construction. The opening is rescheduled for August. The plant with a capacity of about 10,000 cars per year initially will produce four Iranian car brands Dena, Runna, Soren and Samand. The cost of the project is estimated at $15 million. The plant intends to cooperate with the Sumgayit Industrial Park and SOCARs new plant. Some 20 percent of the vehicles will be exported to CIS and Central Asian countries. The price of new cars will be 10,000-12,000 manats ($5,800-7,000). The cars produced at the plant will meet Euro 5 standard. First cars of Azerbaijan-Iran joint car plant are planned to be manufactured beginning from 2018. While visiting the Neftchala Industrial District in September, President Ilham Aliyev noted that the plant will help to a certain extent to eliminate dependence on imported cars and at the same time, there will be opportunities for exports. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 18:20 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Israfilbayova Representatives of Azerbaijan Railways, Rail Cargo Austria and the Turkish State Railways signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Baku. The MoU included the development of a competitive, high-speed, intermodal railway network in Europe, the CIS and China. Azerbaijan Railways reported that Chairman Javid Gurbanov informed the parties about the transport and logistics potential of Azerbaijan, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), the North-South and South-West transport corridors, as well as the newly commissioned Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway that will connect Asia with Europe. The agreement on creation of the TITR was signed in April 2016 in Baku by the railway authorities of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan. About 300,000-400,000 containers are expected to be transported via the Trans-Caspian international transport route by 2020, bringing huge financial profits to Azerbaijan. Growing interest in the transport infrastructures passing through Azerbaijan's territory is expected to make the country a major transport hub in the region. The North-South transportation corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia and has a strategic importance for the region. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. At the initial stage, the North-South corridor will transport 5 million tons of cargo per year with further expansion of transportation to over 10 million tons. Along with making a great contribution to the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy the project is expected to turn the country into a major transport hub. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. It is expected that by 2020, the turnover between China and Europe will exceed 300,000 containers per year, and Azerbaijan, through the BTK railway, will be involved in the global transport system. The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku on October 30. The railways peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 18:20 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova While many major films shoot on a closed sound stage, sometimes productions venture out into the real world to create movie magic. Azerbaijan has always attracted the attention of many filmmakers with its wonderful atmosphere. The Land of Fire is still a popular filming location, hosting high-profile shoots. Here are 14 movies, filmed at different times in Azerbaijan. 1. "By the Bluest of Seas" (1936) is a Soviet romantic comedy film by Russian director Boris Barnet. This was the first sound film in Azerbaijan. Two cultures are well interwoven here - Azerbaijani and Russian, which gives the film a special flavor. The film featured outstanding Soviet actors such as Nikolai Kryuchkov and Lev Sverdlin 2. The Cloth Peddler/Arsn Mal Alan is a film adaptation of the comic and romantic operetta of the same name, which was composed by the founder of Azerbaijani opera and classical music Uzeyir Hajibeyli and premiered in Azerbaijan in 1913, thus becoming the first operetta in the entire Muslim world. Shot in 1945, it remains an important cultural touchstone across Eurasia and beyond having been distributed in 86 languages and shown in 136 countries. The film is about pure love, womens rights, and a young couples dreams for a modern way of life free of restricting customs. 3. "Amphibian Man" is a Soviet film, staged at the Lenfilm studio in 1961. The film is based on science fiction romance by the Soviet Russian writer Alexander Belyaev. The movie was the leader of Soviet distribution in 1962. The shootings took place on the South Coast of the Crimea and Baku.The historical core of Baku-Old City turned into Buenos Aires. 4. "Aybolit-66" (1966), beloved by all Soviet children was directed by Rolan Bykov. It is based on a story by Kornei Chukovsky. The film features Oleg Yefremov as Aybolit and Rolan Bykov as Barmalei. The Azerbaijani capital became the haven of the evil Barmalei. The film was shot in an unusual manner: the directors decided not to hide the presence of the film crew. 5. "The Diamond Arm" comedy film was made by Mosfilm and first released in 1969. The film was directed by director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mironov, Anatoli Papanov, Nonna Mordyukova and Svetlana Svetlichnaya. The movie has turned into a Russian cult film. The plot of the film was based on a real-life news item about Swiss smugglers who tried to transport jewels in an orthopedic cast.The main scenes of the movie were filmed in Baku. Within two weeks, Baku became the Turkish city Istanbul. The scene of the fall of Yuri Nikulin was filmed near the house 8/1. The search of the house, as well as a commemorative photo shoot on the background is one of the favourite activities of many tourists. 6. "That Sweet Word: Liberty!" drama was directed by Vytautas Zalakevicius. The basis for the plot is a real story: the escape from San-Carlos prison in Venezuela of three political prisoners - Guillermo Garcia Ponce, Pompeyo Marquez and Teodoro Petkoff. The film's shooting took place in Sumgayit. The drama got many prestigious awards at international film festivals. 7. "Headless Horseman" is one of the most popular Soviet films. The film was shot in 1973 based on the novel of the same name by Main Reed. Scenes from the film were shot in various parts of the world. The mountains and prairies that delighted all viewers were shot in Azerbaijan. 8. "Do not be afraid, I'm with you" , a two-series adventure film, directed in 1981 by Yulia Gusman, captain of the Baku KVN. The movie was shot at the Azerbaijani film studio named after Jafar Jabbarli. Filming took place in Old City, Ilisu village of Gakh region. 9. "Tehran 43" is a 1981 USSR-France-Switzerland drama film made by Mosfilm. It is based on events around Operation Long Jump, the 1943 attempt by Nazi Germany to assassinate Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Tehran Conference. A detective with Natalia Belokhvostikova and Alena Delon appeared on screens in 1980 and made a sensation. Some parts of the film were shot in Baku, the ancient buildings of which are externally similar to the houses in Tehran. 10. "The World Is Not Enough"(1999) is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond series. This time a spy has lurking around in Baku. Britain's famous Agent 007, James Bond paid a visit to the Land of Fire. The scene where James Bond first appears in Azerbaijan (riding his BMW Z8 in the area of oil rigs), was shot in the village of Bibi-Heybat. 11. "Bremen Town Musicians" was filmed in 2000 by Alexander Abdulov based on the work of the Brothers Grimm. Abdulov was very fond of Baku, so maybe he decided to move the shooting process to Azerbaijan.The film became a cult hit in the Soviet Union because of its memorable musical soundtrack. 12. "Drongo" was filmed in 2002 by the Russian director Zinovy Roizman. Drongo is the name of the secret agent, the main character of the books of Chingiz Abdullayev. Screen image of a lonely hero with extraordinary detective abilities was created by Ivar Kalnins. The shootings took place in various cities, inclusion Baku, Moscow, Batumi, Tbilisi, New York, Paris and London. 13. "Mahmud and Maryam" is an Azerbaijani-Turkish film project, which was filmed in 2013. The director of the film is Mehmet Ada Oztekin. The movie was filmed in Sheki, Gakh, Gabala and Baku. Before the shooting, the actors spent three months training for battle scenes. 14 "Ali and Nino" is a 2016 British Drama Romance War film based on Kurban Said's novel of the same name. The film is written by Christopher Hampton and directed by Asif Kapadia. The head of the project and executive producer of the film Leyla Aliyeva. Most of the film was shot in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The shootings started in February 2015, and continued until June in Baku, the historic part of the Icherisheher (Old City) and other parts of the capital, also in Gobustan, Khinalig and other regions. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 17:54 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Two paintings of Azerbaijan's popular surrealist, Mehriban Efendi will be presented at the largest exhibition of surrealism in Europe. Artist's vivid and colorful paintings "Miriada" and "Impression" will be shown to the public. The 2017 edition of "International Surrealism Now" includes more than 100 artists from 48 countries and the list keeps growing. The new edition will be held at POROS Museum in Condeixa-a-Nova, Portugal, on December 23. Mehriban Efendi participates in the project "International Surrealism Today",which brings together artists from Europe, Asia, North and South America since 2010. The first solo exhibition of Efendi was held in the U.S. in 2005. Then she participated in the exhibition "Art and Awareness" in Montana; a few of her works were further demonstrated at the huge electronic billboards "Art Takes Times Square" on Time Square in New York. The work "Harmony" presented at this exhibition was published in the book "Art Takes Time Square" and was noted as one of the best works in 2012. Efendi took part in an international exhibition organized by Australian artist Paris Saint-Martin, becoming one of the top ten computer artists in 2003, while in 2009, the artist's work was presented at an international exhibition in the Netherlands. In 2010, Efendi was among the 56 best surrealist painters in the world. She won the first prize of the international exhibition "Shining" in Bulgaria, which was held under the motto "The ancient codes of my country" in 2010. In 2011, the artist won an international award at the festival "Cinema @ Costume moulins" in France as "The best dress artist." This award was conferred for her costume designs for German director Veit Helmer's film "Absurdistan." She was the winner of the prestigious Sandro Botticelli (named after the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance) award called For art and talent in 2014. In 2016, her works "Mysticism" and "Night Impression" entered the book "Polychromia" about the best contemporary surrealist artists according to National Geografic. International Surrealism Now is a project by the surrealist painter Santiago Ribeiro, who has dedicated himself to promoting the surrealism of the 21st century, through worldwide exhibitions in cities such as Berlin, Moscow, Dallas, Los Angeles, Mississippi, Warsaw, Nantes, Paris, Florence, Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Lisbon, Belgrade, Monte Negro, Romania, Japan, Taiwan and Brazil. The exhibition consists of a variety of artworks including drawing, painting, photography, digital art and sculpture. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 11:22 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has made a new decision on Chiragov and Others v. Armenia case, the court informed on December 12. The decision prescribes that the government of Armenia has to pay 5,000 euros to each of the six plaintiffs for the material and moral damage inflicted, as well as 28,642 pounds sterling for total costs. The plaintiffs in the case are six Azerbaijani internally displaced persons Elkhan and Adishirin Chiragovs, Ramiz Jabrayilov, Akif Hasanov, Fakhraddin Pashayev and Gara Jabrayilov. On June 16, 2015 the ECHR ruled on Chiragov and Others v. Armenia case and found violations of property rights, the right to respect for private and family life and the right to an effective remedy of the plaintiffs. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 13:09 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The summit of the heads of the Caspian states, where the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be discussed, will be held in Astana in spring 2018, RIA Novosti quoted Russian presidents special representative for humanitarian cooperation with the Caspian countries Ramazan Abdulatipov on December 13. The summit of the Caspian countries heads is likely to be held in spring next year in Astana. Coordination is under way through the Foreign Ministry, Abdulatipov said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has earlier said that work on a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea is almost completed and the draft convention will be submitted for approval by the Caspian states heads. The agreed draft convention implies a sectoral division of the Caspian seabed on the basis of bilateral agreements between the littoral states, says Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov. No principle of middle line or any other common principle is envisaged for the division of the Caspian seabed, he said on December 12. He added that issues in this area between Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran should also be resolved on the basis of bilateral agreements. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have already signed similar bilateral agreements. The deputy minister also said the draft convention includes the principle of dividing the water surface of the Caspian Sea. The sovereignty of the states is included in the 15-mile zone. After this zone, the 10-mile fishing zone is defined. All this is the territorial waters of the state. The rest will be in joint use, said Khalafov. The issue of determining the legal status of the sea became relevant after the collapse of the USSR, when the emergence of new subjects of international law - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - raised the issue of delimitation of the Caspian Sea between the five littoral countries. The difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea are linked, in particular, with the recognition of it as a lake or sea, the delineation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law. The status of the Caspian remains a key topic of discussions at the Caspian states summits. The leaders of the five countries met for the first time in 2002 in Ashgabat. The second Caspian summit was held in Tehran in 2007, the third one in Baku in 2010, and the fourth summit in Astrakhan in 2014. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 12:04 (UTC+04:00) By Trend An extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Jerusalem has kicked off in Istanbul at the initiative of Turkey, the current chair of the organization. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is attending the summit at the invitation of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The summit under the motto "Unified Action in Solidarity with Al-Quds" brings together heads of state and government from around 50 countries. Prior to the summit participants posed for official photos. The event started with the recitation of ayahs from Holy Quran. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 12:28 (UTC+04:00) By Trend A charity event dedicated to the memory of Azerbaijans National Leader Heydar Aliyev (May 10, 1923 - Dec. 12, 2003) was held in San Diego - Californias second largest city - on December 12, 2017, Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles told Trend on December 13. During the event, around 1,000 homeless persons were provided hot meals. Initiated and supported by Azerbaijans Los Angeles Consulate General, the event was held at Father Joes Villages, which is one of the largest service providers to the homeless and disadvantaged men, women and children in the US. Consul General Nasimi Aghayev joined other volunteers in handing out the meals. Before the event, Consul General Aghayev met Deacon Jim Vargas, CEO of the Father Joes Villages. At the meeting, the Consul General spoke about the extraordinary life path of Heydar Aliyev and his outstanding role and tireless work in the preservation and strengthening of Azerbaijans independent and sovereign statehood. He noted that the timely return of Heydar Aliyev to power in 1993 shielded Azerbaijan from potential fragmentation. Highlighting the many difficult challenges the National Leader faced in preserving Azerbaijans independence and how masterfully he overcame them, the Consul General said that the memory of Heydar Aliyev will always live in the hearts and minds of the Azerbaijani people. Continuing the policies set forth by the National Leader, President Ilham Aliyev led Azerbaijan through a tremendous transformation towards becoming the largest economy in the region and one of the most rapidly developing and modernizing countries in the world, Aghayev noted. Deacon Jim Vargas thanked the Consul General for helping the homeless through this important charity event. He also expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to learn more about National Leader Heydar Aliyev and his tremendous role in preserving Azerbaijans freedom and independence. Expressing his appreciation for Azerbaijans long-standing traditions of interfaith harmony and tolerance, Vargas underlined the global importance of this unique model of peaceful co-existence of religions. As Southern Californias largest residential homeless services provider, Father Joes Villages has been empowering people to achieve self-sufficiency for over 63 years. What started as a small chapel serving San Diegos impoverished has grown into a cutting-edge provider of innovative housing programs and services. Father Joes provides up to 3,000 meals to individuals every dayfrom infants and adolescents to adults and seniors. This includes over 200 children and over 200 military veterans. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 16:44 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The decision of the US President to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which is contrary to international law and the UN Security Council resolution, and the transfer of the US embassy to this city causes great concern. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made the remarks at the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Dec.13. "This decision could negatively affect the just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, lead to dangerous consequences in the Middle East. We believe that the US should reconsider this decision," President Aliyev said. President Aliyev said Azerbaijan supports the consistent settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by peaceful means on the basis of two-state principles with recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. "Several years ago, with the aim of assisting the Palestinian state, Azerbaijan held a donor conference in support of the founding conference of the Islamic Financial Security and Development Network of the City of Jerusalem. An international conference on the Jerusalem issue was held in July 2017 in Azerbaijan with the participation of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, OIC and various non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations. A declaration was adopted at the conference condemning the occupation of East Jerusalem and the restrictions that was imposed on those who perform worship services in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. As always, we stand next to the people of Palestine today," said the President. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 12:53 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The United States continues to express concern over Turkey's purchase of S-400 Triumph air defense systems from Russia. This was stated by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Wess Mitchell said at a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, RIA Novosti reported. For Turkey as a whole, one of our strongest concerns for now is the behavior that we see in recent days, especially with regard to the local staff that we hired to work in the U.S. diplomatic missions. We continue to work with Turkey as allies, and we continue to express concern in many areas, including the S-400 ... This is part of our conversations with the Turks, he noted. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that during this week Turkey will decide on the delivery of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. In turn, Putin said that he hopes that the credit agreement in the field of military-technical cooperation with Turkey will be signed in the near future. The S-400 is Russia's next-generation air defense system, carrying three different types of missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at a short-to-extremely-long range. The weapon is capable of tracking and destroying all existing aerial targets, including ballistics and cruise missiles. Reportedly in July 2017, Turkey reached an agreement with Russia to purchase the S-400. Under the $2.5 billion agreement Ankara would receive two batteries of the antiaircraft missile from Moscow within the upcoming year and then produce two more batteries in Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on September 12 that Ankara had signed an agreement with Moscow on the acquisition of the S-400 SAM, and the deposit has already been paid. Then in mid-October Erdogan noted that Turkey had discussed with Russia and the question of the possible acquisition of the S-500 system. The deal on S-400 raised eyebrows among Ankaras fellow NATO members and caused concerns as they are supposed to only buy compatible weapons systems from other members. Turkish leader previously said in an interview with the American PBS TV channel that despite negotiations with NATO member states regarding the acquisition of an air defense system, none of the alliance members provided Turkey with such an opportunity. Turkey has the second-largest military force in NATO, after the U.S., but ties among the NATO allies have worsened last July after a failed coup attempt. Relations further deteriorated following an April referendum which expanded the powers of the president. Ankara also objects to some NATO members military support for Syrian Kurdish rebels, who are linked to PKK terrorists. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 12:57 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The capacity of the Sarband hydro power plant (HPP) in Tajikistan will be increased by 12MW following the completion of modernization. Originally designed capacity of this HPP was 240 MW, but after reconstruction this figure will reach 252MW, Avesta reported. The reconstruction of the Sarband HPP, which will be carried out through the grant funds of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will be completed in 2019. For these purposes, ADB provided Tajikistan with a grant of $136 million. The modernization is being carried out by Chinese company Sinohidro. The Sarband HPP was put into temporary operation as part of the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants on the Vakhsh River in 1962 and it was fully launched back in 1966. The modernization project provides for the complete replacement of hydraulic equipment. The project consists of two phases and its implementation will be completed within three years. The first phase of the project provides for the modernization of first, second and fifth hydroelectric units, major repairs of third and sixth hydroelectric units, as well as reconstruction and modernization of spillway locks. Also, repair of lifting mechanisms, compressed air systems, HPP fire extinguishing systems, replacement of power autotransformers No. 2 and 3, construction of a new building of the power plant control center, replacement of equipment in electromechanical workshops, bank protection works on the river and connecting channel are provided. The implementation of the second phase of the project involves the modernization of 220, 110, 35 and 6 kW open distribution devices. Mountainous Tajikistan experiences frequent power blackouts. Previously, Central Asia had a unified energy system. It included 83 power plants with total capacity of 25,000 megawatts in the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and southern Kazakhstan. In winter, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan accumulated water in reservoirs and received electricity and energy resources (coal and natural gas) from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In summer, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent water to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for irrigation farming. As much as 50 percent of the power generating capacity in the united power grid of Central Asia and Southern Kazakhstan was concentrated in Uzbekistan. However, after Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan left the unified energy system of Central Asia in 2003 and 2009, respectively, the system ceased to function. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 13:39 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Russian companies should find it reasonable to open joint ventures in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other CIS countries in order to reduce production costs and number of migrants from these countries. This was stated by the first deputy head of the International Committee of the Federation Council Vladimir Jabarov. In particular, he noted that there are a lot of workforce in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and other CIS countries and it is widely known. Therefore, it would be reasonable to open a part of joint ventures there. The Russian official cited the example of South Korean automobile plant Daewoo Nexia, which was opened on the territory of Uzbekistan, and noted that Russia could also enter the Uzbek market and launch production of Lada cars there. The work of such enterprises has great potential. The vast majority of migrants from Central Asia, no matter how hard they try, cannot secure a high and even normal standard of living in Russia, they are cut off from families and home, Jabarov emphasized. For the CIS countries the launch of joint ventures with Russia is an opportunity to employ their citizens in their homeland, while Russia could substantially reduce the cost of production and, therefore, goods produced due to cheap labor. Earlier, Russia and Uzbekistan signed agreements under which migrant workers will have the opportunity of formal and targeted employment. The document suggests making the process of labor migration from Uzbekistan more organized. Migrants will go to Russia, knowing in advance where they will work, live and how much they will be paid. Before they leave, the migrants will have to undergo a certain test and preparation. The Uzbek Labor Ministry will have to conduct training for citizens under the programs of the Russian Education Ministry, check qualifications and experience and conduct medical examination of migrants. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will have to check the absence of citizens in the number of wanted persons and for the existence of outstanding convictions. In addition, the Russian employer will have to provide the recruited foreign workers with a place of residence, the corresponding sanitary and hygienic standards and a payment not lower than the subsistence minimum. The employer should also conclude an agreement with the sending party, where all the nuances will be prescribed. In Russia, such labor migrants will have the advantage of being employed by other temporary workers from Uzbekistan. Russia offers visa-free entry for the citizens of Uzbekistan. Once in Russia, they have 30 days in which to locate employment and obtain a work patent. Migrants from Uzbekistan are one of the most numerous groups of foreign workers on the Russian territory. According to various estimates, there are more than 2 million citizens of Uzbekistan in Russia. They annually transfer about $3 billion, which is a significant item of foreign exchange earnings for Uzbekistan, to their homeland. As of January 20, 2015, 2.2 million Uzbek citizens stay in Russia, of which 81 percent is of working-age population, according to Russias Federal Migration Service. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 December 2017 17:12 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan signed about 60 contracts and agreements worth $140 million in the framework of the business forum held in Tashkent on December 13. Uzbekistans Foreign Trade Ministry and Kyrgyzstans Economy Ministry signed a framework agreement on the development of cooperation in the field of trade finance, as well as a joint plan on practical actions (road map) for the development of trade-economic, investment and transport-communication cooperation. In addition, contracts were signed for the supply of Uzbek fruit and vegetable products, juices, nectars and juice-containing beverages to Kyrgyzstan. Separate documents touched upon cooperation between the territorial departments of the chambers of commerce and industry in the regions of the two countries. According to the head of the Uzbek Chamber of Commerce and Industry Adham Ikramov, who spoke at the opening of the forum, over the past year Uzbek and Kyrgyz entrepreneurs have significantly increased the level of interaction, including through participation in exhibitions held on the territory of the two states. The business forum is aimed at expanding trade ties between the business circles of the two countries, increasing the number of new joint ventures and bilateral trade. In total, over 100 companies from Kyrgyzstan engaged in such fields as engineering, construction industry, food and packaging industry, light industry, information technologies took part in the event. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are discussing the creation of a border trade zone, Kyrgyz Economy Minister Artem Novikov said. The Kyrgyz side also proposed to expand trade and economic cooperation by creating joint trade and logistics centers in Kyrgyzstan. In trade and economic relations, the key issue should not be the competition between our states, but the joint exploration of the markets of third countries. As the agreements reached and existing contracts are implemented, we will see what problems arise in the business on a regular basis, and solve all existing issues step by step, he said. Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan trade turnover rose by twofold in the first half of the current year and it is expected that the volume of bilateral trade will total $280 million in late 2017. Over the next two years, it is planned to bring the turnover up to $500 million. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care will award its first ever Center of Excellence Award in Orthopaedic Certification to The Surgery Center of Long Beach (Calif.). Here's what you should know: 1. The AmSurg-affiliated center will be the first surgery center to receive AAAHC's new certification. The certification recognizes the surgery center's high-quality orthopedic services. 2. AAAHC developed the certification in response to growing demand from accredited centers. To become a Center of Excellence, an ASC must be AAAHC accredited and must meet a number of relevant criteria. 3. The certificate has two levels of recognition. Surgery Center of Long Beach achieved the advanced certification, "which establishes the centers ability to perform complex procedures safely and effectively as well as care for patients that are more complex." AAAHC's Vice President of Accreditation Services Tess Poland, RN, said, "We are pleased to award the Surgery Center of Long Beach our inaugural Orthopaedic Certification for demonstrating excellence in orthopedic care and compliance with rigorous industry standards. The center produces strong clinical outcomes and displays the qualities that we look for in a top-performing ASC. We commend Surgery Center of Long Beach for becoming a leader in total hip and total knee replacement, demonstrating a commitment to higher standards of care for the patients in their community." AmSurg Regional Vice President and Total Joint Program Coordinator Troy Sparks, RN, also lauded the surgery center. Earlier this year, Allscripts closed its acquisition of McKesson's health IT business a $185 million deal CEO Paul Black says will help position the company as a leading EHR supplier. "It puts us into a very [unique] position in the marketplace of being the second-largest publicly-traded health IT supplier with the revenues we gained," Mr. Black says. Allscripts, which started as a relatively small medication management company in 1986, has blossomed into a multifaceted health IT vendor. Today, the Chicago-based company serves 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 physician practices and 19,000 post-acute agencies. It offers an EHR dubbed Sunrise, a population health management platform called CareInMotion, a precision medicine tool known as 2bPrecise and a financial management solution called EPSi. Allscripts is the seventh most-used certified health IT vendor reported by hospitals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, according to ONC data released in July. The company was recognized as an EHR vendor with a comprehensive population health management solution from Black Book in 2017, and Frost & Sullivan awarded it company of the year in its ambulatory RCM category for 2017. Mr. Black, who has served as CEO of Allscripts since 2012, truly believes in the Allscripts mission "enable smarter care, delivered with greater precision, for healthier patients, populations and communities." It's a belief instilled in him throughout his childhood, around the dinner table. "My father was the director of the pharmacy department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics [in Iowa City]," he says, explaining his earliest interest in the health IT space. "So, as a kid, I grew up [watching him] ... concentrate on patient safety." Prior to joining Allscripts, Mr. Black worked at IBM for about 12 years before moving on to Cerner, where he served for more than 13 years in various executive roles, ultimately retiring as COO in 2007. He is immediate past chairman and an officer of Truman Medical Center, a 400-bed safety net academic hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Becker's Hospital Review caught up with Mr. Black to discuss Allscripts' goals in the post-McKesson acquisition era, working with third-party app developers and health IT trends to watch in 2018. Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: McKesson had reportedly been looking to sell its IT business for some time. What value did Allscripts see in acquiring this portion of McKesson's business in October? Paul Black: The acquisition doubled our client base on the inpatient side, and it's something that, from our perspective, helped us distinguish Allscripts from many other players in the market based on breadth, depth and scale. It put us in the "top tier," if you will, with Epic and Cerner, and below that tier, you've got a number of players like NextGen, Meditech, General Electric, Greenway, Practice Fusion and Medhost, all which equal about another $2 billion by themselves. It really solidifies our position in the marketplace. Q: How will the acquisition affect Allscripts' EHR product lines? PB: McKesson had already made some historical decisions to no longer offer two of its EMRs, which will be discontinued in March. For the McKesson Paragon EHR, we will maintain those products. We are going to pull those operations into ours, from a development, sales and services standpoint and make Paragon a great community hospital solution that's got inpatient, outpatient and revenue cycle all baked into one EMR. We will continue to build and support McKesson's accounts payable solutions, Medstar and Medipac. We also see opportunities for the McKesson install base to have access to Allscripts solutions it historically did not have. Lastly, both Allscripts' and McKesson's clients will benefit from servicing capabilities both of the companies have around remote hosting, revenue cycle management, total IT outsourcing, precision medicine and professional services. Those are things we looked at as able to take the company and catapult it into a new position in the marketplace. Q: With the majority of hospitals using EHRs, what do you see as the next major industry challenge in terms of health IT? PB: There's never been an environment as bright as it has been over the past two years. Now, pretty much everybody is on an EHR. Going forward, I think the digital platform needs to ensure the data come out of all the different EHRs and are implemented into a single integrated record, and that's something we do at Allscripts. Once you have the information in that record, you have the totality about that person, how they are doing and how their health is progressing. As I look to the future, I see everything digital: I see interoperability questions being resolved, and we want to connect the consumer, or the citizen, to their own information so they can be active participants in the healthcare process. Within the next 10 years, I also think everyone will have some piece of their gene sequence on their EHR to ensure they are on the right protocol and taking the right medications. Q: What interoperability efforts has Allscripts been working on this year? PB: We create interoperable platforms with our solutions, and we invite people to build solutions on top of our EMRs in a couple of different ways. We have our application development program, where third-party developers can build possible solutions for the Allscripts app store. We're looking for developers who are innovative and bring something new to the market. They might be introducing something that sounds simple, like a solution to notify a physician when they have openings in their schedule for the day. Things like that, which may not sound earth-shattering, but if you are a physician, it might be handy. Today, we have 6,614 registered developers using our intelligent application programming interfaces. We've had almost 3 billion data shares since 2013. We have 40 people whose place in the company is to help programmers be successful with their business to create value on top of the Allscripts platform. Q: What do you think about growing interest in longitudinal health records, which integrate social determinants of health into EHRs? PB: Allscripts has been investing in the post-acute arenas, including behavioral health, mental health, substance abuse, long-term care and home health. Those are all areas of care that exist outside the four walls of the hospital or clinic, but we feel they are extraordinarily important for managing the totality of the human patient. It's not only the physical nature of a broken arm or something in the emergency room, but the mental health component, as well. Some of the social determinants of health are zip-code-based, some of them are historically-based and some of them are based on other conditions or diagnoses that may exist in different EMRs than those that are seen by the emergency room physician or primary care physician. At Allscripts, we think bringing that data together with the right kind of security clearance, et cetera, is instrumental to having a total view of the patient, of the person, as they come in for care. Q: What are your top priorities for Allscripts in 2018? PB: We will continue to do what we've been doing over the course of the last five years, which is to think strategically about how we can be of assistance and how we can be relevant to the healthcare IT industry globally. We have a core set of EMRs out there that need to be upgraded to enhance our core capabilities: the hosting, revenue cycle, total IT outsourcing and professional services. We're also working on our value-based tools, our cost-accounting solutions, our interoperability platform and our payer and life sciences suite of solutions, as well as what we're doing around the topic of the consumer. The next imperative we have is to continue to expand our international business. We've had a lot of success over the course of the last three-plus years, where we've gained some very large clients outside of the United States in Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The last priority would be to continue our post-acute care platform expansion and the work we're doing there. Helena, Mont.-based St. Peter's Health is still facing billing issues nearly a year after it launched a program to streamline payment processes, KTVH reports. Here are five things to know about the billing problems. 1. St. Peter's rolled out billing upgrades in January of this year. The changes aimed to redesign billing statements, revamp the hospital's patient call center contract, install address verification technology, develop an online payment portal and add financial counselors. 2. However, billing issues persisted. St. Peter's Health CEO Wade Johnson told KTVH "the problem is deep. It goes all the way down into the IT infrastructure that we have for our billing processes." 3. Mr. Johnson explained the hospital's billing software programs are incompatible. "It's like an Apple and a Microsoft product trying to talk to each other," he said. 4. St. Peter's will continue efforts to improve its billing as part of a hospitalwide transformation beginning next month. The hospital also plans a follow-up patient survey in February, and may explore other customer service solutions if patience experience scores do not improve. 5. St. Peter's projects its billing system revamp could take at least another year to complete, according to the report. More articles on healthcare finance: RCM tip of the day: Establish a strong strategy for self-pay collections Moody's assigns 'Aa3' to Sharp Healthcare's bonds Moody's affirms 'Aa3' rating on Piedmont Healthcare A Wisconsin district court judge has dismissed Fond Du Lac, Wis.-based Agnesian Healthcare's lawsuit against Cerner, a Kansas City, Mo.-based health IT company. Agnesian Healthcare sued Cerner in September, claiming issues with its revenue cycle management software caused the system to lose $16 million. In its complaint, Agnesian alleged it began experiencing "pervasive errors" in patient billing immediately after going live on Cerner's RCM system in August 2015. Agnesian says the problems caused it to spend time and money to manually process patient billing statements and resulted in a significant backlog of patient claims for reimbursement. The health system said it continues to suffer damages of at least $200,000 per month due to the billing software problems. On Sept. 21, Cerner asked the court to dismiss the case due to the existence of an arbitration agreement between the parties. On Dec. 8, J.P. Stadtmueller, a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, granted Cerner's motion. "This case must be dismissed for improper venue because Agnesian was not allowed under the parties' contract to initiate a lawsuit rather than arbitration," the order states. "Although it appears that the parties will agree to arbitrate if it is sought in Missouri, the court leaves any question of the enforceability of the arbitration provision for the Western District of Missouri to decide, if necessary." More articles on health IT: Oklahoma health department notifies 47k after data breach Cone Health to pilot Babyscripts' app that allows remote monitoring of gestational diabetes Almost half of health IT pros cite email as most likely source of data breach: 4 survey insights Senators from Vermont and New Hampshire are advocating for renewal of community health center funding, according to The Hill. A major source of federal funding for community health centers expired Sept. 30. This source represented 70 percent of federal grant revenue for these centers, which provide primary care to 27 million vulnerable Americans, according to the report. Without congressional action, about 25 percent of the centers are slated to see this federal grant money dry up by the end of 2017. "We write to express our serious concerns about the expiration of funding for [Health Resources and Services Administration]'s Health Center Program more than two months ago," four senators Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Jeanne Shaheen, D, N.H., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. wrote in a letter to Senate leaders, according to The Hill. "Congress' failure to extend this funding has caused service disruptions for the 22 community health centers and their many patients across New Hampshire and Vermont" Congress has not fully renewed the federal grant money for the centers. However, the approximately 25 percent of health centers with grant periods beginning Jan. 1 are receiving short-term funding from HRSA for January and February, according to a separate report from The Hill. A spokesperson for HRSA told the publication about 17 percent of health centers with grant periods beginning Feb. 1 are also slated to receive one month of funding. Seattle-based Swedish Health Services nurses and other caregivers issued a vote of no confidence against leadership at Swedish Health and its parent company during a meeting Tuesday evening, arguing patient care has continued to suffer despite promises to instill change across the health system, The Seattle Times reports. Swedish Health nurses and caregivers belonging to the SEIU Healthcare 1199NW union voiced a range of issues during Tuesday's meeting, with 1,547 nurses and caregivers supporting the issuance of a vote of no confidence. Among those issues were concerns about supply and staff shortages, equipment failure, and the general treatment of patients. They also mentioned how staff inexperience and low morale have continued to cause substantial turnover, the report states. One nurse reportedly noted that while leadership has focused their attention on fixing issues at the health system's Cherry Hill campus following numerous complaints, issues at other campuses have languished without attention, according to the report. In a statement to KomoNews.com, R. Guy Hudson, CEO of Swedish Health Services, said, "As CEO, I welcome feedback from all our caregivers. Our collaboration helps us make Swedish the best place to work and receive care. I believe in uniting our people to serve our Swedish mission together. We welcome constructive, data-driven conversations with our union partners. A disruptive approach and an us-vs.-them mentality benefits no one, certainly not our patients." However, some nurses said despite Dr. Hudson's positive vision for change at the institution, the overall culture at Swedish Health has not changed, because other administrators with differing visions are still in charge, according to The Seattle Times. The nurses union said it plans to file 22 new complaints with local, state and federal regulators against Swedish Health and its parent company, Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services, to force officials to make a meaningful effort to induce change, according to KomoNews.com. To read Dr. Hudson's full statement to KomoNews.com, click here. Editor's note: This article was updated at 10:10 a.m. Dec. 14 to include additional information from the SEIU Healthcare 1199NW union. Joel Reich, MD, MMM, FACEP, serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Commonwealth Care Alliance. On May 10th, Dr. Joel Reich will present at Becker's Health IT + Clinical Leadership 2018. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place May 10-11th 2018 in Chicago. To learn more about the conference and Dr. Reich's session, click here. Question: Who or what are the disruptors that have your attention? Dr. Joel Reich: Uberization of healthcare headlines are getting old. It's no question that Uber uprooted the taxi industry, and in doing so, it redefined consumer-centered, on-demand service expectations. Precisely how this will apply to healthcare, though, has yet to be seen. Healthcare is, and will certainly continue to, experience disruptive innovation, but it will not come in the form of a single innovative technology or entity as occurred in the taxi industry. In fact, there is a much higher likelihood that healthcare's biggest disruptors will be politically-motivated policy changes and provider and insurer mega-mergers of every imaginable variety. Several forces affect the timing and manner in which incremental change is occurring and present barriers to new entrants. These include the healthcare system's sheer size, infrastructure complexity, economic impact and regulatory environment. Healthcare's dependency and expenditures on highly-skilled and extensively-educated, trained and licensed personnel differentiate healthcare from other industries. For example, Uber recruited an ample supply of licensed drivers with cars, while healthcare has serious across-the-board manpower shortages. That's not to say that healthcare isn't already experiencing significant change. There is wide recognition of the need to provide genuinely person-centered services like those we have seen in other industries. As Clayton Christensen observed in his groundbreaking work, disruptive technology changes typically take root in simple applications at the bottom of the market those that are less expensive and more accessible. In healthcare, this presently equates to programs focused on keeping people at home and out of emergency departments, in-patient beds and skilled nursing facilities. And that's where technology becomes the great enabler. These programs are built on a foundation of enhanced primary care and care coordination, as well as management services, and are enabled by technologies such as communication apps and platforms, remote patient monitoring, pill-tracking compliance technology, interactive voice response, telemedicine and a creative use of predictive analytics. New provider groups are building risk-based business models with platforms built on a convergence of these technologies. Health systems and hospitals are generally not early adopters. Until there is better alignment of financial incentives, keeping people at home reduces revenue, resulting in perverse incentives for health systems and hospitals. Health systems are holding on to fee-for-service traditions while waiting for the value-based payment system to "evolve," while new entrants build at-risk payments into their business models. Whether these new entities grow to large scale on their own or get acquired by insurers or health systems remains to be seen. Q: What did you notice about your healthcare experience the last time you were at the receiving end as a patient? JR: There was a lot of paper and some duplication of efforts. HIPAA forms, payment consent forms, insurance information and medical history were still done on paper and manually entered by the reception staff and care providers. I was unable to determine how much was attributable to a long-time process still being used, and how much was lack of system capabilities. And, online appointments still weren't made available. It left me thinking how easily all of this could have been done in advance via a well-designed patient portal. In all fairness, there has been improvement over the past few years. Now that the EHR has a few years of history, everything about me was there and readily accessible to compare history and prior test results with current information and to send reminders regarding immunizations. It seems like many things slowed down or stopped following the meaningful use funding period perhaps a bit of fatigue and shortage of funds. It's hard not to compare this to a recent visit for another family member. In addition to accessible free parking, visitor waiting room computers, and biscuits, prior medical records and lab results, including those from the primary care vet, were available in the specialist's EHR. Non-urgent medical imaging studies were scheduled for an hour later on the same day, and we were notified by text as things progressed. I have not reviewed all of the vet records, but those I have seen were focused on medical issues, without all of the coding-for-billing required elements that have driven much of EHR design and configuration. And, there were no HIPAA forms and no consent forms, which in retrospect, was fortunate because the patient cannot hold a pen. Q: As a leader, what is the best investment you made in your own professional development in the past five years? JR: Without a doubt it was completing my graduate degree program in health and medical informatics. As the CMO of a health system without designated physician informaticists or a CMIO, I was responsible for many IT medical staff-related decisions and policy issues. I worked closely with the CIO and IT staff on system implementation, change and adoption of provider order entry. We were very early 1990s adopters of EHR. We were repeatedly reminded that the "promise" was a long way off, that change-management was the leadership challenge of the decade and that when properly selected and implemented, IT was a powerful tool. But, it was, and is, very difficult to learn on the job. My decision is validated daily as I review my calendar and project lists. Almost all involve informatics. Ranging from predictive analytics for identifying individuals at high risk for ED visits or in-patient admissions or readmissions, to telemedicine that can improve engagement while reducing staff and patient travel times, informatics has become a core healthcare leadership skill. Transforming to a value-based care model depends upon our ability to link clinical and business functions so that we can improve quality, experience and outcomes while reducing cost in a thoughtful manner with clearly demonstrated outcomes. It's far more preferred to "slashing and burning" expense budgets. While we will always need leaders with specialized skills in the clinical, technical and business aspects of healthcare, our best path to value-based care depends on all of us embracing informatics as a bridge connecting these disciplines. Proposed mergers between some of the nation's largest nonprofit health systems are putting pressure on for-profit hospital operators, according to Forbes. Looking to grow their brands and improve care, major Catholic-owned hospital operators have recently announced, or are reportedly in, merger talks. Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives and San Francisco-based Dignity Health signed a definitive agreement Dec. 7 to combine into a single Catholic health system comprising 139 hospitals across 28 states. Just a few days later, The Wall Street Journal reported St. Louis-based Ascension and Renton, Wash.-based Providence St. Joseph Health are in merger talks. The combination of the two Catholic institutions would create the largest hospital operator in the nation, with 191 hospitals across 27 states. The 330 hospitals involved in these deals leave fewer acquisition targets for for-profit hospital operators like Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems. The nonprofit systems are trying to expand their reach as major for-profit hospital operators are scaling back and facing financial challenges, according to Forbes. Tenet ended the third quarter of this year with a net loss of $367 million on revenues of $4.59 billion. That's compared to the same period of 2016, when the company recorded a net loss of $8 million on revenues of $4.85 billion. CHS ended the third quarter of 2017 with a net loss of $110 million, compared to a net loss of $79 million in the same period of the year prior. Although HCA's net income declined in the third quarter, it may be positioning itself to better compete with the growing nonprofit health systems. While Tenet and CHS are trying to divest underperforming hospitals, HCA is focused on growth. "HCA has resumed a focus on accretive consolidation, particularly as more troubled hospital providers such as [Community Health Systems] are putting assets up for sale," Ana Gupte, an analyst at Leerink Partners, told Forbes. More articles on healthcare industry transactions: 5 biggest healthcare deals of all time Ascension to sell its stake in Grand Cayman hospital: 4 things to know Advocate, Aurora Health Care to merge into $11B health system: 5 things to know The following healthcare organizations shared plans to add jobs since Nov. 29. 1. Medline to relocate supply distribution center in Maryland, triple its workforce Medline, a Northfield, Ill.-based medical supplies manufacturer and distributor, will transition its operations in Harve de Grace, Md., to a new facility in Perryville, Md., according to the Baltimore Sun. With the move, the company plans to add more than 200 jobs over the next six years. 2. 20 hospitals hiring nurses Here are 20 hospitals and health systems that recently posted job listings seeking nurses. 3. Ensemble Health Partners to create 1,100 jobs with new Ohio regional headquarters Ensemble Health Partners, a Huntersville, N.C.-based revenue cycle consulting and solutions provider, plans to open a new regional headquarters in the Cincinnati area, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. The new regional headquarters is expected to create 1,100 jobs. 4. Orlando Health to construct $30M hospital Orlando (Fla.) Health is building its first freestanding site in Osceola County, Fla., according to the Osceola News-Gazette. The project includes a hospital that is expected to create 650 new jobs. The Broward County State Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday against five officials from North Broward Health District, which runs Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health, for allegedly violating Florida's open-meetings laws to bring about the termination of the health system's former interim CEO. Here are seven things to know about the allegations against the leaders. 1. The state attorney's office served summonses Tuesday on Broward Health Interim President and CEO Beverly Capasso, General Counsel Lynn Barrett, board chairman Rocky Rodriguez, board member Christopher T. Ure and former board member Linda Robison. The summonses were issued after a grand jury returned an indictment against them, according to the Sun Sentinel. 2. The leaders are accused of holding private meetings at which they decided to oust former Interim CEO Pauline Grant. All five were charged with conspiracy to violate the state's public-meetings law, called the Sunshine Law. Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Ure and Ms. Robison were also each charged with two counts of violating the public-meetings law, and Ms. Barrett was charged with solicitation to violate the public-meetings law. 3. Mr. Ure told the Sun Sentinel he is confident he will be exonerated. Lawyers representing Broward Health, Ms. Barrett, Ms. Capasso and Mr. Rodriguez issued a statement calling the charges "the most misguided prosecution we have ever seen." "This deeply flawed investigation was predetermined, biased, and manipulated from the start," the defense lawyers said. "The SAO's professed interest about enforcing the Sunshine Laws is contradicted by its refusal to subpoena the most critical witness to the grand jury that has essential exculpatory evidence about defendants compliance with the Sunshine Laws." 4. Broward Health's board voted 4-1 on Dec. 1, 2016, to fire Ms. Grant. The agenda for the meeting provided no indication that the board was considering Ms. Grant's dismissal. 5. The board voted to remove Ms. Grant from her position after an independent counsel review showed potential violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. A subsequent independent investigation found Ms. Grant "ran afoul" of federal anti-kickback law when awarding emergency room contracts to orthopedic physicians seeking to participate in Broward Health North's on-call emergency department rotation. 6. The independent investigation was engineered by Ms. Barrett, who arranged for board members to meet individually with the outside lawyers who reviewed the allegations against Ms. Grant. 7. Ms. Grant, who claims no wrongdoing, sued Ms. Barrett and the board in December 2016. She claimed they violated the Florida open-meetings law to bring about her termination. The health system counter-sued Ms. Grant this month. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Owner of home health company sentenced to 80 years in prison for Medicare fraud Intermountain Healthcare settles drug diversion case for $1M Nurses union sues Care New England to halt hospital closure Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to release the 2017 edition of its 100 Great Community Hospitals list. This list includes independent community hospitals as well as facilities affiliated with large health systems. Some hospitals serve expansive rural geographies while others care for small communities outside of large metropolitan cities. Many of these hospitals have been recognized for their clinical quality, operational excellence and economic impact on the surrounding area. For the purposes of this list, Becker's defines a community hospital as a facility with no more than 550 beds. The Becker's editorial team selected hospitals for inclusion based on rankings and awards from organizations such as the National Rural Health Association, iVantage Health Analytics, Truven Health Analytics, Healthgrades, CareChex, the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the Leapfrog Group. Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments on this list. Note: This list is not exhaustive, nor is it meant to be a ranking. Organizations are listed in alphabetical order. Sponsored By: athenahealth partners with hospital and ambulatory clients to drive clinical and financial results. We offer network-based medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services, as well as Epocrates and other point-of-care mobile apps. athenahealth connects care across a national network of 87,000 providers and 91.7 million patients. Our network provides clients better insight across their own organization as well as the ability to learn from the experience of every other provider on the network. Throughout the network, we infuse the knowledge clients need to thrive in a changing industry directly into their workflow, from clinical guidelines to payer rules. We take on back-office work at scale so providers can focus on patients, not paperwork, and get paid more, faster. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital (Downers Grove, Ill.). Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital features DuPage County's only Level I trauma center, a certified Level III neonatal intensive care unit and Magnet recognition for nursing excellence. [CLICK HERE] Alhambra (Calif.) Hospital Medical Center. Alhambra Hospital Medical Center is the first solely Chinese-owned hospital in Southern California. [CLICK HERE] Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center (Medford, Ore.). Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center is the flagship hospital of the Medford-based Asante health system. [CLICK HERE] Ascension (St. Louis). Ascension is a nonprofit, faith-based health system covering around 2,500 sites of care. [CLICK HERE] Aspirus Riverview Hospital (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.). Wisconsin Rapids community leaders joined together in 1912 to establish Aspirus Riverview Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Augusta Health (Fishersville, Va.). Augusta Health opened its doors to patients in 1994. Today, the hospital houses 255 beds and its staff includes 200 active physicians. [CLICK HERE] Aurora BayCare Medical Center (Green Bay, Wis.). The 167-bed Aurora BayCare Medical Center is part of a joint venture between Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care and Green Bay-based BayCare Clinic. [CLICK HERE] Avera Queen of Peace Hospital (Mitchell, S.D.). Avera Queen of Peace Hospital was established by the Presentation Sisters faith community in 1906 as 35-bed St. Joseph Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Bear River Valley Hospital (Tremonton, Utah). Bear River Valley Hospital's roots date back to 1923 when a physician opened The Whitlock Hospital in a two-story home in Garland, Utah. [CLICK HERE] Blanchard Valley Hospital (Findlay, Ohio). The 150-bed Blanchard Valley Hospital has treated patients of Northwest Ohio for more than 125 years. [CLICK HERE] Bozeman (Mont.) Health Deaconess Hospital. Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital is the flagship facility of Bozeman Health, which serves communities throughout Southwestern Montana. [CLICK HERE] Brookings (S.D.) Health System. Brookings Health System includes a 49-bed hospital with three operating rooms, a 79-bed skilled nursing home, a senior living facility and several clinics. [CLICK HERE] Cape Cod Hospital (Hyannis, Mass.). Cape Cod Hospital has one of the busiest emergency departments in Massachusetts, seeing more than 85,000 patients a year. [CLICK HERE] Castleview Hospital (Prince, Ohio). Castleview Hospital, part of Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health, is a 49-bed hospital serving Ohio's Carbon and Emery counties. [CLICK HERE] Cedar City (Utah) Hospital. Cedar City Hospital's current facility was built in 2003, though its roots date back to 1963 when Cedar City replaced Iron County Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Centinela Hospital Medical Center (Inglewood, Calif.). Centinela Hospital Medical Center has served Inglewood and its surrounding regions since 1924. [CLICK HERE] Central Vermont Medical Center (Berlin). Central Vermont Medical Center, part of Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network, was established in 1963 through the merger of Montpelier's Heaton Hospital with Barre City Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Childress (Texas) Regional Medical Center. The 39-bed Childress Regional Medical Center was formed in 1970, and underwent numerous renovations and additions from 1991 to 2016. [CLICK HERE] Chino (Calif.) Valley Medical Center. Established in 1972, Chino Valley Medical Center is a 112-bed community hospital and part of Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare. [CLICK HERE] Christus Mother Frances Hospital - Tyler (Texas). Christus Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler's roots date back to 1937, when community leaders partnered with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth to establish Tyler's first hospital. [CLICK HERE] Dickinson County Healthcare System (Iron Mountain, Mich.) Dickinson County Healthcare System has provided care to the Iron Mountain community for 65 years. [CLICK HERE] Edward Hospital (Naperville, Ill.). Edward Hospital is the main campus of the Edward-Elmhurst Health system, which was created by the merger of Edward Hospital and Elmhurst (Ill.) Memorial Healthcare in 2013. [CLICK HERE] EvergreenHealth Kirkland (Wash.). The Kirkland campus is the flagship hospital for the EvergreenHealth system, formed in 1972. [CLICK HERE] Fairview Northland Medical Center (Princeton, Minn.). Fairview Northland Medical Center, part of Minneapolis-based Fairview health system, was formed in 1993. [CLICK HERE] FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital (Pinehurst, N.C.). As the flagship of FirstHealth of the Carolinas, 402-bed FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital serves patients across a 15-county region. [CLICK HERE] Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center (Daytona Beach, Fla.). The Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center encompasses the 293-bed main Daytona Beach hospital, 80-bed Ormond Beach hospital and outpatient facilities. [CLICK HERE] Fort Madison (Iowa) Community Hospital. With a history dating back to 1912, Fort Madison Community Hospital now encompasses a surgery center, themed BirthPlace rooms and a 23,500-square-foot outpatient rehabilitation services center. [CLICK HERE] Franklin Woods Community Hospital (Johnson City, Tenn.). An 80-bed, nonprofit hospital, Franklin Woods Community Hospital opened in 2010. [CLICK HERE] French Hospital Medical Center (San Luis Obispo, Calif.). As San Luis Obispo's only nonprofit hospital, French Hospital Medical Center has served the community for almost 70 years. [CLICK HERE] Gordon Hospital (Calhoun, Ga.). Gordon Hospital houses 69 beds and operates under the umbrella of Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Adventist Health System. [CLICK HERE] Hawkins County Memorial Hospital (Rogersville, Tenn.). Opened in 1961, Hawkins County Memorial Hospital employs more than 50 physicians as well as 160 nurses, technicians and support staff. [CLICK HERE] Henry Community Health (New Castle, Ind.). Henry County Hospital is part of Henry Community Health. [CLICK HERE] Hill Country Memorial Hospital (Fredericksburg, Texas). The 86-bed Hill Country Memorial Hospital opened in 1971 and now consists of 140 medical staff personnel, 650 employees and 200 volunteers serving eight counties. [CLICK HERE] Holland (Mich.) Hospital. The independent, nonprofit Holland Hospital opened in 1917 and now includes 375 physicians and 2,000 employees. [CLICK HERE] Holy Family Memorial (Manitowoc, Wis.). Opened in 1899, Holy Family Memorial employs more than 1,100 healthcare professionals. [CLICK HERE] HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center (Phoenix, Ariz.). The 266-bed John C. Lincoln Medical Center houses a Level I Trauma Center, primary stroke center and accredited chest pain center. [CLICK HERE] Houston Methodist Sugar Land (Texas) Hospital. More than 850 physicians staff Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, which houses an accredited chest pain center and certified primary stroke center. [CLICK HERE] Howard Young Medical Center (Woodruff, Wis.). Howard Young Medical Center, a member of St. Louis-based Ascension, opened in 1977. [CLICK HERE] HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital Breese (Ill.). An affiliate of Hospital Sisters Health System, HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital Breese opened more than 100 year ago. [CLICK HERE] Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (Fairfax, Va.). Inova Fair Oaks Hospital is a 182-bed acute care facility specializing in spine, weight loss, joint replacement and minimally invasive surgery. [CLICK HERE] Kalispell (Mont.) Regional Medical Center. More than 400 physicians and 3,400 employees treat patients at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, which opened in 1910. [CLICK HERE] Lake Region Healthcare (Fergus Falls, Minn.). Lake Region Healthcare came to fruition with the 1951 merger of St. Luke's Hospital, opened in 1903, and Wright Memorial Hospital, opened in 1906. [CLICK HERE] Lakeview Hospital (Bountiful, Utah). The 128-bed Lakeview Hospital has 226 physicians on staff and 597 employees. [CLICK HERE] Lakeview Medical Center (Rice Lake, Wis.). Lakeview Medical Center was dedicated in 1978. Today, 67 physicians offer care in 22 specialties at the 40-bed medical center. [CLICK HERE] Lawrence (Kan.) Memorial Hospital. Founded in 1921, Lawrence Memorial Hospital houses 173 beds and is accredited by The Joint Commission. [CLICK HERE] LeConte Medical Center (Sevierville, Tenn.). LeConte Medical Center opened in 2010 and holds 79 beds. [CLICK HERE] Logan (Utah) Regional Hospital. A part of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, Logan Regional Hospital opened in 1980. [CLICK HERE] Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center (Houston). Opened in 1971, Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center has more than 1,100 affiliated physicians and 1,800 employees. [CLICK HERE] Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center (Jasper, Ind.). Sponsored by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center serves patients in eight rural counties across southwestern Indiana. [CLICK HERE] Mercer County Community Hospital - Coldwater (Ohio). Mercer County Community Hospital Coldwater serves as the anchor facility for Mercer Health, which was founded in 1950. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital (Batavia, Ohio). Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital, part of Cincinnati-based Mercy Health, was founded in 1973. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Health-Defiance (Ohio) Hospital. Defiance Hospital, part of Cincinnati-based Mercy Health, has 17 patient rooms and 23 beds and is connected to Fauster Surgery Center and Mercy Defiance Clinic via a walkway. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Health-Fairfield (Ohio) Hospital. Fairfield Hospital is a nationally recognized facility serving patients in Butler County and northern Cincinnati for almost 40 years.[CLICK HERE] Mercy Hospital (Coon Rapids, Minn.). Mercy Hospital opened in 1965, two years after the Anoka Community Hospital Association agreed to construct the facility near Coon Rapids. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Hospital Washington (Mo.). Originally established as St. Francis Hospital in 1926, Mercy Hospital Washington moved under its parent company, St. Louis-based based Mercy, in 1976. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Iowa City (Iowa). Four Sisters of Mercy, who traveled by train carrying as many medical supplies as possible, arrived in Iowa at the request of State University of Iowa's medical school dean to found Mercy Iowa City in 1873. [CLICK HERE] Mercy Regional Medical Center (Durango, Colo.). Mercy Regional Medical Center, part of Centennial, Colo.-based Centura Health, is a nonprofit 82-bed acute care hospital. [CLICK HERE] Mid Coast Hospital (Brunswick, Maine). The 93-bed, nonprofit Mid Coast Hospital was established in 2001 and is part of Brunswick, Maine-based Mid CoastParkview Health. [CLICK HERE] MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena (Mich.). MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena traces its roots to Alpena's first community hospital, which opened in 1915 as the Donald McRae Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Monroe (Wis.) Clinic Hospital. Five physicians collaborated in 1939 to create community-oriented primary and specialized care through Monroe Clinic, the umbrella organization of its flagship Monroe Clinic Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Montrose (Colo.) Memorial Hospital. Montrose Memorial Hospital has more than 100 physicians across 23 medical specialties. [CLICK HERE] Morris (Ill.) Hospital & Healthcare Centers. Established in 1906, Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers is an 89-bed hospital with 1,200 employees and more than 200 physicians and advanced practice providers. [CLICK HERE] Mosaic Life Care (St. Joseph, Mo.). Mosaic Life Care is a member of the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Care Network.[CLICK HERE] MHP Medical Center (Shelbyville, Ind.). MHP Medical Center, a part of Major Health Partners, was built in 1924 after a late William Major and his wife Helen Thompson willed their home the City of Shelbyville. [CLICK HERE] Newberry (S.C.) County Memorial Hospital. Newberry County community members created the Newberry County Hospital Association in 1923 to fund and plan the opening of Newberry County Memorial Hospital in 1925.[CLICK HERE] Newton (Kan.) Medical Center. Newton Medical Center's tradition of excellence began in 1988 with the merging of Bethel Deaconess Hospital and Axtell Hospital. [CLICK HERE] Northern Hospital of Surry County (Mt. Airy, N.C.). Northern Hospital of Surry County opened its doors in 1957.[CLICK HERE] Northern Maine Medical Center (Fort Kent). The 49-bed, fully accredited Northern Maine Medical Center features a six-bed intensive care unit and a child, adolescent and adult inpatient psychiatric unit. [CLICK HERE] Novant Health Huntersville (N.C.) Medical Center. Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center, part of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health, opened in 2004 as a 50-bed facility. [CLICK HERE] Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge (La.). More than 300 physicians staff Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge's 150 beds and 13 health centers.[CLICK HERE] OhioHealth Dublin (Ohio) Methodist Hospital. OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital features eight operating rooms and 80 beds. [CLICK HERE] Parkview Huntington (Ind.) Hospital. Parkview Huntington Hospital's tradition of quality dates back more than 96 years [CLICK HERE] Penn Highlands DuBois (Pa.). Penn Highlands DuBois' seven centers of excellence, including The Heart Center, The Hahne Cancer Center and The Women's Health Center, provide care to west central Pennsylvania residents.[CLICK HERE] Peterson Regional Medical Center (Kerrville, Texas). Established in 1949 as the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, Peterson Regional Medical Center opened its current location in 2008. [CLICK HERE] Pomerene Hospital (Millersburg, Ohio). Pomerene Hospital traces its beginnings to 1919, when the original Joel Pomerene Hospital Company was comprised of a six-bed women's ward, a three-bed men's ward, six private rooms and 10 physicians.[CLICK HERE] ProMedica Flower Hospital (Sylvania, Ohio). ProMedica Flower Hospital has served the greater Toledo community for more than 100 years.[CLICK HERE] Renown South Meadows Medical Center (Reno, Nev.). Reno-based Renown Health's Renown South Meadows Medical Center includes a chest pain center, institute for heart and vascular health, a critical care unit and the Monaco Ridge Assisted Living facility. [CLICK HERE] Riverside Medical Center (Kankakee, Ill.). Riverside Medical Center is Kankakee-based Riverside Health's 312-bed community hospital.[CLICK HERE] Roper Hospital (Charleston, S.C.). Founded in 1829 as the first community hospital in the Carolinas, Roper Hospital has grown to include a 24-hour emergency room, a heart and vascular center as well as cancer and breast care services. [CLICK HERE] Russell Medical (Alexander City, Ala.). Russell Medical is a nonprofit acute care facility serving central Alabama. [CLICK HERE] Salem (Ore.) Health Hospital. Salem Health Hospital includes 494 licensed acute care beds and 449 practitioners on the active medical staff. [CLICK HERE] Sentara Williamsburg (Va.) Regional Medical Center. Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center includes 145 licensed beds and a Joint Commission-certified primary stroke center. [CLICK HERE] Sheridan (Wyo.) Memorial Hospital. Sheridan Memorial Hospital employs more than 700 people, making it one of the largest employers in Sheridan County by number of employees. [CLICK HERE] Spectrum Health Zeeland (Mich.) Community Hospital. For more than 80 years, Spectrum Health's Zeeland Community Hospital has provided medical services in Michigan. [CLICK HERE] St. Clair Hospital (Pittsburgh). A 328-bed acute care medical center, St. Clair Hospital is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. [CLICK HERE] St. Cloud (Minn.) Hospital. The Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict founded St. Cloud Hospital in 1886. [CLICK HERE] St. David's Medical Center (Austin, Texas). Opened in 1924, St. David's Medical Center includes a 24-hour emergency department as well as the full-service St. David's Rehabilitation Center. [CLICK HERE] St. Luke's Hospital-Quakertown (Pa.) Campus. St. Luke's Hospital-Quakertown Campus includes 275-plus physicians who provide care in 40 different specialties. [CLICK HERE] Sycamore Medical Center (Miamisburg, Ohio). Orthopedic surgery and weight loss procedures are the cornerstone services at Sycamore Medical Center. [CLICK HERE] Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton (Ga.). The 181-bed Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton's hospital campus includes heart and vascular, maternity care and cancer centers. [CLICK HERE] Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth. Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth opened in 1987 and includes 199 beds. [CLICK HERE] Timpanogos Regional Hospital (Orem, Utah). The 122-bed Timpanogos Regional Hospital is part of Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based MountainStar Healthcare, a division of Hospital Corporation of America.[CLICK HERE] University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center (Ashland, Ohio). University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center was a gift to the city of Ashland, Ohio, in 1912 from local philanthropists as a hospital where no sick person would be turned away. [CLICK HERE] UPMC Bedford Memorial (Everett, Pa.). UPMC Bedford Memorial is a nonprofit, 49-bed acute care hospital with 301 employees and 43 affiliated physicians. [CLICK HERE] Valley View Hospital (Glenwood Springs, Colo.). The 49-bed Valley View Hospital reported 2,807 admissions in 2016 and physicians performed 952 inpatient surgeries. [CLICK HERE] War Memorial Hospital (Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.). War Memorial Hospital has served Sault Sainte Marie for more than 100 years. [CLICK HERE] Waynesboro (Pa.) Hospital. A group of volunteers established Waynesboro Hospital in 1922 in response to the Spanish influenza epidemic. [CLICK HERE] West Florida Hospital (Pensacola). West Florida Hospital, an HCA affiliate, is a Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care atrial fibrillation certified hospital with an accredited chest pain center and breast imaging center. [CLICK HERE] WellStar West Georgia Medical Center (LaGrange). WellStar West Georgia Medical Center is a 276-bed community hospital that has 267 physicians representing 33 medical and surgical specialties on staff. [CLICK HERE] West Valley Medical Center (Caldwell, Idaho). Established in 1920 as Caldwell Sanitarium, West Valley Medical Center has grown into a 150-bed facility and one of the state's largest employers with around 700 employees and 200 providers on the medical staff. [CLICK HERE] Yampa Valley Medical Center (Steamboat Springs, Colo.). Founded in 1946, Yampa Valley Medical Center is a nonprofit independent community hospital. [CLICK HERE] Becker's Hospital Review has named the following CEOs to the 2017 edition of its list, "60 rural hospital CEOs to know." The 60 CEOs on this year's list possess extensive experience in healthcare management, demonstrating their commitment to offering high-quality, accessible care to rural populations. Under the CEOs' leadership, many of their institutions have earned recognition as top-performing rural hospitals in the nation. For inclusion on this list, individuals must serve as CEOs of hospitals in "rural" areas, located outside major metropolitan areas. Becker's Hospital Review analyzed compilations by ranking and award agencies, such as The Leapfrog Group's listing of top rural hospitals and the National Rural Health Association's list of top rural community hospitals. The editorial team also accepted nominations for the list. Note: Individuals cannot pay for inclusion on the list. This list is not a ranking. Names are presented in alphabetical order. Sponsored By: athenahealth partners with hospital and ambulatory clients to drive clinical and financial results. We offer network-based medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services, as well as Epocrates and other point-of-care mobile apps. athenahealth connects care across a national network of 87,000 providers and 91.7 million patients. Our network provides clients better insight across their own organization as well as the ability to learn from the experience of every other provider on the network. Throughout the network, we infuse the knowledge clients need to thrive in a changing industry directly into their workflow, from clinical guidelines to payer rules. We take on back-office work at scale so providers can focus on patients, not paperwork, and get paid more, faster. Robert Allen, MBA. CEO of Park City (Utah) Medical Center. Mr. Allen serves in dual roles as CEO of Park City Medical Center as well as vice president of clinical and outreach services of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare. [READ MORE] Duke Anderson. President and CEO of Hillsdale (Mich.) Hospital. Mr. Anderson joined Hillsdale Hospital as COO in August 2006 and participated in a 10-month transition plan to become hospital CEO. [READ MORE] Donald Babb. CEO and Executive Director of Citizens Memorial Healthcare (Bolivar, Mo.). Mr. Babb led CMH through its transformation into a fully integrated healthcare delivery system since he became founding CEO in 1981. [READ MORE] Karen Barber, RN. CEO of Yoakum (Texas) Community Hospital. Karen Barber has served as CEO of Yoakum Community Hospital since 2006. Ms. Barber joined the hospital as a nurse in 1992. [READ MORE] Rebecca Beck. President of Hawkins County Memorial Hospital (Rogersville, Tenn.) and Hancock County Hospital (Sneedville, Tenn.). Ms. Beck has headed the 50-bed Hawkins County Memorial Hospital and Hancock County Hospital, a critical access hospital, since January 2015. [READ MORE] Syd Bersante, RN. Market President of St. Elizabeth Hospital (Enumclaw, Wash.). Ms. Bersante took over as market president for CHI Franciscan Health's Pierce County in Washington in 2015. [READ MORE] Darrold Bertsch. CEO of Sakakawea Medical Center (Hazen, N.D.). Mr. Bertsch has more than 18 years of experience in healthcare management and a career spanning nearly four decades in the healthcare industry. [READ MORE] Gary Black. President and CEO of Lenoir Memorial Hospital (Kinston, N.C.). Mr. Black joined Lenoir Memorial Hospital as CFO in 1986 and transitioned to CEO in 1992. [READ MORE] Dan Brinkman, RN. Regional CEO of the East Hawaii Region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. (Honolulu). Mr. Brinkman joined Hilo Medical Center in 2007 as CNO, transitioning to regional COO in 2014. [READ MORE] James B. Bross. CEO of St. Luke's Hospital (Columbus, N.C.). In July 2016, Mr. Bross became CEO of St. Luke's Hospital, a critical access hospital about 100 miles west of Charlotte, N.C. [READ MORE] Katherine Bunting, PhD, RN. President and CEO of Fairfield (Ill.) Memorial Hospital. Prior to joining Fairfield Memorial Hospital in 1998, Dr. Bunting spent nearly two decades at Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney, Ill. [READ MORE] Dennis Burke. President and CEO of Good Shepherd Health Care System (Hermiston, Ore.). Good Shepherd Health Care System includes a 25-bed critical access hospital, medical group and home health services. [READ MORE] Charlie Button. President and CEO of Star Valley Medical Center (Afton, Wyo.). Star Valley Medical Center's board appointed Mr. Button CEO in 2012. [READ MORE] Paul Chodkowski. CEO of St. Anthony Summit Medical Center (Frisco, Colo.). Mr. Chodkowski became CEO of St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, a 35-bed hospital with about 200 employees, in 2005. [READ MORE] Jason Cleckler, BSN. CEO of Delta (Colo.) County Memorial Hospital. Before taking on the CEO role in October 2011, Mr. Cleckler was Delta County Memorial Hospital's interim CEO as well as chief clinical officer. [READ MORE] John Dalton. President and CEO of Inland Hospital (Waterville, Maine). John Dalton became CEO of Inland Hospital, a 48-bed community hospital serving central Maine, in 2006. [READ MORE] Thomas Dee. President and CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (Bennington). Mr. Dee took over as CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care, which includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, in 2009. [READ MORE] Kris Doody, RN. CEO of Cary Medical Center (Caribou, Maine). Ms. Doody joined CMC as a certified nurse's aid at age 15. [READ MORE] Desiree Einsweiler. CEO of Palo Alto County Health System (Emmetsburg, Iowa). Ms. Einsweiler became CEO of Palo Alto County Health System, a 25-bed critical access hospital, in 2012. [READ MORE] Sean Fadale. President and CEO of Community Memorial Hospital (Hamilton, N.Y.). Community Memorial Hospital's board of trustees appointed Sean Fadale CEO in August 2012. [READ MORE] Warren Forgey. President and CEO of Schneck Medical Center (Seymour, Ind.). Mr. Forgey, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, became president and CEO of SMC in April 2015. [READ MORE] Jill Fuller. President and CEO of Prairie Lakes Healthcare System (Watertown, S.D.). Ms. Fuller took the helm of Prairie Lakes Healthcare System in November 2009, before which she served as chief nursing officer for nine years. [READ MORE] Ed Harding. President and CEO of Bay Area Medical Center (Marinette, Wis.). Mr. Harding has served as president and CEO of Bay Area Medical Center since December 2010. [READ MORE] Jason Hawkins, MBA. President and CEO of J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital (Huntingdon, Pa.) and Fulton County Medical Center (McConnellsburg, Pa.). Mr. Hawkins took charge of J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital, sitting just under 200 miles outside of Philadelphia, and Fulton County Medical Center, located about 175 miles outside Philadelphia, when the two hospitals combined leadership teams in September 2015. [READ MORE] John Henderson, MBA. President and CEO of Childress (Texas) Regional Medical Center. Mr. Henderson has been at the helm of Childress Regional Medical Center since 2001. The hospital is about 250 miles northwest of Dallas. [READ MORE] Leonard Hernandez. CEO of Coffey Health System (Burlington, Kan.). Mr. Hernandez became CEO of Coffey Health System, a 36-bed hospital with nine staff physicians and 13 outpatient specialty physicians, in September 2015. [READ MORE] John Hill, MBA. President and CEO of Bozeman (Mont.) Health Deaconess Hospital. When he took over as president and CEO of the 86-bed, Level III trauma center in August 2016, Mr. Hill had more than two decades of healthcare executive experience. [READ MORE] Ned Hill. President and CEO of Northern Hospital of Surry County (Mount Airy, N.C.). Mr. Hill took over as president and CEO of Northern Hospital of Surry County in October 2014. The hospital sits about 100 miles north of Charlotte, N.C. [READ MORE] David Keith. President and CEO of McAlester (Okla.) Regional Health Center. Mr. Keith joined McAlester Regional Medical Center, located about 130 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, in 2011. [READ MORE] David Kilarski. CEO of Sandhills Regional Medical Center (Hamlet, N.C.). Mr. Kilarski joined Sandhills Regional Medical Center, about 90 miles from Charlotte, N.C., as CEO in 2016 and immediately got to work. [READ MORE] Steve Massey. President and CEO of Westfields Hospitals & Clinic (New Richmond, Wis.). Westfields Hospital & Clinic is a critical access hospital in a city of roughly 8,700 residents nearly 50 miles northeast of Minneapolis. [READ MORE] Frank May. CEO of Yampa Valley Medical Center (Steamboat Springs, Colo.). Mr. May has been at the helm of the nonprofit, 39-bed, acute care hospital since April 2012. He previously served as Yampa Valley's COO, CFO and compliance officer. [READ MORE] Kim Miller, MBA. President and CEO of Beaver Dam (Wis.) Community Hospitals, Inc. Ms. Miller has more than 18 years of CEO experience. She became president and CEO of Beaver Dam Community Hospitals in 2006. [READ MORE] Patrick O'Donnell. President and CEO of Summit Health (Chambersburg, Pa.). Mr. O'Donnell became CEO of Summit Health, about 160 miles from Pittsburgh, in 2013. [READ MORE] Vince Oliver. CEO of Island Hospital (Anacortes, Wash.). Mr. Oliver received the American Hospital Association's Shirley Ann Munroe Leadership Award in 2015 in recognition of his work as an innovative rural hospital leader. [READ MORE] Anne Platt. CEO of Sutter Amador Hospital (Jackson, Calif.). Although she studied art history in school, Ms. Platt eventually found her way to finance and then healthcare. She became CEO of Sutter Amador Hospital in 2005. [READ MORE] Amy Pollard, BSN, RN. President and CEO of Noyes Health (Dansville, N.Y.). Ms. Pollard joined Noyes Health, a nonprofit system with a 67-bed hospital roughly 300 miles northwest of New York City, as president and CEO in 2011. [READ MORE] Jayne Pope, MBA, RN. CEO of Hill Country Memorial Hospital (Fredericksburg, Texas). Ms. Pope has led Hill Country Memorial Hospital, which is about 100 miles west of Austin, since 2013. [READ MORE] MaryEllen Pratt. CEO of St. James Parish Hospital (Lutcher, La.). St. James Parish Hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital about 45 miles south of Baton Rouge, La., and 45 miles northwest of New Orleans. [READ MORE] Denise Ray, BSN, RN, MBA. CEO of Piedmont Mountainside Hospital (Jasper, Ga.). Ms. Ray's medical training and 28-year career in healthcare made her well qualified to lead Mountainside. [READ MORE] Steven Rose, RN. President and CEO of Nanticoke Health Services (Seaford, Del.). Nanticoke Health Services is approximately 40 miles from Dover, Del. [READ MORE] Ed Rush. President and CEO of Iredell Health System (Statesville, N.C.). After serving as CFO and then COO at Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, N.C., Mr. Rush took the helm at Iredell Health System in October 2004. [READ MORE] Maria Ryan, PhD, MSN. CEO of Cottage Hospital (Woodsville, N.H.). A board-certified family nurse practitioner, Dr. Ryan has been Cottage Hospital's CEO since November 2006. [READ MORE] Robert Schmitt, CPA, MBA. CEO of Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services (Gibson City, Ill.). Mr. Schmitt joined GAHHS as CFO in 2002 and was promoted to CEO in 2007. He has more than 25 years of healthcare leadership experience. [READ MORE] Rachelle H. Schultz. President and CEO of Winona (Minn.) Health. Ms. Schultz has been in healthcare management for more than two decades. In her current role, she heads a 99-bed acute care hospital, clinics and a 134-bed nursing home, among other services. [READ MORE] Emmett C. Schuster. President and CEO of Gibson General Hospital (Princeton, Ind.). Mr. Gibson has 15 years of healthcare leadership experience. [READ MORE] Dennis Shelby. CEO of Wilson Medical Center (Neodesha, Kan.). Mr. Shelby has led Wilson Medical Center, a hospital about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo., since July 2011. [READ MORE] Michael Stewart, MBA. CEO of Navarro Regional Hospital (Corsicana, Texas). Mr. Stewart became CEO of the 162-bed acute care hospital, located 60 miles outside of Dallas, in April 2014. [READ MORE] Erik Thorsen, MBA. CEO of Columbia Memorial Hospital (Astoria, Ore.). After serving as the hospital's CFO and then COO, Mr. Thorsen took over as CEO in 2010. [READ MORE] Russell Tippin. CEO of Permian Regional Medical Center (Andrews, Texas). Mr. Tippin serves as CEO of Permian Regional Medical Center, approximately 300 miles northwest of El Paso. [READ MORE] Joanne Urbanski, MSN, BSN. President and CEO of South Haven (Mich.) Health System. Ms. Urbanski has been president and CEO of South Haven Health for the past decade, before which she was COO of the hospital. [READ MORE] Terri Vieira. President and CEO of Sebasticook Valley Health (Pittsfield, Maine). After serving as acting CEO since April 2013, Ms. Vieira became CEO of Sebasticook Valley Health in July 2013. [READ MORE] Louis Ward. CEO of Mayers Memorial Hospital District (Fall River Mills, Calif.). Mr. Ward became CEO of Mayers Memorial in November 2015 after spending time as the interim CEO, COO and director of support services. [READ MORE] Pete Weber, RN. President and CEO of Gordon Hospital (Calhoun, Ga.). Mr. Weber began his time at Gordon Hospital in May 2009 after leaving his post as president and CEO of Texas Health Huguley in Burleson. [READ MORE] Randy Wertz. CEO of Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare (Clinton, Mo.). Mr. Wertz will retire in July 2017 after spending 28 years at the helm of Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare. [READ MORE] Warren West, MBA. CEO of Littleton (N.H.) Regional Healthcare. Mr. West has more than 30 years of healthcare and management experience, and he began his tenure as CEO of a 25-bed, critical access hospital in the White Mountains in 2007. [READ MORE] Bernard Wheatley, DBA. CEO of Schneider Regional Medical Center (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands). Since April 2013, Mr. Wheatley has been CEO of the umbrella entity for three facilities: Roy Lester Schneider Hospital in St. Thomas; Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center in St. John; and Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute in St. Thomas. [READ MORE] Mike Wiltermood. CEO of Enloe Medical Center (Chico, Calif.). Mr. Wiltermood has more than 25 years of experience in hospital leadership. [READ MORE] Gerald Worrick. President and CEO of Ministry Door County Medical Center (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.). Mr. Worrick has overseen Ministry Door County Medical Center for more than 28 years. [READ MORE] Michael Zimmerman, MBA. CEO of Sierra Vista Hospital (Truth or Consequences, N.M.). Mr. Zimmerman has led Sierra Vista Hospital since April 2014. [READ MORE] Norton Healthcare and Jewish Hospital, both located in Louisville, Ky., delayed or canceled surgeries after a water main break Tuesday morning lowered water pressure at the facilities, the Courier Journal reports. Norton Healthcare spokesperson Joe Hall told the publication the "break caused low water pressure at Norton Healthcare's downtown properties. Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our patients, we have delayed elective surgeries." He added patients were drinking bottled water and using hand sanitizer following hand washing as of Tuesday. In addition, Jewish Hospital canceled elective surgeries on Tuesday. However, "emergency procedures are continuing and water has been distributed throughout the hospital for both sanitizing hands and drinking," spokesperson David McArthur told the Courier Journal. Water pressure was increasing slowly Tuesday, and Norton Healthcare was awaiting notification on anticipated repairs and fixes, Mr. Hall added. This story is ongoing. More information will be added as it becomes available. More articles on patient flow: Ohio hospital evacuates several babies after reports of smoke Closed Missouri hospital plans to reopen as psychiatric facility after resolving issues with CMS South Carolina hospital unveils pediatric ambulance A Canadian man was greeted with an unwelcome surprise after learning his 21-minute Uber ride to St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto last Friday cost him $18,518 ($14,392.24 USD), Vice reports. Hisham Salama said he requested an Uber at 5:14 p.m. Dec. 8 to visit his friend at the hospital. After the ride, he noticed a significant charge pending on the credit card linked to the app. "My first reaction was to just laugh because I thought it was probably just an error but then about 20 minutes [after the ride], when I was with my friend, I thought I should probably check my credit card to make sure everything was OK," he said. Mr. Salama said he proceeded to call the ride-sharing company for assistance, but was unable to reach a live representative. An Uber employee called him the following morning and said, "based on the pickup and drop-off locations of the trip you took, this fare is correct," according to the report. Mr. Salama and his friends posted the story on social media. He said an Uber manager contacted him, refunded the cost of the initial ride and gave him $150 in credit to use on the app, stating the previous employee Mr. Salama had spoken with "was confused with the trip and issue," Vice reports. "If it takes an army of people to tweet and post online to interest you and for you to respond, that is a serious issue," Mr. Salama told Vice. Uber did not respond to Vice's requests for comment, but a spokesperson for the company issued a statement to Slate Dec. 10: "There was an error here and it has been resolved. We have provided a full refund to this rider and apologized to him for this experience. We have safeguards in place to help prevent something like this from happening, and we are working to understand how this occurred." Three former Alabama nursing home employees each pleaded guilty to one count of attempted elder abuse related to an incident when they allowed an elderly patient to be bitten by ants while left unattended for 11 hours, according to a Monday announcement from the Alabama Office of the Attorney General. The incident occurred in September 2016 at Cherokee County Health and Rehabilitation Center in Centre, Ala., when Sandra Michele Curry, Kacey Minerva Allen and Shawna Rogers left an elderly, bedridden patient unattended over the span of 11 hours. Over that time period, the patient incurred an estimated 100 ant bites on her thighs, knees and ankles, according to a report from the Times Free Press. While the individuals documented caring for the resident during their shift, a video recording at the facility showed none of them entered the patient's room during the 11-hour span. "Alabama law recognizes that the care of those who are vulnerable is a serious responsibility, and those who are entrusted with this charge have a legal obligation to properly fulfill their duties," said Steve Marshall, Alabama's attorney general. "These defendants not only failed to provide adequate care, but they were shown to have lied about their negligence that resulted in harm and injury to a nursing home patient." Each of the former nursing home employees was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The sentences were suspended, and the defendants received three years of probation. Ms. Curry, who was a licensed practical nurse, was forced to surrender her nursing license. Florissant, Mo.-based St. Sophia Health and Rehabilitation Center has lost its Medicare and Medicaid funding after CMS investigators linked a recent patient death to quality deficiencies observed at the facility during an inspection on Sept. 28, according to an Oct. 13 letter from CMS addressed to Lisa Anderson, the facility's administrator. Here are five things to know. 1. CMS' investigation into St. Sophia occurred after a resident of the facility pulled out a dialysis catheter and bled to death in September. The incident marks the second patient death in two years at the facility linked to negligence by federal investigators. In 2016, an 88-year-old resident with Alzheimer's was found dead in a bathtub after being left unattended for eight hours, according to a report from the Louis Post-Dispatch. 2. The most recent death occurred in a patient admitted to the 240-bed nursing home on Sept. 7 with diagnoses of heart failure, dementia and a seizure disorder, among other morbidities. The patient was on blood thinners and had a catheter in the arm, a dialysis catheter in the groin area and a feeding tube. 3. At 4:18 a.m. on Sept. 9, a nurse documented that the patient was pulling at the tubing. The next entry, made at 6:50 a.m., said the nurse was called to the room and found a significant amount of blood on the floor as a result of the patient pulling out stitches and the dialysis catheter. At 6:55 a.m., the patient was unresponsive. 4. CMS investigators discovered two additional notes one at 5:42 a.m. and one at 6:38 a.m. were added to the electronic medical record two days after the incident. The added notes described the patient's tubing as remaining intact at those times. However, an emergency medical technician who responded to the incident said some of the blood pooled under the bed was coagulated upon arrival. "Staff were unable to say when the incident happened or when [the patient] was last seen. Their stories conflicted," the EMT told investigators, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 5. As a result of the investigation, St. Sophia will not be reimbursed for new Medicaid or Medicare residents before March 28, 2018, or until conditions improve. In a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Creve Coeur, Mo.-based Midwest Geriatric Management, which runs the Florissant nursing home, said, "The safety, comfort and well-being of each individual resident is the sole focus of the professional and compassionate staff at St. Sophia. Out of respect for the privacy rights of all of our residents, and in compliance with federal and state law, we cannot comment further about any specific care provided or resident admissions." Medical devices may have an easier time receiving FDA clearance following the administration's proposal to create fast track approval, according to Reuters. Here are five things to know: 1. The new proposal would provide an alternate way companies could earn approval to market devices that do not meet the FDA's current fast track route, the 510(k) pathway. 2. To earn 501(k) clearance, medical devices must be of moderate risk and equivalent to existing devices. High-risk devices require additional review. However, some argue with the emergence of new technology it is hard for medical devices to identify a predicate. 3. FDA officials proposed eliminating the need for a predicate in order for a device to receive clearance and offered the option of using a benchmark consisting of performance standards or guidance documents. The new pathway would be voluntary to companies. 4. The FDA also plans to reevaluate the amount of safety data high risk devices need prior to approval. In a statement, the FDA said, "certain issues could be ultimately resolved in the post-marketing setting, rather than the pre-marketing setting, to allow patients to gain faster access to potentially life-saving devices." 5. While the proposal follows President Donald Trump's promises to eliminate regulations, others worry the simplified process could harm patients. Rita Redberg, MD, of UC San Francisco told Reuters the new guidelines "from the pre-approval to the post-market setting would turn patients into guinea pigs." OrthoPediatrics launched its new Wrist Fusion Plate System. Here are five notes: 1. The new plate system is part of the company's growing PediFrag brand. 2. OrthoPediatrics collaborated with Sydney Children's Hospital Network in Sydney, Australia as well as pediatric orthopedic surgeons. 3. The Wrist Fusion Plate System features plates with two implant lengths, which can accommodate patients with and without a proximal row carpectomy. The low-profile, stainless steel plates minimize plate prominence and reduce soft tissue irritation. 4. This is OrthoPediatrics first pediatric-specific wrist fusion plating system and has gained support from the Accelerating Commercialization Grant from the Australian Government. 5. OrthoPediatrics currently markets 23 surgical systems for use in trauma and deformities, complex spine and ACL reconstruction procedures. The Orange County Register honored Irvine, Calif.-based Hoag Orthopedic Institute as a 2017 Top Workplace. Here are four notes: 1. Hoag Orthopedic Institute is one of the few hospitals to be listed among The Orange County Register's list of honorees. 2. The Orange County Register surveyed 33,759 employees throughout Orange County, Calif., asking about their employer's leadership, organization's ethics and whether they feel appreciated. 3. Jennifer Mitzner, CEO of Hoag Orthopedic Institute, said, "The quality of care at [Hoag Orthopedic Institute] is truly incomparable, and that is directly due to the culture of excellence our staff has developed and perfected over time." 4. Hoag Orthopedic Institute is one of the largest orthopedic providers in the nation and reports the highest number of joint replacements in California. Cayan is expanding its workforce in Belfast A US tech firm is creating 170 new jobs at its Belfast office. Cayan, which was formerly called Merchant Warehouse, is based at the City Quays 1 building. The firm is growing its team here to 240 workers, and hiring an additional 170 staff. It's adding the customer services roles, which includes client services representatives, team leaders and case managers. Paul Vienneau, chief technology officer of Cayan, said: Our Northern Ireland operation is incredibly significant to our overall business strategy with our Belfast development team consistently delivering product engineering excellence." Invest NI has offered Cayan 680,000 towards the creation of the new posts, of which around 100 are in place already. Invest NIs executive director of business and sector development, Jeremy Fitch, said: Since opening its Northern Ireland office in 2013, Cayan has grown into an exemplary software development operation, producing industry leading payment processing products. Cayans decision to locate its primary customer services function in Belfast represents a major reinvestment for the company and demonstrates its confidence in Northern Ireland." Boeing's challenge to rival Bombardier over the sale of its part-Belfast made jets is spiteful, a Westminster committee has heard. Senior members of Boeing, including Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe, faced a grilling from MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning. DUP MP Ian Paisley, along with others, said that Boeing's claim it is directly competing with the Bombardier C Series planes at the centre of the dispute, which could see a 300% tariff slapped on US sales, looks spiteful, and that it is not a direct competitor. The committee heard that there are around 4,400 737 aircraft on backlog. Earlier this year, Boeing took a challenge over the sale of Bombardier's C Series planes. It claimed the planes were unfairly subsidised by the Canadian government, and were 'dumping aircraft', by selling them below cost. You want to punish Bombardier, Mr Paisley said. ... you have attacked another British employer. Sir Michael said: I don't like to accept the implications of what you are saying Mr Paisley. Mr Paisley claimed that Boeing was not in a position to compete directly with Bombardier, therefore would not have been damaged by the C Series sales to major customers such as Delta. Sir Michael said that in any competition, with any cost, it will be about when the planes are delivered. There are two elements, the subsidy... and then the dumping, which is also using illegal subsidy. The Dunnes Stores retail empire - which includes 17 Northern Ireland outlets - last year received a significant 250m dividend from its main company, which is based here. New accounts filed by the business's main UK arm, Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd, show that last year it paid out 250m in dividends to connected firms in the Dunnes group. It's a major departure from recent years where the secretive family-owned company made much smaller dividend payouts of 310,000 in 2015 and 760,000 in 2014. Confirmation of the dividend also follows a shake-up at board level at Dunnes this year, where Dr Anne Heffernan - daughter of driving force in the group Margaret Heffernan - and her cousin Sharon McMahon were appointed as directors to Dunnes companies. Dr Heffernan and Ms McMahon join Margaret Heffernan and Frank Dunne on the board of Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd. The accounts show that the company recorded a pre-tax loss of 5.1m last year, though the main factor behind the loss was the firm writing down the value of assets by 7.5m. The firm recorded the loss after revenues declined by 21.7% going from 127.56m to 99.85m. However, the drop in revenues can be largely attributed to the accounts covering 47.5 weeks to December 22, 2016, compared to the prior 52 week period. The period also omits two pre-Christmas Day days and the period covering the New Year. The Newry-registered firm's revenues are generated in the UK with Dunnes Stores operating 23 stores, including 17 here. Numbers employed by the company last year reduced from 1,474 to 1,289 and staff costs declined from 18.47m to 15.2m. Key management personnel costs were paid 463,000. The filings show that as a result of the company paying out the 250m dividend and the loss last year, the firm's accumulated profits reduced from 333.48m to 75.7m. Gross profits declined by 15.67m or 46%, going down from 34.22m to 18.55m. Profits were boosted by other income of 4.6m but this was offset by the property write down of 7.59m. This resulted in the company recording an operating loss of 5.8m and this followed an operating profit of 11.94m in 2015. The company's operating loss was reduced by 759,000 in finance income. The firm last year paid corporation tax of 444,000. A Co Tyrone energy firm says it hopes to triple turnover after installing a 3.3m biogas plant. Greenville Energy received backing of 2.7m from HSBC for the plant, which turns biogas produced from agri-food businesses' waste into liquefied renewable energy. The firm, based in Newtownstewart near Omagh, is now supplying more firms with green energy following the construction of the plant. Greenville, which is a business run by the Mitchell family, also operates a dairy firm on the site. The new plant operates in tandem with an anerobic digestor, which processes agri-food waste and cow slurry to produce biogas and digestate. It has been operating since 2012. Nial Douglas, area director of HSBC in Northern Ireland, said: "Greenville Energy and Greenville Dairies are exciting Northern Irish SMEs demonstrating how innovation in business can lead to huge growth. "We're pleased to enable Greenville Energy and Dairies to explore its potential in delivering a completely unique product, helping drive energy efficiencies for both itself and throughout Northern Ireland." HSBC has also provided additional funding for the construction of a new 400-cow cubicle house and installation of six robotic milking machines. Jason Mitchell, director at Greenville Energy, said the bank had "been instrumental in enabling us to implement cutting edge technology and agricultural practices to create self-sustaining green energy". Some of the 92 coworkers who started in 2007. Flat-pack furniture giant Ikea has been trading for a decade in Northern Ireland, with 14 million shoppers visiting since opening. The company revealed that of the 330 employees based at the Holywood Exchange retail site, 92 - or 28% - started their careers there when it launched in December 2007. Manager Christie Gregg, who has been a member of the team since the retailer's early days here, said she was delighted to be celebrating 10 successful years in Belfast. "Over the past decade we have contributed to a better everyday life at home for people in Northern Ireland," she said. "Our co-workers are vital to the everyday running of the store and customer service, as well as creating partnerships with charitable organisations to ensure we make a positive contribution to the local community." Chris McCauley (left) and Enda Cushnahan of SDC Trailers congratulate Siobhan Casey of Age NI after it became the firms nominated charity in 2017 A Northern Ireland trailer manufacturer has seen profits surge by 20% to 12.5m. Toome-based SDC Trailers also increased turnover from 179m to 189m, according to the latest accounts ending March 31, 2017. SDC Trailers is owned by Retlan Manufacturing. It was sold to CIMC Vehicles in China, one of three big deals last year involving the sale of Northern Ireland assets to firms in that nation. Accounts for Retlan Manufacturing say the "level of business and the year end financial position were considered satisfactory, and the directors expect that the current level of activity will be sustained for the foreseeable future". The accounts also show that on June 24 "the entire equity shareholding in Retlan Manufacturing Ltd was sold to CIMC Vehicles UK Ltd". SDC Trailers is the largest trailer manufacturer in the UK and Ireland, with production facilities here and in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The directors say they "remain confident that the current level of performance will be sustained in the future, and it is the directors' intention to develop the present activities of the group". The company does not expect "any material changes to the group's business as a result of the UK exiting the EU, as the primary market that the group serves remains in the UK". The founder of Retlan Manufacturing received the Aer Lingus lifetime achievement accolade at the 2017 Viscount Awards. John Donnelly, who retired after selling Retlan to CIMC Vehicles, was one of the businesspeople honoured at Ulster Business and Aer Lingus' annual celebration of success in London in May. In August the Retlan Group announced the appointment of Enda Cushnahan as chief executive. Mr Cushnahan (42) replaced Mark Cuskeran. David Li, general manager and director of the board of CIMC Vehicles, said at the time of the takeover: "We are delighted to have acquired the Retlan Group. The acquisition will mark an exciting new chapter in its history. "The Retlan Group will represent a valuable complement to CIMC Vehicles' portfolio and progress our ongoing policy of global operations, and local knowledge." In February last year SDC unveiled a new plant, enabling it to start production of a trailer every 12 minutes, rolling out a total of 40 a day. The company invested in new equipment including a high-end fibre laser cutter and new pressbrakes for folding steel components. Norwegian Air Shuttle has snapped up a raft of take-off and landing slots at Gatwick Airport as it intensifies its push into the UK market. The airline has sealed an undisclosed deal to buy 28 weekly slots from Small Planet Airlines, bolstering its presence at Britains second busiest airport. It is widely expected that the new slots will be used to support Norwegians growing network of low-cost long-haul routes from the airport The move comes just weeks after British Airways-owner IAG announced it had secured prized runway slots at Gatwick when they were put up for sale by the administrator of collapsed airline Monarch. Thomas Ramdahl, Norwegian chief commercial officer, said: London Gatwick is at the heart of our global growth ambitions so securing these crucial new slots will allow us to offer our passengers even more new routes, additional flights and affordable fares. Together with the launch of new routes to Argentina, Chicago and Austin in 2018, gaining extra capacity at London Gatwick is another huge boost as we get ready for our biggest ever year in the UK. Norwegian, which carries 5.2 million UK passengers each year, already runs budget long-haul flights from Gatwick to nine US cities and Singapore. IAG, which also owns Vueling and Aer Lingus, is stepping up its position in the low-cost long-haul market as it looks to fend off fierce competition from the likes of Norwegian. A string of airlines had been linked with the runway slots since Monarchs collapse in September, with easyJet, Norwegian, Wizz Air and Jet2 all understood to have made inquiries. Adam Driver attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire John Boyega attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Mark Strong attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Alexandra Burke attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Gwendoline Christie attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Danny O'Donoghue and guest attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Tallia Storm attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Matt Johnson attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Stormtroopers attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Myleene Klass attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Myleene Klass attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Elvira Lind (right) and Oscar Issac attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Prince Harry talks with guests, as he meets the CTBF trustees and representatives from Save The Children and Shelterbox as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: John Stillwell/PA Wire Bruno Tonioli attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge talks with a guest as he meets the CTBF trustees and representatives from Save The Children and Shelterbox as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: John Stillwell/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge talks with members of the armed forces as he meets the CTBF trustees and representatives from Save The Children and Shelterbox as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: John Stillwell/PA Wire Zoe London attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Mark Ferris attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Daisy Ridley attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast, including John Byega, as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Mark Hamill attends the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. (Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire) The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast, including John Byega, as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Prince Harry holds a Stormtrooper helmet as he attends the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast, including John Byega, as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast, including Mark Hamill, as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Mark Hamill and John Boyega attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry meet members of the cast as they attend the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Prince Harry holds a Stormtrooper helmet as he attends the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Eddie Mulholland/Daily Telegraph/PA Wire Anthony Daniels attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Kelly Marie Tran attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Stormtroopers attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire BB- 8 attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Domnhall Gleeson attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Jimmy Vee (right) and guest attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Anthony Daniels attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Anthony Daniels attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Benicio Del Toro attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Daisy Ridley attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Daisy Ridley attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Marilou York and Mark Hamill attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Andy Serkis and Lorraine Ashbourne attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire John Boyega and Stormtroopers attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire John Boyega attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire John Boyega and Stormtroopers attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Laura Dern attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Kelly Marie Tran attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire John Boyega attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Alexandra Burke attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire Gwendoline Christie attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Karina Longworth and Rian Johnson attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Wire File photo dated 16/08/17 of actor John Boyega, who has said he "lets slip all of the secrets and spoilers of the film to one close friend." PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars Boyega. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire C-3PO (left) and R2-D2 (right) attending the european premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 12, 2017. See PA story SHOWBIZ StarWars. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire Stormtroopers attending the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Ian West/PA Wire) The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attending the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Matt Crossick/PA Wire) The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attended the European premiere of the latest Star Wars film in London on Tuesday. They met with members of The Last Jedi cast at the Royal Albert Hall, including Mark Hamill, John Byega, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver. The film also stars the late Carrie Fisher, who passed away last year. Mark Hamill said the death of his co-star still feels like an "elaborate prank". The pair - who played brother and sister duo Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa in the original 1970s and 1980s trilogy - reprised their characters in the latest instalment. Fisher died at the age of 60 last December, shortly after completing her final scenes. Speaking almost a year later, an emotional Hamill told the Press Association: "I'm still not over it. It's hard. "It gives the film an air of melancholy it doesn't deserve. I want my drama on the screen, not in real life, so it's horrible. "I keep thinking maybe this is like an elaborate Andy Kaufman prank and she's living in Crete now having a great laugh and drinking champagne. "But I think of her in the present tense, not in the past, but I've know her since she was 19, what's that, 41 years? "So instead of being upset that she's not here, I'm just grateful for the time I had with her." Daisy Ridley, who plays one of the film's lead characters, Rey, said the film was "a wonderful showing of her (Fisher's) talent". Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux) told the Press Association: "I won't talk about her scenes except to say that she's amazing in it... she's unbelievable." Expand Close Stormtroopers attending the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Ian West/PA Wire) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stormtroopers attending the European premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Ian West/PA Wire) Writer and director Rian Johnson added: "I feel super lucky I got to know her even briefly. "She was just an amazing person, I just wish she was here tonight." Read more: It was hearing a radio interview about the desperate plight of Indian children who'd been sold to the circus that was to be a turning point in Olivia Rana's life. Philip Holmes, founder of the Esther Benjamin Trust, was describing how he set up the charity to rescue children who were destined for this life of slavery. "I was horrified," Olivia says. "Children as young as six were being trafficked or sold by their destitute parents as a means of income. Often, they were introduced to punishing schedules of training and performing." Olivia, who grew up in Co Fermanagh and whose in-laws are Indian, felt compelled to find out more. She came across the work of American documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark, who captured many of these Indian children on camera at work in the circuses. And she got in touch with the charity, now called Child Rescue Nepal, to learn about what was being done to help. Putting together all she had discovered, Olivia decided that a way to raise awareness of the issue was to write a novel from the perspective of a child caught up in this dark world. Her new book, Elastic Girl, tells the story of little Muthu who is sold to the circus. "I ended up with this idea of how would it feel for a child to be sold into the circus by your parents," she explains. "I felt compelled to write about it as a social issue and, while it's a fictional story, it's drawn very much on real life events and I hope that comes across. "Trafficking is a worldwide issue but it is estimated that each year 100,000 women and children are trafficked between Nepal and India. In these countries children are particularly vulnerable because of the poverty, because of extreme weather events like earthquakes which can destroy potential income from agriculture and tourism. The people are desperate and children are out working from a young age. Families think they are maybe giving their children an opportunity by sending them somewhere like the circus or the construction industry. It is very sad." Olivia and Joanna Bega, chief executive of Child Rescue Nepal, agreed to work together and 15% of the proceeds of each book is being donated to the charity. It will assist in the daunting work of removing children from factories, restaurants, hotels and construction sites where they are held captive. The children are then taken to the charity's safe house where they receive medical care and counselling before attempts are made to trace their families and reunite them. So far, Child Rescue Nepal has rescued 700 children and reunited most of these with their families. "In my book, the main character tells the story from when she's older and has come through some horrific times - so while it is quite melancholy it is also a story of hope and of the resilience of the human spirit," says Olivia. "Through writing my book and working with Child Rescue Nepal I have learnt that it is possible for change. In 2011 the Indian Government responded to increasing pressure from anti-trafficking groups and it issued a legal age limit on performers in Indian circuses. This is one positive step, but much still needs to be done in the other areas where these vulnerable children find themselves." Writing a book has been a lifelong dream of Olivia's. She grew up near Derrylin with two brothers and two sisters and has fond memories of the wider family circle gathering at her grandmother's house with plenty of fun, music and laughter. The children spent most of their time outside, their imaginations running wild. "My grandfather had an old farm and we took over the farm creating play houses," she says. "We came home from school and headed straight outside to play. Primary school was about fun, freedom to explore, enjoying life - and I think that was great for my imagination. I loved growing up in the countryside and my kids love going now to visit and to spend time with the family." Another important feature of Olivia's childhood was regular trips with her mother to the local library where she devoured all kinds of books. Her flair for writing was noticed at an early age. "When I was younger I started writing short stories and poetry," Olivia says. "And then at secondary school my English teacher read one of my stories out in front of the class - that was the first time I thought 'maybe I can write'. I was quite shy and wasn't full of confidence so I'll always remember that teacher who really encouraged me. "I recall writing in a diary when I was a teenager that my ambition was to get a novel published by the time I was 20 years old - it's taken me slightly longer than that!" Olivia's interest in language led her to study linguistics at Queen's University but, although she also took creative writing classes in her late 20s, writing was put on hold when she pursued a demanding career as a project manager in IT. Olivia met her husband-to-be, businessman Rajesh Rana, 17 years ago in a Belfast bar. Rajesh, director of Belfast's largest hotel group, Andras Hotels, whose portfolio includes the Ramada Plaza at Shaw's Bridge, is the son of Andras Hotels founder Lord Rana. "Rajesh was born in Northern Ireland but his father came from India in 1966 and started the business - they are a very driven, entrepreneurial family. Rajesh has been very encouraging and supportive of me all along and always urged me to keep going with my writing even when I felt like giving up. "Having my in-laws' insight into India and having been there a few times myself helped to shape my story. I love the vibrancy, the culture and the wonderfully determined spirit of the people, and I hope that my depiction of India has come across in the book as genuine and authentic." Olivia's career in IT, with Citibank and then BT, took a different direction when her children came along. "Project management didn't lend itself well to being a mother in terms of the pressure," she says. "Also, I was really loving writing and wanted to make a go of it, so I made the choice to give up my career and concentrate on writing. "After my daughter was born I decided to return to Queen's University to complete a Masters degree in creative writing, and I haven't looked back since." During this course, Olivia enjoyed excellent support and advice from her tutor, the writer Carlo Gebler, who she describes as "very kind and tremendous help". And since dedicating her working life to writing, she has found that perseverance and discipline are key. "If you want to write you have to make the time. You have to treat it like a job and stay committed and focused. You always have to be prepared for knockbacks and constructive criticism - its part of the territory and the only way to really learn and grow as a writer. "I was used to being in an environment where I was driven by goals and I had a manager and I was told what to do - but I was always very self-driven and conscientious, so writing suits my personality. "My dad and brothers were in the quarry business at home and I grew up watching them hard at work, so I suppose that's where I get some of my work ethic. "And I've been really lucky to have the support of my husband as, of course, some people don't get the opportunity to write full-time because they have to go out to work." She has found it ideal to fit writing in around her children's school days. "I pick them up from school every day so then I use the early part of the day to write. It makes me focused because when they come back home I turn into mummy mode and just don't have any more time to write," she explains. "They love reading - Lucia reads a lot of Sheena Wilkinson - and I take them to the library regularly. It's very important to me to establish that love of books and reading early on." When Olivia finished Elastic Girl, she secured an agent but eventually decided to self-publish and, in so doing, had full control over her cover design, layout and publicity campaign. And through her partnership with Child Rescue Nepal, she received the endorsement of actress Joanna Lumley, (above) who has helped the charity in the past with their appeals. "I am very excited about this," Olivia says. "I thought there was no chance she would endorse my book because she'd be too busy to get a chance to look at it, but a couple of days later she came back with a wonderful review." Indeed, Lumley wrote: "Elastic Girl highlights the cruelties, indignities and injustice of child trafficking. An enlightening and gripping read." Olivia has been busy writing her second - and third - novels since finishing Elastic Girl. Her second is set in Iceland and is about a psychic woman. "It is the story of how she came to have these abilities, has always been doubted by people, has spent time in psychiatric units because it was thought she was crazy. Some of my best friends are from Iceland so I came across the idea from talking to them - in Iceland, a lot of people believe in the 'huldufolk', which means 'hidden people'. They believe that these people exist within the rocks and the environment and psychics in Iceland work within this area. There are huge superstitions around it. "I don't write for any specific reason, but simply because I feel compelled to tell a story, and the process of writing feels very cathartic to me. I'm drawn towards writing about people who are often marginalised, who often don't fit in, and I love to explore other countries and settings through my writing. That's the beauty of it - writing can take you on some wonderful adventures." Olivia has also ventured into teaching, inspired by wanting to help others and to pass on her knowledge from having been on the challenging journey herself. "Joining a creative writing class can be very daunting as you have to share your work with other people and have them give you feedback," she says. "I wanted to give something back and help other writers so I started teaching a writing course at Queen's through their open learning programme. I'm taking the students through all the elements of novel writing - characterisation, dialogue and plot - and I'm really enjoying seeing the variety of work of the students and seeing them progressing." As the festive season continues we are beginning to see so many colourful Christmas trees sprouting up in our homes, shopping centres and town centres - that is if you can see them through the snow! This week we got the chance to celebrate a very special tree which has huge significance to the organ donation family in Northern Ireland. No, it's not the Dobson family Christmas tree, which is twinkling away brightly as I write this week's column in our family room, it's the Erskine House Tree which has just been crowned Northern Ireland's Woodland Trust Tree of the Year. Back in October I was writing about this very special tree and the over 50 year links it has with promoting organ donation, embodying our global kidney links and inspiring the next generation of medical professionals. A special tree indeed and very fitting that it now holds the crown of Northern Ireland's top tree this year, a richly deserved accolade voted for by you, the public. Thank you to everyone who took part in what was a wonderful joint campaign between Queen's University and the Belfast Trust and to everyone who voted in huge numbers to ensure it came out on top - Mum and I were so honoured to be part of the team. Another important Christmas tradition, just as traditional as our trees, is preparing and writing our lists to Santa. This is something I have done for many years but maybe a little differently to most people. While I know many children, and quite a few adults, who happily flick through the Argos catalogue or search through endless online shops to find those perfect Christmas gifts, my list to Santa has never changed and, as always, includes just one entry. Each year I ask Santa to help encourage more and more people to learn about organ donation and how they can become willing donors - to speak with their loved ones and to become a life-saver. Organ donation is the ultimate gift - a gift which enhances the lives of transplant recipients and enriches the lives of their families. As in my case when I received my first kidney transplant back in 2009; when the gift of a transplant comes at a time of unimaginable grief for the family of the donor, it enables someone else to live on. Organ donors are the heroes of the organ donation family because they choose to become life-savers - they mean the world to us because they, like every transplant patient on a waiting list, understand first-hand the scarcity of organ donations. They say you can never have too much of a good thing but until last week I really wasn't convinced that applied to my routine dialysis sessions. However, as I am still having some complications with my HD line, the connection in my neck through which I get my dialysis, I ended up in Daisy Hill for four days rather than my usual three. Each week I have three four-hour sessions of dialysis on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to keep me healthy, but as I have been experiencing some difficulties I had to make the journey to Newry on Tuesday for an extra session. However, I was in my usual ward and under the care of the staff, including Ursula and Michelle - who probably see a little too much of me for their own good. I know I keep talking about all the fantastic renal nurses who look after me while I am under their care but they really do everything to make sure that all the patients are in the best care and comfort while we undergo dialysis. Well, that's it for this week. I'm hoping for a smoother run of dialysis sessions next week which will mean much less bleeping from my machine - it's sounding so regularly at the moment that it's even beginning to sound like a Christmas tune. A drug used to tackle tapeworms could help lead the fight against Parkinson's disease, according to scientists. (David Davies/PA) A drug used to tackle tapeworms could help lead the fight against Parkinson's disease, according to scientists. Researchers have identified a drug molecule within a medicine used to treat tapeworm infections which could lead to new treatments for Parkinson's. Over the last decade, researchers trying to find a cure for the debilitating disease have focused their attention on a protein found in the human body known as PINK1. It is understood that the malfunction of this protein is one of the main causes of Parkinson's. Several studies have suggested that discovering a drug which is capable of enhancing the function of PINK1 could be a significant step in halting neurodegeneration and therefore slow down or even treat Parkinson's disease. Researchers at Cardiff and Dundee universities have discovered that a drug traditionally used to treat tapeworm infections, Niclosamide, is also an effective activator of PINK1. The study, published in iChemBioChem, also revealed that Niclosamide and some of its derivatives could enhance PINK1 performance within cells and neurons. This has given researchers reason to believe the drug could provide new hope for patients living with Parkinson's. Co-study lead Dr Youcef Mehellou, from Cardiff University, said: "This is an exciting stage of our research and we are positive about the long-term impact it could have on patients' lives." A decision on whether to give the green light to a church's controversial 3m plan to build 22 apartments in an affluent area of south Belfast has been postponed. Windsor Baptist Church has submitted revised proposals for the development at Malone Avenue after a backlash from residents. The church wants permission to knock down its existing building and construct 22 apartments and associated car parking on the site. It was recommended for approval by Belfast City Council planners, despite more than 100 fresh objections. But the committee last night heard councillors want to carry out a site visit before deciding on whether to grant approval. James Stinson, representing the Lower Malone residents, said he was "extremely concerned" about the recommendation to approve the scheme, and said the group had highlighted "significant and evidence-based" reasons why the three-storey development should not get the go-ahead. Tom Stokes of TSA Planning, on behalf of the church, said Windsor Baptist Church is planning to move to a new site on the Lisburn Road as it is growing in "size and congregation". He said the church had carried out a community consultation with locals, and met with planners to discuss the proposal. DUP councillor Graham Craig, who addressed the committee, said that Windsor Baptist was building the apartments to help fund the 3m revamp of the former Majestic cinema on the Lisburn Road, which it wants to turn into its new church. A total of 142 objections were received, 97 of which followed the submission of the amended plan that reduced the number of apartments from 26 to 22. Concerns include "gross over-development", the dominant scale and massing of the building, and fears that the plans "do not respect the architectural style, existing densities, building line or pattern of development". Conor Doyle, secretary of the Lower Malone Residents' Association, previously told the Belfast Telegraph: "It's surprising and alarming that planning officials think these three-storey apartment blocks should get the go-ahead in a part of Malone Avenue where semi-detached homes are the norm. "We want to see sites like this developed in a way that adds to and doesn't detract from the unique character of the Lower Malone Conservation Area. "Development should encourage families to live in our neighbourhood and help build community. This would do the opposite." Planners said "the replacement scheme would represent a high-quality design that would enhance the character and appearance" of the area. While planners have recommended the apartment building gets permission, there are a series of conditions. They include showing which materials will be used in its construction and demonstrating that there will be satisfactory bin storage and collection. Windsor Baptist Church is currently transforming the former Majestic cinema, which it will use as its new meeting hall. It is one of the last remaining venues of its kind in the city, but has lain empty for several years. A Northern Ireland businesswoman allegedly linked to seizures of more than 800,000 worth of cannabis is no gangster's moll, the High Court heard today. Prosecutors claimed 35-year-old Hang Nguyen was part of a crime operation, headed by her partner, growing drugs at factories across Northern Ireland. But counsel for the nail bar technician insisted the case against her is based on nothing more than suspicion. Declan Quinn argued: "If the prosecution are suggesting this lady is some sort of gangster's moll, there's no evidence of any trappings of a lavish lifestyle. "When she was arrested at her business premises she had only 170." Nguyen, of Lisburn Road in Belfast, faces 10 charges including producing and conspiracy to produce Class B drugs, and assisting unlawful immigration. The mother-of-two was granted bail but banned from any contact with her 40-year-old partner and co-accused, Luong Bui. The alleged offences were committed between April 1 and December 5, when police raided an industrial unit on the Glen Road in Comber, Co Down. Crown lawyer Natalie Pinkerton said the warehouse had been divided into 10 rooms split over two floors. Officers seized 1,200 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of 600,000. Living quarters had been set up for those allegedly growing the drugs, with one man claiming he had resided in the warehouse for six weeks after being brought over from Vietnam. Drugs worth 155,000 and 70,000 were also uncovered at residential properties in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, and the Four Winds area of Belfast as part of the same investigation. Based on CCTV footage, the prosecution allege Nguyen and her partner purchased and delivered food and supplies to those staying at the facilities. However, Mr Quinn insisted there was "clear blue water" in the strength of the case against his client and Bui. He told the court she is a British citizen who left Hong Kong for the UK in 1992, arriving in Northern Ireland five years ago. Since then she has been self-employed as a nail bar technician at outlets near her south Belfast home and in Lisburn, Co Antrim. "She vehemently denies any role, she is not her partner's keeper," the barrister stressed. Granting bail, Mr Justice Burgess acknowledged the allegations against Nguyen involved playing a lesser part in the operation. Noting the potential impact on her two children, the judge ruled she can be released from custody. He added: "She should surrender her passport to police and is not to leave the jurisdiction." It happened on Mandeville Close at around 9pm on Tuesday December 12. An employee escaped injury after a masked man armed with a hatchet entered a bingo hall in Portadown. It happened on Mandeville Close at around 9pm on Tuesday December 12. The intruder threatened a staff member with the hatchet before making off with a sum of cash. Police said thankfully the employee was uninjured. Detective Constable Kelly Foley said: "The offender is described as around 6 3 tall of medium build and wearing a hooded top with lighter coloured lining to the hood and dark jeans. "I am appealing for anyone with information about crime to contact detectives at Lurgan CID on 101, quoting reference number 1294 12/12/17. Thousands of Belfast jobs could be threatened if a proposed 300% duty on exports to the US is imposed on Bombardier's new C-Series jet Aircraft maker Boeing has become a scapegoat for Bombardier job cuts in Belfast, the firm said. Criticism of the aerospace giant over its trade dispute is a "smokescreen" to disguise its Canadian rival's problems, senior management claimed. The number employed by Bombardier at manufacturing plants in Northern Ireland has fallen considerably over recent years, Boeing told a committee of MPs. Thousands of Belfast posts could be threatened if a proposed 300% duty on exports to the US is imposed on Bombardier's new C-Series jet following a complaint by their competitor. The wings are made in Northern Ireland. Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe and former British ambassador to Germany and high commissioner to India, said: "The reason those jobs are at risk is because of the management of Bombardier taking certain decisions that put those jobs at risk. "Boeing is being used as a scapegoat for that reduction in Northern Ireland jobs which we all regret but which in a way pre-dates the issues." The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs at Westminster is investigating steps taken to protect jobs in Northern Ireland. Atlanta-based Delta Airlines has placed a major order for C-Series planes and many Belfast positions at Bombardier and throughout the supply chain hinge on that order being fulfilled. Sir Michael reiterated Boeing's assertion that its legal action was about creating a level playing field between competitors bidding for sales. Boeing has claimed Bombardier used state subsidies to "dump" their planes on the US market at below cost price, giving them an unfair advantage. Critics of Boeing's legal action claimed the firm also received subsidies from the US administration in the form of defence spending and said its aircraft were not in direct competition with a version of the C-Series at the heart of the current dispute. Sir Michael said: "This was a pure commercial challenge for a sale that we felt was unfair." DUP MP Ian Paisley retorted: "It is spiteful, not commercial." Committee chairman Andrew Murrison said Boeing could not satisfy demand for its planes. Its order book from airlines would take years to clear even though it was ramping up production to "historic" high levels. Sir Michael said: "We were the victim of a dump sale which we had to challenge in the interests of a level playing field. "We like competition, it makes us better, but we want it to be fair competition. "We believe in the rule of law and trade law and compliance with that. "It is very much a legal not a political process which is running forth in the US." Another senior Boeing official said Bombardier's problems were "deep-rooted" and pre-dated the current dispute. He told the committee: "It is effectively a smokescreen to blame Boeing for their problems." Mr Paisley claimed the firm's reputation had been tarnished. "This has been a public relations disaster," he said. "The impact of this is reputational damage to your company from crushing the wee guy." The North Antrim MP said it had turned into a very toxic political dispute, with issues being raised on Capitol Hill, the Prime Minister ringing US President Trump and former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon threatening jobs and potential sales in the UK in retaliation. Sir Michael responded: "When we see illegal action would you expect us to ignore it?" Earlier this year, in response to Boeing's complaint, the US Department of Commerce announced it would impose an interim tariff of nearly 220% on the jets. A second preliminary levy of 80% had been loaded on sales of the Bombardier aircraft. Assembly of the C-Series will be carried out at the Airbus factory in the US state of Alabama under a partnership which Airbus and Bombardier believe will mean it avoids import tariffs. Relatives of dementia sufferers in NI say funding must continue Relatives whose loved ones are living with dementia have appealed to Stormont's health officials to continue to fund innovative projects they say have improved their lives. As The Detail previously revealed, around 1m of a 6.25m funding package originally earmarked for dementia care will not be spent at the end of the three-year project. However, despite this officials still plan to wind down a body set up in 2014 to implement the key aims of Northern Ireland's first dementia strategy. In a further development The Detail can also reveal that government is expected to return a portion of the funding given to Stormont by a philanthropic organisation to support dementia care here. Barry Smyth of the Alzheimer's Society said: "We strongly urge the Department of Health and the Executive (Office) to reconsider and to commit money originally allocated to dementia to be invested in a strategic way that benefits those affected by the condition now and in the future." Dementia Together NI was established to deliver Stormont's dementia programme. It was tasked with raising awareness of dementia; improving access to information for people with the illness; delivering training to health professionals, and supporting carers. The Department of Health confirmed Dementia Together NI, which was meant to finish this year, will be abolished in March. It told The Detail the overall project was "time limited". However, those working with people who have dementia say they hoped the work would continue. The Detail asked the department why the 1m underspend could not be used to continue to fund dementia services. It said the underspend was due to savings, as well as projects coming in at a lower cost than expected. It added: "The unallocated monies from the Department of Health and the Executive Office will be used on other departmental priorities." The Department of Health confirmed this refers to the funding being spent on services other than dementia. Meanwhile, documents obtained by The Detail also suggest that officials planned to see that dementia projects developed as a result of the philanthropic investment would be funded into the future by the Health and Social Care Board. Now leading dementia charities have urged government to use the philanthropic funding in full and help sustain dementia services into the future. Mr Smyth has also called for a full evaluation of the 2011 dementia strategy. He said there was severe under-investment in dementia compared to other health conditions such as cancer and heart disease. "The fact that Dementia Together NI is drawing to a close must not allow the focus on dementia to drift," he added. "The 20,000 people in Northern Ireland living with dementia have the right to diagnosis, support and information, wherever they live." It has also emerged that Stormont officials expect to return some of the funds donated to the project by Atlantic Philanthropies, although the exact amount will not be known until the end of the financial year. Atlantic Philanthropies is a US-based organisation that has donated money to support public interest projects around the world, including extensive investment in healthcare. It committed to make up 40% - or around 22.5m - of the total 58m invested into Stormont's Delivering Social Change programme, which was also financed by government funding, and allocated 6.25m to dementia policies. Dementia is an umbrella term to describe a range of symptoms, including memory loss, confusion, and difficulties with speech and understanding. Tara Collins is a programme manager with Dementia NI, which supports people with the illness. She said: "Our members feel to date that the work done has only scratched the surface and there are still many gaps that need to be addressed. We are thankful for this project and will be disappointed when it comes to an end. "We also wonder why all the money that was originally planned to be invested into dementia services through this project is not being spent on dementia. "Why is this 1m underspend going towards other services when it was meant to be spent on dementia? It's disappointing this money is not being used to extend the life of the dementia programme." In May last year former Health Minister Simon Hamilton announced that "Dementia Together NI will continue". However, the Department of Health told The Detail the purpose of this Press release was to confirm funding had been made available in that financial year. The murderous confessions of a loyalist paramilitary commander-turned-supergrass witness have been outlined in graphic detail during a sentence hearing. Gary Haggarty's admission to shooting defenceless grandfather Sean McParland in the neck at close range was read to Belfast Crown Court, as was his description of the kidnap and brutal beating of father-of-four John Harbinson by his Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. Haggarty, 45, a long-time police informer, has pleaded guilty to 202 terror offences, including five murders, as his part of a controversial state deal that offered a significantly-reduced prison term in return for giving evidence against other terrorist suspects. The opening day of the sentence hearing was told Haggarty and another UVF member were due to toss a coin to determine who would be the man to pull the trigger ahead of Mr McParland's murder, before the loyalist chief dismissed the idea and demanded that he would be the killer. It came after Haggarty was challenged on whether he was an informer by one of his associates but denied it. Crown lawyer Ciaran Murphy QC told judge Mr Justice Colton that Haggarty said he was handed a promotion within the UVF for shooting Mr McParland after forcing entry to a house on Skegoneill Avenue in Belfast as the 55-year-old, who spoke with the aid of a voice box, was babysitting his young grandchildren. Mr McParland was not the intended target of the UVF attack in 1994. Mr Murphy told the court that Haggarty, once leader of the UVF's notorious Mount Vernon gang in north Belfast, expressed regret in his admission to detectives. "He said he is sorry, it was the wrong person killed - he is sorry for the kids that were there," the barrister said. The sentence hearing was also told that Haggarty has acknowledged that two more of his victims - Eamon Fox and Gary Convie - were innocent men, not republican paramilitaries as loyalists claimed at the time of their shooting in 1994. Catholic workmen Mr Fox, 44, and Mr Convie, 24, were gunned down while they ate lunch in their car at a building site on North Queen Street in Belfast. Haggarty claims he was not the gunman on that occasion but that he escorted the killer to the location, shaking hands with him just prior to him opening fire on the men through a fence. Mr Murphy told the court: "He said he did not believe the victims were republicans, just soft, easy targets." Haggarty, dressed in a grey suit, sat impassively in the dock as his litany of crimes were detailed. Mr Fox's son Ciaran was one of a number of victims' relatives in court as the details of Haggarty's reign of terror were recounted. Outside court, Mr Fox said: "I knew the truth all along that my father was an innocent man but to hear that Haggarty has admitted before they actually carried out the shooting that my dad and Gary were both innocent, that they were not republicans as they claimed at the time - it was nice to hear that part." Haggarty also admitted being in the gang that abducted unemployed taxi driver Mr Harbinson in Belfast in 1997 prior to the brutal beating that ended his life. The loyalist commander claimed he later went to retrieve a gun to deliver a "punishment" shooting on the 39-year-old but that colleagues had already administered the fatal beating in an alleyway while he was gone. Due to the need to outline details of all 200-plus offences on Haggarty's charge sheet, the sentence hearing is expected to take at least two days. Mr Justice Colton will then deliberate before determining the extent of sentence reduction the loyalist will be handed. He has already spent a number of years in custody on remand, so could potentially serve no further time in prison. Prosecutors have already announced he is to be used as a witness in the prosecution of an individual for the murders of Mr Fox and Mr Convie. However, the vast majority of individuals named by Haggarty in his police interviews will not face prosecution amid state concerns about a lack of supporting evidence. Prosecutors have said Haggarty's evidence is insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction against 11 suspected UVF members and two former police intelligence officers, allegedly his then handlers. As well as the five murders, Haggarty, who is in protective custody, has also admitted five attempted murders, including against police officers; 23 counts of conspiracy to murder; directing terrorism; and membership of a proscribed organisation. He was interviewed more than 1,000 times by detectives in one of the biggest and most complex cases undertaken in Northern Ireland. The catalogue of offences stretch over a 16-year period from 1991 to 2007 and include the loyalist murders of Mr Harbinson, Mr McParland, Mr Convie, Mr Fox and Sean McDermott. A former HMRC employee who lied about being a single parent to steal tax credits has been given a suspended sentence. A former HMRC employee who lied about being a single parent to steal tax credits has been given a suspended sentence. Laura Southern, of Clonmore Park, Lisburn, had beem employed as a HMRC Benefits and Credits Compliance Manager in Belfast, responsible for checking for fraudulent tax credit claims. Over five years she falsely claimed to be a single parent while living with her partner. Between 2012 and 2017 she fraudulently claimed 34,209.44 in tax credits. Southern had been a HMRC employee for 16 years until her dismissal in August 2017. She had been interviewed under caution in February 2017, after investigators found she had been living with her partner and providing false information. At Craigavon Crown Court on Tuesday she was given a 15-month sentence, suspended for three years. Joff Parsons, Assistant Director, Internal Governance, HMRC, said: Southern was employed to track down people committing the very crime she has been convicted of. She knew exactly what she was doing and even though she knew it was wrong, thought she could get away with stealing tax credits she wasnt entitled to. But her deceit was exposed and now she is paying the price. We expect the highest professional standards and integrity from our staff; no one is exempt and we will pursue criminals like Southern who think it is acceptable to steal tax credits. We ask anyone with information about tax fraud to contact the HMRC Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887. The Liverpool Supporters' Club in north Belfast has been penalised for selling a cheap brand of vodka while claiming it was Smirnoff The Liverpool Supporters' Club in north Belfast has been penalised for selling a cheap brand of vodka while claiming it was Smirnoff. The Disraeli Street social club was fined 150 yesterday at Belfast Magistrates Court for selling spirit that was "not of the nature demanded to the prejudice of the consumer", with 120 costs awarded to Belfast City Council. Read More It followed a guilty plea submitted by the club. On October 27, 2016, council officers visited the premises and procured a formal sample of vodka taken from a three-litre Smirnoff optic bottle. Analysis of the vodka found that it was not authentic Smirnoff as the sample did not contain the correct sugar markers for Smirnoff vodka and could therefore not be described as such. The formal sample was taken as a result of a complaint forwarded to Belfast City Council from Trading Standards, alleging that the club was substituting Smirnoff with a cheaper brand of spirit. The offence is a breach of the Food Safety Order 1991. Three people arrested in connection with dissident republican activity have been released unconditionally. Three people arrested in Northern Ireland in connection with violent dissident republican activity have been released unconditionally. The two women and a man had been arrested under the Terrorism Act in Strabane on Tuesday, December 12. One of the women, aged 50, was also arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm, and for this offence she has been released on police bail, pending further enquiries. Solicitor General Robert Buckland, who referred the sentence of John Bond to the Court of Appeal (John Stillwell/PA) A van driver spared jail after causing a crash which killed his sister has been locked up after judges ruled his original sentence was unduly lenient. John Bond, 32, had drug traces in his system when he drove straight over a junction in Tolleshunt Major, Essex, without giving way and ploughed into an oncoming Mercedes on January 13 last year. His sister, Mischa Bond, 22, a passenger in the Ford van who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered a fatal head injury in the collision. The driver of the other car, a policeman with advanced driver training, was seriously injured, unable to return to work for about six months and developed post-traumatic stress disorder. 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 Bond, of Perry Road, Tiptree, near Colchester, had twice the specified limit of BZE, a cocaine metabolite, in his system and told police he had taken the drug a day earlier. He also had small traces of cocaine, cannabis and diazepam in his bloodstream. He admitted causing his sisters death by careless driving when unfit through drink or drugs and was handed a two-year suspended sentence at Chelmsford Crown Court in October. On Wednesday, he was jailed for two years by a panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in London after his sentence was referred by Solicitor General Robert Buckland. Lawyers for Mr Buckland argued the original sentence did not reflect the serious nature of the offence or the fact he had previous motoring convictions. Bonds legal team told the court he has suffered greatly as a result of his sisters death and has been sobbing uncontrollably while wandering around his home. Expand Close Lord Justice Treacy (PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lord Justice Treacy (PA) Matt Morgan, representing Bond, also said his mother Julie Bond did not want her son to go to prison. He added: He is living the life of a virtual hermit, he is shut up at home and hasnt returned to work. This is a man who will never forgive himself for what he has done. The judge reached a just and humane sentence, at the end of it all. However, ruling that the crown court judge was wrong not to jail Bond, Lord Justice Treacy said the offence was so serious he must go to prison. Sitting with Mr Justice Picken and Judge Rupert Mayo QC, he told the court: We recognise the primary victim was this offenders sister and we have no doubt he bitterly regrets being the cause of her death, and the source of pain to his family. However, the judge added: In our view, this offence is a serious one, with the sentencing guidelines reflecting parliamentary and public disapproval of those who drive while under the influence of drink or drugs. We consider the sentence imposed was unduly lenient and an immediate term should be imposed. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Buckland said: The original sentence failed to take adequate account of the tragic loss of a young womans life. I believe that this sentence of immediate imprisonment properly reflects the seriousness of Mr Bonds offending. Mr Davis promised MPs there would be "a number of votes" on the final deal struck between the UK and EU (PA) MPs have taken back control of the Brexit process and inflicted a humiliating House of Commons defeat on Theresa May with the help of around a dozen Tory rebels. In a damaging blow to her already diminished authority, Tory rebels rallied around ringleader Dominic Grieve to back his attempt to ensure MPs have a meaningful vote on the withdrawal deal. A dramatic last-minute concession by justice minister Dominic Raab was dismissed as too late by Mr Grieve, whose amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill squeezed through the Commons on a majority of four amid tense scenes in the chamber. Tory Remainer Nicky Morgan tweeted: Tonight Parliament took control of the EU Withdrawal process, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the defeat as a humiliating loss of authority for Mrs May. 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 Amid intense scenes in the Commons as the division was called, would-be rebel Vicky Ford appeared to be wavering between division lobbies before being ushered towards the Government side by Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexiteer MP James Cleverly. She had asked Mr Raab to outline his concession, who told her he was making it crystal clear that there would be a meaningful vote before the withdrawal deal was put into UK law. As Mrs May prepared to travel to a Brussels summit on Thursday where European Union leaders are expected to rubber-stamp Brexit negotiations moving on to trade, Mr Corbyn said: This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the Government on the eve of the European Council meeting. 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 Labour has made the case since the referendum for a meaningful vote in Parliament on the terms of Britains withdrawal from the European Union. Theresa May has resisted democratic accountability. Her refusal to listen means she will now have to accept Parliament taking back control. 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 Government spokeswoman said: We are disappointed that Parliament has voted for this amendment despite the strong assurances that we have set out. We are as clear as ever that this Bill, and the powers within it, are essential. This amendment does not prevent us from preparing our statute book for exit day. We will now determine whether further changes are needed to the Bill to ensure it fulfils its vital purpose. 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 There were 11 Tory rebels in total, according to the official Commons list. Prominent Tory rebel Anna Soubry repeatedly shouted too late as Mr Raab outlined his concession and Government whips buzzed around the chamber in an attempt to win over MPs. After a night of high drama in the Commons, Ms Soubry told Sky News: Nobody takes any pleasure and certainly I dont when the Government loses a vote, these are important things. 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 But this was a really important moment because it was about actually delivering what the Government said it wanted to do, which was to have a meaningful vote in this place. The truth is Parliament has been excluded from the whole of the Brexit process and now were back in the frame and that means we can represent all our voters. She added: It was a stupid fight the Government fought, and they fought it very badly, and Im afraid they did themselves no favour. It (the rebellion) would have been higher but a number of my colleagues actually abstained because the Government made some sort of strange offer at the end. 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 Theyve just got to stop playing silly games with this, and theyve got to realise that this Bill was drafted before the general election, it was drafted to deliver a hard Brexit backed up with a majority of 100. Ms Soubry, who earlier revealed she had found a woman MP upset and shaken after a whip tried to persuade her not to revolt on Tuesday evening, hit out at the abuse faced by rebels. Just slagging people off and calling us mutineers and traitors and all the rest of it is not acceptable, she said. A baby girl who vanished after social workers raised concern about her welfare has been found safe and well in the wake of a High Court judges appeal for help. Rose Paduraru disappeared with seven-year-old sister Oliwia Ilksa and 12-year-old brother Krzysztof Ilksa about a month ago. Mr Justice Keehan appealed for help finding the youngsters shortly after they went missing, when analysing the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. The judge said he was very seriously concerned and particularly worried about Rose, who is nearly nine months old. He said the children had been living with their Polish mother, Joanna Ilksa, in Hillingdon, west London and disappeared shortly after another family court judge decided they should go into the care of social services bosses at Hillingdon Council. Social workers initially thought all three children had been taken out of Britain by a relative despite ports being on alert. They thought the children had flown from Stansted to Poland with their mothers mother, Barbara Wyrzykowska. However, on Wednesday, lawyers representing Hillingdon Council told the judge, at another High Court hearing, that Rose had been found in England. They said she had been placed temporarily with foster carers pending decisions about her long-term future. Lawyers said the two older children had been taken to Poland, adding they had started legal action aimed at getting the children returned to England. Roses mother and Romanian father Nelu Paduraru, both in their 20s, were arrested after lawyers representing Hillingdon Council suggested they might have breached a judges orders by not revealing all they know about the childrens whereabouts and could be in contempt of court. Mr Justice Keehan ruled that both could be released. The Duchess shares a word with Yahya Hussein Ali (7) and Ailise Taylor (7) as she is presented with flowers The Duchess speaks to a mother and a young child during her visit The Duchess of Cambridge helps with setting up the Rugby Portobello Trusts Christmas party, which included children affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, at its community centre in North Kensington yesterday Theresa May is to attend a memorial service for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, Downing Street has said. The Prime Minister will go to event at St Paul's Cathedral tomorrow before travelling to Brussels for an EU summit. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will also be present. Mrs May was booed and heckled by some residents when she visited the area in the immediate aftermath of the blaze amid criticism of the Government's response to the disaster. The service - six months on from the fire - has been organised at the request of survivors and will take the themes of remembrance, hope and unity. News of Mrs May's attendance emerged as bereaved families and a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for an overhaul of the public inquiry, declaring it would be a "tragedy" if their concerns were ignored. Sandra Ruiz, Karim Mussilhy and a teenage girl, who all lost loved ones in the blaze, joined former resident Nicholas Burton to deliver the 16,000-signature document to the Prime Minister. Clutching a green box with 'Grenfell' written inside a heart, the youngster, who asked not to be named, was greeted by staff at the door of Number 10. The petition is asking for a panel from a diverse range of backgrounds to sit alongside Sir Martin Moore-Bick at the public probe into the blaze. Ms Ruiz said in a statement to the Press afterwards: "It would be a tragedy if, again, we're ignored by those that we entrust with our safety and confidence in the inquiry is destroyed. "We hope the Prime Minister is listening and agrees to what are reasonable and proportionate requests." Later, the Duchess of Cambridge heard the stories of mothers caught up in the Grenfell Tower blaze when she visited a centre supporting the local community. Kate had a private informal meeting with a group of young women who have been helped by the Rugby Portobello Trust at its community centre in North Kensington. She even played Father Christmas, helping to hand out presents to children whose parents attend the Magic Mums group, many of whom were affected by the Grenfell inferno which claimed 71 lives, including that of a stillborn baby, and left hundreds homeless. The trust has been a key institution for survivors of the blaze, helping to distribute much-needed donated funds to families who lost everything in the fire. The duchess told a group of youngsters in a music therapy workshop: "It's amazing for all of you to have this support, particularly at such a difficult, such a tragic time." Health professionals fear those trying to rebuild their lives after the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze will be hit with a fresh wave of emotion, six months on from the fire. Extra mental health staff will be available over the Christmas period amid concern that it will be a particularly difficult time for families of the 71 people killed and those isolated in emergency accommodation. Staff will also attend a memorial service at St Pauls Cathedral, six months on from the fire on Thursday, in anticipation that it will trigger strong feelings in those attending, the Central and North West London NHS Trust (CNWL) 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 The trust has seen more than 1,800 people since the June 14 blaze through its screen and treat programme for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and GP appointments for broader Grenfell-related health concerns. It said many survivors were not ready to start treatment, with some reluctant to begin therapy without the stability of a permanent home. Robyn Doran, chief operating officer of CNWL, told the Press Association: Anniversaries are always difficult. And also key events such as Christmas and all other festive events in terms of different communities, because theyre a time that families come together, and we all know that from our own experiences of grief. So actually it will be the first birthdays, the first Christmas, things such as the memorial service. Most of us dont have to go through a memorial service and its really important that we have a memorial service but it will trigger things for people. And not all families have had the funerals yet, so that will also bring up things. So were expecting that it will trigger more emotions for people and its really important were there. Expand Close Painted hearts hang near Grenfell Tower (Dominic Lipinski/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Painted hearts hang near Grenfell Tower (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Louise Proctor, who heads the areas clinical commissioning group, said: We have to recognise this is a really difficult week. We have the inquiry, we have the memorial service, were in the run-up to a holiday period, so its almost all the more important that we are working with and through organisations like Grenfell United (a group set up by those who escaped the blaze) and some of the faith groups to really help connect directly with local people in the way that works for them. Ms Doran also praised the community around the tower in North Kensington for being an unprecedented source of support and strength in the months since the devastating fire. She said: We recognise its a privilege to work with this community. This community was on the ground since day one and they were delivering services themselves. They have continued to support each other in a way and actually demonstrate a pride in their community and actually support in each other in a way that Ive never seen before. She added: We recognise its really important we listen to them. There are a lot of skills in this community. Weve employed people from the community in our outreach services because we recognise thats really important, and were hoping that we can carry on working with them in the way we are to develop new models that will help them heal now and in the future. 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 trust has tried to be as flexible as possible from day one, she said, with staff providing support at funerals, escorting former residents on visits back to the tower, and taking support directly into hotels, where the majority of families remain. It has employed two survivors to work in its child mental health services and two people who live near the tower as psychology assistants to help with outreach. Staff have also changed the wording used to discuss treatment, after feedback that the clinical terminology was alienating people who considered themselves traumatised rather than experiencing mental health difficulties. Since the fire, 936 adults have been identified as being in urgent need of PTSD treatment, while 191 children and young people have been referred to the areas Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Some 536 patients are undergoing treatment, which has been completed by 62 adults and 40 children, the trust said. Local GPs have seen 956 patients for a variety of Grenfell-related concerns around well-being and physical health, about a quarter of whom have been screened for PTSD. The trust said the overall mental health response so far has cost more than 2 million, with 995,000 spent on the screen and treat programme. It also includes 615,000 on outreach, 331,000 on support for young people and 185,000 to other London agencies helping to provide services. The story of a baby born with her heart outside her body is one of the top stories in Wednesdays papers along with snaps from the latest Star Wars premiere and tales on fuel prices. Both The Sun and the Daily Mirror carry the story of Vanellope Hope Wilkins who was due on Christmas Eve before a rare condition meant she had to be born prematurely by caesarean section on November 22. She had her first surgery less than an hour after birth and is now making good progress at hospital in Leicester. 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 The Daily Telegraph leads with a story about a perfect storm of energy problems including supply issues and the winter freeze will mean bills increasing. 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 Leaked papers about corporate intelligence firms being paid to monitor groups that challenge their businesses lead The Guardian. 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 Financial Times carries a story about the media industry being reshaped as Walt Disney looks to add 20th Century Fox to its own studio. 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 While The Times reports that European Commission president Jean-Claude Junckers officials presented inaccurate information under oath when he was prime minister of Luxembourg. 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 Daily Mail runs with a report which claims Facebook and Twitter helped fuel a tide of vile abuse against Conservative election candidates. 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 Metro reports on the court case of Samuel Armstrong, chief aide to a Conservative MP, who faces a charge of rape which he denies. 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 While the i carries a story that Conservative MPs are to be summoned to Number 10 and ordered to focus on the environment to broaden the partys appeal. Remains of victims laid to rest at the Murambi Genocide Memorial, Rwanda A new report commissioned by Rwanda's government accuses France of supplying weapons and protection to the perpetrators of its 1994 genocide. Over 800,000 people were killed in the bloodletting. The report by US law firm Cunningham Levy Muse cites evidence that purportedly shows French complicity before, during and after the genocide by ethnic Hutu extremists against ethnic Tutsi and some Hutu moderates. French officials provided safe sanctuary to some genocide suspects and have obstructed attempts to bring them to justice, the report says. The report is "a damning summary of conduct by French officials" at the time of the genocide, Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in the report. The French foreign ministry said it has "taken note" of the report provided by the law firm "at the request of the Rwandan authorities". The statement said France is "fully committed to prosecuting those who took part" in the Rwandan genocide. It said the French legal system has already convicted several people and was examining several more cases. The new report underlines increasingly strained relations between France and Rwandan president Paul Kagame's government, which recently recalled its ambassador. Last year Rwanda published a list of 22 French senior military officers it accused of helping plan and carry out the genocide, including General Jacques Lanxade, France's army chief of staff from April 1991 to Sept. 1995. The publication of the list came after French investigators reopened an inquiry into the plane crash that killed Rwanda's president and sparked the genocide. Militants from the Hutu majority blamed minority Tutsis for the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, sparking the slaughter. The cause of the crash has been a contentious issue. The plane had a French crew. AP Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, centre, flanked by Jordan's King Abdullah II, left and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, at a photo-op prior to the opening session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul (AP) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has told an international summit that the United States was unfit to mediate the Mideast conflict. The statement marked a major policy shift after decades spent courting American goodwill. He announced the shift, which came in response to President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, at a summit of Muslim leaders that condemned the US move and called for world recognition of a Palestinian state with its capital in east Jerusalem. Mr Abbas said Mr Trump's decision was a "crime", which came at a time when the Palestinians were engaged with Washington in a new push to reach a long-elusive peace agreement with Israel, the "deal of our times". "Instead we got the slap of our times," Mr Abbas said. "The United States has chosen to lose its qualification as a mediator ... We will no longer accept that it has a role in the political process." He suggested the UN should take over as mediator. The summit of the 57-member Organisation of Muslim Cooperation concluded with the so-called Istanbul Declaration, outlining the bloc's response to Mr Trump's declaration. It called the decision "null and void" and urged Mr Trump to reconsider the move, which it said was an "unlawful decision that might trigger chaos in the region". Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hosted the summit, said it is "out of the question" for Washington to continue mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. "That process is now over," he said. An earlier draft communique had similarly declared the US role over, but it was not clear if that language was ultimately adopted by the attendees. Mr Erdogan said OIC members should look for a new mediator and consider taking the matter to the UN. In earlier remarks to the summit, he called Israel a "terror state." Jerusalem's status is at the core of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Mr Trump's December 6 announcement was widely perceived as siding with Israel. It also raised fears of more bloodshed as past crises over Jerusalem have triggered violence. Mr Abbas said the Palestinians remain committed to international resolutions, which have formed the basis of the peace process, urging Muslim nations and countries with relations with Israel to take measures "to force it to abide by international consensus" to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem. Last week, Mr Abbas' aides said the Palestinian leader would not meet with Mike Pence during the US vice president's planned visit to Israel and the West Bank next week. Mr Abbas had initially planned to meet with Pence in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, but two senior aides have said the meeting would not take place because of Mr Trump's change in policy on Jerusalem. King Abdullah II of Jordan told the gathering that Mr Trump's "grave" decision threatened the resumption of any peace talks. AP The coffin of former king of Romania Michael I in Switzerland before its journey home (AP) A coffin carrying the body of the late Romanian king Michael I has arrived at Bucharest's airport from Switzerland ahead of his funeral this weekend. The former king, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947, died on December 5 in Switzerland aged 96. Michael's five daughters and his estranged grandson Nicholas Medforth-Mills, who was stripped of his title in 2015, took part in Wednesday's ceremony at the airport, where flags were flown at half-mast. A military plane transported the coffin, which was covered in the royal coat of arms and placed on a dais. Orthodox priests performed a short religious service before the coffin left for Peles Castle in the mountain resort of Sinaia, where Michael was born on October 25 1921. Michael, who played a pivotal role in Romania's switch to the Allied cause following a coup in 1944, spent decades in exile working as a chicken farmer and aircraft pilot. He finally got his citizenship back in 1997, eight years after the collapse of communism. At the royal palace in Bucharest, where Michael's coffin will lie in state for two days before his funeral on Saturday, a handful of people paid their respects. Flickering candles, poems, flags, and hundreds of flowers, roses, lilies, carnations and poinsettias, symbols of the nation's grief, were placed on the palace railings. Retired psychologist Aurelia Turcu, 85, said Michael made "a radical contribution to our country's history in the Second World War and (showed) fantastic courage". She said the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty that ruled Romania from 1866 until Michael's abdication "brought civilisation and prosperity to us". She added: "I am convinced Romania would have been better with a monarchy." AP The trial could be postponed to give lawyers time to prepare A much-awaited trial involving the lone surviving suspect in the November 2015 extremist massacres in Paris looks set to be postponed. The move is due to the appointment of a defence lawyer who still needs time to prepare his client's case. A Belgian official close to the Paris attacks investigation said that Salah Abdeslam, currently held in France, "will not show up. There will be no transfer" to Brussels on Monday for the opening day of the court case. The trial relates to a shooting in 2016 in Brussels, some four months after the Paris attacks in November 2015. Belgian prosecutors allege Abdeslam was involved in the 2016 shooting when police were looking for him, when he was on the run from France. Abdeslam linked up with his former lawyer, Sven Mary, only days before he was to stand trial for the 2016 shooting in Brussels. The Belgian official said the case will officially open on Monday, explaining: "Mary will show up. "He will ask for a postponement and, as a rule, the postponement is granted." Abdeslam and two suspects were hiding in an apartment in Brussels when police arrived for a routine search of the flat. Three officers were injured in the shootout that followed and one suspect was killed. Abdeslam was captured a few days later in the flashpoint Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek. Abdeslam and one suspected accomplice face trial for attempted murder. He was caught soon after and a few days later Brussels was hit by a double extremist attack at the airport and the subway system that killed 32 people. In France, Abdeslam is also accused of being one of the attackers in the attacks of November 2015, which left 130 people dead. He is currently in prison in France and unlikely to face trial there for several years. AP Palestinian paramedic volunteers carry away an injured protester during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah The announcement that President Trump, on behalf of the United States of America, was recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been greeted with almost universal condemnation. Even the closest allies of the USA - the United Kingdom, France and Germany - have all severely criticised or condemned President Trump's decision. These countries and many others who are not hostile to Israel and are firm supporters of the Israeli state, are baffled by the recklessness of Trump's unilateral decision on behalf of America. They are fearful of this decision pushing an already seething Middle East into further strife and bloodshed. There was a predictably angry and, at times, violent reaction in the Palestinian territories and in the wider Arab and Muslim world. All of this has left the President unmoved; his decision, he delusionally says, is, " a magnificent tribute to peace" in the Middle East. He has argued that he is only recognising the facts on the ground; that Jerusalem is, in fact, administratively and politically the capital of Israel. On foot of this decision he will move the American embassy from Tel Aviv in the near future. While the movement of the embassy will seal the deal sometime in the future, it is his de jure recognition now that is the problem. What his decision does is two things. One, he is acting unilaterally against the international diplomatic consensus that regards the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem as unlawful and unacceptable. It is, in fact, contrary to United Nations Resolution 242, which has been the basic international position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for decades. This resolution calls for the withdrawal of Israel from all the Occupied Territories - including East Jerusalem. Secondly, he is acting in a partisan fashion and is seen to be officially siding with Israel on the final status of Jerusalem. Since the Oslo Accords in 1993, it has been agreed internationally that this sensitive and critical issue of Jerusalem must only be determined as part of a final comprehensive peace deal between Israel and Palestine. By throwing his lot in with the Israelis on this vitally important and sensitive issue of the status of the Holy City, he has abdicated the traditional role that the USA has held as an independent arbiter for peace in the region. Unfortunately, the USA is now unacceptable to the Palestinians as an independent peacemaker. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, in response to Trump's announcement, declared that: " The US is no longer qualified to sponsor the peace process." But there is also a wider and more fundamental problem that arises. And that is, by his actions, he has seriously - and perhaps fatally - undermined the goal of a two-state solution to the conflict. While, in recent years, the two-state solution has been for all intents and purposes on life support, it is at least an aspiration that the international community can work towards achieving. Sadly, the two-state solution is the only viable alternative to the status quo. The worst alternative is the terrifying prospect of all-out war. The two-state proposition is only notionally accepted by the present right-wing government of Prime Minister Netanyahu. For years Netanyahu has skilfully exploited the deadlocked situation to frustrate the development of a corresponding independent Palestinian state to that of Israel. Netanyahu has hailed Trump's declaration, saying that "the Jewish people and the Jewish state will be forever grateful". A wiser and more strategic Israeli leader, with a cleverer long-term view for Israel's peace and security, would surely have cautioned Trump by urging him to maintain the USA's role as an independent arbiter between the two peoples and to avoid the increased instability that this decision has undoubtedly created in the Middle East. Now, America is internationally isolated thanks to Trump's decision, and has forfeited its leading role in solving one of the world's most contentious and pressing problems. The problem will not go away, but has been made very much worse by Trump's misguided declaration. At the heart of all of this is a mutual antagonism and hostility between two Semitic peoples that prevents them from living together on a very small expanse of disputed territory. It sounds all very familiar. Back in Northern Ireland, we have conducted a successful peace process with great difficulty and created an imperfect political peace. That being so, we have something valuable to give to the Israelis and Palestinians by sharing our collective political experience in peace-building. Therefore we should be friends - albeit critical friends - of both the Israelis and Palestinians and truly help them to build a just and lasting peace. What we shouldn't do is to become partisan and take sides and thereby add to division and conflict that needs very little stoking. If anyone had any doubts about the centrality of Northern Ireland and the border issue to phase one of the UK-EU talks, then Friday's "agreement" laid them firmly to rest. Whereas on Monday last week the border and Northern Ireland, or rather the DUP, threatened to collapse the talks, by Friday they were pivotal in assuring a mutually acceptable, if interim, conclusion. This has paved the way to the second phase of the talks that will initially address the transitional period and, thereafter, the UK's wider trading relationship with the EU. In the space of three days Prime Minister Theresa May had persuaded her Irish counterpart (and thereby the EU as a whole), the DUP (grudgingly) and, thus far, Tory Brexiteers (or at least those who have so far gone public) that the negotiations must move on, intent as she obviously is on avoiding a "no deal" scenario (as an aside, I suspect we have now, thankfully, heard the last of the "no deal is better than a bad deal" mantra). How she accomplished this diplomatic feat is apparent from the 15 paragraphs (42-56) devoted to Ireland and Northern Ireland. As Jill Rutter of the London-based think-tank Institute for Government has observed, those paragraphs establish a triple-lock designed to resolve the land border question. First, and irrespective of the eventual outcome of the new trading relationship between the UK and the EU, the "agreement" reiterated the UK's guarantee that it would avoid the reinstatement of a hard border. Secondly, if there is a failure to agree a new UK/EU trading relationship (ie "no deal"), the UK will propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland - this looks remarkably akin to "special status" for Northern Ireland. But, thirdly, if that should fail, the UK will maintain "full alignment with those rules of the internal market" (ie the single market) "and customs union" (ie EU rules) "which now or in the future support north-south co-operation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Belfast Agreement". This safety-net provision implies, clearly, if push comes to shove and in order to secure a new trading relationship with the EU, that the UK will "align" with the rules of the customs union - although we do not, of course, have a clear understanding of what exactly such alignment means. We are in Humpty Dumpty land here, where words mean just what one wants them to mean. Yet, however one parses the term "alignment", it has much richer connotations for the advocates of a "soft Brexit" than their opponents. This is not all. The document removes the threat to unionists of a border in the Irish Sea; restates the UK's full support for Northern Ireland's status as an integral part of the UK consistent with the principle of consent; ensures that Northern Ireland businesses will continue to enjoy "unfettered access" to the UK internal market, and seeks to ensure that no new regulatory barriers will impede access to that market. But who on Earth would seek to erect such barriers? Furthermore, underscoring the continuing significance of north-south and east-west relationships under the terms of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the document states that in the next phase of negotiations there will be a "distinct strand" of work dedicated to realising the details of the proposed arrangements between both Northern Ireland and the Republic and the UK and the island of Ireland. Thus, the new "Irish question" will remain centre stage throughout the wider negotiating process. So, even if special status for Northern Ireland/EU relations does not eventually materialise, Northern Ireland will certainly enjoy special attention during phase two negotiations. There is also an implied incentive to restore devolution to Northern Ireland. Paragraph 50 of the document indicates that if none of its proposed arrangements are finally agreed, where a Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree that "distinct arrangements" (both north-south and east-west) "are appropriate for Northern Ireland" (another nod to "special status"), they may be implemented provided they are consistent with the 1998 Agreement. That clause could certainly encourage a debate among our politicians about expanding the nature and extent of cross-border co-operation. However, while nationalists would undoubtedly welcome such an opportunity, unionists would be much more cautious and probably highly reluctant to embark on such a path. Such conflicting attitudes might merely reinforce stasis on the Hill and by themselves are unlikely to foster a further round of local inter-party talks. So, where are we exactly regarding Brexit and Northern Ireland and the border? Quite frankly, still poised between very uncertain futures. The immediate reaction to last Friday's document was essentially one of relief rather than celebration, and for arch-Brexiteers, muttered anger: they perceive the Prime Minister as having capitulated to the EU on the divorce bill, the European Court of Justice's continuing role (until 2025) and what they understand as the looming prospect of soft Brexit threatened by "alignment" to the customs union. They, though, will draw comfort from the preliminary remarks in the document, which deploys what to us is a familiar phrase: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed." While the document has enabled the passage to phase two of the negotiations - the really difficult bit - the phrase, decoded, means "don't run ahead of yourselves, this could be nothing more than a wish-list". That may indeed turn out to be the case. If anything, the fact that the UK Cabinet has yet to discuss - let alone agree - the Government's preferred end-state of the negotiations provides considerable pause for thought. Though Brexiteer-in-chief Michael Gove (lest we forget, an opponent of the Good Friday Agreement) was at pains to praise the PM last Friday, he followed this up by stating that if voters dislike the final terms of withdrawal then they can change them at the next general election. As he put it, the UK electorate would, after the transition phase, have "full freedom to diverge from EU law on the single market and the customs union". Gove's remarks are, in effect, a classic case of having one's cake and eating it: not surprising, perhaps, from a man ambitious to succeed Mrs May. For now we are still in the foothills of the Brexit process, certainly no further on than base camp. While the border issue seems to have been resolved, how precisely it will remain seamless and frictionless - or 'bulletproof', to use Leo Varadkar's ill-chosen phrase - is by no means clear. As the Victorian poet Arthur Clough puts it, "say not the struggle nought availeth". For both Leavers and Remainers alike, his poem conveys belief in perseverance and hope: an appropriate text for our troubled and divided times. The struggle does, indeed, continue - not least at Westminster this very week. Rick Wilford is Professor of Politics at Queen's University, Belfast 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. Through this joint venture Cosmos and WMC intend to establish 100 acute hospitals and urgent care clinics throughout Pakistan. Thailands World Medical Central Hospital (WMCH) and Cosmos Health Services (CHS) have signed a joint venture to set up 100 acute hospitals across Pakistan. The main objective is to promote medical tourism and the latest technologies in the health sector. The World Medical Hospitals senior management has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cosmos Health Services for a first-ever joint venture between Pakistan and Thai healthcare consortium. World Medical Hospital (WMC) is the brand for a new hospital group in the premium tertiary care category by Bangkok Chain Hospital PCL (BCH). Cosmos Health Services (CHS) is Pakistans first premium hospital network that provides personalised healthcare with five-star amenities. Through this joint venture Cosmos and WMC intend to establish 100 acute hospitals and urgent care clinics throughout Pakistan as well as promote medical tourism in the country. 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 Accelerated immunization will cover nearly 255 000 children in Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts in Coxs Bazar, while the Government and health partners continue to increase support for diphtheria treatment and prevention The Government of Bangladesh has recently launched a vaccination campaign with the support of UNICEF, the World Health Organization and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance against diphtheria and other preventable diseases for all Rohingya children aged 6 weeks to 6 years living in 12 camps and temporary settlements near the Myanmar border. Accelerated immunization will cover nearly 255 000 children in Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts in Coxs Bazar, while the Government and health partners continue to increase support for diphtheria treatment and prevention. Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh said, Diphtheria usually appears among vulnerable populations that have not received routine vaccinations, such as the Rohingyas. The outbreak shows a steep rise in cases, an indicator of the extreme vulnerability of children in the Rohingya camps and settlements. This calls for immediate action to protect them from this killer disease. Vaccination provides effective prevention. According to the recent data from the WHO Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), 722 probable diphtheria cases, including 9 deaths, in the camps and makeshift settlements hosting the refugees, between 12 November and 10 December. Dr Abul Kalam Azad, Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh said, The Government of Bangladesh will do everything necessary to contain this outbreak. We thank WHO, UNICEF and other health partners for their swift response to the request of the Government to combat this diphtheria outbreak, and for continuously supporting our efforts to provide essential health services for these vulnerable people. The children are being administered pentavalent vaccines (which protects against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, Haemophilus Influenzae, and hepatitis B), pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) and bivalent oral polio vaccine. The Serum Institute of India has donated 300 000 doses of pentavalent vaccines for use in the response. WHO and UNICEF are working with communities to ensure that they are aware of the signs and symptoms of diphtheria, and that they can access treatment as quickly as possible. Dr Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Bangladesh said, We are moving quickly to control this diphtheria outbreak before it spins out of control. The vaccines will help protect every Rohingya child in these temporary settlements from falling prey to the deadly disease. Beyond vaccinations, we are helping health workers to clinically manage suspected cases, trace their contacts, and ensure sufficient supplies of medicines. WHO is procuring 2 000 doses of diphtheria anti-toxins to treat diphtheria patients. Nearly 345 doses were hand carried by WHO from Delhi to Coxs Bazar. MATTOON -- This year marks a first for the long-running Read Across Mattoon program, which is geared to improve literacy among student and community members in the city. The Mattoon Reads Student Reading Committee, a student-led selection group at Mattoon Middle School, chose a non-fiction work titled I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives written by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch for the program. (Previously) they went so far as to immediately vote off the non-fiction books before they even looked at them, said Ingrid Minger, Read Across Mattoon coordinator. This year we gave every single book a chance...whether it was fiction or whether it was non-fiction. And Minger was a surprised to see their choice move outside of fiction. The book was chosen from among 20 books from the Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award list of volumes as well as a few others recommended by students. Starting in spring this year, the committee of students read through each book, then debated on what book should be chosen. The kids just loved this book, Minger said. They loved the triumph that Martin kept showing again and again. The book details the story of the two of the authors, Alifirenka and Ganda, and their story starting as fourth-grade pen pals and continuing over the span of six years, a time period that ended up changing both of their lives forever, according to the back cover description. Minger said Alifirenka and her family end up saving Gandas life through financial assistance. The book is dual memoir written by the Alifirenka, a girl from Pennsylvania, and Ganda, who was a poor boy from Zimbabwe, Minger said. The two, especially Ganda, went through a lot. Throughout all this, they promised to always write back, Minger said. Minger said the debate over the choice shifted between this book and House Arrest by K.A. Holt. "It was a gripping book," Lance Chaney of the selection committee said. "I couldn't put it down when I was reading it. I read 125 pages on the first day... It was a relationship they can really relate too." Chaney did not read the chosen book until after it was selected. However, upon reading it, Chaney noted it would have been his pick as well. Another committee member, Sage Owen, said she was drawn to it because it was an uncommon pen pal success story. "Most of the time when you write a pen pal, it always falls through," Owen said. "This is a good story where something actually works out." As part of the program, the committee is now charging students and community members to pick up and read the title. Unlike in previous years, the titles copies will be exclusively be located in the front office of the Mattoon Middle School. We decided to change it just a little to see if we could get more community members to stop by the school, Minger said. A copy of the book is free, but there is a limited supply. Approximately 1,000 copies were purchased as part of the Mattoon Reads program. Also as part of the program, Ganda is coming into town to speak with interested students and community members about the book at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Lone Elm Room in the Mattoon train depot. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Infrastructure unveiled four options for the future Daly Overpass at a public open house at the Victoria Inn and Hotel Convention Centre on Tuesday evening. The estimated $60-million project will be a major undertaking, with all options impacting nearby businesses and homes in some way. Weve already been out and spoke to the people directly who are impacted, said Ruth Eden, executive director of structures with Manitoba Infrastructure. We prefer to do that, because theyre the ones that are impacted; they get to hear it first But then tonight is now the opportunity for the general public to come and give us their feedback. Manitoba Infrastructure Option 1 keeps the new structures roughly on the existing alignment, but slightly west to maintain two lanes of traffic during construction. Bigger red dots indicate businesses and/or buildings that would be purchased; smaller red dots indicate homes that would be purchased; green chevrons indicate where modifications to private vehicle access would take place. The new overpass will consist of two separate structures, each with two lanes. This is similar to the recently opened First Street bridge, as well as the Thompson Bridge on 18th Street. According to Manitoba Infrastructure, the new structures will have a more gradual gradient than the existing bridge, which will improve sightlines and safety for motorists. The design will include a pathway on each side for pedestrians and cyclists. Eden explained that Options 1 and 2 have the same construction concept as what was done for the First Street bridge. Initially, two lanes were removed from the four-lane structure, with a new two-lane structure built. Once that was complete, traffic was allowed on the new First Street bridge so the second structure could be completed. The only little difference that we have at Daly, is its three lanes, she said. To maintain two lanes of traffic throughout the construction process, only one lane would be shut down initially. With one option were shifting everything a little to the east, and with the other option were shifting everything a little to the west, Eden said. Manitoba Infrastructure Daly Overpass Option 2 keeps the new structures roughly on the existing alignment, but slightly east, to maintain two lanes of traffic during construction. This option impacts fewer homes and businesses than Option 1. Bigger red dots indicate businesses and/or buildings that would be purchased; smaller red dots indicate homes that would be purchased; green chevrons indicate where modifications to private vehicle access would take place. The other two options propose a much bigger shift, either to the east or to the west. Were actually keeping the existing bridge open, so were building totally on new alignment, Eden said, describing Options 3 and 4 as bubbling out and around the existing bridge. As part of the Daly Overpass project, the province is working with the City of Brandon on a new Pacific Avenue extension from 18th Street and 26th Street. For years, the Daly Overpass has created a bottleneck situation on 18th Street, due to it only having one northbound lane. The structure is nearly 55 years old. Its expansion had been identified as a priority by the previous city council, in 2013. But when structural issues were discovered on the First Street bridge, the Daly Overpass was bumped down the list. Jim Millard, a longtime Brandon resident, said he is looking forward to a new structure that will ease traffic problems. Manitoba Infrastructure Daly Overpass Option 3 moves the alignment further east to maintain three lanes of traffic during construction. Construction is quicker as both new structures are built at once. Least impact on private and municipal utilities. This option impacts fewer homes and businesses than Options 1 and 2. Bigger red dots indicate businesses and/or buildings that would be purchased; smaller red dots indicate homes that would be purchased; green chevrons indicate where modifications to private vehicle access would take place. Sometimes people are backed up all the way past Park Avenue, Millard said. I like number 2, but number 3 is OK too because it doesnt require taking down too many buildings. Millie Boschman, who lives in Monterey Estates, said after looking at all the information, Option 3 is her preference. It seems to impact fewer businesses and residents, as well as utilities, she said. I think its going to go smoothly Im excited that its finally going to take place. Brandon Police Service Chief Wayne Balcaen said his main concerns are safety and cost. I want to make sure that its the best bang for our dollar, and also safety for our motoring public, as well as our pedestrian public and active transportation, he said. Manitoba Infrastructure Option 4 moves the alignment further to the west, to maintain three lanes of traffic during construction. Construction is quicker as both new structures are built at once. Significant impacts to private and municipal utilities. This option impacts the most hones and businesses. Bigger red dots indicate businesses and/or buildings that would be purchased; smaller red dots indicate homes that would be purchased; green chevrons indicate where modifications to private vehicle access would take place. The new bridge will not only be safer, he said, it will be more convenient. Some people I know specifically use First Street because they dont want to go to 18th Street and get caught up theyll go the extra distance, 18 blocks to do the First Street bridge rather than to deal with the 18th, Balcaen said. Brandon East Progressive Conservative MLA Len Isleifson said a new overpass is long overdue. When you talk about bottleneck, its not just for today, but in the future, he said. When we look at expansion, whether it be south, or north, we have a lot of people, not just the residents of Brandon, but 180,000 Westman people that shop here. The province is working with Landmark Planning and Design as well as Dillon Consulting on this project. The next step will be evaluating options and feedback, and selecting a preferred option. Options will be evaluated by a team taking into account a variety of considerations, such as safety, property acquisition, environment, business/residential impacts, construction traffic, neighbourhood impact, esthetics, functionality, schedule, railway implications and cost, among others. Manitoba Infrastructure The yellow portion indicates the project construction area, while the purple dots highlight businesses, homes and amenities directly adjacent to the project area. Eden said they expect to present a preferred option to the public by early summer. Then we would start detailed design, and we would also get our environmental approval for the project, Eden said. We need to purchase the land and once all of that is done, then we can start construction. As it is in the very early stages, the timeline is still up in the air. But they do know it will take two years to complete. We thank everybody for coming out, Eden said. We hope that it was worthwhile, and that you got the information that you were looking for. The conceptual options are available online at landmarkplanning.ca. Manitoba Infrastructure welcomes feedback by calling 204-945-3744, toll-free at 1-866-626-4862 or by emailing mgi@gov.mb.ca. Jillian Austin/The Brandon Sun Four options for the new Daly Overpass were presented at a public open house held Tuesday. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter: @jillianaustin Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/12/2017 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. An expectant mother in Rapid City is in mourning after her husband, who was building the home where they were supposed to start their family, died in a construction accident. Whitney Roberts launched an online donation page on Sunday to help her longtime friend Caryn Waldon focus on herself and her future baby without being troubled by their finances. More than $22,000 was raised for Caryn and Baby Waldon as of Tuesday evening. YouCaring photo Caryn Waldon, right, is mourning the death of her husband Bryce, whom she married in April, after he died in an accident while building their home. An online fundraiser has raised in excess of $22,000 for Caryn and her future baby. Shes going to be raising this baby on her own, Roberts said of her friend who she grew up with in Deloraine. Shes gone from two incomes, counting on Bryce to help support her and the baby while shes off (work), to now doing everything on her own. We just want to take away a little bit of stress. Caryns husband, Bryce Vincent Waldon, died on Dec. 2 in an accident that occurred while he was building their home at the family farm in Rapid City. He was 33. The couple was living at Bryces parents home in Rapid City. They intended to move into their new home, which Bryce was planning to spend much of the winter building, before their first born arrived. The due date for their baby is Feb. 19, 2018. Everything was really perfect, Roberts said, and now her life is completely turned upside down. They tied the knot in Brandon only months earlier, on April 15 of this year. They were one of those couples that were perfect for each other, they were truly, truly in love, Roberts said. In the days since Bryces death, Roberts has come across many people, even those who only knew him in passing, marvelling at how friendly and approachable Bryce was to everyone he met. He loved his hometown of Rapid City, too, doing a lot of work at the local rink to keep it running. On a website set up for their wedding, Caryn wrote it was love at first sight when she met Bryce at the Barn Bar, which Roberts said happened at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon a few years ago. We met that night and have been inseparable ever since!!! Caryn elaborated. Caryn taught Bryce to use a cell phone, and Bryce taught Caryn to clean! Son of Donald and Loretta Waldon, Bryce worked as a grain farmer. He was also employed as an electrician on the side with his brother. Roberts described the online fundraiser as a way to give back to her selfless friend. She recalls one example when Caryn, an operating room nurse at the Brandon Regional Health Centre, was helping a sister of a co-worker, newly arrived in Canada. They needed an American visa but didnt have the means to get to Calgary. On her own accord, Caryn drove with the family to Alberta to get the documentation. And once a member of the family got their drivers licence, Bryce lent them a vehicle for a few months, and later, the couple gave them money to buy their own vehicle. We found out about this, just by chance, Roberts said. Shes just got a good heart. To donate, visit the YouCaring page at youcaring.com/carynwaldon-1039442. ifroese@brandonsun.com Twitter: @ianfroese Wednesday, December 13, 2017 Looking For A Legacy: New PAC Comes With Ads Bolstering Martinez And Mayor Keller Has A Pet Project Ahead Of Him In a radio spot the PAC tries to make lemonade out of lemons when it comes to the state's high jobless rate by wrapping Martinez in the arms of Facebook: It was Facebook official. Gov. Susana Martinez went to California, convinced Facebook to come to New Mexico, creating nearly a thousand jobs. And just last week more big news. Facebook announced its investment will now be $1 billion in New Mexico, tripling their size and creating even more jobs. Fact check: Facebook is planning on spending $1 billion over the next five years to build its Los Lunas data farm, but the number of permanent jobs when it's all done will only be about 300. The big boost will be the temporary construction jobs. Back to the spot: New Mexico was hit hard by the federal budget crunch, by federal defense cuts, then again by the global oil crash--factors outside our control. But we're coming back thanks to Gov. Martinez and local leaders fighting to make New Mexico more competitive, less dependent on federal spending. By cutting taxes 37 times small business are growing and we're attracting big companies like Facebook. That's why New Mexico was recently named top ten in the nation in private sector job growth. Call Gov. Martinez and tell her to keep fighting to grow jobs in New Mexico. . . The state has indeed been hurt by external factors like federal spending, but shortly upon taking office Martinez closed the state office in DC that watchdogged federal funding. As for making the state less dependent on federal spending, we have yet to reclaim the employment level sfrom when the recession started ten years ago and continue to have a declining or stagnant population growth. As for cutting taxes 37 times, most of that is a reference to various tax cuts already on the books and being automatically renewed. Her big tax cut was the 2013 reduction in the corporate income tax. However, that tax has ended up costing the state much more than predicted and the gobs of corporate jobs promised as a result of the tax cut have not materialized. The spot is right in saying there has been recent private sector Gov. Martinez's popularity has plummeted into the 30's and there's no reason to believe it will rebound. The slick radio spot does its best to make wine out of water but the fact is Martineznomics has not been a success. ABOUT LEGACY A reader who follows such matters says Legacy PAC is organized The PAC also put out a mailer that you can see LIGHT GUV Given the recent news backdrop it's probably a good time to note that And we stopped in at the ABQ downtown Joe, if a strong female candidate got into the Dem lieutenant governor race she could clean up the field. What about BernCo Assessor Tanya Giddings or state Sen. Linda Lopez who has run for the position before or former BernCo Commissioner Deanna Archuleta? This looks like an opportunity but it is passing quickly. Okay, ladies, start your engines. Reader Michele Connelly writes: Speaking as an out gay woman whos lived and worked rurally in NM for 37 years, youre exactly right, Joe, that Javier Gonzales being gay would be an issue in the lieutenant governor race in rural NM. Your critics are the dinosaurs" for not getting out of the metro corridor and experiencing something other than New Mexico Magazine. His being Hispanic (a plus in most of the state) would be canceled out by being from Santa Fe (anywhere south and east of the metro). And while he wouldnt be accosted or slurred for being gay there arent enough rural Dem voters for whom being led by one isnt an issue. I doubt its radical feminism as much as the basic city/country split. Dont get caught up in the nonsense! Thanks for that, Michele. In this era nonsense abounds. LUCK FOR LUDWICK? Ludwick (Bralley) Mayor Keller is busy looking over all the department directors that now fall under his command. This Alligator games out the maneuvering to head one important agency: An upcoming appointment could have animal lovers who voted for Keller wondering if they made the right choice. Mayor Keller could make a misstep in hiring Jim Ludwick as his Albuquerque Animal Welfare director. Mr. Ludwick has been lobbying hard for the post and campaigned for Keller. Ludwick was apparently instrumental in the ABQ Journal's story, throwing the then shelter director under the bus, alleging that Animal Welfare was adopting out "dangerous dogs." Mr. Ludwick in fact lacks any education or experience with animals, and does not have the support of shelter staff or volunteers. The shelter is currently a bright spot for Albuquerque. It has great public support and, under its past few directors, has greatly increased its adoption rates and lowered its euthanasia rates. The picture would likely grow far dimmer under a Ludwick leadership, who appears to favor the type of outdated and debunked breed-specific regulations that cost the city of Montreal its reputation and important tourist dollars. Ludwick, an animal analyst, is a former ABQ Journal City Hall reporter who went to work for the agency under Mayor Chavez and then under Mayor Berry became a whistle blower about his boss, Director Barbara Bruin. She was forced out of the department in '16 after accusations that she released dangerous dogs for adoption rather than have them euthanized. She disputed the charges and was given another position within the department. The director position has been a hot seat. The latest director Maybe the mayor goes out of state for a director to cool things down and keep the barking at animal welfare at a minimum? This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. ( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017 It's the Legacy PAC and it's trying mightily to create a legacy for Governor Susana Martinez who enters her final year as governor January 1 and who has by most accounts a thin record of wins.In a radio spot the PAC tries to make lemonade out of lemons when it comes to the state's high jobless rate by wrapping Martinez in the arms of Facebook:Fact checkFacebookis planning on spending $1 billion over the next five years to build its Los Lunas data farm, but the number of permanent jobs when it's all done will only be about 300. The big boost will be the temporary construction jobs.Back to the spot:The state has indeed been hurt by external factors like federal spending, but shortly upon taking office Martinez closed the state office in DC that watchdogged federal funding. As for making the state less dependent on federal spending, we have yet to reclaim the employment level sfrom when the recession started ten years ago and continue to have a declining or stagnant population growth.As for cutting taxes 37 times, most of that is a reference to various tax cuts already on the books and being automatically renewed. Her big tax cut was the 2013 reduction in the corporate income tax. However, that tax has ended up costing the state much more than predicted and the gobs of corporate jobs promised as a result of the tax cut have not materialized.The spot is right in saying there has been recent private sector employment growth , but the jobs being created are mainly of the low-paying variety.Gov. Martinez's popularity has plummeted into the 30's and there's no reason to believe it will rebound. The slick radio spot does its best to make wine out of water but the fact is Martineznomics has not been a success.A reader who follows such matters says Legacy PAC is organized as a (501 (c) (4) for which records are hard to come by and none could be found, but our Republican reader reports that they believe the PAC spent only about $7,000 for the radio buy.The PAC also put out a mailer that you can see here . Martinez's longtime political consultant Jay McCleskey is heading up this PAC as he has with others in the past.Given the recent news backdrop it's probably a good time to note that no lieutenant governor in state history has ever been elected in their own right to the office of Governor. Two lieutenant governors have assumed the governorship upon the death of the executive and another via a gubernatorial resignation but none of them were later elected. John Sanchez, the current Lt. Governor, has decided not to make a Guv run in '18.And we stopped in at the ABQ downtown Brixens where new ABQ Mayor Keller is sometimes spotted. It was a a good tip as we immediately ran into one of the Alligators who laid this on us:Okay, ladies, start your engines.Reader Michele Connelly writes:Thanks for that, Michele. In this era nonsense abounds.Mayor Keller is busy looking over all the department directors that now fall under his command. This Alligator games out the maneuvering to head one important agency:Ludwick, an animal analyst, is a former ABQ Journal City Hall reporter who went to work for the agency under Mayor Chavez and then under Mayor Berry became a whistle blower about his boss, Director Barbara Bruin. She was forced out of the department in '16 after accusations that she released dangerous dogs for adoption rather than have them euthanized. She disputed the charges and was given another position within the department.The director position has been a hot seat. The latest director resigned amid controversy as soon as Keller took over. The department is currently being supervised by interim Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Rael.Maybe the mayor goes out of state for a director to cool things down and keep the barking at animal welfare at a minimum?This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Links HOME E-MAIL ME About Joe Google News Real Clear Politics Huffington Post Drudge Report The Politico New Mexico newspapers NM TV stations Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham NM Legislature Archives Select: 9/28/03 - 10/5/03 10/5/03 - 10/12/03 10/12/03 - 10/19/03 10/19/03 - 10/26/03 10/26/03 - 11/2/03 11/2/03 - 11/9/03 11/9/03 - 11/16/03 11/16/03 - 11/23/03 11/23/03 - 11/30/03 11/30/03 - 12/7/03 12/7/03 - 12/14/03 12/14/03 - 12/21/03 12/21/03 - 12/28/03 12/28/03 - 1/4/04 1/4/04 - 1/11/04 1/11/04 - 1/18/04 1/18/04 - 1/25/04 1/25/04 - 2/1/04 2/1/04 - 2/8/04 2/8/04 - 2/15/04 2/15/04 - 2/22/04 2/22/04 - 2/29/04 2/29/04 - 3/7/04 3/7/04 - 3/14/04 3/14/04 - 3/21/04 3/21/04 - 3/28/04 3/28/04 - 4/4/04 4/4/04 - 4/11/04 4/11/04 - 4/18/04 4/18/04 - 4/25/04 4/25/04 - 5/2/04 5/2/04 - 5/9/04 5/9/04 - 5/16/04 5/16/04 - 5/23/04 5/23/04 - 5/30/04 5/30/04 - 6/6/04 6/6/04 - 6/13/04 6/13/04 - 6/20/04 6/20/04 - 6/27/04 6/27/04 - 7/4/04 7/4/04 - 7/11/04 7/11/04 - 7/18/04 7/18/04 - 7/25/04 7/25/04 - 8/1/04 8/1/04 - 8/8/04 8/8/04 - 8/15/04 8/15/04 - 8/22/04 8/22/04 - 8/29/04 8/29/04 - 9/5/04 9/5/04 - 9/12/04 9/12/04 - 9/19/04 9/19/04 - 9/26/04 9/26/04 - 10/3/04 10/3/04 - 10/10/04 10/10/04 - 10/17/04 10/17/04 - 10/24/04 10/24/04 - 10/31/04 10/31/04 - 11/7/04 11/7/04 - 11/14/04 11/14/04 - 11/21/04 11/21/04 - 11/28/04 11/28/04 - 12/5/04 12/5/04 - 12/12/04 12/12/04 - 12/19/04 12/19/04 - 12/26/04 1/2/05 - 1/9/05 1/9/05 - 1/16/05 1/16/05 - 1/23/05 1/23/05 - 1/30/05 1/30/05 - 2/6/05 2/6/05 - 2/13/05 2/13/05 - 2/20/05 2/20/05 - 2/27/05 2/27/05 - 3/6/05 3/6/05 - 3/13/05 3/13/05 - 3/20/05 3/20/05 - 3/27/05 3/27/05 - 4/3/05 4/3/05 - 4/10/05 4/10/05 - 4/17/05 4/17/05 - 4/24/05 4/24/05 - 5/1/05 5/1/05 - 5/8/05 5/8/05 - 5/15/05 5/15/05 - 5/22/05 5/22/05 - 5/29/05 5/29/05 - 6/5/05 6/5/05 - 6/12/05 6/12/05 - 6/19/05 6/19/05 - 6/26/05 6/26/05 - 7/3/05 7/3/05 - 7/10/05 7/10/05 - 7/17/05 7/17/05 - 7/24/05 7/24/05 - 7/31/05 7/31/05 - 8/7/05 8/7/05 - 8/14/05 8/14/05 - 8/21/05 8/21/05 - 8/28/05 8/28/05 - 9/4/05 9/4/05 - 9/11/05 9/11/05 - 9/18/05 9/18/05 - 9/25/05 9/25/05 - 10/2/05 10/2/05 - 10/9/05 10/9/05 - 10/16/05 10/16/05 - 10/23/05 10/23/05 - 10/30/05 10/30/05 - 11/6/05 11/6/05 - 11/13/05 11/13/05 - 11/20/05 11/20/05 - 11/27/05 11/27/05 - 12/4/05 12/4/05 - 12/11/05 12/11/05 - 12/18/05 12/18/05 - 12/25/05 1/1/06 - 1/8/06 1/8/06 - 1/15/06 1/15/06 - 1/22/06 1/22/06 - 1/29/06 1/29/06 - 2/5/06 2/5/06 - 2/12/06 2/12/06 - 2/19/06 2/19/06 - 2/26/06 2/26/06 - 3/5/06 3/5/06 - 3/12/06 3/12/06 - 3/19/06 3/19/06 - 3/26/06 3/26/06 - 4/2/06 4/2/06 - 4/9/06 4/9/06 - 4/16/06 4/16/06 - 4/23/06 4/23/06 - 4/30/06 4/30/06 - 5/7/06 5/7/06 - 5/14/06 5/14/06 - 5/21/06 5/21/06 - 5/28/06 5/28/06 - 6/4/06 6/4/06 - 6/11/06 6/11/06 - 6/18/06 6/18/06 - 6/25/06 6/25/06 - 7/2/06 7/9/06 - 7/16/06 7/16/06 - 7/23/06 7/23/06 - 7/30/06 7/30/06 - 8/6/06 8/6/06 - 8/13/06 8/13/06 - 8/20/06 8/20/06 - 8/27/06 8/27/06 - 9/3/06 9/3/06 - 9/10/06 9/10/06 - 9/17/06 9/17/06 - 9/24/06 9/24/06 - 10/1/06 10/1/06 - 10/8/06 10/8/06 - 10/15/06 10/15/06 - 10/22/06 10/22/06 - 10/29/06 10/29/06 - 11/5/06 11/5/06 - 11/12/06 11/12/06 - 11/19/06 11/19/06 - 11/26/06 11/26/06 - 12/3/06 12/3/06 - 12/10/06 12/10/06 - 12/17/06 12/17/06 - 12/24/06 12/31/06 - 1/7/07 1/7/07 - 1/14/07 1/14/07 - 1/21/07 1/21/07 - 1/28/07 1/28/07 - 2/4/07 2/4/07 - 2/11/07 2/11/07 - 2/18/07 2/18/07 - 2/25/07 2/25/07 - 3/4/07 3/4/07 - 3/11/07 3/11/07 - 3/18/07 3/18/07 - 3/25/07 3/25/07 - 4/1/07 4/1/07 - 4/8/07 4/8/07 - 4/15/07 4/15/07 - 4/22/07 4/22/07 - 4/29/07 4/29/07 - 5/6/07 5/6/07 - 5/13/07 5/13/07 - 5/20/07 5/20/07 - 5/27/07 5/27/07 - 6/3/07 6/3/07 - 6/10/07 6/10/07 - 6/17/07 6/17/07 - 6/24/07 6/24/07 - 7/1/07 7/1/07 - 7/8/07 7/8/07 - 7/15/07 7/15/07 - 7/22/07 7/22/07 - 7/29/07 7/29/07 - 8/5/07 8/5/07 - 8/12/07 8/12/07 - 8/19/07 8/19/07 - 8/26/07 8/26/07 - 9/2/07 9/2/07 - 9/9/07 9/9/07 - 9/16/07 9/16/07 - 9/23/07 9/23/07 - 9/30/07 9/30/07 - 10/7/07 10/7/07 - 10/14/07 10/14/07 - 10/21/07 10/21/07 - 10/28/07 10/28/07 - 11/4/07 11/4/07 - 11/11/07 11/11/07 - 11/18/07 11/18/07 - 11/25/07 11/25/07 - 12/2/07 12/2/07 - 12/9/07 12/9/07 - 12/16/07 12/16/07 - 12/23/07 12/23/07 - 12/30/07 12/30/07 - 1/6/08 1/6/08 - 1/13/08 1/13/08 - 1/20/08 1/20/08 - 1/27/08 1/27/08 - 2/3/08 2/3/08 - 2/10/08 2/10/08 - 2/17/08 2/17/08 - 2/24/08 2/24/08 - 3/2/08 3/2/08 - 3/9/08 3/9/08 - 3/16/08 3/16/08 - 3/23/08 3/23/08 - 3/30/08 3/30/08 - 4/6/08 4/6/08 - 4/13/08 4/13/08 - 4/20/08 4/20/08 - 4/27/08 4/27/08 - 5/4/08 5/4/08 - 5/11/08 5/11/08 - 5/18/08 5/18/08 - 5/25/08 5/25/08 - 6/1/08 6/1/08 - 6/8/08 6/8/08 - 6/15/08 6/15/08 - 6/22/08 6/22/08 - 6/29/08 6/29/08 - 7/6/08 7/6/08 - 7/13/08 7/13/08 - 7/20/08 7/20/08 - 7/27/08 7/27/08 - 8/3/08 8/3/08 - 8/10/08 8/10/08 - 8/17/08 8/17/08 - 8/24/08 8/24/08 - 8/31/08 8/31/08 - 9/7/08 9/7/08 - 9/14/08 9/14/08 - 9/21/08 9/21/08 - 9/28/08 9/28/08 - 10/5/08 10/5/08 - 10/12/08 10/12/08 - 10/19/08 10/19/08 - 10/26/08 10/26/08 - 11/2/08 11/2/08 - 11/9/08 11/9/08 - 11/16/08 11/16/08 - 11/23/08 11/23/08 - 11/30/08 11/30/08 - 12/7/08 12/7/08 - 12/14/08 12/14/08 - 12/21/08 12/21/08 - 12/28/08 12/28/08 - 1/4/09 1/4/09 - 1/11/09 1/11/09 - 1/18/09 1/18/09 - 1/25/09 1/25/09 - 2/1/09 2/1/09 - 2/8/09 2/8/09 - 2/15/09 2/15/09 - 2/22/09 2/22/09 - 3/1/09 3/1/09 - 3/8/09 3/8/09 - 3/15/09 3/15/09 - 3/22/09 3/22/09 - 3/29/09 3/29/09 - 4/5/09 4/5/09 - 4/12/09 4/12/09 - 4/19/09 4/19/09 - 4/26/09 4/26/09 - 5/3/09 5/3/09 - 5/10/09 5/10/09 - 5/17/09 5/17/09 - 5/24/09 5/24/09 - 5/31/09 5/31/09 - 6/7/09 6/7/09 - 6/14/09 6/14/09 - 6/21/09 6/21/09 - 6/28/09 6/28/09 - 7/5/09 7/5/09 - 7/12/09 7/12/09 - 7/19/09 7/19/09 - 7/26/09 7/26/09 - 8/2/09 8/2/09 - 8/9/09 8/9/09 - 8/16/09 8/16/09 - 8/23/09 8/23/09 - 8/30/09 8/30/09 - 9/6/09 9/6/09 - 9/13/09 9/13/09 - 9/20/09 9/20/09 - 9/27/09 9/27/09 - 10/4/09 10/4/09 - 10/11/09 10/11/09 - 10/18/09 10/18/09 - 10/25/09 10/25/09 - 11/1/09 11/1/09 - 11/8/09 11/8/09 - 11/15/09 11/15/09 - 11/22/09 11/22/09 - 11/29/09 11/29/09 - 12/6/09 12/6/09 - 12/13/09 12/13/09 - 12/20/09 12/20/09 - 12/27/09 12/27/09 - 1/3/10 1/3/10 - 1/10/10 1/10/10 - 1/17/10 1/17/10 - 1/24/10 1/24/10 - 1/31/10 1/31/10 - 2/7/10 2/7/10 - 2/14/10 2/14/10 - 2/21/10 2/21/10 - 2/28/10 2/28/10 - 3/7/10 3/7/10 - 3/14/10 3/14/10 - 3/21/10 3/21/10 - 3/28/10 3/28/10 - 4/4/10 4/4/10 - 4/11/10 4/11/10 - 4/18/10 4/18/10 - 4/25/10 4/25/10 - 5/2/10 5/2/10 - 5/9/10 5/9/10 - 5/16/10 5/16/10 - 5/23/10 5/23/10 - 5/30/10 5/30/10 - 6/6/10 6/6/10 - 6/13/10 6/13/10 - 6/20/10 6/20/10 - 6/27/10 6/27/10 - 7/4/10 7/4/10 - 7/11/10 7/11/10 - 7/18/10 7/18/10 - 7/25/10 7/25/10 - 8/1/10 8/1/10 - 8/8/10 8/8/10 - 8/15/10 8/15/10 - 8/22/10 8/22/10 - 8/29/10 8/29/10 - 9/5/10 9/5/10 - 9/12/10 9/12/10 - 9/19/10 9/19/10 - 9/26/10 9/26/10 - 10/3/10 10/3/10 - 10/10/10 10/10/10 - 10/17/10 10/17/10 - 10/24/10 10/24/10 - 10/31/10 10/31/10 - 11/7/10 11/7/10 - 11/14/10 11/14/10 - 11/21/10 11/21/10 - 11/28/10 11/28/10 - 12/5/10 12/5/10 - 12/12/10 12/12/10 - 12/19/10 12/19/10 - 12/26/10 12/26/10 - 1/2/11 1/2/11 - 1/9/11 1/9/11 - 1/16/11 1/16/11 - 1/23/11 1/23/11 - 1/30/11 1/30/11 - 2/6/11 2/6/11 - 2/13/11 2/13/11 - 2/20/11 2/20/11 - 2/27/11 2/27/11 - 3/6/11 3/6/11 - 3/13/11 3/13/11 - 3/20/11 3/20/11 - 3/27/11 3/27/11 - 4/3/11 4/3/11 - 4/10/11 4/10/11 - 4/17/11 4/17/11 - 4/24/11 4/24/11 - 5/1/11 5/1/11 - 5/8/11 5/8/11 - 5/15/11 5/15/11 - 5/22/11 5/22/11 - 5/29/11 5/29/11 - 6/5/11 6/5/11 - 6/12/11 6/12/11 - 6/19/11 6/19/11 - 6/26/11 6/26/11 - 7/3/11 7/3/11 - 7/10/11 7/10/11 - 7/17/11 7/17/11 - 7/24/11 7/24/11 - 7/31/11 7/31/11 - 8/7/11 8/7/11 - 8/14/11 8/14/11 - 8/21/11 8/21/11 - 8/28/11 8/28/11 - 9/4/11 9/4/11 - 9/11/11 9/11/11 - 9/18/11 9/18/11 - 9/25/11 9/25/11 - 10/2/11 10/2/11 - 10/9/11 10/9/11 - 10/16/11 10/16/11 - 10/23/11 10/23/11 - 10/30/11 10/30/11 - 11/6/11 11/6/11 - 11/13/11 11/13/11 - 11/20/11 11/20/11 - 11/27/11 11/27/11 - 12/4/11 12/4/11 - 12/11/11 12/11/11 - 12/18/11 12/18/11 - 12/25/11 12/25/11 - 1/1/12 1/1/12 - 1/8/12 1/8/12 - 1/15/12 1/15/12 - 1/22/12 1/22/12 - 1/29/12 1/29/12 - 2/5/12 2/5/12 - 2/12/12 2/12/12 - 2/19/12 2/19/12 - 2/26/12 2/26/12 - 3/4/12 3/4/12 - 3/11/12 3/11/12 - 3/18/12 3/18/12 - 3/25/12 3/25/12 - 4/1/12 4/1/12 - 4/8/12 4/8/12 - 4/15/12 4/15/12 - 4/22/12 4/22/12 - 4/29/12 4/29/12 - 5/6/12 5/6/12 - 5/13/12 5/13/12 - 5/20/12 5/20/12 - 5/27/12 5/27/12 - 6/3/12 6/3/12 - 6/10/12 6/10/12 - 6/17/12 6/17/12 - 6/24/12 6/24/12 - 7/1/12 7/1/12 - 7/8/12 7/8/12 - 7/15/12 7/15/12 - 7/22/12 7/22/12 - 7/29/12 7/29/12 - 8/5/12 8/5/12 - 8/12/12 8/12/12 - 8/19/12 8/19/12 - 8/26/12 8/26/12 - 9/2/12 9/2/12 - 9/9/12 9/9/12 - 9/16/12 9/16/12 - 9/23/12 9/23/12 - 9/30/12 9/30/12 - 10/7/12 10/7/12 - 10/14/12 10/14/12 - 10/21/12 10/21/12 - 10/28/12 10/28/12 - 11/4/12 11/4/12 - 11/11/12 11/11/12 - 11/18/12 11/18/12 - 11/25/12 11/25/12 - 12/2/12 12/2/12 - 12/9/12 12/9/12 - 12/16/12 12/16/12 - 12/23/12 12/23/12 - 12/30/12 12/30/12 - 1/6/13 1/6/13 - 1/13/13 1/13/13 - 1/20/13 1/20/13 - 1/27/13 1/27/13 - 2/3/13 2/3/13 - 2/10/13 2/10/13 - 2/17/13 2/17/13 - 2/24/13 2/24/13 - 3/3/13 3/3/13 - 3/10/13 3/10/13 - 3/17/13 3/17/13 - 3/24/13 3/24/13 - 3/31/13 3/31/13 - 4/7/13 4/7/13 - 4/14/13 4/14/13 - 4/21/13 4/21/13 - 4/28/13 4/28/13 - 5/5/13 5/5/13 - 5/12/13 5/12/13 - 5/19/13 5/19/13 - 5/26/13 5/26/13 - 6/2/13 6/2/13 - 6/9/13 6/9/13 - 6/16/13 6/16/13 - 6/23/13 6/23/13 - 6/30/13 6/30/13 - 7/7/13 7/7/13 - 7/14/13 7/14/13 - 7/21/13 7/21/13 - 7/28/13 7/28/13 - 8/4/13 8/4/13 - 8/11/13 8/11/13 - 8/18/13 8/18/13 - 8/25/13 8/25/13 - 9/1/13 9/1/13 - 9/8/13 9/8/13 - 9/15/13 9/15/13 - 9/22/13 9/22/13 - 9/29/13 9/29/13 - 10/6/13 10/6/13 - 10/13/13 10/13/13 - 10/20/13 10/20/13 - 10/27/13 10/27/13 - 11/3/13 11/3/13 - 11/10/13 11/10/13 - 11/17/13 11/17/13 - 11/24/13 11/24/13 - 12/1/13 12/1/13 - 12/8/13 12/8/13 - 12/15/13 12/15/13 - 12/22/13 12/22/13 - 12/29/13 12/29/13 - 1/5/14 1/5/14 - 1/12/14 1/12/14 - 1/19/14 1/19/14 - 1/26/14 1/26/14 - 2/2/14 2/2/14 - 2/9/14 2/9/14 - 2/16/14 2/16/14 - 2/23/14 2/23/14 - 3/2/14 3/2/14 - 3/9/14 3/9/14 - 3/16/14 3/16/14 - 3/23/14 3/23/14 - 3/30/14 3/30/14 - 4/6/14 4/6/14 - 4/13/14 4/13/14 - 4/20/14 4/20/14 - 4/27/14 4/27/14 - 5/4/14 5/4/14 - 5/11/14 5/11/14 - 5/18/14 5/18/14 - 5/25/14 5/25/14 - 6/1/14 6/1/14 - 6/8/14 6/8/14 - 6/15/14 6/15/14 - 6/22/14 6/22/14 - 6/29/14 6/29/14 - 7/6/14 7/6/14 - 7/13/14 7/13/14 - 7/20/14 7/20/14 - 7/27/14 7/27/14 - 8/3/14 8/3/14 - 8/10/14 8/10/14 - 8/17/14 8/17/14 - 8/24/14 8/24/14 - 8/31/14 8/31/14 - 9/7/14 9/7/14 - 9/14/14 9/14/14 - 9/21/14 9/21/14 - 9/28/14 9/28/14 - 10/5/14 10/5/14 - 10/12/14 10/12/14 - 10/19/14 10/19/14 - 10/26/14 10/26/14 - 11/2/14 11/2/14 - 11/9/14 11/9/14 - 11/16/14 11/16/14 - 11/23/14 11/23/14 - 11/30/14 11/30/14 - 12/7/14 12/7/14 - 12/14/14 12/14/14 - 12/21/14 12/21/14 - 12/28/14 12/28/14 - 1/4/15 1/4/15 - 1/11/15 1/11/15 - 1/18/15 1/18/15 - 1/25/15 1/25/15 - 2/1/15 2/1/15 - 2/8/15 2/8/15 - 2/15/15 2/15/15 - 2/22/15 2/22/15 - 3/1/15 3/1/15 - 3/8/15 3/8/15 - 3/15/15 3/15/15 - 3/22/15 3/22/15 - 3/29/15 3/29/15 - 4/5/15 4/5/15 - 4/12/15 4/12/15 - 4/19/15 4/19/15 - 4/26/15 4/26/15 - 5/3/15 5/3/15 - 5/10/15 5/10/15 - 5/17/15 5/17/15 - 5/24/15 5/24/15 - 5/31/15 5/31/15 - 6/7/15 6/7/15 - 6/14/15 6/14/15 - 6/21/15 6/21/15 - 6/28/15 6/28/15 - 7/5/15 7/5/15 - 7/12/15 7/12/15 - 7/19/15 7/19/15 - 7/26/15 7/26/15 - 8/2/15 8/2/15 - 8/9/15 8/9/15 - 8/16/15 8/16/15 - 8/23/15 8/23/15 - 8/30/15 8/30/15 - 9/6/15 9/6/15 - 9/13/15 9/13/15 - 9/20/15 9/20/15 - 9/27/15 9/27/15 - 10/4/15 10/4/15 - 10/11/15 10/11/15 - 10/18/15 10/18/15 - 10/25/15 10/25/15 - 11/1/15 11/1/15 - 11/8/15 11/8/15 - 11/15/15 11/15/15 - 11/22/15 11/22/15 - 11/29/15 11/29/15 - 12/6/15 12/6/15 - 12/13/15 12/13/15 - 12/20/15 12/20/15 - 12/27/15 12/27/15 - 1/3/16 1/3/16 - 1/10/16 1/10/16 - 1/17/16 1/17/16 - 1/24/16 1/24/16 - 1/31/16 1/31/16 - 2/7/16 2/7/16 - 2/14/16 2/14/16 - 2/21/16 2/21/16 - 2/28/16 2/28/16 - 3/6/16 3/6/16 - 3/13/16 3/13/16 - 3/20/16 3/20/16 - 3/27/16 3/27/16 - 4/3/16 4/3/16 - 4/10/16 4/10/16 - 4/17/16 4/17/16 - 4/24/16 4/24/16 - 5/1/16 5/1/16 - 5/8/16 5/8/16 - 5/15/16 5/15/16 - 5/22/16 5/22/16 - 5/29/16 5/29/16 - 6/5/16 6/5/16 - 6/12/16 6/12/16 - 6/19/16 6/19/16 - 6/26/16 6/26/16 - 7/3/16 7/3/16 - 7/10/16 7/10/16 - 7/17/16 7/17/16 - 7/24/16 7/24/16 - 7/31/16 7/31/16 - 8/7/16 8/7/16 - 8/14/16 8/14/16 - 8/21/16 8/21/16 - 8/28/16 8/28/16 - 9/4/16 9/4/16 - 9/11/16 9/11/16 - 9/18/16 9/18/16 - 9/25/16 9/25/16 - 10/2/16 10/2/16 - 10/9/16 10/9/16 - 10/16/16 10/16/16 - 10/23/16 10/23/16 - 10/30/16 10/30/16 - 11/6/16 11/6/16 - 11/13/16 11/13/16 - 11/20/16 11/20/16 - 11/27/16 11/27/16 - 12/4/16 12/4/16 - 12/11/16 12/11/16 - 12/18/16 12/18/16 - 12/25/16 12/25/16 - 1/1/17 1/1/17 - 1/8/17 1/8/17 - 1/15/17 1/15/17 - 1/22/17 1/22/17 - 1/29/17 1/29/17 - 2/5/17 2/5/17 - 2/12/17 2/12/17 - 2/19/17 2/19/17 - 2/26/17 2/26/17 - 3/5/17 3/5/17 - 3/12/17 3/12/17 - 3/19/17 3/19/17 - 3/26/17 3/26/17 - 4/2/17 4/2/17 - 4/9/17 4/9/17 - 4/16/17 4/16/17 - 4/23/17 4/23/17 - 4/30/17 4/30/17 - 5/7/17 5/7/17 - 5/14/17 5/14/17 - 5/21/17 5/21/17 - 5/28/17 5/28/17 - 6/4/17 6/4/17 - 6/11/17 6/11/17 - 6/18/17 6/18/17 - 6/25/17 6/25/17 - 7/2/17 7/2/17 - 7/9/17 7/9/17 - 7/16/17 7/16/17 - 7/23/17 7/23/17 - 7/30/17 7/30/17 - 8/6/17 8/6/17 - 8/13/17 8/13/17 - 8/20/17 8/20/17 - 8/27/17 8/27/17 - 9/3/17 9/3/17 - 9/10/17 9/10/17 - 9/17/17 9/17/17 - 9/24/17 9/24/17 - 10/1/17 10/1/17 - 10/8/17 10/8/17 - 10/15/17 10/15/17 - 10/22/17 10/22/17 - 10/29/17 10/29/17 - 11/5/17 11/5/17 - 11/12/17 11/12/17 - 11/19/17 11/19/17 - 11/26/17 11/26/17 - 12/3/17 12/3/17 - 12/10/17 12/10/17 - 12/17/17 12/17/17 - 12/24/17 12/24/17 - 12/31/17 12/31/17 - 1/7/18 1/7/18 - 1/14/18 1/14/18 - 1/21/18 1/21/18 - 1/28/18 1/28/18 - 2/4/18 2/4/18 - 2/11/18 2/11/18 - 2/18/18 2/18/18 - 2/25/18 2/25/18 - 3/4/18 3/4/18 - 3/11/18 3/11/18 - 3/18/18 3/18/18 - 3/25/18 3/25/18 - 4/1/18 4/1/18 - 4/8/18 4/8/18 - 4/15/18 4/15/18 - 4/22/18 4/22/18 - 4/29/18 4/29/18 - 5/6/18 5/6/18 - 5/13/18 5/13/18 - 5/20/18 5/20/18 - 5/27/18 5/27/18 - 6/3/18 6/3/18 - 6/10/18 6/10/18 - 6/17/18 6/17/18 - 6/24/18 6/24/18 - 7/1/18 7/1/18 - 7/8/18 7/8/18 - 7/15/18 7/15/18 - 7/22/18 7/22/18 - 7/29/18 7/29/18 - 8/5/18 8/5/18 - 8/12/18 8/12/18 - 8/19/18 8/19/18 - 8/26/18 8/26/18 - 9/2/18 9/2/18 - 9/9/18 9/9/18 - 9/16/18 9/16/18 - 9/23/18 9/23/18 - 9/30/18 9/30/18 - 10/7/18 10/7/18 - 10/14/18 10/14/18 - 10/21/18 10/21/18 - 10/28/18 10/28/18 - 11/4/18 11/4/18 - 11/11/18 11/11/18 - 11/18/18 11/18/18 - 11/25/18 11/25/18 - 12/2/18 12/2/18 - 12/9/18 12/9/18 - 12/16/18 12/16/18 - 12/23/18 12/23/18 - 12/30/18 12/30/18 - 1/6/19 1/6/19 - 1/13/19 1/13/19 - 1/20/19 1/20/19 - 1/27/19 1/27/19 - 2/3/19 2/3/19 - 2/10/19 2/10/19 - 2/17/19 2/17/19 - 2/24/19 2/24/19 - 3/3/19 3/3/19 - 3/10/19 3/10/19 - 3/17/19 3/17/19 - 3/24/19 3/24/19 - 3/31/19 3/31/19 - 4/7/19 4/7/19 - 4/14/19 4/14/19 - 4/21/19 4/21/19 - 4/28/19 4/28/19 - 5/5/19 5/5/19 - 5/12/19 5/12/19 - 5/19/19 5/19/19 - 5/26/19 5/26/19 - 6/2/19 6/2/19 - 6/9/19 6/9/19 - 6/16/19 6/16/19 - 6/23/19 6/23/19 - 6/30/19 6/30/19 - 7/7/19 7/7/19 - 7/14/19 7/14/19 - 7/21/19 7/21/19 - 7/28/19 7/28/19 - 8/4/19 8/4/19 - 8/11/19 8/11/19 - 8/18/19 8/18/19 - 8/25/19 8/25/19 - 9/1/19 9/1/19 - 9/8/19 9/8/19 - 9/15/19 9/15/19 - 9/22/19 9/22/19 - 9/29/19 9/29/19 - 10/6/19 10/6/19 - 10/13/19 10/13/19 - 10/20/19 10/20/19 - 10/27/19 10/27/19 - 11/3/19 11/3/19 - 11/10/19 11/10/19 - 11/17/19 11/17/19 - 11/24/19 11/24/19 - 12/1/19 12/1/19 - 12/8/19 12/8/19 - 12/15/19 12/15/19 - 12/22/19 12/22/19 - 12/29/19 12/29/19 - 1/5/20 1/5/20 - 1/12/20 1/12/20 - 1/19/20 1/19/20 - 1/26/20 1/26/20 - 2/2/20 2/2/20 - 2/9/20 2/9/20 - 2/16/20 2/16/20 - 2/23/20 2/23/20 - 3/1/20 3/1/20 - 3/8/20 3/8/20 - 3/15/20 3/15/20 - 3/22/20 3/22/20 - 3/29/20 3/29/20 - 4/5/20 4/5/20 - 4/12/20 4/12/20 - 4/19/20 4/19/20 - 4/26/20 4/26/20 - 5/3/20 5/3/20 - 5/10/20 5/10/20 - 5/17/20 5/17/20 - 5/24/20 5/24/20 - 5/31/20 5/31/20 - 6/7/20 6/7/20 - 6/14/20 6/14/20 - 6/21/20 6/21/20 - 6/28/20 6/28/20 - 7/5/20 7/5/20 - 7/12/20 7/12/20 - 7/19/20 7/19/20 - 7/26/20 7/26/20 - 8/2/20 8/2/20 - 8/9/20 8/9/20 - 8/16/20 8/16/20 - 8/23/20 8/23/20 - 8/30/20 8/30/20 - 9/6/20 9/6/20 - 9/13/20 9/13/20 - 9/20/20 9/20/20 - 9/27/20 9/27/20 - 10/4/20 10/4/20 - 10/11/20 10/11/20 - 10/18/20 10/18/20 - 10/25/20 10/25/20 - 11/1/20 11/1/20 - 11/8/20 11/8/20 - 11/15/20 11/15/20 - 11/22/20 11/22/20 - 11/29/20 11/29/20 - 12/6/20 12/6/20 - 12/13/20 12/13/20 - 12/20/20 12/20/20 - 12/27/20 1/3/21 - 1/10/21 1/10/21 - 1/17/21 1/17/21 - 1/24/21 1/24/21 - 1/31/21 1/31/21 - 2/7/21 2/7/21 - 2/14/21 2/14/21 - 2/21/21 2/21/21 - 2/28/21 2/28/21 - 3/7/21 3/7/21 - 3/14/21 3/14/21 - 3/21/21 3/21/21 - 3/28/21 3/28/21 - 4/4/21 4/4/21 - 4/11/21 4/11/21 - 4/18/21 4/18/21 - 4/25/21 4/25/21 - 5/2/21 5/2/21 - 5/9/21 5/9/21 - 5/16/21 5/16/21 - 5/23/21 5/23/21 - 5/30/21 5/30/21 - 6/6/21 6/6/21 - 6/13/21 6/13/21 - 6/20/21 6/20/21 - 6/27/21 6/27/21 - 7/4/21 7/4/21 - 7/11/21 7/11/21 - 7/18/21 7/18/21 - 7/25/21 7/25/21 - 8/1/21 8/1/21 - 8/8/21 8/8/21 - 8/15/21 8/15/21 - 8/22/21 8/22/21 - 8/29/21 8/29/21 - 9/5/21 9/5/21 - 9/12/21 9/12/21 - 9/19/21 9/19/21 - 9/26/21 9/26/21 - 10/3/21 10/3/21 - 10/10/21 10/10/21 - 10/17/21 10/17/21 - 10/24/21 10/24/21 - 10/31/21 10/31/21 - 11/7/21 11/7/21 - 11/14/21 11/14/21 - 11/21/21 11/21/21 - 11/28/21 11/28/21 - 12/5/21 12/5/21 - 12/12/21 12/12/21 - 12/19/21 12/19/21 - 12/26/21 1/2/22 - 1/9/22 1/9/22 - 1/16/22 1/16/22 - 1/23/22 1/23/22 - 1/30/22 1/30/22 - 2/6/22 2/6/22 - 2/13/22 2/13/22 - 2/20/22 2/20/22 - 2/27/22 2/27/22 - 3/6/22 3/6/22 - 3/13/22 3/13/22 - 3/20/22 3/20/22 - 3/27/22 3/27/22 - 4/3/22 4/3/22 - 4/10/22 4/10/22 - 4/17/22 4/17/22 - 4/24/22 4/24/22 - 5/1/22 5/1/22 - 5/8/22 5/8/22 - 5/15/22 5/15/22 - 5/22/22 5/22/22 - 5/29/22 5/29/22 - 6/5/22 6/5/22 - 6/12/22 6/12/22 - 6/19/22 6/19/22 - 6/26/22 6/26/22 - 7/3/22 7/10/22 - 7/17/22 7/17/22 - 7/24/22 7/24/22 - 7/31/22 7/31/22 - 8/7/22 8/7/22 - 8/14/22 8/14/22 - 8/21/22 8/21/22 - 8/28/22 8/28/22 - 9/4/22 9/4/22 - 9/11/22 9/11/22 - 9/18/22 9/18/22 - 9/25/22 9/25/22 - 10/2/22 10/2/22 - 10/9/22 10/9/22 - 10/16/22 10/16/22 - 10/23/22 10/23/22 - 10/30/22 10/30/22 - 11/6/22 11/6/22 - 11/13/22 11/13/22 - 11/20/22 website design by website design by limwebdesign Commonwealth Bank signalled it won't fight the regulator on 91 allegations that it failed to detect suspicious deposits made through its ATMs and it will also admit to 52 claims that it did not properly monitor customers. However, CBA's defence in the explosive money laundering case also signalled the bank would challenge more than 100 other allegations brought by the financial intelligence agency, Austrac. CBA contested some allegations against it, while admitting others. Credit:James Elsby The country's biggest bank on Wednesday night filed its defence in response to Austrac's allegations of repeated and serious breaches of Australia's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws. CBA admitted it had been late in filing 53,000 notifications of cash deposits of more than $10,000 made through its ATMs between 2012 and 2015. The Uniting Church has criticised the Australian Tax Office for failing to provide a safeguard against employers that illegally underpay backpackers and avoid paying enough tax. The Australian Tax Office has decided against publishing the names of employers registered to pay the backpacker tax. Backpackers remain in the dark after the ATO's decision. A ministerial submission by the ATO released to the Uniting Church under Freedom of Information laws says employer registration information will not be displayed on the Australian Business Register ABN lookup tool. Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Reform) Bill 2016, which has not yet been debated, employers of working holiday makers are required to register with the ATO and confirm what rate they could expect to be taxed. This year the Santa rally doesnt come from the North Pole its a Hungarian-Israeli-Australian with a British knighthood. Nothing like Sir Frank Lowy dropping $22 billion into the local market to light up the ASX. Not that the Lowy family itself is splurging that much, but their decision to accept the $32.76 billion bid for Westfield effectively does something very much like that. Frank Lowy at Westfield Bondi Junction. Credit:Louie Douvis Its all ready reckoning at present, but if Westfield is about 70 per cent locally held, theres $22 billion looking for an alternative home, never mind tax details. The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission is looking to drive down energy prices by targeting the gas pipelines market, following the release of its domestic gas shortage inquiry. The ACCC Gas Inquiry 2017-2020 report found that while action has been taken by energy companies to remedy a predicted domestic gas shortfall across the east coast, prices still remain high. The majority of Australia's gas pipelines are owned by three companies, APA Group, Jemena, and Australian Gas Networks. Credit:James Davies It also supported the potential of AGLs LNG regasification plant in Victoria to reduce the states gas shortages. ACCC chairman Rod Sims said that while energy companies have acted to address a forecast domestic gas shortfall of up to 108 petajoules on the east coast, and create a 20 petajoule surplus on the horizon, the market remains challenging. 5. The Wet Tropics of Queensland. These rainforests were added in 1988. However, Cooloolas river and estuary has been nominated for World Heritage Listing since 2010. John Sinclair believes a push to add North Stradboke and Moreton islands should not delay Cooloolas application. It would be nice if those islands met the World Heritage List criteria, but Cooloola has been overdue for 25 years, he said. Cooloola is already on the interim list and if they need to add Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island together it would slow down the nomination of Cooloola for at least another four or five years, he said. Mr Sinclair said Cooloola should be added first, as part of the Great Sandy Region, near Fraser Island. It has met all the criteria and it is due to come up now, he said. I think we should list Cooloola and add the others later. North Stradbroke Island. Credit:Redlands City Council Mr Sinclair said he worried that the impacts of sand mining over 50 years may impact on North Stradbrokes ability to claim a pristine environment. One of the biggest elements is integrity and poor old Straddie has been mauled over for half a century by sand mining, he said. And it is not in the same pristine shape that it once was. Mr Sinclair said North Stradbroke Island tourism would benefit from having the island World Heritage Listed, but suggested an application for its cultural value may be stronger. The Quandamooka people are the Indigenous custodians of Moreton Bay. They call North Stradbroke Island "Minjerribah" and Moreton Island "Moorgumpin", meaning "place of sandhills". Sandhills on Moreton Island. Cameron Costello, chief executive of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation confirmed Indigenous people were being helped by Griffith University and the University of Queensland to have the two islands included on the World Heritage List. Mr Costello said Deputy Premier and new Treasurer Jackie Trad had recently written and offered Queensland Treasury support for an application for World Heritage Listing to be prepared. The first step that we have been pushing for is to assess the values so we are all really clear that the islands meet the standards, he said. The Deputy Premiers promise was to provide funding to get that process moving. The Quandamooka people say they have evidence of 20,000 years of continual settlement and scientific evaluation of the significant marine and ecological values of the two sand islands. Moreton Bay is home or visited by 14 marine mammals, including dugongs, eight species of dolphin and five species of whale, while both islands have perch lakes and wet and dry sclerophyll forests. Six of the worlds seven turtles live in Moreton Bay, which is home to 154 fish species and 143 coral species. If the area is World Heritage Listed, it would not impact on local landowners or businesses, but would help tourism and help applications for funding, Mr Costello said. And now the dust has settled after the election, we will be looking at how we progress that, he said. Quandamooka woman and Algester Labor MP Leeanne Enoch has this week been appointed as Queenslands new Environment Minister. Harriett Pryor is just six years old and, like many children, imagines one day getting married and having children. But unlike other children, Harriett's dream only has a 50 per cent chance of happening. Harriett Pryor, 6, was born with cystic fibrosis and Prader-Willi Syndrome. Credit:Jamila Toderas She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at just four weeks old. Two weeks earlier, doctors told her parents she had Prader-Willi syndrome, a lifelong genetic disorder affecting appetite, growth, metabolism, cognitive function and behaviour. "We had just got our head around what PWS would mean for our daughter's future when we were ushered into a room with multiple specialists and geneticists to be told she also had cystic fibrosis," Harriett's mum, Melissa Pryor said. A drug syndicate allegedly responsible for trafficking more than two tonnes of cannabis into Brisbane has been shut-down following the arrests of three men. Police searched a number of homes across Durack and Inala on Wednesday and arrested three men with drug trafficking and possession of dangerous drug offences. Police seize 100 kilograms of cannabis from vehicle on the Gold Coast. Credit:Queensland Police Service. It will be alleged they were involved in an organised drug network that trafficked 2.2 tonnes of cannabis from Sydney to Brisbane between February and May this year. Detectives launched an investigation into the alleged organised drug network in May after they stopped a vehicle on the Gold Coast being driven by a 24-year-old Doolandella man and found 100 kilograms of high grade cannabis inside the car. For many Australians of a certain age, The Day My Bum Went Psycho was their introduction to glorious, unbridled, hilarious, nonsense literature. But for its author, much-loved childrens writer Andy Griffiths, it was the day he got rid of the bums that everything changed. Treehouse series author Andy Griffiths and editor Jill Griffiths at QPAC ahead of the premiere. Credit:Albert Perez/AAP With other previous titles including Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict and What Bumosaur Is That? the sudden scarcity of derrieres was a rapid departure. But Griffiths, who writes with illustrator Terry Denton and editor/wife Jill Griffiths, credited the shift first seen in 2011s The 13-Storey Treehouse with widespread international success. Grace Fry has gone from fighting for her life to rehearsing for The Nutcracker. The Messiah Lutheran School fourth-grader has seen Lincoln Midwest Ballet Companys timehonored production every year since she was 3 years old, and was a first-time performer two years ago, at the age of 8. But a lot has happened since then. A diagnosis on Sept. 9, 2016, turned her life upside-down: Doctors confirmed the Lincoln girl had acute myeloid leukemia (AML) a disease usually uncommon before the age of 45. Doctors embarked on an aggressive schedule of chemotherapy. Her third-grade year in school was one filled with about seven months of treatments and hospital stays. When rehearsal time for last years Nutcracker arrived, Grace was in the middle of treatments and begged her doctor to let her go watch her older sister - Taylor, now a 16-year-old high school junior at Lincoln Lutheran - dance in the show. If I cant dance in it, I at least want to see my sister and friends dance, the young girl said. Accommodating staff With some major stipulations, her doctor OKd the request. Grace was granted a home visit a break from the hospital just in time to see The Nutcracker. With her immune system wiped out by the chemo, the little girl put on a mask, which she needed any time she was not in the hospital, and the Lied Center staff escorted her to a private room, as she couldnt be exposed to anyone. Both my husband and I were in tears as we watched Grace, Mandy Fry said. Although shes seen the show every year since she was 3, and had even danced in it, she literally sat on the edge of her seat, as though it were the first time she was watching the ballet. Grace has battled back from the horrific disease. Her parents are grateful for early detection. She seemed perfectly normal, but we noticed bruising on her legs and decided to have it looked at, Graces mom said. Now in remission 2017 has been a much better year for the Fry family. Doctors reported on Jan. 2 that Graces condition was in remission. She was able to return to school in late March, and resumed dancing. She has been cast in the role of an elf for this years Nutcracker, coming to the Lied Center stage for three shows Dec. 16-17. Shari True, whose dance school has worked with Grace since the age of 3, said: She is an amazing little girl with the determination of 100 children. No child should have to face this disease, and yet Grace hit it head on, fighting for her life and determined to beat it. Mandy Fry and her husband are prepared for another emotional experience as they watch this years Nutcracker but for a very different reason. We couldnt be happier, or more grateful, said Mandy. Grace is in remission, and now we pray that it stays that way. We thank God every day. We will watch the show this year through completely different lenses. A Taiwanese national has been jailed for 10 years for his role in a $39 million ice haul that was hidden inside household appliances. Chia-Cheng Ku, 28, was arrested in November 2016 after Australian Border Force officers intercepted almost 20 kilograms of the drug in Brisbane. A Taiwanese man has been sentenced to 10 years jail at the Supreme Court over a $39 million ice haul. Credit:Harrison Saragossi The crystal methamphetamine had been sent from Hong Kong and concealed within six parcels of appliances, including a foot spa. The Brisbane Supreme Court heard the drugs had a street value of $39 million and were of high purity. London: Theresa May suffered a major Conservative mutiny against her Brexit plans on Wednesday night after 11 of her own MPs refused to back the Government and boasted that Parliament had "taken control". The British Prime Minister lost a key vote in the House of Commons despite senior Conservatives pleading with the self-styled "rebel alliance" to back May or risk a disorderly Brexit. Following chaotic scenes in Parliament, the rebels defied their party by voting through an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill demanding a "meaningful" vote on Brexit. In a sign of the ongoing bitter recriminations one of those behind the mutiny was sacked as vice-chairman of the Conservative Party. Beijing: A Chinese county along the border with North Korea is constructing refugee camps intended to house thousands of migrants fleeing a possible crisis on the Korean Peninsula, according to an internal document that appears to have been leaked from China's main state-owned telecommunications company. Three villages in Changbai county and two cities in the north-eastern border province of Jilin have been designated for the camps, according to the document from China Mobile. The document appeared last week on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter site. China's national flag flutters on the Chinese side of the banks of the Tumen river, as a North Korean village is seen behind. Credit:KIM KYUNG HOON The telco was tasked with providing internet services to the camps, Newsweek reported. The camps are an unusual, albeit tacit, admission by China that instability in North Korea is increasingly likely, and that refugees could swarm across the Tumen River, a narrow ribbon of water that divides the two countries. 88th Precinct Fort GreeneClinton Hill Backdoor bandit Some punk stole a womans jewelry from her Gates Avenue apartment on Dec. 4, police said. The crook broke into her apartment between Downing Street and Grand Avenue sometime between 10:30 pm and midnight and swiped her pearl chains, watches, a mens gold ring with the initials RM on it, and a Kindle fire worth a total of $5,479, according to authorities. The woman said she walked downstairs to find the back door ajar and stuff thrown all over the floor, officials said. While she was out A nogoodnik broke into a womans Saint James Place apartment on Nov. 5 and stole a bunch of her personal belongings and electronics while she was at work, police said. The 26-year-old left her apartment near Lafayette Avenue at about 10 am and when she got home from work at about 7:30 pm realized the sneak had stolen her Macbook Pro, camera, social security card, cash, and checkbook worth a total of 5,900, according to authorities. And the victims neighbor whose door faces her apartment told police his peephole was covered with toilet paper when he got home at about 6 pm, officials said. Caught on camera Cops cuffed a guy for swiping a womans packages from her vestibule on Lafayette Avenue sometime overnight on Dec. 3, police said. The woman left several packages outside her apartment between S. Portland Avenue and S. Oxford Street for fedex to pick up at about 10 pm, but when she checked on them at about 5 am the next morning, they were gone and one was opened with some contents missing, according to authorities. Cameras in the building caught the suspect taking the packages and dumping the contents, officials said. Subway scamp A villain swiped a womans wallet from her lap as she was sitting on a Flatbush Avenue-bound 5 train near Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street on Dec. 5, police said. The 22-year-old woman told police she had hopped on the last car of the train, and when it arrived at Nevins Street at about 1:50 pm, some snake grabbed her wallet with $500 cash, two credit cards, and her social security card inside, according to authorities. Wallet grabber A goon swiped a womans purse as she was walking home near Classon Avenue on Dec. 7, police said. The 60-year-old woman told police she was heading back from the market near Lafayette Avenue at about 9 am when the baddie came up to her from behind and grabbed her purse from her hand with her medicaid card, cash, social security card, high blood pressure medication, and make up inside worth a total of $280, according to authorities. Lunch and lawbreaker Some jerk stole a teens laptop he had left in a deli on Lafayette Avenue on Dec. 8, officials said. The 18-year-old told police he was ordering a sandwich from the bodega near Grand Avenue at about 12:30 pm when he set his Dell Precision laptop down on the floor and forgot about it. The teen came back later at 6 pm for his $2,000 laptop but it was gone and the deli employees said they didnt know where it was, according to authorities. Julianne Cuba A first year Engineering student from Trinity College Dublin has been announced overall winner of Bank of Irelands FX Trade Off for 2017. Marco Stango can look forward to a series of mentoring workshops from the Bank of Ireland Global Markets senior leadership team, work experience in the largest dealing room in Ireland, 1,000 cash and an iPad. Meanwhile, two UCD students, Tom Walsh and Matthew Collins were placed in second and third place respectively and will also benefit from mentoring workshops, cash prizes and iPads. The competition, which saw 500 third level students participate, was established to encourage participation and knowledge of global FX markets among third level students. Bank of Ireland teamed up with Irish Fintech, Share Navigator who provided the simulated markets environment for competition entrants. FX Trade Off received over 1,000 entries - more than three times the initial allocation of places with four launch nights in UCD, TCD, DCU and UCC extremely well attended. The competition saw over 22,000 trades, with the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen the most traded currency pair. Congratulating the winners, CEO of Bank of Ireland Global Markets, Kevin Twomey said, "This is the first year of our FX Trade-Off competition and we have been overwhelmed with not only the volume of interest and entries but also the positive feedback from participants and Universities." He added, "Providing first-hand experience to students and offering mentoring from our senior team members will offer real value as students embark into the next stages of their professional life. We are particularly pleased that the entrants represented a cross-section of courses including the arts, economics and engineering." Source: www.businessworld.ie Tickets for the Cork Chamber Annual Dinner will be going on sale this Friday, 15 December at 9:30am. The Cork Chamber Annual Dinner is largest corporate gathering in Munster, attracting over 1,000 business guests, decision makers and political dignitaries. The event offers a diverse range of businesses an opportunity to connect and network. It will be sponsored by the Montenotte Hotel which was recently awarded Irelands Best City Hotel. Speaking at the announcement, Cork Chamber Chief Executive, Conor Healy said, "As the iconic business event of the year, the Annual Dinner attracts the largest business audience to any single event outside Dublin offering a diverse range of businesses an opportunity to connect and network. We are delighted to be working with the award winning Montenotte Hotel for the second year as headline sponsors, along with all of the supporters and supplier who help to make this event so special." The Cork Chamber Annual Dinner takes place on Friday, 2nd February at Cork City Hall, with tickets going on sale at from www.corkchamber.ie at 9:30am on Friday, 15 December 2017. Source: www.businessworld.ie Diageo said Brexit could cost it tens of millions of pounds if Britain did not replicate the EU's trade deals with other countries for Scotch whisky and keep an open border in Ireland, where it makes Guinness stout and Baileys liqueur. Dan Mobley, the drinks giant's head of corporate relations, said losing the benefits of EU trade deals with so-called third countries such as South Korea, Colombia and South Africa would be unwelcome. Likewise, he said the introduction of border controls between Ireland and Northern Ireland would hinder its supply chain, and hurt its many small suppliers. The company currently treats the island of Ireland as one, although EU member Ireland is separated by a land border from Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom and therefore set to leave the European Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May moved closer to unlocking stalled Brexit talks last week by offering Ireland and her allies in Northern Ireland a pledge to avoid any return of a hard border. Scotch whisky accounts for about a quarter of Diageo's 12 billion pound annual turnover, while Scotch is Britain's biggest food and drink export, worth around one fifth of the total. "For us to lose the benefits of (EU) trade deals would be unwelcome, but it would be manageable, it would be tens of millions of pounds lost, rather than hundreds of millions," Mobley told a parliamentary scrutiny committee in London. Mobley said Diageo made Baileys using ingredients from both sides of the Irish border, taking for example 11% of Ireland's cream output to make the drink. "We are moving about 18,000 trucks a year over that border, so even small hold-ups to process those truck movements would be really unwelcome, but the big problem would be for our suppliers," he said. He said Diageo had advised the British and Irish governments about technical measures that could relieve pressures on any new controls, but retaining an open border was preferable. "We would much rather what was agreed last week, which is for an open border," he said. "We are heartened that all sides say that's what they want, but we need to now see the details." Diageo is also pressing the British government to exert influence over India to bring down its 150% tariff on imported Scotch, which makes the premium spirit unaffordable except for the very wealthy, Mobley said. As regards trading opportunities, he said India, the world's biggest whisky market, was the "holy grail." "(But) we are realistic and we know trade agreements take a long time to negotiate," he said. Diageo produces whisky in India, but Scotch can only be made in Scotland. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with South Korean and Chinese business representatives on Wednesday. He is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, according to South Koreas Yonhap News Agency. Moon is pictured above at a Beijing luncheon on Wednesday. Photo: Visual China China-South Korea ties, which have been tense since Seoul decided to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system, may not fully recover if the two sides cannot solve the dispute thoroughly, Chinese scholars warned in a seminar ahead of South Korean President Moon Jae-ins ice-breaking visit to China. Moon arrived in Beijing on Wednesday a four-day state visit, his first to China since taking office in May. He has been trying to mend relations between the two countries that soured after his predecessor, Park Geun-hye, agreed to a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THADD, in mid-2016. Despite South Koreas explanation that the move was a reaction to North Korea developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, the Chinese government has condemned the system as a threat to its strategic security. South Korean businesses in China have borne the brunt of the fallout between the two east Asian neighbors. South Korean retail giant Lotte Group has closed dozens of outlets in China, while carmakers Hyundai Group and Kia Motor Corp. have seen their sales nosedive. The number of Chinese travelers to South Korea has also dwindled. According to South Korean government statistics, 3.3 million fewer Chinese holidaymakers went to the country in the first nine months of this year, reducing tourism earnings by 7.45 trillion won ($6.82 billion). But there are signs of improvement after the two countries governments sought a rapport through discussions. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on October 31 that although China continues to oppose THAAD, it has noticed South Koreas stance that it is not against a third country and wont harm Chinas strategic security. South Korean Foreign Ministry also made it clear that South Korea wont participate in the U.S. missile defense system and that it wont allow the further deployment of such systems. But, several missile launchers have already been deployed in South Korea by September. In an interview with China Central Television on Monday, Moon reiterated South Koreas goal in deploying THAAD system is to defend against the North. South Korea will make sure not to use THAAD in any other areas than defending against North Koreas nuclear weapons or missiles, it wont hurt Chinas security interests, and the U.S. has also repeatedly promised to commit to its words in this issue, too, Moon said in the interview. However, Chinese experts are doubtful whether tensions created by the missile defense system can be diffused quickly. China and South Koreas dispute over THAAD has not gone away, we are just pretending that it does not exist anymore, Li Bin, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University and an expert in nuclear proliferation, said at the seminar in Beijing on Monday. Wei Wei, deputy director of the Chinese Peoples Institute of Foreign Affairs, said the two countries have so far only reached a temporary understanding on the THAAD issue. If the problem is not thoroughly resolved, China-South Korea ties will not fully recover and advance further, he told the seminar that included both Chinese and South Korean scholars. Some South Korean experts argued that their country has no choice in the face of North Koreas continuing weapons program, and Chinas tough response has been difficult to understand. For decades, South Korea has given up on developing nuclear weapons by itself and chosen to take shelter under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Now with the North and South still considering each other as enemies, what can one side do when the other speeds up the development of nuclear weapons and missiles? said Bae Ki-chan, a consultant with South Koreas Institute for National Strategic Studies. Bae said the key to resolving the North Korea issue lies in the hands of both China and South Korea. South Korea has not endorsed Chinas call to North Korea to suspend weapons development, and for South Korea and the U.S. to suspend joint military drills. If China and South Korea can jointly work out a solution, it will be easier to persuade other countries, he said. Moon met with South Korean and Chinese business representatives on Wednesday. He is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, according to South Koreas Yonhap News Agency. Contact report Wu Gang (gangwu@caixin.com) Sitting at a semi-circle table, first-graders in Jean Manning-Kechelys classroom at Randolph Elementary School break down words to learn how each of their parts work together. Wednesdays lesson highlighted the long O sound in the different way it appears in the English language: Combined with another vowel as in boat, or standing alone when a word ends in E as in joke or code. With workbooks open, the small group of students identify another word before quickly printing it on a growing list, eagerly moving on to the next example. Other students are plugged into iPads, their ears vanishing into large headphones as they drag letters across the screen for a spelling game. A second small group drills on high-frequency words appearing often in the reading material taught to the class of 23. Two state senators Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn move about the classroom listening to how Manning-Kechely and others are instructing the first-graders. The duo wrapped up a statewide tour Wednesday, part of an effort to study how schools in Lexington, Gothenburg, Hastings, Grand Island, Omaha and Lincoln teach reading, as well as identify students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia. The study evolved out of a bill sponsored by Linehan that would require Nebraska schools to hold back third-graders who cant read at grade level and to adopt reading-improvement plans tailored to individual students in lower elementary grades if they fall short of state test marks. Pansing Brooks opposed Linehans bill, but the two are working together to gather perspective from educators and students on best practices for improving literacy across the state. It appears that each district is very focused on (reading), but they are at different levels of having a program in place, Linehan said. The senators said at some schools they toured, particularly smaller districts with fewer resources, no district-wide reading curriculum has been adopted, leaving instruction strategy and techniques up to individual teachers. Districts such as Lincoln Public Schools, in contrast, offer support to teachers on how to stage effective reading interventions, or to better manage a classroom techniques that can boost the effectiveness of the teacher and lead to better outcomes for students. Manning-Kechelys class at Randolph, for example, uses the same curriculum as other first-grade classrooms across LPS, but the veteran teacher said she can also substitute other materials she's found effective. Pansing Brooks said lawmakers plan to examine teacher training and how it might be improved for future educators entering Nebraskas classrooms, as well as how those teachers are taught to identify students who may be struggling because of a learning disability. This is a whole systemic issue, she said. It isnt like were searching for one bad actor. What were really trying to do is look at the whole system where might the most help be given. Linehan said she and other lawmakers could alter her bill's language to offer guidance to schools on how to pursue best practices when it comes to literacy education. I think we need to encourage best practices across the board, across the state, she said. Modified On Jan 24, 2018 03:05 PM By Dhruv Attri Ticket prices start at Rs 350, home delivery options available too! Rejoice, the moment weve all been waiting for is finally here! The online ticket bookings for the 14th edition of the Auto Expo - The Motor Show 2018 have begun on BookMyShow. Unlike the last edition of the Auto Expo, which was held in 2016, the 14th edition gets an additional day as well. It will run from February 9 to February 14, 2018. The Auto Expo ticket prices start from Rs 350 for general public hours whereas those looking for the business class experience will have to shell out Rs 750 and show up a little early from 10am to 1pm. Public hours are from 1pm to 6pm. The weekends will not have any business hours and the gates will open for the general public from 10am to 7pm with the ticket prices set at Rs 475. With the rising popularity of the Auto Expo, the event will feature an additional day to accommodate as many enthusiasts as possible. The tickets for the last day of the expo, February 14, will be sold at Rs 450. To further amplify public convenience, those booking three or more tickets online can avail free home deliveries, which will begin from January 8, 2018. Related: Next-generation Maruti Swift To Launch In 2018 Auto Expo The largest auto event in India will witness the absence of several manufacturers this time around, but there will be some newer entrants as well to fill the space. Apart from that, there will be several supercars and vintage beauties to ogle at. There will be a host of experience zones and gaming competitions on offer as well. Also Read: 2018 Auto Expo: Mahindra Cars Expected Lineup CarDekho will be covering the event extensively, and in case you want a virtual tour of the event from the comfort of your home, just bookmark our dedicated website for the 2018 Auto Expo. The timetable for the Mizoram Board Exams has been published by the Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE). Aspirants can now check it out online. As per the examination schedule, the Class 10 board exam will begin on March 1 whereas the Class 12 board exam 2018 will begin from March 5. Where to find the Mizoram board exam timetable? The datesheet for Class 10 and Class 12 board examination 2018 are available on the official website mbse.edu.in. How to check Mizoram Class 10, 12 Board Exam 2018 board exam datesheet? In order to check the Mizoram board exam 2018 timetable, follow the steps given here: Go to the official website, mbse.edu.in Click on the relevant link which says HSSLC Routine 2018 (Vocational)/HSSLC Routine 2018 (Old Scheme)/HSSLC Routine 2018 (New Scheme)/HSLC Routine 2018 Datesheet will be displayed on the screen Download and take a print-out of the same. Alternately, candidates can also click here to see the timetable directly. Practical exam: Class 10: The practical exam for Science, Introductory Information Technology and Home Science subjects will begin on March 19 Class 12: The practical examination will be held before the theory examination for the subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Psychology, Home Science, Computer Science, Accountancy, Geology and General Foundation Course (vocational). Exam timings: Theory examination, for both the classes, will be held from 10 am to 1 pm (except 1:30 pm to 4 pm for old scheme exam) Practical examination will be held from 9 am to 4 pm What does the official notification read? "Unexpected holiday(s) declared by any authority other than the Chairman, MBSE, after the publication of the examination programme, will not prevent conduct of the examination(s) scheduled for the day(s) concerned," read official notice. About Mizoram Board Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) was established by the Government of Mizoram in 1975 by the Mizoram Board of School Education Act. The MBSE has rules and regulations maintained by the chairman who is appointed on a contract basis. The Board has the power to supervise, regulate and control the schools and education in Mizoram. The secretary of Mizoram Board of School Education is the chief administrative officer who is assisted by three branches heads namely, Controller of Examinations, the Director (Academic) and the Deputy Secretary. Andhra Pradesh SSC Exam 2018 Timetable Published: Check Now! A government-appointed panel is reviewing the country's 17-month-old law on medically assisted death, assessing whether it should be extended to teens and the mentally ill. TORONTO Canada's 17-month-old legalized euthanasia/assisted suicide regime, praised as a model of restraint and balance by its supporters, appears to be heading for a major expansion raising the specter of a law that will help to kill new classes of people who are ill and suffering. A government-appointed panel of specialists is now reviewing the law, enacted in June 2016. They have been tasked with recommending whether teenagers and the mentally ill should also have the right to end their own lives. The panel is also studying the possibility of allowing requests for assisted suicide through advanced directives authorizing it for those concerned about being left to linger in a vegetative state. For some, the potential expansion is a frightening but inevitable part of state-sanctioned killing, regardless of the original restrictions. "I think this is a hardening of conscience," Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto told the Register. "Just as sometimes calluses grow on the physical body, they can form on the human conscience. And what people were once rightly sensitive to as being as wrong, they've come to accept. Familiarity breeds contempt. And familiarity also allows people to accept what was unacceptable. "We were shocked at the thought of any euthanasia. And now we're shocked at extending it. But then we'll get used to that [as a culture]. As it keeps going, more and more, we'll be shocked for a moment and then we will accept it. I think this is a really sick addictive behavior in society." Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the London, Ontario-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, which opposes medically assisted suicide in many countries, agrees that, as the line moves, societal acceptance becomes more elastic. "The fact remains that the only clear line is to kill or not to kill. Once you have accepted killing as an acceptable response to human difficulty, then the only remaining question is: Who can be killed and under what circumstances?" he said. In February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Canadian Criminal Code provisions that equated assisted suicide with murder. By a 9-0 vote, it argued that laws preventing medically assisted killing went against the constitutional right to happiness. The court's decision left the parameters wide open, but the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose to set limits on who could apply to have their life ended. Essentially, the Canadian government's legislation on medically assisted killing said that the person involved must be of legal age, mentally competent and someone whose death was reasonably foreseeable. An editorial in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, published to mark the June 2017 anniversary of the new law, called its restrictions "sensible" because they would "prevent Canadians from making hasty decisions." The editorial jibed with the generally held position the law will not change subsequently and that concerns regarding a potential "slippery slope" are nothing more than fear-mongering. It also reflected the views of many of Canada's mainstream newspapers Even with the restrictions, in the first 12 months of legalization, nearly 2,000 Canadians died via medically prescribed poison injected into their veins. To put that into perspective, in 2003, Belgium, in its first full year of legal assisted suicide, killed 235 of its citizens. Accounting for Belgium's smaller population, that means Canada helped three times as many people on a per capita basis to take their own lives. Pro-Life Concerns Yet, at the end of last year, the government quietly called for a committee of specialists to explore whether to extend the right to medically assisted suicide to teens and the mentally ill. It also was asked to look at allowing requests for voluntary euthanasia in advanced directives. While the report may not be released till late into 2018, the fact the government is studying an expansion of assisted suicide is setting off alarms in Canada's pro-life community. "Legislators argued that they were going to enact tight legislation that would not be abused and that would be balanced, but in fact, since the legalization, all we have heard about is the need to expand the law," said Schadenberg. "Children, people with psychological issues and people with dementia cannot clearly request or consent to being killed. The three areas of expansion that are being debated show that the requirement that the person must clearly request that they be killed was only a selling point to get the country to accept euthanasia." The decision to explore expanding the present law has not been a complete surprise to anti-assisted suicide activists. Prior to the enactment of the 2016 bill, a parliamentary committee was formed to decide on guidelines for the new law. It called for a wide range of people to be eligible to end their own lives with the blessing of the state. For example, it recommended that those with "mental suffering" also be allowed to end their lives by the hands of their doctors. "That physical or psychological suffering that is enduring and intolerable to the person in the circumstances of his or her condition should be recognized as a criterion to access medical assistance in dying (MAID)," according to the committee. And while the committee never used the words "teens" or "children," it did make it clear that age should not be a factor in deciding who is eligible for assisted suicide. It recommended that the legislation ensure that "eligibility for MAID" depend "on competence rather than age." A major concern for anti-euthanasia activists is that the Liberal Party supported euthanasia in practice before it was legalized; and in the last federal election, in 2015, the Liberals banned all pro-life candidates from running under their banner. Educating Catholics According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. "Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded" (2277). Just prior to the Supreme Court of Canada decision, an Angus Reid poll found 70% of Catholics supporting assisted suicide, compared with nearly 70% of evangelical Protestants opposing it. That failure on the part of many Catholics to recognize euthanasia's danger and their ignorance of what the Church teaches is something that must be changed before it expands, said Patricia Murphy, assistant professor of moral theology at St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto. "Catholics should be shocked, outraged and very concerned about where this is going." "Even if they were not engaged on this issue before, I hope that Canadians especially Catholics will step up now. I hope they will talk to their friends, families and colleagues about what is really going on. If Catholics remain passive, the results will be disastrous, especially for our most vulnerable brothers and sisters." While only six U.S. states and the District of Columbia now have legalized medically assisted suicide, any changes north of the border could significantly influence the handling of the matter in the United States, as well. "No country in the world that has had some form of assisted suicide or euthanasia has been able to confine it to just the terminally ill. It has always started that way, but has gradually progressed to the nonterminal, which ends up including psychiatric patients," said pro-life activist Dr. Mark Komrad, a psychiatrist and medical ethicist on the faculty of psychiatry at John Hopkins and the University of Maryland. "I actually think that the cultural similarities and geographic proximity in Canada will make the metastatic spread of this remarkable and unfortunate social policy meme even more likely to spread to the U.S." Nancy Hicks Reporter Nancy Hicks reports on Lincoln city government, but shes been following the leaders of local and state government for more than 40 years. Follow Nancy Hicks 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 Later this winter youll likely be hearing about earmarking a quarter-cent or half-cent increase in the city sale tax for streets. That recommendation which will likely come from a transportation coalition early next year would require voter approval. So its not a done deal. The citizens transportation coalition, 25 community leaders and city staff appointed by Mayor Chris Beutler, has decided the city needs more money if it wants to adequately maintain the streets, offer good preventative measures, and keep up with the widening of major streets and building new streets needed for growth. Meeting those needs will require more money than the city receives through federal and state funds, the citys wheel tax and impact fees. The committee has looked at several funding options that involve drawing from the sales tax or the citys much-despised wheel tax. One option discussed would actually reduce the wheel tax by using some of the money from a half-cent increase in the sales tax. That would shift some of the cost from city residents to visitors to Lincoln. The city is already collecting a quarter-cent in additional sales tax. That money, to be collected over three years, is being used to build four fire stations and to purchase and install a new emergency radio system. But that sales tax, approved by voters, ends in September 2018. The city could ask voters to again increase the sales tax by a quarter or a half cent, this time with the money dedicated to street improvements. The coalition did not look at diverting tax dollars from other city services, which include everything from parks to police, though some members have mentioned that option. Coalition members did not look seriously at raising the property tax itself, which is the deadly third rail of politics in high-property tax states such as Nebraska. The coalition is expected to finish its report and offer its recommendations Jan. 11. No helmets with rentals There will be no helmets to go with the bikes that people will be able to rent in the downtown and City Campus areas next spring. Neither the city nor the state require bike helmets. And there are many people who really dont want to share headgear of any kind. Think head lice, for starters. City staff working on the program doesn't know of any community that provides helmets with bike rentals. The bike share program, expected to be up and running this spring, is exploring the idea of offering coupons for discounts on helmets at local bike stores that would be available with bike rentals. No scalping in the street The City Council tweaked the panhandling code a bit to make sure it is clear people can sell those tickets or T-shirts on the sidewalk during gamedays. You can solicit from a sidewalk, but you cant go into the street to solicit people in vehicles. So ticket scalpers can wave their tickets about from the sidewalk, but they cant walk out to a car to exchange them for cash, said City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick. That's the law now and will continue to be under the changes approved by the council Monday. The buyers would have to park their car in order to have someone legally sell to them, Kirkpatrick said. Balancing free speech, intimidation Kirkpatrick has stressed that the change allowing panhandlers to use abusive language does not mean they can harass or intimidate people. A change, approved by the council this week, allows swearing but doesnt allow repeated requests for money. Several council members said they do not want to criminalize poverty in the city's panhandling code. The code change is a balancing act, said Councilman Carl Eskridge. "Panhandlers are entitled to be there (on the sidewalk) and we are entitled not to be intimidated." Panhandling or soliciting on city sidewalks is legal. You can ask for a cup of coffee. You can ask people to vote for President Trump, Eskridge explained. It is not a crime to be poor, Spike Eickholt, an attorney with ACLU of Nebraska, told the council. People "have a right to ask for money. It is free speech. But you can limit aggressive or threatening behavior, touching, repeated requests, following someone," he said. LafargeHolcim Sagunto to return to full operation ICR Newsroom By 13 December 2017 LafargeHolcims Sagunto works in Spain will return to full operation for the first time since 2007. Following a year of uncertainty about the future of the cement plant due to issues in renewing its quarry licence, the news is particularly welcome to the staff of the 2.3Mta facility. Reasons cited for the step are two-fold. The economic recovery and resurgence of construction in Valencia and Castellon will enable the company to recover domestic margins following three years of exports and product diversification, according to Miguel Angel Urbano, Saguntos plant director. In addition, the special alkaline cement produced by the plant is mandatory to use in Paris, where the low temperatures of the subsoil turns normal cement into a kind of gel. Sagunto plans to produce 0.25Mt of the product. In 2017 the plant had planned to operate at 50 per cent, partly due to the Algerian import ban, but the director said actual output had been at 74 per cent of capacity. The agreement that enables the continuation of activities at the companys Salt de Llop quarry has facilitated the increase in output. "This gives stability and security to the plant for the next few years," said the executive, who specified that it will be the plant with the highest production of Lafarge's five in Spain in 2018. The next licence to be renewed is the authorisation of autonomic environmental impact, within seven years. Given the new lease of life, the plant will invest EUR4m in a new control and command system with an additional EUR2m to renew other equipment. Published under Ho Chi Minh City concerned over cement shortages ICR Newsroom By 13 December 2017 Vietnams Ho Chi Minh City has expressed concern of a potential shortage of cement and construction sand in 2020, according to the Saigon Times. Tran Trong Tuan, director of the Ministry of Construction, said the city had currently 10 cement grinding plants with a capacity of over 10Mta but if all grinding units are forced to move out of the city by 2020 to prevent environmental pollution cement supply in the city would be disrupted. At present it is possible to raise the capacity of the grinding stations to 13.5Mta, in line with the consumption forecast for 2020. Published under There Are Actual Secession Movements in America: Here Are the Biggest Ones With the United States becoming more polarized politically than ever before, its probably high time someone decides to separate from the federal government. Surprisingly, there are many active separatist movements throughout the United States that seem like they could work. Ideally, these would be peaceful and legal secessions from the United States and everything would remain hunky dory. So, heres a look at some of the most advanced separatist movements the states have to offer. The last group for secession should terrify you. 1. Cascadia Cascadia is known as a bio-region which would cover the states of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, parts of Idaho and Montana, Southern Alaska, and include British Columbia and parts of Alberta as well. Cascadia would effectively become one of the worlds largest economies, generating nearly $1 trillion dollars in GDP. Primary industries would be farming and technology. The government would be left-leaning, probably democratic socialist with a focus on environmentalism. The Pacific Northwest fully embraces the idea of Cascadia and identifies with the region vigorously. Cascadian flags are even seen flying at major sporting events. While the population seems to embrace the identity, theres no telling who would actually support seceding from the union. Time Magazine listed Cascadia in their top 10 aspiring nations of the world. Next: After this year, its a wonder that they havent made the move towards independence. 2. Puerto Rico The Puerto Rican Independence Party is still very active and holds seats in the Puerto Rican Senate and House of Representatives. United States territory is located on the outer edge of the Caribbean Sea just east of the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico had a robust local economy largely dependent on manufacturing and real estate. The state generates roughly $200 billion in GDP. The government would be left-leaning and reflective of the current democratic political parties they have currently in power. The people of Puerto Rico are more inclined to join the United States under full statehood than they are to create an independent nation. However, the data reflects a pre-Trump era, and their treatment after the hurricanes may have pushed some the majority of the country the other direction. Next: Technically they shouldnt even be a part of the United States under our own laws. 3. The Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement has been very active for years and hosts constitutional conventions. Their main goal is to restore original Hawaiian traditions and provide free health care for all, among other things. The Kingdom of Hawaii would incorporate all of the eight major islands and all territory within the state. The Kingdom of Hawaiis economy would be largely based on tourism and agriculture. Independently, Hawaii generates around $70 billion in GDP. Prior to the annexation of Hawaii, the government was a monarchy. That is what is believed to be restored however, it would look more like a parliamentary monarchy. Next: They were once an independent nation before becoming a state, and its not Texas. 4. The Second Vermont Republic The movement is referred to as the Second Vermont Republic, because Vermont had once declared itself independent from both Britain and the United States in 1777. Ostensibly, the nation is known as just the Vermont Republic. It was later added to the U.S. in 1791. In the last decade or so, a movement started to bring it back as an independent nation. The new Vermont Republic would still be contained within the borders of state itself. Vermont is a largely agrarian society where 75% of its economy is made up of agriculture. It would generate roughly $25 billion in GDP. The government would be a social democracy, similar to that of Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland. The movements founder died in 2012, and the acceptance of the independence movement seemed to have died with him. However, Vermonters do have a strong sense of independent identity, and still value the sovereignty of their state. Whether or not it would be an easy peaceful transition, as the movement suggests, is unknown. Next: Why not just take the whole Northeast while were at it. 5. New England Independence Movement This movement is predicated upon the belief that the federal government has become too divisive, and takes a non-partisan stance on U.S politics to focus on uniting the people of New England so that we may regain the promise of the founding fathers of the United States; Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness. New England would encompass any state northeast of the New York State border, including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The economy of New England is extremely diverse and generates nearly $1 trillion per year in GDP. New Englands government would be a democratic framework with larger local governments and smaller federal governments, with a focus on equity, personal liberty, and environmentalism. Support for the movement is unknown, as there has not been a poll of the subject to our knowledge. The site for the pressure group shows around 6,000 in visits. Next: The great white north! 6. Alaska The Alaska Independence Party (AIP) is the primary pusher for secession from the United States. They feel that the incorporation of the state was illegal, and that the federal government has forgotten about the Constitution of the U.S. The entire state of Alaska would comprise the proposed nation, making it the sixth largest country on earth based on land mass alone. The economy of Alaska would be primarily energy resources. However, fishing and agriculture would be vital parts of their economy as well. The Government of Alaska would be a constitutional government supporting conservative and libertarian ideals. Support for the movement is relatively large when compared to other movements, numbering around 13,000 members as of 2009. Todd Palin, husband of former vice presidential candidate and Alaskan governor, was a registered member of the party as well. Next: They didnt get it the first time, but in the age of Trump, they may not need secession. 7. The Confederate States of America (CSA) The League of the South, a registered hate group, is the primary pressure group for the CSA. Their ideas are well-known, including some troubling views on slavery from one of the groups now-deceased board members, Jack Kershaw. Kershaw, most known as the lawyer who defended Martin Luther King Jr.s assassin, stated back in 1998 that somebody needs to say a good word for slavery. The CSA is composed of southern states including, but not limited to, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The economy has been historically agricultural, but it has become more industrialized in recent years. In 2013, the GDP was around $5 trillion. That number could be vastly affected if the League of the South also follows suit with the former Confederacy and allows slave labor. Support for the group is unconscionably high, with estimates around 25,000 members. Follow The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Uruguay could soon become the second Latin American country to legalize abortion, CBN News reports. Legislators in the Chamber of Deputies decided just before midnight on Tuesday to narrowly approve an updated abortion bill by a 50-49 vote. The new legislation would give women the right to a legal abortion during the first trimester and would decriminalize late-term abortions if the mother's life was at risk or if the fetus would not survive after birth. The changes to the legislation include a requirement that women seeking abortions justify their request before a panel of at least three professionals: a gynecologist, psychologist and social worker. Women will also be required to get advice on abortion alternatives and wait five days to "reflect" on the consequences of the procedure. The Senate will now take up the issue, and President Jose Mujica says he will allow the measure to become law if the Senate approves the changes, which are expected to pass. Cuba is the only other country in the region to allow abortions during the first trimester. Hugo Chavez, the socialist dictator of Venezuela, has given President Obama his seal of approval, WORLD News Service reports. Last weekend Chavez said, "If I was from the United States, I'd vote for Obama." He went on to say: "Obama is a good guy. I think that if Obama was from Barlovento or some Caracas neighborhood, he'd vote for Chavez." Conservative pundits had a field day with this statement. Gary Bauer, for example, said: "It's obvious why Hugo Chavez supports Obama and thinks Obama would support him. Chavez certainly knows a fellow socialist when he sees one, and he also knows a weak-kneed American president when he sees one." The Roman Catholic owners of a Vermont bed-and-breakfast inn agreed this week to pay a total of $30,000 to a lesbian couple that wanted to hold a same-sex wedding reception on their property, WORLD News Service reports. The O'Reilly family, who owns the Wildflower Inn, must pay $20,000 to a trust fund the lesbian women set up and $10,000 to the pro-homosexual Human Rights commission. The ACLU filed the suit in 2011 after Katherine Baker and Ming-Lien Linsley contacted the inn about their reception, and Jim O'Reilly said his family settled because he had little choice. "No one can force us to abandon our deeply held beliefs about marriage," he said. "Our beliefs haven't changed, but we do have lives to live, a family to love, a business to grow, and a community to serve. Small businesses like ours cannot match the limitless resources of the government and the ACLU. Ongoing litigation like this can cripple any small business and the livelihood of its owners, so we're relieved to put this ordeal behind us." Vermont is a step away from becoming the third state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, Baptist Press reports. The state's House of Representatives voted 75-65 May 13 to permit terminally ill Vermont residents to use a prescription for a lethal drug dose. The Senate had approved the legislation with a 17-13 vote. Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill into law, and Vermont will join Oregon and Washington as the only states to legalize assisted suicide. However, Vermont will become the first state to do so through the legislative process, as the other states legalized the practice through voter initiatives. An article published at The Wall Street Journal this week brings readers on a whirlwind tour of 2017. For Americans, the past twelve months have been marked by tragedy. Its been a year of shootings, natural disasters, and scarred relationships. In October, fifty-eight people died in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. As the Wall Street Journal reports, this massacre ranks as the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Just a few weeks later, another gunman slaughtered twenty-six more defenseless victims in a rural Texas church. It became the fifth deadliest such attack. But these are only two of the many violent killings that happened this year. Zusha Elionson with WSJ writes, [T]he number of people killed or injured in mass incidents in 2017 is higher than in the three previous years. Natural disasters have also battered the nation from all sides. As the article reports, more than 200 people died in hurricanes and tropical storms that overwhelmed the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. On the western side of the country, wildfires ravaged California in October and December. These fires wiped out more than 8,400 houses and other structures, killed forty-two people, and burned thousands of acres. Meanwhile, rifts between races have continued to grow under the pressure of rallies and extremist groups. The distrust between genders has also increased with the widespread revelations of sexual misconduct. Allegations reached to some of the most respected positions in modern society, forcing many Americans to think twice about where they put their trust. In all of these tragedies, that very question of trust is just what we should be evaluating as a nation. If nothing else, this year has proven that there isnt much in the world worth trusting innot the weather, not politicians, not even our fellow average people. All these things, along with most other things that we treat as trustworthy, have failed us in 2017. And none of those failures are unprecedented. In a sense, weve seen it all before in the pages of history books. So, none of these things even deserved our trust in the first place. As we move forward from this year of sorrows, lets turn our thoughts to the One that we can trust in. This life is truly one of tragedy, but we serve a God of restoration. Hewho alone holds the power of taming the weather and transforming the human heartwill one day banish tragedy forever and wipe every tear from our eyes. Put your hope in him. Leah Hickman is a 2017 graduate of Hillsdale Colleges English program. She has written pieces for multiple Hillsdale College campus publications as well as for BreakPoint.org, ChristianAnswers.net/Spotlight, and the Discover Laura Blog. Read more by Leah at aworldofgrasspeople.blogspot.com. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: December 13, 2017 5 Questions for Evangelicals in the Aftermath of Roy Moore's Defeat What are we to make of the victory of Democrat Doug Jones in very Red Alabama? What are we to make of the victory of Democrat Doug Jones in very Red Alabama? Was this a vote against Trump and therefore part of a larger, national shift, a precursor of things to come? Was it a vote for decency and honor, assuming Roy Moore was guilty of the charges brought against him? Or did fake news and lying allegations steal the election from a devoted, Christian conservative? Those questions will be debated endlessly in the days ahead and with good reason but as an evangelical follower of Jesus, I'd like to propose some other questions for us to consider. 1) Were we guilty of putting our trust in the Republican party? This has been a nasty habit of ours for several decades (especially among white evangelicals), as if having a Republican majority in Congress, along with a Republican president, was the key to moral and cultural change. To the extent we believe this to be true, we are putting our trust in flesh and blood rather than in the living God, looking to man to do what only the Lord can do. Did we actually believe that the key to national transformation was maintaining a Republican majority in the Senate? (Or conversely, for those evangelicals who tend to vote Democrat, did you believe that regaining a Democratic majority was the key?) Have we not remembered that, for all the good done by the Moral Majority, it erred by largely becoming an appendage of the Republican Party? I recognize the tremendous power of the three branches of our government, and I long to see God-fearing judges and God-fearing politicians making righteous decisions for our nation. And I understand that our votes play a role in seeing that vision come to pass. But we fool ourselves if we think the government can do what only the Lord's people can do, and to the extent we play the numbers game, to that extent we will be disappointed. (Need I say anything more than the words "the political establishment"?) 2) Do we pray for the elections more than for awakening? Hardly anything stirs up passions like politics, and every four years (or, sometimes, every two years), we get freshly charged and provoked. How many times have you heard it said that, "This is the most important election of our lifetimes!"? I do believe elections are important, and for better or worse, America looks different today than it would if Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, were president. But how much more important is spiritual awakening? How much more critical is revival in the Church, which then has the potential of impacting the nation and beyond? If we prayed for revival and awakening the way we pray for (or, talk about and think about) the elections, our nation would be shaken. 3) Were we willing to trade our integrity for a seat in Congress? Because I was unsure if the charges against Judge Moore were true, had I lived in Alabama, I would have voted for him, since I much preferred his moral vision to that of Doug Jones. Then, as I have suggested elsewhere, I would have expected the Senate Ethics Committee to look into charges against him. If he was exonerated, he could then serve effectively; if he was found guilty, I would have expected him to step down, leading to a fresh election for the state. But I would not have voted for him if the most serious charges against him were true. This is not only because of the seriousness of the charges, but also because he would have been lying about them to this day. That also means he would have been falsely accusing the women he had violated as teenagers when he denied their claims today. Had he been guilty, and had this been part of his public record, I would have gladly forgiven him, seeing that this happened decades ago and no one brought charges against him in the decades since. But I believe it would be wrong to say, "I don't care if he's guilty or not. This is about saving the lives of the unborn and getting the right people in the Supreme Court and securing our borders, so he has my vote anyway." I understand the sentiment, but I reject it. Remember: If he was guilty back then, he is a lying hypocrite today and a lying hypocrite of the highest order, one who touts the Ten Commandments but flagrantly breaks them. I do not see how we could vote for such a person in the name of righteousness. Again, had I lived in Alabama, I would have voted for Judge Moore because I wasn't sure of the charges against him. And I still hope that the charges are not true, which would mean that a massive, ugly, political hit job succeeded in bringing down a good man. But I believe we further tarnished our witness by saying, "Guilty or not, lying or not, he has my vote." If you say, "We already tarnished our witness in voting for Donald Trump," I understand, but respectfully disagree. That's because we knew what we were getting (in contrast with saying, "I will vote for a man who claims to be a Christian but is really a lying hypocrite of the worst kind"). We understood that Trump's past life was anything but Christian and we knew that many aspects of his personality could be divisive and destructive. Yet we believed that God had turned his heart in certain positive directions (towards religious rights and towards the unborn, to give two major examples) and that if we voted for Hillary Clinton, we would have blood on our hands. Personally, I do not see that as comparable to voting for Judge Moore if you believe he was guilty of the charges and therefore deceiving and lying to this day while hiding behind the cloak of the gospel. (Once more, for the record, I hope he is not guilty, and we still don't know either way. And even if guilty, he is not guilty of being a "serial child molester," the way some in the media are presenting it.) 4) If our greatest weapons are spiritual, why aren't we using them? Do we have any more effective tools for national change than prayer, fasting, holy living, and evangelism? Has the Great Commission changed from "go and make disciples" to "go and elect politicians"? How many of us even share the gospel anymore? How many of us actually believe that people are lost without Jesus? I don't ask these questions to condemn but to probe. Is America corrupt because the Church is compromised? Has America gone astray because we have failed to lead the way? Has America lost its conscience because we have ceased to be its conscience? And if we don't take the gospel mandate seriously, how can we expect the world to take us seriously? 5) Are we willing to trust the Lord regardless of the outcome of the election? I know this ties in with larger questions of God's sovereignty, which include: Does the Lord determine the outcome of elections where the populace can vote, or does He only set up and remove kings, where the people have no vote? Or does the Lord give us what we deserve, in which case it's up to us to change the outcome by living differently? Let's put those questions aside and ask this: What if Judge Moore was robbed tonight because of false accusations? What if a pro-abortion liberal won a Senatorial seat because of a leftwing plot fueled by the media and funded by the likes of George Soros? What if a tremendous injustice was done? Even if the worst-case scenario were true, are we willing to put our trust in God, who always has the last laugh, believing that He can turn things around for greater good? And if Judge Moore was guilty and not deserving of a seat in the Senate, can we trust that righteous people were restrained from voting for him, and all of this is divine chastisement? Obviously, emotions are high on all sides, but if we turn those emotions into prayer and holy action, it will turn out for the greater good. What, then, shall we do? That's a question that each of must answer for ourselves. (For my three-minute video commentary, go here.) Four Factors in the Alabama Senate Election In a 'major upset,' Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in yesterday's Senate election in Alabama. In a "major upset," Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in yesterday's Senate election in Alabama. This was the 50th Senate special election in my lifetime. None has been remotely as controversial as this campaign. The Denison Forum is nonpartisan and does not endorse or oppose political candidates. As a result, my intention today is not to support or criticize the candidates or their parties. Rather, it is to explore the cultural significance of the election in the context of biblical truth. It seems to me that four factors influenced the outcome. I predict that these same factors will continue to be relevant to American elections for the foreseeable future. One: Personal qualifications Doug Jones has been working for civil rights and reconciliation since high school. He served as an assistant US attorney and private lawyer before being appointed US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by President Clinton in 1997. As a result of his work in racial reconciliation, he received 96 percent of the African American vote in yesterday's election. Roy Moore graduated from West Point and served in Vietnam. He was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000 but was removed in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument he installed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. He was reelected in 2012 but was charged with violations of legal ethics in 2016 and suspended; he retired the next year. In recent months, he faced allegations of sexual impropriety from at least eight women. These allegations apparently played a role in Jones's upset victory, the first time Alabama has elected a Democrat to the Senate in twenty-five years. As supporters of both candidates would agree, personal qualifications are obviously significant for elective office. Just as an overseer must be qualified for leadership (1 Timothy 3:1-7), so a political leader should be qualified to serve. Two: Political positions A candidate's political agenda is always relevant to an election. But this factor was especially important in the Alabama race, causing many conservative voters to support Judge Moore despite the personal allegations against him. In 2011, only 30 percent of white evangelicals agreed that "an elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life." Last year, 72 percent agreed with this statement, a far larger swing than other religious groups the poll studied. I believe that one reason for this change is the opposition evangelicals feel from the culture. With the legalization of same-sex marriage and the rising hostility to biblical morality in our society, it's not surprising that 83 percent of evangelicals believe religious liberty is under attack. In this environment, many conservative voters are more concerned about a candidate's political party and agenda than his or her personal qualifications. For instance, some Republicans who are troubled by personal accusations against Donald Trump nonetheless celebrated his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. In addition, recent allegations of sexual impropriety against political leaders show that we do not always know the private character of those we elect to office. And it is possible for God to use people who live unbiblically to advance his Kingdom agenda. The pagan king Darius issued a proclamation honoring the one true God (Daniel 6:25-27); Caesar Augustus ordered the census that fulfilled Scripture (Luke 2:1-7; Micah 5:2). In today's bitterly partisan environment, we will continue to see many voters support a candidate more because of party and position than because of personal qualifications. Scripture teaches that we are to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22). What a candidate will do in office is obviously a vital question for voters and constituents. Three: "Fake news" The Alabama election saw widespread complaints that criticisms of Roy Moore were "fake news." According to exit polls, 51 percent of voters said the allegations against Moore were probably or definitely true, while 44 percent said they were probably or definitely false. There have been several high-profile journalistic mistakes in recent weeks that have fueled widespread distrust of the media. "Fake news" will continue to be a major factor in our political climate for some time to come. The ninth commandment is clear: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). We are to "put away falsehood" (Ephesians 4:25) and reject slander (1 Peter 2:1). Four: Write-ins and no-shows Several newspapers in Alabama urged conservatives to write in a Republican rather than cast their vote for Moore. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby says he "voted for a distinguished Republican write-in" rather than vote for Moore. According to Newsweek, Jones's margin of victory was a little under 21,000 votes, while there were close to 23,000 write-in votes cast. Assuming most would otherwise have gone to Moore, "write-in votes had a decisive impact." In addition, only 1.3 million votes were cast out of 3.2 million eligible voters, meaning that nearly two million people chose not to vote rather than support either candidate. No-shows were especially significant on the Republican side. As The Atlantic reports today, "Although many white voters weren't convinced to vote for Jones, the allegations against Moore persuaded many of them to stay home." Some Christians believe that we should focus more on building authentic Christian community and less on engagement with the secular culture. There are times when we must "go out from their midst, and be separate from them" (2 Corinthians 6:17, citing Isaiah 52:11). One way to do so is to view an election not as a binary choice between two nominated candidates but as an opportunity to write in a candidate or to protest the process by refusing to vote. Conclusion In our contentious, polarized society, we can expect more divisive elections. The mid-term elections next year are shaping up to be especially contentious. There are clearly no perfect candidates (or voters). If Christians are to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16), we must be engaged in the cultural and political issues of our day. But we must always act with "compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" (Colossians 3:12). No matter how we or our candidates are treated, "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15) is an imperative for us. Shane Claiborne: "I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination." How will you spread your faith today? Originally Posted at the Denison Forum. New England City Sides With Abortion Industry in Free Speech Crackdown The city council for Hartford, Conn. authorized a new regulation that will force the city's only pro-life pregnancy center to post signage meant to turn women away from its life-saving services. In a decision handed down Monday night, the city council for Hartford, Conn., authorized a new regulation that will force the city's only pro-life pregnancy center to post signage meant to turn women away from its life-saving services. Threatening Hartford Women's Center with a $100 fine per day for noncompliance, the ordinance would require the center to identify itself as a non-medical facility despite the fact that its team includes licensed medical professionals working under the supervision of a physician. By the time the ordinance is set to go into effect, July 1, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a similar case out of California, which will likely affect whether or not the regulation in Hartford stands or falls. While the case before the Supreme Court, National Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, figures to play a major role in the outcome of the Hartford ordinance, previous attempts to target the work of pregnancy centers has failed at state and local levelsincluding one attempt in Baltimore and its encompassing county that cost taxpayers north of $330,000 in damages. That's a factor seemingly overlooked by the city council's hasty decision Monday night, particularly since it voted at the same meeting to apply for a $40 million state bailout fund to avoid declaring bankruptcy. "State and local governments have no business interfering with a woman's right to choose life for herself and her child," said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, a 2,400-plus member affiliation network that includes Hartford Women's Center. "Every woman should have all the options, help and support she needs to make the healthiest decision for everyone involved in an unexpected pregnancy." Hartford Women's Center, which operates under the nonprofit license of St. Gerard's Center, opened its location this May next door to Hartford GYN, which touts its mission under the slogan, "Abortion: 100 Percent of What We Do." In business since 1981, the abortion mill sent a woman to the hospital after she suffered excessive bleeding during a procedure this October, according to emergency call records obtained by Operation Rescue. While that incident has gone entirely unreported by local media and uninspected by city officials, the city council action Monday night comes at the behest of Hartford GYN and its upstairs neighbor, NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticutwhich has been campaigning against pregnancy centers over the past two years. In 2015, NARAL disparaged the 50-plus pregnancy centers throughout Connecticut in a "report" that included the word "deception" 21 times in just 30 pages. Backed by rabidly pro-abortion U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the hit piece was later used in an unsuccessful attempt to introduce legislation at the state house in early 2017. Offering free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, options counseling, material aid, parenting education and post-abortive help, the pro-life center is privately funded and has been serving women in the community with free help since 2006. Since closing on the property next door to the abortion clinic late last November, Hartford Women's Center has been a constant target for the abortion lobby and its prized business interest next doorwhich local pro-lifers say aborts up to 60 babies each day. Well before it started serving clients at its new location in May, the center was accused of false adverting by NARAL and the abortion clinic, eventually leading to the city council's decision Monday night. Though unfounded and unproven, Hartford Women's Center executive director Leticia Velasquez says she expects that kind of accusation in the fight to rescue lives from abortion. "We're strangers in this world, we have to remember that," Velasquez said in May. "If we get too comfortable, we must not be over the target, but we're catching flak, so we must be over the target." Although the efforts to force pregnancy centers to post similar signage is still in play in San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle, parallel efforts have been turned away as unconstitutional infringements in Austin (TX), New York City, Baltimore (MD), as well as and Montgomery County, Md.which was ordered to pay pregnancy centers $330,000 in attorney's fees after having colluded with NARAL. This summer, Missouri passed a protective measure to prevent municipalities in its state from targeting pregnancy centers after abortion proponents in St. Louis tried to strip all religious organizations from holding their own employees to a pro-life code of conduct. Other, more onerous laws forcing pregnancy centers to speak a government message have come under scrutiny in Illinois, California and Hawaii, with a judge permanently stopping Illinois' law and the U.S. Supreme Court taking up pro-lifers' challenge to California's law earlier in November. The Meaning of Hanukkah The Miracle of Light During the darkest time of the year, when the days are short and the nights long, we celebrate Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. During the darkest time of the year, when the days are short and the nights long, we celebrate Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. It commemorates events that occurred during a dark period for the nation of Israel, yet God brought about salvation for His people and a miracle of light. The Origins of Hanukkah In the 2nd century BCE, the Greeks controlled the nation of Israel and had oppressed the Jews. They sought to destroy the Jewish people by outlawing the most essential Jewish practices and encouraging complete assimilation. The Greeks believed that they were the enlightened ones, and maintained that the Jews who followed the Bible were stuck in irrelevant rituals of the past. The Greeks won over many Jews known as Hellenists some of whom then became the worst enemies of Jews who adhered to their faith and the Bible. It was a small faction of this group who resisted the Greeks and ultimately rebelled. The rebellion began when the Greeks demanded that the Jews sacrifice a pig to Greek gods. Instead, the High Priest slaughtered a Greek governor. A family of priests, led by their father Mattityahu, headed to the hills of Judea where they launched a guerrilla warfare campaign against the Greek army. This tiny group of pious Jews, who called themselves the Maccabees, managed to defeat the mighty Greek army. After several years of fighting, they succeeded in liberating the Temple in Jerusalem and driving the enemy from their midst. But when the fighters arrived at the Temple, they were devastated to find it completely desecrated. Undaunted, they cleaned it up, removed the idols, and rededicated the Temple on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. The Meaning of Hanukkah Hanukkah means "dedication" and recalls both the rededication of the Temple and the devoted dedication of the Jewish fighters. The miracle of Hanukkah came when it was time to light the Temple lampstand, called the menorah. The Jews could only find one jar of pure olive oil required for lighting the lamp only enough to last one day. The Jews decided to light the menorah anyway, and miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, long enough for more olive oil to arrive. Today, we commemorate this miracle by lighting our own menorahs for eight nights. While this miracle of Hanukkah is directly connected to light, the celebration of light goes beyond remembering these events of the past. Light and darkness are symbolic of the entire Hanukkah story and serve as the basis for the eternal lessons that can be learned from this rich holiday. The battle between the Jews and the Greeks was more than a physical battle; it was a battle of ideals and values. The Greeks believed that beauty was holy. The Jews maintained that holiness was beautiful. The Greeks worshiped the physical body. The Jews cherished the soul. The ideals of the Greeks encouraged immorality, idolatry, and selfishness. The Jews stood for goodness, godliness, and kindness. This was a battle between good and evil, darkness and light. While the Greeks tried to extinguish the light of the Torah, a great miracle happened, and the small group of loyal Jews were able to vanquish the darkness. God fought the battles for the Jews who fought with their faith. Hanukkah is a holiday of hope, one that teaches us that there is no limit to what we can accomplish when we let God be our guiding light and do our best to shine our own. I pray that these devotions will encourage us all to shine God's light in the darkest places of our lives and in our world. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein is the founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which now raises more than $140 million per year, mostly from Christians, to assist Israel and the Jewish people. Since its founding, The Fellowship has raised more than $1.4 billion for this work. The organization has offices in Jerusalem, Chicago, Toronto and Seoul. 3 reasons we can still rejoice despite all the turmoil in the world With all that's happening around the world, it's pretty normal for anybody to feel discouraged or disheartened. In Christ, however, we can still rejoice and in fact do more than just hope for the best. How is this? Hope for hopeless times Truth be told, anybody who's been watching the news will feel distraught to some extent about what is happening all over the world. Locally, there are reports of violence and many other things. Internationally there are reports of tensions among nations, most particularly with North Korea and parts of the Middle East. The events happening around us are so serious. People are being killed, prices are skyrocketing, and even the internet has so many bullies trolling others in awful ways. With all these things, how can we still rejoice? The answer might shock us, but it's really simple: it's through Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus is able to bring us peace and hope even in chaotic, hopeless times. He defeated sin and death, and through Him nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. Peace in turmoil That said, I'd like to share with you, dear reader, some reasons why we can still rejoice even in the midst of turmoil in the world. 1) God is unshakeable and in control The Bible tells us that no matter what is happening around us, no matter how chaotic or troubling the events may be, the truth is that God, our Father, is never shaken nor is He thrown into worry. And because He is unshakeable, those who put their trust in Him can never be shaken as well. David, a man who fought against bears, lions, a war-hardened giant, and a king bent on killing him, knew just how God can make any man secure. In Psalm 62:5-8 we read him say, "My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah" 2) Christ has already defeated the enemy As Christians, we have to realize that we are fighting a war from the position of victory. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has already won the battle and has made a public spectacle of the enemy's defeat on the cross. Think about this: the devil thought killing the Christ would gave him victory, but he was mistaken. The sinless Son of God defeated sin by living a sinless life in the flesh. And because He was sinless, He did not deserve death and thus, death could not hold Him down. Because of this, we know we have overcome: that Christ has won over sin, death, and the enemy. 3) We have God's indwelling Holy Spirit in us Friends, no matter what happens outside of us, we should be comforted by who's inside of us - the Holy Spirit. Think about it: this same Spirit empowered Christ to live a sinless life, and raised Him from the grave on the third day after His death, lives inside of us. If we only get a revelation that the Spirit of God, who created everything in creation and raised the Christ from the grave, lives in each and every one of us who believe in Christ, we'd never lose hope. Hopelessness is but a word that doesn't exist in the Spirit's vocabulary. He brings hope, and He lives in us. Christian charities warn Rohingya face more violence if they're returned to Myanmar International charities including Christian organisations have joined forces to condemn a forced return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar. Around 626,000 Rohinghas have been driven out of Myanmar's Rakhine State since August by a campaign against them from the military involving murder and rape, described by the international community as ethnic cleansing. Facilities in Banglash have been overwhelmed and they are living in squalid and dangerous conditions. Many arrive injured and traumatised, having seen family members murdered. However, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar announced on November 23 that repatriation would begin within two months. The statement from 15 organisations working in the region, including World Vision, the Church of Sweden and the Lutheran World Federation, urged that before any refugees were returned their rights and safety should be guaranteed. The statement said the United Nations' relief body UNHCR should take a lead role in organising repatriations and should be enabled to monitor their treatment. Returned refugees, it said, 'should be allowed to return to their original homes and/or land, or to a place of their choice. There should be no form of closed camps or camp-like settlements.' It called for compensation to be given for their losses and said those guilty of atrocities should be held to account, urging 'an independent fact-finding mission into allegations of human rights violations and a judicial process to hold perpetrators to account and instil confidence in the survivors'. 'Regardless of what side of the border they are on, the humanitarian needs of these refugees will remain urgent. They could even increase if returns aren't safe and voluntary,' said Suresh Bartlett, national director of World Vision Myanmar. World Vision is working in Bangladesh's refugee camps to distribute food, protect women and children from exploitation and abuse, and improve water and sanitation sources. 'Everyone deserves full and equal rights, and our priority remains firm: children the most vulnerable in crises must be protected from all forms of violence,' said Bartlett. Defining unity: What makes Anglicans Anglican anyway? The ordination of nine men into the new 'Anglican Mission in England' (AMiE) has highlighted divisions not only over sexuality but also different ideas of what it means to be genuinely 'Anglican'. You might think this was straightforward enough: after all, isn't an Anglican, at least in the UK, a member of the Church of England (or its sister churches in Scotland and Wales) period? And doesn't it haveto be like that? But it's not that simple. Here are some of the ways people sometimes try to define Anglicanism and some of the issues that arise once they start. Geography: Some people see Anglicanism as being at least in part territorial. Thus, as mentioned above, if you live in England, you can only be 'properly' Anglican if you are in the Church of England. But this cannot be right, because Anglicanism exists in more than one form in several places already. For example, there is the Free Church of England (FCE), established in 1844 and using Anglican liturgy. The Church of England acknowledges the FCE as a church with valid ministerial orders and its canons permit a range of shared liturgical and ministerial activities. Again, to choose another example, Canon Peter Adam has written: 'There are already two distinct and separate Anglican jurisdictions in Europe: each one with its own Bishop. One is the Diocese in Europe, which is part of The Church of England. The other is the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, part of The Episcopal Church of USA...There is already room for two different expressions of Anglicanism in the same territory.' So clearly there can be more than one brand of 'Anglicanism' in a geographical area, and that is already established practice. Canterbury: Some people see Anglicanism as being defined by being 'in communion' with the Archbishop of Canterbury. This is the line taken by the liberal Church Times newspaper in an editorial last week, which says AMiE should drop the label 'Anglican' because being out of communion with Justin Welby invalidates the term. But this is simply incorrect. As the influential Anglicans Online website says: 'It is... entirely possible for a church to be completely Anglican in heritage and origin, but for it not to be in communion with the See of Canterbury.' It then goes on to list dozens of Anglican denominations which fall into this category, including some significant groupings. Ecclesiology: We are on surer ground when we come to ecclesiology the nature and structure of a church. Anglicans are all episcopal (they think bishops are a good idea), connectional (they like to be joined with other churches in a way that 'congregational' churches are not) and liturgical (they believe using a set form of written words is a desirable and integral part of corporate worship). It would be hard to be 'Anglican' without these three things in some shape or form. Theology: Underlying all these questions, of course, is the issue of theology what we believe and why we believe it. The website of the worldwide Anglican Communion asks the question: 'What's distinctive about Anglicanism?' It says: 'Anglicans... agree that their beliefs and practices, their authority, derive from an integration of Scripture (the Holy Bible), Reason (the intellect and the experience of God) and Tradition (the practices and beliefs of the historical church).' It continues: 'Anglicanism generally has declared the Bible to be supremely authoritative for matters of doctrine and has broadly subscribed to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.' The Anglican Communion website then points to the 1886 'Lambeth Quadrilateral' as a 'summary of a worldwide common Anglican stance'. This is a statement of four essentials, namely 'the Holy Scriptures, as containing all things necessary to salvation', 'the creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds), as the sufficient statement of Christian faith', the 'sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion' and 'historic episcopate, locally adapted'. To summarise this all in a nutshell, there is sometimes confusion because people seek to define Anglicanism organisationally rather than organically. If you try and define Anglicanism as an organisation then you end up emphasising things such as church structures and Archbishops. This tends if not exclusively to be the approach of some liberals. But if you define Anglicanism as an organism then you tend to emphasise things such as theology, belief and behaviour. This tends if not exclusively to be the approach of evangelicals. Anglo-Catholics might try to unite both the organisational and organic understanding of church in a view of the Roman Catholic Church as the truest manifestation of the Body of Christ on earth. Admittedly this is a very great simplification, but it is not unhelpful. The net result of these differing understandings is that GAFCON's conservative Anglicans would argue that liberals have left organic Anglicanism in theological terms by departing from 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints' (Jude v3), and thus are not proper Anglicans. By contrast, liberals would argue GAFCON has left organisational Anglicanism, by departing from existing structures and the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus are not proper Anglicans either. Underlying that, it could be argued that for more liberal Anglicans unity consists of 'being together in the same organisation under the Archbishop of Canterbury' whereas more conservative Anglicans would argue that unity consists of 'being together in the truth under the authority of Scripture'. Some liberals might then quote the 1930 Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops which specifically defined the Anglican Communion as churches which are 'in communion with the See of Canterbury'. Conservatives would respond by citing the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution defining sexual morality in traditional terms, arguing that the latter trumps the former. From both an historical and biblical point of view, it seems to me that conservative Anglicans have more going for their point of view than do liberals. The Lambeth Quadrilateral speaks of the 'organic' nature of the church. Moreover, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion in the 1662 Prayer Book describe 'church' simply as 'a congregation of faithful people, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments... duly ministered'. It goes on to emphasise the theological over the structural, declaring that a church cannot decree anything which goes against Scripture (Article 20). Many other arguments and points of view might be presented. These things are indeed complex. But when it comes to future battles for example over the ownership of church buildings our understanding of what it means to be 'Anglican' may be crucial. Perhaps the best place to finish is by praying. And the 1662 Prayer Book offers us these words so helpfully: 'Almighty and ever-living God... Grant that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love... Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Clergy, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments.' And all the people said, 'Amen!' David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly series. 'I cannot remember peace': One Iraqi priest's hopes for Christians in the Middle East 'Tell me your dreams,' Father Daniel, an Iraqi priest in the northern city of Irbil asked the children he looks after. The children's response was what they had grown used to seeing. To kill, maim and seek revenge on those who had done the same to them ISIS. 'On that day I was thinking if we didn't take care of our children maybe the next generation of ISIS would come from our children. I was really afraid of that,' he told Christian Today in an interview. Through a series of classes and trauma clinics run through his church in northern Iraq, he is gradually teaching the more than 350 children who take refuge there the importance of forgiveness. 'Today if you ask me if I am really worried about the children I would say no. I trust them. They have shown a positivity in the dealing with so many negative cases that came from their neighbours.' But his long-term dream is still to be realised. At the age of 27 Father Daniel says he cannot remember any point in his life where there was peace, growing up as he did with the Gulf War, then being threatened by Al Qaida in Baghdad before the US-UK invasion in 2003 and then the ISIS rampage. 'Every day, even if we hear some good news, we are afraid that two minutes after we are going to get some bad news,' he said. 'We don't have the hope.' Now even with ISIS all but gone from Iraq, the residual bitterness against other communities and the government, especially from Kurdish-controlled Erbil, remains strong. 'There is always tension among Christians about the future,' says Father Daniel. 'Many are uncertain about what will happen next. Are we going to stay or are we going to leave? Of course this thinking not coming from nothing. They have experienced negative and bad things that started from the crisis where ISIS raided their villages and houses. 'Since then until there is no trust. They don't trust the government. They don't trust their neighbours. When they left their houses, villages and cities, their neighbours were the first to steal their property. 'So there are still tensions.' For those tensions to subside, Christian leaders must be involved in the peacebuilding process, he says. Father Daniel is in the UK to present a petition alongside the Christian persecution charity Open Doors to the UK government - a responsibility he says he bears heavily. It asks the foreign office to protect the rights of religious minorities as both Syria and Iraq rebuild after the trauma of ISIS' invasion. It also asks for decent living conditions including jobs and houses, especially for returning refugees and for faith leaders to have a prominent role in the reconciliation process. How Western governments should bring about these requests is another question. Father Daniel expresses enthusiasm about the US Vice President Mike Pence's announcement the State Department would divert aid money away from the United Nations' programmes and straight to faith based agencies. 'I think it is a good idea to be in direct contact with the Iraqi Christians,' he said. 'The Church can play a role that no government or organisation in the world can do.' The UK government is unlikely to follow the same path of antagonising the UN as Trump's administration. But there is a frustration among campaigners in the UK at the lack of tangible effort from the foreign office to improve conditions for Christians in the Middle East. Fearful of UNHCR refugee camps because they are dominated and run but different faith groups who are hostile, Christians are excluded from resettlement schemes in to the UK and forced to find shelter where they can in nearby churches. Hundreds of thousands remain internally displaced within their country but without a home. Open Doors' petition hopes to raise awareness and funds to step in where ministers are reluctant. Last year the global Open Doors International network raised around $70 million for persecuted Christians providing food, medicines, trauma care, legal assistance, safe houses and schools, as well as spiritual support through Christian literature, training and resources. But unless the trend changes dramatically there will be few Christians left to support. Open Doors UK is warning that 80 per cent of Christians have left Iraq with as little as 200,000 remaining compared to up to 2 million in the 1980s. On top of that Christians made up between 8-10 per cent of the Syrian population before 2011 with Aleppo the most Christian city with 400,000 believers. Now that number is around 60,000 and some estimates suggest 800,000 Christians have fled across the country. Israeli man jailed for attack on Galilee church where Jesus multiplied loaves and fish An Israeli man has been jailed for four years after being found guilty of an arson attack on the church where it is thought Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000. Yin Reuveni, 23, was described as a Jewish extremist and had earlier been found guilty of 'aggravated arson' and two counts of criminal conspiracy for the attack on the Church of Multiplication of Loaves and Fish in Galilee in June 2015. As well as four years in prison Reuveni, who lives in a Jewish settled in occupied Palestine, was fined 50,000 shekels ($14,000). The attack left two rooms of the Catholic church complex badly damaged but the church itself escaped unharmed. As well as the fire damage Hebrew graffiti reading 'Idols will be cast out' from a common Jewish prayer was found at the site. It cost around $1million to repair the famous church in Tabgha on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, with the Israeli government paying around $400,000. Reuveni's lawyer Itamar Ben-Gvir argued the sentence was too harsh and said he planned to appeal it as well as the verdict. Ofsted demands new power to clamp down on illegal faith schools School inspectors are demanding new powers to tackle unregistered conservative faith schools accused of 'spreading beliefs that clash with British values'. A major new report from the schools' inspectorate Ofsted on Wednesday warned that some religious schools are undermining principles like tolerance and respect in their teaching. It also warned the proportion of independent schools, like private faith schools, that were judged inadequate rose from 31 per cent to 40 per cent including a number of 'highly conservative' Christian, Jewish or Muslim faith schools. Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector, will call for new powers to clamp down on a legal loophole that allows unregistered and illegal schools to educate children without government oversight. She said spreading 'shared values' will be one of Ofsted's priorities for the next year. 'Current legislation is inadequate to tackle unregistered schools. It limits our powers and allows institutions to exploit loopholes about definitions of education,' she will say. 'The existence of unregistered schools is possible because there is no requirement to register a child as home educated, so there is no record of children who have never been in school.' The debate around school inspections and a focus on British values prompted warnings from some church leaders that Ofsted could force faith schools to promote issues like same-sex marriage which contravened their religious beliefs. But under the current system the government has no means of checking what happens to children after they are withdrawn from school and there is no database of children who are being home schooled. This means parents can remove their child from mainstream school and send them for an illegal and extremist education. 'In some of these schools, the premises are unsafe or squalid. The most basic checks are not always in place. Inspectors have also found sexist and sectarian literature in some schools,' Ofsted's annual report will say. 'In even more extreme cases, children are being educated illegally in unregistered settings. This means there are no safeguards in place to make sure children are either safe or receiving a decent education.' Raddi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition which campaigns against faith schools said the report was 'no surprise'. He said: 'It is inevitable that those faith groups that wish to prevent their pupils from mixing with other children are also at odds with some of the values of wider society. 'Their schools are deliberately being used to isolate children from social trends, gender equality and sexual ethics that are intrinsic to modern Britain.' The 8 things you need to know about the 8 days of Chanukah Here are eight things you need to know about the eight days of Chanukah which started last night: 1) In around 166 BCE, the Hellenized Seleucid Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes ('G-d Manifest') defiled the Temple of Jerusalem the capital city of the Jew. They did this by contaminating the oil used to light the Menorah and sacrificing pigs to their own gods. When the Maccabee family decided to take action to safeguard their capital city, their Temple and their religion, they found one small jar of oil unopened, which miraculously lasted for eight days hence the festival of Chanukah. The Maccabees later became the Hasmonean dynasty. 2) As is normal in Jewish history, the main struggle for the Jews who wanted to remain Jewish was with those Jews who wanted to remain Hellenized. To remain Hellenized meant to take part in the Olympic games, worship the body and discard the biblical values of Judaism as manifest in the Bible and rabbinic commentaries. 3) Olive oil is used to anoint the sacred. Both King David and King Solomon were anointed with olive oil, as is the monarch in this country. However, in Judaism anointing with oil does not purify the person. If the person is already tainted (whether monarch or not), no amount of oil will get rid of the stain, and that is what Chanukah is all about. The menorah we light today has eight candles, one for each day of the miracle of the oil. The Hebrew word for oil is 'shemen'. The word for 8 is connected: 'shemoneh'. 4) The importance of oil to the festival is the reason for using oil in festive foods, such as latkes, doughnuts and kugels. In Hebrew doughnuts are known as 'sufganiot' 5) The 4-sided spinning tops for children known as dreidels in Yiddish and as sevivon in Hebrew were used as a subversive toy to fool the powers-that-be over more than 2000 years. The authorities forbade the Jewish people to commemorate the festival or to study Torah. The Hebrew letters on the sevivon stand for 'A great miracle happened here'. 6) The festival starts on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev (no connection whatsoever with Christmas), which falls any time from late November till late December. 7) The original menorah had 7 prongs as specified by G-d to Moses in Exodus 25. One such can be seen in Titus' triumphalist Arch in Rome, after he had sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in the year 70 CE, when the Jews were exiled from their capital city and either murdered by him or enslaved. 8) You need 44 candles to celebrate the 8 days of Chanukah it being eventually decided that the number of candles lit at home should be increased by one every day. Exactly 40 years ago in 1977 the Lubavitcher Rebbe persuaded the American political authorities for whom the separation between Church and State is normally paramount that Chanukah is about the divine in life and not about a specific religion. He successfully argued that American values at best are also Jewish values and that to display the Chanukah menorah in public places was not a ploy to convert Americans to any particular religion. So now menorahs are lit all over the world. Last night menorahs were lit at the White House, the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin and the Brandenburg Gate. As in previous years, Trafalgar Square hosted a 30 foot menorah outfitted and specially designed with environmentally friendly bulbs, commissioned by the London Climate Change Agency. The world's largest menorah, standing 36 feet high, was lit as usual just outside Central Park in New York City. And here in Broughton Park, Salford, just as all over the State of Israel, vehicles sporting 8-pronged menorahs could be seen and heard lighting up the cold and snow-laden streets, bringing the good news of Chanukah to all and sundry. In Binyamina, a small hamlet in the State of Israel, my two young grandchildren skyped to thank me for my gifts of the first Harry Potter book and the story of Robin Hood (the grandson is into archery). So the moral of Chanukah is that there are two ways of destroying a people. There is genocide pure and simple (that is the Persian story of the Book of Esther, read at Purim in February/March). The other, more subtle, and therefore more difficult to deal with, entails fighting, but knowing what you are fighting for. The word 'Adam' in Hebrew does not mean 'person' as in English. In English a 'person' (from the Latin 'persona') is someone who masks their real feelings and often puts on an act. Judaism is not about masks and putting on acts. Judaism is about unmitigated dedication and honesty. As long as the fighting is done to protect Jewish values, including purity in life, fighting is permitted. This is how it was put by one of the greatest rabbis of the last 100 years. And I read this passage at the English-language book launch hosted and chaired by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at Magdalene College Cambridge, February 1st this year in front of friends from Jerusalem, Haifa and all over England: 'Chanukah has come around again and all over Israel candles light up our doorways and windows. Once again, our hearts miss a beat as we recite the annual Chanukah blessing, thanking G-d "Who performed miracles for our ancestors..." We then add another blessing of gratitude to our Creator: "Who has kept us alive, helped sustain us and enabled us to reach this time." 'But I cannot help asking ... if our blessing is just empty words. Do we really mean what we say? Deep down, are we truly grateful to G-d for helping us to "reach this time"? Let's listen hard to what our Chanukah candles are telling us about this difficult year we have experienced....' 'The sputtering flames hold a secret... In the doorways and windowsills, our Chanukah lights flicker, telling the story of Zion.... Our own dimming Chanukah flames also remind us of another, brighter flame: the flame of liberation which led us to rebuild our Holy Land, the land in which our roots are embedded. Although the light is covered with dust, the odd flicker gets through here and there.... They whisper to us in burning anguish.... 'Let us therefore join in blessing our Creator for having "kept us alive and helped sustain us" from the Hasmonean era up to this very day. Let us thank Him for the heroism of the Hasmoneans that has not left us. Let us recite together a blessing for the sparks of light that glow even in the embers of our darkness. Let's give thanks for even the tiniest scintilla of heroism wherever it appears. 'Let's praise G-d for the heroism of the State of Israel and the Jewish people ... and for the Holy Land that they love, the Land that has been promised by G-d to us and to the generations that will come after us, forever.' The moral of Chanukah is that, ironically, sometimes you have to be prepared to fight in order to obtain genuine peace. Happy Chanukah. Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible. Why it's time to put 'We Three Kings' (and some other carols) in the bin What a load of nonsense is written in some Christmas carols. Of course, many are excellent. But along with the gold there is a lot of dross. Take the line in 'Away in a manger' which asserts boldly: 'Little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes'. Really? On what basis is that stated? It's certainly not in the Bible. And then there's 'I saw three ships' in which the hymn-writer advances the dubious claim that he (or she) saw some boats containing Jesus and Mary arriving in Bethlehem on Christmas morning a surprising feat indeed, given that the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea, some 20 miles away from that city. But perhaps the most annoying carol of all is the well-known 'We Three Kings'. This was written in 1857 by one Henry Hopkins Junior, who as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, really should have known better. The problem is simply stated, and you know what it is: the Bible only states that the visitors from the east who came to visit Jesus were 'magi' or wise men rather than kings, and furthermore it doesn't say how many there were. Furthermore, when it comes to the many reasons to dislike this carol most heartily, we might add its grating tune and contrived rhymes such as, 'Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh.' What? And as for attempting to rhyme 'perfume' with 'gloom' so that you have to over-stress the second syllable of 'perfume' well, as an Englishman brought up on BBC Radio 4, all I can do is respond with an eye-rolling 'per-lease'. But there is actually a more serious reason for objecting to this carol and for pausing to reflect before we sing it without thinking. And that is the fact that at Christmas there is only one King. And He's not a resplendent man on a camel. He's a helpless baby in a manger. As we continue our fortnightly pilgrimage through Mark's gospel we come to Mark 15, where six times in 32 verses we are told that Jesus is 'the king of the Jews'. Many first century Jews were certainly hoping for a king perhaps a revolutionary or a Trump-like 'disrupter' who would restore their nation's past glory. But Jesus wasn't and isn't that kind of king. Instead, in Mark 15 we see that Jesus is: (1) A silent king. Jesus acknowledges his kingship when questioned (v2) but under further questioning makes no additional reply (v5). As Handley Moule, a former Bishop of Durham, wrote: 'Jesus refused either to plead guilty or to defend himself'. Not for Jesus a constant stream of defensive (or offensive) tweets when under attack. Rather, a silence that actually spoke volumes in and of itself, resonating as it did with the ancient Jewish concept of a 'lamb' who would be 'led to the slaughter' and yet be quiet in the face of death (Isaiah 53v7). (2) A suffering king. Emmanuel Macron, the French leader, has often been described as a 'Jupiter president' referring to the Roman god of gods who sat aloof above the fray of regular affairs. But Jesus' style of kingship is rather different: a monarch in the mess of human existence and suffering. A king who was prepared to be mocked, tortured and demeaned. (3) A servant king. Earlier in Mark's gospel Jesus makes it clear that he did not come to be served unlike human rulers but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And much of this section of Mark's gospel echoes Isaiah 53 with its depiction of a suffering servant. So let's consign 'We three kings' to the rubbish heap. Instead, let's focus on Jesus the one true king the unexpected king, the suffering, servant king. Let's also put in the bin our misplaced faith in human 'kings' be they named Trump, Putin, Macron, Erdogan or Corbyn. (With the best will in the world I don't think anyone would describe Theresa May as monarchical!). Of course, this may be nothing new to you but that doesn't mean we don't need to remember afresh. This Roman Catholic prayer for advent says it all so beautifully: 'Almighty, everlasting God, who in your beloved Son, King of the whole world, has willed to restore all things anew; grant in your mercy that all the families of nations, rent asunder by the wound of sin, may be subjected to His most gentle rule. Who with you lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.' David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly series. While Nebraska Republicans reacted cautiously Wednesday to their party's Senate loss in Alabama, Nebraska Democrats saw a ray of hope in the outcome. Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who had criticized the Republican National Committee's financial support for embattled GOP nominee Roy Moore, said the election of Democratic nominee Doug Jones on Tuesday night was nothing to celebrate. Republican Sen. Deb Fischer deflected direct comment on the results, suggesting "this was a race focused on Roy Moore, and the people of Alabama made their decision based on that." Sasse said he couldn't have voted for either of the Alabama candidates in the special election. "As soon as the Alabama primary was over, a lot of pro-life conservatives like me knew that there wouldn't be anything to celebrate in December either way in this race between two terrible candidates," he said. When the national GOP decided to resume pumping money into the race on behalf of Moore despite mounting evidence of Moore's aggressive and improper sexual contact with underage girls when he was in his 30s, Sasse had tweeted his outrage. "This is a bad decision and very sad day," he tweeted. "A political party must be about more than expediency," Sasse later tweeted. "To have any future, a party must have some fundamental convictions and commitments." Associate Democratic State Chair Frank LaMere said Jones' victory "represents the repudiation of the 'fake patriotism' of Donald Trump and the hope that fair-minded Alabama voters gave to all Americans." "The first deeply red state has fallen under the Trump administration," LaMere said. "Who is next?" he asked. Democratic State Chair Jane Kleeb said the Democratic victory in Alabama "shows our party must invest in our base African-Americans, Latinos, women and young people while reaching out to targeted Republicans who stand with American values." Political elites on both sides of the Atlantic are still frothing over President Donald Trumps retweeting of three videos recording Muslims acting badly. The videos originated with a reviled British organization, Britain First, deemed a hate group by the British establishment for linking Britains high levels of Muslim immigration to incidents of Islamic terrorism. One such video, from 2013, shows a Muslim cleric in a Syrian village deliberately shattering a terra cotta statue of the Virgin Mary. The second, also from 2013, shows a scene of civil anarchy in Alexandria, Egypt, in which Islamists push two teenagers off a turret onto a lower roof level and beat at least one to death. The third, from May 2017, allegedly shows a Muslim teenager in the Netherlands push over a white boy on crutches and repeatedly kick him while he is on the ground. By retweeting, Trump was normalizing hatred, according to elite opinion. He ignored the context of events, claimed the New York Timessuch as the fact that the icon-smasher was not just a Muslim, as identified in the original tweet, but an extremist cleric whose group had previously destroyed another Mary statue in his village. Why that context should defuse concern about the spread of radical Islamic ideology is mysterious. Likewise, while its true that the fatal stomping in Egypt occurred during a time of civil and political unrest, that context does not change the reality of remorseless violence. As for the third video, the media and Dutch officials pounced on the fact that the tweets identified the teen assailant as a Muslim migrant, when he was in fact born in the Netherlands. Thus, his Muslim identity is allegedly irrelevant. This is the familiar strategy whenever a second-generation Muslim commits an act of terrorism in the West (which this assault clearly was not): the fact that the terrorist was not a first-generation immigrant supposedly means that Islamist terrorism is not an immigration problem. To the contrary, terrorism by second-generation Muslim immigrants is more of an immigration problem than first-generation terrorism, since it shows a failure to assimilate Western values. The fury that Trumps tweets have inspired is hard to square with cable news predilection for running endless repeats of videos showing police-officer use of force against civilians. If the media ever provided context for those videos, it passed by too fast for the eye to catch. That context might include the suspects behavior leading up to the officers use of force or the 911 calls that triggered an officers investigationsuch as the Cleveland police dispatchers report of a black male who keeps pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it at people, which led to the tragic shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, who was doing just that with an exact replica toy pistol. It could include the number of armed robberies and drive-by shootings in a neighborhood to explain how an officer might assess the risk of armed violence from a resisting suspect. This context is almost never offered, however, en route to the false narrative that were living through an epidemic of police violence against black males. The medias stoking of that narrative has had a far greater effect on the nations crime rate and on race relations than Trumps retweets have had on public perceptions of Islamic violence. The reaction to an FBI report on black anti-cop violence also highlights the double standards in what can and cannot be said about race and identity. In August 2017, the FBI published an internal report warning that targeted violence against police officers was on the rise, fed by a climate of anti-cop hostility in the wake of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The report focused on violence by individuals inspired by what the report called black identity extremism. The FBI defined that ideology as a willingness to use violence in response to perceived white racism, sometimes in furtherance of a black separatist agenda. The report connected six planned or executed attacks on cops since October 2014 to black extremist ideology. Two of those incidents are well known. In July 2016, Micah Johnson ambushed and shot 11 law enforcement officers, killing five, in downtown Dallas. During the standoff, Johnson informed the police that he wanted to kill whites, and white police officers in particular. That same July, Gavin Long ambushed and shot six law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing three. Long had ranted against crackers on social media and used other black separatist rhetoric. The media largely ignored the other four incidents mentioned in the report: a hatchet attack against four NYPD officers in October 2014; the stockpiling of explosives in Ferguson during the autumn of 2014 in order to blow up officers; an attempt to run over three police officers in Phoenix in September 2016; and gunfire sprayed at two police stations in Indianapolis in October 2016. The assailants and would-be assailants had circulated black nationalist photos and commentary, such as [the] Caucasian needs to be slaughtered like the pigs that they are right along with the niggas who serve and protect them. The most obvious thing about the FBIs list of racially inspired attacks on the police is that it is vastly under-inclusive. It leaves out the ambush assassination of two NYPD officers in December 2014 by a killer who had posted on Instagram: Im Putting Wings on Pigs Today. They Take 1 of Ours . . . Lets Take 2 of Theirs, and the ambush assassination of an NYPD officer in July 2017 by a killer who had posted on Facebook: Police is f----ts, and this aint no gimmick. Thats where your taxpayer money be going, to pay off your own people being murdered. N----s aint taking it no more, Mr. Officer. It leaves out the fatal shooting to the head of a San Antonio police officer in July 2017, while the officer was investigating a car break-in, and the fatal attack on a New Orleans police officer killed while exiting his car to investigate suspicious behavior in October 2017. Among non-lethal assaults omitted from the FBI list is the car-dragging of a sheriffs deputy from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in October 2017 after the officer had tried to question a female warrant-absconder in the passenger side of the car. The assailants in these and other cop attacks presumably did not have an explicit enough connection to black nationalist ideology to make the FBIs list. But it is highly unlikely that the 53 percent increase in gun murders of officers in 2016 was unrelated to the Black Lives Matter narrative, regardless of whether any given cop-killer had surfed black nationalist websites. The atmosphere of cop vilification and hatred since 2014 is much more pervasive than any specific affiliation with a black nationalist group. The reaction to the FBI report, however, was one of shocked indignation that anyone would posit such a thing as black identity ideology. There is no anti-white ideology to be found among blacks, according to the liberal elites. The F.B.I. is linking disparate conduct and unconnected groups to come up with a manufactured black race-based ideology for suspicion and investigation, Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the New York Times. The Congressional Black Caucus has demanded that the FBI retract the report and that director Christopher Wray repudiate it. An unnamed former intelligence official with the Department of Homeland Security told Foreign Policy that the FBI was deliberately playing the race card. The only connection among the killers mentioned in the report is their race, he said, not any larger ideological connection. The fact that they all killed cops out of hatred for whites and for law enforcement apparently escaped this former DHS officials attention. In a final intended coup de grace, the official offered what he viewed as the definitive refutation of the report: Imagine lumping together white nationals, white supremacists, militias, neo-Nazis, and calling it white identity extremists. Actually, its not hard to imagine grouping together alleged white nationals, white supremacists, militias, and neo-Nazis under the label white identity extremists. Such a grouping would be more targeted and accurate than our current racial typology, which lumps all whites together under the label bearers of white privilege and, increasingly, perpetrators of white supremacy. A Cardozo law professor unapologetically declared in a New York Times op-ed last month that he teaches his son to distrust white people. Blacks cannot be friends with whites, wrote Ekow Yankah, because race has become a proxy . . . for decency. Unless a white has affirmatively demonstrated his allyship with blacks, he or she will seem unsafe. (Yankahs New York Times op-ed piggybacks on the rapturous reception conferred upon Ta-Nehisi Coates, who earns accolades from whites by characterizing all of American history as one long white effort to destroy the black body.) A Yale sophomore calls on whites to get out of the way so that blacks can take the power that a racist college administration has denied them. Writing in the Yale Daily News, Sohum Pal urges a liberation politics that would decenter whiteness. Black Lives Matter Philadelphia banned whites from attending its Black only space. Entire industries within the private sector and in the educational realm devote themselves to the association between whiteness and oppressionacademic offerings in whiteness, implicit-bias trainings, privilege walks, and postcolonial and ethnic studies departments peddling the idea that whites represent a unified bloc of oppressors. University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax is branded a white supremacist for supporting bourgeois values like delayed gratification and hard workbut dont you dare call Dallas cop-killer Micah Johnson a black supremacist. Diatribes against whites and white oppression have become the wallpaper of academia, so normal as to escape notice. In November, the executive board of the Columbia University Democrats publicly condemned itself for allegedly supporting violence against an identity-based group. The CU Democrats perpetrated such violence, the board wrote, by publishing an op-ed that had, with qualifications aplenty, mildly supported free speech on campus. The backlash from identity-based groups was immediate, leading to a grammatically strained, show trial-like self-accusation: The fact that we did not apologize for our statements immediately after the release of the op-ed placed an unfair burden on the groups targeted by white supremacy to bring attention to our failures. A student columnist at Texas State University published an op-ed in the campus newspaper in November telling whites: Remember this: I hate you because you shouldnt exist. Critics of the FBI cop-killer report nitpick over the FBIs term black identity extremist, which they consider an unwarranted new coinage. The fact that no group may identify itself with that exact phrasing does not refute the fact that anti-white hatred in inner-city black culture is real and consequential. Whites politely turn their eyes away from this sentiment, but it is there for the asking if you hang out around 125th Street in Harlem, the National Action Network, Chicagos South Side, or East St. Louis. I have been told by residents of one public housing project in East Harlem not to go to the neighboring project, because they really hate whites there. This anti-white sentiment is far more pervasive than any anti-black sentiment among whites, and is in fact authorized by elites. Cardozo law professor Yankah tried to justify his stance against friendship with whites on Fox News, telling Tucker Carlson that blacks are under more threat than ever before. Blacks are under more threat today than in recent years, but not from whites: the post-Ferguson rise in the homicide rate, due to depolicing, has led to the deaths of an additional 1,800 black males over the previous two years, their killers overwhelmingly black. As for interracial violence, blacks disproportionately commit it. Between 2012 and 2015, there were 631,830 violent interracial victimizations, excluding homicide, between blacks and whites, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Blacks committed 85.5 percent of those victimizations, or 540,360 felonious assaults on whites, while whites committed 14.4 percent, or 91,470 felonious assaults on blacks. If anyone is under threat from another race, it is not blacks. As for threats from the police, a police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. There is no support for white supremacy in American culture at large. There is, however, enormous support for the idea that white supremacy is rampant, which is tantamount to an anti-white ideology, embraced by blacks and by whites. The consequences of that ideology are serious, but may not be mentioned. Meanwhile, violence committed by non-whites, including Muslims, is minimized, viewed as random and almost never ideological. That is a distorted reckoning. Photo by Kevin Hagen/Getty Images The net neutrality clock is ticking down to midnight. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to roll back the neutrality protections the Obama administration put in place in 2015. Those rules prevent cable and telecom companies from charging more for certain kinds of content, or giving favorable treatment to specific sites and services. The neutrality fight has drawn support from a number of quarters, including the geek community at Reddit, which has done a better job of covering the issue than many mainstream media outlets. The founders of the early internetincluding Vint Cerf and web creator Sir Tim Berners-Leehave spoken out against the move. FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel even took the unusual step of begging voters to put a stop to the planned changes. ICYMI: She identified herself as a reporter. He then walked behind her and punched her in the side of the head There is more than just a political battle at stake. A new report from Stanfords Berkman Center for Internet and Society argues that if net neutrality disappears, it could have a significant negative effect on the local journalism market in the US. Author Adam Hersh says the market for local news is in an extremely fragile state, thanks in part to the decline of advertising, and the loss of net neutrality protections could hit local providers particularly hard. Local journalism plays a vital civic role, Hersh says, because it is often the first source of information in a crisis and is backed by a depth of knowledge about local politics and culture. The risk is that a market without net neutrality favors big players that can negotiate effectively with ISPs, and reduces content providers ability to innovate without permission, since new efforts to reach readers or viewersespecially if they take the form of video or other bandwidth-heavy innovationsmight be penalized by large carriers. Heres more on the issue and why its important: How the web is like radio : Smithsonian magazine looks at how the net neutrality debate has its roots in regulations that were originally designed for another new technology called radio. : Smithsonian magazine looks at how the net neutrality debate has its roots in regulations that were originally designed for another new technology called radio. Trolling the chairman : FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn hid her message to FCC chairman Ajit Pai in recommended edits on the document rolling back net neutrality. : FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn hid her message to FCC chairman Ajit Pai in recommended edits on the document rolling back net neutrality. Not you too, Canada! According to leaked documents, Canadas biggest cable and telecom companies also want to roll back net neutrality provisions in that country, under the guise of fighting piracy. According to leaked documents, Canadas biggest cable and telecom companies also want to roll back net neutrality provisions in that country, under the guise of fighting piracy. Students could suffer : If ISPs start to give preferential treatment to their own video content, or charge more for content from external sources, that could affect students who are using video to study, educators say. : If ISPs start to give preferential treatment to their own video content, or charge more for content from external sources, that could affect students who are using video to study, educators say. Comcasts promise: The cable giant says it doesnt plan to create paid fast lanes in order to give priority to certain kinds of traffic, but someincluding the former chairman of the FCCremain skeptical. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Other notable stories: Coverage of Democrat Doug Joness longshot win of a US Senate seat from Alabama noted The Washington Posts meticulously reported November story about his opponents alleged encounters with young women. BuzzFeeds Joseph Bernstein and Ryan Mac report on some leaked documents that appear to show how former White House adviser Steve Bannon and alt-right poster boy Milo Yiannopolous spent more than a year trying to come up with ways to wage war on Twitter, because they believed that it silenced conservative voices. The New York Timess Kevin Roose takes a look at the parallel Internet that members of the alt right have created for themselves, including websites, online services, and social-networking apps like Gab, and finds that for the most part they are ghost towns, with few active users and no adult supervision. Traffic magazine, which is published by paywall-management provider Piano Media, has a feature looking at Jessica Lessin, founder of technology news site The Information, and how she approaches running a publishing company that relies solely on subscriptions instead of advertising. According to an analysis by Parse.ly, a web traffic-measurement firm, Google is sending more traffic to publishers than Facebook, for the first time in years. The level of traffic the social network sends to the average publisher has fallen from 40 percent to 26 percent this year, while Google has risen to 44 percent from 34 percent. The Center for Media Engagement looked at what happens when media outlets include some of the trust indicators favored by the Trust Project (which is funded in part by Google). The indicators include bios for reporters, labels for analysis pieces, footnotes, and background about the story, and the study found readers said the publication was more reputable if it used some or all of those indicators. ICYMI: Journalists arent as tied by NDAs as they think Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg. The Rhode Island Supreme Court in Hudson v. GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc., 161 A.3d 1150 (R.I. 2017) recently held, as a matter of first impression, that a passenger riding in an insured vehicle who exited the vehicle in order to render assistance to accident victims as a good Samaritan continued to be an occupant of the insured vehicle when struck by another vehicle at the accident scene. The Rhode Island courts use a four-part test in determining whether a person is occupying an insured vehicle for purposes of Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage. In General Accident Insurance Co. of America v. Olivier, 574 A.2d 1240, 1241 (R.I. 1990) the Rhode Island Supreme Court adopted a four-factor test for occupancy requiring the following: (1) a causal relationship or connection between the injury and the use of the insured vehicle; (2) the person asserting occupancy must be in reasonable close geographic proximity to the insured vehicle although the person need not be actually touching it; (3) the person must be vehicle-oriented rather than highway or sidewalk-oriented; and (4) the person must be engaged in a transaction essential to the use of the vehicle. In the Hudson case, Amber Lee Hudson was riding as a passenger in her boyfriends vehicle. Her boyfriend was insured by GEICO. The couple had arrived at a department store and were sitting in the insured vehicle talking for one to two minutes when they heard a car crash. Both the boyfriend and Ms. Hudson exited the vehicle and ran to the scene where the crash occurred. While at the scene of the prior accident, Hudson was standing at the rear of the vehicles, taking down information regarding their license plate numbers. At that moment, Hudson was struck by a third vehicle which had come upon the accident scene. Hudson then collected the tortfeasors policy limits and presented a claim to GEICO for UM coverage (UIM was defined within the UM coverage). The Rhode Island Supreme Court found that Hudson was occupying the insured vehicle at the time of the collision. First, the court found a causal relationship in connection with Hudsons injury and the use of the insured vehicle. The court found that this requirement was met because Hudson was sitting as a passenger within the vehicle when she heard the collision and then exited the vehicle in order to offer Good Samaritan assistance at the nearby scene. The parties did not dispute that at the time of Hudsons injury Hudson was in reasonably close geographic proximity to the insured vehicle. Turning to the question of whether Hudson was vehicle-oriented, the court found that where a passengers departure from an insured vehicle is incident to a temporary interruption in an otherwise continuing excursion, and on completion of the occasion causing the brief interruption the individual returns to continue on his joint venture, that individual remains vehicle oriented. The court found that Hudsons departure from the insured vehicle was incident to a temporary interruption in an otherwise unfinished excursion into the department store and that, upon completion of the occurrence causing the interruption, Hudson intended to resume her journey. Finally, the last question to be resolved was whether Hudson was engaged in a transaction essential to the use of the vehicle at the time of her injuries. The court found that she was. Under Rhode Islands Good Samaritan Statute, GL.1956 11-56-1, Hudsons willingness to render aid at the scene of the collision as a good Samaritan was an inherent part of the use of a motor vehicle within Rhode Island. The court reached this conclusion on Rhode Islands long-standing public policy to encourage the rescue of others from perilous situations and therefore the court was satisfied that a motorist who existed a vehicle in order to provide reasonable assistance to victims at the scene of an accident was engaged in a transaction essential to the use of that vehicle. A gas driller argued in court Monday that its entitled to monetary damages from a Pennsylvania homeowner who continued bad-mouthing the company after settling his water-contamination lawsuit against it more than five years ago. Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. claims Dimock resident Ray Kemble and his former lawyers tried to extort the company through a frivolous federal lawsuit that recycled already-settled claims against Cabot. The lawsuit, which was filed in April but withdrawn two months later, accused Cabot of polluting Kembles water supply anew. Cabot says the claims in Kembles suit were the subject of a 2012 settlement between Cabot and dozens of Dimock residents, including Kemble. Cabots suit also claims Kemble has repeatedly breached the 2012 agreement by publicly talking about the company. The company is seeking monetary damages against Kemble and his former lawyers. The first hearing in the case was held Monday. Kemble and his new lawyer said Cabot is trying to use the legal system to chill dissent and discourage attorneys from taking on contamination cases. This is just a way to shut the people up of the county and of the state, and I just dont think its right, Kemble told reporters. We the people have the right to talk. Cabots lawyers said the company merely wants Kemble to abide by the terms of the settlement, which forbids him from talking to the media about his water supply. Kemble, whos long been one of the most outspoken anti-drilling activists in Pennsylvania, disparaged Cabot by making false, unsubstantiated claims, company lawyers said in a filing. Pennsylvania regulators previously held Cabot responsible for polluting residential water wells in Dimock, a tiny crossroads that has long been one of the central battlegrounds in the fight over gas drilling and fracking. Cabot remains banned from drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock, which is in the heart of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale rock formation in northeastern Pennsylvania. Cabot won a default judgment against Kemble in October because he failed to respond to the companys lawsuit in time. Kemble asked the judge Monday to set aside the judgment, saying hed been rejected by 30 lawyers and was forced to represent himself before attorney Rich Raiders recently agreed to take the case. Kemble also asked the judge to rule that hes entitled to immunity under a Pennsylvania law that affords liability protection to individuals seeking enforcement of state or federal environmental laws. The judge did not immediately rule. The federal government returned to Dimock over the summer to investigate ongoing complaints about the quality of the drinking water. Government scientists collected samples from 24 homes, including Kembles, testing the water for bacteria, gases and chemicals and the indoor air for radon. Homeowners got the first batch of results for methane in October. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency, told homeowners that in all but two homes, the tests either failed to detect methane or detected it at low levels. The agency noted that methane levels can fluctuate from day to day. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Several school districts, cities and other government agencies are still waiting for a Texas insurer to pay nearly $60 million in claims from Hurricane Ike, adding to more insurance worries in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association provides insurance covering only wind and hail for nearly 235,000 policyholders in a 14-county area of coastal Texas. It doesnt cover claims arising from flooding, such as that caused by Harvey, the Houston Chronicle reported. Texas City Independent School District leads the list of nine entities still seeking funds from the insurer with more than $17 million in outstanding Ike claims. Dickinson ISD is second with $10.5 million. Officials with the entities said they have little faith the insurer will pay the claims without more legal battles. Its scary, said Vicki Mims, Dickinson superintendent whose community was also hit by Harvey. As a school district, we have some resources to use. If youre a homeowner, what do you do? Fight TWIA for 10 years? Five of the entities still seeking funds for Ike are trying to work through an appraisal process to figure out how much the insurer should pay. Dickinson ISD filed a lawsuit and has battled a legal appeal in an effort to recover the losses. The pending Ike claims are outliers and dont indicate any problems for Harvey claims, said Jennifer Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the insurer. Claims through the insurer have become more complicated since Ike struck Texas in 2008. State lawmakers passed a series of laws in 2011 making an appraisal process the only avenue through which policyholders can dispute claims and capping the amount of damages if a court finds TWIA guilty of wrongdoing. Policyholders should be concerned because the new appraisal process is difficult to maneuver and because the insurer is less liable for damages if they do something wrong, said Wade Wendell of Texas Watch, a policyholder advocacy group. Theyre rigging the process, Wendell said. These changes further incentivize TWIA to test to see if policyholders can afford a lawyer or if they have the stomach to fight them in court for years. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Long-term strategies are needed to deal with the risks of mudflows and flooding left behind by the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The most serious threat is at Spirit Lake, which the volcano left plugged by an unstable mass of debris that if it gave way would threaten some 50,000 Southwest Washington residents who live downstream. A drainage tunnel completed in 1985 reduces the chance that the makeshift dam could fail. But the report found that the aging structure despite repeated repairs is not operating optimally, and is still in need of expensive maintenance. The scientists who put together the report suggest future engineering options, such as building a second tunnel, cutting a spillway through the debris dam or finding a way to drain the lake. They propose a collaborative effort that brings together federal and state agencies, the Cowlitz Tribe, downstream communities and others. The 1980 eruption killed 57 people when it blew away the top of the mountain and unleashed a massive avalanche of debris the largest in recorded history. The resculpting of the landscape prompted a $1 billion, decadelong effort to deal with the aftermath of the eruption. The work included massive dredging and construction on the North Fork of the Toutle River of a sediment retention structure to slow the downstream movement of sediment. It also involved high-stakes work at Spirit Lake. The eruption raised the water level by 210 feet and blocked its natural outlet with a mix of ash, earth, rock and other materials. With no way to drain, the water level could climb still higher. This would increase the chance of a breach of the debris dam, a potentially cataclysmic event that could send some 314,000 acre-feet of water and 2.4?billion cubic-yards of sediment surging down the Toutle, Cowlitz and Columbia rivers. In 1982, a temporary pumping station was installed to lower water levels. This was followed by construction of the tunnel to divert water into South Coldwater Creek. Since then, the nearly 1.6-mile-long tunnel has been subjected to repeated spot repairs. The most recent effort completed in March 2016 shored up a 30-foot section that had narrowed significantly due to ground pressures. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers has worked on a long-term plan to limit sediments flowing into the Toutle, Cowlitz and Columbia. The Corps built the sediment retention structure, which resembles a dam, across the North Fork of the Toutle. In 2012 the spillway of the structure was raised by 7 feet, and it could be raised again in the future, according to Jeffrey Henon, a Corps spokesman in Portland. The academies scientists note that new engineering projects have ripple effects throughout the drainage. While public safety remains a key concern, they say that other things should be considered, such as fisheries restoration and the intent of congressional legislation to allow. geologic forces and ecological succession to continue substantially unimpeded in the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens Volcanic National Monument. The scientists also suggest re-examining the mindset behind the human intervention. In the early years after the eruption, the big push was to try to keep as much sediment as possible from moving downstream. But they said this material sooner or later would make its way downstream. So the focus might shift to trying to engineer an orderly and safe downstream movement of that material. Some of the biggest decisions involve Spirit Lake and the future of the tunnel, which has an expected life span of about 50 years unless major renovations costing tens of millions of dollars are made. The U.S. Forest Service participated in an emergency planning exercise in Cowlitz County this past spring that simulated flooding from Spirit Lake. In the meantime, the Forest Services work at Spirit Lake includes the installation of a structure to keep floating logs away from the tunnel outlet as well as sensors to help monitor flows. The Forest Service also is considering opening up a route for all-terrain vehicles to reach Spirit Lake to assist with maintenance. That proposal has drawn concern from some research scientists who say it could disturb their studies within a sensitive area known as the Pumice Plain. Carri LeRoy, a freshwater ecologist at The Evergreen State College, says the new route could seriously disrupt work there by her and other researchers. I am incredibly disappointed to learn that the Forest Service. is continuing to push for motorized traffic across the Pumice Plain, LeRoy wrote in an October letter to the agency. Her research examines the formation of streams in the post-eruption landscape, and she urged the Forest Service to consider an alternative route to the lake. Chris Strebig, the Spirit Lake project manager, said no final decision has been made on the motorized route. The access question is part of a broader Forest Service effort to chart future management of Spirit Lake. The agency is planning a major outreach effort that will include a series of meetings next year in Southwest Washington. We have our work cut out for us, Strebig said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. When Brian Scudamore was 4, he drew a picture of a himself hauling away junk. "I guess I saw myself as a junk man," he says on CNBC's "Blue Collar Millionaires." That early intuition proved clairvoyant. Now at 47, he is the founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a multimillion-dollar business that dominates the trash-hauling market with over 160 locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia. In 2016, the business brought in about $223 million, he tells CNBC Make It. The business began as a college side hustle. Scudamore was enrolled at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, the only school that accepted him because he had dropped out of high school. "I found a loophole and talked my way in," he says on the 2015 episode of "Blue Collar Millionaires." Brian Scudamore, CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? CNBC But his parents weren't about to pay his tuition. His father, a liver-transplant surgeon, was dismayed by his son's poor academic record. Scudamore had to find a way to fund his schooling himself. After he saw a beat up old truck advertising a trash hauling service while going through a McDonald's drive through, he thought to himself, "I can do better than that." In 1989, Scudamore invested $1,000 in the venture $700 for a pickup truck and the rest for fliers and business cards and began scrounging for customers. "I was pounding the pavement, I was meeting realtors, I was knocking on people's doors and asking if they had junk or who they might know that had junk," he says. His girlfriend at the time had an idea to call the local newspaper, the Vancouver Province, to tell his story. An an article about Scudamore made the front page. In the next 24 hours, he says, he had 100 job offers. The business took off and the success inspired him to do something he had done once before. To the chagrin of his father, he dropped out of school this time, college. Brian Scudamore, CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, in college CNBC As he says on "Blue Collar Millionaires," he told his father, "School will always be there. I guarantee that that university isn't going away. My business opportunity might, and I'm going to seize it while it's hot and follow through with my business." Of course, the decision was ultimately the right one. Scudamore realized he was tapping into a huge market. Everyone has junk and no one wants to deal with it. "People would rather trade time for money," he tells CNBC Make It. In the early days when Scudamore just had his truck, he charged around $100 for a typical job. When he bought larger trucks, the rate began to depend on the volume of what customers needed hauled. The jobs have remained mostly residential, but he has also began working with big companies, like Gamestop, for instance, which hired GOT JUNK? when it shut down a number of its resale locations. By his eighth year in business, Scudamore was making $1 million in annual revenue. But, even with this impressive success, he was not satisfied. He dreamed bigger. "I did not have the right people in place in my business," he tells CNBC Make It. "I didn't have the clean cut, friendly professionals that I was looking for that was needed to revolutionize a very dirty industry." So he fired all 11 of his employees. Brian Scudamore, CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? CNBC watch now China giveth, and China taketh away. Across Asia, the world's second-largest economy has financed infrastructure projects as part of its massive, so-called Belt and Road program. But it's entirely up to Beijing to decide which countries get funding and when and Pakistan offers a cautionary tale. Pakistan is home to one of China's central infrastructure schemes: a near $60 billion collection of land and sea projects known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). But Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration said it would halt funding for three major roads that are part of the corridor, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported last week, citing an Islamabad official. Beijing will resume funding after it releases "new guidelines," the newspaper said. China's foreign ministry and the CPEC secretariat have yet to respond to CNBC's request for comment. If true, the news is proof of China's unilateral management style, analysts said. "What Beijing giveth, Beijing can also taketh away," Ian Bremmer, president and founder of political consultancy Eurasia Group, wrote in a recent note. Unlike the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, another China-led program, Belt and Road projects "aren't transparent or consensus driven," he said. watch now "The nature of Chinese economic decision-making has the potential to cause significant downside risks for those countries that become most dependent on the Belt Road initiative," he said. Nations that suddenly fall out of political favor with Beijing, for whatever reason, could subsequently suffer weighty economic consequences. The three roads whose total projected cost comes in at nearly $1 billion link several Pakistani towns. Turning off the money for the project is "China's way of conveying a diplomatic yet strong message to the Pakistanis: We will pay, but only on our terms," the European Foundation for South Asian Studies, an Amsterdam-based think tank, said in a note, describing the situation as "a temporary punitive step to affirm control." Why cut off the money? Security problems and internal divisions among Pakistani politicians may have caused concern in Beijing. "Pakistani ministries charged with carrying out the projects have incurred delays because of infighting ... Concerns that the project bypasses Pakistan's poorer regions and will mainly benefit the financially-strong province of Punjab has made politicians argue," the think tank said. As a result, Beijing may want to see Pakistan's army take the lead role on infrastructure projects, it continued: "A closer involvement of the military on political issues would have desirable impacts for China as the Chinese consider the Pakistan army as the epicenter of power in Pakistan and view its involvement with this project as a guarantee of its success." A truck arrives at a site where workers gather materials for the construction of the M8 motorway on the outskirts of Gwadar, Balochistan, Pakistan, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016. Gwadar is the cornerstone of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road project to rebuild the ancient Silk Road Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sens. Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer are misleading Nebraskans about the fitness of Omaha attorney L. Steve Grasz, judicial nominee for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Grasz has served as general counsel for Gov. Pete Ricketts, the Nebraska Republican Party and Nebraskans for the Death Penalty. None of these represent a problem. The judicial branch is typically insulated from party politics by way of lifetime appointments, which, in theory, removes judges from campaigns and politics. But, Mr. Grasz has a history of using his relationships with powerful people and organizations to further his own agendas; he will likely continue this practice as an 8th Circuit Judge. Regardless of ones political leanings, everyone should be deeply concerned with this nominees continued disregard for conflicts of interest and use of conflicts for personal gain. The nonpartisan American Bar Association, after interviewing more than 200 Nebraska lawyers, unanimously determined Mr. Grasz is not qualified to serve as a federal judge based on his demonstrated bias. Sens. Sasse and Fischer encouraged constituents to ignore this and claimed it was a liberal smear campaign against a conservative judicial nominee. It is alarming that Nebraska senators minimized these big red flags about Mr. Grasz. Their criticism of the ABA process does not align with reality: The ABA gave qualified or well qualified ratings to more than 90 percent of Trumps conservative judicial nominees, including now-Justice Neil Gorsuch. The most glaring problem with Mr. Graszs nomination is his failure to demonstrate the integrity and honesty required of a judge. He has been disingenuous in his version of interactions with the ABA as well as his unethical use of confidential information. The ABA noted Mr. Grasz disclosed a document related to this incident and that it reflected [Graszs] efforts to intervene, in his own name, using information that was confidential, to change an outcome of a non-partisan Judicial Nominating Committee ("JNC") process, in order to provide the Governor an opportunity to appoint a preferred candidate. The ABA noted this incident raised particular concerns because it involved the process of the selection of a non-partisan judiciary it again substantiated peers concerns that Mr. Graszs judgment may be overcome by his political and ideological allegiances. These actions show clear disregard for the basic tenets of an independent, honest, unbiased judiciary. Many Nebraska attorneys did not want to cooperate with ABA inquiries regarding Mr. Grasz for fear of retribution by Mr. Grasz and his political allies. Several peers who did respond questioned whether Mr. Grasz would be able to detach himself from his deeply-held social agenda and political loyalty to be able to judge objectively, with compassion and without bias and believed [Graszs] bias and the lens through which he viewed his role as a judge colored his ability to judge fairly. Many lawyers stated they were concerned with his demonstrated lack of commitment to equal justice under the law. Being unbiased is a bare minimum qualification that Grasz, by many accounts, simply has not met. Mr. Grasz has not said if he will recuse himself if a case with conflicts of interest comes before him as a judge. Troubling -- just imagine a federal lawsuit against the governor or other Republican elected official, or a case about a legal issue where Mr. Grasz has previously disregarded or disrespected the precedent, coming before the 8th Circuit. Without his firm commitment to recuse himself when bias and conflict arise, this nomination is far too risky. A federal judge is not someone you take a chance on. As a lawyer, I, along with many others, are worried about the potential appointment of a judge who lacks integrity, manipulates powerful relationships for personal gain, and holds a distorted view of the significance of and deference to be paid to long-standing judicial precedent. Mr. Grasz, and in turn, Sens. Sasse and Fischer, have misled Nebraskans to further personal and partisan interests, which runs counter to an independent judiciary. These nominations should not be rammed through the Senate without seriously considering each nominees qualifications. This is not the time for tribal politics. Nebraska senators should withdraw their support from Mr. Grasz, as he is unfit to serve. China's economy will expand a bit faster than expected this year on resilient consumption but growth will stutter in 2018, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday. Growth on the mainland is now expected at 6.8 percent in 2017, up from the previous forecast of 6.7 percent, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its latest forecasts released on Wednesday. Growth prospects in China for 2017 have been revised upward as spending by households has held up reasonably well. Still, persisting headwinds will weigh on economic impulses next year. The world's second-largest economy is likely to grow by 6.4 percent in 2018 due to "controlled moderation" in the economy, Joseph Zveglich, ADB's macroeconomic research director told CNBC. That would mark the slowest pace of expansion since 1990, according to World Bank data. The Chinese government is treading a thin line between deleveraging and keeping its debt-fueled economy humming. Growth in the wider region will also be a bit better this year. Stronger-than-expected exports and domestic consumption likely lifted economic growth in developing Asia in 2017, the ADB said. watch now In a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump, Democrat Doug Jones is projected to be the winner of Alabama's Senate election, upsetting scandal-ridden Republican Roy Moore in one of America's deepest red states, according to NBC News. Jones' expected victory Tuesday the first in an Alabama Senate race by a Democrat in 25 years may bring complications for the GOP's sprawling economic agenda in coming months. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Jones was leading 50-48 percent, or by more than 20,000 votes: 673,236 to 652,300, according to NBC. That number is less than the 22,780 write-in votes, meaning, theoretically, that Moore could have appeared as a write-in candidate on enough ballots to win, NBC said. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1 percentage point. As of Wednesday morning, a mandatory recount was no longer possible due to Jones' lead, according to NBC. Alabama Democrat Doug Jones celebrates his apparent victory over Judge Roy Moore in a special Senate election on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images Jones' expected win to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former seat will knock the GOP Senate majority down to 51-49. It creates an even slimmer margin for Republicans as they try to pass a tax overhaul and potentially other major legislation with only party votes. Jones, 63, is expected to prevail in a state that Trump carried easily last year as accusations of teen sexual abuse trailed Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice. The last time a Democrat won a Senate seat in the state was in 1992 when Sen. Richard Shelby was elected. Shelby switched to the GOP in 1994 and said on Sunday he wouldn't vote for Moore. Jones, who had never run for office, was the federal prosecutor in Alabama who won convictions in 2001 and 2002 of two former Ku Klux Klansmen in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls. Jones' victory was helped by a strong African-American turnout. "Thank you ALABAMA!!" he tweeted on Tuesday night, shortly after news outlets began calling the race. "At the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect. This campaign has been about the rule of law," Jones told supporters later Tuesday, to cheers. "This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of which ZIP code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life." Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks after loosing, during an election-night watch party at the RSA activity center in Montgomery, Ala. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images Halle Tecco and Jeff Hammerbacher have a knack for spotting early technology trends, ranging from Facebook to digital health. In 2013, they made one of their best bets yet by backing a then little-known cryptocurrency called bitcoin. Specifically, Tecco told CNBC they made an angel investment in the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust , a vehicle for accredited investors to invest in cryptocurrency. CNBC has learned that they've donated the investment to cancer research, specifically to the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center in South Carolina. Tecco confirmed to CNBC, "We pretty much forgot about it for a few years (the bitcoin investment) and then this year, it got interesting," she explained. She declined to say exactly how much the investment was worth, as the hospital will have to decide whether to convert the investment into bitcoin and ultimately into dollars, but the value is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars at today's price. Tecco said the couple initially invested in the virtual currency "mostly out of curiosity and to diversify our investments." Around the time they made their investment, Bitcoin was selling for around $800, Tecco said. Bitcoin soared to more than $17,000 last week, after being worth less than $1,000 at the start of the year. It was once the realm of technologists, like Tecco and Hammerbacher, but is now gaining legitimacy on Wall Street. Hammerbacher is an early Facebook data scientist who now runs a lab at Mount Sinai, and his wife Tecco is the co-founder of digital health investment firm Rock Health. Together, they run an angel fund called Techammer. The pair hope that speaking publicly about their bitcoin philanthropy will inspire others to do the same. "The investor community that has benefited from the bitcoin craze should use this foresight (and luck!) to help others," she told CNBC via text. "We hope we are just the first." Lunar exploration startup ispace announced Tuesday it raised $90.2 million in its latest round of funding, backed by a dozen investors. The Japanese company will use the money to fund two exploration missions to the moon, with the first by the end of 2019 and the second by the end of 2020. The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan led the Series A round, which also included the Development Bank of Japan, Suzuki Motor and Japan Airlines . "We needed to secure research and development and two missions with this money," CEO Takeshi Hakamada told CNBC. "We're going to bring scientific instruments to the moon, and then sell the right to use our data to space agencies and other institutions, as well as provide transportation services, for profit." Founded seven years ago, ispace is now ready to step beyond its current involvement in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, Hakamada said. The company will continue supporting its 100-member HAKUTO team to pursue the March 2018 deadline for the prize, Hakamada said. Google's Lunar XPRIZE competition will award $30 million to the first company that lands a commercial spacecraft on the moon, travels 500 meters across its surface and sends high-definition images and video back to Earth. Team HAKUTO, which consists of 70 pro bono members and 10 Tohoku University students, is partnering with former competitor TeamIndus for the $30 million in prizes remaining. TeamIndus did not respond to requests for comment. "Our investment is not for the Google Lunar XPRIZE," Hakamada said. "Our ultimate goal is resource utilization on the moon, primarily water resources." The lander, which is yet to be named, is still a concept. Designs are under development, but Hakamada said ispace expects the lander to accommodate roughly 30 kilograms of payloads. That includes two exploration rovers, each with up to five kilograms of scientific instruments, sensors and more. "Our lander is small but we would not fit on a provider that launches microsatellites, like Rocket Lab," Hakamada said. Japanese internet company Rakuten on Wednesday said it will launch a three-month accelerator program in Singapore. The program, which begins in July, will tap in U.S.-based company Techstars, a firm with more than 1,000 firms with a combined market cap of $9.6 billion in its accelerator portfolio. A total of 10 start-ups will be selected from around the world for Rakuten's program, which will focus on messaging technology. The shortlisted companies will receive an initial investment of $120,000 each, coming jointly from Rakuten and Techstars. They will also receive guidance from top executives at Rakuten and access Techstars' wide network of founders, alumni and mentors. "It's a very good initiative to empower the entrepreneurs and (bring) innovation to society," Hiroshi Takasawa, CEO at Rakuten Asia's regional head office and head of the company's investment arm, told CNBC. The executive said Rakuten could further invest into any of the 10 start-ups if they show promise. Rakuten is still deciding on selection criteria for the start-ups. Applications for the accelerator program is set to open on Jan. 8, 2018. Moody's also said defense contractors are likely to " , with Moody's predicting defense budgets will grow about 5 percent and "maybe higher." watch now The outlook remains favorable for the defense and aerospace industries, although supply chain hiccups pose a risk to the commercial aircraft sector and Pentagon acquisition reform could pressure contractors, according to a new report. Moody's Investor Service predicts "strong aircraft order backlog" will fuel 10 percent growth in the aerospace industry's delivery ramp-up, which will boost profits and cash flow for companies. "We anticipate a period of elevated execution risk over the next 12 to 24 months as Boeing and Airbus ramp up their narrowbody production rates," Moody's said. "Supply chain manufacturers have been making significant capacity investments to meet the production rate increases." Boeing currently has a backlog of 4,413 planes for its 737 narrowbody jet, and the company has previously said it plans to boost production to 52 planes per month in 2018 and 57 in 2019. Moody's noted that the 2017 rate for the 737 model is 47 planes per month. At the same time, Moody's said Airbus should see its production rate on its A320 narrowbody plane increase, from a rate of 50 aircraft per month in 2017 to 52 in 2018. The strong demand globally for the single-aisle jet shows no signs of slowing, and the company boasts orders from at least 92 countries. Supply chain vulnerabilities As Boeing ramps up production, it is counting on suppliers to keep up. A significant problem in the supply chain could have a far-reaching impact on the company. Indeed, Boeing announced in May it had grounded 737 MAX aircraft due to engine issues it had discovered. The issue with the engines appears to have been resolved but still highlights the risk of manufacturing or supplier problems delaying aircraft deliveries. Still, Moody's said, "We view the supply chain to be generally well-positioned to meet production rate increases of narrowbodies." Then again, Moody's said there could be issues in 2019 to accommodate even more aggressive production rate increases by Boeing and Airbus. "The ability of the supply chain to make necessary investments to accommodate 60 narrowbodies per month for the A320 and 57 for the B-737 in 2019 is less clear but this is a 2019 issue," Moody's said. For smaller suppliers and aircraft engine makers such as United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney subsidiary and Rolls Royce, there also are "execution risks in 2018," Moody's said. Specifically, Moody's pointed out that Canada's Bombardier has seen delivery delays with its C Series "due to persistent issues with Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engines." Also, it said U.K.-based Rolls Royce's Trent 100 engines have had "turbine blade issues," causing "utilization constraints for certain 787 Dreamliners" manufactured by Boeing. Defense spending uptick As for the defense industry, Moody's forecasts that defense budgets will grow by about 5 percent in 2018 but "maybe higher," although that will depend on Congress and how much money it sets aside for military spending in fiscal 2018. Last week, Congress approved a short-term continuing resolution that funds defense operations and the rest of the government through Dec. 22, but there's still no agreement on a budget that appropriates money for the full fiscal 2018 period through Sept. 30. The White House proposed a base budget 6.6 percent above 2017 but it exceeds the current budget caps and passage would require legislation and bipartisan support. Still, the report said there's "strong political support for budgets to exceed Trump's proposal." Pentagon shifting risk However, one thing that does appear certain is Pentagon acquisition reform in the Trump administration. "Contractors will continue to face pressure to accept more of the risk on contracts," the Moody's report said. Moody's added, "Fixed-price incentive contracts for development work are becoming more common," even as the cost-plus contracts are declining. The cost-plus contracts essentially mean the government picks up the cost of the contractor's expenses, including the cost of materials, but it also has led to more situations of cost overruns, particularly for the Navy. According to Moody's, the government is focusing more on pricing in military contracts as it faces fiscal challenges. It follows President Donald Trump early in his presidency getting personally involved in negotiations for some big-ticket programs to lower price, including the F-35 stealth fighter, the F-18 Super Hornet and the two Boeing 747 replacement aircraft for Air Force One. Last week, the Pentagon's acquisition chief announced details on how she plans to speed up and reform the Defense Department's acquisition system. Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, spoke to the Senate Armed Services Committee last week and said she intends to emulate private industry by taking a leaner approach and making things run more smoothly. "Reforming and improving the defense acquisition system to create an agile enterprise is a continuing process requiring close partnership across the department and with Congress," she said. "Some of the ways we intend to do this is ... incentivizing contractors to submit responsive proposals in 60 days or less and implementing electronic department-wide streamlining tools." WATCH: Boeing flying high Businessman walk past an Emirates Airbus A380 during the Dubai Airshow on November 18, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Trump administration officials on Tuesday met with executives from U.S. airlines, their employees' labor unions, and other industry representatives to discuss a course of action over a bitter dispute with their Persian Gulf airline rivals. The plan, at least so far, is more talks. The nearly three-year-old dispute is based on allegations from three large U.S. airlines Delta , United and American that three of their Middle Eastern competitors receive illegal subsidies from their governments, making an uneven playing field for other airlines. State Department officials met with representatives of the airlines as well as groups that oppose penalizing the Middle Eastern carriers, according to sources briefed with the meeting. The Trump administration plans on meeting with officials from Qatar as early as this week and is planning to meet with officials from the United Arab Emirates to seek financial transparency, and using commercial loan terms, said a person briefed on the matter. "This next wave of innovation in the smart device ecosystem will be led by Google and Amazon, as their apparent strength in major growth sectors, notably computer science, allows for a more flexible approach to next-generation user experiences that are essential for creating immersive experiences and brand-new ways of human-to-machine interactions," David McQueen, research director at ABI Research, said in a press release. It concluded that Amazon and Google will "lead and drive innovation around smartphones and related ecosystems" in the next six years. The research company made an assessment of patent portfolios, research and development spend, acquisitions and contributions to open source communities to evaluate and compare 10 major technology players from Facebook to Microsoft and Samsung . ABI Research defines the post-smartphone world as one where new, hands-free interfaces such as those that use the human voice need to be developed. This will include more artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and virtual reality. Apple could fall behind Amazon and Google in the "post-smartphone era" due to "innovation complacency," a market research firm said Wednesday. ABI's report said Apple will "lag due to innovation complacency." Apple was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. McQueen explained that established device makers like Apple, Samsung and Microsoft will be "followers" in the new market and are "not currently as well set up to drive future innovation," mainly due to their legacy hardware businesses. But they should not be dismissed because they have a "major influence on the market" through brand and market share. All of the major technology players are trying to release new products beyond the smartphone, with many focusing on smart digital assistants. Amazon has its Echo smart speaker with the AI voice assistant Alexa built in. The U.S. e-commerce giant has been releasing several different versions of the Echo and has also been integrating Alexa with other products from device makers. Meanwhile, Google has brought out a rival product called Google Home with its own smart assistant. And Apple is gearing up to launch its competitor to the Echo called the HomePod, with its voice assistant Siri built in. Samsung has also been trying to push its own digital assistant called Bixby on its new Galaxy S8 and Note 8 smartphones. CNBC also reported in August that Samsung is set to launch its own smart speaker next year. Voice assistants appear to be the next big battleground as technology companies look to offer new experiences and ways to interact with devices beyond the touchscreens on smartphones. But winning the market could require a lot of money. "There will be a requirement for significant investment in the underpinning technologies and technical expertise as well as the creation of 'intelligent phones' that are able to effectively leverage these forthcoming technologies," ABI Research said. Boeing 's recent run has been nothing short of amazing. Boeing is on track for its best annual performance since 1978. The stock has soared more than 86 percent this year, adding about $77 billion in market cap and around 892 points to the Dow. Boeing was trading at yet another all-time high on Wednesday at around $295. But as the stock trades at record highs, one technician is warning that Boeing may have soared too far, too fast, and the meteoric run could soon come to a close. Matt Maley of Miller Tabak says two technical indicators suggest the rally has gotten long in the tooth, with the first being the stock's Relative Strength Index. The index essentially measures the degree to which a stock is overbought. "If you look at its RSI chart, it's in the high 80s," Maley said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "It hasn't been this high very often at all, and the last time it was this high was the very end of 2013 just before the stock rolled over and came down 15 percent." Maley also points out that the stock is up almost 90 percent from its 200-week moving average, a gap that hasn't been so high in the last 20 years. "Premiums above their 200-day moving average or 200-week moving average or anything like that are not necessarily good timing tools, but they do show the stock is getting way ahead of itself," he said. "It makes it really tough to put new money into the stock at these levels." Mike Binger, a senior portfolio manager at Gradient Investments, mentioned that his firm had sold Boeing, and while it may have gotten out a bit too early, now may not be the best time to buy the stock. Binger pointed out that while Wall Street analysts are generally bullish on the stock, "after about a 125 and 130 percent run there's not a lot left in this stock." According to FactSet, of the 28 analysts who cover Boeing the average rating is overweight with a $289.46 price target, roughly in line with where the stock is currently trading. According to Binger, Boeing is still vulnerable to competition, and airline traffic trends that could hinder its production. This leads the portfolio manager to emphasize that while investors who hold the stock shouldn't necessarily sell Boeing, investors looking to put new money to work should avoid the stock for the time being. "It would be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote," he added. "Today, we Senate Democrats are calling on Mitch McConnell to hit pause on his tax bill and not hold a final vote until Doug Jones is sworn into the Senate," Schumer told reporters. "Doug Jones will be the duly elected senator from the state of Alabama. The governor didn't appoint him, he won an election." The Senate minority leader from New York called Wednesday for the GOP to wait to hold a vote on its tax overhaul until projected Alabama Senate election winner Doug Jones takes office. Jones is set to become the first Democrat to win an Alabama Senate election in 25 years , claiming the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to NBC News. Chuck Schumer is pushing for Republicans to pump the brakes on their tax plan. Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a press confernce on urging the GOP To Slow Down Republican Tax Bill In Senate on December 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Republican leaders want to vote on final tax legislation by next week, and they expect to have the votes to pass it in the House and Senate once a final deal between the chambers is reached. For months, the GOP has set the end of the year as its target for approving a tax proposal. Waiting would potentially shatter GOP hopes of approving tax cuts, a key policy goal that lawmakers hope to promote ahead of next year's midterm elections. The Alabama secretary of State's office says it will not certify Tuesday's election results until Dec. 27 at the earliest. That means Jones likely will not get sworn in until next month. Currently, Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate. Under special budget rules being used to push through tax legislation, they can lose two party votes and still pass it with a simple majority, including a tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President Mike Pence. If Jones took his Senate seat before the bill was passed, two Republican votes of opposition could sink the tax plan. The former federal prosecutor has signaled that he would not back the GOP plan, despite supporting corporate tax cuts. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., opposed the Senate's version of the plan due to the estimated $1 trillion or more it would add to federal budget deficits over a decade. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has not committed to backing the final bill, either. Schumer on Wednesday highlighted that Republicans called for Senate Democrats to wait to carry out some Affordable Care Act votes until after special election winner Scott Brown of Massachusetts was seated. Schumer said then-Majority Leader Harry Reid pledged to do so. Half of CNBC North American CFO Council respondents believe large corporations will benefit most if the GOP tax reform plan becomes law. (L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn introduce the Republican tax reform plan at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., November 9, 2017. Aaron P. Bernstein | Reuters CFOs at some of the biggest corporations in North America are straight shooters when it comes to the GOP tax reform plan: It will benefit them the most if it becomes law, they say. That's according to a new CNBC Global CFO Council survey. Exactly half of CFOs (50 percent) told CNBC that large firms will benefit the most, and that represented a wide margin over any other group. Second among respondent choices was the middle class, which 12.5 percent of CFOs said would benefit the most from tax reform. Only 8 percent said wealthy individuals or small business would see the greatest benefit. Nearly 75 percent of North American CFOs surveyed say their company supports at least one version of the tax reform plan. 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 survey was conducted from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13, 2017. Among the 45 North American based members of CNBC's Global CFO Council, 24 responded to the survey. The latest version of the tax reform bill may push up the corporate rate to 21 percent (from a proposed 20 percent), according to a CNBC report on Tuesday afternoon. But that would still be lower than the 22 percent some had been arguing was the best way to deal with deficit concerns, and it would go into effect in 2018 rather than be put off for another year. The tax break for pass-through businesses, used by a majority of firms that are not large corporations which allows them to shield a percentage of business income from taxation had been increased from 17 percent to 23 percent in the Senate version. In the latest compromise it would be taken back down to 20 percent, according to CNBC sources, though the negotiations are ongoing. Workers and wages While nearly half of CFOs who responded remain unsure about how the passage of tax reform would play out for their companies in 2018, some are projecting immediate benefits. More than 20 percent said tax reform will "most likely" lead to an increase in stock buybacks, followed by increased R&D spending and major M&A activity. A little more than 8 percent said tax reform would increase employee wages next year, while just over 4 percent said it is "most likely" to increase headcount. One council member noted that while large corporations would see the most benefit in the near term, eventually it would benefit workers by leading to "employee wage growth long term." Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told a congressional hearing on Wednesday that he does not see good cause to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., asked Rosenstein whether he had seen any reason to fire Mueller, who is leading the investigation of the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. "No," Rosenstein responded at the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. "If there were no good cause, I would not" fire Mueller, a former FBI director, Rosenstein added, even if he were asked to do so. "I believe he was an ideal choice for this task," he said later. Rosenstein's comments come after a week in which the Russia probe faced escalating criticism from conservatives. House Republicans grilled the Department of Justice official about alleged improprieties in the conduct of the special counsel's investigatory process. "Reports on the political predisposition, and potential bias, of certain career agents and department lawyers on special counsel Mueller's team are deeply troubling to all citizens who expect a system of blind and equal justice," House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in his opening statement. "The Mueller team overwhelmingly ought to be attired with Democratic donkeys," said Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. Mueller's probe has been hit by allegations of impropriety after texts between former Mueller investigators Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were made public. The texts showed that the two traded barbs about President Donald Trump during the campaign, and support for Hillary Clinton. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow called Tuesday for a second special counsel to look into what he said were conflicts of interest at the Department of Justice and the FBI. Sekulow told CNBC that his call for a second special counsel had "nothing to do" with Mueller. The alleged conflicts of interest Sekulow cited include a senior Justice Department official, Bruce Ohr, meeting with a former British spy during the 2016 election. Ohr's wife reportedly worked for a firm that was conducting opposition research on Trump. Ohr was demoted from his position of associate deputy attorney general. Sol Wisenberg, a white-collar attorney who served as deputy independent counsel during the Whitewater investigation, called Ohr's meeting "extremely unusual behavior." But, he said, the appointment of a special counsel would not be appropriate in this circumstance because there is no underlying criminal investigation. Rosenstein said Tuesday he would not be permitted to appoint a special counsel to look into the conflict of interest allegations in the absence of a criminal investigation. Rosenstein, who has overseen the probe after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, said Thursday that he was "satisfied" with the progress of the investigation. In the factless and amoral era that President Trump has ushered in, it seemed certain last night that Roy Moore, the evolution denier who is haunted by pedophilia allegations, would sail into the Senate decrying that "fake news" had lost again. Surely Alabama the most reliably conservative state where the ghost of segregationist George Wallace still pollutes the air wouldn't reject any candidate who President Trump had touted. But the monolithic wall of GOP support cracked and Alabama sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in 25 years. While this was a huge victory for progressives, the suddenly very real prospect of Trump losing Congress in 2018 is causing anxiety amongst business leaders about what might happen to the economy. As an entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years building and selling companies, I am here to tell you that not only will America be fine if Trump loses congress in 2018, but it would be a complete positive. Here's why: It's the economy, stupid. My company GMM Nonstick Coatings is a good proxy for the U.S. middle class because every day 40 million Americans use GMM's products in their kitchens. Despite all of the positive news about the stock market and deregulation from our tweeter-in-chief, GMM had a slightly down year in 2017 because the American middle class was not purchasing with the strength it used to. This is the case with many of GMM's multi-billion dollar American clients like Newell Rubbermaid and Spectrum Brands: Their stocks (and sales) are down significantly in 2017 because consumers are burdened by record household debt, not to mention huge downward pricing pressure from online retailer Amazon. Despite Trump's rhetoric about jobs and the economy, he is only focused on the richest Americans, and a flip in Congress will ensure compromise legislation which will help the middle class who have been stagnating for decades. History shows that the economy does best with a split congress and President (just ask Bill Clinton, who worked with neocon Newt Gingrich throughout the late 1990's boom). Who doesn't like low taxes? Under the current tax reform proposal from Trump that is very likely to become law, I will save a ton of money in taxes in 2018. The utter fiction of "supply side economics" is that entrepreneurs like me will take these tax savings and reinvest them in our businesses, creating new jobs. But the reality is that I (and most of my Democrat and Republican friends who run large businesses) usually take our additional savings and invest it in the stock market or in real estate, which create no jobs and only enhances our wealth further. For this reason, while I will never complain about low taxes (and I fully support middle class tax reform), it's intellectually dishonest to say that lower corporate taxes are going to help the middle class one bit. For many business leaders and entrepreneurs like myself, we are willing to pay slightly more taxes if it helps the middle class of America (just ask Warren Buffett). Violent extremists, racists and Russian-backed propaganda machines have all used social media platforms to disseminate and perpetrate their ideologies. This year, after revelations that Russian-backed ads and fake news attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election were distributed on these platforms, tech behemoths like Facebook and Google have faced increasing criticism for not more appropriately monitoring content. So how did this happen? "One of the problems in the industry is that ... we came from a, shall we say, a more naive position right? that illegal actors and these actors would not be so active," says Eric Schmidt, the billionaire Executive Chairman of Alphabet, speaking about Google at the Halifax International Security Forum in November. "But now, faced with the data and what we've seen from Russia in 2016 and with other actors around the world, we have to act" to remove the content, Schmidt says. But the extent of that naivete is debatable. Case in point: It took Google-owned YouTube from 2009 until recently to heed calls to take down videos of jihadist propaganda featuring (now-deceased) well-known ISIS recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki. In part, Google long argued it was a technology platform and therefore not responsible for policing content. YouTube made a change this year so that such content would be automatically removed, according to The New York Times. In a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump, Democrat Doug Jones is projected to be the apparent winner of Alabama's Senate election, upsetting scandal-ridden Republican Roy Moore in one of America's deepest red states. (CNBC & NBC News) * Moore refuses to concede Alabama Senate race: 'It's not over' (CNBC) * Senate Republicans savage Steve Bannon after Moore's loss (CNBC) * Trump congratulates Democrat Doug Jones on 'hard fought victory' (CNBC) The current version of the GOP's tax plan features a 21 percent corporate rate, sources told CNBC. It also would feature a top individual tax rate of 37 percent and allow homeowners to deduct mortgage interest on loans up to $750,000. * Trump to make final tax push as Republican negotiators near deal (Reuters) * (CNBC) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. (Reuters) A group of Republican members of the House The bills could end up being attached to year-end spending legislation that Congress is taking up this month. (CNBC) Two FBI agents insulted President Trump before he took office, calling him an "idiot," NBC News has confirmed. The agents, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, exchanged text messages about the future president during the 2016 campaign, NBC reports. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has fired back at Trump after the president attacked her for calling for an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct against him. Gillibrand said she would not be silenced. (Reuters) An out-of-control California wildfire crept closer to the upscale hillside community of Montecito earlier this morning. The fires, which have so far destroyed 904 structures, including 691 homes, came despite calmer winds. (Reuters) Disney (DIS) and 21st Century Fox (FOXA) are on a "glide path" for a Thursday deal announcement. Disney and the Rupert Murdoch-controlled media company became the sole suitor after Comcast (CMCSA) dropped its bid for the majority of Fox assets. (CNBC) The most Googled search term of 2017 in the U.S. and globally was Hurricane Irma, the storm that slammed into Flordia in September, Google (GOOGL) revealed. Former "TODAY" show host Matt Lauer, accused of sexual misconduct, came in second. (USA Today) David Marcus, head of Facebook's Messenger service, is joining the board of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Coinbase is currently the most popular app on Apple's App Store, according to data by market insights firm App Annie. (CNBC) Private spaceflight company Blue Origin, the firm owned by Amazon's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched and landed its tourist vehicle after a year away from test flights. (The Verge) Plans with under $10 million in assets pay the highest fees. watch now Your retirement plan is making someone rich and it may not be you. Those were the findings from a recent study of small-business retirement plans. America's Best 401k, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm that works with retirement plans, looked at 401(k) fee disclosures for 11 insurers and payroll companies that specialize in small businesses, generally plans with fewer than $10 million in assets. The analysis showed that these plans, on average, charge 1.19 percent to 1.95 percent. That amount is higher than the average total cost for all 401(k) plans, which was 0.97 percent in 2014, according to data from the Investment Company Institute and Brightscope, another company that tracks 401(k) programs. "The backbone of America is small business this is where people are continuing to get hosed," said Josh Robbins, chief strategy officer for America's Best 401k. PeopleImages | Getty Images Fee disclosure regulations from the Labor Department, along with high-profile lawsuits against employers with too-costly retirement plans, have helped push down expenses for retirement plans overall. However, small businesses generally don't have the same bargaining power as employers with large retirement plans. In 2014, plans with less than $10 million in assets cost 1.02 percent, while plans with over $1 billion in assets cost 0.30 percent, according to the ICI and Brightscope. Here are four reasons why 401(k) plans for small businesses are so expensive. Revenue sharing The investments in your plan use "revenue sharing" to cover costs for the broker who sold your employer the plan known as 12b-1 fees. Revenue sharing also compensates the companies that administer your 401(k), hold your assets in custody and provide recordkeeping services. Those additional expenses take their toll over time, taking a bite out of returns the plan would otherwise be earning. See below for a chart showing how a plan with $2 million in assets, plus annual contributions of $250,000 and annualized performance of 7 percent would fare with fees at 1.7 percent. (Click to enlarge.) Contract asset charges Some plans offers group variable annuities to participants, so you may see what's known as a contract asset charge. This is an expense that insurance companies assess on participants' accounts to cover administrative and record keeping services. In this case, it doesn't matter if the underlying mutual funds you choose are among the cheapest in the plan; you will still be on the hook for this contract asset charge. "I can be a smart participant and pick the funds that are low cost," said Robbins. "But the contract asset charge is always behind it." Surrender fees The other downside of annuity contracts: surrender charges, which can be as high as 8 percent and which decrease over a period of years. Workers rolling assets out of annuities may end up paying surrender fees if they transfer the whole balance out of the plan at once. Instead, they'll have to move the money piecemeal, as it comes out of the surrender period. Share classes Pay attention to the share class of the mutual fund in your retirement plan. A, B, and C shares include "sales charges," which compensate the broker who sold your company the retirement plan. Fund families have developed institutional share classes just for retirement plans, which offer the lowest costs for employers who can pool large amounts of assets. If your plan is too costly Here are steps to take if your retirement plan costs are out of control. Save outside the plan: If you're young, take advantage of saving in a Roth IRA. You have to pay income taxes now on the money you put into that account, but you'll be able to tap your savings tax-free in retirement. "If you're putting in $4,000 to $5,000 a year, don't buy this crappy variable annuity [at work], put your money in a Roth IRA," said Anthony Isola, a financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management in New York. Air your grievances: Make noise if the 401(k) fees are too high. "Talk to your employer to improve the plan," said Guglielmetti. "That's how things change." Get the match: Contribute the minimum you need in order to qualify for your employer's matching contribution. "Don't give up the match just because the plan is expensive and the choices aren't good," said Cristina Guglielmetti, a financial advisor with Future Perfect Planning in Brooklyn, New York. WATCH: This is how long $1 million will last in retirement The Republican tax plan may still be in flux. But the wealthy are already taking steps to avoid some of the most costly parts of the plan and reduce their taxes. Wealth management firms and accountants to the rich are scrambling to prepare their clients for the biggest set of tax changes since 1986. While Democrats call the plan a boon to the rich, some aspects of the plan mainly the elimination of state and local tax deductions will mean a tax hike for certain high-income earners. Tax planners are already devising ways to limit those hikes and take advantage of the myriad of other loopholes. Here are some of the changes that accountants and planning experts are recommending clients make before the end of the year: Load up on SALT: Both the House and Senate plans call for the elimination of state and local tax deductions. The House plan allows for a deduction of up to $10,000 on local property taxes. Whatever the final bill, it's almost certain that state income taxes and a good chunk of property taxes will no longer be deductible. Accountants are recommending a novel approach: Prepay your estimated 2018 state and local taxes in 2017. That way you can take the deduction while those taxes are still deductible. Of course, it's not quite that simple. The AMT (which is still in effect) prevents many high-income taxpayers from taking too many deductions. And high-earners whose incomes come from wages as opposed to investment income or owning a company or pass-through have a tougher time prepaying since their state income taxes are paid through withholding. What's more, not all states or communities allow prepayment of next year's taxes. But some taxpayers in certain states including New York and New Jersey can prepay taxes owed for at least part of 2018. Taxpayers in New York can prepay online, though other states may require forms. Of course, you may end up overpaying, since it's just an estimate of your expected 2018 taxes. And any refund could be treated as taxable income. But accountants say the savings could still be significant. "For a lot of people it's certainly worth a shot," said Joseph Perry, a tax advisor at Marcum, who advises many wealthy families. "The worst that happens is that you get it back and pay a tax on that." Win from your losses: The Senate bill requires "FIFO" first-in-first-out tax treatment on the sale of securities. This means that investors will have to sell the shares in the order in which they bought them and can no longer designate which shares they can sell to minimize capital gains. To prepare, investors can sell tax lots that have losses and capture the loss to offset future capital gains before the end of the year. Of course, with markets up double digits this year, finding money-losers may not be easy. But it makes sense to harvest your losses now from select lots while you still can. You can also gift tax lots that have a low cost basis on the oldest lots you purchased because you might not be able to in the future. Get your mortgage: The House version of the tax bill would cap the mortgage-interest deduction at $500,000. Existing mortgages are grandfathered in. But Swiss Bank UBS is advising that clients "looking to initiate or refinance mortgages larger than $500K should close prior to the end of the year." Stay alive 'til 2025: If you have an estate valued at over $5.5 million, do your best to stay healthy, because the estate tax is likely to be altered or eliminated. The House bill repeals the tax after 2024, and the Senate plan doubles the exemption, so estates of less than $11 million per person are excluded. I have watched "Days of Our Lives" since 1965. I am 73 years old and don't know about streaming and digital access. NBC is committing senior abuse moving "Days" to streaming. The last day they show "Days" on NBC is the last day I will ever watch NBC. In the first installment of CNBC Make It's new series HR Confidential, a New York-based human resources professional with nearly five years of experience tells Ruth Umoh about the shocking allegations she uncovered when she fired a manager due to poor performance. The below is told in the HR pro's own words, and has been edited for length and clarity. The scenario: I worked in human resources for a [retail] company where I covered HR for corporate, their retail stores and warehouses. The company's COO and I had to fire our web store warehouse manager due to poor performance and ineffective management. She was very upset, but she accepted the termination. Before she left, she said to us, "I agree to some of the reasons I'm being let go. But I'm going to say it's really hard for me that I'm being held to this standard when you have all this stuff going on under your nose that's going unpunished." She then began to unleash a list of ongoing misconduct: This person is sleeping with this person at work, and they know where to stand to hide from the cameras. These people are dealing drugs, this is where they hide it, and this is when they do it. At work, you can always tell when they're high. These people are using the money that goes to buy snacks for the office and pocketing some of it and taking the groceries home to their families. It made me feel like a failure at my job. Anonymous HR manager We sat there. Usually, we take accusations like this with a grain of salt. However, there was something that felt so genuine about her story. It wasn't as if she was out to get these people in trouble. She simply felt hurt that she was being held to a certain standard with all of this going on. She was just honestly sharing her experiences. Emotionally, my jaw was dropped and I wondered how we were unaware about any of this happening. It made me feel like I was a failure at my job. Obviously, we couldn't show that we were in shock so we simply said, "Thank you very much for sharing." The minute she walked out, the COO and I just looked at each other incredulously. It was as if someone just dumped everything on us. Most shocking of all, a lot of the claims had to do with the person we were going to promote for her position. Most shocking of all, a lot of the claims had to do with the person we were going to promote for her position. Anonymous HR manager Although we had a few more terminations that we were planning on doing that day as well as general meetings, we ended up leaving the New Jersey office right after receiving this information. We were in such shock and had to regroup, get back to the corporate office in New York and notify the CEO immediately. The solution: We investigated, and almost all of her claims were true. There were two managers who were coming in early, clocking in and having sex in the warehouse. They stood in a spot where they couldn't be seen by the camera. Another person was selling drugs, and another person was getting high. Some people were stealing groceries while others were stealing products. As a result, we ended up firing quite a few people. We also made a presentation to the whole warehouse reminding them of our drug-free policy. We debated implementing drug testing but ultimately decided against it. We did, however, want to scare them, so we reminded them that we're able to and have a legal right to administer drug tests. I would not say that was even all that effective. I think most of them were just kind of laughing at us as we were doing it. With that being said, it was the route that we chose. One of the two people who were accused of sleeping together did get fired because of that, along with other issues. The second person who was having sex in the office was still promoted into the now-terminated manager's position. However, we put a lot of controls on him and continued to recruit for a replacement down the line. We also spoke with a warehouse manager who had been accused of drug use. We said to him, "Listen, we're not coming to you as an employer, we're coming to you as two people who care about you. What's going on? Let's be smart here.'" There are some questions about whether even that approach was appropriate. However, that's what we chose to do. We also put different things in place to, hopefully, put a little fear in them, for lack of a better word. When workers went out to get groceries, we had a whole system of checking into the bag. We ended up putting a logistics coordinator in the warehouse who was a real rule-stickler. Just having the presence of that employee put a little pressure on them. Overall, it was more just about increasing the feeling that they were being watched. The lesson: As awful as these examples are, they're apparently quite common in warehouses. There's a real warehouse culture that needs to be addressed, which was a big educational moment for me. Obviously, as an employer, I'm not going to say any of these behaviors are okay. But I also understand that these people are coming from a very low-income area. They're in jobs that are not necessarily as stimulating. And they are groups that live close to each other so they are probably socializing outside of work. Understanding the population better was a big learning experience for me. The fact that all this was going on without our knowledge showed us how much more we need to be involved. My office was in Manhattan, and this warehouse was located in New Jersey. It showed us how much we need to be there, we need to be present, we need to visit more often and they need to feel like we're watching. And similarly, it illustrated the importance of having a strong manager in place. You need someone who's overseeing things and who you can trust isn't going to let this type of behavior go down. After all, a lot of these claims were about the warehouse manager, too. The fact that all this was going on without our knowledge showed us how much more we need to be involved. Anonymous HR manager JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon is a big proponent of corporate tax reform. "You need a competitive tax system ... companies will retain more capital and start to use it over time," Dimon said Wednesday in response to a moderator question at the Axios Smarter Faster Revolution event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Some will raise wages. Some will buy companies. Some may do dividends and buybacks. Don't act like that is a bad thing. That is their money. Think of it as a QE4. That money gets recirculated in the American system." QE refers to the Federal Reserve's "quantitative easing" policies enacted after the financial crisis, which attempted to stimulate the economy by increasing the money supply. Dimon said tax reform "simply needs to be done" and should have happened 15 years ago. After the bill passes "probably a trillion dollars will come back from overseas," he added. "Cumulatively over time that will accelerate growth in the American economy." But he did say the "benefit is not going to be immediate." The bank executive is chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Previously, he was chairman and chief executive officer at Bank One before its merger with JPMorgan Chase. Dimon was joined by Axios Executive Editor Mike Allen and CEO Jim VandeHei for a session entitled "Defining the Future of Work." He also discussed developments at Detroit's Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. After a tumultuous year which saw Chinese technology conglomerate LeEco fall from grace, the company's billionaire founder was recently dealt yet another blow. Jia Yueting, LeEco's founder, was added to a nationwide list of debt defaulters after he failed to obey a court order, local newspaper China Daily reported on Tuesday. Jia hasn't turned over to Ping An Securities Group the roughly 477 million yuan ($72 million) he was ordered to pay by a Beijing court on Sept. 28, according to information available on a public database. Jia's name and ID number were also included in the database entry. That database, which is maintained by the Supreme People's Court, blacklists individuals and corporations that have failed to repay their debts. It was launched in 2013 as part of China's attempt to encourage rule of law. Those whose names are logged into the system can face a host of restrictions, including air travel bans, for failing to obey court judgments. Representatives from LeEco did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The company, which sold everything from televisions to electric vehicles, once had grand ambitions of taking on U.S. tech giants. LeEco pushed ahead with a large-scale U.S. expansion in 2016. Its dreams for global domination crumbled, however, when it became apparent that the company faced serious cash flow issues. In July this year, Jia stepped down from his position as chairman of LeShi Internet Information and Technology LeEco's main listed unit so that he could focus on LeEco's automobile unit. He promised to repay debts owed by the company. It's unclear whether the latest development will have an effect on Jia, who is reported to be based in the U.S. He has not appeared publicly in China since March, online new site Quartz reported. The statement said that because trading on the Cboe gives bitcoin an air of legitimacy, investors must be aware of the inherent risks of investing in bitcoin and the fraudulent schemes associated with it. Cboe bitcoin futures fell 2.7 percent Wednesday to trade at $17,530. Galvin's comment comes just days after U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton warned investors against putting money into cryptocurrencies. Here is the full Galvin statement: Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin today warned investors not to get caught up in Bitcoin speculation. "Bitcoin is just the latest in a history of speculative bubbles that most often burst, leaving the average investors with a worthless product," Secretary Galvin said. "Going back to the 1600s with tulip mania to the present Bitcoin craze, chasing the next best thing will, more often than not, end in disaster for the average investor." Bitcoin futures began trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on December 10, 2017. Bitcoin has also been the target of major hacks at the exchange and wallet levels, leaving many Bitcoin holders with huge losses. Because trading on the CBOE gives Bitcoin an air of legitimacy, investors must be aware of the inherent risks of investing in Bitcoin and the fraudulent schemes associated with it, Galvin's office warned. Bitcoin continues to attract intense media attention as the price of Bitcoin dips and soars. Conflicting information about Bitcoin abounds, with some calling it a "craze" or a "bubble" and others touting it as an amazing investment. Before purchasing in Bitcoin, Secretary Galvin's office suggests investors consider the following: 1. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are not regular money, as they are not backed by the United States or any other government or central bank. 2. Carefully investigate the seller before making a purchase of Bitcoin. You may want to consider what recourse you would have, in case something goes wrong. Compare the fees and costs associated with Bitcoin purchases and ask about the terms for redeeming Bitcoin into regular money. 3. Virtual wallets used to store Bitcoin do not provide the same safeguards as deposits made at a traditional banking institution. Unrecoverable losses can occur when Bitcoin is stolen from these virtual wallets. 4. Bitcoin values fluctuate enormously and can do so in a very short period of time. Be prepared for radical value changes in your Bitcoin investment, including single day drops or increases in the thousands of dollars. 5. Bitcoin investing is generally considered to be speculation, since the value is not related to any economic or financial parameters. Never speculate with money that you cannot afford to lose. 6. Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are based on a public ledger called the "Blockchain," which is still experimental and is subject to changes, errors, or criminal activity which could adversely affect your virtual wallet or erase your Bitcoin value. 7. The unregulated and ambiguous nature of Bitcoin provides a fertile ground for investment scams and other financial fraud, which can cause Bitcoin investors to lose their money. Anyone wishing to check the registration status of someone offering to sell Bitcoin or other products tied to Bitcoin may contact Secretary Galvin's Securities Division at 1-800-269-5428. Additional information may be found on Secretary Galvin's website, www.sec.state.ma.us. In October, the New York Times released a report detailing decades of payoffs to those who'd accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. According to the report, he reached at least eight settlements with women, paying each individual roughly $80,000 to $150,000. Most of the women who accepted settlements signed a confidentiality agreement that prevented them from speaking about the situation. "If the boards of the company were half female, there wouldn't ever have been payoffs to anybody," Streep said. "None of this the shenanigans wouldn't have occurred." In a panel discussion at BuzzFeed 's office, Oscar-winner Meryl Streep told "The Post" director Steven Spielberg and co-star Tom Hanks that settlements like those paid to Harvey Weinstein's accusers would not have been necessary if more women held positions of power. Other powerful men like late former Fox News CEO Roger E. Ailes and television journalist Bill O'Reilly also settled with their accusers. According to reports, women involved in cases against Ailes and O'Reilly were paid well into the millions. Streep, who's worked with Weinstein on several films including "The Iron Lady" and "August: Osage County" told the Huffington Post that she was unaware of her colleague's actions. She said his "behavior is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar." To better address the ongoing wave of allegations, the 68-year-old says more company boards need to have gender equality. "I think right now, there are a lot of opportunities in at the bottom, and then you get up to the middle level of management," she told the BuzzFeed audience. "But at the top level, the same rules generally adhere. [Women] are at 17 to 20 percent of the boards. That's pretty much anything, from the Senate to the Supreme Court to probably here." At an event in Paris earlier this month, former also called for an increase in more women in leadership positions because he said "men seem to be having some problems these days." "Not to generalize, but women seem to have a better capacity than men do, partly because of their socialization," Obama said. Streep emphasized that the unequal power dynamics between men and women exist far beyond Hollywood and said it's everyone's responsibility to speak out. "I think power tries to suppress the truth," she said. "In Hollywood, on Wall Street and in the news media as well. So everybody has to stay alert, awake and fight against it." Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook. Don't miss: The Federal Communications Commission's vote on "net neutrality" rules, scheduled for Thursday, holds major implications for the future of the internet but it's not always clear who will foot the bill. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says he intends to repeal the rules that keep internet service providers from treating online content unequally. The regulations prohibit ISPs, such as , or , from slowing or censoring traffic to certain websites. Advocates say net neutrality is a bulwark against ISPs abusing their power by forcing or prioritizing some online content against their competitors. Doing so would create an internet that handicaps smaller businesses and limits customers' freedom to access whatever websites they want. "Net neutrality is actually what gives people choices," said Evan Greer, campaign director for the pro-net neutrality activist group Fight for the Future. "If we get rid of net neutrality protections, it allows the largest, most incumbent web companies to essentially pay protection money to ISPs to solidify their monopoly status and squash competition." OPEC forecasts strong global appetite for crude oil in 2018 but now sees output from the United States and elsewhere growing more than previously expected. The 14-member oil cartel's latest read on supply and demand comes just two weeks after it agreed to extend output limits with Russia and nine other producer nations. The two dozen producers are capping production to shrink huge global stockpiles of oil that have weighed on prices for more than three years. The higher supply from outside OPEC could make it harder to achieve that aim, even as OPEC's production fell in November. The producer group on Wednesday forecast that non-OPEC production will grow by nearly 1 million barrels a day in 2018. That marks an upward revision of 120,000 barrels a day from its previous projection. "Higher-than-expected supply growth in the U.S., Canada and Kazakhstan have been the key contributors to the upward revisions, particularly U.S. tight oil," OPEC said in a monthly report. President Donald Trump gives the pen to Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) after signing H.J. Res. 41 in the Oval Office of the White House on February 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Getty Images The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers are moving to repeal part of a law aimed at curbing corruption in the global energy and mining sectors. The effort is the latest in a GOP-led retreat from a campaign to promote transparency in the oil, gas and mineral extraction business. It comes even as Europe and Canada are requiring their energy and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments, which are aimed at reining in the graft that has long plagued resource-rich countries. The U.S. anti-corruption measure on the chopping block would require drilling and mining companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to report their payments to foreign governments. Who benefits from keeping the public in the dark? Secrecy breeds corruption. Sen. Ben Cardin and former Sen. Richard Lugar By making the information public, the measure aims to empower citizen groups in resource-rich nations to hold governments and state-owned companies accountable for oil, gas and mineral revenues. Energy industry corruption that enriches elites at the expense of ordinary people is a common problem in many parts of the developing world. Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin and Republican former Sen. Richard Lugar sought to alleviate this "resource curse" by introducing the transparency measure as an amendment to the sweeping 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform. The amendment required the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a disclosure rule. The SEC created the rule last year, but Republicans struck it down in February by using rarely invoked congressional power to overturn recently implemented regulations. However, the Cardin-Lugar Amendment is still on the books, so the SEC has to create a new rule to replace the one Republicans killed. Now, GOP lawmakers are taking aim at the amendment itself. The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., that would repeal the measure. The bill advanced through the markup on a party-line vote, with only Republican congressman Ed Royce of California joining Democrats in opposing repeal. watch now Cardin and Lugar on Wednesday urged House members to stop the bill in its tracks. "Today, the House Financial Services Committee made the wrong decision when it passed H.R. 4519, a bill seeking to shield the extractives industry from fully disclosing their payments made to governments for oil, gas and mining. Who benefits from keeping the public in the dark? Secrecy breeds corruption," Cardin and Lugar said in a statement before the committee. Arguing the SEC's role Huizenga on Tuesday argued that the SEC is not the appropriate agency to deal with the problem. He said the Cardin-Lugar Amendment's goal is "laudable," but "using federal securities law and the SEC to enforce social issues is inconsistent with the SEC's core mission and completely inappropriate." "Just to remind everyone, the SEC's mission is to 1) protect investors; 2) maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and, 3) facilitate capital formation," he said in a prepared statement. The Trump administration shares that view. In an October report, the Treasury Department urged Congress to repeal the measure, saying several other agencies are better equipped than SEC to handle the issue. Global Witness, a pro-transparency nonprofit, argues the measure aligns with the SEC's mission. It notes that investors with nearly $10 trillion of assets under management wrote to the SEC in support of the rule. Further, the EU and Canada created similar rules, so a U.S. measure would improve market efficiency by harmonizing regulations that govern multinational companies. Last, Global Witness says oil and mining corruption is damaging to investment markets and capital formation. watch now Opponents say the Cardin-Lugar Amendment disadvantages U.S. companies by forcing them to disclose private information and would potentially cost them contracts with foreign nations. The measure's backers say these claims are bogeymen and there is no hard evidence to back them. "Oil, gas and mining companies from other countries have already disclosed over $150 billion in payments under mandatory transparency rules," Corinna Gilfillan, head of Global Witness' U.S. office, said in a statement on Wednesday. U.S. retreating from anti-corruption campaigns U.S. oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron have highlighted their efforts to promote transparency, but they have opposed turning over certain tax documents, creating an obstacle to their participation in anti-corruption campaigns. Last month, the Trump administration halted plans for the United States to become a full member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an international program aimed at encouraging resource payment disclosures. The Interior Department said some EITI standards clash with the "U.S. legal framework." Cardin and Lugar argued that there are no laws that prevent the United States from complying with EITI, a voluntary reporting program that complements the Cardin-Lugar amendment. Earlier this year, an Interior Department spokesperson denied the agency was planning to pull out of EITI. The spokesperson made the claims after CNBC inquired about reports that Interior officials had canceled all of the remaining scheduled meetings with U.S. nonprofit and industry groups linked to EITI. WATCH: One mining name that's rallying back LIVE NATIVITIES PLANNED These area churches will hold live Nativities: Lutheran Chapel of the Cross, 1426 N. Fancher Road (Highway H) will hold a live Nativity at 4:30 p.m. (all childrens cast) and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16 The Christmas story is told by members of the congregation with live animals, a narrator and singing of carols. Performances last about 20 minutes, and afterward all are invited inside for coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. First Church of God, 1650 Lathrop Ave., will hold its live Nativity from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 21-23. It will feature live animals, costumed characters and a recording of the Christmas story. Hot beverages and treats will be served in the church hall. Members of English Settlement United Methodist Church will hold its annual Christmas in the Barn with services every 30 minutes from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 24, at Squire Farm, 26715 Church Road, Burlington (Dover). Church members portray angels, shepherds, wise men and innkeepers. Visitors sit on straw bales as scripture is read and carols are sung. Hot cocoa, coffee and Christmas cookies served. ADVENT TAIZE SERVICE An Advent Taize service will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Ave. Taize (pronounced Tezzay) has been described as an oasis of peace, and offers space for quiet reflection and prayer. The Rev. Gillian Weighton will lead the 45-minute candlelight service using elements of scripture, prayer, song and silence. Music will be provided by soprano Ami Bouterse, pianist Alejandro Alumbreros and University of Wisconsin-Parkside music students. INTERFAITH DEVOTIONAL Feeling overwhelmed by all the demands on your budget, or by all the gifts you are receiving during the holidays? Maybe its time to rethink priorities, and focus on detachment. This will be the theme of this months Interfaith Devotional hosted by the Bahais of Racine at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the home of Barry and Loralee Uhlenhake, 3223 Wright Ave. Activities include music, prayers in the round from any faith, refreshments and open discussion on the topic of detachment. CHRISTMAS CANTATA Winters Grace, a cantata for Christmas by Joseph M. Martin, will be presented by the Chancel Choir of Christ Church, 5109 Washington Ave., during the 9 a.m. worship service Sunday, Dec. 17. Soloists will be Tammy Hayward, Patty Dobrowski, Jan Elzinga and Willie Poole, with the Rev. George Kafer as narrator. lan Biehn directs the choir and Sally Anderson is organist. LIFELONG LEARNING SESSION Sister Rejane Cytacki, executive director of the Eco-Justice Center and Claire Anderson, executive director of Siena Retreat Center, will lead an intergenerational session titled A Season of Celebration: The Winter Solstice at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 17 in Vogel Hall at St. Richard of Chichester Catholic Church, 1509 Grand Ave. Attendees will discuss the history of winter solstice into Christmas and explore some of the rituals, traditions and customs that have become part of our culture. PEGGY TAYLOR RECOGNIZED Peggy Taylor, Faith United Methodist Church parish nurse, will be recognized during the 10:45 a.m. worship service Sunday, Dec. 17, at Faith United, 1013 Harmony Drive. Taylor will be retiring after serving as parish nurse for 22 years. There will be a time for refreshments and fellowship after the service. The Rev. Dr. Don Francis will speak on Luke 2: 1-7. The Advent Wreath for the Third Sunday in Advent will be lit by Murdell Davis and Georgia Owens. ADVENT WORSHIP SERVICE An Advent worship will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 3350 LaSalle St. The sermon will be preached by the Rev. Jesse Gullion. KIDS CHRISTMAS CONCERT A Kids Christmas Concert will be held during the 9 a.m. worship service Sunday, Dec. 17, at Raymond Community Church, United Church of Christ, 8217 W. Highway G, Caledonia. GERMAN AND SCHOOL SERVICE An all-German language worship service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, with the Rev. Emeritus Nathan R. Pope preaching, at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 728 Villa St. An English translation will be available to follow along. The students of Wisconsin Lutheran School (all grades) will present the Christmas service, The Birth of Jesus, at 2:30 and 4 p.m. CHRISTMAS PROGRAM PRESENTED The Sunday School children of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 2417 Drexel Ave., will present the Christmas program, The Road to Bethlehem, during the 9 a.m. service Sunday, Dec. 17. A luncheon will follow the program. SUNDAY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM Master Builder is the Legos-themed Christmas program presented by the Sunday School classes during the 10:15 a.m. service Sunday, Dec. 17, at Yorkville United Methodist Church, 17645 Old Yorkville Road, Union Grove. Scenes include Building Snowflakes, The Gift, The Star, The Tree, and The Nativity. Special music provided by the youth includes Go Tell It on the Mountain on piano by Jennifer George and Silent Night on guitar by Jack George. A cookie reception will follow in Fellowship Hall. There is also an 8 am service with iWorship videos. The monthly Mission Sunday at both services Sunday, Dec. 17, when an offering is accepted to support the churchs commitment to the Union Grove Area Food Bank and the agricultural ministry of the Rev. Paul Webster in Zambia. The choir invites anyone to join Christmas caroling on Monday, Dec. 18, at the Wisconsin Veterans Home in Union Grove. Meet at 5:30 p.m. in Gates Hall. CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION CONCERT A Christmas Celebration Concert will be held during the 2 p.m. service Sunday, Dec. 17, at the new bilingual multi-cultural Transformation Ministry Church inside St. Paul Baptist Church, 1123 Center St. Christmas music will be performed by Minister Cheryl McCrary and worship band. Children in the congregation will be invited to sing Christmas carols in the childrens choir. The service will also include drama presentations and inspirational testimonies by host Bishop Sadoc Cruz and other guest speakers. Nonperishable food items will be accepted for the Racine County Food Bank. Gently used hats, mittens and scarves will be accepted for the Wrapped in Jesus Love Clothing Drive. Christmas cookies, treats and refreshments will be served after the concert and there will be prizes. SIENA RETREAT CENTER PROGRAMS These programs are being offered at the Siena Retreat Center, 5637 Erie St., Caledonia: Self-Portrait as Meditation, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13. Enjoy the unique experience of creating an acrylic self-portrait that is gentle, relaxing and truthful. This day is one of meditation, painting and time to reflect. The $55 fee includes a noon meal and supplies. Spirit of Winter Poetry, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20. Winter carries many moods and meanings for the human soul. What is its spirit for you? Come together on this mid-winter day to expand our souls as participants explore these poetries of winter. The $45 fee includes a $10 nonrefundable deposit and noon meal. For more information or to register for a program, go to www.SienaRetreatCenter.org or call 262-898-2590. An illuminated Rosneft oil company logo sits on the roof of an OAO Rosneft gas station near the Ostankino TV tower displaying the colors of the Russian national flag in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014. A Russian court froze around $1.7 billion of conglomerate Sistema 's assets following a claim by oil major Rosneft on Tuesday, escalating a long-running dispute that has reignited concerns about the investment climate in Moscow. Rosneft is looking to place on hold some of Sistema's assets as part of a second lawsuit over the state-controlled group's Bashneft arm. The arbitration court of Bashkortostan froze a number of the conglomerate's assets, including its stake in Detsky Mir a toy retailer with a book value of around $571 million. Sistema's shares slipped 4.5 percent on the news, while Detsky Mir's shares were trading under pressure Wednesday morning. Carey also told reporters the group would look to expand its fuel stations into Dubai and Saudi Arabia next year. "ADNOC Distribution relies on its customers and we are going to grow with them," he said. A United Arab Emirates state-owned oil giant made a positive stock market debut Wednesday, a listing likely to resonate through the Middle East as several other companies prepare to go public. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) listed a stake in its fuel distribution unit, called ADNOC Distribution. John Carey, the deputy CEO of ADNOC Distribution, told CNBC that though the initial public offering (IPO) of this unit was "a long time coming," he was "really excited" about the company's prospects. When asked how important it would be for the group's public listing to do well given the interest among other companies in the region looking to follow suit, Carey replied: "Investors looked at the United Arab Emirates ... and for us, we need to lead the way, we need to build that credibility and I believe our plans do that." ADNOC announced it would sell the 10 percent stake in its distribution unit in November and has raised $851 million, according to Reuters. The company had initially planned to sell as much as a 20 percent stake, however, and had lowered the top end of its offer price. On Wednesday, shares of ADNOC Distribution rose sharply at the open, trading at 2.9 dirhams (0.79 cents) shortly after the bell versus an IPO price of 2.50 dirhams per share. ADNOC's fuel-distribution IPO is set to become the first of many in the Middle East as companies based in Abu Dhabi and other Gulf states are privatizing energy assets in order to compete in an era of cheap crude. Wednesday's price surge won't go unnoticed among investors eagerly awaiting the listing of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2018. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last year that Aramco is worth at least $2 trillion. ADNOC has been in the midst of a major restructuring since Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber was appointed as the company's chief executive in 2016. The oil industry has been forced to cut costs and search for ways to boost efficiency since the price of oil collapsed from nearly $120 a barrel in June 2014. The sharp drop in prices was caused by weak demand, a strong dollar and booming U.S. shale production. ADNOC produces around 3 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for approximately 3 percent of global production. The UAE-based firm also produces almost 10 billion cubic feet of raw gas per day, meaning it is one of the leading energy producers in the world. CNBC's Holly Ellyatt and Reuters contributed to this report. The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote Thursday on whether to repeal the 2015 Obama-era regulations protecting net neutrality, laws which ensure an open and free internet. A group of 21 pioneers of the internet including Vinton G. Cerf, often dubbed the "father of the internet" for his early work developing the technology, and Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, published an open letter demanding the Restoring Internet Freedom Order vote be canceled. The tech giants don't tread lightly: "You don't understand how the Internet works," the header of the statement reads, referring to the FCC. "We are the pioneers and technologists who created and now operate the Internet, and some of the innovators and business people who, like many others, depend on it for our livelihood. We are writing to respectfully urge you to call on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to cancel the December 14 vote," the letter, published Monday, reads. Net Neutrality: It's addressed to four members of Congress, all of whom hold roles on the technology and innovation committees: Roger Wicker (R, Miss.), Brian Schatz (D, Hawaii), Marsha Blackburn (R, Tenn.) and Michael F. Doyle (D, Penn.). None have responded, signatory Scott Bradner tells CNBC Make It on Wednesday. In a piece he penned for The Wall Street Journal, Chairman Pai lobbies for a repeal of the current neutrality mandates, which require internet access providers like Verizon, AT&T, Charter and CNBC parent company Comcast to be equal in their distribution of bandwidth. Instead, he favors a framework that requires such companies simply to be "transparent" about distribution of service. He argues the Obama-era mandates are too "heavy-handed." However, according to the letter, repealing these regulations will eliminate key protections that "prevent Internet access providers from blocking content, websites and applications, slowing or speeding up services or classes of service, and charging online services for access or fast lanes to Internet access providers' customers." There would be inadequate protections for "consumers, free markets and online innovation," reads the letter. Additionally, the signatories assert the FCC's proposed order "is based on a flawed and factually inaccurate understanding of Internet technology," and refer back to a 43-page dossier submitted by a group of some 200 internet pioneers in July, which, among other things explains these inaccuracies. #NetNeutrality allowed me to invent the web. If protections are scrapped, innovators will have to ask ISPs for permission to get their ideas out a disaster for creativity. A disaster for the internet. Tell your Reps to stop the vote. "In short, if the current rules are not preserved, the rapid pace of innovation the Internet has experienced over the last forty years could come to a disastrous halt," the July dossier declares. Monday's letter also says the review process for the proposed rule has been unacceptable. "The FCC's online comment system has been plagued by major problems that the FCC has not had time to investigate. These include bot-generated comments that impersonated Americans, including dead people, and an unexplained outage of the FCC's on-line comment system that occurred at the very moment TV host John Oliver was encouraging Americans to submit comments to the system," the letter published Monday says. "With Shipt's network of local shoppers and their current market penetration, we will move from days to hours, dramatically accelerating our ability to bring affordable same-day delivery to guests across the country," Target Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan said in a statement. While Amazon scooped up Whole Foods in August and Walmart purchased Jet.com in late 2016 to deepen their reach, Target has been focused on its turnaround efforts and pushing for growth internally. As a result, investors see Target as a comparatively weaker player in the food space. The news builds on the company's billion-dollar investment strategy and longer-term goals to catch up with rivals Walmart and Amazon , which have been making splashes across the industry for much of 2017. The big-box retailer announced Wednesday that its plans to acquire same-day delivery service platform Shipt, a rival to Instacart, for $550 million in cash. Target is finally making more aggressive moves to win customers who want to make purchases, including groceries, online. Target will begin to offer same-day delivery of groceries, home furnishings, electronics and other products via Shipt's platform, starting in early 2018. The service will be available for the majority of Target's stores before next holiday season. And by the end of 2019, Target plans to use Shipt for same-day delivery of "all major product categories." Alabama-based Shipt, which also has an office in San Francisco, will continue to work with other retailers despite being owned by Target, Shipt CEO Bill Smith said on a call with members of the media. Those other partners include grocers Costco , Kroger , Meijer and HEB. Meantime, Target's Mulligan said the company hasn't yet had discussions with Instacart about their future. The retailer has been working with Instacart for a number of years for grocery delivery in certain markets. Instacart didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Talks with Shipt began midsummer, Mulligan said, and moved quickly down a path toward an acquisition rather than a partnership. "We'll continue growing our marketplace and membership base, working with a variety of retailers to drive scale and efficiencies," Shipt's Smith explained about the deal. The company will keep its offices and employees in Birmingham and San Francisco, he said, and it won't share any information about Shipt's other clients with Target. Over time, the hope is Target will be able to strengthen its supply chain and last-mile fulfillment capabilities, having recently acquired transportation technology company Grand Junction. Target will also be able to service those customers who would rather order their groceries online and have them delivered to their home, using Shipt's personal shoppers. Shipt differs from other delivery services in that its personal shoppers, who are vetted by the company, stay in touch with a customer as they pick up items in the store, texting if an item is out of stock and alerting them en route to delivery. "The new platform will allow Target to offer same day delivery on a wide selection of non-food items," GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders said in a statement. "This makes the grocery service more attractive to consumers, and will also increase the profitability of the Shipt business model." "Running the service from stores will ultimately strengthen the operational performance of Target's physical assets," Saunders added. To begin, though, a Target customer must first become a Shipt member, paying a $99 annual fee, in order to use the service on Shipt.com. In time, Target's Mulligan said there will be integration with Target.com and with the retailer's app. "Right now, we're focused on getting on the Shipt marketplace," he said. The deal, which marks one of Target's biggest to date, is expected to close before the end of 2017, Target said, and should be immaterial to the retailer's near-term financial results. Over time, Target said the acquisition will boost its digital and overall sales growth. The unsettling news for Republicans in the Alabama election is not what made the state different it's the factors that make it similar to everywhere else they'll face the voters in 2018. The factor unique to Alabama is easy to dismiss. In Roy Moore, Republicans saddled themselves with a candidate facing credible allegations of child molestation. Even with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton in Alabama by nearly 2 to 1 in 2016, Moore's baggage proved too heavy a burden for the Republican campaign horse to bear. But other influences in that hotly contested race will reverberate across the electoral landscape. And they now jeopardize the GOP majority in the Senate as well as the House. Trump's 48 percent approval among Alabama voters on Tuesday was not as weak as he is nationally, but that's soft, nonetheless, in an exceptionally conservative state. Weak presidents endanger their parties, and Trump remains the least popular first-year chief executive in the history of polling. Young voters, with far different views on issues such as race, gay marriage and the environment, keep asserting their influence as Republicans have lashed their fortunes to older whites. In Alabama, as in Virginia last month, big margins among those under age 45 overcame deficits among their elders for Democratic campaigns geared toward the future rather than the past. Trump-era Republicans are hemorrhaging support from key white voter groups, especially college graduates and women. Doug Jones doubled the 15 percent share of Alabama's white vote that former President Barack Obama received in 2012 and, at a moment of broad national concern over sexual harassment, nearly broke even among white women who have graduated from college. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks with reporters after meeting with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in Washington, December 1, 2017. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillerson's new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North Korea said it had successfully tested a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that put the entire United States mainland within range of its nuclear weapons. "Let's just meet," Tillerson said in a speech to Washington's Atlantic Council think tank on Tuesday. The White House later issued an ambiguous statement that left unclear whether President Donald Trump who has said Tillerson was wasting his time pursuing dialogue with North Korea had given his approval for the speech. "The president's views on North Korea have not changed," the White House said. "North Korea is acting in an unsafe way ... North Korea's actions are not good for anyone and certainly not good for North Korea." In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China welcomed all efforts to ease tension and promote dialogue to resolve the problem. China hopes the United States and North Korea can meet each other halfway and take meaningful steps on dialogue and contact, he told reporters. Ahead of Tillerson's speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop more nuclear weapons while personally decorating scientists and officials who contributed to the development of Pyongyang's most advanced ICBM, state media said on Wednesday. Kim said on Tuesday the scientists and workers would continue manufacturing "more latest weapons and equipment" to "bolster up the nuclear force in quality and quantity," the KCNA news agency said. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith will replace departing Sen. Al Franken, who is set to resign following sexual misconduct accusations, the state's governor, Mark Dayton, announced Wednesday. Last week, Franken announced his plan to step down in the "coming weeks" as most of the Senate Democratic caucus pushed him to resign. Dayton said he will appoint Smith, 59, to serve until January 2019. She will have to compete in a special election for the seat next November. If she wins that race, she would then have to run again in 2020, when Franken would have faced re-election. After some questions about whether she would run in that special election next year, Smith committed to doing so on Wednesday. "I accept this appointment, and it will be my great honor to serve Minnesota as United States Senator," Smith said in a statement released by Dayton's office. "Though I never anticipated this moment, I am resolved to do everything I can to move Minnesota forward. I will be a fierce advocate in the United States Senate for economic opportunity and fairness for all Minnesotans." Smith has been Minnesota's lieutenant governor since 2015, according to the state's website. She was previously Dayton's chief of staff. Smith has taken a visible role as a proponent of Dayton's agenda in the state, according to the Star Tribune. She declined to run for governor next year, when Dayton will not seek re-election. In a statement Wednesday, Dayton called Smith "a person of the highest integrity and ability." He highlighted her role in expanding paid parental leave in Minnesota, fighting against wage theft, battling the opioid crisis and advocating for clean energy. Smith also has pushed for expanding rural broadband access and access to early childhood learning, according to Minnesota's website. In a statement Wednesday, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. a prominent member of the party's liberal wing signaled that he would not challenge Smith for the Senate seat next year. "Tina Smith is the right person at the right time and has my full support both now and when she runs in the 2018 special election," Ellison said Republicans likely see opportunity in Minnesota next year. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar will also have to defend her seat. Hillary Clinton beat President Donald Trump by only 1 percent in the state in last year's presidential election. Moscow could even take over the role of "honest broker" in the stalled peace process between Israel and Palestine, given its close ties to both Israel and the Arab world. Russian President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is likely to have the unforeseen consequence of strengthening the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow's role in the Middle East, according to experts. When Trump said last week that he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and that he would move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, much of the Western world and Middle East reacted with shock, fearing that the move will damage any prospect of peace in the region. Putin also expressed dismay. Last Thursday, following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he said that Trump's decision "does not do anything to help settle the situation in the Middle East and is instead destabilizing an already complicated situation." However, Russia could benefit from the move and see its influence in the Middle East grow, analysts told CNBC, noting that Moscow could even take over the role of "honest broker" in the stalled peace process between Israel and Palestine given its close ties to both Israel and the Arab world. watch now "Putin has established Russia as perhaps the single-most important external actor in the Middle East," Christopher Granville, managing director of EMEA and global political research at TS Lombard, told CNBC on Wednesday. Granville agreed that Russia could assert itself as a key player in a regional peace process, although tensions are running so high between Israel and Palestine, let alone the wider Islamic world, that the process looks unlikely to see progress any time soon. "Russia is certainly better positioned to have constructive contacts with different countries and players on both sides of the barricades whereas the U.S. has cast in its lot lock, stock and barrel with one side, broadly that of Saudi Arabia and Israel," he said. Russia the peace broker? Turkey's president launched a blistering attack on Israel Wednesday, saying that President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel rewarded the country's "terror acts." Addressing a summit of Muslim leaders in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Jerusalem was "our red line," Reuters reported. "Israel is an occupying and terror state," Erdogan said as he called on all countries to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. RACINE Police have identified the man who died Monday night after his vehicle became submerged in a pond along Highway 31. He is Jeffery C. Ingle, 46, a resident of Racine. Racine police and fire units were dispatched to the pond that fronts Chase Bank, Home Depot and Toys R Us at 7:48 p.m. Monday. According to Sgt. Adam Malacara, witnesses said the truck lost control in the parking lot near the bank, located at the southeast corner of South Green Bay Road (Highway 31) and 21st Street. Witnesses told The Journal Times that the truck hit a light pole just prior to heading down the embankment into the pond. There were also several unconfirmed reports that the driver was operating erratically just prior to the incident. According to Battalion Chief Willie Hargrove of the Racine Fire Department, an off-duty firefighter was on scene just after the truck went into the water and tried unsuccessfully to get to the driver. Fire Department divers were in the water by 8:02 p.m. and the driver was extricated from the vehicle by 8:09 p.m., Hargrove said. The driver was rushed to Ascension All Saints Hospital. The driver was the lone occupant of the vehicle. The Fire Department dispatched a boat to the scene, and Flight for Life was requested to respond but did not land at the scene. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) listed a stake in its fuel distribution unit on Wednesday, the biggest listing on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange in the past decade. Shares of ADNOC Distribution rose at the open, trading at 2.9 dirhams (0.79 cents) shortly after the bell versus an IPO (initial public offering) price of 2.50 dirhams per share. ADNOC Distribution's Deputy Chief Executive John Carey told CNBC that the company felt "great about the whole process, the whole day." He said the IPO brought world-class investors into Abu Dhabi. "This has been the largest IPO in Abu Dhabi in the last 10 years and it's the first time, we've brought international investment in," he noted. "My experience of the process has been that international investors have been hugely excited about developing a position in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they see the good growth fundamentals here, it's a great place to invest and that's what they've done, they've invested in our business," he said. ADNOC has raised $851 million through the sale of 10 percent of its distribution unit, Reuters noted. The company had initially planned to sell as much as a 20 percent stake, however, and had lowered the top end of its offer price. Jack Bogle, 88, has done well for himself. The founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group created the very first index fund in 1976 and has accumulated a net worth of somewhere in the low eight figures. Still, "I really can't stand spending money on myself," he told Reuters in a 2012 interview. "I don't like going into stores, I don't like the whole process of buying things." His frugality comes from his upbringing. "My father's money vanished in the Great Depression, and he had trouble keeping a job," said Bogle, who started working at age 10, delivering papers. "I learned you work for what you get." A 10-month criminal investigation appears to have come to an end Thursday with a 26-year-old Racine man being arrested and thousands of "fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone tablets" being recovered after two Racine homes were raided, the Racine County Sheriff's Office said Friday. Officers reported they found 3,622 fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone tablets equaling 16 ounces of fentanyl and 2.4 pounds of marijuana at two Racine residences following the execution of search warrants. 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 Ive written a lot about Microsoft PowerShell on this site, but my favorite thing to do is show how to apply the scripting language to various tasks you already have to do as part of your regular role and responsibilities. In a previous article, I demonstrated how to accomplish five common administrative tasks using PowerShell. In this piece Ill take five more IT administrative tasks (this time mostly security-related) that with a GUI would be slow and boring and show you how to script them using PowerShell. [ New to PowerShell? Download Introduction to Windows PowerShell to get started ] 1. Check for the presence of patches with PowerShell In June 2017, the Petya/NotPetya malware disabled most of the IT assets in the country of Ukraine and spread worldwide, locking out several global financial and logistics firms from much their own hardware and software. I had a first-hand view of the chaos that ensued: My email address was mistakenly included in an emergency email chain from employees in a very large company who were desperate to communicate with each other using their personal addresses and accounts to keep their business running. It was a very disruptive time. Whats more problematic is that the vulnerability that this malware uses to enter systems the very same vulnerability exploited by Mays WannaCry ransomware attack was patched in March 2017, two months before the WannaCry outbreak and three months before the Petya/NotPetya outbreak. I hope your enterprise has a robust patch-management platform with all the resources you need to patch regularly, consistently, and early enough to avoid being a victim. But apparently that is not the case at many firms, as that email thread and hundreds of news reports confirm. So how can we leverage PowerShell to look for the patch that would mitigate this particular malware variant? Ben Roback is a Senior Account Executive at Cicero Group and a member of the US Embassys Young Leaders UK programme. For the first time in 25 years, the State of Alabama has sent a Democrat to the Senate. It was a staggering election result in a campaign that was far from normal. The conclusion of such a dark and divisive political race meant Donald Trumps endorsed picks lost twice in Alabama, putting another big dent into the populist movement Republicans hoped would propel Ed Gillespie into the Virginia governors mansion and Roy Moore to the Senate. Despite endorsements from the President, the populist hurricane that worked so well in 2016 petered out into a light breeze in Alabama, unable to stop Democrat Doug Jones. How did a Democrat win in deep-red Alabama? Roy Moore was the runaway favourite to win the seat vacated when Jeff Sessions was appointed Attorney General. Putting a Senate seat in play that might become winnable for the Democrats would not have been part of Trumps calculation. The overwhelming narrative in the race surrounded Roy Moores deficiencies and not Doug Jones strengths. Moore had fought his campaign in the face of a series of allegations of sexual harassment, resulting in calls from Washington and Republican Party institutions for him to stand down. He refused, and when polls made it clear the race was too close to call, those Republican institutions reinstated their funding and the President ramped up his public endorsements. With 100 per cent of precincts reporting their results, Doug Jones had won 49.9 per cent of the vote compared to Moores 48.4 per cent. The remainder of votes (1.7 per cent) went to write-in candidates, following a strategy that establishment Republicans had considered if accusations against Moore were proven but he refused to withdraw from the race. Early data released showed the African American vote turned out on a scale rarely seen since President Obamas election wins in 2008 and 2012, while those under the age of 44 overwhelmingly voted for Jones. For Trump, the implications matter on three fronts. 2018 elections and re-taking the Senate Before Alabama, Democrats needed to pick up three seats to take back the majority from the Republicans. With Doug Jones, they only need to pick up two more. The Democratic map to re-taking the Senate never ran through Alabama in the past, so this win is a huge bonus. Now, they will consider any seat in the country winnable with the right strategy and resources. Wins in Alabama and Virginia have given the opposition the belief that Republicans can be beaten by pitching races as a referendum on the President. For Republicans, there is real cause for concern. Trump won Alabama by nearly 20 points in the 2016 election, but Alabamians rejected the candidates he endorsed twice (Luther Strange in the primary and then Moore in the general). Democrats will now favour its chances of going on the offensive in states like Arizona (Jeff Flake is resigning), Tennessee (Bob Corker is resigning), and Nevada (Dean Heller is facing a tough pro-Trump primary challenge). The election map remains difficult for the Democrats ten Democrats are running in states that voted for Trump in the general election but the political environment is ripe for opposition and fundraising. Getting things done with a razor-thin majority While the Republican majority has been far from comfortable for the president and Mitch McConnell in their attempts to pass legislation, the task now becomes even harder. The Republicans have tried to speed through their tax reform plans with one eye on the Alabama race, with Jones a presumed hard no vote. Losing either the House or Senate would represent a major barrier for the Presidents legislative agenda. It would mean no bills could be passed through the reconciliation process, while Democrats would have the power to veto rumps nominees which currently only require a simple majority for approval. His picks for Cabinet and other positions in the executive branch would require Democratic support; that appears improbable if not impossible. A dent in the populist movement that propelled the President to power Donald Trumps election victory was undoubtedly impressive, irrespective of your political stripe. But the techniques used to seize the White House have been failing consistently in elections since. The approach taken by Steve Bannon and his Breitbart rage machine failed in New Jersey, Virginia and now Alabama. Their scorched earth approach, and commitment to destroying the establishment from within, delivered the White House but has born little fruit since. More worryingly for the Republican leadership, it may have captured the imagination of grass roots Republicans who vote in primary elections for their candidates but whose views do not extend to the general public. That is a recipe for increasingly right-wing candidates like Moore being selected as the Republican candidate, but then being rejected once the electorate is more than just the hardcore Republican base. Democrats will be toasting another victory in a race many will be in a rapid hurry to forget. Another campaign about personalities and not ideology, bereft of time spent talking about political visions or local ideas. Alabama has its new Senator and for the Democrats another weapon in the fight against Trump. Special elections are too often extrapolated for wider implications, when the outcome was determined by local factors or extreme circumstances like the wave of allegations against Moore. Looking ahead to 2018, Democrats will increasingly talk up their chances of re-taking the House and Senate. But the party remains divided on key policy platforms like single-payer healthcare, and without a leader to fill the void left by Hillary Clinton and President Obama. Democrats are defending three times as many seats as Republicans in 2018, but optimism ahead of next November is clearly on the rise. Theresa May looked much more confident than last week, and so did most of her Cabinet colleagues. Before PMQs, Boris Johnson even ventured to exchange a joke with Philip Hammond across the somewhat less cheerful figure of Amber Rudd, who was sitting between them. During PMQs, Damian Green actually ventured to share a joke with the Chancellor behind the PMs back, while she was standing at the Dispatch Box. And on both occasions, Hammond allowed a smile to cross his often rather wintry features. How one longs to know the content of these witticisms. If a joke is good enough for Hammond, it is surely good enough for us. But after a moment or twos reflection, one comforts oneself with the thought that reproduced in cold print, the jokes might not seem in the slightest bit funny. One needs, probably, to hear Greens or Johnsons tone of voice to get the full comic effect. And perhaps one needs also to be a member of a Cabinet which looked waterlogged, and low in the water, before the Brussels deal at the end of last week, but now evinces a new buoyancy. The laughter conveyed a kind of relief that the ship no longer seems doomed to sink beneath the choppy waves of Brexit. It would, however, be wrong to give the impression that everything has changed. Although the Prime Minister is more confident, she is just as dull. And so is the Leader of the Opposition. Jeremy Corbyn tried to harry her about homelessness and rough sleeping: a good subject, for in bleak weather to see so many of our fellow men and women in their sodden wrappings on our streets is a national disgrace. Something must be done. But Corbyn brought no eloquence or urgency to this demand, and the Prime Minister bored her way to victory. Soon she was speaking of looking at ways to encourage longer-term tenancies, a formula which brought to mind her tenancy since July 2016 of a public-sector dwelling in a gated inner-city community in Westminster, benefitting (as estate agents like to say) from easy access to all the facilities of Whitehall, and 24-hour surveillance. May is only the second woman in British history to have gained this tenancy a point on which she touched in lighter exchanges towards the end of a long PMQs. The trickiest point to arise ignored by Corbyn but raised by the indomitable Anna Soubry was what kind of say Parliament will have on the final deal with Brussels. May repeated several times that there is going to be a meaningful vote, whatever that may mean. Her ability to deploy respectable but vacuous language is one reason why she got where she is today, and has managed to stay there. She is the respectable tenant of Downing Street, which is why millions of people are content for her to remain in office. For while she will never set the Thames on fire, who wants an incendiary in charge of Brexit? We would like to see Ruth Davidson in the Commons, and available to stand as a candidate in a Conservative leadership election during this Parliament, assuming that one takes place. We would also like to see her emerge from the Scottish Parliament election in 2021 as First Minister. Unfortunately, we cant have both. Nor can the many other Conservatives who feel the same way. Nor can Davidson herself, assuming that she does. So her Spectator interview, in which she says that she may come south only after 2021, makes a lot of sense. The alternative is to seek a Commons seat now, get selected, win a Westminster seat at a by-election, stand down from the Scottish Parliament, and get elected to the Tory leadership in a contest which, after all, may not happen. Davidson also commits herself in the interview to standing only in any Westminster contest for a Scottish constituency. So he would have to explain, during this imaginary Westminster by-election in Scotland, why she was quitting Holyrood. All this sounds a bit ropey, and would leave a bad smell, at least north of the border. Davidson is also binding her fortunes to Theresa Mays. If May is forced out or stands down immediately post-Brexit in March next year, and the Conservatives go on to win a 2022 election under a new leader, there will presumably be no vacancy in Downing Street for Davidson to fill because Prime Minister Williamson, or whoever, will be in place. Meanwhile, Davidson continues to out-perform all Cabinet members, bar none, in our monthly Cabinet League table. 12/13/2017 Photo (c) Martin Dimitrov - Getty Images Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that can occur in some individuals each year during fall and winter. When the sun is up less and its too cold to spend much time outside, sufferers may experience an unpleasant drop in their mood and energy level. Doctors believe SAD is directly linked to this limited exposure to sunlight, which can alter a persons circadian rhythm. Changes to the circadian rhythm affect sleep-wake cycles a critical basis for good energy and mood. In an interview with ConsumerAffairs, Dr. David Earnest, a circadian rhythms expert at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, explained that SAD is different from other types of clinical depression. SAD differs from depression in that symptoms usually are less severe and SAD is seasonal, with typical onset of most symptoms during the late Fall and Winter due to the changes in day length, he said. Treating the symptoms Symptoms of SAD include lethargy, low energy, sluggishness, feeling down or depressed, sleep problems (usually excessive sleep), loss of interest in social activities, and changes in appetite, Earnest said. Here are a few expert-recommended activities consumers can try to ease the symptoms of winter depression: Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line announced today that Grand Celebration will set sail with several new guest-focused enhancements later this month, including a new adult-only area, a revitalized casino, and specialty coffee and juice bar. The ship will return to its regularly scheduled two-night sailings on December 23, 2017 from its homeport in West Palm Beach, Florida. The company also announced that its new vessel, set to arrive in April, will be named Grand Classica and will also sail two-night cruises to Grand Bahama Island. The ship is currently sailing as the Costa neoClassica. The company has recently signed a three-year agreement with the Bahamas to bring both of its ships to Grand Bahama Island for two-night cruises. We are pleased to have been able to assist those in need in the Caribbean. Now we are ready to return to offering memorable cruises to our guests. We are excited to welcome an even better Grand Celebration back to Palm Beach, just in time for the holidays, with several new spaces for our guests to enjoy, said Oneil Khosa, chief executive officer of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. We are also looking forward to the arrival of our new ship, Grand Classica, in April, and have strengthened our relationship with The Bahamas by signing a three-year agreement to bring both ships to Grand Bahama Island, thus offering daily arrivals to Grand Bahama Island and giving our guests added convenience to fit their schedules. Grand Classica will be a wonderful addition and complement to Grand Celebration, said Khosa. Having two ships sailing to Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line will be the largest provider of tourism to the island, carrying more than 500,000 passengers annually. It will also give our guests more flexibility and choice. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chris Mattei has a union problem. A state labor organizer has filed an elections complaint against Mattei, a Democrat who last week transitioned from testing the waters for governor to a declared candidate for state attorney general. The thrust of the allegations is that Mattei broke the law by using his exploratory committee for statewide office to solicit campaign contributions to specifically run for governor and failed to register as a candidate. Timothy J. Sullivan, who has been an organizer for the carpenters union, filed the complaint last month with the state Elections Enforcement Commission. Accordingly, the Mattei for CT committee, and candidate Chris Mattei, seem to be campaigning illegally, and have been doing so since late July. I would like SEEC to investigate, Sullivan wrote in the complaint. Mattei raised more than $222,000 through his exploratory committee, which is more than enough to qualify for public campaign financing for attorney general if he is allowed to roll over the money. Were aware that a complaint has been filed and it is without merit, and we are confident that anybody who looks at this will come to the same conclusion, said Julie Edwards, a Mattei campaign spokeswoman. The fact that a complaint was filed and peddled to reporters is politics as usual the kind of politics of usual that people are sick of and that Chris Mattei has been fighting against his whole career. Not long ago, Mattei led the public corruption unit in the U.S. attorneys office in Connecticut, sending disgraced former Gov. John Rowland, a Republican, back to prison for campaign fraud. Matteis role in another high-profile case perhaps sheds light on why a union organizer would have an ax to grind, however. In 2012, Mattei prosecuted a pair political associates of former Connecticut House Speaker Chris Donovan for accepting illegal payments to in a bid to try to kill a proposed tobacco tax. There was no wrongdoing by Donovan, but the case effectively killed the Meriden Democrat and union-favorites congressional prospects. The government informant in the case, Ray Soucy, a union treasurer for the states correction officers, received a six-month sentence at a halfway house. Donovan is now employed as a political action coordinator for the Connecticut Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state. A request for comment was left Monday for Sullivan, who resides in Barkhamsted. Click bait If youre on a candidate or political partys email list, youre probably used to Nostradamus subject lines by now. Then theres Liz Linehan, a freshman state representative from Cheshire who is running for lieutenant governor on the same Democratic ticket as Middletown Mayor Dan Drew. The subject line of a Saturday email from Linehan was The anniversary of my death. If you don't know me well yet, 23 years ago I died, Linehan wrote. Heart failure, kidney failure, rhabdomyolysis. My heart stopped beating on its own for 18 minutes. My last rites were performed three times. All from strep throat. I was in the hospital for a month afterward and spent three months on dialysis. Doctors said it was a once in a lifetime freak illness, but it was the day that changed my life forever. Now that Linehan had everyones attention, she wasnt going to let the opportunity pass. Join our campaign today with a contribution of $23. I believe in Connecticut, and I want you to join us. Know when to hold em The house always wins and for the past dozen years so have Democrats in statewide and congressional races in Connecticut. So Republicans are fittingly heading to Foxwoods to try to change their odds. Just dont roll snake eyes. The state GOP will hold its biennial nominating convention at the tribal-owned casino next May, when 1,200 delegates from all over the state will endorse candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and House, and five other constitutional offices. In 2014, Mohegan Sun hosted the Republican confab, prompting party lawyers to make sure the nominations would hold legal force because the reservation is a sovereign nation. Standard message rates apply American Idol does it. So does Dancing with the Stars. And now Republicans. After its first gubernatorial debate last week in Windsor, the state GOP conducted an unscientific text messaging poll determine the unofficial winner, a distinction that went to former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst with 28 percent of the vote. Naturally, we wanted to know whether you can vote more than once from the same mobile number. No, said state GOP Chairman J.R. Romano, who estimated that 200 people voted. twitter.com/gettinviggy; nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436 Take a guess: what percentage of Americans do business with credit unions? Answer: about 25% according to Experian. That means 75% have nothing to do with credit unions. As for the 25% who do, only a fraction of them do the bulk of their banking at a credit union. Many have rarely used a Share draft, a savings account, or perhaps a car loan. Add it up, and there are over 200 million prospects out there for you. This is about the time many credit union leaders eyes glaze over. Who can blame them? Its dauntingand blindingto see so much opportunity. But some credit unions are now recognizing that there are big opportunities if they narrow the playing field. Thats a starting point for effective, leanly budgeted credit union marketing in 2018. Finch Brands, a Philadelphia marketing agency, told about its experiences working with a credit union in a northeast Pennsylvania, blue collar town. The institutions name doesnt matter. What does matter is that in many ways this is every credit union. Mid-sized in a community that is not growing and with lots of competition on the ground. The credit union had been relying on traditional, low key credit union marketing tactics such as sponsorship of local teams and attendance at community events. It had been doing all the basics but felt its growth was stalled. So it wanted to try something entirely different and more aggressive. So, it turned to Finch. Finch built a multi-pronged campaignon billboards, social media, TV, radio, and even movie theater advertisingthat featured credit union employees and members. It kept hammering home the message that we are in this together, that the credit union had a profound emotional tie to its community, that the credit union is the community. The campaign put faces on the credit unionhumanizing itand stressing the local roots. Finch tells the results it delivered: within a year membership increased 43%, and a new branch opening was the institutions most successful ever. Dazzled? Indeed. But you can do likewise. A key to these successes: You have to know who you want to focus on, said Bill Gullan, Finchs president. Theres that theme again. To succeed, narrow the focus. Other experts second that notion. Dont overreach, stressed Keith Kemph, a credit union expert with CC Pace, a management consulting firm. Really drill down to the products and demographics where your success is most probable. Kemph elaborated: I get concerned when credit unions want to expand beyond three to four key market segments as it quickly dilutes the market differentiator of service and value propositions it must deliver to its members. Choose wisely stressed Kemph. Trying to force growth in a specific market segment outside of your core competency can be costly and fatal in some instances. It sounds counter-intuitive that the way to grow is to think more narrowly. But often its exactly the route that works. The next step: Look at your products and decide who they best serve, said Gullan. Thats key, multiple experts agree. Know what you do very well, figure out who is most likely to benefit from these products, and go after those prospects. Many tools today, especially digital tools available on services like Facebook or via Googles AdWords, allow for fairly precise geographical targeting. Marketing services that sell consumer data also allow for precise targeting of offers. Keep experimenting, keep honing the targets, and definitely track results so that it becomes clear which campaigns are working, which arent, and which consumer groups are more receptive than others. Is this easy? Its definitely not. 21st-century marketers have an arsenal of powerful tools that prior generations could not even dream about, but using the right tools in pursuing the right consumers is never easy. Kemph elaborated: Ive always said, there is no silver bullet in marketing. Its not the one or two key things you do but the 35 different things youre doing all the time to demonstrate your value. This approach will allow you to go deeper into each key segment rather than going wider and losing sight of your vision, mission, and values. In that case, everyone loses. Read that advice again. Know the key segmentsthe key areas of opportunity. Then go deep after them and keep going. Nancy Pelosi's legacy: From passing Obamacare to impeaching Trump Congressional scholars and modern politicians rate Speaker Nancy Pelosi as one of the most consequential legislative leaders in U.S. and House history. The saffron-clad Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was busy crisscrossing the state of Gujarat, where the number of rallies addressed by him as part of the Assembly poll campaign was only next to those addressed by PM Modi. Even on the last leg of the campaigning that came to an end on December 12, Adityanath was seen hopping from one place to another, addressing 16 rallies over a span of 48 hours. But why was he so much in demand is rather intriguing. After all, everyone knows that he was no crowd-puller. The visuals of this first road-show in Ahmedabad clearly reflected the indifference of Gujaratis towards this sadhu-turned-politician from UP. He was seen waving out to people who were not around. What followed was a prolonged absence from the poll scene until he was called in again - this time it was a longer campaign. And this time around, the tone and tenor of the campaign had changed. His language had turned clearly more caustic (read polarisation on religious lines). Image: PTI photo Meanwhile, PM Modis desperation began to manifest in his utterances. From development, his narrative changed to parochial and later to purely personal issues. But realising that even that was not likely to pay the desired dividends, he too sought to take it to extreme polarisation. The clear attempt to polarise on communal lines became visible when the prime minister took recourse to building his own conspiracy theory of a "Pakistani hand" behind the Congress plans in Gujarat. And that was what has enhanced the demand for someone like Yogi Adityanath. Party president Amit Shah sent for Yogi yet again. So there he was, leaving no stone unturned to impress upon the people of Gujarat how important it was for them to bring the BJP back to power, if they really wanted to combat Islamic terrorism. On the face of it, the BJP leadership was busy claiming that Yogi was being called because the "Nath panth" was quite popular in the state. To buttress their claim, BJP leaders were also busy recalling how Yogi Adityanath was specially called by the local "Nath" sect a year ago to carry out the last rites of Mahant Gulabnath, his guru-bhai. Yogis final itinerary included the districts of Mehsana, Patan, Aravali and Banaskantha, where milk cooperatives thrive and the population is largely engaged in agriculture or agro-based industry. It was here that Yogi echoed his success with the much-hyped ban on slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. He also made it a point to talk about "love jihad" and "ghar wapsi" - the two issues very close to his heart - that often came in handy to whip up religious passions. Apparently, that became the need of the hour for the BJP, whose desperation became more pronounced as the election moved ahead. Not only BJP chief Amit Shah, but even prime minister Modi appeared to take to the path of polarisation. Starting with the Ayodhya issue, BJP campaigners went about using various ways to light up Hindutva emotions. Towards the end of the campaign it was none other than Modi himself accusing the Congress of consulting Pakistan over the appointment of the next chief minister in Gujarat. His game of polarisation became too blatant the moment he sought to claim that the Congress was planning to name Ahmad Patel as the next Gujarat CM, and that the issue was even discussed with former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri at senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyars residence in New Delhi. The wild allegation did gain some currency since Aiyar was already under fire for making an equally reprehensible remark calling the prime minister as neech. As soon as passengers, especially foreign tourists, started assembling underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Brooklyn, the bustling borough of New York, on December 11, an explosion not only wreaked havoc on the crowd but also pushed the New York authorities into panic mode, fearing the worst terror attack. A large number of tourists had to be evacuated as part of the exigency to minimise casualties amid crowds running helter skelter for cover, causing a near stampede. A 27-year-old Bangladeshi national, Akayed Ullah - the prime suspect - allegedly tied a crude bomb to his body, got grievously hurt and is now being treated at a local hospital. The bomb, part of an improvised explosive device, was successfully detonated and, fortunately, failed to cause much damage. The bomb was made up of a 12-inch long pipe, black powder, a nine-volt battery and a wire used for Christmas lights. A resident of Brooklyn, Akayed Ullah has been living in New York for the last seven years and is believed to have been inspired by the ISIS. If he indeed carried out the crime, it clearly demonstrates the extent to which Bangladeshis are radicalised abroad. Bangladeshis at risk It's a myth that only homegrown terrorists are indoctrinated for furthering ISIS' designs. Bangladeshis have a huge presence almost all over the world and radicalising them should not come as a surprise. Because of Akayed Ullah, Bangladeshis will now be subject to closer scrutiny by the US counter-terror agencies. They have a sizeable presence in western countries, especially in the UK where thousands from the southeast Asian country are engaged, legally and illegally, at hotels. Their existence may be imperilled due to tightened security measures in light of the terror attacks. At the blast site in Brooklyn. Photo: Reuters The latest misadventure, which comes within a couple of months of yet another ISIS-inspired plot in which Sayfullo Saipov (29) killed eight innocents by driving a truck over them during Halloween festivities, is surely a matter of concern. Also, Christmas is close, making New York more vulnerable and fraught with fresh security challenges as any terror strike during the festivities would draw international attention. It may be recalled that, in 2016, Berlin saw a lonewolf attack during Christmas holidays, when many were fatally mowed down. Meanwhile, ISIS-sponsored propaganda images are showing up, with Santa Claus holding his signature sack next to a bunch of dynamite sticks implying a prospective and impending terror attack during Christmas. There is no intelligence warning or forecast; the message is loud and clear here and merits preventive measures. What more do we need? The warning is direct and in no vague terms. One of the images proclaims, "...will meet in Christmas". According to counter-terror experts and analysts in the US, ISIS has penetrated deep into the system and is ready to hit hard at the slightest opportunity. According to Mia Bloom, who leads the Documenting the Virtual Caliphate project at Georgia State University, lessons for bomb-making are disseminated widely through various jihadi channels. Bloom goes on to state that prospective ISIS fighters attempting to travel to what remained of their collapsing self-proclaimed caliphate in the past two-and-a-half months, have been turned back by recruiters. It's most significant to note that within hours of the Port Authority attacks on December 11, ISIS propagandists running Nashir News, telegram channels and chatrooms distributed latest photos of packets containing instructions for the manufacture of remotely-controllable explosive devices. Such is the aggressive propaganda blitz by the ISIS, which has already made deep forays. The situation, therefore, looks grim and uncertain. Very recently, Indian counter-terror authorities had received an audio believed to be from the ISIS media wing - it threatened to strike at religious congregations, including at the Kumbh Mela festivities which are round the corner. Hence, we notice a pattern emerging between the attack in New York City and possibilities in India. At both locations, there is ISIS presence and radicalised elements are waiting to be exploited. First BanCorp. operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico that provides various financial services for retail, commercial, and institutional clients. The company operates through six segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Mortgage Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment offers commercial loans, including commercial real estate and construction loans and floor plan financings; and other products, such as cash management and business management services. The Mortgage Banking segment engages in the origination, sale, and servicing of various residential mortgage loans; acquisition and sale of mortgages in the secondary markets; and purchase of mortgage loans from other local banks and mortgage bankers. The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment provides auto, boat, credit card, and personal loans; lines of credit; deposit products comprising interest bearing and non-interest bearing checking and savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, and retail certificates of deposit (CDs); and finance leasing and insurance agency services. The Treasury and Investments segment offers funding and liquidity management services. The United States Operations segment provides checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as retail CDs; traditional commercial and industrial, and commercial real estate loans; and internet banking, cash management, remote deposit capture, and automated clearing house, and transactions services. The Virgin Islands Operations segment is involved in consumer, commercial lending, and deposit-taking activities. The company operates 64 branches in Puerto Rico, 8 branches in the U.S. Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, and 11 branches in the state of Florida. First BanCorp. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bunge Limited operates as an agribusiness and food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Agribusiness, Refined and Specialty Oils, Milling, and Sugar and Bioenergy. The Agribusiness segment purchases, stores, transports, processes, and sells agricultural commodities and commodity products, including oilseeds primarily soybeans, rapeseed, canola, and sunflower seeds, as well as grains primarily wheat and corn; and processes oilseeds into vegetable oils and protein meals. This segment offers its products for animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, wheat and corn millers, and other oilseed processors, as well as third-party edible oil processing and biofuel companies; and for industrial and biodiesel production applications. The Refined and Specialty Oils segment sells packaged and bulk oils and fats that include cooking oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise, and other products for baked goods companies, snack food producers, confectioners, restaurant chains, foodservice operators, infant nutrition companies, and other food manufacturers, as well as grocery chains, wholesalers, distributors, and other retailers. The Milling segment provides wheat flours and bakery mixes; corn milling products that comprise dry-milled corn meals and flours, wet-milled masa and flours, and flaking and brewer's grits, as well as soy-fortified corn meal, corn-soy blends, and other products; whole grain and fiber ingredients; quinoas and millets; die-cut pellets; and non-GMO products. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment produces sugar and ethanol; and generates electricity from burning sugarcane bagasse. Bunge Limited was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. MILWAUKEE Milwaukee has a legal path to annex land from Racine County, one of the citys attorneys said Tuesday. The conversation stemmed from Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman, who said Racine County does not have enough people to fill all the jobs anticipated at Foxconn Technology Groups planned liquid crystal display plant in the Village of Mount Pleasant. The Taiwanese company has said it will create about 13,000 jobs at the manufacturing campus. Bauman suggested that Racines northern neighbor evaluate its options to help Milwaukee residents obtain some of those positions. Ideas included annexing part of Racine County or creating a satellite city in Racine County for Milwaukee residents who would work at the plant. Milwaukees Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee took up Baumans suggestions at its Tuesday meeting, discussing what opportunities are available to the city in light of Foxconns development plans. Bauman told committee members he aims to help people from Milwaukee who are unemployed or underemployed. A long shot Assistant City Attorney Jeremy McKenzie said the city could not acquire land in Mount Pleasant, but it could annex property from the nearby Town of Yorkville. Its a bit of a long shot, he said, but it is, technically, legally possible. The typical path for annexation involves seeking property in a contiguous community, which is not applicable to Baumans goals. A state statute, McKenzie said, provides a legal path for a city to annex land from a town that is near it, although the law does not define near. The city would have to own the land, which must be in a town not a city or a village like Mount Pleasant. The town where that land is located would have to approve a resolution that agrees to the annexation, McKenzie said. Because Bauman has suggested annexing land outside Milwaukee County, the Racine County Board also would have to approve the move, McKenzie said. Should all of those steps occur, he said Milwaukee and the Town of Yorkville would also have to establish a boundary agreement. There is a path, McKenzie said. It is a very narrow path. That path could be impeded, however, by the towns plans to incorporate. The states Foxconn legislation allows unincorporated communities adjacent to where the manufacturer builds to incorporate as a village or city, even if they dont meet the standard requirements like a population threshold. The town plans to hold a referendum election on that matter next year to protect its borders from annexation. Yorkville Chairman Peter Hansen said he was unfamiliar with Milwaukees conversation and declined to comment. Bauman said hed prefer to resolve his concerns for Milwaukee residents employment needs through improvements to public transportation. He said he is not sure what his next step will be. Cigna Corporation provides insurance and related products and services in the United States. Its Evernorth segment provides a range of coordinated and point solution health services, including pharmacy, benefits management, care delivery and management, and intelligence solutions to health plans, employers, government organizations, and health care providers. The company's Cigna Healthcare segment offers medical, pharmacy, behavioral health, dental, vision, health advocacy programs, and other products and services for insured and self-insured customers; Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D plans for seniors, as well as individual health insurance plans to on and off the public exchanges; and health care coverage in its international markets, as well as health care benefits for mobile individuals and employees of multinational organizations. The company also offers permanent insurance contracts sold to corporations to provide coverage on the lives of certain employees for financing employer-paid future benefit obligations. It distributes its products and services through insurance brokers and consultants; directly to employers, unions and other groups, or individuals; and private and public exchanges. The company was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut. PNM Resources, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electricity and electric services in the United States. It operates through Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) and Texas-New Mexico Power Company (TNMP) segments. The PNM segment engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The segment generates electricity using coal, natural gas and oil, nuclear fuel, solar, wind, and geothermal energy sources. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had owned or leased facilities with a total net generation capacity of 2,168 megawatts; and owned 3,426 miles of electric transmission lines, 5,751 miles of distribution overhead lines, 5,765 miles of underground distribution lines, and 250 substations. The segment also owns and leases communication, office and other equipment, office space, vehicles, and real estate. The TNMP segment provides regulated transmission and distribution services. As of December 31, 2021, the segment owned 983 miles of overhead electric transmission lines, 7,297 miles of overhead distribution lines, 1,408 miles of underground distribution lines, and 113 substations. The segment also owns and leases vehicles, service facilities, and office locations throughout its service territory. The company serves approximately 806,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers and end-users of electricity in New Mexico and Texas. PNM Resources, Inc. was incorporated in 1882 and is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Zendesk, Inc., a software development company, provides software as a service solutions for organizations in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. Its flagship product is Zendesk Support, a system for tracking, prioritizing, and solving customer support tickets across various channels. The company also offers Zendesk Chat, a live chat and messaging software to connect with customers on websites and mobile devices applications; Zendesk Talk, a cloud-based call center software; Zendesk Guide, a knowledge base that powers customer self-service and support agent productivity; Zendesk Gather, a community forum software that allows customer end-users to connect and collaborate; Zendesk Explore, which provides analytics for organizations to measure and enhance the customer experience; and Zendesk Sell, a sales customer relationship management (CRM) product solution to enhance productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility. In addition, it provides Zendesk Sunshine, a CRM platform; Sunshine Conversations, a messaging platform solution; Zendesk Developer Tools, a combination of application programming interfaces, web widget, and mobile software development kits; Zendesk APIs that allow users to build custom integrations and interact with Zendesk data; and Zendesk Apps that enable organizations to customize Zendesk product and platform solution interfaces and optimize workflow through plug-ins, as well as Zendesk Suite, an omnichannel offering, which combines its solutions. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, struts/pylons, nacelles, and related engine structural components; and wings and wing components, including flight control surfaces, as well as other structural parts. This segment primarily serves the aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or engine OEMs of large commercial aircraft and/or business/regional jet programs. The Defense & Space segment provides fuselage, strut, nacelle, and wing aerostructures primarily for U.S. Government defense programs, including Boeing P-8, C40, and KC-46 Tanker. This segment also engages in the fabrication, bonding, assembly, testing, tooling, processing, engineering analysis, and training on fixed wing aircraft aerostructures, missiles, and hypersonics works, such as solid rocket motor throats, nozzles, re-entry vehicle thermal protections systems, forward cockpit and cabin, and fuselage work on rotorcraft aerostructures. The Aftermarket segment offers spare parts and MRO services, repairs for flight control surfaces and nacelles, radome repairs, rotable assets, engineering services, advanced composite repairs, and other repair and overhaul services. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Sierra Space to enhance access to commercial space economy of the future. The company was formerly known as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems Holdings, Inc. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Citigroup Inc. is one of the worlds largest financial institutions. It is the 13th largest bank globally by assets and 8th by market cap with operations in consumer and institutional banking. In the US, Citigroup is the 3rd largest bank by assets and one of the Big Four deemed systemically important and too big to fail. Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. The bank was run by Samuel Osgood who led the company with success for many years, even throughout the War of 1812. The bank was later renamed the National City Bank of New York in 1865 and by 1895 is the largest bank in the US. In 1913 it was the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a few years later it began to expand into overseas territories. The bank became the First National City Bank of New York after another merger in 1955 and then later, the New York part was dropped off as part of the 150th-anniversary celebration. By 1974 the company is known as Citicorp which is still the operational branch of the business and a global banking powerhouse. A merger with Travelers insurance group in 1998 resulted in the name Citigroup but the joint venture did not last. By 2002 Travelers was publicly traded once again but Citigroup retained the new name. Today, the company is headquartered in New York, New York but boasts more than 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries worldwide. As of mid-2022, it operated 2,649 branches in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. The company reports nearly 725 branches in the US and 1499 in Mexico with the rest scattered throughout its territory. Total annual revenue topped $75 billion in 2022. Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that owns Citicorp among other assets. The companys mission is to serve as a trusted partner providing responsible financial solutions to its clients. Citigroup provides financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. The company operates in two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG). The GCB segment offers traditional banking services including deposit and saving accounts, credit cards, personal loans, home loans, and investment services. This segment operates through local branches and digital means. The ICG segment offers wholesale banking products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients. Biglari Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily operates and franchises restaurants in the United States. It owns, operates, and franchises restaurants under the Steak n Shake and Western Sizzlin names. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 199 Steak n Shake company-operated restaurants, 159 franchise partner units, and 178 traditional franchise units, as well as 3 Western Sizzlin company-operated restaurants and 38 franchised units. The company also engages in underwriting commercial trucking insurance; selling physical damage and non-trucking liability insurance to truckers; and providing property and casualty insurance. In addition, it operates oil and natural gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico; and publishes and sells magazines and related publishing products under the MAXIM brand name. Further, it licenses media products and services; and engages in the investment activities. The company was formerly known as The Steak n Shake Company and changed its name to Biglari Holdings Inc. in April 2010. Biglari Holdings Inc. was founded in 1934 and is based in San Antonio, Texas. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, distributes, and sells vehicles, components, and production systems. The company operates through five segments: North America, LATAM, APAC, EMEA, and Maserati. It provides passenger cars, SUV vehicles, trucks, and light commercial vehicles under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Abarth brands; and luxury vehicles under the Maserati brand, as well as related service parts and accessories, and service contracts under the Mopar brand. The company also provides cast iron components for engines, gearboxes, transmissions and suspension systems, aluminum cylinder heads, and engine blocks under the Teksid brand; and designs and produces industrial automation systems and related products for the automotive industry under the Comau brand name. In addition, it provides retail and dealer financings, and leasing and rental services; and factoring services. The company sells its products directly, or through distributors and dealers in approximately 130 countries. The company was formerly known as Fiat S.p.A. and changed its name to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. in October 2014. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. was founded in 1899 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides bandwidth infrastructure solutions for the communications industry in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company operates in six segments: Fiber Solutions, Transport, Enterprise Networks, Zayo Colocation (zColo), Allstream, and Other. The Fiber Solutions segment provides dark fiber, and fiber-to-the-tower and small cell mobile infrastructure services for carriers and other communication service providers, Internet service providers, wireless service providers, media and content companies, large enterprises, and other companies. The Transport segment offers lit bandwidth infrastructure solutions comprising wavelength, Ethernet, wholesale IP services, and SONET services through its metro, regional, and long-haul fiber networks for carriers, content providers, financial services companies, healthcare, government entities, education institutions, and other medium and large enterprises. The Enterprise Networks segment provides connectivity and telecommunications solutions comprising Internet, wide area networking products, managed products, and cloud based computing and storage offerings to medium and large enterprises. The Zayo Colocation (zColo) segment offers data center infrastructure solutions consisting of colocation space, and power and interconnection services to a range of enterprise, carrier, cloud, and content customers. The Allstream segment provides cloud VoIP and data solutions, such as voice offerings; and unified communications, as well as telecommunications services, including Ethernet, and IP/MPLS VPN solutions. The Other segment provides network and technical resources to customers in designing, acquiring, and maintaining their networks. Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Everest Re Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Bermuda, and internationally. The company operates through Reinsurance Operations and Insurance Operations segments. The Reinsurance Operations segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines brokers, and general agents in Bermuda, Canada, Europe, South America, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and property and casualty reinsurance and insurance coverages, including marine, aviation, surety, errors and omissions liability, directors' and officers' liability, medical malpractice, mortgage reinsurance, other specialty lines, accident and health, and workers' compensation products. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. Everest Re Group, Ltd. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. PLEASANT PRAIRIE A village panel has recommended a rezoning amendment to allow a Kenosha Jewish congregation to establish a synagogue and learning center in the village. On Monday, the Pleasant Prairie Plan Commission approved a resolution to amend the villages comprehensive plan and sent a favorable recommendation to the Village Board to rezone the property located at 6939 88th Avenue (Highway H). The petitioner, Rabbi Betzalel Wilschanski, is requesting the change for the Chabad of Kenosha Synagogue/Learning Center. The property is currently zoned for residential development. The congregation is currently based nearby at 6522 87th Ave. in Kenosha. The congregation is proposing that the site will include a 5,200-square-foot synagogue. The main building would include a gathering space, library, classrooms, a mikvah (a bath used in religious services), two guest rooms, restrooms and a kitchen. It is to also include a 3,000-square-foot hospitality home, which will serve as a place for members who need a place to stay in order to observe religious practices and who need access to a kosher facility. The facility is envisioned to be completed in four phases. During the first phase land will be purchased and the existing home on the property will be renovated. Installing the municipal water main will be phase two. The third phase will be the construction of the synagogue, parking lots and storm water retention facility. Phase three would likely be completed within the next five years, and the final phase will be to construct is the hospitality house. The congregation anticipates there will be one full-time and four part-time employees at the facility. The prayer hall is proposed to have seating for 50 people. On special events the facility will be able to accommodate up to 100 people. The following companies are subsidiares of ABB: ABB (China) Investment Limited, ABB (China) Ltd., ABB (Hong Kong) Ltd., ABB (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd., ABB (P.J.S.C.), ABB (Private) Ltd., ABB (Pty) Ltd., ABB (Pvt) Ltd., ABB A/S, ABB AB, ABB AG, ABB AS, ABB AUTOMACAO LTDA, ABB AUTOMATION AND ELECTRIFICATION (VIETNAM)COMPANY LIMITED, ABB AUTOMATION HOLDINGS (THAILAND) CO. LTD., ABB Algeria SpA Asea Brown Boveri, ABB Algerie Produits SpA, ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd, ABB Asea Brown Boveri SRL, ABB Ausbildungszentrum Berlin gGmbH, ABB Australia Pty Limited, ABB Automation (Thailand) Co. Ltd., ABB B.V., ABB Bailey Beijing Engineering Co. Ltd., ABB Bailey Japan Limited, ABB Beijing Drive Systems Co. Ltd., ABB Beijing Switchgear Limited, ABB Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsges. mbH, ABB Bulgaria EOOD, ABB Business Services Sp. z o.o., ABB Cable Management Products Ltd, ABB Canada EL Holding GmbH, ABB Capital AG, ABB Capital B.V., ABB Centroamerica y El Caribe S.A., ABB Chargedot Shanghai New Energy Technology Co. Ltd, ABB Colombia Ltda, ABB Construction (ABACON) S.A.E., ABB E-MOBILITY INC., ABB E-MOBILITY PTE. LTD., ABB E-mobility AB, ABB E-mobility AG, ABB E-mobility AS, ABB E-mobility GmbH, ABB E-mobility Holding Ltd, ABB E-mobility QFZ LLC, ABB E-mobility S.p.A., ABB E-mobility SAS, ABB E-mobility SL, ABB E-mobility Technology Shenzhen Co. Ltd, ABB E-mobility UK Limited, ABB ELECTRICAL & AUTOMATION W.L.L, ABB ELECTRIFICATION HOLDINGS (THAILAND) CO. LTD., ABB ELETRIFICACAO LTDA, ABB Ecuador S.A., ABB Electrical Control Systems S. de R.L. de C.V., ABB Electrical Equipment (Xiamen) Co. Ltd., ABB Electrical Equipment Ltd., ABB Electrical Industries Co. Ltd., ABB Electrical Machines Ltd., ABB Electrical Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ABB Electrification (Thailand) Co. Ltd., ABB Electrification Canada ULC, ABB Electrification Norway AS, ABB Electrification Sweden AB, ABB Elektrik Sanayi A.S., ABB Engg. Technologies Co. (KSCC), ABB Engineering (Shanghai), ABB Engineering Trading and Service Ltd., ABB Equipo de Control Y Distribucion S. de R.L. de C.V., ABB Equity Limited, ABB FZ-LLC, ABB Finance (USA) Inc., ABB Finance B.V., ABB For Feeding Industries SAE, ABB France, ABB GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES AND CONTRACTINGINDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ABB Global Industries and Services Private Limited, ABB Global Marketing FZ LLC, ABB Group Holdings Pty. Ltd., ABB Group Investment Management Pty. Ltd., ABB Guangdong Sihui Instrument Transformer Co. Ltd., ABB Hangzhou Winmation Automation Company Limited, ABB Holding AS, ABB Holdings (Pty) Ltd., ABB Holdings B.V., ABB Holdings Inc., ABB Holdings Limited, ABB Holdings Sdn. Bhd., ABB INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS (LODZ) S.A. W LIKWIDACJI, ABB Inc., ABB Inc., ABB India Limited, ABB Industrial Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd, ABB Industrial Solutions (Belgium) BV, ABB Industrial Solutions (Bielsko-Biala) Sp. z o.o., ABB Industrial Solutions (Canada) Inc., ABB Industrial Solutions (Klodzko) Sp.z.o.o., ABB Industries (L.L.C.), ABB Industries FZ, ABB Information Systems Ltd., ABB Installation Products Caribe LLC, ABB Installation Products European Centre S.A., ABB Installation Products Inc, ABB Installation Products International LLC., ABB Installation Products Limited, ABB Installation Products Monterrey S. de R.L. de C.V., ABB Installacios Keszulekek Kft., ABB Investment Holding 2 GmbH, ABB Investments (Pty) Ltd, ABB Inzeniring d.o.o., ABB Jiangjin Turbo Systems Company Limited, ABB K.K., ABB Kaufel GmbH, ABB LAFRENZE PROPERTY (PROPERTY) LIMITED, ABB LLC, ABB LLP., ABB LV Installation Materials Co. Ltd. Beijing, ABB Limitada, ABB Limited, ABB Limited/Jordan LLC., ABB Lineage Power Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ABB Logistics Center Europe GmbH, ABB Ltd., ABB Maghreb Services S.A., ABB Malaysia Sdn Bhd., ABB Management Services Ltd., ABB Mexico S.A. de C.V., ABB Motors and Mechanical Inc, ABB N.V., ABB Norden Holding AB, ABB Operations Center Ltd., ABB Orange B.V., ABB Oryx Motors and Generators Service LLC, ABB Oy, ABB Panama Sales S.A., ABB Power & Automation (Private) Limited, ABB Power & Automation Limited, ABB Power Electronics (Germany) GmbH, ABB Power Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ABB Power Electronics (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ABB Power Electronics Inc., ABB Pte. Ltd., ABB Reinsurance AG, ABB Robotics (Zhuhai) Ltd, ABB Robotics Machine Tending Limited, ABB Robotics Solutions NV, ABB S.A., ABB S.A. de CV, ABB S.p.A., ABB SARL, ABB SAS, ABB SIA, ABB Schweiz AG, ABB Shanghai Free Trade Zone Industrial Co. Ltd., ABB Shanghai Motors Co. Ltd., ABB South Africa (Pty) Ltd., ABB Sp. z o.o., ABB Stotz-Kontakt Gmb, ABB Striebel & John GmbH, ABB Susa Inc., ABB Technologies Ltd., ABB Technologies S.A., ABB Technology SA, ABB Tianjin Switchgear Co. Ltd., ABB Transmission & Distribution Limited LLC, ABB Treasury Center (USA) Inc., ABB Turbo Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, ABB Turbochargers S.A.E., ABB UAB, ABB Verwaltungs AG, ABB Wirtschaftsbetriebe GmbH, ABB Xiamen Corporation Management Service Co. Ltd., ABB Xiamen Low Voltage Equipment Co. Ltd., ABB Xiamen Smart Technology Co. Ltd., ABB Xiamen Switchgear Co. Ltd., ABB Xinhui Low Voltage Switchgear Co. Ltd., ABB d.o.o., ABB eMobility Digital Venture GmbH, ABB for Electrical Industries (ABB ARAB) S.A.E., ABB for Electrical Solutions and Technologies K.S.C.C., ABB s.r.o., ABB s.r.o., ABBNG Limited, APS Technology Group, ASEA BROWN BOVERI Portugal Unipessoal Lda, ASTI France SAS, ASTI Mobile Robotics, Asea Brown Boveri Electrica SGPS (Angola) Limitada, Asea Brown Boveri Industrial Technical & CommercialCompany of Imports Exports S.A., Asea Brown Boveri Lanka (Private) Limited, Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., Asea Brown Boveri S.A., Asea Brown Boveri S.A. de C.V., Asea Brown Boveri S.A.E., Asti Mobile Robotics GmbH, Asti Mobile Robotics Group SL, Asti Mobile Robotics SAU, B & R Automazione Industriale S.r.l., B & R Industrial Automation Ltd., B + R Industrie-Elektronik GmbH, B&R Automatyka Przemyslowa Sp.z.o.o., B&R Automacao Industrial Ltda., B&R Holding GmbH, B&R Industrial Automation, B&R Industrial Automation (China) Co. Ltd., B&R Industrial Automation A/S, B&R Industrial Automation AB, B&R Industrial Automation Co. Ltd., B&R Industrial Automation Corp., B&R Industrial Automation GmbH, B&R Industrial Automation Iberica S.L.U., B&R Industrial Automation Inc., B&R Industrial Automation Pte. Ltd., B&R Industrial Automation Pvt. Ltd., B&R Industrie-Automation AG, B&R Industriele Automatisering B.V., B&R K.K., B+R Automation Industrielle SARL, B+R Industrial Automation OOO, B+R automatizace spol. s.r.o., BR Endustriyel Otomasyon Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Baldor Electric Company, Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH, Chargedot, Cherokee India Pvt. Ltd., Codian Robotics, Codian Robotics B.V., Codian Robotics of the Americas, Combustion Engineering Inc., Cylon Controls, Cylon Controls Limited, Cylon Energy Inc., DynaMotive Ltd., ELBI Elektrik, Edison Holding Corporation, Enervalis NV, Envitech Energy, Epyon, GE Industrial Solutions, Gomtec, Gresin Grupo Estudios Industriales, IMV Invertomatic Victron UK Limited, In-Charge Energy, Industrial C&S Hungary Kft., Industrial C&S of P.R. LLC, Industrial Connections & Solutions LLC, Industrial Connections of SA Pty. Ltd., Intrimmo BVBA, Jinan ABB SRI Rail Transit Equipment Technology Co. Ltd., Jordan Acquisition Group, KEYMILE - Business, Kaufel S.A., Kuhlman Electric Corp., Lineage Overseas LLC, Lineage Power (Argentina) S.R.L., Lineage Power (Luxembourg) S.A.R.L., Lineage Power China Co. Ltd., Lineage Power Holdings Inc., Lineage Power Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Lorentzen & Wettre, Los Gatos Research, Mincom, NUB3D S.L., Newave Energy Holding, Newron System, PT ABB Sakti Industri, Pinghu Zhuangbest Technology Development Co. Ltd., Power-One, Powercorp, Powertel India Pvt. Ltd., RGM - Rail vehicle power business, RMI Automation Co. Ltd., SVIA, SWISS TURBOCHARGERS SA DE CV, Saudi Industrial Solutions Ltd., Shanghai Zhuangbest Technology Development Co. Ltd., Shantou Winride Switchgear Co. Ltd., Sirius Holdings B.V., Smart Power Technology Co. Ltd., Spirit IT, Swissturbo (Shanghai) Investment Limited, SynerLeap powered by ABB AB, TURBO SYSTEMS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TURBO SYSTEMS ITALY S.P.A., TURBO SYSTEMS RUS LLC, TURBO-SUPERIOR SYSTEMS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, TURBOCHARGING GREECE SINGLE MEMBER SA, Thomas & Betts, Thomas & Betts Saudi Arabia Limited Liability Co., Trasfor, Tropos Networks, Turbo Systems Argentina S.A., Turbo Systems Canada Inc, Turbo Systems Colombia SAS, Turbo Systems Dominican Republic SRL, Turbo Systems Finland Oy, Turbo Systems Germany GmbH, Turbo Systems Holding Ltd, Turbo Systems Iberia S.L., Turbo Systems Korea Ltd., Turbo Systems Myanmar Limited, Turbo Systems Pakistan (Private) Limited, Turbo Systems South East Asia Pte. Ltd., Turbo Systems Switzerland Ltd, Turbo Systems The Netherlands B.V., Turbo Systems Turkey Muhendislik Makine Sanayi Ve TicaretAnonim Sirketi, Turbo Systems US Inc., Turbo Systems United Co. Ltd., Turbo Systems Verwaltungs Ltd, Turbocharging Bangladesh Limited, Turbocharging Brasil Ltda., Turbocharging Systems Co. Ltd., Turbocharging Systems France SAS, Turbocharging UK Limited, Turbosystems Nigeria Limited LTD, Validus DC Systems, Vectek Electronics, Ventyx, Verdi Holding Corporation, W.J. Furse & Co. Ltd., Yangzhou SAC Switchgear Co. Ltd, and Zhejiang Chargedot New Energy Technology Co. Ltd.. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Air Products and Chemicals: 7001 Hamilton Properties LLC, ACP Europe SA, ACP Zolder Invest NV, AJWAA Emirates Gases Company LLC, AJWAA Gases LLC, AP Services South America SpA, APCI (U.K.) Inc., Abdulla Hashim Gases & Equipment Co. Limited, Air Products (Anshan) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (BR) Limited, Air Products (Cangzhou) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Changsha) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Chongqing) Chem-Materials Co. Ltd., Air Products (Dongguan) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Guangzhou) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Hangjin Qi) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Hefei) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Huaibei) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Inner Mongolia) Hydrogen Energy Technology Co. Ltd., Air Products (Jiangxi) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Jincheng) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Jinjiang) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Kunshan) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Linfen) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Middle East) FZE, Air Products (Nanjing) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Ningbo) Hi-Tech Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Qindao) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Rozenburg) B. V., Air Products (Shandong) Engineering Co. Ltd Nanjing Branch, Air Products (Shandong) Engineering Co. Ltd., Air Products (Shanxi) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Shenyang) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Air Products (Xi'an) Gases Co. Ltd, Air Products (Xia'men) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products (Zhongshan) Gases Co. Ltd, Air Products (Zhumadian) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products A/S, Air Products Advanced Materials LLC, Air Products Ammonia Distribution AD GmbH, Air Products Ammonia Distribution LLC, Air Products Ammonia Distribution Ltd., Air Products Ammonia Holdings LLC, Air Products Asia Inc., Air Products Bahrain W.L.L, Air Products Blue Energy, Air Products Brasil Ltda., Air Products Canada Ltd./Prodair Canada Ltee, Air Products Caribbean Holdings Inc., Air Products Central Asia Group LLC, Air Products China Inc., Air Products Debang (Lianyungang) Co. Ltd., Air Products Ecuador S.A., Air Products Emirates Gases LLC, Air Products Equipment Limited, Air Products Gas O.O.O., Air Products Gases Holdings B. V., Air Products Gases S.A.E., Air Products Gesellschaft mbH, Air Products GmbH, Air Products Group Limited, Air Products Gulf Gas LLC, Air Products Helium Inc., Air Products Helium Inc. Qatar Branch, Air Products Holdings B. V., Air Products Holdings GmbH, Air Products Huadong (Longkou) Co. Ltd., Air Products Hydrogen Company Inc., Air Products Hydrogen Energy Technology (Zibo) Co. Ltd., Air Products Iberica S. L., Air Products Industrial Gas LLC, Air Products International LLC, Air Products Investments B. V., Air Products Investments Holdings LLC, Air Products Investments LLC, Air Products Ireland Limited, Air Products Israel Ltd., Air Products Italia S. r. I., Air Products Japan Inc., Air Products Japan K. K., Air Products Korea Inc., Air Products LLC, Air Products Leasing B. V., Air Products Llanwern Limited, Air Products Lu'An (Changzhi) Co. Ltd., Air Products Maghreb S. A.R. L., Air Products Majan LLC, Air Products Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Air Products Management BV/SRL, Air Products Manufacturing Corporation, Air Products Manufacturing LLC, Air Products Middle East Industrial Gases Company Limited, Air Products Nederland B. V., Air Products Netherlands Gases B. V., Air Products O. O.O., Air Products PLC, Air Products PLC Branch, Air Products Peru S. A., Air Products Qudra (GICIS), Air Products Renewable Energy Limited, Air Products S.A., Air Products SAS, Air Products San Fu Co. Ltd., Air Products Saudi Investment Company, Air Products Services Europe S. A., Air Products Shared Services Sdn. Bhd, Air Products Singapore Industrial Gases Pte. Ltd., Air Products SinoHytec (Beijing) Hydrogen Energy Technology, Air Products Slovakia s. r. o., Air Products South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Air Products Sp. Z o.o., Air Products Specialized Process Equipment SDN, Air Products Switzerland Sarl, Air Products Taiwan Holdings Co. Ltd., Air Products Ukraina LLC, Air Products West Coast Hydrogen LLC, Air Products Yanbu Limited, Air Products and Chemicals (Anhui) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Banan) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Beijing) Distribution Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Binzhou) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Chengdu) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Guiyang) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Hefei) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Hohhot) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Jiyuan) Onsite Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Lianyungang) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Nanjing) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Pengzhou) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Putian) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Qingdao) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shaanxi Pucheng) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shaanxi) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Electronics Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Gases Production Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Gasification Technology Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Hydrogen Energy Technology Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) On-Site Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Systems Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shangluo) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Shenzhen) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Tangshan) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Tongxiang) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Weifang) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (WuXi) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (WuXi) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Xi'an) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Xingtai) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Xinxiang) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Xuzhou) Gases Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Yichun) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Yulin) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Zhuhai) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals (Zibo) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Utah, Air Products and Chemicals Tech Development (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Air Products and Chemicals de Mexico S. A. de C. V., Air Products spol s.r.o., Asia Industrial Gas Company Ltd., Bangkok Cogeneration Company Limited, Bangkok Industrial Gas Co. Ltd., Beer Gas Cymru Cyf, Beijing AP BAIF Gas Industry Co. Ltd., Beijing Shuimu Tongda Transportation Co. Ltd., Blue Ocean Industrial Gases Co. Ltd., Carbolim B.V., Carburos Via Augusta Logistics S. L., Caribbean Industrial Gases Unlimited, Centro Tecnico Indura Limitada, Chengdu Air & Gas Products Ltd., Chengzhi Air Products Hydrogen Energy Technology Co. Ltd., China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co., Consolidacion Comercial Infra S. A. de C. V., CryoService, CryoService Limited, Dixons of Westerhope Limited, DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials, EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products Inc., East Coast Nitrogen Company LLC, East Coast Oxygen Co., Far Eastern Industrial Gases Co. Ltd., Gaolu Air Products and Chemicals (Shanghai) Energy Technology Co. Ltd., Gardner Cryogenics, Gas Direct Limited, Gas Supply Services Ltd., Gas Technologies Ltd., Gases Industriales de Colombia S.A. Cryogas, Gases Integrated Company Limited (GIC), Gasin II Unipessoal LDA, Gastel Limited, Gazsur S. de R. L. de C. V., Goar Allison & Associates, Green BioFuel s.r.o., Harvest Energy Technologies, Harvest Energy Technology, Helap SAS, INOXAir Products Pvt. Ltd., Indura, Indura Argentina S.A., Indura Holding LLC, Indura Holdings Colombia LLC, Indura Inversiones Limitada, Indura S. A., Indura Sociedad Comercial Limitada, Inner Mongolia Jiutai New Materials Technology Co. Ltd., Inversiones Air Products Holdings Limitada, Jazan Gas Projects Company, Jazan Integrated Gasification and Power Company (JIGPC), Jubail Waves for Gases Company, KRIG Holdings B. V., KRYVYI RIH Industrial Gas, Korea Industrial Gases Ltd., Kulim Industrial Gases Sdn Bhd, Lida SAS, M&M Gases Limited, Markaziy Osiyo Sanoat Gaz LLC, Matgas 2000 A.I.E., NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, NMAP Services Unlimited, Napro S.A., Olin DNT Limited Partnership, Oxigeno Medicinal Domiciliario Limitada, Oxygen & Argon Works, Oxygen & Argon Works Ltd., Oxygen Center Ltd., Oxygen Warehouse Trade (1980) Ltd., PQ Ammonia, PT Air Products East Kalimantan, PT Air Products Indonesia, PT Air Products Indonesia Services, Permea China Ltd., Permea Inc., Procal, Prodair Air Products India Private Limited, Prodair Corporation, Prodair Escravos Limited, Prodair S. A. S., Prodair et Cie S.C. S., ROVI Cosmetics International, S.I.Q. Beteiligungs, SAGA SAS, SCWC Corp., STP & DIN Chemicals Sp. Z.o.o., STS Science Technologies and Services Ltd., Sapio Produzione Idrogeno Ossigeno S. r. l., Servicios Indura Limitada, Shanxi Lu'An Air Products (Hydrogen Energy) Co. Ltd., Sociedad Espanola de Carburos Metalicos S. A., Soprogaz SNC, Stravinsky Investments LLC, Tanasio Industrial Gases Cyf, The Former SR Manufacturers Inc., Union Mobiliere Industrielle S. A.R.L., Vitalox Industrial S.L.U., WuXi Hi-Tech Gas Co. Ltd., Yangnon Industrial Gas Trading Company Limited, Yangon Industrial Gas (Thilawa) Company Limited, Zhangjiakou HyPower New Energy Technology Co. Ltd., Zhangjiakou Jiaotou Hydrogen New Energy Technology Co. Ltd., and Zibo Chuangcheng Design. Read More Biohaven Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing therapies for patients with debilitating neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases in the United States. The company's pipeline products include BHV-7000, a potassium channel activator for the treatment of focal epilepsy; Troriluzole, a tripeptide prodrug that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric illnesses; BHV-5500, a low-trapping glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist for neuropathic pain; and Verdiperstat, an irreversible myeloperoxidase enzyme inhibitor for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. It also offers Taldefgrobep Alfa, an anti-myostatin adnectin, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial to treat spinal muscle atrophy; and BHV-1100 that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for multiple myeloma patients. The company was formerly known as Biohaven Research Ltd and changed its name to Biohaven Ltd. in Sept 2022. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. Biohaven Ltd. is a subsidiary of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. Brookfield Asset Management is an alternative asset manager and REIT/Real Estate Investment Manager firm focuses on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and venture capital and private equity assets. It manages a range of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients. It typically makes investments in sizeable, premier assets across geographies and asset classes. It invests both its own capital as well as capital from other investors. Within private equity and venture capital, it focuses on acquisition, early ventures, control buyouts and financially distressed, buyouts and corporate carve-outs, recapitalizations, convertible, senior and mezzanine financings, operational and capital structure restructuring, strategic re-direction, turnaround, and under-performing midmarket companies. It invests in both public debt and equity markets. It invests in private equity sectors with focus on Business Services include infrastructure, healthcare, road fuel distribution and marketing, construction and real estate; Industrials include manufacturers of automotive batteries, graphite electrodes, returnable plastic packaging, and sanitation management and development; and Residential/ infrastructure services. It targets companies which likely possess underlying real assets, primarily in sectors such as industrial products, building materials, metals, mining, homebuilding, oil and gas, paper and packaging, manufacturing and forest product sectors. It invests globally with focus on North America including Brazil, the United States, Canada; Europe; and Australia; and Asia-Pacific. The firm considers equity investments in the range of $2 million to $500 million. It has a four-year investment period and a 10-year term with two one-year extensions. The firm prefers to take minority stake and majority stake. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. was founded in 1997 and based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices across Northern America; South America; Europe; Middle East and Asia. Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns, manages, and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in three segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors. The Assisted Living and Memory Care segment owns or leases communities consisting of freestanding multi-story communities and freestanding single-story communities, which offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living for the Company's residents. This segment also operates memory care communities for residents with Alzheimer's and other dementias. The CCRCs segment owns or leases communities that provides various living arrangements, such as independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing; and services to accommodate various levels of physical ability and healthcare needs. It also manages communities on behalf of others. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 347 communities, leased 299 communities, and managed 33 communities on behalf of others. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. The following companies are subsidiares of D.R. Horton: 10700 Pecan Park Austin Inc., 11241 Slater Avenue NE LLC, 2 C Development Company LLC, 8800 Roswell Road Bldg. B LLC, 91st Avenue & Happy Valley L.L.C., ANN & 215 LLC, Austin Data Inc., BP456 Inc., C. Richard Dobson Builders Inc., CH Funding LLC, CH Investments of Texas Inc., CHI Construction Company, CHM Partners L.P., CHTEX of Texas Inc., CV Mountain View 25 Inv LLC, Cane Island LLC, Continental Homes Inc., Continental Homes of Texas L.P., Continental Residential Inc., Continental Traditions LLC, Crown Operating Company Inc., Cypress Road L.P., D.R. Horton - CHAustin LLC, D.R. Horton - Colorado LLC, D.R. Horton - Crown LLC, D.R. Horton - Emerald Ltd., D.R. Horton - Georgia LLC, D.R. Horton - Hawaii LLC, D.R. Horton - Highland LLC, D.R. Horton - Indiana LLC, D.R. Horton - Iowa LLC, D.R. Horton - MV LLC, D.R. Horton - Nebraska LLC, D.R. Horton - Permian LLC, D.R. Horton - Regent LLC, D.R. Horton - Terramor LLC, D.R. Horton - Texas Ltd., D.R. Horton - WPH LLC, D.R. Horton - Wyoming LLC, D.R. Horton BAY Inc., D.R. Horton CA2 Inc., D.R. Horton CA3 Inc., D.R. Horton CA4 LLC, D.R. Horton Commercial Inc., D.R. Horton Cruces Construction Inc., D.R. Horton Inc. - Birmingham, D.R. Horton Inc. - Chicago, D.R. Horton Inc. - Denver, D.R. Horton Inc. - Dietz-Crane, D.R. Horton Inc. - Greensboro, D.R. Horton Inc. - Gulf Coast, D.R. Horton Inc. - Huntsville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Jacksonville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Louisville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Midwest, D.R. Horton Inc. - Minnesota, D.R. Horton Inc. - NNV, D.R. Horton Inc. - New Jersey, D.R. Horton Inc. - Portland, D.R. Horton Inc. - Torrey, D.R. Horton Inc. Foundation, D.R. Horton Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton LA North Inc., D.R. Horton Life Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton Los Angeles Holding Company Inc., D.R. Horton Management Company Ltd., D.R. Horton Materials Inc., D.R. Horton Realty LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Atlantic County LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Central Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Delaware LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Georgia Inc., D.R. Horton Realty of Melbourne LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Tampa LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Virginia LLC, D.R. Horton Seabridge Marina Inc., D.R. Horton Serenity Construction LLC, D.R. Horton Urban Renewal LLC, D.R. Horton VEN Inc., D.R. Horton Corpus Christi LLC, DBC54 LLC, DHI Commercial - Lakeview LLC, DHI Commercial - Signal Butte LLC, DHI Commercial - Tamarron LLC, DHI Commercial Inc., DHI Communities Construction LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Arizona LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Colorado LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Florida LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Iowa LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Nevada LLC, DHI Communities Construction of North Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of South Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Texas LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Utah LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Virginia LLC, DHI Communities II LLC, DHI Communities Inc., DHI Engineering LLC, DHI Insurance Inc., DHI Mortgage Company, DHI Mortgage Company GP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company LP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company Ltd., DHI Ranch Ltd., DHI Realty of Alabama LLC, DHI Realty of Mississippi LLC, DHI Title GP Inc., DHI Title LP Inc., DHI Title of Alabama Inc., DHI Title of Arizona Inc., DHI Title of Florida Inc., DHI Title of Minnesota Inc., DHI Title of Nevada Inc., DHI Title of Texas Ltd., DHI Title of Washington Inc., DHI Verandah South Shores Communities LLC, DHIC - Bridges LLC, DHIC - Brittmore LLC, DHIC - Carolina Forest LLC, DHIC - Desert Peak LLC, DHIC - Durbin Creek LLC, DHIC - Freestone LLC, DHIC - Hammock Landing LLC, DHIC - Heritage LLC, DHIC - Horizon Uptown LLC, DHIC - Jacobs Reserve LLC, DHIC - Lakeview LLC, DHIC - Lipoma LLC, DHIC - Minton Cove LLC, DHIC - Mountain Vista LLC, DHIC - Naco LLC, DHIC - Northshore LLC, DHIC - Prairie Village LLC, DHIC - South Creek LLC, DHIC - Tamarron LLC, DHIC - Valley Vista LLC, DHIC - Varina Gateway LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh II LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh III LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh LLC, DHIC - Westridge LLC, DHIC LLC, DHIC Glendale LLC, DHIC Grove West LLC, DHIC South Park LLC, DHIC Westinghouse LLC, DHIR - Aspen Vista LLC, DHIR - Avian Pointe LLC, DHIR - Emerald Lakes LLC, DHIR - Fosters Ridge LLC, DHIR - Gulf Stream LLC, DHIR - Parkview at Lynn Haven LLC, DHIR - Poplar Terrace LLC, DHIR - Properties I LLC, DHIR - Rock Ridge LLC, DHIR - Sunset Village LLC, DHIR - Village at Hickory Street LLC, DRH - ARK LLC, DRH - ASG LLC, DRH - HWY 114 LLC, DRH Cambridge Homes LLC, DRH Capital Trust I, DRH Capital Trust II, DRH Capital Trust III, DRH Colorado Realty Inc., DRH Construction Inc., DRH Energy Inc., DRH FS Mortgage Reinsurance Ltd., DRH Land Opportunities I Inc., DRH Land Opportunities II Inc., DRH Mountain View LLC, DRH Oil & Gas Inc., DRH Opportunities I Inc., DRH Properties Inc., DRH Realty Company Inc., DRH Realty of Iowa LLC, DRH Regrem L LLC, DRH Regrem LI LLC, DRH Regrem LII LLC, DRH Regrem LIII LLC, DRH Regrem LIV LLC, DRH Regrem LV LLC, DRH Regrem VII LP, DRH Regrem XII LP, DRH Regrem XIV Inc., DRH Regrem XIX Inc., DRH Regrem XLIX LLC, DRH Regrem XLV LLC, DRH Regrem XLVI LLC, DRH Regrem XLVII LLC, DRH Regrem XLVIII LLC, DRH Regrem XV Inc., DRH Regrem XVI Inc., DRH Regrem XVII Inc., DRH Regrem XVIII Inc., DRH Regrem XX Inc., DRH Regrem XXI Inc., DRH Regrem XXII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIV Inc., DRH Regrem XXV Inc., DRH Southwest Construction Inc., DRH Tucson Construction Inc., DRHI Inc., Deer Valley Office Park LLC, Desert Ridge Phase I Partners, Emerald Creek No. 4 L.P., Emerald Realty of Alabama LLC, Emerald Realty of Central Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of North Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Encore II Inc., Encore Venture Partners II (California) L.P., Encore Venture Partners II (Texas) L.P., Encore Venture Partners L.P., Express Realty of Central Florida LLC, Express Realty of North Florida LLC, Express Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Forestar Group, Forestar Group Inc., Founders Oil & Gas II LLC, Founders Oil & Gas III LLC, Founders Oil & Gas IV LLC, Founders Oil & Gas LLC, Founders Oil & Gas Operating LLC, GP-Encore Inc., Georgetown Data Inc., Germann & McQueen L.L.C., Grand Title Agency LLC, Grande Realty Incorporated, Grande Realty of Pennsylvania LLC, Greywes LLC, HPH Homebuilders 2000 L.P., Hadian LLC, KDB Homes Inc., Kaomalo LLC, Lexington Homes - DRH LLC, MRLF LLC, Martin Road Lake Forest LLC, McQueen & Willis LLC, Meadows I Ltd., Meadows II Ltd., Meadows IX Inc., Meadows VIII Ltd., Meadows X Inc., Melody Homes Inc., Pacific Ridge - DRH LLC, Rielly Carlsbad LLC, Rielly Homes Madison LLC, SFTEN LLC, SGS Communities at Grand Quay L.L.C, SHA Construction LLC, SHLR of California Inc., SHLR of Nevada Inc., SHLR of Washington Inc., SRHI LLC, SSHI LLC, Schuler Homes of Arizona LLC, Schuler Homes of California Inc., Schuler Homes of Oregon Inc., Schuler Homes of Washington Inc., Summerlin Pkwy & Cimarron LLC, Surprise Village North LLC, The Club at Cobblestone LLC, The Club at Hidden River LLC, Tierra Financial Advisors LLC, Travis County Title Company, Treasure Assets LLC, Venture Management of South Carolina LLC, Vertical Construction Corporation, WPH-Camino Ruiz LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon II LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon LLC, Walker Drive LLC, Western Pacific Brea Development LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Mountaingate L.P., Western Pacific Housing - SDG LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Westlake II L.P., Western Pacific Housing Inc., Western Pacific Housing Management Inc., Western Pacific Housing-Antigua LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Broadway LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Canyon Park LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Carrillo LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Communications Hill LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Copper Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Creekside LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lomas Verdes LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lyons Canyon Partners LLC, Western Pacific Housing-McGonigle Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Norco Estates LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Pacific Park II LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue East LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue West LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Playa Vista LLC, Western Pacific Housing-River Ridge LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Terra Bay Duets LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Meadows LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Village Center LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Windemere LLC, and Wilson Parker Homes. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Colfax: AS ESAB, Agridzaar Limited, Airgare Limited, Arc Machines GmbH, CAST Limited, CAST Resources Limited, CLFX Sweden CV, Canadian Cylinder Company Ltd., Cefar-Compex Medical AB, Central Mining Finance Limited, Charter Central Finance Limited, Charter Central Services Limited, Charter Consolidated Holdings Limited, Charter Consolidated Limited, Charter Finance S.a.r.l., Charter International Jersey Funding Limited, Charter International Limited, Charter Limited, Charter Overseas Holdings Limited, Charter Pension Trustee Limited, Chattanooga Europe B.V., Cigweld Pty Ltd., Colfax (Wuxi) Pump Company Limited, Colfax Fluid Handling Finance Limited, Colfax Group GmbH, Colfax Group Holdings GmbH, Colfax Jersey Finance Limited, Colfax UK Finance Limited, Colfax UK Holdings Limited, Comercializadora Thermadyne S. de R.L. de C.V., Conarco Alambres y Soldaduras SA, Condor Equipamentos Industriais Ltda, DJ Orthopedics Services SA de CV, DJ Orthopedics de Mexico S.A. de C.V., DJO Asia-Pacific Ltd., DJO BRASIL LTDA., DJO Benelux B.V., DJO Canada Inc., DJO Consumer LLC, DJO FINANCE LLC, DJO France S.A.S., DJO Global, DJO Global Inc., DJO Global India Healthcare Private Limited, DJO Global Pty. Ltd., DJO Global Switzerland SARL, DJO Iberica Productos Ortopedicos S.L., DJO Italia SRL, DJO LLC, DJO Medical Device Trading (Shanghai) Ltd., DJO Motion Ireland Limited, DJO Nordic Aktiebolag, DJO Orthopaedic South Africa (Pty) Ltd, DJO Tunisie SARL, DJO UK Ltd., EMSA Holdings Inc., ESAB AB, ESAB ApS, ESAB Argentina SA, ESAB Asia/Pacific Pte.Ltd., ESAB Bulgaria EAD, ESAB CZ s.r.o. clen koncernu, ESAB CentroAmerica SA, ESAB Comercio e Industria de Soldadura Lda, ESAB Corporation, ESAB Europe GmbH, ESAB France SAS, ESAB GCE Holdings AB, ESAB Gesellschaft m.b.H., ESAB Group (Ireland) Limited, ESAB Group (UK) Limited, ESAB Group Canada Inc., ESAB Group Russia Limited, ESAB Holdings Limited, ESAB Iberica S.A.U., ESAB Industria e Comercio Ltda, ESAB International Holdings LLC, ESAB Kazakhstan LLC, ESAB Kft., ESAB Limited (Thailand), ESAB Limited Liability Company, ESAB Mexico SA de CV, ESAB Mexico Services SA de CV, ESAB Middle East FZE, ESAB Nederland B.V., ESAB Pensions Limited, ESAB Polska Sp. z.o.o., ESAB Romania Trading SRL, ESAB Saldatura SpA, ESAB SeAH Corporation, ESAB SeAH Welding Products (Yantai) Co. Limited, ESAB Service GmbH, ESAB Slovakia sro, ESAB Sp. z.o.o., ESAB Sweden Holdings AB, ESAB Ukraine LLC, ESAB VAMBERK s.r.o. clen koncernu, ESAB Welding & Cutting GmbH, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products (Shanghai) Management Company Limited, ESAB Welding Products (Jiangsu) Co Limited, ESAB-Mor Welding Kft, EWAC Alloys Limited, Elastic Therapy LLC, Empi Inc., Encore Medical GP LLC, Encore Medical L.P., Encore Medical Partners LLC, Evrador Trading Limited, Exelvia (Bermuda) Limited, Exelvia Company, Exelvia Cyprus Limited, Exelvia Group India BV, Exelvia Holding Limitada, Exelvia Holdings BV, Exelvia International Holdings BV, Exelvia Investments Limited, Exelvia Netherlands BV, Exelvia Properties Limited, GCE Gas Control Equipment Co. Ltd., GCE Gas Control Equipment Inc., GCE Gas Control Equipment S.A. de C.V., GCE GmbH, GCE Group AB, GCE Hungaria Kft., GCE India Private Ltd., GCE Krass LLC, GCE Latin America Ltd., GCE Mujelli S.p.A., GCE Norden AB, GCE Portugal Unipessoal LDA, GCE Romania s.r.l., GCE S.A.S., GCE Sp. z.o.o., GCE Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., GCE s.r.o., Gas Control Equipment Iberica S.L., Gas Control Equipment Limited, Gas-Arc Group Limited, H UK Engineering Limited, HE Deutschland Holdings GmbH, HKS-Prozesstechnik GmbH, HTP Beteiligungs AG, Hobart Place Investments Limited, Howden North America Inc., Imo Holdings Inc., Imo Industries Inc., Jinan Red Hawk International Trading Co. Ltd., LT Optoelectronics Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Labindia Liteforce Private Limited, LiteCure LLC, Litecure Asia Limited, Litecure Optoelectronics Technology (Shanghai) Co. Limited, MEDSHAPE INC., MT Central Finance SARL, MT FOREIGN HOLDINGS INC., Margarita SA, Mathys (Schweiz) GmbH, Mathys AG Bettlach, Mathys Immobilien GmbH, Mathys KK, Mathys Ltd., Mathys Medical Device Trading Co. Ltd., Mathys Orthopadie GmbH, Mathys Orthopaedics BV, Mathys Orthopaedics Belux, Mathys Orthopaedics Ltd, Mathys Orthopaedics Pty. Ltd., Mathys Orthopedie SAS, Mathys Ortopedia Srl, Medireha GmbH Produkte fur die medizinische Rehabilitation, Motion Parent Inc., NANOSPECTRA BIOSCIENCES INC., NV E.S.A.B., OZAS-ESAB Sp. z o.o., Ormed GmbH, Ortho Pros Express Inc., Orthomed Medizintechnik GmbH, Oxiprof LLC, Oy ESAB, PT Karya Yasantara Cakti, PT Victor Teknologi Indonesia, Quantum Ops Inc., Rikco International LLC, SIAM ESAB Welding & Cutting Limited, Shawebone Holdings Inc., Soldaduras West Arco S.A.S., Soldex Holdings I LLC, Soldex S.A., Speetec Implantate AG, Speetec Implantate GmbH, Surgi-Care Inc., TBI Industries GmbH, TBI Industries s.r.o., TBI Shandong Industries Co. Ltd., The British South Africa Company, The Central Mining & Investment Corporation Limited, The ESAB Group Inc., Thermadyne Brazil Holdings Ltd., Thermadyne South America Holdings Ltd., Thermadyne Victor Ltda., Thermadyne de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermal Dynamics Europe Srl, Trilliant Surgical LLC, Victor Equipment Company, Victor Equipment de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Victor Technologies (UK) Limited, Victor Technologies Asia SDN BHD, Victor Technologies Australia Pty Ltd., Victor Technologies Canada Ltd., Victor Technologies Group Inc., Victor Technologies Holdings Inc., Victor Technologies International Inc., Victor Technologies Partnership LLP, Warren Pumps LLC, Welding & Cutting Products LLC, and Weldnote LDA. Read More Kronos Worldwide, Inc. produces and markets titanium dioxide pigments (TiO2) in Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company produces TiO2 in two crystalline forms, rutile and anatase to impart whiteness, brightness, opacity, and durability for various products, including paints, coatings, plastics, paper, fibers, and ceramics, as well as for various specialty products, such as inks, foods, and cosmetics. It also produces ilmenite, a raw material used directly as a feedstock by sulfate-process TiO2 plants; iron-based chemicals, which are used as treatment and conditioning agents for industrial effluents and municipal wastewater, as well as in the manufacture of iron pigments, cement, and agricultural products; specialty chemicals for use in the formulation of pearlescent pigments, and production of electroceramic capacitors for cell phones and other electronic devices, as well as for use in pearlescent pigments, natural gas pipe, and other specialty applications. In addition, the company provides technical services for its products. It sells its products under the KRONOS brand through agents and distributors to paint, plastics, decorative laminate, and paper manufacturers. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Kronos Worldwide, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc. Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. provides home and security products for residential home repair, remodeling, new construction, and security applications. It operates in three segments: Plumbing, Outdoors & Security, and Cabinets. The Plumbing segment manufactures, assembles, and sells faucets, accessories, kitchen sinks, and waste disposals under the Moen, ROHL, Riobel, Victoria+Albert, Perrin & Rowe, and Shaws brands in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America directly through its own sales force, as well as through independent manufacturers' representatives to wholesalers, home centers, mass merchandisers, and industrial distributors. The Outdoors & Security segment offers fiberglass and steel entry door systems under the Therma-Tru brand; storm, screen, and security doors under the Larson brand; composite decking and railing under the Fiberon brand; and urethane millwork under the Fypon brand. This segment also manufactures, sources, and distributes locks, safety and security devices, and electronic security products under the Master Lock and American Lock brands; and fire resistant safes, security containers, and commercial cabinets under the SentrySafe brand. It serves home centers, hardware and other retailers, millwork building products and wholesale distributors, specialty dealers, and remodeling and renovation markets, as well as locksmiths, industrial and institutional users, and original equipment manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central America, Japan, and Australia. The Cabinets segment manufactures custom, semi-custom, and custom cabinetry, as well as vanities for the kitchen, bath, and other parts of the home directly to kitchen and bath dealers, home centers, wholesalers, and builders in North America under the AOK, Diamond Brands, Homecrest, Kitchen Craft, Omega, and EVE brands. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. Global Payments Inc. provides payment technology and software solutions for card, electronic, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization services, settlement and funding services, customer support and help-desk functions, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security services, consolidated billing and statements, and on-line reporting services. This segment also provides an array of enterprise software solutions that streamline business operations of its customers in various vertical markets; and value-added services, such as point-of-sale solutions, and analytic and engagement tools, as well as payroll and human capital management services. The Issuer Solutions segment offers solutions that enable financial institutions and retailers to manage their card portfolios through a platform; and commercial payments and ePayables solutions for businesses and governments. The Business and Consumer Solutions segment provides general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit and payroll cards, demand deposit accounts, and other financial service solutions to the underbanked and other consumers, and businesses under the Netspend brand. It markets its products and services through direct sales force, trade associations, agent and enterprise software providers, referral arrangements with value-added resellers, and independent sales organizations. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. was founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman as an investment bank catering to institutions and businesses. Among the firm's first products are the revolutionary use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs which opened a new method of finance for business and industry. The original firm expanded to Goldman Sachs in 1882 with the inclusion of son-in-law Samuel Sachs and again in 1885 with a son and another son-in-law. The firm joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1896 expanding into trading of its own and in 1898 it was worth $1.6 million. The company began its work in the IPO market in 1906 with the initial public offering of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and then moved on to Ford and other prominent names of the time. The 1930s brings a change of leadership and a new direction for the firm. The company shifted toward a purer play on investment banking and embarks on a campaign of acquisition that lasted until the present day. The company doesnt go public itself until 1999 and from that point on it will change into a bank holding company that not only offers investment banking services but takes deposits too, and in 2016 the company added consumer banking to its list of services. Today, Goldman Sachs is a financial institution that provides a range of financial services for corporations, institutions, governments, and individuals globally. The company operates through four segments that include Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. According to US banking regulations, it is systemically important to the financial health of America. The company is headquartered in New York, New York, and operates 6 regional headquarters as well. Regional headquarters are located in financial hotspots such as London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangalore, and Warsaw. Among its many prominent CEOs are John Corzine and Hank Paulson who both went on to successful work in government. The company's Investment Banking segment provides a full range of financial advisory services as well as underwriting for the public markets. The financial advisory services include but are not limited to strategic advisory for mergers and acquisitions, divestiture, restructuring, and spin-offs. This segment is also engaged in middle-market lending and transaction banking. Underwriting services include IPOs, preferred stock, debt instruments, and bridge loans. Goldman Sachs Global Markets segment facilitates market transactions for institutions, banks, brokerages, corporations, and governments. Services include execution, derivatives, financing, clearing, settlement, and custody. The Asset Management segment manages client portfolios across the investment spectrum while the Consumer & Wealth Management segment provides advisory and banking services to consumers. Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a life sciences company, focuses on the provision of preparedness and response solutions that address accidental, deliberate, and naturally occurring public health threats (PHTs) in the United States. The company's products address PHTs, which include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives; emerging infectious diseases; travel health; and emerging health crises and acute/emergency care. It offers BioThrax, an anthrax vaccine; ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine; Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent to treat botulinum disease; vaccinia immune globulin intravenous that addresses complications from smallpox vaccine; raxibacumab for the treatment and prophylaxis of inhalational anthrax; Anthrasil to for inhalational anthrax; reactive skin decontamination lotion kits; and Trobigard, a combination drug-device auto injector product candidate; and Trobigard, a combination drug-device auto injector product candidate. The company also provides NARCAN, a nasal spray for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose; Vivotif, an oral vaccine for typhoid fever; and Vaxchora, a single-dose oral vaccine to treat cholera. In addition, it is developing AP003, a Naloxone multidose nasal spray; AP007, a sustained release Nalmefene injection for treatment of opioid use disorder; AV7909, an anthrax vaccine; CGRD-001, a pralidoxime chloride/atropine auto-injector; CHIKV VLP, a chikungunya virus VLP vaccine; COVID-HIG for the treatment of SARS-CoV2; EGRD-001, a diazepam auto-injector; SIAN, an antidote for the initial treatment of acute poisoning of cyanide; and UniFlu, a universal influenza vaccine. Further, the company provides contract development and manufacturing services comprising drug substance and product manufacturing, and packaging, as well as technology transfer, process, and analytical development services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar Northwest Inc., Lennar OHB LLC, Lennar PI Acquisition LLC, Lennar PI Property Acquisition LLC, Lennar PIS Management Company LLC, Lennar Pacific Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Management Inc., Lennar Plumsted Urban Renewal LLC, Lennar Point LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core GP LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core LP LLC, Lennar Realty Inc., Lennar Reno LLC, Lennar Riverwalk LLC, Lennar Sacramento Inc., Lennar Sales Corp., Lennar Sierra Sunrise LLC, Lennar Spencer's Crossing LLC, Lennar Sun Ridge LLC, Lennar Texas Holding LLC, Lennar Ventures LLC, Lennar West Valley LLC, Lennar Winncrest LLC, Lennar at Franklin LLC, Lennar at Jackson LLC, Lennar at Marlboro 79 LLC, Lennar at Monroe LLC, Lennar.com Inc., Longleaf Acquisition LLC, Lori Gardens Associates II LLC, Lori Gardens Associates III LLC, Lori Gardens Associates L.L.C., Lorton Station LLC, Lyons Lennar Farms LLC, Madrona Ridge L.L.C., Madrona Village L.L.C., Madrona Village Mews L.L.C., Majestic Woods LLC, Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited. Read More Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides newborn, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology, and other pediatric subspecialty care services in the United States and Puerto Rico. It offers neonatal care services, such as clinical care to babies born prematurely or with complications within specific units at hospitals through neonatal physician subspecialists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and other pediatric clinicians. The company also provides maternal-fetal care services, including inpatient and office-based clinical care to expectant mothers and unborn babies through affiliated maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, as well as obstetricians and other clinicians, including maternal-fetal nurse practitioners, certified nurse mid-wives, ultrasonographers, and genetic counselors. In addition, it offers pediatric cardiology care services comprising inpatient and office-based pediatric cardiology care of the fetus, infant, child, and adolescent patient with congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease, as well as adults with congenital heart defects through affiliated pediatric cardiologist subspecialists and other related clinical professionals; and specialized cardiac care to the fetus, neonatal and pediatric patients. Further, the company provides other pediatric subspecialty care services through pediatric subspecialists, such as pediatric intensivists, pediatric hospitalists, pediatric surgeons, and pediatric ophthalmologists, as well as pediatric ear, nose, and throat physicians; and support services in the areas of hospitals, primarily in the pediatric emergency rooms, labor and delivery areas, and nursery and pediatric departments. As of February 17, 2022, it operated a network of approximately 2,700 physicians. The company was formerly known as MEDNAX, Inc. and changed its name to Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. in July 2022. Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is based in Sunrise, Florida. Authorities pilot smart traffic light project at two places The Department of Roads (DoR) is working together with the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to pilot an intelligent traffic lighting project by installing smart traffic lights at New Baneshwor and Narayan Gopal Chowk intersections in the Capital. The following companies are subsidiares of MetLife: 10700 WILSHIRE LLC, 1201 TAB MANAGER LLC, 1350 EYE STREET MANAGER LLC, 1350 EYE STREET OWNER LLC, 150 NORTH RIVERSIDE PE MEMBER LLC, 1925 WJC OWNER LLC, 23RD STREET INVESTMENTS INC., 500 GRANT STREET ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 500 GRANT STREET GP LLC, 6104 HOLLYWOOD LLC, AFP GENESIS ADMINISTRADORA DE FONDOS Y FIDECOMISOS S.A., AGENVITA S.R.L., ALICO HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, ALICO OPERATIONS LLC, American Life Insurance Company, BEST MARKET S.A., BLOCK VISION HOLDINGS CORPORATION, BLOCK VISION OF TEXAS INC., BORDERLAND INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BOULEVARD RESIDENTIAL LLC, BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER LLC, CC HOLDCO MANAGER LLC, CHESTNUT FLATS WIND LLC, CLOSED JOINT-STOCK COMPANY MASTER-D, COMPANIA INVERSORA METLIFE S.A., CORPORATE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC, COVA LIFE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, DAVIS VISION INC., DAVISVISION IPA INC., DELAWARE AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, EURO CL INVESTMENTS LLC, EXCELENCIA OPERATIVA Y TECNOLOGICA S.A de C.V., FORTISSIMO CO. LTD, FUNDACION METLIFE MEXICO A.C., GLOBAL PROPERTIES INC., General American Life Insurance Company, Grand Bank N.A., HASKELL EAST VILLAGE LLC, HOUSING FUND MANAGER LLC, INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL AND ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO DOS LIMITADA, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO TRES LIMITADA, LHC HOLDINGS LLC, LHCW HOLDINGS LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING 2002 LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING LLC, LHCW HOTEL OPERATING COMPANY 2002 LLC, LUMENLAB MALAYSIA SDN. BHD., Logan Circle Partners, MARKETPLACE RESIDENCES LLC, MC PORTFOLIO JV MEMBER LLC, MCJV LLC, MCPP OWNERS LLC, MCRE BLOCK 40 LP, MEC HEALTH CARE INC., MET 1065 HOTEL LLC, MET CANADA SOLAR ULC, METLIFE 1007 STEWART LLC, METLIFE 1201 TAB MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MANAGER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 555 12TH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 8280 MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ACOMA OWNER LLC, METLIFE ADMINISTRADORA DE FUNDOS MULTIPATROCINADOS LTDA., METLIFE ALTERNATIVES GP LLC, METLIFE ASHTON AUSTIN OWNER LLC, METLIFE ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., METLIFE ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE ASIA SERVICES SDN. BHD, METLIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., METLIFE ASSIGNMENT COMPANY INC., METLIFE BORO STATION MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMINO RAMON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMPUS AT SGV MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAPITAL CREDIT L.P., METLIFE CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST IV, METLIFE CB W/A LLC, METLIFE CC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CHILE ADMINISTRADORA DE MUTUOS HIPOTECARIOS S.A., METLIFE CHILE INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS DE VIDA S.A., METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS GENERALES S.A., METLIFE CHINO MEMBER LLC, METLIFE COLOMBIA SEGUROS de VIDA S.A., METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CONSQUARE MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CONSUMER SERVICES INC., METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CREDIT CORP., METLIFE DIGITAL VENTURES INC., METLIFE ENHANCED CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE EU HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE INSURANCE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPE SERVICES LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LLC., METLIFE FINANCIAL SERVICES CO. LTD, METLIFE FM HOTEL MEMBER LLC, METLIFE FUNDING INC., METLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE GLOBAL BENEFITS LTD., METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY I GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY II GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION S.A. De C.V., METLIFE GLOBAL INC., METLIFE GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE GROUP INC., METLIFE HCMJV 1 GP LLC, METLIFE HCMJV 1 LP LLC, METLIFE HEALTH PLANS INC., METLIFE HOLDINGS INC., METLIFE HOME LOANS LLC, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE PTE. LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT TRUST, METLIFE INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC., METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF KOREA LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE K.K., METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HF PARTNERS LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND I LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND II LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND III LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND IV LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND V LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VI LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VII LP, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT EUROPE LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENTS ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS SECURITIES LLC, METLIFE INVESTORS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, METLIFE INVESTORS GROUP LLC, METLIFE IRELAND TREASURY D.A.C., METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND LP, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS BLOCKER LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS LLC, METLIFE LATIN AMERICA ASESORIAS E INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE LEGAL PLANS INC., METLIFE LEGAL PLANS OF FLORIDA INC., METLIFE LHH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE S.A., METLIFE LOAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT FUND LP, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT MASTER FUND LP, METLIFE LONG SHORT CREDIT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MAS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO HOLDINGS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT FUND II LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP II LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT II RATED FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL GP LLC, METLIFE MMPD II SPECIAL LLC, METLIFE MULTI-FAMILY PARTNERS III LLC, METLIFE OBS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE OFC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ONTARIO STREET MEMBR LLC, METLIFE PARK TOWER MEMBER LLC, METLIFE PENSION TRUSTEES LIMITED, METLIFE PENSIONES MEXICO S.A., METLIFE PET INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE PLANOS ODONTOLOGICOS LTDA., METLIFE POWSZECHNE TOWARTZYSTWO EMERYTALNE S.A., METLIFE PRIVATE EQUITY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METLIFE RC SF MEMBER LLC, METLIFE REAL ESTATE LENDING LLC, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF BERMUDA LTD., METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF VERMONT, METLIFE RETIREMENT SERVICES LLC, METLIFE SECURITIZATION DEPOSITOR LLC, METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FINCO LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FUND LP, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING GP LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING HOLDINGS LP, METLIFE SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE SERVICES CYPRUS LTD., METLIFE SERVICES EAST PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EEIG, METLIFE SERVICES EOOD, METLIFE SERVICES SOCIEDAD LIMITADA, METLIFE SERVICES SP Z.O.O, METLIFE SERVICIOS S.A., METLIFE SINGLE FAMILY RENTAL FUND GP LLC, METLIFE SINGLE FAMILY RENTAL FUND LP, METLIFE SOLUTIONS PTE. LTD., METLIFE SOLUTIONS S.A.S., METLIFE SP HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE STRATEGIC HOTEL DEBT FUND GP LLC, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN LUX GP S.A.R.L., METLIFE THR INVESTOR LLC, METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO FUNDUSZY INWESTYCYJNYCH S.A., METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO UBEZPIECZEN NA ZYCIE I REASEKURACJI S.A., METLIFE TOWER RESOURCES GROUP INC., METLIFE TREAT TOWERS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE SEGUROS E PREVIDENCIA PRIVADA S.A., METROPOLITAN LIFE SOCIETATE de ADMINISTRARE a UNUI FOND de PENSII ADMINISTRAT PRIVAT S.A., METROPOLITAN TOWER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER REALTY COMPANY INC., MEX DF PROPERTIES LLC, MFA FINANCING VEHICLE CTR1 LLC, MIDTOWN HEIGHTS LLC, MIM CAMPUS AT SGV MANAGER LLC, MIM CLAL GENERAL PARTNER LLC, MIM CM SYNDICATOR LLC, MIM EMD GP LLC, MIM I LLC, MIM LS GP LLC, MIM METWEST INTERNATIONAL MANAGER LLC, MIM ML-AI VENTURE 5 MANAGER LLC, MIM OMD MANAGER LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT OF GEORGIA 1 LLC, MIM SPOKANE INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MIM THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MISSOURI REINSURANCE INC., ML 300 THIRD MEMBER LLC, ML ARMATURE MEMBER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MANAGER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MEMBER LLC, ML CAPACITACION COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., ML CERRITOS TC MEMBER LLC, ML CLAL MEMBER LLC, ML CORNER 63 MEMBER LLC, ML DOLPHIN GP LLC, ML DOLPHIN MEZZ LLC, ML HUDSON MEMBER LLC, ML MATSON MILLS MEMBER LLC, ML MILILANI MEMBER LLC, ML OMD MEMBER LLC, ML ONE BEDMINSTER LLC, ML PORT CHESTER SC MEMBER LLC, ML SENTINEL SQUARE MEMBER LLC, ML SLOANS LAKE MEMEBR LLC, ML SOUTHLANDS MEMBER LLC, ML SOUTHMORE LLC, ML SPOKANE INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML SWAN GP LLC, ML SWAN MEZZ LLC, ML TERRACES LLC, ML THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML VENTURE 1 MANAGER S. DE R. L. DE C.V., ML VENTURE 1 SERVICER LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 1 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 2 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 3 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 4 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 5 LLC, ML-URS PORT CHESTER SC MANAGER LLC, MLIA MANAGER I LLC, MLIA PARK TOWER MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF COLONY MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF MANAGER LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS II LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, MLIC CB HOLDINGS LLC, MLJ US FEEDER LLC, MM GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER S.A. DE C.V., MMP CEDAR STREET OWNER LLC, MMP CEDAR STREET REIT LLC, MMP HOLDINGS III LLC, MMP OLIVIAN OWNER LLC, MMP OLIVIAN REIT LLC, MMP OWNERS III LLC, MMP OWNERS LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK OWNER LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK REIT LLC, MNQM TRUST 2020, MREF 425 MKT LLC, MSHDF HOLDCO I LLC, MSV IRVINE PROPERTY LLC, MTL LEASING LLC, MTU HOTEL OWNER LLC, NATILOPORTEM HOLDINGS LLC, NEWBURY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, OCONEE GOLF COMPANY LLC, OCONEE HOTEL COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC, OCONEE MARINA COMPANY LLC, OMI MLIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL NORTH LLC, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL SOUTH LLC, PARK TOWER JV MEMBER LLC, PARK TOWER REIT INC., PJSC METLIFE, PLAZA DRIVE PROPERTIES LLC, PREFCO FOURTEEN LLC, PREFCO XIV HOLDINGS LLC, PROVIDA INTERNACIONAL S.A., SAFEGUARD HEALTH ENTERPRISES INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEHEALTH LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, SOUTHCREEK INDUSTRIAL HOLDINGS LLC, ST. JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, SUPERIOR PROCUREMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION BENEFIT MANAGEMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION HOLDINGS INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE PLAN OF WISCONSIN INC., SUPERIOR VISION OF NEW JERSEY INC., SUPERIOR VISION SERVICES INC., Safeguard Health Enterprises, Security First Group Inc., THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH AVENUE MEZZANINE LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL HOLDING LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL OWNER, THE DIRECT CALL CENTRE PTY LIMITED, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, UVC INDEPENDENT PRACTICE ASSOCIATION INC., VERSANT HEALTH CONSOLIDATIONS CORP., VERSANT HEALTH HOLDCO INC., VERSANT HEALTH INC., VERSANT HEALTH LAB LLC, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, VISION 21 MANAGED EYE CARE OF TAMPA BAY INC., VISION 21 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, VISION TWENTY-ONE MANAGED EYE CARE IPA INC., Versant Health, WDV ACQUISITION CORP., WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, WHITE TRACT II LLC, and Willing. Read More Mueller Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, China, and Mexico. It operates through three segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers copper tubes, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples; PEX plumbing and radiant systems; and plumbing-related fittings and plastic injection tooling. It also resells steel pipes, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron fittings and faucets, and plumbing specialties; and supplies water tubes. This segment sells its products to wholesalers in the plumbing and refrigeration markets, distributors to the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries, building material retailers, and air-conditioning original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Industrial Metals segment manufactures brass, bronze, and copper alloy rods; plumbing brass, valves, and fittings; cold-form aluminum and copper products; machining of aluminum, steel, brass, and cast iron impacts and castings; brass and aluminum forgings; brass, aluminum, and stainless-steel valves; fluid control solutions; and gas train assembles to OEMs in the industrial, construction, HVAC, plumbing, and refrigeration markets. The Climate segment offers valves, protection devices, and brass fittings for various OEMs in the commercial HVAC and refrigeration markets; high-pressure components and accessories for the air-conditioning and refrigeration markets; coaxial heat exchangers and twisted tubes for the HVAC, geothermal, refrigeration, swimming pool heat pump, marine, ice machine, commercial boiler, and heat reclamation markets; insulated HVAC flexible duct systems; and brazed manifolds, headers, and distributor assemblies. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee. Greenhill & Co., Inc., an independent investment bank, provides financial and strategic advisory services to corporations, partnerships, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. The company offers advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings, private capital raising, and other similar transactions. It also advises clients on strategic matters, including activist shareholder defense, special committee projects, licensing deals, and joint ventures; and valuation, negotiation tactics, industry dynamics, structuring alternatives, and timing and pricing of transactions, as well as financing alternatives. In addition, the company provides restructuring advisory services to debtors, creditors, governments, and other stakeholders, and acquirers of distressed companies and assets; and advice on restructuring alternatives, capital structures, and sales or recapitalizations. Further, it assists clients in identifying and capitalizing on incremental sources of value; and on court-assisted reorganizations by developing and seeking approval for plans of reorganization, as well as the implementation of such plans. Additionally, the company advises on private placements of debt and structured equity, refinancing of existing debt facilities, negotiating the modification, and amendment of covenants, as well as acts as an independent advisor. It also offers financial advisory services to pension funds, endowments, and other institutional investors on transactions involving alternative assets; and advice to alternative asset fund sponsors for private capital raising, financing, restructuring, liquidity options, valuation, and related services. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Cabinet likely to pick provincial headquarters, guvs on Thursday Even as the vote count of the House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections nears its completion, the government has yet to fix provincial headquarters and appoint governors who will serve as the ceremonial head of the respective provinces. The following companies are subsidiares of PepsiCo: Alimentos Quaker Oats y Compania Limitada, Alimentos del Istmo S.A., Amavale Agricola Ltda., Anderson Hill Insurance Limited, Asia Bottlers Limited, BAESA Capital Corporation Ltd., BFY Brands, BFY Brands LLC, BFY Brands Limited, BUG de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Balmoral Industries LLC, Bare Foods Co., Barrhead LLC, Be & Cheery, Beaman Bottling Company, Bebidas Sudamerica S.A., Beech Limited, Bell Taco Funding Syndicate, Bendler Investments II Ltd, Bendler Investments S.a r.l, Beverage Services Limited, Beverages Foods & Service Industries Inc., Bishkeksut OJSC, Blaue NC S. de R.L. de C.V., Blue Cloud Distribution Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arizona Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arkansas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Colorado Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Florida Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Georgia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Illinois Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Indiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Iowa Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Kentucky Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Louisiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Minnesota Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Mississippi Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Missouri Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nebraska Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nevada Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of North Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Ohio Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Oklahoma Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Pennsylvania Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of South Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Tennessee Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Texas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Virginia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Wisconsin Inc., Blue Ridge Sales LLC, Bluebird Foods Limited, Bluecan Holdings Unlimited Company, Bokomo Zambia Limited, Bolsherechensky Molkombinat JSC, Boquitas Fiestas LLC, Boquitas Fiestas S.R.L., Bottling Group Financing LLC, Bottling Group Holdings LLC, Bottling Group LLC, Bronte Industries Ltd, C & I Leasing Inc., CB Manufacturing Company Inc., CEME Holdings LLC, CMC Investment Company, Caroni Investments LLC, Centro-Mediterranea de Bebidas Carbonicas PepsiCo S.L., Ceres Fruit Juices Pty Ltd, ChampBev Inc., China Concentrate Holdings Hong Kong Limited, Chipsy International for Food Industries S.A.E., Chipsy for Food Industries S.A.E., Chitos Internacional y Cia Ltda, Cipa Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cipa Nordeste Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cocina Autentica Inc., Comercializadora CMC Investment y Compania Limitada, Comercializadora Nacional SAS Ltda., Comercializadora PepsiCo Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., Compania de Bebidas PepsiCo S.L., Concentrate Holding Uruguay Pte. Ltd., Concentrate Manufacturing Singapore Pte. Ltd., Confiteria Alegro S. de R.L. de C.V., Copella Fruit Juices Limited, Copper Beech International LLC, Corina Snacks Limited, Corporativo Internacional Mexicano S. de R.L. de C.V., CytoSport Holdings Inc., CytoSport Inc., Davlyn Realty Corporation, Defosto Holdings Limited, Desarrollo Inmobiliario Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Dilexis S.A., Donon Holdings Limited, Drinkfinity USA Inc., Drinkstation Inc., Drinkstation Innovation Co. Ltd., Drinkstation Limited, Dutch Snacks Holding S.A. de C.V., Duyvis Production B.V., EPIC Enterprises Inc., Echo Bay Holdings Inc., Elaboradora Argentina de Cereales S.R.L., Enter Logistica LLC, Environ at Inverrary Partnership, Environ of Inverrary Inc., Eridanus Investments S.a r.l, Evercrisp Snack Productos de Chile S.A., FL Transportation Inc., FLI Andean LLC, FLI Colombia LLC, FLI Snacks Andean GP LLC, Fabrica PepsiCo Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Fabrica de Productos Alimenticios Rene y Cia S.C.A., Fairlight International SRL, Far East Bottlers Hong Kong Limited, Food Concepts Pioneer Ltd., Forest Akers Nederland B.V., Forty-Six Peaks Holding Inc., Fovarosi Asvanyviz es Uditoipari Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Freshwater International B.V., Frito Lay Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Frito Lay Poland Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay de Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Frito-Lay Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Frito-Lay Dip Company Inc., Frito-Lay Dominicana S.A., Frito-Lay Global Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Inc., Frito-Lay Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Manufacturing LLC, Frito-Lay Netherlands Holding B.V., Frito-Lay North America Inc., Frito-Lay Sales Inc., Frito-Lay Trading Company Europe GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company Poland GmbH, Frito-Lay Trinidad Unlimited, Fruko Mesrubat Sanayi Limited Sirketi, GB Czech LLC, GB International Inc., GB Russia LLC, GB Slovak LLC, GMP Manufacturing Inc., Gambrinus Investments Limited, Gamesa LLC, Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Gas Natural de Merida S. A. de C. V., Gatorade Puerto Rico Company, General Bottlers of Hungary Inc., Golden Grain Company, Goveh S.R.L., Grayhawk Leasing LLC, Green Hemlock International LLC, Grupo Frito Lay y Compania Limitada, Grupo Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Grupo Mabel, Grupo Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Gulkevichskiy Maslozavod JSC, Hangzhou Baicaowei Corporate Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co, Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Tao Dao Technology Co. Ltd., Health Warrior, Health Warrior Inc., Heathland LP, Helioscope Limited, Hillbrook Inc., Hillgrove Inc., Hillwood Bottling LLC, Hogganfield Limited Partnership, Holding Company "Opolie" JSC, Homefinding Company of Texas, Hudson Valley Insurance Company, IC Equities Inc., IZZE Beverage Co., Inmobiliaria Interamericana S.A. De C.V., Integrated Beverage Services Bangladesh Limited, Integrated Foods & Beverages Pvt. Ltd., International Bottlers Management Co. LLC, International KAS Aktiengesellschaft, Inversiones Borneo S.R.L., Inversiones PFI Chile Limitada, Inviting Foods Holdings Inc., Inviting Foods LLC, KAS Anorthosis S.a r.l, KAS S.L., KFC, Kevita Inc., Kinvara LLC, Kungursky Molkombinat JSC, Larragana S.L., Latin American Holdings Ltd., Latin American Snack Foods ApS, Latin Foods International LLC, Lebedyansky, Lebedyansky Holdings LLC, Lebedyansky LLC, Limited Liability Company "Sandora", Linkbay Limited, Lithuanian Snacks UAB, Mabel, Marbo Product d.o.o. Beograd, Marbo d.o.o. Laktasi, Matudis - Comercio de Produtos Alimentares Limitada, Matutano - Sociedade de Produtos Alimentares Lda., Mid-America Improvement Corporation, Mountainview Insurance Company Inc., Muscle Milk, NCJV LLC, New Bern Transport Corporation, New Century Beverage Company LLC, Noble Leasing LLC, Northeast Hot-Fill Co-op Inc., Office at Solyanka LLC, Onbiso Inversiones S.L., One World Enterprises LLC, One World Investors Inc., P-A Barbados Bottling Company LLC, P-A Bottlers Barbados SRL, P-Americas LLC, PAS Luxembourg S.a r.l, PAS Netherlands B.V., PBG Canada Holdings II LLC, PBG Canada Holdings Inc., PBG Cyprus Holdings Limited, PBG Investment Partnership, PBG Midwest Holdings S.a r.l, PBG Soda Can Holdings S.a r.l, PCBL LLC, PCNA Manufacturing Inc., PR Beverages Cyprus Holding Limited, PR Beverages Cyprus Russia Holding Limited, PRB Luxembourg S.a r.l, PRS Inc., PSAS Inversiones LLC, PSE Logistica S.R.L., PT Quaker Indonesia, Papas Chips S.A., Pei N.V., Pep Trade LLC, Pepsi B.V., Pepsi Beverages Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bottling Group Global Finance LLC, Pepsi Bottling Group GmbH, Pepsi Bottling Group Hoosiers B.V., Pepsi Bottling Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bugshan Investments S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Colombia Ltda, Pepsi Cola Egypt S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Panamericana S.R.L., Pepsi Cola Servis Ve Dagitim Limited Sirketi, Pepsi Cola Trading Ireland, Pepsi Logistics Company Inc., Pepsi Northwest Beverages LLC, Pepsi Overseas Investments Partnership, Pepsi Promotions Inc., Pepsi-Cola Advertising and Marketing Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bermuda Limited, Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Holding C.V., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company Of St. Louis Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach LLC, Pepsi-Cola Company, Pepsi-Cola Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Pepsi-Cola Far East Trade Development Co. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Finance LLC, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers Poland Sp. z o.o., Pepsi-Cola Industrial da Amazonia Ltda., Pepsi-Cola International Cork, Pepsi-Cola International LLC, Pepsi-Cola International Limited, Pepsi-Cola International Limited U.S.A., Pepsi-Cola International Private Limited, Pepsi-Cola Korea Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Management and Administrative Services Inc., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Company Of Uruguay S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing International Limited, Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Mediterranean Limited, Pepsi-Cola Marketing Corp. Of P.R. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mediterranean Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Company Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mexicana Holdings LLC, Pepsi-Cola Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Pepsi-Cola National Marketing LLC, Pepsi-Cola Operating Company Of Chesapeake And Indianapolis, Pepsi-Cola Sales and Distribution Inc., Pepsi-Cola Technical Operations Inc., Pepsi-Cola Thai Trading Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola de Honduras S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola of Corvallis Inc., PepsiAmericas Nemzetkozi Szolgaltato Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, PepsiCo ANZ Holdings Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Alimentos Antioquia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Colombia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Ecuador Cia. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Z.F. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos de Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Amacoco Bebidas Do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCo Asia Research & Development Center Company Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Cyprus Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Limited Partnership, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 1 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 2 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Australia Holdings Pty Limited, PepsiCo Australia International, PepsiCo Austria Services GmbH, PepsiCo Azerbaijan Limited Liability Company, PepsiCo BeLux BV, PepsiCo Beverage Sales LLC, PepsiCo Beverage Singapore Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Beverages Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Beverages International Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Italia Societa' A Responsabilita' Limitata, PepsiCo Canada Finance LLC, PepsiCo Canada Holdings ULC, PepsiCo Canada Investment ULC, PepsiCo Canada ULC, PepsiCo Captive Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Caribbean Inc., PepsiCo China Limited, PepsiCo Consulting Polska Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo De Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Del Paraguay S.R.L., PepsiCo Deutschland GmbH, PepsiCo Eesti AS, PepsiCo Euro Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Euro Finance Antilles B.V., PepsiCo Europe Support Center S.L., PepsiCo Finance Americas Company, PepsiCo Finance Antilles A N.V., PepsiCo Finance Antilles B N.V., PepsiCo Finance South Africa Proprietary Limited, PepsiCo Financial Shared Services Inc., PepsiCo Food & Beverage Holdings Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Foods A.I.E., PepsiCo Foods China Company Limited, PepsiCo Foods Group Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Foods Guangdong Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Nigeria Limited, PepsiCo Foods Private Limited, PepsiCo Foods Sichuan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Taiwan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Vietnam Company, PepsiCo France SAS, PepsiCo Global Business Services India LLP, PepsiCo Global Business Services Poland Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Global Holdings Limited, PepsiCo Global Investments B.V., PepsiCo Global Investments S.a r.l, PepsiCo Global Mobility LLC, PepsiCo Global Real Estate Inc., PepsiCo Global Trading Solutions Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Golden Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Group Finance International B.V., PepsiCo Group Holdings International B.V., PepsiCo Group Spotswood Holdings S.a r.l, PepsiCo Gulf International FZE, PepsiCo Hellas Single Member Industrial and Commercial Societe Anonyme, PepsiCo Holding de Espana S.L., PepsiCo Holdings, PepsiCo Holdings LLC, PepsiCo Holdings Toshkent LLC, PepsiCo Hong Kong LLC, PepsiCo Iberia Servicios Centrales S.L., PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited, PepsiCo India Sales Private Limited, PepsiCo Internacional Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., PepsiCo International Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo International Limited, PepsiCo International Pte Ltd., PepsiCo Investments Europe I B.V., PepsiCo Investments Ltd., PepsiCo Ireland Food & Beverages Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Japan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Light B.V., PepsiCo Logistyka Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., PepsiCo Management Services SAS, PepsiCo Manufacturing A.I.E., PepsiCo Max B.V., PepsiCo Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo Nederland B.V., PepsiCo Nordic Denmark ApS, PepsiCo Nordic Finland Oy, PepsiCo Nordic Norway AS, PepsiCo Nutrition Trading DMCC, PepsiCo One B.V., PepsiCo Overseas Corporation, PepsiCo Overseas Financing Partnership, PepsiCo Panimex Inc, PepsiCo Products B.V., PepsiCo Products FLLC, PepsiCo Puerto Rico Inc., PepsiCo Sales Inc., PepsiCo Sales LLC, PepsiCo Services Asia Ltd., PepsiCo Services CZ s.r.o., PepsiCo Services LLC, PepsiCo Twist B.V., PepsiCo UK Pension Plan Trustee Limited, PepsiCo Ventures B.V., PepsiCo Wave Holdings LLC, PepsiCo World Trading Company Inc., PepsiCo Y LLC, PepsiCo de Argentina S.R.L., PepsiCo de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo do Brasil Industria e Comercio de Alimentos Ltda., PepsiCo do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCola Interamericana de Guatemala S.A., Pet Iberia S.L., Pete & Johnny Limited, Pine International LLC, Pine International Limited, Pinstripe Leasing LLC, Pioneer Food Group Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Groceries Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Group Ltd., Pioneer Foods Holdings Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods UK Ltd, Pioneer Foods Wellingtons Pty Ltd, Pipers Crisps Limited, PlayCo Inc., Pop corners, PopCorners Holdings Inc., Portfolio Concentrate Solutions Unlimited Company, Premier Nutrition Trading L.L.C., Prestwick LLC, Prev PepsiCo Sociedade Previdenciaria, Productos Alimenticios Rene LLC, Productos S.A.S. C.V., Productos SAS Management B.V., Punch N.V., Punica Getranke GmbH, Q O Puerto Rico Inc., QFL OHQ Sdn. Bhd., QTG Development Inc., QTG Services Inc., Quadrant - Amroq Beverages S.R.L., Quaker Development B.V., Quaker European Beverages LLC, Quaker European Investments B.V., Quaker Foods, Quaker Global Investments B.V., Quaker Holdings UK Limited, Quaker Manufacturing LLC, Quaker Oats Asia Inc., Quaker Oats Australia Pty Ltd, Quaker Oats B.V., Quaker Oats Capital Corporation, Quaker Oats Europe Inc., Quaker Oats Europe LLC, Quaker Oats Limited, Quaker Sales & Distribution Inc, Raptas Finance S.a r.l., Rare Fare Foods LLC, Rare Fare Holdings Inc., Reading Industries Ltd, Real Estate Holdings LLC, Rockstar Energy Drink, Rolling Frito-Lay Sales LP, S & T of Mississippi Inc., SIH International LLC, SVC Logistics Inc., SVC Manufacturing Inc., SVE Russia Holdings GmbH, Sabritas LLC, Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Sabritas Snacks America Latina de Nicaragua y Cia Ltda, Sabritas de Costa Rica S. de R.L., Sabritas y Cia. S en C de C.V., Sakata Rice Snacks Australia Pty Ltd, Sandora Holdings B.V., Saudi Snack Foods Company Limited, Sea Eagle International SRL, Seepoint Holdings Ltd., Senselet Food Processing PLC, Senselet Holding B.V., Servicios GBF Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Servicios GFLG y Compania Limitada, Servicios Gamesa Puerto Rico L.L.C., Servicios SYC S. de R.L. de C.V., Seven-Up Asia Inc., Seven-Up Light B.V., Seven-Up Nederland B.V., Shanghai PepsiCo Snack Company Limited, Shanghai YuHo Agricultural Development Co. Ltd, Shoebill LLC, Simba (Proprietary) Limited, Simba Proprietary Limited, Sitka Spruce, Smartfoods Inc., Smiles and Bites Holdings S.de R.L. de C.V., Smiths Crisps Limited, Snack Food Investments GmbH, Snack Food Investments II GmbH, Snack Food Investments Limited, Snack Food-Beverage Asia Products Limited, Snacks America Latina S.R.L., Snacks Guatemala Ltd., So Spark Ltd., Soda-Club CO2 Atlantic GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 Ltd., Soda-Club Switzerland GmbH, Soda-Club Worldwide B.V., SodaStream, SodaStream Australia Pty Ltd, SodaStream CO2 SA, SodaStream Canada Ltd., SodaStream Enterprises N.V., SodaStream France SAS, SodaStream GmbH, SodaStream Iberia S.L., SodaStream Industries Ltd., SodaStream International B.V., SodaStream International Ltd., SodaStream Israel Ltd., SodaStream K.K., SodaStream New Zealand Ltd., SodaStream Nordics AB, SodaStream Poland Sp. z o.o., SodaStream SA Pty Ltd., SodaStream Switzerland GmbH, SodaStream USA Inc., SodaStream Osterreich GmbH, South Beach Beverage Company Inc., South Properties Inc., Spitz International Inc., Sportmex Internacional S.A. de C.V., Springboig Industries Ltd, Spruce Limited, Stacy's Pita Chip Company Incorporated, Star Foods E.M. S.R.L., Stokely-Van Camp Inc., Stratosphere Communications Pty Ltd, Stratosphere Holdings 2018 Limited, Streamfoods Ltd, TFL Holdings LLC, Tasman Finance S.a r.l, The Gatorade Company, The Good Carb Food Company Ltd., The Pepsi Bottling Group Canada ULC, The Quaker Oats Company, The Smith's Snackfood Company Pty Limited, Thomond Group Holdings Limited, Tobago Snack Holdings LLC, Tropicana Alvalle S.L., Tropicana Beverages Limited, Tropicana Europe N.V., Tropicana United Kingdom Limited, Troya-Ultra LLC, United Foods Companies Restaurantes S.A., V-Water, VentureCo Israel Ltd, Veurne Snack Foods BV, Vitamin Brands Ltd., Walkers Crisps Limited, Walkers Group Limited, Walkers Snack Foods Limited, Walkers Snacks Distribution Limited, Walkers Snacks Limited, Whitman Corporation, Whitman Insurance Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Beverages JSC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Brands Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Central Asia-Almaty LLP, Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods LLC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Georgia Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann JSC, and Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine PJSC. Read More Grupo Supervielle S.A., a financial services holding company, provides various banking products and services in Argentina. The company operates through Personal and Business Banking, Corporate Banking, Treasury and Finance, Capital Markets and Structuring, and Support Areas segments. It offers savings accounts, time and demand deposits, and checking accounts; various loan products, including personal, consumer, mortgage, unsecured, and car loans; overdrafts; loans with special facilities for project and working capital financing; and leasing, bank guarantees for tenants, salary advances, domestic and international factoring, international guarantees and letters of credit, payroll payment plans, credit cards, debit cards, and senior citizens benefit payment services, as well as financial services and investments, such as mutual funds and guarantees. The company also provides foreign trade and cash management; advisory services; treasury services; insurance products comprising personal accidents, protected bag, unemployment, total protection, and pets insurance policies; and asset management and other services, as well as operates as an online broker. As of December 31, 2021, it operates through a network of 298 access points, including 184 bank branches, 10 banking sales and collection centers, 79 points of sales, 20 Tarjeta Automatica branches, and 5 Mila branches, as well as 450 ATMs, 230 self-service terminals, and 298 ATMs with biometric identification. The company was formerly known as Inversiones y Participaciones S.A. and changed its name to Grupo Supervielle S.A. in November 2008. Grupo Supervielle S.A. was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Capitalising on the gulf On June 5, Qatars Middle East neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain blocked access to Doha by air and land. RLI Corp., an insurance holding company, underwrites property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. Its Casualty segment provides commercial and personal coverage products; and general liability products, such as coverage for third-party liability of commercial insureds, including manufacturers, contractors, apartments, and mercantile. It also offers coverages for security guards and in the areas of onshore energy-related businesses and environmental liability for underground storage tanks, contractors and asbestos, and environmental remediation specialists; and professional liability coverages focuses on providing errors and omission coverage to small to medium-sized design, technical, computer, and miscellaneous professionals. This segment provides commercial automobile liability and physical damage insurance to local, intermediate and long haul truckers, public transportation entities, and other types of specialty commercial automobile risks; incidental and related insurance coverages; inland marine coverages; management liability coverages, such as directors and officers liability insurance, fiduciary liability and coverages, employment practice liability, and for various classes of risks, including public and private businesses; and healthcare liability and home business insurance products. The company's Property segment offers commercial property, cargo, hull, protection and indemnity, marine liability, inland marine, homeowners' and dwelling fire, and other property insurance products. Its Surety segment offers commercial surety bonds for medium to large-sized businesses; small bonds for businesses and individuals; and bonds for small to medium-sized contractors. The company also underwrites various reinsurance coverages. It markets its products through branch offices, brokers, carrier partners, and underwriting and independent agents. RLI Corp. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited. Read More The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United states and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers workers' compensation, commercial automobile and property, general liability, commercial multi-peril, employers' liability, public and product liability, professional indemnity, marine, aviation, onshore and offshore energy, construction, terrorism, personal accident, and kidnap and ransom insurance products. This segment operates through select accounts, which serve small businesses; commercial accounts that serve mid-sized businesses; national accounts, which serve large companies; and national property and other that serve large and mid-sized customers, commercial trucking industry, and agricultural businesses, as well as markets and distributes its products through brokers, wholesale agents, and program managers. The Bond & Specialty Insurance segment provides surety, fidelity, management and professional liability, and other property and casualty coverages and related risk management services through independent agencies and brokers. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals through independent agencies and brokers. The Travelers Companies, Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York. United Parcel Service, Inc. provides letter and package delivery, transportation, logistics, and related services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States. The International Package segment provides guaranteed day and time-definite international shipping services in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment offers guaranteed time-definite express options. The company also provides international air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, distribution and post-sales, and mail and consulting services in approximately 200 countries and territories. In addition, it offers truckload brokerage services; supply chain solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry; shipping, visibility, and billing technologies; and financial and insurance services. The company operates a fleet of approximately 121,000 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; and owns 59,000 containers that are used to transport cargo in its aircraft. United Parcel Service, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Data discrepancy creates confusion The reliability of statistics produced by the government has been called into question once again, as discrepancies have been noticed in data on production of milk, meat and eggs compiled by two different bodies. The following companies are subsidiares of Lithia Motors: 797 Valley Street LLC, Albany CJD Fiat, Baierl Auto Group, Baierl Auto Parts LLC, Baierl Automotive Corporation, Baierl Chevrolet Inc., Baierl Holding LLC, Broadway Ford, Buhler Ford Inc, Cadillac of Portland Lloyd Center LLC, Camp Automotive Inc., Carbone Auto Body LLC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat of Morgantown, Cranberry Automotive Inc., Crater Lake Ford Lincoln, Crater Lake Mazda, DCH (Oxnard) Inc., DCH Auto Group, DCH Bloomfield LLC, DCH CA LLC, DCH Calabasas-A LLC, DCH California Investments LLC, DCH California Motors Inc., DCH DMS NJ LLC, DCH Del Norte Inc., DCH Essex Inc., DCH Financial NJ LLC, DCH Freehold - V LLC, DCH Freehold LLC, DCH Holdings LLC, DCH Investments Inc. (New Jersey), DCH Investments Inc. (New York), DCH Korean Imports LLC, DCH Mamaroneck LLC, DCH Mission Valley LLC, DCH Monmouth LLC, DCH Montclair LLC, DCH Motors LLC, DCH NY Motors LLC, DCH Nanuet LLC, DCH North America Inc., DCH Oxnard 1521 Imports Inc., DCH Riverside-S Inc., DCH Simi Valley Inc., DCH Support Services LLC, DCH TL Holdings LLC, DCH TL NY Holdings LLC, DCH Temecula Imports LLC, DCH Temecula Motors LLC, DCH Thousand Oaks-F Inc., DCH Torrance Imports Inc., Dah Chong Hong CA Trading LLC, Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation, Daron Motors LLC, Day Auto Group, Downtown LA, Driveway Motors LLC, Elizabeth Collision LLC, Florida SS LLC, Ford Lincoln of Morgantown, Freehold Nissan LLC, Fuse Auto Sales LLC, Hamilton Honda, Hazleton Honda, Hutchins Eugene Nissan Inc., Hutchins Imported Motors Inc., Jaguar Landrover Mission Viejo, LA Motors Holding LLC, LAD Advertising Inc., LAD Carson-N LLC, LAD Mission Viejo-JLR Inc., LAD Mobu Inc., LAD-AU LLC, LAD-MB LLC, LAD-N LLC, LAD-P LLC, LAD-T LLC, LAD-V LLC, LBMP LLC, LFKF LLC, LGPAC Inc., LLL Sales Co LLC, LMBB LLC, LMBP LLC, LMOP LLC, LSTAR LLC, Lithia AcDM Inc., Lithia Aircraft Inc., Lithia Anchorage-C LLC, Lithia Anchorage-H LLC, Lithia Armory Garage LLC, Lithia Auction & Recon LLC, Lithia Auto Services Inc., Lithia Automotive Inc., Lithia BA Holding Inc., Lithia BNM Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Baierl-S LLC, Lithia Bryan Texas Inc., Lithia Buffalo-A LLC, Lithia CCTF Inc., Lithia CDH Inc., Lithia CIMR Inc., Lithia CJDO Inc., Lithia CJDSA Inc., Lithia CJDSF Inc., Lithia CM Inc., Lithia CO Inc., Lithia CSA Inc., Lithia Community Development Company Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-F Inc., Lithia Crater Lake-M Inc., Lithia DE Inc., Lithia DM Inc., Lithia DMID Inc., Lithia Des Moines-VW LLC, Lithia Dodge of Tri-Cities Inc., Lithia Eatontown-F LLC, Lithia FLCC LLC, Lithia FMF Inc., Lithia Financial Corporation (previously Lithia Leasing Inc. and Lithia Credit Inc.), Lithia Florida Holding Inc., Lithia Ford of Boise Inc., Lithia Fresno Inc., Lithia HDM Inc., Lithia HGF Inc., Lithia HMID Inc., Lithia HPI Inc. (nonoperating), Lithia Hamilton-H LLC, Lithia Hazleton-H LLC, Lithia Idaho Falls-F Inc., Lithia Imports of Anchorage Inc., Lithia JEF Inc., Lithia Klamath Inc., Lithia Klamath-T Inc., Lithia LBGGF Inc., Lithia LHGF Inc., Lithia LSGF Inc., Lithia MBDM Inc., Lithia MMF Inc., Lithia MTLM Inc., Lithia McMurray-C LLC, Lithia Medford HON Inc., Lithia Middletown-L LLC, Lithia Monroeville-A LLC, Lithia Monroeville-C LLC, Lithia Monroeville-F LLC, Lithia Monroeville-V LLC, Lithia Moon-S LLC, Lithia Moon-V LLC, Lithia Morgantown-CJD LLC, Lithia Morgantown-F LLC, Lithia Morgantown-S LLC, Lithia Motors Support Services Inc., Lithia NA Inc., Lithia NC Inc., Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #1, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #3, Lithia ND Acquisition Corp. #4, Lithia NDM Inc., Lithia NF Inc., Lithia NSA Inc., Lithia Northeast Real Estate LLC, Lithia Orchard Park-H LLC, Lithia Paramus-M LLC, Lithia Pittsburgh-S LLC, Lithia Ramsey-B LLC, Lithia Ramsey-L LLC, Lithia Ramsey-M LLC, Lithia Ramsey-T LLC, Lithia Real Estate Inc., Lithia Reno Sub-HYUN Inc., Lithia Reno-CJ LLC, Lithia Reno-VW LLC, Lithia Rose-FT Inc., Lithia SOC Inc., Lithia SSP LLC, Lithia Salmir Inc., Lithia Sea P Inc., Lithia Seaside Inc., Lithia Spokane-B LLC, Lithia Spokane-S LLC, Lithia TA Inc., Lithia TO Inc., Lithia TR Inc., Lithia Uniontown-C LLC, Lithia VAuDM Inc., Lithia VF Inc., Lithia Wexford-H LLC, Lithia of Abilene Inc., Lithia of Anchorage Inc., Lithia of Bend #1 LLC, Lithia of Bend #2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 1 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 2 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 3 LLC, Lithia of Bennington - 4 LLC, Lithia of Billings II LLC, Lithia of Billings Inc., Lithia of Casper LLC, Lithia of Clear Lake LLC, Lithia of Concord I Inc., Lithia of Concord II Inc., Lithia of Corpus Christi Inc., Lithia of Des Moines Inc., Lithia of Eureka Inc., Lithia of Fairbanks Inc., Lithia of Great Falls Inc., Lithia of Helena Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-A Inc., Lithia of Honolulu-BGMCC LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-F LLC, Lithia of Honolulu-V LLC, Lithia of Killeen LLC, Lithia of Lodi Inc., Lithia of Maui-H LLC, Lithia of Missoula II LLC, Lithia of Missoula III Inc., Lithia of Missoula Inc., Lithia of Pocatello Inc., Lithia of Portland I LLC, Lithia of Portland LLC, Lithia of Robstown LLC, Lithia of Roseburg Inc., Lithia of Santa Rosa Inc., Lithia of Seattle Inc., Lithia of South Central AK Inc., Lithia of Spokane II Inc., Lithia of Spokane Inc., Lithia of Stockton Inc., Lithia of Stockton-V Inc., Lithia of TF Inc., Lithia of Troy LLC, Lithia of Utica - 1 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 2 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 3 LLC, Lithia of Utica - 4 LLC, Lithia of Walnut Creek Inc., Lithia of Wasilla LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 1 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 2 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 3 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 4 LLC, Lithia of Yorkville - 5 LLC, Medford Insurance LLC, Milford DCH Inc., Northland Ford Inc., PA Real Estate LLC, PA Support Services LLC, Paramus Collision LLC, Paramus World Motors LLC, Personalized Marketing LLC, Prestige Auto Group, RFA Holdings LLC, Ray Laks Acura, Ray Laks Honda, Sacramento-L Inc., Salem-B LLC, Salem-H LLC, Salem-V LLC, Sharlene Realty LLC, Shift Portland LLC, Southern Cascades Finance Corporation, Subaru of Morgantown, Tampa-H LLC, Tustin Motors Inc., Wesley Chapel-H LLC, Wesley Chapel-T LLC, Zelienople Real Estate I L.P., and Zelienople Real Estate L.L.C.. Read More Deuba in no mood to resign as NC chief Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba is in no mood to step down or call partys special general convention in immediate future, according to leaders close to him. Fraudster held for swindling two men of Rs 2.1m A man has been arrested for his alleged involvement in defrauding two persons of Rs 2.1 million using social networking site Facebook. Gachhadar defeats UML's Chaudhary in Sunsari-3 Nepali Congress (NC) leader Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has won Federal Parliament seat from Sunsari constituency-3, defeating his closest rival candidate Bhagwati Chaudhary of CPN-UML. Award-winning Dalhousie PhD student Simon Gebremeskel is a pioneer in discovering how the immune system can fight cancer. The more we know, the more we realize we don't know. We're only starting to scratch the surface, says says Gebremeskel who, as top-prize winner at this years Canadian Student Health Research Forum, has earned himself a coveted nomination to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany in 2018. Cancer-killing combo Gebremeskel is working with Dr. Brent Johnston in Dalhousie Medical Schools Department of Microbiology & Immunology to develop a cancer treatment that kills cancer cells by both activating the immune system and introducing viruses that kill cancer cells. This novel combination strategy of immunotherapy plus oncolytic viruses could be available within a few years. Simon Gebremeskel with Dr. Brent Johnston. In fact, Gebremeskel predicts people with cancer will be treated entirely differently within the next decade or so, once the costs of groundbreaking new treatments come down. The beauty of cancer immunotherapy is that side effects are not as severe as those in surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. And, there is evidence the immune system remembers, so it will fight off new attacks by a returning cancer. It's a cops and robbers story with scientists racing towards a cure while devious cancer cells try to outwit the immune system. Cancer as immune deficiency disease What's becoming clear in the field of cancer therapy is the majority of cancer patients should be looked at as patients who have immune deficiency, says the Kenyan-born scientist, who did his undergraduate degree at Queen's University. Normal cells in our body become transformed quite frequently into pre-cancerous or early-stage cancer cells. Evidence suggests the immune system is able to recognize these changed cells and clear them off. As Gebremeskel explains, cancer erupts for two reasons: The immune system fails to recognize the changed cell, which is now cancerous, and the new cancer cell turns off the immune system, essentially enabling it to proliferate without any checks and balances. The two-pronged approach that Gebremeskel and the team in Dr. Johnstons lab have developed helps the immune system fight cancer in two ways. First, they use viruses to infect and kill cancer cells in a way that makes any remaining cancer cells visible to the immune system. Second, we use compounds that activate the immune system to help it overcome any attempts to shut it down, he says. The challenge will be convincing clinicians that you get a better response when you combine these two approaches. The Johnston lab is working with melanomas and breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, investigating when to introduce each approach. We know giving the virus first works, but is that the best outcome? If we flip the order, would we get an even better therapeutic benefit? We don't know yet. An emerging research superstar A specialist in immunology who first worked in autoimmune diseases in Toronto at St. Michael's Hospital, Gebremeskel was drawn to Dalhousie in 2011 by Dr. Brent Johnston and his work in cancer immunotherapy. He seemed to be a young and energetic investigator who was working in a very new and exciting field, says Gebremeskel, adding, The other reason I came to Halifax was because I fell in love with the city when I was here in 2009 for Paul McCartney's concert I came and I loved the people and haven't looked back ever since. Gebremeskel with Tora Oliphant and Brynn Walker, senior undergraduate students in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Gebremeskel won a research excellence award from Dalhousie Medical School in 2016 and the three-minute thesis contest at Dalhousie University in 2017. After that, he was chosen to attend the Canadian Student Health Research Forum in June in Winnipeg. Over two days of competition with 300 other students, he emerged as the top winner, who receives the Lindau award. The top three winners were invited to the Gairdner Awards gala in Toronto, which celebrates international biomedical scientists. I got to meet people that I have only read their work or was aware of their discoveries, says Gebremeskel, who attended the Gairdner Gala this November. What was encouraging from these various events was learning that not everyone has a linear path some of these people were very open about the failures they'd had in their careers. Gebremeskel, who defends his PhD thesis this spring, is a bright light at Dalhousie. He is outstanding, says Dr. Roger McLeod, associate dean of research at the medical school. His work is absolutely groundbreaking he's one of the best students weve ever had in our graduate studies program in no small measure due to his research skills and dedication to Dalhousie. A love of teaching matches Gebremeskels love of research. He has mentored many undergraduate students in Dr. Johnston's lab and describes the experience as most rewarding. We take on way more students than most laboratories would, he says, mostly because I recognize the need to offer these opportunities to students as early as possible, so hopefully many continue to work in the field and get excited about it. If I can ever find a position that will allow me to do the research and continue to mentor the next generation of scientists, that would be a dream position. Editor's note, Dec. 11: This story has been updated to clarify the nomination process for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. New Delhi: Launching an all-out attack against the Cong-ress before the 2nd phase of Gujarat polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday banks were pressured during UPA rule to give loans worth thousands of crore to select industrialists. This noise over NPAs is the biggest liability handed down by the economists sitting in the previous government, he said. Mr Modi asked what organisations like Ficci were doing when people sitting in the previous government were pressurising banks to give loans to select industrialist. People sitting in previous government knew, banks knew, corporates knew and organisations linked with markets also knew wrong thing is happening, Mr Modi said. These NPAs are the biggest scam of the UPA government. It is a bigger scam than CWG, 2G and coal scams. In a way, this was a loot of people money by those in the (UPA) government through select industrialists, Mr Modi said. He sought to know whether an attempt was ever made to wake up those who silently watched the entire loot. PM Modi rejects claim on bail-in clause Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill is being brought to protect the interest of the bank consumers, even as he termed non-performing assets of state owned banks as the biggest scam of UPA government. Stating that the government is taking steps to improve the condition of banks, Mr Modi said, Rumours are being spread regarding FRDI. The government is working for securing interest of customers and protecting their deposits, but contrary news is being spread. He was speaking at the 90th Annual General Meeting of industry chamber Ficci. Thousands of people have expressed concern over Section 52 of the FRDI Bill which seeks to empower Resolution Corporation to use depositors money to rescue failing banks either by locking in deposits for longer tenure or cancelling the banks liability to depositors. He also questioned as to why the UPA government did not think of bringing a legislation like the RERA to protect the interests of home buyers and to enhance transparency in the real estate sector. Mr Modi said that implementation of GST was an old demand of the industry and wanted to know what Ficci was doing to promote it among various players. The Prime Minister pointed out how even after GST was reduced on restaurants, people were complaining on social media that restaurants had increased prices of their menu denying them benefit of lower taxes. Though that government was taking steps to prevent such things, he asked what Ficci was doing about it. Mr Modi noted it takes time to implement a system like GST which is replacing a 70 years old way of doing things. He asked Ficci to handhold small enterprises and make efforts to ensure that the dues owed to them by big companies are cleared expeditiously. Can you do something to clear the MSME dues lying with big companies on time. There are rules in place, yet it is true that dues of small enterprises are generally stuck with big firms, Mr Modi said. Small entrepreneurs are scared of demanding their rightful dues stuck with big enterprises in the fear of losing business. If institutions like Ficci make efforts to solve this problems of small enterprises, the economy will get a new pace, Mr Modi said. Mumbai: A co-passenger, who travelled in the same flight with Secret Superstar actress Zaira Wasim and suspect Vikas Sachdeva in the business class, said he didn't see the man under accusation misbehaving with the 17-year-old actor. According to a report in The Times Of India, the co-passenger told Sahar police in a statement, "I was seated in the same... class in which the actor and the suspect (Sachdeva) flew from Delhi. The suspect did not seem to have done anything apart from his act of keeping his legs on the armrest of the seat where the actor was seated." Dangal actress Zaira Wasim, on Saturday (December 9) night, shared her ordeal via Instagram story claiming that a middle-aged man who was seated behind her on a flight, moved his foot up and down her neck and back. Vikas Sachdev was arrested by the Mumbai Police for allegedly molesting the actor onboard a Vistara flight from Delhi to Mumbai. "I saw Sachdeva doze off immediately after he settled in his seat after boarding the flight at Delhi. His fault was he kept his legs on the armrest, which was wrong. I did not see him misbehaving. He also apologised when the actor shouted at him when the flight landed at Mumbai airport and the matter was settled then," the witness was quoted as saying. Earlier, Divya Sachdev, the wife of the accused, also came out in support of her husband saying that Zaira has wrongly accused her husband and instead countered the actress for doing a publicity stunt. "My husband is a family man. He is innocent. He was mentally exhausted as he was returning after attending the funeral of his uncle (in Delhi). He was taking rest and was fast asleep when his leg accidentally touched the girl. Vikas apologised to the actor before getting out of the plane to which she said it was okay," she claimed. A group of researchers have found that a chemical found in marijuana, known as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has been found to potentially slow the process in which mental decline can occur in up to 50 per cent of HIV patients. Washington DC: Marijuana is considered to be a medicinal drug and if consumed for health purposes, it can be useful for a person. But, now a study has found that marijuana might really help HIV patients keep mental stamina longer. A group of researchers have found that a chemical found in marijuana, known as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has been found to potentially slow the process in which mental decline can occur in up to 50 per cent of HIV patients. While talking about the study Norbert Kaminski, lead author of the study, said, "It is believed that cognitive function decreases in many of those with HIV partly due to chronic inflammation that occurs in the brain. This happens because the immune system is constantly being stimulated to fight off disease." Kaminski and his co-author, Mike Rizzo, a graduate student in toxicology, discovered that the compounds in marijuana were able to act as anti-inflammatory agents, reducing the number of inflammatory white blood cells, called monocytes, and decreasing the proteins they release in the body. Rizzo noted, "This decrease of cells could slow down, or maybe even stop, the inflammatory process, potentially helping patients maintain their cognitive function longer." The two researchers took blood samples from 40 HIV patients who reported whether or not they used marijuana. Then, they isolated the white blood cells from each donor and studied inflammatory cell levels and the effect marijuana had on the cells. "The patients who didn't smoke marijuana had a very high level of inflammatory cells compared to those who did use. In fact, those who used marijuana had levels pretty close to a healthy person not infected with HIV," explained Kaminski. With antiretroviral therapy -- a standard form of treatment that includes a cocktail of drugs to ward off the virus -- these cells have a better chance of staying intact. Yet, even with this therapy, certain white blood cells can still be overly stimulated and eventually become inflammatory. Rizzo explained, "We'll continue investigating these cells and how they interact and cause inflammation specifically in the brain. What we learn from this could also have implications to other brain-related diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's since the same inflammatory cells have been found to be involved." They believe that knowing more about this interaction could ultimately lead to new therapeutic agents that could help HIV patients specifically maintain their mental function. HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, infects and can destroy or change the functions of immune cells that defend the body. continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2016, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV (including 1.8 million children). Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 78 million people have become infected with HIV and 35 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2016, 1 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. India remains the country with the third largest population of people with HIV after South Africa and Nigeria. India had 2.1 million people living with HIV at the end of 2016, with new infections falling to 80,000 in 2016 from 1,50,000 in 2005. The study was published in journal, AIDS. The deceased has been identified as Inspector Periyapandi of Maduravoyal police station in Chennai. (Photo: Screengrab) Jaipur: A police inspector from Chennai was killed in a shoot-out by thieves in Rampura village of Pali district in Rajasthan on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Inspector Periyapandi of Maduravoyal police station in Chennai. He was leading a team to solve a robbery case in the city. Another inspector, Muni Sekar, sustained serious bullet injuries and was admitted in a hospital for treatment. His condition is stated to be critical, but stable. The inspector was said to be leading a special eight-member team to nab two suspected robbers involved in 3 kg gold loot from a jewellery shop in Chennai in November. The team had arrived in a village near Rampura and conducted a raid on a brick kiln to arrest Nathuram Jat (35), one of the suspects at around 2.30 am. However, the policemen faced resistance from the accused and some other people who pelted stones at the police team and attacked with iron rods. However, the Chennai police team managed to nab Nathuram. Somehow, he snatched Periyapandi's service revolver and fired at him. The inspector died on the spot while another policeman suffered serious injuries. Nathuram and a few people involved in the incident were arrested, while a few others are on the run. There were two more accused in the gold heist Deepa Ram and Dinesh Choudhary-- but the raid was conducted to nab Nathuram who already had six cases registered against him, according to the local police. This is the second instance when a police team from another state has come to Rajasthan to arrest people involved in a crime in their state but didnt inform local police or take its help. In October, a robber was shot dead in an encounter in Jalore district by a police team from Andhra Pradesh. A woman was also killed during the police chase. Police inspector Periyapandiyan attached to the Maduravoyal police station in Chennai was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthan's Pali district. (Photo: Screengrab) Chennai: A city police inspector was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthan's Pali district in the early hours of Wednesday where a special team went to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist in Chennai. A senior police official identified the deceased as, an inspector attached to the Maduravoyal police station in Chennai. "The shoot-out took place when a police team went to nab the suspects at a village in Pali district. Periyapandiyan was killed in the firing while others suffered injuries," he said. The incident occurred around 2:30 am, the official said. A police team led by Joint Commissioner (West) Santosh Kumar is likely to visit Rajasthan in connection with the incident. In November, robbers had decamped with about 3 kg of gold from a jewellery shop at Kolathur in Chennai, after entering it by making a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to nab the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan. Gorkha folk elect Bhattarai for his past works Naya Shakti Nepal coordinator Baburam Bhattarai won the Gorkha-2 federal parliamentary seat for his efforts to develop the district while he was the finance minister and the prime minister. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi also said that the Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial period and the most important thing between the two countries is to really cultivate mutual trust. (Photo: Twitter | @MEAIndia) New Delhi/Beijing: The Doklam standoff had put "severe pressure" on India-China ties though the issue was resolved through diplomatic means, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during their meeting in New Delhi. The bilateral ties went through a serious test after Indian border troops "illegally trespassed" into the Chinese territory in June, Wang told Swaraj. The Chinese foreign minister was in New Delhi to attend the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting. Although the standoff ended eventually through diplomatic means more than two months later, lessons must be learned and efforts must be made to avoid such an incident in the future, said Wang, whose comments were posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website on Tuesday. "The standoff put the bilateral relations under severe pressure," he said. Wang said that the Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial period and the most important thing between the two countries is to really cultivate mutual trust. Leaders from both countries have shared the view that China and India should regard each other's development as opportunities rather than challenges, and China and India are partners rather than rivals, thus the two sides should sincerely implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, Wang noted. While enhancing strategic communication at all levels, restoring dialogue mechanisms that have been established and deepening pragmatic cooperation in all fields, both sides should also properly manage differences so as to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas, he said. Wang's visit to New Delhi is the first by a top Chinese official to India after the 73-day Doklam standoff and after the commencement of the second five-year term of President Xi Jinping. The Doklam standoff ended on August 28 after Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to Indias 'Chicken Neck' corridor. India had objected to the construction highlighting its security concerns. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan. Besides Swaraj, Wang also called on President Ram Nath Kovind and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. In his meeting with Doval, Wang said China and India should make correct choice in development of relations without politicising and complicating issues left over by history. Sino-Indian relations are at a crucial moment when both sides need to make right choice on the future of the bilateral relations, Wang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency. Chennai/Kanyakumari : Averring that several fishermen who were reported to be missing have been rescued and the lives of only four fishermen have been lost due to Cyclone Ockhi, State Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar on Tuesday has said search operations in the sea will continue till the last fisherman is found. As of December 2, a total of 3,724 fishermen, including 158 fishermen in 37 country boats and 3,566 men in 284 mechanised boats were reported missing. Of them, a total of 123 men on 24 country crafts and 3,139 who set out to fish on 297 mechanised vessels have been rescued and brought home safely. In addition, 19 returned home after treatment, while four lives have been lost because of Ockhi, Mr Jayakumar said. He disclosed that about 35 men who went for fishing on 13 country boats and 427 men who left the shores on 35 mechanised boats have to be traced. About 1,508 men on 154 boats returned from other States. Search operation is on and the Chief Minister (Edappadi K. Palaniswami) has accelerated the official machinery to continue the search till the last fisherman is found, the Minister said, expressing the hope that all the men would return home safely. All steps to rescue fishermen are on in full swing. The Tamil Nadu government, in coordination with the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force, has intensified the rescue measures and all possible places in the sea, as well as islands, are being searched, he added. To a question, the Minister said joint committees comprising officials from the Fisheries and Revenue departments have been formed to enumerate the exact number of fishing crafts, the number of fishermen who set sail and also to gather particulars on the origin of setting out for fishing and where they operate. This work is on in all the 44 villages, he said. Kumari fishermen call off stir, some fishers to continue Fishermen's agitations demanding that the State Chief Minister visit the cyclone affected areas of Kanyakumari district were withdrawn late on Wednesday evening. This was announced here by Fr Churchill after the Chief Minister Mr. Edappadi K. Palaniswami, declared to fulfill all the demands of the suffering fishermen. The top priest asked the fisher-folks to wind up all the agitations that were on for the last five days since December 7. A section of the irate fishermen, however, who tried to picket the Catholic priests car later in the evening, said their agitation would continue until the last missing fisherman is saved. Bengaluru: Editor of Hai Bangalore Ravi Belagere, who has been accused of giving a supari to eliminate his colleague Sunil Heggaravalli for allegedly having a relationship with his second wife, is likely to move court for bail on Wednesday. Belagere's advocate Diwakar told Deccan Chronicle that he will approach a sessions court to get his client out on bail. Big fan following in prison It is learnt that Ravi Belagere, who shot to fame by writing stories related to underworld and real life incidents of rowdies, has a big fan following inside the prison. On the other hand, it is learnt, there are also some inmates who hate him for his stories that put them in trouble. "Inside the prison, tabloids like 'Hai Bangalore' and others have a good number of readers as many rowdy elements want to know what's happening in the underworld. Also, the sleaze factor in these tabloids has earned them readers. There are a good number of fans for Belagere even inside the prison," a source said. "Some of them also want to meet Belagere, but it cannot happen because of legal and security reasons," the source added. New Delhi: In a decision that marks a significant step towards an accountable, cleaner polity, the government on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to set up 12 special courts in various parts of the country to dispose of an estimated 1,581 cases in a year against MPs and MLAs that have been pending since 2014. These cases were decla-red by politicians in 2014 when they filed their nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls as well as elections to eight Assemblies. In an affidavit filed in response to the courts direction, the government said the courts are to be set up at a cost of `7.80 cr for which the ministry of finance has approved. On a query relating to the stages of trial of these cases, the Centre said it was in the process of collecting information from the Election Commission and states as law and order is a state subject. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition from Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a lawyer and a member of the BJP, who has argued against the present system of barring a convicted lawmaker from contesting elections for six years. The petitioner has said a lifetime-ban is required a suggestion the top court agreed with during the last hearing on November 1. According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a politician convicted and sentenced to a jail term of two years or more shall be disqualified from contesting polls for six years from the date of his release from prison after conclusion of the term. On November 1, the apex court had directed the Centre to set up special courts exclusively for taking up trials in criminal cases pending against 1,581 MPs and MLAs since 2014. The apex court had made it clear that these special courts should only handle cases involving lawmakers so that these trials can be completed within a year. Each court should be able dispose of 165 cases in a year. However, in states where there are less than 65 cases, the Centre proposed that these cases be tried in the existing fast-track courts. New Delhi: The claim made in a new show of a US science channel that the 'Ram Setu' between India and Sri Lanka is man-made has reaffirmed the party's stand on the issue, the BJP said on Wednesday, asserting that it believes in the existence of Lord Rama. "It is unfortunate that the Congress has always been apologetic when it came to respecting Hindu religion. I wish once and for all this debate (on Ram Setu) is settled. We should respect Ram Setu and no damage should be done to it," Union minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference at the BJP headquarters. His cabinet colleague and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out at the UPA government for an affidavit in the Supreme Court which had questioned the belief among Hindus that the land bridge was built by Lord Rama to reach then Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, as depicted in the epic Ramayana. "Those who filed the affidavit should explain now. The research has supported what the BJP has been claiming all along...The setu is part of our cultural heritage," Prasad told reporters. In a promo for its upcoming show, the channel quotes an archaeologist that the rocks on top of sand pre-date the sand. "This is what the BJP has been saying all along," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in Delhi. The BJP, Goyal said, is not apologetic about its love for Lord Rama and for the party functionaries he was an ideal human being. "A secular democratic framework allows each Indian to respect his religion. We are proud of our religion and we are proud of every religion in India," he said. Patrice Nganang, a professor at New York's Stony Brook University, is due to go before a prosecutor in the coming week. (Photo: Twitter/ @nganang) New York: A Cameroonian-American writer detained as he tried to leave the Central African nation is facing charges over writings critical of its government and family and friends are calling for public support in a campaign for his release. Patrice Nganang, a professor at New York's Stony Brook University, is due to go before a prosecutor in the coming week, according to an account from his wife that was sent to fellow Stony Brook professor Robert Harvey. Nganang was detained on Thursday as he was trying to leave Cameroon to join his wife in Zimbabwe. Nganang and his attorney were informed of the charges against him at a hearing with judiciary police and were told the charges include accusations of insulting Cameroon President Paul Biya and issuing a death threat. Nganang has been critical of how Biya, in power since 1982, has handled a secessionist movement in some English-speaking areas. He wrote an article that was published shortly before he was detained. At the judiciary police hearing on Saturday, Nganang's lawyer said he didn't represent a threat because he had never worked with any violent or armed groups and had always been a peaceful activist. A prosecutor will decide what happens with the case moving forward. Nganang's supporters called for an outpouring of support for him, suggesting actions including calling the Cameroon embassy to demand his release; getting in touch with the US Department of State and federal elected officials; reaching out to advocates like Amnesty International or the Committee to Protect Journalists; and spreading the campaign through social media. Hari responded to the girl's post on a social network app requesting help to buy a new mobile phone. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. (Photo: File/ Representational) Singapore: An Indian-origin student was sentenced to 10 months in jail in Singapore for taking the services of an underage prostitute and not paying her in May 2016, a media report said Wednesday. Hari Kumar Anpalagan, 25, was found guilty of having sex with the girl, who had admitted she was 14-year-old and was providing services in exchange for cash, the Straight Times reported. "You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl...You added salt to the wound by not paying her," District Judge Kenneth Yap chided Hari Tuesday. Following a three-day trial, Hari was convicted on one count of hiring a sex worker who was below 18 years old. The court heard that Hari responded to the girl's post on the Tagged social network app in which she requested help to buy a new mobile phone. He offered to assist and asked what he would receive in return. The girl offered sexual services, and, after negotiating, they agreed that she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. The pair met at around 9 pm in May 2016 at the void deck of her apartment block. She told him then that she was 16, but this did not deter Hari from engaging her services. Later, the girl told Hari that she would wait for him downstairs before running off. He left without paying her. The offences came to light when the girl's school found out about her activities. The police were notified, and officers arrested Hari after they found text messages between him and the girl when they searched her mobile phone. Hari, who was unrepresented, had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed in his defence that he met the girl out of the "goodness of his heart" to give her 70 Singapore dollars to help her buy a phone. Hari asked the court to defer his sentence to a later date, saying that he had to complete an internship. He will be back in court on January 5. According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for investigations for having sex with the girl. For engaging the services of an underage prostitute, Hari could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined. Govt should not designate chiefs in seven provinces: Nepal CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the caretaker government should not designate chiefs in the seven provinces. Apple SVP Phil Schiller spills the beans on Apple's gamble with FaceID on the iPhone X, the delay in shipping the HomePod, the simplicity of the AirPods and more. The iPhone X was the biggest gamble Apple has made, according to Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of global marketing. In an interview to British gadget magazine T3, Schiller opened up about giving the home button on the iPhone X the boot, "the simplicity" of AirPods and the Apple Pencil, Apples foray into AR, the upcoming iMac Pro and more. The iPhone X shook things up when it came with an all-glass front with no home button and no TouchID. People thought using the new iPhone will be a hassle and muscle memory will prevent users from embracing the new gesture-based interface. But Schiller downplayed it saying the learning curve for the iPhone X gestures was unexpectedly short. Most people are comfortable with it within minutes 30 minutes, whatever. Its not the kind of thing you have to live with for a week or two to get used to. It doesnt mean you know, weve still got muscle memory sometimes and we might try to do something and we remember, Oh no, thats not how you do it - you want to swipe up on an iPhone 8 or 7, or on an iPad, and no, it doesnt work that way. That, to me, is always the sign of some or our most advanced, best thought-out technology: they become intuitive incredibly quickly and change how you think about everything else you use, he said. Ditching the home button wasnt easy for Apple. Schiller acknowledged Apple knew what it had with TouchID and the home button and it was no small thing to replace it. Additionally, the home button had time to evolve into what it became eventually before getting the axe. FaceID does not have that breathing space. It had to work from the get go. At the time, at the beginning, it seemed almost impossible. Not just almost. It seemed impossible. And to pull off what feels impossible and make it possible and not only that, but just something we love using is just a great achievement, Schiller said. He credits Tim Cooks ability to recognise the power of collaborative work at Apple for how good FaceID works. Products [like] AirPods and Pencil could not work were it not for hardware and software and chip teams and radio teams, all working together to make something happen. And I think the latest feature thats the result of this collaboration is Face ID. Other companies certainly have had the vision of 'can you unlock something with someones face?' but no one [has] actually delivered technology as advanced and capable and ubiquitous and consumer friendly as Face ID. And that is the direct result of this collaboration, and how these teams work for years together on a simple powerful idea with all that technology, Schiller said while praising Cook. Schiller also took that opportunity to showcase how simplistic features on the AirPods like the one when you take it out and the music stops, which even though sounded simple but actually a lot of engineering to make it work quickly and reliably. At the surface level, its an incredibly simple product. But the reality is its actually an incredibly complex product to make. Each AirPod really is its own computer, running software and hardware. And those two computers need to deliver this very clear experience that you want, and they have to work together, because were very attuned to synchronisation in audio as a species. And so it has to work the way you want, he said. Schiller also spoke about the ongoing debate about the iPad Pro replacing the PC. He said the iPad Pro somewhat does both. It acts as a supplement to the Mac and also replace it at times. Schiller said people used the computer when at their desk but they are travelling, the iPad Pro doubles up as the primary computing device. However, if people did indeed consider the iPad Pro as their primary device, Schiller said to wait and see what the new iMac Pro will do for the professionals. This is always the most exciting moment. It truly is. A whole new product. Nobodys used it yet in the real world, and theyre about to, and what are we all going to learn? Thats probably one of the most fun moments in any product launch that we have, he said. But even though the iMac Pro is coming out to the masses in a day, there is still no word on the HomePod, Apples first attempt at making a smart speaker. Schiller clears the air on why the holdup. Its really very simple. Its a brand new product. Its a lot of engineering to make it be the product weve described, and for it to be what we all hope it can be. And Im actually really proud that were a company that will take the time to do something right. Our goal is always not to be most but to be best, and we set high standards. We often exceed those, but not always. And we need to be self-honest if somethings not ready, and continue to work on it until it is, Schiller clarified. Yet, the most surprising announcement from Apple this year was its big push into augmented reality even when the rest of the industry was still trying to understand VR. Schillers said Apples rationale for going for AR was that the technology is so ubiquitous that its thrilling to see where it will lead people. We did a lot of work, thinking about and understanding both VR and AR. We knew there is a place in the world for both technologies, but of the two, augmented reality is perhaps the greatest opportunity to change how we use technology and how we do many tasks in our lives, Schiller said. Its the stuff of science-fiction. Weve seen it in movies, and now we get to actually hold it in our hands. Its very cool, he added. In all, Schiller spent some good forty minutes with T3 in an attempt to build up a narrative around Apples philosophy of being the best or as Forbes wrote, History is written by the victors, or in the case of the iPhone X it is built on a well-placed exclusive interview with Apples SVP Phil Schiller. Heres an overview of Microsoft Indias key focus areas in the country as well as what the company has in store for India in the near future Microsoft India kicked off its annual Media and Analyst conference at its Hyderabad campus, the second largest Microsoft campus in the world, and the theme this year was Digital Transformation. At the event, Microsoft laid out its cards and highlighted all that the company is focusing on building in India. The tech giant spoke about creating digital solutions for India, focused on verticals that include - workplaces, financial institutions, educational institutions, startups, as well as healthcare services. Giving an overview of its operations in India, Microsoft pointed out that it collaborates with 13 state governments in India and provides them with its cloud infrastructure. In the startup space, Microsoft supports 5000 Indian upstarts yearly. Apart from helping govt bodies build citizen-centric services in the country, Microsoft claims it has 400 educational institutions that utilise the power of its cloud services. Partnerships in the above-mentioned verticals are also key to Microsofts India growth strategy. Take for instance Ola play. The service is hosted on Microsofts Azure cloud. Not only does Azure help host Ola play services, the ride-hailing company also utilises Microsofts Connected Car platform to collate sensor data from cars, which is ingested in the cloud, structured, and analysed to build customer and driver experiences. At the event, Ola also announced that it will soon make more of Microsofts productivity tools available within the ride experience. However, no other details were shared, so we dont know just how Ola plans to further integrate Microsofts services with its own. Ankit Jain, VP and Head of Ola Play said, we really wanted to rethink the vehicle from a backseat point of you and make it a modern workplace. While our cars run on fuel, our business runs on data. Thats where the intelligent cloud and Microsoft partnership comes in. Of course, we want to bring the entire productivity suite that Microsoft has and bring it into the car. An interesting example of how Microsoft is collaborating with financial institutions was shared by one of The companys many partners in the space - ICICI bank, specifically the Lombard insurance arm of the bank. Girish Nayak, Chief Customer Service, Tech and Operations, ICICI Lombard shared an example of how Microsofts Connected Car and telematics services help the insurance provider avoid hijackings of high-value insured goods during transportation. Money transit insurance policies sold by the bank basically ensure that high-value goods remain safe during transit from one place to the other. The bank, in these cases, uses telematics devices in trucks to map journey time and other data of the trucks carrying the goods. This data is then monitored and analysed at a physical facility, using Microsofts tools. In fact, ICICI Bank also sells two-wheeler and four-wheeler insurance through chat bots built using Microsofts AI. The banks bot sells around 300 policies per month, all without human intervention. In the healthcare space, Microsoft reiterated its partnership with Cloudnine maternity clinics which utilise Microsoft Dynamics 365, allowing these clinics to increase productivity, gain insights into customer behaviour and offer personalised experiences. For instance, when a customer enters the clinic, a service representative is automatically informed of the customers presence through an SMS, thereby minimising the service time gap. Microsoft Dynamics also helps the healthcare provider keep track of patient records and collect patient feedback for analysis. Lastly, Microsoft announced that it is building a new, bigger facility right here in Hyderabad to further grow its Garage initiative. Microsoft Garage is a platform that brings together employees of the company from all over the world and helps them collaborate and work on new ideas, innovative technology. The Microsoft Garage space in Hyderabad will be expanding into a whole new 4000 sq ft space at the campus, complete with equipment such as 3D printers, laser cutters and other such prototyping hardware to help employees work on their ideas. The LG V30+ is an impressive smartphone, but the LG still needs to work on the execution. The phone has excellent design, but it needs a better camera, better software and more dependable display to convince match up to other flagships. Yet, it's a phone that audiophiles should certainly consider amongst their options. LG V30 Plus detailed review When you pull the LG V30+ out of its box, you instantly fall in love with it. Seriously, over the first few minutes, hours or more, you won't think about any other smartphone, and I include the iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 there. But then, over the next few hours or days, you start finding out flaws in the device. And that's why the LG V30+, like many of LG's phones in yesteryears, is excellence interrupted. Build and Design For the most part, you will love the LG V30+ for its design. Its metallic frame feels absolutely sturdy, while the glass back somehow refuses to slip out of your hand. It's certainly a fingerprint magnet, but LG's design is such that your palm never really touches it. At 158 grams, the phone is also incredibly light, something you wouldn't expect if you've seen the metal-glass designs on its competitors. It has a 6-inch screen, but my not-so-large hands tend to reach the other side of the screen quite easily. To be clear, it's not perfectly suited for single-handed usage, but it's certainly one of the closest. Of course, the 18:9 display makes that possible, but despite its tall display, the V30+ doesn't actually look narrow. In your hand, the phone is immersive, natural, solid, and simple yet beautiful. Display When you're done admiring the design, you will then notice the display. The 6-inch pOLED panel looks fantastic on first impressions. Colours are vibrant, brightness is high and it never, ever missed a touch. But about five minutes into using this phone, I noticed a thin line running across the display. A closer look showed a sort-of crosshatch pattern on the screen, which made things look grainy. The line running from the top to bottom of the display was easily visible, but the graininess was a tad more difficult to discern. However, you can't unsee these things once you have seen them. Now, these issues reduced over the next two days, but it begs the question whether LG's pOLED panels are ready for the big game. The blue shift from off angles on the Pixel 2 XL's display is also visible here but to a significantly lesser extent. Lastly, the screen's brightness increases as you move downwards, with the top half being dimmer than the bottom. In the end, these things end up being blemishes on a display that would otherwise be great. LG's pOLED panels haven't been able to live up to expectations and they disappoint once again here. The display seems like a 50-50 scenario here, which is never good for a flagship class phone. Software The V30+'s display was a mixed bag, but nothing disappoints me as much as its software. Firstly, the V30+ runs on Android Nougat out of the box, which is simply unacceptable from a flagship phone launched in the second half of 2017. But LG doesn't stop there. The company's UI looks childish, at least to me. The large blocky icons don't follow Google's material design and that becomes a stark contrast to apps you download on the phone. There's also a segregated Settings menu here, which is difficult to navigate, though the search option helps with that. Really, the only thing I like about this UI is that LG gives you an option of having an app drawer or putting all your apps on the screen. LG even has apps like Email and Gallery on the phone, alongside Gmail and Photos, which is simply unnecessary. Performance But none of that is as big a problem as the fact that LG's software is slow. The phone posts the high scores on benchmarks, but its software is prone to lags. The animations are slow by default, but you will also notice some slight lags when opening apps, scrolling through menus and so on. That doesn't mean the phone is slow per se, it's just a stark contrast to phones like the OnePlus 5T and Google Pixel 2 XL. Stock Android phone lovers have nothing to like here, and those who want custom UIs will make a better choice with Samsung's work. But that aside, the Snapdragon 835 is as fast as ever here. Yet, Sim City Build It showed noticeable slowdown when scrolling across your city, pressing options and so on. If you're nitpicking, these things just do not qualify a phone for the flagship segment and the 40k+ price tag. I reduce animation scales on the device to zero (from the default 1x setting in Developer Settings), which made the phone more tolerable. Yet, I'm sure any flagship buyer in a position to compare this against phones like the Galaxy Note 8, OnePlus 5T etc. will notice the sloth in LG's phone. Audio The LG V20 (review) was unparalleled in the audio department, and the V30+ continues that legacy. With headphones on, the built-in DAC takes over the audio responsibilities, delivering very tight bass and clear audio. It's excellent for audiophiles, but most others may never feel the difference. You need a certain grade of headphones to really take advantage of the DAC inside. It does help with low-end or cheaper headphones too, but you barely feel a difference. But with high-quality tracks and good headphones, there's nothing that beats the LG V30+ out on the market today. Listening to the same track on this and the Google Pixel 2 XL, using the Audiotechnica CK-X9, it was very easy to get immersed in the V30's obvious superiority. The question though is how many audiophiles can LG find in the mass market, and how many of them are willing to overlook the phone's other flaws. If music is all you care about, the LG V30 is certainly the phone you should buy, but you will have to make way for the other compromises. Audio has always been a niche segment, and while props go to LG for hitting that market, it's probably not going to have a mass market appeal. Camera You can still work with the performance of this phone or its display, but the ultimate deal breaker here is the camera. It's an impressive spec, with f/1.6 lenses and a secondary true-wide angle camera. Yet, LG chose to include a 1-micron sensor underneath the lens, which keeps you from taking advantage of the large aperture here. Low light photos are often too dark and the V30+ can't hold a candle to the Pixel 2 XL (review) or Galaxy Note 8's (review) camera. Their 1.4-micron sensors capture significantly more light than this phone. The image below is clicked in extreme darkness, but you can see the Pixel 2 XL's camera picked up much more detail, with better colour, here. The LG V30 also fails to focus in very low light at times. LG V30+ (top) vs Google Pixel 2 XL (bottom) LG V30 (left) vs Pixel 2 XL (right) This also comes in the way of video shooting capabilities at night. The LG V30+ captures much better audio, but you see much lesser of the scene in front of you. The video is reasonably stable too, and you will still get good results in good light. On its own, the phone can shoot impressive photos in well-lit conditions, but it simply fails in low light for a 2017 flagship. Wide angle camera The secondary camera on the LG V30+ is a wide angle shooter. It adds a fish-eye like effects to photos, distorting them to some extent. To its credit, LG has reduced the distortion from the LG G5's days, but you still see a drastic spherical effect near the edges. That's certainly not a deal-breaker, but it means you will need some knowledge of photography to make the best use of it. The wide-angle camera can be quite useful for shooting group photos and landscapes though. The lens here has a f/1.9 aperture, accompanied by a 13MP sensor. That also means your wide angle photos will be slightly inferior compared to the primary sensor. Modes LG's camera also comes with some useful modes. The Cine Video mode allows you to zoom into specific parts of the video, unlike other phones that zoom into the center. There's a Snap Shot mode that shows splits the viewfinder into two halves. It shows a preview of the photo you just clicked in the bottom half, but it takes longer to process images. The Guide Shot mode lets you choose a sample image and tries to bring images as close to that as possible, while the Food mode is meant specifically for food shot. You can shoot three-second gif-like videos using the Snap Movie mode. Battery In terms of battery life, the V30 is actually amongst the most dependable flagships today. It lasts for over 11 hours on the PC Mark Work 2.0 battery test, which is amongst the highest we have seen in this range. On regular use, it lasted a full day quite easily. In fact, using the phone as my primary, it lasted 12-14 hours quite easily, on regular usage. Bottomline The LG V30+ is a strong flagship, perhaps the strongest LG has made so far, but it LG made some poor choices here. The V30+ is the best phone I wouldn't recommend you buy. It needs a better camera, much better software and a more dependable display. LG has the design right, but it's just not the right flagship for 2017. That said, this is a phone audiophile should definitely consider. AIM-listed online estate agency Purplebricks reported a surge in first-half revenue on Wednesday and upped its revenue guidance, although its operating losses widened. In the six months to the end of October, group revenue rose to 46.8m from 18.7m the year before. UK revenue increased to 39.9m from 18.3m, while revenue in Australia rose from 400,000 to 6.8m. After formally launching its US business in Los Angeles in September, the group generated 100,000 of revenue there. However, group operating losses widened to 8.2m from 2.8m in the period. The UK swung to a profit of 3.2m from a loss of 300,000 in the same period a year ago, but losses in Australia widened to 5.1m from 2.5m, while the US made a loss of 6.3m. Average income per instruction in the UK was up 14% to 1,138, while the number of local property experts rose 107% to 650 as at 12 December. The company lifted its UK revenue guidance for the full year by 5% to 84m, reflecting a strong first half, recent investment in LPEs and infrastructure, to capitalise on momentum and further increase market share. Chief executive officer Michael Bruce said: "We have had a great first half, with strong trading, significant strategic progress and substantial operational upgrades. The UK business continues its rapid top line growth, which is driving a strong increase in profits and margin expansion. We continue to win UK market share from traditional operators in what is a challenging market and consolidate our leading position with competing digital and hybrid offerings. "Our overseas expansion is progressing well with Australia on track, and the launch into the US in September ahead of schedule. While it is very early days we are greatly encouraged by the initial response from customers and the quality of applicants looking to be Local Real Estate Experts. We are pleased with our progress to date, confident in our future, and as a result upgrade our UK full year revenue guidance." At 0930 GMT, the shares were down 6.9% to 369.50p. IC shortage hampers trade, life in Birgunj A shortage of Indian currency (IC) notes in the border town of Birgunj has seriously affected business and the life of the general public. Theresa May has said that that the government will force tech firms such as Facebook and Twitter to remove extremist content from their platforms quickly or face fines. The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) will urge the British government to take action against the abusive content found on social media. The CSPL has asked for social media firms to do more, including not only spotting illegal content and taking it down as soon as possible also offering support to those who have become victims of this behaviour and offering users more possibilities of tackling these posts. Social media companies will be asked to produce reports to show their UK performance data, the percentage of the reported content that is taken down and the time it takes to delete it. The CSPL, which gives ethics advice to the government, has also recommended a shift of the liability for the illegal content to social media firms on the exiting of Britain from the EU. For now, companies such as Facebook and Twitter are treated as hosts for these kinds of posts but if this shift of liability occurs they will also be considered as publishers and will be held accountable for the content posted in their platforms. One of the options is for these tech firms to remove this type of content under a period of time or face fines. J Ministers are already looking at drafting a compulsory code of conduct for social media firms to ensure that they are doing enough to fight this type of content. And its not only extremist content and abusive comments to the general public. The government is also concerned the amount of abuse that British MPs face, especially in the run-up to the elections. Lord Bew, the CSPL chair, said: This level of vile and threatening behaviour, albeit by a minority of people, against those standing for public office is unacceptable in a healthy democracy. This is not about protecting elites or stifling debate, it is about ensuring we have a vigorous democracy in which participants engage in a responsible way which recognises others rights to participate and to hold different points of view, he added. The committee is also concerned with the abuse that ethnic minorities, LGBT and female candidate receive. Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott received almost half of all of the sexist and racist abuse directed at female MPs over a six-month period. Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, argued that making Facebook and Twitter censors is not the right way to go. "Facebook and Twitter will censor legal material because they are scared of fines. They are the worst people to judge right and wrong," he said. Stocks are little changed overall ahead of the US central bank's policy announcement later on Wednesday, but not in Italy, where investors are reacting poorly to reports that general elections will likely be held in March 2018. Thus, as of 1307 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was dipping lower by 0.13% or 0.54 points to 391.09, alongside a 0.09% or 11.21 point fall to 13,171.77 for the German Dax and a 0.28% or 15.04 point drop on the Cac-40 to 5,412.64. Yet Milan's FTSE Mibtel was down by 0.91% or 208.00 points to 22,519.38. According to local press reports, from Il Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and Il Messaggero, general elections would likely be called for March 2018. More interesting even, according to Barclays Research, was the fact the current Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni would not step down before parliament dissolved. That, Barclays's Fabios Fois said, might indicate that Sergio Matarella, the Italian Republic's president, was laying the ground to play a more active role should political instability ensue after the elections, with a second ballot later in the first half of 2018 or even at the start of 2019 a possibility. "At this stage, it is extremely difficult to imagine the way forward for Italian politics should elections deliver post-election instability as we currently expect. In addition to our baseline, which is for the formation of a very wide and heterogeneous grand coalition, today's news reports reinforce the possibility that President Mattarella may play an active role, potentially to the point of naming a temporary Prime Minister," Fois said. Despite the news out of Rome, euro/dollar was edging down by just 0.05% to 1.1734. Otherwise, economic news out of the euro area was largely upbeat on Wednesday, with Eurostat reporting that industrial production in the single currency bloc climbed at a 3.7% year-on-year pace in October, up from 3.4% for the month before (consensus:3.5%). That was despite a slightly lower-than-expected reading on Italian industrial output for that same month of up by 0.5% versus September (consensus: 0.6%). Elsewhere, according to Germany's ministry of finance, harmonised consumer prices in the Eurozone's largest economy advanced at a 1.8% pace year-on-year in November, confirming a preliminary reading. On the corporate front, according to reports, Airbus chief Tom Enders may not pursue an extension of his contract past 2019. Ferrari was also in the news after Bloomberg reported the car-maker was planning to increase the number of shifts on it assembly lines because deliveries were running ahead of target. The British government is facing a rebellion in parliament after MPs requested an amendment calling for a meaningful vote" on the Brexit deal before it is made final. The rebels, led by conservative MP Dominic Grieve want a legal guarantee that parliament will get to decide on the Brexit withdraw bill. As many as 20 Tory MPs and the Labour party could be backing up Grieve on Wednesday afternoon. What sparked these revolts was Theresa Mays plan of writing the exit date into the withdraw bill which is set for March 29 2019. Ex-attorney general Grieve said that how the bill is worded allows ministers to pass it without consulting parliament. A final parliamentary vote could prevent May from going for a harder Brexit than most MPs would be able to accept. Grieve is not planning on backing down and told BBC radio that he has to stand up for his principles, I think there are quite a few who may support me - I think enough, if this comes to a vote, to defeat the government, he said. The amendment is likely to be voted on Wednesday afternoon and the government currently does not have a majority in the house of Commons so it could face defeat. Ahead of the vote, Brexit Ssecretary David Davis promised parliament a meaningful vote on Brexit once an agreement is reached with the EU; he added: Our entire approach to the bill has been to listen to MPs. Theresa May, who was in Paris for the One Planet environmental summit, that the members of parliament were looking for reassurance about the bill and she has said that by all means the government has been listening and talking to those colleagues". Left government will make country prosperous: Oli CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has pledged to make the country prosperous, honouring the peoples aspiration for progress. Amazon on Wednesday began shipping its latest smart home product, a security camera that works with its Alexa personal assistant and Echo speakers. The Amazon Cloud Cam allows customers to live-stream activity inside their home 24/7. It features 1080p full HD resolution, two-way audio for communicating with family members or pets, night vision technology, and sophisticated algorithms that use machine learning to figure out if the stranger entering your house is the building super or a possible burglar. The smart cam, which retails for US$119.99, is incorporated into Amazon Key, which raised a ruckus upon its introduction late last month. The system allows drivers to open the doors of Prime members who want to have packages left inside their homes. Delivery Watch Customers using the Amazon Key program will need a compatible smart lock from Yale or Kwikset that allows delivery drivers to enter the home during a specified delivery time window. Users can watch as the driver opens the door, sets the delivery inside, and closes the door. Amazon plans to coordinate the secure home entry system with more than 1,200 different service and delivery companies, including Merry Maids and Rover.com dog walkers. Intelligent home security devices are likely to disrupt the traditional home security monitoring industry over the next few years, said Andrew Howard, chief technology officer at Kudelski Security. Paying for remote physical security monitoring may soon be a relic of the past, as consumers can save money and often receive better service while maintaining the same piece of mind with many of the same home security devices being offered by companies like Amazon and Google, he told TechNewsWorld. The Amazon Cloud Cam uses the Alexa voice technology to connect with smart speakers like the Echo Show and Echo Spot, as well as Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire tablets, to let users see who is inside or entering their home. Users can watch the video feed from anywhere in the home using one of those devices, or they can watch remotely on their mobile devices using an iOS or Android app. When users are away from home, the Cloud Cam can be set up to send notifications to their phones, alerting them when motion is detected. For an additional subscription, Amazon will support additional cameras in the home and provide increased storage and unlimited downloads. The subscription also allows for person detection, a way to flag human activity inside the home. The machine learning technology can tell when the motion is caused by something expected, like a pet, or by something unexpected like an intruder. There is a growing market for automated home security cameras, with more than 90 different makers around the world shipping about 10,000 units per year, noted Blake Kozak, principal analyst for smart home and security technology at IHS Markit. The market in the U.S. is currently estimated to be worth about $460 million, and has grown about 13 percent from a year ago, he told TechNewsWorld. Amazon introduced the Cloud Cam as a way to build out its home automation ecosystem, Kozak said. Given the companys expanding grocery business and the $13 billion acquisition of Whole Foods, this likely is just the beginning of the process. Thats really going to really let Amazon deliver a more customized home experience, he said. Featured Rivals Rival devices from Nest and other firms offer higher-end technology than the Amazon Cloud Cam. For example, the Nest Cam IQ includes SuperSight technology, a 4K sensor with HDR, close-up tracking, familiar face alerts with a NestAware subscription, noise cancellation and echo suppression. Integration with Google Home is slated for this winter, and the company plans to introduce Nest Hello video doorbells by 2018. Nest recently introduced the Nest Secure alarm system, which includes motion detectors, voice control, and optional remote security monitoring. Despite the increasing activity, the smart home cameras impact on the home security market likely will be limited until the devices capabilities expand, suggested William Malik, vice president for infrastructure strategies at Trend Micro. Amazons weakness in the home security market is the absence of a real person to speak with, he told TechNewsWorld. Intrusive Tech Despite the increasing interest in these devices, privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the risk to consumers who might lose control over their private information versus the benefit of having these devices in their home. The Electronic Privacy Information Center two years ago asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Alexa voice technology, and asked the Department of Justice whether such listening devices violated provisions of federal wiretapping laws. Some privacy advocates feared Alexa was monitoring users everyday activities. A lot of tech experts are expressing serious skepticism about [Internet of Things] in the home, Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told TechNewsWorld. The benefits are overstated, and the risks are substantial. A Virginia panel of regulators granted a conditional approval for a controversial gas pipeline Tuesday, saying that more information on environmental impact is needed before the project can proceed. The Virginia State Water Board voted 4-3 to approve water permits for the pipeline in one of the projects last remaining hurdles, but delayed the start of construction until several additional environmental studies are reviewed and approved. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, backed by state political power player Dominion Energy, has met with heavy local opposition. Advocates filed suit in federal court last week following the water boards decision to green light a similar project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, last week. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch: The board, which had been grappling with delaying a decision on the project, ultimately approved the certification with an amendment by board member Timothy G. Hayes that prevents it from becoming effective until the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality finishes reviewing and approving a series of plans and mitigation measures. Many pipeline opponents contend that those plans, which deal with stormwater and erosion and sediment control, among other areas, are key to deciding whether the project can be built without degrading state waterways. Developers plans call for the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cut through 11 Virginia counties on its way to North Carolina, not including an extension to Chesapeake. While this outcome buys us time, its still far from the end result for clean water we wanteda flawed application that didnt include required details outlining how Dominion planned to mitigate water pollution from its unnecessary pipeline shouldnt have even gotten a hearing in the first place, Lee Francis, communications manager for the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement. Its at least a promising sign that regulators sent Dominion back to the drawing board. For a deeper dive: AP, Washington Post, WVTF, RIchmond Times-Dispatch, WDBJ For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News. By Daisy Dunne When Hurricane Harvey struck Texas on Aug. 25, the state was hit by catastrophic flooding caused by record rainfall. In just three days, up to 40 inches (100 cm) of rain fell on Houston and its surrounding towns, leaving 80 dead and more than 100,000 homeless. Now, scientists have calculated that those record rains were made at least three times more likely by climate change. The analysis also shows that similarly extreme rainfall could become a further three times more likely to occur by the end of the century, even if global warming is limited to 2C. If no efforts are made to stop the release of greenhouse gases, rainfall events on the same scale as Hurricane Harveys downpour could become up to 10 times more likely by 2100, the research found. The research was conducted by scientists at the World Weather Attribution project, which aims to assess the role of climate change in recent extreme events, such as droughts, heatwaves and floods. Human Influence At 10 p.m. on Friday Aug. 25, the category 4 Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi on the southern coast of Texas. By Saturday, it had arrived in Houston, dumping close to 40 inches of rain by Monday morning. As news coverage tracked the path of Harvey across Texas, much of the coverage began to question how climate change could have influenced the chances of such a disaster. Three months on, the new analysis, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, attempts to address this question. It is what is known as a single event attribution study. Single event attribution studies attempt to work out to what extent climate change could have influenced the likelihood of an extreme weather event, when other factors, such as natural climate variability, are also considered, explained lead author Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. He told Carbon Brief: After an extreme weather event, we always get the question: To what extent was this due to climate change? The almost identical question that an extreme event attribution study answers is How much has the probability of an event changed due to climate change? In this case, we looked at the probability in the current climate of getting as much rain as fell on Houston or more, and compared it with the probability a century ago, from observations and climate models. Eyeing the Storm To understand the influence of climate change on Hurricane Harvey, the researchers decided to focus on how warming could have influenced its record-breaking rains, rather than on how warming could have affected the chances of the hurricane forming, said van Oldenborgh: We explicitly do not attribute tropical storms in this study, only the precipitation from all causes, among them tropical storms. This is partly because it is more difficult to simulate the behavior of hurricanes in climate models than other extreme weather events, such as heat waves and extreme rainfall, van Oldenborgh explained: The typical spatial extent of a heatwave is many hundreds of kilometers, so you can represent a heatwave with a climate model with a resolution of 200km or so. However, critical parts of tropical storms [hurricanes and typhoons] are much smaller, you only start getting realistic simulations with 25km resolution models. Only recently have the models and computer capacities increased enough, but even then the details of the dynamics of the storms are still not completely well-represented. Instead, the researchers chose to focus their analysis on rainfall in Texas between Aug. 26 and 28, which caused most of the catastrophic flooding. For this analysis, the scientists collected rainfall readings from weather stations across the Gulf Coast. The charts below show the extent of these heavy rains over the three-day period. Chart A shows how the rate of rainfall in Houston changed over the three-day period, while chart B shows the total amount of rain that fell between Aug. 25 and 31. Below this, chart C shows where the extreme rain was concentrated over the three-day period across the Gulf Coast, with dark blue representing high amounts of rain and yellow showing low. Chart D shows the spread of rainfall that is associated with annual average three-day maximum for the Gulf Coast. van Oldenborgh et al. (2017) A: The rate of rainfall over Houston from Aug. 26-28. B: Total amount of rainfall in Houston from Aug. 26-31. C: Spatial concentration of rainfall over the Gulf Coast from Aug. 26-28, with dark blue showing high rainfall and yellow showing low. D: Spread of rainfall that is associated with annual average three-day maximum for the Gulf Coast. Human Fingerprint To understand the influence of climate change on extreme rainfall, the researchers first compared their data to historical rainfall records dating back to the last century. This allowed the researchers to work out how the likelihood of an extreme rainfall event has changed in the last 100 years and how often it would be expected to occur in the current climate. The analysis shows that rainfall events as extreme as during Hurricane Harvey are expected to affect Houston once every 9,000 years, said study coauthor Dr. Karin van der Wiel, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. At the sidelines of the American Geophysical Union 2017 Fall Meeting, she told Carbon Brief: [This event] was really, really rare. Locally, the return period was one in 9,000 years. Any city in the world would have flooded with that amount of rain. Regionally, for an event like this occur anywhere on the Gulf Coast, it was a one in a 100 year event, even that is quite extreme. Next, the researchers compared their observations to the results of two climate models. For each model, the researchers ran two simulations: one assuming that there had been no climate change since the start of the industrial revolution and one assuming there had been moderate climate change since 1890. Comparing the observations to the model results allowed the researchers to assess the extent to which climate change has made weather events such as Hurricane Harveys record rainfall more likely. The analysis suggests that Hurricane Harveys downpour was made around three times more likely and 15 percent more intense by climate change. The range of uncertainty around the results suggests that climate change made the event at least 1.5 times more likely and as much as five times more likelyand between 8 and 19 percent more intense. This result is supported by a second independent study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on Dec. 12, which finds Harveys rainfall was made 3.5 times more likely by climate change. The researchers also used the climate models to investigate how future global warming could affect the risk of extreme rainfall events by 2100. The models show that, if future warming is limited to 2C, extreme rainfall events similar to Harvey could become another three times more likely by the end of the century. However, if the world fails to cut its rate of greenhouse gas emissions, extreme rainfall events could become another 10 times more likely, and increase in intensity by up to 50 percent. Global warming could raise the chances of extreme rainfall in a number of ways, including by increasing the maximum moisture content of the air, explained van der Wiel: Theres many factors that have occurred in the climate system that made this event more likely to occur. So the sea surface temperature in the Gulf was extremely high, that was related to climate change. Atmospheric moisture is higher when its warmer, so the atmosphere can hold more water so when it rains, it rains harder. Planning Ahead The research explores how climate change is making extreme rainfall events more likely and more intense, but it does not investigate other factors that can impact urban flood risk, van Oldenborgh said. For example, issues such as urban planning and water management can also play a role in vulnerability to extreme rainfall. Despite this, the findings should prompt policymakers to recommit to curbing climate change, he said: The flood risks depend also on the other factors that we mention, such as water management and building practices. However, floods also depend on precipitation and we now know that the probability of extreme precipitation will increase as the world warms. By how much indeed strongly depends on how far we allow the earth to warm further. The findings are significant because they offer a rather detailed analysis of how climate change could affect rainfall in the Gulf Coast, said Dr. Peter Stott, head of the Climate Monitoring and Attribution team at the Met Office, who was not involved in the study. He told Carbon Brief: What I think is lacking in this study however is a specific analysis of hurricanes. The study does not examine hurricanes in the climate models, as to whether they have become either more intense or more frequent, and therefore the conclusions of this paper are rather general in scope regarding extreme rainfall, which can be caused by a variety of mechanisms in addition to hurricanes. Further work is therefore needed to look at hurricanes in more detail in order to determine how the risk of impacts specifically associated with hurricanes has changed. Reposted with permission from our media associate Carbon Brief. By Angela Ledford Anderson President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law Tuesday. The act would require the Pentagon to do a report on how military installations and overseas staff may be vulnerable to climate change over the next 20 years. The following language was included in the act: Climate change is a direct threat to the national security of the United States and is impacting stability in areas of the world both where the United States Armed Forces are operating today, and where strategic implications for future conflict exist. Does President Trump know that with a stroke of his pen he just confirmed what climate scientists and military officials have been saying for years: Climate change is a major threat to U.S. national security and our armed forces overseas? The reality is that climate change couldnt care less about political party affiliation, which is why legislators on both sides of the aisleespecially those on the frontlines of climate change impactsfought to retain this language in the final bill. While this move is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak Congress, we need to do much, much more to support local and state governments in their efforts to combat climate change. And certainly more needs to be done to convince the president of the scientific truths of climate change and the importance of acting sooner rather than later on the risks it poses. Check out a recent blog from Union of Concerned Scientists President Ken Kimmell for more information on this act. To examine a recent Union of Concerned Scientists report highlighting the vulnerability of coastal military bases in the U.S. to sea level rise and storm surge, click here. Angela Ledford Anderson is the director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Man on the run set to walk into Parliament Resham Chaudhary, wanted by police over masterminding an attack on security personnel two years ago, has won a seat in the House of Representatives (HoR) from Kailali-1. Twenty companies including Unilever and the Virgin Group announced on Tuesday that they will phase out usage of coal in order to combat climate change. The companies announced their decision at the One Planet Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Coming a month after the COP23 in Bonn, Germany, the announcement puts the companies in a position similar to the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a partnership of 26 nations founded in Bonn by Britain, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands. Among the list of companies committing to the coal phase out are BT, Engie, Kering, Diageo, Marks & Spencer, Orsted and Storebrand. The companies committed to setting targets to end the use of traditional coal from the power sector, for both consumption and electricity generation. Coal could, however, continue to be used if greenhouse emissions were captured and buried. Meanwhile, the governments in the Power Past Coal Alliance committed to phasing out traditional coal power by 2030 in rich nations and by 2050 in other parts of the world. During the summit French President Macron told more than 200 global investors and 50 world leaders that the global community is losing the battle against climate change. Its time to act and move faster and win this battle, Macron said. Macrons office also announced dozens of initiatives meant to stem climate change, including the World Bankss decision to stop financing oil and gas exploration and extraction after 2019. Just ahead of the summit, Macron awarded 18 scientists with grants to carry out climate research in France. The Havasupai Tribe and a coalition of conservation groups praised the decision Tuesday by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Department of the Interiors 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims across 1 million acres of public lands adjacent to the Grand Canyon. The court ruled that the ban, adopted in 2012, complies with the Constitution and federal environmental laws, and that the protected area was not too large, as plaintiff mining companies had argued. The ban protects the aquifers and streams that feed the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon from toxic uranium-mining waste pollution and water depletion. The Havasupai Tribe, Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and National Parks Conservation Association intervened in the case in 2013. The groups and the Department of Justice won a 2014 decision by U.S. District Court in Arizona, which upheld Interiors 2012 uranium mining withdrawal. Mining companies appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit. Unfortunately the court also rejected a challenge to the Canyon Mine, a uranium mine located on the Kaibab National Forest six miles south of Grand Canyon National Park. The courts decision allows Energy Fuels Inc. to mine without initiating or completing formal tribal consultations and without updating an obsolete federal environmental review dating to 1986. The Havasupai people have been here since time immemorial. This place is who we are, said Don Watahomigie, the Havasupai tribal chairman. The Creator made us protectors of the Grand Canyon. The Havasupai Tribe is gratified to know that the court has recognized the validity of the mineral withdrawal and what we have always knownthat this place, these waters and our people deserve protection. The lives of our children and the purity of our waters are not to be gambled with and are not for sale. This is a great day for the Grand Canyon, for the Havasupai people who rely on its sacred waters, for the people who love this wonder of the natural world, and for the wildlife that call it home, said Ted Zukoski of Earthjustice. In January 2012 then-Interior Sec. Ken Salazar issued the 20-year ban that prohibits new mining claims and mine development on existing claims without valid permits. The mining industry claimed that the Interior Departments exhaustive, 700-page evaluation of environmental impacts was inadequate. Interiors study of the mining ban showed that without a withdrawal in place, 26 new uranium mines and 700 uranium exploration projects could be developed, resulting in more than 1,300 acres of surface disturbance and the consumption of 970 acre feet of water. Under the 20-year ban, existing mine operations are projected to have about one-tenth of the surface impacts and one-third the water usage. According to Interiors study, new uranium mining could have major impacts on springs, wells and aquifers, including increased levels of uranium beyond the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys drinking water standards and severely depleted groundwater, endangering public health and wildlife, and compromising the values of the tribes who consider the springs sacred. This decision rewards years of cooperation toward protecting the water, air, and people that mining near the Grand Canyon puts at risk, said Grand Canyon Trusts Roger Clark. History has shown us how uranium mining can go wrong on the Colorado Plateau, were glad for more time to make sure the same legacy isnt also bestowed upon the Grand Canyon. Uranium pollution already plagues the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas. Proposals for new mining have prompted protests, litigation and legislation to make the ban permanent. Dozens of new mines threaten to industrialize iconic and sacred natural areas, destroy wildlife habitat and pollute and deplete aquifers. Scientists, tribal and local governments, and businesses have all voiced support for the protections enacted by Interior. Sierra Club applauds this decision to uphold the limits on mining on public lands adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park and to protect the park and the greater Grand Canyon region from the hazards of uranium mining, which poses a threat to the people, lands, water and wildlife of the region, said Sandy Bahr, Sierra Clubs Grand Canyon chapter director. We are disappointed that the court did not uphold the challenge to Canyon Mine, however, and we will continue to do all we can to ensure permanent protection of these lands. One of the great symbols of the American West, the Grand Canyon was first protected as a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. The canyon is surrounded by millions of additional acres of public lands that include wilderness areas, two national monuments, lands designated to protect endangered species and cultural resources, and old-growth ponderosa pine forests. The canyon area is also home to indigenous people, including the Havasupai, Kaibab Band of Paiutes, Hualapai and Navajo tribes, and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 2016 the greater Grand Canyon region attracted more than 6 million tourists and recreationists, and Grand Canyon tourism contributed $904 million to local economies and supported nearly 9,800 jobs. This victory is wonderful news for a region already riddled by decades of uranium industry pollution and plunder, said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. This decision is critical to protecting the Grand Canyons precious aquifers, biodiverse springs and surrounding public lands for future generations. After an extensive review process and substantial public participation, the Department of the Interiors decision to protect one of the worlds most enduring landscapes and the sustained health of indigenous communities that live within the watershed of the Grand Canyon was a strong and appropriate one, said Kevin Dahl of the National Parks Conservation Association. The courts action in upholding this ban is commendable. The uranium mining companies have 45 days to seek a rehearing by the three-judge panel or by the 9th Circuit sitting en banc. The companies also have 90 days from this decision, or from a denial of rehearing (whichever is later) to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for review of the 9th Circuit Court decision. Such petitions are granted in only a tiny fraction of cases. By Taryn Kiekow Heimer An U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator under every Republican presidential administration since the EPA was created, except the Ford administration, whose administrator is deceased, have joined forces to make a statement in opposition to the Pebble Mine proposed in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Their statement appeared Tuesday as a full-page ad in the Washington Post. The message is clear: The Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in absolutely the wrong place. The statement also decries EPA Administrator Scott Pruitts backroom deal with the Pebble Partnership that simultaneously managed to breathe new life into the dying project and abandon years worth of agency science and process. The short but hard-hitting bipartisan statement is signed by former EPA Administrators William D. Ruckelshaus (Presidents Nixon and Reagan), William K. Reilly (President George H.W. Bush), and Christine Todd Whitman (President George W. Bush). The statement is also joined by former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (President William J. Clinton), whose former Chief of Staff Tom Collier is currently heading the Pebble Partnership. The statement is featured on the back page of the Washington Post and is supported by Bristol Bay tribes, villages, commercial fishermen, sportsmen and conservationists. United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Nunamta Aulukestai, Sustaining Bristol Bay Fisheries, Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, Trout Unlimited, Salmon State, Trustees for Alaska, and the Natural Resources Defense Council all signed onto the ad. Click here to show your solidarity with this statement and support for Bristol Bay. Its long-past time to stop the Pebble Mine! The Environmental Working Group is urging Toyota to reject a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), because EPA chief Scott Pruitts plan to evaluate management practices is cover for his real agenda of destroying the agencys ability to do its job. In a letter sent Wednesday to James Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, EWG President Ken Cook wrote that helping Pruitt manage EPA into the ground would betray the ideals of quality, effectiveness and efficiency represented by the vaunted Toyota Way and the companys reputation for and commitment to environmental responsibility. Mr. Lentz, if you were managing Toyota the way Scott Pruitt is managing the EPA, your annual Toyotathon would be featuring showrooms stocked with Edsels and Studebakers, not the fleet of advanced, pioneering, energy-efficient models that for decades have strongly appealed to environmentally conscious American buyers, Cook wrote. We urge you to immediately and unambiguously announce Toyotas rejection of any management partnership with EPA and Administrator Scott Pruitt, the letter said. To do otherwise risks irreparable harm to Toyotas brand and reputation in the American marketplace. At a Dec. 7 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Pruitt testified that Toyota is partnering with the EPA to help the agency correct deficiencies in the agencys management and accountability systems. A Toyota spokeswoman later told HuffPost that the company is considering working with the EPA but has not yet reached an agreement. But Cook said the very prospect of a partnership is cause for concern. Nothing in Mr. Pruitts actions or public statements to date as head of the EPA, or in his prior role as Oklahomas attorney general, suggests that he comes to issues of EPAs performance, management and effectiveness with an impartial interest in improving the agency through any management techniques, Cook wrote. To the contrary, Mr. Pruitt already has an overarching objective for the EPA: to destroy its ability to achieve its mission. Toyotas website states: Lets face it: theres only one planet Earth. Thats why we focus on environmentally sustainable solutions in everything we do and every vehicle we make. The company touts its Environmental Challenge 2050 goals of achieving zero or near-zero air pollution emissions from its vehicles, production and disposal processes, and facilities. By contrast, in his first year at the helm of the EPA, Pruitt has reversed, or is seeking to reverse regulations to boost automobile fuel economy standards and other clean air initiatives, as well as rules on clean water, pesticides and toxic chemicals. Hes advocated crippling cuts to the agencys budget, ignored career scientists and other experts in favor of political appointees from the industries they now regulate, and replaced independent scientific advisors with consultants whose work has been funded by big polluters. Andrew Zimmerman, a social studies teacher and self-described libertarian, and Jeanne Collins, a superintendent and big fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, arent anyones idea of political soul mates. But both educators agree on one thing: It isnt their role to talk about their own political beliefs at school, particularly in an increasingly polarized climate. I usually dont tell my students my viewpoints, said Zimmerman, a high school teacher in Uhrichsville, Ohio, in a county that voted overwhelmingly for Republican Donald Trump in last years presidential election. Its my job to show as many different perspectives as possible. Thats been tricky this past year. Zimmerman, who also advises the debate club, said its been hard to find any student willing to take up the Democratic side of an argument. Similarly, Collins, the superintendent of the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union district in deep-blue Vermont, said she sees her role as staying above the fray, even though her left-leaning political beliefs align closely with the majority of voters in her community. But while many educators guard against bringing their personal views into the classroom, they are hardly apolitical as a group, a national survey by the Education Week Research Center shows. About half of the teachers, school principals, superintendents, and other educators who participated in the survey say they dont avoid political activity, or avoid it only a little, because of their jobs. Another 48 percent say they avoid political activity to some extent or a lot because of the work they do. About This Survey The Education Week Research Center surveyed a nationally representative sample of teachers, school-based leaders, and district leaders about their politics and views on a wide range of K-12 issues. The 38-question survey was administered in September and October to 1,122 educators including 555 teachers, 266 school leaders, 202 district leaders, and 99 other school or district employees. The margin of error for the survey overall was plus or minus 5 percent. Followup interviews involved survey respondents who agreed to be contacted after the survey and were willing to be quoted on a range of subjects. More Survey Findings: Many Educators Skeptical of School Choice, Including Conservatives, Survey Shows Do Teachers Political Views Align With Their Unions? Educators Conflicted on LGBT Issues, Survey Shows Survey Shows Educators Struggle With Impact of Immigration Read the full report. The research center surveyed 1,122 teachers, school, and district leaders about their political beliefs, perceptions, activity, and voting. The survey, conducted this fall, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. About half of those who responded were teachers, and another 19 percent were principals. A few key findings: Forty one percent of respondents described themselves as Democrats while another 30 percent said they were independents. Just 27 percent were Republicans. Half the respondents voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Another 29 percent voted for Trump. Thirteen percent selected a third-party candidate. By and large, educators arent fans of school choiceeven if they voted for Trump, who made it a signature issue. A plurality of all those surveyed45 percent"fully oppose charter schools, while another 26 percent somewhat oppose them. And 58 percent dont support using government funds to help students cover the cost of private school, while 19 percent said they somewhat oppose vouchers. Forty-four percent of educators said they see the impact of immigration on schools as mixed, while another 38 percent said it is a good thing. Only 8 percent see it as a bad thing. Politics and the Classroom Even though educators see keeping up a neutral front as part of their jobs, politics has a way of creeping into their work these days. In Collins district, a handful of students wanted to kneel during the national anthem during a school sporting event in solidarity with professional athletes protesting racial inequity. Meanwhile halfway across the country in Portage, Mich., Jason Frink, a high school assistant principal, and his colleagues intervened when a small, but vocal, group of students shouted Build the wall! at one of their Mexican-American classmates in the weeks after the election. Its OK to have different political beliefs, Frink said he explained to the students. But he told them they couldnt do things that tell other kids they cant be a part of our school. It isnt just interactions with students that are politically itchy. Eleven percent of educators responding to the survey said theyve been called upon to settle partisan disputes among district employees since the election. Last year, shortly after the election, a Trump voter who works in the districts central office told Collins confidentially that she felt bullied for her choice by Democratic co-workers. And in St. Louis, Ernie Bebe, who teaches religion at Trinity Catholic High School, said a couple of his colleagues gave him a hard time for supporting Trump. Lately, Bebe has thought twice about advertising to some in his racially diverse community that his son is a police officer. In Taneytown, Md., Gayle Sands, a reading specialist and an independent who supported Clinton, said the election brought some uncomfortable political differences out in the open. I work in a community that the election divided, said Sands of the area surrounding the middle school where she teaches. I think they were shocked at me, she said of her Trump-supporting colleagues, and I was shocked at them. I couldnt understand how they were able to square their religious beliefs with the man he has proven himself to be. Sands feels like the political middle is getting swamped by extremists. I think that as teachers that were kind of in the forefront of the fight against polarization, she said. We are the one place that the entire community has to come to. ... Nobody is hearing normal people who are out there. Nuanced Views Like Sands, the educators surveyed largely said they tend to look at hot-button issues with a nuanced eye: Forty three percent of the educators surveyed see themselves as moderate. The rest were slightly more likely to lean to the left than the right. Nearly 30 percent describe themselves as liberal or very liberal. Twenty seven percent view themselves as conservative or very conservative. Seventy percent give Republicans a D or an F for their handling of K-12 policy. Forty five percent give Democrats a D or F. Each party gets an A from only 1 percent of respondents. Although educators say they stay largely neutral in the classroom, that doesnt necessarily apply to their lives outside of school. Beth Boxley, a media specialist and high school English teacher in a small rural Missouri district, shields her Democratic political beliefs from her Trump T-shirt wearing students. But she once attended an Obama rally. And Collins, the Vermont school superintendent, knocked on doors for Sanders in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Shell occasionally post pro-Bernie or pro-Democratic messages on her personal Facebook page, too. That kind of political activity is not unusual. Sixty six percent of those who participated in the survey have contacted an elected official since the 2016 presidential campaign. And more than half have attempted to persuade a friend or colleague to change their mind about a political issue. Almost another quarter have given money to a political cause. Some other survey findings may seem counterintuitive. Despite the Democratic tilt of the survey pool, more than half of the respondents52 percentwant to see a leaner federal role in K-12 policy. By contrast, 27 percent thought the U.S. Department of Education has about the right level of involvement and 15 percent wanted to see more involvement. I believe in states rights, said Laura Hansen, a Democrat and reading specialist in New Hampshires Hampstead school district. The mandates [the federal government] sometimes puts forth are excellent but a lot of the times the mandates are unfunded, so that presents a problem. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is unpopular across the boardeven more so than her boss. Sixty seven percent of those surveyed had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, but 72 percent said they didnt like DeVos. DeVos detractors include some educators who voted for Trump in 2016 and continue to support the president. I think he probably could have made a wiser choice, said Jason Tackett, a social studies teacher at Herald Whitaker Middle School in Kentuckys Magoffin County, about an hour and a half drive from Lexington. Tackett is not happy that DeVos never worked professionally in a public schoolor any school for that matter. Divergent as they may be on numerous issues, many educators also say schools have the potential to bridge yawning political divides in their communities. We live in incredibly divisive political times, said Brian Gatens, the superintendent of Emerson Public Schools in New Jersey. He said schools can remind students of things like the importance of caring about neighbors and community. The research is clear: The sit n get model of professional development doesnt work. Yet the majority of states continue to base the requirements for maintaining a teaching license on clock hours or seat time. And very often that looks like teachers heading en masse to one-off conferences and seminars, disconnected from their everyday classroom work. But 14 states, including Georgia most recently, are now trying something different. Theyre asking teachers to craft personalized plans for improving their instruction, and theyre measuring success with proof of teacher advancement. How long teachers spend in PD is no longer the central question; instead, its, How much did they grow? Its a big leap to change from something thats very simple, straightforward, easy to documenteither you did or you didnt [get the hours]and to move to something that reflects professional learning thats effective, said Dale A. Hair, a senior consultant for Learning Forward, an association for educators focused on improving professional learning, who has worked with a variety of states, including Georgia. Georgia schools are officially beginning to make that leap. A rule adopted this summer by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which is in charge of licensing for the state, lays out a new vision for certificate renewalone that requires teacher learning to happen on the job and continuously. It says teachers each need individualized professional-learning goals, and some will need more detailed learning plans. And all teachers have to participate in professional learning communities. Taking 10 professional learning units or the equivalent of two three-semester-credit-hour coursestheres no research that supports that, said David Hill, the director of special projects for the standards board, who headed the committee that came up with the rule. We said, Lets find a better way. Professional learning communities, which became popularized in U.S. schools about a decade ago, generally involve teams of teachers working together to improve specific areas of student learning. The teachers meet periodically to plan, analyze data, look over student-work samples, target problems, and give each other feedback. Having a cycle of that type requires a lot more higher-level thinking and planning than just going and sitting in a workshop where [teachers] may or may not come away with some beneficial tips they can use in the classroom, said Hair. The process is, by design, an intensely local one. The work is happening at the school level and is focused on reaching individual students. And the Georgia professional-standards commission is taking a hands-off approach. Principals will essentially vouch that their teachers are engaging in the process. We cant ask educators within your school to trust each other if were not also going to trust you, said Hill. When Hill explained that the process would be based on good faith rather than compliance in an early presentation to district leaders and principals, he got some laughs from the audience. But he believes deeply in the importance of trust, pointing to research from the 1990s by Sharon D. Kruse and Karen Seashore Louis on building school-based professional communities. Accountability will come in the form of schoolwide data, he said. If your school is not improving or your data is stagnant, you either dont have a learning community or its not effective, he said. And there were plenty of problems with accountability in the previous credit-hours system as well. A lot of times teachers would go sign their name and leave, or have a friend sign their name, or teachers werent engaged, they were on their cellphone while the presenter was speaking, said Jasmine Kullar, the principal of Pine Mountain Middle School in Kennesaw, Ga. Theres no follow-up on how did you come back and implement what you learned? It was very hard to monitor. Kullar has been implementing PLCs for years now and has been widely recognized across the state for her leadership in that area. She said teachers actually feel more accountable for that kind of work. If we give the same quiz and we come back to share our data, and 90 of your kids failed, but only 10 of mine failed, were going to have a conversation, she said. Even so, she recognizes that implementing PLCs is a heavy liftand much of it falls on the principal. To ensure teachers have time to work together, sometimes youve got to blow up your master schedule, she said. Over the past couple of years, questions have emerged about the effectiveness of PLCs. A 2014 study conducted by an outside research group for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found many teachers saying the process wasnt working for them. Some educators say the meetings can devolve into teachers simply venting their frustrations, and plenty of schools have moved away from the model. Georgia teachers have other concerns about the new process as well. Districts often need to pay for substitute teachers or additional personnel to free up teachers to plan jointly. Schools, particularly in rural areas, often lack that funding, said Chris Baumann, the executive director of the Georgia Association of Educators. That could lead to an uneven quality of professional development leading to certification, he said. The union is also uneasy about no longer having a role in the certification process. The GAE used to give members training that would count toward renewal. Under the new rule, thats no longer an option. (However, colleges of education and regional education agencies, which tend to serve a pool of rural districts, can help teachers meet their goals.) But Baumann emphasizes that the union believes in professional learning for credentialing and agrees with the use of individualized learning plans in concept. It appears that it will be [better than the previous system], but well see how it plays out, Baumann said. Time will tell. What members of Congress decide about one seemingly small provision in the tax bill that they hope to pass before the holidays will say a great deal about how we view our nations teachers. Currently, the law allows a $250 deduction for teachers and principals who purchase school supplies for their students with their own money. But the House voted last month to eliminate that deduction for the millions of teachers who buy supplies, while the Senate earlier this month voted to up the deduction to $500. If the two chambers agree, Congress could send a powerful message to our teachers: Teachers need more monetary support to purchase school supplies. Even at $500, the deduction does not cover what the average teacher spends. Ninety-one percent of teachers purchase basic suppliestwo-thirds of all classroom supplies , in factfor students who cant afford them. That rounds out to about $600 on average of each teachers own money every year, according to a survey in the 2015-16 school year of 1,800 public and private teachers by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit AdoptAClassroom.org (of which I am interim executive director). Purchases range from basics such as from pens, paper and notebooks to more costly items such as musical instruments, electronic notebooks, and robotics tools for science, technology, engineering, and math classes. These expenditures add up to more than $1.5 billion a year out of teachers pockets. But the increase in support would be a start. More than 3 million teachers take advantage of the current deduction. But just as important as the monetary value of the deduction is the message it sends to our nations educators, most of whom are paid less than other professionals with similar education. In fact, a recent survey by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which looked at data in 35 countries, found that U.S. teachers are paid less than 60 percent of the salaries of similarly educated professionals. And few, if any, other professionals are routinely expected to pay for their own supplies. The deduction is a small token of appreciation for teachers who spend their own money for their students, Sen. Susan Collins told The New York Times. The Maine Republican wrote the law creating the deduction in 2002 and pushed for the expansion in the new Senate bill. It is our nation's children who will suffer the most." You dont have to look far to find teachers who make monetary sacrifices for their students. David Barrett, who teachers engineering, robotics, and aviation to 180 middle school students at the NASA-affiliated Farnsworth Aerospace Middle School in St. Paul, Minn., told us that about 80 percent of his students come from low-income homes, and his classroom is one of the few places where they have access to technology. Thats partially because he spends up to $2,000 each year of his own money for the right tools and materials. We make a lot of assumptions that everyone has the newest iPhone, apps and technology, but inner-city folks, at least where Im working, do not have these resources, Barrett said. Katherine Haulter, a middle school English teacher in Jeffersonville, Ind., has a nonexistent classroom budget, so she spends $3,000 of her own money to stock her shelves each year. She wants students to get as far as they can and do as many wonderful things as they can so that when they get into high school they dont feel like theyre limited, said Haulter. Theyve had every opportunity that the kids in the private schools have had, and at this point its coming out of my own pocket. And Danielle Winsko, who teaches dance at a public school for the arts in New York City, has spent as much as $3,500 in a single year purchasing basic school materials, dance attire, and cleaning supplies for the schools dance studio because the budget is not there for public schools to purchase those kinds of supplies. There are thousands more stories like these around the country about teachers who do everything they can to help their students learn and contribute to the community. Without this accommodation, it is our nations children who will suffer the most. I urge the House and Senate conferees to acknowledge teachers sacrifices and include the $500 deduction in the final tax bill. Its a very small piece of a $1.5 trillion bill that would help teachers financially and, more importantly show that the country cares about their dedication and service. Nepal calls for making Saarc more effective Nepal has called for making the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) more effective and result-oriented. According to a recent study conducted by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Real Estate South Africa on behalf of the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC), malls are getting bigger. New data indicates that the average size of centres developed have steadily increased in size since the 1990s with centres slated for completion between 2017 and 2020 being significantly larger than those developed during the 1990s and 2000s. This trend towards larger centres may be explained by developers opting for larger formats in order to dominate its immediate catchment area and attract a higher proportion of national tenants, thus strengthening the centres position within its catchment area. The data also indicates that proposed centres planned in the countrys city regions, local/niche towns and service towns are all now 100 per cent larger compared to those developed during the 2000s. As of July 2017, the South African retail development pipeline measures 1.9 million square metres across 68 centres-the bulk of which is planned for completion in 2018. Currently, there are 17 shopping centres slated for completion in the remaining weeks of 2017. Many people don't worry about the security of their personal information until it's too late. And protecting data is even more important for military personnel, whose lives could be in danger if some types of information were to get into the wrong hands. Now, one group reports in ACS Nano a new way to protect data, especially when it is subjected to extreme environmental conditions. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the financial loss from cybercrime in the U.S. was over $1.3 billion in 2016. As this number is only expected to rise in the upcoming years, the military, businesses and individuals are seeking new ways to guard their information. Traditional methods involve installing software, but that can require frequent updates and large amounts of power. As a result, experts have proposed alternative security methods based on hardware. Physical unclonable function (PUF) devices hold promise. Random physical variations occur as this type of hardware is fabricated, which creates a unique structure that is impossible to copy or clone. But current PUFs are sensitive to harsh environments, making them a bad choice for military or outside use. So Yang-Kyu Choi and colleagues wanted to make new PUF hardware that would overcome this challenge. The researchers designed a PUF based on nano-electro mechanical switches (NEMs), which are often used in circuits and are known for their low power consumption. A nanowire in the contraption floats between two gates. As the liquid used in the fabrication process naturally evaporates, the wire bends and adheres to one of the gates. Depending on which gate the nanowire is touching, a 0 or a 1 is generated. An array of several gates and nanowires can create an unpredictable, unique code. The NEM-PUF withstood exposure to high temperatures, microwaves and high-dose radiation. In the case of a data breach, it can self-destruct, providing an additional layer of security. ### The paper's abstract will be available on Dec. 13 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs.10.1021/acsnano.7b06658 The American Chemical Society is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Follow us: Twitter | Facebook The following release and accompanying images can be found at: http://news.agu.org/press-release/agu-fall-meeting-human-caused-warming-likely-intensified-hurricane-harveys-rains/ AGU Fall Meeting: Human-caused warming likely intensified Hurricane Harvey's rains Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans, Louisiana 11-15 December 2017 AGU Contacts: Nanci Bompey +1 (914) 552-5759 nbompey@agu.org Lauren Lipuma +1 (504) 427-6069 llipuma@agu.org AGU Fall Meeting Press Room: Morial Convention Center, Room 350-351 +1 (504) 670-5513 news@agu.org Included in this announcement: 1. Research from the AGU Fall Meeting: Human-caused warming likely intensified Hurricane Harvey's rains 2. Today's press events 3. Noteworthy sessions happening today 4. Potentially newsworthy presentations 5. Online media resources Please visit the 2017 Fall Meeting Media Center to view previous media advisories and press releases that include important information about press registration, badge pickup, press conferences, quiet rooms, searching the scientific program, and AGU On-Demand. 1. Research from the AGU Fall Meeting: Human-caused warming likely intensified Hurricane Harvey's rains NEW ORLEANS -- New research shows human-induced climate change increased the amount and intensity of Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented rainfall. The new findings are being published in two separate studies and being presented in a press conference today at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, along with additional new findings about recent Atlantic Ocean hurricanes. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria battered the U.S. Gulf Coast and Caribbean earlier this year, bringing widespread flooding and wind damage. Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm at first landfall on August 25, stalled over Texas as a tropical storm, causing record rainfall between August 26 and 28. A new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), a journal of the American Geophysical Union, finds Hurricane Harvey's seven-day rainfall total potentially increased by at least 19 percent compared to a similar storm in the mid-20th century. Another study published online today in the journal Environmental Research Letters (ERL) directly attributes the rainfall increase to human-caused climate change. The ERL paper finds climate change made the record three-day rainfall that fell over Houston during Hurricane Harvey roughly three times more likely and 15 percent more intense than a similar storm in the early 1900s. The new research confirms heavy rainfall events are increasing across the Gulf Coast region because of human interference with the climate system. Climate change, caused by increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, is raising temperatures globally. Warmer air can carry more moisture, which can lead to more extreme rainfall events, and warmer ocean surface temperatures are known to intensify the most powerful hurricanes. In the GRL study, researchers used a statistical model based on historical climate data to separate how much of the extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey was due to natural influences and how much was due to human influences. They first estimated the chances of Harvey's precipitation total at the present day then estimated the amount of precipitation that would have fallen in an event of the same rarity using 1950s greenhouse gas levels, essentially stripping away the effects of today's higher greenhouse levels. The study's authors expected about a 6 percent increase in rainfall from Hurricane Harvey because of warming in the Gulf of Mexico. The new study finds human-induced climate change likely increased Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented rainfall by at least 19 percent and potentially as much as 38 percent. "It is not news that climate change affects extreme precipitation, but our results indicate that the amount is larger than expected," said researcher Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, a co-author of the new GRL study, who will also be presenting the new research at a press conference at the AGU Fall Meeting today. In the new study in ERL, researchers examined the observed rainfall record in the Gulf Coast region since 1880 to show that the intensity of extreme precipitation has increased substantially. Multiple high-resolution climate models confirmed that the increasing trend is due mainly to human-caused global warming. Overall, the chances of seeing a rainfall event as intense as Harvey have roughly tripled - somewhere between 1.5 and five times more likely - since the 1900s and the intensity of such an event has increased between 8 percent and 19 percent, according to the new study by researchers with World Weather Attribution, an international coalition of scientists that objectively and quantitatively assesses the possible role of climate change in individual extreme weather events. Even if global targets set by the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) are met, scientists estimate an event like Hurricane Harvey will see a further increase of about a factor of three in probability. "But, if we miss those targets, the increase in frequency and intensity could be much higher," said Karin van der Wiel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in De Bilt, Netherlands and a co-author of the new ERL paper, who will also be presenting the new research at a press conference today at the AGU Fall Meeting. Notes for Journalists Study authors Michael Wehner and Karin van der Wiel will present this research in a two-part press conference on hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria at the AGU Fall Meeting on Wednesday, 13 December 2017 starting at 2:30 p.m. CST. See #2 below for information about the press conference and #3 below for information about related scientific sessions. Paper Information: Geophysical Research Letters: Attributable human-induced changes in the likelihood and magnitude of the observed extreme precipitation in the Houston, Texas region during Hurricane Harvey This research article is open access for 30 days. Environmental Research Letters: Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017 Neither the papers nor this press release are under embargo. Contact information for the authors: Michael Wehner, mfwehner@lbl.gov, +1 (415) 305-1044 Mark Risser, mdrisser@lbl.gov Karin van der Wiel, karin.van.der.wiel@knmi.nl 2. Today's press events 8:00 a.m. - The melting cryosphere 9:00 a.m. - Improving gender equity in the geosciences (Workshop) 10:30 a.m. - Spanning disciplines to search for life beyond Earth 11:30 a.m. - Explaining extreme events of 2016 from a climate perspective 12:30 p.m. - ** NEW ** The September 2017 Tehuantepec and Puebla earthquakes in Mexico 1:30 p.m. - Canary in the coalmine: Subsidence in coastal Louisiana 2:30 p.m. - Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria - Part 1 3:30 p.m. - Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria - Part 2 All Fall Meeting press events take place in the Press Conference Room, Room 346-347. They will also be streamed live on the AGU press events webpage and archived on AGU's YouTube channel. Slides and other materials will be available in the Virtual Press Room on the Fall Meeting Media Center. 3. Noteworthy sessions happening today Frontiers of Geophysics Lecture Joanna Morgan, Professor of Geophysics at Imperial College London and Co-Chief Scientist of the IOPD-ICDP Expedition 364 Chicxulub Impact Crater Drilling Project, will deliver the Frontiers of Geophysics Lecture, "Chicxulub: The End of an Era," from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. in the New Orleans Theater, located on the second floor of the Morial Convention Center above Hall I-1. Registered journalists who are interested in attending this talk should meet an AGU staff member at the entrance to the lecture hall 30 minutes prior to the start of the talk. Journalists can also stream the lecture live on AGU On-Demand. 4. Potentially newsworthy presentations happening today Late-breaking sessions * Late-Breaking Research Related to the 2017 Hurricane Season in the Americas Oral session IN31F, 8:00 - 10:00 a.m., Room E3 Lightning session NH32C, 10:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., Room E3 Oral session U32B, 10:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., Room La Nouvelle C Oral session NH33E, 1:40 - 3:40 p.m., Room E3 Oral session NH34B, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Room E3 Oral session NH34C, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Room 352 * The September 2017 Tehuantepec and Puebla Earthquakes in Mexico Oral session S32D, 10:20 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., Room 343 Poster session S33G, 1:40 - 6:00 p.m., Poster Hall D-F * Late-Breaking Sessions on the North Korean September 3, 2017 Declared Nuclear Test Oral session S34C, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Room 228-230 Sessions * Mitigating Flood Risk and Climate Change Impacts Through Managed Retreat Session U31A, 8:00- 10:00 a.m., Room E2 * Atmospheric Impacts of Emissions from the Unconventional Oil and Gas Sector Session A31B, 8:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m., Poster Hall D-F Session A34B, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Room 393-394 Abstracts * New Style of Volcanic Eruption Activity Identified in Galileo NIMS data at Marduk Fluctus, Io Session P31E, 8:15 - 8:30 a.m., Room R09 * Clastic Pipes on Mars: Evidence for a Near Surface Groundwater System Session P33B, 1:40 - 6:00 p.m., Poster Hall D-F 5. Online media resources For journalists: During the Fall Meeting, journalists can find many resources online in the Virtual Press Room in the Fall Meeting Media Center. These resources include press releases, press conference materials and other information. Videos of press conferences will be added to the Virtual Press Room during the meeting for easy online access. The AGU press office also offers two online tools to connect reporters with scientific experts at the 2017 Fall Meeting. The Find an Expert tool allows reporters to view a list of scientific experts who are available for interviews at the meeting. The Request an Expert tool allows reporters to send requests for experts directly to PIOs. These tools are now available online in the Fall Meeting Media Center. For public information officers: PIOs are now able to share press releases and other materials in the Virtual Press Room by directly uploading them via the Press Item Uploader. PIOs can upload press releases, tip sheets and press conference materials to the Virtual Press Room at any time before or during the meeting, including uploading items in advance and scheduling them to post during the meeting. The AGU press office also offers two online tools to connect reporters with scientific experts at the 2017 Fall Meeting. The Find an Expert tool allows public information officers to list scientific experts who are available to be interviewed by reporters at the meeting. The Request an Expert tool allows reporters to send requests for experts directly to PIOs. PIOs who wish to receive expert request emails from reporters should fill out the Receive Expert Requests form. More information about these tools can be found in the Fall Meeting Media Center. ### The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing more than 60,000 members in 139 countries. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels. An innovative new light polarizer has been designed that efficiently tailors polarized light for various optical applications. WASHINGTON, D.C., December 13, 2017 -- Vector polarizers are a light filtering technology hidden behind the operation of many optical systems. They can be found, for instance, in sunglasses, LCD screens, microscopes, microprocessors, laser machining and more. Optical physicists from Nanjing and Nankai University, China, and the University of Central Florida, U.S., published details of their new vector polarizer design this week in APL Photonics, from AIP Publishing. The newly proposed design is a major advance in polarization technology because it enables flexible filtering of a wide range of light sources and generation of new light states. Light waves can oscillate with their back-and-forth motion oriented along different directions, where its polarization describes the nature of this orientation. A traditional polarizer, like a lens from polarized sunglasses, filters out light oscillating along all but one direction. The filtered light is referred to as polarized light. "An enormous challenge was how to solve the design and fabrication of vector polarizers to tailor the light beams and satisfy the requirements of various applications," said Hui-Tian Wang, an author of the study. Wang's group achieved a design that can tailor light intensity, phase and polarization. "The vector polarizer can significantly improve the generation efficiency of vector light beam and may be conducive to achieving a high-performance vector laser." These advancements can be used to improve a variety of optical systems. In super-resolution microscopy, for instance, manipulating polarization can be used to achieve far-field focusing beyond normal diffraction limitations. The physicists increased polarizer efficiency and flexibility by using a new liquid-crystal-based design that relies on birefringence, where specific polarizations are filtered based on their refractive indexes. Wang explained that they customized the orientation of liquid crystal molecules by using stringent photo-alignment techniques. They determined the dichroic dye film structure within the thin glass compartment before adding the liquid crystal. The new vector polarizers also feature manufacturing advantages. "They are flexibly designed and easily fabricated, and have the advantages of the large-size complex structures and the broadband [light waves] operation," Wang said. "However, the vector polarizer we proposed still needs some improvements. For example, we need to improve its alignment quality, i.e., the quality of generated light beams. We also need to improve the spatial resolution for controlling the orientation of liquid crystal molecules." Wang is particularly excited about this vector polarizer's ability to generate new polarized light states, which he hopes to use in developing novel applications. As an example, entangled vector photon states could be used in developing technology for quantum communications. ### This work was supported by the National key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0303800, 2017YFA0303700), AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0279), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11534006, 11774183, 11674184), and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (16JC2DJC31300). The researchers acknowledge the support by Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics. The article, "Dielectric broadband meta-vector-polarizers based on nematic liquid crystal," is authored by Gui-Geng Liu, Yun-Han Lee, Yuge Huang, Zheyuan Zhu, Guanjun Tan, Meng-Qiang Cai, Ping-Ping Li, Dan Wang, Yongnan Li, Shuo Pang, Chenghou Tu, Shin-Tson Wu and Hui-Tian Wang. The article appeared in APL Photonics Dec. 12, 2017 (DOI: 10.1063/1.5006016) and can be accessed at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.5006016. ABOUT THE JOURNAL APL Photonics is the dedicated home for open access multidisciplinary research from and for the photonics community. The journal publishes fundamental and applied results that significantly advance the knowledge in photonics across physics, chemistry, biology and materials science. See http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/app. Depending on whether a species flourishes in a city environment, urban wildlife populations can be "sources" or "sinks," either reproducing so quickly that individuals leave to colonize the surrounding area or needing constant immigration from outside to stay viable. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications examines the population dynamics of Cooper's Hawks in urban Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finds that city-born birds aren't just thriving -- they're actually forcing their rural neighbors out of their nest sites. New Mexico State University's Brian Millsap collected data on Cooper's Hawks living in a 72 square kilometer area of northeast Albuquerque from 2011 to 2015, monitoring each year's nests and tracking newly fledged females with radio transmitters. He found that 30 times more hawks emigrated out of the urban area than immigrated into it, suggesting it was a source population for the surrounding region. However, the details didn't fit neatly with the traditional source-sink model. While the surrounding exurban hawk populations were breeding and surviving well enough to sustain themselves without immigration, females moving out of the urban area were able to beat them to their nesting sites--unlike their exurban neighbors, they didn't migrate south for the winter. White-winged Doves, which first became established in the area in the 1980s, provide an abundant food source for city-dwelling hawks. "Individuals living in urban Albuquerque actually have a fitness advantage over their neighbors living in natural habitats. This advantage comes from the higher prey populations in urban areas, which allow urban female Cooper's Hawks to spend the winter near their eventual breeding sites, as opposed to rural females that migrate south in winter," explains Millsap. "The urban female hawks begin searching out and claiming nesting territories before the rural hawks return in spring and thus obtain nesting sites without direct competition from migrants. Because of this advantage, the urban Albuquerque Cooper's Hawk population not only supports itself but also serves as a substantial source of immigrant females for surrounding native habitats." Changes in migratory behavior that lead to segregation between different groups can have profound effects on populations, altering how they interact both with each other and with other species in a community. According to the Peregrine Fund's Chris McClure, an expert on raptor ecology, "This study is a great example of how solid field work and sophisticated modeling can yield new insights in basic and applied ecology." ### "Demography and metapopulation dynamics of an urban Cooper's Hawk subpopulation" will be available December 13, 2017, at http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1650/CONDOR-17-124.1 (issue URL http://www.bioone.org/toc/cond/120/1). About the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society, which merged with the American Ornithologists' Union in 2016 to become the American Ornithological Society. In 2016, The Condor had the number one impact factor among 24 ornithology journals. Researchers at Aalto University, Finland, have developed a biosensor that enables creating a range of new easy-to-use health tests similar to home pregnancy tests. The plasmonic biosensor can detect diseased exosomes even by the naked eye. Exosomes, important indicators of health conditions, are cell-derived vesicles that are present in blood and urine. A rapid analysis by biosensors helps recognize inflammatory bowel diseases, cancer and other diseases rapidly and start relevant treatments in time. In addition to using discovery in biomedicine, industry may use advanced applications in energy. Researchers created a new biosensor by depositing plasmonic metaparticles on a black, physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation. A plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Plasmonic materials have been used for making objects invisible in scientific tests. They efficiently reflect and absorb light. Plasmonic materials are based on the effective polarizabilities of metallic nanostructures. "It is extraordinary that we can detect diseased exosomes by the naked eye. The conventional plasmonic biosensors are able to detect analytes solely at a molecular level. So far, the naked-eye detection of biosamples has been either rarely considered or unsuccessful", says Professor Mady Elbahri from Aalto University. Plasmonic dipoles are famous for their strong scattering and absorption. Dr. Shahin Homaeigohar and Moheb Abdealziz from Aalto University explain that the research group has succeeded in demonstrating the as-yet unknown specular reflection and the Brewster effect of ultrafine plasmonic dipoles on a black body host. "We exploited it as the basis of new design rules to differentiate diseased human serum exosomes from healthy ones in a simple manner with no need to any specialized equipment", says Dr. Abdou Elsharawy from the University of Kiel. The novel approach enables a simple and cost-effective design of a perfect colored absorber and creation of vivid interference plasmonic colors. According to Elbahri, there is no need to use of sophisticated fabrication and patterning methods. It enables naked-eye environmental and bulk biodetection of samples with a very minor change of molecular polarizability of even 0.001%. ### The study was published in Advanced Materials. The full moon is associated with an increased risk of fatal motorcycle crashes in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. The researchers say their findings might encourage motorcyclists to ride with extra care during a full moon and, more generally, to appreciate the power of seemingly minor distractions at all times. Motorcycle crashes are a common cause of death worldwide. In the United States, they account for nearly 5,000 deaths every year - one in seven total road traffic deaths and $6-12bn in costs to society. Momentary distraction is a common contributor to road traffic deaths. A full moon occurs about 12 times a year, appearing big and bright in the night sky - and is therefore a potential distraction for roads users. So Donald Redelmeier at the University of Toronto and Eldar Shafir at Princeton University, set out to test whether a full moon might contribute to motorcycle related deaths. They analysed data from the official United States registry of motor vehicle crashes from 1975 to 2014, and calculated the number of fatal crashes on full moon nights compared with control nights (exactly one week before and one week after the full moon). A total of 13,029 people were in a fatal motorcycle crash during the 1,482 separate nights (494 full moon nights, 988 control nights). The typical motorcyclist was a middle aged man (average age 32 years) riding a street bike in a rural location who experienced a head-on frontal impact and was not wearing a helmet. Overall, 4,494 fatal crashes occurred on the 494 nights with a full moon, equal to 9.10 per night, and 8,535 on the 988 control nights without a full moon, equal to 8.64 per night. This gave an absolute total increase of 226 additional fatal crashes over the study period, meaning for every two full moon nights, there was one additional fatal crash. Similar results were found after analyses of data from the UK, Canada and Australia. This increased risk was accentuated under a supermoon. Of the 494 full moon nights, 65 were a supermoon night (where the moon appears larger and brighter than a regular full moon). A total of 703 fatal crashes occurred on a supermoon night, equal to 10.82 per night - about two additional deaths on a night with a supermoon. This is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, as the researchers outline in the study limitations. For example, other distractions and traffic hazards were not taken into account, neither were factors including the prevailing weather or moon visibility. And whilst they used large datasets, like any routinely collected data, there may be errors when the data was entered. Nevertheless, they conclude that the findings highlight the importance of constant attention when riding, and that extra care is needed when riding during a full moon. "Additional strategies while riding might include wearing a helmet, activating headlights, scanning the road surface for defects, respecting the weather, being wary of left turning vehicles, obeying traffic laws and forgoing stunts", they add. ### About The BMJ Christmas editions The BMJ publishes special issues of the BMJ over Christmas and New Year. All submissions follow the standard requirements for The BMJ's articles, and go through the usual peer-review processes. Each paper uses proper research methods and stands up scientifically. SILVER SPRING, Md. (Dec. 13, 2017) - The nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) announced today the start of the first clinical trial of vaginal rings designed to slowly release the antiretroviral (ARV) drug dapivirine over three months to prevent HIV in women. The development of a three-month ring builds on the promise of IPM's one-month dapivirine ring, which is now under regulatory review as the first discreet and long-acting method shown to reduce HIV risk among women. A three-month ring would increase convenience and reduce annual costs. The results of the Phase 1 trial, known as MTN-036/IPM 047, will inform the design of future clinical studies and a possible regulatory strategy for this next-generation product. "This study marks an important next step toward providing discreet, long-acting HIV prevention options that women can control themselves," said Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, founder and chief executive officer of IPM. "As long as HIV incidence continues to be alarmingly high among women, IPM will continue developing new and refining existing solutions women can use on their own terms to protect their sexual and reproductive health." MTN-036/IPM 047 is being conducted by the US National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) in collaboration with IPM. The primary objective of the study, being conducted in the United States, is to assess safety and pharmacokinetics (how the body processes the active drug). The study will also collect information on product acceptability and adherence among women in the study. In addition, researchers will monitor for changes in the vaginal microenvironment. Dr. Annalene Nel, IPM's chief medical officer, said that this is a notable development for women in sub-Saharan Africa, who remain the population group with the highest risk of HIV infection worldwide. "The latest research builds on the findings of two large studies, IPM's Ring Study and the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN)'s ASPIRE, which in 2016 reported that the monthly ring safely helps reduce the risk of HIV infection among women who participated in these studies in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe." Dr. Nel said that the continued research supports findings indicating women are interested in HIV prevention products that act over the course of one month or longer. About the study MTN-036/IPM 047 is taking place at two MTN-affiliated trial sites in the United States, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Bridge HIV, a San Francisco Department of Public Health site affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. Both sites have begun screening and enrolling participants. The Phase 1, randomized, three-arm study will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of long-acting vaginal rings containing different amounts of dapivirine. Approximately 48 healthy, HIV-uninfected women ages 18-45 who are not pregnant will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: one group will use a vaginal ring designed for three-month use that contains 100 mg dapivirine; one group will use a ring also designed for three-month use that contains 200 mg dapivirine; and for comparison, one group will use the one-month ring containing 25 mg dapivirine. Participants in the three-month ring groups will not know whether they are using the 100-mg or 200-mg ring, and will use their assigned ring continuously for 13 weeks. Participants in the comparison group know that they are receiving the 25-mg ring, which they insert upon enrollment and then replace at four and eight weeks. All women participating in the study will receive testing and counseling on how to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and receive male condoms and other health services. Results are expected in late 2018. Women and HIV Women bear the brunt of the epidemic globally, making up more than half of all adults living with HIV/AIDS. Women are at especially high risk in sub-Saharan Africa, where young women are more than twice as likely to acquire HIV as young men. Currently available HIV prevention tools have not been sufficient to stem the epidemic among women, who urgently need more options. In addition to the three-month dapivirine ring, IPM is advancing a pipeline of other products designed to help increase efficacy and meet women's varying needs, including a three-month dapivirine-contraceptive ring that recently completed its first Phase I study, led by MTN, with results expected in 2018. IPM is also developing combination products that leverage the potency of multiple ARVs. ### IPM donors: IPM's work is made possible through generous support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs, Irish Aid, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the KfW Development Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, UK aid from the British people, the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. About the active ingredient: Dapivirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor that blocks HIV's ability to replicate itself inside a healthy cell. IPM holds an exclusive worldwide license for dapivirine from Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The license is designed to ensure that women in low-resource settings have affordable access to any dapivirine-based vaginal HIV prevention method. About IPM: IPM is a nonprofit organization that developed the monthly dapivirine ring, and is dedicated to developing other new products that will give women the tools they need to prevent HIV and protect their sexual and reproductive health, and making them available in developing countries. Our partnerships with public, private and civil society bring scientific ingenuity, political will and financial resources to bear on developing and delivering products designed to have significant public health impact. IPM has offices in the United States, South Africa and Belgium. Visit us at http://www.IPMglobal.org. Researchers are the first to observe the electronic structure of graphene in an engineered semiconductor; finding could lead to progress in advanced optoelectronics and data processing New York, NY -- Dec. 12, 2017 -- Researchers at Columbia Engineering, experts at manipulating matter at the nanoscale, have made an important breakthrough in physics and materials science, recently reported in Nature Nanotechnology. Working with colleagues from Princeton and Purdue Universities and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, the team has engineered "artificial graphene" by recreating, for the first time, the electronic structure of graphene in a semiconductor device. "This milestone defines a new state-of-the-art in condensed matter science and nanofabrication," says Aron Pinczuk, professor of applied physics and physics at Columbia Engineering and senior author of the study. "While artificial graphene has been demonstrated in other systems such as optical, molecular, and photonic lattices, these platforms lack the versatility and potential offered by semiconductor processing technologies. Semiconductor artificial graphene devices could be platforms to explore new types of electronic switches, transistors with superior properties, and even, perhaps, new ways of storing information based on exotic quantum mechanical states." The discovery of graphene in the early 2000s generated tremendous excitement in the physics community not only because it was the first real-world realization of a true two-dimensional material but also because the unique atomic arrangement of the carbon atoms in graphene provided a platform for testing new quantum phenomena that are difficult to observe in conventional materials systems. With its unusual electronic properties?its electrons can travel great distances before they are scattered?graphene is an outstanding conductor. These properties also display other unique characteristics that make electrons behave as if they are relativistic particles that move close to the speed of light, conferring upon them exotic properties that "regular," non-relativistic electrons do not have. But graphene, a natural substance, comes in only one atomic arrangement: the positions of the atoms in the graphene lattice are fixed, and thus all experiments on graphene must adapt to those constraints. On the other hand, in artificial graphene the lattice can be engineered over a wide range of spacings and configurations, making it a holy grail of sorts for condensed matter researchers because it will have more versatile properties than the natural material. "This is a rapidly expanding area of research, and we are uncovering new phenomena that couldn't be accessed before," says Shalom Wind, faculty member of the department of applied physics and applied mathematics and co-author of the study. "As we explore novel device concepts based on electrical control of artificial graphene, we can unlock the potential to expand frontiers in advanced optoelectronics and data processing." "This work is really a major advance in artificial graphene. Since the first theoretical prediction that system with graphene-like electronic properties may be artificially created and tuned with patterned 2D electron gas, no one had succeeded, until the Columbia work, in directly observing these characteristics in engineered semiconductor nanostructures," says Steven G. Louie, professor of physics, University of California, Berkeley. "Previous work with molecules, atoms and photonic structures represent far less versatile and stable systems. The nanofabricated semiconductor structures open up tremendous opportunities for exploring exciting new science and practical applications." The researchers used the tools of conventional chip technology to develop the artificial graphene in a standard semiconductor material, gallium arsenide. They designed a layered structure so that the electrons could move only within a very narrow layer, effectively creating a 2D sheet. They used nanolithography and etching to pattern the gallium arsenide: the patterning created a hexagonal lattice of sites in which the electrons were confined in the lateral direction. By placing these sites, which could be thought of as "artificial atoms," sufficiently close to one another (~ 50 nanometers apart), these artificial atoms could interact quantum mechanically, similar to the way atoms share their electrons in solids. The team probed the electronic states of the artificial lattices by shining laser light on them and measuring the light that was scattered. The scattered light showed a loss of energy that corresponded to transitions in the electron energy from one state to another. When they mapped these transitions, the team found that they were approaching zero in a linear fashion around what is called the "Dirac point" where the electron density vanishes, a hallmark of graphene. This artificial graphene has several advantages over natural graphene: for instance, researchers can design variations into the honeycomb lattice to modulate electronic behavior. And because the spacing between the quantum dots is much larger than the inter-atomic spacing in natural graphene, researchers can observe even more exotic quantum phenomena with the application of a magnetic field. The discovery of new low-dimensional materials, such as graphene and other ultrathin, layered van der Waals films that exhibit exciting new physical phenomena that were previously inaccessible, laid the groundwork for this study. "What was really critical to our work was the impressive advancements in nanofabrication," Pinczuk notes. "These offer us an ever-increasing toolbox for creating a myriad of high-quality patterns at nanoscale dimensions. This is an exciting time to be a physicist working in our field." ### About the Study The study is titled "Observation of Dirac Bands in Artificial Graphene in Small Period Nano-patterned GaAs Quantum Wells." Nature Nanotechnology, doi: 10.1038/s41565-017-0006-x Authors include: Sheng Wang, Diego Scarabelli, Lingjie Du, Shalom J. Wind, and Aron Pinczuk (Columbia Engineering's Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics); Yuliya Y. Kuznetsova (Department of Physics, Columbia University); Loren N. Pfeiffer and Ken West (Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University); Geoff C. Gardner and Michael J. Manfra (Department of Physics and Astronomy, and School of Materials Engineering, and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University); and Vittorio Pellegrini (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Genova, Italy). The study was supported by Columbia University, US Department of Energy Office of Science, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (grant DE-SC0010695), and the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, (award DMR-1306976). The growth of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs at Purdue University was supported by US Department of Energy Office of Science, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (grant DE-SC0006671). The growth of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs at Princeton University was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award GMBF-2719) and the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, (award DMR-0819860). V.P. acknowledges the European Graphene Flagship (contract no. CNECT-ICT-604391) for financial support and the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR) through the program "Progetti Premiali 2012"--Project "ABNANOTECH." The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest. LINKS: Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-017-0006-x http://engineering.columbia.edu/ http://apam.columbia.edu/aron-pinczuk 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. Nepals largest hybrid wind-solar power system comes online Nepals largest wind-solar hybrid power system came online on Tuesday in Hariharpurgadi village of Sindhuli district. The construction of the hybrid power system was financed by a project supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a Manila-based multilateral lending institution. DURHAM, N.C. -- The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has elected three faculty members from Duke University's Department of Biomedical Engineering to its 2017 class of Fellows. They are: Joseph Izatt, the Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Engineering; Nimmi Ramanujam, the Robert W. Carr, Jr. Professor of Biomedical Engineering, professor of global health and pharmacology and director of the Global Women's Health Technologies Center; and Tuan Vo-Dinh, the Goodson Professor of biomedical engineering, professor of chemistry and the director of the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics. Founded in 2010, the NAI recognizes academic inventors who have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and welfare of society. With today's announcement, the Pratt School of Engineering faculty now includes seven members of the Academy. Earlier elections included biomedical engineers Ashutosh Chilkoti and Jennifer West, and electrical and computer engineers David R. Smith and Robert Calderbank. Joseph Izatt's research focuses on the application of optical technologies for non-invasive, high-resolution imaging and sensing in living tissues. He is considered one of the leading experts on optical coherence tomography (OCT), a medical imaging technique that allows researchers to peer beneath the surface of tissue to diagnose and treat diseases. Izatt's lab creates systems for use in noninvasive medical diagnostics, in-vivo tomographic and super-resolution microscopy, and small animal imaging. Izatt worked closely with Dr. Cynthia Toth and her colleagues in Duke's Department of Ophthalmology to develop the first hand-held OCT systems for infant examination, and to pioneer real-time intra-operative OCT technology for image-guided ophthalmic microsurgery. "I am very honored to be inducted as a Fellow in the NAI. In our field of biomedical engineering, patenting and licensing technologies is an important means by which our basic and translational research can directly impact society," Izatt said . "Together with many of my students, trainees, clinical and industrial collaborators, I am proud to have patented over 60 medical imaging technologies, the majority of which are licensed to companies bringing new patient care technologies to market around the world." Nimmi Ramanujam established the Tissue Optical Spectroscopy Laboratory at Duke in 2005, where she developed innovative optical strategies to examine thick tissues using the principles of optical spectroscopy, optical sectioning microscopy and molecular imaging. Ramanujam and her team are creating innovations that bring complex referral services to the primary care setting for cervical cancer prevention, strategies to mitigate residual disease and recurrence for women undergoing breast cancer therapy, and low cost ablative methods as an alterative to surgical excision. Through her work at the Global Women's Health Technologies Center, Ramanujam investigates new ways to improve diagnosis and treatment of breast and cervical cancer and organizes programs aimed to increase the retention of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, both locally and globally. The poster child for Ramanujam's research is the Pocket Colposcope, a compact tool that enables healthcare workers to more easily screen for and diagnose cervical cancer in settings with limited resources. "It is so exciting to be acknowledged for the work we are doing to improve women's lives through technology, and in particular our efforts to address the burgeoning health disparities that exist in medically underserved regions locally and globally," Ramanujam said. "It is also great see biophotonics in the spotlight. I get to share this honor with my outstanding colleagues, Drs. Izatt and Vo Dinh, who are both pioneers in the field of biomedical optical imaging." Tuan Vo-Dinh has pioneered the development of a new generation of gene probes using a technique called surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection with 'molecular sentinels' that are able to detect the presence of low-abundance molecules and nucleic acid biomarkers. This technique has been used to improve the early detection and diagnosis of cancer, with additional applications in high-throughput screenings and systems biology research. In addition to his work with the SERS method, Vo-Dinh is developing a novel multifunctional gold nanostar probe that can be used with multiple scanning techniques, including PET, MRI and CT to define operating margins for surgeons and radiologists. Vo-Dinh, who has more than 45 patents, has also developed a wide variety of biophotonics technologies, including laser-induced fluorescence for direct detection of tumors without physical biopsy, a multifunctional biochip for global health and point-of-care disease diagnosis, and plasmonics systems for nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy and immunotherapy to treat cancer and induce a long-term vaccine effect. "Recognition by the NAI is the ultimate honor for an engineer and inventor," Vo-Dinh said. "I share this honor with all my co-workers, postdocs and students, who have collectively contributed to all our achievements over the years." "The election of three of our distinguished BME faculty this year to the National Academy of Inventors is fitting recognition of their outstanding inventions that are reshaping healthcare globally," said Ashutosh Chilkoti, the chair of Duke BME. "To have one faculty member selected by the Academy in any year is cause for celebration, but to have three selected from our department in the same year is unprecedented. I am delighted that the Academy has chosen to recognize these stellar faculty." The NAI Fellows will be inducted on April 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. ### The OmegaCAM camera on ESO's VLT Survey Telescope has captured this glittering view of the stellar nursery called Sharpless 29. Many astronomical phenomena can be seen in this giant image, including cosmic dust and gas clouds that reflect, absorb, and re-emit the light of hot young stars within the nebula. The region of sky pictured is listed in the Sharpless catalogue of H II regions: interstellar clouds of ionised gas, rife with star formation. Also known as Sh 2-29, Sharpless 29 is located about 5500 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (constellation)) (The Archer), next door to the larger Lagoon Nebula. It contains many astronomical wonders, including the highly active star formation site of NGC 6559, the nebula at the centre of the image. This central nebula is Sharpless 29's most striking feature. Though just a few light-years across, it showcases the havoc that stars can wreak when they form within an interstellar cloud. The hot young stars in this image are no more than two million years old and are blasting out streams of high-energy radiation. This energy heats up the surrounding dust and gas, while their stellar winds dramatically erode and sculpt their birthplace. In fact, the nebula contains a prominent cavity that was carved out by an energetic binary star system. This cavity is expanding, causing the interstellar material to pile up and create the reddish arc-shaped border. When interstellar dust and gas are bombarded with ultraviolet light from hot young stars, the energy causes them to shine brilliantly. The diffuse red glow permeating this image comes from the emission of hydrogen gas, while the shimmering blue light is caused by reflection and scattering off small dust particles. As well as emission and reflection, absorption takes place in this region. Patches of dust block out the light as it travels towards us, preventing us from seeing the stars behind it, and smaller tendrils of dust create the dark filamentary structures within the clouds. The rich and diverse environment of Sharpless 29 offers astronomers a smorgasbord of physical properties to study. The triggered formation of stars, the influence of the young stars upon dust and gas, and the disturbance of magnetic fields can all be observed and examined in this single area. But young, massive stars live fast and die young. They will eventually explosively end their lives in a supernova, leaving behind rich debris of gas and dust. In tens of millions of years, this will be swept away and only an open cluster of stars will remain. Sharpless 29 was observed with ESO's OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Cerro Paranal in Chile. OmegaCAM produces images that cover an area of sky more than 300 times greater than the largest field of view imager of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and can observe over a wide range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the infrared. Its hallmark feature is its ability to capture the very red spectral line H-alpha, created when the electron inside a hydrogen atom loses energy, a prominent occurrence in a nebula like Sharpless 29. ### More information ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and by Australia as a strategic partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky". Links * Photos of OmegaCAM - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=OmegaCAM * Photos of VST - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=VLT%20Survey%20Telescope Contacts Richard Hook ESO Public Information Officer Garching bei Munchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 3200 6655 Cell: +49 151 1537 3591 Email: rhook@eso.org A mountaineer thinks he is being pursued, starts talking nonsense or changes his route without rhyme or reason. That alpinists can suffer psychotic episodes at extreme altitudes is relatively well known, and has been frequently mentioned in mountain literature. Up to now, doctors have generally associated this with acute altitude sickness. But now, emergency medicine doctors from Eurac Research and the Medical University of Innsbruck have carried out an investigation into psychotic episodes at extreme altitudes and subjected these to systematic scientific analysis, thereby discovering a new medical entity: the isolated high-altitude psychosis. The results of the study have recently been published in the renowned medical journal Psychological Medicine. When Jeremy S. Windsor was climbing Mount Everest in 2008, he had a very strange experience which he shared with many other extreme mountaineers. Alone in the high mountains, at a height of 8,200 m, he encountered a man called Jimmy who accompanied him all day long, spoke encouraging words to him and then disappeared without trace. Tales like this one are frequently mentioned in Alpine literature. Katharina Hufner, lecturer at the University Clinic in Innsbruck and Hermann Brugger, Head of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine at Eurac Research have, for the first time, collected around 80 psychotic episodes taken from German mountain literature and have systematically analysed the symptoms described in them. Up to now, doctors had attributed the "Third Man syndrome" described above, along with other acoustic, optical and olfactory hallucinations, to organic causes. They frequently occur, along with symptoms such as severe headaches, dizziness and impaired balance, as side effects of a high-altitude cerebral oedema. "In our study we found that there was a group of symptoms which are purely psychotic; that is to say, that although they are indeed linked to altitude, they cannot be ascribed to a high-altitude cerebral oedema, nor to other organic factors such as fluid loss, infections or organic diseases," is how Hermann Brugger explains the new medical entity. The isolated high-altitude psychosis is most likely to occur at heights exceeding 7,000 m above sea-level. Researchers have only been able to speculate on the causes: it is possible that factors such as oxygen deficiency, the situation of being totally dependent on oneself and the early stages of swellings in certain areas of the brain could all be triggers for the psychosis. As far as one can deduce, the symptoms disappear completely as soon as the mountaineer leaves the danger zone and comes down from the mountain - furthermore, there does not appear to be any consequential damage. "This discovery has allowed us to make a more thorough investigation of temporary psychoses in otherwise completely healthy people, an investigation which might yield important indications for the understanding of psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia," Katharina Hufner continues. The results of the study are also relevant, because the syndrome increases the risk of accidents: "It is of the utmost importance that extreme mountaineers are fully apprised of these temporary phenomena," explains Brugger. "There are probably unknown numbers of unreported accidents and deaths caused by psychoses. So as to reduce the number of such accidents, it is of the greatest importance to disseminate cognitive coping strategies which the mountaineers themselves, or with the help of their partners, can apply directly whilst on the mountain," says Hufner in completion. Next spring, the researchers will collaborate with Nepalese doctors by undertaking further investigations in the Himalayas. They hope to find out, inter alia, how frequently this disease occurs. "The highest mountains in the world are maddeningly beautiful," says Brugger. "It's just that we had no idea that they could actually drive us to madness as well." ### A global problem according to the WHO, sepsis serves as an indication of a health system's low bed availability in ICUs and lack of preventive measures regarding hospital infection. Brazil has an extremely high rate of mortality from sepsis in intensive care units (ICUs), surpassing even mortality due to stroke and heart attack in ICUs. According to a survey conducted by researchers at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) and the Latin American Sepsis Institute (LASI), more than 230,000 adults die from sepsis in ICUs every year. Even more alarmingly, 55.7% of sepsis cases in ICUs end in death. These numbers are from the first nationwide study of patients with sepsis admitted to ICUs, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The research resulted from a Thematic Project supported by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP. Sepsis is triggered by a dysregulated response of the organism in the presence of an infectious agent. The immune system begins to combat not only this agent but also its own body, leading to organ dysfunction. Both community-acquired infections and healthcare-acquired infections can progress to sepsis, accounting for 40% and 60% of cases, respectively. According to Flavia Machado - a professor in UNIFESP's Department of Anesthesiology, Pain & Intensive Medicine and principal investigator for the research project - several factors explain the alarmingly poor quality of treatment for sepsis in Brazilian ICUs. "Our patients aren't well cared for. Late diagnosis is common, since people delay going to a doctor or hospital, sepsis is detected too late, and treatment is inadequate. As a result, mortality is very high. There are also major procedural problems," she said. When sepsis is detected early, Machado states, it is relatively easy to treat, basically requiring the administration of antibiotics and fluids, monitoring of the patient in the ICU, and analysis of bacterial culture. "Vaccination can prevent community-acquired sepsis. Hospital infection-control strategies can prevent part of hospital-acquired sepsis. The measures needed are simple, and their absence shows the healthcare system in question isn't good," Machado added. A global problem The incidence of sepsis is a global problem. In May 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO), an arm of the United Nations, passed a resolution on sepsis. "Today, the UN recognizes sepsis as a world health problem," Machado said. "Here in Brazil, we will soon have a national action plan for sepsis, similar to the national action plan for hospital infection, for example. I believe things will start to change. WHO's member states, including Brazil, will have to take steps to make sure they do." Low bed availability The research coordinator emphasized: "Access to the ICU is a key factor in mortality." Machado explained that studies based only on patients treated in ICUs result in mortality rates that vary widely between countries depending on the number of beds available in proportion to the country's total population. "When bed availability is high, the number of less severe patients admitted to ICUs tends to be high as well, so that mortality is lower. In countries like Brazil, where bed availability is low, especially in the public system, only the most severe patients tend to be admitted to ICUs, and mortality rises," she said. To avoid exclusion of patients from intensive treatment, the researchers advocate the use of intermediate-care units, arguing that the absence of such units in most Brazilian hospitals may contribute to longer ICU stays and consequently to a higher prevalence of sepsis. Hospital infection Another factor that contributes to the prevalence of sepsis is the high frequency of hospital infection due to lack of proper prevention. According to the study, most patients with sepsis had hospital-acquired infections. According to the study, the low quality of care in regular wards impairs discharge policy as well as hindering basic support for and monitoring of patients with disease of mild to moderate severity. Another possible cause of the high prevalence of sepsis is differences in end-of-life care, including a virtual absence of palliative care. "End-of-life decisions are infrequent in Brazil, and gaps in communication, scarcity of legal regulation, absence of advanced directives, and cultural and religious beliefs might result in unnecessary efforts to sustain life," the researchers write in the article. The researchers developed a score to assess resource availability based on eight items required for sepsis treatment. Institutions rated inadequate on six of these eight items correlated with a heightened risk of death from sepsis. The items were lactate sampling, central venous oxygen saturation (blood work), bacterial detection culture, antibiotics, fluids, catheter, central venous pressure monitoring, and vasopressor (noradrenaline) use. "Note that these are simple items," Machado said. "It's sufficient to administer antibiotics, collect cultures, do a few straightforward tests, give fluids. You don't need sophisticated resources. So our results say a lot about the conditions prevailing in Brazil." Methodology To arrive at these results, the researchers divided Brazil's ICUs into 40 strata according to geographic region, city size, and whether the institution was public or private, among other factors. Ultimately the sample comprised 227 institutions and included 15% of Brazil's ICUs. "We designed a random sample of ICUs nationwide," Machado said. "This was valid because all previous research on sepsis in Brazil - and I'm not aware of any other Brazilian studies with a sample of this kind - entailed asking institutions whether they wanted to take part. The sample was therefore biased, probably comprising only the best institutions, and mortality rates were in the range of 40% rather than the 55.7% we found." According to the survey findings, while the quality of care varies greatly from one institution to another, the difference between mortality in the public system (56%) and in the private system (55%) was not statistically significant. Adult cases of ICU-treated sepsis are estimated to total 420,000 per year, with 230,000 ending in death. Recommendations The findings of the study can help those charged with preparing the national action plan for sepsis, according to Machado. "These data will be an important input for the plan," she said. "We want to do more surveys constructed similarly to this one but covering more segments such as emergency units and pediatric and neonatal ICUs, as well as investigating hospital-acquired infections." ### About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. For more information: http://www.fapesp.br/en. FRANKFURT. Microorganisms often produce natural products in a step-by-step manner similar to an assembly line. Examples of such enzymes are non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt have now succeeded in designing these enzymes in such a way that they can produce completely new natural products. Many important therapeutics, such as antibiotics or immunosuppressant and anti-cancer drugs, are derived from microorganisms. This is also the case for several different peptides which are produced in the microbial cell with the help of the NRPS enzymes. An NRPS functions like an assembly line in a modern car factory: new parts are added to the basic chassis at each workstation until a finished car rolls out of the plant at the end. In the case of the NRPS, a certain amino acid is selected, activated and processed at each station (known as modules) so that linear, cyclic or further modified peptides emerge at the end that can also carry unusual amino acids. Although the fundamental principles of NRPS are long known, to date it was hardly possible to modify these enzymes. In the few cases where single modules were successfully exchanged, production of the modified natural products noticeably decreased. Assembling completely new enzymes, which in turn would produce completely new natural products, seemed totally impossible. The research group led by Professor Helge Bode, Merck Endowment Professor for Molecular Biotechnology at Goethe University Frankfurt, has now achieved this. "In principle, we use natural NRPS systems from bacteria only as building blocks which we reassemble in a new way using new interfaces we've identified," says Bode, explaining the research approach. Yields are comparable with the natural production of these natural substances. The method is meanwhile so sophisticated that even beginners can use it to produce new peptides and thus potential drugs shortly after a basic introduction. However, it has been a long road. "I was lucky that I had a team working with me on this project that did not allow itself to become discouraged, was very diligent and able to think outside the box," says Bode. "The interface we finally selected to assemble the individual building blocks is such that the classical modular order of the biosynthesis is no longer respected." The next step is to modify first clinical drugs with this method and use biotechnology to produce them. Moreover, new information regarding the structure of these NRPS will be gathered as part of the LOEWE research focus MegaSyn led by Bode and Professor Martin Grininger, also from Goethe University Frankfurt. This will make it possible to further improve the method in order to allow the modification of related classes of natural products or even to produce whole libraries of natural products. First results are very promising. ### Publication: Kenan A. J. Bozhuyuk, Florian Fleischhacker, Annabell Linck, Frank Wesche, Andreas Tietze, Claus-Peter Niesert, Helge B. Bode: De novo design and engineering of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, Nature Chemistry, https://www.nature.com/nchem/, DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2890 A picture can be downloaded from: http://www.muk.uni-frankfurt.de/69511536 Caption: Schematic diagram of the "toolbox system" of the NRPS enzymes for the production of new active ingredients. Fragments from natural systems (green, magenta, blue) are reassembled in a new order (centre) and then produce a natural product which has not formed like this in nature before (right). Further information: Professor Helge B. Bode, Merck Endowment Professor for Molecular Biotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Riedberg Campus, Tel.: +49(0)69-798- 29557, h.bode@bio.uni-frankfurt.de. Current news about science, teaching, and society in GOETHE-UNI online (http://www.aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de) Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a "foundation university". Today, it is among the top ten in external funding and among the top three largest universities in Germany, with three clusters of excellence in medicine, life sciences and the humanities. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it acts as a partner of the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance. Internet: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de Publisher: The President of Goethe University Editor: Dr. Anne Hardy, Referee for Science Communication, PR & Communication Department, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Tel: (069) 798-13035, Fax: (069) 798-763 12531. Paris, France - December 13th 2017 - Sanofi and the Institut Pasteur presented the Sanofi - Institut Pasteur Awards for the sixth year in a row. Five internationally recognized researchers were rewarded for their work in two major fields with implications for global health: Immunology and Microbiology & Infection. The National Junior award winners Docteur Fabrizia Stavru - Bacteria-Cell Interaction Unit, Institut Pasteur (France). Fabrizia Stavru was rewarded for her research on host-pathogen interactions and specifically on the impact of a bacterial infection on the host cells' mitochondria. Docteur Francois Leulier - Institut de genomique fonctionnelle de Lyon, CNRS (Lyon, France), was rewarded for his research on the positive impact that some bacteria have on growth in situations of chronic undernutrition. The International award winners Professeur Jeffrey I. Gordon - Washington University (Saint Louis, United States), was rewarded for his contribution regarding the gut microbiota's role in obesity and childhood malnutrition. Professeur Antonio Lanzavecchia - Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Universita della Svizzera Italiana (Bellinzona, Switzerland), was rewarded for his research on the role of human monoclonal antibodies in the fight against malaria. Professeur Michel C. Nussenzweig - The Rockefeller University (New-York, United States), was rewarded for his research on the molecular aspects of adaptive and innate immune responses and his research on HIV antibodies. Created in 2012, the Sanofi - Institut Pasteur Awards are the result of a historical and privileged collaboration between two partners, Sanofi and the Institut Pasteur, to promote and support scientific excellence and innovation in service of global health. The overall allocation of the Prizes amounts to 400,000 euros. The Jury is composed of esteemed members, all of them recipients of distinguished prizes, including Nobel Prizes of Physiology or Medicine. The laureates received their Awards during a ceremony on December 12th at the Institut Pasteur (Paris) in the presence of Pr. Stewart Cole, President of the Institut Pasteur and Olivier Brandicourt, Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi, and members of the Jury. FRANCOIS LEULIER (National Junior Award) - Bacterial Partners in the fight against undernutrition A geneticist by training, Francois Leulier is passionate about interactions between animals and microorganisms. His doctoral thesis, defended in late-2003, explored the genetic basis of innate immune response, using Drosophila (a genus of flies, also known as fruit flies) as an animal model. From 2004 to 2010, he used the model Drosophila fly to study the immune response triggered by pathogenic intestinal bacteria. In 2011, he highlighted the influence of the fruit fly's intestinal microbiome on its physiology and showed how Drosophila's microbiota optimizes their growth in the case of nutritional deficiency. In 2012, with the support of the FINOVI Foundation and a fellowship from the European Research Council, he joined the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon (IFGL) to develop an ambitious research program to identify the molecular basis of the beneficial effects of the intestinal microbiome on animal growth. In 2016, Francois Leulier made a major breakthrough by discovering that the same phenomenon exists in rodents. The fact that these mutually beneficial relationships between intestinal bacteria and their hosts are observable in mammals means that they are likely to be present in livestock, and perhaps even in humans. The work of Francois Leulier and his team have shown that these bacterial partners could potentially help subjects grapple with nutritional stress and chronic undernutrition in particular. In certain conditions, these bacterial partners could promote growth in young individuals, opening the door to new, more effective treatments to foster juvenile growth, particularly in countries affected by undernutrition. FABRIZIA STAVRU (National Junior Award) - Bacterial infection: highlighting an unusual fragmentation of the mitochondrial network Born in Italy, Fabrizia Stavru studied biochemistry before completing a doctoral dissertation in cellular and molecular biology in Germany, where she began a career in research, focusing in particular on matters related to protein transport in mammalian cells. In 2008, she moved to France and joined the Bacterial-Cell Interactions research team at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. As she changed countries, so did the direction of her research. Fabrizia Stavru and her team now study host-pathogen infections and interactions, opening a new area of investigation--studying mitochondria during infection. Her work focuses on the intracellular bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Fabrizia Stavru studies the role of mitochondria during a Listeria infection. One of the early effects observed in during infection with Listeria monocytogenes is the fragmentation of the mitochondrial network. Using microscopy and biochemical analysis, Stavru's work demonstrates that this fragmentation does not follow the 'traditional' mechanism, but an'alternative' mechanism which does not rely on a protein that is essential in 'traditional' mitochondrial fragmentation. This represents a breakthrough discovery for the scientific community. Fabrizia Stavru has several objectives in moving forward with this research--to understand the mechanism of this unusual mitochondrial fragmentation process, to evaluate how mitochondrial function affects bacterial infection, and to study the ways in which intracellular tickborne bacteria interact with mitochondria during parasitic infection. JEFFREY GORDON (International Award) - A healthy gut microbiome: a weapon against malnutrition The human gut is home to a universe of trillions of microorganisms (microbiota) previously known as 'intestinal flora' that contain hundred times more genes than our human genome. His studies have shown that the gut microbiome is one of the factors that contributes to obesity and that the microbiome could be a vital weapon in the fight against child malnutrition. His work in low-income countries demonstrated how the gut community normally develops. This process takes place during the few years after birth but is stunted in children with undernutrition, leaving them with microbiomes that appear younger than those of healthy children. His team discovered that this 'immaturity' is not repaired by current treatments for undernutrition and is a cause rather than simply an effect of undernutrition. Work done by Jeffrey Gordon's laboratory on the relationship between nutrition and the microbiome has shown the enormous potential of these microorganisms, setting the stage for the development of new microbiome-directed therapies in the fight against malnutrition. ANTONIO LANZAVECCHIA (International Award) - New antibodies against malaria Plasmodium falciparum, one of the world's most deadly parasites, has been plaguing the human immune system for thousands of years. To evade the immune system's defense mechanisms, it uses the so-called chameleon technique in order to perpetually alter its protein envelope. Antonio Lanzavecchia's team has recently discovered a new class of antibodies capable of targeting the different forms of the malaria parasite. Contrary to conventional antibodies, which are produced by assembling together three pieces of DNA that are present on the same chromosome, the new antibodies are produced through the insertion of a large piece of DNA derived from another chromosome. This extra piece is then integrated in the antibody and functions as a specific ligand that targets parasite-infected cells for destruction. The research team has found that these new types of antibody are produced in approximately 10% of the individuals exposed to malaria in Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania. By highlighting the relationship between humans and pathogenic agents, Antonio Lanzavecchia's work is significantly advancing our understanding of human immune defense mechanisms and opening promising new avenues in the search for new vaccines against old and emerging pathogens. MICHEL NUSSENZWEIG (International Award) - An antibodies-based treatment to neutralize HIV The pursuit of a HIV vaccine has been stymied from its inception by the virus' ability to rapidly mutate, allowing it to withstand the body's natural defenses. To mitigate this challenge, Michel Nussenzweig and his teams have developed new methods for the cloning of antibody genes from single human B cells, an approach they have applied to the HIV-1 antibody problem. Michel Nussenzweig and his teams first isolated these antibodies from patients infected with HIV. These anti-HIV-1 antibodies differ from antibodies to nearly all other pathogens in their high rate of somatic mutation. Clinical trials on HIV-1 infected individuals conducted by Nussenzweig and his teams have shown that successive injections of cloned anti-HIV-1 antibodies can keep patients' HIV levels under control. By cloning antibodies from exceptional high responder individuals, Nussenzweig's experiments established a new paradigm for developing antibody therapies, opening new horizons in the search of vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases. These recent discoveries could lead to innovative approaches in the fight against malaria, Ebola, Zika, and even dengue fever. ### Please visit the following link for more nformation on the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Awards: https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/accueil/nous-soutenir/comment-nous-soutenir/entreprises-fondations/ils-nous-soutiennent/sanofi-institut-pasteur-awards A study of real-world exposure to non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields in pregnant women found a significantly higher rate of miscarriage, providing new evidence regarding their potential health risks. The Kaiser Permanente study was published today in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields is produced when electric devices are in use and electricity is flowing. It can be generated by a number of environmental sources, including electric appliances, power lines and transformers, wireless devices and wireless networks. Humans are exposed to magnetic fields via close proximity to these sources while they are in use. While the health hazards from ionizing radiation are well-established and include radiation sickness, cancer and genetic damage, the evidence of health risks to humans from non-ionizing radiation remains limited, said De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the study and a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. "Few studies have been able to accurately measure exposure to magnetic field non-ionizing radiation," Dr. Li said. "In addition, due to the current lack of research on this subject, we don't know the biological threshold beyond which problems may develop, and we also don't yet understand the possible mechanisms for increased risks." In a new study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, researchers asked women over age 18 with confirmed pregnancies to wear a small (a bit larger than a deck of cards) magnetic-field monitoring device for 24 hours. Participants also kept a diary of their activities on that day, and were interviewed in person to better control for possible confounding factors, as well as how typical their activities were on the monitoring day. Researchers controlled for multiple variables known to influence the risk of miscarriage, including nausea/vomiting, past history of miscarriage, alcohol use, caffeine intake, and maternal fever and infections. Objective magnetic field measurements and pregnancy outcomes were obtained for 913 pregnant women, all members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Miscarriage occurred in 10.4 percent of the women with the lowest measured exposure level (1st quartile) of magnetic field non-ionizing radiation on a typical day, and in 24.2 percent of the women with the higher measured exposure level (2nd, 3rd and 4th quartiles), a nearly three times higher relative risk. The rate of miscarriage reported in the general population is between 10 and 15 percent, Dr. Li said. "This study provides evidence from a human population that magnetic field non-ionizing radiation could have adverse biological impacts on human health," he said. Strengths of this study, Dr. Li noted, included that researchers used an objective measuring device and studied a short-term outcome (miscarriage) rather than one that will occur years or decades later, such as cancer or autoimmune diseases. The study's main limitation is that it was not feasible for researchers to ask participants to carry the measuring device throughout pregnancy. Dr. Li noted that the potential health risk of magnetic-field non-ionizing radiation needs more research. "We hope that the finding from this study will stimulate much-needed additional studies into the potential environmental hazards to human health, including the health of pregnant women." ### In addition to Dr. Li, co-authors of the study were Hong Chen, MPH, Jeannette Ferber, MPH, Roxana Odouli, MSPH, and Charles Quesenberry, PhD, all of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. About the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. It seeks to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR's 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects. For more information, visit divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org or follow us @KPDOR. About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 11.7 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to share.kaiserpermanente.org. Cardiolinc, an international research network focusing on next-generation technologies to personalize diagnostics and treatment for cardiovascular disease was formally launched as a non-profit organization (NPO). Founded by Dr. Yvan Devaux and team member Dr. Clarissa Pedrosa da Costa Gomes from the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), and collaborators from the Universities of Bristol, Leicester and Maastricht, Cardiolinc helps connect scientists worldwide from multiple disciplines to fight the world's main cause of death. Cardiovascular disease is responsible for one in every three deaths globally, generating substantial costs and social burden due to reduced quality of life and premature deaths. To fight this epidemic, Cardiolinc's mission is to understand the role of regulatory RNAs in cardiovascular disease and promote research collaborations to drive the development of precision medicine, aiding to faster translate discoveries in the laboratory into the clinical setting. Cardiolinc was born from the Cardiovascular Research Unit in LIH's Department of Population Health in 2014 on the belief of Dr. Yvan Devaux, its founder, that non-coding RNA research in cardiovascular disease could move faster by collaboration. Since its creation, the network has been serving as a platform to connect scientists worldwide from multiple disciplines. Through Cardiolinc, these researchers and clinicians are able to find one another, exchange knowledge, share ideas, and build projects towards a common goal. With the development of novel technologies, it is easier to unravel new knowledge, but it gets increasingly difficult for scientists to conduct groundbreaking research individually. This scenario creates both the opportunity and the need for collaboration. Cardiolinc aims to coordinate and facilitate this process. It identifies openings for funding and supports its members to overcome the challenges of multidisciplinary collaboration, creating effective partnerships to bring new therapies to patients sooner, potentially improving the lives of millions of people and reducing healthcare costs. Despite the ferocious competition in science, collaboration and synergy across disciplines and across academic and industrial organizations can empower groups of researchers. Cardiolinc saw the number of its members double last year alone. At the time of the NPO registration, the network was represented by 66 members and 13 industry partners from backgrounds such as cardiology, genetics, molecular biology, computational science, biobanking, and biospecimen science. Cardiolinc as an NPO will be able to provide consulting, transfer knowledge and technology via courses or partnering with industry, write recommendations, develop and improve tools for research, and carry out clinical trials. To overcome the obstacles of achieving breakthrough science and leap science forward to defeat cardiovascular disease, collaborations and synergies between scientists are key. Revolutionary ideas come from thinking creatively across disciplines and being brave to try new solutions to old problems. ### About the Cardiolinc network: Cardiolinc is an international research network based in Luxembourg aiming to develop precision medicine by understanding the role of regulatory RNAs in cardiovascular disease and promoting collaborative research. Cardiolinc connects over 80 scientists, clinicians, and industry members worldwide from multiple disciplines, such as cardiology, genetics, molecular biology and computational sciences. It coordinates and eases the challenges of multidisciplinary collaboration, creating effective partnerships to translate discoveries into clinical applications. Through Cardiolinc, Luxembourg is now on the map of international cardiovascular research. http://www.cardiolinc.org One of the world's 7,000 languages vanishes every other week, and half - including scores of indigenous North American languages -- might not survive the 21st century, experts say. To preserve as much linguistic diversity as possible in the face of this threat, McGill University scientists are proposing to borrow a leaf from conservation biology. When setting conservation goals, ecologists use evolutionary trees - diagrams that show how biological species are related to one another -- to identify species that have few close relatives; such species are said to be evolutionarily distinct. Similarly, recent advances in the construction of language trees make it possible to gauge how unique a language is. "Large, well-sampled species trees have transformed our understanding of how life has evolved and helped shape biodiversity conservation priorities," says Jonathan Davies, Associate Professor of Biology at McGill and senior author of the new study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. "The construction of more comprehensive language trees provides an equivalent opportunity for language preservation, as well as benefiting linguists, anthropologists and historians." "The rapid rate of language loss, coupled with limited resources for preservation, means that we must choose carefully where to focus our efforts," adds Max Farrell, a PhD student in Davies' lab and co-author of the new paper. "The more isolated a language in its family tree, the more unique information it contains and ultimately contributes to linguistic diversity." Tongues on the EDGE As a case study, Farrell and co-author Nicolas Perrault, now a graduate student at the University of Oxford, used this approach borrowed from conservation biology to generate rankings for 350 Austronesian languages, spoken in islands scattered across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Data were drawn from a language tree of several hundred Austronesian languages published by University of Auckland researchers in 2009, and from Ethnologue, an online database of over 7,000 living languages. (All told, there are more than 1,200 Austronesian tongues today, making it one of the world's largest language families.) For each of the 350 languages in the new study, the researchers combined measures of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and global endangerment (GE) to produce an "EDGE" score, similar to a metric used in conservation biology. The language with the highest score was Kavalan, an exceptionally distinct yet nearly extinct language indigenous to Taiwan, where Austronesian languages are believed to have originated some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. The next-highest scores went to Tanibili, a nearly extinct language in the Solomon Islands, and the Waropen and Sengseng languages of New Guineau. A tool for preserving diversity By building trees for other language groups and applying similar metrics, language specialists could target preservation efforts and help minimize the loss of linguistic diversity in the future, the researchers say. In Canada alone, for example, there are more than 70 Aboriginal languages - most of which are considered to be endangered. "Languages are the spark of a people, the bearing of cultures, and with their extinction we lose unique insights into human history and the evolution of language, itself," says Perrault. "Their disappearance is a loss to humanity, scholarship and science." ### Funding for the research was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. "Tongues on the EDGE: language preservation priorities based on threat and lexical distinctiveness," Nicolas Perrault, Maxwell J. Farrell, and T. Jonathan Davies, Royal Society Open Science, published online Dec. 13, 2017. Scientists working to protect California's most endangered salmon say in a new report that key improvements in tracking Sacramento River winter-run Chinook through California's complex water delivery system would help recover the species while the water continues to flow. They recommend upgrades in tracking technology from tiny transmitters implanted into juvenile fish to wider use of genetic fingerprinting to unravel how the fish travel through rivers and canals in California's Central Valley to the ocean and why many disappear along the way. The same rivers and canals carry water to much of California's population and farmland. The answers will help inform water management decisions and promote fish recovery, the 16 scientists from NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Water Resources, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, write in the journal San Francisco Estuary & Watershed Science. The agencies work together with other agency partners through the Interagency Ecological Program. Currently scientists lose track of the fish through much of their migration. Once young winter-run salmon leave spawning beds in the upper Sacramento River they effectively disappear and scientists cannot tell them from other salmon as they descend rivers into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the ocean. Researchers trying to help the endangered fish survive do not know how many make it through the Golden Gate to the ocean, a critical threshold in their life cycle. Fewer wild winter-run Chinook returned as adults this year than any other year on record, yet scientists do not have enough information to forecast how many adults will return each year or identify the reasons why some years more return than others. "These fish would have experienced extremely warm conditions during all stages of their life cycle in the rivers, Delta and ocean," said Rachel Johnson, a research fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the new report. "Today's technology offers new insight into the lives of these fish that will help us track the number and condition of juveniles as they leave freshwater and return as adults from the ocean each year, which will tell us which stressors and combinations of stressors in which habitats may be causing low returns in a given year." The scientists point as a model to the Pacific Northwest, where researchers use the latest technology to track imperiled salmon and steelhead through the Columbia River system. Publicly available online data reveals precisely when juvenile fish pass individual dams and how many return as adults. The team of California biologists outline six specific recommendations for modernizing and upgrading the tracking of Sacramento River winter-run Chinook, including: Employ genetic methods to distinguish winter-run Chinook from other salmon at key locations through the Sacramento River watershed. Better estimate the numbers of salmon throughout their freshwater migration to the sea, revealing where losses occur. Expand real-time tracking of fish movements and survival through the Central Valley. Improve monitoring of the genetic and behavioral diversity of winter-run Chinook through their life cycle. Trace the condition of fish - including disease, energy reserves and growth rates - as they migrate. Share monitoring data across agencies and with the public to improve transparency and data accessibility to inform management and research. The actions together would provide scientists and decision-makers with a much clearer picture of threats affecting winter-run Chinook, and how best to address them, the scientists say. "The more we know about where we're losing fish and what's affecting them, the better chance we have to turn that around," said Maria Rea, Assistant Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries' West Coast Region. Some of the recommendations are already taking hold, as scientists are increasingly using DNA identification through a coordinated genetic monitoring plan to distinguish winter-run Chinook salmon from other chinook salmon that are not protected by the Endangered Species Act and are subject to fishing. US Bureau of Reclamation's Bay-Delta Office is facilitating technology transfer to make California salmon monitoring data available in a real-time through an open database called SacPas, modeled after the Pacific Northwest. The framework and many of the recommendations are integrated into the Salmon Resiliency Strategy, and the Adaptive Management Plan for California WaterFix. "We have already begun incorporating tissue collection for DNA analysis into the monitoring work we do in the Bay-Delta," said Kim Webb, Project Leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Lodi Office. "This is another great example of the benefits of interagency collaboration and working together to fill critical knowledge gaps." "The recommended monitoring will be a critical component of a salmon-focused adaptive management program. When combined with appropriate models, we will better understand the problems facing salmon populations and be able to predict their response to management actions," said Steve Lindley, Director of the Fisheries Ecology Division at NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz. The advancements will improve the value of monitoring data used in long-term planning to adaptively manage California's water supply while promoting the resilience of winter-run Chinook salmon. The improved data will also provide more accurate measures of fish recovery and track the fate of salmon at particular life stages and in particular areas to better protect them, the scientists predicted. "We live in a more and more data-intensive society, and the recommended actions highlight immediate opportunities to improve data accessibility and use new technologies to move forward scientific understanding and the management of winter-run Chinook," said John Callaway, lead scientist for the Delta Stewardship Council's Delta Science Program. ### Observers suggest poll reforms As the counting of votes of the federal parliament and provincial assembly polls enters its final stage, election observers have suggested that the Election Commission ensure effective voter education, control campaign styles and manage voter identity cards. WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2017 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced support for projects that strengthen food and agricultural science education in insular areas of the United States. Funding is made through three NIFA programs: Resident Instruction Grants Program for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas (RIIA), which work to strengthen institutional educational capacities in instruction and curriculum within a broadly defined arena of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines, Distance Education Grants (DEG) for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas, which support projects to improve formal, post-secondary agricultural sciences education through distance education technology, and Agriculture and Food Sciences Facilities and Equipment (AGFEI) program, which supports the construction or upgrade of agriculture and food science facilities and equipment necessary to conduct tropical and subtropical agricultural research. "By strengthening institutional capacities in instruction and curriculum, these programs will help insular area institutions meet their unique needs," said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. "NIFA investments are helping to increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue food and agricultural science careers." Among the new projects, an American Samoa Community College project will enhance their agriculture, community, and natural resources program with three full-time instructors to help increase student enrollment and program graduates. The Northern Marianas College project will use distance education to provide instruction, curriculum, and teaching programs to its residents. University of Virgin Islands at St. Croix's Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) seeks to improve water conservation and agricultural sustainability in the hot, humid tropics by incorporating rainwater catchment, distribution, and irrigation technologies into existing irrigation infrastructure. In fiscal year 2017, 13 grants totaling $1.916 million were awarded through the RIIA, DEG, and AGFEI programs. They include: Resident Instruction Grants (RIIA) American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago, American Samoa, $144,750 Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan, Puerto Rico, $144,745 University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, $138,686 University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, $144, 661 Distance Education Grants (DEG) American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago, American Samoa, $167,841 University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam $168,653 University of Puerto Rico at Utuado, Utuado, Puerto Rico, $134,623 Northern Marianas College, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, $124,827 University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, $168,786 Agriculture and Food Sciences Facilities and Equipment (AGFEI) Program University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam, $144,750 University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, $144,731 University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, $144,597 University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, $144,750 Project details can be found at the NIFA website. Previously funded work includes a Palau Community College project that seeks to increase enrollment and graduation rates of agricultural science majors. Resources were made available for student recruitment programs, resulting in increased enrollment, retention and graduation rates, meeting the need for professionals and technicians in agriculture science and related fields in the Republic of Palau and the Micronesian Region. As of the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters, 9% of incoming students selected agriculture science as their major, 80% were retained in the programs, and 100% graduated successfully. The University of Guam enhanced its agricultural sciences programs and conducted outreach to local school teachers and students to introduce them to studies and careers in agriculture and food sciences. The university now offers a new graduate program in Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Insular areas are jurisdictions that are not part of a State or a Federal district. The term is used to refer to any commonwealth, freely associated state, possession, or territory. ### NIFA's mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA's investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural sciences, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for updates, and follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts. USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer. It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a blizzard of stars, which resembles a swirling snowstorm in a snow globe. The stars are residents of the globular star cluster Messier 79, or M79, located 41,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lepus. The cluster is also known as NGC 1904. Globular clusters are gravitationally bound groupings of as many as 1 million stars. M79 contains about 150,000 stars packed into an area measuring only 118 light-years across. These giant "star-globes" contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy, estimated to be 11.7 billion years old. Most globular clusters are grouped around the central hub of our pinwheel-shaped galaxy. However, M79's home is nearly on the opposite side of the sky from the direction of the galactic center. One idea for the cluster's unusual location is that its neighborhood may contain a higher-than-average density of stars, which fueled its formation. Another possibility is that M79 may have formed in an unusual dwarf galaxy that is merging with the Milky Way. In the Hubble image, Sun-like stars appear yellow. The reddish stars are bright giants that represent the final stages of a star's life. Most of the blue stars sprinkled throughout the cluster are aging "helium-burning" stars. These bright blue stars have exhausted their hydrogen fuel and are now fusing helium in their cores. A scattering of fainter blue stars are "blue stragglers." These unusual stars glow in blue light, mimicking the appearance of hot, young stars. Blue stragglers form either by the merger of stars in a binary system or by the collision of two unrelated stars in M79's crowded core. The star cluster was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1780. Mechain reported the finding to Charles Messier, who included it in his catalog of non-cometary objects. About four years later, using a larger telescope than Messier's, William Herschel resolved the stars in M79, and described it as a "globular star cluster." The image is a combination of observations taken in 1995 and 1997 by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The red, green, and blue colors used to compose the image represent a natural view of the cluster. ### The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C. For downloadable video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-37 For NASA's Hubble website, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble For the Hubble Messier Catalog, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog Donna Weaver / Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland 410-338-4493 / 410-338-4514 dweaver@stsci.edu / villard@stsci.edu How long might a rocky, Mars-like planet be habitable if it were orbiting a red dwarf star? It's a complex question but one that NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission can help answer. "The MAVEN mission tells us that Mars lost substantial amounts of its atmosphere over time, changing the planet's habitability," said David Brain, a MAVEN co-investigator and a professor at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. "We can use Mars, a planet that we know a lot about, as a laboratory for studying rocky planets outside our solar system, which we don't know much about yet." At the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Dec. 13, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Brain described how insights from the MAVEN mission could be applied to the habitability of rocky planets orbiting other stars. MAVEN carries a suite of instruments that have been measuring Mars' atmospheric loss since November 2014. The studies indicate that Mars has lost the majority of its atmosphere to space over time through a combination of chemical and physical processes. The spacecraft's instruments were chosen to determine how much each process contributes to the total escape. In the past three years, the Sun has gone through periods of higher and lower solar activity, and Mars also has experienced solar storms, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These varying conditions have given MAVEN the opportunity to observe Mars' atmospheric escape getting cranked up and dialed down. Brain and his colleagues started to think about applying these insights to a hypothetical Mars-like planet in orbit around some type of M-star, or red dwarf, the most common class of stars in our galaxy. The researchers did some preliminary calculations based on the MAVEN data. As with Mars, they assumed that this planet might be positioned at the edge of the habitable zone of its star. But because a red dwarf is dimmer overall than our Sun, a planet in the habitable zone would have to orbit much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. The brightness of a red dwarf at extreme ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths combined with the close orbit would mean that the hypothetical planet would get hit with about 5 to 10 times more UV radiation than the real Mars does. That cranks up the amount of energy available to fuel the processes responsible for atmospheric escape. Based on what MAVEN has learned, Brain and colleagues estimated how the individual escape processes would respond to having the UV cranked up. Their calculations indicate that the planet's atmosphere could lose 3 to 5 times as many charged particles, a process called ion escape. About 5 to 10 times more neutral particles could be lost through a process called photochemical escape, which happens when UV radiation breaks apart molecules in the upper atmosphere. Because more charged particles would be created, there also would be more sputtering, another form of atmospheric loss. Sputtering happens when energetic particles are accelerated into the atmosphere and knock molecules around, kicking some of them out into space and sending others crashing into their neighbors, the way a cue ball does in a game of pool. Finally, the hypothetical planet might experience about the same amount of thermal escape, also called Jeans escape. Thermal escape occurs only for lighter molecules, such as hydrogen. Mars loses its hydrogen by thermal escape at the top of the atmosphere. On the exo-Mars, thermal escape would increase only if the increase in UV radiation were to push more hydrogen to the top of the atmosphere. Altogether, the estimates suggest that orbiting at the edge of the habitable zone of a quiet M-class star, instead of our Sun, could shorten the habitable period for the planet by a factor of about 5 to 20. For an M-star whose activity is amped up like that of a Tasmanian devil, the habitable period could be cut by a factor of about 1,000--reducing it to a mere blink of an eye in geological terms. The solar storms alone could zap the planet with radiation bursts thousands of times more intense than the normal activity from our Sun. However, Brain and his colleagues have considered a particularly challenging situation for habitability by placing Mars around an M-class star. A different planet might have some mitigating factors--for example, active geological processes that replenish the atmosphere to a degree, a magnetic field to shield the atmosphere from stripping by the stellar wind, or a larger size that gives more gravity to hold on to the atmosphere. "Habitability is one of the biggest topics in astronomy, and these estimates demonstrate one way to leverage what we know about Mars and the Sun to help determine the factors that control whether planets in other systems might be suitable for life," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's principal investigator at the University of Colorado Boulder. ### MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project and provided two science instruments for the mission. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors approved a new PCORI Funding Announcement (PFA) that makes up to $40 million available for comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) on treatment options for pediatric anxiety disorders. The Board authorized the issuance of the new PFA to support research projects that compare medications in combination with psychological treatments for moderate to severe anxiety disorders in children, adolescents and young adults. Studies funded under this funding announcement will assess available, effective treatment options, including the types of antidepressant medicines known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). The projects will address shortcomings of the existing evidence base, which is limited by previous studies that did not involve enough patients or have long enough timeframes to evaluate the long-term safety of the medications. The findings will enable patients, families, clinicians and other healthcare decision makers to make better-informed choices about what treatments may work best for individual patients' needs and preferences. "This research will help patients, families and clinicians address some of the difficult questions that arise when deciding how to treat anxiety in children and which medications or treatments to use," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. "We are pleased to issue a funding announcement to tackle this high-priority topic. As always, our goal is to fund research that will make meaningful improvements in patients' and their families' quality of life." A preannouncement offering preliminary details to prospective applicants is available in the Funding Opportunities section of PCORI's website. As with all PCORI-funded studies, applicants must show how they will meaningfully involve patients, advocates, or other healthcare stakeholders in the design and conduct of their studies. During its meeting today, the Board also approved $1.4 million to fund two projects on disseminating and implementing useful findings from completed PCORI-funded CER studies. A vital part of PCORI's mission is to promote the uptake of new and useful evidence resulting from studies it has funded. The Board's approval of two dissemination and implementation awards expands that effort. With these awards, PCORI is supporting researchers in taking steps toward bringing the findings of their PCORI-funded CER into broader use. One of the projects will implement a shared decision making intervention in five hospital emergency departments to help patients who are experiencing chest pain but are not having a heart attack decide with their clinicians on follow- options. The second project will help clinicians identify, evaluate and report suspected child abuse through a tailored clinical-decision-support package embedded in electronic health records in five emergency departments within two health systems. "As research findings become available from studies that PCORI funds, we are committed to making sure the findings are accessible and used," said Jean Slutsky, PA, MSPH, PCORI's Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer. The two awards are among nine such projects that PCORI has supported through its Dissemination and Implementation Awards. PCORI recognizes that the generation of evidence can make a difference only if research results reach those who can use the findings in health and healthcare decisions. A list of all projects funded through the program is available on PCORI's website. To date, PCORI has invested around $2 billion to fund more than 400 patient-centered CER studies, as well as other projects designed to enhance CER methods and the infrastructure necessary to conduct CER rigorously and efficiently. ### About PCORI The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed healthcare decisions. PCORI is committed to continuously seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work. For anyone who has marveled at the richly colored layers in a cafe latte, you're not alone. Princeton researchers, likewise intrigued, have now revealed how this tiered structure develops when espresso is poured into hot milk. "The structure formation in a latte is surprising because it evolves from the chaotic, initial pouring and mixing of fluids into a very organized, distinct arrangement of layers," said Nan Xue, lead author of a paper describing the findings in Nature Communications, and a graduate student in the lab of Howard Stone, the Donald R. Dixon '69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton. Honing techniques for yielding sought-after layers by flowing liquids into each other could reduce costs and complexity in a range of applications. "From a manufacturing perspective, a single pouring process is much simpler than the traditional sequential stacking of layers in a stratified product," said Stone. "In one application of this study, we are exploring the physics behind making a whole layered structure with one step, rather than one-by-one stacking of the layers." The inspiration for the research project came from an unsolicited, emailed picture of a layered coffee drink sent to Stone. With Xue looking for a project to take on as he started his graduate work, he initially investigated the concept by preparing lattes in the lab, using store-bought coffee and milk. After several tries, it became clear to Xue that staying within only certain parameters, such as temperatures and pour rates, allowed for a characteristic cafe latte. These efforts hinted at the underlying, quantifiable physics that had to be involved in its liquid structure formation. To more precisely control their model of latte layering, Xue and colleagues opted for a stand-in recipe that would make a barista shudder: dyed water substituting for the hot coffee, and salty, denser water for the warm milk. A panel of light-emitting diodes and a camera then illuminated and captured the movement of fluids within the concoction. The researchers seeded the mixture with tracer particles, which scattered light from a green laser beam, to further track the faux-latte's internal dynamics, a technique called particle image velocimetry. Finally, numerical simulations were run to compare the collected data with various models of the evolving system of intermixing liquids. The overall analysis showed that the primary mechanism behind the layering is a phenomenon known as double-diffusive convection. It occurs when stacked-up fluids of different densities, impelled by gravity to mix their contents, exchange heat through the movement of their constituent materials. Within a given mixture, denser, cooler liquids sink, while lighter, hotter liquids rise. This sinking and rising stops, however, when the local density in a region within a latte approaches an equilibrium. As a result, the fluid there has to flow horizontally, rather than vertically, creating distinct bands, or layers. Through their experiments, the researchers examined how the velocity of the fluid injection of the warm milk matters as well. If poured too slowly, the denser fluid will mix too evenly as it flows into the less-dense fluid. A faster pour rate causes the former to punch through the latter and trigger the rapid movements that culminate in the desired layering when density equilibria are established. Additional work needs to be done to characterize the layering effect demonstrated in lattes to extend control of it to other leveled liquids and semi-solids. But the preliminary findings from Xue and his colleagues already have shown how the activity within a common beverage could lead to uncommon insights. "This result shows the beauty of fluid mechanics and is very significant," said Detlef Lohse, a professor of fluid mechanics at the University of Twente in the Netherlands who was not involved with the study. "I think it will have bearing on various industrial flows and mixing procedures in so-called process technology, in which mixing of fluids with different densities by the injection of one into the other is omnipresent." Lohse further pointed out how the Princeton research could help in better explaining heat- and salinity-dependent flows of water in Earth's vast oceans, a phenomenon that has key implications in climatology and ecology. "The most awesome finding may be that there is perfect analogy between the layering in a cafe latte," said Lohse, "and the known and extremely relevant layering of water with different temperatures and salt concentrations in the ocean." ### Additional authors on the paper include Sepideh Khodaparast, Lailai Zhu, Janine Nunes and Hyoungsoo Kim, all part of Stone's lab at Princeton. Zhu is also affiliated with the Linne Flow Centre and the Swedish e-Science Research Centre at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Kim is also affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Deajeon, South Korea. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swedish Research Council. If you thought the sex lives of humans were complicated, consider the case of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, bringer of Zika, dengue, and yellow fever: She mates but once, in seconds and on the wing, with one lucky male; spurns all further advances from other potential suitors; and stores enough sperm from that single encounter to lay more than 500 eggs, which she nourishes with the blood of human hosts. Understanding her sexual behavior could help prevent her from transmitting the deadly diseases she carries to millions of people every year. Yet many of the mechanisms governing her mating habits remain a mystery. Recently, however, researchers in the lab of Leslie B. Vosshall, Rockefeller's Robin Chemers Neustein Professor, demonstrated that a chemical transferred from the male of the species during sex plays a key role in shaping the female's sexual proclivities. Their work, which was led by postdoctoral associate Laura Duvall and appears in Current Biology, could yield new strategies for keeping this pest, and the pestilence it spreads, in check. Sexual Chemistry Duvall did not set out to reveal the secrets of the mosquito boudoir. Instead, she wanted to learn more about the biology behind female mosquitoes' host-seeking behaviors. In particular, she was curious about the role played by a small protein called HP-I. Previous studies had shown that this molecule is produced primarily by male Ae. aegypti, and transferred during sex to females, in whom it lasts for only two hours--findings that Duvall and her colleagues confirmed. The team disproved findings from other studies, however, which had suggested that HP-I suppresses the female's urge to seek out human hosts. The researchers paired males and females, including both mutant mosquitoes that were genetically modified to produce virtually no HP-I, and normal (or "wild-type") ones. After letting their subjects mate with one another in various combinations, the team looked for changes in the females' host-seeking behavior. But no matter with whom they had mated, the females remained just as keen on finding people to bite. Their attraction to male mosquitoes, however, was a different story. Scientists have long known that female Ae. aegypti mate only once, a phenomenon known as monandry; but they didn't know why. Given that HP-I is transferred to the female along with the male's semen, Duvall and her colleagues wondered if it might play a role in switching off her sex drive. To test that hypothesis, the team once again exposed females to males that produced HP-I, and males that didn't. But this time, they added a third group of suitors: males that produced HP-I, but were genetically modified so that their offspring would glow bright blue when viewed through a fluorescent microscope. By presenting the females with different combinations of fluorescent and non-fluorescent males (i.e., fluorescent males together with non-fluorescent males that produced HP-I, versus fluorescent males together with non-fluorescent males that lacked HP-I), the researchers were able to determine when the females were willing to accept only one mate--and when they were willing to play the field. "Whenever you see mixed fluorescent and non-fluorescent larvae, you know the female received sperm from more than one male," Duvall explains. The results of this mosquito paternity test were definitive: females that got a dose of HP-I during sex and then were offered another mate within an hour remained loyal to their initial partners, while females that got no HP-I did not. (Nevertheless, after 24 hours even females that mated with males lacking HP-I rejected additional partners, suggesting that other chemicals transmitted by the male are responsible for influencing female behavior over the long term.) Subsequent experiments showed that simply injecting HP-I directly into females was enough to trick the insects into thinking they had already mated, leading them to reject genuine warm-blooded males. Sex as a Weapon In a final series of experiments, Duvall and her colleagues ventured into the exciting realm of inter-species sex. In the southern United States, Ae. aegypti is being displaced by its cousin Ae. albopictus, which can transmit the same diseases but thrives over a much larger range. While Ae. albopictus males can mate with Ae. aegypti females, those pairings don't produce viable eggs; and the Ae. aegypti females will subsequently refuse to mate with males of their own species, making it impossible for them to reproduce. The reverse, however, does not hold true: male Ae. aegypti do not effectively sterilize Ae. albopictus females. Duvall and her team discovered that HP-I may help explain this curious reproductive pattern, as well: while the Ae. albopictus version of HP-I activates a receptor in Ae. aegypti females, the Ae. aegypti version of this protein does not activate the corresponding receptor in Ae. albopictus. As a result, scientists now have a much better understanding of what shapes female mating behavior not only within one dangerous mosquito species, but across two of them. And those insights could have far-reaching implications. For example, scientists might eventually be able to limit the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes by using a substance like HP-I to persuade females to avoid mating in the first place. And while vector-control specialists are already attempting to wipe out mosquito populations by introducing genetically modified sterile males into the field, that strategy will only work if the females they encounter remain loyal to their sterile mates--behavior that potentially could be elicited with a mosquito love potion informed by Duvall's research. ### Argentine geoscientist Victor Alberto Ramos was named the winner of the 2017 TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize today for his work on the formation of the Andes, both shedding light on the story behind his home continent and studying the cause of strong earthquakes along the mountain range. Ramos is a 1998 TWAS Fellow and an Earth scientist at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He was honoured for work which has contributed enormously to the understanding of how the Andes and the underlying landmasses formed hundreds of millions of years ago. The TWAS-Lenovo Prize is one of the most prestigious honours given to scientists from the developing world, and was announced at a meeting of the TWAS Council today in Trieste, Italy. The annual prize, now in its fifth year, includes an award of USD100,000 provided by the Chinese technology company Lenovo, the global leader in consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology that is the largest PC company in the world. "We are excited to congratulate Prof. Ramos for his great achievement as an influential geologist in the world," said Lenovo Senior Vice President George He. "His research on South American geology and his practice of applying his research into educating younger scientists has been quite phenomenal. It's our honor to present this year's TWAS-LENOVO Science Prize to Prof. Ramos, and we look forward to more fruitful years of Professor Ramos in the future." "Prof. Ramos has for many years distinguished himself with pioneering basic science," said TWAS President Bai Chunli. "But his work has valuable practical applications in fields ranging from mining and oil exploration to earthquake preparedness. And it underpins progress on several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals - by protecting the poor from earthquakes, for example, and building resilient infrastructure." Ramos has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to understanding the geological evolution of the Andes. He worked almost 20 years in the Argentine Geological Survey, mapping different sectors of the Argentine-Chilean Andes, and since 1984 has been teaching tectonics at the University of Buenos Aires. He said winning the award was a thrill - and that he was caught completely unaware by the news. "It was a big surprise, because the people from the university did it without letting me know they were submitting me as a candidate," he said. "My studies contribute to understanding the mechanisms of formation of the Andes, mainly the tectonic or structural evolution related to the present growth of the mountain chain. This is important for the people living in the Andes because they can learn and improve the awareness for eventual geological hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, and more." The Rise of the Andes In his first years as a scientist, in the 1960s, Ramos did field work in the Southern Andes of Argentina and Chile. He made a number of important discoveries about the geologic history of the mountain range. He and his colleagues were the first to determine that, in a long a stretch along the mountains, the tectonic plates were locked in what's called "flat slab subduction". The plates were sliding almost directly horizontal against each other for a stretch that went on for hundreds of kilometres. The process causes some of the most destructive quakes possible, because for large stretches of land the bottom plate is literally sliding along under the top plate before sinking into the Earth's mantle. This horizontal slide creates intense friction, which in turn causes the top plate to warp, deform and break more dramatically, pushing the mountains more quickly into the sky every time they shift. After that, he and his team worked on what's called the Basement of the Andes - the earth's crust that the Andes mountains evolved on top of. The crust underneath part of the mountains is special, because it's actually not from South America. It's from Laurentia, the name Earth scientists had for the landmass of North America hundreds of millions of years ago. About 500 million years ago, the land that is today South America was combined with Africa and much of Asia in a primeval supercontinent called Gondwana. Most South American bedrock originated there. The idea that the bedrock under part of the Andes was from Laurentia instead was controversial at the time, but nonetheless Ramos and his team spent years looking for evidence to support the hypothesis - mostly by identifying trilobite fossils unique to Laurentia underneath the mountains. The result of their findings was what Ramos called his most important contribution: Learning that a block of terrain detached from Laurentia and migrated through the oceanic crust over millions of years until finally colliding with Gondwana, giving birth to what we know as part of the Andes today. That foreign block of bedrock is now in central Chile and the western part of Argentina. Establishing this gave rise to a better understanding of the region and its deep history. Still, it took years of discussion and debate until the data was confirmed and Ramos's findings became the scientific consensus. "We proposed that back in 1985, and at the time nobody believed it," said Ramos. "There was terrific discussion at the time, but 25 years later they invited me to become a member of Chilean Academy of Science, accepting that a big chunk of Chile had collided against Gondwana." But that discovery was only the beginning. "This was only the first block that arrived and collided against the continent," Ramos said. "Chilenia, another block, arrived later, and this block was almost entirely in Chile." Similar geological events have happened as many as seven times, with smaller landmasses from the north slamming into the southern continent, creating layers within today's bedrock. This kind of event, called accretionary tectonics, has been discovered elsewhere, such as in Canada and China. But until Ramos' work, it was unknown to be a part of the Andes formation. Ramos' research in the region continues, and he and his colleagues are continuing to explore the story of the Earth's landmasses in new and exciting ways. Right now, for example, they are exploring how Patagonia, the southern tip of South America, may have come from outside West Gondwana, colliding with the supercontinent at around the same period. They're also working on understanding the marine plates around the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, finding some rock samples that they believe will change the popular interpretation of how they formed. "The British geologists in the last 50 years thought they were a piece of Africa," Ramos said, "and we're trying to demonstrate they're a part of South America for more than 200 million years." He's also part of an effort to extend the Jurassic period of history - a time famous for the presence of dinosaurs, which currently is considered to have been from 201.3 million years ago to 145 million years ago. The boundary of the period is determined by fossils, such as those left behind by nanosized plankton. In Argentina, those fossils are associated with volcanic rocks that are easy to date using radioactive dating. In Europe, they have the same fossils, but no volcanic rocks to date accurately. This allows researchers to get a more exact estimate of just when the Jurassic period came to an end. Ramos and his team are studying ash from the Neuquen Basin in Argentina using radioactive dating. They have proposed that evidence there shows that the Jurassic should end about 140 million years ago instead - effectively extending the Jurassic by 5 million years. This is the fifth year of the TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize, the successor to the Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize that previously ran for eight years. During its first four-year cycle (2013-2016), the TWAS-Lenovo Prize focused on recognizing outstanding work in the basic sciences, with the subject area changing each year: physics and astronomy in 2013; biological sciences in 2014; mathematics in 2015; chemical sciences in 2016. Its second four-year cycle began this year with competition in the field of Earth sciences. The prize will continue for three more years, honouring work in engineering in 2018, agricultural science in 2019 and social science in 2020. ### About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a USD52 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Its portfolio of high quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join Lenovo on LinkedIn, follow it on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit at http://www.lenovo.com. About TWAS The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries - TWAS - works to advance sustainable prosperity through research, education, policy and diplomacy. TWAS was founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the developing world, under the leadership of Abdus Salam, the Pakistani physicist and Nobel Prize winner. Today, TWAS has more than 1,200 elected Fellows from 96 countries; 15 of them are Nobel laureates. The Academy is based in Trieste, Italy, on the campus of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Through more than three decades, its mission has focused on supporting and promoting excellence in scientific research in the developing world and applying scientific and engineering research to address global challenges. TWAS receives core funding from the government of Italy and essential programmatic funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) administers TWAS funds and personnel. You've heard of the Katie Couric effect, the Angelina Jolie effect and the Charlie Sheen effect, but could the next effect be named after you? University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers and colleagues have discovered that celebrity status may not be necessary to make a public health concern go viral on social media. In a new study, they showed just how effective one person can be in generating awareness about skin cancer -- when his or her post and picture is shared thousands of times on Facebook, that is. In April 2015, Tawny Dzierzek, a nurse from Kentucky, shared a selfie on Facebook after a recent skin cancer treatment. A former frequent user of tanning beds, Dzierzek was first diagnosed with skin cancer at age 21. By age 27, she had had basal cell carcinoma five times, and squamous cell carcinoma once. Her post was shared 50,000 times on social media in less than a month, and her story was picked up by media outlets ranging from CNN to BuzzFeed. Dzierzek's post, and the subsequent media coverage of her story, proved to be powerful tools in raising awareness about skin cancer. Researchers report in the journal Preventive Medicine that Google searches about skin cancer reached near-record levels when media coverage about Dzierzek's selfie was at its peak. "A growing body of research shows that stories can be very impactful -- more impactful than didactic information -- in delivering a health message," said UNC Lineberger's Seth Noar, PhD, a professor in the UNC School of Media and Journalism and the study's lead author. "This event was really a perfect storm of a compelling story and graphic selfie, which seems to have led this Facebook post to go viral." For the study, Noar collaborated with several colleagues across the country with expertise in digital surveillance methods. The team evaluated Facebook shares and media coverage, as well as trends in online Google searches for the words "skin" and "cancer" on the date that Dzierzek initially posted the photo on Facebook (April 25, 2015) through the period when media coverage of her story peaked and then declined. The team found all search queries for skin cancer reached near-record levels, increasing 162 percent compared with historical trends on May 13, 2015, and 155 percent on May 14, 2015, when news about Dzierzek's skin cancer "selfie" was at its peak. Queries remained higher through May 17. "In practical terms, this translated into about 200,000 more Google searches than would otherwise have been expected in just those six days," said study co-author John W. Ayers, PhD, MA, of San Diego State University. Not only did the public have more interest in skin cancer, but they were also substantially more interested in skin cancer prevention and the link between tanning and skin cancer. Online searches for skin cancer prevention were as much as 232 percent higher than expected, while queries about skin cancer and tanning were as much as 489 percent higher. "When the public sees 'real' stories, they gravitate toward them," Ayers said. "It turns out that when people speak up to share their stories, their voices can resonate far more than we had imagined." In addition to demonstrating the value of personal narratives in delivering a public health message, Noar said researchers and practitioners could learn to time messages around events such as this. Ayers added that if public health researchers and advocacy groups could get better at identifying these events when they happen, they could help amplify the message and reach many more people. "When this happened, it really captured the public's attention on social media and through national media coverage," Noar said. "That's an opportune time for all of us to get the message out about the dangers of tanning beds."v And alerting people about the risks associated with tanning is a very important message, Noar said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the World Health Organization's International Agency of Research on Cancer panel, have declared ultraviolet radiation from the sun as well as tanning beds to be a "known carcinogen." According to the American Academy of Dermatology, tanning beds cause upwards of 400,000 cases of skin cancer each year in the United States. "Tanning bed use has been starting to decline, and events like this may play a role by reaching people through a 21st century medium with a real story that strikes a chord at a very human level," Noar said. ### In addition to Noar and Ayers, the study's other authors are Eric Leas, PhD, MPH, Stanford University School of Medicine; Benjamin M. Althouse, PhD, ScM, Institute for Disease Modeling, Bellevue, Washington; Mark Dredze, PhD, Johns Hopkins University; and Dannielle Kelley, PhD, UNC School of Media and Journalism. The study was supported by the University Cancer Research Fund and UNC Lineberger. Ayers reported a conflict of interest through Good Analytics. Dredze reported consulting fees from Directing Medicine LLC and Sickweather LLC. Everyone wants to be with their family for Christmas, but spare a thought for a group of orphan fossils that have been separated from their parents since the dawn of animal evolution, over half a billion years ago. For decades, paleontologists have puzzled over the microscopic fossils of Pseudooides, which are smaller than sand grains. The resemblance of the fossils to animal embryos inspired their name, which means 'false egg'. The fossils preserve stages of embryonic development frozen in time by miraculous processes of fossilisation, which turned their squishy cells into stone. Pseudooides fossils have a segmented middle like the embryos of segmented animals, such as insects, inspiring grand theories on how complex segmented animals may have evolved. A team of paleontologists from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences and Peking University have now peered inside the Pseudooides embryos using X-rays and found features that link them to the adult stages of another fossil group. It turns out that these adult stages were right under the scientists' noses all along: they have been found long ago in the same rocks as Pseudooides. Surprisingly, these long-lost family members are not complex segmented animals at all, but ancestors of modern jellyfish. Dr Kelly Vargas from the University of Bristol said: "It seems that, in trying to classify these fossils, we've previously been barking up the wrong branch of the animals family tree." Professor Philip Donoghue, also from the University of Bristol, co-led the research with Professor Xiping Dong of Peking University. Professor Donoghue added "We couldn't have reunited these ancient family members without the amazing technology which allowed us to see inside the fossilized bodies of the embryos and adults." The team used the Swiss Light Source, a gigantic particle accelerator near Zurich, Switzerland, to supply the X-rays used to image the inside of the fossils. This showed that the details of segmentation in the Pseudooides embryos to be nothing more than the folded edge of an opening, which developed into the rim of the cone-shaped skeleton that once housed the anemone-like stage in the life cycle of the ancient jellyfish. Luis Porras, who helped make the discovery while still a student at the University of Bristol, said: "Pseudooides fossils may not tell us about how complex animals evolved, but they provide insights into the how embryology of animals itself has evolved. "The embryos of living jellyfish usually develop into bizarre alien-like larvae which metamorphose into anemone-like adults before the final jellyfish (or 'medusa') phase. "Pseudooides did things differently and more efficiently, developing directly from embryo to adult. Perhaps living jellyfish are a poor guide to ancestral animals." Professor Donoghue added: "It is amazing that these organisms were fossilised at all. "Jellyfish are made up of little more than goo and yet they've been turned to stone before they had any chance to rot: a mechanism which some scientists refer to as the 'Medusa effect', named after the gorgon of Greek mythology who turned into stone anyone that laid eyes upon her." The Bristol team are still looking for fossil remains of the rest of Pseudooides life cycle, including the 'medusa' jellyfish stage itself. However, jellyfish fossils are few and far between, perhaps ironically because the 'Medusa effect' doesn't seem to work on them. In the interim, the embryos of Pseudooides have been reunited with their adult counterparts, just in time for Christmas. ### Plesiosaurs were especially effective swimmer. These long extinct "paddle saurians" propelled themselves through the World's oceans by employing "underwater flight" - similar to sea turtles and penguins. Paleontologist from the University of Bonn, Germany, now describe the oldest plesiosaur in the journal Science Advances, together with colleagues from Japan and France. The find comes from the youngest part of the Triassic period and is about 201 million years old. Instead of laboriously pushing the water out of the way with their paddles, plesiosaurs were gliding elegantly along with limbs modified to underwater wings. Their small head was placed on a long, streamlined neck. The stout body contained strong muscles keeping those wings in motion. Compared to the other marine reptiles, the tail was short because it was only used for steering. This evolutionary design was very successful, but curiously it did not evolve again after the extinction of the plesiosaurs" says paleontologist Prof. Martin Sander from the Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology of the University of Bonn. The long extinct paddle saurians easily could have held their own against today's water animals. Whereas sea turtles mainly use their strong forelimbs for propulsion, the plesiosaurs moved all four limbs together, resulting in powerful thrust. These ancient animals did not have a shell like turtles, however. Plesiosaurs fed on fish. Numerous fossils document a global distribution of the group during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. A private collector discovered the fossil in a clay pit The private collector Michael Mertens discovered a truly exceptional specimen during quarrying operations in a clay pit in Westphalia, Germany, in 2013. The subsequent evaluation by the LWL-Museum fur Naturkunde in Munster, Germany, revealed that the find represents a marine reptile from the Triassic, the period that predates the Jurassic. This news reached Prof. Sander of the University of Bonn while on sabbatical in Los Angeles. "I could not believe that there was a plesiosaur from the Triassic, given that these animals had been studied by paleontologist for nearly 300 years, and never was there one older than Jurassic" said Sander. He also notes that only through the timely and efficient cooperation between the private collector, the natural heritage protection agency, the Munster museum, and the scientists, the unique find could be described and published. The detailed research by Ph.D. student Tanja Wintrich of the Steinmann Institute of the University of Bonn revealed that the find indeed represent the oldest plesiosaur at an age of about 201 million years, which makes it the only plesiosaur skeleton from the Triassic period. The reconstructed length of the skeleton is 237 cm (7' 7") (part of the neck was lost to quarrying). "We are looking at a relatively small plesiosaur" says Wintrich. The scientists bestowed the name Rhaeticosaurus mertensi on the unique fossil. The first part of the name refers to its geologic age (Rhaetian) and the second part honors the discoverer. Together with scientists from Osaka Natural History Museum, the University of Osaka, the University of Tokyo and the Paris Natural History Museum, the team from Bonn studied a bone sample. First, they "looked" into the interior of the bone using computed tomography, and then they cut thin sections for microscopic study from especially promising parts of the bone. Scientists study the growth marks in the bones Based on the growth marks in the bones, the researchers recognized that Rhaeticosaurus was a fast growing youngster. They compared the thin sections with those from young plesiosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretacous. "Plesiosaurs apparently grew extremely fast before reaching sexual maturity" Sander sums up the results. The paleontologists interprets this as a clear indication that plesiosaurs were warmblooded. Since plesiosaurs spread quickly all over the world, "they must have been able to regulate their body temperature to be able to invade cooler parts of the ocean" says the paleontologist. Because of their warmbloodedness and their efficient locomotion, plesiosaurs were extremely successful and widespread - until they disappeared from the face of the earth. Sander says "at the end of the Cretaceous, a meteorite impact together with volcanic eruptions lead to an ecosystem collapse, of which plesiosaurs were prominent victims". ### Publication: Tanja Wintrich, Shoji Hayashi, Alexandra Houssaye, Yasuhisa Nakajima, P. Martin Sander: A Triassic plesiosaurian skeleton and bone histology inform on evolution of a unique body plan, Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1701144 Media contact information: Prof. Dr. Martin Sander Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology University of Bonn Tel. +49-(0)228-733105 E-mail: martin.sander@uni-bonn.de Tanja Wintrich Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology University of Bonn Tel. +49-(0)228-7360055 E-mail: tanja.wintrich@uni-bonn.de Park officials all set for tiger census in Bardiya and Banke Preparations have been completed for tiger census in Bardiya and Banke national parks, authorities said on Tuesday. The counting will kick off on December 16. FINDINGS An experimental blood test developed at UCLA that uses gene activity data from immune cells was 93 percent accurate in predicting survival rates for people with advanced heart failure who had surgery to implant mechanical circulatory support devices. BACKGROUND Mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices and temporary total artificial hearts, can be surgically implanted in people with advanced heart failure to help the heart's pumping function. But people with advanced heart failure often also suffer from multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, which can lead to death after a device is implanted and is associated with atypical white blood cell activity. When patients and doctors are considering a mechanical assist device, current clinical methods used to predict treatment results have limitations: They do not perform well in very sick patients and they do not use molecular information. That lack of precision in predicting treatment outcomes can complicate the shared decision-making process between patients and their doctors. Dr. Mario Deng, the study's principal investigator, was also a co-developer of an FDA-approved molecular blood test called AlloMap, which is used to diagnose organ rejection in heart transplant recipients. The technology used in the new study, called MyLeukoMap, builds on the methods used in developing AlloMap. METHOD The study involved 29 people with advanced heart failure who underwent mechanical circulatory support surgery at UCLA from 2012 to 2014. Researchers collected blood samples one day before surgery and took clinical data both before surgery and eight days afterward. The patients were classified into two groups depending on their level of organ function. Seventeen patients showed improvement and 12 did not. One year later, 88 percent of the people in the "improved" group were still alive, compared with 27 percent in the other group. The researchers identified a set of 28 genes from the pre-surgery blood samples that predicted how well the patients' organ function would recover shortly after surgery -- and of those 28 genes, 12 helped predict whether organ function would improve after surgery and in forecasting whether the patients would live at least a year after the surgery. IMPACT The researchers hope to study whether the test can also be used to accurately predict how people with advanced heart failure and declining organ function will fare after undergoing other types of heart surgery and catheter-based interventions. The test also could help patients and doctors make more informed decisions about treatment options -- if it predicts a poor outcome, patients could choose to postpone surgery until their condition improves or could opt for another course of treatment. Ultimately, it could improve survival rates, and the quality and cost-effectiveness of care. In the next phase of the study, researchers will expand the research to analyze results for 1,000 patients from 10 sites in the U.S. and around the world. ### AUTHORS The study was led by Deng, a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Co-authors from UCLA are Dr. Galyna Bondar, Ryan Togashi, Dr. Martin Cadeiras, Dr. Joanna Schaenman, Lindsay Masukawa, Josephine Hai, Tra-Mi Bao, Desai Chu, Eleanor Chang, Maral Bakir, Victoria Groysberg, Dr. Tristan Grogan, Dr. Joseph Meltzer, Dr. Murray Kwon, Dr. Maura Rossetti, Dr. David Elashoff, Dr. Elaine Reed and Dr. Pei Pei Ping. Other co-authors are Dr. Richard K. Cheng of University of Washington Medical Center and Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski of Cornell University. JOURNAL The study was published Dec. 13 in the Journal PLOS ONE. FUNDING The work was supported by the department of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and by the National Institutes of Health. The authors have no financial interests to disclose. How sensitive is the human sense of touch? Sensitive enough to feel the difference between surfaces that differ by just a single layer of molecules, a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego has shown. "This is the greatest tactile sensitivity that has ever been shown in humans," said Darren Lipomi, a professor of nanoengineering and member of the Center for Wearable Sensors at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, who led the interdisciplinary project with V. S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and distinguished professor in the Department of Psychology at UC San Diego. Humans can easily feel the difference between many everyday surfaces such as glass, metal, wood and plastic. That's because these surfaces have different textures or draw heat away from the finger at different rates. But UC San Diego researchers wondered, if they kept all these large-scale effects equal and changed only the topmost layer of molecules, could humans still detect the difference using their sense of touch? And if so, how? Researchers say this fundamental knowledge will be useful for developing electronic skin, prosthetics that can feel, advanced haptic technology for virtual and augmented reality and more. Unsophisticated haptic technologies exist in the form of rumble packs in video game controllers or smartphones that shake, Lipomi added. "But reproducing realistic tactile sensations is difficult because we don't yet fully understand the basic ways in which materials interact with the sense of touch." "Today's technologies allow us to see and hear what's happening, but we can't feel it," said Cody Carpenter, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego and co-first author of the study. "We have state-of-the-art speakers, phones and high-resolution screens that are visually and aurally engaging, but what's missing is the sense of touch. Adding that ingredient is a driving force behind this work." This study is the first to combine materials science and psychophysics to understand how humans perceive touch. "Receptors processing sensations from our skin are phylogenetically the most ancient, but far from being primitive they have had time to evolve extraordinarily subtle strategies for discerning surfaces--whether a lover's caress or a tickle or the raw tactile feel of metal, wood, paper, etc. This study is one of the first to demonstrate the range of sophistication and exquisite sensitivity of tactile sensations. It paves the way, perhaps, for a whole new approach to tactile psychophysics," Ramachandran said. Super-sensitive touch In a paper published in Materials Horizons, UC San Diego researchers tested whether human subjects could distinguish--by dragging or tapping a finger across the surface--between smooth silicon wafers that differed only in their single topmost layer of molecules. One surface was a single oxidized layer made mostly of oxygen atoms. The other was a single Teflon-like layer made of fluorine and carbon atoms. Both surfaces looked identical and felt similar enough that some subjects could not differentiate between them at all. According to the researchers, human subjects can feel these differences because of a phenomenon known as stick-slip friction, which is the jerking motion that occurs when two objects at rest start to slide against each other. This phenomenon is responsible for the musical notes played by running a wet finger along the rim of a wine glass, the sound of a squeaky door hinge or the noise of a stopping train. In this case, each surface has a different stick-slip frequency due to the identity of the molecules in the topmost layer. In one test, 15 subjects were tasked with feeling three surfaces and identifying the one surface that differed from the other two. Subjects correctly identified the differences 71 percent of the time. In another test, subjects were given three different strips of silicon wafer, each strip containing a different sequence of 8 patches of oxidized and Teflon-like surfaces. Each sequence represented an 8-digit string of 0s and 1s, which encoded for a particular letter in the ASCII alphabet. Subjects were asked to "read" these sequences by dragging a finger from one end of the strip to the other and noting which patches in the sequence were the oxidized surfaces and which were the Teflon-like surfaces. In this experiment, 10 out of 11 subjects decoded the bits needed to spell the word "Lab" (with the correct upper and lowercase letters) more than 50 percent of the time. Subjects spent an average of 4.5 minutes to decode each letter. "A human may be slower than a nanobit per second in terms of reading digital information, but this experiment shows a potentially neat way to do chemical communications using our sense of touch instead of sight," Lipomi said. Basic model of touch The researchers also found that these surfaces can be differentiated depending on how fast the finger drags and how much force it applies across the surface. The researchers modeled the touch experiments using a "mock finger," a finger-like device made of an organic polymer that's connected by a spring to a force sensor. The mock finger was dragged across the different surfaces using multiple combinations of force and swiping velocity. The researchers plotted the data and found that the surfaces could be distinguished given certain combinations of velocity and force. Meanwhile, other combinations made the surfaces indistinguishable from each other. "Our results reveal a remarkable human ability to quickly home in on the right combinations of forces and swiping velocities required to feel the difference between these surfaces. They don't need to reconstruct an entire matrix of data points one by one as we did in our experiments," Lipomi said. "It's also interesting that the mock finger device, which doesn't have anything resembling the hundreds of nerves in our skin, has just one force sensor and is still able to get the information needed to feel the difference in these surfaces. This tells us it's not just the mechanoreceptors in the skin, but receptors in the ligaments, knuckles, wrist, elbow and shoulder that could be enabling humans to sense minute differences using touch," he added. ### This work was supported by member companies of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego: Samsung, Dexcom, Sabic, Cubic, Qualcomm and Honda. Paper title: "Human ability to discriminate surface chemistry by touch." Authors of the study are Cody W. Carpenter*, Charles Dhong*, Nicholas B. Root*, Daniel Rodriquez, Emily E. Abdo, Kyle Skelil, Mohammed A. Alkhadra, Julian Ramirez, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Darren J. Lipomi at UC San Diego. The paper was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry's peer-reviewed journal Materials Horizons. *These authors contributed equally to this work Dec. 13, 2017 - A 60-year-old mystery regarding the source of some energetic and potentially damaging particles in Earth's radiation belts is now solved using data from a shoebox-sized satellite built and operated by University of Colorado Boulder students. The results from the new study indicate energetic electrons in Earth's inner radiation belt - primarily near its inner edge - are created by cosmic rays born from explosions of supernovas, said the study's lead author, Professor Xinlin Li of CU Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Earth's radiation belts, known as the Van Allen belts, are layers of energetic particles held in place by Earth's magnetic field. The team showed that during a process called "cosmic ray albedo neutron decay" (CRAND), cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere collide with neutral atoms, creating a "splash" which produces charged particles, including electrons, that become trapped by Earth's magnetic fields. The findings have implications for understanding and better forecasting the arrival of energetic electrons in near-Earth space, which can damage satellites and threaten the health of space-walking astronauts, said Li. "We are reporting the first direct detection of these energetic electrons near the inner edge of Earth's radiation belt," said Li, also a professor in CU-Boulder's aerospace engineering sciences department. "We have finally solved a six-decade-long mystery." A paper on the subject was published in the Dec. 13 issue of Nature. The study was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation. Soon after the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, both American and Russian scientists concluded that CRAND was likely the source of high-energy protons trapped in Earth's magnetic field. But over the intervening decades, no one successfully detected the corresponding electrons that should be produced during the neutron decay. The CubeSat mission, called the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE), houses a small, energetic particle telescope to measure the flux of solar energetic protons and Earth's radiation belt electrons. Launched in 2012, CSSWE has involved more than 65 CU Boulder students and was operated for more than two years from a ground station they built on the roof of a LASP building on campus. The instrument on CSSWE, called the Relativistic, Electron and Proton Telescope integrated little experiment (REPTile) is a smaller version of REPT, twin instruments developed by a CU Boulder team led by LASP director and Nature paper co-author Daniel Baker that were launched on NASA's 2012 Van Allen Probes mission. "This is really a beautiful result and a big insight derived from a remarkably inexpensive student satellite, illustrating that good things can come in small packages," said Baker. "It's a major discovery that has been there all along, a demonstration that Yogi Berra was correct when he remarked 'You can observe a lot just by looking.'" "These results reveal, for the first time, how energetic charged particles in the near-Earth space environment are created," said Irfan Azeem, a program director in the NSF's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences. "The findings will significantly improve our understanding of the Earth-space environment," Azeem said. "It's exciting to see NSF-funded CubeSats built by undergraduate and graduate students at the center of a significant scientific discovery." ### Other study co-authors include researcher Hong Zhao of LASP, graduate student Kun Zhang of CU Boulder aerospace engineering sciences, Richard Selesnick of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Quintin Schiller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Michael Temerin of the University of California, Berkeley. CSSWE was designed and built by the students under the direction of Li and aerospace engineering sciences Professor Scott Palo. More than 20 peer-reviewed scientific and engineering papers associated with CSSWE - which ceased operations in late 2014 - have thus far been produced. CU Boulder graduate students continue to study the data. Contact: Xinlin Li, 303-492-3514 Daniel Baker Daniel.baker@lasp.colorado.edu 303-492-4509 Jim Scott CU Boulder media relations jim.scott@colorado.edu 303-492-3114 Follow us @CUBoulderNews LAWRENCE -- People's racial and political identities strongly shaped how they viewed the causes of several recent widely publicized police encounters that resulted in the deaths of African American men, according to a new study by two University of Kansas researchers. The KU political science professors found that racial and political identities shape our understanding of these events; African Americans, liberals, and Democrats generally attribute the cause of fatal encounters between officers and black citizens to broader problems in policing. Others generally would view the encounters as a phenomena limited to the actions of a few actors. "We often ignore the fact that if we don't have consensus about the cause of problems we can't possibly agree on what to do to solve observed problems," said Don Haider-Markel, professor and chair of the KU Department of Political Science. Haider-Markel and Mark Joslyn, professor of political science, co-authored the study published recently by the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. They examined data from two recent national surveys that asked respondents about use of police force, including widely covered deaths of unarmed black men in encounters, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York; Walter Scott in South Carolina; and, Freddie Gray in Baltimore. All cases led to widespread national media coverage and some protests surrounding police treatment of African American men. Regarding race, the researchers also found evidence that Hispanic respondents were more likely to view deaths in police encounters as a sign of a widespread problem, though it was less consistent than among black respondents. Based on the level of polarization observed in the findings, the researchers recommend that police departments focus more on community policing initiatives, especially in predominately Black and Hispanic communities. "We know that for police to operate effectively in maintaining civil order they must have the confidence and trust of citizens," Joslyn said. "Without trust, citizens will not contact police or share information relevant to police investigators." Community policing involves an approach that encourages officers to have regular, everyday contact with the communities they serve, especially outside of interactions solely surrounding crimes or police calls. This could involve meetings with neighborhood residents and community leaders or just daily proactive interactions. Research on community policing is mixed, but it could help alleviate problems in two ways, the researchers said. First, it gets cops interacting with members of the community on a daily basis, in situations where no one is in trouble. "This makes is less likely that citizens or police will overreact when a situation is more tense, such as when criminal behavior is alleged," Haider-Markel said. "Secondly, these interactions can build community trust so that citizens believe they can turn to the police when they need help and are more willing to provide information to the police when a criminal investigation occurs." Among other details in the study, the researchers looked at how people's identities might cross-cut each other as well as how other factors could influence one's response to a question, especially the perceived race of the interviewer. Racial identity appeared to most powerful predictor of perceiving police force as a widespread problem, the researchers found, even trumping ideological identity. Among African Americans who described themselves as politically conservative, they were more likely to view fatal police encounters as a widespread problem instead of an isolated incident, relative to other conservatives. "Many of us have multiple social identities and some situations bring those into conflict with one another. In the case of conservatives, the group identity narrative points to an isolated incidents attribution, while for black respondents the group identity narrative suggests the broader problems attribution. So when political and racial identities conflict, which will dominate for most people?" Haider-Markel said. "Our evidence suggests that racial identities will have the greatest influence." They did find that if a respondent, based on the interviewer's voice, perceived the questioner to be African American, he or she was more likely to attribute broader societal problems as a cause of the death of the black men in the police encounter. "Our argument is that recent events involving police use of violence have become racialized, in large part because the interactions involve white officers and Black citizens," Haider-Markel said. "This context provides cues to observers that activate race as an important element. Our analysis confirms this pattern and previous research has found very similar race-based interviewer effects." ### Immense northern storms on Saturn can disturb atmospheric patterns at the planet's equator, finds the international Cassini mission in a study led by Dr Leigh Fletcher from the University of Leicester. This effect is also seen in Earth's atmosphere, suggesting the two planets are more alike than previously thought. Despite their considerable differences, the atmospheres of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn all display a remarkably similar phenomenon in their equatorial regions: vertical, cyclical, downwards-moving patterns of alternating temperatures and wind systems that repeat over a period of multiple years. These patterns--known as the Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) on Saturn and the Quasi-Quadrennial Oscillation (QQO) on Jupiter, due to their similarities to Earth's so-called Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO)--appear to be a defining characteristic of the middle layers of a planetary atmosphere. Earth's QBO is regular and predictable, repeating every 28 months on average. However, it can be disrupted by events occurring at great distances from the equator of our planet--and a new study reveals that the same is true of Saturn's QPO. "These oscillations can be thought of as a planet's heartbeat," says Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester, UK, lead author of the study (published in Nature Astronomy) and co-investigator of Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). "Cassini spotted them on Saturn about a decade ago, and Earth-based observations have seen them on Jupiter, too. Although the atmospheres of the distant gas giants may appear startlingly different to our own, when we look closely we start to discover these familiar natural patterns." Cassini observed Saturn from June 2004 until 15 September 2017 when the mission concluded by plunging into the gas planet's atmosphere. To better understand Saturn's QPO, Fletcher and colleagues studied data from Cassini's CIRS covering this entire time period. "We looked at data of Saturn's 'heartbeat', which repeats roughly every 15 Earth years, and found a huge disturbance--a palpitation, to continue the metaphor--spanning 2011 to 2013, where the whole equatorial region cooled dramatically," adds co-author Sandrine Guerlet from Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD), France. "When we checked the timing, we realised this happened directly after the eruption of a giant storm that wrapped around Saturn's entire northern hemisphere. This suggests a link between the two events: we think that the wave activity associated with this huge storm headed towards the equator and disrupted the QPO, despite the storm raging tens of thousands of kilometres away!" This storm was known as the Great Northern Storm. Such storms occur roughly once every Saturnian year, which is equivalent to 30 Earth years. The timing of the storm was thus serendipitous, allowing Cassini to observe it in detail from orbit around the ringed planet. Although the influence of Saturnian storms was known to be substantial, this study suggests an even wider influence than expected, and confirms a connection between Saturn's QPO and remote, distinct events occurring elsewhere in the planet's atmosphere. "We became especially excited when we compared this palpitation on Saturn to one observed in Earth's QBO in 2016: it was disturbed in a similar way by waves carrying momentum from Earth's northern hemisphere to the equator," adds Fletcher. "That disruption was unprecedented in over 60 years of monitoring the QBO--and yet we were lucky enough to capture a similar behaviour at work on Saturn with Cassini." On Earth, this relationship between distant events in a planet's climate system is known as teleconnection. Meteorological patterns across the globe are known to be delicately linked together, and can affect one another quite significantly. A key example of this is the El Nino Southern Oscillation, which can influence temperatures and climate patterns across the Earth. "It's remarkable to see this process occurring on another planet within our Solar System--especially one that's so vastly different to our own," says Nicolas Altobelli, ESA Project Scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission. "Cassini-Huygens may now have ended its mission, but there's still a wealth of data to explore, and a huge amount of valuable information to be gathered from the spacecraft's observations. As well as telling us more about Saturn, gas giant planets, and the Solar System in general, this study helps us better understand the Earth. This is one key driver of our research into other planets: to discover more about our own." ### The paper 'Disruption of Saturn's quasi-periodic equatorial oscillation by the Great Northern Storm' by L. N. Fletcher et al. is published in the journal Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0271-5. Images and animation of temperature changes at Saturn's equator: 2004-2016 are available here (Credit: European Space Agency): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/non7ok0c7tvmoks/AADtQArublyyFCTDVXW4Cc4oa?dl=0 PHILADELPHIA - Despite the fact that their disease may be more severe, a new study shows minorities are less likely than white Americans to see a doctor for psoriasis treatment. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that black, Asian, and other non-Hispanic minorities are about 40 percent less likely to see a dermatologist for psoriasis than whites. Additionally, whites averaged about double the number of doctor's appointments for psoriasis overall compared with non-Hispanic minorities. Rates were similar between white and Hispanic individuals. Researchers published their findings this week in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes skin cells to multiply faster than normal resulting in raised, red patches covered by silvery scales. It occurs most commonly in a symmetrical manner on the scalp, knees, and elbows but can appear anywhere on the body including the face, genitals, nails, and other places. It also has profound effects on health-related quality of life, and in moderate to severe cases, it carries an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death. The National Psoriasis Foundation estimates psoriasis affects about 7.5 million Americans. "While psoriasis is less common among minorities, previous research has shown their disease can be more severe. Despite that, this study shows minorities are less likely to see a dermatologist for treatment," said the study's senior author Junko Takeshita, MD, PhD, MSCE, an assistant professor of Dermatology and Epidemiology at Penn. The study's lead author was Alexander H. Fischer, MD, MPH, who was a medical student at Johns Hopkins University at the time of the research. The researchers gathered data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the most complete source of data currently available on healthcare utilization, cost, and insurance coverage in the United States. All of the information is self- or caregiver-reported over a series of interviews, and is designed to be representative of the general population. The team used information from 2001 through 2013 and identified 842 psoriasis individuals representing over 1.6 million Americans. An average of 50.8 percent of whites saw a dermatologist for their psoriasis, compared to just 38.3 percent for non-Hispanic minorities, which include blacks, Asians, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and others. Among Hispanics, 46.7 percent saw a dermatologist for their psoriasis. In addition to the rates for dermatological visits, whites also averaged approximately twice as many visits to a doctor overall. Researchers found whites averaged 2.69 visits per year, compared to 1.87 for Hispanics and 1.30 for non-Hispanic minorities. In total, this amounts to over 3 million fewer visits per year for psoriasis among non-Hispanic racial minorities compared with whites. "When you combine the results of our study with the knowledge that psoriasis severity and quality of life impact suggest a larger burden of psoriasis among minorities, it brings into focus the racial gaps that exist in psoriasis care," Takeshita said. The researchers say more research is needed to understand what may be contributing to these disparities, and if the gap in medical care is directly contributing to the increased severity of disease among minorities. "Ultimately, increasing awareness of these disparities is the first step in trying to provide equitable care and improve outcomes for all individuals with psoriasis," Takeshita said. ### This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (K23-AR068433, K24-AR064310). Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $6.7 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2016 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2016, Penn Medicine provided $393 million to benefit our community. TAMPA, Fla (December 13, 2017)- The world's largest ice sheet may be less stable than previously thought, posing an even greater threat to Florida's coastline. The first ever marine geologic survey of East Antarctica's Sabrina Coast, published this week in Nature, concludes that some regions of the massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet have been sensitive to climate change for millions of years. Much like the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, this region of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is grounded below sea level and local glaciers are experiencing ice mass loss due to ocean warming. "Antarctica may seem far away from Florida, but all Floridians should care about what is happening in Antarctica," said co-lead author Dr. Amelia Shevenell, Associate Professor, University of South Florida, Tampa. "As ice melts, global sea levels rise. Most of Florida is at or several feet above sea level. We are already seeing the effects of rising seas caused by melting ice sheets and ocean warming. There is enough ice in our study region alone to raise global sea level by as much as 15 feet. This, in isolation, would be catastrophic to Florida." Dr. Shevenell, co-author Sean Gulick, PhD, Research Professor, University of Texas at Austin, and their collaborators used marine seismic technology and ocean sediments to reconstruct the evolution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Sabrina Coast region over the past 50 million years. Their research found that during past warm climates, when atmospheric temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations were similar to or slightly higher than today, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was much wetter and more unstable than it has been in the more recent past, when global climates were generally cooler. "Today, a majority of Antarctica's ice mass loss occurs when warm ocean waters melt ice shelves and glaciers from below. Our records of surface-meltwater production during past warm climates indicate that in the future, Antarctica will also experience ice melt from above, as air temperatures warm and carbon dioxide increases," said Dr. Shevenell. "Thus, we might expect regional glaciers to become more unstable as atmosphere and ocean temperatures warm. This observation suggests that existing climate and ice sheet models likely underestimate East Antarctica's contribution to global sea level rise." ### The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which manages the United States Antarctic Program. HOUSTON - (Dec. 13, 2017) - Men who have never engaged in sexual intercourse are still at risk for acquiring HPV, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. The study included 87 male virgins between the ages of 18 and 70 from Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. The participants were followed every six months for up to 10 visits between 2005 and 2009. Male virgins who did not have sex during the research period acquired HPV despite never having engaged in penetrative sexual intercourse, although they acquired the virus at about half the rate as those who began having sex during the study period. "Previous studies have found HPV among female virgins, but this is the first to find it among male virgins. Finding HPV in this population was not entirely surprising, but it reinforces the point that HPV vaccination should not be thought of only in the context of sexual behavior," said Alan Nyitray, Ph.D., corresponding author and assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Environmental Sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health. Researchers believe that HPV was transmitted to male virgins enrolled in the study through non-penetrative sexual behavior such as hand-to-genital contact or genital-to-genital contact. Another notable finding of the study was that 28.7 percent of virgins who began having sex during the study period acquired HPV within one year and 45.5 percent acquired it within two years, reflecting the highly infectious nature of the virus. "These findings highlight the rapid acquisition of HPV after sexual debut among men and thus emphasize the importance of HPV vaccination before sexual debut," said Zhiyue Liu, Ph.D., first author who conducted the study as a research assistant at UTHealth School of Public Health. HPV can cause cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer and cancers of the vulva, vagina, penis or anus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recommends girls and boys ages 11 or 12 should get two shots of the HPV vaccine six to twelve months apart. Teen boys and girls who did not start or finish the HPV vaccine series when they were younger should also get vaccinated. It is also recommended that men who have sex with men, including those who identify as gay or bisexual, get vaccinated by age 26. Nyitray added that the vaccine is most effective when the immune system is maturing during puberty, but it is still considered effective through age 26. The data were collected as part of the HPV Infection in Men Study, led by study coauthor Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., from the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Coauthors from the School of Public Health include Lu-Yu Hwang, M.D., and Michael D. Swartz, Ph.D. ### The study was supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (R01CA09880301-A1) and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT RP170668). MADISON, Wis. -- In the wild, chimpanzees face any number of dire threats, ranging from poachers to predators to deforestation. That's why scientists, investigating an outbreak of respiratory disease in a community of wild chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park, were surprised and dismayed to discover that a human "common cold" virus known as rhinovirus C was killing healthy chimps. "This was an explosive outbreak of severe coughing and sneezing," says Tony Goldberg, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine and one of the senior authors of a report documenting the event. The report was published online today (Dec. 13, 2017) in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. "It was completely unknown that rhinovirus C could infect anything other than humans," says Goldberg, referencing a two-year-old chimp named Betty, who succumbed to the virus and whose body was quickly recovered and autopsied after her death. "It was surprising to find it in chimpanzees, and it was equally surprising that it could kill healthy chimpanzees outright." The outbreak occurred in February of 2013 and affected most of the chimps in the community. During that time, five chimps out of a community of 56 died, including Betty; the other animals that died were adults up to 57 years old. The findings, says Goldberg, are a cautionary tale about human interactions with wild apes. In Africa, people encounter chimpanzees and other apes when human settlements expand into ape habitats, through activities like tourism and research, and when apes leave the forests to raid crops. Rhinovirus C is one of three rhinovirus species, each causing respiratory disease in humans. But rhinovirus C is notably more severe than its relatives, rhinoviruses A and B. Although the virus had likely been infecting people for several thousand years, it was unknown to science until 2006, when it was discovered using new DNA sequencing technologies. In people, rhinovirus C infection can be especially severe in children, notes James Gern, another senior author of the study and a professor of allergy and immunology in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Gern's lab was the first to grow rhinovirus C in the laboratory where it could be studied. Gern's lab also described the receptor that the virus uses to infect cells of the respiratory system. "In general, this virus seems to affect young children the most," says Gern, whose lab performs high-throughput viral diagnostics, processing thousands of human samples annually. Gern explains that the genetics of the receptor -- which serves like a lock-and-key mechanism that allows the virus to enter and infect a host cell -- influences who is likely to be most affected by the virus. Some people have a version of the receptor that makes them highly susceptible to the virus while others have a different version that makes them resistant. For some people (young children, in particular) rhinovirus C infection can be a precursor or complicating factor for asthma. "Chimps seem to be genetically predisposed to have problems with this virus," Gern says. "The virus found in Betty was one that looked like it came from a human, and the level of virus in the lung was comparable to what we see in children." The authors were also able to examine the DNA of the chimps in Uganda using fecal samples, and they looked at published chimp genomes from across Africa. Goldberg says it was sobering to see that every chimp had the receptor that makes cells exquisitely sensitive to rhinovirus C. "There's a species-wide susceptibility of chimps to this virus," says Goldberg. Ann Palmenberg, a UW-Madison professor of biochemistry and an authority on cold viruses, says the genome of the virus obtained from Betty shows that the virus came from a human host. "We expected to see changes all over the genome, but it is not a chimp-adapted virus." Palmenberg, also a senior author of the study, says the virulence of the virus, with about a 9 percent mortality rate, was remarkable. "That's why kids with the CDHR3 high-risk mutation are at increased risk for being hospitalized with severe respiratory illness." Goldberg, who has worked in Uganda for years tracking viruses in animals, says outbreaks of respiratory disease in wild chimpanzees are not uncommon, but for the most part they go undiagnosed. In the few cases where causes have been identified, other viruses unrelated to rhinovirus C have been in play. "In most cases, we don't find out what it is. We're thinking that rhinovirus C might be a major, missed cause of disease outbreaks in chimps in the wild," Goldberg notes. Unlike other viruses known to cause respiratory disease in chimps, though, rhinovirus C is not typically found in feces and may have been overlooked in the past. Finding rhinovirus C as the cause of the 2013 outbreak in Uganda was part good luck, says Goldberg. The opportunity to retrieve Betty's body before it decomposed or scavengers set in was critical. So, too, were Goldberg's colleagues at Harvard and the University of New Mexico, who run a long-term chimp study in Kibale and can identify all the chimps in the community. This, plus the fact that a Ugandan veterinarian was on hand with the proper tools to obtain and secure samples through a post mortem in the field, made the discovery possible, he says. ### CONTACT: Tony Goldberg 608-890-2618 tony.goldberg@wisc.edu Ann Palmenberg 608-262-7519 acpalmen@wisc.edu James Gern 608-263-6201 gern@medicine.wisc.edu Terry Devitt 608-262-8282 trdevitt@wisc.edu DOWNLOAD PHOTOS: https://uwmadison.box.com/v/chimp-cold-virus The conversion of tropical forests to crop and pastureland has long been a concern for scientists, as forest loss can lead to decreased rainfall, increased droughts, and degraded freshwater ecosystems. A new study points to another unexpected consequence: changes in fish production. The study, led by Leandro Castello, assistant professor of fisheries in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, explores how deforestation along the Amazon River floodplain affects fisheries yields. The study was published online Dec. 13 by the journal Fish and Fisheries. "The conflict between raising cattle and managing fisheries is a concern that is shared with floodplain residents, but there had been no rigorous studies of how loss of forest affects the productivity of floodplain fisheries," explained co-author David McGrath, deputy director of the Earth Innovation Institute. Roughly one-third of the global wild-caught fish yield comes from the tropics. Inland fisheries are vital to that food production. The quality of the area of land adjacent to a river, referred to as a floodplain, can play a large part in fisheries production. "Floodplain forests can provide structures that protect fish and their offspring, and provide habitat for insects that many fish rely on for food. Those forests also produce plant material on which fish may also feed," said Castello, who is affiliated with the Global Change Center, housed in Virginia Tech's Fralin Life Science Institute. Co-author Victoria Isaac, professor at the Federal University of Para in Brazil, was responsible for collecting fisheries data. "The study has direct implications for the management and conservation of the Amazon," she said. "Unplanned land use and other human projects are drastically changing the landscape of the Amazon. Policies to protect the environment and avoid deforestation should be stronger to guarantee food security of local populations and fishery yields." To determine just how much of a link exists between fish populations and floodplain forests, the researchers compiled two sets of data. The first included fisheries yields over a 12-year period in the 1,000-square-kilometer study area. The researchers created a map of the region's 1,500 lakes and interviewed local fishermen about the types and quantities of fish caught in different areas. Using this data, the team determined which specific areas yielded the most fish. "We collected roughly 36,000 separate data points that were plotted in order to make a map of where the fish were coming from," Castello said. The researchers used images from NASA satellites to compile a second data set on habitat features in the same area to determine if the presence of floodplain forests made an impact on fish yields. "Essentially, we wanted to know if fish yields in areas with forested floodplains are greater, the same, or less than areas where forests have been cut down," Castello explained. "Our results indicated that lakes with floodplain forests provided fishers with greater fish yields," he continued. "This allows us to infer that if you cut down the forests, fish yields in those lakes would decrease. Tropical deforestation is not only a terrestrial issue -- it can also decrease the number of fish available to some of the world's poorest populations." Co-author Laura Hess, associate researcher with the Earth Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, added, "A fisheries and land-cover study at this scale had not been done before in the Amazon, so it was very satisfying when we found strong evidence for a relationship." In the future, the researchers hope to expand their scope to include other variables that may affect fisheries yields, such as the depth and connectivity of the lakes studied. For now, however, Castello explains that the policy implications of the study are clear. "You have to protect these habitats if you want to maintain the food production and the income that rivers provide," Castello said. "River floodplains produce more fish than any other freshwater system in the world. Right now, the Amazon is unique in that most of its floodplains are still intact, but if forests continue to be cut down and habitats are changed, that will decrease the amount of fish people have to eat and make their living. If we don't protect these areas, we lose the rivers and we lose the fish." McGrath added, "This paper gives us the tools we need to show the trade-offs between raising cattle and managing floodplain fisheries. We can use this work to show communities what they lose by not controlling cattle densities on floodplains and converting forest to pasture." ### The research team also included Ram Thapa, a former postdoctoral research associate in Virginia Tech's Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation who earned a master's in statistics and a doctorate in forestry at Virginia Tech; Caroline Arantes, a doctoral student at Texas A&M University; and Vivian Reno of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. Police fire warning shots, tear gas after SSFN, NC cadres clash in Bara Tension ran high in Pacharauta Municipality of Bara district following a clash between the cadres of Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal (SSFN) and Nepal Congress (NC) during a victory rally on Wednesday. A new book co-edited by tiger biologist Dr. Ullas Karanth of (WCS) Wildlife Conservation Society and Dr. James Nichols, an Emeritus statistical ecologist from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), provides an authoritative text on monitoring tigers, their prey, and many other similarly endangered species. The volume is co-authored by 32 authors, from several leading research and conservation organizations, representing a range of technical expertise from tiger biology to mathematical statistics and modeling. The text provides detailed answers to critical questions in population assessment, such as why, what and how to monitor animal populations, and offers hope that such rigorous audits will greatly help in recovering wild tigers. "Methods for Monitoring Tiger and Prey Populations," published by Springer, is a culmination of Karanth and Nichols' decades of research partnership. In it, they have collaborated with 30 other scientists to produce in-depth treaties on advanced scientific methods to accurately track tiger and prey population dynamics. Additional methods demonstrate how multiple connected populations and their distributions can be monitored. "This work is a distillation of 40 years of science dedicated to the single aim of more effectively conserving wild tigers," said WCS Director of Global Conservation Dr. John Robinson. "As such, it is a foundational text for anyone committed to recovering the world's largest cat." The earth is currently thought to be home to less than 4,000 wild tigers, 96,000 fewer than suggested to have roamed the planet at the beginning of the 20th century. Their survival depends upon the ability of scientists to properly monitor effectiveness of conservation efforts and accurately answer questions such as: Are tiger numbers increasing or decreasing? How are tigers distributed in the wild? What is the status of tiger habitat? Because tigers are popular icons, the last 50 years have seen vast resources invested by tiger range countries and the global conservation community to save them. However, the status of the big cat remains precarious and its population status is uncertain across much of its range. Karanth, a conservation biologist and one of the world's leading authorities on tigers, believes that reliable audits of tiger conservation are essential, and cannot be arrived at by simply throwing money at the situation. He and other co-authors argue that many current, expensive tiger monitoring programs lack the necessary rigor to generate reliable results in spite of massive investments made. As a world-renowned pioneer in developing and evaluating the efficacy of tiger counting methods, Karanth is in a unique position to make that call. Among his many accomplishments are his critiques that led to the abandonment by the Indian Government of "pugmark tiger census" and its replacement with camera trap sampling developed by him and Nichols that can estimate tiger numbers from photos using their unique stripe patterns. Their collaboration, involving innovative capture-recapture statistical models, has been widely adopted by researchers to estimate population parameters not only for wild tigers but many naturally marked animals. "Over the years, we've successfully adapted our monitoring approaches with the introduction of new tools and techniques, but studying wild populations of tigers and prey species remains challenging," said Robert Dorazio, a statistician with the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and one of the book's co-authors. "We really wanted to make sure the statistical methods presented in this book were state-of-the-art and were capable of extracting as much useful information as possible from the available data." Contributing to the text are scientists with expertise in a range of necessary disciplines: biology and ecology of tigers; prey and habitats; advanced statistical theory and practice; computation and programming; practical field-sampling methods that employ technologies as varied as camera traps, genetic analyses and geographic information systems. Without dependable answers, conservationists and scientists are at a disadvantage in finding and implementing conservation solutions that will safeguard tigers. Thorough monitoring of surviving wild tiger populations continues to be essential for both understanding and recovering wild tigers. The new book details how to do it right. The book discusses cutting edge methodologies of sampling, modeling, estimation and adaptive management of animal populations using cutting-edge tools such as camera-traps, genetic identification and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using a modern statistical approach. "I believe our coauthors in this volume are among the best in business as far as monitoring tigers and other threatened species and as a result this volume represents the state of the art on this topic," said Ullas Karanth. "Conservationists should not be satisfied with substandard methods, given how much money and passion they are investing on recovering wild tigers across species range." ### About the Wildlife Conservation Society. WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242 Power output takes hit as rivers shrink; down 35pc Hydroelectricity production has taken a hit due to reduced water levels in the rivers with the dry season in full swing. Officials said energy output had shrunk up to 35 percent. From: Joyce L. Gioia, CMC, CSP -- The Herman Group Austin , TX Wednesday, December 13, 2017 The Herman Trend Alert December 13, 2017 A Wildcard in the Arctic Wildcards are highly improbable and mostly unexpected events. According to noted Futurist Dr. Oliver Markley, "Type II Wildcards are held to be credibly plausible, even probable, by specific experts who can say why, but they are not seen as credible by others". If you are a fan of the television series Madame Secretary, then you have surely seen the recent episode in which a Russian environmentalist and social entrepreneur was critically affected by the Type II Wildcard that is the subject of this Herman Trend Alert. Melting permafrost across the Arctic There is no doubt that the Arctic sea ice is melting. From stark satellite views of Greenland's coast to pictures of marooned polar bears, starving to death, to an expose of Russians celebrating the increase in activity in their northern seaports, we see undeniable images that drive the point home. And while the melting ice may be raising sea level imperceptively, it is also exposing hundreds of millions of square miles at the top of the planet that had been covered with ice for eons. Climate change winners? The people on the planet most delighted with climate change are the Russians who live in their northernmost seaports. Due to melting Arctic sea ice, their weather is not only more temperate, but their ports are now navigable many more months of the year, there, business is booming. They may also be the most vulnerable to the effects of this wildcard. Permafrost is not permanent Though the name permafrost seems to connote permanency, permafrost is not really permanent. Every winter, this soil rich in minerals is covered with a sheet of ice. This ice locks in the previously vegetation covered marshlands buried beneath the ice for 35,000 years. Here's the problem: before climate change happened, the ice always kept the permafrost at a temperature low enough that the dead plants and decayed animals remained cold enough to protect any humans who might be exposed to the microbes trapped for centuries. The unexpected consequences Now, with the expansion of warmer temperatures and melting of the sea ice, areas of permafrost may become very dangerous places for humans to be on the planet. Diseases, for which we developed immunities centuries ago, may emerge in more deadly forms than ever before. In the Madame Secretary episode, it was Small Pox, a disease that was eradicated from the planet in 1977 surfaced as a "zombie disease". While the television show was fiction, this threat is actually very real. Awakening Earth's dormant pathogens It almost seems like science fiction that these microbes which have been dormant for tens of thousands of years are now becoming a danger to us after all of this time. Unfortunately, those microbes are now showing up and have already taken a toll. A frightening example In Siberia, last summer, there was an outbreak of anthrax that infected dozens of people and killed one child. The cause was traced back to the thawed and decayed corpse of a reindeer killed over 70 years ago. The future for the Arctic looks more frightening As the earth warms, more of this permafrost-covered ground will be exposed. Russia intends to mine the area for its resources. Imagine piles of decaying animal carcasses and vegetation next to workers cabins and homes. To us, this Type II Wildcard seems like a recipe for disaster. Special thanks to CBS for their episode of Madame Secretary and to Robinson Meyer, associate editor at The Atlantic, for bringing this issue to our attention. ******** The Herman Group is a firm of Strategic Business Futurists concentrating on workforce and workplace issues. We forecast the future and advise clients regarding relevant trends and how those trends may affect their lives. Applying our expertise as Certified Management Consultants, we advise corporate leaders regarding employee retention and organizational development to help them build workforce stability. We help organizations become Employers of Choice. We also work with Employer of Choice, Inc. to formally recognize employers that meet the stringent standards dictated by the labor marketplace. As authors of management books and as active professional speakers, we inform and inspire people to make a positive difference in the world of work. You did really get the ball rolling with our retention presentation, overall we have seen a move in the right direction with our turnover. In practice since 1980, we have served a wide variety of clients throughout the United States and in other countries. Our global affiliates assist us in sharing our expertise and advice with clients internationally. Our team of professional consultants and trainers is supported by an administrative staff that gets things done. We also have consultants certified to deliver our programs in your local area. Delivering to both small and large groups across 100 industries, The Herman Group has provided over 2,500 educational and informative keynote speeches and training seminars worldwide. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, we travel extensively to meet the needs of our clients. We can always be reached through the support team in our office at (800) 227-3566. Overseas callers may reach us through 336-210-3547. Should you have any questions after touring our website, please call or e-mail us at info@hermangroup.com. Get started now on improving the stability and performance of your workforce and increase your chances for success in the future. About AEA The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association and the largest in its field. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEAs mission is to improve evaluation practices and methods worldwide, to increase evaluation use, promote evaluation as a profession and support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action. For more information about AEA, visit www.eval.org. Tourism growth spurs hotel expansion spree Strong domestic and foreign tourist growth has boosted Nepals hospitality industry, inspiring hotels and lodges to go on an expansion spree. According to the Economic Activities Study Report 2016-17 released by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), 6,188 room nights were added during the last fiscal year across the country. SALEM, Ohio Surprise! A royalty check just came in the mail for a well on your Pennsylvania property that hasnt been in production for over 10 years. Dont cash that check. You may be giving oil and gas companies more rights than you realize. Budget bill A rider slipped into the Pennsylvania Fiscal Code passed in late October will make it easier for oil and gas companies to restart old and expired leases. Section 1610 of the budget bill will make it harder for landowners to terminate a lease after a well has stopped producing oil and gas if the landowner accepts a royalty payment from a company that has restarted production on an old lease, or a company drilled a new well on the lease after giving the landowner 90 days to object. When this (provision) came out, we did become aware of it and we did oppose it, said Mark ONeill, director of media and strategic communications for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. It opens the door for oil and gas companies to take advantage of landowners. Old wells He explained many of the wells in western Pennsylvania have been around for more than 100 years. Oil and gas companies want to walk in an say these agreements still hold out, said ONeill. This provision can significantly hamper producers ability to negotiate and renegotiate (leases). ONeill said it can be hard to determine an end date with some of the older leases, which makes it harder to address concerns of old or expiring leases. Seek help Atty. Robert Burnett, a board member of the state chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners said the bill was designed to insulate a driller from challenges. If landowners have an old or expired oil and gas lease and receive a royalty check out of the blue, dont cash anything, he said. Call a lawyer and challenge the validity of that royalty check. Big issue If the operator sends a letter to the landowner stating the company will begin drilling a new well on the property, the statute gives the landowner 90 days to object. If a landowner would get a letter, immediately file an objection and get a lawyer, said Burnett. This is going to be a big issue in western Pennsylvania, where there are many old wells that have not been drilled on, said Burnett. Its going to require landowners to be more vigilant. Minimum royalties Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is also supporting legislation that will help protect landowners from deductions in their royalty payments. In 1979, the state passed a Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act that set a minimum one-eighth royalty from oil and natural gas drilling, explained ONeill. With the development of unconventional shale gas wells (i.e. horizontal drilling in the Marcellus shale), some companies began deducting post-production costs from royalty payments (i.e. compression, dehydration, or transmission), subjecting them to fall below the state minimum. Weve had some members getting royalty checks for nothing, said ONeill. House Bill 557, sponsored by Rep. Garth Everett and introduced in February, would amend the minimum royalties act, providing the minimum one-eighth royalty for unconventional oil and gas production. Ohios recent week-long, gun-deer season produced a noticeable increase in harvest numbers. According to the results released by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, hunters reported 72,814 deer killed including both bucks and does. The recently concluded season totals top that of last year when 66,758 deer were reported, by nearly 10 percent. Add to that nearly 5,000 whitetail deer taken by young hunters, accompanied by an adult, during the special two-day weekend youth season, and a solid archery kill harvest, and anyone can begin to see how significant hunting is to the management of the overall Ohio deer herd. And there is still more deer hunting to go. This weekend, gun hunters can once again head to the woods for a bonus two-day opportunity, followed by the annual black powder season in early January, plus several more weeks of archery hunting. Ohio gun hunters and now Michigan deer hunters in non-high power rifle areas, are allowed to use straight-wall cartridge rifles in addition to shotguns, muzzleloader and certain handguns. The move to rifles shooting cartridges performing much the same as shotguns, measured in range, accuracy, and overall power, is a popular change which in turn, has created more than a bit of interest by shooters. I suspect the interest might be much the same as crossbows and non-primitive, in-line muzzleloaders did when they were added to the acceptable deer hunting weapon list. Herd management Game management is all about hunter harvest. Deer herds such as the statewide Ohio herd, if allowed to grow unchecked, can cause major problems. Ohios game managers, just like those in neighboring states, are constantly juggling hunting opportunities, daily and season limits, and county-by-county harvest goals. This year, overall limits, while still generous, have been reduced in some counties, increased in others, and stayed the same in many other of the states 88 counties. Does the nearly 10 percent increase during the recent gun season tell us that the number of deer overall is growing? A quick check of the county-by-county numbers indicates that indeed, almost every Ohio county claimed a larger number than a year ago. A number of factors may have driven the upswing, just as it may have affected the downswing in the handful of down counties. Intentional lowering and increasing of season limits, deadly diseases that can and do drastically reduce numbers locally, changes in habitat and opportunities, hunter interest, and more could have caused harvest numbers to trend up or down. And, too, the most significant game changer is probably the weather, something no one can predict or change. This year, opening day deer hunters were greeted to a perfect day and they tagged over 22,000 deer, just slightly below a third of the week-long total. Tick warning Hunters need to be especially aware of the over-abundance of ticks. As a hunter, I continue to be amazed and threatened by the tick problem. Lyme Disease is nothing to fool with. My hunting companions have all found ticks on themselves after days afield and some instances have had to forcibly remove ticks that have already latched on to their skin. Experts suggest that if you have questions about a tick bite, it is smart to see a doctor. The most mentioned early warning is a bulls-eye rash around a tick bite. Still shopping? Heres a short list that might do the trick: Inflatable bed for an aging camper Add to that a packable pillow Pocket knife sharpener Tactical flashlight Dash mount for cell phone (not for talking but for using the map feature just like a stand-alone GPS) Floor mats A flannel shirt that will fold nicely for a spot in the back of the closet while the recipient continues to wear the ratty one. Merry Christmas to all. Related Content The European Commission has delayed a vote on the banning of three neonicotinoids to include all outdoor crops. Member states met at the European Commission on 12-13 December to propose an extension of the ban to all outdoor crops. Four years ago, the EU restricted use of three neonicotinoids in the spring and on flowering crops. The Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Scopaff) discussed proposals to set out a blanket ban, but no vote was taken. The issue is expected to be on the agenda again in early 2018. The UK government has overturned its previous convictions on neonicotinoids and now say and outright ban is needed due to their supposed harm to pollinators. Speaking about neonicotinoids following a speech in the summer where he outlined his vision for a Green Brexit, Defra Secretary Michael Gove said new research had raised profound concerns and that he was contemplating the need for further restrictions on their use. Heavy losses The NFU has explained that farmers across the country have already suffered heavy losses through oilseed rape crop damage following restrictions to the availability of neonicotinoids. The farming union said it will continue the fight for evidence-based decisions for plant protection products. A recent survey of 400 arable farmers who all grow winter oilseed rape (OSR) report that 8.3 per cent of the crop this year has failed. And another survey paints a worrying picture for the agricultural industry, which states that 80 per cent of farmers interviewed believed that a neonic ban would have an impact on their day-to-day business. Harms wildlife But proponents of a neonicotinoids ban, such as the nature conservation charity Bug Life, state that it harms pollinators and pollutes the environment. The charity has today (13 December) released new analysis revealing that British freshwaters are heavily contaminated with neonicotinoids. Half of the sites monitored in England exceed chronic pollution limits and two rivers are acutely polluted. The River Waveney on the Norfolk/Suffolk Border was the worst polluted river with the acute harm level exceeded for a whole month and the River Wensum in Norfolk, a Special Area of Conservation for its river life, was also chronically polluted. Protecting business from political uncertainty should be the focus for every farmer in 2018, according to an agricultural group. Agricultural co-operative AF Group said farmers must look at how they can shock-proof their business and benchmark their operations against others in order to improve and withstand volatility. It said the principle challenge for UK farming is how to drive certainty in an uncertain world. 2018 is the last full year that the UK will be in the EU and the single market. AF Group believes that farmers must get to grips with risk management. The agricultural world is changing rapidly and some of the changes that we will see post-Brexit could be seismic. By taking action now, agricultural businesses will be able to withstand, and even thrive, through such changes, according to AF Group Chief Executive Jon Duffy. Therefore, 2018 should be seen as the year to plan and to take control; to put the farming business into a shape that can withstand any income shock; and be able to take full advantage of the better times that will come. Doing a thorough benchmarking exercise in 2018 should be a must. Asking the simple questions of how do I compare to others? and what do I need to do to improve? should be part of everyones New Year resolutions. 'Costs under control' Mr Duffy said that one of the first actions for farm businesses looking to reduce their financial risk was to look at their costs. Getting costs under control is normally a good place to start when looking at control and risk management. Non-vital costs should be removed. This is normally excess labour and machinery. Variable cost spend also needs to be rigorously examined, explained Mr Duffy. I do not know a farm business that can justify a procurement resource. Buying through a professional buying group that is doing the procurement work for you has to be right. Changing times In terms of the direction British farmers were being sent by Brexit, Mr Duffy said that while there will be political decisions that will change the face of the industry forever, many factors that determine the fortunes of farming will remain the same. The macro-agricultural world we live in is not changing because of Brexit, he added. The worlds population will still hit 10 billion and the trend to consuming more calories globally will continue. We have had four years now of relatively benign world weather and therefore production has kept up with demand. However, global stocks of the main agricultural commodities are not immune to major production issues. We will get bad years, stocks will decline, and prices will increase. The only difficulty is no-one knows when. Two new grant funds have been launched by the government under the Countryside Productivity Scheme, carrying a maximum grant of 1 million. The scheme, by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), provides funding for projects in England which improve productivity in the farming and forestry sectors and help create jobs and growth in the rural economy. The grants are funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The National Farmer's Union (NFU) says the two grants schemes can provide support for rural business. One of the new grants, Improving Farm Productivity, has an application deadline of 3 December 2018. It seeks to fund projects that can be completed by 31 December 2020. This grant covers funding for the use of robotic equipment and systems to aid crop and livestock production. It also covers farmers who want to increase the use of renewable heat and electricity produced on a farm by improving energy storage and distribution. Other purposes include the use of LED wavelength controlled lighting to aid crop production and funding for more efficient use of livestock slurries and manures, and digestate. Agri-food The Adding Value to Agri-Food grant has an application deadline of 29 June 2018 for expressions of interest, and seeks to fund projects that can be completed by December 2020. This grant aims to improve the processing of primary agricultural products to shorten supply chains and deliver benefits to primary producers. Grant funding can help pay for equipment and machinery or constructing or improving buildings associated with all aspects of processing. Examples include investment in an egg processing facility. The minimum funding for both grants is 35,000. In the case of the Improving Farm Productivity grant, the funding will cover up to 40% of the eligible costs of the project, giving a minimum total cost of 87,500. At least 60% of the project funding must be met from private sources, such as savings or a bank loan. Public funds towards the project are acceptable but will reduce the grant offered. The maximum grant available is 1m. Luv, Priyank & Hina In the unseen video, during the nomination task, Priyank Sharma, Luv Tyagi and Hina Khan were seen sitting near the swimming pool and chatting. Hina Wants To Nickname The Contestants! Hina Khan tells them that she wants to give nicknames to the contestants who are not their favourites! They will be seen calling Vikas, Hiten and Puneesh by secret names. Priyank Calls Vikas A V*gin* While Hina nicknames Vikas as vulture, Priyank mumbles that Vikas should be called v*gin*. Luv and Priyank start laughing, while Hina doesn't understand. Puneesh, Hiten & Akashs Nicknames Puneesh was nicknamed as Popcorn, Akash as Ambience and Hiten as Apple Pie. Hina even makes a sentence using all the four nicknames! Fans Lashes Out At Priyank A part of the video, in which Priyank was seen nicknaming Vikas, went viral and fans started lashing out at Priyank. They didn't like Priyank stooping so low for his best friend, Vikas! (It has to be recalled that Vikas and Priyank were very good friends but the latter spoiled their friendship.) Fans Tweets: @NikitaD25 "THIS IS DISGUSTING. I can't even man friends are like 2nd family and vikas genuinely considers this bitch as his friend. This is what friends do? What kind of shitty person is this @ipriyanksharmaa ? AISE DOST HONE SE BETTER HAI DOST HI NAA HO." ~Phoenix~ & @kirti1D ~Phoenix~ : Priyank is pathetic. I so wish he gets the most humiliating eviction ever. @kirti1D: Shame on him...also the fact that he is using v*gin* as a way of insulting him...he is so disgusting. Lostgirl "Priyank tu dusman se BHI gaya gujra hai koi dusmani BHI nahi bola aisaa big boss isse nikal feko bahar." @AmayrahJafri "PRIYANK gave VIKAS nickname V*GIN*. You are such a pathetic, arrogant spoiled brat, priyank. I still cannot believe it; i thought vikas over did in the task, but clearly you DESERVE this New low for priyank.#BB11 #biggboss11 #VikasGupta #PriyankSharma." Debaprita Saha "Chi chi.Shame on this two puppies.Aise logo ko support karne k bare me sochna bhi nahi chahiye.Just for fun playing so dirty and giving such cheap names. SHAME ON PRIYANK & LUV #HitenFTW #VoteForHiten Only decent guy.He will never stoop so low for any bloddy game #BB11." @Sarit7257 "Ye Hina is a vamp in some fairy tale...she is in biggboss house to break friendship of others aur iske do puggs to follow her." Mikheil Saakashvili Im ready to become the PM of Ukraine, but the President of Ukraine should be Ukrainian - GeorgianJournal Vodafone M-Pesa has over 14 lakh registered users alone in Rajasthan News oi -Priyanka Customers in Rajasthan region are using Vodafone M-Pesa to pay all utility bills like electricity, DTH, postpaid, and prepaid recharge. To facilitate easy EMI Payments. Vodafone India has announced that the Vodafone M-Pesa has over 14 lakh registered users alone in Rajasthan, allowing the customers to go digital and adopt a cashless living. Amit Bedi, and Business Head - Rajasthan, Vodafone India Said, "Seeded almost three years back in Rajasthan, M-Pesa has now become a huge enabler to quick, safe and easy digital payment and money transfers, even for people located in remote locations." Bedi said that, "Vodafone M-Pesa can hugely simplify lives in today's scenario. At a time when a significant number of the state's residents still don't have access to a proper banking system, to help people manage their day to day expenses, M-Pesa can be an invaluable tool to 'Go cashless' and live worry-free." "Vodafone M-Pesa now has 14 lakh registered users across 33 districts in Rajasthan, and most of them do their money transfers & EMIs payment easily even from remote rural areas for Rajasthan," said Vodafone in a press statement. Vodafone join hands with Aviva Life Insurance, launches RED Protect plan Customers in Rajasthan region are using Vodafone M-Pesa to pay all utility bills like electricity, DTH, postpaid, and prepaid recharge. To facilitate easy EMI Payments, Vodafone M-Pesa recently partnered with various non-banking financial companies which include Home Credit, Shree Ram Transport Finance, Capital First, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Auto Finance Limited. Vodafone Rajasthan customers can even pay EMIs for ESSKay Fin Corp. Vodafone M-Pesa is available both as an app and also in USSD mode via short code *400# for all mobile phone subscribers to access and use. It empowers users to digitize cash, make payments for utilities, undertake transactions such as bill payment, recharges, remit to family and friends and/or withdraw cash at their convenience from nearly 7000 touch points across Rajasthan. 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 Samsung executive joins Xiaomi to boost the company's online presence News oi -Samden Sherpa This development comes as Xiaomi has ambitions to grab the top spot in India. Xiaomi has a good run in 2017. But the company is aiming to reach a new milestone. Thus in a bid to strengthen its position in the offline channel the Chinese smartphone maker has now chosen Deepak Nakra to be the new Offline Sales head for the Indian market. Interestingly, Nakra has been working as Samsung India's Director of Sales (South and West India) for the Korean company's mobile division. This development comes as Xiaomi has ambitions to grab the top spot in India. "Welcoming Deepak Nakra to the Xiaomi India family! Excited to announce that Deepak will now be leading offline sales for Xiaomi India...Deepak has worked with several top handset brands and telecom providers and brings with him 20 years of sales and marketing experience," Manu Jain, Vice President and Managing Director, Xiaomi India wrote in a Facebook post. While Xiaomi mainly conducts its sale via online medium, the company about nine months ago started its offline business. Quite surprisingly the company has grown 20 times more during this short journey. "I'm confident that Deepak will help us strengthen this position even further!" Jain added. The company has already set up Mi Stores in several key cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai Bengaluru, Gurgaon, and others. Xiaomi has even partnered with Future Group's supermarket chain Big Bazaar to expand its reach. Apart from this, the company is planning to expand its offline presence in the country and have 1500 offline stores across 30 cities by 2017-end. Xiaomi is targeting key mobile markets and apart from its own Mi Home stores, the company has authorized partners to sell their devices. The handset maker is basically working with the 'preferred partner' model in the country. Interestingly, from what we have heard so far, Xiaomi is hoping for 30 percent of sales in India to come through offline stores by early next year. Like the company has also partnered with Reliance Digital to sell smartphones across the country. Presently, Xiaomi has revealed that its offline accounts for 20 percent of the sales in India. The majority is from the online channel only. Xiaomi strategy is quite clear and with the new appointment, it will exciting to see how the company will grow in the coming days. Meanwhile, with its enticing smartphone launches, aggressive pricing, and offline expansion, Xiaomi has managed to garner 22.3 percent share in the quarter ended September. Samsung was very close to 22.8 percent share by volumes, according to Counterpoint data. 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 Xiaomi Mi A1 receives Android 8.0 Oreo beta update News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Last week, we came across reports that the Xiaomi Mi A1, the first Android One smartphone from the brand is all set to receive the Android Oreo beta build. Xiaomi was hunting for beta testers through the Mi Community India and MIUI Global Forum to try out the beta build of the update before rolling out the stable version to the users. Now the official MIUI forum via GSMArena tips that the Xiaomi Mi A1 has started receiving the Android Oreo beta update. The device was launched as an Android One smartphone in September with stock Android 7.1 Nougat. It was assured that the smartphone will get both the Android Oreo and Android P updates. Notably, earlier this week, the company selected some active users of Mi A1 who are eligible to test the update. Given that the Mi A1 has received the Android 8.0 Oreo beta update, it is clear that the users can enjoy and test a slew of features such as Picture-in-Picture (PIP), Adaptive icons, WebView enhancements, Background limits, Snoozing individual notifications, and more. You can get to know more features that the Android Oreo update will bring from here. The Android 8.0 Oreo update that is being rolled out to the Xiaomi Mi A1 measures 1.1GB in size. Apart from the Oreo specific features mentioned above, the update is also said to bring the December security patch. If the update is free of bugs and issues, then all the users of the device will get the stable version of the Oreo update in the coming weeks. Talking about the Xiaomi Mi A1, the smartphone is the first Android One smartphone to be launched by the Chinese brand. The device recently received a price of Rs. 1,000 that takes it down from Rs. 14,999 to Rs. 13,999. The smartphone carries a dual camera setup and other similar specifications as the Mi 5X that was launched in China in July along with MIUI 9. 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 Army developing improved active protection systems for vehicle armor By David Vergun, Army News Service December 12, 2017 LIVONIA, Mich. -- Ever since the advent of wheeled and tracked tactical vehicles, better protection has meant more armor with a tradeoff in speed and weight, said Col. Kevin Vanyo, program manager for Emerging Capabilities at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development, and Engineering Center. Vanyo spoke Dec. 1 at the Future Ground Combat Vehicle Summit. "Today, we need to adapt differently to threats, not just by adding more armor," he said, noting that the Abrams tank today is so heavy, transporting it is a problem and many bridges are not strong enough to support its weight. With weapons becoming more potent, adding more armor just isn't feasible, he added. A new approach is needed. Armor plating that protects Soldiers inside vehicles is known as "passive protection," because it doesn't do anything except deflect or absorb blasts and projectiles. Active protection systems, or APS, is what Vanyo and his team are advocating, developing and eventually hoping to field. Vanyo explained that active protection measures are a suite of responses that will increase survivability of the platforms -- and of those personnel inside. The measures can be grouped into two categories, he explained: hard kill and soft kill. Soft kill measures include sensors that can detect signatures from weapons and then interfere with those weapons using electro-magnetic countermeasures. Hard kill refers to physical countermeasures such as blast or projectiles that destroy or divert incoming fire. The near-term effort to develop hard kill and soft kill countermeasures is a program known as Modular Active Protection System, or MAPS, he said. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of misunderstanding about MAPS, Vanyo said, and a lot of that has to do with the name. "MAPS is a framework for a modular, open-systems architecture. It is not an active protection system," he said, explaining that this framework consists of the controller software and hardware that will allow the active protection system to function once it is developed. The Army is pursing three variants of MAPS, he said: Trophy APS, for use on the Abrams; Iron Curtain APS, for use on the Stryker; and Iron Fist APS, for use on the Bradley. It is hoped that Trophy APS will be fielded by 2020, he said. Regarding the other two variants, a decision will be made during the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. Maj. Gen. John Charlton, commander, Army Test and Evaluation Command, agreed that mixing an active with a passive protection system is the way to go. Even with all of its armor, "it's amazing what an explosively-formed projectile can do to a 78-ton Abrams," he said, having witnessed the damage at his Alabama test center facility in Redstone Arsenal. Personnel at the arsenal are working on developing an APS and are testing various systems that can be fielded once MAPS has matured. The concern right now, he said, is understanding the signal that APS produces and if that signal might interfere with other vehicle software, or provide its own signature that could be picked up by enemy sensors. Getting APS right will involve pooling engineers from across the Army and other service laboratories, along with help from industry, he said, adding that he hopes to see Soldier testing in as little as two years. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nigeria & US Army partnership flourishes in Abuja By Capt. James Sheehan December 12, 2017 ABUJA, Nigeria -- Nigerian Army and U.S. Army soldiers joined forces here to plan the upcoming African Land Forces Summit, Dec. 3-8. Scheduled for April 2018, ALFS is a weeklong seminar bringing together land force chiefs from across Africa for candid dialog to discuss and develop cooperative solutions and improve transregional security and stability. This planning event is the second of three for the 15-person U.S. Army Africa team. "The main planning event is where the bulk of the planning takes place. The first one is mostly an introduction and the third is more of a final review," said U.S. Army Africa's ALFS lead planner, Lt. Col. Hector Montemayor. The bi-lateral team broke off into specialized committees including security, communications, protocol, contracting, senior enlisted advisor, medical, logistics and public affairs. "It is critical we inform the people about the summit," said Brig. Gen. Ali-Keffi, Nigerian Army's director of training and lead planner for ALFS 2018 to the lead Nigerian and U.S. public affairs planners. "We don't want people to speculate why there is a show of force and military convoys rolling around the city. We will use radio, newspaper and social media. People need to know a positive event is happening in their city," Ali-Keffi said. The four-day conference will be packed with plenary sessions, regional break-out discussions, opening and closing ceremonies, Nigerian and U.S. banquets, a cultural day and a military demonstration showcasing some of the Nigerian Army's more captivating tactical skills. The committees partnered up and traveled across the city to inspect and identify the security posture and capabilities of airports, hospitals, military bases and conference centers. They documented route conditions and travel times for reference in case of emergency. The planning event, dubbed the 'ALFS Main Planning Event,' concluded with a thorough brief from each committee on accomplishments and outstanding requirements to both country's lead planners. "Let me thank the American team. We are very keen to ensure this thing succeeds. Our Chief of Staff of the Army is passionate and wants to see this succeed," Ali-Keffi said. "Here in Africa, we welcome our guests. It is not unusual to give up your room for your guest. The U.S. is our honored guest. Nothing will be spared." The ALFS planning team will join forces one more time next year before the summit in April 2018. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gen. Soleimani reaffirms full support for Palestinian resistance groups ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 12 December 2017 / 11:22 Tehran (ISNA) - Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Quds Force, has reaffirmed the Islamic Republic's full support for Palestinian resistance movements. Soleimani made the remarks in a phone call on Monday with commanders of Hamas' military wing, Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, which has been defending the blockaded Gaza Strip against Israel's acts of aggression, and the Islamic Jihad resistance movement, Press TV reported. The senior IRGC commander also urged all resistance movements in the region to boost their readiness to defend the al-Aqsa Mosque. Soleimani's comments came amid simmering tensions in the occupied territories of Palestine following a decision by US President Donald Trump to formally recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Israel. Trump on Wednesday defied global warnings and said Washington formally recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and would begin the process of moving its embassy to the occupied city, breaking with decades of American policy. The announcement prompted harsh international warnings that it would bring more chaos to the Middle East region. Several protests have been held in many countries over the past days against the US and Israel. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rouhani in phone call with Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau: We will stand by Palestinians ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 12 December 2017 / 10:54 Tehran (ISNA) - President of the Islamic Republic of Iran described the insulting move by the President of the United States towards the Holy Quds an ominous plot against Palestine and the World of Islam and called on all Muslims around the world to stand united against the plot. President Hassan Rouhani had a phone conversation with the Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh and said, "Without a doubt, the oppressed people of Palestine and the Islamic community will resist against this American-Zionist conspiracy with unity and will foil it". "This wrong act made the nature of the United States and the Zionist Regime clearer for the world and showed that they do not want to recognize the rights of the Palestinian nation in any way," said Dr. Rouhani adding that "the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the US' act". Dr. Rouhani also stated that resistance against this insulting decision of the United States was one of the most important tests for the Palestinian people and all Muslims, adding, "In these conditions, the first and foremost step is that all Palestinian movements must exercise unity and give a decisive response to the Zionist Regime and the US, and in the second step, the World of Islam must stand up against this plot with unity and unanimity". "The Muslim states will undoubtedly voice their protest to the world on Wednesday at the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey," he added. Dr. Rouhani also voiced Iran's support of the Palestinian people and referred to the report by the Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau about the new intifada and killing of four Palestinians and wounding of over 1500, and said: "We are proud of the great people of Palestine for their resistance, jihad, and sacrifice against the Zionist enemy, and we are certain that the new intifada will continue its right path of safeguarding the Palestinian people's rights". The Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh also appreciated the firm positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in support of the Palestinian people and the Holy Quds, and said: "From the view of the Palestinian people, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a strong pillar in supporting the realization of the causes of the Palestinian people". Ismail Haniyeh also described the decision of the President of the United States blatant violation of the rights of the entire Islamic community and emphasized that the Palestinian people would never allow Israel and the United States to achieve this goal because of the Holy Quds belongs to Palestine and the World of Islam. Referring to the start of the new Palestinian intifada after the insulting decision of the US government, he said: "This intifada, which has already claimed four lives and left 1500 Palestinians wounded, will continue strongly and we are determined to thwart the plot by the Americans and the Zionists". He also called on all Islamic governments to support the rights of the Palestinian people and the Holy Quds at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Turkey. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Lake Erie Returns to San Diego After Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171212-14 Release Date: 12/12/2017 1:53:00 PM From USS Nimitz Public Affairs SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Just in time for the holidays, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) returned to Naval Base San Diego, Dec. 10, following a seven-month deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and the Arabian Gulf. Lake Erie left her homeport of San Diego in May on an independent deployment with an embarked detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 49. The ship and her crew sailed more than 40,000 miles during the deployment. Sailors provided humanitarian assistance in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after severe flooding and landslides devastated many regions of the country and left 10,000 homeless. The crew also provided support to Operation Inherent Resolve in the Arabian Gulf and conducted training and operations with foreign navies including the Royal Australian Navy. "It's great to be back home and reunite with our loved ones after a very successful seven-month deployment to 5th and 7th fleets," said Capt. Darren McPherson, the commanding officer aboard Lake Erie. "I'm proud that our Sailors made a difference not only in maintaining American security with our presence abroad, but also made a positive difference in countless people's lives ashore due to our work in Sri Lanka. The men and women of Lake Erie are truly great Americans and I am proud to serve with every single one of them." Throughout her deployment, Lake Erie carried out two transits of the Strait of Malacca, 13 escorts of USNS and U.S.-flagged cargo and support vessels through the Strait of Hormuz; executed more than 20 restricted water navigation details and conducted more than 20 underway replenishments, safely receiving over four million gallons of diesel fuel and 89,000 gallons of jet propulsion fuel with zero mishaps. Lake Erie also performed a national tasking in the vicinity of the Philippines as part of a joint task force. Lake Erie visited various ports during deployment, including Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Guam; Hamad, Qatar; Manama, Bahrain; Pearl Harbor; Singapore; and Subic Bay, Philippines. Sailors participated in numerous volunteer events, including interacting with children at schools, visiting patients at hospitals and socializing with animals at shelters. During deployment, 116 Sailors qualified as Enlisted Air Warfare Specialists, 84 Sailors qualified as Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialists, 113 Sailors advanced to the next rank, 32 Sailors reenlisted, and 40 Sailors enrolled in college classes. Crew members earned more than 150 awards including six Sailors whom received Army Achievement Medals for their bravery during a medical evacuation. Lake Erie is part of Nimitz Strike Group and operates under U.S. 3rd Fleet, which leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. U.S. 3rd Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Pinckney Returns to San Diego After Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171212-13 Release Date: 12/12/2017 1:52:00 PM From USS Nimitz Public Affairs SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Just in time for the holidays, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) returned to Naval Base San Diego, Dec. 10, following a six-month deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and the Arabian Gulf. Pinckney left her homeport of San Diego in June with an embarked detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75. As part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, the ship and her crew sailed nearly 52,000 miles during the deployment - equivalent to roughly twice around the world. Sailors participated in high-value unit escort missions and supported a joint task force during President Donald Trump's Southeast Asia visit. The crew also provided support to Operation Inherent Resolve in the Arabian Gulf and conducted training and operations with foreign navies including the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy. "I am incredibly proud of this ship and of every single one of her Sailors," said Cmdr. Frank Walter, the commanding officer of Pinckney. "This was a challenging deployment in many ways and the Pinckney crew, as well as their families and friends, met each challenge with strength of character and optimism that I found truly inspiring. Over the last six months we have worked with Nimitz Strike Group and our international partners to ensure maritime security and the free flow of commerce from San Diego to the Middle East. We've accomplished a great deal but it sure is great to be back home." HSM 75 flew more than 600 hours during deployment, executing 213 flights from Pinckney in support of strike group operations and national tasking. Throughout her deployment, Pinckney carried out two Strait of Malacca transits, 12 escorts of USNS and U.S.-flagged cargo and support vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el Mandeb, and executed more than 23 underway replenishments safely receiving over five million gallons of diesel fuel and more than 130,000 gallons of jet propulsion fuel with zero mishaps. Pinckney visited various ports during the deployment, including Pearl Harbor; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Pattaya, Thailand; and Duqm, Oman. Sailors volunteered to spend time and play with children at the Child Protection and Development Center in Pattaya City, Thailand, fostering a positive relationship with the local community. During the deployment, 114 Sailors qualified as Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialists and 55 Sailors qualified as Enlisted Air Warfare Specialists. Administrative personnel processed 82 Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and gained 39 and transferred 23 personnel while sustaining 15 changes in personnel routing instruction messages. Supply personnel handled more than 6,700 pounds of outgoing mail, received more than 375 pallets of food costing more than $600,000 and generated more than $210,000 in sales, contributing $50,000 in ship store profits to morale, welfare and recreation. The Pinckney crew received the Force Health and Wellness Award, also known as the Green "H." The award recognizes Sailors who have demonstrated their dedication to helping Shipmates make constructive changes in their life by conducting activities like CPR training, smoking cessation courses, regular health fairs, fitness sessions and education on healthy living practices. Pinckney also received the Battle Effectiveness Award, known as the Battle "E," for work conducted in 2016. The Battle "E" is presented throughout the Navy to ships whose crews consistently exhibit excellence in wartime capabilities and optimal mission readiness within their hull class and region. Pinckney is part of Nimitz Strike Group and operates under U.S. 3rd Fleet, which leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. U.S. 3rd Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Shoup Returns to Everett After Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171212-12 Release Date: 12/12/2017 1:50:00 PM By Lt. j.g. Jerick Sablan, USS Shoup (DDG 86) Public Affairs EVERETT, Wash. (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86) returned to Naval Station Everett, Dec. 10, from a scheduled six-month deployment with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and the Arabian Gulf. Shoup is part of Nimitz Strike Group and operates under U.S. 3rd Fleet, which leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. U.S. 3rd Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations. The Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 pilots augmented Shoup's 300 Sailor crew logging over 700 hours in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. "There are no words to express how proud I am of this crew," said Cmdr. Ted Wiederholt, commanding officer of Shoup. "A lot was asked of Shoup while on deployment. Her Sailors answered the call ensuring Shoup executed every mission assigned. I cannot think of any other crew to deploy into harm's way with!" Shoup participated in multi-national exercises Malabar and Intrepid Sentinel. These two exercises enhanced warfighting readiness, interoperability, and maritime coordination between allies and partners of Japan, India, France and the United Kingdom. In the course of the deployment, the crew enjoyed port visits to Chennai, India; Manama, Bahrain; Oman, and Pearl Harbor. Shoup's Sailors manned the rails in their service dress blues as they approached the pier and anxiously awaited reunions with their families. Sailors disembarked the ship onto the pier and were greeted with hugs and kisses from loved ones. "Huge thanks to my wife," said Electronics Technician First Class Tyler Hinrichs from Boulder, Colorado. "Her ability to manage a move from Utah while six months pregnant, with a three year old toddler, an energetic dog, and taking care of the home front while I was gone will never cease to amaze me. Without her none of what I do would be possible!" Shoup was named after the 22nd Commandant of the Marine Corps and Medal of Honor recipient General David Monroe Shoup. Commissioned in 2002, USS Shoup is part of Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and is assigned to Destroyer Squadron 9 (DESRON 9) and U.S. 3rd Fleet. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS James E. Williams Exits Black Sea Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171212-03 Release Date: 12/12/2017 10:42:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Colbey Livingston, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs BOSPHOROUS STRAIT (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) exited the Black Sea, Dec. 9. While in the Black Sea, James E. Williams pulled in to Odessa, Ukraine, Nov. 29, for a scheduled port visit. Sailors took liberty and explored the city of Odessa. "I had a really fun time in Odessa," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Meaghan Moore, from Baltimore. "There was a lot to do, and it was great to have an opportunity to see a culture that not many people get to experience." Following the ship's departure from Odessa, James E. Williams conducted an underway replenishment with Turkish oiler TCG YB Kurdret Gungor. Quote: "James E. Williams' presence in the Black Sea demonstrates the United States' commitment to enhancing maritime security and stability, readiness, and naval capability," said Cmdr. Allen Siegrist, commanding officer of James E. Williams. Quick Facts: James E. Williams entered the Black Sea, Nov. 26, to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the collective defense of NATO allies and partners. All Department of Defense efforts in support of NATO allies in Eastern Europe fall under Operation Atlantic Resolve. The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea consistent with the Montreux Convention and international law. James E. Williams, homeported in Norfolk, is on a scheduled deployment conducting naval operations with allies and partners in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to advance security and stability in the Black Sea region. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Jacksonville (SSN 699) Arrives in Bremerton for Decommissioning Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171212-02 Release Date: 12/12/2017 10:40:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Amanda R. Gray, Commander, Submarine Group 9 Public Affairs BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Jacksonville (SSN 699) arrived at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton to commence the inactivation and decommissioning process Dec. 11. Jacksonville completed their most recent deployment Aug. 10. The boat and her crew spent 208 days at sea, steamed more than 48,000 nautical miles and conducted maritime security operations and joint exercises with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and Indian navies. The crew also conducted various port calls to Bahrain, Guam, Oman and Singapore. Under the command of Cmdr. Steven Faulk, Jacksonville departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for a homeport change to Bremerton, Washington, Dec. 4. Jacksonville has been homeported in Hawaii since 2009. "I want to welcome USS Jacksonville to the beautiful Pacific Northwest," said Capt. Michael Lewis, commander, Submarine Squadron 19. "We look forward to working with her over the next several months as they prepare to decommission." The submarine's ability to support a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, made Jacksonville one of the most capable submarines in the world. The submarine is scheduled to be retired from the fleet in 2018. During the inactivation process, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility will de-fuel the submarine, with the hull retained in safe storage until decommissioning. Commissioned May 16, 1981, Jacksonville is named after the largest and most populous city in Florida and is the first ship to bear the name. The boat's mission is to seek out and destroy enemy ships and submarines and to protect U.S. national interests. At 360-feet-long and 6,900 tons, Jacksonville can be armed with sophisticated MK48 advanced capability torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish FM slams Arab's weak response to US al-Quds decision Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 05:16PM Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has lashed out at some Arab countries over their "weak" reaction to US recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital. "Some Arab countries have shown very weak responses (on Jerusalem)," Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, noting, "It seems some countries are very timid of the United States." "We will make a call for countries that have so far not recognized Palestine to do so now," he said. "...We want the United States to turn back from its mistake." On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital and relocate the US embassy in the occupied lands from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds. The dramatic shift in Washington's Jerusalem al-Quds policy drew fierce criticism from the international community, including the US Western allies, and triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco and other countries across the world. Turkey has called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss Washington's move. Ankara had warned before Trump made his declaration that any change in the status quo of Jerusalem al-Quds would lead to a new catastrophe in the Middle East. Cavusoglu stressed that the OIC meeting must stand up to what he described as Washington's "I am a super power, I can do anything" mentality. On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Washington is a "partner to bloodshed" and violence that may spark in the Middle East region, stressing that the "struggle" of Muslims would not end until there was an independent Palestinian state. In his earlier remarks in reaction to Trump's decision, Erdogan described Israel as a "terrorist entity," "killer of children" and an "oppressive and occupation" regime. Erdogan said the OIC summit in Turkey on Wednesday would convey the message that Washington should swiftly reverse its decision. Sources in the Turkish presidency said Saturday that Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron had spoken on the phone over the case. They said the two leaders agreed to work together to persuade the US to reconsider its decision. Jerusalem al-Quds is under Israel's control. The international community has designated the regime's grip on the eastern part of the city, which came after the Six-Day War of 1967, as illegal while urging talks to decide the fate of the entire city in any future peace deal. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO extends chief Stoltenberg's term for 2 more years Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 03:30PM NATO has reappointed Jens Stoltenberg as the Secretary-General of the military alliance for two more years. The 29 members of NATO decided to extend Stoltenberg's tenure as the head of the alliance until September 30, 2020, a statement by NATO said on Tuesday. The former Norwegian prime minister has served in the post since 2014. His term has been marked with serious security challenges, including a crisis in Ukraine which caused relations between the West and Russia to deteriorate and conflicts in Syria and Iraq that enticed thousands of Western nationals to travel to the Arab countries and join the ranks of terrorist groups. Stoltenberg assumed the post in NATO just after Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory on the black Sea, joined Russia while the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group had seized swathes of lands in Iraq and Syria. He has watched the deployment of around 4,000 NATO troops to Eastern Europe to confront an alleged threat from Russia while coordinating measures in the European capitals that could minimize terrorist attacks by nationals returning from the Middle East. NATO's Tuesday statement said members of the alliance had hailed Stoltenberg for the job he has done over the past years, saying they have "full confidence in his ability to continue his dedicated work to advance NATO's adaptation to the security challenges of the 21st century." Britain and Germany, two key members of the alliance in Europe, have declared their full support for the reappointment of Stoltenberg to the job. British Prime Minister Theresa May called him a "true champion of the NATO alliance" who "made sure that NATO has stood strong but not stood still." German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Stoltenberg had "done excellent work modernizing NATO and adapting its structures to a changed security situation." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 400,000 children in DR Congo could starve to death within months: UNICEF Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 03:20PM The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that at least 400,000 children could starve to death in the conflict-wracked Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) within months without emergency intervention. The UN agency raised the alarm in a statement published on Tuesday, warning that all these children, who are "under five,... are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and could die in 2018 if they are not urgently reached with life-saving health and nutrition interventions." The appalling crisis, which is the latest to hit the central African country, was deepening in the vast region of Kasai, the fund said, adding that an 18-month-long mixture of violence, mass displacement and faltering agricultural output were having a crushing impact on the very young. "This nutrition crisis and food insecurity in the Kasai region follows the displacement of thousands of families who have been living for months in very harsh conditions," said Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF's acting representative in the DRC. Back in 2016, fierce fighting erupted between local groups and government troops in the wake of the murder of a tribal chieftain who had rebelled against unpopular President Joseph Kabila's regime in the capital Kinshasa. The bloody clashes led to the death of several thousand people and the displacement of around 1.4 million others, who fled their homes, leaving fields untended. According to the UN reports, the catalogue of alleged violence included extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture and the employment of child soldiers, plus torching of villages and the systematic destruction of schools, public buildings and medical centers. The UN agency further said in its statement that although security and stability had partially been restored in some parts of Kasai, the persisting lack of food still haunted the region right up until next June since the planting seasons for this year had been lost. "Families have little harvest from their own land and nothing to sell at the markets," it further said. UNICEF, which has been intervening in the Kasai crisis since early this year, added that the volatile region's health infrastructure had been destroyed. "Approximately 220 health centers were destroyed, looted or damaged, leading to a weakening of the health delivery system, reduced access to healthcare and an increased risk in the spread of communicable diseases like measles," the statement read. In October, the UN refugee agency reported that some 3.9 million people had been displaced in the DRC due to the widespread violence, declaring that the crisis was a "level three" emergency, the highest on the scale. On December 7, suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group attacked the Company Operating Base, run by the MONUSCO (the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC), at Semuliki in Beni territory, and engaged in a three-hour-long fierce gun battle with the peacekeepers at the base, killing at least 14 blue helmets and wounding more than 50 others, a number of them critically. Most of the slain peacekeepers were from Tanzania while at least five of them were Congolese. The African country had one of the most brutal colonial rules before undergoing decades of corrupt dictatorship and back-to-back civil wars that left the diamond-rich country poor and politically unstable. In 2006, the UN mission helped carry out Congo's first free and fair elections in 46 years, paving the way for President Kabila to be elected for a five-year term. Kabila, however, refused to step down after his second elected term officially expired on December 20, 2016, prompting deadly wave of violence across the African state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran, Turkey defense chiefs censure Trump's al-Quds 'mistake' Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:29AM The Iranian and Turkish defense chiefs have denounced as "a big mistake" a US decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital." Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami and his Turkish counterpart, Nurettin Canikli, held a telephone conversation on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments pertaining to mutual relations and regional issues. Hatami said that Trump's move was in fact meant to make up for Washington's repeated policy failures in the region, particularly the collapse of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, the annulment of the referendum on the separation of Iraq's Kurdistan region as well as a decision by Lebanon's Prime Minister Sa'ad al-Hariri to rescind his resignation, which was announced in Saudi Arabia a month ago. On December 6, Trump sparked international outrage by declaring that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and that he had instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the ancient city Hatami censured Washington's "irresponsible" policy to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, saying it would embolden the Tel Aviv regime to intensify its atrocities against Palestinians. Hatami further praised defense cooperation between Tehran and Ankara, saying the collapse of Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria was thanks to "regional cooperation and interactions between Iran, Turkey and Syria." The Iranian defense chief also called for the expansion of Tehran-Ankara military cooperation. Canikli highlighted the commonalities between Iran and Turkey and said the recent developments necessitate further cooperation between the two countries, He added that "no power can negatively impact the friendship and fraternity between the two nations." He slammed Trump's announcement of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israeli "capital" as a blunder and said "the decision is not accepted by any Muslim in the world." Trump's declaration has sent shock waves throughout the Muslim world, and even prompted warnings from Washington's allies in the West that it would bring more chaos to the region. Israel lays claim to the entire city as its "capital," while Palestinians want its eastern part as the capital of their future state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN experts do not confirm Iran link to Yemen missiles: Report Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:00AM UN experts, who examined the debris from missiles fired from Yemen at Saudi Arabia earlier in the year, have not confirmed that the projectiles were "Iranian-made" as claimed by the Riyadh regime and the US. The missiles were fired by Yemeni Houthi fighters at the Saudi capital on July 22 and November 4 in retaliation for Riyadh's deadly raids against the country. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a confidential report obtained by AFP on Monday that the world body's team, which visited Riyadh last month to scrutinize the alleged evidence, had not yet established a link between them and the Islamic Republic. Saudi Arabia, which accuses Iran of arming Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement against the kingdom, claims the missiles, which it says were fired at its capital city, had been supplied to Yemeni forces by Iran. Following the first missile launch, Riyadh also angered the international community and human rights groups by tightening the already crippling siege against Yemen. Tehran has invariably dismissed having ever armed the movement and any accusation of regional interference for that matter. On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, "Whatever happens inside Yemen concerns the Yemeni people and resistance and does not concern the Islamic Republic." The Houthis have been defending Yemen against a Saudi-led military offensive, which seeks to restore the former Riyadh-allied government. The war has killed some 12,000 people and reduced the country's infrastructure to smithereens since its start in early 2015. Guterres wrote that UN officials were "still analyzing the information collected and will report back to the [UN] Security Council." The investigators also examined two drones allegedly recovered in Yemen, but did not confirm a Saudi claim that one of them was "Iranian-made." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian lawmakers censure US for recognizing Quds as Israeli 'capital' Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:39AM Iranian lawmakers have issued a statement to condemn US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital," saying the move is the "last nail in the coffin" of the so-called Middle East peace process. "Jerusalem al-Quds is the first qibla (the direction toward which Muslims pray) and the sacred mother of the entire Muslim Ummah," read the statement signed by 235 MPs on Tuesday. It came days after Trump declared that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied ancient city. The Iranian lawmakers described the move by the "businessman-turned-president" as proof of the "lack of identity" and the "fake nature" of the Zionist regime, which needs to turn to a so-called "big power" to designate Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital forcefully and regardless of Palestinian aspirations. "Those ignorant people who celebrated the Middle East peace process in the 1990s ... have today understood that the United States does not even heed its own shaky agreements, and has put the last nail in the coffin of the so-called Middle East peace process," they said. The MPs also warned the US and the Zionist regime that the Islamic Ummah will not remain tight-lipped in the face of Trump's "criminal" move. They further called on all Muslim countries to cut their diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv and reduce their economic transactions with the US to a bare minimum, reaffirming that the Iranian government and nation "will always support sacred Islamic ideals, including the fight against the Zionist regime." Trump's move upended decades of American diplomacy, triggering a global diplomatic backlash as well as large-scale protests in Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the world. Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the core of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping for the eastern part of the city to eventually become the capital of their independent state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghan forces to launch operation against Daesh in north Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 09:43AM Afghanistan's military is set to launch a major operation aimed at stopping the Takfiri Daesh terrorists from making inroads into the country's northern provinces. "(The) ministry of defense is planning to launch an operation against Daesh in the northern provinces of Sari Pul, Faryab and Jowzjan," Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said Tuesday. "We know there are foreign fighters among them, but we will eliminate all of them regardless of their nationality," he said, without elaborating further. Taking advantage of the chaos fueled by local Taliban militants, Daesh terrorists first emerged in Afghanistan's eastern and northeastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar in 2015. The Takfiri outfit is now seeking to strengthen its foothold in the war-torn country after it lost the territories it had captured across Iraq and Syria in 2014. The terror group has claimed a number of deadly attacks against mosques and security posts in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, over the past year. The security operation comes amid reports that foreign militants, including French nationals, are joining the ranks of Daesh in northern Afghanistan. Mohammad Reza Ghafoori, a spokesman for the governor of Jowzjan, told AFP that more than 40 foreign Daesh militants, mostly Uzbeks, are present in Darzab and Qushtepa districts "to recruit locals and train them." "The government is planning to launch an operation to clear the area from them soon," he said, without giving further details. Taliban kill 3 Afghan soldiers Meanwhile, local Taliban militants launched attacks on military checkpoints in Afghanistan eastern province of Ghazni early Tuesday, killing three soldiers. At least five other soldiers also sustained injuries in the gun battles, which occurred in the districts of Andar and Muqar, said Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor. He further said that the two districts are now under the control of Afghan security forces. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying the militants were able to overrun the checkpoints and seize weapons and ammunition. In October, the militants launched a number of deadly assaults on a number of checkpoints and military bases across the war-ravaged country, leaving over 100 soldiers dead and dozens others injured. The Taliban, mostly based in the south and east of Afghanistan, have been behind many attacks in the north of the country in the recent past. Afghanistan is engulfed by violence and many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops. The United States and its NATO allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror in 2001, which toppled a Taliban regime. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi warplanes strike civilian targets in Sana'a Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 07:24AM Saudi military aircraft have pounded Yemen's capital, Sana'a, killing three civilians and injuring two more. The attacks struck the al-Rawzah neighborhood in the north of Sana'a early Tuesday, Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported. It said the bombardment targeted the residential buildings surrounding the Cadet College in the capital. Saudi warplanes also hit a residence in Razah District of Sa'ada Province in Yemen's northwest twice. The raids came hours after at least 14 people lost their lives in similar Saudi aerial assaults against civilian targets across the country. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called on Sunday on the US to pressure Saudi Arabia into ending the "stupid war" which is causing "terrible suffering to the Yemeni people" and also harming the kingdom itself. Saudi Arabia and many of its allies have been bombing Yemen since 2015 to put its former Riyadh-friendly government back in the saddle. More than 12,000 have died since the warfare began. Now, more than eight million Yemenis are on the verge of starvation, making the country the scene of, what the UN calls, the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The United States is an ally of Saudi Arabia in the military campaign against Yemen, providing it with logistical and advisory support such as bombing coordinates as well as arms and weapons. US President Donald Trump recently called on Riyadh to open Yemen's ports to humanitarian aid, but stopped short of urging it to end the campaign. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Offers Support For Palestinian Militants Fighting Trump Move On Jerusalem RFE/RL December 12, 2017 A top Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander has offered Iran's "complete support" for Palestinian militants in their resistance campaign against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. General Qassem Soleimani, who oversees the IRGC's foreign operations branch, made the offer to the Palestinian commanders of Islamic Jihad and the Izz Al-Deen Qassam brigades, the armed wings of the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in telephone conversations on December 11, the IRGC's website Sepah News reported. His offer came as rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on December 11, with one intercepted by Israel's missile-defense system, the Israeli army said. In response, the Israel army said it hit Hamas military positions in the strip with tank and aircraft fire. A series of cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hamas fighters over missiles fired since Trump announced his decision on December 6 have left at least four Palestinians dead, but no injuries were reported on December 11. The Iranian army's chief of staff, General Mohammad Baqeri, said on December 11 that Trump's "foolish move" on Jerusalem could be seen as the beginning of a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising, Iranian state media reported. Iran's defense minister, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, said the move will only "hasten the destruction of the Zionist regime and double the unity of Muslims," state media reported. Soleimani, who has commanded Iranian forces battling in Syria and Iraq, said all "resistance groups" in the region were prepared to defend Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, as well as the location of the First and Second Temples, the most sacred site for Jews, the IRGC's website said. Soleimani is the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force and led Iran's fight against the extremist group Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria. His troops continue to provide crucial backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war against Sunni Muslim rebels. Iran last week harshly criticized Trump's decision on Jerusalem and threatened consequences, with President Hassan Rohani saying the holy city represented "more than just politics." The U.S. move has sparked protests by Muslims around the world in support of the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Trump maintains he was only recognizing the "reality" of Israel's move years ago to annex East Jerusalem and declare all of the city as its capital -- a move never previously recognized by the United States and still rejected by most other countries. On December 11, in a fifth day of protests over Trump's decision, Iran's Lebanese ally Hizballah -- which fought a war with Israel in 2006 -- organized a demonstration in Beirut in which tens of thousands of people chanted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" In Tehran, hundreds of Iranians rallied against Israel and echoed the defense chief's assertion that Trump has "hastened Israel's demise" with his decision. A neon board loomed over the square where the demonstrations occurred saying there are only 8,240 days left for Israel -- a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's prediction that Israel will be gone by 2030. In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, dozens of Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. There were also low-level clashes in Hebron and the Gaza Strip. About 27 Palestinians were wounded by live fire or rubber bullets throughout the day, the Red Crescent said. With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-irgc-soleimani -hatami-baqeri-offer-support-palestinian-militants-hamas- fighting-trump-jerusalem-israel/28910992.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 Firm Denies Flynn Sent Text On U.S.-Russian Nuclear Project In Middle East December 12, 2017 A company promoting a plan for the United States and Russia to jointly build nuclear reactors in the Middle East has denied that its director received a text message from White House aide Michael Flynn saying the project was "good to go." Thomas Cochran, a business partner of Alex Copson, managing director of ACU Strategic Partners, said in a letter to lawmakers made public on December 11 said that allegations by an informant that Copson received the text from U.S. President Donald Trump's first national security adviser on Inauguration Day, January 20, were "patently false and unfounded." Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, last week quoted an informant who allegedly saw the text message as saying that Flynn was prepared to "rip up" U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia to make the project happen. The whistle-blower has not been identified and Copson has not commented on the charges. In his letter to Cummings, Cochran attached records for Copson's cell phone which, he said, showed that Copson exchanged three text messages on Inauguration Day, but none of them with Flynn. Media have reported that Flynn promoted a version of the nuclear project during his brief stint at the White House. U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking at whether Flynn or other Trump aides tried to influence U.S. policy to improve relations with Russia as part of his investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Flynn has pleaded guilty to unrelated charges and is now cooperating with the Mueller investigation. Proponents of the reactors project argued it would provide nuclear energy in the Middle East without the threat of weapons proliferation, improve U.S.-Russia relations, and revive the U.S. nuclear industry. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/copson-firm-denies-flynn -sent-text-us-russian-nuclear-project- middle-east-inauguration-day-/28911148.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 Pentagon Looking to Triple Size of Afghan Air Force by 2025 Sputnik News 23:12 12.12.2017 The US military is set to triple the size of the Afghan air force over the next 7 to 8 years, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lance Bunch said in a press briefing on Tuesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Air Force Brig. Gen. Lance Bunch said in a press briefing from Kabul that the US military is hoping to triple the size of the Afghan air force over the next 7 to 8 years with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 light attack aircraft. 'We are looking to triple in size [the] Afghan Air Force by 2025," Bunch said. The first four of 159 UH 60 Black Hawks have been delivered to the Afghan air force, Bunch said, and the US military expects to have eight full crews at the beginning of the fighting season in 2018. According to Bunch, the Afghan air force already carries out aerial resupply using their C-130 and C208 transport aircraft. He said that the Afghans use their Russian made MI-17 for helicopter lift as they transition to the UH-60. Bunch also noted that the first air strikes undertaken under a new US strategy to destroy Taliban drug processing facilities were conducted by the Afghan air force. He said that the group's revenues earned from illicit narcotics trade amount to as much as $200 million annuallly. In August, US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of a new US strategy in its 16-year-long war in Afghanistan. Changes provided in the strategy included lifting restrictions on the US forces to attack the Taliban and other militant formations in Afghanistan which had been previously imposed by the administration of former US President Barack Obama. Most recently, NATO has also announced that the number of troops in its Resolute Support mission would be boosted from about 13,000 to roughly 16,000. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the mission will not "go back to combat operations," and the additional troops will enhance NATO's training and assistance functions in cooperation with the Afghan forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Signs $700Bln National Defense Authorization Act for 2018 Sputnik News 21:04 12.12.2017(updated 21:25 12.12.2017) The National Defense Authorization Act is a US federal law, which is passed by Congress each year, that specifies the budget for the Defense Department. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US President Donald Trump has signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2018. The bill authorizes some $700 billion in funding for the Department of Defense, including $66 billion for the US war budget. The package was approved by the US House of Representatives and the Senate in November, but Congress must still pass an accompanying spending bill before the funds can be provided to the Department of Defense. "Now Congress must finish the job by eliminating the defense sequester and passing a clean appropriations bill. I think it's going to happen. We need our military. It's got to be perfect," Trump said at the signing ceremony. Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford attended the signing ceremony. The bill includes nearly $65.7 billion for overseas contingency operations, with some $4.8 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) to "reassure US allies threatened by Russian military and political maneuvers," while extending the security aid to Ukraine, including defense lethal assistance and intelligence support. It also carries provisions requiring the Trump administration to submit an annual report to the Congress on Russian military and security developments and communications with Russian officials with respect to Syria. The NDAA, a US federal law that specifies the budget for the Defense Department, includes a package related to North Korean threats and the United States interests as the bill requires Trump to present an assessment and report related to the defense of Hawaii from a North Korean ballistic missile attack. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas Announces Beginning of Third 'Intifada' Against US Decision on Jerusalem Sputnik News 18:57 12.12.2017(updated 22:18 12.12.2017) The previous intifadas in 1987-1991 and 2000-2005 left hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians dead. Hamas has announced the beginning of the third "intifada" six days after US President Donald Trump announced the controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. According to the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, which governs the Gaza Strip, it expects the "day of rage" protests against the US move, which claimed two lives and left over 1,000 injured on Friday, to continue. "Protests will continue in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Because we protest against the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, as we consider it the capital of Palestine. We hope that the protests will develop further and further," the movement's press secretary told RIA Novosti. A day after Trump's announcement, which has been condemned by Muslim states and countries backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the leader of the political bureau of Hamas called for a third "intifada" uprising "against the US and Zionist plans to Judaize Jerusalem." Amid tense clashes between Palestinians and police over the US decision on Jerusalem, the Israeli army has intensified its operations against Hamas, particularly, targeting its tunnels in the Gaza Strip. Most recently, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Wasel Abu Yousef, told Sputnik that the Palestinian movements of Hamas and Fatah, formerly rivals, are united over Trump's decision on Jerusalem. Following a new round of reconciliation talks under the mediation of Egyptian authorities held in October, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement with both sides promising it would usher in a new era of Palestinian unity. The previous intifada uprisings in 1987-1991 and 2000-2005 left hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians dead. The first Palestinian intifada was a Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation of the territories conquered during the 1967 Six-Day War, while the second uprising was provoked by visits of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a group of his supporters of the Temple Mount. While the second intifada had declined, the situation still has remained tense. The First Intifada Strictly 50 years ago, the wider world was stunned as Israel occupied the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and even the Golan Heights in Syria in merely six days. In the following 20 years the Palestinians did not put up with Israeli dominance, which is when the uprising, otherwise dubbed the first intifada, started. Amidst numerous Israeli settlements increasingly rising up on the historically Palestinian land, November 1987 saw the first revolt. The Palestinians were struggling, basically unarmed, throwing rocks at the Israeli troops. The State of Palestine was proclaimed on November 15, 1988, in a session of the Palestinian National Council, the supreme PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] governing body, which also recognized both the Arab and Jewish parts of Palestine providing Israel gave up claims over all territories it had occupied since 1967 and freed the land from its settlements. Back then, the PLO condemned terrorism in all its forms, thus paving the way for negotiating peace with Israel. One of the landmark political events during the first intifada was the Madrid Conference (October 30-November 1, 1991), which involved peace talks hosted by Spain and mediated by the US and the Soviet Union. Early 1993 saw another round of talks held in secret in Oslo. The parties arrived at an agreement that was expected to end the PLO-Israel conflict. The 1993 agreement also stipulated the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and proclaimed a limited Palestinian National Authority. This time, the Palestinians withdrew their demand that the State of Israel should cease to exist. The agreement was signed the same year in Washington, by Yasser Arafat, the then head of the PLO Executive Committee, and Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister at the time. Israel and the PLO also signed an additional agreement, which recognized both entitiesas full-fledged negotiators. The Second Intifada No sooner had the Oslo agreement come into effect and Israeli withdrawals started, a number of hardline Israelis and Palestinians spoke out against it, pegging it a "sellout." This is where Hamas and the notion of the suicide bomber came in, leaving an estimated 1,000 Israelis dead in public places due to terrorist attacks and gunfire. Israel retaliated with airstrikes, causing approximately 3,000 deaths among the Palestinian civilians. In July 2000, Bill Clinton summoned Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, but the contested status of Jerusalem and Palestine refugees brought the talks to a standstill. Brought about by Sharon's controversial visit to the historic Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem on September 28, 2000, illegally occupied by the Israelis by then, the second intifada quickly grew into an open, deadly war. Its other name, Al-Aqsa Intifada, virtually refers to the original name of the Temple Mount, where the "shaking off," or the intifada, started Al-Aqsa Mosque. Yasser Arafat, an all-time Palestinian leader, died in a Paris hospital in November 2004. Earlier the Israeli Air Force eliminated Hamas leaders, including sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Rantisi. Having lost its most high-profile figures, Hamas became demoralized to some extent and started operating locally. The Sharm el-Sheikh Summit on February 8, 2005, is traditionally associated with the end of the second intifada, as Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon concluded bilaterally that both parties would agree to a cease-fire. The upcoming Roadmap for Peace, initiated by the so-called Quartet on the Middle East comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations reiterated the aforementioned commitment, but with little effect, as violence still persisted. In the wake of the second intifada, Israel, Canada, the United States and Japan condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization, while Australia and Britain slammed solely the military wing of Hamas. The movement is banned outright in Jordan. On December 17, 2014, the European General Court, a branch of the European Union's Court of Justice, ticked the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya) off its list of terrorist organizations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New compact to improve refugee response 'a chance to chart a different course' - UN agency chief 12 December 2017 The head of the United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday kicked off in Geneva a dialogue on protection challenges with a stark warning: the tragedy of forced displacement has deepened one year after the world pledged to improve its response to refugee situations. "Our mission is more urgent than ever ," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, opening the High Commissioner's 10th Dialogue on Protection Challenges, which focused on the proposed Global Compact for Refugees. "The exodus from Myanmar into Bangladesh is the most visible, but innocent civilians still flee for their lives in CAR [Central African Republic], the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and elsewhere," he continued. The meeting, which takes place from 12-13 December, is taking stock of the results of the 2016 New York Declaration a global deal that committed the UN's 193 Member States to share responsibility for the world's refugees and hosting communities, including by drawing up a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). The High Commissioner noted that throughout the world people are still fleeing their homes victims of a collective failure by the international community to prevent and resolve conflicts. "The global attention on refugees may wax and wane amidst the vagaries of international politics, but the New York Declaration remains as a high-level political commitment to change the way we respond to refugee crises," he said. "The global compact should be the instrument to transform that commitment into action, so that refugees have a fighting chance to rebuild productive and meaningful lives, and contribute to the communities that host them and to their own futures," stressed Mr. Grandi. He called for the compact to change how the international community engages with refugee issues, maintaining that "refugees pay the price" of failure, "as do the handful of countries who bear the brunt of hosting refugees without reliable support from others with greater means," citing closed borders, restricted access and the politicization of refugee movements. "At a time when multilateralism is faltering in other spheres, the global compact on refugees is our chance to chart a different course through practical engagement and cooperation based on humanitarian values," he underscored. Global compact will build on existing framework for refugee protection Mr. Grandi described the New York Declaration as a milestone, giving refugee situations high political visibility and commitment and an important reaffirmation of fundamental humanitarian values. He praised the 13 countries that have already started the CRRF rollout, and those who have participated in reviewing key lessons learned, along with experiences from other large-scale refugee situations and welcomed the results of recent pledging conferences. Some 500 representatives including from governments, international organisations, local authorities and civil society from around the world are expected to attend the talks. The global compact will build on existing international framework for refugee protection, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, and aims to share more equitably the responsibility for hosting the world's refugees and helping them to rebuild their lives. It will set out concrete steps for governments and others to ensure that refugee-hosting communities get the support they need and that solutions to their plight are sought from the start of a refugee situation. In February, UNHCR will begin with governments and other stakeholders, formal consultations on the compact, which the High Commissioner will propose to the UN General Assembly towards the end of 2018. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICC Prosecutor asks Security Council to act on outstanding arrest warrants 12 December 2017 Omar Al Bashir recently travelled to countries that recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) but none arrested or surrendered the Sudanese President, the ICC Prosecutor today told the Security Council. "I call on this Council to prioritise action on the outstanding warrants of arrest issued by the Court," Fatou Bensouda told the Security Council in New York. She also said that "there can be no justification for States Parties to fail to arrest a suspect against whom an ICC warrant of arrest has been issued, irrespective of that person's official status." Ms. Bensouda's briefing comes one day after the Pre-Trial Chamber II decided that Jordan, which is a non-permanent member of the Security Council, was non-compliant when Mr. Al Bashir visited Amman in March. The Chamber agreed to refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute which established the ICC and to the Security Council. "This costly inaction has the potential to undermine the fight against impunity, the effect of which is to lower the bar of accountability that many have fought to raise," Ms. Bensouda said. "This continuous nonfeasance only serves to embolden others to invite Mr. A1 Bashir to their territory, safe in the knowledge that there will be no consequences from this Council for such breaches," she added. Mr. Al Bashir last week visited Chad, a country which had been referred to the Security Council for non-compliance on this matter in 2011 and 2013. The Sudanese President also recently visited Russia and Uganda, among other countries. In June 2015, he visited South Africa. While the Chamber established that there was no legal or factual justification for South Africa's failure to arrest and surrender Mr. Al Bashir, it decided against referring South Africa to the Assembly of States Parties or to the Security Council. In 2005, the Council asked The Hague-based Court to investigate war crimes in Darfur. ICC judges issued arrest warrants in 2009 for Mr. Al Bashir and other top officials for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the western Darfur region, where up to 300,000 people may have died and millions have been displaced since civil war erupted in 2003 between the Government and rebels. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Afghanistan, US Destroys $80M in Drug Money During Counter-Taliban Campaign By Carla Babb December 12, 2017 American military officials say the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has destroyed 25 illegal drug-processing laboratories in Helmand province, eliminating $80 million in narcotics money during the first three weeks of an air campaign aimed at countering Taliban revenue. Speaking via teleconference from Kabul, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Lance Bunch told reporters $16 million of the $80 million in destroyed funds was set for "direct revenue" to the drug lords' Taliban partners. The air campaign marks the first time in 16 years that counter-Taliban forces have used air power to target revenue streams. "This is a new war," Bunch said. "The gloves are off." He praised the new authorities granted under the Trump administration, which allow the U.S.-led coalition to strike Afghan Taliban support structures, ranging from weapons caches to revenue generators. Prior to the policy change, the U.S. military was only permitted to conduct American airstrikes in defense of Afghan National Security Forces who were in close proximity to Taliban fighters. "It has definitely been a game changer, and the Taliban is definitely feeling it," Bench told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. According to the U.S. military, the Taliban generates a total budget of between $300 million to $500 million a year. Sixty percent of that, or nearly $200 million, comes from the narcotics trade in Afghanistan, the vast majority of which originates in Helmand province. Bunch said the United States, Afghanistan and international allies are looking for opportunities to disrupt the Taliban's ability to fund their operations, recruit fighters and buy weapons, which he said will prevent the insurgent group's ability to reset in the upcoming months. "It's only just begun, and it's going to be a long winter for the Taliban," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Airstrike Hits Undetonated Car Bomb Outside Mogadishu By Mohamed Olad Hassan December 12, 2017 A U.S. airstrike has hit and destroyed a car bomb-in-waiting near the capital of Somalia, according to a Somali official and the U.S. military. The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the airstrike occurred early Tuesday morning and targeted a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device about 65 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu. A statement said the vehicle belonged to militant group al-Shabab and was an "imminent threat to the people of Mogadishu." The U.S. said no civilians were killed. Ali Enure, the deputy governor of Lower Shabelle region, told VOA Somali the attack happened in the village of Mubarak. "The vehicle was loaded with explosives intended to harm civilians," he said."Our intelligence sources in the area and local residents who saw the vehicle reported to us that the vehicle was destroyed, as a missile from a drone hit the hood." Pro-al-Shabab websites said the targeted vehicle was a minibus transporting fruits and vegetables from a nearby farm. Neither government officials and nor the U.S. military said how many al-Shabab fighters may have been killed. Mubarak is a riverside militant-held village in Lower Shabelle region, where U.S. military drones have carried out more than 10 strikes for the past three years. Since the massive October 14 truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed 512 people, the Somali National Army has increased its surprise attacks on al-Shabab hideouts while the U.S. has stepped up its drone attacks on militant targets. Meanwhile, the Somali government said it has successfully met all necessary conditions to qualify for an international debt relief program under a World Bank and IMF initiative known as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. "There has recently been a general willingness from creditors and donor countries to write off Somalia's debt and now it looks the time has come as we have proven our part," said Somali Finance Minister Birdman Dual Beyle in a statement Tuesday. "It's a good prospect," he said. "The IMF and the World bank will soon announce the good news." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New US National Security Strategy Focused on 'Competitive Engagement' By Jeff Seldin December 12, 2017 The United States will unveil a new national security strategy Dec. 18 aimed at preserving the world order forged in the aftermath of World War II, despite efforts by powers like Russia and China to tear it down. White House National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster said the new strategy would rely on "peace through strength" to advance U.S. interests abroad. And he promised that alliances with traditional U.S. allies would play a prominent role in Washington's approach. "We have to work together harder than ever to ensure that nations uphold the rule of law, respect the sovereignty of their neighbors and support the post-World War II, post-Cold War order of peace, stability and collective security," McMaster said Tuesday, speaking alongside his British counterpart during a speech in Washington. Despite concerns that President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign might lead to a retreat from the world stage, McMaster said the new strategy would do the opposite, and instead mark the return of a more confident, more determined United States. "In many ways, we vacated a lot of competitive space in recent years and created opportunities for these revisionist powers," he said, referring to Moscow and Beijing. "You'll see a big emphasis on competitive engagement competitive engagement across what we're calling arenas of competition." Trump administration officials have been working on the much-anticipated national security strategy for months. McMaster said the finished document is centered on four main principles: protecting the U.S. homeland; advancing American prosperity and economic security; a stronger, more capable military; and advancing U.S. influence. The strategy also highlights several different threats: those from powers like Russia and China, as well as from so-called rogue regimes, such as Iran and North Korea. Russia and China McMaster specifically called out Russia for threatening the U.S. with "so-called new generation warfare," an apparent reference to the U.S. intelligence community assessment that Moscow tried to influence the 2016 presidential election. "These are very sophisticated campaigns of subversion and disinformation and propaganda using sovereign tools, operating across global domains that attempt to divide our communities within our nations and pit them against each other," McMaster said. The U.S. national security adviser also criticized China for what he termed "economic aggression." "[China] is challenging the rules-based economic order that helped lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty," McMaster said. At the same time, McMaster called on Beijing to do more to corral North Korea, calling China's economic power over Pyongyang "considerable," while warning this might be the world's "last, best chance to avoid military conflict." "The president is not asking [Chinese] President Xi for a favor," McMaster warned. "It is in both our interests to resolve this problem." Iran On Iran, McMaster promised the new U.S. strategy would seek to counter Tehran's destabilizing activities in Syria and across the Middle East, while continuing to block all paths to a nuclear weapon. The new U.S. national security strategy will also address the persistent threat from terror groups and what McMaster called "radical Islamist ideology," describing previous U.S. approaches to the problem as "too myopic." Speaking before McMaster on Tuesday, British National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said the U.S. "remains the indispensable global leader." "We have had a global order that has been underwritten by the United States," Sedwill said. "That will continue to be the case, I'm sure, in the 21st century." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address How Will US Push to Cut UN Peacekeeping Budget Affect Soldiers? By Salem Solomon December 12, 2017 The attack that killed 14 Tanzanian and five Congolese soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week highlighted the risks faced by U.N. peacekeeping missions, and the need to provide enough funding to ensure soldiers who operate in some of the world's most volatile countries remain safe. Reform of U.N. peacekeeping missions has been a foreign policy goal for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which believes the United States, the largest funder of the missions, should pay less, and the U.N. should cut costs. There are currently 15 U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world, including eight in Africa. The United States contributes 28 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget. The second-biggest contributor, China, pays about 10 percent. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, cheered the announcement earlier this year that the United Nations would trim its budget by $600 million, saying, "We're just getting started." Vice President Mike Pence has also been critical, telling the U.N. Security Council in September that peacekeeping missions should be more efficient, credible and accountable. Unintended consequences Paul Williams, an associate professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, said while it's always a good idea to find ways to reduce costs, blanket cuts can make it more difficult to keep soldiers safe. "It is going to put pressure on peacekeepers in a number of ways. It means you're probably going to have to reconfigure your forces in some way, and that might be useful or might lead to unintended consequences," Williams told VOA. "I think, ultimately, it becomes a little bit unfair and unrealistic to continually expect peacekeepers to do more with less money." The United States has a legal obligation to pay 28 percent of the peacekeeping budget, according to Williams. So, to decrease its contribution, it has pushed to reduce the overall budget, which now stands at about $7.3 billion. To adjust to budget cuts, the United Nations must either close missions or scale back operations. Running missions with tighter budgets would mean cutting personnel or trimming logistic support. Both options concern Williams, who said U.N. peacekeepers already operate with minimal resources in remote locations that often lack sufficient infrastructure. Shutting a mission down altogether could also reduce the budget. Since 1960, the United Nations has completed more than 20 missions across Africa. Last year, it began withdrawing troops from Liberia, a mission it plans to conclude next year. Active missions in Africa account for about $5 billion of the total U.N. peacekeeping budget and involve nearly 91,000 personnel. The missions range in size from the $52 million, 500-person U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to the mission in the DRC. About $1.1 billion and some 21,000 personnel support that effort. Strategy comes later Aditi Gorur is director of the Protecting Civilians in Conflict Program at The Stimson Center, a nonpartisan policy research group in Washington. Like Williams, she worries that budget scale backs will adversely affect U.N. missions around the continent. "U.N. peacekeepers play a really vital role in protecting civilians from violence, whether that's violence perpetrated by armed groups or perpetrated by communal groups or sometimes even violence by the government itself against its own population," Gorur said. Some missions have already faced sizable reductions. "A big part of the motivation for those cuts was pressure from the U.S. government," Gorur said. What's especially worrying, according to Gorur, is when "the cuts come first and then the strategy comes later." Mounting pressure Last week's attack in the DRC was the deadliest on U.N. peacekeeping forces in almost 25 years. More than 100 peacekeepers have died this year, according to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Since 1948, more than 3,700 troops have been killed. The mission in the DRC has faced additional challenges with the country's president, Joseph Kabila, refusing to step down, despite reaching the end of his two-term limit. Gorur said peacekeepers now have a much larger area that they need to respond to, but with fewer resources. "There is more unrest, more violence breaking out in parts of the country that previously were relatively peaceful," she said. "Political oppression coming from the top has manifested in growing violence, including growing local intercommunal violence, around the country." These conditions will likely persist amid the ongoing calls for less funding and more efficiency. "There's some things they can do a bit better with the same budget," Williams said. "But, if you cut budgets, it does put pressure on them in other ways." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IOM: Humanitarian Situation in DRC Deteriorates to Alarming Level By Lisa Schlein December 12, 2017 The International Organization for Migration reports an alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, as fighting continues to spread throughout the country, forcing thousands to flee. The International Organization for Migration reports a humanitarian catastrophe is looming in Democratic Republic of Congo. It notes spreading violence in parts of the country has forced more than 4 million people to flee their homes, making DRC the African country with the highest displacement population. The most combustible regions include the eastern and south-central provinces of North and South Kivu, Tanganyika, and Kasai. Jean-Pierre Chauzy is IOM Chief of Mission in DRC. Speaking by telephone from Kinshasa, he says conditions are deteriorating at an alarming rate. For example, he noted there have been six displacements in North Kivu during the past few weeks due to clashes between armed groups and Congolese forces. He said civilians are being attacked and many are caught in the crossfire. He said aid agencies are so strapped for cash that some 20,000 people have received no assistance to date. "Many IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), and I saw them, having no choice but to pitch ... bits of tarpaulin in unsafe areas. With IDP's that are being drawn into labor in the host communities to try and earn some money. And, also pushing vulnerable IDPs into what we call negative coping mechanisms multiple exploitations and that would also [include] transactional sex. And, of course, this is where gender-based violence is also widely spread," said Chauzy. IOM is appealing for $75 million to urgently meet the growing needs of displaced Congolese and the communities in the violent eastern and central provinces hosting them. Chauzy said more than 13 million people will be in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection throughout the next year. He said they will need shelter, food, clean water, sanitation, and health care. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian FSB Says Terror Plot Foiled, Suspects Arrested RFE/RL December 12, 2017 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has uncovered an extremist "cell" that was directed by the militant group Islamic State (IS) and was planning terror attacks in Moscow during the New Year's holidays and the upcoming presidential campaign. In a December 12 statement, the FSB said that three suspected members of the cell were arrested in the Odintsovo district outside the capital. The arrestees were from Central Asia and were suspected of financing terrorist activities, recruiting for IS, and plotting terrorist attacks, the statement said. It said the cell was directed from abroad by "IS leaders." FSB officers confiscated two handmade explosive devices, two AK-47 assault rifles, and ammunition, and found and destroyed a bomb-making lab, the statement said. FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov told a meeting of Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee earlier in the day that the arrests took place on December 11, but he did not say how many people were detained. The FSB frequently announces that it has foiled terrorist plots ahead of holidays and important events. It was impossible to independently verify the agency's statement. President Vladimir Putin, a former FSB chief, announced last week that he will seek a new six-year term in the March 18 election. The official campaign is scheduled to start later in several days. Bortnikov said that FSB analysis "indicates that the leaders of international terrorist organizations are pushing ahead with attempts to create hotbeds of terrorism in various regions of Russia." He pointed to a bombing that killed 16 people in the St. Petersburg subway in April and a knife attack that injured seven people in the Siberian city of Surgut in August as "confirmation" of this. Bortnikov said that Russian authorities had prevented 18 terrorist attacks from being carried out this year. With reporting by RIA Novosti, TASS, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-fsb-says-terror- plot-foiled/28911520.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 NYC Bombing Suspect Charged With Terrorism By Masood Farivar December 12, 2017 U.S. federal prosecutors announced terrorism charges against Akayed Ullah on Tuesday, a day after the 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant allegedly detonated a pipe bomb in a New York City subway tunnel in what authorities said was an attack inspired by the Islamic State group. The charges included bombing a public place and using a weapon of mass destruction, each of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Ullah was also accused of providing material support to IS, destruction of property by means of an explosive and using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to a criminal complaint disclosed Tuesday. These charges carry sentences of five to 30 years each. Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the charges at a news conference in New York. "Yesterday morning, as thousands came into New York City through Port Authority, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, one man came with a hate-filled heart and an evil purpose," Kim said. "In the middle of rush hour, as everyday New Yorkers hurried to their jobs, to their schools, ready to start the workweek and get going with their busy lives, one man came to kill, to maim and to destroy," he said. The attack took place in a tunnel that connects the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Times Square subway stations. Surveillance footage shows the attacker walking among the rush-hour crowd, and then smoke filling the area as the device goes off. The man is then seen lying on the ground as people rush away from the scene. Kim said Ullah picked his target and timed his attack in order to "maximize human casualties." The bomb, however, did not fully explode. Ullah was injured, and three others were slightly hurt. Ullah remained hospitalized Tuesday, and Kim said the charges would be formally presented to him at his hospital bedside. Admission reported In an interview with investigators at the hospital, Ullah admitted to building the bomb and carrying out the attack in the name of the IS terrorist organization. "I did it for the Islamic State," Ullah told interrogators, according to the complaint. Ullah also reportedly told authorities he detonated the bomb "in part because of the United States government's policies in, among other places, the Middle East." Ullah immigrated to the United States in 2011 and is a legal permanent resident. From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a taxi driver. Mohammad Toha, Ullah's uncle, told VOA's Bangla service that a relative had sponsored Ullah's family to immigrate to the United States. With no known ties to a foreign terrorist organization, the suspect appears to have acted on his own. William Sweeney, the assistant FBI director for the New York field office, told reporters that Ullah had not registered on the bureau's radar for suspicious activity. The complaint details Ullah's self-radicalization in recent years. It says Ullah became radicalized as he began watching IS propaganda videos online as far back as 2014. One video exhorted IS sympathizers to carry out terror attacks in their homelands if they couldn't join the caliphate in Syria and Iraq. About a year ago, according to the complaint, Ullah began researching how to build homemade bombs. Two to three weeks ago, Ullah started collecting bomb-making materials wires, metal screws, plastic zip ties and a Christmas tree light bulb, the complaint said. He built the crude device at his apartment in New York's Brooklyn borough a week before the attack, it said. On Monday morning, prior to arriving at Port Authority station, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump, you failed to protect your nation." Attack on pedestrians The bungled attack came less than two months after Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, drove a truck into pedestrians in lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring 12 others. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in New York since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Saipov was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of attempted murder and one count of providing material support for terrorism. Albert Fox Cahn, legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York, issued a statement on behalf of Ullah's family. In it, family members said they were "heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today, and by the allegations being made against a member of our family." Meanwhile, authorities in Bangladesh said they had located Ullah's wife and baby in Dhaka and were questioning the wife. Ullah came to the United States under a visa program for people with relatives who are citizens or permanent residents. President Donald Trump said Monday's attack showed the need for Congress to pass immigration reforms "to protect the American people." "Congress must end chain migration," the president said. "The terrible harm that this flawed system inflicts on America's security and economy has long been clear. I'm determined to improve our immigration system to put our country and our people first." Chain migration refers to the immigration of foreign nationals under laws that permit them to reunite with relatives already in the country. Bangladesh's embassy in Washington issued a statement condemning Monday's attack. Ramon Taylor, Asli Pelit and Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address More military technologies targeted for civilian sector to boost economy People's Daily Online (China Daily) 11:17, December 12, 2017 Greater integration will spur innovation and cultivate new engines of growth China will strengthen innovation by developing high-tech industries with military technologies to boost military-civil integration, a move that aims to cultivate new growth drivers and boost the economy, said a recent State Council guideline. This was one of the seven key tasks set by the guideline on deepening the military-civil integration in the defense technology industry, which was released by the State Council, China's Cabinet, on Monday last week. The guideline targets sharing technological innovation bases and facilities between military and civilian sectors while more efforts will be made to apply military technologies to non-military areas. The military integration will also focus on key areas such as space, cyberspace and maritime sciences, while private capital is encouraged to enter military industries, the document said. The guideline was the latest move by the central government to promote the military-civil integration to widen military contract orders to civilian sectors and apply high-end military technologies for civilian purposes as part of the supply-side structural reform. In June, the General Office of the State Council released a guideline on civil aviation development to open airspace less than 3,000 meters in altitude and other industries such as cybersecurity and satellite navigation. Shi Haiming, an associate professor at the National University of Defense Technology, said the guideline brings benefits for both private and military enterprises while pre-entry approvals will be changed into post-entry reviews to streamline administration, except those linking strategic weapons. Meanwhile, Shi said the guideline lowers the access threshold for enterprises to enter the field of weaponry equipment and will make the process more transparent. The document also will further reduce institutional costs for private enterprise by building better platforms to promote military-civil integration, he said. In fact, many developed economies are highly reliant on military-civil integration. For example, the United States' airplane maker Boeing sells China civil aviation aircraft worth billions of dollars each year and is known for its high-end military aircraft. Many Japanese multinational companies such as Toshiba and Mitsubishi have a department to take military orders. The integration is a worldwide trend to fully improve the national defense capability, said Jiang Luming, a professor at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army. In countries such as the US, the United Kingdom and Germany, less than 15 percent of military technologies are solely for military purposes and more than 80 percent are used for civilian purposes, Jiang said. Jiang said in October last year that China has about 290,000 national defense intellectual property rights not being used due to the previously separated military and civil industries. For example, breakthrough technologies such as engines and aluminum alloy materials can help ease production overcapacity and transform China's economy, he said. These new technologies can essentially boost economic growth and national defense, Jiang said. The military industry has the priority to apply cutting-edge technologies and also make breakthrough innovations, Lu Guangshan, chairman of the Avionics System Co under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, was quoted by Shanghai Securities News as saying. "For example, virtual reality headsets were first used in helmets for fighter jets and my company has developed six civilian industries such as virtual reality, drones, robotics and smart wearing," Lu said. Military companies are encouraged to work with local governments to promote their advantageous expertise and develop a large number of new high-tech industries, Long Hongshan, chief engineer at the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, told a news conference last week. These new industries will play a vital role in promoting local economic growth and creating new employment opportunities, Long said. Currently, 30 percent of products made by China's military companies are for military purposes and the other 70 percent for civilian purposes, he said. In the future, high-tech industries will cover half of the military-related economy, Long added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, Russia stage missile tracking drills People's Daily Online (Global Times) 09:01, December 12, 2017 Anti-missile exercises not targeting third party: expert China and Russia began their second joint computer-assisted anti-missile drills on Monday as the US and its allies South Korea and Japan simultaneously began joint missile tracking exercises, a coincidence that has raised fears of possible clashes amid the strained situation on the Korean Peninsula. Chinese experts said that unlike the Sino-Russian drills, which aim at enhancing anti-missile capability to maintain regional stability, the military drills of the US and its allies would escalate tensions and may spark accidentally a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. China's Defense Ministry said on Monday that the drills carry out the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries on strengthening anti-missile cooperation and would enhance the strategic mutual trust and help jointly deal with regional threats from ballistic and cruise missiles. China and Russia oppose the development of a global anti-missile system and the cooperation on the anti-missile field would help protect both countries' security as well as the regional strategic balance, according to the ministry. Japan's maritime Self-Defense Force said that the US, Japan and South Korea would hold two-day missile tracking drills from Monday, which is the sixth drill sharing information on tracking ballistic missiles among the three nations, Reuters reported on Sunday. The drills of two different groups have sparked speculations that China and Russia have aligned to contain the US and its allies amid strained ties on the Korean Peninsula. "Partnership is quite different from alliance. China and Russia have maintained the comprehensive strategic partnership for peaceful purposes, and they are equal," a Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Monday. The difference between the two groups' drills is that the China-Russia drills do not target any third party, while the US and its allies have a clear imaginary enemy - North Korea, Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told the Global Times. "The alliance of the US, South Korea and Japan would incite North Korea, lead to strong reactions and threaten regional stability," Zhang said. Aside from targeting North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and its missile tests, the US is also preparing to launch the Strategic Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System in the Asia-Pacific region, Zhang said. Zhang added that "the US could first integrate the space reconnaissance early warning systems in Japan and South Korea and then the interception system in an effort to enhance the capability of the US BMD system and keep absolute security of the US territory." Yang Chengjun, a senior military strategist of missile studies from the PLA Rocket Force, said that the joint military drills of the US and its allies could only increase tensions in the region and may accidentally spark a conflict. Japan's maritime Self-Defense Force did not say whether the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would be involved in the drills, Reuters reported. "South Korea may start the reconnaissance system affiliated with the THAAD to check whether it could work properly and collect accurate information on intercepting missiles," Yang said. China and Russia have expressed opposition to the deployment of THAAD. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi-style diplomacy brings China closer to world People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 07:28, December 12, 2017 BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A China-style major-country diplomacy has taken shape over the past five years through the overseas trips by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The 29 visits to 58 countries and major international and regional organizations across the five continents have helped win Xi the title of "chief diplomat" of China. The trips have enhanced a leadership role for China in global peace, security, governance and development, and promoted a better understanding worldwide of a Chinese vision and approach that includes win-win cooperation and efforts towards building a community with a shared future for mankind. WIN-WIN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Xi's first foreign trip since he became Chinese president was to Moscow in March 2013, where he debuted his diplomatic approach. "To keep up with the times, we cannot have ourselves physically living in the 21st century, but with a mindset belonging to the past, stalled in the old days of colonialism, and constrained by zero-sum Cold War mentality," Xi told an audience at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, while calling for building a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core. Xi's six visits to Russia and more than 20 meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin on various occasions have lifted China-Russia ties to their best in history. The two countries together serve as an anchor for global peace and security. "I believe that the model of bilateral relations that we have created should become one of the examples of civilized interaction between countries in the 21st century," Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said. The principles Xi put forward of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation have helped stabilize China-U.S. relations over White House leadership changes and consequent uncertainties. Xi's exchanges with U.S. President Donald Trump led to the establishment of new high-level dialogue mechanisms between China and the United States in a bid to promote global peace and security. China-Europe relations have expanded with each of Xi's tours to the continent. China seeks a partnership with the European Union based on peace, growth, reform and mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation. China's excellent relationship with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have largely eased Europeans' worries about China. During the past five years, half of Xi's overseas visits were dedicated to promoting ties with China's neighbors, including the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, the updated version of the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, among others. Meanwhile, cooperation with developing countries in Africa and Latin America has grown, with China's involvement in a number of infrastructure and development projects. STRENGTHENING MULTILATERALISM Xi's proposal to build a community with a shared future for mankind is a central pillar of multilateralism. The proposal shines light on China's diplomatic efforts over the past five years concerning individual states and regional and international organizations. From the UN General Assembly, the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meetings, to the Group of 20 (G20) forum and the BRICS summit which embraces Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Xi has reaffirmed China's commitment to economic globalization, UN-led multilateralism and global peace. Globalization is falsely blamed for a sluggish global economy, high unemployment, a rise in trade protectionism, populism and isolationism, terrorism, the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East and the widening gap between rich and poor. "In the face of both opportunities and challenges of economic globalization, the right thing to do is to seize every opportunity, jointly meet challenges and chart the right course for economic globalization," Xi said in a keynote WEF speech in January. He listed an innovation-driven growth, open and win-win cooperation, fairer governance as well as balanced and inclusive development as the way forward for the global economy. Multilateralism is the solution for global problems, and China has been a strong pillar of it. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is embodied in the Belt and Road Initiative Xi proposed in 2013, which is aimed at building trade and infrastructure networks in countries along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes. Moreover, the initiative's projects involving new railways, roads, and industrial zones in Asia and Africa are aligned with the development strategies of many countries and are being hashed out with the United Nations 2030 sustainable development goals in mind. The Belt and Road Initiative is perhaps the greatest gift China has ever offered to the world. "In an increasingly interdependent and integrated world where countries form a community of shared interests, openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation are the only viable option," Xi said at the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries during the BRICS summit held in September in Xiamen, China. "Multilateralism is the solution for the global problems, and China has been a strong pillar of multilateralism," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. His predecessor Ban Ki-moon has called China "an indispensable partner for the UN's agenda." China's continued support for the Paris climate change accord after the U.S. withdrawal and its significant contributions to UN peacekeeping missions are also among its efforts to make the world a better place. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press Statement of Permanent Mission of DPRK to UN Korean Central News Agency of DPRK Date: 12/12/2017 Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) -- The Permanent Mission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the United Nations Monday issued a press statement with regard to the forced submission and discussion of "human rights issues" of the DPRK on 11 December 2017 in the Security Council of the United Nations. The press statement said: The fictitious "human rights issues" of the DPRK were brought up and discussed again this year by the U.S. and other hostile forces in the Security Council. It is not only a disregard of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, but also an act of going against the will of the majority of Member States of the United Nations. Abandoning its mandate for the maintenance of international peace and security and in spite of the opposition of a considerable number of its Member States, the Security Council forcibly discussed the "human rights issues" of the DPRK. That clearly proves the facts that the Security Council has been degraded to a tool controlled by the grip of the U.S. and the credibility of international community in the Security Council fell to the bottom, which gives prominence to the urgency of reforming the Security Council of the United Nations. If the U.S and other hostile forces think of browbeating the DPRK by the discussion of "human rights issues" in the Security Council, it is nothing more than a daydream that will not be realized forever. Their despicable plot cannot frighten the DPRK. We brand and strongly condemn the meeting as a desperate act of the hostile forces defeated in the political and military confrontation with the DPRK that has openly risen to the position of a nuclear weapon state. The Korean people will further consolidate and develop the Korean socialist system centered on the popular masses where the human dignity has reached the highest stage. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kim Jong Un attends 8th Conference of Munitions Industry People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 17:36, December 12, 2017 PYONGYANG, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong Un attended the 8th Conference of Munitions Industry which was opened here Monday, state media reported Tuesday. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the conference was set to review the achievements and experience in the munitions industry and discuss measures to usher in a heyday of development of the Juche-based defense industry under the banner of simultaneously developing the two fronts. Juche, meaning self-reliance, is an ideology in the DPRK for achieving absolute independence in political, economic, military and international affairs. Simultaneously developing the two fronts is a policy adopted by Kim, which stresses the development of economic construction and nuclear force at the same time, providing a legal foundation for bolstering the nuclear force in the DPRK. According to the KCNA, Thae Jong Su, politburo member and vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea said at the conference that the DPRK's national defense industry has now entered a fresh heyday of its development, thanks to Kim's leadership and policy. "This became as a historic turning point in putting the DPRK on the position of a matchless nuclear weapons state and hastening the final victory in the showdown with the U.S. and the cause of building a powerful socialist nation," he said. Senior officials from the army and the Workers' Party as well as "contributors to the successful test-fire of ICBM Hwasong-15," among others, participated in the conference. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Ready to Talk With North Korea 'Without Preconditions' - Secretary of State Sputnik News 00:41 13.12.2017(updated 01:36 13.12.2017) The US is ready to begin negotiations and work on a roadmap with North Korea without preconditions, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday. "We are ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk. And we are ready to have a first meeting without preconditions. Let's just meet," Tillerson said on Tuesday at an 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum meeting in Washington. "And then we can begin lay out a road map of what we might be willing to work towards." The statement would seem to represent a change of approach for the US, which had demanded that Pyongyang halt its nuclear program before any negotiations could occur. "We need DPRK [North Korea] to come to the table for talks. We are ready to talk any time they'd like to talk," Tillerson said. "But they have to come to the table with the view that they do want to make a different choice. Let's just meet and let's talk about the weather if you want. We can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or a round table." "Then we can begin to lay out a map, a road map, of what we might be willing to work towards," Tillerson said, suggesting that initial contacts could revolve around establishing ground rules for any formal negotiations. 'Without preconditions' shouldn't be taken as carte blanche, however, Tillerson noted. "It's going to be tough to talk if in the middle of our talks you decide to test another device. I think they clearly understand that if we are going to talk, we have to have a period of quiet," he said. North Korea has conducted 23 missile tests since February and tested a nuclear device in September. But Tillerson is, apparently, espousing a less demanding position. In August, he told reporters, "We don't think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they're going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive." The secretary of state's comments come a few days after the UN envoy to North Korea, Jeffrey Feltman, returned from visiting Pyongyang. Feltman is expected to brief the UN Security Council on his trip later on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism regarding negotiating with North Korea. Washington and Pyongyang haven't sat down for formal negotiations since 2009. One of the most important talks between Washington and Pyongyang occurred in 1994 when former US President Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang to negotiate a deal with Kim II-sung, the grandfather of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Carter's trip halted the first North Korean crisis and helped pave the way for the 1994 Agreed Framework, in which Pyongyang agreed to freeze operation and construction of nuclear reactors believed to be part of a secret nuclear weapons program in exchange for two proliferation-resistant nuclear power reactors. The agreement also stated that the US would supply North Korea with fuel oil until the reactors were constructed. At the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum, Tillerson also revealed that the US and China have discussed how they would secure nuclear weapons in North Korea if the country suffered some kind of "instability." "We also have had conversations about in the event that something happened, could happen internal to North Korea might be nothing that we from the outside initiate that if that unleashed some instability, the most important thing to us would be securing those nuclear weapons they've already developed," he commented. "We've had conversations with the Chinese about how that might be done." Last week, a Cathay Pacific flight crew announced that they saw North Korea's latest missile test last Wednesday as they were flying over Japan. Analysts agree that the latest test, of an intercontinental ballistic missile, shows that North Korea has improved its potential range, but doubts remain as to the country's actual missile power. A Manila Times report speculates that a light dummy warhead was used for the test; a missile carrying a significantly heavier nuclear warhead would most likely not have been able to travel as far. In addition, analysts are skeptical that Pyongyang has mastered the technology needed to shield the warhead from extreme temperatures and stresses as the missile barrels back to Earth. On Tuesday, armed forces from the US, Japan and South Korea combined to conduct an air power drill intended to assess their combat capabilities. The operation took place in the East China Sea and consisted of Japanese F-15 fighters participating in joint exercises with US B1-B bombers, F-35 joint strike fighters and F-18 multirole jets, Reuters reported. "The drill was meant to bolster joint operations and raise combat skills," Japan's Air Self Defense Force said in a statement. The trilateral air drill is one of the largest in a series of drills to pressure North Korea to denuclearize and comes after a two-day exercise where the same nations launched missile-detecting operations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India's HAL Invites Interest from Global, Local Partners for Aircraft Projects Sputnik News 20:15 12.12.2017 HAL has bagged a string of contracts from the Indian defense forces for trainer aircraft, utility helicopters, as well as integrating Su-30MKIs with BrahMos missiles, Dhruv helicopters and possibly the Russian-Indian FGFA. New Delhi (Sputnik) India's state-owned aerospace firm Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has called over 80 business partners from India and abroad to discuss possible collaborations on the various aircraft manufacturing opportunities that have recently come its way. HAL is looking to commence the production of indigenously developed trainer aircraft and light utility helicopters for the Indian Air Force next year. "Given our large number of platforms with the Indian Defense Forces, we remain committed to increasing the scope of work to our vendors to ensure the success of our programs. HAL is looking to produce 100 basic trainer aircraft HTT-40 soon once spin tests are completed in the coming months. On the rotary wing segment, our efforts are to achieve basic certification of light utility helicopters by mid 2018," T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, said on Tuesday. This statement by HAL strongly hints that India may not go ahead with the proposed purchase of an additional 38 Swiss Pilatus PC 7 Mk1 trainers after the original order of 75 trainers, all of which have been delivered to the IAF. Earlier, the IAF had rejected the HTT 40 program and selected the Swiss Pilatus PC 7 Mk1 trainer. But the Central Bureau of Investigation is presently probing allegations of money laundering and corruption regarding the 2012 deal with Pilatus. It was alleged that Pilatus had paid hefty kickbacks to some senior officials of the IAF and the defense ministry through an arms dealer, Sanjay Bhandari, who managed to hoodwink authorities by fleeing to London. The HTT 40 is critical for the Indian Air Force's pilot training program, which is currently facing a severe shortage of trainer aircraft. The HTT 40 has completed wind tunnel testing in France and has undergone minor modifications for stall and spin tests. HAL also plans to roll out a weaponized version of the HTT 40 for non-conventional operations and export orders. Apart from these, HAL will be integrating 40 more Su-30MKI aircraft with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile at its Nashik facility. Meanwhile, Subhash Bhamre, India's minister of state for defense has already suggested that the Indo-Russia fifth-generation fighter aircraft's manufacturing work would be done at HAL's Nashik facility. HAL is also expected to soon float a request for information to identify a private Indian agency capable of producing Dhruv helicopters in the future. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address After Saying No to Sikorsky, India to Issue Fresh Tender for Naval Helicopters Sputnik News 18:08 12.12.2017(updated 18:20 12.12.2017) India had scrapped a deal with American firm Sikorsky for 16 anti-submarine warfare capable naval helicopters as differences persisted between the two sides on the price of the helicopters the Indian Navy intended to purchase. New Delhi (Sputnik) The Indian defense ministry is soon expected to give its clearance to the Indian Navy's plan for purchasing 24 multi-role helicopters worth $1.8 billion from a foreign vendor. The Defense Acquisition Council, the decision-making body for defense procurements, is meeting this week where the proposal is to be discussed. The need for a fresh tender has arisen after the Indian government scrapped the 2014 deal with American firm Sikorsky due to persistent differences over the price the helicopters. Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, on November 30, said that multi-role helicopters are "most important" but the Sikorsky bid for 16 multi-role helicopters had expired. "The Navy has initiated a new case for 24 multi-role helicopters," Admiral Lanba had said. The Indian Navy is in dire need of multi-role helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare mission as its incumbent fleet of Sea King helicopters is aging fast. Due to an immediate requirement, the Indian government had decided to go ahead with the deal with Sikorsky for the S-70B helicopters despite a single-vendor situation which is against India's defense procurement policy. The Indian Navy was expecting that with the acquisition of the S-70B helicopters, the long overdue induction of modern, battle-proven helicopter for anti-submarine warfare and vertical replenishment would be fulfilled. However, the deal had to be scrapped due to pricing issues. The Indian Navy, in a separate case, has already launched a program for the indigenous manufacturing of 123 naval multi-role helicopters in the 9 to the 12.5-ton category under the Strategic Partnership model wherein an original helicopter manufacturer will partner with a domestic private company to build helicopters in India. Five global manufacturers have responded to the request for information issued by the Indian Navy in August this year, according to the Navy Chief. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudis comprise biggest number of terrorists arrested in Iraq: Report Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:16AM Saudi nationals reportedly comprise the biggest number of the foreign terrorists arrested during Iraqi army operations against the Takfiri Daesh terror group in the northern and western parts of the country. The London-based New Arab news website cited an Iraqi Interior Ministry official as saying that the number of foreigners arrested during battles with the outfit in those areas had risen to more than 400. Those, the source said, hailed from Arab, European and Asian countries, adding that Saudi detainees came on top, numbering 51. Other detainees included Moroccans, Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Syrians, Chechens, Tajikistanis, Turks and Pakistanis, it added. The source and Mansour al-Baiji, an Iraqi lawmaker, said the arrestees will not be extradited and will instead stand trial in Iraq as they were involved in crimes against Iraqis. The Riyadh regime has been widely accused of providing the Daesh terror group with ideological and financial backing. The Takfiri outfit invaded Iraq in 2014 and overtook around a third of the country's expanse in exceptionally brutal attacks. Iraqi armed forces then started to reverse Daesh's territorial gains one after another. They managed to retake all the lost territory last month with the help of volunteer forces and Iranian military advisors. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of war against Daesh last week. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Official Says Upcoming Deadline For New Russian Sanctions Will Be Met Mike Eckel December 12, 2017 WASHINGTON -- A top U.S. State Department official said the administration was committed to meeting a February deadline to specify new measures against Russia officials and influential businessmen for Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 election. The December 12 remarks by Wess Mitchell, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, come amid doubts that President Donald Trump will fulfill the sanctions that were backed by Congress in legislation passed earlier this year. After an October deadline was missed, Republican and Democratic senators pressed the Treasury Department and the White House to move forward on the measure. The next deadline is February 2, when the Treasury Department is supposed to release a list of Russian officials and Kremlin-connected business leaders to be targeted for restrictions. That could include limitations on financial transactions with banks, real estate brokerages, and other institutions. Speaking to a panel of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mitchell said the Trump administration was committed to meeting that deadline. The new legislation, called Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, also includes measures that could impact energy companies doing deals in Europe, or, for example, with commercial ties to the Russian undersea pipeline project known as Nordstream 2. Mitchell told senators that the administration believed the pipeline was unwise for European energy security, saying that it would concentrate 75 percent of Russian gas exports to Europe in one pipeline. "This is a political, not a commercial project," he said. He said Germany's continuing support for the pipeline was critical to the project's future, and it was unclear whether Chancellor Angela Merkel's still-unformed government would pull its support. "On energy security, Germany gets it wrong. And it gets it wrong in a way that hurts other EU, and NATO members states, both financially and geopolitically," he said. Mitchell also had praise for Ukraine, and the administration of President Petro Poroshenko, on reforming the country's regulatory oversight of energy markets, in particular tariffs for natural gas supplies and pipeline transit. But he also warned that further reforms were needed, particularly with respect to state energy company Naftogaz. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-sanctions -february-wess-mitchell-nordstream- ukraine-energy/28912541.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 UN warns of new Syria refugee flow into Europe Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 06:01PM The United Nations has warned that Europe should anticipate droves of Syrian refugees if aid programs in Syria's neighboring countries and other places are not sustained. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that if enough support was not provided to around 5.3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, countries in Europe would have to await an exodus like the one that rocked the continent in 2015. "We had the experience of 2015, we don't want to repeat that," said Amin Awad, the director of the UNHCR's Middle East and North Africa bureau, while briefing reporters on the details of the UN body's $4.63-billion appeal for 2017. Awad said only 53 percent of the UNHCR's appeal for aid to Syrian refugees had been received, adding that an acute shortage of services like the one that affected Syrian refugees in 2015 could force them toward European borders. UNHCR figures show that more than a million refugees arrived in Europe in 2015 with around half of them people fleeing war in Syria. The European Union, which initially adopted a welcoming and humanitarian gesture toward the refugees, then managed to cut the flow through a deal with Turkey. Awad said vital programs providing food, health care, education and shelter to Syrian refugees is facing cutbacks due to shortfalls in funding. "That means we're not able to provide stoves, we are not able to deliver kerosene, we are not able to deliver enough thermal blankets ... People are sitting in cold, open buildings," said the UN official, adding, "Now the material assistance is left to the donors and international community... And that's not coming through. So we have to be prepared for consequences." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian troops return home as part of partial withdrawal plan Iran Press TV Tue Dec 12, 2017 02:42PM A group of Russian troops deployed to Syria has returned home as part of Russia's partial withdrawal of its forces from the war-torn country. "The battalion of military police from the southern military district (of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan) airport," the Russian army said in a statement on Tuesday. The crews of Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers also returned to an operational airfield in North Ossetia and later flew to their permanent bases, the army said. Later in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russia will keep the Hmeimim air base in Syria's Latakia Province and its naval facility in the port of Tartous. "The President stressed that the terrorists might try to 'walk tall' again in Syria. If that happens, crushing blows will be carried out," Peskov said. Nearly 10,000 Russian troops and private contractors reportedly took part in the operations in Syria. According to Russia's TASS state news agency, the Russian Aerospace Force's aircraft conducted 6,956 flights, while helicopters conducted more than 7,000 flights during the Russian operations in Syria. More than 32,000 terrorists were killed and over 12,000 pieces of weaponry and military hardware were destroyed during the Russian operations, the report said. On Monday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to begin withdrawing from Syria during a surprise visit to the war-ravaged country. Putin visited Russia's Hmeimim air base and also held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since September 2016, Moscow has been targeting the positions of Daesh Takfiri terrorists and other militant groups upon an official request from the Damascus government. Putin's decision on Monday came a few days after he declared a "complete victory" over Daesh on both banks of the Euphrates River in Syria as he stressed the significance of switching to a political process to ultimately end the crisis in the Arab country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin's Syria Envoy Says No Reason Assad Should Not Seek Reelection RFE/RL December 12, 2017 Russia's envoy for Syria peacemaking efforts says that President Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to run for reelection, a stance that runs counter to Western governments that say he should have no place in politics after a postwar political transition. Aleksandr Lavrentyev, President Vladimir Putin's special representative at international talks on the war in Syria, made the remarks to Bloomberg News for an article published on December 12 -- a day after Putin traveled to Syria, declared victory, and ordered the start of a partial withdrawal of Russian forces two years after Moscow launched a campaign of air strikes in support of Assad's government and stepped up its military involvement on the ground. The statement comes as Western countries seek to condition aid for the future reconstruction of Syria on the departure of Assad, who they blame for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his citizens. It suggests that Russia may hope it can steer a potential political transition in a way that enables Moscow to maintain as much clout as possible in the Middle Eastern country. "I don't see why he shouldn't or wouldn't run for another presidential term," Lavrentyev told Bloomberg in an interview in Ankara, where Putin stopped on December 11 after visits to Syria and Egypt the same day. "This is entirely up to him." Lavrentyev told Bloomberg that Western countries should not "say that they'll give money only when they see that the opposition comes to power or their interests are fully accommodated." "It's not all about the U.S., France, or Great Britain. There are Russia, Iran, China, India, and many other countries," he said, adding that Syrian businesses could also contribute to reconstruction. Russia plans to host the Syrian government and opposition groups in the Black Sea resort of Sochi early in 2018 to discuss the blueprint for a political settlement, including a new constitution that would then be endorsed at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva. Bloomberg cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying the Russian initiative appeared to be aimed at leaving Assad in power and getting others to pay for reconstruction. The report cited the U.S. officials as saying that the United States and its European allies are in agreement that there should be no international funding to rebuild areas under government control. Under a plan endorsed by the UN Security Council in 2015, Syria would hold a presidential election under international supervision within 12 months of the formation of an interim government. The United States, the European Union, and the Gulf Cooperation Council refused to recognize a 2014 election in which official results said that Assad won another seven years in power with 89 percent of the vote. In addition to its military support, which helped turned the tide of the war in Assad's favor at a time when his defeat seemed near, Russia has given his government crucial diplomatic backing. Using its veto power and clout as a permanent UN Security Council member, Russia has repeatedly shielded Assad from censure and punishment over a war that has killed some 400,000 people and driven millions from their homes. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-syria-envoy- assad-reelection/28911743.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 Iraqi Army Spokesman Denies Alleged Plans to Create Coordination Center With SDF Sputnik News 20:59 12.12.2017(updated 21:08 12.12.2017) Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi declared victory over Daesh and the restoration of control over the border with Syria. CAIRO, (Sputnik) Spokesman for the Iraqi army's joint operations command Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasul has told Sputnik that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) claims about them establishing a joint coordination center with the Iraqi army were incorrect. "What actually happened there was a meeting of the commander of Iraqi army operations in the area of Jazira with the SDF commander in Syria's border area. The purpose of the meeting was merely to coordinate, nothing more and nothing less. It is natural when our troops arrive at any location," Rasul said. The day before, the SDF announced that it would create a coordination center together with the Iraqi army in order to ensure security on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The announcement came days after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi had declared the end of the country's fight against Daesh after Iraqi troops had re-established complete control over the border with Syria. According to SDF's former spokesman Talal Silo, who fled to Turkey, the group that comprised some 50,000 militants, was created by the US as a guise to provide weapons to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that is banned in Turkey. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN and partners launch $4.4 billion regional appeal for more than five million Syrian refugees 12 December 2017 A more than $4 billion appeal has been launched to support what one senior United Nations official called on Tuesday "a lost generation" of Syrian refugees caught up in the ongoing conflict. Well over five million Syrians need help, according to Amin Awad, the Director for the Middle East and North Africa of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He added that nearly four million people in countries neighbouring Syria including Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq also need relief after years spent supporting those displaced since fighting began in 2011. "Syria remainuncontested the biggest humanitarian crisis of out time. Seven million inside plus 5.3 million outside; 12.3 million people. Another 10 million who stayed put in Syria did not leave their homes but they are cut off. They're cut off (from) livelihoods, services in education, health, separated from relatives, friends and they are in need also of humanitarian assistance. The whole nation is in need of humanitarian assistance," Mr. Awad explained. The UNHCR official said that the situation of 1.7 million Syrian refugee children was particularly worrying, as more than four in 10 are out of school. Supplying the 5.3 million refugees with enough food to eat is also critical, Mr. Awad added, given that insufficient funding in 2015 coincided with one million Syrians risking their lives as they went in search of shelter in western Europe. "We are urging the international community and the donors in particular for many reasons: one, the vast number of refugees that we have in the region, the geopolitical status of that region, the risk that 5.3 million people can bring to an area, a small region already as volatile as it is if there is no assistance. We have had the experience of 2015 and we should not repeat that. I think we should meet the needs of these refugees in a timely manner as quickly as possible," said Mr. Awad. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Declares 'Mission Accomplished' on Syria; but, Could It Prove Premature? By Jamie Dettmer December 12, 2017 Vladimir Putin confirmed last week he would seek a fifth term as Russia's president next March and this week, he kicked off his re-election campaign, not in his home country, but overseas in the Middle East. With stops in Egypt, Turkey and Syria, where he declared Monday that Russia's military had accomplished its goal of saving President Bashar al-Assad from ouster, an upbeat Putin appeared eager to stoke national pride and showcase how he has restored Russia's Soviet-era role as a serious power. Putin's re-election is assured polls show an easy win for the man who has dominated Russian politics for nearly two decades but he and his aides reportedly fear voter apathy and seem determined to secure a large turnout in March and a big legitimacy-boosting vote. Cutting a figure on the world stage as a power broker, and showing off a new set of friends from the shores of Tripoli to the Persian Gulf, play well at home, say analysts. Russian state media lavished round-the-clock coverage of his whirlwind trip from his plane as it flew escorted by Russian jet fighters into Syria, and from the ground as he was thanked by Assad at a Russian military base - as well as in Cairo, where he signed a deal for the construction of a nuclear reactor on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. It also was the case from Ankara, where during a news conference to mark their eighth meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kept referring to Putin as "my dear friend." In Syria, Putin said 'mission accomplished' regarding the Russian rescue of Assad, providing him with the opportunity to announce a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. Praising Russian troops at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Putin talked of their triumph, declaring in remarks broadcast in Russia: "You have shown the best qualities of a Russian soldier courage, valor, team spirit, decisiveness and excellent skills. The Motherland is proud of you." He made no mention, though, of the civilian casualties from indiscriminate Russian airstrikes or that his intervention has helped to prop up a blood-soaked dictatorial regime by critically weakening the armed non-jihadi opposition to Assad. Since September 2015 when Putin launched his military intervention in Syria, Russia's profile in the Middle East has risen, defying early Western predictions that involvement in the tangled Syrian conflict would result in disaster for Moscow. Then-President Barack Obama's defense secretary, Ash Carter, predicted Putin's mission was "doomed to failure," arguing Russia would be caught in a Vietnam-style quagmire. That didn't happen or not so far. Putin's plunge into Syria was prompted initially by his suspicion that Arab spring-era uprisings were Western-fomented - insurrections aimed at unseating strongmen and dictators that could spread to Russia, according to Dmitri Trenin, author of the new book What is Russia up to in the Middle East? "To Putin, all this looked like an Arab rerun of the 'color revolutions' that swept across the old Soviet buffer, from Georgia to Ukraine. Sparks from Arab revolutions could ignite Russia's geopolitical underbelly," writes Trenin. And tactical success has turned the Syria intervention into a cornerstone in Putin's broader ambition for Russian influence, according to analysts, allowing him to expand Moscow's sway in a region where the U.S. is perceived now as eager to shrink its role and avoid messy entanglements. Seizing on U.S. setbacks and missteps, the Kremlin has clawed back some of the Soviet Union's former clout in the Middle East, allowing him, much as his Soviet predecessors, to project global influence and military might and to amass bargaining chips for negotiations with the West in other disputes. Moscow has "emerged from its military engagement in Syria with the most connections in the region," Trenin argues, while nimbly avoiding "falling into the cracks of Middle Eastern divides: Shia versus Sunni; Saudi versus Iran; Iran versus Israel; Turkey versus Kurds." Putin has been courting traditional U.S. allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and even Israel. He received more leaders from the Middle East in Moscow than Barack Obama did in the last two years of his presidency and his meetings with the region's leaders have continued apace during Donald Trump's first months in the White House. How long Russia can continue to avoid the treacherous cracks remains to be seen. Retired U.S. general Colin Powell famously remarked once, "you break it, you own it." Putin will own Syria but the hostility involving embittered sectarian foes may be impossible to manage. Russia's balancing act between the Kurds and the Turks will be difficult to maintain, and Iran's agenda for Syria, Lebanon and Iraq may over time clash with Russia's, as well as the Kremlin's eagerness to cosy up to the Saudis. "The war in Syria is not over. The fragmented territory today, foreign military occupations, and conflicting political agendas might lead to new confrontations," says Ziad Majed, a French academic and author of the book Syria: The Orphaned Revolution. In Libya, Russia has been seeking a greater role with a possible ambition to add a naval facility there to the one it will maintain in Syria, say analysts. Russian diplomats and generals have been courting Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who has made little secret of his desire to rule the strife-torn North African state. And Russia has been inserting itself into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Last year, Putin offered to host peace negotiations in Moscow between the Israelis and Palestinians. This week, the Russian leader was quick to pounce on U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem, the third holiest city in Islam, as Israel's capital, upending decades of American diplomacy and breaking ranks with the international community. The U.S. move "doesn't help the Mideast settlement and, just the other way around, destabilizes the already difficult situation in the region," Putin said during a news conference in Ankara with Erdogan, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the U.S. plan to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. As U.S. diplomats have learned over the years, attempting to resolve the standoff between Israel and the Palestinians is a challenging task. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Multibillion-dollar Appeal Launched for More Than 5 Million Syrian Refugees By Lisa Schlein December 12, 2017 U.N. and private aid agencies are appealing for $4.4 billion to support more than five million destitute Syrian refugees and the impoverished communities hosting them in five neighboring countries. The U.N. refugee agency reports that, after more than six years of war in Syria, more than half a million people have been killed, seven million are displaced within Syria, and more than five million are living as refugees in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Amin Awad, UNHCR director for the Middle East and North Africa bureau and regional refugee coordinator for Syria and Iraq, says the agency has been consistently underfunded throughout the years. The financial shortfall means cuts have been made in education, health, food, shelter and protection, among other areas. "We are not able to provide stoves," Awad said. "We are not able to deliver kerosene. We are not able to deliver enough thermal blankets. We are not able to winterize tents. We are not able to drain water and snow from camps. We are not able to do engineering work to insulate some of the buildings. People are sitting in cold, open buildings." The situation for 1.7 million Syrian refugee children is particularly worrying, as more than 40 percent are out of school and are destined to become part of a lost generation, Awad said. In addition, he says, the situation for host countries is becoming more burdensome. It is as vital for international donors to support these beleaguered communities as it is to assist the refugees who live among them, according to the agency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. senator reiterates need for military cooperation with Taiwan ROC Central News Agency 2017/12/12 20:07:06 Washington, Dec. 11 (CNA) U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took to his website and Facebook page on Monday to urge the U.S. government to accelerate military cooperation with Taiwan in the face of threats of violence from a Chinese diplomat. The issue can be traced back to Nov. 30 when the U.S. Congress passed the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which included clauses that would allow the U.S. to look at the possibility of reestablishing "regular ports of call by the U.S. Navy at Kaohsiung or any other suitable ports in Taiwan" and permits the U.S. Pacific Command to receive ports of call by Taiwan vessels. These Taiwan-related clauses did not sit well with the Chinese government, resulting in Li Kexin (), a diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., saying on Dec. 8 that the day a U.S. Navy vessel visits Taiwan will be the day China employs its Anti-Secession Law and unifies Taiwan with military force. In response to this statement, Cotton wrote: "I take Beijing's threats to use military force against Taiwan seriously ... We can't afford to take Beijing's saber-rattling lightly." He urged U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress "to accelerate the sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan, as well as to bring Taiwan into joint military exercises with the United States." The 40-year-old senator is a long-time supporter of improved Taiwan-U.S. ties. Cotton and fellow Republican Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) introduced the Taiwan Security Act to the Senate in July. The bill was drafted to "enhance the U.S.-Taiwan relationship and bolster Taiwan's participation in the international community," according to a press statement on Cotton's official website. Cotton is not the only U.S. voice advocating deeper exchanges, particularly military ones, between Taiwan and the U.S. Randall Schriver, president and CEO of U.S. think tank Project 2049 Institute, and Trump's nominee for assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said earlier this month that he was in favor of mutual visits by U.S. and Taiwan's navies. According to Schriver, such visits would not contravene the one-China Policy. (By Kuan-lin Liu and Rita Cheng) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senator: US Must Accelerate Sale of Defensive Weapons to Taiwan to Counter China Sputnik News 03:33 12.12.2017 US President Donald Trump and Congress must speed up the sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan to counter the threat of invasion from China, US Senator Tom Cotton said in a statement. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Senator Tom Cotton said that the United States must take seriously the threat from China to use military force against Taiwan. "I urge both the President and Congress to accelerate the sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan, as well as bring Taiwan into joint military exercises with the United States," Cotton said in the statement on Monday. Li Kexin, a minister with the Chinese embassy to the United States, said during an embassy event on Friday that he has told US officials China would activate its Anti-Secession Law if US naval vessels were sent to the Taiwan Strait. "The day that a US Navy vessel arrives in Kaohsiung is the day that our People's Liberation Army unifies Taiwan with military force," Li told Chinese media, referring to Taiwan's largest port. The law, passed in 2005, denies Taiwan's statehood and outlines Beijing's methods to unify the two. However, the bill also mentions "non-peaceful action" if China believes that all possibility of a bloodless unification with Taiwan has been lost. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry slammed Li's words on Saturday, accusing China of using threats and coercion when they claim to desire peaceful reconciliation. "These methods show a lack of knowledge about the real meaning of the democratic system and how a democratic society works," the ministry wrote in a statement. Formally speaking, Taiwan the formal name of which is the Republic of China and China are still one country, as Taipei considers the mainland to be wayward provinces just as Beijing sees the island as a renegade territory. However, an independence movement consisting of left-wing parties that want to declare Taiwan a de jure sovereign state continues to gain traction on the island. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Witness In Iran Sanctions Case Says Turkey's Erdogan Aided Evasion Scheme RFE/RL December 12, 2017 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the targets of an investigation in Turkey into suspected bribery and money laundering in connection with a scheme to help Iran evade sanctions, a former Istanbul police officer has testified. The officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, told a New York court on December 11 that the Turkish investigation that he led in 2012-2013 initially focused on Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who U.S. prosecutors have said was the mastermind behind the Iran sanctions evasion scheme, but later grew to include dozens of others. He called Erdogan the "No. 1" target in a group that also included former Economy Minister Mehmet Zafer Caglayan and Suleyman Aslan, the ex-CEO of state-owned Halkbank, which he said was at the center of the scheme. Korkmaz -- a witness in the trial of Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who is charged with participation in the Iran sanctions evasion scheme -- testified that Erdogan ultimately killed the case by firing and jailing the prosecutors and judges who pursued it. As the lead investigator in the Turkish case, Korkmaz said he was reassigned and ultimately jailed. He said that after his release, he fled the country and took with him a cache of the investigative materials that he eventually turned over to U.S. authorities, who are now using the evidence in their case against Atilla. If accurate, Korkmaz's testimony confirms for the first time that the corruption case in Turkey was aimed directly at Erdogan -- not just his ministers, associates, and family members. Erdogan reacted angrily when the U.S. prosecutors opened their own case. Erdogan personally lobbied for the release of Zarrab and Atilla at the White House and has heatedly denounced U.S. prosecutors' decision to pursue the case. In shutting down the Turkish investigation in 2013, Erdogan called it a coup plot that sought to remove his government from power. He and his deputies have described the U.S. case in much the same way in recent weeks. The Turkish investigation ended after Zarrab's December 2013 arrest in Turkey and a raid on Aslan's home, where authorities said they found millions of dollars stuffed into shoe boxes. Photos of the cash recovered from the raid were shown to the jury in New York. As the United States ratcheted up financial sanctions on Iran over its nuclear and missile programs, Tehran was increasingly unable to access billions of dollars piling up in overseas banks from oil sales to foreign countries. U.S. prosecutors allege that Zarrab, with the aid of Turkish officials and bank executives, ran a laundering scheme to get around the sanctions and use Iran's money to make international payments on its behalf, including $1 billion that flowed through New York banks in violation of U.S. sanctions. Zarrab pleaded guilty shortly before the U.S. trial and spent seven days on the witness stand testifying against Halkbank executive Atilla, who is charged as Zarrab's co-conspirator but is now the lone defendant in the U.S. case. He has pleaded not guilty. Nine people in all have been indicted, including Aslan and Caglayan, who have denied the charges. All but Atilla and Zarrab have avoided U.S. arrest. Erdogan has never been charged. In testimony last week, Zarrab said he was told that Erdogan personally ordered that two Turkish banks be cut in on the alleged laundering scheme, and that Erdogan ordered the resumption of the alleged sanctions-evasion scheme after his government quashed the investigation. Erdogan was prime minister until late August 2014, when he became president. Much of Korkmaz's testimony on December 11 focused on how the 2013 Turkish investigation targeting Zarrab and Erdogan, among others, was shut down and bribery payments were made to keep the sanctions evasion scheme going. Witnesses have said that the laundering scheme first employed gold trading as a means of getting Iran's money out of Halkbank, then turned to disguising the flows as humanitarian food shipments after revised sanctions rules banned the gold trade. Korkmaz said he was jailed for more than a year after Erdogan's government fired the Turkish investigators. He was released on bail in February 2016. Fearing for his safety, Korkmaz said, he hired a smuggler in August 2016 to help him flee Turkey. Afraid he'd be tortured if caught and sent back home, he said he went through two countries before he obtained a new passport under a false name. Korkmaz said he ultimately came to the United States with the help of U.S. law enforcement officials. At the airport, he said, he gave authorities a trove of materials he had taken, including audio recordings, photographs, statements, and documents. Korkmaz said he took the evidence out of Turkey because he believed it would have been destroyed there. With reporting by Bloomberg, Newsday, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/turkish-police- witness-iran-sanctions-case- says-erdogan-aided-sanctions-evasion-scheme- zarrab-atilla-kormaz/28911053.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 Saakashvili: Corruption -- And Russia -- Are Ukraine's Enemy Volodymyr Runets December 12, 2017 KYIV -- Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian leader who is now an ardent opponent of Ukraine's president, said corruption had inflicted far greater damage on Ukraine than Russia had. Speaking one day after a judge rejected prosecutors' request to put him under house arrest, Saakashvili said on December 12 that he had no ambitions himself to become Ukraine's president, saying the position should always be held by an ethnic Ukrainian. The authorities "really think that it's enough to shout 'Russia' and 'agents of the enemy,' and everyone will just buy that. People are not stupid. They didn't buy it earlier, they're not buying it now," he said in an interview with Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. "They know that apart from the main enemy we have an inner one, and that is corruption. This inner enemy does even more damage to Ukraine. The image of Saakashvili in prison was the best gift Vladimir Putin could ever get," he said, referring to the Russian president. "And he got it. It was not my decision, but that of Poroshenko. The image of me in handcuffs was the biggest hit on Russian TV in years," he said. Saakashvili's comments come after a turbulent week that highlighted both his continuing draw as an outspoken, fiery opposition figure, and also differing opinions within the government about how to handle the fervent support he has garnered. Saakashvili became governor of the Black Sea Odesa region in 2015 but quit a year later, accusing the authorities of sabotaging reform efforts. He is now a vocal opponent of Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko, an acquaintance from the time when both attended university in Kyiv in the Soviet era. Authorities have accused Saakashvili of abetting an alleged "criminal group" led by former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his ouster in February 2014. They have also suggested that Saakashvili's protests are part of a Russian plot against Ukraine. Police on December 5 tried to detain Saakashvili but supporters crowded around a police vehicle where he was held and then freed him. Three days later, he was detained on December 8, and prosecutors had sought to place put him under house arrest. But a judge on December 11 turned down the request. Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said he would appeal the judge's ruling. While he was in custody, thousands of people demonstrated in central Kyiv to demand his release and to call for Petro Poroshenko's resignation. After Yanukovych was ousted in 2014, Russia moved to annex the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, and fomented an insurgency in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,300 people and displaced more than 1 million. Saakashvili also faces criminal charges in his home country of Georgia. Saakashvili was president of Georgia during the brief, disastrous war with Russia in 2008, which resulted in Russian forces invading and effectively carving off two important regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- both of which are dependent on Russia for economic support. Saakashvili's political fight in Ukraine has drawn the support of another charismatic politician, Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who is now an opposition leader. Speaking December 11, at the courthouse where Saakashvili's case was heard, she likened Poroshenko to Yanukovych. "You are jailing your opponents -- the way Yanukovych did it. Keep in mind how it all ended," the politician said. Based on reporting by Current Time TV Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-saakashvili- corruption-russia-enemy/28912438.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 News - Skoda Skoda Australia rejects budget brand calls Rich model mixes point to Skoda Australia buyers spending big SKODA Australia director Michael Irmer has rejected persistent suggestions that the Czech car-maker is the budget brand of the Volkswagen Group, pointing to figures that reveal high take-up of flagship variants and research that shows most buyers earn a higher-than-average income. Mr Irmer admitted that a trend towards buying the top variant was rare globally, but insisted that Australians had a different perception of the Skoda brand compared with other markets. Being called a budget brand is kind of not true for Australia at this point in time he explained to GoAuto at the national media launch of the Octavia RS245 on the New South Wales Central Coast last week. That might evolve over the years, but at the moment it (the buyer profile) is probably people who want to be different. People who want the same as you get in a Volkswagen or in some of the lower versions of luxury brands or other German brands. But its sensible. Then you quite quickly figure its actually phenomenal value that you really struggle to find elsewhere in the market. Value as a distinction from low price has driven Skoda growth, according to Mr Irmer, who added that a typical buyer was university educated, had a skilled career and could afford premium vehicles. It (the buying decision) is not for budget reasons, he insisted. We see a very high level of people with university degrees. The level of university degrees is the second-highest of any brand in Australia. That hasnt to do with Skoda having a luxury buyer. It has to do with the early adopters having options for this area. You see this in the extreme high (model) mixes. We have the same in Superb. We have the same in Kodiaq. All those cars are basically literally selling only the top of the range. This is not like this in other markets. According to Skoda, the RS makes up more than 50 per cent of Octavia volume, and the single most popular variant is the more expensive RS wagon with optional automatic DSG and at least one further option package. Similarly, the flagship 206TSI has snared 40 per cent of Superb sales, 60 per cent of which are wagons, and almost all of which are fully optioned. Even 80 per cent of single specification until the arrival of the diesel 140TDI this month Kodiaq 132TSI sales have been fully optioned examples. Why is that? Mr Irmer pondered. These are people which are conscious of decision making. He could well afford a BMW. He could well afford a Mercedes-Benz. He chooses to not do that, and he might have his own reasons. Every individual might have different reasons but a quite likely chance of reason is he doesnt want to be seen as pretentious. He doesnt want to be seen as a certain demographic. He just likes to fly a little bit under the radar. He still wants to have all the perks of a car and all these goodies and all that. I think its safe to say and they (buyers) also like to be being a bit different. Mr Irmer said that while it was important for Skoda to distinguish itself from Volkswagen in terms of price, equipment and character, a 90 per cent conquest rate from other brands showed that it did not have to be a sole focus. Ninety per cent of our buyers are switching from other brands to Skoda, 90 per cent every single month we conquest other brands, he continued. That is not normal, because normally you have 60 per cent conquest and about 40 per cent repeat. We only have 10 per cent. That has to do that we dont have an existing car parc which is ready to flip their cars yet. We just dont have it yet. So then of course, it shows what a great achievement 5000 (annual sales in 2017) is. It might, from a distance, not look that much, but consider that out of 500 (sales) we do in a month 450 would come from other brands, from a whole heap of different brands. Asked to nominate the brand buyers are most likely to switch into a Skoda from, Mr Irmer replied there is not a particular brand to be called out.(Buyers) of Japanese brands are more likely to switch to Skoda, but there are some European brands as well. Renault, Peugeot, some of those luxury brands. Especially in Superb we see a bit of luxury buyers coming switching to Superb as well. But in the Asian space, its mainly Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru. Read more 13th of December 2017 Skoda plans Rapid model expansion Rapid in but Kodiaq RS out of Skoda Australias new product strategy 6th of September 2016 Skoda ditches quirky image Czech brand Skoda to eschew funky designs as it looks to build sales volumes 17th of March 2016 Skoda drives upmarket More buyers are spending upwards of $50,000 on Skoda models The Essential Phone has some impressive specs and a very tempting price since the beginning of November. But with the company not disclosing any sales numbers officially we have to rely on other sources to know how many people actually got the PH-1. The Essential Camera app has just surpassed the 10,000 - 50,000 mark in the Google Play store and now falls in the 50,000 - 100,000 category. This was caught on reddit by user where_else, who followed up with numbers about the other Essential apps - Services and Resources. They are still in the previous range, meaning Google is yet to update the stats. Back in September analysts predicted that Essential sold only 5,000 units. The number most likely improved after numerous deals, including a bundle with the 360-degree camera. Right now the Essential PH-1 can be bought on BestBuy for $500, down from the original $700. Source | Via December is usually a month for looking back and reflecting on the past year. Google released its annual Year in Search video, pointing out the trending events in 2017. It included the refugee crisis in Myanmar, the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico and Houston, the #MeToo movement and many civil uprisings. Top five searches on Google included the iPhone 8 at second place and the iPhone X at third, being surpassed by only the Hurricane Irma disaster. Consumer Tech category reveals that the third most searched gadget was the Nintendo Switch which already sold 10 million units. In other categories, Meghan Markle is the most searched actor, Matt Lauer was at the top spot in the People list, while Tom Petty and Chester Bennington were the most mourned people. According to Google, many questions started with how. Coincidentally or not, the most searched meme was Cash me outside, how bow dah? Source These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. The Oreo beta for the Nokia 5 brought a new version of Nokias camera app with surprising (and hidden) new features. The camera now supports dual cameras of both the telephoto and wide-angle kind. The app specifically shows 2x telephoto zoom, which is the standard for phones right now. The Nokia 5 cant make use of it of course, even HMDs only dual camera phone the Nokia 8 has a identical field of view on its two cameras. But this app shows what could come in the future. So far no phone on the market does both telephoto and wide-angle. Weve already heard the first murmurs of phones with three cameras but chances are that HMD is just considering two separate models. All Nokia 9 rumors so far point to a two-camera solution. Theres another less exciting change to the camera app you can now manually select Shutter speed and ISO on the Nokia 5. Values go between 1/500s and 1s for the shutter and 100 to 2,000 for ISO. Source By Vasia Orion | Published on 2017/12/12 Aside from Cha Seung-won turning into a talent show judge, we have character descriptions for many a new face from "A Korean Odyssey". Yoon Dae-sik (Jang Gwang) is a top conglomerate CEO, but his wealth does not change the fact that he is a loyal subordinate of Son Oh-gong (Lee Seung-gi) who enjoys taking care of his boss by doing household chores for him. Sung Ji-ru plays Master Soo Bo-ri, a teacher of martial arts to Oh-gong and a friend to the Bull Demon King. He is a messenger who conveys the will of the deities' world to the human world. Sung Hyuk plays Dong Jang-goon, a conversation buddy for Oh-gong and an advisor on all things exorcism. Advertisement Then we have characters with more worldly worries and desires. Lee Han-joo (Kim Sung-oh) is the only employee of the heroine's real estate agency and while he is creeped out by all the happenings surrounding her person, he sticks around for the good pay. Kang Dae-seong's (Song Jong-ho) goals are more ambitious. The history professor from a prestigious family wants to be the country's president and he uses his polite personality and good looks to woo women voters. Yoon Bora's character is quite an interesting one. Originally the son of the dragon king, son dearest messes up royally by falling for a woman and stealing from the palace. He is exiled to the human world, and with the help of the Bull Demon King (Cha Seung-won), he becomes the beautiful diva, Alice. I wonder if our demon king is a big softie taking shunned deities under his wing. Whatever criticism I may have about the Hong sisters, they do feature all manner of under-represented groups in their shows and they mostly manage to do it with a rare level of sensitivity and respect. I don't think our king-turned-starlet will necessarily be such a character, since we're dealing with a supernatural creature in a unique situation, but it's still an interesting inclusion if they don't solely play the character's duality up for laughs. The drama has released new posters, which are kind of boring, to be honest. We also have new teasers playing on the dynamics between the three leads and of course teasing the romance. This is a Hong sister drama, after all. We can't get away from the wrist grabs and body pulls, but they have managed to featured those before without completely ruining their female lead for it, so let us pray to the demon gods that the sisters go back to those good ol' times once more. Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings' Sources (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Edwards to run for re-election to state Senate State Sen. Chuck Edwards State Sen. Chuck Edwards announced on Tuesday that he would run for re-election next year, saying he wanted to continue his work in Raleigh to boost the economy, lower taxes and promote more efficient government. Edwards, who lives in Flat Rock, won the Republican nomination for the 48th District seat in 2016 with 56 percent of the vote in a three-candidate primary and won the general election with 62 percent of the vote over Norm Bossert, who has announced he is running again. A Western North Carolina native and owner of McDonald's franchises and other businesses, he has been active with several organizations and nonprofits in the three counties in which he and his family conduct business. Representing the citizens of NCs Senate 48th Senate District is among the highest honors in my life," he said. "I am proud to serve the communities that have so blessed my family and my business in numerous ways. I am excited that I have been given the opportunity this year to help further grow our economy, lower the tax burden for families and small businesses, increase our investment in our childrens education, and find ways we can operate state government more efficiently. "While this year we made much progress in these areas, I recognize that much more can be done, and that I have a broad set of skills to tackle the job. Therefore I am eager to announce my candidacy for a second term, and I hope that the citizens will allow me to continue to serve. Senator Edwards serves the NC Senate on the following Committees: - Education/Higher Education - Commerce and Insurance - Appropriations for General Government and Information Technology - Health Care - Pensions and Retirement Aging - State and Local Government - Select Committee for Judicial Reform and Redistricting - Joint Legislative Economic Development and Global Engagement Oversight - Joint Legislative Study Commission on Efficiency and Cost-Savings in State Government - Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Information Technology - Committee on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities - Revenue Laws Study Train buff pushing passenger service to Asheville Train lover Larry Morton is pushing for an excursion train between Hendersonville and Asheville. [Lightning file photo] Larry Mortons survey of visitors to Hendersonville depot is decidedly unscientific, one might even say biased toward an answer he likes hearing. If you could, he asks visitors to the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club exhibit at the historic depot, would you take a train to Asheville? Overwhelmingly, they say, Yes, absolutely. Im telling you, I am getting a lot of enthusiastic response to this, Morton told the Seventh Avenue Advisory Committee on Monday night. Morton knows that the threshold question is the same one that supporters of a rail-to-trail project must get answered. Would the owner of the tracks, Blue Ridge Southern Railroad, allow a use other than its sole stock-in-trade freight service? When Morton put that question to Darl Farris, general manager of the Blue Ridge operation, he didnt get a no. Farriss answer, Morton said, was: We wouldnt be averse to thinking about passenger service. A green light went off in my head and he started seriously pursuing a push for Hendersonville-to-Asheville passenger service. Morton, who is president has taken on the sales job practically fulltime. Hes made presentations to the citys Downtown Advisory Committee and the Western North Carolina Rail Committee and talked to officials in the rail division of the NCDOT. Im doing one tomorrow for the Asheville Multimodal Transportation Commission and Im doing one for the Tourism Development Authority. Those are the ones that I have scheduled so far. Kansas-based Watco Transportation Services, one of the largest short line operators, in the U.S., bought 92 miles of track from Norfolk Southern in 2014. The Blue Ridge Southern Railroad reaches as far west as Dillsboro. The southern-most point is East Flat Rock. Although he did not sound like he was ready to start boarding passengers, Farris did not completely dismiss the idea either. I talked to Larry a little bit about his ideas, he said. I have not had an opportunity really to listen to all of his ideas. Watco is a freight railroad. Our business is freight. But at the same time weve got business-minded people that are willing to listen if theres a business model out there that might fit and might be mutually beneficial. We are a growing company and were aggressively looking for business opportunities. Morton appeared before the Seventh Avenue Advisory Committee, which oversees improvement in the historic district, in part because he wanted to warn the group to make sure Maple Street improvements dont interfere with the needs of a passenger excursion train. In your plans to do Maple Street I would hate to see you do something and we wind up with a passenger train coming through here where you would have to rip up what youve built because of parking, he said. He said it wouldnt be practical to use the depot for boarding because it contains the model railroad exhibit. He envisions instead a shelter for passengers and he said Farris was receptive to the idea. When we talked about this I asked him, Would you be opposed to us building passenger shelters on your right of way? He said, No, not at all. Mortons idea would be to have a morning and afternoon trips Wednesday through Saturday, with stops on Seventh Avenue and Biltmore Village. One of his ideas is that the train conductor would notify the Biltmore Estate of how many passengers were on board with plans to visit the attraction so Biltmore could send a shuttle. The class 2 track between the two cities allows passenger trains to travel up to 30 mph faster than driving, Morton said, adding, I timed it. Asheville and Hendersonville are big tourist towns, he said. When he pitched the idea to Henderson County Tourism Development Authority executives, they were crazy about it, he said. Everybody Im talking to is wildly enthusiastic to get this done. Christmas travel chaos is on the way for tens of thousands of Ryanair passengers next week as dozens of the airline's Irish-based pilots prepare to go on strike. Almost 80 staff pilots at the airline are set to engage in a 24-hour stoppage on December 20 - just as the festive travel rush gets into full swing. The strike next Wednesday will hit Ryanair operations across its three bases in Ireland: Dublin, Cork and Shannon. However, the impact will ripple out across Europe. Dublin is one of Ryanair's biggest bases, and it has more than 250 pilots based here. Threatened More strike days have been threatened by trade union Impact unless Ryanair management engages with the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA), which is part of Impact, something Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has vowed never to do. Ryanair said it will "face down" the action, and warned pilots who strike that they will see pay increases and promotion opportunities suspended. While the strike will not ground all Ryanair flights in and out of Ireland, it could hit the airline's schedules across its European network. Ryanair has as many as 90 flights set to depart Dublin alone next Wednesday, with a similar number of arrivals expected that day in the capital. Pilots who are members of IALPA voted last week to support industrial action. The striking pilots are mostly captains. Each Ryanair flight needs to have a captain and first officer in the cockpit. Ashley Connolly, an assistant general secretary at Impact, said Ryanair was the only Irish-based airline that refuses to recognise independent pilot representatives. "This dispute is solely about winning independent representation for pilots in the company," she said. Ryanair said it will deal with any such disruptions "if or when they arise" and said it wanted to "apologise sincerely" to passengers "for any upset or worry" the threatened action may cause. "Every pilot who joins Ryanair clearly understands that we do not negotiate with pilot unions," the airline's chief people officer, Eddie Wilson, told pilots at Ryanair's Bergamo base, in Italy, in a memo. "Instead, we have a sophisticated and long-established system of collective bargaining which was endorsed by the Supreme Court back in 2007," he added. The battle for better terms of employment started in September after a pilot rostering fiasco that saw Ryanair cancel thousands of flights and ground aircraft into next year as it struggled to restore pilot schedules. The fallout saw Ryanair pledge to improve pay and conditions for pilots. However, pilots at a number of Ryanair's big bases have rejected those offers. A father-of-one who raped two women in his apartment after meeting them in a nightclub has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years. Clement Limen (45), of North Court, Quayside, Sligo town, was convicted after a trial at the Central Criminal Court of raping two women at his flat on June 2, 2014, and one count of sexual assault. Vodka Garda Sergeant Martin McHale told Eileen O'Leary SC, prosecuting, that Limen invited the two women back to his apartment for a party after meeting them in a nightclub. The court heard that the women, who were aged in their 30s, saw Limen inviting others to the party and they initially fobbed him off. He was waiting outside the nightclub and the women, who were lifelong friends, decided to travel back to his home with 10 other people he had invited from the club. Both women recall him giving them "a very strong drink that tasted like vodka" before "going totally blank". One woman said she remembered waking up on a couch, feeling very disorientated while lying on her back, and then realising that Limen was raping her. Sgt McHale said the woman then found her friend in a bedroom, lying on her back. The second woman told her friend she too had been raped by the defendant. During the trial, Limen denied raping either of the women, telling the court he had consensual unprotected sex with one woman, and denying having sex with the other victim. In a victim impact statement, one woman told the court that her life had changed dramatically since that night. "I was once carefree and fun-loving. I became introverted and racked with anxiety," she said. "If he had pleaded guilty and apologised, I could have forgiven him. But he taunted us at every opportunity, he showed no remorse, was arrogant, and told nauseating lies." "I had to go to an STD clinic, which was humiliating as I am a married woman. The anti-HIV medication made me violently sick and extremely gaunt. It was an extra blow to put us through," one woman said. Trauma Kieran O'Loughlin SC, defending, told the court Limen was a university graduate from Cameroon, who had been living in Ireland for seven years, and had no previous convictions. Mr Justice Paul Coffey said the crime was aggravated by the "trauma and anguish" it caused the victims. He said there was no "evidentiary basis" for suspending any part of the sentence. The judge also imposed a sentence of four years for the sexual assault count, and ordered that sentences run concurrently. Gardai at the scene of the incident in Barnwell Drive A teenager has been charged with possession of a handgun and ammunition after he was arrested following a shooting incident in north Dublin in which a garda was injured. Shane Fay (18) appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday on firearms charges, following a search at a house in Ballymun. He was arrested by detectives investigating an incident last week in which a garda and a young man suffered gunshot wounds during an exchange of fire. Judge Michael Walsh refused him bail and remanded him in custody until next Tuesday. Mr Fay, of Belclare Park, Ballymun, is charged with possession of a 0.38mm Davis Industries semi-automatic pistol and four rounds of ammunition. The offences are alleged to have happened at Barnwell Drive, Ballymun, on December 7. Garda Stephen Enright said he arrested Mr Fay at Ballymun Garda Station for the purpose of charge. He made no reply after caution and was handed copies of the charge sheets. Gda Enright said Mr Fay had been arrested at 10.39am on December 8, at Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown. He was interviewed a number of times, Gda Enright added. Search The garda objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the allegations. He said the incident arose from a planned search operation that was being conducted by gardai on the property. It was alleged the accused had in his possession a semi- automatic pistol and four rounds of ammunition. Applying for bail, defence solicitor Simon Fleming said Mr Fay could live at his parents' address in Belclare Park. Both parents were profoundly disabled and the accused was involved in their care on a daily basis, Mr Fleming added. He had a number of siblings living in the jurisdiction. Mr Fay was on social welfare and his parents were in receipt of disability allowance. In the course of his detention, he denied the allegations that he was in possession of the firearm and ammunition. Mr Fleming said the accused would comply with any bail conditions the court deemed appropriate. He would sign on at Ballymun Garda Station and provide a contact number. He believed the garda's concerns could be dealt with by strict conditions. Judge Walsh refused bail and remanded the accused in custody, to appear at Cloverhill District Court on December 19, for the directions of the DPP to be made available. Mr Fay, wearing a blue hooded top and navy tracksuit bottoms, did not speak during the bail hearing. A motorcyclist who was thrown off his bike and injured after he collided with two cars later told gardai in hospital they would not convict him in court and he would "cause havoc". Derek Lennon (32) was seen "flying" around a corner before he crashed into a parked car, but denied driving - despite being found hurt on the ground seconds later. Lennon, a father-of-one from Downpatrick Road, Crumlin, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving, having no insurance and refusing to give gardai his details. Judge Bryan Smyth found him guilty and ordered him to carry out 90 hours of community service instead of four months in jail. He also banned him from driving for six years and fined him 200. Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at the junction of Corrib Road and Rathdown Court, a cul-de-sac in Terenure, at 2.15pm on March 22, 2016. The accused was lying on a stretcher being attended to by paramedics when Garda Lee Hunt arrived. Damaged A Suzuki motorbike on the ground was damaged, as were two parked cars. When asked who had been driving the motorbike, Lennon told Gda Hunt to "f**k off". He said he owned the bike and that he had bought it "off a Polish guy", who he claimed had been driving. He was taken by ambulance to St James's Hospital where the garda again spoke to him. "He saw me and pretended to go to sleep," Gda Hunt said. He then told Lennon he had already seen him awake and asked again who was driving. "He sat up on the stretcher in the hallway and said, 'You won't convict me in court, I'll cause havoc'," Gda Hunt said. Niall Fitzgerald, a resident, said he was driving out and saw the motorcycle come "flying around the corner," cutting across the road and crashing into a parked car. "It looked like he had trouble steering it," he added. The motorbike went into the air and he saw the driver lying on the ground, "quite hysterical". Lennon's lawyer argued that bike going out of control was not the accused's fault, as it was a defective vehicle, the brakes failed and he "lost control". U2 have called on Dublin City Council to remove Aung San Suu Kyi's Freedom of Dublin award - but unlike Bob Geldof have not said they will be handing their own award back. In a letter to city councillors, Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullin Jnr and Adam Clayton have condemned Ms Suu Kyi's "failure to defend human rights". Ms Suu Kyi has faced widespread criticism over her country's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. The letter comes a day before a council vote on whether to remove the Freedom of the City from Ms Suu Kyi. Last month, musician and Live Aid founder Geldof handed back the award bestowed on him for similar reasons. However, it is understood that U2 have no plans to follow suit. Special "Of the various 'awards' - deserved or not - we've been lucky enough to receive over the years, this is by far the one that means the most to us," the letter read. "It was also special because we'd been so moved by the strength and fortitude shown by Aung San Suu Kyi in then-Burma. "We were campaigning for her release and were proud of Dublin's recognition of her courage, and that of her colleagues, to bring about fledgling democracy against all odds against one of the most brutal regimes of modern times. "So it saddens us to be writing to you today as you discuss recent events in Myanmar and decide whether that merits the rescinding of the honour you bestowed on her. We believe it does," it added. The band added that they felt compelled to write to councillors, given the ultimate decision lies with them. Thanksgiving is going to be expensive. Here's how to save. With inflation on the rise, supplies for Thanksgiving dinner will be more expensive and harder to find than ever, here's what to know and how to save F inding the right mortgage at the best rate is a minefield. Although price comparison websites are a good place to get a feel for what's available, they won't show you all deals on the market and often have a commercial relationships with lenders. This is why it's a good idea to get expert advice from a qualified mortgage adviser or broker. Can I do it myself? There are very specific circumstances in which you can arrange your own mortgage without advice, known as execution-only; if you are a mortgage professional, are remortgaging a home to raise money for business purposes, or if you have an income of 300,000-plus or assets worth over 3million. If you do go it alone and the product you select turns out to be a bad fit for your circumstances, the consequences could range from being rejected for a loan and this being noted on your credit file, to losing your home if you cannot meet your payments. By not taking advice, you have far fewer rights if you decide to complain. If youre determined to go down this route, your lender or adviser will need evidence that you fall into one of these categories and that youre aware of the legal implications and protection you will be losing. In the vast majority of circumstances, an execution-only mortgage is neither possible nor wise. Lenders are obliged to offer advice along with their recommendations based on your income, debt repayments and spending. Who do I ask? Your bank or building society will know your financial circumstances and going direct to a lender will include the advice they give you on mortgage products for free. Of course, they will only advise you on the suitability of their own products. You could go to your own bank for a mortgage but they'll only tell you about their products / Alamy Stock Photo On the other hand, a mortgage broker or independent mortgage adviser will be able to help you select a loan from a range of deals and will manage the application and paperwork. If you use an adviser, they must tell you how wide that range is the first time you talk. Some are tied to a specific lender, others look at deals from a limited panel of lenders and some advise across the whole market, excluding those deals you could get by going to lenders directly. No matter how many lenders they look at, all advisers must offer advice on the mortgage they select as most suited to your circumstances, which they will have also checked. If it turns out to be bad advice you are protected and can go to the Financial Ombudsman service for help. Do I need to pay a mortgage adviser? A broker or adviser will earn money from the advice they give you and, again, they are obliged by law to tell you precisely how they do that. It could include a flat rate for the service or an hourly rate paid by you. They must tell you that rate and how long your application is likely to take before they start. Alternatively, they may be paid a percentage of the loan or a commission from the mortgage lender. Dont forget that the lender may also charge you an arrangement fee. Both sets of fees can be added to the mortgage if arranged up front. The Money Advice Service (which offers impartial advice on consumer finance) and Financial Conduct Authority (which regulates financial services in the UK) provide more information about how lenders, brokers and advisers operate. Services such as Unbiased can help you find a qualified mortgage adviser near you. Can I do it all online? The mortgage broking world is changing fast. In 2016, the first online-only mortgage brokers launched. Can I get my mortgage online? / Alamy Stock Photo With property in some parts of the country moving fast, these online brokers, including Trussle, aim to significantly speed up the process of finding the best suited and cheapest mortgage for buyers and completing the application. In this case, a human adviser is largely replaced by a computer algorithm. At present, these brokers control only a tiny proportion of the mortgage advice market, and in its current guise qualified mortgage advisers check each recommendation. Youll also still need to speak to a person for the final loan approval. However, the idea is that in the not too distant future would-be borrowers will be able to complete the whole process from affordability to product selection, eligibility checks and approval within hours rather than weeks and without even picking up the phone. That will rely on joined up technology that not only allows you to deal with the full range of lenders, but also integrates credit reference agencies databases to allow you to complete the deal without becoming involved in long, complex phone calls or scanning and emailing all your bank statements. Both Priceline and Expedia continued to post some impressive growth numbers in their Q3 results, with double digit rises in gross bookings but these increases appear to come at an ever-increasing cost and concern is rising among investors. EyeforTravel's new reports into both Expedia and Priceline finds that investors are right to be concerned as this is a potential weakness for both companies that empowers potential rivals in the form of the main digital advertising giants Facebook and Google. Both companies saw soaring costs in 2016 continue into 2017 and appear to be trapped in a competitive spiral, focusing on matching increases in the other's marketing spend for fear of falling behind. In 2016, Priceline increased its brand advertising spend by 8% and performance advertising by 27%, whilst Expedia saw selling and marketing costs rise by 29%. Through the first three quarters of 2017, marketing spend by Priceline has grown by 22%. In percentage terms this matches a 22% increase in the broader 'selling and marketing' element of Expedia's costs across the same time frame. For the latter, selling and marketing costs now make up more than 55% of the company's overall costs, whilst Priceline's combined selling and advertising costs make up 70% of overall costs.. There can be little doubt that the majority of this spend is heading over to Google, with Priceline appearing to be the more reliant on the search giant currently. Around three quarters of search engine traffic to Booking.com is generated via paid advertising, as compared to around half for Expedia. This also comes despite Expedia paying less in advertising than Priceline but is nonetheless a concern for both companies as Google continues to relentlessly but quietly ramp up its travel products. Not only are the two facing pressure from each other and the online travel agency market, but increasing pressure from their suppliers as well, as they try to recapture market share through book direct campaigns. Most of the major chains have initiated these alongside a broader consideration of what loyalty means in the industry. Combine this with a more combative regulatory environment in Europe, with wide price parity agreements being eroded, and what they will get is more competing forces for keywords and users' attention across a wider number of search terms. This has caused ripples on Wall Streets, with analysts focusing in on the growing costs and their effect on the bottom line as profit expectations are missed. After Q3 2017 earnings call for both companies, stocks plummeted, falling nearly 16% for Expedia the day following the call on 27th October and 13% for Priceline on 7th November. For Priceline this mimicked a similar stock drop following the Q2 earnings call, highlighting investor concerns. Investor concern is unlikely to dissipate as these two are reaching such gigantic proportions that their growth is likely to slow naturally anyway and there doesn't seem to be a way out of the marketing spend increases on the near horizon, with search engine marketing critical to their business models. Indeed, currently their ability to outbid almost any other player when required and their vast data regarding search term effectiveness currently makes this arena a competitive advantage for both players. Nonetheless, the question remains, at what cost? It will be critical to continue to monitor marketing spend for both over the coming years to see what the limits of sustainability and effectiveness are. As the competition intensifies across the digital travel space and tech giants eye travel To preview and buy EyeforTravel's Expedia report, click here, or here for the Priceline report. These are part of the Future of the Online Giants series, which will cover Expedia, Priceline, TripAdvisor, Ctrip and Google. Keep a look out through EyeforTravel On Demand for the rest of these reports. About Reuters Events Reuters Events is a community where the worlds top online travel brands from hotels to airlines, online travel agents, cruise, car hire firms and more come to meet to drive forward growth and innovation in the industry. We know that working in the turbulent online travel industry is as exciting as it is challenging. In this constantly evolving market place, we appreciate that keeping up with the pace of change can be tough, not to mention time consuming. You need the right information, contacts and strategic insight to succeed. Established in 1997, by Tim Gunstone, we offer a diverse product portfolio including industry analysis, insights, research, webinars, reports and conferences to suit the needs of our clients. Our clients read as a whos who of online travel. From major hotel brands to new startups, we help our 80,000 strong customer base make better decisions, build better brands, close the most lucrative deals and ultimately sell more of their product. After all, increasing travel brand profit margins in the cutthroat travel industry is the name of the game! No other online travel intelligence provider has been charting the growth of online travel as long as we have. We were here at the inception of online travel and we know the industry inside out. Whats more, were a small, friendly team. Forget impersonal hierarchies, we like to get to know our customers and work towards their exact needs. Meredith Pistulka View source Selling room upgrades is a vital tactic for generating incremental revenue and filling unused inventory. Most websites that I've visited attempt to outline the advantages of better rooms, be it through size, view, bed type, floor level, amenities or a combination of these elements. But once the consumer purchases a specific room type, how do you entice them to spend a little extra to get something even better than what they've already confirmed? While there's the age-old approach of prompting them either through a pre-arrival email or phone call, or once they are physically at the front desk, many hotels are trying something new. Using Gamification to Sell Guestroom Upgrades | By Larry Mogelonsky Photo by Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited Several chains now utilize programs that immediately offer all confirmed reservations a standby upgrade rate, typically at a discount versus the full upgraded cost. These programs can be quite effective in generating further revenue from participants. After all, ten bucks more for that better room (versus double that on the rate card) is better than nothing at all. As a personal example, consider my most recent flight to Los Angeles for which I booked an economy return fare. The email here was received shortly thereafter, offering me not only an opportunity to make an upgrade, but to competitively bid for this upgrade with other passengers. Thus, the upgrade decision was not a binary yes-or-no at a fixed price, but one that had a sense of play involved. Just like an online auction, I was notified each time my bid was beaten by another fellow passenger. Regretfully, I had a limited budget and ended up flying in the gulag. I do not know the exact value of the victorious bid, but my cut-off point was $250 each way and clearly this was not enough. The key component of any simple gamification like this is participation. Unlike a simple 'Do you want it at this standby price?' situation, involvement, variability and sense of control add to consumer excitement and interest. As with most games, there is an element of chance, thus the ubiquitous signoff of 'Good luck!' at the end of the email. Now imagine offering customers an opportunity to upgrade their superior rooms to deluxe, a suite or perhaps one of your signature rooms with a bidding system introduced? After the initial hurdle of setting this system up, your revenue management team can then easily control the situation, adding minimum bids and possibly a random success element as well as awarding one weekly participant with an upgrade at no incremental cost. Tangentially, imagine what this will do for your social media efforts when you post the weekly winner? The airline industry has shown strong leadership in yield management. Here is another idea that we can 'borrow' from them to add to our success. Now is the time to use the principles of gamification to your advantage. Larry Mogelonsky Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited The heart has its reasons that reason cannot understand. In this era of customer experience, all that is authentic, all that is lived, it is interesting to draw a parallel between recent news and our hoteliers' activities. Two men who were part of our heritage and French and francophone culture left us one after the other. Each left a deep impression on the collective memory, but each in his own way. One was an accomplished intellectual, crowned and praised, who spoke with his spirit. He excelled in the handling of words, ideas and concepts. The second one spoke with his guts and heart. He lived strong moments of communion with his audience and shared an immense love with his fans. Like the Greek gods, he possessed intense powers although he was not free of defects which are only all too human. One concerned himself with the knowledge of being, the other with the desire to be. At a time of experience and remembrance, the relationship between customer and brand has changed dimension. What is important is not the price, but the pleasure and memories that can be drawn from an experience, one no longer consumes, one experiences. At the last minute, we crave sunshine, an escapade, family moments and a return to our roots. We want to be recognized, familiar and indigenous everywhere. These new motivations, expectations and behaviors cause us to question certain achievements and revise how we operate. It is important to speak to your guest's heart, share a part of yourself with them and tell them a story. For this, it is imperative to develop the human qualities of staff in addition to their skills. It is necessary to teach them to build unforgettable moments for their guest with respect to their personality, their tastes, their knowledge, their preferences... Knowledge lies mainly in the hands of the elite who define the strategy. Know-how is a set of skills that any well-managed and trained person can potentially acquire. It is the acquisition of the right gesture, the knowledge of the tool. Knowledge of being is sometimes intangible, but it is essential. It is a mixture of listening, availability, service sense for and with the other, and it is more complex to master. To find the right moment, the right words, reassure, guide, render the service expected ... it is also to develop human qualities and increase the guest's loyalty to the brand or establishment. Because let's never forget it, hospitality is to welcome the other, to offer him lodging and food, as well as conviviality and human warmth. Marketing, which has been a revolution based on technology, target concepts, markets and segments, must now be directed more towards the humanity of those who produce and manufacture services. It will no longer be enough to know the targets, it will be necessary to know the hearts of men and women to better meet their expectations. By putting a soul back into the production of our services, the properties regain strength that has been missing because very often productivity has dehumanized our services. We will rebuild efficiency and re-create value by giving our employees the desire to inspire. The key to tomorrow's success will result from developing our employees' human qualities. It is imperative for our sector to create, build and retain value with its employees in order to recreate conviviality. Initially, hospitality was based on philoxenia, a word full of meaning: "philos" the friend and "xenos" the stranger. We must offer our visiting guests friendship. It is possible we have forgotten a little bit about the friendly and human side of this relationship. Georges Panayotis Chairman & CEO +33 (0) 1 56 56 87 87 Hospitality ON View source California has enacted a number of new regulations related to labor and employment that go into effect when 2018 begins. Hotels owners and developers with properties in California need to be aware of how these rules apply to their workforce so they can meet their legal obligations and remain in compliance with the law. A round-up of upcoming changes, written by the JMBM Labor & Employment group, is below. California Labor & Employment Law Update: Key Changes in 2017 and What's Slated For 2018 by The JMBM Labor & Employment Group The legal landscape for California employers continues to evolve at the state and local level ranging from prohibitions on inquiries into an applicants salary and conviction history, additional sexual harassment training requirements, to new immigration obligations. The following is a high-level summary of the most significant changes in state and local labor and employment laws, which go into effect on January 1, 2018, unless otherwise noted. EXPANDING POWERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STANDARDS (DLSE) DLSE can now independently commence investigations; petition for injunctive relief; and issue citations for suspected discrimination or retaliation based on a wage claim (SB 306). The DLSE has new powers starting January 1, 2018. With SB 306, the DLSE will now be authorized to commence an investigation of an employer, with or without a complaint being filed, when specified retaliation or discrimination is suspected during the course of DSLE investigations. The new law also authorizes the DLSE to petition a superior court for immediate injunctive relief based on a finding of reasonable cause. Such relief can include a court order that the employer reinstate employment or otherwise reverse its alleged retaliatory action against the employee. This is a huge departure from existing law which does not allow for the DLSE to seek this type of relief during an investigation. The new law also authorizes the DLSE to issue citations directing specific relief to persons determined to be responsible for violations. The law establishes review procedures, including procedures for requesting a hearing before a hearing officer, and for a petition for a writ of mandate. The law subjects an employer who willfully refuses to comply with a final order to civil penalties payable to the affected employee. The law also allows employees to seek injunctive relief in court. Contractors can now be directly liable for wage claims against subcontractors (AB 1701). On or after January 1, 2018, a direct contractor which undertakes a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other work, must assume, and be liable for, specified debt owed to a wage claimant that is incurred by a subcontractor, at any tier. The DLSE is authorized to bring an action to enforce this liability. It authorizes private civil actions to enforce the liability against a direct contractor. The new law does not apply to any work being done by an employee of the state or any political subdivision of the state. It requires a subcontractor, upon request from the direct contractor, to provide specified information regarding the subcontractors and third partys work on the project and allows the direct to withhold disputed sums upon the subcontractors failure to provide the requested information. Advertisement Human trafficking notice requirements extended to hotels, motels and bed & breakfast inns (AB 260 and SB 225). Two new laws which take effect on January 1, 2018 address human trafficking. AB 260 adds hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast inns, not including personal residences, to the list of specified businesses and other establishments required to post a notice with information related to slavery and human trafficking, including information related to specified nonprofit organizations that provide services in support of the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. SB 225 adds to the notice a specified number which a person may text for services and support, and revises the names of the nonprofit organizations listed in the notice. While not specifically addressed to employee issues, the required notice must be posted in a conspicuous place near the public entrance of the establishment or in another conspicuous location in clear view of the public and employees where similar notices. Employers must specifically provide written notice concerning the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (AB 2337). Existing law (Labor Code section 230.1) prohibits employers from discharging, discriminating, or retaliating against an employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for taking time off from work to: seek medical attention for resulting injuries; obtain services from a domestic violence shelter or rape crisis center; undergo counseling, or participate in safety planning. Last year, California passed AB 2337, which requires employers to provide written notice to employees about the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. However, employers did not have to comply with this requirements until the Labor Commissioner developed a model notice. In June 2017, the Labor Commissioner posted the model notice. Employers may use the Labor Commissioners notice, or create their own as long as it is substantially similar in content and clarity. The notice must include the following content: Inform employees that they have the right to take time off to obtain a restraining order/court order, seek medical attention, seek services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crises center, seek counseling, or safety planning. Inform employees that they can use available vacation, personal leave, accrued paid sick leave, or compensatory time off for such purposes, unless they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement which provides different leave uses. Inform employees that they have a right to take time off for these purposes even if they do not have paid leave. Advise employees that they should give advance notice before taking leave. But, if they cannot give advance notice, they will not be disciplined if they provide proof for the absence within a reasonable time. Proof can be a police report, court order, or a doctors/counselors note. Inform employees that they can request as a reasonable accommodation that the employer make changes in the workplace to ensure the employees safety. Advise employees that their accommodation request will be kept confidential. Inform employees that they have a right to be free from retaliation and discrimination and that they cannot be discharged because they are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; because they asked for leave to get help; or because they asked the employer for an accommodation so they can feel safe at work. Advise employees that they can file a complaint with the Labor Commissioners Office if they believe their rights have been violated. Employers must update their new hire/orientation materials to include either the Labor Commissioners model notice or their own notice that satisfies the statutory requirements. Note, while employers must provide new hires with a notice of their rights under Section 230.1 (and other employees upon request), employers should consider providing a standard notice to all employees, not just new hires. PROHIBITED INQUIRIES OF JOB APPLICANTS Employers cannot seek or use job applicants salary histories as a factor in determining whether to offer a job (AB 168). Add this to the growing list of questions to avoid asking during a job interview: How much do you make in your current job? AB 168 prohibits an employer from seeking salary history information from a job applicant or using salary history as a factor in determining whether to offer a job. An employer also is not allowed, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, to seek a job applicants salary history information. Also, the law requires an employer upon reasonable request to provide the pay scale for a position to a job applicant. It does not apply to salary history information disclosable to the public under federal or state law. San Francisco mandates additional requirements on the prohibition of job applicants salary histories (San Franciscos Parity Pay Ordinance.) San Franciscos Parity in Pay Ordinance is similar to AB 168, discussed above. Under the ordinance, an employer may not do any of the following: Ask about current or past compensation in the applicants current position, or in any prior position (whether with the current employer or a prior employer). Consider an applicants salary history as a factor in determining what salary to offer an applicanteven if the applicant voluntarily discloses his or her pay without prompting. Refuse to hire, disfavor or retaliate against an applicant for not disclosing pay history. Release the salary history of any current or former employee to an employer or prospective employer without written authorization. The Ordinance allows an employer to ask about the applicants expectations with respect to salary. For example, it is permissible to ask about unvested equity or deferred compensation or a bonus that an applicant would forfeit or have cancelled if he or she quit a current job. This may be a way for employers to obtain salary information without asking directly for it. The Ordinance becomes operative on July 1, 2018, with penalties of up to $500 beginning on January 1, 2019. Limitations set on an employers ability to inquire about a job applicants criminal history (AB 1008). AB 1008 adds Government Code section 12952, which creates a new protected class under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Employers with five or more employees are prohibited from: Inquiring about an applicants criminal history on a job application or at any time (i.e. during the interview process) before extending a conditional offer of employment. If employers run a conviction background check in connection with an application for employment, it is prohibited from considering, distributing, or disseminating information about (a) an arrest not resulting in a conviction, except as permitted in Labor Code section 432.7, (b) referral to or participation in a pretrial or post-trial diversion program, and (c) convictions that are sealed, dismissed, expunged, or statutorily eradicated. An employer who intends to deny an applicant a position of employment solely or in part because of the applicants conviction history must first perform an individualized assessment. The assessment requires analysis of various enumerated factors, including whether the applicants conviction history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job. If the employer decides to deny employment, it must provide the applicant written notification of its decision. The applicant then has the opportunity to respond by providing evidence challenging the accuracy of the conviction history report and/or evidence of rehabilitation or other mitigating circumstances. The employer must consider any information the applicant submits before making a final decision. If the employers final decision is to deny employment, the employer must provide written notification to the applicant, including information on any additional appeal process and the applicants right to file a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). AB 1008 does not apply to situations where employers (public and private) are required by law to conduct criminal background checks or to restrict employment based on criminal history. Employers should review their job applications, postings, and recruitment procedures to ensure they comply with AB 1008. Employers should also keep written records which demonstrate that they performed the required individual assessments and considered any applicant responses before making final employment decisions. Furthermore, employers need to comply with any related local ordinances, such as the San Francisco and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance. To the extent a local ordinance provides applicants greater protection, employers must comply with that standard. Los Angeles sets additional prohibitions on criminal history inquiries (Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance). Individuals with criminal records may have a better chance of finding a job in Los Angeles under the citys new Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring. Under the Ordinance, a prospective employer is not permitted to ask an applicant questions about criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment meaning an offer that is conditioned on an assessment of the applicants criminal history and how it relates to the duties of the job being offered. The meaning of employment here is broader than normal, because the law also applies to the retention of independent contractors and unpaid interns. The Ordinance became effective on January 22, 2017. The Ordinance applies to all employers located or doing business in the City of Los Angeles and that employ 10 or more employees. INCREASED EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS Employers cannot comply with certain requests from immigration enforcement officers unless a judicial warrant is provided (AB 450). A new law limits how much California employers may accommodate some requests from federal immigration officials. Beginning January 1, 2018, California employers shall not provide voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter any nonpublic areas of a place of labor, unless the immigration enforcement agent provides a judicial warrant. Similarly, employers will not be allowed to provide voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to access, review, or obtain the employers employee records without a warrant, except for I-9 employment eligibility and verification forms and other documents for which a Notice of Inspection has been provided to the employer. Employers must post a notice of any inspections of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records conducted by an immigration agency within seventy-two hours of receiving notice of the inspection. Upon reasonable request, the employer must provide a copy of the Notice of Inspection to an affected employee. AB 450 also provides that an employer shall not reverify the employment eligibility of a current employee at a time or in a manner not required by federal law. The Labor Commissioner has enforcement authority, and penalties for violations can be up to $10,000. Smaller employers (20+ employees) are now required to provide parental unpaid leave (SB 63). Small employers will need to be ready to give time off to new parents starting January 1, 2018. SB 63 will require California employers with at least twenty employees within a 75-mile radius to provide up to twelve weeks of job-protected unpaid leave to new parents for the purpose of bonding with a newborn child, adopted child, or foster-placed child. SB 63 is similar to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which requires employers with fifty or more employees within a 75-mile radius to offer these parental leave protections to new parents. Employers may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right provided by the new law. Employees may use accrued vacation pay, paid sick time, other accrued paid time off, or other paid or unpaid time off negotiated with the employer, during the parental leave. Public employers who receive state funds are prohibited from discouraging or deterring public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization (SB 285). Under Government Code section 16645.6, public employers who receive state funds are prohibited from using those funds to deter union organization. SB 285 goes a step further prohibiting public employers from discouraging or deterring public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. Notably, this statute applies to all public employers regardless of the source of funds, including employers subject to the MMBA, Dills Act, EERA, HEERA, Trial Court Act, Court Interpreter Act, TEERA, and Section 12302.25 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The Public Employment Relations Board has jurisdiction over any violations. Since the statute does not define what constitutes to discourage or to deter, public employers must be cautious in their interactions with union members and the information they transmit about union membership. Significantly, SB 285 likely attempts to protect labor unions if the Supreme Court holds that agency fees cannot be imposed on public sector employees in Janus v. AFSCME. Amendment to the Military Veterans Code expands protections for military veterans by prohibiting discrimination in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment; violations of the law can result in criminal and civil penalties, and attorneys fees (AB 1710 and SB 266). AB 1710 and SB 266 amends section 394 of the Military Veterans Code. Existing law prohibits discrimination against service members. These bills expand the scope of the protection for military personnel by prohibiting discrimination in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The law covers discrimination by individuals and public and private sector employers. Violations of the law result in criminal and civil penalties, including actual damages and reasonable attorneys fees. Given these remedies, employers need to ensure that their recruiters and supervisors are trained on service member anti-discrimination laws. Health care facilities face increased penalties for whistleblower retaliation/discrimination (AB 1102). Existing law (Labor Code section 1278.5) prohibits a health facility from discriminating or retaliating against a patient, employee, medical staff, or any health care worker because that person filed a grievance, complaint, report with the facility, or participated in an investigation or administrative proceeding related to the quality of care, services, or conditions at the facility. A violation of the statute results in a civil penalty of up to $25,000 dollars. Under AB 1102, a person who willfully violates section 1278.5 is also guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $75,000 . Californias recognition of nonbinary as a gender could result in new employer requirements (SB 179). Through SB 179, California now recognizes three genders female, male, and nonbinary. This legislation allows individuals to update their gender on a birth certificate, a drivers license (beginning January 1, 2019), and obtain a court judgment (beginning September 1, 2018) without undergoing clinical treatment. Instead, the individual has to attest, under penalty of perjury, that the request for a change in gender is to confirm the persons legal gender to the persons gender identity and not for fraudulent purposes. While the impact of this legislation is unclear it may impose new requirements on employers and educational institutions to provide additional restroom and locker room facilities. Anti-harassment training requirements expanded to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation (SB 396). FEHA currently requires employers with fifty or more employees to provide at least two hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to all supervisory employees within six months of an individuals assumption of supervisory duties and once every two years thereafter. SB 396 requires covered employers to include training on harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. The training must include practical examples and the trainer must have pertinent knowledge and expertise. SB 396 also requires employers to display DFEHs poster on transgender rights in the workplace. Given that sexual harassment allegations have permeated every industry and have dominated the news cycle employers must be vigilant in providing anti-harassment training, investigating complaints, and taking prompt corrective action. Employers should review their anti-harassment/anti-discrimination trainings and policies to ensure compliance with SB 396. The Equal Pay Act now applies to both public and private sector employers (AB 46). Existing law prohibits employers from paying workers of one sex/race more than the workers of the opposite sex/race for substantially similar work, unless the employer can show that any pay gap is justified. AB 46 amends Labor Code section 1197.5 by extending the definition of employer. The Equal Pay Act will now apply to both public and private sector employers. That said, employees still cannot sue public sector employers for penalties under Labor Code section 1199.5. Emeryville requires employers to offer additional work hours to current qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees or using contractors (Emeryville Fair Workweek Ordinance). Emeryville has enacted its Fair Workweek Ordinance which became effective on July 1, 2017. Under the Ordinance, employers must offer additional work hours to current qualified part-time employees (those with fewer than thirty-five hours of work in a calendar week) in writing before hiring new employees or using contractors or staffing agencies. In addition to being qualified to do the work, covered employees are those who perform at least 2 hours of work within the geographic boundaries of the city in a week; and qualify as an employee entitled to minimum wage under the Labor Code. Also, employers must provide new employees with good-faith written estimates of their work hours and schedules. Employers must provide employees with at least two weeks notice of their actual schedules; notify employees of schedule changes and allow employees to decline schedule changes made without two weeks notice; pay employees a premium for schedule changes made with less than two weeks notice; ensure that employees have at least eleven hours off between shifts; and allow employees to request flexible work arrangements without retaliation. San Jose requires employers to offer additional work hours to existing qualified employees before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, and use a transparent and nondiscriminatory process to distribute work hours among existing employees (San Jose Opportunity to Work Ordinance). San Jose has enacted its Opportunity to Work Ordinance which became effective on March 13, 2017. Under the Ordinance, employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who (in the employers good faith and reasonable judgment) have the skills and experience to perform the work before hiring additional employees, subcontractors, temporary services or staffing agencies, and use a transparent and nondiscriminatory process to distribute work hours among existing employees. In addition to being qualified to do the work, covered employees are those who, in a calendar week, perform at least two hours of work for the employer; and who qualify as an employee entitled to the California minimum wage, or is a participant in a Welfare-to-Work Program. A Welfare-to Work Program means the CalWORKS Program, County Adult Assistance Program (CAAP) which includes the Personal Assisted Employment Services (PAES) Program, General Assistance Program and any successor programs that are substantially similar. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any of the issues presented in this Update. JMBMs Labor and Employment attorneys counsel businesses and management on workplace issues, helping to establish policies that address problems and reduce job-related lawsuits. We act quickly to resolve claims and aggressively defend our clients in all federal and state courts, before the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and other federal, state and local agencies, as well as in private arbitration forums. We represent employers in collective bargaining negotiations and arbitration. This Update is provided to our clients, business associates and friends for informational purposes only. The Update included only brief descriptions of the laws at issue. Legal advice should be based on your specific situation and provided by a qualified attorney. This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any issues or development that affect your hotel interests. We would like to see if our experience might help you create value or avoid unnecessary pitfalls. Whos your hotel lawyer? In a few days, Brockhampton will release Saturation III. Itll be a bittersweet feeling for anyone whos been following them. While we receive the third album from Brockhampton this year, itll also likely be the last project we receive from them. A few days a go, they revealed the albums tracklist and today, they drop off the first single off the project with BOOGIE. With some funky horns and high-energy, Brockhampton deliver the opening cut of Saturation III. BOOGIE is a celebratory anthem that describes some of the hardships they faced while still bringing an infectious vibe to the table. Its a solid track that stands as a perfect intro for Saturation III. Saturation III drops this Friday and the collective will be embarking on a North American tour in 2018. Check the video out here as well. Quotable Lyrics Ive been beat up my whole life Ive been shot down, kicked down twice Aint no stopping me tonight Imma get all the things I like Chance The Rappers been doing a lot lately, especially for the kids. Hes been doing a lot of community work to help create opportunities and programs for kids in Chicago including with his own SocialWorks non-profit organization. While hes been doing a lot of good work for the kids in his area, he recently graced childrens television with his infectious stature during an episode of Sesame Street. Chance The Rapper recently popped by Sesame Street for a brief appearance. The rapper hit Twitter to post a scene he did where he, Cookie Monster, Elmo and Abby Cadabby give a special shout out to Chances three year old daughter, Kensli. During the clip, the characters ask Chance to give her a big hug for them before requesting to give her other gifts as well. Cookie Monster asks Chance to pass on a cookie from him. Chance later says Kensli could have plenty of cookies and chocolate milk. Abby later asks if Kensli could get a unicorn which Chance seems more reluctant about. Chance also hit Twitter with some BTS footage of his time. Its a short clip where Chance is venting to Oscar The Crouch, telling him Im sick of people saying my music is trash. In other Chance related news, hes been going strong with SocialWorks organization and helping out kids in Chicago. Most recently, he announced that Google donated $1 million to his organization to fund coding classes for twenty Chicago public schools in the west and south sides of the city. Check out his Sesame Street appearance below: In what was seen by many in the music industry as a high-priced experiment in music streaming exclusivity, Jay-Zs Tidal service may not be on the most stable of financial ground. According to multiple reports from Norways Dagens Nringsliv newspaper and Engadget, Tidal has been bleeding money and users for a prolonged period and now supposedly face the very real possibility of their cash pool drying up in six months time. The company lost a whopping $44 million before taxes in 2016, severely depleting their fund reserve that theres now worry that Tidal might now make it out of 2018. This news also comes after Sprint bought a 33 percent stake in the service earlier this year for a reported $200 million. All this being said, sources from inside the company maintain that whispers of a financial implosion are just that: whispers. We have experienced negative stories about Tidal since its inception and we have done nothing but grow the business each year, a spokesperson for Tidal told Engadget. Whats more, the company believes that it has the momentum to become profitable by the middle of next year. However, the Norwegian newspaper that initially reported this story has also previously questioned Tidals subscriber numbers following claims by the service that they had hit 1 million total. After the fact, Dagens Nringsliv stated the number was, in reality, closer to 350,000. At this point, its tough to say where Tidal will go from here in terms of profitability or even financial viability. That being said, its still one of our top gifts for the hip-hop head in your family of friend group this holiday season. Check out our full list of ideas here. Jay-Z California has enacted a number of new regulations related to labor and employment that go into effect when 2018 begins. Hotels owners and developers with properties in California need to be aware of how these rules apply to their workforce so they can meet their legal obligations and remain in compliance with the law. California has enacted a number of new regulations related to labor and employment that go into effect when 2018 begins. Hotels owners and developers with properties in California need to be aware of how these rules apply to their workforce so they can meet their legal obligations and remain in compliance with the law. A round-up of upcoming changes, written by the JMBM Labor & Employment group, is below. California Labor & Employment Law Update: Key Changes in 2017 and What's Slated For 2018 by The JMBM Labor & Employment Group The legal landscape for California employers continues to evolve at the state and local level ranging from prohibitions on inquiries into an applicants salary and conviction history, additional sexual harassment training requirements, to new immigration obligations. The following is a high-level summary of the most significant changes in state and local labor and employment laws, which go into effect on January 1, 2018, unless otherwise noted. EXPANDING POWERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STANDARDS (DLSE) DLSE can now independently commence investigations; petition for injunctive relief; and issue citations for suspected discrimination or retaliation based on a wage claim (SB 306). The DLSE has new powers starting January 1, 2018. With SB 306, the DLSE will now be authorized to commence an investigation of an employer, with or without a complaint being filed, when specified retaliation or discrimination is suspected during the course of DSLE investigations. The new law also authorizes the DLSE to petition a superior court for immediate injunctive relief based on a finding of reasonable cause. Such relief can include a court order that the employer reinstate employment or otherwise reverse its alleged retaliatory action against the employee. This is a huge departure from existing law which does not allow for the DLSE to seek this type of relief during an investigation. The new law also authorizes the DLSE to issue citations directing specific relief to persons determined to be responsible for violations. The law establishes review procedures, including procedures for requesting a hearing before a hearing officer, and for a petition for a writ of mandate. The law subjects an employer who willfully refuses to comply with a final order to civil penalties payable to the affected employee. The law also allows employees to seek injunctive relief in court. Contractors can now be directly liable for wage claims against subcontractors (AB 1701). On or after January 1, 2018, a direct contractor which undertakes a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other work, must assume, and be liable for, specified debt owed to a wage claimant that is incurred by a subcontractor, at any tier. The DLSE is authorized to bring an action to enforce this liability. It authorizes private civil actions to enforce the liability against a direct contractor. The new law does not apply to any work being done by an employee of the state or any political subdivision of the state. It requires a subcontractor, upon request from the direct contractor, to provide specified information regarding the subcontractors and third partys work on the project and allows the direct to withhold disputed sums upon the subcontractors failure to provide the requested information. Advertisement Human trafficking notice requirements extended to hotels, motels and bed & breakfast inns (AB 260 and SB 225). Two new laws which take effect on January 1, 2018 address human trafficking. AB 260 adds hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast inns, not including personal residences, to the list of specified businesses and other establishments required to post a notice with information related to slavery and human trafficking, including information related to specified nonprofit organizations that provide services in support of the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. SB 225 adds to the notice a specified number which a person may text for services and support, and revises the names of the nonprofit organizations listed in the notice. While not specifically addressed to employee issues, the required notice must be posted in a conspicuous place near the public entrance of the establishment or in another conspicuous location in clear view of the public and employees where similar notices. Employers must specifically provide written notice concerning the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (AB 2337). Existing law (Labor Code section 230.1) prohibits employers from discharging, discriminating, or retaliating against an employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for taking time off from work to: seek medical attention for resulting injuries; obtain services from a domestic violence shelter or rape crisis center; undergo counseling, or participate in safety planning. Last year, California passed AB 2337, which requires employers to provide written notice to employees about the rights of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. However, employers did not have to comply with this requirements until the Labor Commissioner developed a model notice. In June 2017, the Labor Commissioner posted the model notice. Employers may use the Labor Commissioners notice, or create their own as long as it is substantially similar in content and clarity. The notice must include the following content: Inform employees that they have the right to take time off to obtain a restraining order/court order, seek medical attention, seek services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crises center, seek counseling, or safety planning. Inform employees that they can use available vacation, personal leave, accrued paid sick leave, or compensatory time off for such purposes, unless they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement which provides different leave uses. Inform employees that they have a right to take time off for these purposes even if they do not have paid leave. Advise employees that they should give advance notice before taking leave. But, if they cannot give advance notice, they will not be disciplined if they provide proof for the absence within a reasonable time. Proof can be a police report, court order, or a doctors/counselors note. Inform employees that they can request as a reasonable accommodation that the employer make changes in the workplace to ensure the employees safety. Advise employees that their accommodation request will be kept confidential. Inform employees that they have a right to be free from retaliation and discrimination and that they cannot be discharged because they are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; because they asked for leave to get help; or because they asked the employer for an accommodation so they can feel safe at work. Advise employees that they can file a complaint with the Labor Commissioners Office if they believe their rights have been violated. Employers must update their new hire/orientation materials to include either the Labor Commissioners model notice or their own notice that satisfies the statutory requirements. Note, while employers must provide new hires with a notice of their rights under Section 230.1 (and other employees upon request), employers should consider providing a standard notice to all employees, not just new hires. PROHIBITED INQUIRIES OF JOB APPLICANTS Employers cannot seek or use job applicants salary histories as a factor in determining whether to offer a job (AB 168). Add this to the growing list of questions to avoid asking during a job interview: How much do you make in your current job? AB 168 prohibits an employer from seeking salary history information from a job applicant or using salary history as a factor in determining whether to offer a job. An employer also is not allowed, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, to seek a job applicants salary history information. Also, the law requires an employer upon reasonable request to provide the pay scale for a position to a job applicant. It does not apply to salary history information disclosable to the public under federal or state law. San Francisco mandates additional requirements on the prohibition of job applicants salary histories (San Franciscos Parity Pay Ordinance.) San Franciscos Parity in Pay Ordinance is similar to AB 168, discussed above. Under the ordinance, an employer may not do any of the following: Ask about current or past compensation in the applicants current position, or in any prior position (whether with the current employer or a prior employer). Consider an applicants salary history as a factor in determining what salary to offer an applicanteven if the applicant voluntarily discloses his or her pay without prompting. Refuse to hire, disfavor or retaliate against an applicant for not disclosing pay history. Release the salary history of any current or former employee to an employer or prospective employer without written authorization. The Ordinance allows an employer to ask about the applicants expectations with respect to salary. For example, it is permissible to ask about unvested equity or deferred compensation or a bonus that an applicant would forfeit or have cancelled if he or she quit a current job. This may be a way for employers to obtain salary information without asking directly for it. The Ordinance becomes operative on July 1, 2018, with penalties of up to $500 beginning on January 1, 2019. Limitations set on an employers ability to inquire about a job applicants criminal history (AB 1008). AB 1008 adds Government Code section 12952, which creates a new protected class under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Employers with five or more employees are prohibited from: Inquiring about an applicants criminal history on a job application or at any time (i.e. during the interview process) before extending a conditional offer of employment. If employers run a conviction background check in connection with an application for employment, it is prohibited from considering, distributing, or disseminating information about (a) an arrest not resulting in a conviction, except as permitted in Labor Code section 432.7, (b) referral to or participation in a pretrial or post-trial diversion program, and (c) convictions that are sealed, dismissed, expunged, or statutorily eradicated. An employer who intends to deny an applicant a position of employment solely or in part because of the applicants conviction history must first perform an individualized assessment. The assessment requires analysis of various enumerated factors, including whether the applicants conviction history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job. If the employer decides to deny employment, it must provide the applicant written notification of its decision. The applicant then has the opportunity to respond by providing evidence challenging the accuracy of the conviction history report and/or evidence of rehabilitation or other mitigating circumstances. The employer must consider any information the applicant submits before making a final decision. If the employers final decision is to deny employment, the employer must provide written notification to the applicant, including information on any additional appeal process and the applicants right to file a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). AB 1008 does not apply to situations where employers (public and private) are required by law to conduct criminal background checks or to restrict employment based on criminal history. Employers should review their job applications, postings, and recruitment procedures to ensure they comply with AB 1008. Employers should also keep written records which demonstrate that they performed the required individual assessments and considered any applicant responses before making final employment decisions. Furthermore, employers need to comply with any related local ordinances, such as the San Francisco and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance. To the extent a local ordinance provides applicants greater protection, employers must comply with that standard. Los Angeles sets additional prohibitions on criminal history inquiries (Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance). Individuals with criminal records may have a better chance of finding a job in Los Angeles under the citys new Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring. Under the Ordinance, a prospective employer is not permitted to ask an applicant questions about criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment meaning an offer that is conditioned on an assessment of the applicants criminal history and how it relates to the duties of the job being offered. The meaning of employment here is broader than normal, because the law also applies to the retention of independent contractors and unpaid interns. The Ordinance became effective on January 22, 2017. The Ordinance applies to all employers located or doing business in the City of Los Angeles and that employ 10 or more employees. INCREASED EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS Employers cannot comply with certain requests from immigration enforcement officers unless a judicial warrant is provided (AB 450). A new law limits how much California employers may accommodate some requests from federal immigration officials. Beginning January 1, 2018, California employers shall not provide voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter any nonpublic areas of a place of labor, unless the immigration enforcement agent provides a judicial warrant. Similarly, employers will not be allowed to provide voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to access, review, or obtain the employers employee records without a warrant, except for I-9 employment eligibility and verification forms and other documents for which a Notice of Inspection has been provided to the employer. Employers must post a notice of any inspections of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records conducted by an immigration agency within seventy-two hours of receiving notice of the inspection. Upon reasonable request, the employer must provide a copy of the Notice of Inspection to an affected employee. AB 450 also provides that an employer shall not reverify the employment eligibility of a current employee at a time or in a manner not required by federal law. The Labor Commissioner has enforcement authority, and penalties for violations can be up to $10,000. Smaller employers (20+ employees) are now required to provide parental unpaid leave (SB 63). Small employers will need to be ready to give time off to new parents starting January 1, 2018. SB 63 will require California employers with at least twenty employees within a 75-mile radius to provide up to twelve weeks of job-protected unpaid leave to new parents for the purpose of bonding with a newborn child, adopted child, or foster-placed child. SB 63 is similar to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which requires employers with fifty or more employees within a 75-mile radius to offer these parental leave protections to new parents. Employers may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right provided by the new law. Employees may use accrued vacation pay, paid sick time, other accrued paid time off, or other paid or unpaid time off negotiated with the employer, during the parental leave. Public employers who receive state funds are prohibited from discouraging or deterring public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization (SB 285). Under Government Code section 16645.6, public employers who receive state funds are prohibited from using those funds to deter union organization. SB 285 goes a step further prohibiting public employers from discouraging or deterring public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. Notably, this statute applies to all public employers regardless of the source of funds, including employers subject to the MMBA, Dills Act, EERA, HEERA, Trial Court Act, Court Interpreter Act, TEERA, and Section 12302.25 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The Public Employment Relations Board has jurisdiction over any violations. Since the statute does not define what constitutes to discourage or to deter, public employers must be cautious in their interactions with union members and the information they transmit about union membership. Significantly, SB 285 likely attempts to protect labor unions if the Supreme Court holds that agency fees cannot be imposed on public sector employees in Janus v. AFSCME. Amendment to the Military Veterans Code expands protections for military veterans by prohibiting discrimination in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment; violations of the law can result in criminal and civil penalties, and attorneys fees (AB 1710 and SB 266). AB 1710 and SB 266 amends section 394 of the Military Veterans Code. Existing law prohibits discrimination against service members. These bills expand the scope of the protection for military personnel by prohibiting discrimination in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The law covers discrimination by individuals and public and private sector employers. Violations of the law result in criminal and civil penalties, including actual damages and reasonable attorneys fees. Given these remedies, employers need to ensure that their recruiters and supervisors are trained on service member anti-discrimination laws. Health care facilities face increased penalties for whistleblower retaliation/discrimination (AB 1102). Existing law (Labor Code section 1278.5) prohibits a health facility from discriminating or retaliating against a patient, employee, medical staff, or any health care worker because that person filed a grievance, complaint, report with the facility, or participated in an investigation or administrative proceeding related to the quality of care, services, or conditions at the facility. A violation of the statute results in a civil penalty of up to $25,000 dollars. Under AB 1102, a person who willfully violates section 1278.5 is also guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $75,000 . Californias recognition of nonbinary as a gender could result in new employer requirements (SB 179). Through SB 179, California now recognizes three genders female, male, and nonbinary. This legislation allows individuals to update their gender on a birth certificate, a drivers license (beginning January 1, 2019), and obtain a court judgment (beginning September 1, 2018) without undergoing clinical treatment. Instead, the individual has to attest, under penalty of perjury, that the request for a change in gender is to confirm the persons legal gender to the persons gender identity and not for fraudulent purposes. While the impact of this legislation is unclear it may impose new requirements on employers and educational institutions to provide additional restroom and locker room facilities. Anti-harassment training requirements expanded to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation (SB 396). FEHA currently requires employers with fifty or more employees to provide at least two hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to all supervisory employees within six months of an individuals assumption of supervisory duties and once every two years thereafter. SB 396 requires covered employers to include training on harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. The training must include practical examples and the trainer must have pertinent knowledge and expertise. SB 396 also requires employers to display DFEHs poster on transgender rights in the workplace. Given that sexual harassment allegations have permeated every industry and have dominated the news cycle employers must be vigilant in providing anti-harassment training, investigating complaints, and taking prompt corrective action. Employers should review their anti-harassment/anti-discrimination trainings and policies to ensure compliance with SB 396. The Equal Pay Act now applies to both public and private sector employers (AB 46). Existing law prohibits employers from paying workers of one sex/race more than the workers of the opposite sex/race for substantially similar work, unless the employer can show that any pay gap is justified. AB 46 amends Labor Code section 1197.5 by extending the definition of employer. The Equal Pay Act will now apply to both public and private sector employers. That said, employees still cannot sue public sector employers for penalties under Labor Code section 1199.5. Emeryville requires employers to offer additional work hours to current qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees or using contractors (Emeryville Fair Workweek Ordinance). Emeryville has enacted its Fair Workweek Ordinance which became effective on July 1, 2017. Under the Ordinance, employers must offer additional work hours to current qualified part-time employees (those with fewer than thirty-five hours of work in a calendar week) in writing before hiring new employees or using contractors or staffing agencies. In addition to being qualified to do the work, covered employees are those who perform at least 2 hours of work within the geographic boundaries of the city in a week; and qualify as an employee entitled to minimum wage under the Labor Code. Also, employers must provide new employees with good-faith written estimates of their work hours and schedules. Employers must provide employees with at least two weeks notice of their actual schedules; notify employees of schedule changes and allow employees to decline schedule changes made without two weeks notice; pay employees a premium for schedule changes made with less than two weeks notice; ensure that employees have at least eleven hours off between shifts; and allow employees to request flexible work arrangements without retaliation. San Jose requires employers to offer additional work hours to existing qualified employees before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, and use a transparent and nondiscriminatory process to distribute work hours among existing employees (San Jose Opportunity to Work Ordinance). San Jose has enacted its Opportunity to Work Ordinance which became effective on March 13, 2017. Under the Ordinance, employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who (in the employers good faith and reasonable judgment) have the skills and experience to perform the work before hiring additional employees, subcontractors, temporary services or staffing agencies, and use a transparent and nondiscriminatory process to distribute work hours among existing employees. In addition to being qualified to do the work, covered employees are those who, in a calendar week, perform at least two hours of work for the employer; and who qualify as an employee entitled to the California minimum wage, or is a participant in a Welfare-to-Work Program. A Welfare-to Work Program means the CalWORKS Program, County Adult Assistance Program (CAAP) which includes the Personal Assisted Employment Services (PAES) Program, General Assistance Program and any successor programs that are substantially similar. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any of the issues presented in this Update. JMBMs Labor and Employment attorneys counsel businesses and management on workplace issues, helping to establish policies that address problems and reduce job-related lawsuits. We act quickly to resolve claims and aggressively defend our clients in all federal and state courts, before the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and other federal, state and local agencies, as well as in private arbitration forums. We represent employers in collective bargaining negotiations and arbitration. This Update is provided to our clients, business associates and friends for informational purposes only. The Update included only brief descriptions of the laws at issue. Legal advice should be based on your specific situation and provided by a qualified attorney. This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any issues or development that affect your hotel interests. We would like to see if our experience might help you create value or avoid unnecessary pitfalls. Whos your hotel lawyer? Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest all industry news and trends. Subscribe 2022 Hospitality Trends 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 This School Dropout Now Owns Four Houses; Know Her Secret Here British Brexit Secretary David Davis walked back from comments he made about last week's Brexit deal where he reduced the agreement to a "statement of intent" as opposed to anything binding. Regardless of his subsequent rollback, Mr Davis caused further unnecessary damage to the Brexit process, and deepened concerns that the UK is an unreliable partner. Senior members of the European Parliament, including chief Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, said his remarks were "unacceptable" and said Mr Davis had "scored an own goal". Despite the well-choreographed consensus between Brussels, London and Dublin on at least the Irish piece of the puzzle, EU Council President Donald Tusk is correct in saying progress on Brexit so far has been "moderate". In his pre-council meeting letter to all heads of state and government this week, Mr Tusk said the conclusion of the first phase of negotiations represents "moderate progress". "We only have 10 months left to determine the transition period and our future relations with the UK. This will be a furious race against time," he wrote. Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said he has received assurances from EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier that Irish concerns will remain a priority for the EU taskforce. While the Irish Government no longer has the same decision-making power as it did in the first phase of talks, a specific heading relating to the complexities of the Irish Border will be carried in to phase two of the negotiations. There is a "determination that what was agreed [last Friday] will be properly protected" and there will be "no back-sliding", added Mr Coveney in Brussels. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a revolt from within her party. She has been told that some Tory rebels may have enough numbers to vote on whether the UK parliament should have a say on a final Brexit deal. Essentially they could delay the Brexit process even more. Mrs May has said that when it comes to Brexit it is a "take it or leave it scenario" in March 2019. Disgruntled MPs, led by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, are demanding the opportunity to exercise their duties in the event the divorce between Britain and the EU is not in the UK's best interests. It is unsurprising that MPs would demand a say in a matter that is not only deeply consequential, but which has been so clearly mismanaged since it was reached through a questionably run referendum 18 months ago. The MPs are objecting to the use of 'Clause 9' or so-called 'Henry VIII powers' which are contained in the EU withdrawal bill and that gives ministers power to enact structurally fundamental legislation without going through parliament. There has been considerable disquiet and criticism from those on the Remain side that the UK parliament has been side-lined and reduced throughout the Brexit process, so in some ways it is a relief to see the parliament recalibrate its valuable position. Headlines like "crush the saboteurs" and "the Brexit mutineers" have been carried in some UK newspapers. The 'Daily Mail' and the 'Daily Telegraph' regularly berate concerned members of the establishment or parliament seeking to defend Britain's parliamentary democracy. It is seen as treasonous for elected lawmakers to question the discourse and direction of the Brexit process, even though it is glaringly obvious that it has not been going in a way that best supports Britain's future. What's more, the rallying cry of Brexiteers referred to the return of "sovereignty" to British systems. What is sovereignty if parliamentarians are being shut out from the process? Worrying for Mrs May is the fact that the rebel Tories appear to have the whipped alliance of the Labour Party. Matthew Pennycook, a member of Labour's Brexit team, urged Tories "not to back down". Small exporting firms may not survive Brexit - even if tariffs are not introduced - without a "relentless" focus on competitiveness, a watchdog has warned. The National Competitiveness Council said there is a "serious and imminent" danger posed by Brexit, and that the impact of Brexit will be most felt by firms that are embedded in the domestic economy. Council chairman Professor Peter Clinch said that while we hope for a sensible transition period, we must prepare for the worst. "Certain sectors are particularly under threat such as agri-food and traditional manufacturing," Mr Clinch wrote in the report. "However, small firms, in many sectors, rely on the UK as a destination market for their produce but also as a source market for their raw materials or intermediate products. We have already seen a structural shift in exchange rates due to Brexit, which has put Irish exporters to the UK under considerable pressure. "Without a relentless focus on competitiveness, many of these firms may not survive, even without the likely introduction of tariffs." It comes as the Central Bank warned that Brexit will continue to pose a major risk to the Irish economy despite the deal struck last week. In the absence of a final trade deal, sectors such as agri-food and manufacturing remain vulnerable, the bank said. At the publication of its latest assessment of the risks facing the economy, the regulator said that while last week's deal is important, there's a long way to go. But deputy governor Sharon Donnery said the probability of a more favourable outcome had increased. "While it's welcome, I think what we're saying is there is still uncertainty ahead and we need to think about that," Ms Donnery said. "Until everything is worked out and agreed we don't really know what the future trade relationship will be." Read more: EU says UK planes will lose all rights to airspace without deal Ms Donnery also warned that in the absence of a final trade deal, disruption to supply chains is also a possibility, with many firms currently using the UK as a land bridge for transporting goods here. "Any change to transport routes or increased border waiting times might mean a knock-on increase in prices for Irish shoppers," she added. "Meanwhile, high levels of indebtedness in many Irish firms may deter investment and leave them vulnerable to any economic downturn or unable to raise the finance required to alter business models post-Brexit." The bank said that one of the challenges is that people still have to plan during this period. The bank also defended itself in the wake of a letter accusing it of adopting an "unhelpful attitude" when it comes to processing Brexit-driven inward investment and relocation queries and of "unclear processes" that often result in "lengthy delays" for financial services firms considering relocating or expanding their businesses in Ireland. The stinging criticisms are contained in a letter written by Financial Services and Insurance Minister Michael D'Arcy and seen by the Irish Independent. Ms Donnery said that if people have criticisms of the bank, then it will listen and take them on board if they are valid. "But I don't think that can be allowed to get in the way of us as a regulator being able to have a robust discussion with firms either coming here or are here already about our supervisory engagement," she said. Meanwhile, the ESRI said last week's deal suggests a softer Brexit may be on the cards. Speaking from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the EU-Mercosur trade discussions are on hold until the New Year without agreement, IFA President Joe Healy said the serious threat from a bad deal on beef and poultry has not gone away. He said the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan must intensify the pressure against a Mercosur deal which will seriously damage the EU and Irish beef sector. Following a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Celia Malmstrom at the talks, Joe Healy said the Commissioner must be reined in and not allowed to sacrifice beef to secure an overall deal. He said farmers fear that the Trade Commissioner is willing to give more concessions than are necessary to the Brazilians. The IFA President said the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be in Brussels later this week and he must make it crystal clear to his European colleagues that Ireland will not agree to a damaging Mercosur deal for the beef sector. Beef is more important to Ireland than any other member state. The Taoiseach and Commissioner Hogan cannot agree to a Mercosur deal involving a major increase in substandard beef imports from Brazil at the same time as we face into the serious challenges of Brexit. Together with the IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods and European Director Liam MacHale, Joe Healy has been in Buenos Aires all week, working on the Mercosur trade talks. The negotiations were taking place in parallel with the 11th WTO Ministerial meeting. The IFA President said an EU deal on beef with Brazil in the Mercosur negotiations would be toxic. He called on Commissioner Malmstrom to come clean and reject the environmental destruction, failures on food safety and animal welfare, and slave labour associated with Brazilian beef. Joe Healy said Irish and European beef farmers are very angry at the way they are being sacrificed in Mercosur and there is bad blood over the current offer of an additional 70,000t TRQ offered by the EU. Last year, an EU JRC (Joint Research Centre) report showed how vulnerable the European beef sector is to trade deals, particularly the suckler sectors in France, Spain and Ireland. The analysis showed that increased imports from Mercosur would hit EU beef prices by up to 16%, costing 5bn annually. Due to our export dependence, the impact on Ireland would be greater, potentially costing between 500m-750m. In addition, Brexit has placed a major doubt over the UK market for 260,000t of Irish beef. With Brexit, the EU beef market would be 116pc self-sufficient. To negotiate a trade deal with Mercosur at this time would be reckless and makes no sense whatsoever, he said. Joe Healy said Irish and European farmers are required to meet the highest food safety and environmental standards in the world. It is a total contradiction of European policy that Commissioner Malmstrom is now willing to cut a deal for more beef imports from Brazil and sacrifice sustainable production in Europe. He said Irish beef production is four times more carbon efficient than Brazil where growth is driven on the back of destruction of the rainforests. In addition, the IFA President said the Weak Flesh corruption scandal in Brazil in March 2017 proved once again the failure of Brazil to meet European standards. He said the EU Commission FVO report in May 2017 clearly stated the Brazilian Competent Authority is not in a position to guarantee that the relevant export requirements are met. An alleged serial burglar who vanished after being let out of prison for a niece's funeral seven years ago decided to stay with his "devastated" family, the High Court heard this week. Edward McDonagh, 44, failed to return to custody following temporary compassionate release while charged with a two-day crime spree in July 2010. He was only returned to Northern Ireland last week on a European Arrest Warrant after serving a separate sentence in the Irish Republic. McDonagh, of Townlui Manor in Drogheda, Co Louth, denies 29 charges connected to a spate of offences across parts of Armagh and Tyrone. They include six counts each of burglary and theft, interference with vehicles, handling stolen goods, and nine charges of criminal damage. Prosecutors said the alleged offences included breaking into a farm shed with a sledgehammer, and raiding other properties after ramming through electric gates. While previously remanded in custody on those charges, McDonagh was granted day-release from prison for his niece's funeral in August 2010. But the court heard he never returned - leading to the seizure of a 6,500 cash surety put up by a relative. Opposing his latest application for full bail, Crown lawyer Natalie Pinkerton claimed he could abscond again. "He simply left the jurisdiction and was unable to be located for a considerable period of time," she said. Richard McConkey, defending, accepted McDonagh had previously "let the court down". But the barrister argued that the sudden death of his client's niece and other personal circumstances should be taken into account. "He felt that because the family were so devastated by the loss he would remain there," Mr McConkey submitted. "He was also the victim of a serious assault in which he lost an eye in October 2010, perhaps that explains why he didn't come back." The court was told McDonagh maintains his innocence and intends to contest the charges against him. Refusing bail, however, Mr Justice Maguire said the application was "coloured irredeemably" by his behaviour in 2010. The judge added: "Having grossly abused the facility of bail before, he's not a fit person for granting bail." Bank of Ireland directors Tom Considine and Pat Butler will retire from the board with effect from 31 December 2017, the bank has announced. Both men are non-executive directors. Mr Considine is a former Secretary General of the Department of Finance. He was appointed as a so-called public interest director of Bank of Ireland in 2009 in the wake of its bailout by the State. The public interest directors appointed by Ministers for Finance after the crash as a condition of bank bailouts included four former cabinet ministers: Dick Spring, Ray McSharry, Joe Walsh and Alan Dukes, as well as former and retired civil servants. The bulk of the original appointees across all the banks have now moved on. Pat Butler, who is also standing down, is an expert in financial restructuring and joined the board in 2011. Bank of Ireland chairman Archie Kane thanked both for their service to the bank. "On behalf of the board, I wish to thank Tom and Pat or their diligence and commitment as board members during a period which has seen Bank of Ireland transformed from an organisation in difficulty to one which has returned to profit and which is well-positioned to deliver on its strategic objectives to customers and shareholders," he said. Meanwhile, AIB's strong share price and operating performance since its share sale in June means the Government may look to pursue a further stake sale in 2018, analysts at Davy said yesterday. Market conditions are "favourable" and investors remain engaged on the AIB story," Davy analysts said. Dunnes is one of the largest employers in Ireland. Stock image The Dunnes Stores retail empire last year received a 250m (284m) dividend from its main Northern Ireland-based company. The secretive family-owned business recently recaptured the top spot amongst the retail giants operating here and new accounts filed by the business's main Northern Ireland and UK arm, Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd show that last year it paid out 250m in dividends to connected firms in the group. The dividend payout is a major departure from recent years where the company paid out much smaller dividend payouts of 310,000 in 2015 and 760,000 in 2014. Confirmation of the dividend also follows a shake-up at board level at Dunnes this year where daughter of driving force in the group, Margaret Heffernan, Dr Anne Heffernan and her cousin, Sharon McMahon were appointed as directors to Dunnes companies. Dr Heffernan and Ms McMahon join Margaret Heffernan and Frank Dunne on the board of Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd and confirming her increased influence within the Dunnes group, Dr Heffernan signed off on the 2016 accounts. The accounts show the company recorded a pre-tax loss of 5.1m last year, though the main factor behind the loss was the firm writing down the value of assets by 7.5m. It recorded the loss after revenues declined by 21.7pc - going from 127.56m to 99.85m. However, the drop in revenues can be largely attributed to the accounts covering 47.5 weeks to December 22 2016 compared to the prior 52-week period and the period not covering two traditionally very busy pre-Christmas Day days and the period covering New Years. The Newry-registered firm's revenues are generated in the UK and Northern Ireland with Dunnes Stores operating 23 outlets broken down between 17 in Northern Ireland, and six in England and Scotland. The accounts offer the only insight into the finances of the family-owned business as Dunnes Stores has unlimited status in the Republic and is not required to file annual accounts to the Companies Office. Numbers employed by the company last year reduced from 1,474 to 1,289 and staff costs declined from 18.47m to 15.2m. Key management personnel costs were paid 463,000. As a result of the company paying out the 250m dividend and the loss last year, the firm's accumulated profits reduced from 333.48m to 75.7m while the company's cash pile also reduced going from 136m to 40m. Dunnes is one of the largest employers here, operating 114 stores recording estimated revenues of 3.5bn in 2016 across the entire group, employing 14,000. MICHAEL Fingleton, the former head of the collapsed Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), branded a Central Banks inquiry in to regulatory breaches at the organisation as a "cynical exercise" in "scapegoating". He made the criticisms in a lengthy opening speech to the inquirys three-member panel that ran for close to two-and-a-half hours yesterday. The long-time building society chiefs opening statement ranged from fiery denunciations of the Central Banks process, which he characterised as "unfair" and "oppressive", to comparisons with rival lending organisations, like AIB and EBS, where he claimed the lending practices were far more excessive than at INBS. He also blamed previous Governments for successive U-turns on legislation that would have enabled the society to be sold to international buyers, claiming that the US-based GE Capital and Germanys Hypo Real Estate Bank had entered into advanced negotiations to buy it. At times Mr Fingleton, who turns 80 in January, appeared fatigued. Ms Marian Shanley, who is chairing the inquiry the first such investigation by the Central Bank repeatedly intervened at one stage in the afternoon, as Mr Fingleton struggled to cite direct quotations from documents. The inquirys opening module is centred on the alleged regulatory breaches of the societys credit committee. Mr Fingleton and four previous directors of INBS; John Purcell, the former finance director; Tom McMenamin, the former head of commercial lending; Michael Walsh, the former chairman; and Gary McCollum, who oversaw the organisations UK lending arm, face seven separate allegations of regulatory breaches and are each liable for potential fines of up to 500,000. But Mr Fingleton claimed the Central Bank had "artificially trumped" up a case and characterised it as an "abuse of power". He said the Central Bank was fully aware of the societys lending practices and those of the wider sector but only intensified its involvement when the market began to turn in 2008. By that stage he insisted, the society had already taken action to "build up liquidity" and reduce its balance sheet exposures by 1bn. INBS was wound up in 2011 at a cost of 5.4bn to the taxpayer. Mr Fingleton stressed that despite his deteriorating health he is blind in one eye and told the inquiry he may lose sight in the other very soon he would continue to defend himself as best as I can against these wholly contrived and unjust allegations. Much of his focus yesterday was on what he argued were collective oversights at the Department of Finance, the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank. The authorities failures ultimately led to the string of banking collapses in 2009 and 2010, he said. Addressing allegations of regulatory breaches of INBS credit committee, Mr Fingleton insisted he was not a member of the committed until December 2007. That was contradicted by the Societys former finance director, John Stanley Purcell, who delivered a comparatively brief opening speech. India's decision to ban condom ads on daytime television drew widespread ridicule on Wednesday as a retrograde step that threatened progress on sexual and reproductive health. India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday ordered television channels not to air condom adverts between 6 a.m and 10 p.m. as they could be "indecent" and "inappropriate" for children. The ban in the world's second most populous nation has triggered widespread criticism from health experts and campaigners who are working to boost family planning and curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. "If advertisements are a way to create the demand for safe sex and family planning, then we need to ensure that it is not stifled by restrictions," Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, said in a statement. "The advisory by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is poised to undo decades of progress on sexual and reproductive health." Muttreja instead called for a sensitive approach, suggesting adverts - like films - be given certifications based on their content and allocated suitable time slots for broadcast. India has more than 1.3 billion people, and is set to overtake China as the most populated country in the world by 2024, says the United Nations. A study published in the Lancet Global Health journal on Tuesday found half of India's more than 48 million pregnancies in 2015 were unintended, and a third resulted in abortions. Although less than 6pc of Indian men use condoms, health experts say condoms are one of the most effective contraceptives - helping families to space children, as well as protecting against sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. "The ban is regressive," said Koninika Roy from the Humsafar Trust, a charity that works on HIV/AIDS and with the LGBT community. "People are having sex at a much younger age and these ads could be telling them about safe sex. Condom ads are not about titillation, they are not about sex but about safe sex." News of the ban sent social media users on microblogging site Twitter into a frenzy, with many deploying humour to voice their disapproval. "No condom ad on TV from 6am to 10pm because kids watch TV at that time," tweeted comic and writer Atul Khatri from the handle @one_by_two. "If your kid watches so much TV maybe you needed that condom in the 1st place." The Dublin-based software company Qualtrics has announced a partnership with the Irish cancer research charity, Breakthrough Cancer Research (Breakthrough) in a bid to invest 500,000 in a cure for the hardest to treat cancers. The aim of the partnership is to hire a research team to spearhead Breakthroughs tumour immunology programme. Members of the public are being asked to donate 5 to the 5 For The Fight campaign. The first 100,000 raised will be matched by Qualtrics. Realistically, anything that research delivers today is probably, by the time it goes through trials, going to be too late for me, said Dermot Costello, managing director of Qualtrics Ireland, who has been diagnosed with cancer. "Maybe one day, because somebody put a fiver or a tenner in and a researcher was able to be hired or get the equipment they needed to be successful in their research, may they will find that cure or theyll find something that radically changes how we treat cancer. I care about it because of how it affects everyone else. Ive been on the journey. I know how tough it is and I dont want to see other families have to go on that journey. The three year research programme funded by Qualtrics and Breakthrough can be helped by donating to 5forthefight.everydayhero.do. The research programme will look to harness the immune system to eradicate cancer, with a particular focus on cancers with typically poor prognoses. The partnership with Breakthrough is part of Qualtrics global 5 For The Fight campaign which aims to raise $50M for cancer research and treatment. Qualtrics European effort will be led from its EMEA HQ in Dublin and the company has committed to matching the first 100,000 raised. The worst day for a patient and their family isn't the day they are diagnosed with cancer, says Orla Dolan, CEO of Breakthrough. It is the day when they are told theres nothing left to try; that the treatments available wont work. Thats the day we want to take away. While cancer survival rates have increased and treatments have improved for many types of cancer,this is not the case for all . Unfortunately, there are some cancers such as pancreatic and ovarian which we havent seen any improvement in survival rates for over 20 years. We must tread carefully here. Such is the level of hype and anticipation that surrounds this, the eighth proper Star Wars film, that the slightest of spoilers could ruin everyones Christmas buzz. And I wont be responsible for ruining anyones Christmas buzz. (*Ed's note: There is, however, a spoiler for The Force Awakens, for anyone who still hasn't seen it...) Much is at stake 2015s The Force Awakens changed everything. It was, of course, the Star Wars bash that brought the old band back together (Mark Hamills Luke, Carrie Fishers Leia, Harrison Fords Han), whilst simultaneously introducing audiences to a new band of rag-tag space warriors (Daisy Ridleys Rey, John Boyegas Finn, Oscar Isaacs Poe). The Force Awakens was the remastered greatest hits of Star Wars movies, with a few new tracks added on. With JJ Abrams steering the ship, it worked. Rather spectacularly, I might add. It made our Christmas. It grossed more than $2bn (1.7bn) at the box-office. It also killed off Han Solo. That, right there, is a problem. That, right there, is the thorn in the side of The Last Jedi, a reasonably solid Star Wars flick that is almost worth the hype. Almost. Expand Close Daisy Ridley in The Last Jedi (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daisy Ridley in The Last Jedi (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) The story is simple so simple, in fact, that Im a tad baffled as to how writer and director Rian Johnson (The Brothers Bloom, Looper), managed to get a 152-minute feature out of it. The folks in the First Order (theyre the bad guys) have gone completely bananas. Theyre everywhere. They wont stop until theyve taken control of and/or destroyed the entire galaxy (their mission statement is unclear, Im afraid). The lads in charge of spreading the misery are Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), his right-hand men, General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Meanwhile, the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is getting weaker by the minute. Poor Finn just woke up (he had a heavy first film), while Poe is busy blowing things up. Basically, the Resistance does battle with the First Order, and a lengthy chase through the galaxy ensues. Meanwhile, Rey has gone in search of Luke Skywalker, whom she has found on Skellig Michael (an Irish corner of the planet Ahch-To, in case you were wondering). Expand Close John Boyega as Finn (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John Boyega as Finn (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) Its up to our boy, Luke, to teach Rey who is already showing signs of great power the ways of the Force. Everything will, of course, come together for a noisy third act and there are plenty of sub-plots to keep us busy until then. Plenty of new characters, too (and maybe a couple of old favourites). There will be madness. There might be a lightsaber duel, or two. So how does it all pan out? Rather well, actually. But there are problems. Read More The Last Jedi is the party that never wants to end. It keeps going and going and going until there is no corner of the house left to decorate. It pushes all the buttons. It is constantly in competition with itself (it comes with two huge ending sequences). It is also baggy in places, and thats not something Id expected. Video of the Day Johnson is a fine writer, and a solid director. The Last Jedi is funny, exciting and pretty spectacular to look at. But its no Abrams joint. It lacks the joyful, emotional punch of its predecessor, and the gigantic, Han-Solo-shaped hole doesnt help (you really do miss the Ford fella). Ridley excels as Rey, a new warrior for a new generation. Boyega continues to have a blast with Finn, and yes, we finally got what we asked for: we finally got more Oscar Isaac (Poe is, like, the best). Read More Hamill is grand as Skywalker, a role that essentially requires him to say cool things and to look intense while saying them. Again, the late, great Carrie Fisher, adds some heavyweight nostalgia as Leia and thats fine, but for a film in which one of its most iconic stars makes what is, alas, her final Star Wars appearance, it isnt nearly as moving as wed hoped. It isnt nearly as emotional a Star Wars flick as wed wanted. It is far, far too long. Expand Close Daisy Ridley in The Last Jedi (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daisy Ridley in The Last Jedi (Lucasfilm/Disney/PA) It sounds as though Im flip-flopping, right? Its because I am. Its because thats the way The Last Jedi works. One minute, Poe is killing it in an X-wing; the next, Evil Gleeson is hamming it up as General Panto Villain Hux, and were wasting time in an alien casino (dont ask). Yes, Skellig Michael looks terrific, those Porg jokes are adorable, and John Williams wondrousscore continues to astound. But the last film was better simple as. The force is still strong with this one. It just takes the occasional wobble. Peter Kay has cancelled his Peter Kay Live Arena Tour and all other work commitments due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. The comedian, actor, author, director and producer was due to embark on his first live show in eight years in 2019 with six dates at Dublin's 3Arena and six more at Belfast's SSE Arena. In Ireland this includes his January 13,14,15,18,19,20 2019 dates at the SSE Arena Belfast and February 1,2,3,6,7,8 2019 at the 3Arena Dublin. In a statement he said: Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I deeply regret I am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects. This unfortunately includes my upcoming stand-up tour, Dance For Life shows and any outstanding live work commitments. My sincerest apologies. This decision has not been taken lightly and Im sure youll understand my family must always come first. Ive always endeavoured to project my familys privacy from the media. I hope that the media and the public will continue to respect our privacy at this time. Once again, Im very sorry. The refund policy for Irish ticket holders is as follows: For Ticketmaster customers who purchased online or by telephone using debit or credit card no action is required as your account will automatically be refunded within the next few days. For customers who purchased in person from a Ticketmaster agent outlet or venue full refunds available from your point of purchase from tomorrow 10AM Thursday 14th December 2017. Anyone who had planned to attend the charitable event Dance for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK may, if they wish, still donate to Cancer Research UK by visiting www.cancerresearchuk.org The star's last tour in 2010, which still ranks with the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest selling comedy tour of all time, played to over 1.2 million people. Of his decision to return to stand-up he recently said, "I really miss it. I know how lucky I am to be making television series and have really loved these past few years working on Car Share but I miss doing stand-up. As terrifying as it is, when it works there's nothing more fun and exciting. Video of the Day "Plus, a lot has happened in the last eight years, with Trump, Twitter and my Nan getting her front bush trimmed at the age of 96. I can't wait to get back up on stage." Saoirse Ronan at a VIP screening of Lady Bird hosted by Universal Pictures and Image Magazine at the Light House Cinema, Dublin Saoirse Ronan may be the toast of Hollywood right now, having secured her third Golden Globe nomination for her leading role in Lady Bird, but she's keen to return to her roots with a part in an Irish play for her next project in 2018. The 23-year-old received rave reviews for her work in The Crucible, which played on Broadway in 2016, and says she wants to dip her toes back into the theatrical world. "I love films but I'd like to do more stage," she said. "I think I'd like to do a new Irish play and I've worked before with director John Crowley [on Brooklyn] and we said we'd work together again. "But it's a big commitment and the last one was such a long haul that it would have to be the right thing." Ronan is hotly tipped for awards season glory for her part playing an angst-ridden teenager in Lady Bird. Set in California's Sacramento in 2002, it's already generating lots of Oscar buzz amid talk of a possible third nomination for the talented star, whose character attends a Catholic high school. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, it's due for release in Ireland in February next year. Ronan has revealed that what actually drew her to the Golden Globe-nominated film is that it portrays Catholicism in a more flattering light than some other movies. "What's nice about it is that is shows Catholicism in a positive light," she said. "I went to a Catholic school and had a lovely experience. Greta did as well. "She's not Catholic but she went to a Catholic school and had relationships with incredible teachers that taught her so much.'' She also paid tribute to the talents of Tracy Letts, who plays her father in the film. Video of the Day The actress said the wonderful thing about his acting is that he was happy to take a back-seat to the two female protagonists in the movie. "I love Tracy so much. He plays that role so well because I've had that experience before where the film was mainly focused on a female relationship and the supporting male can't wrap their head around the fact that they're not the lead," she said. "I remember being in something and it was going to end with me and this other actress and the actor was like, 'Maybe we should come back to my character at the end of the film'. "And it was like, 'No, you cheated on the mother and you left 40 minutes before the film finished'. "So to have someone like Tracy who was more than willing to just support us was great. "In the movie, he's like a mediator between the two of them. He's the one that loves both of them so much." Speaking at a VIP screening of Lady Bird at the Light House cinema, Saoirse said that she's looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home with her family. Saoirse, who bought a house in Wicklow recently, said she can't wait to "not get out of my pyjamas and eat some turkey", as she enjoys some well-deserved time off. Also at the VIP screening was her good pal Hozier, who has also splashed out on a new house in Wicklow as he dipped his toes into the property market after a spectacular few years of success. A bookshop has begun to sell tea towels with a forthright anti-DUP slogan. Housmans has been in the business for more than 70 years. It claims to stock the largest range of radical newsletters, newspapers and magazines in Britain. The independent outlet specialise in "books, zines and periodicals of radical interest and progressive politics". Housmans recently announced on Twitter that it was now stocking tea towels with the message: 'F*** the DUP'. When contacted, the bookshop declined to comment on the issue. Last year Housmans was named the best in London at the British Book Industry Awards and has hosted a series of events, where speakers have included former London mayor Ken Livingstone. The DUP responded saying: "Such a product is clearly offensive and we are concerned about the spread of such intolerance." The controversial slogan first appeared on a placard during the London Pride parade in July of this year. It was draped below balloons, which lifted the banner above the crowd where it was visible to many people. Photos of the slogan were quickly and widely distributed on social media. A similar banner was confiscated during Belfast's Pride parade in August. DUP Assembly Member Jim Wells reported the matter to police. Mr Wells said at the time: "I told the police that I regarded the placard as a hate crime and grossly offensive. It was also in my view totally against the legislation controlling parades in Northern Ireland." In October the PSNI said a file will be submitted to the Public Prosecution Service over the banner. The DUP has become a target for the LGBT community after the party blocked a majority vote in Stormont to legalise same-sex marriage using the petition of concern. The veto mechanism was originally designed to protect minorities. A teenager has been charged with possession of a handgun and ammunition after he was arrested following a shooting incident in north Dublin in which a garda was injured. Shane Fay (18) appeared in Dublin District Court this afternoon on firearms charges following a search at a house in Ballymun. He was arrested by detectives investigating an incident in which a garda and a young man suffered gunshot wounds during an exchange of gunfire last week. Judge Michael Walsh refused him bail and remanded him in custody until next Tuesday. Mr Fay, with an address at Belclare Park, Ballymun, is charged with possession of a 0.38mm Davis Industries semi automatic pistol and four rounds of ammunition. The two offences are alleged to have happened at Barnwell Drive, Ballymun on December 7 last. Garda Stephen Enright said he arrested the defendant at Ballymun Station for the purpose of charge at 12.52pm today. He made no reply to the charges after caution and was handed copies of the charges sheets. Garda Enright said Mr Fay had been detained under Section 50 of the Offences Against the State Act after he was arrested at 10.39am on December 8 at Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown. He was interviewed a number of times, Garda Enright said. The garda objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the allegations. He said the incident arose from a planned search operation that was being conducted by gardai on the property. It was alleged the accused had in his possession a semi automatic pistol and four rounds of ammunition. Applying for bail, defence solicitor Simon Fleming said Mr Fay could live at his parents address at Belclare Park. Both parents were profoundly disabled and the accused was involved in their care on a daily basis, Mr Fleming said. He had a number of siblings living in the jurisdiction. Mr Fay was on social welfare and his parents were in receipt of disability allowance. In the course of his detention, he denied the allegations that he was in possession of the firearm and ammunition. Mr Fleming said the accused would comply with any bail conditions the court deemed appropriate. He would sign on at Ballymun Garda Station and provide a contact phone number. The accused had spent his childhood in foster care and then in after-care. His parents wouldnt have large sums of cash available if bail were granted, Mr Fleming said. He believed the gardas concerns could be dealt with by strict conditions. Judge Walsh refused bail and remanded the accused in custody, to appear in Cloverhill District Court on December 19, for the directions of the DPP to be made available. Mr Fay, wearing a blue hooded top and navy tracksuit bottoms did not speak during the bail hearing. A Mulhuddart man who admitted stabbing a father-of-one three times has been sentenced to eight years with one suspended at the Central Criminal Court for his manslaughter. Andrew Gibney (25), with an address at Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Gerard Burnett (28) by a jury last month. They had deliberated for seven hours and six minutes over three days. He had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Burnett at Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 on August 21, 2012. Sentencing Gibney today, Mr Justice Paul Butler said he accepted the jurys verdict in the case and the finding that Gibney did not intend to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Burnett. Gibney told gardai that he stabbed Gerard Burnett in the side three times with a knife. The accused went to a garda station of his own free will a week after the killing and told officers: I was involved in the incident, the chap is dead now and I need to give him peace. Chief State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, said that the deceased suffered 30 knife injuries, the majority being stab wounds. She testified that the fatal injuries were six stab wounds on the right side of Mr Burnetts chest, all of which had penetrated deeply, causing internal injuries to his right lung, heart and liver. The prosecutions case was that Gibney was part of a joint enterprise to murder Mr Burnett and that he was one of five men who went to the deceaseds house on the night and attacked him with knives. The defence argued that if the evidence pointed to a reasonable possibility that Gibney intended to cause some harm to Mr Burnett short of serious harm, the appropriate verdict was manslaughter. Outlining the facts of the case today, Mr Justice Butler said this was a very tragic case for the deceased and his family. The judge said Mr Burnett was subjected to an entirely unprovoked attack by a group of people who were probably armed with three knives. One of that group was the accused who admitted stabbing Mr Burnett three times, he said. He said he respected the jurys verdict in the case which was manslaughter. I accept the finding that he did not intend to kill or cause serious injury, he added. Read More The judge said the technical evidence established that the three stab wounds inflicted by Gibney were not fatal, were shallower than the other stab wounds and they were to Mr Burnetts side. He said while Gibneys remorse does not help to bring Mr Burnett back, it is a very important factor. The judge said the accuseds remorse was entirely credible because of his attitude in going to gardai, admitting all of the facts and not seeking bail. Mr Justice Butler said that although a verdict of not guilty was open to the jury, counsel made it clear to them that he was not pushing that aspect of the case and this was on his clients instructions. He said the court considered the offence to be at the higher end of manslaughter because of the viciousness of the case and the joint enterprise. The court heard that Gibney has been in custody since August 2012 and he was aware of the practical implications of this but remission was not a matter for the court. He said he wanted to praise Mr Gibneys father who was clearly instrumental in helping his son go to gardai. Read More Passing sentence today, Mr Justice Butler said he believed the appropriate sentence to be eight years but it was a suitable case in which to suspend part of the sentence based on the progress Gibney has made while in custody and the fact he has no previous convictions. Mr Justice Butler then sentenced Gibney to eight years in prison with one year suspended and backdated it to when he went in to custody on August 28, 2012. He asked that Gibney enter a bond of 100 before the prison Governor to be of good behaviour. The five-day trial heard that Gibney told gardai in interviews that Mr Burnett had stabbed him in the shoulder with a screwdriver four years previously but the two had made amends. The judge said in his charge to the jury that the principle of joint enterprise was central to the case. He said where two or more persons embark on a joint enterprise, all parties to that agreement are criminally liable. But where one party goes beyond what has been tacitly agreed, then the other is not liable for the consequences of this act. This was the second time Gibney went on trial for Mr Burnetts murder. He was originally convicted of the 28-year olds murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2014. That conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal in November last year and a retrial was ordered which took place in November. The Black family, left to right, Yvonne, Kyle, Kyra and David, on holiday in Dubai earlier this year A 41-year-old man has been extradited to Northern Ireland for trial on charges related to the murder of prison officer David Black. It is understood the individual extradited is suspected dissident republican Damien McLaughlin. The PSNI's Serious Crime Branch arrested Mclaughlin in Armagh yesterday. It follows a ruling by the High Court in Dublin on December 2. He was arrested by the PSNI on four warrants for offences of: aiding and abetting murder; membership of a a proscribed organisation; commissioning and instigating preparatory acts of terrorism; and committing and assisting acts of terrorism. McLaughlin appeared before Armagh Magistrates Court on Tuesday and has been remanded in custody until January 12. Damien McLaughlin (41), of Kilmascally Road, Ardboe, Co Tyrone, absconded from his bail address in west Belfast last November and went on the run. The family of an Irishman missing in Australia have issued an appeal for information. On Tuesday police in Sydney issued an appeal in relation to the disappearance of Craig Lambe who was last seen leaving a home on Middle Street, Kingsford in New South Wales about 12.30pm on Monday December 11. In a statement issued on Facebook his brother James Lambe said the family are "deeply concerned". Craig (25) had lost his bankcard and was having difficulty accessing funds but "had not highlighted major difficulties with family or friends". He told his traveling companion he was going to retrieve funds from Western Union according to his brother but nobody in the family had transferred funds to him. He left the apartment with no money, access to money or mobile phone his family said. It is believed he did have a bag with him which included a passport, a black fleece flip flops and a towel. The family said they are grateful for the online support for their campaign but said as of yet there have been no sightings of Craig and they are "deeply concerned". "We urge anyone to come forward with information no matter how small they believe it to be and thank everyone who has supported thus far," his brother said. Craig is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 180cm tall with a medium build and brown hair. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Mr Lambe, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. There is a terrifying sense of deja vu in the latest piece of Government spin warning that substandard hospitals may be closed. And it is difficult not to see it as a convenient and desperate attempt at distraction from the misery and gridlock that has left hundreds of patients suffering on A&E trolleys again during these bleakest of winter days. The promise to introduce regulation of public and private hospitals was first made a decade ago by former health minister Mary Harney. The idea is that they will be inspected by the watchdog, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), and if they fail care and safety standards they will face sanction, with closure as the ultimate penalty. It re-appeared again yesterday. It hasn't been drafted yet and that may take years, with 2021 as the latest date pencilled in for its introduction. Every health minister in the last decade has milked this proposed regulation, making several announcements - usually in a bid to gain cover from the backlash coming on foot of some patient safety scandal. Of course, they neglect to concede that closure is not an option. Where would they put the patients? If regulation was introduced tomorrow, very few public hospitals would escape having at least one department closed. In some cases the shutters would have to come down completely. Yesterday, there were 121 patients on trolleys across the country left waiting for a bed for more than nine hours, according to the HSE's own figures. In University Hospital Limerick 61 patients were on trolleys, while in Waterford 37 were waiting for a bed. What regulator would allow patients to face that level of risk? Hiqa's own patient experience survey this week found that seven in 10 patients in May did not get a bed in the targeted six hours, and some waited two days. The watchdog points out the proven dangers to patients who face such delays. Current Health Minister Simon Harris and his Government colleagues must take responsibility for the ongoing risks they are continuing to allow patients in public hospitals to encounter on a daily basis. Repeated inspection reports have highlighted how lack of specialist staff and outdated conditions have contributed to the spread of superbugs. These are lethal threats to vulnerable patients if they get into the bloodstream and are killing people. There is also the failure to properly staff hospitals. Some regional hospitals cannot get full-time consultants and are relying on locums who do not have the full specialist training. Who is auditing their care? The cruellest failing by the Government is the number of patients on hospital waiting lists, many of them in pain and in deteriorating health. Mr Harris says he doubts if the figures of 684,940 reflect the true reality and wants Trinity College to find out a better way of counting patients. But even if the number was halved, which would be a miracle, it would still be scandalous. Of course regulation is always welcome. There are still too many areas of the health service that are not independently checked by a watchdog for care standards, including private hospitals and clinics. Regulation drives up standards and polices patient risk. The plan has been used far too often as some form of defence every time a minister or a government is called on to account for the manner in which so many patients have been let down. Patients see beyond the headlines at this stage. Bob Fitzsimons with his wife, Anne and their two children, son Paddy (6) and daughter Hannah (4) A GARDA has won two first-class commendations for showing "exceptional courage and bravery" for his role in dealing with two separate incidents on successive days. Garda Bob Fitzsimons tackled an armed raider with the help of a reserve garda, Mark Spain, and arrested him at the scene in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, on September 8, 2012. The following day, he jumped into a car that was on fire after a head-on collision with another vehicle and rescued the female driver, who was trapped and unconscious. Gda Fitzsimons (39), who is based in Nenagh but is from Foynes, Co Limerick, was presented with awards for his heroic acts at a special ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore. This is the first time a garda has won two special awards at a ceremony for separate incidents. Gda Spain (32), from Kilruane, Nenagh, also created history by winning an award as a member of the Garda Reserve. He has since become a full-time garda and is based in Drogheda, Co Louth. Gda Fitzsimons told the Irish Independent he had no after effects from the gun incident but the following night, after the rescue from the blazing car, he watched the All-Ireland hurling final on TV. I enjoyed the match. But later that night I couldnt remember who won it. The shock must have hit me. Apart from that, I had no ill-effects, he said. I didnt become gung-ho in either incident. I weighed up the options and considered the risk to my life before I acted. Michael Fingleton, the former head of the collapsed Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), branded a Central Bank's inquiry in to regulatory breaches at the organisation as a "cynical exercise" in "scapegoating". He made the criticisms in a lengthy opening speech to the inquiry's three-member panel that ran for close to two-and-a-half hours yesterday. The long-time building society chief's opening statement ranged from fiery denunciations of the Central Bank's process, which he characterised as "unfair" and "oppressive", to comparisons with rival lending organisations, like AIB and EBS, where he claimed the lending practices were far more excessive than at INBS. He also blamed previous Governments for successive U-turns on legislation that would have enabled the society to be sold to international buyers, claiming that the US-based GE Capital and Germany's Hypo Real Estate Bank had entered into advanced negotiations to buy it. At times Mr Fingleton, who turns 80 in January, appeared fatigued. Ms Marian Shanley, who is chairing the inquiry - the first such investigation by the Central Bank - repeatedly intervened at one stage in the afternoon, as Mr Fingleton struggled to cite direct quotations from documents. The inquiry's opening module is centred on the alleged regulatory breaches of the society's credit committee. Mr Fingleton and four previous directors of INBS; John Purcell, the former finance director; Tom McMenamin, the former head of commercial lending; Michael Walsh, the former chairman; and Gary McCollum, who oversaw the organisation's UK lending arm, face seven separate allegations of regulatory breaches and are each liable for potential fines of up to 500,000. But Mr Fingleton claimed the Central Bank had "artificially trumped" up a case and characterised it as an "abuse of power". He said the Central Bank was fully aware of the society's lending practices and those of the wider sector but only intensified its involvement when the market began to turn in 2008. By that stage he insisted, the society had already taken action to "build up liquidity" and reduce its balance sheet exposures by 1bn. INBS was wound up in 2011 at a cost of 5.4bn to the taxpayer. Mr Fingleton stressed that despite his deteriorating health - he is blind in one eye and told the inquiry he may lose sight in the other very soon - he would continue to defend himself as "best as I can against these wholly contrived and unjust allegations". Much of his focus yesterday was on what he argued were collective oversights at the Department of Finance, the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank. The authorities' failures ultimately led to the string of banking collapses in 2009 and 2010, he said. Addressing allegations of regulatory breaches of INBS' credit committee, Mr Fingleton insisted he was not a member of the committed until December 2007. That was contradicted by the Society's former finance director, John Stanley Purcell, who delivered a comparatively brief opening speech. Health Minister Simon Harris said he has prepared for various scenarios ahead of the final report from the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment. The committee is expected to vote in favour of allowing unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks as members believe that inserting clauses to allow for terminations in cases of rape and incest would be unworkable. The committee will cast a series of votes relating to the repeal and replacement of the amendment, which gives equal status to the life of the mother and her unborn baby. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told the Dail he would like for the referendum on abortion to be held in May. He said for this to happen, the Government will require the full support of the house. Minister Harris told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland that he has written up various scenarios so the government will be prepared to turn the report into legislation. "I'm going to be careful what I say," the minister said. "The committee is about to vote today. I will receive the report and try to turn the report into legislation. "What I have been doing is I've been working with the Attorney General office to prepare various scenarios, so whatever the committee does recommend, we can turn it into legislation. "If we are to have a referendum in June, I'd need to bring a bill into the Dail in February. "I am working on a scenario of allowing unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 week, but not in a decision-making capacity. "I've prepared all the various scenarios that the committee could come up with." Discussion Several amendments proposed by members relating to the circumstances in which abortion should be made available - including gestation, viability and acceptable grounds for termination, such as rape or incest - will be considered. However, TDs and Senators are expected to conclude that allowing abortion in cases of rape and incest only is unworkable due to the high burden of proof required to prove rape. During previous hearings, Prof Tom O'Malley BL said that in cases where a woman has an abortion after being raped, it could in theory be used as evidence against the accused and so prejudice a trial. It was also heard that cross-examining a woman who may have just been raped - in order to decide if she was eligible for an abortion - would be deeply traumatic. The widespread and unregulated use of abortion pills is another reason why members will support unrestricted access. Meanwhile, a New York-based foundation, backed by billionaire George Soros, has said it is "proud" of its support of groups seeking to repeal the Eighth Amendment - despite the controversy over its donation to Amnesty International. The Open Society Foundations (OSF) stood over its financial support for the groups and did not rule out providing funding in the future. Amnesty International is refusing to return 137,000 that it received from OSF in 2016. That is despite an order from the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) to do so over allegations that the donation breaches laws against foreign financing of political campaigns ahead of next year's planned referendum on abortion. Colm O'Gorman, Amnesty's Irish CEO, claimed that the law was "flawed" and had been "weaponised" by opponents. He said Sipo told Amnesty last year that it didn't have to register as a so-called 'third party' under political-donation rules on the back of a media report outlining how it had received funds from OSF. But Sipo then told Amnesty last month that it must pay back the money immediately. Mr O'Gorman said last night that Amnesty was taking legal advice about the options open to it, adding: "We'll do everything we can to challenge it." Last night, the New York-based OSF told the Irish Independent: "In Ireland, we are proud to be just one of the sources of support for local advocacy efforts to bring Ireland's abortion law in line with its commitments under international human rights law." OSF did not directly address a question on whether it would refrain from making such donations in future, given the current controversy. Sipo has refused to comment on the case. Spending at RTE is to be examined by two ministers to see where savings can be made. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has ordered the review amid threats to close the national broadcaster's orchestras. The Taoiseach also said the issue of funding for the orchestras cannot be caught up in a campaign to increase the RTE licence fee The future of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and the Concert Orchestra are under review due to shortage of funds at the national broadcaster. Mr Varadkar said he believes RTE should keep its two national orchestras. He said RTE received significant state and commercial income. But Mr Varadkar told the Dail he would not like to see either of the orchestras being lost via abolition or merger. "I, for one, would like to see both retained," he said. Mr Varadkar will ask Culture Minister Josepha Madigan and Communications Minister Denis Naughten to cooperate in examining the orchestras. However, Mr Varadkar said the review would have to examine how RTE is spending the TV licence fee funding - and if savings could be made elsewhere. "As part of their consideration, they would need to look at how RTE is spending its money and see if RTE could make savings in other areas. Could it restrict spending in other areas to preserve what the Deputy and I both agree are national assets?" he said. The Taoiseach was replying to Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin (inset), who warned the orchestras were one of the biggest employers of musicians in Ireland. He said the Government could not ignore the issue. Mr Varadkar said the ministers would see if there was a way the Government could assist. "It is always important to consider the opportunity cost of not doing things. I would not like to see the Arts Council or Creative Ireland budgets reduced to provide funding for the RTE orchestras," he said. RTE announced an independent review of its orchestral services, to cover both the National Symphony and the Concert Orchestras, last month. The review will be carried out by former BBC executive Helen Boaden and consulting firm, Mediatique. Mr Martin called on the Government to intervene in order to guarantee funding for the orchestras would be ring-fenced. The Taoiseach pointed out RTE receives revenue from the licence fee, the Department of Social Protection and through commercial sources. "That gives it an income - I cannot give an exact figure but it must be some 200m or 300m, it is certainly more than 100m - and I wonder how much of that is dedicated to the orchestras," he said. A protest against home repossessions took place outside Galway courthouse as 84 cases for repossession were heard inside. Galway Housing Action Group held the demonstration to highlight the plight of homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes. Members of the group provided tea and coffee to those attending the court for hearings and took contact details in order to provide people in difficulty with information. "These cases are happening all over the country every month. "There is a housing crisis in this country and yet more and more people are at risk of being turned out of their homes," said member Aine Treanor. A number of those before the courts yesterday also expressed their frustration at the ongoing delays in dealing with cases. One man who is living with the constant threat of eviction was appearing in court for the ninth time. He told the Irish Independent he had been trying to settle his debt with the bank to no avail. European pilot unions have continued to pile pressure on Ryanair, with pilots in Portugal now preparing to strike next Wednesday. The mounting industrial actions that are being planned at the airline could spell travel misery for Christmas flyers. The Portuguese pilots will strike the same day as Ryanair staff pilots who are members of the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) withdraw labour for 24 hours in Ireland. Ryanair pilots in Italy who are members of the ANPAC trade union are set to strike tomorrow for four hours. A German pilot union is also understood to be preparing to announce a strike by Ryanair pilots next week. Portuguese trade union SPAC said the strike next week is related to action by Ryanair colleagues in Ireland and Italy. SPAC said it deeply regrets the disruption the strike will cause to passengers, but that it had been left with no other options. The union said it is the Ryanair pilots who are the key to opening the door to growth and expansion that will maximise returns to shareholders. SPAC said that it is especially worrying that Ryanair management would contemplate grounding some aircraft during the summer season rather than communicate with pilots. The union said the strike in Portugal will be cancelled if the Ryanair administration shows openness to constructive dialogue with a view to collective bargaining and recognition of the SPAC Business Commission as negotiator. It warned that further strike days could also take place. In a circular to pilots, the British Airline Pilot Association (BALPA) said that it has continued to see significant numbers of Ryanair pilots joining the union. And Spanish airline union SEPLA has recently written to Ryanair chief executive Michael OLeary urging him to recognise the newly-established Ryanair company council within the union. The union has insisted that the new council supersedes the existing, company-formed Employee Representative Committees that the airline has at its bases across Europe, including in Spain. In the letter last week, SEPLA said it will also take whatever legal and other measures are open to it in order to secure collective bargaining rights for its members who are Ryanair pilots. BALPA said that its membership increased considerably between September and November, with more than 200 pilots joining the union. December looks likely to be equally impressive as more and more Ryanair pilots express their support for a collective voice and proper negotiations via the ERC (Employee Representative Committee) structure, it added. Ryanair refuses to deal with unions, and is entitled under law not to do so. It has always said that its workers are free, however, to join unions. Ryanair has vowed to meet any industrial action head on. It also threatened to freeze promotions, cut pilot pay and may even move aircraft out of Dublin if any industrial action is staged. Pilots in Italy have been warned by Ryanair to turn up for work as normal tomorrow. With over two weeks of the year left to run, Tourism Ireland is calling it. 2017 was a record year for Irish tourism. 10.65 million visitors came to the island this year, the marketing organisation says, contributing some 5.78 billion to the coffers in the process. In revenue terms, that's a 6.7pc rise on 2016 - the previous record year. "2017 looks set to be another record year for overseas tourism to Ireland," said Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin TD, who added that overseas tourism would help to sustain 225,000 jobs in communities around the country. Growth was recorded in all main markets this year, with the exception of Britain - which has seen visitors drop since the pro-Brexit vote in June 2016. Booming numbers are due to several factors, including a global economic upswing, increased air access, and the halo effect from TV and film exposure in Star Wars and Game of Thrones, both of which feature scenes filmed in Ireland. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi set to hit cinemas this Friday, Tourism Ireland has launched a 500,000 promotional campaign, while Failte Ireland is rolling out some stellar marketing of its own, including a 360-degree video of Skellig Michael, a cinema ad, and a touring itinerary on wildatlanticway.com/starwars. Next year, Tourism Ireland plans to grow overseas tourism revenue by a further +5pc, it says, shooting for 6 billion in revenue for economies north and south. Concerns about British visitors notwithstanding (trips were down 6.5pc in the first nine months of 2017, the CSO says), the omens are good. In recent months, Lonely Planet named Belfast and the Causeway Coast the world's No.1 travel region for 2018, while National Geographic Traveler listed Dublin on a Best of the World 2018 list now in front of millions of US readers. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Skellig Michael, seen in an aerial photograph this winter. The island, with a monastic settlement dating from 588AD, is a major location in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Skellig Michael's six beehive huts seen from the air - the island became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Skellig Michael is home to thousands of Atlantic puffins, at least from March to September. These colourful, enigmatic seabirds spend their summers on the island, breeding and fattening their chicks on locally available food which often comprises of high calorie sand-eel and sprat. Photo: Valerie OSullivan The monastic Island of Skellig Michael was founded in 588 by Saint Fionan - for 600 years the island was a centre of monastic life for Irish Christian monks. It's a main location for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Photo: Valerie OSullivan Skellig Michael, home to one of Europe's better known but least accessible monasteries. The word 'Scellic' means a steep rock. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Skellig Michael's monastic huts - for 600 years the island was a centre of monastic life for Irish Christian monks. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Located 12 kilometres off the coast County Kerrys Inveragh Peninsula, Skellig Michael is the most spectacular of all the early medieval island monastic sites. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Ceann Sibeal or Sybil's Head, on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. It features as a location in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Ceann Sibeal or Sybil's Head, on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the location is used to replicate the monastic Island of Skellig Michael. Photo: Valerie OSullivan An aerial shot of Skellig Michael, which has six beehive huts situated almost at the summit of the 230-metre-high rock. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Skellig Michael first became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits cinemas on December 15. Photo:Valerie OSullivan View from Skellig Ring, Iveragh Peninsula, Wild Atlantic Way. Photo: Valerie OSullivan Ceann Sibeal or Sybil's Head, on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Telling a few PorgiesLocal Guide Muiris Walsh of Iveragh Historical Tours dresses as Chewbacca in the newly named Porgmagee (Portmagee) Co Kerry, where Film Stars and crew departed for Skellig Michael, the Location of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Spectacular: Skellig Island, taken from the air. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Skellig Michael, seen in an aerial photograph this winter. The island, with a monastic settlement dating from 588AD, is a major location in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photo:Valerie OSullivan Next year, Cathay Pacific will fly direct from Dublin to Hong Kong, Aer Lingus adds Seattle and Philadelphia, and Irish Ferries launches its new ferry, the WB Yeats, which will double the number of sailings between France and Ireland. "We are heading into 2018 in a position of some strength, based on the success of 2017," said Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland's Chief Executive. In 2018, we will create stand out campaigns for the island of Ireland around the world, highlighting iconic experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, Irelands Ancient East, Titanic Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route," he said. Dublin and Belfast will also be promoted, particularly for shoulder and off-peak travel. Read more: Delays and cancellations are part and parcel of modern air travel. So what exactly are your rights if your flight is affected? The rights of passengers in the event of cancelled or delayed flights are set out under EU Regulation 261/2014. How do I know if my flights are affected? In the event of a strike or cancellation, airlines should contact affected passengers by email or SMS. You can also check the airline website (under the 'manage my booking' section), and your airport's online departures boards. What are my rights if my flight is cancelled? If your flight is cancelled for any reason, and regardless of when you are notified, your airline must offer you the choice between: 1) Re-routing as soon as possible, subject to availability, free of charge. 2) Re-routing at a later date. 3) A full refund within seven days. How do I arrange a re-routing or refund? In the event of a cancellation or delay, airlines are obliged to inform passengers of their options. If this happens at the airport, staff should be on hand to talk you through the various scenarios. Otherwise, the quickest option is to check your carrier's website ( Aer Lingus and Ryanair). It should include the steps to process your own refunds or bookings. Expand Close Snow at Cork Airport during Storm Emma. Photo: Twitter/Cork Airport / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Snow at Cork Airport during Storm Emma. Photo: Twitter/Cork Airport Am I entitled to care and assistance? If your flight is cancelled and you choose to be re-routed as soon as possible, then you are entitled to meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation and transfers between the airport and hotel as required. If the airline does not provide these, and you end up paying yourself, keep the receipts - you are entitled to a reimbursement of reasonable expenses. NB. A five-star hotel may not be a reasonable expense! Bear in mind that if your flight is cancelled and you choose a full refund, then the airline's obligations to you end there and then. Am I entitled to compensation? Financial compensation depends on the flight length and the reason for the cancellation. It differs to care and assistance obligations (as outlined above), and generally ranges from 250 (short-haul, less than 1,500km) to 600 (long-haul, over 3,500km). Several scenarios can impact on compensation rights. 1) If you receive less than seven days notice of cancellation and choose to be re-routed as soon as possible (i.e. option 1 above), you will NOT be entitled to compensation - provided your new flights depart within one hour of the original departure and land within two hours of the original arrival. 2) If you receive between seven days and two weeks notice of cancellation, provided you choose to be re-routed and are facilitated with a new flight that departs no more than two hours before the original departure time and arrives no more than four hours after the original arrival time, you are NOT entitled to compensation. 3) If you receive notification of two weeks or more, you will NOT be entitled to compensation - provided, of course, that the airline offers full re-routing or refund options. NB. If the air carrier can prove the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances, then you may NOT be entitled to compensation. However, you are still due a refund or re-routing. Expand Close flights / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp flights Is a strike an extraordinary circumstance? That's the six million dollar question! Airlines may or may not claim them not be, depending on the circumstances involved. However, compensation claims are evaluated on a case-by-case basis - so if you believe you have a strong one, go ahead and make it. Bad weather generally is considered an extraordinary circumstance. How do I claim compensation? Compensation claims are never evaluated or resolved at the airport. If you believe compensation is your due, then the first step is to formally contact the air carrier. If you're not satisfied with its response, then you can escalate by contacting the National Enforcement Body - which, in most cases for Irish passengers, is the Commission for Aviation Regulation (01 661-1700; flightrights.ie). If my outbound flight is cancelled, what happens my return flight? If a flight isn't subject to disruption, technically you are not entitled to any care or compensation. However, airlines do tend to take a logical view, and normally work with passengers to refund or reschedule flights impacted in this way. Check its website for details. What if my flight is delayed? If your flight is delayed by more than five hours, and you choose not to travel, then you are entitled to a full refund. If you accept this refund, the airline is no longer obliged to provide onward travel or assistance. If your flight is delayed by at least two hours (short-haul), three hours (European) or four hours (long haul), you are entitled to care and assistance as outlined above. If you arrive at your destination more than three hours after the scheduled arrival time, you may be entitled to between 250 and 600 compensation, depending on the flight distance. How can my travel insurance help? In the event of a flight cancellation, the first source of refunds and re-routing should be with your airline (see above). Standard travel insurance policies don't offer much help here, but 'missed departure' cover can help you secure a new flight, or an additional night's accommodation. If your policy includes extra "travel disruption" cover, you should be covered for additional transport or accommodation costs up to around 1,000pp. This covers most of scenarios with flight cancellations due to weather, strikes and so on, but note that it covers transport and accommodation-related expenses only - i.e. not lost annual leave, business opportunities or deposits, concert tickets or museum or attraction fees booked in advance online. Is it too late to take out travel insurance? Travel Disruption cover can be added retrospectively to a policy, but not to claim on an event that has already happened (or been forecast). There can also be a moratorium on travel disruption from the time you take out the policy to the time you will be covered (eg. seven days) - however, 'missed departure' cover should still apply. What happens if my baggage is delayed or lost? Travel insurance can cover claims of lost, delayed or damaged luggage, but air passengers also have rights under the Montreal Convention, including limited entitlements to compensation. Some airlines offer a daily allowance for delayed bags, so it's worth asking about this. Compensation for lost or delayed bags is limited under the Convention to 1,000 SDRs (approx 1,270 on current conversion rates). If your luggage fails to appear on the carousel, report the problem immediately with the airline and/or ground handler by filling out a Property Irregularity Report providing details of your bag (be sure to take a photo of the report). While you wait for your bag, keep receipts for any essential items you have to buy. Most baggage will eventually be delivered, but luggage is considered lost 21 days after it was supposed to have arrived. After the delay, you may want to claim on your travel insurance, or on the airline's liability through their reporting procedures - Ryanair's info is here, and Aer Lingus's here. Given the pressure travel systems and airports are under at the moment, it may be worth avoiding the possibility of delayed or lost bags by using carry-on luggage only. If you must check a bag, keep a record of its tag number (a photo is a good idea) and remember not to carry valuables or essential medicines and documents in your checked luggage. Im nervous about travel. Can I get a refund? No. If you cancel your holiday without the DFA (dfa.ie/travel) declaring travel to be unsafe, it could be deemed "disinclination to travel". As such, you may have to pay a cancellation fee or forfeit some or all of the cost of your air fare or holiday package. That said, it's worth noting that Irish tour operators have in the past worked to facilitate customers affected by exceptional events, so it's always worth a phone call. Where can I find more information? For full details on your air passenger rights in the event of cancellation, delays, downgrading and denied boarding, see www.flightrights.ie. This article has been updated and republished. An armed robbery Waterville Post Office in the height of the tourist season was undertaken by two Killarney men to write off a drugs debt to a Dublin criminal gang, a court has been told. On the morning of August 3, 2016, two masked men who entered the picturesque post office where Dutch tourists were buying post cards, brandished weapons and proceeded to ransack the place before making off with between 4,000 and 5,000 in cash, the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee heard. 38-year-old Marcus O'Rourke of Rathanane, Kilcuminn, Killarney and 32-year-old Brian O'Sullivan of Coolies, Muckross, Killarney, pleaded guilty in February to the robbery of postmistress Lisa O'Reilly Foran "of cash to an unknown amount" at the Post Office in Waterville; they also admitted having a firearm "or imitation firearm" with intent to commit a robbery on the date. They further admitted concealing themselves and then suddenly driving at a stationary garda car, creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm to detective gardai Christopher Manton and Celine Ryle at Kill, Kilgobnet, Killarney. They also admitted damaging the garda car. The case has been before the court a number of times and in May post mistress Lisa O'Reilly Foran told how her life had changed utterly since the robbery. Sgt Eoin Donovan, lead investigating garda into the matter, said neither the cash or firearm had been recovered. Letters of apology to the post mistress were read into the court record by senior and junior counsels for the accused. Brian O'Sullivan came from a decent family and his father Ollie O'Sullivan, had paid off 30,000 to a Dublin based criminal organisation "even after the robbery" his senior counsel David Sutton said. This was "a significant Dublin based organisation", Mr Sutton said. The father-of-two children and a heroin addict now on methadone, owed the drug dealing family money, Mr Sutton said. "His father had to pay 30,000 to the drug dealing family because they were in fear. His own children were under threat until these people were paid their pound of flesh. This is the fruit of addiction to drugs," Mr Sutton said. In his letter of apology, Brian O'Sullivan said he never intended to harm anyone and added "they told us to rob the post office". His family had sent a Mass card to the post mistress, Mr Sutton also said. Marcus O'Rourke was a stone mason by trade and had had a good life until heroin took hold, Anthony Sammon Senior Counsel said. There was "still the makings of a good person in Mr O'Rourke", counsel said. Probation Reports were handed into court. The matter was adjourned again by Judge Thomas E O'Donnell, to January 15 next. Tomorrow sees the launch of British 'Vogue''s November edition, ambitiously titled "The Real Issue". The magazine boasts that this is an issue "where none of the fashion is shot on models" (gasp!) and where the subjects of their fashion and feature spreads "are looked at with a 'real' filter" (how brave!). The magazine has teased shots of an ice cream maker in an Hermes suit and a charity director in Michael Kors, with the tantalising promise of female railway workers inside. It adds that the beauty team will pose the question, "What is real anyway?" - the same question I was left pondering on hearing the new theme, because I have some real issues with Vogue's Real Issue. For a start, Alexandra Shulman, the magazine's editor since 1992, hasn't always been so supportive of the idea of putting "real" women in 'Vogue'. A couple of years ago, she got into hot water when she argued against putting "real people" in her magazine, insisting that 'Vogue' was "all about fantasy" and offered readers "an escape from real life". Expand Close British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images) In an interview with BBC Radio 2, she told guest host Lily Allen that she was "fed up" with questions about models being too thin. "People always say, 'why do you have thin models? That's not what real people look like.' But nobody really wants to see a real person looking like a real person on the cover of 'Vogue'." She added: "People don't want to buy a magazine like 'Vogue' to see what they see when they look in the mirror. They can do that for free." Well, that's us told. But not quite - Shulman has changed her tune all of a sudden, and now seems only too thrilled to hop on the "real women" bandwagon, although I have to say, 'Vogue' is a bit late to the party. Read More We all remember Dove's wildly successful "Real Beauty" campaign, first launched in 2004. The Unilever-owned company managed to capitalise on the rejection of heavily airbrushed models and narrow definitions of female beauty, but over a decade later, that message feels more than a little hollow and patronising coming from a corporate source. British 'Vogue' are trying a similar trick, but this time we won't be fooled. The novelty has worn off, and we can recognise it as the same form of aggressive pandering as Dove's 'femvertising', following in a similar vein to US 'Vogue''s headline-grabbing Kim Kardashian and Kanye West cover in 2014, or the same publication's Kendall Jenner-starring September issue this year. Of course, Shulman still draws the line at putting any old tawdry civilian on the cover, and instead, we have the British actress Emily Blunt, a woman so beautiful that the make up team on her latest film, 'The Girl on the Train', had to go to great lengths to dull her down with prosthetic under-eye bags, chapped lips and rosacea colouring. Expand Close Vogue's 'Real Issue'. Photo: Instagram/British Vogue / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Vogue's 'Real Issue'. Photo: Instagram/British Vogue Video of the Day Shulman defended her decision by explaining Blunt had been chosen for her CV of "relatable" roles, while the actress joked of her cover look: "It took three hours of hair and make up to get me looking this real!" The November issue also declares the magazine a "model-free zone", a brazen claim given the inevitable slew of advertisements featuring the likes of Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne. From the promo shots, it looks as if 'Vogue''s idea of "real women" means attractive women who don't necessarily fit the standard model dimensions, and many of us won't find anything "relatable" in this bevy of tall, white, straight-sized women. Then again, if I was really looking for a "model-free zone", a fashion magazine is the very last place I'd go to find it. Read More Elena Ferrante was not 'asking for it' The news that the true identity of the fiercely secretive author Elena Ferrante has allegedly been uncovered has set the literary world ablaze. Fans are not impressed. Her publisher is horrified. But the journalist so committed to doxxing the best-selling author is standing proud, basking in his 15 minutes of fame. Writing in the 'New York Review of Books', Claudio Gatti claims to have unmasked "the real Elena Ferrante", whose Neapolitan novels became a multimillion-selling global sensation when the English translations were published in 2013. I won't do justice to Gatti's 'investigation' by naming his supposed Ferrante, but it's worth considering how he framed his big reveal. He cites a letter between Ferrante and her publisher, in which she says that, if pushed, she may resort to lies "to shield my person, feelings, pressure". This, according to Gatti, amounts to Ferrante "relinquishing her right to disappear behind her books". As far as he is concerned, her success made the discovery of her identity "inevitable". He writes: "Indeed, she and her publisher seemed to have fed public interest in her true identity." I think most women will be familiar with the underlying message here: she was asking for it. This is a woman who has never courted publicity, who has remained invisible for 24 years. Despite the occasional authorised email interview, she stayed out of the limelight and allowed her work to speak for itself. By writing under a pseudonym, Ferrante could escape the autobiographical criticism to which many women writers are subject and the cult of personality that surrounds celebrity authors. Read More And yet, Gatti reads her unwavering "no" as an enthusiastic "yes". In an audacious invasion of privacy, Gatti shares details of her income and payments made by her publisher, as well as listing the addresses of properties she is said to have purchased. He delves into her family history, and even suggests that her books were at least partly written by her husband. So now what? We know her name, we know where she lives, we know who her parents were and who she is married to. Does that have any effect on her books? The siege of Elena Ferrante adds nothing to her work, it only serves to boost the profile of one fame-hungry journalist. While Gatti seems to have interpreted her use of a pseudonym as a sort of trick or hoax, as the notorious literary persona of JT LeRoy was a hoax, Ferrante's desire for anonymity never seemed like a marketing ploy. In an all-seeing, all-knowing digital age, this real-life literary mystery was a rare and delicious thrill, and I imagine most readers had no interest in knowing the "real Ferrante". We were happy to forget about the author - and the real-life woman behind the pseudonym - and enjoy getting lost in her stories. Police have arrested two journalists working for an international news organisation on suspicion of possessing "secret police documents" related to the ongoing crisis in Rakhine state, Burma's press council has said. The employees of the Reuters news agency were arrested late on Tuesday and charged with violating the country's colonial era Official Secrets Act, a council source said. Police said the two were found in possession of copies of documents from officials in Muangdaw district. Officers at the police station where the two were believed to have been charged denied that any arrest had been made. Reuters said in a statement that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been missing since late Tuesday night. "We have filed a missing person's report and are doing everything we can to locate them," the statement said. Northern Rakhine state is the epicentre of the Burma military's brutal security operation that has forced more than 625,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. The campaign launched in August in response to attacks on police outposts has been condemned by the United Nations as "ethnic cleansing" and those fleeing have described widespread rights abuses by security forces. The military, which is charge of security in northern Rakhine, and the civilian government have barred most journalists and international observers from independently traveling to the region. The Officials Secrets Act, dating back to the 1920s, makes violations punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Journalists in Burma are facing renewed harassment, with several arrested in recent months. Two foreign journalists along with two of their Burma associates are currently awaiting trial on new charges after already being sentenced to jail for illegally flying a drone over parliament. "Media freedom in the country is getting worse and arresting journalists is more and more common these days, and this shows that the authorities are clearly ignoring media laws," said Robert Sann Aung, a human rights lawyer. AP A python so long it blocked a road has found fame thanks to Australian police. Two officers patrolling in Queensland stumbled across the massive scrub python in Wujal Wujal, north of Cairns, and had to wait for it to cross the road before continuing their shift. Measuring between five and six metres long, the snake stayed still just long enough for acting senior constable Chris Kenny to strike a pose which has since gone viral after being posted to the forces Facebook page. Senior constable Heidi Marek said: One of the attractions to a career in policing is the statement that we dont do boring. You never really know what you are going to come across in a single shift. Policing in the Far North is certainly no exception. During a night patrol officers stumbled across this monster! There was no passing in the police vehicle until this scrub python was good and ready to move. Not fond of the police attention, the scrub python made his way quickly off the road so the officers could continue on their way. And its fair to say the internet wasnt too keen on the sight of the snake. 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 While the Queensland Police Service Museum showed off a photo from decades ago of a snake found in Brisbane. Theresa Mays Government has suffered a humiliating loss in Parliament as around a dozen Tory MPs voted with the Opposition to ensure a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal. Tory rebels rallied around ringleader Dominic Grieve, whose amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill squeezed through the Commons on a majority of four. Delighted Remainers have now co-opted one of Vote Leaves best-known catchphrases from the Referendum campaign to claim theyve taken back control of Parliament. 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 Brexiteers said leaving the EU would give the UK a chance to take back control of its borders and its laws, with no more meddling from Brussels. It wasnt just Labour MPs tweeting the phrase either former education secretary Nicky Morgan did the same following the vote. 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 MPs approved the amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill by 309 votes to 305. Conservative former attorney general Grieve led the rebellion via his amendment seven, which would require any Brexit deal to be approved by a separate act of Parliament before it could be implemented. Minutes before the vote, Justice minister Dominic Raab sought to appease would-be rebels by saying the Government would rewrite the Bill to guarantee concessions it had offered but was faced with shouts of too late by some MPs on his side. In the end, 11 Tories voted against, including Conservative party vice chairman Stephen Hammond, who has since been sacked from his role. 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 Remainers are adamant that this is what Leave voters wanted. Prominent Tory rebel Anna Soubry told Sky News: Nobody takes any pleasure and certainly I dont when the Government loses a vote, these are important things. But this was a really important moment because it was about actually delivering what the Government said it wanted to do, which was to have a meaningful vote in this place. The truth is Parliament has been excluded from the whole of the Brexit process and now were back in the frame, and that means we can represent all our voters. 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 Some Tory MPs used Twitter to call out their colleagues, with Michael Fabricant saying the votes result showed no respect to the referendum. 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 Nadine Dorries, who said shed been a rebel myself, but never when a Marxist government was knocking at the door, called for MPs to be deselected. 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 Downing Street spokesman said: Today the European Parliament voted to move on to the next phase of talks in our departure from the European Union and tomorrow the Prime Minister will be attending European Council in Brussels, working towards the deep and special partnership we all want to see. We respect the will of the House and will continue to focus on preparing the country to leave the EU in March 2019. China is planning to build refugee camps on its border with North Korea in what is being seen as an indication that Beijing is preparing for a potential conflict. Five locations in China's north-eastern Jilin province have been identified as potential sites for refugees. The document, which was first reported in English by the 'Financial Times', has since been deleted from the Chinese internet, but an unverified copy has been re-published by news websites outside mainland China. It said a local government in Jilin was planning to set up five refugee camps "because the situation on the China-North Korea border has intensified". Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, said that China would almost certainly set up "quarantine areas" on its north-eastern frontier that would be used in the event of war. A newspaper in Jilin last week published a page of "common sense" tips on how people can protect themselves from a nuclear weapons attack or explosion. The report did not mention the threat of attack from North Korea or any other country. Tensions have been escalating sharply on the Korean peninsula, with Pyongyang firing its most advanced intercontinental missile almost two weeks ago. China and Russia began joint 'air defence drills' on Monday, military officials announced, as the US and its Asian allies launched their own war games. Chinese Senior General Wu Qian said the joint manoeuvres in Beijing were conducted in order to help "secure a strategic balance of forces". The drills began on the same day that the US, Japan and South Korea began to conduct 'joint missile-tracking' manoeuvres. Travel giant Tui has said Britons are switching to cheaper destinations due to the Brexit-hit pound as it posted a 12% rise in annual earnings. Travel giant Tui has said the Brexit-hit pound is forcing British holidaymakers to switch to cheaper destinations and revealed it is drawing up contingency plans for disruption from the UKs divorce from the EU. Tui boss Fritz Joussen said Britons are beginning to cut back on long-haul holidays and some European resorts as the weak pound is making trips more expensive, but confirmed the group is still seeing record numbers of UK bookings as holidaymakers choose alternative destinations such as Croatia and Bulgaria. The group called for a workable solution for airlines, including keeping current arrangements in place until a Brexit deal can be reached. It said: Whilst we are not able to control the outcome of these negotiations, we are putting contingency plans in place in order to manage potential disruption to our operations. Tui, which ditched the Thomson name in the UK in October as part of a global rebrand, made the plea as it reported a 12% surge in underlying earnings to 1.1 billion euros (968 million) for the year to September 30. It also said it was set to grow annual earnings by at least 10% again in the new financial year and for each year to 2020. Mr Joussen said Brexit and the fall in the value of the pound is already having an impact on the groups profit margins, as well as the spending power of Britons. He said while Britons have maintained the average spend of 1,000 on their foreign holiday, they are having to change destinations due to poor exchange rates. In reality, if the vacation to some of the destinations for 1,000 is not possible any more, then the destinations will change, said Mr Joussen. But Tui has not seen any drop off in UK demand and is forecasting another strong year ahead for bookings thanks in part to the collapse of Monarch. It is also seeing a strong recovery in demand for trips to Turkey, with bookings for next summer up 70% year-on-year as holidaymakers return to the country after terrorist attacks in recent years. The groups annual results showed earnings were boosted by strong sales of its own-brand hotels and cruise trips, which offset unexpected losses at its airline, Tui fly. It suffered a bottom line hit of 39 million euros (34 million) at Tui fly after flight crews called in sick during an industrial dispute, while it was also hit by the collapse of Air Berlin, which saw it renegotiate flight agreements. Kirsten Gillibrand is seen by some as a potential candidate for the White House (AP) A suggestive tweet from Donald Trump has propelled a campaigning US senator to centre stage in the debate about sexual assault and harassment. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, was the target of Mr Trump's tweet claiming she had begged him for campaign contributions and would "do anything" for them. Ms Gillibrand, who is up for re-election next year and is considered a possible presidential contender in 2020, has been an outspoken voice in the national debate on harassment. Mr Trump's tweet came after Ms Gillibrand claimed he should quit as accusations from three women first aired during Mr Trump's run for the Oval Office resurfaced. She has argued that rules in institutions from Congress to Hollywood to the US military are set to benefit the powerful and the favoured at the expense of the vulnerable. The fiery exchange with Mr Trump on Tuesday could brighten the spotlight on Ms Gillibrand's campaign to upend the dynamics and put power in the hands of the alleged victims while simultaneously pushing the 51-year-old mother of two boys to the forefront of an unformed Democratic presidential field. She has hit out at leading figures in her own party along the way. Ms Gillibrand was appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, but she recently said Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency for his improprieties. Clinton loyalists criticised her as an ungrateful opportunist. The spat between Mr Trump and Ms Gillibrand came as a wave of sexual misconduct allegations have hit Capitol Hill, forcing several politicians out of office in just the last week alone. "I do think this is a reckoning. This is a watershed moment," Ms Gillibrand said of the resignations. "Politicians should be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards." She rejected the notion that she and other Democrats are making a calculation they hope will pay off politically as Mr Trump continues to fend off allegations of sexual misconduct lodged by more than a dozen women. "That couldn't be more cynical and backward," said Ms Gillibrand. "It has nothing to do with politics. This whole debate is, 'Do we care about women?'." Ms Gillibrand served notice several years ago that combating sexual assault would be her issue. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she and other female politicians dressed down senior military leaders at a hearing, insisting sexual assault in the ranks has cost the services the trust and respect of the American people. "Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. "Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together," Ms Gillibrand told the uniformed men in 2013. Four years later, Ms Gillibrand added her voice to the growing number of male senators calling for Mr Trump to resign in the face of multiple accusations. A day after her broadside, Mr Trump singled her out. The president tweeted: "Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-Used!" Ms Gillibrand called the president's tweet a "sexist smear" aimed at silencing her voice. She also renewed her call for a congressional inquiry into the accusations against Mr Trump. Ms Gillibrand silently shook her head at the idea that she had "begged" Mr Trump for campaign contributions. Democrats rushed to Ms Gillibrand's defence. AP Troubled infrastructure giant Carillion has struck a deal to offload the bulk of its healthcare division to Serco for 47.7 million. Carillion, which is embroiled in an ongoing crisis that has involved a string of profits warnings and the departure of its chief executive, said the deal is part of its plan to offload 300 million of non-core assets. The disposals are aimed at reducing the firms debt. Carillions portfolio of UK healthcare facilities management contracts and assets include 15 sites that will be transferred to Serco on a phased basis. In November, the HS2 contractor issued its latest profit warning and said it will breach its debt covenants, which resulted in another share price collapse. The firm said at the time that annual profits are set to be materially lower than current market expectations as it grapples with a string of delays and smaller-than-expected improvements to margins on certain contracts. Despite efforts to drive down costs, haul in cash and push through disposals, the group said it would fail to hit its net debt to earnings ratio of 1 to 1.5 times by the end of 2018. It came after the firm posted half-year losses of 1.15 billion. Carillion, which has about 43,000 staff worldwide, has seen its former boss, Richard Howson, step down with Andrew Davies lined up to take the helm. Interim boss Keith Cochrane said: I am pleased we have been able to successfully conclude this transaction which will contribute to our efforts to reduce net debt. A minute's silence is observed on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre (AP) China struck a restrained tone on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre, saying the country would "look forward" and deepen its friendship with its neighbour Japan despite historical misgivings. Chinese president Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of China's parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future. China has frequently criticised Japan for not showing sufficient contrition for the brutality of its expansionist campaign that swept across Asia during the first half of the 20th century. China's government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops entering China's then capital in December 1937 following bitter street fighting in Shanghai. Some right-wing Japanese politicians, including prime minister Shinzo Abe, have downplayed the death toll or denied outright that the Nanking atrocity even happened. Wearing a white flower on his lapel, Mr Xi watched as Chinese soldiers bearing large funeral wreaths marched slowly past a memorial showing the figure 300,000, the number of massacre victims, according to official Chinese estimates. Denial by conservative Japanese quarters of the country's wartime history has frequently incensed neighbours that bore the brunt of its militarism and colonial rule, including China, South Korea and the Philippines, and it continues to fuel debate in contemporary Japan. A Japanese hotel chain attracted condemnation in January when it distributed a book questioning Japan's use of forced sex workers and calling the Nanking Massacre a fake. Nanking, an ancient Chinese capital 200 miles west of Shanghai, is now commonly known as Nanjing. China's ruling Communist Party, particularly under Mr Xi, has often stoked nationalism and allowed anti-Japanese sentiment to build. But relations have improved in recent months, with Mr Xi and Mr Abe posing together with smiles and pledging to seek a "fresh start" at a November summit in Vietnam. AP Forensic officers at the scene of the fatal house fire in Manchester. Photo credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire A three-year-old girl has become the fourth child victim of a deadly house fire in the UK. The youngster had been critically ill since she was rushed to hospital following the blaze in Worsley, Greater Manchester, in the early hours of Monday. On Wednesday, Greater Manchester Police said she had lost her fight for life. Demi Pearson, 15, was pronounced dead at the scene on Monday, while her eight-year-old brother Brandon and seven-year-old sister Lacie later died in hospital on the same day. Michelle Pearson, the mother of Demi, Brandon and Lacie, remains in a serious condition in hospital and is thought to be unaware they have died. Two 16-year-old boys were also in the house in Jackson Street when the blaze broke out but managed to escape before fire crews arrived. On Wednesday, Zac Bolland, 23, and Courtney Brierley, 20, entered the dock together at Manchester Magistrates' Court accused of the murders of Demi, Brandon and Lacie. Both defendants are also accused of arson with intent to endanger life and the attempted murders of Ms Pearson, 35, and three other children who cannot be named for legal reasons. No details of the case were presented in court as District Judge Khalid Qureshi said the matter was too serious to be dealt with in his jurisdiction and will be heard again on Thursday at Manchester Crown Court. Bolland and Brierley - both wearing grey jogging bottoms and grey tops - spoke to confirm their names and give their addresses and dates of birth. When asked what their nationality was, both replied: "White British." Bolland, of Blackleach Drive, Worsley, and Brierley, of Worsley Avenue, Worsley, were in the dock for less than two minutes before they were led away to custody by prison officers. It has emerged that Bolland was arrested just a few hundred yards from the scene on Monday evening, footage posted to Facebook appears to show. In the video, several dark-clothed officers can be seen flanking a handcuffed man with his face obscured by a grey hooded top. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) previously confirmed there had been "earlier incidents" at the address and said the force referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It is understood the voluntary referral was in response to police contact with the family less than 24 hours before the fatal incident. Chief Superintendent Wayne Miller, of GMP, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, said: "I can't imagine what the family are going through. "My heart breaks for them, it really does." Emma Henderson, head teacher at Bridgewater Primary School, which Brandon and Lacie attended, said: "We are consoling our pupils and their families and send our deepest sympathies and prayers to all those affected." Drew Povey, head of Harrop Fold School, where Demi was a pupil, said: "We are all truly devastated by the loss of precious life that our community has recently suffered. Words seem inadequate in these tragic circumstances. "The spirit of Salford cannot and will not be crushed. We will work together to comfort and rebuild those lives that have been forever changed." Detectives continued to question a 25-year-old man arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of murder. Two men, aged 19 and 20, also arrested on suspicion of murder were bailed pending further inquiries, as was a 24-year-old man detained on suspicion of assisting an offender. Theresa May's Government has been defeated over key Brexit legislation despite a last-ditch attempt to quash a Tory rebellion. MPs approved an amendment to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill which guarantees Parliament a "meaningful" vote on any Brexit deal by 309 votes to 305, majority four. There were cheers in the chamber when the result of the vote became clear. Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve led the rebellion via his amendment seven, which would require any Brexit deal to be approved by a separate act of Parliament before it could be implemented. He warned ministers they had "run out of road" and drew upon Winston Churchill's spirit as he said he intended to put "country before his party". Minutes before the vote, Justice minister Dominic Raab sought to appease would-be rebels by saying the Government would rewrite the Bill to guarantee concessions it had offered but was faced with shouts of "too late" by some MPs on his side. Mr Raab promised fresh limits on powers contained in the Bill, explaining that no statutory instrument approved under the controversial clause nine would take effect until Parliament had voted on Britain's final deal with the bloc. Clause nine provides the Government with the power to use secondary legislation to implement any Brexit deal - which would require less scrutiny from MPs. Mr Raab later told the Commons: "Having taken advice, and in particular having listened very carefully to the contributions by (Mr Grieve and Tory former minister Sir Oliver Letwin), the Government is willing - reflecting the mood of the House - to return at report stage with an amendment on the face of the Bill, making clear the undertaking and assurance that I gave in my speech that statutory instruments under clause nine will not enter into force until we've had a meaningful vote in Parliament." But Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) labelled the Bill's powers as "sweeping", adding: "I'm afraid I'm not willing to give away parliamentary sovereignty that I exercise on behalf of my constituents for some residual control to the executive. "If the minister needs that power in relation to the withdrawal bill he needs to come back to this House and ask for it. "I found his explanation utterly unconvincing at the despatch box." A Labour amendment, seeking to remove the capacity of ministers to modify and amend the Act via delegated powers, was defeated by 316 votes to 297 - majority 19. Division list analysis of the vote on Mr Grieve's amendment showed 11 Conservatives supported it. They were: Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire), Ken Clarke (Rushcliffe), Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon), Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield), Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon), Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire), Nicky Morgan (Loughborough), Bob Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst), Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury), Anna Soubry (Broxstowe),and Sarah Wollaston (Totnes). John Stevenson, Tory MP for Carlisle, voted in both the ayes and noes lobby - which is considered a formal abstention. Labour former minister Chris Leslie later told the Commons: "What a privilege it is to have the opportunity to speak on such a momentous evening when Parliament has had the guts and the foresight to stand up to the executive and to take back control - give some hope back to those who thought all hope was lost. "And to see members from all parties coming together, working together in the national interest." Intervening, Tory Charles Walker (Broxbourne) said: "It is wonderful to see so many former ministers on my side of the House discover their love of parliamentary sovereignty when they are no longer on the ministerial merry-go-round "I have far greater respect in this place for those parliamentarians who have never held ministerial office and actually do respect this place even when things are not going their way." Mr Leslie continued: "And even more respect for those who have never held ministerial office but who actually vote with their conscience rather than look at the ministerial ladder ahead of them and decide to suppress their views for other reasons." He spoke as he moved new clause 20, which would require ministers to publish a full list and assessment of the implications of the legislation on the international treaties which the UK is party to. Further analysis of the division list for Mr Grieve's amendment showed Brexit-backing Labour MPs Frank Field (Birkenhead) and Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) joined the Government in voting against it. Tory MPs George Freeman (Mid Norfolk), Paul Masterton (East Renfrewshire) and Ed Vaizey (Wantage) did not vote despite having been seen in the Commons during the debate. Charlie Elphicke (Dover), who now sits as an independent having had the Conservative whip removed, also did not vote despite contributing to the debate. Brexit-supporting Labour MPs Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), John Mann (Bassetlaw) and Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) voted in favour of the amendment. Mr Leslie withdrew his amendment 20, after telling the Commons: "This is an incredibly important series of discussions - 759 international treaties that may just fall on exit day - we need to know more information - but I'm glad that the minister indicated that more information would be forthcoming." Labour MP Heidi Alexander's new clause 22, which states "no minister may... notify the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EEA Agreement", was defeated by 314 votes to 292 - majority 22. Labour's amendment 26, which sought to prevent the Government using delegated powers under Clause 8 to reduce rights or protections, was defeated by 315 votes to 291 - majority 24. French President Emmanuel Macron delivers the closing speech the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool French President Emmanuel Macron attends the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French bank BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe attend the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French bank BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe attend the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool French President Emmanuel Macron (C), World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (CenterR), and President of the Comores, Azali Assoumani (4thR), pose with children after the closing speech of the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool World leaders and investors have announced more than one billion dollars (850 million) in investments to make it easier for countries and industries to give up oil and coal. French President Emmanuel Macron used the summit to seize the global spotlight, capitalising on US President Donald Trump's isolationist policies and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic weakness to position himself as the world's moral compass on climate change. "We're not moving fast enough," Mr Macron said, warning that the 2015 Paris climate accord is "fragile". "It's time to act and move faster and win this battle" against climate change, he told the more than 50 world leaders and others gathered in Paris. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macron attends the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macron attends the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool After opening the summit on a pessimistic note, Mr Macron was more encouraging at the closing, praising the "very concrete" commitments made by the participants. "We started today to make up some ground in this battlefield," he said in his closing speech. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macron delivers the closing speech the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macron delivers the closing speech the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool Today's commitments will be able to be tracked and verified on a dedicated platform, he added. Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and other energy executives and investment fund leaders announced a dozen international projects emerging from the summit that will inject money into efforts to curb climate change. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim won rousing applause when he announced that his agency would stop financing oil and gas projects in two years. The summit, co-hosted by the UN, the World Bank and Mr Macron, was held on the second anniversary of the Paris climate accord, which was ratified by 170 countries. Expand Close French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French bank BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe attend the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French bank BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe attend the Plenary Session of the One Planet Summit at the Seine Musicale event site on the Ile Seguin in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent/Pool More than 50 heads of state and government took part. Mr Trump was not invited, but he was ubiquitous. One by one, officials including former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and former US secretary of state John Kerry insisted the world will shift to cleaner fuels and reduce emissions regardless of whether the Trump administration pitches in. Central to the summit was countering Mr Trump's main argument that the 2015 Paris accord on reducing global emissions would hurt US business. Mr Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, argues that the big businesses and successful economies of the future will be making and using renewable energy instead of oil. The projects announced on Tuesday include a programme for eight US states to develop electric vehicles, an investment fund for the hurricane-hit Caribbean and money from Mr Gates's foundation to help farmers adapt to climate change and develop low-carbon technology. The projects also aim to speed up the end of the combustion engine to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming. Activists kept up pressure with protests - including one on a bridge at the summit venue, an island in the Seine River - calling for companies and governments to stop investing in oil and coal now. Top officials agreed with them, saying the global financial system is not shifting fast enough away from carbon emissions and towards renewable energy and business projects. "Financial pledges need to flow faster through a more streamlined system and make a difference on the ground," said Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, whose island nation is among those on the front lines of the rising sea levels and extreme storms worsened by human-made emissions. "We are all in the same canoe," rich countries and poor, he said. Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono described ways his country is investing in climate monitoring technology and hydrogen energy, but he said: "We have to do more and better." Mr Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, said environmentalists owed Mr Trump a debt of "gratitude" for acting as a "rallying cry" for action on climate change. He said the private sector coalition called America's Pledge, which promises to honour the climate goals set in 2015, "now represents half of the US economy". On Monday, Mr Macron awarded 18 climate scientists - most of them based in the US - multimillion-euro grants to relocate to France for the rest of Mr Trump's term. Mrs Merkel, who was once labelled the "climate chancellor" for her efforts to curb global warming, faced criticism in Germany for failing to attend the summit. In the Dutch city of The Hague, experts launched a plan on Tuesday aimed at addressing threats created by water and food shortages. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters joined a fiery rally in Beirut as the movement's leader urged Palestinians to rise up after US President Donald Trump's decision last week to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Demonstrators packed the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs in a carefully managed march. Crowds chanted "Death to America, death to Israel!" and waved Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. Israel's military, meanwhile, reported that two rockets were fired at its territory from the Gaza Strip on Monday, the third volley since Mr Trump said he would break with decades of US foreign policy to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. That announcement has sparked protests across the Arab world. Hundreds of protesters clashed with Lebanese security forces near the US embassy in Beirut on Sunday, hurling rocks and bottles toward the compound as the army beat back the crowd using tear gas and water cannons. But so far, more-serious violence has not materialised, and Palestinian concerns about Jerusalem have failed to energise most Arab governments. Many leaders seem more focused on conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere that are roiling the region. Addressing the crowd via video link, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah described Mr Trump's policy change as a "foolish decision" that would mark the "beginning of the end" of the Jewish state. "The most important response will be to announce a third Palestinian intifada on all occupied Palestinian territories," he said, using an Arabic term that evokes earlier uprisings. Lebanon harbors more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom fled their homes in what is now Israel and the West Bank during the wars of 1948 and 1967. The Lebanese state has never formally recognised their status as refugees, and Palestinians are barred from dozens of professions. Sitting on the sidewalk during Mr Nasrallah's speech was Alia Shahata, born in 1948 to parents who she said left Palestinian territories after being expelled from their home. "Trump is humiliating all Arabs with his decision," she said. "My family has no rights here in Lebanon. Our boys all work on coffee stalls inside the refugee camp. "Know that we would all go back to Palestinian territories tomorrow if we could." Mr Trump's decision has drawn widespread condemnation from allies around the world, many of whom had seen the city's eventual status as a matter to be settled in a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. Sentences were handed down to 12 militia members A military court in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced a dozen militia members, including a politician, to life in prison for the rapes of more than 46 children as young as 11 months old. Human rights organisations have called the trial groundbreaking in a country where sexual violence is rampant and perpetrators often go unpunished. Dozens of armed groups are active in the mineral-rich nation. The court in Bukavu on Wednesday also convicted provincial deputy Frederic Batumike for organising the militia violence and for crimes against humanity that took place for years in Kavumu starting in 2013. The village is 15 miles north of Bukavu. The court awarded 5,000 US dollars to each victim of sexual violence and 15,000 dollars to the families of those killed. AP A top US surgeon is said to have been found dead in his New York flat on Sunday in a suspected suicide. Dr Dean Lorich, 54, worked as Bonos Orthopaedic trauma surgeon after the U2 frontman fell off his bike in 2014 and required extensive reconstructive surgery. The musician broke his arm in six places and suffered a broken eye socket. Dr Lorich, the father of three daughters, was the associate director of the Orthopedic Trauma Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery and a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College. A New York Police Department official told ABC News his death was being investigated as an apparent suicide. They said the investigation was ongoing and no arrests had been made. Authorities have not found a suicide note. The official said initial investigations had not found any indications of forced entry at his apartment in Park Avenue in Manhattan. NYPD said police who were answering to an emergency call of an assault in a Park Avenue apartment at 1.05pm on Sunday found Dr Lorich unconscious and unresponsive with a knife in his torso. During an interview with Rolling Stone magazine back in 2014, Dr Lorich discussed treating Bono, saying: He was taken emergently to the operating room ... where the elbow was washed out and debrided. A nerve trapped in the break was moved and the bone was repaired with three metal plates and 18 screws. The Hospital for Special Surgery, New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine expressed their sadness about the news via a statement on Sunday evening. "Dr Lorich was a distinguished orthopaedic trauma surgeon and teacher serving at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine. We mourn this tragic development and extend our deepest sympathies to Dr Lorich's family, friends and patients," they said. If you have been affected by any issues raised in this article, please contact The Samaritans free helpline on 116 123, or visit their website here.